All set for Pope Francis visit

All is set for the five-day state and apostolic visit of Pope Francis on Thursday to Monday, Jan. 15 to 19.

A record number of 42,000 policemen and soldiers, augmented by 20,000 civilian volunteers, will provide security for the Pope and his 30-man entourage.

Three pope mobiles have been built for his use.

President Aquino, Vice-President Jejomar Binay, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa and a thousand students will welcome the Pope at Villamor Air Base on Thursday at 5:45 p.m.

President Aquino, his Cabinet members and the diplomatic corps will receive him in Malacañang on Jan. 16 at 9:15 a.m. before he proceeds to the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral in Intramuros where he will say mass for 2,000 bishops, priests, nuns and religious followers.

Highlight of the Pope’s schedule is his visit to Tacloban and Palo where he will say mass at the airport on Jan. 17 before proceeding to Palo for lunch, with 30 survivors of Typhoon Yolanda and the Bohol earthquake.

He will inaugurate Pope Francis Center for the poor, a project funded by the Vatican.

On Jan. 18, two big events will be held – the meeting with the youth at University of Santo Tomas (UST) and the mass at the Quirino Grandstand at the Luneta – where 6 million are expected to attend.

President Aquino said he will attend the mass at the Luneta.

The Pope will fly back to Rome on Jan. 19.

Let us offer a prayer for a safe and successful visit of Pope Francis.

Janette Garin as DOH secretary

President Benigno Aquino III announced, in a presscon in Romblon, the forthcoming appointment of former Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin as the new secretary of the Department of  Health (DOH), replacing the resigned Enrique Ona.

Garin, as undersecretary of Health for 2 years, has shown competence for the job. She has a proven track record not only as a physician but also as public servant, being a former congresswoman of the first district of Iloilo.

Garin, as policy maker, had been known as the champion of various health issues, such as fighting fraud in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PHIC), amending the Physician’s Act, as well as advocating women’s issues such as the passage of the controversial Reproductive Health Law and Population Development Law, among others.

Noynoy stands firm on fare hike

President Aquino stood firm on the Metro Rail Transit/Light Rail Transit (MRT/LRT) fare hikes, saying it is long overdue.

He insisted that the new fares were “reasonable and just” that  will result in the improvement of train service, especially since the Metro Manila train system was being subsidized by the entire nation.

“We want to improve the lines, we need to add more units, we need to replace the signaling system, we need to change the radio and improve the rails,” the President said.

But several members of the House of Representatives criticized the President’s stand pointing out that the 2015 budget contains an annual appropriation of P13 billion for the improvement of the MRT and LRT lines.

President Aquino stated that the annual subsidy being paid by the government was only for the operation, not for the improvement and upgrade of the train systems.

The questions is: Why are the improvement and upgrade of the service to make trains safe for commuters excluded?

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares pointed out that MRT and LRT were profitable and not losing money.

Colmenares pointed out that P120.7 billion has been pumped into MRT and LRT alone for the last 10 years.

French police efficiency

The three terrorists, Said Kouachi, Cherif Kouachi, and Amedy Coulibaly, who killed 17 people, including 3 police officers, were identified, cornered and shot dead in 48 hours after the hostage-taking standoff on Jan. 9.

It certainly proved the efficiency of the French security forces. It also shows the hands of efficiency of French President François Hollande.

Unfortunately, Hayat Boumeddiene, the common law wife of Amedy Coulibaly, remains at large. News said she fled to Syria last week.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) released a video acknowledging membership of Amedy Coulibaly, giving his allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, self-proclaimed leader of ISIL.

 More than a million people flooded Paris on Sunday in an unprecedented rally against terrorism, led by dozens of world leaders walking arm in arm.

Tidbits

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago has filed the most number of bills, 1,007. Coming in second was Senator Jinggoy Estrada with 604 bills and resolutions.

Fourty-four-year-old Renato Gurion, a member of the Hijos de Nazareno-Nuesto Padre Jesus Nazareno, who escorted the Black Nazarene, died after suffering a heart attack on top of the carousel. Mayor Joseph Estrada offered to shoulder his burial expenses.

With the help of witnesses, one of the suspects in the fatal shooting of Abante tabloid reporter Nerlita Ledesmas was arrested. The suspect, a gun-for-hire killer, was not named as they are still getting additional information on the killing.

Philippine National Police (PNP) confirmed that there was no terror threat received in the five-day visit of Pope Francis, contrary to a report published by a national broadsheet.