Friday, July 31, 2015

The Thomasians respond to Aquino's "rant to the nation"

Aquino's last Sona:

Unpresidential, philistine, bitter
(The Varsitarian (UST) Editorial

"His last Sona should have afforded him the opportunity to defend his record and define his legacy in a manner expected of the foremost leader of a nation. But he chose to be unpresidential, to be mean and petty. He chose to hit his pet peeves with the childish abandon of a PlayStation gamer. Whatever failings he might have made by commission or omission, he chose not only to ignore, but to ascribe to others, such as his sick predecessor, whom he has been pillorying since 2010 when he started office, and that “big university” whose only sin it seems is to have been Dominican and “not Jesuit.”...
"You have not fought the good fight, Mr. President, but sadomasochistically indulged in catfights. Your presidency has been petty and vindictive. You have not grown in grace and maturity in office. You’ve entered the Palace an angry old bachelor and will leave it a bitter old bachelor. Your mother ringed the curtain down on her presidency with dignity and aplomb by delivering a conciliatory valedictory on her last Sona. Too bad you didn’t follow her example. What you delivered was not a report, but a rant, to the nation."



THE THOMASIAN community could have ignored the highly intriguing reference made by President Aquino in his last State of the Nation Address (Sona) to a “big university” (“malaking unibersidad”) that had allegedly refused the plan of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to transform its campus into a catch basin for floodwaters. But trust the President’s men to make matters worse for him by making things clear, blunt, and arrogant: two days later, Malacañang spokesman Edwin Lacierda superciliously told a TV program that the big university the President alluded to “was definitely not Jesuit” and later urged UST to choose public “safety” over a “prized soccer field.”
The jesuitry is typical of the President’s men. Seeking to defend his administration against criticisms of its poor record in infrastructure and civil defense, Aquino basically blamed UST for flooding in Manila and, in the same breadth, made mention of those opposing the construction of an alternative bridge to make way for maintenance work for the Edsa Guadalupe bridge in Makati. The implication is that should Manila flooding worsen and the Makati bridge fall down, the public should blame UST and those opposing public works.
Blood is on UST’s hands, the Council of Trent seems to be saying. (Or should it be more appropriately called the Palace of Pontius Pilate?
But UST has all the right to refuse the DPWH proposal. Unlike the alternative bridge plan, which presumably would be built on public or expropriated land, the anti-flood project would be built on private property, church property to boot. Moreover, UST is a school, parish church, hospital–all in one. How could UST withstand the racket that would ensue if public works construction on such a massive scale were allowed to invade its tranquil and orderly confines?
Lacierda implied that UST was unreasonable and insensitive for valuing its status as a “cultural treasure” over the safety of the public. But as a lawyer and Malacañang spokesman, he should know it wasn’t UST that proclaimed itself as a National Cultural Treasure (NCT), but government. And among the requisites for such a declaration is that the NCT "shall not be relocated, rebuilt, defaced or otherwise changed in a manner, which would destroy the property's dignity and authenticity, except to save such property from destruction due to natural causes."
Among the sites of UST declared as NCT are its “open grounds,” which Lacierda contemptuously called a soccer field. The site has been so declared not because it’s a football field, but because it was where several historic events were held, such as the momentous papal youth rallies with Blessed Paul VI in 1970, St. John Paul II in 1981 and 1995, and of course, last January with Pope Francis, admittedly a football fanatic.
Just the same, by his disdainful remarks, Lacierda revealed the historical ignorance that has led to cultural disasters such as Torre de Manila and Admiral Hotel, all of them taking place during the Aquino administration.
Moreover, the NCT sites of UST, which include the UST Main Building and Arch of the Centuries, along with other recognitions from the Philippine Republic (historical markers by the National Historical Commission for the UST Press and for UST itself, as well as the recent declaration by the National Archives of the ancient “baybayin” scripts kept by the UST Archives as an NCT) make the Pontifical University a heritage zone. And the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), which is under the Office of the President, has forbidden “heavy construction work” in heritage zones because it may weaken the structural integrity of old buildings.
All this should be well-known to Aquino and his men. But what can one expect of a president who broke tradition by not holding a National Artist Award proclamation ceremony during his term? What can one expect of a president who has not attended a single important cultural event at the NCCA and Cultural Center of the Philippines? Indeed, philistinism reigns in high places.
Lacierda exhorted UST to value more public safety, but UST is merely protecting its community in turning down the DPWH. UST is upholding the welfare and protecting the safety of its students and stakeholders, which is only just and expected of it. Can the same be said of the President and his men?
At this point, aping the Sona, perhaps we can make “allusions” to Yolanda, Mamasapano, and Panatag, issues glossed over or totally ignored in the protracted address last July 27. Has the Aquino administration ensured the safety and welfare of the citizens and carried out competently its duty to provide for the civil and external defense of the country?
 Adding insult to injury
Malacañang’s cavalier treatment of UST adds insult to injury because the Pontifical University has been the victim of state mismanagement, short-sightedness and graft, the main culprits of the worsening flood situation. Because of state incompetence and corruption, there have been untrammelled commercial development, greedy land speculation, and haphazard public works that have destroyed trees, poured concrete and filling on creeks and open land, and generally wiped out all natural means of flood control.   
From the air, only UST remains an open, green space in northwest Manila, not only an oasis for a smog-filled city, but also a quick refuge for people during floods, earthquakes, fires and emergencies. Meanwhile, government has left former public parks and other open spaces to the mercies of DPWH and its pet contractors, grafters and influence peddlers at City Hall, rapacious speculators and profiteers, in and out of government.
For remaining the only open green space in Manila, UST has been penalized by nature: waters during heavy rains find rest on campus because that’s about the only outlet they can find. For observing the rules on land planning and development and for taking care of the environment, UST has ironically become an easy prey for a president looking for anything to blame for his government’s mismanagement of infrastructure, urban planning, and ecology.
Against the myopic and self-serving view of the DPWH and Malacañang, urban experts will tell you that the catchment plan is harebrained and at best a panacea to the perennial problem of flooding in Manila. The problem owes to the slapdash growth of Metro Manila across several decades when towns and cities rose but failed to develop their waterworks and flood-control system, so that during heavy rains, their waters cascade to inundate Manila, which is below sea level. An integrated plan would require among other things a national land use law to provide rhyme and reason for land development and public works. But the historically incompetent Philippine state has not passed one; worse, it has not even introduced a legislative bill to get the ball rolling.
Confusing causes and effects, President Aquino has blamed everyone but his government for the problems of the nation. Blaming the poor and their alleged overpopulation, not corruption and mismanagement, for the country’s poverty and underdevelopment, he showered legislators with pork barrel and political favors for them to pass the population-control law. When the Supreme Court put a stop to the pork barrel, he accused them of being anti-development. Trying to put one over his political enemies, he declared last July 27 that he would certify a bill against political dynasties before a packed hall that included his cousin named Bam whom he had made senator.
His last Sona should have afforded him the opportunity to defend his record and define his legacy in a manner expected of the foremost leader of a nation. But he chose to be unpresidential, to be mean and petty. He chose to hit his pet peeves with the childish abandon of a PlayStation gamer. Whatever failings he might have made by commission or omission, he chose not only to ignore, but to ascribe to others, such as his sick predecessor, whom he has been pillorying since 2010 when he started office, and that “big university” whose only sin it seems is to have been Dominican and “not Jesuit.”
The unpresidential behavior was so unremitting that Aquino even devoted at least 20 minutes of the constitutionally mandated presidential report to the nation to thank his Cabinet men, close aides, and even household help, naming them one by one, a cute gesture of self-congratulation. Vicious cavil and vain self-glory converged that late afternoon at the Batasang Pambansa.
But the final blow came when Aquino invoked the memory of his beloved mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, and her valedictory Sona in 1991, in which she quoted St. Paul’s letter to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the good fight.”
Our pity goes to Cory and the Apostle.
You have not fought the good fight, Mr. President, but sadomasochistically indulged in catfights. Your presidency has been petty and vindictive. You have not grown in grace and maturity in office. You’ve entered the Palace an angry old bachelor and will leave it a bitter old bachelor. Your mother ringed the curtain down on her presidency with dignity and aplomb by delivering a conciliatory valedictory on her last Sona. Too bad you didn’t follow her example. What you delivered was not a report, but a rant, to the nation. - The Varsitarian (UST)

Sandiganbayan upholds up to 10-year sentence on LP treasurer, other Mindoro execs

Smaller case than the Fertilizer Scam Aquino talked about Monday in his last SONA, but...

The Fourth Division of the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan has affirmed its ruling finding Oriental Mindoro Governor Alfonso Umali Jr. and two former officials of the province guilty of graft in connection with the alleged anomalous awarding of P2.5-million loan agreement to a private individual in 1994.

The three were sentenced to a minimum of six years to a maximum of ten years of imprisonment.

In a 26-page resolution promulgated on July 20 but was only made available to the media on Tuesday, the Fourth Division affirmed its April 20, 2015 ruling finding Umali, former Oriental Mindoro Gov. Rodolfo Valencia and former Board Member Romualdo Bawasanta to have “conspired” with each other with “evident bad faith” and “manifest partiality” to illegally award a P2.5-million loan agreement to an engineer, Alfredo Atienza, in 1994.

The loan was supposed to finance the cost of repair, operation and maintenance of Atienza's vessel MV Ace intended to ply the Calapan-Batangas-Calapan sea route.



Oriental Mindoro and Marinduque have a common history

“Indeed, one act without the other could not have been made possible the consummation of the transaction,” the Fourth Division said in its latest ruling penned by its chairman Associate Justice Jose Hernandez and concurred by its members Associate Justices Alex Quiroz and Maria Cristina Cornejo.

The Fourth Division maintained that the use of public funds for a private purpose like the repair of a privately-owned vessel is unlawful.

The court did not give weight on the argument of Umali, Valencia and Bawasanta that the funds were use for a public purpose, which, as Umali specifically claimed, was “to weaken the monopoly of the shipping business in the Calapan-Batangas-Calapan sea route” as well as “to promote fair competition”.

"Transport is a basic service and the Provincial Government of Oriental Mindoro simply fulfilled its mandate of providing services to its people when it addressed their problem regarding sea transport," Umali, who is also the treasurer of the administration’s Liberal Party (LP), said in his motion for reconsideration filed before the court in May.

The Fourth Division, however, pointed out that the accused failed to show proof that the people of Oriental Mindoro benefitted from the repair of Atienza’s vessel, while on the contrary, it was established that said repair has promoted Atienza’s business interest.

“Evidence, however, is necessary to determine as to whose favor did the use of the public fund go and the only verifiable proof is precisely the stated ‘use’ of the fund. It is not disputed that the amount was meant to finance the repair, operation and maintenance of Atienza’s vessel which is a private purpose,” the Fourth Division said.

“As it was meant to promote Atienza’s business interest, it was he who benefitted from the transaction,” the court added.

The court also noted that even before the loan agreement was awarded to Atienza, several officials in the province, including provincial auditors, have already questioned and challenged the transaction, and yet, the three accused “forced through” for completion of the project.

“Peculiar to this case is the fact that the loan transaction was challenged, objected to and questioned by proper officials (treasurers and auditors) from its inception. In this context, the sequence of the acts of the accused as set out in the Decision, shows how the accused forced through and worked for its completion despite the objections,” the Fourth Division said in its ruling. -  GMA Network

Electoral sabotage in Daang Matuwid era?

Smartmatic faces raps for electoral sabotage


Bad news followed good on Thursday for Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM).
The company bagged the deal to provide the Commission on Elections (Comelec) 23,000 optical mark readers (OMRs) to be used in next year’s polls but it was also slapped a complaint for allegedly sabotaging the 2013 mid-term elections.
The complaint was filed by the group headed by former Comelec commissioner Gus Lagman.
The other complainants were Leo Querubin, Maria Corazon Akol, Glenn Chong, Temario Rivera, and Ernesto del Rosario, all members of the Automated Election System (AES) Watch.
They accused Smartmatic officials Cesar Flores; Albert Castro Rico and Marlon Garcia of violating Republic Act 9369, or the Poll Automation Law for allegedly changing the source code of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines just hours after voting closed on May 13, 2013.
“Smartmatic officials/personnel inexplicably changed the scripts of the un-reviewed source code at or about the time of the consolidation/canvassing during the said elections,” they said in their seven-page complaint.
“This action on the part of Smart¬matic as well as the Election Manage¬ment System constitutes the crime of electoral sabotage,” they added.
The source code is defined as the human readable instructions that dictate what the automated election system will do.
The petitioners said the incident happened at the Command Center of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) about two hours after voting closed when about 12 million votes for the senatorial elections have already been received in the PPCRV transparency server.
They said the transparency server “was rendered meaningless when its operation or functioning was disturbed or interfered with Albert Castro Rico and Marlon Garcia of Smartmatic.”
Section 28 of the RA 9369 provides that among the prohibited acts include “interfering with, impeding, absconding for purpose of gain, preventing the installation or use of computer counting devices and the processing, storage, generation and transmission of election results, data or information”.
Electoral sabotage carries a penalty of life imprisonment.
Also on Thursday, the Comelec said it will issue a notice of award to Smartmatic-TIM for the lease of 23,000 new OMR units worth P1.7 billion.
Smartmatic was disqualified from the project for submitting non-responsive financial proposals and for its failure to meet the required technical specifications.
However, the Comelec en banc reversed the ruling of the bids and awards committee disqualifying the poll service provider.
The Comelec is set to open on Saturday bids for the repair and refurbishment of 81,000 PCOS machines which were used in the 2010 and 2013 elections. - PNA/J Arias, The Manila Times

Thursday, July 30, 2015

1658 and 1880 earthquakes in 'Metro Manila', Marikina Valley Fault System and Infanta Segment of PFZ as source faults


Bell Tower of the Manila Cathedral collapsed from the 1880 tremor. 
The destructive 1880 Luzon Earthquake, one of the most destructive in the country's history that jolted Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, Pampanga and Nueva Ecija and destroyed many old churches and converted buildings into shapeless heaps of ruins was not caused by the West Valley Fault or East Valley Fault. According to a study (Bautista 2000), the source fault for the 1880 event was the Infanta Segment of the Philippine Fault Zone.

In the same study it was supposed that the source fault of the 1658 and 1771 events were the East Valley Fault and not the West Valley Fault (of the Marikina Valley Fault System), and that "no event along the WVF is known".

However, Renato Solidum, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has said it has been 357 years since the 90-kilometer fault system shifted, reiterating the agency's warning issued back in 2013.


"Ang kada galaw ng [West Valley Fault] ay 400 to 600 years at ang last niyang gumalaw ay 1658—357 years ago," he said. "So 357 and 400, magkalapit 'yan kasi either gumalaw 'yung fault nang mas maaga or mas later."
Jerry Velasquez, United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction regional coordinator, explained in a Facebook post that the magnitude 7.2 earthquake is "not a prediction over a specified time."
"Rather it is the estimated largest credible earthquake that can be generated by movement of the Valley Fault System--which runs right through Metro Manila--based on available geological and seismological data," Velasquez explained.
 Marikina Valley Fault System

The Marikina Valley Fault System (also known as Valley Fault System, West Valley Fault/ East Valley Fault, Marikina Fault Line) is a group of dextral strike-slip fault which extends from San Mateo, Rizal to Taguig City on the south; running through the cities of Makati, Marikina, Paranaque, Pasig and Taguig which are part of what is now known as Metro Manila.
The East Valley Fault, on the other hand, is about 10 kilometers long and traverses the municipalities of Rodriguez and San Mateo in Rizal. East Valley Fault is said to move in an “oblique dextral” motion and can generate a magnitude 6.2 earthquake.
Has there been some kind of mix-up by the experts? It's not to douse cold water on the important earthquake drills carried out today in Metro Manila which are important in a country that sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, but the following from Earthquake Impact Reduction Study for Metropolitan Manila, with materials sourced from Phivolcs, is rather interesting reading:
Some of the most damaging earthquakes to Metropolitan Manila are those that occurred in 1658, 1771, 1863, 1880 and 1937. As for the source fault of these earthquakes it has been supposed (Bautista 2000), that East Valley Fault (EVF) is the source of the 1658 and 1771 event, Infanta Segment of PFZ as the source fault of the 1880 event and Laguna-Banahaw Fault that runs north to south along the east coast of Laguna Lake as the source fault of the 1937 event. Only the 1677 event and the 1863 event have the description of tsunami around Metropolitan Manila.
Bautista (2000) has suggested that the 1658 and 1771 earthquakes are candidate events for the EVF. However, no event along the WVF is known. If no earthquake had occurred at the WVF after the 16th century, then the earthquake occurrence along the WVF becomes a serious threat.
The destructive earthquake of 1880 in Luzon. (Source Fault is the Infanta Segment of PFZ)
Source: Wikipedia - The earthquakes of July 1880 in Luzon, the largest island of the Philippines, was one of the most destructive tremors on record in the history of the country. The shocks continued, with greater or less interruption, from the 14th to the 25th of the month, highlighted by three violent shaking events, which destroyed churches and other buildings, producing loss of life. Coinciding with the tectonic activity was an increase in volcanic activity in Taal Volcano in southwestern Luzon.
The Luzon provinces of Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, Pampanga and Nueva Ecija, were the chief victims from the terrible convulsions with Manila and Laguna receiving the most damages. In many places, buildings were converted into shapeless heaps of ruins, and the materials of their prosperity buried beneath the rubbish.
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Church of Sinelesan (Laguna)
The view during the earthquake from the vessels in Pasig River, was, as described by an eyewitness, something to be seen to be appreciated. The rocking to and fro of the buildings was something terrific, the vessels moving about and bumping each other as though in a heavy seaway; the water of the river, bubbling up and mixed with the black mud of the river, was all the colour of ink; hundreds of people rushed off to the ships and remained all night. In Manila Bay, the same bubbling appearance was observable on the water, and the shock was distinctly felt on board the ships; the water's depth close in shore had been shallowed by some four feet in some places.
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Church of  Malasiqui (Pangasinan)
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Church of Mauban (Quezon, formerly Tayabas)
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Church of San Agustin (Manila). Numerous vertical cracks in walls.
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Church of San Jacinto (Pangasinan)
On the occasion of the earthquake, the people in Cavite across the bay saw Manila enveloped in a dense cloud of dust, and thought that Manila was completely destroyed. A very interesting phenomenon was also observed in Cavite. During the intensity of the earthquake, in the anchorage of Cavite, columns of black mud were seen to burst up, with a strong smell of sulphur. The very interesting phenomenon was also observed in Manila a few days previous to the destructive earthquake of 1863, in front of the Colgante suspension bridge on Pasig River. A column of blackish water was seen to burst up, which attracted the attention of the people.
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Church of Binangonan (Infanta)

The day after, July 19 in the afternoon, Taal Volcano started issuing large mass of smoke, according to a telegraphic news from TaalBatangas.
Distribution of faults and trenches around Metro Manila.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

On July 31 will the moon turn blue? Mount Pinatubo did cause a blue moon...

Will the Moon really turn blue? When someone says "Once in a Blue Moon," you know what they mean: rare, seldom, even absurd. This year it means "the end of July." For the second time this month, the Moon is about to become full.  There was one full Moon on July 2nd, and now another is coming on July 31st.  According to modern folklore, the second full Moon in a calendar month is "blue." Strange but true: Sometimes the Moon really turns blue. Scroll past the waxing full Moon, photographed on July 25th by Giuseppe Petricca of Pisa, Italy, for more information:

The blue areas in the color-enhanced image (right) are caused by titanium in lunar soil. [more]

A truly-blue Moon usually requires a volcanic eruption. Back in 1883, for example, people saw blue moons almost every night after the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa exploded with the force of a 100-megaton nuclear bomb. Plumes of ash rose to the very top of Earth's atmosphere, and the Moon became an azure-colored disk.

Krakatoa's ash was the reason. Some of the plumes were filled with particles 1 micron wide, about the same as the wavelength of red light.  Particles of this special size strongly scatter red light, while allowing blue light to pass through. Krakatoa's clouds thus acted like a blue filter. People also saw blue-colored Moons in 1983 after the eruption of the El Chichon volcano in Mexico. And there are reports of blue Moons caused by Mt. St. Helens in 1980 and Mount Pinatubo in 1991.

Forest fires can do the same trick.  A famous example is the giant muskeg fire of Sept. 1953 in Alberta, Canada.  Clouds of smoke containing micron-sized oil droplets produced lavender suns and blue Moons all the way from North America to England.  At this time of year, summer wildfires often produce smoke with an abundance of micron-sized particles–just the right size to turn the Moon truly blue. Sky watchers in western parts of the USA and Canada, where wildfires are in progress, could experience this phenomenon. - SpaceWeather

Poe violated two solemn oaths

From Bobi Tiglao:

I find it therefore astonishing that many are very seriously considering making Senator Grace Poe-Llamanzares president, when she has violated solemn oaths. And these aren’t just oaths of membership in some social club, but membership in the most important organization next to the family, one a human being is a member of—the nation.
We’re sure Llamanzares had become a US citizen when she was in America, since Philippine immigration records show she presented a US passport at the counter on Dec. 27, 2009. While she hasn’t disclosed when she became a US citizen, she was required under US laws to swear the following oath to assume American citizenship.
Llamanzares, taking oath of office in October 2010 as MTRCB head, in which she swore allegiance to the Philippine constitution. Inset, the kind of US citizenship ceremony Poe had joined, in which she swore allegiance to the US constitution, to which oath she was still bound in 2010.
Llamanzares, taking oath of office in October 2010 as MTRCB head, in which she swore allegiance to the Philippine constitution. Inset, the kind of US citizenship ceremony Poe had joined, in which she swore allegiance to the US constitution, to which oath she was still bound in 2010.
Renouncing the Philippines
“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.” (Emphasis mine.)
Llamanzares had renounced and abjured allegiance and fidelity to the country she wants to be president of now.
Indeed, the US oath of allegiance is of the genre of the Decalogue’s thou-shalt-not-have-other-gods-before-Me commandment that I have idealistic friends who shirked from being American citizens upon reading it, and instead chose to simply remain being green-card holders.
Poe claims she renounced her US citizenship and assumed Philippine citizenship in 2010, before she was appointed head of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.
However, she hasn’t publicly made available the documents to support her claims. This is strange since these aren’t confidential documents, unless she wants to hide the date when she renounced her US citizenship. I also find it strange why, according to her, she renounced her US citizenship before a Pasay City notary public.
What apparently she was not aware of—or pretends to be not aware of—is that there is a process by which one loses his or her US citizenship. One loses one’s US citizenship when the US government says so, and there is even a formal ceremony for an American citizen to renounce his or her allegiance to the US, and the renunciation is accepted by the government represented by its authorized  official. If she were abroad, she has to renounce her citizenship at the US embassy and to an authorized diplomatic consul.
Not unilateral
And as in the nature of oaths, one doesn’t unilaterally free oneself from an oath.
There is a publicly available official document, the US government’s published Federal Register that lists “the name of each individual losing United States citizenship with respect to whom the Secretary received information during the quarter ending June 30, 2012.”
Llamanzares is listed there as among those losing her US citizenship in that quarter ending June 30, 2012.
That means she was still a US citizen and took the following oath of office when she was appointed on October 10, 2010:
“I, Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares, hereby swear to uphold and defend the Philippine Constitution; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to it; obey the laws, legal orders and decrees promulgated by the duly constituted authorities; will well and faithfully discharge to the best of my ability the duties of the office or position upon which I am about to enter; and that I voluntarily assume the obligation imposed by this oath of office, without mental reservation or purpose of evasion. So help me God.” (Emphasis mine.)
How can she swear to uphold our Constitution when she was still bound by her oath as a US citizen in which she renounces all allegiance to a foreign state, swears to defend the US Constitution, and even take up arms to defend that nation?
By taking the two oaths she swore to her God, professing allegiance to two nations. In the US citizenship oath, she even renounced “all allegiance and fidelity” to the Philippines.
That means she was simultaneously violating two solemn, so-help-me-God oaths. - The Manila Times

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Sen. Grace Poe lacks residency requirement - Raymond Fortun

"That you are now trying to wiggle your way out of that declaration under oath somehow tarnishes you in my eyes because THE LEAST that I expect from you is HONESTY..
"...So now pwede na pala gumawa ng maling affidavit and later say 'oops sorry honest mistake'? That is soooo bad from a legal standpoint...
"...You do NOT change your declarations under oath as it may suit you or if it will be advantageous to you.” — Raymond Fortun

In this photo Poe holds copy of the findings of Senate committee
on public order in another matter. 

The 10-year residency rule for candidates seeking the highest offices in the land should be strictly followed because the drafters of 1987 Philippine Constitution had a specific reason for such a requirement.

High-profile lawyer Raymond Fortun made this reminder over the weekend, even as he urged Senator Grace Poe to “concede” as she would surely fail to meet the residency rule based on the certificate of candidacy she filed when she ran for senator in 2013.

"There is a reason why the Constitution requires a 10-year residency for a presidential candidate – at the least, it is to guarantee that a candidate knows what ills this country, and has a love for it enough to desire to be a catalyst for change,” said Fortun in a Facebook post that has already been liked and shared 2,500 times as of Sunday morning.

"If you really placed 'six years, six months' as of May 13, 2013, please show a love for your chosen (?) country by conceding that point and follow and obey this country's laws. Otherwise, we cannot expect that you would follow those same laws if you become president,” said Fortun, a litigation expert and former lawyer of former President Joseph Estrada.

Poe, a foundling legally adopted by movie stars Fernando Poe Jr and Susan Roces, was born and raised in the Philippines but later moved to the US to finish her undergraduate studies and eventually worked there.

She only decided to return to the Philippines after her father died in 2004. She later renounced her US citizenship so she could be appointed in the Philippines as chair of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board in 2010.

Earlier this week, Navotas Rep. and United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) interim president Toby Tiangco raised Poe’s residency issue, claiming she is prohibited by the Constitution, under Article VII, Section 2, to seek higher office due to lack of residency. Residency requirement for candidates running for president or vice president is 10 years, while that for senator is two years.

In his FB post, Fortun agreed [with Tiangco]: "Poe is, with all due respect, not qualified to run for higher office under our Constitution.”

"That you are now trying to wiggle your way out of that declaration under oath somehow tarnishes you in my eyes because THE LEAST that I expect from you is HONESTY,” he added.

He said Poe has the burden of proving she has indeed lived in the Philippines for more than 10 years before the May 2016 polls. "The onus, therefore, would be on Sen. Poe to explain how she can claim residency different from what she declared under oath,” he said.

Honest mistake?

One of the commenters in Fortun’s online post wondered how the framers of the Constitution came up with 10 years, when it does not even take that long to know “the ills of the country.”

Fortun replied: “Sir, lame as you may think it is, that is what the framers of the Constitution decided is the standard qualification for Pres/VP."

He repeatedly made clear in his post and replies that he was neither pro-Binay nor anti-Poe, but was merely sticking to the laws.

"This is not a ‘mudslinging' issue, because the point is something so basic and fundamental… Much as I don’t like to sound like the attacker. There should only be one side – the legal side,” he said.

For those defending Poe saying she might have simply committed a mistake in putting “six years and six months” on her COC, Fortun said, “that 'honest mistake' tact is clearly an afterthought.”

"I can safely assume that nobody stuck a gun to her temple to write '6 years 6 months'; meaning, that date is true and correct. So now pwede na pala gumawa ng maling affidavit and later say 'oops sorry honest mistake'? That is soooo bad from a legal standpoint,” the lawyer said.

He said Poe either lied then when she filed her COC for senator in 2012 or is lying now in case she decides to run for presidency in May next year.

Also, he said that under the law, it is not prohibited to admit committing an honest mistake. "But (yo)u do that of your own volition WITHOUT anybody pointing it out to you. You do NOT change your declarations under oath as it may suit you or if it will be advantageous to you.”

Moreover, he said  if Poe would really admit it was an honest mistake, she should have said so and corrected the wrong information “at the first opportunity” and not wait three years to do so, when critics have already raised the matter.

"So any attempt to correct the 'mistake' now is highly suspicious at the very least.”

He said it was common for people to commit mistakes when accomplishing documents, like a birth certificate. But it would be much different to commit a mistake on “something as important as a COC… done under oath for an elective post.”

"Gosh, you can even expect the candidate to frame that [COC], right?,” he added.

Fortun stressed the importance of ensuring the truthfulness of documents sworn under oath, saying that in his 27 years of law practice, sworn statements “make or break a case."

That Poe is not a lawyer would also be a “lame excuse," according to Fortun, who said the lady senator, for sure, had checked the document’s truthfulness first before her oath was administered.

Fortun also pointed out that the answers found in Poe’s COC were type-written. “It is very VERY difficult to believe that it was a ‘mistake,’” he said.

Binay’s daughter Makati Rep. Mari-len Abigail Binay on Friday appealed for an end to the word war between Poe and officials of the opposition UNA, and said the residency issue should instead be settled in court.

Fortun echoed Rep. Binay’s sentiment: “This case will definitely be decided by the courts. That is why this [Facebook] post is BOTH an appeal to reason and to emotion.”

Animus revertendi

Several legal experts have come to the defense of Poe, saying the doctrine of “animus revertendi” – or one’s intention to return to his or her domicile – applies to the Sen. Poe, saying that her intent to return to the Philippines outweighs actual residency.

They cited the 1995 Supreme Court ruling on former First Lady Imelda Marcos that allowed her to run for congresswoman of Leyte despite her long absence in the province. The SC ruled that Marcos's repeated manifestation of her intention to return there still makes her a domicile of Leyte.

Fortun and a number of legal experts and former law deans took the opposing side, insisting that the Imelda case cannot be applied to Poe’s case.

He said Imelda, for one, never acquired American citizenship, unlike Poe, and that the animus revertendi doctrine only applies when there is a question to one’s residency. In Poe’s case, the lawmaker herself pegged her residency.

"The core of the issue is one that is of her OWN making – her COC for the 2013 elections,” he said.

"The SC ruled in Imelda's favor for reasons totally distinct and unique to her. Sen. Poe cannot cite that case as precedent, even as SOME of the grounds may be applicable to her. You just simply cannot compare Sen. Grace to Imelda,” he said.

Former law deans Pacifico Agabin of UP Law and Amado Valdez of UE Law had also said the Imelda case was not applicable.

Agabin said it would be a “legal fiction” to invoke animus revertendi in Poe’s case, while Valdez – like Fortun – stressed that Marcos “never lost her domicile in the Philippines."

Integrated Bar of the Philippines national president Vicente Joyas, meanwhile, said Poe's intention to return to the Philippines "Was negated by her acquisition of US citizenship." — LBG, GMA News


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Saturday, July 25, 2015

Catholic Church joins lobby to protect Verde Island Passage

Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles urges the national government to declara a huge portion of the Verde Island Passage a protected area. (Photo. CBCPNews)

MANILA, July 23, 2015— An alliance of church people and environmentalists urged President Benigno Aquino III on Thursday to establish a vast conservation area in the “center of the center” of the world’s marine biodiversity .
The Coalition for the Preservation of the Verde Island Passage proposes the creation of protected areas “to secure the safety of this paradise.”
It said the declaration will protect the sea waters and towns facing the straight which occupies more than 1.14 million hectares between the provinces of Batangas, Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, and Romblon.
More harm than good
The appeal was made amid plans for a gold mining operation and a coal-fired power plant in Lobo, Batangas.
Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said the projects would bring more damage than benefits to the people.
“We want not just a moratorium but a total ban on mining and coal-fired power plant projects in the whole province,” he said in a press conference at a hotel in Quezon City.
He said the campaign has nothing to do with local politics “but for the survival of our race.”
The group asked the government for the revocation and cancellation of all approved mineral production sharing agreements granted in Lobo for mining and eventually, ceasing the issuance of environmental compliance certificates to similar entities.
It also called on the tourism department to declare the Verde Island Passage and the coastal areas of Lobo as tourism zones.
“They have to think [about] the welfare of the people,” said Arguelles. “They want progress, but actually it’s just for some interests and not for the common good.”
The coalition is supported by more than 10,000 signatures of people who are also against mining and coal operations, and an online petition signed by around 9,000 people.
No to mining, no to coal plants
“We are mobilizing a massive force that will stand up against the raping of the environment because the Verde Island Passage has impact on the global ecology,” he added.
Lobo officials on Monday have all but killed off the plan for the Php 640 million gold mining project in the face of overwhelming popular opposition and fears about the province’s environment.
The town council has cancelled its earlier resolution endorsing an MPSA, which is a step closer towards approval of a mining application, amid criticisms of lack of proper consultation.
Fr. Dakila Ramons, head of Lipa’s archdiocesan ministry on environment, said it was clearly a “betrayal to the people of Lobo.”
Aside from gold mining, the coalition is also opposing the plan to put up a 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant project in Lobo.
“These kind of projects will not bring any good to the people, especially to the poor,” Arguelles said.
A team of US marine conservationist in 2006 declared that the Philippines is the center of marine biodiversity in the world and dubbed Verde Island Passages the “center of the center” of marine shore fish biodiversity.(Roy Lagarde/CBCPNews)

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Stopping Smartmatic and an 'international political operator'




From Kit Tatad:

Stop Smartmatic and Lord Malloch-Brown


Eight Filipino bishops and archbishops, two Protestant pastors and two concerned laymen have asked the Supreme Court to strike down as unconstitutional and void the Commission on Elections’ juggling of P12.641 billion in public funds to pay for the purchase of 93,977 Optical Mark Readers (OMR), a new variant of the widely assailed precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machine, from the Venezuelan marketing firm Smartmatic for the May 2016 elections. The questioned realignment of funds is similar to the notorious fund transfers under the so-called Disbursement Acceleration Program. The High Court has declared void and unconstitutional, and ordered the prosecution of those involved in its manipulation and misuse.The only apparent difference is that where President B.S. Aquino 3rd authored the illegal DAP transfers, the Comelec alone is responsible for the illegal juggling of the P12.641 billion.
Many welcomed the SC petition for certiorari and prohibition with preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order as a genuine service to the voters. At least one blogger referred to the petitioners as “the Magnificent 12.” These include Archbishop Rolando TriaTirona of the Archdiocese of Caceres, Archbishop Romulo de la Cruz of Zamboanga, Archbishop Emeritus Oscar V. Cruz of Lingayen-Dagupan, Archbishop Emeritus Fernando Capalla of Davao, Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa, Bishop FilomenoBactol of the Diocese of Naval, Biliran, Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos of Butuan, Bishop Ramon Villena of Bayombong, Protestant Pastors Arthur Corpus and Greco Antonious Beda Belgica of Manila, former Biliran Congressman Glenn Chong, and this writer.
... As its role in the last two Philippine elections came increasingly under fire, Smartmatic took a much more aggressive role in promoting its business worldwide. In November last year, it brought in as its new chairman, British Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, an international political operator who has been associated with the billionaire specutlator George Soros in supporting the “color revolutions” in the former Soviet Union and the Balkans. He came to Manila last month and is expected to be back in September.
I have just learned from my usually reliable Palace sources that during his visit he had an extended lunch meeting with PNoy in Malacanang. He also reportedly spoke with two of PNoy’s siblings. Another meeting with the President is expected in September. In 1986, as lead international partner of Sawyer-Miller, a US consulting firm, Malloch-Brown came to Manila to work behind the scenes during Cory Aquino’s campaign against Marcos in the snap presidential election. Cory failed to win that election, but the ensuing “people power” revolution ousted Marcos and installed her as revolutionary president. Meantime, Malloch-Brown became an international player—deputy secretary general of the United Nations, UNDP administrator, development specialist of the World Bank, British minister of state for Asia, Africa and the United Nations in the Foreign Office, George Soros’s vice president at Quantum Fund and the Open Society Institute and a promoter of Western-supported “revolutions,” and life peer of the British empire as Baron Malloch-Brown.
Malloch-Brown’s reappearance in the Philippines at this time, when Aquino is trying to make sure that the next president would protect him from criminal prosecution and punishment for his numerous crimes, could mean some real trouble for the Filipino people. The Philippines may have become the latest political playground of the big powers, which do not want to see a truly nationalist natural-born Filipino leader emerge in a genuinely free election.
We have so much to thank for that some of our bravest bishops and archbishops and Protestant pastors have taken the cudgels for our people, but we all need to work together to stop any anti-Filipino moves by Smartmatic and Lord Malloch-Brown. - Full article on The Manila Times