The PDAF and DAP scandals have a lot to do with the increase in the trust of the people on media, the decline of the same for the government and continued distrust for non-government organizations.
The 2014 Philippine Trust Index conducted by EON showed that media is third most trusted institution with 33 percent, up from 32 per cent last year. First is the Church, which includes not only Catholic Church but also other denominations, with 75 percent, up from last year’s 68 percent.
Academe comes second with 53 percent, up from last year’s 45 percent.
The least trusted institution is the government with 11 percent, down from 15 per cent last year, followed by NGO with 12 percent, the same as last year’s.
Most loved. Sen. Juan M. Flavier.Pumanaw ang isa sa pinakamamahal na opisyal ng pamahalaan, si dating senador at health secretary Juan Flavier noong Huwebes.
Nakakatuwa ang mag-cover kay Flavier dahil sa maliban sa mabait at hindi mayabang, grabe sa galing ng kanyang sense of humor. Tawa kami ng tawa kapag ini-interview namin siya.
Bilang lider ng Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement, maraming taon na sa mga baryo niya ginugol ang kanyang panggagamot. Ang kanyang karanasan sa pagta-trabaho sa mga baryo ay mababasa sa kanyang libro, “Doctor to the Barrios.”
Sa aking pag-cover kay Flavier ng siya ay health secretary noong administrasyon ni Pangulong Fidel V. Ramos, marami akong kuwento at insidente na buhay na buhay sa aking ala-ala. Ngunit ang isa sa palagi kong ibinabahagi sa iba ay ang kanyang kuwento ng iba’t-ibang paraan nagpapasalamat ang mga tao sa probinsiya (dinadalhan siya ng maraming gulay, manok, kambing at baboy) nang siya ay guest speaker sa Cosmopolitan Church sa Taft Avenue.
Enriched by having dealt with issues at close range and without the restrictions of toeing the government line, former government officials usually are the voice of wisdom on current issues.
Such was speech of former Foreign Secretary Roberto R. Romulo (Ramos administration) at the Manila Times Business Forum last Wednesday on Philippine –China relations which he described as “at a historic low.”
Romulo said there is no magic solution to the strained relations between the two countries.
Filipinos do not ask much from the government, results of EON’s Philippines Trust Index survey this year showed.
All they want is that their government “not be corrupt.”
Cora P. Guidote,SM Investment Corporation senior vice president for Investor Relations, one of the panelists in the presentation of EON PTI survey results last Monday, took note of that saying that normally, one says he wants an honest leader.
“The consciousness is about corruption,“Guidote said adding,” How can we aspire for an honest leader when we don’t even articulate what we want for a leader. “
An honest person is more than just not corrupt. It involves a higher sense of morality and integrity. One can be “not corrupt” but not totally an honest person.
China prepares welcome for 2014 APEC.Two embarrassing incidents were in the minds of officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs when they decided not to request for a bilateral meeting between President Aquino and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Nov. 10 and 11 Leaders Meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation or APEC to be held in Beijing.
But DFA officials are working on a pull- aside talk between the two leaders on the sidelines of the summit of 21-member organization.
In the forum Wednesday hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, Aquino said: “The Chinese side does not ask for a bilateral talk; the Philippine side does not also ask for it. Both of us, I guess—and I am hopeful—are looking for a solution that can be win-win.”
Jennifer Laude’s mother at her wake. From Bulatlat.Totoo naman. Bakit nga naman inaasahan natin pumunta si Pangulong Aquino sa lamay ni Jennifer Laude?
Sino ba si Jennifer Laude? Hindi naman siya kamag-anak ng mga Aquino. Hindi naman siya haciendera katulad ng mga Cojuangco-Aquino. Hindi naman siya sundalo. Hindi naman siya miyembro ng Liberal Party. Hindi naman siya nanay o asawa ng miyembro ng Liberal Party.
Asked last Wednesday by Raul Dancel of The Singapore Straits Times during a forum with the Foreign Correspondents Association if he was going to the wake of Laude, the transgender who was murdered by a member of the United States Marines Corps last Oct. 11, Aquino said he doesn’t go to wakes of people he doesn’t know.
His complete answer: “You know, in general, I don’t attend wakes of people I don’t know. I find it—and I’m speaking for myself—I’m uncomfortable in trying to condole with people who don’t know me and… Parang how can I say that I really sympathize with their loss and have some relevant discussion with them on trying to assuage, ‘di ba, their loss at that point in time? If I know the person somehow or the person is close to me… For instance, I went to the wake of the mother of Governor (Alfonso) Umali recently. The mother of Governor Umali had entertained me in her house in the years previous and Governor Umali is very close friend. In Leyte, I went to the unanticipated demise of the wife of Congressman Boying Cari, and I had a chance to talk also to his children—the eldest is 23 and the youngest is Grade Six. As a general rule, I attend wakes wherein there are some connections, so that ‘yung I don’t want to be a burden but rather I want to help them at their time of grief.”
No one can accuse Aquino of not being transparent. He does not bother masking his arrogance.
Dr. Tony LeachonThe Philippine College of Physicians, headed by Dr. Anthony Leachon, is recommending that the Philippine government require returning Filipinos from West Africa, where there is a widespread outbreak of the killer disease Ebola, to undergo exit screening there before being allowed to come home.
That is on top of the quarantine required upon their arrival in the Philippines.
The exit screening, Leachon explained, should be quarantine for 21 days, blood tests and questionnaire before traveling back to Manila.
Upon arriving in the Philippines, Leachon said they should also be quarantined for at least seven days to a maximum of 21 days.
Leachon said the longer quarantine is important based on the new findings of the World Health Organization that the incubation period of Ebola is 42 days and not 21 days.
The silence of President Aquino on the murder of a Filipino transgender by a member of the United States Marine Corps more than a week ago in Olongapo City is deafening.
Jennifer Laude, 26, a citizen of this country was killed brutally (severely beaten, strangled, drowned , her head shoved in the toilet bowl) almost midnight of Oct. 11 by Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton, who is here as part of the PH-US military exercises.
More than a week has passed and not a word of concern from the President of the Philippines.
No representative from Malacañang nor from the Department of Foreign Affairs has visited the grieving family of Laude.
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IVThis is the second time I’ll be running the answer of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV to allegations that he owned eight luxury vehicles not listed in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth when he was a Philippine Navy officer.
JV Bautista, interim secretary general of the United Nationalist Alliance headed by Vice President Jejomar Binay,lambasted Trillanes Wednesday: “He styles himself as a moral crusader, but all these years he has evaded the issue of how he was able to afford eight luxury vehicles with his salary in the military and why he did not declare them in his SALN. This is a clear violation of the law.”
This black propaganda about Trillanes owning luxury vehicles first came out immediately after the July 2003 mutiny by a group of young officers that included Trillanes against the government of Gloria Arroyo. They made their stand at the then Oakwood Hotel (now Ascott) at the Makati Commercial Center.
NAIA1. From Flickr
By Ellen T.Tordesillas, VERA Files
The Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Teminal 1 (NAIA1) is no longer the worst airport in the world, according to an online website dedicated to reviewing airports all over the world.
NAIA is now No. four in the 2014 list of Worst Airports of “The Guide to Sleeping in Airports,” outranked by Islamabad Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Pakistan (1st); Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia (2nd); and Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal (3rd).
The Guide to Sleeping in Airports explained the improvement in ranking of NAIA1:
