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Different Aquino dog, same Gloria collar EDITORIAL 05/19/2010

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Different Aquino dog, same Gloria collar



EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
05/19/2010
Sen. Noynoy Aquino has not even been proclaimed president-elect by the Congress, but he and the Liberal Party (LP) members, who have promised change and reforms, are this early, showing their opportunistic streak and even plan on continuing with what Gloria Arroyo practiced during her nine-year reign.
In the fight for the speakership, LP spokesman Lorenzo Tañada was quoted as saying that the incoming Aquino administration will withhold the pork barrel of any congressman who doesn’t vote for the LP bet for Speaker.

Moreover, the LP, prostitute that it is, has plans to cohabit with the Nacionalista Party (NP), or any other party for that matter, to get the majority in the House of Representatives.

Said Tañada: “We all know the culture in the House; lawmakers need to bring projects to their constituents if they want to show proof of service to their constituents. Even if we don’t want to do it, we might just have to, just to ensure stability in the House.”

So young, and so trapo is Tañada, who, it is certain, speaks out the thoughts of Aquino and the LP members. Trapos all.

And yet it was they who were grumbling about the way Gloria withheld the pork barrel of those opposed to her. Now that their candidate won the presidential derby according to unofficial results, they will do exactly about which they crabbed.... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100519com1.html


Empty threats FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 05/19/2010

Empty threats



FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
05/19/2010

In the end, it will have to be Noynoy Aquino who will have to blink in the matter of the appointment of Chief Justice Renato Corona, because even if Noynoy refuses to recognize him as the CJ, whether he likes it or not, Corona is now the Chief Justice and head of the judiciary and quite frankly, the Supreme Court under Corona need not even bother with the tantrums of the chief executive. The high court will go its own way.

Even those threats of Aquino and his lawyers saying that they will have Corona impeached is empty, given the fact that there are no existing grounds against Corona with which to have him impeached.

Truth is, all those lawyers from the (in)famous FIRM, now allied with Aquino who wanted Justice Antonio Carpio to become the CJ, were applying all these threats and pressure on Corona, to embarrass him into not accepting the post of CJ, but these tactics failed, and Corona has come off a better judicial figure, while these FIRM members were shown up for what they really were: hungry for a strong influence in the judiciary — something that they had enjoyed in the early reign of Gloria Arroyo.

So Noynoy threatens to have himself sworn in by a barangay captain? So what? This move is not going to embarrass Corona and the high court, but himself. Moreover, this move would only show up the vindictive nature of Noynoy, along with his pettiness. 

It doesn’t bother the new CJ that he will not be around to swear in Noynoy should he be proclaimed president-elect by the Congress. It’s no big deal to him.... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100519com2.html


Proof of cheating mounts MR. EXPOSE Amb. Ernesto Maceda 05/19/2010

Proof of cheating mounts



MR. EXPOSE
Amb. Ernesto Maceda
05/19/2010
The camp of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) standard bearer President Joseph Estrada yesterday threw its weight behind moves of election watchdog Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) to restore the integrity and credibility of the electoral process by conducting an audit of all 76,475 compact flash cards used in the country’s first ever automated polls held last week.

“The PMP firmly believes that mounting reports of electronic fraud, pre-programming of compact flash cards, and other serious irregularities are too many to ignore and must be addressed immediately if the results are to be fully acceptable to the public,” we believe.

“Thus we welcome and fully support the PPCRV as it takes the lead in ensuring that compact flash cards used for the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines are not only safeguarded but audited to ensure that it is the sovereign people’s will that was reflected in the recent elections.”

Last Monday, PPCRV chairperson Henrietta de Villa wrote to Comelec chairman Jose Melo urging, among others, an inventory of the defective flash cards which were replaced a few days before the elections after they failed to accurately read ballots.

De Villa also pointed out in her letter that “the problems surfacing now regarding flash cards being found here and there, as well as complaints of loaded flash cards that imply cheating… can be resolved faster and with credibility of the 76,475 flash cards can be accounted for.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100519com4.html


A Noynoy presidency HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 05/19/2010

A Noynoy presidency



HE SAYS
Aldrin Cardon
05/19/2010

I would like to be counted among the optimists, the best a Filipino can contribute to a new leadership to replace a rotten one, but I doubt if president-in-waiting Noynoy Aquino could really eradicate corruption in government under his leadership, the same bane that has pestered the one he is about to succeed.

To the idealists, Noynoy is a gift from heaven, a panacea to the ills that have plagued this once great country of ours, for nine years and even beyond, as even as a young child, this rubbernecker could not remember not hearing the words corruption, lagay, kotong, and their variants at least a day of his existence.

Corruption, not a few claimed, has become endemic in our system. But even foreign visitors would come to our defense in saying corruption exist in all governments, and that there is no sure formula in stopping it.

Noynoy would need a stronger hand if he is serious about his campaign promise. He would also need a lot of allies, all with clean hands, in stamping out the bad eggs from government, many of them appointed and elected, which make Noynoy’s campaign statements nothing but bunkum, all made to earn additional pogi points, like he still needs them to prop up his passed-on popularity gained by his deceased parents.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100519com6.html



When the smoke clears SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 05/19/2010

When the smoke clears



SHE SAYS
Dinah S. Ventura
05/19/2010
Just days after the first automated polls in our country, it became quite clear that Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino would end up in Malacañang. Maintaining a comfortable lead over his unforeseen rival, former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada, Aquino is now largely seen as the next president of the Philippines.

These days, the son of two famous modern heroes is both hailed and crowned with plenty of thorns. His supporters defend criticisms of a perceived “weak” leadership, which are based mostly on his 12 (some say “unimpressive”) years in public office.

Even now, talk is rife about the future battles he may have to wage in politics, starting with the fact that his predecessor, President Gloria Arroyo, has secured for herself a seat in Congress and is rumored to be eyeing the Speakership. Also, former First Lady Imelda Marcos, wife of the president who was booted out when Cory Aquino came into power, is now also a congressman, elected to her post at the age of 80. The Marcoses, generally perceived as enemies of the Aquino family, are in power again, with Imee as governor and Bongbong in the Senate. What could this mean for the next president of the Philippines?

Political observers say this could mean that Aquino will have a hard time accomplishing his goals if he faces opposition from Congress. Eventually, they add, an Arroyo-led House could work toward a Charter change, where a new form of government would make Gloria the Prime Minister.... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100519com7.html


Brazil’s Lula may have ‘scored a goal’ on Iran ANALYSIS 05/19/2010

Brazil’s Lula may have ‘scored a goal’ on Iran



ANALYSIS

05/19/2010

BRASILIA — For admirers of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — and there are many — the deal reached with Iran over its nuclear activities was a diplomatic triumph seized with high-stakes, last-minute flair.

For the United States and its allies skeptical over Tehran’s track record of broken promises, though, the accord is a vexing problem, an obstacle to UN sanctions on Iran they had been pushing hard for.

Lula himself crowed from Tehran that “diplomacy emerged victorious.”

Unspoken but implied was that he had pulled off a coup in the last year of his mandate, boosting Brazil’s profile on the international stage to the stature it badly wants: that of a global player deserving of a permanent UN Security Council seat.

“If Iran complies with this deal, Brazil will have scored a goal with its diplomacy,” opined one analyst to AFP, professor Marcelo Coutinho of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Rubens Figuereido, a specialist at the University of Sao Paulo, agreed.

“If the agreement is what they say it is, it’s a victory without precedent for Brazil because it’s the first time it has put itself at the forefront of the international diplomatic stage,” he said.... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100519com3.html


Underwater oil plumes could create new ‘dead zone’ in Gulf focus 05/19/2010

Underwater oil plumes could create new ‘dead zone’ in Gulf



focus

05/19/2010

NEW ORLEANS — Giant plumes of oil floating deep in the Gulf of Mexico could create a new “dead zone” of oxygen-depleted waters unfit for marine life and wreak environmental damage that will take generations to overcome, scientists warned Monday.

“Normally, in a shallow spill, everything pretty much shoots up to the surface and the impacts are primarily to surface organisms like turtles, dolphins, and birds,” said Paul Montagna, a marine ecologist at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies.

But the oil which has been gushing out of the wreckage of the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon since April 22 is traveling up through chilly, dark waters 5,000 feet below the surface.

“Under this really cold, high pressure environment the oil is getting dispersed through the water column,” Montagna said in a telephone interview.

“What that means is that basically life in the entire water column is now being exposed.”....MORE


SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100519com5.html


Erap votes auto shaved by 5M—whistleblower By Pat C. Santos 05/19/2010

Erap votes auto shaved by 5M—whistleblower


By Pat C. Santos
05/19/2010

Election fraud operators are now coming out of the woodwork and detailing just how some presidential candidates in the May 10, 2010 polls were cheated out of millions of votes, with former President Joseph Estrada’s votes electronically shaved by some 5 million votes.

The main beneficiary of the electronic fraud was said to have been Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino.

Buddy Cunanan who introduced himself to the media at a forum as a concerned citizen and a columnist of the Manila Times yesterday presented a 30-minute video showing a “masked man” who called himself a whistleblower and admitted that he was a cheating operator in charge mainly of electronic cheating in his assigned areas, such as Laguna, Pangasinan, the National Capital Region and Region 1V.

It will be recalled that Estrada lost in his bailwick Laguna and the NCR, landing in Number 3 position even in San Juan City.

In the video the man claimed that the presidential race was not between Estrada and Aquino, but between Estrada and administration candidate Gilbert Teodoro.

Estrada’s votes were shaved by 5 million votes. Teodoro had about the same number of votes shaved, the whistleblower claimed..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100519hed1.html



PCOS may have been hacked — Nograles By Charlie V. Manalo 05/19/2010

PCOS may have been hacked — Nograles


By Charlie V. Manalo
05/19/2010

Smartmatic and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) have been crowing that the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) can’t be hacked, and there-fore no automated cheating can occur.

But it appears that they spoke too soon, as a docu-mentary film aired recently on TV showed just how easily the PCOS machines can be hacked and votes manipulated.

Speaker Prospero Nograles yesterday said that while Congress is determined to push the early procla-mation of the country’s next President and Vice-President, he is equally disturbed by the fact that an HBO film documentary showed automated election manipulation by hacking into the memory cards of optical machines similar to the PCOS used during the May 10 national elections.

At a press briefing, Nograles said that based on an HBO film documentary, Harri Hursti demonstrated how votes can be manipulated even without any physical contact with a random sample of an optical scanning machine that was actually used during US elections as long as the memory card used was programmed by Hursti himself.

Nograles said the documentary entitled Hacking Democracy showed disturbing results, entirely reversing the actual votes made vis-a-vis the result churned out by the randomly selected optical scanning machine.

“My attention was called to documented evidence of counting machine anomalies in the United States, one of which is the Hursti hack. The result should have 1 for ‘yes’ and ‘7’ for ‘no’ but when the machine showed the result, it was ‘7’ for yes and 1 for ‘no’. Nograles said.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100519hed2.html


Thai Red Shirts OK Senate negotiations offer 05/19/2010

Thai Red Shirts OK Senate negotiations offer


05/19/2010
BANGKOK — Thai anti-government protesters on Tuesday agreed to an offer by the nation’s Senate to mediate crisis talks with the government to end wild street battles that have left 38 dead.

Five days of clashes with troops have reduced parts of Bangkok to battle zones, with columns of smoke billowing overhead from piles of tires set ablaze by the “Red Shirt” protesters occupying the city’s main shopping district.
As the United Nations urged Thailand to “step back from the brink,” some 60 senators sent a letter to the government and the Reds Monday, urging them to halt the violence and enter into talks organized by the upper house.

“The Reds agree to accept the proposal by the Senate speaker who wants to mediate the talks, and are ready to join from now,” said protest leader Nattawut Saikuar.

“We will not go with any conditions, the senator is free to offer any proposals and we are willing to consider them,” he added, in a climbdown from earlier demands for talks brokered by the UN or another international agency.
Two previous rounds of negotiations have raised hopes for a peaceful resolution but then collapsed, and the government has not responded to the latest proposal.... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100519hed5.html


Comelec proclaims last three winners in Senate race, completes roster of 12 05/19/2010

Comelec proclaims last three winners in Senate race, completes roster of 12


05/19/2010

After deferring it for a day, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has finally proclaimed the three remaining winners of the Senate race that was part of the national elections last May 10, completing the 12 slots that were open.

While the canvassing of all provincial Certificates of Canvass (PCoC) has yet to be completed, the Comelec, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBoC), yesterday proclaimed former Sen. Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III (independent), re-electionist Sen. Manuel “Lito” Lapid (Lakas-Kampi-CMD), and outgoing Bukidnon Rep. Teofisto “TG” Guingona III (Liberal Party). 

In a resolution, the NBoC said it decided to give the Comelec the go-ahead to proclaim Osmeña, Lapid and Guingona as it was already statistically improbable for the other ranking Senate candidates to catch up or overtake them in the vote count.

Based on the tally of the NBoC, Osmeña had garnered a total of 11,583,854 votes while Lapid had 10,971,045 votes derived from 102 of the 103 PCoC.

Guingona, meanwhile, had 10,200,293 votes, which is 1,158,799 votes over fellow LP member, Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros, who had 9,041,494 votes.... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100519nat2.html


Binay to Roxas: Don’t do another ‘Hello Garci’ 05/19/2010

Binay to Roxas: Don’t do another ‘Hello Garci’


05/19/2010
Front-running United Opposition (UNO) vice presidential candidate Jejomar Binay has called on his close rival, Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, to not do a repeat of the “Hello Garci” scandal as the nation awaits the genuine results of the elections.

Speaking through Lito Anzures, Binay said he believes Roxas is as committed as he is to clean, honest and credible elections and both of them must respect the people’s will by not doing anything that would impeach the real outcome of the May 10 elections.
Anzures stressed that the figures from all regions indicate the statistical improbability of a 100 percent outcome for Roxas just as it is impossible for him to receive 100 percent from the remaining election results from Luzon areas in which he had established a clear advantage over the senator from Capiz province.
He said a trend has been set in the tabulations of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and the Kapisanan ng mga Broadcasters ng Pilipinas (KBP), which were far more complete than the figures cited by the Liberal Party (LP).... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100519nat4.html


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