And what the heck!

MJ & Kobe: Comparable Statistics

2008-06-01T03:39:00.000-07:00

MJ and Kobe’s stats if only we look closer with a little objectivity it would appear a little identical.

· Kobe’s tallied (5.3 rebounds, 4.6 assts and 25.0 pts career average) playoffs stats 6.1 boards, 5.3 assts and 31.9 points.

· While MJ (6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assts and 30.1 pts career average) have 33.4 points, 6.4 boards and 5.3 assts playoffs average.

There is indeed a little discrepancy in their tallies since MJ was the main man for his team while Kobe’s first two years were a development and the subsequent years, he was mere a subordinate of Shaq. MJ in his playing years was the focal point of the offense while Kobe was just the second option. MJ was never relegated as the 2nd option while Kobe waited as the no. 2 for a long time with Shaq at the helm. When you’re the main man the play of the team is at your mercy and will thus create multiplying effect on your statistics, naturally.

Comparative Statistics of Kobe:

With Shaq: 21.3pts 4.9rebounds 4.1assts

W/out Shaq: 29.4pts 5.7rebounds 5.3assts

MJ’s career: 30.1pts 6.2rebounds 5.3assts

Michael Jordan playing career is history while Kobe’s career is still in the process of making its own destiny and historical significance and who knows, the minute difference between their stats might tally or wipe out by the awesome demonstration of basketball aptitude that Kobe had been displaying so far.

Federalism, anyone?

2008-04-27T05:02:00.000-07:00

Countless times, the Senators have been showcasing themselves as the branch of government that is a large amount free and sometimes conventional. Certainly, it has excessively emphasized that independence every so often, particularly its conflicts with the other branches of government, the executive and the judiciary.

For apparent motivations, the senate has been so unenthusiastic to the initiative of shifting to a unicameral parliamentary method of government. Senators some time ago have taken the stance that any alteration to the present Charter has to be made through elected members of a Constitutional Convention. Unfortunately, last Wednesday, no less than 12 senators put their signature on a resolution suggesting to call together both Congress into a constituent assembly. The document, to the surprised of everyone was authored by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, put forward a federal structure of government that eliminates the present centralized form where the sole power emanates in the “Palace by the river” where a number of corruption scandals and in the minds of those outside the corridor of power has brought about blemished progress.

Our senators have work log jams that have been significantly put away by these current investigations. They put down essential pending bills like the cheaper medicine law which until now is on the backburner. I wonder how the public would interpret this turnaround from the senators. A nice explanation is that federalism would be a little sort of middle ground for charter change who in the past has been espoused by the GMA administration. It cannot be denied that modifications and changes should be effected on the current Charter and that a few of them should have done a long time ago. Unfortunately on the past proposals the senate needs to be phase-out and as expected these senators do not want to be omitted, as well.

Debates and discussions on important concerns that will impinge on the lives of Filipinos should be left to professionals and to those proficient enough. The nation is dismayed with a replicate of the comical and sometimes hilarious roundabout in those sterile and fruitless Senate hearings and we also recognize with certainty how our legislators can fall short in conducting themselves worthily.

The country cannot avoid but feel suspicious; the shocking turn around by these senators cannot be straightforwardly disregarded.

2008-04-20T16:21:00.000-07:00

Power Forward Pau Gasol started the first round with playoff highs 36 markers and eight dimes and had 16 caroms in Sunday’s (Monday at Manila) game, as the Lakers seized control early on in the third canto and hammers the Denver Nuggets 128-114.

Lamar Odom netted 17 points, 14 rebounds and six assists and Luke Walton added 16 for the Lakers, who come into the match having won eight of their last nine regular-season games to earn the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

Game 2 will be played Wednesday night at Staples Center before the best-of-seven series shifts to Denver for the third and fourth games.

Nugget’s Anthony had 30 points and 12 rebounds for the eighth-seeded Nuggets and Allen Iverson also had 30 points before picking up two Ts with 2:10 before the end of the fourth Q, calling for instant discharge from the game. Denver had a 50-32 record, its best in 20 years. Denver hasn’t gained a playoff series since 1994.

The Lakers led 97-78 toward the inside of the fourth Q; an 11-2 run by Denver made it 101-91 with 8:17 remaining. The Nuggets drew within nine twice down the stretch, but that’s all they can get since Bryant wouldn't permit them to get any closer by continuously hitting at crunch time.

Kobe's lock for the MVP plum

2008-04-13T02:48:00.000-07:00

Kobe Bryant hasn’t constantly been the finest person, the best teammate, the topmost ambassador for the National Basketball Association. This is the explanation so many voters are insearch for someone else to vote for the Most Valuable Player. For this, Bryant can fault himself. This is the price paid for tantrums and bad tempers within him.

Nonetheless, Bryant is an MVP material and will always be one. MVP plum are in no way won at once in the NBA. As sportswriter Mark Heisler’s unofficial survey in the Los Angeles Times illustrated that the MVP race seems narrowing down to Kobe Bryant and NO’s point guard Chris Paul. Sooner or later, Paul is going to get the title and a championship ring. There isn’t a NBA player in the association that I be keen on more to talk with and whom I enjoy watching than CP3.
It is easy to predict that before Paul and LeBron James and maybe Dwayne Wade reach 29 years of age, will in all probability have MVP trophies. Kobe’s wait has been extensively long enough.
There are those who strongly believe that KB24’s enormity will forever rip the voting parameter, and there will be those who will insinuate tall story, that Kobe will in no way be named MVP. In those years when Tim Duncan, Nash and Nowitzki were getting their MVP titles, the Lakers at the same time was destroying Bryant’s chances for three straight years by letting themselves into a mediocre kind of basketball.

Bryant doesn’t need the Lakers to conclude with the best record in the regular season. Joe Dumars is right: No more taking Bryant for granted.

Oh Lozada… my Lozada!

2008-04-05T05:06:00.000-07:00

If Lozada is thriving in his brand new role, why the oust-Arroyo movement appears to have lost steam and simmered down? In spite of complaining on the adversities that he and his family had to undergo while he spouted a mouthful of allegations on the Broadband deal; it is perplexing to spot JLo still enjoying his current job as an opponent of the present administration. While Lozada’s actions are element of the exploration for the truth concerning the exploits of our uppermost political leadership, spectators state that the holy Catholic mass is at this instant being exploited as a podium to put on view his potentials for an elective office.

In offering a further analysis, the Pulse Asia survey rating is the phase blot in Lozada’s “abbreviated carnival” with the public. As of now, Lozada can still fascinate his listeners with his story on the defective Broadband deal. Possibly an additional preference would be for Lozada to go into merchandise brand modeling like some publicity aware wannabes are doing right now. Lozada experienced a gigantic obstruction when authoritative Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal emerged with an important instruction of not allowing the celebration of the Holy Mass in his ecclesiastical districts where Lozada may possibly exploit the pulpit to convey biased testimonials critical of government. University of Santo Tomas, where JLo is an alumnus, University Rector Rolando de la Rosa cautioned that the people that 2010 is just around the corner and if they so desire changes in the government which is an express rejection of Lozada’s plea for Mrs. Arroyo’s acquiescence from office.

LA down Sacramento

2008-03-05T05:27:00.001-08:00

LA downed by a dozen points and one in the third canto and in no way had the advantage before Kobe Bryant made his move and brought the whole band there in the concluding minutes of the game ahead for good.
KB24 tallied 34 points, half of those were in the fourth quarter, and Gasol made some good adjustments from a small number of lackluster performances to make 31markers as the Hollywood team prevail for the 12th time in 13 games to remain at minute distance with the Spurs ahead of the Western Conference fight for primacy.
Bryant as always, assumed responsibility when needed the most, thrust his Lakers to a critical fourth quarter uprising in which they outscored the Sacramento, 36-18 (Bryant nearly matched the total 18 pts. output of the entire Kings in the 4^th Q). His 17 points in the quarter included two free throws with 4:06 to play that gave the Lakers a 101-100 lead, their first of the game.

Kobe Bryant time and again proves his passion and intensity, his desires alone can move heaven and earth in order to attain primacy for his ball club. I hate to pronounce it but this clutch thing is for KB24 alone and not those pretenders out there.

MVP…. Lebron or Kobe???

2008-02-29T22:46:00.000-08:00

Twenty four hours subsequent to being designated Eastern Conference Player of the Week the Lebron James gets dethrone and thrown-out of his kingdom. Some NBA experts say he should not because of the superb statistics he had acquired, but unfortunately stats is not that all and victories are much better to reckon with. Regardless of the off-the-chart individual statistic numbers, the King’s Cavaliers have failed enough to rally around him and fend off Kobe Bryant or surpass the winning record of the Hollywood team.

The combination of KB24 and Gasol has produced much better result than everybody in LA might have anticipated and it is a little bit chilling to imagine how Los Angeles is capable of when young center Andrew Bynum comes back from injury. Kobe ought to be commended for executing an above level performance even on a severely injured pinky. Many basketball pundits have come noting how KB24 had made so much effort to involve his young team play to an above par level game when most needed and LA win-loss record could provide evidence to that announcement. In the NBA good statistics sometimes are the reference for choosing where to award the MVP plum, but lot of times it was flushed down the drain for the reason that most of persons engage in the selection working group look the other way and have a preference to bestow the coveted title to the player that have done so much and have help his team to the Championship trophy.

The way to the Crown is still long and winding but at this point in time, KB and Lebron are neck and neck in their fight to the MVP.

The Suns Predicament

2008-02-23T15:57:00.000-08:00

Phoenix’s big man Stoudemire tallied 28 markers as the Suns conferred Big C its first 3-game losing smudge at the middle of the regular period with a bruising 85-77 conquest of the Celtics last Friday night. The Desert Diesel had scored just 4 points but unfortunately adding 14 boards as the Desert team took over the rebounding department with 50-32 caroms on both end of the court. KG scored 19 points (including 5rebounds and 4assists), Paul Pierce (5points, 6reboards and only 2assists) suffered an offensive eclipse and was 15% shooting for miserable five points and ditto with Ray Allen who forgot his shooting hands in Boston and got 11 points as the Suns caught the Celtics napping in its offense. . Phoenix bettered their record to 22-2 vis-à-vis the East teams. The Suns who have recovered from a loss to the Lakers, done their thing for the most part of the match without the Brazilian Blur, who obtained an incision over the right eye on a hard collision with Paul Pierce with 4:36 left in the game time.

Phoenix led more often than not by 13 at halftime although committed 15 errors resulted in turnover in the early part of the game. KG and Amare were engaged in an intense scuffle all over the game. Soon after, Amare obtained a big T for pushing KG. Phoenix Suns’ 11 TOs at the end of the 1st quarter was a big disappointment, nevertheless still led 24-13 because the Celtic’s was only shooting 21 percent (5-for-24). O'Neal tallied zero, had 4 TOs in the quarter. The Celtics began 2-for-14 in the 3^rd quarter as Phoenix went on a 15-0 run to erect a 19-4 lead on Barbosa's lay-up with 5:39 in the match and at the end the Suns tallied another lopsided win against an East team. This unconvincing win brought them second to the Hornets in the West Conference, a win better than the LA Lakers retreating to the third position.

But there are some issues needed to be raise… like, what if the honeymoon of Shaq with the Suns is over? What if the new enthusiasm of the Desert Diesel is gone? How can we decipher a fact that he is being paid a hefty sum of more than 30M USD, much more than the Main man Amare Stoudemire and Grant Hill combined salary? Will this compensation inequality create havoc to the relationship of the players in the near future? This will be a great dilemma that will crop up into which the Suns’ organization will be hard press to solve. GM Steve Kerr ought to know the answers for these predicaments, since many Suns fans would like to witness Phoenix accomplish something that is more than just a mere Western Conference playoff contender

KB24 on staples center’s boo…

2008-01-19T18:45:00.000-08:00

I was dismayed by the manner Kobe crucified the fans by expressing and I quote "I thought it was terrible," Kobe Bryant said after the game. "If [fans] want to do that, they can stay home”. Look who’s talking? Didn’t he was the Kobe Bryant who did complained when player around him were as not as productive as today? Did he not say soiled languages on the issue of Bynum then at the parking lot? Did he not dirty mouthed Dr Buss last summer because of disappointment as regards to the supporting cast around him being not helpful as much as necessary to merit team decency?

You simply failed to remember those trying times Kobe, we supported you, all the way in your advocacy to have a decent supporting cast and even forget the foul words you have said. Many of NBA sportswriters and fans faulted you for that, but we stand by you and give you benefit of the doubt, we all supported your action as a mere aspiration to remind the Lakers management to upgrade existing line up. We shielded you at every attack put in your direction at each blogs and board all over the internet and illustrate our faith and confidence in you and this Lakers team, and as a matter of defense for your action, we simply says, we understand your frustrations and expounded that you have the right to express dissatisfaction over team management and your intense desire to bring home a trophy in LA.

Do you know why we feel that way towards you, Kobe? It is because each and every game you show us your desire to win and the intensity of your game each and every given night. You give us the value of our hard earned money we spend in going to the game at staples. You show your love to us by making it appear that we are very special to you by simply displaying your passion to improve more of your talent playing basketball for the LA. We will continue to love you Kobe and the support the Lakers team through thick and thin, we will continue to come to the game and cheer for you, we will continue to defend you Kobe from reproach hurled by those erratic sportswriter and press people. We will continue to condemn each and every individual that will throw nasty and unwarranted statements that will put you and this Lakers team in bad light, because we are the Lakers fans and we believe we are part of the Lakers family.

As we keep on showing devotion to the Lakers organization, we also have the right to discern each and every awful action by this Lakers management with the aim of putting the team in discomfited position. We will persist on putting our dissent at every wrong judgment the Lakers will commit, we will continue to boo each and every player who doesn’t show energy and his aggressiveness in the game and we will continue to show our dissatisfaction when you're persistent in giving us highly paid players like Kwame Brown who just don’t want to show his professionalism and persistenly providing us lots of bad and awful games like that recent Lakers-Suns game. It is within our right to do so as part of the family. But we will continue to be fans of this Lakers team because we love the game and we love LA.

Who is fearful of a media advisory?

2008-01-16T00:03:00.000-08:00

I don’t comprehend media’s motives in questioning or wanting that advisory to be out of the blue, because in my own honest opinion there is nothing in that media advisory which would cause chilling effect on media as a whole, nor does it constitute prior restraint in their advocacy. From where I stand as a media observer, the advisory was issued simply to remind that there’s still a rule of law to observe notwithstanding the emergency situations. The application of press freedom and the privilege of the public to be informed must not go in opposition to the law that had also provided those right and freedom they are now exercising. The right to press freedom must not be a license to transgress the basic function of government that is to implement peace and order and the preservation of its survival. After all, no freedom is absolute. It is a pity, media who turn into incessantly paranoid over a plain advisory assumes that as card carrying components of the press, they possess encompassing authorization to perform what they feel like to accomplish even contrary to the rule of law. I am truly flabbergasted at this reaction of the press associations.

Like for instance, the claim of press club official, that the Justice Department’s advisory obviously affirmed that in occurrence of crisis conditions, press people be supposed to abide by the rule of law from legitimate peacekeeping officials. In such a case that the National Press Club chieftain doesn’t understand what emergency situation signify, or if he isn’t sensitive of what legally recognized authority is, he doesn’t deserve to embody the club.
Certainly, media have to use press freedom and emphasize the right of the people to be informed, however it should be within the bounds of law and not keep on experimenting the threshold of the law, nevertheless, press freedom is not infinite, it has its own boundary and that is the rule of law. That is what the media advisory of the Justice Department is all about, no more, no less. Damn… can’t the media understand the difference between the exercise of freedom, or a license?

Re-examination of pardon system for prisoner

2007-12-31T19:50:00.000-08:00

The power to grant Executive clemency power in modern governments comes from the time when kings, princes, dukes, cardinals and popes had power of life and death over their citizens. Its modern usage has been described by legal scholars as “entirely discretionary,” “unilateral,” “notoriously non-reciprocal,” “virtually unassailable,” “absolute,” and “perhaps the most imperial of presidential powers.”
On the negative side, it is seen as “anomalous,” “delicate,” “shrouded in mystery,” and “fraught with arbitrariness.”
It all started in the case of Erap. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines wants a comprehensive assessment of the method for conceding executive clemencies to convicts. In a near blame to the Arroyo administration’s latest caper of granting clemency to series of prominent criminal offenders and the most recent puzzling discharge from prison of ex- Zamboanga del Norte Rep. Romeo Jalosjos, the Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care of the CBCP is appealing for a system to “level the playing field” when it comes to giving way pardons.

Rudy Diamante, ECPPC executive director declared in a consultation, the scheme ought to incorporate discussions with the public and the jailbird and not merely be depending on the judgment of the Office of the President and its instrumentalities. Restorative justice, in the societal dogma of the Church, indicates to a kind of justice which can restore harmonious social relationships, that was interrupted by the unlawful and criminal deeds perpetrated by the convict.

“My belief is that an act of pardon will at all times be of political motivation. There has to be a meticulous evaluation of our executive clemency system,” CBCP’s spokesman on the issue said.

Vengeful crybabies

2007-12-31T03:53:00.000-08:00

ENCOURAGED by a court’s resolution to consign them out of jail, those civilian components of the Manila Pen siege who were apprehended for the duration of the armed occupation of the hotel in Makati last Nov. 29 have regain their bearings and turned the tables on the police, accusing them with unlawful arrest before the Ombudsman. I felt badly with these kinds of developments and I sensed it was a sad note on our justice system that rabble-rousers like these was permitted not merely to go scot-free, but exploit the courts to extract revenge.
Dismissal of the mutiny accusations against the civilians who were at the Manila Peninsula hotel, the court assumed their plain existence at the crime scene was not indication of unlawful activity. At least one of those civilians, a cleric whose anti-government outlooks are well known fact said he was in attendance to “prevent violence,” an excellent objective until we become conscious he intended to accomplish this by precluding the Police authorities from disposing the rebellious soldiers at the Peninsula by force. By inserting themselves between those armed soldiers who held hostage the hotel by sheer force, and those avowed to implement the rule of law, these outrageous personalities were at the very least hamper justice in its course. Underneath the ruse of upholding human rights, the attorneys and a cleric now declare they will compel the police to suffer for their arrest and how they were handled while taken into custody. But the activist priest’s comments were more revealing, he said, he was surprised at how the authorities “disrespected” ranking government and men of the cloth by securing them with handcuffs and at the same time poking fun at them.
The brusque statement discloses two circumstances:
1) A yearning to get even for insults experienced; and
2) The prospect of exceptional treatment on the basis of societal class.
What happened to justice for all? All of a sudden, those human rights records don’t seem to be too believable. Senator Joker Arroyo, a former human rights lawyer and advocate got it correct when he rebuked the Peninsula civilians for “performing similar to crybabies.” We would include the adjective “revengeful and vindictive” to the senator’s depiction since that is how they picture themselves when they take legal action against the police for implementing the rule of law of which they themselves pledge to uphold.

No strings attached

2007-12-21T16:34:00.000-08:00

It’s a trendy expression these days when gift and dowry proliferate.
The whole thing, in spite of everything commences from the undersized and apparently not worth mentioning; a pack of cookies, a basketful of fruits, a jug of nice wine or an sachet of diplomas and certificates. All of it seems nontoxic when noticed as simple gestures purportedly from acquaintances that bother enough to consider.
However what if the gifts turn out to be extra costly? What if the present is a cluster of monetary instruments? What if you’re not friendly enough to be a friend in the first place? Furthermore what if the “gift” receives on a perceptive type of sort; a mortgage canceled, a complimentary directive, an executive clemency?
Dowry- providers constantly maintain on the wholesomeness of their undertakings. However that does not signify danger signals will not hum if, at a short time in the near future, the recipient of such particulars does somewhat to be rude to the benefactor in a number of approach, or abstains from doing a bit that would profit that charitable spirit.
Sponsorship started in all the social order, except that it seems more prevalent in the Philippine society. One should be equipped to refuse every bequest - safe mementos or contentious political special treatments if one cannot pledge there would be no strings

Speaker JDV’'s moral aptitude

2007-12-15T16:29:00.000-08:00

Talking and facing the bunch of people who are present at the 12 of December Global Peace Festival gathering, House Speaker JDV attested he was yet interested in his “moral” stage as he appealed on all and sundry to “treat others as you would like to be treated.” The golden rule was the mother of all moral principles he said, that could convey a conclusion to divergences all over humanity and work out its urgent difficulties that consist of illnesses, climate alteration and nuclear propagation.
JDV also pleaded on those in attendance to “unbound globally their proper values and moral principles.” Most of us marvel if he understood the inconsistency involving his talk and his walk. The speaker first stuck to this ethical pretentiousness quite a few months ago when, in the middle of one controversy after another, he begged the President to show the way for a moral upheaval in her regime. However he too conveniently sidestepped an ethical case filed against him before the House ethics committee for contravening the stipulations of the Anti-Graft Law.
We must admit that JDV is one hell lucky survivor in the past. Previously the ethics committee had dismissed the charges against him and a move to unseat him fizzled out. Having endured these political disputes in the midst of questions of doubt, does not make the speaker to any further extent convincing as a resource person in the matter of, of all things, moral values.
The least he may perhaps do is to settle in silence.

Media in the Senate

2007-12-13T03:45:00.000-08:00

Having watch over the senate hearing today at ANC and I was disgusted the way media profess the freedom of information the premier right and thereby pronouncing them as the most privilege human being on the earth. I don’t how can they say that their right is higher than the lives of human being and the security of the state. This is preposterously an arrogant statement, using the right of people to know as a scapegoat to hide their true objectives, that is spreading half lies to provoke more people in joining the Trillanes cause, thus creating much sensational news. I am in no mood to accept as true when media say that they are there to update the people of what is going on; I saw it in my own two eyes that their mere presence causes the police to alter their rules of engagement so as not to impair innocent non-combatant and loitering media. As arrogant as the media was the senate, instead of sobering up the situation, they set more flames into the media’s sickening summations by reprimanding the authorities who were not present in the hearing due to some more pressing schedules than that prejudiced inquiry. An odd tone in Joker Arroyo was the solitary dissenting voice in the wilderness, pointing out the limitation of the freedom of expression in time like that of the Manila Pen siege. He explicitly stated the responsibility of media in a situation like that. If those individuals keep on harping and force us people to believe that newsmen have a special privilege beyond that of police power of the state and at the same time unwilling to consider limit to those right, then I believe there will be chaos the next time a similar incident happens. I do not condone the non-appearance of those authorities in the senate hearing but I also do believe that they can never get a fair hearing until those clowns in the senate are still there specially escudero, cayetano and pangilinan whose hatred towards the administration appears where ever a venue arises. I firmly believe that any right could indeed be suspended when the lives of individuals are at stake or when the security of the state is in peril.

From Makati Pen to Bilibid Resort Complex

2007-12-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

I had made a case that the PNP and the Military Authorities had preferred the exact strategic move when they dispatched a military armored vehicle crashing through the main entrance door of Manila Pen to immediately end the existing standoff. Letting the “situation” to persist until the following day, as what Senator Trillanes and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim had actually anticipated to ensue would have allowed their civilian followers and supporters, which was schedule to congregate in Liwasang Bonifacio in a protest gathering prepared by the Communist movement and their Leftist allies to transfer to the Peninsula Hotel and the nearby Ninoy Aquino monument and put forward a possible people power scenario not seen since 1986, thus creating more problem for the Security Officers.

In the previous month, the Black and White Movement, an unyielding middle-class anti-GMA group, instigated an online petition requesting President Arroyo to give up her job. In fact, BnW drew more warm bodies from 50,000 online petitioners than Trillanes and Lim did from 11 million voters. Why? Is it partly because of protest fatigue? The Filipino voting public has grown significantly. The electorates now avoided boisterous political rallies to get acquainted with ambitious aspirants. Trillanes was the exception that substantiated the imperative. Nothing like his slick kuya Gringo, Trillanes in no way mastered the gift of public verbal communication; his spoken accounts, even during the confrontation, came out unexciting and without any passion.

The two were also active in the Fort Bonifacio standoff in February 2006, trying unsuccessfully, to put together a mini-Edsa people power civil disobedience. In a Trillanes avant-garde government, Nemenzo would be the principal ideologue. But throughout the inquest on the Pen Revolt, Nemenzo disavowed any participation in uprising articulating he was in the Pen simply to do academic study on armed rebels. In my article Fidel Castro Trillanes (June 11, 2007) I wrote: “For the next three years at least, Trillanes will be looking forward into a vague future, to escape which the only way out appears to be a audacious flight from jail, pursued by a popular revolt directed by him against a awfully detested lame-duck president, which might be successful this point in time.

Anyhow, he did get away from confinement for a short time last week, but his trendy uprising metamorphosed into a not so popular undertaking. There would be sufficient time for that in Bilibid Resort Complex but not in Makati Pen hotel.

Expel him, Mr. Senate President!

2007-12-05T17:04:00.000-08:00

A MOVE in the Senate to look into Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for “uncontrollable conduct” should gain ground, and may perhaps in the end lead to his temporary relief or ejection in the senate, as the rules may permit. We extremely welcome this inquiry if there will be any and offer our support for ejection as a more serious way of retribution. I was not caught by surprise that the resolution to scrutinize Trillanes came from a resolute administration ally. While unsurprisingly, opposition stalwarts have been unwilling to support the inquiry, a indication that politics not respectability or justice is paramount on their psyches.
The most disgraceful response, yet, happen to be from the Senate chief, who supposed that the senators were “not paying too much attention” to the subject “because it is not easy to handle a complaint against a fellow senator.” Even to the most inexperienced onlookers, the Senate president’s latest declaration looks absurd. The Senate seems to tell us that the august body is not morally equipped to do an investigation to an issue concerning a fellow senator who have just initiated an uprising against a duly constituted authority.
Just as bizarre is the impression that Trillanes’ caper should be left only to the courts. The courts will come to a decision of course, if the senator was responsible of a misdeed when he and his band of armed mutineers forcibly insert themselves into The Peninsula Hotel and commandeered its facilities. But the Senate cannot be an Old Boy’s Club whose members are not accountable and liable for their misdeeds. The Senate, as a law producing machine, have to make certain that all its members uphold and respect the law.
For the second time, Trillanes shattered and broke the law in our very eyes on nationwide TV. Just as the courts make a decision his lawful destiny, the Senate ethics committee be supposed to have no difficulty in find out that he took steps in a manner that brought shame and dishonor to the law making body. He ought to be denounced for that and must also be expelled.

Press Freedom vs. Rules of Engagement?

2007-12-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

After the arrest of the mutinous senator and the equally insidious general who pull off last Thursday’s Manila Pen siege, some reporters covering the events were themselves held by the Police authority, were told to sit down on the floor and then consign them in a bus transport them to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig. Police investigators inform them that they were being invited for some question to be satisfied, while their hands were constrained with makeshift handcuffs.
Subsequent to the discharge a lot later in the evening, the country was by now buzzing with so much speculation that the government had started its attack on press freedom, which, when in use jointly with the curfew enforced at midnight, without hesitation aimed to what appeared resembling gloomy days ahead. Some leftist groups anxiously exploited the volatile situation, condemn the police’s treatment of the press and stated that this was without a doubt suggestive of the days previous to Martial Law in the early days 1970s.
The police and the DILG have since expressed regret for the hassle initiated by the “arrest.” They solicited for indulgence amplifying that the media had actually been gave orders to vacate crime scene ahead of the 3 p.m. deadline issued to offenders, Trillanes and Lim. Those who were “arrested” were the ones who decided to remain at the hotel in the face of a clear and impending danger. The police authority as well believed a few rebel soldiers might have blended with this strident group to circumvent detection.
It was indeed bothersome why not? Since the media people one of whom was ours were every one scampering to submit their scoops sooner or later to meet their cut-off dates. In addition the mode of “inviting for questioning” was extremely dubious. Up till now, the concentrated attempt on press freedom spin is not acceptable. Every one among them remains free to submit any kind of stories, twisted or not, concerning the whole incident or make statement on it on whichever venue they choose.
Given the facts on the actual objectives of the “arrest” media should recognize that the freedom they flaunting is neither without limit nor without responsibilities. Over zealousness on the part of the police is understandable given the explosiveness of the situation and the risk the media is taking. It should be remembered that rules of engagement specifically states that lives of those of the non-combatant are paramount and must at all times be safeguarded in all circumstances like that of Manila Pen incident.

5-star hooligans?

2007-12-03T17:44:00.000-08:00

The conceited "pretending intellectual” (as uttered by Senator Santiago), phony messiah attacked for a second time. Once more he and his cronies assaulted a posh facility hotel a 5-star at that and without a doubt not anticipating any person from a sufficient mass of people to link them, as why would the ordinary people be at ease in the luxurious air-conditioned ambiance of that magnificent, admired facility labeled the Manila Pen Hotel? This was all concerning those personalities. This was not in relation to the Filipino folks whom they profess to stand for. And don’t accede to somebody with a degree of aptitude judge otherwise.
Not in any manner this constitutes an opinionated or a societal stereotyping article. Allow us devote more on the rules. What statutes did they go against?
Basically, I vehemently disagree with the absurdity of their legal representatives maintaining that the court issued arrest warrants were unlawful. In this given situation there was no necessity for warrants of arrest since they perpetrated transgressions against Manila Peninsula Hotel, the patrons and guests of the hotel, and the citizenry. Their offenses were done in public, in the eyes of the whole world and thanks to the press. Right then and there they could be apprehended even exclusive of court orders. On that premise, those along with them who fled their detention security could have been inoculated on sight. They were considered escaped prisoners, thus, fugitives. Faeldon is a escapee and a habitual lawbreaker and can be shot on any given time. A congressman who rapes a child is a common criminal. A congressman who orders the murder of people is a common criminal and for that reason, a senator who effects devastation to private edifice s is an ordinary felon. Avoid putting them on a pedestal. It is good since the security people did not create willing victims out of them. It could have been too much to take.
The senator surmise that it could have been treason if he did not do what has to be taken. Sanamagan, at this time he made known his deficiency on the very edicts he avowed he would defend when he received his pledge as senator of the republic. Treachery is characterized as being carried out by a Filipino who “impose confrontation” in opposition to the duly constituted government, or "sticks on to the provocateurs of rebellion" against the state, or "provides them (the rebels) support and succor." Now tell me, is there a war going on in which the country is directly engrossed? These are the ingredient of the transgression of treason and unless they could show me that the country’s battle is only in the figment of their imagination and that's why they took those drastic actions.
These government employees violated the rights of Manila Pen, entered the hotel premises against the will of the owner forcibly snatched every function room available and declared it as a command post. Noticing them in uniform, and in bunch, make it clear to me how those ill fated hotel attendants could have prevented them? They have declined to vacate the premises even when requested to do so, in violation of the constitutional right of the hotel proprietors and the guests.
This is blatant disregard of existing public order when they go against a duly constituted authority in public as well as took arms against the state for the intention of doing away adherence to the Government and the constitution. It is not crucial to complete the offense of rebellion. Their detention securities perpetrated a misdeed when they fell short to counter the uprising using every means that the authority delegated them to do so and if they also immersed themselves in the rebellion, then they can be held liable for the mutiny. The least they could get is to be liable for infidelity in the custody of prisoners. They schemed with their prisoners and consented to let them leisurely walk on the road to their five star goal.
On the other hand, those people (the likes of Guingona, Bishop Labayen, Fr. Reyes and others) can be indicted with sedition as they levitated “publicly and tumultuously in order to attain by force intimidation, or by other means outside of legal methods” to commit, for a political or collective purposes. "Any act of revulsion or revenge against a private individual or any societal group”. The former nun, Montayre, if the information in the papers is accurate is likely be charge for inciting to sedition… while she expediently vanished when it was clear that no one was going to adhere and join-cause with the mutineers or men of the cloth who imagine they are Cardinal Sin reincarnate.
These soldiers/officers caused unswerving attack against the court hearing their indictment. The assault based on Supreme Court past edicts, require no physical demonstration since an direct assault consist of any provocative or aggressive movement or deed of any sort .

The Old Man Lee Kuan Yu on press freedom in RP

2007-12-01T02:41:00.000-08:00

In one of my father’s tour in Singapore he had remembered, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, addressing an assembly of students in front of Nanyang University and refuting the allusion questioning the freedom of expression in Singapore. My father was so incensed when he said "do you wish for a freedom of expression and information similar to what they do it in Philippines? Having too much of a free speech but still end up in anarchy and so much confusion". To cut a long story short, it didn't take much longer before my Dad realized that the elderly gentleman of Singapore was undeniably telling a fact with so much truth in it.

With so much certainty, here in the country the journalist and press people do not have definitive parameter in the freedom of information and expression. This has been the reason why it is abused; they even draw closer to point of inventing out news lines which are mere conjectures and hearsays and passes them on to the people who love to disseminate rumors. Between us are numerous personalities in the populace who care for chitchats and breathe with it resembling it as a vital element of our every day life.

Sen. Mar Roxas Resolution on Erap's pardon

2007-11-28T18:42:00.000-08:00

In Resolution No. 135, Roxas said Estrada, 70, has been detained for more than six years, during which the ousted leader showed “remarkable humility.”

What humility are you talking about. Does his action at this point in time give you an idea about the humbleness that you look forward to from the plunderer? Does humility means not to show repentance in the misdeed he has perpetrated. Did he ask the nation for forgiveness for the crime of plunder he committed? If this “remarkable humility” will be the parameter for providing clemency then I am sure no prisoner will ever be in jail or in prison now or forever.

Roxas said Estrada “is entitled to live the rest of his life quietly and in peace with members of his family.”

The former president not only did live quietly and in peace in Tanay, he lives there like a tourist with all the amenities of a 5 star luxurious hotel. With his routines now a days, it cannot be said that he like to live quietly and in peace, since he is now indulging himself more on campaigning here and there and issuing political noise every now and then. In one of his sorties he even vilified the president who had provided him of what he is now, a freeman.

Liberal Party unity... or have another name?

2007-11-27T03:41:00.000-08:00

Environment Secretary Lito Atienza exclaims that notwithstanding the stunning vocalizations, Senator Mar Roxas has seized “the incorrect stride in the incorrect path.” Members of the Liberal Party’s National Executive Council in attendance yesterday at the Club Filipino nominated and selected Roxas party president. Atienza, however, contends that he was in any case as other council members who turned down call for GMA’s resignation in July 2005 was not asked to the assembly. Therefore, Mar Roxas is merely the president of the LP’s Drilon-wing. The ex- mayor of Manila in addition declares that former Senate President Franklin Drilon disregarded his proposition to resolve their diversities prior to setting up the council but went ahead with the meeting anyway, engaging only those whom he identified were on his periphery.
Meanwhile, Roxas recognized the encumbrances of the party’s leadership and stopped short of asserting his proffer for the presidency in 2010. He brought to mind the splendid existence of the Liberal Party, when its members were motivated by principles and love of country. Roxas ought to have appended: “…when we were not drowning by internal strife and unbending self-esteem”. In fact, the split that has kept alive for more than two years now give rise to Drilon’s declaration that the LP has “passed the tests of political philosophy and morals organizational toughness, political loyalty and party unison” sheer wishful thinking.
One faction putting doubts on the other barely does service to the decades-old party. If Mar Roxas cannot unite his own party, how in the hell could he unite the warring faction in the society. If at this early he tends to accept that it is impossible to unite the LP as a whole then he have no business running for president and perhaps he should start christening them by some other party name rather than the Liberal Party.

LP alternative party in 2010... No way!

2007-11-24T15:23:00.000-08:00

An alternative political party? Hello? Perhaps Franklin Drilon was building a castle in the sky when he spoken these terminologies. His dearly loved LP is divided and jumbled to a point of no return. The Atienza wing which membership mostly form part the grassroot machinery of the party will never join the Drilon faction (this motley group compose of a few high echelon members). LP Drilon wing can simply stay alive by working out an alliance with the original opposition, unfortunately dominated by UNO in which it will be fielding their own presidential aspirant and no means they merely roll over and provide way to Mar Roxas presidential aspiration

Resignation insistence is a demand for disorder

2007-11-22T16:44:00.000-08:00

As of the intense political noise experienced in our country nowadays, it is a God given privilege of every Filipino who attaches importance to democratic principles to be made aware and be considered. Indeed, it is startling to take notice of exigency of particular faction screaming for GMA to give up her mandated work and insist on a custodial regime as an option. I noticed the stipulation for resignation is too prejudiced, risky and surely disadvantageous to the country’s long term interest. Let it be recognized that I am not a champion for existing administration but a regular citizen who care for the country most and the wellbeing of the people.

The assertion for President Arroyo’s stepping down at this instant is a plea for improbability, haziness, disorder and rabble rousing; a cry for the discontinuation of the beneficial accomplishments in the areas of economy and international relations. I am steadfast that at this point in time the Filipinos should never be drawn into another EDSA People Power Revolution of to any other kind of political upheaval since I am very well convince that this motley group’s envision will just fail to materialize. If this will fail, then another again and again…. when will our option end, and when will we ever learn?

Mapalad Farmers… Landless or Landed???

2007-11-22T05:04:00.000-08:00

At this moment in time, a group of farmers from Sumilao, Bukidnon is walking all the away to Malacañang. It is the third occasion a vivid mass action of this level was set up by this group but this instance it is so emotionally overloaded and hence theatrical. However a sharp scrutiny into the event, I am getting more encourage to believe that the true problem was the agrarian reform law itself. Remembering Ruben Torres, a former Labor Secretary during Ramos presidency and a former activist himself said; “In law, what is important is that you stand by the law and not whether you are affluent or underprivileged”.
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Reports shows that CLOA (Certificate of Land Ownership Award) certificates for a sixty-five (65) hectares have been granted to the farmers’ leaders of the this group from an adjacent property owned by the Carlos family, this same group MAPALAD (Mapadayonong Panaghiusa sa mga Lumad Alang sa Damlag ) and SALFA (San Vicente Landless Farmers Association) now wants the one hundred forty-four (144) hectares Quisumbing land again, unfortunately a glimpse at the requirement of the CARP law they are found not eligible as recipients since they were not the actual occupants of the disputed land, not tenants, or either workers and farmhand in the site but are seasonal recruits contracted in a specific period of time for specific kind of works in the land.
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NQSRMDC (NQ Sr. Management and Development Corp.) controlled by the Quisumbing family of Cebu in 1970 get hold of the property from the Salvador Carlos and his family and after the acquisition rent it out to Philippine Packing Corp. (Del Monte) and on March 29, 1996, the Quisumbings secured from the Office of the President (Ramos) an approval for conversion of the land to agro-industrial/institutional usage, this reversed the DAR’s verdict previous disapproval of the conversion. The case was brought to the Supreme Court whereby the court rules upholding the approval by the Office of the President of the conversion of the property subjected to a Land Reform Petition by the MAPALAD petitioners. The tribunal denied the motion for intervention filed by the petitioners and confirms that the petitioners were “merely recommendee farmer beneficiaries” and not real parties in interest. It denied with finality the motions for reconsideration filed by the petitioners on April 19, 1999. It also ruled that the Sumilao property does not fall within the definition of “agricultural lands” under the CARP law and another element is that the beneficiaries must be tenants, farmers, or landless farm workers and neither of these elements describe the petitioners.
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Information from the DAR also long-established that the MAPALAD lobbyists are agrarian reform recipients of at least 66 hectares of the Carlos estate bordering the Sumilao property, contrary to their claims in their caravan posters that they are landless.