Fighting Batangueña

Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi will not resign and will fight to the last drop of his blood. Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez will not resign and will fight to the end in the Senate.

With Malacañang now openly supporting the impeachment of Gutierrez, it is a foregone conclusion that the House of Representatives will vote overwhelmingly to impeach her and send the complaint to the Senate. Only 94 votes are required. With 257 members of the Belmonte Majority, at least 150 will vote to impeach.  

The focus now shifts to the Senate, the body designated by the Constitution to be the trial court. The Constitution requires a 2/3 vote of the entire Senate or 16 votes to convict Gutierrez.

Already, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, a former RTC judge, has issued her opinion that the evidence presented at the House Committee on Justice hearings is weak. Impeachment is a political process. It would not be surprising if opposition Lakas Senators Bong Revilla and Juan Miguel Zubiri will toe the party line to embarrass the Administration. The three-man Senate Minority, Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano and Joker Arroyo have no love lost for President Aquino. Joker has been consistently critical of student council President P-Noy and his classmates. Will their Presidential candidate Manny Villar and VP Loren Legarda join them? Sen. Ralph Recto is a provincemate of Batangueña Merceditas Gutierrez. The big Gutierrez clan is political supporters of Gov. Vilma Santos Recto. Senator Jinggoy Estrada has clearly demonstrated his displeasure at former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo. Will that feeling swing his vote in favor of Merceditas Gutierrez?  

The bottom line, Merceditas Gutierrez will put up a good fight in the Senate.  

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TRAPPED IN LIBYA. . . There are pockets of Filipinos from 30 to 165 trapped in towns outside of Tripoli and Bhengazi like Misurata. Reports from OFWs who have arrived that were given transportation by the Philippine Embassy or their employers say they were able to pass as many as 27 checkpoints simply by paying some money.

Can we do a limited version of the British Commandoes by sending a 15-man SAF force to Tunisia to cross the Libyan border as Acting Secretary Albert del Rosario successfully did give them money for bribes and bus rentals to fetch these hungry and scared Filipinos and escort them back to Tunisia?

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OFW UPDATE. . . In an interview over DZRJ-AM DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said that there are 1.1 million OFWs in Saudi Arabia, not 300,000 as reported by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) and 70,000 OFWs in Taiwan. She said that OWWA has sent a Welfare Officer in Yemen where an estimated 1,000 OFWs are located.

She said that the 5,000 applicants for Taiwan jobs have not yet gotten their visas because of additional requirements imposed by the Taiwan authorities.

She confirmed that there are 13,000 OWWA registered OFWs in Libya barely half of estimated 26,000-30,000 Filipinos there.

The BSP did right in exchanging Libyan Dinars at the airport.

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ANOTHER POLICE RAPIST. . . After previous incidents of rape by policemen at MPD Headquarters and San Juan Police Station and attempted rape at Talisay, Cebu Police Headquarters, another policeman in Quezon City, PO1 Rodrigo Bajog has been accused by a female detainee of rape inside the conference room of Station 12 in Quezon City. Another big blot on the reputation of the PNP.  

PO2 Milbert Bicol claims he was a buyer in good faith of the Ford Everest carnapped from a Cavite resident and found parked in Malacañang. The obvious question: where did he get the P550,000 to buy the car as claimed? Why has he not acted to arrest the person who sold it to him? Why did he visit the owner, Barbara Ruth Fernandez, and demand P550,000 for the return of their car? Why did he park it in Malacañang? To say the least, PO2 Bicol should be summarily dismissed for stupidity.

Meanwhile, the crime situation rages as Lt. Col. Ferdinand Macasaet, (Class ’81) an official of the Philippine Military Academy, is shot dead in Baguio City just outside the PMA grounds. Cagayan Valley Register of Deeds Luzviminda Gabriel, 48 was shot dead in Tuguegarao City. A 30-year old Chinese mestiza looking woman was found dead with her two ears cut off at Atimonan, Quezon. Spouses Jose Santiago, a retired Navy officer and Marina Santiago were shot dead inside the Western Command in Puerto Princesa. Businesswoman Olivia Barredo was kidnapped in Zamboanga City.

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FOOD CRISIS. . . The United Nations reports that world food prices rose for the 8th straight month, even before the recent increase of oil prices due to the Libyan crisis. World food prices are at an all time high.

The Nomura report said the Philippines is in the top 15 most vulnerable to projected food shortages. It is also projected that exports of corn, wheat and rice will be stopped by the exporting countries to assure their domestic supply.

In addition to the job creation problem, this is a major challenge for the Aquino Administration. In the first eight months of his term, we have not seen any sense of urgency on P-Noy’s part regarding the coming food shortage. There was good reason for Senator Edgardo Angara to suggest that part of the P21 B Conditional Cash Transfer program should have been given to agriculture. Fifty percent of a family’s budget goes to food.

To Imelda Marcos’ credit, she conducted a successful green revolution program. It is time for civil society activists like Gina Lopez to shift their focus to food production. The top Philippine corporations who are registering billions of profits should now devote some funds to food production for their employees. What happened to SMC president Ramon Ang’s rice production project? So far reports of continuing corruption in the Department of Agriculture are disturbing.