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Pwede naman ang makahulugang Pasko kahit walang pera

Published by Ellen on December 11, 2011

Everything in moderation
Nagsimula na ang Christmas traffic. Ang biyahe na dapat 30 minutes at nagiging dalawang oras.

Lahat yata namimili na para sa Pasko.

Ganyan ang maganda sa mga Pilipino. Kahit mahirap, talagang buhay na buhay ang diwa ng Pasko.

Pilipinas yata ang may pinakamahaba na Christmas season. Pagkatapos ng All Saints at All Souls Day, simula na kaagad ang tugtug ng Jingle Bells sa mga department stores at labasan na ng mga Christmas decors sa mga bahay.

Hindi yan natatapos sa Disyembre 25 o sa New Year. Hanggang Jan.6 yan, ang Three Kings.

At siyempre kapag panahon ng Pasko, kainan. Kaliwa’t-kanan ang Christmas party. Sigurado, pagkatapos ng Pasko, magtatabaan na naman tayo. At ang cholesterol, dios mio.

Nagbigay ng paala-ala si Health Secretary Enrique Ona dahan-dahan lang sa litson at sa alak nitong Kapakuhan dahil yun ang ilang sa sanhi ng atake sa puso.

Continue readingPwede naman ang makahulugang Pasko kahit walang pera

Legislative joins Executive versus Judiciary

Published by Ellen on December 8, 2011

Just the start of SC cleansing?
The impending impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Mariano de Castillo now brings the Legislative branch of the government on the side of the Executive against the Judiciary.

This is a two-pronged attack and there’s no way that the High Court headed by the Chief Justice Renato Corona, closely identified with Gloria Arroyo, could win.

Of course, Malacañang had a hand in it. If President Aquino frontally attacked Corona in public, it’s easy to imagine what his people are doing behind the scene.

But in Philippine politics, that’s par for the course.

Malacañang must have delivered the message so convincingly that even the chair of the House’s committee on justice, Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr. , was surprised by the overwhelming vote of 40-7 finding the long-pending plagiarism complaint accusing Del Castillo of betrayal of public trust sufficient in substance.

Continue readingLegislative joins Executive versus Judiciary

More, Mr. President

Published by Ellen on December 6, 2011

Body language tells it all
Go on, Mr. President. Give the mob what they want. Don’t waste the momentum that you have gained. Take over the Arroyo appointees-dominated Supreme Court. Your popularity will rise higher no Philippine President has ever achieved.

You were right in humiliating Chief Justice Renato Corona. He deserves it for being Gloria Arroyo’s lackey.

Teach him a lesson for conspiring with Arroyo in putting one over the people and assuming the top SC position when the 60-day election ban was in force.

You are right about reminding him, to his face and in public, and the people that he is a “midnight” appointee.

“Hindi ito ang unang beses na gumawa ang Korte Suprema ng mga desisyong napakahirap unawain. Ayon sa article 7, section 15 ng Saligang batas, ‘Ang isang Pangulo ay hindi dapat gumawa ng mga paghirang sa loob ng dalawang buwan bago sumapit ang susunod na halalang pampanguluhan at hanggang sa matapos ang kanyang taning ng panunungkulan, maliban na lamang sa mga pansamantalang paghirang sa mga katungkulang ehekutibo.’

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Pres. Aquino slams Corona at 1st National Criminal Justice summit

Published by Ellen on December 5, 2011

Following is the speech of President Aquino Monday at the 1st National Criminal Justice Summit where he slammed Chief Justice Renato Corona. I’ll make my commentary later today.

In your face Magandang umaga ho. Maupo ho tayong lahat.

Ako na ho pala agad. Sana ho hindi ako late.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile; Speaker Sonny Belmonte; honorable members of the House of Representatives present; Chief Justice Renato Corona and the honorable members of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Sandiganbayan; excellencies of the diplomatic corps; Secretary Leila de Lima; Secretary Jesse Robredo; Secretary Eduardo de Mesa: Secretary Cesar Garcia; Chairman Francis Tolentino; Presiding Justice Villaluz of the Sandiganbayan; men and women of the Philippine National Police, led by Director General Nicanor Bartolome; civil society; nongovernment organizations; fellow workers in government; honored guests; ladies and gentlemen:

Ang pagtitipon natin ngayong umaga ay isang pagkakataon para higit na masuri ang lakas at kahinaan ng ating kasalukuyang criminal justice system, at makalikom ng mga makabago at napapanahong inisyatibang pangkatarungan. Masasabi nating napapanahon ito: dahil sa mga araw-araw na headline sa diyaryo at telebisyon, nasasaksihan din ngayon ng buong bansa kung gaano kasalimuot ang trabaho ng mga clerk of court, abugado, at huwes.

Continue readingPres. Aquino slams Corona at 1st National Criminal Justice summit

Last minute again

Published by Ellen on December 5, 2011

Unfinished mansion of the Ampatuans
I hope doing things at the last minute is not SOP in the Aquino administration.

It happened in the case of Gloria Arroyo when it took them one year and five months to file a case against her and only when there was a possibility that she would flee the country to avoid accountability.

It happened again in the case of the frozen assets of former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and members of his family who are principal suspects in the massacre of 58 persons, 32 of them media workers, on Nov. 23, 2009 in Maguindanao.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, Inc., in a statement, said that a week before the Dec. 2 expiry of the freeze order on the Ampatuan assets consisting of 597 bank accounts, 142 firearms, 132 motor vehicles, and 113 houses and lots, they called the attention of the Office of the Solicitor General and the Anti-Money Laundering Council about it.

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Bakit hindi pa nasampahan ng kaso si Abalos?

Published by Ellen on December 3, 2011

Untouchable?
Bakit ba hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa na-isampa ang kasong electoral sabotage laban kay dating Commission on Election chairman Benjamin Abalos na inirekomenda ng joint panel ng Department of Justice at Comelec?

Ito rin ang tanong ni Sen.Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III noong Biyernes.

From Inquirer:
Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. said the case against Abalos and other co-respondents of Arroyo would be filed next week, after Comelec lawyers are able to untangle some “procedural problems.”

“There is some sort of complication, but it is just procedural. But we are definitely filing against Abalos,” he said.
Noong Nob. 18, yung araw ng Biyernes na minadali ng pamahalaang Aquino ang kaso na electoral sabotage kay Gloria Arroyo, sinabi ni Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez, na kasama si Abalos at si Capt. Peter Reyes , isang intelleigence agent sa Armed Forces of the Philippines,ngunit sa Lunes na isasampa ang kaso laban sa kanya.

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Freeze order on Ampatuan assets expires

Published by Ellen on December 2, 2011

Joint statement of the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists Inc. and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines on the Expiry of the Freeze Order on the Assets of the Ampatuans
2 December 2011

Today, December 2, 2011, the six-month freeze order the Court of Appeals issued – on petition of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) – on the 597 bank accounts, 142 firearms, 132 motor vehicles, and 113 houses and lots in the names of 27 members of the Ampatuan clan and their associates expired.

We have also learned that it was only yesterday, December 1, when the AMLC filed through the Office of the Solicitor General, a petition for civil forfeiture with a prayer for a new freeze order with the Manila regional trial court. As of the close of office hours, we have not received confirmation from the OSG, the AMLC, or the trial court if the freeze order, or provisional asset protection order (PAPO), had been issued.

We view with great alarm the unwarranted delay and apparent lack of attention and negligence that the AMLC and the OSG had accorded this case.

Continue readingFreeze order on Ampatuan assets expires