Extra! Extra! North Korea performs first nuclear test. As early as September Kuro5hin was already suspicious over reports of the time of a mushroom cloud in North Korea. Duck and cover time for our part of the world… And the Republicans, thanks to the Dear Leader of North Korea, now have a chance to bury the Tom Foley news cycle and keep the Senate and House of Representatives.
News here at home:
Someone told me they recently saw a sign held up by an angry nursing graduate: “Retake? Recount!” A slow burn but headed toward a powder keg nonetheless: and the end result, as the Inquirer editorial puts it, is Alienation. Not to mention angry text messages.
The Palace is expecting an investigative report, and was supposed to meet tomorrow on the question of a retake –but has changed its mind. Columnist Fel Maragay says things aren’t being helped by infighting in the Palace:
That the administration is determined to resolve the leakage scandal is beyond doubt. The problem is that the people around President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo can’t agree on the final course of action.
A group of Cabinet members and other executive officials led by Labor Secretary Arturo Brion has held their ground that there should be a retake of the nursing board exams held last June in which some 17,000 of more than 40,000 examinees passed. They believe that the exams need not wait for the ruling of the Court of Appeals on a pending case on the issue. They have also taken the position that the retake should apply to all examinees, and that it should cover only Tests 3 and 5 where cheating was confirmed to have occurred. Backing Brion’s position is presidential adviser on overseas Filipinos Dante Ang, who headed a presidential task force looking into the leakage scandal.
Perhaps, the retake would have already gone full speed were it not for the strong reservations expressed by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who wanted to wait first for the ruling of the Court of Appeals. Ironically, it was Brion who called the Palace’s attention to the pending case in the Court of Appeals where he served as associate justice before joining the Cabinet. Brion had opined that the initial decision by the President and the Cabinet in favor of retake has rendered the court case moot and academic.
As a Mindanao group of concerned graduates shows, this is one issue truly national in scope and character. The article says that so far, the fallout from cheating allegations has spilled over from Manila to the Visayas -but not Mindanao (an initial allegation about Davao has been withdrawn). Two review centers have been implicated and they have multiple branches.
Even as Donald Dee and Francis Chua continue to put on a happy face about the so-called “people’s initative” case, the lawyers of One Voice have been busy. Atty. Carlos Medina, Jr. has detailed some of their findings, including an election officer in Jose Abad Santos, Davao del Sur certifying “most signatures are fabricated,” while Romblon and Leyte documents revealed anomalies even as no certifications were made in Davao and Cavite; evidence that makes it clear the process was tainted.
My column for today is Barangay inspectors. I went to the Comelec office in the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros to take a look-see, and lend moral support to the young law students and lawyers there.
I’ve uploaded a Flickr album with some photos I took at the Comelec last Saturday. You can browse through the photos and take a look at some observations I’ve made for each picture. Move your mouse around each picture in the photo album and you’ll see the notes I added (or click the note link for each photo).
Pundit roundup:
Amando Doronila’s freaked out by the internet.
For the first time, Poor Mojo’s Almanac(k) presents a video rant -with an interesting story behind it:
In an interesting turn, several video hosting services refused to post this video because they felt it constituted “hate speech.” These same services still harbor rampant casual homophobia in their videos and forums. Funny little world, i’n’it?
And this is simply too unbelievable: Lee Hsien-Loong lectures journalists on the demise of democracy in Thailand! But then again, perhaps not; Thaksin was a protege of Lee Kwan Yew. As even I’ve argued several times in the past, the face of Asian-style democracy, from the point of view of the professional politicians, is the one party state.
Finally, a revisionist look at Harry Potter.
Technorati Tags: constitution, media, One Voice, people’s initiative, philippines, politics, president, Thailand
pareng melvinsky, ang problema ay hindi mo alam kung alin sa coke(pepsi) o sopas ang maydumi, tapos ang nag-iimbestiga eh sila rin ang maykagagawan kung bakit may dumi ang coke o sopas. kaya dapat kumuha na lang ng bago at parusahan ang mga naglagay ng dumi! kaya ang solusyon pupunta man ng tate o mananatili sa pinas kailangan siguradong nakapasa ng walang leakage. sige ka kung sakaling ikaw o sino man ma-ospital, gusto mo ba na ang maging nars mo ay yung may hinalang nandaya sa board o yung sigurado mo na nakapasa dahil nag-aral ng mabuti?
hvrds,
Great post! thanks.
“Even the number of hours on government owned TV that was allocated to advocating this project. Who paid for it?”
I had contacted the Offices of some Congressmen at the onset of Sigaws campaign, requesting the Approp and Public info committee chairs to investigate and audit gov’t agencies, gov’t controlled networks with regards to how gov’t resources are used by Sigaw. Paul Evardone, heads the National Printing office that printed 100’s of thousans of Sigaw pamphlets.
Effort to track Sigaw’s hidden supply chain may not be as extensive ideally, but as you said “Larger groups like Sigaw would leave a trail as wide as a highway.”
I would have wanted that all those responsible for this mess be punished first ahead of the retake.
Please understand that the reason for the retake is not to “punish” or whatever, as to those who honestly pass or those who cheated, the reason for the retake is of different reason. Right now we can’t be sure who really did or did not benefit from the leakage, what we are sure now is that the exam has been tainted.
If you have undergone an AIDS test and the result is negative, then afterwards you found out that the methods used was fake or unreliable, would you take it as it is that you are cleared of the disease?
I would like to blame the PRC leadership for all this mess, by relasing the results and swearing in those who passed. Right now PRC is completely out of the picture. A more drastic action or solution should be done here not only just “retake”.
Bokyo,
But that begs the question of will you go back to the same facility that used fake or unreliable methods?
justice league,
Just I’ve mentioned in my last paragraph there needs to be more drastic actions other than retake.
Bokyo,
In the Aids test analogy, the fake or unreliable method was only used on those exameenies who themselves cheated. THose who passed who didn’t cheat can safely rely on that reliable methods were used on them. Personally, these people know they are cleared of the disease. A problem arises when a different body seeks the test in the first place.
Actually your first paragraph seems more appropriate in that it would have drastic measures adopted before the retake. That could at least assure a cleansed facility before the retake.
The whole facility and associated agencies must be cleansed before even considering a retake. Without a cleansed facility and agencies, retaking means nothing.
pareng batabatuta. Ang sa akin lang sinasagot ko lang yong halimbawa mp sa sopas o coke na hindi isang sopas o coke lang, Ngayon yong tungkol doon sa pananakot na kahinahinala, hindi naman siguro tama yon kung wala kang katunayan. Ngayon sinasabi na ng NBI at CA na ang hinala na “widespread” na dayaan, nasasayo na yan. Ako marami akong kakilala na kumuha na nasa visaya at katiwawa;a namin sila ay magpapatingin ako. Ang maganda pare, may MR namin ang UST at pag may dagdag silang ebidensya at mapatunayan na “widespread” o “massive” nga palagay kobabaligtarin ng korte ang desisyon nila. Ang sa akin lang namin ay yong ayon lang sa ebidensya at hindi dawdawan at rawrawan.Maraming salamat