By Gian Geronimo VERA Files The celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal on June 19 becomes more meaningful because the public…
Making life worth living.
Author: Ellen
On June 21, a Tuesday, the family and friends of journalist Chit Estella-Simbulan will mark the 40th day of her death in a car accident on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon city last month’s Friday, the 13th.
At 6:30 a.m, there will be a “Run for Road Safety” to be led by running priest Fr. Robert Reyes starting at the College of Mass Communication, where Chit was a member of the faculty. The run will take the route of University Avenue, then Commonwealth towards the site of the accident, in front of the Ayala Techno Hub, which Fr. Reyes will bless. The participants will be escorted by MMDA motorcycle units and traffic will be rerouted briefly for the activity.
(We will never be this complete anymore.Photo is the last of VERA Files trustees together. From left: Booma Cruz, Chit Estella, Ellen Tordesillas, Yvonne Chua, Luz Rimban, Jenny Santillan-Santiago.
(This was taken during the award ceremonies of the 2010 Ninoy and Cory Aquino Fellowship Award for Journalism to Yvonne last Aug. 10,2010 at the Manila Peninsula.)
Everybody concerned of safety in our roads are invited to join.
At 3 p.m. there will be a mass at San Agustin church in Intramuros, Manila. After the mass, at 4 p.m., Chit’s ashes will be interred at the San Agustin columbarium crypt.
Related article: Drilon congratulates “Samar group” with Roxas appointment as DOTC secretary (Article in comments)
The Manila Times’ Dante Ang, in an information-filled article complete with findings of the Commission on Audit of irregularities in a radar project, said de Jesus did not resign. He was actually fired.
We have yet to know the whole truth about what happened at the DOTC amidst the spins being given fed to the media.
In announcing the appointment of Roxas, Aquino admitted that Roxas was originally slated to take a position based in Malacañang.“Sabi ko sa kanya kelangan sana kita sa headquarters pero may sunog sa frontlines…. Puwede ba sumugod ka muna doon? ”
Breaking news: President Aquino announced appointment of his former running mate Mar Roxas as new DOTC secretary. He will also hold the position of senior adviser of the Economic Cluster.
Another side to the controversy that speaks a lot of the goings-on in the Aquino administration:
Manila Times
The Manila Times story on the forced resignation of DOTC Secretary Jose “Ping” de Jesus was as clear as the sky on a fine day. De Jesus did not resign from the Cabinet. He was fired by President Benigno Aquino 3rd for loss of confidence, to say the least.
De Jesus was summoned to Malacañang on Monday morning at ten by the President. The meeting was brief; merely 15 minutes. He was distressed and looked teary-eyed after his meeting with the Chief Executive.
I do not know de Jesus personally. Never met him before. Fact is, he strikes me as a no-nonsense former Lopez executive. I have absolutely no reason to write ill of the man who, if you believe his spin doctors, resigned out of frustration for not getting the support from the President for the agency’s various projects and over the Virgie Torres issue.
Click here Lee’s koumintang membership : China expert Aileen Baviera mentioned Lee’s Koumintang membership in her book.
It’s not too late for President Aquino to recall the appointment of Domingo Y. Lee as ambassador to the People’s Republic of China.
Lee’s Taiwan connection is so well-entrenched, it will complicate further the Philippine’s delicate relations with one of the world’s superpowers.
A reliable source in the Chinese community said he knows that Lee, in his 70’s “is a card-carrying member of the Kuomintang.” He said he is not sure if he has resigned but what he understood of the party affiliation is that it’s a “lifetime commitment.”
Maliban sa mag problema ang legalidad ng ganyang plano, marami na ang hindi tiwala sa kakayahan ni Pnoy na kumilatis ng mga taong ilalagay sa pamahalaan. Sa mga na-appoint ni Aquino ng pagpasok niya sa Malacañang, marami naman ang maayos kasama na doon ang sa kanyang economic team.
Ngunit ang mga na-appoint na ang pinaka-qualification ay kaibigan sila ni PNoy, super ang palpak.
Ang nasa mata ngayon ng kontrobersiya at ang nasuspindi na hepe ng Land Transportation Office na si Virginia Torres, na siyang dahilan kung bakit nag-resign si Secretary Jose “Ping” de Jesus ng Department of Transportation and Communication at apat niyang undersecretaries.
Si Torres ay barkada ni PNoy sa kanyang hilig na pagbabaril (shooting buddy). Nasangkot si Torres sa kontrobersiya ng Stradcom, ang kumpanyang nagku-computerize sa LTO.
Update: Portion of the June 4, 2011 Statement of the Department of Foreign Affairs On the Presence of Chinese Vessels In the West Philippine Sea…
While Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie was making a “goodwill visit” in Manila less than two weeks ago, his people were attempting to set up structures in an island, 126 nautical miles away from Palawan.
The Philippines has protested the constructions which is a clear violation of the 2002 Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea that no new structures should be built in disputed areas in the South China Sea.
Malaya
The military has monitored new intrusions by China at a Philippine-claimed island in the disputed Spratlys group of islands, where the Chinese put up buoys and posts that were subsequently dismantled by Filipino fishermen.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin he would bring up the matter before the 2011 Asian Security Forum or the Shangri-la Dialogue to be held in Singapore this weekend, which will be attended by defense chiefs in Asian region.
Gazmin said the first intrusion occurred on May 21 when Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie and his party arrived Manila for a goodwill visit.
The second intrusion occurred on May 24 or a day after Gazmin and Liang met in Camp Aguinaldo where the two defense chiefs vowed not to take steps to affect stability in Spratlys, also known as the Kalayaan Island Group.
We asked the flight stewardess about it and she said there were no cards.
Upon our arrival, someone distributed the cards as we exited the tube to the NAIA 1 terminal. As expected, we all had to stop and fill out the cards.
A slight delay, actually, but an unnecessary inconvenience.
What’s the basis for such an appointment? It could not be competence because he has proven as BuCor chief to be clueless about his job.
He said his understanding of his job was just policy-making and he refused to take command responsibility for the violation of his subordinate for allowing former Batangas Governor Antonio Leviste, in prison for the 2007 killing of his business associate Rafael de las Alas, to go out of the jail accompanied by fellow inmates.
Diokno also considered the practice of prisoners living out a “small matter.”