by magnolia_eic | Jul 26, 2010 | Headlines, National News
PRESIDENT Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is on the third draft of his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), but Cabinet members’ numerous inputs are giving him a hard time to keep it short and simple.
Currently, the draft speech’s length is around 15 pages long, which will take him about 25 to 30 minutes to deliver, so the President is trying to shorten his speech, Communications Group official Ricky Carandang told reporters on Thursday.
Aquino’s SONA speech, which he will deliver at the Batasan Pambansa on July 26, will cover key points and relevant findings of the status reports submitted to him by his Cabinet, and his administration’s immediate plans as well.
Cabinet members finished submitting their findings regarding their respective departments on Wednesday night.
Another Communications Group official, Manuel L. Quezon III, who also served as Aquino’s inaugural spokesman, said Aquino is aiming to limit his speech to around 30 minutes.
He said the tone of Aquino’s speech will be “conversational.” (PIA-Bohol)
by magnolia_eic | Jul 26, 2010 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
DEFINITELY, they are not just your usual cops.
Behind that iron hand keeping peace and order, Bohol cops also have that malleable heart that melts for our kids who would otherwise go to school barefoot.
While celebrating Police Community Relations (PCR) Month in July, officers and men of the Bohol Police Provincial Office led by Provincial Director Rodolfo A. Llorca went a bit further to hand out slippers and school supplies to young kids in rural areas.
According to PCR officer PCinspector John Gano, Camp Dagohoy has been collecting at least a pair of slippers and school supplies from more than a thousand integral men in the force to advance police relations.
The slippers go to young kids whom, police officers and men believe would be motivated to go to school if given the comfort of school supplies and slip-ons.
The activity is the BPPO’s second in a series, the first was in San Miguel town, relates PCInsp. Gano during the recent Talakayan sa Isyung Pulis (TSIP).
In San Isidro last week, Mayor Jacinto Naraga warmly welcomed the police troops led by PSSupt. Llorca during a slipper and school supply distribution ceremony to elementary school pupils of Barangay Cambansag, Cansague Norte and Abehilan at the Cambansag Primary School grounds, says San Isidro Municipal Information Officer Eric Jinne Flor.
“It’s a heart-warming scene, children and even young mother try on the new slippers, elation warmly painted in their faces,” a police-woman shares her experience during a distribution ceremony last July 16.
“How would a stonehearted cop feel when a kid tells him she will not wear the slippers yet, so it wont be dirtied, as she shows a badly dilapidated pair of worn out slippers she is wearing?” she asks.
The activity is also in support of the Oplan Balik Eskwela 2010, a program of the Department of Education and is widely supported by the Bohol Provincial Police Office (BPPO) and in partnership with the municipal government.
To expand police relations, PD Llorca even asked his wife to go with them on the ceremony in San Isidro, some 40 kilometers from Tagbilaran. (PIA-Bohol)
by magnolia_eic | Jul 26, 2010 | Headlines, National News
Catholic and Muslim educators will launch a series of discussions on the peace problem in Mindanao.
Jesuit-run Ateneo University School of Government and the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies, with the support of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), are hosting the talks featuring experts on the issue.
Ateneo School of Government Dean Tony La Vina said the discussions are taking place “outside the peace process” between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace negotiators.
In a report of the Union of Catholic Asian News, he expressed hope that some sessions could tackle issues raised during formal negotiations.
IBS is a non-stock, non-profit private institution begun in 2001 to undertake independent and collaborative research on Bangsamoro society, history, education, culture, politics, economic, and contemporary affairs.
IBS Executive Director Abhoud Syed Lingga said the Mindanao conflict stems from the struggle of the Bangsamoro people against “domination” by the Philippine state.
Lingga said peace in Mindanao can be achieved primarily through formal peace negotiations at the national level.
The new administration of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is preparing to resume peace talks that broke down in August 2008. (PIA-Bohol)
by magnolia_eic | Jul 22, 2010 | Headlines, National News
LAWMAKERS on Wednesday called for a review of the party-list system law following the controversial Commission on Elections (Comelec) decision allowing former Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo to represent security guards and tricycle drivers in Congress.
Marikina Rep. Romero Federico Quimbo said Arroyo’s victory, at the very least, “is a clarion call for Congress to review the party-list law to ensure that the spirit of the law is indeed served and not circumvented.”
Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla and San Juan Rep. JV Ejercito agreed to this.
Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said the Comelec decision will only legalize the entry of multi-millionaires into the party-list system, as no genuine party-list group can compete with the powerful organizations in elections.
Arroyo, who survived disqualification cases filed against him, will sit as representative of Ang Galing Pinoy (AGP).
With his re-entry to the House of Representatives, there will now be four Arroyos in Congress: his mother former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, brother Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado ‘Dato’ Arroyo, and uncle Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio Arroyo. (PIA-Bohol)
by magnolia_eic | Jul 22, 2010 | Headlines, National News
MILITANT group Bayan has called for the resignation of Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials after allowing former Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo to sit as representative of the Ang Galing Pinoy party-list.
“These commissioners cannot be trusted to carry out their mandate of ensuring that the laws related to the elections are correctly upheld. They appear incapable of understanding the law. They have lost the trust of the electorate. They must resign,” Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said.
The Comelec commissioners who allowed Mikey to represent AGP were: Nicodemo Ferrer, Lucenito Tagle, Armando Velasco and Elias Yusoph. Those who dissented were Commissioners Rene Sarmiento and Gregorio Larrazabal.
The Comelec en banc earlier allowed Arroyo to sit as Ang Galing Pinoy representative as it junked the petition of several groups questioning the legality of the former Pampanga congressman to be a nominee of the party-list.
Reyes also urged the Aquino administration to block Arroyo from sitting as a party-list representative when the 15th Congress opens on July 26. (PIA-Bohol)
