Nag-apela si Capt Ruben Guinolbay kay AFP Chief Victor Ibrado na kung maari ibalik rin sa serbisyo ang 40 na enlisted men na tinanggal sa serbisyo sa paratang na kasama raw sila planong magwithdraw ng suporta kay Gloria Arroyo noong Pebrero 2006.
Si Guinolbay ay isa sa 11 opisyal na napawalang-sala noong Huwebes ng court martial na naglilitis sa 28 opisyal na inakusahan ng mutiny o umalsa laban sa pamahalaan ni Gloria Arroyo noong Pebrero 2006.
Pagkatapos ng tatlo at kalahating taon na paglilitis na ang mga akusado ay nakakulong, sinabi ng korte na walang ebidensya laban sa kanila. Ni minsan hindi man lamang sila nabanggit sa kung anong dokumento o testimonya ng mga testigo na naipresenta sa court martial.
A military tribunal yesterday cleared 11 of the 28 military officers facing court martial for the alleged attempt to overthrow the Arroyo administration in February 2006.
Statement of the Magdalo group of officers who are also in detention for the Oakwood and Manila Pen incidents:
We welcome the acquittal of 11 of our brother AFP officers who have languished for more than three years, unjustly detained in several military camps.
We laud the efforts of their defense lawyers, who stuck by these officers despite great odds.
But most of all, we raise our hats to these fine officers and gentlemen, for their unflagging devotion to their principles, and wish them all the best as they continue their service to God and country.
For our other brother officers and lone sister officer still facing the bar of justice, we urge you to stand fast and stay the course.
We sincerely hope that the AFP acts with extreme urgency and utmost fairness in finally bringing the matter to a just and humane conclusion.
Two Marine and nine Army officers were acquitted for lack of evidence.
Magta-tatlong linggo na mula ng hinagupit ni Ondoy ang Metro Manila ngunit marami pa rin ang mga lugar na lubog sa baha.
May natanggap kaming sulat galing kay Cornelio G. Padua, presidente ng Gemsville Homeowners Association sa Barangay Bucal Calamba, Laguna.
Sabi ni Ginoong Padua, “Karamihan sa amin ay mahigit sampung taon ng naninirahan dito sa Gemsville. Sa mahigit sampung taon na iyon ay hindi namin naranasan ang matinding pagbaha sa aming subdivision Subalit itong taon na ito kami po ay nakaranas ng matinding pagbaha na ang tubig ay putik na me kasamang mga bato.
by Regina Bengco, Gerard Naval and JP Lopez Malaya
Dagupan City — President Arroyo on Monday created a Special National Public-Private Sector Reconstruction Commission that will study the causes, costs and actions to be undertaken following the devastation by storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng”.
Arroyo made the announcement at the Cabinet meeting here where the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) was also convened.
She said the Commission will undertake the rehabilitation plan, raise funds for reconstruction and oversee its implementation, serve as a clearing house for international assistance, and request the United Nations and the World Bank to coordinate an international pledging session.
by Nita Bautista VERA Files DASMARINAS, Cavite.—Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar has found a tireless and winning campaigner in Willie Revillame, the popular television host of…
Nagpaplano ang mga tao at mga kumpanya na nasalanta ng bagyong “Ondoy” at “Pepeng” nitong mga nakaraang linggo na magsampa ng kaso sa mga opisyal ng pamahalaan at mga operator ng dam sa kanilang kapabayaan na nagdulot ng malaking hirap sa libo-libong mga mamamayan.
Sobra kasi ang dami ng tubig na ipinalabas ng Pantabangan at San Roque dam noong isang araw na siyang dahilan ng matinding baha sa Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija at karatig lalawigan.
Napakinggan ko ang interview ni Anthony Taberna kay Sen. Chiz Escudero sa DZMM. Taga Nueva Ecija si Anthony at si Chiz naman ay nasa Pangasinan noong linggo kasama si Grace Poe at tumulong sila sa mga nasalanta ng bagyong “Pepeng”. (Si Fernando Poe Jr ay taga-Pangasinan).
Last Friday, I got this strange letter from a certain Samira Saba of Smartmatic, the Dutch-Barbados-Venezuelan firm that partnered with the local Total Information Management and won the P7.2 billion contract for the nationwide automation of the 2010 elections.Here’s the letter:
Dear Mrs. Ellen,
My name is Samira Saba and I work at Smartmatic as the Marketing and Communications Manager (www.smartmatic.com).
I have checked your blog and I find it quite interesting. I can see the articles published are responsible, and show that you as a rule strive to inform and educate your readers. For instance, the article “Rock the vote!”
I would like to know if you have the time and the interest of writing some articles regarding the following subjects:
1) Election automation worldwide, and positive experiences in various countries.
2) Election automation in the Philippines, past and present.
3) Different technologies to automate an election. Perspectives and comparisons: shortcomings, advantages, political implications.
4) Smartmatic technology in particular (in this case, we would of course furnish appropriate materials to the required depth).
If you are interested in adding our organization as a regular client for your freelance writer services, we can define the extent and number of articles you could write monthly. I will be glad to give you more details and answer the questions you may have.
If your answer to the above is positive, then I would appreciate a quotation for your services, with a target of two articles published per month to begin with.
I look forward to hearing from you the soonest.
It was signed by Ms Saba.
I find the letter insulting. It smacks of bribery. I had to take several deep breaths and reminded myself that I should not write anything when I’m angry.
Kahindik-hindik ang iniwan ng bagyong “Pepeng” lalo na sa La Trinidad, Benguet kung saan mga 150 na tao ang natabunan ng lupa sa landslide na nangyari dahil sa ilang araw na ulan na dala ng bagyong si “Pepeng.”
Sa Pangasinan naman hanggang Nueva Ecija, nagiging malaking rumaragasang ilog ang mga bayan. Maliban sa pagkasira ng mga bahay, sira na rin ang mga kabuhayan katulad ng pala-isdaan at palayan.
Sinabi sa isang report na yung isang pamilya, binalikan nila ang nabahang palayan na dapat sana ay aanihin na sana sa susunod na linggo. Nag-ani na rin sila kahit baha. Pagkatapos pinatuyo nila ang palay sa kawali at yun ang kanilang sinaing. Nakakabagbag damdamin.
By Delmar Cariño, Vincent Cabreza, Frank Cimatu,
Inquirer Northern Luzon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — Gazing at a mountainside that had collapsed, La Trinidad Mayor Artemio Galwan was moved to tears on seeing the ruins of houses swamped by mud.
Photo from Philippine StarThen he asked what was inside the sack being carried by a trolley. He was told it contained the body of a baby. It was killed in the landslide that smashed into the community of Little Kibungan.
The mayor’s eyes moistened, he bowed his head and uttered a prayer. On a normal day, the trolley would have been carrying vegetables from highland farms.
Galwan told the Philippine Daily Inquirer yesterday more than 20 houses were swept away by the mudslides that occurred on Thursday night, and he feared around 150 people might have been buried in the avalanche that hit his town.
“Kakaasi da piman [They are pitiful],” Galwan, who was supervising rescue operations, said as the first batch of bodies were brought in from the other side of the mountain. From the InquirerEntire village gone
“I really feel sad. It’s an entire village that was washed out,” he said.
Rescuers yesterday struggled through mud and pounding rain to clear mountain roads and retrieve scores of people dead from the landslides that buried villages and cut off towns in the rain-soaked Northern Luzon.
Reports from the regional Office of Civil Defense and the Cordillera police placed the death toll at 122. Estimates of the number of missing ran as high as 70.
The latest calamity brought the death toll to more than 450 from the Philippines’ worst flooding in 40 years after back-to-back storms started pounding Luzon, including Metro Manila, on September 26.
Rescuers buried
The Associated Press, quoting provincial officials, said more than 160 people were killed in the landslides in Benguet and Mountain Province.
by Abigail Kwok and TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Neri inspects bullet holes in his house. Photo from Philippine StarSocial Security Systems president Romulo Neri’s Quezon City home was peppered with bullets by armed men reportedly wearing fatigues and bonnets Friday morning, police said.
City police director Chief Superintendent Elmo San Diego said in an interview that authorities recovered some 100 spent shells from M16 rifles in and outside Neri’s home at #28 Palali Street, Sta. Mesa Heights.
President Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday condemned the strafing of Secretary Romulo Neri’s home in Quezon City, and ordered the Philippine National Police to increase the number of his security men.
