Maniolas

Supreme Court spokesman Theodore Te somewhat admitted on Wednesday that the tiff he had with news media on Tuesday resulted from what “perhaps may have been an unwise presumption” on his part. Te had barred live television and radio coverage of the news briefing he gave last Tuesday after crews proceeded to lay down cables in preparation for their coverage of the media briefing. In explanations posted on Facebook and given directly to media during interview. Te said he has always said “no” to requests from television news crews to bring in cables for live coverage. He however claimed that he has “never meant” those no’s “because I’ve always allowed live coverage.” Te said he would have changed his mind and allowed cables in if only the news crews have asked him to “reconsider” his decision. “But I was not asked to change my mind because despite my initial “no” I was told that cables were brought in anyway into the SC premises… they just went ahead and disregarded what I had said and set it up,” he said. Before Tuesday’s briefing, Te revealed that he had turned down requests from television news crews to bring in cable that would be used to air the briefing live. “I did say no simply because in my estimation the stories that would come out wouldn’t be that newsworthy. Perhaps that may have been an unwise presumption on my part that I was worthy of appreciating the newsworthiness of the stories that would Read More …

The Philippines on Wednesday called on China to change its stance on the United Nations’ arbitration in the two countries’ territorial dispute. “We continue to urge China to reconsider its decision not to participate in the arbitration proceedings,” Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Assistant Secretary Charles Jose said on GMA News’ “24 Oras”. “We wish to reiterate that arbitration is a peaceful, open and friendly resolution mechanism that offers a durable solution to the disputes in the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea,” he added. The move came after the international arbitral tribunal ordered China to answer the points raised by the Philippines in its protest regarding China’s aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, which the latter claims nearly in its entirety. The international tribunal gave China until December 15 to answer the Philippines’ points, the report said. However, China again expressed its refusal to join the arbitration proceedings, and rejected the ruling. “China’s stance of not accepting and not participating in the relevant Philippines’ arbitration case has not changed,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters on Wednesday. Artificial island  The spokesperson also reacted to reports that China was supposedly planning to build an artificial island on a disputed reef in the West Philippine Sea. The DFA is studying the designs to determine whether the supposed build-up can be added to the Philippines’ protests. The Philippines previously protested China’s reclamation work in Mabini Reef, which is part of the territories being disputed in the South China Read More …

The alleged jewelry collection of suspected pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles may also be ordered frozen by the court once found by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), a report on “24 Oras” said Wednesday. The report, citing Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, said the AMLC is now tracking down Napoles’ supposed jewelry collection, photos of which were shown to GMA News by one of her former aides. “It’s always part of the ongoing fact-finding [investigation]. Lalo na at yung AMLC, ang alam ko, ay they continue to discharge also their tasks with respect to this,” De Lima said. Last April, Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 22 placed Napoles’ bank accounts and some real estate properties under an asset preservation order (APO). In a memorandum, the AMLC maintained that the court should not grant Napoles’ petition for the recall of the APO, noting that she cannot provide evidence that would prove that the assets were obtained through legitimate means and before the alleged operation of the pork barrel scam, believed to be from 2007 to 2009. “The assertion that the subject assets were acquired through legitimate means and before the material dates of the Pork Barrel Scam must fail for utter lack of evidentiary support,” the AMLC said in its memorandum submitted to the court last Monday. However, in a separate interview, Napoles’ lawyer Bruce Rivera maintained that his client does not own the expensive jewelry collection shown on television reports. Rivera said Napoles had entrusted to two of her Read More …

• John Paul Balmonte is named a Fellow with Dr. Robert Ballard’s Nautilus Exploration Program • 22 educators and 24 students to explore Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean E/V Nautilus CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina – Filipino American John Paul Balmonte from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was named one of 46 educators and students from around the world selected from a competitive pool of applicants by the Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) to participate at sea during their 2014 Nautilus Exploration Program. The selected educators and students hail from schools, universities, science centers, aquaria, and non-profit organizations in 23 states and from six countries. They will join the Nautilus Corps of Exploration during ocean expeditions from June through October. As a 2014 Science Communication Fellow, Balmonte will sail with the Nautilus Exploration Program, with the Corps of Exploration onboard Exploration Vessel (E/V) from June 11 to July 5 as they explore the Straits of Florida, the Great Bahama Bank, Dry Tortugas and the Gulf of Mexico. “Since entering graduate school, I have truly discovered a strong passion for exploring the oceans and for communicating to a broad audience all that I have seen, learned, and experienced,” Balmonte said. “That’s the beauty of being an oceanographer – visiting previously unexplored places and being able to tell stories that excite others.” The 2014 educator and student selectees will embark on several expeditions aboard Dr. Robert Ballard’s ship of exploration, E/V Nautilus off the coast of the United States, Belize, Honduras, Jamaica and Grenada. Read More …

In the American magazine Foreign Affairs http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/24006/benigno-s-aquino-jr/whats-wrong-with-the-philippines published in July of 1968, a young Filipino senator introduced his country to the American people as “a land in which a few are spectacularly rich while the masses remain abjectly poor . . . a land consecrated to democracy but run by an entrenched plutocracy… a people whose ambitions run high, but whose fulfillment is low and mainly restricted to the self-perpetuating elite…a land of privilege and rank – a republic dedicated to equality but mired in an archaic system of caste.” The novice senator should have also introduced his country to the Filipino people as his insightful essay also should have been published in the Philippines and been made required reading in Philippine schools. It still should be, even now, 46 years later. The young author was Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr., himself a member of the “entrenched plutocracy” and the “self-perpetuating elite” of the Philippines. Ninoy Aquino came from a “prosperous family of hacenderos” (Wikipedia), a family which gained prominence when his grandfather, Servillano Aquino, served as a general in Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo’s Revolutionary Army.  Aquino’s father Benigno Aquino, Sr. was elected to the Philippine House of Representatives in 1919 before winning a Philippine Senate seat in 1928, the first of many Aquinos to be elected to the Senate including Ninoy, his son Noynoy, his siblings Butz and Tess, and his nephew Bam. While Aquino was the youngest Filipino politician ever to be elected mayor (at age 22), governor (at age Read More …