If President Noy is sincere in his “daang matuwid (straight and narrow path)” kind of governance, how come there is an officer in the Presidential Security Group (PSG) who is perceived to be corrupt?
If this officer is not corrupt, where did he get the money to buy four luxury vehicles, a Hummer and a Mercedes Benz, among them?
At least two members of the elite presidential guards have complained to me that this officer pockets the meal and mess allowances and incentives pay of his men.
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A prostitution joint masquerading as a massage parlor in Quezon City is safe from police raids.
It is reportedly owned by a Cabinet official.
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Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon seems helpless in containing smuggling at Manila’s two major ports, South Harbor and Manila International Container Port.
If he really wants to minimize smuggling, he should watch the people manning the X-ray machines of the two ports.
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The estranged wife of Sen. Koko Pimentel, former Binibining Pilipinas-Universe Jewel May Lobaton, has filed for the civil as well as Church annulment of their marriage.
On what grounds?
The absence of parental consent, mental illness, fraud, impotence or frigidity, if either party was forced to marry the other, and infecting one’s partner with a sexually transmitted disease (STD) are grounds for the annulment of marriage in this country.
What was the reason invoked by Ms. Lobaton, I wonder.
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The Catholic Church has fought tooth and nail against the passage of the divorce law, making the Philippines the only country in the world that does not allow divorce.
But it allows the annulment of a marriage on the grounds mentioned above.
We’re reminded of the very arrogant priest, Padre Damaso, in our national hero Jose Rizal’s novel “Noli Me Tangere.”
The fictional character is the father of Maria Clara, the epitome of Filipino womanhood.
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I had dinner with retired Navy admirals a couple of nights ago and one of the topics of our conversation was the dismissal from the service of two Navy officers who were implicated in the alleged murder of Ensign Philip Pestaño in 1995 aboard the BRP Bacolod.
The retired admirals agreed with the sentiments of the majority in the Armed Forces that Pestaño committed suicide, and that those linked to his death were all innocent.
Cmdr. Reynaldo Lopez, who graduated valedictorian of Philippine Military Academy Class ’92, and Cmdr. Luidegar Casis, a graduate of the US Coast Guard Academy, were unlikely murderers.
Lopez, Casis and the other accused are suffering because of the inability of the Office of the Ombudsman to appreciate the facts in the case.