I was talking with Mindanao-based photo-journalist Erwin Mascariñas, who brought us heart-rending images of the tragedy wrought by storm Sendong in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, the other day and telling him that I felt awkward greeting him “Merry Christmas” when I know that he is surrounded by grief and suffering.
Erwin was not spared of Sendong’s wrath. While he was out taking pictures, floodwaters entered his house and ruined all their things. He said he is thankful for the donations of clothes which he and members of his family are now wearing.
In her sixth State-of-the-Nation address on July 24, 2006, Gloria Arroyo, amidst cries of parents of University of the Philippines Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño and relatives of Manuel Merino, a farmer, Gloria Arroyo lavished praises on one of the most feared and hated generals – then Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, commander of the 7th Infantry Division in central Luzon, where many of the extra-judicial killings happened.
Arroyo said: “Sa ganitong mga proyekto, palalakasin natin ang ekonomiya ng mga barangay at lalawigan. And we will end the long oppression of barangays by rebel terrorists who kill without qualms, even their own. Sa mga lalawigang sakop ng 7th Division, nakikibaka sa kalaban si Jovito Palparan. Hindi siya aatras hanggang makawala sa gabi ng kilabot ang mga pamayanan at maka-ahon sa bukang-liwayway ng hustisya at kalayaan.”
Thanks to www.interaksyon.com for the photoThe disaster that has caused deaths and misery to hundreds of our countrymen in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and other parts of Central Mindanao should give more meaning to Christmas even as we in Metro Manila reduce it to endless shopping and flurry of Christmas parties.
Let’s do our share to lessen the suffering of the victims of storm Sendong.
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President Benigno Aquino wants the country’s disaster management plan reviewed following the deaths and devastation caused by Sendong.
Chief Justice Renato Corona has nixed calls for him to just resign and spare the country from an emotional and divisive exercise.
Chief Justice Renato Corona on Thursday said he had considered resigning to put an end to President Benigno Aquino III’s criticisms and avoid a difficult impeachment trial.
“I know there was an easy way out of this—to inhibit or to resign. If I resign, maybe there would be peace for me and the insults thrown at me would cease,” Corona said in English and Filipino.
“But after a long and deep reflection, I told myself, ‘Is this really how it should be? That if someone wants something, he could easily get it?’” he continued.
He has, in fact, decided to fight back warning of a creeping dictatorship by President Aquino.
“Ako’y tumututol sa dahan-dahang binubuong diktadura ni Pangulong Benigno Simeon Aquino
III ,” he said in a speech before court employees and members of his family.
The blogger whom the Oregon court said is not a journalistLast week, a federal judge in Oregon ruled that a Montana blogger is not eligible for the legal protections afforded to journalists ordering her to pay the lawyer who sued her for defamation $2.5 million.
An Associated Press report said “Crystal L. Cox, a blogger from Eureka, Mont., was sued for defamation by attorney Kevin Padrick when she posted online that he was a thug and a thief during the handling of bankruptcy proceedings by him and Obsidian Finance Group LLC.
“U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez found last week that as a blogger, Cox was not a journalist and cannot claim the protections afforded to mainstream reporters and news outlets.”
Although, the ruling is not expected to really tame the free-wheeling environment of digital media which includes blogs (short for “web log”, online sites usually set up by individuals containing their articles which could cover any topic and form), it would be a useful distinction for new media users.
According to news reports, Cox styles herself as an “investigative blogger.” She has created numerous websites with names like “obsidianfinancesucks.com,” “bankruptcytrusteefraud.com,” and “oregonshyster.com,” in which she accused Padrick and Obsidian of misconduct in their handling of a bankruptcy case.
Just the start of SC cleansing?The impending impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Mariano de Castillo now brings the Legislative branch of the government on the side of the Executive against the Judiciary.
This is a two-pronged attack and there’s no way that the High Court headed by the Chief Justice Renato Corona, closely identified with Gloria Arroyo, could win.
Of course, Malacañang had a hand in it. If President Aquino frontally attacked Corona in public, it’s easy to imagine what his people are doing behind the scene.
But in Philippine politics, that’s par for the course.
Malacañang must have delivered the message so convincingly that even the chair of the House’s committee on justice, Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr. , was surprised by the overwhelming vote of 40-7 finding the long-pending plagiarism complaint accusing Del Castillo of betrayal of public trust sufficient in substance.
Unfinished mansion of the AmpatuansI hope doing things at the last minute is not SOP in the Aquino administration.
It happened in the case of Gloria Arroyo when it took them one year and five months to file a case against her and only when there was a possibility that she would flee the country to avoid accountability.
It happened again in the case of the frozen assets of former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and members of his family who are principal suspects in the massacre of 58 persons, 32 of them media workers, on Nov. 23, 2009 in Maguindanao.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, Inc., in a statement, said that a week before the Dec. 2 expiry of the freeze order on the Ampatuan assets consisting of 597 bank accounts, 142 firearms, 132 motor vehicles, and 113 houses and lots, they called the attention of the Office of the Solicitor General and the Anti-Money Laundering Council about it.
It doesn’t matter at all if Domingo Lee was not familiar with the terms “hard power” and “soft power” and other common terms in diplomacy during the Commission on Appointments deliberation on his appointment as ambassador to the People’s Republic of China.
He will be the Filipino people’s representative to China because President Aquino wants it.
The 77-year old Lee is the childhood friend of the President’s father, the late Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr.
In a lunch meeting with Lee last Monday, he related how he got to be chosen as ambassador to China after the disastrous stint of former Ambassador Francisco Benedicto, Gloria Arroyo’s appointee but was retained by Aquino upon the recommendation by former Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo.
On December 8, 6 p.m., the Paciano Rizal Family Heritage, Inc., and Cruz Publishing will launch the book Haec Est Sibylla Cumana at Auditorium 1 of the Ateneo Professional Schools on Rockwell Drive in Makati City.
Sybilla Cumana, we are told by the eminent Carmen Guerrero Nakpil, is a seeress and fortune teller in the Graeco-Roman culture.
What will be launched on Dec. 8 is an undisclosed and believed to be the last book written by the National Hero Jose Rizal.
Mrs. Nakpil wrote in the Publisher’s Note:”Jose Rizal continues to surprise us. An unexpected facet of Rizal’s persona has been revealed with this book. He was so humorous, playful and resourceful that he once invented and produced the material for a new parlor game using a character from the ancient Graeco-Roman culture of occult practices, the Sybilla Cumana, seeress and fortune teller.”
Postmaster general Josefina de la Cruz and Sen. Edgardo Angara presenting the Dia del Galleon commemorative stamps to First Lady of Mexico, Margarita Zavala.There’s a plan to build a galleon museum in Manila that will not only make Filipinos appreciate Philippine historical ties with Latin America but in the words of Mexico’s First Lady Margarita Zavala, “ could serve as an intercultural and globalization research center which will further help in uniting us.”
Madam Zavala, wife of President Felipe Calderon of Mexico, was here on a two-day visit last week.
At the cultural gala in her honor hosted by Sen. Edgardo Angara held at the Philippine International Convention Center last Thursday, Zavala shared her excitement after reading Jose Rizal’s “Ultimo Adios.” “He wrote it in Spanish!,” she said underscoring the affinity of Mexico and the Philippines in the Spanish language.
She said to the mostly English-speaking audience, “”I know you speak in English but your heart is still in Spanish. “
Zavala, a lawyer and was a member of the Mexican parliament, also observed that Philippine handicrafts are very much similar to Mexican handicrafts. “I’m sure the reason for this similarity goes back to the Galleon,” she said.
