ABS-CBN photo
Nov . 21 - 26 , 2016
Vanguard
UP studes protest against Marcos burial
TACLOBAN CITY- Students of the University of the Philippines Visayas Tacloban College and other local colleges joined the mass protests held all over the country in indignation against the burial of the late President and dictator Ferdinand E . Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani .
Earlier , they also marched to the city hall to air their protest against the decision of the Supreme Court allowing his burial at the Libingan .
This time , they went to the downtown center to raise their placards and their fists , saying Marcos was not a hero and therefore did not deserve to be buried at the Libingan , the heroes ’ burial ground .
A Student spokesman slammed claims that Marcos ’ infrastructure projects in the ‘ 70s are at par with the number of tortured victims . To recall , the Eastern Visayas region was a favorite beneficiary of infrastructure projects , one of which was the San Juanico Bridge . This was probably because the strong man ’ s wife , Imelda Romualdez Marcos , hails from this region .
“ The moment na mamatay tayong lahat and the next generation will follow , they won ’ t be remembering our arguments today . They won ’ t be remembering the reasoning of the Marcoses . They will see a shrine , a shrine in the Libingan ng mga Bayani with the dead body of Marcos there at kung makikita nila , a bayani pala si Marcos ,” said Joshua Sagdulla , chairperson of the Katipunan ng Sanggunian ng Mag-aaral sa
UP Tacloban .
He added : “ If you multiply the infrastructure projects during the time of martial law , if you multiply that by a hundredfold , it will not compensate for the thousands of lives that have yet to acquire justice because they were tortured during the time of martial law .”
The protest was also an indication that Eastern Visayas is not a Marcos country , according to Sagdullas .
“ The population here in UP Tacloban is representative of the entire region . It means that if UP Tacloban marched the streets against the burial of Marcos , it is a political statement that the entire region is not actually a Marcos country ,” Sagdullas said .
The protesters dispersed later peacefully after their lightning rally .
‘ Coddlers ’ want Jovie out
Tacloban City - The immediate relief of Albuera Police Chief Jovie Espenido is being pursued by personalities he has implicated as drug coddlers and protectors . This was learned from Espenido himself who appears to be unfazed by such moves , coming after both Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez and veteran journalist Lalaine Jimenea were cited in the list .
Such moves , according to a police official , are expected , especially since he has unmasked the involvement of government officials , police officers and media in the Espinosa drug trade .
In a phone interview , Espenido said he was informed by PNP regional director Chief Supt . Elmer Beltejar and a source from the PNP national headquarters that Gomez and other officials in the region named in the narco list wanted him sacked from his current post .
“ I am always ready to step down as a good soldier and will always follow orders from my superiors once a relief order is received by my office . No problem about that . We come and go from our post . Of course , there is no personal motive here . Trabaho lang , walang personalan ,” Espenido said .
Recently Gomez filed administrative charges against Espenido , Chief Inspector Leo Laraga and one PO3 Hydie Yutraga before the National Police Commission in Quezon last Wednesday , claiming them responsible for linking him to illegal drug operations in the Eastern Visayas
Prior to the filing of charges against Espenido by actor Gomez , Jimenea , one of the three media personalities in Ormoc charged with receiving payola from the Espinosas , also filed a string of complaints against the Albuera PNP head . She said Espenido was coddling a drug suspect linked to suspected drug lord Kerwin Espinosa Jr . She requested the Ombudsman to investigate Espenido , citing him for grave misconduct and abuse of authority .
The controversial police chief in Albuera however belittled such moves , saying it is clearly a desperate act from one respondent of the criminal case filed before the Leyte provincial prosecutor ’ s office .
The move to have Espenido ousted already surfaced
( Go to p . 4 )
Albuera official claims innocence
Albuera , Leyte - One of three Albuera town officials , who were dismissed by Ombudsman for grave misconduct and dishonesty last September , maintains that he and the two others are innocent , saying they were also “ victims ” of fraud and falsification of public documents committed by former councilor Sergio Batistis .
Sangguniang Bayan Sec . Wilfredo F . Andrade said they entrusted their registration fees to Batistis when they attended the 3-day 2nd Quarterly National Executive Officers- National Board Meeting of the Phil . Councilors ’ League ( PCL ) in Davao City , last year . But contrary to the findings of the Ombudsman , they were present during that conference .
He said they all entrusted their payments to Batistis so that they wanted to avoid the long lines at the registration table . He said they did not know Batistis faked
( Soul ... from p . 6 ) ego , or expectations , or simply just a surfeit of pains , the
pass . That like any night , soul finds the means to eject dawn must follow , and that it , into the darkness of the while death always comes , pit , and the resulting lightness , carries you up again , to life will always thrive somewhere somehow . live another day , and meet up It begins with the sense of with despair another time . the world weighing you down , Oh yes , we have an unending battle with despair . those little worries that creep in on strange times , keeping Every once in a while , our soul you awake at night worried becomes burdened with the but not knowing why . It piles cares of this world , and must itself on your energy , swallowing it , making it an even vate agony in its own hidden
wrestle with despair , a pri- greater struggle to go on waking up in the morning , getting survive , we carve deeper into
Getsemane . Every time we
through with work , keeping our souls , because these dark a happy face with colleagues , cares must have someplace and struggling to keep making sense of reality , trying spair carries with it the weight
to go , and every bout with de-
to retain that sense of value . of struggles past . The hole becomes larger , and the capacity
Slowly , you forget what is it that is valuable , and wonder becomes correspondingly bigger , and the weight heavier , at the point of all this hustle and bustle . Thus , you enter and so on the cycle runs . into a relationship with despair , and conspire to dance are either broken , and end up
This continues until we to its tune . adrift in life , letting chance
In time , you recognize and fate cast us about unheeding of whatever happens , the symptoms , and you rail against it , against the burdensome life that it keeps present- through and finding that infi-
or we break through , boring
ing you with . And the more you nite place where these tools of struggle against it , the more it despair can pour through , and demonstrates how empty this pour out of our souls , leaving reality has become , the more behind only the memory and life reminds you that what you the wisdom brought by the struggle against is in itself a experience . myth , a construct , and each Surviving this in a conscious manner is a grace . As I time of this realization hammers the despair even deeper . sit , alone , in the gloom of the
When you are finally at concrete steps carved in the your lowest point , when the embankment of Pasig , as I weight has reached the bottom of that pit in your soul and come alive , I take anoth-
watch the streetlights strike
that despair has carved deep , er breath , another reminder , that I am still here , still it is then that your soul recognizes what it is that burdens you , and gives you the that is another grace enough
breathing , still alive , and chance to jettison it . Whether for still another day .#
3
their official receipts for the payment of the registration and certificate of attendance . Pictures taken during that affair would however prove that they were present , Andrade said .
He said they were dismayed over the dismissal order on Sept . 14 , 2016 because the Ombudsman did not give them time to present their side at the witness stand . They subsequently filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals . He hopes the Ombudsman ’ s decision will be repealed .
Andrade was formally appointed as SB secretary 12 years ago . Other dismissed town officials who are still holding office are Councilors Atanacio M . Barte , and Nelson D . Pepito Sr .
Meanwhile , Albuera DILG Officer Ida Aquilina V . Lopes said also in a separate interview that she is waiting an order of her superior to implement the Ombudsman dismissal order against the three . ( By JunTarroza )