Makati Mayor Junjun Binay arrested, then later Freed

The Senate blue ribbon committee ordered the arrest of Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr the son of Vice President Jejomar Binay citing contempt, after the mayor snubbed three (3) hearings by the Senate in relation to the alleged anomalous contracts in his city.

On January 29, 2015 Thursday Jose Balajadia Jr. the Senate sergeant-at-arms enforced the detainment order against the the mayor at the Makati City Hall at past 9 am. Binay paid a visit to his late wife with his children then proceeded to attend a mass inside the city hall at 8:30 am.



Binay alleged that he was forced and dragged from the Senate basement to the session hall. He said that there is no reason for him to be there. Senators did not insist for him to answer the allegations of corruption hurled against him. He was let go. 

Pictures of the Dead PNP-SAF commandos displayed at Villamor,

A tarpaulin with the pictures of the 44 PNP-SAF commandos killed in the January 25, 2015 Mamasapano clash with members of the MILF and BIFF. The Philippine National Police accorded arrival honors to the slain officers on Thursday. However, President Benigno Aquino III was not present at the ceremonies since he seems to have much more important things to do than honor the dead heroes who offered their lives for us to be free.

Kabataan party-list Representative Terry Ridon, said “Aquino's absence in the arrival honor ceremony for the fallen SAF men speaks volumes of the president's lack of basic respect for his servicemen. It is truly despicable, especially for the commander-in-chief.”

And based on a Manila Standard report, "Aquino is responsible for massacre in Maguindanao"

Excerpt:

"The fatal covert operation that killed 44 members of the elite Special Action Force and wounded 12 others had been assigned by President Benigno Aquino to suspended National Police Chief Alan Purisima, apparently without the knowledge of Interior Secretary Manuel ‘Mar’ Roxas III.

A police general, who was part of the planning and actual operation and is privy to the ongoing investigation told the Manila Standard on Tuesday that Aquino may have considered Purisima as still the “de facto PNP chief” in assigning to him the sensitive mission.

“It was a tragedy in the making,” according to the police general.

“The President was aware of the Marwan covert operations. Purisima reported directly to him. In fact, the President went to Zamboanga prior to the troop’s jump off to Mamasapano in Maguindanao so that he would be in the vicinity when Malaysian terrorist Zulkipli bin Hir alias Marwan and Filipino Basit Usman, both bomb experts linked to the Jemaah Islamiya terror cell, are captured,” said the general, who requested anonymity.

What is so disappointing is that Malacañang has the gall to gave a pretty pathetic excuse that majority of the Filipino people did not criticize the useless president Aquino's absence at Villamor.

“Sa amin pong monitoring hindi naman yan majority view (Based on our monitoring, that is not the majority view),” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. told Palace reporters.

Street Children in the Philippines rounded up before the Pope's Visit

Dailymail reported that authorities in the Philippines rounded up homeless children and jailed them in detention cells together with adult criminals. The report said that about hundred kids both boys and girls were picked up from streets by police and DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development).

However, in a statement DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman denied the news report, she said they did not round up and lock street children in Metro Manila to prevent them from being seen by Pope Francis. She said that 440 street children were turned over to them and the children will be part of a song presentation for the send off to the Pope's departure.

Recovered US Drone In The Philippines

According to the Philippine military the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that was found by fishermen off Polilio island in northern province of Quezon last Sunday was owned by the US military. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman said that the drone is a Northrop BQM-74 Chukar.

The drone, which has markings indicating it is owned by the US Navy, was first spotted by a fisherman at around 4 p.m. last Sunday January 4. Local policemen took the drone then brought it to the local police station.

Meanwhile, Kabataan Representative Terry Ridon is asking for an explanation from the US about the presence of an unmanned aerial vehicle in Philippine territory. “it may constitute serious breaches in both local and international law and severely lambasts our national sovereignty. Even citing the Visiting Forces Agreement as justification would be a stretch.”

“We fear that the US military is exploiting the growing tension in the Philippine Sea to deploy spy planes and warships in our territory," Ridon said. "In the guise of protecting the Philippine claim over the disputed shoals and reefs, the US military may in fact be surveying the area to assess the value of its oil and mineral reserves which their country surely has interest in.”