An insecure, paranoid Noy EDITORIAL 10/02/2011

An insecure, paranoid Noy

EDITORIAL

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10/02/2011
So the cat is out of the bag.

If Noynoy can help it, there will be no Freedom of Information (FoI) law during his administration.

His admission the other day of his administration’s unease in providing the public free access to information merely bared his absence of confidence in himself being a leader.

Noynoy and his Malacañang apologists have insisted that the FoI bill is not needed since his administration is already transparent, which is both illogical and an insult to the public perception of transparency.

Corruption is the biggest enemy of the transparency of public documents and that Noynoy stating himself to be against the FoI also uncloaked his pretensions and clear hypocrisy against corrupt practices..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111002com1.html

Ignoring Noy FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 10/02/2011

Ignoring Noy

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

10/02/2011
What Noynoy and his Palace boys don’t seem to realize to this day, even after 15 months in office, is that the president should have no say in constitutional changes, especially when it is Congress that calls for it.

Yet Malacañang has made it clear that Noynoy does not want to have Charter amendments, and that this is not his priority.

Naturally, when Noynoy or any Philippine president for that matter, makes it clear that he is cold to the idea of Charter change, what this means is that he is giving his House of Representatives the strong message that he does not want it to start moving on Charter change (Cha-cha), which means that the lapdog Congress of his will dump the idea quickly — and if, despite Noynoy’s strong message to his lapdog Congress, members of both the House and the Senate push the Cha-cha, there would again be manna from Malacañang for the congressmen, by way of the release of their pork barrel and even with additional pork, just as Noynoy did to get the resounding vote to impeach then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez as well as get his postponement of the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which really was a waste of bribe money, since the high court issued a temporary restraining order on this appointment of Noynoy of ARMM OICs..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111002com2.html

Libya: The Other News - Khamis al-Qathafi, a XXI Century Marshall Zhukov 01.10.2011

Libya: The Other News - Khamis al-Qathafi, a XXI Century Marshall Zhukov

01.10.2011

 

NATO and the press in the countries which house its bases seem to have gone quiet all of a sudden on Libya. Do they want us to think the war is over and that everything is getting back to "normal" or are they trying to focus on other stories hoping desperately that whatever is happening over there will go away?

The first point is that nothing will go back to "normal" until the marauding bunch of terrorists which NATO is trying to impose as Libya's Government wholly and entirely against the will of the vast majority of its population ceases to rape women and children, ceases to torch buildings, ceases to decapitate people in the street, ceases to loot, to rob, to steal...to behave like terrorists. Those captured by the Libyan Armed Forces (LAF) are allowed in many cases to return home upon laying down their weapons. Cameron is spending two billion pounds on what? Terrorists?..... MORE

Source:  Pravda.ru

URL: http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/01-10-2011/119200-khamis_zhukov-0/

Idiotic decisions N.O . N.O.N.S.E.N.S.E Jacinto ‘Jing’ Paras 10/02/2011

Idiotic decisions

N.O . N.O.N.S.E.N.S.E

Jacinto ‘Jing’ Paras

10/02/2011
Isn’t it idiotic for a leader of a very poor nation to be donating $1 million to a very rich country such as Japan while his people are suffering from a calamity caused by the typhoon and needed such funds to alleviate their sufferings? The amount of $1 million or its equivalent of P42 million spent as donation could have come a long way to provide the needs such as food, clothing and temporary shelter for the people in Calumpit and Obando in Bulacan and so many other affected areas of the country. Lack of funds has always been the problem of government whenever there is calamity that befall our country and the squandering of precious resources by no other than the highest official of the land just to show his brand of braggadocio is unthinkable.

I wonder if the Japanese who were supposed to be the beneficiaries of the $1 million really appreciated the gesture after knowing that the owners of the donated fund, the Filipino people, needed it badly and more than they do.

Another idiotic situation is the inaction of three agencies of government, namely, Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), Department of Health (DoH) and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). These agencies should have been at the forefront of providing the much needed help and benefits mandated under Republic Act 10022. However, as pointed out by members of the House of Representatives in a hearing conducted by the committee on oversees workers affairs, the said agencies, especially the DoH, were too slow in coming up with the implementing rules, thereby resulting in a virtual monopoly of a group in a medical clinic, GGC Approved Medical Centers (Gamca). The association has controlled and made itself as the only group of clinics that will conduct examinations and check-ups of OFWs for the purpose of securing the medical certificate which will be used as a requirement for the issuance of visas by the countries in the Gulf such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111002com5.html

Harry Thomas on ‘foreign relations’ TABLETS OF STONE Larry Faraon, OP 10/02/2011

Harry Thomas on ‘foreign relations’

TABLETS OF STONE

Larry Faraon, OP

10/02/2011
We don’t really need hard and fast statistics to vouch for sex tourism in this country because it really exists rampantly here. But when US Ambassador Harry Thomas went quantitative with his 40 percent of the male foreign tourists coming down here to feast on our exotic girls and boys, then he is loitering on a different level of discourse.

Obviously, the nationalists of this country started pegging their defense mechanisms of “put up or shut up” as some senators took turns in punching the diplomat with the usual “show us your statistical base” or “what’s your evidence.”

Denial is the weakest argument and so is admission. However, a qualified admission would be positively more constructive. We have to admit to this sad fact. Even the free encyclopedia, the Wikepedia counts the Philippines as one of the favorite destinations of sex tourists along with Thailand, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Kenya and the Netherlands. But didn’t we wake up to foreign sex tourists when American soldiers would park their fleets in Subic or their V-50’s on the hangars of Angeles City and the flesh trade would litter around these military bases with pimps and local prostitutes ascending the big boats for the big bucks! Then there was the main strip at the mouth of the US Base in Olongapo City, the infamous Magsaysay Boulevard where women strip for sex trips of the mostly US clientele. Thomas’ memory should be jolted to remind him that sex tourism in the Philippines started with the Americans!.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111002com6.html

Freedom of information VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 10/02/2011

Freedom of information

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

10/02/2011
The 1986 Philippine Constitution, Article III, Section 7, provides: “The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents, and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions or decisions, as well as government research data used as basis for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to such limitation as may be provided by law.”

The above provision clearly forwards three signal principles: One, that information on matters relevant to public concern is nothing less than a constitutional right. Two, that the officiality of government acts and records, transactions or decisions, gives rise to public concerns. Three, that any limitation to such a constitutional right of the citizens of the Philippines is but an exception to the rule.

The 2004 Social Doctrine of the Universal Church, n. 414, teaches: “Information is among the principal instruments of democratic participation.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111002com7.html

‘Mongrel’ con-ass not in Charter, says Lagman By Charlie V. Manalo

AMENDMENTS OF CONSTITUTION BY LEGISLATION ILLEGAL

‘Mongrel’ con-ass not in Charter, says Lagman
By Charlie V. Manalo

10/02/2011


The proposed “mongrel” constituent assembly (con-ass) to seek amendments to the 1987 Constitution that was proposed during the Legislative Summit last Thursday is not provided under the Charter and its forming would run contrary to the basic law of the land, according to a senior member of the House of Representatives.

In a statement, House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman said the proposal to convene a con-ass and adopt amendments to the Constitution using the same procedure in crafting laws as proposed by Sen. Franklin Drilon would be unconstitutional.

He warned members of both House and Senate against adopting a variation of the con-ass, saying it would run contrary to the very charter Congress seeks to amend.

“Representatives and senators must not be precipitate in adopting a variation of the constituent assembly to propose amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution which innovation may be a mongrel bereft of pedigree under the fundamental law,” said Lagman as he stressed that “the constitutionality of the proposed variation must be assured even as the necessity of the proposed amendments needed to be ascertained in the absence of a justifiable clamor from foreign investors to liberalize the nationalistic economic provisions which protect Filipino citizens and safeguard the national patrimony.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111002hed1.html

Flood crisis far from over, residents of flooded C. Luzon towns warned By Charlie V. Manalo 10/02/2011

AMENDMENTS OF CONSTITUTION BY LEGISLATION ILLEGAL

Flood crisis far from over, residents of flooded C. Luzon towns warned
By Charlie V. Manalo

10/02/2011

 Typhoon “Quiel” yesterday battered the northern part of Luzon and brought fresh misery for more than a million people still trapped by floods from a storm earlier this week, officials said.

Quiel swept out into the South China Sea at 3 p.m. after a six-hour rampage on the main island of Luzon, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

Landslides killed one person and blocked roads in the mountainous north, but the disaster could be far from over because water runoff now threatens the already flooded plains north of Manila, said disaster management chief Benito Ramos.

“The runoff from the Cordillera (mountain range) would hit them in eight, nine, 10 hours,” he told a televised news conference, noting that dams and watersheds upstream could not hold much more water..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111002hed2.html

Three die in Air Force chopper crash 10/02/2011

Three die in Air Force chopper crash

10/02/2011

 A Philippine Air Force helicopter operating in the rebellion-torn southern Philippines yesterday crashed while attempting an emergency landing on a military camp on Mount Sinumaan in Sulu, killing the pilot and two crewmen, PAF spokesman Col. Mike Okol said.

“The UH-1H attempted a precautionary landing... due to mechanical problems,” he said in a statement.

Okol did not say what had caused the mechanical problem.

“There were three reported fatalities (but) the co-pilot survived,” he said.

All the casualties were aboard the helicopter..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111002hed6.html

Warden seeks aid from DILG to transfer 240 inmates to new jail facility 10/02/2011

Warden seeks aid from DILG to transfer 240 inmates to new jail facility

10/02/2011

 The warden of San Mateo Municipal Jail last Friday sought the assistance of the Department of interior and Local Government (DILG) for the immediate transfer of some 240 inmates to a new jail facility due to relentless flooding brought about by typhoons and heavy rains.

DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo, through BJMP-NCR Director Benito Dorigo, Jail Warden S/Insp. Darwin Agullo relayed that during the onslaught of typhoon Pedring last Tuesday, floodwater has reached detention cells in San Mateo prompting them to evacuate all inmates to the second floor of the jail.

However, on the same day, detainees were taken to a nearby school as water rose to a critical level. Agullo said that they asked the help of the local police, the Bureau of Fire (BFP), and the military to bring prisoners to safety in the designated evacuation center..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111002nat4.html

DILG lauds LGU execs in Luzon for disaster preparedness 10/02/2011

DILG lauds LGU execs in Luzon for disaster preparedness

10/02/2011

 The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) yesterday lauded the provincial, city and municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Councils (DRRMCs), particularly those from the hardest hit by Typhoons Pedring and Quiel in Central and Northern Luzon, for demonstrating their disaster preparedness management.

DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo said he is in constant touch with governors and mayors from Bulacan and Pampanga, particularly those several towns which are now faced with rising floodwaters, who are actively and personally addressing flood-related problems in their areas.

“Despite their meager resources and manpower, the local officials and their DRMMCs in Central and Northern Luzon, especially those from the flood-stricken towns of Bulacan and Pampanga should be lauded for their disaster preparedness,” he added..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111002nat5.html

Navotas lauds splendid job shown by rescuers during ‘Pedring’ By Arlie O. Calalo 10/02/2011

Navotas lauds splendid job shown by rescuers during ‘Pedring’
By Arlie O. Calalo

10/02/2011

 The Navotas City government was all praises for the rescue efforts and volunteerism that prevailed at the height of typhoon “Pedring’s” fury which resulted in the zero-casualty directly related to the typhoon.

This as Mayor John Reynald Tiangco placed the city’s Joint Rescue Team (JRT) on full alert yesterday as another storm named “Quiel” hit the country over the weekend.

A number of amphibians and rubber boats are ready to be deployed in different areas of the city, Tiangco said, adding to secure zero casualties the Local Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office was tasked to closely coordinate with barangay officials to force the evacuation of residents who live near the coastline if need be.

He said City Environmental and Natural Resources unit was ordered to send off all garbage trucks, street sweepers and canal cleaners to initiate the collection of garbage left by Pedring while the local Social Welfare and Development Office and city hall employees and volunteer groups continue to repack and distribute relief goods to make sure that all affected families are given their basic needs..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20111002met3.html

Four in row for Ateneo's Blue and White quint By Rocky Nazareno 10/02/2011

EAGLES STILL UAAP CHAMPIONS


Four in row for Ateneo's Blue and White quint
By Rocky Nazareno

10/02/2011


Not even another typhoon could stop Ateneo de Manila from finally laying claim to its fourth straight UAAP men’s basketball crown.

The Blue Eagles fashioned out an 82-69 victory over Far Eastern University yesterday — much like their Game One conquest of the Tamaraws — to complete a sweep of their best-of-three series and take their place as only the fourth school to win for four straight years in the league’s 74-year history.

Not even a five-day lull that brought about the postponement of Game Two originally set last Tuesday due to Typhoon “Pedring,” nor the threat of another stormy day from Typhoon “Quiel,” could put a damper on the Blue Eagles’ game as even their benchmen keyed a pivotal third quarter breakaway that set the tone for that lopsided win fashioned out before 18,900 shrieking fans at the Cubao arena.

The Blue Eagles were trailing the Tamaraws, 35-36, at the turn when back-up men Juami Tiongson, JP Eram and Tonino Gonzaga bannered a 22-7 blast that broke the game wide open in favor of Ateneo at 57-43, with only 47.1 seconds left in the third quarter..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/sports/20111002spo1.html