• 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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Deal or no deal? EDITORIAL 03/31/2011

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Deal or no deal?

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
03/31/2011
Both Malacañang and Sen. Panfilo Lacson deny that there was a deal between them, after his arrest warrant was voided, and his freedom restored, for him to return home. Lacson also said in interviews, that even as he considers himself still an ally of Noynoy Aquino, this will no bearing on his vote on the Ombudsman’s case for trial in the Senate.

Yet Noynoy is known to make a move politically whenever he wants to have something under his control. Recall the time when his partymates wanted to get the Senate presidency, but were short of numbers. It was then that Noynoy suddenly wanted then detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes freed and able to join the Senate voting. In the end of course, the Senate presidency went to Juan Ponce-Enrile, while Noynoy came up with the amnesty decree..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110331com1.html

Wrong portrayal FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 03/31/2011

Wrong portrayal

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
03/31/2011
There went the Palace again, after the execution of three drug mules in China, vowing to “break the chain of victimization,” and again laying full blame on the recruiters of these Filipino overseas workers while painting the OFWs condemned to jail and death in China and elsewhere as “sacrificial pawns.”

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said “we are resolved to ensure that the chain of victimization, as pushers entrap and destroy lives in pursuit of their trade, will be broken. Those who traffic in illegal drugs respect no laws, no boundaries, and have no scruples about destroying lives.”

That’s crap and playing up to the gallery while washing government’s hands off its own incompetence and gross inaction against corrupt government officers and officials who allow these OFWs to leave the country with smuggled drugs..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110331com2.html

Japan’s farmers battle nuclear scare FEATURE 03/31/2011

Japan’s farmers battle nuclear scare

FEATURE

03/31/2011
NIHONMATSU — Farmers are facing the bitter aftermath of Japan’s nuclear emergency, which could see crops left to rot over a vast swathe of the country’s agricultural heartland.

Growing national and international unease about the spread of radioactivity from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has led to bans on the sale of produce from four prefectures.

Farmers working the soil in Fukushima say they are bracing for the economic impact of the boycott, which has seen their vegetables pulled from shelves nationwide and a host of countries halting imports..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110331com3.html

Philippine cottage industry VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 03/31/2011

Philippine cottage industry

VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
03/31/2011
This is admittedly a sad insight, a pitiful perception. The country with all its arable lands, water resources plus abundant sun, has been long sincerely engaged in importing such a basic commodity as rice. On the other hand, its past and present governments have also perpetuated the exportation of Filipino workers as “OFW’s” — no matter really where and how — all over the globe. Hence, in the event that there is a nation in any part of the globe that has no Filipino workers of one kind or another — this is a big exception.

In other words, the government made the Filipino and Filipinas concerned as nothing more than a cottage industry. Oh, yes! For consolation, they are called “Bagong Bayani.” The fact however is that they are looked upon neither as “bago” nor as “bayani.” Reason: They constitute a long standing phenomenon and wherefore not in anyway “bago.” They are considered but as working cogs and profitable means, and therefore not “heroes” really. There is furthermore the despicable but illegal “drug mules” and treated accordingly..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110331com5.html

Neither Hamas nor Israel seem to want new war FEATURE 03/31/2011

Neither Hamas nor Israel seem to want new war

FEATURE

03/31/2011
GAZA CITY — The recent upturn in deadly clashes between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza has led some observers to speculate on a new war, but the truth seems to be that neither side wants one.

The tension is also seen as a message to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, led by President Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party, which is trying to build bridges with Hamas, who control the Gaza Strip.

Fatah has played no part in the latest fighting.

Indeed, Yasser Abed Rabbo, a key Abbas advisor, has charged that Israel and Hamas “invented a war” to stymy Abbas’s efforts to reconcile Fatah with its long-time rival..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110331com6.html

International Libya action breaks records for speed focus 03/31/2011

International Libya action breaks records for speed

focus

03/31/2011
WASHINGTON — The international response to the Libyan crisis has come at warp-like speed compared to past conflicts when military action was bogged down for months, even years, amid endless diplomatic drives.

This time it took just 32 days from the start of the uprising against Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi on Feb. 15 to March 19 when the United Nations passed a resolution allowing for air strikes against regime forces to protect civilians.

A week later and the 28 members of Nato had agreed to take over command of a no-fly zone over Libya, and are readying this week to take full command of the military operation.

“When you think about it, for an organization of 28 states, getting to consensus given where we were just a few days and weeks ago, we moved with extraordinary speed,” a senior US official said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110331com7.html

Jesuits behaving badly BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 03/31/2011

Jesuits behaving badly

BLURBAL THRUSTS
Louie Logarta
03/31/2011
St. Ignatius de Loyola must be squirming in his tomb at the Chiesa del Gesu in Rome over the way things have been faring out quite poorly these days for his beloved Society of Jesus, the priestly order he had founded in 1539, together with six close friends Francis Xavier, Diego Lainez, Alfonso Salmeron, Nicholas Bobadilla, Peter Faber and Simao Rodrigues.

In forming the Jesuit order, St. Ignatius, who was a Spanish knight in the employ of the Viceroy of Navarre until he was seriously injured in 1521 during the Battle of Pamplona, is said to have undergone a spiritual conversion while recuperating and soon after vowed to abandon his life as a soldier and devote himself entirely to the service of God, the Catholic Church and Pope Paul III.

Surely, the shenanigans the current crop of Jesuits is embroiled in were inconceivable to St. Ignatius and his companions who in 1534 had gathered in the crypt of the Church of Our Lady of the Martyrs in Montmarte and vowed themselves to the lifelong vocation of spreading the Faith as missionaries of the Pope and the Catholic Church..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110331com4.html

No straight path as RP Perc rating worsens By Charlie V. Manalo 03/31/2011

NOV. TO FEB. POLL: THIRD MOST CROOKED IN ASIA

No straight path as RP Perc rating worsens

By Charlie V. Manalo 03/31/2011

President Aquino was challenged yesterday to clearly define the direction of the supposed “daang matuwid” or straight path he had been crowing about after the latest survey of the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. (Perc) showed the Philippines did not improve from its spot of being perceived the third most corrupt nation in Asia in a poll it held between last November and February, clearly within Aquino’s watch.

The Perc score on the Philippines even worsened from 8.25 last year to 8.9 on a scale with 10 as being the most corrupt.

Perc surveyed 1,370 expatriate executives in 11 Asian economies about how they perceived the regulatory environment in the countries or cities where they were working and the extent to which it affected their business..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110331hed1.html

Lacson may have used fake passport to travel—Miriam By Angie M. Rosales 03/31/2011

Lacson may have used fake passport to travel—Miriam

By Angie M. Rosales 03/31/2011
Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson could have used a fake passport or travel documents in traveling back to the country last week, after a year-long hiatus spent allegedly in various countries.

This was the assumption aired yesterday by his colleague, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, on the questionable travel documents used by Lacson that enabled him to return to the country via Hong Kong and arriving at Mactan, Cebu last Saturday.

But even under the possibility of the senator using fake travel documents, it will be difficult for government to go after the lawmaker for any supposed liability in the law and much more go after his alleged coddlers as challenged by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110331hed3.html

Senate exposes another unexplained Ligots’ wealth By Angie M. Rosales 03/31/2011

Senate exposes another unexplained Ligots’ wealth

By Angie M. Rosales 03/31/2011

More assets and properties of the Ligot couple, former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) comptroller Lt. Gen. (ret.) Jacinto Ligot and his wife Erlinda, were bared by Senate probers during Tuesday’s inquiry, including some tens of millions worth of bank instruments supposedly transferred under the name of some of their relatives and yet to be placed under a freeze order by the government.

During the continuation of the hearing by the blue ribbon committee headed by Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, what was earlier mentioned as farm land in Bukidnon which provides the source of income of the couple’s eldest son, appears to involve vast tracts of land, estimated to be around nine hectares..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110331hed5.html

Pinoy charged for smuggling, bid to export US drone By Michaela P. del Callar 03/31/2011

Pinoy charged for smuggling, bid to export US drone

By Michaela P. del Callar 03/31/2011
He thinks big while engaging in the smuggling racket.

A Filipino from Manila was charged in the United States for smuggling and attempting to export an unmanned military aircraft which he initially put up on sale through online auction store e-Bay, a report from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement  (ICE) agency said.

Henson Chua, 47, of Manila, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Tampa, Florida for violation of the Arms
Export Control Act and smuggling, following an investigation by the US ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/

50% of Filipinos want hero’s burial for Marcos — poll 03/31/2011

50% of Filipinos want hero’s burial for Marcos — poll

03/31/2011
Half of the population in the Philippines want to give late dictator Ferdinand Marcos a belated hero’s burial, according to survey released last Wednesday.

Fifty percent of respondents said Marcos was “worthy to be buried in the heroes’ cemetery,” according to the respected Social Weather Stations research group, which undertook the nationwide survey.

But 49 percent said Marcos was unworthy of such honors while one percent did not answer, the research group said.

The survey of 1,200 adults, conducted this month, came amid growing pressure by the Marcos family and its allies to have the late President interred in a Manila cemetery normally reserved for military veterans and respected leaders..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110331nat1.html

QC gov’t orders closure of two private schools for violating Fire Code By Arlie O. Calalo 03/31/2011

QC gov’t orders closure of two private schools for violating Fire Code

By Arlie O. Calalo 03/31/2011
The Quezon City government has ordered the closure of two private schools for failing to comply with the requirements of the Fire Code of the Philippines despite several warnings.

Mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista told Tribune in a phone interview ordered closed were the Claret School, an exclusive school for boys in UP Village, and Blue Ridge Christian Academy in Murphy, Cubao after a regular meeting of the city’s peace and order council.

In a directive, the mayor instructed Bureau of Fire and Protection District fire marshal Senior Supt. Bobby Baruelo to immediately stop the operation of the private schools for defying orders..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110331met3.html

Mediamen hit US envoy’s security aides for rude acts By Mario J. Mallari 03/31/2011

Mediamen hit US envoy’s security aides for rude acts

By Mario J. Mallari 03/31/2011
Members of the media yesterday protested the “harassment” committed by the security teams of United States Ambassador Harry Thomas and of the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Medical Center (AFP-MC) during a chance interview inside the military facility.

A shoving incident between the security personnel and members of the Defense Press Corps (DPC), the group of media practitioners accredited by the Defense department and the AFP, happened while Thomas was accommodating some questions from the media after inaugurating a facility at the AFP Medical Center.

TV-5 cameraman Benjie Judan and his assistant Eddie Mendoza were pushed away from the US ambassador at the height of the interview..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune


URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110331met1.html

More questions than answers EDITORIAL 03/30/2011

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

More questions than answers

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
03/30/2011
Sen. Ping Lacson’s return, after being on the lam for some 14 months, raised more questions than answers, along with his clamming up on how he successfully kept himself hidden for so long, as well as airing his gripes against the Noynoy administration on his claim that it did not helping him find “justice” as he claims he was a victim of injustice.

The questions remain, considering the fact that the Department of Foreign Affairs had canceled both his passports — diplomatic and regular — plus the fact that he was, or so it was being said by the Justice department (DoJ) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that he was placed on the red list of the Interpol..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110330com1.html

Curiouser and curiouser FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 03/30/2011

Curiouser and curiouser

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
03/30/2011
Immigration officers, reports stated, were quoted as saying that Ping Lacson returned to the country through a Cebu international airport from Hong Kong, and presented travel documents.

It was also reported that Lacson was not spotted by anyone, as he was not recognized and that there was no fuss that occurred in relation to his return.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, thorugh its spokesman, yesterday said that they had checked on the reported travel documents, saying that the DFA had checked with the consulates in Xiamen, Macao and Hong Kong, and was informed that the said consulates did not issue any travel documents to Lacson, although it was also stated by the foreign office that under the passport law, any Filipino can be issued travel documents for his return to his homeland..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110330com2.html

Japan steel city’s ‘last geisha’ defies tsunami focus 03/30/2011

Japan steel city’s ‘last geisha’ defies tsunami

focus

03/30/2011
KAMAISHI — Tsuyako Ito, the last working geisha in the Japanese steel city of Kamaishi, is no stranger to disaster — having survived devastating US air raids in World War II and three major tsunamis.

“But this tsunami was the worst of all,” the 84-year-old said of the monster wave that engulfed towns such as Kamaishi, along Japan’s eastern coast on March 11.

The tsunami struck as Ito was preparing to go to sing and play the traditional three-stringed shamisen for guests at a luxury restaurant.

The wave gutted her house, sweeping away all the prized tools of her profession..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110330com3.html

Japan fumbled C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 03/30/2011

Japan fumbled

C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S
Jonathan De la Cruz
03/30/2011
Lost in the din of frantic global efforts to ease the immense pain on the Japanese people of the natural disasters which struck the country two weeks ago, is the possibility of yet another disaster, this time entirely man made, which may visit not just Japan but the world as well. It is the increasingly unsolvable problems visiting the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) which may be better buried in tons of concrete rather than be activated at all. Properly executed, that final solution will put all concerns about the plant’s integrity to rest and ease whatever apprehensions of radioactive risks which may spread even beyond Japanese shores. To think that the Japanese are supposed to have such a rigorous and no nonsense safety consciousness! It appears from the record that they were uncharacteristically lax on this plant. They fumbled.

No less than the government funded Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization (Jnesco) has certified that the plant whose first of six reactors was commissioned 30 years ago in 1971 had the “highest rate of accidents of any big Japanese nuclear power plants for the period 2005-2009.” On Nov. 28, 2008, Tepco reported that “water oozed from the casing of two vales in the plant’s hydraulic system” while on April 3, 2009, “irregularities were found with the control rods at the facility’s No. 3 reactor.”.... MORE
SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110330com4.html

Militia fears over new Afghan police force focus 03/30/2011 KABUL — A contr

Militia fears over new Afghan police force

focus

03/30/2011
KABUL — A controversial US-backed scheme to arm Afghan villagers against the Taliban could backfire and eventually lead to a new generation of warlords, say policy experts who fear an upsurge in militias.

The creation of the Afghan Local Police (ALP) is a key part of the American military’s counter-insurgency strategy as the US prepares to start withdrawing its 90,000 troops from Afghanistan this summer.

With local forces due to take over security in parts of the country within months in preparation for the planned departure of foreign troops by the end of 2014, urgent efforts are under way to bolster the local police.

The United States has described the ALP as a temporary solution to a chronic shortage of police officers in many parts of the country, exacerbated by the Taliban’s repeated targeting of would-be recruits..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110330com5.html

A perfect crime HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 03/30/2011

A perfect crime

HE SAYS
Aldrin Cardon
03/30/2011
There is such a thing. A resource person in a documentary on the assassination of the martyred Ninoy Aquino claimed it was, and so there is.

I caught a glimpse of his statement during a cable channel’s lead up programming for last February’s 25th anniversary of the first Edsa revolt. It was both troubling and baffling.
But with the Ninoy assassination remaining unsolved to this day, with his wife Cory having had the chance to dig deeper into uncovering the truth behind it, there is reason to believe that his Aug. 21, 1983 murder is a perfect crime, indeed.

Even his son, President Noynoy, does not seem to have inclination to continue on with the search for the brain(s) of his father’s murder..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110330com6.html

Transgressions SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 03/30/2011

Transgressions

SHE SAYS
Dinah S. Ventura
03/30/2011
People do get away with murder. What else can one conclude after all the criminal activities, including high-profile murders, that never saw justice in this country?

“I hope the truth will finally come out and iyung malagot, malagot,” Sen. Panfilo Lacson told media when he resurfaced after 14 months in hiding. Senator Lacson decided to turn invisible after an arrest warrant was issued against him as the alleged brains behind the murders of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.
Dacer’s daughters filed the case against Lacson, believing that he had motive. The courts deemed the case had “probable cause,” and state witness Cesar Mancao made a statement — different from his previous ones — linking Lacson to the murders.

Lacson would have none of it. Blaming “political persecution by the former Arroyo government,” Lacson did an Elvis and “left the building,” so to speak. No one could find him — he was like a phantom that outwitted, outsmarted and, apparently would have outlasted them all..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110330com7.html

RP’s China consulates: No travel papers issued to Ping By Michaela P. del Callar and Aytch S. de la Cruz 03/30/2011

NOYNOY WANTS DACER-CORBITO TWIN SLAYS REINVESTIGATED

RP’s China consulates: No travel papers issued to Ping

By Michaela P. del Callar and Aytch S. de la Cruz 03/30/2011

A big mystery over the travel documents earlier believed to have been issued officially to Sen. Panfilo Lacson for his return to the country is unfolding.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday said the travel documents used by Lacson to enter the country after more than a year in hiding abroad to evade arrest were not issued by its consulates in Macau, Xiamen and Hong Kong.

It has been speculated that Lacson has not been travelling to many countries, but has stayed in mainland China all the time he had been in hiding, in a claimed safehouse of a close friend and supporter of the then fugitive senator, which may be the reason the DFA mentioned Xiamen.

Macao is too tiny a place for a well-known Filipino senator to be Lacson’s choice. There are too many Filipinos in Macao as there are in the former crown colony..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110330hed1.html

Detention order on Ligot lifted; new witness surfaces By Ayen Infante 03/30/2011

Detention order on Ligot lifted; new witness surfaces

By Ayen Infante 03/30/2011

The Ligot couple went through another grilling yesterday over their involvement in the massive corruption in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) before Senate investigators freed former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) comptroller Lt. Gen. Jacinto Ligot from detention as a new witness stepped up yesterday to back up instances of shady transactions in the military.

Ligot was ordered detained and stayed in Senate custody for five days after being cited in contempt over his and his wife Erlinda’s evasive replies during the inquiries being held by the Senate.

Ligot was finally allowed to go home after members of the blue ribbon committee made a resolution to release Ligot but only after being warned by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada “never to repeat his actions last Thursday” which obviously provoked senators to detain him..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110330hed2.html

Nation sues for miracle on 3 Filipinos execution 03/30/2011

Nation sues for miracle on 3 Filipinos execution

03/30/2011
The nation turned to praying for a miracle as special masses were held yesterday to save three Filipinos, who government officials said, remain unaware they are scheduled to be executed in China today.

Convicted drug traffickers Ramon Credo, 42, Sally Villanueva, 32, and Elizabeth Batain, 38, are due to be put to death after Chinese authorities rejected Philippine government appeals for clemency.

The government has heavily lobbied Chinese authorities in recent months to spare the lives of the trio, including sending Vice President Jejomar Binay to Beijing on a mercy mission.

But the government said last week after Chinese authorities set the date for the executions and that all avenues had been exhausted, and it respected the outcome of China’s judicial system..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110330hed5.html

Radiation from Japan detected in RP 03/30/2011

Radiation from Japan detected in RP

03/30/2011
Small amounts of radiation from Japan’s da-maged nuclear plant have been detected in the Philip-pines, the government said yesterday, while emphasizing the traces posed no danger to humans.

“We have detected the isotopes, but we would like to ask the public not to panic,” Tina Cerbolis, a spokesman for the Phi-lippine Nuclear Research Institute, said. Stressing
that very tiny amounts of radiation in the air were detected.

The institute released an advisory notice Tuesday saying the radiation was from Japan’s nuclear power plant at Fukushima, which has been leaking since being damaged by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110330hed6.html

Somali pirates hold Pinoy sailor among 29 crewmen as hostage By Michaela P. del Callar 03/30/2011

Somali pirates hold Pinoy sailor among 29 crewmen as hostage

By Michaela P. del Callar 03/30/2011

A Filipino sailor was among the 29 crewmen of a Kuwait-owned oil tanker who were taken hostage by ransom-seeking Somali pirates last Monday, a European Union Naval Force report said.

This latest incident brings to 138 the total number of Filipino sailors being held in Somalia.

MV ZIRKU, which was on its way to Singapore from Bashayer, Sudan, was pirated approximately 250 nautical miles southeast of Salalah in the eastern part of the Gulf of Aden..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110330nat5.html

Marcos not fit for hero’s burial — Lagman By Gerry Baldo 03/30/2011

Marcos not fit for hero’s burial — Lagman

By Gerry Baldo 03/30/2011

The proposal that late President Ferdinand Marcos should now be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani from its air-conditioned crypt in Batac, Ilocos Norte is not justifiable as the recent hero’s burial accorded to Gen. Angelo Reyes.

According to House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, invoking the recent hero’s burial of Reyes the same to that of Marcos, “constitutes a grave historical amnesia and a contemporary aberration.”

“Contrary to the contention of Sen. Antonio Trillanes, there is no parity between Marcos and Reyes, and the country has moved on without bestowing hero’s honors to the late dictator by transferring his remains from Batac, Ilocos Norte to the Libingan ng mga Bayani,” Lagman said yesterday, citing factors that differentiate the two military figures..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110330nat1.html

‘Willing-Willie’ TV show host hit for child abuse 03/30/2011

‘Willing-Willie’ TV show host hit for child abuse

03/30/2011
One of the Philippines’ most popular and controversial TV personalities has reluctantly apologized after making a six-year-old boy cry on his show by forcing him to simulate a striptease.

The government accused Willie Revillame and the TV5 network on which his show appears of child abuse over the incident, which also caused uproar on the Internet with one Facebook critic labelling him a “national jerk.”

“The sequence shows the boy gyrating in a distasteful manner,” Social Welfare Minister Corazon Soliman said in a statement on Monday.

“Putting pressure on children to do acts such as mimicking adult sexy dances, in exchange for a certain amount of money, and at the expense of being laughed at and ridiculed by hundreds of people, clearly traumatizes the child.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110330met1.html

SC orders inspection of leaking oil pipeline By Benjamin B. Pulta 03/30/2011

SC orders inspection of leaking oil pipeline

By Benjamin B. Pulta 03/30/2011

An ocular inspection of the leaking 117-kilometer pipeline operated by the Lopez-controlled First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC) which contaminated a portion of Makati City has been ordered by the Supreme Court (SC).

Speaking to reporters in Baguio City, court administrator and SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez yesterday said the high court has ordered the inspection to verify claim of West Tower residents that two more leaks have developed in the pipeline.

The case also upheld the decision of Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. to remand the case to the Court of Appeals (CA).

“The court will conduct an ocular inspection on April 15, 9 a.m. at Capinpin and Del Pilar streets from allegations of the president of the West Towers Homeowners Association that there were more leaks. After that a report will be submitted and the case will be remanded to the Court of Appeals,” Marquez told reporters..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110330met4.html

Losing credibility EDITORIAL 03/29/2011

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Losing credibility

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
03/29/2011
More interesting than a poll stating that the military, followed by the police, is the most corrupt government agency in the latest Pulse Asia survey is how the respondents viewed the military whistle-blowers’ credibility.

It was more or less predicted, given the big and long media exposure on the military corruption involving the former Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) chiefs of staff, which first focused on the CoS Angelo Reyes’ welcome and send-off gifts in the tens of millions, as well as the monthly P10 million taken from the budget, followed by three more CoS, with even bigger pabaons, that the military would come on top of the most corrupt government agency.

What was surprising was the respondents’ voice on the whistle-blowers, such as then Commission on Audit (CoA) auditor Heidi Mendoza, whom largely, the media hailed as a heroine, and with her dramatically crying while testifying before the House and the Senate panels..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110329com1.html

Drastic drops FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 03/29/2011

Drastic drops

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
03/29/2011
Ratings of Noynoy Aquino are drastically dropping, even if Social Weather Stations (SWS) does give him a “very good” and “good” rating, on the basis of its interpretation of what net percentage is, consisting of excellent at +70 and above; very good at +50 to +69; good at +30 to +49; moderate, at +10 to +29; neutral at +9 to -9, “neutral”; poor at -10 to -29; bad at -30 to -49, very bad at -50 to -69; and -70 and below as “execrable.”

Personally, I find such SWS net ratings interpretation “execrable.”

His ratings are down 13 points to +51, but it is to be noted that his public dissatisfaction rating is rising, now at 18 percent. And he has been in office for just nine months.

Do Noynoy and his idiots in the Palace still think that his constant politically charged histrionics against his perceived political foes have public support, or that his non-explanation and non-disclosure of his purchase of luxury cars, such as his Porsche and his Lexus, not to mention his BMW that he had shown off shortly after his proclamation, which he keeps silent about to this day?.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110329com2.html

Obama labors to answer Libya critics focus 03/29/2011

Obama labors to answer Libya critics

focus

03/29/2011
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration defended its intervention in Libya on Sunday by suggesting that refugees fleeing Moamer Kadhafi would have destabilized neighboring Egypt and Tunisia.

President Barack Obama is struggling to convince a war-weary American public preoccupied by domestic economic concerns that US involvement in Libya is necessary and that he has a clear idea of what the endgame is.

Lawmakers, including many from Obama’s own Democratic Party, are angry that Congress was not consulted before troops were deployed and have raised concerns that the Libya mission is ill-defined and the exit strategy unclear..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110329com3.html

Laughing at the expense of a 6-year-old NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 03/29/2011

Laughing at the expense of a 6-year-old

NO HOLDS BARRED
Armida Siguion-Reyna
03/29/2011
“I do not believe in censorship in any form, manner or circumstance, but if I were to indulge a hypothetical, (Willie Revillame) would be the best excuse for censorship.”

I didn’t say that, lawyer Teddy Te did, in a note he’d posted on FaceBook. But I agree. And so do a whole lot of others, who’ve seen the 10-minute video clip of the TV host egging six-year-old Janjan to dance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YRCxh9q64w) like a “macho dancer,” not just once but five times, with Revillame joining in, twice, simultaneously laughing at the boy’s crying. As did Revillame’s personal lawyer, lawyer Alfonso “Boy” Reyno, shown thrice in the clip, laughing just as hard, at one point even tearfully so.

Of the 289, 770 hits on one of the YouTube links (there are several; some are shorter at three minutes plus, while the link I have above clocks at 10:02) there are 1,131 likes and 747 dislikes. Last night the count for Revillame hit the thousandth mark, today the angry appear to be swiftly catching up. The angry at Revillame, that is..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110329com4.html

Conception and abortion VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 03/29/2011

Conception and abortion

VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
03/29/2011
More than but engaging in mental gymnastics, it is but right and proper to think and reflect upon the significance and import of the lateral connection between conception and abortion. No. They are not necessarily interlinked. Yes. Reason says they are easily intertwined.
How? There are their two key parings thereof: Anti-conception and pro-abortion and pro-conception and anti-abortion. Once more with emphasis: Neither of the two parings is ground reality — but one logically or assumes the other.

In other words, it is probable that those who are anti-conception are also pro-abortion, and that those pro-conception are also anti-conception. In its wherefore rather improvable that those who are anti-conception would also be anti-abortion, and those who are pro-conception would likewise be pro-abortion. Thus stands the danger of the so called “RH Bill” which their leading proponents insist that it is intended to stop conception but definitely not intending to promote abortion..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110329com7.html

Yamashita’s gold revisited AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 03/29/2011

Yamashita’s gold revisited

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW
Ken Fuller
03/29/2011
Gold Warriors, an account by Sterling and Peggy Seagrave of how the USA recovered Japanese war loot and used it as a covert political fund in various countries around the world, is an entertaining read. First published in 2003, with a second edition two years later, I wondered why I had not previously heard of it. Now I know.

The Seagraves first trace the looting of Korea, Manchuria (where the money came mostly from drugs) and China. But Asia was not the only source of treasure, for there was also Nazi loot, and gold Mussolini had taken from Ethiopia (then Abyssinia). The latter was used to subvert the left in the Italian elections of 1948. Elections were also bought in Greece and, of course, Japan. There were bribes and murders, and in Japan Douglas MacArthur and his intelligence chief, General Willoughby, were fully involved in the funding thereof.

This outsider was prepared to take the Seagraves’ word for their claims regarding the other countries, but when it comes to the gold alleged to have been salted away in the Philippines and then recovered by various treasure hunters, including the US government and Ferdinand Marcos, it must be said that the authors hit an awful lot of bum notes..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110329com5.html

Pinoy drug mules, kin may meet on execution day — DFA 03/29/2011

Pinoy drug mules, kin may meet on execution day — DFA

03/29/2011
The families of the three convicted Filipino drug mules who were sentenced to die by lethal injection in China tomorrow would be given a chance to see their loved ones only a few hours before they are executed, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday said.

DFA spokesman Eduardo Malaya said the relatives of Ramon Credo, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva and Elizabeth Batain would have a chance to meet them on the morning of March 30 after the promulgation of sentence.

“I was told that in the morning of March 30 they will have the promulgation of the sentence. After the promulgation, there will be an opportunity for relatives to see their loved ones,” Malaya said in a radio interview.

Executions for Credo and Ordinario-Villanueva will be held in Xiamen and in Shenzhen for Batain..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110329hed6.html

De Lima to Ping: Prosecutor just doing her job By Benjamin B, Pulta 03/29/2011

De Lima to Ping: Prosecutor just doing her job

By Benjamin B, Pulta 03/29/2011

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima took the cudgels for a female prosecutor whom Sen. Panfilo Lacson said went out of her way to solicit testimony by browbeating witnesses against the lawmaker in connection with the government’s reinvestigation into the killing of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and Emmanuel Corbito.

Speaking with newsmen, De Lima insisted that she is “neither friend nor enemy” to Ping who is perceived as having strong connections with President Aquino, being a close political ally.

Lacson has also accused De Lima’s predecessors in the Justice department of persecuting him to pressure him from backing off from his criticism of former President Gloria Arroyo..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110329hed4.html

Libyan rebel advance halted, Nato jets raid Kadhafi town 03/29/2011

Libyan rebel advance halted, Nato jets raid Kadhafi town

03/29/2011
BIN JAWAD — Loyalist troops yesterday halted a rebel advance on Moammar Kadhafi’s home town Sirte, which was pounded overnight by coalition jets after Nato took command of military operations in Libya.

An Agence France Presse reporter who for the past two days have raced westwards toward Sirte came under heavy machine-gun fire from regime loyalists in pick-up trucks on the road from Bin Jawad to Nofilia.

The rebels on Sunday seized Bin Jawad, 140 kilometers east of Sirte, after retaking the key oil town of Ras Lanuf as they advanced with the support of coalition air strikes on Kadhafi’s forces..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110329hed5.html

AFP tops most corrupt list—Pulse By Mario J. Mallari 03/29/2011

HEIDI GETS LOW MARKS IN CREDIBILITY, OTHER WHISTLE-BLOWERS LOWER

AFP tops most corrupt list—Pulse

By Mario J. Mallari 03/29/2011

Too many Filipinos may be turning cynical, going by the latest release of Pulse Asia on corruption, with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) now topping the list of “most corrupt” government agencies, with the military seen by almost five out of every two Filipinos (48.9 percent) as the most corrupt government agency.

Worse, even the whistle-blowers and the accused are now seen as “not credible,” with the highest “credibility” ranking at only 22 percent.

The skyrocketing of the perception of corruption on the AFP was seen as startling, since the AFP in a February 2009 poll had only an 8.1 percent rating, jumping to a rating of close to a majority number..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110329hed1.html

‘No irregularities in PCG fund utilization’ 03/29/2011

‘No irregularities in PCG fund utilization’

03/29/2011
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) yesterday denied that there are irregularities in the fund utilization of the agency.

The PCG said that the P125 million fund released or transferred by the Department of Transportations and Communications (DoTC) to the PCG from the P450 million special allotment released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the DoTC on Jan.19, 2007 was used to procure marine pollution and hazardous material equipment for the Marine Environmental Protection Command, and repair of vessels and air assets, which were utilized not only for search and rescue operations but also for marine environmental patrols and oil pollution prevention activities. All transactions were “above board and properly documented,” the PCG added..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110329nat5.html

AFP to upgrade its capability in disputed Spratly Islands By Mario J. Mallari 03/29/2011

AFP to upgrade its capability in disputed Spratly Islands

By Mario J. Mallari 03/29/2011

The Armed Forces of the Philippine (AFP) will be upgrading its capability at the disputed Spratly group of islands on South China Sea as it maintained that the Reed Bank, where the Department of Energy (DoE) is conducting oil exploration, is well within the country’s territorial waters.

At a luncheon meeting with Camp Aguinaldo reporters, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr. yesterday said the upgrade will start with the allotment of P31 million for the rehabilitation of the Rancudo Airfield on Philippine-occupied Pagasa  Island which was already approved by President Aquino.

“That’s a standing order…we will be having rehabilitation of the runway in Pagasa,” said Oban, adding the upgrading will be started “as soon as possible, we need to address that immediately. Matter of fact, there are funds for that already.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110329nat2.html

Binay seeks clarification from Saudi on OFW ban By Michaela P. del Callar 03/29/2011

Binay seeks clarification from Saudi on OFW ban

By Michaela P. del Callar 03/29/2011

Vice President Jejomar Binay will seek clarification from the government of Saudi Arabia on its decision to ban Filipino maids from working in the Kingdom during a visit to the Middle East this week.

The monthly wage increase sought by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for Filipino domestic helpers from $200 to $400 is seen as a major reason why the Saudi government decided to impose the deployment ban, migrant worker group Migrante said.

It said the Saudi government issued a note verbale to the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh saying “processing and verification of household service workers have been stopped until further notice.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110329nat6.html

Coalition groups to stage people’s protest vs oil price hike on Thursday By Pat C. Santos 03/29/2011

Coalition groups to stage people’s protest vs oil price hike on Thursday

By Pat C. Santos 03/29/2011

Various sectors, led by the Koalisyon ng Progresibong Manggagawa at Mamamayan or KPMM, will stage the national people’s protest on Thursday against the unhampered hikes in the prices of petroleum products, the coalition’s leaders announced yesterday at a press conference.

The people’s protest will include protest marches and transport strikes throughout the country and a protest caravan in Metro Manila, the statement said.

“We banded together in our alliance to fight for a substantial wage hike for private and public sector workers, and the No. 1 enemy of our wages’ real value at present is the unabated oil price hikes and its devastating effects on the prices of basic commodities. The oil price hikes have to be stopped and that is why we are joining the people’s protest on Thursday,” said Larry Tan, KPMM spokesperson and vice chairperson of the National Food Authority Employees’ Association..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110329met1.html

Indecent proposal EDITORIAL 03/28/2011

Monday, March 28, 2011

Indecent proposal

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
03/28/2011
Improper is the word to describe the Palace’s floating of its hot idea that public opinion and surveys will influence the Senate court that would try the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.

The Palace mouthpiece with the longest title Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning (PCDSP) Secretary Ramon Carandang said a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showing a 52 percent support on Gutierrez’s impeachment should have a bearing on the senators who would sit as judges on the impeachment court.

The obvious hand of Noynoy in the House vote to impeach Gutierrez was already reprehensible even without Carandang’s pitch..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110328com1.html

Just in time? FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 03/28/2011

Just in time?

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
03/28/2011
Ping Lacson has finally surfaced, coming out of hiding after some 14 months.

His return to the country was of course not unexpected, after the Court of Appeals voided his arrest warrant, saying there was no probable cause to link him to the murder of publicist Bubby Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

But Malacañang’s reaction to Lacson was strange, in that Noynoy’s mouthpiece said it welcomed the return of Lacson, adding that he can now put closure on the allegations.

Why should the Palace welcome his return, given the fact that the senator, for close to a year and a half, flouted the law, and even issued conditions for him to return to the country?.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110328com2.html

Mideast turfs out presidents who would be king

Mideast turfs out presidents who would be king

focus

03/28/2011
DUBAI — Revolts across the Arab world have targeted longtime presidents seen as eager to set up ruling dynasties, while the region’s established monarchies have so far emerged relatively unscathed.

“It is clear that the ones who have been in the line of fire of the Arab revolts are the presidents, but even the monarchies might not be immune to the contagion,” says analyst Saman Shaikh of the Brookings Institute in Doha.

Tunisia started the ball rolling in January when President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was sent packing into exile, to be followed by Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak the following month under the weight of mass street protests.

“People power” has since set its sights on embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh: between them, the three heads of state have amassed several decades in power..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110328com3.html

Are they mining the stock exchange? C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 03/28/2011

Are they mining the stock exchange?

C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S
Jonathan De la Cruz
03/28/2011
There was a time when mining issues were being listed like crazy in major stock exchanges, including the Australian and Toronto Stock Exchanges, that some investment funds representing public employees and pedigreed private equity firms started a quiet investigation on the whys and wherefores of such a seeming gold rush. It turned out after some months of inquiry that a number of the issues were really for real, meaning, they had intrinsic value and represented solid businesses upon which hard-earned monies can really be invested. But a lot turned out to be speculative ones which cultivated the “greed for the fast and big bucks,” as one analyst called it, of many investors. Which is why these analysts called the promoters of these issues “miners” of a different kind — they were mining the stock exchange. That appellation has since stuck, so now every stock exchange of record has set up some kind of a vetting system to determine whether the exchange is being unduly used by these so-called “miners” to the detriment of thousands of innocent investors and, of course, the public whose confidence in the market has to be responsibly reinforced if these exchanges’ operations are to be appreciated at all..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110328com4.html

Cold, wet, and in panic HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 03/28/2011

Cold, wet, and in panic

HE SAYS
Aldrin Cardon
03/28/2011
The cold, wet summer isn’t here yet.

In fact, there is none of the anticipation of this freak weather change. Locals are looking forward to a “normal” Philippine summer.

Boracay, that great beach destination that is now almost crowded throughout the year, is starting to welcome the surge of people fighting for precious space in its very fine white sand.

But new things are beginning to put a different face on Bora this year.

The huge sand castles, built by residents to charge tourists for photo opportunities with them, would soon decrease. The local government is now charging sand artists with fees that I find exorbitant, they may have been legislated to discourage the trade altogether..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110328com6.html

Summer SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 03/28/2011

Summer

SHE SAYS
Dinah S. Ventura
03/28/2011
There’s plenty of reasons tourists keep coming back to Boracay. The much-touted island paradise continues to satisfy vacation-goers’ desire for fun and relaxation on the sunshiny shores of the famed beach destination.

Locals look forward to the summer months to soak in the sun, doze by the sand and party the night away. There’s something about the blue sea and sky that lull the senses no matter what weather it is. Even when the sun barely shows itself, Boracay captivates in a way that is hard to describe.

Yet just like any dynamic destination, Boracay has had its share of issues, from overdevelopment to environmental concerns. Negligence and abuse were talked about for years before we saw any action from government in terms of exerting control over the use of the island’s resources. For a long time, concerned parties lobbied to ensure that controls are put in place so that the natural beauty we so love are preserved as much as possible..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110328com7.html

Manufacturing ignorance DIE HARD III Herman Tiu Laurel 03/28/2011

Manufacturing ignorance

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
03/28/2011
The term agnotology is gaining more usage. I heard it used on television for the first time last week, on the program of Max Keiser on RT (Russia Today, on Global News Network, Destiny Cable). His partner Stacey Herbert described as agnotological capitalism American neo-conservative newspaper and TV (Fox News) pundit Ann Coulter’s rejoinder to the anti-nuke wave in the wake of the Fukushima nuke disaster. Coulter said on Bill O’Reilly’s show on Fox News that radiation in some dosage levels can be beneficial to humans, i.e. the hormesis theory, citing without naming “a stunning number” of physicists reported on the New York Times and some other papers. Of course there is no “stunning number,” but Coulter added that to create an antologic situation in the minds of audiences who may not be alert to the ploy. Keiser cited this a “manufacture of ignorance,” the same way the tobacco industry has tried to convince people smoking is good for the health.

Agnotologicism or manufacturing of ignorance is an important rephrasing of the old terms misinformation and disinformation, expanding the meaning to include the idea of deliberate, systematic, structured creation of gaps in information and understanding in the public’s mind. The neo-conservatives in the US are often identified with the far right, ultra-capitalist causes, which include the nuclear and defense industry lobbies.

Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reily rooted for every American and Nato wars, and they are now for the attack on Libya. The nuclear lobby is a lobby for the uranium based nuclear power because it is also adjunct to the nuclear weapons industry. It all ties in, including their desire to downplay the terror of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The Thorium nuclear reactor has no such lobby as it does not produce the weapons grade byproducts.

Manufactured ignorance can also serve the interest of the complete opposite pole — the solar and wind power lobby. These two lobbies are having a heyday nuking nuke power and selling themselves as the only alternative; but they are not telling anybody that their options simply won’t supply the base load power requirements of modern society and standards of living. We can take from the nuclear lobby the truth against the other side of the issue, writing in Forbes magazine March 18 on “Options for Replacing Japan’s Busted Nukes” or the Fukushima plants Christoher Helman says “Solar — Right now, the Mojave Desert is home to roughly 400 mw worth of solar projects, the biggest concentration in the world. To get 6,000 MW from solar power would require Japan building more installations than currently exist in the entire world — about 50,000 acres covered with parabolic troughs at a price of some $24 billion.”

Even then, Helman says, “the generation capacity would not be baseload, only on when the sun shines…. the long-term cost of solar power comes to 25 cents per kilowatthour.” On wind power to replace the six Fukushiima power lost he says, “You’d need something like 4,200 turbines covering well more than 60,000 acres at a cost of $11 billion. Again, this would not be reliable baseload power. Wind costs roughly 10 cents per kwh.” These solar and wind advocates don’t allow the public to see these, creating an agnotologic situation by glossing over these. Helman, who seems to be of the nuclear lobby, makes an agnotologic move when he describes nuclear power as costing only 11 cents per kwh — which does not include the astronomical costs of storing radioactive waste and the unlimited potential for financial disaster from accidents like Fukushima; financial forensic analyst Hiro Vaswani estimates it would really cost $ 5,000 per kwh.

In our Philippine media setting, agnotologic situations are created every day. One example of this is a recent exposé Quezon City’s councilors’ “ghost employees” by a ratio of 10 to 1 favoring ghost employees: thousands of the walking, salary collecting dead. However, the report omits something. In the last Quezon City elections reform candidates running on a platform to expose former Mayor Sonny Belmonte’s corruption presented facts and figures taken from QC Hall documents. It exposed thousands of ghost employees in city hall itself. This was not cited in the recent exposé as the writer is said to be friendly with Sonny Belmonte. Corruption during the Belmonte nine-year era is very vital because his city administrator is now sitting in Malacañang. If such corrupt officials are riding high and more powerful than an Ombudsman, how can there be a “matuwid na daan?”

The Libyan situation presents agnotology cases galore, such as the admission by the anti-Gaddafi opposition leader Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, in remarks to the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore that he recruited al-Qaeda fundamentalists to fight in Iraq. Likewise, that the CIA has been funding al-Qaeda from its very inception.

Mainstream media, especially Al Jazeera, hardly report these; especially Al Jazeera, funded by the Emir of Qatar and backed by the Western powers, US and British; now at the forefront of the attack on Libya (Qatar the only Arab country providing planes). Agnotology or the manufacture of ignorance is the groundwork for manufacturing consent for war and other unsavory things.

(Tune in to Sulo M-W-F, 6-7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday 8 to 9 p.m., replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our selected radio and GNN shows)


(Reprinted with permission from Mr. Herman Tiu-Laurel)

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110328com5.html

Pro-RH solons: Davide ‘agent of falsehood’ By Gerry Baldo 03/28/2011

BATTLE HEATS UP ANEW ON CONTROVERSIAL BILL

Pro-RH solons: Davide ‘agent of falsehood’

By Gerry Baldo 03/28/2011

House members backing the Reproductive Health bill called former Chief Justice Hilario Davide an “agent of falsehood” for supposedly launching a black propaganda against the bill as the Church stepped up its campaign against the measure that has the backing of the Aquino administration.

Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, one of the staunch proponents of the Reproductive Health bill, said he was very disappointed at how Davide carried his black propaganda against the RH bill.

“He’s dead wrong. He’s exploiting his status to perpetuate falsehood about the RH bill promoted by the Catholic Church hierarchy. Worse than earthquakes and tsunamis — this comes right out of the Nazi propaganda playbook,” Bello said.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Rep. Antonio Tinio, also a co-author of the measure,
said Davide is opposing public opinion which is overwhelmingly supporting the RH bill..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110328hed1.html

Dacers mull elevating case vs Lacson to SC By Jason Faustino 03/28/2011

Dacers mull elevating case vs Lacson to SC

By Jason Faustino 03/28/2011

Members of the Dacer family are not giving up on Sen. Panfilo Lacson who they believe was responsible for the murder of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito as the family’s legal counsel hinted on plans to elevate the murder case against Lacson to the Supreme Court.

In a television interview, the lawyers of the Dacer family and witness Cezar Mancao said that they had a meeting last Saturday when they discussed the possibility of bringing the case to the Supreme Court.

The meeting came as Lacson arrived in the Philippines via the airport in Cebu days after the Court of Appeals lifted the warrant of arrest on him.

Lacson was reported yesterday on his way to Manila from Cebu City where he arrived at noontime Saturday from Hong Kong, Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr. said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110328hed2.html

Drilon seeks to move ARMM polls to 2013 By Angie M. Rosales 03/28/2011

Drilon seeks to move ARMM polls to 2013

By Angie M. Rosales 03/28/2011

A known Malacañang ally in the Senate has filed a bill calling for the postponement of the electoral exercise in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) this year and hold it instead simultaneous with the 2013 national polls.

Senate Bill 2756, introduced by Sen. Franklin Drilon, is effectively the counterpart measure to the proposal in the House of Representatives approved last Wednesday, and in support of the call of President Aquino to put aside the holding of the electoral exercise in the meantime.

Drilon said the conduct of a separate elections for the ARMM will cost P1.8 billion this year.

“It is opportune time for the new administration to be more prudent and discerning in its current expenditures. The savings to be realized from the postponement of the elections may instead be used for urgent social services and physical infrastructures needed in the region,” he said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110328hed4.html

AFP ready to thwart attacks by NPAs as they celebrate rite tomorrow By Mario J. Mallari 03/28/2011

AFP ready to thwart attacks by NPAs as they celebrate rite tomorrow

By Mario J. Mallari 03/28/2011

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has intensified intelligence operations to thwart any attempt from the communist New People’s Army (NPA) to stage atrocities in observance of its 42nd founding anniversary tomorrow.

AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said that AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr. has instructed all military units to intensify intelligence gathering in connection with the NPA anniversary.

Mabanta, however, maintained that the military has not raised its alert level.

“We have instructions to step up intelligence monitoring and to initiate action to thwart terroristic action emanating from the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF),” said Mabanta..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune


URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110328nat1.html

Saudi bans in hiring OFWs due to wage increase 03/28/2011

Saudi bans in hiring OFWs due to wage increase

03/28/2011
An alliance of Filipino migrants rights group, with chapters in the Middle East, said the moved by the Saudi government to stop the hiring of overseas Filipino domestic workers exposes the dilemma of the Philippine government “lucrative business” of peddling its cheap human labor sans protection of their well-being, rights and welfare.

“Clashes of contending interests in peddling OFWs abroad has become more apparent now with the Saudi government imposing a ban on hiring OFW-DH,” said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator.

Citing reports, the Saudi government issued a note verbale to the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh saying “processing and verification of household service workers have been stopped until further notice.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110328nat4.html

Rights’ victims oppose Marcos burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani 03/28/2011

Rights’ victims oppose Marcos burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani

03/28/2011
No hero’s burial for the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos!

Human rights victims to this day still object to having Marcos buried at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani.

Members of Samahan ng mga Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Selda) said the plan to bury Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani is “a great insult and embarrassment to the Filipino people.”

Selda chairman Marie Hilao Enriquez, herself a victim of human rights abuse, said they will protest any move to have Marcos buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110328nat7.html

De Lima wants gov’t to aid indigents on funeral expenses By Benjamin B. Pulta 03/28/2011

De Lima wants gov’t to aid indigents on funeral expenses

By Benjamin B. Pulta 03/28/2011
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is recommending an expanded program for the government to subsidize funeral services for indigents.

In a legal opinion, De Lima said “promissory notes” from the indigent families may not be the realistic workable solution for the rising cost of dying.

Secretary Ma. Lourdes Mendoza, committee on poverty alleviation-House of Representatives, Batasan Complex, Quezon City, sought a legal opinion for the official position of the Department of Justice (DoJ) regarding House Bill 3751 entitled “An Act Prohibiting the Detention of Bodies in Funeral Homes and Morgues on Grounds of Non-Payment of Embalment or Any Other Funeral Services.”

While there is a law that prohibits the detention of bodies by funeral homes and morgues due to unpaid payments of embalment, De Lima said the government should render assistance to indigents who cannot afford to pay for the funeral expenses of their deceased relatives..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110328met1.html

Inspection of dorms in Manila set 03/28/2011

Inspection of dorms in Manila set

03/28/2011
Manila City Hall officials yesterday said they are set to inspect all dormitories operating within the city proper as part of their preparedness program for natural disasters, including killer quakes.

At the weekly Balitaan sa Tinapayan, engineer Melvin Balagot, chief of the City Building Office, and City Administrator Jay Marzan told reporters they were directed by Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim to ensure the safety of students residing in dormitories during times of calamities.

“Magsasagawa na kami ng mga inspeksiyon sa mga dormitory, simula na ang bakasyon ng mga estudyante kaya ito na ang pagkakataon naming para ma-inspeksiyon ang kanilang mga tinutuluyan para matiyak na ligtas ang mga estudyante kapag may lindol, tsunami at sunog (We will conduct an inspection to all dormitories starting this vacation, because this is the time that we can freely inspect their condition to ensure the safety of students in cases of fire, earthquake and tsunami),” Balagot said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110328met3.html

A hard sell at Ateneo EDITORIAL 03/27/2011

Sunday, March 27, 2011

A hard sell at Ateneo

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
03/27/2011
Noynoy turned off graduates of his alma mater Ateneo the other day as he surprised them by including his efforts to impeach Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez in a lackluster speech, empty of any source of inspiration for those in the crowd among whom may probably lead the country in the future.

That came after a few lines when he supposedly bragged about his achievements that many see as either illusory or non-existent.

Noynoy also used the occasion to dig up a grudge about Ateneo voting for Gibo Teodoro Jr. in a mock poll prior to the elections last year.

“It was reported to me that when mock elections were held in this campus where I came from, most voted for green,” he told the crowd..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110327com1.html

Hard sell FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 03/27/2011

Hard sell

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
03/27/2011
Malacañang is on a hard sell campaign for the Senate to convict the Ombudsman. But why?
The Ombudsman, or any other impeachable officer — including a president should impeached if indeed the charges stick and are substantiated with hard evidence, enough to to convince the senator-judges to hand a verdict of guilty.

Does the Palace fear that the evidence to be submitted by the House prosecutors to the Senate is weak and that if the senator-judges do give their judgment on the basis of non-partisanship and strictly on the merits of the evidence from both parties, the Ombudsman will walk?

The Malacañang occupant has demeaned his office by forcing through the impeachment of the Ombudsman in the House. Again the question arises: Why? If the evidence was strong against the Ombudsman, there certainly would have been no need to railroad the impeachment process and on an overkill of the yes vote, to the point of bribing congressmen with an additional P20-million pork for a yes vote..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110327com2.html

France’s star philosopher shines for Libyan cause FEATURE 03/27/2011

France’s star philosopher shines for Libyan cause

FEATURE

03/27/2011
PARIS — With his open shirt and flowing dark mane, France’s most infamous public intellectual has adopted the cause of Libyan freedom, taking an outsized role in French foreign affairs in the process.

Even his detractors — and he has many — acknowledge that Bernard-Henri Levy helped engineer France’s pathbreaking recognition of Libya’s fledgling rebel authority, a major impetus for the coalition then gathering to back its struggle.

Largely unheralded abroad, BHL, as he is universally known here, is omnipresent in France, the most visible star in France’s crowded constellation of big thinkers, glitterati and talking heads.

Even those unfamiliar with his ideas or opinions immediately recognize the trademark white dress-shirt, mostly unbuttoned to expose an ever-tanned chest, and his now-graying, wavy black locks..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110327com3.html

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