Category: Philippines

And by the way, I thought the Binays did not want the Senate hearings, because these were supposedly usurping the powers of the Office of the Ombudsman and the courts? “Let the courts decide,” the Binays said. So why are they fighting the Ombudsman and the courts every inch of the way? When the judicial proceedings to ferret out the facts are delayed by legal maneuverings, how are the citizens going to make an informed decision?
via Lee Kuan Yew and Jojo Binay | Inquirer Opinion.

We have a situation in the Philippines where the nation’s Fourth Estate, its popular media, are not fulfilling the vital role of fairly and accurately informing the public about what is happening. Indeed, they contribute to a form of hysterical tyranny. Even lead media outlets like the Daily Inquirer or ABS-CBN television give the news tabloid treatment that favors one political agenda over another.
It is the way “journalism” reporting is done in the Philippines. Conflict is featured and hyped. Sensational headlines are penned with little regard as to who is harmed by inaccurate words. The well-being of the Philippines, which is what ethics are designed to protect, is ignored. Complaints and anger accordingly run deep. Incidents are not framed in balanced and information-rich articles.
Is it any wonder why Filipinos are down on their nation even as the Philippines rises?
via The case for a State-owned newspaper in the Philippines | The Society of Honor by Joe America.

(The “embo” in barangays Comembo, Rembo, Cembo and Pembo stands for “Enlisted Men’s Barrio”.)
via How a Binay dummy got a P1B Makati property.

AT A GLANCE:
Valued at P1-billion at present, the 8,877 square meter commercial strip in Bgy Comembo was originally part of a housing project for military personnel and their dependents
Meriras Realty, owned by alleged Binay fronts, rented the area for a mere P9,157 a month
Erlinda Chong, Makati’s cake supplier and a friend of the Binays, acquired the rights on a silver platter to patent the property
Chong paid P17.75 million for the property
A complainant asked why the contested property was appraised at only P2,000 per square meter despite the prevailing price in the area being between P10,000 and P15,000 per square meter
via How a Binay dummy got a P1B Makati property.

The law firm that has been dragged into the controversy involving allegations of corruption against Vice-President Jejomar Binay and his family has gone up to the Supreme Court (SC) in an effort to stop government’s reported examination of its bank accounts over suspected money laundering activities, and secure an order declaring all records and information obtained from this examination as “inadmissible” in any proceeding.
In a 44-page petition for certiorari and prohibition filed last March 11, the Subido Pagente Certeza Mendoza and Binay Law Offices (SPCMB Law), the law firm representing the vice-president and one of his close allies and alleged dummy, businessman Antonio Tiu, urged the high court to stop the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) from proceeding with its examination and scrutiny of SPCMB Law’s bank accounts. SPCMB Law asked the high court to declare unconstitutional the Anti-Money Laundering Act, in so far as it allows the examination of bank accounts “in any way related to a money laundering offense” without giving notice to the respondent(s).
via Binay law firm asks SC to stop probe of bank accounts | ABS-CBN News.

This was funny

At 3:09 pm, the DILG said it received a notice of the CA resolution stopping the implementation of the Ombudsman’s preventive suspension order against Binay.
“The order of the Ombudsman has already been carried out; hence, there is nothing to restrain,” the DILG said.
via DILG says Junjun Binay still suspended.

Emphasis mine.
 

We’ve all been hearing all these “falling in love with the bestfriend” stories. From it being a success, a complete disaster or a one-sided melancholy. We have seen movies with the same premise, from the heart-wrenching “My Bestfriend’s Wedding” to Sharon and Aga’s “Kung ako na Lang Sana”. It can’t be an isolated case right? The Falling-in-love-with-the-bestfriend Phenomenon reached a universal state and everybody’s experiencing it, of course except those who don’t have a bestfriend, silly. I can blame it on whoever started the adage, Friendship is the foundation of love. Screw him/her, whoever he is. I don’t think friendship is the best groundwork of love, it’s an illusion, it’s a fallacy, a hasty generalization. Bestfriends fall in love for convenience, for lack of options or for mere boredom and exhaustion from the lifetime quest for the “LOVE OF HIS/HER LIFE”. It’s not about “Kung ako na lang sana” but it’s “Sige na nga, ikaw na lang.”. Got that?
via Leo Sambayan’s Blog: My Bestfriend Theory (from Peyups.com).

One has to be able to summon enough forbearance and charity not to bristle or break down in the face of such verbal abuse. This is the kind of provocative questioning that, instead of making room for cogent arguments, drives reason into retreat. How is one supposed to react when each time you refuse to rush to judgment or form a conclusion on the basis of unverified reports, you are accused of lawyering for the enemy?These are professionals recruited by President Benigno Aquino III to find a solution to the long-festering armed conflict in Mindanao. Before she joined public service as peace adviser, Secretary Deles headed a peace institute and was part of a vigorous peace movement that grew in the wake of Edsa I. Chair Ferrer is a professor of political science with a rich field experience in postconflict East Timor. Both have solid grounding on peace issues.Deles and Ferrer may not be political combatants or courtroom gladiators, but they are no pushovers. I am sure that, if they wanted to, they would have been able to respond to Senator Cayetano’s acerbic interventions with fitting eloquence or dismissive disdain. To their credit, they controlled themselves. Senate hearings are not the right venue to tangle with politicians who like to think of themselves as the voice of the sovereign. The Senate is a seat of power, and the consciousness of that power distorts communication.
via Lawyering for the MILF? | Inquirer Opinion.

Read the linked article and see what a mayor with the political will and the conscience of doing stuff can do.
The way that politics is  done in the Philippines Binay could have done more as Secretary Robredo has shown us with his work on Naga City.

Just outlining all of Paris’ plans is a marathon. Since mayor Anne Hidalgo gained office last April, the city has set aside €3 billion to build new public housing over the next six years, at a rate of 7,000 units a year. She’s tabled a new law to fine office owners who choose to leave their properties empty rather than convert them to residences—a plan designed mainly to convert formerly residential older real estate back to its original use. Hidalgo is also trying to prevent total gentrification of formerly working class areas by establishing a list of earmarked apartments that the city would have a “right of first-refusal” to buy should they go up for sale. The idea there is that the city can increase its social housing stock in a given neighborhood if it wants.
Solutions that might be impossible across the Atlantic still have a fighting chance of acceptance in London.
Paris’ pollution, meanwhile, is being attacked by plans to phase out diesel fuel and make central Paris a residents-only zone for drivers by 2020, by which time cycle lanes will have been doubled. New nationwide laws to create city rent rise caps and clamp down on exploitative letting agent charges are also helping the city make progress. And finally, the unhealthy division between Paris and its suburbs is being bridged by the Grand Paris project, through which greater regional cooperation will be boosted by a massive expansion of the metro and suburban train network. To make the city more accessible to poorer suburbanites, the cost of transit fares from the far periphery to Paris’ core is also being slashed.
via Why London Should Stop Trying to Be New York and Start Trying to Be Paris – CityLab.