Pump up the volume SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 04/13/2011

Pump up the volume

SHE SAYS

Dinah S. Ventura

04/13/2011
I think we all know that change is coming — current events in the world, coming one after the other like a tidal wave of trials — have shown us that we can no longer rely on the old ways.

Natural calamities, such as those that continue to shake Japan, literally and figuratively, have been far too powerful and frequent to be taken lightly. In fact, the earthquakes that are still causing death and destruction to our Asian neighbor have put the fear of God in many of us.
Suddenly, everyone is taking note of his own preparedness for disaster; suddenly, everyone is musing about his mortality.

In times like this, people seem to rediscover their faith after pondering on the meaning of our existence. Thoughts whirl about the future, while our worries about the present dangle over us like constant threats. I admire those who are unflappable in their trust in God, and continue to regard today’s events with faith in miracles..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110413com7.html

Speaker offers Aquino specialc powers on a silver platter By Gerry Baldo 04/13/2011

Speaker offers Aquino specialc powers on a silver platter

By Gerry Baldo 04/13/2011

The House of Represent-atives is practically begging President Aquino to assume emergency powers to deal with the oil crisis after Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the chamber is open to the emergency powers proposal for Aquino to address the impending oil crisis.

Belmonte said that Congress will seriously consider the proposal in the wake of the political conflict in the oil-producing countries in the Middle East.

“We have to study the proposal if it is really needed,” Belmonte said yesterday.

Sen. Gregorio Honasan aired the proposal amid the continuing oil price increases..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110413hed4.html

Gov’t orders Pinoys’ evacuation from Fukushima By Michaela P. del Callar 04/13/2011

Gov’t orders Pinoys’ evacuation from Fukushima

By Michaela P. del Callar 04/13/2011

After Japan raised the nuclear crisis alarm over a tsunami-devastated nuclear plant in its northeast, the Philippine government yesterday ordered the mandatory repatriation of at least 1,144 Filipinos from the region which could be exposed to radiation leaks.

The first emergency flight out of the stricken Fukushima Prefecture, where the devastated Fukushima Dai-chi Nuclear Power Plant has been dangerously leaking radiation since being smothered by a massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami, has been scheduled on Sunday, according to acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario.

Aside from Filipinos within the 50-kilometer radius of Dai-ichi power plant, Del Rosario also announced a voluntary repatriation for Filipinos staying within another 100 kilometers from Fukushima as the nuclear crisis, now at the same magnitude as the 1986 Chernobyl plant disaster, escalated in Japan..... MORE


Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110413hed2.html

House impeach prosecution team finalized By Charlie V. Manalo and Angie M. Rosales 04/13/2011

House impeach prosecution team finalized

By Charlie V. Manalo and Angie M. Rosales 04/13/2011

House committee on justice chairman, Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas yesterday bared the final composition of the House prosecution team for the impeachment trial of Chief Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez at the Senate.

According to Tupas, 14 lawmakers will comprise the House prosecution team which includes aside from himself, Deputy Speakers Rodolfo “Rudy” Fariñas (Ilocos Norte), Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III (Quezon), Reps. Elpidio “Pidi” Barzaga (Cavite), Neri Colmenares (Bayan Muna), Joseph Emilio Abaya (Cavite), Magtanggol “Magi” Gunigundo (Valen-zuela), Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao (Akbayan), Raul Daza (Northern Samar), Rey-naldo Umali (Mindoro Oriental), Miro Quimbo (Marikina), Daisy Avance-Fuentes (South Cotabato), Sherwin Tugna (Cibac) and Emmeline Aglipay (Diwa)..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110413hed5.html

Troops capture a local contact of Jemaah Islamiyah By Mario J. Mallari 04/13/2011

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AFP assures Basilan folk: No escalation of violence 04/13/2011

AFP assures Basilan folk: No escalation of violence

04/13/2011
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has assured there will be no escalation of violence in Basilan province even after the explosion at a commercial establishment in Lamitan City and the subsequent detonation of two more explosives over the weekend as it declared extortion as motive behind the blast.

Lt. Col. Gamal Hayudini, 4th Civil Relations Group (CRG) commander, assured civilians in Basilan that the military is doing everything to protect them from harm.

“The residents from the nearby towns and city (of Isabela) in Basilan can be assured that the AFP is doing everything to protect the civilians in the area from the lawless group,” Hayudini said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110413nat4.html

Senate to review existing laws to ensure child’s right protection By Angie M. Rosales 04/13/2011

Senate to review existing laws to ensure child’s right protection

By Angie M. Rosales 04/13/2011
Ample protection of children’s rights under the country’s existing laws will be up for review in the Senate, according to one of its members.

Triggered by the controversy on a six-year-old boy who was made to gyrate like a macho dancer in one of the segments of the television show Willing Willie on TV5 a month ago, the Senate committee on youth, women and family relations is poised to revisit laws on the rights of the child to determine if there are still some loopholes that will address such incident.

This is also to ensure that the rights of the child are observed and protected, Sen. Pia Cayetano, panel chairman said.

“There are specific laws that guarantee the rights of the child. These include landmark laws like RA 7610 and RA 9262. Still, Congress must make sure our laws are applicable to various circumstances and remain relevant to our times..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110413met2.html

True moral outrage? EDITORIAL 04/12/2011

True moral outrage?

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

04/12/2011
The Willing Willie controversy over a young boy doing a gyrating “macho dance” has gone too far, what with even the media giving the thumbs up to the program advertisers’ boycotting the show while the censors body Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), along with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) get into the picture with child abuse and child exploitation charges.

And even Malacañang has gotten into the act. So what is this, all for riding on the controversial issue and scoring media points, or is this a question of getting politics into the picture?

Just too many are riding on the issue, making it bigger than it really is.

But it must be asked: Just what is it that the so-called critics want? To prevent child exploitation, kill the show or get the host, Willie Revillame, banned from doing the top-rated show?.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110412com1.html

Emergency powers talk again FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 04/12/2011

Emergency powers talk again

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

04/12/2011
Emergency powers are again being brought up for Noynoy Aquino to address the impending oil crisis in the country.
This has been suggested by a senator, who said that the President as head of the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) has full powers, including pushing emergency powers.

But it must be asked why there is that need for emergency powers to address the oil crisis in this country, which may come soon enough, since the Mena area crises aren’t likely to be resolved soon.

So what is Noynoy to do with emergency powers should Congress grant him those powers? Bring the cost of oil down in this country? And how does he do it, even with emergency powers, given the fact that the skyrocketing oil prices are hardly under the control of Noynoy, or even Congress. Besides, the oil industry has been deregulated.

About the only way Noynoy can bring the prices down, emergency powers or none, is to provide subsidy, which is hardly a good idea, fiscal-front wise..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110412com2.html

Pacific nations battle obesity epidemic focus 04/12/2011

Pacific nations battle obesity epidemic

focus

04/12/2011
NUKU’ALOFA — On Tonga’s supermarket shelves, huge cans of corned beef the size of paint tins replaced traditional fare such as fish and coconuts long ago — contributing to an obesity epidemic that sees the Pacific region ranked as the fattest in the world.

Meat in Tonga almost invariably comes in a tin, whether it be turkey breast, meat loaf, luncheon meat or Spam, which can be bought in a variety of forms including smoked, with chilli or laced with cheese for an extra calorie hit.

The common denominator, Tonga’s Chief Medical Officer Malakai Ake says, is that the “junk meat” is loaded with salt and saturated fats, meaning islanders’ waistlines continue to expand..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110412com3.html

Planned dysfunction AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 04/12/2011

Planned dysfunction

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW

Ken Fuller

04/12/2011
Under the Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP), gross domestic product is due to grow at a tiger-cubbish 7 to 8 percent per annum between now and 2016. Does this mean, then, that tigerhood will be at long last achieved? No, unfortunately.

The fact that the Philippine economy will continue to adhere to the dysfunctional model it has followed for decades (particularly since the World Bank administered its “structural adjustment” voodoo in the early 1980s) can be gleaned from the targets for international trade.

According to the MTDP, merchandise exports will increase by 13 percent in 2011 and 2012, then by 14 percent in 2013-16, amounting to $93 billion in the latter year. Well, that sounds healthy enough, doesn’t it? The problem is, however, that the same plan has merchandise imports growing at an even faster rate – 18 percent this year and 17 percent in 2012-16..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110412com5.html

Worries mount ahead of Sudan split focus 04/12/2011

Worries mount ahead of Sudan split

focus

04/12/2011
KHARTOUM — Three months before south Sudan splits from the north, talks are under way in Ethiopia on a peaceful separation, but with much still to be resolved and some southerners deeply anxious about the future.

“Separation is a big mistake. The country is not ready for it,” said Atem, 30, who lives in Haj Yussef, a predominantly southern district in Khartoum, and who voted for unity in January’s referendum on southern independence.

Atem is set to lose his police job next month, when southerners employed in north Sudan’s public sector, including 40,000 in the police, army and national security forces, start being laid off unless a deal is reached.

Hundreds of thousands of southerners have already left, including most of Atem’s friends and family, who are from Bor in troubled Jonglei state..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110412com6.html

Disabled Japanese struggle in disaster aftermath FEATURE 04/12/2011

Disabled Japanese struggle in disaster aftermath

FEATURE

04/12/2011
OTSUCHI — Sachiko Miura had no warning before a huge tsunami slammed into the small Japanese fishing village where she has lived all her life — because she could not hear the sirens.

The first the hearing-impaired 66-year-old knew of the impending disaster was when she saw the massive wave bearing down on her small wooden house, less than an hour after the worst earthquake in Japan’s recorded history.

She spent an entire night cowering alone and terrified on the second floor of her home in the fishing village of Otsuchi on Japan’s northeast coast.

“In no time at all the water was up around my waist, and I was trembling with cold and fear,” a tearful Miura recalled..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110412com7.html

Lauding Monique Wilson NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 04/12/2011

Lauding Monique Wilson

NO HOLDS BARRED

Armida Siguion-Reyna

04/12/2011
I didn’t think the Willing-Willie controversy would get this big. The Australian newspaper and online publication calls it “a story about show business and the lust for fame, the struggle between permissiveness and social conservatism, and child exploitation… a very Philippines sort of scandal.” While on its front page there’s news about a “cadet sex scandal” that’s caused the head of a military training academy to go on leave, and the grant of possible future parole for a father who killed his four-year-old daughter by throwing her off a bridge.

What’s arguably wrong with Australia cannot be used to justify what’s wrong with us here, so never mind that article. Beyond the insults and the taunting, people are threatened with libel cases and getting death threats for tweeting their reactions to the issue. Nothing close to this has ever happened; it’s almost as if an elective post is at stake..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110412com4.html

Palace warns strikers not to hurt commuters By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/12/2011

Palace warns strikers not to hurt commuters

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/12/2011

Malacañang yesterday reiterated its warnings to militant transport groups anew who are reportedly set to launch mass protest actions today to express their utter dissatisfaction over President Aquino’s P450-million worth fuel subsidy program.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda told the Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston), the vanguard of the said nationwide transport strike, to just make sure they won’t paralyze traffic and won’t inconvenience the riding public otherwise their protest actions would be declared illegal.

Lacierda said that as usual the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) will be on top of the situation should untoward incidents take place in the areas that will be affected by the transport strike..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110412nat2.html

DILG calls on Batangas gov’t to evacuate residents near Taal Volcano By Gina Peralta-Elorde 04/12/2011

DILG calls on Batangas gov’t to evacuate residents near Taal Volcano

By Gina Peralta-Elorde 04/12/2011

Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo yesterday called on the provincial government of Batangas and local officials of nearby towns of Taal to prepare for evacuation and relocation of residents.

Robredo made the call as Taal Volcano in Talisay town continued to show heightened activity.

The warning was issued by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and upgraded the alert level status of the volcano from 1 to 2 after at least 21 volcanic quakes were detected by the Phivolcs in the past 24 hours.

According to Phivolcs, Alert Level 2 indicates unrest probably of magmatic origin that could eventually lead to erruption..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110412nat4.html

Kamag-Anak Inc. ends as Tingting quits as PPSC chief? By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/12/2011

Kamag-Anak Inc. ends as Tingting quits as PPSC chief?

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/12/2011

Could the recent resignation of Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco’s as head of the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC) be the start of President Aquino’s bid to shake-off the so-called “Kamag-Anak Inc.” label that has been attached to his mother’s administration which he apparently inherited?

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. implied this in a radio interview yesterday morning when sought to clarify the manner by which Cojuangco was replaced in her position as announced by deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte over the weekend.

Ochoa was quoted as saying that Cojuangco “practically resigned” upon realizing that Aquino is not comfortable working with his relatives in government which presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda attributed to the President’s strict observation on the constitutional prohibition about nepotism..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110412nat3.html

Fuel subsidy is a Malacañang deception to drivers, public — solon By Charlie V. Manalo 04/12/2011

Fuel subsidy is a Malacañang deception to drivers, public — solon

By Charlie V. Manalo 04/12/2011

Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño yesterday criticized the Palace announcement that Public Transport Assistance program (Pantawid) had already started yesterday when the Department of Energy (DoE) has yet to issue any smart cards to jeepney and tricycle drivers and another oil price hike will happen within the week.

He said the much publicized “subsidy” could not even buy a full tank of diesel or gasoline for jeepney and tricycle drivers. Executive Order 32 initially allots P450 million to assist jeepney and tricycle operators from the DoE budget as a fuel subsidy to the public transport sector.

“Using government data from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the DoE, we can easily see that this subsidy is nothing but a drop in the fuel tanks of our country’s public transport drivers. As of December 2010 LTFRB data show that there are 214,596 public utility jeepneys (that use diesel) and roughly 1 million tricycles (that use gasoline). This means for jeepney drivers, government will give a total of P1,050 each and P150 each to tricycle drivers. Let us simplify this for the public by doing a little math,” Casiño said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110412nat1.html

De Lima insists ‘Abadilla Five’ to get clemency By Benjamin B. Pulta 04/12/2011

De Lima insists ‘Abadilla Five’ to get clemency

By Benjamin B. Pulta 04/12/2011

Malacañang is committed to granting executive clemency to the so-called “Abadilla Five,” who had been found guilty in the 1996 murder of former military intelligence chief Rolando Abadilla.

Speaking with newsmen, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said yesterday that the claims of torture by the five are largely credible and that her agency will recommend the grant of executive clemency to the men shortly.

A ruling by the Supreme Court had earlier turned down the appeal filed by the five who were found guilty beyond reasonable doubt in the killing of then Abadilla, the former chief of the Metropolitan Command Intelligence and Security Group of the defunct Philippine Constabulary..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110412met4.html

Parents who fail to send children to public schools risk jail term — QC dad By Arlie O. Calalo 04/12/2011

Parents who fail to send children to public schools risk jail term — QC dad

By Arlie O. Calalo 04/12/2011

A Quezon City councilor has filed an ordinance to make it mandatory that all parents should send their children to elementary and secondary public schools.

Dad Ranulfo Ludovica crafted the ordinance as he sees no reason or alibi that the parents residing in Quezon City cannot be able to enroll their kids to elementary and high school educations because the local government has been offering and providing livelihood opportunities and assistance to indigent families.

In addition, Ludovica said that both elementary and secondary educations in public all over the country are free as they are being subsidized by the government.

“Providing education is one of the primordial duties and obligations of parents to their children,” he added..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110412met3.html