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Returning hero or villain? EDITORIAL 04/07/2011

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Returning hero or villain?

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
04/07/2011
Heidi Mendoza, the military corruption whistle-blower, is back at the Commission on Audit, not just as a CoA auditor, but as commissioner, although she did say that she had her eye on the CoA chairmanship, which she failed to get.

But apparently, her return to CoA, as a high ranking official, is not that welcomed by CoA people, as they reportedly feel that she had cast doubts on the integrity of the CoA and in the process, caused destruction to the institution, as well as her having given a blanket condemnation of the employees and officers of that agency she had called corrupt.

Every move she makes, every mistake she commits, every action or inaction in whatever her duties are, will definitely be watched by those in the CoA who feel they have been maligned, because Heidi did not just testify on the audit report she made on the military but also hit out at the CoA and pointing the finger at its officials and officers as either having covered up the past misdeeds, or ordered her to go slow, or their generally toeing the Malacañang line..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110407com1.html

Low regard for the law FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 04/07/2011

Low regard for the law

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
04/07/2011
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima should really drop all the dramatics in her press releases regarding her demand for answers from her agencies as well as from Ping Lacson on his whereabouts abroad and how he had traveled and entered the country with fake documents.

If she wants proof of his having evaded the arm of the law and returning with fake documents, she has enough evidence to perhaps even charge Lacson for entering the country with fake documents. Falsifying official documents, after all, is a crime in this country.

While Lacson may not be arrested for the murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, there shouldn’t be any bar to charging and arresting Lacson for falsifying official documents. It should be bailable..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110407com2.html

Obama weighs shuffle of top national security posts ANALYSIS 04/07/2011

Obama weighs shuffle of top national security posts

ANALYSIS

04/07/2011
WASHINGTON — With President Barack Obama weighing who should take over key defense posts, US media speculated Tuesday that his war commander in Afghanistan might head up the CIA while the current spy chief would move to the Pentagon.

The scenario, possibly a trial balloon floated by some military officials, highlights the tough choices Obama faces with a number of crucial national security jobs — including defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — coming open in the next several months.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is vowing to step down later this year, the military’s top officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, finishes his term in September and the high-profile commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, is expected to hand over his post before the end of 2011..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110407com3.html

Drilon’s rejoinder BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 04/07/2011

Drilon’s rejoinder

BLURBAL THRUSTS
Louie Logarta
04/07/2011
Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista is doing a good thing by, this early, pushing for the approval of a resolution by the City Council which is tantamount to law that would ban the erection of all types of structures along the recently-christened West Valley Fault, which would adversely affect some 600 prime residential as well as commercial properties inside city limits with a market value running into “several billions.”

For those who don’t know, the West Valley Fault, once known as the Marikina Valley Fault System (does it ring a bell?), is described by government experts as a narrow piece of land stretching approximately from the town of San Mateo, Rizal in the north to Taguig City in the south that sits right smack above a fissure deep down in the earth that is most to susceptible in the event of an earthquake, such as the one that hit Japan on March 11..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110407com4.html

Gross default in the RH bill VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 04/07/2011

Gross default in the RH bill

VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
04/07/2011
Sex. Methods. Number. This is the shameful tripod of the infamous Reproductive Health (RH) bill that continues to divide Filipinos — irrespective of their beliefs or religious affiliations.

Whether the division is in effect the Machiavellian intention behind the bill in order to weaken the progressive popular dissatisfaction against the Malacañang occupant — this is another question, another story. But the fact stands that for its incompetence, insensitivity and confusion, the national leadership is slowly but surely losing more and more of its once faithful followers.

The gross default of the RH bill is the marked absence of the human person in its long litany of envisioned big benefits to Philippine society.

It is good to ask: In the last analysis, without the human person justly considered and rightfully attended to in any social venture, what is there really worthwhile bothering about — in truth and in fact? And this is exactly the reality behind the RH bill when denuded of its pretentious concern for the good and welfare of the people of the Philippines..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110407com5.html

Family awaits word of missing Libyan in bloody video FEATURE 04/07/2011

Family awaits word of missing Libyan in bloody video

FEATURE

04/07/2011
AL-MARJ — The online video opens with Ahmed Gheriani lying face down on a highway in eastern Libya with blood soaking through his jeans, alone and at the mercy of Moamer Kadhafi’s feared troops.

As the cameraman marches toward him, a gravelly voice orders him to roll over and he obliges, moaning with pain.

“Say long live (Kadhafi)!... Say long live Moamer!” the voice shouts.

“Allahu Akbar,” he replies. God is greatest. Shots ring out, and the camera jerks away and goes dark..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110407com7.html

Philippine pilot soars above gender barrier focus 04/07/2011

Philippine pilot soars above gender barrier

focus

04/07/2011
MANILA — On the ground, Brooke Castillo is a classical pianist, a rock band manager, an elite sportswoman and a teacher, but it is high in the sky where she truly excels.

Castillo is the Philippines’ first female commercial jet captain, and from the cockpit of Cebu Pacific airline’s Airbus A319s and A320s she says she has the best job in the world.

“I think I was destined to be here,” the tall and eloquent 41-year-old told AFP in an interview, explaining that she realized her many other talents would take a back seat immediately after she got into aviation school.

“I just took up the challenge and I realized it was something that I would love to do, and that was it.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110407com6.html

Noy opts for populist moves amid ratings fall By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/07/2011

ORDERS STUDY FOR WAGE HIKE, OIL VAT CUT, PRICE CONTROLS

Noy opts for populist moves amid ratings fall

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/07/2011

With his survey ratings fast declining, President Aquino yesterday launched a major offensive to earn brownie points through a directive to his economic team to study populist measures such as a wage increase for private sector employees, a reduction of value added tax (VAT) on oil, and the imposition of price controls on basic commodities which moves are no different from the populist maneuvers of the past administration to raise ratings and woo voters. Aquino denounced the Arroyo administration for making similar moves that led to the worsening situation in the government budget.

The Aquino administration is looking at a budget deficit of P290 billion after a record P314 billion fiscal gap last year.

Aquino in his speeches had referred to decisions of the past administration borne out of political necessity, for the worsening of the fiscal situation, particularly the decision of former President Arroyo to cap electricity charges by deferring power purchase adjustment (PPA) collections owed to independent power producers (IPP) that resulted in the bloating of the debts of state power firm National Power Corp. (Napocor)..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110407hed1.html

Japan radiation contamination may reach RP— toxicologist By Angie M. Rosales 04/07/2011

Japan radiation contamination may reach RP— toxicologist

By Angie M. Rosales 04/07/2011

Contrary to claims earlier made by some government officials dismissing any radiation scare brought about by the meltdown of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, a toxicologist yesterday cited the prob-ability that radiation pollution will worsen and most likely reach the country.

Worse, there is no safe dose for radiation exposure, Dr. Romeo Quijano, University of the Philippines (UP) professor of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, said before the Senate commit-tee on health and demography.

Already, US engineers dis-patched to help Japan address its post-tsunami crisis are warning its crippled nuclear power plant faces a new set of persistent and growing threats, The New York Times said.

The new threats, cited in a confidential assessment prepared by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission dated March 26 and obtained by the Times, included the growing.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110407hed5.html

DoJ’s drug cases’ conviction rate: 1 percent 04/07/2011

DoJ’s drug cases’ conviction rate: 1 percent

04/07/2011
President Aquino, his Palace aides and his House of Representatives’ allies are bearing down on Ombudsman Merceditas “low conviction” rate, which is one of the grounds constituting betrayal of public trust in her impeachment case, but Aquino’s Department of Justice (DoJ) has an even much lower conviction rate in the matter of drug-related cases.

Only one case in one hundred drug cases handled by the DoJ results in conviction, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima bewailed yesterday .

“The main target is to increase the conviction rate because I understand the conviction rate in drug cases is only 1 percent. This is very low compared to the national average of overall types of cases which is 25 percent,” De Lima said yesterday as she vowed to do better.

The Justice chief pointed out that “in cases where the witnesses are covered under the Witness Protection Program, we have an average 92 to 95 percent conviction rate..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110407hed4.html

Aquino to face ‘political storm’ for rejecting P125 wage hike By Charlie V. Manalo 04/07/2011

Aquino to face ‘political storm’ for rejecting P125 wage hike

By Charlie V. Manalo 04/07/2011
Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano yesterday warned of an escalation of workers’ protest in the run-up to May 1, Labor Day, after Malacañang rejected a P125 legislated across the board wage hike for private workers.

“The Aquino administration will be facing a ‘perfect political storm’ this summer. It will brace an escalation of workers protest after its rejection and denial of the workers’ just demand for a substantial wage increase,” said Mariano, main author of House Bill 375 seeking a P125 across the board wage hike for private workers.

Today, thousands of government employees are set to march to Malacañang to demand a P6,000 increase in salary.

On the other hand, the militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) has declared May 1 as a “Day of Outrage” in response to the Palace’s rejection of a substantial and legislated wage hike..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110407nat1.html

MMDA plans to include in 60 kph speed limit scheme Osmeña Highway, Roxas Blvd. 04/07/2011

MMDA plans to include in 60 kph speed limit scheme Osmeña Highway, Roxas Blvd.

04/07/2011
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) revealed recently that it was planning to include two major roads in the metropolis in the 60-kph speed limit just like the one implemented on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

This after MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said now the battle cry in the first 60-kph speed limit area in the metropolis is “Common safety, common speed, Commonwealth.”

He said they are planning to include the stretch of Osmeña Highway in Makati City to Manila and Roxas Boulevard as the next 60 kph road just like on Commonwealth Avenue.

Tolentino said many accidents have been recorded on Osmeña Highway and there are known personalities that have been killed on the road..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

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

KMU to Baldoz: What workers need is wage increase, not Ecola 04/07/2011

KMU to Baldoz: What workers need is wage increase, not Ecola

04/07/2011
The militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) yesterday said it would not accept Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz’s proposal to grant an Ecola (emergency cost of living allowance) instead of granting wage increase.
Baldoz claimed the purchasing power of workers in Metro Manila has been eroded by P7.48 — the highest among all of the country’s regions.

“A mere increase in the Ecola, especially if it is only P8, will definitely not give us workers any relief from the skyrocketing prices of oil and other basic goods and services. This is the first time that the Aquino regime will do something with workers’ wages and it is hinting at giving us mere crumbs,” said Roger Soluta, KMU secretary general.

“Any honest comparison between wage hikes and price hikes in the past 10 years will show that our wages have not been increased enough to cope with the increases in prices. Big capitalists are raking in profits from merely increasing their product’s prices and by pressing down workers’ wages to starvation levels,” Soluta added..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110407met4.html

Taguig mayor, supporters face sedition, criminal raps By Charlie V. Manalo 04/07/2011

Taguig mayor, supporters face sedition, criminal raps

By Charlie V. Manalo 04/07/2011

Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano and some of her supporters are facing sedition charges after reportedly bodily preventing officers of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from retrieving the ballot boxes containing the ballots subject of her rival in the last elections.

Aside from sedition charges, retired Justice Dante Tiñga bared he is also threatening to file criminal and administrative charges before the Office of the Ombudsman and the Comelec against Cayetano and her “conspirators.”

“The filing of cases of conspiracy to commit sedition, which is defined and punished by Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, indirect contempt, violation of Republic Act 3019, otherwise known as “Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act,” and violation of Republic Act 6713 also known as “Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees” against the cabalists is long overdue and direly needed. They have not only frustrated the implementation of the Comelec’s legitimate orders but have made a mockery of the poll body as an institution.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110407met1.html

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