Month: October 2011

Giving meaning to suffering

Published by Ellen on October 30, 2011

agony in the garden — Agony in the garden

One of my favorite quotes on life and death is from the cartoon character Bugs Bunny passed on to me by fellow journalist Minnie Cadeliña.

From Bugs Bunny’s treasure chest of wisdom: “Don’t take life too seriously. After all, nobody has come out of it alive.”

Death is a sure destination for all of us. It’s a question of when and how for each and every one of us.

Another wise advice is from Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple Inc., whose time finally came last Oct. 5.

In his speech at Stanford University in June 2005, a year after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Jobs, the inventor life-changing gadgets, called death “the single best invention of Life.”

Here’s what Jobs shared: “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Paliwanag ni Deles tungkol sa P5 milyon

Published by Ellen on October 29, 2011

chiz sa senado — Wants to know details of P5 M

Halatang-halata ang sama ng loob ni Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles na pinagdududahan ang kayang katapatan kay Pangulong Aquino sa kanyang pahayag na sagot kay Sen.Francis Escudero na binatikos siya sa kanyang mga kwestyonable na mga payo kay Pangulong Aquino.

Ging Deles — Don't worry, P5M is subject to audit

Sa simula ng kanyang sinabi na niya kaagad na nag-resign siya noong Hulyo 2005 sa administrasyong Arroyo kasama sa grupong Hyatt 10.

Ang isa sa isyu na binanggit ni Escudero ay ang P5 milyon na ayuda sa Moro Islamic Liberation Front na matagal nang nakikipagbakbakan sa ating Hukbong Sandatahan. Ang mainit na engkwentro ay yung nangyari
noong Oktubre 18 sa Albarka,Basilan kung saan 19 na sundalo ang namatay.

Hindi maalis na lalong magagalit ang marami dahil ang dating ng mga aksyun ni Aquino ay alaylay na alalay sa MILF. Sa kanyang unang pahayag, nagalit sa palpak ng military at hindi siya nag-order na tugisin ang MILF na sangkot sa trahedya. Nang sumunod na mga araw,nang lumabas ang balita ng demoralisasyun sa military, sinabi niyang bibigyan daw ng hustisya ang mga namatay.

Destab rumors as diversion: a turnoff

Published by Ellen on October 27, 2011

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte — Abigail Valte

No doubt that Gloria Arroyo and her cohorts would encourage dissatisfaction with the Aquino government but floating a destabilization rumor to divert attention from the Malacanang’s public management bungling of the Oct. 18 Albarka tragedy is a big turnoff.

Peace adviser: MILF to be charged if P5-M aid misspent

The Aquino administration on Thursday vowed to hale the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to court if a P5-million “aid” for a leadership institute is found to be spent for “lawless elements” instead.

But presidential peace process adviser Teresita Deles insisted the P5-million transaction was above board, and that the money was for establishing a Bangsamoro Management and Leadership Institute.

“Certainly if we can see the P5 million was spent for lawless elements, criminal charges will follow. That is the way it is in any such transaction,” Deles said in an interview on dwIZ radio.

Probably anxious to contain the public’s outrage over the seemingly lack of anger by the President against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which killed 19 soldiers in an encounter last Oct, 18, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte confirmed rumors of destabilization plot against the Aquino government in the wake of talks of widespread demoralization in the military.

Deepening PH and Vietnam relations

Published by Ellen on October 26, 2011

The Philippines and Vietnam share a common painful experience with colonial powers but each country dealt with them differently.
Philippine history as famously described by the eminent Carmen Guerrro Nakpil was “300 years in convent and 50 years of Hollywood” referring to 300 years of Spanish domination of Filipinos and 50 years under the Americans. In between, briefly, was the Japanese occupation.

Vietnam, on the other hand, fought fiercely – first the French and later, the Americans – and succeeded to throw out the colonial powers.

It is a tribute to the Vietnamese people that they have risen from the devastation caused by the colonial wars and is now considered the emerging economy in Southeast Asia.

Nakaka-aliw ang “100 days to Heaven”

Published by Ellen on October 26, 2011

Noong gabi na breaking news ang pagkahuli kay Muammar Gaddafy, ang dictator ng Libya, nag-text sa akin si Gypsy Baldovino, ang masipag na media officer ni Rep. Gina de Venecia, at sinabi niya na nanonood siya sa Al Jazeera at wala pa raw sa CNN ang balita tungkol kay Gaddafy.

Nagtext back ako kay Gypsy:”Hayaan mo na muna si Gaddafy. Nanonood ako ng ‘100 days to Heaven.’ Mas maganda ito.”

Marami kaming mga kaibigan ko – sina Yvonne Chua at Luz Rimban ng VERA Files at si Charmaine Deogracias ng NHK TV- ang masugid na sumusunod sa mga telenovela sa ABS-CBN.
Noong Media Nation sa Cebu kamaka-ilan, nagtaka ang iba kung bakit hindi kami sumabay sa dinner ng mga ika-walo ng gabi. Siyempre, ayaw naming ma miss ang “100 days to Heaven.” Hindi na bale magutom.

China’s 9-dash line: map without coordinates

Published by Ellen on October 23, 2011

Although the two Chinese speakers in the recent forum on the South China Sea organized by the prestigious Carlos P. Romulo Foundation with the Institute of Asian Studies ,did not specifically mentioned their country’s nine-dash-line map in asserting the supremacy of their claim over the South China Sea, the subject surfaced several times in the one-and-a half days discussions.

While the Chinese speakers – Zhang Liangfu, first secretary of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs , and Chen Shiqiu , vice president of China UN Association and China Society of Human Rights Studies -skirted around the nine-dash-line map in asserting China’s claim over the South China Sea, parts of which are also being claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brune with Taiwan making the same over-encompassing claim as China, other speakers were forthright about their criticism about map submitted by China to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf on May 7, 2009.

One speaker during the no-attribution session said the nine dash line map “can’t be justified.”

Mahina ang ebidensya ng DOJ-Comelec laban kay Arroyo

Published by Ellen on October 23, 2011

gloria arroyo with neckbrace — Right charge, wrong election

Sorry ha,hindi ako excited sa niluluto nina Justice Secretary Leila de Lima at Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes na kasong electoral sabotage laban kay Gloria Arroyo at iba pang kasabwat niya sa pandaraya nong 2007 na eleksyun.

Bago lahat, gusto kong klaruhin: katulad ng maraming Pilipino, gusto ko mapanagot si Gloria Arroyo sa pambabastos niya ng sambayanang Pilipino at mga institusyon pang-demokrasya para lamang manatili siya sa kanyang ninakaw na kapangyarihan.

Ngunit gusto ko sa paraang tama at legal. Ayaw ko mangyari na gagawin ng mga nasa-puwesto ngayon ang pagbaluktot ng hustisya katulad ng ginawa ni Arroyo para lang mapakulong ang lumaban sa kanya katulad nina Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV at ang iba pang sundalong Magdalo.

Inis si Aquino sa military, hindi sa MILF, sa nangyaring trahedya sa Al-Barka

Published by Ellen on October 22, 2011

fallen comrade — Pagdating ng mga bangkay sa Villamor Air Base. Thanks to Inquirer for photo.

Kung hindi nagagalit o ayaw galitin ni Pangulong Aquino ang Moro Islamic Liberation Front sa nangyari sa Basilan at sa Zamboanga Sibugay, siguro dapat huwag na muna siya manisi sa military na ngayon ay nagdadalamhati sa pagkamatay ng 26 nilang kasama sa loob ng isang linggo.

Ewan lang kung ganun din ang dating sa iba. Ngunit ang dating sa akin sa reaksyun ni Pangulong Aquino sa nangyari sa Basilan ay mas galit siya sa military dahil pumalpak ang kanilang operasyon kaysa sa ginawang pagpatay ng MILF sa mga sundalo kahit na may ceasefire sa labanan dahil sa peace talks sa pagitan ng pamahalaan at MILF.

Naintindihan ko na pangkalahatan at pangmatagalan na kapayaaan ang hangad ni Aquino ngunit bilang commander-in-chief meron siyang obligasyun para damayan ang kanyang mga tauhan sa oras ng trahedya.

No peace in PEACe bonds

Published by Ellen on October 18, 2011

kim henares — Kim Henares: will she be able to hold her ground?

How would you feel if you lent someone P100 with the agreement that he would pay you back P350 after ten years and when payment time comes, he will tell you he will pay only P300 because he had to deduct tax although when he borrowed the money he told you that the transaction was tax free?

That’s of course, oversimplification of the complicated case of the Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificates (PEACe) bonds which became due yesterday.

Ten years ago the Caucus of Development Non-Government Organization ( CODE-NGO) whose members actively participated in the ouster of an elected president, Joseph Estrada, and the installation of Gloria Arroyo in Malacañang in January 2001, concocted the PEACe bonds to raise money for projects for the poor.

CODE-NGO stalwarts include Social Services Secretary Dinky Soliman, Peace Process Adviser Ging Deles, and former DBP Director Dan Songco.

Ang P1 milyon na service fee ni Moner

Published by Ellen on October 18, 2011

Moner at the Senate hearing. Oct. 18, 2011

Pwede na nating pagtawanan na ngayon ang mga kinukwento ni dating Lanao del Sur Sharia Court Judge Nagamura Moner dahil wala na sa kapangyarihan si Gloria Arroyo at hindi nakaka-inggit ang kanyang kalagayan ngayon.

Ngunit malaking perwisyo sa sambayanang Pilipino ang kanilang ginawa. Dahil sa pandaraya na kanilang isinagawa sa eleksyun noong 2004, patuloy na kumapit si Arroyo sa kapangyarihan ng anim na taon.

At nabastos ang batas. At nanganak yun ng marami pang krimen. Sabi nga ni Sen. Alan Cayetano, dahil kailangan bayaran ni Arroyo ang mga nandaya sa kanya, kailangan niya magnakaw ng pera ng bayan para mabusog sila at hindi na kumanta. At kapag mabuking, magsinungaling.