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More cash to transfer EDITORIAL 03/20/2011

Sunday, March 20, 2011

More cash to transfer

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
03/20/2011
During the recent Galing Pook award at Malacañang, Noynoy intimated that he plans to double the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program from the P21 billion allocation this year, saying that beneficiaries of the program are also expected to double to 4.6 million families.

Noynoy said the plan will depend on the state of the economy, which was the same as saying that the CCT program and the huge fund allocation for it will stay and is bound to increase anywhere to double by next year.

Saying that the CCT should be expanded carried with it the assumption that it was a success in reaching the 2.3 million families targeted in the program.

The CCT or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), started during the term of Gloria, is good on paper since it dangles incentives to poor families to keep their children in school and to assure that infants are kept healthy..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110320com1.html

Too much impeachment on his mind FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 03/20/2011

Too much impeachment on his mind

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
03/20/2011
Removal of all of Noynoy Aquino’s pet peeves from the previous administration is through impeachment. This much is clear, what with an impeachment by the House of Representatives and a probable trial in the Senate for her.

But apparently, for Noynoy, it is not enough to just oust Merceditas Gutierrez, as, from all indications, he wants the majority of the justices of the Supreme Court (SC) who he says are allied with Gloria Arroyo, impeached as well.

But he and his not so bright boys both in Malacañang and in the House of Representatives apparently never think things through on this Palace game of impeaching Noynoy’s perceived political foes, while always claiming that they are the stumbling blocks to his reform program, which nobody seems to know about, since what he does, was what he has accused Gloria and her regime of doing.

He uses the congressional pork as bribes to get the congressmen to vote for the ouster of Merci, despite the clear lack of evidence with which to have her convicted. There is not even a charge of graft and corruption against her in the impeachment complaint. What Noynoy’s allies have charged her with is what she has the prerogative to do under her mandate, which is whether to dismiss a complaint or push through with it, and investigate complaints, which investigation, incidentally, carries no time frame..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110320com2.html

What now? VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 03/20/2011

What now?

VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
03/20/2011
For some years to this date, the Philippine government, one after another, has been looking at the Filipino population as a commodity for sale – “deployment” is the political correct word – to the highest bidding foreign country. This posture is perceived as a big blessing, a great advantage to the Philippines. And rightly so: The land as been long since made economically afloat through overseas Filipino workers (OFW) remittances – the “New Heroes” is the deceptive phrase used to humor them.

This stance thereby kept the government over and above the imperative of developing its own industry and agriculture. This shallow policy and lucrative practice in effect even brought to fore the infamous thought of the previous government about making and selling “Super Maids” to foreign households..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110320com5.html

Tsunami takes grim toll on Japan’s elderly FEATURE 03/20/2011

Tsunami takes grim toll on Japan’s elderly

FEATURE

03/20/2011
MIYAKO — Japan’s quake and tsunami disaster has taken an especially harsh toll on the elderly, who have seen their lives of peaceful retirement shattered into a nightmare of homeless desolation.

Bewildered, bereft and often cut off from any family support, they have suffered more than most from the terrible deprivation wrought by the wall of water that engulfed the coast of northeast Japan a week ago.

Like many towns and villages in the region, the quiet port of Miyako had a large elderly population as, over the years, an increasing number of younger people had moved elsewhere in search of work.

Helpless in the face of the speed and destructive power of the tsunami, they figure highly in the ever-growing estimates of the dead and missing..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110320com6.html

Romance bodice-ripper novels get S. African flavor FEATURE 03/20/2011

Romance bodice-ripper novels get S. African flavor

FEATURE

03/20/2011
CAPE TOWN — Hate and passion flares in rural South Africa when Thuli meets the gorgeous Jake in a locally flavored romance novel with a feisty black heroine and a hunky Zulu in shining armour.

The story follows a well-oiled path to love in a recipe perfected by Harlequin Mills & Boon and Barbara Cartland that has been adopted by two South African publishers who saw a gap for young black female readers.

“The response has been phenomenal. It’s a market that people believed didn’t read and wouldn’t buy books,” said Moky Makura of Nollybooks which publishes in a “bookazine” format with puzzles and talking points.

“We’re trying to say, you know books can be fun. They’re easy, they’re light, they can reflect your lifestyle. It’s entertainment.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110320com7.html

Cimatu and the PMA honor code BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 03/20/2011

Cimatu and the PMA honor code

BLURBAL THRUSTS
Louie Logarta
03/20/2011
And so the plot thickens!
Due to the prospect of being made out to be a fall guy, this “ransom cop” has decided to do a canary act before Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim.

By doing so, Senior Insp. Peter Nervisa of Manila Police District Station 5 – one of five police officers accused of stealing some P12 million of the P16 million ransom paid by Malaysian businessman Eric Tong to his kidnapers – has implicated a senior official of having pocketed the lion’s share of the loot, leaving him and his pals to face the music.

Under interrogation by policemen assigned to the Mayor’s Office, Nervisa made the admission that his team indeed had recovered the P16-million ransom from suspected kidnap mastermind Marlon Lopera when they raided his hideout last week, but that they had turned it over to the ranking officer. When the bag containing the money was returned to him, Nervisa said he discovered that a huge portion of the money had vanished into thin air.

In its headline story last Friday, March 18, 2011, the tabloid Police Files Tonight identified the senior MPD officer to whom Nervisa surrendered the ransom money as Station 5 commander Supt. Felipe Cazon Jr..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110320com4.html

No Merci impeach, no pork — Noy ally By Charlie V. Manalo and Gerry Baldo 03/20/2011

LP NOT SEEN TO CLINCH 94 HOUSE VOTES

No Merci impeach, no pork — Noy ally

By Charlie V. Manalo and Gerry Baldo 03/20/2011

House allies of President Aquino, with only three session days on their hand before Congress goes on Lenten break, had resorted to intimidation in their effort to secure the needed votes in the plenary set tomorrow to impeach Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez with Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya allegedly threatening House colleagues they would not be able to get their priority development assistance fund (PDAF) or more commonly known as “pork barrel” if they do not vote in favor of the impeachment complaint.

The Liberal Party (LP) apparently in a panic mode over the likelihood that they would fall short of the required 94 plenary votes to approve the impeachment complaint against Gutierrez.

A text message was reportedly circulated among members of the House supposedly by LP spokesman Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya containing an alleged warning to lawmakers, including non-LP members, that they would be deprived of their pork should they go against the Gutierrez impeachment.

The text message read: “From Cong. Abaya – Favor, kindly disseminate to all reps – LP and non-LPs. This should be made clear to all. Those who will vote no or absent/abstain on impeachment will get 0 as in zero. At least walang sisihan that there was no forewarning (At least there would be no recriminations and accusations that there was no forewarning).”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110320hed1.html

Fierce battle rages around rebel capital 03/20/2011

Fierce battle rages around rebel capital

03/20/2011
Despite a supposed ceasefire, fighting raged around Libya’s rebel stronghold of Benghazi yesterday, with air strikes, shelling and anti-aircraft fire rocking the Mediterranean city as a war plane went down in flames.

Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi announced a unilateral ceasefire after the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) voted to impose a No-Fly Zone on Libya which in effect approved defensive attacks against Kadhafi loyalists’ aircraft blitz against the rebels.

Hundreds were seen fleeing the city eastwards amid unconfirmed reports that forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi had entered the western suburbs of the city of more than one million people.

Tank fire was also heard from the south of the city as rebel fighters ran through the streets flashing V for victory signs and crying “Allahu Akbar” or “God is greatest.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110320hed2.html

Gov’t repatriation problems grow as Syria falls into crisis By Aytch S. de la Cruz 03/20/2011

.Gov’t repatriation problems grow as Syria falls into crisis

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 03/20/2011

Malacañang said it will rely on the “hands on” approach of acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario to address the plight of many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) scattered in different Middle Eastern territories whose lives remain in peril as a result of the spread of unrest in the region, primarily in Libya and lately in Syria, on top of the worsening Japan crisis.

Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is already in contact with the Philippine Embassy in Damascus to possibly draw up contingency measures for Filipinos who might be affected by the growing Syrian tension.

Reports circulated by international media have indicated that Syrians also took the same path as their neighbors by staging similar loud protests against their authoritarian government, hoping it would result in having their political freedom restored.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110320hed3.html

Japan connects power cable in race to stop radiation 03/20/2011

Japan connects power cable in race to stop radiation

03/20/2011
OSAKA — Engineers at a stricken nuclear plant in Japan yesterday managed to connect an electricity cable to one of the reactors and battled to restore power to the cooling system to avert a full-blown meltdown.

The announcement offered some hope of a breakthrough in efforts to prevent a major radiation leak from the troubled facility, although it is not yet clear whether the cooling system will work properly even if the power comes back on.

The government, meanwhile, said it had discovered abnormal levels of radiation that exceeded the legal limit in milk and spinach from areas near the stricken plant, but they posed no immediate threat to humans.

Electricity was expected to be restored to reactor No. 2 at the Fukushima plant on Sunday, more than a week after it was rocked by a massive earthquake and tsunami, the nuclear safety agency said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110320hed4.html

ARMM polls delay voids autonomy safeguards — solon 03/20/2011

ARMM polls delay voids autonomy safeguards — solon

03/20/2011
House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman yesterday scored Malacañang for insisting on postponing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao elections scheduled this August, saying House Bill (HB) 4146 which President Aquino has certified as urgent violates all the built-in safeguards on autonomy in the ARMM.

In a statement sent to the media, Lagman said postponing the elections in the ARMM and allowing Aquino to appoint

In a statement sent to the media, Lagman said postponing the elections in the ARMM and allowing Aquino to appoint officers-in-charge (OICs), is by itself, violative of the organic which created ARMM as it negates the very concept of the autonomy the region is supposed to enjoy.

On interpellation early this week by Lagman, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, chairman of the sponsoring Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms, categorically admitted that the Organic Act constituting ARMM, as amended, protects and preserves self-determination and self-governance in ARMM by providing for: (a) Periodic and regular elections; (b) Holdover of incumbent ARMM officials until their successors are elected and qualified;.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110320hed6.html

QC gov’t requires housing units to be earthquake-proof By Arlie O. Calalo 03/20/2011

QC gov’t requires housing units to be earthquake-proof

By Arlie O. Calalo 03/20/2011

Seeing the danger the poor residents, especially the informal settlers, are facing once an earthquake hits the country, particularly Metro Manila, the Quezon City government takes the initiatives to require the use of standard building materials in the construction of mass housing projects to ensure they can withstand tremors.

As a first step to realize his proposal, Mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista told Tribune in a text message the city government is planning to require even the low-cost community mortgage program (CMP) projects to secure building permits before construction is started.

Bautista, who led recently a meeting with city’s disaster risk reduction management council, said it was high time for the local government to study the inclusion of mass housing units in the projects that need building permits before construction.

As a result, he directed Department of Building Official (DBO) chief Isagani Verzosa Jr. to immediately look into the need to ensure the sturdiness of mass housing units for the city’s informal settlers..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110320met1.html

DoLE approves ‘special leave’ for female employee in private sector By Mina Diaz 03/20/2011

DoLE approves ‘special leave’ for female employee in private sector

By Mina Diaz 03/20/2011
The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) approved the special leave for women working in the private sector who are scheduled to undergo surgery for gynecological disorders.

The guidelines for availing themselves of the special leave privilege are contained in the Department Order 112-11 issued by Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz provided for under Republic Act 9710 (Section 18), known as the Magna Carta for Women (MCW).

Baldoz said that the guidelines ensure compliance in the implementation of the special leave benefits for women employees in the private sector.

“The two-month leave is in addition to the leave privileges under existing laws,” said Baldoz..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110320nat4.html

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