is APO (alpha phi omega) frat VP jejomar binay’s rope around his neck?

the bar exam bombing at la salle taft has turned a corner, the suspect has been identified, a certain anthony nepomuceno who works for a call center and is a member of the alpha phi omega (APO) fraternity.

the suspect surfaced and went to government authorities together with vice president jejomar binay and former DOJ secretary silvestre bello. binay and bello are both members of APO.  the suspect apparently went to binay and bello to seek help.

binay as we found out in the last election is a prominent member of the APO fraternity. he claimed psot-election  that he won the vice presidential post mostly due to the help of his brothers and sisters at APO. maany had wondered during the election how binay was able to overtake and eventually win the election over erstwhile leader mar roxas.  binay’s secret weapon apparently is APO, according to him.

binay claims the suspect is innocent. the suspect apparently has said he was not even at la salle taft when the bombing happened. he claims he was in marikina where he bought a pair of shoes.

the police authorities have not arrested the suspect as they were still preparing the case. they said however the suspect was identified by 4 witnesses and was identified by a witness in a police line-up.

we now have a case of 4 witnesses identifying the suspect versus VP binay’s words of absolution giving strength to the alibi of the suspect.  is an alibi stronger than eye witnesses?

we are now wondering, with binay’s intense loyalty to APO did the vice president make APO as a rope around his neck?

given his position in government, we think binay should have remained neutral and not pre-judge the case. he should have just “surrendered” the suspect, his ka-brod but say the proper investigation should be made to determine innocence or guilt. binay has come out to say the suspect is innocent. a big pie will be thrown on his face if the suspect is later on found guilty.

aquino’s “zero casualty” storm goal, aquino set himself up for failure

“zero casualty” -  that was often repeated in the news as president aquino’s goal during the onslaught of super typhoon juan across northern luzon. nice words to hear but these are words doomed for failure. president aquino had set himself for failure.

and fail president aquino did – at least 12 died at the wake of the storm. in fact, on the day he announced this goal, one already died – this farmer who went after his carabao who slipped and was taken away by strong water current.

we think it was a foolish goal to set up to begin with. we do not know why president aquino even said it. you set goals like that when you know it is at least an achievable goal.  aquino was dealing with mother nature and no one can control mother nature. you set goals based on what you can achieve and most of that is dependent on the amount of control you have on the variables that determine the outcome.

there is no way president aquino can  nor his entire government can control mother nature. super typhoon juan had a mind of its own. it will do what it pleases regardless of what you do or do not do.  as far as the storm is concerned, it can pretty much do what it wants at whatever time it wants to. all that the government and the people can do is wait until the storm finish its thing. we are literally at the mercy of the storm.

the main variable here is the storm. it is the one that will cause casualties. if it decides to go to highly populated areas, many will suffer.  but no one can dictate to the storm where it is supposed to go to. we just have to wait and track its path after the fact.

the other variable but in a much less prominence are the people. if the people stay indoors, the less likely will there be casualties. we are talking of the whole of northern luzon, aquino will not be able to control everyone who lives there.  in fact looking at the kind of strong winds it had, staying indoors does not mean people are totally safe. roofs have been blown away and homes toppled.

aquino in saying “zero casualty” is going over his head there. it is not based on any logical thought process nor a product of any semblance of analysis. it is pure whim, just a collection of words that are nice to say and hear.

aquino set a goal that was destined for failure in meeting it.

aquino has a large communication group in the palace, we wonder what they were doing when aquino delivered these lines.

catholics can support the RH Bill in good conscience – ateneo professors

we are highlighting this position paper released by ateneo professors on the RH BIll. we think it is important that catholics read this position paper.

click here: click here: http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/reproductive-health-bill-5043/text-of-ateneo-professors-position-paper-on-rh-bill-5043/

noynoy aquino’s abundant political capital yields impressive job satisfaction rating

latest SWS performance job satisfaction rating of the president gave president noynoy aquino an impressive +60% net satisfaction, with only 11% dissatisfied  and a 71% satisfied rating.

this high net satisfaction rating is in line with other previous presidents aquino, ramos and estrada who also got very high net satisfaction rating at the start of their presidency. arroyo was the only president who got a low satisfaction rating at the start of her administration.

it is expected that presidents at the start of their administrations get very high ratings, but what makes aquino’s high start of administration rating  impressive is that this comes just weeks from the bus hostage crisis at luneta that was a complete failure on the part of the government. the hostage rescue showed the police as incompetent, ill-equipped and generally does not know what it was doing during the hostage crisis rescue.

we were expecting the failed bus hostage rescue would affect aquino’s job satisfaction rating but apparently it did not. it appears the people do not see the bus hostage rescue failure as a failure of president aquino.

the opposition has said that this high satisfaction rating may be due to “post election euphoria” . that is a ridiculous notion. the election was in may, this survey was conducted in september, whatever euphoria aquino enjoyed from the election, it has all disappeared by september which is a good four months.

also the negative sentiments generated by the failed bus hostage rescue should have erased whatever euphoria may have been left over from the may elections.

the fact that aquino’s satisfaction rating started on a very high level may indicate that the people are truly satisfied with aquino’s performance or  the people has so much trust in the president that it is willing to ignore his failings, having so much faith that aquino will make good his election promise of good governance.

it appears aquino has accumulated a very high amount of political capital among the people built up during the election that he brought with  him going into his presidency. let us hope that aquino uses this as a  leverage to do good things for the people.

Humanae Vitae encyclical – the catholic church’s basis for it’s stand on birth control

read text of humanae vitae here: http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/reproductive-health-bill-5043/humanae-vitae-encyclical-basis-for-catholic-churchs-stand-on-birth-control-read-text/

read homily of  bishop lagdameo on humanae vitae here: http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/reproductive-health-bill-5043/homily-on-humanae-vitae-by-bishop-lagdameo/

from wikepedia (click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanae_Vitae)

Humanae Vitae (Latin “Of Human Life”) is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and promulgated on July 25, 1968. Subtitled “On the Regulation of Birth”, it re-affirms the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church regarding abo

 

pope paul vi

 

rtion, contraception, and other issues pertaining to human life.

Mainly because of its prohibition of all forms of artificial contraception, the encyclical has been controversial. Pope Paul VI did not issue any additional encyclicals in the remaining ten years of his pontificate. In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI called this topic “so controversial, yet so crucial for humanity’s future.” Humanae Vitae became “a sign of contradiction but also of continuity of the Church’s doctrine and tradition… What was true yesterday is true also today.”^[1]

catholic church bullies noynoy aquino on birth control

the catholic church through the CBCP has started to bully president noynoy aquino on the use of birth control. aquino has announced he supports free and open choice of contraceptive method by couples with the government providing information on both modern or artificial method of contraception and traditional or natural method of contraception. the catholic church favors only the use of natural methods and prohibits the use of modern methods.

the catholic church first started to bully aquino with it’s threat to excommunicate aquino if he continues on his stand on also promoting modern methods of contraception as stated by bishop odchimar, president of the CBCP.

a day after he announced the threat to excommunicate aquino, the same bishop took back his words saying no threat of excommunication was made and that  media has made a mistake about it. it did not help the bishop at all that the Philippine Daily Inquirer published the transcript of the interview where the bishop said aquino might be excommunicated.  radio veritas, a catholic radio station had distributed the transcript of an interview of bishop odchimar to media outlets which was the basis for the excommunication threat on aquino.

the bully tactic of an excommunication threat has been used before by bishops, priests and catholic lay leaders on a local level against local leaders when the leaders declare support on the reproductive health bill which is still pending in congress. this is not the first time it has been used. and just like in the case of aquino, it is usually withdrawn within a few days it is said.

the next and latest  bully tactic the catholic church is using is the threat of  civil disobedience which was announced yesterday. this is a not so subtle attempt to remind people the last time civil disobedience was used on issues which was the successful people power revolution that removed ferdinand marcos from power.

it will be hard for the catholic church to pull through its threat of civil disobedience as a high 71% of catholics themselves support the RH Bill. any civil disobedience effort to tek effect need to be in high numbers. at the moment the catholic church does not have the numbers.

with bully tactic #1 taken back and bully tactic #2 potentially weak, we await bully tactic #3.

reproductive health fact : actual number of children higher than desired number of children

based on research, families are saying their actual number of children exceed the desired number of children which indicates a high incidence of unwanted pregnancy.  this says pinoy families need help not just on spacing of their children but also on the number of children they want to have.

Millions Of Pinoy Catholics (71%) Face MASS EXCOMMUNICATION by CBCP

a certain Bishop Nereo Odchimar, president of CBCP, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said president noynoy faces the threat of excommunication if the president promotes the distribution of modern methods of contraception like the pill, IUD and condoms.

let’s assume the bishop knows what he is talking about and that he is not just bullying noynoy aquino, applying the same logic, based on an SWS survey. a high 71% of pinoy catholics will need to  be excommunicated as well as that represents the number of catholics who support RH Bill 5043.

(click here to read: http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/noynoy-aquino-favors-free-choice-for-contraception-method-philippine-catholic-church-goes-gaga/)

a key component of RH Bill 5043 is  the government will provide support, information and promotion of all types of contraceptive methods, which includes traditional or natural methods that the catholic church exclusively supports and modern or artificial methods of contraception. this is exactly the same position of president noynoy – that pinoy couples will be given free choice on  the kind of contraception they will use.

if supporting the use of modern or artificial methods of contraception will get president noynoy excommunicated, then the rest of the 71% of catholics who support RH Bill 5043 will need to be excommunicated as well.

don’t know if  the bishop realizes this, but the bishop’s bully threat if carried out will deplete the catholic church in the philippines. there will be no catholic church to speak of.

aside from this huge number of catholics who support the RH Bill, the CBCP will need to excommunicate doctors, nurses, health workers and DOH employees and officers who also support and prescribe modern methods of contraception.

Bishop Nereo Odchimar’s action of mass excommunication of pinoy catholics will in a snap of a finger turn this country to something very different from what we used to know it to be. one of the things the philippines is known for is for being a catholic country.

let us hope Bishop Nereo Odchimar thinks about this a little bit more.

some questions we have on this mass excommunication of pinoy catholics – (a) how will the excommunication be done? a letter or memo? mass de-baptism? ; (b) what will happen to the catholic churches that are on every town?

Aquino faces threat of excommunication

Protester shouts at bishops: ‘Damaso!’

By Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:01:00 10/01/2010

MANILA, Philippines — Raising the ante in their conflict over birth control, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Thursday said President Benigno Aquino III could be “excommunicated” if he actively promoted the distribution of artificial contraceptives to Filipino couples.

Mr. Aquino, a practising Catholic, recently signified support for couples who would want to limit the number of their children by using contraceptives. His statement has been taken to mean he would favor government distribution of contraceptives to them.

“Being the President of all, you must consider the position of the Catholic Church because we are approaching this issue from the moral aspect,” the CBCP president, Bishop Nereo Odchimar, said on Church-run Radio Veritas.

“Abortion is a grave crime. Excommunication is attached to those. That is an issue of gravity, that is a violation of God’s commandment,” he stressed.

Asked if Mr. Aquino could be excommunicated if he promoted the distribution of contraceptives, the CBCP president said: “That is a possibility.”

But Odchimar added: “Right now, it is not a proximate possibility.” He said, however, that “we will look into that.”

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20101001-295320/Aquino-faces-threat-of-excommunication