“(T)rying to put a new spin for the President’s current trip is a true challenge to our fictionists in the Press Office.”
by Ducky Paredes
As anyone who has ever worked on Presidential visits, the main drive is always to show that the President was not gallivanting but actually doing work during her visit. Thus, the important point is that the President brings home some sort of bacon from the trip.
To get to the point that there are actual monetary figures that can be cited, whatever happened between us and the country currently being visited is raked up for the visit and announced as if they were new projects. Even agreements and investments that were done five years prior are rehashed and passed off as new ones – just to show that the President’s trip was one of prime importance to our country. Wherecwould we be if she did not sacrifice her time by taking trips all over the world for our benefits? In reality, all of the agreements signed during a presidential visit are already in force, many even decades prior to the visit; if these are really new ones, there is still no reason for the President to sign them or even to witness their signing since most are private deals between private companies.
Of course, when a President makes as many foreign trips as the present President has been doing (she is a sure entry in the Guinness Book as our “pinakamahal – as in ‘the most expensive’ –na Pangulo” for being such a spendthrift and for visiting every nook and cranny of this earth all in nine years!), trying to put a new spin for the Presidents’ current trip is a true challenge to our fictionists in the Press Office.
When we elect our new President in 2010, perhaps, it ought to be on his promise that he will stay home more and not do too many trips. Besides the cost we have to bear when a President (plus a minimum of a 50-man entourage) goes abroad, it actually makes a lot of sense to stay home.
Of all our Presidents, the one whose love affair with the people has been the most intense and which outlived him was President Ramon Magsaysay and Monching never left the country during his entire abbreviated term as President.
President Magsaysay was also as real and as honest as they come.
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The proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) is presently estimated at 640 million worldwide with the Philippines accounting for 1,110,372 loose firearms, according to the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies (GIIS).
That’s all we have? Really?
There are probably more even if statistics released by the Philippine National Police (PNP) matches the Gneva count. According to the PNP, there are 1,110,372 loose firearms all over the country with the biggest concentration of unlicensed firearms estimated at 315,128 in National Capital Region (NCR), including 263,457 un-renewed licenses.
The second highest number of loose firearms placed at 114,189 is in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) where an active rebellion is being waged by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Police Chief Supt. Reynaldo S. Rafal said threat groups in the ARMM have in their possession 5,179 assorted firearms and criminal elements have 1,440 loose firearms.
Tagalog region or region 4A has the third highest number of loose firearms totaling 101,758, followed by Central Luzon, 78,151; Central Mindanao, 62,718; Western Visayas, 52,759; Central Visayas, 52,732; Davao provinces, 49,178; Southwestern Mindanao, 45,974; Caraga Region, 43,960; Eastern Visayas, 43,409; Northern Mindanao, 42,231; Cagayan Valley, 32,326; Bicol Region, 28,587; Ilocos Region, 26,928; Cordillera Region, 11,628; and the lowest in Region 4B (Palawan and Mindoro), 8,779.
Of course, these figures have to be estimates. If the PNP had an actual count (down to the last digit), they would have to know who are actually in possession of these firearms and where these are kept. If that is the case, why are these guns still on the loose?
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Another guesstimate has to be the announcement by the government that at least 2,296 Communist insurgents have been neutralized from 2006 up to May this year, bringing down the current rebels’ strength to just about 4,874 from 7,170 in 2006.
How can you k now their numbers if you do not even know their names?
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From our mailbox: “I read your column entitled “Bayani Fernando for President”. Actually I admired Mr. Fernando as the current MMDA Chairman, though criticized by many i am one of the millions of Filipinos who believed in his ability to CHANGE the current situation of our government. His political principles and his ability to discipline the Filipinos without fear is surely one of a kind. Not like a traditional politicians for the fear of losing millions of votes they tolerated millions of wrong doings for the benefit of getting the peoples vote. That is why squatters still exists in the urban areas for their votes, illegal vendors exists in the sidewalk for their votes and so many illegal ways are being tolerated for the fear of losing voters sympathy.
I guess its time for us Filipinos to open our mind and find our country’s its first president to change our ways of living and Mr. Bayani Fernando is the best candidate who possesses the abilities and the willingness to do it.
“One of the biggest problem I’ve noticed is the Filipinos lack of discipline. Thanks to Mr. Fernando’s pink creativity, traffic in vehicle congested areas was improved due to pink overpass & U-Turns wherein so many lives was saved by preventing them to cross across the street because of the building of pink fences in the center island.
“Those of in trouble due to natures call were also facilitated with pink urinary station, though we cannot call all of these a total solution to many of our country’s problem at least the willingness to improved the Filipinos way of life is there. I believe if Mr. Fernando would become the next president of our country maybe then he can extend his authority until the whole nation is united and disciplined maybe then we can achieved progress. I know he has more to offer to improve our daily lives and to our country as well. These are few samples of Mr. Bayani Fernando’s valued projects to improved our system, not like those of a traditional politician who does (hudas) inventing useless projects which are not really beneficial, yet sub-standard and over-valued to increase their personal wealth.” – Glenn Gumabao
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From Wikipedia: “Commercially SMS is a massive industry in 2006 worth over 81 billion dollars globally. SMS has an average global price of 0.11 USD and maintains a near 90% profit margin.”
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hvp 06.22.09)
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