was listening to her. the picture's misleading, she's actually in front of me, answering a question about emergency powers and the oil price hike problem. did she really meant: boycott the oil companies that sell expensive products? she did.

the night before, the MARO and PROTOCOL announced a joint press conference (pgma and ppm) ... but it was cancelled. reason? well, nobody even tried to come up with any. my guess? PPM will have a media blitz on the third day of his visit. he will be interviewed by local and international news organizations. so there's no use of adding another presscon. pgma called for a solo presscon at the premiere guest house (yup, erap's party place back then) before she convened her national security cluster meeting.

pgma reading her opening statement thru the teleprompter. she read the filipino and english versions (for target market and newscast format purposes, she even speaks in dialects outisde manila).... some reporters whispered: "she didn't rehearse her filipino version, we can't comprehend what she's saying, mali mali pauses at putol ng basa"...one remarked "no need to listen, it's cut and paste... hard times are here, let us sacrifice speech all over again". (exec sec ed ermita beside pgma)(boy aguinaldo, the cam man with the shiny head)

yup, we are this chaotic before each palace presscon. what's with us? parang di kami mapakali. lagi.

one of the conference halls at the premiere guest house.

first philippine president who visited pakistan? the late president diosdado macapagal in the 1960s. and yes, pgma accompanied cong dadong in that trip. first pakistan president who visited pinas? president pervez musharraf. during his toast for the host in tonite's state banquet, perv asked pgma to reciprocate his visit and return to pakistan (as a prez this time)... well my producer appreciated the trivia, but wanted to stick to his own trivia about the two leaders: they are dubya's posse's

president gloria macapagal arroyo and president pervez musharraf: just after their bilateral meeting, just before the signing of agremeents between the two countries (1. anti terrorism cooperation 2. visa waiver 3. trade and industry coop and 4. arts and culture coop, ambeth ocampo signed the agreement with his counterpart from pakistan)

don't mind the big face. this was after the full military honors. a rondalla performance...all part of the welcome ceremonies for pakistan president pervez musharaf. usually the guests just pass by this area en route to the main palace. but perv made a short stop and clapped his hands to the tune of the rondalla music played by the students from PUP. (aussie howard when he visited, stopped to hug school kids, happy and not worried, despite the shameful escape of a known terrorist during his visit) (dubya also stopped to greet the kids when he visited, then he picked one kid to carry and hug: twas mikaela... the presidential apo)

the two presidents, a first gent and a first lady called MADAM SHEBA

perv was simply amazed with the rondalla instruments. the group also wowed the visitors because of their choreography.