Year: 2010

Breaking news: Trillanes cannot attend opening of Senate on Monday- Makati RTC

Published by Ellen on July 22, 2010

by Ashzel Hachero
Malaya

A Makati court hearing the coup d’etat case of the Magdalo soldiers on Thursdya junked the bid of the group’s leader, detained Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to attend the opening session of the 15th Congress on Monday, July 26.

Update: Detained Senator Antonio Trillanes IV asked Judge Oscar Pimentel of the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 148 to reconsider his reconsider its decision prohibiting him from attending the opening of the Senate session on July 26.

“It will just be fore five hours,” Trillanes’ lawyer Reynaldo Robles said.

Robles argued that the SC ruling cited by the RTC was “not applicable” in the request for leave-from-detention. “(The SC ruling denied an) omnibus motion, which is a motion (for Trillanes to) attend Senate sessions and committee hearings,” he told GMANews.TV.

In a four page ruling, Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 148 Judge Oscar Pimentel Sr. sided with the prosecution’s arguments that Trillanes latest bid to leave his detention place to attend Senate sessions has no merit and this was even affirmed by the Supreme Court (SC).

“After due considerations of the pleadings and arguments filed by both parties, the Court is convinced to deny the Motion for leave filed by Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV,” Pimentel said in his ruling dated July 15 but which was only released late Thursday afternoon.

Dirty politics behind Yusoph kidnapping

Published by Ellen on July 22, 2010

Update: Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Elias Yusoph has denied that he received money from local candidates in Lanao del Sur province before the May 10 elections as accused by a military official.

He also chided Brig. Gen. Ray Ardo, chief of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade, for coming up with an accusation based on “rumors and hearsay.”

by Froilan Gallardo
Mindanews

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY— It was all about the huge amount of bribe money that corrupted election officials who issued orders to cluster polling precincts to favored politicians during the last elections in May, military officers and poll watchdog groups said.

Nuraldin Yusoph released — Nuraldin Yusoh released. Photo by Froilan Gallardo

The officers and NGO leaders said that this was the reason why Nuraldin Yusoph, the 22-year-old son of poll Commissioner Elias Yusoph, was kidnapped in Marawi City.

“Politicians who lost a lot of money want to recoup their losses. That is the reason why Nuraldin was kidnapped,” said Brig. Gen. Ray Ardo, chief of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade. “They want to be refunded,” he added.

At the center of the controversy that hounded the kidnapping of Nuraldin is his father Elias, the only Muslim commissioner in the Commission on Elections.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), in its luwaran.com website, said that “the kidnapping was a collective effort” of all losers in the election “to force him [Commissioner Yusoph] to refund the bribes given him during the elections” as it accused the election official of “[taking] money from all sides.”

There was no immediate comment from the elder Yusoph and his family about the accusation.

Plagiarized statements to support an unjust decision

Published by Ellen on July 20, 2010

June 22 SC rally — Reeling from the SC's triple whammy

It was a heart-rending scene.

Seventeen grandmothers, in the sunset of their lives, staged a rally Monday before the Supreme Court protesting the plagiarism in the decision that denied them remedy for the wartime savagery they suffered.

Their counsel, CenterLaw’s Harry Roque, call the April 28, 2010 decision, the ”third siege of Mapanique”

The first siege was 66 years ago. In his blog, Roque narrated the horror that descended on Mapanique one day in November 1944:

“At dawn of November 23, 1944, Japanese troops descended on the town of Mapanique, Candaba, Pampanga. To the shock of the local inhabitants, Japanese troops gathered all the men and boys and proceeded to castrate many of them. After which, the men were forced to put their severed sexual organs in their mouths before they were burned to death en masse.

“The women and girls, on the other hand, were marched to what is known until today as ‘Bahay na Pula’ (red house) in San Ildenfonso, Bulacan. There, the women and girls were interred and repeatedly raped.

Comelec approves Mikey Arroyo’s party-list bid

Published by Ellen on July 20, 2010

By Andreo C. Calonzo, GMANews.TV The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has allowed presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo to be a nominee…

Hinagpis ng mga OFW

Published by Ellen on July 20, 2010

Kahindik-hindik ang nangyari kay Asria Samad Abdul, 34 taong gulang na overseas foreign worker (OFW) sa Kuwait.

Ayun sa report, nakita ang bangkay ni Asria, na tubong Datu Odin Sinsuat sa Maguindanao, sa disyerto ng Kabd na maraming saksak. Mukhang tinurture muna siya tapos sinagassan ng kotse para kunwari namatay siya dahil nasagasaan.

Nahuli na raw ang mag-asawang criminal. Egyptian daw.

Ang isa namang OFW, si Norhaisa Nasa Andao, 32 taong gulang ay sinaksak ng kanyang asawang Egyptian ng 31 beses sa loob ng beauty parlor sa Kuwait din. Siyempre patay.

Teenage singer Charice gets Botox for ‘Glee’ debut

Published by Ellen on July 19, 2010

From Yahoo News:

by Teresa Cerojano, Associated Press Writer

MANILA, Philippines – Baby-faced teen singer Charice says she prepared for her debut on the hit Fox TV show “Glee” by getting Botox and an anti-aging procedure “to look fresh on camera,” but her publicist said the Botox was for muscle pain, not for cosmetic reasons.

The 18-year-old Filipino singer with a booming voice, who recently released her self-titled debut album, saw her career skyrocket after appearing on Ellen DeGeneres’ and Oprah Winfrey’s talk shows. She underwent a 30-minute Thermage skin-tightening procedure and Botox injections to make her “naturally round face” more narrow, celebrity cosmetic surgeon Vicki Belo told ABS-CBN television.

However, Charice’s publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said in an e-mail Monday the Botox was “absolutely not cosmetic,” and added said the treatment was for muscle pain in her jaw.

Belo did the Botox procedure in front of the cameras.

“You chew gum and it turns out to be a favorite super-exercise for these muscles, your chewing muscles. So we will show you, this muscle here it’s a bit protruding,” Belo said as she touched Charice’s face. “It’s like a ball, so we are going to Botox that in order to get it flat so she will have a cuter face … we want to give you the apple cheek look because it’s cute, right?”

Charice, in the same interview, said last week’s face makeover was part of her big preparations for her appearance on the hit show’s second season. She starts filming at the end of this month.

Estrada joins call for Trillanes’ temporary release

Published by Ellen on July 19, 2010

by Jocelyn Montemayor
Malaya

Former president Joseph Estrada joined calls for the temporary release of Trillanes, saying that his continued detention is a waste of taxpayer’s money.

Statement of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV:

I am very grateful for the public pronouncements of Pres. Aquino as regards our case. It was truly a display of magnanimity on his part. Still, for now, it will be the court who will decide whether or not I would be able to serve our country once again.

“He is receiving his salary as senator yet unable to render his services in this capacity. By not allowing him to participate in Senate sessions, the courts are rendering Senator Trillanes’ office inutile and indirectly wasting taxpayers’ money,” he said.

Estrada said it should not be too difficult to allow Trillanes a few hours of provisional liberty to participate in the Senate sessions, particularly on July 26.

“He can be brought to the Senate to attend session for a few hours and then brought back to where he is being detained. Why the big fuss?” Estrada said.

Voice and flute spectacular at Kiss the Cook Gourmet on July 25

Published by Ellen on July 19, 2010

I have not been to the Kiss the Cook Gourmet restaurant in UP Village but I’m told that aside from good food, they also offer…

Trust equals confidence

Published by Ellen on July 18, 2010

The latest survey of the Social Weather Station should encourage President Benigno Aquino III to be his own man and assert his leadership as influence groups exert pressure on him, some out of a genuine desire to help him and others to push their own agenda.

The survey conducted June 25 to 28, a few days before Aquino’s inauguration as the country’s 15th president, showed that 88 per cent of adult Filipinos said they have much trust on him while only four percent said had little trust in him. Eight per cent were undecided.

Vice President Binay also got good ratings with 77 per cent trusting him much and only eight per cent have “little trust” in him. Fourteen per cent were undecided.

Eighty-eight percent is very high. Higher than his mother’s high trust rating of plus 72 in October 1986, eight months after she ascended into the presidency through People Power that ended more than two decades of Marcos dictatorship. Higher also than the March 1995 excellent rating of Pope John Paul , whose Philippine visit two months earlier attracted a five million throng at the Rizal Park.

Pagmumuni-muni sa kadiliman

Published by Ellen on July 18, 2010

Noong Huwebes ng gabi, panandalian kaming nagkaroon ng kuryente. Tamang-tama TV Patrol, balita sa ABS-CBN.

Nasa balita ang mga nasawing mangingisda sa Mariveles, Bataan nang inabutan ng bagyong “Basyang”. Ini-interview ang asawa ng isang nasaawing mangingisda. Sabi ng asawa hindi raw niya alam kung ano ngayon ang kanyang gagawin dahil buntis siya at wala naman siyang hanapbuhay.

Sabi pa niya, may isa pa silang anak at nakakulong. Nag-iipon nga daw sana sila ng pera para magkaroon ng pampiyansa sa kanilang nakakulong na anak.

Hindi pa natapos ang TV Patrol, nawala na naman ang kuryente. Madilim na naman kami.