US, Europe face specter of Mumbai-style attack focus 10/06/2010

US, Europe face specter of Mumbai-style attack

focus

10/06/2010
WASHINGTON — A possible terror plot against European cities has confirmed longstanding fears among Western security services that al-Qaeda and its allies could try to recreate the 2008 onslaught on Mumbai.

European and US security officials, citing recent intelligence, say that al-Qaeda may be planning Mumbai-style attacks with heavily-armed gunmen, a tactic that inflicts mass carnage and terror without the risks associated with bomb-making.

“Compared to trying to smuggle explosives on to an airplane, this is much easier. You just drive to the target, get out and start acting,” Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer, told AFP.

“It’s a relatively simple idea. You get a handful of terrorists willing to commit mass murder and suicide and let them loose in an urban environment,” said Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who has advised President Barack Obama..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101006com3.html

China’s Great Wall crumbles as tourism soars FEATURE 10/06/2010

China’s Great Wall crumbles as tourism soars

FEATURE

10/06/2010
BADALING — Empty gin and whisky bottles, crumpled beer cans and tattered food boxes are piled up after a rave in China — perhaps not so unusual, except that the garbage is on the fabled Great Wall.

The filthy remains of the full-moon techno party, which drew several hundred foreigners to one of the sections of the wall at Badaling, about 60 kilometers (35 miles) from Beijing, left Colombian tourist Francisco Garcia in a sad mood.

“It’s very bad for the environment,” Garcia told AFP, summing up a major problem facing Chinese authorities — how to preserve the Unesco World Heritage site while allowing visitors to take advantage of its majestic beauty.

The sun rises, gently illuminating the impressive structure snaking over the hills. In a lookout tower, nine brightly-coloured tents have been set up for intrepid campers who spent the night in the early autumn chill..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101006com5.html

Your life is what you make it HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 10/06/2010 It’s a matter of fre

Your life is what you make it

HE SAYS

Aldrin Cardon

10/06/2010
It’s a matter of free choice, this very controversial Reproductive Health bill that seems to have divided the nation after President Aquino sparked a debate with the Catholic Bishops, who threatened to excommunicate him but backtracked.

A “ceasefire’ is now in effect, meaning the church leaders will no longer issue detrimental statements and government, for its last word, saying it is standing pat on its support of family planning and co-related issues in the bill which deal unwanted pregnancies, post-abortion care, freedom to information and care, prevention and management of reproductive tract infections, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases and others.

Where this “ceasefire” would take us is anybody’s guess, but I believe government will no longer backtrack from its pushing the RH bill, especially with a president who had made his stance on birth control clear even when he was just campaigning for Malacañang before the last May polls.

Aquino won the presidency on a number of issues and promises, and even members of the Catholic church and its lay leaders have openly supported Ninoy and Cory’s only son, despite his clear stand on reproductive health, which he reiterated with the inclusion of Akbayan’s Risa Hontiveros, who has become the foremost face of the RH issue, in his senatorial ticket..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101006com6.html

Torn SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 10/06/2010

Torn

SHE SAYS

Dinah S. Ventura

10/06/2010
The Reproductive Health (RH) bill, formally known as House Bill 5043, or “Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008,” is once more at the root of a maelstrom involving Church, State and everything in between.

I say “everything in between” because it sure feels like the citizens of the Philippines, whether or not Catholic, are caught in between an age-old tug of war between two powers that have never seen fit to meet halfway.

Religion and politics are polar opposites, and never the twain shall meet. But at what cost to the people who are members of a Church and are citizens of a nation? What of them who must daily balance on the beliefs of their religion while relying on their government for basic services and protection of human rights?

When it comes to the issue of reproductive health, the Church is adamant about the preservation of life and natural methods of family planning. The State, for its part, puts laws in place to declare the taking of a life as crime and to provide the people with the necessary information and services to promote a healthy family life and population control..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101006com7.html

Amending Epira and other initiatives C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 10/06/2010

Amending Epira and other initiatives

C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S

Jonathan De la Cruz

10/06/2010
Here’s what Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras told the House committee on energy when confronted with the lengthening rotating brownouts in Mindanao and the ever increasing power rates across the board: “There are a number of solutions being worked out to ease the power situation in Mindanao. We should be able to do things soon. Quite apart from this, we are also urging the amendment of the Epira. We are nine years into the Epira implementation so it’s really about time that we do these changes. These companies are actually looking for signals such as that we are willing to look at the laws, look at the rules, look at the structures that we have today and adjust them to the realities that we are presently at..” So, if you are from Mindanao or you are a lowly employee staring at monthly increases in your electric bill will you be assuaged by these words of comfort? I don’t think so. In fact, you may even raise a finger and ask what is really in store for us campesinos as we race toward the third decade of this century.

As far as Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez is concerned he is aware of only one solution for Mindanao now in the pipeline — a 150 MW coal fired plant being put up by the German firm Stetyer. This is on top of the plant it is now operating inside the Phividec complex in Tagoloan. The rest are mere face lifts of existing facilities including those being worked out for the transmission lines and sub stations some of which need to be upgraded already. Which is why Almendras’ advice for the Epira’s amendment may be a step in the right direction — but how soon the needed facilities and at how much is the question..... MORE
Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101006com4.html

Glitches, blunders, errors, failure marked 2010 polls — CenPeg By Charlie V. Manalo 10/06/2010

Glitches, blunders, errors, failure marked 2010 polls — CenPeg

By Charlie V. Manalo 10/06/2010

Despite a Supreme Court ruling ordering the Commission on Elections to release to several groups involved in checking on the integrity of the automated election system adopted by the Comelec on May 10, 2010, the source code and other pertinent documents for their testing purposes, the poll body has still not done so, and will likely be cited in contempt by the high court.

Despite the absence of the source code and other documents at the Post Election Summit (PES) organized by the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPeg) yesterday at Club Filipino in San Juan, Professor Felix Muga pointed to a high incidence of technical glitches and hitches, blunders, voting procedural errors, and other operational failures throughout the country during the May 10, 2010 automated elections, citing among other things the: (a) Precinct Count Optical Scan malfunctioning, breakdowns as shown in many precinct incidents across the country, with the late deliveries, malfunction and shutdowns, unreliable back-up batteries, and equipment shortage marred the disposition and operation of PCOS machines, thus causing delays in the opening of voting, counting, and thewhole election day process itself;

(b) Defective compact flash cards. The delays in the delivery of reconfigured CF cards (in some cases, absence or loss of the memory cards) and using defective memory cards figured in the high-incidence reports, delaying Final Testing and Sealing (FTS) and voting, or absence of FTS. A high percentage of CF cards being brought manually to canvassing, and precincts resorting to manual voting were also reported. In many cases, this problem also resulted in failure of elections or in electoral protests involving the manipulation of CF cards; (c) Use of unofficial thermal Paper; (d) Failure to verify the authenticity of ballots as provided by law with the non-use of UV scanners by a significant number of precinct (Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs); (e) Irregularities in voting procedures & voter disenfranchisement; (f) Transmission snafus. The fact about extensive transmission glitches – not simply an isolated case – shows an unsound decision to enforce an election technology when the required telecommunication infrastructure is unreliable. The satellite contingency hit snags..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101006hed1.html

Ombudsman withdraws corruption case against Abalos 10/06/2010

Ombudsman withdraws corruption case against Abalos

10/06/2010
Claiming it made a mistake in filing a corruption case against former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr., the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday granted the former Comelec chairman’s Motion to Withdraw Information as it withdrew the corruption case it filed three months ago against Abalos before the Mandaluyong City Metropolitan Trial Court.

Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro approved the filing of the information on Aug. 27, 2009 based on the recommen-dations of graft investigation and prosecution officer III Mary Rawnsle Lopez and Deputy Special Prosecutor Robert Kallos.

The information was filed at the Mandaluyong City MTC docket on June 9, 2010 and landed with the Branch 59 on June 15, 2010.

On Sept. 21, 2010 Prosecution Bureau IV acting director Rabendranath Uy and assistant special prosecutor III Ireneo Paldeng withdrew the case. Again, Casimiro approved the move..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101006hed2.html

Noy ready to bare revised IIRC report 10/06/2010

Noy ready to bare revised IIRC report

10/06/2010
President Aquino is poised to divulge portions of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee report which he had withheld from the public today alongside the study conducted by his legal team in an effort to formally impose the corrective actions he wants implemented in relation to the Aug. 23 hostage crisis in line with the recommendations of the IIRC panel on the charges that would be filed against the personalties whom they have found liable for the hostage fiasco.

Aquino issued this statement in a quick chance interview he granted to reporters following his attendance at the 10th National Philippines Employment Service Office Congress in Tagaytay City yesterday. He earlier announced that he is likely to adopt most of the recommendations submitted to him by the IIRC after its three-week fact-finding probe on the hostage tragedy in Quirino Grandstand.

“We’re coming out hopefully by tomorrow with the IIRC report and the specific charges that would be filed against the individuals involved. All those, more or less, (are) in line with the recommendations,” he said.
Malacañang, for its part, assured the public that the administrative and criminal charges meted the officials and individuals held liable for the incident will hold up in court once these are properly filed before the appropriate venue,.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune


URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101006hed3.html

Military modernization gets paltry P5B in DND budget By Angie M. Rosales 10/06/2010

Military modernization gets paltry P5B in DND budget

By Angie M. Rosales 10/06/2010

Less than five percent, or P5 billion, of the P104.6 billion budget of the Department of National Defense (DND) for 2011 will be allotted for the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) modernization program despite a crying need for the upgrade of AFP’s logistical requirements, the Senate found during a hearing yesterday on the DND budget for next year.

The DND, which is among the agencies that will receive a major share of the P1.6-trillion national budget, is
providing 80 percent of its appropriations for personnel services and 20 percent for capital outlay, maintenance, operations and other expenses (MOOE), including the P5 billion modernization fund.

Payment for pensioners and retirees also eat up the bulk of its budget but the number of supposed beneficiaries appear to be also questionable, committee chairman, Sen. Franklin Drilon told reporters in a briefing.

In the light of these revelations, approval of the DND’s proposed budget is likely to undergo intense scrutiny in the upper chamber..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101006hed5.html

Solon bats for 20% discounts on milk, diapers, medicines By Charlie V. Manalo 10/06/2010

Solon bats for 20% discounts on milk, diapers, medicines

By Charlie V. Manalo 10/06/2010

A lawmaker representing an anti-poverty party-list group has filed a bill seeking to give 20 percent discounts on milk, diaper and medicine products to an estimated 14 million solo parents — especially those with infants — and who are considered among the most “vulnerable” members of society.

In filing House Bill 3391, Rep. Carol Jayne Lopez of the You Against Corruption and Poverty (YACAP) party-list group sought for the giving of up to 20 percent discounts to solo parents purchasing milk or formula products, medicines and supplements, diapers and other necessary infant items for their babies.

“Being a solo parent doubles the responsibility of raising a child and it makes both solo parents and their children vulnerable to all of life’s hardships. As members of the society’s vulnerable protection groups, solo parents need all the help they can get from the government,” said Lopez, a single parent herself.

Although unverified estimates puts the number of solo parents to 50 percent of the population, a World Health Organization-funded study done by the Department of Health (DoH) and the University of the Philippines – National Institute for Health (UP-NIH) places the number of solo parents at 14-15 percent of estimated 94 million Filipinos..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101006nat5.html

Jinggoy slams politically motivated report on Erap’s ‘Log Cabin’ 10/06/2010

Jinggoy slams politically motivated report on Erap’s ‘Log Cabin’

10/06/2010
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada yesterday denounced reports attributing ownership to his father, former President Joseph Estrada, a property at Camp John Hay in Baguio City now up for bidding by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).

The senator took the floor to condemn what he claimed was another apparent politically motivated move to besmirch the former leader.

“The manner in which (former) President Estrada’s name was bannered in this piece was unfair, uncalled for, and quite malicious. It was obviously done to create theimpression that he owns the property. And since the newspaper in question is readily available anywhere and likewise has an online edition, the general public may unwittingly be led to believe this fallacy. Questions may arise on the source of funds used for the purchase of this very expensive piece of real estate, especially from my father’s detractors – the few of them who remain, as their numbers have been reduced drastically over the years,” Senator Estrada said in a privilege speech.
.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101006hed6.html

Low rating on Noynoy blamed on ‘NPA’ execs By Angie M. Rosales 10/06/2010

Low rating on Noynoy blamed on ‘NPA’ execs

By Angie M. Rosales 10/06/2010

The poor rating the Senate gave President Aquino in his first 100 days should be blamed on his advisers and other Malacañang officials, who are non-performing assets (NPAs), Sen. Joker Arroyo said yesterday.
“His staff, his ministers have not done him good. They’re inadequate. And their performance issue, undesirable,” Arroyo told reporters.

Arroyo said he disagreed with the assessment made by his peers in the Senate who mostly gave Aquino a six to seven rating out of a perfect 10 saying the President deserves a higher grade because the enormous trust and faith the people bestowed on him remains steadfast and unwavering.

“The very important fact here is that despite all the shortcomings of his ministers, the President has been able to maintain people’s faith and confidence in him. That is the test of leadership, when you’ll able to maintain the faith of the people,” he said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101006hed7.html

Dead end EDITORIAL 10/05/2010

Dead end

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

10/05/2010
Civil disobedience, say the Catholic bishops, is an option the Church leaders would be taking, should Malacañang go ahead with its plan of making available contraceptives.

This is all bravura on the part of the bishops, because they certainly know that they can’t implement this clear threat, even as they claim to have successfully called for civil disobedience in 1986, leading to the ouster of then President Ferdinand Marcos.

As usual, the bishops are into deliberately portraying a different historical account, to benefit themselves.
The Church never called for civil disobedience in 1986. The political opposition did, through a boycott and refusal to pay taxes to the government, both of which calls were a failure, if truth must be told. The boycott of products identified with the Marcos regime certainly was no success, although the political opposition then claimed this to have been a huge success. As for the non-payment of taxes which the business groups claimed to have supported, this too was a failure, since business was so scared of not remitting the withheld income tax of employees..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101005com1.html

A non-issue? FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 10/05/2010

A non-issue?

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

10/05/2010
Malacañang mouthpieces yesterday reportedly said that it is a non-issue, as far as Noynoy Aquino is concerned, whether he gets a passing or failing mark for his 100 days in office performance.

That’s by far the most arrogant statement made by Aquino, through his mouthpieces.
Fail or pass does not matter to Noynoy, when a failing mark given by his constituents means that he is being seen as a most incompetent president who does not deserve to lead the nation? And he doesn’t care?

But then again, Noynoy and his Palace team already know by now that they haven’t done anything and wasted their 100 days, as his mouthpieces have also earlier stated that which is important is that they are on the right track. Right track to where? More non-performance?.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101005com2.html

Mexican drug war crimes go live on the Internet focus 10/05/2010

Mexican drug war crimes go live on the Internet

focus

10/05/2010
MEXICO CITY — In the midst of the brutal drug trafficking war encroaching on their lives, thousands of Mexicans every morning check social network Web sites to see if they will encounter any unpleasant surprises on the way to work or school.

But they are not the only ones.

While average citizens go online to let others know where in their neighborhood a body has been uncovered or if they can expect disruptions from cartels or the Mexican military, the drug gangs themselves also use the tools to manipulate public opinion by making threats and warnings.

The spread of vital information ahead of the daily commute, via social networking technology and sites like Facebook and Twitter, is especially useful in the country’s north, near the US border, which has become ground zero for the country’s drug war.

More than 28,000 persons are believed to have been killed in drug cartel-related violence in Mexico in the last four years, when President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown, making residents increasingly desperate for ways to avoid the bloodshed..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101005com3.html

Bald men or battleships? AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 10/05/2010

Bald men or battleships?

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW

Ken Fuller

10/05/2010
An interesting – and, despite its serious content, amusing — duel has developed between Rigoberto Tiglao and Dr. Bernardo Villegas in the pages of the Inquirer. Initially, rather than either mentioning the other’s name, they were like two battleships exchanging salvos from either side of the horizon.

Tiglao opened the exchange on Aug. 12 with a column entitled “There are 100 million of us now” in which he complained: “It is amazing how a few top-notch economists, particularly those belonging to the Vatican’s vanguard, Opus Dei, can still argue in this day and age that there is no connection between population growth rates and economic well-being.”

Economist? Opus Dei? Who fits that description?

On Sept. 25, Villegas, (economist and Opus Dei member) fired off “The Philippine population is not exploding.” This contained a reference to “ignorant journalists or commentators who talk about an exploding population.” Now who could that possibly be?.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101005com4.html

Ladysmith Black Mambazo still strong, 50 years on FEATURE 10/05/2010

Ladysmith Black Mambazo still strong, 50 years on

FEATURE

10/05/2010
PRETORIA — As a young black man in apartheid South Africa, Joseph Shabalala dreamed of forming a Zulu capella choir whose music could change the world.

Fifty years later, Ladysmith Black Mambazo have won three Grammys, recorded with giants like Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder, and performed at the closing of the World Cup in July.

But as the group turns 50, they are celebrating with a “Back to eKasi” tour, translated roughly as “Back to the ‘Hood,’” performing through the townships whose support launched them to international fame.

Shabalala first brought the choir together on a farm near the town of Ladysmith. They started out singing at weddings, then took to the airwaves in radio singing contests, where they were eventually banned — because they won every time.

“It is a good way to go back with people. They show up, that means they love you,” Shabalala said before a concert in Atteridgeville, a township outside Pretoria..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101005com5.html

Saudi women fight for control of their marital fate FEATURE 10/05/2010

Saudi women fight for control of their marital fate

FEATURE

10/05/2010
RIYADH — Women in Saudi Arabia are fighting back against tribal traditions that make them hostage to the whims of their fathers and male guardians who alone can decide who their future husbands will be.

Faced with a lifetime of being forced to remain single, an increasing number of Saudi women, many of them university graduates with good jobs, are going to court to dispute their fathers’ refusal to sign off on their marriages.

In July, a Medina court rejected a 42-year-old doctor’s petition to override her father and brothers’ refusal to allow her marriage to a surgeon she works with, because he did not belong to their tribe.

The court ruled that the father was justified, and that she was not being obedient by trying to marry someone outside the clan.

“Unfortunately we have a strange paradox in society, where young girls only 10 years old can be married, but an adult woman can be prevented from marrying for illogical reasons,” Suhaila Zainal Abidin of the National Society for Human Rights told AFP..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101005com6.html

Dinosaur trove spills more secrets focus 10/05/2010

Dinosaur trove spills more secrets

focus

10/05/2010
CUENCA — Decades after a mechanical pine-tree digger first unearthed it, an extraordinary trove of dinosaur fossils in central Spain is revealing its secrets.
When the digging machine cut a furrow to plant pines in the arid soil near the medieval town of Cuenca in the 1980s, it sliced through more than 100 million years to one of Europe’s richest seams of fossils.

It was a fluke that opened the way to a series of discoveries about the creatures that walked our planet in the Cretaceous period, between 65 and 145 million years ago.

The latest secret: A strange hump-backed dinosaur, fossilized after it had devored its prey about 125 million years ago.

Six meters (20 feet) long from snout to tail tip, the dinosaur had jaws and small, clawed forelimbs, a curved spine and small hump.

Pepito, as the creature has been nicknamed by the team from Autonomous University of Madrid who dug it out, was a fast and powerful hunter.

And it had apparently eaten recently. The unique, nearly complete fossil contained the remnants of its prey in the abdominal cavity..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101005com7.html

Low marks for 100 days a non-issue—Noy By Aytch S. dela Cruz and Angie M. Rosales 10/05/2010

Low marks for 100 days a non-issue—Noy

By Aytch S. dela Cruz and Angie M. Rosales 10/05/2010


President Aquino barely made it in getting a passing grade, in his first 100 days as the country’s 15th president, senators said yesterday when asked for an assessment on his performance.

His critics, however, gave Aquino a failing mark, while Aquino himself shrugged all these off, saying that giving him a failing or passing mark is a non-issue to him.

In giving Aquino a rating for his 100 day performance, with 10 being the highest grade, most senators gave this answer: Between six to seven.

His allies in the Senate, however, were quick to defend Aquino, citing the difficulties he had inherited from the previous administration.

“You know he has done well but the cards were stacked against his administration. Talk about midnight appointees, the bureaucracy....MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101005hed1.html

Collusion cited in DND-BAC’s P4-billion PAF-Navy choppers deal deferment By Mario J. Mallari 10/05/2010

P4-billion PAF-Navy choppers deal deferment

By Mario J. Mallari 10/05/2010

The Department of National Defense-Bids and Awards Committee (DND-BAC) yesterday announced the deferment of the acquisition of P4 billion worth of Air Force and Navy helicopters, citing reports of collusion between the suppliers and members of the technical working group.

DND-BAC chairman Assistant Secretary Ernesto Boac made the announcement during the committee’s meeting in the presence of members of the Defense Press Corps (DPC), taking note of previous statements made by Representatives Teddy Casiño and Tomas Osmeña and media reports.

“Here is now a memorandum of the secretary of national defense to defer the bidding of the multi-role helicopters of the Philippine Navy. Another decision is that we will further defer action on the post qualification of the multi-attack helicopters of the Philippine Air Force,” announced Boac.

The contracts in question were the seven units of attack helicopters worth P3.2 billion intended for the Air Force and P860 million worth of two multi-role helicopters for the Navy..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101005hed2.html

No timetable for US troops’ presence in RP — envoy By Michaela P. del Callar 10/05/2010

No timetable for US troops’ presence in RP — envoy

By Michaela P. del Callar 10/05/2010

The United States will agree to any Philippine government plan to review a defense treaty allowing American military presence in the country, Ambassador Harry Thomas yesterday said, but added US troops would remain as long as the government wants them to help fight continuing terror threats.

Thomas also stressed that Ame-rican troops have not engaged in local combat and that Washington has no plans to reopen US military bases in the country — both are banned by the Philippine Constitution.

Some Filipino senators have sought a review of the Visiting Forces Agreement, which the Philippine Senate ratified in 1999, eight years after the closure of US military bases in the Philippines.

The VFA came under fire when the American Embassy won custody of a US Marine accused of raping a Filipina in 2006. Left-wing groups demanded the abrogation of the VFA, prompting senators to take a second look at the treaty, particularly a provision which specifies which of the two allied countries should take custody of any soldier who would face local prosecution for any crime..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101005hed3.html

Palace folds, seeks truce with Church By Aytch S. de la Cruz 10/05/2010

Palace folds, seeks truce with Church

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 10/05/2010

A Church official yesterday said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is accepting a ceasefire that he said Malacañang had sought on the exchange of threatening statements over the Reproductive Health bill issue but added that silence will not mean that the Church is “foregoing a strong position” on the controversial legislative proposal seeking active government promotion of artificial contraceptives.

Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Commission on Family and Life, said the CBCP is withdrawing from giving “unnecessary statements” until a formal dialog is finally held.

“We respect the request of Malacañang for a ceasefire to calm everybody… and as we wait for a face-to-face dialog with the bishops and the president,” Castro said.

The Palace, however, was in a state of flux over the supposed dialog on whether or not one was already held or if it is planning to hold one with Church leaders..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101005hed4.html

Ilocos Sur judge shot to death, SC seeks gun ban exemption 10/05/2010

Ilocos Sur judge shot to death, SC seeks gun ban exemption

10/05/2010
Unidentified gunmen shot dead another judge in Ilocos Sur yesterday in an attack that could be related to his job, police said.

Vigan Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 20 Judge Reynaldo Lacasandile was killed at dawn in the northern town of Tagudin by two men on a motorcycle who shot him twice and sped off, Ilocos Sur police director Senior Supt. Dopale said.

Lacasandili was waiting for a ride bound for Vigan when shot at around 4:45 a.m. Monday, he added.
“This was possibly work-related. We are verifying what cases he was handling,” Dopale told reporters..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101005hed5.html

House asks SC to lift status quo ante By Charlie V. Manalo 10/05/2010

House asks SC to lift status quo ante

By Charlie V. Manalo 10/05/2010

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. yesterday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to lift its status quo ante order and to respect the “exclusive power” of the House of Representatives in initiating the impeachment case against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.

In his Motion for Leave to Intervene and Comment in Intervention Ex Abundanti Cautela, the Speaker said the status quo ante order issued by the Court “emasculates the power of the House of Representatives to exact any form of accountability” from the Ombudsman, and endows Gutierrez with “the status of an untouchable.”

The Speaker also defended the House committee on justice against allegations that it violated the constitutional provision which bars the initiation of impeachment proceedings against the same official more than once within a period of one year.

Two impeachment complaints against the Ombudsman were filed separately but they were referred to the committee on justice simultaneously..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101005hed6.html

US diplomat says South China Sea within ‘America’s interest’ By Michaela P. del Callar 10/05/2010

US diplomat says South China Sea within ‘America’s interest’

By Michaela P. del Callar 10/05/2010

The United States’ top diplomat to the Philippines yesterday said stability and unfettered access to the disputed South China Sea waters is within America’s “national interest,” saying this will ensure a freer flow of trade in the region.

Ambassador Harry Thomas called for the adoption of a strong and legally binding code of conduct, which is aimed at preventing South China Sea territorial disputes from erupting into armed conflict.

“We think that it is important for the United States to remain engaged in Asia. Asia is a huge trading partner for us and contributes so much to exports and imports to our economy. In order to have that we need freedom of navigation, we need freedom of seas and we need stability,” Thomas told foreign correspondents in a briefing.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for unimpeded access to the area that China claims wholly as its own, and accused Beijing of adopting an increasingly aggressive stance off the South China Sea..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101005nat1.html

Shedding light on issues LETTER 10/04/2010 Dear Editor:

Shedding light on issues

LETTER

10/04/2010
Dear Editor:
This is to shed light on the issues raised by your opinion columnist Jonathan de la Cruz in his column Crossroads, published in your respected newspaper on Sept. 27.

Secretary Robredo has said nothing against Undersecretary Rico E. Puno especially in public. Much more, he never has encouraged his supporters “to muddle” the situation, he has good working relationship with his undersecretary.

Secretary Robredo is not absolving himself from any responsibility. President Aquino himself clarified that Secretary Robredo did not have direct role in the crisis management committee tasked to handle the Quirino Hostage Crisis..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101004com8.html

Noy not fit to prevail EDITORIAL 10/04/2010

Noy not fit to prevail

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

10/04/2010
Without the Church and the Palace accepting it, Noynoy and the bishops appear definitely headed for a collision course over the Reproductive Health (RH) bill issue.

Noynoy and the leaders of the Church are both saying that it was media that were blowing the issue out of proportion while both sides at the same time are insisting on being firm on their respective stands.

Noynoy appears to have raised its level of commitment to the use of contraceptives to control the runaway population growth after his working visit to the United States where he received a $434-million grant from the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC). The grant, however, requires the meeting of criteria for his administration to draw down the huge amount and the government’s commitment to limit population growth should be one of these.

The Church, on the other hand, has been consistent in its antiquated view on birth control..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101004com4.html

Who will blink first? FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 10/04/2010

Who will blink first?

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

10/04/2010
With two opposing positions, the planned dialog between Noynoy Aquino and the Catholic bishops are hardly expected to get anywhere — unless compromises are made.

But it is certain that no compromise on their position will come from the bishops, who hew the Vatican line.

It stands to reason therefore, that if a compromise is reached, it will have to be Noynoy who will be giving in.

And the way for him to give in, and not lose face with the public, is to ensure that the Reproductive Health (RH) bill that is supported by both senators and congressmen, as well as the majority of Filipinos, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, will never be enacted into law — at least during his term as president.

What the bishops are against really is the RH bill, since they do not make such noise and raise the specter of hellfire when local executives announce that they are giving their constituents contraceptives for their use — and for free..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101004com5.html

Entrepreneurship vs mendicancy DIE HARD III Herman Tiu Laurel 10/04/2010

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DR Congo children turn to acrobatics to survive FEATURE 10/04/2010

DR Congo children turn to acrobatics to survive

FEATURE

10/04/2010
KINSHASA — Jonas, 12, finishes his performance balancing on a tall tower of large jam tins, his arms stretched out and his feet wrapped over his head.

“This pose is called ‘the end of the evening,’” announces his assistant, 11-year-old Richard, moving into the crowd of amazed onlookers on a shabby Kinshasa street to collect a few Congolese francs.

In the hustle of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, these boys are among about 10 groups of child contortionists who support themselves and their families through a startling routine of twists and tricks.

“They are athletes of a top level,” said Guy Nkita, technical director of the Congolese Federation of Athletics.
Several days a week, Jonas and Richard set out after school with their tin cans under their arms and trawl the bustling city of 10 million people looking for a willing audience at open-air restaurants and other relaxed places..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101004com9.html

Common sense HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 10/04/2010

Common sense

HE SAYS

Aldrin Cardon

10/04/2010
When a policy becomes a suggestion, it becomes a laughing matter.

That’s what became of the DepEd’s (Department of Education) Memorandum 392 when Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro and Undersecretary for Programs and Projects Yolanda Quijano clarified it was merely a suggestion — not an order — when they sought to ease the workload off our students on weekends to give them quality time with their families.

I expressed kudos to it when I first heard the announcement. Being a father myself, whose job limits his quality times with his kids, I must admit the clarification came like a jolt, making the memorandum just another of those useless papers flying around various government offices as they serve no purpose.

Yet, if there is a like button in what seems to be a renewed attention to education in general and our students in particular, I would gladly press it a hundred times for an approval.

Government, at least, is looking at our students’ welfare. And it’s a good start..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101004com10.html

An eye on the youth and family life SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 10/04/2010

An eye on the youth and family life

SHE SAYS

Dinah S. Ventura

10/04/2010
The latest “homework ban” memorandum by the Department of Education (DepEd), which prohibits public elementary school teachers from giving their pupils homework to do over the weekend caused a minor furor among parent and teachers not too long ago.

As DepEd Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro and Undersecretary for Programs and Projects Yolanda Quijano explained in the media soon after the announcement, the “Memorandum No. 392 was issued due to various complaints to the department that school children have been receiving too many assignments,” to quote a GMA 7 online report.

There are two schools of thought arising from this issue. There are those who believe that having homework to do on weekends is beneficial not only to the pupils, but also their parents. In fact, some such parents were quoted in TV reports complaining that they would lose the only bonding opportunity they have with their kids if they do not have weekend homework to do together.

What’s interesting about this argument is the reason behind the memorandum to give the students more quality time to spend with their family..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101004com11.html

Civil disobedience an option — CBCP By Gerry Baldo 10/04/2010

Civil disobedience an option — CBCP

By Gerry Baldo 10/04/2010

After an implied threat from the head of the Catholic bishops’ group of excom-municating President Aquino over his support to the use of artificial contraceptives, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said yesterday that civil disobedience is an option that the Church can consider should Aquino make good his promise to hand out artificial birth control devices.

Church leaders, in separate interviews, said bishops and priests have the moral authority to teach and lead the faithful based on Church teachings. Aquino had said during a small town meeting in the United States that he might consider contraceptive methods to curb population even though it runs counter to the natural methods that is the only option allowed by the Catholic Church.

“The Catholic Church in the Philippines can do that if it decides to do that because for one thing civil disobedience is a moral option, one of the moral options,” CBCP secretary general Msgr. Juanito Figura said on the CBCP Web site.

Figura added Church leaders have notreceived any call or letter from the Office of the President for a dialogue on the controversial issue although it was published in the papers that an audience with the Catholic bishops is being prepared..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101004hed1.html

‘Exasperated’ PAL divulges crew pays By Charlie V. Manalo 10/04/2010

‘Exasperated’ PAL divulges crew pays

By Charlie V. Manalo 10/04/2010

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) divulged yesterday the average payscale of its cabin crew to show that they are not underpaid amid a looming strike threat by the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (Fasap) claiming unfair labor practice.

PAL said in a statement that it was exasperated by its cabin crew union’s propaganda, adding its flight attendants are well paid and receive some of the best benefits that are the envy of other Filipino workers.
PAL spokesman Cielo Villaluna said officers of the (Fasap) have not been forthright in informing the public of the real salaries and benefits that the PAL cabin crew receives.

“Fasap claims their basic pay is below the government set minimum wage, but this is just a portion of their salary. The truth is they receive much, much more,” she said.

The actual gross monthly pay of a PAL cabin crew, Villaluna said, ranges from P33,000 to P75,000, inclusive of productivity pay and other allowances..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101004hed2.html

Comelec official slain in Basilan By Mario J. Mallari 10/04/2010

Comelec official slain in Basilan

By Mario J. Mallari 10/04/2010

Barely 21 days before the synchronized barangay and Sangguiniang Kabataan (SK) polls, an election officer in Basilan province was shot dead by unidentified armed men last Saturday night, a ranking police official yesterday said.

Chief Supt. Bienvenido Latag, director of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PRO-ARMM), identified the victim as Entong Musa, election officer of Tuburan town.
Latag said Musa was in Calle Posporo in Barangay San Rafael in Isabela City, Basilan around 7:30 p.m. when unidentified armed men, aboard a motorcycle, killed him.

A special investigation task group (SITG) was immediately created by Latag to address the shooting incident.
Also, dragnet operations and checkpoints were immediately established to track down the perpetrators..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101004hed3.html

Senate resumption of hostage probe still uncertain — Honasan 10/04/2010

Senate resumption of hostage probe still uncertain — Honasan

10/04/2010
The resumption of the Senate’s inquiry into the Aug. 23 hostage crisis is being hampered by the Palace’s non-submission of a copy of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) report to the upper chamber, Sen. Gregorio Honasan yesterday said.

The senator and overall lead in the probe of the hostage incident could not answer queries as to the date of the continuation of the proceedings of his committee on public order together with the justice panel chaired by Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero.

“What we want is to wait first for the submission of the report so we can see which areas will be needing legislative intervention, if coordinating relation among agencies involved is lacking,” Honasan said in an interview over dzBB.

Up to now, Malacañang or the IIRC has yet to furnish them with a copy despite formal requests made by the Senate..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101004hed4.html

Gov’t can now demand help in recovering money abroad 10/04/2010

Gov’t can now demand help in recovering money abroad

10/04/2010
The government can now compel foreign countries to assist in the recovery of money acquired from illegal and corrupt practices and stashed away abroad under an international convention signed last Friday, Sen. Edgardo Angara said yesterday.

The Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) and South East Asian Parliamentarians Against Corruption (SEAPAC) meeting concluded with member countries agreeing to implement new policies in the fight against corruption, Angara said.

Angara, founding member of SEAPAC and host of the conference, said the country now has an objective scorecard to judge whether a country has achieved progress in the reduction or elimination of corruption.
Under the agreement signed during the two-day convention, member countries were mandated to assist country victimized by corrupt or illegal activities, particularly in the area of asset-recovery, where money-laundering activities are concerned..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101004hed5.html

China closes door on Pinoy domestic helpers — envoy 10/04/2010

China closes door on Pinoy domestic helpers — envoy

10/04/2010
The Chinese government has reiterated that there is no current demand for Filipino household service workers in China, saying opening this market to foreigners would endanger employment opportunities for locals.

Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao cited the skills and competence of Filipino domestic helpers, but said there is no immediate plan for Beijing to allow their entry into mainland China.

“I haven’t heard of any confirmation that such an optionis feasible at this stage,” Liu said in a weekend press briefing. “(Filipino domestic helpers) are very diligent workers. They are professionals but… China is under tremendous pressure to provide jobs for the Chinese.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101004hed6.html

AFP captures 11 NPA camps in Visayas By Mario J. Mallari 10/04/2010

AFP captures 11 NPA camps in Visayas

By Mario J. Mallari 10/04/2010

The Army leadership yesterday announced the capture of 11 camps of the communist New People’s Army in the Visayas region, one of which was maintained by Wilma Tiamzon, wife of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-NPA top leader Alberto Silva.

Army 8th Infantry Division (ID) Chief Maj. Gen. Mario Chan said one of the significant accomplishments of this command was the capture of Tiamzon’s National Organization Department of the CPP-NPA Central Committee headed by Silva, alias Ka Perry.

“The camp was seized by troops of the Task Group Panther of the Scout Ranger,” Chan said.
Chan said that another major NPA camp which served as the headquarters of the communist’s Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee was also captured.

Last Saturday, another NPA camp felled into the hands of the operating troops of Army’s 63rd Infantry Battalion (IB) at the hinterland of Barangay Cagmanaba, Jipapad, Eastern Samar at about 11:30 a.m.
.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101004nat5.html

Not a priority EDITORIAL 10/03/2010

Not a priority

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

10/03/2010
Malacañang says a lot whenever it states that a certain issue is not a priority of Noynoy.

It used the line the other day on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill as the Church stepped up the pressure against it, even raising a possible ecumenical action against the President.

The RH bill, which will actively engage the government in the promotion of contraceptives to control the exploding population, has been languishing in Congress for the past few years mainly because of the Church’s vehement opposition against it and the reluctance of legislators to rile prelates who remain influential on the pulpit, despite the fast receding number of Church goers on Sunday.

The last time the Palace used the not a priority line was on jueteng when then newly-appointed Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo indicated that he is ready to wage an all-out war against the illegal numbers game, as directed by Noynoy, so he said then..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101003com1.html

Above average performance? FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 10/03/2010

Above average performance?

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

10/03/2010
Malacañang, as well as Noynoy, gave themselves a pat on the back for having “achieved” much by way of reforms in his government in the first 100 days, which achievements Noynoy said he will be unveiling to the public four days from today.

His mouthpiece claimed that they have given themselves a mark of “above average,” pointing out that the Aquino administration is on the right track as its first 100 days winds down, with Edwin Lacierda saying that they are on track on two levels — the eradication of corruption and poverty alleviation, but also insisted that “the fruits of these things that we are doing will go beyond 100 days (and) you will see what the Aquino administration has been doing for the poor, toward promotion of services for the public at large.”

But it looks like Noynoy, despite his and his mouthpieces crowing about the “reforms” he has started in his administration, is aware that whatever he unveils on Oct. 8, his 100th day in office, will be either ridiculed or criticized, as much of whatever he will unveil certainly can’t be categorized as “achievements” in the reform area..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101003com2.html

Raissa C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 10/03/2010

Raissa

C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S

Jonathan De la Cruz

10/03/2010
Raissa Laurel, the second year San Sebastian College of Law student who lost both legs below the knee in that dastardly bomb blast near the De La Salle University campus as bar examinees and their supporters jammed the streets just after the last examination ended last Sunday, deserves our prayers and commendation. She is such a courageous and gritty lady. Despite her loss of limbs she has remained as hopeful as can be and even advised one and all she will fight on and hope to be a lawyer someday. She will be a very good addition to the profession.

But best of all the tragedy that befall her and 50 others, many of whom are aspiring lawyers, has only reinforced her faith in the Good Lord. While many of her age and circumstance would have been overtaken with grief and self-pity, she has remained steadfast and, as evidenced by her demeanor, even grown closer to the Creator. She has, in the words of her friends, taken her fate with such equanimity and grace she has become a kind of guiding light to the many going through similar, maybe even less, challenging circumstances in their lives. She has become a heroine in more ways than one..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101003com4.html

Secretary Carandang up for a roast BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 10/03/2010

Secretary Carandang up for a roast

BLURBAL THRUSTS

Louie Logarta

10/03/2010
Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno as well as several members of the city council are now being severely criticized for choosing to do battle in court with the giant International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) for alleged illegal reclamation activities in Manila Bay covering some 12 hectares immediately beside their sprawling compound in Isla Puting Bato, Tondo.

This is to be expected, Moreno said, because a favorable ruling could really jeopardize the reclamation project, designed to expand the ICTSI complex by over 60 percent, for which approximately P3 billion had already been spent during the past two years. “Malaking pera ang mawawala sa kanila kapag nakuha natin ito.”

Shooting the breeze with some city hall reporters, the youthful vice mayor said the reclaimed land, located in the murky waters sandwiched by ICTSI and the Manila North Harbor, could be put to better use as an ideal relocation site for hundreds of thousands of squatters living throughout Manila.

The multi-billion ICTSI reclamation project was accidentally discovered by Moreno while campaigning during the last elections during a house-to-house sortie in Isla Puting Bato which is home to several thousand informal settlers. It was the drone of the payloaders, bulldozers, backhoes, graders and other huge earthmoving equipment that betrayed the existence of the frenzied construction work inside the fenced-off area and got him intrigued..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101003com5.html

‘Excommunicated’ TABLETS OF STONE Larry Faraon, OP 10/03/2010

‘Excommunicated’

TABLETS OF STONE

Larry Faraon, OP

10/03/2010
“You don’t know what you are up against” — the Catholic Church is a monolithic and mono-synchronistic organization that prides a global membership of 1.6 billion under the most powerful and influential head, the prime resident in Vatican City, the Pope.

Its hierarchical organization is not a corporate set up of managers and subalterns, with less complex system for hiring and firing its workers and members. Its policies are not hewed from board rooms but from biblical principles of times past with a founding “chairman” all drenched in divinity and impeccability, not to mention eternity. With two thousand year existence of thesis-antithesis syndrome, it thrives on an eschatological conclusion with finality, not only for itself but for the entire global and human existence, toward which it feels commissioned and obligated to drag along to that celestial end. Armed with a divine guarantee that the “gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” the dominant culture of the Church is its bias for its own authority to insist on what is right and righteous to the point of paying the cost of humiliation and even shedding its own blood.

The “remote possibility of excommunication” should not be seen by President Aquino and by his choral rah-rahs as a threat. CBCP president Bishop Nereo Odchimar clarified that he never threatened President Noynoy with excommunication. True enough, the Church is in no position to threaten anybody. But an “indication” of incurring the highest disciplinary measure for some moral turpitude, especially coming from a bishop, betrays more than just a deliberate threat or official disciplinary action of an erring member..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101003com6.html

The right man for the right place VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 10/03/2010

The right man for the right place

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

10/03/2010
To have the right man at the wrong place or to have the right place for the wrong man — this is a certain and certified disaster in the sphere of management. This is empirical calamity in the world of organization. In other words, it is an elementary dictate of prudence, a basic mandate of logic that the right person should be elected to the right office, appointed to the right position or given the right task. In the event of any dissonant move or errant option patently contrary to the fundamental administrative or executive principle that the right person should have the right job — everybody concerned therein eventually becomes a loser.

Loser is the man unworthily elected to an office he is in reality unfit to have and to hold — a factual unfitness for whatever objective reason and/or personality liability.

In the same way: Loser is the person for having been given an assignment the same is incapacitated from bringing to expected completion on account of any adverse causal factor.

Loser is the individual assigned to a task for which the same does not have the required competence and/or lacks the demanded stability and/or wanting in character — normally exacted by given agenda..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101003com7.html

Noynoy not budging 10/03/2010

AQUINO: STAND NOT CHANGED; CHURCH: EMULATE YOUR MOTHER

Noynoy not budging

10/03/2010
As the debates heat up on the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill that is threatening to split President Aquino and the Catholic Church, Aquino said yesterday he is standing firm on his position to provide Filipino couples “informed choices” in family planning.

“The State has an obligation to educate all of its citizens as to their choices. The State is not empowered by any law to dictate upon any couple as to how they should plan their family,” Aquino said at the sidelines of the nationwide distribution of Philhealth cards to indigent families held yesterday morning at the President Corazon C. Aquino High School in Baseco Compound, Port Area.

Aquino, nevertheless, said he had not seen the RH bill pending in the House of Representatives but added that “my stand has not changed.”

After a pro-RH bill rally last Friday in which condoms were distributed to pedestrians and to protest the detention of famed tourist guide Carlos Celdran and the Catholic Church’s stand against artificial contraception, hundreds of Church-backed pro-life rallyists trooped to Quiapo Church yesterday. The rally included a Catholic archbishop who urged the government to rethink its position on contraception. The rally included students and parents. Many waved graphic signs with pictures of aborted fetuses..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101003hed1.html

Palace gave false grade, Noy failed in 100 days — groups By Charlie V. Manalo 10/03/2010

 Palace gave false grade, Noy failed in 100 days — groups

By Charlie V. Manalo 10/03/2010

Groups raised their voices yesterday disputing a self-assessment of Malacañang giving President Aquino’s administration an above-passing grade on its first 100 days, with the fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) describing the administration’s performance thus far as “as a long running nightmare and comprehensive failure.”

Leaders of the left-wing group cited among Aquino’s failures during his initial days in office was the lack of progress in the prosecution of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo and her allies who were widely being held liable for plunder and corruption, political killings, election fraud and agrarian injustice during Arroyo’s nine-year term.

Pamalakaya national chairman Fernando Hicap said three of the biggest mistakes of Aquino were his outright rejection to have the 6,435 hectare Hacienda Luisita immediately distributed for free to 10,000 farm worker beneficiaries, the failure

to prosecute Arroyo and company for their crimes against the people and his first-rate puppetry to the Washington DC and US President Barack Obama administration..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101003hed2.html

Solon offers to mediate Aquino, CBCP head talks 10/03/2010

Solon offers to mediate Aquino, CBCP head talks

10/03/2010
Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez offered yesterday to mediate in a proposed dialog between President Aquino and Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Bishop Nereo Odchimar, who gave an implied threat of excommunication on Aquino if he pushes through with his support to the Reproductive Health bill.

The mediation offer was meant to cool down the raging debate on the bill which seeks to widely promote through government the use of contraceptives to control the runaway population growth in the country.
“I am very willing to serve as the bridge in the dialog between Malacañang and the CBCP in my capacity as friend of both the President and Bishop Odchimar,” he said.

Short of saying Odchimar has crossed the line by threatening Noy with excommunication, Rodriguez said “excommunicating the President is too harsh” a punishment.

“I think excommunication is just too harsh. Both parties should sit down and thresh out their differences to settle the issue,” he said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101003hed3.html

Noy to go over plans against jueteng 10/03/2010

Noy to go over plans against jueteng

10/03/2010
President Aquino yesterday said he has yet to go over the comprehensive plan submitted to him by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo on how to combat jueteng, a popular illegal numbers game.

“I told Robredo I want a comprehensive plan, not piecemeal plans, on how to get rid of jueteng,” the President said in a chance interview at the sidelines of the nationwide distribution of the Philhealth cards to indigent members held at the President Corazon C. Aquino High School in Baseco Compound, Port Area in Manila.

Before Aquino arrived at the event, Robredo told reporters that he had submitted to the President the comprehensive plan against jueteng and expanding the legalized small town lottery (STL) to
ensure that jobs will not be lost for those in the jueteng game.

“The comprehensive plan contains improved enforcement and improving the STL, a legal alternative to jueteng,” which reports said has been greasing the hands of a few politicians and administration officials at the expense of small bettors..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101003hed4.html

Aquino to adopt ‘most’ of IIRC recommendations 10/03/2010

Aquino to adopt ‘most’ of IIRC recommendations

10/03/2010
President Aquino yesterday said he is likely to adopt recommendations by the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) to charge top officials over a hostage fiasco that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead.

The government’s official response to the recommendations by a panel of investigators into the bungled hostage rescue will be announced next week, amid mounting public pressure for his fledgling administration to act on the report.

“We’re going to release the action plan, the implementation plan, sometime mid of next week,” Aquino told reporters.

“Most of them (recommendations) will be adopted,” he said, when asked if any of the panel’s recommendations would be acted upon.

The report, completed two weeks ago and partially released, recommended either administrative or criminal charges be filed against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez; Undersecretary Rico Puno of the Department of Interior and Local Government; former Philippine National Police chief Director General Jesus Verzosa; former Manila Police District (MPD) chief Supt. Rodolfo Magtibay; National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Leocadio Santiago; Manila City Mayor Alfredo Lim, and Vice Mayor Isko.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101003hed5.html

Ban on religious profiling in media pushed 10/03/2010

Ban on religious profiling in media pushed

10/03/2010
Mediamen may land in jail by using the words “Muslim terrorist or Muslim bandits” in their writing and broadcasting jobs once a measure criminalizing such act is enacted into law.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara and Lanao del Sur Rep. Pangalian Balindong, authors of House Bills 431 and 1103, said the measures will stop media practitioners from using the words Muslim in describing a suspected person who has committed an unlawful act.

Balindong noted that there were occasions where criminal suspects and persons convicted of criminal acts are being described as “Muslim criminals, Muslim terrorists, Muslim drug pushers, Muslim bandits and Muslim holdup men.”

“These kinds of words and other hosts of offenses connote a negative message of the term Muslim,” the lawmaker stressed..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101003hed6.html

Pagasa: Flash floods, landslides in Luzon, Visayas 10/03/2010

Pagasa: Flash floods, landslides in Luzon, Visayas

10/03/2010
State forecasters warned over the weekend of possible flash floods and landslides in Luzon and Visayas as rains have continued to pummel owing to a low-pressure area (LPA) spotted in Zambales.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) also said that cloudy skies and rains loom over the rest of the country.

“The country will experience cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms with widespread rains in Central and Southern Luzon, including Visayas which may trigger flash floods and landslides,” it stated in Pagasa bulletin at 5 a.m. yesterday.

The bulletin stated that as of 2 a.m. yesterday, the LPA was estimated at 130 km west-southwest of Subic, Zambales invading along the Intertropical Convergence Zone across Southern Luzon and Visayas.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101003nat8.html