Winners and Losers
By Antonio C. Abaya
Written on Aug. 25, 2008
Now that the Beijing 2008 Games are over, you and I can go back to our daily routines. I was spending four to five hours a day watching the Olympic action, from Day One to Day 16. I had no more time to read, to watch films on DVD, to listen to classical music, or to work in my garden.
Thanks to the generous coverage by Solar Sports and its sister channels – Etc, 2nd Avenue, CS – cable TV viewers had …

PerryScope
by Perry Diaz
The ugly turn of events in Mindanao in the past several weeks makes me wonder if what happened was accidental or deliberate. It may seem accidental, but in politics events are sometimes programmed to make them look accidental but in reality were deliberately planned.
After drafting a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) that seemed to be in violation of the constitution, Gloria — to avoid embarrassment by a Supreme Court reversal — canceled the MOA-AD. But any intelligent person — and Gloria is a very intelligent woman …

Why the MILF?
Landscapae
Gemma Cruz Araneta
This is all very confusing. Isn’t the MILF in the
government’s short list of terrorist groups, a veritable
public enemy number one blamed for the close to civil war
conditions in Mindanao? Why is it now the representative
of the the Bangsamoro in that controversial memorandum of
agreement where the Constitution of this republic is now
even mentioned? . Indeed, that is most baffling, to say the
least. Was that a deliberate oversight of the GRP lawyers
who crafted the memorandum of agreement? You …

What is there to upset Gloria?
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo
Sunday, August 24, 2008
It was recently admitted by the Palace that Madame Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) suffered from an upset stomach. It was also one of the few times when a Palace statement was generally accepted to be true.
Why? Well, for one, there are a lot of things happening in her scandal and controversy marred life that can cause more than just an upset stomach, even among those who are known to possess a so-called cast iron …

Renegotiate
By Antonio C. Abaya
Written on Aug. 20, 2008
There seems to be only one way out of the impasse created by the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and that is, to renegotiate it.
But it has to be assumed that some in the MILF would object to any renegotiation. These are the hardliners who believe that the MOA is a done deal and is already binding on the GRP, even if it has …

Write It, Walk It
GLIMPSES
Jose Ma. Montelibano
There are some who have stood against powerful men and women for a number of years, oftentimes paying dearly for doing so. Those who speak against wrongdoing cannot but speak against wrongdoers every so often, and that is dangerous and expensive.
Reeling against what powerful wrongdoers dish back, I found myself wallowing in self-pity at times. I know I could have recapitulated several times if only clear and generous offers to do so were presented by life. But, as my fate would have it during …

Dear Folks,
Beleive it or not, the following article is quite interesting and intriguing. It says that World War III will erupt in the Spratly Islands in 2012. With what’s happening right now in Mindanao and in the Spratly Islands, this might just come true.
About a year ago, I mentioned that Gloria and Miguel Arroyo have the sign …

EXPAT DOCTOR RETURNS TO SAVE HYDROCEPHALUS VICTIMS
By Ike Señeres
They call him the “ShuntMan”, referring to “shunting”, the medical method of artificially creating a passage between two natural body channels such as blood vessels, to divert or permit flow from one pathway through another, often by way of a bypass. “Shunting” is the surgical procedure used to save the life of hydrocephalus victims, many of whom are young children.
Dr. Manuel Arce Cacdac, a member of the Society of Philippine Surgeons in America (SPSA) has been a co-team leader with Dr. Pacifico …

Profiles of Three Pampango Revolutionary Generals
By George Martinez Hizon
General Mamerto Natividad
( 1871-1897 )
He was the youngest Filipino general when the Philippine Revolution against Spain broke out in 1896. Born on June 12, 1871 in Bacolor, Pampanga, Mamerto Natividad was only 25 years old, when he was appointed Lieutenant General and chief of the Revolutionary Army in Central Luzon by Emilio Aguinaldo. The eldest of Mamerto Natividad Sr. and Gervasia Alejandrino’s children, Mamerto took his primary and secondary education at the …

Ninoy may now be wondering if the Filipino was worth dying for
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The murder of Ninoy Aquino 25 years ago was supposed to silence the one Opposition leader then who was the thorn on the side of Dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos and posed the greatest threat to those seeking to succeed him.
The murder was supposed to secure the tenure of the Marcos dictatorship — if not Marcos himself, then his preferred successor. But like the best laid plans of …