THITU ISLAND – FIVE congressmen visited this island in the disputed Spratlys yesterday, infuriating China which claimed the trip would destabilize the region and damage ties.

The five lawmakers, joined by a small party of soldiers, local officials and journalists, arrived on Thitu island aboard two private planes and raised two Philippine flags above a government building.

Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said the delegation came to promote a peaceful solution to the territorial dispute, but stressed that Filipinos who know the island as “Pag-asa” are ready to defend “Philippine” territory.

“We come in peace, we support a diplomatic solution. But let there be no doubt in anybody’s mind, in any foreign powers’ mind, that if they dare to eject us from Pag-asa… Filipinos will not take that sitting down,” he said.

“Filipinos are born to resist aggression. Filipinos are willing to die for their soil.”

The visit comes as tensions rise over the Spratlys chain which is wholly or partially claimed by China and the Philippines as well as Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Thitu is the largest of the Philippine-occupied islands in the Spratlys, an archipelago believed to sit on vast natural resources and which also straddles shipping lanes vital to world trade.

About 60 Filipinos live on Thitu, which is just 37 hectares in size and lies about 450 kilometers northwest of Palawan.

Bello brushed aside China’s criticism.

“Maybe they are not used to democratic processes,” he told around 80 people gathered for the flag-raising ceremony.

Malacañang also defended the lawmakers’ visit, saying Filipinos can visit any Philippine territory.

“It’s already a done deal. They did not have to secure the executive’s consent. They went there on their own accord,” Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.        AFP

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda announced Pedro Cojuangco died at 10:33 a.m. and the wake will be held at the Cojuangco residence in Forbes Park, Makati City.

“The burial will be on July 26 at the Manila Memorial Park,” Lacierda said.

Cojuangco was the eldest brother of the late former President Corazon Aquino, the President’s mother.

Cojuangco was chairman and president of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac that operates a sugar mill and refining, distilling and carbon dioxide plants in Tarlac City.

Cojuangco was also listed as the chairman of Jose Cojuangco and Sons, which owns 28 percent of Central Azucarera de Tarlac, as well as a building in Legazpi Village, Makati City, that served as the campaign headquarters of Mrs. Aquino in 1986 and as her private office after her term ended in 1992.

(philstar.com)

The video shows two dogs swimming when one of the animals dips under water and appears to bite one of the sharks.

Malacanang yesterday dared former Commission on Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to emulate former Comelec official Lintang Bedol and come out, saying the noose is tightening on the perpetrators of the electoral fraud in 2004 and 2007 including former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Several senators,  notably Sen. Panfilo Lacson, believe that Garcillano is the “missing piece” in the jigsaw puzzle.

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda also told Arroyo’s counsel Raul     Lambino to shut up if he can’t prove his allegations that the Palace has struck a deal with former governor Zaldy Ampatuan.

“[Lawyer Raul Lambino] only talks if his principal is already affected. We already know that the noose is tightening, that’s why he’s trying to misdirect [the issue].”

Lambino also alleged that Malacañang had a deal with Bedol, who recently surfaced to support Ampatuan’s claims that Arroyo planned the massive cheating in the 2004 and 2007 elections.

The Comelec will start investigating today three new witnesses to the poll cheating.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo said aside from Bedol, three others – Saliao Amba, Magsaysay Muhamad and Salonga Edzela Tamontaka — executed their affidavits.

Robredo said other witnesses may also come out to reveal what they knew of the poll fraud.

(journal.com.ph)

RIYADH (Xinhua) – The Saudi interior ministry recently announced that the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy Tab will no longer be allowed inside the country’s security institutions, Al-Arabiya news channel reported Wednesday.

The Saudi interior ministry cited concerns that these gadgets may be easily infiltrated via hacking, Al-Arabiya reported.

Also, IT specialists and experts reiterated the ministry’s security concerns and agreed that these gadgets could potentially impinge on the privacy of people and institutions.

Al-Arabiya said that Saudi Arabia is not the first country that issues the ban, as the United States and a number of European countries have done the same at security organizations.

It is not clear why the Saudi ministry think that these two gadgets in particular are more susceptible to an attack than any other smartphone or tablet.

(philstar.com)

Talamayan owns more than 24,000 common shares of Ayala Corp. valued at Php8 million, according to PSE records.
His holdings put him on the 73rd spot of Ayala’s top 100 stockholders with 0.0049 percent of the total shares.
In his 25th anniversary as a bishop way back 2009, Talamayan asked then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) for some funds to finish a retirement home.
PCSO’s public relations funneled funds amounting to Php200,000 into “operational expenses” for Talamayan’s retirement home located in Solana town, Cagayan.
Reportedly, he wrote a personal letter to GMA asking for funds for the “finishing touches” of his retirement home.
“Our retirement home, which you helped construct, needs only the finishing touches. And I pray that God give me the graces to adjust smoothly to my new phase in my life,” he said in his letter to GMA.
Sometime in November 2009, PCSO granted request from the Office of the President specifying Talamayan’s wishes. The exact amount was not disclosed but PCSO said the money will be charged to the PCSO Charity Fund. However, according to its Charter, those kinds of funds could only be used for “medical assistance and services and/or charities of national character.”
POVERTY, OBEDIENCE, CHASTITY
While Filipino look up at priests and bishops being the servants of God and the shepherds of the flock, are they really living this kind of life?
People often hear from religious that they have three basic vows: poverty, obedience and chastity.
It is about time they should tell the people what these vows really mean because after the controversies involving the Catholic Church, the faithful are losing faith.
Some priests would say that it is spiritual poverty that is important. Thus, they can acquire wealth from people’s donation for as long as they submit their poor spirit to God.
Other priests also say that their vow of chastity means “chastity of heart.” Does it also mean they can have girlfriends or children?
What about obedience? Do bishops and priests nowadays obey God and their superiors?
***
Philippinenewsdaily

Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. released copies of the affidavits of Magsaysay Mohamad and Saliao Amba, poll officers of Sultan sa Barongis and Shariff Saydona towns, respectively, and Salonga Edzela, a computer voters’ list technician assigned to Bedol.

The affidavits appear to support the claim of Bedol, a former Maguindanao poll supervisor, that election documents with falsified results were used to put the administration candidates on the winning column.

Mohamad and Amba tagged then provincial administrator, Norie Unas, as the leader of the operation.

“I observed everything but I just kept quiet,” Mohamad said in his account of how, on Election Day, May 14, Unas’ men seized the election returns (ERs) for national candidates from the board of election inspectors (BEIs), who were then asked to sign and thumb-mark unfilled documents.

“I just kept silent because I know that it would be dangerous for me to say my observations,” Amba said in his affidavit, which recounted how Unas’ people, led by a certain Butch, put doctored ERs in the ballot boxes after the voting ended.

Based on the two statements, no actual counting for the national candidates took place because the ERs were in the possession of Unas’ men and these were filled up by the time the BEIs turned over their ballot boxes.

Zero votes

Amba said the canvassing in his town showed then opposition Senatorial candidates Benigno Aquino III, Panfilo Lacson and Alan Peter Cayetano got zero votes while the administration’s Luis “Chavit” Singson topped the list.

Mohamad and Amba said that after the canvassing, they submitted the dubious ERs to the provincial board of canvassers (PBOC), led by Bedol. However, around three days later, they learned that Bedol’s office had been ransacked and the election documents to be transported to Manila were stolen.

The two said they were later instructed by the Comelec main office to submit their extra copy of the ERs.

Amba said he no longer had the copy so Unas prepared one for him, which Amba later signed.

Mohamad said he took the copy of the ERs that was posted in the canvassing hall and noticed that it was not the same paper he submitted to the PBOC. He said the results also were different.

Abalos’ authentication

The two poll officers went to General Santos City and turned over the ERs and other documents to then Comelec Chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. and Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, who, they said, certified the documents as authentic.

Abalos and Ferrer were members of Task Force Maguindanao that was formed by Comelec to recover the copies of the election documents after Bedol reported the theft to the main office.

However, Amba and Mohamad made no attestation if the ERs submitted to Bedol, even with falsified results, were genuine in the first place.

Edzela recounted how Bedol told him to verify a report that Bedol’s office had been ransacked and all election documents were stolen.

He also related how he accompanied Bedol to General Santos. He said Bedol, unwilling to swear to the authenticity of the election documents submitted by Amba, Mohamad and other poll officers, opted not to attend the hearing conducted by Abalos and Ferrer.

Brillantes said the supporting affidavits “appear to have basis” because it was based on events observed by the witnesses. “The things they’re saying can have some credibility provided they’re supported also by documents,” he said.

Rehash

He said the document submitted by Bedol was a mere “rehash” of statements he had made in an interview with ABS-CBN last week.

Asked if he regarded Bedol a credible witness, Brillantes said:

“Not yet. Actually for practical purposes all that he said could not have been true. Maybe some of them might be false but we’re not saying that falsehoods were deliberately put in the affidavit. You have to consider the fact that this was four years ago. We won’t be able to recall everything that happened in 2007. That’s why we sent our lawyers to assist him in recalling the incidents.”

Brillantes, a former election lawyer for the opposition, said Bedol’s claim that Arroyo ordered the rigging was “hearsay.”

Bedol claimed it was then Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. who told him that Arroyo ordered that Aquino, Cayetano and Lacson get zero votes.

Ampatuans’ claim

In an unsigned affidavit, Ampatuan’s son Zaldy, the former governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, also made the same claim.

In this document, Zaldy said his father told him that Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel had ordered the vote-padding.

The Ampatuans are in jail pending trial for the massacre of 58 people in Maguindanao. Zaldy had offered to turn state witness against his father and brother.

Brillantes said that if Zaldy submitted a signed affidavit, this may provide the “connecting link” between Bedol and Arroyo.

“The link to former President Arroyo is only the statement of Bedol that it was mentioned to him by Ampatuan. That’s the only link. If that is the only link, that to me, as a lawyer, is simply hearsay as far as Bedol is concerned. If Ampatuan collaborates that statement, then that is no longer hearsay,” he said.

Election sabotage

Brillantes said Arroyo could be charged with election sabotage, a nonbailable offense punishable by life imprisonment.

However, with Bedol’s affidavit remaining unsubstantiated and the Comelec unsure about his credibility, Brillantes said he could not even say if the poll body could conduct a preliminary investigation at all.

“If we’ll find basis, then we’ll go to the formal preliminary investigation,” Brillantes said.

“We’re still gathering facts so that we can get one general picture that cheating really took place and that the testimonies are clear. We’ll be looking for documents to build the case. It’s difficult to launch an investigation with the respondents getting hurt even if we have not yet built our story. Only one witness has come out—Bedol.”

Philippine Daily Inquirer

This fact is supposedly contained in some of the documents that Sen. Panfilo Lacson obtained linking the former First Couple to the alleged anomaly.

The senator said the sale of the choppers may make the Arroyos, along with all those who took part in the sale, “prime candidates” for a plunder case as the amount involved exceeded P50 million.

He recently sought an investigation into alleged misrepresentations in the P105-million purchase of light operational helicopters by the PNP’s elite Special Action Force (SAF).

“Initial findings would indicate that the previous and original owners of the pre-owned, yet sold as brand-new light police operational helicopters are the Arroyos. While it’s bad enough that the two units were overpriced and therefore grossly disadvantageous to the government, passing them off as brand-new smacks of brazen deceit and utmost bad faith,” Lacson said.

He and Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman Teofisto Guingona III jointly filed Resolution 518 calling for a closer look at the acquisition of the Light Police Operational Helicopters (LPOHs) from Manila Aerospace Products Trading Corp. (MAPTRA).

On July 9, 2009, the PNP Negotiation Committee recommended the award of the contract to MAPTRA for one Robinson R44 Raven II and two Robinson R44 Raven I helicopters.

But it was later learned that MAPTRA had been engaged in the business only in June 2009. Also, it was discovered the supposedly new choppers were “pre-owned” as far back as March 2004. Lacson said that while the PNP officials involved in the deal were complicit partners, they are the least to blame in this anomalous transaction.

“The First Couple were so powerful at that time that ramming the used helicopters down the throat of the police was easy and effortless. And since the proceeds could exceed the P50-million threshold in a series of acts, those liable are candidates for a plunder case under our existing laws,” he said.

“All voters in line at that site as of 7 PM will be allowed to cast their votes,” a statement by Ross Miller from Nevada Secretary of State office said. There still no results of any races can be reported until all polling station across the state have been closed.

Democrats at party headquarters in Las Vegas leapt to their feet amid huge cheers when multiple news organizations began to call the race for Reid.

Sharron Angle, despite campaign endorsements from Senator John McCain and former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin was unable to win the Senate seat. She was seen as the “Face of the Tea Party” and her defeat was a victory for President Obama, whose agenda has been more and more threatened by the tea party agenda.

Neither candidate seemed to convince the Nevada voters to be able to fix the state’s severe economic troubles, including the country’s highest unemployment rate and the real estate market that has fallen off a cliff.

Finally, Nevada voters as they choose Senator knows, but the feisty challenger.

]]> http://www.scoops2buzz.com/2010/11/03/nevada-election-results-2010-harry-reid-wins/feed/ 0 http://www.scoops2buzz.com/2010/09/23/similac-recall/ http://www.scoops2buzz.com/2010/09/23/similac-recall/#comments Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:51:30 +0000 admin http://www.scoops2buzz.com/?p=2807 Abbot had to issue a recall of its Similac infant formula due to possible contamination from the common beetle.  Abbott has set up a new web page – www.similac.com/recall – where you can check your lot number to see if your formula has been contaminated. The recall affects products sold in Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. along with a select few Caribbean countries.

The FDA reports that there is no health risk, although children who have ingested the affected formula could experience some discomfort.

However not all formulas are affected by this Similac recall, it is only those in plastic containers, those that are in 8-ounce, 12.4-ounce and 12.9-ounce cans.

If your product is affected, you should call (800) 986-8850 for more details on how  it could be returned to Abbott.