No peace in Mindanao

Despite the historic signing of the peace agreement with the Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), last March 27, 2014, there is still no peace in Mindanao.

For the last two weeks, three explosions had already happened in Cotabato City, Zamboanga City and Maguindanao. In M’lang, Cotabato, 3 teenagers were killed: Laurence John Camiring, Jade Villarin and Francis Rio, while 24 others were wounded. In Kabacan, Cotabato, a college student, Monique Mantawil, was killed and 17 were wounded. In the Zamboanga explosions, a member of the police bomb squad, PO2 Franklin Maneuel Ined Sr. was injured.

There are numerous terrorist attacks and abductions against civilians in Sulu and Basilan, killing and wounding some military people. Two explosions rocked Zamboanga City.

The New People’s Army (NPA) rebels are active in Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental, the two Surigaos and the two Agusans.

Part of the signed peace agreement, the MILF agreed to disband its guerrilla force and rebuild communities in exchange for wider powers to control the region’s economy and society.

But rebels accuse the government of going back on its word over a proposed law to create self-rule for the war-torn region when President Aquino’s legal team made surprise, sweeping changes to the draft law which the MILF says contravene the earlier agreement and would place unacceptable limits on their autonomy.

We need more troops in Basilan and Sulu where the al Qaeda-linked militant Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) is inflicting heavy casualties on the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Basilan clashes casualty caused 11 people dead and 27 wounded in AFP since November 2. In Sulu clashes, 6 soldiers were killed and 26 wounded over the last two weeks.

Stop sending peacekeepers abroad. Send them to Mindanao.

Election budget

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago declared that there is still pork barrel in the proposed 2015 General Appropriation Act (GAA), insisting that it contains “dangerous minefields” that might indulge government officials in their corruption spree because it allows unspent amounts to be declared as savings anytime.

After the Supreme Court (SC) declared the graft-ridden Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), or pork barrel unconstitutional, it remains in the proposed 2015 budget in the form of lump sum allocations to certain agencies.

Aquino’s proposed lump sum, according to Santiago, amounts to P500 billion for 2015 alone.

Santiago said the new definition of savings in the proposed 2015 budget smacks of “hyper-presidentialism.”

She pointed lump sums worth P37.3 billion allocated to the Departments of Health, Public Works and Highways, Social Welfare and Development, Labor and Employment, and the Commission on Higher Education.

Also, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) was allocated a huge sum of the budget for its irrigation project when it should be the National Irrigation Administration’s project.

Senator Ferdinand Marcos questioned the huge lump  sum items in the DILG budget, in an obvious support for Interior Secretary Mar Roxas’ presidential candidacy.

Meanwhile, Senator Antonio Trillanes admitted he is planning to run for president, not vice president, in 2016.

There are now 4 presidentiables in the Nacionalista Party (NP) namely Senators Manny Villar, Bongbong Marcos, Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes.

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago has also declared her plans to run for president in 2016 under her Philippine Reform Party (PRP).

In the opposition, only Vice-President Jejomar Binay has declared plans to run for president in 2016.

Management man of the year

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario was named “Management Man of the Year 2014” by the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).

According to MAP, Del Rosario was chosen for “raising the standards of economic diplomacy by pursuing an independent and principled foreign policy and for standing firmly in staunchly defending the Philippine national interest in the global arena; restoring morale in the DFA by limiting the number of political appointees and placing merit over seniority in the career advancement process for foreign service personnel, and for rationalizing Philippine presence overseas and reallocating resources to where these are most needed.”

Relocate oil depots

Finally, the SC ordered the removal of the oil depots from Pandacan in Manila. It declared City Ordinance 8187, allowing the oil depots to remain in Pandacan, as unconstitutional and invalid with respect to the continuing stay of the Pandacan Oil Terminals.

City Ordinance 8187 was passed during the incumbency of former Mayor Alfredo S. Lim and Vice Mayor Isko Moreno.

The High Tribunal ordered Mayor Joseph Estrada to oversee the removal of the oil depots. Chevron, Shell and Petron were given six months to move out.

Tidbits

The House of Representatives passed on second reading a bill to postpone the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections to the last Monday of October 2016.

Thirty-three journalists have been killed so far under President Aquino’s term.

Fourteen-year-old Denielle Ferreria was raped and burned in Mariveles, Bataan. The Philippine National Police (PNP) has continued to coordinate with witnesses in the search for the perpetrators of the crime.

 A taxi driver robbed and shot a passenger in Quezon City. The driver pulled her out of the cab and left her on the road along MRT Ortigas Station. This is the second robbery incident involving a taxi driver this week.

The SC ruled that recall elections in Puerto Princesa should be held.

Advance Christmas greetings to former Chief Justice and Mrs. Artemio Panganiban and to Butch Lardizabal.