Aquino won’t disband militias despite abuses 11/24/2010

Aquino won’t disband militias despite abuses

11/24/2010
President Aquino claims he does not want a repeat of the gory Maguindanao massacre and has even asked the Supreme Court (SC) for a live televised trial so the nation can learn from past mistakes and not commit them again.

Yet Aquino rejected calls yesterday to disband state-funded militias such as the one allegedly used by a powerful family to carry out the country’s worst political massacre.

To this day, Aquino has not made public the Zeñarosa report on the country’s private armies, with even the militia serving as politicians’ private armies.

Human rights watchdogs say Aquino, who took office on June 30 this year, must also address the bigger picture of abolishing all private armies run by politicians across the country.

The government still funds and arms some of these militias to supplement the under-resourced military, and critics say Aquino has either been unwilling or unable to disband the militias..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101124hed1.html

Foreign gov’ts call for swift, just closure of massacre case By Michaela P. del Callar and Aytch S. de la Cruz 11/24/2010

Foreign gov’ts call for swift, just closure of massacre case

By Michaela P. del Callar and Aytch S. de la Cruz 11/24/2010

The governments of Australia and Canada yesterday joined the United Kingdom in urging President Aquino to ensure a just and swift conclusion to the Maguindanao massacre case wherein 57 persons, mostly women and journalists, were brutally slain on Nov. 23 last year.

Australian Ambassador Rod Smith said he welcomes the efforts of the Aquino administration to bring the perpetrators to justice, but stressed that a “credible and expeditious” conduct of the trial will be critical in demonstrating the Philippines’ commitment to protecting human rights and upholding the rule of law.

“Australians join with our Filipino friends in recalling with horror the brutal murder of innocent civilians and journalists in the Maguindanao massacre. We again extend our sympathies to the victims’ families as they mourn their loss and seek justice,” Smith said.

Canadian Ambassador Christopher Thornley called for the rule of law to prevail and for those responsible to be brought to justice.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101124hed2.html

60K Pinoys affected by Nokor-Sokor shelling tension By Michaela P. del Callar 11/24/2010

60K Pinoys affected by Nokor-Sokor shelling tension

By Michaela P. del Callar 11/24/2010
Around 60,000 Filipino workers in South Korea will be affected once the ongoing tension in the Korean Peninsula escalates into a full-blown conflict.

North Korea and South Korea yesterday traded artillery fire, killing at least one South Korean soldier and injuring 15 others. Among the casualties were two civilians and 13 South Korean military personnel.

At least 200 rounds of artillery hit an inhabited South Korean island in the Yellow Sea after the North started firing around 2:30 p.m. local time, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said. South Korea’s military responded with 80 rounds of artillery and deployed fighter jets to counter the fire, the report said.

The Philippine Embassy in Seoul is closely monitoring developments in the South Korea following the recent exchange of artillery fire in the west sea border, Foreign Affairs spokesman Eduardo Malaya said.

“The Embassy has contacted Filipino community residents near the area of conflict and advised them to keep abreast of developments, keep communication lines open and contact the embassy hotline immediately in case of need,” Malaya said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101124hed3.html

Senate scraps House’s overseeing CCT spending By Angie M. Rosales 11/24/2010

Senate scraps House’s overseeing CCT spending

By Angie M. Rosales 11/24/2010

The House of Representatives’ special provision on the national budget to oversee the implementation of President Aquino’s controversial P21.9-billion dole-out program next year has been scrapped by the Senate.

In sponsoring the proposed P1.645-trillion national expenditure program (NEP) for 2011, finance committee chairman Sen. Franklin Drilon defended the move to “delete” the provision creating a congressional oversight committee authorized to realign savings under the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program.

“The realignment is a function of the Executive branch and in my view, you cannot vest upon the oversight committee — which will be composed of members of Congress and the Executive — to realign items in the budget. That is a prerogative of the President insofar as the executive branch is concerned.

The House of Representatives, in approving on third and final reading its version of the budget bill early this month, introduced a so-called monitoring mechanism to ensure the proper disbursement of the lump-sum items that included the CCT as well as the P7.1 billion appropriation for the Enhancement Facilities Program (EFP) of the Department of Health (DoH).

Sen. Edgardo Angara, who has been consistently saying that the allocation on CCT will suffer a cut in the end, expressed doubts whether the Senate can maintain its stance on the matter, given the insistence of the lower house in keeping the said provision..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101124hed4.html

JPE to Noy: Be ready to cut US ties in VFA bid By Angie M. Rosales 11/24/2010

JPE to Noy: Be ready to cut US ties in VFA bid

By Angie M. Rosales 11/24/2010
The Aquino administration should be ready to put on the table its position on the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) that the country has with the United States if it insists on a review of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and it should be also prepared to discard the agreement or cut off relations with the US if needed, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said yesterday as he indicated that Aquino might be entering a complex problem with the planned review of the agreement.

“If you’re going to review the VFA as you are now suggesting, the question that must be answered first: What is our capability? Can we do it alone in this world if we’re going to cut off our relationship with the US? I say relationship because the VFA is simply an implementation of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT). Without the MDT, you do not have the VFA. We have to go back to the MDT. Are we ready to really discard the MDT?” the most senior member of the upper chamber commented before the bicameral panel.

The VFA, which provides for, among others, new defense technologies and joint military exercises with the US Armed Forces, is an extension of the MDT.

The MDT, a pact sealed 1951 dictated that both nations would support each other if either the Philippines or the US were to be attacked by an external party..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101124hed5.html

Bishops to Noy: ‘Stop opportunistic misuse of Pope’s words’ 11/24/2010

Bishops to Noy: ‘Stop opportunistic misuse of Pope’s words’

11/24/2010
Bishops yesterday cautioned Malacañang against misusing the recent statement of Pope Benedict XVI regarding the use of condoms which dovetailed with the controversial Reproductive Health bill which is now pending in the House of Representatives.

Roman Catholic Church leaders called on Malacañang to stop the “opportunistic misuse” of the papal statement.

During the weekly forum held in Intramuros yesterday (Tuesday), Manila retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz clarified that the pope did not endorse the use of condoms as a means to controlling population and not even as a moral and ideal solution to stopping the spread of AIDS.

It’s sad, he said, that there are some groups and even government officials who are distorting the pope’s statement to advance their selfish and political interests.

“When we argue let’s not take half-truths because we will lose that way. I’m sorry to disappoint people who are hoping otherwise,” Cruz said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101124hed6.html

Solon slams ‘Morong 43-type raid’ in Bicol By Charlie V. Manalo 11/24/2010

Solon slams ‘Morong 43-type raid’ in Bicol

By Charlie V. Manalo 11/24/2010

Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano yesterday condemned what he described as “Morong 43-type” raid conducted by combined troops of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) at the office shared by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and Karapatan in Daet, Camarines Norte last Monday.

The human rights group Karapatan reported that “held in the raid by elements of the Daet Police and the 9th Infantry Division, 902nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army (PA) are four activists which include Esmeraldo “Smith” Bardon, Denver Bacolod, Mherlo Bermas and Elpidio de Luna.”

The Karapatan report stated that “troops of the 9th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army has laid siege to the city office, refusing anyone to leave and enter the premises.”

“After some time, the raiding troops supposedly were able to recover ‘explosives’ from the office during the raid,” Karapatan added..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101124nat3.html

No hope for tourism EDITORIAL 11/23/2010

No hope for tourism

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

11/23/2010
It will take more than a new slogan to get tourists and businessmen to come to the Philippines.

According to a report, a Future Brands study showed the country dropping sharply in ranking, from number 36 in the previous survey to number 65.

The study, as quoted in the news report, stated that “The Philippines has been beset by high-profile violent incidents this year that might have overshadowed the election of a new president pledging to reform a country troubled by perceptions of corruption...Time will tell if the Philippines’ natural, historical and cultural assets, a relatively stable economy, and a new government will reverse this downward trend for the brand.”

The country, the newsreport said further, appears “to have become less attractive for visitors, both tourists and businessmen, with the country falling in terms of respect and admiration,” and that this being the perception, the country is less likely to be endorsed as a destination to others..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101123com1.html

Coming soon: Baypass flip-flops FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 11/23/2010

Coming soon: Baypass flip-flops

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

11/23/2010
Bypasses — at least twice — by the bicameral Commission on Appointments (CA) on the confirmation of Cabinet secretaries will prove whether Noynoy Aquino sticks to his position or do a Gloria Arroyo.

Aquino had apparently filed a bill that sought the automatic rejection of an appointed official who would be bypassed by the CA twice. The bill was filed when Noynoy was still a senator.

Except for one time during the Arroyo presidency, the CA never rejected any Cabinet appointee, but kept on bypassing them.

However, the congressional bypasses made no difference, as Gloria always reappointed them on an ad-interim basis, after Congress went into a recess.

Chances are high that many of the Cabinet appointees of Noynoy will be undergoing bypasses, with some even given a heavy grilling by the CA, or that of a senator or congressman, using his veto power, invoking the powerful Section 20 where all CA proceedings on a Cabinet appointee is suspended — except during plenary..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101123com2.html

Locals live in fear of accused Maguindanao massacre clan focus 11/23/2010

Locals live in fear of accused Maguindanao massacre clan

focus

11/23/2010
SHARIFF AGUAK — Leaders of a Muslim clan accused of carrying out the Philippines’ worst political massacre remain a major security threat in their home province even from behind bars, locals say.

Residents in the southern province of Maguindanao still talk about the Ampatuan family in hushed voices, because saying anything bad about the clan could bring bloody reprisals from loyal militiamen who have eluded arrest.

“Their forces are still very much around. You may not see the family’s leaders anymore, but you can still feel their presence,” said Jun Dadula, a long-time government employee, whose name was changed to protect his identity.

Dadula has lived all his life literally under the shadows of the Ampatuans — his family’s modest bungalow is not far from the mansions owned by Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his sons in Shariff Aguak, the provincial capital.
He described Ampatuan Sr. as a benevolent godfather to those who were loyal to him, but a vengeful and violent man to those who went against his will.

“No one dares to go against them,” he said as a column of military tanks and armored personnel carriers patrolled the main highway amid heightened tensions just ahead of today’s first anniversary of the massacre..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101123com3.html

Televise the trial NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 11/23/2010

Televise the trial

NO HOLDS BARRED

Armida Siguion-Reyna

11/23/2010
It was early this year under another presidency, when I had first heard that the live coverage of the Ampatuan trial was not going to take place. Very few wondered why so, for that president was known to be “soft” toward the clan charged with the most horrific slayings in recent memory, exactly a year ago today.

Fifty seven persons killed, 32 of them journalists, their bodies savaged, some beheaded, the women among them shot in the genitalia, others in the faces, causing their eyes to hideously pop out, then dumped into an open pit, for doing what? For accompanying family and supporters out to file in the Comelec office at the next town of Sharif Aquak the certificate of candidacy of one who had dared to buck the Ampatuan stronghold.

It does not get gentler in the re-telling, particularly as there appears to be hemming in hawing in ensuring that the guilty get punished.

Patricia Evangelista reminded us so well, in her last Sunday column in another broadsheet, that, “According to Human Rights Watch, in May of 2002, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo received a letter from 12 community leaders in Maguindanao, alleging that the Ampatuans and their allies were responsible for at least 33 killings and a number of abuses. The leaders said that many of the witnesses were afraid or had been killed. In August of 2008, another group wrote to President Arroyo alleging that Andal Ampatuan Sr. and other members of his family had been committing serious human rights abuses. Those who were perceived to have offended members of the clan have been shot in broad daylight in the middle of village squares, or at home, along with their children..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101123com4.html

Philippines to fry in own fat — again AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 11/23/2010

Philippines to fry in own fat — again

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW

Ken Fuller

11/23/2010
In The Untold Philippine Story, published in 1967, Hernando J. Abaya remarked that “where before we were fried in American lard, we now fry in our own fat!” What he was referring to was the tendency of foreign investors to raise their capital on the local market instead of bringing it with them.

This tendency, which had existed earlier, was intensified in the 1960s by the USA’s balance of payments problems occasioned by the war in Vietnam, and US companies were now under “explicit instructions from no less than the US government” to borrow locally and to “remit to the US as much of their earnings as possible.” (Alejandro Lichauco, “The International Economic Order and the Philippine Experience.”)

Bancom stated quite bluntly: “(W)e continue to advise local borrowings as much as possible, as long as possible and at the earliest possible time.” As one example, the Ford body-stamping plant in the Bataan export processing zone was established at a cost of $22 million, every cent of which was raised locally. The Manila Times published a study demonstrating that foreign companies were remitting $2.50 for every dollar invested; by 1969 this ratio had widened to $7.08 for every dollar invested. In 1966, while US companies invested $9.2 million abroad, the capital outflow from the USA was only $2.7 million. In the Philippines, the net outflow of capital reached $1 billion a year in 1966.

In 1977, when the Central Bank attempted to impose debt-to-equity ratios on foreign companies seeking peso loans, US Ambassador William H. Sullivan gave the game away by protesting with remarkable frankness that such a scheme “would work against multinationals who come to the Philippines with nothing but a company name and a logo.”

Why this history lesson? Well, because it seems to be repeating itself..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101123com5.html

Aid agencies told to talk to Taliban as attacks decrease FEATURE 11/23/2010

Aid agencies told to talk to Taliban as attacks decrease

FEATURE

11/23/2010
KABUL — Political leaders are divided about talking to the Taliban to bring peace to Afghanistan yet engagement with militants is seen as a necessity for aid agencies trying to improve life in the war-torn country.

Local and foreign charities say they often have no option but to seek the consent of militant fighters to carry out their work, as the violent insurgency rages against foreign forces.

There are now calls for that contact to be stepped up, amid signs of a shift in attitudes towards aid agencies’ presence in Afghanistan and hints at a role for some insurgents in the country’s political future.

The Afghanistan Non-Governmental Organisation Safety Office (ANSO), an advisory body for aid agencies, has said the Taliban look “certain to play a permanent, and increasingly political, role” in the coming years.

“We recommend that NGOs start developing strategies for engaging with them rather than avoiding them,” director Nic Lee wrote in the group’s recent quarterly report..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101123com6.html

In Mexico’s drug war, she is one town’s lone ranger focus 11/23/2010

In Mexico’s drug war, she is one town’s lone ranger

focus

11/23/2010
CIUDAD JUAREZ — In the bloodstained chaos that is Mexico’s drug war raging on the doorstep of the United States, Erika Gandara, 28, is standing tall, and alone. As her town’s only police officer “I am the law,” she says.

Gandara’s town of Guadalupe, population 9,000, is near Ciudad Juarez, Ground Zero in Mexico’s endless bloodletting between rival drug cartels battling for control of distribution routes to the lucrative US markets. Juarez sits across the border from the US city of El Paso, Texas.

And the toll the sustained violence has taken even on little Guadalupe is big: All of her fellow cops either have fled or been killed.
“Yes, I am a police officer,” the fresh-faced Gandara, who might be mistaken for a high (secondary) school student in her purple hoodie if she were not packing an R-15 rifle, told AFP in an interview in her sparsely furnished office.

“I am this town’s only cop. I am the law,” she said.

And she meant it.

It has been months that Gandara has been going it alone on her quixotic drive to keep her town safe..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101123com7.html

Noy blinks, to amend Amnesty proclamation By Angie M. Rosales 11/23/2010

SOLONS SCORE PALACE’S LACK OF LEGAL CRAFTMANSHIP

Noy blinks, to amend Amnesty proclamation

By Angie M. Rosales 11/23/2010

Malacañang’s move to “recall” and amend Presidential Proclamation No. 50, which grants amnesty to mutineers, including detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who, during the Arroyo administration engaged in mutiny, highlighted once again the lack of legal craftsmanship of President Aquino’s aides.

An Aquino’s strong ally in the upper chamber, Sen. Teofisto “TG” Guingona, who is all set to sponsor
on the floor the said presidential issuance for concurrence of senators, took note of this yesterday, even as he was clearly ready to sponsor a flawed amnesty proclamation, Guingona, in announcing to reporters his decision to hold off the sponsorship of the amnesty resolution amid the announced amendment, admitted that such changes are becoming “quite frustrating.”

The senator was obviously referring to incidents where presidential issuances were found to have some technical or legal flaw, as the apparent case in proclamation No. 50 and the most notable of which was Memorandum Order No. 1 directing appointees of the previous administration booted out or declaring all non-career executive service positions in government vacant..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101123hed1.html

Envoy, rights group press gov’t for resolute action on massacre By Michaela P. del Callar 11/23/2010

Envoy, rights group press gov’t for resolute action on massacre

By Michaela P. del Callar 11/23/2010

President Aquino needs to ensure a speedy and credible trial of all the suspects in last year’s gruesome massacre of 57 persons in Maguindanao province to assure the country and international community of his administration’s commitment to human rights and rule of law, Britain’s top diplomat to the Philippines yesterday said, adding the trial has so far been alarmingly slow.

A year after the massacre, British Ambassador Stephen Lillie noted that there have been no convictions despite some high-profile arrests or members of the powerful Ampatuan clan and its armed goons, who were blamed for the Nov. 23 carnage, and many other suspects remain at large.

“Justice has yet to be done,” Lillie wrote in his blog.

He said the ongoing debates on whether the trial should be televised is only a minor issue, noting that he is more concerned with the slow-paced movement of the trial.

“I can hardly take exception to the Supreme Court’s opposition to this: British court proceedings are not televised either. What is alarming, however, given the importance of this case, is the glacial pace of the trial, with the court sitting only once a week,” Lillie said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101123hed2.html

Terror report exists but ‘unofficial,’ say execs By Mario J. Mallari 11/23/2010

Terror report exists but ‘unofficial,’ say execs

By Mario J. Mallari 11/23/2010

A slew of denials and devaluing of the leaked report on the alleged operations of four extremist groups operating in Metro Manila was issued by authorities yesterday including its supposed author who confirmed the report exists but said it was unofficial.

While belittling the report, Malacañang, nevertheless, unveiled to reporters the setting up of a P5.5 million National Security Assessment Center (NASC) right in Mala-cañang Park where a supposed presidential situation room would be set up to monitor crisis situations.

Defense and military officials yesterday dismissed as “unofficial” the report confirming the presence and activities of terrorist groups in Metro Manila.

Outgoing National Capital Region Command (NCRCom) chief Maj. Gen. Arthur Tabaquero disowned the after-tour-of-duty report (ATDR) attributed to him as he ordered a thorough investigation of the incident to establish whether the 12-page document came from his office or not..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101123hed3.html

Malacañang: Pope is strong ally of RH bill By Aytch S. de la Cruz 11/23/2010

Malacañang: Pope is strong ally of RH bill

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 11/23/2010

Malacañang yesterday believes it has found a strong ally in the Holy Father himself, Pope Benedict XVI, in generating more public support for the Reproductive Health (RH) bill as wire reports said the pope has had a change of stance in the matter of the use of condoms, which Vatican had been known to be against.

With the reported Catholic Church’s easing of a condom ban, this also sparked fierce debate in the
country Monday, with family planning advocates saying it would help to finally pass a law promoting contraceptives.

Benedict XVI’s comments that using condoms could be justified to stop the spread of AIDS dominated the front pages of newspapers in Asia’s bastion of Catholicism, which also has one of the world’s fastest growing populations.

President Aquino and other contraceptive advocates said the pope’s remarks would help overcome church resistance to a bill that would compel the government to supply the poor with condoms..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101123hed4.html

Solon questions P18.5-B PPP in Noy’s home province By Charlie V. Manalo 11/23/2010

Solon questions P18.5-B PPP in Noy’s home province

By Charlie V. Manalo 11/23/2010

The Aquino administra-tion’s straight path appears to be taking a crooked curve, as glaring irregularities are already showing up in the so-called Public-Private Partner-ship (PPP) programs, with the biggest program pointing to a project in President Aquino’s hometown, that moreover has been funded for at least 10 years.

Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano yesterday questioned the inclusion of the an irrigation project in President Aquino’s home province in the PPP program which the lawmaker said has been already funded by the government for almost a decade now.

Reports said that the Department of Agriculture (DA) included the Balog-Balog Multi-Purpose Project in Tarlac worth P18.5 billion, the biggest among the 17 projects, submitted to the National Economic Development Administration (Neda) for the administration’s PPP program.

The Balog-Balog multipurpose project will supply irrigation water to 21,935 hectares of rice field, and supplemental water to 12,475 hectares and will also generate an estimated 43.5 megawatts (MW) of hydroelectric power..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101123hed6.html

Mangudadatu, others to file disbarment complaint vs Fortun 11/23/2010

Mangudadatu, others to file disbarment complaint vs Fortun

11/23/2010
A disbarment complaint is set to be filed against the lawyer of the Ampatuan clan by Maguindanao Gov. Datu Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu and relatives of the victims of last year’s Maguindanao massacre.

Aside from Mangudadatu, other signatories in the complaint against defense counsel Philip Fortun which was originally scheduled to be filed yesterday were Nenita Oquendo, Engineer Denis Ayos, lawyer Ma. Gemma Oquendo — and the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists.

The petitioners accused Fortun, who represents Datu Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan Jr., and Ampatuan Sr. of breach of professional conduct “ by using and abusing legal remedies available and allowed under the rules” to unduly delay the proceedings.

“Respondent Atty. Fortun had astutely embarked in an untiring quest to obstruct, impede and degrade the administration of justice by filing countless causes of action, all in the hope of burying the principal issue of his client’s participation or guilt in the murder of 57 persons that ill-fated day of Nov. 23, 2009,” the petitioners added..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101123nat2.html