Category: General

Following is Noel de la Fuente reaction to my column last Friday “Convenient diversion”:
Dear Ms. Tordesillas:

Thank you for understanding the outrage of Filipino-Americans over the racist remarks of Teri Hatcher in the TV show Desperate Housewives. For those who are not yet aware of this, here are the offensive remarks:

“. . . Mayer (Teri Hatcher) asked for the credentials of the gynecologist who examined
her . . . She said, `Can I check those diplomas ‘coz I just want to make sure they’re
not from some med school in the Philippines.'”

Continue readingOffended

From Abs-CBN online:

The furor over a slur uttered against Philippine medical schools on the premier episode of the fourth season of the American TV show “Desperate Housewives” has prompted a response from Malacañang Palace.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the TV show belittled the abilities of Filipino doctors and sent a message that Philippine medical schools produced “substandard, inferior” medical practitioners.

Update: Atty. Trixie Angeles, counsel of Army Capt. Ruben Guinolbay and Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon, in separate court martial cases, received an almost similar death…

Breaking news!

Resignation statement of Comelec Chairman Benjamin S. Abalos, Sr.

Magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat. Salamat at dumalo kayo dito sa press conference na ipinatawag ko upang mai-pahayag sa ating kababayan ang kabuuan ng niluloob ko patungkol sa mga isyu at kontrobersiya na insinasangkot ang aking pagkatao at ngayong ay nakaka-apekto ng hindi lamang sa trabaho at katungkulan ko bilang Chairman ng COMELEC kundi pati na ang pribasiya, katahimikan at iba pang karapatan ng aking pamilya.

It has been almost a week since I appeared at the Senate Committees investigating the NBN Project. I did so against the advise of my counsel and closest of friends, driven by what I expected would be the inherent fairness of a Senate inquiry and the statesmanship of our Senators.

Update: We got Esperon and Bacarro’s reply on Gen. Miranda this evening, Sept. 29:

Result of follow-up check up conducted afternoon of Sept. 28 on Maj. Gen. Miranda: patient is not admissible. He can be managed as an out-patient. Condition (benign positional vertigo) has improved from that of last check-up (18 Sept) tho the patient still complains of occassional dizzines but hearing in affected ear as well as otoscopic finding showed improvement.

Patient has enlarged tonsils. medication has been prescribed.

Sept. 19 lab test (blood chem) results FBS and ALAT slightly elevated. Considered normal and controlled as patient is taking meds.

There are no life-threatening findings.

Update: As of now, 11:53 a.m. of Sept. 29, one day after the court was informed about the Gen. Renato Miranda’s illness,his custodians are still waiting for clearance from Esperon to bring him to the hospital.

By Victor Reyes

Former Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, the alleged leader of last year’s failed power grab, has been seriously sick the past two weeks but the military would not allow him to get out of his detention cell to go to hospital because he is a “security risk.”

An irked former Scout Ranger commander Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, another leader of the plot, specifically lashed at Brig. Gen. Alfredo Cayton, the former commander of the AFP’s Headquarters and Headquarters Support Command, for denying Miranda of the needed medical attention.

“He wants to go to the hospital but they would not let him. His (request for treatment for his )serious medical needs are not granted,” said Lim, addressing the court.

We salute the brave people of Myanmar fighting for freedom and democracy! We admire the monks who are leading the fight, risking their lives, against tyranny. What a far cry from our bishops, whose reaction to the Gloria Arroyo’s assault to democractic institutions is a defeaning silence.

Authorities sealing-off central Yangon behind barbed-wire barricades

Update:Myanmar cuts internet access; fires at crowd

From MSNBC:

YANGON, Myanmar – Crowds taunted soldiers and police sealing off central Yangon behind barbed-wire barricades on Friday in anticipation of fresh protests against 45 years of military rule in Myanmar and deepening economic hardship.

A senator said former NEDA chief Romulo Neri said nothing in the executive session convened by the senators after a 12-hour session where Neri invoked executive privilege when asked why NEDA changed its position from BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) to a supply contract which the Chinese firm ZTE was offering.

Neri’s invoking of the executive privilege was on questions which he said could be embarassing to Gloria Arroyo.

The senator said Neri was running a fever.

Former NEDA Chief Romulo Neri, testifying before the Senate, said while playing golf with Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos, the latter told him, “Sec, may 200 ka dito.”

Abalos, who was also in the Senate, feigned ignorance, “ano ba yan, hindi ko maintindihan. Siya mismo hindi niya masabi kung ano ang 200. 200,000 or 200 million.”

Neri also said that he informed Gloria Arroyo over the phone about Abalos bribe offer. “Chairman Abalos offered me P200 million,” he said the told Arroyo.

Update: SC threatens Jake Macasaet with contempt over bribery report

Last week, Malaya publisher Jake Macasaet ran a series of items in his column “Business Circuit” about Cecilia Muñoz Delis, a member of the staff of Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, who got a surprise of her life when she opened a box intended for her boss and found P10 million. Click here (Sept. 18), here (Sept. 19), here (Sept. 20), and “>here (Sept. 21)

Macasaet never mentioned the name of the Supreme Court justice. Newsbreak and TV Patrol, in their stories today, identified the lady justice as Consuelo Ynares-Santiago.

In the new Social Weather Survey of September 2-5, 2007, 34% are satisfied and 45% are dissatisfied with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s performance, for a net…