ellen tordesillas – Page 217 – Making life worth living.

The Plot

Published by Ellen on January 21, 2010

Now, that the specter of a failure of elections is becoming more and more real, the senate presidency becomes a crucial position.

Under the law on succession, in case of a vacancy in the presidency, the vice president takes over. If the VP is unable to assume the presidency, next in line is the senate president and then the speaker of the House of Representatives. If the there is no one qualified, Congress shall pass a law to provide who shall serve as acting president until the president or vice president shall have been elected and qualified.

But what if no winner is declared for the national positions by June 30, 2010., when Gloria Arroyo’s stolen presidency ends? There would be no Congress to pass the law. The remaining 12 senators would not consitute a quorum to elect a senate president to replace the current senate president, Juan Ponce Enrile,who is running for re-election,

There would a political vacuum and that’s very dangerous. Enrile had mentioned the possibility of a military takeover.

Lito Banayo, in his column in Malaya last Wednesday, mentioned a plot to depose Enrile and install a pro-Gloria senate president who would serve as acting president. Joker Arroyo? Edgardo Angara? Manny Villar? (Come to think of it,Villar’s term for senator is still up to 2013. If he loses the presidency, he goes back to the Senate.)

Paalam, Cerge

Published by Ellen on January 20, 2010

Mrs. Remonde:Cerge going through crisis in credibility

Nasa taxi ako kahapon ilang minuto pasado ng 12 ng hapon nang lumabas ang balita na lumisan na si Press Secretary Cerge Remonde ng 11:51 ng umaga sa Makati Medical Center.

Sabi ng taxidriver, “Kung sino-sino ang kinukuha, bakit hindi pa tumbukin ang talagang yun dapat kunin.”
Nakuha ko ang ibig sabihin ng driver. Nang sabihin ng radio reporter na kaya pinuntahan ng kanyang driver si Remonde (at doon na natagpuan sa bathroom na walang malay) dahil may naka-schedule na press conference sa Malacañang, sabi ng driver, “Ayaw na siguro ng Panginoon na magsinungaling pa siya.”

Mahirap talaga magtrabaho para kay Gloria Arroyo. Kahit mabait ka na tao, kahit wala kang ginagawa na masama para sa sarili mo, mahirap ka hahanga-an ng taumbayan.

It’s a go for Erap

Published by Ellen on January 20, 2010

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) 2nd Division on Wednesday junked separate petitions seeking the disqualification of former President Joseph Estrada in the 2010 presidential elections.

In its resolution, the poll body said it junked the petitions filed by lawyers Ely Pamatong, Evelio Formento and Merelo Estrada due to lack of merit.

“Let the people decide who will be the next president,” the Comelec ruled.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the petitioners could still a file a motion for reconsideration before the commission en banc.

Mrs. B

Published by Ellen on January 19, 2010

There’s nothing that a mother would do for her child. No distance too far to travel, no obstacle too high to hurdle.

It has been almost three years since Edith Burgos, wife of the late Jose Burgos, Jr, founder of Malaya and regarded as a press freedom icon, last saw her son, Jonas.

On April 28, 2007, Jonas, father of an 18-month old girl, was abducted by unidentified men and a woman while having lunch at the Hapag Kainan restaurant in Ever Gotesco Mall in Quezon City. He was dragged into a waiting van and he has been missing since then.

Jonas is described in new reports as “activist-farmer”. Probably because at the time he was abducted, he was a member of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (AMB), a provincial chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).

Jonas studied agriculture at Benguet State University. He practiced organic farming in the Burgos family farm in Bulacan and shared his knowledge of it with other farmers.

Since the abduction almost three years ago, the Burgos family, headed by Edith Burgos has been searching relentlessly for Jonas. Mrs. Burgos has taken all the avenues — courts, police, military, morgues, government agencies including the Office of the President, international organizations and the streets — to look for her son.

She has endured hunger, insults and harassment.

Remonde dead

Published by Ellen on January 19, 2010

Breaking news: Press Secretary Remonde was declared dead as of 11:51 a.m. Jan. 19, 2010 by Dr. Eric Nubla of the Makati Medical Center where…

Ang mga pinerwisyo ni Jason Ivler

Published by Ellen on January 18, 2010

Habang sinasakay sa police car si Jason Ivler, ang matagal nang hinahanap na suspek sa pagpatay sa dalawang tao, sabi ng isang pulis na halatang galit, “Maraming pinerwisyo ang taong ito.”

Talaga naman. Malaking dalamhati ang idinulot ni Ivler sa pamilya ni Renato Victor Ebarle, Jr., anak ni Undersecretary Ebarle sa Office of the President na kanyang walang pakundangang binaril noong Nobyembre. Noong 2004, napatay niya si Undersecretary Nestor Ponce, presidential assistant, sa isang banggaan ng sasakyan. Hindi niya napanagutan ang kanyang kasalanan kay Pnce dahil nagtago siya.

Malaki rin ang perwisyo ang idinulot niya kay Jason Aguilar, na magtatrabaho sana sa Qatar ngunit napagkamalan ng mga awtoridad ng Qatar na si Ivler. Bahagi kasi pagtutulungan ng international police ang pagtutugis ng pugante.
Kawawa naman si Jason Aguilar na nagkautang-utang para lamang maka-punta sa Qatar para mag-trabaho. Pagdating nya doon noong isang buwan, kunulong siya dahil napagkamalan na siya si Ivler. Isang linggo siya sa kulungan.
Biruin mo makulong ka sa isang lugar na ngayon mo lang narating.Walang lang kamag-anak at hindi mo pa alam ang salita. Napaka-traumatic yun.

Draft Senate report seeks Villar censure

Published by Ellen on January 18, 2010

(We still have to see the report but it looks like the senators concluded the issue was ethics, not graft.)

Click here for the report: http://www.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/1341811858!.pdf

“It’s nothing but a piece of paper, ” Cayetano

By Christine Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer

A draft report by the Senate committee of the whole is seeking the censure of Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. after finding him to have engaged in improper and unethical conduct in connection with the C-5 road extension project.

The report, which an official of a political party furnished the Philippine Daily Inquirer, said Villar’s involvement in the C-5 project in Parañaque and Las Piñas cities “made the Filipino suffer the total amount of P6.22 billion.”

The committee demanded the money’s return.

The money came from the realigned P4.28 billion for the extension project, the P1.8 billion spent for the original project but which was wasted due to the realignment, and the P141.1 million in overpriced right-of-way payments for Villar’s real estate companies.

Best practices in cervical cancer prevention to be recognized

Published by Ellen on January 17, 2010

On Friday, the Cervical Cancer Prevention Network or CECAP will once again give recognition to outstanding projects designed to make cervical cancer a thing of the past.

It will be the third year that awards for best practices in cervical cancer prevention will be given. But unlike last year which was just a forum, Friday’s activity will be a whole-day event. There will be a conference of experts and advocates, exhibits and a mobile clinic to be held at the Philippine General Hospital on Taft Avenue.

There are plans to have the mobile clinic inaugurated on Thursday.

CECAP is an alliance of organizations from the private and public sectors committed to eliminate cancer in the country. It is one of the projects of the Cancer Institute Foundation (CIF), a non-profit, non-stock foundation that provides support to the PGH Cancer Institute and its other accredited cancer management network institutions.

Pwede ng botohin ang Ang Ladlad

Published by Ellen on January 16, 2010

Mabuti naman at naisama ang Ang Ladlad, ang grupo na magtatanggol ng karapatan ng isang tao laban sa diskriminasyun dahil sa kanyang kasarian o gender, sa listahan ng partylist groups na mapagpilian ng mga botante sa nalalapit na eleksyun sa Mayo.

Umabot sa 144 ang listahan ng mga partylist groups na maaring pagpilian ng mga botante na magiging kinatawan ng mga sinasabi nating marginalized sector o bahagi ng ating lipunan na hindi nabigyan ng sapat na oportunidad para umunlad.

Hindi ko nakita sa listahan ang Magdalo, ng mga makabayang sundalo na kasamahan ni Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. Ito ang isang pagkakamali ng Comelec na kailangan pa iwasto.

Nothing quite bold

Published by Ellen on January 15, 2010

by Lito Banayo
Malaya

My friend Jun Campillo invited me to the Presidential Policy Forum sponsored by the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation of which he is one of the main movers, and I am glad I went. There is a difference between watching a forum on television, no matter if live, as against being right there where it unfolds.

The forum, held at the AIM Conference Center, was mainly focused on the country’s external relations and international competitiveness, which are the primary concerns of the policy center named after one of our history’s top diplomats, and is ably presided over by his son, himself a seasoned diplomat, former ambassador and foreign minister Bobby Romulo.

Only three of the five major presidentiables went to yesterday’s jam-packed forum – Gilbert Teodoro, Dick Gordon and Manny Villar. The audience was pretty distinguished, with foreign diplomats and heads of multinational agencies, foreign trade chambers, credible business community leaders, media, and even a former president, Fidel V. Ramos. Erap probably dodged the forum wisely. That crowd would not have warmed up to him, nor he to them. But Noynoy should have been around. Most in the audience empathize with him and Mar. His absence became more felt when FVR asked the obvious when he stood up to ask the last question – “Where are the others?”

ellen tordesillas Posts