Journalists Commemorate First Anniversary of Ampatuan Massacre with Reminders, Call for Justice

Journalists Commemorate First Anniversary of Ampatuan Massacre with Reminders, Call for Justice

“The activities are meant to enhance public awareness on the Ampatuan massacre and on impunity,” CMFR deputy director and former dean of the UP-CMC Luis Teodoro said in a press conference Nov. 16.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Various media organizations have geared up to mark the first anniversary of the Ampatuan massacre on Nov. 23.

On Nov. 23, 2009, 57 persons, including the wife and relatives of Toto Mangudadatu, the political rival of the Ampatuan clan, were killed allegedly by the private army of the Ampatuan clan in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao. Thirty-one journalists were among the dead and one of them remains missing.

The November 23 Movement , a loose coalition of media groups calling for justice for victims, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP),the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility and the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP-CMC) have lined up activities leading to the Ampatuan massacre’s first anniversary.

On the day itself, relatives of victims and journalists would have a motorcade from General Santos to the massacre site in sitio (subvillage) Masalay, barangay (village) Salman, Ampatuan town. An interfaith ceremony would be held. Fifty-eight trees would also be planted.

In Manila, the highlight of the commemoration would be a torch parade toward the foot of Chino Roces (formerly Mendiola) bridge, a few steps away from Malacanang palace. Delegates of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) and other international media groups would join the protest.

CMFR who heads the secretariat, brought the meeting of the SEAPA in Manila to keep the Ampatuan massacre alive in the minds of foreign journalists, particularly those in Southeast Asia. Participants to the Journalism Asia, an annual publication, would also join the protest on Nov. 23.

“The activities are meant to enhance public awareness on the Ampatuan massacre and on impunity,” CMFR deputy director and former dean of the UP-CMC Luis Teodoro said in a press conference Nov. 16.

A journalist signs the tarpaulin calling for justice for Ampatuan massacre victims. (Photo by Ronalyn V. Olea / bulatlat.com)

Meanwhile, members of the UP-CMC community would unveil a marker dubbed “Pananda ng Pag-alala at Paglaban,” according to Danilo Arao, UP journalism professor. “The struggle against the culture of impunity that persists in Philippine society should continue,” Arao said.
The UP’s Carillon would play “Bayan Ko” 58 times, corresponding to the number of victims, as a reminder of the tragedy, Arao added. After a march around the oval and a short program at the Quezon Hall, members of the UP CMC would join journalists and other sectors in the march protest..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/11/18/journalists-commemorate-first-anniversary-of-ampatuan-massacre-with-reminders-call-for-justice/

PPP: More Public Debt, Less Government Responsibility

PPP: More Public Debt, Less Government Responsibility

Published on November 18, 2010

Experiences show PPPs did not guarantee savings for the government but even bloated the public debt. And it can only get worse under the Aquino government’s new schemes for more of PPPs.
By IBON FEATURES
(Bulatlat.com)

Manila – Aside from further bloating the debt burden, Aquino’s PPP thrust will also facilitate increased corporate takeover of government roles and at the expense of public interest

On November 17-19, Malacañang will host a major event called “Infrastructure Philippines 2010” or what is referred to in the media as the public-private partnership (PPP) summit. This is an important summit for President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who has made PPP the centerpiece of his administration’s development plan.

According to its website, the summit “will examine investment opportunities, profiles of PPP projects in the Philippines, as well as policy, regulatory, and legal concerns in developing the infrastructure sector in the Philippines”.
Apologists of neoliberal globalization argue that while the corporations and banks will profit from PPP projects, they will in return finance and build much-needed infrastructure, which the cash-strapped government cannot afford. Aside from reaping the gains brought about by more infrastructures, the people will also supposedly benefit from improved government services since limited public resources will now be more focused on the provision of social services.

But are PPP projects, just like in any partnership, a mutually beneficial setup?

At no cost?

With a population of more than 94 million and growing, and a government that is facing a record fiscal deficit of Php325 billion by yearend, the Aquino administration claims that there is no viable way to meet the tremendous and increasing need for infrastructure in the country other than the PPP route.

Meanwhile, compared to its Southeast Asian neighbors that are spending on infrastructure an average of 5% of gross domestic product (GDP), the Philippines is only spending 3 percent..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/11/18/ppp-more-public-debt-less-govt-responsibility/

SC issues Kalikasan writ, bars FPIC pipeline By Benjamin B. Pulta and Angie M. Rosales 11/20/2010

FIRST SUCH ORDER COMPELS CHECK ON ENTIRE STRUCTURE

SC issues Kalikasan writ, bars FPIC pipeline

By Benjamin B. Pulta and Angie M. Rosales 11/20/2010

A writ of kalikasan (nature), the first legal order of such kind, was issued by the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday effectively stopping the operations of the entire defective 40-year-old pipeline that transports fuel from Batangas to Manila.

The high court granted a plea by residents of a West Tower Condominium building in Makati who were displaced as a result of leaks in the pipeline being operated by the Lopez-owned First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC).

In the writ with temporary environmental protection order, 46 respondents mostly officials of FPIC and the company’s parent First Gen Corp. were ordered to “cease and desit from operating the pipeline until further orders from the court”.

The writ signed by clerk of court Enrique Vidal was issued through the authority of Chief Justice Renato Corona, the order said.

The respondents were also ordered to make “a verified return” of the writ before the SC within a non-extendible period of ten days..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101120hed1.html

Media groups, victims’ kin urge SC okay of live trial By Benjamin B. Pulta 11/20/2010

Media groups, victims’ kin urge SC okay of live trial

By Benjamin B. Pulta 11/20/2010
Media groups and families of the Maguindanao massacre victims lodged a petition yesterday before the Supreme Court (SC) to allow the live coverage of the trial of the worst political killing in the country that claimed the lives of 57 persons.

Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon who is a key member of the prosecution panel handling the murders, however, expressed concern that live television coverage may result in “unduly exposing witnesses to risks.”

SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the concern is among the matters to be considered by the court since “witnesses in general must be prevented from hearing the testimony of other witnesses.”

In a 96-page petition, petitioners led by the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP), urged the High Court to set aside its earlier ruling barring live media broadcast of court hearings.

The newsmen claimed the prohibition violates the constitution and restricts rights..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101120hed2.html

Dalai Lama saves Noynoy men from Miriam’s wrath By Angie M. Rosales and Aytch S. de la Cruz 11/20/2010

Dalai Lama saves Noynoy men from Miriam’s wrath

By Angie M. Rosales and Aytch S. de la Cruz 11/20/2010

President Aquino’s Cabinet officials who will hurdle the bicameral Commission on Appointments (CA) may need to pay homage to the Dalai Lama.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago who earlier had threatened a massacre of President Aquino’s lightweight Cabinet has softened her stance in blocking the confirmation of some officials, saying she has decided to heed the advice of Dalai Lama about “compas-sion” on her threat to invoke the one-person veto in the CA.

Santiago said she learned the virtue of compassion in Tibetan Buddhism, after meeting the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled religious leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, last year in Rome and sometime early this month in New Delhi.

The senator emphasized that she is bound by the Buddhist virtues of compassion, peace, and non-violence, but she will press for the rule of law.

The Palace, however, is brimming with confidence over Cabinet appointees hurdlingthe powerful CA that indicated yesterday the question of reappointment or the use of a “two-strike” policy on those to be bypassed had yet to cross Aquino’s mind..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101120hed3.html

Palace firm on RH stand; ground rules for dialogs set 11/20/2010

Palace firm on RH stand; ground rules for dialogs set

11/20/2010
Malacañang apparently went by the same position taken by the Senate as it categorically distanced itself off the gaping issue on Reproductive Health (RH) bill during a brief meeting they held with some members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday.

Shortly after attending the meeting, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda relayed to reporters that “nothing substantive was discussed” with respect to both parties’ concerns on the RH bill and what the side of the government only did was to reiterate President Aquino’s position on responsible parenthood.

This is actually the second discussion held by Malacañang with the Church leaders since the resurgence of debates on the RH bill several weeks ago following Aquino’s public admission that his government will support artificial family planning methods.

Lacierda said they have categorically informed the CBCP representatives that the RH bill is in the ambit of the legislative department’s jurisdiction, short of saying that Malacañang will no longer touch on the matter..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101120hed4.html

RP abstains from UN voting over Myanmar rights record By Michaela P. del Callar 11/20/2010

RP abstains from UN voting over Myanmar rights record

By Michaela P. del Callar 11/20/2010
Although considered one of the harshest critics and bashers of Myanmar in Asia, the Philippines has abstained from a United Nations resolution vote condemning the dismal human rights record of the military-ruled country.

While it reiterated its call for continued democratic and human rights reform in Myanmar, the Philip-pines said it abs-tained because it “does not, as a general rule, support country-specific resolutions,” adding that “current efforts relating to human rights in Myanmar can and are bearing fruit.”

“While we have abstained on the vote on this resolution, the Philippine position has always been clear and consistent: the Myanmar govern-ment must stand by its commitment to its people for full democratization in the country,” said Philippine Deputy Permanent Representative Carlos Sorreta in his statement before the UN.

Speaking before the Third Committee, in charge of social, humanitarian and cultural issues, of the UN General Assembly, Sorreta welcomed the release of democracy leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi but emphasized her release “should merely be the first step and should be promptly followed by other measures.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101120hed5.html

Australia grants P720M for climate preparedness By Michaela P. del Callar 11/20/2010

Australia grants P720M for climate preparedness

By Michaela P. del Callar 11/20/2010

The Australian government will provide P720 million to the Philippines to help improve the country’s capacity to adapt to climate change and bolster its disaster preparedness programs.

In the next three years, the Philippines will receive P360 million or about A$9 million to assess the country’s vulnerability to disasters through preventive planning and action.

The Australian government, through the Australian Agency for International Development and Geoscience Australia (AAIDGA), will work closely with the Philippines National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), and technical agencies, such as the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NMRIA), and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) on these projects.

Australia has also committed P260 million or A$6.5 million to help the Philippines generate digital information and maps for Metro Manila through a survey using state-of-the-art Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101120nat2.html

RP gov’t on alert amid bird flu scare 11/20/2010

RP gov’t on alert amid bird flu scare

11/20/2010
Authorities yesterday stepped up airport health checks in light of another case of human avian influenza in Hong Kong.

Doctors from the Department of Health (DoH) and quarantine bureau have been dispatched to man thermal scanners at the international arrivals section, Manila International Airport Authority chief Jose Angel Honrado said.

“We are prepared to address this potential threat,” he told reporters. “We are not taking any chances.”

There are an estimated 250,000 Filipino workers in Hong Kong and many of them are expected to fly home during the Christmas holidays.

Eric Tayag, head of the National Epidemiology Center, said the Departments of Health, Environment and Agriculture had been monitoring the Hong Kong situation and had contingency measures in place..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101120hed6.html

About Pacman and Liz Uy EDITORIAL 11/19/2010

About Pacman and Liz Uy

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

11/19/2010
The media are again getting into the hair of Noynoy, as he touched on, of all topics, when he landed in Manila coming from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum in Japan, the newspaper coverage on Manny Pacquiao which he considered as very denigrating on the capabilities of the boxing icon and the increasing focus of the media in his current love interest.

Noynoy went on with his grudge saying that nothing much of his achievement particularly the bringing in of supposed new investments from Japanese firms was given prominence in news reports and instead the Japan interviews were mostly about designer Liz Uy, his current dating partner.

On Pacquiao, Noynoy said what seemed to have been highlighted were Pacman’s disadvantages prior to his fight with Mexican boxer Antonio Margarito. He said the media were putting down Pacquiao instead of encouraging him prior to the fight.

The bottled-up rage welling up in Noynoy against media, however, seems more than being about Pacquiao or his new girlfriend. Last October at a Vietnam briefing, Noynoy was steaming against a small paper with a few readers for printing a comment of Marbel Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez saying that the poor leadership skills of Noynoy may keep him from completing his six-year term..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101119com1.html

Unimpressed FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 11/19/2010

Unimpressed

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

11/19/2010
Until the Aquino government fixes the peace and order problem in the country, no amount of tourism campaigning will get the tourists to come to the Philippines.

Already, at least two foreign envoys have issued their governments’ advisories, discouraging their citizens from traveling to the country — not due to some probable terrorist activity, but on account of the rising criminal incidents. One was the Japanese envoy, while the other was the South Korean envoy.

Strangely enough, Noynoy Aquino did not react violently to these two travel advisories that focused on crime as a no travel factor, unlike the reaction he had over the travel advisories from six foreign governments warning their citizens of the credible terror threat — yet these warnings from the two Asian envoys are more direct and perhaps more damaging.

But Aquino and his tourism boys appear to think that it will be a change of slogan that will be bringing the tourists in, as the government is reportedly spending P100 million for the launch of a new Philippine logo, replacing the old but effective “Wow Philippines.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101119com2.html

Lady Gaga and the sociology of fame: college course FEATURE 11/19/2010

Lady Gaga and the sociology of fame: college course

FEATURE

11/19/2010
CHARLESTON — Pop provocateur Lady Gaga may be only 24 but she has already won a string of awards and can now add another feather to her many hats: a university course in her name.

“Lady Gaga and the sociology of fame” is one of the latest courses to be added to the curriculum at the University of South Carolina for the spring 2011 semester.

And it already has the campus buzzing.

“The case of the fame of Lady Gaga is sociologically relevant as a study in popular culture and the social conditions of the current culture of fame,” said professor Matthieu Deflem, who will lead the course.

A self-proclaimed fan of the American music diva who has raised eyebrows with her over-the-top costumes, gravity-defying heels and stunning music videos, Deflem is also a huge follower of pop culture since the 1960s..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101119com3.html

Double standard privatization DIE HARD III Herman Tiu Laurel 11/19/2010

Double standard privatization

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

11/19/2010
\"Diven the many issues that are basic to the well-being of the Filipino people such as electricity, water, public transport and toll ways that are not being dealt with by most columnists of mainstream media, I have made it a point to focus on them through this space. But whenever I see issues covered extensively by media being obfuscated by writers who rear their discriminatory heads, then I have to step into the fray.

The Philippine Airlines (PAL) vs PAL Employees Association (Palea) strike threat is a case in point. One the chief proponents of the privatization of state assets, economic liberalization advocate Solita Monsod, takes what I see as a double standard stand on the PAL vs Palea impasse, as she uses it as another opportunity for lambasting a favorite whipping boy of the Makati Business Club, a noisy group that shares her economic views.

That the global and local airline industry is going through precarious times is not in doubt. Monsod concedes that “the global economic crisis was in full flow in 2008 and 2009, and travel was a natural victim (with)… a 7 percent decrease in worldwide demand.” She also admits the adverse impact of new restrictions on the Philippine aviation industry by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) after our country was downgraded due to deficiencies in our Air Transportation Office (ATO) and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).

What is not included, though, in that litany of problems besetting PAL is the flag carrier’s history of overstaffing before privatization, which previous management reorganizations constricted by government-led compromises could not optimally resolve. What PAL wouldn’t give to get the chance that other airlines such as Cebu Pacific had, which is to start from scratch — to start on the right foot.

One setback of PAL in the past three years came from losses on its hedge against aviation fuel price spikes in 2008. PAL reportedly incurred $150 to $300 million in losses when oil prices reversed and dove instead, as the global economic downturn took its toll.

Monsod and Palea keep attributing this loss only to management and says labor shouldn’t be punished for it. I don’t think PAL ever intended to take out that loss on anyone, but that hedge was a judgment call intended for the good of the company as a whole.

Fuel is obviously a fundamental cost in any airline operation. Securing oneself against fuel price spikes, which many expected at that time, was to PAL’s interest. A case can be made that fuel prices really could have gone right through the roof. If it had gone that way, all stakeholders in PAL — management, labor, and even government — would have reaped the benefit from the hedge.

Privatization was intended to pass management of the flag carrier from cumbersome state managers to private, professional managers. I have never been for privatization of state and public utility assets. I have fought it all the past decades; but the advocates of privatization should be consistent and leave private management’s prerogative alone so long as laws are strictly followed.

PAL’s spinoff of various non-core operations comes from a tenet of good business — focus. There is clearly nothing illegal in that spinoff, and the company is complying with its obligation to provide severance pay (increased to 1.25 month for every year of service), and offers new opportunities in the new spun-off companies to retrenched employees which would most likely lead to better future compensation as the companies grow with the synergy.

Those who expect the privatized company to perform like a social welfare enterprise could propose to start getting the state and government involved again. Do what the Japanese did to save their Japan Airlines (JAL). Their government pumped in 50 billion yen to turn it around, which was justified in JAL’s case as it is a government airline.

Detractors claim that the new spinoff companies are also invariably led by one relation or another of the PAL owners, but who best to invite new capital into this unattractive industry today than those who can assure new investors the good will with the core client?

PAL’s owners have actually unburdened government of a huge weight around its neck, and PAL’s privatization is the only privatization project where the public is ahead; unlike the privatization in power, water, toll ways, mass transit system and port handling. It’s a wonder why Monsod practically never critiques these other privatizations.

The recent bus transport strike in Metro Manila highlights another double standard: The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Department of Transportation and Communications’ view of buses as traffic jam generators, while being blind to the over a hundred thousand private cars exclusively chauffeuring students to and from school, clogging up Edsa and its tributaries.

Buses serve five times more passengers per square meter than private vehicles, having much greater positive economic and social value. Private vehicles are inefficient commuter movers; only more “sosyal.” School buses should be mandatory in Metro Manila, where a special school bus network with communication radios and trained conductors that would unclog Metro roads by over a hundred thousand cars should be established. When I proposed this to Cory Aquino’s MMDA chief Elfren Cruz in 1991, he said: “Magagalit ang mayayaman.” (The rich will get angry.)

Frankly, this crackdown on buses may have a hidden agenda — make the MRT’s new coaches (and resulting higher rates) under the multi-million public-private partnership or PPP projects more lucrative for PeNoy’s invited “investors.”

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on Global News Network, Destiny Cable, now Channel 8; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)

(Reposted with permission from Mr. Herman Tiu-Laurel)

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101119com4.html

Angry Indians take anti-corruption fight online FEATURE 11/19/2010

Angry Indians take anti-corruption fight online

FEATURE

11/19/2010
NEW DELHI — After decades spent deploring the daily blight of bribery in private, thousands of Indians are taking the anti-graft fight into their own hands and going online to shame the guilty.

India is no stranger to graft, whether it be a billion-dollar corporate fraud case or absurdly inflated toilet paper contracts for the athletes’ village at last month’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

But corruption is most vividly felt in people’s everyday lives, with seemingly endless requests for backhanders to secure everything from phone connections to birth certificates and school admissions letters.

A Bangalore-based non-profit organization, Janaagraha, responded to the problem in August by setting up a Web site, IPaidABribe.com (IPAB), a cathartic forum for angry citizens to vent their frustration and share experiences.

In February, a lobby group called 5th Pillar printed and distributed a zero-rupee note, urging people to hand them out whenever they encountered a greedy bureaucrat..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101119com5.html

With Suu Kyi free, China’s Liu is only jailed peace laureate ANALYSIS 11/19/2010

With Suu Kyi free, China’s Liu is only jailed peace laureate

ANALYSIS

11/19/2010
BEIJING — China is now the only country to detain a Nobel Peace laureate after Myanmar released Aung San Suu Kyi, but experts say the unwonted limelight will not prod Beijing into freeing dissident writer Liu Xiaobo anytime soon.

Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said the Myanmar democracy icon’s release was an encouragement to all political prisoners including Liu, but observers do not see it influencing Beijing.

“I can’t imagine that there will be an impact,” said Ian Holliday, a professor of political science at the University of Hong Kong.

“At any rate China will make its own calculations based on its own stability situation... and it won’t really care what the United States or others think.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101119com6.html

In Senegal, a sheep is man’s best friend FEATURE 11/19/2010

In Senegal, a sheep is man’s best friend

FEATURE

11/19/2010
DAKAR — It is the day of reckoning for reality television star Hamza, a large white ram that is among 15 contestants hoping to be crowned Senegal’s most beautiful sheep.
His owner, Mohamed Diop, 38, who calls Hamza “my pet and my best friend,” is the nervous one, however, with a prize of two million CFA francs ($4,000) only one of the issues at stake.

“If I win...” he says, pausing as he peers over a throng of people crowding his stall before yelling to attract the attention of a young woman standing shyly to the side clutching a baby.

“If I win,” he repeats, pointing and beaming, “I am going to marry that girl!”

The popular Kharbii competition — Kharbii is sheep in the local Wolof language — now in its second year has gathered a massive television following with viewers following the show week by week as finalists are whittled down..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101119com7.html

SC spurns Noy on live TV trial of Ampatuans By Benjamin B. Pulta and Aytch S. de la Cruz 11/19/2010

NEW TRIBUNAL, PALACE TENSION SEEN

SC spurns Noy on live TV trial of Ampatuans

By Benjamin B. Pulta and Aytch S. de la Cruz 11/19/2010

The Supreme Court and Malacañang are set for another head-on collision over the proposed live television airing of the Maguindanao massacre trials as SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said yesterday unless a petition is filed and a ruling handed down by the court, a standing legal precedent disallowing television coverage of hearings in the lower courts will stand.

President Aquino quickly fired off a retort, saying the SC should value “transparency” which was the aim of the proposed television coverage of the trial which he had publicly supported.

Since no less than Aquino has expressed support to the idea of airing live the trial proceedings of the Maguindanao massacre, a denial from the court could trigger a new round of tension between the executive and the judiciary, Sen. Francis Escudero said.

Escudero noted the fact that government prosecutors are not barred from appealing before the SC the judiciary’s position against live coverage of any court proceedings as in the case of the Maguindanao massacre..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101119hed1.html

P154-B mega projects unveiled in 1st PPP salvo By Aytch de la Cruz and Ayen Infante 11/19/2010

P154-B mega projects unveiled in 1st PPP salvo

By Aytch de la Cruz and Ayen Infante 11/19/2010

Chanting “the Philippines not for sale!,” protesters yesterday tried but failed to break inside the Marriott Hotel in Pasay City where President Aquino and his team of economic managers were launching his administration’s pet project that aims to attract the biggest local investors to infuse fund into major government projects, the first 10 of which are already worth a total of P154 billion.

President Aquino unveiled vital infrastructure to be opened for private investment, both local and foreign, under the so-called public-private partnership (PPP) program during the “Infrastructure Philippines 2010: Investing and Financing in Public-Private Partnership Projects” conference at a Pasay City hotel.

Transportation and Communications Secretary Jose de Jesus said 10 transportation-related priority projects will be placed on the auction block next year.

“The projects presented today have completed feasibility studies, have completed right of way requirements, and have been budgeted to the required government counterpart for award and implementation by the fourth quarter of 2011”, De Jesus said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101119hed2.html

Soldiers, NPAs clash in Leyte legitimate, says Tutaan By Mario J. Mallari 11/19/2010

Soldiers, NPAs clash in Leyte legitimate, says Tutaan

By Mario J. Mallari 11/19/2010

The battalion commander of the Army unit engaged in supposed firefight with New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Leyte last Sunday that led to the killing of a top notch botanist and two other civilians yesterday maintained there was legitimate encounter with the communists.

Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, commander of the Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion (IB), said his men were dispatched after receiving reports of the presence of more or less 30 NPA rebels in Barangay Lim-ao, Kananga town.

“We made operations plans and orders and so my men went there and there was an encounter at that particular place,” said Tutaan.

During subsequent search and clearing operations in the area, Tutaan said the military operatives discovered that there were civilians in the area, one of them is Leonardo Co, who is a top-notch botanist and consultant of Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp. (EDC), who were conducting survey.

Unfortunately, two civilians, including Co, were recovered dead while another one expired at a hospital. Two other civilians survived the incident..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101119nat1.html

RP now a member of UN group against piracy 11/19/2010

RP now a member of UN group against piracy

11/19/2010
The Philippines, which has one of the highest number of nationals being held by ransom-seeking pirates off Somalia, was officially admitted as a mem-ber of a United Nations anti-piracy group.

Republic of Korea Permanent Representative and chairman of the 7th CGPC Plenary Meeting Ambassador Hayoong Moon announced the membership of the Philippines to the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPS) last Nov. 10.

“This is an im-portant membership for us as the Contact Group is the primary global body that is taking
direct action on multiple levels to address the serious problem of piracy off the coast of Somalia,” Libran Cabactulan, Philippine Permanent Representative to the UN, said.

The CGPCS was established on Jan. 14, 2009, pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1851 to facilitate discussion and coordination of actions among states and organizations to suppress piracy off the coast of Somalia..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101119hed4.html

Former Justice chief is new JBC member 11/19/2010

Former Justice chief is new JBC member

11/19/2010
Dean Artemio Tuquero Jr., who served as Department of Justice (DoJ) secretary during the Estrada administration, is the newest member of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).

Malacañang appointed him to represent the legal academe in the JBC.

Tuquero replaced Dean Amado Dimayuga who retired last July.

Tuquero is the former dean of both the University of the East (UE) College of Law and Manuel L. Quezon University (MLQU) School of Law.

He also served as chief state prosecutor, undersecretary of justice and
associate justice of the Court of Appeals.

Chief Justice Renato Corona is the ex-officio JBC chairman..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101119hed6.html

RP ranks 4th among nations with prostituted children 11/19/2010

RP ranks 4th among nations with prostituted children

11/19/2010
The Child Protection Unit (CPU) said the Philippines ranks 4th on the list of countries having a large number of prostituted children.

Citing reports of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the Center for Women’s Resources (CWR), CPU said there are about 75,000 children in the Philippines who were forced into prostitution due to poverty.

CWR reported increased incidence of prostitution in rural areas where food is planted and grown.

“The financial crisis has aggravated the condition of impoverished rural women. Although they produce food for the country, they cannot cope with the crisis because, to start with, they are landless and have been earning so little…” the report said.

Rural women and children are vulnerable to prostitution because of their impoverished situation. Farmers and fishermen comprise the poorest sector of our country. And across basic sectors, women and children account for the largest poor population..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101119nat6.html

Their turn EDITORIAL 11/18/2010

Their turn

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

11/18/2010
A lot of Cabinet members who are to undergo the confirmation process before the powerful bicameral Commission on Appointments (CA) will be having a difficult time getting themselves confirmed, as many of them have created enemies among many members of Congress, both the House and the Senate.

And the enmity springs from the way they fought politically prior to a change in government — as they projected themselves to be the good and the righteous, while those who were not their allies were lumped together and branded as trapos, and the evil.

Now that they are appointees of the new Noynoy Cabinet, the political past is sure to come into play.

The latest development has Sen. Miriam Santiago opposing the appointment of Department of Education Secretary La Salle Brother Armin Luistro on account of the power of a CA member to invoke Section 20 which would automatically suspend the confirmation process of a Cabinet member..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101118com1.html

Crabbing too early FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 11/18/2010

Crabbing too early

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

11/18/2010
When Noynoy Aquino decided to run for the presidency, he and his allies were one in focusing on the negative in the Arroyo government. They gloried in the fact that the media focused on the negative and against Gloria Arroyo.

Now that he is in Malacañang, he whines about media focusing on the negative aspects of his government, and even complains that the media should focus on important issues, rather than his love life.

What Noynoy will soon realize as he stays longer in Malacañang is that the criticisms will get worse, especially if the public senses that his government isn’t doing anything by way of delivering on his campaign pledges — chief of which would be the promise of change and reforms, plus the pledge to rid the government of corruption and an improved economy.

US President Barack Obama, once the darling of media, is now the recipient of heavy criticisms — for not having lived up to his promise of change and bring about a big improvement in economic conditions for Americans..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101118com2.html

Secular Tel Aviv gets its very own ‘messiah’ FEATURE 11/18/2010

Secular Tel Aviv gets its very own ‘messiah’

FEATURE

11/18/2010
TEL AVIV — Tel Aviv has long prided itself on being a secular, cosmopolitan outpost in a land overflowing with religions, saints and shrines — but now it has its very own “messiah.”
Sitting cross-legged on the ground in a gritty part of town by a bustling open-air market, he exudes the air of a Biblical character, down to his long hair, beard and sandals.

“One year and two months ago I was an ordinary person and then a snake bit me in Bethlehem. And then I started to see God,” he told AFP, describing how he died and was “resurrected” as the messiah.

Calling himself only “The Messiah of Tel Aviv,” this 31-year-old Russian-born immigrant has become a fixture in a neighborhood more accustomed to beggars and bohemians before he announced he was a prophet, bringing dark warnings of the approaching apocalypse.

His story is unusual in Tel Aviv, but observers say the “Messiah of Tel Aviv” fits a pattern all too familiar in the Holy City, which gives its name to a rare condition called Jerusalem Syndrome.

That condition largely affects tourists who come to Israel and the Palestinian territories, where holy sites of Christianity, Judaism and Islam intersect, and suddenly find themselves overwhelmed by it all, believing themselves to be characters from the Bible..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101118com3.html

Pamantasan ng Lungsod Pamantasan ng Lungsod BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 11/18/2010

Pamantasan ng Lungsod

BLURBAL THRUSTS

Louie Logarta

11/18/2010
\"Diploma mill” allegations being raised against the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) are threatening to tarnish its proud and hard-earned reputation as being one of the country’s most prestigious learning institutions.

In reaction, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim said he has ordered City Hall chief of staff Ric de Guzman to look into the serious charges which were brought out by radio broadcaster Percy Lapid, concurrently a director of the National Press Club, per information provided by a former university professor.

But just to be clear, this isn’t a shotgun accusation being leveled at the tuition-free Intramuros-based school whose operations are funded by Manila City Hall.

What we’d like to focus on exclusively is the so-called Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program (ETEEAP) being conducted under their auspices which is allegedly fraught with irregularities; not to denigrate any of the other full-fledged courses being offered such as accounting, engineering, nursing, architecture, management, law, medicine, tourism, etc..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101118com4.html

And now the PPP C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 11/18/2010

And now the PPP

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

Jonathan De la Cruz

11/18/2010
Let’s get things straight. Between spending precious resources on the controversial P21 billion plus conditional cash transfer (CCT) program and the about to be inaugurated public-private partnership (PPP) plan meant to jumpstart the country’s enhanced focus on key infrastructure projects, I will take the latter any time. Not that there is no need for a short term, stopgap alleviating measure to address the urgent needs of the “poorest of the poor.” There is. But the CCT plan in its present form does not wash. Unless the plan is drastically changed and its funding moderated to accommodate the concerns raised thus far, there is reason to believe it will go the way of other “pro-poor” initiatives in the past —corrupted to the hilt, politicized no end and, of course, a breeding ground for dependence and mendicancy. We should not let taxpayer money go to waste in this manner just to allow people like Dinky Soliman test their favorite “developmental theories” on poverty and the fate of nations.
.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101118com5.html

Shut up, or else... COMMENT By Ronald Roy 11/18/2010

Shut up, or else...

COMMENT

By Ronald Roy 11/18/2010
Irecently found a piece of paper clipped onto my windshield. It bore a note that read: “Stop your bad lies or else im a army crack ofcer.” It was either a threat or a prank from a crack shooter, a crackpot, or a crank. Whatever it was, I found the hand-printed message more amusing than worrisome because of the comic relief its unusual grammar brought on a muggy day. Anyway, I’ve got more bad lies for the note maker regarding the 2007 Glorietta 2 basement explosion that took the lives of 11 innocent victims and wounded over a hundred others.

In my comment last time around, I opined that the detonated explosion theory was a great deal more credible than the methane blast theory in the search for evidence relative to the mind-blowing question of whether the massive destruction of lives and property was the handiwork of terrorists, or of military personnel ordered to shift away from public focus the scandalous NBN-ZTE deal.

What devastates, outrages and incites to insurrection is the fear that a reopened investigation will only be controlled or influenced by the massacre’s brains and their henchmen. However, I will not mind being that quixotic fool who hopes these vermin and scoundrels will submit self-incriminating evidence..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101118com6.html

Marriage VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 11/18/2010

Marriage

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

11/18/2010
The marital union between a man and woman being what is and what is it for, it stands to reason that there must be certain objective truths and living realities that cannot but be seriously considered and evaluated if a couple — not only the man but also the woman, or both of them — are seriously contemplating of getting married. It is not simply fundamental but also practical to think and decide if the following statements are really true or actually false:

Marriage is for adults. It is definitely not merely for the old in age but also the mature in their action and reaction patterns. In other words, such a serious option as entrance into the marital state is not for boys and girls in their mentality and consequent conduct. It is not a secret that there are young people who think and behave like adults — just as there are old people who act and reason out like juveniles. Again, marriage is for adults, i.e., a man and a woman who are grown-up, dependable and responsible..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101118com7.html

Miriam threatens CA rejection of Noy men By Angie M. Rosales 11/18/2010

MASSACRE OF LIGHTWEIGHT CABINET MOOTED

Miriam threatens CA rejection of Noy men

By Angie M. Rosales 11/18/2010

A misplaced cellphone call believed to be belonging to one of the candidates for Cabinet positions ticked off opposition Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago at a Commission on Appointments session yesterday, endangering the confirmation of most of Aquino’s nominees as she threatened to invoke section 20 of the CA rules that provides for the one-person veto power of a CA member.

Besides Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, who faces rough sailing in the CA due to Santiago’s opposition, several other Cabinet officials are also likely now in the crosshairs of Santiago.

Santiago herself announced this yesterday, saying that she is also eyeing invoking section 20 on “smug, self-satisfied, non-elected appointees.”

Santiago lost her cool while presiding a CA hearing when a mobile phone rang in the middle of the proceedings and threatened to cite the person in contempt.

This is not the first time that Santiago reacted violently as there had been at least two similar incidents in the past..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101118hed1.html

Noynoy wants Ampatuan trial aired live on nat’l TV By Aytch S. de la Cruz 11/18/2010

Noynoy wants Ampatuan trial aired live on nat’l TV

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 11/18/2010

A new television spectacle may be coming soon featuring the trial of members of a powerful Muslim clan accused of orchestrating the country’s worst political massacre as President Aquino yesterday backed calls for the airing live on national television of the court proceedings on the case.

Aquino told reporters that the more that people learned about the atrocity the lower would be the chances of such a massacre happening again, supporting calls by press groups for the hearings to be broadcast.
 
“It will be educational for the rest of the people to find out what trans-pired... (what conditions) produced such an atrocity, and what steps should be done to prevent the same from happening again,” he added.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said a letter addressed to Chief Justice Renato Corona is already being drafted to formally communicate this appeal to the high court..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101118hed2.html

Bag with 2 grenades found in US property By Michaela P. del Callar 11/18/2010

Bag with 2 grenades found in US property

By Michaela P. del Callar 11/18/2010
A bag containing a possible explosive devices which the police later said contained two grenades was found yesterday near a United States Embassy property along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City, a US Embassy spokesman said, heightening concerns about security amid the series of travel advisories warning of imminent terrorist attacks in Metro Manila.

Embassy spokesman Rebecca Thompson said a street sweeper found the bag on the median between the service road and Roxas Boulevard in the vicinity of the US Seafront.

“He alerted a US embassy local guard who in turn informed local authorities. We understand that Pasay City Police responded onsite immediately,” Thompson said in a text message. “We commend their prompt action. We are grateful that no one was injured in the incident,” she added.

Incensed by the travel warnings, the government last Monday brought its complaint before the United Nations..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101118hed3.html

Aquino ready to amend amnesty proclamation By Aytch S. de la Cruz and Gerry Baldo 11/18/2010

Aquino ready to amend amnesty proclamation

By Aytch S. de la Cruz and Gerry Baldo 11/18/2010
The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) in Procla-mation 50 which granted amnesty to over 300 rebel soldiers who attempted but failed to overthrow the Arroyo administration will be clarified in response to the concerns raised by members of the House of Representatives, President Aquino conveyed to reporters yesterday.

Aquino issued the statement hours after Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. revealed to House reporters that they are amenable to the amendments that would be proposed by lawmakers in the lower chamber before they can issue their concurrence with the amnesty grant.

Aquino, in a chance interview, said he was able to meet with some members of the coalition whom he did not identify yesterday and they reached a consensus with respect to the clarification of the IRR.

“There has been a clarification. I met withmembers of the coalition today (Wednesday) and what we will do is that we will clarify the IRR (and determine) exactly how to operationalize the various points raised in the amnesty proclamation. Can I just point out that this (motion) emanated from the Senate, a branch of Congress,” Aquino explained..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101118hed4.html

RP yanks new tourism campaign amid porn link 11/18/2010

RP yanks new tourism campaign amid porn link

11/18/2010
The government yesterday said it had pulled its latest online tourism campaign after critics panned the rebrand and warned that unwary surfers could easily end up at a porn site instead.

The site, www.beautifulpilipinas.com, was taken down on Tuesday, just a day after it was launched by the Department of Tourism to much fanfare, said Evelyn Maca-yayong, interim head of the DoT’s tourist information office.

The campaign featured a candy-colored logo including the slogan, a coconut tree, an endangered primate called a tarsier, the sun and waves.

Critics panned the decision to use the local spelling of the country’s name, warning that a similar site, www.beautifulfilipinas.com, was pornographic.

Some called for the country’s eight-year-old tourism slogan, “Wow Philippines,” to be brought back..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101118hed5.html

NBI trusts Interpol to smoke out Lacson 11/18/2010

NBI trusts Interpol to smoke out Lacson

11/18/2010
Officials of the country’s premier law enforcement agency say the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) coordination with the International Police (Interpol) to track down fugitive Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson continues but noted that the search may be hampered if the lawmaker has managed to slip into a country which has no extradition treaty with the Philippines.

According to NBI Di-rector Magtanggol Gatdula, the bureau continues to coordinate with the Interpol for the search for Lacson.

“He remains in the Interpol’s system,” he said.

“If he is in other country and decides to enter in another foreign country, the Interpol will alert the National Center Bureau in Manila. The NCB will then inform the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the NBI about it,” he added.

The NBI director said he has still high confidence with their counterparts in Europe, Southern America and others.

 “The system (Interpol) still works,” he said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101118hed6.html

Death of botanist, civilians in Leyte clash probed—AFP By Mario J. Mallari 11/18/2010

Death of botanist, civilians in Leyte clash probed—AFP

By Mario J. Mallari 11/18/2010
An investigation is now ongoing to determine possible culpability of Army soldiers in the killing of a botanist of the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) and two other civilians during a supposed encounter between government troops and communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Leyte province last Monday.

Military Central Command (Centcom) chief Lt. Gen. Ralph Villanueva said he already instructed Army 8th Infantry Division (ID) commander Maj. Gen. Mario Chan to conduct parallel investigation of the incident in Kananga town where Leonardo Co, a botanist, who is working as consultant for EDC, and two others were killed.

“We are now conducting a parallel investigation because we really emphasize in our operations the safety of civilians,” said Villanueva.

Police have already started investigation of the case. Part of the police probe was to determine whether the three fatalities were really caught in the crossfire.

While it is too early to presume innocence of the Army operatives, Villanueva expressed optimism that the soldiers were not responsible in the death of Co and his companions..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101118nat1.html

Ugly Americans EDITORIAL 11/17/2010

Ugly Americans

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

11/17/2010
It has happened once before — American security officers insulting Philippine vice presidents — while their officials, be they current American presidents or former US presidents are on a brief visit to this country.

Very recently, on a paid lecture session in Manila, former US President Bill Clinton’s security aides were said to have dealt insultingly with Vice President Jojo Binay, actually shouting at him, and telling him to leave the holding room, while two other former Philippine presidents weren’t treated shabbily at all by these same US secret service officers guarding Clinton.

Binay, who is always as cool as a cucumber but knows how to use sarcasm to make his point, left the room, but not before telling the Clinton’s security that he is the Vice President of the country and that there was no need for the Clinton aide to shout at him.

It was later reported that the female secret service agent apologized to Binay for her rude behavior, and that the apology was graciously accepted by the Vice President..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101117com1.html

Useless peace talks FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 11/17/2010

Useless peace talks

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

11/17/2010
Reports are out that the Philippine government wants the Malaysian mediator Datuk Othman Bin Abdul Razak out of the peace talks with the Islamic secessionist group for his “obvious display of bias” toward the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The MILF is apparently not budging, as it insists on retaining the same Malaysian mediator, claiming that Razak has not shown any bias in favor of the MILF — and this demand of the government is being seen as yet another delay in resuming peace talks.

Quite frankly, in these talks with the MILF, it is this separatist group that has been enjoying great advantage, instead of the other way around.

All that time during the Gloria Arroyo regime, the MILF was formally granted certain territories under their armed control, which is a virtual ceding of parts of the Republic to this armed Islamic group.

It had even come to a point where a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain ceding big portions of Mindanao and even Palawan, most of which are dominated by the Christian settlers, was forged between the Arroyo peace panel and the MILF peace panel. And this would have pushed through, had the contents of the MoA-AD not been publicized. Because the accord was, there was great opposition to it from the Filipinos and the case was brought before the high court, which ruled this MoA-AD as unconstitutional..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101117com2.html

US signals more optimism at reviving Mideast talks focus 11/17/2010

US signals more optimism at reviving Mideast talks

focus

11/17/2010
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is sounding optimistic that it can restart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations that stalled only weeks after their US launch in September.

But analysts fear that the administration — even if it manages to revive the talks — lacks a strategy to guide the two sides to a settlement of the core issues by its stated goal of September next year.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making a “serious effort” by considering a new settlement freeze aimed at reviving the talks.

“This is a very promising development,” Clinton told reporters Monday, a day after the Israeli leader briefed his Cabinet about a fresh moratorium on settlements in the West Bank.

Clinton declined to provide details but noted that US diplomats were “working intensively to create the conditions for the resumption of the negotiations.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101117com3.html

Rude and arrogant HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 11/17/2010

Rude and arrogant

HE SAYS

Aldrin Cardon

11/17/2010
It was rude and it smacked on arrogance that a female aide of Bill Clinton had to shout at and lead Vice President Jejomar Binay away at from the holding room of the VIP visitor at the Manila Hotel when he dropped by for a “paid speaking engagement” here last week.

But it was total disrespect of the country’s heritage and culture, which the Americans themselves tried to kill by bullets and assimilation in the past, that a teener, who paid for his chance to hear Clinton speak, was denied entry into the hall where Clinton was to speak about “our common humanity” because he was wearing a G-string, a traditional Igorot costume which the teener was very proud to wear.

It was a complete faux pas committed by Clinton’s close security detail, whose officials did not seem to have bothered to look at the profiles of the local VIPs to meet the former US officers, so much so that one of them had to raise her voice to get Binay’s attention and shooed him away from Clinton’s holding room, where Binay had access to mingle with the other VIPs as the vice president of Clinton’s host country.

Binay was cool about the incident, but not after reminding Clinton’s aide that she does not have to raise her voice at him, and that he would leave the room if told civilly. And yes, he told the aide that he “happens to be the vice president of the Philippines.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101117com4.html

Irony SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 11/17/2010

Irony

SHE SAYS

Dinah S. Ventura

11/17/2010
Some stories make you glad; others make you cringe or throw things, like the paper you are reading, or the monitor of your computer.

Former US President Bill Clinton’s safe arrival and short stay in the country certainly accounts for both feelings arising in our midst – while it was good that nothing untoward happened in terms of security, it was just too bad that something else occurred to make us revisit our insecurities in terms of our relationship with Uncle Sam.

Perhaps thinking of those terror warnings of late, Clinton’s security aides behaved a tad too paranoid. One of them committed a huge faux pas that set the mild-mannered vice president of the Philippines off, and another set of them made sure a local lad was denied admission to Clinton’s talk because he was not dressed appropriately. According to them, apparently.

Reports say that VP Jejomar Binay was ordered out of the VIP holding area where he was waiting with former Philippine presidents Fidel Ramos and Gloria Arroyo for the Clinton program to begin. His media officer Joey Salgado said it happened at the Manila Hotel lobby before Clinton’s lecture on “Embracing Our Common Humanity.” The two former leaders were allowed to stay, while Binay quietly walked away. Dignified in his suit and outwardly calm, he told the American lady that there was no need to shout, Binay later told reporters..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101117com5.html

Piracy hot spot Bangladesh bootlegged to bankruptcy FEATURE 11/17/2010

Piracy hot spot Bangladesh bootlegged to bankruptcy

FEATURE

11/17/2010
DHAKA — Bangladeshi pop icon Azam Khan has amassed legions of fans and dozens of hits over a 40-year career — but he’s always flat broke because of rampant music piracy.
When the 61-year-old star, revered for modernizing the staid Bangla music scene in the 1970s, was diagnosed with mouth cancer this year he had to beg fans, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to fund life-saving treatment.

“I’ve recorded 17 best-selling albums over my career but I have made less than 700,000 taka ($10,000) in royalties,” Khan told AFP from his sickbed in his modest two-bedroom house in the capital Dhaka.
“If I’d had this many hit albums in Europe, I’d own a private jet. In Bangladesh, rickshaw drivers will sometimes give me a free ride out of pity,” he added.

Khan’s experience is an extreme example of a broader global trend: Demand for music is rising, but street piracy through counterfeit CDs and online piracy means profits for record companies and artists are being hit..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101117com6.html

Guide pony helps blind Muslim woman go to US college focus 11/17/2010

Guide pony helps blind Muslim woman go to US college

focus

11/17/2010
LANSING — Mona Ramouni was taking notes with a Braille device when her guide pony Cali joined the class discussion with a sudden snort.

“What do you think Cali?” professor Shelley Smithson said with a laugh, and then steered the conversation back to theories of counseling and psychotherapy.

Cali is just one of a handful of miniature horses in the United States known to be used as guide animals for the blind and is likely the first pony to attend college.

The click of her hooves in the halls of Michigan State University is still turning heads three months after Ramouni and Cali moved to Lansing for graduate school.

Shocked students stare, shake their heads, pull out their cell phone cameras and some can’t help asking “is that a horse?”

“Usually I’m good about it because you have to educate people,” Ramouni said. “Sometimes I’ll say, no, it’s a really cool toy.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101117com7.html

Groups ask Noy: Where’s justice over Luisita row? By Charlie V. Manalo 11/17/2010

6 YEARS AFTER MASSACRE, NO LAND DISTRIBUTION, PROSECUTION OF KILLERS

Groups ask Noy: Where’s justice over Luisita row?

By Charlie V. Manalo 11/17/2010

Six years after the November 16 Hacienda Luisita massacre in which seven farm workers were slain by a combined police and military force, not even one official has been made accountable or convicted over the incident, civil rights and religious groups said yesterday.

A 40-vehicle protest-caravan from Quezon City to Hacienda Luisita marked the sixth year of the massacre of farmers in the sprawling sugar estate in Tarlac owned by the Cojuangco-Aquino family of President Aquino and highlighted alleged continuing injustice and denial of farmers’ rights to the land.

Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano said that “six years after the massacre, justice remains elusive to the victims of the massacre” and that “demands for genuine agrarian reform continue to fell on deaf ears,” especially under the Aquino administration.

The farm workers decided to hold a picket to bring their plight to the attention of the public and the government and, hopefully, move the conscience of the Cojuangco family. The response was the
was the massacre of Nov. 16, 2004, the Religious Discernment Group Convenors said in a statement..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101117hed1.html

Rights groups blame GMA for Ampatuans’ reign of terror By Michaela P. del Callar 11/17/2010

Rights groups blame GMA for Ampatuans’ reign of terror

By Michaela P. del Callar 11/17/2010

A prominent human rights watchdog yesterday blamed what it called a two-decade reign of terror of the Ampatuan warlord clan on former President Arroyo’s political patronage of the Ampatuans, saying this allowed them to amass great wealth and unchecked power, strengthen various militia forces, increase the sale of military weaponry and ensure impunity for rights abuses in Maguindanao.

The clan was charged over the country’s worst political massacre that killed dozens of other people during a two-decade reign of terror, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report published yesterday.

The New York-based group, in its 96-page report released ahead of the first anniversary of the gruesome Maguindanao massacre, entitled “They Own the People,” denounced the culture of impunity in the province.
HRW said it had spoken to witnesses, including ex-members of the Ampatuan militia, about the murders of at least 56 other people stretching back to 2001, many of them tortured and killed with chainsaws.

The report said AmpatuanSr., an ex-leader of a paramilitary force trained by the state to fight Muslim rebels, and his relatives engaged in targeted killings, abductions, torture, and sexual assault in and around Maguindanao.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101117hed2.html

Noynoy allies unfazed by drop in ratings By Angie M. Rosales 11/17/2010

Noynoy allies unfazed by drop in ratings

By Angie M. Rosales 11/17/2010

Malacañang allies in the Senate yesterday dismissed any significance in the reported dip in the trust ratings of President Aquino, saying the latest figures show that he continues to enjoy strong support of the public.

“What’s alarming there? Eighty percent is 80 percent. It’s still high, the trust and confidence of the people for P-Noy (President Aquino) are still there. So I don’t see any reason it will slide down,” Sen. Teofisto “TG” Guingona III said.

The same assessment was given by some of his colleagues in the upper chamber on the latest Pulse Asia survey showing the performance rating of the Chief Executive sliding nine percentage points and trust rating going down by five percentage points in a span of 17 weeks since his election.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan said a slight drop in the approval rating of the President should have been anticipated given the circumstances he had to deal with the last couple of months..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101117hed3.html

RP gets failed mark in 2 MCC criteria 11/17/2010

RP gets failed mark in 2 MCC criteria

11/17/2010
The Philippines continues to fall behind two indicators, on health and primary education expenditures, in the yearly score card of the US government’s Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) that tracks country’s compliance with the global goal of eliminating poverty by 2015.

The country, nevertheless, scored “above median” on the 17 indicators in the scorecard and was considered eligible for MCC grant this year.

MCC, however, reminded that the Philippines must maintain and improve the country’s performance on the indicators to remain eligible for MCC assistance.

In the Ruling Justly and Economic Freedom category the Philippines scored above median (50 percent) in all of the six indicators: 58 percent for political rights, 74 percent for civil liberties, 60 percent for control of corruption, 97 percent for government effectiveness, 74 percent for rule of law, and 81 percent for voice and accountability.

It was in the Investing in People category that the country got a failing mark for two of the five indicators: 18 percent for health expenditures and 32 percent for primary education expenditures..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101117hed4.html

Don’t compare ‘Morong 43’ to Suu Kyi — Palace 11/17/2010

Don’t compare ‘Morong 43’ to Suu Kyi — Palace

11/17/2010
Malacañang yesterday branded as “invalid” and “unfair” the statements issued by some militant groups that criticized President Aquino for ironically being vocal in calling for the release of Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi while maintaining his apparent reluctance in according the same treatment to the 43 health workers who were arrested in Morong, Rizal province last February.

“It’s not a valid com-parison. There are certain details that which we are not at liberty to tell, disclose right now. But there are measures being done right now to review the ‘Morong 43.’ Like the President said, the legal team has already reviewed the findings of the secretary of Justice and a prompt resolution would be forthcoming,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda stressed.

He further explained that his statement does not indicate that the Morong 43 would also have to suffer seven years in detention before they can avail of their freedom once again just like what happened to Suu Kyi.
But Malacañang admitted that Aquino is still undecided on what to do with the case of the Morong 43 who remain in detention for being wrongly accused as rebels by the military since he is yet to receive another set of recommendations to be provided this time by his ever trusted legal team..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101117hed5.html

Up to 100 transport firms may face sanctions over bus strike — government 11/17/2010

Up to 100 transport firms may face sanctions over bus strike — government

11/17/2010
Erring bus operators who participated in Monday’s strike that stranded thousands of commuters will have to face the music soon.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda issued the assurance after President Aquino yesterday ordered the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC),  the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to prosecute erring bus operators involved in the strike.

“Let me stress that the government is pro-active in this issue. We will not allow the riding public to be prejudiced in this kind of activity,” Lacierda stressed.

According to the LTFRB, up to 100 bus companies may face sanctions for taking part in Monday’s strike to protest the implementation of the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program or the “number-coding” scheme of the MMDA..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101117hed6.html

AFP shifts tactic to defeat NPA rebels By Mario J. Mallari 11/17/2010

AFP shifts tactic to defeat NPA rebels

By Mario J. Mallari 11/17/2010

The military will be shifting its tactic in countering the decades-long insurgency problem in the country by going heavy on civil military and other humanitarian missions instead of the traditional combat operations against enemies of the state, particularly the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said the new campaign plan will be implemented January next year.

Compared to the previous campaign plan dubbed Bantay Laya, which was tagged in extra judicial killings by militant groups, the new military plan will have lesser combat operations against the enemies.

“Winning the peace, meaning to say getting the people on our side, getting those who advocate armed struggle realize the futility of their efforts in as much as what they are fighting for are all being addressed like all the issues,” said Mabanta..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101117nat3.html

Psalm asked to account for $12.1 billion By Gerry Baldo 11/17/2010

Psalm asked to account for $12.1 billion

By Gerry Baldo 11/17/2010

Some members of the House of Representatives yesterday sought an accounting of the funds of the Power Sector Assets Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) amid fresh petitions for additional power rates increase intended allegedly to recover debts.

According to Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone the petitions would have been unnecessary had Psalm used the earnings from the privatization of the National Power Corporation (Napocor).

Evardone maintained that Psalm has generated $10.6 billion from the privatization and incurred $2.8 billion new loans for a total of $13.4 billion but only paid $1.3 billion of NPC’s outstanding debts.

“Psalm should explain to the public where the $12.1 billion from the sale of the 91.8 percent of the NPC asset went,” Evardone said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101117nat1.html