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Blood-soaked straight path EDITORIAL 11/08/2011

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Blood-soaked straight path

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
11/08/2011
Human rights have become a source of embarrassment for Noynoy, whose worsening record in terms of extra-judicial killings and abuse of authority, mainly from the military and police forces, litter what he has been trumpeting as his administration’s straight path.

The most recent atrocity committed under his watch is that of Italian priest Fr. Fausto Tentorio who had been actively campaigning against mining activities in Mindanao, particularly around his diocese in Kidapawan.

The rise in the cases of extra-judicial killings has an uncanny parallel during the term of Noynoy’s mother, former President Cory Aquino, whose administration is remembered, among other things, by the Mendiola massacre of 1987 where 13 protesters were killed by police forces securing Malacañang Palace..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111108com1.html

Playing with political fire FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 11/08/2011

Playing with political fire

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
11/08/2011
Like it or not, the continuing deliberate delay of the Noynoy administration, done through the Department of Justice (DoJ) Secretary Leila de Lima, on the lifting of the watch list order (WLO) against an ailing Gloria Arroyo, is boomeranging on Noynoy and De Lima.

Gloria may be the most unpopular government official today, but that does not justify Noynoy and De Lima’s insistence on keeping her in the country and deliberately blocking her chances of a cure for her ailment and in the process, grossly violating Gloria’s constitutional right to travel, especially as she has not even been charged in court.

Clearly, the delay is seen as vindictiveness on the part of Noynoy, because even as he claims to be passing on the decision on whether to lift the WLO against Gloria to De Lima, there is no reason for him not to step in and make that decision to allow her to leave the country..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111108com2.html

Towering impunity? AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 11/08/2011

Towering impunity?

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW
Ken Fuller
11/08/2011
You would think it would be news if a property development company owned by the largest bank in the country were to file criminal libel charges against three unit-owners of one of its condos, wouldn’t you? What if those charges were then dismissed in court? What if one of those charged was a retired Australian law professor? Nope. Apart from a few mentions in Business Mirror, not a peep from the media. So here’s the story.

It’s an interesting and long-running saga. Those charged all own units in Federal Land Inc.’s two-tower Oriental Gardens condominium in Makati. Federal is owned by Metrobank. The trouble started when the residents learned of Federal’s plans to construct a third tower. Their argument was that the units they had bought several years earlier had been marketed on the basis that there would be two towers and two towers only, and that the addition of a third would have adverse consequences for them and that their written consent, as required by legislation, had not been obtained..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111108com4.html

Billions of dollars moved in bank transfer demonstrations

Billions of dollars moved in bank transfer demonstrations

 Bank branches and ATMs across the country saw a surge in traffic during the last month, which pinnacled over the weekend as Americans from coast-to-coast accessed their accounts, withdrew their money and went elsewhere.

With November 5 being hailed as Bank Transfer Day, the final day in a month-long demonstration to move money from out of the big banks and into smaller, localized credit unions, the tally of those that took up the cause has come through and it shows that the movement was more than just a fluke. Leading up to November 5, $4.5 billion was taken out of major financial institutions.

That number comes from a just released report from ABC News that reveals that credit unions across the country accumulated around 650,000 new customers in the month of October..... MORE

SourceRt.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/bank-transfer-credit-country-747/

Betraying her motive I.N.S.I.D.E . C.O.N.G.R.E.S.S Charlie Manalo 11/08/2011

Betraying her motive

I.N.S.I.D.E . C.O.N.G.R.E.S.S
Charlie Manalo
11/08/2011
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has again hit the headlines. This time, for failing act swiftly on the case of Ramona Bautista, one of the suspects in the killing of her own brother Ramgen, enabling Ramona to fly out of the country even before she could be properly investigated regarding Ramgen’s killing.

De Lima stressed she could not impose a watch list order (WLO) against Ramona since as she has yet to undergo a preliminary investigation. This, even as a murder and frustrated murder charges were filed against her, her brother Ramon Joseph and five others.

Thus, Ramona was able to fly to Turkey Friday night via Hong Kong, eliciting a howl of protest from her half-brother, Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111108com5.html

Floods show what lies ahead for sinking Bangkok focus 11/08/2011

Floods show what lies ahead for sinking Bangkok

focus

11/08/2011
BANGKOK — The Thai capital, built on swampland, is slowly sinking and the floods currently besieging Bangkok could be merely a foretaste of a grim future as climate change makes its impact felt, experts say.

The low-lying metropolis lies just 30 kilometers north of the Gulf of Thailand, where various experts forecast sea level will rise by 19 to 29 centimeters by 2050 as a result of global warming.

Water levels would also increase in Bangkok’s main Chao Phraya river, which already overflows regularly.

If no action is taken to protect the city, “in 50 years... most of Bangkok will be below sea level,” said Anond Snidvongs, a climate change expert at the capital’s Chulalongkorn University..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111108com6.html

Symbol of overpopulation VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 11/08/2011

Symbol of overpopulation

VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
11/08/2011
The powers behind the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, the prime movers of all possible ways and means of contraception, the multinational pharmaceuticals wallowing in corporate greed though the unlimited manufacture and wanton sale of all kinds of contraceptives — they recently came up with another gross game plan. They have no qualm of conscience in using anybody and anything to promote population control in the world, the Philippines well included.

This time, after receipt of their proper cue, key representatives of said anti-natalist agents went to a hospital. There they waited for a baby to be born. Immediately thereafter, they used the tiny, innocent and helpless creature as a symbol of overpopulation. To somehow blur their base agenda, they heaped gifts upon the baby who is precisely supposed to stand as a bad omen for the Philippines, for the world as a whole. They saw to it though that the mother is “plugged” — as a matter of course — to prevent her for conceiving..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111108com7.html

Palace, troops caution MILF vs ‘coddling’ Basilan commander By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan and Mario J. Mallari 11/08/2011

Palace, troops caution MILF vs ‘coddling’ Basilan commander

By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan and Mario J. Mallari 11/08/2011

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is inviting war with its persistent refusal to yield its fugitive commander, Dan Laksaw Asnawi, which is a violation of the ceasefire agreement with the govern-ment, a Malacañang official yesterday said.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, in a phone-patch interview, warned that the Muslim group cannot provide protection to Asnawi, deputy commander of the MILF’s 114th base command, because he is considered a criminal by the government and the object of the ongoing military operation in Basilan.

“Insofar as the ceasefire agreement is concerned, it is very clear the MILF cannot harbor criminal elements, that is in violation of the ceasefire agreement,” he stressed..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111108hed3.html

Executive-judiciary clash looms on PEACe bonds By Benjamin B. Pulta 11/08/2011

SC EYES CONTEMPT RAPS VS DOF, BIR

Executive-judiciary clash looms on PEACe bonds

By Benjamin B. Pulta 11/08/2011

A confrontation between the Supreme Court and Executive agencies again looms, this time over a restraint order the tribunal issued on the collection of a 20 percent final tax on the P35 billion Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificates (PEACe) bonds that was claimed to have been paid out last Oct. 18 as the SC may consider citing both the Department of Finance (DoF) and the Bureau of Internal (BIR) for contempt for collecting the tax despite the temporary restraining order (TRO).

The TRO was issued based on the petition of the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) questioning the collection of the tax after an initial government ruling granting the controversial bonds float exemption from tax payments.

Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said the high court may look into why the DoF and BIR did not implement the TRO issued last Oct. 18 and have proceeded to collect the subject 20-percent final withholding tax (FWT) on the bonds that matured then..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111108hed1.html

Aquino, allies killing FoI bill — solon 11/08/2011

Aquino, allies killing FoI bill — solon

11/08/2011
It is becoming more and more apparent that the Freedom of Information (FoI) bill would most likely not become law during President Aquino’s term.

This as Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño yes-terday expressed disappoint-ment in Malacañang and its congressional allies as a number of lawmakers belonging to different political parties are now hedging on passing the FoI bill, echoing Aquino’s line that it could be “prone to abuse.”

Casiño, one of the authors of the measure (House Bill 133), noted that “it seems that President Aquino is set not to approve the FoI bill and is now trying to condition the minds of the people. As can be gleaned from the statements of majority of his allies, they are following Malacañang’s lead in trying to kill the bill.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111108hed4.html

DFA reminds Pinoy caregivers in UK of new immigration rules 11/08/2011

DFA reminds Pinoy caregivers in UK of new immigration rules

11/08/2011
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has reminded Filipino caregivers in the United Kingdom of the current immigration rule requiring newly hired foreign caregivers to receive an hourly wage of £7.02 for them to be granted long-term working visas.

This policy would applies to those who started working in the UK after Dec. 31, 2003, the DFA said.

The new standardized wage measure is meant to ensure that migrant workers in this field would receive the proper salary and is envisioned to decrease the number of foreign workers illegally recruited for cheap labor in the UK..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111108nat6.html

POEA: More countries to be included in banned lists for OFWs 11/08/2011

POEA: More countries to be included in banned lists for OFWs

11/08/2011
Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Carlos Cao yesterday said more countries may be included on the list of countries banned for deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for their inability to provide protection for Filipino workers.

He said they will come out with the additional list of non-compliant countries, particularly from the Middle East by mid-next year.

However, POEA did not disclose what countries would be included, saying these are mostly from the Middle East and African countries.

The POEA has earlier banned the deployment of OFWs to 41 receiving countries based on the recommendation of the DFA, citing noncompliance with the guarantees provided under the Migrant Workers Act or Republic Act 10022.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20111108met8.html

Perjury raps to be added to Ramona’s murder charge By Gina Peralta-Elorde 11/08/2011

Perjury raps to be added to Ramona’s murder charge

By Gina Peralta-Elorde 11/08/2011

Task Force Ramgen is looking into possible perjury charges to be filed against Ramona Bautista for giving a false statement to the Parañaque City police with regard to the killing of her elder brother, aspiring actor Ramgen, last Oct. 28 in their home in Parañaque City.

Her previous testimony when Ramona surfaced at the police station, she claimed that the killers of her brother had abducted her and abandoned her at a mall in Parañaque City hours after the incident.

The following day, Ramona withdrew her statement admitting that she was out of her mind when she testified that the statement was false due to her being ashamed that she had abandoned her brother and his girlfriend Janelle Manahan during the attack..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20111108met1.html

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