Selective justice — Noy style EDITORIAL 07/30/2011

Selective justice — Noy style

EDITORIAL

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07/30/2011
In his claimed fight against corruption, Noynoy stated in his second speech to the nation that this fight is personal to him, saying that “what is right is personal. Making people accountable — whoever they may be — is personal... because we have all been victimized by corruption. What is wrong remains wrong; regardless of how it has been allowed to persist. We cannot simply let it pass. If we ignore the crimes of the past, they will continue to haunt us. And if we do not hold people accountable, they will do it again and again.”

Fine words, but what he really means by the fight against corruption being personal to him is nothing but his personal vendetta against his predecessor, Gloria Arroyo.

This was made much too clear when he appointed, a week before his State of the Nation Address, an accused plunderer, Lt. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan Jr (ret). as his new chief of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), who the other day took his oath of office before the Department of Justice chief, where the case against him is still pending. But didn’t Noynoy say the fight is personal to him, whoever they may be?

Apparently, like her boss, Leila de Lima also embraces selective justice as well as indulges herself in trial and conviction by publicity but only against the presidential foes, as she gave nary an objection to an accused plunderer being sworn in by her as the new BuCor chief.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110730com1.html

Of glass houses and stones FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 07/30/2011

Of glass houses and stones

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

07/30/2011
Like I always say: People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

The old Pagcor management was accused by Noynoy Aquino during his State of the Nation Adress last Monday of having plundered P1 billion for coffee, in a space of some nine years.

Obviously, Noynoy and his aides must have struggled through in getting a passing grade in Math, but never mind that. Not everyone excels in Math, or pseudo-Morality 101, especially Noynoy and his aides, along with his KKK.

But guess what? In just one week, the new Pagcor management lost P400 million to a foreign gambling syndicate last May — and that’s only counting a few casinos. There must have been more casinos that have been victimized by this foreign gambling syndicate. Still, any which way it is cut, a P400 million loss in gambling casinos in just one week is certainly worse than the P1 billion in nine years of coffee-drinking gamblers.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110730com2.html

Libyan top rebel commander killed, backlash feared focus 07/30/2011

Libyan top rebel commander killed, backlash feared

focus

07/30/2011
BENGHAZI — Gen. Abdel Fatah Younes, commander of forces fighting to oust Moamer Kadhafi and once the Libyan strongman’s right-hand man, has been killed, sparking fears of a violent backlash.

Younes was shot dead by an armed gang after he was summoned from the front by the rebel National Transitional Council “for questioning over military issues,” NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil said late Thursday.

His killing, and that of two military officers, is seen as a sign of divisions within the ranks of the rebels in eastern Libya even as they make fresh advances in the west in a pre-Ramadan push to drive Kadhafi out.

“With all sadness, I inform you of the passing of Abdel Fatah Younes, the commander-in-chief of our rebel forces,” Abdel Jalil said in a carefully worded statement at a press conference in Benghazi, the rebels’ eastern capital..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110730com3.html

Rights violations victims file urgent motion before new Ombudsman

Rights violations victims file urgent motion before new Ombudsman

“However long this takes, we will never give up. What is important is we get justice for what was done to us. We urge newly-appointed Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to act on the cases we filed that aim to seek justice for victims of human rights violations.”
– Raymond Manalo, victim of torture and arbitrary detention

By RONALYN V. OLEA

MANILA – Survivors of torture, their lawyers and supporters are confident that the new Ombudsman will act speedily to resolve the years-long complaints filed against several military officers for rights abuses.

Raymond Manalo and Oscar Leuterio filed today urgent motions to resolve the charges they filed against retired military officers Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr., Maj. Gen. Juanito Gomez and other officials and personnel of the 24th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army and members of the Citizen’s Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu). Palparan and others were charged with kidnapping, arbitrary detention, physical injuries, threats, and involuntary servitude, among others.

Both were taken by soldiers in separate incidents and were subjected to various forms of torture. The two are also witnesses to the abduction and torture of University of the Philippines (UP) students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan and farmer Manuel Merino.

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), whose members serve as lawyers of the complainants, noted that SC Justice Carpio-Morales was the one who penned the latest May 2011 decision granting the writ of amparo in favor of Cadapan, Empeño and Merino.

The group said the court found Manalo’s testimony as clear, categorical, consistent and credible. “Thus, with the evidence on hand, Manalo and Leuterio as well as other victims of human rights violations and their kin seek the speedy resolution of the charges against Palparan under the watch of Ombudsman Carpio Morales. “It is only through trying perpetrators and putting them behind bars that we can abate cases of abuse of state forces against innocent civilians,” Edre Olalia, NUPL secretary general, said.

L-R Oscar Leuterio, Erlinda Cadapan and Raymond Manalo are hopeful that the new Ombudsman will act on the cases filed against human rights violators. (Photo by Ronalyn V. Olea / bulatlat.com)

“We are encouraged as honour and integrity is somehow restored into our justice system. With the appointment of a new Ombudsman, we can now prosecute human rights violators without worrying that the interests of the victims will be compromised by patronage politics,” Olalia said.

Manalo filed the charges on September 12, 2008 and Leuterio filed his complaints on November 16, 2006 at the office of former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.

“However long this takes, we will never give up. What is important is we get justice for what was done to us. We urge newly-appointed Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to act on the cases we filed that aim to seek justice for victims of human rights violations,” Manalo said..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/07/29/rights-violations-victims-file-urgent-motion-before-new-ombudsman/

Govt version of Freedom of Information bill restrictive – journalists

Govt version of Freedom of Information bill restrictive – journalists

Theodore Te, lawyer and an advocate of freedom of information, noted that in the Aquino administration’s version of the Freedom of Information bill exceptions are longer than the list of information subject to mandatory disclosure.
Sidebar: Access to information more difficult under Aquino

By RONALYN V. OLEA
MANILA — Groups advocating for the passage of a freedom of information law have been waiting for 15 years already but they would not settle for the Aquino administration’s version of the bill, which ironically, turns out to be more restrictive.

In a policy forum organized by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), journalists and other advocates expressed dismay at the dilly-dallying of President Benigno S. Aquino III on the freedom of information (FOI) bill and criticized the proposals of the executive, as articulated by Manuel Quezon III, undersecretary of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office.

Several FOI bills have been filed in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Aquino tasked a study group to review it and come up with proposals. A draft is being worked on by the said team in consultation with various stakeholders, Quezon said.

Quezon admitted there are stumbling blocks to the passage of the FOI bill. On the other hand, Luis Tedoro, CMFR deputy director, could not accept the administration’s counter proposal, saying, “I feel that if the administration bill is passed, access to information may ironically be curtailed. If the admin bill gets passed, the FOI law may be one of those laws that are supposed to protect people’s rights but in actuality, do not.”

No clear signals

Advocates noted that Aquino did not mention FOI in his second State of the Nation Address (Sona) last Monday.

Malou Mangahas, executive director of PCIJ, said Aquino voted for the FOI bill when he was still a senator, and promised to push for an FOI law when he was still a presidential candidate. “In policy, Aquino and company [say they] support FOI but there are some concerns or is this an excuse?” Mangahas said, addressing Quezon..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/07/29/govt-version-of-freedom-of-information-bill-restrictive-journalists/

Auction of Mental Hospital land, budget cut of Heart Center threaten poor patients

Auction of Mental Hospital land, budget cut of Heart Center threaten poor patients

  “We are calling on the Aquino government to increase the budget of all public hospitals, not just of the Philippine Heart Center. If high costs of medical treatment even in government hospitals become more prevalent, more patients will die without being seen or treated by doctors.” – Bonifacio Carmona Jr., PHC Employees Association Congress speaker and AHW-NCR Representative.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Health workers, medical staff, employees and friends of the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) in Mandaluyong City held a picket protest last week and this week, in front of their hospital, to oppose the impending displacement of the public hospital due to a government-planned bidding and sale of the land where it is located.

Called Welfareville, the approximately 48-hectare lands in Mandaluyong City are being eyed for conversion into a mixed commercial and residential area, a move participated in by Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman, a union official charged. The planned “development” of Welfareville would adversely affect as many as 4,800 charity patients and 1,500 pay patients, said the National Center for Mental Health Employees’ Association last week, not to mention the other Filipinos who stand to lose their minds as poverty and problems afflict them day by day.

Health staff of NCMH in last week’s protest vs sale of Welfareville.(Photos by Gregorio “Jhun” B. Dantes Jr. / bulatlat.com)

If the conversion pushes through, the NCMH has only one year before it would be transferred, reportedly somewhere in Antipolo. The target final bidding for Welfareville is on June 2 next year.

What will happen now to mental patients? asked their friends.

NCMH has a total of 1,700 work force, majority of whom are members of the employees’ association. In one of the protests it held last week in preparation for a bigger mobilization for the protest action during the president’s State of the Nation Address, its union vice-president, Arman Palaganas, told bulatlat.com that the employees are worrying about how the displacement of the mental hospital would adversely affect the thousands of people, especially charity patients, who have mental problems.

Palaganas warned that if mental health patients continued to be neglected, more of them may likely just end up wandering our streets.
Protesting heartlessness
As weekly protests break out in the National Center for Mental Health in Mandaluyong City, in Quezon City, it is the Philippine Heart Center employees who have also been holding picket protests to call attention to the huge budget slash that has continued to afflict the hospital.

According to the employees’ union, the 77-percent budget slash they had been forced to work with is pushing the hospital to indebtedness, lack of supplies and since this year, a strict decision of the hospital management to hold back on services to charity heart patients, even if servicing them remains to be the hospital’s supposed main mandate..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/07/29/auction-of-mental-hospital-land-budget-cut-of-heart-center-threaten-poor-patients/

Aquino’s Sona: All for show, no substance – Bayan

Aquino’s Sona: All for show, no substance – Bayan

 There were many important things to the Filipino people that were missing in Aquino’s Sona, most speakers in the Sona rally said.
Sidebar:
Aquino hit for embracing paramilitary group in Cordillera

“Wang-wang Sona: too much noise, too little substance” – KMU

Sona 2011 has little to report, less to look forward to – Ibon
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – The second State of the Nation Address (Sona) delivered by President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino yesterday was buttressed in Metro Manila by a deployment of 7,000 policemen and 700 to 1,000 soldiers from the Philippine Navy and Philippine Army, plus some armored carriers in case it would be needed. These were to counter the mass of protesters who had sought permission earlier to conduct a “true Sona” rally near the Batasan grounds.

President Aquino had wanted the protesters to hold their program far from Batasan but the protesters persisted, reasoning that that would indeed show they are worse off than before. In the end, the Sona protesters led by the multi-sectoral alliance of progressive people’s groups BAYAN and the labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) managed to hold their program in front of St. Peter’s Church in Commonwealth Avenue.

Aquino has reportedly had a hand in drafting his Sona speech, which went through seven revisions by morning of his scheduled Sona. It was hyped to talk of “only the simple truth, without lies, in Tagalog,” as one of his communication secretaries, Sonny Coloma, promised on radio.

(Photo by Angelica de Lara / bulatlat.com)

On the day of the Sona, President Aquino reportedly woke up early to prepare, and for only the third time since he was sworn in as president, he had called for a Cabinet meeting.

But despite the numerous times Aquino had revised his Sona speech and conducted a cabinet meeting, protesters still found his Sona greatly wanting in substance. After a year of Aquino’s rule, progressive people’s organizations declared that they have seen and suffered enough from the policies Aquino just continued from where Arroyo left off. Their effigy of Aquino is that of a “smelly rotten egg”.

No change under Aquino 

Aquino’s Sona was denounced as empty, for the Filipino masses at least, by leaders and members of progressive organizations that gathered for their main protest rally in Quezon City. More Sona protests airing “the true Sona” were simultaneously held in many other cities outside of Metro Manila. On the other hand, a single pro-Aquino rally was held and allowed to hold a program in front of the Batasan grounds..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/07/26/aquinos-sona-all-for-show-no-substance-%E2%80%93-bayan/

Worst year for OFWs

 Worst year for OFWs

OFWs are still forced to go abroad because the government has offered them nothing substantive and sustainable to address their families’s economic needs. Instead, what it has offered are mere dole-outs and band-aid solutions that does not do anything to address widespread unemployment and landlessness the root cause of forced migration.” – Migrante International
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Fanny Espiritu, 47, stood before protesters in front of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). She was agitated while lambasting a government agency, which she referred to as “useless.” But when she went down from their makeshift stage, on top of a jeepney, tears flowed from her eyes.

“It is my first time to speak in a protest rally,” Espiritu told Bulatlat.com, “I do not know how I managed to pluck up the courage. In my heart, there is just too much hatred and disappointment on this government, which neglected my sister.”

Espiritu’s sister, Zosima Monterey, 43, is an overseas Filipino worker. It was her first time to work in Saudi Arabia. Their other sister suffered a bad fate when she worked in Jeddah, so naturally, Espiritu said, they were all against Monterey’s plan. “But she insisted for the sake of his nephews and nieces. She wants to help them because she loves them very much.”?

On June 12, 2007, Monterey left for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to work as a beautician for Sarah Abdullah Alsaeed Ladies Dress Shop. Her contract stipulates that she would be receiving $500 a month, including free accommodation and food. But like what happened to most OFWs, she received less and her salary was always delayed..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/07/24/worst-year-for-ofws/

Political prisoners start fasting up to Aquino’s Sona

“It appears that the Arroyo policy of witch-hunting, arrest, criminalization of political offenses and/or the slapping of fabricated criminal charges to silence and put behind bars human rights defenders continues to be implemented under Aquino,” Angelina Ipong, Selda spokeswoman, said.
By RONALYN V. OLEA

Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Hundreds of political prisoners in various detention cells nationwide have started fasting today up to President Benigno S. Aquino III’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday.

Dramatizing their call for general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty, 230 political prisoners in Camp Crame, Camp Bagong Diwa, New Bilibid Prisons, Manila City Jail, Quezon City Jail and other detention cells in Central Luzon, Batangas, Cagayan Valley, Central Visayas, Iloilo, Eastern Visayas, Southern Mindanao, Northern Mindanao, and Caraga, participated in the fasting.

According to Karapatan and Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Selda), there are 354 political prisoners nationwide. Majority of them were arrested during the previous administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“The redress of injustice to all political prisoners and the return of the freedom deprived from them are both a basic human right and an essential element in the peace process,” political prisoners detained at Camp Crame said in a joint statement.

“One year since the first Sona of Aquino, nothing has been done to serve justice for the illegal arrest, torture and illegal detention of the 354 political prisoners who are still languishing in jails all over the country,” Angelina Ipong, a recently released political prisoner and Selda spokeswoman, said..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/07/22/political-prisoners-start-fasting-until-aquino%E2%80%99s-sona/

House break-in ‘videographer’ skipped country By Angie M. Rosales 07/30/2011

ERAP CALLS FOR ‘BAYANIHAN FOR TRUTH’

House break-in ‘videographer’ skipped country

By Angie M. Rosales 07/30/2011

The police officer who was pointed to by a senator as the person who took the video showing the alleged “break-in” at the Batasang Pambansa in 2004, referring to the purported “switching” of ballot boxes during the height of the canvassing procedures of the presidential and vice presidential race, is no longer in the country.

“He is no longer here in the country. But there’s a way to contact him and he is already thinking on (whether to testify). Actually he is inclined to come out to testify but he is not here in the country right now,” Sen. Panfilo Lacson said yesterday.

Lacson has been coming with “exposés” a la MacArthy, the American congressman who was on a wild communist witchhunt” who always claimed he had a list of communists and their sympathizers, naming, without evidence, many American celebrities, in business, movies and politics.

A certain Lt. Joel Pinawin, an intelligence officer, surfaced Thursday afternoon in the office of Lacson to turn over to the senator copies of videos recorded via a mobile phone on the supposed ballot-switching incident that was said to have taken place in the Batasang Pambansa building several years ago..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110730hed1.html

5 Marines beheaded in Abu Sayyaf Sulu clash By Mario J. Mallari 07/30/2011

5 Marines beheaded in Abu Sayyaf Sulu clash

By Mario J. Mallari 07/30/2011
Five of the seven slain Marines, one of them a junior officer, in Sulu province were beheaded by the terrorist Abu Sayyaf group after an intense five-hour clash on the outskirts of Patikul town last Thursday.

Reliable military sources, who requested anonymity, said the bodies of the five Marines were recovered in the vicinities of the encounter site in Barangay Panglayaan Mungit with their heads mutilated.

The sources added the head of one of the recovered bodies was still missing at press time. One source said the five Marines were the ones who were initially reported missing.

“Apparently, they were pinned down by the terrorists,” the source said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110730hed4.html

Death toll from ‘Juaning’ reaches 41; P1-B infra, crops destroyed By Mario J. Mallari 07/30/2011

Death toll from ‘Juaning’ reaches 41; P1-B infra, crops destroyed

By Mario J. Mallari 07/30/2011

Damages brought about by tropical storm “Juaning” was initially estimated at more than P1 billion, most of which was in Albay province, as the death toll increased to 41 persons yesterday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) reported.

Initial damage assessment reported by the NDRRMC showed that a total of P110,913,913.31 worth of agricultural products and an estimated P1,021,927,899.66 in infrastructure were destroyed by the havoc wrought by “Juaning.”

The province of Albay, which was placed under the state of calamity, recorded the highest damages both in agriculture and livestock sector and infrastructure with P799,000 and P967,886,899.66, respectively.
The figures could still go up as official reports coming from other affected provinces are expected to come in..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110730nat1.html

Nene: Koko deserves seat of ‘fake’ senator 07/30/2011

Nene: Koko deserves seat of ‘fake’ senator

07/30/2011
Former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. said yesterday that his son, lawyer Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, deserves to take over the seat now occupied by Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri.

“Political justice demands that Koko should be seated today, not in October or later,” said the elder Pimentel, who now stands as Koko’s legal counsel.

“Our electoral protest has been vindicated by the recent pronouncement of former Maguindanao provincial election supervisor Lintang Bedol that the 2007 senatorial election was rigged to favor Zubiri,” Pimentel said.

Detained former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan had earlier made the same claim of widespread fraud in the province in the 2007 elections.
.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110730nat11.html

NDF consultants released from detention will boost peace talks — Deles 07/30/2011

NDF consultants released from detention will boost peace talks — Deles

07/30/2011
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles said yesterday the release of a captured rebel leader and two National Democratic Front (NDF) consultants from detention following the dismissal of their cases by a court would help boost the government’s confidence-building in the resumption of peace talks next month.

Released from detention were rebel leader Jovencio Balweg and NDF consultants Maria Luisa Purcray of Agusan del Norte and Jaime Soledad of Leyte.

“The government has always maintained its commitment to this peace process. We look at this as a bonus that favorably affects the government’s current negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines,” Deles said.

“We are appreciative of the efforts made by other government agencies in this matter,” said Alexander Padilla, chairman of the government peace panel negotiating with the CPP/NPA/NDF..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110730nat15.html

Death toll from ‘Juaning’ reaches 41; P1-B infra, crops destroyed By Mario J. Mallari 07/30/2011

Death toll from ‘Juaning’ reaches 41; P1-B infra, crops destroyed

By Mario J. Mallari 07/30/2011

Damages brought about by tropical storm “Juaning” was initially estimated at more than P1 billion, most of which was in Albay province, as the death toll increased to 41 persons yesterday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) reported.

Initial damage assessment reported by the NDRRMC showed that a total of P110,913,913.31 worth of agricultural products and an estimated P1,021,927,899.66 in infrastructure were destroyed by the havoc wrought by “Juaning.”

The province of Albay, which was placed under the state of calamity, recorded the highest damages both in agriculture and livestock sector and infrastructure with P799,000 and P967,886,899.66, respectively.

The figures could still go up as official reports coming from other affected provinces are expected to come in..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110730nat1.html

House panel to BIR: Liquidate P100-B forfeited properties By Gerry Baldo 07/30/2011

House panel to BIR: Liquidate P100-B forfeited properties

By Gerry Baldo 07/30/2011

The House committee on ways and means yesterday asked the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to liquidate over P100 billion worth of properties it had forfeited in favor of the government.

According to Valenzuela Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo, vice chairman of the ways and means panel, the properties have been idle in the BIR for three decades since the seventies.

“There are money and assets forfeited in favor of the Philippine government that are being hoarded by the BIR. This is atrocious. It should liquidate these properties immediately,” Gunigundo told House reporters.
Gunigundo also asked the BIR, now headed by Commissioner Kim Henares, to submit a list of all the properties that it forfeited in Isabela, Pampanga and some provinces in Cagayan as well as in Caloocan City that would help the panel to determine how much funds the government can generate in selling the assets..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110730met1.html

Lawmakers push inclusion of road safety education in school curricula By Charlie V. Manalo 07/30/2011

Lawmakers push inclusion of road safety education in school curricula

By Charlie V. Manalo 07/30/2011

Road safety will soon be included in elementary and high school curricula as lawmakers strongly sought its inclusion in basic education to protect the young from road and traffic accidents.

Reps. Angelo Palmones (Agham) and Homer Mercado (1-Utak) filed House Bill 4890 to be known as the Road Safety Education Act of 2011 as they stressed the urgent need for the Filipino youth to be educated on road safety.

“I believe that the State can ensure the protection of the vulnerable road users by supporting all road safety strategic measures and programs that will inculcate in the minds of school children through early basic education behavioral changes and discipline in road use,” Palmones said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110730met2.html