The Legislative Branch of Government

[hakz2007]

image hosted on flickr

Photo by mikoislegendary

image hosted on flickr

batasan by geraldtejada, on Flickr

[hakz2007]

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.”

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[hakz2007]

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.

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[Bosnyboy]

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

[d7beast]

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?

[Manila-X]

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...bCategoryId=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.

[xxxriainxxx]

Talagang kailangang interviewhin si Oscar Cruz ha. Relevant??

[Manila-X]

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/424...h-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.

[wolfram74]

Aquino’s cousin eyes Senate seat


more aquinos in government?

[Askal82]

Originally Posted by wolfram74

Aquino’s cousin eyes Senate seat


more aquinos in government?

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

[Parchie]

Originally Posted by xxxriainxxx

Talagang kailangang interviewhin si Oscar Cruz ha. 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.

[amigo32]

Originally Posted by Askal82

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

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

[Parchie]

Originally Posted by amigo32

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

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"?

[amigo32]

Oh, sorry about that

[Askal82]

Originally Posted by amigo32

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

Hindi kami nagreklamo noong naging sila noon kahit na sobrang pakialamero yung baboy na yan.

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

Tapos kayo nagreklamo agad na sila na ngayon.

[Askal82]

Originally Posted by Parchie

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"?

Pa analysis analysis ka pa.

[Parchie]

Originally Posted by Askal82

Pa analysis analysis ka pa.

Ingat-ingat!

[Askal82]

Originally Posted by Parchie

Ingat-ingat!

Full of non-sense.

[amigo32]

Originally Posted by Askal82

Hindi kami nagreklamo noong naging sila noon kahit na sobrang pakialamero yung baboy na yan.

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

Tapos kayo nagreklamo agad na sila na ngayon.

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

[wolfram74]

Another Aquino in office?


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.

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.

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)