Palace places RATS execs in freezer 10/05/2011

SUSPENDED CUSTOMS OFFICIAL SAYS ‘BIG TOES’ STEPPED ON

Palace places RATS execs in freezer

10/05/2011
A lot of sacred cows appear to litter President Aquino’s much-hyped straight path which was believed to be the reason behind the suspension of eight key officials of the Bureau of Customs (BoC) involved in running after known smugglers.

Suspended was a group of so-called integrity auditors at the BoC who supervise the government’s Run After The Smugglers (RATS) program.

The Department of Justice (DoJ), acting on Malacañang directives, ordered the suspension of Deputy Customs Commissioner Gregorio Chavez, lawyer Christopher Dy Buco, Edgar Quinones, Francisco Fernandez, Alfred Adao, Jose Elmer Velarde, Thomas Patrick Relucio and Jim Erick Acosta.

“The RATS group has stepped on big toes in our unrelenting drive against smugglers. Now, we can see that the smuggling syndicates are using all the resources at their disposal to get rid of us and make the RATS program fail,” Chavez said in a statement sent by email..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111005hed1.html

Lapid debates on RH bill; senators, gallery entertained 10/05/2011

Lapid debates on RH bill; senators, gallery entertained

10/05/2011
Sen. Manuel “Lito” Lapid’s highly-anticipated participation in the ongoing floor debates on the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill finally took place yesterday and proved to be very “entertaining” not only to his colleagues but to those in the gallery and Senate beat reporters as well.

His peers, who were delighted to see him engage the sponsor of the measure into debating with him, took turns in poking fun at him amid his interpellation.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile even approached him immediately after Lapid took the floor, to shake his hand while Sen. Edgardo Angara was seen giving him a pinch on his side as the latter passed by behind him.

But his chance to bask under the “limelight” in the Senate during plenary session proceedings, only his second since he was elected to the Senate in 2004, was short lived after Enrile cut in to call the attention of the sponsor, Sen. Pia Cayetano, who in an apparent slip of the tongue confessed that she has in fact not yet committed some health and population-related programs proposed to be funded in the 2012 budget..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111005hed5.html

Jinggoy distributes relief goods to Bulakeños 10/05/2011

Jinggoy distributes relief goods to Bulakeños

10/05/2011
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada braved the flooded streets to bring the much-needed relief goods to at least 2,000 distressed residents of Bulacan. The province of Bulacan is one of the most severely affected by Typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel” which hit the Northern and Central Luzon regions last week.

With his wife Precy, Estrada brought rice, canned goods and biscuits, among other food stuffs to municipalities of Calumpit and Obando, Bulacan last Monday morning. The Estrada couple had to take a military truck to reach the sites of their relief missions, one of which is an elevated portion of a street in Barangay Caniogan (the surrounding lower parts were still submerged in water).

“The province will need a lot of time and resources for its complete rehabilitation,” Estrada said while observing vast tracts of lands are still covered with floodwater..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111005nat2.html

Palea rap of unfair labor vs PAL junked By Mina Diaz 10/05/2011

Palea rap of unfair labor vs PAL junked

By Mina Diaz 10/05/2011

The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) has dismissed charges of unfair labor practices raised by PAL Employees Association (Palea) of unfair labor practice of PAL management for its alleged refusal to commence collective bargaining negotiations with the union early this year.

The NLRC upheld PAL’s stand that the issue on spin-off and outsourcing should be resolved first before it proceeds to collective bargaining.

The NLRC’s Special Second Division ruled that the flag carrier was not guilty of unfair labor practice as the union workers failed to prove by substantial evidence its allegation that the airline violated its duty to bargain collectively.

PAL submitted to NLRC last March 28 its CBA (collective bargaining agreement) counter-proposal that only includes rank-and-file workers to be left behind after the outsourcing plan. Employees to be separated as a result of the airline’s restructuring program were excluded..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune



URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/business/20111005bus2.html

Thrift bank unit strong, says GSIS 10/05/2011

Thrift bank unit strong, says GSIS

10/05/2011
The thrift bank Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Family Bank is not in any financial trouble, its parent, GSIS said yesterday, adding that the state pension fund is backing its bank unit fully despite a plan to sell it off.

GSIS president Robert Vergara said the GSIS plan to sell the thrift bank unit has long been conceived as part of its divestment and streamlining program.

The House of Representatives acting on complaints from depositors of the GSIS thrift bank unit had held hearings to ascertain its financial health.

“The rumors circulating refer to losses incurred several decades ago and the problems of the past have been satisfactorily addressed. As a result, the bank maintains a stable and growing deposit base as well as ample liquidity to meet all its obligations and take advantage of business opportunities,” Vergara said in a statement..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/business/20111005bus1.html

Militant teachers’ group appeals to Noynoy to face its members and listen to their problems 10/05/2011

Militant teachers’ group appeals to Noynoy to face its members and listen to their problems

10/05/2011
A militant teachers’ group yesterday appealed to President Aquino to face its members and listen to their problems during the commemoration today (Oct. 5) of World Teachers’ Day.

“The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) will hold nationally-coordinated activities to commemorate World Teachers Day on Oct. 5,” Benjie Valbuena, ACT vice chairman, said.


Our “chalk walk and chalk talk “ with President Aquino at Malacañang is our third attempt to have a face-to-face dialog with him. Teachers hope this time, he will not miss this one important dialog on World Teachers’ Day.

ACT chapters nationwide will hold simultaneous activities today to draw Noy’s attention to our plight, France Castro, secretary-general of ACT, said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20111005met3.html

Pussyfooting on Cha-cha won’t help EDITORIAL 10/04/2011

Pussyfooting on Cha-cha won’t help

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

10/04/2011
Noynoy playing coy on Charter change (Cha-cha) when there is already an emerging consensus for its discussion does not serve the interest of anybody.

Once and for all, the leadership in government that includes the legislature and even the judiciary when the issue is raised before the Supreme Court, should decide once and for all if indeed the Constitution needs amending to start the discussions about such changes rolling.

Taking the “it’s not a priority line” just won’t do for Noynoy on the Cha-cha issue. Two compelling factors are present to make a fair assessment on the Charter: the clamor of business that the Constitution should relax provisions on foreign ownership among local industries and the reduced dangers supposedly of evil designs taking advantage of a dissection of the Constitution.

Noynoy must be going by the notion that since the Cha-cha proposals were widely rejected during Gloria’s term, then he can play up his popularity by making the “not a priority stand” on the issue..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111004com1.html

All for the presidency FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 10/04/2011

All for the presidency

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

10/04/2011
Doubts persist that losing VP candidate and now Transportation and Communications Chief Mar Roxas is seeking a congressional seat in his hometown as a first step to landing the Speakership, which position he will be reportedly using to launch his presidential bid for 2016.

The doubts are there, if the Speakership position is to be his launching ship to catapult him to the presidency, mainly because historically, no Speaker who made a bid for the presidency ever won that high seat. Speaker Ramon Mitra tried, but lost miserably, as did Speaker Jose de Venecia.

Also, if one eyeing the Speakership thinks that his stock will rise, on the assumption that being in that fourth highest position in government, he can junk that idea, given the fact that there has hardly been a time in our recent political history when a House leader gets a high performance and trust rating, since it is common knowledge that the House, its leaders and members, are merely the rubber stamp House of the Malacañang tenant.

Stated differently, the Speaker and his congressmen are puppets of the President, doing what he asks them to do, sweetening these “marching orders” with promises of pork and more pork.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111004com2.html

The sickening filth our international community has become

by Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

 

Never have I felt so revolted, disgusted, disappointed and violated at belonging to the same species as those sickening creatures crawling around our international community today. The Libya Question and the subsequent UN General Assembly in September was a study in spinelessness, lack of morals, absence of fibre and total disrespect for the law.

An analogy: The proud home owner, the son and the evil neighbour

The analogy is perfectly simple to understand. An evil neighbour covets someone's rich lands, turns his son into a drug addict, supplies him with heroin for free and then gets him to leave the door open one night. The son trashes the house, smashing everything, breaking the furniture and setting fire to it, while the evil neighbour rapes the wife and kills the remaining three children...... MORE

Source:  Pravda.ru

URL: http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/21-09-2011/119110-sickening_filth-0/

Still, the Arroyos NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 10/04/2011

Still, the Arroyos

NO HOLDS BARRED

Armida Siguion-Reyna

10/04/2011
To those who say that this presidency is worse than the previous, I will have to disagree. You counter the new one is no longer all that new, he’s been in Malacañang for over a year, and what has he done, so far? I rebut, with “Way nothing ghastlier than Arroyo’s first year.” You shoot back, “Can’t we move on?” I ask, “How, if we continue to be derailed by what they’ve done and are still doing?”

With all due respect to the anti-Aquinos, hitting PNoy the way he’s now being hit is beginning to make Glora Macapagal Arroyo look like an angel. The non-activist young are starting to feel that if there’s no difference between a crook and non-crook, why bother to differentiate in an elections, why bother to gather evidence for plunder against the crook, especially as those who hate PNoy are anyway now saying they’re hearing stories about him finagling? Odd, that for GMA, there is demand for proof of larceny, but for PNoy, chismis suffices.

If by indiscriminately destroying Benigno Aguino III it appears that Gloria Arroyo doesn’t deserve vilification, then it’s suddenly arguable she’s not all what we anti-Arroyo activists said she was from the time she occupied the highest office of the land in 2001, to 2010. Then it’s suddenly possible she really didn’t have a hand in the overthrow of Estrada, and that she only accidentally got to be president, for, heck, the vice-president in such a situation can only take over..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111004com4.html

The perils of PPP AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 10/04/2011

The perils of PPP

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW

Ken Fuller

10/04/2011
In September, Alliance of Concerned Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio questioned the practicality of the Philippines engaging in public-private partnerships (PPPs) as they would become a burden on taxpayers. The UK parliament, he said, had concluded that the system is inefficient.

Let’s take a look at what’s happened in the UK. The private finance initiative (PFI) scheme was introduced by the Conservative government of John Major in 1992, but was pursued enthusiastically by the Labour governments of 1997-2010. A stark indication that the scheme was less than perfect came in 2007, with the collapse of Metronet.

Metronet was the government’s PPP partner, established as a PFI, contracted to maintain nine lines on the London Underground. When it went into liquidation, it left the taxpayer with a bill of up to £410 million (currently, £1 = P67), the transport department having ignored advice by the National Audit Office to adopt a hands-on oversight approach..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111004com5.html

‘Smoking kills 10 Pinoys every hour’ VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 10/04/2011

‘Smoking kills 10 Pinoys every hour’

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

10/04/2011
So estimates the World Health Organization. So surfaces the big danger to the life of smokers. So warns different medical associations about the inherent menace of even but the so-called “second hand” smoke coming from someone’s tobacco consumption. And for all intents and purposes, the Department of Health as well as local medical research entities agrees to the moral effect of smoking — to the smokers themselves as well as those who inhale the smoke they blow and spread around. There are immediate conclusions to this established truth and standing reality.

The so-called “sin tax” such as those precisely imposed on cigarette manufacturers is neither irreverent nor ridiculous. The “sin” precisely consists in the production of poison, the advancement of addiction, the promotion of death. This is some kind of a suicide. This is not really that different from the cultivation, sale and consumption of prohibited drugs — giving advent to the so-called “drug lords,” “drug mules,” “drug dens” and other atrocious phenomena..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111004com6.html

Camera-shy Noy INSIDE CONGRESS charlie manalo 10/04/2011

Camera-shy Noy

INSIDE CONGRESS

charlie manalo

10/04/2011
The statements of Palace deputy spokesman Abigail Valte that President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino is simply biding his time to visit victims of typhoon “Pedring” simply because he does not want to become the focus or the center of attraction when he visits and that of Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda that the President is not fond of photo ops are simply stupid.

Since when has a head of state avoided visiting calamity areas to personally supervise its relief and rehabilitation program and the same time comfort its victims simply because he does not want to become the center of attraction?

No matter he does or doesn’t do, he will always be the center of attraction because, let me remind him, he is the President of the country and that all people look up to him especially in time of calamities such as what Pedring had wrought.

And since when has this “student council President” become camera-shy?.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111004com7.html

Noy’s House allies rev up Cha-cha bid By Gerry Baldo and Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 10/04/2011

AQUINO PLAYS COY, WILL MEET LEGISLATORS

Noy’s House allies rev up Cha-cha bid

By Gerry Baldo and Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 10/04/2011

President Aquino was neither here nor there on a proposal initiated by his allies in Congress to amend the Constitution but his allies at the House of Representatives said the Charter change (Cha-cha) effort will be pursued no matter what.

His allies at the House said Cha-cha will push through despite the expressed reluctance of Aquino.
According to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. there is nothing to fear in the move because the proposed amendments would only be limited to the economic provisions.

Aquino told reporters there is no urgent need for Cha-cha, adding that he is completely against the forming of a constituent assembly (con-ass) but in the same breath, said he would meet and listen to Cha-cha proponents, particularly on their offer to amend only the economic provisions of the Constitution..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111004hed1.html

House security admits break-in in 2005 By Gerry Baldo 10/04/2011 By Gerry Baldo

House security admits break-in in 2005

By Gerry Baldo 10/04/2011
By Gerry Baldo
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A ranking official of the Legislative Security Bureau yesterday admitted that there was a break-in in the House of Representatives in 2005 even as the officer acknowledged that he and his team had failed to monitor the recordings of the security cameras in the South Wing lobby where the ballot boxes were kept during the canvassing for the presidential and vice presidential elections.

In a hearing conducted by Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada, chairman of the House ad-hoc panel formed to investigate the anomaly, Antonio Collare, head of the Legislative Security Bureau (LSB), confirmed that they were not able to review VHS copies of the CCTV (closed circuit television cameras), which was supposed to have recorded the break-in.

Police Senior Supt. Rafael Santiago claimed he had facilitated at least four ballot-switching operations in the House in 2005.

“(There was) no specific person who recorded those specific dates. No one was manning.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111004hed6.html

Aid rushed to typhoon victims as floods subside 10/04/2011

Aid rushed to typhoon victims as floods subside

10/04/2011
Authorities yesterday rushed aid to thousands of people marooned in their flooded homes for nearly a week after deadly typhoons, but said the worst appeared to be over with waters receding.

The subsiding water allowed relief workers to deliver food, medicine and dry clothes to families who had waited out the floods on their roofs and upper floors of their homes while being hit with back-to-back typhoons.

Among the hardest hit provinces were Bulacan and Pampanga, where residents were stranded on rooftops for days.

Typhoon “Quiel” pummelled Luzon last Saturday, hitting many of the same areas that typhoon “Pedring” had torn through five days earlier..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111004hed4.html

NPAs kill 4 guards, burn mining equipment in Surigao del Norte By Mario J. Mallari 10/04/2011

NPAs kill 4 guards, burn mining equipment in Surigao del Norte

By Mario J. Mallari 10/04/2011

More or less 200 communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels yesterday attacked three mining companies in Surigao del Norte province, killing four security guards, burning down millions worth of heavy equipment, the military said.

The killed security guards were not identified at press time.

Army 4th ID chief Maj. Gen. Victor Felix immediately directed all out pursuit operations against the rebel band.

Elements of the 402nd Brigade are now scouring the area, running after the NPAs..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111004nat1.html

Solons tell colleagues to keep off issues affecting Muslim governance By Charlie V. Manalo 10/04/2011

Solons tell colleagues to keep off issues affecting Muslim governance

By Charlie V. Manalo 10/04/2011

Muslim lawmakers yesterday called on their colleagues in the House of Representatives to keep off the controversy affecting governance in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, saying that the legal issue affecting the appointment of officials is best left to the Supreme Court (SC).

Reps. Tupay Loong (Sulu) and Simeon Datumanong (Maguindanao) said both the Legislative and the Executive departments must leave to the “sound judgement” of the judiciary the resolution of legal issues on the legality of allowing elective ARMM officials to continue serving under holdover capacity.

The SC has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the appointment by President Aquino of ARMM officials who were supposed to serve until elections are held in 2013..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111004nat5.html

Makati sends relief goods to Bulacan flood victims By Pat C. Santos 10/04/2011

Makati sends relief goods to Bulacan flood victims

By Pat C. Santos 10/04/2011
Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay yesterday ordered the release of some 2,500 bags of relief goods to flood victims in three Bulacan towns as he instructed the City Social Welfare Department to keep a 27/4 monitoring for dispatch of all other assistance to typhoon-affected residents.

The relief goods are on top of the rescue operations extended by the City to residents of Paombong, Calumpit and Hagonoy towns. The bags contain canned goods, packs of coffee, sugar and milk, among other food stuffs.

Mayor Binay last Friday afternoon also ordered the dispatch of the city’s rescue team to save residents who were trapped in various areas during the height of flooding that submerged several towns of Bulacan in the aftermath of typhoon “Pedring.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20111004met5.html

Coastal clean-up in Navotas intensifies after ‘Pedring,’ ‘Quiel’ By Arlie O. Calalo 10/04/2011

Coastal clean-up in Navotas intensifies after ‘Pedring,’ ‘Quiel’

By Arlie O. Calalo 10/04/2011

Hundreds of volunteers have joined Navotas City government officials and employees in conducting massive coastal clean-up drive following the onslaught of the two typhoons which triggered tsunami-like waves that almost endangered residents living near the shoreline.

Local officials said such concerted efforts from most people in the city was simply a good sign that they were all concerned about what was really happening, especially when disaster or typhoons strike.

“Everyone now here in Navotas has taken the initiative to move and help the city government in conducting massive clean-up drive, especially along the coastlines, canals and other waterways which are always clogged with garbage,” Mayor John Reynald Tiangco said.

In the latest clean-up campaign along coastal area, hundreds of volunteers from different civic groups joined the mayor, city officials and employees in literally picking up trash along the coastal area specifically in Tukol, Barangay Tanza..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20111004met2.html