Piercing Pens

The first issue of Manila Standard Today came out Monday. This paper is a result of the merger between Manila Standard–a daily that looks like a lifestyle magazine– and Today, which recently transformed itself into a business daily.

The result of the merger looks like Manila Standard with additional Today logo and content. Blogger jEn says the “‘new’ name really bothers…and annoys” her. As for me, I miss the clean, formal, and intelligent look of Today.

I think they should have just launched an entirely new paper with a new name and a new look.

I’m also wondering how this development will affect abs-cbnNEWS.com Today’s joint project with ABS-CBN. At present, there is still no mention of Manila Standard on the site’s front page. It uses Manila Standard Today’s news articles but publishes only columns by Today columnists like Prof. Luis Teodoro.

Armed Forces of the Philippines Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan yesterday declared he wants a law that would punish media organizations that would interview “known terrorists”.

“They kill and bomb then [the media] give them the opportunity to talk. It’s stupidity on the part of some media to allow these terrorists or people identified with terrorist groups to air their complaints,” he was quoted as saying.

We don’t know if we could also say that it’s stupid not to know that such a law would violate Article 3, Section 4 of the Philippine Constitution, which says:

No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.

. (more…)

President Arroyo turned down calls for ceasefire in Sulu. Hmm, Erap, ikaw ba ‘yan?

In relation to that, i just found Moslemen M. Macarambon Jr.’s post entitled Blow-by-Blow Account of the Events that Lead to the Ongoing War in Sulu. It was originally posted at Bangsamoro.com. It might help us better understand what’s going on in the south.

(September 23, 2006 update: Fil.ph is gone already.)

If you need free hosting, you might want to give Fil.ph a try. It is a new site offering free webhosting and subdomain. Its site says “.FIL.PH Project was created to provide Free presence for your online business, weblog, educational, personal websites and online community. ”

A small Fil.ph logo and a banner is displayed on the bottom of every page hosted at Fil.ph.

Nina Lasala, former national treasurer who was forced to resigned for her opposition to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Third Party Custodian regulations, has turned to blogging to give her side on the issue. You may read her blog at http://lowerphildebt.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile, below is a copy of a manifesto by Bureau of Tresury officials and employees. sent to me by Ardythe :

While it is a pleasure to communicate various issues with the general public, it is unfortunate that this manifesto is about dissatisfaction and dismay. Much to our desire to avoid taking the subject of this humble piece to the attention of everybody, we, officials and employees of the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) could not help submitting this due to the urgency of the matter and its serious effect on the capital market in particular and the whole national economy in general. (more…)