Nakakahanga itong si Chairman Purification Quisumbing ng Commission on Human Rights.
Ipinamukha ni Quisumbing sa Melo Commission kung ano talaga sila: tuta ng Malacañang.
Sa panahon ngayon na lahat ay sumisipsip o takot sa Malacañang, nanindigan si Quisumbing at ibinasura and subpoena ng Melo Commission para siya ay humarap sa kanilang imbestigasyon sa napakaraming extra-judicial killings o pagpapatay na hindi dumaan sa hustisya sa ilalim ng administrasyon ni Arroyo.
The highest-ranking Filipino -American in the White House resigns as the House of Representatives examines her ties with disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Bloomberg reports that Susan Bonzon Ralston, top aide of Karl Rove,White House political director, is resigning a week after a House Government Reform panel’s report documented her role in arranging tickets to sporting events for Rove from the lobbyist.
“She recognized that a protracted discussion of the matters in the House Government Reform Committee’s report would be a distraction to the White House, and she chose to step down,” assistant White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said. “We support her decision, and after a review of the report, we consider the matter closed.”
Malaya correspondent in Washington D.C. Jennie Ilustre reported the Fil-Am community is concerned that Ralston “might be used as a scapegoat.”
Police authorities said with the arrest of four suspects in the murder of Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Philippine Independent Church, the case is considered solved. Click here for Malaya story.
Ramento’s killing was a “plain and simple case of robbery with homicide, and not extrajudicial killing” as militant groups have alleged, said PNP chief Oscar Calderon.
But many find that difficult to accept.
(Retired Ambassador Reynaldo Arcilla writes a column for Malaya. This was his piece last Tuesday.)
Either Ms. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants to retire Foreign Secretary Alberto G. Romulo, or Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago desperately wants his job. Or both.
Last week, Santiago was reported to have said that Arroyo was amenable to nominating Romulo to the post of United Nations Secretary General. Incumbent Kofi Annan is vacating the post at the end of this year.
The report did not say whether or not Romulo was consulted on the matter, much less agreed to being nominated. He was in New York when Santiago made her statement.
(This news item by Jocelyn Montemayor appeared in the Oct. 3, 2006 issue of Malaya.)
THE libel suits filed by Jose Miguel Arroyo against at least 43 journalists might not prosper since the courts are likely to find him a public figure, presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said yesterday.
“Di ba ang sabi ng mga rulings ng court, it’s so hard for a public official to file a libel case, di ba? Now I wouldn’t know how the courts would determine the First Gentleman’s but since may tainting ng pagiging public figure siya that is something that has to be determined by them,” Defensor said.
Defensor said Cabinet members as well as senators and congressmen are not that sensitive as far as libel cases are concerned since they are public figures.
Maganda ang sinabi ni Rep. Peter Alan Cayetano tungkol sa nangyayari ngayon sa Enchanted Kingdom ni Gloria Arroyo pagkatapos nilabas ni Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and kanilang garapal na desisyon na ipa-walang sala ang Comelec sa P1.3 billion na ma-anomalyang kontrata sa Mega Pacific.
Sabi ni Cayetano, “Nuong eleksyon,may dayaan pero wala naman raw nandaya. Sa fertilizer scam, may overpricing pero wala naman daw nag-overprice. Ngayon naman, may kaso pero walang criminal.”
Sabi nga niya, dapat isali na ito ng gobyerno sa “Ripley’s believe it or not.”
Looks like the ambitions of socialite Emily Relucio-Lopez, former governor of Guimaras, to be “ambassador” would have to wait a little longer. Gloria Arroyo has extended the term of Philippe Lhuillier as ambassador to Italy.
We know that Lhuillier, after failing to get France, has lobbied to stay in Rome. Looks like his powerful Cebu clout has done it again for him.
But, he has already been granted an agrément by Argentina. What happens now?
(The following article by Dr. Alberto G. Romualdez, former health secretary, which came out in the Oct. 3 issue of Malaya, gives an-indepth analysis of the hypocrisy and incompetence of the Arroyo administration in handling the nursing exam leakage problem.
(As Dr. Romualdez said, the leakage was just a symptom of the bigger problem which was the commercialization of the nursing schools. The atras-abante order of Malacañang for a retake was designed for the Arroyo administration’s image-curing, not to solve the real problem.)
Every week for the last two months, this column has referred to the on-going tragi-comedy drama of the nursing board scandal that began last June and continues to unfold like a long playing soap opera.
I was hoping that by this time, I would be enjoying electricity in our home in Moonwalk, Las Piñas, Metro Manila. But no dice, one week after “Milenyo,” we are still without electricity.
At the height of “Milenyo” Thursday last week, I was having severe asthma attacks. When the typhoon died down, I went to the nearby Perpetual Help Medical Center.
I’ve lived with asthma since childhood. It’s a family illness. I have my daily maintenance, “Symbicort,” morning and evening daily. Last Thursday’s attack was one of the more serious which was made worse by the lack of electricity. I could not use a nebulizer at home.
(Following is the story of Peter Tabingco of Malaya on the Ombudsman’s clearing of the Commission on Election on the P1.3 billion computer scam. Last July 4,(click here) Malaya came out with are report that there was a June 28, 2005 report recommending indictment of all the Comelec officials involved inthe anomaly including Chairman Benjamin Abalos.The Ombudsman later came out with a decision to put all the blame on Commissioner Borra, an incredulous decision. Now, they reversed themselves and cleared all.
(We are not surprised that Ombudsman had to clear Abalos. He has to be rewarded for his role in making Gloria Arroyo the winner of the 2004 elections even if she was not elected by the people. Payback continues….)
THE Office of the Ombudsman yesterday dismissed all criminal and administrative charges against officials of the Commission on Elections, executives of the Mega Pacific eSolutions Inc. (MPeI) and technical experts from the Department of Science and Technology in connection with the P1.3 billion poll automation deal nullified by the Supreme Court in 2004.