Plunderers Power-Grab

Efren Danao said that it is now apparent that power grab is the only reason behind the efforts of former President Joseph Estrada to unite the opposition and nothing else. There is no underlying principle that should bind the opposition except to take over Malacañang in 2010—if that qualifies as a principle.

At the Kapihan sa Senado on Thursday, I asked Erap if there is any other reason, besides capturing Malacañang, that should bind the opposition. He virtually gave no other reason. He only gave the motherhood statement that “in the interest of our country, our government, we must be united.” He added that every member of the opposition wants to put the country’s affairs in order so the Philippines could no longer be branded as “the most corrupt country, most dangerous for journalists.”

For the opposition to be truly united, they must all agree on common political, social and economic principles that would govern the conduct of the government once they are in power. Otherwise, the unity will be good only during the election. Once they are in power, they will end up fighting each other.

But then, why bother with coming up with a platform of government that would be adopted by all opposition candidates? Opposition unity is a pipe dream, after all. And it is keeping Erap in the news.

If we are to believe the Pulse Asia Survey, Sen. Manny Villar is tops in the voters’ presidential preference. If we are to believe the Social Weather Stations survey, he is second only to Erap. Whichever survey one believes, what is apparent is that Villar remains high in the surveys despite the ethics case filed against him by Sen. Jamby Madrigal.

Villar had refused to attend the hearings of the case against him. He preferred to explain his case to media and the people and not before the Senate Committee of the Whole with members who would be his rivals for the presidency in 2010. I have had misgivings before about his non-appearance in the hearings. I thought it was a wrong strategy because the hearings were aired live on TV and radio. Only snippets of Villar’s side could be aired on the news programs of TV and radio, which would put him at a disadvantage.

Well, it looks like Villar was playing his card well. He is maintaining his ratings despite the charges. Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago has an explanation for this: “Either the people were becoming confused by the pieces of evidence submitted by Jamby or, they just do not care.” Incidentally, I note that the hearing last Tuesday was no longer covered live by radio and TV. I expect some senators to stop attending the hearing once they realized that they could not get the needed media exposure there.

Estrada is Unstoppable!

(by Tony Lopez) More than 100 trips to 360 towns and cities in 60 provinces in less than two years. By plane, by helicopter, by boat and by land. No one has been to more places, held more protests and meetings, spoken in more universities, delivered more speeches, met more local officials, seen more people and pressed more flesh in so short a time. Yet, Joseph Ejercito “Erap” Estrada is not even a declared candidate for any office—yet.

“Neither [Senator] Many Villar nor [Senator] Chiz Escudero has covered not even a third of the territory we have been to nor the number of people we have met,” reckons former Sen. Ernesto Maceda, Estrada’s de facto executive secretary for his sorties. Villar and Escudero, per surveys, are Estrada’s main rivals for 2010.

In Iloilo next week, Estrada was scheduled to visit nine towns in two days. Four mayors called up his Greenhills, San Juan residence to inquire why their towns were not in his itinerary. “This shows you the interest of people in Erap, considering that Iloilo is supposed to be Mar Roxas and Frank Drilon country,” smiles Maceda.

In Cebu, the former president has made five visits and covered all its congressional districts. Cebu is administration or Gloria Arroyo country. Erap, per surveys, is weakest in Cebu, among so-called presidentiables. Yet, he was mobbed by local officials and Cebuanos. His political machinery on the island, which is booming economically, is well-oiled and working well.
In the 2004 presidential election, the main opposition candidate, actor and Erap buddy, Fernando Poe Jr., was clobbered by Arroyo by a margin of eight to one in Cebu. Yet, overall, nationwide, the fight was close and the outcome would have been different if not for the fraud. Arroyo, the incumbent, got 13.9 million votes (39.99 percent), just 1.12 million votes more than FPJ’s 11.78 million votes (36.51 percent). Her 3.48 percent margin is the smallest in the history of Philippine presidential elections. Her Lakas CMD party got just 79 of the 235 district congressional seats.

Erap—his screen name and political nickname—says he is stumping the length and breadth of the archipelago to say thank you to the people who had stood by him and never wavered in their support during his six years and six months of incarceration after his conviction for plunder by a special three-person court created specifically to try him.
Estrada says he will run only if the opposition is not united. Judging by the previous presidential elections, since the abolition of the two-party system, the opposition is usually not united. Since 1992, the presidency has always been contested by no less than five opposition claimants against a single perceived administration or status quo candidate. Estrada thrives best in such a scenario.

In 1992, seven vied for the presidency. Retired general and People Power 1 hero Fidel V. Ramos won with a 23.58-percent plurality, just a slim 3.86-percent margin over the second placer, Miriam Santiago’s 19.72 percent. In 1998, when Erap won. He garnered 40 percent (10.72 million votes) of the vote in a nine-way presidential fight. His chief rival, former Speaker Jose de Venecia, was a poor second, with 15.58 percent (4.26 million votes).

It seems inevitable Erap will throw his hat into the ring in 2010.

Surveys indicate he is now No. 1 among the aspirants. This is the effect of three factors—his lingering popularity and masa appeal, his hundreds of provincial sorties, and what Maceda calls “the sympathy vote,” the Filipino’s love for the underdog, for one who had been a victim of injustice, having been unceremoniously ousted from the presidency in January 2001, only to be succeeded by someone who later acquired the image being even more corrupt (than Erap) and as dictatorial as Ferdinand Marcos was.

Remembering tita Cory

Some people make me sick... Marine Col. Ariel Querubin, who helped lead a coup against Aquino in 1989, said in a statement: “She braved the night and the anti-riot police to be one with the people in prayer.” “Through the years I have learned to admire her bravery and courage very much. She was brave up to her final moments,” said Querubin, detained in connection with a failed 2006 coup against President Gloria Arroyo.

Two of Marcos’ senior aides defected in February 1986 after he beat Aquino in elections marred by massive cheating.

Aquino called her supporters onto the streets to protect them, giving birth to her “People Power” Revolution that sent the strongman and his family packing for exile in Hawaii, where he died three years later.Aquino established a transition government, overhauled the electoral process, released political detainees and instituted democratic reforms.

I saw Ariel Queubin and Rommelino Gojo painting a Marine LVT tank with the RAM-SFP markings back in December 1989. They treacherously went against my dad (who was Marine Commandant at that time), to lead the 1989 military revolt against tita Cory.

Their goal was simple- to murder the President! Rebel choppers open fired on the Presidential palace with rockets but luckily missed tita Cory.

Bloody coup attempts hounded her from Year one up to 1989. The first five of these useless rebellions were crushed without or with minimal violence. But the sixth left 53 people dead and over 200 wounded, including tita Cory’s son, Noynoy, now a senator. A handful of rebel Marines open fired on a Presidential convoy that carried tita Cory’s eldest son.

The seventh and final attempt, in December 1989, ended with more than a 100 dead and cost the nation more than a P1 billion financially. Until now, these rebels say their actions against Pres. Cory Aquino were “justifiable”. Some of these same rebels are again in jail, for their involvement in “military adventurism” against the present administration. Tita Cory, who these rebels loathed to the point of trying to murdering her, has now metamorphosed into the country’s madre de familia and national treasure.

I ask these rebels now… Was it worth trying to slaughter our madre de familia?

Honoring One Woman's Dream

SEC Commissioner Jenny, Chiqui Veneracion and Amiel Aguilar Cabanlig

The Philippines’ premier choral group, the Philippine Madrigal Singers, have worked tirelessly over almost five full decades to bring the Filipino’s incomparable choral gift to the world to touch hearts and improve lives through their performances and training of up-and-coming choral talents. On July 27, 2009, they stood both honored and humbled by the recognition of this unique mission as Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, formally designated the Philippine Madrigal Singers as UNESCO Artists for Peace. This recognition was granted in the presence of Ambassador Rora Navarro-Tolentino, Ambassador to France and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO; Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Esteban Cunejos Jr. and other members of the Diplomatic Corps, and the Filipino community in Paris. After expressing their gratitude and plans for fulfilling the role of Artists for Peace in an acceptance speech from Choirmaster Mark Anthony Carpio, the Madz delivered a stirring, sterling one-hour concert that reminded all present of their capability and dedication.

These hard-traveling singers, the latest in a long line of proud Madz generations, were brought together in 1963 for the first time by Philippine National Artist for Music, Professor Andrea O. Veneracion. Their name has since become synonymous with peerless vocal skill, performance quality, individual discipline, and musical diversity. The Madz have spent the last few decades winning choral competitions such as the European Grand Prix – widely understood to be the Olympics of the choral circuit, which they have won twice (1997 and 2007) – and reaching out to budding choirs from all corners of the Philippines via the Madz Et Al choral network. The latter has enabled many of these choirs to compete abroad and win, as well as continue the practice of giving back to their own communities. They have been recognized as UNESCO Artists for Peace “in recognition of their efforts to promote dialogue and understanding among peoples in Southeast Asia , their contribution to extend UNESCO’s message of peace and tolerance, and their dedication to the ideals and aims of the Organization.”

Now named UNESCO Artists for Peace for the next two years, the Philippine Madrigal Singers are recognized celebrity advocates charged with the mission of embodying, and raising awareness in, the UNESCO ideals – including collaboration for the promotion of peace, security and fundamental human rights and freedoms – in their respective contexts through their respective means and talents.

MGen. Carlos Garcia Corruption Case

THE new head of public relations for Marc Jacobs' men's division has an interesting fashion accessory: an ankle bracelet.

Tim Mark Garcia is currently out on bond and facing extradition back to the Philippines on "plunder" charges -- and he's been wearing the ankle bracelet to fashion parties around town.

His father, former Armed Forces of the Philippines comptroller Major General Carlos F. Garcia, has been accused of stealing $6.2 million in public funds. A Trump Park Avenue condo purchased in the younger Garcia's name in 2004 for $765,000 is alleged to have been bought with the illegal cash.

His mother and two siblings are also facing extradition. A lawyer for Garcia denies the charges. He told Page Six, "He has absolutely no criminal record whatsoever. Whatever is transpiring has to do with the Philippines." No one at Marc Jacobs returned calls.

Richard Gutierrez Charged!

Actor Richard Gutierrez was charged with reckless imprudence resulting in homicide by the wife of his bodyguard who died in a car crash with him on May 22 in Silang, Cavite.

The case was filed by Lorayne Pardo, 29, of 1763 F.B. Harrizon Street, Pasay City, who is the wife of Gutierrez’s production assistant, Nomar Pardo.

The preliminary hearing is set on August 15 at the Prosecutor’s Office in Imus, Cavite.

According to the Fiscal’s Office in Imus, Lorayne personally filed the criminal charge of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide against Gutierrez, 25, of Mckinley Street, Makati City.

According to records, the car crash happened late morning of May 22 as Gutierrez and Pardo were riding a car (ZTU 775) when it fell from a cliff.

The car was a total wreck and Nomar died instantly and Gutierrez was thrown outside the car and escaped serious injuries.

Lorayne said that she has not asked for any monetary consideration from the actor and has not received any amount from him or his family. (Manila Times Correspondent)

Humility Needed- Sen. Mar Roxas

This is an excerpt from an open letter to Mar Roxas written by Alito Malinao of the Manila Times.

Dear Senator Roxas,
Among the so-called presidentiables, I have found you to be the most capable of running this country after President Arroyo. I do not know you personally although I have on several occasions observed you closely while you were still the DTI secretary and as a senator…In the Senate, I found you to be hardworking, conscientious, resourceful and scrupulous. Indeed, you are a chip off the old block, a man destined to perpetuate the legacy of your great forebears, your grandfather, Manuel Roxas, your namesake, the first president of the Republic, and your illustrious father, the late Senator Gerry Roxas, who, with his glasses perpetually on, looked like a college professor than a politician.
What I am saying is that even without your “padyak-padyak” commercial and your much-hyped romance and impending marriage to broadcast journalist Korina Sanchez, your record in the Senate and as former DTI boss can stand public scrutiny.


But I have a word of caution for you, my dear Senator Roxas. There is such a thing as overkill. In the Greek mythology, the gods would destroy those who develop HUBRIS or those who discard humility as a virtue.
While I am among the many beneficiaries of the Cheaper Medicines Act (my wife and I are taking maintenance medicines) that you have championed for so long, I was terribly disappointed when you announced to the media that you would summon President Arroyo to the Senate hearing.
Haven’t you gone too far in your desire to gain media mileage?
Why have you become so arrogant to seek the presence of the President of the Republic in a Senate hearing?
Why the cavalier attitude toward a president whom you once served?
Have you forgotten the Confucian saying that “humility is the solid foundation of all virtues?”
I remember quite well that among the Estrada Cabinet members, you were the only one who joined the Arroyo government after the tumultuous EDSA 2 revolt. Out of delicadeza, like all your former colleagues in the Estrada administration, you could have refused to serve in the new government.
But you stayed perhaps believing that Mrs. Arroyo, like you an economist, could make the difference in this country.
However, times have changed. And you have changed with the times…
I am sure a lot of Filipinos have cheered you for the crusade that you have embarked, from your Quixotic fight against the big oil companies and the scrapping of the VAT on oil products to your lonely battle against unscrupulous pre-need companies and your spirited call for the full implementation of the Cheaper Medicines Act…
But don’t squander your chance of leading this country by making reckless and puerile moves like asking the President to appear before you to be interrogated on the medicines law. However noble your objective was what you did was certainly an irresponsible act. This was like asking the mountain to go to Mahomet.
I have already forgiven you for the GUTTER language that you used in a Makati rally in attacking the President but asking her to kowtow to your whims is going too far.

God bless you, Senator Mar.

HUBRIS: The fall of the mighty Lopez family

This was written by Tony Lopez of the Manila Times.”The loss by the Lopezes of their stranglehold in Meralco presents a veritable case study on how a mighty family could lose their crown jewel, the symbol of unrivalled power and influence.

Overborrowing, overexpansion, and overarching ambition in the mid-1990s and loss of focus in their core businesses by the early 21st century finally undid the Lopez group by 2008, forcing it to sell many of their prized assets—the Manila North Tollways, the Subic-Tipo High­­way, and the awesome May­nilad Water concession which never became profitable. Today, the Lopez group is a shadow of its own self. It bought PNOC-EDC at a horrendous overprice—P58 billion, three times the market price.

Jim Collins, of the Good to Great book fame has come out with a new book, How the Mighty Fall (about P1,000 at Fullybooked). Though rather thin, the book is a good reading for it presents lessons on how a company becomes good, then great, only to be gone later.

The management guru identifies the causes of corporate disaster and cites five stages a company undergoes before it unravels.

Stage 1: hubris born of success

This is when people become arrogant, regard success virtually as an entitlement, and lose sight of the true underlying factors that created success in the first place.

When the rhetoric shifts from “We’re successful because we do these specific things” to “We’re successful because we understand why we do these specific things and under what conditions they would no longer work,” decline very likely follows. Luck and chance play a role in many successful businesses. Failure to acknowledge this is hubris or pride. Remember the Greek gods? They fall because of hubris.

Stage 2: undisciplined pursuit of more

More scale, more growth, more acclaim, more of whatever those in power see as “success.” Companies stray from the disciplined creativity that led them to greatness in the first place. They make undisciplined leaps into areas where they cannot be great or growing faster than they can achieve with excellence—or both.

When an organization grows beyond its ability to fill its key seats with the right people, it has set itself up for a fall. Although complacency and resistance to change remain dangers to any successful enterprise, overreaching better captures how the mighty fall.

Discontinuous leaps into areas in which you have no burning passion is undisciplined. Taking action inconsistent with your core values is undisciplined. Investing heavily in new arenas where you cannot attain distinctive capability, better than your competitors, is undisciplined. Launching headlong into activities that do not fit with your economic or resource engine is undisciplined. Addiction to scale is undisciplined.

To use the organization primarily as a vehicle to increase your own personal success—more wealth, more fame, more power—at the expense of its long-term success is undisciplined. To compromise your values or lose sight of your core purpose in pursuit of growth and expansion is undisciplined.

Stage 3: denial of risk and peril

Leaders discount negative data, amplify positive data, and put a positive spin on ambiguous data. Those in power start to blame external factors for setbacks rather than accept responsibility. The vigorous, fact-based dialogue that characterizes high-performance teams dwindles or disappears altogether. When those in power begin to imperil the enterprise by taking outsize risks and acting in a way that denies the consequences of those risks, they are headed straight to Stage 4.

Stage 4: grasping for salvation

Common “saviors” include a charismatic visionary leader, a bold but untested strategy, a radical transformation, a dramatic cultural revolution, a hoped-for blockbuster product, a “game-changing” acquisition, or any number of other silver-bullet solutions. Initial results from taking dramatic action may appear positive, but they do not last.

Stage 5: capitulation to irrelevance or death

Accumulated setbacks and expensive false starts erode financial strength and individual spirit to such an extent that leaders abandon all hope of building a great future. In some cases the company’s leader just sells out; in other cases the institution atrophies into utter insignificance; and in the most extreme cases the enterprise simply dies outright.

The point of the struggle is not just to survive, but to build an enterprise that makes such a distinctive impact on the world it touches (and does so with such superior performance) that it would leave a gaping hole—a hole that could not be easily filled by any other institution—if it ceased to exist. To accomplish this requires leaders who retain faith that they can find a way to prevail in pursuit of a cause larger than mere survival (and larger than themselves) while also maintaining the stoic will needed to take whatever actions must be taken, however excruciating, for the sake of that cause.

The GrandMaster... Intelligence

The GARANDMASTER- John Defensor, Raul Teehankee, Amiel Aguilar Cabanlig and CHESS grandmaster Eugene Torre

By Rony V. Diaz

THE conventional wisdom about intelligence is that it’s inherited. Children of bright parents are generally brighter than the progeny of the less bright. This was the theory that was propounded in 1994 by Richard J. Herrenstein and Charles Murray in their book The Bell Curve. It has been roundly denounced as racism masquerading as science although the authors drew their conclusions from a large body of research in both psychology and the cognitive sciences that they evaluated with great care and circumspection. The opponents of the hereditarian theory of intelligence found it easier to question the authors’ motives rather than their methodology. Studies on intelligence are fraught. Establishing heritability is slippery. Furthermore, however “detached” a researcher would like to be, subtle biases and ambiguities are bound to color his or her judgments. IQ tests measure intellectual inequalities that are, many believe, natural and not cultural. There are even those who go as far as to theorize that intelligence is encoded in the genes. This is the basis of the belief that Azhkenazi Jews are the brainiest ethnic group followed by East Asians, whites in generals, with the blacks bringing up the rear. It’s therefore a great service to all of us that Robert E. Nisbett, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Michigan at Dearborn, published last month Intelligence and How to Get It. Why Schools and Culture Count (W.W. Norton). He began with a careful critique of hereditarism, which he countered with nonhereditary factors in determining intelligence. Nisbett accepts IQ tests as instruments that measure something “real.” They measure “fluid” intelligence (abstract reasoning skills) and “crystallized” intelligence or knowledge. Within the same family there are inequalities in fluid intelligence. Nisbett, however, rejects the hereditarian claim that 75 percent to 85 percent of intelligence is inherited. He thinks that it’s less than 50 percent. The higher estimates were made by comparing blood relatives—identical twins, fraternal twins, siblings—who grew up with different adoptive families. But adoptive families are not all the same. The more affluent tend to give their adopted children more “cognitive stimulation” than the poorer ones. The data then yield erroneously high estimates of IQ heritability. The right conclusion is that there’s no fixed value for heritability. The average difference in IQ is entirely environmental. Using this logic, Nisbett explained the disparity in average IQ between white and black Americans. The IQ gap is purely environmental. In fact, this gap is closing. Over the last 30 years, the measured difference in IQ between white and black children has decreased from 15 points to 9.5 points. From studies in population genetics, Nisbett found that African-Americans as a consequence of slavery, have on average about 20 percent European genes. But the proportion of European genes ranges widely among individuals—from near zero to more than 80 percent. The conclusion is inescapable: if the gap is genetic, then blacks with more European genes ought to have, on average, higher IQs. The fact is they don’t. As regards the higher intelligence of Ashkenazi Jews and East Asians, Nisbett found that if the IQ tests were properly designed and normed, Americans would score slightly higher than East Asians. If differences in IQ are largely environmental, then what can be done to eliminate intellectual disparities? The most dramatic results came from adoption. When poor children are adopted by wealthier parents, their IQ increases by 12 to 15 points. Early childhood education increases the intelligence of children measurably. Nisbett is for scaling up pre-school programs because even in adolescence, those children are 10 points ahead in IQ than those who did not attend a pre-school program. For older kids, Nisbett recommends telling high school students that intelligence is expandable and they are in control of their own IQ. Students, once convinced, tend to work harder and earn higher grades. This is particularly true of girls who have been made to believe that they are genetically disadvantaged in science and math. Once this mindset is overcome, they excel because they are deprived of an excuse for failure. I suggest that parents, teachers and school administrators give up the idea that children are differently endowed intellectually. Cognitively, we are all equal. And good education can do a lot to expand the brainpower of a nation.

nauseating ads

Alito Malinao of the Manila Times wrote a very interestig article..."While you are watching the early evening TV newscast, Manny Villar suddenly appears on the screen. He is visiting a dilapidated house with a leaking roof in Moriones, Tondo. He tells you that he and his eight siblings grew up in that house. Then an elderly lady thanks Villar for making her dream of owning a house a reality.

A few minutes later on the same newscast, Mar Roxas is seen pedaling a pedicab. In his “padyak-padyak” commercial, he tells the young boy, the regular pedicab driver, not to lose hope. His parting words are “Hindi ko kayo pababayaan,” a spin from the funereal song, “Hindi kita malilimutan,” a bad omen for Roxas’ presidential ambition.

Then, the face of Mayor Jejomar Binay of Makati is splashed on the screen with testimonials of the sick, the elderly, and schoolchildren, the supposed beneficiaries of Binay’s “welfare state” style of governance in Makati. His commercial is dubbed “Ganito kami sa Makati, Ganito Sana sa Buong Bansa.”

Another TV newscast is interrupted by Vice President Noli de Castro who urges everyone to take advantage of the government’s low-interest housing loans and the restructuring program of Pag-IBIG for delinquent borrowers.

Other latecomers but with the same vacuous TV campaign ads are Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro telling everybody to prepare for calamities and disasters, Sen. Loren Legarda with her “pagkain, hindi Cha-cha; trabaho, hindi Cha-cha . . . aalagaan ko kayo” commercial, and MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando who styles himself as the Lee Kuan Yew of the Philippines (translation: likoanniyo or U-turn slots with concrete barriers that have caused the death of several motorists).

These commercials, which are repeated over and over again on radio, are irritating, disgusting, suffocating and nauseating. Because they are so crudely done without any cerebral message, they not only pollute the airwaves but also insult our intelligence.

Why do we have to suffer these inanities? Can the authorities not do something to stop this cruel insensitivity to public opinion displayed by our publicity-hungry politicians?

Stupid provision

Unfortunately for us, the authorities cannot do anything because of the stupid provision of the Omnibus Election Code.

Even if everybody knows that they are already campaigning and some of them have even announced their intention to run for president, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has said that they are not legally considered candidates because they have not yet filed their certificates of candidacy.

Section 79 of the Omnibus Election Code states that an individual may be considered a candidate only if he or she has filed a certificate of candidacy before the Comelec. The filing of the certificate of candidacy for president is still on November this year.

This issue was settled last year when the Comelec junked the petition of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago to declare the appearance of politicians in commercial advertisements as an election offense.

The Comelec said it has no power to restrict politicians from appearing in advertisements to endorse products or promote an advocacy because this is not prohibited under the Omnibus Election Code.

“The commission recognizes that there is a need to quell the less than noble practices complained of by the petitioner [Santiago]. However, as the law stands, these practices cannot be restrained or punished,” the Comelec stressed.

Top spenders, big losers

If the media handlers of the presidential bets think that the more their candidates are exposed in the media, the better their chances of winning in next year’s polls, they should think again.

In the 2007 elections, Prospero Pichay and Villar were the biggest spenders in political ads. Pichay spent P151.72 million followed by Villar with P138.28 million. Both have exceeded the allowable limit of P135 million, computed at P3 per voter of the estimated 45 million votes.

What happened to them?

Pichay was thrashed in the polls and Villar, despite his massive campaign ads, landed only fourth, overtaken by Legarda, who placed first, Chiz Escudero and even by Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

The other big spenders in political ads who also lost in the 2007 senatorial derby were Michael Defensor, Tito Sotto, Tessie Aquino-Oreta and Ralph Recto. On the other hand, Antonio Trillanes 4th, who did not have any campaign ad and was unable to campaign because he was and is still detained, was number 11.

What to do?

These political ads will become more frequent and more annoying when election campaign starts. But unless the election law is amended, we are helpless.

Henrietta de Villa, chairman of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, said that the best way to show our outrage over the premature campaigning and circumvention of the law by these candidates is not to vote for them in the 2010 elections.

I agree with her and I think that this is what we should all do when we enter the polling booths next year."

MIKE DEFENSOR at 40

“In life we shall find many men that are great, and some that

are good, but very few men that are both great and

good.” Charles Colton

Butch Acebuche, Marj Defensor-Lopez, Raul Teehankee, Amiel Cabanlig, John Defensor, Florence Defensor, Sen. Manny Villar, Mojo Javier, Mike Defensor, Atty. Chat Zamora, Paulo Lopez

Mike and his loving family!

The solid batch of 86'

J.Flavier, M.Rosal, J.Defensor, A.Cabanlig, A.Alejandrino,N&A DeVilla

Back to the 80's

Ai Ai De las Alas

Dr. Robert Nazal and Ai Ai

Victorina's fav' Mayor Recom Echeverri

the anatomy of pure evil

Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff was sentenced Monday to 150 years in jail for masterminding an “evil” multibillion-dollar investment scam that cheated thousands of people around the world.

“It is the judgment of this court that Bernard Madoff should be sentenced to 150 years in jail,” Judge Denny Chin said as he handed down the maximum term possible on 11 charges of fraud, theft and perjury.

He described Madoff’s crimes as “extraordinarily evil” and said it was “not merely a bloodless crime that takes place on paper but one that takes a staggering human toll.”

The tough sentence came even after Madoff, the former chairman of the Nasdaq, made a courtroom apology to his victims. “I am sorry,” he told them simply. “I don’t ask for forgiveness.”

“I leave a legacy of shame to my family. I am responsible for a great deal of suffering and pain. I live in a tormented state,” said the disgraced 71-year-old financier who now faces spending the rest of his life in prison.

Judge Chin gave Madoff 10 days to appeal, but noted there had not been a single letter from friends or family testifying to his good deeds. “The absence of such support is telling,” he said.

Madoff’s wife, Ruth, finally broke her silence Monday to lash out at her husband, saying: “All those touched by this fraud feel betrayed; disbelieving the nightmare they woke to.

“The man who committed this horrible fraud is not the man whom I have known all these years,” she said in a statement.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs weighed in later by saying the maximum sentence handed to Madoff would send an effective warning to other investors.

“The judge wanted to send a very strong signal to anybody that invests money on behalf of others of the amazing responsibility that they have to those investors and to the country,” he said, adding “that message will be heard loud and clear.”

Prosecutors say about $13 billion was handed to Madoff. The financier himself has talked about losing some 50 billion dollars, which is believed to be the amount that would have been paid out had the funds been properly invested.

Among Madoff’s victims were Hollywood and international celebrities, several of the world’s bestknown banks and Jewish charities, some of which were forced to close after the scheme unraveled.

The funds were then used to pay out “dividends” to investors in what is known as a “Ponzi scheme.”

One lingering issue is how to return the stolen funds. Of the billions of dollars that were lost, prosecutors say only one billion has been recovered. (manila times)

Flying Coffins?

A long times ago I warned the Victorina council regarding the airworthiness of Zest Air’s MA60. I even told ABS-CBN’s RG Cruz that the Chinese made MA6o that were being sold cheaply to third-world countries like Zimbabwe, Congo, Zambia, Laos, Indonesia, Bolivia and other countries and Africa is bad news. During a raffle, I was given a free round trip ticket to Caticlan but I never bothered to use it.

Yesterday, Zest Airways flight Z2-863 overshot the runway at Caticlan prompting the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to close the airport. Investigators are now verifying eyewitnesses’ reports that the plane landed almost at the middle of the 1,050-meter- long runway. Just last January, another MA60 plane overshot the runway. Reports said strong winds caused the aircraft’s landing gear to explode, hitting the airport fence. After swerving 180 degrees, the plane was, with registry number RP-C8893 crashed into the airport’s passenger lounge.

Zest Air owner Alfredo Yao said the MA60 plane with tail number RPC 8992 exceeded the runway of Godofredo Ramos Airport in Caticlan, Aklan because of the abnormal weather.

There were no reported injuries among the passengers, comprising of 50 adults, four children and one infant. The passengers were evacuated from the plane by the responding airport rescue team and were ferried to the terminal by bus. Caticlan is the seventh busiest airport in the Philippines and the third busiest in Western Visayas. It is also the hub of Southeast Asian Airlines serving the most destinations in and out of the neighboring Malay, Aklan.

Gokongwei-led Cebu Pacific Air Inc., canceled some of its Caticlan flights because of the Zest Air incident. The trustworthy SEAIR, diverted some of its 12 Manila-Caticlan-Manila flights after CAAP closed the airport. PAL Express, also canceled its six Manila-Caticlan-Manila flights while mounting extra flights to Kalibo to accommodate their affected passengers.

Can we really trust Zest Air?