My immediate boss in the Arab News, Rasheed Abou-Alsamh, has commentary on the Subic rape case appearing in the Arab News, in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and his own blog (which was the first to publish his op-ed piece, actually). He says there are still too many questions left unanswered.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer editorial today hits at the Secretary of Justice but sounds a cautionary note about the trial to be, itself. The editorial comes in the wake of reports that either the accuser will recant her testimony, or that the case might get bungled because the Filipino driver of the van is now a defendant. The latest eyewitness testimony seems to be clarifying the case: the victim was dumped because the soldiers were rushing to make it back to their ships.
Apropos of GI’s and Filipinas, Gail Ilagan pens a devastating portrait of the mercenary mentality of some Filipinos. Grayspectrum thinks the case shouldn’t be turned into a battle of the sexes.
And the Garcillano drama continues: The Daily Tribune and the Malaya newspaper both headline that the First Gentleman recently met with Garcillano in Zamboanga del Sur. ABS-CBN Interactive reports on the new petition filed by Garcillano’s lawyer for the Hello, Garci tapes to be ordered inadmissible as evidence (there’s an earlier one asking the high court to invalidate the warrant of arrest issued under the direction of the House). The Manila Standard-Today and the Philippine Star report members of the House are circling their wagons: they defend their arrest order and their investigation. (This is a good time to review things like the Jesuit Guidelines for dealing with the Crisis: see the guidelines and commentary by livingplanet).
Philippine Commentary tackles the issue in depth, and says the burden of proof is on the opposition to prove the following:
(1) To prove that WHOEVER wiretapped the conversations were GUILTY of violations of the Anti-Wiretapping Law, and acts of TREASON against the Republic if equipment and personnel of the Armed Forces were illegally used to spy on candidates in the 2004 national elections (whoever they were).
(2) To prove that EVEN IF such material had been illegally acquired, the PUBLIC’S RIGHT TO KNOW surpasses the putative RIGHTS of the STATE to protect itself, which was the TRUE SPIRIT of the Anti-Wiretapping Law.
May topak thinks it’s all squid tactics. (Speaking of squids, sort of: from Free Republic, the news India is poised to develop a nuclear submarine.) And back to squid tactics: The Public Thing appeals for more civilized and enlightening debate to help resolve crises and conflicts (this blog has the potential to be quite intriguing; the author describes himself as “a former member of Special Project Alpha under the Directorate for Intelligence, Philippine National Police and defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF)”). Another new, potentially quite interesting blog is Mindanao Alerts (latest post is on what to expect in a government-MILF peace deal).
Here’s something interesting from The Bangus Supremacy: is blogging incestuous?
I’m not American but I really dislike the xenophobia propagated by the BushWorshippers. The right way to tackle threats is this, as suggested by ZenPundit with regards to Chinese espionage in the USA.
Technorati Tags: Blogging, CBCP, Hello Garci, politics
MLQ3: Had breakfast with an interesting young lawyer we’ve been discussing at length recently. He thinks the objective of the suit at the Supreme Court is not just to shut everybody up and let Garci have a nice XMAS, but to destroy the basis for NEXT YEAR’s impeachment. I agreed and it is exactly what I was afraid of would become possible for the Palace to do because of the Opposition’s recent loss of credibility with the public due to that (*#%$#) People’s Court. There is also an interesting angle I didn’t see. Apparently the next to the next Ombudsman will be…HILARIO DAVIDE! Why? He also need immunity from certain suits pertinent to 2001 Edsa II. But it seems he cannot have unless he performs ONE LAST SERVICE–to dig the grave of IMPEACH-GLORIA-DOS.
I was adviced by brother Armin to stay away from blogs for a while ….I called him up because I need advice onmmany things and he suggested that I relax but parang kulang eh….so ito ulit….
On subic
we should scrap the symphaty trump card
because this nis a world wide arena
I know there is no parallel but this what comes to mind…
Doe anyone feel symphaty for saddam that he feels maltreated in prison…granted he is..a satanic picture was already painted in ther minds of the worldwide audience….
Now on filipinas
You know in Hong Kong even if a Sharon Cuneta bought a grocery full of Giordano she will receive same discrimination one
Girdano is for DH
and Filipna is always DH
I’ve been to Rome and I was with rich people who seem na ayaw maiwanan baka daw apihin ng mga italiano
I knoow that is an iolated incident
but ang baba talaga ng tingin satin di ko alam kung dahil nagsakripisyo tayo lalo pa yata napasama tayo proud tayo sa sarili natin pero sa labas tingin pa din satin Longkatuts
Sad but true……
AMADEO of the Ignatian Perspective Blog in Tracy California sent posted this message on my blog today, thought I’d share it here as it may be of interest:
AMADEO: “If anything, this Garci Tape case has landed our usually sleepy, politically at least, town in the limelight.
Since one of his houses is in the subdivision where we also stay, some of our local residents have also gotten some exposure.”
On wiretapping
Being a military brat with a father handling modernization for a while
I saw many equipment remain as sample only others not even samples others are just pictures…..
same with patrol crafts,electronic equipo
we all know the procurement problem here
My point
maybe The CIA tapped,maybe The Telecom companies tapped
but I don’t know the modernization program I was talikg about was way back circa 91 and I never sen one materialize not one….
I remember Thompson CSF made proposals butone newpaper publisher wa so against the company it never left the proposal stage, I just learn he was against it because he says so about 3-4 yeras ago so I just thought that’s why…
I may sound bias of the navy but I think the best equipped are the SWAG which is patterned after the seals and I don’t see any one compare…
as long as there is afiscal crisis and everything connected to it there will be equipment for us
There is even a cost cutting technique two use small engine ultra light vehicle as spy craft…oops
its ok ultralight spy plane lang naman eh..
they are asking for proposals for cost cutting because the military does not see an end for the fiscal crisis(thats the way i see it)
On an unrelated note sice I mentioned cost cutting in the military
We are on a war on terror
we have the longest coastlines roughest hostile terrains
we got to adjust and make use of local inventors and local sources..the military sees that there are many inventors who go abroad so might as well use them
and with unsure entry point of terrorist we dont need bombers and slow tanks,slow speed boat(speed bagal) ,
vintage aircraft,vintage vessels and of course vintage jeeps……
Why did the Arragoncilio et al case die
This can prove my thesis that the big brother out there did it but it was never meant to be beyond”For Your Eyes Only”
swomehow it gt out of whitehouse and or pentagon and or Langley due to enterprising pinoys who oocuupy not only the kitchen but the office of the chief of staff……
The Loren vs. Escudero as in the eye of Loren’ lawyer
what in heavens name is this going to help things to proceed..
It will always remain a scar in the face even with facial reconstructive surgery
another take on We are aprt of the Global Playing Field:
There is no room for Myopia and no room for Xray vision
I ma sorry had to metion again that ANC report on the NorthRail
Atty Roque’s rubbing in that railways don’t earn money…
is a case of obsession to stop northrail no matter what…
All readers and bloggers here are intelligent enough to discern that all developed countries have developed rails as part of the network of infrastructure…..
With that kind of myopia and x ray vision apply that two even three federal states Luzon,Visayas,Minda forget first the autonomous regions
what if we retain this near sightedness and x ray vision to continue looking within then there is a tendency not to look at other region’s in other to formulate state policy without making it a national policy….
) To prove that WHOEVER wiretapped the conversations were GUILTY of violations of the Anti-Wiretapping Law, and acts of TREASON against the Republic if equipment and personnel of the Armed Forces were illegally used to spy on candidates in the 2004 national elections (whoever they were).
* What if its the Americans?
(2) To prove that EVEN IF such material had been illegally acquired, the PUBLIC’S RIGHT TO KNOW surpasses the putative RIGHTS of the STATE to protect itself, which was the TRUE SPIRIT of the Anti-Wiretapping Law.
* To simplify things lets put it this way you are in a mall then suddenly a loud speaker says that The guy named….wearing…. is a killer as proven by this tape recording
Alright the guy gets arrested eventually and maybe later relleased for inadmissible evidence
but did the people have to hear that?
About vote rigging if intentionally stated with malice and no remorse then deny it later..is a different story
That is why i believe there is nothing wrong to display the editted version but at the same time claim that you have the complete verion, you don;t want can of worms exposed…
Although as I recall Alan Paguia did use the said logic….
Karl,
I am not certain the Aragoncillo case is dead. True, it is not the news item it once was. This probably happened for a couple of reasons. Even the Mainstream Mastodons realize they can not use the case to beat up on the Bush Administration, so why bother. Another reason is because it is in the stage of lawyerly negotiations between the defendants and the proseucting agency. *BORING*.
MLQ3,
I am not too certain about the proposal being promulgated to limit immigration of Chinese scientists (in either its seriousness or who exactly is proposing it) but I am sure I think your characterization xenophobic Bush worshippes is off the mark.
The issue of immigration in the US is centered on illegal immigration. In our staet of Wisconsin it is quite regular one assembly woman proposes offering in-state tuition to illegal aliens who live in our state, most people think that ridiculous as do I. In fact most people are up in arms against both the Democrats and the Republicans for not doing enough to curb illegal immigration.
The levels of legal immigration are debatable and I am generally in favor of liberal immigration levels.
Zen blog is correct about one thing. Resident Kanos do not overwhelmingly study the sciences and engineering and hence are underrepresented in graduate school programs for chemistry, physics, engineering, etc. In order to make up for this we need to allow these foreign scientists in or we need to do a better job of getting the younger generation fired up about being a materials scientist.
Karl, America has the longest coastline.
A de Brux
was too proud of the Philippines I went on dreaming it had the longest coastline in the world
talk about myopia and x ray vision