Malaya – Page 70 – ellen tordesillas

Lola Estefania’s long, hard fight for justice

Published by Ellen on September 6, 2007

It was with a sense of extreme urgency and desperation that Maria Teresa “Thez” Guerrero sought an audience with Sen. Loren Legarda last Monday .

Thez said her grandmother- in -law’s question (“Nalpasen?” or Is it done) about their land case is becoming more frequent.

Thez’s grandmother-in-law is Estefania Miguel Guerrero, who turned 104 years old last April. The Guerreros are engaged in a land dispute that has spanned more than 50 years, drained not only their finances but claimed the lives of two men in their family.

Thez said everyday her Lola Estefania would go out to the field and remove the weeds from the land. “Parang nabubuhay lang siya para doon sa lupa,” she said worried that the old woman is not getting stronger.

The verdict

Published by Ellen on September 4, 2007

Last Thursday, Gloria Arroyo’s national security adviser, Norberto Gonzales, was again in former President Estrada’s farm in Tanay, Rizal.

It was not the first time that Gonzales visited Estrada in the past two months. Last July 18, he was also there.

A source said Gonzales’ message to Erap had a sense of urgency and desperation. He told the elected president they ousted six years ago that he will be convicted in his plunder case before the Sandiganbayan. He asked Estrada not to call on his people to go to the streets.

A cookbook by Magdalos

Published by Ellen on August 30, 2007

The Magdalo is cooking something.

But not a coup that preoccupies the paranoid minds of Gloria Arroyo and her henchmen.

At the ongoing International Book Fair going at the World Trade Center on Roxas Boulevard, you will find at the booth of Anvil Publishing, “Pulutan: From the Soldiers’ Kitchen”.

The book is written by two of the detained Magdalo officers, Ensigns Elmer Cruz and Emerson Rosales. My friend, Yvonne Chua, and I edited the book.

Please get a copy. You will find the book delightful not only for its recipes but also for the anecdotes behind many of the items there.

Regime of insecurity

Published by Ellen on August 28, 2007

I just got this text: “Malacañang is building scenario of violence in Metro Manila but sends troops to Mindanao. What is their end game?”

Strange indeed.

Could it be that Gloria Arroyo and her military advisers feel the outrage of the soldiers, especially the Marines, over how, in the words of Sen. Antonio Trillanes, they “were fed to the enemies of the State”? And to pacify them, she gave them a war?

Harry Roque’s notes on R.A. 4200

Published by Ellen on August 26, 2007

Lito Banayo’s column:Pssst Dick

Republic Act 4200 is what is known as the Anti-Wire-tapping law.

It states that “It shall be unlawful for any person, not being authorized by all the parties to any private communication or spoken word, to tap any wire or cable, or by using any other device or arrangement, to secretly overhear, intercept, or record such communication or spoken word by using a device commonly known as dictaphone or dictagraph or detectaphone or walkie-talkie or tape recorder, or however otherwise described.”

Together in trials and tribulations

Published by Ellen on August 23, 2007

To protest the “incompe-tence” of the military leadership that led to the deaths of 14 of their colleagues in Albarkha, Basilan last July 10, the Marine officers detained in Camp Capinpin in Tanay shaved their heads.

A month after, it was the turn of the Philippine Army. Twenty-five killed in just one day in the fighting in Sulu, the highest casualty in the recent history of the Philippine military. Two weeks after, it was again the turn of the Marines. Last Saturday, 15 of them died in an uphill assault to take over an Abu Sayyaf camp in Ungkawa Pukan in Basilan.

The Akbar connection

Published by Ellen on August 21, 2007

My column last Monday on the lessons the government has not learned from the 2001 Lamitan tragedy elicited a number of comments, giving more information about the connivance among the bandits, local politicians and military officials.

In last Monday’s piece, a line in the June 1, 2001 incident After Battle Report which I quoted was unintentionally deleted. It should read:

“Capt. Guinolbay also went about soliciting the help of every soldier and policemen he could find to help solve the problem by being deployed around the compound. It is worth mentioning that during the crisis, there were a lot of policemen and soldiers at the mayor’s residence that were called upon by Capt. Guinolbay but didn’t lift a finger. The governor of the province was also at the mayor’s residence at that time but neither of the executives came out to help or at least look at what was happening outside.”

Akbar and the ghost of the Lamitan siege

Published by Ellen on August 19, 2007

Coming from a meeting with detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, said there’s a lot of similarities of the deadly incidents that happened in Lamitan on June 2, 2001 and in Tipo-Tipo last July 10, both in the province of Basilan.

Last Saturday’s hostilities also in Basilan remind us of the Lamitan siege because the five officers who perished during the assault to take the Abu Sayyaf camp in Ungkaya Pukan were part of Force Reconnaissance. They were on a test mission that is a prerequisite before graduation. In Lamitan, Scout Ranger Class 142-2000 under Course Director Capt. Ruben Guinolbay had just completed their test mission when ordered to prepare for deployment to the Southern Command area of responsibility.

In fact, one of the recommendations that came out of the Lamitan debacle was to “desist from employing units which are not 100 percent combat ready.”

Kiko’s clarification

Published by Ellen on August 14, 2007

Senator Francis Pangilinan sent me a message clarifying some issues I raised in my column last Friday titled “Who’s afraid of Adel Tamano?”In that column, I discussed Pangilinan’s objection to the plan of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee, to get Adel Tamano as general counsel to set the direction and pace of the investigations the committee would undertake.

It has been reported that Pangilinan resented the statements of Adel, who was spokesperson of the Genuine Opposition, on his ambivalence about joining GO. I said that Pangilinan should not blame Adel about the public perception that he is an opportunist because people have not forgotten his “Noted, Noted” act during the presidential canvass of the 2004 elections.

War widows

Published by Ellen on August 12, 2007

I met with two of the widows of the 14 Marines who died last July 10 in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan last week. They are here following up the financial benefits from the government due them as dependents of the slain soldiers.

They are also here to claim the generous financial help (P500,000 each) offered by former President Estrada from his Saludo sa Kawal Pilipino Foundation.

By this time, the tears have dried up. Mary Ann Bautista, 44, and Jeanny Callueng, 36, have accepted the reality of life without their husbands. It was not so during the first moments when they learned that their husbands, Master Sergeant Noel Bautista,39, and Sergeant Rey Callueng,33, were killed in an encounter with elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front last July 10.

Mary Ann said after-battle-report on the tragedy reveals that Master Sgt Bautista was killed in the morning in the first hours of the firefight. Mary Ann said it might have it happened before 9 a.m.. because she got a text message from him a few minutes after 8 a.m) saying that they were in Tipo-Tipo. “Nagpapalit ng gulong” (Changing tires.)

Category: Malaya