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3rd SONA draws mixed reactions

Imahe
Two years in the office as President of the Republic of the Philippines, Benigno S. Aquino’s third State of the Nation Address (SONA) has not escaped ‘like and dislike’ from both supporters and critics who scrutinized every line and statistics blurted out by the President.     Some ‘likes’ were tentative or seemingly half-hearted while some dislikes were extreme as expected by the allies of the current administration.  Senator Jinggoy Estrada said that it was the most realistic SONA so far.   His father said the same of it, adding that it is “well-crafted”. Political analyst and University of the Philippines professor Prospero de Vera thought that the SONA has more pluses than minus, but said “it is a long speech and short and limited legislative agenda”.  Zambales Representative Mitos Magsaysay said that it left more questions than answers. Some quarters also questioned the veracity of the statistics on criminality.   The Philippine Nat...
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Pageant: a reality check

Just like the Oscars, the Miss Universe can be unpredictable --- and also predicable in the choice of winners.  For any country whose occasional happiness and temperament are latched on either a demigod or a modern-day hero, any result of any competition – from a small-time barangay contest to one that is national in scale can be questionable.  And no amount of explanation or justification whatsoever will vanquish any misgiving on an unfavorable result. Call it extremism, fundamentalism, obsession --- they’re all one and the same – fanaticism, a do or die. If things written about the recent beauty pageant are not enough, here goes another mouthful.  Yes, there is a pattern and a formula too.  And in between, spring surprises which by the way, are all part of the grand scheme or confluence of things we spectators will never fathom.  Leave them to the experts who are as confused and adamant as the hard-core, when their predictions wander from the actual result...
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Slow pace of Maguindanao massacre trial scored

Imahe
massacre photo with backhoe It has been two years since a most heinous crime happened in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao province in Southern Philippines. On Nov 23, 2009, 58 persons were killed, 32 of them journalists and media workers, earning for  the Philippines the  notorious tag as the second most dangerous place for media practitioners in the world, next only  to Iraq. Suspected perpetrators of the crime were members of the Ampatuan family, the political lords in the province. Two years since that tragedy, 103 of the 196 suspects remain at large and only two of the principal suspects have been arraigned. The case remains snagged on hearings on petitions for bail of the accused.
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