Due process and the rule of law
Written on Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 at 7:50 pm | by Manuel BuencaminoLast September, agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) arrested and charged Richard Santos Brodett, Jorge Jordana Joseph, and Joseph Ramirez Tecson for the use, possession, and sale of illegal drugs.
The PDEA saw it as an “open and shut” case. Prosecutors from the Department of Justice (DOJ) agreed. But not in the way the PDEA expected.
The DOJ’s prosecutors threw out the drug case on the grounds that the PDEA agents acted illegally, carrying out warrantless arrests and searches. Read more
Alabang Boys - A Big Drug Syndicate?
Written on Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 at 7:30 pm | by Letters To EditorAre the so-called Alabang Boys – Brodett, Joseph, & Tecson – arrested by PDEA’s field agents on a reported legitimate buy-bust operation undertaken separately in posh Ayala Alabang and in Araneta Center aptly fall under the classification of a big drug syndicate who source their drugs from as far as America via e-commerce or online? This readily runs counter to certain sociological facts that these young individuals did excel in their respective schools academically which just don’t come together with drug use and its social implication. Read more
Alabang Boys–too hot to handle?
Written on Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 at 5:24 pm | by Patricio MangubatIn the widely televised House Committee on Drugs hearing today, three things were established. First, the PDEA led by the courageous Marine Mayor Ferdinand Marcelino conducted the Ayala Alabang buy-bust operation according to plan. They conducted a pre-arrest investigation. They cased the suspects. Eventually, they were able to entrap them thru a buy-bust operation. Based on the report, Richard Brodett, son of popular golf icon, “Butch” Brodett was the head of the group composed of Joseph Ramirez Tecson and Jorge Jordana, son of Johnny “Midnight” Joseph Jordana. When these drug pushers were interrogated, PDEA found how Brodett got his illegal drugs from abroad. They followed procedures. Surprisingly though, the prosecutors who handled the case, Senior State Prosecutor Philip Kimpo and the one who penned the resolution,Joseph Resado did not see it that way, and it was affirmed by Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno who even defended the DOJ position before the media.
By the way, the ponente, Prosecutor Resado admitted having been a student of the Alabang boy’s lead counsel, Atty. Felisberto Verano Jr. who is now under water for allegedly trying to wiesel his way out of a rejection to release his clients by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales. Read more
Missing GMA
Written on Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 at 12:27 pm | by Ding G. GageloniaPresident Arroyo is holding her first Cabinet meeting of the year down south in Iligan City.
Malacanang says this is to underline the commitment to pursue the Mindanao peace process.
Perhaps.
Ahead of any photos of the Cabinet meeting among the last images Filipinos have seen of their president during the loooong Christmas break have been her family picture visiting Sagada, her Rizal Day visit to La Union, several provincial project visits, and her day with the dolphin.
Anything amiss here?
Nothing really but between the two raging controversies, the mauling incident involving one of her Cabinet members and the ‘Alabang Boys’ drug bust-PDEA-DOJ bribery saga we have an almost-absentee president?
This absence-by-design is curious. Read more
Where are the Children: Bata, Bata Ano ang Iyong Ginagawa?
Written on Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 at 9:19 am | by Letters To EditorI have believed and still believe that the nation’s GDP is understated not only because of the unaccounted underground economy but also because of the child labor factor that is unreported by the businesses which could be due to the ff:
1. there are the child labor laws that restrict employment of children below 15.
2. businesses are owned by the families
3. the money goes to the pocket of the children’s parents as advances or payments of loans. Read more
The first week of January, chickens, a rampaging cow and Bayani Fernando’s pink
Written on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 10:50 pm | by blackshamaI do learn about a lot of new things in the first week of January. For starters as I prepare for my environment and diseases lecture, I read about an infectious diseases expert that was looking at the renewed possibility of more bird flu outbreaks. She estimated that the world’s population of chickens is about 40 billion! Read more
Ilustrados Bravos!
Written on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 6:13 am | by DJBBloggers are the New Ilustrados. Like our forefathers before us, who seized pen and ink and paper to make lethal weapons out of the strangest notions, we are story-tellers, we are pundits, we are dream catchers, we are bullshit detectors, we are critics and gossip-mongers. We are jesters, exiled to a vale of tears. We are sitters in catbird seats who would set the world on fire with the sounds and sparks of occasional genius. Ours, is the tintinnabulation, the tingog of voices raised in outrage or disdain. But as well, we are a cerebral zone where the loudest voices are the fittest, most viral ideas, most convincing of arguments, most irresistible rhetoric. There is nothing benign about us, for we are trouble makers, all of us. We are heretics to the various sects of political correctness, apostates from the cult of hypocrisy and innuendo. We are the carriers of mental virii. The kind that infect the brains of readers and listeners such that they cannot but think the thing their own and gladly, if secretly, surrender to the logic of being convinced, of being inspired and energized to act, to think, to feel. Or to violently disagree. But do it well, Blogger. Do it beautifully! For there is precious little bandwidth here for the trivial, the banal, the boring, the vain, the boorish, the abusive, the automatic. It is the fittest meme that will inherit the earth. Make yours so, give us your best, as we all plunge back into the common dream…
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Black Friday of Golf
Written on Sunday, January 4th, 2009 at 4:14 pm | by Ding G. GageloniaMuch has been written, and continues to be debated on, about that Black Friday of Golf at Valley Golf and Country Club in Antipolo.
But woefully little has been said about what really took place.
I humbly submit that we must not lose sight of the fact that at the minimum the Dela Pazes could indeed have precipitated the melee through the act of public alarm scandal if the Pangandamans were showered with bigotry-laden expletives accompanied by the supposed golf umbrella poking incident.
In an effort to find succor and “appeal to Filipino bloggers to stop their unfair tirades,” Secretary Pangandaman was the special yesterday of President Noli De Castro on nationwide (and even worldwide radio and TV), using the entire DZMM radio time slot of De Castro to claim that even his 8-year-old grandson “ was traumatized” by the incident.
But as he was telling his version of events Secretary Pangandaman surprisingly did not clarify how the Dela Pazes ended up bloodied while he did nothing to stop to pacify the protagonists.
What did the ‘honorable’ Cabinet member and presidential alter-ago failed to clear uo was why he not step in as the cooler head?
I’ve just sought the opinion of a former UP College of Law who told me that “at the minimum, Secretary Pangandaman’s inaction constituted misconduct unworthy of a high ranking public official.”
As for the Mayor of Masiu, Lanao Del Sur, Nasser Junior, “it was an apparent display of abuse of power,” my source said.
I am eager to see the results of both the in-house probe of Valley Golf plus thar of the Antipolo Police and the National Bureau of Investigation.
At the end of this soap opera, the conduct of the Pangandaman, the rank injustice and physical injuries inflicted on the Dela Plazes, even as they themselves are not blameless, are emblematic of our society’s state of affairs: power to the powerful, arrogance of the rich, and unmitigated paucity of good manners and right conduct in Philippine Society.
Let’s Mind the Vendors
Written on Sunday, January 4th, 2009 at 11:37 am | by Ishmael AhabIllegal street vending is a perennial problem in Metro Manila. Illegal vendors and their thatched-up stores occupy parts of the streets and deny pedestrians in using the sidewalks. They also occupy many busy pedestrian overpasses, making it hard for people to pass through. The blockage caused by the illegal vendors results to build-up of traffic and generates tons of garbage every day.
The MMDA and city authorities solve this problem by removing the thatched stores off the streets. They do these clean-up operations for so many times but their efforts were fruitless. Their efforts had been in vain because many local authorities allow such build-up of illegal stores. Some of the policemen and barangay officials collect “tong” money from illegal vendors. These same authorities are the one who warn the vendors of oncoming clean-up operations. Another reason why the MMDA was not successful is the fact that the vendors do not have another ways of earning a living. So day-by-day, they defy laws against illegal vending just to earn some money to keep their families alive.
What if Dela Paz started this golf melee?
Written on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 3:43 pm | by Patricio MangubatLet me parrot my friend and sometimes adversary here at Filipino Voices–Bencard and another colleague based in Australia with the name BenigNO–what’s this overt and highly sensationalized fascination with a feud at a golf course? What with this national fascination over a department secretary and his son who allegedly mauled a private citizen? Conyo is right–there are far more pressing concerns than write something about a private spat which no one actually knows whose side was really right and whose side is really on the wrong? I dare my colleagues–who among you was actually there in the first place? What we wrote came from a spurned source–the alleged beneficiary of this purported “arrogance” displayed by the Pangandamans. Read more
Current Events, News, and Press
- Manny Villar Resigns, Juan Ponce Enrile is New Senate President
Senator Manny Villar has resigned as Senate President. Immediately, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile was nominated then declared New Senate President. Read More...
- The Catholic-Muslim Joint Declaration
Three days of talks at the Vatican that included scholars from The Islamic and Catholic faith, finally concluded with a joint declaration. Here is the full text of The Catholic and Muslim Joint Declaration. Read More...
- Change.gov The Official Website of President-elect Barack Obama
To those who wish to dive deep into what President-elect Barack Obama has in store as his presidency nears, you can go visit Change.gov, his official website introducing the reader to his policies during his presidency. Read More...
- Obama assembles White House team
Barack Obama has started forming his administration by asking Rahm Emanuel, a former adviser to President Clinton, to be his chief-of-staff. Read More...
- Pimentel cautions colleagues against obstructing probe of Bolante
Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, (PDP-Laban) today cautioned his colleagues against blocking the reopening of the Senate's investigation into the fertilizer fund scam that could expose them to suspicion that they may be unwittingly covering up the scandal. Read More...
- Full Text of President-Elect Barack Obama Presidential Victory Speech
Here is the full text of President-Elect Barack Obama Presidential Victory Speech. Read More...
- Barack Obama Presidential Victory Speech Video November 5, 2008
This is the full video of President Elect Barack Obama's Presidential Victory Speech. As November 4th gave way to November 5th, America heralded in a historic moment, by electing, for the first time in history, an African-American as President of The United States of America. Read More...
- A Global Market Meltdown
The world financial system is teetering on the "brink of systemic meltdown", the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned in Washington. Read More...
- Full Draft Copy of The Proposed Bailout Plan
This is the Full Draft Copy of the proposed bailout plan that was struck down just yesterday, and is estimated to cost The United States government, $700 billion or upwards to $1 trillion. Read More...
- Chavit Singson Is New Deputy National Security Adviser
MANILA, Philippines—After a yearlong absence from the political scene, former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson is back in the corridors of power. Read More...
Archive for Current Events »
- Manny Villar Resigns, Juan Ponce Enrile is New Senate President
-
Subscribe to Filipino Voices!
-
FULL TEXT
