Category: Malaya

After we have savored the joy of seeing justice upheld and the Constitution protected, it’s time to prepare for more vicious strategies of Gloria Arroyo and her minions to carry out her plan to change the Constitution because that’s one of the few remaining survival options for her. (The other is martial law.)

Truth and justice triumphed in a tight score of 8-7. Much of it is credited to Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, who has surprised many with his independence and integrity in crucial issues concerning Arroyo’s attempts to curtail democracy despite the fact that he was appointed by her.

Panganiban is retiring on December 7. Top contender is Justice Reynato Puno, whose seniority in terms of years of service in the High Court was ignored by Arroyo when she chose Panganiban December last year.

The public’s concern that the Supreme Court will succumb to the pressure of Malacañang for them to reverse their 1997 decision prohibiting changing the Constitution without an enabling law is reflected in the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations.

The survey conducted nationwide from September 24 to October 2, 2006, using face-to-face interviews of a national sample of 1,200, showed that six out of ten Filipinos (62 percent) are “unsure” that the Supreme Court will decide fairly on the petition by Sigaw ng Bayan and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) to amend the Constitution through a people’s initiative.

One-fourth (24 percent) said they have “little trust” while 13 percent say they have “much trust” that the tribunal will make a fair decision on the petition.

Lawyer Harry Roque has an offer to make to Joc-joc Bolante: I will testify in favor of your request for asylum in the United States on one condition – tell the truth.

Roque said Bolante should reveal who ordered him to divert the P728 million fertilizer fund and some two billion pesos more of agricultural funds to the campaign kitty of Gloria Arroyo in 2004.

“It is revealing information of this kind that would subject him to true political persecution in the Philippines and strengthen his bid for asylum. Anytime he is willing to reveal the truth, I would be happy to take his deposition,” Roque said.

This should warm the hearts of Bishop Antonio Tobias, Nini Quezon Avanceña, Josie Lichauco, Dinky Soliman, Leah Navarro, and many others who filed the second impeachment complaint against Gloria Arroyo this year despite discouragement from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

The latest survey of the Social Weather Stations showed that more Filipinos disagree (45 percent) than agree (30 percent) with the decision of the House of Representatives last Aug. 24 to junk the second impeachment case filed against Gloria Arroyo.

Forty-five percent is a substantial number. It’s almost 50 percent or half of the Filipino people.

The more Gloria Arroyo opens her mouth about North Korea, the more ridiculous she sounds.

Last Monday, she bested all Southeast Asian leaders in issuing a statement condemning North Korea’s nuclear test. Yesterday, she said North Korea’s nuclear test is a Damocles’ sword over Asia and underscored that the Philippines is “within striking distance” of a nuclear weapon fired from Pyongyang.

News reports said although it is widely believed that North Korea’s announcement of a successful nuclear test is true, the Hermit Kingdom has not yet developed a delivery system for its nuclear weapon.

The Ombudsman’s “brazen somersault,” in the words of the highly-respected Jovito Salonga, clearing all Comelec officials on the P1.3 billion poll automation deal shows how deeply enmeshed Gloria Arroyo is as she discards subtlety in the endless paybacks that she is and will be making just to continue holding on to her stolen power.

The “brazen somersault” that Salonga said did not refer to the Ombudsman’s departure from its June 28, 2006 report which recommended the indictment of Comelec officials and eight Mega Pacific (MPC) officers and that impeachment charges be filed against elections commissioner Resurreccion Borra.

That report was actually lame because it absolved other elections commissioners involved in the approval of the deal including Chairman Benjamin Abalos.

I was hoping that by this time, I would be enjoying electricity in our home in Moonwalk, Las Piñas, Metro Manila. But no dice, one week after “Milenyo,” we are still without electricity.

At the height of “Milenyo” Thursday last week, I was having severe asthma attacks. When the typhoon died down, I went to the nearby Perpetual Help Medical Center.

I’ve lived with asthma since childhood. It’s a family illness. I have my daily maintenance, “Symbicort,” morning and evening daily. Last Thursday’s attack was one of the more serious which was made worse by the lack of electricity. I could not use a nebulizer at home.

(Following is the story of Peter Tabingco of Malaya on the Ombudsman’s clearing of the Commission on Election on the P1.3 billion computer scam. Last July 4,(click here) Malaya came out with are report that there was a June 28, 2005 report recommending indictment of all the Comelec officials involved inthe anomaly including Chairman Benjamin Abalos.The Ombudsman later came out with a decision to put all the blame on Commissioner Borra, an incredulous decision. Now, they reversed themselves and cleared all.

(We are not surprised that Ombudsman had to clear Abalos. He has to be rewarded for his role in making Gloria Arroyo the winner of the 2004 elections even if she was not elected by the people. Payback continues….)

THE Office of the Ombudsman yesterday dismissed all criminal and administrative charges against officials of the Commission on Elections, executives of the Mega Pacific eSolutions Inc. (MPeI) and technical experts from the Department of Science and Technology in connection with the P1.3 billion poll automation deal nullified by the Supreme Court in 2004.

The following statement was drafted by the National Union of Journalist in the Philippines after a forum on libel conducted by Atty. Theodore O. Te last week.

As NUJP said, “This statement is to protest the use of the libel law to stop critical reports and commentaries and to fight for the right of every Filipino to seek and receive information and ideas on matters of public interest, which are at the very core of the concept of a democratic society.”

The statement: