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A terrible mistake EDITORIAL Click to enlarge 04/22/2012

Sunday, April 22, 2012

A terrible mistake

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
04/22/2012
There seems to be something terribly wrong with the policy tack Noynoy is taking on the territorial dispute with China, in that instead of the conflict calming down to a level where negotiations are possible, the situation is headed to a critical boiling point.

It is the President’s call on what moves the government will take amid the conflict which is an age-old dispute and not necessarily a source of concern, if handled intelligently and professionally.

The country also has territorial issues with neighbors other than China but it seems that Noynoy has made it among his obsessions that encompass his perceived political enemies, domestic and abroad, to take a hardline stance against China..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120422com1.html

The mouse that roars FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 04/22/2012

The mouse that roars

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
04/22/2012
Noynoy and his foreign office, along with his defense and military chiefs, are at pains to portray themselves before the Filipinos at least, that they will not take the bullying of China sitting down.

The trouble is, Noynoy and his boys are no different from the mouse that roared but that ended up being swallowed by the huge lion.

The Noynoy administration certainly knows it is no match for China even in that claimed stand-off. The truth is, the Philippines blinked some time ago during the first few days of the stand-off when, after sending its antiquated American warship that gave the Philippines the early edge in that the Philippine soldiers were able to get into the Chinese fishing boats with their illegal marine catch, blinked by quickly pulling out of Scarborough Shoal, with the lame excuse of its having to return to port to refuel..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120422com2.html

Caught on tape: Chilling new video of US border patrol beating immigrant to death

Caught on tape: Chilling new video of US border patrol beating immigrant to death


A new video shows Anastacio Hernadez-Rojas lying on the ground in the fetal position, circled by at least a dozen federal agents as one repeatedly shocks him with an electric stun gun.

The video was shot by a passer-by and was obtained by the lawyer for the Hernandez-Rojas family as they push on with their wrongful death suit against the US government.

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) aired the video and an interview with the woman who shot it as part of a new documentary. In May 2010, Seattle resident Ashley Young was crossing a bridge from Mexico to the United States. In the "Need to Know" report, Young said that she saw the man lying on the ground was handcuffed..... MORE
SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/mexico-border-patrol-death-video-649/

Security Council changed prerogatives in Syrian crisis – Churkin to RT



Security Council changed prerogatives in Syrian crisis – Churkin to RT

The latest resolution on Syria, unanimously passed in the Security Council, may finally put things “on the right track” in the troubled country, Russia’s envoy to the UN exclusively told RT.

­RT:The Security Council has just agreed to boost the number of observers. Do you think this time around the mission will be a success?

Vitaly Churkin: We certainly hope so. In fact we are very pleased with the outcome of today’s vote, which happened less than two hours ago. It was Russia who took the initiative in introducing the draft yesterday morning. And it took us just 26 hours to bring it to fruition, to the unanimous vote of the Security Council on a rather complex resolution, both politically and technically, no mean feat by Security Council standards, let me tell you..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/churkin-un-resolution-syria-interview-652/

UN Security Council votes to send 300 observers to Syria (w/ Video)



UN Security Council votes to send 300 observers to Syria


The UN Security Council has unanimously voted to pass a resolution increasing the number of ceasefire observers in Syria to 300. Meanwhile, the first wave of observers reached war-torn Homs.

The resolution is aimed at enforcing a truce in the conflict between the Syrian government and the opposition, which was signed last week, but has been broken numerous times since.

The final text was a compromise between two rival versions of the resolution proposed by Russia and the European Union, achieved after hours of negotiation on Friday night..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/un-security-council-monitors-syria-635/

I am the boss, not you, Filipino people NO NONSENSE Jacinto ‘Jing’ Paras 04/22/2012

I am the boss, not you, Filipino people

NO NONSENSE
Jacinto ‘Jing’ Paras
04/22/2012
It is indeed ironic that during his oath-taking at the Luneta as President of the Republic, President BS Aquino said “You are my boss,” but at the Power Summit in Davao he told his audience, “you pay more or else there will be more blackouts in Mindanao.” This means that Mr. BS Aquino is after all not the servant of the people which he initially wanted to portray, but he is the boss and dictator as he dictates on the people of Mindanao what to do, instead of doing what the people had requested him to do which is to solve the power crisis that has gripped Mindanao.

The Power Summit which was held in Davao recently which was supposed to find solution to the power crisis in Mindanao, turned out a to be a big disappointment to the disgust of the attendees and stakeholders who expected a solution to the recurring blackouts lasting eight to 10 hours daily in Mindanao.

No less that the President was there to preside and this has provided hope to the people because the highest official was attending the summit and would provide an answer to the nagging question of how to solve the lack of electricity in their area..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120422com5.html

Unfair to SM TABLETS OF STONE Larry Faraon, OP 04/22/2012

Unfair to SM

TABLETS OF STONE
Larry Faraon, OP
04/22/2012
Poets do exaggerate. But poets need not overreact when poems “as lovely as a tree” are being “earth balled.” Obviously, the issue of SM City Baguio’s environmental “sin” has been stretched beyond poetic justice to overkill, leading to blatant injustice and unfairness to the SM conglomerate.

The environmental “messiahs,” ill-equipped with misinformation rushed too early to the streets carrying banners depicting SM as environmental fiends? Amid chants of, “we cut it all for you” and “greedy” in full media spreadsheets and screens.

The ranting caused misplaced bias and “rushed” judgments leading to the court issuance of a temporary environmental protection order (Tepo). Then surprisingly, there is the Catholic diocese of Baguio joining the fray by suspending the Eucharistic celebrations held regularly in the mall lobby as if SM is some sort of an ecclesiastical entity being slapped with church canonical sanctions..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120422com6.html

Climate change or earth change VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 04/22/2012

Climate change or earth change

VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
04/22/2012
Which is what? Is it climate change that causes Earth change? Is it Earth change that affects climate change? Or is one simply giving rise to the other? Or are they in fact one and the same composite natural phenomenon?

This issue is not really unlike the interesting — and allegedly — profound century old question: Which is first, the hen or the egg? Round and round the answers go. If the chicken is first, then where is the egg it came from? If the egg is first, then where is the chicken that laid it?

The matter of climate change has been long since hogging the attention of people the world over. Foreign and local media continuously bring to focus either the great wonder of or the big fear about the changing climate all over the globe. Initiated by a known and familiar political figure in North America, he said that the ongoing change in the climate has been the origin of the large and significant movements of the soil — especially in the form of frequent strong earthquakes — not to mention the frequent deluge of water that causes frequent and destructive floods which in turn annihilates rice fields, roads, bridges and so on..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120422com7.html

China’s PLA paper warns of armed confrontation By Rocky G. Nazareno 04/22/2012

COMMENTARY SAYS US-RP WARGAMES FAN RISKS OF CONFLICT

China’s PLA paper warns of armed confrontation

By Rocky G. Nazareno 04/22/2012

As Malacañang maintained yesterday that the government has been consistent with its position of not adding any more tension in its standoff with China over the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, a newspaper of China’s People Liberation Army (PLA) warned military exercises being held between Philippines and United States forces “have fanned risks of armed confrontation over the disputed area.”

Presidential deputy spokesman Abigail Valte, nevertheless, stressed that the Aquino administration had done its commitment to “de-escalate tension” in the area.

Valte issued the statement after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) tagged as an “aggravation” a move by China to send a large patrol vessel to Panatag Shoal last Friday..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120422hea1.html

US forces being tapped for anti-insurgency bid 04/22/2012

US forces being tapped for anti-insurgency bid

04/22/2012
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CCP) called President Aquino a liar as the leftist group bared the true intention of Balikatan, the joint military exercises between the US military and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Citing pictures taken by Reuters showing the exercises geared towards US involvement in local counter-guerrilla operations in the Philippines, the CPP said the President and his military leaders concealed the real objective of Balikatan.

“Clearly, Aquino and his military spokesmen are lying when they claim that the Balikatan exercises are only meant to boost the external defense capabilities of the Philippines,” said the CPP..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120422hea2.html

4 new purple crab species found in Palawan 04/22/2012


 4 new purple crab species found in Palawan


04/22/2012
Four new species of freshwater crab, bright purple in colour, have been discovered in the biologically diverse Philippines, by a team led by Hendrik Freitag, of Germany’s Senckenberg Museum of Zoology.

The tiny crustaceans were found in streams in remote areas of the Palawan island group.

“They are semi-aquatic and hide in burrows at the stream bank, which are usually found under boulders and roots,” Freitag said in a paper published in the latest edition of the National University of Singapore’s Raffles Bulletin of Zoology.

“Their eggs hatch directly into juvenile crabs and the creatures emerge at night to forage under water,” Freitag added..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120422nat8.html

Task Force formed to arrest Ecleo 04/22/2012

Task Force formed to arrest Ecleo

04/22/2012
Caraga police regional director Chief Supt. Reynaldo Rafal on Saturday said the Police Regional Office-13 has formed a task force to arrest convicted killer Ruben Ecleo, Jr., Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) supreme leader and Dinagat Island representative.

Rafal said the Task Force was in response to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Dir. Gen. Nicanor Bartolome’s order for Ecleo’s the immediate arrest.

“The task force will focus on the arrest of Ecleo,” Rafal told the Philippine News Agency..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120422nat6.html

House bill sets time interval before presumption of death By Charlie V. Manalo 04/22/2012

House bill sets time interval before presumption of death

By Charlie V. Manalo 04/22/2012

A lawmaker has proposed a one-year prescription for a person missing due to extraordinary forces of nature under the New Civil Code on the declaration of presumptive death needed for estate settlements.

“This bill seeks to help the victims to settle their successional rights over the estate of their departed loved ones who were declared casualties of a natural calamity without the unnecessary delay in the settlement of their estate,” said Kasangga Rep. Teodorico Haresco, author of House Bill 6015.

The bill seeks to amend Section 2, Article 391 of the New Civil Code on the Declaration on Presumptive Death..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120422nat2.html

‘Boy Bayong’ to help solve problem of plastic bags 04/22/2012

‘Boy Bayong’ to help solve problem of plastic bags

04/22/2012
“Boy Bayong,” the EcoWaste Coalition’s favorite mascot for ecological and sustainable lifestyle, will stage a comeback amid the clamor for solutions to the plastic garbage crisis.

As part of the Earth Day 2012 festival at the Cultural Center of the Philippines today, April 22, “Boy Bayong” will greet and inspire the public to “think out of the plastic bag” and embrace eco-alternatives to the ubiquitous symbol of our throw-away culture: plastic bags.

“The fragile state of our environment requires a key revision to our inconsiderate consumption and disposal habits that tend to view Mother Earth as a boundless source of raw materials to be extracted and consumed and as a dumping ground for leftover toxics and wastes,” said Roy Alvarez, president of EcoWaste Coalition..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120422met4.html

Higher penalty sought for theft of nat’l library, museum properties 04/22/2012

Higher penalty sought for theft of nat’l library, museum properties

04/22/2012
Describing the penalty for robbing a national library and national museum as outdated, a solon is proposing the imposition of higher penalty for those convicted of stealing a property belonging to the two government institutions.

Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco, author of House Bill 5774, justified his proposed measure, saying the accompanying fine is outdated considering the fact that the artifacts in a museum are priceless.

Under Article 311 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC), the penalty for stealing properties from the national library and national museum is arresto mayor and a fine of not more than P500..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120422met1.html

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