Month: January 2010

Widows, journalists lament

Published by Ellen on January 12, 2010

Today, widows of slain journalists in the Ampatuan Maguindanao massacre filed their opposition to Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton’s promotion as Vice-Commander of the Philippine Army with the Commission on Appointments.

Those who trooped to the Senate, where the CA deliberations were being held, were the widows and family members of the following slain journalists: Alejandro Reblando, Joel Parcon, McDelbert Arriola, Julito Evardo, Bienvenido Legarta, Lindo Lupogan, Robert Momay, Victor Nunez, Napoleon Salaysay, and Daniel Tianzon Cayton, then commander of the 6th Infantry, denied the request of Buluan vice mayor Toto Mangudadatu for security escorts in his filing of the certificate of candidacy last Nov. 23. That refusal enabled the Ampatuans to massacre at least 57 persons, 30 of them journalists.

Cayton was relieved of his post after the massacre, which happened a stone’s throw away from a military detachment. But he was promoted to Philippine Army vice commander. The widows are appalled.

Justice

Published by Ellen on January 11, 2010

by Conrado de Quiros
Philippine Daily Inquirer

It’s not just that justice delayed is justice denied. It’s also that justice selectively served is justice screwed.

At that, I don’t even know that justice, selective or not, is being served on Panfilo Lacson for the murders of Bubby Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito. Of course there’s direct evidence against him in the form of ex-Senior Supt. Cezar Mancao saying he heard him order Michael Ray Aquino to dispose of Dacer. But all that stands on the head of the pin that is Mancao’s credibility. Did Mancao truly suffer remorse during his exile in the US and felt compelled to tell what he knew a decade later, or is he just down on his luck from the same exile in the US and ready to swear that Lacson had Jose Rizal shot?

That is not something we can know under the present regime. I have no problem with Lacson being prosecuted grandly for the murders of Dacer and Corbito, and if found guilty punished grandly as well. But I have every problem with him being tried under this government. Or, since that is really a circuitous way of putting it, by this government. Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets. The justice department today has the distinction of being the one office writ large in Orwellian script, fomenting the opposite of what it says.

JBC should trash premature nomination

Published by Ellen on January 11, 2010

Malaya editorial

Biyahe sa panahon ng terorismo

Published by Ellen on January 11, 2010

Maayos ang Philippine Airlines Flight 103 na galing Los Angeles, California kahit na dalawang toilet lang ang nagagamit dahil sira ang dalawa.

Mabusisi lang ngayon ang security check sa mga airports sa U.S dahil sa nangyaring pagtangka na naman ng Al Qaeda na magpasabog ng isang American na airline sa araw ng Christmas noong isang buwan.

Nahuli si Umar Farouk Abdulmutrallab, 23 taong gulang na Nigerian, sa Northwest Airline flight na nanggaling sa Amsterdam patungong Detroit ng may umusok sa kanyang katawan. Mabuti naagapan. Nakakulong na siya ngayon ay nakaharap sa maraming kaso.

Arroyo exits June, Puno retires May, raise vital legal questions

Published by Ellen on January 11, 2010

By Franklin M. Drilon
Philippine Daily Inquirer

(Editor’s Note: The author has logged 32 years in the public service as Senate president, justice secretary, labor secretary and executive secretary. He was a bar topnotcher and a staunch advocate of reforms in the judiciary. He is the national chair of the Liberal Party and its leading senatorial candidate in the May elections.)

The Paramount question is: Under the 1987 Constitution, can an outgoing President Arroyo still appoint the successor to Chief Justice Puno?

The forthcoming retirement of Chief Justice Reynato Puno and President Macapagal-Arroyo’s impending exit from power present an interesting legal question that will have an impact not only on our Supreme Court but on our country’s future as well.

Was the music used in Gibo’s jingle stolen? Dennis Garcia says “No”

Published by Ellen on January 10, 2010

Checked my email upon arriving from LA and found a note from Dennis Garcia, whom I admire for his wit and creativity,about a controversy on the jingle used in a Gilbert Teodoro ad.

Had to make a quick google search on the issue and this is what I got from GMA News on line:

Rico Blanco, formerly of the rock band Rivermaya, has demanded that administration presidential bet Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. stop using his song “Posible” in the politician’s video ad.

The campaign jingle changed the lyrics to “Sulong Gibo (Go, Gibo!)” from the original “Sulong, laban (Go, fight!)” in the song’s refrain.

In a statement released to the media on Saturday, Blanco, through Warner Music Philippines Artist Management, said the use of his song “Posible” in Teodoro’s latest campaign advertisement did not have his consent. Garcia refutes this and sent a copy of his agreement with Liza Nakpil, registered publisher of the song.

Panghugas ng konsyensya ni Gloria

Published by Ellen on January 9, 2010

Paano ko kaya ipadala itong nabili kong body wash kay Gloria Arroyo?

Maganda itong body wash dahil nakalagay, “Village Naturals Green will leave you with a clean body and conscience.”

Tuwang-tuwa ako sa produkto na ito. Biro mo, hindi lang katawan ang nililinis nitong body wash (tubig na sabon). Pati konsyensa. Gusto ko pa sana kumuha ng marami at ibibigay ko sa mga congressman at mga opisyal na walang habag kung mangurakot ng pera ng taumbayan. Para naman malinis ang kanilang konsyensa.

Mura pa naman itong Village Naturals body wash. $0.49 cents ko lang nakuha sa clearance sale ng “Ross for Less” sa Riverside, California. Parang P23 lang. Kaya lang nag-iisa lang e . Kasi clearance sale nga.

“Her” man

Published by Ellen on January 8, 2010

by Lito Banayo
Malaya

The last reputable surveys done after the filing of certificates of candidacy show three presidential candidates at the top: Noynoy Aquino in the mid to high forties, Manny Villar and Erap Estrada in a virtual tie at 20 or 19 percentage points. And Gilbert Teodoro, the man anointed by the once humongous Partido Lakas-Kampi founded by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, incumbent and long-staying president of the benighted republic, at low single-digit numbers. The rest are also-rans, at 1 percentage point or even lower.

Why the regime’s anointed is languishing at bottom lows, despite the vaunted party machinery, the well-placed ads projecting competence and intelligence (“galing at talino”), and despite inarguably better speaking and debating skills than the competition, is attributable to the public belief that he is “Gloria’s man”, the chosen “one”, the person she deems most fit to succeed and most acceptable to her. Unfortunately for him, the person who chose him above all else happens to be most distrusted by the population. That distrust for his patroness drags Gibo down, never mind his personal qualities. It carries over to his persona, reinforced in no small measure by his having expressed not only the usual paeans of gratitude, but a public admiration for her “ many achievements”, something clearly the people do not share. To do a volte face at this time will no longer be credible. Gilbert Teodoro’s chances are thus virtually nil. Even Ronaldo Puno’s vaunted skills cannot resurrect flagging hopes. Nor Virgilio Garcillano’s magic make the trick. Perhaps if Norberto Gonzales succeeds in discombobulating everything and upsetting the applecart of elections… perhaps, but that’s a big IF, and assuming the guy and his patroness can pull it through, will the people ever be so supine as to take such adventurism lying down?

Foreign policy forum for presidentiables

Published by Ellen on January 7, 2010

On Jan. 14, the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation, Asian Institute of Management, and ABS News Channel will hold a foreign policy forum featuring presidential candidates and will focus on Philippine credibility and competitiveness in the world.

The forum takes special significance at this time when world has to deal with the twin threats of terrorism and economic recession and the Philippines carries additional burden of resources strained by recent calamities and a notorious reputation of lawlessness.

Liberal Party presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who is leading in all election surveys, has declined the invitation to participate in the forum. Surprisingly, Nacionalista Party presidential bet Manny Villar, who used to have a phobia with presidential fora, has agreed to attend.

CHR’s De Lima slams Cebu Pacific on discrimination of “special child”

Published by Ellen on January 7, 2010

The Commission on Human Rights bewailed the discrimination against a “special child” by Cebu Pacific last Dec. 23.

It has been reported last Dec. 23, Maritess Alcantara and her son, John Arvin, boarded a Cebu Pacific flight to Hongkong. They were reportedly asked to deplane because of her son’s “special” condition.

Alcantara, in a broadcast interview related that, prior to departure, she was asked by the crew prior to departure if her son was ill. She responded that he was not, albeit he was a special child with Global Developmental Delay, a condition that impedes the normal development of the child’s faculties. The crew responded that it was company policy that no two special children/persons may board the same flight, and insisted that she disembark together with her son. Based on other news reports, it appeared that there was another passenger on board who had down syndrome.