ellen tordesillas – Page 50 – Making life worth living.

Aquino appoints Almendras foreign secretary

Published by Ellen on March 8, 2016

Rene Almendras at the World Economic Forum

With only three months left of his term, President Aquino appointed his cabinet secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras, 56, as foreign secretary.

Press Secretary Herminio Coloma announced tonight that “President Aquino has appointed Jose Rene Almendras as ad interim Secretary of Foreign Affairs, according to Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. He replaces Secretary Albert del Rosario whose resignation took effect today.”

An ad interim appointment, made while Congress is in recess, allows the appointee to perform the functions and powers of the position until rejected by the Commission on Appointments.

A classmate of Aquino, Almendras first joined the Aquino cabinet in 2010 as energy secretary. He was later brought to Malacañang amid reports of gross inefficiency in Malacanang and the rivalry between the Mar Roxas allies (known as Balay group) and the Samar group,those who went for the Aquino-Binay in the 2010 elections.

China makes sure Jackson Atoll won’t be another Ayungin

Published by Ellen on March 6, 2016

Jackson Atoll, five coral islets surrounding a lagoon

The Chinese have not occupied Jackson Atoll (Philippine name is Quirino and Wufang Jiao in Chinese) in the Spratlys, as erroneously reported in Philippines media.

Not yet.

But the Chinese were there last December as related by the spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Hong Lei in his regular press briefing last March 2.

Hong said “At the end of the year 2015, a foreign vessel was grounded near Wufang Jiao of China’s Nansha islands. The owner of the vessel tried many times to tow it away but failed. He then decided to abandon the ship and dismantled and took away its main equipment. If the vessel was left aground for a long time, it might cause possible impediment to navigation safety and damage to the marine environment. Therefore, China Rescue and Salvage of Ministry of Transport recently sent salvage ships to tug the grounded vessel out of the shallow water for proper disposal. During the operation, the Chinese side advised fishing boats near the waters to stay away for navigation security and operation safety. The Chinese ships have returned after the operation.”

Is that so?

Published by Ellen on March 3, 2016

Fact-checking Mar and Chiz on their claims about poverty in their respective province.

Creative image makers are very much in demand this election campaign.

In the candidates efforts to boost their credentials to the public or to hide unpleasant information about them, they tell stories – some true, some false. There is no dearth of image-specialists that candidates can tap to re-package themselves to what appeals to the voters.

Packaging is the thing. Never mind the truth.

Voting for a candidate is no different from buying a merchandise. You want to get the real deal. Just like when you buy honey, you want honey syrup made by bees. Not a thick syrup that is half sugar.

To help voters see beyond the nice packaging of the candidates, VERA Files is doing a fact check.

‘Talk to Mayor’

Published by Ellen on February 28, 2016

Mayor appropriates parking slot for PWD. Photo from ASTIG.PH

Going the rounds in Facebook is a post by Candy Chan in Astig.Ph about a vehicle by a mayor that was parked in a slot reserved for Persons with Disabilities at Bay 4 of NAIA3. When the security guard called the attention of the man who came out of the driver seat, he insolently replied, “Kausapin mo si Mayor (Talk to the Mayor.)

The incident happened more than two months ago, Dec. 19. We are re-telling the incident because we have not seen any report who was the mayor who violated the law, Republic Act No. 7277 known as the Magna Carta for Persons with Disabilities, and if he and his driver were made accountable for their misdeed.

As related by ASTIG.PH complete with pictures, a certain HJ was waiting at MIAA Bay 5 when a black Toyota Fortuner with plate number VRB 202 marked Mayor parked right next to the sign that indicated the space was reserved for PWDs.

Dominant thoughts re Edsa One: We wasted it

Published by Ellen on February 25, 2016

The Edsa jump. Fidel Ramos and Juan Ponce-Enrile jubillant as they announced defections of Marcos people to the rebels' side. — The Edsa jump. Fidel Ramos and Juan Ponce-Enrile jubillant as they announced defections of Marcos people to the rebels’ side.

Edsa30 celebration has revived memories of that important event in our history as a freedom-loving people.

From the recollections, one can glean a deep sense of disappointment, of our failure not to have used our regained freedom into building genuine democracy- wherein people would have the opportunities to pursue their dreams of a better life.

Mark Lopez shared his insights of EDSA One in Facebook: “I was 17 when EDSA 1 happened and my family and I were there, together with the millions who want change. It was surreal and it was indeed a triumphant moment when news of Marcos family fleeing was confirmed. In the immediate aftermath, all I could think of was that our country will now be on the cusp of true progress and development. Of course the foremost celebration was for the reinstatement of democracy and freedom to be a Filipino.

“”Thirty years after, I now cringe at what went by after EDSA1. I really don’t know what it is in our psyche that we continue to celebrate democracy but we also embraced mediocrity, especially in governance.

“We may be free, but we are still slaves to indifference, to corruption, and to greed. Do we really deserve this?”

EDSA30

Published by Ellen on February 24, 2016

It has been 30 years since that one shining moment in Philippine history when the people came together to put an end to tyranny.

Rebel soldier reading Malaya. Photo by Joe Galvez.

As Che Francisco, a colleague in Ang Pahayagang Malaya, remarked , “Parang kelan lang.”

On this day, Feb. 24, we, in Malaya were covering the fast-changing events non-stop. I was sleeping in the office. Malaya editors were working in a safe house as rumors were swirling about raids of newspapers unfriendly to Marcos.

In the evening after the editorial work, we would go to Camp Crame where Fidel V. Ramos, then the chief of the Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police and then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce-Enrile, were holding fort together with the rebel soldiers and police officers after they declared on Feb. 22 that they were breaking away from then President Ferdinand Marcos who had been in power for 20 years.

Grace Poe took the first presidential debate

Published by Ellen on February 21, 2016

Candidates: Jejomar Binay,Miriam Santiago, Rodrigo Duterte,Grace Poe,Mar Roxas

The winner of the first Comelec-sponsored debates of presidential candidates organized with GMA-7 and Philippine Daily Inquirer based on my monitoring of social media and exchange of notes with friends was Grace Poe.

It’s not a scientific survey, of course.

Political analyst and De La Salle University Professor Richard Heydarian summed up the performance of the candidates as:

Pacquiao’s ‘abhorrent’ remarks could be blessing in disguise

Published by Ellen on February 18, 2016

Two days after boxing icon Manny Pacquiao rebuked same sex couples as worse than animals, shoe giant Nike dropped him as endorser.

That was fast.

Observers said that was an easy decision for Nike because Pacquiao, 37, is at the sunset of his career after losing in two major fights: the one against Floyd Mayweather in May 2015 and earlier, in December 2013, to Juan Manuel Marquez. He says his April 9 fight with Timothy Bradley would be his last, although he has said it before with his other fights and went on to do more.

Nike’s announcement: “We find Manny Pacquiao’s comments abhorrent. Nike strongly opposes discrimination of any kind and has a long history of supporting and standing up for the rights of the LGBT community. We no longer have a relationship with Manny Pacquiao.”
It’s a knockout punch for Pacquiao whose endorsements make up the bulk of his boxing earnings. His camp is worried, we are told, that other sponsors might follow Nike.

Social media raises demand for honesty from candidates

Published by Ellen on February 16, 2016

Two stories that generated passionate exchanges in social media the past days underscore how new media is being used to demand transparency and honesty from candidates and their staff in the campaign for the May elections.

The first story was about the shoes of Brian Llamanzares, son of presidential candidate Grace Poe of the Partido Galing at Puso and the other was the Instagram post of Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, who is the spokesman of the Aquino administration’s Liberal Party, whose standard bearer is Mar Roxas.

The story about the Llamanzares’ shoes was a scoop by the online media Rappler. Brian posted what seemed at first as a harmless photo until someone with a keen eye on sports shoes at Rappler noticed that the 23-year old, who once worked with CNN Philippines, was wearing a limited edition 2015 Nike Mag10 Back to the Future II Marty McFly.

That shoes sold for $19,999 equivalent to almost P900,000 in Philippine pesos. Nearly a million pesos for a pair of shoes.

Why so expensive?

As explained by a blogger Rod Magaru, “last September of 2011, a total of 1,500 pairs of Nike Mag10 were auctioned on eBay with the intention of donating its proceeds to Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Disease Research. They added 10 more pairs in a deluxe package and they were able to sell everything on that year.”

Layoffs of OFWs in Saudi not due to oil price slump: labor attaches

Published by Ellen on February 15, 2016

Filipinos in Saudi renew their passports. Philippine Embassy in Riyadh.

Despite decline in global oil prices, the Saudi labor market remains stable for Filipino workers. The reported retrenchments are not due to the oil price slump in recent months, according to assessment of Saudi-based labor attaches and diplomats of the situation in the Middle East kingdom that hosts some 800,000 OFWS.

The positive assessment should calm the fears of massive retrenchment in Saudi due to the plunge of oil prices. In fact, last week Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz expressed concerns of a possible displacement some 1.5 million Filipinos classified as temporary workers in the Middle East as the global oil glut is expected to continue in the coming months with the recent lifting of the sanctions on oil-producer Iran.

A report on the OFW situation in Saudi said, the retrenchments, particularly to the employees of the Middle East construction giant Saudi Binladen Group (SBG), “are hardly traceable to declining oil prices.”

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