by Benjamin S. Luis VERA Files They thought by now, nearly two months after their loved ones perished in the country’s worst pre-election violence in…
Making life worth living.
Month: January 2010
Update: Brad Pitt and Angelina suing News of the World Hollywood’s Golden couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have officially split. I’m sad because I’m…
Editorial
Philippine Daily Inquirer
One of the Nora Desmond character’s famous lines is “I am big! It’s the pictures that got small.” In his mind, Joseph Estrada is still the big shot matinee idol, champion and idol of the masses; but the reality is it’s his fantasy of relevance that has enlarged over time even as his box office and electoral clout has diminished. This is not to say that the clout has evaporated totally or that he hasn’t retained his fan base. He obviously still does.
The surveys show him increasing his percentage but it needs to be asked if this is purely a function of his reclaiming his constituency, or more the interaction of official concessions and that constituency rallying because of these unexpected signs of official favor.
Prior to Estrada’s throwing his hat into the ring, the legal consensus was that the Constitution prohibited former presidents from seeking the presidency. This was a view we believe was widely shared by the public. The Palace, for its part, had tried to limit Estrada’s freedom of political action by holding over his head a condition in his pardon that stated he would give up political aspirations. But when the deadline for the filing of candidacies for 2010 approached, the Palace itself announced it had no intention of blocking his comeback plans.
Talaga naman. Hindi ko alam kung sino ang mas matindi ang tama, si Gloria Arroyo o si Marlene Aguilar-Pollard.
Kasi, sabi ni Aguilar-Pollard nakilala raw niya si Mayor Andal Ampatuan sa isang gabing pamamalgi niya sa detention quarters ng National Bureau of Investigation at sinabi niya sa media na huwag daw husgahan ang suspek sa pagpatay ng hindi kukulang sa 57 na tao sa Maguindanao dahil “mabait” naman daw. Dios mio naman!
Ito namang si Arroyo, sa interview sa kanya ni Joe Taruc sa DZRH, sinabi niya na “swerte” raw ang susunod sa kanya dahil matatag daw ang ekonomiya na kanyang iiwanan. “Alam mo siguro, suwerte yung susunod na pangulo sa akin.Iyong susunod na administrasyon maipagpatuloy lang niya, uusbong ang ating bansa.”
Says P1 trillion lost to graft under GMA
by Ashzel Hachero
Malaya
Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III yesterday vowed not to impose new taxes or even increase tax rates if he is elected president.
“My vision is to transform our country into one where we have lower tax rates enjoyed by all, rather than have some enjoy absolute tax exemptions while we burden the rest of the economy with very high tax rates,” Aquino said.
Aquino spoke before businessmen and the diplomatic corps during the “Presidential Candidate Series” sponsored by the Makati Business Club at the Manila Peninsula Hotel.
Aquino’s “no new taxes” approach was similar to then US presidential candidate George H. W. Bush’s famous phrase “Read my lips: No new taxes” at the 1998 Republican National Convention when he accepted the nomination.
“With universal low tax rates, we will encourage entrepreneurs and enterprises to invest and create jobs in any industry,” Aquino said to wide applause from the audience.
He said an Aquino administration will pursue the rationalization of fiscal incentives to investors to lower the budget deficit and stem revenue losses.
This week has been designated “National Cancer Consciousness Week” in an effort to fight one of the top killer diseases in the country.
Being informed is one of the weapons to fight cancer.
Puerto Galera-based artist Bernadette Wolf sent an article about avoiding cancer.The article says every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion.
When the person’s immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.To improve one’s immune system a healthy lifestyle, which includes healthy diet, is important.
Now, that the specter of a failure of elections is becoming more and more real, the senate presidency becomes a crucial position.
Under the law on succession, in case of a vacancy in the presidency, the vice president takes over. If the VP is unable to assume the presidency, next in line is the senate president and then the speaker of the House of Representatives. If the there is no one qualified, Congress shall pass a law to provide who shall serve as acting president until the president or vice president shall have been elected and qualified.
But what if no winner is declared for the national positions by June 30, 2010., when Gloria Arroyo’s stolen presidency ends? There would be no Congress to pass the law. The remaining 12 senators would not consitute a quorum to elect a senate president to replace the current senate president, Juan Ponce Enrile,who is running for re-election,
There would a political vacuum and that’s very dangerous. Enrile had mentioned the possibility of a military takeover.
Lito Banayo, in his column in Malaya last Wednesday, mentioned a plot to depose Enrile and install a pro-Gloria senate president who would serve as acting president. Joker Arroyo? Edgardo Angara? Manny Villar? (Come to think of it,Villar’s term for senator is still up to 2013. If he loses the presidency, he goes back to the Senate.)
Mrs. Remonde:Cerge going through crisis in credibility
Nasa taxi ako kahapon ilang minuto pasado ng 12 ng hapon nang lumabas ang balita na lumisan na si Press Secretary Cerge Remonde ng 11:51 ng umaga sa Makati Medical Center.
Sabi ng taxidriver, “Kung sino-sino ang kinukuha, bakit hindi pa tumbukin ang talagang yun dapat kunin.”
Nakuha ko ang ibig sabihin ng driver. Nang sabihin ng radio reporter na kaya pinuntahan ng kanyang driver si Remonde (at doon na natagpuan sa bathroom na walang malay) dahil may naka-schedule na press conference sa Malacañang, sabi ng driver, “Ayaw na siguro ng Panginoon na magsinungaling pa siya.”
Mahirap talaga magtrabaho para kay Gloria Arroyo. Kahit mabait ka na tao, kahit wala kang ginagawa na masama para sa sarili mo, mahirap ka hahanga-an ng taumbayan.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) 2nd Division on Wednesday junked separate petitions seeking the disqualification of former President Joseph Estrada in the 2010 presidential elections.
In its resolution, the poll body said it junked the petitions filed by lawyers Ely Pamatong, Evelio Formento and Merelo Estrada due to lack of merit.
“Let the people decide who will be the next president,” the Comelec ruled.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the petitioners could still a file a motion for reconsideration before the commission en banc.
It has been almost three years since Edith Burgos, wife of the late Jose Burgos, Jr, founder of Malaya and regarded as a press freedom icon, last saw her son, Jonas.
On April 28, 2007, Jonas, father of an 18-month old girl, was abducted by unidentified men and a woman while having lunch at the Hapag Kainan restaurant in Ever Gotesco Mall in Quezon City. He was dragged into a waiting van and he has been missing since then.
Jonas is described in new reports as “activist-farmer”. Probably because at the time he was abducted, he was a member of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (AMB), a provincial chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).
Jonas studied agriculture at Benguet State University. He practiced organic farming in the Burgos family farm in Bulacan and shared his knowledge of it with other farmers.
Since the abduction almost three years ago, the Burgos family, headed by Edith Burgos has been searching relentlessly for Jonas. Mrs. Burgos has taken all the avenues — courts, police, military, morgues, government agencies including the Office of the President, international organizations and the streets — to look for her son.
She has endured hunger, insults and harassment.