The Legislative Branch of Government

[rain34]

Originally Posted by espresso1018

No Merci in the lower house was due to the scare tactics employed by LP stalwarts to solons who planned to vote against the impeachment. It was revealed that this Congressman Abaya circulated a text message saying that those who would vote NO will receive zero pork.

This was never investigated by the House. The leadership never called for an investigation. Belmonte is LP, remember. Prior to the voting last week, Belmonte gathered his colleagues for the grand plan.

What now? Do we expect the same to happen in the Senate? With the recent survey showing that majority of the Filipinos are in favor of the impeachment, there are hands controlling the game once again. The same hands which use to press the controls of a PSP on weekends with a chubby little boy named Josh.

very imaginative bravo keep it up

[first knight]

Originally Posted by espresso1018

No Merci in the lower house was due to the scare tactics employed by LP stalwarts to solons who planned to vote against the impeachment. It was revealed that this Congressman Abaya circulated a text message saying that those who would vote NO will receive zero pork.

This was never investigated by the House. The leadership never called for an investigation. Belmonte is LP, remember. Prior to the voting last week, Belmonte gathered his colleagues for the grand plan.

What now? Do we expect the same to happen in the Senate? With the recent survey showing that majority of the Filipinos are in favor of the impeachment, there are hands controlling the game once again. The same hands which use to press the controls of a PSP on weekends with a chubby little boy named Josh.

Verily, a good script.

Originally Posted by rain34

very imaginative bravo keep it up

I concur.

[chris_nigel]

tagal papapala ng IMPITSMENT ehh sa May pa kaya naman marami pa oras makahanap ng dahilan si Aling Merci may time pa to Party Party...

[firebar10]

weather weather lang yan ika nga..bakit nun panahon ni gloria ganyan rin ang diskarte ng mga alipores nya..alam natin na numbers game ang impeachment so what do the majority have to do...bring on the numbers right?..ang importante dito ay ang bigger picture of finally ridding the fight against corruption of a major roadblock in the person of Merceditas Gutierrez and finally those who pillaged the governement coffers can be brought to justice.

[Eastern Dragon]

Originally Posted by firebar10

weather weather lang yan ika nga..bakit nun panahon ni gloria ganyan rin ang diskarte ng mga alipores nya..alam natin na numbers game ang impeachment so what do the majority have to do...bring on the numbers right?..ang importante dito ay ang bigger picture of finally ridding the fight against corruption of a major roadblock in the person of Merceditas Gutierrez and finally those who pillaged the governement coffers can be brought to justice.

during aquino time, our gdp achieved highest rating.
during pnoy time, the mighty azkals roared.

this shows that pag nagsama sama tayo lahat, may patutunguhan. critics notwithstanding.

[b_two]

critics like ninoy, salonga, and tanada?

[b_two]

or rizal, luna, and mabini?

[Eastern Dragon]

btwo, medyo naghahalucinate ka na ata.

during ninoy, tanada, rizal or luna ba nachieve natin ang highest gdp or mga azkals?

[b_two]

that is not my point. ang point is parang sinasabi na pag may criticism laging negatibo ang ibig sabihin. that is not always the case kaya ko na-mention sila ninoy.

[b_two]

going back to lacson, the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong issued his travel documents to enter the philippines but the bureau of immigration said that they are clueless of lacson's arrival and yet someone from the bureau met him at the airport. here is the complete article from manila standard today:

Fugitive solon stayed at Marriott
by Vito Barcelo


A TRAVEL document issued by the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong and presented by Lacson on his arrival in Cebu Saturday said he stayed at the JW Marriott Hotel, where the cheapest room costs US$730 a night.

Lacson, who told reporters Monday that he had felt like “a prisoner outside a prison cell,” refused to say in which countries he had hidden after fleeing the country on Jan. 5, 2010, to evade arrest on murder charges.
He was said to have been in Italy, Portugal and other countries in the 14 months that he had been out.

His arrival on Saturday was confirmed when Senator Manuel Villar said Lacson was in Dubai on Thursday and was heading to Manila through Hong Kong.

Immigration official Maria Antoinette Bucasas-Mangrobang said the bureau did not have advance information that Lacson would be flying back on Saturday, but the agency’s chief of the alien registration division, Danilo Almeda, reportedly met him at the airport.

Lacson did not use a passport when he traveled to Cebu from Hong Kong, but instead used a travel document to enter the Philippines, Mangrobang said. Such documents were usually issued to Filipinos who had lost their passports abroad to allow them to return.

Mangrobang said Immigration could not track down Lacson’s last port of entry because he did not present his passport to show his last port of disembarkation.

Lacson flew to Manila Saturday night, arriving on an RPC 2711, a Baron-type, twin-engine plane, airport officials said.
The private plane landed at 6:40 pm and taxied into the general aviation area, away from the terminals for commercial airlines and out of sight of reporters.

Immigration records showed that Lacson fled the country in 2010 using his regular passport.

The lawyer for former police officer Cezar Mancao II, the key witness against Lacson in the November 2000 murder of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito, on Monday said the Foreign Affairs Department should explain how the fugitive senator was able to travel to other countries with a canceled passport.
“He has coddlers in the country, and he can be compelled to name them,” Ferdinand Topacio said. With Eric B. Apolonio

[wino]

Sec. De Lima has the same questions. "how was he able to travel without a passport?" -- which puts our institutions' integrity into question.



$730 a night hotel..
baka kaya umuwi si Lacson naubos na ang pera pang hotel.. lol

[chris_nigel]

hindi naman marami pa din sya pera sigurado..wala na kasi sya warrant of arrest..bakit ba galit na galit si Delema... may crsuh ba sya ka Ping..sya lang naman ang galit na galit hindi na lang nya idaan sa tamang proseso lagi naman sya sopla kay PNoy gaya ng IIRC recommendation saka ngayon tong sa kaso kay Ping magaling sana ehh

[bitoy]

Originally Posted by chris_nigel

hindi naman marami pa din sya pera sigurado..wala na kasi sya warrant of arrest..bakit ba galit na galit si Delema... may crsuh ba sya ka Ping..sya lang naman ang galit na galit hindi na lang nya idaan sa tamang proseso lagi naman sya sopla kay PNoy gaya ng IIRC recommendation saka ngayon tong sa kaso kay Ping magaling sana ehh

Buwahahaha.. sumingit ka na naman!

[chris_nigel]

bakit pag nagcomment ba ako singit ba yun at ikaw hindi?? wala ka na kasi masabi kundi lagi ganyan... yan lang ba ang kaya sabihin ng utak mo everytime i make a comment bakit hindi na lang make a good comment out of it kung meron ng makuha mo pa ng respeto at pag hanga ko sayo

[amigo32]

Originally Posted by chris_nigel

bakit pag nagcomment ba ako singit ba yun at ikaw hindi?? wala ka na kasi masabi kundi lagi ganyan... yan lang ba ang kaya sabihin ng utak mo everytime i make a comment bakit hindi na lang make a good comment out of it kung meron ng makuha mo pa ng respeto at pag hanga ko sayo

ay hindi mo alam, private forum ito ng 2 paano ka nakapasok?

[chris_nigel]

hinack ko po kasi..

[b_two]

from inquirer.net


A dime a dozen; that Porsche, again


By Rigoberto D. Tiglao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:19:00 03/30/2011



HIS EYES moist with tears of joy, Red party Akbayan Rep. Teodoro Casiño said that the House of Representative’s 212 yes votes on March 22 to impeach Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez represented “overwhelming public sentiment” against her.

Casiño though was mum whether the resolution, two days later, of 204 of his colleagues to bury Akbayan’s arch hate-figure Ferdinand Marcos also represented overwhelming public sentiment to finally honor the dictator. We also haven’t heard from Casiño whether the 191 votes to postpone the elections for officials of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao—which he claimed would be a travesty of justice—represent overwhelming public sentiment.

The lynch mob against Gutierrez has exploited the public’s unfamiliarity (actually even that of journalists who have not been Congress reporters) with the workings of the legislature to portray a bandwagon against her, which the Senate, they claim, cannot ignore. This of course is part of that old trick, now passé, to depict a popular groundswell against a target so that he or she will be so psychologically overwhelmed to just resign.
This is the strategy which successfully took out Estrada in 2001, but in bungling hands was unsuccessfully used by the Hyatt 10 conspirators in 2005 and by succeeding anti-Arroyo cabals. Included in that strategy would be the statements of the Makati Business Club and the Management Association of the Philippines against the target in order to depict supposedly economic leaders’ imprimatur of the “people’s voice,” and of course, the very timely surveys of Pulse Asia, controlled by relatives of President Aquino, which would confirm the alleged people’s consensus.
The 212 votes against Gutierrez hardly represent “overwhelming public opinion” if one is familiar with the dynamics and nature of Congress. The truth of the matter is that it has been routine for the House of Representatives to vote “overwhelmingly” for bills and resolutions presented to the House as a whole, called the plenary session. For instance, the controversial proclamation to extend amnesty to military rebels was approved by 213 yeas to just 7 nays. The recent House bill prescribing a fixed term of office for the Armed Forces chief of staff passed with 226 votes—no nays or abstentions at all. I have yet to find a bill voted on by the plenary which was not “overwhelmingly approved.”
Why are House votes routinely “overwhelming”? It would be indeed unkind to dismiss the House’s “overwhelming votes” as a dime a dozen. The Filipino translation for that term is “dalawa singko” (two for five centavos), although the more appropriate term for the recent House votes would seem to be tatlo singko (three for five centavos) for this package: the 22 March 212 votes to impeach the ombudsman; the 24 March resolution of 204 congressmen to give Marcos a hero’s burial; and the 25 March vote of 191 to postpone the ARMM elections.

Probably 95 percent of the debates on a bill are undertaken at the committee level. If there’s some sense to the bill, it goes through first, second and third “readings” in which every member can point out what he thinks about the proposed law. But when the bill passes the third reading, a congressman is expected to vote yes, since after all, he had all the chance to convince his colleagues not to support the bill if he thinks it shouldn’t be passed.

There are other reasons for the overwhelming yes votes: horse-trading (e.g., you vote against the ombudsman, I’ll agree to the Marcos resolution); the House as a club that transcends partisan affiliations; the anonymity of votes in a chamber of 280 members (in contrast to the 23 in the Senate); and of course the largesse, pork barrel just being one of these, from the Speaker to a “team player.”

Congressmen also can sleep soundly with their vote, no matter what it is: after all, it will be the Senate which will still have to agree to enact the law, or in this case, take out the ombudsman. “I’m just one insignificant vote among 212,” a congressman told me.

And the Senate? It’s the opposite: each member always strives to transcend party lines and to decide on his or her own on the merits of an issue. In fact, the last time when an Aquino—this President’s mother Cory—tried to brow beat the Senate was in 1991 when she led a demonstration at the Senate itself to convince the senators not to boot out the US military bases in the Philippines. The vote was 12 to 11 against the bases, with even her brother-in- law Agapito and administration stalwarts such as Jovito Salonga defying her.

The Senate almost always votes with much less than a 2/3 result, or 16 votes, which is the number required to take out the ombudsman. Even on such an urgent bill like the General Appropriations Act for 2011, only 12 voted for it, with three nays, two from Mr. Aquino’s allies.

[b_two]

from manila standard today:


DFA denies issuing Lacson travel document out of HK by Joyce Pangco Pañares and Macon R. Araneta


FOREIGN Affairs officials were at a loss Tuesday to explain how Senator Panfilo Lacson was able to return to the country Saturday when not one of the Philippine Consulates in Macau, Xiamen or Hong Kong had issued the travel document he used to enter Cebu.

“The [Foreign Affairs Department] made inquires with Philippine Consulate General officials in Hong Kong, Xiamen and Macau. They stated that the travel document used was not issued by them,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Ed Malaya said.

He said Lacson’s travel document, No. 34258, was not in the inventory of the consulate general in Macau.

The Bureau of Immigration said Monday that Lacson had used a travel document that was usually issued to Filipinos who had lost their passports to re-enter the Philippines.

The bureau’s chief of intelligence, Maria Antoinette Bucasas-Mangrobang, said the document was issued March 24, possibly by the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong.

She also said it was impossible to tell what other countries Lacson had visited while he was in hiding to evade arrest on murder charges.
Sources told the Manila Standard that while Lacson lined up when entering Cebu, he did so before Counter 3, which is reserved for VIPs and diplomats.
Immigration officials were also hard-pressed to explain why the chief of the alien registration division, Danilo Almeda, reportedly met Lacson at the airport.

Lacson returned to the country on March 26, and after the Court of Appeals had cleared him of the November 2000 murder of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

The Dacer family said it will challenge the ruling before the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the Palace said it supported a reinvestigation of the Dacer-Corbito murder.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the previous case filed against Lacson was “fraught with political bias” as the senator was an enemy of former President Gloria Arroyo.

“Now that the Arroyos are no longer in power, Senator Lacson can expect a level field in terms of administration of justice, and we can guarantee Senator Lacson that there will be a fair hearing on his case,” Lacierda said.
But Justice Secretary Leila de Lima dared Lacson to unmask “Bigote,” or The Mustached One, who has been tagged as the real mastermind behind the double murder.

“He told a press conference and an interview over a radio station that he knows… he has an inkling on who’s the real brain, the real mastermind, so if he knows, why doesn’t he tell us?” De Lima said.

Lacson said he did not have evidence to back up the accusation, but De Lima said the Justice Department would pursue the case.

“Please tell us. I’m challenging him—tell us and we will pursue it,” De Lima said.

“I will pursue it vigorously. Whatever that lead is, just tell us. That’s really my challenge.”

De Lima refused to identify Bigote as deposed President Joseph Estrada, but said: “I think that’s the common perception or belief.”

In a lengthy interview on radio dzMM, Lacson said he was greeted on the flight back to Cebu by a cousin of his former subordinate, Cesar Mancao II, who is a key witness against him in the Corbito-Dacer case.
He said Peter Mancao, a doctor, had introduced himself and had a picture taken with the senator, saying they had met in Cebu while Lacson was campaigning.

[bitoy]

Speaker enjoins colleagues to continue hard work

By Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) Updated April 02, 2011 12:00 AM Comments (0)


MANILA, Philippines - Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. urged yesterday his colleagues in the House of Representatives to continue their hard work after he garnered high net satisfaction ratings in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

“It’s our (House) collective effort,” Belmonte said when asked about the latest SWS survey conducted last March 4-7 that showed his ratings increase by 10 percentage points to +17 percent in the last three months.

The House as an institution, however, saw its ratings decline during the same period from +33 to +30 percent.

He said the positive net satisfaction ratings were a vote of confidence by the people on the entire House “whose members have collectively and vigorously shown hard work and determination to contribute to the government’s anti-corruption and good governance campaign.”

“I am just doing my best to get the House united behind its priorities. I guess I am getting better known because of the great accomplishments of the House made possible through the hard work and dedication of its members,” Belmonte said.

“It is heartening to note an increasing awareness and appreciation by our people of the determined efforts of members of the House to institute the needed policy reforms in support of transparency and accountability in governance,” he said.

The previous Pulse Asia survey in its most recent survey that was conducted from Feb. 24 to March 6, 2011 showed Belmonte’s approval rating soar from 45 percent in October 2010 to 50 percent while his trust rating was a high 43 percent compared to the 18 percent who have small or no trust.

SWS president Dr. Mahar Mangahas said the increase in Belmonte’s ratings was a surprise considering that he usually keeps a low-profile compared to his predecessors.

“I think what strikes me the most is that the speakership has improved. Coming off a poorly rated past Speaker, people are relieved,” Mangahas told ANC.

“People are getting to know House Speaker Belmonte better. He comes off as a low-profile sort of Speaker,” he said.

Belmonte gave credit to all the 284 district and party-list representatives, both from the majority coalition and the minority bloc, for “doing their respective homework.”

“We assure our people that we will continue and will be consistent in doing what is right and what is needed to heighten the war against corruption and promote good governance. Our hard work does not end here. I therefore enjoin my esteemed colleagues to sustain our efforts so all our goals will ultimately be achieved,” he said.

He said since Congress opened last July the House has been confronted with difficult issues but managed to rightfully handle these matters, including the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and the controversial Reproductive Health bill.

“I’d like to think the present survey ratings reflect not only the awareness generated by these issues, but also the people’s stamp of approval for what we have so far accomplished. Needless to state, we are buoyed by their confidence in us and we vow to do more,” the Speaker said.

He acknowledged the vital role the media has played in effectively relaying the achievements of House members to their respective constituents.

“The country’s media is the most potent means of reaching out to our people, through which our respective constituents are afforded the opportunity to participate in reformation and policy making. Good governance is always a two-way street,” he said.

In the Pulse Asia survey that was released the day after Congress adjourned on March 25, Belmonte also achieved majority approval ratings in all classes — A, B, C, and D — ranging from 51 percent to 54 percent.

Belmonte said he has “a feeling of relief” that the House has able to achieve so much in such a short time since the 15th Congress opened in July last year.

“We thought we would have a difficult time ending with a bang but here we are, we were able to approve numerous bills on second reading, and third and final reading,” he said. “I think we did quite okay.”

[chris_nigel]

magaling naman talaga si SB napaganda niya ang QC may news nga nun na baka tumakbo sya as senator d ba..well deseve naman nya..