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Anti-GMA rallies losing steam, says Palace By Marvin Sy, Philippine Star Sunday, March 16, 2008
Malacañang believes that the demonstrations against President Arroyo are losing steam as people start to realize that the courts and not the streets are the proper venue for determining the truth about current controversies.
Interviewed over state-run dzRB, deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez cited the dwindling attendance in the anti-Arroyo rallies staged in Metro Manila since the Senate started public hearings on the controversial $329-million national broadband network (NBN) deal with China's ZTE Corp.
He said last Friday's youth rally at the Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila showed that the people are losing interest in the demonstrations after realizing that the courts should be the ones to determine what the truth is about the alleged overpricing and bribery involved in the scrapped NBN-ZTE deal as well as other irregularities.
Golez said the people are not joining the anti-government protest actions because rally organizers have presented speakers who were only spreading rumors.
He pointed out that the anti-Arroyo groups are now trying their luck in the provinces since they failed to get the support of the people in Metro Manila.
Senate witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. has started his provincial tour, specifically in schools, to encourage people to join him in the search for truth after going around campuses in Metro Manila.
Golez said that Lozada's appeal in the provinces was not as strong as in Manila as evidenced in his Iloilo sortie last Friday.
He said the Iloilo City tour of Lozada was the only one highlighted in the media and not the Bacolod City rally because of the poor attendance.
Golez claimed that more or less 300 people attended the Bacolod leg of Lozada's tour.
"The fame is dwindling and the inconsistencies are coming out. People are starting to see the real motive for the tour," Golez said.
Malacanang has been critical of Lozada and his tour of campuses as it believes this is all part of the efforts to oust the President.
Golez said that Lozada and his supporters were getting frustrated by their failure in Metro Manila and they will now spread their rumors in the provinces.
Pardoned President Joseph Estrada, who had joined those who are accusing Mrs. Arroyo of corruption, was also criticized by Golez.
While acknowledging that the former president has every right to say what he wants even against the administration, Golez said that his words have little or no impact considering that he was convicted of plunder.
Golez noted that his presence at rallies was frowned upon by some demonstrators, particularly when he started talking about graft and corruption.
He expressed confidence that the rallies would eventually die down because the people are starting to realize that there is no evidence against the President.
"We can see that everything that is being said by our detractors are mere rumors and that the hard evidence is that the President and her government are working. The people see the evidence based on statistics, based on facts, based on findings. Rumors cannot compete with evidence," Golez said.
Actual (not government-fabricated) J LO trip to Bacolod and Iloilo
Far Eastern Economic Review January/February 2008
Manila’s Bungle in The South China Sea by Barry Wain
When Vietnamese students gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi last December to protest against China’s perceived bullying over disputed territory in the South China Sea, it signaled Hanoi’s intention to turn up the heat a bit.
And Beijing reacted in kind; instead of downplaying the incident, a foreign ministry spokesman complained, “China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands.” The bluster on both sides, while just a blip in this long-running feud, is a timely reminder that the South China Sea remains one of the region’s flashpoints. What most observers don’t realize is that in the last few years, regional cooperative efforts to coax Beijing into a more measured stance have been set back by one of the rival claimants to the islands.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s hurried trip to China in late 2004 produced a major surprise. Among the raft of agreements ceremoniously signed by the two countries was one providing for their national oil companies to conduct a joint seismic study in the contentious South China Sea, a prospect that caused consternation in parts of Southeast Asia. Within six months, however, Vietnam, the harshest critic, dropped its objections and joined the venture, which went ahead on a tripartite basis and shrouded in secrecy.
In the absence of any progress towards solving complex territorial and jurisdictional disputes in the South China Sea, the concept of joint development is resonating stronger than ever. The idea is fairly simple: Shelve sovereignty claims temporarily and establish joint development zones to share the ocean’s fish, hydrocarbon and other resources. The agreement between China, the Philippines and Vietnam, three of the six governments that have conflicting claims, is seen as a step in the right direction and a possible model for the future.
But as details of the undertaking emerge, it is beginning to look like anything but the way to go. For a start, the Philippine government has broken ranks with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which was dealing with China as a bloc on the South China Sea issue. The Philippines also has made breathtaking concessions in agreeing to the area for study, including parts of its own continental shelf not even claimed by China and Vietnam. Through its actions, Manila has given a certain legitimacy to China’s legally spurious “historic claim” to most of the South China Sea.
Although the South China Sea has been relatively peaceful for the past decade, it remains one of East Asia’s potential flashpoints. The Paracel Islands in the northwest are claimed by China and Vietnam, while the Spratly Islands in the south are claimed in part or entirety by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. All but Brunei, whose claim is limited to an exclusive economic zone and a continental shelf that overlap those of its neighbors, man military garrisons in the scattered islets, cays and rocks of the Spratlys.
After extensive Chinese structures were discovered in 1995 on Mischief Reef, on the Philippine continental shelf and well within the Philippine 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, Asean persuaded Beijing to drop its resistance to the “internationalization” of the South China Sea issue. Instead of insisting on only bilateral discussions with claimant states, China agreed to deal with Asean as a group on the matter. Rodolfo Severino, a former secretary-general of Asean, has lauded “Asean solidarity and cooperation in a matter of vital security concern.”
Asean and China, however, failed in their attempt to negotiate a code of conduct. In the “Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea,” signed in 2002, they pledged to settle territorial disagreements peacefully and to exercise restraint in activities that could spark conflict. But the declaration is far from watertight. A political statement, not a legally binding treaty, it doesn’t specify the geographical scope and is, at best, an interim step.
Since the issuance of the declaration, a tenuous stability has descended on the South China Sea. With Asean countries benefiting from China’s booming economy, boosted by a free-trade agreement, Southeast Asian political leaders are happy to forget about this particular set of problems that once bedeviled their relations with Beijing. Yet none of the multifaceted disputes has been resolved, and no mechanism exists to prevent or manage conflicts. With no plans to discuss even the sovereignty of contested islands, claimants now accept that it will be decades, perhaps generations, before the tangled claims are reconciled.
Recent incidents and skirmishes are a sharp reminder of how dangerous the situation remains. In the middle of last year, Chinese naval vessels fired on Vietnamese fishing boats near the Paracels, killing one fisherman and wounding six others, while British giant BP halted work associated with a gas pipeline off the Vietnamese coast after a warning by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. In the past few months, Beijing and Hanoi have traded denunciations as the Chinese, in particular, maneuver to reinforce territorial claims. Vietnam protested when China conducted a large naval exercise around the Paracels in November.
China’s decision in December to create an administrative center on Hainan to manage the Paracels, Spratlys and another archipelago, though symbolic, was regarded as particularly provocative by Hanoi. The Vietnamese authorities facilitated demonstrations outside the Chinese diplomatic missions in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to make known their displeasure.
Friction can be expected to increase as the demand for energy by China and dynamic Southeast Asian economies rises and they intensify the search for oil and gas. While hydrocarbon reserves in the South China Sea are unproven, the belief that huge deposits exist keeps interest intense. As world oil prices hit record levels, the discovery of commercially viable reserves would raise tensions and “transform security circumstances” in the Spratlys, according to Ralf Emmers, an associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
President Arroyo’s agreement with China for a joint seismic study was controversial in several respects. By not consulting other Asean members beforehand, the Philippines abandoned the collective stance that was key to the group’s success with China over the South China Sea. Ironically, it was Manila that first sought a united front and rallied Asean to confront China over its intrusion into Mischief Reef a decade earlier. Sold the idea by politicians with business links who have other deals going with the Chinese, Ms. Arroyo did not seek the views of her foreign ministry, Philippines officials say. By the time the foreign ministry heard about it and objected, it was too late, the officials say.
Philippine diplomats might have been able to warn her that while joint development has been successfully implemented elsewhere, Beijing’s understanding of the concept is peculiarly Chinese. The only location that China is known to have nominated for joint development is a patch off the southern coast of Vietnam called Vanguard Bank, which is in Vietnamese waters where China has “no possibly valid claim,” as a study by a U.S. law firm put it. Beijing’s suggestion in the 1990s that it and Hanoi jointly develop Vanguard Bank was considered doubly outrageous because China insisted that it alone must retain sovereignty of the area. Also of no small consideration was the fact that such a bilateral deal would split Southeast Asia.
The hollowness of China’s policy of joint development, loudly proclaimed for nearly 20 years, was confirmed long ago by Hasjim Djalal, Indonesia’s foremost authority on maritime affairs, when he headed a series of workshops on the South China Sea. Mr. Hasjim set out to test the concept of joint development, taking several years to identify an area in which each country would both relinquish and gain something in terms of its claims. In 1996, he designated an area of some thousands of square kilometers, amounting to a small opening in the middle of the South China Sea, which cut across the Spratlys and went beyond them. Joint development, unspecified, was to take place in the “hole,” with no participant having to formally abandon its claims. Beijing alone refused to further explore the doughnut proposal, as it was dubbed, complaining that the intended zone was in the area China claimed. Of course it was, that being the essence of the plan, without which it was difficult to imagine having joint development.
China’s bottom line on joint development at that time: What is mine is mine and what is yours is ours.
Beijing and Manila did not make public the text of their “Agreement for Seismic Undertaking for Certain Areas in the South China Sea By and Between China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Philippine National Oil Company.” After the agreement was signed on Sept. 1, 2004, the Philippine government said the joint seismic study, lasting three years, would “gather and process data on stratigraphy, tectonics and structural fabric of the subsurface of the area.”
Although the government said the undertaking “has no reference to petroleum exploration and production,” it was obvious that the survey was intended precisely to gauge prospects for oil and gas exploration and production. Nobody could think of an alternative explanation for seismic work, especially in the wake of year-earlier press reports that CNOOC and PNOC had signed a letter of intent to begin the search for oil and gas.
Vietnam immediately voiced concern, declaring that the agreement, concluded without consultation, was not in keeping with the spirit of the 2002 Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties. Hanoi “requested” Beijing and Manila disclose what they had agreed and called on other Asean members to join Vietnam in “strictly implementing” the declaration. After what Hanoi National University law lecturer Nguyen Hong Thao calls “six months of Vietnamese active struggle, supported by other countries,” state-owned PetroVietnam joined the China-Philippine pact.
Vietnam’s inclusion in the modified and renamed “Tripartite Agreement for Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking in the Agreement Area in the South China Sea,” signed on March 14, 2005, was scarcely a victory for consensus-building and voluntary restraint. The Philippines, militarily weak and lagging economically, had opted for Chinese favors at the expense of Asean political solidarity. In danger of being cut out, the Vietnamese joined, “seeking to make the best out of an unsatisfactory situation,” as Mr. Severino puts it. The transparency that Hanoi had demanded was still missing, with even the site of the proposed seismic study concealed.
Now that the location is known, the details having leaked into research circles, the reasons for wanting to keep it under wraps are apparent: “Some would say it was a sell-out on the part of the Philippines,” says Mark Valencia, an independent expert on the South China Sea. The designated zone, a vast swathe of ocean off Palawan in the southern Philippines, thrusts into the Spratlys and abuts Malampaya, a Philippine producing gas field. About one-sixth of the entire area, closest to the Philippine coastline, is outside the claims by China and Vietnam. Says Mr. Valencia: “Presumably for higher political purposes, the Philippines agreed to these joint surveys that include parts of its legal continental shelf that China and Vietnam don’t even claim.”
Worse, by agreeing to joint surveying, Manila implicitly considers the Chinese and Vietnamese claims to have a legitimate basis, he says. In the case of Beijing, this has serious implications, since the broken, U-shaped line on Chinese maps, claiming almost the entire South China Sea on “historic” grounds, is nonsensical in international law. (Theoretically, Beijing might stake an alternative claim based on an exclusive economic zone and continental shelf from nearby islets that it claims, but they would be restricted by similar claims by rivals.) Manila’s support for the Chinese “historic claim,” however indirect, weakens the positions of fellow Asean members Malaysia and Brunei, whose claimed areas are partly within the Chinese U-shaped line. It is a stunning about-face by Manila, which kicked up an international fuss in 1995 when the Chinese moved onto the submerged Mischief Reef on the same underlying “historic claim” to the area.
Some commentators have hailed the tripartite seismic survey as a landmark event, echoing the upbeat interpretation put on it by the Philippines and China. The parties insist it is a strictly commercial venture by their national oil companies that does not change the sovereignty claims of the three countries involved. Ms. Arroyo calls it an “historic diplomatic breakthrough for peace and security in the region.” But that assessment is, at the very least, premature.
Not only do the details of the three-way agreement remain unknown, but almost nothing has been disclosed about progress on the seismic study, which should be completed in the next few months. Much will depend on the results and what the parties do next. Already, according to regional officials, China has approached Malaysia and Brunei separately, suggesting similar joint ventures. If it is confirmed that China has split Asean and the Southeast Asian claimants and won the right to jointly develop areas of the South China Sea it covets only by virtue of its “historic claim,” Beijing will have scored a significant victory.
Mr. Wain, writer-in-residence at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, is a former editor of The Wall Street Journal Asia. I got this email:
"dear gloria,
why not release all the prisoners tomorrow? do you need them to form your own little army?
it sure looks that way. forget the little guy. just release all the guys who killed ninoy. no doubt your place in history will be assured. after all, death squads are made that way.
with all our love and contempt,
The Filipino People" Romy Neri - There's a place for us (the Filipino People) Somewhere a place for us. But not for you. DO NOT buy or lease .PH domains. They cost too much because the owner, a certain Joel Disini, has a monopoly and has allegedly been earning a minimum of two million dollars, some say tax free because he does not issue Official receipts, only some possible fake Hong Kong Company receipts. By now, with the industry growing, it is possible he makes $3 million USDdollars a year by leasing out overpriced domain names. How the government has been ignoring him is fascinating. And the BIR is asleep, as always. Disini y Familia reportedly run this company Mafia like, and uses relatives to ahndle company matters. It is quite interesting to note that no government agency is taking an interest in such a huge-income company. His dot.PH company, which reportedly is run mafia-like by Disini, alleged nephew of Marcos crony Herminio Disini of Bataan nuclear Plant infamy. Blood is thicker than water. money, even thicker than blood. DEAR FELLOW WRITERS :
I hope this reply reaches Burmese webmasters. here is a clue: USE CODES. Make the military wrack their single minded brains. You can do it. There are many website on cryptography. We, along with other sympathizers, are waiting to help.
Regards, gerry.kaimo@gmail.com Many
say that Romulo Neri can provide the "missing link" in the ZTE-
Motorcycle Mayhem July 2nd, 2007 by araymanila
The government should first check on the helmet laws for motorcyclists and admit that they have little knowledge about what kind of quality of helmet these bikers are wearing. Anyone who passes by the Ortigas EDSA route will see that motorcycle helmets are for sale by street hawkers, along with toys and cigarettes. Also visible are motorcyclists wearing engineering safety hats and the like in lieu of motorcycle-rated helmets.
Also, if you want to see how serious these government officers are about the bikers laws, they should first look at the way that motorcycle-riding law enforcers wear their helmets. It is not hard to notice that these fools do not strap on their helmets. They merely put them on their heads and think that as toughies their heads are harder than concrete, considering the way they wear their helmets. They don’t even strap them on, rendering the helmets useless as they will fly off their empty heads in an accident.
DUH. You can buy a helmet but can’t buy common sense at any price. SC chief says war on terror mindless
RP rights violations linked to US strategy
By Leila Salaverria Inquirer Last updated 05:41am (Mla time) 04/23/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno has denounced as "mindless" the war on terrorism, saying the US strategy to root out terrorists anywhere has led to violations of human rights in the Philippines.
In an impassioned plea for respect of human rights, the country's top jurist also warned that a state hobbled by credibility problems and corruption would not be able to protect civil liberties.
"The war on terrorism has inevitable spillover effects on human rights all over the world, especially in countries suspected (of) being used as havens of terrorists," Puno said. He added this had led to the taking of legal shortcuts.
"These shortcuts have scarred the landscape of [human] rights in the Philippines," he said.
The United States has hailed the Philippines as a major ally in its war on terror in Asia and has been training Filipino troops in the campaign against foreign-backed extremists operating in southern Philippines.
"The threats to our national security and human rights will be aggravated if we have a state weakened internally by a government hobbled by corruption, struggling with credibility, battling the endless insurgence of the left and the right, and by a state weakened externally by pressure exerted by creditor countries, by countries where our trade comes from, by countries that supply our military and police armaments," Puno said.
"A weak state cannot fully protect the rights of its citizens within its borders just as a state without economic independence cannot protect the rights of its citizens who are abroad from the exploitation of more powerful countries."
Puno spoke at the commencement exercises of the University of the East last week, and a copy of his speech was e-mailed to reporters by the Supreme Court information office.
Eliminating the evil
Puno said that terrorism was terrible enough "but the mindless, knee-jerk reaction to extirpate the evil is more discomforting."
He added that the "quickie solution is to unfurl the flag, sing the national anthem, and issue the high-pitched call to arms for the military and the police to use their weapons under the theme 'victory at all costs.'"
He said laws limiting individual rights in the name of state security had been passed.
"To put constitutional cosmetics to the military-police muscular efforts, lawmakers usually enact laws using security of the state to justify the diminution of human rights by allowing arrests without warrants, surveillance of suspects, interception and recording of communications, seizure or freezing of bank deposits, assets and records of suspects," he added.
"They also redefine terrorism as a crime against humanity and the redefinition is broadly drawn to constrict and shrink further the zone of individual rights."
RP's anti-terror law
Puno made no specific mention of the Philippines' own anti-terror law, the Human Security Act of 2007, which allows warrantless arrests, surveillance and seizure of bank assets, among others.
His statements were the latest to emanate from a judiciary which several times in the past had expressed concern over the violation of civil liberties in the country.
In previous decisions, the Supreme Court had struck down presidential or state directives involving security matters. These included President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's imposition of emergency rule last year and the so-called calibrated preemptive response policy allowing police to break up street demonstrations.
It also voided the recent arrest by the police of leftist leader Rep. Satur Ocampo.
Puno also said the acts of terrorists also violated human rights but they should not be the sole focus of the people's attention, pointing out that terrorism tended to draw attention because of the "cinematic impact" of violence.
Lesson from history
"If there is any lesson that we can derive from the history of human rights, it is none other than that these rights cannot be obliterated by bombs but neither can they be preserved by bullets alone," Puno said.
Puno said that in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, the United States -- "the worst victim of terrorism" -- pursued a strategy of "bruising aggressiveness" that sent legal observers wondering.
He said the effects of US actions had spilled over to the Philippines.
He pointed out that the US did not even wait for the United Nations to act and instead launched attacks against terrorists wherever they could be found.
"In less polite parlance, the search and destroy strategy gave little respect to the sovereignty of states and violated their traditional borders," he said.
He added that this strategy trampled on the basic liberties of suspected terrorists, "for laws are silent when the guns of war do the talking."
Legal shortcuts
"One visible result of the scramble to end terrorism is to take legal shortcuts and legal shortcuts always shrink the scope of human rights," he said.
Puno cited the escalation of extrajudicial killings in the country which got the attention of international groups, and reports of how the New People's Army rebels themselves "lawlessly retaliated" for such killings.
Puno also said poverty was a form of terrorism.
"In poor countries, it is poverty that truly terrorizes people for they are terrorized by the thought that they will die because of empty stomachs and not that they will lose their lives due to some invisible suicide bombers," he said.
He also said this lack of resources led to the violation of poor people's human rights because they did not dare participate in a slow-moving justice system that would only cost them money.
It does not matter exactly how many poor people there are in the Philippines, he said, citing news reports quoting the World Bank as saying 15 million people in the country survive on less than $1 a day against a government claim that only 10.5 million Filipinos live on such an amount.
He said the fact was that the country continued to be beset by poverty.
Everybody's concern
"To the unsophisticated in the esoterics of economics, this is a distinction without difference for the cruel fact is that poverty stalks this land of plenty and hunger is still the best food seasoning of its people," he said.
Puno also said the campaign against terror had led to a massive displacement of young people from their areas.
He warned: "It will not take a prophet to predict that countries that cannot give decent life to their young people will serve as incubators of extremism that may end up in terrorism."
Puno said protecting human rights was everybody's burden and that the apathy of fence-sitters was the worst enemy of human rights since it allowed violations to continue.
"The apathy of those who can make a difference is the reason why violations of human rights continue to prosper. The worst enemy of human rights is not its non-believers but the fence-sitters who will not lift a finger despite their violations," he said.
Right to live with dignity
He also said the fight against terrorism and the battle to preserve human rights would affect the youth's right to live with dignity. It could lead to their massive displacement in areas where the fight against terrorism trampled on human rights.
The rich and powerful should also not ignore the protection of the rights of the poor and powerless just because they remained unaffected, he said.
Incursions
"Sooner or later, they will find that they who default in protecting the rights of the many will end up without rights like the many," he said.
"With the incursions and threats of incursion to our human rights at this crucial moment in our history, the clarion call to each one of us is to consecrate our lives to the great cause of upholding our human rights," Puno said. Whale Meat Sushi in Metro-Manila's Central Business District By Lory Tan
First, it was Napoleon Wrasse. Heightened consumer awareness fueled a civil society email campaign to compel restaurants serving "mameng" to take it off their menus.
Of the five restaurants identified in Manila, Portico and the North Park chain acted immediately and withdrew the protected species from their menus. The Jumbo Restaurant on the bay and the Chinese restaurant at Century Park and Gloria Maris continue to serve it, though.
A newly aware private sector has just revealed new violations of both local fisheries orders and CITES rules.
Whale meat is being openly served at two restaurants in Makati, Metro-Manila's Central Business District. Tsukiji Restaurant on Pasay Road and Sushi Tsumura in Salcedo both serve whale meat. The second restaurant, in fact, specifically identifies it as minke whale meat.
A private sector led SMS campaign has called for a public boycott of these two restaurants until they pull the illegal meat off their menus. WWF has forwarded the reports to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources - the Philippine national CITES authority for whales and dolphins.
The best written laws produce no public benefit unless they are implemented consistently and without favor. Strict enforcement fosters compliance. A case in point - a Korean resort, just off Mactan Island in Cebu, was reported to have close to one dozen captive hawksbill turtles on display for their guests. The Wildlife Act establishes a fine from P100,000 to P500,000 per animal. WWF reported the violation to the DENR close to a month ago. We have yet to receive a report on the actions taken.
Unless cases such as the restaurants serving live Napoleon Wrasse, the whale meat in Makati, and the captive hawksbill turtles in Cebu are acted upon with dispatch, we should not be surprised that barely 1% of Philippine reefs remain in pristine condition, while the use of explosives and poison continues in many parts of the country. The issue is not wildlife conservation. It is ecological productivity. The issue is food.
NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF THE PHILIPPINES (NUJP)
Statement February 15, 2007
Sedition charges vs Tribune: A chill wind for media
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines condemns the filing of sedition charges against Daily Tribune publisher Ninez Cacho-Olivarez and columnists Herman Tiu Laurel and Ike Seneres.
The Department of Justice's move sends a chill wind across the Philippine media landscape. But as the Arroyo administration learned during its ill-fated and short-lived efforts to impose tyranny over this nation, Filipino journalists will not be cowed by efforts to silence the press.
The DOJ said it filed the charges because the three journalists' articles tried to "lead or stir up the people against the lawful authorities, namely, the President of the Philippines, and disturb the peace of the community."
The kind of reasoning betrays the government's intent to silence a broad spectrum of legal dissent and sweep allegations of corruption, rights violations and other misdeeds under a thick cloud of fear.
The charge that critical write-ups undermine government officials and institutions is likewise typical of the administration's penchant to blame media for scandals and controversies borne of official misconduct.
The NUJP rejects the government's claim that "overriding demands and requirements of the greater number" justifies a clampdown on press freedom and freedom of expression.
It is in defending the people's right to know that the press and citizens lay down the foundations of a genuine democracy, one that highlights the accountability of public servants. Without this accountability, democracy becomes a farce.
The charges against our colleagues at Tribune shows that the demons of February 2006 that this administration sought to set loose on this land have not been exorcised.
That the charges against Tribune were filed during the visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial killings only displays the administration's brazen stance towards civil liberties.
The filing of the charges less than a year since the administration declared a state of emergency highlights the need for perpetual vigilance. If there is only thing we can expect from this government, it is that it will try and try again to narrow a democratic space already bloodied by the mounting murders of journalists, activists and judges.
The NUJP will not even call on the government to withdraw the charges. Instead, it calls on all media organizations and entities to support our Tribune colleagues in their fight against a tyrannical administration.
There is also one other way to defeat this administration's goal of muzzling the Press – that is for all Filipino journalists to meet this latest outrage with sustained, independent and courageous reportage on official misconduct.
The NUJP also calls on the public to support media's struggle to defend press freedom.
References:
Jose Torres Jr., chairperson Rowena Carranza-Paraan, secretary-general Globe's Convenient "System error"
Globe called me a couple of months ago to tell me that I was the recipient of their new promo, a rebate every month for one of my cell phone lines. I am supposed to be a member of their Platinum members. Exactly what that means is very vague to me.
What it does mean, though, as what Globe did this week was indicative of how they treat their Platinum members. After they tell me that I have a rebate on the phone bill, they appeared to have "forgotten" all about the program. I had to call them four or five times till someone gave me an idea of what this rebate meant to the common tao.
It means that in case you happen to call them 3 times a week for a month, one of their tech support representatives will say that there was a "system error" BUT not to fear as they had already flagged it. But that’s not the end of it. Apparently the flagpole is made of weak material, and the flag either flies away, or is swallowed up by the earth. So, again with the phone calls to tech support. It is quite evident that the "support" is given to Globe and kept going by our money. This money is then used to pay people to tell you that you need to call again to remind these tech support people, whose salaries we pay that you have a rebate. Otherwise, if you forget, their "system error" happens again.
To be sure, you have to call every week, be sure to ask for a reference number, wait for a few days, call again, wait for another reference number, and hope the "system error" does not yet again err against your account.
It's a great way to make easy money, entice people to use their phones more by giving you a rebate, then charge you for all the calls and if you notice, what with all the bills we have to monitor for accuracy --electricity, water, gas, fuel, etc. -- that you did not get your rebate they are sorry but hey, 'twas but a "system error".
Hey, call again next week.
Gee, and I thought Globe was different from the evildoers at PLDT.
Rumor has it that the current highest paying job in Manila is for food tasters for the Palace. The high paying job is not getting too many responses from it's ads...
The headline of the Philippine Daily Inquirer dated Nov. 2, 2006 reads "HUNGER HITS RECORD HIGH" and spells out the number of Filipinos who are literally starving to death -- 2.9 Million.
In the meantime, those who wield power in this banana republic opt to change the constitution and guarantee their stay in office for God knows how much longer. This makes sense only to the power-mad and obstinate. Unfortunately, as the power they do wield comes from the barrel of a gun and not from the people, their stay in power will see the number of hungry double in a few years, as funds for food goes to political pockets instead of the poor's stomachs.
Welcome to Manila, home of the wretched and land of the few.
List of Journalists Charged with Libel by Mike Arroyo
Newsbreak ("More Properties", Dec. 8, 2005 issue) 1. Marites Vitug (editor-in-chief) 2. Glenda Gloria (associate editor) 3. Ricky Carandang (business editor) 4. R. E. Otico (editorial consultant) 5. Jose Dalisay Jr. (editorial consultant) 6. Booma Cruz (contributing editor)
Newsbreak ("Will she now change?", June 7, 2004 issue) 7. Concepcion Paez (contributing writer)
Malaya ("Poe's Camp says Mike is Chief Cheating Operator", May 19, 2004) 8. JP Lopez (reporter) 9. Regina Bengco (reporter) 10. Amado Macasaet (editor-in-chief) 11. Enrique Romualdez (editor) 12. Joy de los Reyes (editor) 13. Ma. Teresa Molina (editor) 14. Minnie Advincula (editor) 15. Ellen Tordesillas (editor)
Malaya ("First Couple's idea of charity," July 9, 2004, Business Insight column by Macasaet) Amado Macasaet (publisher) 16. Rosario Galang (business editor)
Inquirer (14 counts, Tulfo's column "On Target" that appeared on Jan. 14, 17 and 26; March 9 and 23; May 23, June 17 and August 3, 2006) 17. Ramon Tulfo (columnist) 18. Isagani Yambot (publisher) 19. Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc (editor-in-chief) 20. Jose Ma. Nolasco (editor) 21. Abelardo Ulanday (editor) 22. Rosario Gargellano (editor) 23. Artemio Engracia Jr. (editor) 24. Jorge Aruta (editor) 25. Pergentino Bandayrel Jr. (editor) 26. Juan Sarmiento (editor)
Bandera (six counts, Tulfo's column "On Target" that appeared on Jan. 26, May 23 and 27, June 6,8 and 17) 27. Eileen Mangubat (publisher) 28. Beting Laygo Dolor (editor-in-chief) 29. Jimmy Alcantara (associate editor) 30. Raymond Rivera (circulation manager)
Tribune (stories where Tatad was quoted as saying Arroyo was his wife's "chief cheater", May 14, 16, 17 and 18, 2004) 31. Ninez Cacho-Olivares (editor-in-chief) 32. Romulo Mariñas (editor) 33. Gina Capili-Inciong (editor) 34. Jake Martin (editor) 35. Marvin Estigoy (editor) 36. Gerry Baldo (reporter) 37. Sherwin Olaes (reporter) 38. Lito Tugadi circulation manager 39. Jing Santos (subscription manager)
(For accusing Mike Arroyo of influencing RPN-9 network to axe "Isumbong Mo , Tulfo Brothers during a press conference in QC on August 2) (Ramon Tulfo) 40. Erwin Tulfo 41. Raffy Tulfo
INQ7.net ("How to Solve A Problem like Mike Arroyo", July 5, 2004, High Ground column) 42. William Esposo
LIST COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS IN THE PHILIPPINES SEPT. 2006 A Call for Unity and Sacrifice
It’s been a year after the Garci tapes first surfaced, and we are still hopelessly divided as ever. Each side appeal to the other to join their cause, both claim to represent the majority. The anti-GMA forces base their claim on survey results which consistently show that a vast majority believe GMA cheated. Pro-GMA forces claim the people have spoken – they have not responded to the opposition calls for protest. They conveniently forget that neither have the people responded to their call to move on.
The truth is we are in a political gridlock. And the situation will continue to worsen unless we see a breakthrough in the current impasse.
It is unreasonable to expect GMA and her allies to budge. Therefore, the only option left is for us within the anti-GMA camp, who claims to be motivated by love of country, to make the supreme sacrifice by abandoning our quest for the truth. After all, truth is a small price to pay for progress.
Let us heed the admonition of the bishops. They discourage us from pursuing impeachment, convinced that it will fail, and will only dismay every citizen. Besides, they question the motivation of some groups in our rank. In effect, they’re saying we might inadvertently abet the return of Erap, the succession of Noli (whom they probably see as incompetent), or worse, the ascendancy of the communists. So, let’s not waste our time and energy on impeachment.
While at it, let’s ask the poor to stop filing cases in court. They will only be dismayed since we all know it takes money to win a case. They will do all of us a favor by unclogging the dockets in our court system. The wheels of justice will finally grind faster, especially for those with enough money to influence the court decisions.
And what’s all this talk about asking the US government to deport Bolante so he can finally testify at the Senate hearing? We all know that he will simply deny all allegations, just like Garci did, and nothing much will happen. We will only be dismayed. Let’s not waste any more taxpayers’ money on all these Senate inquiries in aid of legislation.
On the other hand, the bishops want us to continue denouncing the palace-led people’s initiative for charter change. They find the haste by which Malacanang is pushing this rather alarming. I wonder why they do not find the alleged cheating and the subsequent cover-up efforts by the palace equally alarming.
I also wonder why they have decided to fight this one when the very same groups whose motivation they question are fighting this one, too. I guess it’s because non-partisan groups like One Voice and Kapatiran, are endorsing it. They have no agenda (just like many of us in the anti-GMA camp, anyway) and they know what’s best for this country. Let us join them and speak with one voice on this issue.
While at it, let’s also heed the repeated appeals of the “top 600 women” and businessmen like Donald Dee for us to stop all forms of protest. They only scare investors away and imperil the economy. Let’s not nitpick on the issue of cheating. Everybody cheats anyway. Some of them even expect us to be thankful for GMA’s cheating, because it saved us from an FPJ presidency. The end justifies the means.
Let’s not bother to have elections in 2007 and 2010. In fact, let’s not have elections ever. Everybody will cheat, anyway. And we run the risk of our mindless masa voting another incompetent movie personality into office. Let’s just leave the future of this nation to these all-knowing non-partisan groups. Never mind that the rest of our people do not agree with them. They know better.
Some of them actually believe that what this nation needs at this time is a benevolent dictator. And they cite Singapore’s success under Lee Kwan Yu as the best example. No wonder they eagerly embrace GMA’s all-out war against the leftists. Never mind the unabated killings (they’re all communists, anyway) and escalating human rights violations. They are but small sacrifices that we can offer in the altar of national progress.
Of course, GMA supporters will not openly admit that she is a dictator, even though she has repeatedly violated the constitution with CPR, EO 464, and PP 1017. But we can all agree that she is benevolent. Just ask the Comelec officials who met at her house and the congressmen who voted down impeachment last year. But then again, the bishops may not agree. P20,000 in an envelope can hardly be considered benevolent.
I call on my colleagues in the anti-GMA movement to stand down and join the majority of our people who believe she cheated but have decided not to do anything about it. That is the most patriotic thing to do.
Never mind that we are breeding a new generation of Filipinos lacking in moral scruples, where lying, stealing and cheating abound. You cannot eat morality. Never mind that our rights are curtailed and our basic liberties trampled. You cannot drink democracy. National unity, at whatever cost, is our only hope for a better future and a strong republic.
How times have changed. I remember, right after EDSA 1, people proclaimed, “Never again!” Now, all we can say is “Never mind!”
Enteng Romano III Convenor, Black and White Movement
P.S. – please pass this on to everyone you know who are actively involved in or even remotely supportive of the anti-GMA movement that they may be enlightened and do the right thing for the sake of our nation.
WHAT? church calls a fiction novel a "hoax". Duh. GMA pulling another Marcosian move? Right after former Supreme Court Chief writes that the Comelec needs some serious work, she sends him to the UN.
HER-RATINGS-HAVE-DROPPED-WAY-PAST-BOTTOM-dotcom
THE DEPORT RONNIE NATHANIELSZ MOVEMENT GATHERS STEAM. We posted the story of an arrogant Nathanielsz in this page and to our yahoo-groups. Before long, it turned out that there are other people who thought that he had already left the country. After learning that he hadn't, they asked us to launch a movement calling for his deportation. Due to persistent public demand, we are gathering signatures for a deport-Nathanielsz campaign. Please send your email to webmaster at kaimo.com to take part in the move to deport this despised imported marcos propagandist who was the sinister and infamous foreign voice that condemned Pinoys throughout the archipelago.
TV show extolling the great career of Ronnie Nathanieslz inspires Filipinos?!? The unthinkable has happened. Cito Beltran actually put Marcos media mouth Ronnie Nathanielsz on his show. And, falling prey to the expert propagandist, Beltran appeared to have lost control of his own show. There was the part about how Nathanielsz actually was the hero of the underground movement because he was the man who had the guts to feature Ninoy Aquino on a live interview during the Marcos dictatorship. Viewers all over the country witnessed history being altered all throughout the interview as Nathanielsz bruited about all the great things he did with Ninoy, Don Chino Roces and even Pepe Diokno. May lightning strike the liars dead. As for me, I am not watching that show anymore. It stooped too low this time. Nathanielsz was a rat. No two ways about it. How a rat manages to talk is incredible. Giving a rat media mileage is not. It is intolerable. Ninoy was a hero, not because of Nathanielsz but because of what he did for the people and the cause we were fighting for. Biggest joke that came out of the interview- Nathanielsz wants to host a late night talk show, claiming he has a great sense of humor. Duh. |
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100% PURE Pinoy - UNADULTERATED ANGST, PAIN, tears, criminals, saints, crocodiles and more, RUMORS, true and false data, bad jokes, true lies, untrue lies, or a combination of both. QUE HORROR! The site everyone talks about but no one really reads. LAUGHTER and LIES FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY Or what? Nada, Zilch. B0KYA. Everything written on this site is a joke, isn't it? Mabuhay ang Pilipino ! Pero Hindi lahat. Mabuhi ang Pilipino! Pero dili tanan. |
