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A free ride it wasn’t EDITORIAL 05/18/2011

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

A free ride it wasn’t

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
05/18/2011
It can’t be helped but notice the degree of urgency in Noynoy’s tour of the US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson where practically the whole Aquino Cabinet was present.

Presidential spokesman Ricky Carandang said that the invitation to tour the carrier had been made a long time ago but it was only accepted fairly recently such as the exact moment when the US asked Noynoy and his wards to board the carrier last Friday.

Carandang, however, cannot deny that the invitation was so sudden that Noynoy did not even have time to cancel the courtesy call of boxing legend Manny Pacquiao who arrived from his US bout with Shane Mosley on the same day that the tour was suddenly on the agenda for the day of Noynoy.

The militants speculate that the whisking away of Noynoy to the US ship out in the high seas prior to the docking of the US battle fleet in Manila had something to do with the recent visit of US government officials at Subic Bay to explore the possibility of an interim base while a massive military installation is still being set up in Guam..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110518com1.html

Asking for more trouble FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 05/18/2011

Asking for more trouble

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
05/18/2011
If the Noynoy administration, in the last 11 months, was already chaotic and much too rent with factionalism, expect a worsening situation in Malacañang with the formal entry of losing vice presidential candidate Mar Roxas as Noynoy’s chief of staff.

That will of course be denied by both warring factions in the Palace, as they have denied the power play that has been going on even before Noynoy assumed the presidency, but the reality is that Mar and his Liberal Party mates, having finally achieved power, are not about to give it up after Noynoy ends his term in 2016.

What is puzzling is the fact that even as Noynoy is aware of the existence of the two warring factions, that add to the ineffectiveness of his administration, he appears to be encouraging factionalism and chaos, as he opens up a new position in his Cabinet for Mar, as his chief of staff, a position moreover that is a superfluity, since there is already an executive secretary and certainly, there is no need for a chief of staff, since this would be a duplication of functions.

It has been stated by Malacañang that an administrative order (AO) creating the position of chief of staff for Mar would serve to clarify the different functions between the executive secretary and the chief of staff, but not even an AO is going to solve that kind of political problem..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110518com2.html

A ‘Tower of Babel’ entirely of books in Argentina FEATURE 05/18/2011

A ‘Tower of Babel’ entirely of books in Argentina

FEATURE

05/18/2011
BUENOS AIRES — Marta Minujin, Argentina’s most famous artist, is known for artwork that is both out-sized and outlandish.

Her latest creation might also be described as vertigo-inducing — a spiraling, 25-meter-tall tower meant to pay homage to the written word.

In the Plaza San Martin, in the heart of the Argentine capital, Minujin has erected her latest work — “The Tower of Babel” — built from 30,000 books, most of them donations from some 50 embassies.

“I don’t know why we have to have different languages,” she says, adding that she sees her mission as an artist as being to “unite all people.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110518com3.html

Temporary home HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 05/18/2011

Temporary home

HE SAYS
Aldrin Cardon
05/18/2011
“Accidentally” eavesdropping in a conversation between two kids who happened to share my table in a coffeeshop, I learned that both have landed jobs in a call center, and they were celebrating their chance to move on from university to competitive life by raising two big plastic cups of expensive frap.

Both were excited with their first job, which one of them called her “temporary home” as she has a “bigger dream” of landing a job overseas, where she said the grass is greener.

The other, whom I heard is a nursing graduate, also hopes to work overseas — “hopefully in the United States,” but she has yet to take her board and the other tests required before she could qualify to serve abroad. She is also aware of the cutthroat competition among the hundreds of thousand other nurses seeking jobs elsewhere..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110518com4.html

Changing world SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 05/18/2011

Changing world

SHE SAYS
Dinah S. Ventura
05/18/2011
In the 1990s, call centers were unheard of and those looking for jobs, scouring the newspapers’ classified ads, would often encounter those tempting calls for “marketing executives” with initial salaries starting at P15,000.

Many of those who fell for these ads soon found out that they had to go through “training” for — tada! — selling encyclopedias.

With the rise of the Internet and consequent decline of those same encyclopedias came another wave of job market demand, this time in the field of Information Technology (IT). This trend was one reason IT courses became so popular among the youth, with parents very often urging their youngsters to take up the course so they could also find high-paying jobs abroad.

Then came the nursing wave, with doctors already practicing deciding to study once more so they could find jobs abroad. Such has been our story as a nation — with skilled Pinoys leaving by droves to find greener pastures in other countries — for so many decades now..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110518com5.html

Syria seen stoking Golan unrest to mask crackdown ANALYSIS 05/18/2011

Syria seen stoking Golan unrest to mask crackdown

ANALYSIS

05/18/2011
DUBAI — Syria has tried to deflect attention from two months of protests threatening its autocratic regime by stoking protests that have breached its long-quiet border with Israel, analysts said.

Thousands of people on Sunday rallied on Israel’s borders with Lebanon and Syria, as well as in the Gaza Strip and West Bank to mark the anniversary of the Jewish state’s creation in 1948, known in Arabic as “Nakba” or “catastrophe.”

Hundreds of protesters from Syria entered the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, prompting a volley of fire from the Israeli army that left four people dead and hundreds injured, Syria’s official SANA news agency said.

It was one of the most violent incidents since Israel and Syria signed an armistice in 1974..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110518com6.html

The terrifying ordeal in Suite 2086 focus 05/18/2011

The terrifying ordeal in Suite 2086

focus

05/18/2011
NEW YORK — It was around midday on a lazy spring Saturday in New York. But behind the closed doors of a luxury hotel suite, a chambermaid was allegedly being brutally attacked in a horrific ordeal that would shock the world.

Her ordeal may well spell the end of the stellar career of veteran French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) who now faces up to 25 years behind bars if convicted. He denies the allegations.

During several long, terrifying minutes, the 32-year-old maid said she was grappled and groped, had her breasts and intimate parts fondled, her panties ripped and was forced to endure as her attacker tried to push his penis into her mouth.

Shocked and in terror, she finally escaped and ran panicked from the $3,000-a-night suite 2086 of the Sofitel in midtown Manhattan, telling staff and friends that she had been indecently mauled by the man inside in a degrading and frightening assault..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110518com7.html

Noy’s favored justice eyes Ombudsman post By Benjamin B. Pulta 05/18/2011

MARCELO ALLIES ALSO GUNNING FOR DEPUTY POSITION

Noy’s favored justice eyes Ombudsman post

By Benjamin B. Pulta 05/18/2011

Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales, who is up for retirement and widely perceived as close to President Aquino having sworn him into office instead of Chief Justice Renato Corona, expressed her interest to be the next Ombudsman.

Carpio-Morales, who was handpicked by Aquino to administer his inaugural oath last year, has accepted her nomination to the Ombudsman post through a letter sent to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC). This was confirmed yesterday by her son and chief of staff Umberto Morales.

The magistrate wrote the SC ruling that would have allowed the impeachment of resigned Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez in the House of Representatives.

Carpio-Morales was nominated to the Ombudsman post by three groups: UP Law Alumni Association, Transparency International Phils. and Women Lawyers Association of the Philippines Inc. Aquino reportedly offered the Ombudsman post to Morales in an earlier occasion they had attended with retired Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110518hed1.html

Miriam unfazed by Pacquiao’s stand against RH Bill By Angie M. Rosales 05/18/2011

Miriam unfazed by Pacquiao’s stand against RH Bill

By Angie M. Rosales 05/18/2011

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago remains unperturbed by the entry of boxing champion and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao’s into the public arena over the controversial Repro-ductive Health (RH) bill.
Even if Pacquiao campaigns against the measure, in which the senator is known to be among the main proponents in the upper chamber, his participation will likely not have any significant bearing, she said.

“I don’t think so,” Santiago said when asked if she’s threatened by the possibility of Pacquiao will be able to sway public support against the measure, adding that “this is a literate country.”

“We know, we concede that he knows more about boxing than possibly anybody alive, particularly in the welterweight department, which is considered to be ‘the’ boxing title. But still, we cannot be know-it-alls. And it will be very misleading to use his celebrity status to enter into what.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110518hed4.html

Filipino sailor found dead after pirates attack 05/18/2011

Filipino sailor found dead after pirates attack

05/18/2011
A Filipino sailor was found dead aboard a Marshall Island-flagged chemical tanker, four days after it was attacked by pirates off the coast of Benin in West Africa, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday said.

It added Philippine officials are monitoring investigation on the circumstances of the death of Christopher Cortez Ceprado, who was among the 18 all-Filipino crewmen of MT Sea King that was boarded by heavily armed brigands last May 7 in Cotonou.

Ceprado’s remains were brought to the mortuary in Cotonou.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110518hed6.html

Preparations ongoing in case volcanoes erupt By Mario J. Mallari 05/18/2011

Preparations ongoing in case volcanoes erupt

By Mario J. Mallari 05/18/2011

Preparations for possible eruption of Mt. Bulusan and Mayon Volcano are ongoing with the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) identifying 39 evacuation centers in the provinces of Sorsogon and Albay in case evacuation becomes necessary.

Also, more than 3,000 military troops are now on alert as possible responders should eruption happens.

NDRRMC executive director Undersecretary Benito Ramos noted the increase in the number of volcanic quakes recorded at Mt. Bulusan in Sorsogon by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) during the past days.

According to Ramos, local DRRMCs in Sorsogon have already identified 18 schools and churches as possible evacuation centers while 21 in Albay..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110518nat4.html

CA rules to grant search warrant on ‘death caves’ By Benjamin B. Pulta 05/18/2011

CA rules to grant search warrant on ‘death caves’

By Benjamin B. Pulta 05/18/2011

The Court of Appeals (CA) has ruled to grant an appeal by government lawyers seeking a search warrant to investigate three caves inside a compound in Davao City where victims of summary execution by the so-called “Davao Death Squad” are supposedly buried.

In its 14-page decision, the appellate court found the government’s petition impressed with merit and reversed a lower court judge’s ruling stating that respondent Judge William Peralta committed “a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction” when he terminated, “without sufficient reasons,” a valid search warrant which he himself issued..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110518nat3.html

House okays proposal allowing studes with unpaid tuition to take exams By Gerry Baldo 05/18/2011

House okays proposal allowing studes with unpaid tuition to take exams

By Gerry Baldo 05/18/2011
Students who could not afford to pay their tuition in time for the mid-term and final examinations need not worry now that the House of Representatives has approved a proposal to impose sanctions on schools, colleges, and universities that require students to pay their tuition before taking the exams.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, chairman of the House committee on higher and technological education, said the House has already approved in principle the proposal to protect students from tradition of “no permit, no exam” policies in colleges and vocational schools.

Angara said members of his panel are now preparing the committee report that will be submitted to the plenary for the approval for second reading. Once approved, schools will have no reason to bar a student not to take an exam on the basis of his or her non-payment of the tuition.

The bill, however, provides that unpaid tuition will be charged an interest of not more than six percent per annum..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110518met2.html

Showing of violent, obscene TV programs to be regulated By Charlie V. Manalo 05/18/2011

Showing of violent, obscene TV programs to be regulated

By Charlie V. Manalo 05/18/2011

Violent and obscene scenes in television shows will soon be regulated and be allowed to air only after 10 in the evening.

House Bill 3671, authored principally by Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo to be known as “Children’s Media Protection Act,” shall establish a television violence and non-educational sexual themes rating code.

“The existing laws lack the required provisions to block violent and sexually themed non-educational programming to protect the welfare of children,” Castelo said.

He added the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) is not authorized to prescribe ratings for violence and non-educational sexual themes in television programming and rules for signals containing specifications for blocking violent and sexually themed non-educational programming..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110518met1.html

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