From abs-cbnNEWS.com
Aquino said it was security concerns and not the controversy surrounding the luxury vehicle, which he bought second hand, that prompted him to get rid of the white Porsche.
“It’s putting an unnecessary risk on the people who are guarding me. It is too exposed and it is like an advertisement, saying, ‘Here I am. I am most vulnerable here’,” the president told reporters.
(I did this story for VERA Files. It has been released to all media outlets.)
A highly reliable source said President Benigno Aquino III agreed to the two conditions Gutierrez set in exchange for her resignation. One, she would get her full retirement benefits. Two, government would not file charges against her.
The deal, however, does not preclude private individuals from filing cases against the former Ombudsman, who had also served as acting justice secretary during the Arroyo administration, the source said.
Yesterday morning, I got a letter from someone who introduced herself as Josie Studer. She is a Filipino-American, based in the United Sates but comes home often to her parent’s hometown in Hernani. Eastern Samar.
She was asking help for the release of her 68-year old mother who was arrested last June 26 as she was coming out of the church in their town. Since then her mother, Josephine Rodriquez Mckee, has been staying in jail in Borongan, Samar.
Part of Ms Studer’s letter:
“My mother suffers from a heart condition that is supervised by her doctor in U.S. At the request of friends and family, Gov. Nicart (Eastern Samar Governor Conrado Nicart Jr) sent a physician and ambulance to assess her. Her blood pressure index was recorded three times to be 170/110. The doctor sent written recommendation for medical attention via the jail warden to Judge Cesar Abit. The judge denied her medical treatment.
“It has now been five days without medical attention. This is an extremely dangerous situation because her condition makes her a candidate for a stroke.”
Dapat tingnan ng pamahalaan ang problema ngayon ng ating domestic helpers sa Saudi Arabia na oportunidad para ibahin, o kaya tigilan na ang pagpadala ng domestic helpers sa Middle East.
Marami ngayon sa ating mga mahirap na kababayan na may mga kamag-anak na domestic helper sa Saudi Arabia ang nangangamba na mawalan na hanapbuhay dahil sa hindi pagkasundo ng Saudi at ng Pilipinas sa pasweldo ng katulong.
Maybagong patakaran na kasi ang Philippine Oversean Employment Administration na ang mga sweldo ng mga OFW na mamasukan bilang domestic helper sa labas sa Saudi ay hindi dapat bababa sa $400. Mga P17,000 yan sa peso.
Nasaan na ang ating respeto sa batas?
Siyempre ang mga kakampi ni Duterte, pinagtatanggol ang kanilang butangerang mayor. Maraming nagawang mabuti raw sa Davao.
Hindi naman isyu ang kanyang mabuting ginawa sa Davao. Dapat lang, mayor ka dapat gumawa ng mabuti para sa bayan mo. Ang pinag-usapan dito ay ang pananakit niya kay Sheriff Abe Andres.
abs-cbnNEWS.com
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte was caught on camera punching a sheriff of the Davao Regional Trial Court Branch 15 who was serving a demolition order on Friday.
Duterte said she had asked court sheriff Abe Andres to wait for 2 hours before serving a demolition order that would destroy shanties of 500 families in Barangay Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Sr. Suliman, Agdao.
She said Andres ignored the order, causing tension to break out in the area.
Thomas said: “We are allies. We will continue to work with each other in all issues including the South China Sea and Spratlys.” This was at the time when the Philippines was protesting the intrusions of Chinese armed vessels in West Philippine Sea.
Thomas got hearty applause when he repeated that assurance during the launching of the National Renewable Energy Program at the Department of Energy in the presence of President Aquino.
Thomas also said that the US stands “by our commitment under Mutual Defense Treaty.”
This story is also posted in www.verafiles.org
By Tessa Jamandre
VERA Files
Amid renewed tensions in the disputed South China Sea, the Philippine military is batting to revive the concept of an anti-communist collective defense of Southeast Asia to enable the country to enter into a leasing arrangement of patrol boats with the United States.
An operational lease would allow the Philippine Navy to use newer U.S. ships, Navy Vice Commander Rear Admiral Orwen Cortez told a press conference following the opening ceremony of the PH-US Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) in Puerto Princesa on Tuesday.
“We have experience with this during the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) way back in the ‘50s when U.S. ships came to the Philippines, so that was the background and we’re trying to revive that concept,” he said.