Enriched by having dealt with issues at close range and without the restrictions of toeing the government line, former government officials usually are the voice of wisdom on current issues.
Such was speech of former Foreign Secretary Roberto R. Romulo (Ramos administration) at the Manila Times Business Forum last Wednesday on Philippine –China relations which he described as “at a historic low.”
Romulo said there is no magic solution to the strained relations between the two countries.
Filipinos do not ask much from the government, results of EON’s Philippines Trust Index survey this year showed.
All they want is that their government “not be corrupt.”
Cora P. Guidote,SM Investment Corporation senior vice president for Investor Relations, one of the panelists in the presentation of EON PTI survey results last Monday, took note of that saying that normally, one says he wants an honest leader.
“The consciousness is about corruption,“Guidote said adding,” How can we aspire for an honest leader when we don’t even articulate what we want for a leader. “
An honest person is more than just not corrupt. It involves a higher sense of morality and integrity. One can be “not corrupt” but not totally an honest person.
But DFA officials are working on a pull- aside talk between the two leaders on the sidelines of the summit of 21-member organization.
In the forum Wednesday hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, Aquino said: “The Chinese side does not ask for a bilateral talk; the Philippine side does not also ask for it. Both of us, I guess—and I am hopeful—are looking for a solution that can be win-win.”
Sino ba si Jennifer Laude? Hindi naman siya kamag-anak ng mga Aquino. Hindi naman siya haciendera katulad ng mga Cojuangco-Aquino. Hindi naman siya sundalo. Hindi naman siya miyembro ng Liberal Party. Hindi naman siya nanay o asawa ng miyembro ng Liberal Party.
Asked last Wednesday by Raul Dancel of The Singapore Straits Times during a forum with the Foreign Correspondents Association if he was going to the wake of Laude, the transgender who was murdered by a member of the United States Marines Corps last Oct. 11, Aquino said he doesn’t go to wakes of people he doesn’t know.
His complete answer: “You know, in general, I don’t attend wakes of people I don’t know. I find it—and I’m speaking for myself—I’m uncomfortable in trying to condole with people who don’t know me and… Parang how can I say that I really sympathize with their loss and have some relevant discussion with them on trying to assuage, ‘di ba, their loss at that point in time? If I know the person somehow or the person is close to me… For instance, I went to the wake of the mother of Governor (Alfonso) Umali recently. The mother of Governor Umali had entertained me in her house in the years previous and Governor Umali is very close friend. In Leyte, I went to the unanticipated demise of the wife of Congressman Boying Cari, and I had a chance to talk also to his children—the eldest is 23 and the youngest is Grade Six. As a general rule, I attend wakes wherein there are some connections, so that ‘yung I don’t want to be a burden but rather I want to help them at their time of grief.”
No one can accuse Aquino of not being transparent. He does not bother masking his arrogance.
That is on top of the quarantine required upon their arrival in the Philippines.
The exit screening, Leachon explained, should be quarantine for 21 days, blood tests and questionnaire before traveling back to Manila.
Upon arriving in the Philippines, Leachon said they should also be quarantined for at least seven days to a maximum of 21 days.
Leachon said the longer quarantine is important based on the new findings of the World Health Organization that the incubation period of Ebola is 42 days and not 21 days.
The silence of President Aquino on the murder of a Filipino transgender by a member of the United States Marine Corps more than a week ago in Olongapo City is deafening.
Jennifer Laude, 26, a citizen of this country was killed brutally (severely beaten, strangled, drowned , her head shoved in the toilet bowl) almost midnight of Oct. 11 by Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton, who is here as part of the PH-US military exercises.
More than a week has passed and not a word of concern from the President of the Philippines.
No representative from Malacañang nor from the Department of Foreign Affairs has visited the grieving family of Laude.
JV Bautista, interim secretary general of the United Nationalist Alliance headed by Vice President Jejomar Binay,lambasted Trillanes Wednesday: “He styles himself as a moral crusader, but all these years he has evaded the issue of how he was able to afford eight luxury vehicles with his salary in the military and why he did not declare them in his SALN. This is a clear violation of the law.”
This black propaganda about Trillanes owning luxury vehicles first came out immediately after the July 2003 mutiny by a group of young officers that included Trillanes against the government of Gloria Arroyo. They made their stand at the then Oakwood Hotel (now Ascott) at the Makati Commercial Center.
By Ellen T.Tordesillas, VERA Files
The Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Teminal 1 (NAIA1) is no longer the worst airport in the world, according to an online website dedicated to reviewing airports all over the world.
NAIA is now No. four in the 2014 list of Worst Airports of “The Guide to Sleeping in Airports,” outranked by Islamabad Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Pakistan (1st); Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia (2nd); and Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal (3rd).
The Guide to Sleeping in Airports explained the improvement in ranking of NAIA1:
The suspected killer of transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude, Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton of the US Marine Corps 2nd Battalion 9th Marines, is in the custody of the United States.
A statement by the U.S. Embassy in Manila said Pemberton “ is being held onboard USS Peleliu while a joint Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Philippine National Police investigation is conducted. The United States will continue to fully cooperate with Philippine law enforcement authorities in every aspect of the investigation.”
USS Peleliu, which is in Subic Bay for PHIBLEX 15, a joint amphibious landing exercise, was due to leave Tuesday but its departure was put on hold because of this crime involving one of the American soldiers.
While we are riveted to the splendor of Hacienda Binay’s Kew Gardens and air-conditioned piggery, let us not forget Philippine National Police Chief Alan Purisima and his questionable acts as a public official.
Talking with reporters in Indonesia, Aquino said, “Natuwa ako noong sinama niya lahat sa bahay niya sa Nueva Ecija. Iyon, gawain ng tao na hindi nagtatago.”
What kind of logic is that? Allowing media to see his vacation villa in a 4.5 hectare property in Nueva Ecija does not answer the questions of how he acquired it at a cheap price and how he was able to build a nice four-bedroom vacation house complete with swimming pool, gazebo and a nipa hut out of his salary as a police officer.
It is PR.