Author: Ellen

You get Gutierrez, you get Arroyo

Published by Ellen on March 3, 2011

Until the House committee on justice voted (41-12) last Tuesday that the two impeachment complaints against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez have sufficient grounds, Gloria Arroyo and her family had reasons to be confident that they would get away with the crimes she committed against the Filipino people.

I seriously doubt if she is as confident now.

The impeachment complaint against Gutierrez still has to go through another voting in the committee level. It needs one third of the House members (94 out of 283) to have it passed and bring to the Senate.

But once it gets to the Senate, Gutierrez is in trouble. Sentiments against her in the light of the controversial plea bargain her office entered into with former military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia are high among most of the senators. Even if that particular issue is not included in the complaint, that would be a factor in the decision of the senators.

Del Rosario scores in redeeming DFA’s image

Published by Ellen on March 1, 2011

Acting Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario surprised everybody when he flew to Tripoli in Libya the day after he was sworn into office by President Aquino to oversee the evacuation of some 24,000 Filipinos in the African country which is now being rocked by violent protests between the forces loyal to strongman Muammar Gaddafi and rebels who want to end his 42-year dictatorship.

Not everybody applauded saying that the secretary’s job is at the home office to oversee the gargantuan evacuation operation. They said he was exposing himself unnecessarily to risks and added more pressure to the overburdened staff of Philippine embassy .

(Why is del Rosario’s title ‘acting secretary’? To allow him to assume the position of foreign secretary without confirmation by the Commission on Appointments.
Under the law, all cabinet appointments by the President have to pass CA approval. He can only make cabinet appointments without CA approval when Congress is not in session.

Congress is in session now but was not scheduled to meet the week del Rosario had to assume the job because of the emergency in Libya.Thus, the ‘acting” title. Del Rosario’s title will be upgraded once confirmed by the CA.)

TAF-VERA Files to launch ‘Democracy at gunpoint:election-related violence in the Philippines’

Published by Ellen on March 1, 2011

The Asia Foundation and VERA Files will be presenting their latest work, Democracy at Gunpoint: Election-Related Violence in the Philippines, on March 2 at 5 p.m. at the Magellan Room, 41/F of the Discovery Suites in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

In the 2010 elections, The Asia Foundation partnered with VERA Files in producing a series of journalistic accounts—news, features, in-depth reports on election-related violence in nine provinces that were traditionally considered as election hotspots. VERA Files consolidated the journalistic pieces into a book to provide a comprehensive, in-depth report that examines election-related violence in the Philippines.

The 212-page Democracy at Gunpoint: Election-Related Violence in the Philippines examines why election violence happens in 10 provinces known for being hotspots. While violence was the thread that stitched all provinces together, each one had particular characteristics that aggravated the problem.

“That violence still happens more than two decades after the ouster of Marcos and the restoration of democracy, and well into 21st century Philippines is cause for consternation and frustration,” wrote book editors Yvonne Chua and Luz Rimban in the preface.

JDV’s connection to Gaddafi

Published by Ellen on February 27, 2011

In the light of the United Nations Security Council’s strong action Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Al-Gaddafi, former House Speaker Jose de Venecia’s letter to the beleaguered strongman seems an exercise in futility and just a boast of his international connections.

The 15-nation UN Security U.N. Security Council Saturday unanimously imposed travel bans and froze the assets of Gaddafi, members of his family and inner circle as he continued to crack down on escalating protests against his 42-year authoritarian rule.

More than a thousand have already been killed and more blood is expected to spill on the streets of Tripoli, where Gaddafi is expected to hold firm as long as he could. He won’t do a Hosni Mubarak. He had warned, “At the suitable time, we will open the arms depot so all Libyans and tribes become armed, so that Libya becomes red with fire.”

Ang konsyerto ng mga palaka

Published by Ellen on February 27, 2011

sanggumay3 — My sanggumay. Still a beauty but not so fragrant anymore.

Habang nagkakantahan at nasasayawan sina Pangulong Aquino sa EDSAnoong Biyernes sa kanilang pagdiwang ng 25 taong anibersayo ng People Power, ako ay nakikinig sa kunsiyerto ng mga palaka.
Tuloy-tuloy hanggang lampas ng hatinggabi ang kunsiyerto ng mga palaka. Minsan may nagso-solo,pagkatapos pumapasok na parang background music. Ang galing. Talo si Ogie Alcasid at ang kanyang mga all-stars performers sa EDSA.

Sobra isang linggo na ako sa aming baryo sa Guisijan sa Antique at talaga namang nakaka-relax ang sariwang hangin, sariwang isda at sariwang gulay.

Nasubukan nyo na ba ang masaheng alon? ‘Yan ang nangyari sa akin noong isang linggo. Pinaghahampas kami ng alon. Masaya kaya lang masakit sa katawan.

Hindi masyadong damdam ng mga kapitbahay namin dito and selebrasyon ng EDSA1. Natutuwa lang ang mga bata dahil wala silang pasok kaya naligo kami sa dagat. Nang gabi nga nasalubong ko ang aming kapitbahay at sinabi niya makikinood daw siya kanyang katabing bahay ng “Willing-Willie.” Mukhang mas mabenta ang Willing-Willie kaysa EDSA1 na palabas.

‘EDSA is not just four days in February’: Remembering the role of the ‘Mosquito press’

Published by Ellen on February 24, 2011

edsa1-joe-galvez — A soldier reads Malaya's account of Day One of People Power Revolution. Photo by Joe Galvez.

I’m reprinting here the recollection of Lourdes “Chuchay” Fernandez, Malaya’s editor-in-chief at the time of the 1986 People Power, which she did for VERA Files and Yahoo. Chuchay is now editor-in-chief of Business Mirror.

The 1986 People Power is most memorable for us in Malaya, whose owners, Jose Burgos Sr and his son, Joe Burgos, Jr.,editors and columnists were imprisoned three years earlier when their other newspaper, WE Forum, which was padlocked, ran the Marcos fake medals story.

I was home resting the day then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and Philippine Constaburary Chief Fidel Ramos launched their “People’s revolution” having come from a gruelling and emotion-laden coverage of the funeral of former Antique Governor Evelio Javier. I had to cut short my rest and cover what turned out to be one of the Filipinos’ greatest moments.

Here’s Chuchay’s Edsa1 recollection:

“EDSA, from my perspective as then editor-in-chief of the “Mosquito Press” pioneer Ang Pahayagang Malaya of Joe Burgos Jr., broke in the early afternoon of Feb. 22, 1986 when I received a phone call from Malaya’s Malacanang reporter, Butch Fernandez, who said he had heard the distinct “ting-ting-ting” of the teletype machine that receives wire-agency news feed at the Palace press room, indicating an urgent, big development.

Continue reading‘EDSA is not just four days in February’: Remembering the role of the ‘Mosquito press’

Thoughts on 25 years after 1986 People Power

Published by Ellen on February 23, 2011

We are commemorating the 1986 People Power revolution, many refer to as EDSA 1.

If we refer to EDSA I and EDSA 2 as a gathering of people on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, that long stretch of road from Pasay City to Caloocan City, I would agree that’s accurate. Then we should also call the assembly of masses in the last days of April 2001 that culminated in the assault of Malacanang on May 1, 2001 EDSA 3. The crowd in April 2001 was definitely bigger than the civil society groups that ousted an elected president, Joseph Estrada, in Jan 2001 and installed in Malacanang Gloria Arroyo that turned out to be worse than Estrada in corruption and perversion of the law.

Ombudsman still running after NBN-ZTE star witness

Published by Ellen on February 21, 2011

Whistleblower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada could be the perfect example of how, in this country, people like him who dare spill the beans on wrongdoing get punished, not rewarded. It is a practice that he said must change under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.

Three years after he faced the Senate as star witness exposing the corruption-ridden contract for a national broadband network, Lozada still faces a slew of lawsuits while the people he has accused of making millions of pesos in commissions have mostly escaped sanctions.

“Masigasig sila sa kakahabol sa kaso ko, eh (They’re determined to pursue the cases against me),” said Lozada, who still faces a P19.5-million malversation case related to the jathropa project of the Philippine Forest Corp. which he used to head. He also faces a graft case allegedly for the anomalous purchase of motor vehicles, fencing materials and other equipment worth P15 million.

Spratlys in exchange for free freedom of drug mules?

Published by Ellen on February 20, 2011

I’m trying hard to understand why reason seem to have left the Aquino government in the case of the Filipinos who are in China’s death row for drug trafficking.

Aquino sent Vice President Jejomar Binay to Beijing last week to appeal to the leadership to spare the lives of Ramon Credo, 42, Sally Villanueva, 32, and Elizabeth Batain, 38, who were scheduled to be executed by lethal injection today.

The three were sentenced to death for smuggling 4 kilograms to 6.8 kilograms of heroin to in 2008. They were originally five but diplomatic sources said further investigations showed that the two had minor roles in the drug syndicate than the three.

Romulo in UN would be a disaster

Published by Ellen on February 17, 2011

The removal of Alberto Romulo as foreign secretary (to be replaced by former Ambassador to the U.S. Albert del Rosario), the first cabinet change in the nine-month old Aquino administration, is supposed to signal long-delayed reforms in the Department of Foreign Affairs. It is dampened, however, by reports that Romulo would be named the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations.

President Aquino is not confirming Romulo’s UN assignment. All he said was, “Bert Romulo is not a stranger to me. So, he still has contributions that he can make. It’s always the details that tie us up.”

The UN job is one of the positions being floated to be Romulo’s “golden parachute”, a term used in the corporate world of a clause in an executive’s contract specifying that he would be receiving large benefits in the event that employment is terminated or the company is sold.

There is no such thing as a golden parachute for government officials but they are entitled to the usual retirement benefits.