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Month: May 2010

Kailangan na ang bagong Senate President

Sa gitna ng nangyayari ngayon na kapalpakan ng Commission on Election at Smartmatic kung saan 76,000 na makina ang hindi gumana sa testing na ginawa noong mga nakaraang araw, kailangang-kailangan na magkaroon ng Senate president na ang termino ay hanggang 2013.

Ito ang panawagan kahapon ng Concerned Citizens Movement sa senado: “Elect a Senate president with a mandate beyond June 30, 2010 in the event of no elections. We cannot and must not have a power vacuum.”

Mahalaga ito kahit na sinabi ng Comelec na maayos na raw ang problema sa memory cards bago mag-Biyernes ngayong Linggo at tuloy na, mabuti na hindi dapat magkaroon ng power vacuum. Yung sitwasyon na walang legal na mamumuno.

Agra reverses decision absolving 2 Ampatuans

From abs-cbnNEWS.com

Department of Justice Secretary Alberto Agra on Wednesday reversed his April 16 resolution absolving two leaders of the Ampatuan clan from the November 23 Maguindanao massacre.

Statement of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines

The reversal of the resolution is, doubtless, a welcome development. No thanks, however, to Agra.

Indeed, if anything, all credit for the reversal should go to the families of the victims, their lawyers, the media community, and not least, the state prosecutors and the people in general who rightly railed against the obscenity of what could have been nothing but another ham-fisted attempt by this administration to let political expediency trump the rule of law, as it has done throughout its nine years of existence.

It was clear, as the prosecutors themselves pointed out, that there was no way Agra’s original resolution clearing the two Ampatuans could have been based on his supposed appreciation of the voluminous evidence a mere day after meeting with some of the victims’ relatives to assure them that he had yet to make up his mind.

The immediate and rousing anger that greeted his original decision were a clear enough signal that we would not be robbed of justice for this grievous crime, not just against the press, for whom the Ampatuan massacre was the single worst attack in history, but against the Filipino people and humanity.

If anything, he and his masters really had no choice. Anything short of reversal would have undoubtedly unleashed a firestorm that would sweep them away.

In a 30-page resolution, Agra said he changed his decision after assessing new evidence, including a new witness who testified that suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Datu Zaldy Ampatuan and acting vice governor of Maguindanao, Datu Akmad “Tato” Ampatuan, participated in a meeting the night before the massacre where the decision was taken to stop the Mangudadatus from filing a certificate of candidacy.

Voting machines fail

76,000 memory cards to be replaced

Related story: Arroyo’s lawyer bats for postponement of elections

By Michael Lim Ubac, Tarra Quismundo, Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Now, it can be told officially. The tests produced weird results.

This sent embarrassed officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and its partner, Smartmatic-TIM, scrambling to save the historic computerized balloting on May 10 by recalling 76,000 compact flash (CF) cards that are in the heart of the counting machines.

“We didn’t expect this to come out, but we are responding on time,” Cesar Flores, spokesperson for Smartmatic-TIM, at a nationally televised news conference said.

Danny Lim and Ariel Querubin

ON Monday, when I go to the polls, top on my list for senators are Brig. Gen. Danny Lim (#28) and Col Ariel Querubin (#47).

The two have been in detention since February 2006 when they were charged with attempting to withdraw support from Gloria Arroyo after the “Hello Garci” tapes exposed the use of the military in the tampering of election results in her favor in the 2004 elections.

The two said whatever is the outcome of the mutiny case against them, they would like to pursue life outside of the military. For Querubin, the chance to serve the country by being a member of the Senate is part of his giving back after he was snatched from the jaws of death in 1989.

Pamahalaan ni Arroyo, kahanay ng Taliban

Ang galing talaga nitong administrasyon ni Gloria Arroyo.

Sa okasyon ng World Press Freedom day kahapon, kasama ang Pilipinas sa 40 bayan na sinasabing “Predators of the press.”

Ang ibig sabhin ng “predator” ay isang bagay, pwedeng tao, pwedeng alien na kumakain o nagsisira ng isang bagay. Parang halimaw na nagbibiktima ng mga ordinaryong mamayan.

Kalinya na ng Pilipinas ang mga Taliban sa Afghanistan.

Watchdog names 40 ‘predators of the press’

Philippines makes it to the list

By Laurent Houssay
Agence France-Presse

PARIS—Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders named Monday the world’s 40 worst “predators of the press” including politicians, religious leaders and militias to mark World Press Freedom Day.

“They are powerful, dangerous, violent and above the law”, the Paris-based watchdog RSF said. “These predators of press freedom have the power to censor, imprison, kidnap, torture and, in the worst cases, murder journalists”.

Seventeen presidents and several heads of government are on the list, including China’s Hu Jintao, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Cuba’s Raoul Castro and Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

New entrants on the annually-updated list of “predators” include Taliban chief Mullah Omar.

Lim and Querubin: sure spots in my senatorial list

Two names that will surely be in my senatorial list when I go to the polls on Monday: Danny Lim (number 28) and Ariel Querubin (number 47).

While we were walking along Makati Avenue from the Makati City Hall towards Ayala Avenue morning of November 29, 2007, Brig. Gen. Danny Lim told us former Economic Planning Secretary Romy Neri was joining them. That was the height of the controversy over the anomalous $329 million NBN-ZTE contract.

Ala-ala kay PCGG Commissioner Doromal

Photo from fourtyfied.blogspot.com. Thanks.
Photo from fourtyfied.blogspot.com. Thanks.
Nakikiramay ako sa pamilya ni dating PCGG commissioner Quintin Doromal na namatay sa isang traffic accident noong Biyernes.

Nag-cover ako ng Presidential Commission on Good Government mula sa unang araw nang ito ay binuo pagkatapos ng Edsa One noong Pebrero 1986. Si Jovito Salonga ang unang chairman at isa si Doromal sa mga commissioner.

Desenteng tao si Doromal at talagang nagmamalasakit para sa kapakanan ng bayan. Maraming kontrobersiya ang PCGG at hindi nakaligtas dito si Doromal ngunit naniniwala akong hindi siya corrupt.

Kahit retired na siya sa serbisyo sa pamahalaan, aktibo pa rin si Doromal sa mga aktibidades na nagsusulong ng good governance at demokrasya. Palagi ko siya nakikita sa mga forum.

Napakabait at grasyosa ang kanyang asawa na si Pearl. Nang ako ay nagkasakit, tumawag pa yan sa bahay at sinabing pinagdarasal nila ako.Kinukwento sa akin ni Commissioner Doromal na cancer survivor din siya.

Dante Langkit for Kalinga governor

Capt. Langkit read the comments here and he sent a message.Check out below.

From his detention cell, Army Captain Dante Langkit is running for governor of Kalinga challenging well-entrenched politicians in the province.

A native of Kalinga Province, Langkit grew up in Poblacion Taga in the municipality of Pinukpuk. Born on October 1, 1971, Dante is the eldest among the four sons and three daughters of Esteban Linggayo Langkit and Gennette Balicao Dasayon.

Because of the then prevailing insurgency and tribal wars, Captain Langkit spent his elementary and high school studies in several government and private schools. He took his preparatory and elementary education at Bulanao Northern Elementary School and Pinukpuk Central School where he graduated Valedictorian. His high school days were spent at St. Williams Academy and St Theresita’s High School where he graduated with honors.