Not a priority EDITORIAL 10/03/2010

Not a priority

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

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

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

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

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

Source:  The Daily Tribune

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

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

Above average performance?

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

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

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

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

Source:  The Daily Tribune

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

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

Raissa

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

Jonathan De la Cruz

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

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

Source:  The Daily Tribune

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

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

Secretary Carandang up for a roast

BLURBAL THRUSTS

Louie Logarta

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

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

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

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

Source:  The Daily Tribune

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

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

‘Excommunicated’

TABLETS OF STONE

Larry Faraon, OP

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

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

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

Source:  The Daily Tribune

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

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

The right man for the right place

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

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

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

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

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

Source:  The Daily Tribune

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

Noynoy not budging 10/03/2010

AQUINO: STAND NOT CHANGED; CHURCH: EMULATE YOUR MOTHER

Noynoy not budging

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

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

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

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

Source:  The Daily Tribune

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

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

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

By Charlie V. Manalo 10/03/2010

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

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

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

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

Source:  The Daily Tribune

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

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

Solon offers to mediate Aquino, CBCP head talks

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

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

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

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

Source:  The Daily Tribune

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

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

Noy to go over plans against jueteng

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

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

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

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

Source:  The Daily Tribune

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

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

Aquino to adopt ‘most’ of IIRC recommendations

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

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

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

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

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

Source:  The Daily Tribune

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

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

Ban on religious profiling in media pushed

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

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

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

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

Source:  The Daily Tribune

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

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

Pagasa: Flash floods, landslides in Luzon, Visayas

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

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

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

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

Source:  The Daily Tribune

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

It’s all about the RH bill EDITORIAL Click to enlarge 10/02/2010

It’s all about the RH bill

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

10/02/2010
Churchmen are so against the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill for the sole reason that once enacted into law, there is no way the Catholic Church hierarchy can pressure the Malacañang tenant to go slow on the use of contraceptives since the law is there to be enforced.

This means that, under the RH bill, government will have to provide poor couples contraceptives for free, if they choose this method of family planning, and along with it, government, through its health workers, would have to start educating the general public into the ways and means available to couples who choose to limit the number of their children.

In truth, Malacañang does not need a law to provide couples contraceptives. It is not illegal for government to do so. As a matter of fact, contraceptives are not a banned item in this country and one can freely purchase condoms, pills, and intra-uterine devices in stores.

But Catholic bishops know that as long as there is no law on this, government can easily be swayed by them to toe the Catholic line on the contraceptive issue.

Under the Gloria Arroyo presidency, it is on record that the government through the Health department, provided some P50 million or so funding supposedly for birth control education to couples, but these funds went to the Couples for Christ, an organization that strictly toes the Church line. Obviously, what this group was educating the poor couples was for them to go into natural birth control, which would be the rhythm method, the temperature taking method to check on the woman’s ovulation period, as well as the abstinence method, all of which are sanctioned by the Church..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101002com1.html

Fearing Jojo’s rise FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 10/02/2010

Fearing Jojo’s rise

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

10/02/2010
Who is afraid of Vice President Jojo Binay?

Malacañang and its Balay Puti group, which counts on Liberal Party members led by losing VP candidate Mar Roxas, mainly because they fear that in 2016, after Noynoy Aquino’s presidency will have been terminated, Binay will likely be the next president, and where will they all be?
What they fear most about Binay is that despite his clearly being out of the loop with Noynoy and the LPs, he is a performer and an achiever, which is probably the reason Budget Secretary Butch Abad, who is closely identified with Roxas, and is very “in” with Noynoy, has opted to slash not only the Office of the VP’s budget, but also the housing budget — and by 50 percent.

In the case of the OVP budget, Malacañang cut it from 195 million to P177 million, while the housing budget was slashed in half, with the funds diverted to Dinky Soliman’s department and the Department of Interior and Local Government.

Almost all Philippine presidents treated their vice presidents very shabbily.

In the case of Noynoy’s mother, Cory Aquino, she reneged on the agreements forged between her and Doy Laurel. True, she made Laurel the prime minister and head of government on her first day in office. But on the very same day, she abolished Parliament and proclaimed a revolutionary government, making herself the sole government and the sole law. And there went the promise of Doy’s primed ministership..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101002com2.html

Ethiopians want more from sacred Nile waters focus 10/02/2010

Ethiopians want more from sacred Nile waters

focus

10/02/2010
GISH ABAY — Here in the shadow of Mount Gish, the spring water that forms the Blue Nile is believed to have healing powers, but Ethiopians say that is the only benefit they get from the mighty river.

“These waters are sacred, they perform miracles for the sick,” Berhanu Melak, an elderly farmer, told AFP as he filled a metal trough with water for the throngs of white-cloaked men and women who have been queuing since the early hours in this town 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Addis Ababa.

The sparkling stream in Gish Abay spills first into Lake Tana then makes its way towards Sudan as the Blue Nile. There, the river joins the White Nile in Khartoum before draining into Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, spanning in all nearly 6,000 kilometers.

“But look around you, there is nothing here. The big river doesn’t feed us,” Berhanu says, his voice almost drowned out by the nearby bathers.
.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101002com3.html

US Role in Philippine Counterinsurgency Operations

US Role in Philippine Counterinsurgency Operations

originally Published on September 26, 2010

By BENJIE OLIVEROS
Bulatlat.com
In a speech during a Peace and Security forum held at the Mandarin Hotel last April 22, 2010, then presidential candidate Benigno Aquino III outlined his National Security Policy, which he said focuses on four key elements:

Governance – “The government must be present and accountable to its citizens especially those living in the poorest and most remote areas.”

(An effective political strategy focuses on strengthening the government’s capability and capacity to respond—and be seen to be responding—to the needs of its people.)

Delivery of basic services – “To alleviate the plight of innocent civilians caught in the conflict, we must renew government programs that build access roads, school buildings for basic and adult education, provide potable water and sanitation facilities, basic health care, electricity, assist in shelter reconstruction, and provide temporary livelihood interventions.”

Economic Reconstruction and Sustainable Development – the national government, in partnership with international donor organizations, must assist the new ARMM regional government in building a capable bureaucracy with streamlined and transparent procedures to increase the region’s absorptive capacity for development projects that will come its way..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/09/26/us-role-in-philippine-counterinsurgency-operations/

Violence and Poverty Haunt Children in Ilocos Region

Violence and Poverty Haunt Children in Ilocos Region

Originally Published on September 11, 2010

By JOAN GARCIA
Bulatlat.com

VIGAN CITY — Jennybeth, 14 years old, used to question her father’s work as a human rights advocate. Her father Pastor Marcelino Mariano was one of the companions of Pastor Billy Austin when he was shot by motorcycle-riding men in November 9, 2006. Fortunately, Pastor Billy survived the incident but his family and his companions’ families were deeply traumatized.

Artwork created by a child victim of aerial bombardment during a workshop initiated by the Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC)-Ilocos. (Photo by Joan Garcia / bulatlat.com)

After the incident, Pastor Marcelino received threats and intimidation from the military. Soldiers were demanding that he reveals the whereabouts of Pastor Billy who went into sanctuary after the attempt on his life. As a result, Jennybeth was in constant fear for her father’s life.

Sandy, 11 years old, is the daughter of Pastor Billy. Like Jennybeth, she did not understand her father’s involvement as a human rights advocate. When she learned about the attempt on her father’s life, she could not sleep for days. After the incident, she was easily startled. Even the barking of dogs would scare her.
Unidentified men kept watch on their house, asking neighbors about the whereabouts of Pastor Billy.

For years now, Jennybeth and Sandy have been attending activities initiated by the Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC)-Ilocos for children victims of human rights abuses

In an art workshop shortly after the incident, Sandy was able to express her thoughts about her family’s situation after the attack. In her drawing, she depicted how the family’s economic burden was shouldered by her mother since her father went into sanctuary..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/09/11/violence-and-poverty-haunt-children-in-ilocos-region/

Book Review: In Ilustrado and Eight Lives Lived, Which Life is Worth Writing About?

Book Review: In Ilustrado and Eight Lives Lived, Which Life is Worth Writing About?

Published on September 25, 2010

By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
The award-winning novel Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco follows the tradition of ‘the great Filipino novel’: it is political and outwardly rooting for social change. Its title alone is pregnant with possibilities of exhortation and uprisings. After all, the original Ilustrados in Philippine history launched the Propaganda Movement more than a century ago, creating literary gems that inspired Filipinos to unite and revolt against colonialism.

Today Syjuco refurbished the memory of the Ilustrado and in his acclaimed debut novel, called on migrant Filipinos to become like modern-day Ilustrados. Syjuco himself is an expat Filipino when he wrote it. He studied literature abroad and worked at various odd jobs while in university. He is currently based in Australia.

Ilustrado has won two top literary awards – a Palanca award and the Man Asian Literary Prize, the latter being the first for any Filipino writer- before it was published this year in the Philippines, North America, Canada, UK and Australia..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/09/25/book-review-in-ilustrado-and-eight-lives-lived-which-life-is-worth-writing-about/

Four Farmers, One Bayan Muna Member Latest Victims of OBL

Four Farmers, One Bayan Muna Member Latest Victims of OBL

Published on September 25, 2010

By BULATLAT
MANILA — Extrajudicial killings continue under the Aquino administration, claiming the lives of four farmers in Mobo, Masbato and a Bayan Muna member in Mawab, Compostela Valley.

According to an urgent action alert prepared by Karapatan,on Sept. 7, at around 9:00 a.m. farmers Vicente Flores, Richard Oliva, Melecio Monacillo and his son Jonathan decided to go hunting in the forested area at the boundary of barangay Mapuyo and barangay Mabuhay. By lunch time, the four went to the house of Eliseo and Rosie Albao to rest. Rosie and her children were at home at that time while Eliseo was then working in a neighbor’s farm. The four, tired from their hunting, fell asleep right away.

At around 12:30 p.m., an undetermined number of soldiers belonging to the 9th IBPA appeared from uphill, passed by Rosie’s house and without any explanation, stormed inside and shot the sleeping farmers. Richard, wounded from the first volley of gunfire, was able to jump out of the window but was hit with bullets by the soldiers outside the house..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/09/25/four-farmers-one-bayan-muna-member-killed/