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Photo by mikoislegendary (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikoislegendary/)

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3238/2891409318_cd60d9728e_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tejadster/2891409318/)
batasan (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tejadster/2891409318/) by geraldtejada (http://www.flickr.com/people/tejadster/), on Flickr

Spoelstra 'honored' by Congress tribute
CHICAGO – Fil-Am Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said he was honored by the citation given by the Philippine Congress after becoming the first Asian American coach to win the NBA championship recently.

In an email, Tim Donovan, vice president for sports media of Miami Heat, quoted Spoelstra as saying: “I’ve truly had fulfilling trips the last three years working with Filipino families and youth during my off-season visits to the Philippines. It is so rewarding to be able to give back through the game of basketball that has given so much to me.” Read more (http://www.philstar.com/sportsarticle.aspx?publicationsubcategoryid=69&articleid=822513&keyword=sp_pba)

Senate eyes moving to UP Diliman campus
MANILA, Philippines—A plan to look into the possibility of relocating the Senate to the sprawling University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City, is drawing mixed reactions.

A UP administration official said the UP would be “open to the proposal,” adding that it might bring in much needed revenues to the struggling State University.Read more (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/220855/senate-eyes-moving-to-up-diliman-campus)

Why not move to scarborough shoals or in the spratleys. They will do the country a big favor by doing so.

instead of pork barrel bigyan ng long barrel, wag pistola lang para may laban naman, o baka naman ibebenta na lalo sa commies ang mga islang ito?

Koko's UNA slot up for grabs
By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) Updated June 30, 2012 12:00 AM

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=822464&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - The United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) is not adopting Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III in its senatorial ticket in the May 2013 elections even if he is open to adoption by any political group.

Former Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, meanwhile, expressed sadness over Pimentel’s decision to bolt the alliance, saying he “truly wanted us to mend our differences for the sake of more representation for the region.”

Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, UNA secretary-general, said yesterday that Pimentel’s place in the ticket would be up for grabs by other senatorial aspirants belonging to the two parties making up the alliance.

“We respect Senator Koko’s decision and we wish him luck in all his endeavors. We must, however, move on and I’m sure that for other aspirants, this additional vacancy for the senatorial lineup in the UNA slate is a welcome development,” he said.

Earlier, Tiangco said UNA is considering candidates belonging only to the PDP-Laban and Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), the two parties comprising the alliance.

Vice President Jejomar Binay formed the coalition in preparation for next year’s combined congressional-local elections and for his presidential candidacy in 2016.

Binay chairs PDP-Laban, while Pimentel is its president. Pimentel’s father, former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., founded PDP-Laban.

Former President Joseph Estrada, on the other hand, is the founder and leader of PMP.

On Thursday, Pimentel announced he was leaving UNA after meeting with Estrada.

He made the decision after failing to convince the UNA leadership to drop former from its senatorial ticket. Zubiri is one of PMP’s nominees.

Zubiri resigned from the Senate four years after evidence of cheating in the 2007 elections started to unravel, with allies of then President Arroyo admitting that they were told to work for a 12-0 victory for the administration ticket, which included the former Bukidnon congressman.

Zubiri, who was out of the country celebrating his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, claimed that he might have been an unwitting beneficiary of election fraud but not a cheating participant.

“I don’t believe our differences were irreconcilable as I share Koko’s fight against electoral fraud. Remember that we are both victims here, as he was not able to start his term and that I was not able to finish mine,” he said, adding that he only wants to seek a fresh mandate.

He said it saddens him that Senator Pimentel had agreed during a reconciliation meeting in one of the major TV stations that they would help each other for the sake of Mindanao but now is singing a different tune.

“We agreed to support each other to finally unite the people from a particularly divisive electoral exercise. This was all played live on national TV and I sincerely believed it and had hoped it prospered for the sake of Unity,” he said.

But Pimentel said he could not run in the same ticket as Zubiri and Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay, whom he described as Arroyo allies. Magsaysay has been drafted in the UNA ticket.

He said he would remain PDP-Laban president even if he were no longer one of UNA’s senatorial candidates.

“I would try to find out if there would be a problem with that situation,” he said.

Contrasting opinion

Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said Pimentel’s move was a “good decision” because “it is a sign of protest against cheats.”

Former Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said that his action showed that he was his father’s son.

Cruz said he respects Koko’s decision, but believes that it was a difficult decision because he might lose votes. “If he would stay with UNA, he would have all the votes, money, and party stature... But when he left, it says a lot of things about him.”

But a source from the PDP-Laban said money is behind Pimentel’s decision and not principle, contrary to what he was trying to project.

The source said the younger Pimentel was merely using his dislike for Zubiri as a convenient excuse to bolt the party and join the administration’s Liberal Party, which can give him more funds.

“It is a repeat of the 2010 (elections) when his sister Gwen ran under the Nacionalista Party (NP) despite the coalition between PMP and PDP-Laban to form UNO (United Opposition), which fielded Erap and Binay. It’s money disguise as principle,” the source said.

“Pimentel will ask UNA to withdraw his name from the lineup and will be willing to be adopted by LP. That was his decision even before he announced his two-week consultations with PDP membership,” the source said.

UNA: Admirable principle

UNA’s leadership said they are respecting Pimentel’s decision to bolt from the coalition.

In a statement, former Senate president Ernesto Maceda said Pimentel’s adherence to principle is admirable.

He said that the decision of how the alliance will now move forward in spite of this new development will be up to Vice President Binay.

UNA standing on shaky ground

Meanwhile, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said UNA could already be facing possible extinction after Pimentel left the alliance.

“If Pimentel decides to run under PDP-Laban and this political party still nominates him as one of its senatorial candidates, then there is the danger of an early dissolution of the UNA because of an apparent difference in principles of the two merging political parties,” Macalintal noted.

Macalintal said the issue now is whether Pimentel’s departure would also mean his resignation as a member and president of PDP-Laban, which will be automatic in the event that he accepts the LP nomination.

Although Binay is chairman of the PDP-Laban, Macalintal said, the party decides based on consultation among party members.

Macalintal said there is still a need for consultation on the party’s decision on Pimentel’s political future.

But he said Pimentel’s decision to bolt the coalition of PDP-Laban and Estrada’s PMP would work to his advantage.

“Although it took him a long time to decide, it is a principled political stand and a demonstration of his political maturity,” Macalintal pointed out.

He said Pimentel could not be blamed if he feels uneasy campaigning alongside Zubiri whom he accused of having deprived him of his full term as senator in the 2007 elections.

“If they campaign separately under UNA, as suggested by UNA officers, the more the electorate will remember their political enmity which will not augur well for UNA and its allies and supporters,” Macalintal explained.

Putting principles over sticking with the coalition would give Pimentel political mileage, as he will not be perceived as a political opportunist.

Talagang kailangang interviewhin si Oscar Cruz ha. :D Relevant??

Charter change to address PH weaknesses in view of row with China — Enrile
By Cathy C. Yamsuan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10:07 pm | Sunday, July 1st, 2012

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/42453/charter-change-to-address-ph-weaknesses-in-view-of-row-with-china-enrile

MANILA, Philippines — Now that China has sent its own astronauts into space, would it eventually go to the moon and claim it as its territory?

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile raised the question in jest on Sunday, when asked in a radio interview about China’s occupation of Scarborough Shoal off the coast of Zambales province.

Enrile blamed the occupation to the Philippines’ lack of military muscle to defend its own territory.

He said the Philippines’ weakness in the Scarborough Shoal dispute should be seen as a reason for Charter change (Cha-cha) to give priority to military spending in the national budget.

Enrile cited the Philippines’ military weakness as the reason behind the government’s sorry handling of a maritime accident in the West Philippine Sea on June 20 that took the life of a Filipino fisherman, injured three and left four others missing.

In that accident, a Hong Kong-registered cargo vessel struck the Filipinos’ fishing boat, but Enrile said the government appeared to be playing down the incident, apparently so as not to start another row with China.

A rising economic and military power, China has become more aggressive in its territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) that it insists it has
established since ancient times.

Enrile said history would show that the ancient Chinese settled on Batanes and Fuga islands in northern Philippines.

History books also mention that Chinese merchants traded regularly with natives in the archipelago before the Spanish colonizers arrived in the 16th century.

“It is known that (historical figure) Limahong, who was a prince, settled in Fuga at length,” Enrile said. “And the ethnic Chinese also lived in Batanes. This can still be gleaned [from] the features of the people there. Does that make Batanes or Fuga Chinese territory simply because they were there?”

China insists that Scarborough Shoal, which it calls Huangyan Island, is part of its territory and shows ancient maps to prove it.

Scarborough Shoal, which the Philippines calls Panatag Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc, is well within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (ECC) recognized under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Enrile refuses to accept China’s citing ancient maps to bolster its claim to Scarborough Shoal.

“If we stretch this argument further, does that make India the owner of everything in the Indian Ocean?” Enrile asked, speaking in Filipino. “Does the Strait of Magellan near the tip of Argentina and Chile belong to Portugal or Spain?”

In apparent reference to China’s recent launching of the spacecraft Shenzhou 9 that carried three astronauts, Enrile said he would not be surprised if Chinese inscriptions would eventually be found on Mars or Venus or the moon, and if China would claim those planets and the moon, too.

Enrile said it would be unreasonable for China to claim an island or other areas belonging to another country “simply because their migratory birds settled there.”

He said China’s claim to Scarborough Shoal was “legally weak.”

“How would they justify their occupation of the area? Because their birds flew there? That they marked some fish and ordered these to swim there?”

“What if I also drew a map and occupy their islands? Would that be right?” he added.

Enrile pointed to the Philippines’ lack of military resources as reason for the country’s weak defense of its territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea.

“The Coast Guard has a World War II cutter given by the US government,” Enrile said. But one shot would be all it it would take to sink it, he said.

Enrile lamented the government’s seeming dismissal of the report of the survivors of the June 20 accident in the West Philippine Sea that the cargo vessel rammed their boat.

“We have yet to confirm the whole story behind that, and yet there are already parties raising eyebrows over the fishermen’s story,” Enrile said.

The playing down of the fishermen’s report made them look like “fools and liars,” he said.

Enrile also mentioned China’s warning the Philippines over the opening of an elementary school last month on Pag-asa Island, one of five islands claimed by the Philippines in the Spratly archipelago in the West Philippine Sea.

China claims all of the Spratly archipelago, parts of which are also claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan. It took the opening of the school on Pag-asa Island as a “provocation.”

“The solution to this problem rests with us,” Enrile said. “We need to beef up our security. That is the only solution. If your neighbor commits acts of aggression, it would be your fault if you refuse to prepare.”

To prepare, the government should spend more for the modernization of the military, which means it may have to review the priority given to education in the Constitution.
Enrile hinted at the need for Congress to make that review.

“If you insist on a bigger budget for education and [we are theatened by war], what will you do, limit yourself to what the Constitution says?” he said. “That’s stupidity.”

“Let us make a Constitution that is flexible,” Enrile said. “Leave it to the representatives of the people to decide what are the priorities at any given time.”

The government has asked China to take their dispute over Scarborough Shoal to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (Itlos), but China has refused, insisting on its policy of dealing one on one with its territorial rivals in the West Philippine Sea.

The two countries have yet to resume talks to resolve their dispute over Scarborough Shoal.

Tasked with resuming contact with Beijing is the Philippines’ new ambassador to China, Sonia Brady.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said on Sunday, that Brady, 70, had been given orders to “continue the consultations in pursuit of a peaceful resolution” of the dispute over Scarborough Shoal.

Aquino’s cousin eyes Senate seat (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/221695/aquino%E2%80%99s-cousin-eyes-senate-seat)


more aquinos in government? :ohno::bash::bash:

Aquino’s cousin eyes Senate seat (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/221695/aquino%E2%80%99s-cousin-eyes-senate-seat)


more aquinos in government? :ohno::bash::bash:

^^ per pag yung mga kamag-anak ni GMA, wala kang reklamo. :lol::lol:

Talagang kailangang interviewhin si Oscar Cruz ha. :D Relevant??
He is relevant, IMHO. He is a crusader against gambling, will help keep hard-earned money of the lowly workers to where it's needed. People who until now are believing in easy money sans the required efforts should be awakened. If no one does, who will? The good bishop has no ill will to his flock, he wants them freed from the bad effects of gambling. And that job should have been the executive department's job.

^^ per pag yung mga kamag-anak ni GMA, wala kang reklamo. :lol::lol:

eh kasi mag doble na, kasi kayo na nagreklamo noon, kaya change court naman, sya namn magrereklamo ngayon:D fair?:D

eh kasi mag doble na, kasi kayo na nagreklamo noon, kaya change court naman, sya namn magrereklamo ngayon:D fair?:D
Hindi na pwede magreklamo ngayon bro! "Daang Matuwad" na eh! It's unfair now because what they are doing is "straight"! Why question the "unquestionable"? :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

Oh, sorry about that:D

eh kasi mag doble na, kasi kayo na nagreklamo noon, kaya change court naman, sya namn magrereklamo ngayon:D fair?:D

Hindi kami nagreklamo noong naging sila noon kahit na sobrang pakialamero yung baboy na yan. ;) :lol:

Dagdagan nya pa ng mga pabaon at Euro generals nya kaya tuloy unti unting inaagaw yung mga teritoryo natin ngayon. :lol:

Tapos kayo nagreklamo agad na sila na ngayon. :lol:

Hindi na pwede magreklamo ngayon bro! "Daang Matuwad" na eh! It's unfair now because what they are doing is "straight"! Why question the "unquestionable"? :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

Pa analysis analysis ka pa. :lol:

Pa analysis analysis ka pa. :lol:
Ingat-ingat!
http://javencg.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif

Ingat-ingat!
http://javencg.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif

Full of non-sense. :nuts::nuts::lol::lol:

Hindi kami nagreklamo noong naging sila noon kahit na sobrang pakialamero yung baboy na yan. ;) :lol:

Dagdagan nya pa ng mga pabaon at Euro generals nya kaya tuloy unti unting inaagaw yung mga teritoryo natin ngayon. :lol:

Tapos kayo nagreklamo agad na sila na ngayon. :lol:

weeh, di raw, gusto mo halungakatin natin yung mga posts sa archive:lol:

Another Aquino in office? (http://www.rappler.com/nation/7965-bam-aquino-plan-to-bring-young-blood-to-senate)
:puke:

MANILA, Philippines - Bam Aquino, the younger cousin of President Benigno Aquino III, plans to run for senator in the 2013 elections.

Bam -- whose second name is also Benigno :|:| -- has been shortlisted as one of the senatorial candidates of the ruling Liberal Party.

It all started 6 months ago when the senatorial hopeful says he started toying with the idea, but seriously considered it after he was encouraged by Sen Kiko Pangilinan and Gawad Kalinga head Tony Meloto.

He said he then asked his family, friends and fiancée for their opinions and ultimately decided to run, after which he talked to the President.

"He was very open to it," Bam said of his cousin's reaction. "He did say, 'This life is difficult. But if you're decided about serving then why not?' But he also did say there is a process that has to be undergone," he added in a mix of English and Filipino.

Bam said he has gotten the Aquino family's "full support" and intends to run to give the Senate "young blood" and "new ideas."

If Bam makes it to the final senatorial list of the Liberal Party, he will be the youngest candidate at 35, the minimum age required to run for senator.

He was only 8 years old when the People Power Revolution in 1986 ousted President Ferdinand Marcos and put his aunt, President Corazon Aquino, into power.

:puke:The Aquino name

Bam's decision to run has been met with backlash from critics.

According to leftist group Anakbayan, Bam Aquino's planned Senate run reflects "KKK-driven, traditional, dynastic politics prevailing under current government." The group also said Bam's decision to pursue office is an attempt to regain Hacienda Luisita.

Bam denied the accusation saying he does not have any financial stake at the land that belongs to the Cojuangcos -- the family of the President's mother -- and not the Aquinos.

The former head of the National Youth Commission (NYC) added that the Aquinos have had no such history of banding together for a vested interest and have even been known to argue with each other when it comes to politics.

Bam's foray into politics follows a long line of Aquinos who have served in public office.

He is the son of Paul Aquino, youngest brother of the martyred Benigno Aquino "Ninoy" Aquino Jr, who Bam says "prefers to be in the background." Bam also follows in the footsteps of his aunts and uncles, former senators Tessie Aquino-Oreta and Agapito "Butz" Aquino and former Tarlac Rep Hermie Aquino, as well as the President's mother, the late President Corazon Aquino.

Kris, the President's 41-year-old sister, also plans to run for office in 2016, at the end of her brother's term. :bash::bash::bash:

His biggest asset however could be his very own father, who served as the campaign strategist for President Cory Aquino, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the late Speaker Ramon Mitra Jr, who lost a presidential bid in 1992.

Bam admitted his father will play a role in his campaign for senator, in the event that he runs.

"He's an adviser," Bam told Rappler in a text message. "The team being formed is composed of young leaders and young professionals that have worked with me in NYC and in social enterprise."

(snipped)

^^ say, did you just name the 3rd future Aquino Presidency? :lol: :lol: Naalala ko laang may forista kasi rito nagsabi ng prediction na yon.

LP admits party can’t come up with 12 Senate bets (http://tribune.net.ph/index.php/headlines/item/1132-lp-admits-party-can%E2%80%99t-come-up-with-12-senate-bets) :naughty::naughty:

It may be the ruling party today, with even the Philippine President as its chairman, but apparently, the ruling Liberal Party under President Aquino has no takers, as it has been admitted by a party official that the LP cannot come up with a complete senatorial slate for the 2013 elections.

Just a few days ago, Aquino and his allies boasted that the LP has some 25 to 30 politicians who are queuing up to join the LP slate, but such appears to have been an empty boast, given the LP official’s admission yesterday of the party’s inability to come up with a complete LP senatorial slate. :|:|

Sen. Franklin Drilon admitted the LP’s failure or inablity to come up with a 12-man LP senatorial slate, amid reports of the party’s growing number of potential candidates for the Senate race.

Drilon now says that the LP is currently engaged in talks for a possible alliance with another political party, to come up with a complete 12-man line-up for the 2013 elections.

Just the other week, Aquino and his LP officials were reported to have sworn in more than 150 new LP members.

(snipped)

MDS and the other 2 senators are more popular now after voting to acquit CJ Corona.Even the ABS CBN sponsored post impeachment survey showed the three garnered many times more 'likes' than the rest of senators who voted to convict CJ Corona.

Ovation shocks Miriam Santiago out of her skin
Philippine Daily Inquirer
4:54 am | Friday, June 15th, 2012 share9820 9496
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. FILE PHOTO/SENATE POOL
She wasn’t part of the show but her entrance brought the audience to its feet.

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago may have been vilified by some quarters for her vote to acquit former Chief Justice Renato Corona two weeks ago but she got a standing ovation from an audience of about 1,300 who watched the “World Stars of Ballet” at the Aliw Theater in Pasay City last week.

Santiago, an avid fan of Liza Macuja-Elizalde, walked into the full-packed theater featuring the prima ballerina on June 9, a few minutes after the show started at 7:30 p.m. Upon seeing her, the audience stood and mobbed her for cell phone photos until the security personnel intervened and asked everyone to return to their seats.


http://http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/212827/standing-ovation-shocks-miriam-santiago-out-of-her-skin

^^ Nothing is surprising in the Philippines. Even the Marcoses especially Imelda is still very very popular kantahan nya lang tayo ng Dahil sa Iyo. :lol:

weeh, di raw, gusto mo halungakatin natin yung mga posts sa archive:lol:

Go ahead. :D

antay ka lang ha, patulong ako kay daitengu:D

NPA itutulak si Casiño sa LP (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=824144&publicationSubCategoryId=92) :bash:
Ni Butch Quejada (Pilipino Star Ngayon) Updated July 05, 2012 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Aktibo sa pag-atake ang New People’s Army para mapilitan si Pa ngulong Aquino na kunin sa senatorial ticket ng administrasyon si Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino.

Sinabi ni ANAD Rep. Pastor Alcover Jr., dating kasapi sa NPA, na maraming krimen na ginagawa ang komunistang grupo sa mga probinsya gaya ng pagsusunog ng mga construction equipment upang mapasunod ang Pangulo.

“The order of the Communist Party chief is to strike at least per week they have to attack, in order for the president to bow down because they have demands,” sabi ni Alcover.

Ang gusto umanong mangyari ng CPP ay makapasok sa gobyerno upang masira nila ito mula sa loob.

“In fact they are demanding for Teddy Casino representing the Maka bayan party, which is a Maoist communist party front, to be part of the team of the senatorial ticket of the Liberal Party yun ang banat nito ngayon susugan yung atake para si PNoy mag-bow down kunin sila in the name of peace.”

Bahagi umano ng plano ng CCP ang pagpasok sa gobyerno, “you join the government to destroy the government. You use democracy to destroy democracy. I know that because I came from them, mga kasama ko sila noon eh.”

Si Casino ay nasa ikatlo at huling termino na bilang kongresista ng Bayan Muna partylist.

^^ say, did you just name the 3rd future Aquino Presidency? :lol: :lol: Naalala ko laang may forista kasi rito nagsabi ng prediction na yon.

That was me. By a lady Feng Shui expert from Xiamen I met in Romblon. A 3rd Aquino presidency, but there's also a dragon behind the tail of the current Pres. Not sure what the significance, but she also looked at me, and told me and said I will be famous one day. Her prediction for me was past its sell by date.

Anyway, too many Aquinos already, spoil the broth.

^^ Nothing is surprising in the Philippines. Even the Marcoses especially Imelda is still very very popular kantahan nya lang tayo ng Dahil sa Iyo. :lol:

saka Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)

NPA itutulak si Casiño sa LP (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=824144&publicationSubCategoryId=92) :bash:


utak talangka naman talaga yan si casiño oh oh. now that we are heading up itong mga tao namang to ang gusto na namang manghila pababa.

Ayon sa balita, ang Nacionalista Party ng aking idol ang pinaka-"stable" sa lahat ng maglalaban sa 2013!:cheers::cheers:


Trillanes is now with the Nacionalistas!:cheers::cheers:

^^ Sa totoo lang, nakakasuka yung LP-NP merger. After nila magsiraan nung 2010. Tapos ngayon. Langya. G@guh@n e.

^^ Sa totoo lang, nakakasuka yung LP-NP merger. After nila magsiraan nung 2010. Tapos ngayon. Langya. G@guh@n e.

wag ka na magulat. sa mga empleyado na nga lang sa gobyerno, tingnan mo si Dinky Doo:D:lol::nuts:

House pressing for Charter change
by Maricel Cruz


Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Wednesday said the House of Representatives will push to amend obsolete economic provisions of the Constitution, despite the lukewarm response from the Palace and warnings that doing so could open a Pandora’s box of wide-ranging political changes.

“When I talk about charter change, I am only talking of [changing] the economic provisions because it is not difficult and complicated,” Belmonte told reporters.

The Palace, which has been cool to talk about constitutional change, said it would be open to amendments as long as they “fit the reform agenda” of President Benigno Aquino III.

But Belmonte said Congress shouldn’t be the only one pushing for constitutional reforms.

“Constitutional change should not be owned by anybody. Nobody can say this belongs to us. It should be the property of everybody, nothing partisan,” he said.

Belmonte said he preferred to amend the Constitution through a constituent assembly, with the House and the Senate voting separately, rather than a constitutional convention with elected delegates.

He added that sweeping political reforms were “too complicated” and that the amendments should focus only on “obsolete and anachronistic economic provisions” of the Constitution to spur the economy, encourage more foreign investments, and to make the country more competitive.

manilaStandard (http://manilastandardtoday.com/www2/2012/07/12/house-pressing-for-charter-change/)

wag ka na magulat. sa mga empleyado na nga lang sa gobyerno, tingnan mo si Dinky Doo:D:lol::nuts:

Pagkatapos magiiyak-iyak sa TV noon gawa papalitan na dapat ni Glue in favor of Noli na hindi na tinuloy ni Midget, sabay punta sa Hyatt. Pwe!

Dapat diyan iniimbestigahan sa Code NGO scandal e

House pressing for Charter change
by Maricel Cruz


Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Wednesday said the House of Representatives will push to amend obsolete economic provisions of the Constitution, despite the lukewarm response from the Palace and warnings that doing so could open a Pandora’s box of wide-ranging political changes.

“When I talk about charter change, I am only talking of [changing] the economic provisions because it is not difficult and complicated,” Belmonte told reporters.

The Palace, which has been cool to talk about constitutional change, said it would be open to amendments as long as they “fit the reform agenda” of President Benigno Aquino III.

But Belmonte said Congress shouldn’t be the only one pushing for constitutional reforms.

“Constitutional change should not be owned by anybody. Nobody can say this belongs to us. It should be the property of everybody, nothing partisan,” he said.

Belmonte said he preferred to amend the Constitution through a constituent assembly, with the House and the Senate voting separately, rather than a constitutional convention with elected delegates.

He added that sweeping political reforms were “too complicated” and that the amendments should focus only on “obsolete and anachronistic economic provisions” of the Constitution to spur the economy, encourage more foreign investments, and to make the country more competitive.

manilaStandard (http://manilastandardtoday.com/www2/2012/07/12/house-pressing-for-charter-change/)

This is how I would like the present Constitution be simplified:

I. Preamble

II. Bill of Rights

III. Powers of the State

a. National and Public interest (inc. Powers of Taxation, National Patrimony, Economic, foreign policies, etc.)
b. National and Internal Security (inc. Police Power)
c. Political Division (Federal vs. Unitary, Presidential vs. Parliament structure, checks and balances)
d. Government Function & Structure (National and Local government/rules of election, method of passing laws, etc.)
e. Territories (incl. Eminent Domain and Sovereignty)

IV. Citizenship

V. Amendments

Everything else including the economic provisions should be crafted from the scratch using the Constitution as a guideline that depends on the definition of National Interests to add more flexibility for the laws to be passed, repealed or amended depending on the economic trends.

wow, si askal mambabatas din pala:D

takbo ka kaya sa eleksiyon ng maturuan ang mga bobita nasa posisyon ngayon:D

wow, si askal mambabatas din pala:D

takbo ka kaya sa eleksiyon ng maturuan ang mga bobita nasa posisyon ngayon:D

Suggestion lang naman na sana ganon lang kasimple yan. :|

I based it on the principle that the Constitution is more of a social contract (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract) than a supreme law of the land so that's why the Bill of Rights and the Powers of the State are enumerated, defining the extent of their powers and their limitations.

Syempre, malaki na ang coverage nyan- pati na yung national interest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_interest) that could serve as the guidelines for our economic, social, industrial and other policies. :)

Dapat maging flexible ang Consitution sa mga pagbabago para sumabay sa takbo ng panahon at hindi na ulit magkaroon ng charter change.

ay hindi pala:D

wag na lang, balik ka na lang uli bilang number cruncher:D

Leave or take, there is nothing to lose sharing your ideas unless there is a malicious intent.

Who knows, maybe someone got interested reading it.

magkaka interes kaya ang mga nasa puesto?:D

si pnoy na nga mismo nagsabi, not a priority:D boss mo yan, tanong mo bakit?
Grace lee ata ang priority:D

magkaka interes kaya ang mga nasa puesto?:D

si pnoy na nga mismo nagsabi, not a priority:D boss mo yan, tanong mo bakit?
Grace lee ata ang priority:D

Kahit sino pa makaupo dyan. They are all of the same color. :D

Change can either take place through democratic or bloody means. But let's hope that the time will come when people in general come into full understanding how democracy took shape over time so they know what they should expect from the social contract with the government that doesn't always favor the few but powerful families in disguised of nationalism kuno.

si roderick paulate ay councilor ng q.c tapos madaming ghost employee, kaya nasuspended ng ombudsman

^^ Pinagtanggol ni Bistek at VM Joy. Baka mabisto ba? :D

I can very well perceive that the personalities being mentioned on this page were former or are current TV/movie celebrities. If that singular fact/obsession hasn't sunk in yet amongst the brainwashed and the arduous fans, it might be interesting to point out that those who are brainwashed in jologoguery and jejemonia, or those who are afflicted with that infection are largely unaware that they had taken leave of their senses. Which is why they cannot separate reality from fantasy, cannot distinguish between the reel world and the real world. To their minds, their beloved movie stars are the epitome of greatness worthy of emulation. Amazing... :lol: :lol: now where is skyion when we the thinking minority need him.

We'll see if this happens... :popcorn:

Politician pushes extreme anti-piracy bill in the Philippines
JULY 18, 2012

Thought the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was bad? A similar bill introduced into the Philippines’ House of Representatives would penalize people who illegally download with a minimum two-year jail sentence and fines of 50,000 to 150,000 Phillippine pesos. ($1,200-$3,600).

“Piracy is theft of intellectual property and is no more justifiable than shoplifting,” said Representative Irwin Tieng, who introduced the bill, H.B. 6187. “The damage done to the entertainment industry and legitimate end users do not outweigh the few advantages that piracy does have,” he added.

Fiercely advocating for greater copyright enforcement, though, may be a conflict of interest. Tieng’s uncle is Wilson Tieng, the CEO of Filipino entertainment conglomerate Solar.


more: http://www.dailydot.com/news/sopa-bill-philippines-irwin-tieng/

^^ Haha, good luck on regulating the internet. If the US cant do it, then the Philippines cant do it.

torrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnttttt:D

torrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnttttt:D

I see what you did there. :lol:

We'll see if this happens... :popcorn:

Politician pushes extreme anti-piracy bill in the Philippines
JULY 18, 2012



more: http://www.dailydot.com/news/sopa-bill-philippines-irwin-tieng/

Why not. As long as it will protect legitimate business here in the country.

I see what you did there. :lol:

paano na ang mga kiddies sa bahay na miembro ng Doramismo:D

paano na ang mga kiddies sa bahay na miembro ng Doramismo:D

:lol:

I don't usually download that stuff. But when I do, it is usually apps. :lol:

:lol:

I don't usually download that stuff. But when I do, it is usually apps. :lol:

oh! lemme guess:D

MS Office:D
Windows OSes:D
AutoCAD:D
Photoshop:D
Winzip?:D toinks:lol::lol::lol:

oh! lemme guess:D

MS Office:D
Windows OSes:D
AutoCAD:D
Photoshop:D
Winzip?:D toinks:lol::lol::lol:

Close enough. :D

LOL on Winzip, I have a free alternative called PeaZip. And for the AutoCAD, I don't use it since I don't belong to Architecture, Construction, and Engineering Industry. :)

State of President Aquino’s wish list



By Norman Bordadora
Philippine Daily Inquirer
1:14 am | Sunday, July 22nd, 2012
14112


An increase in the government’s share in the billions of pesos in revenues from mining and the passage of the sin tax bill are among the laws President Aquino will ask Congress to pass despite fast-approaching midterm elections.

Taxes and other revenue proposals are unpopular as elections draw near, and Mr. Aquino’s majority allies in Congress are facing their first election since he came to office two years ago, but the government needs to raise more revenue to finance its development and social programs.

Two Palace officials spoke about President Aquino’s legislative wish list two days before he was to address a joint session of Congress to report on the state of the nation.

Mr. Aquino is expected to present his legislative priorities during his speech, but Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Presidential Legislative Liaison Manuel Mamba didn’t say if the bills they mentioned would be included in the State of the Nation Address, whose text is closely guarded until minutes before delivery.

“That will be subject to another round of [legislative-executive development advisory council] discussions,” Abad said when asked what measures the President would ask from the Senate and the House of Representatives before the 15th Congress ended and the lawmakers faced voters next May.

“But some immediately come to mind—sin tax indexation, rationalization of fiscal incentives, the third [Anti-Money Laundering Act or Amla] amendment, and recently, the increase in excise tax on mining,” Abad said in a text message to the Inquirer.

Asked if those proposals would be in the President’s speech, Abad said he was not sure, as the speech was still going through revisions, with an eighth draft in the works as of yesterday.

Priority measures

Mamba, speaking on state-run radio dzRB, said President Aquino’s priority measures were the sin tax reform bill, the ratification of the country’s visiting forces agreement with Australia, and the third amendment to give more teeth to the antimoney-laundering law.


http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/category/editors-pick/banner-story

The RH bill should be passed by Congress this year.

Sana may Amendment na sa constitution at gawing Federal Republic ang Pilipinas. yang RH bill saka na lang muna yan if we can cut corruption 75% at mahirap pa rin ang Pinas thats the time I will blame the population.

Yang ilang bilyong pundo ng RH bill baka another milking cow na naman yan. Cut the corruption to a manageable level if mahirap pa rin tayo thats the time to focus our attention sa population.

Senate to prioritize bills encouraging entrepreneurship, competition (http://business.inquirer.net/72799/senate-to-prioritize-bills-encouraging-entrepreneurship-competition)
By: Katherine Evangelista
INQUIRER.net
1:49 pm | Monday, July 23rd, 2012

MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile on Monday said the Senate will prioritize two business-related bills; one will prohibit and discourage mergers that promote anti-competitiveness in the market while another is meant to harness local entrepreneurship.

Speaking before the Senate during the resumption of the 15th Congress’ third regular session, Enrile said they will prioritize the passing of Senate Bill 3098 or the Competition Act.

“In order to protect our people, we must ensure that prices dictated by the market and not fixed as a result of any corporation’s control over the quantity of products produced.

We must not allow colluding firms to divide businesses solely among themselves. Nor should we permit them to abuse their dominant status by artificially creating barriers against other firms who want to do business,” Enrile said in his speech.

“Furthermore, we believe in improving our country’s capacity to create good and services. If our country is to ride the crest of an economic boom, we must eradicate practices that make us passive consumers of the world market,” he added.

On the other hand, local businessmen should likewise be protected hence the need to immediately pass on third reading Senate Bill 3071 or the Philippine Design Competitiveness Act Of 2011 filed by Senators Manny Villar and Teofisto “TG” Guingona.

“We should be on the look-out for the genius of the Filipino entrepreneur and ensure that he is able to enjoy the economic benefits that can be derived from his creation,” Enrile said.

Meanwhile, the Senate will also approve on third reading Senate Bill 2842 or the Intellectual Property Code, which seeks to elevate the Department of Trade and Industry’s copyright section to a servicing bureau or the Bureau of Copyright, under the Intellectual Property Office.

“The creation of the Bureau of Copyright will facilitate the immediate resolution of cases involving issues on copyright, licensing, and collective management agreements,” Enrile said.

EDITORIAL - Legislative priorities (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=830708&publicationSubCategoryId=64)
(The Philippine Star) Updated July 24, 2012 12:00 AM

Delivering his annual report card to the nation for over an hour yesterday, President Aquino mentioned only four measures that he wanted Congress to pass.

One is the “sin tax” bill on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages. Congress has been kicking around this proposal for many years. With Malacañang stressing that the additional revenues are needed to finance social services including health care and public education, perhaps the measure will finally get congressional approval.

Another presidential priority is the measure providing for the revenue sharing scheme in mining operations. The government wants a greater share in earnings from mining operations, and the revenue scheme is needed before new mining permits will be issued. Businessmen who welcomed the recently released executive order outlining the national policy on mining have expressed concern that a long wait for the revenue measure will dampen investor interest in the sector.

A third priority is the Responsible Parenthood Bill, also known as the Reproductive Health Bill. When President Aquino was a member of Congress, he was a strong proponent of the RH measure. Universal access to reproductive health services by 2015 is one of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which the Philippines has committed to achieve. In his third State of the Nation Address, the President noted that the nation continues to suffer from a high maternal mortality rate and resources cannot keep up with the demands of a growing population.

The RH bill will benefit mainly women from low-income households. Women with financial means and education have always enjoyed access to reproductive health care and can make informed choices on family planning. President Aquino’s pitch for responsible parenthood yesterday was one of the most applauded in his SONA.

His fourth priority measure is another amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, which aims to expand the coverage of the law. Congress passed a separate amendment in its previous session and promised to work on the other measure, which will include bribery and malversation of public funds among the predicate crimes covered by the law. The amendment is necessary for the success of any serious anti-corruption campaign.

Four is not an unwieldy number, and the measures mentioned by the President have been deliberated on for a long time by the legislature. Four is not too much for the Chief Executive to ask of Congress. Lawmakers should buckle down to work.

Our World: President and the Pulpit
A BBC documentary about the RH bill
KBmw6UuNgVo

^galing rin, ok-

Suggestion lang naman na sana ganon lang kasimple yan. :|

I based it on the principle that the Constitution is more of a social contract (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract) than a supreme law of the land so that's why the Bill of Rights and the Powers of the State are enumerated, defining the extent of their powers and their limitations.

Syempre, malaki na ang coverage nyan- pati na yung national interest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_interest) that could serve as the guidelines for our economic, social, industrial and other policies. :)

Dapat maging flexible ang Consitution sa mga pagbabago para sumabay sa takbo ng panahon at hindi na ulit magkaroon ng charter change.

IDK, I like how more precise the Phil Constitution is than the US constitution. You see, nagagamit ng mga illegal sa US ang 14th amendment at citizenship clause na yan sa anchor babies nila while walang lusot sa Phil citizenship unless magunder the table ka.

I think konting tweak lang sa mga outdated things, we're okay.

^theyre so similar that filipino lawyers could practice in california or new york if pursue

^^ The Phil constitution is a mixture of American FRAMEWORK and the old Spanish civil code.

^^ The Phil constitution is a mixture of American FRAMEWORK and the old Spanish civil code.

And pinoy gobbledygook plus tactlessness in the implementation! Homaygawd!

Sotto's anti-RH speech copied from US blogger who writes about recipes :ohno: :bash:



August 15, 2012 11:07pm

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/269929/news/nation/sotto-s-anti-rh-speech-copied-from-us-blogger-who-writes-about-recipes

Sen. Tito Sotto's emotional story on the Senate floor last Monday about the death of his son may have come from his heart, but at least one lengthy passage from his speech (http://www.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2012/0814_sotto1.asp) came from someone else's blog.

Sotto's description of the purported ill effects of birth control pills on unborn children was lifted nearly word for word from the blog of "Sarah, the healthy home economist," (http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/how-the-pill-can-harm-your-future-childs-health/) a US-based writer who also opposes vaccines (http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/the-myth-of-mandatory-school-vaccinations/) for children and offers recipes for goodies like grain-free pumpkin cookies. (http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/pumpkin-cookies-grain-free/)

Sotto did not attribute any of his words or research to "Sarah, the healthy home economist," whose disclaimer (http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/sarah/disclaimer/) cautions that "the nutritional and other information on this website are not intended to be and do not constitute health care or medical advice."

The plagiarism was first exposed by Alfredo Melgar on the blog Filipino freethinkers (http://filipinofreethinkers.org/2012/08/15/sottos-reckless-method-of-legislation-is-inexcusable/).

Here is a comparison of Sotto’s speech (http://www.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2012/0814_sotto1.asp) and Sarah’s blog: (http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/how-the-pill-can-harm-your-future-childs-health/)

1. Sotto’s speech (from second to last paragraph):

“According, to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, the use of the pill also causes severe gut dysbiosis. What is worse, drug induced gut imbalance is especially intractable and resistant to treatment either with probiotics or diet change.”

Sarah’s blog:

“According, to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, use of other drugs such as the Pill also cause severe gut dybiosis. What’s worse, drug induced gut imbalance is especially intractable and resistant to treatment either with probiotics or diet change.”

2. Sotto’s speech:

“Gut imbalance brought on through use of the pill negatively impacts the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients. As a result, even if a woman eats spectacularly well during pregnancy, if she has been taking oral contraceptives for a period of time beforehand, it is highly likely that she and her baby are not reaping the full benefits of all this healthy food as the lack of beneficial flora in her gut preclude this from occurring.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Gut imbalance brought on through use of The Pill negatively impacts the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients. As a result, even if a women eats spectacularly well during pregnancy, if she has been taking oral contraceptives for a period of time beforehand, it is highly likely that she and her baby are not reaping the full benefits of all this healthy food as the lack of beneficial flora in her gut preclude this from occurring.”

3. Sotto’s speech:

“Pathogenic, opportunistic flora that take hold in the gut when the pill is used constantly produce toxic substances which are the by-products of their metabolism. These toxins leak into the woman’s bloodstream and they have the potential to cross the placenta. Therefore, gut dysbiosis exposes the fetus to toxin.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Pathogenic, opportunistic flora that take hold in the gut when The Pill is used constantly produce toxic substances which are the by-products of their metabolism. These toxins leak into the woman’s bloodstream and guess what, they have the potential to cross the placenta! Therefore, gut dysbiosis exposes the fetus to toxins.”

4. Sotto’s speech:

“Not well known is also the fact that use of the pill depletes zinc in the body. Zinc is called 'the intelligence mineral' as it is intimately involved in mental development.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Not well known is the fact that use of The Pill depletes zinc in the body. Zinc is called 'the intelligence mineral' as it is intimately involved in mental development.”

— DVM/HS, GMA News

^^ haha huli ka

mga politiko talaga.. :lol:

Naalala ko dati, sa Manny Pangilinan.

Have these people been schooled? o.o

Wonder what sorry ass excuse will Sen. Sotto give for his blatant plagiarism of Sara's Blog in his nationally televised “turno en contra” speech?
Shame on him for having the audacity and arrogance to do such a thing. Sen. Sotto should resign if there is any decency left in him. :ohno: :ohno: :ohno:

Sotto’s Reckless Method of Legislation is Inexcusable
http://filipinofreethinkers.org/2012/08/15/sottos-reckless-method-of-legislation-is-inexcusable/

Senator Tito Sotto suffered a personal loss with the death of his son. We understand his grief. What we cannot understand is why he chose to rely on a blogger to explain his son’s death.

Right before asserting that he lost a child due to contraceptives, Sotto said he has scientific proof about the “damaging effects to children born from mothers who were using contraceptives prior to their pregnancy.” He then went on a lengthy explanation about gut imbalance, opportunistic flora, exposure of the fetus to toxins and zinc depletion.

His scientific proof was copied entirely and almost word-for-word from an article by a blogger calling herself “Sarah, the Healthy Home Economist.”

Do the comparison yourself. See the second to the last paragraph of Sotto’s speech and Sarah’s blog.

Sotto’s speech

Actually, these contraceptives are not just detrimental to women and the unborn. They are scientifically proven to have damaging effects to children born from mothers who were using contraceptives prior to their pregnancy too. According, to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, the use of the pill also causes severe gut dysbiosis. What is worse, drug induced gut imbalance is especially intractable and resistant to treatment either with probiotics or diet change. 1 Gut imbalance brought on through use of the pill negatively impacts the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients. As a result, even if a woman eats spectacularly well during pregnancy, if she has been taking oral contraceptives for a period of time beforehand, it is highly likely that she and her baby are not reaping the full benefits of all this healthy food as the lack of beneficial flora in her gut preclude this from occurring. 2 Pathogenic, opportunistic flora that take hold in the gut when the pill is used constantly produce toxic substances which are the by-products of their metabolism. These toxins leak into the woman’s bloodstream and they have the potential to cross the placenta. Therefore, gut dysbiosis exposes the fetus to toxins. 3 Not well known is also the fact that use of the pill depletes zinc in the body. Zinc is called “the intelligence mineral” as it is intimately involved in mental development. 4

Comparing Sotto's Speech and Sarah’s blog:

1. Sotto’s speech (from second to last paragraph):

“According, to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, the use of the pill also causes severe gut dysbiosis. What is worse, drug induced gut imbalance is especially intractable and resistant to treatment either with probiotics or diet change.”

Sarah’s blog:

“According, to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, use of other drugs such as the Pill also cause severe gut dybiosis. What’s worse, drug induced gut imbalance is especially intractable and resistant to treatment either with probiotics or diet change.”

2. Sotto’s speech:

“Gut imbalance brought on through use of the pill negatively impacts the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients. As a result, even if a woman eats spectacularly well during pregnancy, if she has been taking oral contraceptives for a period of time beforehand, it is highly likely that she and her baby are not reaping the full benefits of all this healthy food as the lack of beneficial flora in her gut preclude this from occurring.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Gut imbalance brought on through use of The Pill negatively impacts the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients. As a result, even if a women eats spectacularly well during pregnancy, if she has been taking oral contraceptives for a period of time beforehand, it is highly likely that she and her baby are not reaping the full benefits of all this healthy food as the lack of beneficial flora in her gut preclude this from occurring.”

3. Sotto’s speech:

“Pathogenic, opportunistic flora that take hold in the gut when the pill is used constantly produce toxic substances which are the by-products of their metabolism. These toxins leak into the woman’s bloodstream and they have the potential to cross the placenta. Therefore, gut dysbiosis exposes the fetus to toxin.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Pathogenic, opportunistic flora that take hold in the gut when The Pill is used constantly produce toxic substances which are the by-products of their metabolism. These toxins leak into the woman’s bloodstream and guess what, they have the potential to cross the placenta! Therefore, gut dysbiosis exposes the fetus to toxins.”

4. Sotto’s speech:

“Not well known is also the fact that use of the pill depletes zinc in the body. Zinc is called 'the intelligence mineral' as it is intimately involved in mental development.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Not well known is the fact that use of The Pill depletes zinc in the body. Zinc is called 'the intelligence mineral' as it is intimately involved in mental development.”


Sotto should know that Sarah has also written several articles against vaccination, with a summary piece entitled “Six Reasons To Say NO to Vaccination” having these two wild and reckless claims:
◦ALL Vaccines are Loaded with Chemicals and other Poisons
◦Fully Vaccinated Children are the Unhealthiest, Most Chronically Ill Children I Know

Sotto should also have read Sarah’s disclaimer on her site which says: “The information on this website is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to substitute for the advice provided by your doctor or other health care professional. … The nutritional and other information on this website are not intended to be and do not constitute health care or medical advice.”

Sotto ignored decades of studies and declarations by the World Health Organization and the Department of Health that contraceptives are safe, only to rely on an unknown blogger making wild claims. He even ignored the blogger’s disclaimer. Sotto’s reckless method of legislation is inexcusable.

^^ I wonder if si Sotto gumawa nyan o may mga speechwriter din ba ang mga senatongs?

Time for us to take plagiarism seriously. Should start at schools

^^ Sotto: Why should I quote a blogger?

Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III denied lifting passages written by a blogger who calls herself, “Sarah, the Healthy Home Economist.”

In an interview on Headstart on ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel, Sotto said he did not plagiarize in his “turno en contra” speech against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill. Sotto guested on the show on Thursday, August 16.

“Pareho kami ng pinagkuhan. (We got it from the same source.) I’m quoting Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride. Even in my first speech and my second speech, lagi kong sinasabi, hindi galing sa akin ito, kinuha ko ito kay Natasha McBride (I always say, this is not coming from me, I'm getting it from Natasha McBride.) Why should I quote a blogger?”

The senator was referring to the doctor he cited as part of what he called expert opinion and scientific studies showing the damaging effect of contraceptives to children born to mothers who used contraception.

Sotto added that his staff did not examine blogs in getting research to debunk arguments of the RH advocates.

Full story here (http://www.rappler.com/nation/10606-sotto-why-should-i-quote-a-blogger)

^^ Naks Palusot! So this is Sen. Sotto's reply to the allegations of plagiarism in his “turno en contra” speech. Just used the same sources he said and didn't plagiarized from Sarah's Blog. What a sorry ass excuse as expected. So how come he didn't say something like "I quote" and "end quote" in his “turno en contra” speech then? Just that in essence by not doing this, Sen. Sotto had basically lifted word for word somebody's work without due recognition. Isn't that plagiarism still? It's like saying he and Sarah's Blog both plagiarized from the same sources they got their info from which is why they both ended up with respective works that's almost word for word. If you won't quote the source then better put it in your own words. Politicians talaga mahilig magpalusot. Sorry Sen. Sotto we're not that gullible! :bash: :bash: :bash:

Tsk, tsk, tsk... Lumabas din ang totoo! So there was indeed plagiarism as suspected/reported. In reality, Sen. Sotto should take responsibility for the contents of his speech. Ignorance is no excuse. He should have done his due diligence. So what's next? Not only should Sen. Sotto fire who ever in his staff did the plagiarising but he should also man/own up to this and do the right thing and resign if he has any decency left. This is no different from what happened to MVP and he had the decency to do the right thing. MVP is more of a man than Sen. Sotto will ever be. Sotto will not have the balls to resign! (excuse the pun) :bash: :bash: :bash:


Sotto's staff admits plagiarizing blogger
Rappler.com
http://www.rappler.com/nation/10668-sotto-s-staff-admits-plagiarism

MANILA, Philippines - The chief of staff of Sen Vicente "Tito" Sotto III finally admitted that parts of his speech against the RH bill on Wednesday, August 15, were copied from a blog by a foreign author who calls herself the “Healthy Home Economist.”

Lawyer Hector A. Villacorta, Sotto's chief of staff, wrote Sarah Pope a response in the comments section of her blog in which he said: "I understand you felt slighted that your blog was not attributed to you which became part of the speech of the senator."

"Let me say that after asking my staff, indeed your blog was used but only in quoting also from the same book of Dr. Campbell-Mcbride."

Villacorta admitted the plagiarism hours after Sotto denied it. Pope then went online to say that the senator indeed copied parts of her blog.

In a text message to Rappler, Villacorta admitted that the message on Pope's website and Facebook page indeed came from him.

"[It was a message] saying that my staff sourced it there. Semi-apology if she wanted to be credited. Our research for the past 5 months used the Internet also. It was a technical medical paragraph difficult to paraphrase."

Villacorta admitted that the speech used information from Pope's blog. "It was a quotation from a book and we said so."

Willing to give credit

In the message posted on the blogger's website and Facebook page, Sotto's chief of staff offered to give credit to the blogger but also mentioned that both she and the senator "are both indebted to the book's author."

Villacorta then stated: "If you wish that you also be credited with the contents of this book, let this be your affirmation. I can do it and by this message, I am doing it. Hope this satisfies you."

Sotto's chief of staff noted that the senator did not lift the words himself, as that was their doing, and asked to not be crucified for this "oversight."

Take their side over the RH bill

Villacorta also requested the blogger to take their side in the discussions on the RH bill and not "deflect the debate toward this issue of plagiarism. It is so out of sync in this great debate."

"All the unborn wants very much the right to be born and need everybody's help, including yours."

The senator is a staunch opponent of the bill which mandates government to actively promote family planning, among others. The bill has reached the period of amendments in the Senate, but critics led by the Catholic Church have vowed to stop it from becoming into law.

As majority floor leader, Sotto is a key power player in the upper chamber. A counterpart bill in the House is also being debated. President Benigno Aquino III has expressed support for the bill but has so far not wielded his tremendous powers to swiftly pass it.

The senator's chief of staff asked Pope to forgive "our single trespass," and to join them "on the side of life and truth."

"We had no malice, we thought you would be happy about it. There was no injury. Hope this makes you feel better."

Blog used without permission

After a few minutes, Sarah Pope replied to Villacorta in her blog's comments section.

"I don't like the fact that my blog was used without my permission against the education of the women of the Philippines and their reproductive rights. That is the issue and it was indeed plagiarism."

The blogger also refused to allow Sotto's staff to take all the blame.

"If his staff did it, he [Sotto] condoned it. He is responsible for your actions. My blog was quoted, not Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. I put her work in my own words and you copied my words."

On Thursday morning, in an interview on Headstart on ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel, Sotto said he did not plagiarize in his “turno en contra” speech against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

“Itong blogger na sinasabi nila, eh pareho kami ng pinagkunan eh. Ang pinagkunan namin si Natasha Campbell-McBride. And in my speeches, even in my first speech and my second speech, I’ve always said, every now and then sinisingit ko, hindi po ako nagdudunong-dunungan ha. Hindi po galing sa akin ito.” (This blogger they’re mentioning, we got it from the same source. Our source is Natasha Campbell-McBride. And I’ve always said, I’m not pretending to be wise. This does not come from me.)

“Bakit ko naman iko-quote ang blogger? Blogger lang iyon. Ang kino-quote ko si Natasha Campbell-McBride.” (Why should I quote a blogger? She’s just a blogger. I’m quoting Natasha Campbell-McBride.)

He was referring to the doctor he cited as part of what he called expert opinion and scientific studies showing the damaging effect of contraceptives to children born to mothers who used contraception. (Read parts of Sotto's speech here and compare with Pope's blog.)

PH women must have a choice

Pope also made clear that "a woman needs to know that the pill can indeed harm her, but this is NO REASON to take away this choice from her in the first place."

"I do not agree with Senator Sotto's position on this issue and he twisted the message of my blog to suit his own purposes against the women of the Philippines."

And she concluded: "No, your lame comment does not make me feel any better."

In a later comment, the blogger apologized to the women of the Philippines for the misuse of the contents of her blog.

"I am sorry my blog was used and twisted against you. You deserve the choice to use the pill if you want or need to based on your particular circumstances."

Pope stressed: "While I want you to know that this choice has health consequences, I in no way would ever condone taking this choice away from you!"

Did the Sen. Sotto speech copy from 5 bloggers?
Exclusive by Raïssa Robles
http://raissarobles.com/2012/08/16/did-sen-sotto-copy-from-4-bloggers/

This morning, when Senator Sotto was asked by ABS-CBNNews anchor Karen Davila whether he had copied from the blog thehealthyeconomist.com in his August 13 speech, he had replied:

Pareho kaming pinagkunan. I’m quoting Natasha Campbell McBride. Why should I quote a blogger?

He’s right you know.

He did not quote from a blogger because he quoted from FIVE bloggers.

Two commenters named Vincent D. Bautista and Miguel Syjuco have found other instances of copying made by Senator Vicente Sotto in his speech yesterday August 15. My thanks to their quick eyes.

Vincent noted that Senator Sotto copied a passage from the blog - thetruthofcontraceptives

Miguel also found what Vincent did. Plus, he found two other blogs from which Senator Sotto had copied portions word for word. These are talkingsense by Marlon C. Ramirez and feministsfor choice.

A commenter named Diego has found another blog from which Sen. Sotto copied the following passage:

While Sanger claimed she merely wanted to pay her respects and give a personal tribute to Gandhi, she coveted nothing less than his endorsement of the widespread use of artificial birth control methods. Gandhi firmly stood by his belief that the spiritual bonds of marriage are strengthened by sexual abstinence. He thus completely rejected Sanger’s plea for contraception as a tool to control population growth, fearing it would lead to an increase in non-procreative sex, which he viewed as immoral lust.

Diego correctly pointed out that the passage came from the blog of New York University. The words in red are those that Sen. Sotto’s speech lifted:

While Sanger claimed she mainly wanted to pay her respects and give a personal tribute to Gandhi, she coveted nothing less than his endorsement of birth control. Gandhi promoted the spiritual bonds of marriage, which, he argued, were strengthened by continence. He reluctantly agreed to consider sanctioning the safe period or rhythm method, but rejected Sanger’s plea for contraception to control population growth, fearing it would lead to an increase in non-procreative sex, which he viewed as immoral lust.

UPDATE as of 4:30 PM, August 16, 2012

The blogger of the healthyhomeeconomist found out pretty quickly that a Philippine senator lifted from her website. Here’s what she post 13 hours ago. Thanks @peanut and @pimplepopper on Twitter for giving me the heads up on this:

Sen. Sotto is probably going to say, why quibble over a few words – 345 words to be exact. [Those are what alana Vincent and Miguel have found so far. There may be more.] The 345 words are a mere 7% of his 4,760-word speech.

That’s not much.

But we’re not speaking of volume here, but of thought. And intellectual honesty.

Could I be wrong?

Well, don’t take my word for it. Look at the similarities yourself.

Below, I have listed FIVE INSTANCES of his copying word for word, as noted by Miguel and Vincent.

Some supporters of the senator would probably say they find nothing wrong in such copying. It’s done all the time. Words aren’t covered by copyright.

If you notice, though, what Senator Sotto did is the same thing that CNN’s Fareed Zakaria was recently accused of. Zakaria had the decency to apologize and he was suspended by CNN and Time magazine.

Perhaps Senator Sotto did not mean to copy and paste. Perhaps an aide did this for him. Or perhaps someone else fed it to him and he trusted the source completely. Or perhaps one of the bloggers was even his friend.

However, all those copied words became Senator Sotto’s very own when they were officially entered into Senate records.

Below are the instances of copying.

ONE – From Sen. Sotto’s speech:

Sanger was so intent on reducing family size that she seemed to not stop even at abortion. Many believe that under the right circumstances, Sanger would have condoned infanticide. Indeed she wrote in her book Woman and the New Race: “The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” This comes from the woman who formed the philosophical base for IPPF.

Copied from Talking Sense by Marlon C. Ramirez:

Breaking Up the Family

Since Margaret Sanger began spreading her ideas about recreational sex and contraception (with babies optional) divorce rates have climbed steadily. When she began her work in 1915, it was standard for married couples to work through their times of difficulty, rather than leave each other. But as her message of hedonism and promiscuity penetrated deeper into society, more and more marriages broke up. Sanger was so intent on reducing family size that she seemed to not stop even at abortion. Many believe that, under the right circumstances, Sanger would have condoned infanticide. Indeed, she wrote in her book Woman And the New Race: “The most merciful thing that the large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” This comes from the woman who formed the philosophical base for Planned Parenthood.


TWO – From Senator Sotto’s speech:

You can also see that her interest in birth control was not just due to some humane concern for health of women (which birth control doesn’t help anyway), but was driven in part by her desire to encourage women to engage in sex without having children.

But there was even a darker side to Margaret Sanger: a side that IPPF people try to cover up or explain away. That was her belief in “eugenics.” Eugenics is defined as “the application of the laws of hereditary to physical and mental improvement, especially of the human race.”

To Sanger this meant the systematic elimination (through birth control, including abortion) of all those people she and her cohorts considered to be of “dysgenic stock” in order to create a race of superior intellectuals. Ito na rin po yung tinatawag na eugenics–if you are weak, useless, uneducated and poor, you have no right in this world. Sa medaling salita, ang gusto mangyari ng konsepto na eugenics ay ang magkaroon ng birth control para ang matitira na lamang sa mundo ay ang lahing na superior at intelektwal.

Copied from Talking Sense by Marlon C. Ramirez:

But there was another side of Margaret Sanger; a side that Planned Parenthood people try to cover up or explain away. That was her belief in eugenics. Eugenics is defined as “the application of the laws of heredity to physical and mental improvement, especially of the human race.” To Sanger this meant the systematic elimination (through birth control, including abortion) of all those people she and her cohorts considered to be of “dysgenic stock” in order to create a race of superior intellectuals.


THREE – From Senator Sotto’s speech:

Sanger also attempted to unduly influence Mahatma Gandhi to adhere to her distorted principles. Fortunately, Sanger’s attempts to do so proved futile. The two activists met in December of 1936 when Sanger traveled to India to speak with Gandhi about birth control, population and the plight of women in India. At that time, Sanger staunchly advocated the global use of artificial contraceptives and, in order to make the acceptance of such contraceptives easier to the Indian populace, sought to make Gandhi an ally. While Sanger claimed she merely wanted to pay her respects and give a personal tribute to Gandhi, she coveted nothing less than his endorsement of the widespread use of artificial birth control methods. Gandhi firmly stood by his belief that the spiritual bonds of marriage are strengthened by sexual abstinence. He thus completely rejected Sanger’s plea for contraception as a tool to control population growth, fearing it would lead to an increase in non-procreative sex, which he viewed as immoral lust.

Copied from feministsforchoice.com:

I recently read an article about the correspondence and meeting between two of the most independent thinkers of the 20th Century, Margaret Sanger and Mahatma Gandhi. The two activists met in 1936 when Sanger traveled to India to speak with Gandhi about birth control. By that time Sanger was advocating internationally for artificial contraceptives and sought to make Gandhi an ally.


FOUR – From Senator Sotto’s speech:

Despite the fact that the movement was gaining popularity in a society with a serious poverty crisis, Gandhi was an outspoken critic of artificial birth control. His general attitude was that

“Persons who use contraceptives will never learn the value of self-restraint. They will not need it. Self-indulgence with contraceptives may prevent the coming of children but will sap the vitality of both men and women, perhaps more of men than of women. It is unmanly to refuse battle with the devil.”

Copied from feministsforchoice.com:

Despite the fact that the movement was gaining popularity in a society with a serious poverty crisis, Gandhi was an outspoken critic of artificial birth control. His general attitude was that

“Persons who use contraceptives will never learn the value of self-restraint. They will not need it. Self-indulgence with contraceptives may prevent the coming of children but will sap the vitality of both men and women, perhaps more of men than of women. It is unmanly to refuse battle with the devil.”


FIVE – From Senator Sotto’s speech:

In fact, in a study undertaken by Raymond Pearl, a John Hopkins professor and noted authority on this matter, wrote: “Those who practice contraception as part of their sex life, by their own admission, resort to criminally induced abortions about three times as often proportionately as do their comparable non-contraceptor contemporaries.”

Also in a report prepared for the Royal Commission on Population in Great Britain found that the incidence of induced abortion as a percentage of all pregnancies was nine times higher for women using contraceptives than for women not using birth control.

Copied from thetruthofcontraceptives.blogspot.ca

-In 1939, Raymond Pearl, a Johns Hopkins professor and noted authority, wrote: “Those who practice contraception as part of their sex life, by their own admission, resort to criminally induced abortions about three times as often proportionately as do their comparable non-contraceptor contemporaries.”

-In Great Britain, in 1949, a report prepared for the Royal Commission on Population found that the incidence of induced abortion as a percentage of all pregnancies was nine times higher for women using contraceptives than for women not using birth control.


Update: Sotto copied from 5 bloggers plus a briefing paper
http://raissarobles.com/2012/08/17/update-senator-sotto-lifted-from-5-bloggers-and-1-briefing-paper/

Sotto’s speech delivered August 16 Wednesday contained the following passage. Again, I have highlighted in red what was copied:

2.United Nations agencies are using UN resources to advocate their agenda on a local level in order to bypass cultural and religious resistance. Gamal Serour, president of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), reported that UNFPA has a program in 25 countries to lobby religious leaders into dropping objections to the agenda. These programs are aimed at “re-educating” religious leaders and convincing them to accept their population control programs.

He lifted this verbatim from a briefing paper entitled ” Six More Problems with Women Deliver: Why Attempts to Redefine Maternal Health as Reproductive Health Threaten the World’s Women”:

Problem #4: UN staff and NGOs target religious leaders and youth to undermine traditional culture and values.

UN agencies are using UN resources to advocate their agenda on a local level in order to bypass cultural and religious resistance. Gamal Serour, president of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), reported that UNFPA has a program in 25 countries to lobby religious leaders into dropping objections to the agenda. These programs are aimed at “re-educating” religious leaders and convincing them that family planning does not go against their religious values, especially when taken from a medical point of view.

So far, one blogger named Sarah has reacted to Senator Sotto’s copying from her blog, thehealthyhomeeconomist.com in a post entitled On Plagiarism, the Pill and Presumptuousness. This time, Sarah has taken the trouble to protect her post. You can no longer simply copy and paste it. You have to screencap it like this:

Senator’s chief-of-staff Hector Villacorta took the trouble to contact Sarah. Jojo Malig of ABS-CBNNews quoted Villacorta as telling Sarah -

“We are both indebted to the book’s author but if you wish that you also be credited with the contents of the book, let this be your affirmation. I can do it and by this message, I am doing it. Hope it satisfies you. But if it does not, what would you want us to do?”

All I can say is – WOW. Villacorta’s grudging tone says it all. It’s as if he’s saying it’s Sarah who should be grateful for the honor of having been quoted by a senator because she is a mere blogger.

Some commenters have asked me why I’m making such a big deal over this.

Perhaps because as a writer I have tried to take the trouble to attribute sources and craft my words. When someone merely copies and pastes other people’s thoughts and passes them off as his, he is taking all the credit for doing all that hard work.

Award winning novelist says Sotto plagiarized second RH speech too
Interaksyon
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/40719/novelist-says-sotto-plagiarized-second-rh-speech-too

Plagiarism allegations continue to haunt Senator Vicente Sotto III. Days after it was reported that the first of his four-part speech was copied from an American female blogger, a similar allegation has surfaced, this time surrounding his second speech.

The charge comes from Miguel Syjuco, an award-winning Filipino novelist based in Canada.

Syjuco won the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, he said that Sotto’s second speech "lifted, verbatim, from three sources easily found online."

The three passages questioned, one of which is from a Filipino blog entry, are found below, as cited by Syjuco.

Sotto’s speech:

Sanger was so intent on reducing family size that she seemed to not stop even at abortion. Many believe that under the right circumstances, Sanger would have condoned infanticide. Indeed she wrote in her book Woman and the New Race: “The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.”

This comes from the woman who formed the philosophical base for IPPF. But there was even a darker side to Margaret Sanger: a side that IPPF people try to cover up or explain away. That was her belief in “eugenics.” Eugenics is defined as “the application of the laws of hereditary to physical and mental improvement, especially of the human race.”

To Sanger this meant the systematic elimination (through birth control, including abortion) of all those people she and her cohorts considered to be of “dysgenic stock” in order to create a race of superior intellectuals.

From Re-Imaging life and family: The Global Scandal by Marlon C. Ramirez from his blog, talkingsense.multiply.com:

"Sanger was so intent on reducing family size that she seemed to not stop even at abortion. Many belie ve that under the right circumstances, Sanger would have condoned infanticide. Indeed she wrote in her book Woman and the New Race: “The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” This comes from the woman who formed the philosophical base for IPPF. But there was even a darker side to Margaret Sanger: a side that IPPF people try to cover up or explain away. That was her belief in “eugenics.” Eugenics is defined as “the application of the laws of hereditary to physical and mental improvement, especially of the human race.” To Sanger this meant the systematic elimination (through birth control, including abortion) of all those people she and her cohorts considered to be of “dysgenic stock” in order to create a race of superior intellectuals."

Sotto’s speech:

The two activists met in December of 1936 when Sanger traveled to India to speak with Gandhi about birth control, population and the plight of women in India. At that time, Sanger staunchly advocated the global use of artificial contraceptives and, in order to make the acceptance of such contraceptives easier to the Indian populace, sought to make Gandhi an ally. While Sanger claimed she merely wanted to pay her respects and give a personal tribute to Gandhi, she coveted nothing less than his endorsement of the widespread use of artificial birth control methods. Despite the fact that the movement was gaining popularity in a society with a serious poverty crisis, Gandhi was an outspoken critic of artificial birth control. His general attitude was that “Persons who use contraceptives will never learn the value of self-restraint. They will not need it. Self-indulgence with contraceptives may prevent the coming of children but will sap the vitality of both men and women, perhaps more of men than of women. It is unmanly to refuse battle with the devil.”

From Ghandi’s Birth Control of Choice, posted on the blog, feministsforchoice.com:

"The two activists met in December of 1936 when Sanger traveled to India to speak with Gandhi about birth control, population and the plight of women in India. At that time, Sanger staunchly advocated the global use of artificial contraceptives and, in order to make the acceptance of such contraceptives easier to the Indian populace, sought to make Gandhi an ally. Despite the fact that the movement was gaining popularity in a society with a serious poverty crisis, Gandhi was an outspoken critic of artificial birth control. His general attitude was that “Persons who use contraceptives will never learn the value of self-restraint. They will not need it. Self-indulgence with contraceptives may prevent the coming of children but will sap the vitality of both men and women, perhaps more of men than of women. It is unmanly to refuse battle with the devil.”

Sotto’s speech:

In fact, in a study undertaken by Raymond Pearl, a John Hopkins professor and noted authority on this matter, wrote: “Those who practice contraception as part of their sex life, by their own admission, resort to criminally induced abortions about three times as often proportionately as do their comparable non-contraceptor contemporaries.” Also in a report prepared for the Royal Commission on Population in Great Britain found that the incidence of induced abortion as a percentage of all pregnancies was nine times higher for women using contraceptives than for women not using birth control.

From a blog post at Truth of Contraceptives:

A study undertaken by Raymond Pearl, a John Hopkins professor and noted authority on this matter, wrote: “Those who practice contraception as part of their sex life, by their own admission, resort to criminally induced abortions about three times as often proportionately as do their comparable non-contraceptor contemporaries.” Also in a report prepared for the Royal Commission on Population in Great Britain found that the incidence of induced abortion as a percentage of all pregnancies was nine times higher for women using contraceptives than for women not using birth control.

^^ haha kamoteng senator! :lol: :lol:

Sotto not covered by copyright rules, lawyer claims
ABS CBN News
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/-depth/08/17/12/sotto-immune-plagiarism-raps-top-aide-says

MANILA, Philippines - The chief of staff of Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto on Friday said they committed no crime in lifting portions of his anti-reproductive health (RH) bill speech at the Senate from the web.

Atty. Hector Villacorta also feels that blogger Sarah Pope of thehealthyeconomist.com is just reacting after her sensitivities were offended.

Villacorta claimed that the Internet is public domain, that governments are exempted from copyright rules, while Sotto himself enjoys parliamentary immunity as a legislator.

Villacorta told ABS-CBN News Sotto used research for his speech since he is not a doctor.

"Nagtatampo pala sila pag naqu-quote sila. Blog site is public domain, you should be open to be quoted from all over the world. What law did we violate only her sensitivity was. Because there is no crime, we used information from public domain they're making issue of the way it was quoted."

"The rule of copyright gives government a chance to use some of materials. There's principle in law if there's a crime there should be a law punishing it. Was she commercially injured? Wala naman eh. No crime, no law violated."

Villacorta was also asked to comment on claims by journalist and blogger Raissa Robles that Sotto may have also copied from 5 bloggers and one United Nations briefer.

'Anyone can use blogs'

"Blogs are public domain. Anybody can use it. Government is exempted from the copyright rule. As a general principle, you cannot withhold information from government," he said.

Villacorta said Sotto's speech and Pope's work quoted a book by Dr. Natasha McBride on the side effects of birth control pills.

He said Pope can sue Sotto in the US if the Philippines has a treaty with the US on intellectual property.

Asked how Sotto is taking the controversy over the alleged plagiarism, Villacorta said, "he is smiling and napapailing because content of speech being sidetracked."

"Bloggers, beware what you put out on the web. You should not cry if used by the web," he claimed.


Sotto acting above the law, US blogger says
ABS CBN News
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/08/17/12/sotto-acting-above-law-us-blogger-says

Why is Senator Tito Sotto acting like he is above the law by plagiarizing someone else's work with impunity, an American blogger said Friday night?

Sarah Pope, in a telephone interview from Florida with Tina Monzon-Palma on ANC's "The World Tonight," reminded Sotto about copyright law amid allegations that the senator's staff copied one of her blog posts verbatim and without permission for Sotto's speech against the reproductive health bill.

"He is acting as though he's above the law, that he is above copyright law, that he can do whatever he wants, he can step on whoever he wants, to get his agenda through the Philippine legislature," Pope said.

"That's just wrong, that's poor very behavior. I hope the Filipino people great note of this behavior and subsequent denial on his bad behavior on the part of Senator Sotto. Think about this when they go to the election booths when he's up for reelection," she added.

Intellectual property rights are protected by Republic Act No. 8293 in the Philippines. In the United States, plagiarism is a criminal offense on both the state and federal levels.

The Web is not 'public domain'

US tech and legal experts have clarified that the Web is not "public domain."

While the works of Shakespeare and Beethoven are now public domain, a lot of content found online is under copyright protection.

"The public domain is not a place. A work of authorship is in the 'public domain' if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner," according to the US Copyright Office.

RA 8293 in the Philippines also requires either full attribution of the original source or creator of protected content, or the author's prior witten consent to reuse published works that "are made available to the public by wire or wireless means."

Pope, who writes mainly about food recipes, said her blog is copyrighted.

"If you go to my blog, there's a copyright notice there. That's very clear. While a blog is meant to be shared, it's meant to be shared with proper credit given to those that do the work to get that great information out there," she said.

Sotto's chief of staff, Atty. Hector Villacorta, told ABS-CBN News Friday that the senator can't be sued because the Internet is "public domain," governments are allegedly exempted from copyright rules, and the senator enjoys parliamentary immunity as a legislator.

He also claimed Pope is just reacting after her sensitivities were offended.

Sotto also earlier denied copying the blogger's work, only for his chief of staff to later admit to the act.

'Running with tail behind legs'

The Sotto camp's statements have triggered a fierce backlash from the American blogger.

"Sotto's behavior following the incident has been even worse. By denying and trying to hide behind his government immunity, which should be an embarassment to himself," Pope said.

"When you try to hide behind your government immunity, that shows you've been backed into a corner and you have no more cards to play. You know you are wrong and you're just trying to run away with your tail between your legs," she added.

"What Senator Sotto should have done is say 'Ugh, we made a mistake. Yes proper credit should have been given for this information that was taken illegally from my blog and plagiarized from my blog, we made a mistake we are sorry and can we move on,'" Pope said.

"You know what, if he had just said he was sorry and said he was wrong and that it was a mistake and that he should have given proper credit to my blog then we wouldn't even be talking right now," she said.

Pope said plagiarism is a problem in the blogging community.

"It's something I talk to friends who blog about all the time. Our material is being taken without our consent. It is a tremendous problem," she said.

Journalist and blogger Raissa Robles said Sotto copied from not just Pope but 4 other bloggers, as well as a briefing paper.

Filipino novelist Miguel Syjuco, winner the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize, also said Sotto “lifted, verbatim, from three sources easily found online" for his second speech against the RH bill.

Pope said US bloggers can report plagiarism incidents to proper authorities. However, Sotto's act is a different matter.

"Typically those websites that took your information illegally, that information is removed. But in the case of a senator who is a public figure he is an elective representative of the people, he's elected to protect the people and represent the best interest of the people. And yet he is acting as thought he's above the law," she said.

'Sotto would be championing piracy'
ABS-CBNnews.com
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/08/17/12/sotto-would-be-championing-piracy

Senator Tito Sotto would be promoting piracy if he follows the advice of his chief of staff that Internet content is free to be used and claimed as his own without laws being violated, journalist and blogger Raissa Robles said Friday.

Robles, a South China Morning Post correspondent who also has a blog on ABS-CBNNews.com, told ANC that Atty. Hector Villacorta's claim that Sotto can use any online content without fear of copyright infringement has serious implications.

"Atty. Villacorta said that the Internet is free. This would mean that Senator Sotto would be championing digital piracy," Robles said.

"He will never allow such piracy to be punished because you see there are pending bills right now punishing digital piracy online so that's what it means," she added.

"Sotto is a champion of the entertainment industry. What Atty. Villacorta said has very vast implications. He said everything in the Internet is free. That means music and movies can be downloaded or ought to be downloaded for free all time," she said.

Villacorta, in a text message to ABS-CBNNews.com, claimed that they are not violating copyright laws, despite the standards set by Republic Act No. 8293, or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines. "Blogs are public domain, information to the world, for the world. No copyright infringement," he said.

Robles said Sotto should follow the footsteps of journalist Fareed Zakaria, who was suspended by Time and CNN after admitting he plagiarized a paragraph from the New Yorker for his Time column.

Zakaria has apologized for committing plagiarism.

"Take the action that Fareed Zakaria did. Apologize for the whole thing and put it behind him," Robles said.

"There are very serious implications about this. He is not just a senator. He is a Senate majority floor leader and his speech was a major speech," she added.

Robles said whoever who wrote his speech for him was getting information from the Internet word-for-word.

"That, by classic definition, is plagiarism," she warned.

"I don't know what is going on in their office. But the point is, that is his speech," she said. "Senators, they have a lot of money for staff."

She expressed disappointment that Sotto's speech is supposed to champion the side of groups opposing the reproductive health bill.

"This is sidelined now by the accusation of plagiarism, which is also a very serious thing," Robles said.

digging his own hole deeper.. :lol:

Who Is Tito Sotto?
http://dalubhasangpinoy.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/who-is-tito-sotto/

Is plagiarism tolerated in the Senate as long as you are crying while doing it?

How low can Sotto go? To think he is a member of the upper House of Congress, a distinguished and “honorable” Senator, to base his stand on dubious medical information, even copying the comments from a food blogger (without proper reference). You know you have well and truly run out of ammo if you’re reduced to citing talking points from an anti-vaxxer’s blog. Absolutely disturbing that he would pass this off as legal and legitimate information on a senate floor. So dishonorable! So low!

You thanked Google prematurely Sotto. Shame on you! If you were my classmate you will get a 5.0 in Technical English for plagiarism and a 5.0 in Logic for your fallacious arguments. And probably the leading man of the newest play of our Theater Club.

Do we really expect this senator comedian to seriously provide us with “wisdom” that he never had in the first place? Now how do we tell shame on you to someone who is outright shameless? What Sotto did was a high crime and misdemeanor, and a betrayal of public trust, which is most definitely worth his resignation or removal!

Plagiarism is a violation of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, part of the civil code. It is not a crime but it is still a violation of our law. But it is severely punished on moral grounds. MVP had to resign from the Ateneo for his plagiarized graduation speech. The Sotto speech has more prominence and international audience than a mere graduation speech. I say,”Impeach him!”

Sotto plagiarized the speech from Sarah Pope’s blog on The Healthy Home Economist http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com. Sarah holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, LOL, yet Sotto thinks her blog is authoritative enough to be read on the Senate floor, disguised as his own research. She also has a lot to say about green smoothies, child vaccinations and that “Chemotherapy is another conventional treatment for cancer that seems to hasten people’s death.” Though Sarah may seem to be highly intellectual enough, she also states in her blog that it is not a reliable medical source. Sotto may as well have read the medical opinions of a monkey at the zoo.

The claims by the blogger were not even proven in the medical field. The Senator should have sent his staff (since obviously, it would’ve been his staff who found the blog) to research more on the veracity of the claims before he used them in his speech. It should have been presented by a medical expert who has done the extensive research about it and not a Senator who does not even have an academic degree regarding medical fields. The problem is he used outdated data from an unreliable source and never bothered to give credit.

The point is, he took his “MEDICAL INFORMATION” from a blogger who also doesn’t have any medical credentials. Therefore, what he said so melodramatically holds no water. Another point is, the Senator is stupid for actually plagiarizing the work of someone else. If your puritanical self can’t see the “wrongness” in that, then I guess I know why our country is still in the dumps.

I am familiar with Mr. Sotto’s source of research, Dr. Natasha Campbell-Mcbride MD, a pioneer in the medical field for gut disorders in relation to chronic diseases. She’s also an advocate of natural and traditional methods of food processing and farming. I haven’t gone in-depth on the research on oral contraception, but I have my own reservations about it, and I think there are valid concerns on its safety.

However, Mr. Sotto’s story actually strengthens the case for the RH Bill, demonstrating the need for proper education on the risks and benefits of various family planning options (oral contraception has side effects, just like any other medicine). RH Bill is not about promoting oral contraception which is just one option in family planning. Rather, it’s about providing education and access to all the family planning options, in order to give people the chance to make their own truly independent informed decisions.

In short: His arguments against oral contraception have nothing to do with the issue of providing family planning education and healthcare to everyone, especially marginalized women who need it most.

Is DECEIT and STEALING of intellectual property noble if done under God’s name in the process? I think even God is ashamed of him right now. If he is such a good soldier of God, why would he try to correct a “sin” by a deliberate and shameful violation of a commandment?

As a Christian, would you want to be represented by a proven liar and cheater? Just one of the many out there pretending to fight for faith and morality when all they’re after is “holy” publicity.

It totally destroys the Senator’s credibility, authenticity, and intentions.

He’s so pompous, trying to sound smart with all these medical terms. It would have been appropriate if he’s appealing to a group of people in the medical field. He’s not trying to argue, he just tried to sound like he was arguing. His appeal is for pity, thus the waterworks. Sotto is a pathetic opposition of the RH Bill. A crying chimpanzee at the Senate hall.

So Mr, Sotto you are busted! You are not only a comedian who is ignorant and paranoid, you are also a plagiarist!

The quality of our lawmakers in this country is truly sad. Sotto came from showbiz and as such has provided proof of half a brain. We would never allow modern Damasos to dictate our decision on how to make the Philippine progressive and respectable.

Indeed, most of our leaders are cheaters. How can these leaders steer our country out of poverty if they cannot even come up with a simple yet authenticated speech. It shows our leaders does not have the capability to think, imagine RH bill napakalawak na topic for debate, pero itong Senator natin magaling lang pala sa GOOGLE SEARCH AND COPY & PASTE.

This shows the power of Internet “COPY PASTE” and not an expected wisdom from a Senator. It means to say, any argument he will put on the table would lack integrity and therefore he should rest his case. Many would not believe him as he has difficulty following basic rules and at the same time understanding simple information. What can you expect from a comedian? Goodness. The future of reproductive health in the country is in this clown’s hands?

The last nail hammered into the Coffin that is Politics in the Philippines. What a joke. This is embarrassing. The world around us is unitedly face-palming at this very moment.

He should now do the honorable thing and resign. But I doubt he has the personal integrity to do that. Either way, his credibility has been destroyed.

For part three of his Pro-Lies tirade maybe he can give us cookie recipes from Sarah as well, or maybe he should just ask the joke writers at Eat Bulaga to compile his next speech so that we could at least have a more fun-filled laugh.

Seems like Sen. Tito Sotto has the wrong understanding of what the essence of "Freedom of Information" Act is all about. Sadly he now wants to use this to justify the plagiarism done in his “turno en contra” speech instead of owning up and taking responsibility for this mess for actually neglecting to do his due diligence after all he is ultimately responsible for the content of his speech. Bistado na, Magpapalusot pa! Typical "Trapo" politician. It's really high-time that we need to vote in better politicians in our Gov't. This Sen. Tito Sotto is a real joke. :bash: :bash: :bash:

Cayetano Drafts ‘Responsible Plagiarism / Replication Habit Bill’
Sotto Opposes
http://sowhatsnews.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/cayetano-drafts-responsible-plagiarism-replication-habit-bill-sotto-opposes/

MANILA, Philippines — After the admission of Senator Tito Sotto’s chief of staff that parts of his anti-RH Bill speech last Wednesday were copied from a US based blogger, Senator Pia Cayetano, author of the Senate version and staunch supporter of the Responsible Parenthood or Reproductive Health bill, announced that she is drafting a new bill that will prevent future instances of blatant copying of other’s works for use in one’s speech.

The Responsible Plagiarism Bill, also known as Replication Habit Bill, announced today by Cayetano, has the title “An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Policy on Responsible Plagiarism, Speech Writing, Weep Control, and for other purposes.”

“This bill aims to address the incessant copying of our colleagues from online sources but fails to give them credit, even going so far as to belittle the origin when confronted,” said Cayetano. ”We should be more responsible in knowing where our speechwriter copies the words they want us to say are from.”

She was referring to the comments made by Sotto when he said during an interview that, “Bakit ko naman iqu-quote ang blogger? Blogger lang iyon. (Why should I quote the blogger? She’s only a blogger).”

Bloggers and other netizens went up in arms at what they believe was a wrong move for Sotto, and also attacked his supposed belittling of one of them.

The following are the provisions for the Responsible Plagiarism/ Replication Habit Bill:

■The bill mandates the government to “promote, without bias, all effective natural and modern methods of speech writing and fact checking that are categorically ‘safe’ and legal.

■Although plagiarism/piracy is recognized as illegal and punishable by law, the bill states that “the government shall ensure that all speechwriters needing assistance for post-delivery backfires and complications from their employers shall be treated and counseled in a humane, non-judgmental and compassionate manner.”

■The bill calls for a “multi-dimensional approach” integrates a component of speech-writing and responsible plagiarism into all government programs.

■Under the bill, content-appropriate replication and plagiarism education is required from interns to senior chief of staff using “writing-skills and other approaches.”

■The bill also mandates the Department of Labor and Employment to guarantee the rights of speechwriters against their employers. Senators who washed their hands after finding out that the speech he or she just delivered was cribbed from another source and blaming the former, shall be given assistance to defend themselves equally.

■The national government and local governments will ensure the availability of search engine services in all government offices, including but not limited to Google, Bing and Yahoo, so as to avoid future incidents of ‘face palming’.

■Any person or public official who plagiarizes other’s works, whether oral or written, online or off, without proper consent or credit will be meted penalty by imprisonment or a fine.

This early, Senator Sotto is already objecting the passage of the bill saying that information should be free and non-creditable. “Diba kaya nga tinawag na ‘Freedom of Information’ kasi nga libre (Isn’t it why it’s called ‘Freedom of Information’ because it’s free)?”

He was quick to clarify that he is not against Responsible Plagiarism, but only certain provisions about the new bill. “Everybody is willing to have responsible replication. But we live in a fast-paced world. We don’t have time to check whether what we will say on national television was already written by others on the interweb,” said Sotto.

A pro-RH Bill advocate commented that people should also check the facts that Sotto was dishing out the other day, accusing the Senator of misinformation or rehashed of older issues which were already clarified during the debates.

The comedian turned politician, also blamed pro-RH Bill advocates of changing the focus on the events that transpired. “Hindi isyu dito kung kinopya o hindi, banyagang blogger o lokal. Ang isyu dito eh naiyak ako nung nagsasalita ako. Nakita nyo bang yung luha ko (The issue is not whether it was copied or not, foreign blogger or local. The issue is I cried while delivering my speech. Did you not see the tears in my eyes)?

We are receiving reports that the Senator’s office is already hard at work drafting a new speech for a scheduled turno en contra against the Responsible Plagiarism/Replication Habit Bill to be delivered in the coming weeks.

5 lessons to learn from plagiarism at the Senate
by Analiza Perez-Amurao
Rappler.com
http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/10703-5-lessons-to-learn-from-plagiarism-at-the-senate

At the height of the plagiarism uproar at the Philippine Senate, the issue of intellectual property rights has once again come to the fore. As an educator, here are some lessons I’ve learned and taught to avoid plagiarism.

Lesson 1: Cite your source.

The most fundamental rule when using someone else's ideas in your own paper or speech – whether through a direct quote, a paraphrase or a summary – is to always cite the source. This includes not only academic research, but also both old and recent readings, which have eventually become part of your stock knowledge. At the end of the day, every writer should realize that she or he still owes these ideas to the source.

Applying this rule would have prevented the lifting of excerpts from the blog of Sarah Pope who said, "I don't like the fact that my blog was used without my permission against the education of the women of the Philippines and their reproductive rights. That is the issue and it was indeed plagiarism"

Lesson 2: There is such a thing as a "source in another source."

Sotto's use of Sarah Pope's blog entry would have been all right had he and his staff understood what is known in academic circles as citing a "source in another source." Sotto or his aides should have said something like, “According to Natasha Campbell-McBride who is quoted in Ms. Pope’s blog…” Pope has good reason to claim that the Senator and his staff used her paraphrase of Campbell-McBride’s ideas without acknowledging Pope’s authorship.

Pope said: "If his staff did it, he (Sotto) condoned it. He is responsible for your actions. My blog was quoted, not Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. I put her work in my own words and you copied my words."

Lesson 3: Acknowledging a source belatedly does not correct the error.

Recognizing the source belatedly has no place once plagiarism has been committed. An attribution to the source, which is a plain after-thought, as what happened, becomes moot and academic. This is what Sotto's chief of staff Atty. Hector Villacorta tried to do when he wrote on the comments section of Pope’s blog after the plagiarism was exposed: “If you wish that you also be credited with the contents of this book, let this be your affirmation. I can do it and by this message, I am doing it. Hope this satisfies you.”

But recognizing the author in a discourse different from the form where plagiarism was committed just does not rectify the error. It only shows deeper ignorance of the accepted practice. It can, in fact, be punishable by law.

As discussed in Plagiarism and the Law, “Plagiarism covers a spectrum from word for word textual copying, through changing some words but retaining the basic structure, through to copying ideas and arguments. The common thread is that the copying is dishonest because it is unacknowledged.”

In discussing the right of attribution, Ronald Standler cited Article 6 of the Berne Convention saying, “the true author has the right to have his/her name on the work.” This principle is also shared by the UK Intellectual Property (IP) rights government body which says that respect for copyright “…also gives moral rights [for the true author] to be identified as the creator of certain kinds of material, and to object to distortion or mutilation of it.”

New Directions in Copyright Law emphasizes that “Plagiarism and copyright are different aspects of the same core issue: respecting and appropriately acknowledging the intellectual property of an individual or group of individuals responsible for the creation of original work.” Hence, seen from any of the two perspectives, copyright- or plagiarism-wise, something was not done right.

Lesson 4: Plagiarism is fraudulent.

There is no such a thing as unintentional plagiarism or "oversight" as claimed by Villacorta. While some sources claim that plagiarism on its own may not be considered illegal, it can be considered one if "…it offends against the law of misrepresentation,” as argued in New Directions in Copyright Law.

Apart from issues concerning intellectual property rights, Dr Eleanour Snow of the University of South Florida said the plagiarist can be committing “fraudulence that is closely related to forgery and piracy – practices generally in violation of copyright laws.”

Earlier, Villacorta owned up to the "oversight" and said Sotto was not involved in plagiarizing Pope’s work.

Lesson 5: A plagiarist has little reason to complain.

A plagiarist has no right to state a grievance because "...it is unwise for a plagiarist to complain about how he/she was treated," according to Checkforplagiarism.net, one of the leading online management tools used by universities to detect and avoid plagiarism.

It was odd for Villacorta to request Pope to "take their side in the discussions on the RH bill and not 'deflect the debate toward this issue of plagiarism. It is so out of sync in this great debate.'"

What can be learned from Sotto's situation is that legislators (and their staff) – who regularly research vast amounts of information, and whose products, namely, legislative bills, have far-reaching consequences on citizens – must strictly observe rules on intellectual property rights.


A 2011 Bagong Bayani awardee and a 2010 SEAMEO-Australia Press Award finalist, Analiza Perez-Amurao teaches at Mahidol University International College, a leading state university in Thailand. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Multicultural Studies. Ideas expressed in this article, however, are entirely hers. To follow her work, visit www.analizaperez-amurao.com. Follow her tweets, too, at @analiza_amurao.

^^ Sotto: Why should I quote a blogger?



Full story here (http://www.rappler.com/nation/10606-sotto-why-should-i-quote-a-blogger)

Typical pulitiko, nahuli na nga ayaw pang umamin, kapal muks. Kung sa hapon yan nangyari sigurado harakiri na, may kasama munang public apology. Kaya mababa ang tingin sa atin ng ibang lahi kasalanan ng mga taong ganyan. From the luneta tragedy and now this. Mga walang manners, walang civility.

Dati rati ang kaban ng bayan lang ang pinag nanakawan ng mga pulitiko ngayon pati na ren ang lathain ng ibang tao ninanakaw na harap harapan. PWEH!!!!!!!!!!!! Bat di pa kayong mga pulitko ang mga nalunod sa baha???!!!!

^^ Sen. Sotto is an idiot alright and a stubborn egotistic one at that. He said the buck stops with him and takes responsibility for this mess and yet he hasn't really shown any remorse nor has he really acknowledged and apologized for his/their actions. In short all talk no action. If a President of another country had the decency to resign from his post for plagiarism, Sen. Sotto should do the right thing and resign from his post as well if he has any decency left in him. Even MVP resigned for the same kind of fiasco but I highly doubt Sotto will have the balls to do same. Guess that shows the difference in character between MVP and Sen. Sotto and why MVP is much more of a man than Sotto will ever be. Only goes to show Sen. Sotto is nothing more than a "Trapo" politician lacking in principle and integrity. Sotto is a joke. This mediocrity in gov't has got to stop. Voters should really wise-up and vote in better leaders in our government in coming elections.


MVP, Sotto, and plagiarism
Rappler.som
http://www.rappler.com/nation/10738-mvp,-sotto,-and-plagiarism

MANILA, Philippines – One offense, two different responses.

Like Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, top businessman Manuel V Pangilinan committed plagiarism for a graduation speech at the Ateneo de Manila University in 2010. But unlike Sotto, Pangilinan immediately took responsibility for it after the public took notice.

Pangilinan also resigned as Ateneo's chairman of the board after observers spotted unattributed quotes from US President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Conan O'Brien, and J. K. Rowling in his much-applauded graduation speech.

In a letter to then Ateneo president Fr Bienvenido Nebres, Pangilinan described the incident as “a source of deep personal embarrassment.” “I am afraid the damage has been done – wala talaga akong mukhang ihaharap pagkatapos,” said Pangilinan, explaining his decision to resign. (Now I have no face to show.)

The respected businessmen, of course, could have told the public to blame his speechwriters. But he himself confronted the issue. “I have had some help in the drafting of my remarks, but I take full and sole responsibility for them,” he told the Ateneo president.

Nebres, in convincing him to stay as Ateneo chair, said the incident happened “without his full awareness, though he takes full and sole responsibility.”

But Pangilinan wouldn't budge. He stepped down, because he “would seek only the honorable and principled way out.”

Not saying sorry

In contrast, Sotto has refused to say sorry “because he can't apologize for something he did not know.” His camp said it was a speechwriter who copied quotes, without attribution, from a blogger who calls herself “The Healthy Home Economist.” Sotto used the quotes for a speech against the Reproductive Health bill.

In fact, a day after the Filipino Freethinkers exposed similarities between Sotto's speech and blogger Sarah Pope's piece, the senator flatly denied accusations of plagiarism.

“Bakit ko naman iko-quote ang blogger? Blogger lang iyon. Ang kino-quote ko si Natasha Campbell-McBride,” Sotto said in an ANC interview, referring to the the source whom Pope quoted. (Why should I quote a blogger? She’s just a blogger. I’m quoting Natasha Campbell-McBride.)

On the same day, Pope confirmed that Sotto plagiarized her work. At this point, it was Sotto's chief of staff, lawyer Hector Villacorta, who came forward to apologize for what he called a “single trespass.”

But Villacorta told Rappler it was a “semi-apology” since both Sotto and Pope quoted Campbell-McBride anyway. "If you wish that you also be credited with the contents of this book,” Villacorta told the blogger, “let this be your affirmation. I can do it and by this message, I am doing it. Hope this satisfies you.”

Rappler contributor Analiza Perez-Amurao, however, pointed out such reasoning is unacceptable. The acceptable way for Sotto's use of Sarah Pope's blog entry would be had he and his staff understood what is known in academic circles as citing a "source in another source." Sotto or his aides should have said something like, “According to Natasha Campbell-McBride who is quoted in Ms. Pope’s blog…” Pope has good reason to claim that the Senator and his staff used her paraphrase of Campbell-McBride’s ideas without acknowledging Pope’s authorship, said Amurao, an educator who teaches at a leading state university in Thailand.

A common definition of the word “plagiarize,” based on Merriam-Webster, is “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own,” or to “use (another's production) without crediting the source. It is also “to commit literary theft” or “present as new and original and idea or product derived from an existing source.”


Sotto Won’t Sack Top Assistant Over ‘Plagiarism’
Manila Bulletin
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/370151/sotto-won-t-sack-top-assistant-over-plagiarism

MANILA, Philippines --- The office of Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said yesterday it would not give walking papers to the lawmaker’s chief of staff, Hector Villacorta, who had admitted that the senator’s staff used without authorization the blog of an American woman on the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

This came as Sotto himself put up a wall of silence on the plagiarism issue, supposedly not to add fuel to the raging controversy following the claim made by the blogger, Sarah Pope, that Sotto copied her blog which she claimed was her intellectual property.

Sotto’s office maintained that they did not commit any mistake, even stating that they were able to get a certification from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) that blogs are not covered by copyright.

Villacorta, when interviewed by phone by the Manila Bulletin, said he has not heard of his principal, the Senate Majority Leader, planning to kick him of the Senate office over the plagiarism issue.

“We all serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority. All chiefs of staff serve at the pleasure of the principal,’’ Villacorta said.

Villacorta pointed out that he has no sense that Sotto wishes to terminate his services “but I am always open to any eventuality.”

On the claim of Ms. Pope that the senator plagiarized her blog in his “turno en contra’’ speech last Wednesday to stress his objection to the RH bill, Villacorta said he called the office of the IPO which stated that there is no such crime as plagiarism of a blog.

‘’Blogs are public domain and government can use any information if it is for the common good,’’ Villacorta told the Manila Bulletin after checking with the IPO.

Sotto earlier dared those who claimed that he plagiarized his speech to simply sue him.

‘’I have identified my sources (in the speech). Blog, pareho ang source? Yes, I came out with a blanket disclosure. These (attributions) are not from me. They mean to hurt me. What is the motive? Why attack the messenger,’’ Sotto said.

‘’My staff compiled (the data in the speech). There was a blanket disclosure that these data did not come from me. If the Philippine Insurance Code is the exact copy of the US Insurance Code, what is wrong?” he asked. ‘’They are trying to malign me because of the issues I raised against the bill," he added.

The RH bill has become controversial in that supporters of the legislation, including the United Nations and other foreign organizations, are pitted against the Catholic Church that considers contraception an abortion.

Sotto said he would deliver his final “turno en contra’’ speech on Wednesday after which the Senate goes into a period of amendment on the RH bill.

Sotto sets privilege speech vs critics
PhilStar
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=839519&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III will again take the floor on Wednesday to deliver a privilege speech, which would take the place of the last part of his turno en contra (rebuttal) speech.

“It’s their fault. I am ready to close my turno but now I will postpone this for my privilege speech,” Sotto said yesterday, referring to American blogger Sarah Pope, who had accused him of plagiarism over his speech against the Reproductive Health bill, and several pro-RH bill groups and individuals.

He said he is fighting back and has threatened to take Pope and the proponents of the RH bill head-on in his scheduled privilege speech.

After two days of hearing the exchanges between Pope, the people attacking him in social media and his Senate staff over an entry the American made in her blog about the pill, Sotto admitted that certain lines in his turno en contra speech against the RH bill were lifted from Pope’s blog.

However, he has repeatedly denied that he committed plagiarism, as alleged by Pope, because he said he made it clear in his speeches that the contents, including the references to ideas, thoughts or medical and scientific findings were not his own.

“She was not the author of the book. If I did not mention her name then she should know that I also did not mention several other people’s names (in my speech),” he said in an interview.

Sotto’s chief of staff, lawyer Hector Villacorta, admitted that they lifted parts of Pope’s blog to present some information contained in a book written by Dr. Natasha McBride.

Pope has since gone on a campaign to make Sotto accountable for what she felt was the stealing of her intellectual property and quickly drew the support of her fellow bloggers here and abroad.

She even went as far as calling Sotto a “lying thief,” which drew the ire of the senator.

He said he was convinced the pro-RH groups are behind the latest attacks against him and that they are the ones orchestrating the smear campaign using Pope as its centerpiece.

“This is clearly a wrecking job. The pro-RH people are the same ones making a big issue out of this," Sotto said.

“Plagiarism, whether you give attribution or not, applies only if you contend that the contents (used) are yours."

Mmm... Pwede naman ipasa parehong iyan so why only pick one Sen. Enrile? Pass both! :cheers:

Enrile: Economy needs Charter Change, not passage of RH Bill
InterAksyon.com
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/40872/enrile-economy-needs-charter-change-not-passage-of-rh-bill

MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said on Sunday he would rather that amendments to the 1987 Constitution are passed instead of the Reproductive Health bill, saying that pro-economic growth policies in the Charter are the better route to human progress than simply controlling population growth.

In a radio interview on Sunday, Enrile said he preferred amending the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution instead of passing the RH bill, now re-named Responsible Parenthood bill, in order to attract investments that will create jobs and provide people better economic means.

“We should pitch jobs creation, that is why we and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte are pushing the opening of the economic provisions, and providing the means to create more jobs especially for the poor, and so that they can provide for their children regardless of number,” he said.

Enrile said the main objective of the reproductive health bill is to control population growth in order to shrink the so-called dependent generations in society due to lack of jobs.

“The UN says we must limit population growth to only 2 percent. NEDA chief (Arsenio Balisacan) said currently that growth is at that level already, except that there are more of our people who are not yet of working age, from one year old to 16 years old. They are deemed burdens to society. But in the future, they will be our consumers, our taxpayers, our workers. They will be our farmers, doctors, teachers, among others,” he said.

Dependency, we cannot avoid that in any society. They are like a small tree that, when still small and not yet fruit-bearing, we take care of, knowing that in time they will do bear fruit. Like fingerlings, we don’t eat these small fish, we support them so you can benefit from them someday,” Enrile explained.

Exclude contraceptives as essential medicine clause

Enrile also asked proponents to exclude contraceptives such as condoms, pills and IUD (intrauterine device) from the essential medicine clause of the RH bill, which is only used to control population growth, but with no curative values on health.

“You’re going to tag them essential medicines? What disease does IUD treat? What is the purpose of the intrauterine device, except to reduce the number of people, to prevent pregnancies. Why, is pregnancy a disease?” Enrile asked.

“If they want to say the government will distribute IUD, don’t put it as a medicine,” Enrile added.

Enrile also asked proponents not to distort the “truth” about the bill which is essentially controlling population growth in order to attain their objective of maintaining their ideal family size.

“They don’t want people to know they’re simply just out to control the population . . . Let’s educate the people; if we say they’re poor, then let’s give them jobs. There are many ways [of easing poverty],” he added.

Amendments to RH bill

Enrile said he will propose amendments to the bill during the period of amendments, and there will be no interpellation after Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III finishes his turno en contra, which is expected to resume on Wednesday.

“I want to amend the bill; if the sponsors will accept these, thanks. If not, then let’s just vote on it. People will hold all of us accountable,” he said.

Enrile predicted that if the bill is not amended according to the present and future needs of our generation, the nation will be like other countries now suffering the consequence of statutory-controlled population growth, where generations of workers and youth are not growing, and they are all old now.

“Other countries now suffer the consequence of their laws, they acknowledge that now. Why do we wish to repeat their error? They may not feel it today in their lifetime, how about the next generation of our people who are innocent and will suffer from our mistakes today?” Enrile said.

He likened a nation’s population profile to a pyramid. There are more people at the base. But because of this law, he said, that normal structure might be reversed.

That, he said, will impact pension funds and shrink the economy. There won’t be enough pension funds to support old people retiring from the work force, because there will not be enough young people working and paying taxes.


Beyond birth control: there are other uses for oral contraceptives
By AMANDA LAGO,
GMA NEWS
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/270022/lifestyle/wellness/beyond-birth-control-the-other-uses-of-oral-contraceptives?ref=editorspick

When people hear of oral contraceptives, they immediately think birth control. But the truth is the controversial pills have a number of other uses as well.

“’Yung pills kasi, hindi lang siya for proper spacing. May mga gynecological diseases na nagagamot ito,” said Ludy Geraldes, representative for new contraceptive pill Couleurs La Femme, in an interview with GMA News Online.

Obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Raul Quillamor explained that aside from preventing ovulation, the combination of estrogen and progesterone in oral contraceptives allows for the treatment of common conditions that a lot of women experience.

The following are the non-contraceptive uses of oral contraceptives, according to Quillamor:


1. Acne control

Among the more popular conditions treated or controlled by oral contraceptives is acne, Quillamor said.

“Nagpre-prescribe ang derma nito as an adjunctive therapy to control acne,” obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Raul Quillamor told GMA News Online.


2. Treatment for polycystic ovarian syndrome

Quillamor said that the pill is prescribed to those who suffer from polycystic ovarian syndrome, which causes menstrual disturbances, ovarian cysts, and infertility, among other symptoms.


3. Regulate menstrual cycles

According to Quillamor, the hormones in female contraceptive pills can help regularize the menstrual cycles of women who experience infrequent menstruation.


4. Prevent anemia

“Ginagamit rin ‘to sa mga patients na heavy bleeder, to lessen blood loss during menstruation, so it can also prevent anemia,” Quillamor explained.


5. Lower ovarian cancer risk

Quillamor noted that the pill can even decrease the risk for ovarian cancer by almost half.

According to an article on the Oxford University website, researchers from the institute found in 2008 that taking contraceptive pills for 10 years can reduce the risk of ovarian cancer by 45 percent.

Researchers also found that women who took the pill for any length of time lowered their risk for ovarian cancer by 15 percent, reducing the risk further by taking the pill for longer.

“The Pill also causes long-lasting protection against endometrial cancer (cancer or the lining of the womb) but causes a short-lived increase in breast cancer and in cervical cancer (cancer of the neck of the womb),” the article said.

“Young women take the Pill mostly for contraceptive purposes. There are known to be some definite health risks among current or recent users. But these are outweighed by the long-term protective effects against ovarian cancer—one of the most dangerous types of cancer,” the article concluded.


Giving women a choice

Ultimately, Geraldes said that contraceptive pills offer women another choice for family planning methods.

“We created Couleurs La Femme with the modern Filipina in mind, knowing that more Filipinas these days want to savor the very best that life can offer while balancing the demands of their families and careers,” she said.

However, Geraldes added that “about 25 percent of women of reproductive age do not have the right information and access to the choices available to them.”

Responding to RH bill detractors who criticize contraceptives as abortifacients, Geraldes told GMA News Online, “we actually know that oral contraceptives are not abortifacients because the action of the pill is to prevent fertilization in the first place — walang pregnancy na nangyayari.”



The other benefit - RH Bill will help economy reach ‘sweet spot’
By: Ernesto M. Pernia
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://opinion.inquirer.net/34749/rh-will-help-economy-reach-sweet-spot

“Demographic sweet spot” is becoming a buzzphrase in business and political circles and the media, thanks to British international bank HSBC’s bold prognosis early this year on the Philippine economy’s rise to global prominence by 2050. This was essentially echoed by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. at the Euromoney forum late in March and by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima around the Asian Development Bank annual general meeting early in May, and reechoed in a comment in the Wall Street Journal (7/24/12).

HSBC predicted that the Philippines would vault 27 rungs to become the world’s 16th largest economy, just one off Russia and distinctly outranking Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Such a prognosis is tied to the Tetangco-Purisima forecast that the economy would hit the “sweet spot” by 2015 as both are attributed to a large population with “a rising proportion of young, consumption-driven workforce” resulting in demographic dividends. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the predictions are pretty iffy as they seem to derive from a misapprehension of demographic-economic dynamics. The development literature says that demographic dividends occur as a result of demographic transition when a country’s total fertility rate (TFR, or average completed number of children per woman) falls sharply from a high toward 2.1 (known as replacement fertility)—such that the working-age (15-64) segment of the population grows faster than the young dependent-age (0-14) share. Imagine a “population pyramid” with a wide base that narrows, resulting in the midsection expanding markedly.

Many of our Asian neighbors have long experienced demographic transition and been gifted with dividends—bigger and more productive work force, larger human capital investment in young dependents, and higher savings and investment rates—altogether leading to faster GDP per capita growth and significantly reduced poverty. These include the older Asian tigers Taiwan and South Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, and the newer ones Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia beginning in the early 1990s or 2000s.

Unfortunately, our country has yet to experience such a demographic-economic halcyon period. Projections by University of the Philippines statistician-economists Dennis Mapa, Arsenio Balisacan et al. (2010) indicate that given the status quo—i.e., no Reproductive Health (RH) program—the Philippines’ TFR would diminish from the current 3.3 to 2.1 by 2030 yet (compared with Thailand’s 1.6 and Indonesia’s 2.1 in 2010). If, however, an RH or family planning (FP) program focused only on unplanned or unwanted fertility (mostly of poor couples) were already in place since 2008, a TFR of 2.1 could be achieved by 2020.

Consider the following demographic data that underscore further how the Philippines has lagged well behind its neighbors in achieving demographic transition. In 1990, Thailand’s working-age population was already 65 percent (and Indonesia 60 percent) of the total population compared with the Philippines’ 56 percent. By 2015, the respective numbers are projected to be 71 percent, 69 percent, and 63 percent, such that our population’s working-age share would still be lower than Thailand’s in 1990!

The flipside, of course, is the proportion of young nonworking dependents, referred to as the dependency burden, which is heaviest for the Philippines: 33 percent in 2010 versus 21 percent for Thailand and 27 percent for Indonesia. By 2015, the Philippines’ burden eases just a bit to 32 percent compared with Thailand’s 19 percent and Indonesia’s 26 percent.

The lesson seems clear. Our progressive Asian neighbors have reaped the demographic-transition bonus by seriously implementing population policies early on that sharply slowed their population growth rates (PGR, evidently related to, but not to be confused with, TFR)—e.g., Thailand’s 0.5 percent and Indonesia’s 1.2 percent versus the Philippines’ 1.9 percent (as of 2008-2010). Slower PGR enabled higher human capital and infrastructure spending, resulting in positive demographic-economic synergies.

HSBC qualifies its prognosis: “There are two ways economies can grow; either add more people to the production line via growth in the working population, or make each individual more productive… Behind these projections we assume governments build on their recent progress and remain solely focused on increasing the living standards for their populations.”

These, of course, are big ifs because making each worker more productive and raising living standards can scarcely be achieved without population management complementing economic policy. For instance, partly due to a lack of a clear population policy in the Philippines, investment in human capital per student has been declining in real terms and worker productivity has been slipping. Meanwhile, calls for a firm population policy since our early FP program stalled in the late 1970s have gone unheeded and stymied by church-state politics.

The sooner the RH bill is passed and implemented, the faster the economy can hit the “sweet spot.” The naysayers are, of course, quick to say that that would bring about the aging problem sooner. It’s actually a common fallacy, because after reaching replacement fertility, a population continues to grow owing to demographic momentum typically for another 70 years or so before it stabilizes.

“All told, RH programs offer a win-win solution. They lift the well-being of individual women and children, and benefit the economy and the environment as well” (30 UP economists, Inquirer, 7/29/12).

Ernesto M. Pernia is with the UP School of Economics and is former lead economist of the ADB.

In other countries, politicians immediately resign after being caught doing such a juvenile act. Heck, even in high school and college, kids immediately get expelled when caught plagiarizing. But not in the Philippines...

^^ It is even possible that he will again be reelected in the future. Voters have short memories.

____________________

Asked, Who is the rich man? Epictetus replied, “He who is content”.

Lagman calls for early passage of 'intertwined' 2013 budget, RH bills
InterAksyon
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/40933/lagman-calls-for-early-passage-of-intertwined-2013-budget-rh-bills

MANILA, Philippines - Albay Representative Edcel Lagman on Monday exhorted leaders of the House of Representatives to prioritize the passage of the budget and the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, saying both issues are intertwined.

"The affinity between the RH bill and the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) is reasonably intertwined to be overlooked," Lagman said in a statement.

He said the RH bill complements the budget in major appropriations, particularly for social services, risk management during calamities, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

As with the budget bill, the House should also set a time frame for discussions on the RH bill so it could be voted on in plenary, he said.

Lagman, one of the main authors of the RH bill, said that while the proposed national budget has increased to P2.006 trillion, "no amount of augmentation will be adequate if Filipino couples, parents, and women are not empowered to freely and responsibly determine the number and spacing of their children through legal, medically safe, and effective family planning methods of their choice."

"Appropriations are eroded by a huge population growth rate," he added.

The Albay lawmaker also said the ballooning population "exacerbates calamities and makes risk management more expensive and difficult."

The RH bill is currently under the period of amendments on the floor, but lawmakers opposed to the measure have stalled discussions last week by delivering privilege speeches.

Lagman said the complementarities of the RH bill and the GAB are manifest in the following major programs and policies of the government which require sufficient budgetary outlays:

(1) Quality education will always be hampered by huge backlogs in classrooms, teachers, and textbooks as the annual escalation of school enrollment outpaces the budget for education.

(2) Healthcare expenditures will continue to rise if maternal and infant morbidity and mortality are not reduced because reproductive health information and services are not accessible to the marginalized and disadvantaged sectors.

(3) Despite budgetary allocations and incentives for job generation, the problems of unemployment and underemployment will defy solution if the number of annual entrants to the manpower pool remains increasingly high.

(4) The appropriation for the protection of the environment and the containment of climate change is rendered deficient as the ecology becomes the casualty of wanton population growth.

Not just about condoms and birth control
Business Mirror
http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/opinion/31510-not-just-about-condoms-and-birth-control-

EVEN as the debate on the reproductive-health (RH) bill seems to be turning more acrimonious in the Senate each session day, we wish to point out that a population policy should also be about more than just birth control and contraceptives. It’s also about being able to harness our population and our country’s other resources, about providing the right infrastructure and sociopolitical climate that would lure investments and give people jobs and economic opportunities.

We already have a population fast approaching 100 million, with some 2 million Filipinos born every year. Even if the RH bill is passed this year, and granting that it is able to slow down our surging population growth, we still have to contend with the huge and relatively young population we already have.

Bloomberg in an article on July 23, 2012, titled “Aging Japan-Chinese workers drive jobs to Southeast Asia,” reported that Asia’s manufacturing powerhouses—Japan, South Korea and China—are among the fastest-aging countries in the world, while developing nations in Southeast Asia are among the youngest in the region. As a result, factories, jobs and investment are going to countries like the Philippines that have a relatively young, skilled and cheap work force.

The article cited Tsuneishi Heavy Industries Inc., a Japanese-owned shipbuilding company which put up a shipyard in Balamban town in Cebu, employing more than 15,000 workers, and electronic-parts maker Mitsumi Electric Co., with more than 14,000 workers also in Cebu, as among the businesses looking to move more manufacturing out of China.

Yoshitsugu Murakami, a spokesman for Mitsumi said, “Labor costs in China have been rising. It’s good for us to shift production to the Philippines little by little. It’s easy to recruit talented workers.”

Tsuneishi is confident of pouring some P25 billion into Cebu this year alone.

Our labor force will expand to 75 million by 2020, Merrill Lynch projected in an April 27 note.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said that the country’s steady supply of a young work force could be an advantage. The first Philippine Consumer Finance Survey (CFS) conducted by the BSP in June this year indicated a big net participation rate in the labor force, with the young population expected to turn in big numbers within the next decade.

The BSP agrees that the Philippines would find itself at an advantage compared to developed economies “with mostly an aging population and who are forced to look for their labor requirement from the developing countries.”

But an abundantly young work force will not necessarily be an advantage if they’re not trained and skilled.

So the government should invest heavily on education and skills training in order to make sure that our young people are ready to meet the demands of higher-value and higher-technology industries. It should also control criminality and terrorism, which significantly deter foreign investment. And it should invest more on public infrastructure, particularly on airports and seaports, transportation and telecommunications networks and energy systems, to reduce the cost of doing business in the country.

If we could do all these, perhaps one day, we could say: Population is not a problem—regardless of whether we have a reproductive-health law or not.

Bloody debates on sin taxes expected
Manila Standard
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2012/08/20/bloody-debates-on-sin-taxes-expected/

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said he expected “bloody deliberations” on the floor when the Malacanang-backed measure seeking increased taxes on tobacco and liquor comes up for debate.

Enrile said the proposed measure known as the “sin taxes bill” faced “rough sailing” in the Senate because some senators believe it would kill the tobacco industry once it becomes a law.

“Our tobacco farmers would be in pitiful condition, During summertime, that’s their source of income,” Enrile, who hails from Cagayan, a tobacco-producing province, told reporters last Friday.

The House of Representatives has passed its own version of the bill, but the Senate was still holding public hearings on the proposal. The Senate Ways and Means Committee will also have to consolidate the various versions of the proposals before the plenary debates.

The House-approved sin taxes bill projected a revenue of P31.28 billion excise taxes from tabacco and alcohol. Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said he hoped the senators would raise it to P60 billion.

Senator Ferdinand Marcos, whose constituents live on tobacco farms in the Ilocos provinces, said the government must provide alternative livelihood to tobacco farmers who will be displaced by high taxes.

“What will the government do with the tobacco farmers, growers, retailers and traders. They will be adversely affected by the decline in tobacco consumption. Now, what are we going to do with them if they lost their livelihood?” Marcos said.

“The industry supports three million workers. They are dependent on tobacco for their livelihood. They should not be neglected. While this could generate additional revenues for the government, they should also take into consideration the lives of the people who will be prejudiced by killing the industry,” Marcos said.

Sen. Ralph Recto, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he expected the Senate to pass the bill by December, and the money it will generate would be spent on universal health care.

But Enrile said he was not sure that the bill would pass before the yearend.

^^ I am in favor of "sin tax" (come on, what benefits do we get from nicotine?). However upon implementation, the government should immediately provide alternative and compensate affected industries. Say, government assistance to planting tobacco to planting rice. The government could give no-interest loans to businesses/companies that will be affected.

Please, please tell me what kind of reasoning is this?????

Parang sinabi nila na puedeng gamitin ang kotse mo ng walang paalam ng di mo kilala!

Plagiarism common practice, OK in Senate, says Sotto’s aide (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/255890/plagiarism-common-practice-ok-in-senate-says-sottos-aide)

Plagiarism is rampant in the Senate, but some staff members of senators consider it an acceptable practice.

Passages from various authors are included in the speeches of senators and entire legislative bills are being copied and passed off as their own.

The chief of staff of Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto on Wednesday said it was a common practice among Senate staff members to scout for bills that a previous Congress had failed to enact into law and repackage them as their bosses’ pet measures.


For instance, the reproductive health (RH) bill that Sen. Miriam Santiago filed in 1997 has undergone so many incarnations before its current packaging as the committee report that she and Pia Cayetano, chairperson of the committee on women and family relations, now endorse.

Why reinvent the wheel?

“Copying is a common practice. Why do you need to think of a brand-new measure when a good one that was not enacted already exists?” said Hector Villacorta, Sotto’s chief of staff.

At a breakfast forum, Villacorta said former senators would sometimes approach incumbent ones and ask them to refile the measures that failed to reach approval during the former senators’ term.

“They request new senators to refile [the bills] because (these are) already in the archives. Why reinvent the wheel? Re-filing is an accepted practice. It is called copying,” he said

Word for word

There are also instances when a senator’s staff goes through bills not enacted by a previous Congress and copy these word for word.

“It’s really copying …. Why exert effort when these bills are just lying around?” Villacorta said.

He explained that this was an acceptable practice because “a bill not acted upon dies with an old Congress. So when the new Congress takes over, the staff of the new senators will find out that can still be revived.”

Two senators are being assailed on social networking sites for their alleged failure to attribute information from sources on the Internet contained in their speeches.

Sotto was chastised for not acknowledging a US blogger whose work his researcher cited in a speech against the RH bill last week.

Cayetano was similarly ridiculed for allegedly not mentioning two institutions in separate speeches on maternal health and the environment.

Rationalization

Even Villacorta himself was whipped on the Web for saying that Philippine laws do not have provisions that penalize anyone who freely lifts information from the Internet.

Still, Villacorta said it was easier to rationalize the filing of unoriginal bills than delivering unoriginal speeches because even the Constitution was “plagiarized” from the US charter.

“We plagiarized the US Constitution. All the amendments became our Bill of Rights. But do they call us a plagiaristic country? No, because the law is based on precedent,” Sotto’s chief of staff said.


“Even our Insurance Code is a plagiarized document. The proposed freedom of information bill is plagiarized. What’s more, the Senate and House (of Representatives) versions of the RH bill are very similar. So who is plagiarizing who?” he added.

Villacorta reminded everyone that “the Bible reached us today because the monks copied from the Greeks. Everything really started from a little copying.”

All plagiarists

“Even our image was copied from God. We are all plagiarists,” he said.

Former Sen. Ernesto Maceda was in the Senate Wednesday and acknowledged that the copying of bills from a previous Congress was indeed considered acceptable among his peers during his term.

In the case of speeches, “when we lifted a passage or quotation, we gave the corresponding attribution to the source,” he said.

However, Maceda would not hold Sotto and Cayetano personally accountable for passages in their speeches that might have failed to attribute the right sources.

“I can believe the two senators if they say their speeches were prepared by their staff. It was an omission…. I think to me it’s not a big thing. It’s forgivable if it does not really affect the overall content of the speech…. Almost all senators depend on staff work,” he explained


Magnanimous

Santiago was also magnanimous when asked about the issue

“Maybe the speech writer just overlooked it…. This is politics so I guess we should give more leeway to the senators as long as later on they admit that they took it from some other source and they acknowledge that source,” she said.

“This is not academe where it is grave, in effect a mortal sin not to attribute something to its source or author,” Santiago added.

Still, Maceda said it would be good if the senators would “express an apology to authors asking it.”

Not on Villacorta’s watch in the case of Sotto. “Senator Sotto was not personally responsible for preparing the speech. He only read it on the floor. Besides, I already apologized to (US blogger) Sarah Pope,” he said.


Too awkward

Villacorta said Sotto’s researchers initially tried searching for the website of US author Natasha Campbell-McBride but could not open it.

The researchers resorted instead to Sarah Pope’s blog, believing her quotes of Campbell-McBride’s work was verbatim

“We cannot draw up a speech that says ‘according to this blogger who quoted this author.’ It’s simply too awkward. Besides, what would the Senate President say,” Villacorta said.

“A whole gamut of ‘according to’ would also not make the speech credible. This is the Senate we are talking about,” he added.


Plagiarism -- passing ones work as your own. Nothing wrong with borrowing ideas as long as you cite where you got it and do not claim it as your own or use it as if it was yours.

Schools and Universities should be strict on plagiarism. Professionals and politicians should be fined heavily for plagiarizing.

And just how is the Philippine constitution "plagiarized" from the US Constitution? Although we have borrowed their idea of Congress, Senate, etc... they are different in many ways. Phil constitution was FRAMED from the US constitution but it is not the same as Sotto's speech to the US blogger's entry.

And just because plagiarism was common in the ancient times, does not excuse these people from plagiarizing. Those were hundreds and thousands years ago where there was no concept of plagiarism. However in our time where the concept of plagiarism exist, there is no excuse.

Besides, in Sotto's plagiarism case (or rather his aide) was a plagiarism of opinion on opposition to population control. This implies laziness in researching for facts and reasoning out/defending why they oppose the RH bill.

Enrile: Economy needs Charter Change, not passage of RH Bill
InterAksyon.com
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/40872/enrile-economy-needs-charter-change-not-passage-of-rh-bill



Charter Change has been under consideration for a number of years; progress is so slow. Meanwhile the rest of ASEAN is cornering the bulk of FDI's.

I guess the proposal to change into federalism is also dead in the water. I would be in favor of the US or Canada model, dividing the country into 5-7 states or provinces with the federal center responsible for defense and foreign policy.

It will be a long road to Federalism. Maraming politiko mawawalan ng trabaho. :lol: at mag-aaway sila sa territoryo :lol:

On a serious note: Federalism could lessen the burden of the national government as states will have to take care of themselves hindi yung laging subsidized ng national government.

I say convert the regions to states and existing provinces will be converted into "counties".

It could be a cost effective in our part. Less governors and councilors to pay :lol:

A Federal Republic of the Philippines would be easier to assimilate by either Canada or the US when the time comes. He he he.

Are you dreaming of a Federal Republic of North America and The Philippine Islands? :lol:

Someone posted an edited map placing the Philippines just right beside North America. Not sure if you'd be able to dig it up since it was months ago.

What can be posited about the trajectories of economies of countries, in that they are difficult to predict, could also be applied to the political landscape of the future. Looking forward four to five decades ahead, we will never know for sure.

You will be amazed at how many and how often Canadian academics and intellectuals are continually harping on the theme of possible rearrangement of the political boundaries of North America.

Santiago defends Ateneo professors on RH bill stand
Academic freedom recognized by Vatican, says senator Lagman
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/255938/santiago-defends-ateneo-professors-on-rh-bill-stand

The threat to charge 159 faculty members of the Ateneo de Manila University with heresy for expressing support for the reproductive health bill (RH) is an infringement of their constitutional right to academic freedom, which is also recognized by Vatican II, according to Sen. Miriam Santiago.

“Academic freedom is enshrined in our Constitution. You cannot dictate to a professor what to teach. I think this is a backward-looking message,” Santiago reminded the Ateneo management and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), which had warned the faculty members they face possible charges of heresy.

Santiago said the Vatican II ecumenical council already defined the changing role of the Catholic Church and society.

“You can no longer punish Catholics for their freedom of conscience… That’s why it was called an ecumenical council because it abandoned all its previous strict conservative ways and is now more open to what can be called questioning concern,” said Santiago, a constitutional expert who has a master’s degree in theology.

RH backer

The senator is one of the most vocal supporters of the RH bill in the Senate. Santiago, in fact, filed the first RH bill in the Senate in 1997.

The CBCP earlier called on Ateneo authorities to investigate the 159 faculty members who signed a declaration of support for the RH bill for allegedly going against Catholic dogma.

The Catholic hierarchy, the most vocal opponents of the RH bill, resists the idea of the government distributing artificial methods of contraception to poor Filipinos. Condoms and birth control pills are particularly anathema as they supposedly encourage promiscuity, especially among the young.

Ateneo president Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin, who supports the CBCP position, wrote a letter to the Ateneo community that was posted on the university’s website, telling those “engaged in the Christian formation of our students to ensure that the Catholic position on this matter continues to be taught in our classes, as we have always done.”

Wrong theology

Santiago said the Ateneo and the CBCP are not allowed “to downtrod the academic freedom of all intellectuals of the country… To threaten these (faculty members that they) would be kicked out of the Catholic Church is in effect to impose sanctions on academic freedom.”

“This is wrong theology because there is no dogma involved here, there is no specific dogmatic principle that has emanated from the Pope,” she reiterated.

Only Pope Benedict XVI “can dictate” Catholic dogma “and that is only when he categorically claims that he is speaking ex cathedra in his role as Supreme Pontiff.”

“The Pope never exercised that power with respect to reproductive health or population control or responsible parenthood so we are all agreed among the Catholic theological community that this is not a required position,” the senator said.

Party-list representative Luz Ilagan (Gabriela), who taught at the Ateneo de Davao for four decades, said it was the Ateneo professors’ right to make a stand on an important issue.

“That they view the RH bill as a piece of legislation that will help provide much-needed maternal and infant health services to Filipinos is a laudable demonstration of compassion, social awareness and a commitment for the poor and the marginalized,” Ilagan said in a statement.

True to Ateneo mission

The professors, in taking a stand for the bill, were also being true to the Ateno’s mission statement of social concern by being men and women for others, she said.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, one of the bill’s principal authors, said the Ateneo professors’ support for the bill does not go against Catholic dogma.

“It does not offend or reject Catholic dogma because it adheres to the hallmark of the measure on the right to informed choice, which negates both compulsion and reward, and promotes free will which is a cardinal principle of the Church,” Lagman said in a statement.

He said academic freedom as provided for in the Constitution extends to professors of Catholic universities. The essence of such a freedom also includes searching for truth in various disciplines and revealing this, unhampered by prior restraint or reprisal from authorities.

Lagman also said that since bishops and their supporters invoke freedom of expression in opposing the reproductive health bill, the Ateneo professors should also be given the same freedom to support the measure in good conscience as Catholics.

Lagman calls RH bill opponents extremists
PhilStar
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?publicationSubCategoryId=63&articleId=840550

MANILA, Philippines - Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, one of the authors of the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill, yesterday described his colleagues who are opposed to the measure as “extremists.”

“Some are extremists so much so they block projected amendments that even directly and favorably address their concerns and objections. It appears that they would blindly reject the RH bill even if only a comma remains of the measure,” he said.

Lagman said had these House members “relented in their dilatory and obstructionist filibustering,” certain amendments “responding to their criticisms” could have already been introduced and approved.

Lagman made the accusation following last week’s failure of the House to start the period of introducing changes in the bill due to privilege speeches delivered by those opposed to the measure.

The bill’s opponents have vowed to make more speeches and question the quorum if the chamber’s leadership tried to move the proposed RH law forward.

“They should have enough warm bodies in the session hall,” Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said.

Representatives Jeanette Garin of Iloilo and Kimi Cojuangco accused the bill’s opponents of abusing their “privilege” to deliver speeches on any issue that affects them and the House.

They said whenever there are important bills to consider, such speeches should not be given priority, except on Mondays, as the House rules provide.

They said their colleagues’ perorations are clearly intended to delay consideration of the RH bill.

Lagman said among the amendments the bill’s authors intended to propose are:

Deletion of the provision on “ideal family size” to assure critics that the bill does not impose a two-child policy like China’s one-child policy.

Deletion of the section on “employer’s responsibilities” to address concerns that a similar provision in Article 134 of the Labor Code is already adequate.

Deletion of the section on “family planning supplies as essential medicine” to accommodate objections that such a prior classification cannot be made by law.

In lieu of the protested provision, the Food and Drug Administration is charged with the determination of the safety, efficacy and classification of modern family planning products and supplies pursuant to existing law.

Deletion of the prohibited act on malicious disinformation in order to fully guarantee the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion.

Assurance of funding support to promote modern natural methods of family planning, like the billings, symptom-thermal and standard days methods. Give hospitals owned and operated by a religious group the option not to provide “a full range of modern family planning methods” in order to further guarantee religious freedom.

The other sins of Senator Vicente Sotto III
by Sylvia Estrada Claudio
Rappler.com
http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/10850-the-other-sins-of-senator-vicente-sotto

You have to have been living under a rock if you are not yet aware of the plagiarism perpetuated by Senator Sotto in his turno en contra speeches against the reproductive health bill. A colleague, Alfredo Melgar, was first to discover that in his first speech, Sotto had plagiarized a US blogger named Sarah Pope.

Shortly after, literary notable Miguel Syjuco revealed that 4 other bloggers had also been plagiarized in the second speech.

But the original “theft,” as Ms. Pope would later call it, was not the end of the perfidy. In the morning of August 16, Sotto denied the plagiarism on national TV. Before the day ended, Sotto's chief of staff admitted the plagiarism.

The details of the missteps, however, show the whole sorry mess of Senator Sotto's “style” in legislative work -- including the kind of people he employs.

In denying his plagiarism, Senator Sotto puts forward the most outrageous ideas about proper attribution. He also ends up painting a whole class of people in a negative light. Sotto claims that he did not plagiarize anyone because he had made a blanket disclaimer that the ideas he presented were taken from other experts. He also said that blogs could not be plagiarized because they were not important as sources of data.

Given his extensive plagiarism of blogs, his statements were disingenuous at best. His idea that a blanket disclaimer was sufficient caused many of my colleagues in the academe to go into fits. Students who plagiarize from reputable scientific sources get failed in any self-respecting institution of higher learning. Students who misrepresent blogs as scientific research also get severe reprimands. I do not know what is to be done with someone who does both—plagiarize and misrepresent.

As the firestorm developed even further, Sotto stated that he could not be legally liable because of parliamentary immunity. Prior to his first speech, anticipating that what Sotto would say would be morally indefensible and possibly libelous, I had tweeted a challenge to him to strip himself of immunity and face the consequences. His retreat into the protection of immunity, as another tweeter noted, does not make him less of a liar and a thief.

The way in which his plagiarism was finally admitted is a story in itself.

As I monitored the news over the controversy, someone sent me a link to the “apology” of Sotto's COS, Mr. Villacorta, to Sarah Pope. The apology made me cringe. I can only describe it as one of the most arrogant non-apologies I have seen. It was also an attempt to take the blame for Sotto by saying it was his staff that lifted from her blog and not the senator himself. Villacorta then implied that Pope was unfair in putting the blame on Sotto for the mistakes made by his staff.

In so doing, Villacorta accused Pope of persecuting Sotto. As if this were not enough, he appealed to her to join them in their fight for the unborn, turning the apology both into an accusation and a political diatribe. Part of the bad taste of this was that Mr Villacorta implied that he and Sotto could speak for the unborn, “all the unborn wants very much the right to be born and they need everybody's help.” That the apology was written in bad English did not help.

One of the keys to national progress is to increase our people's scientific literacy. Apparently we have failed so badly that a senator and his staff do not know the difference between evidence-based scientific arguments and the chicanery they have managed to put together.

The scientific arguments regarding contraceptives, abortion, sexuality education, etc., have already been repeatedly discussed in the course of the debate on the RH bill. I have no intention of reiterating them because no amount of repetition seems to make a dent in the minds of people like Senator Sotto.

The real problem here is that they can't discern what good science is and therefore tend to believe the gunk they come up with.

And how do I know this is gunk? Sit back, dear reader, and note the tell tale signs of folly:

1) Citing outdated studies a.k.a Rip Van Winkle Does Science

When Sotto does cite his sources instead of plagiarizing them, we note that they are at least 30 years old. In his first speech, which can be accessed at the Senate website, he mentions only 3 books, one dated 1975 and the two others, 1974. His second speech does not mention the dates of any of the sources he cites to bolster his case. Where dates are mentioned, it is of UN documents he wishes to criticize.

Why do we teachers insist that this is a sign of possible chicanery? Because scientific knowledge is continually evolving, renewed and revised. To claim that something believed more than 30 years ago would still be true now, must raise some red flags. While it is true that this may be possible, it is unlikely.

In fact the claim that Sotto makes, which he supports by these books from the 1970s, is that, “Individual human life begins at conception and is progressive, ongoing continuum until natural death. This is a fact so well established that no intellectually honest physician in full command of modern medical knowledge would dare to deny it.”

That claim is false.

Current medical text books do not support this view and neither do a majority of physicans. Indeed, even in the 1970s, it was by no means the dominant position.

In 1976, Theodosius Dobzhansky, geneticist and evolutionary biologist, commenting on the question about when life begins observed, "The wish felt by many people to pinpoint such a stage probably stems from the belief that a soul, conceived as a preternatural entity, descends upon a formerly soulless living stuff, and suddenly transforms the latter into human estate. I hope that modern theologians can accept the idea that the transformation is not sudden, but gradual.”

2) Citing extremists, outliers and unproven claims a.k.a. Crackpot Alert!

Why do I claim that the mainstream of medical opinion does not support this view? Simple. I listen to reputable scientific organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO). I invite anyone out there who still believes in the disinformation against the RH bill, to visit the WHO website.

Why should I believe the WHO? Well, it has not been perfect. No human institution is. But its opinions are based on the exhaustive reviews by panels of experts of the research available. In any area of science, there will always be contradictory studies (like those of Dr Natasha Campbell McBride which Sotto cites).

The role of reputable scientists is to see the whole of the data and disregard those that are contradictory to the majority because the claims are not backed by reputable research (this is the case in Dr McBride's theories) or are just contradicted by more researches. Usually, well-run studies that contradict the majority are pointed out in the reputable literature.

To take the outlier study or the crackpot's views and to claim that this is scientific proof is, in my mind, even more egregious than an outright lie.

3) Misrepresentation a.k.a. LIAR, LIAR!

Sotto misrepresents studies or quotes them out of context. I get the impression that he and his staff really don't read what they quote or they are deliberately distorting the findings. Again I will give just one example.

In his speech he says this, “The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on July 29, 2005 that after a thorough review of the published scientific literature, it has concluded that combined estrogen-progestogen oral contraceptives (and combined estrogen-progestogen menopausal therapy) are carcinogenic to humans (Group 1 category. This category is used when there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in humans.).”

First, the date of the study is wrong. The study was conducted in 1999.

Secondly, he misrepresents what the study is saying. Here is the full statement of the study seen in page 294 of the monograph: “Combined oral contraceptives are carcinogenic to humans (Group 1). There is also conclusive evidence that these agents have a protective effect against cancers of the ovary and the endometrium.”

On page 293 the monograph notes that the basis for saying combined oral contraceptives cause cancer is that there is sufficient evidence that high dose preparations cause hepatocellular cancer. I have italicized the term high dose because the currently available preparations are not high dose preparations.

4) Inacuracies a.k.a. LIAR, LIAR, LIAR

Sotto has too many inaccuracies. I shall add only one more example here having noted his inaccuracies over the IARC monograph.

The pill Diane, which he claims his wife was taking when she got pregnant in 1975, was only available in 1978, as shown in the website entry of Bayer.

5) Ignorance of statistical reasoning a.k.a. Really? You Studied in Harvard?

In his second speech he says this: "Kung tutuusin sa pinagawa ko sa mga staff ko, hindi pa nga umabot man lang sa kalahati ng 11 maternal deaths ang nakalap nila sa mga hospitals sa Pilipinas nung 2011 eh. For example, sa Nueva Viscaya Provincial Hospital, ang maternal deaths na naitala nila ay 2 lamang sa 2011. Let me emphasize, this is for the entire year of 2011, hindi po ito kada-araw. Sa Pangasinan Provincial Hospital, 4 lamang ang naitalang namatay sa panganganak sa nakaraang taon. Sa Batangas Regional Hospital, 7 out of 2584 deliveries ang naitala .27%. Hindi pa nga umabot sa 1%. Sa Cavite Naval Hospital, wala silang naitala na namatay sa panganganak sa taong 2011. Kaya ang hirap paniwalaan ang kanilang figure na 11 mothers die every day."

Extrapolating Sotto's numbers to a nationwide count would show that 18 mothers die a day. According to Likhaan, one of the NGOs he maligned, “Sotto failed to grasp that a small number – such as the 0.27% he calculated for Batangas and belittled – becomes large when multiplied by a huge number like the millions of births per year. If we assume that the Batangas data can be applied to all births in the country in 2011, the national figure becomes 2,385,000 births × 0.27% = 6,461 maternal deaths per year, or nearly 18 per day.”

6. Mistaking temporal contiguity for correlation and correlation as causation a.k.a. Conspiracy Theories and Witch Hunting Are So Dark Ages!

The biggest one is that because certain UN agencies and international NGOs that support reproductive health are concerned with abortion services in OTHER countries, therefore they are using the RH bill as a means to legalize abortion in the Philippines.

In his speech where he accuses my NGO, Likhaan, as pushing abortion, he flashes a few pages of our translation of the book, “Where Women Have No Doctor” from the world renowned publisher the Hesperian Foundation. Of the several hundred pages of that book, he chooses to show those where the book discusses how abortions are done.

Hesperian works with NGOs for translations of its many wonderful books and indeed, we were its partners for the Filipino translation. The translated version is faithful to the English original, because unlike Sotto, we don't censor or mistranslate other people's material. Also, last I heard, it is not a crime to discuss abortion in the Philippines.

Conspiracy theorists and witch hunters work through innuendos and insinuations. It is very difficult to protect oneself from these accusations because they essentially ask that people think the darkest and worst thoughts of other people.

Sotto is guilty indeed of failures in proper attribution, misrepresentation, logical fallacies and inaccuracies. But these things are the fruit of the lack of discipline in tracking down the real evidence; conceit in refusing to listen to the experts; narrow-mindedness in refusing to accept evidence that is contrary to his beliefs; and the low-mindedness of one who can deal in insinuation and innuendo.

Perhaps Sotto should take a break from legislative work and try to learn basic lessons of scientific reasoning and civility in argumentation. If he does, he is less likely to cause the kind of morbid fascination that we give to train wrecks, when he makes his speeches.

What can be posited about the trajectories of economies of countries, in that they are difficult to predict, could also be applied to the political landscape of the future. Looking forward four to five decades ahead, we will never know for sure.

You will be amazed at how many and how often Canadian academics and intellectuals are continually harping on the theme of possible rearrangement of the political boundaries of North America.

That's interesting. Maybe it would happen if something big happens (kind of like the trigger)

So, you prefer consolidating with North America than East Asia? :lol: Not that it's a bad idea. But I bet your familiar with the typical Asian mentality if one relates more to the non-Asians -- Brown American/Canadian...:lol:

It is difficult to tell which directions the geopolitical winds will blow in the future. But there could be vastly different political alliances/mergers/dismemberment of nations decades hence.

The political boundaries of Europe today is different from what it was 100 years ago, which in turn was different from 200 years ago. 500 -1000 years ago most of Europe was just an agglomeration of tribes and city-states. The North and South American continents were native American country up until about 350 years ago.

What does the future hold for the Philippines, say 50 – 75 years from now? Nobody knows.

But I say we throw our lot with the democracies of North America. As a first step we adopt a federal system of government similar in form to Canada or the US. Later on we join either one.

This serves as a thought experiment.

Manila to have ‘most modern’ courts at P2B
By Nancy Carvajal
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10:25 pm | Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012

Manila will soon have a new Hall of Justice—“the most modern in the country”—to the tune of P2 billion, according to senior Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio.

The new building, which according to Carpio will house up to 120 court rooms, will rise on the site of the old Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) building on A.J. Villegas Street (formerly Arroceros).

At present, Manila courts are scattered in various buildings near the city hall.

“The (new) Manila Hall of Justice will be the biggest, most modern and best equipped hall of justice in the country, bar none,” Carpio said in a speech Wednesday at the project’s groundbreaking rites. “It will be a hall of justice that the residents of Manila could truly be proud of.”

He said the building could be completed in two to three years, covering an area of 10,818 square meters

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/255836/manila-to-have-most-modern-courts-at-p2b

wow, dyan sila uli magsasayang ng oras sa mamahaling korte:D

Di sinabi ang penalty....

August 23, 2012

Data privacy law signed by Aquino

A PRIORITY measure penalizing the theft, malicious use and unauthorized disclosure of personal information has been signed into law by President Benigno S. C. Aquino III.

Under Republic Act 10173 or the Data Privacy Act, the collection of personal information should be made with clear consent. The data must also only be used for legitimate purposes as determined before it is gathered.

Personal data includes an individual’s race, ethnic origin, marital status, age, affiliations, health, education, and court-related records. It also pertains to tax data, licenses and others as may be specified by the Palace or Congress.

RA 10173 also creates the National Privacy Commission that will enforce the law, receive complaints and set investigations. -- N. M. Gonzales

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=TopStory&title=Data-privacy-law-signed-by-Aquino&id=57351

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/424772_455544184490169_123176195_n.jpg

malabong maipasa yan, kasi sila mismo mag pasa nyan apektado, kaya WISH ka na lang:D

^^ayaw din nilang mabisto :D

Di sinabi ang penalty....

August 23, 2012

Data privacy law signed by Aquino

A PRIORITY measure penalizing the theft, malicious use and unauthorized disclosure of personal information has been signed into law by President Benigno S. C. Aquino III.

Under Republic Act 10173 or the Data Privacy Act, the collection of personal information should be made with clear consent. The data must also only be used for legitimate purposes as determined before it is gathered.

Personal data includes an individual’s race, ethnic origin, marital status, age, affiliations, health, education, and court-related records. It also pertains to tax data, licenses and others as may be specified by the Palace or Congress.

RA 10173 also creates the National Privacy Commission that will enforce the law, receive complaints and set investigations. -- N. M. Gonzales

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=TopStory&title=Data-privacy-law-signed-by-Aquino&id=57351

I hope this does not include those in office coz we will really need to monitor where they are getting their money :lol:

Senado ‘nabiyak” sa panukalang hatiin ang CamSur
MISTULANG nabiyak ang Seando sa panukalang hatiin ang lalawigan ng Camarines Sur na pinagtatalunan ng mag-amang sina Camarines Sur Gov. El-Rey Villafuerte at Rep. Luis Villafuerte matapos magtalo sa plenaryo ang dalawang senador.

Sa araw ng paglilibing kay yumaong Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, nagkaroon naman ng mainitang debate ang ilang senador sa pangunguna ni Senador Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

May panukala ang nakatatandang Villafuerte na hatiin ang CamSur at lumikha ng Nueva Camarines na mahigpit na tinututulan ng ilang senador na kaalyado ni Sen. Manny Villar.

Bukod kasi sa ginawang report ni Senador Miriam Defensor Santiago, chair ng senate committee on constitutional amendments, revision of codes and laws, hinggil sa House Bill No. 4820 ni Rep. Villafuerte na naglalayong likhain ang lalawigan ng Nueva Camarines, may balak naman si Marcos na gumawa ng sariling committee report.

Nais ni Santiago na talakayin na sa plenaryo ng Senado ang kanyang committee report upang mapagbotohan sa mga darating na araw, pero hinarang ito ni Marcos matapos na magpadala ng liham kay Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III para ipaalam na maglalabas siya ng report hinggil sa naturang panukala.

Ayon kay Sotto, dahil sa naging desisyon ni Marcos na maglabas ng committee report, awtomatikong itatabi muna ang report ni Santiago.

Pinaliwanag ni Sotto na ang komite ni Marcos ang siyang “lead committee” habang ang komite ni Santiago ang “secondary committee” kung kayat ang lead committee ang bibigyan ng prayoridad kung ano ang rekomendasyon sa panukala sa paghati ng CamSur.

Nilagdaan ng pitong senador ang report ng senate committee on constitutional amendments, revision of codes and laws, hinggil sa House Bill No. 4820 ni Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte na naglalayong likhain ang lalawigan ng Nueva Camarines.

Kabilang sa lumagda ay si Senador Miriam Defensor Santiago, chair ng komite at ang vice-chairman nitong si Senador Edgardo Angara, mga miyembrong sina Senador Franklin Drilon, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Lito Lapid at ex-officio members na sina Senador Jinggoy Estrada at Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.

Hindi naman lumagda sina Senador Manny Villar, Panfilo Lacson, Marcos Jr., Antonio Trillanes IV, Aquilino Pimentel III at Alan Peter Cayetano.

Nauna nang bumuo ng posisyon ang Nacionalista Party (NP) na kinabibilangan nina Villar, Trillanes, Marcos at Cayetano kontra sa paghati ng Camarines Sur.
Read more (http://www.remate.ph/2012/08/senado-nabiyak-sa-panukalang-hatiin-ang-camsur/)

^^hati na nga ang Camarines, hahatiin pa ulit nila? We should be merging instead to reduce cost (read: politician salaries) not creating new ones. We are over saturated with politicians :lol:

I just don't see the economic advantage of splitting them up...
economically, it should go the other way.. unlike Metro Manila.. it should just be one big city with just one central administration.

instead of making smaller regional economies, the country should promote provinces to have "economies of bigger scales."


what is the purpose really?

For a small country, we have too much number of provinces. I guess politicians wants their own "territories". Dapat iniintegrate mismo yung mga magkakapangalan at pinagkaiba yung mga -del/sur, 'del/norte', oriental, occidental. At least kung ganun, mas maypag-asang maredistribute ang mga incomes. Tapos kung puede yung Cordillera gawin ulit isang probinsya. Total, iilan lang naman populasyon nila.

Sotto strikes again!! :bash::bash::bash:
Sotto: To Pass the Anti-Discrimination Bill, Discriminate LGBT First (http://filipinofreethinkers.org/2012/08/28/sotto-to-pass-the-anti-discrimination-bill-discriminate-lgbt-first/)

Manila Bulletin reports that certain senators are opposing the Anti-Racial, Ethnic and Anti-Religious Discrimination Act of 2011 (the Anti-Discrimination bill) because they want the provisions concerning the LGBT struck down. Among these senators is our favorite bigote’d senator, the Honorable Vincente Sotto III.

New single parent’s bill pushed
Posted by Online on Aug 29th, 2012

***

Last June, the House approved on third and final reading HB 6184 which gives discounts to solo parents.

Once the measure is enacted into law, single parents will enjoy a 15-percent discount on milk and other food supplements, as well as a 10-percent discount on clothes, for their babies until the children are two years old.
Under HB 6184, single parents will get a 15-percent discount on clothes for their children until they are five years old.

Violators of the propose Act, particularly those fraudulently securing the discounts shall pay P10,000 to P50,000 and shall be imprisoned for six months.

Those who fail to give discounts shall pay P10,000 to P50,000 on the first offense. For the second offense, they will be fined P100, 000 to P200,000 and imprisoned for a maximum of two years.


Read more here (http://www.tempo.com.ph/2012/new-single-parents-bill-pushed/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)

Maceda, Gordon join UNA senatorial slate; Pimentel drops PDP Laban presidency (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/259948/maceda-gordon-join-una-senatorial-slate-pimentel-drops-pdp-laban-presidency)
By Fat Reyes
INQUIRER.net
11:15 am | Wednesday, August 29th, 2012

MANILA, Philippines—Former Senators Ernesto Maceda and Richard Gordon have been included in the senatorial slate of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), the coalition’s spokesman said Wednesday.

In a phone interview, JV Bautista, UNA spokesperson, said the two senators had been officially named Tuesday night.

UNA is a coalition of Vice President Jejomar Binay’s Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) and former President Joseph Estrada’s Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP).

Asked about the formal announcement on Senator Loren Legarda’s inclusion in the slate, Bautista said they would be making a high-profile announcement but that “for all intents and purposes, she is already part of the slate.”

Bautista also said that Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel, who made an announcement that he would run as a guest candidate, has taken his leave as president of PDP Laban.

He said Binay, as chairman of PDP Laban, would take over all responsibilities left by Pimentel.

Bautista said that with all the nuances of politics, and with Pimentel running for an opposite party, taking a leave would be the best move.

New single parent’s bill pushed
Posted by Online on Aug 29th, 2012




Read more here (http://www.tempo.com.ph/2012/new-single-parents-bill-pushed/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)

How will establishments know that the buyer is a single parent? Does this apply to a single parents REGARDLESS of sex/gender of is this for female single parents only?

Are they gonna issue a single parent ID or shall the parent always have the birth certificate?

Or is this just a dummy bill since it's election next year?

For a small country, we have too much number of provinces. I guess politicians wants their own "territories". Dapat iniintegrate mismo yung mga magkakapangalan at pinagkaiba yung mga -del/sur, 'del/norte', oriental, occidental. At least kung ganun, mas maypag-asang maredistribute ang mga incomes. Tapos kung puede yung Cordillera gawin ulit isang probinsya. Total, iilan lang naman populasyon nila.


After so much experiments in the country's political structures, it seems size does not matter anymore. Jesse was correct. Kailangan po natin sa gobyerno ay hindi lamang po 'yong magagaling. Hindi rin lang po dapat matitino. Dapat po ay 'yong matitino at magagaling para ang bansang ito sa umusad patungo sa inaasam natin pagbabago at kaunlaran. :)

Sa usaping hatian ng Camarines Sur, ito po'y hindi nararapat kung ang dahilang sa ngayo'y ito'y ibinabatay. Dapat po'y palitan ang mga taong namumuno na walang ibang iniisip ay pangsariling kapakanan. Dapat na pong tapusin ang panunungkulan at paghahari-harian ng mga ganid na pamilya ng mga Villafuerte at mga Fuentebella. :bash:

After so much experiments in the country's political structures, it seems size does not matter anymore. Jesse was correct. Kailangan po natin sa gobyerno ay hindi lamang po 'yong magagaling. Hindi rin lang po dapat matitino. Dapat po ay 'yong matitino at magagaling para ang bansang ito sa umusad patungo sa inaasam natin pagbabago at kaunlaran. :)

Sa usaping hatian ng Camarines Sur, ito po'y hindi nararapat kung ang dahilang sa ngayo'y ito'y ibinabatay. Dapat po'y palitan ang mga taong namumuno na walang ibang iniisip ay pangsariling kapakanan. Dapat na pong tapusin ang panunungkulan at paghahari-harian ng mga ganid na pamilya ng mga Villafuerte at mga Fuentebella. :bash:

And we get to ponder on those words of a person only when the person is gone, right? The Filipino people still chooses to allow aspirants with questionable qualifications and qualities! All we have to do is cry for another three more years and wish we have been very active in campaigning for who's capable and who's riding on somebody else's wings! So sad!

After triggering family feud, bill dividing Camarines Sur stirs Senate tiff


He also cautioned the Senate against gerrymandering, or the manipulation of the geographical boundaries of an electoral constituency to give the political advantage to a particular party.

Aside from Santiago, those who signed her report were committee vice chairman, Senator Edgardo Angara, Senators Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan, Manuel Lapid, and ex-officio members Sotto and Senate President Pro-Tempore Jose Estrada.

Those who refused to sign the report were Senators Manny Villar, Panfilo Lacson, Antonio Trillanes IV, Aquilino Pimentel III, Alan Peter Cayetano and Marcos.

Read more (http://www.interaksyon.com/article/41693/after-triggering-family-feud-bill-dividing-camarines-sur-stirs-senate-tiff)

Remember these people in favor of gerrymandering:
Meriam Defensor- Santiago,
Edgardo Angara,
Franklin Drilon,
Francis Pangilinan,
Manuel Lapid,
Tito Sotto
Jose Estrada.

Also remember these level headed people
Manny Villar,
Panfilo Lacson,
Antonio Trillanes IV,
Aquilino Pimentel III,
Alan Peter Cayetano
Ferdinand Marcos. Jr.
Joker Arroyo

After triggering family feud, bill dividing Camarines Sur stirs Senate tiff

MANILA, Philippines -- The bill seeking to divide Camarines Sur, which has seen Representative Luis Villafuerte at loggerheads with his son, Governor Luis Raymonr Jr. or “LRay,” has proven to be just as contentious in the Senate, pitting Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. against each other.

The controversy over House Bill 4820, which seeks to create the new province of Nueva Camarines, also prompted a warning from Senator Joker Arroyo against creating another “headache” and worsening the animosity between the Villafuertes.

The Senate row was sparked by Santiago’s filing the report of the committee on constitutional amendments, which she chairs, on HB 4820 ahead of the primary body tackling the measure, Mrcos’ committee on local government and urban planning.

Santiago’s bid to have her committee’s report included in the official business of the Senate, which would have led to deliberation and voting on the bill, was immediately opposed by Marcos.

“How can a secondary committee file a committee report ahead of the primary committee?” Marcos asked.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto nipped the tiff in the bud by ruling, on behalf of the committee on rules, which he chairs, to set aside Santiago’s report.

He said the notice Marcos served in a letter, that he would be filing a separate committee report on HB 4820, made the setting aside of Santiago’s report “automatic.”

There was also no opposition to Sotto’s motion to prioritize the recommendation of Marcos’ committee on the bill proposing the creation of Nueva Camarines.

Arroyo, who also opposed Santiago’s move, said: “May I remind this chamber that the only result in approving the measure is creating a deeper division among the members of the feuding family over the proposed bill.”

He also cautioned the Senate against gerrymandering, or the manipulation of the geographical boundaries of an electoral constituency to give the political advantage to a particular party.

Aside from Santiago, those who signed her report were committee vice chairman, Senator Edgardo Angara, Senators Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan, Manuel Lapid, and ex-officio members Sotto and Senate President Pro-Tempore Jose Estrada.

Those who refused to sign the report were Senators Manny Villar, Panfilo Lacson, Antonio Trillanes IV, Aquilino Pimentel III, Alan Peter Cayetano and Marcos.

The Nacionalista Party, which Villar heads and to which Trillanes, Marcos and the Cayetanos belong, had earlier vowed to oppose the bill.

Governor Villafuerte belongs to the NP.

Read more (http://www.interaksyon.com/article/41693/after-triggering-family-feud-bill-dividing-camarines-sur-stirs-senate-tiff)

Remember these people in favor of gerrymandering:
Meriam Defensor- Santiago,
Edgardo Angara,
Franklin Drilon,
Francis Pangilinan,
Manuel Lapid,
Tito Sotto
Jose Estrada.

Also remember these level headed people
Manny Villar,
Panfilo Lacson,
Antonio Trillanes IV,
Aquilino Pimentel III,
Alan Peter Cayetano
Ferdinand Marcos. Jr.
Joker Arroyo

It is indeed very ironic that our beloved Joker is preaching the senate on gerrymandering which few years back he conveniently disregarded and spurned in pushing for the creation of a new district in the province to favor the son of the sitting president. Now he finds himself on the other side of the fence and suddenly remembered that there is such a thing as gerrymandering. :ohno:

Crucify these feuding family in the next local elections. They are feuding because of putting their personal interest ahead that of the people. :bash:

It is indeed very ironic that our beloved Joker is preaching the senate on gerrymandering which few years back he conveniently disregarded and spurned in pushing for the creation of a new district in the province to favor the son of the sitting president. Now he finds himself on the other side of the fence and suddenly remembered that there is such a thing as gerrymandering. :ohno:

Crucify these feuding family in the next local elections. They are feuding because of putting their personal interest ahead that of the people. :bash:


By the way, Joker had been my favorite senator. He has been a friend to Sec Jess and Naga has been a huge beneficiary of his pork barrel in the past.:)

This legislation is sad. The next thing you know, may Quezon del sur, Albay del Norte, Cagayan Oriental, Isabela Occidental :lol:

This legislation is sad. The next thing you know, may Quezon del sur, Albay del Norte, Cagayan Oriental, Isabela Occidental :lol:

"Divide and conquer" algorithms are favorite ideas globally! The famous Sun Tzu mentioned it once. And our politicians are doing it! What else is new?

Mikey quits politics
Journal Online
http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/news/headlines/37017-mikey-quits

ANG Galing Pinoy (AG) party-list Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, the eldest son of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is retiring from politics at least for now.

In a television interview, Arroyo said he is no longer interested in politics and wants to live a private life starting 2013.

Arroyo’s party-list of security guards and tricycle drivers is reportedly facing disqualification by the Commission on Elections.

“I have no more political plans for the coming elections and very much looking forward to private life with my family,” Arroyo said.

The younger Arroyo is on his 3rd congressional term. He was twice (2004 and 2007) elected as Representative of the 2nd District of Pampanga, a position currently held by his mother. In 2010 he got a congressional seat as representative of the AG party-list.

The Comelec has said the AG might be disqualified after its nominees failed to show up in the hearings on the revalidation of existing party-list accreditations and to submit requirements and evidence showing the group is representing a marginalized sector.

Arroyo refused to comment further on the issue and instead referred the matter to Atty. Charlie Chua, the president of AG.

The Comelec will make a final ruling on disqualified party-list groups before the end of September.

If it gets the required vote percentage, the militant transport group Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (PISTON) can directly bring their decades-long grievance from the streets to the Congress.

This after the Commission on Elections approved PISTON’s petition for partylist registration filed last February 29, 2012.

According to George San Mateo, PISTON national president, they already had in their possession the Comelec Central Office resolution which was approved by the 2nd Division on August 22, 2012.

In a text message, San Mateo said that the resolution will pave the way for PISTON’s direct representation in the legislature.

“Ikinagagalak po ito ng maraming tsuper at mamamayan, dahil ang Kongreso ay isang mahalagang larangan din para isulong ang aming kahilingan,” he said.

Once elected, PISTON will push as one of its priorities an investigation into the oil companies’ overpricing of fuel products.

The group will also be batting for the suspension of the oil deregulation law and the value added tax on petroleum products.

Being PISTON’s first nominee, San Mateo said that he will also push for other legislative proposals that will uplift the transport sector.

Southern Mindanao chapter secretary general Edilberto Gonzaga has been named as 2nd nominee while Edgar Salarda, president of PISTON-Panay, Rolando Mingo of Southern Tagalog, Eduardo Ferreras of Bicol and Modesto Floranda of National Capital Region are the group’s 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th nominees respectively.

PISTON leads protests especially every time an oil price hike is implemented.

Yesterday, it staged a noise barrage at Philcoa in Quezon City to protest the latest increase in fuel prices.


Palace obliged to help US in Mikey probe
Daily Tribune
http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/headlines/item/3577-palace-obliged-to-help-us-in-mikey-probe

Citing the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) with the United States, Malacañang is keen on providing the US federal government help in what appears to be another attempt to pin down the Arroyos who are now being investigated for allegedly owning properties in America.

In a text message to members of the Malacañang Press Corps, deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte yesterday said the Aquino administration feels that it is duty-bound to extend whatever is required by the US Department of Justice in its investigation into Ang Galing Party-list Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo and his wife Ma. Angela over their alleged properties in America.

Mikey is the eldest son of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Valte said that under the MLAT, the Philippines could ask the help of its American counterpart should it require legal assistance, in the same manner that US would expect cooperation of the Philippine government on cases of its interest.

Asked how President Aquino dealt with the request for assistance by the US government on a Filipino citizen, particularly Mikey, Valte practically claimed that an instruction has already been given to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to help its counterpart, the US Department of Justice, which is currently looking into his assets.

She, however, would not elaborate, citing confidentiality. “The details are confidential. However, let me emphasize one thing: The Philippine government is bound to render assistance under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty,” the Palace official averred.

Earlier, De Lima revealed an ongoing investigation on the young Arroyo by the US Justice department, which she claimed has sent a letter formally informing and in effect coordinating investigation efforts to the Philippine government. She, however, said inquiries on the case should actually be directed not to the DoJ but to the respective embassies of the US and the Philippines.

In 2009, it was reported that the young Arroyo failed, for the last two years, to declare a P63-million property in California, which he bought and transferred to his wife in 2006.

The party-list representative has claimed that the money he used to buy the property came from cash gifts he got from their wedding, as well as from campaign contributions.

Sen. Sotto proposing blogging bill, Sen. Enrile backs Sotto
Quoted News
http://www.quotednews.com/2012/08/29/senator-sotto-and-sen-enrile-backs-blogging-bill-videos/

Senator Tito Sotto proposed a blogging bill to be passed in the Senate to define and regulate blogging in the Philippines.

On August 29, 2012, Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III, delivered a privilege speech and defend himself for the past issues regarding the plagiarism accusations towards the Senator.

According to Senator Sotto, maybe he was the first Senator from the Philippines that became a victim of cyber-bullying. The RH Bill issue became a hot topics for the Filipino bloggers for the past few days and the Senator have been in constant attacked by bloggers.

During the privilege speech of the Senators, bloggers were expecting a simple apology but it doesn’t happened instead he retaliated against those who attacked him.

Senator Sotto stated that the RH Bill critic used the issue of plagiarism as a demolition job against him. He was even quoted as saying that “the crime of plagiarism is not defined in our laws.”

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on defense for Senator Sotto also made a statement regarding blogging.


Sotto blasts critics, backs blogging bill
Rappler.com
http://www.rappler.com/nation/11405-sotto-blasts-critics,-backs-blogging-bill

MANILA, Philippines – From the RH bill to a blogging bill?

There was no apology from Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III for plagiarizing the works of a blogger.

Instead, Sotto and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile proposed crafting a bill that will define and regulate blogging in the Philippines.

On Wednesday, August 29, Sotto delivered a privilege speech to defend himself from backlash after he failed to attribute passages in speeches against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill to American blogger Sarah Pope and other articles online. Watch excerpts here:

“Ako na yata ang kauna-unahang senador ng Pilipinas na naging biktima ng cyber-bullying,” lamented Sotto. (I am probably the first Philippine senator to be a victim of cyber-bullying.)

Sotto added, “Ang iba pa’y may sinusulat na gusto daw ako kasuhan. Nais kong ipaalam sa kanila: walang krimen na plagiarism sa Pilipinas.” (Others write that they want to sue me. I want to inform them: there is no such crime as plagiarism in the Philippines.)

The RH bill critic said the issue of plagiarism is being used as part of a hatchet or demolition job against him. Sotto said his detractors resort to killing the messenger, instead of his message against the RH bill. (Read the full text of Sotto's privilege speech through this link.)

Enrile stood to explain his past defense of Sotto, saying he only wanted to stress that what matters is whether Sotto’s arguments against the RH bill are true or not. The Senate President said he does not condone plagiarism.

Admitting that he is not Internet literate, Enrile said the lesson from the experience is for the Senate to pass a bill setting the parameters on blogging.

“’Di ako nagi-Internet kaya nung lumabas ‘yung suplong o question tungkol sa Majority Floor Leader, tinanong ko, ‘Ano ba iyong blog’ dahil wala akong blog. ‘Di ko alam ang blog. Akala ko parang slogan ang blog. Iyon pala parang libro yata daw iyon sa Internet na nilalagay mo doon ang iyong mga panaginip, mga opinyon, mga ideya, mga kaalaman,” Enrile said. (I am not Internet-savvy so when the question came up about the Majority Floor Leader, I asked, ‘What is a blog’ because I don’t have a blog. I don’t know that. I thought it was like a slogan. It turns out it’s like a book on the Internet where you put your dreams, opinions, ideas and knowledge.)

The Senate President said, “Magpanukala tayo ng batas at ilagay natin doon kung ano ang mga karapatan ng mga may blogs para sa ganoon ay maliwanag.” (Let us make a law and let us put there the rights of those with blogs so it’s clear.)

Sotto concurred and referred the issue to the proper Senate committees.

‘Does the public know my critics?’

In his privilege speech, Sotto came out swinging against those who criticized him on Twitter, Facebook and newspapers. The comedian-turned-senator said his defense is the public’s knowledge of his life.

“Ang buhay ko open book …. Ang tanong, alam ba natin sino [ang mga kritiko ko]? Matino ba sila? Mabait ba sila? Lasenggo ba sila? Nananakit ba sila ng asawa? ‘Di natin alam sino sila pero ang gagaling manira,” Sotto said. (My life is an open book. The question is: do we know who my critics are? Are they proper? Are they good people? Are they drunkards? Do they hurt their spouses? We don’t know them but they are so good in criticizing.)

Sotto maintained that Philippine laws, particularly the Revised Penal Code and Intellectual Property Code, do not criminalize plagiarism. The closest violation, he said, is copyright infringement which he said was not applicable in his case.

The Senate Majority Leader said he even sought the opinion of the Intellectual Property Office, which told him that “the crime of plagiarism is not defined in our laws.”

No mention of Pope, other sources

In his speech, Sotto did not mention Pope and did not address the allegation that he copied not just from the American blogger but from various articles and sources online.

To silence his critics, Sotto just moved to strike from the Senate record the paragraph copied from Pope. Sotto stressed that his intentions are noble: to fight for the sanctity of life.

In a Thought Leaders Piece for Rappler, novelist and freelance writer Miguel Syjuco said Sotto’s plagiarism was a disservice to both supporters and opponents of the RH bill.

“For Filipinos of either stripe, Sotto has thumbed his nose at intellectual property rights, political accountability, and even good manners. He’s insulted our intelligence. He’s insulted us—we, the Filipino people,” wrote Syjuco.

Sotto said he will continue with the final chapter of his “turno en contra” speech against the RH bill on Tuesday, September 4.

Dick Gordon for Senator!!!



:horse:

^^ na aalala ko si Gordon nung presidential campaign :lol: tumapat siya sa akin,nagbigay ng candy at shirt sabay sabi boto moko ah. Kakawayan ko sana kaso napa Laban sign ako bigla di ko napansin.sabay tawa hehehe. Di ko gusto ugali ng asawa niya sayang magaling pa naman siya.

Sotto’s plagiarism begets a blogging bill
Get Real Philippines
http://getrealphilippines.com/blog/2012/08/sottos-plagiarism-begets-a-blogging-bill/

Picture yourself as an average kid catching your younger sibling being a douche. You see him doing the typical mischief kids do in their worse days; throwing massive tantrums, stealing toys from other children, hitting people for no apparent reason, stuff like that. Being the good kid that you are, you beckon to your brother and give him a brief lecture on how wrong he was and why he should apologize for his mess-ups. But your brother happened to be spoiled.

He wails and cries and bawls, saying that it’s not his fault and you’re the one who’s being the douche instead. Your argument with your sibling reaches the ears of your dad. He rushes towards the scene and hushes your bratty brother.

“What happened?” your father asks, clearly alarmed.

“I saw him being rude to other people, so I scolded him,” you say, somewhat feeling proud of what you’ve done, but annoyed at your brother at the same time.

“Okay, I understand,” your father replies affectionately while caressing your brother’s head. “Now, to avoid fights like this in the future, let me enumerate the things you’re allowed to do so you won’t hurt your little brother again.”

“I—what!?” you blurt out in utter disbelief.

“Yeah, you’re right, dad,” your brother says, while giving you a mocking grin. “Tell him what he should do so he won’t hurt me again.”

Unless you’ve been indoctrinated with a radically different moral code, you’ll agree with me in saying that this just screams injustice all over. Your brother was being a prick, you stop him from being a prick, and then your dad imposes rules on you instead? It just doesn’t sit well with even our simplest perceptions of justice.

Unfortunately for our collective sense of justice, our own Senate President doesn’t seem to agree with it. In response to the tirade against Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III regarding his plagiarized speech against the Reproductive Health bill, Juan Ponce Enrile suggested that they enforce a law that will define what the Internet bloggers, who comprise the majority of Sotto’s critics, get to say.

According to Rappler:

From the RH bill to a blogging bill?

There was no apology from Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III for plagiarizing the works of a blogger.

Instead, Sotto and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile proposed crafting a bill that will define and regulate blogging in the Philippines.

Yes, straight from the short story above. Like your ridiculously unjust dad and bratty brother, Enrile and Sotto attempt to craft a bill that basically puts the blame on you instead for what Sotto had done. While Sotto shoots back at critics with a vast array of red herrings…

In his privilege speech, Sotto came out swinging against those who criticized him on Twitter, Facebook and newspapers. The comedian-turned-senator said his defense is the public’s knowledge of his life.

“Ang buhay ko open book …. Ang tanong, alam ba natin sino [ang mga kritiko ko]? Matino ba sila? Mabait ba sila? Lasenggo ba sila? Nananakit ba sila ng asawa? ‘Di natin alam sino sila pero ang gagaling manira,” Sotto said. (My life is an open book. The question is: do we know who my critics are? Are they proper? Are they good people? Are they drunkards? Do they hurt their spouses? We don’t know them but they are so good in criticizing.)

Sotto also bristled at critics’ jab at his involvement as a host of the noontime show Eat Bulaga.

“Ang Eat Bulaga, daan-daan ang tinutulungan noon araw-araw. Libu-libo ang tumatangkilik. Itong mga tumutuligsa at namimintas sa atin, ilan na kaya ang natulungan na nila, kung meron man?” (Eat Bulaga helps hundreds of people everyday. Thousands watch it. Those criticizing me, how many have they helped, if any?)

Enrile stepped into the fray, inquired on what a blog is in the first place, came up with a brilliant idea and suggested to have blogs regulated.

The Senate President said, “Magpanukala tayo ng batas at ilagay natin doon kung ano ang mga karapatan ng mga may blogs para sa ganoon ay maliwanag.” (Let us make a law and let us put there the rights of those with blogs so it’s clear.)

In the midst of these amusingly irritating events, I must express my confusion; why do things have to turn out this way? Why is there a need for Sotto to put up a flimsy defense against his mishap, dragging Enrile into the mess in the process, endangering both of their reputations in the eyes of the public, when he could’ve just solved all of this in one simple action: saying sorry?

“I apologize for my failure to give credit where credit is due. I shall see to it that this will not happen again, and that I shall be more vigilant with the words I impart to the Filipino people.”

It gives you an air of humility, it gives you grace, and it solves pretty much everything in one fell swoop. I mean, after all, what the critics basically want is for Sotto to acknowledge that he plagiarized someone else’s work. Being a plagiarizer is a professional disgrace, which is utterly unbecoming of a public official like Sotto. The least he could do was to simply bow his head down and admit his mistakes. All will be eventually forgotten, and he can go back to being a bona fide champion of the so-called pro-life advocates.

But Sotto just had to attract more negative attention to himself by not admitting his wrongs in broad daylight. But the worst joke of all was for Enrile to side with Sotto while opening the threat to freedom of speech to bloggers everywhere. Agents of justice being unjust… how ironic.

Perhaps it could be machismo. Seriously, how could a man like Sotto yield to an unknown, not to mention female blogger? How could a senator bow down to a mere private citizen fighting for what is right in the face of professional and intellectual aggravation? Where’s the pride in that?

Or Sotto might be thinking that in being hard-headed, he might get the people’s favor for his unswerving principles. Although, observing the things that have happened, I’ve yet to see where the principles are hiding.

Or Sotto just doesn’t know how to act smart in public.

Well? What’s the next attraction in our political circus, Senator Sotto?

Hmmm... why only limit a bill to blogs? I think plagiarism is plagiarism no matter what. I think we should have penalties against plagiarism in the professional circle...at the same time, encourage the schools to be strict with plagiarism.

It is indeed very ironic that our beloved Joker is preaching the senate on gerrymandering which few years back he conveniently disregarded and spurned in pushing for the creation of a new district in the province to favor the son of the sitting president. Now he finds himself on the other side of the fence and suddenly remembered that there is such a thing as gerrymandering. :ohno:

Crucify these feuding family in the next local elections. They are feuding because of putting their personal interest ahead that of the people. :bash:

I am not up to date with CamSur politics but Joker's support for an additional district was not bad for CamSur. That the district was a gift to the Arroyos was bad. But CamSur having an additional weight in Congress is good.

Hmmm... why only limit a bill to blogs? I think plagiarism is plagiarism no matter what. I think we should have penalties against plagiarism in the professional circle...at the same time, encourage the schools to be strict with plagiarism.

paano yan, sa panliligaw hindi na rin puede manggaya ng istayl:lol::lol::lol:

Joker Arroyo: Probe CamSur ‘gerrymandering’
Bicolano senator says bill dividing province benefits only political clans
Read more (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/260312/joker-arroyo-probe-camsur-gerrymandering)


What?! Impair the senate rules? Senator Joker must again be joking. It's happening in the Senate everyday. The brouhaha in the senate about this bill is that Nationalista party is taking side in support of their embattled member who is the encumbent governor of the province. Not because of principles but of politics. The senators should listen to their Senate President. Enrile is correct. The Senate approval on this issue is only ministerial. I wonder when was the last time the Senate took special interest and spent time and resources deliberating on a bill of local application. :ohno:

So, do not be surprised if the Senate eventually pass this measure. What is good in what's happening in the Senate is it is delaying the process and subverting political timelines of the Fuentebellas.

^^ Kaya nga Joker ang pangalan :lol:

Sayang si Joker. Okay naman sya noon, may sense..ngayon parang naligaw nang landas

Sen. Sotto proposing blogging bill, Sen. Enrile backs Sotto

One hypocritical action after another. I hope he doesn't get re-elected.

Sotto is on a roll. Hehehe... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Sotto revision in anti-discrimination bill gets muddled, sparks backlash
InterAksyon
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/41885/sotto-revision-in-anti-discrimination-bill-gets-muddled-sparks-backlash

MANILA, Philippines – Lost in translation, again: a congressman supposedly gave gay groups wrong information that Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III opposed the inclusion of persons with “different sexual orientation and gender identity” from groups entitled to state protection in a sweeping anti-discrimination law, sparking another backlash.

But the office of Sotto, who in recent days has drawn flak over issues of reproductive health, plagiarism, and blogger rights, clarified to InterAksyon.com that he in fact supports the bill prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender, race or creed. What Sotto did, said his media officer, was propose an insertion affirming that the Family Code of the Philippines stays as is and is not being repealed or amended with respect to same-sex marriage.

The Senate Journal validated the claim of Sotto’s office that he did not seek the exclusion from state protection of SOGIs, but simply wanted a clear affirmation of the Family Code provision.

After earning the ire of bloggers and netizens for his allegedly plagiarized speech against the Reproductive Health Bill, Sotto on Thursday morning faced another backlash from lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Filipinos.

In a statement, the Progressive Organization of Gays (ProGay Philippines) protested against Sotto’s reported move to remove state protection for SOGI’s from the proposed Anti-Racial, Ethnic and Anti-Religious Discrimination Act.

The alleged “Sotto position” was reported by Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Brawner Baguilat Jr., a member of the House of Representatives panel that crafted a version to be reconciled with the Senate version in a bicameral conference.

“We are saddened that Senator Sotto, whose successful showbiz and political careers are in part supported by hardworking LGBTs, now [considers them] second-class citizens who for him do not deserve equality before the law," said Goya Candelario, spokesperson of ProGay.

ProGay urged Congress to include SOGI as a protected status because this was one of the recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Council during the Philippines’ Universal Periodic Review in May 2012.

The UN upheld the SOGI rights against discrimination but did not champion same-sex marriage, a matter that is left to individual lawmaking bodies and states of different countries.

“We appeal to Senator Sotto to give back to the LGBT community which had suffered long enough from a spate of hate crimes, workplace discrimination, and ridicule from homophobic elements of society," the group added.

Reached for comment, Sotto’s office said the lawmaker definitely did not oppose the bill, but instead wanted to include a phrase in Section 7 of Senate Bill 2814, which would make it clear that the new bill, while outlawing discrimination against LGBTs, is not replacing the Family Code of the Philippines by way of allowing same-sex marriage.

“Mali ang interpretasyon ng Pro-Gay sa gustong ilagay ni Senator Sotto sa bill. [Hindi niya tinutulan ang bill] kundi naglagay lamang siya ng isang phrase sa Section 7 upang matiyak na hindi maibabasura ang Family Code of the Philippines (Pro-Gay wrongly interpreted what Senator Sotto wanted included in the bill. He did not oppose the bill but put in a phrase in Section 7 to ensure that the Family Code of the Philippines is not disregarded),” Mike Caber, Sotto’s media relations officer, explained.

The Senate Journal dated November 24, 2011, said the body approved, subject to style, the insertion of the phrase “except the statutory provision of the Family Code of the Philippines, as amended, which shall remain in force.”

The Journal said: “Senator Sotto pointed out that Section 7 of the bill grants all persons the right of equality and non-discrimination regardless of their sexual orientation, gender and gender identity.

“To allay fears of some sectors that the measure could be misinterpreted to mean that same sex marriages would be allowed, he [Sotto] underscored the need for the clause that he introduced to clarify that the Family Code of the Philippines was not being repealed,” the Senate journal said.

The bill is an Act "prohibiting discrimination, profiling, violence and all forms of intolerance against persons based on ethnicity, race, religion or belief, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, languages disability, or other status."

Anti-discrimination bill faces rough sailing in Senate
Bulatlat.com
http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/08/30/anti-discrimination-bill-faces-rough-sailing-in-senate/

MANILA — Already under fire for alleged plagiarism for his speech attacking the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, senator and actor Tito Sotto is now the target of criticism from the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. According to reports, Sotto is demanding the removal of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) provisions from a bill protecting minorities.

The Progressive Organization of Gays (ProGay Philippines) protested reports that Sotto is working to remove protections for LGBTs from the proposed Anti-Racial, Ethnic and Anti-Religious Discrimination Act of 2011. The alleged position was reported by Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Brawner Baguilat Jr., a member of the House of Representatives that crafted a version that will be reconciled with the Senate version in a bicameral conference. Baguilat did not name other senators who were supposedly opposed to sexual orientation and gender identity provisions.

“We are saddened that Sen. Sotto, whose successful showbiz and political careers are in part supported by hardworking LGBTs are now second class citizens who for him do not deserve equality before the law,” said Goya Candelario, ProGay spokesman.

In a recent report in the Manila Bulletin, Baguilat was quoted as saying that Congress is finding it difficult to decide whether or not the LGBT provisions will be included in the bill. The lawmaker said that he had received word that the bill was facing rough sailing in the Senate bicameral committee because some senators wanted the provisions supporting LGBT rights removed.

Baguilat, the chairman of the House Committee on National Cultural Communities, said the senators may agree not to include such provisions just to ensure the passage of the bill into law. He named Sotto as one of the senators against the inclusion of LGBT provisions. Baguilat’s own proposal seeks to penalize the profiling and acts of discrimination hurled against persons on account of ethnic origin and religious affiliation and belief, but some provisions on LGBT rights have been included. It was approved by the Lower House on August 3, 2011. The bill was immediately transmitted to the Senate which got the House-approved measure the following August 10. Other authors include Tarlac Rep. Susan Yap and Sulu Rep. Tupay Loong.

For its part, ProGay said the Senate should include sexual orientation and gender identity provisions in the bill because it is one of the recommendations made by the United Nations Human Rights Council when the Philippines underwent its Universal Periodic Review in May 2012.

The LGBT rights group said the failure of Congress to comply with this recommendation will put a bigger black eye on the human rights record of the Philippines, which is already in disrepute for the country’s failure to solve extrajudicial killings and political disappearances.

“We appeal to Sen. Sotto to give back to the LGBT community, which had suffered long enough from a spate of hate crimes, workplace discrimination and ridicule from homophobic elements of society,” ProGay said.

Repeal anti-gay vagrancy law

The LGBT rights group is also pressing Congress to repeal an anti-vagrancy law, which, it said has “made life unbearable for LGBT Filipinos.” It announced its support for House Bill 4936 that passed in third reading in the House of Representatives last April and that would repeal anti-LGBT, anti-women and anti-poor sections that enables the police to arrest persons arbitrarily and detain them for indefinite periods.

The Act Decriminalizing Vagrancy is co-sponsored by Palawan Rep. Victorino Dennis Socrates and Bulacan Rep. Linabelle Ruth Villarica.

Candelario said that since the 1960s, Article 202 of the Revised Penal Code has made LGBTs vulnerable to illegal arrests.

“Cops swoop down on gays and transgenders who are walking in the streets at night or daytime, brand us as prostitutes, jail us, extort money from us, and even subject some of us to sexual abuse,” he said.

The ProGay spokesman said many closeted homosexuals are at risk of being shamed or disowned by their families, and the arresting officers threaten gays with exposure to the media, forcing the arrested victims to surrender cash, cellphones, or other favors in exchange for getting out of detention.

Oscar Atadero, ProGay’s human rights officer, however said the repeal of the anti-vagrancy law only partly addresses gross violations of LGBT human rights, because Congress has yet to pass the Anti-discrimination Law or House Bill 1483, filed by Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño.

ProGay submitted a report to the UNHRC in Geneva in November 2011, asking the UN to compel the Philippines to decriminalize vagrancy and pass legislation to protect human rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The UNHRC has increased its focus on LGBT rights.

Atadero pointed out that the Aquino administration must speed up its compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) sections that protect the rights of homosexual and transgender Filipinos

^^ Sotto, the comic senator vehemently opposed to the RH Bill, now showing his colors with respect to the LGBT community. This is what religion does to some people's minds.

I wonder if there is a law in the country against plagiarism. Even if there is none, this comic should at least be reprimanded or sanctioned. It's almost like nothing happened. Strange.

Sotto: RH bill will pass Senate, but…
Philippine Daily Inquirer
August 31st, 2012
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/261072/sotto-rh-bill-will-pass-senate-but

The reproductive health (RH) bill will clear the Senate but not without amendments to provisions on government funding, especially involving the use of contraceptives, abortion and the concept of population control.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto gave that assurance to RH proponents Thursday despite his opposition to the controversial measure.

But Sotto would not go into the specifics of the amendments that he and other senators planned to introduce after his third speech questioning the necessity of the bill next week.

He insisted that amendments to the bill passed on third and last reading by the Senate should be preserved in the reconciled version that senators and congressmen will work out in conference.

Senate-House conferences thresh out differences in the versions of bills passed separately by the two houses of Congress.

The reconciled version of a bill is then presented to the senators and the congressmen for ratification.

Sotto said there were worries that senators on the Senate conference panel—most likely those who sponsored the bill—might reintroduce the deleted or altered provisions during the conference.

“It is possible to bring back the deleted portions during the bicameral meeting,” he said. “In case this happens, the measure brought back to us for ratification would face rough sailing in the session.”

Sotto said all senators who would introduce amendments to the bill would not agree to the deletion or setting aside of their proposals by the conference committee.

He said there had been cases when the reconciled version from the conference was rejected and sent back to the floor for re-examination and approval on second reading.

Law to regulate blogs hurts democratic space, infringes Constitution, says party-list rep
InterAksyon
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/41863/law-on-blogs-hurts-democratic-space-infringes-constitution-says-party-list-rep

MANILA, Philippines – A lawmaker on Thursday objected to proposals in the Senate, albeit vague, to enact a law governing blogs, saying this could open the avenues for curtailing freedom of speech and expression.

Kabataan party-list Representative Raymond Palatino said restraint should not be imposed on one of the forms for expression on the Internet, one of the few most democratic spaces available to the public.

“News of the Senate leadership’s move to pass a bill that will set the parameters for blogging is alarming, especially for the blogging community. Blogs have been one of the freest avenues for opinions and discussions, and we fear that we might lose this freedom if a law is passed to regulate it,” said Palatino, himself an active blogger.

In a privilege speech Wednesday, Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III decried the “cyber-bullying” he experienced due to an earlier speech he delivered on the Reproductive Health Bill, in which certain parts were allegedly lifted from an American blogger’s article. On Wednesday night, Sotto in his speech asked the Senate leadership to completely strike from the record all parts of his first RH bill speech that referenced McBride, in a bid to end the controversy.

The interpellation after Sotto’s privilege speech on Thursday sparked a fresh debate, however, on another topic. In his interpellation, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said that perhaps a law regulating blogs needed to be crafted to “identify and protect the rights of bloggers.”

Palatino said such a proposal would run counter to Article III Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution which states that, “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.”

Blogs, added Palatino, “have been the venue of free speech and discourse since the advent of the Internet. Regulating it is tantamount to curtailing the freedom of expression of thousands of active Filipino bloggers.”

He said the Senate leadership lacked knowledge on the nature of blogs. “Senate President Enrile himself admitted that he isn’t Internet-savvy. We understand him, as blogs greatly vary from one another – from the personal to the academic, the mundane and the officious,” he said.

Palatino said the anonymity offered by blogs is essential in certain cases, especially when the message being delivered may cause danger to the person of the author.

“Passing a blogging law may endanger this anonymity. We can even enter a scenario wherein authorities track down bloggers using their IP address just to enforce the law,” he added.

Senator Sotto and me
By Manuel Buencamino
InterAksyon
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/41892/manuel-buencamino--senator-sotto-and-me

The lachrymose Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III turned bellicose after a week of relentless beatings by the plagiarism police. He had enough of it and he was not going to take it sitting down anymore. So he stood up and delivered a privilege speech.

He absolved himself of plagiarism and questioned his critics’ motives, defended Eat Bulaga and recited a poem by Joey de Leon the poet laureate of the Philippine Star and the Joey in the Tito, Vic, and Joey comedy team, and he moved that one out of several paragraphs that he mindlessly copied word for word from five blogs and one briefing paper be stricken off the Senate journal.

After his speech, Sen. Sotto joined Senate President Enrile in proposing a law that will target blogs and social media. Sotto felt he was a victim of cyber-bullying.

“Ako yata ang kauna-unahang senador ng Pilipinas na naging biktima ng cyber-bullying.” (I may be the very first Philippine senator who became a victim of cyber-bullying).

Well, Sotto is different. Or maybe I’m the one who’s different. He has a lot of fans, I don’t. He disappointed a lot of admirers when he ran on Gloria Arroyo’s senatorial slate in 2007 but they got over it and sent him back to the Senate in 2010. I don’t have any admirers to disappoint. People laugh at his jokes. I’m laughed at. He’s a multi-millionaire. I’m a thousandaire. He can grow facial hair, I can’t. He plagiarizes, I don’t. And if ever I inadvertently plagiarize, I will apologize and make amends. He won’t.

This is as far as he will go:

“Mr. President, with the permission of this body, I move that the paragraph containing reference with the study of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride which can be found in Journal No. 8 page 162 dated August 13, 2012 be stricken off the record in order to lay this matter to rest.”

An apology would have laid the matter to rest; striking it off the Journal of the Senate as if it never happened will not. Sotto could have explained that he could not access the book of Natasha Campbell-McBride so he looked for references to McBride’s work and found it in a blog called “Sarah the healthy economist.” Consequently, he copied and pasted the words of Sarah believing that they were direct quotes from McBride. Honest mistake. Sotto would have been forgiven for it. Hugs and kisses all around.

And Sotto would only have to make up excuses for the remaining four bloggers and one briefing paper that he also plagiarized. Hey, five counts of plagiarism are better than six, right?

But excuse me, Senator, I shouldn’t be calling them counts because counts refer to criminal offenses, as in six counts of theft. You did not commit any crime according to the law books you consulted. And Atty. Louie Andrew C. Calvario from the Office of the Director General of the Intellectual Property Office, also said you did not commit any crime.

So, okay, plagiarism is not a criminal offense in this country. That’s settled. Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III is not a criminal. That’s settled too. We can lay the legal issue to rest.

The only issue remaining, at least for those who have not liberated themselves from the tyranny of delicadeza, is the shamelessness in the commission of a shameful act, the sin vergüenza-ness of plagiarism and the brazen rationalization that followed. Sotto is obviously not bothered by that at all. Shamelessness liberates. Sotto is a free man. I’m still a slave. That’s the last difference I can think of. For now.

Sin tax debate pits health vs livelihood
GMA News
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/271912/news/nation/sin-tax-bill-debate-pits-health-vs-livelihood?ref=topstories

Talks on the controversial sin tax reform bill pitted the importance of health against farmers' livelihood during the Senate's hearing on the measure Thursday.

At the hearing, several health groups and experts came forward to support the passage of the sin tax bill, which seeks to impose higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol products.

The New Vois Association of the Philippines Inc., a non-profit and non-government advocacy group for cancer support, tobacco control, and persons with disabilities, specifically came out to testify how smoking is dangerous to your health.

New Vois president Emerito Rojas, whose vocal chords were removed because of stage 4 laryngeal cancer, said during the hearing that he can now only speak through a mechanical larynx.

"Narito po ako ngayon para ihayag ang damdamin at sentimyento ng mga biktima ng paninigarilyo," he said.

"Lingid sa kaalaman at paniwala ng iba napakahirap na magkasakit at mabaldado na kagaya namin kabilang na ang mga asawa at mga anak ng mga nagkakasakit," he added.

Because of this, he said they support the sin tax bill because it will discourage people from buying cigarettes.

"Raising tobacco taxes which will consequently raise cigarette prices is one of the most effective ways of reducing consumption, thereby reducing premature death," he said.

"Kami pong mga biktima ng sigarilyo ay masaya sa panukalang batas na ito," he added.

At the same hearing, Philippine College of Physicians president Dr. Antonio Dans supported Rojas' statement and explained that people won't stop smoking if it is the "cheapest form of leisure available to them."

"We need to change our concept of how people behave," he said.

He also said the public should pay attention to the number of lives that are claimed by non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which include cancer, heart disease, stroke, and asthma.

"The NCD epidemic is a silent disaster. It’s hard to cover from the news point of view, it’s happening everywhere...it’s all over us, it’s upon us...no explosion, no howling winds. Victims suffer quietly," he said.

Senator Franklin Drilon cited figures from Philip Morris which says that one billion sticks are consumed every year by Filipinos.

"The way the Secretary of Health presented it, every Filipino smoker smokes 1,073 sticks every year, you multiply that by 17.3M Filipinos smoking," he said.

Rojas, meanwhile, cited statistics which state that 87,600 people die in the country due to smoking-related diseases.

But Saturnino Distor, president of the Philippine Tobacco Growers Association, said the government must also consider the livelihood of tobacco farmers, especially if the supposed purpose of the sin tax bill was to rake in more revenue for the government.

"Nakakalungkot po na ang ating sariling gobyerno ang nagnanais na tanggalan kami ng hanapbuhay at ginawa ito nang hindi man lang kami kinonsulta," he said during Wednesday's hearing.

"Hindi man lang po kami tinanong bago ito sinulat...hindi iniiisp na aming kabuhayan ang nakataya," he added.

He said that they were not against raising taxes on tobacco products, knowing that the government needs money for infrastructure and other projects.

He noted, however, that the government is already getting enough money from the law on excise tax passed in 1996.

"Naniniwala po kami na ang tamang paraang upang maisiguro ang kita ng ating gobyerno at ganoon na rin upang maprotektahan ang hanapbuhay naming magsasaka ng tabako ay ang pananatilii ng kasalukuyang batas ng excise tax sa tabako," he said.

Rojas, for his part, said that they will help the tobacco farmers should they lose their livelihood because of the sin tax bill.

"Tayo ay magtutulong-tulungan upang ipatupad ang mga livelihood programs para sa mga tobacco farmers dahil kami rin may mga biktimang kagaya namin na galing po sa mga tobacco-growing regions," he said.

Senator Ralph Recto, chair of the Senate ways and means committee, said they will still have to figure out a "realistic" revenue target for the sin tax measure.

"Masyadong mataas yung sinasabi na P60 billion at kalahating trillion by the end of the fifth year," he said.

But he said he was confident that they will be able to craft a bill that will generate additional revenue and lessen incidents of smoking and drinking in the country.

"Kaya kailangan maging mahinahon, responsable sa paggawa ng panukalang batas na ito," he said.

^^ what does the government have in exchange for sin tax? Dapat may remedy ang gobyerno sa businsses and workers na maaapektuhan

^^ what does the government have in exchange for sin tax? Dapat may remedy ang gobyerno sa businsses and workers na maaapektuhan

'la lang! Pera-pera lang talaga! Pag madaming pera, masaya ang gobiyerno, lam mo na!

Sen. Sotto’s legacy- Sotto makes it to NY Times on the rh bill
http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/senator-sottos-legacy-sotto-makes-it-to-new-yort-times-on-the-rhbill/

The honorable Senator Tito Sotto has actually made it to the big apple, at least at the New York Times on the speeches he has been making on the rh bill at the senate floor. We think this piece by Miguel Syjuco is an excellent piece that gives very good snapshots of the legacy of the senator at the philippine senate.

Sotto’s latest rant on the rh bill at the senate floor gave us these observation:

•Sotto thinks he is immune from criticism and disagreement from social media netizens. Sotto in his latest rant at the senate floor practically spent 99% of this speech complaining about how he has been criticized for his plagiarized speech.
•Not only that, Sotto has threatened to pass a bill to stop or control bloggers and netizens from social media.
•President Aquino also makes speeches and he also gets criticized by social media netizens but we have not heard the president complain, much less threaten netizens of censorship. Sotto apparently feels otherwise.
•Sotto spent 99% of his speech complaining about the criticisms and disagreements thrown at him by social media netizens, the balance 1% he spent on one sentence, at the very end of his speech – he asked the senate to remove from the senate records the plagiarized parts of his speech that he delivered on the floor.
•To this date, Sotto has not admitted he has plagiarized parts of his speech but now we wonder why he needed to ask the senate to remove parts of his speech from the senate record.


A Plagiarist’s Rant Against Birth Control
By MIGUEL SYJUCO
NY Times
Published: August 29, 2012
http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/senator-sottos-legacy-sotto-makes-it-to-new-yort-times-on-the-rhbill/

WHILE anatomically illiterate politicians in America babble about “legitimate rape,” a Filipino legislator opposed to birth control has been shedding crocodile tears in Parliament and plagiarizing speeches to bolster the case against reproductive rights.

On Aug. 13, the Senate majority leader, Tito Sotto, wept while addressing his assembled peers. The former actor told the Senate that birth-control pills, used by his wife in 1974, had led to the death of their newborn son a year later. The emotional scene shut down the day’s debate. It was the latest obstruction to passing a reproductive health law that has languished for 14 years.

Proponents of the reproductive health bill say it will address poverty, women’s rights, infant and maternal mortality, and overpopulation in a poor nation crowded with 94 million people. Though contraceptives are currently available, the general population can’t afford them. The bill seeks to offer natural and artificial birth-control options, reproductive health care and sex education in public schools.

Opponents, like Mr. Sotto and the powerful Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, say contraception is akin to abortion. They claim the bill is an elitist and foreign conspiracy to corrupt a country in which 80 percent of the population is Catholic. They fear the erosion of family values, state intrusion on religious freedom, tacit approval of promiscuity and side effects of oral contraceptives.

Two days later, news that Mr. Sotto had plagiarized his speech spilled across blogs, Twitter and Facebook. Careful readers proved that he’d copied and pasted, without citation, large portions from as many as at least five online sources. Among them were the writings of Sarah Pope, who blogs as “the Healthy Home Economist”; a New York University Web site on the notable birth-control advocate Margaret Sanger; and an American activist named Janice Formichella, writing for Feminists for Choice. What’s more, the senator twisted their words for his own purposes.

Mr. Sotto forcefully denied responsibility rather than confessing and offering an apology. When Ms. Pope blogged her dismay at being plagiarized, the senator declared on Filipino TV: “Why would I quote from a blogger? She’s just a blogger.” His chief of staff, Hector Villacorta, told reporters that blogs aren’t copyrighted, governments are exempt from copyright laws, and parliamentary immunity protects the senator. Besides, the Philippines “plagiarized the U.S. Constitution,” he said. “Even our image was copied from God. We are all plagiarists.”

God, it seems, is also on Mr. Sotto’s side.

Among the senator’s allies is the conference of bishops, which has declared “open war” on the reproductive health bill, saying it will create “an abortion generation.” Despite separation of church and state, these bishops fancy themselves as Filipinos’ moral conscience. Their credibility has been mixed, however. Archbishop Socrates Villegas has warned that “contraception is corruption,” but an investigation last year showed that bishops accepted privileges and gifts, including S.U.V.’s, from the previous presidential administration.

The church has tried to recover power by re-emphasizing its role in society. Last year, it succeeded in banning a McDonald’s commercial showing a little boy and girl flirting cutely over French fries. It also shut down an art exhibit it deemed “sacrilegious” and warned that Lady Gaga’s Manila concert was akin to “devil worship.” The bishops have even threatened President Benigno S. Aquino III with excommunication, and 190 university professors with heresy, for their stance on the pending bill.

This “open war,” along with intellectual dishonesty of Mr. Sotto’s variety, have undermined any genuine discussion of reproductive rights. The bill is backed by anti-poverty groups, community and women’s organizations, President Aquino himself, and 70 percent of Filipinos. But its fate remains tenuous. How could this be?

The answer lies in the system that grants Mr. Sotto impunity. Plagiarism may have toppled a Hungarian president, a German defense minister and a Romanian education minister, but it’s no big deal amid the entrenched corruption of the Philippines.

Recent clear-cut plagiarism cases failed to lead to punishment for a literary icon who lifted passages from a sportswriter, a top editorial writer who stole from a young reporter and the chairman of a university’s board of trustees who copied from Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Conan O’Brien for a commencement speech. Even Supreme Court Justice Mariano del Castillo was breezily exonerated by his peers after he plagiarized from three sources and reversed their meaning in his decision against elderly Filipinas seeking reparations for sexual enslavement under the Japanese during World War II.

In all likelihood, Mr. Sotto will similarly escape unscathed without so much as censure from the Senate.

Politicians in the Philippines regularly manage to get away with greater sins. Even the Manila area’s notorious annual flooding is a result of the irresponsibility of those in charge, which has led to shortsighted urban planning, disregard for zoning laws and insufficient cooperation between the metropolis’s 17 city halls. Such chronic lack of accountability is part of the reason the Philippines ranked 129th out of 182 in Transparency International’s 2011 corruption index — alongside Syria and Honduras.

Indeed, Mr. Sotto continues his defiance. He has cast himself as “a victim of cyber-bullying” and backed a proposed law that aims to “regulate” blogs, as his supporters cheer his pluck against academics and intellectuals. He happily misrepresents research studies, avoids mentioning their outdated vintage and likens maternal mortality statistics to Nazi propaganda. He also refuses to explain how his wife’s oral contraceptive killed their son in 1975, when that pill wasn’t even on the market until 1978 and was released in Asia only in 1985.

But in the Philippines, the facts may never matter — especially when power and religion are involved. A speech cobbled off the Internet, speculation about a dead baby and a melodramatic crying fit in the Senate, sadly, ring true enough.

Miguel Syjuco, a Filipino writer, is the author of the novel “Ilustrado.”

The Senate fraternity
by Dr Margarita Holmes
Rappler.com
http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/ispeak/11562-the-senate-fraternity

The gamut of reactions I felt when first hearing Sen Tito Sotto’s speech last Wednesday, August 29: incredulity, anger, complete and utter sadness.

Incredulity

I shan't waste your time mentioning all his bloopers. Many of us know them by now. Let me cut to the chase and say what is in all our minds: Can anyone really be that dumb?

Allow me to answer with a quote, “The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.”

Anger

How naïve does Sen Sotto and his staff think we people are? Does he really think that we believe him simply because he says:

“The reason why I am not discouraged despite all the criticism is that, unang-una, alam ko binaback-up ako ng karpinterong hudyo kaya matibay ang panindigan ko diyan. Alam ko na iyon ang gusto niya.” (I know that the Jewish carpenter is backing me up so my determination is strong. I know that this is what he wants.)

I guess he hasn’t heard the Thomas Ssasz saying: “When you talk to God, that’s prayer, but when God talks to you, that’s schizophrenia.”

Complete and utter sadness

Someone (let’s call her Lanie to protect her) wrote in a comment: “His fellow senators must denounce his incredulous act abusing his senate privileges by using the Senate hall [as] his platform in [using] deception and [telling] lies.”

Lanie, Lanie, Lanie, you have such an idealistic nature, one I truly envy. You really believe our senators would speak up when a fellow senator behaves as despicably as Sen Sotto? Well, truth be told, not only did they not speak up, they haven’t done jacksh*t, unless you count Sen Enrile’s waffling about a blogging bill, hoping his claims of ignorance about the Internet will excuse him from making a clear stand.

I may be biased, but I interpret Senator Pia Cayetano’s silence as conserving her strength for the battle ahead – the amendment portion of the RH bill.

But Senators Greg Honasan and Sonny Trillanes? There was a time Filipinos looked up to PMA graduates because they proved themselves stalwart and true, and not merely circus acts, jumping from planes with pythons around their necks.

Sen Loren Legarda? Isn’t the travesty of Sen Sotto’s last speech worthy of at least as many tears as the refusal to open the envelope during then President Joseph Estrada’s trial? We wouldn’t insist you had one of your pashminas to protect you from the cold, but can you not make a clear statement that makes you worthy of being the “Loren, Loren Sinta” your campaign slogan said you were?

Sen Joker Arroyo, the once-upon-a-time street parliamentarian who fought for the rights of the oppressed, what is your stand on Sen Sotto’s threatening us with a blogging bill?

Prove you are with us – the people you wooed with your singing, free ballpens, fans and T-shirts, but most of all with your election promises of saving us from threats.

This commitment we want from you goes beyond blogging, plagiarizing or even the RH bill. What Sen Sotto said is a blatant threat. If he doesn’t like what you’re saying, he will find a legal way to punish you. Your silence says you concur.

You, men and women of the Senate, are charged with protecting the interests of 95 million Filipinos. You volunteered for this job. Now is one of those crucial times you can prove yourselves worthy of such an honor. Please do not try and confuse the issue by making a privilege speech about sports.

Fraternity

You have created your own cozy cocoon. Your workings are deliberately obscured by arcane rules and language. Your already overdeveloped sense of self-importance is inflated by demanding excessive displays of fake civility from all who are allowed to appear before you. Your overweening sense of power is stoked by your right to cite for contempt.

I don’t blame you actually. Cocoons can be wonderful things, protecting us from pollution and noise, whether from the environment or other people. But now you can show whether the cocoons you so love merely refresh you for the battles you fight, hopefully daily, for the betterment of all Filipinos. Or have you been so seduced that they have become the be all and end all of your existence?

Now is not the time to make dedma. It is not business as usual. Sen Sotto has threatened one of our basic rights: freedom of expression.

Admittedly, making an unequivocal statement about everyone’s freedom to express himself on the Net is not Ramboesque, with adrenaline pumping and TV cameras focused on you. This is more the late Sec Robredo’s style, speaking out when necessary, but otherwise quietly doing what he thinks is best.

So far, all you have done is circle the wagons, proving that, when push comes to shove, you are all frat brods lang pala – “all for one and one for all” – especially when you sense you are in danger of losing your perks and privileges.

Senate to rewrite House’s ‘sin’ tax bill
Business Mirror
http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/top-news/32196-senate-to-rewrite-houses-sin-tax-bill

SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile on Sunday has signaled a drastic rewriting of the House-approved P30-billion “sin” tax reform bill, which is much lower than the original P60-billion revenue target the Department of Finance had proposed to collect, on top of the P75-billion current annual revenue collection from alcohol and tobacco products.

“Babaguhin namin ’yun [We’ll change it],” Enrile said in a radio interview, referring to the House version imposing higher excise taxes on cigarettes and liquor.

He gave assurances that the senators would be able to approve the sin-tax increase even as lawmakers are set to focus and work overtime later in the year in formulating and deliberating on the proposed P3.6-trillion national budget for 2013.

But while Enrile was emphatic that the Senate could pass the sin-tax bill “but not the version passed by the House,” he said the P60-billion revenue target in the Palace proposal was much too high and could be counterproductive.

“That P60 billion is a pipe dream. Masyadong mataas yon [It’s too high].”

Still, he confirmed that the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, chaired by Sen. Ralph Recto, was in agreement with the Palace justification on the need to raise more revenue to bankroll the government’s national health programs.

Enrile recalled Recto asking the Bureau of Internal Revenue at last week’s hearing to submit specifics on the total tax collected annually from all brands of cigarettes, beer, liquor and other alcohol products, listing the tax contributions of each class of cigarettes and alcoholic drinks for inclusion in the Senate committee report.

“Mapapasa namin ang sin-tax bill [We can pass the sin-tax bill],” he said, even if some senators dispute, for instance, the logic that higher taxes on cigarettes would swell revenues even if the same higher taxes are also expected to drastically reduce consumption, effectively cutting the sales of various cigarette brands that would result in lower taxes paid.

Enrile said that among the sin-tax provisions likely to be amended in the Senate version is the over 700-percent increase in excise tax on low-class cigarettes. He voiced fears that the high tobacco tax would kill the livelihood of tobacco farmers who also need to earn money to send their kids to school.

This developed as supermarket owners and operators, in a statement, also expressed concern over the economic impact of a legislative proposal that aims to increase cigarette taxes by 708 percent. They said the move would lead to a spike in the inflation rate and consequently on the production costs of other goods and services.

Steven Cua, president of the Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association Inc., warned the government that the higher tax would “further diminish the purchasing power of the poorest of the poor and fixed-wage earners, whose incomes remain stagnant amid rising inflation.”

Cua added that inflation could rise even further if cigarette manufacturers pass on the tax hikes to consumers.

The Supermarket Association includes as members the Price Warehouse Club, Welcome Supermarket, Inc., Bigbest and 142 other stores and outlets nationwide.

“The rise in inflation could be much higher if manufacturers take additional margins from the tax-related price increase,” Cua noted. Inflation refers to the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index, which represents the average prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households. In the Philippines cigarettes are part of this basket of goods and services, Cua said.

He also noted that a disturbing multiplier effect of high cigarette prices is the increase of production costs in the wholesale and retail industries, where tobacco products are considered “traffic” goods. These refer to products that bring in customers.

The House of Representatives earlier passed a sin-tax bill imposing a 708-percent tax increase on low-priced cigarettes, or those costing P11.50 and below per pack, which accounts for 60 percent of the market. The Senate is now discussing the House bill and its own counterpart proposals on the excise-tax hikes on tobacco and alcohol products.

Bayan Muna's Casiño announces Senate bid
Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casiño will be running for senator in 2013 but without the help of either the administration Liberal Party or the United Nationalist Coalition.
http://www.silobreaker.com/bayan-munas-casio-announces-senate-bid-5_2265952989350985778

The guy will not win. His deafening silence over china bullying portrays him as a sino communist sympathizer. His flip flopping stand against pork barrel makes him a trapo also. His solution to the Mindanao electricity problem is anti market and belongs to the Jurassic age that government should continuously subsidize. His solutions, o yes, his "solutions" are simplistic and lacks foresight. And excuse me, the guy is NOT progressive. He is perceived to be anti development, pro squatters and anti capitalist

With Php 53B Revenues, Better Health, ‘Sin Tax’ Worth Passing – Economist
Manila Bulletin
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/372121/sin-tax-worth-passing-economist

MANILA, Philippines — The Aquino administration’s proposed measure on excise tax is seen to reduce consumption by 46 percent that could lead to better health among Filipinos and raise Php 53.3 billion in fresh revenues to the government, findings that make worthy the passage of the measure.

These are the major basis for the Frank J. Chaloupka, economics professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, to ask the Senate to pass the sin tax bill, which proposes for a uniform specific tax.

In the 2012 study, which was co-authored by Chaloupka and experts from the University of the Philippines, it estimated a total reduction of 3.82 million premature deaths from smoking or 26 percent of premature deaths averted if the bill is passed.

In addition, a uniform specific excise tax of 30 pesos would prevent an estimated 4.6 million of the youth from picking up the habit and avert almost 2.3 million premature deaths. Smoking prevalence in lower income households would also decrease dramatically and funds normally spent on tobacco products would be otherwise spent on other necessities.

Citing the study of Chaloupka and colleagues, Jo-Ann Latuja, economist of Action for Economic Reforms, also allayed fears of Senator Ralph Recto that a high tax rate will mean lost revenues for government.

“It is clear from the study that an additional Php 53.3 billion will be generated from a unitary tax of 30 pesos,” Latuja said.

Previous sin tax bills and other forms of policy interventions did little to practically nothing to diminish a smoking prevalence for more than 15 years.

The current Sin Tax Law only facilitated cigarette affordability and contributed to the significant rates of smokers in the youth and the poor, as well as to the 240 deaths of Filipinos every day.

The paper also recommended annual adjustments to inflation so that they retain their real value over time and earmarking a portion of revenues for health purposes and those engaged in tobacco-dependent livelihoods to make the transition to other livelihoods.

So far, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s Senate Bill 3249 contains all the essential features advocated by Chaloupka and his colleagues. SB 3249 has also garnered the support of the Department of Health, the Department of Finance, the Philippine College of Physicians, and the Philippine Tuberculosis Society Inc. to name a few.


Sin Tax Study - P30 cigarette tax to cut consumption by half
InterAksyon
http://www.interaksyon.com/business/42265/p30-cigarette-tax-to-cut-consumption-by-half---study

The Senate is debating the merits of a bill that would raise taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic products.

A new study revealed that raising the excise tax on cigarettes to P30 a pack would cut down their consumption by nearly half while raising P53.3 billion in additional revenues.

The study jointly undertaken by the University of the Philippines, Department of Health and the University of Illinois in Chicago showed that the uniform tax of P30 represents an excise tax rate of 55 percent, jacking up the average retail price of cigarettes by 90 percent to P54.50 per pack.

At this price point, the number of premature deaths from smoking would go down by 3.82 million or 26 percent, according to the study.

It said the uniform tax would keep 4.6 million youth from starting the habit and avert 2.3 million premature deaths. This would also prevent the poor from smoking or help "dramatically" decrease the incidence of smoking among lower income households.

Nearly one out of three adult Filipinos smoke, with about half of them male. Based on current population estimates, 19 million Filipinos smoke cigarettes or some other tobacco product.

The authors of the study have been lobbying for a uniform tax system, saying this would be easier to administer, raise more revenues for the government and bring down the incidence of smoking.

The study said the Philippines' cigarette tax scheme is complicated, with a tiered structure imposing different tax rates based on the net retail price. The current tax rates had been pegged to 1996 prices.

The excise tax on cigarettes stand at 24.1 percent of the NRP in the Philippines, with total taxes comprising 36.1 percent of NRP, or way below the nearly 70 percent in other countries, the study said.

To achieve this balance of raising revenues while cutting smoking incidence, the study authors, Stella Luz Quimbo, Adele Casorla, Felipe Medalla and Frank J. Chloupka, recommended the following:

- Elimination of the artificial price classification freeze and the shift from historical NRP to current NRP, which would encourage 4 million adults to quit smoking;

- Adoption of a uniform/unitary specific cigarette excise tax that significantly raises cigarette prices;

- Strengthen tobacco tax administration, increase enforcement and duty-free sales of tobacco products to reduce tax evasion and avoidance by licensing all involved in tobacco production and distribution;

- Implement annual adjustments to the specific tax rates so that they retain their real value over time;

- Implement annual adjustments to cigarette tax rates so that they result in increases in tobacco product prices that are at least as large as increases in income;

- Hike taxes on cigars, water pipe tobacco and other tobacco products to be equivalent to cigarette taxes;

- Earmark a portion of tobacco tax revenues for health purposes, including health promotion and tobacco control; and

- Earmark a portion of tobacco tax revenues for programs that help those employed in tobacco-dependent sectors make the transition to alternative livelihoods.

The Departments of Health and of Finance, the Philippine College of Physicians, and the Philippine Tuberculosis Society Inc. are supporting Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s Senate Bill No. 3249, which they said contained the recommendations made by the study.

Bayan Muna's Casiño announces Senate bid
Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casiño will be running for senator in 2013 but without the help of either the administration Liberal Party or the United Nationalist Coalition.
http://www.silobreaker.com/bayan-munas-casio-announces-senate-bid-5_2265952989350985778

The guy will not win. His deafening silence over china bullying portrays him as a sino communist sympathizer. His flip flopping stand against pork barrel makes him a trapo also. His solution to the Mindanao electricity problem is anti market and belongs to the Jurassic age that government should continuously subsidize. His solutions, o yes, his "solutions" are simplistic and lacks foresight. And excuse me, the guy is NOT progressive. He is perceived to be anti development, pro squatters and anti capitalist

aba, umaaasenso na:lol:

hindi pa ba nangarap maging prime minsiter este presidente?:rofl:

Saan kaya kukuha ng budget sa pagkampanya?

Patay tayo d'yan. Mukang yung mga alipores na NPA mas magsisipag sa pangkikil sa Bicol Region.

Grabe daw yung mga NPA 'dun.

Bayan Muna's Casiño announces Senate bid
Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casiño will be running for senator in 2013 but without the help of either the administration Liberal Party or the United Nationalist Coalition.
http://www.silobreaker.com/bayan-munas-casio-announces-senate-bid-5_2265952989350985778

The guy will not win. His deafening silence over china bullying portrays him as a sino communist sympathizer. His flip flopping stand against pork barrel makes him a trapo also. His solution to the Mindanao electricity problem is anti market and belongs to the Jurassic age that government should continuously subsidize. His solutions, o yes, his "solutions" are simplistic and lacks foresight. And excuse me, the guy is NOT progressive. He is perceived to be anti development, pro squatters and anti capitalist

Ay pucha, wag sanang manalo. Kung may awa pa ang diyos sa atin :lol:

Kasambahay Bill passed
Journal Online
http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/news/national/37460-kasambahay-bill-passed

THE House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading the Kasambahay Bill, another landmark bill of the 15th Congress.

With 176 affirmative votes, no negative and no abstention, the House Bill 6144 or the Domestic Workers Act of 2012 was approved before the Lower House tackle on the plenary the 2013 national budget to begin on Monday, September 10.

The principal author of the bill, San Juan Rep. JV Ejercito-Estrada said that about 2.5 million household helpers will benefit from this bill, as it offers a wide range of benefits.

“We are pleased by this development. After 15 years in the making, Congress will finally enact a bill that would protect household workers from physical and emotional abuse. This would provide all kasambahays a comprehensive package of benefits,” Ejercito-Estrada said.

Included as benefits are food and medicine, allowable holidays and day off, written contract, proper accommodation, Social Security System (SSS) benefits and PhilHealth coverage, annual salary increases and medical certificates and others.

Ejercito also said that the bill highlights the protection for child domestic workers.

Senate detains businessman
Journal Online
http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/news/national/37461-senate-detains-businessman

THE Senate yesterday detained businessman Cesar Ramirez for “lying” to the panel investigating the smuggling of 420,000 sacks of rice in Subic Freeport worth around P500,000,000.

Ramirez will be detained at the basement of the Senate premises “indefinitely” while his supplemental motion to reconsider the Senate’s order is pending, Sen.Francis Pangilinan said yesterday.

Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, ordered Tuesday afternoon the arrest of Ramirez, of the Federation of San Miguel Cooperatives, and Protik Guha, CEO (chief executive officer) of Amira Foods, after the panel cited them in contempt for not telling the truth concerning their participation in the alleged controversy.

The panel rejected Guha’s explanation that Amira Foods has “no intention to sell the goods (rice supply) locally.” Guha said that rice shipment was meant for Indonesia and the Subic Freeport was just used as a transshipment point.

However, members of the Office of Senate Sergeant-at-Arms (OSSAA) were not able to arrest Guha since he is in India. Guha’s lawyer said that his client is sick. Pangilinan does not believe that Guha intends to evade culpability in the smuggling of rice.

Can Tito Sotto outdo himself over another epic fail?
Seriously, he should put himself out of misery and apologize. Better yet, if he still has a sense of honor, he can resign.

Sotto does it again, channels Robert F. Kennedy in Filipino
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/264818/oops-sotto-did-it-again

Did Robert F. Kennedy know how to speak Filipino?

This appears to be the gist of Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III’s defense amid new allegations of plagiarism after he delivered the fourth and last part of his “turno en contra” speech against the reproductive health bill.

It took bloggers less than two hours to find out that Sotto did it again.

A tweet from a certain Michel Eldiy at 5:30 p.m., more than an hour after the Sotto speech, triggered online discussions on the supposed intellectual dishonesty of the senator.

“Not true that last part of Sotto’s speech is original. See Day of Affirmation speech of Robert Kennedy in 1966 in South Africa,” said Eldiy, who goes by the Twitter handle, “ChiliMedley.”

She then tweeted a link to the Kennedy speech and later compared it with the speech of Sotto.

Sought for comment, the senator said: “It was texted to me by a friend.

“I found the idea good. I translated it into Tagalog [Filipino]. So what’s the problem?” Sotto told the Philippine Daily Inquirer when asked about his reaction to the fresh accusations.

“Ano? Marunong nang mag-Tagalog si Kennedy? (What now? Does Kennedy now know how to speak in Tagalog)?” he added.

In a separate text message, the senator lamented that proponents of the RH bill were nitpicking.


Even in Filipino, Sotto accused of plagiarism
PhilStar
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=845779&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - Oops…he did it again.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III spoke in Filipino last night to deliver the final part of his opposition to the Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

Speaking in the national language, however, did not save him from fresh charges of plagiarism.

Accusations flew on the social networking site Twitter that he lifted portions of a speech of the late US Sen. Robert Kennedy in 1966. Portions of the speech were posted on the site alongside Sotto’s statements.

“Ah, marunong mag-Tagalog si Kennedy? Kaya nga tinagalog ko para tigilan na nila, naghanap pa rin sila. Sagutin yung mga figures, sagutin nila yung population issue, sagutin nila perang bilyon bilyon, wag yung tagalog ko o kung may tina-translate ko (Oh, did Kennedy speak Tagalog? This is the reason why I gave my speech in Tagalog, so that critics should stop bothering me on trivial issues. They should instead answer the population issue…not my way of speaking),” Sotto said in reaction to fresh criticisms of plagiarism.

Sotto, however, admitted that somebody sent him the idea in a text message, which he found interesting.

He then asked his staff to incorporate the idea in his speech, unaware – he claimed – that it came from a famous speech of Kennedy during his day of affirmation in 1966 in South Africa.

Sotto also downplayed the challenge of a teacher and a student for a debate.

He said the challenge was an insult to the proponents of the measure.

“I will just wait for them to be senator, then debate them here in the Senate,” he said.

Malacañang called on lawmakers and all sectors involved in the ongoing debates on the reproductive health/responsible parenthood bill to focus on the main issues and set aside emotions.

Malacañang issued the appeal while the Senate yesterday engaged in heated debates anew over the RH bill, which has not moved from sponsorship stage to committee amendments a year and three months since it was sponsored on the floor.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Malacañang would want to have the bill passed, though they were not yet aware of the technical working group (TWG) that would be composed of several representatives, including one from the executive branch.

“We have yet to get details of that technical working group...But you must recall that this is now the period of amendments... And I hope reasonable men can come together and discuss amendments without passion and without extremist views,” Lacierda said.

Lawmakers said they were looking at the TWG to harmonize all conflicting views on the RH bill and have it passed by December.

Lacierda said it would be up to Congress to work on the TWG to speed up the passage of the bill.

“We are hopeful that an acceptable RH Bill will be approved and we hope this will be acceptable to everybody,” Lacierda said.

As regards the statement of Sen. Panfilo Lacson that a majority of his colleagues were in favor of the bill, Lacierda said Lacson would be in a better position to identify and gauge the sentiments of each senator.

Lacierda said the period of amendments should give all sides the chance to present their arguments and come up with a measure that would be pro-people.

“We want an RH Bill that is acceptable to a great segment of the population because we understand their passion is really there – those who are pro-RH and those who are anti-RH – and that’s the reason why this will be a good time during the period of amendments for reasonable men to come together and discuss what the amendments could be,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda said the TWG seemed to be a good suggestion from Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to moderate the “hard core” on their positions.

He said it would be up to the House leaders to “traffic” the debates that had been taking too long.

Belmonte, for his part, said the House has to find a middle ground to come out with a measure that would be acceptable to all.

“We have to think of some breakthrough on this impasse,” Belmonte said. “What is also essential is to mold the provisions of the bill as a vital poverty alleviation measure.”

“After all, the fight against poverty is the bottom line of all our struggles today,” he said.

House Majority Leader and Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gonzales II said Belmonte presided over a meeting of lawmakers and both sides agreed to find a compromise.

Gonzales said there are efforts to include members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in future meetings.

Lacierda added Malacañang would respect the supposed text brigade of the CBCP calling on its faithful to go to Congress and help them block the passage of the RH bill.

“That’s what they want to do and we cannot stop them. There’s a free marketplace of ideas so it’s up to them...We are only for responsible parenthood,” he said.

The CBCP, on the other hand, said they would not send a representative to the TWG.

CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Family and Life (ECFL) executive secretary Fr. Melvin Castro said that even if they were being considered to be part of the TWG, chances are they would turn down the invitation.

As of yesterday, they have not received any invitation.

“As far as I know we would not be sending a representative to participate, not a priest or a bishop. We could probably send lay experts but in the end we leave it up to the decision on the TWG with our anti-RH bill congressmen and women,” Castro said.

Castro admitted they are hesitant to take part in the TWG deliberations.

“We are worried that if we attend the TWG, they would say that the Church agreed to compromise so let us approve this. That is something that we want to avoid because we do not know what would be the dynamics of this TWG,” he said.

RH Bill gains ground in Senate
Business World
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=RH-Bill-gains-ground-in-Senate&id=57991

THE SENATE yesterday began to iron out differences in the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Bill with proposed changes aimed at appeasing those opposing the measure.

Senator Pilar Juliana "Pia" S. Cayetano, main sponsor of Senate Bill (SB) No. 2865, introduced during the plenary session several amendments to include revision of the title of striking out contentious provision.

Ms. Cayetano proposed a new subsection which states that "abortion is a criminal act in accordance with existing laws."

The phrase "essential medicines" which describes contraceptives was replaced with the title phrase: "The Philippine National Drug Formulary System (PNDFS) shall be observed in selecting drugs, including family planning supplies, that will be included or removed from the essential drugs list in accordance with existing practice."

The PNDFS is defined in the Department of Health (DoH) Web site as "an integral component of the Philippine Medicines Policy which aims to promote rational use of essential medicines among prescribers, dispensers, patients and consumers."

"It is a list of essential medicines deemed important to address the primary health care needs of Filipinos… It is the basis of all government procurement of medicines and reimbursement of drugs of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation," the Web site further noted.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has opposed the phrase "essential medicines" in describing contraceptives, noting that intrauterine device (IUD) and condom do not have medicinal qualities.

SB 2865 previously stated that hormonal contraceptives, IUD, injectables and other family planning products and supplies "shall also be included in the regular purchase of essential medicines and supplies of all national and local hospitals, provincial, city, and municipal health offices, including rural health units."

It further that the annual budget "for reproductive health, and natural and artificial family planning… shall be allocated and utilized for the implementation of this act."

Ms. Cayetano, meanwhile, also proposed to restate the title of the bill as "An Act Providing for a National Policy on Reproductive Health and Responsible Parenthood."

"There are a number of points we would have called upon in the amendments... We will wait to raise questions during the period of individual amendments," said Senate Majority Leader Vicente C. Sotto III, who delivered the third and fourth parts of his opposition to the bill yesterday said.

The House of Representatives on Aug. 6 terminated the period of debates on the counterpart measure, House Bill No. 4244.

Efforts to move to the period of amendments, however, have been stalled by several privilege speeches of congressmen who are opposing the measure.

Proponents of the bill on Tuesday have proposed the creation of an informal technical working group involving other stakeholders, including the Catholic Church, to fast-track the legislative process.

RH gets crackin’ in Senate
Malaya
http://www.malaya.com.ph/~malayaco/index.php/news/nation/12450-rh-gets-crackin-in-senate

PROPONENTS of the reproductive health bill at the Senate finally prevailed as the sponsor, Sen. Pia Cayetano, started introducing committee amendments to the measure yesterday.

And to allay fears of opponents, Cayetano inserted a provision saying “abortion is a criminal act in accordance with existing laws.”

She also added a provision for the National Drug Formulary System to select family planning supplies to be included in the essential drugs list.

The Catholic Church is staunchly opposing the measure which it says promotes abortion.

On the essential drugs list, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile early this week said he would move to delete the provision because contraceptives do not cure any disease. He also said deliberations on the measure might be suspended until June next year.

The introduction of committee amendments followed the third and final part of the turno en contra of majority leader Vicente Sotto III.

Sotto, in his speech, reiterated that intrauterine devices, condoms and other contraceptives are not “essential medicines.”

But Cayetano said it was not she, but the National Drug Formulary System (NDFS) as recommended by the World Health Organization, that classified condoms and other birth control devices and pills as essential medicines.

Sen. Loren Legarda, interpellating Sotto, also said it is not the lawmakers who classify essential medicines, to which Sotto agreed.

Sotto also said there is no need to control the population because the country is not overpopulated, citing data from economist Bernard Villegas and demography expert Rosalinda Valenzona.

In her book “A Paradigm for Demography,” Sotto quoted Valenzona as saying the Philippines is not overpopulated but there is an uneven distribution of population in the country. Fertility rate is decreasing, from 3.48 percent in 2000 to 3.19 in 2010, he further quoted Valenzona as saying.

According to the website of the Commission on Population, there were some 92.34 million Filipinos based on the 2010 census. Last January, it projected the population to increase to 97.6 million this year, and to 101.2 million by 2014.

Quoting Villegas, Sotto said the overpopulation in Metro Manila squatters’ areas is “only a consequence of at least three decades of erroneous policy of utterly neglecting countryside and rural development.”

“The country is not-overpopulated, thus reducing the size of our population is not necessary,” Sotto said.

He also said that even without the RH bill, the government is already spending P8 billion for family planning and reproductive health programs.

Sen. Ralph Recto said the bill is not meant to control population.

“The title of the bill specifically is for reproductive health, or on how we improve fertility, hindi magbawas ng fertility but to reproduce,” he said.

Sotto maintained he calls the bill as population control measure because it wants to reduce family size.

Recto said there are four versions of the bill, two coming from the House, and one from the Senate, and another from the administration.

“Have you read any version of the bill? Ibig sabihin maraming nagtutulak nito, ideal family size, but not necessarily the major sponsor in the Senate. Who said that two children is the ideal family size?” Recto asked Sotto.

Sotto said the two-children family size is found in countries which have adopted a reproductive health bills, like China and Indonesia.

Recto also said that by 2015, “we will hitting the point of our population na maraming bata ang magtatrabaho kaysa inaalagaan na bata at matatanda, because while we are modernizing, the family size is getting smaller, which is being seen in the US and other countries in Europe, which have a problem on aging population but fewer younger generations to fill their labor force and pay taxes to augment dwindling pension funds,” Recto said.

“Tama po iyan,” Sotto said.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines rejected any participation in a technical working group that the House plans to form to discuss contentious issues of the bill.

Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, said it would be best for the Church to distance itself from the proposal of RH backer, Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin.

“Wala kami nare-receive na invitation to be a part of this TWG…but as far as I know, we will not participate,” said Castro.

“Ang worry kasi namin, a-attend ka sa TWG tapos sasabihin nila: ‘O nakipag-compromise na pala ang Church so let’s approve this’. So, yun ang ini-iwasan natin,” he added.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. welcomed the proposal for a working group to be composed mostly of moderates, including representatives of the CBCP.

“We have to think of some breakthrough on this impasse,” Belmonte said, following the tension in the plenary on Tuesday night where Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, an anti-RH lawmaker, made a scene which led to an early adjournment of the session.

Rodriguez lashed out at the secretariat right before Pangasinan Rep. Kimi Cojuangco, one of those supporting House Bill 4244 (Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act of 2011), delivered her privilege speech.

The secretariat declared the presence of a quorum with 155 congressmen present but Rodriguez yelled and demanded to know how they came up with the figure when he said he counted only 111.

The pro-RH Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc. asked Belmonte to stop allowing the anti-reproductive health bill camp from continuing their “filibuster” moves.

PLCPD executive director Romeo Dongeto said his group is looking for more “political will” from Belmonte.

“Medyo nakukulangan po tayo sa political will ng House leadership kaya sana they assert themselves like what President Aquino showed earlier in pushing for the bill,” said Dongeto.

Sotto does it again, channels Robert F. Kennedy in Filipino
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/264818/oops-sotto-did-it-again

Did Robert F. Kennedy know how to speak Filipino?

This appears to be the gist of Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III’s defense amid new allegations of plagiarism after he delivered the fourth and last part of his “turno en contra” speech against the reproductive health bill.


Even in Filipino, Sotto accused of plagiarism
PhilStar
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=845779&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - Oops…he did it again.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III spoke in Filipino last night to deliver the final part of his opposition to the Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

Speaking in the national language, however, did not save him from fresh charges of plagiarism.

Accusations flew on the social networking site Twitter that he lifted portions of a speech of the late US Sen. Robert Kennedy in 1966. Portions of the speech were posted on the site alongside Sotto’s statements.



Meron kenkoy sa Senado. He he he.

But we are asking too much from this guy immersed as he was in the great intellectual cauldron known as Pinoy Showbiz. He he he.

Read twitter responses #sinotto really really hilarious. This sotto guy really dont know when to stop. He is so full of himself that he thinks he did nothing wrong. I pity her mother for not teaching this sotto guy the right manners. Sotto if you want to be respected then learn to respect other people's work. People will not respect you just because your title sez "SENATOR" co you really dont deserve it.

ay naku ...

:ohno: Pwde mo bang tagalugin ito...
"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers
brought forth on this continent a new nation,
conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal". ...

and pass it off as your own? :ohno:

is it not his office at one time headed the senate commitee on intellectual property rights?

Sana nagsorry na lang sya... and yung gumawa ng speech nya :ohno:

I think yung speechwrite ni tito sotto nagtratrabaho din bilang tagalog dubber ng mga japanese anime, kaya magaling mag tagalized ng speech ng iba.

Bayan Muna's Casiño announces Senate bid
Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casiño will be running for senator in 2013 but without the help of either the administration Liberal Party or the United Nationalist Coalition.
http://www.silobreaker.com/bayan-munas-casio-announces-senate-bid-5_2265952989350985778


Sawa na sa Batasan ang Kaliwa. Mas malaki nga naman Pork Barrel sa Senado, P200,000,000.00/year

Saan kaya kukuha ng budget sa pagkampanya?

Patay tayo d'yan. Mukang yung mga alipores na NPA mas magsisipag sa pangkikil sa Bicol Region.

Grabe daw yung mga NPA 'dun.

Revolutionary taxes, on top of the annual PDAF of the leftist party groups

:bash:

ay naku ...

:ohno: Pwde mo bang tagalugin ito...
"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers
brought forth on this continent a new nation,
conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal". ...

and pass it off as your own? :ohno:

Apat na punto at pitong taon nakalipas, mga tatay
hinatid sa harap ng kontinenteng ito, bagong bansa
pinanganak sa kalayaan at hinandog sa kaisipang
lhat tao ay patas - by Abraham Sotto

on second thought jsut use google translate hehehe

Question: Whats the tagalog word for plagarism?
Answer: Sinotto

Eample of usage: Bat mo sinotto yung assignment ng classmate mo?
Sinotto mo na naman ang design ko noh?


Sinotto now a word soon a dictionary entry...

San ba pwede makakuha ng transcript nung latest speech ni Sotto?

Ito na pala. From FB:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/552070_10151121967473119_1187918634_n.jpg

Darth Vader: "Ang kapalmuks ay malakas sa isang 'to."

John F. Kennedy to Sotto's staff: "Huwag itanong kung anong kokopyahin ni Sen. Sotto para sa iyo. Itanong kung ano ang kokopyahin mo para kay Sen. Sotto."

:lol:

Pwede naman i rephrase. Tinranslate lang talaga eh.

What a crap talaga tong si Sotto....:bash:

I think yung speechwrite ni tito sotto nagtratrabaho din bilang tagalog dubber ng mga japanese anime, kaya magaling mag tagalized ng speech ng iba.

:lol: nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

He has made the senate a BIG JOKE, it's not even funny anymore.

He should have been the one named JOKER.

aaaawwww. Now I wonder where the brave defenders of Eat Bulaga here are? Come out, come out wherever you are ... :rofl:

I've spoken about the evils of watching too much Eat Bulaga and the allied shows but the jejemon rat brigade here would hear none of it. :hilarious

Dumbness enshrined on a pedestal and set on a hill for all the world to see. Exterminate the pests already, they and the leaders they serve are a national embarrassment beyond words.

http://charliebrown888.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/i-see-dumb-people-everywhere.jpg

Please do NOT vote for this guy. Patay ang AFP natin kung mangyari ito. Kung naghihikahos sa life support ang AFP ngayon sa current candidates, pagnakatungtongito, yung plug na ang maaalis!

Left fielding Casiño in Senate race (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/258342/left-fielding-casino-in-senate-race)

MANILA, Philippines—Activists are again embarking on an uphill battle to break into the elite group that makes up the Senate, with or without a formal alliance with the well-entrenched, resource-rich parties that dominate the political landscape.

This time, those who make up the newly registered Makabayan Coalition political party are seeking to field a lone candidate, Bayan Muna lawmaker Teddy Casiño, for the 2013 senatorial elections.

Casiño said he and Makabayan were prepared to weather the electoral contest regardless of whether a major political party would team up with Bayan Muna and its allied groups.

Makabayan plans to embark on grass-roots campaigning, tap partnerships with local leaders and use social media, Casiño said at a dinner with Inquirer editors. But celebrity endorsers would be welcome, too.

“I will run, whatever happens. That is our main play,” said Casiño, a veteran of street protests against administration policies and projects. He will reach the end of his third and last term as Bayan Muna representative next year.

Casiño said he was still open to being adopted by a major party, with Vice President Jejomar Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) the mostly likely group that could draft him. But his run for the Senate is not hinged on a major party’s blessing.

“One scenario is I would be a guest of UNA, or I would be allowed to guest in other parties. But that’s just extra. That would just be a bonus,” he said.

Casiño said there was no more question in the mind of leftist groups about fielding a candidate for the Senate. He believed the people were ready for new representation who would speak about gut issues such as the rising costs of fuel, electricity and water.

Not even Makabayan’s relatively shallow pockets could daunt the group, he said.

“I am presenting the idea of an alternative candidate, a voice of the ordinary people,” said the Bayan Muna lawmaker.

Makabayan secretary general Nathanael Santiago said it was time for someone who spoke with the people’s voice and who did not ascend to public office just by dint of political pedigree to join the Senate.

Santiago said Makabayan would continue fielding candidates for the chance to help more people.

“When the progressives entered electoral politics, it was a serious move. It’s not as if we are still debating every election on whether or not we would participate. We think this is an arena or vehicle for progressives to reach more people,” he said.

Santiago further said that Makabayan wanted people to understand that being a member of the Left was not a negative factor. Makabayan’s cochair, the late Maita Gomez, once told the group that people must know that the Left was a good thing.

“Being leftist means opposing antipeople policies and the rotten system, and asking for change,” Santiago said.

Some may dub an independent Senate quest quixotic, what with a viable run usually needing at least a hundred million pesos, which only major parties are prepared to spend, but Casiño believes it is not impossible.

The lawmaker noted that other candidates were able to join the Senate even if they did not belong to a political dynasty or had no deep pockets, like Senator Antonio Trillanes who was elected even though he campaigned from his prison cell. Trillanes, a Navy officer, was jailed after staging two uprisings against then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The activists are not going into the midterm elections in May next year totally inexperienced.

In 2010, Makabayan fielded senatorial candidates Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna and Liza Maza of Gabriela. The two were drafted into the slate of Nacionalista Party presidential candidate Manuel Villar. Neither Ocampo nor Maza made it to the Magic 12.

From this, the activists have learned valuable lessons.

For one, Makabayan is fielding just one senatorial candidate next year. This way, its efforts and resources could be concentrated on Casiño. Makabayan claims to have a voter base of about 3.2 million and says it is working on expanding this.

Casiño said the Makabayan bloc started preparing early for the 2013 elections by strengthening and widening its local network as early as 2010.

When Ocampo and Maza ran, the group only had about 18 months for laying down the groundwork and for campaigning. This time, it is devoting more time to marshaling support for Casiño and increasing his exposure.

For 2013, Makabayan would tap all of the “meaningful relationships” that its members have established with people on the ground. This sets him apart from other candidates, Casiño noted.

“Unlike an ordinary candidate who has no people [on the ground] and who is totally dependent on the political operation, we have people on the ground,” he said.

Makabayan would also forge ties with local leaders and enter into partnerships for mutual support, independent of their political party. Many local leaders do not necessarily follow the party line and are usually free to form alliances with people with a different affiliation, Casiño said.

This would mean going from province to province and from region to region to meet with numerous leaders. But it is something that needs to be done by a young political party that is not awash in cash.

“We have to go into retail campaigning,” Casiño said. “It’s a lot of work, but that’s the only way an independent can run.”

Makabayan would also have to maximize its use of social media because it could not go head to head with the major parties in television advertising.

Casiño is also hoping for a celebrity endorsement, although he has yet to decide on his dream endorser. TV host Boy Abunda has spoken of wanting to support him, he noted.

But one group that is fully behind him is his family, consisting of his wife, fellow activist Ruth Cervantes, and their two young sons, Elian and Emilio.

Casiño said Bayan Muna’s consistent victory for a seat in the House of Representatives, with him as one of the nominees, showed him that people were ready for him in his Senate bid.

“They’re ready for new representation in the Senate,” he said.

FOI bill to hurdle House committee by October
Sun Star
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2012/09/07/foi-bill-hurdle-house-committee-october-241419

MANILA - The Freedom of Information (FOI) bill will likely hurdle the committee on public information after the two-week break of Congress next month, a leader of the House of Representatives said on Thursday.

"It should out of the committee by October. But there should be consensus. At times, it's the consensus that is very difficult to achieve," Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II told reporters in a press conference.

The House committee on public information, chaired by Eastern Samar Representative Ben Evardone, has last convened a hearing on the FOI bill in February last year.

A committee hearing was set on August 7 but was deferred because another controversial measure, the RH bill, was scheduled in the House plenary's agenda on same day.

Evardone then explained that the House leadership instructed him to postpone committee hearings until a majority caucus on the FOI bill has been called.

A month after, the House leadership has yet to schedule a caucus.

Meanwhile, a statement released by The Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition on Wednesday said that it is Gonzales and Evardone who are conspiring to kill the FOI bill.

The former ruling party Lakas-Kampi-CMD, where the two lawmakers previously belong, had the numbers in the 14th Congress when the FOI bill was nearly ratified. Gonzales and Evardone jumped to the Liberal Party in the 2010 elections.

"By all indications, the real fear about the FOI bill that spooks Gonzales, entrenched politicians and political dynasties in the country is that it will open the door to legitimate public scrutiny into their official acts and transactions, and enable the people's right to know the good, the bad, and the ugly about them all," the statement read.

Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat Jr., one of the main authors of the FOI bill, agreed with the observation of the group.

"Without mentioning names, I think former allies of the past administration are conspiring to kill the bill because they are afraid of what may be unearthed further regarding the anomalies of the past that could implicate them," he said in a text message.

"They're using the committee on public information as their instrument by holding the bill hostage," Baguilat, also the deputy spokesperson of the LP, added.

^^ Good thing they haven't forgotten about the FOI. Along with Sin tax and RH bill, the FOI bill should have a high priority in the Congress and Senate.

ung pagmumukha ni casino nakapaskil na sa likod ng bus ng victory liner

Santiago to Sotto - Saying it in Pilipino is still plagiarism’
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/266678/saying-it-in-pilipino-is-still-plagiarism-santiago

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, a long-time academic in the field of law, doesn’t buy Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III’s defense that speaking in Filipino gets him off the hook from charges he plagiarized English passages from a speech by the late US Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

“I don’t accept that because as I’ve said in the academe, whether you translate or not, whether you interpret or not, it makes no difference. You have to attribute,” Santiago said in a news conference following a speaking engagement on Saturday.

“In this event, the Sotto event, he can be allowed a certain freedom, although I wish that he would adopt the general attitude that it’s always best to attribute whether it’s specific or general,” she said.

Sotto once again received criticism last week for plagiarism after his turno en contra against the reproductive health (RH) bill contained a Filipino translation of passages from a speech the late Kennedy delivered in 1966. The alleged plagiarism was posted on Twitter shortly after Sotto’s speech.

Time to vote

On the RH bill—the subject of Sotto’s supposedly plagiarized speeches, Santiago challenged her colleagues to just put the measure to a vote.

“Stop all dilatory tactics. Stop the filibuster,” Santiago said.

“Let us come to a vote. I challenge my colleagues in the Senate and even in the House: Let us come to a formal vote on the RH bill itself,” said Santiago, one of the authors of the RH bill.

Santiago said the lawmakers had been debating the issue for too long, even in previous Congresses.

Santiago said that if the pro-RH lawmakers like herself lose the vote, then they will just have to accept it based on the rules.

“The same goes for the anti-RH advocates if the bill manages to muster enough votes,” she said.

“But you cannot tell the Filipino public that this is an infinite debate, that this should again be tackled in the next Congress,” Santiago said.

Sa totoo lang, I'm not surprised na with the plagiarism.

The problem is beyond Sotto. The problem is in the education. Many schools still do not take the issue on plagiarism seriously. Ang dami nga dyan estudyante, copy paste sa internet pero hindi nasisita ng schools o professors or teacher o instructors.

Just look at how Sotto's speechwriter reasoned out when they were caught for plagiarism the first time? He defended plagiarism.

Pass Sin Tax now!


Thai doctor: ‘Sin tax’ a boon to Thailand
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/49690/thai-doctor-sin-tax-a-boon-to-thailand

The Philippine government would have generated revenue enough to build a new sky train system had it followed the lead of Thailand in imposing higher taxes on alcohol and tobacco products, a visiting Thai tobacco expert said on Friday.

But it’s not yet too late, according to Dr. Prakit Vathesatogkit, an advocate of tobacco control and a former senator of Thailand.

Prakit, a specialist on pulmonary disease, was in the country for a three-day visit to share with senators and health officials Thailand’s two-decade-old sin tax law and help the Philippine government push its own legislation.

“The money we got from the sin taxes for one year alone was enough to build a new sky train system or a subway,” he said in an interview before he left the country on the weekend.

In 2011, Thailand generated 57-million Thai baht (or $1.8 million) from excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products based on a single-tier or unitary tax structure.

Fourfold revenue

Thailand’s total revenue rose fourfold from 1993, a year before the sin tax law took effect, up to 2011.

“Even though the price of tobacco increased five times from 12 baht per pack to 64 baht in the last 20 years, the revenue of the cigarette firms were more or less stable,” he said.

The Philippine Senate’s ways and means committee has been tackling pending sin tax bills, which seek to increase taxes on alcohol and tobacco products to generate more revenue for government health care services.

On Senate table now

On the Senate’s table are proposals to restructure the excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco products filed by Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Panfilo Lacson, and House Bill No. 5727, the counterpart measure already approved by the House of Representatives.

During the previous hearing, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senator Ralph Recto warned that increasing sin taxes could lead to the prevalence of smuggling and revenue going down.

But in Thailand’s experience, Prakit said, the revenue of cigarette companies didn’t fluctuate sharply as the number of smokers just slightly went down from 12.2 million in 1994 to 11.5 million at present.

“What the tax policy did was bring down the smoking prevalence in reference to our population,” he said.

The Thai doctor said the tax policy did not just help smokers quit but also ensured that children would not be able to afford the bad habit.

Thai Health

In Thailand, a health organization called ThaiHealth, of which Prakit was a founder, offers services through the government’s two-percent surcharge tax on alcohol and tobacco products.

The Thai tax revenue provides a budget of $110 million to fund health promotion programs, education campaigns on alcohol and tobacco control, and promotion of healthy diets and the environment.

At present, only five of 10 Asean countries—Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos and Vietnam—have such mechanisms to regulate tobacco use and improve public health.

“It’s time the Philippines followed suit,” Prakit said.

Prakit is now the executive secretary of the Action on Smoking and Health Foundation and an advisor of ThaiHealth and Thailand’s Department of Disease Control under the Ministry of Public Health.

Aquino names 6 senatorial bets (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/267530/aquino-names-6-senatorial-bets)
By Gil Cabacungan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10:24 am | Monday, September 10th, 2012

RUSSKIY ISLAND, VLADIVOSTK, Russia – President Benigno Aquino III gave a sneak peek on who’s in and out of the administration’s coalition slate for next year’s senatorial elections but he was curiously mum on the inclusion of his friend, re-electionist, Senator Francis Escudero.

During a briefing Saturday night, reports rattled off possible candidates in the administration slate and the President gamely made comments on whether they were a definite six or maybe still a four.

But when he was asked whether Escudero, who has been either number one or two in the senatorial surveys, the President was quick to say: “No comment.”

Among those that the President said has a lock on the slate were Movies and Television Ratings and Classification Board chair Grace Poe-Llamanzares; former Senator Ramon “Jun” Magsaysay Jr.; former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros; Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., and Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara. At least one seat has been reserved for the Biazons as the President said the LP has yet to make up its mind whether to field the son (Customs Chief Rufino Biazon) or the father (former Senator and Muntilupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon).

Those whose seat reservations have to be confirmed were the President’s cousin, Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino; Technical Education and Skills Development Authority chief Joel Villanueva; Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tanada III; and former Senator Jamby Madrigal.
Escudero ditched his presidential bid in the 2010 elections and supported a “Noy-Bi” (Noynoy-Binay) ticket. Noynoy is Aquino’s nickname while Binay is incumbent Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Escudero is currently being wooed by the United Nationalist Alliance, the coalition formed by Binay and former President Joseph Estrada, possibly as a guest candidate.

“I think we’ve already discussed 10 and there are only 14 candidates vying for 12 seats.
Of course, I don’t think those who would be included in the final list but were not mentioned now should feel bad. But those who will be left out and heard it for the first time here would probably start thinking about their non-inclusion. I think we should talk first, talk seriously with the whole group and these candidates,” said the President.

The President also declined to say how the slate would be divided among the coalition partners LP, Nationalist People’s Coalition and Nacionalista Party (which was likely to field former Las Pinas Rep. Cynthia Villar, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, and Senator Alan Cayetano).

The President said that the final list would depend on the results of the upcoming senatorial surveys as well and those who would actually file their candidacy in October.

“We have to respond to surveys, we have to respond to the feedback we get from the ground.

We wanna make sure that the right timing happens for all of the candidates. We don’t want to rush this and sacrifice a person. This might not be the right time,” said the President.

tama na yang pang sa-cyberbully ninyo kay sotto!:lol::lol::lol:
dko talaga maisip bakit pabalik-balik ang term nyan sa senado:ohno::ohno::ohno:

tama na yang pang sa-cyberbully ninyo kay sotto!:lol::lol::lol:
dko talaga maisip bakit pabalik-balik ang term nyan sa senado:ohno::ohno::ohno:
Simple lang naman iyan! Mas nakakarelate ang mga tao kay Sen. Sotto kung ikukumpara mo iyang iba diyan! Marurunong nga at antaas ng pinag-aralan, hindi naman marunong umintindi sa mga tao sa ibaba.

Add to that the name recall "Sotto". Don Vicente Sotto, former Cebu City councilor, former City Mayor of Cebu, a former congressman, and a former Senator of the Republic of the Philippines, was known to be a very conscientious man while he was still alive, his colleagues called him "recalcitrant, principled Sotto".

tama na yang pang sa-cyberbully ninyo kay sotto!:lol::lol::lol:
dko talaga maisip bakit pabalik-balik ang term nyan sa senado:ohno::ohno::ohno:

mag patawa lang yan ng konti sa eat bulaga, marami na ulet voters yan :cheers:

tulad ng mga babes, gusto nila yung mga bad boy, pogi, comedians at macho....... yan ang ma appeal :)

Artista kasi sila. Madaling matandaan ng masa.

May nabasa ako na study, na 5 kandidato lang daw talaga ang karaniwang gusto iboto ng mga tao. Tapos yung iba kung sino na lang ang maalala. Kaya malaki talaga tulong kung artista ka o kaya pag madali matandaan yung commercial campaign mo.

Dapat kasi iwanan na lang na blank.

Sa totoo lang, I'm not surprised na with the plagiarism.

The problem is beyond Sotto. The problem is in the education. Many schools still do not take the issue on plagiarism seriously. Ang dami nga dyan estudyante, copy paste sa internet pero hindi nasisita ng schools o professors or teacher o instructors.

Just look at how Sotto's speechwriter reasoned out when they were caught for plagiarism the first time? He defended plagiarism.

Plagiarism is a crime. The problem is Sotto himself - his breeding. When I was a child, my parents taught me over and over not to take somebody else's property. This senator should have accepted his mistake instead of defending himself to the point of lying.

I had a professor who copywrighted books used by a university and a career center. An irresponsible writer copied parts of my Prof's books, had them printed, released and made profits out of them. At the end, my Prof won the case (Plagiarism). That's taking somebody else's idea and works - a robbery. It's a BIG, BIG deal.

^^ The problem is beyond Sotto. It is the educational system. Yes, how the Philippine education breed its students. It is not ingrained in the educational system and many teachers actually accept "google.com" as a reference!

Good for your professor! But then, plagiarism is not limited to the "professional" environment. MANY students, plagiarize UNKNOWLINGLY -- simply because they are ignorant. Many do not even know what plagiarism is. You see, Sotto's SPEECHWRITER even went saying that it is okay to plagiarize because our constitution is plagiarized from the US constitution

By the way, Manny Pangilinan had a plagiarized speech way back. Sure, there was this public crucifixion, but then what happened after? Public humiliation/cruxifiction does nothing to address the problem. Reducing the plagiarism problem cannot be done by public humiliation but by having strict standards IN SCHOOL and enforcing it. Many Filipino students are clueless about what the heck actually is plagiarism is and how to cite properly(maybe unless they took journalism or media courses that goes into this but the average Filipino student is hardly aware of this). Many Filipino students and professionals, although they don't intentionally want to "steal" others words, they do it because the concept of plagiarism is not ingrained. Quoting without providing the source is rampant and tolerated in the Philippines, though it is not perceived as stealing by many but rather being "inspired".


What do teachers/profs/instructors use to determine if the papers submitted by the student is not taken from a corner of the internet? Do schools use turnitin.com to match the students work to check if parts have been plagiarized?

Plagiarism does not have to be intentionally "stolen", plagiarism is plagiarism even in ignorance.

Let us look at the bigger problem. Sotto and his speechwriter is more of a "symptom" of a bigger problem.

Plagiarism is a crime. The problem is Sotto himself - his breeding. When I was a child, my parents taught me over and over not to take somebody else's property. This senator should have accepted his mistake instead of defending himself to the point of lying.

I had a professor who copywrighted books used by a university and a career center. An irresponsible writer copied parts of my Prof's books, had them printed, released and made profits out of them. At the end, my Prof won the case (Plagiarism). That's taking somebody else's idea and works - a robbery. It's a BIG, BIG deal.

^^ The problem is beyond Sotto. It is the educational system. Yes, how the Philippine education breed its students. It is not ingrained in the educational system and many teachers actually accept "google.com" as a reference!

Good for your professor! But then, plagiarism is not limited to the "professional" environment. MANY students, plagiarize UNKNOWLINGLY -- simply because they are ignorant. Many do not even know what plagiarism is. You see, Sotto's SPEECHWRITER even went saying that it is okay to plagiarize because our constitution is plagiarized from the US constitution

By the way, Manny Pangilinan had a plagiarized speech way back. Sure, there was this public crucifixion, but then what happened after? Public humiliation/cruxifiction does nothing to address the problem. Reducing the plagiarism problem cannot be done by public humiliation but by having strict standards IN SCHOOL and enforcing it. Many Filipino students are clueless about what the heck actually is plagiarism is and how to cite properly(maybe unless they took journalism or media courses that goes into this but the average Filipino student is hardly aware of this). Many Filipino students and professionals, although they don't intentionally want to "steal" others words, they do it because the concept of plagiarism is not ingrained. Quoting without providing the source is rampant and tolerated in the Philippines, though it is not perceived as stealing by many but rather being "inspired".


What do teachers/profs/instructors use to determine if the papers submitted by the student is not taken from a corner of the internet? Do schools use turnitin.com to match the students work to check if parts have been plagiarized?

Plagiarism does not have to be intentionally "stolen", plagiarism is plagiarism even in ignorance.

Let us look at the bigger problem. Sotto and his speechwriter is more of a "symptom" of a bigger problem.

I had a friend (well, sort of) once in college who was a year behind me. He borrowed one of my lab reports that had already been graded by my teacher--I didn't think much of it at the time since I was used to lending stuff out to people eg books, past exams etc. But anyway, without my knowledge, he used correction fluid to mask the teacher's comments and my name on my report, then photocopied it and submitted the copy to his own teacher. :(

Perhaps Sen. Sotto is unconcerned about the issue of plagiarism, because it's not like he has to worry about anyone wanting to plagiarize him?

^^I think plagiarism is not in the mind of many Filipinos. Our educational system, as well as political system do not care about it. I'm not saying Filipinos steal other people's ideas intentionally. By large, as a nation, we are ignorant about plagiarism that is why we tend not to see it as a big deal. Usually, it is only on online forums but in practice, it is not taken seriously.

Having studied in the US and in the Philippines I can see the difference. Here in the US, they take it very, very, seriously. My instructors here, when requiring us ANY course paper, always warn of plagiarism(even if UNINTENTIONAL) and they ask us to also send a digital copy or upload it at turnitin.com and send them the receipt number. This applies in all courses, even in Non-English/non-composition/non-journalism courses.

I am sorry to hear about your "friend" copying your work. How did it turn out, if it's not to privy to ask? Was he caught?

I am not saying Sotto is innocent, but I think how things are handled and how this has been repeated (remember that Manny Pangilinan, a prominent businessmen, committed plagiarism, too) is merely a symptom of a bigger problem as regards to plagiarism -- Filipinos, by large, are not educated about it and those who "cheat" often get away with it. It doesn't matter if you are a public figure or not. Plagiarism is plagiarism.

I think the DepEd should really do something to correct this. This can be done through orientation and seminars of teachers/profs/instructors...

Perhaps Sen. Sotto is unconcerned about the issue of plagiarism, because it's not like he has to worry about anyone wanting to plagiarize him?


:lol: nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Good move!


Congress Spearheads ‘Buy Pinoy’ Pledge




Manila Bulletin – Mon, Sep 10, 2012



MANILA, Philippines - The House committee on small business and entrepreneurship development is initiating a national campaign to encourage consumers to support laws and policies that benefit local producers and entrepreneurs.

Rep. Teddy Casino, House committee chairman has urged consumers to patronize locally-made products to help build local industries that create jobs and livelihood for them.

"Products are there so what we need is consumer advocacy that they have to buy Filipino and tell them that local products are worthy of their hard-earned money," said Casino.

Casiño stressed that with the "Buy Pinoy, Build Pinoy" pledge, they hope that policymakers will be fully aware that people are pushing for better policies conducive to the development of the local industries.

He also underscored the need for the Philippines to implement laws and policies that benefit businesses and create a globally-competitive economy. "Domestic industries have to be built in order for the economy to advance amidst the global crisis affecting businesses."

"We have to be able to sell our products to what should be our biggest captive market the 90 or so million Filipino who are inside and outside our country," Casiño said.

The "Buy Pinoy, Build Pinoy" pledge also seeks the consumers' support in fight against smuggling, dumping and other anomalous and unfair trade practices and agreements; and helps achieve greater transparency and accountability in government.



http://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=congress%20lead%20buy%20pinoy&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCQQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fph.news.yahoo.com%2Fcongress-spearheads-buy-pinoy-pledge-094657054--finance.html&ei=ENFPUJ-nN6a6iAfz6YDIDw&usg=AFQjCNF9HaRlKLmXwtTEjMtOUv1fDVM5Hw
:cheers:

^^I think plagiarism is not in the mind of many Filipinos. Our educational system, as well as political system do not care about it. I'm not saying Filipinos steal other people's ideas intentionally. By large, as a nation, we are ignorant about plagiarism that is why we tend not to see it as a big deal. Usually, it is only on online forums but in practice, it is not taken seriously.

Having studied in the US and in the Philippines I can see the difference. Here in the US, they take it very, very, seriously. My instructors here, when requiring us ANY course paper, always warn of plagiarism(even if UNINTENTIONAL) and they ask us to also send a digital copy or upload it at turnitin.com and send them the receipt number. This applies in all courses, even in Non-English/non-composition/non-journalism courses.

I am sorry to hear about your "friend" copying your work. How did it turn out, if it's not to privy to ask? Was he caught?

I am not saying Sotto is innocent, but I think how things are handled and how this has been repeated (remember that Manny Pangilinan, a prominent businessmen, committed plagiarism, too) is merely a symptom of a bigger problem as regards to plagiarism -- Filipinos, by large, are not educated about it and those who "cheat" often get away with it. It doesn't matter if you are a public figure or not. Plagiarism is plagiarism.

I think the DepEd should really do something to correct this. This can be done through orientation and seminars of teachers/profs/instructors...

Like you, I have done some of my studies in the US and so I am well aware of how US teachers can be very um, uncompromising (not sure if that is the word to use) when it comes to giving credit where credit is due. Even so, there are inevitable lapses: for instance, I had a classmate who lifted entire paragraphs from various textbooks while working on a group report (he had the simplest task--writing the introduction whereas I had to do the analysis, and yet he still felt compelled to plagiarize :( )

It's sad wherever it happens, but for me it's even sadder when a prominent figure does it so shamelessly and unapologetically. It gives the impression that if such a person could plagiarize and get away with it, then there must be nothing wrong with plagiarism.

As for my so-called friend, I don't recall if I had asked him whether or not his teacher accepted the paper. I hope, however, that the teacher was astute enough to know that writing style was at least different.

Enrile says some senators not happy with his leadership, have plans to oust him (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/269072/enrile-says-some-senators-not-happy-with-his-leadership-have-plans-to-oust-him)
By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
11:53 am | Wednesday, September 12th, 2012

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile himself confirmed receiving information of an alleged plan to oust him supposedly because there were some who were not happy with his leadership.

Enrile said a senator, who he refused to identify, had openly mentioned in one dinner about this purported plan.

“Matagal ko ng alam yan. Merong ilang ilang hindi happy sa akin dahil sinasaway ko sila (I’ve known that for sometime. There are some who are not happy with me because I rebuke them),” he said in a radio interview.

“Diretso sinabi nya may plano kaming tatangalin si Senate President (He said it directly that they have plan to remove the Senate President,” he said.

“Matagal ko ng alam yan. Siguro mahigit na isang buwan yan. E ako naman ay hindi ngangamba sa mga ganyan. Hindi naman ako kumakapit sa puwesto na yun (I’ve known that for sometime. I think its more than a month already. I am not bothered by it. I’m not holding on to my position),” Enrile said.

He said he was willing anytime to hand over his post in a silver platter to anyone who would want to take his place.

And in fairness to the Liberal Party being headed by President Benigno Aquino III, Enrile said he did not feel anything that it has something to do with such plan.

LP stalwart and Senator Franklin Drilon also repeatedly denied involvement in any alleged ouster moves against the Senate leader.

^^ The problem is beyond Sotto. It is the educational system. Yes, how the Philippine education breed its students. It is not ingrained in the educational system and many teachers actually accept "google.com" as a reference!
Again, the problem is Sotto and his breeding. We should not blame the educational system. It is in the students if they write their own ideas or grab some from those who has it. For a person who is responsible and in his right reasoning, copying for the sake having is a taboo.



What do teachers/profs/instructors use to determine if the papers submitted by the student is not taken from a corner of the internet? Do schools use turnitin.com to match the students work to check if parts have been plagiarized?
University is different from the Congress. If a student has been molded the university way which is not acceptable to the House, would a member of the legislature bring it?

Plagiarism does not have to be intentionally "stolen", plagiarism is plagiarism even in ignorance. I agree. The senator has the power to legislate, and yet he doesn't know the law or doesn't accept the law. Horrible!

Let us look at the bigger problem. Sotto and his speechwriter is more of a "symptom" of a bigger problem.

We cannot solve a bigger problem if we can't even address the little ones. As for me, the root cause is the character of a person.

Again, the problem is Sotto and his breeding. We should not blame the educational system. It is in the students if they write their own ideas or grab some from those who has it. For a person who is responsible and in his right reasoning, copying for the sake having is a taboo.



The collective mind is rooted in the education. As I mentioned earlier, many Filipinos, those who have gotten education and those who have not, are not aware of plagiarism. Many do not see plagiarism as stealing but merely quoting and doing some research...which is not right since one really has to quote it.

And yes,m the right reasoning. Another crux rooted in the education: we do not promote reasoning.


University is different from the Congress. If a student has been molded the university way which is not acceptable to the House, would a member of the legislature bring it?


Yes, but many people in the congress came from the University with degrees. And your second sentence proves my stand. The problem is many Unbiversities and Colleges are still apathetic to plagiarism. Not in an intentional way but rather in a ignorant way.


I agree. The senator has the power to legislate, and yet he doesn't know the law or doesn't accept the law. Horrible!



But then, there is not a law against Plagiarism right? Copyright violations is different from plagiarism by definition.

We cannot solve a bigger problem if we can't even address the little ones. As for me, the root cause is the character of a person.[/QUOTE]

How can you solve a problem without differentiating the symptom? Sotto and his speechwriter is a symptom of a bigger problem. Remember Manny Pangilinan?

Now, if we don't address this through education, this will be repeat all over again.

Again, I am not saying Sotto is right. I will outright tell you he is wrong. But then, Sotto's action is all too common, even more common in the non-"public" level -- in schools, universities. A lot of schools, universities, colleges, etc do not orient teachers and students on what plagiarism is not do teachers and professors utilize everything to prevent plagiarism or try to catch those who commit plagiarism.

I rest my case. We're going in circles. But bottomline is: Sotto is a symptom of a problem especially that even businessman like Manny Pangilinan did it too but got away with it and the Filipino public has forgotten about this. Plagiarism is not much of a big deal among Filipinos, sadly

Like you, I have done some of my studies in the US and so I am well aware of how US teachers can be very um, uncompromising (not sure if that is the word to use) when it comes to giving credit where credit is due. Even so, there are inevitable lapses: for instance, I had a classmate who lifted entire paragraphs from various textbooks while working on a group report (he had the simplest task--writing the introduction whereas I had to do the analysis, and yet he still felt compelled to plagiarize :( )

It's sad wherever it happens, but for me it's even sadder when a prominent figure does it so shamelessly and unapologetically. It gives the impression that if such a person could plagiarize and get away with it, then there must be nothing wrong with plagiarism.

As for my so-called friend, I don't recall if I had asked him whether or not his teacher accepted the paper. I hope, however, that the teacher was astute enough to know that writing style was at least different.

Apparently, this is how Filipinos collectively think. It's out of ignorance. Most Filipinos do not see a big deal on plagiarism because Filipino students and teachers were not oriented to do so. They don't even teach essay formats (MLA, APA, etc) and how to properly cite as part of general education (maybe for those taking masters and journalism, they do).

The collective mind is rooted in the education. As I mentioned earlier, many Filipinos, those who have gotten education and those who have not, are not aware of plagiarism. Many do not see plagiarism as stealing but merely quoting and doing some research...which is not right since one really has to quote it.

And yes,m the right reasoning. Another crux rooted in the education: we do not promote reasoning.



Yes, but many people in the congress came from the University with degrees. And your second sentence proves my stand. The problem is many Unbiversities and Colleges are still apathetic to plagiarism. Not in an intentional way but rather in a ignorant way.




But then, there is not a law against Plagiarism right? Copyright violations is different from plagiarism by definition.


How can you solve a problem without differentiating the symptom? Sotto and his speechwriter is a symptom of a bigger problem. Remember Manny Pangilinan?

Now, if we don't address this through education, this will be repeat all over again.

Again, I am not saying Sotto is right. I will outright tell you he is wrong. But then, Sotto's action is all too common, even more common in the non-"public" level -- in schools, universities. A lot of schools, universities, colleges, etc do not orient teachers and students on what plagiarism is not do teachers and professors utilize everything to prevent plagiarism or try to catch those who commit plagiarism.

I rest my case. We're going in circles. But bottomline is: Sotto is a symptom of a problem especially that even businessman like Manny Pangilinan did it too but got away with it and the Filipino public has forgotten about this. Plagiarism is not much of a big deal among Filipinos, sadly



Perhaps a two-pronged approach should be considered--education plus widespread vilification of those who do commit plagiarism, particularly those who are on the top. If we simply rely on education but prominent leaders are still able to err without suffering any meaningful consequences, then doesn't that send a mixed message to the rest of us?

^^There should be repurcussions indeed. For students, failing grade on the plagiarized work. For public officials and figures, demotion. But how the Sotto issue is handled does not do anything. It's sensationalism at best. Only Santiago, I think has reacted to it but placed the blame more on his speechwriter (which I think is the case too -- reasoning out that it is OKAY to plagiarize because we
"plagiarized" the US constitution :lol:). Most reactions were merely online mob lynching. That being said, it looks like that the upperhouse do not take plagiarism as an issue.

But above that, I think Sotto and his speechwriter is a symptom of a "malady". Most Filipinos, professionals and students alike, are not aware of what plagiarism is and many do not even see it as a "bad thing".

Ze twin problems are Sotto himself as a product of a lax education system and the education system under which Sotto was mentored. Sounds like a catch22 situation, maybe or maybe not ...

We ain't exactly here to promote political dynasties. Oh puh-leeeaaze let's not fool ourselves just coz of regional sentimentalism - The Old Man Sotto as a political giant and principled Sotto is leagues and light years above and beyond what has become of his degenerate descendant whose only claim to fame is by way of the University of Eat Bulaga et al - Clown Prince Sotto. :lol:

Ze twin problems are Sotto himself as a product of a lax education system and the education system under which Sotto was mentored. Sounds like a catch22 situation, maybe or maybe not ...

We ain't exactly here to promote political dynasties. Oh puh-leeeaaze let's not fool ourselves just coz of regional sentimentalism - The Old Man Sotto as a political giant and principled Sotto is leagues and light years above and beyond what has become of his degenerate descendant whose only claim to fame is by way of the University of Eat Bulaga et al - Clown Prince Sotto. :lol:

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

He was better off hosting "Siete"..or what was his show called?

Ze twin problems are Sotto himself as a product of a lax education system and the education system under which Sotto was mentored. Sounds like a catch22 situation, maybe or maybe not ...

We ain't exactly here to promote political dynasties. Oh puh-leeeaaze let's not fool ourselves just coz of regional sentimentalism - The Old Man Sotto as a political giant and principled Sotto is leagues and light years above and beyond what has become of his degenerate descendant whose only claim to fame is by way of the University of Eat Bulaga et al - Clown Prince Sotto. :lol:

Exactly Nyor!
The Old Sotto was a badass of a Sotto, and I'm pretty sure he's squirming somewhere in his grave with what his namesake grandson is doing now.
He'd be the first to suggest that Tito Sotto be hanged, drawn and quartered.
Or is that too much? Lol.:lol:

He was so full of character, just take a look at this photo, it's tempting to make a meme with something like "What do you think you're doin', boy?", or something better. Hehe.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Vicente_Yap_Sotto_1.jpg/225px-Vicente_Yap_Sotto_1.jpg
photo from wikipedia

^^The younger Sottos must be cursed...

Then there's Vic Sotto, the womanizer :lol:

Parang gangsta naman yang older sotto na yan. Feeling humphrey bogart or al capone

Senate to expand rice smuggling quiz
Journal Online
http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/news/top-stories/37965-senate-to-expand-rice-smuggling-quiz

THE Senate is set to expand its on-going inquiry into the alleged rice smuggling in Subic Freeport to include questionable importations of palm oil and other food products that threaten to “kill” some local industries.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has proposed to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, chaired by Sen. Francis Pangilinan, conducting the probe into the alleged smuggling of Indian rice in Subic Freeport worth P500,000 to tackle other forms of smuggling in the country.

“We are conducting this investigation to really find a remedy to the incidence of smuggling in our country. There is smuggling in rice, meat, including palm oil now in our country which is killing the coconut industry and the national palm oil industry in the country,” Enrile said in a chance interview after the public hearing Wednesday.

Pangilinan accepted Enrile’s challenge to craft remedial legislation designed to overhaul of existing Bureau of Customs procedures. Enrile lamented that the smuggling has been “a continuing activity” which robs government coffers of revenues needed for development programs.

“These will be presented in due course so you can tell your people to be more watchful (to check rampant smuggling),” Enrile told Customs Chief Ruffy Biazon during the hearing.

“It is affecting our coconut farmers, rice farmers, onion farmers and, so far, also our chicken farmers and the hog industry. We need to device a remedy in order to protect our people,” he added.

Pangilinan has assured Enrile that the agriculture panel will immediately schedule public hearings to address his concern. “We support the manifestation of the Senate President. Indeed, it is critical for us to address this issue of smuggling of imported goods because it kills the local industry,” he said.

Enrile lamented that several farmers and traders were being affected by the questionable importation of palm oil. “I just met the palm oil growers in Mindanao, the local growers, and they are complaining that they are not getting any assistance from the government. They cannot compete with the importation of palm oil with this kind of pricing. They deserve the protection of the government,” he added.

The Senate chief told Biazon that the Senate is set to expand its inquiry into smuggling. “You better tell your people to be prepared. We will be subpoenaing them,” Enrile told the customs commissioner.

Santiago starts Senate probe on Puno (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/270542/santiago-starts-senate-probe-on-puno)
By Matikas Santos
INQUIRER.net
11:11 am | Friday, September 14th, 2012

MANILA, Philippines — After slamming her critics, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago started her investigation against former Interior undersecretary Rico Puno Friday by disclosing an anonymous letter detailing his alleged connections in other government agencies.

Santiago started the hearing shortly after her arrival although she took time to criticize Cabinet officials who failed to attend.

She also slammed critics who said she could not hold the hearing because there was no resolution, calling them illiterate and the “lowest creatures on the food chain”.

Before hearing started, Senator Alan Cayetano arrived.

Puno, who is facing an investigation into allegations of graft and corruption, arrived earlier.

Santiago’s committee on constitutional amendments and revisions of codes and laws will spearhed the investigation.

Also present are Philippine National Police chief Ricardo Bartolome and Archbishop Oscar Cruz.

Finally, 'cyberbullied' Sotto's awaited law signed
Rappler.com
http://www.rappler.com/nation/12473-finally,-cyberbullied-sotto-s-awaited-law

MANILA, Philippines – He claimed to have been the first cyberbullied senator of the Philippines, and wanted “professional fault-finders” punished.

“Once the Cybercrime Bill is enacted into law, they will be accountable for what they say or write,” Sotto said in an interview, referring to Internet groups that have supposedly launched a black propaganda against him for his opposition to the Reproductive Health bill.

Sotto, like other supposed cyberbullying victims, has gotten his wish.

President Benigno Aquino III has signed the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 or Republic Act 10175, the Palace announced on Saturday, September 15.

The new law doesn't explicitly ban cyberbullying, but prohibits online libel, a crime that involves defamation as defined by Article 355 or the Revised Penal Code. It also punishes any person “who willfully abets or aids” in committing this offense.

The Revised Penal Code defines libel as the “public and malicious imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status, or circumstance tending to cause the dishonor, discredit, or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead.”

In the past, parties accused of Internet libel have defended themselves by saying no law prohibits this.

Online journalist Edwin Espejo raised this point, among others, in his counter-affidavit to refute the libel suit filed by a friend of Sarangani Rep Manny Pacquiao. “It is a basic principle of criminal law that there is no crime where there is no law,” Espejo's lawyer said in April.

The Philippine libel law itself, however, has received criticism. Press freedom advocates cite a declaration by the United Nations Human Rights Committee urging the decriminalization of libel.

“The possibility of being arrested and imprisoned even before conviction for libel has been used to silence critical journalists. Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s husband Jose Miguel Arroyo, for example, filed 11 libel suits against 46 journalists starting in 2006 in an attempt to stop press reporting on and criticism of his wife,” the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists explained in a statement.

Cybersex banned, too

Meanwhile, the new Cybercrime Law bans other cybercrimes, such as the following:

Cybersex, or “the willful engagement, maintenance, control, or operation, directly or indirectly, of any lascivious exhibition of sexual organs or sexual activity, with the aid of a computer system, for favor or consideration:

Child pornography, as defined in the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009

Illegal access, or “access to the whole or any part of a computer system without right”

Identity theft

Password theft

Cybersquatting, or “the acquisition of a domain name over the internet, in bad faith to profit, mislead, destroy reputation, and deprive others from registering the same, subject to certain conditions

Computer-related forgery

Penalties include imprisonment and fines ranging from P50,000 to P1-M, depending on the offense.

Parang gangsta naman yang older sotto na yan. Feeling humphrey bogart or al capone

Sabihin mo siguro. Si Humphrey at si Al ay feeling Vicente Sotto kasi mas nauna siya ng more than 2 decades sa dalawa. Hehe.

Finally, 'cyberbullied' Sotto's awaited law signed
Rappler.com
http://www.rappler.com/nation/12473-finally,-cyberbullied-sotto-s-awaited-law

MANILA, Philippines – He claimed to have been the first cyberbullied senator of the Philippines, and wanted “professional fault-finders” punished.

“Once the Cybercrime Bill is enacted into law, they will be accountable for what they say or write,” Sotto said in an interview, referring to Internet groups that have supposedly launched a black propaganda against him for his opposition to the Reproductive Health bill.

Sotto, like other supposed cyberbullying victims, has gotten his wish.

President Benigno Aquino III has signed the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 or Republic Act 10175, the Palace announced on Saturday, September 15.

The new law doesn't explicitly ban cyberbullying, but prohibits online libel, a crime that involves defamation as defined by Article 355 or the Revised Penal Code. It also punishes any person “who willfully abets or aids” in committing this offense.

The Revised Penal Code defines libel as the “public and malicious imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status, or circumstance tending to cause the dishonor, discredit, or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead.”

In the past, parties accused of Internet libel have defended themselves by saying no law prohibits this.

Online journalist Edwin Espejo raised this point, among others, in his counter-affidavit to refute the libel suit filed by a friend of Sarangani Rep Manny Pacquiao. “It is a basic principle of criminal law that there is no crime where there is no law,” Espejo's lawyer said in April.

The Philippine libel law itself, however, has received criticism. Press freedom advocates cite a declaration by the United Nations Human Rights Committee urging the decriminalization of libel.

“The possibility of being arrested and imprisoned even before conviction for libel has been used to silence critical journalists. Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s husband Jose Miguel Arroyo, for example, filed 11 libel suits against 46 journalists starting in 2006 in an attempt to stop press reporting on and criticism of his wife,” the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists explained in a statement.

Cybersex banned, too

Meanwhile, the new Cybercrime Law bans other cybercrimes, such as the following:

Cybersex, or “the willful engagement, maintenance, control, or operation, directly or indirectly, of any lascivious exhibition of sexual organs or sexual activity, with the aid of a computer system, for favor or consideration:

Child pornography, as defined in the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009

Illegal access, or “access to the whole or any part of a computer system without right”

Identity theft

Password theft

Cybersquatting, or “the acquisition of a domain name over the internet, in bad faith to profit, mislead, destroy reputation, and deprive others from registering the same, subject to certain conditions

Computer-related forgery

Penalties include imprisonment and fines ranging from P50,000 to P1-M, depending on the offense.

While I believe Sotto and his speechwriter are a symptom of a bigger problem on education about plagiarism, passing a cyberbullying law is nothing but an infringement of freedom of speech!

Aquino not pushing hard enough for RH bill out of fear of Church–Santiago
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/271304/aquino-not-pushing-hard-enough-for-rh-bill-out-of-fear-of-church-santiago

MANILA, Philippines – A day after finishing a Senate inquiry into resigned Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno’s alleged anomalous authority as an undersecretary in charge of the PNP, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago appeared to have moved on by returning to her advocacy of the RH bill.

President Benigno Aquino III is not pushing for the passage of the reproductive health bill as much as he pressed for the removal of former Chief Justice Renato Corona and for the synchronization of the elections in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao with next year’s mid-term national elections, according to her.

Senator Santiago, one of the authors of the RH bill in the Senate, said Aquino would not want to cross swords with the Catholic hierarchy and was, thus, opting for a low-key discussion of the maternal health and population management measure in Congress. The bill has been languishing in the legislative mill for 11 years now.

“Naturally, the President is a politician so he knows that there might develop a crisis between state and religion or there might develop a chill in the relationship between Malacañang and the Catholic clergy,” Santiago told reporters after speaking on Saturday before the Catholics for RH group in Quezon City.

“So although the President is in favor of the RH he wants a low-key, not an intensely, verbally violent debate. That is the reason why the President is not really pushing it among the members of his coalition in the Senate,” she added.


Lacson optimistic on RH bill vote this year
PhilStar
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=849697&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Panfilo Lacson remains optimistic that the Senate can vote on the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill before Congress goes into Christmas break.

“This will move forward at the Senate. Inevitably, we will have to vote on this,” Lacson said in a radio interview.

He noted that Sen. Pia Cayetano’s committee on health and demography has been kind enough to accommodate the questions – which some describe as delaying tactics – by those who are against the measure at the chamber.

He said he expects Cayetano to put an end to the interpellation.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who is also for the passage of the controversial measure, noted that those who have been delaying the passage of the RH bill fear the wrath of the Catholic Church.

She is hopeful that the Senate will wrap up its period of interpellation since the lawmakers will be busy with plenary deliberations on the 2013 budget.

She noted that Congress will also have a long break sometime in February to pave way for the election campaign for the May elections next year.

“It’s possible that because of their delaying tactics there will be no third reading or voting on the RH bill. It’s been more than 10 years that the bill is delayed because those who are against it are afraid,” Santiago said, adding that those who oppose the measure do not want to have a vote.

She said that as proponents of the measure, she and Cayetano can challenge their colleagues to vote for the measure so that they will know whether it would hurdle the plenary debates or not.

House drops probe on Rico E. Puno
By Christian V. Esguerra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/271428/house-drops-probe-on-rico-e-puno

After emerging unscathed from a Senate grilling, resigned Interior Undersecretary Rico E. Puno is escaping questioning in a House inquiry into an allegedly irregular police firearms deal.

The reason? The proponents of the House investigation do not want to duplicate the Senate inquiry, which failed to pin down Puno in an alleged cover-up of irregularities in auctions for new firearms for the Philippine National Police and the proliferation of the illegal numbers game jueteng on his watch as interior undersecretary for public order and safety.

Expecting Puno to just reprise his cool performance in the Senate inquiry on Friday, the House committee on public order and safety has decided to drop its own investigation into the police firearms program.

Puno resigned on Monday amid suspicions that he tried to remove papers on the investigation into those irregularities from the offices and apartment of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo a day after the home affairs chief’s plane crashed in Masbate on Aug. 18.

President Benigno Aquino III accepted his resignation. He faced the Senate investigation on Friday, denying all the allegations that made him unpopular since taking office at the Department of the Interior and Local Government in 2010.

“The House investigation on the procurement of firearms will no longer push through,” Rep. Angelo Palmones of the Agham party-list told the Inquirer by phone Friday night.

No longer necessary

Palmones said he reviewed the proceedings at Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s committee on constitutional amendments and revision of laws, and was convinced there was no longer a “necessity for the House to continue the probe.”

Cebu Rep. Pablo John Garcia, the House committee chair, was “satisfied with what was discussed earlier in the Senate,” Palmones said.

“It was heard entirely by the Filipino people so what’s left for us to investigate?” he quoted Garcia as telling him and Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop.

Palmones and Acop filed a joint resolution on Wednesday asking the House to look into the PNP’s procurement of nearly 60,000 Glock 17 Generation 4 pistols worth P1 billion.

Overpriced M4s

Malacañang had cleared the purchase of the Glock 17 9mm semiautomatic pistols, but raised questions about the purchase of M4 carbines for the PNP.

The M4 is a shorter version of the battlefield rifle M16 designed for close-quarters combat. The military version is made by Colt’s Manufacturing Co. of Hartford, Connecticut, in the United States, while the civilian version, available for sale to police forces, is made by Bushmaster International of Madison, North Carolina, United States.

As it is intended for police use, the M4 being considered by the PNP should be the civilian M4 carbine made by Bushmaster, which is priced lower than the military M4 made by Colt’s.

In a talk with reporters during a break in the 20th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders’ summit in Vladivostok, Russia, on Sept. 8, Mr. Aquino said he had been surfing the Internet and learned that the M4 was going for as low as $800, or about P32,000. But the M4s chosen by the PNP under Puno’s guidance cost P80,000 apiece, more than double the carbine’s actual price.

Jericho adventure

A losing bidder had questioned the PNP’s decision to go with the Glock 17, claiming the Austrian-made Glock, in service in 63 percent of police departments in the United States, overheats after firing 5,000 rounds.

But President Aquino, who knows guns, shot down the losing bidder’s argument, saying any pistol would overheat after firing so many rounds. Satisfied with the terms of the Glock deal, the Palace approved the contract.

The losing bidder had offered the Jericho 941, a 9mm semiautomatic pistol made by Israel Weapons International (IWI) and designed as a shorter version of the .50 caliber Desert Eagle semiautomatic pistol made by Israel Military Industry. The losing bidder claimed that Puno visited IWI’s factory before the auction for the pistol contract.

In his testimony in the Senate on Friday, Puno confirmed that he traveled to Israel, but did not say when he took the trip. He said he was on vacation at the time, it was a private trip, and he denied visiting the IWI factory.

Interference

Santiago nevertheless criticized Puno for interfering in the procurement process even if he sat on the PNP’s bids and awards committee only as an “observer.”

She described Puno as so powerful he could gather all the bidders in just one meeting.

Puno defended himself against insinuations of influencing the auction. He said he called all the proponents “because we wanted the best types of firearms.”

Santiago’s committee closed its inquiry empty-handed. But Santiago said she was not convinced of Puno’s defense, especially in the proliferation of jueteng on his watch, leaving Puno still under a cloud though not facing the prospect of prosecution.

Waste of time

Expecting to run into the same frustration, Palmones and Acop decided not to waste time on Puno.

Palmones said he would not file another resolution for an investigation into the M4 deal, which had been halted anyway.

Garcia confirmed that his committee would no longer proceed with the investigation of Puno, but said it was because Palmones and Acop felt that a probe would only duplicate the Senate inquiry.

“I spoke with him (Palmones) as well and he said he and Congressman Acop talked and it was their feeling that the questions they wanted to ask had been answered in the Senate, and that a probe in the House would be a duplication,” Garcia said in a text message.

“So since the proponents are satisfied that a probe is no longer necessary, the committee, I think, would defer to their judgment.”

Wonder why Miriam didn't invite this Romulo Maningding fella to testify in the Puno-Gate probe especially in regards to the said PNP "Glock" purchase anomaly? Thought they were trying to get to the bottom of this? Panay grandstanding kasi ang inatupag. Looks like the Puno-Gate probe was all for naught. another opportunity wasted. Tsk tsk tsk... :ohno: :ohno: :ohno:

No Congress probe, Puno seen to be off hook
Manila Standard
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2012/09/17/with-no-congress-probe-puno-seen-to-be-off-hook/

The losing bidders in a contested P1-billion government gun contract on Sunday expressed dismay that resigned Interior undersecretary Rico Puno and top police officials would escape liability after they learned that Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago would dig no deeper into the controversy.

On Friday, Santiago held what she said was her first and last hearing on the issue because “nincompoops” in Malacanang refused to cooperate.

Four Cabinet members who were invited to the hearing stayed away on the orders of President Benigno Aquino III.

“I am not on speaking terms with the Palace,” Santiago said on Sunday. “How can I make recommendations when they did not even allow the Cabinet officials to show up? They are ignoring my invitation, how much more my findings and recommendations?”

She said she would not even bother to make a recommendation regarding Puno’s intervention in the Philippine National Police bidding process, but vowed to look into a revision of the law governing the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

Bidders, meanwhile, urged Congress to amend the Government Procurement Act, which they said made it difficult for them to act on any anomalies that are uncovered.

Former police colonel Romulo Maningding of Roferma Enterprises, who said he passed the pass-fail requirement of the PNP’s bids and awards committee but whose bid envelope was not opened, said the police made it very difficult and expensive for the bidders to file a protest.

“How would this government expect us to file a protest when the one who issued the notice of award to Trust Trade is the same person who would approve the P1-billion contract and would receive our protest?” Maningding said. “Will he even bother to look at our protest and reverse his decision?”

Maningding was referring to PNP Director General Nicanor Bartolome, who signed the “midnight deal” on Aug.31, the same day that Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II announced Puno’s reassignment.

Maningding said under the law, bidders who wanted to contest Puno and Bartolome’s decision would have to file a protest bond of 12 million, representing 1 percent of the approved budget of contract of P1.198 billion.

“Who would dare file a protest when we saw how Puno and Bartolome distorted and twisted the rules to favor Trust Trade and shell out P12 million that is not refundable?” Maningding said.

“Puno, in meeting the bidders on July 5, drastically changed the rules and scrapped the pass-fail requirement on documents because Trust Trade had failed in that category,” he said.

He added that Puno and police officials were strict on other bidders, but “relaxed the rules in favor of Trust Trade.”

He also complained that Puno did not even follow his own rules to gauge the bids with actual gun tests, because only Trust Trade’s guns were tested.

During the Friday hearing, Santiago questioned Puno’s role as “observer” in the bids and awards committee after he admitted having called a conference with the bidders “to expedite the process and for the sake of transparency.”

“How can you possibly intervene when you are a mere observer? Don’t you understand what observer means? Don’t you understand English?” she chided Puno.

But Puno said he was merely helping ensure transparency in the meeting with the bidders, and that he had no vote in the award committee.

“You may just be an observer without a voting power but whatever you say obviously became policy that the PNP heeded,” Santiago said.

Bartolome has up to Sept. 25 to approve the P1-billion Glock contract.

With Santiago’s hearing over, the House will no longer conduct hearings.

Antipolo City Rep. Reynaldo Acop, who filed a resolution calling for a probe on the Glock pistol deal, said House leaders have stopped all committee hearings to make way for budget debates.

Acop said by the time the lawmakers return from the Sept. 21 break, the police chief will have already made his decision.

Maningding urged Roxas to intervene and review the Glock deal in view of the powers that the President gave him when he named him to replace the late Jesse Robredo in the department.

“We want to ask, is Chief PNP Bartolome authorized to sign a P1-billion contract? It should be Secretary Roxas or the President who should sign such a huge contract. The PNP chief is only allowed to sign a contract amounting to up to P50 million only,” Maningding said.

Maningding also added Puno had disqualified his company even though he was able to comply with all the documentary requirements, but qualified Trust Trade who has admitted that its partner, Glock Asia Pacific, actually submitted documents from its mother company to prove its own track record, even though the parent firm was not a partner in the venture or a bidder for the contract.

He urged Roxas to declare a failure in bidding, because if his bid had been opened, they would have seen that his company had made the lowest bid of P14,200 for each pistol, versus Trust Trade’s P16,659.94.

Loren, Chiz top Pulse Asia survey (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=849903&publicationSubCategoryId=63)
By Dennis Carcamo (The Philippine Star) Updated September 17, 2012 01:36 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Reelectionist senators Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero still top senatorial candidates in the midterm elections in 2013, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.

Based on the survey, conducted from August 31 to September 7, Legarda and Escudero still lead the list of senatorial candidates.

Also in the top 10 list are Alan Peter Cayetano, Antonio Trillanes IV, Gregorio Honasan and Aquilino Pimentel III.

Former senators Miguel Zubiri, Richard Gordon, Jun Magsaysay and Jamby Madrigal and Aurora Rep. Sonny Angara, former Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar, and Nancy Binay, Vice President Jejomar Binay's daughter, entered the top 15 senatorial bets.

Those in the top 20 senatorial candidates are San Juan Rep. JV Ejercito, Cagayan Valley Rep. Jack Enrile , Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, ex-Akbayan partylist Rep. Risa Hontiveros, Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, Movie and Television Review and Classification Board chairperson Grace Poe-Llamanzares and journalist Mon Tulfo.

Legarda had run for vice president in 2010 but lost to Binay. Escudero, on the other hand, is said to be aspiring for a higher electoral post in 2016. Escudero had campaigned for Binay in 2010.

Cayetano, Trillanes, Honasan and Pimentel are incumbent senators.

In June, Legarda and Escudero also topped Pulse Asia's senatorial survey.

Tahan na Miriam. It's not becoming of a person of your stature. This is not how a Senator should behave. This is just petty and stupid. Better to just keep quiet na lang if you have nothing better to say. My opinion only of course. :ohno: :ohno: :ohno:

Tit for tat: Miriam snubbing Senate session
Rappler.com
http://www.rappler.com/nation/12552-tit-for-tat-miriam-snubbing-senate-session

MANILA, Philippines – A snub for a snub.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago is not yet done protesting what she called a boycott of her probe on resigned Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno.

In a media statement, Santiago announced that she will be absent from the Senate this week to show that she resents Malacañang and some senators for snubbing her committee hearing last Friday, September 14.

“Tit for tat. If they snub my hearing, I will snub their session,” she said.

Santiago is protesting the absence of 9 senators who are members of her Committee on Constitutional Amendments, Revision of Codes and Laws. Some of the members said they had a prior engagement but Santiago claims there was a conspiracy between the lawmakers and Malacañang to snub her probe.

The committee chairperson is also upset about the absence of Cabinet Secretaries from her hearing.

Santiago said though she might go to the Senate on Wednesday, September 19, if only to oppose the confirmation of incoming Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II. Roxas was among those absent in her hearing.

The Commission on Appointments (CA) is set to take up Roxas’ confirmation on Wednesday.

“If a Cabinet member who snubs my hearing is presented for confirmation this Wednesday, I will attend the confirmation hearing to cast a veto, to fulfill my promise that I shall veto all Cabinet members who were invited but snubbed me,” Santiago said.

The other secretaries who were absent are Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje.

Roxas' appointment needs to be confirmed by the CA before he can finally assume his new post at the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

Reacting to Santiago's announcement, Sen Vicente Sotto III, chair of the CA committee on local government, said: "Yes I will proceed with Mar's [Roxas'] committee hearing and plenary recommendation for approval. If she [Santiago] invokes Section 20, which is the prerogative of any CA member, then let the cards fall where they will... On my part, I will do my job according to what I know is good for the people not because it pleases or displeases me."

Section 20 of the CA rules allows a member of the commission to move for the suspension of any nomination or appointment already recommended for approval by a committee in the CA.

‘Reading from the same playbook’

In her statement, Santiago said the "conspiracy" between the senators and the Palace is obvious in the same arguments they used to question her investigation.

She said Ochoa, through his letter to her committee, and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen Panfilo Lacson all raised the lack of a Senate resolution as a procedural flaw in the probe.

The senator said this was a sign that the senators and Malacañang were “reading from the same playbook.”

“I have already pointed out, for their education, that several provisions in the Senate Rules concerning inquiries in aid of legislation strongly imply that there is no need for a formal resolution, if the committee has competent jurisdiction,” Santiago said.

Santiago added that her committee has jurisdiction over the revision of laws and in this case, the Administrative Code was in question.

She said the law was ignored in Puno’s appointment because there was a need for the Interior Secretary to recommend Puno prior to his appointment.

Santiago again objected to Ochoa’s letter that she should have first sent the Palace a list of questions for the Cabinet Secretaries.

“My opponents appear to be intellectually challenged. The requirement for prior submission of questions applies only to the Question Hour under the Constitution. It does not apply to committee hearings.”

Cz8oUJlFIdY&feature=player_embedded#!

Osmeña wants Arroyo bridge plan probed
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/272538/osmena-wants-arroyo-bridge-plan-probed

Senator Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III is asking the Senate blue ribbon committee to investigate the P111-billion President’s Bridge Program implemented during the term of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In a privilege speech, Osmeña said that irregularities stemming from the program could qualify it as “the grandmother of all scams” under the Arroyo administration.

Osmeña said the ZTE-NBN telecommunications deal that was investigated during that administration only cost P13.7 billion, while the NorthRail contract that was also questioned then only amounted to P21 billion.

He said the P111 billion was the total amount of 14 bridge contracts that were misrepresented “as having been funded through Official Development Assistance (ODA) concessional financing from such countries as the United Kingdom and France.”

“These P111-billion serial scams are eight times the ZTE contract and five times the NorthRail contract… This is the grandmother of all scams,” he added.

Five gov’t agencies

Aside from Arroyo, Osmeña said that “key officials from at least five government agencies” formulated a “highly complex scheme” that raised the prices of the bridges way beyond what was on the market.

The senator said Arroyo “misrepresented” the bridge program by tagging it as an ODA project. This allowed her to justify the decision to forego a public bidding, he said.

“She even issued two executive orders which overrode the provisions of the Government Procurement Act and other laws which mandate a public bidding even for ODA-funded projects,” Osmeña said.

“Mrs. Arroyo must explain to the Filipino people these very anomalous series of contracts that they forged with foreign companies. She and her cohorts could be held liable for plunder because this involves P111 billion in people’s money,” he said.

Under the law, plunder involves irregularities in government projects or transactions valued at P50 million or more. It is a nonbailable offense.

Osmeña said the actual cost of the projects was jacked up between 16 to 21 percent.

“That amounts to roughly P20 billion which could have built all the classrooms that Filipino children have been needing so badly,” the he noted.

A Stand Against Epal Politicians (http://mb.com.ph/articles/373668/a-stand-against-epal-politicians)
Numbers Don't Lie
By ANDREW JAMES MASIGAN
September 16, 2012, 5:03pm

MANILA, Philippines — Millions of taxpaying citizens are now speaking up against self-promoting public officials who take undue credit for projects built with public funds. To the locals, they are called “Epals”.

Epals are opportunists of the most insidious kind. They are politicos who plaster their names on newly built roads, bus shelters or basketball courts to ingratiate themselves to the voting public. They are the characters who inscribe their initials on public structures, insinuating that such were built using their own funds. They are the types who name public schools after themselves or their ancestors and display hideous banners of themselves in every town fiesta, baptism and funeral.

These “public servants” expect to be credited for work they voluntarily run for office to do. They deceive the public by diminishing the role of the national government (from whom funds originate from) to amplify their own. They perpetuate crass behavior unbecoming of a public servant, one that sends a signal to the youth that it is all right to be shameless in the political field. Above all, they circumvent the law by waging a campaign way ahead of the Comelec’s mandated campaign period.

In my eyes and in the eyes of millions, epals are despicable and represent all that is bad about Filipino politicians. Their ways are precisely the reason why politicos have very little credibility as lawmakers and are poor examples of what a responsible, decent citizen should be.

For decades, the public had no recourse but to swallow the brazen abuses of epals simply because no forum existed for them to voice out their discontent. Civil society’s silence was misconstrued as a stamp of approval, and so the epals went about their ways unabated.

But thanks to social media, regular folk now have a platform to express their disapproval. On Facebook and on Twitter, both with more than 30 million Filipino subscribers, the public’s resentment of epals is unraveling (and spreading) like wildfire.

A new Facebook group called “Anti-Epal” was created by Vincent Lazatin and Betty Romero last May. In just three months, the group generated more than 23,000 followers and is increasing by almost a thousand a day. It has spawned 102 similar groups (per my last count) in provinces like Laguna, Cavite, Pangasinan, Cebu, Romblon, Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte, with new ones from various provinces joining the fold everyday. On Twitter, Noemi Lardizabal-Dado has initiated the hashtag #epalwatch, a public forum that encourages discussions on issues relating to unethical self-promotion. Since the discussion thread started, thousands have joined in on the discussion, with most expressing their long-repressed disgust.

The scale of public involvement is indicative of how the issue has festered in the minds and hearts of the Filipino. Scroll through the many anti-Epal pages on Facebook and you’ll get an idea of the scale of public involvement.

Two Sundays ago, social activist Carlos Celdran and Mae Paner (a.k.a. Juana Change), along with Lazatin and Romero, staged an Anti-Epal Protest in Quezon City, a place they christened “The Epal Capital of the World.” (The city was named after Manual L. Quezon, even while he was still alive! The tradition of epalism thrives in this poor city, with its mayors, congressmen and counselors, past and present, clogging its streets with brazen self-promotion).

The Celdran-Paner initiative aims to tell politicians that epalism is not acceptable and that civil society is taking a firm stand against it. That they, along with millions of other concerned citizens, will not hesitate to publicly shame abusive public officials if that’s what it takes to reclaim our cities back from them.

The initiative must have worked as witnesses saw a group, presumably from city hall, painting over floor tiles bearing the initials “HB” or Herbert Bautista. Others observed numerous epal banners brought down in the Kamuning area. Still, thousands of epal collaterals remain. We hear that Councilor Vincent Belmonte was given the mock-award of Epal King for the sheer number of barangay pylons bearing his name still standing belligerently. Councilors Winnie Castelo and Dante De Guzman were close runner-ups.

Lazatin, Dado, Celdran and Paner deserve our salute for taking responsibility and having the guts to demand for delicadeza in the political arena. We should all follow their lead.

Clearly, a wave of change has begun. For the many politicos that are too dense to care, let me spell it out again…The public rejects Epals and Epalism will not hesitate to publicly shame offenders until the legislature passes a law that bans it altogether.

Senate Bill 1967

Senator Miriam Santiago has sponsored a bill in the upper house entitled “An Act Prohibiting Public Officers from Claiming Credit through Signages Announcing a Public Works Project,” better known as the “Anti-Epal Bill.”

The bill stresses, among others, that “public office is public trust. Public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility and integrity…” Hence, the bill seeks to prohibit politicians from plastering their names and faces on public works projects like roads and bridges, which were funded by the government. Further hearings in the Senate also extended the ban to apply to police cars, ambulances and fire trucks.

Senate Bill 1967 provides a jail term of between six months to one year for the offender. Senator Santiago justifies her bill by saying that grabbing undue credit for a project funded by government “fosters a culture of political patronage and corruption. It diminishes the importance that the public needs to place on supporting government officials, not because of their popularity, but because of their essential role in policy determination, whether on the local or national level. It also diminishes the concept of continuity in good governance in the mind of the public.”

The bill is moving along in the upper house with more refinements being imputed to it, not the least of which is providing protective measures for local law enforcers who may have to face the ire of kingpins in their district.

Unfortunately, the bill is not progressing in the lower house at all. No surprise. The lower house is the cradle of the biggest epals in the land, starting with the speaker himself.

We, the public, must compel Congress to act on the Anti-Epal Bill through the various social media channels available to us.

But until such time that the legislature provides us with a law that bans epalism, we must continue to expose and publicly shame epals because at the end of the day, what they are doing is downright immoral, unethical, indecent and not reflective of Filipino values.

Quezon City: Tarpaulin and Epal Capital of the Philippines

Osmeña wants Arroyo bridge plan probed
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/272538/osmena-wants-arroyo-bridge-plan-probed



Dude...isn't this a repost of the same article? I also posted another article with more details of this "bridge" program. As for the bridge to nowhere that's an old news, I pointed out, that even GMA knew about (as reported in the news). What's the point here? How about scrutinizing the history of this bridge program, bring to light any deviations or anomalies, then we'll have something look at and talk about. I've read about this bridge program a long time ago, reminded of it, when I actually went over some of these bridges. Osmeña says 14 contracts under the bridge program, were all these signed during Arroyo's time? If you didn't happen to read the Philstar article I posted here earlier, the bridge program goes all the way back to Ramos, the bilateral agreement signed by Mr. Gingona. Is Mr. Osmeña specifically referring to the ones signed by Arroyo or the whole program? It makes a hell of a lot of difference in the discussions.

Senate wants Arroyo to attend bridges probe
ABS CBN
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/anc/09/18/12/senate-wants-arroyo-attend-bridges-probe

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will begin its probe next Monday on the allegedly overpriced bridge program under the Arroyo administration. Blue Ribbon Committee chairman TG Guingona says they may invite former President, and now Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the hearing. However, Guingona says the Senate cannot compel her to attend out of interparliamentary courtesy.

Jbzlt8j0tc0&feature=player_embedded

Miriam 'vetoes' Mar confirmation (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=850412&publicationSubCategoryId=63)
By Marvin Sy (The Philippine Star) Updated September 19, 2012 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago has formally informed the Commission on Appointments (CA) that she will veto the confirmation of newly appointed Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II at its plenary session today.

Once Santiago invokes Section 20 of the rules of the CA, President Aquino will have no choice but to issue an ad interim appointment for Roxas when Congress goes on break between Sept. 22 to Oct. 7.

The Section 20 rule of the CA allows any of its members to veto the confirmation of an appointee in plenary without any debate.

It is only during the last meeting of the CA before Congress adjourns sine die that Section 20 cannot be invoked.

Roxas cannot assume as secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) until he secures confirmation of his nomination from the CA.

Under the law, when the President issues an appointment while Congress is in session, the nominee is not allowed to assume the post until the CA gives its confirmation.

However, if the ad interim appointment is issued when Congress is not in session, the nominee is allowed to assume his post immediately.

In a letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, who serves as chairman of the committee on local government of the CA, Santiago said that she intends “to veto the confirmation of Sec. Manuel A. Roxas II.”

“I consider Sec. Roxas, against whom I have nothing personal, as more than qualified in honesty, competence and efficiency,” Santiago said in her letter.

However, Santiago noted that she already made an announcement about her plan to oppose the confirmation of any Cabinet member “whom I invited to the Rico Puno hearing, held on Sept. 14 but who all declined to appear.”

“In so doing, I wish to stand by the principle of checks and balances between the executive and the legislative branches of government. This applies to all the Cabinet members concerned,” Santiago said.

Aside from Roxas, the other Cabinet members invited by Santiago to her hearing were Environment Secretary Ramon Paje Jr. and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

The CA had not yet confirmed Paje and De Lima.

Santiago had threatened to veto the appointments of Roxas, de Lima and Paje if they did not attend last Friday’s Senate hearing regarding the powers given to presidential friend and former Department of Interior and Local Government undersecretary Rico Puno.

Santiago is chair of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, revision of codes and laws.

Sotto said that he and the other members of the CA could not do anything if Santiago vetoes Roxas’ confirmation today.

However, he said that he personally does not agree with the basis of Santiago for doing that to Roxas.

Sotto said that the veto is usually based on questions about the qualifications of the nominee.

“But not because he failed to attend the hearing (of Santiago). He was not even DILG secretary at the time,” Sotto said in Filipino.

“He has never faced any problems in his previous confirmation hearings. His papers are in order and his record speaks for itself,” he added.

Sotto said that there is also the “parliamentary courtesy” that the CA traditionally observes for former members of Congress who undergo confirmation hearings.

This so-called parliamentary courtesy comes in the form of a speedy confirmation process.

“This is a tradition of the CA so why is this happening? There can be other actions that Senator Santiago may take that will not jeopardize the confirmation of a nominee who enjoys and should enjoy parliamentary courtesy,” Sotto said.

He said that Santiago could just call Roxas to a future hearing or deliver a privilege speech addressing her concerns about the secretary.

Paje admitted that the move of Santiago is “a little bit unfortunate” but he has no choice but to abide by the rules of the CA.

He explained that his failure to attend the hearing of Santiago’s committee last Friday was not intentional and in fact, he tried to manage his appointments for that day just to accommodate the senator.

However, Paje pointed out that there was an executive decision, referring to the directive of Malacañang to the three Cabinet secretaries in relation to Santiago’s hearing last Friday.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., who was also invited to the hearing, told Santiago in a letter that the President “would like to defer the attendance of the members of the Cabinet at the committee hearing pending such time as the processes and requirements required of all of us by the Constitution are fulfilled.”

Ochoa said that he was not able to secure the requisite referral by the Senate plenary to Santiago’s committee for the hearing.

He said that Santiago’s committee has not furnished him a list of the committee’s questions to guide the invited resources persons.

A Malacañang official said the administration would not go out of its way to persuade Santiago to go slow in opposing the confirmation of Roxas.

Quoting Roxas, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said it is the prerogative of Santiago – Roxas’ former colleague in the Senate – if she decides to block his appointment, and that there is nothing they can do about it.

“We spoke to Secretary Roxas about it and what the secretary did say is that it is the prerogative of Sen. Santiago if she will push through with that intention,” she said, adding there are no plans to convince her to accommodate Roxas.

“I don’t believe there are plans to do that (talk to Santiago). I can be wrong, but I don’t believe that there are plans to do that,” Valte reiterated.

Valte said that one of President Aquino’s marching orders to Roxas – similar to the directive to the late DILG secretary Jesse Robredo when he assumed office in July 2010 – was to dismantle the private armies of politicians.

Valte cited Executive Order 564 that former president Arroyo signed in 2002 that ordered the dismantling of private armed groups (PAGs) of local government officials or politicians.

The DILG, under Robredo, have so far succeeded on this front, as records have shown that the government has already disbanded more than half of the number of PAGs nationwide.

As to Roxas’ confirmation, the executive department maintains that the national interest should prevail, especially since DILG is a huge government agency that deals with the delivery of basic services to the public.

“We know also that the senator (Santiago) recognizes the national interest, that DILG is a very sensitive department. Marami iyang mga trabahong pinapalakad (They are doing a lot of things) and we hope that the position will be filled (up) at the soonest possible time,” Valte said.

Most senators, led by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, assured Roxas of fair hearing and downplayed the threats of Santiago to veto the appointments of Roxas, De Lima and Paje.

Quezon City: Tarpaulin and Epal Capital of the Philippines

It is now that our citizens are taking notice and with anti-epal groups, the message sent to these politicians that it's not cool to see their faces on various projects, etc.

Totoo bang bistek ville ang tawag daw dun sa housing sa payatas?

Yun ang epal

Ay buti naman at natauhan din si Sen. Miriam. :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

Miriam backs off; CA OKs appointment of Mar as DOTC chief
GMA News
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/274694/news/nation/miriam-backs-off-ca-oks-appointment-of-mar-as-dotc-chief?ref=related_stories

The Commission on Appointments (CA) on Wednesday approved the appointment of Mar Roxas as secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) after Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago withdrew her motion to block his nomination.

Santiago earlier vowed to block the confirmation of Cabinet members who snubbed the hearing she initiated against resigned Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno last Friday.

The Cabinet officials who were invited to the hearing but did not show up include Roxas, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Environment Sec. Ramon Paje and Justice Sec. Leila de Lima.

Both Paje and De Lima have yet to be confirmed by the bicameral body.

Trillanes, Enrile clash over China talks

dnFjfH9Oxl8

^^ Abangan ang susunod na kabanata.

This IMO is a bigger issue than Sinotto.

Trillanes: benta, traydor, tuta at bayaran ng China, t@rantado

:naughty:

^^

Bawal mag mura.

But I agree, traydor ito sa Trillanes, may pa walk out walk out pa, but it was inevitable that the minutes of the meeting was gonna be revealed, as if the walk out would stop that.

Honestly I don't mind if people cuss as long as it's used as an expression and not towards another forumer.

is tarantado classified as mura? it means fooling/stupid.

trillianes should be put to jail/death due to treason. kaya pala hindi na nakabalik ang mga barko natin sa shoal.

Just who are ze people who voted for this Trillanes into office? They should get their heads examined or better yet, lobotomized sheeesh.

By what virtues and on what merits did Trillanes gain the credentials to land into that office, aver? With his right hand he merely puts on the name Magdalo and calls himself a "Reformist", then with his left hand he stages a series of coup d'etats resulting in the near destruction of the Makati Central Business District. Iz zat all that idiotic clown of a senator has got to show for? A dazzling display of military firepower within the Makati CBD gives him enough starpower to land a job as senator? Seriously, the electorate who handed him that job on a silver, nay not even silver, but golden platter really needs to be lobotomized.

By his actions he is now a Beijing stool pigeon and is willing to achieve this vague version of "Peace" of his. A peace at all cost, no matter how inimical it is to the interests of our Republic.

Pinakagusto ko sa interview nya today ay when Tita Mel Tiangco asked him point blank if he cursed Amb. Brady at nagsabi ng kung anu-anu na nega based from the noted of the Ambassador, sabay epal at sinabing "STATE SECRETS" daw yung nireveal ni Manong, ni hindi sinagot kung totoo o hindi. :lol:

"STATE SECRETS" daw yung nireveal ni Manong, ni hindi sinagot kung totoo o hindi. :lol:Meaning, STATE SECRETS of the People's Republic of China ~ A White Paper on Espionage and Double Agents with Agent Trillanes on the dock? Crass arrogance from a conceited traitor who was never worthy of being a senator to begin with.

sobrang effective kasi na punching bag si Gloria para manalo sa elections, tanong nyo pa si Trillanes at "kahon kahon ang ebidins" Cayetano.

sana naman matauhan at matuto na ang mga tao sa next elections. :ohno:

Pinakagusto ko sa interview nya today ay when Tita Mel Tiangco asked him point blank if he cursed Amb. Brady at nagsabi ng kung anu-anu na nega based from the noted of the Ambassador, sabay epal at sinabing "STATE SECRETS" daw yung nireveal ni Manong, ni hindi sinagot kung totoo o hindi. :lol:

Minura niya? What an a-hole. Sagutin na niya tutal na reveal na rin naman e... na traydor sha.

Once a traitor, always a traitor. Diba nasabihan na yan si Trillanes dati na "sleeping with the enemy(NPA).

Sen. Trillanes accuses DFA's del Rosario of treason over China row
GMA News
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/274753/news/nation/sen-trillanes-accuses-dfa-s-del-rosario-of-treason-over-china

The Philippine government on Wednesday admitted that a politician who was once jailed for coup plotting had been in secret talks with China over a territorial row, as the tactic appeared to backfire amid bitter infighting.

Senator Antonio Trillanes had been "authorized" to hold back-channel talks with Chinese officials to settle a row over competing claims to Panatag Shoal, known internationally as Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, a spokesman for President Benigno Aquino III said.

However the appointment caused a deep rift with Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, who had been officially in charge of negotiations with China and was excluded from the unofficial talks.

Trillanes claimed it was he who was responsible for easing tensions with China after the dispute erupted in April, and accused del Rosario of "treason" because of his allegedly aggressive tactics that only escalated tensions.

"Right now there is no more crisis involving Scarborough, but we were nearly brought to war. That was a treasonous act (by Del Rosario)," Trillanes told AFP Wednesday, repeating a claim he made on local radio and to politicians.

He said public statements made by Del Rosario accusing China of bullying the Philippines nearly led to open confrontation.

Trillanes said he had met "top Chinese officials" at least 15 times in Manila and in Beijing since May.

In a televised interview Monday, Del Rosario said back-channel talks "were doing more harm than good," although he did not name Trillanes.

After the row spilled out to the local media, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda sought to limit the fall-out at a press conference on Wednesday.

"I can categorically say that the Secretary of Foreign Affairs has the trust and confidence of the President," Lacierda told reporters.

Lacierda said Trillanes had volunteered for the China assignment, but the senator denied this, saying it came about spontaneously.

Word war with Enrile

Trillanes' appointment became the top political story in the country when Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile launched a blistering attack on the former Navy man in a nationally televised address.

Enrile, the third highest official in the country, said he backed Del Rosario and accused Trillanes of undermining the Philippines' position with China.

"I'm sure you resented my statement when we were in the Cabinet, when you were presenting your supposed position as against the position of the Department of Foreign Affairs, when President Aquino invited me to attend a Cabinet meeting on the Scarborough problem and I told you, who authorized you to make a backroom negotiation with the Chinese for the Scarborough and you were telling me about treason remember?” Enrile said, directing his remarks at the junior senator.

“The fact is I asked you who did you talk to in China?" the elderly senator said.

Trillanes said he did not need to report to the Senate President.

Enrile, however, said he needed to report what he did as a senator.

"You have a duty to notify the Office of the Senate President when you leave this country to go abroad and the only time that I have authorized you is one time,” Enrile said, confronting Trillanes on the Senate floor.

“I don't know how many times you have been to China. My understanding is you have been to China talking to the Chinese government for six times already and that you have met them 15 or 16 times, for what reason we do not know," the Senate President said.

"This guy is a fraud," Enrile said. "He told the Chinese we cannot impose our coastal protection."

When Trillanes refused to answer his questions, Enrile continued, "You went to China, you asked the Ambassador of the Philippines there, Madam [Sonia] Brady, and you said do not take notes during our conversation and you called the Secretary of Foreign Affairs a traitor. You told me that he committed treason."

Trillanes said the conversations he had with Brady were confidential.

Enrile started reading records of those conversations, prompting Trillanes to walk out of the session hall.

Trillanes protecting Chinese interests?

Enrile accused Trillanes of protecting the interests of China. He said Trillanes wanted the standoff between Manila and Beijing over Scarborough Shoal a secret for the benefit of the Chinese.

"Senator Trillanes had been quietly, secretly, clandestinely meeting with the Chinese about the Scarborough and the West Philippine Sea," according to the Senate President.

“Imagine talking to a potential enemy of this country 16 times, what did he discuss with these people? Who initiated the discussion?" he said.

Enrile added that the senator insisted on having one-on-one dealings with China even if the country does not have any bargaining position.

A veteran politician of six presidential administrations since he served as Defense Minister to then President Ferdinand Marcos in the '70s, Enrile also belittled the younger senator’s military background and supposed lack of know-how in military strategy.

According to Brady's notes, Trillanes told Chinese authorities that the Philippines cannot enforce coastal protection, Enrile noted.

Snipped...

now who is the traitor Mr. Trillanes?

Trillanes is continually messing up the country in so many ways... and he is consistently doing it!!


"I can categorically say that the Secretary of Foreign Affairs has the trust and confidence of the President," Lacierda told reporters.

Mr. Trillianes, Let Foreign affairs do his job, hinde yung nagmamagaling ka jan.. kundi ka isa't kalahating gago..
ayan ang mahirap sa Pinas eh.. ang daming EPAL!

Enrile, the third highest official in the country, said he backed Del Rosario and accused Trillanes of undermining the Philippines' position with China.

I completely agree with this!!

In Trillianes' meeting with the Chinese, whoever gave him "authority" can also be accused of possible TREASON! SHAME ON THEM!! where is the transparency?
The current admin has to do a lot of explaining as well!


pasencia na... pinag iinit talaga ulo ko ng Trillianes na yan..

For rewarding this guy with a Senate seat after a series of insurrection, this is the result. When can the Filipino electorate be wise and discerning?

I smell elections coming near with all these issues popping out left and right...

^^nagsimula lang ang gulo dahil sa Nueva Camarines bill hanggang sa nauwi sa China ang isyu :ohno:

Trillanes a fraud, coward — Enrile
Palace denies asking senator to do backdoor talks
Manila Standard
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2012/09/20/trillanes-a-fraud-coward-enrile/

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile branded Senator Antonio Trillanes IV a fraud and a coward after he stormed out of the plenary session while being grilled about his clandestine meetings with Chinese officials at the height of the country’s territorial dispute with Beijing.

“He can’t take the heat. He’s a coward,” Enrile said as Trillanes left the hall.

Enrile then began reading the notes of former Philippine ambassador to China, Sonia Brady, about her meeting with Trillanes in which the senator allegedly accused Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario of treason.

Before Trillanes walked out, Enrile confronted him about his activities in China.

“You went to China, you asked the ambassador of the Philippines there, Madam Brady, for a meeting and you said, ‘Don’t take notes during our conversation’ and you called the Secretary of Foreign Affairs a traitor. In fact, you told me that he committed treason,” Enrile told Trillanes shortly before he walked out.

Newspaper reports on Wednesday identified Trillanes acting as the Palace’s backdoor negotiator with China at the height of tensions over the Scarborough Shoal in April, but Malacañang said President Benigno Aquino III had not asked the senator to take that role.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda told reporters that it was Trillanes who offered his services to help ease tensions between Manila and Beijing, and that Mr. Aquino only took the offer as part of his policy to “keep all options open.”

But Enrile said Trillanes had met secretly with Chinese officials and sought to protect Beijing’s interests.

Imagine talking to an enemy, a potential enemy of this country 16 times? What did he discuss with these people? Who initiated the discussion? Did he or did they? Did they pay for his trip to Beijing?” he said. “My God, this guy is a fraud.”

Brady’s notes also showed that Trillanes had told her that nobody in the Philippines cares about the Scarborough Shoal.

“My god what kind of a senator is this? This is the senator of the Republic calling our secretary a treasonous person in a foreign land. He does not even know when treason arises,” Enrile said.

At one point, Enrile said, Trillanes asked the Chinese whom they wanted to deal with, when Del Rosario was deemed to be taking too belligerent a stand towards Beijing.

Brady’s notes, Enrile said, would unmask Trillanes as “the Phantom of the Opera in Philippine politics.”

But Trillanes said he kept the assignment a secret because that was the nature of back channeling.

He also said there was no need for travel authority because he did not use his official passport and that he went to China on days when there was no session in Congress.

“I wasn’t supposed to come out. I finished my job mid-July, early August. But then there was a report that Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said I’m doing more harm than good. I just felt slighted because I did this quietly. There was no media mileage in what I did,” he said.

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said backdoor negotiations are not always helpful in solving a problem.

“It is always, always essential in international relations that the other side should know who is the person calling the shots. Before you sit down at the table, each side should know already who is the ultimate authority,” she said.

“Otherwise there is no point to talking and talking and you don’t know whether it would be approved by some higher authority who is unnamed,” she added.

Santiago also said it’s not advisable to reveal in public the problems within the country’s own diplomatic team.

“Never show the enemy that you’re breaking ranks… always present a united front to the enemy no matter how bitter your differences might be,” she said.

Senator Loren Legarda, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, said she has “high confidence and respect” for Del Rosario.

“He is doing a difficult job and his efforts are well appreciated, I am sure, by many Filipinos. At the end of the day, there is only one team that addresses issues of foreign policy and that is Team Philippines headed by the President, with the able support of the DFA,” she said.

Del Rosario issued a statement saying the DFA executes the foreign policy of the President.

“We will not dignify those who are working to divide us. There must be one policy and one team in promoting our national interest.”

Lacierda also spoke up for Del Rosario, whom Trillanes had described as ineffective and “a war freak” when it came to issues involving China.

“I can say categorically that Secretary Del Rosario has the trust and confidence of the President,” he said.

“There is only one chief policymaker, and that is the President. And there is only one official line, and that is the Department of Foreign Affairs. And China knows this,” Lacierda added.

Lacierda said The President was approached by Trillanes who offered “a way forward” to the territorial row with China.

Lacierda said there appeared to be “minor successes” in the track pursued by Trillanes.


trillanes traydor


Ambassador Brady's notes on Trillanes' China activities

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source:

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/-depth/09/19/12/ambassador-bradys-notes-trillanes-china-activities

https://docs.google.com/file/d/1ddGSAKZQfLu0evGDGVm6VfEEVSjFwD2Y_P1GGzYN8EqQEVM1QC83-uGz9NNh/preview?pli=1

^^nagsimula lang ang gulo dahil sa Nueva Camarines bill hanggang sa nauwi sa China ang isyu :ohno:

Trillanes bolts Senate majority, engages Enrile in word war over CamSur

In a case of a neophyte lawmaker locking horns with a veteran politician, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV engaged Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile in a word war Wednesday, accusing him of being a lackey of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Enrile respondee by calling Trillanes a fraud.

Trillanes, during a privilege speech, also announced that he is leaving the majority bloc in the Senate to join the minority effective immediately.

"I have lost trust, faith and confidence in Senator Enrile’s capability to lead the Senate along the path consistent with the reform agenda that I espouse," he said.

Trillanes said he reached the decision after witnessing how Enrile is handling House Bill 4820, which seeks to divide Camarines Sur into two provinces and create the new province of Nueva Camarines in the Bicol region.

Oppositors of the bill believe splitting the province is meant to create new districts to benefit political families there. Sen. Joker Arroyo, who is from Bicol, said (http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/271589/news/nation/joker-opposes-division-of-camsur-says-split-to-serve-political-families) dividing the province would benefit only the people of the province’s fourth district, home turf of Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella, who is on his last term as congressman.

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis R. Villafuerte Sr., who supports the division, was quoted in reports as saying that the bill has unified the group of Fuentebella and legislators identified with Arroyo: Rep. Rolando Andaya of the first district, a long time budget chief of Mrs. Arroyo, and Rep. Dato Arroyo, the former president’s son.

Both Dato Arroyo and Andaya had benefited (http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/271866/news/nation/senators-feeling-pressure-over-lobbying-for-camsur-split) from the creation of an additional district in Camarines Sur in 2010, as they were supposed to run against each other in a single district.

In his privilege speech Wednesday, Trillanes said: "Everyone in this august chamber knows that this bill is gerrymandering in its worst kind, particularly, one that would provide for new elective positions to accommodate two three-term congressmen.

"But if it were so, why would our Senate President be particularly interested to the point of straining relations with members of the very Senate that he leads? Is it just to please Congressman Villafuerte?" he said.

Trillanes was referring to a Senate caucus where Villafuerte was allowed to enter an all-senator caucus to talk about the bill. Back then, Trillanes said he wanted to enter his opposition but was prevented by Enrile.

"I got out of that caucus feeling trampled upon by a bully determined to get his way. My neophyte instincts were telling me then to just keep the peace and get out of his way. But then, the public servant in me just couldn't let this thing pass," he said.

"Why would he rush it to the point of dictating on a chief of staff of a fellow senator on what his principal should do and when he should schedule his committee hearings? Worse, our Senate President didn’t even cancel the session at the height of the habagat rains when all government agencies already did, just so this bill could be tackled," he added.

First time

Enrile, during the same session, said it was the first time in his whole career as a senator that he has been accused of railroading or pressuring people in the Senate. According to him, Villafuerte was in the caucus to explain the timeline for the passage of the bill.

"That was the reason why Congressman Villafuerte was asked to enter the room because I did not know about the timeline he was talking about and you did not know this because you were late," he told Trillanes.

"Did I say anything to pressure you, to favor one side or the other?" he then asked the neophyte senator.Read more
(http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/274719/news/nation/trillanes-bolts-senate-majority-engages-enrile-in-word-war-over-camsur)

On November 29, 2007, he abandoned his own trial and triggered a standoff at the Peninsula Manila hotel in Makati City, where he called for the ouster of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

On December 20, 2010, he was given provisional freedom pending the recognition of the court's amnesty declaration of president Benigno Aquino III.


The saga of Trillanes after he laid siege on Oakwood in 2003. So what's this clown gonna do next after he dramatically walks out on the Senate. What? Bring in 321 soldiers again and occupy the Senate or another posh Makati hotel? Then here comes his bungling supporters frenzied like uncivliized chimpanzees? Geeeez. He is a grandstanding megalomaniac, a traitor and a spy. He is also a La Sallista. :lol: :lol:

If he has committed these brazen acts of treason in favour of China, then by all means Malacanan has every right to withdraw the provisional freedom granted to him and to declare the presidential amnesty voided.

^^ Dapat Boss Hakz wag na manalo yang mga Villafuerte at Fuentebella sa 2013 or ever...

Anyway, bakit kaya si Trillanes ang napili para sa isang highly complex issue at specialized field na diplomacy and foreign affairs..

^^ Ewan ko nga rin ba bakit si Trillanes. Sabi ng Palasyo si Trillanes daw ang nagvolunteer kanya siya na lang siguro napili ng Malacanang. Pero ang di ko lang maintindihan eh bakit mukhang walang coordination between Del Rosario of the Dept. Of Foreign Affairs and Trillanes so both will be on the same page before embarking on any negotiations with the Chinese regardless kung official or back door talk man siya. Walang game plan tuloy lumalabas tayong kahiya-hiya ngayon kasi di tugma pinagsasabi ng representatives natin - iba sinasabi ng Department of Foreign Affairs at iba rin sinasabi ni Trillanes. Kanya tuloy malakas ang loob ng mga Tsinong ito. :ohno: :ohno: :ohno:

^^ We can't even present a united front regarding this issue.

No wonder other nations just laugh at us.

Id say sen trillanes is an oppotunistic senator. Sen trillanes spent the biggest amount even when he was still in jail while serving as senator. From what i read, i believe trillanes went to china on his own trying to secure a peaceful settlement bet china and phils but trillanes wont be doing so if he is not going to get something in return. The mere fact senator trillanes walked out on sen enrile yesterday showed that trillanes has something to hide. Sen trillanes is reckless and has no place in govt.

Senators vow to unmask rice cartel financiers
PhilStar
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=850754&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - Senators vowed yesterday to unmask the financiers of an alleged rice cartel involving international groups.

At the resumption of the Senate probe on the Bureau of Customs (BOC)’s seizure of 420,000 sacks of rice from India last April, Sen. Teofisto Guingona III identified supposedly undercapitalized firms and/or cooperatives which were able to pay multimillion service fees to cover their importations.

Guingona also lambasted National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Angelito Banayo for the agency’s alleged failure to practice due diligence in verifying the status of the firms and cooperatives.

Banayo and the head of Amira Foods of India, the supposed owner of the rice shipment from India, were not present at the hearing.

Guingona said among the importers are King Casey Trading, Loui London, St. Andrews Field Grains and Cereals

Trading, Wish Granted Enterprises, Montevallo Granted Enterprises, Formosa MPC, Riverview MPC, Ugnayang Magsasaka sa Kaunlaran MPC, GPI San Miguel MPC, St. Dominique Rice and Food Stuff Enterprises and Pure Country Trading.

He said there were also eight firms identified as Visayas and Mindanao rice importers. They are the Chon Buri Trading, Mahindra Rice and Food Trading, Nemic Fusion Rice and Grains Enterprises, West Point Rice and Cereals, Jaded Ranch Grains and Cereals Trading, Red Mountain Grain and Cereal Dealer, Sitio Muzon Farmers multipurpose cooperative and Sta. Cecilia MPC.

Guingona said 10 firms were able to get importation certifications one day after the publication of invitation to bid were announced by the NFA.

Dig deeper

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile called for a deeper probe on rice smuggling when one of the importers identified as Magdangal Diego Maralit Bayani III, of St. Andrews Field Grains and Cereal Trading, refused to reveal his financiers and business partners.

“These are hao shiao (dubious) organizations, undercapitalized, thinly capitalized enterprises and yet they are doing big business. Who are the people behind you?” Enrile asked.

“What is this cartel, is this a syndicate? Do we have a syndicate in the country operating to control the rice business, affecting our people?” he added.

“I think we are uncovering here a bigger problem than we have started to uncover... We will force you to tell us the truth. You can go to the courts, to SC (Supreme Court) if you want, to protect your rights but we will compel you to tell us the truth. We are not doing this for ourselves, we are doing this for our people,” he said.

In his slide presentation, Guingona said those who won importation licenses are not capable of paying the service fees ranging from P50 million to P69 million.

“Imagine a bidder with only about P50,000 published capital can pay service fee amounting to P50 to P69 million. And we are not talking of just one bidder here but numerous. This is quite anomalous,” Guingona said.

Vietnam groupaVSFC). These are Formosa MPC, Sitio Muzon MOC, Mahindra Rice, St. Dominique, Wish Granted, King Casey Trading, Montevallo Enterprises, Riverview MPC, Red Mountain and West Point Rice.

The firms got their individual certification from VSFC on March 13, 2012 a day after the publication of invitation to bid.

Enrile also called on concerned authorities to coordinate with the consulate of Vietnam.

“What is the Vietnam Southern Foods Corp.? Is it a legitimate company in Vietnam or is this just a dummy corporation? We should check with Customs authorities of Vietnam. We are all members of ASEAN,” Enrile said.

“It is doubtful whether they (Vietnam government) will do this intentionally. Maybe somebody is manipulating this. Better ask the consulate of Vietnam,” Enrile told the committee.

Guingona also asked the NFA to diligently check the background of its rice bidders and put an end to the seeming control of the few unscrupulous entities in the rice importation process.

Guingona said NFA officials might have been blindsided by unscrupulous individuals who want to gain control of the country’s rice importation program by using the name of cooperatives or submitting false documentation.

Albay shipment

Enrile also requested the Senate panel to look into the rice cargos seized by the Bureau of Customs in Albay in recent months.

“May I request Mr. Chairman, we get the addresses of these cooperatives, we send them an invitation to appear here or their representatives to find out whether indeed they imported these, or there were negotiations with others covering the importation of this quantity of rice that entered the Port of Legaspi,” Enrile said.

“We want to know who are the financiers of this importation. If these cooperatives are not financially capable to cover the cost of these importations, then we want also to know the background of the five cooperatives, whether they are the same as those pointed to us by the chairman of the Blue Ribbon committee as undercapitalized,” he said.

Enrile did not rule out that the “syndicate” might also be using big public relations firms to counter the negative publicity brought out by the recent raids and the Senate inquiry.

“I am not accusing anybody, I am just surmising. This is my surmise and I hope I am wrong. I think we have to be very, very careful about this. Nonetheless, we have to uncover this whole thing. We have to go deeper into the mire that is before us,” he said.

Senate adjourns, passes 197 bills
InterAksyon
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/43645/senate-adjourns-passes-197-bills

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate adjourned Thursday for a two-week break after having passed 197 measures of national and local application, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said.

Of the bills passed by the Senate, six measures have been signed into law, Enrile said. These are the Anti-Cybercrime Act (RA No. 10175), The Data Privacy Act, People’s Survival Fund, An Act Authorizing Clerical or Typographical Errors in Birthdate or Sex of a Person without Need for Judicial Order, An Act Reviving the Observance of Arbor Day, and The Act Reapportioning the Province of Cotabato into Three Legislative Districts.

He said two measures are pending in the Conference Committee: the Househelper’s Additional Benefits and Protection Act and the Involuntary Disappearance Act while the Bicameral Conference Committee of the AFP Modernization Program has been adopted and is waiting for the approval of the President.

According to Enrile, the Senate also approved on third reading 86 measures, among which are the Meat Labeling Act, The Philippine Interior Design Act, The Department of Housing and Urban Development Act, Strengthening the Career Executive Service as well as The PNP BJMP and BFP Height Equality Act. These bills await the concurrence of the House of Representatives.

Enrile said the Senate passed on third reading 102 measures that have been submitted for approval of the President. Those measures are for the creation of additional trial courts, elementary and national high schools.

The Senate will resume its sessions on October 8.