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■Samat winds sing of freedom, love of country THIS is Bataan. This is hallowed ground blessed with the blood of heroes. Be still and soak in the peace that they purchased for us with their lives. Listen to the wind -- that is them singing of freedom and love of country. Thousands still trek to Bataan, not only to commune with the spirit of heroes, but also to find liberation from poverty, the new enemy. [Full Article] ■No pork barrel money pledged in Food Summit THE CLARK Freeport convention center was filled last April 4 with farming stakeholders pledging support for a crunch-mitigating package unwrapped by President Gloria Arroyo, but not a single centavo from pork barrel was contributed by the lawmakers present at the Food Summit. The government's intervention measures will need P43.7 billion. [Full Article] ■Napocor awards P956-M contract to P62,500 firm A THREE-month-old firm with only P62,500 in paid-up capital and which cannot be located at its advertised address was invited to bid and then awarded by the National Power Corp. a coal supply contract worth P956,374,204.50! The favored firm, originally based in Cebu but which keeps changing addresses, turned out to be a trader, not a supplier. [Full Article] ■Bad form for Senate to reject adverse SC ruling WHEN senators responded to a petition filed with the Supreme Court on the issue of Executive Privilege, they accepted its jurisdiction. It was bad form -- also a bad example -- for senators to reject the Court's ruling just because it was not completely to their liking. While quarreling with the Executive, senators are picking a fight with the Judiciary. [Full Article] ■Faith is what will heal Cory of her colon cancer “GOD will take care of me,” Corazon Cojuangco Aquino said when told of doctors' findings that she had cancer of the colon. With God looking after this icon of Philippine democracy, and her loved ones storming heaven with their prayers, Cory will recover soon enough. Her unflagging faith and her total surrender to the Lord will take care of the big C. [Full Article] ■'Eat less rice' suggestion of DA chief is sound OUR BODY is not meant to subsist on rice, which cannot be eaten raw. Too much rice ? which becomes sugar when digested ? is actually bad for the health. The suggestion of the Agriculture Secretary that we eat less rice is sound. If we eat only three-fourths of our usual rice intake, that means a 25-percent cut in the country's rice consumption. [Full Article] ■Is the Resurrection still relevant to Filipinos? CHRIST is risen! This line will be repeated in Easter greetings, emails, letters, messages, editorials and homilies taking off from His glorious resurrection. Will the flurry of Easter messages just fly like empty echoes bouncing off a hard rock? Will the messages change anything? Will they resurrect a dying faith, bind whole again a fractured nation? [Full Article] ■Subic-Clark highway to spur Luzon progress THE OPENING of the 94-kilometer expressway linking in the shortest possible way the three industrial zones of Subic, Clark and Tarlac is a momentous event. Through that growth corridor will flow progress, translated into an improved quality of provincial life, for Central Luzon that has suffered from feudal values, agrarian unrest and dissidence. [Full Article] ■Clear ruling, not compromise, sought on Neri WHEN senators asked the Supreme Court if Secretary Romulo Neri may snub Senate committees or invoke executive privilege in refusing to reply to questions, the tribunal was expected to give a clear-cut answer. Instead, the Court fashioned a compromise: That while Neri must respond to Senate summons, he may still invoke executive privilege. [Full Article] ■'Why we can't support call for GMA to resign' THE DEAN of the Graduate School of Law of San Beda College says he believes in the Rule of Law, no matter that the law may, in several respects, be infirm. And by the precepts of the Rule of Law, he adds, pressuring the President into resigning by swaying public opinion away from her and alienating the allegiance of the military is anathema. [Full Article] ■Pinoy lesson: How gov was caught in prosti net FILIPINOS can learn from how New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer of a “Mr. Clean” image was caught spending tens of thousands on high-priced call girls. The banks noticed frequent cash transfers from several accounts and filed suspicious-activity reports with the Internal Revenue Service. The transactions were traced and sleuths cornered him. [Full Article] ■Gloria should resign if she fails this 'EDSA Test' FOR YEARS, motorists have been complaining of arrogant officials zigzagging through traffic, especially on EDSA, escorted by police cars bullying everybody off their paths. Since nobody seems to be able to stop this abuse, we challenge President Gloria Arroyo to curb it, at least with Executive officials. If she cannot pass this EDSA Test, she should resign. [Full Article] ■Don't expose vulnerable students to Lozada talk SOME parents are complaining that their vulnerable children are being exposed to the one-sided views of Rodolfo Lozada Jr. visiting schools to scatter his version of what he peddles to be the truth. It is irresponsible for school officials to expose unwary students to Lozada's early campaign for 2010 without trying to balance his political presentation. [Full Article] ■People's choice: Violent or non-violent change? SEEING the object of their loathing still in Malacanang despite their efforts to dislodge her, Arroyo-bashers have stepped up the virulence of their rhetoric. They warn that if the President does not step down soon, she could trigger a civil war. Now, will Filipinos allow themselves to be stampeded into violence just to install another gang of politicians? [Full Article] ■Big Boys scared of Noli's becoming president, if... SOME presidential wannabes hesitate to join the chorus demanding the resignation of President Gloria Arroyo because they dread Vice President Noli de Castro's beating them to the Palace and upsetting their political timetable. By constitutional succession, the Vice President, whoever he is, becomes the president when the top post is vacated. [Full Article] ■Gloria better beware of students' street protests THE IMPERIOUS Gloria Arroyo has to beware the perils of March, especially in the first three weeks before the semestral break sets students free from their Manila campuses to go home to the provinces. The biggest threats to the President are not the political opposition, religious groups, or Big Business -- but fired-up students taking to the streets. [Full Article] ■Politicos around Lozada are ruining his credibility
■Senate must defer to Ombudsman in NBN probe THE SENATE, whose primary function is legislation, must defer to the Ombudsman in investigating and determining probable criminal liability of persons linked to the aborted National Broadband Network project. Every official must attend to his constitutionally assigned task. Senate findings will be endorsed to the Ombudsman anyway. [Full Article] Copyright©ManilaMail.com | ||
MANY people are hesitant to embrace Senate witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. as a hero or the unsullied repository of the entire truth in the aborted National Broadband Network project -- because of the politicians seen around him. People hold back as they see him in anti-administration rallies in the company of opposition politicians and oppositionist groups. This hurts his credibillity.