Author: Ellen

China to Aquino: We fought Hitler in WWII

Published by Ellen on February 8, 2014

Pres. Aquino warns the world against China in a New York Times interview.

By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files

China on Friday reminded President Aquino it had fought on the side of the Allied Powers against fascist Japan and Germany in World War II, after Aquino likened China’s encroachment into the South China Sea with Adolf Hitler’s hegemonic moves in World War II.

In a press briefing, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hong Lei said, “As an unwavering upholder of international justice, China made huge sacrifice and indelible historical contribution to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War. It is inconceivable and unreasonble to place China-Philippines South China Sea disputes in the same category with the WWII history.”

In an interview with New York Times Tuesday, Aquino had called on the international community to support the Philippine position of resisting China’s hegemonic moves in the South China Sea and not to make the mistake of appeasing the Asian superpower.

The unraveling of President Benigno Aquino III

Published by Ellen on February 6, 2014

President Aquino in the New York Times interview

In a meeting with Vietnamese Defense Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh in August last year, President Aquino asked the visiting official how they are able to maintain good relations with China despite conflicting territorial claims.

(Despite a ferocious battle over the Paracels Islands in the South China Sea 40 years ago that killed more than 70 Vietnamese soldiers,China and Vietnam established a hotline to deal with fishery incidents in South China Sea waters following the meeting of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang in Beijing last June.)

Thanh told Aquino that almost every day, personnel of Vietnamese Navy battle Chinese fishermen who venture into disputed areas in the South China. Arrests are made, diplomatic protests are filed. But, he said, “We don’t talk to media.”

For a while, Aquino seemed to have taken to heart the lesson from the Vietnamese defense minister. He was a voice of moderation when China’s sole aircraft carrier sailed to the South China Sea.

Fight child abuse, boycott Woody Allen’s films

Published by Ellen on February 4, 2014

I have scratched out “Blue Jasmine”, a movie directed by Woody Allen starring Cate Blanchett, from the list of not-to-be-missed movies this year.

From now on, I will not watch any Woody Allen movie in sympathy with the cause of Dylan Farrow, daughter of American actress Mia Farrow, who came out last week with an open letter re-opening the painful childhood episode with her adoptive father.

Last week Allen was honored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association with the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award, given to those who have made “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.”
A few days after the award ceremonies, which Allen did not attend (the award was accepted for him by actress Diane Keaton), New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof carried the heart-wrenching letter of 28- year-old Dylan.

Pride fuels standoff with Hongkong

Published by Ellen on February 2, 2014

The current standoff with Hongkong is an example of the danger of ignorance, power, and pride combined. As American minister Robert Fulghum said in his book,All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, “Ignorance and power and pride are a deadly mixture, you know.”

Hongkong Chief Executive CY Leung announces the lifting of no-visa privilege for Philippine government officials including diplomats.

Last week, the Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced that the current 14-day visa-free arrangement for visiting Philippine diplomats and officials would be suspended starting Wednesday, February 5.

The sanction, which does not cover Filipinos who are going to Hongkong as tourists, is still over the Aug. 23, 2010 hostage- taking where eight Hongkong residents were killed after a disgruntled and desperate Filipino policeman hostaged a bus-load of Hongkong tourists at the Rizal Park in Manila.

In response, Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Secretary Raul Hernandez issued the government position of no apology, just regret.

How not to get stressed out by Vhong-Deniece-Cedric overdose

Published by Ellen on January 30, 2014

The main characters in a blockbuster telenovela

A lot of “educated” people are grumbling as they enumerate what is happening in the country:

• More than 30 people are reported to have been killed in Maguindanao in clashes that erupted immediately after the government signed the last of the annexes in the peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

• Hongkong cancelled visa-free entry to the territory for Philippine official and diplomatic passport holders starting February 5 as part of its sanctions against the Philippine government in connection with the 2010 Manila hostage crisis.

Roque: Bloggers enjoy same protection as journalists

Published by Ellen on January 29, 2014

The latest decision by a United States court on the case of blogger Crystal Cox does not say bloggers are journalists as bannered in the Atlantic.com

Lawyer Harry L. Roque’s analysis of the decision is more accurate: “Bloggers enjoy the same protection as journalists.”

Two weeks ago the Ninth Circuit ruled in the case of Obsidian Finance Group v. Crystal Cox that even though someone might not write for the “institutional press,” they’re entitled to all the protections the Constitution grants journalists.

Judge Andrew Hurwitz said, “the Court expressly noted that ‘we draw no distinction between the media respondents and’ a non-institutional respondent.’”

This is a reversal of December 2011 by a federal judge in Oregon, U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez who said Cox, who styled herself as “an investigative blogger,” was not a journalist and cannot claim the protections afforded to mainstream reporters and news outlets.

The case stemmed from the online articles by Cox against Obsidian Finance Group LLC. She reportedly called Obsidian lawyer Kevin Padrick a “thug and a thief” during the handling of bankruptcy proceedings by him and Obsidian Finance Group LLC.

During the trial, she was asked to name her sources and she sought protection in the Oregon’s shield law not compelling media to produce sources.

PNoy, Ramon Ang and Zenaida Ducut

Published by Ellen on January 26, 2014

ERC Chair Ducut has a very influential patron.

Two lawmakers who are allies of President Aquino last week filed with the Office of the President a complaint against Chairperson Zenaida Ducut of the Energy Regulatory Commisssion accusing her of failure to protect the interest of the consumers when it approved last December Meralco’s application for a staggering P4.15/kilowatt-hour increase.

“Respondent is guilty of gross neglect of duty by tacitly approving, without the barest hint of due process, the unprecedented generation charges Meralco sought to pass on to consumers in the months of December 2013, February 2014 and March 2014,” Akbayan Partylist Representatives Walden Bello and Ibarra Gutierrez said in their complaint.

It would be interesting to see how Malacañang will handle the complaint considering that last December in Tokyo, Aquino confessed being powerless about the unconscionable increase because he said, “ERC does not report to us, they are independent of us.”

Wanted: Tagalog word for “human trafficking”

Published by Ellen on January 23, 2014

From the MTV Enslaved — From the MTV “Enslaved”

In an informal survey conducted by a civil society group working to stop human trafficking, they asked people in the streets what comes to their mind when they hear the phrase “human trafficking.”

Everybody answered:“Traffic.” As in vehicular traffic.

Such is the level of public awareness about human trafficking- the trade in human beings for several purposes, most commonly sexual slavery, pornography, forced labor , extraction of organs or tissues, surrogacy.

Liars all

Published by Ellen on January 22, 2014

He is not the epitome of intelligence and good public service but his story about the breakfast meeting is revealing of Malacañang's methods under Aquino. — He is not the epitome of intelligence and good public service but his story about the breakfast meeting is revealing of Malacañang’s methods under Aquino.

Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr., one of the three senators charged with plunder before the Ombudsman in connection with alleged anomalous use of Priority Development Assistance Fund, related Monday an incident that took place in December 2012, a few days before the conclusion of the impeachment of ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Revilla said Roxas, who was then secretary of Transportation and Communication, invited him to a morning meeting at his residence in Cubao. From there, they went to Malacañang’s Bahay Pangarap, Aquino’s residence, with Roxas driving the SUV and he was seated at the back seat.

Revilla said Roxas had the license plate of the SUV removed.

Save the children from perverts

Published by Ellen on January 19, 2014

One of the memorable movies shown last year was “Alagwa: starting Jericho Rosales as the widower Robert Lim and Bugoy Cariño as the boy Brian.

Directed by Ian Loreños, it’s a heartbreaking story of the young father’s search for his son who was kidnapped in a mall.. Lim (Rosales) left the son in the Men’s Room to attend to something. When he returned for the boy, he was gone. Later, in the CCTV which the police officers obtained, they saw a man approach his son as the boy stepped out of the Men’s Room. The man must have said something to convince the boy to go with him. (Warning to parents: never leave your children, even for a moment, in public places.)

In Lim’s search for his son, he stepped into the harrowing world of child trafficking. Years later, he found his son a beggar in Hongkong.