Last Monday President Noy delivered his second State of the Nation Address. Many criticized the President for not presenting a road map for the country. But I think the Sona was centered on the need to go back to basics as a precedent to solve problems effectively.…
Flip through the four-volume audit of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and Maguidanao. They’re case-studies of utak wangwang, a phrase President Benigno Aquino III minted in State of the Nation address. In his first Sona, P-Noy lashed the powerful who blasted sirens to shove the weak aside. This time, he deployed wangwangs as symbol [...]…
Not a few were disappointed with the failure of P-Noy to show the big picture of how he will run the economy in the remaining years of his term and the specifics of what he actually accomplished in his first year. Indeed, P-Noy’s State of the Nation Address last Monday was heavy only on one [...]…
President Benigno Aquino III had the chance to categorically state his position on the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill during his State of the Nation Address (Sona) but blew it, advocates said on Wednesday. FOI advocates such as the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition consider the second regular session of the 15th Congress a [...]…
President Benigno Aquino III and his justice secretary are confident they have an ace in retired Supreme Court justice Conchita Carpio-Morales at the Ombudsman’s Office that they are no longer interested in further arguing the legality of the truth commission before the Supreme Court. With Mr. Aquino’s appointment of Morales, the government now has enough [...]…
Whatever the P-Noy government’s failings, it is far, far better than the one it replaced,” says Conrado de Quiros of the Philippine Daily Inquirer in his column yesterday. I agree, except that some yardstick should also measure whatever P-Noy claims as his accomplishment based on what he or his team promised at the start of his administration.…
Senators are not keen on holding an investigation into the P1 billion funds that the previous management of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) had allegedly spent for the coffee of its casino customers…
AN official of the Cebu archdiocese said President Benigno Aquino III’s second State of the Nation Adress was “very good.”…
The Supreme Court on Tuesday announced that it has set an oral argument to hear the different petitions questioning the postponement of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections. Speaking at a news briefing, Supreme Court administrator and spokesman Midas Marquez said the tribunal scheduled the court proceeding on Aug. 9, a day after the [...]…
MANILA, Philippines—After days of preparing for his second State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Aquino managed to crack jokes again even as administration officials were busy expounding on the chief executive’s key messages and explaining his silence on important issues such as land reform and the reproductive health bill. Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa expressed [...]…
You may still call her “Madame Justice.” Owing to court tradition, newly appointed Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales may still be addressed as “Justice,” Supreme Court spokesperson Jose Midas Marquez said on Tuesday. “There’s a tradition… once a justice always a justice. Maybe you should ask her. I don’t think she would mind if you still called [...]…
President Benigno Aquino III’s biggest bombshell during his recent State of the Nation Address (Sona) is now a fully brewed controversy. A single company apparently cornered the bulk of the P1 billion spent by state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) on coffee used as perk for casino patrons in a span of 10 years, [...]…
An organization advocating for the rights of the urban poor sees “more deaths and violence” in the remaining years of the Aquino administration should “priority economic development projects” under public-private partnerships (PPP) continue to be implemented. In a statement, the Urban Poor Resource Center of the Philippines Inc. (UPRCP) said “hundreds” of urban poor communities [...]…
BAGUIO CITY—Cordillera leaders were hopeful that President Aquino would refer to their bid for autonomy in his State of the Nation Address (SONA), and like many other groups seeking his attention, they left their respective offices disappointed. Mr. Aquino instead addressed the problems of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which he had targeted [...]…
KORONADAL CITY—President Aquino’s chief adviser on the peace process defended the President’s failure to mention talks with Moro guerrillas in his State of the Nation Address on Monday. Teresita Deles, presidential adviser on the peace process, said the absence of the peace process in Mr. Aquino’s SONA didn’t mean peace wasn’t the government’s priority. Deles [...]…
The hunger rate in the country is down by 5 percent, investment confidence is stronger, and other gains have been made in the fight against graft, said President Benigno Aquino III in his address to the nation yesterday.…
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and other religious groups on Monday issued their version of the State of the Nation Address in which they called on President Aquino to give top priority to other measures other than the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill.…
President Benigno Aquino III will submit the proposed P1.816-trillion national budget for next year to Congress today (Tuesday), a day after delivering his second State of the Nation Address (Sona). A statement by the Department of Budget and Management on Monday said it was the first time after more than a decade that a budget [...]…
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said he’s satisfied with the SONA of President Benigno Aquino III, especially regarding accomplishments in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.…
Manila Philippines—As a sign of protest, a group of school-based artists painted the street in front of St. Peter’s church near the Batasang Pambansa on Monday. With strong messages against the Aquino administration, Roni Ba-Ang, vice chairman for Academics University of the Philippines (Asterisk) Asosasyon ng Kabataang Artista at Iskolar ng UP Diliman, said it [...]…
President Aquino on Monday named retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales as the new Ombudsman, boosting his administration’s drive to file cases against “the corrupt and their accomplices.” Morales’ possible appointment as Ombudsman was earlier opposed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, a subject of several corruption cases being built up by prosecutors. Mr. Aquino [...]…
(Last of two parts) One of the strongest thrusts of the administration has been its anticorruption campaign. But the campaign has been seen in some quarters as slowing down the economy. Here are more pluses and minuses of the Aquino administration. PLUS. In May, Local Water Utilities Administration Chair Prospero Pichay was suspended for six [...]…
It was as if somebody wrote a memo and everybody read it—wear “terno.” Of course there was no memo—in fact, the invitation to the State of the Nation Address (Sona) of President Aquino merely said Filipina dress for women and barong for the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, and barong or suit [...]…
I was in government service for almost 40 years, 25 of which was with the judiciary. I have always dreamed of retiring and reconnecting with friends and relatives whom I have not seen for ages. But my sense of duty has remained. When those who nominated me asked me in earnest if I would consider [...]…
PORAC, Pampanga, Philippines—Here, at least, she heard praises, not potshots. Snubbing her successor’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) for the second time, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo spent Monday afternoon inspecting projects in her home district, a friendly turf where one town hall hardly displays a photograph of President Aquino. Arroyo, now a Pampanga representative, [...]…
It fittingly perked up a speech that dragged on for almost an hour. President Aquino’s remark about past officials of state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) who apparently had too much coffee to drink practically jolted the audience halfway through his State of the Nation Address on Monday. “In Pagcor, the previous management apparently [...]…
The bosses of President Aquino took notice of what he did not mention in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, sending him more arrows than kudos. As expected, his supporters in Congress liked the speech just the way it was. While “corruption and red tape was well covered” in Mr. Aquino’s Sona, [...]…
Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was rushed at 5 p.m. on Monday to St. Luke’s Medical Center at the Global City in Taguig City due to hypertension. But her brother-in-law, Negros Occidental Rep Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo, however told the Inquirer that “it was nothing serious” and she was brought there more as a precaution. Iggy said [...]…
BAYAN REACTS. Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary-general Renato Reyes reacts hours after President Benigno Aquino III delivered his 2nd State of the Nation Adress. Video by INQUIRER.net’s Danica Hermogenes The boos from the streets came almost simultaneously with the claps inside the Batasang Pambansa building as President Aquino delivered his State of the Nation Address (Sona) [...]…
It’s official: Morales new Ombudsman
At A Glance
‘Thank you, my Bosses’
State of the Nation Address
Militants burn Aquino effigy
Militants gather at St. Peter’s Church
Farmers stopped from crossing police line
Arroyo arrives at House of Representatives
Some 5,000 cops, MMDA personnel deployed vs militants
Traffic build up on southbound lane of Commonwealth Ave. in QC
Militants prepare for ‘PeNoy’ effigy burning on Monday
President to focus on transformation
Anti-corruption drive gains top Aquino SONA—Palace
Traffic re-routing scheme for Monday in QC’s Commonwealth area
Lintang Bedol arrives in Camp Crame
Hardy Filipinos fly flag, fight loneliness on Kalayaan isle
Aquino reports to the boss (Part 1)
