• 6 AUGUST - *1907 - Gen. Macario Sakay, one of the Filipino military leaders who had continued fighting the imperialist United States invaders eight years into the Ph...
    11 years ago

......................................................................................

The Daily Tribune

(Without Fear or Favor)

Specials:

Bulatlat.com

World Wildlife Fund for Nature-Philippines

The Philippines Matrix Project

Debasing the Senate EDITORIAL 03/17/2011

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Debasing the Senate

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
03/17/2011
Sen. Teofisto “TG” Guingona has proved himself, along with the other Liberal Party (LP) senators, and allies of Noynoy Aquino in the Senate who signed the report without as much as a reservation clause, to be true-blue presidential lackeys, and far from being a representative of the Filipino people or even looking after the Filipinos’ interests.

After proudly announcing to media that he had given Noynoy Aquino a copy of his partial blue ribbon committee report, he said he was confident that his report would be approved by the majority of senators in plenary..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110317com1.html

Prepared, we are not FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 03/17/2011

Prepared, we are not

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
03/17/2011
With the ongoing crisis in Japan, mainly due to the 9 magnitude earthquake that brought about the giant tsunami and danger of radioactivity spread due the massive damage to the nuclear plants, the Philippine government authorities went into an all-out stage play, complete with scientists, with masks and gadgets, checking on the level of radiation in the country.

Added to this were Health officials claiming that yes, they are prepared should a nuclear mushroom cloud spread to the country, as they can quickly order iodine as a cure, claiming they know where to get it, and also know the price.

The message of this government’s stage play was that the government is prepared for any catastrophe.
This is bull manure and they certainly know it. We are not prepared for calamities and catastrophes that befall the country. And even if we go through the motions of preparedness for “any eventuality,” the truth is that government cannot cope with such catastrophes..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110317com2.html

Life as a leftover evacuee stranded in Libya FEATURE 03/17/2011

Life as a leftover evacuee stranded in Libya

FEATURE

03/17/2011
TRIPOLI — In a makeshift camp at Tripoli airport’s car park, dozens of Africans who are among thousands of “leftover” evacuees fleeing the turmoil in Libya crowd round a truck to receive their meagre rations.

“The people here have no food or water, which they need. We have nothing. The people are sick. Please help us to get back home,” pleads young Ghanaian Kwame Ofork, clutching a small bag of food like a hard-won trophy.

Because of the continuing chaos in the North African country, where a revolt against leader Moamer Kadhafi erupted a month ago, people of many different nationalities are still looking for a way out.

On Friday, the International Organisation for Migration chief in Tripoli, Laurence Hart, told AFP the IOM was negotiating with Libyan authorities to send a humanitarian mission to rescue stranded foreigners..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110317com3.html

Philpost new illegal drugs conduit BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 03/17/2011

Philpost new illegal drugs conduit

BLURBAL THRUSTS
Louie Logarta
03/17/2011
It would appear that the “shoot-to-kill strategy” of Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim is working wonders in his avowed campaign to rid the Manila Police District of its rotten eggs.
Due to the shoot to kill orders that had been issued against them by Manila Mayor Lim, five fugitive Manila policemen who were being sought for allegedly pocketing P12 million of the P16 million ransom paid for the release of a Malaysian businessman have given themselves up to city hall.

They have denied the charges.

Victim Eric Sim Chin Tong, who claimed to have been kidnapped last week in his warehouse in Malabon, alleged he was forced to cough up P16 million to his captors whom MPD Police Station 5 operatives, among whom were the five suspect cops, later apprehended. But they only presented P4.2 million to authorities which caused Lim to go ballistic..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110317com4.html

Forgiveness VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 03/17/2011

Forgiveness

VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
03/17/2011
With its repeated and insistent plea for the triumph of truth; for the pursuant emergence of justice; and for the eventual the reign of peace, Christianity also proclaims and affirms the imperative of forgiveness —especially during the Lenten Season. The virtue and need of forgiving have two basic elements: Man begging God for His forgiveness on account his sins, and man granting forgiveness to others on account of their sins to him.

Nothing less than the Sacred Scriptures say that the Lord Jesus taught but one prayer. And among the pleadings therein contained, this is prayed for: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

It cannot be more specific and concrete as this: The forgiveness asked of God cannot but go hand-in-hand with the forgiveness given to others. And rightly so: How could someone have forgiveness from the almighty Father without forgiving his fellowmen?.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110317com5.html

Tsunami survivor recounts nursing home ‘nightmare’ focus 03/17/2011

Tsunami survivor recounts nursing home ‘nightmare’

focus

03/17/2011
SENDAI — Kaori Ohashi watched with horror as the debris-heavy waves of mud swallowed houses and bulldozed fields, and then rushed towards the nursing home where she works.

She saw cars thrown from the roads by the raging water — their drivers still inside. Other victims desperately clung to trees before the waves generated by the biggest earthquake in Japan’s history dragged them under.

“I thought my life was over,” Ohashi told AFP, as she recounted the tale of two harrowing nights trapped inside the home with 15 staff members — and 200 elderly residents with severe dementia — after Friday’s twin disasters.

Ohashi, a 39-year-old mother of two, is now staying in an emergency shelter at a local school gymnasium in Sendai, the capital of hard-hit Miyagi prefecture, with about 400 other evacuees..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110317com6.html

Benghazi radio rap boosts moral of Libyan rebels focus 03/17/2011

Benghazi radio rap boosts moral of Libyan rebels

focus

03/17/2011
BENGHAZI — Two young Libyans whose rap music is broadcast to the front line by rebel Benghazi radio hope they are helping to maintain the morale of fighters outgunned by Moamer Kadhafi’s forces.

“Rap does not physically change things, but it invigorates the soul of people fighting and sends a message to all Libyans,” said 16-year-old Imad Abbar, sitting perched on a paint can in the patio of his home in Benghazi.

Hamza Sisi agreed, and the lyrics — in Arabic — he wrote for their rap song “Shamat Al-Medina,” or “Candles of the City,” say all:
The candles of the city shine to tell the world what we want,
The candles of the city won’t rest and won’t give up,
The blood of the fighters is our own,
We won’t surrender until the regime falls..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110317com7.html

In tragedy, Japan impresses the world focus 03/17/2011

In tragedy, Japan impresses the world

focus

03/17/2011
WASHINGTON — Despite the horrific scenes of destruction, Japan may emerge from its quake-tsunami disaster with a stronger international brand-name as the nation’s resilience wins wide praise.

Television stations around the world have broadcast the footage of the seismic waves as they razed homes and carried away cars as if they were toys, stranding dazed survivors on the brutalized landscape.

But coverage has also shown another side — Japanese showing calm as they search for loved ones or wait for basic necessities. There is not a hint of looting or violence, even as residents line up at half-empty stores.

Entries on the English-language blogosphere speak of the Japanese as “stoic” and wonder the reaction in Western countries would be to a disaster of similar magnitude..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune


URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110317com8.html

Noy won’t evacuate Pinoys in Japan By Aytch S. de la Cruz and Michaela P. del Callar 03/17/2011

TELLS OFWS NOT TO EXPECT GOV’T TO PAY FOR AIRFARE TO RP

Noy won’t evacuate Pinoys in Japan

By Aytch S. de la Cruz and Michaela P. del Callar 03/17/2011

President Aquino bragged to reporters that his government was among the first that immediately offfered humanitarian aid of some $14 million to Japan, but he now refuses to order the evacuation of some 300,000 Filipinos in Japan, and unconscionably tells its citizens in Japan not to expect his government to pay for their airfare to the Philippines.

The government relies on the OFWs’ remittances to prop up the economy, but when it comes to aiding the OFWs in their hour of need, these workers are told they can’t rely on government to help them return to the country to get them out of harm’s way.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) funds are usually used for such emergencies. Aquino also has a huge pork barrel fund that runs into billions that could be utilized but, apparently, Aquino does not want to part with his pork barrel.

The Aquino government yesterday said it is not planning to evacuate its more than 300,000 citizens in Japan amid the deepening nuclear crisis there. Neither will the Aquino government shoulder the airfare of Filipinos in Japan who want to come home..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110317hed1.html

Phivolcs’ dire forecast: Quake anytime this year By Angie M. Rosales 03/17/2011

Phivolcs’ dire forecast: Quake anytime this year

By Angie M. Rosales 03/17/2011
While earlier saying that nobody has the technology to predict an earthquake, officials of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) told a Senate inquiry yesterday that the country’s main fault line in Marikina valley or the Marikina fault is expected to move anytime this year that could trigger as strong as a 7.2-magnitude earthquake.

Phivolcs officials were quoting a 2004 study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) that was based on the 200-year cycle of movement of the “west valley fault” located in the Marikina valley.

“The fault is now ripe for movement. There is a high probability that it would move in the future. We just can’t predict the exact date and time,” Phivolcs deputy director Bartolome Bautista said.

In a joint hearing on the disaster preparedness of the government by the committees on climate change chaired by Sen. Loren Legarda and environment and natural resources under Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri , lawmakers were also told that low-cost housing and low-rise buildings now proliferating in Metro Manila are under threat should the scenario given by Phivolcs take place..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110317hed2.html

CA cancels Purisima case deliberations 03/17/2011

CA cancels Purisima case deliberations

03/17/2011
Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima’s confirmation isn’t going to be smooth sailing, what with
The Commission on Appointments (CA) committee on finance, headed by Sen. Ralph Recto, canceled its Wednesday’s deliberation on the ad interim appointment of Department of Purisima due to strong opposition by a group of revenue informers.

In his sworn opposition, Philippine Association of Revenue Informers Inc. president Danilo Lihaylihay said Purisima is “morally and mentally unfit” to head the Department of Finance (DoF) due to the fact that “he is criminally negligent to perform his legal mandate and official duty.”

Lihaylihay said the reasons for his opposition include the failure of the DoFto assess and collect all internal revenue taxes of government and reducing the rewards of informers of tax evaders to P1 million per case..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110317hed3.html

House minority welcomes Senate assurance of fair impeach trial By Charlie V. Manalo 03/17/2011

House minority welcomes Senate assurance of fair impeach trial

By Charlie V. Manalo 03/17/2011

The minority bloc in the House of Representatives yesterday welcomed the assurance of the Senate that Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez will have a fair impeachment trial based on the merits of the case and not on partisan political lines.
According to the minority members, they are confident that the Senate would dispense its adjudicatory powers independently and with impartiality.

“Notwithstanding the Senate blue ribbon committee report, we welcome the assurances of our counterparts in the Senate that they will follow due process and would not be swayed by the Palace,” Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay said, reading a prepared statement for the minority.

The minority said that the Senate would serve as the “last proving ground” that the right of any impeachable official should be upheld.

“The Senate is the last proving ground where the right to a fair trial of the Ombudsman, or any impeachable official should be upheld,” Magsaysay said, adding that an impeachment case should not just be a political exercise, but one of “exercising of adjudicatory powers entailing adherence to certain constitutional tenets and judicial procedures on due process.”... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110317hed4.html

RP gov’t sets up team to assess Bahrain situation By Michaela P. del Callar and Aytch S. de la Cruz 03/17/2011

RP gov’t sets up team to assess Bahrain situation

By Michaela P. del Callar and Aytch S. de la Cruz 03/17/2011

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is sending a team to Bahrain today to assess the current situation on the ground and strengthen its contingency measures should there be a need to move out all 31,000 Filipinos once tension escalates in the troubled Middle East state.

Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario when interviewed by reporters at the DFA said the composition of the team is being firmed up, but they were to leave “as early as tomorrow (March 17).”

“We already have a contingency plan. We want to make sure that on the ground it works,” he stressed.

Bahrain has been wracked by weeks of violent anti-government protests, calling for the ouster of the Sunni dynasty that has held power for more than two centuries..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110317hed6.html

Ortega kin urge Palace to order CoA probe on use of Malampaya’s P3.1B By Benjamin B. Pulta 03/17/2011

Ortega kin urge Palace to order CoA probe on use of Malampaya’s P3.1B

By Benjamin B. Pulta 03/17/2011

The family of slain broadcast journalist Gerry Ortega asked Malacañang to order state auditors to make an accounting of how the Palawan provincial government made use of the P3.1 billion proceeds it received as its share from the Malampaya natural gas project.

In a press briefing, Ortega’s widow Dr. Patria “Patty” Ortega and daughters Mika and Erika asked President Aquino to order the Commission on Audit (CoA) to make an accounting and make the report public to show how the money was used.

Ortega’s widow said the controversial allegations in connection with the supposed misuse of the money could be part of the motives behind the killing of her husband by alleged mastermind, former Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes, Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra, and former Vice Gov. Dave Ponce de Leon..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110317nat1.html

UN officials to inspect Albay CCA, DRR model projects 03/17/2011

UN officials to inspect Albay CCA, DRR model projects

03/17/2011
LEGAZPI CITY — The combined disastrous events that hit Japan and claimed thousands of lives few days back have once again highlighted the premium value of disaster preparedness for Filipinos.

It is for this reason that the visit by top officials of at least four United Nations agencies to Albay this month to personally see for themselves the implementation of various programs on climate change adaptation (CCA), disaster risk reduction (DRR), relief and recovery and health assumes even more significance.

The world body had recently chosen Albay as Global Model for Climate Change Adaptation and has named Albay Gov. Joey Salceda as Senior Global Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction, with his “Zero Casualty” target during disasters. Many other provinces have already adopted his strategy..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110317nat3.html

Solon slams farcical polls consultation in ARMM 03/17/2011

Solon slams farcical polls consultation in ARMM

03/17/2011
A member of the minority bloc in the House of Representatives yesterday slammed the Aquino administration for duping Muslims into a farcical polls consultation in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) the results of which it had totally disregarded as it is already bent on deferring the ARMM elections till 2013 as manifested by the actions of its allies in the Lower Chamber.

At the weekly press briefing, Zambales Rep. Milagros “Mitos” Magsaysay said that at the very onset, the consultations called for by Malacañang was already suspect as the bill seeking the postponement of the ARMM elections and allowing President Aquino to appoint officers-in-charge, had already been approved by the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms and is set to be deliberated at the plenary.
“This is one of the strangest approaches in crafting a bill. To hold public consultations after the bill had already been approved at the committee level,” said Magsaysay. “And the futility of this exercise had only been validated after the committee on suffrage disregarded the results of the consultation and decided to submit its report on the ARMM polls bill to the plenary for deliberations.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110317nat4.html

Blog Archive