Pala-isip

Here are the list of 38 individuals charged over the PDAF complaints. 1. Senator Juan Ponce Enrile 2. Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. 3. Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Ejercito Estrada 4. Ex-Representative (Now Masbate governor) Rizalina Seachon-Lanete 5. Ex-Representative Edgar Valdez (Apec party-list) 6. Ex-Representative Rodolfo Plaza (Lone District Agusan Del Sur) 7. Ex-Representative Samuel Dangwa (Lone district, Benguet) 8. Ex-Representative Constantino Jaraula (Lone District, Cagayan de Oro) 9. Atty Jessica Reyes - Chief of Staff, Enrile 10. Atty. Richard Cambe - Staff, Revilla 11. Ruby Tuason - Representative, Enrile/Estrada 12. Pauline Labayen - Staff, Estrada 13. Jose Sumalpong - COS, Lanete 14. Jeanette dela Cruz - District Staff, Lanete 15. Erwin Dangwa - COS, Dangwa 16. Carlos Lozada - Staff, Dangwa 17. Alan Javellana - former President National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor) 18. Gondelina Amata - President, National Livelihood Development Corporation (NLDC) 19. ...

Someone forwarded this to me. I don't know how true it is, but knowing LTO, it probably is. ================ Noong 2007, ang kontrata ng STRADCOM sa computerization ng LTO ay nagtapos na. Subalit dahil nakasaad sa kontrata na "HAWAK NILA SA LEEG" ang LTO, dahil sa pagtatapos ng kanilang kontrata ay dadalhin nila ang mga computer hardware at software, at ang ititira ay ang DATA lamang, nanatili ang STRADCOM sa LTO. Patuloy sa paninigil ng COMPUTER FEE kahit na ang DATA ng bawat sasakyan ay naka-encode na at wala ng dapat pang i-build up o i-data entry. Patuloy ang pagkulekta ng STRADCOM ng bayad, dahil walang kumukwestiyon, sa ilalim ng ilong ng mga motorista. Sa kabila nito, ang pamunuan ng DOTC at ng LTO ay humingi ng mas malaking "PARTE", ibig sabihin, patong, lagay, kickback, etc, dahil nga naman, tubong lugaw na ang STRADCOM dahil dapat tanggal na nga sila. Syempre pa, medyo nagpakipot ang pamunuan ng STRADCOM at nagmungkahi na magdagdag na lang ng mga s...

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Environment Secretary Lito Atienza may not be able to send 1,000 erring mayors to jail for operating garbage dumps but he can still sue them. In a statement issued Tuesday, Joey Papa of the Bangon Kalikasan Movement said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is authorized to issue cease-and-desist orders against violators of the country’s environmental laws. If Atienza fails to do this, he should resign, Papa said. Yeah, good luck with that. He sues the mayors, he losses his chance to run for higher office. I find it funny how Atienza became environment secretary. This from a guy who practically paved over all of Metro Manila. Remember Plaza Binondo? Instead of rehabilitating it with greenery, he paved it over and put tiles all over. Now there's no grass and trees to clean the air and no plants to take away the rainfall. When it rains, the tiles are very slippery. What a dumb idea. If his main concern was the squatters living there,...

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer . Filipinos in Hong Kong who have gathered donations for survivors of tropical storm Ondoy are requesting the government to ease its requirement that all donations go through the Department of Social Welfare and Development. In an e-mail, Daphne Ceniza said “many donors want to send their items to specific and monitor the goods at its receiving end but this cannot be done because of the rule that everything has to go through the DSWD.” ”How practical is this procedure? I can just imagine DSWD having its hands full now attending to the flood victims, does it have enough manpower to handle the processing of donated items?” she asked. Ceniza proposed that consular posts, not just in Hong Kong, to be given the mandate to screen donors and shipment for tax exemption for this instance. She said Filipinos in Hong Kong have been able to gather 53 balikbayan boxes for Manila, and have been able to convince freight forwarding companies to donate their services....

Tim Garcia, under house arrest because of a criminal investigation, spent the night in a Gucci jacket and YSL boots. You may not know who Tim Garcia is, but I'm sure you know his father Major General Carlos F. Garcia, a former comptroller of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The elder Garcia stands accused of racking up more than 303 million pesos ($6.2 million) of ill-gotten gains, in the form of cash, real estate and other property. General Garcia’s wife and their three children (all American citizens), Timothy Mark, Ian Karl, 30, and Juan Paulo, 27 are all facing plunder charges in the Philippines, which carries a penalty of 30 years to life. They are all also subjects to extradition. “Imagine living a comfortable lifestyle and than all of a sudden you’re forced to coexist with armed robbers, organized crime people and people who sell drugs. The cream of the criminal crop.” said Garcia. The worst part is the actual ankle bracelet. “It’s uncomfortable,” he moans, tugging at th...

Just reposting this. I have no sources to confirm this but I hope it's not true. ============= Repost, from a confirmed and reliable source: donations from abroad coursed through embaassies were directed by (p)gma to be deposited into a "special" account opened for Ondoy victims. Said account is under the control of Luli Arroyo. ============= If this is true, may God have mercy on their souls. No, wait scratch that. If that is true, people like these deserves to be in hell. The foreign donations coming to the Philippines is huge. We are talking millions of dollars here. Here are some details http://balita.ph/2009/09/29/foreign-donations-pour-in-for-ondoy-victims/ . So a reminder just to be safe. Don't send your donations through the embassies. Direct them straight to the charities instead. Check my previous post for details of various charities.

Repost from fullman.com.ph While some were still drowning, while some families were still stuck on roofs, while those who were not badly hit were sacrificing their lives to save those who need rescuing and while others were volunteering their energy to provide relief to those who lost almost everything, some of our honorable congressmen and women were busy saving Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, protector of Big Boss Mike Arroyo. Today, the impeachment complaint against the Ombudsman was dismissed by the House justice committee with a vote of ‘absolute majority’. It was a surreal hearing. After being delayed for several weeks because of lack of quorum, the House committee was suddenly able to force its members to attend the hearing, disaster and all. SHAME!!!!!

Summarized from the Philippine Daily Inquirer . The lack of coordination and leadership by government has thrown the relief efforts to shambles. =========== Until now, the government has not clarified whether it will dispense with the red tape that normally accompanies donations in kind: the last thing the country needs is a scandal associated with donated relief goods being impounded by the Bureau of Customs or taxed upon arrival. The Department of Foreign Affairs also needs to facilitate documentation requirements as there are many Filipinos overseas who can help by means of collecting goods rather than giving cash. There have been too many reports of our embassies and consulates telling concerned individuals just to give cash because they don’t want to deal with relief goods. We believe our foreign posts are as concerned as ordinary citizens, but are hampered by lack of guidance from their bosses. The Department of Trade and Industry has established a hotline (751-3330) to report pr...

I couldn't believe this when I read it. “Be it hereby resolved by the Philippine Senate, to enjoin all senators to allocate at least P1 million from their Priority Development Assistance Fund to aid victims of Ondoy,” according to Senate Resolution 1378 filed by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Monday. P1 million!?! Multiplied by 24 senators that's only P24 million! Doesn't each senator get P200 million of PDAF each!?! How generous of them...

Excerpts from an article on the Philippine Daily Inquirer. ============ “It’s plain incompetence of the leadership, and government was absent,” said Sen. Loren Legarda. The National Disaster Coordinating Center (NDCC), she said, “clearly has no action plan.” Legarda called for a review of NDCC activities. “Can they say they don’t have money or power (to mitigate the) effects of disasters? Of course not,” the senator said, pointing out that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has an annual P2-billion “calamity fund.” “What sticks out from the aftermath of Ondoy is that the Arroyo government is not prepared to handle such emergency situations. It is very clear that those who were stranded overwhelmingly outnumber available rubber boats and members of rescue teams,” said KMU chair Elmer Labog in a statement. Labog said the television and radio ads by Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. on disaster preparedness proved a waste of taxpayers’ money. “Clearly, the government is not putting wh...

I've read some blogs where they are comparing Typhoon Ondoy to Hurrican Katrina because the lack of disaster relief and preparedness. Basically, the disaster relief fund and facilities is inadequate. There didn't seem to be enough amphibious vehicles to go around, the government didn't have an efficiently workin call center and PAGASA's own website was inaccessible due to lack of bandwidth. This is what happens when people steal money meant for the people. The people suffers, but hey, the Filipinos are known for their "bahala na" and "God will take care of us" attitude. Also heard that some people say it could have been worst. Actually, it didn't have to be like this at all. If people stopped throwing trash in the canals and waterways, there would be sufficient drainage of the flood waters. If DPWH built bigger and more effective drainage system, the loss would have been minimized. But unfortunately, building a good system one time doesn't ma...

I wish I wrote this article by Nadine Bautista . Here's some excerpt. ============= For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail. NO DOUBT, there is something wrong with this country. The other day I decided to step out of my comfort zone and jog past the village guard house. I was greeted by unimaginable filth and squatters living on the sidewalks. The very visible smog not only choked me, it was seasoned with the delicious aroma of excrement for added flavor. Children were sitting on the dirt with empty stares, their cupped hands automatically sensing incoming pedestrians like metal detectors. Flies swarmed on babies as if they were living garbage. When the traffic lights turned red, these children stood up, as if on cue, and began knocking on car windows, begging for alms or sel...

Someone forwarded this to me. Grabe! And to think about 2 weeks before this sorry excuse of a dinner, Obama and Biden LINED UP IN A WORKING-MAN'S LUNCH COUNTER AND HAD SANDWICHES AND COLA?! Parang hindi alam nung nasa Malacanang ang pagkakaiba ng "Class" at "Crass"? Wala na ba silang pakialam? Pakipasa sa iba para Makita nila kung ano ang binayaran ni tongressman Danilo Suarez na gustong maghari sa Quezon kaso di nagtagumpay para hatiin ang Quezon. Mga kababayan silipin nga natin kung ano itong pinag iinitang mga kinain daw ni Kamahal-mahalang Pangulong Gloria sa Le Cirque New York at ang kanyang mga kampon. Since na may ambag naman tayo (as a taxpayer ) dapat lng sigurong makita natin kahit sa picture man lang ang mga pagkaing nararapat daw para sa ating mga honorable public servants. Ang bill ng entourage ni Gloria sa Le Cirque Golden Osetra Caviar. Sa Tagalog, kumpol-kumpol na itlog ng isda. Rare daw ito. Malansa at lasang bagoong, sabi ng iba. Kulay itim la...

The previous article I posted about why cruise ships skips Manila . Whether that is true or not, I do not know. But I'm not surprised if it is true. That has been the nature of most if not all Philippine government officials. From personal experience alone, I can tell you this happens all the time. Whenever I travel, every time I go through Philippine customs. They always try to see if they can milk you for something or ask for some "balato". Just last week, when I went to Manila for a vacation, after I got my luggage and I went through customs. Just before I exited the doors going out to where you wait for the car to pick you up. The last guy on the door said, "Gwapo nang pangalan mo ah. Meron ba tayong pasalubong diyan?" That's the kind of people we have running our port of entry. Now, I'm use to this so I just ignore it. But what about foreigners? My friend was telling me a story when he went to Japan for a vacation. He got into a conversation with th...

Got this from an e-mail. If you think about it, cruise ships docks in Vietnam , Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia , Korea and others, and they're no better than Manila or Cebu. This was written by a Pinoy couple who now live in the US. Would like to share with you what we found out as the reason why cruise ships of the big cruise companies skip Manila. My wife and I are regular cruisers and we always talk to the Filipino crew. When we took the 12-day Mediterranean cruise I asked the Pinoy waiters (because we are in a big group, we usually request for Pinoy waiters to be assigned to us) why all their Asian cruises skip Manila when they go to all the neighboring countries of the Philippines. Tanong ko bakit ba wala sa itinerary ninyo ang Manila . Ang sagot sa akin. Noong una ho may cruises kami na humihinto sa Manila but masyadong hong matakaw ang mga taga Customs sa atin kaya ang management ho namin nag decide na skip na ang Manila. When inspection time comes upon o...

Yesterday, in a privilege speech , Sen. Panfilo Lacson accused Joseph Estrada of bullying Alfonso Yuchengco into selling his 7.75% stake in PLDT to a group led by Manuel V. Pangilinan by threatening to arrest his son on trumped up drug charges. Reaction by the Estrada camp obviously says that Lacson is a liar . However, in an e-mail statement, Alfonso Yuchengco today confirms that he was indeed bullied by Estrada into selling his stake in PLDT 11 years ago. The deal was supposedly cooked up by Mark Jimenez and that Estrada was supposedly going to get P2 Billion from it. Mark Jimenez was reported to have received $50 million in commission. You would think that these things shouldn't be happening anymore after Marcos era. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Anybody read this article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer? Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez issued a memorandum circular that would make it difficult for people to get copies of the Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth of government officials. This is the latest move by the Arroyo government to hamper access to information of public concern. Wow...just wow. So instead of investigating why Mikey Arroyo has an inflated net worth. The Ombudsman instead issues a memorandum so that nobody can look into his SALN anymore. That way, there's nothing to investigate. No evidence, no investigation, no expose. Nothing for the media or anyone to throw at Mikey to make a fool of himself anymore. Makes sense. If anybody still doubts that Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez is working for the benefit of the Arroyo family. This confirms it. It's unconstitutional to issue this kind of memorandum. Unconstitutional because the Constitution recognizes “the right of the people to informati...

Watch the media suicide of Mikey Arroyo in Unang Balita with Igan and Winnie Monsod. These people are what they call "So young, yet so corrupt". To summarize, in 2003, his net worth is P5 million. In 2005, it went up to $76.9 million. His reason, he was elected governor in 2004 and if one makes mistake in declaring their Statements of Assets and Liabilities (SAL), they can correct it next year. He said that he wasn't used to declaring his SAL. Wow... In 2008, his SAL is now P99 million. But now he also has investments in a house that is not rented out and not making income. What kind of investments is that? He is saying that his lawyer can explain it when his lawyer comes back from abroad. Why are they always abroad? Mikey keeps insisting it is not his house but owned by a corporation. So Winnie asked Mikey if he can disclose the other partners. Mikey said that he can't because they're private citizens. To which Winnie said, "the corporation is registered wit...

Read this report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer. It says that in the mid-year report, the Ombudsman 94 of the 194 person whose cases was resolved were acquitted. The cases filed against 44 respondents were dismissed without going to trial and 13 were dismissed during trial. The Office of the Ombudsman also withdrew 11 cases this year. Responding to these reports, the Office of the Ombudsman reported that in 2008 a high of 73 percent conviction rate claiming that 406 resulted in convictions while only 147 resulted in acquittals. But it turns out, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, that 221 of the 406 convictions in 2008 actually involved just one person, a mayor in Quezon province found guilty of ursurpation of official functions of the DENR for issuing permits to transport forest products. Not a very effective prosecutors are they? They very good at prosecuting small time cases from far away provinces, but none of the big graft and corruption case are ever successful in...

Reading all these stories about GMA just infuriates me. She has totally no delicadeza and she is so thick skinned that nothing gets to her anymore. After "Hello Garci" and surviving it, she and all the other politicians just got more brazen in what they do that they don't even care to hide what corruptions they do anymore. I'm sure if and that's the big IF GMA were to step down after 2010, the next President would be no different. So it made me think, what would I do if I was the President of the Philippines? What programs and changes would I implement to fix the country? Here is what I think (obviously these will be implemented if I had no opposition to the programs I want to implement). Let's start with the most basic problem, graft and corruption. 1. I will set up an anti-graft task force consisting of former police officers, NBI agents and supreme court judges (trustworthy of course). Who after rigorous interviews and background checks would will investiga...