First we saw this:
Now, this just came out:
Author: Julian Alejandro
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New Supreme Court Justice
President Arroyo yesterday appointed Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Ruben Reyes as newest Supreme Court associate justice.
I was pleased to hear this news as it I think it is just fair that the CA presiding justice should be promoted to the High Court before anyone else. I was about to say maybe the President is becoming more prudent in appointing people–then I remembered that Lito Atienza took his oath as environment secretary just this week.
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Ibon: 77% of Pinoys Think They’re Poor
Ibon’s latest survey revealed that 77% of Filipinos consider themselves poor.
According to Ibon, 76.8% of respondents to the IBON July 2007 Survey said they thought of themselves as poor. This is an increase from 67.6% in January and 69.3% in the same period last year.
IBON executive editor Rosario Bella Guzman, said the survey results are not surprising considering that there are still insufficient livelihood opportunities in the country.
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Being Filipino
There is an on-going discussion at Yuga’s blog on why American columnist Michelle Malkin is not included in the list of Filipino bloggers. Yuga says Malkin is clearly “of Filipino descent.”
But there is of course a difference between being of Filipino descent and being Filipino. In her Piercing Pens entry “Defining the Filipino”, Oriah wrote:
But who is and what makes a Filipino? For many of us, being born a Filipino citizen is the key. For some, just tracing your roots to one Filipino makes you one. As for me, citizenship is earned, not laid out on a silver platter. We work to earn the title of being true blue Pinoys.
Defining the Filipino is still a challenge for most of us but one thing I am certain, it’s not just ancestry or bloodline or eating adobo that defines us.
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Senator Migz Zubiri
Yesterday, the Commission on Elections proclaimed him as the 12th winner in the senatorial race in last month’s elections. This was after the Supreme Court denied opposition senatorial candidate Koko Pimentel’s request for a temporary restraining order on Zubiri’s proclamation. Pimentel has been claiming there was cheating in Maguindanao, where the administration’s Team Unity won by 12-0.
Zubiri’s legislative record as congressman is impressive. It’s just sad that his victory in the Senate seems tainted.
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Peace?
“President Arroyo’s policy since day one of her administration has been to push the peace process. And peace process means making peace with those fighting the government,” abs-cbnNEws.com quoted Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita as saying.
He should try telling that to the relatives of the more than 800 extrajudicial killing victims, who are mostly critics of the government.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) today reminded President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that it is the media’s duty is to report the news without any agenda.
The media organization issued the statement after Arroyo invited executives of several media outfits to Malacañang to solicit their help for the last three years of her administration, during which she hopes to build her “legacy.”
“We would like to remind Ms. Arroyo that media’s role – nay, duty – is to report events, good or bad, as they happen and not to spin the news to suit anyone’s agenda, much less conform to anyone’s concept of what balanced reporting, balanced commentary and editorial focus should be,” the NUJP said.