ellen tordesillas – Page 80 – Making life worth living.

Guiuan rises with a lot of help from mining firm

Published by Ellen on February 18, 2014

By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files

Photos by Mario Ignacio IV

Yolanda survivors Lito G. Abucejo, 47, a carpenter and his wife, Rebecca, 44, marked the 100th day after the super typhoon slammed into Manicani Island in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, in a newly-built house.

The Abucejos have folded their United Nations-donated tent, which was their shelter the past three months, and are now living in a new structure built where their old house once stood.

The Abucejo’s new house is one of the more than 400 being built by Nickel Asia Corporation (NAC), which owns a non-operating nickel mine in Manicani.

Coco lumber felled by Yolanda are being used for the 30-square meter houses, being built on the property of the survivors. They are expected to last four to five years.

No talk of Sabah in Aquino-Najib meet Feb. 27

Published by Ellen on February 16, 2014

By Tessa Jamandre, VERA Files President Aquino and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak are set to meet in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 27, when Aquino…

Best incentive for whistleblowers

Published by Ellen on February 16, 2014

I’m fascinated by the bill filed by Iloilo 5th District Rep. Niel Tupas to include among incentives to potential whistleblowers, plastic surgery for the face and body.

TV shows should interview Vicky Belo how she plans to transform those who are currently under WPP. Benhur Luy of the PDAF/Janet Napoles scam, for example. Who does he want to look like? It would not be advisable to look like a celebrity in the local scene. It would create complications which they should avoid. The less controversial they would be under their new persona, the better. He can choose to look like Tom Cruise or Channing Tatum.

How would Belo transform Norie Unas, former chief of staff of former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr, who is a state witness in the electoral sabotage case against Gloria Arroyo?

Senators’ applause for Tuason proves stealing pays

Published by Ellen on February 13, 2014

Sorry, but I don’t share the euphoria of Sen. TG Guingona, chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee, over the testimony of Ruby Tuason in the Senate yesterday.

After the hearing Guingona enthused: “A three-point shot na buzzer beater na, winning shot pa.”

Haaaah?

Sure, Tuason detailed her role as “commissioner” in the anomalous operation of Janet Napoles with Senators Juan Ponce-Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada using the Priority Development Assistant Fund allotted for small-scale projects in poor communities. But except for some details, all that she said were already revealed by whistleblowers Ben Hur Luy, Merlina Suñas, Arthur Luy, Gertrudes K. Luy, Annabelle Luy, and Nova Batal Macalintal.

Survey questions the DFA did not ask

Published by Ellen on February 11, 2014

Does Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario have a problem with the case filed with the United Nations Arbitral Court against China’s nine-dash line map that prompted him to commission Social Weather Stations to do a survey which focused on the case and the problem with China in the West Philippine Sea?

SWS conducted a nationwide survey among 1,550 respondents on Dec. 11 through 16.

Foreign Affairs Spokesman Raul Hernandez said they wanted to know the sentiments of the public on specific issues and the results showed that the Filipino people “overwhelmingly” support the case filed by the Philippines at the UN Arbitral Tribunal January last year.

The results could not be less than “overwhelming” what with questions like “Dahil ang Tsina ay malakas sa aspetong military at ekonomiya, sinampahan natin ng kaso ang Tsina sa United nation sa paniniwalang pantay-pantay ang labanan sa ilalim ng batas internasyunal. Sang-ayon ba kayo o hindi?” (Opinion on whether the international law is a great equalizer against countries that are stronger militarily and economically.) Answer: 77% Yes; 15 % No; 8% Don’t know.

Mesmerizing performance by violinist Chino Gutierrez

Published by Ellen on February 9, 2014

Chino Gutierrez from Adoborice terraces Youtube

Violinist Joaquin Maria “Chino” Gutierrez’s performance Saturday night at the Insular Theatre at the Filinvest Corporate City in Alabang was mesmerizing; we forgot, just for the night, all the toxic reports that we have to deal with about our officials and other public personalities.

Gutierrez “Revelry” concert was a repeat of the successful concert he had last year at the Francisco Santiago Auditorium in Makati. With collaborating artist Corazon Pineda Kabayao in the piano, Gutierrez treated music lovers to Ysaye’s Sonata No. 2, Cesar Franck Sonata in A major, Suite Italienne by Stravinsky, Wieniawski’s Polonaise Brilliante in A major, La Deportacion by Dr. Jose Rizal-Kabayao and Tzigane by Ravel.

His rendition of “Bayan Ko” (one of the several encores) was nakakatindig balahibo.

Last Saturday’s concert is probably the last that Gutierrez will be giving before he leaves for Munich on March 3 to finish his Bachelor’s degree program in Violin Performance at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Munchen.

China to Aquino: We fought Hitler in WWII

Published by Ellen on February 8, 2014

Pres. Aquino warns the world against China in a New York Times interview.

By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files

China on Friday reminded President Aquino it had fought on the side of the Allied Powers against fascist Japan and Germany in World War II, after Aquino likened China’s encroachment into the South China Sea with Adolf Hitler’s hegemonic moves in World War II.

In a press briefing, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hong Lei said, “As an unwavering upholder of international justice, China made huge sacrifice and indelible historical contribution to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War. It is inconceivable and unreasonble to place China-Philippines South China Sea disputes in the same category with the WWII history.”

In an interview with New York Times Tuesday, Aquino had called on the international community to support the Philippine position of resisting China’s hegemonic moves in the South China Sea and not to make the mistake of appeasing the Asian superpower.

The unraveling of President Benigno Aquino III

Published by Ellen on February 6, 2014

President Aquino in the New York Times interview

In a meeting with Vietnamese Defense Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh in August last year, President Aquino asked the visiting official how they are able to maintain good relations with China despite conflicting territorial claims.

(Despite a ferocious battle over the Paracels Islands in the South China Sea 40 years ago that killed more than 70 Vietnamese soldiers,China and Vietnam established a hotline to deal with fishery incidents in South China Sea waters following the meeting of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang in Beijing last June.)

Thanh told Aquino that almost every day, personnel of Vietnamese Navy battle Chinese fishermen who venture into disputed areas in the South China. Arrests are made, diplomatic protests are filed. But, he said, “We don’t talk to media.”

For a while, Aquino seemed to have taken to heart the lesson from the Vietnamese defense minister. He was a voice of moderation when China’s sole aircraft carrier sailed to the South China Sea.

Fight child abuse, boycott Woody Allen’s films

Published by Ellen on February 4, 2014

I have scratched out “Blue Jasmine”, a movie directed by Woody Allen starring Cate Blanchett, from the list of not-to-be-missed movies this year.

From now on, I will not watch any Woody Allen movie in sympathy with the cause of Dylan Farrow, daughter of American actress Mia Farrow, who came out last week with an open letter re-opening the painful childhood episode with her adoptive father.

Last week Allen was honored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association with the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award, given to those who have made “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.”
A few days after the award ceremonies, which Allen did not attend (the award was accepted for him by actress Diane Keaton), New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof carried the heart-wrenching letter of 28- year-old Dylan.

Pride fuels standoff with Hongkong

Published by Ellen on February 2, 2014

The current standoff with Hongkong is an example of the danger of ignorance, power, and pride combined. As American minister Robert Fulghum said in his book,All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, “Ignorance and power and pride are a deadly mixture, you know.”

Hongkong Chief Executive CY Leung announces the lifting of no-visa privilege for Philippine government officials including diplomats.

Last week, the Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced that the current 14-day visa-free arrangement for visiting Philippine diplomats and officials would be suspended starting Wednesday, February 5.

The sanction, which does not cover Filipinos who are going to Hongkong as tourists, is still over the Aug. 23, 2010 hostage- taking where eight Hongkong residents were killed after a disgruntled and desperate Filipino policeman hostaged a bus-load of Hongkong tourists at the Rizal Park in Manila.

In response, Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Secretary Raul Hernandez issued the government position of no apology, just regret.

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