Czech Ambassador Josef RychtarWhat if Czech Ambassador Josef Rychtar refuses to cooperate in the investigation of alleged $30 million shakedown by officials of the Department of Transportation and Communication in connection with the Metro Rail Transit expansion project? Is that the end of it?
Under the Vienna Convention, the international treaty that governs diplomatic relations, ambassadors cannot be compelled to appear in any investigation conducted by the host country.MRT Gen. Manager Al Vitangcol III
The National Bureau of Investigation under orders of the President is investigating the reported shakedown which even dragged the name of presidential sister Ballsy Cruz and her husband, Eldon.
“I wish to state that the allegations that members of your family were involved with discussions with Inekon on any projects in the Philippines are simply untrue and malicious,” Rychtar said in a letter to the President last June 29.
The Cruz couple visited Prague in 2011 upon the invitation of Rytchar. They reportedly met with Czech businessmen during their visit.
July 27, 2003. Ltsg Antonio Trillanes IV and Capt. Gerry Gambala led the protest against Gloria Arroyo at Oakwood Hotel.
No doubt, the Magdalo group of military officers and soldiers has come a long way from that early morning of July 27, 2003 when they jolted the nation with the protest they staged against Gloria Arroyo at Oakwood Hotel in the heart of Makati’s business district.
So many things have happened. Even the name of the hotel has changed. It’s now Ascott Hotel and Oakwood has moved to Pasig City.
Last Monday, after the traditional State of the Nation Address by the president at the opening of Congress, new members of the House of Representatives Gary Alejano and Ashley Acedillo invited relatives and close friends to a thanksgiving dinner at Lexington Gardens in Pasig.
Alejano and Acedillo belong to the Magdalo partylist which represents some 200,000 former and retired military and police personnel, urban poor, and the youth from all over the country.
Re-elected senator Antonio Trillanes IV was there.
President Aquino delivering his fourth SONA. Thanks to Interaksyon.Before we completely forget President Aquino’s forgettable 2013 State of the Nation address, there’s one item there that caught my attention different from the angle that the Chief Executive underscored.
At the beginning of his self-congratulatory address he cited the case of Niño Aguirre:
“Paano ba naman pong hindi lalakas ang aking loob, kung pati ang mga tulad ni Ginoong Niño Aguirre ay nakikihubog sa ating kinabukasan? Isipin po ninyo, hindi na nga makalakad dahil sa kapansanan, pilit pa rin niyang inakyat ang presintong nasa ikaapat na palapag ng gusali, para lang makaboto at makiambag sa tunay na pagbabago ng lipunan. Salamat, Ginoong Aguirre. “
The fourth State-of- the- Nation Address by President Aquino is notable for the number of issues that he didn’t touch.
He did not mention anything about the Freedom of Information Bill which he promised to support when he was campaigning for the presidency.
He did not say anything about China and Taiwan.
The once vibrant relations with Taiwan took a dip with the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by a Philippine Coast Guard at the disputed waters in Balintang Channel last May 9. Taiwan has suspended the hiring of Filipino workers pending the President’s decision on the report of the investigation of the incident which had been with him since June 11.
This is from Rem’s touching account of the circumstances behind that photo of PO1 Joselito Sevilla, the cop who cried in the midst of a rally dispersal yesterday:
It was a long and tiring dispersal. People were injured. But amidst all of this, I saw a scenario which I thought I will never see during a dispersal….
Compassion amidst anger:A tearful P01 Sevilla is comforted by a protester, part of the group he was supposed to disperse.A foreign protester was berating a policeman asking him why were the policemen hurting the people. Why were they pushing them. The officer simply stood ground and said he is a policeman it is their job to maintain peace and order. That they were given orders and they had to follow.
Suddenly the officer cried. The foreigner kept on shouting at this officer. He was still crying. He was trying to hold his tears but he can’t.
A second round of dispersal erupted and while every other anti-riot policemen are pushing and shoving trying to remove the protesters from the ground, the crying cop simply stood ground. He was still holding his shield firmly. Still weeping. Sobbing.
Scene from a previous SONA rally. Thanks to Bulatlat for photo.Last week, Social Weather Stations released the results of their survey showing a record-high satisfaction among Filipinos with the way democracy works.
It’s relevant to connect the high satisfaction high satisfaction rating of President Aquino with the public’s satisfaction of the way democracy works. That’s why it’s not surprising that Malacañang officials, of course, didn’t waste time in congratulating themselves and issued the following statement:
“We welcome the results of a survey conducted in March this year by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), on satisfaction with how democracy works at a record level of 74%. It is the highest figure since the polling firm began running the survey in 1991, surpassing the previous record-high of 70% in September 1992 and July 1998. Notably, in the four surveys conducted yearly under the Aquino administration, the figure has not dipped below 64% —the longest period of sustained satisfaction recorded throughout the five administrations since the restoration of democracy in 1986.
Rage in Taiwan.Is President Aquino going to announce at his fourth State of the Nation address what he is going to do with the investigation report of the National Bureau of Investigation on the May 9, 2013 incident in Balintang Channel where a member of the Philippine Coast Guard shot and killed a Taiwanese fisherman?Protest vs Taiwan.
The NBI report, submitted to Aquino June 11, recommended the filing of administrative and criminal charges against the Coast Guard personnel, whose action caused serious diplomatic, political and economic problems for the country.
Although it has not been officially released, leaks to media, which were not denied by the NBI, revealed that the killing of Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng, 65, was unwarranted.
Sources said testimonies of personnel of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources belied the claim of PCG that the 15-ton fiberglass made fishing vessel was ramming the 110-ton BFAR owned vessel, to justify the shooting of the fishing boat.
Taiwanese President Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeo, under pressure from an outraged constituency, made four demands from the Philippine government: formal apology, investigate the shooting and punish the guilty, compensation, and fisheries agreement.
Taiwanese meanwhile imposed sanctions: a freeze in the hiring of Filipino workers and a travel alert.
The sanctions translate to a loss of millions, even billions, of pesos. It means thousands of Filipinos remaining jobless because some 2,500 job applications are processed by Taiwan from Filipino applicants monthly. Those new hires join the more than 100,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan.
Two news items yesterday recall to mind NBN/ZTE star whistleblower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada and his meeting with President Aquino in Malacanang last February.
Benhur Luy, exposed Janet Napoles vast network of corruptionThe first news item was about the statement of the lawyer of Jane L. Napoles, who is in the center of the alleged P10 billion pork barrel scam, to file administrative and criminal charges against whistleblower Benhur Luy, formerly Napoles personal assistant.
The other news item was the downgrading by the Court of Appeals into “simple misconduct” of the Ombudsman’s ruling finding him guilty of grave misconduct for his role in the aborted $329 million National Broadband Network deal with the Chinese telecommunication firm, ZTE.
Romy Neri, for hiding the truth from the public, just a ‘simple miscounduct.’
Why Jun Lozada?
The two news items illustrate the risks that a whistleblower has to face if he decides to take on bigtime operators who have built deep and wide network within the government.
In the NBN/ZTE controversy, second only to the Hello Garci scandal as far as negative impact on the Arroyo administration, both Neri and Lozada were privy to the behind the scenes machinations that tripled the cost of the telecommuncations project.
Social media is flooded with the report on the death of Glee actor, Cory Monteith, who was found dead in his hotel room (Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel) in Vancouver Saturday (Sunday, Manila time) due to drug overdose, news reports said.
Ruben and Tess CusipagBut there’s another death in Canada we grieve over: that of newsman Ruben Cusipag.
We learned about the passing away of Ruben only yesterday from another friend in Canada and we immediately wrote his wife, Tess, who replied: “I am still devastated because it was so sudden. This morning was his funeral so we gave him a good send off. His Upsilon brods gave him their farewell.”
Ruben was a reporter of the Elizalde-owned Evening News before martial law was imposed on Sept. 21, 1972. He was one of the journalists thrown into prison during the early days of martial law.
In late 1974, Ruben immigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto where he published Balita.
Balita was not the usual community paper that chronicled merely the social activities of the Filipino immigrants. As Balita’s profile states, “ Cusipag’s views evolved over time, from assertive politics to a milder apolitical tone, and Balita lived up to its promise to provide frank, sincere, and honest-to-goodness discussion of the Philippine problem.”
Metro Manilan’s daily calvary. Thanks to Inquirer for photo.Surviving traffic in Metro Manila is a test of patience, an exercise in anger management.
Here are some tips I’d like to share with my fellow sufferers:
1. Text and call.
It’s the time to send text messages or make calls that you should have done earlier but were not able to do because you were attending to some other things.
After an hour,you would have accomplished a lot. Time not wasted.
