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The height of Noynoy’s hypocrisy EDITORIAL 08/14/2010

Saturday, August 14, 2010

The height of Noynoy’s hypocrisy



EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
08/14/2010
Proof of the exploitation of the poor by the wealthy and again politically powerful Cojuangco-Aquino clan can be proven in a photograph of an out of job Hacienda Luisita farm worker, getting a measly P260 for having signed away his right to own the hacienda land and agreeing to retain the Stock Distribution Option (SDO), while another worker, a limping 76-year-old man was paid P347, the equivalent of his 2,400 shares in the Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI).
The reason the old man chose the SDO? He chose the SDO to be able to work again, because owning the land would not be enough.

What an injustice it is, for the poor to be reduced to selling their legal right for a few hundred pesos, which is peanuts to the Cojuangco-Aquinos, who know just the right but immoral and illegal buttons to push the poverty-stricken farm workers into submission and for a song.

Yet Noynoy Aquino pledged to give justice to all, when he is part and parcel of that illegal and immoral SDO, and part as well of the blatant bribery engaged in by the clan. He certainly knew what the clan was doing and what it is after. Noynoy claims he owns merely 1 percent or so of HLI and that he will not interfere with the problem at HLI because he claims he won’t involve himself in an intra-corporate dispute. That is a pure hypocritical stand, and he and his boys in Malacañang know it.

Noynoy, like his mother before him, and like his hacendero relatives, want the SDO retained even if illegal. They want to keep the land, and continue shortchanging and exploiting further the poor workers.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100814com1.html


A not in control president FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 08/14/2010

A not in control president



FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
08/14/2010
Amazing! Noynoy Aquino is supposed to be the President of the Republic, but it is not he who makes the decisions. It is his subalterns who do, without as much as discussing their orders with him.

In other words, Noynoy wants to hold the position and the title, but he is neither in charge of anything, nor in control of his people.

This has been gleaned from statements issued by Internal Revenue chief Kim Henares who clarified Friday in an early morning TV interview that the idea of imposing the expanded value-added tax (eVAT) on toll fees did not come from President Aquino.

She said: “He (Noynoy) did not give us any order to impose the tax. What he had directed me to do, when he appointed me as BIR chief, is to just implement the law.”

Whaaaat? The order and decision on that imposition of the 12 percent eVAT on toll fees are solely the BIR chief’s and that Noynoy has absolutely no say in this, merely giving Henares free rein to interpret the “law” as she sees fit and even impose whatever without bothering to discuss this issue with a highly indecisive and laidback, if not a know-nothing Noynoy, who probably does not bother either to make any decision on virtually everything?

Noynoy doesn’t seem to care either that the South Luzon Expressway toll management will be implementing a whooping 250 percent increase on its fees on Monday, the day the eVAT is slapped on the toll fees..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100814com1.html


Monk’s crusade helps Korean history go home focus 08/14/2010

Monk’s crusade helps Korean history go home



focus

08/14/2010
TOKYO — A pledge by Japan to hand over cultural artefacts from the Korean peninsula’s last dynasty has been welcomed in South Korea — particularly by a monk who spent four years trying to make it happen.

Shocked to discover that valuable items — including royal records of the Chosun Dynasty (1392-1910) — were still held by Japan after its 1910 annexation of the peninsula, Hye Moon, now 37, began a campaign for their return in 2006.

“I wondered why such precious cultural properties had yet to be returned to our country,” Hye, who lives in Seoul, told AFP.

Then on Tuesday, after more than 40 trips to Japan intended to persuade politicians and lawmakers, Hye finally got the news he had long sought ahead of the Aug. 29 centenary of the annexation.

Japan’s government issued a fresh apology for the 1910 to 1945 colonial rule and said it would hand over the items South Korea had been demanding “in the near future.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100814com1.html


Contrary to What Cojuangco-Aquinos Say, Farming Improved Lives of Many Luisita Folk Published on August 14, 2010

Contrary to What Cojuangco-Aquinos Say, Farming Improved Lives of Many Luisita Folk

Published on August 14, 2010



MANILA — One of the arguments put forth by Hacienda Luisita management in pushing for the stock distribution option (SDO) and the recent compromise agreement is that the farmer beneficiaries could not possibly survive on less than an hectare each of land. This argument, however, had been demolished by a NEDA study that said a family in Luisita can earn more from 0.78 hectares of land than from stocks — a study that was conveniently ignored by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council under then President Corazon Aquino when it allowed the implementation of the SDO.

After the strike and massacre and after the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council ordered the revocation of the SDO in 2005, the farmer beneficiaries launched what they call a “bungkalan” or the cultivation of idle Luisita land. It was both a political statement and a matter of survival for the beneficiaries who were, and still are, facing extreme poverty in the hacienda owned by President Benigno S. Aquino III and his family. Farmers who participated swear that their lives improved after the “bungkalan.”.... MORE

Source:  

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/08/14/contrary-to-what-cojuangco-aquinos-say-farming-improved-lives-of-many-luisita-folk/

NDFP Questions Sincerity of Aquino Government in Pursuing Peace Talks But Still Open to Resumption Published on August 14, 2010

NDFP Questions Sincerity of Aquino Government in Pursuing Peace Talks But Still Open to Resumption

Published on August 14, 201

By RONALYN OLEA
Bulatlat.com

So far, the Aquino administration has not shown positive indications for the resumption of peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). In a statement, Luis Jalandoni, NDFP spokesman, enumerated what he calls as negative indications regarding the stand of the Aquino administration on the peace talks.

The NDFP expressed disappointment over Aquino’s insistence for a prolonged ceasefire before holding peace talks. The NDFP said it is a violation of The Hague Joint Declaration of 1992.... MORE

Source:  

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/08/14/contrary-to-what-cojuangco-aquinos-say-farming-improved-lives-of-many-luisita-folk/

Abortion Ban in Philippines Results in Dire Human-Rights Crisis


Abortion Nation: Dire Human-Rights Crisis in Face of Increasing Acceptance

Published on August 14, 2010  
A study on abortion in the Philippines argues that the government has committed violations of human rights by criminalizing abortion regardless of circumstance. As a result, the Philippines has failed to fulfill its obligation to international bodies that seek to protect women’s health and human rights.

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — In the Philippines, it’s not enough that women who wish to terminate their pregnancies do not have legal and safe means to do it. In many hospitals and clinics across the country, Filipinas who undergo abortion and then seek medical treatment because of complications are routinely harassed and violated by health-care providers.

There are among the findings of a study done by the Center for Reproductive Rights, a New York-based advocacy group. It concluded that because of the criminal ban on abortion in the Philippines, a dire human-rights crisis has emerged, which it blamed on the Philippine government and the powerful Roman Catholic Church..... MORE

Source:  

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/08/14/abortion-nation-dire-human-rights-crisis-in-face-of-increasing-acceptance/

Drivers to Protest Double Whammy of Impending Hike, VAT on Toll Fees Published on August 14, 2010

Drivers to Protest Double Whammy of Impending Hike, VAT on Toll Fees

Published on August 14, 2010


By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – The widely opposed 277-percent increase in toll fees in Southern Luzon Expressway (SLEX), along with the imposition of VAT on toll fees— both set for implementation this Monday— were halted temporarily by the Supreme Court.

With the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued last Friday, the Supreme Court enjoined the government from imposing beginning August 16 the 12-percent value added tax on toll fees in the NLEX and SLEX and other toll ways. It issued another TRO against the implementation of the 277-percent increase in toll fees at the SLEX..... MORE

Source:  

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/08/14/drivers-to-protest-double-whammy-of-impending-hike-vat-on-toll-fees/

SC hands TROs on toll VAT, expressways hikes By Benjamin B. Pulta and Aytch S. de la Cruz 08/14/2010

Palace plays the blame game, slams GMA for toll VAT ‘law’ non-implementation

SC hands TROs on toll VAT, expressways hikes


By Benjamin B. Pulta and Aytch S. de la Cruz
08/14/2010
Two restraining orders have been handed down by Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona, effectively stopping the scheduled toll rate increases in the country’s expressways next week and the imposition of the 12 percent expanded value added tax (eVAT) on toll fares.

Malacañang did not hide its disappointment at the high court’s issuance of the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the implementation of the eVAT on the toll fare, but quickly laid the blame on the Arroyo administration that had issued two Memorandum Circulars (MCs) in 2005 and 2009 on the implementation of the eVAT on toll fares.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda insinuated that President Aquino did the right thing, as his administration was merely implementing Arroyo’s MCs on the VAT imposition.

“Why they (Arroyo administration) haven’t imposed the VAT on toll is the biggest question since it was very clear that the BIR said ‘let’s collect taxes on the VAT on toll’. So now that we are implementing it, we’re being perceived as being persistent on the imposition of these taxes when in fact it has been there since 2005,” Lacierda argued.

Lacierda insisted that the motorists and the general public should understand that the Aquino administration acted all the while in “good faith” in ordering the imposition of the 12-percent VAT on toll..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100814hed1.html


Probe sought on 300% Slex toll hike By Gerry Baldo 08/14/2010

Probe sought on 300% Slex toll hike


By Gerry Baldo
08/14/2010
Despite the high court’s issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the increase in toll rates to be charged by expressways, which would have been implemented on Monday, a lawmaker from the party-list Bayan Muna yesterday sought an investigation into the impending 300 percent hike in toll rates at the 30-kilometer South Luzon Expressway (Slex).

Rep. Teddy Casino said there is a need to pry into the decision of the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) to allow the management of the Southern Luzon Tollway Corp. (SLTC) to increase the toll rates that would affect a quarter of a million vehicles that ply the route everyday.

He pointed out that the proposed toll rates are allegedly part of the Supplemental Toll Operations Agreement (STOA) entered in behalf of the government by TRB with SLTC. 

SLTC is owned 80-percent by MTD Manila Expressways, Inc. (MTDME), a Malaysian company, and 20-percent by Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC). 

The STOA gave a 25-year concession of Slex rehabilitation, expansion, operation and maintenance to SLTC.
“The TRB committed grave abuse of discretion by entering into STOA which fixes the toll rates without prior notice and public hearing as mandated in Section 3(d) of PD No.1112,” Casino said yesterday..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100814hed2.html


Palace to go on with review of midnight appointments By Aytch S. de la Cruz 08/14/2010

Palace to go on with review of midnight appointments


By Aytch S. de la Cruz
08/14/2010
Malacañang yesterday sounded as it were impervious to the Supreme Court’s (SC) appeal for the executive branch to refrain from rushing its bid to relieve all of former President Arroyo’s so-called “midnight appointees” pending its decision to rule on the temporary restraining order (TRO) sought by the aggrieved parties that will be affected by President Aquino’s Executive Order (EO) 2.

According to presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, the review of the status of these alleged illegally appointed officials in various government offices shall push through unless the SC brings down a “legal order” asking the executive branch to stop the process.

“Legally, as a body, as an institution, the Supreme Court did not issue a temporary restraining order. Therefore, it doesn’t stop us from reviewing the midnight appointees… We can still do that,” he said.

The SC did not, however, stop the Palace from its review process, merely saying that the Palace should not push through as yet the firing of these so-called midnight appointees.

SC Administrator Jose Midas Marquez on Thursday urged Malacañang to observe “judicial courtesy” in view of Lacierda’s declaration the day before that the high court’s failure to act on the TRO sought by the petitioners served as green light for the executive branch to sack Arroyo’s midnight appointes.

Lacierda argued that this statement by Marquez is quite a “nuance” from the way it was delivered because it is somehow in line with the position taken by Malacañang regarding the issue..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100814hed3.html


Drilon defends truth body from GMA allies By Angie M. Rosales 08/14/2010

Drilon defends truth body from GMA allies


By Angie M. Rosales
08/14/2010
An ally of President Aquino in the upper chamber yesterday criticized the move of opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives seeking to nullify the creation of the Truth Commission before the Supreme Court, claiming that this was nothing but an effort to shield former President Arroyo, now a representative of Pampanga’s second district, from being subjected to an investigation.
“I would not want to put motive into this but it seems to be gearing toward that, their intention in filing the petition, because of the many anomalies of the previous administration that are the subject of probes by the Truth Commission,” Sen. Franklin Drilon said in a radio interview, referring the observation of many that members of the House minority bloc are out to “protect” Arroyo.
Some minority bloc members from the lower chamber have asked the high tribunal to declare Executive Order (EO) 1 that effected the creation of the truth body as unconstitutional.
House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, along with opposition Representatives Rodolfo Albano Jr. (Isabela), Simeon Datumanong (Maguindanao) and Orlando Fua Jr. (Siquijor), stood as petitioners in the case.
The said congressmen, known close political allies of Arroyo, argued, among others, that EO 1 violates the separation of powers as it arrogates the legislative authority of Congress to create a public office and appropriate funds for its operation.
Drilon, however, echoed the statement of Malacañang that it has sufficient legal basis and that it did not violate the 1987 Constitution.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100814hed4.html


Palace: VFA under review but no talk on abrogation 08/14/2010

Palace: VFA under review but no talk on abrogation


08/14/2010
A day after Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago issued a statement saying that Congress, acting on its own, can unilaterally terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the United States and the Philippines, Malacañang yesterday said that an ad hoc review panel created by President Aquino is currently going over the VFA, but stressed that no discussions or decisions have been made regarding the issue of abrogating the accord.

Santiago also called on Aquino to submit the treaty on the Rome Statute to the Senate for ratification, but this call is apparently being ignored, despite the fact that the Senate for years now, has been asking the Malacañang tenants to submit this Rome Statute to the Senate.

The US government is not keen on having the statute ratified by the Philippine government. It was even made public by the then Bush administration that American aid could be cut off with the entry of the Philippines as a signatory to the Rome Statute.

In a press briefing at the Palace, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the Presidential Commission on VFA is conducting a review of the agreement even as a proposed joint resolution has been refiled in Congress asking Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo to issue a notice of severance of the bilateral agreement to Washington.
Lacierda said then senator now President Aquino, along with Santiago, was a signatory to the joint resolution calling for the VFA review..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100814hed5.html


Noynoy names newest SC justice 08/14/2010

Noynoy names newest SC justice


08/14/2010
President Aquino has appointed Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Policy Center executive director Maria Lourdes Aranal-Sereno as the latest Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (SC).

The Judicial Bar and Council (JBC) earlier had named six individuals who made it to the shortlist of SC nominees, with Court of Appeals (CA) Justice Japar Dimaampao topping the list with six votes. Coming second were CA Justice Noel Tijam and former UP Dean now Bantay Katarungan Chairman Raul Pangalangan with each getting five votes.

Sereno, CA Justice Hakim Abdulwahid and Commission on Elections Commissioner Rene Sarmiento tied with four votes each.

Sereno, a non-member of the bench before her appointment, will take the place vacated by SC Chief Justice Renato Corona after he was named the high tribunal’s chief.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda yesterday said Aquino does not know personally Sereno, although the Chief Executive and Sereno both graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University.

Sereno was graduated with a degree in AB Economics in 1980, while Aquino was graduated from the same course in 1981. .... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100814hed6.html


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