Following the filing of a second complaint for plunder against Philippine National Police Director General Alan Purisima, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. called on the beleaguered PNP chief to resign out of delicadeza. Belmonte was too naïve to think there is still delicadeza among the country’s officials. The word has long disappeared from the vocabulary of Philippine officialdom.… Read More »
While I cannot condone the rough treatment accorded Budget Secretary Butch Abad by some students of the University of the Philippines last week, when he was pelted with stones and coins after a speech at the School of Economics, I must also say that I quite agree with their demand that he be made accountable for the illegal… Read More »
Amid findings by the Commission on Audit that close to P2.8 million worth of relief for survivors of typhoon Yolanda were lost to spoilage and that P58 million worth of other supplies were spoiled or wasted due to improper storage, the Palace – true to its customary reactions – said President Aquino won’t fire DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman… Read More »
CHICAGO (JGL) – The broad-daylight kidnapping preserved early this month by a cell phone camera along EDSA in Mandaluyong took a page from a similar abduction 14 years ago that nipped in the bud the young Joseph “Erap” Estrada presidency. While a witness to the abduction of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and Dacer’s driver, Emmanuel Corbito, only had… Read More »
“Are we there yet?” my five year old grandniece asked just a few minutes after the car started. “It is quite a distance yet,” I replied. This conversation was repeated several times during the trip from the child’s school to our home. The response varied as we neared our destination to, “about ten minutes more”, or “just a… Read More »
MANILA Crimes involving cops themselves have been rampant here lately. President Benigno Aquino III must order Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and National Police Chief Alan Purisima to crack down on erring policemen. High-profile crimes involving police reveal a loose sense of duty and a faulty understanding of their responsibilities. It makes one wonder about their training, how rigid it… Read More »
MANILA Opinion surveys here show that Vice President Jojo Binay is polling around 40 percent of people asked about their preference for president in 2016. That could be enough to get him to the presidential palace. In a muticandidate presidential election, 40 percent could be Binay’s winning ticket. President Benigno Aquino III won 42 percent of the vote… Read More »
CHICAGO (JGL) – If the Philippine corridors of power are populated by relatives by blood or affinity, it is not surprising. The pre-colonial Philippines was ruled by royalties and nobilities, like lakans, datus and mighty warriors, when laws of the jungle were supreme. The matter of succession was interrupted only by the arrivals of Spaniards and Americans. Despite… Read More »
Shortly before being proclaimed the official winner of the 2010 presidential elections, then Senator Benigno S. Aquino III reaffirmed his campaign promise – that his administration would make the passage of the Freedom of Information bill its priority. Aquino has obviously been taking the people, whom he proclaims to be his “bosses” for a ride because four… Read More »
It’s obvious President Aquino is not about to give up his pork barrel or take his humiliation on the legality of his Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) sitting down. Stopped by the Supreme Court in two unanimous decisions from continuing to disburse funds without congressional authorization using two pork barrel programs – the Priority Development Assistance Program (PDAF)… Read More »