Author: Julian Alejandro

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism today removed this post from its blog after Quezon City Regional Trial Court Presiding Judge Ralph S. Lee issued a temporary restraning order against the group, a first in the Philippine blogging history.

The post contained the profile of Micheal Defender, err, Defensor’s audio expert, Jonathan Mallorca Tiongco, including his criminal cases.

In issuing the TRO, the court granted the request of Tiongco’s wife, Rona, who said that the PCIJ blog post was an intrusion into her private life and a “grave violation” of her rights and those of her minor children.

The court said that it had not yet ruled on the merits of Mrs. Tiongco’s allegations, but that an order removing the blog post was “the safer and more prudent recourse in order to safeguard and balance conflicting rights and interests of the parties/litigants.”

Below is the full text of the PCIJ blog post ordered removed by the QC court, courtesy of Google:

Below is a letter from the convenors of the Citizens’ Congress For Truth and Accountability:

October 28, 2005

Dear Friends,

“Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again.”
– – – William Cullen Bryant

The failure of the Constitutional process has reinforced the need for an alternative venue to present the evidence against the President and assess possible accountability as well as that of other public officials.

It is for this reason that the Bukluran Para sa Katotohanan has initiated the creation of a Citizens’ Congress for Truth and Accountability (CCTA). The amended impeachment complaint was turned over by the House Impeachment Team on September 6 after the administration-dominated Congress voted down the impeachment of Mrs. Arroyo. Men and Women of proven virtue and integrity were convened to carry on the project.

The Citizens’ Congress aims to be a venue for the coherent presentation and examination of the charges against the President that she violated the Constitution, betrayed the public trust, and engaged in graft and corruption and human rights violations. Aside from hearing the said cases the Citizens’ Congress will come up with recommendations that will eventually be circulated to people’s and organizations nationwide.

You are cordially invited to join us in the search for truth.

Being Michael the archangel’s playmate surely has its benefits. It places you in some sort of moral pedestal such that even your repressive actions are hailed as correct by prominent Church leaders.

While the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and–would you believe?–El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde denounced the dispersal of the October 14 prayer rally in Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin’s successor chose to side with the police who implemented Arroyo’s policy of violent dispersals.

INQ7 reported that Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales said the rallyists were wrong in violating the rally permit.

“There’s no such thing as absolute freedom. Every freedom is conditioned on the rights of another,” Rosales reportedly said.

Maybe the good archbishop is seriously taking the doctrine of separation of church and state, since it looks like he hasn’t read the Philippine Constitution, which favors the citizen’s right to peaceable assembly.

Or maybe Rosales thinks the doctrine of separation of church and state is nothing but bullshit, so he echoes with gusto Arroyo’s statements on the issue of peaceful assembly.

Arkibong Bayan has photos and video clips of the October 14 prayer rally and dispersal.

Join a prayer rally near the Glorious temple, and holy water from the playmate of St. Michael pour upon you.

Former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Representatives Satur Ocampo and Risa Hontiveros, former Pangasinan vice governor Oscar Orbos, Senator Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal, Father Robert Reyes, and other political leaders and church people joined a prayer rally organized by a group led by patriotic bishops. They wanted to join others who were gathered near the Palace of Garci’s phone pal, and they all got wet.

Antoher thing that’s common between Philippine President Gloria “Hello Garci” Macapagal-Arroyo and US President George “Dubya” Bush is that God “speaks” to them.

“It is God who puts ideas in my heart,” Arroyo–who has described the presidency as a position “made in Heaven”–once said.

Meanwhile, Bush was quoted as telling a Texan evangelist: ‘I feel like God wants me to run for President. I can’t explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen… I know it won’t be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it.’

Aren’t Filipinos and Americans very lucky to have these blessed Presidents?

We’ve just joined Blog mad! (Just because the word “mad” is in the title of the post, it doesn’t mean it’s about a certain politician again.)

Google describes it as “a blog traffic site” which promises to provide weblogs with “a ton of traffic.”

You may want to try it, too.