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Noy gets a divine message EDITORIAL 02/27/2011

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Noy gets a divine message

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
02/27/2011
Noynoy, in his speech marking Edsa I, again invited Filipinos to join him in his journey through the straight path, something which he has been asking for since the campaign for the presidency. Such mindless invitation makes it look like either nobody has yet taken up his challenge or he is into rambling words that do not mean anything to him.

Also he asked for unity while at the same time engaging in head bashing of former Presidents Marcos and Arroyo. The point is, why call for unity when he does not mean it?

Noynoy had stuck to the reformist image that won him the elections, that is a literal meaning of stuck. He has failed to move beyond being the candidate and step into the shoes of the president that Filipinos thought would lead them to the road to good governance and prosperity.

What he says seem to be rehashes, if not clean copies of what he delivered to convince Filipinos to vote for him during the campaign for the 2010 elections..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com1.html

Enough already FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 02/27/2011

Enough already

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
02/27/2011
Quite frankly, after 25 years, the issue of the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos should be put to rest.

His family wants him buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, and really, there is no reason not to have his remains — which are frozen, kept for years in a refrigerated crypt — buried in Libingan.

It is not as if the Libingan ng mga Bayani is reserved for the Yelllows and their allies who have died, or that those buried there are cleaner than clean.

So why are the Marcoses denied their desire to have Marcos buried in that particular cemetery?

The whole issue of denying the Marcos burial at the Libingan — was due to the fact that, by the time Marcos died, it was Cory Aquino in power and position, and it is common knowledge she, her family and the Marcoses were bitter enemies. Cory was so vindictive in denying Marcos that burial site that she actually ordered state honors and a state funeral for a military dog that had died..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com2.html

Abused Afghan women fear for future of shelters FEATURE 02/27/2011

Abused Afghan women fear for future of shelters

FEATURE

02/27/2011
KABUL — At a secret women’s shelter in Kabul, a mother with sad brown eyes who fled with five children all born after relatives raped her explains her fears over Afghan government plans to take over the refuges.

The 28-year-old left her home in Laghman province, east Afghanistan, three months ago and now lives at the shelter, which keeps its windows whitewashed and curtains drawn so neighbors do not guess what it is.

“My husband wasn’t a good person and all the time he was out and we didn’t have any food. When I told my husband’s father and his brother to bring food, they abused me,” she told AFP while breastfeeding her youngest, aged six weeks.

She plucked up the courage to flee her home but now her father-in-law has followed her to Kabul to try and force her to come back, she says..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com3.html

Customs payola reaches Malacañang BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 02/27/2011

Customs payola reaches Malacañang

BLURBAL THRUSTS
Louie Logarta
02/27/2011
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima really needn’t look too far to find the heads that will be made to roll in connection with the prevalence of Filipino drug mules (or couriers) using the Ninoy Aquino international Airport (NAIA) as their jump-off point for various overseas destinations.

Literally, they can be found in the back yard. In the Bureau of Immigration, Bureau of Customs and PNP Aviation Security Group units operating in the NAIA.

In a press briefing, De Lima said there are over 70 Filipinos now languishing in death row in China for drug offenses, the bulk of whom were convicted sometime in 2008 and 2009, before the entry of the Aquino administration. “Bakit hindi sila na-detect papalabas sa NAIA? Pwedeng backdoor. Maaring ipinalusot. Vulnerable to corruption kasi ang mga tao.”

She disclosed that she had been specifically tasked by President Aquino to find out once and for all if these mules had managed to smuggle illegal drugs out of the country as a result of inferior technology or connivance of corrupt airport personnel. Or both..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com4.html

Clueless diplomacy TABLETS OF STONE Larry Faraon, OP 02/27/2011

Clueless diplomacy

TABLETS OF STONE
Larry Faraon, OP
02/27/2011
\"I am sorry” has been a pejorative phrase in Philippine politics since Mrs. Arroyo debased the most powerful emotional sentiment of a person next to “I love you.” It would seem therefore prudent to avoid such phrase especially in the mending or healing of wounded relationships with Taiwan. Ever since the One-China Policy, the country has been on a tightrope mode of existence vis-à-vis the two Sino-neighbors.

The latest row with the Taiwanese government which has turned more sour because of miscalculated diplomatic skirmishes from both sides is totally unnecessary though. The conflict between PRoC and RoC has always been kept low by both themselves since such political warps between them would prove detrimental to their respective pursuit for economic progress. The Chinese, especially the business kind, are wary about politics — as they quip here in Binondo, malas sa negosyo!.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com5.html

Brain drain VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 02/27/2011

Brain drain

VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
02/27/2011
Finding: “Filipino science and technology workers leaving the country to work abroad jumping by 148 percent”. Perception: “Grim scenario.” Identification: “Nurses and midwives, Engineers, Doctors, Dentists, Veterinarians and pharmacists.” Lamentation: “It is a sad fact that we are losing them. We hope that we can find ways to make more of them stay in the country and use their talents here.”

Thus goes the report of a much circulated national broadsheet according to a pronouncement from the Department of Science and Education. The “Brain Drain” started in 1998. While the said Department did not say that the sad phenomenon is ongoing up to this day, it would be nevertheless contrary to plain reality to say that it has stopped. The fact is that to date, there seems to be no foreign developed and developing country without the presence of OFWs. This is a standing fact that would be foolish if not downright irrational to deny..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com6.html

Exhausted rescuers feel quake’s emotional toll focus 02/27/2011

Exhausted rescuers feel quake’s emotional toll

focus

02/27/2011
CHRISTCHURCH — Devastated rescue workers had to be dragged away from the wreckage of Christchurch’s CTV building, unable to stop thinking of the entombed earthquake victims they were leaving behind.

“It’s not a matter of just walking away from a worksite, they were touching bodies,” said police commander Dave Cliff, describing how searchers refused to leave the fire-scarred site on Wednesday night, 24 hours after the tremor.

“This is deeply emotional for those people working on this. They do it because they have an absolute desire to help people, to find people to rescue.”

About 700 rescue workers are now sifting steel and concrete wreckage in central Christchurch, New Zealand’s second-biggest city, which was hammered Tuesday by the vicious 6.3-magnitude earthquake..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com7.html

Aquino takes swipe anew at Marcos over Edsa plaints By Aytch S. de la Cruz 02/27/2011

CLAIMS RP WON’T FOLLOW SINGAPORE BUT BECOME ANOTHER LIBYA

Aquino takes swipe anew at Marcos over Edsa plaints

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 02/27/2011

President Aquino stayed the course of delving into the sins of the past a day after the Edsa I celebrations criticizing those raising the unfulfilled promises of the People Power revolt comparing the probable descent of the nation into a turmoil similar to what is happening in Libya had uprising in 1986 did not happen.

In a speech during the conferment of awards to key personalities in the Edsa I revolt, Aquino again made use of the Marcos regime in extolling the supposed gains after the Edsa revolt.

He referred to Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s assertion that the Philippines could have followed the footsteps of Singapore had it not been for the Edsa I revolt.

Aquino said in his speech that it had recently become fashionable to point out the unfulfilled promises of Edsa with some daring to say that “maybe a one-man rule was not such a bad idea, never mind the oppression and the lack of liberties.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110227hed1.html

Noynoy plays hardball with Taiwan over row By Aytch S. de la Cruz 02/27/2011

Noynoy plays hardball with Taiwan over row

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 02/27/2011
President Aquino wants to tough it out with Taiwan over the conflict on the repatriation of Taiwan residents accused of fraud to China, saying that alternative countries for employment will be offered to those to be displaced by Taiwan’s freezing of the hiring of Filipinos over the refusal of the Aquino administration to apologize over the deportation issue.

Malacañang said yesterday an instruction was formally given to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to search for alternative employment destinations for Filipinos who would have to bear Taiwan’s brunt over the deportation row.

This developed as Taiwanese legislators have sought an “indefinite” freeze on the hiring of Filipino workers as a result of Manila’s “unfriendly” attitude towards Taipei.

Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte said on radio that following Aquino’s recent statement, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) is now working to find additional employment opportunities forFilipinos abroad other than Taiwan..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110227hed2.html

98 Pinoys arrive from Libya; DFA execs in Tunisia for repatriated OFWs 02/27/2011

98 Pinoys arrive from Libya; DFA execs in Tunisia for repatriated OFWs

02/27/2011
Close to 100 Libya-based repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) landed in Manila in batches yesterday as the government stepped up efforts to bring thousands more home.

According to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, the 98 OFWs arrived from France where they were evacuated by their local recruitment agencies and their employer, Vinci Grand Projects.

The government estimates that 26,000 Filipinos were working in the oil-rich North African country before the uprising against Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi broke out, part of a vast number of mostly lower-paid migrant workers in the country from across Asia and Africa.

Their jobs ranged from domestic helpers to engineers and white-collar workers..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110227hed3.html

Senate eyes clipping powers of Ombudsman By Angie M. Rosales 02/27/2011

Senate eyes clipping powers of Ombudsman

By Angie M. Rosales 02/27/2011
The Senate plans to go directly to the root of the problem in the anomalous plea bargain deal retired military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia had obtained to free him from a plunder case by clipping the prosecutorial powers of the Ombudsman.

Sen. Franklin Drilon initiated the move even as he also called for a review of the laws providing for plea bargaining on cases involving plunder and other high crimes.

“We must have a law which should regulate plea bargaining,” he told the Senate blue ribbon committee before its proceedings last Friday was put in suspension by panel chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III.

In recommending at least three legislative measures for the committee’s consideration in its panel report on the proceedings, Drilon called for a review for possible amendment of the law that created the Office of the Ombudsman..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110227hed5.html

23 priority bills up for Ledac meeting, says Malacañang 02/27/2011

23 priority bills up for Ledac meeting, says Malacañang

02/27/2011
Everything is all set for the first Executive Legislative Development Advisory Council (Ledac) to be led by President Aquino tomorrow, with a total of 23 priority bills slated to be discussed, Malacañang yesterday said.

Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte told the state-run radio dzRB that the meeting is scheduled to finally start at 10 a.m.

She said Malacañang is ready to present 23 legislative measures but she was not able to give substantial details regarding the matter.

“From what I understand, 23 priority bills made it to the list. So we are just essentially waiting for the meeting to happen this Monday (today) and, of course, we’ll be on hand to give you more information once the meeting is already under way,” Valte only said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110227hed6.html

AFP suspends offensive operation vs NPA rebels By Mario J. Mallari 02/27/2011

AFP suspends offensive operation vs NPA rebels

By Mario J. Mallari 02/27/2011
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday declared the week-long suspension of offensive military operations (Somo) with the communist New People’s Army (NPA) as a success with only minimal violations committed by the threat group during the period.

The Somo, which started Feb. 15 in time for the resumption of the formal peace negotiations between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in Oslo, Norway, lapsed midnight Monday.

“By large, it has been successful. There may have been some violations reported but apparently these appear to be minimal,” AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said during a press briefing.

Mabanta said that the military is not privy to what transpired during the week-long talks in Oslo..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110227nat2.html

Albay bags 2011 Palarong Bikol championship 02/27/2011

Albay bags 2011 Palarong Bikol championship

02/27/2011
Guinobatan, Albay — This province bagged this year’s championship in the recently concluded Palarong Bikol here. It bested 13 other regional sports delegations and snatched the top honors from reigning champion Camarines Norte. It was Albay’s best performance ever in 26 years in the regional sports festival.
Albay amassed 140 gold medals, 88 silvers and 68 bronzes for total haul of 296 medals, posting a record of 489.1 points, 54.5 points over dislodged 2010 champ Camarines Norte, which got only 434.5 points and finished as 1st runner up.

Camarines Sur trailed Camarines Norte with 432.5 points, followed by Legazpi City and Naga City to complete the top five placers in the regional games that ended February 18 at Albay Sports Complex here.
“It took so long in coming - 26 years - before Albay again captured the top spot of Bicol sports. Despite 24 days of continuous heavy rainfall right before the Bicol Palaro and the challenge of playing host, it is quite a feat,” a proud Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said in a statement..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110227nat5.html

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