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Ang salot ni Gloria Arroyo

Published by Ellen on February 10, 2010

Kamakailan binatikos ni Deputy Presidential Spokesman Gary Olivar ang mga kandidato nga ginagawang isyu pa rin daw ang kanyang amo na si Gloria Arroyo samantalang busy raw ngayon sa pag-aayos ng kanyang “legacy” .

Pagkatapos sirain ang lahat na institusyon pagdemokratiko para lamang maprotektahan ang sarili, gusto ni Gloria Arroyo mamahalin siya ng taumbayan? Nahihibang siya kasama na rin ang kanyang mga alagad.

At akala naman niya maniniwala ang taumbayan na hihinto na si Arroyo sa kanyang pagka-ganid sa kapangyarihan? Eh di sana hindi na tumakbo sa pagka-kongresista.

Kung magpapaloko pa ang taumbayan kay Arroyo, talagang dapat lang talaga tayong magdusa.

Isyu pa rin talaga si Arroyo ngayon kahit hindi siya kandidato sa pagka-pangulo. Kasi sa baho ni Arroyo, kung sino ang kanyang didikitan nagiging mabaho na rin. Tingnan nyo ang nangyayari ngayon kay Gilbert Teodoro, ang opisyal na kandidato ng Lakas-Kampi, partido ng administrasyon? Kahit pa maraming may gusto kay Teodoro, hindi rin talaga nila masikmura na kinakampihan niya si Arroyo.

Raid!

Published by Ellen on February 10, 2010

Update: 43 health workers get SC writ

by Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer

I know some of you are expecting a column about yesterday’s Inquirer forum at UP with the presidential candidates. I have a lot to share about that event, but I have to postpone that article because I want to write about a very urgent issue, one which has implications for the elections.

I’m referring to the raid conducted last Saturday on a health workers’ training seminar organized by an NGO, the Council for Health and Development (CHD), resulting in the arrest of 42 of the workshop participants. That included two physicians, one nurse and one midwife. All the others were community health workers, most of whom were poor farmers or workers who have been trained as paramedics and health educators. The 42 were brought to Camp Panopio in Tanay, Rizal.

The media reports have mostly featured the military’s claims that the workshop participants were rebels and they were being trained to make bombs. There has been little from the detainees themselves because the mass media have been denied access to the prisoners.

My column today mainly uses information from Dr. Delen de la Paz, vice president of Health Action for Human Rights, and press statements from CHD.

The workshop was being held on private property, a farm/resort owned by Dr. Melecia Velmonte, a retired 71-year-old professor emeritus at the UP College of Medicine who often lets health NGOs use her place for such training activities.

Mangudadatu to shake hands with Ampatuan Sr?

Published by Ellen on February 9, 2010

Update: Ampatuan Sr. and 126 others charged with murder.

Someone very much involved in the 2010 elections said Buluan vice Mayor Ismael “Toto” Mangudadatu is agreeable to shaking hands with the patriarch of the Ampatuan clan for the sake of peace in Maguindanao.

Mangudadatu’s wife, Jenalyn, his sister, and some relatives were among the more than 57 killed in the Nov. 23 massacre allegedly perpetrated by the Mangudadatus in a fierce rivalry for the control of the province, the second poorest in the country. Thirty of those killed were journalists, who accompanied Mangudadatus’ wife who was to file her husband’s certificate of candidacy for mayor.

Andal Ampatuan, Jr, mayor of Datu Unsay in Maguindanao , has been identified by witnesses as the one who led the massacre. He has been charged with several counts of murder and is detained at the National Bureau of Investigation.

Ampatuan Sr. is in a military hospital in Davao City; his sons Datu Zaldy, Datu Anwar and Datu Sajid are detained in General Santos City with his son-in-law Datu Akmad Ampatuan Sr., husband of eldest daughter Rebecca.

Judge who issued Lacson arrest nominated for CA

Published by Ellen on February 9, 2010

It’s too much to be just a simple coincidence.

Last Friday, Manila RTC Judge Myra Fernandez issued the arrest warrant against Sen. Panfilo Lacson for the murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

It was revealed last Monday that the Judicial and Bar Council, by a vote of seven out of eight members, recommended her nomination to the Court of Appeals. Sen. Francis Escudero, a JBC member, as head of the Senate Justice committee, was the only one that did not vote for Fernandez.

Clans dominate in Maguindanao; 68 Ampatuans, 15 Mangudadatus running

Published by Ellen on February 9, 2010

by Carolyn O. Arguillas
MindaNews

Andal Ampatuan Sr ((December 4, 2009 - Photo by Jeoffrey Maitem/Getty Images AsiaPac)

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/08 Feb) – The Ampatuans, Mangudadatus, Midtimbangs, Sinsuats, Masturas, Sangkis comprise the majority among Maguindanao’s 879 candidates running for 374 posts: two congressional representatives to Congress, one governor, one vice-governor, 10 provincial board members, 36 mayors, 36 vice mayors and 288 municipal board members or councilors.

The Ampatuans lead the list of candidates with 50 carrying the same surname, at least 23 of them directly related to the patriarch, Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr., and 18 with Ampatuan as middle name, according to records of the Commission on Elections (see list in article below)

Among the Ampatuans running are the patriarch, Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr., the three-term governor of Maguindanao who resigned in January 2009 and returned as OIC governor in late 2009 (he was OIC governor when the November 23 massacre in Ampatuan town happened).

He is running for vice governor as an Independent candidate against three others, including his daughter Shaydee Ampatuan-Abutazil. His other opponents are Ma-arouph Bajunaid Candao and Ismael “Dustin” Veloso Mastura.

Simula ng matagal ng nagsimula na kampanya

Published by Ellen on February 8, 2010

Noynoy: Hindi ako magnanakaw!
Gibo: Hindi ko na kailangan magnakaw!
Villar: Hindi na ako magnanakaw!
Erap: Kailangan ko ulit magnakaw!
GMA: Wala na kayong mananakaw pa!

‘Yan ang kumakalat na text at marami pa tayong makukuha na mga ganyan habang palapit na palapit na ang eleksyun. Ang iba nakakatuwa, ang iba nakaka-inis. Kailangan salain ang impormasyun. At i-enjoy ang nakakatuwa.

Ngayong araw ang simula ang opisyal na kampanya. Sa totoo lang matagal ng nagkakampanya ang mga kandidato dahil sinabi ng Supreme Court na hindi daw labag sa batas ang magkampanya kahit hindi pa official camapign period. Huwag lang daw sabihin na “Iboto mo ako.”

Military justice, almost

Published by Ellen on February 7, 2010

Philippine Navy reaction to the dismissal of charges against Lt. Raymundo and the “disrespect” charge:http://www.malaya.com.ph/02092010/news9.html

Good news is rare these days that the text of my friend, Atty. Romel Bagares last Friday was like rain amidst drought.

Romel informed me that the motion of his client, Marine First Lieutenant Artemio Raymundo’s motion for finding him not guilty was sustained on all serious charges.

“Light charge remained but maximum sentence already served,” he said.

Romel was referring to what we call the “Erap CD case”. This is a classic example of injustice in the military system. I’m glad that after almost three and a- half years, the military court has corrected the injustice. Although not yet fully.

Since September 26, 2006, Raymundo has been in detention at the Marines Brig accused of violations of Articles of War 96 (Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and Gentleman) ; 97 (Conduct Prejudicial to Good Order and Military Discipline) and 64 (Disrespect Towards Superior Officer).

Journalists score on libel raps filed by Mike Arroyo

Published by Ellen on February 7, 2010

by Evangeline de Vera
Malaya

Journalists who are suing First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo for damages for his propensity to file libel charges yesterday scored a victory after the Court of Appeals turned down anew Arroyo’s bid to dismiss the same damage suit.

The newsmen are seeking P12.5 million in damages before the Makati regional trial court in response to the flurry of libel cases that Arroyo filed since 2003 – 10 against 45 members of the press, a number unprecedented in Philippine history.

All these libel cases that Arroyo filed against the journalists prospered, with the city prosecutor of Manila supposedly finding probable cause to charge them.

In a 23-page decision penned by Associate Justice Sesinando Villon, the CA’s Ninth Division sustained the ruling of Judge Zenaida Galapate-Laguilles in denying Arroyo’s motion to dismiss the damage suit for failure of the journalists to immediately answer the written interrogatories within the extended period.

42 community health workers, suspected as “reds” detained in Camp Capinpin

Published by Ellen on February 7, 2010

Update: Kin of 43 health workers go to Supreme Court

Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) strongly condemned the illegal raid and abduction of 42 community health workers and doctors who were conducting health skills training in Morong, Rizal Saturday.

Around 300 soldiers and police of the Southern Luzon Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Rizal Philippine National Police and headed by Colonel Aurelio Baladad and Police Superintendent Balonglong, respectively, forcibly entered the farmhouse of Dr. Melecia Velmonte around 6:15 this morning. The training participants were then lined up, frisked, blindfolded, and forcibly brought to Camp Capinpin, headquarters of the 202nd Infantry Brigade, AFP.

Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato, civil-military operations chief of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, said in a text message to GMA News that the 17 men and 26 women are suspected members of the rebel group He said initial investigation showed that the suspected rebels were conducting a training on how to make improvised explosives when they were nabbed by authorities.

Laking tuwa ng Malacañang

Published by Ellen on February 6, 2010

Walang mapagsidlan ang Malacañang ng kanilang tuwa sa tagumpay ng operasyon nila laban kay Sen. Panfilo Lacson ng ililabas ng judge kapahon ang warrant of arrest para sa pinakamasugid na kritiko ng pamahalaan.

Nakita nyo ba ang mukha ni Gary Olivar, deputy presidential spokesman ng nagbigay ng reaksyun sa warrant of arrest ni Lacson? Hindi maitago ang tuwa. Kunwari pang hands off. Alam naman natin kung paano pinaandar ang makinarya ng pamahalaan para lamang madiin si Lacson sa pagkamatay ni Bubby Dacer at ng kanyang driver na si Emmanuel Corbito.
Narinig ko sa radio si Ric Diaz, hepe ng National Bureau of Investigation counterterrorism unit, at siya ang namumuno sa team na maghahanap ngayon kay Lacson. Tumatawa siya sa radyo na parang nanunuya.

Sige tumawa ka. Bilog ang mundo. Kapag oras na ang amo mong utak ng maraming krimen sa mamamayang Pilipino ang hahabulin ng batas, ang taumbayan ang magkaroon ng selebrasyon.

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