Category: Malaya

DFA as dumpsite

Published by Ellen on November 2, 2010

It used to be that during cabinet meetings, the secretary of foreign affairs sat next to the president, to his right underlining the importance given to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Nowadays, if you look at the videos and photos of cabinet meetings , the one sitting next to the president is Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa. I’m not sure where Foreign Secretary Romulo sits. In the unspoken language of power, propinquity is an eloquent indication of one’s standing in the exclusive circle.

It is not only in this administration that foreign relations is unappreciated. The decline was evident in the post-Marcos era. The Arroyo administration was notorious in making it the dumpsite of retired military and police and other persons, like former Supreme Court Justice Hilario Davide,whom she owed her continued hold to her unelected presidency.

Snooty and ignorant

Published by Ellen on October 31, 2010

Mai and abby — Mai Mislang (left) and her defender, Abigail Valte, deputy presidential spokesperson

Will somebody please give Mai Mislang, the “hardworking and trusted” speechwriter of President Aquino, according to her boss Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office, a copy of guidelines on social media?

The ones available in the internet are by the U.S. National Public Radio and the Los Angeles Times.

The guidelines have been issued in the advent of what is now called social media (Facebook and Twitter are the most popular) where the line between private and public statements has become blurred.

This part from the NPR guideline should be underlined for Mislang: “Recognize that everything you write or receive on a social media site is public. Anyone with access to the web can get access to your activity on social media sites. And regardless of how careful you are in trying to keep them separate, in your online activity, your professional life and your personal life overlap.”

This should also be relevant to Mislang: “You should conduct yourself in social media forums with an eye to how your behavior or comments might appear if we were called upon to defend them as a news organization (in her case Office of the President). In other words, don’t behave any differently online than you would in any other public setting.”

Five things John Silva learned about dying from Abby Tan

Published by Ellen on October 28, 2010

On All Soul’s day, writer and historian John Silva will have one more candle to light. It’s for his friend, Abby Tan, Singaporean journalist who covered the Philippines since the martial law years under President Marcos.

Abby passed away last Sept. 18. John was one of the two persons (the other was arts and culture advocate Maan Hontiveros) who was with Abby all throughout her four years of intense battle with cancer.

In remembering Abby, John chose to write about the five things he learned from her about dying.

Following are excerpts from the article he posted in his blog “John’s Thoughts and Deeds.”

Thoreau once remarked after seeing autumn leaves falling , “I watch these brilliant colored leaves for they teach me how to die gracefully.”

I wanted to learn how to be of solace to a dying friend. But more importantly, when my time is up, I want to replicate the grace, spunk, and love Abby demonstrated till the end. Here’s what I learned.

Continue readingFive things John Silva learned about dying from Abby Tan

Discovering Antique’s beautiful heritage

Published by Ellen on October 21, 2010

There is never a lack of something to discover in Antique, my province.

I arrived in San Jose, the capital town, yesterday for the Binirayan
conference on culture and heritage organized by the Datu Lubay Center at the Pinnacle Suites.

Checking in at Pinnacle Suites was a pleasant surprise. It’s a boutique hotel, clean, tastefully furnished with rooms more spacious than other San Jose hotels. And surprise, it has wifi!

It is owned by the Liao family who also owns Susana Marketing that sells construction and housing materials.

Nanay Tansing’s simple wish

Published by Ellen on October 20, 2010

(I have posted my Abante column on this topic earlier. This is the one I wrote for Malaya.)

I got this letter from a friend in Maguindanao. This relates the visit of South Upi Councilor Linda Erese to the mother of Melchor Fulgencio, the 52 year old construction worker and member of the CAFGU, the civilian unit of the military assisting them in its anti-insurgency drive.

Fulgencio has confessed to the crime of raping Florence (not her real name) the nurse. Because of this confession, Philippine National Police Chief Bacalzo declared the case solved. Florence has regained consciousness but she couldn’t remember anything of the heinous crime done to her.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who heads the task force to look into this deplorable incident contradicted Bacalzo’s pronouncement and said she will loo into the circumstance of Fulgencio’s “confession.”

The gall of Navera

Published by Ellen on October 17, 2010

The temerity of Juan Pedro Navera,senior state prosecutor, to complain about the decision of President Aquino to grant amnesty to some 300 military officers and soldiers that stood up against Gloria Arroyo show that Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is presiding over an organization, many of whose personnel have still a mindset of impunity that characterized the Arroyo administration.

This is a serious challenge to President Aquino’s reform agenda especially in the area of anti-corruption. This is as problematic as the issue with an Arroyo loyalists-dominated Supreme Court.

A newspaper report quoted Navera as saying that his seven years of hard work to convict the Magdalo officers and soldiers have come to nought with the issuance of the President of Proclamation 50 giving amnesty to military officers who were allegedly involved the July 2003 Oakwood mutiny, the reported plan to withdraw support from Arroyo following the “Hello Garci” expose in February 2006 and the Manila Peninsula seige.

Please tell me it’s not true

Published by Ellen on October 3, 2010

Update on the IIRC, Oct. 6,2010:

President Aquino says he will release full Palace-IIRC report on Aug 23 hostage incident only after he marks his 100th day in his office this week.

A friend close to members of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee, that investigated the Aug. 23 tragedy where a dismissed policeman held hostage a busload of tourists from Hongkong resulting in the death of eight of them, called me up Saturday saying the information she got about the recommendation of the presidential panel tasked to review the IIRC recommendations was not good.

She said her information is that Interior Undersecretary Rico E. Puno and recently retired Philippine National Police Chief Jesus Verzosa were “cleared” and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim was cited only for “neglect of duty.”

If true, that would be a downgrading of the recommendations of IIRC that recommended the filing of administrative and criminal charges against Lim. The IIRC also recommended the filing of administrative charges against Puno and Verzosa and “that a preliminary investigation be conducted by the appropriate government agency for any possible criminal liability.”

I called several sources in Malacañang. Only one replied. He said our fears are “unfounded.”

I fervently hope he is right and that the information my friend got is false. We are closely watching how President Aquino will decide on the IIRC recommendations because it will show us the direction that his administration will take after a disappointing first 100 days.

The ‘exquisitely balanced’ Asean-US statement

Published by Ellen on September 30, 2010

Against the backdrop of US State Secretary Hillary Clinton’s statement in Hanoi last July that it is in the “national interest” of the United States that freedom of navigation be maintained in the South China Sea, diplomatic observers were anticipating a strongly worded reference on that issue in the joint statement that would be released after the 2nd ASEAN-US held at the Waldorf Hotel in New York last Saturday.

The official statement simply said: “We re-affirmed the importance of regional peace and stability, maritime security, unimpeded commerce, and freedom of navigation, in accordance with relevant universally agreed principles of international law, including the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and other international maritime law, and the peaceful settlement of disputes.”

There was no mention of South China Sea!

Abby Tan: profile in courage

Published by Ellen on September 20, 2010

Here’s a video of Abby prepared by John Silva: files.me.com/jsilva79/jazq9h

Last Saturday, I woke up to find a message from Maan Hontiveros that our friend Abby K.S. Tan passed away at 1:09 a.m. at St Luke’s Hospital in Bonifacio Global City. She said cremation is at 10 a.m. the same day at Heritage Park.

When I opened my email, I saw a mail from writer John Silva, also informing friends of Abby’s death.

Abby is a Singaporean journalist and has been writing on the Philippines since the 70’s. She covered for Singapore Straits Times and later for other international publications like the Christian Science Monitor, the country’s struggle to restore democracy since the Marcos years. The Philippines has become “home” for Abby.

John and Maan were two of Abby’s closest friends who gave her constant company in the last four years that she was battling cancer.

In his email, John related, “Last Wednesday, she (Abby) declared she wanted to go to hospital, no more life supports, just the morphine drip.

“Once she was on the drip, it was difficult for her to have a conversation, she slept most of the time, but she was no longer in the excruciating pain she was suffering. She recognized us in those brief moments she was alert. She still had a smile for us this morning.

“You all know her to be very decisive and strong willed. Until the end she was that.

Aquino’s unshaken trust on Versoza

Published by Ellen on September 16, 2010

President Aquino’s trust and admiration of recently retired Philippine National Police Chief Jesus Versoza have remained unshaken despite the Aug. 23 tragedy and the jueteng exposé of retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz.

In his speech during the PNP change of command ceremony last Tuesday, Aquino heaped praises on Versoza.

He said: “At tiyak po akong aabutin tayo ng gabi dito kung iisa-isahin pa natin ang mga tagumpay ni General Versoza. Kaya naman po kasama ko ang sambayanang Pilipino sa paghahayag ng taos-pusong pasasalamat sa tapat at mahusay na pamumuno niya sa PNP.
“Sa loob ng halos apat na dekada, isinabuhay niya ang tapang, disiplina at propesyonalismo. Sa kabila ng kislap ng maraming medalyang iginawad sa kanya, namayani pa rin ang kanyang sinseridad at prinsipyo, dahil batid niyang ang pinakamalaking gawad na maibibigay ninuman ay ang tiwala ng taumbayan sa kapulisan.

“ Sa likod ng sangkatutak na batikos at pamumulitikang kanyang pinagdaanan, hinarap niya ang mga ito nang may integridad at walang kinikilingan upang maitama ang anumang pagkakamali, at patuloy na mapaigting ang interes ng sambayan.”