Check and balance EDITORIAL 09/15/2011

Check and balance

EDITORIAL

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09/15/2011
A temporary restraining order (TRO) was bound to be issued by the high court against the appointment of officers in charge (OICs) by Noynoy Aquino for seats in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), to take the place of the elected officials.

How the high court will finally decide the issue is of course anybody’s guess, but as of now, the presidential move to appoint his choices for OICs has been halted.

Not surprisingly, Noynoy issued a statement, urging the Supreme Court (SC) to consider widespread graft, corruption and injustice in the ARMM that temporary appointees can address when they replace incumbent officials of the region.

Said Noynoy: Are we happy about the situation in the ARMM? Are we happy about the report of the CoA (Commission on Audit) on the loss of 80 percent of ARMM funds that should have gone to the people? Are we to forget so easily the 57 people who were massacred in Maguindanao?”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110915com1.html

All for vindictiveness FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 09/15/2011

All for vindictiveness

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

09/15/2011
Ex-Shariah court judge Nagamura Moner, an appointee of former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo, has again surfaced as a whistle-blower on the alleged 2004 presidential election fraud.

This is the same crooked Shariah court judge who sometime in 2005, issued an affidavit on the same claims he is making today, but also the same judge who disowned his own affidavit later, with the conclusion arrived at then was that he was paid to testify, then paid again to recant his sworn testimony.

One wonders if Moner has again been paid to testify against the previous Malacañang tenants. After all, he is a self-admitted crook who has admitted to having received bribe money to cheat and distributed such bribe money to get the presidential votes rigged.

To be clear. This is not to state that there was no fraud or bribery committed during the 2004 polls. This is merely to state that Moner, as a witness can hardly carry with him that credibility, given the fact it is money that can make him change and unchange his testimony..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110915com2.html

After death, Web ‘assets’ often tangled in cloud FEATURE 09/15/2011

After death, Web ‘assets’ often tangled in cloud

FEATURE

09/15/2011
WASHINGTON — When you die, does your Facebook account die with you? Or that online photo album? What about your iTunes playlist, blogs or tweets?

Laws in the United States and elsewhere are vague on the fate of digital rights to online accounts after death, leading to complications and legal wrangling for survivors who want access to the online services of the deceased.

Legal experts say it’s unclear who owns what in the Internet “cloud,” and that in some cases the user agreement for email or social networking sites terminates when a person dies.

In the case of online photo albums, “those photos are yours and you have a copyright, but the problem is if you upload them to a site like Shutterfly, the property you own is now stuck behind a license,” said Nathan Dosch, a Wisconsin attorney specializing in estate planning..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110915com3.html

Robbery in broad daylight INSIDE CONGRESS Charlie Manalo 09/15/2011

Robbery in broad daylight

INSIDE CONGRESS

Charlie Manalo

09/15/2011
Last June 27, Skycable, for no apparent reason, “temporarily disconnected” my cable service. Seeking clarification, I was told by its personnel there was no reason on their part to disconnect my service as my payment for that month covers up to the 29th of June. But since they could not find ways to re-connect my cable service that moment, telling me it would take them at least three days to fix the problem, I told them to just disconnect totally my cable service and that I was unsubscribing from Skycable.

However, to my surprise, I still receive billing from Skycable for the next two months up to August with my bill running up to P2,700 even though my cable service had already been disconnected since the last week of June.

I again sought clarification from Skycable and I was told that its cut-off period for their billing was July 7 and that my cable service was only “officially disconnected” July 8. But since it had been Skycable’s practice not to charge their clients for the time their cable services had problems, I was expecting it would correct its error and reverse the charges..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110915com5.html

Migrants tell of slavery at sea on Thai fishing boats FEATURE 09/15/2011

Migrants tell of slavery at sea on Thai fishing boats

FEATURE

09/15/2011
RAYONG — Thousands of men from Myanmar and Cambodia set sail on Thai fishing boats every day, but many are unwilling seafarers — slaves forced to work in brutal conditions under threat of death.

The day Hla Myint saw the sea for the first time was when traffickers delivered him, after a week’s trek through the jungle from Myanmar, to a ship on Thailand’s coast.

He said it was the beginning of seven months of “hell,” during which there were beatings “every day, every hour.”

His is one of a multitude of stories of slavery in Thailand’s multimillion-dollar fishing industry, which campaigners say relies on forced labour to provide seafood for restaurants and supermarkets around the world..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110915com6.html

Jueteng – daang matuwid – jueteng VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 09/15/2011

Jueteng – daang matuwid – jueteng

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

09/15/2011
There is something not only interesting but also intriguing — if not downright suspicious — about the above tripod wherein strangely enough, the so called “daang matuwid” has jueteng precisely before and after it. The former supposedly stands for integrity and honestly. The latter openly represents corruption and deceit. And yet, what is supposed to be the incarnation of integrity and honestly, is precisely infected by the gross reality of corruption and deceit. To better understand this blatant contradiction, it might help to look into the significance and implications of the following two pairings.

The pairing jueteng — daang matuwid — jueteng was rampant and incisive — before the proclamation of the upright way of governance. It also proved to be fatal with the disappearance of a good number of “unfaithful” cobradores and cabos. There was even that well known convert from being a jueteng operator to a strong anti- jueteng crusader who was mercilessly gunned down in a well known Manila boulevard..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110915com7.html

US gov’t papers say nukes deployed in RP 09/15/2011

DECLASSIFIED STATE DEP’T MEMOS SAY MARCOS KNEW OF WEAPONS

US gov’t papers say nukes deployed in RP

09/15/2011
The United States government stockpiled nuclear weapons in the Philippines and took pains in concealing information about it, based on declassified US State Department documents released by a non-government research institute and library at The George Washington University called The Archive.

The online group said it collects and publishes declassified documents obtained through the United States’ Freedom of Information Act.

Based on the documents, which were 1969 memoranda classified as top secret, written by Robert McClintock, a US diplomat assigned then to the State Deparment, and addressed to then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, American officials were reviewing options regarding the government’s response to a US Senate inquiry then chaired by Sen. Stuart Symington on the storage of nuclear weapons overseas.

One of the documents discussed “Nuclear Weapons in the Philippines” saying that nuclear weapons are stored in the Philippines “have been there for many years.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110915hed1.html

Angara: SC ruling upholds Muslims’ right to suffrage By Angie M. Rosales 09/15/2011

Angara: SC ruling upholds Muslims’ right to suffrage

By Angie M. Rosales 09/15/2011

Heed the decision of the Supreme Court against making new appointees in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Sen. Edgardo Angara told the Aquino administration yesterday.

“The SC’s decision upholds the constitutional right of the Muslim people to choose their own leaders. Their right to suffrage is a fundamental part of their autonomy, of their identity,” Angara said.

The SC issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) the other day stopping the implementation of Republic Act 10153 that postponed the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) scheduled on August 8 and synchronized it with the national and local elections in May 2013.

The SC en banc, voting 8-4, ordered the freezing of the implementation of RA 10153 and while there was still no decision on the merit of the case, incumbent ARMM officials will be on “holdover capacity” when their respective terms expire on Sept. 30..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110915hed2.html

Third blast hits Cotabato within 24 hours By Mario J. Mallari and Gina Peralta-Elorde 09/15/2011

Third blast hits Cotabato within 24 hours

By Mario J. Mallari and Gina Peralta-Elorde 09/15/2011

Another bombing hit Cotabato City yesterday morning, the third of such attack within 24 hours, prompting the military to intensify security and checkpoint operations in the city.

Army 6th Infantry Division (ID) deputy commander and concurrent spokesman Col. Manuel Luis Ochotorena said that an improvised explosive device (IED) attached to a passenger jeepney exploded near the gate of the Office of the Regional Governor (ORG) in Cotabato City around 5:30 a.m.

Ochotorena said that responding teams from the Army and police Explosives and Ordnance Division (EOD) recovered another live .81mm mortar round which was detonated safely.

“We have intensified checkpoints and (we have deployed) sniffing dogs and coordinated with security guards,” said Ochotorena..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110915nat3.html

Muslim execs give Kato 2 weeks to patch up differences with Murad By Mario J. Mallari 09/15/2011

Muslim execs give Kato 2 weeks to patch up differences with Murad

By Mario J. Mallari 09/15/2011

Muslim leaders have given renegade Moro Islamic Liberation Front commander Ameril Umbra Kato, who severed ties with the MILF and established his own Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM), two weeks to patch up differences with MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad.

MILF spokesman Von Al Haq yesterday said that the Council of Ulama went to the mountain-lair of Kato immediately after the Ramadan to convince the renegade commander to return to the MILF ranks.

“He was given two weeks. The MILF is very lenient and patient. So, Kato was given time and space to think talking with Chairman Murad,” said Al Haq.

Al Haq said the Council of Ulama is trying to convince Kato to talk with Murad to patch up their differences instead of going separate ways..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110915nat1.html

Noy cautioned on another deal with China By Gerry Baldo 09/15/2011

FOLLOWING NBN-ZTE SCAM

Noy cautioned on another deal with China

By Gerry Baldo 09/15/2011
President Aquino should take the necessary precaution before entering into another deal with the People’s Republic of China.

The warning was aired yesterday by Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares who said China should first investigate those who were involved in the NBN-ZTE and Northrail anomalies.

“China should first investigate and prosecute those involved in NBN-ZTE and Northrail irregularities,” Colmenartes said amid reports that government is on the brink of forging another broadband and rail project with China.

Colmenares stressed that people involved in the anomalous transactions should be held accountable for their actions..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110915met1.html

BI bans more than 2,700 ‘undesirables’ from entering RP 09/15/2011

BI bans more than 2,700 ‘undesirables’ from entering RP

09/15/2011
More than 2,700 undesirable or improperly documented foreigners were barred from entering the country in the first seven months of the year, according to the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. yesterday disclosed immigration officers turned away a total of 2,727 aliens from January to July, compared to the 2,418 who were stopped in the same period in 2010.

David said the excluded aliens were immediately deported via the first available flight to their ports of origin and later blacklisted and banned from re-entering the country.

David added 95 percent of the foreigners were intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the country’s premier port, while the rest were tuned back in other ports such as Cebu, Davao and Laoag..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110915met4.html