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ellen tordesillas Posts

Empower public with information on Ebola

Ebola virus poster

Warning: There’s a hoax screenshot of my article in Yahoo on Ebola virus which says “Ebola virus has killed 23 people in Manila”.

This is not true. It’s a hoax.

There is no report of death due to Ebola virus in the Philippines.

This is the legitimate link to my Yahoo article: https://ph.news.yahoo.com/good-hygiene-weapon-vs-ebola-174551384.html. It’s based on the interview with Dr. Tony Leachon, president of the Philippine College of Physicians and information director of the University of the Philippines, Manila; on what we should do against the deadly Ebola virus that is wreaking havoc in West Africa.

Filipinos are worth making good movies for

CCP lobby alive with film enthusiasts.
CCP lobby alive with film enthusiasts.

It was one time when I didn’t feel bad when I was told that there were no more tickets available for the film I wanted to watch.

I was so happy seeing the Cultural Center of the Philippines filled with people who love films. It showed that Filipinos yearn for good films. The scene disproved the condescending arguments of producers of silly films that they were just giving the Filipino audience what they want.

Cinemalaya showed that we have an abundant supply of cinema talents.

Antidote to DAP-inspired abuses: FOI

By Ellen T. Tordesillas

Budget Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad submits 2015 budget to Congress.
Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad submits 2015 budget to Congress.
The P2.6 trillion 2015 budget submitted by Malacanang to Congress will institutionalize the practices in the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) which the Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional.

In the 2015 budget proposal, “savings” is now defined as portions of allocations that “have not been released or obligated” due to “discontinuance or abandonment of a program, activity or project for justifiable causes, at any time during the validity of the appropriations.”

With this definition, President Aquino and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad can hijack funds allocated to projects under the 2015 General Appropriations Act as what they did with DAP the past three years.

Mauled cabbie won’t file case vs TV host

Daniel Marsh and taxi driver Edward Villanueva reconciling in Wanted sa Radyo. Photo from Lionheartv.net
Daniel Marsh and taxi driver Edward Villanueva reconciling in Wanted sa Radyo.Photo from Lionheartv.net


By ELLEN TORDESILLAS, VERA Files

The taxi driver mauled by a TV5 host has decided not to press charges after the latter apologized.

TJ Ballega Villanueva, son of cabbie Edward Villanueva, 49, of World Taxi, said his father and Irish-Filipino Daniel Marsh, one of the hosts of TV5’s documentary-style reality show “Juan Direction,” met on Monday at Raffy Tulfo’s “Wanted sa Radyo” program.

The young Villanueva said in a text message that they went to TV 5 on Monday after the network asked them to give a statement.

“Sa ‘Wanted sa Radyo,’ humarap po sa amin si Daniel. On air o ay hindi siya totally nag-sorry kay Papa, pero off- the- air po ay niyakap at naghingi ng ‘Sorry’ kay Papa. Humingi din po siya ng paumanhin sa akin bilang anak ni Papa sa ginawa niya (In ‘Wanted sa Radyo’ Daniel faced us. On air, he did not exactly say ‘sorry’ to my father, but off-the–air, he embraced my father and apologized. He also apologized to me for what he did).”

After guesting in ‘Wanted sa Radyo,’TJ posted in Facebook that the family, on the advice of friends and the church, decided not to file a case against Marsh and to leave everything to God.

BJMP displaces sick detainees to make room for Gigi and Janet

Janet Napoles arrives in Bicutan.
Janet Napoles arrives in Bicutan.
While everybody was trying to recover from the emotional performance of President Aquino in his 5th State-of-the-Nation address Monday night, pork barrel queen Janet Napoles was brought to Camp Bagong Diwa jail of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Bicutan,Taguig.

Reports said Napoles arrived at Bicutan from Fort Sto. Domingo, a police camp in Sta. Rosa City , Laguna at 11:15 p.m.

Napoles has been charged with graft, plunder and serious illegal detention in connection with the misuse of the multi-billion Priority Development Assistance involving three senators – Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla, members of their staff and other personalities.

She joined at the BJMP co-accused Atty. Gigi Reyes, former chief-of-staff of Enrile.

Aquino accepts SC decision on DAP, submits supplemental budget

President Aquino delivers his 5th SONA
President Aquino delivers his 5th SONA

By Ellen T.Tordesillas, VERA Files

President Aquino asked Congress approval of a supplemental budget Malacanang is submitting in what many see as compliance to the Supreme Court ruling of the Disbursement Acceleration Program as unconstitutional, a departure from his earlier combative stance.

Related story:

People’s SONA: Boss ‘fires’ PNoy

In his 5th State of the Nation Address Monday, President Aquino said they had had to suspend a number of projects “to make certain that we remain in accordance with the Supreme Court’s decision on the Disbursement Acceleration Program, or DAP.”

“This is why: We are proposing the passage of a supplemental budget for 2014, so that the implementation of our programs and projects need not be compromised,” he said.

Aquino pays tribute to Abad’s creative genius

The speech of President Aquino during 75th anniversary of the Department of Budget and Management on April 25, 2011 has become relevant amid the controversy generated by the Disbursement Accelerated Program or DAP, the brainchild of Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad that got unqualified support from President Aquino.

This is what Aquino said:

Mark Aug. 2 – 10 for Cine Malaya film festival

The much-awaited Cine Malaya festival, a showcase of intelligent and sensible movies by Filipino filmmakers, will be on Aug 2-10 in CCP Theaters and Ayala Cinemas in Metro Manila.

Hari ng TondoThere are 11 films participating. I have marked on my schedule “Hari ng Tondo” by Carlos Siguion-Reyna. Script by Bibeth Orteza.

A grandfather played by Robert Arevalo finds out he lost his fortune the day his granddaughter (Cris Villonco) told him her wedding is not pushing through and his grandson (Rafa Siguion-Reyna) disclosed he is not graduating from college – again.

The patriarch, thinking that his grandchildren’s’ lack of direction in life is due to their sheltered upbringing, he decided to bring them to Tondo, his birthplace.

The Tondo visit not only made an impact on the Forbes Park- bred youngsters but also to the old man who found out that Tondo is no longer the same place as the one he grew up in.

Also starring: Eric Quizon, Aiza Seguerra, Gian Magdangal, Ciara Sotto.

Other CineMalaya entries: “Hustisya” by Joel Lamangan, starring Nora Aunor; “Kasal” by Joselito Altarejos,starring Polo Ravales; “The Janitor” by Michael Tuviera, starring: Dennis Trillo, Richard Gomez, Irma Adlawan;

Dani Girl musical, nice respite from DAP

Dani Girl: A musical good for the soul.
Dani Girl: A musical good for the soul.

President Aquino has used every opportunity to justify to the public the billions of pesos that he diverted to finance the Disbursement Accelerated Program or DAP, several projects under it were declared by Supreme Court unconstitutional.

The latest was last Wednesday in Batangas during the commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of the Apolinario Mabini, the brains of the Philippine revolution.

His arguments are warped and many times dishonest.

We expect more of that when he delivers his 5th State-of-the-Nation Address on Monday. It would be another stressful activity for those who have enough of Malacañang’s bewildering arguments for DAP.