TAGA-ILOG NEWS

JPE sympathizes with Miriam’s emotional outbursts at impeach hearing By Angie M. Rosales 01/28/2012

2012-01-28T08:30:00.000+04:00

JPE sympathizes with Miriam’s emotional outbursts at impeach hearing

By Angie M. Rosales 01/28/2012

For some, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s display of emotional outbursts during the last two consecutive impeachment proceedings may have already been too much.

But for Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, he could empathize with his colleague as she is known to be dealing with hypertension.

“All I can say is, we should be a bit understanding because she is suffering from some ailment. If you are in that condition, normally your threshold of stress is very shallow. All of a sudden, her blood pressure rises,” he said.
Yet, the upper chamber chief who is acting as presiding officer in the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, reminded senator-judges to remain composed and control their emotions during the proceedings..... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120128nat3.html

DND bent on acquiring P70-B modern military hardware for Armed Forces By Mario J. Mallari 01/28/2012

2012-01-28T08:00:00.000+04:00

DND bent on acquiring P70-B modern military hardware for Armed Forces

By Mario J. Mallari 01/28/2012

The Department of National Defense (DND) is bent on approving 138 projects to acquire modern military hardware as part of the capability upgrade and modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), amounting to about P70 billion, by July this year.

During the Defense Acquisition System kick off at Camp Aguinaldo yesterday, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said while the task at hand is difficult to achieve, he urged those involved in the acquisition program to give their best to beat the deadline on the completion of the 138 projects.

“Our main responsibility is to ensure the approval and signature of the contracts for all the 138 projects for the AFP modernization and capability upgrade program not later than 31 July 2012,” Gazmin said..... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120128met5.html

Mayors agree to adopt single ticketing system for 17 LGUs By Pat C. Santos 01/28/2012

2012-01-28T07:30:00.000+04:00

Mayors agree to adopt single ticketing system for 17 LGUs

By Pat C. Santos 01/28/2012

The Metro Manila Council (MMC), the policy-making body of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), yesterday approved a resolution adopting a uniform ticketing system for the 17 local government units (LGUs) of Metro Manila.

The resolution was approved following a presentation and dialog with Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo who pledged to present the single ticketing system for the approval of President Aquino. Representatives of transport groups such as the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers (Fejodap), Pangkalahatang Sanggunian Manila at Suburbs Drivers Association (Pasang Masda), Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) participated in the dialog.

Without the single ticketing system, each Metro Manila LGU and the MMDA use their respective traffic violation tickets within their jurisdictions. This runs counter to the 1995 MMDA Charter mandating the Agency to “install and administer a single ticketing system.”.... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120128met1.html

RP must learn from Ecuador DIE HARD III Herman Tiu Laurel 01/27/2012

2012-01-27T19:00:00.000+04:00

RP must learn from Ecuador

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

01/27/2012
Other than the letters to its name, the Philippines has other things that are more plentiful than Ecuador: Nine times more population; 10 percent more land area; a sea territory that is far more vast, etc. Yet, Ecuador is much better off in terms of per capita gross domestic product (GDP), with $8,327 compared to our $4,111; or its higher Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.72 compared to our 0.64, among other statistics.

In addition, one key difference will make the Filipino people see the light of day — that is, if they would cease to be mindlessly dependent on mainstream media. This sad comparison centers on a recent announcement on the Philippine government’s share of Malampaya oil profits totaling $1.1 billion, which translates to only 10 percent of the gas facility’s total earnings for 2011. Ecuador, in contrast, gets an astounding 87-percent share of gross revenues today from oil extracted by foreign companies. So what accounts for the Philippines’ sordid plight?

If only we had the same tough pro-people, pro-nation leadership as Ecuador under its progressive President Rafael Correa, the Philippines would also have a just share of its natural and national patrimony. If RP had someone like Correa today, the people would be enjoying not just a $1.1-billion share from Malampaya but around $8.8 billion (equivalent to P360 billion), or about the entire sum of the yearly allocation for interest payments on our foreign debt. If only we had this money in our hands, then Congress could have had the means to budget the principal repayment of our foreign debt in order to wipe this out in a few years’ time.

Ecuador did not always have this vastly pro-people arrangement with the transnational oil companies in its country. Before 2007, it only had a 13-percent share of revenues from its oil fields. All that changed with the victory of a nationalist leadership. And this exciting and welcome development for all Ecuadorians was chronicled in Jayat Ghosh’s “Could Ecuador be the most radical and exciting place on Earth?” in The Guardian.

As a backgrounder, the then 47-year-old Correa was elected in 2007 on an anti-trapo platform after a year of then Vice-President Alfredo Palacio’s transition government, which took over from Lucio Gutiérrez, who was ousted by a “citizens’ movement” protesting his administration’s failures to deliver on land reform, lower unemployment, social services and historical exploitation by the oligarchy.

By December 2008, Correa declared Ecuador’s national debt illegitimate for having been contracted by previous corrupt and despotic regimes. And as he pledged to fight creditors in international courts, he succeeded in reducing the debt before even paying any of it off.

Correa then brought his country into the fold of the Venezuela-led Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in June 2009. All these policies were, of course, anathema to the US. Thus, a police-led coup that led to the Ecuadorian leader’s kidnapping was launched — with Correa thankfully restored after being rescued by the military. But this by no means deterred him from renegotiating contracts with foreign oil companies, thereby completely changing the rules by December 2010.

Foreign oil firms, which used to pay just over a percentage of their profits to the national government through taxes, were made service providers instead and paid a set fee for each barrel of oil extracted (at about $35 per barrel); the national government then kept everything above that, which allowed it to profit whenever oil prices increased.

Over and above his achievements in the oil sector, Correa also dramatically raised the corporate tax share in the total pie from 35 to 40 percent. These increases were then “put to good use in infrastructure investment and social spending,” raising Ecuador’s proportion of public investment to GDP to 10 percent — the highest in Latin America and the Caribbean — while doubling social spending since 2006, enabling progress toward free education and free health care for all.

Ghosh gushes, “All this may sound too good to be true, and certainly the process of transformation has only just begun. There are bound to be conflicts with those whose profits and power are threatened, as well as other hurdles along the way. But for those who believe that we are not condemned to the gloomy status quo, and that societies can do things differently, what is happening in Ecuador provides inspiration and even guidance. The rest of the world has much to learn from this ongoing radical experiment.”

Here in the Philippines, we have a scion of a cacique family in power who epitomizes a class of people whom Correa fought and overcame to launch the “radical and exciting” changes benefiting the Ecuadorian nation today.

Filipinos need the same type of leadership as the new Latin American leaders like Correa, Hugo Chavez (Venezuela), Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Dilma Rousseff (Brazil), or Cristina Fernández (Argentina), who continue to push their countries forward with nationalist and pro-people policies.

While Ecuador wrested the just and rightful bounties of its oil wealth from foreign hands and gave them to its people, RP’s past and present governments have merely been in cahoots with Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron, allowing additional investments in Malampaya to dilute the country’s already measly 10-percent share — when the fact is all these “investments” were derived from Malampaya profits courtesy of Filipino power consumers, who have been paying for overpriced electricity through natural gas plants managed by a big oligarchic family.

Just the same, pressure from the likes of Energy Secretary Rene Almendras and his ilk continues for the privatization of the state-owned Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC), which represents government’s share in Malampaya.

And so, as our country’s senators are caught up in impeachment rapture, the plunder of our nation continues unabated.

(Tune in to 1098AM, dwAD, Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m.; watch Destiny Cable GNN’s HTL edition of Talk News TV, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15 p.m., on “New proofs of Hocus PCOS;” visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
(Reprinted with permission from Mr. Herman Tiu-Laurel)

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120127com6.html

Recto’s foul play FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 01/27/2012

2012-01-27T18:30:00.000+04:00

Recto’s foul play

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

01/27/2012
Sen. Ralph Recto thought the viewing and listening public, no matter how small an audience it really is, that it wouldn’t see through what he was doing, which was doing a Drilon, i.e., lawyering for the prosecution Wednesday.

Sure, he can always claim that all he did by questioning the witness, Bureau of Internal Revenue Chief Kim Henares, was merely to clarify the public what it was the “Alpha” returns and the Income Tax Returns (ITRs) were all about, but he went further, and asked, year by year, what was the income of Chief Justice Corona and the amount of taxes paid under the Alpha list. He can always claim that as an excuse.

But — and this is a big but. There was already a ruling made by the presiding judge of the impeachment court, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, disallowing the witness to be questioned by the prosecutor, except to authenticate the documents, to which the defense had already not only stipulated, but also was in full accord — to shorten the authentication process, which merely needed the witness to state that yes, such is true and correct, because she did not have personal knowledge and that she was moreover not competent to give an opinion on the matter related to the CJ’s ITR because she was not an expert witness..... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120127com2.html

Americans are against war: But does govt care? (w/ Video)

2012-01-27T18:00:00.000+04:00

Americans are against war: But does govt care?

With harsh US rhetoric and tensions around Iran’s nuclear program snowballing by the hour, American polls nonetheless show that most Americans think a war with Tehran would be a grave mistake. But do the leaders care?

Despite Iran’s recent consent to return to negotiations over its atomic work, the Obama administration says war with Tehran is still on the table. Even harsher statements come from some of Washington’s hawks like Newt Gingrich, who spoke of breaking the Iranian regime within a year..... MORE
Source: RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/americans-no-war-iran-819/

FBI would like to follow you on Facebook and Twitter

2012-01-27T17:30:00.000+04:00

FBI would like to follow you on Facebook and Twitter

The FBI has got tired of monitoring social media sites manually and wants to reinvent the process. So, soon your posts may instantly light up on a map as a big red dot if considered suspicious, marking the location of the ‘bad actor.’

"Social media has become a primary source of intelligence because it has become the premier first response to key events and the primal alert to possible developing situations," says the Request for Information published by FBI on January 19.

The FBI’s ‘market research’ shows that the bureau is planning to monitor all ‘publicly available’ data on social media sites through a new game-changing system..... MORE

Source: RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/fbi-social-networks-privacy-781/

Pentagon's new budget: Rise of the machines

2012-01-27T17:00:00.000+04:00

Pentagon's new budget: Rise of the machines

The Pentagon detailed the Defense Department cuts on Thursday that US President Barack Obama hinted at earlier in the month.

While the agenda for the DoD isn’t full of surprises, it exemplifies a trend that the military has seen more and more as of late: droves of drones replacing real-life soldiers.

Under the Pentagon’s new budget plan, America’s war-time arsenal will see a drastic decrease in the number of servicemen, with the DoD instead spending money on robotic unmanned vehicles..... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/pentagon-budget-military-defense-805/

After 2011 toll fee hikes, toll operators report increased profits

2012-01-27T16:30:00.000+04:00

After 2011 toll fee hikes, toll operators report increased profits

“The TRB decision approving the automatic increase in toll fee rates every two years should be scrapped.” – Taxpayers Unity vs Toll Fee Hike
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – While most Filipinos today are gritting their teeth over the left and right hike in fees and prices that greeted them this new year, private toll operators of the capital’s highways “are feasting on higher profits,” as a group of consumers focusing on operations of the privatized toll roads said recently.

“This is outrageous,” said the Tutol-Hike or Taxpayers Unity vs Toll Fee Hike, an alliance of consumers, employees and former workers of public transport facilities, as reports came out that the Manila North Tollways Corporation (MNTC) is expecting its 2011 revenues to be bigger by 12 percent compared to previous year. The increase is attributed to higher toll fees at the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx).

Rodrigo E. Franco, MNTC president, said the increase in revenues is due to toll rate increase. The increase has apparently more than offset the slight reduction in traffic volume at the expressway. Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) disclosed last week that MNTC’s revenue is expected to hit P6.5 billion, higher than P5.8 billion recorded in 2010.

Against public opposition, toll fees in NLEx and other privately operated toll roads were raised by 12-13 percent last year (the SLEx rate was raised by about 300-percent). These increases threaten to be implemented at the expressway every two years, based on the Toll Regulatory Board’s approval.

With truckers, transport groups, other consumer groups and legal personalities, Tutol-Hike (formerly Tutol-Slex) had spearheaded protest actions against the then proposed toll fee hikes in both the South and North expressways. The group has also actively attended the public hearings conducted by the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), hearings which the group later came to describe as bogus for sheer absence of public voice, participation and timely information dissemination..... MORE

Source: Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/01/26/after-2011-toll-fee-hikes-toll-operators-report-increased-profits/

Drama N.O . N.O.N.S.E.N.S.E Jacinto ‘Jing’ Paras 01/27/2012

2012-01-27T16:00:00.000+04:00

Drama

N.O . N.O.N.S.E.N.S.E

Jacinto ‘Jing’ Paras

01/27/2012
Or, that which my computer dictionary also defines as “an exciting, emotional or unexpected series of events or set of circumstances,” such as what we have in the ongoing impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona at the Senate. And, such as what I get in my e-mail, where people inject color where there is none, prescribe emotions in true telenovela fashion and cast intrigue by making mountains out of molehills.

“verling40@yahoo.com” is perhaps the most mellow, with “keep on writing, ma’am armida, about CJ Corona and his buddy little girl to counter your editor writer. I’m always looking (forward) to reading your column.”

To clarify, I’m on good terms with my editor. She lets me write what I want to write, does not tell me to drop a paragraph here or change a couple of lines there, she just never censors me, period..... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120127com4.html

Iggy Arroyo dies in London hospital 01/27/2012

2012-01-27T12:00:00.000+04:00

Iggy Arroyo dies in London hospital

01/27/2012
Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo, brother-in-law of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo, has been declared dead after life-support systems were removed from him Thursday evening.

Members of the Arroyo clan said Iggy went into a coma last Wednesday and was rushed immediately to a hospital where he was declared clinically-dead early morning Thursday, Manila time.

The younger Arroyo went to London last year to seek treatment for a liver ailment..... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120127hed4.html

Prosecution fishing for evidence—JPE 01/27/2012

2012-01-27T11:30:00.000+04:00

IMPEACHED CJ, FAMILY ALSO UNDER BIR PROBE

Prosecution fishing for evidence—JPE

01/27/2012
The House prosecution’s penchant for asking vague subpoenas tends to prove that the accusers of the impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona are merely fishing for evidence.

Enrile issued a stern warning after handing down a ruling approving the prosecution panel’s motion withdrawing its earlier request for the court to issue subpoenaes to some bank executives, as well as property developers, supposedly privy to alleged bank deposits and condos of the embattled SC chief justice.

Enrile directed them as well as the defense panel to specify in their requests for the issuance of subpoena ad testificandum and duces tecum the reasons for such..... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120127hed1.html

Despite series of media killings, Press Freedom in RP improved — Palace By Fernan J. Angeles 01/27/2012

2012-01-27T11:00:00.000+04:00

Despite series of media killings, Press Freedom in RP improved — Palace

By Fernan J. Angeles 01/27/2012

Despite a series of media killings, Malacanang insists that the country is getting to be a safe place for journalists.
Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) Secretary Ramon Carandang said the Philippines has improved in the 2011 Press Freedom Index by the Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) or Reporters without Borders.

He cited better democratic space in the country as the primary reason over what he described as an improvement in the local environment.

RSF, a Brussels-based organization, said the Philippines has improved slightly in its 2011 Press Freedom Index although it still reels from the stigma of the November 2009 Maguindanao massacre where at least 57 were killed including 32 media people..... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120127nat6.html

Noy ‘happy’ with DoJ’s cases against foes By Fernan J. Angeles 01/27/2012

2012-01-27T10:30:00.000+04:00

Noy ‘happy’ with DoJ’s cases against foes

By Fernan J. Angeles 01/27/2012

Malacañang never runs out of new names to beef up what appears to be a growing membership in what appears to be an exclusive hit-list club. The latest addition in their list is former Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) Chairman Prospero Pichay.

In a statement farmed out by the Office of the Presidential Spokesman to Palace reporters, Malacañang appears to be “very happy” with the Department of Justice (DoJ), which approved the indictment of Pichay in connection with the “anomalous purchase” of the Express Savings Bank.

“We welcome the decision of the Department of Justice panel of prosecutors to file charges of corruption, malversation and violation of the banking law, against former Local Water Utilities Administration Board Chairman Prospero Pichay Jr., and acting LWUA Administrator Daniel Landingin,” the statement said..... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120127nat1.html

CA upholds conviction of JI men in LRT blast By Benjamin B. Pulta 01/27/2012

2012-01-27T10:00:00.000+04:00

CA upholds conviction of JI men in LRT blast

By Benjamin B. Pulta 01/27/2012

The Court of Appeals (CA) has upheld the conviction of three members of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) behind the Dec. 30, 2000 bombing of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) which killed 11 persons.

In a 56-page decision by Associate Justice Danton Bueser, the CA’s Seventh Division did not give credence to the alibi of the accused-appellants Mukhlis Hadji Umpara Yunos (also known as Hadji Onos, Moklis, Muklis and Mocles), Zainal Paks (alias Paks and Mamasao Gaon Naga) and Mohamad Amir (alias Amir, Abdul Fatak Paute) that they were in their respective hometowns when the bombing took place.

Associate Justices Rosmari Carandang and Ricardo Rosario concurred..... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120127met1.html

Military sends 115-strong peacekeeping force to Liberia 01/27/2012

2012-01-27T09:24:00.001+04:00

Military sends 115-strong peacekeeping force to Liberia

01/27/2012
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday sent a 115-strong peacekeeping force to war-torn Liberia as part of the country’s commitment to the United Nations (UN).

The 16th Philippine Contingent to Liberia (PCL), composed of seven officers and 108 enlisted personnel and medical staff, was sent off via chartered flight to Liberia at the Clark Air Base in Pampanga during simple ceremonies led by Air Force 1st Air Division chief Maj. Gen. Ricardo Banayat.

Led by Col. Armin Alejaga, the 16th PCL will be relieving the 15th PCL which has been deployed in Liberia since March. Members of the 15th PCL will be arriving back in the country on Jan. 28..... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120127nat5.html

Public opinion? FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 01/26/2012

2012-01-26T18:30:00.000+04:00

Public opinion?

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

01/26/2012
Noynoy and his prosecutors, as well as some of their senator-judges, aided by the Yellow media, are banking on trial and conviction by publicity in wooing the so-called public opinion to justify their impeachment vote of conviction of the Chief Justice, as the prosecution cannot seem to win its case in the courtroom.

Noynoy and his aides have come up many times to claim that the people are behind him and support his move to have Chief Justice Renato Corona removed from the high court, because the surveys say so.

In the same vein, some senator-judges allies with Noynoy also claim that public opinion does matter when they vote on the fate of the CJ.

But just what is public opinion? The surveys? The Yellow news media that want to make people believe that which they say affect public opinion? The interest of the “public” that is, the Filipino people in the impeachment trial and the fate of the CJ?.... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120126com2.html

Dis-United States of America?

2012-01-26T18:00:00.000+04:00

Dis-United States of America?

Despite President Barack Obama’s calls to fight income inequality any push for national unity will be one-sided as the US is ruled by a small elite, believes Caleb Maupin from the International Action Center.

He told RT that in his last State of the Union address before running for re-election President Obama made a lot of references to the United States as one country where everybody is pulling together and sharing the sacrifice..... MORE

Source: RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/obama-speech-america-disunited-711/

Google to track users... like never before!

2012-01-26T17:30:00.000+04:00

Google to track users... like never before!

In a move that has triggered outrage, Google has announced plans to bring all data collected from users’ separate accounts on its sites into a combined profile. Besides raising dubious questions about privacy, this offer is one you… cannot refuse.

The changes will take effect on March 1. Before that date, Google will notify its hundreds of millions of users about the new rules of the game. In preparation, the company is boosting its privacy policy and terms of service. Users will have to decide whether to agree with the new terms – or lose access to some of their favorite sites. There is no way of opting out of the changes..... MORE
Source: RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/google-privacy-policy-tracking-671/

US troops waltzing into Libya while setting up Iran

2012-01-26T17:00:00.000+04:00

US troops waltzing into Libya while setting up Iran

24.01.2012

It was recently reported that 12,000 American troops were in Malta waiting for "deployment" to Libya. Who do they think they are sending all those troops into a country they have no business entering? Who gave them permission? Do the American people even know their troops have invaded yet another country?

Did they get a UN Resolution giving them permission to INVADE the country? No, they did not. They are just waltzing in, as though they had the God-given right, make that SATAN-given right.

Is this how that stinking, lying renegade in the White House withdraws troops from Iraq? Send them somewhere else to infest?.... MORE

Source: Pravda.ru

URL: http://english.pravda.ru/history/24-01-2012/120320-US_troops_waltzing_into_Libya-0/

Division. Collision. Deprivation VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 01/26/2012

2012-01-26T16:30:00.000+04:00

Division. Collision. Deprivation

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

01/26/2012
Thanks to the Chief Executive for the obsessive protection of long and firmly held dynastic wealth. Thanks to the allies in the Legislative Department for their unconditional allegiance to and patronage of Malacaang. Thanks to the markedly distorted understanding and errant practice of politics in the Philippines. These national liabilities cannot but have their equally national negative impact on the country as felt by the people in general and watched attentively by foreign nationals especially in investors in particular.

Consequences: Actual division among the three separate yet co-equal branches of government that should instead engage in trilateral deference and collaboration..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120126com7.html

Arab spring: 'Western-backed exported Islamist revolution’ (w/ Video)

2012-01-26T16:00:00.000+04:00

Arab spring: 'Western-backed exported Islamist revolution’

The string of uprisings in the Arab world boils down to Saudi Arabia and Qatar using money and influence to hijack public dissent and bring Sunni Islamists to power, says John R. Bradley, British author and expert on the Middle East.

He argues that the turbulence that saw several governments overthrown in 2011 came from sectarian divide among Muslims, which the West played on, to support its own allies..... MORE

Source: RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/arab-spring-islamist-revolution-723/

Documents on claimed ‘ill-gotten’ wealth barred By Angie M. Rosales and Benjamin B. Pulta 01/26/2012

2012-01-26T07:19:00.000+04:00

SENATE EXCLUDES ‘SUSPECTED, REPORTED’ CJ HIDDEN WEALTH

Documents on claimed ‘ill-gotten’ wealth barred

By Angie M. Rosales and Benjamin B. Pulta 01/26/2012

The House prosecution panel was barred by the Senate impeachment court from presenting and declaring any documents or evidence as “ill-gotten” pertaining to the Article 2, paragraph 2.4.

This was the meat of the ruling handed down by the im-peachment court and read at the opening of yesterday’s proceed-ing by the presiding officer, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, on the memorandum filed by the defense panel objecting to the inclusion of charges para-graphs 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 of Article 2 of the Articles of Impeachment.

Enrile, later, in an interview, explained that the prosecution panel cannot present documents pertaining to the bank deposits of Corona, unless it has laid down the basis or the significance of the matter in their charges..... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120126hed1.html

Sereno liable for impeach for ‘concealing’ Piatco fee in SALn 01/26/2012

2012-01-26T07:12:00.002+04:00

Sereno liable for impeach for ‘concealing’ Piatco fee in SALn

01/26/2012
A member of the minority bloc yesterday said Supreme Court Junior Associate Justice Lourdes Sereno could be liable for impeachment if proven she has failed to disclose the P25 million she collected as professional fees when she represented the government in the arbitration cases in the International Chamber of Commerce court, both in Singapore and Washington, in her Statement of Assets Liabilities, Networth (SALn).

During their weekly press briefing, Siquijor Rep. Orlando Fua said if indeed Sereno filed false information in her SALn, it could qualify as a good subject for an impeachment case.

“That could be a good subject of an impeachment proceeding,” Fua stressed..... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120126hed5.html

Aquino on Llamas: Pirated DVD issue ‘not a priority' By Fernan J. Angeles 01/26/2012

2012-01-26T07:07:00.002+04:00

Aquino on Llamas: Pirated DVD issue ‘not a priority'

By Fernan J. Angeles 01/26/2012

That cop out clause “not a priority” was again used by President Aquino on an embarrassing incident where Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas was caught on camera patronizing a pirated digital video discs (DVD) shop in a Quezon City mall.

Aquino had used the term in the past frequently to dodge questions about his allies and associates who figure in questionable acts and how his refusal to make them accountable hardly jibes with his straight path mantra.
Llamas was recently photographed in front of the illegal DVD store apparently buying pirated movies..... MORE

Source: The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120126hed3.html