Month: July 2011

‘We switched ERs for Gloria Arroyo’

Published by Ellen on July 29, 2011

First of a series

PNP team admits breaking into Batasan building

By Nancy C. Carvajal
Philippine Daily Inquirer

A police officer and his “boys” have come forward saying they stole original election returns (ERs) then kept at the Batasang Pambansa building and replaced these with fake ones to make sure Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would still emerge the winner of the 2004 presidential election in the event of a recount.

Senior Supt. Rafael Santiago, now assigned at the Philippine National Police Directorate for Operations in Camp Crame, presented to the Inquirer envelopes bearing the seal of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and containing what he said were original ERs from various areas in Mindanao.

Prior to his appointment in Camp Crame, Santiago was relieved as police director of Zambales province.

Of Azkals and Pusakals

Published by Ellen on July 24, 2011

Never mind the 3-0 score. What was amazing in Kuwait last Saturday was OFW power for the Azkals.

The photos posted by “Pamatay Homesick” in his Facebook Wall give us an exhilarating feeling.

Filipinos in Kuwait came in droves, most probably took a day off from work, to give moral support to the team that is now giving Filipinos a new sense of pride.

“Pamatay Homesick”, an interior designer and project design coordinator, posted on his FB wall: “Binabati ko ang lahat, sa matagumpay na kaganapan sa larong football dito sa kuwait.Natalo man ang ating Azkals, nakita ko naman ang pagsasama sama ng ating mga kababayan dito sa kuwait.Mabuhay!”

He added: “Kahit tayo ay nasawi, tayo parin ang nagwagi!”

That’s the attitude.

The Azkals have already achieved something priceless – making Filipinos proud of being Filipino. That, by itself, is already a score.

May mga kakampi ngayon ni Pnoy na maaring matamaan kapag hinalungkat ang dayaan sa 2004 na eleksyun

Published by Ellen on July 24, 2011

original sin — A Marine officer was jailed 3 and 1/2 years for sharing this DVD about Gloria Arroyo's cheating in the 2004 elections.

Natutuwa ako na nabuhay ang “Hello Garci” at ang dayaan ng 2004 na eleksyun. Sana, sa wakas, malalaman natin ang buong katotohanan.

Natatawa rin ako dahil sa paglabas ng mga recycled na mga artikulo at mga impormasyun na nilabas nitong mga nakaraang anim na taon ay akala ng marami ay bago. Katulad na lang ng pinalabas ni Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero na documentary ng dayaan ng 2004 eleksyun noong isang linggo. Sinabi sa news reports first time daw pinalabas.

Sa totoo lang, maraming beses na pinalabas yan mula pa noong 2006. Ang gumawa niyan ay ang grupo nina Marichu Vera Perez-Maceda, matalik na kaibigan ni Susan Roces at kilala sa kanyang palayaw na “Manay Ichu.”

Ang pamilya ni Manay Ichu ang may-ari ng Sampaguita Pictures na noon ay isa sa malaking movie production company.
Maraming bersyun ang ginawa ni Manay Ichu dahil habang ginagawa ang docu film,maraming impormasyun ang dumarating.

Ang isang bersyun nga na ang pamagat ay “Original Sin” ay isa sa mga DVD na naging dahilan ng pagkakulong ni Capt. Artemio Raymundo ng tatlo at kalahating taon.

Take two from Clinton John Colcol

Published by Ellen on July 21, 2011

Clinton colcol — Photo from ABS-CBN online

In July 2006, Artemio Rasalan, a self-confessed election operator and Clinton John Colcol, a Maguindanao municipal government employee, at great risk to their lives, came out with a signed affidavits and video confessions about their role in tampering with the 2004 election results in favor of Gloria Arroyo.

Media carried their revelations.Malacañang, then under the control of Arroyo , and members of Congress dismissed Rasalan and Colcol’s affidavits as “rehash.”

After I came out with the report on the role of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police in the switching of election returns at the Batasan Pambansa in 2008, Colcol wrote me requesting that his affidavit be removed from my blog because he was pursuing a religious vocation. I complied.

After “Hello” from Bedol, will it be “Hello Garci”?

Published by Ellen on July 19, 2011

bedol and his cellphone — Photo by Rhoy Cobilla of Malaya

It was so ludicrous that you would think it was a Michael V skit.

Yesterday, at the start of the media presentation of Lintang Bedol at the Commission on Elections in Intramuros, Manila, Chairman Sixto Brillantes told the magician election supervisor of Maguindanao, ” O baka gusto mo mag-hello.”

Bedol, wearing dark glasses and a bullet-proof vest, looked so relaxed despite the charge of contempt that was slapped on him for his four-year disappearance when he was asked to produce some documents related to the 2007 elections.

Bedol, waving to the reporters, said, “Hello, kumusta kayo lahat.”

It was bizarre.

I don’t think he realized his crime when he tampered the results of the 2004 elections subverting the people’s choice of their leaders thereby allowing a fake president to remain in power for six more years.

Sacked ‘torture’ cop now teaches criminology

Published by Ellen on July 18, 2011

By Mylah Reyes Roque
VERA Files

The Manila policeman dismissed from the service after he was caught on video allegedly torturing a theft suspect at a Tondo police station is now teaching—in a college for would-be policemen.

Police Inspector Joselito Binayug is a part-time instructor at the privately run Philippine College of Criminology-Manila Law College (PCCR-MLC), where he has been teaching Crime Detection Investigation since June.

The Philippine National Police dismissed Binayug from the service on Jan. 14, 2011 after Task Force Asuncion, which was formed to investigate allegations of torture at the Asuncion police station, confirmed that he was the policeman in the video. The footage showed a naked man lying on the floor of the police station, and was leaked to a TV station and the Internet in August.

2 unidentified aircraft spotted in PH airspace in Spratlys

Published by Ellen on July 18, 2011

By Tessa Jamandre
VERA Files

verafiles-boxall-marker-cropped — Boxall marker

An aggressive overflight reconnaissance over the Philippine-claimed isles in the oil-rich Spratlys group of islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) had been monitored and reported to the Philippine military shortly after Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario returned from his visit to Beijing.

On July 11, two unidentified aircraft were spotted in the airspace within the country’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone, according to a spot report seen by VERA Files.

Filipino fishermen sighted the aircraft, a gray chopper and a green plane they said resembles a “Tora Tora” or a T-28 fighter plane, flying low at Boxall Reef located 163 nautical miles from the Philippine Navy’s naval station in Ulugan Bay or 97 nautical miles from the southernmost tip of mainland Palawan.

A group of fishermen saw the green plane at 9 a.m. and another group spotted the gray chopper at 10:40 a.m., heading in the same northern direction, the report said.

The Tora Tora-like plane was hovering in the area at an altitude of about 20 feet and the chopper at about 30 feet, it said.
Quoting the fishermen who reported the sighting of the chopper, the military said, “There were more or less five crew on board and wearing green uniform. The small markings on its undercarriage were unreadable.”

Zaldy and Bedol under WPP: a stinking package deal

Published by Ellen on July 17, 2011

Surely, Justice Secretary Lilia de Lima knows the ramifications of her willingness to consider Zaldy Ampatuan, former governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao and one of the 196 persons accused in connection with the Maguindanao massacre, as state witness in a possible election fraud case against Gloria Arroyo.

“That is a new case, a totally different case and we can consider them, or whoever, it is Zaldy Ampatuan or Lintang Bedol. It would depend on the extent of their participation, “ De Lima said a day after Zaldy and former Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol said in separate interviews with ABS-CBN’s Anthony Taberna where they dangled information everybody knew about cheating in the 2004 and 2007 elections. Nothing in the published reports, though, directly implicates Gloria Arroyo.

De Lima also echoed Malacañang’s assurance that Zaldy will not be considered state witness in the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre that killed at least 58 persons, 32 of them journalists. This was despite the offer of Zaldy that he was willing to turn his back on his father, Andal Ampatuan Sr, identified by witnesses as the mastermind of the gruesome murders, and his brother, Andal Jr, identified as the triggerman.

Malalim ang drama ni Zaldy Ampatuan at Bedol

Published by Ellen on July 16, 2011

bedol july 2011 — Photo from ABS-CBN online. Thanks.

Sa unang pahayag ni dating Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol tungkol sa dayaan noong 2004 at 2007 na eleksyun, bistado na kaagad ang mali ng kanyang mga detalye.

Maaring may totoo doon sa sinabi niya, ngunit mukhang hindi tama ang pagsama niya kay Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento doon saan biyahe sa Gen. Santos City para mag-authenticate ng Election returns noong 2007.

Hindi natin masabi kung talagang sadya niyang guluhin ang sarili niyang pahayag o talagang sa sobrang sanay niya sa pagsisinungaling ay naghalo-halo na ang katotohanan at ang mga inimbento niya at siya mismo hindi na niya malaman kung alin ang totoo.

Ngunit kahit paano naman, may kabutihan na ring nangyari dahil ngayon gusto na ni Sen. Chiz Escudero na magkaroon ulit ng imbestigasyun ang Senado tungkol doon para malaman ng taumbayan ang buong katotohanan.

Hotdog Reunion: The Repeat

Published by Ellen on July 16, 2011

I did this story for VERA Files

Hotdog Repeat — Hotdog reunites in a repeat gig. Front row, from left: lead vocalists Joy Reyes, Maso Diez, Gina Montes and Rita Trinidad. Back, from left: Bassist Dennis Garcia, lead guitarist/vocalist Rene Garcia and drummer Jess Garcia. Front row, from left: lead vocalists Joy Reyes, Maso Diez, Gina Montes and Rita Trinidad.

Musician and advertising executive Dennis Garcia said there are five simple reasons why you should be at Dusit Thani at 8 p.m on July 26, Tuesday:

One, you will enjoy one and a half hours of fond memories;

Two, you will enjoy more hits than going to a concert of any other group – past or present;

Three, the core original members who truly molded the success of the legendary Hotdog band will be there plus Gina Montes, straight from London and Nadia Moore from Canada;

Four, maybe, this would be Hotdog’s time together on stage;

Five, you only live once.

Dennis , is one of the founders of trailblazing Pinoy pop-rock band Hotdog that delighted and have been delighting Filipinos with their exuberant music the past four decades.

Hotdog is the band behind such classics as “Pers Lab”, “Ikaw ang Miss Universe ng Buhay Ko”, “Bongga Ka ’Day”, “Annie Batungbakal”, “Beh Buti Nga”, “Bitin Sa Iyo”, “Langit Na Naman”, “O, Lumapit Ka” and that ageless ditty beloved by homesick Filipinos,” Manila”.