ellen tordesillas – Page 167 – Making life worth living.

Shalani shines in primetime battle

Published by Ellen on November 9, 2010

Which early evening show did you watch last Monday?

shalani in willing willie — A demure presence in a hyper show

Although there’s GMA-7’s “24 Oras”, the question refers to last Monday night’s battle royale between ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol and ABC-5’s Willing Willie.

Last Monday’s episode of TV Patrol marked the returned of Noli de Castro and Korina Sanchez-Roxas to the prime time news cast. Over at TV-5, it was the debut of Valenzuela councilor Shalani Soledad as co-host of Willie Revillame.

TV Patrol features an ex-vice president, an ex-congressman and wife of an ex-senator. Last Monday’s contest was also dubbed as the battle between ex-future first ladies. If you have no idea why “ex-future first ladies”, I suggest you click to goggle.

TV 5 claimed according to Nielsen, the firm that tracks TV viewership, Willing Willie trounced TV patrol with 11.6 percent share of the audience tying with GMA-7 24 Oras. TV Patrol got 10.7% of early evening audience.

That’s believable because I asked five of my friends what they watched last Monday and all of them answered: Shalani.

Aquino’s problem with Robredo

Published by Ellen on November 7, 2010

(The photos posted here were sent to me by someone who was on the scene during the Aug. 23 hostage taking tragedy. It shows Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo on the scene although he was “out of the loop”. He was with Chinese Embassy representatives, Bai Tian, spokesperson and Li Qinfeng, in a light shirt, consul General.)

President Aquino made a hasty turn- around after he announced in a live TV interview Thursday that he was transferring Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo to the still to be created Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor.

He has to have a scapegoat and the most convenient for him now is media. He said media misunderstood what he said to Ted Failon. ““Mali ang pagkakaintindi,” he said.

Failon asked him what happens now to the three cabinet members who are in “acting” capacity since Congress will be resuming session soon and the Commission on Appointments would be able to deliberate on his appointees. This was his answer : “Sa DILG naman po, baka imando natin sa iba pang ahensya kung saka-sakali. Wala pa pong planong maliwanag. Si Sec. Robredo maganda po ang ginagawang trabaho ngayon pero meron po tayong gustong i-fast track na mga programa tulad sa informal settlers na talagang expertise ho niya.So baka magtayo tayo ng bagong grupo na talagang tutulong sa Presidential Commission on the Urban Poor at mga shelter agencies natin na mas focused and mas realizeable tulad noong sa Lupang Arenda, daang libo ang nasa danger.”

Farmers’ CARP dreams weaken as Teves dynasty strengthens

Published by Ellen on November 7, 2010

by Karen Tuason and Rodolfo Desuasido VERA Files and Task Force Mapalad Part I – Farmers’ CARP dreams weaken as Teves dynasty strengthens Part II…

Ang tunay na rason sa pagkakabahala ni Aquino

Published by Ellen on November 7, 2010

Kaya naman pala inis na inis si Pangulong Aquino sa travel advisories ng limang bansa na iwasan ang Pilipinas dahil sa banta daw ng mga terorista. Umiiyak na raw ang mga Philippine tour operators sa mga kanselasyon ng package tours galing Hongkong at China, tapos dadagdagan pa nitong travel advisories, talaga ngang nakakabahala.

Kaya lang sa halip na mainis sa ibang bansa na nagpu-protekta lang ng kanilang mamamayan, dapat ayusin natin ang pamalakad dito sa atin at iyan ay dapat manggagaling kay Aquino. Ang problema lang hindi nakakabigay ng kumpyansa ang kanyang mga aksyun at sinasabi.

(Click here for the interview of Aquino by Ted Failon on terror threat: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/nation/11/04/10/terror-report-raw-unverified-noynoy-1-1-ted#ooid=hvMXhzMTrHxTB7iLpEMl4REPPznJGFEb)

Ang bansang United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand at France ay nagpalabas ng babala sa kanilang mga mamamayan na iwasan ang ilang bansa na may impormasyon silang baka umatake ang mga terorista. Isa sa kanilang listahan ay ang Pilipinas.

Mahirap maintindihan

Published by Ellen on November 6, 2010

Sabi ni Pangulong Aquino “taken out of context” daw siya sa sinabi niyang aalisin na si Secretary Jesse Robredo sa Department of Local Government at ilipat sa isang presidential commission para sa mga mahihirap sa lungsod na kanyang itatayo pa lang.

Kapag sinabi mong “taken out of context”, maaaring hindi ka naintindihan ng reporter, or nag-sensationalize ang reporter. Ibig sabihin nun, kasalanan ng media.

Napanood ko ang interview na ‘yun ni Ted Failon sa TV Patrol kay Aquino noong Huwebes ng gabi. Tinanong siya tungkol sa kanyang mga miyembro ng cabinet na kanyang isusumite sa Commission on Appointments dahil mag-kakaroon na ulit ng sesyun.

(Click here (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/nation/11/04/10/robredo-paje-will-remain-acting-secretaries#ooid=EyOXhzMTpCpQqBRBayqrfp6jbEvV0RS0) for the news report that included the Failon’s interview with Aquino.)

Nai-report na kasi dati na tatlong miyembro ng kanyang cabinet ay “acting” at hindi isusumite ang mga pangalan sa CA: sina Robredo, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz at Environment Secretary Ramon Paje.

Ella in Manila

Published by Ellen on November 6, 2010

Ella del Rosario who enthralled us with such mega hits “Pers lab” and “Mr. Disco” in the 70’s with the iconic Hotdog Band will be in Manila in December. Don’t miss her homecoming concerts Dec. 14 – Strumms; Dec. 16 & 17 – Music Museum

Maria Angela Rafaela Manzano del Rosario or Ella, for short, started singing at age 3 accompanied on the piano by her dad who played the keyboards – lounge-style.

She honed this talent in singing shows and programs during her elementary and high school years at Assumption Convent.
While performing with a high school garage band in 1974, Ella was discovered by Dennis Garcia – leader of then newly formed Hotdog band – and invited her to be the frontline female singer of the group. This move established a major milestone in Pilipino music because, back then, convent girls wouldn’t be caught listening to (and God forbid – singing) Tagalog songs. (Tunes in the vernacular were considered “bakyang-bakya”.)

But the taboo didn’t deter Ella. Her first single with Hotdog – “Pers Lab” – was one of two Hotdog songs that cemented the emergence of the “Manila Sound” – and the unexpected appreciation of original Pilipino music by local music lovers from the entire spectrum of Philippine society.

In 1976, Ella decided to go solo and her first single was produced by Dennis Garcia – “O Lumapit Ka”… also a huge hit.
This was followed by several more popular songs like “Mr. Disco”, “Meron Na Bang Iba?”, “Shake It, Baby”, “Pabulong” and more.

Ella graduated summa cum laude from Maryknoll… packed her bags 22 years ago… and left for America – without saying goodbye.

Weder-weder lang

Published by Ellen on November 4, 2010

Update from GMA News: Nilo has left for Australia

Dr. Prisco Nilo, the former weather bureau chief disgraced by President Aquino, has been reported to have availed of early retirement.

The ABS-CBN report said quoted Agham party-list Rep. Angelo Palmones as saying that Nilo’s early retirement has something to do with his lack of Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) eligibility.

Under Aquino’s Memorandum Circular No. “2. All non-Career Executive Service Officials (non-CESO) occupying Career Executive Service (CES) positions in all agencies of the Executive Branch shall remain in office and continue to perform their duties and discharge their responsibilities until October 31, 2010 or until their resignations have been accepted and/or until their respective replacements have been appointed or designated, whichever comes first, unless they are re-appointed in the meantime. “

DFA as dumpsite

Published by Ellen on November 2, 2010

It used to be that during cabinet meetings, the secretary of foreign affairs sat next to the president, to his right underlining the importance given to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Nowadays, if you look at the videos and photos of cabinet meetings , the one sitting next to the president is Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa. I’m not sure where Foreign Secretary Romulo sits. In the unspoken language of power, propinquity is an eloquent indication of one’s standing in the exclusive circle.

It is not only in this administration that foreign relations is unappreciated. The decline was evident in the post-Marcos era. The Arroyo administration was notorious in making it the dumpsite of retired military and police and other persons, like former Supreme Court Justice Hilario Davide,whom she owed her continued hold to her unelected presidency.

Tweets are forever

Published by Ellen on November 1, 2010

To control the damage wrought by her tactless tweets, Mai Mislang, President Aquino’s trusted speechwriter, has removed her twitter and facebook accounts.

President Aquino took note of that in defending her. He said, “Upon realization, she had tried to correct what she did wrong.”

Unfortunately, in the wild, wild cyberspace, once you post something it stays there forever. IT expert Victoria Gaerlan sent me the tweets that Mislang had taken down.

Meanwhile, someone also directed me to the photos by Bob Guerrero of Mislang performing with her rockband, Blue rats. Guerrero has given me permission to use these photos. He just asked to link the post to bhobg.multiply.com and http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhobg.

Here are the photos. Click to view them enlarged:

Gaerlan said those who think that because they post on twitter, it will stay on just with their followers in twitter are mistaken. She said there is such thing as syndication:”It blasts your tweet to several other sites and it does NOT get deleted even if you delete your original tweet. Why? Because when content is syndicated in another site, it gets stored on that other site’s database.”

Here are some of the tweets that Gaerlan recovered from http://maimislang.tweetboard.com:

Snooty and ignorant

Published by Ellen on October 31, 2010

Mai and abby — Mai Mislang (left) and her defender, Abigail Valte, deputy presidential spokesperson

Will somebody please give Mai Mislang, the “hardworking and trusted” speechwriter of President Aquino, according to her boss Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office, a copy of guidelines on social media?

The ones available in the internet are by the U.S. National Public Radio and the Los Angeles Times.

The guidelines have been issued in the advent of what is now called social media (Facebook and Twitter are the most popular) where the line between private and public statements has become blurred.

This part from the NPR guideline should be underlined for Mislang: “Recognize that everything you write or receive on a social media site is public. Anyone with access to the web can get access to your activity on social media sites. And regardless of how careful you are in trying to keep them separate, in your online activity, your professional life and your personal life overlap.”

This should also be relevant to Mislang: “You should conduct yourself in social media forums with an eye to how your behavior or comments might appear if we were called upon to defend them as a news organization (in her case Office of the President). In other words, don’t behave any differently online than you would in any other public setting.”

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