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Fraud marks the PCOS spot

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Fraud marks the PCOS spot

Filipinos can be sure that the elections in 2013 will certainly be fraudulent, since the nation will still be using the same precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines of Smartmatic, and the poll body and Smartmatic have been giving Filipinos the bull about the machines no longer having any glitches, and that errors have already been addressed.

That certainly is bull, since the machines are the same machines used in 2010, which was marked by large scale electronic fraud, which the yellows refuse to admit since their president is a PCOS president.

Even that examination of the PCOS machines in Laguna, with the Commission on Elections commissioners in tow, meant nothing at all, and gave no guarantees that the machines aren’t vulnerable to electronic fraud. Neither was that Comelec-Smartmatic demonstration of one PCOS machine before the Senate electoral panel a guarantee that the automated polls will be fraud-free.

This same examination of machines, along with a demonstration not just in the Senate but in many areas failed to guarantee clean and honest elections. Sure, the vote count was fast, but was it accurate? Absolutely not!  Election day in 2010 came, and the nation was witness to the fact that some of the machines bogged down, others failed to record the votes while still others had  defective flash cards. And there was, not to forget ever, those 60 PCOS machines found, not in the voting centers but in a private house, with one PCOS operator caught..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/commentary/item/932-fraud-marks-the-pcos-spot

Time flies under Noy

Time flies under Noy


The administration of Noynoy has just turned two years and nobody seems to have noticed, literally. Except for that stage production named oust Corona by hook of by crook, there were no transforming events the past two years that will leave an imprint on the minds of Filipinos to identify the Aquino presidency.

Noynoy assumed the presidency in 2010 on the platform of change and the eradication of graft which was his formula for ending poverty, and the electorate bought the campaign pitch not less because Noynoy was riding the crest of the euphoria created by the death of his mother, former President Corazon Aquino the previous year.

Prior to being hailed as the son of Cory and thus was quickly claimed to have the qualifications to become president, Noynoy had a lackluster record in Congress, both as member of the House and later on as a senator. Truly, going by his congressional record, he was a do-nothing legislator, turning out to become a do-nothing president..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/commentary/editorial/item/933-time-flies-under-noy

Annan: Russia, West agree on transition government for Syria



Annan: Russia, West agree on transition government for Syria


The Syrian crisis is to be resolved by a transition government consisting of the current authorities and opposition leaders. The proposal was announced by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan after talks in Geneva.

The unity government should be formed on the basis of "mutual consent" said Annan. The Syrian-led transition should take place within a fixed period of time and the envoy hopes this may happen by the end of the year.

Annan, announcing the official communiqué of the international meeting in Geneva, called on the Syrian regime and opposition groups to re-commit to a ceasefire and to start implementing his six-point peace plan immediately, without waiting for the other side..... MORE


SourceRT.com

URL: http://www.rt.com/news/syria-summit-geneva-annan-115/

Russia broadens transit opportunities for NATO (w/ Video)



Russia broadens transit opportunities for NATO


Russia has allowed NATO to use not only ground, but also aerial routes for the transit of weapons and military hardware to and from Afghanistan.

A respective decree, signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, was published on Friday.
The document amends the 2008 resolution, "On ground transit through the territory of the Russian Federation of weapons, military hardware and military property addressed to the International Security Assistance Force in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and in the opposite direction.".... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://rt.com/politics/nato-transit-russia-afghanistan-059/

Child labor, an offspring of ‘bankrupt employment, economic program’

Child labor, an offspring of ‘bankrupt employment, economic program’

 
Child labor arises in the Philippines because of the government’s failure “in generating decent jobs.” – KMU
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – “Children should have time to play and learn, and to be free from child labor. When children are forced to work, we deprive them, their communities and the country of a better future,” said Lawrence Jeff Johnson, director of the Philippine office of International Labor Organization (ILO), as the Philippine National Statistics Office (NSO) released new data on child labor this week.

Based on reports and despite various organizations’ frequent appeals for the rights of the child, child labor still persists in many countries, especially in less developed countries such as in the Philippines.
“They put their health at risk and their lives in danger,” said Johnson of the millions of child workers. He said member states of the ILO, including the Philippines, have committed to the global goal of ending the worst forms of child labor by 2016. But the global economic crisis, he said, has “led to the slow and uneven progress in the fight against child labor.”

To progressive groups in the Philippines, however, the global crisis is not the only obvious drag in combatting child labor. The said crisis, in fact, is a result of the problems that forced children out of school and into hazardous work. According to the labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), for example, child labor arises in the Philippines because of the government’s failure in generating decent jobs in the country, which they blame, in turn, on Aquino’s “refusal to veer away from the bankrupt employment program of attracting foreign investors into the country by offering cheap and repressed labor.”

So far, there are no changes being announced in the Aquino government’s job generation strategy, even as the labor department is claiming they are “very determined” in fighting child labor.

Borne by poverty and joblessness

“Children are being forced to work because their parents either have no jobs or are earning pitiful sums in their work,” Elmer “Bong” Labog, chairman of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), said in reaction to news that more than half of 5.5 million working children as of Oct 2011 are considered as child labor and mostly in hazardous conditions..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/06/29/child-labor-an-offspring-of-%E2%80%98bankrupt-employment-economic-program%E2%80%99/

Richie rich Pinoy

Richie rich Pinoy

Are we really a rich country pretending to be poor or a poor country pretending to be rich?

The Filipino people just had a glaring Forbes magazine’s listing of the top 40 personalities edging each other by the billions of dollars in assets minus the liabilities. The street Filipino folks simply can’t believe how these businessmen and entrepreneurs have amassed so much wealth primarily from the people themselves, including the have-nots. The top three billionaires and most of those on the list thrived on the ordinary coin purses of the ordinary consuming Filipino customers. SM Shoemart, Asia Brewery, Robinsons, McDonald’s, Jollibee, Ayala Malls, among others, are all consumer intensive products. In short, the poor consumers made them rich and we can take pride in that. However, 40 percent of our countrymen are living on mother hen’s scratching empty scratches.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/commentary/item/929-richie-rich-pinoy

Poor record, missed vows mark Aquino’s second year

CHURCH, HR GROUPS POUND ON NOY’S FAILURE TO PROTECT RIGHTS 

Photo: Daily Tribune
The second year of the Aquino administration was highlighted yesterday by a contrast between achievement or the lack of it and spins on more promises of what President Aquino intends to achieve in his four remaining years in office with both human rights groups and the Church pounding on Aquino to show results in the protection of civil rights.

In a letter to media to follow up on a statement that Aquino had done little to arrest perpetrators of human rights violation during the two years he is in office and issued last Thursday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said not much is being done to arrest alleged human rights abusers such as retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan and that the administration’s failure to prosecute offenders “highlights broader problems that do rest with the administration.”

HRW deputy director for Asia division Elaine Pearson said most cases involving human rights violations failed to reach trial stage while the police fail to follow up and arrest suspects and the military continued to “obstruct” investigations into human rights cases involving members of the Armed Forces..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/headlines/item/955-poor-record-missed-vows-mark-aquino%E2%80%99s-second-year

Valte on higher power bills: ‘Don’t ask Palace, try ERC’

Power users already suffering from electricity rates which are already the most expensive in the world won’t find succor from Malacañang in seeking an explanation from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for its recent decision to grant dominant electricity distributor Manila Electric Co. its petition to raise charges based on its “performance-based regulation (PBR)” schedule which is reviewed every year.

President Aquino’s deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte said the ERC, which she described as an “independent” agency and which the Palace has no control on, should do the explaining.

The ERC in a June 28 decision allowed a 16.7 centavos per kilowatthour increase on residential rates and as much as P14 per kilowatthour increase for commercial rates under the Meralco PBR schedule for next year. The effect of the approved rate increases, however, will start to reflect on electricity bills next month.

“We are not in a position to comment on the ERC resolution, primarily because the ERC is independent from the Department of Energy (DoE),” Valte said on radio..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/headlines/item/954-valte-on-higher-power-bills-%E2%80%98don%E2%80%99t-ask-palace-try-erc%E2%80%99

‘Dindo’ batters Ilocos, Bukidnon; Pagasa tracking new LPA

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) yesterday disclosed that some 22,714 people and about P2.28 million worth of properties were affected by tropical storm “Dindo” (Doksuri).

Meanwhile, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) has announced that the low pressure area (LPA) forming in the Pacific Ocean may develop into a tropical cyclone which can affect the Philippines next week. Once it enters the country’s area of responsibilityas a tropical storm, the LPA will be named “Enteng.”

In its 6 a.m. report yesterday, the NDRRMC disclosed that Ilocos and Bukidnon were the provinces where “Dindo” wreaked havoc on infrastructure and property before leaving Philippine territory.

Initial figures cited by the NDRRMC said 4,836 families or 22,714 people were affected, including 4,291 families or 20,114 people in Ilocos Norte; 280 families or 1,275 people in La Union; and 265 families or 1,325 people in Bukidnon..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/nation/item/944-%E2%80%98dindo%E2%80%99-batters-ilocos-bukidnon-pagasa-tracking-new-lpa

RH law to minimize child labor — Lagman

The rise in the number of children at work could be traced to the absence of a Reproductive Health (RH) law in the Philippines, a senior member of the House of Representatives said on Friday.

At the same time, a child welfare group urged the Aquino administration to act fast to curb the rising incidence of child labor by addressing the need of poor Filipinos for food, shelter, jobs and social services.
“The escalating incidence of child labor in the Philippines transcends labor-law implementation and police enforcement as it is an indictment of the government’s failure to positively address the population problem by enacting the reproductive health bill,” Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said. Lagman, one of the principal authors of the RH bill in the House, said both maternal deaths and child labor will be reduced and prevented once the RH bill becomes a law.

“The unremitting pregnancies of Filipino women in the marginalized sectors due to lack of information and access to reproductive health and family-planning services and  supplies largely contribute to the increase in child labor as numerous children are suffered to work in their tender years to augment family incomes,” he said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/nation/item/943-rh-law-to-minimize-child-labor-%E2%80%94-lagman

Lawmakers ask House panel to investigate airline companies’ refusal to use airbridge

The House committee on transportation will conduct an inquiry when session resumes in July relative to reports that Cebu Pacific and other airlines do not use the passenger tube or airbridge for the embarkation and disembarkation of their passengers, causing inconvenience especially to the elderly, persons with disabilities and children.

Reps. Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro City) and Maximo Rodriguez Jr. (Abante Mindanao), authors of House Resolution 2379, urged Congress to look into this practice of airline companies not using the airbridge because of their refusal to pay the P7,000 fee per flight for its use.

Rodriguez also urged the House body to summon the officials of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), Cebu Pacific, other airline companies and other government agencies to shed light on the matter..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/metro-section/item/895-lawmakers-ask-house-panel-to-investigate-airline-companies%E2%80%99-refusal-to-use-airbridge

Philippine Air Force badly in need of supersonic jetfighters

From 1947 to date, the Philippine Air Force (PAF) had a total inventory of 1,028 aircraft, consisting of 251 fighter planes or equivalent to 20 squadrons, 203 transports, 372 trainer aircraft and 202 helicopters of various types, making the PAF as a force to reckon with.

Over the years, however, the PAF had decommissioned all its jetfighter-interceptors, the last one in 2005 with the retirement of its F-5A/B war jet without any replacement, leaving the country’s airspace virtually defenseless without a single jet interceptor left in its arsenal.

Today, the PAF has fewer than 200 aircraft of various types, minus the jetfighters “guarding” Philippine airspace at a time when the country needed it most as a deterrent force against foreign intrusion, particularly by China in the case of the Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) ownership, which is well within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ)..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/metro-section/item/923-philippine-air-force-badly-in-need-of-supersonic-jetfighters

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