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Bulatlat Live: People’s SONA 2012

Monday, July 23, 2012

Bulatlat Live: People’s SONA 2012


As President Benigno “Noynoy” C. Aquino III delivers his State of the Nation Address, progressive organizations will hold a protest action along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City today. They will criticize Aquino’s policies that did not serve the interests of the Filipino people.
Follow Bulatlat’s coverage via our Twitter and Facebook account.

Live video for mobile from Ustream
Separating perceptions from reality
A look at the concrete manifestations of the current situation, two years after the Aquino administration took the reins of government, reveals that the change that people expected is just wishful thinking as nothing much has changed except perhaps the public’s supposed still positive perception on the government, which is slowly being eroded by the worsening poverty and hunger resulting from the festering unemployment and underemployment problem and the spikes in prices of basic commodities and services. (Click here to read the entire article).... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/07/23/bulatlat-live-peoples-sona-2012/

Nobody believes them anymore Written by Ninez Cacho-Olivares

Nobody believes them anymore


Good grief! Noynoy and Dinky’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program which has tens of billions as doleout has been going on for two years, with a lot of anomalies and irregularities found by the official auditing body, the Commission on Audit (CoA), yet there went Malacañang and Noynoy, through his spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, still blaming Gloria Arroyo for these anomalies.

A report stated that Malacañang had admitted that irregularities and other anomalies that hounded the administration’s main poverty alleviation program called the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) can only be blamed on former President Gloria Arroyo.

Lacierda even lied with a straight face, claiming that the irregularities in the CoA report covered the years of Gloria, even when it was clear that the CoA report covered the year 2011, which falls under Noynoy’s term.

But Lacierda even had the gumption to state that the irregularities in the CCT have been already corrected even as he insisted that the anomalous practices dated back from the time of the previous administration.... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/commentary/item/1902-nobody-believes-them-anymore

US taking covert steps to cripple Syria’s Assad - newspaper

US taking covert steps to cripple Syria’s Assad - newspaper

The US government has made repeated covert attempts to block arms and oil shipments to Syria, the Wall Street Journal reports. Officials said Washington also provided rebel forces with key military intelligence against President Bashar al-Assad.

The WSJ cites unnamed government officials in its report, which claims that the US has tried to coerce Iraq into blocking flights crossing through its airspace that are suspected of carrying weapons and supplies to the Assad government.

In addition, US intelligence agencies have moved to block ships believed to be transporting military equipment to Syria from traversing the Suez Canal..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://www.rt.com/news/us-quiet-steps-remove-assad-816/

Anaheim police 'kill another man', cops filmed firing on women & children at protest (PHOTOS, VIDEO)


Anaheim police 'kill another man', cops filmed firing on women & children at protest (PHOTOS, VIDEO)


A second case of deadly police-involved shooting is reported in Anaheim over the weekend. It comes just a day after police shot a 24-year-old man, sparking chaotic protests.

Police shot dead a handcuffed man in the Guinida neighborhood of the city, reports OC Weekly, citing eyewitness accounts.

Family friends told the Weekly that the victim was Joel Acevedo, a resident of Anaheim..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/anaheim-police-shoot-another-833/

Iraqi death toll rises to 89 in the worst wave of attacks this year (PHOTOS)

Iraqi death toll rises to 89 in the worst wave of attacks this year (PHOTOS)

A series of blasts and shootings has brought the single-day death toll for brutal attacks across Iraq to 89 victims, including 13 Iraqi soldiers. With 223 more wounded, the attacks signal the worst outbreak of violence in the country this year.

­On early Monday morning, unidentified gunmen attacked an Iraqi military base in the town of Udaim. The terrorists arrived in three vehicles and opened fire on soldiers, reportedly killing 13 of them, Reuters reports.
In one of the latest incidents, roadside bombs struck northeast Iraq, leaving 11 dead..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://www.rt.com/news/iraq-explosions-series-killed-824/

Sona fixations Written by Tribune Editorial

Sona fixations

The contents of Noynoy’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) were previewed by the Palace with reporters before the weekend and it seems the final cut would be a major revision since the usual formula of claiming achievements solely by blaming everything on the past administration and for which Noynoy is being criticized  heavily as he always says it is Gloria’s fault.

Constantly bashing the heads of his enemies won’t work this time and insisting on it would only strengthen perceptions that nothing indeed was achieved in the two years that Noynoy has been in in power.

The Sona is the occasion for Noynoy to persuade Congress to go along with him in the passing of urgent bills and in the past years it seems that Noynoy has a poor batting average on his administration’s priority bills passing in Congress. Thus, his legislative agenda usually ends way off target every year..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/commentary/editorial/item/1903-sona-fixations

What not to expect Written by Jonathan de la Cruz

What not to expect

By now, given the frenzied issuances of the Palace and various government agencies and officials of their “accomplishments” and “advocacies”, we should already have an idea of what P-Noy’s third State of the Nation Address (Sona) will dwell on.

It will definitely highlight once again the regime’s anti-corruption efforts with the usual suspects as main props.

It will particularly focus on the removal of Chief Justice Renato Corona on the unsubstantiated, some say invalid, charge of “betrayal of public trust”. He will insist that Corona’s removal from office, the first successful impeachment in Philippine history, is definitely a giant step in fulfilling his administration’s “reason-for-being” mantra daang matuwid-cum-walang mahirap kung walang corrupt. With Corona mercilessly hounded out of the door, he will now suggest that the prosecution of government wrongdoing can proceed will all deliberate speed and woe to whoever will dare stand in the way of this grand operation..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/commentary/item/1883-what-not-to-expect

Women’s group decries Aquino’s ‘soured promises’

Women’s group decries Aquino’s ‘soured promises’


“For several months now, local movements all over the Philippines have been picketing local offices of the Department of Health to protest the Aquino administration’s drive to either sell off or corporatize 26 public hospitals.” – Gabriela

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – With their daily income hardly enough to feed the family, they could not afford to have anyone get sick, said Arlene Acabo, 42, a resident of Tatalon, Quezon City, said.

“Our health is among our top priorities, especially when it comes to my children. They are sickly. We live near a river so our home usually gets flooded. We are exposed to so many possible sicknesses,” Acabo said.
Acabo joined Gabriela, the country’s largest women’s group, in calling on President Benigno “Noynoy” C. Aquino III to look into the welfare of Filipino women in a recent protest action at the foot of Mendiola Bridge. During the rally, one protester dramatized their plight when she lied down on a hospital stretcher with an intravenous drip. Gabriela, in its statement, described it as a portrayal of how Aquino’s policies are tormenting the Filipino people.

“For several months now, local movements all over the Philippines have been picketing local offices of the Department of Health to protest the Aquino administration’s drive to either sell off or corporatize 26 public hospitals, “ Gabriela said, “it will further worsen the bad state of women’s health.”

State of women’s health

Acobo said public hospitals are of great help to their families. Sometime in October last year, a dog bit her. She was brought to a nearby private hospital but was rejected when they said they could not afford to pay the down payment right away. Acobo could no longer remember how much it was but it was something that she and her husband, who works as a sewer in a garments factory and takes home only $70 a month, could not cough up in an hour or two.

“The check up was already worth $6 and it does not yet include the shots,” she said.

They moved to San Lazaro Hospital, a public hospital, and paid only $0.70 for the check up. The staff immediately cleaned her wound. Acobo bought the vaccines outside the hospital.

With the proposed privatization of public hospitals, Acobo wonders how poor Filipinos would be able to survive. “It is very scary to think about. Are we going to die without the benefit of being treated?” she said..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/07/23/women%E2%80%99s-group-decries-aquino%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98soured-promises%E2%80%99/

No surprise seen in ‘routine’ Sona

No surprise seen in ‘routine’ Sona

GROUPS, SOLONS DEMAND NOY SHOW DIRECTION IN ADDRESS

The Palace described the State of the Nation Address (Sona) today of President Aquino as “truthful, inspiring and defining” but the general expectation is that its contents would not be different from the formula of past two Sonas that focused on the sins of the past and Aquino’s claim of achievement while lacking in substance such as a clear direction on his economic policies with Sen. Joker Arroyo describing the speech as a “traditional ritual.”

The nationalist economic group Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) dared Aquino to define in the Sona its economic governance approach of “inclusive growth” in that nobody will be left behind as the economy grows. 


“Without the anti-corruption drive, the economic governance approach of Aquino, or as some quarters call it “Aquinomics,” is no different from the 10-year reign of “Arroyonomics,” according to FDC.


Aquino will deliver the address, which had to be revised nine times, in front of a Joint Session of Congress at the Batasan Pambansa and is expected to start around 3 p.m. The Senate and the House of Representatives would be convening separately in the morning before heading for the joint session which would formally pave the way for the event  which costs the government P2.7 million just for the food of the guests.  


Arroyo added that he did not expect Aquino to deliver an astounding third Sona, saying the address would likely follow what he described as “traditional ritual” and would contain his administration’s accomplishments and plans for the coming years.


“It’s a routine. All presidents say: this is what I have done and this is what I will do. It is a ritual,” Arroyo said.
.... MORE


SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/headlines/item/1919-no-surprise-seen-in-%E2%80%98routine%E2%80%99-sona

Ex-PTA head shot, in critical condition


Ex-PTA head shot, in critical condition


A veteran newspaper columnist and former head of the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) is in a critical condition after he was shot in the face during a robbery yesterday, police said.

Nixon Kua, 49, was “hit on the face and different parts of his body” by one of four gunmen who attacked him and his younger brother, Allyxon, 46, in the latter’s residence in Calamba City, Laguna, police said in a statement.

His brother was also shot several times in the body, but was later declared out of danger at a hospital.
The motive of the attack was unlikely connected to Kua’s work as a journalist for tabloid Pilipino Star Ngayon, police said.

Kua, who was appointed by then-President Joseph Estrada to head the PTA in 2000, was also formerly a stringer for international news agencies..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/headlines/item/1915-ex-pta-head-shot-in-critical-condition

Palparan merely followed GMA orders — Trillanes Written by Fernan J. Angeles Monday, 23 July 2012 00:00

Palparan merely followed GMA orders — Trillanes


Malacañang is expecting political allies like Sen. Antonio Trillanes to be the last persons to defend fugitive retired Army Gen. Jovito Palparan.

At a radio press briefing, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said  Malacañang on the senator’s suggesting that the government to stop running after Palparan “mainly because (Palparan) was just following orders.”

Trillanes was a fugitive soldier himself during the Arroyo administration.

The Palace mouthpiece said “Palparan too had the obligation to disobey an immoral order.”

Lacierda said Palparan, who has been in hiding since October last year, was old enough to understand the “moral precepts” of the orders he got from former President Arroyo, and disregard immoral orders as what any logical person would do..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/nation/item/1911-palparan-merely-followed-gma-orders-%E2%80%94-trillanes

Gov’t hospitals will not be privatized — Palace

Gov’t hospitals will not be privatized — Palace


A top Malacañang official dismissed fears over reports that the administration was pushing the privatization of government hospitals.

In a press briefing, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda also sought to allay concerns by some local officials that the poor would lose access to free hospital services.

Lacierda said that while government hospitals would be set up as juridical entities, there was no plan to privatize them. “What were doing is create juridical entities out of these government hospitals,” he said on government-run dzRB radio..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/nation/item/1909-gov%E2%80%99t-hospitals-will-not-be-privatized-%E2%80%94-palace

QC gov’t lowers boom on unsanitary chicken shops’ facilities, illegal pedicabs

QC gov’t lowers boom on unsanitary chicken shops’ facilities, illegal pedicabs

The Quezon City Veterinary Office (VO) has closed down seven dressed chicken suppliers’ facilities at a public market for violating provisions of the sanitation and meat inspection codes.

The VO’s sanitation enforcement team, assisted by field personnel of the local Market Development and Administration Department (MDAD), confiscated several chicken heads during the operation, city veterinarian Ana Maria Cabel said.

Earlier, Cabel had called for a strict monitoring of different dressed chicken facilities in the city to ensure they conform to sanitation standards prescribed by the local health department.   

During the operation at the Kamuning Market, Cabel noted that most of the facilities were operating without proper drainage system and tiled flooring.   

Owners of the facilities are also liable to six month.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/metro-section/item/1896-qc-gov%E2%80%99t-lowers-boom-on-unsanitary-chicken-shops%E2%80%99-facilities-illegal-pedicabs

Militants hold protest march to denounce human rights abuses of Aquino government

Militants hold protest march to denounce human rights abuses of Aquino government


Whatever human rights records President Aquino might report in his third State of the Nation Address (Sona) today, his “daang matuwid” will always be “bloody and anti-people,” militants said in a prepared statement yesterday.

The protesters, who had been conducting a people’s Lakbayan or March since yesterday, came from various provinces of Southern Tagalog and gathered at Mendiola to mount a timeline that enumerates human rights abuses and anti-people policies under the Aquino administration.

“The Aquino administration has no regard for human rights and is not serious in going after rights abusers, especially the government security forces that continue to wage war against the common people,” Leo  Fuentes, secretary-general of Bayan-Southern Tagalog, said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/metro-section/item/1899-militants-hold-protest-march-to-denounce-human-rights-abuses-of-aquino-government

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