1st-APLUMA NEWS SUMMARY FOR JAN. 10, 2010
Posted by unang apluma on Monday, January 10, 2011
Under: news
BROADSHEETS
PHIL. DAILY INQUIRER -- Slain Councilman Given Hero’s Burial
PHILIPPINE STAR -- PCGG Abolished In 2 Years
MANILA STANDARD -- House Revives Proposal To Amend Constitution
MANILA TIMES -- ‘Padrino’ System Ruins Police
MALAYA -- A Million Pay Homage To Black Nazarene
DAILY TRIBUNE -- 1 Dead, 560 Hurt In Cult Tradition
TABLOIDS
PEOPLE’S JOURNAL -- Show Of Faith
ABANTE -- Parating Na, La Niña, Matindi
PILIPINO STAR NGAYON -- Kuya Pinugutan Ni Bunso
BALITA -- 300 Sugatan
PEOPLES TONIGHT -- Pozon Negro Kills Family
BULGAR -- Deboto Kinatay Sa Harap Ng Nazareno
ISSUES MONITORING
On Congress
President Benigno Aquino III’s declaration that he will not seek political office after his term expires in 2016 has triggered a revival of Charter change (Cha-cha) in the House of Representatives. Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said Mr. Aquino’s pronouncement would make him the ideal leader to preside over Cha-cha because he could not be accused of wanting to benefit from any amendments to the Constitution. (PDI-p3) Charter change
A LAWMAKER over the weekend projected that various government agencies would experience budget shortages amid the implementation of what she considered the hastily approved 2011 national budget. According to Rep. Milagros Magsaysay of Zambales, the present administration would be “paying its dues” this year due to its “stubborn” adherence to the approved national budget. Magsaysay made the projection following reports quoting Education Secretary Brother Armin Luistro who said the agency needs some P5.7 billion in additional funds to employ new kindergarten teachers at the regular rates. (Mla Times-p3)
On Presidency
President Aquino is keeping his hands off the controversy over the civil service eligibility of Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chief Persida Rueda-Acosta, and there is no plot to get back at her for freeing the killers of the President’s father, Malacañang said yesterday. Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima expressed the belief that there is a need to clarify the Civil Service Commission (CSC)’s position on Acosta’s status following the conflicting opinions of some of its commissioners and officials of the Career Executive Service (CES) Board that were submitted to the department. (Philstar-p1)
President Aquino promoted yesterday 20 police officials and named 15 others to various agencies, including government-owned and controlled corporations. He appointed nine members of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), three board members of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), one immigration official and two Northrail executives. (Philstar-p11)
On Presidential Troubleshooter
President Benigno Aquino III’s new troubleshooter sees himself as a mere assistant. “I’m just a water boy, following orders,” Manuel “Mar” Roxas II said on Thursday when he joined the President at Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport during the awarding for the 50th million passenger of Cebu Pacific. (PDI-p1)
On The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has affirmed with finality its October 2010 decision declaring constitutional R.A. 9372 or the Human Security Act of 2007, which defines terrorism as a crime and allows authorities to arrest terror suspects without warrants and temporarily detain them without charges. In a two-page resolution, the Court en banc denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Southern Hemisphere Engagement Network Inc., Bagong Alyansang Makabayan et al, Karapatan et al, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines et al, and the Bayan-Southern Tagalog chapter et al, citing their failure to raise new arguments that would warrant a reversal of its decision. (Malaya-p4)
On The PNP
Blame it on inefficiency or the “padrino” [patronage] system but a Malaysian did make it as a member of the Philippine National Police (PNP). One for Ripley’s it may be, Teresita Ang See, the chairman of the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order (MRPO), told The Manila Times the incredible story to underscore the need to overhaul the current recruitment and promotion process in the PNP to ensure that only the mentally and physically fit will be admitted to the police force amid a recent rash of crimes involving policemen. Ang See on Sunday said that she learned about the Malaysian becoming a Filipino policeman some years back when she was the executive chairman of the People’s Law Enforcement Board (PLEB) in Manila. (Mla Times-Banner)
On The Supreme Court
The first Supreme Court (SC) associate justice appointed by President Benigno Aquino 3rd and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) were part of the losing legal team that had received lavish attorney’s fees and allowances amounting to P2.65 billion from the government. The cited expenses were made at the height of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) 3 controversy, which involved a case filed by German airport operator Fraport AG and Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco against the government for abrogating a build-operate-transfer contract with the cited parties. High Court Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Aranal-Sereno, along with her mentor, retired High Tribunal Associate Justice Florentino Feliciano, were both recipients of the huge amount of money for defending the Philippine government. (Mla Times-p1)
On The PCGG
The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) believes it needs only about two years to wind up its affairs and pave the way for the abolition of the agency. PCGG Chairman Andres Bautista wrote President Aquino, saying the PCGG is now putting the finishing touches to a proposed law that will call for the abolition of the commission in two years’ time. Before the abolition, Bautista said the PCGG would have turned over all pending litigation against the Marcos heirs and their cronies to the Department of Justice, and their confiscated and forfeited ill-gotten assets to the Department of Finance. (Philstar-Banner)
On Taxation
The Aquino administration is studying a bill passed by the House of Representatives seeking to reduce the value-added tax (VAT) from 12 to six percent, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said recently. “It’s not a VAT,” Purisima told reporters, in reference to House Bill 1970 of Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas, chairman of the House ways and means committee. “It’s a sales tax, so it’s a totally different system, and we need to study that very carefully. I gave him my position,” he added. (Philstar-p1)
On The Armed Forces
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. clarified yesterday that relocating the military’s general headquarters in Quezon City is just a secondary option and the main proposal is to put the offices of the major services in one camp. Mabanta said putting the General Headquarters, Air Force, Army, and Navy offices in one camp would promote security efficiency while supporting the military’s modernization. (Philstar-p1)
On Education
Washington believes the Philippines is “unlikely” to meet its second Millennium Development Goal, which is achieving universal primary education, by 2015, according to a report by the US Embassy in Manila that was furnished the Inquirer. The embassy cited, among other things, the 2010 Education-for-All Global Monitoring Report in which the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) referred to the Philippines as a “country that should not have had difficulty in meeting its targets.” (PDI-p2)
On The Black Nazarene
One person was killed while 560 devotees were treated for minor injuries yesterday after taking part in an annual procession which many consider a cult ceremony to honor a centuries-old black statue of Jesus Christ believed by many to have miraculous powers. (Tribune-Banner)
For 14 hours or more, the centuries-old statue of the Black Nazarene bore not just the cross on its back but the prayers and dreams of its legions of Filipino devotees. Defying the heat and bursts of rains, a multitude of believers—many of them barefoot—carried the life-size image of a mulatto Christ in a frenzied demonstration of faith through the streets of downtown Manila. (PDI-p1)
On Tourism
Despite the spate of negative travel advisories on the Philippines, the number of foreigners who entered the country through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminals alone from January to December 2010 soared to more than 3.4 million, up by almost 20 percent compared to those who arrived in 2009, according to the Bureau of Immigration (BI). Immigration officer-in-charge Ronaldo Ledesma said arrivals totaled 3,451,668 in 2010, or 19.5 percent higher than the 2,887,303 who came to the country in the previous year. (Philstar-p6)
On Flood Damage
Heavy monsoon rains and floods in 21 provinces displaced more than one million people and damaged P747 million worth of property and agricultural assets, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said yesterday. Infrastructure damage reached P573.59 million, agricultural damage P173.78 million. In an update released at 6 a.m. yesterday, NDRRMC Executive Director Benito Ramos said floods and landslides affected a total of 1,120,685 persons in 1,073 barangays. Thirty-three people died, while nine are missing, five of them fishermen in Catanduanes. (Philstar-p7)
On The Insurgency
The capture of the New People’s Army (NPA) top leader in Lucena City last week has effectively crippled the rebels’ operational capability nationwide, a ranking police official said yesterday. The police official said Tirso Alcantara, alias Ka Bart, is a “political commissar” in the NPA’s National Operations Command (NOC) and presides in the group’s national conferences that set forth tactical as well as strategic operational plans. (Philstar-p9)
On Slain Councilman
The slain councilman who captured his killer on camera was accorded a hero’s burial with a 21-gun salute under a somber sky Sunday afternoon. Rain fell when the body of Reynaldo Dagsa, a two-term councilor and peacekeeper of Barangay 35, was laid to rest at Eternal Gardens in Caloocan City. (PDI-Banner)
On Military Rebels
Six weeks after he escaped the siege of the Peninsula Manila Hotel on Nov. 29, 2007, Capt. Nicanor Faeldon joined the procession of the Black Nazarene. The rebel Marine officer had been joining the annual event as a fugitive since then. On Sunday, Faeldon, who surrendered a week after President Benigno Aquino III took office in June last year, again participated in the procession, but this time as a free man. (PDI-p1)
On Poverty
For Manuel “Manny” V. Pangilinan, eradicating poverty should be Job No. 1 for every Filipino. But to be successful, more people should help not just in civic projects but also in government programs that invite partnerships with private businesses. Pangilinan, who is sometimes referred to by his initials MVP, is one of the top business chief executives in the country, probably also in Asia. He heads many of the largest corporations in the Philippines, like the telecommunications giants Smart and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. And his business interests extend beyond telecommunications: to media with the Associated Broadcasting Co. (TV5); to utilities with the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco); and to infrastructure development and management with First Pacific Tollways Corp. (Mla Times-p1)
On Vizconde Massacre
Lawyers of Hubert Webb believe the action of former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. questioning the Supreme Court (SC) decision acquitting him and six others of the 1991 murders of the Vizconde family could set “a dangerous precedent” if given due course. In a statement sent to The STAR, lawyer Zenaida Ongkiko-Acorda said Guingona’s move was not allowed under the Rules of Court. (Philstar-p11)
On Gen Garcia
To effectively transfer the pieces of property of former military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia to the state from 10 government and private agencies, the Sandiganbayan “categorically” assumed that Garcia has indeed committed plunder, a court resolution showed. In the five-page resolution dated August 11, 2010, the anti-graft court identified the pieces of property belonging to Garcia as “ill-gotten in character” in order to resolve the conflict that arose during the turnover of Garcia’s selected assets to the state as part of a plea bargaining agreement. After Garcia “executed the requisite Deeds of Conveyance” of the pieces of property enumerated in the plea bargaining agreement, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) posed a condition that first seemed as a hurdle in the process of turnover. (Mla Times-p1)
On Chinese New Year
If passed into law, the observance of the Chinese New Year as a public holiday in the Philippines will strengthen bilateral relations between Beijing and Manila, as well as improve the influx of tourists in the country, an official of the Chinese Embassy in Manila said over the weekend. Ethan Sun, the spokesman for the Chinese Embassy, described it as a “good thing” for both countries if the Philippines will officially recognize the Chinese New Year as a holiday. He said that the “large Filipino-Chinese community” in the country will welcome and embrace the possible declaration of the Chinese New Year as a holiday. (Mla Tiimes-p2)
PHIL. DAILY INQUIRER -- Slain Councilman Given Hero’s Burial
PHILIPPINE STAR -- PCGG Abolished In 2 Years
MANILA STANDARD -- House Revives Proposal To Amend Constitution
MANILA TIMES -- ‘Padrino’ System Ruins Police
MALAYA -- A Million Pay Homage To Black Nazarene
DAILY TRIBUNE -- 1 Dead, 560 Hurt In Cult Tradition
TABLOIDS
PEOPLE’S JOURNAL -- Show Of Faith
ABANTE -- Parating Na, La Niña, Matindi
PILIPINO STAR NGAYON -- Kuya Pinugutan Ni Bunso
BALITA -- 300 Sugatan
PEOPLES TONIGHT -- Pozon Negro Kills Family
BULGAR -- Deboto Kinatay Sa Harap Ng Nazareno
ISSUES MONITORING
On Congress
President Benigno Aquino III’s declaration that he will not seek political office after his term expires in 2016 has triggered a revival of Charter change (Cha-cha) in the House of Representatives. Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said Mr. Aquino’s pronouncement would make him the ideal leader to preside over Cha-cha because he could not be accused of wanting to benefit from any amendments to the Constitution. (PDI-p3) Charter change
A LAWMAKER over the weekend projected that various government agencies would experience budget shortages amid the implementation of what she considered the hastily approved 2011 national budget. According to Rep. Milagros Magsaysay of Zambales, the present administration would be “paying its dues” this year due to its “stubborn” adherence to the approved national budget. Magsaysay made the projection following reports quoting Education Secretary Brother Armin Luistro who said the agency needs some P5.7 billion in additional funds to employ new kindergarten teachers at the regular rates. (Mla Times-p3)
On Presidency
President Aquino is keeping his hands off the controversy over the civil service eligibility of Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chief Persida Rueda-Acosta, and there is no plot to get back at her for freeing the killers of the President’s father, Malacañang said yesterday. Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima expressed the belief that there is a need to clarify the Civil Service Commission (CSC)’s position on Acosta’s status following the conflicting opinions of some of its commissioners and officials of the Career Executive Service (CES) Board that were submitted to the department. (Philstar-p1)
President Aquino promoted yesterday 20 police officials and named 15 others to various agencies, including government-owned and controlled corporations. He appointed nine members of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), three board members of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), one immigration official and two Northrail executives. (Philstar-p11)
On Presidential Troubleshooter
President Benigno Aquino III’s new troubleshooter sees himself as a mere assistant. “I’m just a water boy, following orders,” Manuel “Mar” Roxas II said on Thursday when he joined the President at Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport during the awarding for the 50th million passenger of Cebu Pacific. (PDI-p1)
On The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has affirmed with finality its October 2010 decision declaring constitutional R.A. 9372 or the Human Security Act of 2007, which defines terrorism as a crime and allows authorities to arrest terror suspects without warrants and temporarily detain them without charges. In a two-page resolution, the Court en banc denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Southern Hemisphere Engagement Network Inc., Bagong Alyansang Makabayan et al, Karapatan et al, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines et al, and the Bayan-Southern Tagalog chapter et al, citing their failure to raise new arguments that would warrant a reversal of its decision. (Malaya-p4)
On The PNP
Blame it on inefficiency or the “padrino” [patronage] system but a Malaysian did make it as a member of the Philippine National Police (PNP). One for Ripley’s it may be, Teresita Ang See, the chairman of the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order (MRPO), told The Manila Times the incredible story to underscore the need to overhaul the current recruitment and promotion process in the PNP to ensure that only the mentally and physically fit will be admitted to the police force amid a recent rash of crimes involving policemen. Ang See on Sunday said that she learned about the Malaysian becoming a Filipino policeman some years back when she was the executive chairman of the People’s Law Enforcement Board (PLEB) in Manila. (Mla Times-Banner)
On The Supreme Court
The first Supreme Court (SC) associate justice appointed by President Benigno Aquino 3rd and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) were part of the losing legal team that had received lavish attorney’s fees and allowances amounting to P2.65 billion from the government. The cited expenses were made at the height of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) 3 controversy, which involved a case filed by German airport operator Fraport AG and Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco against the government for abrogating a build-operate-transfer contract with the cited parties. High Court Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Aranal-Sereno, along with her mentor, retired High Tribunal Associate Justice Florentino Feliciano, were both recipients of the huge amount of money for defending the Philippine government. (Mla Times-p1)
On The PCGG
The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) believes it needs only about two years to wind up its affairs and pave the way for the abolition of the agency. PCGG Chairman Andres Bautista wrote President Aquino, saying the PCGG is now putting the finishing touches to a proposed law that will call for the abolition of the commission in two years’ time. Before the abolition, Bautista said the PCGG would have turned over all pending litigation against the Marcos heirs and their cronies to the Department of Justice, and their confiscated and forfeited ill-gotten assets to the Department of Finance. (Philstar-Banner)
On Taxation
The Aquino administration is studying a bill passed by the House of Representatives seeking to reduce the value-added tax (VAT) from 12 to six percent, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said recently. “It’s not a VAT,” Purisima told reporters, in reference to House Bill 1970 of Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas, chairman of the House ways and means committee. “It’s a sales tax, so it’s a totally different system, and we need to study that very carefully. I gave him my position,” he added. (Philstar-p1)
On The Armed Forces
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. clarified yesterday that relocating the military’s general headquarters in Quezon City is just a secondary option and the main proposal is to put the offices of the major services in one camp. Mabanta said putting the General Headquarters, Air Force, Army, and Navy offices in one camp would promote security efficiency while supporting the military’s modernization. (Philstar-p1)
On Education
Washington believes the Philippines is “unlikely” to meet its second Millennium Development Goal, which is achieving universal primary education, by 2015, according to a report by the US Embassy in Manila that was furnished the Inquirer. The embassy cited, among other things, the 2010 Education-for-All Global Monitoring Report in which the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) referred to the Philippines as a “country that should not have had difficulty in meeting its targets.” (PDI-p2)
On The Black Nazarene
One person was killed while 560 devotees were treated for minor injuries yesterday after taking part in an annual procession which many consider a cult ceremony to honor a centuries-old black statue of Jesus Christ believed by many to have miraculous powers. (Tribune-Banner)
For 14 hours or more, the centuries-old statue of the Black Nazarene bore not just the cross on its back but the prayers and dreams of its legions of Filipino devotees. Defying the heat and bursts of rains, a multitude of believers—many of them barefoot—carried the life-size image of a mulatto Christ in a frenzied demonstration of faith through the streets of downtown Manila. (PDI-p1)
On Tourism
Despite the spate of negative travel advisories on the Philippines, the number of foreigners who entered the country through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminals alone from January to December 2010 soared to more than 3.4 million, up by almost 20 percent compared to those who arrived in 2009, according to the Bureau of Immigration (BI). Immigration officer-in-charge Ronaldo Ledesma said arrivals totaled 3,451,668 in 2010, or 19.5 percent higher than the 2,887,303 who came to the country in the previous year. (Philstar-p6)
On Flood Damage
Heavy monsoon rains and floods in 21 provinces displaced more than one million people and damaged P747 million worth of property and agricultural assets, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said yesterday. Infrastructure damage reached P573.59 million, agricultural damage P173.78 million. In an update released at 6 a.m. yesterday, NDRRMC Executive Director Benito Ramos said floods and landslides affected a total of 1,120,685 persons in 1,073 barangays. Thirty-three people died, while nine are missing, five of them fishermen in Catanduanes. (Philstar-p7)
On The Insurgency
The capture of the New People’s Army (NPA) top leader in Lucena City last week has effectively crippled the rebels’ operational capability nationwide, a ranking police official said yesterday. The police official said Tirso Alcantara, alias Ka Bart, is a “political commissar” in the NPA’s National Operations Command (NOC) and presides in the group’s national conferences that set forth tactical as well as strategic operational plans. (Philstar-p9)
On Slain Councilman
The slain councilman who captured his killer on camera was accorded a hero’s burial with a 21-gun salute under a somber sky Sunday afternoon. Rain fell when the body of Reynaldo Dagsa, a two-term councilor and peacekeeper of Barangay 35, was laid to rest at Eternal Gardens in Caloocan City. (PDI-Banner)
On Military Rebels
Six weeks after he escaped the siege of the Peninsula Manila Hotel on Nov. 29, 2007, Capt. Nicanor Faeldon joined the procession of the Black Nazarene. The rebel Marine officer had been joining the annual event as a fugitive since then. On Sunday, Faeldon, who surrendered a week after President Benigno Aquino III took office in June last year, again participated in the procession, but this time as a free man. (PDI-p1)
On Poverty
For Manuel “Manny” V. Pangilinan, eradicating poverty should be Job No. 1 for every Filipino. But to be successful, more people should help not just in civic projects but also in government programs that invite partnerships with private businesses. Pangilinan, who is sometimes referred to by his initials MVP, is one of the top business chief executives in the country, probably also in Asia. He heads many of the largest corporations in the Philippines, like the telecommunications giants Smart and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. And his business interests extend beyond telecommunications: to media with the Associated Broadcasting Co. (TV5); to utilities with the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco); and to infrastructure development and management with First Pacific Tollways Corp. (Mla Times-p1)
On Vizconde Massacre
Lawyers of Hubert Webb believe the action of former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. questioning the Supreme Court (SC) decision acquitting him and six others of the 1991 murders of the Vizconde family could set “a dangerous precedent” if given due course. In a statement sent to The STAR, lawyer Zenaida Ongkiko-Acorda said Guingona’s move was not allowed under the Rules of Court. (Philstar-p11)
On Gen Garcia
To effectively transfer the pieces of property of former military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia to the state from 10 government and private agencies, the Sandiganbayan “categorically” assumed that Garcia has indeed committed plunder, a court resolution showed. In the five-page resolution dated August 11, 2010, the anti-graft court identified the pieces of property belonging to Garcia as “ill-gotten in character” in order to resolve the conflict that arose during the turnover of Garcia’s selected assets to the state as part of a plea bargaining agreement. After Garcia “executed the requisite Deeds of Conveyance” of the pieces of property enumerated in the plea bargaining agreement, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) posed a condition that first seemed as a hurdle in the process of turnover. (Mla Times-p1)
On Chinese New Year
If passed into law, the observance of the Chinese New Year as a public holiday in the Philippines will strengthen bilateral relations between Beijing and Manila, as well as improve the influx of tourists in the country, an official of the Chinese Embassy in Manila said over the weekend. Ethan Sun, the spokesman for the Chinese Embassy, described it as a “good thing” for both countries if the Philippines will officially recognize the Chinese New Year as a holiday. He said that the “large Filipino-Chinese community” in the country will welcome and embrace the possible declaration of the Chinese New Year as a holiday. (Mla Tiimes-p2)
In : news