Month: October 2006

By Jay B. Rempillo
Supreme Court Public Information Office

The Supreme Court, voting 8-7, today dismissed the petition for a People’s Initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution by shifting the present Bicameral-Presidential system to a Unicameral-Parliamentary form of government.

In a 52-page decision penned by Justice Antonio T. Carpio, the Court affirmed the Commission on Elections’ August 31, 2006 resolution denying due course to an initiative petition to amend the Constitution by petitioners Raul Lambino, et al.

“This Court cannot betray its primordial duty to defend and protect the Constitution. The Constitution, which embodies the people’s sovereign will, is the bible of this Court. This Court exists to defend and protect the Constitution. To allow this constitutionally infirm initiative, propelled by deceptively gathered signatures, to alter basic principles in the Constitution is to allow a desecration of the Constitution. To allow such alteration and desecration is to lose this Court’s raison d’etre,” the Court said.

Windows Liveâ„¢ Spaces: Neil Crespi

Neil, who describes himself as “a true blue Californian guy,” is a 24-year old writer. He says he is a freelance journalist, part-time blogger, and a part-time blog ghostwriter. According to him, writing has been his passion ever since he realized its existence.

Neil’s interests range from politics to sports and showbiz. “Tinsel Town is a rich source of things to write about aside from the fact it truly is interesting to follow through the lives of equally interesting and good-looking people,” he wrote in one of his blogs. Aside from writing, he is also into snowboarding, hiking, and diving, among other things. He likes Chinese food and love to read John Grisham novels.

Check out the link above, and you’ll find links to his other writings at Live Journal, WordPress.com, MySpace, Squidoo.com, and Blogspot.

News Desk Cafe hosts the fourth leg of the Never Again: Stop the Killings Bar Tour on Tuesday, 17 October. Performing are Susan Fernandez, Gougou de Jesus, and
Bagong Dugo.

Launched last September 21, the bar tour aims to reach a wider audience in calling for peace and a halt to the killing of journalists and activists. Major bands in the entertainment circuit have signed to perform in various bars in Metro Manila.

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Thanks to the current sex e-mail scandal involving a Republican in the US Congress, among other things, a victory of the Democrats is expected in the coming elections. This shall be good news for members of progressive organizations such as the People for the American Way (pfaw.org), which “has been fighting the Religious Right for twenty-five years” and speaks “for the common good and defend the civil rights and liberties that sustain a free society.”

American philanthropist George Lindemann Sr. and Actor Alec Baldwin are among the members of PFAW.

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In the last entry, excerpts from the website of the movie Rigodon explained the roots of the rigodon dance. From a peasant dance, became a regular feature of the affluent’s parties. Rigodon is now an important part of the high school junior-senior prom and other dances such as this George Lindemann Jr. event.

But it can also be used to describe the Philippine political system. It is not only the Philippines that had a rigodon dance with its colonizers; its politicians are also dancing rigodon in the country’s multi-party system.

Rigodon, an independent film by Sari Dalena and Keith Sicat, the Best Feature Film Award during the 8th International Panorama of Independent Filmmakers awards show in Athens, Greece.

Rigodon, the 80-minute debut film of Dalena and Sicat, follows the story of three Filipino immigrants in the post-9/11 New york city. The film depicts the spiritual journey and interwined lives of Amado–an old boxer, Salome–the “dreaming war-bride,” and Dante–the “rebel-poet,” against the backdrop of US government’s racial profiling and crackdown. Joel Torre, Arthur Acuna, Chin-Chin Gutierrez, Stephanie Ruaux and Keith Barber play the lead roles in the movie.

Independent think-tank IBON Foundation said the anti-terrorism bill, currently deliberated in the Senate, may be the final piece in Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s formula in paving the way for an all-out authoritarian rule.

IBON research director Antonio Tujan said that the anti-terror bill, which seeks to impose severe punishment on groups considered by government as ‘enemies of the state’, will further stifle legitimate public dissent against the Arroyo administration while targeting members and supporters of progressive militant groups, especially the legal Left and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.