eeeeee - eeeeeeeeeeeeee - Astrology Predictions … Horoscope ...
Kate Eeeeee
-
Upload
chester-nicole -
Category
Documents
-
view
222 -
download
0
Transcript of Kate Eeeeee
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
1/51
St. Jude College - Dasmarias
URC Ave., Salitran IV, Salawag Dasmarias, Cavite
Philosophical Analysis
(Broadsheet)
Submitted By:
Kate P. Purificacion
Submitted To:
Sir Leo Marko F. Azucenas
August 16, 2013
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
2/51
Name of Broadsheet: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: August 01, 2013
Columnist: Letty Jimenez Magsanoc
Structural Analysis:
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
3/51
'Padrinos'
Retired general Danilo Lim spoke of powerful forces preventing reform from
taking root in the Bureau of Customs. How powerful? Enough to dissuade the
former Scout Ranger from naming names. Another ex-soldier, Sen. Antonio
Trillanes IV, said he was certain President Aquino knew who the padrinos
pulling strings in the controversial agency were, and called on the President to
name names, too.
This sounds like a dangerous game of one-upmanship, but in fact Trillanes has a
point. Identifying who the real powers are in Customs would be a vigorous step
in the right direction.
But identification alone is not enough. Proof must be presented, yes, but beyond
that, naming names would be tantamount to declaring open season on
powerful individuals; the President, or indeed anyone else who dares, must be
prepared for the certainty of conflict. If the padrinos in Customs are named, the
intensity of the infighting among the political class will make the political
skirmishing over the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona look like a
bloodless video game.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
4/51
Already, a senator has gone on record to say he has indeed been calling up
Customs officials, but only to complain about inefficiencies or instances of
corruption. We can expect more strategic denials in the future, from other highly
placed politicians or highly influential businessmen. They may be completely
innocent; they may be intricately implicated in the corruption in Customs. But
they have mastered the political game as it is played in the Philippines, enough
to know that all they need to do is ride out the bad publicity, and things will
return to normal.
That is why naming names is important; it fixes the identity of those very people
who have turned the agency into the icon of incompetence and corruption
denounced in the State of the Nation Address. And that is also why Lim missed a
real opportunity to fight for the reform he champions; unlike President Aquino,
he can speak from his personal experience with these padrinos.
We realize that some padrinos change from administration to administration;
how many Filipinos have heard horror stories about one influential individual in
the previous government directly calling the shots in the agency? Lim, then, can
offer a specific kind of testimony: the time-bound kind, which demonstrates how
even corruption in Customs follows a cycle.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
5/51
Even Trillanes must have based his unlikely challenge to President Aquino on
certain knowledge. He can name names, too, offering another kind of
testimony: the one from reputation. It may even be that some of those he has
heard convincing details about are old, familiar namesthe ones who have
been around for decades. Think of the service he will render the country.
But Lim, Trillanes, even Mr. Aquino must prepare to do battle; the padrinos are
where they are precisely because they know their way around power.
The truth is: In the Customs context, money is not the root of all evilthough
there is certainly a lot of money to do evil with. Rather, it is patronage that is the
source of corruption.
The padrinos serve as gatekeepers; their nominees win the right posts. They serve
to protect those they have nominated, from reassignment or the occasional
anticorruption initiative. They serve as guarantors of those they protect, assuring
them of steady extra revenue. They even serve as financiers for political
campaigns.
These powerful forces must be exposed for who they are. Lim, Trillanes, even the
President are faced with the opportunity of a lifetime.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
6/51
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
7/51
Name of Broadsheet: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: July 31, 2013
Columnist: Letty Jimenez Magsanoc
Structural Analysis:
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
8/51
Reverberations
Many of the victims were visitors, convention delegates from around the
country. Perhaps that is why the blast that shook Cagayan de Oro and killed
eight persons and injured 46 others at a popular nightspot last Friday continues
to reverberate. It struckit still janglesa common nerve. A week since the
tragic incident, however, we still dont know who did it, and why it was done.
This silence from the investigating agencies is almost deafening.
Aside from those two essential questions, others also need to be asked. Here are
three related sets.
First: Two days after the bombing, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas noted that the
explosive was really different because it did not have shrapnel or metal parts
like in grenades or claymore mines. The physicians who prepared the autopsy
report had not found any. In other words, the bomb was not a mortar round or
an artillery round, which was set off by a detonator, because no metal parts
were recovered. It did not contain nails, glass shards or metal balls, which are
usually placed inside a bomb to hurt people.
Why, then, did the officer in charge of the Armys 4th Infantry Division, based in
Cagayan de Oro itself, say initial investigation showed that a mortar round had
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
9/51
been used? Perhaps we can attribute Brig. Gen. Ricardo Visayas statement to
initial confusion. But where did his sense of certainty come from? It is made of
mortar but we cannot say what type of mortar, and the investigators are trying
to determine if its a 60mm or an 80mm type of mortar and they are evaluating
the fragments recovered, he said the day after the bombing. Then he added,
in a mix of Filipino and English: This is the style we usually get from armed Moro
rebels in the past, but its not fair to attribute this to any rebel group.
Turns out it was not fair at all to declare the bomb was a mortar round; what was
Visayas purpose in his passive-aggressive raising of the Moro scare?
Second: Early in July, the Canadian, Australian and American embassies issued
adverse travel alerts, advising their citizens not to travel to any part of
Mindanao. The US travel advisory included the cities of Davao, General Santos
and Cagayan de Oro, even though these areas were seen as generally more
controlled. It also noted that US Embassy employees must receive special
authorization from embassy security officials to travel to any location in
Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago, including these urban centers.
Did the perpetrators behind the July 26 bombing show up on the US security
radar? While it is only right that the Philippine government should protest blanket
travel advisories that cover inordinately large areas (any location in
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
10/51
Mindanao?), it is also only prudent for the Department of the Interior and Local
Government to reconsider the basis of the travel alerts and request the three
embassies for a briefing.
Third: Despite Cagayan de Oros longstanding reputation for being safe, the
heavy hand of violence has visited the popular convention city from time to
time. Perhaps unknown or unremembered by many, two mysterious blasts shook
the city late last year.
On Oct. 11, 2012, two bombs were found outside Maxandrea Hotel near Cogon
Market. The second bomb was defused, but the first exploded, killing two
civilians and wounding two of the policemen who had responded to the early
morning call to investigate an unusual package.
On Nov. 21, a grenade attached to the door of a financing company exploded
when the firm opened for business, wounding eight victims, including two
policemen who happened to be passing by at the exact moment of
detonation.
What has happened to the official investigation into these incidents? Even more
important: Do they have any clues to offer about the July 26 bombing? At the
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
11/51
time, sketchy reports suggested that the Oct. 11 blast did not involve mortar
rounds either.
But even if the 2012 bombings have nothing to do with the big one last Friday,
the state of the investigation into the incidents or the lack of resolution in the
cases still bears important consequences. Are the police in the city up to the job
(and deserving of the citys enviable reputation for general safety)? Are certain
groups using the traditional openness of the city to test new modes of attack?
The 2012 bombings quickly faded from national consciousness, in part because
the victims were the citys own residents. We hope that the national attention
that is now focused on Cagayan de Oro will help solve the mystery, not only of
the bombing last Friday, but also of the explosions last year.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
12/51
Name of Broadsheet: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: July 30, 2013
Columnist: Letty Jimenez Magsanoc
Structural Analysis:
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
13/51
Starting them young
Should the Sangguniang Kabataan be abolished? Its getting harder and harder
to find good reasons not to.
The latest reports on the ongoing registration for the SK and barangay elections
in October underscore how compromised this supposed training ground for and
official showcase of the countrys young political elite has become. In the
Visayas, from Tacloban to Cebu, hundreds of registrants were reportedly trucked
to the Commission on Elections offices aboard barangay-owned vehicles or
private buses, provided meals, and promised money in exchange for supporting
specific SK aspirants.
Everything was preplanned, down to the paraphernalia to be used by the
registrants. In Cebu City, a candidate for SK councilor was seen bringing a box
of ball pens, stamp pads and registration forms, said a report in this paper.
Likewise, in Jaro town, Leyte, a barangay official whose daughter will run for SK
admitted that she escorted would-be SK voters to the local Comelec office.
And she wasnt bashful about it: Lets be practical, she declared. I want to
ensure the win of my daughter.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
14/51
Given that mindset, and the example the mother is setting before her child, is it
unreasonable to expect that the young womanor any other SK candidate
exposed to such slick tactics, for that matterwould inevitably end up as
dishonorable as her parent-mentor? The setup, in effect, has become the
breeding ground for that vile species that has been the bane of this country for
so long: the devious, wheeling-dealing politicobut worse, in this case, because
the specimens being corrupted are in the bloom of youth, the so-called hope of
the motherland waylaid so early by the warped example of their elders.
The most odious result of the SKs contamination by the sleazy hand of politics is
the transformation of this once-promising platform for young leaders and bright
political aspirants into the plaything of local dynasties, where the sons and
daughters of families in power are made to learn a variation of that famous
dictumthat politics is addition, and better start counting early.
Scratch a congressman, mayor or governor, and youre likely to find such early
tenure in their hometowns supposed youth legislature as the launch pad for
their entry into the big league. How, for instance, did Junjun Binay become
mayor of Makati? First by serving as SK president in 19922001, where he learned
the ropes under the mentorship of the longtime mayor who was also his father,
now the vice president of the republic.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
15/51
In the beginning, perhaps, the Sangguniang Kabataan raised hope that it
would serve its purpose well. Established as a replacement for the despised
Kabataang Barangay under the regime of Ferdinand Marcos, the SK as created
by the Local Government Code of 1991 aimed to involve the youth in public
governance by giving them the opportunity to serve their communities through
programs they themselves created and ran, and that helped harness their
energies and passions.
But all in the spirit of volunteerism, said Caloocan Rep. Edgardo Erice, a one-
time member of SK who has filed a bill seeking its abolition. The early SK had no
budget from the local government and was run by volunteers, recalled Erice. In
time, however, because of their close proximity to the down-and-dirty business
of real-world politics, the group of impressionable youth also proved to be a
constituency ripe for manipulation.
With money and attention lavished its way, the SK became the logical first
choice target for local politicians seeking a higher position, said Erice. Now, the
School ng Korupsyonas he calls the grouphas, sadly speaking, become
both a tool and a vehicle for the proliferation of corruption.
It remains of crucial importance for the voice of young Filipinos to be heard in
governmental affairs. The SK, however, appears to be no longer the best vehicle
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
16/51
for any such program of youth empowerment, if it ever was. Over the years,
reports of irregularities in its ranks have come to rival the worst shenanigans in
governmentfrom the SK national federation president haled on corruption
charges before the Ombudsman in 2010, to political clans hijacking the group
for both short-term electioneering activities and long-term dynastic plans, and
now the wholesale adoption by SK candidates themselves of the trademark
hakot of their political elders. Such precocious dirty tricks need to be nipped in
the budpermanently.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
17/51
Name of Broadsheet: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: July 29, 2013
Columnist: Letty Jimenez Magsanoc
Structural Analysis:
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
18/51
Port Privatization
For a country with more than 7,100 islands, one would expect a developed
interisland shipping sector. Yet that is not the case with the Philippines. Aside
from the lack of political will on the part of previous administrations, the unusual
role played by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) as regulator of the industry,
developer of ports and competitor of the private sector in maritime trade and
port services has been blamed for the poor state of interisland transportation.
Government ownership of some 100 ports across the country has also led to the
eventual degradation of many of them due to the perennial lack of public
funds to sustain and modernize these facilities. Yet every administration knew
that privatization is the answer to having a developed port network. Just
recently, the chambers of commerce of south Luzon reiterated the call to
modernize and develop the various ports across the country. But first, they said
the government had to level the playing field in the ports sector by ending the
multiple and conflicting roles of the PPA.
Members of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) from
Regions IV-A (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), IV-B (Mindoro,
Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) and Bicol have asked the Department of
Transportation and Communications to amend the PPA charter and leave the
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
19/51
agency only with its regulatory function. An amended PPA charter will signal to
investors that they can expect fair competition in developing and operating
ports, said PCCI president Miguel Varela. A level playing field will be an
incentive for large infrastructure projects because investors will feel predictability
in their operations if the government regulator is not a competing developer of
ports at the same time.
They also asked the DOTC to privatize the ports under the PPA. In 2010, the PPA
said it would privatize at least five state-controlled ports as part of the Aquino
administrations public-private partnership (PPP) program. The first targets
included the ports in Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Ozamiz and General
Santos as well as the roll-on, roll-off (Ro-Ro) ports covered by the so-called
nautical highway that connects Luzon to several islands in the Visayas all the
way down to Mindanao.
While some of the ports are now run by private cargo-handling operators, the
privatization effort for many other facilities remains delayed. The government
can do some catching up if it can fast-track the privatization of the major port
of Davao. Earlier considered as one of the possible links in the Ro-Ro shipping
network of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Davao port failed to
make the cut because of its dilapidated condition. This moved the government
to draft last year a modernization program costing anywhere from P3 billion to
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
20/51
P5 billion through the PPP program. Two local private sector firmsglobal player
International Container Terminal Services Inc. and Asian Terminals Inc.have
expressed interest in the project. Bidding was earlier scheduled for the middle of
2013, but no official word has yet been announced on when the actual bidding
will be held.
An efficient network of ports is very crucial. Being an archipelago, maritime
transport plays a very vital role in developing the regions, where poverty remains
high. Ports are very important as these serve as gateways to towns and cities in
transporting people and in trading goods and services.
The country has a creditable record in the privatization of essential services, with
the water distribution previously handled by the state-owned Metropolitan
Waterworks and Sewerage System the most successful example. Over the past
years, the governments track record in port privatization has been limited to a
few major facilities, among them the Batangas Port, the Manila North Harbor,
the Manila International Container Terminal and the Manila South Harbor.
It is time to speed up the privatization of as many ports nationwide as possible.
There is no doubt that these facilities can be better handled by private investors
with the money and expertise to operate them efficiently. In 2010, PPA General
Manager Juan Sta. Ana said: We subscribe to the basic notion that the private
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
21/51
sector is the engine of growth. For this reason, we should continue to encourage
more private-sector participation in the management, operation and
development of ports. Time to follow these words with action.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
22/51
Name of Broadsheet: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: July 28, 2013
Columnist: Letty Jimenez Magsanoc
Structural Analysis:
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
23/51
Abolish Customs?
The harsh words were President Benigno Aquino IIIs. Its like the Bureau of
Customs is competing to be incompetent, he said in his fourth State of the
Nation Address. Instead of collecting the right taxes and stopping contraband,
it seems they [Customs personnel] are ceaselessly letting trade slip through, as
well as illegal drugs, arms and other such into our territory. The question is: Is the
President now open to the trial balloon Customs Commissioner Rozzano Rufino
Biazon floated last April, that of abolishing the bureau in its entirety?
Upon hearing the Presidents harsh language against corruption and
incompetence in the Bureau of Immigration, the National Irrigation
Administration and Customs, Biazon immediately offered to resignin a
decidedly post 20th-century way, by sending President Aquino a text message.
Aquino reaffirmed his confidence in Biazon, also via SMS.
Emboldened by the Presidents new expression of support, Biazon late last week
ordered all 17 Customs collectors to vacate their posts, to prepare the way for a
revamp. Its logical that we start with the district collectors. Providing new
leaders in the collection districts will at least give a fresh start on how to institute
reforms down the line. We will focus next on the examiners, assistants as well as
other personnel in the bureau, Biazon said.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
24/51
This is a major initiative; the Customs collectors represent the countrys 17 major
ports of entry (among them, the Port of Manila, the Ninoy Aquino International
Airport and the Manila International Container Terminal) and as such (together
with the 37 subport collectors) may be the most important officials in the Bureau
of Customs.
Biazon acknowledged the popular perception: There are 17 collection districts,
17 kings and subkings. But he said he did not subscribe to that view: I dont
acknowledge or recognize kings, theyre collectors under the authority of the
commissioner.
We will find out soon enough whether these are mere brave words, or whether
Biazon has sufficient political will to remove underperforming or corrupt
collectors. Under the law, his appointments are subject to the approval of the
finance secretary, but in reality, the choice of which collectors are removed or
retained is Biazons.
If all or most of the 17 are merely reassigned to other collection districts, then we
can expect nothing much from this so-called revamp; it will be merely cosmetic.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
25/51
A good performance record is definitely a plus factor, Biazon said, identifying
the criteria he will use to choose the new collectors. Well also check if they are
[the] subject of complaints, their level of notoriety, among other things.
Perhaps he should also check with the President. When Mr. Aquino assailed
those officials in Customs for whom the only thing that matters is getting rich,
surely he must have had some persons specifically in mind?
But even assuming that every single corrupt or incompetent official in the
bureau has been identified and replaced, there is no guarantee that the
agency will work as designedbecause it remains subject to the very powerful
forces that retired general Danilo Lim referenced when he tendered his
resignation as a deputy Customs commissioner.
These forces, Lim said, prevent genuine reforms from taking root in the agency.
But the former coup plotter and elite soldier stopped short of naming names.
Any consumer of the news can make a guess: Could these powerful forces
consist of the Presidents own Liberal Party perhaps, or Vice President Jejomar
Binays busy United Nationalist Alliance, or ex-Senate President Juan Ponce
Enriles unrivalled political network, or the politically influential Iglesia ni Cristo, or
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
26/51
powerful businessmen, or indeed all of the above? The ordinary citizen is
reduced to guesswork, because no one, not even Lim, would say.
Thats a shame. Lim can render real service to the country by talking straight
and telling us exactly what he knows. Information about who pulls the strings in
Customs is by itself a necessary reform.
Necessary, but insufficient. Judging from President Aquinos own scathing
remarks, the culture of the Customs agency is rotten to the core. A revamp or
two, no matter how high up, will not be enough. Its time to reconsider the idea
of abolition.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
27/51
Name of Broadsheet: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: July 27, 2013
Columnist: Letty Jimenez Magsanoc
Structural Analysis:
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
28/51
Missing
The third class town of Donsol in Sorsogon had made a name for itself because
of the butanding (whale sharks) that congregated in its waters at certain times
of the year, so much so that its very name became almost synonymous with the
gentle giants.
Local and foreign visitors set out in boats to catch a glimpse of or interact with
the butanding, the largest of all fish. Some of the creatures became veritable
stars: Putol with the missing tail fin; Nognog, a stand-out by dint of being
darker than the others; Kuping with the folded back fin; and the obviously -
named Puti.
This come-on resulted in revenues for Donsol (pop.: 47,000) and lessons in self-
sufficiency for its residents, who not only serve as guides and butanding
interaction officers (BIO) but who also open their homes to tourists under the
home-stay program. The Donsol folk came to rely heavily on tourism revenues of
some P35 million a year. And the once-sleepy seaside town enjoyed certain
developments in the form of resorts and restaurants to cater to the tourists, as
well as a now-paved main road. We were once a fifth-class town, Donsol
tourism officer Nenita Pedragosa recalled at one point during the boom. Now,
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
29/51
we are a third-class town and we are actually applying to be classified as first-
class.
That was then. From reports, butanding sightings have been steadily declining
since 2011, and the four stars appear to have gone missing. Says Donsol BIO
chair Alan Amanse: The bigger ones measuring 14 meters long are nowhere in
sight. What has caused this regrettable turn of events? Pedragosa scoffs at the
suggestion that the whale sharks have taken off for Oslob in Cebu, where they
are fed by hand: Those who want to see butanding come to Donsol first. They
only go to Oslob when they fail to see one here.
The theory is that the disappearance of Donsols butanding is due to a killer
combination of global warming and bad sanitation. Amanse notes that the sea
temperature has risen from 26-27 degrees Celsius in 2012 to the current 29-30
degrees. Donsol Councilor Rey Aquino says fishermen have overgathered the
plankton that the butanding feed on, and, more urgently, the waters have been
contaminated by the dangerous E.coli bacteria as a result of the building of
household toilets on the riverbanks. And one more significant thing: According
to Amanse, the butanding are suffering from stress because of too much
interaction in BIO-coordinated events from December to May. (During a
standard interaction event, some 40 boats loaded with six tourists each come
close to the whale sharks.)
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
30/51
Fewer butanding sightings have resulted in fewer visitors. Per Amanses count,
the number of tourists has dropped by 2,000 in the first half of the year, from the
average of 25,000. Thus, tourism revenues are slipping.
A review of Donsols tourism program is clearly in order. The absence of the
regular butanding is worrisome enough. Donsol BIOs say only two whale
sharksCurly and Luckyare regularly seen in the waters. The way things
are going, they may also soon vanish.
The Worldwide Fund for Nature Philippines, which had helped build the
ecotourism project in Donsol, once sounded the warning that the towns growth
required careful handling. The popularity of Donsol as a major destination for
[butanding-watching] needs to be handled with care to ensure the
sustainability of the whale shark interaction activities. The unprecedented
increase in tourists wishing to experience an encounter with the whale sharks
brings with it much risk and potential danger to these gentle giants, it said. It
also noted that the increase in the number of visitors had led to a parallel rise in
noncompliance with butanding interaction rules, and that the habitat of the
whale sharks needed to be managed properly.
The story of Donsol and its star butanding is all too familiar, hewing as it does to
the now-common narrative of tourism boom, unregulated development, and
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
31/51
neglect of ecological imperatives. Lets hope that it does not end in tragedy: a
case of killing the goose that lays the golden egg.
Lets hope that theres still time and space to turn things around.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
32/51
Name of Broadsheet: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: July 26, 2013
Columnist: Letty Jimenez Magsanoc
Structural Analysis:
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
33/51
Exclusionist
What was KLM thinking? The Dutch airline came under fire recently for having
barred an 18-year-old indigenous Filipino woman from flying to Rio de Janeiro
for the flimsiest but most outrageous of reasons: She was tagged as not ready
to travel despite the full documentation she presented to airline personnel.
Arjean Marie Belco of Bukidnons Talaandig tribe, whose trip was sponsored by
the nonprofit group GoodX.org and its partner Cartwheel Foundation.org., was
at the Kuala Lumpur airport on July 20, en route to Brazil to take part in the World
Youth Day celebrations, when a KLM employee identified as a Mr. Shawa
stopped her at the check-in counter. The man was doubtful about the validity
of Belcos tripand would not let her on the flight even after he was shown valid
travel and supplementary documents.
According to the complaint posted by Belco and her sponsors on Facebook,
Shawa also let loose with disparaging comments and questionsabout why her
ticket was too cheap and was just purchased yesterday, why her passport
looked new, and how much money she had, among other things. Belco was
able to present bank documentation that she had sufficient travel funds; she
also requested the airline to call her sponsors to confirm the trip. But she was still
barred from flying.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
34/51
GoodX.org said it had contacted KLM before Belcos ticket was bought, to
confirm her flight details. So what would account for the airlines action?
GoodX.org thinks it was because a high-handed KLM employee profiled Belco
and decided she didnt fit his idea of a typical international traveler. Arjean
was denied her right to travel. This could also be perceived as a possible case of
discrimination based on appearance, gender, ethnicity, nationality, age or
social status, GoodX.org said in its FB post.
Belco, a BS Education student who was on her very first trip outside of the
Philippines, was eventually allowed to fly and is now in Rio. In a subsequent
statement, KLM said it had gotten in touch with GoodX.org and had made all
arrangements needed to bring this to a good end. It also said it values all of its
passengers, does not distinguish between age, gender, race, religion or
lifestyle, and accepts passengers in possession of valid travel documents.
But there was no explanation whatsoever for its exclusionist behavior toward the
young woman, who was not only carrying valid travel papers but was also fully
backed by her sponsors. Worse, there was no hint of remorse in KLMs statement,
or a smidgen of acknowledgment that it had made a regrettable mistake.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
35/51
The absence of apology is appalling. This airlines display of disregard for the
rights of customers deserves the strongest rebuke. Travellers are also hereby
forewarned.
All-embracing
Belcos flight to Rio de Janeiro was delayed by two days. But mercifully she
made it in time as the World Youth Day festivities went into high gear with the
arrival of Pope Francis, who has been electrifying the world with the radical
brand of simplicity and humility that he immediately put into practice in the
staid and snooty Vatican.
The former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio has brought to Brazil his back to
basics spirit. His packed schedule includes not only high Masses for fervent
Catholics in grandiose basilicas and appearances before tens of thousands of
young faithful from the world over, but also a visit to a hospital to comfort drug
addictsa gesture reminiscent of the many acts of simple kindness he has
displayed in the gilded capital of Catholicism, such as washing the feet of
juvenile inmates on Holy Thursday, visiting poor migrants outside Rome, and
getting off his popemobile to embrace disabled children.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
36/51
Francis has also called on priests to live simpler lifestyles, declared in one homily
that Christs redemption covered even the atheists, and greeted Muslims
during Ramadan. For all these, conservative Catholics have not been really
happy, reports the National Catholic Reporter. Thats the surest sign there is that
this Popes campaign to return the 1.2 billion-strong Catholic congregation to
the kinder, gentler fundamentals of its faithto become a compassionate, all-
embracing Churchis working.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
37/51
Name of Broadsheet: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: July 24, 2013
Columnist: Letty Jimenez Magsanoc
Structural Analysis:
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
38/51
Wash it out
With unusual speed, the Philippine National Police has concluded that the
deaths of the Ozamiz Gang leader and his henchman last week were probably
the result of a rubout. PNP Director General Alan Purisima said administrative
charges have been filed against 14 policemen implicated in the extrajudicial
killings, including a superintendent.
I have already approved the precharge evaluation of those involved in the
[Ricky] Cadavero and [Wilfredo] Panogalinga case because it appears in the
investigation that there have been violations committed, Purisima told reporters
on Tuesdayor less than 24 hours after President Aquino highlighted the case in
his fourth State of the Nation Address.
The President had devoted a paragraph to incidents that continue to stain the
honor of our police force. (The official English translation of the Sona offers a
somewhat more literary version of the ritual speech. The paragraph in question
begins with: There are still incidents that sully our police forces honor. In th e
rest of the quote, below, we follow a more colloquial reading.)
We must all have heard about what happened to the members of the Ozamiz
Gang, Ricky Cadavero and Wilfredo Panogalinga: They were arrested, but
ended up dead. Like the investigation we conducted into what happened in
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
39/51
Atimonan, we will make sure that those policemen or whoever were involved
here will be made to answerno matter how high their ranks are. Whoever are
the masterminds here: Get ready. I am close to finding out who all of you are.
The Presidents language suggests that he had been recently briefed by
Purisima or Interior Secretary Mar Roxas about the status of the internal
investigation that the PNP conducted (which is separate from the inquiry
launched by the National Bureau of Investigation, on orders of Justice Secretary
Leila de Lima). It also suggests that he now considers the official response to the
Jan. 6 incident in Atimonan, Quezonthe deliberate ambush at an improvised
checkpoint of alleged leaders and protectors of an illegal gambling syndicate,
resulting in 13 deathsa benchmark to measure future inquiries by.
From the start, the Ozamiz Gang escape-try story raised suspicions. Only a few
hours after being presented by both Roxas and Purisima at a Camp Crame
news conference on July 15, Cadavero and Panogalinga were killed in San
Pedro, Laguna. The police escorts claimed that the two had tried to grab their
firearms, after their convoy came under attack from unknown motorcycle-riding
gunmen.
Even before a witness came out (and sources inside Camp Crame began
talking), the details of the story already seemed hard to credit. Why were the
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
40/51
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
41/51
Ozamiz Gang stain, multiple murder charges similar to those filed in the
Atimonan 13 case must be brought against everyone involvedno matter how
high their ranks are.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
42/51
Name of Broadsheet: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: July 23, 2013
Columnist: Letty Jimenez Magsanoc
Structural Analysis:
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
43/51
Rights victims in limbo
Last February, to much fanfare on the part of Congress and Malacaang,
President Aquino signed into law a bill authorizing compensation of P10 billion
(about $230 million) to victims of human-rights abuses by the Marcos
dictatorship. For the claimants, it was a case of better late than neverthe fruit
of 26 years of unrelenting, often lonely, struggle not only to get the Philippine
government to recognize their status as primary victims of state-sponsored
violence under martial law, but also, and more importantly, to redress that
injustice by way of an official government act that finally enforces some
measure of restitution and punishment against the Marcoses.
Nearly six months later, not one of the claimants has received his or her share of
that compensation, because Malacaang has yet to appoint the members of
the board that would administer the fund. Yet again, the rights victims are being
made to waittheir claims stuck in bureaucratic limbo even as their ranks
continue to dwindle due to old age and the ravages of the violence they
endured long ago.
And now, the government seems to want to add cruelty to its neglect of the
rights victims: The Presidential Commission on Good Government is opposing the
$10-million settlement that the victims lawyers have reportedly forged with the
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
44/51
unnamed buyer of a valuable Claude Monet painting believed to be part of
the ill-gotten wealth of Imelda Marcos, former first lady and now Ilocos Norte
representative.
The well-known artwork by the French Impressionist painter, titled Le Bassin aux
Nympheas (Water Lily Pond, 1899), was sold to the buyer in 2010 by Vilma
Bautista, Imelda Marcos former social secretary and confidante, for $32 million.
The New York-based Bautista was arrested in 2012 for attempting to sell three
more Impressionist artworks from the Marcos hoard. The buyer of the Monet,
who was said to have bought the painting in good faith, didnt want to be
dragged into the highly publicized case of Bautistawhose trial for art theft and
tax fraud is set to start on Oct. 7 in New Yorkand thus agreed to enter into a
settlement with the rights victims over the paintings ownership for $10 million.
The settlement is the handiwork of Robert Swift, the same US-based lawyer who
won a $2-billion award in a class action suit against the Marcos estate in 1995 on
behalf of 9,539 victims of martial-law abuses. If the agreement with the Monet
buyer is successfully implemented, the remaining claimants, now down to 7,500,
may get another $1,000 in compensation on top of the P43,000 (the equivalent
of $1,000) each of them received in 2011 under a $10-million initial settlement of
the $2-billion judgment.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
45/51
Two thousand dollars, or about P86,000. Is that sufficient to compensate for the
rape, torture, mutilation and other horrific barbarities inflicted on thousands of
men and women, among them the flower of the countrys youth, by agents and
soldiers of the Marcos dictatorship? Is that recompense enough for families
wracked by anguish over a parent, spouse, or child gone missing or driven into
hiding in the face of government harassment, oreveryones nightmare in that
benighted eraa loved ones mangled body?
When President Aquino signed the Human Rights Victims Reparation and
Recognition Act of 2013 during the Edsa rites last February, it was hailed as a
landmark measure that recognized the heroism of those who fought and
suffered under martial law. But it is a recognition that the government has been
unable to deliver so far. One would think, then, that it would welcome the
justness of another arrangementsuch as the $10-million Monet settlement
that could take up the slack and begin compensating the victims.
But the PCGG stands in the way, insisting that the government, not the rights
victims, owns the Monet painting, and thus they have no right to its proceedsa
perfectly valid legal argument, and also a callous, insensitive one. This saga of
injustice has lasted nearly three decades. Whatever funds are extracted from
the Marcos loot, and in whatever waywhether by formal budget allocation or
through the disposal of the ill-gotten hoardthese victims deserve to finally get
their due.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
46/51
Until they are afforded such closure, their ordeal continuesand this countrys
as well, with its collective inability, or plain unwillingness, to come to terms with its
dark past.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
47/51
Name of Broadsheet: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: July 22, 2013
Columnist: Letty Jimenez Magsanoc
Structural Analysis:
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
48/51
Affordable air travel
It used to be that air travel was the domain of the rich. The emergence of so-
called low-cost carriers (LCCs) changed the game by opening air travel to the
burgeoning middle class. However, having LCCs is just half of the picture. These
budget airlines must have their own airport terminals to keep their costs low.
The government announcement last week of a plan to build a P4-billion facility
beside the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 to service the
requirements of LCCs is welcome news. The Department of Transportation and
Communications is doing a feasibility study on a new terminal that can handle
10 million passengers a year. The study may be completed before this year ends
and, if proven viable, construction can start next year. The new facility should
take two years to complete and will hopefully be ready before the end of
President Aquinos term in 2016. A 3.3-hectare lot beside the controversial Naia 3
is being considered for the budget terminal. The government, according to Jose
Angel Honrado, general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority,
also hopes to bring Naia 3 to full operational capacity by the first quarter of
2014, and the idea is to transfer all domestic budget flights to the new terminal
so that Naia 3 can focus on international flights.
The government is also revising the master plan for the Clark international airport
to now include facilities for LCCs. If plans push through, a P6-billion budget
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
49/51
terminal will be built starting next year for completion also in 2016. It is estimated
that LCC traffic accounts for 80 percent of all aircraft movements in the Clark
airport, thus the need to build a budget terminal. The DOTC has allotted P3
billion in its 2014 budget for the construction of the 45,000-square-meter budget
terminal, and another P3 billion will be released in 2015 to complete it. The
budget terminal will have a capacity of 4.5 million passengers a year. The DOTC
had said that the new budget terminal would be an entirely different structure
to look more like the Changi Airport in Singapore but linked to the existing
terminal that has a capacity of two million passengers a year.
An LCC terminal is specifically designed with the needs of low-cost airlines in
mind. It has simple facilities to keep construction cost low and maintenance
expenses at the minimum. The concept of an exclusive LCC terminal is believed
to have been pioneered by Malaysian tycoon Tony Fernandes of leading
budget airline AirAsia at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in 2006. The
Malaysian airport and another in Singapore are the two often cited examples of
LCC terminals in Asia-Pacific.
With a stripped-down and inexpensive terminal, an airport can cut operating
costs significantly, passing along the savings to budget airlines that, in turn, can
extend these to passengers in the form of cheap ticket prices. Cost reductions
compared to normal airports are usually in the physical building, forgoing
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
50/51
expensive architectural design in favor of simple warehouse-like structures with
low ceilings and without the moving walkways, fewer restaurants and duty-free
stores, and simplified baggage handling. However, these terminals may have
modern facilities such as free Internet access. Studies on LCC terminals show
that costs to an airline were as little as two-thirds of the total cost of landing at
the main terminal, providing a big competitive advantage to budget airlines
insofar as pricing their tickets is concerned.
Supporting LCCs will definitely help the governments big push for tourismone
of the economic sectors that public and private experts believe can sustain the
countrys high-growth momentum. With two budget terminals coming upone
at the Naia and another in Clarklocal and foreign low-cost airlines can look
forward to expanding their operations to and from the Philippines. The
government should also consider an LCC terminal in the Visayas and another in
Mindanao to make the benefits of cheap air travel available to all people
across the country.
But the government must always keep in mind that low cost should not mean
poor service at the airport for passengers lured by the cheap fares of budget
airlines.
-
7/27/2019 Kate Eeeeee
51/51