Smells like opportunity from crisis EDITORIAL 04/14/2011

Smells like opportunity from crisis

EDITORIAL

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04/14/2011
Speaker Sonny Belmonte is resurrecting ugly memories and along with these, nasty speculations with his inordinate offer for Noynoy to assume emergency powers even before he had asked for it.

The House should have been the countervailing force in government on such instances, such as the President seeking extra powers beyond that guaranteed him under the Constitution. But the Speaker was practically offering these on a silver platter to Noynoy.

The Speaker did not actually say it, but his statement that the House is open to proposals for Noynoy to assume extra powers is practically telling Noynoy that these are his for the taking.

The emergency powers that the House broached to Noynoy were supposedly meant to address the effects of the surging fuel prices on the country..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110414com1.html

25 years of demonization FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 04/14/2011

25 years of demonization

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

04/14/2011
In all those 25 years, these Cory Yellows and their media demonized, tried and convicted by publicity the so-called cronies of President Ferdinand Marcos — anyone who was identified and allied with, Marcoses were subjected to demonization by the Yellows and continued even more when they were in power and position. They filed cases against these cronies, sequestered their properties and assets, without as much as any evidence to prove that these were ill-gotten wealth, or assets belonging to Marcos and his family members.

One such individual who underwent such demonization and the outright Cory government sequestration of even his personal assets — including his home in Quezon City, which was purchased long before Marcos became president — is Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, whose only fault was that he was Marcos’ friend.

Almost everything believed to have been owned by Danding was sequestered, and without any proof these assets were ill-gotten, yet the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) continued with the sequestration of assets to the point of even sequestering and selling an airplane which, however, belonged, not to Danding, since it was leased to San Miguel Corp., for which the airplane owner filed charges against PCGG. What this means is that there was no investigation, no proof, yet the sequestration which really was confiscation, went on..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110414com2.html

Powers want Kadhafi out with means unclear focus 04/14/2011

Powers want Kadhafi out with means unclear

focus

04/14/2011
DOHA — World leaders meeting in Doha on Wednesday want Libya’s defiant leader Moamer Kadhafi out of power but the means remain unclear four weeks into a campaign of air strikes.

Libyan rebels, meanwhile, expect to take part in a plenary session of the meeting of senior international diplomats and said they will be seeking full recognition.

Outgunned rebel forces with the backing of Western air and sea strikes supported by Gulf states have held onto eastern Libya, yet they have failed to make significant inroads in the west, toward Kadhafi’s power base in Tripoli.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in charge of military operations in Libya for almost two weeks, is sticking to UN Security Council Resolution 1973 which authorizes action to protect civilians in Libya but not regime-change..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

 URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110414com3.html

Lim victory in election recount seen BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 04/14/2011

Lim victory in election recount seen

BLURBAL THRUSTS

Louie Logarta

04/14/2011
The Department of Tourism (DoT) wants to embark on a multibillion-peso redevelopment program for Intramuros, the oldest district in Manila, by including it in the public-private partnership (PPP) program being pushed by Malacañang.

By making it a PPP priority project, the DoT wishes to attract such big-name developers as Ayala Land, Eton Properties, Alliance Global, SM Development, JG Summit, atbp. to the prime five-hectare property in Manila where they might put up their shopping malls, cinemas, mixed-use commercial and residential condominiums within the next five years, or before President Aquino steps down from office.

The national government may indeed have exquisite plans for the centuries-old “Walled City” (as Intramuros is called in the history books) that was built by the colonizing Spaniards, but there is this “small matter” of a few hundred squatter families that have managed to illegally build houses within the historic structure..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110414com4.html

Indonesian clinic touts smoking as cancer cure FEATURE 04/14/2011

Indonesian clinic touts smoking as cancer cure

FEATURE

04/14/2011
JAKARTA — An Indonesian woman exhales cigarette smoke into the mouth of a gaunt, naked patient at a Jakarta clinic, where tobacco is openly touted as a cancer cure.

The Western patient is suffering from emphysema, a condition she developed from decades of smoking. Along with cancer and autism, it’s just one of the ailments the Griya Balur clinic claims it can cure with cigarettes.

“I missed this,” says the woman, a regular customer, with an American accent, as Phil Collins’ “I Can Feel It” blares in the background.

Griya Balur would be shut down in many parts of the world, but not in Indonesia, one of the developing-country new frontiers for big tobacco as it seeks to replace its dwindling profits in the health-conscious West..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110414com6.html

Albanian faiths blend together after hard times FEATURE 04/14/2011

Albanian faiths blend together after hard times

FEATURE

04/14/2011
LAC — On an Albanian spring day, dozens of Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Christians toil together up a steep, winding slope to St Anthony’s Church — different faiths all hoping for a miracle.

Some of the pilgrims heading up the stony path to the imposing church are barefoot and wedge their feet into cracks in rocks believed to have powers, including protection against disease.

Others collect five white stones along the way and, in accordance with tradition, whisper to each before placing it back on the ground.

Ilir, a young Orthodox Christianity engineer, rubs his wallet on a rock, hoping for prosperity. “I have come to pray to God for my prayers to be granted this year,” he confides..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110414com7.html

ARMM elections VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 04/14/2011

ARMM elections

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

04/14/2011
Is the Philippines ruled by a duly framed and approved Constitution? Does this country have a republican democracy? Are the Filipinos free as citizens and sovereign as a people? The elementary and immediate answers to all such three simple questions are in the positive. Yes! Yes! Yes!

Honest, it is not only inspiring but also endearing to know and to live the truths advanced by such answers in the affirmative. Moreover, it is not simply proper but likewise just for the Filipino citizens to be told that such sound socio-political realities are existent and alive in their basically docile society.

But then comes the pressing disturbing question: How does one explain with rhyme and reason the following devious design being seriously entertained by the present administration: One, the postponement of the duly legislated and scheduled Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections. Two, the disregard for the political will and societal expectation of the people in the region. Three, the subsequent appointment of the public officials therein at the preferential option of Malacañang. Where is the Constitution? Where is democracy? Where is sovereignty?.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110414com5.html

Noise barrage, rallies set as public outrage builds By Benjamin B. Pulta and Angie M. Rosales 04/14/2011

SKYROCKETING OIL PRICES FUEL DISCONTENT

Noise barrage, rallies set as public outrage builds

By Benjamin B. Pulta and Angie M. Rosales 04/14/2011

Noise barrage and massive protest actions, which used to be the pursuit of President Aquino and his allies to gain attention, will now be trained on Aquino himself and the mass actions are expected to build up until Labor Day on May 1 when a massive rally is planned to protest the series of oil price increases and the band-aid solutions his administration had applied on them.

Public outcry against skyrocketing oil prices grew louder yesterday after oil companies raised pump prices by another P1.50 per liter marking the 12th time this year that fuel prices were raised.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) tried to perform a fireman’s job to cool down discontent after Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said her agency will investigate the possible collusion between petroleum corporations that resulted in successive oil price hikes..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110414hed1.html

RP protests China claim of Spratly’s before UN By Michaela P. del Callar 04/14/2011

RP protests China claim of Spratly’s before UN

By Michaela P. del Callar 04/14/2011

The Philippines has protested before the United Nations China’s claim over the long-disputed Spratly islands and adjacent waters as “without basis in international law,” the third of five Asian claimants to oppose Beijing’s far-reaching territorial bid before the world body.

In an April 5 diplomatic protest seen by the Tribune yesterday, the Philippines asserted that the sprawling portion of the Spratlys that it claims — called the Kalayaan Island Group or KIG — is an integral part of its territory and that the Manila government has “sovereignty and jurisdiction” over that area.

The protest, which was filed by the Philippines’ Permanent Mission in New York before the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, said China’s claim over the Spratlys and its adjacent waters “would have no basis under international law, specifically the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110414hed3.html

Willie camp points to ABS-CBN for smear job 04/14/2011

Willie camp points to ABS-CBN for smear job

04/14/2011
It may all be a matter of one giant TV network, ABS-CBN, keeping up the “smear job” on ABC-5’s talent host of Willing Willie, Willie Revillame, to get him and his top-rated show off the airwaves, for the Lopez-owned ABS-CBN to recover the ratings it once enjoyed.

A diagram submitted by the camp of Revillame during a media background conference yesterday at the Manila Golf Club showed that the persons who have complained against Revillame and his show that featured a young boy doing a gyrating dance and getting P10,000 for it, are all linked to the Lopez-owned TV network.

Dr. Lourdes “Honey” Carandang, who filed a complaint against Revillame and his program before the Censors Board, is a retired professor, clinical child psychologist, and the founder and president of MLAC Institute for Children and Families. But she is also engaged by ABS-CBN as a consultant and resource person in the company’s team building and personnel related activities. Dr. Carandang is also the mother of Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications Group, who is a former news anchor of ABS-CBN..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110414hed5.html

Five injured as chopper crashes in Taytay By Mario J. Mallari 04/14/2011

Five injured as chopper crashes in Taytay

By Mario J. Mallari 04/14/2011

Five Air Force personnel were injured when a Huey helicopter crashed while making an emergency landing in Rizal province yesterday morning.

Air Force public information office director Lt. Col. Miguel Ernesto Okol said the Huey II helicopter with tail number 662, piloted by Lt. Col. Robert Bitas Jr., made a hard landing as an emergency procedure at around 9:50 a.m. in Barangay San Isidro, Taytay.

Okol claimed that no one was injured during the incident but other reports said the five occupants of the helicopter sustained minor injuries..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110414nat6.html

Solons want inclusion of LPG, kerosene on list of basic commodities By Charlie V. Manalo 04/14/2011

Solons want inclusion of LPG, kerosene on list of basic commodities

By Charlie V. Manalo 04/14/2011

Lawmakers are seeking the inclusion of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene on the list of basic prime commodities, which are under strict monitoring by the government.

The solons, led by Gabriela Reps. Emerenciana de Jesus and Luzviminda Ilagan, authors of House Bill 4100, said LPG and kerosene are considered basic necessities in every household.

De Jesus said LPG and kerosene are regarded as socially sensitive products or products whose prices are susceptible to change due to certain economic movements or activities..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110414nat5.html

McDonald’s pulls out TV ad amid church anger 04/14/2011

McDonald’s pulls out TV ad amid church anger

04/14/2011
US fast-food chain McDonald’s said Wednesday it had scrapped a television commercial in the devoutly Catholic Philippines after facing a barrage of criticism from church leaders.

“We recognize and respect the stand of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and have stopped airing the said commercial across all television stations,” McDonald’s said in a statement.
In the commercial, a girl who looks to be only five or six years old asks a boy of the same age if she can be his girlfriend. The boy curtly rejects her, complaining that girlfriends are too demanding..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110414met6.html

Noy told: Punish those behind oil monopoly, not the drivers By Pat C. Santos 04/14/2011

Noy told: Punish those behind oil monopoly, not the drivers

By Pat C. Santos 04/14/2011

The militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno lashed out at President Aquino for warning on the day that a P1.50 increase in the price of oil products was implemented that drivers who will hold protest actions will be punished.

The labor group stressed those behind the oil cartel should be the ones who should be chastised, not the drivers.

“Shame on you, Mr. President! How dare you issue threats to the country’s small drivers who just want to express their legitimate demands? They have every right to complain, for you have been putting the burden of high prices of oil on their shoulders. Your connivance with the oil cartel has made worse the people’s poverty and hunger,” Elmer Labog, KMU chairman, said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110414met1.html