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Selective ‘truth’ and lies EDITORIAL 09/08/2011

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Selective ‘truth’ and lies

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
09/08/2011
Noynoy dismisses the leaked diplomat cable that painted an unflattering picture of him, saying that the United States government, through its embassy in the Philippines, has been getting the wrong information.

But despite dismissing these leaked cable contents as “wrongly-fed information” given by embassy officials to home office, there went Noy, though his mouthpiece, saying that the Wikileaks cable that had local businessmen, such as Washington Sycip and Gullermo Luz, former Makati Business Club executive director and spokesman, informing the US envoy on the matter of the then First Gentleman, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo being heavily linked to jueteng and smuggling, adding that this cable content would be utilized for “leads” in probing Arroyo on these cases.

Given the two conflicting Palace views on the credibility of the leaked diplomatic cables, how does Noynoy now justify his claim that the US envoy in the country was feeding the wrong information to her home office, yet, at the same time, takes the same information that envoy gave the State Department on Mike Arroyo’s links to the illegal numbers game and smuggling as credible enough to use this as “leads” for yet another inquiry into the alleged criminal acts of Mike Arroyo?.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110908com1.html

What if? FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 09/08/2011

What if?

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
09/08/2011
Ping Lacson says that contrary to the fears of Rosebud Ong that in a month, she may be dead, owing to the Department of Justice (DoJ)’s dropping of her as a government witness under the witness protection program (WPP), he is not going to harm her.

Possibly, but that hardly means that Lacson and his boys will not harass her, the way she harassed him then. Also, what if Ong one day meets an “accident” and dies, just who then would likely be suspected of having done her in, if not Lacson, through his boys? After all, it was Ping who obviously pressured the Justice chief to drop Rosebud Ong from the WPP. That much was clear, as part of the quid pro quo he has with Justice Chief Leila de Lima.

Besides, like it or not, wrong or right, the continued public perception of Ping is that of one who engages, or at least has been alleged to have engaged in extra-judicial killings, as the Kuratong Baleleng Gang’s salvaging sticks in the public mind, to this day.

Then too, Ping is clearly on a vindictive “mission” to make those whom he believes “persecuted” him get the same, if not worse treatment..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110908com2.html

Yemen deadlock threatens escalation focus 09/08/2011

Yemen deadlock threatens escalation

focus

09/08/2011
SANAA — Three months after the forced medical leave of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a political stalemate in Yemen threatens to degenerate into open confrontation between Saleh loyalists and opponents.

The elite Republican Guard troops, commanded by Ahmed, the eldest son of Saleh, have reinforced their presence this week and deployed tanks and missiles on the hills overlooking Sanaa, witnesses said.

Soldiers loyal to dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, fewer and less well armed, have fortified their positions in areas they control in Sanaa, mainly around University Square, renamed Change Square by protesters camped there.

Armed civilians have also been sighted on both sides of Zubair street, which now divides Sanaa between the areas controlled by government forces and that held by the opposition..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110908com3.html

The smell of pork INSIDE CONGRESS Charlie Manalo 09/08/2011

The smell of pork

INSIDE CONGRESS
Charlie Manalo
09/08/2011
Budget Secretary Butch Abad’s strategy of withholding the priority development assistance fund of lawmakers critical of the Aquino administration to force them to leave the opposition and join the administration camp is apparently reaping success.

Yesterday, rumors spread that three more members of the minority bloc in the House of Representatives are set to cross fences and leave the once-dominant political party of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD to join the newly-formed National Unity Party.

A couple of months back, four stalwarts of the Lakas, Pangasinan Reps. Leopoldo Bataoil and Jesus Celeste, La Union Rep. Victor Ortega and Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales left the party for NUP. All because they lost hope they would ever get their pork if they would stick with the opposition camp.

And this time, three solons, one from Mindanao, one from the Visayas and one from Central Luzon, reportedly, are all set to switch party allegiance. Again, because they have been convinced no money would be coming their way if they would not renounce their loyalty from the political party that launched their political careers..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110908com5.html

Be happy, no butts, Bhutan’s smokers told FEATURE 09/08/2011

Be happy, no butts, Bhutan’s smokers told

FEATURE

09/08/2011
THIMPHU — In the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu, a street vendor offering snacks and drinks is secretly selling cigarettes to two customers — a transaction that could put him in jail for five years.

In hushed tones, the young men ask for a packet of 10 and the contraband is handed over wrapped in paper and hastily shoved inside the large pouch at the front of their traditional tunics.

“You can find them all over, but you need to know someone,” one of the buyers said as he scuttled away. “It’s dangerous though. He (the seller) could land in jail.”

Anyone in Bhutan selling tobacco or found with cigarettes that have not been declared to customs has committed a non-bailable offense that carries a maximum five-year prison sentence..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110908com6.html

Charity VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 09/08/2011

Charity

VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
09/08/2011
Compassion brings about preoccupation which in turn brings benefaction to fore — this is charity in nature and implication. Its opposite is exploitation that takes advantage of frustration caused by destitution.

The realities behind these thoughts are not that complicated to perceive, much less are they that profound to understand. The core of the matter is that charity is synonymous with altruistic love — whose opposite is self-service caused by self-love. This is why the triad of faith, hope and love is considered as the cornerstone of all Christian virtues.

This brings to mind the now infamous “Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office” (PCSO) which has slowly but surely metamorphosed into a gambling government-owned and -controlled corporation (GOCC). It is a “Philippine” entity, alright. But there seems to be no more “Sweepstakes” really and much less does it stand for “Charity.” Just like the notorious Philippine Amusement and Gambling Corp. (Pagcor), PCSO is now the symbol of exploitation instanced by frustration on account of the destitution of millions of Filipinos..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110908com7.html

Roxas collaborated with US on medicines bill—WikiLeaks 09/08/2011

HOUSE SPONSOR CUA ALSO CONSULTED U.S. FOR FINAL EDICT DRAFT

Roxas collaborated with US on medicines bill—WikiLeaks

09/08/2011
President Aquino’s troubleshooter Manuel Roxas II, now Transportation and Communications Secretary, met extensively with US officials when he was still a senator in drafting the final version of the Cheaper Medicines Act which was described by many as greatly watered down in its final form, US dispatches intercepted by online whistle-blower WikiLeaks showed.

Two cables, dated May 25, 2006 and Dec. 11, 2006, detailed meetings between Assistant US Trade Representative for Asia Pacific and Pharmaceuticals Policy Barbara Weisel and Roxas on May 16, 2006 and another meeting among Roxas this time mentioning a similar separate meeting with Quirino Rep. Junie Cua with an EconCouns, or the economic counsellor at the US Embassy, which was supposedly a follow-up on a “visit” by US Trade Representative director for Southeast Asian and Pacific Affairs David Katz regarding the Cheaper Medicines Act.

The Act was supposed to ease the sale of generic medicines in the country to lower down drug prices..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110908hed1.html

RP police ‘like Capone-era cops’ — US cable 09/08/2011

RP police ‘like Capone-era cops’ — US cable

09/08/2011
US diplomats saw Philippine police to be as corrupt as Chicago cops in the Al Capone era who tortured, extorted and even murdered suspected criminals, according to a leaked embassy cable.

The 2005 cable, sent apparently by the then number two at the US Embassy in Manila, outlined in colorful language what it said was “endemic” corruption within the 117,000-member Philippine police force.

“Mission observers compare the PNP (Philippine National Police) to police forces in Al Capone’s Chicago, or 1940s ‘LA Confidential’ Los Angeles,” said the cable published by anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks
“Apart from corruption, many cops undertake inves-tigative short cuts that often employ physical abuse, the planting of evidence, and some-times — allegedly under guidance from local elected officials — the extra-judicial killing of criminal suspects.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110908hed5.html

DoJ forms new panel for Ortega murder case By Benjamin B. Pulta 09/08/2011

DoJ forms new panel for Ortega murder case

By Benjamin B. Pulta 09/08/2011

A new panel in the Department of Justice (DoJ) has been tasked to reinvestigate the murder last January of Palawan broadcaster Joel Reyes.

In a Department Order No. 710, DoJ chief Leila de Lima named a new panel for the reinvestigation composed of Assistant State Prosecutor Stewart Allan Mariano, Vimar Barcellano and Gerard Gaerlan.

“The reinvestigation in this case is hereby ordered to address the offer of additional evidence by the complainants,which was denied by the former panel,” De Lima said in the order dated yesterday, Sept. 7.

Earlier, in a six-page Resolution dated Sept. 2, the DoJ Panel led by Senior State Prosecutor Edwin Dayog denied the motion for the reopening of the case..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110908nat2.html

RP plan to ban deployment of workers to derail Miriam’s ICC bid By Michaela P. del Callar 09/08/2011

RP plan to ban deployment of workers to derail Miriam’s ICC bid

By Michaela P. del Callar 09/08/2011

The Philippines’ plan to ban deployment of workers to countries that will fail to provide legal and social protection to Filipinos may affect the country’s bid for a seat in an international tribunal that prosecutes gross human rights violations, a migrant worker group said yesterday.

Non-profit organization Ople Center warned that Manila must expect for any diplomatic, political and even economic backlash that may arise following the ban.

The Philippines should also expect countries that will be included in the government watch list to vote against Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Manila’s candidate as judge in the The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC).

“Votes on such critical positions are always the subject of bilateral consultations and trade-offs or exchanges of certain favors,” said center president Susan Ople..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110908nat3.html

Guard withdraws complaint vs solon By Jason Faustino 09/08/2011

Guard withdraws complaint vs solon

By Jason Faustino 09/08/2011

The security guard who allegedly was beaten up by Lanao del Sur Rep. Mohammed Hussein Pangandaman was a no-show at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) as he withdrew his complaint against the lawmaker, saying he just wanted a public apology.

Security guard Ricardo Bonayog said he was withdrawing his complaint against Pangandaman because he feared for his and his family’s safety.

He added he was up against a powerful person..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110908met3.html

Noy says no to pleas for MRT-LRT fare hike moratorium By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 09/08/2011

Noy says no to pleas for MRT-LRT fare hike moratorium

By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 09/08/2011

President Aquino has rejected desperate pleas from the public — whom he proclaimed as his Boss when he assumed the presidency a little more than a year ago — for him to declare a moratorium on the proposed increase in fares for the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) systems.

In an ambush interview in Bais City, Negros Oriental, Aquino said the fare hike was already inevitable while making an assurance that the cost of increase would just be leveled with present rate being charged by Metro Manila buses.

Aquino insisted the fare hike was only reasonable as it only wanted the present rates to be at par with the present bus fares.

He claimed the fare hike would be more beneficial to the public because this would mean lesser government subsidy for the MRT and the two LRT systems..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110908met1.html

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