Loss of a Brother-in-Arm

Reprinted

By  Karem Elazegui Neri  (PMA 1995)

Early in the morning of 26 January 2006, the sky was covered with patches of dark clouds, delaying the scheduled take off time. Weather satellite report confirmed scattered clouds with intermittent rain shower.

Philippine Air Force's OV-10 Bronco light attack and observation aircraft .
Manufactured by North American Rockwell. PAF plans to replace
the two engines OV-10 with the rugged and fuel efficient one engine
Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano for counter insurgency (COIN), close
 air support, and aerial reconnaissance  missions.

“Sir, we might as well go to the canteen to eat our breakfast, while waiting.” Junie said, as he approached me at the right side of the two-engine plane. “Sure”, I replied.

CAPTAIN ANIANO “JUNIE” AMATONG JR PAF (A member of Philippine Military Academy Class of 1996), a seasoned OV-10 pilot with more than a thousand flying hours will be the pilot-in-command this day. The maintenance crew, composed of eight skilled enlisted personnel headed by the engine man, Master Sergeant Silio, was resting at the nearby hangar. They have been preparing the aircraft before the breaking of dawn.

As we were eating our meal, Junie expressed his plans in the future since he's been serving the air force for ten years. “Sir, my wife wanted us to migrate to America, too”. Why? I asked him. Well, Arlene said that some of her relatives are doing great and have a better life there. But I am hesitant. I’d rather work as an airline pilot”, He continued. “Well either way Arlene is a doctor and you have only one child. You should be fine”. I said. The conversation ended, as soon as we consumed our short breakfast. Consequently, the weather looked favorable to fly now. I never thought that this eye-to-eye dialogue with this kind and soft-spoken, thirty three year old gentleman would be my last.

My life changed forever after this short conversation. We headed back to the hangar, close to where our plane was parked. Our mission was a joint training exercise with an American Joint Special Operations Task Force. Loaded with practice bombs to simulate a coordinated and simulated bombing

U.S wants to achieve balance of power in SCS - JDV

Calls all parties to demilitarize the areas

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

The saber rattling of the United States in sending recently an aircraft carrier’s group at the disputed South China Sea (SCS) was to achieve balance of power's projection, according to the founding chairman of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties.

U.S. Aircraft Carrier's Stennis and three of her escort battle ships
were sent lately by the U.S to make sail by at the disputed Spratly Group of Islets. But afar Chinese warships, undeterred, follow them.

Jose de Venecia, known as JDV and a former five-time Speaker, said after the United States and allies like Australia, Japan, and others achieve “equivalence”  the concerned parties including China should unite and demilitarized the areas. “But after this we should all unite together to demilitarize the South China Sea, to demilitarize the Islands of the South China Sea, so that we can convert the zone of crises into the zones of peace, reconciliation, and development,”. The four-ship U.S. Stennis Carrier Strike Group patrolled lately the disputed South China Sea but was followed by Chinese warships.

He said war should be averted at the SCS. “We must absolutely avert it. We have to avert it!” The sending of the air carrier group is only for temporary basis, he said, when asked if the past actions of the United States in sending battle ships for sail by and bomber jets like the B-52 for fly by at the SCS in the past were politically correct to deter the incursions of the Chinese on the reefs and shoals there. Satellite photos last February discovered that China had militarized the Paracel Islands by deploying advanced batteries of Surface to Air Missiles (SAM) in Paracel Islands

READ: War between U.S, China will destroy humanity – FVR 

(You can send comments at totomortz@yahoo.com)

Economics of Tupig and Ph President Noynoy

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

When I taught Economics in college more than a decade ago, I explained to my students what was inflation and its exception where the seller maintained the old price of the goods at the expense of the product’s quality.

Tupig delicacy is a long sticky rice logs wrapped and cooked in banana leaf.
Bundles of tupig can be found being sold along the highway in Pangasinan and Tarlac provinces.

“Sabi nila ang donut daw dati wala namang butas iyan. Pero dahil sa pag spike ng cost of production ang merchant gumawa ng malaking butas para maka menos gastos,” I jested.

In case some of my students swallowed that joke hook, line, and sinker that was their intellectual indiscretion by juxtaposing a joke and a jerk.

I thought my “Donut Analogy” was the best I strutted to those who care to listen. But last Monday, Philippines President Benigno Aquino III shamed me with his antics on the Economics of Tupig (Long sticky rice logs wrapped and cooked in banana leaf) here’s the excerpt when the president, an economics graduate of Ateneo de Manila, spoke before the hoi polloi in the turnover of shared service facilities (SSF) in the province of Pangasinan that was held at the world class stadia owned by Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez.

“Iyong nag alaga po sa akin, kung umuwi sila sa kanila sa Paniqui, Tarlac parate po ako pinapasalubungan ng hinde isa o dalawang piraso ng tupig kundi bundle bundle po. Siyempre ang tupig okay ito. Sumulong po kasi ang kung saan nangaling ang aking lolo, noon po nauso po iyong suman. Iyong suman pinapalagyan ng (asukal) para sumarap. Iyong tupig, matamis pero crispy pa, crunchy na, mas kumpleto ata. So, tuwang tuwa tayo dahil mahabahaba iyon noong bata pa tayo mga one foot.

Minsan po nagpunta po tayo, papunta ata ako sa Baguio, nadaan tayo sa Pangasinan nakita ko ang nagbebenta ng tupig, tinanong ko bumili po tayo ng bundle bundle, binuksan ko andaming balot (diyaryo) may balot sa ilalim na papel, may balot sa ilalim na papel uli (crowd chuckle). Natatandaan ko kasi isang balot lang ng papel ang tupig. Noong nakita ko ang tupig (sa Pangasinan), parang pastillas sa laki. (Crowd laughed).

Sabi ko sa nagbebenta: Brod, halika ka nga bakit iyong balot madami? Bakit?

Sabi niya: Sir walang nagbago. Ang presyo pareho dahil tumaas ang bilihin sa tupig pero ang presyo pareho lang!

Baka puwede natin maibalik sa dati ang laki ng tupig? (Crowd chuckle).

***

When we were waiting at the coffee house for the three helicopters of President Benigno Aquino III to land at the huge helipad near the mall owned by the city mayor, over the huge cup of brewed aromatic Café Amerikano one of the two radio commentators told me Grace Poe could not be a natural born because she is a foundling.

ME: The ponencia (essay) written by Justice Jose Perez said: First, she was a natural born because the 1987 Constitution only provides two kinds of citizenship natural and naturalized;

Second,Poe's repatriation results in the recovery of her original nationality where I cited the case of Bengzon vs House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal. The SC said "repatriation results in the recovery of the original nationality; Third, domestic and international laws on foundlings say foundling enjoys the presumption of being natural born. Moreover, these laws do not permit discrimination against foundlings. Poe's reference to adoptive parents as birth parents where the SC said the Domestic Adoption Act of 1998 allows Poe to state that her adoptive parents are her birth parents. Adoption Act says all adopted children are natural born.

“Section 2 Article III of the Constitution says The Philippines… adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land and adheres to the policy of peace, equality. That’s Pacta Sunt Servanda”.

Smart Bombs: Weapons needed to defeat insurgency in Ph

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

A drug addict, a former driver of a police official, was arrested with other illegal drug sellers by policemen in a town near Pangasinan.

Even he was not caught in flagrante delicto (caught in the act) selling shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride, the cops nevertheless included him on the complaint sheet.

Since he could not bail, as selling of shabu is non-bailable, he was told by the prosecutor to shell-out one hundred fifty thousand pesos for the striking out of his name on the charge-sheet for a lengthy hearings at the Regional Trial Court.

Luckily, the detainee has relatives who are overseas foreign workers that cheap-in to raise the sum for his liberty.

They even gave a big stuffed toy to the prosecutor “kasi mahilig si fiscal sa stuff na galing abroad”.

Who says working with the Department of Justice is a thankless job? A lot of drug pushers are being apprehended every day. Susmariosep, that would be a lot of monies for a mulcting and enterprising fiscal.

***

"Gloves are off" between presidential rivals Marco Rubio and Donald Trump," says by CNN subtitle recently as both U.S presidential rivals exchanged acerbic charges in a debate.

"Clinton-Sanders on dead heat tie", "gloves are off" or “knuckles are bare” are idiomatic expressions seldom used by Philippines' newspapers as title.

“Gloves are off”, to the tricycle drivers who read this column, means people start to argue or fight in a more serious way.

I love how the American media described their acrimonious and rambunctious campaign season as bets ripped off each other’s throat to the November presidential election.

***

FARC or Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, the richest guerrillas in the world, thanks to cocaine and marijuana they sell to the huge U.S mainland, fought the Columbia government since the late 1960s.

Lately they asked for a unilateral ceasefire, yes Virginia, unilateral ceasefire, with the U.S Central Intelligence Agency's supported Colombia government because their top brass have been successively killed by the incessant aerial bombings by the government.

 Salamabit, how did the Colombian government do it so the Armed Forces of the Philippines can replicate it in Mindanao and other areas in the country inhabited by the half a century old insurgency?

Thanks to the smart bomb produced by the high budgeted research groups in the U.S that saw a series of successes in killing with accuracy guerrillas who were cooking their food or resting on a hammock in Columbia.

To adopt his new technology, the French and the Americans were deprived of this in Vietnam in the 1950s to the early of 1970s, a country like the Philippines needs the following: A Cessna A-37 Dragon Fly Plane that carries the Precision Guided Munitions (PGM) or smart rockets guided by the Global Positioning System (GPS) from satellite at the space, several A-39 Super Tucanos (the rugged single engine bombers ordered by the Philippine Air Force from Brazil) that can dropped unguided bombs, a C-130 cargo plane with 20 mm Gatling guns blazing to mow the absconding bad guys, and Special Forces from either Huey, Sokol, or Sikorsky helicopter to seized the computers and documents of the dead enemies.

Poe Administration: No favouritism on appointment of new PNP chief

New Chief comes from PMA's ruling class - Chiz

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

A vice presidential aspirant said he and his presidential tandem would not play favourite on the appointment of the chief of the Philippine National Police in case they win the election in May 9.

PNP chief Dir. Gen. Ricardo Marquez with nine newly -
promoted officials.Photo Credit: Philippine Daily Inquirer

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero said the government of Grace Poe would not emulate President Benigno Aquino III who telegraphed already during the campaign for the presidency in 2010 his moist eye to then Chief Superintendent Alan Purisima as his new chief of the PNP.

“Wala kaming gino-groom. Kung sino ang capable. Walang personality. Di kagaya ni Noynoy si Alan Purisima na sigurado (We don’t groom anybody. We look who is capable. We don’t focus on personality unlike President Aquino who had Alan Purisima in the pipeline already),” he stressed.

Escudero denied the report of this paper that in case his Gobyernong may Puso tandem win the palace his adopted classmate at PMA Class of 1987 will be the next police national chief.

Escudero is also an adopted member of the Philippine National Police Academy’s Class of 2000 while Poe is an adopted member of PMA Class of 1991.

“He is too young,” Escudero quipped when told that a PMA brass said that being an adopted member of PMA Class 1987 would not be a hindrance for the PNP’s top hierarchy because the appointee can be promoted from Senior Superintendent (equivalent of a full colonel in the military) to Chief Superintendent (one star general in military) after the Poe-Escudero Administration ascend into power in July 1 and then another rank for him every week to reach the four stars rank for the chief of the PNP.

“We have to follow the rule, PMA 1984 is the ruling class followed by PMA classes of 1985, 1986,” he said.

Escudero, supporters laud Poe, SC on favourable decision

At 3:00 pm today, I was in a convoy of vehicles following vice presidential aspirant Chiz Escudero, senatorial bet Migz Zubiri, and anti-smuggling Samang Industriya at Agrikultura’s president Rosendo So, a major supporter and campaign manager of Senator Grace Poe for the 2016 presidential race, when we learned that the Supreme Court's justices en banc decided with nine votes favouring the consolidated residency and citizenship issues of Poe and the six magistrates who dissented on the petitions of the Commission on Election to disqualify the lady presidential bet.

Excerpts of my posers and the answers of Escudero, Zubiri, and So after we disembarked in our cars in Mangaldan, Pangasinan:

Mortz Ortigoza (MCO): Sir, 9-6 daw, ano comment ninyo that Supreme Court sided with Grace Poe?

Vice Presidential bet Chiz Escudero: Binabati ko si Senator Grace at nagpapasalamat ako sa Korte Suprema

Galing at Puso presidential bet Grace Poe (extreme right) and anti-smuggling Samahang Industriya at Agrikulura President Rosendo So and vice presidential aspirant Chiz Escudero in one of their stomps in the vote -rich province Pangasinan.

.

MCO: Sir, 9-6 daw sided with Grace Poe kanina lang? What’s your comment?

SINAG President Rosendo So (RS): Ah, alam naman natin na Filipina si Grace Poe kaya alam natin na talagang  proper kung talagang declared na natural born.

MCO: Game changer na ito? Dirediretso na ito?

RS: Dire-diretso na!

MCO: Maayong hapon sir, maayong hapon! (Good afternoon sir, good afternoon!)

Senatorial bet Migz Zubiri (MZ): Maayong hapon sad! (Good afternoon, too!)

MCO: 9-6 ang  Supreme Court decision, any comment?

MZ: Ah, tamang tama po, kaming lahat at least buhay na buhay na si Grace Poe (That’s good,  we are all ecstatic because Grace Poe had been reinvigorated).

MCO: Game changer.....

MZ: Lalong uusad ang kanyang kandidatura (her candidacy will spike).

MCO: Mabiyaan na jud si (presidential rival Rod) Duterte kini? (She would exclipse closes rival Rod Duterte because of this Supreme Court’s thing?)

MZ: Ah, dili man pero tingnan, tan-awon nato, tan-awon nato kana! Will see. God willing, God willing. (Ah, no, but will see, will watch, will see that! Will see. God willing, God willing).

(Send comments to totomortz@yahoo.com)

“No” kay Pacquiao sa Senado

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Ayaw ko na sanang makisawsaw dito sa Manny Pacquiao versus Comelec dahil katatapos lang nagpalitan ng maanghang na sagutan ang mga taga “Praise the Lord” at  tage “Federasyon”


.
        Boxing Icon Manny Pacquiao

Ito noong ihambing ni boxing icon ang mga members ng FML o Federasyon ng Mang-aagaw ng Lakas na mas masahol pa sa hayop.

Una, ayaw kung matalsikan ng “asido” galing sa miyembro na nakikipag ispadahan sa kanyang jowang lover sa loob ng shower.

 Ikalawa, ayaw ko namang mapasama sa mga Pacquiao screaming fans na nagsusunog ng kanilang Nike shoes.

Ano ako hilo? Mag isa nga lang itong Nike ko na minana ko pa sa lolo ko, susunugin ko lang.

Gall of Pacquiao

What I don’t like about Manny Pacquiao was his gall or kakapalan ng mukha to run sa Senado kahit hindi kaya ng ulo.

That’s why I am here at You Tube explaining to you my reasons and sentiments on these Pacquiao’s brouhahas.

Sang ayon ako na kinasuhan ni Akbayan Congressman Walden Bello sa Comelec ng “Undue Publicity” and “Undue Advantage” noong nakaraan si Pacquiao  dahil sa violations ng Fair Election Act o FEA.

Why?

E, hayop sa spot o publicity sa mga TV at radio stations ang idudulot ng April 9 Pacquiao- Bradley Rubber Match sa Las Vegas, Nevada  sa kalagitnaan ng kampanya at pagtakbo niya sa halalang Senador sa May 9 Election.

Kawawa naman si Alma Moreno, Amay Bisaya, General Getulio Napenas, Raffy Alunan na naliligo na ng alikabok sa mga taga Magic 12 sa surveys ng Pulse Asia at Social Weather Station, ililibing mo pa Manny P. ng undue publicity.

Sabi ni Commission on Election Commissioner Rowena Guanzon  noong Sunday  na  ang media exposure ni Pacquiao from hype and fight would unfairly boost his candidacy.

She compared the boxing champ with movie actors running for office who she said were not supposed to show their movies during the campaign.

“That’s unfair,” she said. “Newscasters, if they run, they go on leave because that would be unfair to the other candidates. That is the intent of the law.”

Kaya tingnan ninyo si Alma Moreno, Edu Manzano, Amay Bisaya bukod sa wala ng directors na gustong kumuha sa kanila na mag artista, by heart alam nila itong “undue publicity” na violation sa FEA.

FEA says each bona fide candidate or registered political party for a nationally elective office shall be entitled to not more than one hundred twenty (120) minutes of television advertisement and one hundred eighty (180) minutes of radio advertisement whether by purchase or donation.

It also mandates that any mass media columnist, commentator, announcer, reporter, on-air correspondent or personality who is a candidate for any elective public office or is a campaign volunteer for or employed or retained in any capacity by any candidate or political party shall be deemed resigned, if so required by their employer, or shall take a leave of absence from his/her work as such during the campaign period: Provided, That any media practitioner who is an official of a political party or a member of the campaign staff of a candidate or political party shall not use his/her time or space to favor any candidate or political party.

Bello said the Comelec issued Resolution No. 9615 three years ago to expand the definition of “political advertisement” to include media appearances in shows not covered by the Comelec hour. 

Chronic Absenteeism

Itong si Manny P. bukod sa absentee sa 16th Congress last year, mantakin ninyo na ang mokong ay pumapasok physically ng halos apat na beses sa taon na iyon.

Kaagawan nito ng korona sa pagka pala absent si Negros Congressman Jules Ledesma na pitong  beses pumasok.