January 2008 – ellen tordesillas

Para sa malayang pamamahayag

Published by Ellen on January 30, 2008

Sa mga reporter na gustong sumali sa dalawang demanda na isinampa noong isang araw para maprotektahan ang malayang pamamahayag, maari pa kayong sumali. Pwede pang ihabol ang inyong pangalan.

Dalawa ang isinampang kaso noong Lunes. Isa sa Supreme Court at isa sa Makati Regional Trial Court. Magkakaibang mga petitioners pero pareho ang pakay: pangangalagaan ang press freedom na nakasaad sa Constitution.

Isa lang ang pwedeng salian. Hindi pwedeng pumirma sa dalawa kung hindi mababale wala ang kaso dahil sa forum shopping.

Launching a bestseller

Published by Ellen on January 29, 2008

Elmer and Emerson have decided to give 15 per cent of their royalty from the sales of “Pulutan” to Philippine Military Academy Development Fund Inc. (PDFI) and 10 per cent to PMA Class 2000, where they belong.

“Pulutan” in China, courtesy of Jug

If you happen to be in the area of Makati Commercial Center tomorrow early afternoon, drop by at Powerbooks in Greenbelt4. The authors of “Pulutan: from the Soldiers’ Kitchen”, Elmer Cruz and Emerson Rosales, will be meeting editors and columnists and will be available for book signing.

PNP has a new script: Faeldon may have posed as PLDT line man

Published by Ellen on January 29, 2008

Update:PNP admits video can’t pin down PLDY union head

PLDT unionist denies helping Faeldon escape

The PNP has revised its script that a female reporter helped Faeldon escape by giving him a media ID. Now, they are raising a possibility that Faeldon may have posed as a PLDT lineman after they noticed a man in a lineman’s uniform in the Manila Peninsula last Nov. 29.

ABS-CBN story:

PLDT tags union boss in video during siege at The Pen

Huwag talian ang kamay ng mga doktor

Published by Ellen on January 28, 2008

Naintindihan ko ang posisyon ng Philippine Medical Association, ang organisasyon ng mga doctor sa Pilipinas, sa kanilang protesta sa probisyon sa House Bill 2844 , ang bersyon ng mababang kapulungan sa Cheaper Medicines bill kung saan hindi lamang na required ang mga doctor sulatin ang generic name ng gamot kung di pinagbabawal ang pagreseta ng mga doctor ng brand ng gamot.

Ang bersyon ng Senado na sinusulong ni Sen. Mar Roxas ay walang ganoong probisyon.

Sinusuportahan ng Head Alliance for Democracy and posisyon ng mga doctor.

Media fights back

Published by Ellen on January 28, 2008

PROBE TV Banta laban sa malayang pamamahayag: http://www.probetv.com/view_video.php?viewkey=f914b95a0fc33c3f33bf

Click here to my MediaMax file to read the full text of the two complaints. Titles are “media complaint filed with Makati RTC” and “Prohibition petition filed with SC” .

More than a hundred journalists and four media organizations today filed two separate suits against officials of the Arroyo administration including the Philippine National Police to be allowed to do their job of informing the people the truth about what is happening in the country.

In the first suit, filed before the Makati Regional Trial Court Court, the petitioners were immediately granted a temporary restraining order against the respondents “to refrain and desist from issuing threats of arrests or from implementing such threats againsts Plaintiffs and/or members of the media who are covering events similar to the Manila Pen standoff and ordering and maintaining the status quo ….until the issues presented inthis instant suit are resolved by teh Court.”

The second suit was filed before the Supreme Court.

Police vs media

Published by Ellen on January 28, 2008

PROBE TV Banta Laban sa malayang pamamahayag :

http://www.probetv.com/view_video.php?viewkey=f914b95a0fc33c3f33bf

Today’s Inquirer editorial

The articulate secretary of the cabinet, Ricardo Saludo, has taken the Inquirer to task for allegedly “misreporting” on a statement he issued the other day and perpetrating “occasional but prominent distortions” in our headlines.

His original statement, one of several he issued on Jan. 24, dealt with the current vexed relationship between the police and media; it is short enough to reproduce in full: “The front pages and the airwaves are not the places to resolve the issue of safely covering conflict situations, and any allegations of civilian misconduct during the Manila Peninsula uprising. Both sides should discuss guidelines to ensure public safety in media coverage of dangerous events. And let due process, not trial by publicity, be applied to any evidence and charges of unlawful acts during the uprising.”

Why Esperon has to stay

Published by Ellen on January 27, 2008

Gloria Arroyo’s justification for the extension of the service of her favorite AFP Chief Hermogenes Esperon won’t pass even with those with brains filled with gunpowder.

According to Malacañang’s press release, Arroyo extended Esperon’s term for three months (up to May 9) to “sustain the government’s ongoing campaign to finally end rebel insurgency in the country.”

“Because there is a momentum in the campaign against the NPA (New People’s Army) and they are expecting a snowball in the next several months,” Arroyo said.

Influential US journal says GMA sank RP into morass of corruption

Published by Ellen on January 27, 2008

by Anthony Ian Cruz
Malaya

A highly influential American academic journal has published a stinging rebuke of President Arroyo, accusing her of “sinking Asia’s oldest democracy” into “a morass of corruption and scandal.”

“Arroyo continues to undermine the country’s democratic institutions in order to remain in power,” wrote political science Prof. Paul D. Hutchcroft of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in an analysis that came out in the January 2008 issue of the “Journal of Democracy.”

Published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, the “Journal of Democracy” is a project of the International Forum for Democratic Studies and the National Endowment for Democracy.

Akala nila tanga ang taumbayan

Published by Ellen on January 26, 2008

Extended na and serbisyo ni AFP Chief Hermogenes Esperon hanggang May 9 daw.

Sa report ng Philippine Star at ABS-CBN, sabi ni Esperon na gusto raw ni Gloria Arroyo isang taon ang kanyang extension ngunit mas maigsi ang gusto niya para naman raw hindi maantala ang promotion ng ibang opisyal.

Ganun pala, e. Hindi pala kapit- tuko itong si Esperon.. Tingnan nyo, alalang-alala siya sa promosyon ng ibang opisyal kahit na siya lamang ang maaring maglipol ng mga komunista. Wala ng iba. Kung hindi siya i-extend, masisira ang takbo ng “Bantay-Laya”, ang programa laban sa mga New People’s Army.

Sinabi sa report na kailangan raw i–extend si Esperon para ra hindi masira ang “momentum” ng Bantay Laya. Ibig sabihin noon masisira kapag si Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano ang chief of staff sa susunod na buwan kapag nag-retire na si Esperon.

Arroyo extends Esperon’s term

Published by Ellen on January 26, 2008

Opposition senators: Proves military holds her by the neck

by Joel Guinto
Inquirer.net

DAVOS, Switzerland (via PLDT) — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has extended for three months Military Chief General Hermogenes Esperon Jr.’s term of service, saying she wanted to sustain the military’s momentum against communist rebels.

At the same time, the President announced that the commanding general of the Philippine Army, Lieutenant General Alexander Yano, would replace Esperon at the end of his extended term on May 9.

Month: January 2008