ellen tordesillas – Page 88 – Making life worth living.

“Janet, here na me…where na u?”

Published by Ellen on August 27, 2013

My favorite placard in last Monday’s Million People march in Luneta was the one held by a young man which said, “Janet, here na me…where na u?”

The placard showed several aspects of the inspiring event which gathered some 400,000 to 500,000 bound by outrage over corruption in government.

The simple message, written on a cartolina was in a text lingo: “where na u? “edsa na me.” “w8 lang.” Many of us, schooled in the importance and propriety of staying and writing complete sentences and correct spelling are aghast by the text language but that’s how the cellphone generation speaks.

Aquino fires Palace consultant linked to Napoles

Published by Ellen on August 25, 2013

By Ellen Tordesillas,VERA Files

Brian Yamsuan (in white) , then DILG assistant secretary, with his boss, Secretary Ronaldo Puno.

Alleged big-time pork barrel operator Janet Lim-Napoles has close ties with a Malacañang consultant whom President Benigno Aquino III ordered fired as soon as he discovered the connection two weeks ago.

Brian Raymund Yamsuan, consultant to Executive Secretary Paquito “Jojo” Ochoa, was ordered dismissed after he was mentioned as having brokered Napoles’ meeting with editors of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The transcript of that meeting was published in a series from Aug. 11 to 14. Yamsuan’s name was mentioned twice.

Palace officials were also concerned over Yamsuan’s behavior, including receiving several millions of pesos from Napoles through a senator, sources said.

Kitakits sa Luneta

Published by Ellen on August 25, 2013

See you all at Luneta tomorrow.

Wear comfortable shoes and clothes. Some are enjoining everybody to wear white to symbolize cleansing of the corrupt system. But actually any color will do.

Bring umbrella just in case it rains. It is a long struggle to assert our right to good governance and we need to be fit and healthy. We can’t afford to get sick.

Bring water. It’s important to hydrate yourself when you are out there in the sun.

Bring something to sit on on the ground like newspaper or cloth.

Understand the issues you are fighting for, why you are there.

Anong ipalit sa PDAF? BDAF

Published by Ellen on August 24, 2013

Kunyari lang "abolish." — Kunyari lang “abolish.”

Akala ng Malacañang naloko na nila ang mga tao, ano.

Noong Biyernes, kasama pa niya si Senate President Franklin Drilon at House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, inanunsyo ni Pangulong Aquino . Sabi niya “Panahon na po upang i-abolish ang PDAF.”

May ilan na pumalakpak kaagad.

Ngunit kung babasahin o pakinggan mo ng masinsinan ang sinabi ng Presidente, hindi niya aalis ang sistema ng pork barrel na ang paggastos sa isang proyekto at pagpalabas ng pera ay hindi sa paraan na ayon sa nasyunal na plano. Ang pork barrel ay depende sa mga senador o congressman at presidente.

Hahanap daw sila ng bagong paraan. Sabi ni Aquino:“Maghanap ng mas mainam na paraan upang siguruhing ang pera ng taumbayan ay mapunta sa taumbayan lamang.”

Ito pa ang sabi ng Pangulo:

Aquino’s doublespeak on PDAF and ‘pork’

Published by Ellen on August 24, 2013

By Yvonne T. Chua, VERA Files President Benigno S. Aquino III announced Friday his administration is set to “abolish” the infamous Priority Development Assistance Fund,…

Pork by any name

Published by Ellen on August 24, 2013

By YvonneT.Chua and Booma B. Cruz,VERAFiles (Note: The excerpt on the history of pork barrel in the Philippines was written by VERA Files trustees Yvonne…

Hold your applause

Published by Ellen on August 22, 2013

PNoy: all pork barrel misuse is during past administration. — PNoy: all pork barrel misuse was during past administration.

I will hold my applause until I see the results of the Aquino administration’s efforts to investigate the pork barrel scam which was triggered by the discovery of a Janet Napoles operations involving initially five opposition senators and has now spilled into the current administration’s territory.

President Aquino and the Senate leadership have shown that they are listening to passions online and on the ground by accommodating the call for a probe into the misuse of the multi-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund, commonly referred to as pork barrel.

After dismissing the Napoles-triggered pork barrel expose estimated to reach as high as P10 billion as not as massive as the P728 million fertilizer scam during the time of Gloria Arroyo, Aquino yesterday said he is open to the suggestion of Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano to tap former Sen. Panfilo Lacson as special independent investigator who will look into the alleged irregularities in the use of pork barrel funds by some senators.

Malacañang buys time on pork barrel scam

Published by Ellen on August 20, 2013

More than a month into the Janet Napoles pork barrel scandal that started with the involvement of five opposition five senators, the Aquino administration finds itself on the defensive.

After dismissing the Napoles-operated pork barrel scam estimated to reach P10 billion as paling in comparison to the P728 million fertilizer scam during the Arroyo administration (what kind of math is he using?), President Aquino last Monday rejected calls for the abolition of much- maligned practice saying that it can be used for the good of the people. “As in everything else, there are good uses, and bad uses. Perhaps the right thing to do is apply the appropriate punishment for the misuse, but support its good use especially in communities outside the National Capital Region,” he said.

Aquino’s stand dismayed many of his supporters who held on to his campaign promise of a reformist government bannered by the “Tuwid na Daan” slogan. Some of those are calling on everybody to join the “Million People March” to Rizal Park on Aug. 26, National Heroes Day, startijg at 9 a.m. to express their outrage over how the funds for the less fortunate have been flagrantly misused by persons elected to serve the people.

What the FAQs do not answer

Published by Ellen on August 19, 2013

DFA Asst. Secretary Carlos Sorreta and DND Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino.

As part of its hearts and minds campaign, the Philippine panel negotiating with the United States on increased access of American military in the country has come out with answers to frequently asked questions.

Both panels have agreed that the agreement they are negotiating will be titled “Increased Rotational Presence (IRP) Framework Agreement.

Their answers, however, lead to more questions because they are fond of using big words that make you wonder whether they are referring to a thing or a creature or whatever. They also give incomplete information which does not make for a truthful answer.

Examples:

Ask Napoles to spell ‘forty’

Published by Ellen on August 15, 2013

Retired Marine Colonel Ariel Querubin remembers that when Jenny Napoles, the pork barrel queen who is now a fugitive, wrote a check for forty thousand pesos for the interest of the money she owed his late first wife, Loretta (Cercenia), she didn’t know how to spell the word “forty.”

“Ano nga ang spelling ng forty (How is forty spelled?),” Querubin recalled Napoles asking him.

He spelled out F-O-R-T-Y to her.

“She probably was not sure if she would spell it with a “u” as in “four”, Querubin, a Medal of Valor Awardee, said.

Napoles’ being unsure how to spell “forty” (which shows that you need not be good in spelling to amass billions of money) is just a sidelight of Querubin’s unpleasant memory of Napoles, who borrowed money from his military doctor-wife, with a promise to pay it with a five percent interest, for an investment she was making in a shipyard business.

The transaction turned out to be traumatic for Querubin because after a day after a stressful meeting of his wife with Napoles on Aug. 18, 1994, the former died of “unexplained primary pulmonary hypertension.”

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