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Not on your yellow life EDITORIAL 05/16/2010

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Not on your yellow life



EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
05/16/2010

Move on, supporters of Sen. Noynoy Aquino are telling those who said they have proof of cheating in the recent elections to move on because the supposed grand-scale cheating that would favor the Liberal Party (LP) candidate is implausible.

The yellow people around Noynoy who are itching to get their hands on government are missing the forest for the trees. Elections were held and Filipinos expected their votes to be counted accurately for the first time in nine years and Noynoy and his supporters are telling the public to move on?

Before the elections Noynoy and his group were saying that the only way that the son of former President Cory Aquino and slain Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino would lose was if he is cheated and Noynoy warned that he will lead a popular uprising that would make the current upheaval in Thailand “look mild” if he did not win the elections.... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100516com1.html


Wanting to have their way again FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 05/16/2010

Wanting to have their way again



FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
05/16/2010
Ninety million Filipinos don’t give a damn about the issue on whether newly-installed Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona should have, or should not have been appointed by Gloria Arroyo. Only a few — and really, really, few — not even counting in the tens of thousands — have been making this an issue, and all because these frigging sanctimonious elite shits want to get their way again on the matter of their yellow hero appointing his own choice of SC CJ.

They talk of the need for Corona not to accept the appointment, for delicadeza’s sake. They talk of this being a midnight appointment, and an erroneous decision and that the high court loses all its independence and respect with a chief justice allied with Gloria at the helm of the judiciary, as right now, there is already doubt cast on the integrity and independence of the court.

But just who are casting these doubts, if not these sanctimonious elite shits, and all because they want to have their way, instead of bowing to the law — as interpreted by the high court, right or wrong.

It is the elite creating all these controversies, not the Filipino people, and frankly, these elitists do not represent the Filipino people, whom they have, through their greed for power and position, kept them poor and ignorant all along with their lies and hypocrisy.

These yellow elites do not realize that which they are doing to get their way with their yellow hero’s choice of chief justice is causing much damage to the high court.... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100516com2.html


Why is the random audit taking too long? ENQUIRY Demaree J. B. Raval 05/16/2010

Why is the random audit taking too long?



ENQUIRY
Demaree J. B. Raval
05/16/2010
It is very alarming.

The random manual audit is taking too long, and the results in those precincts where the audit is already finished are not being made public immediately. Worse, we are told that it will take about a month for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to come out with the results of the audit.

A precinct audit should only take at most half a day, after which its results should be immediately transmitted to the audit committee and simultaneously made public. Any delay will fuel fears about discrepancies being covered up, and will make the audit process less credible.

The random manual audit is the only remaining chance we have to determine the error rate of the PCOS machines that counted the votes on May 10, 2010. Without knowing the error rate, we will never know how trustworthy the machine counts and, by extension, the final outcome of the elections.

At the Kapihan sa Sulo yesterday, Roberto Verzola of the electoral watchdog Halalang Marangal pointed out that with the acceptability of the results of the random manual audit put into serious doubt with the unexplainable delay, the credibility of the outcome of the elections is likely to be questioned.

The random manual audit is the last remaining chance to determine the error rate of the PCOS machines, after the Comelec had taken away the four other possible modes, thus: (1) The results of the Comelec acceptance tests, which should have included tests for machine error rates, remain confidential; (2) The Systest Labs test results, which should also include machine error rates, also remain confidential; (3) A final testing should have established that the machines make zero error when counting the votes in 10 ballots. Instead, the machines showed errors so glaring that the Comelec cancelled the tests, and (4) On election day, a voter verification feature in the machine should have shown the voter if his choices were correctly registered, but the Comelec disabled this feature..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100516com3.html


Bongbong for president? BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 05/16/2010

Bongbong for president?



BLURBAL THRUSTS
Louie Logarta
05/16/2010
They’re back.

After being unceremoniously being kicked out of the country together with the family patriarch, President Marcos, some 24 years ago in the aftermath of the Edsa I people power uprising, the 80-year-old wife and two children of the late dictator are back in the political scene. And with a vengeance.

If the current trend is to continue, only son Bongbong Marcos appears headed for a resounding victory in the senatorial contest; while his mother former First Lady Imelda Marcos has already clinched a seat in the incoming House of Representatives and sister former Rep. Imee Marcos, has won handily as Ilocos Norte governor (after trouncing her first cousin incumbent Gov. Michael Keon) in the just-concluded elections.

This is utterly remarkable, because in the span of just 24 years, the Marcoses have managed to reinvent themselves from the pariahs they were made out to be by the “yellow forces” of President Cory Aquino (mother of Sen. Noynoy Aquino who is currently leading the unofficial tally of the presidential elections) into political celebrities that the public can’t seem to get enough of.

And to think that the Presidential Commission on Good Government still has to recover some P80 billion of the alleged P140 billion ill-gotten wealth that the deposed dictator is supposed to have amassed during his 20 years in power.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100516com4.html


‘The people have spoken,’ which people? TABLETS OF STONE Larry Faraon, OP 05/16/2010

‘The people have spoken,’ which people?



TABLETS OF STONE
Larry Faraon, OP
05/16/2010

The people have decided,” but which people — only those who voted for the winning candidate? Of course not, those “who have spoken” should include even those who voted for the other candidates. Theirs too are supposed to be heard through the ballots, in the PCOS machines, in the transmittal and the canvassing boards up to the end of the whole constitutional process in these democratic elections.

And this is precisely what President Joseph Estrada is up to when he refuses to concede to the leading candidate, Sen. Noynoy Aquino.

President Erap regardless of being the second placer in this ongoing unofficial count had to make sure that those who voted for him are counted properly and spared from any intentions of manipulation, for instance being shaved off from his and added to another favored candidate. Neither is he displaying the loser-syndrome of sour graping. President Estrada had worse experiences in the past, yet has managed them in mature statesmanship. He believes that only in an election can the poor level off with the rich; and therefore every vote counts, every vote needs to be read, counted, transmitted and registered in the canvass boards regardless of whether it could materially affect the margins of the leading candidate!... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100516com5.html


Clerical obligation VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 05/16/2010

Clerical obligation



VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
05/16/2010

Clerics are bound always to do their utmost in fostering among people, peace and harmony based on justice.” (Canon 287 par. 1 CIC)

It is a given that as concretely provided by the Code of Canon Law, Clerics — Deacons, Priest and Bishops — have a pretty good number of obligations compared to their rather very few rights. It is for this distinct reason that instead of the standard phrase “Rights and Obligations,” the said Code of laws for the Universal Church says it exactly in the reverse, viz., “The Obligations and Rights of Clerical” (Book II, Chapter III).

And during these troubled and troubling times in the country, the majority of whose population is either but nominally or really practicing “Christian,” it becomes not only relevant but also practical to know and understand not simply who — but especially so — what are clerics for. Truth to say, Deacons, Priests and Bishops are not merely meant to stay in their Churches and remain in their convents — such as in terms of baptizing infants and blessing the dead, celebrating Fiestas, holding Novenas and conducting Processions. Truth to say, the said agenda form an essential part of the ordained Ministry. It remains true nevertheless that the said clerical services — necessary and sublime as they are — remain comforting and comfortable. But said programs alone, keep clerics in the so called “Comfort Zone.”.... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100516com6.html


Fear of Tehran haunts Iranian refugees in Turkey FEATURE 05/16/2010

Fear of Tehran haunts Iranian refugees in Turkey



FEATURE

05/16/2010
NEVSEHIR — Tortured in jails and threatened with death, Behzad, Siyavash and Ali have, like hundreds of dissident Iranians, found refuge in Turkey, but peace of mind is still eluding them as fear of Tehran’s agents remains a daily torment.

While fellow opposition activists are preparing to hold protests in Iran at the anniversary of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election on June 12, 2009, Behzad (not his real name) leads a secluded life in a shabby flat in Nevsehir, central Turkey.

“The tortures that I went through and those that I witnessed — an animal would not do that to another animal,” said the young man. His only fault, he said, was to have participated in a student protest challenging the election results last year.

Showing pictures of his back scarred by bruises after a four-month stint in prison, Behzad lists the horrors to which he was subjected: beating, sexual abuse, forced insomnia, cold water dousing and the terror of standing blindfolded in what turned out to be a mock execution.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100516com7.html


PMP bares proof of massive fraud Charlie V. Manalo 05/16/2010

TATAD CONSIDERS MOVE TO NULLIFY POLL RESULTS

PMP bares proof of massive fraud


Charlie V. Manalo
05/16/2010

The camp of former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada showed documents yesterday which it will use to support allegations of massive electronic fraud in the country’s first automated elections held last May 10 some showing pre-programmed votes that are dated way ahead of election day.

At a press briefing held at Estrada’s Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) headquarters in Mandaluyong, party campaign manager Ernesto Maceda presented photo copies of election returns signed by members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs), but were dated before the May 10 polls. 

Maceda said the documents, furnished to him by former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, showed election returns in Manila dated not May 10 but April 28, May 4 and May 9, to support allegations of poll pre-programming.

PMP senatorial candidate Francisco Tatad added the May 10 elections involved a scam so enormous it could make the “Hello Garci” scandal of 2004 a mere child’s play as it involved electronically pre-programmed results, prompting him to call on all the candidates, winners and losers, to join him and file a petition for a constitutional action with the possibility of seeking the nullification of the election results.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100516hed1.html


Bong, Jinggoy lead nine confirmed senators By Marie Surbano 05/16/2010

Bong, Jinggoy lead nine confirmed senators


By Marie Surbano
05/16/2010

Nine senators led by reelectionists Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. (Lakas-Kampi-CMD) and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada (Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino) who were leading in the official tally of the May 10 elections were proclaimed yesterday by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBoC).

In a formal ceremony at the national canvassing center at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), the other senators sworn in were Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago (People’s Reform Party); former Senate President Franklin Drilon (Liberal Party); Senate 

President Juan Ponce-Enrile (PMP); Sen. Pia Cayetano (Nacionalista Party); Rep. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (Nacionalista Party); former senator Ralph Recto (Liberal Party); and former senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III (Nationalist People’s Coalition).

Revilla got the highest number of votes with 18,218,514 as of the latest tally. He was accompanied by the members of his family including his wife, Lani Mercado, who also won in the Congressional race in Cavite, hometown of the Revillas. 

The Comelec said the proclamation of the nine senators was warranted by the votes they garnered which are already beyond being surmounted by other candidates for the 12 senatorial slots despite the remaining uncanvassed provincial Certificates of Canvass (PCoCs).... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100516hed3.html

Palace exec admits GMA faces uphill battle for House speakership By Aytch S. de la Cruz 05/16/2010

Palace exec admits GMA faces uphill battle for House speakership



By Aytch S. de la Cruz
05/16/2010

Just like any person coming in to a new environment, President Arroyo is expected to make some adjustments for herself in the House of Representatives, especially in terms of garnering support from her fellow lawmakers should she pursue so-called plans to get the House Speaker position above all other challenges that would come her way as a congresswoman, a Malacañang official yesterday said.

Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar admitted on-air that the road toward obtaining the leadership in the lower chamber is never going to be easy even for someone like Arroyo notwithstanding her vast political background.

“The President is going to Congress as a neophyte member (that is) no different from any newcomer in Congress. She would have usual challenges of not only crafting her own legislation but (also) of garnering support from her colleagues to have her legislations passed into law. This is what the job of a congressman entails,” Olivar said on radio.

Restating that the race for speakership is a numbers game, Olivar asserted that it’s going to be an “uphill battle” for any political party that is bent on fielding its respective bets for the top House post.... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

  URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100516hed6.html


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