The Philippines’ most beloved woman, former President Cory Aquino, passed away at 3:18 AM August 1, 2009, of cardio-respiratory arrest. She was 76.  Let’s pray for her repose. 
 
Cory will be remembered as the woman who brought the brightest days of the Filipino people when the Marcos dictatorship was overthrown.  Let’s remember her for inspiring our people during her presidency and for keeping the spirit of freedom alive during the darkest days of the past five years. 
 
She left a legacy that will be remembered for generations to come.  In her memory, let’s …

Kapeng BARAKO
by Jesse Jose
from Fil-Am MegaScene
Y’all heard about it, right?
About the arrest last week of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard’s most prominent professor and scholar of African-American studies, by a Cambridge, Massachusetts white cop … and when President Barack Obama was asked to comment about it, said that that cop “ACTED STUPIDLY.”
I agree.
It was a stupid act!
The cop who made the arrest was stupid!
He’s also a racist!
According to news reports, Prof. Gates, who has taught in Harvard for 20 years or so, arrived at his home from a trip in …

by Paula Wolfson
White House

U.S. President Barack Obama met Thursday at the White House with Philippine President Gloria Arroyo. Mr. Obama stressed the importance of U.S. ties with the Philippines.
Those ties go back years. The Philippines was a U.S. colony during the first half of the 20th century and there was a major American military presence there until 1992.
President Obama says that now, the Philippines is a vital link between the United States and East Asia.
“We are very grateful of the strong voice that the Philippines has provided in dealing with …

 
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, let me express my thanks and appreciation for the visit from President Arroyo. As we discussed during our meeting here and our delegations, the relationship between the United States and the Philippines dates back many years. It is a friendship that is forged not only in treaties and trade relationships and military relationships, but it is also strengthened by very personal ties that exist between our two countries. We are proud to have 4 million persons of Filipino ancestry contributing to our country each and every day, …

by Lito Banayo
from MALAYA
Just before she left to see Obama at the White House, a “working visit” with a retinue of at more than a hundred, a “summons” as Sen. Pong Biazon uncharitably calls it, the little lady sent back the shortlist of six nominees for two vacancies in the Supreme Court, back to the Judicial and Bar Council.
The official reason is that she wants a wider field of choices. The scuttlebutt is she wants her Acting Justice Secretary, long SC-wannabe Agnes Devanadera included in the JBC list. This …

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

It may not win the coveted Pulitzer Prize for literature although that is not to say that it’s badly written. But for anyone who wants a preview to the looming US-China armed conflict, especially Filipinos who will find themselves on Ground Zero in that war, it is a MUST READ.
This is “America’s Dim Mak Points” which is the latest book of Brigadier General (Ret.), former chief of Intelligence and former rebel Victor N. Corpus. It will be formally launched at 6 p.m. …

by Frank Wenceslao
 
The July 30 meeting of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo with President Obama will be after the worst two-week of his 6-month old administration. His job approval rating fell below 50% for the first time. The meeting is capped by beer drinking to settle the unfortunate incident between Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and James Crowley, the Cambridge police sergeant who arrested him, arranged by the President at the White House.
Obama would not be in a good mood meeting the Philippine delegation. Based on reports from Washington it was …

by Antonio C. Abaya
from Standard Today  
 
President Arroyo was most effusive, most entertaining and most exuberant when she was firing broadsides at some of her most severe critics. The sarcasm was delicious, the irony well chosen, and the bile delivered with the right amount of pointed arrogance.
 
Bravo! It saved her (last?) State of the Nation Address from being one long boring litany of some unverifiable claims and some outright false ones.
 
Said she: “The noisiest critics of constitutional reform tirelessly and shamelessly attempted Cha-Cha [or charter change] when they thought they could take …

28 July 2009
PRESS RELEASE
Reference:
Garry Martinez, Chairperson-09217229740
Ailyn Abdula, Media Officer, 09212708994
After PGMA’s SONA:
Beheaded OFWs will haunt her – Migrante
The biggest global alliance of OFWs belied claims made by President Arroyo on her SONA saying her administration holds the record for unparalleled exploitation and abuse against overseas Filipinos including the most number of OFWs that were beheaded under its term.
“The daughter of Rey Cortez lost her sanity due to the trauma caused by the beheading of her father last July 13, 2007. The Arroyo administration has turned its back on helping Rey’s …

by Lito Banayo
from MALAYA
It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.
Everyone was glued to the ninth SONA of Dona Gloria, waiting for the moment when she would finally sing. She ain’t fat alright, but she’s the star of the long-running opera, tragedy to most, sheer fun to a few. All she did was to warble a fast version of “Her Way” — “I did all that, and may I say, not in a shy way”, but she would neither begin nor end her song the way the videoke favourite starts …