By LUIS V. TEODORO Vantage Point | BusinessWorld In response to, among other media issues, the continuing killing of journalists — 130 so far killed in the line of duty since 1986 and 16 since Benigno Aquino III became President in 2010 — Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada has re-filed the “Magna Carta for Journalists” bill…
Category: Contributions
Lutong makaw
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo Streetwise | BusinessWorld The negotiations between the Philippine and US governments is just on its first round but the results are already predictable since both sides are saying exactly the same thing about the whys and wherefores of this new “framework agreement” to supposedly lay down “general parameters and principles to guide…
Insurance Commission remiss in regulating pre-need firms
By Satur C. Ocampo At Ground Level | The Philippine Star Last April 20 and 27, I wrote about how Pryce Plans, Inc. and its president, Salvador P. Escano, treated me over the lump-sum payment of my modest (P300,000) pension plan that the company was obligated to hand over to me in 2008. After a…
Corruption
By LUIS V. TEODORO Vantage Point | BusinessWorld Campaigning in 2010, Benigno Aquino III identified corruption as the cause of Philippine poverty, and promised to put an end to it once he was elected President. It hasn’t been as easy as he seems to have thought. As the network of corruption of which the 10-billion…
Aquino and the ‘pork barrel’
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo Streetwise | BusinessWorld The expose by whistleblowers on the Napoles P10 billion ”pork barrel” scam for ghost projects involving members of Congress, executive agencies, local government units, fake NGOS and a big-time syndicate of influence peddlers and high-flying hustlers could be explosive enough to cause a major shake-up in the way patronage…
P-Noy mum on human rights, GPH-NDFP peace talks
By Satur C. Ocampo At Ground Level | The Philippine Star Last August 2, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process issued a quaint statement through its website. It’s titled, “Goodwill, sincerity will move GPH-CPP/NPA/NDF peace process forward.” It quotes remarks by Alexander Padilla, head of the government panel in the GPH-NDFP…
How far can Pope Francis shake up the Catholic Church?
By Satur C. Ocampo At Ground Level | The Philippine Star By his humble demeanor and simple lifestyle and his public pronouncements since his election as Pontiff in March, Pope Francis (the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina) appears bent on shaking up the Roman Catholic Church. He has shunned staying at the Pope’s official…
Looking for a champion
By LUIS V. TEODORO Vantage Point | BusinessWorld Manny Pacquiao has every right to aspire for the Presidency, for which post he could run by 2022 when he turns 43. Currently 34 years old, Pacquiao will qualify as a candidate for the post in 2019, when, according to the most sanguine predictions (or most pessimistic,…
SONA — a reality check
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo Streetwise | BusinessWorld There we go again. SONA (State of the Nation Address) day and activists and ordinary citizens were once more out in the streets for the annual exercise of their right to rain on the ruling regime’s SONA parade by presenting their own version of the national situation. It seemed…
The leaves for the forest
By LUIS V. TEODORO Vantage Point | BusinessWorld “Change” has been the mantra of all administrations since at least the Marcos period (1965-1986). Ferdinand Marcos vowed to “make this nation great again” when he was elected in 1965, and to “reform society and save the Republic” when he placed the entire country under martial law…
Preempting a firestorm of protest
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo Streetwise | BusinessWorld The “Amboy” (American Boy) troika of President Aquino, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario is hard at work justifying renewed basing rights for the United States Armed Forces while making it appear that there is nothing new about what will be granted to the…