Aquino missed his chance at greatness
President Noy will go down in history as the chief executive who was defeated and humiliated by the Supreme Court in a power struggle.
The President may have won in the first round of his fight with the high tribunal when he disobeyed its order granting his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, permission to travel abroad to seek medical treatment.
He may have also won the second round when he and his minions suddenly produced a warrant of arrest for GMA from a Pasay City court judge who was notorious for taking his time in handling cases.
Although groggy from punches received from Malacañang, the high tribunal was not knocked out.
It rallied on the third round and hit the President where it hurt most—Hacienda Luisita.
The high court has ruled that the vast farmlands that P-Noy’s Cojuangco clan owns should be distributed to its workers.
The Cojuangcos continued to hold on to the land even after then President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, P-Noy’s late mother, ordered all agricultural lands distributed to tenant-farmers as mandated by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.
The Cojuangcos even ignored adverse public opinion when several farm workers who picketed the gates of Hacienda Luisita were killed years ago in a clash with police and the military.
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If the President had foresight, he would have convinced relatives on his mother’s side to apportion the 6,000-hectare estate to its farm workers once he got elected.
P-Noy missed his chance at greatness.
He will never be able to recover from the defeat he suffered in the hands of the Supreme Court.
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Mayor Rey Uy of Tagum City is showing his counterparts in other towns and cities in the country how bayanihan, or team spirit, works.
Every day, city hall employees and private citizens work hand in hand at the three-hectare city motor pool making chairs, tables and desks for schoolchildren.
The furniture is distributed free to public elementary schools in the provinces of Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley that do not have them.
The chairs, tables and desks are made from logs confiscated by the city from illegal loggers.
Hundreds of confiscated logs are piled up in one corner of the city motor pool.
The city hall employees and private citizens don’t receive any pay for their efforts.
They volunteer for the job.
Noemi Eugenio of the city’s engineering office and Janet Ragos of the city’s architect office said they volunteered their time because Mayor Uy has set a good example for others to follow.
The mayor himself spends a few hours each day to help paint the school furniture.
