Bad old days are back EDITORIAL 07/21/2011

Bad old days are back

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

07/21/2011
Are the “bad old days” of the Marcos regime back?

It certainly looks like it, what with the Aquino regime, through its Justice secretary announcing its plans to charge a Marine colonel for sedition, or inciting to, along with her call for the Armed Forces of the Philippines to slap the colonel with other charges under the Articles of War.

But why is Justice Chief Leila de Lima butting in on what the military leadership should do when this is hardly her business, especially as she is certainly not included in the military’s chain of command?

And what is this charge of sedition or inciting to sedition against Col. Generoso Mariano, merely because he called for a change of government, and the right of the people — including soldiers — to change their government if that government is unable to lift the people from their miserable state?.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110721com1.html

Dumb move FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 07/21/2011

Dumb move

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

07/21/2011
Filipino lawmakers identified with the Akbayan party-list group, which is closely identified with Noynoy Aquino, went on a trip to the Kalayaan Group of Islands, the subject of dispute among other country claimants.

This trip comes at a time when relations between China and the Philippines are frayed, which makes these legislators irresponsible since this trip was pretty likely to ruffle Chinese feathers.

Malacañang says it has nothing to do with the legislators’ trip to the Spratlys, yet surely Noynoy could have stopped that trip, especially since his political adviser, Rolando Llamas, is a chieftain in Akbayan. It is impossible for Llamas not to have known of this move from his own partymates, as it was announced in advance. And because Llamas knew of the planned trip, he, as presidential adviser, could have advised Noynoy to tell his lawmaker-allies, led by Akbayan’s Walden Bello, not to further raise the hackles of China by making such a trip that destroys relationships, instead of repairing them..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110721com5.html

Malian soldiers keep tight control over former al-Qaeda base focus 07/21/2011

Malian soldiers keep tight control over former al-Qaeda base

focus

07/21/2011
WAGADOU FOREST — Malian forces are building up their defenses in the Wagadou forest, braced for a counter-attack by al-Qaeda fighters three weeks after wresting the base back from the jihadi group.

Three units are now hunkering down in the dense forest, backed by two surveillance aircraft — a gift from France — carrying out flyovers every day and two helicopter gunships.

“The abandoned trenches you see here were under construction for the past five months” by members of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Col. Gaston Damango, head of operations in the forest zone, told AFP.

About two meters (six feet) deep, the trenches were designed to keep the base supplied with ammunition and allow for jihadists to move around unseen.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110721com6.html

Leila the Crab INSIDE CONGRESS Charlie Manalo 07/21/2011

Leila the Crab

INSIDE CONGRESS

Charlie Manalo

07/21/2011
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima must be really hard-pressed to keep her post. For coming out with decisions contrary to the interests of Noy’s KKK, particularly, DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno on the Luneta hostage crisis and LTO chief Virginia Torres on the Stradcom mess, De Lima might have sensed her stint as Justice secretary is now in peril. Thus the need for her to do some sort of gimmickry which would in effect reaffirm her undying loyalty for her president.

And what a better way to do it than push hard for the appointment of Noy’s favorite SC Justice, Conchita Carpio-Morales as the next Chief Ombudsman. At the expense of her underling.

Funny it seems, but Leila, instead of batting for the candidacy of her Undersecretary, Leah Armamento for a shot at the Ombudsman, not only voted against her during the Justice and Bar Council deliberations, but sources also reveal the Justice Secretary is raising hell against Leah, kicking her ass, trying hard to convince Noy against appointing her..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110721com8.html

The more you look, the less you see VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 07/21/2011

The more you look, the less you see

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

07/21/2011
There is nothing either difficult or funny about the glaring truth that there are times when in fact people see less, the more they look — at certain realities, situations or events.

This is exactly the case when so much is claimed, yet so little is seen, so many perorations are made but so little is done. And this truth remains no matter what impressive publicities are made, whatever statistics on paper are presented and read. Thus it remains despite all elaborate ostensive addresses made surrounded by expensive decors — ually accompanying state declamations.

And such is exactly the glaring reality about the national situation during the incumbency of the present administration. Having taken over a leadership commonly perceived as the incarnation of graft and corruption, the now Malacañang tenant obtained a good number of votes. These were basically votes of high hope for a better Philippines through the anticipation of better leadership. More: The Filipinos in general reasonably expected for the said successor in government to “hit the ground running.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110721com9.html

Illegal funds transfer by new board, suits vs PCSO bared EXCLUSIVE 07/21/2011

ESCUDERO SEEKS CLIPPING OF PCSO POWERS

Illegal funds transfer by new board, suits vs PCSO bared

EXCLUSIVE

07/21/2011
More worms are crawling out of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) scandal after the Pajero bishops hype, this time involving the supposed whistleblowers of the bishops or the current board of the lucrative lotto agency, including a board resolution authorizing the transfer of $1.9 million funds from the state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) to a private bank, the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) and pending criminal cases involving two members of the current PCSO board, documents supplied The Tribune showed.

A PCSO board resolution approved on Sept. 20 last year authorized the transfer of the amount placed in a time deposit account with Landbank to the UCPB.

In light of the revelations of the misuse of huge funds under the PCSO, Sen. Francis Escudero has moved to contain the discretionary powers of its board over the disbursement of charity funds.

Questions are being raised about the transfer since this is illegal because under the
law, the PCSO is mandated to deposit funds only in government banks..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110721hed1.html

Nobody’s buying Noy’s PPP, say ADB, expats 07/21/2011

Nobody’s buying Noy’s PPP, say ADB, expats

07/21/2011
Foreign investors remain reluctant to put money on the Philippines, particularly into the flagship Private-Public Partnership (PPP) projects of President Aquino, locally based western and Asian business leaders said yesterday.
A year into Aquino’s six-year term, the US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korean chambers said investors want stronger assurances that laws and policies were stable.

The comments came as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said the country still suffered from red tape, weak rule of law and unpredictable policies, all of which are holding back foreign investments.

The ADB report, written by Aquino’s own Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga, was a critique of the flagship PPP program of the government in which it stated that in the Philippines, PPPs have typically been shunned by business because of unclear policy and regulatory frameworks, a cumbersome government approval process, and a lack of bankable projects..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110721hed2.html

SC asked to reverse ruling on Luisita case By Benjamin B. Pulta 07/21/2011

SC asked to reverse ruling on Luisita case

By Benjamin B. Pulta 07/21/2011
A group has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to reverse its earlier ruling on the controversial Hacienda Luisita case.

In a 78-page motion for reconsideration (MR), the Alyansa ng mga Manggawang Bukid sa Hacienda Luisita (AMBALA) through its lawyer Jobert Ilarde Pahilga said the Hacienda Luisita should be distributed directly to the farm workers.

“The SDO in HLI did not improve but had further thrust the farm workers deep into the quagmire of poverty. Several years after its implementation, the farm workers remained in a state of destitution and misery. There is no more reason therefore for the continued operation of the scheme. The land should now be distributed to the farm workers. In the first place, this sprawling agricultural estate rightfully, legally, morally and historically belongs to them,” the group said.

Ambala said the Court should not have ruled that Section 31 of Republic Act 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL), which allows stock distribution as a mode of compliance to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), is constitutional..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110721nat2.html

Aquino’s eldest uncle dies of cardiac arrest 07/21/2011 President Aquino’s eldest uncle, Don Pedro Cojuangco, passed away yesterday morning. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a text message that Cojuangco died of cardio-respiratory arrest secondary to multiple organ failure at the Makati Medical Center.

Aquino’s eldest uncle dies of cardiac arrest

07/21/2011
President Aquino’s eldest uncle, Don Pedro Cojuangco, passed away yesterday morning.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a text message that Cojuangco died of cardio-respiratory arrest secondary to multiple organ failure at the Makati Medical Center..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110721nat6.html

Entry of former DAR chief as party-list representative quizzed By Gerry Baldo 07/21/2011

Entry of former DAR chief as party-list representative quizzed

By Gerry Baldo 07/21/2011

The entry of former Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman representing “AA Ka Sosyo party-list” in the House of Representatives was questioned yesterday on the ground that Pangandaman had deceived the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the government when he continued to be at the DAR when he should have left the agency when he joined the party-list elections.

Lawyer Salic Dumarpa, a former commissioner of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), citing Comelec Resolution 8678, said that all government officials are deemed resigned upon filing of a certificate of candidacy or in the case of a party-list group, his name is listed as one of the nominees of a party-list group.

“How was it possible for Pangandaman to stay at the DAR when his name was submitted to the Comelec as a nominee of a party-list group?” Dumarpa asked.

Nazzer Pangandaman was sworn in as a member last Monday to replace his brother, Solaiman Pangandaman.
.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110721nat1.html

Lawmaker calls for gradual phaseout of fuel-fed PUVs By Charlie V. Manalo 07/21/2011

Lawmaker calls for gradual phaseout of fuel-fed PUVs

By Charlie V. Manalo 07/21/2011
The government should now start considering a gradual phaseout program on the use of gas and diesel for its public transport system such as buses, jeepneys and tricycles by re-fitting them with natural gas converters or completely replacing them with electric vehicles.

Western Samar Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento said this will not only help in dramatically reducing the country’s carbon emission problem, especially in the National Capital Region and other highly urbanized areas but it will also provide a long-term solution to endless increase in fuel prices.

Sarmiento’s proposal coincided with the view of Iloilo Rep. Jerry Trenas that there is a need for the government to extend a wide-range of incentives to companies and individuals involved in the advancement of green technology in the country.

Trenas said to ensure the country’s swift and unrestricted transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to the full use of green technology, the government should study the possibility of giving additional tax incentives and other forms of financial relief to companies and individuals involved in the importation, manufacturing, assembly and the research and development of green-technology related commodities.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110721met2.html

Solon says Erap running for Manila mayor in 2013 By Gerry Baldo 07/21/2011

Solon says Erap running for Manila mayor in 2013

By Gerry Baldo 07/21/2011

Former President Joseph Estrada is determined to run for the mayoralty post of Manila.

This was revealed yesterday by Manila Rep. Benjamin Asilo who said the former President is now looking for a house in Tondo where he could stay.

However, Tribune sources denied the former President had any intention to run as Chief Executive of the City of Manila.

“It is confirmed that Erap is going to run for mayor. He is now looking for a house in the second district or in the first district which I represent,” Asilo said yesterday..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110721met1.html

Legitimizing bribery and corruption EDITORIAL 07/20/2011

Legitimizing bribery and corruption

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

07/20/2011
It started with the Noynoy administration’s bid to demonize the bishops through the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO)’s leak to a broadsheet on the “Pajero bishops,” little realizing that the whole shebang would boomerang on them.

Not only were they red-faced after the bishops attended the Senate hearing and aired their side, since there was neither illegality nor unconstitutionality about the requests and receipts of several utility vehicles, but also that the current PCSO officials are now being placed on the carpet.

It will be recalled that the PCSO officials, their spin doctor and Malacañang too, made it appear that the former President, Gloria Arroyo, bribed the bishops with the “Pajeros” in exchange for their support..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110720com1.html

Useless fact-finding body FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 07/20/2011

Useless fact-finding body

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

07/20/2011
Chiz Escudero yesterday filed a joint resolution in the Senate for the two Houses of Congress to call for the creation of a fact-finding commission to determine the real winner in the 2004 presidential race.

But creating a fact-finding commission to determine the real winner in the 2004 presidential race is going to be a waste of time and taxpayers’ money, mainly because if the body’s intent is to determine the real winner, this body will have to go through a recount — which means counting the ballots cast in 2004 nationwide, since this is the only way by which a winner of the race can be determined..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110720com2.html

And now a word from Bishop Soc C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 07/20/2011

And now a word from Bishop Soc

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

Jonathan De la Cruz

07/20/2011
\"Leadership without vision is treachery to the governed. Integral leadership also means setting the path toward the future.” Thus intoned youthful Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates “Soc” Villegas, the incoming Vice-President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), in a speech he delivered before members and officials of the Rotary Clubs of Pangasinan last week. Coming from any other bishop immediately after the recent “Pajero Bishops” controversy such pointed reminder would have been easily dismissed by the Palace guys as par for the course in the same manner that they casually shrugged off retired Marine Col. Generoso Mariano’s advisory on the “state of governance.” But it did not come from just anybody. It was uttered by someone considered one of the closest prelates to the Aquino family..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110720com4.html

‘Air-conditioned clothes’ help Japan beat heat FEATURE 07/20/2011

‘Air-conditioned clothes’ help Japan beat heat

FEATURE

07/20/2011
TODA — As jackets go it looks far from fashionable, but its Japanese maker cannot meet sky-rocketing demand for “air conditioned” coats with built-in fans.

Kuchofuku Co. Ltd — whose name literally means “air-conditioned clothing” — has seen orders soar amid power shortages in Japan after the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

As parts of the nation sweat out an uncomfortable summer shackled by restrictions on electricity use, demand has grown for goods that provide guilt-free respite from the unrelenting summer heat.

Two electric fans in the jacket can be controlled to draw air in at different speeds, giving the garment a puffed-up look. But this has not deterred those happy to be cool rather than “hot” when it comes to fashion..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110720com5.html

Mariano backpedals, claims he’s misquoted By Mario J. Mallari and Benjamin B. Pulta 07/20/2011

DOJ WRITES JAGO TO SUE FOR SEDITION

Mariano backpedals, claims he’s misquoted

By Mario J. Mallari and Benjamin B. Pulta 07/20/2011

Facebook rebel retired Marine Col. Generoso Mariano denied links with former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo, as insinuated by Malacañang, or to any other politicians in his message calling for a change in government but seems to be now opting out as he claimed he was taken out of context in his video clip that went viral in a social networking site.
Through fellow Marine officer, retired Col. Ariel Querubin, Mariano also welcomed an ongoing investigation against him by the Navy leadership following the cropping up of the video last Friday.
“On reports that I am a puppet of GMA (Arroyo’s initials), Bert Gonzales, politicians, etc., that’s totally untrue and figment of imagination. God bless us as a people and as a nation,” Mariano said in a text message sent to Querubin.
“OK for investigators to do what they want especially with my link with GMA or any other politicians. I hope and pray that they ferret out the truth ASAP (as soon as possible). I am alone in this,” Mariano added.
.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110720hed1.html

Military abuses flourish under Noynoy — HRW 07/20/2011

Military abuses flourish under Noynoy — HRW

07/20/2011
President Aquino has failed to curb extra-judicial killings and other human rights abuses by the military during his first year in office, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday.

While Aquino’s adminis-tration appears more willing to tackle the problem than previous governments, soldiers are still getting away with the unlawful targeting of mainly leftist activists, the New York-based monitor said.

“There is a continued pattern of extra-judicial killings of leftist activists,” HRW’s deputy Asia director Elaine Pearson said in Manila as she released a 98-page report on alleged rights abuses by the Philippine military.

“Despite several strong statements... what we’ve seen is that in many ways, the pattern remains the same.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110720hed5.html

House leaders give Aquino high marks in office By Gerry Baldo 07/20/2011

House leaders give Aquino high marks in office

By Gerry Baldo 07/20/2011

Administration allies in the House of Representatives yesterday gave President Aquino high marks for his performance during his first year in office.

According to House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, the overall performance of the President was very good and that the President has set the tone for regaining the people’s trust in government.

During yesterday’s Ugnayan sa Batasan news forum, Belmonte credited the good business outlook of the country this year to the reforms being instituted by President Aquino.

He said that in a scale of one to 10, he would out the president’s rating at eight..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110720nat3.html

Palparan dares accusers to show proof on coeds abduction 07/20/2011

Palparan dares accusers to show proof on coeds abduction

07/20/2011
Former Rep. and retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan reiterated before prosecutors yesterday his claim of innocence in the abduction five years ago of two female activists.

In a nine-page counter-affidavit, Palparan dared his accusers to show proof that played a part in the abduction and torture of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño.

Palparan asked the panel of investigators to dismiss charges of arbitrary detention, serious physical injuries, maltreatment of prisoners, grave threats, grave coercion and rape filed by mothers of the two missing activists.

“There is nothing in the complaint that substantiates my alleged direct participation and other involvement. I strongly deny all of them to be shotgun and exaggerated accusations without factual bases,” he argued..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110720nat4.html