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What’s it all about? EDITORIAL 04/06/2011

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

What’s it all about?

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
04/06/2011
Alleging bribery and blackmail against an individual is easy, especially for a senator of the republic, but proving these crimes is fairly difficult, if not impossible — unless of course some kind of hard proof exists, such as a recorded conversation between the briber and blackmailer and the person being bribed.

Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano the other day bared to reporters that still to be confirmed by the Commission on Appointments Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes, through his emissaries, has resorted to blackmail and bribery to get Cayetano to withdraw his opposition to Brillantes’ appointment, for the new Comelec chief to breeze through his CA confirmation.

The blackmail, so said Cayetano, came when a threat was aired, presumably from the alleged emissaries regarding the protest filed by a losing Taguig mayoralty bet against the senator’s wife, who now sits as Taguig mayor, which Cayetano charged is being dangled by the Comelec chief..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110406com1.html

Only himself to blame FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 04/06/2011

Only himself to blame

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
04/06/2011
Noynoy has been complaining about media highlighting the negatives instead of the positives of his presidency and administration, especially so, with his performance and satisfaction ratings plunging too fast, given his nine months stay in Malacañang.

Apart from the fact, however, that his very amatuerish Communications Group (ComGroup) secretaries who are clearly unfit for the job, as all they really know is how to demonize election rivals and the previous administration officials during the campaign and don’t know how to communicate with the media and the public at large, it is largely Noynoy himself who creates the negative image that he has projected for himself, all by himself.

To this day, despite his claims of his “achievements” as president, the nation still does not know just where he is leading the people, and what directions he has taken, economically and politically,.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110406com2.html

Dictators beware: UN ‘all necessary measures’ means trouble ANALYSIS 04/06/2011

Dictators beware: UN ‘all necessary measures’ means trouble

ANALYSIS

04/06/2011
UNITED NATIONS — UN helicopter strikes on rocket launchers used by Ivory Coast rogue leader Laurent Gbagbo were a stunning warning to any strongman to beware of the ominous words “all necessary measures” in a UN Security Council resolution.

After the international air assaults launched in Libya, the innocuous little phrase set up UN forces, alongside French helicopters, to stage the most daring urban warfare operation yet by international peacekeepers in Abidjan on Monday.

UN officials say more attacks against Gbagbo, who refuses to hand power to internationally recognized President Alassane Ouattara, are planned.

The military capability of Moamer Kadhafi in Libya and Gbagbo in Ivory Coast have taken a severe beating from the strikes. In each case, the 15-nation Security Council agreed to allow “all necessary measures” to protect civilians rather than sign up for regime change..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110406com3.html

Nuclear jumpers C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 04/06/2011

Nuclear jumpers

C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S
Jonathan De la Cruz
04/06/2011
Until reports that Tokyo Electric Co. (Tepco) which operates the disaster stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, was offering $5,000 per day to any person who would literally jump into the damaged reactor to help clean up or repair certain items to stem the radiation flow and eventually stabilize it for final disposition the word “nuclear jumper” was hardly heard of. Now, with that sweetener of a pay off, we are told that Tepco is besieged with lots of queries a number of these from Filipinos who are presumably raring to do the “jump.” They would be making history and doing all of us a favor. But before anybody gets sucked into this decidedly high paying and yes, humanitarian job, to save the plant and the world from the dangers of a possible total and unmitigated meltdown, we urge them to read on the history of this rare band of super heroes, as one blogger called them, the better to appreciate the challenges which come with the job. Two articles, one written by Vera Christy in 1974 about US based “jumpers” she called “Nuclear Janitors” and a recent Reuters report on Ukrainian-American jumper Sergei Belyakov, are particularly instructive. I am excerpting parts of their story to give us a glimpse of the world of jumpers. Here goes:.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110406com4.html

Russian artists anger authorities with daring works focus 04/06/2011

Russian artists anger authorities with daring works

focus

04/06/2011
SAINT PETERSBURG — The artists have overturned police cars on one of Russia’s most famous squares with dozing officers inside and painted a giant penis on a drawbridge in front of the ex-KGB headquarters.

In a radical group called Voina, or War, they have exploded any notion that Russia’s modern art scene is dry or conservative. But their provocative installations have also left them exposed to legal action.

The Saint Petersburg-based group’s name means that “we have declared war on triviality and injustice,” said artist Oleg Vorotnikov, 32, a philosophy graduate from Moscow State University.

He and another member, Leonid Nikolayev, 27, were recently freed on bail after spending three months in pre-trial detention as police investigate last September’s car-tipping performance..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL:http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110406com5.html

Spins HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 04/06/2011

Spins

HE SAYS
Aldrin Cardon
04/06/2011
Mainstream media were at the receiving end of criticisms last week for their handling of the execution of the three Filipino drug mules in China. And if mainstream media still rely on the public pulse to jack up their ratings, chances are a review of their thrusts is in order.

The execution of Ramon Credo, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva and Elizabeth Batain was clearly sensationalized in the manner the two leading television networks — and this time with TV5, the third player in the TV ratings game — spun their coverage of Flor Contemplacion’s hanging in Singapore in mid-90s and the rape of Sarah Balabagan.

Balabagan later admitted her rape, which she said led to her to kill her employer in the United Arab Emirates, was a lie. And with the claim went another implied statement that she was abused by her uncle as a child. She made the claims when she tried to join show business, which ended abruptly when the hoopla surrounding her case had died down..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110406com6.html

Dreams in real life SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 04/06/2011

Dreams in real life

SHE SAYS
Dinah S. Ventura
04/06/2011
Fictional scenes with plenty of crying and bitter words have always held no appeal for me, and so was watching family members of the three executed Filipinos in China being filmed in their moments of grief.

We Pinoys, pride ourselves for our warmth and empathy, but sometimes we fail to put certain situations in perspective.

In wakes filmed for news or tragic accidents that take lives, for example, sometimes we see locals clowning it up for the cameras or staring fixedly at their image in the monitor visible to them while crew is filming. The “uzi” tendency is also there, where some people gather to watch some event as it unfolds, up close and personal, regardless of the danger or risk to their own lives.

Media are sometimes no different. I remember tuning in to radio stations as the tour bus hostage-taking was taking place in Manila, and hearing a veteran news anchor and TV host share with the listening audience her personal reactions to what was happening — something that went like, “O, ayan na, ayan na...Naku, o, ayan na!”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110406com7.html

Soldiers Still Target Children

Soldiers Still Target Children

 According to the Katungod-SB report, a soldier acting as team leader interrogated the children, asking them if they have a gun. When the children answered no, the soldier accused them of lying.

By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – When President Benigno Simeon Aquino announced a new counter-insurgency program in place called Oplan Bayanihan, respecting human rights was said to be one of its biggest changes from the one it replaced, the bloody Oplan Bantay-Laya. In the last few months though, rights advocates noted that not much seems to have really changed in the military’s conduct.

For instance, last March 4 when more than 30 members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines conducted military operations in the hinterlands of Carolina village in Matuguinao, Samar, the residents reported that they were forcibly summoned to a meeting at the town plaza. They were first alerted by a five-minute gunfire, followed by soldiers burning of a house near their village.

Based on a report of the Katungod-Sinirangan Bisayas, a regional alliance for human rights in the area, the soldiers pelted with stones the houses of residents who did not immediately heed their call for a meeting. In one of the houses “visited” by soldiers to check if the residents had complied with their summons, they entered a house with four children inside, aged from four to 12 years old. The children had been left on their own because their father was picked up by the military to attend the town meeting..... MORE
SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/04/04/soldiers-still-target-children/

Senators suggest Cayetano-Brillantes face-off By Angie M. Rosales and Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/06/2011

AS CHARGES FLY BETWEEN POLL CHIEF AND SENATOR

Senators suggest Cayetano-Brillantes face-off

By Angie M. Rosales and Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/06/2011

Commission on Elections (Comelec ) Chairman Sixto Brillantes and his accuser, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano should have a face-off before the Commission on Appointments (CA), senators said yesterday, following revelations made by their colleague against the poll body executive who has allegedly been blackmailing him the past two weeks and also attempted to bribe him.

Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III and Sen. Gregorio Honasan, in separate interviews, said charges made by their colleague should be validated.

But Honasan expressed reservations on whether the planned move of Cayetano to enjoin the bicameral appointments body into conducting an investigation in his claims would be feasible. He noted what Cayetano could have overlooked the fact that it does not seem to be within the ambit of the CA, as to the jurisdiction of the CA to carry out probe on matters raised by Cayetano..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110406hed1.html

Solon slams Noy for not probing Ping on fake travel papers By Charlie V. Manalo 04/06/2011

Solon slams Noy for not probing Ping on fake travel papers

By Charlie V. Manalo 04/06/2011

A member of the minority bloc in the House of Representatives yesterday dared President Aquino to investigate Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on reports that the senator used a fake travel document and determine the truth of the matter.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, in a letter to Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said that the travel document number that Lacson had shown the Immigration officer did not belong to the series number of travel documents given to consulates abroad.

But apparently, nothing much is being done by the Aquino government to get to the root of the fake travel document, or Lacson’s whereabouts as a fugitive.

Falsifying public documents is a crime..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110406hed5.html

Noy rewards Heidi, gets CoA commissioner job By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/06/2011

Noy rewards Heidi, gets CoA commissioner job

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/06/2011

Rewards are great under the Aquino administration.

For blowing the whistle on military corruption peppered with tearful drama, a Com-mission on Audit auditor has been rewarded with the post of CoA commissioner.

Military corruption whistle-blower Heidi Mendoza and former Finance Undersecretary Maria Gracia Pulido-Tan were yesterday appointed by President Aquino as the new executives for the CoA and are expected to bring changes in the agency in line with the government’s commitment to good governance.

Mendoza will soon find herself reunited with her colleagues at the CoA as she was named commissioner by Aquino, with a seven-year fixed term expiring on Feb. 2, 2018, in lieu of Evelyn San Buenaventura who retired a couple of months ago..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110406hed6.html

DBM, PJA sign MoA to end Palace, SC budget dispute By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/06/2011

DBM, PJA sign MoA to end Palace, SC budget dispute

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/06/2011

Budget disputes between Malacañang and the Supreme Court (SC) are expected to end today with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Philippine Judges Association (PJA) signing of a memorandum of agreement (MoA) to be witnessed by no less than President Aquino himself.

Malacañang’s Secretary Ramon Carandang announced at a news briefing yesterday that the said agreement “will allow the executive department to augment the salaries of workers in the judiciary” in light of the judges’ previous protests in the DBM’s slashes to the budget of the SC.

This developed in spite of Malacañang’s relentless insistence before that the judiciary can live with the P14.3-billion fund allocated by the government which was P8-billion short of the originally proposed budget that was intended to finance the increase in the salaries of those working for the judiciary..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110406nat1.html

BFAR: No ban on eating fresh fish in Batanes N E W S B R I E F S 04/06/2011

BFAR: No ban on eating fresh fish in Batanes

N E W S B R I E F S

04/06/2011
TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan — It was premature to put a ban on eating fresh fish from Batanes merely due to the fear of possible contamination from nuclear radiation from Japan, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) here said yesterday.

According to Dr. Jovita Ayson, BFAR regional director, the country, even the northernmost province of Batanes, was too far for the fish there to be directly affected by the radiation from the damaged nuclear reactor in Japan’s Fukushima prefecture..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110406nat6.html

Solon slams Palace for thumbing down P125 legislated wage hike By Charlie V. Manalo 04/06/2011

Solon slams Palace for thumbing down P125 legislated wage hike

By Charlie V. Manalo 04/06/2011

Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano yesterday assailed Malacañang for quickly thumbing down workers’ demand for a P125 legislated wage hike, calling the Aquino administration as “insensitive to the plight of workers confronting severe economic crisis, extreme poverty and hunger.”

“We are not contemplating that right now. We believe wage adjustments should be done on the level of the regional wage boards rather than (be) legislated,” Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office head Ramon Carandang said yesterday.

“Our concern is that if we legislate a wage increase across the board, that might cause distortions in wages and inflationary pressures. A legislated nationwide across the board minimum wage increase could stoke those inflation fears,” Carandang explained..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110406met2.html

Group lambasts DoJ for inaction on GMA graft suit By Benjamin B. Pulta 04/06/2011

Group lambasts DoJ for inaction on GMA graft suit

By Benjamin B. Pulta 04/06/2011

The militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-National Capital Region (Bayan-NCR) and the Imprison Arroyo Movement (IAM) are asking the Department of Justice (DoJ) to proceed with the preliminary investigation into their graft complaint against former President and now Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Arroyo in connection with the alleged anomalies in her administration’s aborted $329-million national broadband network deal with Chinese ZTE Corp.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had put on hold the complaint filed by Bayan Muna last year against Arroyo in deference to the creation of Truth Commission by President Aquino that is tasked to put closure to controversies that hounded the administration of Arroyo.

Paulo Quiza, Bayan-NCR spokesman, lamented why the DoJ has not resolved yet the complaint that was filed on July 1 last year, a day after Arroyo stepped out of the Palace and lost her immunity from criminal suits or some nine months ago..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110406met1.html

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