Perennial problem, no solution EDITORIAL 06/19/2012

Perennial problem, no solution

EDITORIAL

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06/19/2012
A few hours of rain and those areas hit are under water risking the loss of lives and properties. Despite the supposed infrastructure buildup policy of Noynoy, not much has changed in the disaster state that is a given on almost all parts of the country whenever there is a downpour.

The allotment for projects under the Private-Public Partnership (PPP) program is something like P120 billion on the first year of the program that was supposedly for last year but was delayed after Noynoy underspent the budget for one reason or another but likely to time the spending nearest next year’s mid-term elections.

The projects being undertaken are the so-called quick impact developments which have short-term goals and are immediately felt by those targeted to benefit from these, which in the election season means those that immediately translate to votes.

The problem of flooding has been a perennial plague for Filipinos because of the tropical climate and the geographic position of the country in the globe, which makes it almost always the first country to welcome a weather disturbance that forms in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120619com1.html

Trouble in LP ‘paradise’ FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 06/19/2012

Trouble in LP ‘paradise’

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

06/19/2012
Transport Secretary Mar Roxas must be in quandary on whether to run for Congress and become the next Speaker, or stay on as Noynoy’s aide, both in Transportation and as his “troubleshooter.”

The reason for the quandary could be linked to his political career that he hopes would bring him the presidency in 2016.

If Mar runs in his Capiz district for a seat in the House of Representatives, he is definitely assured of the speakership, as Noynoy will just as definitely have his lapdogs in Congress elect him. Incumbent Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte will be downgraded to deputy speaker, without any power, or big budget that the House chief gets.

If Mar, however, chooses to stay on as Noynoy’s transport aide, it is almost certain that he can kiss his dream of becoming the president after Noynoy, or even vice president in 2016..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120619com2.html

Russian warships 'ready to sail for Syria'

Russian warships 'ready to sail for Syria'

It is being reported that large Russian amphibious naval ships are steaming toward the Syrian port of Tartus, where Russian civilians and naval infrastructure are under threat from ongoing civil disorder.

­"The crews of the Nikolay Filchenkov, Ceasar Kunikov and SB-15 tugboat – together with the marine units they carry – are capable of protecting security of Russian citizens and evacuating a part of the property of the logistics base," a source at the Russian Navy General Staff told Interfax-AVN on Monday.

But according to an officer stationed with the Black Sea Fleet, the Nikolay Filchenkov and Ceasar Kunikov are still sitting in dock in Sevastopol. Moreover, the crew is said to be on “regular service duty” and are under no emergency orders. He pointed out, however, that Russian naval ships must be prepared to dispatch anywhere in the world in 12 hours notice..... MORE
Source:  RT.com

URL: http://www.rt.com/news/russia-ships-syria-089/

Not Pluto: Mercury Mickey Mouse snapped by NASA orbiter

Not Pluto: Mercury Mickey Mouse snapped by NASA orbiter

Three craters resembling the head of an iconic Disney character have been photographed by NASA’s Mercury orbital spacecraft Messenger.

­The small rocky planet nearest to the sun is dotted with numerous craters. The ones resembling Mickey Mouse are located in the southern part of Mercury, to the northwest of the recently named crater Magritte.
Mickey’s “face” formed by the larger crater is approximately 105 kilometers in diameter. It also actually sits to the north of the two smaller ones, so the head would appear to be upside-down if put on a map..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://www.rt.com/news/mickey-mouse-head-mercury-063/

Remembering Rizal NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 06/19/2012

Remembering Rizal

NO HOLDS BARRED

Armida Siguion-Reyna

06/19/2012
As we dream of having the Reproductive Health Bill successfully enacted into law, it would do us well to remember how House Bill 5561 and Senate Bill 438 became Republic Act 1425, “An Act to Include in the Curricula of All Public and Private Schools, Colleges and Universities courses on the Life Works and Writings of Jose Rizal, particularly his novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, Authorizing the Printing and Distribution Thereof, and for Other Purposes.”

The perambulatory portion of RA 1425 reads:

“Whereas, today, more than other period of our history, there is a need for a re-dedication to the ideals of freedom and nationalism for which our heroes lived and died.

“Whereas, it is meet that in honoring them, particularly the national hero and patriot, Jose Rizal, we remember with special fondness and devotion their lives and works that have shaped the national character;.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120619com4.html

Labor discord, 1950-2000 AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 06/19/2012

Labor discord, 1950-2000

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW

Ken Fuller

06/19/2012
Last week, preparatory to considering recent developments regarding both wings of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, this column began viewing the history of disunity within the labor movement up to the 1950s. Let’s now deal briefly with the following half-century.

The outlawing of the communist-led Congress of Labor Organizations led to the formation of many “moderate” trade union organizations, some of which were prey to CIA influence. However, healthier organizations were also formed. As early as 1952, Cipriano Cid founded the Philippine Association of Free Labor Unions (PAFLU), and by 1964 this was claiming 121,000 affiliated members. The Philippine Trade Union Council (PTUC) was born in 1954, and that same year Ignacio Lacsina left the Jesuit-led Federation of Free Workers (FFW) to form the National Association of Trade Unions (NATU). The Katipunang Manggagawang Pilipino (KMP, Filipino Workers’ Association) was formed in 1957, participating in the nationalist campaign led by Claro M. Recto and supporting President Carlos P. Garcia’s “Filipino First” policy.

In 1963, an attempt was made to form a Philippine Labor Center by bringing together the PTUC and the KMP, which claimed to be the two largest federations. According to Jose Maria Sison writing in the Progressive Review a few years later, however, this attempt at unity “did not prosper beyond the paper agreement as if the hidden hand of the reactionaries had always been there to sabotage it and also as if the petty jealousies among the member federations could not at all be overcome.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120619com5.html

Agrarian Reform Program and Hacienda Luisita VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 06/19/2012 Some kind of a preamble though simple and brief is in order to better situate a gross socio-economic malady long since notoriously existing in this country. On one hand, there are the farmers tirelessly tilling the land — toiling hard and sweating much while suffering from destitution and despair. On the other hand, there are the landowners — enjoying the fruits of the long and tedious labor of farmers and thereby living in boundless opulence and consummate comfort. In other words, while certain landowner dynasties act with delirious ease and live in enormous opulence, there are thousands of farmers who live in abject poverty and depressing uncertainty. Behold the long loving utter con

Agrarian Reform Program and Hacienda Luisita

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

06/19/2012
Some kind of a preamble though simple and brief is in order to better situate a gross socio-economic malady long since notoriously existing in this country.

On one hand, there are the farmers tirelessly tilling the land — toiling hard and sweating much while suffering from destitution and despair. On the other hand, there are the landowners — enjoying the fruits of the long and tedious labor of farmers and thereby living in boundless opulence and consummate comfort.

In other words, while certain landowner dynasties act with delirious ease and live in enormous opulence, there are thousands of farmers who live in abject poverty and depressing uncertainty.
Behold the long loving utter con.... MORE
Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120619com6.html

China calls Noy order to recall ships ‘withdrawal’ 06/19/2012

China calls Noy order to recall ships ‘withdrawal’

06/19/2012
China considers the pull out of Philippine government vessels from the disputed Scarborough Shoal as a “withdrawal” and said yesterday it welcomed President Aquino’s decision to withdraw two ships from the area and at the same time expressed hope it would calm tensions.

“The Chinese side has been urging the Philippine side to take measures to de-escalate the situation,” Chinese embassy spokesman Zhang Hua said in a statement.

Malacañang, however, insisted the other day that Aquino asked the government ships engaged in a standoff with the more numerous Chinese state vessels to leave the area due to bad weather but later on said that the redeployment of the ships are being reviewed..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120619hea5.html

Jordanian journalist now with Abus, confirms Palace 06/19/2012

Jordanian journalist now with Abus, confirms Palace

06/19/2012
After nearly a week without an update on the veteran foreign journalist who went missing since Tuesday in Sulu, Malacaang now concedes that Al-Arabiya TV bureau chief for Southeast Asia Baker Abdulla Atyani and his team are in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).

What we can confirm is that he (Atyani) is in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf and that he went there voluntarily for an interview, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda yesterday told a press briefing.

At 5 a.m. on June 12, I think he was seen riding a vehicle voluntarily. After that, we have no information anymore as to his whereabouts until today, he added..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120619hea3.html

GRP, Reds mull ceasefire By Fernan J. Angeles and Mario J. Mallari 06/19/2012

GRP, Reds mull ceasefire

By Fernan J. Angeles and Mario J. Mallari 06/19/2012

Although the peace talks with the communists has ended up the way other peace talks did in the past, Malacaang remained optimistic about coming up with a common denominator with the National Democratic Front to whom the government now makes an offer for a halt in hostilities.

In a press briefing in Malacaang, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said it was proof of the Aquino administrations sincerity that it has made the first move of an offer of a ceasefire with the communist insurgents.

Lacierda said the government hopes the NDF would reconsider the suggestion of the Philippine government peace negotiating panel, which the Palace saw as a good starting point for both panels to regain composure after a 16-month lay-off resulting from a deadlock over an issue as neither party wanted to give in..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120619nat1.html

DoLE bans OFW deployment to Syria By Mina Diaz 06/19/2012

DoLE bans OFW deployment to Syria

By Mina Diaz 06/19/2012

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz warned anew Filipino jobseekers from applying for work in Syria owing to the present ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) to that country due to continuing conflict.

“The Philippine Overseas Employment Agency has suspended the processing of documents of OFWs bound for Syria,” Baldoz said. “Syria is not a safe place for OFWs to work in.”

Philippine labor attache to Damascus Angel Borja reported that the political and economic condition in Syria has remained unstable and continues to deteriorate..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120619nat3.html

Crush ATM loan scams, Planas urges BIR 06/19/2012

Crush ATM loan scams, Planas urges BIR

06/19/2012
Company-issued automated teller machine (ATM) cards have reportedly become the means by which multi-million lending transactions trap millions of employees into making loans with monthly interest rates ranging from five percent to 10 percent, former Quezon City official Charito Planas declared.

Planas urged the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to look into the multimillion-peso loan scams which do not share their revenues with the government.

For instance, bothered by the payment for the tuition fee installments of his three college children and their school needs such as books, uniforms and other expenses, one Edong, a permanent government employeewho receives a monthly salary of P12,000 pawned his ATM card to an officer in a Metro Manila LGU for P40,000 at an agreed interest rate of five percent or P1,500 per month.... MORE
Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120619nat5.html

Brownouts hit military camp By Mario J. Mallari 06/19/2012

Brownouts hit military camp

By Mario J. Mallari 06/19/2012

The power supply to a portion of the military’s general headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, which has been without it for more than a month, was restored briefly on Saturday but the new transformers broke down again after only an hour in operation.

Camp Aguinaldo insiders, who requested anonymity, said three transformers were installed at a post just beside the grandstand on Saturday afternoon.

“We were able to use electricity for an hour after which there was explosion, and the power was cut off again,” the sources said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120619met3.html

MMDA unveils mobile anti-smoking clinic By Pat C. Santos 06/19/2012

MMDA unveils mobile anti-smoking clinic

By Pat C. Santos 06/19/2012
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) unveiled its mobile smoking cessation clinic at the MMDA Grounds in Makati City yesterday.

The mobile cessation clinic, a converted bus, will be deployed in areas with the highest number of smoking arrests, such as Ortigas and Cubao, to give counseling and lifestyle modification tips to smokers who want to quit the habit.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said the cessation clinic was a proof of the agency’s successful anti-smoking drive, which has so far caught almost 32,000 violators since it was launched in July last year..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120619met8.html

Dunces and dupes by LUIS V. TEODORO

Dunces and dupes

by LUIS V. TEODORO

With the usual irony was June 12 marked this year in a country hardly aware of its history. Benigno Aquino III spoke at Barasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan, where the First Philippine Republic was inaugurated on January 23, 1899, less than a year after Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed Philippine independence in Kawit, Cavite, on June 12, 1898.

Justice Secretary Laila de Lima was at the Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan. Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II was in Kawit, while Vice-President Jejomar Binay was at the usual flag-raising at Manila’s Rizal Park.

Aquino spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Mr. Aquino’s presence at Barasoain and that of other officials in the iconic sites of the Philippine struggle for independence was “one way of imbibing the historical significance of these places.”

Lacierda didn’t say who should be doing the “imbibing” of the historical significance of Barasoain, Kawit, etc. But together with the dunces and dupes among the population distinguished by their lack of sense, whether historical or otherwise, the Aquino government is a most likely candidate for history lessons..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/06/15/dunces-and-dupes/

A gameshow called CCT EDITORIAL 06/18/2012

A gameshow called CCT

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

06/18/2012

Trust Noynoy and win a college scholarship. That could be an effective come on for the new conditional cash transfer (CCT) scheme being packaged by Noynoy for the next budget year.

Noynoy’s CCT program has been growing like a malignant disease every year and is being targeted to take up all of P45 billion in the proposed national budget for 2013, or about 75 percent of the total P60-billion budget being asked by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the unprecedented P2 trillion planned allocation for the election year.

The DSWD targets nearly 4 million families to be covered by the CCT, which means at least 8 million Filipinos receiving doleouts from the government at a year when Noynoy would field 12 candidates to fill half of the intractable Senate. Unlike the House of Representatives where the use of the release of Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or the pork barrel has been effectively utilized to secure loyal allies, controlling the Senate fully remains elusive to Noynoy..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120618com1.html

Tough talk goes bust FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 06/18/2012

Tough talk goes bust

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

06/18/2012

Looks like the tough talk of Noynoy on the Philippine sovereignty issue over the Scarborough Shoal that has resulted in the over two months stand-off with China, along with his boast about his great god America coming to his rescue ended up with his order to have the coast guard boat and a Philippine fisheries vessel pulled out of the shoal.

Of course he used as his excuse of blinking in the China stand-off, the storm “Butchoy,” so suddenly solicitous of his people during an oncoming storm.

When the Hamilton-cutter “warship” was ordered to pull out of the same area, the excuse used was that the Philippine warship which apparently was not equipped with the usual military firepower, had to refuel and restock food.

That warship never returned to the shoal.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120618com2.html

Cheaper medicines law hasn’t served the poor

Cheaper medicines law hasn’t served the poor

By Satur C. Ocampo

Four years ago last June 6, the Cheaper Medicines Law (Republic Act 9502, the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008) passed after contentious debates in the 14th Congress, was signed into law by President Gloria M. Arroyo.

R.A. 9502 was intended to achieve two correlated goals:

1. Reduce the cost of medicines — especially those that are commonly bought by the poor — to 50% of their 2001 prices and make these available nationwide; and

2. Require and ensure the production of adequate supply, distribution, use and acceptance of medicines identified by their generic names, which are priced much lower than patented drugs mainly produced by multinational corporations..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/06/15/cheaper-medicines-law-hasnt-served-the-poor/

Not ‘if’ but ‘when’: US intervention in Syria on countdown

Not ‘if’ but ‘when’: US intervention in Syria on countdown

A delegation from Syrian opposition is reportedly in talks with US officials over the targets they want to attack to weaken the Syrian government and the arms they want America to provide to do it. A “Libya lite” operation in Syria may be imminent.

The unnamed US official reportedly said that “the intervention will happen. It is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’.”

The delegation from the Syrian Free Army is meeting with US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford and the State Department’s expert on Syria, Fred Hof, according to a report by debkafile, an Israeli news website, which is considered to have strong ties with the intelligence community..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://www.rt.com/news/syria-rebels-us-arms-028/

US senators take aggressive stance ahead of Iran nuclear talks

US senators take aggressive stance ahead of Iran nuclear talks

As Moscow braces to host the third round of talks on Iranian nuclear program the US Senators are urging President Obama to ramp up pressure against Tehran and show that “credible military option” exists should Iran fail to curb its nuclear program.

Forty-four senators, both Republicans and Democrats, have addressed Barack Obama in a letter stating that Iran must immediately take steps to shut down the Fordow facility, freeze the enrichment of uranium above 5 per cent and ship uranium already enriched above 5 per cent out of the country..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://www.rt.com/news/us-iran-nuclear-moscow-004/