July 2007 – Page 3 – ellen tordesillas

Trial turns into protest forum

Published by Ellen on July 19, 2007

Indeed, the all-powerful unseen hand has a way of spoiling the most calculated plans.

Just like what happened in the court martial hearing of the mutiny case against 28 Marine and Army officers involved in the Feb. 2006 aborted withdrawal of support from Gloria Arroyo.

If the reason for the holding the hearing a week ahead of the agreed schedule had something to do with rendering the accused irrelevant for whatever the government is planning in the coming days, the opposite was achieved because the hearing served as a forum for the Marines to express their sympathy to their fallen comrades and disgust for the inept manner that the military leadership is handling the situation.

Gloria ‘jokes’ she will run for House

Published by Ellen on July 19, 2007

It’s a float. The scheming Gloria Arroyo is testing public reaction.

President Arroyo has once more revived the issue of Charter change with her remark yesterday that she might run for a congressional seat in Pampanga when her term ends in 2010.

Arroyo made the remark at the opening of the Luzon Urban Beltway infrastructure conference at the terminal lounge of the Subic Bay International Airport,

See the world, feed on public trough

Published by Ellen on July 18, 2007

Read this story to see the dreadful kind of human beings we have as members of our House of Representatives.

by Peter Tabingo

Go globe-trotting on taxpayers’ money and get paid even without working.

With these and similar promises of the good life, senior members of the House of Representatives yesterday welcomed first-term members during the chamber’s orientation seminar.

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. regaled his audience of some 80 neophyte and returning lawmakers with the announcement that since last year, each House member’s allowance for foreign travel has been pegged at P1 million.

Ang legacy kuno ni Gloria Arroyo

Published by Ellen on July 18, 2007

Naiisip kaya ni Gloria Arroyo na alam ng buong bayan na siya ay mandaraya at sinungaling ng kanyang sabihin sa harapan ng mga negosyante na gusto niya maala-ala ang kanyang administrasyon na nag iwan ng “mas mabuting edukasyon”?

Sa conference ng Corporate Social Responsibility Expo 2007, ipinagyabang ni Arroyo na ang kanyang administrasyon daw ay nagbuhos ng maraming pera sa edukasyon kalakip ng kanyang programa sa pagpalago ng “human capital”.

Ang sarap pakinggan ng mga salita ni Arroyo. Kaya lang kapag siya ang nagsasalita, nawawala ang halaga.

Court martial president ousted by peremptory challenge

Published by Ellen on July 18, 2007

by Victor Reyes
Malaya

CAMP CAPINPIN, Tanay, Rizal – Former Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda’s lawyer yesterday caused the expulsion of Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano by exercising peremptory challenge against the president of the general court martial that has been trying Miranda and 27 other military officers in the last eight months for last year’s failed power grab.

Under the military justice system, all accused in a court martial have the right to peremptorily challenge any member of the tribunal without cause, a move that automatically disqualifies the challenged member.

Yano, who is the head of the Southern Luzon Command, was forced to inhibit himself. He designated Maj. Gen. Raul Caballes to take over but Caballes was himself peremptorily challenged by another accused, former Scout Ranger Regiment commander Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim.

Why did the honorable Marine officers shave their heads

Published by Ellen on July 18, 2007

The main attraction in today’s court martial hearing in Camp Capinpin was the presence of seven Marine officers in the court room with their shaven heads in sympathy and sorrow with their fallen comrades in Basilan.

Three issues

Published by Ellen on July 17, 2007

Back from attending a family matter in our province in Antique, I find that the bulk of the contents of my mailbox can be divided into three main issues: the Basilan tragedy, the Human Security Act , and the proclamation of Juan Miguel Zubiri as the 12 th winning senator courtesy of the manufactured votes from Maguindanao.

Let’s leave Zubiri to his own karma. Like his principal, Gloria Arroyo, he will always be known as the product of cheating. Text messages refer to him as Daya na Zubiri.

A number of groups are up in arms against the inhuman Human Security Act. One such group is composed of law students of the University of the Philippines, yesterday filed a petition with the Quezon City Regional Trial Court seeking for declaratory relief on certain provisions of the Human Security Act. They are students of Atty. Harry Roque.

Accused Marine officers shave heads over Basilan

Published by Ellen on July 17, 2007

When they appear in the court martial hearing tomorrow, Marine colonels Ariel Querubin, Orlando de Leon and Custodio Parcon will be bald. They have shaved their heads in sympathy with the families of the Marines who died whenthey were ambushed by the MILF in Basilan last week and in disgust the way the military is handling the tragedy.

By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net

Three Marine officers facing court martial over an alleged February 2006 coup plot have shaved their heads not only in sympathy for their 14 comrades slain in an encounter in Basilan last week but also to show their disgust with the military leadership’s handling of the incident.

“We shaved our heads to sympathize with out fallen comrades and manifest our disgust for the manner by which the government and the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] leadership is handling the incident,” Colonel Ariel Querubin said in a text message forwarded to reporters by his wife, Maria Flor.,

Kawawang mga sundalong Pilipino

Published by Ellen on July 14, 2007

Update: Two Marine commanders relieved over Basilan debacle.

Kasumpa-sumpa itong trahedya na nangyari sa Tipo-tipo noong Martes kung saan inambus ang mga Marines ng mga miyembro ng Moro Islamic Liberation Front ng pabalik na sila sa kampo galing sa paghahanap kay Fr.Giancarlo Bossi, ang nakidnap na Italyanong pari.

Labing-apat ang namatay na sundalo. Hindi lang yun. Sampo sa namatay ay pinugutan ng ulo. Mga hayop talaga.

Nag-order si Gloria Arroyo na lipulin raw ang may kagagawan ng karumal-dumal na trahedya. Sinabi ngayon ng military na magpapadala raw sila ng isa pang batallion (mga 500 hanggang 600 na sundalo).

Dapat lang.

Zubiri to be proclaimed

Published by Ellen on July 13, 2007

Courtesy of the manufactured Maguindanao votes, Juan Miguel Zubiri becomes senator.

ABS-CBN’s report:

The Supreme Court denied on Friday the petition of Genuine Opposition candidate Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III to issue a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the proclamation of Team Unity bet Juan Miguel Zubiri as the 12th senator of the May 14 elections, TV Patrol World reported Friday.

The SC hearing on the oral arguments on Pimentel’s petition lasted seven hours. Seven Justices voted to issue a TRO while the other seven rejected the petition of Pimentel.

Month: July 2007