Law Center Inc. would like to invite everyone to "come together in joy to remember beloved Arbet." Masses and novenas have been scheduled. Special prayers for justice for Arbet as well as for her eternal rest and peace are most welcome. For more details, please call 412-4923 or 255-6605.
First, protesters demand GMA's honesty about why and about what election-related matters her calls to a Comelec commissioner were. This is the quest for truth from GMA in relation to possible violation of their right and choice to vote. Did her calls to Garci (which she herself admitted publicly) not violate people's votes?
Rather than have the truth and information come out about deals and contracts entered into by her and her administration, EO 464 was directed for all her subordinates not to speak or appear publicly without her permission. Similar memos issued by President Cory or governors were limited to department heads. GMA's EO 464, however, covered all government subordinates, colleagues and equals in the executive and even in the military sector!
Will EO 464 prevent the officials of the Department of Finance from being summoned by the Senate or by the Filipino people to shed light on the recent decision of the GMA administration "to award lease and development contracts for two properties in Kobe, Japan, to Japanese construction firm Berg Co. Ltd. for 1.3 billion yen, or about P667 million?" Filipinos in Japan have long protested the sale or lease of Philippine properties in Japan without the consent of the Filipino people who rightly own these patrimonies of the nation. Who authorized this recent lease? Were Congress and the Filipino people informed about this new deal and were the bidding procedures proper?
True Filipinos will continue to demand for their right to truth (about GMA's participation in the last election and deals and contracts entered into by her administration, among other matters). True Filipinos will also insist and fight for their right to public information and their right to free speech and assembly. If GMA and her supporters thought they could suppress, with their recent policies, what they thought were the "dwindling number" of "troublesome" rallyists, perhaps they need to review what happened during Martial Law and what happened to Marcos who deprived the Filipino people of their rights for 20 long years. With their recent repressive measures, GMA and her supporters have just guaranteed the continuation of more massive protests from the Filipino people.
Finally, this column would like to give way to this reminder to those interested to avail of their PAL mileage awards based on recent personal experience. Make sure you provide sufficient time to apply for this award. In the PAL Travel Award Redemption Form, it states that regular processing for the travel award redemption will be free if done at least 10 calendar days prior to flight departure. However, in a separate form, their Buy Miles Request Form, it states that "the miles will be added to your account or beneficiary four days after payment of the buy miles fee."
This means that if you go to their office to avail of their mileage award, but need to buy extra miles to be able to avail of the award, best to remember that the free processing period starts only from the date of your payment of your purchase of extra miles. That means best for you to allot four days (after paying for buy miles processing) and at least 10 more days before flight departure to avail of free processing.
Hopefully, PAL will soon ensure a more-client friendly brochure that clearly states all these reminders on one form. In the meantime, do provide a processing period of 14 days or more to ensure the availability and enjoyment of the PAL mileage or travel award redemption privilege!