The Office of the Ombudsman today will conduct its initial public hearing on the ZTE broadband deal scandal. Aside from former Comelec chair Banjamin Abalos, First Gentleman Mike Arroyo was also invited to the hearing. These two guys are believed to be behind the controversy.

But it seems that Mr Arroyo is making another lame excuse as his lawyer made a last minute announcement that his client could not make it to the hearing today due to health reasons.

What an alibi again? If he’s really ‘ill,’ why he can make some foreign trips? Which, I think,  more stressful than sitting in an air conditioned room and tell a lie?

Another alibi, is the denial of the PNP that the security camera that was setup in front of La Salle, Greenhills is not a surveillance camera. So why in the world that the camera was just setup when Senate star witness Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada and his family has temporarily sought refuge from the religious group.

Police said it was installed to monitor traffic. Well, thanks to Lozada, traffic is now being monitored in the vicinity after he moved in La Salle.

I’m not surprised why AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Esperon linked anew the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the alleged assassination plot against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Reason: They’ve got nothing to blame but the MILF whom the US and this corrupt government have been dying to declare them (MILF) as a terrorist organization. Continue Reading »

On Monday, I was able to witness and record one of the most important events in the Catholic church especially in the Diocese of Kidapawan: the meeting of Fr. Peter Geremia and his would be assassin Norberto Manero, aka Kumander Bukay.

Click here to view more photos.

The event drew mixed reaction — some are still skeptic about the motive of Manero in meeting with the people in the diocese of Kidapawan.  While some believed that it’s for the  good  of everybody.
It’s pretty hard to remove or ignore the label on  Manero as a “priest killer.” He was believed to member of the dreaded Ilaga, a fanatical group terrorizing the Muslims in Mindanao during the Martial Law era.

But then the meeting was more on Manero’s renewal of commitment before the church. I really admire how his principal target, Fr. Geremia, was able to process everything inside him and he was able to gave a tight embrace to his would-be assassin 23 years ago who visited the diocese for the first time.

As we were driving back to Davao City, I recalled my late friends George and Macel Vigo. I just hoped they were able to witness that very important event.

At any rate, Manero still deserves even a single page in our history.

Fifty eight percent of Filipinos in Mindanao believed that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cheated in the 2004 presidential elections, a survey conducted by Pulse Asia in Mindanao in December last year showed. The same survey released to media Friday showed that 70 percent of those polled believed that because of recurring allegations of election fraud, the credibility of the balloting process in Mindanao was at a record low. [read on]

The Philippine Star today reported that AFP Chief of Staff  Gen. Hermogenes Esperon’s tour of duty has been extended. It could mean bad news or good news. Bad news for his critics especially the ‘jailed’ Magdalo officers as well as those who were implicated in the failed coup attempt last February 2006.  Well, good news to those who are loyal to him as well as to those who bow their heads before GMA.

Esperon is just one of the Garci generals believed to be involved in the alleged massive cheating during the 2004 presidential elections. His fellow generals have been criticizing and have been asking him to tell the truth.  The alleged involvement of the generals in the cheating is just one of the spark plugs of the outcry of the jailed generals and junior military officers — among them was then LtSg. Antonio Trillanes III, now a senator.

Many analysis and news stories are already out today on the looming downfall of the US Economy. Many say that it’ll be a hard landing. It’s just a like a Humpty Dumpty who fell from the wall.

It’s one of the reasons why US needs to go to war; its economy mainly depend on war. So as the US economy goes down, it’ll surely bring down anyone else that depends on them. They say: “The higher you build, the harder you fall.”

Why the Dollar Bubble is about to Burst
Steve Masterson / London - 24 May, 2006

Currently almost all oil buying and selling is in US-dollars through exchanges in London and New York. It is not accidental they are both US-owned. The Wall Street crash in 1929 sparked off global depression andWorld War II. During that war the US supplied provisions and munitions to all its allies, refusing currency and demanding gold payments in exchange.

This news made me laugh… What a sad news for porn lovers in China as well as in other parts of the globe who loves the open porn sites.

China shut down 44,000 porn sites in 2007

BEIJING - China shut down 44,000 Web sites and arrested 868 people for Internet pornography last year, state media said Wednesday.  China’s Public Security Ministry launched a crackdown on Internet pornography last year, saying it had ”perverted China’s young minds.” Nearly 2,000 people involved in Internet pornography activities also were penalized, the official Xinhua News Agency said.