ellen tordesillas – Page 81 – Making life worth living.

PNoy, Ramon Ang and Zenaida Ducut

Published by Ellen on January 26, 2014

ERC Chair Ducut has a very influential patron.

Two lawmakers who are allies of President Aquino last week filed with the Office of the President a complaint against Chairperson Zenaida Ducut of the Energy Regulatory Commisssion accusing her of failure to protect the interest of the consumers when it approved last December Meralco’s application for a staggering P4.15/kilowatt-hour increase.

“Respondent is guilty of gross neglect of duty by tacitly approving, without the barest hint of due process, the unprecedented generation charges Meralco sought to pass on to consumers in the months of December 2013, February 2014 and March 2014,” Akbayan Partylist Representatives Walden Bello and Ibarra Gutierrez said in their complaint.

It would be interesting to see how Malacañang will handle the complaint considering that last December in Tokyo, Aquino confessed being powerless about the unconscionable increase because he said, “ERC does not report to us, they are independent of us.”

Wanted: Tagalog word for “human trafficking”

Published by Ellen on January 23, 2014

From the MTV Enslaved — From the MTV “Enslaved”

In an informal survey conducted by a civil society group working to stop human trafficking, they asked people in the streets what comes to their mind when they hear the phrase “human trafficking.”

Everybody answered:“Traffic.” As in vehicular traffic.

Such is the level of public awareness about human trafficking- the trade in human beings for several purposes, most commonly sexual slavery, pornography, forced labor , extraction of organs or tissues, surrogacy.

Liars all

Published by Ellen on January 22, 2014

He is not the epitome of intelligence and good public service but his story about the breakfast meeting is revealing of Malacañang's methods under Aquino. — He is not the epitome of intelligence and good public service but his story about the breakfast meeting is revealing of Malacañang’s methods under Aquino.

Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr., one of the three senators charged with plunder before the Ombudsman in connection with alleged anomalous use of Priority Development Assistance Fund, related Monday an incident that took place in December 2012, a few days before the conclusion of the impeachment of ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Revilla said Roxas, who was then secretary of Transportation and Communication, invited him to a morning meeting at his residence in Cubao. From there, they went to Malacañang’s Bahay Pangarap, Aquino’s residence, with Roxas driving the SUV and he was seated at the back seat.

Revilla said Roxas had the license plate of the SUV removed.

Save the children from perverts

Published by Ellen on January 19, 2014

One of the memorable movies shown last year was “Alagwa: starting Jericho Rosales as the widower Robert Lim and Bugoy Cariño as the boy Brian.

Directed by Ian Loreños, it’s a heartbreaking story of the young father’s search for his son who was kidnapped in a mall.. Lim (Rosales) left the son in the Men’s Room to attend to something. When he returned for the boy, he was gone. Later, in the CCTV which the police officers obtained, they saw a man approach his son as the boy stepped out of the Men’s Room. The man must have said something to convince the boy to go with him. (Warning to parents: never leave your children, even for a moment, in public places.)

In Lim’s search for his son, he stepped into the harrowing world of child trafficking. Years later, he found his son a beggar in Hongkong.

A celibate Kris Aquino as president will eradicate poverty in PH

Published by Ellen on January 16, 2014

Kris shares with Boy Abunda her theory about her success.

I cannot imagine the Philippines without Kris Aquino. It would be boring.

I want Kris Aquino for President.

Everybody talks about the need for out-of-the box solutions to the problem of poverty that is the lot of almost a third of the country’s 99 million population. Kris Aquino has found the solution: don’t have sex and you will be blessed with money beyond your dreams.

In an interview last Tuesday with best friend Boy Abunda in her classy all-white house, Aquino couldn’t contain her joy for all the blessings coming her way: the box-office success of the movie of her son, Bimby, even if critics said it was inane (one critic said it was “contempt for the audience”); a hefty new contract with ABS-CBN after she floated the rumor that she was considering the job offer of businessman Manny V. Pangilinan to head TV5; plus many more.

China’s smallest province plays big role in South China Sea claim

Published by Ellen on January 15, 2014

Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier, back from a test mission in Hainan. — Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier, back from a test mission in Hainan.

Alarm bells rang again with the announcement last week by China that Hainan, its southernmost province, was implementing a Fishery Law that requires foreign fishing boats to get its approval when venturing into the South China Sea starting Jan. 1, 2014.

Hainan, with an area of 32,900 square kilometers, is China’s smallest province. Yet the Fishery Law, which China claims to have been adopted in 1993 and amended in 2008, puts under Hainan’s authority two million square kilometers of the vast South China Sea (estimate size is 3.5 million square kilometers), parts of it are also being claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Burnout

Published by Ellen on January 9, 2014

Regaling highschool students. — Regaling Miriam College highschool students.

President Aquino told an impressionable bunch of highschool students from Miriam College that he will not be putting on more pressure on his cabinet members concerned that they would suffer burnout.

This is what he said last Tuesday:

“The Cabinet is very hardworking, they’re very dedicated. You can’t ask anything more of them and perhaps I should learn to give them a little bit more breathing room. Baka naman ma-burn out lahat itong mga kasamahan natin sa gobyerno who actually do everything out of love of country. “

Burnout?

MVP’s intriguing Christmas Party remark about Secretary del Rosario

Published by Ellen on January 7, 2014

A happy President Aquino and Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario.

At the Christmas Party of Metro Pacific Investment Corporation last month at J.W. Marriott Hotel in Hongkong, the company’s chairman, Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP) made special mention of Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario saying, “he will soon be rejoining us in the private sector.”

MVP’s remark intrigued other guests who asked each other, “Why, is he resigning?”

(Del Rosario’s statement on this article released in Malacañang: “In my talks with my trusted friend Manny Pangilinan, in December, he is fully supportive of my decision to continue in public service for as long as the President wishes for me to do so.”)

Actually, del Rosario had resigned twice in his almost three years as foreign secretary. (He served as ambassador to the United States during the time of Gloria Arroyo.) The first was in June 2012 after the standoff with China at Scarborough Shoal (also known as Bajo de Masinloc or Panatag shoal) which brought into the picture, much to the resentment of del Rosario, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

Aquino for Binay for president in 2016?

Published by Ellen on January 5, 2014

There’s a compelling reason for President Aquino to make sure that that he would be able to influence the people’s choice of his successor otherwise he would suffer the same fate that befell the two presidents before him.

His predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is in jail – hospital arrest, actually- facing plunder and electoral sabotage charges.
Arroyo’s predecessor, Joseph Estrada, spent six years in detention- much of it under house arrest – for plunder. Convicted, he was later pardoned. He nearly made a comeback as president in 2010, placing second to Aquino. He is now mayor of the city of Manila.

Surely, Aquino knows that in his position, it’s not a matter of good intentions as his “Tuwid na Daan” slogan trumpets. As president, he makes decisions, sometimes resorting to legal brinkmanship. Example is the Disbursement Acceleration Program, the legality of which is being questioned in the Supreme Court.

A lovely New Year even with Yolanda!

Published by Ellen on January 2, 2014

Yolanda was very much in our mind as we bid goodbye to 2013 and welcomed 2014.

Our place in Guisijan, Laua-an, Antique was one of those hit by Yolanda. Not as bad as Leyte and Samar but there was still a lot of repairing and fixing to do.

My mother's langka tree was no match to Yolanda's fury. — My mother’s langka tree was no match to Yolanda’s fury.

ellen tordesillas Posts