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29. Alam n'yo kaya na ngayon ang ika-115 na pagdiriwang ng pinakaunang
labanan ng Himagsikan bago pa man ang pangkalahataang pag-aaklas? Ngayon
unang lum...
14 years ago
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6 AUGUST - *1907 - Gen. Macario Sakay, one of the Filipino military leaders who had continued fighting the imperialist United States invaders eight years into the P...
13 years ago
DR Congo children turn to acrobatics to survive FEATURE 10/04/2010
DR Congo children turn to acrobatics to survive
| FEATURE |
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KINSHASA — Jonas, 12, finishes his performance balancing on a tall tower of large jam tins, his arms stretched out and his feet wrapped over his head.
“This pose is called ‘the end of the evening,’” announces his assistant, 11-year-old Richard, moving into the crowd of amazed onlookers on a shabby Kinshasa street to collect a few Congolese francs.
In the hustle of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, these boys are among about 10 groups of child contortionists who support themselves and their families through a startling routine of twists and tricks.
“They are athletes of a top level,” said Guy Nkita, technical director of the Congolese Federation of Athletics.
Several days a week, Jonas and Richard set out after school with their tin cans under their arms and trawl the bustling city of 10 million people looking for a willing audience at open-air restaurants and other relaxed places..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101004com9.html
Common sense HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 10/04/2010
Common sense
| HE SAYS |
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| Aldrin Cardon |
When a policy becomes a suggestion, it becomes a laughing matter.
That’s what became of the DepEd’s (Department of Education) Memorandum 392 when Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro and Undersecretary for Programs and Projects Yolanda Quijano clarified it was merely a suggestion — not an order — when they sought to ease the workload off our students on weekends to give them quality time with their families.
I expressed kudos to it when I first heard the announcement. Being a father myself, whose job limits his quality times with his kids, I must admit the clarification came like a jolt, making the memorandum just another of those useless papers flying around various government offices as they serve no purpose.
Yet, if there is a like button in what seems to be a renewed attention to education in general and our students in particular, I would gladly press it a hundred times for an approval.
Government, at least, is looking at our students’ welfare. And it’s a good start..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101004com10.html
An eye on the youth and family life SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 10/04/2010
An eye on the youth and family life
| SHE SAYS |
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| Dinah S. Ventura |
The latest “homework ban” memorandum by the Department of Education (DepEd), which prohibits public elementary school teachers from giving their pupils homework to do over the weekend caused a minor furor among parent and teachers not too long ago.
As DepEd Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro and Undersecretary for Programs and Projects Yolanda Quijano explained in the media soon after the announcement, the “Memorandum No. 392 was issued due to various complaints to the department that school children have been receiving too many assignments,” to quote a GMA 7 online report.
There are two schools of thought arising from this issue. There are those who believe that having homework to do on weekends is beneficial not only to the pupils, but also their parents. In fact, some such parents were quoted in TV reports complaining that they would lose the only bonding opportunity they have with their kids if they do not have weekend homework to do together.
What’s interesting about this argument is the reason behind the memorandum to give the students more quality time to spend with their family..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101004com11.html
Civil disobedience an option — CBCP By Gerry Baldo 10/04/2010
Civil disobedience an option — CBCP
By Gerry Baldo 10/04/2010After an implied threat from the head of the Catholic bishops’ group of excom-municating President Aquino over his support to the use of artificial contraceptives, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said yesterday that civil disobedience is an option that the Church can consider should Aquino make good his promise to hand out artificial birth control devices.
Church leaders, in separate interviews, said bishops and priests have the moral authority to teach and lead the faithful based on Church teachings. Aquino had said during a small town meeting in the United States that he might consider contraceptive methods to curb population even though it runs counter to the natural methods that is the only option allowed by the Catholic Church.
“The Catholic Church in the Philippines can do that if it decides to do that because for one thing civil disobedience is a moral option, one of the moral options,” CBCP secretary general Msgr. Juanito Figura said on the CBCP Web site.
Figura added Church leaders have notreceived any call or letter from the Office of the President for a dialogue on the controversial issue although it was published in the papers that an audience with the Catholic bishops is being prepared..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101004hed1.html
‘Exasperated’ PAL divulges crew pays By Charlie V. Manalo 10/04/2010
‘Exasperated’ PAL divulges crew pays
By Charlie V. Manalo 10/04/2010Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) divulged yesterday the average payscale of its cabin crew to show that they are not underpaid amid a looming strike threat by the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (Fasap) claiming unfair labor practice.
PAL said in a statement that it was exasperated by its cabin crew union’s propaganda, adding its flight attendants are well paid and receive some of the best benefits that are the envy of other Filipino workers.
PAL spokesman Cielo Villaluna said officers of the (Fasap) have not been forthright in informing the public of the real salaries and benefits that the PAL cabin crew receives.
“Fasap claims their basic pay is below the government set minimum wage, but this is just a portion of their salary. The truth is they receive much, much more,” she said.
The actual gross monthly pay of a PAL cabin crew, Villaluna said, ranges from P33,000 to P75,000, inclusive of productivity pay and other allowances..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101004hed2.html
Comelec official slain in Basilan By Mario J. Mallari 10/04/2010
Comelec official slain in Basilan
By Mario J. Mallari 10/04/2010Barely 21 days before the synchronized barangay and Sangguiniang Kabataan (SK) polls, an election officer in Basilan province was shot dead by unidentified armed men last Saturday night, a ranking police official yesterday said.
Chief Supt. Bienvenido Latag, director of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PRO-ARMM), identified the victim as Entong Musa, election officer of Tuburan town.
Latag said Musa was in Calle Posporo in Barangay San Rafael in Isabela City, Basilan around 7:30 p.m. when unidentified armed men, aboard a motorcycle, killed him.
A special investigation task group (SITG) was immediately created by Latag to address the shooting incident.
Also, dragnet operations and checkpoints were immediately established to track down the perpetrators..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101004hed3.html
Senate resumption of hostage probe still uncertain — Honasan 10/04/2010
Senate resumption of hostage probe still uncertain — Honasan
10/04/2010The resumption of the Senate’s inquiry into the Aug. 23 hostage crisis is being hampered by the Palace’s non-submission of a copy of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) report to the upper chamber, Sen. Gregorio Honasan yesterday said.
The senator and overall lead in the probe of the hostage incident could not answer queries as to the date of the continuation of the proceedings of his committee on public order together with the justice panel chaired by Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero.
“What we want is to wait first for the submission of the report so we can see which areas will be needing legislative intervention, if coordinating relation among agencies involved is lacking,” Honasan said in an interview over dzBB.
Up to now, Malacañang or the IIRC has yet to furnish them with a copy despite formal requests made by the Senate..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101004hed4.html
Gov’t can now demand help in recovering money abroad 10/04/2010
Gov’t can now demand help in recovering money abroad
10/04/2010The government can now compel foreign countries to assist in the recovery of money acquired from illegal and corrupt practices and stashed away abroad under an international convention signed last Friday, Sen. Edgardo Angara said yesterday.
The Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) and South East Asian Parliamentarians Against Corruption (SEAPAC) meeting concluded with member countries agreeing to implement new policies in the fight against corruption, Angara said.
Angara, founding member of SEAPAC and host of the conference, said the country now has an objective scorecard to judge whether a country has achieved progress in the reduction or elimination of corruption.
Under the agreement signed during the two-day convention, member countries were mandated to assist country victimized by corrupt or illegal activities, particularly in the area of asset-recovery, where money-laundering activities are concerned..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101004hed5.html
China closes door on Pinoy domestic helpers — envoy 10/04/2010
China closes door on Pinoy domestic helpers — envoy
10/04/2010The Chinese government has reiterated that there is no current demand for Filipino household service workers in China, saying opening this market to foreigners would endanger employment opportunities for locals.
Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao cited the skills and competence of Filipino domestic helpers, but said there is no immediate plan for Beijing to allow their entry into mainland China.
“I haven’t heard of any confirmation that such an optionis feasible at this stage,” Liu said in a weekend press briefing. “(Filipino domestic helpers) are very diligent workers. They are professionals but… China is under tremendous pressure to provide jobs for the Chinese.”.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101004hed6.html
AFP captures 11 NPA camps in Visayas By Mario J. Mallari 10/04/2010
AFP captures 11 NPA camps in Visayas
By Mario J. Mallari 10/04/2010The Army leadership yesterday announced the capture of 11 camps of the communist New People’s Army in the Visayas region, one of which was maintained by Wilma Tiamzon, wife of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-NPA top leader Alberto Silva.
Army 8th Infantry Division (ID) Chief Maj. Gen. Mario Chan said one of the significant accomplishments of this command was the capture of Tiamzon’s National Organization Department of the CPP-NPA Central Committee headed by Silva, alias Ka Perry.
“The camp was seized by troops of the Task Group Panther of the Scout Ranger,” Chan said.
Chan said that another major NPA camp which served as the headquarters of the communist’s Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee was also captured.
Last Saturday, another NPA camp felled into the hands of the operating troops of Army’s 63rd Infantry Battalion (IB) at the hinterland of Barangay Cagmanaba, Jipapad, Eastern Samar at about 11:30 a.m.
.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101004nat5.html
Not a priority EDITORIAL 10/03/2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Not a priority
| EDITORIAL |
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| Click to enlarge |
Malacañang says a lot whenever it states that a certain issue is not a priority of Noynoy.
It used the line the other day on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill as the Church stepped up the pressure against it, even raising a possible ecumenical action against the President.
The RH bill, which will actively engage the government in the promotion of contraceptives to control the exploding population, has been languishing in Congress for the past few years mainly because of the Church’s vehement opposition against it and the reluctance of legislators to rile prelates who remain influential on the pulpit, despite the fast receding number of Church goers on Sunday.
The last time the Palace used the not a priority line was on jueteng when then newly-appointed Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo indicated that he is ready to wage an all-out war against the illegal numbers game, as directed by Noynoy, so he said then..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101003com1.html
Above average performance? FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 10/03/2010
Above average performance?
| FRONTLINE |
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| Ninez Cacho-Olivares |
Malacañang, as well as Noynoy, gave themselves a pat on the back for having “achieved” much by way of reforms in his government in the first 100 days, which achievements Noynoy said he will be unveiling to the public four days from today.
His mouthpiece claimed that they have given themselves a mark of “above average,” pointing out that the Aquino administration is on the right track as its first 100 days winds down, with Edwin Lacierda saying that they are on track on two levels — the eradication of corruption and poverty alleviation, but also insisted that “the fruits of these things that we are doing will go beyond 100 days (and) you will see what the Aquino administration has been doing for the poor, toward promotion of services for the public at large.”
But it looks like Noynoy, despite his and his mouthpieces crowing about the “reforms” he has started in his administration, is aware that whatever he unveils on Oct. 8, his 100th day in office, will be either ridiculed or criticized, as much of whatever he will unveil certainly can’t be categorized as “achievements” in the reform area..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101003com2.html
Raissa C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 10/03/2010
Raissa
| C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S |
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| Jonathan De la Cruz |
Raissa Laurel, the second year San Sebastian College of Law student who lost both legs below the knee in that dastardly bomb blast near the De La Salle University campus as bar examinees and their supporters jammed the streets just after the last examination ended last Sunday, deserves our prayers and commendation. She is such a courageous and gritty lady. Despite her loss of limbs she has remained as hopeful as can be and even advised one and all she will fight on and hope to be a lawyer someday. She will be a very good addition to the profession.
But best of all the tragedy that befall her and 50 others, many of whom are aspiring lawyers, has only reinforced her faith in the Good Lord. While many of her age and circumstance would have been overtaken with grief and self-pity, she has remained steadfast and, as evidenced by her demeanor, even grown closer to the Creator. She has, in the words of her friends, taken her fate with such equanimity and grace she has become a kind of guiding light to the many going through similar, maybe even less, challenging circumstances in their lives. She has become a heroine in more ways than one..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101003com4.html
Secretary Carandang up for a roast BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 10/03/2010
Secretary Carandang up for a roast
| BLURBAL THRUSTS |
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| Louie Logarta |
Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno as well as several members of the city council are now being severely criticized for choosing to do battle in court with the giant International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) for alleged illegal reclamation activities in Manila Bay covering some 12 hectares immediately beside their sprawling compound in Isla Puting Bato, Tondo.
This is to be expected, Moreno said, because a favorable ruling could really jeopardize the reclamation project, designed to expand the ICTSI complex by over 60 percent, for which approximately P3 billion had already been spent during the past two years. “Malaking pera ang mawawala sa kanila kapag nakuha natin ito.”
Shooting the breeze with some city hall reporters, the youthful vice mayor said the reclaimed land, located in the murky waters sandwiched by ICTSI and the Manila North Harbor, could be put to better use as an ideal relocation site for hundreds of thousands of squatters living throughout Manila.
The multi-billion ICTSI reclamation project was accidentally discovered by Moreno while campaigning during the last elections during a house-to-house sortie in Isla Puting Bato which is home to several thousand informal settlers. It was the drone of the payloaders, bulldozers, backhoes, graders and other huge earthmoving equipment that betrayed the existence of the frenzied construction work inside the fenced-off area and got him intrigued..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101003com5.html
‘Excommunicated’ TABLETS OF STONE Larry Faraon, OP 10/03/2010
‘Excommunicated’
| TABLETS OF STONE |
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| Larry Faraon, OP |
“You don’t know what you are up against” — the Catholic Church is a monolithic and mono-synchronistic organization that prides a global membership of 1.6 billion under the most powerful and influential head, the prime resident in Vatican City, the Pope.
Its hierarchical organization is not a corporate set up of managers and subalterns, with less complex system for hiring and firing its workers and members. Its policies are not hewed from board rooms but from biblical principles of times past with a founding “chairman” all drenched in divinity and impeccability, not to mention eternity. With two thousand year existence of thesis-antithesis syndrome, it thrives on an eschatological conclusion with finality, not only for itself but for the entire global and human existence, toward which it feels commissioned and obligated to drag along to that celestial end. Armed with a divine guarantee that the “gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” the dominant culture of the Church is its bias for its own authority to insist on what is right and righteous to the point of paying the cost of humiliation and even shedding its own blood.
The “remote possibility of excommunication” should not be seen by President Aquino and by his choral rah-rahs as a threat. CBCP president Bishop Nereo Odchimar clarified that he never threatened President Noynoy with excommunication. True enough, the Church is in no position to threaten anybody. But an “indication” of incurring the highest disciplinary measure for some moral turpitude, especially coming from a bishop, betrays more than just a deliberate threat or official disciplinary action of an erring member..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101003com6.html
The right man for the right place VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 10/03/2010
The right man for the right place
| VIEWPOINTS |
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| Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz |
To have the right man at the wrong place or to have the right place for the wrong man — this is a certain and certified disaster in the sphere of management. This is empirical calamity in the world of organization. In other words, it is an elementary dictate of prudence, a basic mandate of logic that the right person should be elected to the right office, appointed to the right position or given the right task. In the event of any dissonant move or errant option patently contrary to the fundamental administrative or executive principle that the right person should have the right job — everybody concerned therein eventually becomes a loser.
Loser is the man unworthily elected to an office he is in reality unfit to have and to hold — a factual unfitness for whatever objective reason and/or personality liability.
In the same way: Loser is the person for having been given an assignment the same is incapacitated from bringing to expected completion on account of any adverse causal factor.
Loser is the individual assigned to a task for which the same does not have the required competence and/or lacks the demanded stability and/or wanting in character — normally exacted by given agenda..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101003com7.html
Noynoy not budging 10/03/2010
AQUINO: STAND NOT CHANGED; CHURCH: EMULATE YOUR MOTHER
Noynoy not budging
10/03/2010As the debates heat up on the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill that is threatening to split President Aquino and the Catholic Church, Aquino said yesterday he is standing firm on his position to provide Filipino couples “informed choices” in family planning.
“The State has an obligation to educate all of its citizens as to their choices. The State is not empowered by any law to dictate upon any couple as to how they should plan their family,” Aquino said at the sidelines of the nationwide distribution of Philhealth cards to indigent families held yesterday morning at the President Corazon C. Aquino High School in Baseco Compound, Port Area.
Aquino, nevertheless, said he had not seen the RH bill pending in the House of Representatives but added that “my stand has not changed.”
After a pro-RH bill rally last Friday in which condoms were distributed to pedestrians and to protest the detention of famed tourist guide Carlos Celdran and the Catholic Church’s stand against artificial contraception, hundreds of Church-backed pro-life rallyists trooped to Quiapo Church yesterday. The rally included a Catholic archbishop who urged the government to rethink its position on contraception. The rally included students and parents. Many waved graphic signs with pictures of aborted fetuses..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101003hed1.html
Palace gave false grade, Noy failed in 100 days — groups By Charlie V. Manalo 10/03/2010
Palace gave false grade, Noy failed in 100 days — groups
By Charlie V. Manalo 10/03/2010Groups raised their voices yesterday disputing a self-assessment of Malacañang giving President Aquino’s administration an above-passing grade on its first 100 days, with the fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) describing the administration’s performance thus far as “as a long running nightmare and comprehensive failure.”
Leaders of the left-wing group cited among Aquino’s failures during his initial days in office was the lack of progress in the prosecution of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo and her allies who were widely being held liable for plunder and corruption, political killings, election fraud and agrarian injustice during Arroyo’s nine-year term.
Pamalakaya national chairman Fernando Hicap said three of the biggest mistakes of Aquino were his outright rejection to have the 6,435 hectare Hacienda Luisita immediately distributed for free to 10,000 farm worker beneficiaries, the failure
to prosecute Arroyo and company for their crimes against the people and his first-rate puppetry to the Washington DC and US President Barack Obama administration..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101003hed2.html
Solon offers to mediate Aquino, CBCP head talks 10/03/2010
Solon offers to mediate Aquino, CBCP head talks
10/03/2010Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez offered yesterday to mediate in a proposed dialog between President Aquino and Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Bishop Nereo Odchimar, who gave an implied threat of excommunication on Aquino if he pushes through with his support to the Reproductive Health bill.
The mediation offer was meant to cool down the raging debate on the bill which seeks to widely promote through government the use of contraceptives to control the runaway population growth in the country.
“I am very willing to serve as the bridge in the dialog between Malacañang and the CBCP in my capacity as friend of both the President and Bishop Odchimar,” he said.
Short of saying Odchimar has crossed the line by threatening Noy with excommunication, Rodriguez said “excommunicating the President is too harsh” a punishment.
“I think excommunication is just too harsh. Both parties should sit down and thresh out their differences to settle the issue,” he said..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101003hed3.html
Noy to go over plans against jueteng 10/03/2010
Noy to go over plans against jueteng
10/03/2010President Aquino yesterday said he has yet to go over the comprehensive plan submitted to him by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo on how to combat jueteng, a popular illegal numbers game.
“I told Robredo I want a comprehensive plan, not piecemeal plans, on how to get rid of jueteng,” the President said in a chance interview at the sidelines of the nationwide distribution of the Philhealth cards to indigent members held at the President Corazon C. Aquino High School in Baseco Compound, Port Area in Manila.
Before Aquino arrived at the event, Robredo told reporters that he had submitted to the President the comprehensive plan against jueteng and expanding the legalized small town lottery (STL) to
ensure that jobs will not be lost for those in the jueteng game.
“The comprehensive plan contains improved enforcement and improving the STL, a legal alternative to jueteng,” which reports said has been greasing the hands of a few politicians and administration officials at the expense of small bettors..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101003hed4.html
Aquino to adopt ‘most’ of IIRC recommendations 10/03/2010
Aquino to adopt ‘most’ of IIRC recommendations
10/03/2010President Aquino yesterday said he is likely to adopt recommendations by the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) to charge top officials over a hostage fiasco that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead.
The government’s official response to the recommendations by a panel of investigators into the bungled hostage rescue will be announced next week, amid mounting public pressure for his fledgling administration to act on the report.
“We’re going to release the action plan, the implementation plan, sometime mid of next week,” Aquino told reporters.
“Most of them (recommendations) will be adopted,” he said, when asked if any of the panel’s recommendations would be acted upon.
The report, completed two weeks ago and partially released, recommended either administrative or criminal charges be filed against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez; Undersecretary Rico Puno of the Department of Interior and Local Government; former Philippine National Police chief Director General Jesus Verzosa; former Manila Police District (MPD) chief Supt. Rodolfo Magtibay; National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Leocadio Santiago; Manila City Mayor Alfredo Lim, and Vice Mayor Isko.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101003hed5.html
Ban on religious profiling in media pushed 10/03/2010
Ban on religious profiling in media pushed
10/03/2010Mediamen may land in jail by using the words “Muslim terrorist or Muslim bandits” in their writing and broadcasting jobs once a measure criminalizing such act is enacted into law.
Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara and Lanao del Sur Rep. Pangalian Balindong, authors of House Bills 431 and 1103, said the measures will stop media practitioners from using the words Muslim in describing a suspected person who has committed an unlawful act.
Balindong noted that there were occasions where criminal suspects and persons convicted of criminal acts are being described as “Muslim criminals, Muslim terrorists, Muslim drug pushers, Muslim bandits and Muslim holdup men.”
“These kinds of words and other hosts of offenses connote a negative message of the term Muslim,” the lawmaker stressed..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101003hed6.html
Pagasa: Flash floods, landslides in Luzon, Visayas 10/03/2010
Pagasa: Flash floods, landslides in Luzon, Visayas
10/03/2010State forecasters warned over the weekend of possible flash floods and landslides in Luzon and Visayas as rains have continued to pummel owing to a low-pressure area (LPA) spotted in Zambales.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) also said that cloudy skies and rains loom over the rest of the country.
“The country will experience cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms with widespread rains in Central and Southern Luzon, including Visayas which may trigger flash floods and landslides,” it stated in Pagasa bulletin at 5 a.m. yesterday.
The bulletin stated that as of 2 a.m. yesterday, the LPA was estimated at 130 km west-southwest of Subic, Zambales invading along the Intertropical Convergence Zone across Southern Luzon and Visayas.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101003nat8.html
It’s all about the RH bill EDITORIAL Click to enlarge 10/02/2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
It’s all about the RH bill
| EDITORIAL |
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| Click to enlarge |
Churchmen are so against the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill for the sole reason that once enacted into law, there is no way the Catholic Church hierarchy can pressure the Malacañang tenant to go slow on the use of contraceptives since the law is there to be enforced.
This means that, under the RH bill, government will have to provide poor couples contraceptives for free, if they choose this method of family planning, and along with it, government, through its health workers, would have to start educating the general public into the ways and means available to couples who choose to limit the number of their children.
In truth, Malacañang does not need a law to provide couples contraceptives. It is not illegal for government to do so. As a matter of fact, contraceptives are not a banned item in this country and one can freely purchase condoms, pills, and intra-uterine devices in stores.
But Catholic bishops know that as long as there is no law on this, government can easily be swayed by them to toe the Catholic line on the contraceptive issue.
Under the Gloria Arroyo presidency, it is on record that the government through the Health department, provided some P50 million or so funding supposedly for birth control education to couples, but these funds went to the Couples for Christ, an organization that strictly toes the Church line. Obviously, what this group was educating the poor couples was for them to go into natural birth control, which would be the rhythm method, the temperature taking method to check on the woman’s ovulation period, as well as the abstinence method, all of which are sanctioned by the Church..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101002com1.html
Fearing Jojo’s rise FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 10/02/2010
Fearing Jojo’s rise
| FRONTLINE |
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| Ninez Cacho-Olivares |
Who is afraid of Vice President Jojo Binay?
Malacañang and its Balay Puti group, which counts on Liberal Party members led by losing VP candidate Mar Roxas, mainly because they fear that in 2016, after Noynoy Aquino’s presidency will have been terminated, Binay will likely be the next president, and where will they all be?
What they fear most about Binay is that despite his clearly being out of the loop with Noynoy and the LPs, he is a performer and an achiever, which is probably the reason Budget Secretary Butch Abad, who is closely identified with Roxas, and is very “in” with Noynoy, has opted to slash not only the Office of the VP’s budget, but also the housing budget — and by 50 percent.
In the case of the OVP budget, Malacañang cut it from 195 million to P177 million, while the housing budget was slashed in half, with the funds diverted to Dinky Soliman’s department and the Department of Interior and Local Government.
Almost all Philippine presidents treated their vice presidents very shabbily.
In the case of Noynoy’s mother, Cory Aquino, she reneged on the agreements forged between her and Doy Laurel. True, she made Laurel the prime minister and head of government on her first day in office. But on the very same day, she abolished Parliament and proclaimed a revolutionary government, making herself the sole government and the sole law. And there went the promise of Doy’s primed ministership..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101002com2.html
Ethiopians want more from sacred Nile waters focus 10/02/2010
Ethiopians want more from sacred Nile waters
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GISH ABAY — Here in the shadow of Mount Gish, the spring water that forms the Blue Nile is believed to have healing powers, but Ethiopians say that is the only benefit they get from the mighty river.
“These waters are sacred, they perform miracles for the sick,” Berhanu Melak, an elderly farmer, told AFP as he filled a metal trough with water for the throngs of white-cloaked men and women who have been queuing since the early hours in this town 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Addis Ababa.
The sparkling stream in Gish Abay spills first into Lake Tana then makes its way towards Sudan as the Blue Nile. There, the river joins the White Nile in Khartoum before draining into Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, spanning in all nearly 6,000 kilometers.
“But look around you, there is nothing here. The big river doesn’t feed us,” Berhanu says, his voice almost drowned out by the nearby bathers.
.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101002com3.html
US Role in Philippine Counterinsurgency Operations
US Role in Philippine Counterinsurgency Operations
originally Published on September 26, 2010
By BENJIE OLIVEROS
Bulatlat.com
In a speech during a Peace and Security forum held at the Mandarin Hotel last April 22, 2010, then presidential candidate Benigno Aquino III outlined his National Security Policy, which he said focuses on four key elements:
Governance – “The government must be present and accountable to its citizens especially those living in the poorest and most remote areas.”
(An effective political strategy focuses on strengthening the government’s capability and capacity to respond—and be seen to be responding—to the needs of its people.)
Delivery of basic services – “To alleviate the plight of innocent civilians caught in the conflict, we must renew government programs that build access roads, school buildings for basic and adult education, provide potable water and sanitation facilities, basic health care, electricity, assist in shelter reconstruction, and provide temporary livelihood interventions.”
Economic Reconstruction and Sustainable Development – the national government, in partnership with international donor organizations, must assist the new ARMM regional government in building a capable bureaucracy with streamlined and transparent procedures to increase the region’s absorptive capacity for development projects that will come its way..... MORE
Source: Bulatlat.com
URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/09/26/us-role-in-philippine-counterinsurgency-operations/
Violence and Poverty Haunt Children in Ilocos Region
Violence and Poverty Haunt Children in Ilocos Region
Originally Published on September 11, 2010
By JOAN GARCIA
Bulatlat.com
VIGAN CITY — Jennybeth, 14 years old, used to question her father’s work as a human rights advocate. Her father Pastor Marcelino Mariano was one of the companions of Pastor Billy Austin when he was shot by motorcycle-riding men in November 9, 2006. Fortunately, Pastor Billy survived the incident but his family and his companions’ families were deeply traumatized.
Artwork created by a child victim of aerial bombardment during a workshop initiated by the Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC)-Ilocos. (Photo by Joan Garcia / bulatlat.com)
Sandy, 11 years old, is the daughter of Pastor Billy. Like Jennybeth, she did not understand her father’s involvement as a human rights advocate. When she learned about the attempt on her father’s life, she could not sleep for days. After the incident, she was easily startled. Even the barking of dogs would scare her.
Unidentified men kept watch on their house, asking neighbors about the whereabouts of Pastor Billy.
For years now, Jennybeth and Sandy have been attending activities initiated by the Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC)-Ilocos for children victims of human rights abuses
In an art workshop shortly after the incident, Sandy was able to express her thoughts about her family’s situation after the attack. In her drawing, she depicted how the family’s economic burden was shouldered by her mother since her father went into sanctuary..... MORE
Source: Bulatlat.com
URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/09/11/violence-and-poverty-haunt-children-in-ilocos-region/
Book Review: In Ilustrado and Eight Lives Lived, Which Life is Worth Writing About?
Book Review: In Ilustrado and Eight Lives Lived, Which Life is Worth Writing About?
Published on September 25, 2010
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
The award-winning novel Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco follows the tradition of ‘the great Filipino novel’: it is political and outwardly rooting for social change. Its title alone is pregnant with possibilities of exhortation and uprisings. After all, the original Ilustrados in Philippine history launched the Propaganda Movement more than a century ago, creating literary gems that inspired Filipinos to unite and revolt against colonialism.
Today Syjuco refurbished the memory of the Ilustrado and in his acclaimed debut novel, called on migrant Filipinos to become like modern-day Ilustrados. Syjuco himself is an expat Filipino when he wrote it. He studied literature abroad and worked at various odd jobs while in university. He is currently based in Australia.
Ilustrado has won two top literary awards – a Palanca award and the Man Asian Literary Prize, the latter being the first for any Filipino writer- before it was published this year in the Philippines, North America, Canada, UK and Australia..... MORE
Source: Bulatlat
URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/09/25/book-review-in-ilustrado-and-eight-lives-lived-which-life-is-worth-writing-about/
Four Farmers, One Bayan Muna Member Latest Victims of OBL
Four Farmers, One Bayan Muna Member Latest Victims of OBL
Published on September 25, 2010
By BULATLAT
MANILA — Extrajudicial killings continue under the Aquino administration, claiming the lives of four farmers in Mobo, Masbato and a Bayan Muna member in Mawab, Compostela Valley.
According to an urgent action alert prepared by Karapatan,on Sept. 7, at around 9:00 a.m. farmers Vicente Flores, Richard Oliva, Melecio Monacillo and his son Jonathan decided to go hunting in the forested area at the boundary of barangay Mapuyo and barangay Mabuhay. By lunch time, the four went to the house of Eliseo and Rosie Albao to rest. Rosie and her children were at home at that time while Eliseo was then working in a neighbor’s farm. The four, tired from their hunting, fell asleep right away.
At around 12:30 p.m., an undetermined number of soldiers belonging to the 9th IBPA appeared from uphill, passed by Rosie’s house and without any explanation, stormed inside and shot the sleeping farmers. Richard, wounded from the first volley of gunfire, was able to jump out of the window but was hit with bullets by the soldiers outside the house..... MORE
Source: Bulatlat
URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/09/25/four-farmers-one-bayan-muna-member-killed/
Noy wavering on RH bill By Aytch S. de la Cruz 10/02/2010
PALACE SAYS CONTROVERSIAL CONTRACEPTIVE MEASURE "NOT A PRIORITY"
Noy wavering on RH bill
By Aytch S. de la Cruz 10/02/2010Despite the assurance by President Aquino that he remains firm on his stand on his program of delivering free contraceptives to poor couples who want them, and even when both houses of Congress have shown strong support for the passage of the Reproductive Health bill, it appears that Aquino may already be wavering on his stated position, as Malacañang yesterday said the RH bill is not Aquino’s priority.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda told Palace reporters there is no certainty Aquino will certify the RH bill as urgent, clearly stating that this is not a priority for him, as he is focused on reviewing the Palace-reviewed Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) report.
“We need to see the RH bill first. While the position of the President is clear on responsible parenthood, in fairness to the executive branch we have yet to see the present RH bill/ So from there the President will be able to make a decision as to whether he has any concerns, and whether he supports it. These are the things he will be able to answer once he reviews the RH bill.”.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101002hed1.html
CBCP head denies threat; solons rally behind Aquino By Angie M. Rosales 10/02/2010
CBCP head denies threat; solons rally behind Aquino
By Angie M. Rosales 10/02/2010The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) head yesterday denied reports he had threatened excommunication for President Aquino despite the Catholic Church hierarchy’s “frustration over Aquino’s plan to push artificial contraception.”
CBCP president Bishop Nereo Odchimar underscored that they still believe in the spirit of dialog as an “initial approach” on the matter “and not confrontation.”
“Threat of excommunication at this point can hardly be considered to be in line with dialog,” Odchimar said in a “disclaimer” issued yesterday.
“The imposition of the canonical sanction has not been contemplated by the CBCP,” he said..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101002hed2.html
Gov’t to block PAL strike 10/02/2010
Gov’t to block PAL strike
10/02/2010The government yesterday said it would ban a planned strike that threatens to paralyze the operations of national flag-carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL).
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said if the airline and its flight attendants’ union failed to reach an agreement next week, she would assume jurisdiction over the dispute, making a planned strike illegal.
“We are (looking) after the interests of the riding public. PAL is still the national carrier and there is the national interest to protect,” she stressed.
Assuming jurisdiction would force the two sides to negotiate further and, if an agreement was still not reached, the DoLE chief could make a decision on the dispute, Baldoz explained..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101002hed3.html
US to help RP handle hostage incidents By Michaela P. del Callar and Aytch S. de la Cruz 10/02/2010
US to help RP handle hostage incidents
By Michaela P. del Callar and Aytch S. de la Cruz 10/02/2010The United States yesterday said it would provide aid to the country to help improve its handling of hostage-taking incidents following a bungled rescue operation that killed eight Hong Kong tourists who were taken hostage by a sacked policeman last August.
The aid, amounting to $1.4 million or around P60 million, will help the Philippine National Police (PNP) set up an anti-kidnapping and hostage negotiation training program, in the wake of the August tragedy, US Ambassador Harry Thomas said.
“Even without links to international criminal organizations, crimes can become international incidents, as we saw in the tragic events of Aug. 23. The threats cross our borders – on land as well as at sea. No country can face them alone,” he added.
The US also donated on Friday to the PNP vehicles, motorcycles and digital forensics training equipment amounting to $150,000..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101002hed4.html
SC justice inhibits self in Merci suit By Benjamin B. Pulta 10/02/2010
SC justice inhibits self in Merci suit
By Benjamin B. Pulta
10/02/2010
At least one senior magistrate will not take part in the deliberation over a suit seeking to stop Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez’s impeachment.
Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. has inhibited himself from the case filed by the embattled anti-graft official against members of the House of Representatives.
Court Administrator and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said Velasco cited the presence of his son, Marinduque Rep. Lord Alan Velasco, as the reason for his decision not to participate in the discussion of Gutierrez’s petition against the House committee on justice.
While the young Velasco is not a member of the committee, whose resolutions finding the two impeachment complaints against Gutierrez sufficient in form and substance are being questioned before the high tribunal, he may eventually get involved in the proceedings once it reaches the plenary.
Marquez said Justice Velasco cited “delicadeza” in his decision to inhibit from the case..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101002hed5.html
Angara tells NFA to step up palay procurement 10/02/2010
Angara tells NFA to step up palay procurement
10/02/2010As rice farmers harvest their third quarter produce, food security advocates today urged the National Food Authority (NFA) to step up its palay procurement by positioning its buying stations strategically near farm areas and not the usual where there are only one or two buying stations at the provincial centers.
The Task Force Food Sovereignty (TFFS) issued this statement amid talks on the looming budget cut in rice subsidy.
Arze Glipo, TFFS lead convenor, said that the proposed 2011 budget cut is an insult to farmers who are already struggling against high input cost and cheap procurement price..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101002nat6.html
Cops mum on claim of Cagayan car crash victims NPA rebs By Ted Boehnert 10/02/2010
Cops mum on claim of Cagayan car crash victims NPA rebs
By Ted Boehnert 10/02/2010TUGUEGARAO CITY – Police here remained mum yesterday over reports that at least some of the fatalities in a car accident in Alcala, Cagayan last Sept. 23 allegedly were members of the Maoist New People’s Army (NPA).
According to Senior Supt. Mao Aplasca, Cagayan police director, they were still checking the real identities of the victims, including the two others who were injured.
“We are still verifying the identities of the victims through our Army intelligence, the reason why we cannot release the iinformation yet,” Aplasca said.
Aplasca refused to confirm or deny reports that Remedios Dawag, the last to be identified of the fatalities of the Starex van that crashed into a 10-wheeler truck in Alcala last Sept. 23 morning was an NPA Amazon with a P1.5 million prize on her head.
Meanwhile, sources from the Philippine Army (PA) also refused to confirm reports that Dawag was indeed a high-ranking NPA leader..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101002nat5.html
Bribes and tithes EDITORIAL 10/01/2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Bribes and tithes
| EDITORIAL |
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It is quite easy to imagine why many are loudly opposed to legalizing jueteng because of the several diverse interests that are benefiting from it.
The Church, for instance, is raising the bible and invoking morality to oppose moves to have the racket legalized. But the more economic reason for its vehement reaction is that it is getting huge tithes from jueteng lords, as what Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz had recounted before the Senate inquiry into the illegal numbers game.
So long as the racket remains below ground, the bribes and the grease money will keep flowing, and it would take great political will to end such a lucrative and regular source of easy money.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada’s bill seeking to legalize jueteng will undoubtedly face rough sailing inside and outside the halls of Congress for the simple reason that Estrada will be up against one of the most moneyed syndicates in the country..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101001com1.html
Warlords taint Afghan peace council — analysts ANALYSIS 10/01/2010
Warlords taint Afghan peace council — analysts
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KABUL — A council appointed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to broker a peace deal with the Taliban is so heavily stacked with warlords and militia leaders it could be set up for failure, analysts said.
The High Peace Council is Karzai’s brainchild for opening a dialog with the insurgents who have been trying to topple his government since the 2001 US-led invasion overthrew their regime almost nine years ago.
“This council is mandated to broker peace,” Karzai’s spokesman Waheed Omer said this week as he announced its 68 members.
The Taliban leadership has repeatedly said it will not enter into dialog with the Afghan government until all foreign troops — currently more than 152,000 from the United States and Nato — have left.
The commander of those forces, US Gen. David Petraeus, said that Taliban leaders, mid-level commanders and grassroots fighting men had made “overtures” to the Afghan government and to Nato..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101001com3.html
Go beyond words NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 10/01/2010
Go beyond words
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| Armida Siguion-Reyna |
Excited for those who were going to be lawyers before her, second-year law student Raissa Laurel, 25, went to the De La Salle University on Taft Avenue on the last day of the Bar exams to greet friends who had taken the four-Sunday tests, perhaps thinking of when she’d go through the hurdle with the same hoopla, the shrieking and crying, the hugging, high-fives and fist bumps. And then, without warning, it happened: A blast from nowhere, that left 44 wounded, most severely Raissa and yet another female law student whose identity remains secret, pending the family’s permission to let it out.
Both of Raissa’s legs were amputated. The unidentified has already lost her left leg; as I write doctors are still trying to save her right leg and left hand.
Dear God in heaven, why? I kept on asking, over and over again. So two fraternities were warring. Why didn’t they among themselves lose limbs and whatever else, considering they didn’t have balls to battle face-to-face with each other, but had to draw innocents in as collateral damage?
I watched the news on TV of how Raissa responded to ABS-CBN news anchor Julius Babao’s questions, through writing. She said she was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” but was thankful for a “second life.”.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101001com4.html
The war for truth rages on DIE HARD III Herman Tiu Laurel 10/01/2010
The war for truth rages on
| DIE HARD III |
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| Herman Tiu Laurel |
The administration is on a continuing PR blitz to extract very ounce of propaganda gain it can from the recent US trip of Aquino III. After the so-called $434-million five-year Millennium Challenge Corp. “grant” (of roughly $87 million per year) — explained in our previous column as a “mirage” when stacked against our annual $17.8-billion debt service, which Aquino III isn’t squeaking about — now comes the so-called $2.4 billion in “investments” as pabaon.
Ado Paglinawan, one of the organizers of the “Solidarity for Sovereignty” movement exposing the Hocus-PCOS in the last elections, who has frequent tit-for-tat exchanges with US-based Yellows on the Internet, deftly answered a certain Mon Ram’s crowing about Aquino III’s alleged “huge investments” with this letter:
“Dear Mon,
“Of course, you know better than being swept your feet by this toy president.
“This is what a blogger among us, not I, once called ‘political masturbation.’
“You see, I worked for the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC for seven years under Ambassador Pelaez.
“Before Cory Aquino came to the US and Eddie Ramos after her (I was in charge of press protocol for these three visits), the whole Embassy, especially the economic and trade sections, was busy padding up hallelujahs in millions of dollars, even if they were still on paper or under negotiation or were already on the roll. The entire Philippine diplomatic mission in the US, including those in the UN, gets organized and makes a ‘praise list’ to play on public perceptions.
“Remember the multilateral aid initiative under Ambassador Elliot Richardson that was inspired and proposed by Ambassador Pelaez to serve as a mini-Marshall plan for the Philippines after being ‘ravaged’ by Marcos rule? That was billed at $3 billion (when the exchange was still P20:$1) from 19 countries and multilateral institutions.
“Know what? Less than half of it was used by the Philippines. Reason? We did not have the absorptive capacity to use all of it. $100 million of that money donated by the Sultan of Brunei, intended to build a state-of-the-art satellite receiving station in Barotac Nuevo in Iloilo, was even diverted by Cory Aquino to fuel the government’s budgetary requirements for salaries. Had that facility been built, we could have better prepared for ‘Ondoy.’
“The only thing that really made sense was the $800 million the Philippine Embassy lobbied through (the US) Congress, capitalizing on Cory’s home-run speech… But this was because the Americans themselves managed the project using Korean contractors in building the airport complex, the seaport and related infrastructure, the four-lane circumferential road around the Sarangani Bay, and financing for farmers and fishermen’s cooperatives in South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces. None of that money was lost to corruption, diversion or incompetence. Try visiting General Santos City and see what I mean. The second visit of Cory Aquino and the first visit of Eddie Ramos were basically fruitless.
“This is to say that PeNoy has nothing whatsoever to do with this $2.4-billion talking point that he is barking about in terms of US investments. He just read this from his teleprompter. In fact, I question this hot air because who would invest in a country where tourists are being mowed down by the police? (The millennium fund, of course, is also not his but in fairness, Gloria Arroyo’s legacy, even if that is hard for me to admit. The release of the fund is just happening during the toy president’s watch.)
“These billions that PeNoy is crowing about (are) merely a praise report to supplant: (1) his incompetent appointments; (2) his family’s Hacienda Luisita land-grabbing; and (3) the Rizal Park hostage-taking where the PNP’s ‘friendly’ fire massacred in cold blood innocent Chinese tourists.
“As PeNoy returns to the Philippines, he is still without any brownie point and his lackadaisical 100 days is about to end. I have not even verified yet if Enrico Puno and Tony ‘Boy’ Cojuangco are meeting him at the airport to give him a reality check. LOL!”
Frankly, I have long given up on such online debates with US-based Yellows. In fact, I’ve already opted out of the Worldwide Filipino Association forum led by a certain Cesar Torres who claims to have a thousand subscribers, most of whom are either Yellows or mere hecklers not interested in the truth.
The “Mon Ram” that Ado had his tit-for-tat with is just one of a number of confirmed Yellows. We can’t even tell if they’re for real or just part of a PR team hired to constantly prop up the Yellow argument.
During the last election campaign where debates on the Web got intensely acrimonious as tons of disinformation were being dished out, I challenged a certain Perry Diaz for a real square-off via an open and media-covered debate in Manila. After a long period of heehawing, Diaz accepted it only if it were held in Hawaii, which is really saying that he didn’t care enough to come home to his native land, which he supposedly cares so much for, to exhaustively ferret out the truth.
Well, it seems many of these US-based Fil-Am bloggers are only there to show off their sites to State Department people to gain points for their citizenship.
We’re just glad the fight for truth is alive and well for some noted US-based Filipinos such as Ado Paglinawan, who are still bravely manning the ramparts.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
(Reprinted with permission from Mr. Herman Tiu-Laurel)
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101001com5.html
Time marches on, so does contraception FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 10/01/2010
Time marches on, so does contraception
| FRONTLINE |
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| Ninez Cacho-Olivares |
Ghurch leaders will find out soon enough that they can’t do much by way of stopping the Reproductive Health bill from becoming law, especially since Congress always takes the cue from Malacañang.
But they could win the fight though, if Noynoy Aquino flip flops in his announced couple’s choice in family planning — through the use of natural and artificial methods.
The Church leaders are naturally against such a law, since to them, and adhering to their doctrine, artificial contraception is a no-no.
But the truth is, it is not illegal for couples — married or not — to engage in sex, with the protection of condoms, or birth control pills. As a matter of fact, some local government executives provide condoms and the like, which the Church refers to as abortifacients.
What the law will do, however, is to make these contraceptives available on a nationwide scale, to couples who choose to make use of these artificial contraceptives. This law, moreover, does not force couples to use these artificial contraceptives, if they choose the Church-sanctioned contraception, such as rhythm and abstinence, if such method is what their faith tells them to do.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101001com2.html
Clarification LETTER 10/01/2010
Clarification
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Dear Editor:
It is quite unfortunate that our statement of facts about what we in the new administration were confronted with when we assumed office are to be construed as “lies” simply because we were so transparent to say what we actually saw. This refers to the item entitled “Lies to Live With” in the column Frontline published in The Daily Tribune last Sept. 23.
As a fellow journalist and columnist, please allow me to clarify your take against me. I stand by my pronouncement when I assumed my position as administrator that the National Food Authority (NFA) was swimming in rice. This was made in the context of the agency’s mandate which states that it should maintain a 30-day supply of rice as food security stocks beginning July 1 until the end of September or the lean production period. Beginning July this year, however, the agency’s rice inventory was sufficient for some 56 days food security stocks, just four days short of doubling the required volume.
As for the “rotting rice,” I would like to emphasize that like all other grains, rice has a limited shelf life, specifically six months. Again, using July as reference period, when I visited some NFA warehouses during my familiarization process, I noticed we still have rice stocks which were imported sometime in 2008. At the latest, these should have been in the market in the first half of last year, and yet, still formed part of our present inventory. For this reason, I ordered an independent system and management audit of NFA to enhance operational efficiency and in the process, also find out if we still have aging inventory as we are seriously pursuing the thrust of marketing only quality rice under our program Total Grains Quality Management (TGQM)..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101001com6.html
Political deadlock deepens Nepal economic woes focus 10/01/2010
Political deadlock deepens Nepal economic woes
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KATHMANDU — Three months after Nepal’s government collapsed, the country is facing a deepening economic crisis, with vital development projects on hold and even schools and hospitals facing closure.
Government departments say they have been forced to cut spending to a minimum, suspending road building and sanitation projects in desperately poor rural areas, because the long-overdue annual budget has not been passed.
Nepal’s lawmakers are due to vote for the ninth time on Thursday to try to elect a new leader for the troubled young republic, which has been without a functioning government since the prime minister resigned on June 30.
But eight earlier votes have failed to produce a clear winner, and in the absence of agreement between the political parties, there is little immediate prospect of an end to the damaging leadership vacuum.
Meanwhile, important government decisions are being put off by caretaker ministers reluctant to overstep their constitutional powers, while work on the peace process that began when the civil war ended in 2006 is being neglected..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101001com7.html
Noy excommunication possible — CBCP By Aytch S. de la Cruz 10/01/2010
Noy excommunication possible — CBCP
By Aytch S. de la Cruz 10/01/2010In a bid to make President Aquino bow to the Catholic bishops’ stand against the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill that will have government providing contraceptives to those who choose to utilize the artificial method in cutting down the size of their families, though “responsible parenthood,” the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Bishop Nereo Odchimar of Tandag, Surigao del Sur yesterday, in an interview with Catholic radio station Veritas, threatened Aquino with a possible excommunication if he continues to be firm on his stand on family planning through choice.
The bishop said: “Well, being the President of all, you must consider the position of the Catholic Church because we are approaching these issues from the moral aspect like the unborn. Abortion is a grave crime and excommunication is attached to this. That is an issue of gravity; that is a violation of God’s commandment,” Odchimar said, adding, when prodded during the interview, that excommunication of Aquino, who is a Catholic, is a “proximate possibility.”
“That (excommunication) is a possibility.
Right now, it is a proximate possibility.”.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101001hed1.html
AMLC stopped filing raps on PNP claim Luzon ‘jueteng-free’ By Angie M. Rosales 10/01/2010
AMLC stopped filing raps on PNP claim Luzon ‘jueteng-free’
By Angie M. Rosales 10/01/2010Prime government agencies that would have been instrumental in halting the growth of local jueteng operations looked the other way when implied pressures were applied on them, including a mere incredulous statement from the Philippine National Police (PNP) that Luzon is jueteng-free during the term of President Arroyo.
Government officials yesterday admitted before Senate probers to have been stumped in going after jueteng operators or even in curbing, at the very least, the illegal numbers game despite the on and off drum beating of a resolute campaign to end the illegal numbers racket that continues until this day.
Officials of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) cited legal setbacks in going after jueteng operators and in freezing their bank accounts.
At one point, an AMLC official said the agency was in the process of readying charges and was about to file cases during the height of jueteng investigation in 2005 in which some members of the then First Family of President Arroyo were implicated in alleged multi-million payoffs but was held back by the government’s declaration on being “jueteng-free” country..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101001hed2.html
Roxas: Manual count, forensic test; Binay: Pay P166M first By Benjamin B. Pulta 10/01/2010
Roxas: Manual count, forensic test; Binay: Pay P166M first
By Benjamin B. Pulta 10/01/2010The camp of former Sen. and losing Liberal Party (LP) vice presidential candidate Manuel “Mar” Roxas says a forensic test of the machines and manual count of all the ballots from 300,000 precincts all over the country should be done, to check whether there was electoral fraud during the last presidential automated elections, where the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines, found in many instances to be defective, were used.
But Vice President Jejomar Binay and his lawyer countered this claim, saying that Roxas should be required to put up a deposit of some P166 million for the manual count in all the precincts Roxas claims he had been cheated.
The lawyers of Roxas said they will insist on the conduct of forensic analysis of all the votes cast for the vice presidency in the May synchronized automated national and local elections, particularly the votes garnered by Roxas and Binay.
In an interview with members of the media yesterday, Roxas’ legal counsel Joey Tenefrancia said his client will not allow the case to push through without the appropriate analysis of all the votes cast for the vice presidential candidates in the May 10, 2010 elections..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101001hed3.html
No Noy decision yet on IIRC report — Palace By Aytch S. de la Cruz and Benjamin B. Pulta 10/01/2010
No Noy decision yet on IIRC report — Palace
By Aytch S. de la Cruz and Benjamin B. Pulta 10/01/2010Three days after his arrival from the United States, President Aquino still hasn’t come up with a decision concerning the Incident Investigation and Review Committee’s (IIRC) recommendations on who should be held accountable for the collapse of hostage negotiations last Aug. 23 that led to the deaths of eight Hong Kong tourists.
Malacañang yesterday still was not able to produce new statements when asked by reporters on the progress of Aquino’s decision on the IIRC’s findings which were supposedly simplified for him by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Eduardo de Mesa.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Aquino hasn’t as yet finished studying the IIRC report together with the review made by Malacañang’s legal team, implying that they still cannot release in full the copy of the document for the public’s perusal.
Lacierda also was not able to provide a statement when asked if the public can expect Aquino to make a decision on the matter before he reaches his 100th day in office. He said he would have to seek the President’s confirmation first..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101001hed4.html
Impeach Merci moves to take backseat, says Speaker By Gerry Baldo 10/01/2010
Impeach Merci moves to take backseat, says Speaker
By Gerry Baldo 10/01/2010A delay in the impeachment proceedings against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez is imminent as the House of Representatives gears for the passage of the 2011 national budget starting Monday next week.
According to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, the next two weeks would be entirely devoted to the plenary debates on the proposed General Appropriations Act of 2011 followed by a three-week break. “The next two weeks is devoted almost entirely to budget deliberations and sponsorships and, thereafter, there will be a three-week break,” Belmonte said during a weekly press conference with House reporters yesterday.
Congress will take a recess from Oct. 16 to Nov. 7.
He added the filing of comments by the lower chamber before the Supreme Court yesterday could untangle the impasse between the legislature and the judiciary.
The House committee on justice hasvoted to ignore the high tribunal’s status quo ante ruling enjoining the House to refrain from hearing the impeachment case against Gutierrez pending the resolution of the latter’s petition for the SC to come up with a ruling on whether two impeachment complaints against her could be pursued by the House..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101001hed5.html
Pinoy workers ordered out of Afghanistan By Michaela P. del Callar 10/01/2010
Pinoy workers ordered out of Afghanistan
By Michaela P. del Callar 10/01/2010Thousands of Filipino workers in Afghanistan stand to lose their jobs and could be sent back to the Philippines by the end of this year after the US government ordered the pullout of foreign workers from countries currently imposing a deployment ban to the Middle East state.
On Sept. 17, the US Central Command advised all contractors in Afghanistan to remove such third country nationals, including Filipinos, from the jobsites uponthe termination of their contracts this year and to repatriate them to their country of origin.
“Contractors in violation of third country laws should immediately make plans to repatriate these individuals,” a copy of the memorandum signed by Brig. Gen. Camille Nichols, commanding general of the US Centcom, said.
Contractors who will violate the US directive would result in contract termination or debarment from future US government contracts..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101001hed6.html
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