Apple polishing ways FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 09/07/2010

Apple polishing ways

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

09/07/2010
State prosecutors have announced that they will be calling former President now Rep. Gloria Arroyo and her husband Mike as their first witnesses against former Social Security System (SSS) president Romulo Neri, the accused in the case of the alleged rigging of the ZTE-NBN deal.

But why should prosecutors want Gloria as their witness, when it is clear that she would say nothing against him? Her testimony, in fact, will tend to exonerate Neri.

As for Big Mike, what on earth can they get from him? Officially, he has no say in government business, or the presidential business, and unless the prosecutors have some kind of document with his signature or initials on it that would prove he had a hand in the ZTE-NBN deal, there is little, if at all, that the prosecutors can get from him.

As for the photographs of their playing golf with the Chinese ZTE officials, that is hardly incriminating — as far as proving he was involved in that deal..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100907com2.html

Miraculous survival tales from New Zealand quake FEATURE 09/07/2010

Miraculous survival tales from New Zealand quake

FEATURE

09/07/2010
CHRISTCHURCH — Miraculous tales of survival emerged on Monday after New Zealand’s most damaging earthquake in 80 years hurled sleeping residents into their gardens and left others cowering inside collapsing homes.

Xavier Trousselot-Rhodes, 16, was asleep when the quake hit at about 4:35 a.m. on Saturday. He was tossed out of bed, through a disintegrating wall and into a pile of rubble on the ground outside, several meters (feet) below.

Despite his ordeal, the teenager suffered nothing more serious than cuts and bruises.

“I pretty much rolled (off the bed) and, as I rolled to the right, the wall gave way,” he told The Press newspaper.

“I was just in my boxers, so I had nothing to protect me really, and yet the car I landed next to was written off. It looked like it had been through a war zone.”

Xavier, who went to church on Sunday after his lucky escape, said it was fortunate his brother had decided to stay elsewhere on Saturday night because his bed was buried under rubble..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100907com3.html

Clearly, now NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 09/07/2010

Clearly, now

NO HOLDS BARRED

Armida Siguion-Reyna

09/07/2010
This lola had wanted to move on and get into other things soon after the last piece in this corner flew out for printing, via e-mail. But the ink hadn’t dried yet, as it used to be said in the days of literally ink and paper news, when came the leak about the mislabeled coffins of three out of eight who died in the hostage crisis of two weeks ago. I suddenly heard myself go, “Uh-oh.”

The mix-up apparently took place in the morgue here in Manila, but was discovered in Hong Kong when family members discovered someone else in the coffins, after they’d all laid wreaths and wept over their dead in brief ceremonies held at the Hong Kong International Airport.

Ano ba ito, I asked myself, how are we ever going to get past this, will we ever? The sick of mind have made tasteless jokes warning Filipino travelers not to go to HK for the meantime, because nasty body fluids are supposedly put by Chinese cooks in bowls of congee and steamers of dim sum that we order. Titingnan n’yong biro ito, not quite, for the authors of the wisecracks have become so paranoid, they’ve started to believe the lie.

It’s just as well that out now on Facebook is a five-minute plus video of young Hong Kong people initiating hugs with Hong Kong-based Filipinos whom they also give friendship notes on stick-on paper, while carrying makeshift placards proclaiming variations of “I love Filipinos!” out on HK Central.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100907com4.html

What is the middle class? AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 09/07/2010

What is the middle class?

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW

Ken Fuller

09/07/2010
The term “middle class” appears to be losing its meaning.

For some time, this outsider has been irritated by the American use of the term to describe people who in most other developed societies would be described as “working-class.” At first I thought it might have come about because in the privatized, downsized, deregulated and outsourced land of the free anyone fortunate enough to be able to live a decent life with the earnings from just one job would be considered somewhat privileged, and therefore deserving of an appellation reflective of their status. But while the numbers in decent employment may indeed be shrinking, and the status of those working in as many “McJobs” as they can handle approaches that of the informal sector of countries like the Philippines, that’s not the real reason.

There are, possibly, two explanations for the misuse of the term. For one, it would be in the interest of the economic and political rulers to persuade working people that they have a stake in the system that periodically plays havoc with their lives, and the appellation “middle class” is more likely to convey such an impression. Secondly, many workers fall for it, fooling themselves into believing that as members of this ill-defined “middle class” they’re better off and more secure than mere “working-class” people.

That may not work much longer, because increasingly there is talk of a “middle-class crisis.” A piece in the Financial Times (“The crisis of middle-class America”) by Edward Luce on July 30 tells the story of a married couple who, despite their joint earnings of $70,000 a year, are “never more than a pay check or two from the streets.” Their dilemma, says Luce, is partially due to the fact that the earnings of 90 percent of US families have been flat since 1973..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100907com5.html

Political crisis leaves Nepal’s Maoist fighters in limbo focus 09/07/2010

Political crisis leaves Nepal’s Maoist fighters in limbo

focus

09/07/2010
DAHABAN — As a commander in Nepal’s Maoist army, Ram Lal Roka Magar led his soldiers in more than 50 battles against the state security forces.

But for the past four years, the 38-year-old father of two has been biding his time in a military cantonment in a remote part of western Nepal as he waits for the country’s warring politicians to decide his fate.

Magar is one of thousands of former fighters in the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) still living in UN-monitored cantonments set up across the country after the war ended in 2006.

The arrangement was intended as a temporary solution pending a merger of the PLA and the national army.

But it has dragged on because the Maoists, now the main opposition party, and their political rivals have been unable to reach agreement on the issue.

The former fighters are free to leave whenever they want, and thousands have drifted away in the intervening years, ditching their PLA uniforms to return home to their families.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100907com6.html

Bahrain presses terror charges against opposition leaders focus 09/07/2010

Bahrain presses terror charges against opposition leaders

focus

09/07/2010
MANAMA — Prosecutors have pressed terrorism charges against Shiite opposition activists in Bahrain, raising tension in the run-up to an Oct. 23 election in the Gulf state where a Sunni royal family rules a mainly Shiite population.

The charge sheet released on Saturday accused the 23 activists — 10 of them prominent opposition figures — of “undermining national security.”

It alleged that the “leaders of the terror network” held secret meetings in Bahrain and abroad in a bid “to change the political regime through illegal means.”

Most of the suspects are members of Haq — the Movement of Liberties and Democracy — a Shiite group which rejected as inadequate reforms intended to put an end to Shiite-led unrest that rocked the 35-island archipelago through the 1990s.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100907com7.html

No PNP nego team, no intel, no manual —Yebra By Benjamin B. Pulta 09/07/2010

No PNP nego team, no intel, no manual —Yebra
By Benjamin B. Pulta
09/07/2010

To each his own thing, in negotiating releases of hostages, Philippine style.

Police hostage negotiator Supt. Orlando Yebra appeared before the inter-agency body investigating the Quirino Grandstand botched hostage rescue last Aug. 23 which resulted in the deaths of eight Chinese HongKong tourists along with the hostage taker, sacked police officer Rolando Mendoza.

Yebra admitted before the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC), that the Aug. 23 hostage-taking negotiation was a failure since lives were lost as he cited that the Philippine National Police (PNP) has no hostage-taking situation manual to guide hostage negotiators in dealing with this kind of serious scenario.

The country’s image is getting worse internationally, however. Some 1,000 package tours to the Philippines after eight Hong Kong tourists were killed in a bus hijacking in Manila, have been canceled, China’s state media said Monday 

During the resumption of clarificatory hearings, Yebra, who was designated chief negotiator, also said the PNP has no official negotiating team to deal with hostage-taking situations.

At the same time, two IICR teams composed of prosecutors from the Department of Justice (DoJ) and officials from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) team left yesterday for Hong Kong to interview survivors as well as to possibly retrieve evidence that was inadvertently turned over to Hong Kong authorities.

.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100907hed1.html

DILG chief won’t quit, didn’t ask Noy to own up By Charlie V. Manalo 09/07/2010

DILG chief won’t quit, didn’t ask Noy to own up
By Charlie V. Manalo
09/07/2010

Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo yesterday remained steadfast and refused to quit his post, even virtually blaming President Aquino for owning up to the responsibility over the hostage fiasco, beating him and other government officials who were involved in the botched rescue opera-tion to the draw.

In yesterday’s hearing for the DILG’s P86.9 billion budget, Robredo was grilled by lawmakers from opposing camps on the hostage rescue at the Luneta grandstand, where eight Hong Kong travelers were killed and several others seriously wounded.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas told Robredo it was rather ironic it was Aquino who had to be the first to own up the responsibility on the hostage fiasco when hisagency was supposedly calling the shots on the crisis.

.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100907hed2.html

AFP raises alert status 09/07/2010

AFP raises alert status
09/07/2010
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday raised the red alert status to all military units in Mindanao to thwart any retaliatory attacks from the Abu Sayyaf group following the killing of three terrorists, including a sub-commander, midnight of Saturday in Sulu.

At a press briefing in Camp Aguinaldo, AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said that military units all over Mindanao have started intensifying intelligence operations after the killing of Gafur Jumdail, younger brother of Abu Sayyaf top leader Gumbahali Jumdail, alias Doctor Abu.

“We are actually on red alert in the whole of Mindanao,” said Mabanta.

“The Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces are on alert because of the possibility that the brother may seek revenge,” added Mabanta.

This, as at least two explosions were reported in Mindanao areas — one in Sultan Kudarat and another at the heart of Cotabato City..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100907nat6.html

Aquino justifies US trip, hints big gains 09/07/2010

Aquino justifies US trip, hints big gains
09/07/2010
President Aquino has said he has all the right reasons to proceed with his scheduled trip to the United States by the end of the month notwithstanding the fact that the country is still nursing the negative effects of the raecent hostage tragedy.

In a speech he delivered at the wake of his friend, lawyer Teodoro Macapagal, in Olongapo City the other day, Aquino said he is convinced that his US visit will bear fruit, hinting that it could possibly bring about “good news” for the country.

“Trust me. I even said that I’m not very fond of traveling especially in a time where our funds are limited and we cannot afford to good reason. I was convinced that there is a reason. We have a lot of good reasons to go to the US and when I come back, I look forward to announcing things that we can look forward to,” Aquino said in his statement..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100907hed3.html

Sandigan to summon Arroyos as prosecution witnesses vs Neri By Charlie V. Manalo 09/07/2010

Sandigan to summon Arroyos as prosecution witnesses vs Neri
By Charlie V. Manalo
09/07/2010

The prosecution is set to call former president, now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo and her husband, former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo as its first witnesses against former Neda secretary and former Social System Security

administrator (SSS) Romulo Neri in the alleged rigging of the government’s National Broadband Network deal with China’s ZTE Corp.

Assistant Special Prosecutor III John Toralba bared that the former president would be called on to testify regarding the extent of Neri’s authority as to the project.

Turalba stressed Arroyo cannot refuse to testify or comply with the order of the court under the law.

Neri was the director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) from 2006 to 2007 when the proposal for a national broadband network was submitted to his office for approval..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100907hed4.html

Senate gives way anew to IIRC, defers probe By Angie Rosales 09/07/2010

Senate gives way anew to IIRC, defers probe
By Angie Rosales
09/07/2010

The Senate decided to give way again to the fact finding body on the bloody hostage crisis as it deferred yesterday a parallel investigation into the incident after the Department of Justice

(DoJ) requested its postponement to allow smooth proceedings of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC).

Sen. Gregorio Honasan, chairman of the public order and public information Senate committees, said the separate inquiry on the incident, focusing on the broadcast media’s role in covering hostage situations, originally scheduled to take place today, has been canceled. Today would be the second time that the Senate is postponing its inquiry into the Aug. 23 

bloodletting that claimed the lives of eight Hong Kong residents in deference to the IIRC.

“The DoJ requested that we postpone the hearing because they will also be calling in (members of the) media. We will be having the same set of resource persons. They’re the priority, we could wait,” he said in an interview with reporters..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100907hed5.html

SC fears brain drain as Palace cuts judiciary’s budget 09/07/2010

SC fears brain drain as Palace cuts judiciary’s budget
09/07/2010
The judiciary is on the brink of losing its justices and judges if the Aquino government continues to squeeze its meager budget.

According to Midas Marquez, Supreme Court spokesman and court administrator, the budget of the judiciary now is less than its budget last year which was less than one percent of the proposed P1.65-trillion national budget for 2011.

Marquez warned that the disposition of cases nationwide could be adversely affected with the inadequate budget given the judiciary.

“The judiciary has not been given even one percent of the national budget in the last four years and worse, there is a high probability in 2011 of a decreased budget,” Marquez yesterday noted during the hearing of the House appropriations committee on the national budget for 2011.

The SC official lamented that Malacañang only gave the judiciary P14.3 billion instead of granting the proposed P27.1 billion.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100907hed6.html

They don’t count EDITORIAL 09/06/2010

They don’t count

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

09/06/2010
Noticeable in the ongoing testimonies to the fact-finding body formed to make heads or tails of the botched hostage rescue that took away the lives of eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage taker, are the many should haves and could haves coming from the police officials, all of which are usually given through the coaxing of the members of the probe body.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Leocadio Santiago said had it had been his decision, the police assault on the bus where dismissed Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza held the hostages would have been carried out by the elite Special Action Force (SAF) instead of the ill-equipped Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) force of the Manila Police District. Also negotiator Chief Insp. Romeo Salvador said had he been allowed, he could have grabbed Mendoza and ended the crisis with likely less trouble.

The members of the fact-finding body were obviously taking the path of getting a crystal-clear view on who really was to blame for the ugly turnout of the incident. And from testimonies given thus far, it seems that the group supposedly managing the crisis unfortunately was a mixed bag of spineless police officials, a politician who seems to believe that the crisis was a movie production and a former police general who can’t get past the temptation of taking over ground command during crisis situations.

Santiago’s and Salvador’s statements were giveaway proof that most of the police involved in ground operations on the hostage-taking incident were either not consulted or largely ignored by the so-called crisis management committee (CMC) that appeared to have disintegrated when it was most needed..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/

Biggest ‘porker’ ever FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 09/06/2010

Biggest ‘porker’ ever

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

09/06/2010
Guess who is the biggest “porker” in the government?

It’s Noynoy Aquino, President of the Republic, who spoke of the need for reforms and austerity, and slammed away at those officials in government-owned and controlled corporations, and government financial institutions for giving themselves tens of millions in allowances, fat pays and bonuses.

But hey, what’s a few hundred millions when compared to Noynoy’s increased pork barrel — amounting to a staggering P1 billion, just for himself — and unaccountable too, as these are confidential funds.

And this is apart from his presidential social fund, which also amounts in the billions yearly.

It has been pointed out by congressmen that the 2011 budget Congress is now reviewing, shows that not only has Noynoy bloated his pork barrel to P1 billion but also did not provide a single centavo to the National Food Authority (NFA) for rice subsidy in the proposed P1.64-trillion budget submitted to the House.

All for him and nothing for the poor people who have to buy cheap rice?

But not only did Noynoy give himself P1 billion for his pork barrel. He even retained his P500-million intelligence funds!.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100906com2.html

Into the Atlantic — Liberian homes destroyed by sea erosion focus 09/06/2010

Into the Atlantic — Liberian homes destroyed by sea erosion

focus

09/06/2010
BUCHANAN — A home right on the beach has proved anything but a dream for Frances Kwessi, 35, who has watched sea erosion destroy her house room by room, as the Atlantic washed up on her doorstep.

“As you can see only one room has not yet been touched by the sea,” said Kwessi, who lives in Liberia’s port town of Buchanan.

Dressed in a dirty blue dress with a baby strapped to her back, she now sleeps there with her three children, after rising tides claimed three quarters of the brick house, with its cement floor and zinc roof.

Coastal erosion in the west African nation has eaten up many beaches, but more seriously has endangered the many unplanned and densely populated communities who built their houses too close to the shore.

“I don’t really know what to do now,” she said.

“This was the only shelter I had. I sleep here with my children because I have no choice.”... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100906com3.html

The buck stops where? C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 09/06/2010

The buck stops where?

C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S

Jonathan De la Cruz

09/06/2010
So, who decided against giving in to hostage taker Rolando Mendoza’s demand that he be reinstated even temporarily in exchange for the release of the hostages that fateful Monday two weeks ago?

This question is being asked after the deputy negotiator, Chief Insp. Romeo Salvador, revealed on the second day of the clarificatory hearings of the five man investigating panel headed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima that Mendoza confided to him as much. On questioning by panel member IBP Governor Roan Libarios, Salvador narrated that as early as lunchtime that Monday Mendoza told him he just needed a temporary reinstatement order to release the hostages since he also realized that he would be charged and detained anyway for the hostage taking. Unfortunately, as Salvador sadly narrated, the “higher ups” failed to act on the information at that time only to find out that a reinstatement order was issued later on when the crisis has turned into a carnage.

So, why did the crisis committee not take the offer right there and then and resolved the crisis pronto? That is the sixty four dollar question which the panel is now obligated to prove to spare us all the wailing and self flagellation which have been attending this tragedy for sometime now. P-Noy need not own up to the mistakes of his bumbling and finger pointing subordinates and lesser officials who should know better than hide behind his back propping him up as their apologist instead of the other way around. 

Who disregarded the Mendoza offer and why? This is the one question which needs to be answered now before the De Lima panel and, yes, the eager beaver Palace subordinates lead the public through another round of psycho-babbling and self flagellation. Was it Colonel Yebra, the chief negotiator? As a trained negotiator, did he think Mendoza’s offer a ploy to buy time and gain advantage? Or, did he keep the information to himself hoping that he can spring it and gain clearance for its implementation at a more appropriate time?.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100906com4.html

PeNoy: P8B for the poor, P35B for bankers DIE HARD III Herman Tiu Laurel 09/06/2010

PeNoy: P8B for the poor, P35B for bankers

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

09/06/2010
Dinky Soliman, PeNoy Aquino’s Social Welfare secretary, trumpets her P8-billion cash dole-out for the poor. That’s measly compared to the P35 billion Soliman’s CodeNGO is handing out to the bankers this year through the payback to her group’s so-called PeaceBonds.

Just think: The bankers are going to get four times more than the poor. And we don’t even know if all of this P8-billion dole-out will really go to the intended recipients, given the notoriety of the PeNoy administration’s utter lack of control. Stated simply, this is my way of telling Soliman to cut the crap about her and her government’s fictitious “pro-poor” claims. Her NGO work had always been masked subversion projects of the Western funding agencies — thus, explaining why her NGO comrades are so well taken care of by such bodies as the Kennedy School of Government and the Cory Aquino foundations of the oligarchs.

As we speak, PeNoy is already increasing the number of financial rip-offs to benefit Big Business through new projects such as the MRT and the new South Expressway extensions, water privatization, power privatization (which has given us the highest power rates in Asia), plus giving tollway operators more leeway to exact exorbitant fees. All these are being contracted under PeNoy’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, which will have P15 billion in funding cum dole-out for the big, favored corporations — again outstripping the dole-out for the poor.

Already, under this PPP arrangement, three new tollways are being planned, as well as, tourism infrastructure to be mapped out by Ayala man and Tourism Secretary Bertie Lim. In all, the P35-billion CodeNGO pay-off and the P15-billion PPP projects total to an astounding P50-billion “social welfare” for Big Business!

But even as PeNoy gives this P50-billion subsidy to the bankers and Big Business, his government’s pencil-pushers under Butch Abad, such as the Treasury boss, did not allocate a single centavo for the National Food Authority (NFA), under the Department of Agriculture’s budget. Without this, the NFA will not be able to purchase rice from our millions of farmers. In short, there will be no subsidy at all, which will place them at the mercy of unscrupulous traders and middle men, thus, drowning us in the deluge of imports from countries such as Vietnam, India, and China that subsidize their own farmers. I really wonder if NFA chief Lito Banayo will be able to stomach this as he claims to be pro-poor and a nationalist ever since his college and activist days.

In the meantime, behind the veneer of brooking “no corruption” is this reality: PeNoy now bloats the President’s pork barrel from P800 million to P1 billion and keeps his P500-million intelligence fund, which he earlier vowed to forego. PeNoy also did not reduce his travel budget as he said he would.

Following his lead, Malacañang has now increased its contingent fund under the new budget and listed this under the Special Purpose Fund which only the President can draw from. In turn, budgets for Environment and Health were reduced. Funds such as the P18.5 billion for water resources development and flood control and P40 billion for health services were slashed to P14.5 billion and P38.6 billion respectively.

Yet the palakasan in favor of the Ateneo-UP Student Catholic Action (UPSCA) club, nurtured by the Jesuits Delaney and Intengan, is ever present. Why, the Atenean Butch Abad has already allocated P34.3 billion (up from the previous year’s P15.4 billion) to UPSCAn Dinky Soliman.

All this should be lessons to the wide-eyed believers of PeNoy and the Yellow movement to snap out of their trance. This call is made to such Yellow supporters as Reyn Barnido, who has issued an open letter to PeNoy on the Internet that takes off from the hostage fiasco, saying in part: “This is not anymore about failing to handle the hostage-taking as much as this is about fulfilling the promises of your oath-taking… This is not about a singular madman shooting bullets up and down; this is about an orgy of fools shooting lies left and right... not anymore about the negotiators’ inefficiency to convince a police officer to surrender, but the government’s incapacity to comfort a nation… We don’t deserve this, Sir. This is not the covenant we entered into during your oath-taking… I grew up in the shadows of the Abads, Soliman, Deles… Do not take their analysis of society at face value for theirs is a construct designed to fuel a protest movement, not manage a large bureaucracy… Believe it or not, your cheerers may have become cynics, but they are still your companions in this journey. I, for one, will not abandon you Mr. President.”

Apparently, Barnido still thinks that the crisis bedeviling his former mentors and PeNoy himself is just a crisis of incompetence, where one is sentimentally loyal even to the failed and foolish, hoping they will learn. Well, he and his youngish ilk are the ones who have a lot to learn!

PeNoy’s budget and programs, foisted unto us by the evil powers that Barnido has been taught in the Ateneo not to see, are the best eye openers. These evil powers, the money masters to whom the Jesuits genuflect, are anti-poor and anti-human, on top of being pro-Big Business. Only when he awakens to how he was inveigled to help install a puppet that has brought us to the deepest nadir which the Yellow movement is capable of can he truly help this nation as a “Man for Others,” and not as a “Man for the Money Masters.”... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100906com5.html

A tired soul HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 09/06/2010

A tired soul

HE SAYS

Aldrin Cardon

09/06/2010
I’m a good two decades away from being called a senior citizen, if 60 years is the yardstick for age and possession of a senior’s citizen’s card’s confirmation. But at 40, I can already feel that I have lost my youthful immortality. I’m no longer invincible that I once thought I was.

It’s only rock and roll which keep me alive, but my songs, like those of my father’s, have grown old, too. Yet I learned to step back, catching up with the music of my pre-teen daughter, the eldest of three, who introduced me to B.O.B and Train and Jay Sean and Jay-Z.

If I stay away from radio quite a bit longer, I could take Justin Bieber for a time, but repetition has its cost, and the young singing sensation of good, ol’ America drives me back to New Wave, Blues and good, ol’ rock and roll.

Recently, my friends and I celebrated the 15th year of Back to the Edge, it’s the monthly series of gigs I’ve helped found with Sazi Cozino, owner of Sazi’s Bar, the former Mayric’s in front of UST where tired souls converged to refresh for the new day ahead. But our numbers have been overtaken by the younger souls, those who were once us, until gray hair and arthritis caught up with many of us.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100906com6.html

Honoring the elderly SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 09/06/2010

Honoring the elderly

SHE SAYS

Dinah S. Ventura

09/06/2010
There may have been a time you thought 40 was ancient, but if you have reached this age “category” yourself, you would probably love to bandy the thought that it is “the new 20.”

Regardless of how you feel about age, aging and the so-called elderly, there is no denying that we will reach “that certain age” sometime in our lives — if we’re lucky.

Looking at the elderly in your family, are you filled with wonder at how they manage to remain so strong and healthy even after all these years? Are you proud of their active minds and dependable wisdom, or amused by their propensity to learn new things, such as the Internet and those gadgets that even you have yet to master? Do they inspire you to live as fully as they are living, or do you worry about them?

In the world, according to the United Nations (UN), “one of every 10 persons is now 60 years or older. By the year 2050, one of five will be 60 years or older; by 2150, it will be one of three persons.” 

Recognizing the needs of the elderly in the world, the UN General Assembly in 1990 designated Oct. 1 as the International Day for the Elderly. This holiday encourages everyone to pay their respects to the older people in their families and communities and tend to their special needs..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100906com7.html

Verzosa admits low morale in PNP By DEXTER SEE September 5, 2010, 5:00pm

Verzosa admits low morale in PNP

By DEXTER SEE

September 5, 2010, 5:00pm

FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City – No less than Director General Jesus A. Verzosa admitted over the weekend that a low morale pervades in the 120,000-strong Philippine National Police (PNP) organization, following the monumental blunders of the police in the Manila hostage-taking incident last August 23.

Speaking before Philippine Military Academy (PMA) cadets on Saturday afternoon, Verzosa acknowledged that the lapses of the police, which failed to avert a bloody end to the hostage drama, earned the ire of the international community.

The death of eight tourists from Hong Kong and hostage-taker, dismissed police Senior Inspector Rolando R. Mendoza, consequently portrayed a weak ability of the police to handle such sensitive incidents.

While Verzosa offered no concrete evidence of demoralization in the country’s police force, he said he can feel the low morale of the men and women in uniform..... MORE

Source:  Mb.com.ph

URL: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/275719/verzosa-admits-low-morale-pnp

Joker: Palace moves ‘cheapen’ presidency By Angie M. Rosales 09/06/2010

AQUINO TAKING FULL RESPONSIBILITY ‘AMOUNTS TO NOTHING’ 

Joker: Palace moves ‘cheapen’ presidency

By Angie M. Rosales
09/06/2010

President Aquino’s taking full responsibility for the botched hostage rescue operations amounts to nothing and the Palace efforts to drum it up cheapened the presidency, Sen. Joker Arroyo, a former executive secretary of Aquino’s mother former President Corazon Aquino, said yesterday.

“It cheapens the presidency,” Arroyo said in criticizing what he described as the apparent publicity stunt executed by Aquino’s advisers to defuse public outrage over the authorities’ mishandling of the Aug. 23 hostage incident.

Arroyo said Palace officials’ pronouncements that Aquino “is not resigning because he received a clear mandate” made matters worse.

“It’s a good sound bite. It’s good to the image of the President but it amounts to nothing,” Arroyo said adding that such statement made by Presidential Communications Sec. Herminio Coloma, was unnecessary.

“When he said that he’s accepting full responsibility, it doesn’t mean that those subject to investigation are already exonerated. The probe continues. So what’s the effect of that statement?” he asked.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100906hed1.html

Retiring Verzosa mimics Aquino in taking crisis rap By Mario J. Mallari and Marie A. Surbano 09/06/2010

Retiring Verzosa mimics Aquino in taking crisis rap
By Mario J. Mallari and Marie A. Surbano
09/06/2010

Taking cue from his commander in chief, President Aquino who earlier had said he is assuming responsibility on the botched rescue operation during the Aug. 23 hostage-taking of more than 20 Hong Kongers at the Quirino Grandstand, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa, who is scheduled for retirement, also said he is taking responsibility for the tragic incident.

Verzosa, however, said his decision to retire ahead of schedule has nothing to do with the bungled police assault on Hong Thai bus, which was held by former Manila Police District (MPD) member Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza, that ended in the killing of eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage-taker.

“My decision to render an early retirement has been announced more than a month ago. More than ever, it is imperative to take responsibility especially with regards to what has transpired in the past week,” Verzosa said.

It was gathered that Verzosa has already informed his superiors as early as July about his plan to retire on Sept. 14, or three months earlier than his scheduled retirement on Dec. 25 this year upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 56.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100906hed2.html

afp takes new tack on leftists By Mario J. Mallari 09/06/2010

AFP takes new tack on leftists
By Mario J. Mallari
09/06/2010

The Armed Forces

of the Philippines (AFP) has opened its doors to militant organizations such as Bayan Muna and Karapatan that were previously linked by the military to the communist movement, in crafting a new anti-insurgency campaign plan to come up with one that is acceptable to all stakeholders.

During a recent forum in Fort Bonifacio, Army spokesman Col. Antonio Parlade said all major stakeholders — from the religious groups to the academe and even some militant groups – were invited by the military in crafting a new anti-insurgency campaign plan.

“We had a three-day symposium with other stakeholders in this insurgency campaign, from the interfaith, from the academe, the Commission on Human Rights and there were people also invited from Karapatan and even Bayan Muna, even these left organizations were invited to participate in the symposium in order to craft a campaign plan that’s really responsible, acceptable to all sectors,” he added.

With this move, Parlade said the military expects a new campaignplan that’s really responsible, acceptable to all sectors,” he added.

With this move, Parlade said the military expects a new campaign plan that is “non-traditional.”... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100906hed3.html

Abu sub-leader, 2 others killed in Sulu clash 09/06/2010

Abu sub-leader, 2 others killed in Sulu clash
09/06/2010
Government security forces clashed with al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants in Sulu province yesterday, killing at least three and wounding several others, a ranking police official said.

Acording to Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Senior Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr., Special Action Force (SAF) commandos caught up with an Abu Sayyaf unit believed to be aiding foreign militants from the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) group in Maimbung town on Jolo Island, triggering the fighting.

He said intelligence reports suggested that the Abu Sayyaf gunmen were protecting Marwan, a Malaysian-born member of the JI believed to be responsible for honing the Abu Sayyaf’s bombing techniques.

“They were able to neutralize (kill) Gafur and two other unidentified (Abu Sayyaf) members,” Cruz said, referring to Gafur Jumdail..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100906hed5.html

US trip to proceed; Noy plans to meet China execs 09/06/2010

US trip to proceed; Noy plans to meet China execs
09/06/2010
While President Aquino is bidding for a more “propitious time” to visit two Asean neighbors after the inter-national outrage from the botched hostage rescue attempt that resulted in the death of eight Hong Kong tourists, the Palace said yesterday Aquino’s US trip will proceed this month.

Aquino has started preparing for his working visit to the United States, Presidential Communications

Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma said.

Aquino has been scheduled to visit Indonesia and Vietnam which are both its co-members in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN ) group, in mid-September. 

Coloma added Aquino is hoping to meet with Chinese leaders during the official visit where the President will join other world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 20..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100906hed6.html

Another political gamble EDITORIAL 09/05/2010

Another political gamble

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

09/05/2010
Owning up to the responsibility for the tragic outcome of the Aug. 23 hostage crisis was likely the only option that President Aquino can take, amid the clear case of wholesale goof ups that happened in the handling of the situation being revealed in the fact-finding body formed to investigate the real cause of the death of the eight Hong Kong hostages.

The bungling manner of the rescue attempt as seen live on television was a clear manifestation of a lack of an organized group working in the background to assure a quick and orderly resolution of the crisis which is now being considered as the first test of leadership on Noynoy, which he flunked.

From the crisis management body formed to resolve the crisis and the various swift reaction forces assigned to take down the hostage taker and ensure the safety of the hostages, all reported lapses in one instance or another that together contributed to the failed rescue and the subsequent worldwide outrage on the show of police incompetence.

Emerging in the ongoing inquiry of the fact-finding group was an image of a complete chaos in the handling of the crisis in which those not authorized to be conducting the baton gave the orders while those the public expected to contribute to its resolution were nowhere to be found..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100905com1.html

Defending the indefensible FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 09/05/2010

Defending the indefensible

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

09/05/2010
Noynoy’s mouthpieces are now scrambling to explain away their incompetent boss’ statement owning up to responsibility for the botched Manila hostage rescue operations that left eight Hong Kong Chinese tourists dead.

One of his miscommunications group chiefs, Sonny Coloma, having realized that owning responsibility for such a national fiasco would have the natural consequence of people calling for Noynoy’s resignation, quickly came out the next day to state that, despite Noynoy’s taking full responsibility for the botched hostage rescue, he is not resigning from his post.

Coloma said that Noynoy “is not resigning. He has a clear mandate from more than 15 million Filipinos.”

But even if given that claimed PCOS-brewed mandate, this should have nothing to do with what should honorably be done, which is to resign his position, because, while he was elected on May 10, 2010, Filipinos thought, or believed in his propagandists’ spiel, which was that he would do well as president, given his so-called Cojuangco-Aquino genes, plus that wave of yellow sympathy on account of the death of Noynoy’s mother, over a year ago.

But 67 days into his presidency, Noynoy has hardly performed as a competent, efficient, and goal-directed Chief Executive of the land. To this day, he has not enunciated any policy, nor has he given any clear direction his presidency is taking, apart from which, he certainly has bungled his job as the Chief Executive.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100905com2.html

Altered egos ENQUIRY Demaree J. B. Raval 09/05/2010

Altered egos

ENQUIRY

Demaree J. B. Raval

09/05/2010
Being in a country like Iraq — doing development work toward its democratization — makes one wish he would rather stay in Iraq despite the violence accompanying the pullout of the US troops, if only to avoid commenting on what is happening in the Philippines under the Aquino presidency. But the Internet, through instant messaging, forums and social networking sites, keeps one in touch with the latest events back home, events which compel anyone who takes pride in his country to speak out.

I have purposely kept a civil tongue in my head about the Aquino presidency since its assumption at noon of June 30, 2010, preferring to accord President Benigno Aquino III the customary press honeymoon treatment. In the past two months, much of the press coverage on the President was excitedly positive, some bordering on obsequiousness or even slavish adoration. But then something happened; the party is now over. Like the waning of the moon, the adulation is now progressively becoming weaker and less vigorous. 

Enough is enough already, and I must now speak out against the continued bungling of the President’s alter egos, 67 days into the Aquino presidency..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100905com3.html

MWSS leeches swimming in a sea of bonuses BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 09/05/2010

MWSS leeches swimming in a sea of bonuses

BLURBAL THRUSTS

Louie Logarta

09/05/2010
There is a new term to be found in the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster dictionary as definition for the words shameless, opportunistic, thick-skinned and calloused: MWSS.

Well, what else can one surmise after it was revealed during a recent public hearing of the same Drilon committee that Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System officials and employees all too willingly helped themselves to obscene bonuses and allowances amounting to several hundreds of millions of pesos in the past few years while many parts of the metropolis and millions of Metro Manilans went waterless? And to think that these buggers consider themselves to be civil servants.

Like Nero playing the lyre in his palace while Rome burned. Or Queen Marie Antoinette and her courtiers gouging themselves on champagne, caviar and pastries in the Versailles gardens while the rest of France were rioting in the streets because they didn’t have enough bread for their tables.

The information came straight from the horse’s mouth, the seemingly innocuous and soft-spoken MWSS officer-in-charge Macra Cruz who was subjected to intense withering fire by Drilon and his colleague committee on government corporations and public enterprises chairman Sen. Ralph Recto.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100905com4.html

Penchant for belittling TABLETS OF STONE Larry Faraon, OP 09/05/2010

Penchant for belittling

TABLETS OF STONE

Larry Faraon, OP

09/05/2010
My elder brother seemed clueless on why his 14-year-old daughter would put off an important gimmick or party with friends all because of an “unwanted” pimple on her immaculately milky face, which of course, was not his genetic influence but that of the mother’s. No matter how my irascible sibling dismisses the pimple as “nothing to worry about,” my teenage niece thinks that her face is completely ruined and that only egotistic shame shall come upon her as she thinks everybody would be staring at her minute facial smear at the party! Of course, that scenario brought strains and later hard feelings between dad and daughter. Belittling did not console a bit my niece.

For us counselors and pastors who sip coffee with people who would prefer whiskey or even poisoned beverage to drink along with, “belittling” a case or a problematic situation of a counselee is a mortal sin. In fact when some prayerful people who would quip, “That’s nothing… just pray to the Lord!” it really does not help. 

On the other hand it may even aggravate the psychological content of the matter on hand. When a counselor comments on your problem or situation as “simply nothing really or just a small matter,” that means he has no time to deal with it or he would just like to let you off his shoulders or back. He is not serious about any personal or social repercussions such “little problem” may bring upon yourself or to others. 

This is exactly the glaring message some personalities involved in the bungled hostage taking crisis are showcasing in the ongoing Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) headed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100905com5.html

Divorce and question marks — 1 VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 09/05/2010

Divorce and question marks — 1

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

09/05/2010
The understanding and appreciation of the Church about marriage is certainly not based on her mere opinion, capricious intent and/or invented teaching. That marriage per se is a distinct indissoluble and indivisible union finds its anchorage in nothing less than natural law, viz., the inborn aptitude and disposition of couples opting for marriage, to be together for nothing less than a lifetime.

This innate longing of the human spirit that make men and women want to seal their union for as long as they live can be easily and readily drawn and easily known by simply considering more closely and attentively the constant, consistent and repeated lyrics of a love song. “I shall be loving you eternally…” “I will be loving you always…” And so with other innumerable love songs throughout the world composed by men and women of every race and culture — certainly not by the Church, not by priests and nuns! That is why the lyrics of the song that become also popular say “Torn between two lovers, feeling like a fool, loving both of you is breaking all the rules.”

Thus it is that what human nature rightfully and fervently longs for in the matter of man-and — woman love, is duly assumed by the Church as a signal teaching about the nature of marriage, the essence of conjugal love as a partnership between the spouses premised on their mutual consenting love for a lifetime, for their own marital good and the welfare of the children born of their union. In the event that a man and a woman enters into such a covenant before the Church, that union is further elevated into the supernatural order of grace in its constitution as a sacrament.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100905com6.html

Low-tech, low-cost solutions connecting India’s farmers FEATURE 09/05/2010

Low-tech, low-cost solutions connecting India’s farmers

FEATURE

09/05/2010
NAITALE — Sanjay Sathe stood by his vines in a sweeping agricultural belt outside the city of Nashik in western India and punched a number into his mobile phone.

“Hello, it’s Sanjay Sathe,” the 36-year-old grape and tomato farmer announced in the local language, Marathi, as if talking to a friend. “Is it going to rain tomorrow?”

The voice at the other end of the line told him there would be 25 millimeters (one inch) of rain and temperatures would be a cool 24 degrees (75 Fahrenheit).

He was also told how best to treat a furry white substance he had noticed on some of his leaves.

Farmers like Sathe are increasingly being seen as key customers in India’s competitive mobile phone market, as the number of subscribers across the country grows at staggering rates.

Between 16 and 20 million new subscribers are signing up every month and in the last year alone, the number of mobile customers soared 49 percent to 617.5 million..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100905com7.html

No more updates on HLI — Palace

No more updates on HLI — Palace

09/05/2010
Malacañang had turned to the all-purpose subjudice defense in evading yesterday requests for updates on the Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) issue after its farm workers who are against the stock distribution option (SDO) expressed apprehension over the Supreme Court (SC)’s creation of a mediation panel and Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz’s handling of the case on their behalf.

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma merely invoked subjudice the same way that Aquino gave it as a reason in evading the issue when he was asked to comment on the concern of farm workers in Hacienda Luisita which the Aquino-Cojuangco family of the president owns.

“Our President has already declared that the case is subjudice and so we will no longer issue any comment regarding the matter given the position stated by our President. Let’s just let our judicial process take its course,” Coloma said on radio.

Anti-SDO Luisita farmers reportedly sensed that the mediation panel established by the SC serves as another ploy by the HLI owners to deny them any piece of their vast estate and retain these lands among themselves..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100905hed2.html

Obama to meet ASEAN leaders in New York By SHAUN TANDON September 4, 2010, 9:41pm

Obama to meet ASEAN leaders in New York

By SHAUN TANDON

September 4, 2010, 9:41pm

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama will meet Southeast Asian leaders this month in New York, the White House said Friday, as the United States tries to bolster its role in a region faced with a rising China.

The White House said that Obama would hold talks with leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in New York on September 24, at the time of the annual United Nations General Assembly.

The summit, whose date was earlier confirmed to AFP by a seniorofficial, will mark Obama's latest attempt to reinvigorate US policy towards the dynamic region that, he said, was neglected by ex-president George W. Bush's team.

The New York meeting will follow the inaugural summit that Obama held last year in Singapore with his counterparts from ASEAN..... MORE

Source:  Mb.com.ph


URL: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/275590/obama-meet-asean-leaders-new-york

Will heir be unveiled at NoKor convention? September 4, 2010, 5:03pm

Will heir be unveiled at NoKor convention?

September 4, 2010, 5:03pm

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea is preparing its largest political meeting in 30 years, and leader Kim Jong Il is expected to appoint a son to a key Workers Party position in what would be the strongest sign yet of a succession movement in the secretive communist country. The meeting would be the first major party gathering since the landmark 1980 congress where Kim was confirmed as the man who would take over from his father as the country's next leader.

History may repeat itself this week. Now 68 and believed to be in failing health, Kim is expected to appoint his youngest son to a key party post. The exact date of the political gathering, set for ``early September,'' has not been announced, but analysts have said it could open as soon as Monday. Local party officials have been busy electing delegates to the conference, according to dispatches in the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency.

While the conference is not a top-level party congress such as the one held in 1980, it is the biggest Workers' Party meeting since then and appears to have been convened to address urgent matters, quite likely a transfer of power, analysts said..... MORE

Source:  Mb.com.ph

URL: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/275536/will-heir-be-unveiled-nokor-convention

Solon wants PhilHealth card for every Filipino Charlie V. Manalo 09/05/2010

Solon wants PhilHealth card for every Filipino
Charlie V. Manalo
09/05/2010

A lawmaker is seeking a change in the health care system in the Philippines to achieve effective and universal health care for all Filipinos.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara is the author of House Bill 87, which calls for the immediate and automatic inclusion of every Filipino to Philippine Health Insurance coverage and membership as provided for under Republic Act 7875 or the National Health Insurance Act of 1995.

“All the benefits under RA 7875 shall also be made applicable and available to every Filipino citizen,” Angara said.

Angara said the universal coverage shall be funded by the national government through premium payments to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) which shall be included in the General Appropriations Act annually..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100905nat5.html

No absolution, no resignation, Palace says of Noynoy move 09/05/2010

No absolution, no resignation, Palace says of Noynoy move

09/05/2010
President Aquino’s taking responsibility for a hostage crisis which left eight Hong Kong tourists dead will not absolve other officials if they are found culpable neither would he entertain suggestions of resignation, the Palace said yesterday.

Aquino said Friday he took full responsibility for the tragedy, which has chilled ties with the southern Chinese territory and damaged the Philippine tourism industry.

Secretary Sonny Coloma of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) said the President remains committed to fulfill the mandate given to him by those who put him in power despite the toughest challenge on his administration thus far.

“He will complete his six-year term as president,” Coloma said.

Coloma added in an interview on government radio that Aquino’s admission was in the context of his role as the country’s highest elected official...... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100905hed5.html

‘JV’ says Lim accountable for bloody hostage crisis By Gerry Baldo 09/05/2010

‘JV’ says Lim accountable for bloody hostage crisis
By Gerry Baldo
09/05/2010

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim should be held accountable for the failed outcome of the Manila hostage-taking incident last Aug. 23 that resulted in the deaths of nine persons — eight Chinese tourists and the hostage taker, former police officer Rolando Mendoza.

According to San Juan Rep. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, what prompted Mendoza to start shooting was the fact that his brother was being arrested on orders of Lim.

“I personally think Mayor Lim is responsible for the bloody outcome given the fact he ordered the arrest of SPO2 Gregorio Mendoza,” Erjercito said yesterday.

Ejercito added the reason why the hostage taker got angry was Lim’s action toward his brother.

“The reason why Mendoza got irked was his (Lim) order to arrest Gregorio Mendoza,” he said, adding that in other countries there is delicadeza which, according to him apparently is not being practiced by the Manila mayor.

The former San Juan mayor also lambasted local officials in Manila for allegedly failing to train their police force on hostage-taking incidents.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20100905met1.html

Heads of crisis body left at crucial period By Benjamin B. Pulta 09/05/2010

MORENO HAVING COFFEE, LIM TAKING DINNER WHEN SHOOTING STARTED 

Heads of crisis body left at crucial period

By Benjamin B. Pulta
09/05/2010

Officials of the Crisis Management Committee (CMC) overseeing the conduct of operations to free hostages during the Aug. 23 crisis that ended in a bloodbath with the death of eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage taker left their posts to fill up on coffee and food as gunman, disgruntled policeman Rolando Mendoza, began shooting, Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno told a fact-finding body on the incident.

Moreno told a public hearing he went to a nearby hotel to watch the crisis that left eight hostages dead play out on television while Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim had admitted Friday heading to a nearby restaurant.

Lim and Moreno were the chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the body assigned to resolve the crisis.

The testimony by Moreno yesterday came after details emerged of a catalogue of mistakes by other police and government officials in the central Manila standoff.

Moreno and Lim said they left the crisis command post that was within walking distance of the bus at dusk, soon after the hostage-taker rejected a compromise deal and fired a warning shot.

“What was I supposed to do, go meet the bullets?” Moreno retorted at the hearing called by an inquiry board set up by President Aquino to investigate the fiasco..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100905hed1.html