by Erick San Juan
 
In spite of the fact that the Blackwater was branded as “persona non grata” in Iraq, some of its contractor/personnels will remain in Iraq until September, 2009. It’s Filipino recruits according to fresh report were commissioned to secure the oil and gas reserves in Malampaya and soon at the Exxon,s oil exploration  in the Sulu seas.                                                          
 
This week,with the U.S. troops turnover of the urban security to their Iraqi counterparts and with the Iraqi police, the militia and the remnants of the Blackwater will be redeployed in Afghanistan …

by Alex P. Vidal
 
SAN FRANCISCO, California – Manny Pacquiao’s victory in the May 2010 congressional election in Mindanao in the Philippines is already “crystal clear” according to a member of his coaching staff, after the powerful Chiongbian family has decided not to field a candidate against him, but his battle against Miguel Angel Cotto on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas, Nevada will not be a walk in the park.
“Cotto is not a pushover,” volunteered Pacquiao’s trainer Ben Delgado in Tagalog. “Although I believe Manny will beat him, we must take …

P500 million is also the type of extortion that excites the Blue Vulture, more so now that there have been big losses reported in Lehman Brothers and Madoff — William M. Esposo
 
AUTOMATION DEAL BREAKER
Solon: P500-M demand did it
by Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
from Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–“If you give me a half a billion pesos, all of these problems will be solved.”
This was what the head of Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) had demanded in jest, but which its partner, Smartmatic International Corp., took seriously, Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin said …

by Perry Diaz
 

It all started when Mark Sanford and Maria Belen Chapur met eight years ago. It was an innocent encounter just like what happens to a lot of people. And as what happens to people meeting new acquaintances, they exchanged email addresses. It was the start of an Internet friendship between Mark, then a former congressman from South Carolina, and Maria, an Argentine from Buenos Aires who was then covering the 9/11 attacks as a reporter for Argentine TV station Canal America.
In their kind of friendship, distance was not …

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
by William M. Esposo
from Philstar

To become the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a major organization is to attain the ultimate plum as a manager. The Chief Executive of a national government is regarded as having attained the ultimate political prize, the highest accolade a people could give an elected public official.
Thus, it becomes unthinkable for the CEO of a major corporation to even consider becoming the district manager of the company in a province. Manny Pangilinan — after having attained the post of Chairman and CEO …

HINDSIGHT
by F Sionil Jose
from  Philstar

 
The murder the other week of Rene Peñas, who led the Sumilao farmers in their march from Bukidnon to Manila, and the violent eviction of the demonstrators from the premises of Congress at about the same time, evoked painful memories of peasant travail in the past. Rene Peñas was certainly not the first farm leader to die at the hands of those who oppose agrarian reform. And those demonstrators in Congress belong to a devoted lineage of farmers who tried — and failed — to redress …

Shared by William M. Esposo
You’re an hour late and there is still nobody else there!
   
There’s enough food to feed the people of the Phil.
   
You can’t even get through the door because there’s a pile of 50 shoes  blocking the way.   
 
When you see a huge fork and spoon on the wall, a framed picture of the Last Supper, a huge Santo Nino, and the famous Baguio barrel man.
  
When they start singing “Peelings” on karaoke.   
 
The piano in the living room is just there for decoration and to display framed pictures on. No …

by Reginald Tamayo
 
Has the president resolved to become a lifetime chief executive of this country?   Sensing that she has an opportunity to hold on to her power beyond 2010 by running as congresswoman in her district, this impresses us that power indeed intoxicates. How true are the words of James Byrnes when he said, “Power intoxicates men. When a man is intoxicated by alcohol he can recover, but when intoxicated by power he seldom recovers.”
 
Any elected president must realize that he or she is a president of a country and …

Victor Corpus was quoted by F. Sionil Jose as saying that the CPP-NPA was planned in Hacienda Luisita with Ninoy Aquino as its sponsor — acting on behalf of the CIA. Ninoy was confronted with his CIA links during the 1978 Laban campaign and he admitted having worked with the CIA. A good friend who once met with a top China official was surpised when the official said that our Maoists (CPP-NPA are supposed to be Maoists) are not their Maoists and are somebody else’s Maoists. Per the eminent Prof. …

by Antonio C. Abaya
from Standard Today  
 
In what has been described as his most stinging attack yet on President Arroyo, former President Fidel V. Ramos rebuked her during a leadership forum at the government-owned Pamantasan ng Lunsod ng Maynila. (Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 19, 2009).
 
“With precious time fleeting, President Arroyo must now make a clear and positive declaration to our people that she as President will transform the nation, and not anymore delude our people…with titillations about a constituent assembly and her future role as a Pampanga representative come July 1, …