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Thoughts of a lawyer’s wife on the latest Ampatuan massacre controversy

Published by Ellen on August 8, 2014

By Mylah Reyes Roque

Today, I write about the man I am married to but who I barely talk about or refer to in the social media – not that I actively engage in it in the first place. My friends know of course that my husband is the lawyer and law professor Harry Roque, who is also a private prosecutor in the Ampatuan trial. I don’t mention this in Facebook but I don’t hide it either. He is “public”; I on the other hand am happy to keep and remain with my small circle of friends. He maintains a blog, is active on Twitter and has two Facebook accounts, one active and one “unable to accept any more friends.” My Facebook, on the other hand, has just slightly over 500 friends and I use twitter only to check on #mmda and #walangpasok.

So for the first time I break my quiet as regards Harry.

Harry, or a person identified with a cell phone number corresponding to his, is being accused of accepting P10 million and a car from the Ampatuans to sell out his clients in the Ampatuan trial. The accusation comes from an alleged informant of another private prosecutor. The information is based on handwritten entries in somebody’s notebook. This prosecutor refuses to fully identify the informant but she made a public announcement anyway. The alleged informant also accuses some of Harry’s clients of accepting payment from the Ampatuans. These stories about payoffs to the victims are an old hat. Yesterday, the demolition job was on the fiscals and justice undersecretary. Today Harry is the one accused of being on the take. One can keep trying to throw mud but it won’t always stick.

Aquino sisters wanted Abad out; Hyatt 10 came to his rescue

Published by Ellen on August 7, 2014

The Aquino sisters attend the birthday party of Vice President Jojo Binay.

From our always reliable source : A few days after the Supreme Court declared parts of the Disbursement Accelerated Program or DAP unconstitutional last July 1, the three presidential sisters- Ballsy Cruz, Pinky Abellada, and Kris Aquino (Viel Dee didn’t join them) talked with the President to let go of Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad.

As we all know by now, DAP– the issue that has shaken the otherwise Teflon presidency of Benigno Aquino III–was the brainchild of Abad.

The Supreme Court’s vote was unanimous (13-0) stunning Malacañang who had thought it would be 7-6 in their favor.

Empower public with information on Ebola

Published by Ellen on August 5, 2014

Warning: There’s a hoax screenshot of my article in Yahoo on Ebola virus which says “Ebola virus has killed 23 people in Manila”.

This is not true. It’s a hoax.

There is no report of death due to Ebola virus in the Philippines.

This is the legitimate link to my Yahoo article: https://ph.news.yahoo.com/good-hygiene-weapon-vs-ebola-174551384.html. It’s based on the interview with Dr. Tony Leachon, president of the Philippine College of Physicians and information director of the University of the Philippines, Manila; on what we should do against the deadly Ebola virus that is wreaking havoc in West Africa.

WARNING: Hoaxter alters VERA Files story on Ebola

Published by Ellen on August 5, 2014

The headline of a VERA Files story on the Ebola virus published Aug. 4 in Yahoo Ph! has been tampered with by a hoaxter and…

Filipinos are worth making good movies for

Published by Ellen on August 3, 2014

It was one time when I didn’t feel bad when I was told that there were no more tickets available for the film I wanted to watch.

I was so happy seeing the Cultural Center of the Philippines filled with people who love films. It showed that Filipinos yearn for good films. The scene disproved the condescending arguments of producers of silly films that they were just giving the Filipino audience what they want.

Cinemalaya showed that we have an abundant supply of cinema talents.

Antidote to DAP-inspired abuses: FOI

Published by Ellen on August 1, 2014

By Ellen T. Tordesillas

Budget Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad submits 2015 budget to Congress. — Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad submits 2015 budget to Congress.

The P2.6 trillion 2015 budget submitted by Malacanang to Congress will institutionalize the practices in the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) which the Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional.

In the 2015 budget proposal, “savings” is now defined as portions of allocations that “have not been released or obligated” due to “discontinuance or abandonment of a program, activity or project for justifiable causes, at any time during the validity of the appropriations.”

With this definition, President Aquino and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad can hijack funds allocated to projects under the 2015 General Appropriations Act as what they did with DAP the past three years.

Mauled cabbie won’t file case vs TV host

Published by Ellen on July 30, 2014

Daniel Marsh and taxi driver Edward Villanueva reconciling in Wanted sa Radyo. Photo from Lionheartv.net — Daniel Marsh and taxi driver Edward Villanueva reconciling in Wanted sa Radyo.Photo from Lionheartv.net

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS, VERA Files

The taxi driver mauled by a TV5 host has decided not to press charges after the latter apologized.

TJ Ballega Villanueva, son of cabbie Edward Villanueva, 49, of World Taxi, said his father and Irish-Filipino Daniel Marsh, one of the hosts of TV5’s documentary-style reality show “Juan Direction,” met on Monday at Raffy Tulfo’s “Wanted sa Radyo” program.

The young Villanueva said in a text message that they went to TV 5 on Monday after the network asked them to give a statement.

“Sa ‘Wanted sa Radyo,’ humarap po sa amin si Daniel. On air o ay hindi siya totally nag-sorry kay Papa, pero off- the- air po ay niyakap at naghingi ng ‘Sorry’ kay Papa. Humingi din po siya ng paumanhin sa akin bilang anak ni Papa sa ginawa niya (In ‘Wanted sa Radyo’ Daniel faced us. On air, he did not exactly say ‘sorry’ to my father, but off-the–air, he embraced my father and apologized. He also apologized to me for what he did).”

After guesting in ‘Wanted sa Radyo,’TJ posted in Facebook that the family, on the advice of friends and the church, decided not to file a case against Marsh and to leave everything to God.

BJMP displaces sick detainees to make room for Gigi and Janet

Published by Ellen on July 29, 2014

While everybody was trying to recover from the emotional performance of President Aquino in his 5th State-of-the-Nation address Monday night, pork barrel queen Janet Napoles was brought to Camp Bagong Diwa jail of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Bicutan,Taguig.

Reports said Napoles arrived at Bicutan from Fort Sto. Domingo, a police camp in Sta. Rosa City , Laguna at 11:15 p.m.

Napoles has been charged with graft, plunder and serious illegal detention in connection with the misuse of the multi-billion Priority Development Assistance involving three senators – Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla, members of their staff and other personalities.

She joined at the BJMP co-accused Atty. Gigi Reyes, former chief-of-staff of Enrile.

Aquino accepts SC decision on DAP, submits supplemental budget

Published by Ellen on July 29, 2014

By Ellen T.Tordesillas, VERA Files

President Aquino asked Congress approval of a supplemental budget Malacanang is submitting in what many see as compliance to the Supreme Court ruling of the Disbursement Acceleration Program as unconstitutional, a departure from his earlier combative stance.

Related story:

People’s SONA: Boss ‘fires’ PNoy

In his 5th State of the Nation Address Monday, President Aquino said they had had to suspend a number of projects “to make certain that we remain in accordance with the Supreme Court’s decision on the Disbursement Acceleration Program, or DAP.”

“This is why: We are proposing the passage of a supplemental budget for 2014, so that the implementation of our programs and projects need not be compromised,” he said.

Aquino pays tribute to Abad’s creative genius

Published by Ellen on July 27, 2014

The speech of President Aquino during 75th anniversary of the Department of Budget and Management on April 25, 2011 has become relevant amid the controversy generated by the Disbursement Accelerated Program or DAP, the brainchild of Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad that got unqualified support from President Aquino.

This is what Aquino said:

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