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True moral outrage? EDITORIAL 04/12/2011

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

True moral outrage?

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
04/12/2011
The Willing Willie controversy over a young boy doing a gyrating “macho dance” has gone too far, what with even the media giving the thumbs up to the program advertisers’ boycotting the show while the censors body Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), along with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) get into the picture with child abuse and child exploitation charges.

And even Malacañang has gotten into the act. So what is this, all for riding on the controversial issue and scoring media points, or is this a question of getting politics into the picture?

Just too many are riding on the issue, making it bigger than it really is.

But it must be asked: Just what is it that the so-called critics want? To prevent child exploitation, kill the show or get the host, Willie Revillame, banned from doing the top-rated show?.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110412com1.html

Emergency powers talk again FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 04/12/2011

Emergency powers talk again

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
04/12/2011
Emergency powers are again being brought up for Noynoy Aquino to address the impending oil crisis in the country.
This has been suggested by a senator, who said that the President as head of the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) has full powers, including pushing emergency powers.

But it must be asked why there is that need for emergency powers to address the oil crisis in this country, which may come soon enough, since the Mena area crises aren’t likely to be resolved soon.

So what is Noynoy to do with emergency powers should Congress grant him those powers? Bring the cost of oil down in this country? And how does he do it, even with emergency powers, given the fact that the skyrocketing oil prices are hardly under the control of Noynoy, or even Congress. Besides, the oil industry has been deregulated.

About the only way Noynoy can bring the prices down, emergency powers or none, is to provide subsidy, which is hardly a good idea, fiscal-front wise..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110412com2.html

Pacific nations battle obesity epidemic focus 04/12/2011

Pacific nations battle obesity epidemic

focus

04/12/2011
NUKU’ALOFA — On Tonga’s supermarket shelves, huge cans of corned beef the size of paint tins replaced traditional fare such as fish and coconuts long ago — contributing to an obesity epidemic that sees the Pacific region ranked as the fattest in the world.

Meat in Tonga almost invariably comes in a tin, whether it be turkey breast, meat loaf, luncheon meat or Spam, which can be bought in a variety of forms including smoked, with chilli or laced with cheese for an extra calorie hit.

The common denominator, Tonga’s Chief Medical Officer Malakai Ake says, is that the “junk meat” is loaded with salt and saturated fats, meaning islanders’ waistlines continue to expand..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110412com3.html

Planned dysfunction AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 04/12/2011

Planned dysfunction

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW
Ken Fuller
04/12/2011
Under the Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP), gross domestic product is due to grow at a tiger-cubbish 7 to 8 percent per annum between now and 2016. Does this mean, then, that tigerhood will be at long last achieved? No, unfortunately.

The fact that the Philippine economy will continue to adhere to the dysfunctional model it has followed for decades (particularly since the World Bank administered its “structural adjustment” voodoo in the early 1980s) can be gleaned from the targets for international trade.

According to the MTDP, merchandise exports will increase by 13 percent in 2011 and 2012, then by 14 percent in 2013-16, amounting to $93 billion in the latter year. Well, that sounds healthy enough, doesn’t it? The problem is, however, that the same plan has merchandise imports growing at an even faster rate – 18 percent this year and 17 percent in 2012-16..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110412com5.html

Worries mount ahead of Sudan split focus 04/12/2011

Worries mount ahead of Sudan split

focus

04/12/2011
KHARTOUM — Three months before south Sudan splits from the north, talks are under way in Ethiopia on a peaceful separation, but with much still to be resolved and some southerners deeply anxious about the future.

“Separation is a big mistake. The country is not ready for it,” said Atem, 30, who lives in Haj Yussef, a predominantly southern district in Khartoum, and who voted for unity in January’s referendum on southern independence.

Atem is set to lose his police job next month, when southerners employed in north Sudan’s public sector, including 40,000 in the police, army and national security forces, start being laid off unless a deal is reached.

Hundreds of thousands of southerners have already left, including most of Atem’s friends and family, who are from Bor in troubled Jonglei state..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110412com6.html

Disabled Japanese struggle in disaster aftermath FEATURE 04/12/2011

Disabled Japanese struggle in disaster aftermath

FEATURE

04/12/2011
OTSUCHI — Sachiko Miura had no warning before a huge tsunami slammed into the small Japanese fishing village where she has lived all her life — because she could not hear the sirens.

The first the hearing-impaired 66-year-old knew of the impending disaster was when she saw the massive wave bearing down on her small wooden house, less than an hour after the worst earthquake in Japan’s recorded history.

She spent an entire night cowering alone and terrified on the second floor of her home in the fishing village of Otsuchi on Japan’s northeast coast.

“In no time at all the water was up around my waist, and I was trembling with cold and fear,” a tearful Miura recalled..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110412com7.html

Lauding Monique Wilson NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 04/12/2011

Lauding Monique Wilson

NO HOLDS BARRED
Armida Siguion-Reyna
04/12/2011
I didn’t think the Willing-Willie controversy would get this big. The Australian newspaper and online publication calls it “a story about show business and the lust for fame, the struggle between permissiveness and social conservatism, and child exploitation… a very Philippines sort of scandal.” While on its front page there’s news about a “cadet sex scandal” that’s caused the head of a military training academy to go on leave, and the grant of possible future parole for a father who killed his four-year-old daughter by throwing her off a bridge.

What’s arguably wrong with Australia cannot be used to justify what’s wrong with us here, so never mind that article. Beyond the insults and the taunting, people are threatened with libel cases and getting death threats for tweeting their reactions to the issue. Nothing close to this has ever happened; it’s almost as if an elective post is at stake..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110412com4.html

Palace warns strikers not to hurt commuters By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/12/2011

Palace warns strikers not to hurt commuters

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/12/2011

Malacañang yesterday reiterated its warnings to militant transport groups anew who are reportedly set to launch mass protest actions today to express their utter dissatisfaction over President Aquino’s P450-million worth fuel subsidy program.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda told the Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston), the vanguard of the said nationwide transport strike, to just make sure they won’t paralyze traffic and won’t inconvenience the riding public otherwise their protest actions would be declared illegal.

Lacierda said that as usual the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) will be on top of the situation should untoward incidents take place in the areas that will be affected by the transport strike..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110412nat2.html

DILG calls on Batangas gov’t to evacuate residents near Taal Volcano By Gina Peralta-Elorde 04/12/2011

DILG calls on Batangas gov’t to evacuate residents near Taal Volcano

By Gina Peralta-Elorde 04/12/2011

Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo yesterday called on the provincial government of Batangas and local officials of nearby towns of Taal to prepare for evacuation and relocation of residents.

Robredo made the call as Taal Volcano in Talisay town continued to show heightened activity.

The warning was issued by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and upgraded the alert level status of the volcano from 1 to 2 after at least 21 volcanic quakes were detected by the Phivolcs in the past 24 hours.

According to Phivolcs, Alert Level 2 indicates unrest probably of magmatic origin that could eventually lead to erruption..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110412nat4.html

Kamag-Anak Inc. ends as Tingting quits as PPSC chief? By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/12/2011

Kamag-Anak Inc. ends as Tingting quits as PPSC chief?

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 04/12/2011

Could the recent resignation of Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco’s as head of the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC) be the start of President Aquino’s bid to shake-off the so-called “Kamag-Anak Inc.” label that has been attached to his mother’s administration which he apparently inherited?

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. implied this in a radio interview yesterday morning when sought to clarify the manner by which Cojuangco was replaced in her position as announced by deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte over the weekend.

Ochoa was quoted as saying that Cojuangco “practically resigned” upon realizing that Aquino is not comfortable working with his relatives in government which presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda attributed to the President’s strict observation on the constitutional prohibition about nepotism..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110412nat3.html

Fuel subsidy is a Malacañang deception to drivers, public — solon By Charlie V. Manalo 04/12/2011

Fuel subsidy is a Malacañang deception to drivers, public — solon

By Charlie V. Manalo 04/12/2011

Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño yesterday criticized the Palace announcement that Public Transport Assistance program (Pantawid) had already started yesterday when the Department of Energy (DoE) has yet to issue any smart cards to jeepney and tricycle drivers and another oil price hike will happen within the week.

He said the much publicized “subsidy” could not even buy a full tank of diesel or gasoline for jeepney and tricycle drivers. Executive Order 32 initially allots P450 million to assist jeepney and tricycle operators from the DoE budget as a fuel subsidy to the public transport sector.

“Using government data from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the DoE, we can easily see that this subsidy is nothing but a drop in the fuel tanks of our country’s public transport drivers. As of December 2010 LTFRB data show that there are 214,596 public utility jeepneys (that use diesel) and roughly 1 million tricycles (that use gasoline). This means for jeepney drivers, government will give a total of P1,050 each and P150 each to tricycle drivers. Let us simplify this for the public by doing a little math,” Casiño said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110412nat1.html

De Lima insists ‘Abadilla Five’ to get clemency By Benjamin B. Pulta 04/12/2011

De Lima insists ‘Abadilla Five’ to get clemency

By Benjamin B. Pulta 04/12/2011

Malacañang is committed to granting executive clemency to the so-called “Abadilla Five,” who had been found guilty in the 1996 murder of former military intelligence chief Rolando Abadilla.

Speaking with newsmen, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said yesterday that the claims of torture by the five are largely credible and that her agency will recommend the grant of executive clemency to the men shortly.

A ruling by the Supreme Court had earlier turned down the appeal filed by the five who were found guilty beyond reasonable doubt in the killing of then Abadilla, the former chief of the Metropolitan Command Intelligence and Security Group of the defunct Philippine Constabulary..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110412met4.html

Parents who fail to send children to public schools risk jail term — QC dad By Arlie O. Calalo 04/12/2011

Parents who fail to send children to public schools risk jail term — QC dad

By Arlie O. Calalo 04/12/2011

A Quezon City councilor has filed an ordinance to make it mandatory that all parents should send their children to elementary and secondary public schools.

Dad Ranulfo Ludovica crafted the ordinance as he sees no reason or alibi that the parents residing in Quezon City cannot be able to enroll their kids to elementary and high school educations because the local government has been offering and providing livelihood opportunities and assistance to indigent families.

In addition, Ludovica said that both elementary and secondary educations in public all over the country are free as they are being subsidized by the government.

“Providing education is one of the primordial duties and obligations of parents to their children,” he added..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110412met3.html

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