Sensational Journalism

By Jose Carillo

Apart from being grammatically correct, news stories in any language need to be factually and logically told at all times. We thus expect reporters and their editors to avoid irrelevant imagery and rhetorical flourishes that could distort the facts and give the wrong impression to readers. But this caveat was obviously violated in the case of this lead sentence of a recent news story about a small-plane crash: "Amid the exodus of Philippine Airlines pilots, a student pilot and his instructor were injured yesterday morning when a two-seater Cessna 152 trainer airplane crashed while landing at the Loakan Airport here." Is there really a logical or circumstantial correlation, no matter how thin and specious, between the crash of that trainer airplane and the "exodus" of the airline pilots? Or was the newspaper just engaging in sensational journalism? My critique of this particularly instructive case of language misuse leads off My Media English Watch in Jose Carillo's English Forum this week, and I invite you to compare your reactions with mine to this shoddy type of English exposition.

Noynoy Aquino's SONA Speech Copy

Since President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III prefers to deliver his major policy speeches in Filipino (the Tagalog-based national language), it goes without saying that those speeches should be nothing less than grammar-perfect in Filipino. Their content, syntax, and structure should be crafted to perfection with the same fastidiousness lavished on presidential speeches in English. Unfortunately, this didn't happen in the case of the President's recent State of the Nation Address (SONA). As shown by my critique in this week's edition of Jose Carillo's English Forum, its Filipino may have been admirably simple, forthright, and brutally efficient, but it was flawed grammatically, syntactically, and structurally in some of its most telling points.

Go to My Media English Watch now for the details of my language critique of the President's SONA, then enjoy the many other instructive features that the Forum has lined up for you this week:

Filipino Politics

By Sunday Post

Tagbilaran Mayor Dan Lim yesterday said it is the people themselves who will eventually make a choice whether to perpetuate the present or commit to change.  

"They will decide for themselves what they want with their lives and with the country," the mayor added.

Lim issued the statement as he gave his reactions to recent news reports indicating the Aquino government's desire to investigate the alleged over-importation of rice.

The news reports quoted Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima as saying that the investigation will include Rep. Arthur Yap of Bohol 's third district who served as agriculture secretary and National Food Authority administrator.

Lim said the investigation is a good opportunity for Yap to clear his name, noting that the third district solon sounded confident about his position.

"Boholanos should monitor the development of this issue because we cannot deny that whenever Cong. Yap's name is being mentioned, the family name would now be Bohol ," he added.

The mayor said he is also "excited" to see how Yap's political allies in Bohol , particularly Rep. Rene Relampagos and Gov. Edgar Chatto would conduct themselves.

Lim particularly pointed to Relampagos' "no-win" situation considering the latter's recent somersault into the Liberal Party (LP).

"Considering that (Relampagos) obviously switched to the LP out of convenience, he will now have to toe the party line," he added.

The mayor noted that since it was Pres. Benigno Aquino III himself who denounced the alleged irregularities in the rice importation, the LP would be expected to go all-out to support his position.

On the other hand, Lim said this puts Relampagos in a bind since Yap actively supported him in the last election.

The mayor said Yap supposedly promised to give funding out of public funds to Relampagos' political allies in the first district even though Relampagos was not yet a government official at the time.

In addition to this, Lim said it was Yap who was largely responsible for the choice of Relampagos as Lakas first district official candidate over Catigbian Mayor Roberto Salinas.

This caused a rift in Lakas since the entry of Relampagos, considered an "enemy" by many party leaders, was at the expense of a loyal party member in Salinas .

"If (Relampagos) actively supports the investigation, it would mean turning against Cong. Yap who was a big factor in his victory," Lim added.

The mayor took the occasion to point out that there is nothing new in the party switching and opportunism, adding that the people cannot expect anything new unless they make a move.

"They will be the ones who will decide that they want change that is more than cosmetic," he added.

Lim said this is the reason why there are on-going round table discussions on this concern.

"Criticism without offering alternatives is counter-productive," the mayor added.

Lim hinted that the alternative would be the organization of a new group that will consider the aspirations of the Boholanos and their desires for a better life.

"This time our agenda will no longer be left out in the equation whic most national parties tend to do," the mayor added.

Jejomar Binay in Bohol Island Philippines

By Sunday Post

V-President Jejomar Binay led a star-studded cast of personalities in attendance to Bohol's famous Sandugo festival the climax of which hits feverish pitch today. 

As guest of honor, the newly-minted vice president will grace at the street dancing competition and presentation this afternoon.

With Binay filling in the cast of political heavy hitters, celebrities of the country's movie and TV medium are also on hand to grace the occasion.

Upon the invitation of City Mayor Dan Neri Lim and Deputy Mayor Mariano Uy, movie & TV actors and actresses like Dennis Trillo, Nadine Samonte, Geoff Taylor, Frencheska Farr, Angelica de la Cruz, and Maureen Larrazabal arrived here yesterday to attend Bohol's big event.

A show called Kapuso Night featuring these stars was held last night at the City Tourism Port hosted by Boholano beauty titlist Anna Maris Igpit and Yuri.

Teenage love team Joshua Dionisio and Barbie Forteza, will ride in a float as part of the parade featuring the entries of the Sandugo presentation and competition. They will ride in the Kapuso float.

Mayor Lim will lead Bohol mayors in rolling out the red carpet to the new vice president. The city mayor will be assisted by Loay Mayor Rosemarie Lim-Imboy who will lead a delegation of Bohol mayors in the welcome reception in her capacity as president of the League of Municipalities, Bohol chapter.

While in Bohol, Binay will pay a courtesy call on Gov. Edgar Chatto and Mayor Lim.

The vice president will also take time out to thank his avid supporters in Bohol notably Mayors Alvin Uy of Baclayon, Jimmy Jiminez of Dauis, Cary"Boy" Camacho of Getafe and Thomas Louis Gonzaga of Danao.

The Bohol visit is the first of the vice president since pulling off a come-from-behind upset behind close rival Mar Roxas.

NPA Rebels Communists in the Philippines

Stamp insurgents and get Negros Oriental declared insurgency free in three years.

This was the tall order issued by the Regional Peace and Order Council in Central Visayas (RPOC-7) through its chairman, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia to the army commander assigned for internal security operation in eastern Negros.

At the RPOC7 full council meeting held at the Bohol Tropics Resort in the tourism city of Tagbilaran, July 27, the tall order coming from the petite and yet fearless Cebu governor resounded as a crisp challenge for the army units assigned in Negros Oriental.

Negros Oriental, one of the provinces that hosted the fleeing insurgents from Bohol and Cebu has battled with the uncomfortable tag of being the remaining province in the region that is saddled with the peace and order problem.

And taking tall order is 302nd Brigade's Colonel Manuel Garchitorena, commanding officer of the military units now tasked to reduce insurgency in the province to insignificance.

At his disposal for the tough mission are his battalion based in barangay McKinley, Guihulngan Neg. Oriental and the 79th Infantry Battalion based in Siaton.

Dipped into the highly impenetrable terrains of Negros Oriental and the easy and porous boundary to Negros Occidental, the army's operations have been fairly successful since rebels who cross the border to Negros Occidental can hardly be pursued.

Compounded by the problem of porous boundaries in the regions, PCSupt Lane O Nerez added that the insurgency problem in Negros island can not be seen as a problem of Oriental but of the Occidental side of the island as well. 

Officially getting the mandate to end insurgency there since July 1, 2010, Col Garchitorena revealed that his unit has been realigned from a bigger area of responsibility to focus his efforts in eastern Negros.

However, with the success stories from Bohol and Cebu as templates and with the guidance of the 802nd Brigade under Col. Aland Luga, seemingly, Col. Garchitorena's 3 year deadline to put an end to insurgency is not that impossible after all. (rac/PIABohol)

Lose Firearms Guns in the Philippines

Illegal fire-arms which find its way to the hands of criminal elements in the region alarms authorities at the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC-7).

The alarm springs from the regional police assessment that loose firearms in the region factor to the prevalence of violent crimes, especially when Cebu registers 2090 theft and 668 rob cases within the last two quarters alone.

During the recent meeting held at the Bohol Tropics Resort in Tagbilaran City, Regional Police Intelligence Chief Melvin Ramon Buenafe, in a briefing to the council cited that although there were no high profile rob, kidnapping, terror attacks of media and VIP threats, the Cebu City cases involve loose firearms.

This is despite that fact that police has just capped its Operation Kontra Boga and Bilang Boga in the implementation of the national fire-arms control policy, added Buenafe.

In his quarterly data presented, Pssupt. Buenafe pointed to the erratic trends in illegal firearms in the region starting with the last two quarters in 2010.

Regional police records also show that only 11 thousand of the 49 thousand firearms were accounted during the Oplan Bilang and Oplan Kontra Boga in the police's pre-election crime suppression operations.

While the last three quarters showed a slight reduction in loose fire-arms, regional cops also noted a a rise in confiscated firearms in the second quarter of this year.

Records said that in the 3rd and last quarter of 2009, police succeeded in recovering 495 and 424 fire arms respectively.

The same down-trending was noted in the 1st quarter of 2010 with 390 weapons accounted.

The 2nd quarter however (April-June) proved to be an anomaly with 473 fire-arms recovered by authorities, showing an up-trend.

Concerned about how to curb the proliferation of fire-arms sourced out by criminal elements from backyard gun manufacturers in the region, PCSupt. Lani O Nerez proposed more checkpoints, monitor and stop the operation of backyard manufacturers and conduct another inventory of firearms.

The tourist region still languishing in a relatively peaceful situation with a 18.17% decline in crimes during the period, the concern from regional peace authorities is surely no false alarm. (rac/PIABohol)

Disaster Management in the Philippines

Disaster and risk reduction managers here call for rationalized calamity fund spending amidst an expose by President Benigno Simeon Aquino on the depletion of the country's disaster funds.

Local risk managers want to assure that local governments are better equipped against natural and human disasters, they said.

Disaster council vice chairman, PSSupt Rodolfo A. Llorca seeks asks the provincial board to put a legislative stop on the using the un-used calamity funds as a bonus pot for local government workers.

Speaking at the weekly Kapihan sa PIA Thursday to commemorate the Disaster Consciousness Month, disaster managers PSSupt Llorca and Bureau of Fire Supt Pepe Rebusa hinted that several local government units (LGU) have fair knowledge about how to use the mandated 5% calamity fund placed at their disposal.

The local government code mandates that LGUs shall annually appropriate 5% of its development funds for disaster management.

This shall be used for aid, relief and rehabilitation services to communities and areas affected by man-made and natural calamities, repair and reconstruction of permanent structures, including other capital expenditures for disaster operation, and rehabilitation activities.

But as to the guidelines on how to use them, the law is mum, opening up a gray area, said a barangay official in an interview.

Llorca said that disaster mitigation and risk management spending can be planned in as much as LGUs can look up to three major phases of disaster response.

He said the initial phase is prevention, which can be responded by putting up disaster emergency and rescue equipment, disaster response where relief operations are done and post disaster response where funds could be allocated for evacuations.

However, with hazy guidelines, local government units conveniently realign the calamity funds by the end of the calendar year so the funds can be declared savings and so are available for personnel incentives.

That could be okay of the LGU has already prepared sufficient equipment and resources on disaster response, but most LGUs are not equipped against disaster, Llorca said.

The weekly forum at Kapihan sa PIA also discussed the theme: Pag-alerto: Malayo sa Peligro. (rac/PIABohol)  

Bohol Vacation in the Philippines

Bohol culture has captured the heart of the 9-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

On the 156th Bohol Day on July 22, the province was formally declared as the ASEAN Culture Capital for the month of July, the fifth in the series, with Pampanga as the first. Before Bohol was Batangas.

However, Gov. Edgar M. Chatto also marked the proud day as Bohol's "Day of Friendship" and "Day of Hope" because the province is definitely "ready to embrace the Philippines and the rest of the world" for it is a "major contributor to the tourism sector of which we are leading."

The governor accepted the ASEAN flag from Dr. Hubert Gijzen, regional director for Asia and the Pacific of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UNESCO Commssioner for Culture Ma. Guidote-Alvares and Dr. Vilma Labrador, undersecretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) and chairperson of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

It was also noted during their visit that every year, specifically on March 21-27, is observed the UNESCO - International Theatre institute (ITI) World Theater Week in the Philippines pursuant to Presidential Proclamation (PD) No. 1262.

Foreign Aid to the Philippines

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on Tuesday said the bulk of the foreign aids to the Philippines went to the infrastructure sector over the past 10 years. 

In a statement, NEDA said the infrastructure sector received the largest share of the total loans accounting for 60 percent, or US$ 5.74 billion last year and an average of 63 percent in the past 10 years.

The agriculture, agrarian reform and natural resources sector had the second largest share of 17 percent, or $ 1.61 billion.

Both the shares of the social reform and development sector and the governance and institutions development sector were nine percent at US$ 904 million and US$ 909 million in 2009, respectively.

As of last year, the total official development assistance (ODA) loan commitment amounted to US$ 9.64 billion.

The government of Japan, on the other hand, was still the biggest source of ODA loans last year and in the last 10 years.

ODA assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) amounted to US$ 3.47 billion last year, lower than the average US$ 5.72 billion in the last 10 years.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB)'s ODA to the Philippines amounted to US$ 2.35 billion last year, while the World Bank's assistance reached US$ 1.57 billion.

The other sources account, comprising ODA from China, Germany, Belgium, South Korea, Austria, United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Kuwait, amounted to US$ 1.8 billion in 2009.

The Philippines' ODA loans portfolio last year amounted to US$ 10.137 billion, covering 107 loans composed of 95 project loans, or US$ 7.71 billion, and 12 program loans amounting to $ 2.43 billion.

Economic Forecast for the Philippines

By Joanne Villanueva

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised its growth forecast for the Philippines to 4.5 percent by next year.

This was announced Tuesday after the week-long IMF Staff Visit to Manila since last week.

In the IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) released earlier this month, the lender projected a six percent growth, as measured by gross domestic product (GPD), for the country this year and four percent for next year.

Vivek Arora, head of the Staff Visit team, said the improvement in their forecast was made on account of recent developments showing the continued resiliency of the domestic economy to the recent crisis as well as ongoing debt crisis in the Euro area.

In a statement, the IMF team said the country "emerged relatively well from the global financial crisis."

"The monetary and fiscal policy stimulus in response to the global crisis in 2008-2009, as well as resilient remittances, helped to cushion the downturn and is now supporting the strong recovery," it said.

Amid the increase in the lender's 2011 growth forecast for the country, the figure is lower than the government's seven to eight percent target.

IMF's 2010 forecast for the Philippines is at the higher end of the government's five to six percent target.