Merry-Go-Round Marinduque's Moryons

Merry-Go-Round

Marinduque's Moryons

By FLORO M. MERCENE

April 5, 2012, 3:55pm

 

MANILA, Philippines — In 1960, when the Marinduque Moryon Festival was one-and-a-half century old, this Lenten practice underwent a transformation. From a highly individualistic, personal pursuit, it became part of a team effort, an attempt by municipal and tourism authorities to regulate and put a semblance of order in an otherwise, disparate, dispersed, unfettered display of cultural and religious observance.

Part of the reason is to cater to tourists. The other is an honest-to-goodness desire by scholars and educators to revive an otherwise dying, highly localized ethnic tradition. The old moryon practices, seen by native residents as spontaneous, unrehearsed Lenten jollity, have turned into a ritualized display of religious fervor.

History will judge whether the transformation was a positive spin that allows us to enjoy this unique Lenten tradition, or we have simply lost and will never regain the old comical, amusing, unrehearsed way Marinduqueños view their Lenten rites..... MORE

Source:  MB.com

URL: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/356368/marinduques-moryons

Are Holy Week Traditions Fading?

Are Holy Week Traditions Fading?

By LEO O. LAPARAN II and BRYAN G. VILLASANA MB Research

 

 

MANILA, Philippines — Traditions die hard, especially when they are rooted in religion and folklore.
Filipinos have long observed Holy Week rites, from waving the palaspas on Palm Sunday to joining the pabasa on Maundy Thursday and watching the penitents on Good Friday.

But technological advances like smart phones, email, and GPS have changed the cultural landscape and individual lifestyles. Have these changes diminished the fervor for Holy Week rituals?

Manila Bulletin Research did random interviews to find out what Holy Week traditions have lost their sway among the faithful..... MORE

Source:  MB.com

URL: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/356413/are-holy-week-traditions-fading

Crucifixion 'Star' Nears End Of His Vow By AARON B. RECUENCO

Crucifixion 'Star' Nears End Of His Vow

By AARON B. RECUENCO

SAN FERNANDO CITY, Pampanga – Ruben Enaje is near the end of his 27-year vow.

Enaje will be nailed to the cross for the 26th straight year today, Good Friday.

The “crucifixion” of Enaje and 20 other penitents has been the high point of the Good Friday observance in Barangay San Pedro Cutud, an event that draws thousands of the devout and the curious to the small village.
But the 51-year-old artist feels he is getting too old to continue the ritual. “I can already feel my body complaining,” Enaje told the Manila Bulletin in Filipino.

He looked at the huge wooden cross that he keeps in his workplace. “This will be my retirement cross. I put my heart into making this because this will be part of my last performance next year,” he said.
... MORE

Source:  MB.com

URL: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/356411/crucifixion-star-nears-end-of-his-vow

Balagtas, Beyond The Language Issue By GEMMA CRUZ ARANETA

Landscape

Balagtas, Beyond The Language Issue

By GEMMA CRUZ ARANETA

April 4, 2012, 5:38pm

MANILA, Philippines — Finally, the celebration of Balagtas Day went beyond the language issue, thanks to Virgilio Almario, National Artist for Literature, and the LIRA ( Linangan sa Imahe, Retorika, at Anyo) a movement of “poet-volunteers for the nation” which he himself established and continues to mentor. Mr. Almario and members of the LIRA enhanced the City of Manila’s yearly flower-offering ceremony at the Liwasang Balagtas in Pandacan.

When “Florante at Laura,” the most famous work of Francisco Baltazar, was taught to us in the 1960’s, it was presented as a kind of epic poem in metric romance style situated in the faraway kingdom of Albania, a convoluted story of love, a clash of cultures colored with political rivalry. The Tagalog of Balagtas was a tongue twister with archaic punctuation but some of us did commit to memory the poignant stanza we did not fully comprehend:.... MORE

Source:  MB.com

URL: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/356305/balagtas-beyond-the-language-issue

CBCP: Visita Iglesia Should Not Be A 'mere barkada' Outing

CBCP: Visita Iglesia Should Not Be A 'mere barkada' Outing

By LESLIE ANN G. AQUINO

April 4, 2012, 9:58am

MANILA, Philippines - An official of the Catholic Church has appealed to the faithful particularly to the Filipino youth not to reduce the Visita Iglesia (church visit) tradition to a mere “barkada” event or outing.

Father Genaro Diwa, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines Episcopal Commission on Liturgy (CBCP-ECL), said while it is good that the practice of visiting seven or 14 churches during Holy Thursday brings people together, it is also saddening that sometimes the activity becomes some sort of an excursion only for some.

“It is reduced to a mere barkada event or excursion or what. I hope we become conscious of this,” he said in an interview..... MORE

Source:  MB.com

URL: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/356244/cbcp-visita-iglesia-should-not-be-a-mere-barkada-outing

Church: Conversion more Meaningful than Physical Pain

Church: Conversion more Meaningful than Physical Pain

By LESLIE ANN G. AQUINO

April 4, 2012, 10:28am

Thus, said an official of the Catholic Church in view of the scheduled crucifixion of at least 20 penitents [on] Good Friday in San Fernando, Pampanga.

“It seems it is becoming more of a public display of suffering. I don’t think the Lord wants that. Suffering must be internal but deeply personal,” said Legazpi Bishop Joel Baylon, chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Youth of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (ECY-CBCP), told reporters in an interview in a recent gathering in Quezon City.

“There are other forms of sacrifice and suffering that would lead to real conversion. That is more important suffering and sacrifice that leads to conversion and not public display,” he added..... MORE

Source:  MB.com

URL: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/356246/church-conversion-more-meaningful-physical-pain

Committee tasked to review oil prices meets with people’s organizations

Committee tasked to review oil prices meets with people’s organizations

While progressive organizations welcomed the review, they expressed reservations about the independence of the committee, the quality of, and its hesitation to share, the data it would be getting, and the limits that it imposes on itself.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – A committee tasked to review oil prices and oil companies’ profits held this Monday a public consultation with leaders of peoples’ organizations and non-government institutions at the Department of Energy in Bonifacio Global City. Dubbed as an Independent Review Committee on oil prices and profits, led by Dr. Benjamin F. Diokno, the committee delineated their scope as “a study committee and not as an investigative body.”

The committee declined to differentiate itself from the Task Force composed of the justice and energy departments set up last year by President Benigno “Noynoy” C. Aquino, to go after the oil companies’ alleged overpricing. Until today, that task force has not yet released the results of its investigation, if this had pushed through.

Diokno told the media in a press briefing minutes before the public consultation that if charges were to be filed, it would be the decision or call of the Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Justice (DOJ), and not of the study committee. “It is up to DOE to discuss the result of the study,” Diokno said.

Victor Abola and Benjamin Diokno of the review committee (Photo by Marya Salamat / bulatlat.com)

He explained that they are “not even going to recommend this or that,” instead, he said in Filipino that what they will study is if there were evidences or not of, say, overpricing, or of “excessive” profit taking.

Asked to explain the parameters they would use to gauge if profits are “excessive,” Diokno replied in Filipino that when investments are in “riskier” businesses (such as in oil), a higher rate of return may be allowed. If the profit rates of a company are well within the government’s prescribed rate of return on investment in the said industry, Diokno said “it is not anymore excessive.”

The study committee has a six-month time frame. It began late last January and it would submit the results of its study by July this year to the energy department, said Diokno. Their Monday consultation with leaders of peoples’ organizations is said to be their second public consultation; last week they reportedly consulted with the transport sector..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/04/03/committee-tasked-to-review-oil-prices-meets-with-people%E2%80%99s-organizations/

Even worse than SOPA: New CISPA cybersecurity bill will censor the Web

Even worse than SOPA: New CISPA cybersecurity bill will censor the Web

An onrush of condemnation and criticism kept the SOPA and PIPA acts from passing earlier this year, but US lawmakers have already authored another authoritarian bill that could give them free reign to creep the Web in the name of cybersecurity.

As congressmen in Washington consider how to handle the ongoing issue of cyberattacks, some legislators have lent their support to a new act that, if passed, would let the government pry into the personal correspondence of anyone of their choosing.

H.R. 3523, a piece of legislation dubbed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (or CISPA for short), has been created under the guise of being a necessary implement in America’s war against cyberattacks.... MORE
Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/cispa-bill-sopa-internet-175/

Anonymous fights Arizona censorship bill with 'butthurt form'

Anonymous fights Arizona censorship bill with 'butthurt form'

There’s a fine line between offensive and hilarious, and Arizona lawmakers aim to make that boundary legally protected. If House Bill 2549 passes, online harassment could become a criminal offense – but some hacktivists are there to help you rejoice.

Should Arizona Governor Jan Brewer sign off on House Bill 2549, using the Internet “with the intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy or offend a person” would be prohibited by a state-wide legislation. Arizona has already approved one of the most overzealous immigration laws in the United States, so suggesting that HB 2549 will get Governor Brewer’s stamp of approval isn’t that much of a stretch. Should that be the case, though, an unofficial Anonymous Twitter account has you covered..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/arizona-butthurt-form-internet-158/

Chance SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 04/04/2012

Chance

SHE SAYS

Dinah S. Ventura

04/04/2012
Monday, May 13, 2013 is more than a year away, but already politicians have started the ball rolling, including the President, apparently.

Of course, for many it’s a constant “rolling,” so to speak, as a political career must be grown and developed to the highest level.

When the time comes for Filipino voters to cast their ballots with names they believe will help bring about that long-awaited progress to our country, there will be the usual exercise of personalities built up and alliances defined and analyzed — who’s for the current administration and who’s not, who’s changed colors and who did not, and so on..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120404com7.html

Change? HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 04/04/2012

Change?

HE SAYS

Aldrin Cardon

04/04/2012
In less than a month, President Noynoy Aquino has confirmed impressions that the path he has been charting all along is leading straight to yet another election in hopes of consolidating even more power.

This he would need in the last half of his term, when we can expect Noynoy to finally show the true color of his administration, one that not a few believe is not really geared toward the uplifting of the economic plight of the workers, land tillers and the poor — as most candidates promised to do had they obtained the votes during the 2010 campaign.

Greater power would give Noynoy an almost unhindered route to creating or strengthening policies that would further consolidate foreign capitalist and a choice domestic business’s stranglehold of the Philippine economy. This as the nation continues to gripe at the reality of a dive toward supplying the world with cheap labor and materials while remaining generally poor..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120404com6.html

Oust-Corona groups plot move at Roxas’ LP office 04/04/2012

WELL-FUNDED CAMPAIGN READIES ANTI-CJ PARAPHERNALIA

Oust-Corona groups plot move at Roxas’ LP office

04/04/2012
Groups sympathetic to President Aquino, which many call collectively as the yellow mob, met at the Liberal Party national headquarters at the BALAY Expo Centro Building last April 2 to plot out stepped-up efforts to pressure the resignation of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The groups, led by the Corona Resign Movement (CORE) and the People Power for Reforms Volunteers (PPRV), will launch the stepped-up campaign since the situation at the impeachment court is becoming a concern for Aquino and his allies that Corona will be acquitted as the House prosecution team had largely bungled its case against the chief magistrate.

Aquino has been vocal about removing Corona from office even outside of the impeachment process..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120404hea3.html

Zambo town mayor kidnapped By Mario J. Mallari 04/04/2012

Zambo town mayor kidnapped

By Mario J. Mallari 04/04/2012

A municipal mayor in Zamboanga del Norte was kidnapped by heavily armed men while having his dinner in Salug town on Monday night, prompting the military to dispatch two Army battalions to help local police in rescue operations.

Brig. Gen. Rainier Cruz, commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division (ID), said Salug Mayor Jeffery Lim was eating with some companions at around 7:20 p.m. in Barangay Poblacionwhen he was taken by about 10 fully armed men, some of whom wore police uniforms, and dragged the mayor to a yellow multi-cab van.
The armed men fled toward the coastal village of Caracol, where the van was burned, and they transferred to three motorized bancas.

Cruz said he has deployed elements of the 10th Infantry Battalion (IB) and the 44th IB to assist the local police in the massive rescue operations starting Monday night..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120404nat1.html

Spratlys eyed as RP tourist destination By Mario J. Mallari and Gerry Baldo 04/04/2012

Spratlys eyed as RP tourist destination

By Mario J. Mallari and Gerry Baldo 04/04/2012

The construction of a beaching ramp in Pagasa Island, which is part of the disputed Kalayaan Islands Group (KIGs) or the Spratlys, is only the beginning of more development projects intended for the Philippine-occupied territory in the West Philippine Sea amidst protest from China.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin stressed the Philippines does not need to ask permission from any country in pursuing improvements in Pagasa Island, which is the seat of government of the municipality of Kalayaan under Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon.

“Pagasa is ours, we have a mayor there, we have the Philippine flag there why do we need to seek permission to any country when we have to fix something. If you do that, it means that you are doubting ownership. That is ours, we don’t have to ask permission from anyone,” said Gazmin..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120404nat2.html

Miriam wants strict enforcement of law against cruelty to animals By Angie M. Rosales 04/04/2012

Miriam wants strict enforcement of law against cruelty to animals

By Angie M. Rosales 04/04/2012
Simultaneous with her filing of a bill seeking to give more teeth to the country’s law against cruelty to animals, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago moved for the conduct of inquiry in the light of incidents involving violations of animal rights law.

The incidents, she said, are a clear indication that Republic Act No. 8485 or the Animal Welfare Act, needs stricter enforcement in informing Filipinos of animal rights and the violations under the law.

The reinforcement and implementation of the law should be extended to traffic enforcers and other concerned government agencies to augment the efforts of the Philippine National Police and other concerned authorities, she said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120404met6.html

Singaporean human trafficker who victimized hundreds of Pinoys jailed

By Benjamin B. Pulta 04/04/2012

A Singaporean who facilitated the human trafficking of more than a hundred Filipinas abroad will finally be serving time behind bars for his crimes after a ruling by a Malaysian court, a Philippine government task force said yesterday.

In a statement, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), together with its non-government partner Blas F. Ople Policy Center, lauded the Malaysian court for ending the human trafficking operations of Singaporean Eugene Lim Beng Huat aka Alfred Lim.

The Sessions Court of Malaysia sentenced Lim to a total of six years imprisonment after finding him guilty on two counts of human trafficking of two Filipinas about four years ago..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120404met4.html

The United States has been enabling torture for decades

The United States has been enabling torture for decades
 
By: Mark Karlin, Truthout | Interview
Truthout.org
Marjorie Cohn – a law professor and past president of the National Lawyer’s Guild – has assembled a compelling interdisciplinary anthology on the “normalization” of torture as an extension of American foreign policy. This is not a new occurrence limited to the so-called “war on terror,” but extends back decades.

The United States Exports Torture

Mark Karlin: The infamous School of the Americas (SOA) (now euphemistically renamed the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation”) has long been accused of teaching human rights violations, including torture. The Defense Department vigorously denies this accusation.

In Chapter 2, Bill Quigley – who writes for Truthout, as well as yourself – outs the truth. Hasn’t the School of the Americas, and its predecessor, which was located in the Panama Canal Zone, been outsourcing torture and human rights violations for decades?

Marjorie Cohn: During the 1970s and 1980s, dictators and military leaders in Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Paraguay used skills they learned at the US Army’s School of the Americas to torture and execute dissidents. SOA graduates assassinated bishops, priests, labor leaders, women, children and community workers, and massacred entire communities. Although the school was cosmetically renamed in 2001 to the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation” (WHINSEC) at Ft. Benning, Georgia, the US government continues to resist accountability for those complicit in the egregious human rights violations perpetrated by the school’s students. There is a growing protest movement against the SOA/WHINSEC. Since the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador in 1980, protesters have increasingly engaged in lobbying and civil disobedience, including regular teach-ins, demonstrations and prayer vigils. Up to 20,000 demonstrators descend on Ft. Benning each year. They want the US government to admit what it has done at the school, allow an independent investigation and accept responsibility for the consequences. They are demanding that the torture school be closed.

MK: The torture and murders that occurred during the “dirty wars” in South America and the military dictatorship/right-wing militias’ suppression of opposition in Central America was something out of the Spanish Inquisition. The US was on the side of the military governments, and yet, they were committing torture and massacres even against US citizens, including nuns. Terry Lynn Karl describes this in Chapter 2, with El Salvador as a case study. How come it took the war on terror to ignite a national discussion on torture and US foreign policy?

MC: During the dirty wars in Latin America, most of the torture was perpetuated by foreign governments (albeit with the backing of the United States). But when the grotesque photographs of torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib were published, Americans were confronted with torture being committed by their own government. As additional photographs and reports of torture emerged, and memoranda written by former President George W. Bush’s legal mercenaries were made public, it became impossible to ignore the cruelty being perpetrated by the US government.

MK: We tend to think of torture as physical, but you have a chapter on psychological torture. What forms does that take, in the United States and abroad?

MC: As historian Alfred McCoy explains in his chapter, the CIA has refined the “art”of torture by developing techniques to manipulate human consciousness. Since drug research had been unsuccessful, the CIA explored sensory deprivation and stress positions to be used offensively by CIA interrogators and defensively to train US troops to resist enemy interrogators. In 1963, the CIA created the KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation manual (KUBARK), which codified secret research on mind control. McCoy observes how they used heat and cold, light and dark, noise and silence, feast and famine, and sensory overload and deprivation to pursue their sordid ends..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/03/18/the-united-states-has-been-enabling-torture-for-decades/

Noynoying also cause of power crisis EDITORIAL 04/03/2012

Noynoying also cause of power crisis

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

04/03/2012
The power crisis in Mindanao would have been averted with the simple virtue of foresight and priority setting from the current occupants of Malacaang.

That in gist was how Sen. Edgardo Angara described the current power quandary that Noynoy has found himself in the two years into his presidency.

While others were saying that the crisis is artificial and conjured up to benefit the business associates of Noynoy who are seeking part of the action in the setting up of coal-fired power plants in the region, still some say that inaction or what has become a patented word called Noynoying was to blame for the power shortage.

Whatever the reason for it, however, it would seem that one way of the other, the administration of Noynoys poor handling of the situation has resulted in the crisis situation..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120403com1.html

Seven killed in shooting at California college (PHOTOS)

Seven killed in shooting at California college (PHOTOS)

Seven people have been killed in a shooting rampage at a private Christian college in Oakland, California on Monday. Police detained and identified a 43-year-old former student as the suspect.

One L. Goh is in custody after surrendering at a shopping center about an hour after the incident at Oikos University, police chief Howard Jordan said.

Three more people were injured in the attack after the gunman walked into a classroom and opened fire at the college, which teaches medicine to students while emphasizing Christian ideals. It was not immediately clear what was the motive of the attack..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/california-shooting-killed-university-078/

No girls around: Female-tracking app taken down

No girls around: Female-tracking app taken down

Controversial iPhone application "Girls Around Me", which allowed users to track all females in the area by collecting their information from social networks, has been taken down by the developer in the wake of a public outcry over privacy.

"Girls Around Me" used information from location-based social network Foursquare to find women on a map and view their publicly-available pictures from Facebook. The women had no idea they were being tracked by strangers and had no chance to opt out..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/girls-around-me-privacy-083/

Dead-end economics AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 04/03/2012

Dead-end economics

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW

Ken Fuller

04/03/2012
Dr. Bernardo Villegas, one of the high priests of dead-end economics, on March 24 pronounced himself “more bullish than the government in forecasting a GDP growth of 6 to 7 percent for 2012” (Manila Times, “Geared toward faster growth”).

This is not an entirely new phenomenon, he says, as the years 2007 and 2010 saw growth of 7.1 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively. By pointing out that the former year was when the subprime crisis broke and that the latter saw “the global economy still gripped by the financial crisis,” Villegas gives the impression that the Philippine economy is able to stride confidently ahead while greater powers stumble backwards. What he neglects to remind us is that 2007 and 2010 were election years, when politicians throw vast sums at their constituents, artificially inflating the growth statistics..

Villegas then goes further, expressing the view that, now matter what the problems suffered elsewhere, the Philippine economy “can grow at seven percent or more in the coming 5 to 10 years…” In the absence of convincing evidence, on what does the bold academic base this prediction? Faith? Not quite, but he comes close..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120403com5.html

Holy Week NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 04/03/2012

Holy Week

NO HOLDS BARRED

Armida Siguion-Reyna

04/03/2012
In the ’80s, years before I became a born-again Christian, I’d get invited to sing in San Pablo City for religious processions.

My good friend Ado Escudero’s family had three santos that took part in the annual procession, in strongly Catholic San Pablo. The singing would be done on the balconies of the various houses that lined the main street, during the parade of santos. This used to be a big affair that attracted the participation of out-of-towners and not just a few tourists.

The first time Ado invited me to sing there, I requested yet-to-be National Artist Lucrecia Kasilag to write an original composition to fit the occasion. Ms. Kasilag forthrightly came up “Pieta,” a moving song about the Virgin Mother and her son, and the good woman didn’t charge a centavo for the job.
Restie Umali also did several songs for my San Pablo outings, with lyrics by Levi Celerio, another future National Artist. Like King Kasilag, Restie did not charge a centavo for the religious songs that included “Balaraw sa Puso,” part of which goes:.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120403com4.html

Death penalty VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 04/03/2012

Death penalty

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

04/03/2012
Sad to say and sadder still to admit, life must really be unwelcome and even despised in this country.

The fact is that life is becoming cheaper by the day — courtesy of regular murders day and night, daily killings here and there.

The truth is that even tiny, helpless and lifeless fetuses are found thrown in garbage dumps and other despicable places. And there is nothing less than the present administration that officially registers its blatant objection to life through its well funded population control presented under the poor guise of reproduction and health.

The despise of life on the part of Malacañang is consummate — notwithstanding the fact that the biggest export of the country is people. It is the OFWs who are feeding millions of families through their big and regular remittances to the Philippines. It is also these Filipino workers in foreign and even dangerous countries who are providing the government with economic viability. Yes, rice and fish are imported. But Filipinos are exported. Even clothes and toys, not to mention fuel, are imported. But Filipino professionals and workers are considered as export commodities..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120403com6.html

Comelec’s PCOS purchase ‘one big wrong step’ to 2013 polls — watchdog By Pat C. Santos 04/03/2012

Comelec’s PCOS purchase ‘one big wrong step’ to 2013 polls — watchdog

By Pat C. Santos 04/03/2012
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) took “one big wrong step” toward the 2013 polls when it purchased Smartmatic International Corp.’s counting machines for the country’s elections, according to a workers’ electoral watchdog

Workers’ Electoral Watch (WE Watch), a network of workers advocating democratic and trans-parent polls, said the Comelec failed to draw lessons from the country’s exercise of the first automated polls in 2010 when it decided to purchase and re-use the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines for next year’s elections with a P1.8-billion price tag.

“The road to the 2013 midterm elections should have been an opportunity to democratize the development of technology for the country’s elections. Unfortunately, the Comelec shut the doors for the Filipino IT community’s meaningful participation.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120403hea3.html

Stop-gap Noy solution to power woe means higher Mindanao rates By Angie M. Rosales 04/03/2012

Stop-gap Noy solution to power woe means higher Mindanao rates

By Angie M. Rosales 04/03/2012

Power consumers in Mindanao will have to bear electricity rates that are higher by as much as 50 centavos per kilowatthour with the government’s plan to use power barges which uses expensive fuel as a stop-gap solution to the brewing power crisis in the region, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III said yesterday.

“The people of Mindanao have to accept that they will have to face higher rates, a little bit higher, by about 50 centavos,” Osmeña said, noting the need to adjust the current P3.70 per kilowatt hour (kwh) to P4.20 per kwh to address the power supply problem immediately.

Besides the impending rate increase, the chairman of the Senate energy committee, also said that the possible solution for the meantime to plug the power supply shortage in Mindanao could be answered by the so-called combined cycle gar turbine (CCGP)..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120403hea2.html

PAF plane bombs NPA lair, reaps 2 backpacks of papers By Mario J. Mallari 04/03/2012

PAF plane bombs NPA lair, reaps 2 backpacks of papers

By Mario J. Mallari 04/03/2012
An Air Force fighter plane pounded a New People’s Army (NPA) lair in Bukidnon province with high-explosive rocket missiles on Sunday, but only reaped two backpacks of documents left behind by the communists for their pains.

Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) spokesman Col. Leopoldo Galon said an SF-260 from the Air Force’s Tactical Operations Group-11 (TOG-11) conducted the air strike in support of the ground operations of the Army’s 8th Infantry Battalion (IB) in Kibawe town.

Galon said the air strike was launched after an initial clash between elements of the 8th IB and a band of NPA rebels at around 5:20 a.m. in the outskirts of Barangay Sampaguita..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120403nat1.html

Probe on tax exemption, subsidies for E-Trike project sought By Charlie V. Manalo 04/03/2012

Probe on tax exemption, subsidies for E-Trike project sought

By Charlie V. Manalo 04/03/2012

A lawmaker has called for a congressional inquiry into the grant of exemption from taxes and duties, and the provision of other government subsidies in the importation of parts, equipment and machinery needed by the private sector for the manufacture of electric tricycles, or what is more commonly referred to as the E-Trike, to local government units.

Kasangga Rep. Teodorico Haresco said the tax and duty exemptions and government subsidies are provided under the E-Trike Project of the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

“There is a need to revisit and review the existing duties and taxes, including government subsidies in the importation of parts, machineries and equipment that will translate into a fair and reasonable cost of electric tricycles and result in the reduction of loan amount of the LGUs (local government units) from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP),” said Haresco..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120403nat5.html

Binay lauds Pinay OFWs for conviction of Singaporean human trafficker in Malysia 04/03/2012

Binay lauds Pinay OFWs for conviction of Singaporean human trafficker in Malysia

04/03/2012
Vice-President and Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) Concerns Jejomar Binay has commended two OFWs for helping to convict Singaporean human trafficker Lim Beng Huat. The trafficker, also known as “Alfred Lim,” was ordered jailed for six years by a Malaysian court.

Binay thanked Marilou Bagsit and Marivic Capistrano for cooperating with the Philippine government in running after Lim in partnership with the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, a non-government organization that represents the OFW sector in the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT).

“We call on other OFWs to emulate these two women by reporting incidence of abuse and illegal recruitment to our embassies abroad and also to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration or to (non-government organizations) such as the Ople Center,” Binay said in a press conference at the Coconut Palace..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120403nat3.html

AFP conducts ‘surprise’ drug test on soldiers 04/03/2012

AFP conducts ‘surprise’ drug test on soldiers

04/03/2012
Some 300 personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were subjected to random drug testing yesterday in Camp Aguinaldo as part of a campaign against illegal drugs in the 125,000-strong military organization that already led to two soldiers’ discharge from the service.

At a press briefing, AFP spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said the surprise mandatory drug testing was announced minutes after the flag-raising ceremony in Camp Aguinaldo.

Burgos said they tested the officers, enlisted personnel and even civilian employees working in the AFP general headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo. The results were not immediately available..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120403met1.html

Salivating for Agus-Pulangi DIE HARD III Herman Tiu Laurel 04/02/2012

Salivating for Agus-Pulangi

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

04/02/2012
Jojo Borja, one of the major owners of Iligan Light and Power who is at the forefront of the crusade to expose the anomalies of the power privatization caper, reports that a number of his Mindanao colleagues got wind of broadcast interviews where Serge Osmea called for the privatization of the Agus-Pulangi hydroelectric complex. As such longstanding anomalies are a direct result of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), a law that gave rise to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (Psalm) Corp., one of Borjas sources, a Psalm executive, naturally doesnt want to be named.

Mindanao is ultra-sensitive to any suggestion of privatizing its treasure that is the Agus-Pulangi complex. As the people there know that greedy and dirty hands are just waiting to grab this wonder of Mindanao away from them, a mere mention of it would be absolutely revolting.

According to Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC)s Wilson Fortaleza, who just came from a National Power Corp. (Napocor) Union-sponsored review of Agus-Pulangi, the hydroelectric plants there (which started operations in 1953) are by now fully depreciated. Thus, the electricity that is produced is less than P0.01 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

It is easy to understand Mindanaos aversion to privatization. During the past weeks power crisis in Mindanao, some prominent local officials have cited the privatization of Mt. Apo Geothermal to a Lopez company as an issue. Geothermal energy, according to the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions, should only cost anywhere between $0.01 to $0.05/kWh, or from P0.42 to P2.00/kWh on todays exchange rate. But North Cotabato Gov. Emilou Talio-Mendoza and General Santos City Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio assert that the private Lopez firm charges a walloping P14/kWh of electricity.

In making his case against government-run power, Senator Osmea said in a March 29 interview that Because government tries to lower the price of electricity a president can order power rates to be lowered to become popular. The case of Mt. Apo Geothermal, however, only shows that privatization has resulted in the population being blackmailed with price gouging rates while the oligarchs sit back and watch the regions economy face disaster without concern.

If we go by Osmeas logic, then government must not and should not be concerned about the peoples welfare; government should make only the power oligarchs interests topmost in its priorities; and government need not bother with the welfare of the national economy where industries that have to bear the highest power cost in Asia can no longer compete with other countries.

Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) chief Lualhati Antonino expressed a deeper suspicion: That the privatized transmission company now called the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) is creating this power crisis to force a privatization of the Agus-Pulangi on the pretext that government has failed.
The likely scenario is that, upon privatization, the Agus-Pulangis less than P0.01/kWh electricity will be sold to Luzon and Visayas for P5.00/kWh when the NGCP lays the submarine cables to link the Mindanao grid back to the islands northward.

Antonino states: I am sorry to say that based on my studies and the researches of my office, I think NGCP is fooling us Where are the power generated by the hydroelectric power generators?... I dont believe it. NGCP is creating an artificial shortage. Niloloko nila tayo (They are fooling us)

International observers today confirm what the Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) reported years ago: Under President Corazon Aquino, no new energy generating capacity was added (and) since the 1993 Ramos emergency measures, the cumulative amount of loot that these forces took out of Napocor (totaled) an estimated $2.5 billion to $4 billion, if not more (As this was estimated years ago, it should now stand at $10 billion.)

To continue, the EIR explains (in its article, The Lessons of California and Brazil) that Companies such as Enron, Reliant Energy bid up the price of electricity on the California Electricity Spot Market (like our own Wholesale Electricity Spot Market or Wesm) (driving) up the average price (by) more than a 1,000 percent. It further states that The Philippines Power Reform Bill replicates all the key destructive features of California.

Malacaang resident Noynoyer, PeNoy Aquino, has not offered any solution to the Mindanaoans pleas, except that they should expect contracting power barges that would result in higher electricity rates, saying, You will have to share the burden But would the people and consumers of Mindanao share in the profit, too? No way: Thats because in PeNoys world, profits are only for the oligarchs while the entire burden should be for the consumers.

With the Agus-Pulangi still in public hands, all the people are able to share in the bounties flowing from it. If only government ceases to be captive to the oligarchy, the bounties from renewable power in Mindanao and everywhere in the Philippines can be multiplied a hundred fold. But, as our sad experience with the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) tells us, we, the people, must now wait no longer in junking that privatization law to restore the public sectors control of our countrys economic affairs, particularly electricity generation and distribution. Once this is achieved, government can proceed to prioritize more mini and micro-hydro and geothermal development instead of fossil fuel energy.

We shall end with the latest confirmation of the Philippines highest power cost in Asia from the 2011 comparative survey of the Japan External Trade Organization: Manila at $0.23/kWh; Tokyo and Singapore at $0.20/kWh; Sydney at $0.19/kWh; Colombo at $0.18/kWh; Mumbai at $0.16/kWh; Phnom Penh at $0.15/kWh; Hong Kong at $0.14/kWh; Auckland and Taipei at $0.12/kWh; Kuala Lumpur and Karachi at $0.11/kWh; Shenzhen and Chennai at $0.10/kWh; and Jakarta, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and New Delhi at $0.09/kWh.

The survey also confirms what our colleague Butch Junia has always stressed: That contrary to claims by Osmea of government subsidizing power rates, the reason Philippine commercial/industrial rates are not the highest in Asia yet is that these are subsidized by residential consumers, who, even while consuming only 30 percent of the Manila Electric Co.s distributed electricity, contribute to 67 percent of the power companys income by shouldering incredibly high and lopsided rates. Thats subsidy for you, Serge!

(Tune in to 1098AM, dwAD, Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m.; watch Destiny Cable GNNs HTL edition of Talk News TV, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15 p.m., after Lent, on Mindanao power blackmail? Part II; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
(Reprinted with permission from Mr. Herman Tiu-Laurel)

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120402com5.html

Buying a pig in the poke FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 04/02/2012

Buying a pig in the poke

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

04/02/2012
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Malacaang that will no doubt benefit from it, are in for a lot of trouble come election day, mainly because using the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines, defective as they, are prone to facilitate even bigger electoral fraud in 2013.

Also, the Comelec, despite a new leadership, is really not ready to conduct PCOS-style elections.

What is likely to occur is more cheating, since these machines have no safeguards, as proven in the last polls where these machines were used, apart from the fact that the errors, despite the claims of the Comelec chief that the errors were human errors, are in reality, mostly machine errors, with the usual Comelec cheating syndicate up on its toes in perfecting its electoral fraud scheme.

More problems are bound to surface, as the Comelec commissioners have hardly any clue on how to conduct automated polls..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120402com2.html

CIA ‘should pay for Nazi-like Poland prison’

CIA ‘should pay for Nazi-like Poland prison’

The smoldering scandal around an alleged CIA secret prison in Poland has exploded again, as charges have been brought against the country's former intelligence chief for allowing the site. For years, Poland’s top officials denied the prison existed.

­Former U.S. president George W. Bush stipulated that important prisoners should be interrogated in a special way, which implied having a secure place to do so. The Polish facility was one of these, former CIA officer Raymond McGovern, who followed the story for years, told RT..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/cia-poland-prison-mcgovern-003/

Cop’s 'ear' in your pocket: Cell phone tracking routine with US police

Cop’s 'ear' in your pocket: Cell phone tracking routine with US police

Keys, driver's license, cell phone…off we go! While an officer can only get your personal details by prompting you to take out the ID, your phone could give you away at the police’s first request – a request neither you nor a court may ever learn of.

Cell phone tracking, previously associated with federal agents, now seems to have become routine for many police departments. A recent report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) shows that police have not only grown into the practice, but also drop the court warrant stage from the procedure.

Over 200 police departments nationwide responded to the ACLU’s pubic requests virtually acknowledging that they track cell phones. But only very few of the interviewed departments says they obtain a court warrant to tune in on a phone. .... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/usa-police-tracking-cell-phone-988/

Mining confab declares: “Philippines is not for sale”

Mining confab declares: “Philippines is not for sale”

By DONNA RABANG PETA
Northern Dispatch www.nordis.net
TAGAYTAY CITY – Concluding with a declaration that the “Philippines is not for sale”, delegates to the Third People’s Mining Conference here, shared their resolutions and declarations at a multi-sectoral joint protest action in Mendiola, Manila to commemorate the passage of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 on March 3.

On the theme, “Heighten our Struggle for Land, Life and Environment. Stop Mining Plunder!” the Third People’s Mining Conference held from March 1-2 in Sta. Rita, here, had over 200 participants from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao representing people’s organizations, sectors, non-government organizations (NGOs), church groups, environmental advocates, local government officials, representatives from Defend Ilocos Against Mining Plunder, and Amianan Salakniban (Defend the North).

The said conference was organized by Defend Patrimony, Center for Environmental Concerns Philippines (CECP), Ecumenical Bishop Forum (EBF), Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan), Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP) and Stewards of Creation. It was formally opened with a tribute to all the martyrs and defenders of the environment, and a keynote address of Bayan Muna Partylist Rep. Teddy Casiño, who is also the chairman of House Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development.

Casiño discussed how the mining policy of President Benigno Aquino III government is adversely affecting and destroying communities covered by mining operations.

He also tackled the impacts of Philippine Mining Act of 1995, which liberalized the country’s mining industry, caused horrendous environmental destruction and provided plunderous advantages to large mines, especially foreign corporations, instead of economic development opportunities to Filipinos..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/03/20/57612/

Crime everywhere HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 04/02/2012

Crime everywhere

HE SAYS

Aldrin Cardon

04/02/2012
Daring was first used to describe the thoughtless act of violence by a small group of men — initially believed to be four or a little more — who appeared to have successfully conducted the heist just as the Robinson’s Galleria in Ortigas, Pasig was about to start what should have been an ordinary week’s day.

Categorizing the incident should fall short as an act of terror as one was killed — the security personnel who assisted in the delivery of the money from a bank to the money changer recipient — and six others, mostly innocent pedestrians who were about to go about their usual businesses for the day.

The heist, as police sources later revealed, was quickly completed. Analysts have also likened it to a movie script, except that it was real.

The report by The Daily Tribune’s Gina Peralta-Elorde summed it up in detail: “two armed men donned security guard uniforms and followed the roving tellers of Security Bank located inside the mall. (The two) shot the group of tellers, including the two security guards, upon reaching the Level 1 area of the mall near the Sanry’s Money Changer….... MORE
Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120402com6.html

Earth Hour and the MMORS CROSSROADS Jonathan De la Cruz 04/02/2012

Earth Hour and the MMORS

CROSSROADS

Jonathan De la Cruz

04/02/2012
Well, P-Noy and Energy Secretary Rene Almendras will just have to grin and bear it. Last Saturday’s celebration of the annual worldwide Earth Hour campaign which called on all participants to “give nature a little rest by switching lights off for an hour between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m.” was used by concerned groups, especially our brothers in Mindanao to mock the government’s inaction and, yes, insensitivity, mainly cavalier statements coming from Palace spokesmen, to their plight.

Agham PL Rep. Angelo Palmones noted that Mindanao has been observing Earth Hour everyday for the past two years. Referring to the daily rotating brown outs in the area which usually last up to eight hours per sector, Palmones quipped “we have called it the Eight Hours.

It is our way of life in Mindanao.” It did not help any that the presidential spokesman kept on with his harangues echoing Sen. Serge Osmeña’s advisory that Mindanaoans have been “spoiled” for years with “dirt cheap” power rates. To be fair, that temporizing assessment fails to factor in Mindanao’s abundant resources which has remained underutilized if not misused by a succession of administrations giving Mindanaoans reason to insist that they deserve to have such “cheap rates.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120402com4.html

Inaction may lead to power crisis in 2 years — Angara By Angie M. Rosales 04/02/2012

MINDANAO SUPPLY SHORTAGE SEEN SPREADING TO LUZON

Inaction may lead to power crisis in 2 years — Angara

By Angie M. Rosales 04/02/2012

A bigger power crisis that will spread from Mindanao to Luzon is expected within two years if the Aquino administration continues to vacillate on the needed policies to meet rising power demand, Sen. Edgardo Angara yesterday said.

Reserve power supply in Luzon can still meet the rising demand but only until the next two years, Angara said, as he expressed concern over the possibility of the Mindanao power crisis spilling to other regions.

“If nothing is done, the crippling power crisis being experienced in Mindanao could shift to Luzon in two years. It’s a rolling crisis,” the senator said, noting reports on power supply problems projected as well in the Visayas region..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120402hea1.html

RP denies Viet wargames deal amid China protest By Mario J. Mallari 04/02/2012

RP denies Viet wargames deal amid China protest

By Mario J. Mallari 04/02/2012

The Philippine Navy (PN) leadership yesterday clarified that there is no agreement with Vietnam to hold wargames in the West Philippine Sea, which is what the country calls the South China Sea, where the disputed Kalaayan Islands Group (KIGs) or the Spratlys are located.

However, in an earlier press release, the PN said that a joint maritime patrol along common domains with the Vietnamese navy was discussed during Philippine Navy Flag Officer in Command Vice Admiral Alexander Pama’s recent visit to Hanoi.

In a radio interview, Pama denied reports that there was an agreement reached during his recent visit to the Vietnam People’s Navy (VPN) to hold wargames or any other joint exercises after China protested over reports of the planned military exercise..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120402hea2.html

AFP ex-chief named CDC chair By Rocky G. Nazareno 04/02/2012

AFP ex-chief named CDC chair

By Rocky G. Nazareno 04/02/2012

President Aquino has appointed former Armed Forces chief of staff Eduard Oban as chairman of the state-owned Clark Development Corp. (CDC).

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Abigail Valte yesterday confirmed Oban’s appointment in an interview over a government radio station.

Oban retired last December just when the AFP was embroiled in a fund scam in which former military budget officer George Rabusa revealed that former AFP top brass were given cash gifts or pabaon prior to retirement.
Oban replaced Arnel Casanova who had held the CDC chair in acting capacity..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120402nat1.html

Owner of Mindanao school killed 04/02/2012

Owner of Mindanao school killed

04/02/2012
An owner of a university in Zamboanga City was shot dead by still unidentified armed men noontime Sunday, police reports said.

Citing initial reports from the field, Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr. identified the victim as Arturo Eustaquio, owner of the Universidad de Zamboanga, formerly known as Zamboanga AE Colleges..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120402nat4.html

Lim orders thorough probe into Sampaloc Public Mart fire By Pat C. Santos 04/02/2012

Lim orders thorough probe into Sampaloc Public Mart fire

By Pat C. Santos 04/02/2012

Just after the disclosure of sale of the controversial Basa-Guidote lot in Sampaloc to the city of Manila, a fire of mysterious origin razed the now Sampaloc Public Market at dawn yesterday.

According to the Manila Fire Bureau, the fire started at a stall selling slippers at 1:50 a.m. It was declared under control at 2:38 a.m. and “fire out” at 3:34 a.m.

No one was reported injured in the fire which reached third alarm.

Fire authorities were still conducting investigation to determine the cause of the fire. Meanwhile, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim yesterday ordered a thorough investigation into the fire..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120402met3.html

PNP gives public tips on how to observe Holy Week, summer safety By Mario J. Mallari 04/02/2012

PNP gives public tips on how to observe Holy Week, summer safety

By Mario J. Mallari 04/02/2012

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has issued tips to the public on how to observe the Holy Week and the summer vacation safely.

Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr., spokesman for the PNP, said the PNP will be distributing flyers entitled “Tips para maiwasan ang krimen at sakuna sa Semana Santa at ngayong Summer Vacation” in public places throughout the country to keep the people aware of their safety.

Cruz, also the officer-in-charge of the PNP’s Police Community Relations Group, particularly reminded travelers with their own vehicles to make sure that the check list on long-driving is done before the trip..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120402met4.html

Noynoying

Noynoying
 
By BENJIE OLIVEROS
Bulatlat.com
What was perhaps intended as a form of protest that would land at least a photo in newspapers and a video clip in the evening news became viral locally and internationally. Noynoying is trending in Twitter, and, according to an article in ABS-CBN News online, it has 3,685 likes on Facebook so far. The Wall Street Journal wrote an article on it. And it has landed a page in Wikipedia.

At first, Malacañang tried to ignore it with President Aquino saying he would not honor it with a response. In any case, for two consecutive days after, the Philippine Daily Inquirer published photos of the president working. But now the president appeared miffed. He said he has the statistics to prove his accomplishments but it is difficult to let people see it if they do not want to see.

Noynoying caught fire because President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is not known to be a hands-on, hard working president. It would not have worked with former president Fidel V. Ramos who was known to be a workaholic or even with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who was prompt to visit typhoon struck areas.

Aquino’s performance as a member of the House of Representatives and then as a Senator is, at best, average. This was reinforced by the president’s slow response to the massive disaster and flooding caused by typhoons Pedring and Quiel. He convened the National Disaster Risk Reduction Council five days after Pedring wreaked havoc on large areas in Luzon and he made a hurried visit to affected areas much later, justifying his non-inclination to visit by saying that he is not fond of photo opportunities.

However, it is not accurate to say that President Aquino has been “noynoying” (coined to mean procrastinating and lazy) on all issues affecting the country. Let us name a few issues where he reacted immediately and those where he appeared to be procrastinating..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/03/23/noynoying/

Irresponsible freedom of expression FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 04/01/2012

Irresponsible freedom of expression

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

04/01/2012
SWS’ Mahar Mangahas, in his Saturday Inquirer column, defended conducting his survey and releasing its findings on the issue of the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona, at this time, saying there is no basis to stop ordinary people from expressing opinions about a trial or stop the media from publishing such opinion polls, stressing on the right to free expression.

Mahar skirts the real issue, which is his loaded and highly unfair, if not unprofessional, questions posed to respondents on the impeachment trial.

There was hardly any negative comment from the public when Pedro Laylo came up with his survey on the impeachment trial, mainly because he did not touch on the perceptions of guilt or innocence of the Chief Justice.

If he did, he certainly did not release this finding, which makes him a reliable and responsible survey taker..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120401com2.html

Call of duty: Saudi Arabia bent on arming Syrian rebels

 Call of duty: Saudi Arabia bent on arming Syrian rebels

Calls to arm the Syrian rebels are growing louder, with Saudi Arabia saying that supplying weapons is a “duty.” The desire to tool up rebels comes as major Syrian opposition groups have appealed to neighboring states to allow the transit of arms.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on Sunday that top ranking Arab and Western officials will be discussing further ways to apply pressure on President Bashar al-Assad.  The promise of more humanitarian aid to the rebels was also high on the agenda. 

But as her Saudi Arabian counterpart has revealed, this help might not be limited to medicine and blankets. During a joint news conference with Clinton, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said  “the arming of the [Syrian] opposition is a duty, I think, because it cannot defend itself except with weapons.”.... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/syrian-rebels-armed-turkey-957/

Switching to candle light: Russia goes dark for Earth Hour (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Switching to candle light: Russia goes dark for Earth Hour (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

With the planet turning out the lights in a symbolic Earth Hour event, some 15 million Russians observed it this year, its organizers claim. This is about 40 per cent more than the previous year.

­Moscow’s celebration of the day was centered at Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills), which is located near the campus of the Moscow State University in the city’s southwest.

Thanks to its elevation, it has a spectacular view of the capital’s skyline, so observers were able to clearly see a total of 75 famous structures in Moscow going dark. Those include Luzhniki Stadium just across the Moskva River, Moscow City Hall, several high-standing Stalinist buildings known collectively as the Seven Sisters, (including the university’s central facility), several bridges and Moscow’s Academy of Sciences, among others..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/russia-earth-hour-moscow-947/

Self-destruct habit TABLETS OF STONE Larry Faraon, OP 04/01/2012

Self-destruct habit

TABLETS OF STONE

Larry Faraon, OP

04/01/2012
Manny Pacquiao is an international icon, in fact, our only global pride since the late Cory Aquino stepped into the halls of the US Congress in 1987 and came out carrying a bagful of well deserved applause for a “bloodless revolt” called Edsa I.

Nobody in this country has ever achieved the mileage of media coverage and fame that this boxing legend has etched into our global face. We are not in any way glorifying a boxer to the heights of heroism or national emulation, but the fact remains that the Pacman holds the sensational record of popularity that even the President of the United States had requested his presence in a private audience last year, when Malacañang was desperately inching its way into the hectic schedule of Barack Obama.

Now here comes a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Region XII officer Rozil Lozares who perhaps indiscreetly jabbed the boxing icon with tax violations. The BIR filed charges against the boxing champ this March when he failed to submit some documents on taxes paid in the United States. He was charged with violating Section 266 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) which carries a fine of a minimum of P10,000 and two-year imprisonment..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120401com6.html

‘Where goest thou?’ VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 04/01/2012

‘Where goest thou?’

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

04/01/2012
Living is hard and employment is scarce. Prices are high and take-home pays are low. Human dignity is also low and criminality is likewise high. There are less and less educated Filipinos and wherefore more and more ignorant ones. The multi-national corporations are raking in the money and the consumers are shelling out the little cash they have. The murderers, crooks and law breakers are becoming more daring while the police authorities are becoming less able to accomplish their task – if emerging as law offenders themselves. Human life has become cheap, human dignity is low and basic human rights are held but by a selected few.

The Executive Department is merely looking and talking much but in fact doing nothing much, if any. Most of the local public officials from the provincial to the municipal levels are indifferent to the miserable plight of their constituents – unless their own self-interests are being undermined by fed-up people in their jurisdictions. The relatively few wealthy individuals are well secured in both their lives and livelihood while millions of poor and miserable families are fast becoming not only more and more angry but also progressively feeling desperate. Meantime, the administration merrily continues taxing them from birth to death, charging them the infamous VAT..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120401com7.html

Environmental groups: Mindanao outages induced to justify new coal plant deals 04/01/2012

Environmental groups: Mindanao outages induced to justify new coal plant deals

04/01/2012
The recent spate of power outages in Mindanao was artificially induced to justify the construction of more coal-fired power plants and other controversy-ridden projects in the region, environmental groups based in Mindanao said yesterday.

They described the recent blackouts in Mindanao as “deliberate acts” and are “part of a ploy of power distributors and the Aquino administration to justify the construction of more coal-fired power plants and other extractive energy projects such as Pulangi V Mega Dam.”

Independent web site Bulatlat.com quoted Jean Lindo, No to Coal–Davao convenor and member of the newly formed Kalikasan Party, as saying that the brownouts in Mindanao are not real indicators of a power crisis..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120401hea2.html

Palace unveils P9.3-B business cash transfer 04/01/2012

EO TO ‘MONETIZE’ VAT TAX CREDITS

Palace unveils P9.3-B business cash transfer

04/01/2012
More cash transfers, which are prone to politicial influence, were unveiled by President Aquino yesterday through Executive Order 68 that will monetize tax credit certificates (TCCs) worth P9.3 billion until 2016 on so-called input value added tax (VAT) given to businesses.

EO 68 was released yesterday but it was signed last March 27 based on a copy of the order.

According to the EO, the monetization program provides two options for VAT-registered taxpayers in getting the cash equivalent of their TCCs including the collection in advance from a trustee bank a discounted cash value of the TCCs and reimbursement of the full cash value of TCCs upon a “certain maturity date” to be determined by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) or the Bureau of Customs (BoC) pursuant to the implementing rules and regulations that will be issued to implement the EO..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120401hea1.html

LPA death toll now 12 By Gina Peralta-Elorde 04/01/2012

LPA death toll now 12

By Gina Peralta-Elorde 04/01/2012

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has reported that the death toll due to low-pressure area has risen to 12 as of Friday evening.

The NDRRMC disclosed that three people are still missing as of press time, while several roads and bridges have been destroyed and are not passable to vehicles.

In the Visayas, the fatlities were identified as Diomer Albay, 14, form Cuartero, Capiz; Kathlene Padilla, 3, from Cuartero, Capiz; Jolly Dioso, 14, from Panitan, Capiz; Karen Denubo, 10, from Panitan, Capiz; Rey Reyes, 9, from Mambusao, Capiz; Jean Academia, 50, from Tayasan, Negros Oriental; and Angelo Sergio, 8, from San Roque, Northern Samar..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120401nat1.html

House okays granting of additional benefits to Filipino centenarians 04/01/2012

Filipino community in South Korea rallying behind Filipina who is running for Parliament

04/01/2012
The Filipino community in South Korea is rallying behind the candidacy of Jasmine Lee, a Filipina married to a Korean who is running for Parliament under the ruling party, and Vice President Jejomar Binay said her strong showing “gives hope not only for Filipinos but also for all migrants and immigrants.”

“We are all very proud that a full-blooded Filipino is being given the opportunity to be a member of the Korean Parliament,” Binay told South Korean media. “It shows that Korea is prepared to extend the opportunity to become a public servant even to those who were not born here.”

Binay said if elected, Lee “will be an advocate not only of Filipino workers’ rights, but the rights of all migrants in South Korea as well.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120401met2.html

House okays granting of additional benefits to Filipino centenarians 04/01/2012

House okays granting of additional benefits to Filipino centenarians

04/01/2012
The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a measure providing incentives to all Filipino centenarians and declaring every 25th day of September as “National Respect for Centenarians Day.”

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, principal author of House Bill 834, said centenarians will be granted cash gift in the amount of P100,000 and a letter of felicitation congratulating every Filipino residing in the Philippines or abroad on his or her 100th birthday to be awarded by the President of the Philippines.

The bill seeks to amend Section 4 of Republic Act 7432, otherwise known as “An Act To Maximize The Contribution Of Senior Citizens To Nation Building, Grant Benefits And Special Privileges And For Other Purposes,” as amended by RA 9247 or the “Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003,” and further amended by RA 9994, also known as the “Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120401met5.html