Month: December 2015

Beneficiaries seek accounting of MMFF funds

Published by Ellen on December 24, 2015

Text and photos Maria Feona Imperial
VERA Files

(First of two parts)
Movies featuring the country’s most popular stars—including presidential sister Kris Aquino, comedian Vice Ganda, screen favorites John Lloyd Cruz and Jennylyn Mercado, and young love team Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza—are likely to make the 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival another smash hit, possibly raking in much more than last year’s almost P1 billion earnings.

But government auditors and MMFF critics say proceeds from the festival, in dwindling amounts, are not reaching their intended beneficiaries on time, and that an accounting of the festival proceeds is long overdue.

MMFF officials, on the other hand, say the festival is a private undertaking not covered by government audit rules and regulations, even if it is run by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

The main issue is the amusement tax collected from Metro Manila theater owners who screen only MMFF entries for 10 days from Dec. 25 until Jan. 5. For that period, the local government units waive amusement taxes in favor of movie industry beneficiaries.

My Christmas wish list

Published by Ellen on December 24, 2015

I have only three items in my Christmas wish list.

First, may the sick be healed. May they be given the strength to cope
with the trials they are going through.

Special mention in my list is the healing of my niece Rachelle who is
battling cancer. She has conquered cancer of the breast and she is now
battling tumor in her lungs. She is a very brave girl.

Another special mention is my boss, Malaya publisher Jake Macasaet who
suffered a stroke recently. Remarkably, he has recovered his speech
and is now back to his trademark “SOB”s against hypocrites.

He is undergoing daily physical therapy.

It still won’t be Roxas even if Comelec eliminates Poe

Published by Ellen on December 18, 2015

If Pres. Aquino believes the strategy that if Mar Roxas’ lawyers in Comelec succeeds in eliminating Grace Poe from the presidential race, the presidency would be an easy clinch for his anointed, he is dreaming.

If the fight is three-way – Rodrigo Duterte, Jojo Binay and Roxas, Duterte will win.
If it’s between Binay and Roxas, Binay will win.
If it’s between Duterte and Roxas, Duterte will win.

He should take a look at the latest nationwide survey by the Magdalo Group conducted last Dec. 9- 11 among 2,914 respondents. It has a margin of error of 1.8 percent.

Road Safety Journalism Fellowship

Published by Ellen on December 15, 2015

VERA Files, a group I’m part of (we produce in-depth stories on subjects that matter) will be conducting a training for journalists on Road Safety.

Following is VERA Files’ announcement of the Road Safety Journalism Fellowship:

Road crashes are among the leading causes of death in the Philippines.

The 2015 World Health Organization’s Global Status Report on Road Safety estimates 10,379 fatalities in the country a year, half of them motorcycle riders, followed by pedestrians.

Sampalan match: Mar vs Duterte

Published by Ellen on December 15, 2015

Tama. Huwag na yung mga presidential debate na yan. Sampalan na lang. Mas exciting pa.

Sino kaya ang pwede mag-organisa nito. Hindi siguro mahirap maghanap ng sponsor dahil sigurado maraming manonood nito.

Sa isang korner ay ang Liberal Party presidential candidate na si Mar Roxas at sa kabilang korner naman si Rodrigo Duterte, ang kandidato ng PDP-Laban.

Pwedeng gawing so MOA Arena. Hindi pwede sa Araneta Colisuem at pag-aari yan ng pamilya ng nanay ni Roxas. Magkakaroon ng hometown decision.

Kunin na judges ay ang tatlo pang kandidato sa pagka-presidente na sina Grace Poe, Jojo Binay at Roy Señeres. Ang referee si Miriam Santiago, isa ring presidential candidate.

The inconvenient truth in convenience stores

Published by Ellen on December 13, 2015

There’s a petition at Change.org initiated by the Philippine College of Physicians, Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance, PH and Philippine Medical Association directed at the owners of three convenience stores to remove cigarettes from their stocks in branches near the schools.

The petition cites Section 10 of Republic Act No. 9211 (Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003) which clearly states: “The sale or distribution of tobacco products is prohibited within one hundred (100) meters from any point of the perimeter of a school, public playground or other facility frequently particularly by minors.”

Health officials led by Secretary Janette Garin, Undersecretary for Technical Services Vicente Y. Belisario and Undersecretary for Health Regulations Kenneth Y. Hartigan-Go had written way back in July the owners of 7-eleven (Jose Victor Pardo), MiniStop (Robina Y. Gokongwei-Pe) and Family Mart (Anthony T. Huang) asking for their cooperation in enforcing the law.

Sorry for the general statement about education in the provinces

Published by Ellen on December 11, 2015

I made a terrible mistake in my column last Monday.

In my article on Ronald Gadayan, the NAIA janitor who returned to the owner a pouch he found while he was cleaning the departure area in September 2012 containing some P2.4 million cash and valuables, I wrote about his concern about his children’s education.

Being a contractual employee at NAIA, he only earns P481 a day. He has three children, ages 12, 10 and 6. His wife is looking for a job to augment their income.

His children go to a public school in Bulacan. He said he is worried about his children’s future education and asked Education Secretary Armin Luistro for assistance. He said the education secretary told him that his children cannot qualify for scholarship because they are not “matalino.”

Remember the honest NAIA janitor?

Published by Ellen on December 7, 2015

If you are intelligent and rich, there is no problem about getting the education you desire.

If you are poor but intelligent and have good grades, there are opportunities to higher education given by the government and private institutions.

But if you are poor and do not have good grades (there are many factors involved why many children do not do well in school), getting on to higher education would really be a problem.

If your educational record is not impressive, you would have a difficult time getting a good job. If you don’t have a good job, escaping from the cycle of poverty would be hard.

Pagcor’s 12 days of Pamaskong Handog

Published by Ellen on December 4, 2015

What better way to break the stressful stories in the political scene – the Comelec 2nd division disqualification of frontrunner Grace Poe as presidential candidate in the May 2016 elections and the cursing of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who has also filed his certificate of candidacy for president as substitute for a candidate that the Comelec was considering to declare a nuisance candidate – than stories that put a smile on the face of the poor, the orphans, the sick, and persons with disability?

PAGCOR President and COO Jorge Sarmiento (middle) and Assistant VP for Corporate Communications and Services Maricar Bautista (seated left) sign a Memorandum of Agreement with National Children's Hospital (NCH) Chief Dr. Epifania Simbul (seated right) for the P3-million funding that the state-run gaming firm granted to NCH for the operation of indigent children with congenital heart disease. — PAGCOR President and COO Jorge Sarmiento (middle) and Assistant VP for Corporate Communications and Services Maricar Bautista (seated left) sign a Memorandum of Agreement with National Children’s Hospital (NCH) Chief Dr. Epifania Simbul (seated right) for the P3-million funding that the state-run gaming firm granted to NCH for the operation of indigent children with congenital heart disease.

On the fourth day of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation’s 12 days of Pamaskong Handog, it was not one but two children diagnosed with congenital heart disease were given a better chance to overcome their health problems

Judy Ann Canlas 7, and Mark Kenneth Candes, 5, both patients at the National Children’s Hospital will be able to undergo the much needed heart operation, the expenses to be shouldered by PAGCOR.

To the parents of Judy Ann and Mar, Pagcor’s help is the miracle that they have been praying for.

When Duterte took on Pope Francis

Published by Ellen on December 1, 2015

Living up to his macho image of a crime buster that discriminates no one, in Tagalog, “walang sinasanto,” Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte took on the well-loved Pope Francis whose arrival in the Philippines last January caused him to be stuck in traffic he had to pee in his car.

Last Monday at his declaration as PDP-Laban presidential candidate in lieu of former barangay captain Martin Diño, who filed his certificate of candidacy for president last Oct. 16 but withdrew later as the the poll body included him in the list of nuisance candidates (the Comelec has yet to decide on Duterte’s substitution of Diño), Duterte was in his element spewing “P..I” in abandon, according to news reports.

He cursed traffic in Metro Manila. He related his ordeal last January: “From the hotel to the airport, alam mo inabot kami ng… limang oras. Sabi ko bakit? Sabi pinasarado daw.” A friend told him that the road closure and the traffic jams were due to the arrival of Pope Francis.

He told the adoring crowd: ” Gusto kong tawagan, ‘Pope, p.. I.. ka, umuwi ka na. ‘Wag ka nang bumisita dito.”