Para saan talaga ang emergency powers?

Nakakaduda itong rekomendasyun ni Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes na bigyan ng emergency power si Gloria Arroyo para matugunan ang problema ng pagkukulang ng elektrisidad na mangyayari daw sa panahon ng eleksyun sa 2010.

Sa ilalim daw ng Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) maari daw mabigyan ng Kongreso si Arroyo ng “emergency power”.

Naku po. Kung sa ngayon lang na wala siyang emergency power, kung ano nang katarantaduhan ang pinaggagawa sa bayan at pinagtatapak-tapakan na ang batas, ano pa kaya kung dadagdagan pa ang kapangyarihan niya?

Sabi ni Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, kung sa ngayon pa lang alam nilang magkakaproblema sa kuryente sa sunod na taon, bakit emergency powers ang naiisip nilang solusyun?

Sabi ni Sen. Ping Lacson, “Delikado yan. Parang martial law ang labas niyan.”

Sabi ni Sen. Edgardo Angara mukha nga kinukundisyun ang taumbayan sa kanilang balak. “Kadudda-duda ang rekomendasyun ng emergency power sa panahon ng krisis politika .Baka ibang problema ang gagamitan ng emergency power.”

Ano nga ba ang naka-ambang na problema?

Siyempre ang nasa isip ng marami ay ang kinatatakutan na failure of eleksyun sa 2010.

Kahit na kinuwestyun ng Concerned Citizens’ Movement ang kakulangan sa testing ng Comelec ang automated system na gagamiting sa 2010 na eleksyun, pinayagan sila ng Supreme Court. Kaya hindi natin malalaman kung kaya nga o hindi. Ay kung sabihin natin 30 porsiyento ang walang kuryente at pumalpak? Paano makapag-deklara ng nanalo?

Noong isang linggo, nag-warning si dating Pangulong Fidel Ramos ng kudeta ng mga heneral na malapit kay Arroyo at baka raw hindi matuloy ang eleksyun. Sinundan ito ni Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile na nagbabala na kung sakaling magkaroon ng failure of eleksyun, ang military ang papasok dahil may bakante sa posisyun ng president at bise presidente.

Tapos na ang termino ni Arroyo at Bise Presidente Noli de Castro sa Hunyo 30, 2010. Sa Constitution natin, nakalagay na kapag bakante ang posisyun ng presidente at bise-presidente, and susunod ay ang Senate president at iyun ay si Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile sa ngayun.. Kung walang senate president, ang susunod ay speaker of the House at yun ay si Speaker Prospero Nograles sa ngayun.

Hanggang dyan lang ang nakalagay sa Constitution.

Ang termino ni Enrile at Nograles sa kanilang mga pusisyun ngayon ay hanggang Hunyo 30 din lang. Kung walang madeklara sa posisyun ng presidente at bise presidente (hindi kaagad magkakaroon ng senate president at House Speaker dahil pagpipilian pa yan ng mga bagong halal ng mga congressman at senador), magkaroon tayo ng krisis.

Para dito ba ang emergency powers na sinasabi ni Reyes?

An evening of Cowboy Dinner at the Texas Roadhouse Grill in Ortigas

A few nights back, I was invited to attend the bloggers dinner at the Texas Roadhouse localted at El Pueblo, Ortigas Center.

I’d tell you this up front: I am not a steak connoisseur. I have no extra talents and skills in differentiating a rare from a medium rare Tbone steak. But one this is sure: I love eating foods and I am not afraid in trying out foods I have never tasted before.

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So when Texas Roadhouse invited bloggers for a food tasting event, I agreed to join. Texas Roadhouse Grill, the first modern Western saloon in the Philippines, opened its swinging doors to the public in March 2007 at the Bonifacio High Street to cater to urban cowboys in the Philippines. In Nov 2007 it opened its 2nd branch in El Pueblo Real, Ortigas Center.

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This cowboy-inspired restaurant boasts of an extensive grill menu consisting of juicy imported U.S. steaks, tender ribs and chops, ocean-fresh seafood, all-time favorite chicken dishes and more. Whet your appetite with starters like the Santa Fe Nachos, Loaded Texas Chips and the Jessie James Sampler. For those who love healthy yet satisfying fare, there are soups and salads which you may hook up with “Lone Ranger” or “Cowboy style” servings. The Sheriff’s recommendations for those who prefer lighter dishes include the Roadhouse Lite, and Oriental Chicken Salad.

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Other most wanted dishes include the double-basted Baby Back Ribs, and Wrangler Pork Steak, among others in the Ribs and Chops section. There are Fajitas for the tortilla-loving cowboys; burgers and sandwiches such as the ‘Ol Texas Burger and Cheesesteak Sandwich plus an array of pastas (best bets are the Geronimo’s Seafood Marinara and Billy the Kid’s Shrimp Pasta). Other Fireside Favorites include the Parmesan Crusted Fish Fillet and the Loaded Meatloaf.

Sinfully delicious desserts include their famous Mighty Oreo Mud Pie, Apple Crumble, and the Cowboy Chocolate Cake, among others.

Grabe ang sarap! The medium rare T-bone steak is just perfect. It’s full of flavor and the aroma alone is more than enough to make you ask for more.

Texas Roadhouse Grill is open daily from 11 am to 12 midnight Sundays to Thursdays and from 11 am until 2 am Fridays and Saturdays (tel. nos 635-6715 to 16). Its branch in the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig is located at Bldg 1, Bonifacio High Street and is open daily from 11am to 12mn Sunday to Thursday and until 2am Fridays and Saturdays (tel. Nos. 856-1547 to 48)

You like reading this blog post? You might also be interested in BYAHILO's other adventures at Sugarloaded!

An evening of Cowboy Dinner at the Texas Roadhouse Grill in Ortigas

Dacers say Lacson OK as witness vs Estrada

Lacson not interested; denies participation

by Norman Bordadora, Michael Lim Ubac
Philippine Daily Inquirer

The daughters of Salvador “Bubby” Dacer will accept Sen. Panfilo Lacson as a state witness if he provides information identifying the mastermind of the abduction and murder of the publicist and his driver in November 2000.

This was disclosed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer by Demetrio Custodio, the lawyer of Dacer’s daughters, who filed a murder complaint against Lacson after former Senior Supt. Cezar Mancao’s earlier testimony that he had heard the then Philippine National Police chief issue the order to kill Dacer.

“We are willing to accept any witness who will lead us to the killer. If it’s [Lacson], it would be okay,” Custodio said. “We are hoping that he can provide us usable information. The last time [he took the Senate floor], it wasn’t quite definite.”

But Lacson is not interested.


Told by the Inquirer on the phone that the Dacer daughters were open to the possibility of his becoming a witness for the prosecution, the senator said: “How can I qualify as a state witness \when I did not have any participation or involvement in the disappearance of Dacer and [Emmanuel] Corbito?

“A state witness is one who is not the most guilty among the accused, and whose testimony is relevant and material to the successful prosecution of the case. I am neither of the two.”

In a privilege speech on Monday, Lacson suggested that deposed President Joseph Estrada had something to do with the twin murders.

He is to deliver another privilege speech next week.

Only after mastermind

“If [Lacson] can pin down the real mastermind, then we can use him as witness,” Custodio told reporters at the Department of Justice, where the preliminary investigation of the senator is ongoing.

“We are not persecuting anyone. We are after the mastermind of the crime,” the lawyer said.

Carina Dacer and her three sisters have asked the court to be given more time to file an amended complaint that would include Estrada as a respondent.

They filed the motion after Mancao—testifying at a hearing on his wish to be discharged as an accused and made a state witness—told the panel of prosecutors that Estrada was one of those who might know something about the Dacer-Corbito murders.

The panel, chaired by Senior State Prosecutor Peter Ong, Friday approved the Dacers’ motion, saying it was the prerogative of the complainants to amend their information.

The amended complaint will be referred to Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera and Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño, who will determine whether it should be heard in the preliminary investigation of Lacson or in a separate proceeding, according to Ong.

On the other hand, Mancao’s lawyer Ferdinand Topacio has stated that direct evidence from his client pointed only to Lacson’s involvement in the twin murders.

On Wednesday, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada cited Topacio’s statement as the purported reason behind Lacson’s accusations against his father, the ousted President.

“In my honest opinion, as a lawyer and based on the evidence so far adduced in court by my client, Cezar Mancao, the only direct evidence with respect to the mastermind in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case pertains to … Lacson,” Senator Estrada quoted Topacio as saying.

He said Lacson wanted to paint his father as a criminal capable of ordering someone killed.

New witness

A woman who claimed to have seen then PNP chief Lacson and Bubby Dacer arguing in Batangas days before the publicist was killed is the Dacer family’s next witness against the senator, according to Custodio.

The woman, Lymith Bagual, has submitted a statement narrating how she saw Lacson and Dacer having a heated exchange at a resort.

“It’s circumstantial evidence,” Custodio said, adding that the woman would be presented to the Department of Justice panel at the next hearing scheduled on Sept. 28.

Asked to comment, Lacson said: “The planned presentation of a supposed new witness to testify against me, as announced by Attorney Custodio, is their ploy to convince me to agree to their suggestion to turn state witness.”

He described the ploy as “too elementary, if not idiotic.”

“Anyway, they should rethink their position to present that false witness who, they say, claims to have seen me and Mr. Dacer arguing in a beach in Batangas one week before Dacer disappeared,” Lacson said.

He added: “First, I don’t remember having gone to a beach in Batangas in my entire life. I hate beaches. Second, and more incredibly, I would not have spent time in a beach with Mr. Dacer as we were hardly close to each other.”

Slowly but surely

Lacson said other recent revelations in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case were “slowly but surely unmasking administration attempts to use the case to persecute” him.

He voiced hope that the DoJ would “wake up and realize” that the preliminary investigation it was pursuing against him was “irrelevant.”

“I now believe the saying ‘the truth shall set us free.’ It is becoming clear the efforts to link me to the case stemmed from Malacañang, through then Presidential Security Group (PSG) chief Romeo Prestoza,” he said.

On Thursday, Mancao testified that Prestoza, then a colonel heading the PSG, had made him an offer in exchange for making fabricated statements against Lacson.

Mancao said that in September 2007 when he was still in the United States, a man claiming to be Prestoza phoned him and offered him money, relocation in Singapore, and education support for his children, all in exchange for false statements against Lacson.

He said he refused the offers.

‘Sleep soundly, sir’

Lacson said he received a text message from Mancao in January 2008 narrating Prestoza’s offer.

He said Mancao even told him: “Sleep soundly, sir.”

Also earlier this week, former Senior Supt. Glenn Dumlao said in an interview with ABS-CBN that ousted President Estrada was behind the twin murders.

Said Lacson: “This administration is using all foul and underhanded tactics to silence me for exposing its sins. But they failed to stop me then, and they will not stop me now. I will continue to investigate the sins that [the First Family] has committed against the nation.”

No knowledge

In Malacañang, Undersecretary Lorelei Fajardo Friday disclaimed knowledge of Mancao’s claim that he was made an offer by the PSG chief in 2007 to issue false statements against Lacson.

“We have no knowledge about it,” Fajardo, a spokesperson of Ms Arroyo, curtly said at a briefing. She referred reporters to now Major General Prestoza. With a report from TJ Burgonio

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