Bitter infighting among Aquino backers — solon By Gerry Baldo and Angie M. Rosales 09/27/2010

PUNO A VICTIM OF BALAY, SAMAR GROUPS’ FEUD 

Bitter infighting among Aquino backers — solon

By Gerry Baldo and Angie M. Rosales 09/27/2010

Infighting among the major groups that backed the presidential campaign of President Aquino in the national elections last May has been raging hot and its offshoot included the ouster moves against Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno, a member of the House of Representatives said yesterday.

Ang Kasangga party-list Rep. Teodorico Haresco said the continuing attempt by the camp of defeated vice presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II to take control of key posts in government is getting out of hand at the expense of some Cabinet members appointed by Aquino. Haresco said he has been hearing about the alleged bickering and factionalism in the circle of President Aquino’s men.

“There’s obviously a silent but vicious turf war going on within the President’s Cabinet,” Haresco said adding that the alleged attempt to oust Puno was part of a demolition job on Aquino’s appointees..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100927hed1.html

Tesda: ‘Bogus’ vocational schools will be closed 09/27/2010

Tesda: ‘Bogus’ vocational schools will be closed 09/27/2010
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) is urging technical-vocational (tech-voc) schools and institutions in the country to either “shape up” or face the possibility of being closed down.
Tesda director general Joel Villanueva issued the warning yesterday as he revealed the agency’s plan to run after “bogus” and “below standard” tech-voc schools and institutions to ensure that the trainings given to students will always be at par with global benchmark.

“It makes sense that we are the ‘DepEd or Ched’ of tech-voc schools and institutions. We should exercise our power to shut down bogus schools, and even tech-voc schools teaching below standard programs,” Villanueva said.

“We will closely coordinate with the local government units (LGUs) as well as the association of tech-voc institutions (TVIs) to run after these schools. I have already met with many TVIs and they said they will support us in this program,” he added..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100927nat4.html

DBM ‘fooling’ government scholars, says lawmaker By Gerry Baldo 09/27/2010

DBM ‘fooling’ government scholars, says lawmaker  

By Gerry Baldo
09/27/2010

A party-list lawmaker yesterday lambasted Budget Secretary Florencio Abad for fooling the country’s scholars when he claimed that the proposed budget for state universities and colleges (SUCs) for 2011 has increased.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino accused Abad for allegedly fooling the country’s scholars for claiming that the budget for state universities and colleges has been increased by P2.4 billion in the next fiscal year.

On the contrary, Palatino said the combined budget for 112 state universities and colleges was cut by 1.7 percent from P23.8 billion this year to only P23.4 billion next year.

“Abad’s statement that there is actually an increase in the budget for SUCs is a desperate spin that collapses on its flimsy foundation. He even contradicts his own principal, President Aquino, who earlier said that the SUCs budget for 2011 is ‘1.7 percent lower than the P23.8 billion budget for 2010,’” Palatino said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100927nat5.html

Blast rocks final day of Bar exams; scores hurt 09/27/2010

Blast rocks final day of Bar exams; scores hurt 09/27/2010
An improvised bomb yesterday exploded near the De La Salle University (DLSU) campus in Manila where thousands of law graduates are taking the Bar examinations.

Initial reports from the Manila Police District (MPD) said that at least 10 persons, including students and bystanders, were hurt in the incident.

Police said a loud explosion was heard and people started scampering in to different directions around 5 p.m..
Scores of people were seen lying on the ground with injuries. The victims were taken to nearby Ospital ng Maynila, the police said.

Among the victims were identified as Joanna Katrina Ledda, Arvin Francis Rosales, Philip Edwin Teelo, Gennilyn Ong, Cyril Ferrer, Kathleen Samba, Azenith Gonzalvo, Jamell Ann Marie and Renald Sudla..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100927hed6.html

Hotdog hunt at Manhattan EDITORIAL 09/26/2010

Hotdog hunt at Manhattan

EDITORIAL

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09/26/2010
Noynoy’s hotdog hunt in the streets of New York has been getting the same level of exposure as that of Gloria’s Le Cirque bacchanalia in 2009.

Gloria and her cabal gorged on $20,000 worth of steaks and caviar while Noynoy and his student council bunch had hotdogs all in all worth $57, but both similar because they were done in bad taste.

The Manhattan cheap thrill was not received as planned in the country as most saw through the obvious publicity stunt. It was meant to provide contrast to the ostentatious New York bash of Gloria in 2009 when the Filipinos were then mourning the death of former President Corazon Aquino.

The Palace needed to make a case about the hotdog adventure as not being scripted because obviously it was. Even before the US visit, the hotdog hunt was announced by no less than Noynoy’s Palace men as a way of reminding the entourage to keep the official visit as frugal as possible. But that’s all for show, folks. Already, he is into chartered flights....MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100926com1.html

Of leaks and leakages FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 09/26/2010

Of leaks and leakages

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

09/26/2010
Probing media leakages is next to useless, and those claimed investigations on the leak of the missing pages of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) report are more for show.

Has anything come out of that so-called Palace investigation on the leak to ABS-CBN of Noynoy Aquino’s State of the Nation Address, which Malacañang vowed to probe? That was still in July and we are now going toward October, yet not even a shadow of that claimed investigation on that leak has appeared on the scene.

In much the same way, despite claims of this IIRC report leak being probed, nothing, but nothing will come out of it. And for what? Would there be any sanctions on media?

The media that got hold of the missing pages are certainly going to keep their trap shut. That’s elementary, because if they do come out to identify the leaker, that’s the end of the confidence and trust lodged in the media..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100926com2.html

Japan to pilot digital textbooks in classrooms FEATURE 09/26/2010

Japan to pilot digital textbooks in classrooms

FEATURE

09/26/2010
TOKYO — Japan will soon start trialling electronic textbooks in primary schools, enhancing the role of IT in the classroom for a generation of “digital natives” born in the wired age.

Under the “future school” project, 10 elementary schools will give all their under-12 pupils tablet PCs and fit their classrooms with interactive electronic blackboards starting as early as next month.

The networked devices boast software that lets them trace complex Chinese characters on-screen or exchange ideas on a virtual white sheet of paper in real time, while a teacher digitally monitors their work.

Japan, despite its status as a high-tech pioneer, lags behind South Korea, Singapore, Britain and other countries in IT use in education, said an official with the communications ministry, which is running the pilot program..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100926com3.html

An axe to grind BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 09/26/2010

An axe to grind

BLURBAL THRUSTS

Louie Logarta

09/26/2010
It’s payoff time for 309 workers of Broadcast City-IBC 13. After enduring more than two decades of a seemingly endless wait since sequestration in 1986 in the wake of Edsa I, it’s daybreak at last with an amicable settlement that’s been eked out for their employment woes.

And why not? They each were the recent recipients of a P200,000-cash bonanza resulting from a joint venture agreement (JVA) hammered out by representatives of the floundering state-run entity and real estate developer Primestate Ventures Inc. (PVI), and much more.
The abovementioned monetary benefits that accrued to the workers formed part of a P278-million carrot that had been set aside under the JVA to settle their back wages and unpaid retirement benefits in order to pave the way for the projected six-year development project of the Broadcast City property in Balara, Quezon City into a mixed commercial-residential complex as well as the refurbishing of the Channel 13 facilities with modern equipment to make it competitive with the other existing television stations..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100926com4.html

Demonizing Puno C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 09/26/2010

Demonizing Puno

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

Jonathan De la Cruz

09/26/2010
President Aquino is right. Unless we have descended into the netherworld of chaos and waywardness, under our democracy, one is presumed innocent of any charges until proven otherwise. That means everybody, friend or foe, is entitled to be heard and accorded the basic processes available under law. There are no ifs and buts about it. We cannot simply accept as Gospel truth the list of “ultimate recipients” of jueteng payola just because it comes from a prince of the church such as Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz who has been crusading against the illegal numbers game for years.

Cruz himself acknowledged that the list is simply a compendium of raw data gathered by his volunteers. He may be wrong, which is why he begged those on the list to forgive him if he has caused pain to them and their families. Not even the shrill pronouncements of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago who has prided herself for exposes, many of which turned out to be duds in the end, can stand as proof positive of the truthfulness of her own list of “recipients” and operators of the illegal numbers game. We simply cannot allow the pronouncements no matter how sincere or possibly even factual of two persons who may have the best of intentions and whose hearts may be as pure as driven snow to be the law of the land. We cannot just take their word for it..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100926com5.html

A curse that refuses to die VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 09/26/2010

A curse that refuses to die

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

09/26/2010
Notwithstanding all rhetoric and propaganda made by public officials, despite all the alleged bleeding hearts for the poor brought to fore by civil authorities, and despite loud, repeated and impressive resolves by one government after another, the stark truth and standing fact is that jueteng continues to be omnipotent and omnipresent disastrous. The hideous and deeply rooted vice nonchalantly continues as an alive and vibrant racket in this already too long suffering country. Specifically in conjunction with this long lasting, disgusting and revolting national phenomenon of jueteng in the national scene, it is in good order to point out formally and categorically the three following solid and standing truth of the matter:

One: It is exactly the poor and the helpless, the miserable and the ignorant who are continuously being exploited and duped every time they are enticed and duped into betting their already few pesos in jueteng. The reality is that for the very few bettors chosen to win by expert manipulation on account of their meager bets as “consuelo de bobo,” literally thousands upon thousands of bettors are infallibly destined to lose in this well-syndicated racket..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100926com6.html

‘No idea,’ Coloma says of leaked report source 09/26/2010

STRINGS ON MCC GRANT MEANT FOR U.S. INTEREST

‘No idea,’ Coloma says of leaked report source

09/26/2010
The Palace downplayed the concern raised by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, chairman of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) which earlier had submitted an 83-page report to President Aquino detailing those culpable in the bungled rescue of Hong Kong tourist hostages last Aug. 23, saying that it is not exerting effort to look into the matter.


Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma said while the Palace recognizes the validity of De Lima’s concern, “there is no probe of the alleged leakage of IIRC report’s conclusions and recommendations.” Coloma in a text message to reporters clarified the statement he once made during a radio interview that the Palace is now looking into the issue.

Deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte, however, said only two copies of the IIRC report are with Malacañang and these are currently with Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Eduardo de Mesa who have been tasked by the President to review the document.

Coloma said Malacañang’s priority stays the same which is to have the review on the IIRC completed by Ochoa and De Mesa in time forAquino’s return from his weeklong working visit in the United States on Tuesday..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100926hed2.html

Jose Rizal’s 100-year-old secret in Germany By Michaela P. del Callar 09/26/2010

Jose Rizal’s 100-year-old secret in Germany By Michaela P. del Callar 09/26/2010

BERLIN — Stored in a German museum’s metal cabinets and glass vaults with controlled temperature for more than a century, Jose Rizal’s intricately hand-woven Barong Tagalog and other cultural mementoes depict how he once proudly showed off his small Southeast Asian nation’s cultural heritage in mighty Europe.

Then a dreamy-eyed Filipino in his 20s, Rizal had traveled to Germany in 1886 to further his studies in Medicine, nurture his revolutionary zeal, and finish writing and publish his epic novel, the Noli Me Tangere.
Rizal brought along keepsakes that reminded him of home — a wood and brass betel nutcracker, a rice stalk cutter, a beaded belt from Mindanao, a tawo-piece Muslim ethnic garment, and a 19th century baro’t saya woven from piña and abaca fiber. The cultural pieces in his bachelor’s pad in a quaint residential building in Berlin’s upscale Stadtmitte district were donated to the German city’s Ethnological Museum when he decided to return to the Philippines.

Back home, he kept his romance with Europe and continued shipping and donating cultural artifacts to the Berlin museum a year.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100926hed3.html

A year after deluge, RP remains unprepared 09/26/201

A year after deluge, RP remains unprepared

09/26/2010
One year after Typhoon “Ondoy” brought death and destruction to Manila, the Philippines remains unprepared for such disasters, the government yesterday said.

Lack of funds has prevented officials from taking all measures necessary to minimize the risk from weather systems such as Ondoy which flooded the capital and left over 400 persons dead, National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) executive officer Benito Ramos said.

Nor is there enough money to relocate thousands of families still living in ramshackle or precarious conditions susceptible to — and exacerbating — flooding during the current typhoon season, he added.

At the start of the wet season in June the government estimated there were at least 2.7 million squatters in Manila, including about half a million... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100926hed4.html

Palace washes hands on jueteng probe halt By Aytch S. de la Cruz 09/26/2010

Palace washes hands on jueteng probe halt


By Aytch S. de la Cruz 09/26/2010

Malacañang issued a stock reaction invoking respect on the separation of powers among government branches when asked to confirm reports claiming that it has something to do with the Senate blue ribbon committee’s decision to cut short its probe on the latest jueteng controversy.

Sen. Teofisto “TG” Guingona III, Senate blue ribbon committee chairman, said Friday that the committee backed by senators allied with Aquino is no longer keen on continuing with the investigation in the allegations of jueteng payolas given to officials close to Aquino.

Guingona is known as one of the strongest allies of Aquino in the Senate, having run with him under his Liberal Party in the last elections, and his decision was immediately attributed by anti-jueteng groups as a way of killing the issue to shield the President from further criticisms.

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma quickly dismissed the allegation, saying Malacañang wouldnever step on the lawmakers’ turf since Congress is a co-equal branch..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

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

$434-M anti-poverty aid won’t help poor — groups 09/26/2010

STRINGS ON MCC GRANT MEANT FOR U.S. INTEREST

$434-M anti-poverty aid won’t help poor — groups

09/26/2010
Cause-oriented groups yesterday assailed the “strings attached” to the $434-million so-called anti-poverty aid that President Aquino obtained in his official visit to the United States, saying these conditions do not guaranty an end to poverty among Filipinos but are designed to protect US business interests in the country.
The US grant was awarded under the US-run Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) and required the country to meet all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which had a deadline in 2015 and only then will the full amount be released.

The grant was earmarked for the building of roads and the undertaking of projects aimed at reducing poverty and fighting corruption.

According to research group Ibon, the conditions for the signing of the MCC agreement were biased against national interest and give way for more erroneous policies that have eroded the local economy.

“It required the Philippines to meet certain indicators such as open trade, economic freedom, good governance, adherence to human rights, to continue receiving the aid,” it said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100926hed1.html

Valuable ‘President’s fish’ facing extinction in the country 09/26/2010

Valuable ‘President’s fish’ facing extinction in the country

09/26/2010
A species of mullet reputed to be one of the favorite dishes of former President Ferdinand Marcos is facing extinction in the country because it is so valuable, a fisheries official said yesterday.

The high value of the lobed river mullet, popularly known as “President’s fish” has resulted in overfishing, seriously diminishing their numbers, said Jovita Ayson, a regional director of the fisheries bureau.

“It is a threatened species and we have to do something about it before it goes extinct. If we don’t stop the indiscriminate catching, in a short while, it could vanish,” she told AFP.

The fisheries bureau is calling for a five-year ban on the catching of Cestraeus plicatilis, locally known as “ludong” or “banak.”

It is found in only a few countries, and in the Philippines its habitat is limited to a few rivers in the north..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100926nat6.html

Noynoy not competing with GMA over gov’t achievements — Palace 09/26/2010

Noynoy not competing with GMA over gov’t achievements — Palace

09/26/2010
Malacañang yesterday shunned reports claiming that former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo outshone her successor, President Aquino, in their working visits to the United States this week when they separately attended a gathering of international leaders.

Secretary Herminio Coloma of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) asserted that there is quite no reason to compare the two political figures because they do not share a common purpose when they went to the US.

He added Aquino is not trying to compete with his predecessor and he is simply doing his job as the current Philippine President by way of pushing the country’s interests before the global community in an effort to strengthen its economy.

“I guess the (point of comparison) is lopsided because as far as we know, former President Arroyo’s mission (to the US) is for a different purpose and that is to participate in the (5th) Clinton Global Initiative,” Coloma said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100926hed6.html

Good move, bad move EDITORIAL 09/25/2010

Good move, bad move

EDITORIAL

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09/25/2010
Abolishing agencies attached to the Office of the President (OP) can be both a good or bad thing.

More often than not, it is hardly ever the office, but the people who run it, and the actions taken by the Malacañang tenant that make the agency effective, if run well but ineffective, if run badly and its recommendations ignored by the President.

The Aquino administration is set to abolish 10 agencies under the OP, with Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa saying this would amount to big savings, budget-wise in relation to the expenses of the OP.

Some of these agencies should really be abolished, such as the North Luzon Quadrangle area, Office of External Affairs, the Luzon Urban Beltway Super Region, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Global Warming and Climate Change and the Office on New Government Center, to name a few. But why abolish the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PagC)?

Its abolition is said to be based on its being a redundant office, as there are other agencies that perform the same function.

Not quite that redundant, since the PagC’s focus and probes are solely on the officials attached to the executive branch of government and recommendatory..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100925com1.html

The problem with IIRC’s recommendations FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 09/25/2010

The problem with IIRC’s recommendations

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

09/25/2010
Most interesting portion in the suppressed but leaked IIRC report’s recommendations is that which focuses on the role played by Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Rico Puno.

The IIRC recommended the initiation of the corresponding administrative proceedings against Puno for gross negligence “under the appropriate civil service laws, rules and regulations for neglecting to disseminate and ensure the implementation of the order of the President to utilize the PNP SAF-CRG in the assault of the hostaged bus and for failure to exercise with due diligence his supervisory powers over the PNP as ordered by the President.”

It was also recommended that a preliminary investigation be conducted by the appropriate government agency for any possible criminal liability arising from commission of the above offenses and “in the course of the execution of his duties as DILG Undersecretary during the hostage crisis and in assuming the position of the DILG Secretary as NPOC CMC.”

In all probability, this is the portion on Puno’s recommended criminal and administrative charges to be filed that made Noynoy Aquino balk and pass this report on to his legal counsels for “review” and why he says he is not 100 percent sold on the IIRC report.

Take the administrative charge lodged against Puno on gross negligence, and the charge that Puno had failed to disseminate and ensure the implementation of Noynoy’s order to utilize the Special.... MORE
Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100925com2.html

Cautious optimism in Philippines as peace talks to resume focus 09/25/2010

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