I think my first train-related entry was back in 2005, in Debating solutions to squatting, I pointed to this entry by Torn and frayed in Manila on how our country possesses “one of the most ramshackle railways in the world.” That’s putting it politely. Torn was reacting to a report by Howie Severino (and The Unlawyer also commented on it, including detailing the extremely low fares charged by the railroad).
One major problem, as recalled in Pain On The Train, was that squatters had encroached on the tracks and were, at times, hostile to train passengers. There was once a haunting post by Pulsar in 2006 (well, who says once on the Interweb, something’s forever? The blog’s gone!). Or sometimes, the problem were the passengers themselves, see Test-Riding The Metro-Tren:
But there were dreadfully more — and this was what made me uneasy and had second thoughts about using this mode of transpo on a regular basis or asking friends and family to patronize it. Dark thoughts ran in my mind thinking if I can actually still get out of this situation alive! Here we go:
Amongst the passengers in my coach were shirtless dudes who were not even drunk but were just as dangerously rowdy. Okay, to be fair, not all of them were topless. Two were wearing sando, one did not even have a footwear, and all of them did have confidently loud voices enough for anyone to understand that they are the “masters” in this place. They were huddled on two right-side doors. Some were standing and some were seated on the floor and the little steps that people use when boarding or getting off via those doors. Obviously, no one passed by those two doors. They were not just rowdy in the normal kind of kid things. They had very foul language offensive to many.
These folks were not young kids either. They were men probably in their 20s up to late 40s and they seemed to know just about every person who lived along those rail tracks as they often had a lewd or foul comment at everyone they saw. Samples? Here we go… “Hoy hostess, bihis ka na! Rampa ka ng maaga nang makarami”, or — Tangina! Nakaw ang cellphone na yan, kahapon lang”! And they most certainly elicited equally shouted responses from those they were shouting at. Some of the younger kids they teased even ran with wooden sticks or little stones attempting to catch and whack or pelt them as the train chugged along. And you guessed it, these men would run scampering towards the inner portions of the train (which was naturally a commotion that would make you panic). When kids on the ground can’t keep up with the train, these men would be back at the two doors and back to their usual shouting spree at people we passed by. I even saw two women-passengers stand up and walk further front — obviously to get away from this.
I’d be a liar if I said I was not alarmed. I was actually more than frightened! Then again, I could have been over-reacting, right?
Now hear this: As the train went a chugging slowly after that Espana Station going towards Blumentritt, a guy came walking from the front coaches who seemed to be looking for nothing but trouble. As he passed where I was seated and just about to pass the rowdy men by the door, someone shouted on top of his voice saying “o kayong lahat, ingatan nyo mga gamit nyo, yan naglalakad na yan isnatcher yan… The walking man did not even look back but shouted equally loud saying “tangina mo, hindi ako isnatcher, naghahanap ako ng masasaksak” and as he said that he lashed out a knife in mid-air. I looked at the faces of many passengers and almost all had the same facial expression — they pretended to have not heard that and they all did not look at the knife-brandishing man — and so I did not dare look at him too! This time I felt my balls were already above my forehead.
After having gone to the end part of the train, that knife-wielding man returned to the men perched by the doorway and he joined in the laughter, banter and dirty shouts at people we passed by. I clearly heard him telling the group that it was too unusual the week was almost over and he has not had a fight yet. As if to emphasize that, he said “kahit asawa ko ayaw akong patulan, nakakainip pare”!
This is a Wikipedia map of the NorthRail and SouthRail lines of the Philippine National Railways -theoretically, at least. I happen to like trains very much (perhaps not to the extent of being a trainspotter) and really wish rehabilitating our railways will be accomplished: just getting NorthRail and SouthRail functioning will actually merely return us to where we were prior to World War II, the last major extension having been accomplished with the inauguration of the Manila-Legazpi Line in May, 1938. That still marks the last major addition to our railway network. However, Marcos’ obsession with highways had led to the deterioration of the railroad.
The result? See photos in A Ride On Philippine National Railways Part I and A Ride On Philippine National Railways Part II. See also RILES in Digital Phtographer Philippines. In response to this sad state of affairs, an ambitious program of modernization has started.
One sad side-effect of modernization, however, is the destruction of heritage sites: see Las Estaciones Ferrocarril Manila-Dagupan in the ICOMOS Philippines site.
There are some extremely informative railroad enthusiasts’ blogs out there, which combine a strong historical sense with efforts to document the rehabilitation of the Philippine National Railways. See their mother organization, Railways and Industrial Heritage Society of the Phils. (and its Reese Blog), and these enthusiasts’ blogs: Philippine Railways S.I.G., Philippine Railways, and Laguna Railways,
Courtesy of Augusto de Viana is The railways in Philippine history which, however, so compresses the most interesting years, the 20s to the 50s, as to render that section meaningless. Oh well. Viviana overlooks the ambivalence and even hostility American officials felt towards railways, since it would affect the Philippine market for automobiles (see The Colonial Iron Horse: Railroads and Regional Development in the Philippines, 1875- 1935). When autonomy was achieved, railroad development accelerated. And the policy debate on highways versus railways also began, along with still-unrealized plans such as a railroad for Mindanao (the development of Maria Cristina Fall’s hydroelectric power was originally envisioned as primarily powering the Mindanao railways: there are interesting snippets on these debates in F.B. Harrison’s diary: as an Anglophile, he was pro-railways, pointing with envy to Britain’s not altogether altruistic promotion of its own steam engine industry in its colonies; as for its biggest handiwork in that regard, here’s an interesting item on accomplishing transport reform: Things Looking Up for India’s Trains).
I remember when I was still new in the Inquirer, the President had a dinner with editors and spent much of her time discussing the Strong Republic Nautical Highway (this will be one of her lasting achievements, I think). Along the way, she discussed trains and how she wanted to eliminate the old PNR lines, and have new railroad lines simply feed the metropolis, with intra-city travel done on the LRT. At the time I remember remarking that her strong grasp of detail was one of the President’s most impressive qualities, but one little-seen by the public: just as the overall schemes fed by her grasp of detail failed to be grasped, in turn, by the public: and government is at fault for this.
Today’s Inquirer editorial, Derailed, looks at the possible permutations of the ongoing problem with NorthRail: Even as our government insists that NorthRail project to push thru the reality seems to be Gov’t scrambles to save NorthRail: China threatens withdrawal, legal suit over a situation caused by the sad reality that Northrail ‘mobilization’ ate up 23% of total loan. (Here’s a helpful Northrail timeline.)
See Target for Northrail: ‘substantial’ completion by 2010:
As things stand now, the most realistic assumption is to have a partially – or at least, substantially – completed stretch of rail road some kilometers short of the first section of the 80.2-kilometer distance between Caloocan City in Metro Manila and Clark in Pampanga.
Officials familiar with the twists and turns of the project told abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak that the initial goal to complete at least the first phase, or the first 32 kilometers up to Malolos in Bulacan province, is not realistic anymore…
A year since the project’s 36-month construction period kicked off in February 2007, clearing the tracks, acquiring right-of-way, and relocation works are still to be crossed out from the list of pre-construction must-do’s.
No civil works on the actual railway have commenced nor has a project design been finalized, yet the designated contractor, the Chinese National Machinery & Equipment Group (CNMEG), wanted to add almost $300 million on top of the current $421 million agreed upon and signed construction cost…
According to various sources, including correspondences from NLRC and the demand letters from CNMEG, the latter unilaterally suspended work on the Northrail in February 1, 2008, with CNMEG’s Chinese engineers returning home.
Pamintuan explained that the engineers have run out of things to do since the project design has yet to be finalized.
But that was only part of the story. Apparently, while the design plan is still pending, CNMEG has been verbally demanding to increase the project cost. In succeeding correspondences, CNMEG has pegged the additional cost, based on computations as of March, 2008, at $299 million.
That would increase the project cost of the 32-kilometer Caloocan to Malolos stretch from $421 million to $720 million. That means the cost of the entire 80-kilometer Manila to Clark distance, which has no financing in place yet, will increase from $1 billion to $1.39 billion…
…After President Arroyo thumbed down CNMEG’s verbal demand in February to increase the construction price by $299 million, CNMEG formalized its demand in their May 13 notice of claim and in their June 3 demand letter to Northrail.
Of that amount, $88.63 million was due to variations in the original scope of work, such as the need to build viaducts instead of embankments in Valenzuela and Marilao areas.
The remaining $211 million was mainly due to foreign exchange losses ($106 million), inflation ($71 million), and cost of the delay in construction. CNMEG pointed fingers at Northrail’s inability to clear obstacles within the right-of-way areas and its non- completion of squatter relocations…
…In the April 24, 2008 letter of resigned Northrail president Arsenio Bartolome III to President Arroyo, he referred to a “presidential directive” regarding the completion of the Caloocan-to-Clark phase.
The directive emphasized two things: that it should be finished by 2010, the end of President Arroyo’s term, and that it should be within the project cost of $1.008 billion.
Construction cost for the 32-kilometer Section 1 from Caloocan to Malolos is $421 million, while Section 2 from Malolos to Clark is $673 million.
The design, supply, construct contract with CNMEG, for Section 1, Caloocan to Malolos, stipulates a construction period of 36 months, or 3 years, after Notice to Proceed was issued in Feb 19, 2007. It was meant to be completed by February 2010, perfect timing for the national election in May 2010.
The relocation of urban poor residents (one day, perhaps, destined to be only immortalized in photos or some videos) has proven expensive but relatively successful (most recently: an amazed foreign friend who had done some filming for a documentary in Blumentritt, Manila, and then saw how the community he’d filmed has been relocated and disappeared) see From ‘Home Along Da Riles’ to ‘Dreamland‘) Of course, not every delay is due to gross inefficiency or corruption on the part of government:
The report also says,
Unlike other controversial projects that were also cancelled, like the NAIA-3 airport terminal, where there is already a massive building that just needs a few months worth of repair and remediation work, the Northrail project’s railway construction has not even started.
I’m not sure if this is accurate.
The thing is, if you look at the reports and photos in the railroad enthusiasts’ blogs, you’ll see that a tremendous amount has been accomplished in terms of rehabilitating the railways (see Northrail-Southrail Linkage Project Update and Rail Lifting at Paco Station for example) though perhaps it’s fair to say no real laying down of track has taken place.
The question is to what extent the whole gigantic effort -and it is gigantic, you’re reversing the deterioration of the past forty years while at the same time laying down an entirely new railway system- has been marred by inefficiency or even corruption. These things take a toll on ongoing projects, as the headlines make pretty obvious, but it also raises another problem: even if hounded by corruption and inefficiency, is the solution to simply tear up contracts and scrap the project?
I once heard someone explain Romulo Neri Jr.’s pragmatism as follows. First question: does the country need a modern railway system? Yes. Since it does, can it be built without corruption? No. If it cannot be built without corruption, then whether major or minor corruption takes place, what is essential is for the railway to be built, because the economic benefits of the project dwarfs whatever corruption will take place.
And pragmatically speaking, Neri is correct and was thinking in true Southeast Asian fashion. This was the Marcos way: anyone who remembers the ferocious debates on MRT-1 along Taft Avenue (expensive! impractical! will never work!) will realize that despite all the objections, the elevated railway line has become an essential part of metropolitan infrastructure.
And this brings me to Neri, his latest reincarnation as SSS Chief.
The PCIJ in a Special Report reveals that the resignation of Corazon de la Paz and the assumption of the leadership of the SSS by Romulo Neri Jr. has a major policy shift at its core:
De la Paz first intimated how she has not been able to accustom herself to the workings of government, indicating a preference to return to her work in the private sector. But upon further questioning by the media, she eventually relented to a little known fact: she had stood up against the use of SSS members’ funds for the government’s pro-poor agenda, in the process offending the powers that be.
“Using the fund has limits. (It) cannot be used to finance pro-poor projects of the government unless it is defined in the (SSS) Charter,” De la Paz explained, serving up a warning to SSS members and the public of the potential danger of the fund being misused.
With Neri at the helm of the SSS, many have indeed expressed fear that the funds will be used for partisan political interests. Both Malacañang and Neri’s avowal that the funds will not be touched for government’s welfare programs has not helped assuage such concerns for the very reason that the appointment boils down, not so much to the issue of competence, but to Neri’s integrity and credibility - and that of the one who appointed him – as a public official.
Those who insist that the economy in general, or government financial matters in particular, can and ought to be insulated from politics have another lesson coming in why this is neither possible nor desirable. This is a defect that afflicts not just loyalists of the present dispensation, but bureaucrats, too, as the PCIJ report reveals:
Neri also probably felt his detachment that he had to bring along with him to NEDA people whom he could trust. His consultants, many of whom were not known to the NEDA staff, were like a parallel office which acted as his political arm. At first, some at NEDA appreciated the arrangement as it insulated the staff from politics, preferring not to deal with politicians and just continue to do their work professionally. Later, on instructions by Neri himself, NEDA officials had had occasions to interact with his consultants. Even his meetings with them were recorded as part of his official schedule.
The way one director understood it, Neri played politics as a matter of course in public policy. The NEDA Secretariat and other oversight bureaucracies are to exert effort in providing full information to decide policy, he says, and that necessitated engaging with politicians and playing the game of politics.
From his own experience working with him, the CPBO’s Vicerra believes Neri played politics not in the sense of politicking, which he says Neri always tried to avoid. “It’s more of realpolitik,” he explains, “as he always wants to involve himself in policy issues. And he has his advocacies.”
Doing so may have made the NEDA Secretariat more aware of the nature of public policy in their work, but it also made them vulnerable, admits the same director. “It put the organization and employees unprecedently in an unrequitedly bad light,” he says, though maintaining that the Secretariat has remained nonpartisan, its own standard of integrity and professionalism undiminished by this initiation into politics.
But Neri’s pragmatism, the NEDA staff also claim, conflicted with his reformist image. Some would say on hindsight that this probably explains why he is seemingly not appalled by unethical behavior, that is, corruption by way of commissions, extortions, kickbacks and the like, because these make things move or work. Others find it ironic that he wanted reforms yet “still wants to be in the good graces of this government.” Still others comment that since he is a “political animal” himself, it was not surprising that he had been offered bribes as he had admitted.
This is a confusing passage, but then it neatly illustrates the confused, because ignorant, attitudes of bureaucrats themselves about politics and its place in governance.
Government’s policies and management of the economy can be left alone if the public feels officials are capable and trustworthy stewards. If not, then they can and should be guarded every step of the way.
In its editorial, The Business Mirror, not inclined to be an instinctive critic of the administration, advocates retaining the VAT on oil, but points out the essential problem with expectations being built on spending the windfall for the public good:
Removing the oil E-VAT may be akin to a voluntary disarmament at a time when we need all the weapons we can get our hands on to confront grave threats to our economy.
Gordon’s proposals may not be popular – but they make sense. Having said that, the only problem with following his tack is this: Local experience is replete with evidence that, in this country, it’s next to impossible to get a good accounting of where and how precisely special-purpose funds – say, E-VAT “windfall” as used for infrastructure to rebuild disaster-ravaged areas and spur local economies – were applied. For even as critics complain that letting the government use the E-VAT windfall for doles is tantamount to giving more money to crooks, that same peril lies in using the funds instead, as Dick Gordon wants, for infrastructure.
Finally, in a town where a crusading auditor who keeps asking a warlord to “please liquidate” millions of pesos in public funds may easily get what he prays for – that is, be literally liquidated from the face of the earth, his killer(s) never brought to justice – accountability, like honesty in the Billy Joel song, is such a lonely word. So, to Dick Gordon, you may be right on this one, but, good luck.
Which goes to my point about NorthRail, the handling of the economy, and what Yen Macabenta points out: that the economy is coping with increases in the cost of oil pretty well, not least, it seems, to some pretty OK handling of economic matters by the powers-that-be; the problem is that while this redounds to the benefit of big business, ours is Still a jobless-growth economy; and the powers-that-be don’t quite know how to effectively toot their own horns and even if they do, there’s a widespread assumption officialdom’s on a looting spree (made even deeper, I think, because most of the public can’t quite grasp how it’s being done):
The report on Monday that the government kept its first-semester budget deficit at about P18 billion – only half of the programmed ceiling – despite the food and fuel price crises is encouraging. Two points stand out in the report:
First, revenue collection improved during the first semester.
And second, our fiscal managers were concerned that the various agencies of the government have not been able to absorb additional funding to help perk up domestic growth. In other words, the problem is not lack of funds, but projects to spend on.
When the President decided that the government would no longer aim for a zero budget deficit this year, it was for the specific objective of cushioning the impact of high consumer prices on the most vulnerable among our people. The government has the resources to provide subsidies to the needy during these trying times. And just as important, it has the funds to put into infrastructure and social and economic programs that will boost economic growth this year and next year.
Inflation for now is our biggest worry, as it hit a 14-year high of 11.4 percent in June. But Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. believes the problem should ease before the end of the year, and the country should fully recover by next year.
If you’re wondering why skyrocketing oil prices – with talk of crude hitting $200 a barrel by the end of the year – are not taking the bottom out of the economy, here are a few reasons:
1. It’s not just the price of crude oil that has soared to record levels this year; the prices of other commodities have hit peak levels, as well. This is the difference between this oil-price shock and the shock of 1974. Higher commodity prices across-the-board are also benefiting the exports of the Philippines and other countries. So our import bill is not as crushing.
2. Oil is not as all-pervasive in our economy as many believe. It affects mainly transport. Most of our electricity needs are fueled by other sources of energy, such as hydropower and geothermal energy.
3. The general prognosis of experts is that oil prices should come down during the second half of the year, though not to the same level as last year. The bubble is simply unsustainable. Demand will ease and supply will rise following the basic law of economics.
But again, the windfall is there. Surely it’s helped fund the following: Government subsidy for cheap rice in first half reaches P8.6B:
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the rice stocks were distributed and sold through 3,197 Bigasan ni Gloria sa Palengke, 8,080 Tindahan Natin outlets, 540 Bigasan sa Parokya and 199 rolling stores nationwide.
Government subsidy for cheap rice is expected to rise as the DA said 28 million more bags of rice will be infused into the domestic market from now until December to stabilize prices.
The NFA will be injecting some 6.5 million bags monthly, from now until August.
This volume will be reduced to 5 million bags by September, when palay harvests for the wet or main crop will start coming in.
Yap said the government is confident that it will have more rice to distribute until the end of the year as 900,000 metric tons (MT) will arrive in the country before September 30.
But the questions won’t go away whether the windfall’s economic potential’s being maximized. As it is, the President has announced Round Two of her “Katas ng VAT” program (no mention if it’s part of the commemoration of National Nutrition Month):
Which brings me to something Jarius Bondoc puts forward in his column for today (no link to the Star because it still hasn’t figured out permanent links):
The truth is unraveling, slowly but surely. A clique in the Arroyo admin is capturing the energy sector for kickbacks.
First, there was a sudden flurry to amend the Electric Power Industry Reform Act. Rep. Mikey Arroyo, the presidential son who chairs the House committee on energy, said it was necessary to bring down consumer rates. His congressmen-brother Dato and uncle Iggy assented as committee members. It turns out, however, that the main amendment is to advance the start of open access from the time 70 percent of Napocor generators are privatized to only 50 percent. While speeding up open access is fine on paper, since it will allow big users to pick their own electric retailer earlier, it would be unfair in practice. State-owned Napocor will still control half the power plants, so there won’t be true competition. Worse, the Napocor mafia will continue to dictate, for multimillion-dollar kickbacks, imports of coal to fuel the plants, whether sold or not.
Then, Gloria Arroyo appointed amiga Zenaida Ducut as Energy Regulatory Board chief. Aside from Ducut being the town mate from whom Mikey inherited his congressional seat in 2004, they have a common friend, the oft-named jueteng lord Bong Pineda. Ducut’s posting jolted the industry because of a recent Napocor scam. The state firm last Feb. awarded to a four-month-old, undercapitalized and flighty broker a P956.4-million coal import from Indonesia. There must have been P258-million overprice, since the bid price was $109.50 per ton, although the Indonesian posted rate then was only $77 (at P40.418:$1 for three shiploads of 65,000 tons each).
Among the listed incorporators of broker Transpacific Consolidated Resources Inc. are Leslie and Ressie Ducut, but Zenaida disclaims kinship. Still, there are many inconsistencies. Napocor faxed the bid invitation two weeks prior to TCRI’s only known address then, the nearby Danarra Hotel’s business center, closed since Christmas. Now Napocor insists it awarded the deal when TCRI moved into a real office – in two short weeks. Paid-up capital was only P62,500, but Napocor says “so what?”, in disregard of the Public Bidding Act that requires congruity of capital with contract price. Ducut says the scam does not matter since, as ERC chair, she will have nothing to do with Napocor operations. But Napocor spokesman admits that the ERC, aside from the energy department and NEDA, needs to approve coal imports.
The capture of the electricity sector is complete - from the executive and legislative branches to the quasi-judicial ERC. From there the clique can move to other energy sectors - say, oil exploration - if it has not already.
(Incidentally, a sense of deja vu comes from this article: Lights Out in Indonesia: Jakarta as 1990s Manila? With India, Indonesia, Vietnam,scrambling to put up more power plants, and with the Philippines going to need more power plants soon, those who position themselves in the energy sector now are going to be positively minting their own money in years to come) If you’ve ever read how Ferdinand Marcos squirreled away funds abroad, then the stories -occasionally dribbled out in the press, but more often than not, whispered about in business circles- of what’s going on in the energy sector are equally intriguing -because the money’s come home, unlike most of Marcos’ stash. One day, hopefully, someone will write it all down, from the time money began to leave the country, a hop, skip, and a jump ahead of sleuthing legislators, journalists, and American anti-money-laundering officials, with the money making its way to places as far afield as Austria, then eventually, back home again where it could be used to buy banks, and dummy firms.
Manuel Buencamino looks at the curious story of Homobono Adaza’s alleged attempt to extort money from a Japanese businessman.
Ellen Tordesillas has the skinny on what the President was up to in Washington:
A Malacañang source who was part of Arroyo’s entourage in her recent US visit said there was no mention by Arroyo of any plans to implement martial law or authoritarian measures in her meeting with Bush, the first since she fell out of his grace after she pulled out the Philippine military contingent in Iraq in exchange for the release of kidnapped Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz in July 2004.
But he admitted that increased military assistance was top in her agenda in her talks with American officials.
The source was amused that Philippine media covering Arroyo’s US visit followed Malacañang’s spin about the near passage of the Veterans Equity when they know very well that it has a slim chance of it passing in the House of Representatives despite the approval of the Senate.
He said the real reason Arroyo wanted to meet with American congressmen was to explain to them the government’s side on extra-judicial killings. Like in the Philippines, any appropriation bill originates in the House of Representatives. That’s the reason behind the idea of giving the newly minted Order of the Golden Heart Award, which is different from traditional Order of Sikatuna awards given to diplomats or nationals of other countries who have made outstanding contributions to strengthening of relations with the Philippines. According to press reports, not all awardees showed up during the conferment affair in Washington D.C. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came very late.
(Just a correction, which I told Ellen: the Order of the Golden Heart was established by President Magsaysay. It was not “newly-minted.” A more relevant question might have been whether the Philippine Legion of Honor might have been more appropriate; but then a lower-ranking Order might be appropriate because no law has been passed yet.)
Foreign Affairs officials lobbied hard to get a meeting for Arroyo with Senator Barbara Boxer (D., Cal.) chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific. It will be recalled that Edith Burgos, widow of press icon Jose Burgos and mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos, met with Boxer last March.
In the hearing that she conducted on alleged extra-judicial killings perpetrated by the military, Boxer said, “We do not want blood on our hands. We do not want to use US taxpayers’ money to train their (Philippine) military and police to kill their own people.”
Arroyo was able to meet with Boxer, the source said. The meeting must have been so insignificant that it didn’t merit a line in Boxer’s website. Not even Malacañang reported it.
It was unfortunate for Malacañang that whatever propaganda it wanted to generate domestically for Arroyo’s US trip was negated by typhoon Frank which struck on the eve of her departure, sank a passenger ship and devastated many parts of the country. Compounding the stigma was the junket of 63 congressmen whom Arroyo brought along with her as part of her pre-2009 impeachment payment.
But the source said, despite the bad press that Arroyo’s US visit got, she feels that she accomplished her main objective which was to impress the military that she still has the support of the US establishment.
It maybe a meeting of lame ducks but it was still a White House meeting, the source said. Add to that was her meeting in Pentagon with Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
She may not have gotten categorical support for the things she might do in case her unpopular administration is shaken by the wrath of a long-suffering people, but it is good enough for Arroyo that she has given the military the illusion that the US is behind her. With that, she believes that her presidency, whatever questions about its legitimacy, is safe.
In the blogosphere, radicalchick aims a broadside at ABS-CBN and its Ces Drilon Kidnap Special.
Arguing or debate of a topic is not just about personalities or psychology, and you should never belittle or degrade another person simply because they disagree with you. This is about ideas, and in a battle of ideas, the only acceptable weapon is a well-reasoned argument. I have learned to separate my emotion from any discussions/arguments.
if it is not about psychology, then why even bother with EQ.
now on checking your guns if it backfires :check on what you said, “the only acceptable weapon is a well reasoned argument.”
Leytenian – thanks for the links
http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures-ownership/6635410-1.html
http://www.businessballs.com/eq.htm
Thats the difference of mastering technical skills (of typos as sample)and managing organization and people.
Leytenian – in my experience, these masters kuno are proud product of elite school from the Philippines or having this proficiency (like differentiating professor and teacher) but wasted when turned out to be just a rank and file employee. In short, underperformance.
Take this case, our HR Director is keen of hiring Filipinos due to my contributions. So he showed up some resumes and interviewed a bunch. As expected, the applicants gloss over the school and education and little on work or business achievement. It is amusing to see graduates of top schools in Manila and my friend asked me if I knew the school. Of course I did but I told him they would not even recognize the school where I came from.
In essence what you know and where you came from is immaterial if it cannot be seen in your actual work.
History:
The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and included banking reforms, some of which were designed to control speculation. Some provisions such as Regulation Q that allowed the Federal Reserve to regulate interest rates in savings accounts were repealed by the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980. Other provisions which prohibit a bank holding company from owning other financial companies were repealed in 1999 by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, Pub. L. No. 106-102, 113 Stat. 1338 (November 12, 1999), is an Act of the United States Congress which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, opening up competition among banks, securities companies and insurance companies. The Glass-Steagall Act prohibited a bank from offering investment, commercial banking, and insurance services.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) allowed commercial and investment banks to consolidate. For example, Citibank merged with Travelers Group, an insurance company, and in 1997 formed the conglomerate Citigroup, a corporation combining banking and insurance underwriting services. Other major mergers in the financial sector had already taken place such as the Smith-Barney, Shearson, Primerica and Travelers Insurance Corporation combination in the mid-1990s. This combination, announced in 1993 and finalized in 1994, would have violated the Glass-Steagall Act and the Bank Holding Acts by combining insurance and securities companies, if not for a temporary waiver process [[1]]. The law was passed to legalize these mergers on a permanent basis. Historically, the combined industry has been known as the financial services industry.
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From George Santayana:
Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Where Credit Is Due: A Timeline of the Mortgage Crisis
By Nomi Prins
NEWS: A field guide to the loan sharks and politicos who got us into the predatory lending mess
Mother Jones writer Nomi Prins has worked at Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/where-credit-is-due-timeline.html
In case you missed this:
Too Big to Fail? – The New York Times
“…the debt mounts along with the costs of an ultimate day of reckoning. Debate grows about the wisdom of leaning on foreign credit, and about how much longer Americans will retain the privilege of spending and investing money that isn’t really theirs.”
“Bailouts amount to mortgaging the future to stave off the wolf howling at the door. The likelihood of a painful reckoning is diminished, while the costs of a reckoning  should one come  are increased.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/weekinreview/20goodman.html?ex=1217304000&en=4ba4cc60de91dd5c&ei=5070&emc=eta1
The Internationalization of the Phoenix Program (Vietnam war)
Meet the New Dr. Strangelove and Reviving Vietnam War Tactics
“The top counterinsurgency adviser to Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq advocates practicing a “global Phoenix Program,” alluding to the notorious Vietnam-era CIA operation that provoked a worldwide uproar because of the detention, torture and execution of thousands of Vietnamese.”
“His name is David Kilcullen, an Australian academic and military veteran, who seeks to impose a mad science of counterinsurgency on Iraq.”
“The mainstream media has never reported on the use of the “global Phoenix program” in Iraq, perhaps because the explosive terminology has largely disappeared from the writings and résumé of Lt. Col. David Kilcullen after he first being referred to it in a forty-eight-page strategy paper, “Countering Global Insurgency” published in the obscure Small Wars Journal in September-November 2004.”
“Kilcullen, an Australian PhD who served for twenty-one years in the Australian army, was the “chief adviser on counterinsurgency operations” to Petraeus in planning the 2007 US troop surge. He also served as chief strategist in the State Department’s counterterrorism office in 2005 and 2006, and has been employed in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and Southeast Asia.”
“In the section titled “A Global Phoenix Program” in his 2004 article, Kilcullen describes the Vietnam Phoenix program as “unfairly maligned” and “highly effective.” Dismissing CIA sponsorship and torture allegations as “popular mythology,” Kilcullen calls Phoenix a misunderstood “civilian aid and development program” that was supported by “pacification” operations to disrupt the Vietcong, whose infrastructure ruled vast swaths of rural South Vietnam. A “global Phoenix program,” he wrote, would provide a starting point for dismantling the worldwide jihadist infrastructure today.” Tom Hayden, The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080707/hayden
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/hayden
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070924/hayden
The Internationalization of the Phoenix Program (Vietnam war)and Institutionalization of Assymetrical Warfare – Rules About No Rules
Meet the New Dr. Strangelove and Reviving Vietnam War Tactics
“The top counterinsurgency adviser to Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq advocates practicing a “global Phoenix Program,” alluding to the notorious Vietnam-era CIA operation that provoked a worldwide uproar because of the detention, torture and execution of thousands of Vietnamese.”
“His name is David Kilcullen, an Australian academic and military veteran, who seeks to impose a mad science of counterinsurgency on Iraq.”
“The mainstream media has never reported on the use of the “global Phoenix program” in Iraq, perhaps because the explosive terminology has largely disappeared from the writings and résumé of Lt. Col. David Kilcullen after he first being referred to it in a forty-eight-page strategy paper, “Countering Global Insurgency” published in the obscure Small Wars Journal in September-November 2004.”
“Kilcullen, an Australian PhD who served for twenty-one years in the Australian army, was the “chief adviser on counterinsurgency operations” to Petraeus in planning the 2007 US troop surge. He also served as chief strategist in the State Department’s counterterrorism office in 2005 and 2006, and has been employed in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and Southeast Asia.”
“In the section titled “A Global Phoenix Program” in his 2004 article, Kilcullen describes the Vietnam Phoenix program as “unfairly maligned” and “highly effective.” Dismissing CIA sponsorship and torture allegations as “popular mythology,” Kilcullen calls Phoenix a misunderstood “civilian aid and development program” that was supported by “pacification” operations to disrupt the Vietcong, whose infrastructure ruled vast swaths of rural South Vietnam. A “global Phoenix program,” he wrote, would provide a starting point for dismantling the worldwide jihadist infrastructure today.” Tom Hayden, The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080707/hayden
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/hayden
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070924/hayden
Politicians defer to Church on population bills – abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak
“No matter how heated and emotional the debates are on proposed population management bills, the inevitable finale is that the Church will have the last say.”
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryID=125891
“Based on past experience in the Philippine Congress, the Church has always objected to bills on family planning, population management and reproductive health. Legislators make a hasty retreat and the bills are archived, only to be resurrected at some time. And the cycle begins.”
Another one bites the dust.
This ‘pro-life” stance is not even pro-poor, but pro-poverty.
I do not bother about the commenter’s background nor his PERSONAL opinion no matter how inane it is. As you can see I do not argue much about politics.
What I hate is when people write as if there is a stamp in truth in it which can mislead readers.
If you have been reading leytenian, you will obserce that there is nothing new in what she writes. Or did you ever notice that. Many of them have been lifted from some articles, the first time she joined us. It is only when I started criticizing her when she put the links. Many of us
do not read the links but if you do, you will notice that she does not editorialize the news or the article, she writes it as if she authored it. Manolo has been including the links of articles but he never owns the opinion; in fact he quotes them.
She does not attempt to correct herself. She has no respect to know who the commenters are.
So when I disprove her to the point that I reveal who really she is, I am mean but when her comments hint of insult to my persona, you do not care.
The idea is simple to quiet me down… don’t try to appear what you are not and I would keep my silence.
Don’t give nursery analyses and I would keep quiet.
Just give your OWN PERSONAL OPINION and I would not care about you.
“In essence what you know and where you came from is immaterial if it cannot be seen in your actual work.”
Tama, bakit kailangan pa ilagay ang skwela?Pag tanggap ka,SOP yung transcript.
mas matindi yung id picture requirement,para san yun, kung pangit ka ,out ka agad???
di ka naman makakapasok sa building pag wala kang identification, so it must be the discrimination factor.
Population projections for the Philippines:
2010 – 94 million people
2015 – 103 million
2020 – 112 million
2025 – 120 million
http://www.census.gov.ph/data/sectordata/popprojtab.html
If the global economy takes the expected downturn in the near future, there would definitely be diminished demand for RP’s exports and OFW labor.
Superimpose on the overpopulation scenario a very weak agricultural sector and heavy debt overhang, and one wonders: How on earth, or for heavens sake, are we gonna feed over a hundred million people???
Pray?
let those religious leaders run the govt? let them solve the country’s problems.
Instead of having a state-sponsored population management program, CBCP’s position is that government should clean up its act to address resource insufficiency.
I agree that we should include the big ‘C’.
Overpopulation + Heavy Debt Burden + Corruption => Decreased spending on education, health, and infrastructure. The country in worse economic shape.
So by 2010, there will be more uneducated, sick, and homeless children which the good priests and bishops would have to minister to.
We’ll just have to double our prayers???
in fairness, the cbcp is just another lobby, engaged in what every “civil society” ngo’s are doing. the only difference is that instead of money, they use moral and/or religious “coercion” (in addition to political threat come election time) to advance their cause. at the end of the day, it’s up to the individual conscience of the politicians to do what is right.
having said all that, the effects of unchecked population growth have been discussed extensively in this blog and elsewhere. we have a very finite resources and the demand for them is a ticking time bomb that threatens everybody. the break down of law and order would be complete.
if the cbcp values life, it should not allow for most of the population to die of hunger, disease, crime and violence, and ultimately, war in a mad scramble for the insufficient goods and wherewithals that are scarcely available.
For Every Program the Government propose or plan to introduce, it should always be accompanied by sufficient source of Funding and as much as possible a clear guideline for its enforcement of implementation..or it will be another Act crowding the Arhives of Good Laws that never was implemented to the fullest and that just a waste…
“in the case of the Credit Default Swaps, it’s the sellers of such a financial instrument who are now at the losing end”.
It is the other way around. The seller freed up his credit insurance risk by assigning (selling) the instrument to another investor bank. What has been sold is the value of the future premiums underwritten on credit default risk.
In case of default, the seller is out of the picture. At the losing end will be the original customer who bought the insurance protection because in case of default it needs to file a claim with the final holder of the instrument which can be difficult if sold many times and the risk coverage have varied in many ways as it changes hands. The other loser is the holder of credit instrument who will pay higher default settlement.
Oh, I agree C at. It’s just banter. Nothing personal.
mlq3,
Just finished reading your column in today’s Inquirer.
Besides prostitution, marijuana use in the Netherlands is I believe legalized up to a certain quantity. You gotta give it to the Dutch for being ultra-liberal. From the mixed marriages to being a haven for leftists.
No, but legal prostitution will not fly in the Philippines, not in the forseeable future. We couldn’t even get family planning past the good bishops.
In credit default swap, the risk is turned into liquid asset by selling the instrument along with the risk of default (less chance of happening in sound credit underwriting as opposed to subprime market). Unless actual default happens, the investor banker is making steady cash streams (of future premiums) bought at discounted price.
The idea is still sound as long as the large portion is not sitting in the subprime mortgages. Hence, the Fed is calibrating the low interest for a while to avoid increase in default which will shake the financial market as opposed to increasing interest to address inflation.
to cvj and leytenian on Michelle Wie: I think that she — Michelle — should be allowed to play. After all, her transgression (she forgot to sign a scorecard) is trivial compared to the enjoyment of golf that she will give had she been allowed to play. Her being allowed to play “… contributes to the greater good”.
But I defer to those hard-of-heart. Makes sense to make the world be aware “rules are rules” and whether you are a gifted/elite like Michelle Wie or an urban squatter, respect for laws and rules-of-conduct is paramount.
Michelle Wie signed the score card for the 2nd round outside the scoring area. She was already playing the 3rd round when officials heard about the incident. Too bad she was not playing in the Philippines.
supremo: looks like a candidate for an XBOX-360 game. Golf, no holds barred, Basilan-island as setting. Watch Tiger Woods using a driver to defend himself while a shark (with Greg Norman holding the leash) snapping at his/Tiger’s feet.
Team-1 will be the MILF/Abu’s (goal: most number of foreign golfer captured for Kidnap/ransom, plus payments obtained; penalty for civilians killed — zero). Team-2: Filipino team of priests-and-congressmen. Don’t know their goals; don’t think they know it, too.
Team-3 : the media. Goal : get most number of pictures of heads decapitated or limbs blown off. And interviews… normal points for interviews with foreign golfers; triple-points for interviews with Abu’s. 75%-odd that the ABU they interview also invites them as “house guests” (kidnap/ransom). Board-and-lodging nonpayment means “–end-of-game”.
UP n student,
That’s bloody. What about a game based on Philippine presidential elections. Minimum of 2 players. The first goal is for each candidate to collect as many campaign donations as possible using every trick in the book including extortion. The second goal is to disburse the campaign funds. Buying votes gets the candidate 1 point. Bribing election officials 10 points. Killing your opponent 100 points. The candidate with the most number of points wins the game. There should be a special level where the candidates fight for the “I’m sorry” jackpot price for an automatic win.
Debating frequently makes use of good evidence to support arguments, and that evidence is often topical- taken from the internet, television or newspapers. Keeping an eye on these things makes you better in-formed about the world so that you can make better decisions.
PSI,
di ba tinanong mo si Cong Ruffy Biazon tungkol sa Reproductive health bill, ayun napanood ko na iniinterview ni Korina Sanchez about the topic.
dahil yata sa tanong mo eh(joke)malay mo.
ngayon biglang nasali sa to do list ng mag-ama ang reproductive health. siguro dati na,ngayon lang na publicize.
“Debating frequently makes use of good evidence to support arguments, and that evidence is often topical- taken from the internet, television or newspapers. Keeping an eye on these things makes you better in-formed about the world so that you can make better decisions.”
ika nga ni Brian B:to anyone who has not read a book, please raise your hand.
nalimutan ko ang exact words, pero ang ibig sabihin nya lahat naman tayo nagbabasa ng libro and internet for reference.
Going back to Northrail:
the deadlock between the Chinese developers and the government might further delay the completion of the project.
And GMA may face new impeachment raps amid food, fuel crisis…
http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Headlines&p=49&type=2&sec=24&aid=20080721163
““This is up to the discretion of the President. It is her judgment call who she wants to work with. So far, there is a growing need for focused governance work and every member of the Cabinet needs to be closely working with her, at pace with her,†Dureza said. ”
Conflicts of interest are a breeding ground for corruption, and there is growing consensus that detecting and managing conflict of interest are critical to curbing corruption. However, policy frameworks and tools to manage conflicts of interest effectively are still rare. Code of Conduct and its policies maybe worth to revisit.
Our country may benefit from having a performance ratings or satisfaction ratings to all public officials from barangay capitan all the way to the top…
GMA’s poor governance rating may be the result of conflict of interest, sabotaging, hiring her own team without proper feedback from the whole team.
to leytenian: just remember that evidence taken from the internet can be irrelevant and also suspect.
A person who postulates that “Majority of the Filipinos from the first-, second- and third-deciles are for condoms and sex-education” CANNOT use as evidence what the majority of the blogposters on ellentordesillas dot-com say about the issue.
UP N..
are you asking performance ratings? or my previous post?
for previous post… of course, informations from both local and international makes one better in-formed about the world. I do agree with you with the other local blogsite.
for performance ratings, i think the questioned should be focused on performance result, budget savings and project implementation timeframe. also to add my favorite question: Did your official buy votes during election? : YES or NO.
KG,
In the business standpoint, books are no longer convenient. Check out… Data Mining.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_mining
search engines are the new bluffers guide series
Yah, UPN
I can see that you are like an atheist on your posts but that is not evidence that you are one;but for lack of a better term, we should not treat everything as gospel truth.
On judging one’s character based from his or her comments may not work for guys like benign0 ,who might be a hell good of a writer to make people believe that he is an A. Hole.
I remember reading a column of Ambeth Ocampo,where he joined the discussion in one of his student’s blog.
di kasi sya kilala(online) ,inaway sya,di syempre pinagtulungan sya;kinuwento na lang daw nya sa student ang pangyayari.
Leyetnian,
I am old school, I use both no matter how inconvenient.
Even google books which claims it scans this number of books a minute disapoints; puro kulang kahit matanda na ang libro minsan me copyright issues pa din.
even authorama,project guttenbeg,and questia which claims that they have captured an entire library or has partners with the most prestigious ones still disappoints me,that is why when I have time and money i go to powerbooks and read.
wikisource naman sobrang tanda naman before 1923 yata lahat.
dito sa pilipinas,since data mining is outsourced by others , matagal na data mining dito di nga lang para sa atin. I had a few colegues in the call center industry who came from data mining providers.
maybe one day you will even blame your kababayans for your FICO scores.
KG,
“maybe one day you will even blame your kababayans for your FICO scores.”
why is that?
Go figure,
Data mining means gathering information from data, as compared to just simply data gathering .
all the data can be available from lenders and thus The FICO scoring can easily be outsourced to us by the three providers of fico scores,and we could turn the data provided by the different lenders into a useful information like the fico score.
clear enough?
I have been in a call center (credit card)that deals with customers day to day, hearing customers say, that their fico score is wrong,because we have a feature that lets them see their fico score’s although it is quite delayed and our inquiry is only a soft inquiry that is why they can not affect their fico score unless they want to reduce their fico score by going direct to the three providers they make do with a one month delayed info from us.
Leytenian,
good for you, never ka yatang nagka problema sa Fico score in your 18 years stay in the states.You must be rich!
Prognosticating about the future based on Malthusian theories died a long time ago.
The question that no one is asking of our brilliant bunch of lawmakers is this. The intent of Congress is to socialize birth control practices. It wants to have the bureaucracy get involved in the propagation of birth control.
We have to do it immediately daw before we run out of resources.
I think Habito wrote about it just recently. Human development is about giving people choices. I assume that would mean rationally thought off choices.
Socializing the means to life for farmers in the countryside is not thought off as a primordial basis for sustainable development.
But socializing the loses of the rich is perfectly ok.
Then they point out that we should sociliaze the means for poor people to fuck without recourse.
The average yield for corn in the U.S. is 150 bushels per acre. In the emerging economies it is about 30 bushels per acre. The reason for the gap is not simple to explain.
it was during the 18th century that Adam Smith noticed that food surplus (cheap food) in America then caused the population to double in 25 years. But Europe’s population doubled every 500 years. off course the invention of anti-biotics and modern pharmaceuticals and sanitation also exteded life. We stopped drinking our own shit.
Most of the Catholic Church still lives behind the curve. The idea of being publicly identified as a
OOOPs sorry……a sinner by the Church should be welcomed.
Only to bring the debate out in the open and not simply of that stupid idea of Malthus. Life is more complex than that.
But that would require lawmakers to do something which is entirely alien to them… To think…..
Once again it is simple to oversimplify with slogans and smart retorts.
Just like the idea of legislating the work of sex workers. Once again it is a matter of choices. Just think when youlegislate you have to put rules. Can you just imagine the bureaucracy that would need to be created to implement the rules ion this country.
Sex as recreation is a novel idea but in a country where (according to one lady who sells sex toys) 9 out of 10 women have not experienced orgasm. Naku po. That would mnean 9 out of 10 men are clueless about sex as recreation and lovemaking. You know win win situation. Tantric yoga should be taught as part of sex education.
We are all hedonists at heart but we have to be carefull of the unintended consequences of our actions.
I am still personally bothered by a bureaucrat meddling in the private lives of people, most especially those who have little or no choices in life.
population:
In times of trouble… the church becomes the shock absorber. The church is the shelter and it can provide food when worst comes to worst. One power of the church, it has the capacity to attract its members. This collective efforts can be in the form of help and donation.
The government has no power in terms of asking for help. It has not build its credibility. Taking away the standard activity of daily living is not fair to those who cannot understand the consequences. That’s all they know and that’s all they have maybe. If they were given a job or have been working, they may be too tired to perform at home. lol.
I googled search catholic church- It is one of the richest organization in the world. It has the capacity to provide… ( only if we will get to the worst case scenario).
articles to consider.
Does “Overpopulation†cause hunger?
http://www.globalissues.org/EnvIssues/Population/Hunger/FoodFirst/Overpopulation.asp
Overpopulation – Does Population Growth Follow Food Supply?
http://www.communicationagents.com/sepp/2005/03/20/overpopulation_does_population_growth_follow_food_supply.htm
isa lang challenge ko sa Spanish Church natin:
fine, reject House Bill 812 or the proposed Reproductive Health Care Act. continue to espouse natural family planning methods
BUT
DO your own fucking agressive education campaign regarding this natural family planning method you so espouse.
DO explain to your rabid faithful about the consequences of having too many mouth to feed. last time i heard, you blessed couples with kids of ten and above telling them: anak lang ng anak. biyaya yan ng diyos. tang ina nyo, di na kayo nakakatulong, nakakapalala pa kayo. biyaya nga yan ng diyos, pero mga fathers naman, stop encouraging them pa!
i actually have no problem with your stand against artificial birth control methods. it’ your fucking allergic reaction to all types of information that infuriates me.
information does not cause sin or sinful behavior. people CHOOSE to sin or not. it is whether they have the right and complete information that makes the difference of whether they sin knowing they are sinning or not.
familiar with the story of Job?
God allowed Satan to tempt Job numerous times. God did not say: let Job be free from temptation. he is not free to choose if he would like to sin or not. since I am God, I decide if I want him to sin or not.
let your people choose. block not all access to knowldege and information. who are you to take away freedom whence God has given it?
and for those bishops denying communion to people not in agreement with them…
PRIDE as always has been the greatest of vices.
if Christ can say: who among you who has not sinned, cast the first stone; and accept a prostitute begging for mercy and acceptance, why not you?
not the clergy nor the vatican has the monopoly on truth or righteousness. humanae vitae? not all things are set in stone. as always, it comes back to questions of infallibility. YOU ARE NOT GOD. but merely messengers of God.
then act not like gods.
Socialize sexual relaxation through contraception. It is free. True equity for all.
Since Devils called it the Spanish Church, let me google
Birth Control in Spain:
I don’t usuallly read Yahoo Anwers,nakakatawa kasi minsan mga sagot,but many travelers rely on them.
From Yahoo Answers:
Do they have birth control over the counter in spain?
You will have no problem…Go to any pharmacy they are all marked with a green cross, usually illuminated. Ask for
PASTILLAS ANTICONCEPTIVAS pronounced past-ee-yuhs ant-ee-con-sep-tee-vas). If you remember the name of your own, or the main active ingredient, it would help you to get the same one (if it exists in Spain) or at least a similar product.
Balik Northrail:
So tinawag pala ni Joker Arroyo na stupid si Lorelai Fajardo for saying that they would have no second thouhgts in invoking Executive Privilege pag dating sa North Rail.
Joker calls Palace spokesperson stupid
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080722-149884/Joker-calls-Palace-spokesperson-stupid
sabi na nga ba me update agad eh.
Palace spokesperson: Issue with Sen Arroyo ‘threshed out’
Statement ‘taken out of context,’ Fajardo claims
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080722-149985/Palace-spokesperson-Issue-with-Sen-Arroyo-threshed-out
Sometimes nga naman the media hypes stuff:
Remember that Biazon USS reagan issue.
madami palang misquotations dun,he never mentioned nuclear weapons,well ganyan talaga.
and how.
KG,
Salamat sa pasabi tungkol sa interview ng mag Biazons. Pero, mukhang wala na namang mangyayari sa family planning, most recently ang Reproductive Health Bill.
Panalo na naman ang mga obispo. Nagsisiguro rin yung ibang congressmen baka ikampanya sila against ng simbahang katolika. Alam mo na, the May 2010 elections is just around the corner. And the signals na ibibigay ng administrasyon tungkol dito hindi rin klaro.
Maghanda na lang tayong tumulong sa mga mahihirap at kapuspalad. Sandali na lang, mahigit isang daang milyon na ang tao dito sa Pilipinas. Asa pa tayo sa mga obispo.
or let sulpicio lines continue to operate. malaking tulong din sila sa population control ng bansa.
the “sulpicio model” is bad because it makes family-members suspicious of family-members. If your family-member takes out an insurance-policy on you before putting you on a Pinas inter-island ship, you should be worried. 🙄
Microrail
http://www.megarail.com/pdf/MCPC-ALT1.pdf
Its perturbing that after more than a century, Padre Damaso still holds sway in Palacio del Gobernador.
Rizal must be turning in his grave. And Bonifacio must be saying, ‘all for naught.’