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news The Sunday Times SUNDAY September 19, 2010


Commission power struggle divides Muslim Filipinos


BY JULMUNIR I. JANNARAL CORRESPONDENT


on Saturday urged President Benigno Aquino 3rd to solve the standoff on the power struggle between an Arroyo appointee vs. an Aquino appointee who are competing for the leadership of the newly created National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), as this will lead to disunity of the ummah (Muslim community).


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The NCMF is the government agency under the Office of the President created by Republic Act (RA) 9997 that replaced the de- funct Office on Muslim Affairs. It covers both local and national af- fairs involving Muslim Filipinos. It is headed by a secretary, who at the same time act as the chief execu- tive officer and is allowed to attend all cabinet-level meetings. Bai Omera Dianalan-Lucman who


was appointed by former President Gloria Arroyo is the first NCMF sec- retary and chief executive officer. However, President Aquino ap- pointed recently another secretary, the former Education Secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Dr. Hamid Barra of Lanao del Sur, to replace Lucman, who is from the same province. Lucman, who took her oath on


March 10 and assumed office after the appointment ban, asserted her ap- pointment is not covered by Execu- tive Order (EO) 2 that deals with mid- night appointments signed by Arroyo. Lucman filed through her lawyers a petition at the Supreme Court ques- tioning the legality of EO 2 and at the same time seeking its nullification. In the opening of her petition


La Trinidad faces huge garbage problem


LA TRINIDAD, Benguet: There is now a looming garbage problem for Benguet’s capital town after it was only allowed to dump garbage at the Buyagan dumpsite. Teofilo Langato Jr., the designated municipal Solid Waste Management officer, said that the municipality has only till January 1, 2011 to use the Buyagan dumpsite. Over the week, municipal offi- cials held a dialogue with stake- holders at the Buyagan dumpsite and both parties have agreed to close down the sanitary landfill on January 1, 2011.


Langato said, the municipality has no choice but to use the Alno dumpsite, which was purchased by the municipality sometime in 1990, adding that the capital have a three- month timetable. However, he said that there is still much improvement needed for the area to be developed as a controlled landfill area for the municipality. The terrain in the Cordillera re- gion is very different from the low- lands where it is easier to develop, according to Langato, “in the low- lands, it is flat, unlike here [in the Cordillera] that we have sloping ter- rain and we have a lot of earth mov- ing to do to prepare the area mak- ing it more expensive.” “We now have no choice but to bring our residual waste to Alno,” he added.


“There is now a need to strictly implement waste segregation to limit garbage at the Alno dumpsite,” he added.


The municipality produces around 60 tons of garbage daily, ma- jority of which comes from the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post which contributes to 30 to 50 tons of waste daily mostly composed of vegetable trimmings. Mayor Greg Abalos, in a separate interview, has estimated that the municipality needs around P150 million to develop the area to be used as a sanitary landfill for around 10 to 15 years. LARRY MADARANG


submitted to the High Court Lucman cited the “core issue” on the controversy arising from being an appointee of Arroyo.


Legal grounds


“Does the assumption of office dur- ing the midnight appointment ban by an appointee who was ap- pointed, and who took her oath, before the midnight ban make the appointment a prohibited midnight appointment?” she asked. Lucman refused to vacate her post


saying that she has legal grounds to hold on to the position as she vowed to contest the appointment of Barra in the High Tribunal while her sup- porters since Friday surrounded the NCMF head office at the Jocfer Building along Commonwealth Av- enue in Quezon City to prevent the assumption of Barra as the new NCMF secretary.


But Lucman asked for sobriety from her supporters as she is wait- ing for the action of the High Tri- bunal on the controversy. At the same time, Lucman directed her legal counsels composed of law- yers Jose Ventura Aspiras, lead coun- sel, and Bantuas Lucman, collaborat- ing counsel, to proceed with their le-


OTABATO CITY: Muslim leaders in the country to include prominent personalities from this city


gal action as they filed on Thursday with the High Court a petition for prohibition and mandamus with ur- gent prayer for the issuance of a tem- porary restraining order and the case was docketed as GR 193519. Also, an urgent motion for issuance of status quo ante order and to im- plead additional respondent was also filed on September 17 with prayer that the Honorable Court issue an order commanding respondents Ex- ecutive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and newly appointed Barra to respect the status quo before EO 2 was issued and refrain from implementing and/ or enforcing the appointment of Barra as replacement of petitioner as NCMF secretary and chief executive officer. Based on the above petitions, Lucman had refused to give way to the appointment of Barra, in addi- tion to the fact that majority of the Muslim congressmen are opposed on the way Barra was appointed. The Muslim lawmakers claimed that the Muslim leadership should have been consulted by Presidential Peace Adviser Teresita “Ging” Deles who was instrumental in recom- mending Barra to President Aquino. “I am not going to turn over the office [NCMF] to Barra at this time while my petitions are being heard by the Supreme Court,” Lucman told The Manila Times in a phone interview.


Vehement refusal The vehement refusal of Lucman to


give up her post has prompted Barra to assume office at the NCMF-Na- tional Capital Region (NCR) office located at the Golden Mosque in Quiapo, Manila. However, confirmed sources said Barra just avoided further confronta- tion and trouble with the supporters of Lucman and that made him hold office at the NCFM-NCR office where he vowed also to exercise his mandate as the newly appointed NCMF secre- tary and chief executive officer. In the meantime, Lucman be- lieved that her removal from office


Friends again


is politically motivated and because of a power play by people close to President Aquino. Lucman has accused Deles of the Office of Presidential Adviser on Peace Process of promoting dissen- sion and disunity among Muslim Filipinos where Lucman also tagged the member of the “Hyatt 10” as the prime mover in the ap- pointment of Barra. Reportedly, it was Deles who rec- ommended Barra to President Aquino as the new NCMF secretary replacing Lucman.


Intervention Rep. Tupay Loong of the First Dis-


trict of Sulu who is also the chair- man of the House Committee on Muslim Affairs is now intervening in the power struggle of Lucman vs. Barra for the NCMF leadership. Loong who delivered another privi- lege speech on Thursday in the House of Representatives strongly appealed to President Aquino to reconsider the appointment of Barra since this will divide rather than unite the minority Muslim Filipinos in the country. “How can Secretary Deles be- come an effective facilitator of the peace process with her active parti- san role in the choice of the secre- tary of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos?” asked Loong, claiming that Barra’s appointment “clearly disregarded the letter and spirit of RA 9054.” RA 9054 provides among others for the appointment of qualified Muslims in the national cabinet, agencies and corporations control- led or owned by the government. Loong’s privilege speech came on the heels of the preparations by the ARMM government of its first regional peace summit on September 20 and 21 here while peace stakeholders in- cluding foreign and national dignitar- ies and multi-sector representatives would discuss issues affecting the re- gional autonomy and draft a peace and development agenda.


Police arrest suspected gunman of peace worker


COTABATO CITY: Police authorities here announced on Friday that they have arrested the suspected killer who shot dead a peace worker in Maguindanao inside an eatery here in this city Thursday. Senior Supt. Willie Dangane, city


AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE


The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams (left) and Pope Benedict XVI hold a Celebration of Evening Prayer, at Westminster Abbey in central London on September 17. Pope Benedict XVI held joint prayers with the leader of the world's Anglicans on Friday in a symbolic act of unity on day two of a historic state visit to Britain. The head of the Roman Catholic Church also attended a service at London's Westminster Abbey, led by Williams.


Life sentence for man who ate girl’s innards


BAUANG, LA UNION: The Regional Trial Court here sentenced to life impris- onment a drug-crazed man, two years after he stabbed a 15-year-old girl, ate her liver and drank her blood, one of the goriest and most unusual crimes in La Union. “We are relieved that finally, jus- tice has been given to my daughter,” Janet Madriaga, the mother of the victim, Cathy, said in Ilocano after the reading of the court sentence over the weekend.


The Madriagas reside in Barangay Pugo in Bauang, where the crime happened on August 3, 2008. Judge Rosemarie Alim Molina of Branch 33 issued a “reclusion perpetua” or life imprisonment order for Rommel Jandoc, now 30 years old and also a


resident of the said barangay. It was recalled that Cathy went to sleep at an aunt’s house in the vicin- ity, the night before the crime. She was walking home when Jandoc attacked her with a scythe at about 7 a.m. Horrified witnesses in the area later


saw the murderer, full of blood while eating the internal organs of his victim. Jandoc was arrested at the crime scene and was later found out he was heavily under the influence of illegal drugs.


Local residents in the said barangay then have speculations and were fed with eerie gossips that Jandoc was a vampire.


Janet has five children; Cathy was


the youngest and her only daughter. WILLIAM JUN GARCIA


police director, said police operatives have already put behind bar the alleged killer of Datu Asim Ebrahim, commissioner for Maguindanao of the Regional Reconciliation and Reunification Council of the Autono- mous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), who sustained a bullet wound in the head. Dangane identified the alleged killer as Castro Esmael, 26, of Barangay Rosary Heights 3, who was arrested by responding policemen. He said Ebrahim was taking his early supper inside Arshed Carenderia along Sinsuat Avenue, Cotabato City when the suspect, armed with a caliber .45 pistol, approached him and shot without provocation at about 5:20 p.m. The victim died on the spot. According to the Cotabato City


police director, personal grudge could have motivated the suspect for killing the peace commissioner. Lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, ARMM


executive secretary, said Ebrahim was in the forefront in preparing the ARMM Peace Summit scheduled here in this city on Monday (September 20). “His death came as a surprise to all of us because he was working for peace in Maguindanao,” he said. Sinarimbo said Ebrahim has been


successful in settling long standing “rido” or family feud in Maguindanao before he was gunned down. “He was very active in pushing for


peaceful settlement of all conflicts in Maguindanao and we are sad he died drastically,” Sinarimbo said.


JULMUNIR I. JANNARAL worldinbrief


POPE FACES PROTEST RALLIES ON THIRD DAY LONDON: Pope Benedict XVI was to hold an open-air prayer vigil on Saturday but also faced a demonstration from a rainbow coalition of protesters on the third day of his historic state visit to Britain. British police continued to question six men arrested by counter-terrorism officers on suspicion of plotting an attack linked to the visit, but the Vatican said it had “never attributed much importance to these arrests.” (See photo) AFP


PUTIN TARGETS KREMLIN FOR 2012 MOSCOW: Revelations that a Russian state agency had snapped up website names including Putin2012.rf sparked speculation Friday that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin plans to return to the Kremlin in 2012. The Federal Guard Service, which is in charge of protecting the president, prime minister and other high officials, has registered domains in the Cyrillic alphabet including Putin-2012.rf, Gazeta.ru website reported Friday. AFP


JAPAN’S PM KAN GETS HIGH RATINGS FOR NEW CABINET TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s new cabinet won a high public approval rating on Saturday, as the press warned ministers had to work to tame a booming yen and end a damaging territorial row with China.


AFP


DRILLER ONLY 30 METERS FROM TRAPPED MINERS SANTIAGO: By midday Friday the trapped Chilean miners are only 30 meters away from the T-130 drill machine, Chilean presidency confirmed with Xinhua. The rescue shaft of “Plan B” has drilled 630 meters in depth and has almost reached the workshop where the 33 miners were trapped since August 5.


XINHUA


AFGHANS PLACE VOTE AMIDST TALIBAN ATTACKS KABUL: Afghans braved deadly rocket and bomb attacks to vote for a new parliament on Saturday, with the war-weary nation on full security alert after the Taliban threatened to derail the high-stakes election. At least six people were killed in attacks and the UN and US officials warned that security and fraud were major concerns for the second parliamentary vote since the US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime in 2001.


AFP


EIGHTEEN MILITANTS KILLED IN N. AFGHANISTAN KUNDUZ, Afghanistan: Afghan forces backed by NATO-led forces eliminated 18 Taliban insurgents including two foreigners in Kunduz province north of Afghani- stan on Saturday, provincial governor Mohammad Omar said.


XINHUA


UN APPEALS EMERGENCY AID FOR PAKISTAN ISLAMABAD: The United Nations appeals for a record $2 billion in emergency aid for the millions of victims of Pakistan’s devastating floods.


AFP


HUGE STORM LEFT THOUSANDS WITHOUT POWER SUPPLY WELLINGTON: A storm the size of Australia whipped New Zealand on Saturday leaving tens of thousands of people without power and sending a stadium roof crashing down. The second natural disaster to hit the country in a fortnight lifted roofs and uprooted trees as hurricane-force winds swept across the country and lightning strikes ignited fires.


AFP


HURRICANE KARL STRIKES MEXICO, 2 KILLED MEXICO: Hurricane Karl on Friday struck Mexico’s east coast, killing two people and forcing the country to shut down the Laguna Verde nuclear power station, a local radio reported.


XINHUA


TAIWAN, CHINA BRACE FOR POWERFUL TYPHOON TAIPEI: Taiwanese and Chinese forecasters issued alerts as the most powerful typhoon so far this year headed their way as it churned through Japan’s subtropical islands. AFP


HELICOPTER CRASHES IN NORTHEAST CHINA HARBIN: A helicopter crashed in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin Saturday, but it was not immediately known if there were people killed or injured in the accident. The helicopter crashed near a village in Pingfang Township on the outskirts of Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province, at about 11 a.m., a spokesman with the city’s emergency affairs office said.


CHINESE STAGE RALLIES OVER CAPTAIN ARREST BEIJING: Waving banners and chanting anti-Japanese slogans, protesters staged rallies in China Saturday to voice anger over the arrest of a Chinese trawler captain which has sparked a major diplomatic row.


XINHUA


AFP


MONK NABBED FOR PRIVY FILMING OF WOMEN PHNOM PENH: A Cambodian Buddhist monk has been jailed after secretly filming hundreds of women as they bathed naked with holy water at a temple, a judge said. AFP


RED SHIRT PROTESTERS MARK FOURTH ANNIVERSARY BANGKOK: Anti-government Red Shirt protesters head for Chiang Mai, former stronghold of ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, for a rally on Sunday marking the fourth anniversary of the coup in which he was overthrown.


DEMONSTRATIONS IN KASHMIR BRINGS DEATH TO 100 SRINAGAR, India: Police fired on fresh anti-India demonstrations in Kashmir, killing at least one person and bringing the number of civilian deaths in an unprecedented wave of unrest to 100.


SRI LANKA PROBES POWERFUL BLAST KARADIYANARU, Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan authorities on Saturday probed negli- gence as a possible cause of a powerful blast at a dynamite depot in the island’s east that killed 25 people.


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DELAYED PARTY CONFERENCE FOR NEW N.KOREA LEADER SEOUL: North Korea may have hit a snag in its move to anoint leader Kim Jong-Il’s son as his successor, being forced to delay a key party conference, a government source in Seoul was quoted as saying Saturday.


AFP


BP TO END WORST OIL SPILL WITH PERMANENT SEAL WASHINGTON, D.C.: British Petroleum (BP) is set to cap a months-long effort to end the worst maritime oil spill in history with a death choke that will permanently seal its ruptured Gulf of Mexico well.


US ACTOR GETS ARRESTED AFTER ATTACKING PAPARAZZI LOS ANGELES: British comedian-turned Hollywood star Russell Brand was arrested after allegedly attacking a photographer at Los Angeles Airport, police said.


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AHMADINEJAD DECLARED RESISTANCE TO THE WEST DAMASCUS: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared on Saturday that resistance to the West is on the rise in the Middle East, after a meeting in Damascus with his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad.


POLICE KILL SUDANESE, WOUND THREE IN OPEN FIRE CAIRO: Egyptian police killed a Sudanese man and wounded three others on Saturday when they opened fire on would-be migrants trying to enter Israel, the official MENA news agency reported.


AFP


AFP


HOSTAGE, THREE GUNMEN DIE IN RESCUE OPERATION TEHRAN: One hostage and three gunmen who held six Iranians captive in a restive southeastern region of the country have been killed in a rescue operation, the official IRNA news agency said on Saturday.


AFP


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