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No crime, only vendetta EDITORIAL 07/12/2011

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

No crime, only vendetta

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
07/12/2011
Catholic bishops have apologized to the public on the controversy stirred over the Noynoy administration’s charges that some seven bishops were recipients of SUVs and large donations from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) during then President Gloria Arroyo’s term, adding that these bishops are ready to accept responsibility and face the consequences for their actions “if they are proven unlawful, anomalous and unconstitutional.”

The statement issued by the bishops, through their president, said: “We are sorry for the pain and sadness that these events have brought upon you. We are saddened that many of you, especially the poor, the youth, our basic ecclesiastic communities, have been confused by the apparent inconsistency of our actions with our pastoral preaching,” adding that “As we express our sadness we also ask you to be slow in judgment and conscientiously seek the whole truth behind the controversy.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110712com1.html

The same yesterday, today and tomorrow FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 07/12/2011

The same yesterday, today and tomorrow

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
07/12/2011
In trying to rid the public perception that Noynoy, being a Cojuangco and in the presidency today, exerted influence — directly or indirectly — over the Supreme Court (SC) in its controversial and illogical ruling on the Hacienda Luisita issue where the court, while upholding the revocation of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)’s Stock Distribution Plan (SDP) for the farmers but also ruled that another referendum should be conducted to give the farmers a choice of stock distribution option (SDO) or land, the Solicitor General said it is filing a motion for reconsideration (MR) while the DAR chief said that the farmer-beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) should get lands according to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

That this is being done to get Noynoy off the hook was pretty clear, with his spokesman, Abigail Valte, saying that the filing for MR to SC favoring land distribution already shows that Noynoy is for the farmer-beneficiaries and not for his family that owns Luisita. That’s bull..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110712com2.html

Mongolia mining success brings booming sex trade FEATURE 07/12/2011

Mongolia mining success brings booming sex trade

FEATURE

07/12/2011
ULAN BATOR — Pimps man the park across from the historic Ulan Bator Hotel, popular with foreigners. They are keeping an eye on their employees — about 20 women working in Mongolia’s quickly expanding sex trade.

“40,000 tugrik for one hour,” says one young woman asked about the going rate — the equivalent of about $30.
Prostitution is illegal in Mongolia, but the sex industry is booming, due in part to the explosion of the country’s mining sector, which has spawned a huge mobile workforce of men far away from home.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) says there are almost 19,000 sex workers in the impoverished landlocked country with a population of just 2.7 million — or one for every 140 people..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110712com3.html

The FAP awards NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 07/12/2011

The FAP awards

NO HOLDS BARRED
Armida Siguion-Reyna
07/12/2011
And so it was that this Lola got the Fernando Poe Jr. Lifetime Achievement award at the 29th Film Academy of the Philippines Luna Awards, held at the Quezon City Sports Club last Sunday evening from Movie and Television Review and Classification Board Chairman Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares. What used to be the FAP Lifetime Achievement award was re-named, in 2005, after the real winner of the 2004 presidential elections.
The recognition means much to me.
Almost soon after World War II, Fernando Poe Sr.’s Palaris Films shot parts of a film in our family compound in Maysilo, in Malabon. I brazenly went up to Mike Caguin, the director, to give me a screen test, and he did. A few days later, I was asked to go to the Palaris Films Studios in San Francisco del Monte for a few more tests. Three more days, and came the offer for me to be the juvenile lead in the company’s next production. I was thrilled, my mother was supportive, but Papa not only screamed his disapproval, he sent me to the United States to study. It took me more than 30 years to finally act in film, and Papa was gone when for my premiere portrayal of a leper, I won a Best Supporting Actress trophy from the Bacolod Film Festival, in 1976..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110712com4.html

Can Murdoch be reined in? AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 07/12/2011

Can Murdoch be reined in?

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW
Ken Fuller
07/12/2011
In the past, this column has warned of the activities of Rupert Murdoch’s media behemoth, NewsCorp, suggesting that any constitutional amendment allowing foreign ownership of the Philippine media would be very bad news. Recent developments in the United Kingdom, where the NewsCorp subsidiary is called News International, cause this outsider to reissue that warning.

One of the newspapers owned by News International is (or was) the so-called News of the World, acquired by Murdoch in 1969. I say “so-called” because it was more popularly known as “Screws of the World,” due to its often prurient content. One of the biggest controversies to hit this rag in recent years came when it was revealed that Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator it employed, had hacked into the phones of aides to Princes William and Harry. For this offense, Mulcaire and the paper’s royal affairs editor were jailed in 2006.

Since then, the controversy has grown and grown, with a lengthening list of celebrities and politicians revealed as targets. Such was the heat felt by Murdoch, that he closed the paper, last Sunday’s edition being its last..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110712com5.html

Abandoning the poor and the needy INSIDE CONGRESS Charlie Manalo 07/12/2011

Abandoning the poor and the needy

INSIDE CONGRESS
Charlie Manalo
07/12/2011
The renewed interest the Aquino administration is showing regarding the privatization of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) betrays the brazen truth the incumbent dispensation is totally ignorant and incompetent not only in the governance of the country’s affairs but as well as in the management of its own offices and agencies.

With allegations that the former PCSO management abused its discretion and misused its intelligence and public relations funds among others, the administration, which ran under the campaign slogan, “Walang mahirap, kung walang corrupt,” is now seriously considering a proposal by Sen. Franklin Drilon to instead privatize the PCSO to rid the agency of corruption.

Indeed, a bizarre way of arresting corruption institutionalized under the Philippine political system..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110712com6.html

PPP VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 07/12/2011

PPP

VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
07/12/2011
Something is definitely wrong in this country and among the Filipinos in general. This national adversity has particular relevance in this time and age. The Filipino culture is usually known for its “Three Loves”: Love of family. Love of community. Love of country. These particular cultural traits found in the Philippines in a special way, can be expressed as “LLL.”

However, sad to say, these dear and endearing socio-cultural factors have been progressively eroded by contrary foreign disposition and acts. The family is threatened in its stability. The community is the seat of flagrant criminality. The country is made but a stepping stone to the acquisition of power and the accumulation of wealth.

This brings to mind the noble and ennobling Filipino symbol “KKK.” Even in their early age, the children are already and continuously taught about their heroic heritage through the famous expression and proud shout of “Kataastaasan Kagalanggalangan Katipunan.” Thus it is that the mere sight and/or mention of the nationally known initials already bring the thought of the big heroes of the Philippines plus the legitimate feeling of elation for being Filipinos..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110712com7.html

CBCP apologizes amid SUV scandal By Angie M. Rosales 07/12/2011

CBCP apologizes amid SUV scandal

By Angie M. Rosales 07/12/2011

Catholic bishops yesterday apologized to the Filipino people after some bishops accepted donations from a state-run lottery and became entangled in a corruption scandal.

The president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Bishop Nereo Odchimar, also said the seven bishops involved were ready to “face the consequences” if they were found to have broken the law.

“We express... our deep sorrow for the pain that the recent events have brought to you, our beloved people,” Odchimar said in a statement.

The scandal stems from accusations that then President Gloria Arroyo used state lottery funds to give the seven bishops 4WD vehicles and P8.38 million in cash between 2007 and 2010 to buy their support..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110712hed1.html

90 human rights violations noted under Noy’s first year 07/12/2011

90 human rights violations noted under Noy’s first year

07/12/2011
A total of 90 human rights violations were committed during the one year administration of President Aquino, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) revealed yesterday.

In an interview after a human rights forum in Camp Aguinaldo, CHR Chairman Etta Rosales said that from the period July 1, 2010 to June 23, 2011, the CHR recorded 90 cases of human rights violations.

Rosales broke down the cases as eight enforced disappearance, 18 torture incidents and 64 extra-
judicial killings..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110712hed5.html

Family of three massacred in Laguna By Efren B. Chavez 07/12/2011

Family of three massacred in Laguna

By Efren B. Chavez 07/12/2011

CAMP PACIANO RIZAL, Laguna — A mother and her two sons were massacred inside their home in Lumban, Laguna yesterday morning.


Laguna police director Senior Supt. Gilbert Cruz identified the victims as Dolor Olarte and her two sons, Kemp, 13; and Arvie, 9..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110712nat6.html

Lawmaker opposes privatization of PCSO By Charlie V. Manalo 07/12/2011

Lawmaker opposes privatization of PCSO

By Charlie V. Manalo 07/12/2011

Saying the poor should not be made to suffer for the sins of some corrupt officials, a party-list solon yesterday expressed strong opposition to the proposal to privatize the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

In a statement, Cibac Rep. Sherwin Tugna said that while privatizing the operations of the PCSO may be a gain for business it would be a big loss to charity and social responsibility.

“The objective of business is revenue, and charity will lose its relevance the minute that the goal for PCSO becomes that of profits and incomes. It just doesn’t fit. One just cannot trust that charity supersedes the objective to grow investments. A privatized PCSO will trivialize the organization’s mandate on charity,” Tugna said.

Tugna made the statement in reaction to the proposal of Sen. Franklin Drilon, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, to privatize PCSO and the Philippine Gaming Corporation (Pagcor). In proposing the privatization of both PCSO and Pagcor, Drilon said the government should limit itself to being a regulatory board that protects the interests of the betting public..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110712nat4.html

ARMM ex-Gov willing to testify vs conspirators in Maguindanao massacre By Benjamin B. Pulta 07/12/2011

ARMM ex-Gov willing to testify vs conspirators in Maguindanao massacre

By Benjamin B. Pulta 07/12/2011
Former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan insisting on his innocence said he is now willing to take the witness stand against the main conspirators in the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre.

“I have told him of supporting his decision (to testify), we just want the truth to be known, he is a good father and a devout Muslim who has gone to Mecca four times. I understand the victims want justice but they should spare the innocent from persecution,” Zaldy Ampatuan’s wife Johaira Ampatuan told to reporters.

Speaking with radio station dzMM, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo confirmed he has heard the feelers and explained “the interest of the government is not to clear Zaldy but to know the truth.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110712met5.html

Noynoy asked to transfer Go, VIP inmates to Iwahig — Maguan family 07/12/2011

Noynoy asked to transfer Go, VIP inmates to Iwahig — Maguan family

07/12/2011
Several inmates including convicted murderer Rolito Go have reportedly returned to their respective special cubicles inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City after the Department of Justice (DoJ) stopped the dismantling of the concrete structures last month.

Because of this damaging developments, President Aquino was urged by the family of road rage victim Eldon Maguan to immediately transfer Go and the VIP prisoners to Iwahig Penal Farm in Palawan for “becoming hardened prisoner instead of getting reformed.”

Rosario Maguan, mother of Eldon, said that they were informed over the weekend that Go, who was earlier accorded sleeping-out privileges, reportedly goes back to his “kubol” or makeshift house at the back of Ina Ng Awa Parish within the NBP’s reservation camp..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110712met1.html

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