Fil-Am Davao City:
battles Smoke-free
VOL. I NO. 18
P3-B PIG LOAN
GONE IN FLOOD?
By
TOTO
CAUSING
WHO cares? Does GMA
cares? It is GMA as in Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo, not the
GMA Channel 7.
The two flood catastro-
phes brought about by ty-
phoons “Ondoy” (interna-
tionally named “Ketsana”)
and “Pepeng” (internation-
ally called “Parma”) have
provided a perfect excuse
for the uncollectible billions
of pesos of loans extended
by Land Bank of the Philip-
pines to another govern-
ment corporation commonly
called “Quedancor.”
While hundreds of poor
Filipinos drowned or buried
alive in mud due to the ram-
paging flood rush, the
President’s men were happy
as they would now be able
to liquidate the hundreds of
millions of pesos that they
have squandered from the
equally-perilous P3-billion
loan for swine raising.
Overall damage
and loss of lives
In last Sunday’s maxi-
mum count, 269 were con-
firmed to have been buried
The ultimate justice
By TOTO CAUSING
(Editor’s Note: This is
reprinted with some modi-
fications to signal the
start of the Jury Move-
ment, a lifetime advocacy
of the author and editor-
in-chief of Dyaryo
Magdalo, in collabora-
tion with the originator of
the cause, Atty. Marlowe
Camello of the California
Bar Association, USA,
Jim Nepomu–ceno of Phil-
ippine Judicial Reforms
Movement, and Ana
Maravilla of London who
spearheads and spends
own income for promot-
by mudslides in the Cordil-
lera region and dozens of
people were still reported
missing. Those who died in
floods were about 10 per-
cent only.
In the floods brought
about by Ondoy a week be-
fore, about 300 persons
were reported killed in
Marikina, Cainta and Pasig,
particularly in villages and
squatters’ houses on the
banks of Marikina River run-
ning from Rodriguez town,
and also particularly in ar-
eas of the Manggahan
floodways of Pasig.
Pig loans used in
Arroyo’s fight vs FPJ
We lost productive
people, we also stand to lose
billions of pesos in funds for
that swine project used as a
cover to ferret out funds to
be used in the 2004 elections
by Gloria and her allies.
The loan of Landbank to
Quedancor was approved
two months before the 2004
elections, while the team of
Gloria Arroyo was in panic
on how to beat the late
Fernando Poe Jr.
Swallowed by $329-M
NBN-ZTE scandal
Majority of these billion-
ing jury trial for Philjury.
If you are convinced to
this advocacy for our
children’s and country’s sake,
you should volunteer to cam-
paign for signatures to
amend our Constitution to
establish Jury System. If you
are willing to convince your
neighbors, friends and rela-
tives for this cause, please
email to the author at
berteni.causing@gmail.com
your personal circum-
stances, your voter’s infor-
mation, including precinct
number, town or city and
congressional district.
We need volunteers for
this HISTORIC PATRIOTIC
OCTOBER 12-18, 2009
MONEY FROM ONDOY FLOOD – This boy picks up styro wastes left by the devastating Ondoy floods on a beach in
Navotas City, near Navotas River. Too young to be a bread winner, this boy told this photographer that it would be
enough to help his family eat for a day and save some for his school supplies. Photo by NICK GALINO
peso loans were reported to
have been loaned to poor
Filipinos in rural areas for
them to raise pigs. The oth-
ers were reported to have
been extended to agriculture
programs for the poor.
This swine scandal was
CHANGE. If you still love
your country, please join
our advocacy.)
It is common for Filipinos
to hear or experience per-
sonally injustices in the
hands of men of justice.
When I say “men of jus-
tice,” I refer to persons who
are judges, justices of the
tribunals, the prosecutors
who possess the knowl-
edge of laws and skills to
decide whether to hail an
accused to the courts, the
labor arbiters, the officers of
commissions exercising the
power to judge although
technically called “quasi-ju-
Cherry Ann
Kubota:
Men’s favorite
Page 6
uncovered about the same
time when the $239-million
NBN-ZTE scandal was ex-
posed by whistleblower Jun
Lozada Jr. and Joey de
Venecia III, the latter
gambled his father’s politi-
To page 2
dicial” bodies, and the like.
It is common for us to
learn of innocent persons
convicted or guilty per-
sons acquitted. It is also
common to see innocent
persons being hailed to
court or persons you
know who are likely guilty,
like Joc-joc Bolante, but
absolved by the prosecu-
tors or fiscals. It is com-
mon to hear labor arbiters
deciding wrongly because
of money. The same is true
for commissions, includ-
ing the National Labor Re-
lations Commission
(NLRC).
To page 3
against
‘virgin girls’
mafia in
Angeles
Page 3
HELL AT
POST OFFICE!
By OMAY E. RENTA and RONALD HERICO
SEVERAL officials of a
union of the Philippine
Postal Corporation, or sim-
ply Post Office, are com-
plaining they are now living
as if a life in hell.
The union president,
Tirso Paglicawan, is a pic-
ture of a skinny, small and
midget man that you would
never mistake him for a
fighter.
He complains about the
incessant non-giving of the
employees’ benefits, the
very small salary of his mem-
bers with the lowest getting
only about P6,000 a month
or about P272.00 while the
minimum wage law in pri-
vate companies are getting
P382 as the minimum daily
wage.
He said that the
but you
have to
pay
Page 7
hardworking mailmen and
mail sorters work hard, their
bosses are sitting in the
comforts of their offices
while receiving salaries of
more than P100,000 a month.
Paglicawan lamented the
big disparity in the salary
scale between the post of-
fice employees and the pri-
vate workers, but he cannot
stomach the far distortions
of salary between the lowly
employees and the bosses,
led by Postmaster General
Hector Villanueva, his
deputy postmasters gen-
eral, the members of the
Board of Philpost and the
other directors of depart-
ments.
“If your are assigned in
Metro Manila, you will re-
To page 2
 2 OCTOBER 12-18, 2009

P3-B PIG LOAN GONE IN FLOOD?

From page 1
cal career by telling all what
he knew about the over-
priced national broadband
project. True enough,
Joey’s father was ousted
from the Speaker’s post.
The broadband project
did not push through, but it
revealed that then Commis-
sion on Elections Commis-
sioner Benjamin Abalos Sr.
was the one acting in the
middle between the ZTE of-
ficials and the Office of the
President for the consum-
mation of the contract.
During the negotiation
for the said project, Lozada
said he heard Abalos talk-
ing on the phone dangling
P200 million for then Na-
tional Economic Develop-
ment Authority (NEDA) ex-
ecutive director Romulo
Neri if only the NBN-ZTE
project will be recommended
by the latter for approval.
In one of the meetings
for the said broadband
project, Joey revealed to the
Senate that Gentleman Mike
Arroyo shouted at him:
“Back off!” The former
speaker’s son said that the
President’s husband
wanted him not to bid for
the project and let it be
given to ZTE.
Because of the much big-
ger stake, the NBN-ZTE
scandal public investiga-
tions or hearings swallowed
the public’s attention away
from the P3-billion swine
scandal.
Immoral fees from
swine loan scandal
As the NBN-ZTE public
hearings were heating up in
the Senate, the P3-billion
swine project popped out,
exposing that Jose C.
Nograles, brother of
Speaker Prospero C.
Nograles, profited P100 mil-
lion in “arranger’s fees” as
payment to a private con-
sultant that arranged the
loan between Quedancor
and Landbank.
These fees were ques-
tioned because the loan was
between two government
corporations and each of
them have in-house loan
contract experts to arrange
everything.
From the same contract,
a private law firm also
earned P14 million, also
questioned because both
government corporations,
the Quedancor and the
Landbank, have plenty of
in-house lawyers.
Swine loan funded
poll fraud to beat FPJ
Nevertheless, it was be-
lieved by many that the said
loan was so made to source
out funds to be used for the
struggling campaign of Ar-
royo against FPJ.
Yes, Arroyo was declared
by the Presidential Board of
Canvassers, composed of
the senators and congress-
men, as the winner by about
one million votes over FPJ.
A few months after FPJ
died of a stroke, there was
released to the public this
explosive Hello Garci tape
recordings of the conversa-
tions between Arroyo and
then Comelec Commissioner
Virgilio Garcillano.
In the said tape, it
showed the Arroyo was al-
ways talking to Garcillano
who was appearing to be
manipulating the results of
the elections in Mindanao
with the objective of her
getting a one-million-vote
margin over the late actor
dubbed by the Filipinos as
“The King of Philippine
Movies.”
But with these two great
floods, the hundreds of
ghost loans of piglets and
feeds can now be justified
as having been swept away
by floods. As of this writ-
ing, two of the three parts
of Pangasinan looked like an
ocean of brown water.
Evil men invoking God
These otherwise men of
evil will now invoke God to
cover their despicable mis-
deeds to the people.
“It was an Act of God that
damaged everything, even
insurance firms do not pay
for losses due to natural di-
sasters,” they would now
say.
These two great floods
provided a perfect armor for
the corrupt politicians who
profited from the pig scan-
dal, as well as Gloria Arroyo
and her children, to tell the
voters come the May 2010
elections that the pigs were
and the feeds were swept
away by floods.
Being an “Act of God,”
they cannot compel pay-
ment those poor Filipinos
who availed of pig raising
loans.
How to disprove ghosts
never availed of loans?
Of course, it would be
next to impossible to prove
that the papers showing the
list of loans were indeed true
loans although in truth they
are just lists on the papers
with fake signatures of al-
leged loaners.
Unless those in
the list, if they are genuine
people or not invented
names, would come out to
testify they never availed of
the pig loans, there is no
more evidence to pin down
those officials involved in
the monumental loan
anomaly.
But what makes it dou-
bly hard is if those names of
loaners are ghosts, there is
no way of proving these
loaners existed and as such
there are no one to use to
testify that the monies were
not given them.
Swine loan has
no collateral
While you cannot get a
loan from any bank without
giving any guaranty, such
as real estate property for
real estate mortgage or cars
for chattel mortgage loans,
the P3-billion loan extended
by Landbank to Quedancor
did not have any collateral.
The only thing that
Landbank holds against
Quedancor are the contract
of loan and the “zero” cou-
pons.
These are “zero” cou-
pons because the coupons
are actually pieces of paper
that only serve as an evi-
dence of debt.
These coupons do not
represent collaterals, unlike
the coupons named “deriva-
tives” used by stockbrokers
in the Wall Street, where
stock traders were made to
believe that the papers they
were holding represented
the mortgages of houses
across America, and which
papers became valueless
when house loan borrowers
turned to be already default-
ing on mortgage loans and
surrendered those houses
financed by these mort-
gages.
The swine loan is yet to
mature in 2011, but the cur-
rent financial standing of the
Quedancor, now named
People’s Credit and Finance
Corp. (PCFC), borders on
bankruptcy. This is revealed
by the 2008 Audit report of
the Commission on Audit.
If Quedancor were only
a private corporation, it has
no way of paying out these
big loans.
The lucky thing that
goes well for Landbank to
be paid of its loans is the
fact that the National Gov-
ernment can anytime infuse
more billions of pesos in
additional capital to PCFC
or Quedancor.
And if these coupons
given in “guaranty” do not
years when they are due,
counting from 2004.
How the pig loans are
loaned out to people
In using these funds,
anybody who availed of
loans and whose applica-
tions were approved re-
ceived no money.
What they received were
loans in the form of piglets
and feeds.
After their loans were
approved, the Quedancor
gave them “purchase or-
ders,” mere documents or-
dering a supplier of piglets
and feeds to give the goods
loaned.
After presenting these
“purchase orders” or “POs”
to the assigned supplier
called “IS” or investment
supplier, the loaner should
be given the number of pig-
lets and the feeds.
The loan agreement with
the loaner is that when
these piglets were “har-
vested,” they would be
bought by the same “IS”
and the proceeds should be
given to the Quedancor to
pay for the loan and the ex-
cess given to the loaner.
If this arrangement went
as planned and as con-
tracted, there would be no
problem because the grown-
up pigs will surely be sold
at prices enough to cover
the costs of the feeds and
the piglets with excess go-
ing to the loaner as profit.
Actually, it is an arrange-
ment where the loaners are
only made as “growers” as
in “contract growers” of

HELL AT POST OFFICE!

From page 1
ally suffer from starvation
because the salaries are
not enough due to high
cost of living, compared to
our members in the prov-
inces,” Paglicawan said.
He said the employees
recognize the fact that the
income of the Post Office
nowadays is not enough
to meet the demands of
benefits.
However, he said, if
only our bosses would
sacrifice some of their sala-
ries and allowances and
give it to the lowly employ-
ees, there would some
goodwill amongst us all.
But what struck the em-
ployees the most is that
some high officials are
benefited to the fullest.
He cited the director of
Philpost Inspection Ser-
vice, Oscar V. Lazo, who
holds two other positions.
One other post being
held by Lazo, he said, is
assistant postmaster gen-
eral for human resource
development and training
and another post.
But why did the em-
ployees call their work-
places a hell?
Paglicawan said that al-
though they are not being
paid of their legal benefits
and being given a slavery
salary, they also experience
terrorism from one of their
bosses.
He filed a criminal com-
plaint against Lazo after the
latter bodily shoved him
down the stairs by holding
tight on the waist of his very
lean body.
In his complaint, which
he also re-stated in his com-
plaint filed before the Office
of the Ombudsman against
Lazo, Paglicawan said that
if his fellow union leaders
were not around he could
have been pushed to death.
His fellow unionist
Manuel G. Rama came to
Paglicawan’s rescue by
confronting Lazo.
To this, they claimed that
Lazo pulled his gun and
poked it on Rama.
For this reason, Rama
also filed his separate crimi-
nal complaint against Lazo.
But in the Ombudsman’s
complaint, Rama is a co-com-
plainant.
Asked what made Lazo
mad at him, Paglicawan said
that their boss got angry
after receiving a letter of re-
quest from the union to al-
low the employees at the
Central Mail Exchange Cen-
ter (CMEC) to have a meet-
ing with the union at 12:00
noon.
In another incident,
Paglicawan said that a lowly
police inspector, Romeo
Faulve, filed a complaint for
attempted murder against
Lazo.
In his complaint, Faulve
said that without any ado
Lazo shot him while the
boss was inside an eleva-
tor.
Luckily, Faulve said he
was not hit and it was not
followed up immediately
because the elevator doors
closed.
“Noong bandang alas
10:00 ng umaga ng Hulyo 31,
2009, habang ako ay nasa
lobby ng central office ng
PhilPost sa Liwasang
Bonifacio, Maynila, ay nakita
ko sa loob ng elevator itong
si Lazo at pagkatapos ay bigla
akong binaril nang isang
beses ng kanyang handgun,
mabuti na lamang at hindi ako
tinamaan at nagsara agad ang
elevator at ako naman ay
naghanap ng puwesto sa
lobby,” Faulve said in his
complaint.
However, Faulve said
that 20 minutes later Lazo
again showed up near the
elevator and shot him two
times. Luckily again, he
was not hit.
To this, Faulve said im-
mediately countered by
firing his own 9mm gun, a
Rueger, prompting Lazo to
stop shooting him.
Indeed, Faulve said
that Lazo stopped and es-
caped.
According to
Paglicawan, Lazo has been
very mad at Faulve be-
cause the latter filed cases
against their boss for be-
ing not qualified to the
positions he has been
holding as a “holdover”
from the former postmas-
ter general, Eduardo
Pilapil.
Another reason being
cited by Paglicawan why
the Post Office has become
a hell is the fact that he was
ordered transferred to Re-
gion IV without his consent,
from his office at the Cor-
porate Planning Service,
Central Office on Liwasang
Bonifacio, Manila as an in-
formation officer.
represent any money or any various multinational corpo-
collateral, it is easy to say rations in Mindanao, where
that Landbank stands to landowners are contracted
lose without collecting any to grow certain crops in their
centavo from Quedancor. own lands and when the
Moreover, it was ob- crops are ripe for harvest it
served that these coupons will be the same multina-
represent only the total loan tional corporations that con-
amount. It did not include tracted them that will buy the
the interests over seven To page 3
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Dasmariñas, Cavite 4115
(046) 416.6521 • dyaryomagdalo@yahoo.com
Rm. 305-A, National Press Club Bldg., Magallanes Drive
Intramuros, Manila • (02) 309.7671
MAGDIWANG
PUBLICATIONS
Publisher:
RONALDO E. RENTA
Editorial:
TOTO CAUSING
Editor-In-Chief
RONALD B. HERICO
Associate Editor
Disclaimer:
All news articles and opinions expressed by the writers are en-
tirely their own and do not reflect the opinion of the publisher, the
management or the editor of this publication.
All Rights Reserved:
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lated in any language or form for commercial purposes without prior
written permission from the publisher and its writers or columnists.
 OCTOBER 12-18, 2009
The ultimate justice
From page 1
Under these circum-
stances that we are in, the
poor who have less in life
shall have less in law; in
defiance of what then Presi-
dent Magsaysay said:
“Those who have less in life
should have more in law.”
If we have cases, we are
often placed in a situation
of putting our fate, or our
case’s outcome, in the
hands of one person: the
judge alone or the labor ar-
biter alone or the prosecu-
tor alone.
If the judge, or the labor
arbiter, or the prosecutor
was already bought by your
opponent, you will never
ever win despite the evi-
dence to the contrary.
I saw a lot of poor work-
ers suffer in the hands of
labor arbiters dismissing
their complaints for illegal
dismissal due to employer
bribing his way out.
I saw a lot of persons
hailed to court by the power
of one fiscal or prosecutor
even though it is very clear
there is lack of evidence to
make the case stand in court.
This was done with a
price—and the prize—from
the complainant.
I saw a lot of decisions
of commissions overturned
by the Court of Appeals or
the Supreme Court. These
being rampant, I cannot
give a reason it was because
of honest mistakes; it is
more of dishonest minds
that make me wonder be-
yond wild yonder.
There is only one reason
for this: Influence.
That influence may be by
money or political exertions
P3-B pig loan gone...
From page 2
produce.
Ghost loans and
ghost deliveries
But what happened in
most of the loans appeared
to have been fabricated.
The “input supplier” (IS)
had gone absconding with
the borrowers who were
welcomes your comments
and suggestions.
dyaryomagdalo@yahoo.com
or fear.
Now, what do you think
will happen 10 years from
now if the present justice
system continues knowing
that the bar of morality has
been lowered so much and
the norm of corruption has
been accepted perennial as
a grass?
I see no justice would be
available in 20 years’ time.
The truth is: the present
state is so alarming. How-
ever, only a few remain re-
silient against the onslaught
of immorality: they are those
who still find joy in honesty
on the pain of losing oppor-
tunity for money.
As I have espoused in
so many column articles I
had, which is the idea of
“Ravine Theory”, that only
by putting a stonewall stop-
gap as a system can prevent
our society from breaking
down.
Once more, I explain that
my “Ravine Theory” is just
like putting a man on the
edge of a cliff and he will
never ever jump to death
even without putting police-
men to watch him, unless he
has become insane.
Applying the theory to
know what kind of justice
system we should have, I
am strongly advancing the
idea of a “jury” to decide
who should be tried for
criminal wrongdoings in ev-
ery province or city, and the
idea of installing a separate
“jury” for every court trial,
civil or criminal.
Why?
Jury system in deciding
who should be charged
To page 7
supposed to be warm bod-
ies of poor men were either
inexistent or exiting but were
only promised loans to prod
them to sign but the loans
never came to them.
It has been suspected
that these ISs were conduits
of politicians through which
they get monies for their
own pockets.
Send us your feedback at:
Fil-Am woman battles against
‘virgin girls’ mafia in Angeles
IN a country where corrup-
tion is the general rule and
goodness the exception,
the immortal words of Sir
Edmund Burke looks like a
fallacy.
An Irish orator
who lived in 1729 to 1797,
Burke espoused: “All that
is necessary for the tri-
umph of evil is that good
men do nothing.”
But Filipino-
American Maribel Pacis
Langley-Van Kuelen is as-
serting Burke’s theory.
She is not a good man but
she is a good woman, she
asserted.
After risking her
life in a battle in 2001 in
Iraq chasing Saddam
Hussein, Langley-Van
Kuelen is now fighting
another battle.
This time, she is up
against what she calls as a
“mafia” including police-
men in Angeles City. And
in this fight, her weapon is
her pen. She has thus set
up a battle of the pen
against the gun.
She is deter-
mined to win even if she is
alone. As such, she first
sought the help of the Na-
tional Press Club of the
Philippines.
Then she filed a Peti-
tion for the Writ of Amparo
before the Supreme Court
last October 7 to fight the
syndicate head on.
She needed the
Supreme Court’s help to
And in cases where the
loans were fabricated, there
were no collaterals given
except for promissory notes
or checks that bounced
when deposited.
What is clear from an ex-
amination of the COA audit
reports is that there were no
sufficient compliance with
the minimum financial re-
quirements to ensure pay-
back or guaranty for de-
faults.
And to ensure that these
“input suppliers” are pro-
tected by a layer of defense,
there were cases where the
names of the borrowers
turned out to be fictitious
or invented.
Since 2004 until this writ-
ing, already October of 2009,
the records of the audit
show that the defaults in pig
loans appeared to be ones
that can no longer be recov-
ered.
By THE REPORTORIAL TEAM
issue a writ to give her full
protection as she exercises
what she calls her press free-
dom.
Her fight began in
2003, shortly after moving
to the Philippines to spend
her retirement from the US
armed forces to the place
where her mother was born.
In the later part of
the year, she uncovered a
trafficking and prostitution
racket using young girls
called by a South Korean
victim as “virgin girls” or
“cherry girls.”
In her petition to
the Supreme Court, she nar-
rated that she reported to
the Angeles City police Sta-
tion 4 that a Korean national
named Jhun Yim victimized
a girl.
She said in her pe-
tition that she learned that
the station chief, Chief In-
spector Luisito Tan, the
head of Station 4, extorted
P50,000 from the Korean in
exchange for freedom and
withdrawal of the case.
From the money, Lan-
gley-Van Kuelen said in her
petition that P36,000 went to
the hands of the police of-
ficers and only P14,000 was
given to the victim girl in
settlement for the case.
She said that after expos-
ing the incident in a news-
paper, she was threatened
by Chief Inspector Tan to
What were distinctly dis-
covered were bouncing
checks amounting to hun-
dreds of millions of pesos.
New and restructured
loans to be swept
away by floods
If what happened to the
first set of loans as recorded
turned out to be loans
whose payments are already
impossible to collect, worse
will happen to those that
were recorded to have re-
structured and those that
were availed of lately.
Why?
These new or restruc-
tured loans would just be
declared as “charge against
God” because the “Act of
God” swept those pigs away
in the raging floods.
In Region 6, or the Panay
Region, the biggest bulk of
the swine funds were re-
be “liquidated,” which
means to be killed.
Langley-Van Kuelen
then got the ire of bar own-
ers in the ironically-called
“City of Angels,” the literal
translation of Angeles City.
Henceforth, she said in
her petition, she has been
being tailed by unidentified
men.
After that “virgin girl”
incident, she said in her pe-
tition that she exposed
cases of unreported rape,
murder and extortion activi-
ties of a syndicate that
claimed to have connection
with the police force of An-
geles City and other govern-
ment officials.
This expose, she said in
the said petition, was
caused to be published by
her in People’s Tonight.
Due to her unrelenting
crusade to expose the ille-
gal activities in Angeles
City, Langley-Van Kuelen
said in her petition that she
has become the subject of
harassment by establish-
ments profiting from the
flesh trade and by local po-
lice authorities.
As such, she narrated in
her petition, she was ap-
proached by unidentified
police officers of the City’s
Station 4 and was charged
with offenses she did not
commit and tried to extort
money from her in exchange
leased to sub-loaners.
Recently in 2008, big
floods inundated Panay Is-
land. This provided another
scenario that those pigs and
feeds loaned out were also
swept away by floods.
Real loans swept by
insincerity of Quedancor
There was one genuine
loaner who was reported,
identified in a Manila Times
report as Aura Drew
Escanlar.
Escanlar was about to
take a nursing board exam
in December of 2004 when
she learned of this swine
loan program.
She changed her mind
and applied for the so-called
“the poor man’s financing
institution.”
She was signed up for 50
piglets and feeds, confident
that the buy-back scheme
3
for the withdrawal of the
said complaints.
Saying that the police-
men were thinking he was
a pure foreigner, she did
not give in to the extort
push.
She added in her peti-
tion that on July 25, 2006
she went to Limited Edi-
tions Bar and while inside
she was coerced by the
owner, a foreigner she
identified as “Bill”, to leave
the place for being an
“unescorted girl.”
She continued that
when she refused to leave,
she was grabbed by Bill,
inflicting on her contu-
sions and hematoma.
Despite the injury, she
said that the policemen
who responded to the in-
cident arrested her and
was later subjected to an
inquest proceedings and
the City Prosecutor’s Of-
fice charged her with the
crime of “alarm and scan-
dal.”
She identified these
policemen as police offic-
ers Enrico Canlas, Antonio
Vitente and Kenneth Vega,
all under the command of
Chief Inspector Tan.
She said this prompted
her to file a complaint be-
fore the Office of the
Mayor of the City of An-
geles against these police
officers.
The American-Filipino
said in the same petition
would ensure her a good
income sufficient to com-
pensate for what she could
have lost in foregoing the
nursing career in the United
States.
Only to turn out later that
the later needs for feeds as
promised were never deliv-
ered by the “input supplier”
assigned to her.
Without food, all her 50
pigs died!
Angry, she stormed the
Quedancor regional office
in Iloilo and berated them:
“You have turned my farm
into a graveyard!”
Dozens other loaners ex-
perienced the same fate on
their own loans of piglets.
The recent Great Flood
in Panay Island and last
week’s flood brought by
Ondoy in Western Visayas
also provided a perfect
scene for alibis that the pig
To page 7
 4 OCTOBER 12-18, 2009

TRAILBLAZER The Cost of Freedom

By RONALDO E. RENTA
SOME years ago, I had this aged 18 years and above but
animated conversation below 21 years but the con-
with American friend who cerned parents did not give
lamented the huge ex- consent; a spouse was ac-
penses one had to incur in tually of unsound mind at
pursuing a case for the dis- the time of marriage; and
solution of marriage in the one spouse was deceived
Philippines. by another spouse in order
By dissolution, I refer to get the consent to mar-
to either the declaration of riage, like the defect of be-
nullity of marriage or its an- ing alcoholic, homosexual,
nulment by the court. drug addict.
This American was not This American bragged
only worried about the about how easy and cost ef-
price but he cannot be- ficient it is to file a divorce
lieve that it would take in the US than here in our
more than a year in order country. He prides on how
to complete the process. less contentious and less
It is emotionally burden- acrimonious is the process
some to wait for a decree especially if the divorce pro-
of nullity or annulment of ceeding would be filed un-
marriage to come. der “Irreconcilable Differ-
Before going further, let ence” as the ground. Now,
me clarify that nullity of all states in America have
marriage is different from “No-Fault Divorce” in their
annulment of marriage. In judicial system.
nullity of marriage, it Nowadays, in America
means that the marriage is you can have your “DIY”
not valid from the start. In (Do-It-Yourself) divorce, di-
annulment of marriage, the vorce forms, divorce papers
marriage is still valid but and divorce kit. Under “No
later declared invalid due Fault Divorce, you can have
to some defects, mostly your own divorce even with-
on the defective consent out assistance of a lawyer.
given by any of the Therefore, it makes dissolu-
spouses at the time of mar- tion of marriage quick, easy
riage. Some of these de- and less expensive.
fects are “shotgun” wed- No-fault divorce is a di-
ding, where a man is usu- vorce in which the dissolu-
ally threatened with harm tion of a marriage requires
if he does not marry the neither a showing of wrong-
girl; any of the spouses is doing of either party nor any
evidentiary proceedings at
all. There is no burden for
either of the party to point
out who is at fault or inno-
cent spouse.
In most countries like
America, divorce proceed-
ing is effortless and pain-
less. A spouse wanting to
divorce just fills up the
forms; have it notarized and
filed before the office of the
local civil registrar where
they live. After a waiting pe-
riod, hoopla, the marriage is
gone! Your marriage is au-
tomatically dissolved. Wait-
ing period varies from one
state to another.
In South Korea, divorce
can be had by mere contract
between the husband and
the wife. As soon as the
spouses sign the contract of
divorce, the marriage is gone.
Thus, this American
friend was dumbfounded
when I explained and de-
tailed to him the nullity pro-
ceedings in our jurisdiction.
The fundamental difference
between ours and the di-
vorce proceedings in
America lies with how the
two countries view marriage
and family as social institu-
tions. Philippine’s perspec-
tive of marriage and family
is too far from that of the
United States’.
Although there exists a
chasm between divorce
there and the dissolution of
marriage here as a legal jux-
taposition, layman’s treat-
ment of the divorce and dis-
solution of marriage is one
synonymous terminology
as the by-product is the
same: marriage is dissolved
as social institution.
One basic difference is
that in divorce, there is an
admission of the existence
of a valid marriage. It is an
act termination of a marriage
bond and the consequent
cancellation of legal duties
and responsibilities of mar-
riage and dissolving the
bonds of matrimony be-
tween two persons.
In the Philippine disso-
lution of marriage, the pro-
ceeding seeks to declare
nullity of marriage as if there
was no marriage that hap-
pened between spouses or
annuls the marriage on the
presumption that there was
a defect when one of the
couple gives his “Yes”
when asked for willingness
to be joined as a husband
and wife to be joined to-
gether for better or worse,
in sickness or health, till
death do their part.
As a predominantly
Catholic country, Philippines
is one of a few countries in
the world where divorce is
not permitted. However, an-
nulment or nullity of marriage
as mode is allowed and in fact
gaining popularity.
Our 1987 Constitution,
Section 12a of Article II,
Declaration of Principles
and State Policies, reads,
“The State recognizes the
sanctity of family life and
shall protect and
strengthen the family as a
basic autonomous social
institution…”
It is explicitly stated in
the Fundamental Law that it
is the State’s policy to pro-
tect and strengthen family
as social institution.
This explains why the
State is over-protective and
biased towards preserva-
tion of marital union.
The State is of the view
that the act of preserving the
family as a basic social in-
stitution is an act of keep-
ing herself from self-de-
struction. Thus, the gov-
ernment, as agent of the
State, views marriage as a
foundation of a family.
To have a strong family
you must have a strong
marriage. The natural con-
sequence of a strong family
is a strong nation. For this
reason, when the State pre-
serves marriage it is like self
preservation. A weak family
is a weak nation.
This type of syllogism
has long been proven incor-
rect and inadequate. West-
ern countries, particularly
United States and United
Kingdom, have shown that
the preposition that weak
family is equivalent to a
weak nation is fallacious.
Look at the staggering
statistics in those two coun-
tries, where Forty (40%) per-
cent of marriages ended up
in divorce and yet their so-
cial institutions and states
infrastructures remain
strong as ever.
We do not need to go
that far to prove our point.
Take Japan and South Ko-
rea, two countries in Asia
where a couple may resort
to divorce by simply go-
ing to local civil registrar
to submit divorce papers.
No much pain, non-liti-
gious and in a less compli-
cated process. Yet, no one
could say that Japan and
South Korean are weak
nations.
Going back to my be-
wildered American friend,
in my desire to satisfacto-
rily answer his query on
why in our jurisdiction dis-
solution of marriage is
pricey, protracted and liti-
gious, I told him pomp-
ously that we, Filipinos are
freedom-loving people
and we put no price tag on
our liberty.
Divorce is to be free
again. We fought for our
freedom. It was not given
to us in a silver platter. We
worked for it, sweat and
blood.
You would do every-
thing in your might to at-
tain state of being free.
That is why in Philippines,
annulment or nullity of
marriage is like a freedom
costly won yet very sweet
at the same time.

Jerry’s Blogs DISTRESSED OFWs BEATEN UP

By JERRY S. YAP
HAVE pity, please. Sare overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)!
Do other politicians-presidentiables have no originality?
Perhaps, when they saw that Nacionalista President Sen.
MANNY VILLAR’s help for distressed na OFWs clicked up,
the tailers or the enders got a quick idea.
Defense Secretary GILBERT ‘GIBO’ TEODORO, along
with his socialite-politician wife Cong. NIKKI PRIETO-
TEODORO, made his own gimmick on OFWs.
Imagine, a socialite-turn-congresswoman, NIKKI PRIETO,
kneeling and pushing a wheelchair of an OFW whose bones on
his feet were cracked.
This prompted me to recall during the days of then Presi-
dent TABAKO. When the corpse of Flor Contemplacion ar-
rived at the Airport, we were shocked when we saw Baby
Arenas embracing the star-crossed domestic helper with all
here arms.
Tsk tsk tsk …
Go ahead. There is actually nothing wrong with what you
are doing. However, we cannot feel any sincerity in what you
are doing. It came to as a PLASTIC act.
I have been in the Airport most of the time since way back
when. NEVER have I seen them in any incident in the past. But
now, clearly because of a POLITICAL AMBITION, they can
do everything they want!
Ms. Alex de Rossi said in her Facebook account: “...ang mga
plastic bag na pinaglalagyan ng relief goods lang ang GENUINE
na SINCERE. ‘Yung iba PLASTIKAN talaga.”
***
By the way, MR. NOEL ALBANO, after serving former
Speaker Joe De Venecia, is now with GIBO and he is now the
one handling Teodoro’s PR.
Airport mediamen have been looking for you, Mr. Albano,
because they know you are the one handling the BUDGET of
Gibo’s press releases.
Until now, nothing came to their hands. They said you just
disappeared quickly!
Here I am amazed of Mr. Albano. Before, he was with former
Speaker Joe De Venecia. Now, he is with Gibo.
That is the difference when you speak the same language. Is
it not, Mr. Albano?
VIDEO KARERA and FRUIT GAMES
NEVER SLEEP IN PARAÑAQUE
Even when Ondoy was spewing raging floods, and even
when PEPENG put the northern and central Luzon under wa-
WITH POLITICAL GIMMICKS
ter, even when our countrymen were dying in waters in different
parts of the country, VIDEO KARERA and FRUIT GAMES
never stopped operating in Parañaque City.
As if the furies of ONDOY and PEPENG were no match to
the VIDEO KARERA and FRUIT GAMES of TINYENTE
KAISE which he spread in Parañaque.
The whispers about it: the continued operations of VIDEO
KARERA and FRUIT GAMES in Parañaque are in aid of ELEC-
TION.
The City Council of Parañaque has been silent about these
illegal operations that breed laziness and piety.
It looks like the councilors are amenable to the non-stop op-
erations of VIDEO KARERA and FRUIT GAMES in Parañaque
because of the percentage they can use for their reelection cam-
paigns.
At present, VIDEO KARERA and FRUIT GAMES are
spread wild in Sampaloc site, on Bonifacio St., in Nashville, in
Malugay, in Silverio Compound and in other parts of Bo.
Baclaran.
A certain Elly and one Rose also have their own on Rivera St.,
at the back of Seven-Eleven store and Lydia ’s Lechon. They
cannot deny the presence of numerous players!
ATTENTION: Parañaque Mayor Bernabe. Sir, do you know
about those percentages for reelection purposes at the City
Hall?
Or you might have been defrauded by you own men there?
Make your eyes and ears sharp, Sir!
SECRETARY TEVES
BEING GROOMED FOR VP
(WHAAAAAT?)
It seems that the gimmicks of DPWH Secretary Hermogenes
“Jun” Ebdane and Finance Secretary Gary Teves are of the same
kind.
In their (commercial) ANNOUNCEMENTS, they appear to
be wanting to pick a high post in the government.
Their SYTLE of coming out with ADS in newspapers (big
newspapers, as in BROADSHEETS), they pretend that they are
asking for support for one SECTOR of the society for them to be
hailed as new leaders of the nation.
If EBDANE is prodding himself up as a presidential timber,
Teves is propping himself as having a dream to become a vice-
president.
Anyway, it is FREE to DREAM. The advertisements appear
to be free of cost to them because they may have been paid from
the pockets of their respective offices.
But the expenses of their dreams befall on the shoulders of
the people who pay taxes.
The truth is: I am wondering why Secretary Teves became
“the best finance secretary in Asia” when the bureaus under his
department failed in their collection targets, including the Bu-
reau of Customs.
Ay sus, Sec. TEVES. Naunsa man ka dong? Pag-uli sa
Dumaguete, Bay!
By the way, why should Secretary Teves not raise his ambi-
tion? Why is it that he did not prop himself as a presidential
timber?
O ‘di ba Secretary Ebdane?
JOLLIBEE T-2:
TOO WILY IN BUSINESS,
TOO GREEDY IN MONEY?
The new Jollibee outlet at the Ninoy Aquino International
Airport Terminal 2 is too wily in business and too greedy in
money.
This I have proven when I went to the airport last week.
The new Jollibee outlet does not sell SET MEAL or
COMBO MEAL just like what you can see in all other Jollibee
outlets.
If you are ordering a chicken joy, hamburger etc., of course
you do not want to get choked by the food you eat.
So that it is but natural that you will buy a softdrink to push
in smoothly the food you chew. However, you have to spend
another P50 for one softdrink.
With this, we can just pity the overseas Filipino workers
(OFWs) who eat there with their respective families. This is
like a holdup!
One Airport employee told Jerry’s Blogs: “WALANG
PATAWAD ang Jollibee outlet na ito … pati sa airport employ-
ees ay WALANG DISCOUNT.”
This Jollibee outlet does not offer free water to their cus-
tomers. With this, those who are compelled to eat there because
there is no option are compelled to buy mineral water from
Jollibee in NAIA Terminal 2.
I suspect that this Jollibee outlet must have given big GAY-
LA, ‘este’ GASTOS, for the outlet at NAIA Terminal 2, the
reason that it looks like it is hurrying up to regain what the
“invested.”
Imbes LANGHAP SARAP ‘e nagiging LANGHAP
SWAPANG sila?
OCTOBER 12-18, 2009 5

Isulong, Hukuman ng Mamamayan!
AS my privilege, I am writing
now my advocacy for the es-
tablishment of the People’s
Court, that is so called “Trial
Jury,” and for the creation of
the People’s Fiscal, that is so
called “city or provincial pros-
ecutor.”
I am doing this in the hope
of expressing my empathic call
that there is no more way to
bring hope to our hopeless
country.
I am writing it in Tagalog
in the hope of making the
message get across the bigger
spectrum of our society, in
the hope of making even a
Grade 1 pupil understand this
patriotism borne out of my
passion for the people, my
passion for the country, my
passion to make our life a little
bit better.
Everywhere in the streets,
you see police officers and traf-
fic enforcers manifesting the
microcosm of what is actually
happening in the entire bureau-
cracies: from Malacañang Pal-
ace down to the barangays.
We cannot rely on the Om-
budsman to run after grafters
and corruptors because it is in
itself corrupt or beholden to
corruptors.
We cannot rely on our law
enforcers because its men are
almost all corrupt, corrupted
and corruptors. They arrest
innocent persons and force
the ordinary folk to cough out
money in exchange for free-
dom.
I don’t need to state all
other offices. To enumerate
them, all pages of Dyaryo
Magdalo cannot be enough.
Any ordinary Filipino has
no good fight in the present sys-
tem of justice. The rich is sim-
ply rich. The poor has nothing
to fight them. The poor has noth-
ing to fight abusive policemen.
The poor cannot compete for
privileges. The poor are just
puppets of politicians who
would play around them by giv-
ing them dole outs and money
to keep their votes.
Much more importantly, I
am writing this in the hope of
sparking among those who may
have read this the passion for
our country, the passion for our
ordinary people.
We need to rise from the
grave brought to us by admin-
istrations of ineptness. We do
not need another Garci. We do
not need another Joc-joc
Bolante. We do not need an-
other Gloria Arroyo. We do not
need senators and congressmen
who just enriched themselves.
We do not need the present
police whose members are just
made to exist for jueteng and
to collect protection monies.
We deserve a president
much better than Gloria. We
deserve a man better than Gibo
to handle flood problems. We
deserve a vice president better
than Noli. We deserve a senate
president much better than
Juan Ponce Enrile. We deserve
a speaker much better than
Nogi Nograles.
We deserve an Armed Force
chief better than Ibrado. We de-
serve an agriculture secretary bet-
ter than Arthur Yap. We deserve
a public works and highways sec-
retary better than Ebdane.
All of these persons who are
responsible for the mud where
the country is in cannot anymore
exist if we have a justice system
composed of the GRAND JURY
and the TRIAL JURY.
Here is my campaign:
ISULONG MO KAIBIGAN,
HUKUMAN NG MAMAMAYAN!
Tumingin ka sa langit,
kaibigan. Ang kapal at itim ng
ulap. Kung babagsak yan, babaha
ng napakalaki, kayang talunin
Ondoy man o Pepeng.
Gumawa ka na ng paraan.
Lumayo ka sa iyong
kinatatayuan. Tumakbo ka sa
matataas na lugar, doon ka
maisasalba.
Iyan ang ulap ng korapsyon,
ulap ng pagnanakaw, ulap ng mga
ninanakaw, ulap ng kawalan ng
katarungan, ulap ng kasakiman,
ulap ng pandaraya, ulap ng
maitim na kapangyarihan, ulap
ng kasinungalingan.
Lumisan ka kaibigan. Isalba
mo ang iyong sarili. Hikayatin
mo ang iyong kapitbahay,
kaibigan at kamag-anak.
Umakyat kayo sa mataas na
lugar, doon kayo lumahok sa
galaw ng pagbabago.
Lubog na ang ating bayan.
Lubog na ang ating mamamayan.
Lubog na ang lahat sa atin. Pero
nakakatawa pa rin ang mga
buwayang naglilipana sa baha.
Mag-isip ka kung kaya pa ba,
ang ating bayan maisalba?
Ako’y may dalang balita,
balitang pwedeng magbangon sa
atin mula sa putik ng baha,
balitang siya lamang ang sagot sa
ating mga suliranin, balitang unti-
unting aayos sa ating lipunan,
balitang siyang tanging lunas sa
lahat ng ating suliranin. Iyon ay
kung ating pakikinggan.
Hinihikayat ko kayong
lagdaan, itong petisyon para sa
kinabukasan, petisyong
magbabago ng Konstitusyon,
petisyong magpapatayo ng
Hukuman ng Mamamayan.
Ito ay tinatawag na Trial
Jury, ito ay buuin ng mga
ordinaryong mamamayan, para
hatulan ang nasasakdal kung may
sala man o wala, kahit sino pa
man.
Ang mga ordinaryong
mamamayan, ang tunay nilang
lakas sa Trial Jury makikita,
hindi matatakot kahit sa anong
sakuna, hindi matatakot kahit
sino pa sila.
Ang Trial Jury na aking
inaadhika, ay buuin ng
magbubukid o manggagawa,
jeepney driver at tricycle driver,
padyak driver at magkaka–riton
man, kung saan dala nila ang
kapangyarihan, kapangyarihan
ng buong sambayanan, laban sa
mapang-api maging sino pa man.
Ang Trial Jury ay hahatulan,
kahit si Mike o Mikey Arroyo
man, hahatulan kahit si Ping
Lacson, hahatulan kahit si
Glorya, hahatulan kahit
mayaman man, hahatulan kahit
makapangyarihan man.
Privileged
Spits
By TOTO CAUSING
Itong Trial Jury ay buuin ng
mga tao, sa listahan ng mga
botante sila magmumula,
kukunin sila sa pamamagitan ng
bunutan, itatago mukha nila at
pangalan, para kapakanan nila at
ng kanilang pamilya ay
mapapangalagaan, mapapa–
ngalagaan sa anumang pananakot
at pananambang, ng mga
akusadong may kapangyarihan
o kayamanan.
Panahon na kaibigan, ating
ibangon ang ating bayan, mawala
ang mga kurakot at pananakot,
sa halip ang mga lingkod bayan
ay matatakot, dahil sila ay
mahahatulan, kung sila ay
patuloy na mangungurakot.
Panahon na para isulong ang
malaking pagbabago, para ang
ating bayan ay magbabago.
Isulong mo kaibigan, ang aking
panawagan, na tayong lahat ay
lalagda, sa isang petisyong
isasabatas, ang pagtatayo ng Trial
Jury sa Pilipinas.
Idagdag mo pa riyan kaibigan,
pagtatayo ng Grand Jury sa ating
lipunan, para kunin mula sa
kurakot na piskalya o
prosekyutor o taga-usig ang
kapangyarihan, ang
kapangyarihan sa pagsasabi kung
sino ang dapat kasuhan at dinigin
sa Hukuman ng Mamamayan.
Ang Grand Jury kaibigan,
buuin ng mga ordinaryo ring
mamamayan, mula sa listahan
ng botante sila bubunutin,
kanilang pangalan at mukha ay
babalutin, para hindi makilala
ng sino mang kurakot at
mayayaman, para hindi sila
mabibili o matatakot maging
sino pa man.
Ang Grand Jury ang syang
magpasya kung sino ang
isasakdal, kahit sino pa man
basta’t may kasalanan,
kasalananan sa bayan at
mamamayan.
At kung meron nang Grand
Jury kaibigan, wala kang dapat
pangangambahan, sa lahat ng
hinahanap mong katarungan,
para makasuhan ang sino mang
dapat kasuhan, maging si Joc-
joc Bolante o Mike Arroyo
man, maging si Mikey Arroyo
o nanay nya man, maging si
Merceditas Gutierrez man.
Isulong, mo kaibigan.
Isulong mo ang Trial Jury, na
siyang Hukuman ng
Mamamayan.
Isulong mo kaibigan.
Isulong mo ang Grand Jury, na
siyang magpasya na kasuhan
at isasakdal ang dapat
isasakdal, maging si Gloria Ar-
royo man.
Isulong ang Trial Jury!
Isulong ang Hukom ng
Mamamayan!
Isulong ang Grand Jury!
Isulong ang Taga-using ng
Mamamayan!
***
Anybody who would in-
teract or react to this column
may send their text messages
to 09299920024 or emails to
totocausing2004@yahoo.com.

Police Posts Lim, Villar non-stop in giving

By JOEY GALICIA
VENANCIO
ALSO, non-stop giving of re-
lief goods of the office of De-
partment of Social Welfare
(DSW) of Manila under Jay
dela Fuente, a trusted cabinet
member of Mayor Alfredo
Lim.
Since Sunday, October 6,
incessant and continuous dis-
tribution of relief goods have
been caused by dela Fuente in
the barangays severely ef-
fected by Ondoy floods, par-
ticularly in Sta. Mesa, V.
Mapa and Tondo.
While ensuring relief goods
should flow without interfer-
ence, dela Fuente has been call-
ing officials of barangays af-
fected by flood to remind them
to contact the DSW district of-
fices to make sure nobody is
left out to quick access to as-
sistance
And for those who want to
get livelihood help of Mayor
Lim, the office of DSW-Manila
is also open.
Long Live! DSW-Manila’s
personnel
***
We also give thanks to Sena-
tor Manny Villar for his non-
stop giving of relief goods, es-
pecially those with disabilities
in Tondo.
Long Live, Senator! I am
hoping our countrymen will
relief goods to typhoon victims
wake up and choose you to be
the next president of the coun-
try.
Anyway, we do not encour-
age people to vote for Villar.
Ours is the vote only for the
candidate who has the ability to
lead our country that has been
frustrated in agony, criminality
and corruption.
Sometimes, it is good to
imagine for the Marcos regime
to return.
***
We also thank NBI Deputy
Director Atty. Rey Esmeralda
for sending to my office five
boxes of noodles and a box of
sardines. I will send it to the
Tulong Villar Relief Center.
For those who have golden
heart who want to give any as-
sistance to the victims of
Ondoy, please send it to my
office, here at JGV Publishing,
Leyland Bldg., Delgado St..,
Corner 20th St., Port Area,
Manila.
For those who need relief
and assistance, call the Help
Villar Assistance Hotlines: 0905-
3316626 and 0917-4226800.
Let us help each other…
God bless!
Complaint against Irvine
Construction Corp.
A worker of Irivine Con-
struction Corp. sent a text mes-
sage about their problems with
their employer, to wit:
“Joey, reklamo ko lang sayo
tungkol sa kompanya na
IRVINE CONTSRUCTION
CORPORATION (ICC) na
pag-aari ni Mr. Tommas Sy o
Tommas Santos, matatagpuan
sa Juan A., San Juan City, kung
paano kami magkaroon ng ben-
efits. Kasi subcon lang kami at
wala sa tamang sahod o mini-
mum ang sahod dito at walang
dagdag sahod na kahit umabot
na kami sa higit sa apat na taon.
Hanggang ngayon P300 pa rin
sahod ko at wala kami
inaasahang bonus o 13th month,
di kami maka-loan tulad ng
SSS, Pag-Ibig at iba pa. Sana
mabigyan nyo ito ng
reaksiyon. Salamat. Pls don’t
publish my number.”
You have to present prob-
lems like this to the Depart-
ment of Labor and Employ-
ment.
Go to the DOLE and file a
complaint against your em-
ployer.
If your complaint is true,
the DOLE will ensure that the
Labor Law shall rule to com-
pel Irvine Construction to give
you the benefits provided.
Go to the DOLE, my
friend.

The Last Henry Sy doesn’t mind SM causes traffic clog

Mohican
By TOTO FETALINO
ANOTHER Shoemart is only 10 minutes. This may
opened in Last Piñas re- double now as more and more
cently. Located near the City people start going to the new
Hall, the establishment is SM.
called SM Center. Of course, And I’m not yet talking
the other one is Southmall. about Christmas time.
While kids rejoice upon Going to Alabang is worse
seeing another mall, many are because of the heavy traffic
worried on its effect to the caused by Southmall. Traffic
city’s traffic. Las Piñas may in this part of Las Piñas really
be clean and green but it is gets paralyzed almost every-
definitely lousy when it day.
comes to traffic. So why am I blaming the
Before the SM Center, mall?
travel time from Casimiro to It is because Henry Sy can
Zapote was 30 minutes due do something about the traffic
to traffic. Without traffic, it but he is not doing it.
He is as if hell bent on keep-
ing his throne as the No. 1 Rich-
est Filipino with an asset of
$3.8 billion as listed by Forbes
Magazine, whose reputation
for listing richest persons is un-
sullied.
Henry Sy can do something
like what he did at the Mall of
Asia where he provided wide
roads leading to its entrance.
The SM MOA should also
serve as a model for future SM
malls, big or small.
Gloria’s cabinet men like
Grade 1 pupils
ABILITIES of leaders are
tested when they are put under
pressure. And recently, the
media witnessed how unpre-
pared government officials
have been in the face of crisis.
During the National
Disaster Coordinating Council
(NDCC) meeting in Cainta,
Rizal, officials of various de-
partments in government ob-
viously failed to do their home-
work.
When President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo asked them
how to solve the problems
brought by Ondoy, many of
them looked like elementary
students who cannot recite.
If ratings were made that
day, many of the officials
would flank, leaving nobody to
run the government.
Even presidential aspirant
Defense Secretary Gilbert
Teodoro was not in his top
form during the meeting. All he
gave were status reports. As
NDCC chairman, he should
have done more or at least made
everybody in the room, includ-
ing the media, feel that he was
control of the situation.
The only department that
made sense was housing. The
housing officials no longer dis-
cussed the status of the people
rendered homeless by Ondoy.
They quickly got into the point
by laying down the solutions.
And the housing solution
was to immediately relocate the
people who lost their homes
to the various resettlement ar-
eas of the government. They
revealed that the government
has more than enough inven-
tory of housing stock and ser-
viced lots.
The housing people were
quick to identify the reloca-
tion sites in Bulacan, Laguna,
Cavite and Rizal. They also
had the common sense to im-
mediately inform the Presi-
dent that the cost of reloca-
tion was pegged at P3 billion.
They said it can be derived
from the P7 billion calamity
fund of the government.
Like a satisfied teacher,
the President asked no ques-
tion on housing and moved
on to the next issue. The
housing people did their
homework. They always do.
 6 OCTOBER 12-18, 2009

Cherry By
OMAY E.
RENTA

Ann
Kubota
Men’s
FAVORITE
“ABOUT me? I’m irreplaceable, stuffy but liberated, fickle but faithful, love to laugh, love to be
cuddled. Rarely I shout but I’m violent when coerced.
“My life is never dull. It’s always surprising. I value one’s inner personality than their cover.
“I can be cocky at times but you can expect me to apologize. Frankly, I’m not an angel; I’m a little
devil in disguise. I see myself just like any normal and ordinary people around me.
“I am a dreamer and I want to share my aspirations with people whose dreams are as big as mine;
dreamer as I claim to be, but I undoubtedly find satisfaction in simple things.
“Revealing my dark side, I can be a total bitch to people who piss me off! But then I have
a soft spot that resides within me. I may be brutally frank at times but it’s just my way of
getting people back to reality.
“Amidst all of these am still human and I can be as sweet as loving and as caring as
anybody can be.”
This is a part of Cherry Kubota’s letter in her personal profile lifted from her
Facebook account by Dyaryo Magdalo.
Actually, these statements are con- sidered as her personal
outlook in life and the true revela- tion of her identity.
Cherry Ann Navoa Kubota or known as
Check is a model and actress discovered in
the “Ms. Manda 2004” pag- eant in
Mandaluyong City.
She is a 5’6" tall, half- Filipina
and half-Japanese. Her dad owns a
club in Japan and her par- ents live
there.
Cherry is a member of VIVA art-
ists that gave her the break to pursue a career in acting and modeling. She was featured as one of the sexiest and beau-
She is now seen in different shows of GMA Kapuso Network; she re- tiful women in the 2007 FHM August Philippine Edi-
cently appeared as a guest of the long-running Bubble Gang. tion, where the cover girl is Cristine Reyes.
Her first TV appearance was when she appeared in a teenage Cherry frequents the men’s magazine as its model
drama series Lipgloss over TV5. until her big break came: to be featured in the
She was featured in a comedy-news program magazine’s November 2008 Philippine Edition.
Wazz-up, which was previously aired on Chan- Here, she is one of the cover girls, along with Jacq
nel 23. Yu of Amazing Race Asia Season 1, and Gail Nicolas
Her other appearances include “Your who is the Mossimo Bikini Summit 2007 winner.
Song - Love Spell” under “Masquerade” Her achievements and awards include Ms.
o n ABS-CBN Channel 2; the Indian in Mandaluyong (1st runner up); Ms. Asian Formula
Kamikazee’s Doobidoo MTV; and (Title Holder 2006); Mossimo Bikini Summit (1st
“Pangako” music video of K24/7. runner up); Santiata Ti Ilocos Sur in 2008; Ms. Es-
She also appeared several TV tate Philippines 2008; R and Global Tournament
commercials for a shampoo, a net- 2008; and the recent Century Tuna Superbods ’09
work provider, and San Miguel (1st runner up together with Martin Richard) held
products. May 2, 2009 in Boracay.
She also guested in Cherry Ann got her solo as cover girl of T3 Bikini
“Balakubak” segment of Special April 2009 issue which features her six de-
Nut’s Entertainment lightful and sexy photos taken on a yacht. The well-
hosted by Joey de deserved solo cover has made her to be known
Leon, Anjo gradually.
Yllana and In addition to her profile, Cherry Ann Kubota
J a n n o loves RNB and alternative music.
Gibbs. She She likes to eat and sleep a lot. Some of her fa-
was seen in vorite shows and movies are Lip Gloss, Desperate
E a t Housewives and Oprah, as well as horror and sci-
B u l a g a ’s ence-fiction movies.
“Sa Pula, Recently, Cherry campaigned for the FHM Sexi-
Sa Puti” est Woman in the World 2009. Now, she is rated
game por- No. 54 in the FHM Philippines 100 Sexiest Women
tion. of 2008.
 OCTOBER 12-18, 2009
DAVAO CITY: SMOKE-FREE BUT YOU HAVE TO PAY
By ERIC U. PASIGIAN
WHAT comes to your
mind when you encoun-
ter the word “scoun-
drel”?
One of which is “mis-
chief,” which means mis-
behavior, naughtiness,
monkey business, way-
wardness, etc.
On October 5, 2009, I
was to visit our project
site in Mindanao. I flew
to General Santos City
aboard Cebu Pacific. I
spent the night and felt the
aroma of Phela Grande
Hotel because the Royal
Hotel where I used to stay
was fully booked. It was
occupied by the entou-
rage of Christian Bautista
& Erik Santos.
The ultimate justice
From page 3
criminally and a separate
jury system to decide the
cases tried in courts consti-
tute the “ultimate justice.”
It is the ultimate justice
because it is the only sys-
tem that is impermeable
against political, financial
and tyrannical influences.
It is the ultimate justice
because ultimately that is
the only system that can
survive even in the worst of
corruption and the worst of
tyranny. To the contrary,
one judge to decide a case
alone or one fiscal to deter-
mine who should be brought
to court for trial is very much
prone to surrender to the
force of money or fear.
It is the ultimate justice
because it is the only sys-
tem that can provide justice
and make the scales even
between the richest defen-
dant and the person who is
last among the ranks of the
poor.
Yes, jury systems also
have some imperfections.
But more is the imperfection
in the present system we
When I disembarked
from the airplane, I as-
toundingly wonder what
Christian Bautista was
doing there. He was just
walking beside me while
going out of the depar-
ture area. I just noticed
belatedly that October 5
was the opening of the
JG Summit’s Robinsons
Mall in General Santos
City.
A day later, I traveled
to Digos City. After hav-
ing a meeting with our per-
sonnel assigned there, I
decided to go around
Davao City and spend the
night there.
That was my second
time to visit Davao City.
have: where only one fiscal
decides who should be
criminally charged in court
and only person decides
whether he is guilty or not.
Under the jury system,
a group of persons chosen
by raffle from the list of
voters in a province or city
is the one that will decide
whether to bring to court
an individual being sub-
jected to a preliminary in-
vestigation. It cannot be in-
fluenced because its mem-
bers are kept secret and the
term of their office is spe-
cific for only six months,
mostly; thereafter to be re-
placed by the same number
of persons chosen by the
same mode.
As to the jury in trials, a
group of randomly chosen
persons, 12 in the US sys-
tem, is the one authorized
to hear the evidence pre-
sented in court and decide
whether the accused is
guilty or who wins a civil
case. They are kept secret
so that the accused or the
accusers cannot influence
The first was five months
ago when I just dropped
by because I was rush-
ing for Digos City that
night.
While riding in a taxi, I
proved the strictness of
Mayor Duterte is a fact
and not just a press re-
lease.
I saw no garbage
around (unlike Metro
Manila). I saw no smok-
ers around except for
designated smoking ar-
eas. I saw no beggars
around. The best that
happened, I saw and
heard no pickpocket or
snatcher.
Visitors and strangers
can walk freely even at
nighttime without fear a
snatcher might prey on
him or her. Police visibil-
their decision.
The US has put jury sys-
tems since its founding in
Philadelphia 221 years ago.
These are still the same sys-
tems that exist today in ev-
ery state therein.
For sure, the most diffi-
cult persons to unite are
blacks and whites. But the
US jury systems have no
doubt contributed so much
in the tearing down of the
seemingly insurmountable
wall between Black Ameri-
cans and White Americans.
That is the same reason that
all races in that country
have developed a culture of
accepting people who do
not look like them and do
not pray like them.
President Thomas
Jefferson calls the jury sys-
tem as “the only anchor” to
hold the nation—of Blacks
and Whites—together.
The proof: they voted
the first Black President in
the person of Barack
Hussein Obama. They
wholeheartedly accepted
the Black woman in Oprah
ity was all over the city.
And mind you, the police-
men there were all
friendly, courteous and
ready to assist anybody.
I saw traffic violators
really apprehended and
fined. It might be because
there is no MMDA traf-
fic enforcer in Davao
City.
With these traits
Davao City, you would
really think that Apollo
Quibuloy is correct when
he said that Davao City
is the new paradise in the
earth worthy to live for
and to live in.
One thing that really
caught my attention the
most is the implementa-
tion of the non-smoking
city ordinance.
If somebody is caught
Winfrey as the most cel-
ebrated television host.
They embraced the Black
singer in Michael Jackson
to become the biggest
singer of all time, beating the
all-white Beatles and the
white man in Elvis Presley.
And if jury systems have
succeeded to unite the
blacks and the whites, can
it succeed in uniting the var-
ied races in the Philippines
although there is no differ-
ence in the color of their
skin?
This is the ultimate jus-
tice. This is the most com-
pelling wisdom behind the
necessity for the Philippines
to adopt jury systems, now!
A journalist friend who
works for Imbestigador of
Mike Enriquez raised a
question on the readiness
of the Filipinos to adapt to
the system in terms of in-
telligence or education. To
which I answered: “Can you
tell me that Americans of
221 years ago be more in-
telligent than the Filipinos
of today?”
smoking inside a public
utility vehicle, he is im-
prisoned and fined. “Re-
cidivist” often get “termi-
nated” if they won’t
change (Sana ganito rin
sa Maynila o sa
Makati?).
Despite all those ex-
traordinarily good things
I saw in a city, it still
proved that their good
mayor did failed to totally
get rid of all “scoundrels.”
This, however, can be
understandable because
nobody can be in all
places all the time, or 24-
7.
During my one-day
sojourn, I happened to
stay at Sampaguita Ho-
tel, considered as a 3-star
hotel. It is located at the
heart of the city.
To my surprise, I
found out a few stuff in-
side: a bed, a table and a
television.
I immediately picked
the intercom up and
asked the receptionist for
these items.
I was answered: “We
have all of them sir. But
you have to deposit an
amount.”
“What?” I shockingly
replied.
P3-B pig loan gone...
From page 3
monies went away with the
“Act of God.”
Genuine loaners
used as ‘dummies’
It was learned that at the
height of the Presidential
election for 2004, the
Quedancor released P422
million to Region 6, or the
Ilonggo Region. Most of
these funds were suspected
to have been diverted to
fraudulent election cam-
paigns.
As such, it was believed
that Escanlar and many
other loaners were used as
dummies in order for the
loans to be approved and
opportunities for them to
divert funds were opened.
It appeared more that
these loaners would get
their piglets as loans but the
bulk of the money for the
feeds would be gotten away
for election purposes.
The husband of the
President, Atty. Jose Miguel
Arroyo, is a native of Iloilo
and landed in Negros Occi-
dental. His grandfather was
once a governor of Iloilo and
the first public official to
have been convicted of ille-
gal gambling protection.
It is suspected that the
funds for the feeds must
have been diverted by the
“input suppliers.”
In other cases, the loan-
ers did not get their piglets.
Thus, they were only won-
dering if they would still be
held accountable for the
contracts they signed with
the Quedancor.
7
In short, I deposited an
amount.
A few minutes later, I
wanted to open the tele-
vision to monitor typhoon
Pepeng.
To my dismay, I can-
not find the remote con-
trol. I picked the intercom
up again and asked for it.
The reception again re-
quired me to deposit an
amount for the remote
control.
“My gosh, what kind of
hotel did I check in. Ev-
erything is for deposit. Is
this setup taught in the
HRM Schools?” I asked
myself.
I was not totally aghast
for I took it as a manage-
ment prerogative. How-
ever, it should not be done
to tourists for it sounds in-
hospitable to give them in-
convenience of picking
up the interphone every
time you need those ba-
sic things and fundamen-
tal services in every ho-
tel.
Personally, I consider
such setup a big
SCOUNDREL.
Yes, there is really no
place safer than Davao
City. But you have to
pay.
The other swine loans
were released in the Ilocos
Region, Central Luzon, Bicol
Region, Samar-Leyte Re-
gion, Region 13, and others.
Fertilizer scam artists
engineered pig loans
Scanning the records, it
showed that the scheme
employed is similar to the
one employed in the loan-
ing out of P747-million fer-
tilizer funds that were
loaned even to Makati dis-
tricts were there is no farm
field.
It turned out that among
those men behind the swine
loan contract were Joc-Joc
Bolante, a native of Capiz in
Region 6 and a confidante
of the President and her
husband Jose Miguel.
Bolante was a director of
Landbank until he left in
September 2004, serving
there in his capacity as the
undersecretary of the De-
partment of Agriculture,
when the secretary that time
was Luis Lorenzo.
For his part, Lorenzo was
the chairman of the
Quedancor in his capacity
as the secretary of agricul-
ture.
So that it appeared that
he served in conflict of in-
terest positions because
while being the chairman of
the Quedancor, he was the
president at the same time
of Landbank.
He held these positions
while the said contract for
the swine project was
cooked up and signed.
 8 OCTOBER 12-18, 2009
ANTONIO, 3 OTHERS
IN WORLD CHESS CUP
Final standings:
7 points – M. Mchedlishvili
(Georgia), E. Ghaemmaghami
(Iran)
6.5 – R. Antonio (RP), N.
T. Nguyen (Vietnam), Z.
Zhang (Singapore)
6 — D. Laylo (RP), T.H. Dao
(Vietnam), N. Das (India)
5.5 — T. Kotanjian
(Armenia), A. Gupta (India), M.
Paragua (RP), A. Filippov
(Uzbekistan), M. Gagunashvili
(Georgia), S. Li (China), E.
Torre (RP), R. Dableo (RP),
A. Ismagambetov
(Kazakhstan), R. Nolte (RP),
P. Kostenko (Kazakhstan), O.
Dimakiling (RP), F.
Donguines (RP).
5 — Tirto (Indonesia), R.
Andador (RP), C. Garma
(RP), E. Senador (RP), L.
Lumancas (RP), B.
Villamayor (RP)
GRANDMASTER Rogelio
Antonio, Jr. finished a
decent third in the recently-
concluded Fifth Prospero
Pichay Cup International
Chess Championship at the
LWUA Bldg. on Katipunan
Ave., Quezon City.
The Pichay Cup went to
the top-seed GM Mikhail
Mchedlishvili of Georgia;
runner-up honors to
Iranian GM Ehsan
Ghaemmaghami.
Top-seed Mchedlishvili,
the highest-rated player in
the field with an ELO of
2613, outwitted GM
Abhijeet Gupta of India in
the ninth and final round to
clinch the title in this
prestigious tournament
organized by the National
Chess Federation of the
Philippines (NCFP) in
cooperation with the Local
Water Utilities
Administration (LWUA).
He scored seven points on
five wins and four draws
It was the second title in
less than three weeks for
Mchedlishvili, who also
topped the Ravana GM
tournament in a two-way tie
with GM Vladimir Georgiev
of Macedonia in Sri Lanka
last month.
Ghaemmaghami
subdued GM Li Shilong of
China to finish in a two-way
tie for first place with
Mchedlishvili with seven
points.
But the sixth-seed player
from Iran settled for runner-
up honors due to lower
tiebreak score.
Mchedlishvili and
Ghaemmaghami, however,
went home with US$ 4,500
prize money.
Nevertheless, Filipino
chess aficionados were
impressed with the way
local bets performed in the
tournament.
GM Joey, as he is fondly
called, outduelled GM
Merab Gagunashvili of
Georgia in a keenly-watched
encounter to clinch third
place and emerge as the
highest-placed Filipino
player for the second
straight time since a sixth-
place finish in the fourth
President
Macapagal-Arroyo Cup
Gloria
held last week.
Antonio also became the
first-ever Filipino chess
player to qualify for the
World Cup in Khanty-
Mansiysk, Russia in
December after finishing
third in the 2009 Asia
Continental Chess
Championship. He will be
seeing action together with
the other 127 best chess
players around the world.
The winner of the World
Cup will play in the
semifinal match of the
World Championship.
The international
competition has been GM
Joey’s turf for being the
board two player of the
Philippine Olympiad team in
countless times behind
Asia’s first ever
grandmaster Eugenio Torre,
who, for many years, had
been the No. 1 player of the
By RONALD HERICO
GM’s Antonio, Wesley So,
Darwin Laylo and Asia’s
first Grandmaster Eugene
Torre will carry the
Philippine colors when
collide against 124
other chessboard
wizards in the
World Chess
Cup in Russia
in December.
Philippines.
Antonio’s tally in this
arena has never fallen
below 50%. In 2000 in
Istanbul, Turkey, he scored
7/10 with a performance
rating of 2682.
In recent years, both he
and Torre have been
overtaken by rising star and
the newest sensation of
Philippine chess,
grandmaster Wesley So.
GM So and GM Darwin
Laylo are also set to
compete in the prestigious
128-player, Wimbledon-
style tournament.
Laylo, the reigning Asian
Zone 3.3 champion, also
performed well in the Pichay
Cup by finishing in a tie for
sixth to eighth places with
two foreign players.
Km. 28, Aguinaldo Highway, Salitran 2,
Dasmariñas, Cavite
M
J Junk
Shop
CP: 0912.770.8324
The first-round pairings
in the World Cup have yet
to be announced by the
organizing committee but
National Chess Federation
of the Philippines (NCFP)
president-chairman
Prospero “Butch” Pichay is
confident about the
Filipinos’ chances in the
tournament being held to
determine the five qualifiers
to the Candidates stage of
the World Chess
Championship.
The first round is
scheduled on Dec. 4 to 5
with the tiebreak matches on
Dec. 6. If they win in the first
round, the Filipinos will play
in the second round on Dec.
7 to 8 with the tiebreaks on
Dec. 9.
“We have a very good
“W
all e buy
of kind
scr s
ap
” championship for players
chance in the World Cup
with three of our top
players—So, Antonio and
Laylo —doing very well in
their recent tournaments,”
said Pichay, who has
already produced seven
grandmasters in less than
four years.
Pichay appointed GM
Joey to coach So in the
coming World Junior Chess
championship scheduled
Oct. 21 to Nov. 4 in Puerto
Madryn, Argentina.
“We also have a very
good chance with Wesley,
who is fresh from a
respectable showing in the
SPICE (Susan Polgar
Institute for Chess
Excellence) tournament in
Texas, USA,” said Pichay.
“With Joey as his coach-
second, Wesley will be
even better,” added Pichay,
also the chairman of the
Local Water Utilities
Administration (LWUA).
Aside from So, the
Philippines is also sending
Paolo Florendo and Jedara
Docena in the world
18 years old and below.
Florendo and Docena
topped the national junior
chess championships held
early this year.
Pichay also appointed
Far Eastern University
coach GM Jayson Gonzales
to supervise the Filipino
kids’ campaign in the World
Youth Chess Championship
in Antalya, Turkey on Nov.
11-23.