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Nothing less than a carnival EDITORIAL 07/31/2011

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Nothing less than a carnival

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
07/31/2011
It is with fervent prayers that the penchant of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and, by extension, Noynoy, her superior, to resurrect long dead cadavers of political and judicial issues will bear fruit as these are fueling higher and bigger expectations from the public.

De Lima has presided over the supposed surfacing of several whistle-blowers on the massive and syndicated cheating operations in the 2004 elections with the supposed police operators even seeking an apology from the wife of former opposition standard-bearer, the late Fernando Poe Jr., for their part in the stealing of the votes.

On its face, the revelations made brought back already forgotten hopes of the truth coming out from the obviously manipulated polls the results of which gave Gloria a new six-year term that was facilitated in Congress through the railroading of the canvass of the elections returns that was masterminded by persons who are now staunch allies of Noynoy.

De Lima also recently shocked the nation by presenting supposed witnesses who can attest to Hubert Webb being in the country when the Vizconde massacre happened against the basis of the Supreme Court (SC)’s decision to acquit Hubert Webb from the case..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110731com1.html

US seniors fear hard times ahead if no debt deal focus 07/31/2011

US seniors fear hard times ahead if no debt deal

focus


07/31/2011
WASHINGTON — Retired CIA analyst Ruth Washington is one of the lucky ones. She says she could survive for six months if Congress fails to reach a debt deal and her Social Security payments are cut off.

But she and other senior citizens are not optimistic about the near future — they say their loved ones could suffer, and they are angry at lawmakers on Capitol Hill for allowing politics to endanger their livelihoods.

“I’m fine. I live well, not beyond my means. It just frightens me to think what all those people on Social Security are going to do without money. What’s going to happen if they don’t receive a check?” Washington, 83, told AFP.

“If the government delays my pension, I have about six months that I could survive on my own.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110731com3.html

Collector Gatchalian should have lifestyle check N.O . N.O.N.S.E.N.S.E Jacinto 07/31/2011

Collector Gatchalian should have lifestyle check

N.O . N.O.N.S.E.N.S.E
Jacinto
07/31/2011
One of the alleged untouchables in the P-Noy administration is a certain Rowel Gatchalian, the Collector of the Port of Manila at the Bureau of Customs. Toward the end of the Gloria Arroyo regime, Gatchalian was just a minor employee of the Bureau assigned at the Legal Division. He was, however, lucky to have a padrino who was then a deputy customs commissioner and who is now a congressman who also has a powerful padrino in the higher echelons of government who took it upon himself to pluck Gatchalian from the obscure position he came from and place him at as Collector of the Port of Manila. This move according to many senior collectors at the Bureau proved to a be very big disappointment, since Gatchalian who was just a junior employee, skipped all of them.

Despite being inexperienced and new to his position, he was already accused and suspected of being involved in anomalies at the Port of Manila such that he was summoned to appear in a congressional hearing some months ago. At the hearing, he was asked, why he caused the release from his port of several luxury cars such as Mercedes Benzes, Porsches, Jaguars and several other brands when the distributors/consignee of these vehicles did not pay the proper taxes and duties. He was further asked how come the proper “transaction value method” was not applied properly and by such malfeasance on his part, the government lost several hundreds of millions in revenues for the government in terms of taxes and duties..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110731com5.html

Hamas seeks to attract youngsters to summer camps focus 07/31/2011

Hamas seeks to attract youngsters to summer camps

focus

07/31/2011
LLAZA CITY — The militant Islamist group Hamas is seeking to attract youngsters to its annual summer camps in the Gaza Strip, offering activities far beyond religious study.

But organizers say the activities do not include militia training.

“These camps have no military or political dimension; they are held outdoors, with sports, cultural, educational, social and recreational activities,” said Saleh Hamdan, a member of the central committee for summer camps.
An example, he said, were camps on Islamic fashion, being attended by thousands of girls, which he said “do not focus on purely religious matters.”

“We play, we learn and we make friends,” said 11-year-old camper Samia Ashur, her hair covered with a brown head scarf..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110731com7.html

RP business: People VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 07/31/2011

RP business: People

VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
07/31/2011
It offends sensibility. It insults decency. It leaves a foul taste in the mouth to know and say that the main, key and continuous business of the Philippine government is people. People for export. People for placement. People for rent. People on loan. People for exchange. Conclusion: Pitiful OFWs. Miserable Filipinos. Disgraced Philippines.

It is people whom the government considers as its big resources and constant business potential. It is people who laboriously support people while the government merrily imposes direct and in direct taxes on them from birth to death. It is people who keep this country economically afloat through OFWs remittances. And it is also people who become victims of corruption and deceit, of criminality and injustice — while the government looks on.

Yet this laid-back and short-sighted government looks at people as its arch-enemy to the point that it is resolved to take recourse to legislating artificial depopulation — under deceitful titles and purposes. It has come to hate births that it endorses male and female mutilations precisely to prevent them for becoming parents. The government looks at the phenomenon of birth as a curse such that it has its mind, eyes and ears closed about recourse even to abortions — through different means and diverse ways..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110731com6.html

Whistle-blower cops sell ER switching tale — GMA lawyer By Charlie V. Manalo 07/31/2011

SAME VIDEO FOOTAGE OFFERED TO LOREN IN 2005

Whistle-blower cops sell ER switching tale — GMA lawyer

By Charlie V. Manalo 07/31/2011

The lawyer of former President now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo yesterday accused former Zambales provincial police director Senior Supt. Rafael Santiago of financial motives in exposing an alleged switching of the election returns (ERs) in the 2004 presidential elections stored in the halls of Congress and sell this to whoever is interested.

At the weekly Kapihan sa Annabels, lawyer Raul Lambino bared that in 2005 Santiago’s group had already tried to sell the same video footage and the story of alleged switching of the ERs to Sen. Loren Legarda who had then lodged an election protest against Noli de Castro who beat her in the vice presidential race.

“The same group had tried to make money out of the same video footage and the story on the alleged ER switching to Senator Loren,” Lambino told reporters. “However, from what I’ve heard, Senator Loren rejected their proposal and asked them if they are really sincere in exposing the truth as they claim behind the 2004 elections, then they should come out in the open without asking anything in return.”

“And now, they are again peddling the same lies.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110731hed1.html

Noy orders all-out war vs Abu Sayyaf even during Ramadan By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 07/31/2011

Noy orders all-out war vs Abu Sayyaf even during Ramadan

By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 07/31/2011

Although belatedly, President Aquino expressed indignation over the killing and mutilation of at least seven Marines and ordered the Department of National Defense to launch a full-scale combat operations against the bandits and anyone who will give them refuge even during the Ramadan period which starts on Monday.

In a statement issued Friday night which is more than 24 hours after the attack, Aquino condemned the perpetrators and vowed that his administration will stop at nothing to make sure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

With this attack, Aquino said the Abu Sayyaf is now number one on his “radar” to stress his administration’s commitment to neutralize the armed bandits who are being continuously blamed in the series of atrocities in Sulu and other parts of Mindanao.

“At 4:30 a.m. yesterday, July 28, 2011, there was an encounter between the Marine Battalion Landing Team 11 of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Abu Sayyaf. In this encounter, seven of our troops fell in the midst of operations, and some of their remains were mutilated by the terrorists. I have instructed Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin to ensure that every possible aid and assistance is given to the families of these brave soldiers who paid the ultimate price for the defense of our security and our freedom,” said Aquino in a statement..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110731hed3.html

Jinggoy prays for GMA recovery to face raps 07/31/2011

Jinggoy prays for GMA recovery to face raps

07/31/2011
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada hailed the successful five-hour surgery of former President Arroyo saying yesterday her speedy recovery is vital for the now Pampanga House representative to face all the charges filed against her.

Estrada issued the statement as he called on residents of Malolos City in Bulacan to pray for her recuperation from the major surgery.

“Let us pray for our former President as her condition is delicate,” Estrada said.

The senator added he wanted the former President to fully recover so that she could face the various charges filed against her, just like his father, former President Joseph Estrada, who faced all the charges against him..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110731hed5.html

P2.4-B int’l container seaport will be built in Aurora 07/31/2011

P2.4-B int’l container seaport will be built in Aurora

07/31/2011
AURORA — The South Korean government is set to construct a P2.4-billion international container seaport here.

The project is seen to transform the Aurora Special Economic and Freeport Zone (Apeco) into a logistics hub for exports of agro-fishery, timber and industrial products in Central and Northern Luzon provinces. It is expected to be completed in four years.

Robbie Mathay, Apeco president and chief executive said the joint economic venture would be funded through the Official Development Assistance (ODA) of the Korean government, with counterpart funding from the Philippine government.

Mathay said that a consortium, composed of the Dasan Engineering and DY Engineering, had conducted a three-month feasibility study for the international container seaport, funded through a P15-million grant from the Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF)..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110731nat3.html

‘Kabayan’ hits Bulacan; 908 people ordered to evacuate to safer places 07/31/2011

‘Kabayan’ hits Bulacan; 908 people ordered to evacuate to safer places

07/31/2011
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) yesterday said that some 192 families or 908 people were ordered to evacuate to safer grounds in several places in Bulacan province as they were hit by floods brought about by tropical storm “Kabayan” (international code name Muifa).

The NDRRMC identified at least seven barangays in three towns that were affected by floods as of 1 p.m. as reported last Saturday.

Reports show that in San Jose del Monte City some 38 families or 144 people were affected by floods while 45 families or 224 in Sta. Maria town. In Bocaue there are 105 families left their houses and 4 families in Paombong.

Search and Rescue operations are also being conducted for the missing eight fish pond workers whose motorized banca capsized between Hagonoy and Pampanga Delta last Thursday..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110731nat2.html

Villar warns of danger in ‘tuko’ trading 07/31/2011

Villar warns of danger in ‘tuko’ trading

07/31/2011
Sen. Manny Villar yesterday expressed apprehension over the hunting of geckos which he said will allow dengue virus-carrying mosquitoes to multiply, hurting the government campaign to control the fatal disease.

Villar, chairman of the Senate committee on trade and commerce, said the reported massive trading of geckos, locally known as “tuko,” poses a threat to the population of this type of reptile that feeds on insects such as mosquitoes.

“Recent reports stating the rise in hunting and selling of these reptiles because of their high cost in the international wildlife market coincide with the rise in the number of dengue patients now being monitored by the Department of Health,” Villar said.

Data from the latest Disease Surveillance Report of the DoH-National Epidemiology Center from the period January-June 2011 estimated dengue cases nationwide at 27,000..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110731met4.html

SC orders gov’t to issue tax credits to Mercury Drug By Benjamin B. Pulta 07/31/2011

SC orders gov’t to issue tax credits to Mercury Drug

By Benjamin B. Pulta 07/31/2011

The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the government to issue tax credits to Mercury Drug Corp. arising from a claim filed by the pharmaceutical retailer over the interpretation of a law granting discount privileges to senior citizens.

In its decision, the high court’s Second Division through Associate Justice Jose Perez ruled to grant the petition filed by the firm.

“The assailed Decision and Resolution of the Court of Appeals are reversed and set aside. Respondent Commissioner of Internal Revenue is ordered to issue tax credit certificates in favor of petitioner (Mercury) in the amounts of P2,289,381.71 and P22,237,650.34,” the decision said.

Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Arturo Brion and Diosdado Peralta concurred with the ruling..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110731met1.html

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