• 6 AUGUST - *1907 - Gen. Macario Sakay, one of the Filipino military leaders who had continued fighting the imperialist United States invaders eight years into the Ph...
    11 years ago

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Bangit, service chiefs take up junta issue By Mario J. Mallari 04/22/2010

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Bangit, service chiefs take up junta issue


By Mario J. Mallari
04/22/2010

Even as Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Delfin Bangit said he would not call Liberal Party presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino to explain his clandestine meetings with active military officers, it appears that the AFP chief of staff is bothered about the probability of yet another planned civilian-military coup that may end up in a revolutionary or junta type government, not unlike Edsa 1986.
Bangit yesterday gathered the military top brass in a command conference at Camp Aguinaldo amid reports of a possible junta and persistent reports of active officers meeting secretly with a presidential candidate.
AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr. said the command conference tackled the military’s ongoing preparations for the upcoming May 10 presidential elections and other prevailing issues, including the possibility of a group declaring a junta which was raised by Pastor Boy Saycon of the Council of Philippine Affairs (Copa), as well as the secret meetings held between Aquino and several officers from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).
“This morning, the chief of staff has joined conferences with the joint and special staff and major service commanders to discuss among others, preparations for the coming elections and ongoing issues,” said Burgos..... MORE


SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100422hed1.html

Erap campaign surges as election day nears 04/22/2010

Erap campaign surges as election day nears


04/22/2010

Former President and opposition standard-bearer Joseph “Erap” Estrada’s earlier prediction of a late-period surge in the campaign period for the May 2010 national elections is on track, an official of the Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) yesterday said.

According to Erap-Binay 2010 campaign manager Ernesto Maceda, the positive indications their party has witnessed on the ground belie the results of various surveys from various private polling firms, and clearly show Estrada poised to snatch victory from the erst-while “front-runners.”

“As we have said time and again, these surveys do not show the reality on the ground and those who belittled President Erap’s chances are now being proven wrong,” he said. 

“He (Estrada) was correct in predicting that he would peak when the time is right, in the last few weeks of the campaign. It’s all coming together now.”

Maceda particularly cited Estrada’s recent rally in Cebu province, which drew a crowd of about 30,000, the biggest gathering mustered so far by any presidential candidate without the come-on of big names from local showbiz.... MORE


SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100422hed2.html


Malacañang: Ampatuans’ LP endorsement debt payment By Angie M. Rosales 04/22/2010

Malacañang: Ampatuans’ LP endorsement debt payment


By Angie M. Rosales
04/22/2010

Malacañang took Maguindanao massacre suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr.’s and the entire Ampatuan clan’s endorsement for the candidacy of Liberal Party (LP) presidential tandem Sen. Noynoy Aquino and Sen. Manuel Roxas as payment for a debt of gratitude the clan owes late President Corazon Aquino who Palace officials said was responsible for the Ampatuans rise into political power in Maguindanao.

President Arroyo’s men said they respect the Ampatuans’ decision to openly express their support for Aquino’s presidential bid as it was everybody’s right to do so. 

However, they said they would not condone how detained Andal Jr. was able to hold a formal press conference inside the supposedly maximum-security penitentiary.

The Liberal Party (LP), nevertheless, accused Nacionalista Party (NP) vice presidential candidate, Sen. Loren Legarda, of being behind what it called as a fake “endorsement” of Ampatuan Jr. .... MORE


SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100422hed5.html


Evil comes disguised as ‘Good’ EDITORIAL 04/22/2010

Evil comes disguised as ‘Good’



EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
04/22/2010

Underhand are the ways of Liberal Party standard bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, as well as the LP itself.

He holds clandestine meetings with active and retired Philippine Military Academy (PMA) officers, then claims that he met with them separately to find out what their role and response would be, in the event of a failure of elections and electoral fraud in May.

He justified his talks with these PMAyers as being part of his status as a public servant, and that the military officers are part of the public he serves.

Even granting that these military officers are part of the public he serves, what does this “serving” have to do with meeting them separately and finding out what the role and response of these same officers would be, should poll failure and electoral fraud occur?... MORE


SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100422com1.html


Underhanded FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 04/22/2010

Underhanded



FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
04/22/2010

When Andal Ampatuan Jr., the prime suspect in the Maguindanao massacre wore an orange band, the yellow media were quick to spot that and portrayed it negatively as an Ampatuan endorsement of the Nacionalista bet, Manny Villar, and just as quickly featured a comment made by Esmael Mangudadatu that Villar’s wife had met with Andal Sr. in Davao seeking the Ampatuan’s endorsement.

Even more quickly, there went Noynoy Aquino and his spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, tying up the Ampatuan endorsement of Villar his being Gloria Arroyo’s secret anointed.
But a few days later, there went Andal Jr., at a press conference in jail, wearing a yellow shirt and yellow band, stating that the Ampatuan family had made a decision to endorse and support the candidacy of Noynoy Aquino.... MORE


SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100422com2.html


Kyrgyz Islamists eye chaos with eager eyes focus 04/22/2010

Kyrgyz Islamists eye chaos with eager eyes



focus

04/22/2010
KARA-SUU — Lazily fingering a string of prayer beads outside a mosque in southern Kyrgyzstan, Ayubkhan smiles when asked about the violence which wracked his country earlier this month.

A member of Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, he said he had no doubt of what the violent images flashing across his television screen meant for him and for his group’s vision of a pan-Central Asian Islamic caliphate.
“I thought to myself: so, it has begun,” he said.
Amid the power vacuum which has followed the violence Hizb ut-Tahrir, effectively banned in Kyrgyzstan and most Central Asian countries, is waiting to reap the long-term benefits the turbulence will bring to its cause.... MORE


SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100422com3.html


Moral choices SILVER LINING Dean Ernest Maceda 04/22/2010

Moral choices



SILVER LINING
Dean Ernest Maceda
04/22/2010

At the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Trials at the end of World War II, lesser lieutenants employed the defense that “I was only following legal orders” to profess their innocence. As we know, this defense was repudiated by the International Military Tribunals for as long as a moral choice was, in fact, available to the individual.

Of course, the International Military Tribunals were established to try and punish the major war criminals from the Axis countries. The situation demanded prompt, resolute action. The judges from the Allied countries did not have the luxury to assess the individual levels of complicity of the accused subordinates and to make distinctions.

The situation is different in the electoral politics context. Politics is also war — even the most cursory look into strategies and tactics involved in candidates’ campaigns will yield parallels with the best of Von Clausewitz and Sun Tzu. It is even less honorable than war (have you been able to wipe off the LP-NP mud from your eyes?). And there are no laws of politics as there are laws of war. There is no tribunal but your own conscience to remind you about moral choices. And in the end, the only judgment is the people’s vote.... MORE


SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100422com4.html

Take care of the Earth; it’s the only one we’ve got BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 04/22/2010

Take care of the Earth; it’s the only one we’ve got



BLURBAL THRUSTS
Louie Logarta
04/22/2010

Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the principal suspect in the Maguindanao Massacre that claimed at least 57 innocent lives last Nov. 23, 2009, has made his political preferences in the fast approaching polls known to all and sundry.

When he was transferred last week from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) jail to the Philippine National Police’s maximum security facility in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, Ampatuan was espied by mediamen, who were assigned to cover the event, to be wearing two rubber wristbands colored purple and orange bearing the names of certain candidates that had been embossed on them.

Curious, a television reporter called out to an unmanacled Ampatuan, who was freely moving about awaiting the processing of his papers, from outside the iron-barred reception office of the detention center to get a closer look at the attractive ornaments.... MORE


SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100422com5.html


Like lolo like father like son? By Ronald Roy COMMENT 04/22/2010

Like lolo like father like son?



By Ronald Roy
COMMENT

04/22/2010

In a way, I feel sorry for Noynoy. He looks like a little boy suddenly thrust in the man-size war zone of politics. Egged on by opportunists, misguided clerics, arrogant elitists, and lately the meddlesome Time Magazine, he now basks in the vanishing afterglow of Edsa l, proclaiming a right to the presidency on the basis of family relations. He would have us vote him for president because he is the son of Ninoy the slain martyr and Cory the revered saint, the grandson of a public servant named Benigno Aquino Sr., the brother of famous TV host Kris and the brother-in-law of basketball superstar James Yap.

Unfortunately, Noynoy has nothing much to show for himself except as an alleged participant in the massacre of farmers in the family-owned Hacienda Luisita and the owner of a sub-standard legislative record. The scary part is he now threatens to hose down a nation on fire. But for the fact that Noynoy seriously exalts his lineage as the underpinning of his quest for the presidency, I would hate to rake up the past of dead people. However, we now stand in the electoral doorway to freedom, and it would be rank treason if I chose not to uphold the truth that is supposed to set us free..... MORE


SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100422com6.html


Election. Deception. Execution. VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 04/22/2010

Election. Deception. Execution.



VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
04/22/2010

It is meant to be an eminent expression of the sovereignty of the people in a republican democracy. But now, in effect it means their subservience and subjugation. It is supposed to be a much welcomed blessing for the change and renewal of their government. This is Philippines election. And the same event now stands for much uncertainly and reservation, for a good number of worries and fear, precisely on the part of the electorate.

It is on record that the nearer the forthcoming national elections are, the more public disorder and social disturbance come to fore therewith. The administration is shunned as an incurable disease, being even abandoned as a rotting sinking ship. The opposition is made synonymous to gutter politics. Meantime, the people are still praying and hoping for peace and order — although all realities and signs are precisely saying violence and disturbance.... MORE


SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100422com7.html


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