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More Troops from Luzon Arrive in Davao 12 June 2010

Saturday, June 12, 2010

 By CJ KUIZON
Davao Today
Posted by Bulatlat.com

DAVAO CITY—Philippine Army soldiers landed on the shores of Hijo beach in Madaum, Tagum City on the first Friday of June, ferried by Navy ships straight from Luzon.

These soldiers from the 84th Infantry Battalion (IB) are the second batch under the 10th Infantry Division (ID) to arrive in less than two weeks. Members of the 71st IB also landed in Hijo beach on May 24.
An ABS-CBN report said that the 84th IB is more concerned about community development endeavors rather than gunfighting. The same report said half of those who recently arrived were from Mindanao, and that many members of the battalion were veterans of peace-keeping missions in Africa and Haiti.

This was contrary to the assignment of the 71st IB, which was to beef up operations against the New People’s Army (NPA), particularly to chase down those who launched an ambush in Maragusan town, Compostela Valley province a day after the May 10 election and to rescue the four government troops that were captured in the same province.

Army officials said more soldiers from the Special Forces, Scout Ranger are set to arrive in the region in the coming weeks. They will be followed by members of the engineering brigade, the medical corps, and members of the Civil Military Operations.... MORE  
 
SourceBulatlat

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/06/12/more-troops-from-luzon-arrive-in-davao/

Peasants in Hacienda Yulo Vow to Continue Fighting for the Land They Till 11 June 2010

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com

CALAMBA, Laguna – Francesca Mangubat, 71, would always remember May 21, 2010 because on that day she almost lost not only the land her family has been tilling for years but also her husband Quirino.
The night before that fateful day, the residents of Sitio Buntod, Barangay Canlubang inside Hacienda Yulo in Calamba, Laguna, were already informed of the danger that is bound to happen the following day. News were circulating that people working for the Yulo family would be coming to continue cutting the coconut trees in the upper land of their village.

Francesca said these coconut trees were planted not only by their grandparents but also by the people currently residing in Sitio Buntod when they evacuated from Talisay, Batangas, after the Taal Volcano erupted in 1910. “They said that this place used to be a deserted forest. They pulled the weeds, planted trees and made the land productive.”

But unknown to the peasant families, 100 hectares of the land that they were tilling was originally owned by the Madrigal family, a well-known landed family in the Philippines. In a report provided by the Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (KASAMA-TK) and ang Samahan ng Mamamayang Nagkakaisa (SAMANA-Buntog), the peasants were allowed to stay and till the land in exchange for clearing the forest and making the land productive.... MORE   


SourceBulatlat

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/06/11/peasants-in-hacienda-yulo-vow-to-continue-fighting-for-the-land-they-till/

More than meets the eye by Carol Pagaduan-Araullo June 11, 2010

By CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO
Streetwise/Business World
Posted by Bulatlat.com


The story could have come right out of an American-made suspense thriller with the mysterious death of a nondescript fellow followed by a suspicious cover-up by government officials and the murder of a likely whistleblower. It has the makings of a classic whodunit except that this time it’s for real. Thirty-three-year-old Gregan Cardeño, a native of Zamboanga Sibugay, was recruited by a private military contractor to work as an interpreter for US Armed Forces (USAF). On February 2, a day after he started work in a supposed AFP facility in Marawi City, he was found dead. The police called it a suicide and stopped investigating.
Less than two months later, Philippine Army Captain Javier Ignacio – a family friend who helped recruit Cardeño – was gunned down while on his way to a meeting with groups conducting an independent probe into the case. Ignacio, a member of the AFP Military Police, said he had vital information to share. He had earlier spoken of attempts by undisclosed parties to bribe him into keeping silent followed by death threats should he persist in seeking the truth behind Cardeño’s death.

One would think that the sudden death of a civilian employee of a USAF contractor would warrant a more careful, thoroughgoing and transparent investigation on the part of all concerned, i.e. the US military under whose authority Cardeño was operating, the AFP which controls the military camp where the incident occurred, as well as the police investigators who were called to the crime scene..... MORE    

SourceBulatlat

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/06/11/carol-pagaduan-araullo-more-than-meets-the-eye/

Cases of Abuse of Household Helpers Increasing, Gabriela to Push for Laws for their Protection

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL

Bulatlat.com
Mary Jane Sollano was only 13 when she was recruited from Zamboanga del Sur in June 2004 to work in Manila. For five years, she suffered like hell as a house helper.

There were times when she was told to undress and her employers took pictures of her. She was hit with an iron bar and thick slippers. Her employers would sometimes pour hot water on her hands when she was caught getting food from the refrigerator. She was then chained and was not allowed to eat for three days.
She was prohibited from using any phone, to talk to her co-employees or to laugh, to sit, to peep through the window, to watch television, to eat and to rest until her work is done. She was not even allowed to read or write letters. She was also deprived of her salary and was threatened to be killed by her employers if she tried to fight back.

Her boss belongs to one of the influential families in the Philippines. Mariano Tanenglian, a former bank director and treasurer of Allied Bank, who is reportedly the brother of business tycoon Lucio Tan was her employer. Aleta, Mariano’s wife and their children Fayette and Marvin were also cruel to her, according to Sollano.... MORE     
SourceBULATLAT

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/06/11/cases-of-abuse-of-household-helpers-increasing-gabriela-to-push-for-laws-for-their-protection/

Election By Pre-Programming and Other Matters Related to Aquino 12 jUNE 2010

By PROF. JOSE MARIA SISON
Chief Political Consultant
NDFP Negotiating Panel

I believe that the new reactionary regime headed by Noynoy Aquino is mendaciously and immorally founded on at least three things: first, false election through pre-programming by the foreign-controlled automated electoral system without the required safeguards; second, his false promise of eradicating corruption without doing away with the systemic collaboration of the foreign monopoly capitalists and the local big comprador-landlords like him; and third, his false promise to hold Gloria M. Arroyo accountable for crimes of corruption and human rights violations.

The automated electoral system was characterized by anomalies and fraud. These were enabled by the foreign control of Smartmatic that is offensive to any sense of national sovereignty, the discarding of the system’s security safeguards and the super-quick secretive reconfiguration and replacement of 76,000 memory cards in a few days before the election, without any impartial entity observing.
My informant regarding the conversation between Gloria M. Arroyo and Pinky Aquino-Abellada to pave the way for the meeting of high representatives of the US Central Intelligence Agency, Aquino family and the Arroyo regime is willing to come out in the open and reveal the time and place of the Pinky-Gloria meeting in due time after making provisions for the safety of his family.
Consequent to the reaction of Pinky Aquino-Abellada, wife of Manolo Abellada the chief executive officer of the Philippine Multi-Media Systems, Inc., to my interview with Pinoy Weekly, I urged my informant to come out into the open immediately, despite his previous precondition on me that I should not reveal or indicate his identity.

The informant reminded me of the serious risks to him from the three powerful forces involved in the manipulation of the automated electoral system and he said, “I do not want myself and my family to suffer the same fate of Gregan Cardeño and Philippine Army Captain Javier Ignacio, who had gotten entangled in high security operations of the US government in the Philippines.”

My informant has actually given me much more information than what I have said in my interview with Pinoy Weekly. But in the meantime, I am obliged to respect the wish of my informant to secure the safety of his family before coming out into the open.

I am told by some people that Noynoy Aquino is not interested in the resumption of peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) because he is under orders of the US to pursue its so-called counterinsurgency plan and because he has a vindictive character as shown in the Hacienda Luisita massacre and subsequent killings in Tarlac.

But there are certain probable reasons for Noynoy Aquino to be interested in peace negotiations. These are the ever worsening crisis of the domestic ruling system and the world capitalist system, the intensification of people’s war and the rise of the mass movement. In this regard, the NDFP has announced its willingness to resume peace negotiations.

In such negotiations, the NDFP can regard Noynoy Aquino as the de facto president of the GRP even as his regime in particular is immorally founded on lies and like the previous Arroyo regime is hell-bent on using both military force and certain deceptive tactics in a futile attempt to destroy, coopt or render the revolutionary movement inconsequential. History teaches us that Mao Zedong could negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek and even agree with him on truce and alliance in the interest of the people. ##

Source: BULATLAT

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/06/12/election-by-pre-programming-and-other-matters-related-to-aquino/

What chutzpah! EDITORIAL 06/12/2010

What chutzpah!



EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
06/12/2010

Election cheats at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) must be jumping for joy, a day after a commissioner, Gregorio Larrazabal, announced to reporters that the 2013 elections will still be automated and will be using the Smartmatic precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, which naturally translates to again giving the 2013 automated elections contract to its tech partner, Smartmatic.

This is obvious, since the Comelec officials clearly don’t know a thing about conducting automated elections, having left everything to Smartmatic, and both clearly botching up the 2010 polls.

Besides, Comelec was earlier given the option to buy the PCOS machines — defective as they are, and more defective in their inability to read the ovals in the ballots, as well as the compact flash (CF) cards being reusable, in the sense of their being programmed again to drop and make the votes vanish for one candidate,while adding up the votes of the rival candidate, which is the new electronic dagdag-bawas method in which the cheats in the Comelec, Smartmatic and DoST and other IT-savvy cheats engage.

There certainly is more than meets the eye in this move of the Comelec to insist on the Smartmatic machines and the company’s system for the 2013 polls, since it was pretty evident that all anti-fraud safeguards were eliminated. And those security features, as well as the source code which is still being kept hidden from the IT experts as well as the public, won’t be restored either, and neither will the poll body’s ways change either, since there will still be no real certification, and worse, if there is no judgment from the Supreme Court on the digital signatures, as expressed in the e-commerce law, the poll body and Smartmatic will once again resort to this and screw the Filipino electorate, defrauding them of their sovereign will.... MORE    

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100612com1.html


Reality bites FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 06/12/2010

Reality bites



FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
06/12/2010

Here’s the reality: Every president who takes his oath of office really means it when he mouths the oath at that time.

Here’s another reality: It doesn’t take long for a new president to remember what is really meant by that oath, or the memory of that determination he had on that day to do what is right and constitutional for the people slowly fades away, as the new president starts to realize that it is not as simple to stick to that oath, since government is much too complicated and, admit it or not, involves a lot of compromises and even opaque deals — opaque in the sense that there are just some deals that cannot be made public.

Here’s yet another reality: The promises made by every new president made during the campaign period cannot be delivered — not in the first hundred days, and certainly not even in two years, even if there is full sincerity in giving out those promises — such as change and no corrruption, no poverty campaign spiel of Noynoy Aquino.

Once in Malacañang, problems have to be faced realistically, never ideally, because government headed even by idealists have to face the reality of a corrupt government bureaucracy and eventually high officials, that cannot be eliminated with a magic wand.

No head of government can, despite all the promises made, and even done in the most sincere fashion, can break up corrupt syndicates in virtually every agency and department in government.... MORE    

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100612com2.html


Nato battles divided by Afghan river focus 06/12/2010

Nato battles divided by Afghan river



focus

06/12/2010
NAKHONAY — Wading across a shallow Afghan river, American soldiers suddenly hear a burst of gunfire coming from behind, where they just met their Canadian comrades near a mud-brick village.

An Afghan soldier had shot dead a suspected insurgent near a hill where the Western allies sat huddled from a dust storm to coordinate their war effort against the Taliban outside southern Afghanistan’s capital city Kandahar.
As the United States rolls out 30,000 more troops across Afghanistan and builds a campaign to secure Kandahar, billed the most decisive operation of the nine-year war, the nature of the fight differs from district to district.

While Americans say they are mostly “kissing babies and shaking hands” under Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s counter-insurgency strategy to win hearts and minds, Canadians talk of daily firefights, ambushes and weapons caches.

The stark contrast was exposed when US soldiers of 1st squadron, 71st cavalry regiment trekked two kilometers (a mile) across wheat fields and the narrow Tarnak river, to confer with the Canadians.

“It’s been pretty hectic, we’ve had a few shootouts,” said one Canadian soldier. “We’ve been led into a couple of ambushes... we’re getting hit every day,” said another.

Until the Americans arrived in April under President Barack Obama’s “surge,” two districts bordering Kandahar city to the south — Panjwayi and Dand — were under the mandate alone of Canada’s more than 2,800-strong force.... MORE    

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100612com3.html


Palace to Noynoy: Name DND chief to pave AFP way By Aytch S. de la Cruz 06/12/2010

Palace to Noynoy: Name DND chief to pave AFP way


By Aytch S. de la Cruz
06/12/2010
While saying that President-elect Benigno Aquino III has the prerogative to conduct a loyalty check among the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), as he is its incoming Commander-in-Chief, Malacañang yesterday said that for better coordination between the Department of National Defense and the AFP, it would be preferrable, if not best, for Aquino to make known his soon to be appointed defense chief.

Malacañang stressed it would not prevent any and all reported intentions and moves of Aquino to conduct loyalty checks, since this is his prerogative, as the incoming commander in-chief of the AFP.

Press Undersecretary Rogelio Peyuan said yesterday that Aquino certainly has the authority to make such moves as in a few days, he takes over the presidency and as he will be the commander in chief, the members of the military should now give their trust and loyalty to the Aquino government, following the chain of command.

It was, however, not clarified by either the Palace nor the Aquino camp why Aquino and his people
should be conducting a loyalty check at this itme.

But Peyuan nonetheless, stressed that the AFP’s loyalty to its mandate in defending the Constitution at all times has been tried and tested time and again thus the next administration has nothing to be concerned about.

Peyuan saiud this principle will be upheld as well by the current Chief of Staff Gen. Delfin Bangit regardless of any and all personal sentiments he may have against the incoming Commander-in-Chief who has made only too clear his allergy to Bangit.... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100612hed2.html


Aquino warned on firing Arroyo appointees Gerry Baldo and Charlie V. Manalo 06/12/2010

Aquino warned on firing Arroyo appointees


Gerry Baldo and Charlie V. Manalo
06/12/2010

President-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino should be wary of his power to fire government officials, particularly those so-called “midnight appointees” of outgoing President Arroyo who are covered by the Civil Service Law.
The warning was made yester-day by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, apparently in reaction to Aquino’s state-ment that the presidential power to appoint comes with the power to dismiss the appointee.

“The presidential power to fire is not absolute as it is circumscribed by due process which is enshrined in the Constitution and limited by the provisions of the Civil Service Law,” he stressed.

Lagman, Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s proposed candidate for the Speakership race, said appointments made before the onset of the ban under Section 15 of Article VII of the Constitution are presumed legal and valid even as he defended President Arroyo’s alleged “midnight ap-pointments.”

“President Arroyo’s challenged appointments were extended prior to the ban’s effectivity,” he added.

Aquino during a press conference after his procla-mation told the media that he, as the President, has the power to dismiss those who have been appointed. 

“The basic principle, I think all of us will agree, the power to appoint carries with it the power to dismiss. That has been decided in so many precedent-setting cases,” Aquino said..... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: .http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100612hed3.html

Thai protest probe head won’t assign blame 06/12/2010

Thai protest probe head won’t assign blame


06/12/2010

BANGKOK - The head of a government-commissioned probe into deaths during Thailand’s “Red Shirt” street protests on Friday promised an unbiased investigation but said his aim was not to establish responsibility.

“I am always impartial,” said Kanit Nanakorn, a former attorney general asked by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to lead an independent inquiry into the loss of 90 lives during clashes between armed troops and demonstrators.
He said, however, that the probe “is not aimed at finding who should be held responsible and to punish, but to establish the facts and educate Thai society.”

Kanit also refused to set a timeframe for finishing the investigation, saying it might not be completed by the next election, due by the end of 2011 at the latest.

The main opposition party has said Kanit is too close to the government, warning of a likely “whitewash.”
The Reds’ rally, broken up on May 19 in an army crackdown on their vast camp in the heart of Bangkok, sparked outbreaks of violence that 

have left 90 people dead, including two foreign journalists, and nearly 1,900 injured.

The government has defended the use of armed troops, saying they were only authorized to fire live ammunition as warning shots, in self-defense or against “terrorists” whom it has accused of inciting the unrest.

Abhisit has said he wants somebody who is sympathetic to the Red Shirts in the panel to make sure all sides can be confident of its neutrality.... MORE    

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100612hed4.html


Bangit opts for early retirement as GMA bids troops goodbye By Mario J. Mallari and Aytch S. de la Cruz 06/12/2010

Bangit opts for early retirement as GMA bids troops goodbye


By Mario J. Mallari and Aytch S. de la Cruz
06/12/2010

Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Delfin Bangit yesterday said he is considering relinquishing his post and go on an early retirement before incoming President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino assumes the presidency on June 30.
“Yes,” Bangit replied when asked by Camp Aguinaldo reporters if he is willing to retire early, adding “it’s just a matter of making the decision after proper preparations are made.”

“Whether I will retire or whether I will transfer the chief of staff, all of these are being studied. I will make the announcement in due time,” Bangit, who is reaching the mandatory retirement age of 56 on July 31, 2011, stressed.
“But whatever I will do, will be for the good of the Armed Forces,” the military chief said.

Bangit, however, maintained that he has yet to make final decision on the matter even as he stressed that he will announce such “not later than July 1.”

Aquino is taking oath on June 30 when the term of President Arroyo expires.

A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Bangit was seriously studying bowing out of the service in the coming weeks.

“Why would you retire before a President that doesn’t like you? He may retire earlier than June 30. Anytime, he can retire,” the official added.

Another source said the Army has scheduled a testimonial parade and review in honor of Bangit on Monday, indicating that AFP chief is on his way out. 

Bangit confirmed that a testimonial parade was arranged by the Army on Monday but did not elaborate.

Aquino has earlier announced that he will not retain Bangit as AFP chief.

Bangit, who is perceived to be loyal to President Arroyo, has vowed to obey the order of the incoming Commander-in-Chief. He praised her during the rites, saying: “We all knew that this time would come. That no matter how good a President is, she has to step down after her term. She had always known that. She had repeatedly mentioned that. Finally now, we give her honors as we bid goodbye,” he added..... MORE    

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100612hed5.html


RP hands over suspect in HK double murder 06/12/2010

RP hands over suspect in HK double murder


06/12/2010
A former overseas Filipino worker was handed over to Hong Kong police yesterday to stand trial for the 2003 murders of an American couple in the Chinese territory, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said.

Magno Cruz Manalili, a former house helper, was set to be flown to Hong Kong later in the day under police escort, it added.

Accused of stabbing to death his employers, American couple Ng Ka-Mong and Sun King-Man inside their home at 151 Pai Tau Village, Shatin, New Territories in Hong Kong on April 12, 2003, Manalili fled to the Philippines soon after the killings.

In June 2003, the Hong Kong Magistrate Tong Man of the Magistrate’s Court of Shatin, Hong Kong, issued an arrest warrant against Manalili..... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100612hed6.html


Race winners submit false poll expenses By Marie A. Surbano 06/12/2010

Questionable, ridiculous election spending statements from some candidates—Comelec

Race winners submit false poll expenses


By Marie A. Surbano
06/12/2010
The incoming Aquino government appears to be starting with the practice of lying, or perjuring itself, based on some of the statements on campaign expenses submitted by both winning and losing candidates that have been found to be highly questionable.

Such statements on election expenses are sworn to by the candidates themselves and duly notarized which makes the issuance of false statements a crime of perjury.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec), through its spokesman James Jimenez, said that some of the statements of contributions and expenditures submitted by winning and losing candidates in the May 10 national and local polls are questionable and the Comelec is now eyeing to tap the examiners from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Commission on Audit (CoA) to help the Comelec in auditing the statements of expenditures and contributions submitted by the candidates in the recently concluded May 10 polls.

“So far, the findings are general... Some of them are outright questionable, or even ridiculous in some cases,” Jimenez stressed. 

He added that some of the candidates claimed that their expenses were far less than what one would expect, considering the high rates of print and television advertisements nowadays.

“For example, in the television ad campaign, everyone has a good idea how much a TV ad campaign would cost. But now you see a report that comes in that the cost is less than 65 percent of what is the expected cost, even factoring in all the various discounts that the candidates are supposed to get,” the Comelec official said.

However, Jimenez declined to identify the concerned candidates.

There was no need to identify the candidates who spent hundreds of millions in advertisements, such as President-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, who promised an “honest and transparent” government under his presidency.

It will be recalled that just on the TV advertisements, groups and organizations, including the Comelec, checking on the advertising frequencies of presidential and vice presidential candidates, showed that Aquino had exceeded his time limit in ad exposures in ABS-CBN network—on his so-called personal funds, along with his party funds. The same went for Nacionalista Party standard bearer, Manuel “Manny” Villar, who also had exceeded his advertising frequency allowed by the Comelec.... MORE    

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100612hed1.html


Coast Guard to also bar tourists from getting near Taal 06/12/2010

Coast Guard to also bar tourists from getting near Taal


06/12/2010
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has intensified its patrol operations to dissuade foreign and local tourists from going to Taal Volcano in Batangas, while preparing to carry out evacuation of residents after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) raised the alert level on the crater lake to No. 2.

According to the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC), the guidance is that women, children and people with disability are to be evacuated on voluntary basis. 

To ensure the safety of everyone, the PCG has been asked to dissuade tourists from going to the volcano island.
“Currently, we are patrolling the area to dissuade tourists from going to the island. A Coast Guard team intercepted one motorized banca with more or less 15 Korean passengers on board and suspected heading toward Taal lake. The PCG operatives noticed the motor banca was deviating course, so the PCG team warned the Korean owner not to continue going to Taal,” PCG Batangas Station chief Lt. Commander Troy Cornelio said. 

The PCG has also increased its personnel near the Taal Volcano area. It deployed five teams consisting of divers and rescue swimmers, accompanied by rubber boats and medical teams, to their Coast Guard detachment based in Talisay, Batangas.... MORE    

SourceThe Daily Tribune

  URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100612nat9.html


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