For our special presentation on our talk show “Straight from the Sky,” we are honored to have with us, Archbishop Jose Palma of the Archdiocese of Cebu. With the archbishop, we could do a postscript on the recent visit to the Philippines of our beloved Pope Francis. When the Pope was in the country, many of us watched all the TV footages whenever and wherever Pope Francis met with groups in Manila and Tacloban.
Some pundits had asked why Arch. Palma was never seen on TV. But what I did learn from this interview was that Arch. Palma was present in all of the Pope’s activities, including the short trip to Tacloban. But true to form, Arch. Palma isn’t the kind of man who wants to be in the limelight. But most important of all, Pope Francis was guest of his eminence Antonio Cardinal Tagle while he was in Manila and with Bishop John Du in Tacloban.
I haven’t had any interviews with Arch. Palma for two years now and it is the perfect time for him to give us a postscript of the visit of Pope Francis and its impact to all Catholics. So please watch this very interesting interview on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00PM with replays on Wednesday and Saturday at the same time. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9:00PM and on Wednesday and Friday at 7:00AM and 9:00PM respectively.
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It’s been 15 days since the infamous Oplan Wolverine was exposed to the public’s consciousness because this secret mission ended with the untimely deaths of 44 Special Action Force soldiers in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. I have no doubt that the Aquino spin masters and propagandists have gone into overdrive doing what is known as “Damage Control” in order to save the presidency of Pres. Benigno Aquino III. More so that no less than former Pres. Fidel V. Ramos openly declared that PNoy “broke the chain of command and must accept his responsibility on this mission.” As the old saying goes, “The Buck stops in the President’s office.”
On Jan. 28th, three full days after the second Maguindanao massacre became public, Pres. Aquino addressed the whole nation to protect his buddy, suspended and now resigned Philippine National Police Chief Alan Purisima.
Apparently that nationwide address did not appease an angry nation because the President was a no-show when the bodies of the 44 slain SAF soldiers arrived in Villamor Air Base. This President found the blessing of a Mitsubishi car assembly plant more important than meeting his dead soldiers. That act literally broke the camel’s back that even a great majority of his yellow minions are now angry with the President. Even in Facebook you can very well read who are defending the President.
In the last two weeks we’ve been asking… what was the role of Alan Purisima in this mission? In his second speech, Pres. Aquino only praised Alan Purisima and gave the Filipino nation a full account of his friendship with Purisima… as if this was what we Filipinos wanted to hear. While he mentioned in his previous speech that Purisima briefed him during that ill-fated mission, he said nothing about Purisima’s involvement in Oplan Wolverine. In short, the whitewashing has begun! So finally Purisima appeared on TV denying that he was involved in this caper. Lies?
It just makes you wonder why PNoy is so attached to Purisima that despite his being tagged as a corrupt police officer, he wouldn’t believe the news reports about his luxurious mansion in Nueva Ecija and all the other corruption issues thrown against him such as his very cheap brand new Toyota Land Cruiser.
For as long as the truth is kept from the Filipino people, Malacañang would have to explain why there are so many leaks coming out… such as the involvement of the US. The worse news from the US was that the US$5 million bounty for the dead Marwan would be going to the MILF informers who told US Intelligence where he was staying. This will cause another uproar in the coming weeks if PNoy mishandles this money because many Filipinos want to give it to the families of the dead SAF soldiers.
While Pres. Aquino has this crisis in his hands, the Supreme Court through Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has identified no less than Pres. Aquino and the Department of Budget and Management as the “authors” of the Disbursement Acceleration Program, which was declared “unconstitutional.” Carpio said, “As authors of the constitutional act, they have to answer for such act.” Even if Mr. Aquino did not have an SAF crisis on his hands, his government today would still be in crisis because of the DAP/PDAF. The SAF crisis is actually a crisis inside a crisis! Shame!