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A disaster in Cotabato EDITORIAL 06/24/2011

Friday, June 24, 2011

A disaster in Cotabato

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
06/24/2011
Noynoy’s former high survey ratings are receding and his allies are starting to worry but not his several alternating Palace mouthpieces who still hold that those respondents expressing satisfaction on the administration remain in the majority.

What is striking about the survey results, however, is that these are going downhill continuously and at an increasing rate.

Moreover, in Metro Manila where the fate of presidents is made or unmade, Noy’s approval rating hangs in the balance at 57 percent in the latest Pulse Asia survey which means that those who are either undecided or the dissatisfied with his performance and the believers of Noy are almost even — if one goes by the surveys..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110624com1.html

Know nothing Noynoy FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 06/24/2011

Know nothing Noynoy

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
06/24/2011
Incredible! Filipinos actually have a president who knows nothing, doesn’t and can’t even offer solutions to a flooding problem in Mindanao, which has been going on for weeks.

Expecting to be given a solution to their problems, which currently is the problem of constant flooding in Cotabato City, Noynoy says, “we are still studying it. All I wanted to see on my visit are the sites which are always flooded,” then adds: “You have to remember that I have only been one year in office.”

OMG! What a crass answer from a President of the Republic. All he wanted was a cheap photo op.

No wonder the local official, Cotabato Mayor Japal Guiani, came out to state that it shouldn’t matter whether a president has been president for six months or one year, this kind of problem has to have an immediate solution..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110624com2.html

The ‘Ruling Crass’ DIE HARD III Herman Tiu Laurel 06/24/2011

The ‘Ruling Crass’

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
06/24/2011
I can understand why the Santiago couple should be celebrating, and not just for staying married all these years as officially stated. Both have been through tragic trials that one wonders if the successes they are celebrating are indeed such great things in light of certain tragic events. The death of their youngest son by the barrel of a gun is still haunted by ugly rumors. It never helped that the case was closed after the waiver of the requisite legal and forensic requirements, just like many other unsolved celebrity deaths in this country. Then there is the case of the young secretary who was hurried off to the US after an alleged scandal in the private Quezon City offices of the couple, which reportedly cost a certain amount and a US visa for the dropping of charges.

Jun Santiago has been scandal-ridden for his alleged activities in the Bureau of Customs and in his favorite cockpits, as well as for a certain black Mercedes Benz believed to be sequestered.

Miriam Santiago, on the other hand, aside from her explosive temper and verbiage, is infamous for her promise to “jump headfirst from a helicopter in Luneta if Estrada gets removed from power,” which she later recanted by saying, “I lied,” followed with laughter. She also gets into verbal jousts with just about everyone, including an even feistier lady, Madame Dionisia Pacquiao, over the RH bill controversy. She has written books which have never made any mark in intellectual circles, such as her book Christianity vs Corruption, which is long on motherhood statements but completely devoid of political-economic analyses — a trademark of her vituperations on her every pet issue.

The Santiagos of Matino St. really have climbed the ladder of social status and opulence in this society which, if the Bureau of Internal Revenue really takes its “lifestyle checks” seriously, find little firm ground to stand on.

The Santiagos have done very well while their supposed constituencies have gotten poorer and poorer. But this isn’t any different from what other politicians, most of whom were invited to the celebration, have notched up as a record: Getting rich as the nation sinks deeper into poverty; blabbering endlessly in their respective legislative halls and passing oppressive laws such as the Electric Power Industry R(d)eform Act (Epira), eVAT, as well as onerous Build-Operate-Transfer measures; then hobnob with the oligarchs for whom they pass these to legalize their plunder; and then party even more while the middle classes and the masses, who suffer deepening penury, watch with stupefaction.

There’s also the picture of this oligarch congratulating the couple, grinning and smiling.

The whole caboodle of the “ruling personalities” at the wedding bash clearly has no shortage of such ironies.
There they were all together there — economic and political oligarchs alike. Even Gloria Arroyo, was rubbing elbows with her ilk and reveling in the splendor as a member of the ruling class.

Yet, all of them are mere unproductive “rentiers,” part of a “Ruling Crass” that use power and position to amass all they can, possessing only such values as greed, narcissism, and more greed. They haven’t even for a minute thought about where all the wealth they wallow in come from.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “There will never be enough of any one’s greed. There will always be enough for everyone’s needs.” If this country continues to nosedive into poverty, it is simply because this “Ruling Crass” prevails. Witnessing such a gathering of the greedy, anti-social, insensitive, pathological, hedonistically rich and infamous members of the socio-economic parasite class without expressing disgust might be mistaken for vicarious enjoyment, if not open endorsement. Thanks to those who voiced their disdain for this display of ultimate social phoniness. There is hope after all.

(Tune in to Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m., and Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on “Crushing 24 million coconut farmers’ dependents”; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives) .


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


SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110624com6.html

Chongqing, home of China’s ‘red’ revival focus 06/24/2011 CHONGQING — At the international airport in Chongqing in southwest China, travellers are greeted with a massive sign inviting them to “sing red songs” and spread the Communist party’s good word. Thirty-five years after the death of Mao Zedong, the revolutionary spirit is alive and thriving in this teeming province-sized mega-city, despite the more capitalist leanings adopted by the world’s second-largest economy. The old-school Maoist propaganda campaign includes sending officials to work in the countryside, red chorales at state-run firms, patriotic television shows and cutting sentences for anybody convicted of a crime if they have been involved in boosting “red” culture. For Chongqing’s older residents, the movement is tinged with nostalgia. Every afternoon, people gather at the square in front of the city’s Great Hall of the People for impromptu — and somewhat out-of-tune — singing sessions.

Chongqing, home of China’s ‘red’ revival

focus

06/24/2011
CHONGQING — At the international airport in Chongqing in southwest China, travellers are greeted with a massive sign inviting them to “sing red songs” and spread the Communist party’s good word.

Thirty-five years after the death of Mao Zedong, the revolutionary spirit is alive and thriving in this teeming province-sized mega-city, despite the more capitalist leanings adopted by the world’s second-largest economy.

The old-school Maoist propaganda campaign includes sending officials to work in the countryside, red chorales at state-run firms, patriotic television shows and cutting sentences for anybody convicted of a crime if they have been involved in boosting “red” culture.

For Chongqing’s older residents, the movement is tinged with nostalgia. Every afternoon, people gather at the square in front of the city’s Great Hall of the People for impromptu — and somewhat out-of-tune — singing sessions..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110624com7.html

What now, about Rizal? NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 06/24/2011

What now, about Rizal?

NO HOLDS BARRED
Armida Siguion-Reyna
06/24/2011
Media to the left and right of us let out a flood of articles in connection with National Hero Jose Rizal’s 150th birth anniversary. He was all over the papers, on free and cable TV, discussed on radio, a giant statue of him was unveiled near his ancestral home in Laguna, by no less than the President, and, hey, not even the rains stopped people from going to his birthday picnic, on Facebook announced by an invite that read: “Imbitado ka sa 150th Birthday ko! Magpapa-picnic ako sa Fort Santiago, Intramuros, sa June 19, 6 p.m. Sa Linggo na!”

Never mind that the face on the invite wasn’t Rizal, but his classmate, Amado Carpio. It was an impressive gathering at the Walled City, with most attendees wearing Filipino costumes loaned out by organizers to those who had applied to borrow early enough, there was a program, good singing, and no, the weather just couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm, although had the sun been out there would have been more in the picnic.

Monday at the SM City Baguio, some 150 men from the ages of three to 70, attracted attention wearing the closest to the Rizal look as could be imagined, dark suits and top hats, while city officials spoke about Rizal’s student life and heroism, followed by a stage play, the opening of a Rizaliana exhibit and the showing of what I presumed to be the Gerry de Leon Noli Me Tangere, described in the write-up as “a film made in the 60s and preserved in its best form by the Philippine Historical Society.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110624com4.html

Noy’s ARMM polls delay move faces SC challenge By Angie M. Rosales, Aytch S. de la Cruz and Gerry Baldo 06/24/2011

Noy’s ARMM polls delay move faces SC challenge

By Angie M. Rosales, Aytch S. de la Cruz and Gerry Baldo 06/24/2011
The enactment of the law allowing the postponement of this year’s elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is poised to be challenged before the Supreme Court (SC), with no less than the original author of the organic law debating before the high tribunal the unconstitutionality of the legislation now awaiting signature of President Aquino.

Former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. yesterday bared the planned move, which he had committed to take, having been approached by some concerned members of the Muslim communities.

The postponement violates the character and the soul of the autonomy that has been granted to the autonomous region, Pimentel stressed.

He, however, said they will have to wait until Aquino affixes his signature to the said measure to take its effect as a law or wait for it to lapse into law on June 30 before they can file a petition before the SC..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110624hed3.html

Noy wants only good news from aides By Gil Bugaoisan and Angie M. Rosales 06/24/2011

NIXES 3 SECRETARIES WHO ALWAYS GIVE HIM ‘BAD NEWS’

Noy wants only good news from aides

By Gil Bugaoisan and Angie M. Rosales 06/24/2011

President Aquino may be far removed from the reality of numerous problems the country faces, and the reason nothing moves in Malacañang.

He yesterday bared in a speech of “two or three” of his Cabinet members who have brought him nothing but problems and “bad news,” saying that whenever they try to get an appointment with him, he is reluctant to give them his time and invariably wonders: “What bad news are they going to report to me again?”

Aquino made this pronouncement during the 113th anniversary rites of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), days after two polling firms simultaneously reported a drop in his satisfactory and trust rating.

Airing his exasperation over their performance, Aquino said the still unnamed Palace officials have not given any contribution to his administration and have instead caused him nothing but suffering due to the problems they present to him, upon his assumption to the presidency..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110624hed1.html

Jinggoy wants Noynoy to certify as urgent bill for maids’ wages By Angie M. Rosales 06/24/2011

Jinggoy wants Noynoy to certify as urgent bill for maids’ wages

By Angie M. Rosales 06/24/2011
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada yesterday urged President Aquino to certify as urgent the bill seeking to increase mininum wage for household helpers or “kasambahay” along with additional benefits, saying that the measure is long overdue.

Estrada also twitted colleagues from the House of Representatives for apparently sitting on the bill, which has been pending in Congress for almost two decades now while the Senate’s version had been approved as early as December last year.

“President Aquino must certify this bill as urgent as the Philippines had already committed to the international community that it will be one of the first countries to ratify the Domestic Workers Convention of 2011.

Further, it is also our country as Chairman of the ILO (International Labor Organization) Committee on Domestic Workers that steered the passage of this measure. Otherwise, our policies would be perceived as inconsistent and hollow,” he said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110624nat2.html

Appellate court discounts foul play in Balikatan interpreter’s death By Benjamin B. Pulta 06/24/2011

Appellate court discounts foul play in Balikatan interpreter’s death

By Benjamin B. Pulta 06/24/2011

A ruling by the Court of Appeals (CA) has turned down suits filed by the family and relatives of Gregan Cardeño, who was found dead a day after being hired as interpreter for the American military participating in Balikatan exercises in last year.

In a 16-page decision, the CA held that the petition filed by the Cardeños “lacks material details to sustain their cause of action” and noted that the Cardeño family failed to show proof that would contradict the findings of investigating officers that Cardeño actually committed suicide,

He was found dead on Feb. 2, 2010 inside his room at the Joint Special Operations Task Force of the Philippines headquarters in Marawi City. The Marawi City police and US troops reported that he committed suicide by hanging himself, but the Cardeño family believes he was a victim of heinous crime inside the barracks of the US troops..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110624nat3.html

Transparency in probe of rape inside PSG barracks urged By Angie M. Rosales 06/24/2011

Transparency in probe of rape inside PSG barracks urged

By Angie M. Rosales 06/24/2011
Sen. Pia Cayetano yesterday called on Malacañang to assure transparency in the handling of alleged rape incident that happened right inside the Presidential Security Group (PSG) barracks committed against a minor last Sunday night.

Cayetano, chairman of the committee on youth, women and family relations, also urged the Palace to accord full protection to the victim.

“Malacañang should closely monitor this case. It should accord full protection to the victim, who’s a minor, and ensure that all the perpetrators are unmasked and put behind bars..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110624met1.html

Loud sounds from videokes, karaokes within residential areas banned in Makati 06/24/2011

Loud sounds from videokes, karaokes within residential areas banned in Makati

06/24/2011
A new city ordinance passed by the Makati City Council has banned unreasonably loud sounds generated from videokes, karaokes and similar amplified audio devices within residential areas and along public streets in Makati.

Approved by Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay, City Ordinance No. 2011-019 also requires a permit to be issued by the barangay captain or an authorized representative for the regulated use of the devices in public streets or roadsides within his or her jurisdiction.

Binay said the ordinance seeks to protect residents and the general public from serious discomfort and health hazards posed by the unregulated use of videokes, karaokes and amplified sound systems within residences and on the streets. He noted that collapsible tents sheltering such audio devices and groups of people singing loudly till the wee hours of the morning were becoming a common sight on the streets of many barangays..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110624met4.html

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