Category: Politics

Atimonan Quezon checkpoint massacre: police shootout or underworld rubout?

January 10, 2013 benign0 21 Comments

Another plot for a future Filipino action film is unfolding. Thirteen people died in a shootout that occurred in Atimonan, Quezon Province. The thirteen people were allegedly in two vehicles that stopped at a checkpoint manned by a team composed of a mixture of police officers and army personnel led by police Supt. Hansel Marantan….

Crime, Politics

Senator Enrile allegedly gives out public money to senators

January 10, 2013June 6, 2013 Ilda 99 Comments

The reign of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile could be coming to an end. If 2012 saw him lauded by the public for what they thought was his “greatest” performance during the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona, 2013 is starting out to be “scandalous” for the octogenarian politician. Concerned Filipinos were shocked…

Government, Politics

Truth or Consequence

January 8, 2013January 8, 2013 Mauro Gia Samonte 94 Comments

Apropos the stream of comments generated by my article SYRIAN WAR: MARCOS IN RETROSPECT, Iâ€™m prompted to think back on Rashomon, that movie by Akira Kurosawa which won the Best Picture Award in the 1950 Berlin Film Festival onward to winning a similar honor in the Cannes Film Festival. Rashomon tells the story of a…

Cebu Sinulog Festival further highlights the poignancy of Gwen Garcia’s ‘people power’ call

January 8, 2013 benign0 5 Comments

It’s a fitting reminder of what Filipinos are really all about. After a specatcularly-fizzled attempt to rally the usual ocho-ocho “people power” crowd around her “Hole Up for a Cause” spectacle, suspended Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia can only watch helplessly from her “office” in the Cebu Capitol as Filipinos reportedly snap-up hotel rooms in Cebu…

Lifestyle, Politics

The Syrian Civil War: Marcos in Restrospect

January 7, 2013January 7, 2013 Mauro Gia Samonte 36 Comments

Given the turmoil obtaining in Syria at this hour, Marcos could be the kindest president the Philippines has ever had. What the Philippines was during those four days, February 22 to 25, in 1986 was what had Syria become first quarter of 2011. Decades-old regimes had begun falling across the Middle East either as a…

Politics

Take it! Take it! President Noynoy Aquino has a clean shot in Cebu

January 2, 2013 benign0 47 Comments

On one hand, I’d say the clock is ticking for MalacaÃ±ang. Presumably with every hour — and day — it dithers in its decision on what to do about rogue Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia who remains ‘holed up for a cause’ at the Cebu Capitol after being slapped with a suspension order on the 19th…

Crime, Government, Politics

RA 10354 — a product mangled by Pinoy-style discourse

December 31, 2012June 28, 2013 FallenAngel 29 Comments

Droll, unintelligent, petty, and pathetic – these words describe the “debate” that has surrounded the discussion of the Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill), the passing through both houses of Congress and its eventual signing into law as RA 10354. The whole point of the exercise was to implement some sort of semblance of population control….

Culture, Development, Government, Lifestyle, Politics, Religion

Gwendolyn Garcia may have Pedro Calungsod on her side but Noynoy is still Chief of the Armed Forces

December 31, 2012December 31, 2012 benign0 8 Comments

Flawed in its execution or not, MalacaÃ±ang had come out locked and loaded when it ordered Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia suspended for alleged “grave abuse of authority” on the 19th December 2012. Yet ten days later, what could’ve been a clean strike has turned into a quagmire. What’s the big delay anyway? If the government…

Civics, Government, Politics