Returning hero or villain? EDITORIAL 04/07/2011

Returning hero or villain?

EDITORIAL

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04/07/2011
Heidi Mendoza, the military corruption whistle-blower, is back at the Commission on Audit, not just as a CoA auditor, but as commissioner, although she did say that she had her eye on the CoA chairmanship, which she failed to get.

But apparently, her return to CoA, as a high ranking official, is not that welcomed by CoA people, as they reportedly feel that she had cast doubts on the integrity of the CoA and in the process, caused destruction to the institution, as well as her having given a blanket condemnation of the employees and officers of that agency she had called corrupt.

Every move she makes, every mistake she commits, every action or inaction in whatever her duties are, will definitely be watched by those in the CoA who feel they have been maligned, because Heidi did not just testify on the audit report she made on the military but also hit out at the CoA and pointing the finger at its officials and officers as either having covered up the past misdeeds, or ordered her to go slow, or their generally toeing the Malacañang line..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110407com1.html

Low regard for the law FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 04/07/2011

Low regard for the law

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

04/07/2011
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima should really drop all the dramatics in her press releases regarding her demand for answers from her agencies as well as from Ping Lacson on his whereabouts abroad and how he had traveled and entered the country with fake documents.

If she wants proof of his having evaded the arm of the law and returning with fake documents, she has enough evidence to perhaps even charge Lacson for entering the country with fake documents. Falsifying official documents, after all, is a crime in this country.

While Lacson may not be arrested for the murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, there shouldn’t be any bar to charging and arresting Lacson for falsifying official documents. It should be bailable..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110407com2.html

Obama weighs shuffle of top national security posts ANALYSIS 04/07/2011

Obama weighs shuffle of top national security posts

ANALYSIS

04/07/2011
WASHINGTON — With President Barack Obama weighing who should take over key defense posts, US media speculated Tuesday that his war commander in Afghanistan might head up the CIA while the current spy chief would move to the Pentagon.

The scenario, possibly a trial balloon floated by some military officials, highlights the tough choices Obama faces with a number of crucial national security jobs — including defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — coming open in the next several months.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is vowing to step down later this year, the military’s top officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, finishes his term in September and the high-profile commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, is expected to hand over his post before the end of 2011..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110407com3.html

Drilon’s rejoinder BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 04/07/2011

Drilon’s rejoinder

BLURBAL THRUSTS

Louie Logarta

04/07/2011
Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista is doing a good thing by, this early, pushing for the approval of a resolution by the City Council which is tantamount to law that would ban the erection of all types of structures along the recently-christened West Valley Fault, which would adversely affect some 600 prime residential as well as commercial properties inside city limits with a market value running into “several billions.”

For those who don’t know, the West Valley Fault, once known as the Marikina Valley Fault System (does it ring a bell?), is described by government experts as a narrow piece of land stretching approximately from the town of San Mateo, Rizal in the north to Taguig City in the south that sits right smack above a fissure deep down in the earth that is most to susceptible in the event of an earthquake, such as the one that hit Japan on March 11..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110407com4.html

Gross default in the RH bill VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 04/07/2011

Gross default in the RH bill

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

04/07/2011
Sex. Methods. Number. This is the shameful tripod of the infamous Reproductive Health (RH) bill that continues to divide Filipinos — irrespective of their beliefs or religious affiliations.

Whether the division is in effect the Machiavellian intention behind the bill in order to weaken the progressive popular dissatisfaction against the Malacañang occupant — this is another question, another story. But the fact stands that for its incompetence, insensitivity and confusion, the national leadership is slowly but surely losing more and more of its once faithful followers.

The gross default of the RH bill is the marked absence of the human person in its long litany of envisioned big benefits to Philippine society.

It is good to ask: In the last analysis, without the human person justly considered and rightfully attended to in any social venture, what is there really worthwhile bothering about — in truth and in fact? And this is exactly the reality behind the RH bill when denuded of its pretentious concern for the good and welfare of the people of the Philippines..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110407com5.html

Family awaits word of missing Libyan in bloody video FEATURE 04/07/2011

Family awaits word of missing Libyan in bloody video

FEATURE

04/07/2011
AL-MARJ — The online video opens with Ahmed Gheriani lying face down on a highway in eastern Libya with blood soaking through his jeans, alone and at the mercy of Moamer Kadhafi’s feared troops.

As the cameraman marches toward him, a gravelly voice orders him to roll over and he obliges, moaning with pain.

“Say long live (Kadhafi)!... Say long live Moamer!” the voice shouts.

“Allahu Akbar,” he replies. God is greatest. Shots ring out, and the camera jerks away and goes dark..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110407com7.html

Philippine pilot soars above gender barrier focus 04/07/2011

Philippine pilot soars above gender barrier

focus

04/07/2011
MANILA — On the ground, Brooke Castillo is a classical pianist, a rock band manager, an elite sportswoman and a teacher, but it is high in the sky where she truly excels.

Castillo is the Philippines’ first female commercial jet captain, and from the cockpit of Cebu Pacific airline’s Airbus A319s and A320s she says she has the best job in the world.

“I think I was destined to be here,” the tall and eloquent 41-year-old told AFP in an interview, explaining that she realized her many other talents would take a back seat immediately after she got into aviation school.

“I just took up the challenge and I realized it was something that I would love to do, and that was it.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110407com6.html

Noy opts for populist moves amid ratings fall By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/07/2011

ORDERS STUDY FOR WAGE HIKE, OIL VAT CUT, PRICE CONTROLS

Noy opts for populist moves amid ratings fall

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/07/2011

With his survey ratings fast declining, President Aquino yesterday launched a major offensive to earn brownie points through a directive to his economic team to study populist measures such as a wage increase for private sector employees, a reduction of value added tax (VAT) on oil, and the imposition of price controls on basic commodities which moves are no different from the populist maneuvers of the past administration to raise ratings and woo voters. Aquino denounced the Arroyo administration for making similar moves that led to the worsening situation in the government budget.

The Aquino administration is looking at a budget deficit of P290 billion after a record P314 billion fiscal gap last year.

Aquino in his speeches had referred to decisions of the past administration borne out of political necessity, for the worsening of the fiscal situation, particularly the decision of former President Arroyo to cap electricity charges by deferring power purchase adjustment (PPA) collections owed to independent power producers (IPP) that resulted in the bloating of the debts of state power firm National Power Corp. (Napocor)..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110407hed1.html

Japan radiation contamination may reach RP— toxicologist By Angie M. Rosales 04/07/2011

Japan radiation contamination may reach RP— toxicologist

By Angie M. Rosales 04/07/2011

Contrary to claims earlier made by some government officials dismissing any radiation scare brought about by the meltdown of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, a toxicologist yesterday cited the prob-ability that radiation pollution will worsen and most likely reach the country.

Worse, there is no safe dose for radiation exposure, Dr. Romeo Quijano, University of the Philippines (UP) professor of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, said before the Senate commit-tee on health and demography.

Already, US engineers dis-patched to help Japan address its post-tsunami crisis are warning its crippled nuclear power plant faces a new set of persistent and growing threats, The New York Times said.

The new threats, cited in a confidential assessment prepared by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission dated March 26 and obtained by the Times, included the growing.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110407hed5.html

DoJ’s drug cases’ conviction rate: 1 percent 04/07/2011

DoJ’s drug cases’ conviction rate: 1 percent

04/07/2011
President Aquino, his Palace aides and his House of Representatives’ allies are bearing down on Ombudsman Merceditas “low conviction” rate, which is one of the grounds constituting betrayal of public trust in her impeachment case, but Aquino’s Department of Justice (DoJ) has an even much lower conviction rate in the matter of drug-related cases.

Only one case in one hundred drug cases handled by the DoJ results in conviction, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima bewailed yesterday .

“The main target is to increase the conviction rate because I understand the conviction rate in drug cases is only 1 percent. This is very low compared to the national average of overall types of cases which is 25 percent,” De Lima said yesterday as she vowed to do better.

The Justice chief pointed out that “in cases where the witnesses are covered under the Witness Protection Program, we have an average 92 to 95 percent conviction rate..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110407hed4.html

Aquino to face ‘political storm’ for rejecting P125 wage hike By Charlie V. Manalo 04/07/2011

Aquino to face ‘political storm’ for rejecting P125 wage hike

By Charlie V. Manalo 04/07/2011
Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano yesterday warned of an escalation of workers’ protest in the run-up to May 1, Labor Day, after Malacañang rejected a P125 legislated across the board wage hike for private workers.

“The Aquino administration will be facing a ‘perfect political storm’ this summer. It will brace an escalation of workers protest after its rejection and denial of the workers’ just demand for a substantial wage increase,” said Mariano, main author of House Bill 375 seeking a P125 across the board wage hike for private workers.

Today, thousands of government employees are set to march to Malacañang to demand a P6,000 increase in salary.

On the other hand, the militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) has declared May 1 as a “Day of Outrage” in response to the Palace’s rejection of a substantial and legislated wage hike..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110407nat1.html

MMDA plans to include in 60 kph speed limit scheme Osmeña Highway, Roxas Blvd. 04/07/2011

MMDA plans to include in 60 kph speed limit scheme Osmeña Highway, Roxas Blvd.

04/07/2011
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) revealed recently that it was planning to include two major roads in the metropolis in the 60-kph speed limit just like the one implemented on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

This after MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said now the battle cry in the first 60-kph speed limit area in the metropolis is “Common safety, common speed, Commonwealth.”

He said they are planning to include the stretch of Osmeña Highway in Makati City to Manila and Roxas Boulevard as the next 60 kph road just like on Commonwealth Avenue.

Tolentino said many accidents have been recorded on Osmeña Highway and there are known personalities that have been killed on the road..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/

KMU to Baldoz: What workers need is wage increase, not Ecola 04/07/2011

KMU to Baldoz: What workers need is wage increase, not Ecola

04/07/2011
The militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) yesterday said it would not accept Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz’s proposal to grant an Ecola (emergency cost of living allowance) instead of granting wage increase.
Baldoz claimed the purchasing power of workers in Metro Manila has been eroded by P7.48 — the highest among all of the country’s regions.

“A mere increase in the Ecola, especially if it is only P8, will definitely not give us workers any relief from the skyrocketing prices of oil and other basic goods and services. This is the first time that the Aquino regime will do something with workers’ wages and it is hinting at giving us mere crumbs,” said Roger Soluta, KMU secretary general.

“Any honest comparison between wage hikes and price hikes in the past 10 years will show that our wages have not been increased enough to cope with the increases in prices. Big capitalists are raking in profits from merely increasing their product’s prices and by pressing down workers’ wages to starvation levels,” Soluta added..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110407met4.html

Taguig mayor, supporters face sedition, criminal raps By Charlie V. Manalo 04/07/2011

Taguig mayor, supporters face sedition, criminal raps

By Charlie V. Manalo 04/07/2011

Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano and some of her supporters are facing sedition charges after reportedly bodily preventing officers of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from retrieving the ballot boxes containing the ballots subject of her rival in the last elections.

Aside from sedition charges, retired Justice Dante Tiñga bared he is also threatening to file criminal and administrative charges before the Office of the Ombudsman and the Comelec against Cayetano and her “conspirators.”

“The filing of cases of conspiracy to commit sedition, which is defined and punished by Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, indirect contempt, violation of Republic Act 3019, otherwise known as “Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act,” and violation of Republic Act 6713 also known as “Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees” against the cabalists is long overdue and direly needed. They have not only frustrated the implementation of the Comelec’s legitimate orders but have made a mockery of the poll body as an institution.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110407met1.html

What’s it all about? EDITORIAL 04/06/2011

What’s it all about?

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

04/06/2011
Alleging bribery and blackmail against an individual is easy, especially for a senator of the republic, but proving these crimes is fairly difficult, if not impossible — unless of course some kind of hard proof exists, such as a recorded conversation between the briber and blackmailer and the person being bribed.

Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano the other day bared to reporters that still to be confirmed by the Commission on Appointments Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes, through his emissaries, has resorted to blackmail and bribery to get Cayetano to withdraw his opposition to Brillantes’ appointment, for the new Comelec chief to breeze through his CA confirmation.

The blackmail, so said Cayetano, came when a threat was aired, presumably from the alleged emissaries regarding the protest filed by a losing Taguig mayoralty bet against the senator’s wife, who now sits as Taguig mayor, which Cayetano charged is being dangled by the Comelec chief..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110406com1.html

Only himself to blame FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 04/06/2011

Only himself to blame

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

04/06/2011
Noynoy has been complaining about media highlighting the negatives instead of the positives of his presidency and administration, especially so, with his performance and satisfaction ratings plunging too fast, given his nine months stay in Malacañang.

Apart from the fact, however, that his very amatuerish Communications Group (ComGroup) secretaries who are clearly unfit for the job, as all they really know is how to demonize election rivals and the previous administration officials during the campaign and don’t know how to communicate with the media and the public at large, it is largely Noynoy himself who creates the negative image that he has projected for himself, all by himself.

To this day, despite his claims of his “achievements” as president, the nation still does not know just where he is leading the people, and what directions he has taken, economically and politically,.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110406com2.html

Dictators beware: UN ‘all necessary measures’ means trouble ANALYSIS 04/06/2011

Dictators beware: UN ‘all necessary measures’ means trouble

ANALYSIS

04/06/2011
UNITED NATIONS — UN helicopter strikes on rocket launchers used by Ivory Coast rogue leader Laurent Gbagbo were a stunning warning to any strongman to beware of the ominous words “all necessary measures” in a UN Security Council resolution.

After the international air assaults launched in Libya, the innocuous little phrase set up UN forces, alongside French helicopters, to stage the most daring urban warfare operation yet by international peacekeepers in Abidjan on Monday.

UN officials say more attacks against Gbagbo, who refuses to hand power to internationally recognized President Alassane Ouattara, are planned.

The military capability of Moamer Kadhafi in Libya and Gbagbo in Ivory Coast have taken a severe beating from the strikes. In each case, the 15-nation Security Council agreed to allow “all necessary measures” to protect civilians rather than sign up for regime change..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110406com3.html

Nuclear jumpers C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 04/06/2011

Nuclear jumpers

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

Jonathan De la Cruz

04/06/2011
Until reports that Tokyo Electric Co. (Tepco) which operates the disaster stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, was offering $5,000 per day to any person who would literally jump into the damaged reactor to help clean up or repair certain items to stem the radiation flow and eventually stabilize it for final disposition the word “nuclear jumper” was hardly heard of. Now, with that sweetener of a pay off, we are told that Tepco is besieged with lots of queries a number of these from Filipinos who are presumably raring to do the “jump.” They would be making history and doing all of us a favor. But before anybody gets sucked into this decidedly high paying and yes, humanitarian job, to save the plant and the world from the dangers of a possible total and unmitigated meltdown, we urge them to read on the history of this rare band of super heroes, as one blogger called them, the better to appreciate the challenges which come with the job. Two articles, one written by Vera Christy in 1974 about US based “jumpers” she called “Nuclear Janitors” and a recent Reuters report on Ukrainian-American jumper Sergei Belyakov, are particularly instructive. I am excerpting parts of their story to give us a glimpse of the world of jumpers. Here goes:.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110406com4.html

Russian artists anger authorities with daring works focus 04/06/2011

Russian artists anger authorities with daring works

focus

04/06/2011
SAINT PETERSBURG — The artists have overturned police cars on one of Russia’s most famous squares with dozing officers inside and painted a giant penis on a drawbridge in front of the ex-KGB headquarters.

In a radical group called Voina, or War, they have exploded any notion that Russia’s modern art scene is dry or conservative. But their provocative installations have also left them exposed to legal action.

The Saint Petersburg-based group’s name means that “we have declared war on triviality and injustice,” said artist Oleg Vorotnikov, 32, a philosophy graduate from Moscow State University.

He and another member, Leonid Nikolayev, 27, were recently freed on bail after spending three months in pre-trial detention as police investigate last September’s car-tipping performance..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL:http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110406com5.html

Spins HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 04/06/2011

Spins

HE SAYS

Aldrin Cardon

04/06/2011
Mainstream media were at the receiving end of criticisms last week for their handling of the execution of the three Filipino drug mules in China. And if mainstream media still rely on the public pulse to jack up their ratings, chances are a review of their thrusts is in order.

The execution of Ramon Credo, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva and Elizabeth Batain was clearly sensationalized in the manner the two leading television networks — and this time with TV5, the third player in the TV ratings game — spun their coverage of Flor Contemplacion’s hanging in Singapore in mid-90s and the rape of Sarah Balabagan.

Balabagan later admitted her rape, which she said led to her to kill her employer in the United Arab Emirates, was a lie. And with the claim went another implied statement that she was abused by her uncle as a child. She made the claims when she tried to join show business, which ended abruptly when the hoopla surrounding her case had died down..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110406com6.html