Category: Malaya

Adel writes about Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila in the Manila Times.

The Senate grapevine says that immediately after Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano got the very important Blue Ribbon committee, Senate majority floor leader Francis Pangilinan approached Senate President Manny Villar and made known his intention to block the appointment of Adel Tamano as general counsel of the committee. Pangilinan’s message was dutifully relayed by Villar to Cayetano, who acceded to Pangilinan’s wish.

Another version was that Pangilinan approached Cayetano and told the latter straightforward: “Alan, I want to inform you that if you appoint Adel as general counsel, I will exercise my right to oppose his appointment.”

Members of media and relatives of military officers on trial for their alleged involvement in the February 2006 aborted withdrawal of support from the Gloria Arroyo’s illegitimate presidency were surprised last week to see a light tank escorting the military truck that brought the junior officers to the trial venue.

At the same time, we were amused at the sight of the tank. It’s actually cute. A gunner was on top of it. A 20 mm caliber gun jutted out of it. It was not the heavyweight type that we see in battle scenes or during military parades.

I posted it in my blog and regular visitors familiar with military weapons system said it’s actually a “support assault armored vehicle” One weapons expert said it’s for crowd control.

It was not only very wrong. It was stupid.

The argument by the Department of Justice which was upheld by Judge Oscar Pimentel’s pitting the more than 11 million who voted for detained Antonio Trillanes IV for senator against 85 million Filipinos was simply out of whack.

The exact quote by DOJ prosecutors is: “As the prosecuting arm of the government, it’s shield and sword of law and order represents not only the 11,138,067 voters who voted for him but the People of the Philippines, with all its 85 million citizens and counting.”

Related story: Trillanes: “No regrets”

Trillanes says he’s humbled by poll victory

In the wee hours of July 27, 2003, some 300 soldiers, led by some 70 young officers, wearing red armbands with the Katipunan’s rising sun symbol, commandeered the Oakwood premier hotel at the Makati Commercial Center, wired the surrounding areas and declared withdrawal of support from Gloria Arroyo’s unelected presidency.

Adel Tamano, who gave the Genuine Opposition last election a good-looking image as its spokesman, must be a hit as a classroom teacher.

I saw him work wide-eyed students of UP Manila last Friday during a forum on the Human Security Act (R.A. 1372) organized by the UP Political Science Society.

Adel cited several reasons why R.A. 1372 is unconstitutional and one of these is the doctrine of “Void for Vagueness.” He said: “The definition of what constitutes terrorism is so broad and all-encompassing that the ordinary citizen would have no idea, hence no legal notice as required by our right to due process, of what specific acts constitute a violation of the law.”