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Year: 2010

Verzosa as ambassador to Russia?

Published by Ellen on September 26, 2010

Three days after the Aug. 23 hostage-taking fiasco that left eight tourists from Hongkong dead, the survivors were accompanied by Malacañang officials to the airport for their flight back home.

At that time, tempers were high in Hongkong against the bungling of the Philippine government that turned their compatriot’s holiday into a tragedy. The survivors and their relatives couldn’t help expressing their disgust over the post-tragedy attitude of the Aquino government. They wondered why nobody was taking responsibility. All that they were getting were excuses and justifications for the incompetence that was witnessed live by the whole world.

Despite statements of condolences, the impression that the survivors and their relatives got was, the Aquino government was not serious in making officials be accountable for the debacle. They cited the melamine scandal in China in 2008 when two persons found responsible for the contamination of the infant formula that caused the death of six babies and illness to thousands were executed.

That sentiment was relayed by a Malacañang official to officials involved in the debacle. The official said, then PNP Chief Jesus Verzosa replied, in his typical emotion-devoid manner of speaking, “Okay, I’ll let Magtibay go.”

Continue readingVerzosa as ambassador to Russia?

A whitewash?

Published by Ellen on September 26, 2010

Malaya editorial:

Palace officials said they are “alarmed” over the leak of the withheld portions of the reports of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee but their focus now is on completing a review and submitting their findings to President Aquino when he arrives from the United States tomorrow.

It’s the officials’ necks and Noynoy’s credibility which are on the block so they are free to do as they wish. They should be prepared, however, for some major efforts to contain the firestorm that will sure to erupt when the review assigned to Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and chief presidential legal counsel Eduardo de Mesa is finished.

Ochoa and De Mesa have a limited choice: Affirm the findings and recommendations of the committee chaired by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima or trash them. Selective endorsement of the recommendations will not do because if the committee erred in some, then it conceivably was wrong in all its findings.

The issue boils down to what regulations or laws have been violated and whether there is sufficient evidence to nail down the offenders. If the Palace rules substantially against the recommendations of the panel, then it leaves no room for De Lima but to resign.

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Labadahan ng jueteng sa boksing

Published by Ellen on September 26, 2010

Dapat bantayan ng Bureau of Internal review at ng tauhan ng Money Laundering Council ang mga Pilipino na dadagsa na naman sa Texas sa Nobyembre para sa laban ni Saranggani Congressman Manny Pacquiao at ang Mexicano na si Antonio Margarito.

Gambling lords have found “creative methods” of laundering billions of pesos generated by their illegal operations in the country, a lawyer of a late suspected jueteng operator said Sunday.

The methods range from auctioning off paintings in Singapore to moving funds through the underground “Binondo Central Bank,” Ferdinand Topacio said.

Click here:http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100927-294494/Jueteng-lords-clean-money-in-Singapore and here :http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100927-294520/Money-laundering-through-artworks

Sinabi ni retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz sa hearing ng jueteng sa Senado na nilalabhan ng mga jueteng operators at ang mga nagpuprotekta sa kanila ang ilegal na pera sa pamamagitan ng pagpusta sa boksing. Kung manalo nga naman sila doon, di legal na ang pera nila.

Sino-sino ba ang mahilig magbuntot kay Pacquiao tuwing may laban siya? Kitang-kita naman.

Nakakalula ang mga numero ng pera na umiikot sa jueteng. Sabi ni Sen. Miriam Santiago, P30 bilyunes (bilyun yan,siyam na sero) ang kita ng mga operator na ilegal na sugal sa isang taon. Kaya naman chicken feed lang sa kanila ang P300 milyun na pyola sa bawat mataas na opisyal.

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Ano ang hawak ni Puno at Verzosa kay Pnoy?

Published by Ellen on September 25, 2010

Huwag sanang magkamali si Pangulong Aquino na balewalain ang rekomendasyun ng Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) na siyang inatasan niyang mag-imbestiga sa nangyaring panghu-hostage ng mga turistang galing Hongkong noong Agosto 23.

Kung mangyari yun, kini-kinita ko, panibagong krisis ang haharapin ni Aquino. Dapat nyang malaman na ang taas na ng frustration level ng maraming sumuporta sa kanya noong eleksyun.

Sa kabila ng maraming palpak ng kanyang halos mag-isang daan araw ng kanyang administrasyon, hindi pa sya iniiwanan ng umaasa ng reporma sa pamahalaan dahil kumakapit pa rin ang marami sa kanyang pangako na matuwid na daan ang tatahakin niya.

Ngunit hindi bulag ang taumbayan na susunod lang sa kanya kahit lumilihis na siya ng daan at mukhang pumupunta sa baku-baku na daan. Baka dumeretso pa ito sa bangin.

Continue readingAno ang hawak ni Puno at Verzosa kay Pnoy?

No more New York hotdogs for P-Noy

Published by Ellen on September 23, 2010

By Benjamin Pimentel
Inquirer.net

CALIFORNIA, United States—Maybe P-Noy should lay off the New York hotdogs. It’s making him talk strange.

Consider what he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer when asked about his friend, Undersecretary Rico Puno, who’s in hot water over alleged links to gambling and his role in the bungled Luneta rescue.

“One thing we have to watch out for is if these people who have been with us when we were still in the harassed opposition and who joined us in our struggles…if all these people who are close to us are removed and replaced by those who are not as close, the next group could already be our enemies,” he said.

Now, that was one jumbled, scary statement. You can read it on so many levels, few of them flattering to the chief executive of the country.

For the Philippine President basically admitted that, despite what appeared to be a pretty hefty mandate, he’s really relying on a very small circle of people to do his job.

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Aquino scores in transparency

Published by Ellen on September 23, 2010

One good thing that can be said of the almost three-month old Aquino presidency is transparency.

Sometimes, too transparent to a fault but openness is still better than keeping people in the dark.

Aquino bungled big-time the Aug. 23 hostage crisis, wasted a lot of time trying to justify the bungling before finally doing something right: asking Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to head a panel that would investigate the fiasco.

Another correct decision was releasing the report to the public a few days after it was submitted to him. The release of the report to the Chinese Embassy ahead of releasing it to the Filipino public could have been handled better, of course. Also,he could have released the whole report including the recommendations.

Compare that to how Gloria Arroyo handled the “Hello Garci” scandal and the report of the Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga who investigated the involvement of the military in the tampering of the results of the 20004 election in Arroyo’s favor. Up to this day, we have yet to see the full report although I’m not expecting much from it.

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IIRC recommendations: only Lim cited for criminal sanction

Published by Ellen on September 23, 2010

Following are the recommendations of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee that investigated the Aug. 23 hostage tragedy. This was withheld when President Aquino released the fact-finding part of the report. The recommendations are being reviewed by the presidential legal panel headed by Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Eduardo de Mesa.

Recommendations

In light of the preceding discussions on the accountability of the above-mentioned public officials, PNP officers and private individuals based on their corresponding acts and omissions during the August 23, 2010 Rizal Park Hostage-taking crisis, the Committee hereby recommends the following actions:

1. Against PCSUPT (General) Rodolfo Y. Magtibay, the initiation of the corresponding administrative proceedings is recommended based on the following grounds:

a. Serious Irregularities in the Performance of Duties – for countermanding the order of his superior officer, Police Director (General) Leocadio Santiago Jr. to use the PNP SAF-CRG in the assault of the hostaged bus, and in direct opposition to the clear and categorical order of the President to do so as relayed through said superior officer;

b. Gross incompetence – for manifest lack of adequate ability and fitness to satisfactorily perform his police duties as ground commander in the hostage-taking incident as established in this investigation, resulting in the needless and tragic death of eight (8) foreign tourists and the injury of seven (7) others;

Continue readingIIRC recommendations: only Lim cited for criminal sanction