Bleak future under Noy EDITORIAL 07/27/2011

Bleak future under Noy

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

07/27/2011
Recapturing an “exhilarating” condition that may have existed in the past is near nigh impossible and usually results in depressive failure.
Such an attempt to recapture that which is clearly lost was what Noynoy tried to do when he came up with his second State of the Nation Address (Sona) where he brought back the “wang-wang” speech during his inaugural address in June last year, in a bid to make it the symbol of past government abuse and his “success” at eliminating this wang-wang which he tried to portray his “success” in doing away with government abuse and in transforming society.
Noynoy and his speechwriters failed, as usual, but perhaps Noynoy had nothing by way of achievement and performance and even vision in his full year as president, which explains the total absence of a road map to follow in the next year and throughout his term..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110727com1.html

Directionless Noynoy FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 07/27/2011

Directionless Noynoy

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

07/27/2011
Looks like we will have five more years of a directionless government, with the nobody home president in the saddle.

One would have thought that after a year in office, and with the Palace hype on Noynoy’s State of the Nation’s “where-we-came-from-where-we-are-at-what-we-have-done-and where-we-will-be-headed-to-in-the-next-five-years,” Noynoy would have, for a change, a speech with substance and vision, complete with a road map for the five-year future.

No such luck, but then again, what can one really expect from a throughly incompetent president, who, after one year in office, still hasn’t even started to learn the ropes, as shown by his brainless Sona filled with lies and exaggerations to make himself look good, not even realizing that all his lies and exaggerations could be checked out with official data that show up his lies.

All his, and his administration’s failures were nowhere to be found in his wang-wang Sona which was billed as a social transformation Sona..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110727com2.html

Czech ‘rent-a-goat’ attraction helps African families FEATURE 07/27/2011

Czech ‘rent-a-goat’ attraction helps African families

FEATURE

07/27/2011
BOSKOVICE — A wild west theme park in the Czech Republic has teamed up with a local humanitarian organization to buy goats for rural African families through its novel “rent-a-goat” attraction.
Holiday makers visiting the park in Boskovice, southeast of the capital Prague, can have fun and do their bit to help others by renting goats to feed or romp around with for 10 Czech koruna (0.40 euros, 0.60 dollars) as part of a project called “Goats for Africa.”
“Last year we sent 214,000 koruna to buy 214 goats — that’s a decent number,” said Lubos “Jerry” Prochazka, the “sheriff” and founder of the popular theme park that draws 60,000 to 100,000 visitors a year.
A local aid group called People in Need uses the funds to buy goats — hardy creatures that produce highly nutritious milk — for rural families in Africa and at times Asia..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110727com3.html

Floods rupture Pakistani feudal ties FEATURE 07/27/2011

Floods rupture Pakistani feudal ties

FEATURE

07/27/2011
SUKKUR — Bakhsh Ali Lashari has spent the last year living in a tent since floods devastated a third of Pakistan. His home is no longer under water, but death threats mean he’s never going back.

The monsoon-triggered floods — the worst in Pakistani history — affected up to 21 million people, killed another 1,750 and ran up losses of $10 billion; a year later a shattered economy has barely recovered.

Lashari’s part of southern Pakistan was one of the worst hit areas, submerged in gushing waters that took months to recede.

But the disaster gave him a chance to break free from centuries of oppression. He is one of thousands who prefer life in rotting camps to returning to feudal estates where debts and marriages can end in death..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110727com5.html

The lost containers C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 07/27/2011 I will now take P-Noy at his word and take the fight against this “culture of wang-wang,” that is abuse of power and privilege, and, yes, graft and corruption, personally. I will begin by asking Customs Commissioner Lito Alvarez and his anti-smuggling (RATS) czar, Deputy Commissioner Greg Chavez, to join me in going after the hooligans, in and out of the bureau, who engineered that Houdini act resulting in the disappearance of 1,624 containers (were these 20 or 40 footers?) released from the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port (MICP) transiting to the Port of Batangas. These containers never got to Batangas. How did this happen at all? And where are these containers now? As first reported by Batangas Port Collector Juan Tan, only 305 container vans being transhipped by importers Sea Eagles Trading, LCN Trading and Monvellian Enterprises from the two Manila ports to his area actually got there. The rest, 595 all in all, never reached port. Then came Customs Intelligence Chief Dino Tuason with an even more startling revelation. Based on documents in his possession, Tuason said there were actually 2,219 containers released from the Manila ports for transshipment to Batangas. So, we are not talking here of only 595 missing containers but a whooping 1,624 containing God knows what goods. These must have cost billions of pesos worth of goods and yes, an equally huge sum, maybe in the hundreds of millions at least, in grease money which oiled this Houdini operations. It is impossible for such a large number to simply disappear into the night, as it were. There must at least be a trace and it should be easy to account for these. Unless the perpetrators so organized this operation they were able to blindside everybody to look elsewhere while they covered their tracks. Up to now, Alvarez and Chavez have yet to issue any report on this highly mysterious disappearance right under their very noses. Yet these guys usually go out of their way to trumpet their weekly RATS reports targeting all kinds of “malcontents,” in their view of course, for all kinds of “misdeeds” committed at the ports. How come they have not spoken a word about this caper? This is definitely an open and shut case which Alvarez and Chavez can easily uncover and bring to light if they are so minded. But the public remains in the dark wondering where these guys are at a time when P-Noy just announced a transformational breakthrough of sorts, well we await with bated breath what Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima whose handling of the economy over the past 365 days was one of P-Noy’s major Sona revelations. Then, once we get a satisfactory answer on these lost containers, I will proceed to ask P-Noy and his team to kindly advise if indeed they have reviewed the BOT contract of this publicly listed Malaysian firm, MTD Bhd., for the rehabilitation, upgrading and operation of the South Luzon Expressway (Slex) from Alabang to Calamba (or is it Sto. Tomas?). After all, if P-Noy can just cancel “big ticket” projects such as the P18 billion Laguna Lake Project despite serious legal and diplomatic consequences presumably on the say-so of his reviewers like DPWH Secretary Babes Singson and, yes, Finance Secretary Purisima, it is impossible to have missed out on this multi-billion, multi-year project. In case they have actually failed to look into this project then they better get going now. For the record, the representations of MTD Bhd before the TRB when it was defending its toll increase was a complete lie. In filings in Malaysia, the company said it spent P12 billion on the entire Alabang-Lucena City portion of the expressway. Yet, before the TRB it said it spent exactly the same amount only for the Alabang-Calamba-Sto. Tomas leg. The TRB took the firm’s representations hook, line and sinker and proceeded to approve the increase rates despite the objections of oppositors led by lawyer Ernesto Francisco who personally told the TRB about MTD Bhd’s false claims in Kuala Lumpur. I hope the TRB headed by newly appointed DoTC Secretary Mar Roxas with Singson and Purisima as members will rectify this manifest error immediately and make good on P-Noy’s anti-culture of wang-wang and daang matuwid mantras, And, we are just talking here of this Slex BOT contract. And yet this company has the gall to advise that it will join the bidding for the Daang Hari PPP project? What about showing this firm the door before it is too late and before it hazards to even dip its fingers again into the pie at the government’s and the public’s expense? And while they continue with their reviews why not include the other BOT contracts which have been in place for sometime or even those which are in the signing stage which government and the public will let go to their woe and despair. And while he is at it, how about working to standardize the rate setting frame for basic utilities such as electricity and water which, as reports have it, are being handled under divergent, sometimes, inchoate, arrangements leading to undue spikes in these basic needs? Throw in as well executive action on basic commodities including oil and oil products which, if P-Noy wants it, can at least be tamed like what the NFA did with rice importations? And then, get the LGUs and national government agencies to work on synchronizing actions on a host of measures to simplify rules and make way for investor friendly arrangements down to the lowest barangays. that will go a longer way in uplifting our marginalized sectors than all the CCT dosages across the board? And, finally, how about working on jueteng (at least minimize it if you cannot entirely eradicate), the cases of carnappings, extra-judicial and media killings, the Freedom of Information (FoI) initiative which P-Noy can jumpstart at the executive branch level while the bill is being shepherded through Congress. And so, as as we laud P-Noy for insisting against all comers to take the anti wang-wang and anti corruption drives, personally, we ask him and his advisers now to go get the perpetrators of the scams, the protectors of ill conceived and implemented projects and all others who have adapted to the wang-wang culture without any hint that indeed they have realized their mistakes and are now on the bend. I will be happy to know that jueteng operators are now on the run, the containers have all been accounted for and the perpetrators handed their just desserts. Let’s go...go...go... | More .COMMENTARY. EDITORIAL Bleak future under Noy FRONTLINE Directionless Noynoy FEATURE Czech ‘rent-a-goat’ attraction helps African families C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S The lost containers FEATURE Floods rupture Pakistani feudal ties HE SAYS How simple? SHE SAYS So now what?

The lost containers

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

Jonathan De la Cruz

07/27/2011
I will now take P-Noy at his word and take the fight against this “culture of wang-wang,” that is abuse of power and privilege, and, yes, graft and corruption, personally. I will begin by asking Customs Commissioner Lito Alvarez and his anti-smuggling (RATS) czar, Deputy Commissioner Greg Chavez, to join me in going after the hooligans, in and out of the bureau, who engineered that Houdini act resulting in the disappearance of 1,624 containers (were these 20 or 40 footers?) released from the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port (MICP) transiting to the Port of Batangas. These containers never got to Batangas. How did this happen at all? And where are these containers now?

As first reported by Batangas Port Collector Juan Tan, only 305 container vans being transhipped by importers Sea Eagles Trading, LCN Trading and Monvellian Enterprises from the two Manila ports to his area actually got there. The rest, 595 all in all, never reached port. Then came Customs Intelligence Chief Dino Tuason with an even more startling revelation. Based on documents in his possession, Tuason said there were actually 2,219 containers released from the Manila ports for transshipment to Batangas. So, we are not talking here of only 595 missing containers but a whooping 1,624 containing God knows what goods. These must have cost billions of pesos worth of goods and yes, an equally huge sum, maybe in the hundreds of millions at least, in grease money which oiled this Houdini operations. It is impossible for such a large number to simply disappear into the night, as it were. There must at least be a trace and it should be easy to account for these. Unless the perpetrators so organized this operation they were able to blindside everybody to look elsewhere while they covered their tracks..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110727com4.html

FVR dictated OK of lease contract —ex-PCSO chief By Angie M. Rosales 07/27/2011

FVR dictated OK of lease contract —ex-PCSO chief

By Angie M. Rosales 07/27/2011
It was on orders of then President Fidel V. Ramos to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office chairman and his board to disregard public bidding and the approval of lease equipment agreement, and not necessarily what the PCSO wanted.

This was what former PCSO chairman Manuel Morato disclosed to the senators during the hearing on the PCSO yesterday.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile saw this extended contract as a sellout of the Philippine interest, referring to the extension of the contract and the distribution of lease agreement granted by PCSO to suppliers of lotto machines during the Ramos administration which cost the government an additional P13 billion.

Senate probers were told yesterday, during the continuation of the inquiry into the PCSO fund mess, that Malacañang, under the Ramos administration, “dictated upon” its then chairman Morato to disregard the conduct of public bidding for the extension of another eight years of the lease.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110727hed1.html

Palace admits it still has no case vs GMA; Gloria has surgery By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan and Charlie V. Manalo 07/27/2011

Palace admits it still has no case vs GMA; Gloria has surgery

By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan and Charlie V. Manalo 07/27/2011
After one year of throwing accusations of massive corrup-tion against Presi-dent Aquino’s predecessor, Malacañang admitted yesterday that it still had no solid evidence to pin down and effectively charge former President Arroyo who is scheduled to undergo surgery.

At a press briefing, presidential spokes-man Edwin Lacierda admitted that the administration is still in the process of gathering evidence even just for the purpose of estab-lishing probable cause in its claims of graft and
corruption against the Arroyo administration, but failed to explain why Aquino and his aides continue with their trial and conviction by publicity if the Palace has no solid evidence of what it accuses Arroyo.

“If ever cases will be filed, it will be filed only after the evidence has been gathered and collected and after the assessment that there is probable cause. These would all be based on legal parameters, so I cannot say if it will have any effect on the evidence-gathering at this point. Certainly, I think the work of reform goes on regardless of who is going to be affected,” Lacierda said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110727hed2.html

FG Arroyo lined up for grilling in Senate over choppers scam By Angie M. Rosales 07/27/2011

FG Arroyo lined up for grilling in Senate over choppers scam

By Angie M. Rosales 07/27/2011

Former First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo has been lined up for grilling in the Senate on the impending probe on the Philippine National Police’ (PNP) in the acquisition of alleged second-hand helicopters in the amount of P105 million in 2009.

It was earlier alleged by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who filed resolution No. 518, that the documents he obtained on the said transaction supposedly indicated that the Arroyos were the former owners of the helicopters “forcibly” sold and priced as brand-new to the PNP.

Public hearings on this issue has been set this Thursday by blue ribbon committee chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, with the present and former PNP officials as the first batch of invited guests.

“Then we will call on (representatives from) MAPTRA (Manila Aerospace Products Trading Corp.),” Lacson said, referring to the company that was awarded the contract in July 9, 2009 by the PNP negotiation committee for one Robinson R44 Raven II and two Robinson R44 Raven I helicopters, supposedly intended for use by the elite Special Action Force (SAF)..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110727nat1.html

UK invites talented nationals, including Pinoys, to live in England 07/27/2011

UK invites talented nationals, including Pinoys, to live in England

07/27/2011
The United Kingdom is encouraging exceptionally talented nationals, including Filipinos, who excel in the fields of science, humanities, engineering and the arts to come and live in Britain.

UK’s new ‘Exceptional Talent’ immigration scheme will begin accepting applications on August 9 for up to 1,000 exceptionally talented migrants.

“Our new exceptional talent route will ensure that we continue to attract the brightest into the UK and keep the UK a global leader,” the British Embassy in Manila said, adding that it “will facilitate not only those who have already been recognized but also those with the potential to be recognized as leaders in their respective fields.”

This new policy comes at a time when the UK overhauls its immigration system to bring migration levels to the country lower, tackle abuses against illegal migrants and ensure that the system effectively meets the needs of the country..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110727nat5.html

Makati distributes mobility aid devices to PWD, elderly 07/27/2011

Makati distributes mobility aid devices to PWD, elderly

07/27/2011
The city government of Makati has distributed a total of 142 mobility aid devices for free to differently-abled and elderly residents in the first six months of the year.

Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay said a budget of P2 million has been allocated this year for the provision of free wheelchairs and walking canes to persons with disability (PWD) and senior citizens in the city.

“Our PWD and elderly receive free mobility aids from the city government, aside from the unique privilege of watching movies in any Makati cinema for free, without limits,” Binay said.

The mayor added the Makati Social Welfare Department (MSWD) distributed 85 adult wheelchairs, 5 kid wheelchairs, 21 canes, 15 quad canes, 14 crutches, and two walkers to qualified recipients in the first half of the year..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110727met3.html

Bus falls from Parañaque Skyway; 3 killed, 4 injured By Gina Peralta-Elorde 07/27/2011

Bus falls from Parañaque Skyway; 3 killed, 4 injured

By Gina Peralta-Elorde 07/27/2011

Three persons were confirmed killed while four others were injured when a passenger bus fell from the Parañaque Skyway yesterday morning.

Reports reaching the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters at Camp Crame, Quezon City said the Dimple Star Transport Corp. bus No. 7511 was on its way to Alabang in Muntinlupa when it fell from the Skyway onto the west service road in Marcelo Green Village in Parañaque City.

The bus came from Lawton in Manila.

The driver of the bus, Joven Justo, was declared dead on arrival at the Parañaque Medical Center. The other fatalities were identified as Anthony Ibarra and Lorenzo Gabo, both passengers of the ill-fated bus..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110727met1.html

Rehash EDITORIAL 07/26/2011

Rehash

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

07/26/2011
If the aim of Noynoy’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) was to bring about a “transformation” in the mindset of the Filipino people, specifically on the way they think of government and even bring about a change in public perception of Noynoy as a competent leader of the nation, he failed at it, and his speech was a disappointment. It was mainly a repeat of the speeches made during his inaugural and first Sona.

It hardly inspired the people, but it was obvious that his speechwriters thought that, as his inaugural speech inspired his supporters and even some non-supporters, they stuck to the same thing and ended up with a flop.

The Sona harked back to his inaugural speech of the wang-wang business, which he said he believes was the start of the transformation of the Filipinos, and used this symbol of the wang-wang in claiming that there were still those who insist on defying the transformational wang-wang. And he again brought up the people are his boss spiel, which hardly means anything these days, when he hardly listens to the people’s voice, but that of his KKK..... MORE
Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110726com1.html

Remembering 2004 FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 07/26/2011

Remembering 2004

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

07/26/2011
Past sins always find a way of catching up with the “sinners,” in this case, the former rah-rah boys of Gloria Arroyo, especially during the 2004 presidential elections, but who are now the lapdogs of the new Palace tenant.

Among those who are now being called to disclose the alleged election fraud are two Liberal Party stalwarts with Noynoy Aquino who are now rabid anti-Gloria. These are Senators Franklin Drilon, Kiko Pangilinan, National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) officials and many more.

Yet today, they have this irritating holier than thou attitude, as though they were neither active nor passive participants in the election fraud.

Both Pangilinan and Drilon were instrumental in facilitating the canvass in Congress of the votes that led to Arroyo’s proclamation with Pangilinan being remembered for breaking his gavel while uttering “noted” on every protest raised by the camp of Fernando Poe Jr. on election documents..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110726com2.html

White South African farmers seek new life in Georgia FEATURE 07/26/2011

White South African farmers seek new life in Georgia

FEATURE

07/26/2011
SARTICHALA — A long way from his South African birthplace, amid the sweeping wheat fields of eastern Georgia, farmer Piet Kemp says that he has found a new home in this former Soviet republic.

And if the government gets its wish, hundreds more like Kemp will follow to help revive Georgia’s ailing agricultural sector, bringing in both cash and expertise.

Shaken by violent attacks and reforms to transfer land to blacks in South Africa, many white farmers have been emigrating, and 10 have already relocated to Georgia to set up businesses under a program launched by the government.

Kemp was the first of them to make the move, lured by local business opportunities — and the promise of security..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110726com3.html

Outsider beats holy chum AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 07/26/2011

Outsider beats holy chum

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW

Ken Fuller

07/26/2011
A Filipino correspondent has sent me an article entitled “Godlessness has doomed Britain,” by one Shmuley Boteach (my favorite anagram of which is “Beats Holy Chum,” hence the title of this piece. Doubtless Boteach, an American rabbi, would prefer “Holy Beats Much”).

Appearing in the Jerusalem Post on July 4 as, presumably, Rabbi Boteach’s contribution to American Independence Day, the article seeks to demonstrate that the rise of the former colonial subjects and the decline of their colonial ruler can be measured by the extent to which the citizens of each country believe in a deity. To say that the article is poorly-argued is an understatement. If, therefore, the intention of my correspondent is to convert this godless outsider, he’ll have to do a lot better than this.

Although, says Boteach, Europeans tend to look upon “American evangelicals as backward religious knuckle-draggers who believe Adam and Eve actually ate apples with a talking snake,” they represent “the single largest voting bloc in the world’s main superpower.”

Well, yes, Rabbi. This perhaps explains why young Americans have been sent to kill and be killed in Afghanistan and Iraq with minimal congressional opposition. And while young Britons have been sent on the same missions, they were dispatched not by an atheist but by that fervent believer, Tony Blair..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110726com4.html

‘P-Noy, have mercy’ VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 07/26/2011

‘P-Noy, have mercy’

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

07/26/2011
In the context of sincerity and with the spirit of urgency, this can be readily considered as an ardent prayer said with bowed head and on bended knees even.

It is a fervent supplication based on objective truth and ground reality about a disturbing and distressing national phenomenon. It is a loud plea addressed to someone in the highest governing office in the country, repeatedly professing its unquestionable integrity and loudly declaring its consuming crusade against corruption.

Thus it is that this some kind of a litany is directed to someone supposedly in tenure of all the authority and wherefore empowered to act accordingly — if he wants to. He has in command of the entire Philippine National Police plus the intelligence of the whole National Bureau of Investigation in addition to the extensive authority of the Department of Justice..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110726com5.html

Fashion ‘political’ statements in Noy’s second Sona INSIDE CONGRESS Charlie Manalo 07/26/2011

Fashion ‘political’ statements in Noy’s second Sona

INSIDE CONGRESS

Charlie Manalo

07/26/2011
Oversha- dowed in Noynoy’s Second Annual Bashing of the Arroyos yesterday were the fashionable political statements some members of the House of Representatives tried to convey as they walked down the aisle of the largest bastion of conservatism in the country.

Militantly yet femininely, Emmie de Jesus of Gabriela donned a baby pink panuwelo creatively crafted by Marikina’s fashion designer par excellence, Ruel Rivera, with lilac nouveau art text spelling out her call to “Scrap eVAT.”

With a minimalist silver gray Italian gazar-cut gown, Emmie’s dress was accented with embroidered fuschia leaves and flowers, complementing the panuwelo with its political call.

According to Emmie, the Rivera-designed gown reflects her duty as a representative of the women sector to bring the voices and demands of poor women to Noy’s Sona..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110726com6.html

Small peace dividends in Taliban’s southern gateway focus 07/26/2011

Small peace dividends in Taliban’s southern gateway

focus

07/26/2011
ARGHANDAB VALLEY — Lt. Chris Choi receives a mix of stares and scowls as he shakes hands with curious Afghans on their way to prayer in the restive Arghandab district of southern Kandahar.

But he says the mere presence of the turbaned men walking through heavy traffic to the Haji Baba Wali shrine is a sign of progress stemming from the brittle peace in an area that was once a key Taliban supply route.

Nearby, half-dressed children dart in and out of the murky canal waters that help irrigate fertile pomegranate fields.

Such scenes would not have been possible a year ago, when the Arghandab valley resembled a chessboard of American forces vying with the Taliban for control of Afghanistan’s southern heartlands..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: hhttp://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110726com7.html

Noy’s Sona a rehash of ‘wang-wang’ speech By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 07/26/2011

Noy’s Sona a rehash of ‘wang-wang’ speech

By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 07/26/2011

President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) may have done away with human props but he relied on heavy symbolism on the old practice by government officials of using “wang-wang,” the local term for car sirens, in a bid to evoke a vivid picture of the nation’s past, present and future under his administration.

But his speech neither inspired nor excited, as this was a repeat and rehash of his inaugural speech as well as his maiden Sona. Both substance and presidential style were missing.

Like a homily of a non-practicing believer, his Sona was absent of any battlecry to which every Filipino could rally. Neither was there a roadmap that was specific, measureable and time-bound. There was no-forward looking vision of how his administration can lift the nation from low economic growth status to high growth that would impact positively on the poor.

In the process, Aquino got at least 50 by way of applause counts for his speech that lasted for about an hour but it was noticeable that the applause mostly came from the president’s Cabinet members and Sona guests in the gallery, composed of his yellow supporters, and not from the legislators who were at the plenary..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110726hed1.html

Special court for Arroyo sought as Noy names new Ombudsman 07/26/2011

Special court for Arroyo sought as Noy names new Ombudsman

07/26/2011
Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo should be tried in a special court in the event that cases filed against her prosper.

Former President Joseph Estrada, in a chance interview after the State of the Nation Address (Sona) of President Aquino, said given the numerous cases that have been filed and are going to be filed, the current administration should create a special court to try her and her allies.

“There is a need to create a special court,” Estrada stressed.

He also raised the possibility of filing charges against Arroyo for her involvement in the alleged cheating during the 2004 presidential elections.

“She corrupted all the agencies of the government,” he noted..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110726hed6.html