FOR THE RECORD: CHIEF JUSTICE CORONA OUSTED BY IMPEACHMENT

by Ira Pedrasa, ABS-CBNnews.com
Posted at 05/29/2012 4:59 PM | Updated as of 05/29/2012 6:22 PM

Only Joker Arroyo, Miriam, and Bongbong vote to acquit

It's a victory for accountability, transparency, says prosecution

MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) - Voting 20 to 3, the Senate found Chief Justice Renato Corona guilty of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution for failing to disclose his wealth in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN) as required under the Constitution.

Those who found the chief justice guilty were:

1) Edgardo Angara 
2) Alan Peter Cayetano
3) Pia Cayetano 
4) Franklin Drilon
5) Francis Escudero
6) Jinggoy Estrada 
7) Teofisto Guingona III 
8) Gregorio Honasan 
9) Panfilo Lacson 
10) Lito Lapid
11) Loren Legarda 
12) Sergio Osmeña III 
13) Francis Pangilinan 
14) Aquilino 'Koko' Pimentel III 
15) Ralph Recto
16) Ramon Revilla Jr.
17) Vicente Sotto III
18) Antonio Trillanes IV
19) Manuel villar
20) Juan Ponce Enrile Jr.

Only 3 senator-judges found Corona innocent:

1) Joker Arroyo
2) Miriam Defensor-Santiago
3) Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Explaining his vote, Arroyo said the Senate was “one step away from violating the Constitution and passing a bill of attainder,” or an act declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a judicial trial.

He said Corona's trial was not for the ends of justice, “but a naked power [act] as it was in 1972,” the start of the martial law.

“The Senate is being asked to remove the chief justice from office all because he submitted an allegedly erroneous SALN,” he said.

“What has happened is the passage that to which the Senate President once warned that we were fearing [was] close to a bill of attainder,” he added.

Miriam: Not an impeachable offense

Santiago said the omission of Corona's $2.4 million and P80 million deposits in his SALN was not an impeachable offense.
She said she found it reprehensible that the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) report was introduced as evidence in the trial. She also said she felt insulted by the use of anonymous sources in producing evidence in the trial.

"Three times is too much. Are you for real, prosecution? In the Philippines, anything can be manufactured," she said.

She also noted many public officials use loopholes in the SALN law but are not caught and impeached.

She added: "Daming loopholes ng SALN Law na yan, hindi kayo umimik."

She also said that if God would give her another life, she would investigate everyone in the House of Representatives and the Senate, including herself.

At one point in her lengthy explanation, she was interrupted by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile who asked her to wrap up. "I thought I was unlimited," she retorted.

Bongbong assails use of gov't resources

Marcos assailed the use of government resources to produce evidence against Corona.

However, he noted that throughout the trial, crucial issues emerged from “outside the original ambit of the impeachment complaint" which were "brought forth only after its filing.”

“At the expense of the sub-judice rule, evidence had been presented to the public on several occasions, even before they were formally offered before this Court,” Marcos  said.

He said his decision may not be popular but, “when the furor has died down and this political storm has subsided, I know - that like the lady Justice – we shall find solace in the fact that this decision…was fair, impartial and just.”

The Senate no longer voted on the 2 other articles of impeachment.

Victory for accountability

In a statement, the House prosecution panel hailed the verdict as a "victory for accountability, transparency and the rule of law."
Panel spokespersons Erin Tañada and Sonny Angara said Corona’s removal from office "heralds a new beginning for the judiciary whose image has been tarnished in the course of the chief justice’s impeachment, as well as provides a big boost to the Aquino administration’s campaign to cleanse the bureaucracy of graft and corruption."
“This is the start of putting our republic back in order for we did not convict a man but rather we saved our institutions from grievous harm of corruption and betrayal of public trust,” Tañada said. “We showed our determination towards transparency and good governance with this verdict.”
Tañada said the Senate has shown to “our people and the world that our country is politically mature and ready to forge ahead in our fight for transparency and accountability in our democratic processes.”
Angara said "much more remains to be done by the government to ensure transparency, accountability and adherence to the rule of law, which are all key to good governance."
He also "expressed hope that Corona’s conviction would pave the way for the restoration of the people’s faith in the [democratic] institutions."

“We hope it is not just a change of personnel but a change in mindset and a change in the way things are done in government,” Angara added.

Stronger democracy or dictatorship?

Corona became the first high-ranking official in Philippine history to be removed from office via the method prescribed by the Constitution.

Then-President Joseph Estrada's impeachment trial in 2001 was cut short by a military-backed civilian uprising which ousted him from office, instead of via the impeachment process.

The 5-month long impeachment process is seen by analysts as an exercise that will strengthen the country's democratic institutions.

Various surveys have shown that the Filipino people will accept the verdict of the Senate, regardless of whether Corona is found guilty or not.

The historic vote on Tuesday was also expected to strengthen the Aquino presidency, as well as its campaign against corruption and efforts to promote transparency and accountability.

Corona, however, has said that President Aquino's bid to remove him from office is an attack on an independent branch of government, and that if he is removed from office, it would lead to a dictatorship.

98% of cash assets undeclared

In its closing arguments Monday, House prosecutors said Corona failed to disclose 98% of his cash assets in his SALNs.

Corona's defense lawyers argued that the law on foreign currency deposits provides for absolute confidentiality, and that failure to disclose is not one of the impeachable offenses provided under the Constitution.

The vote focused on Article 2 of the impeachment complaint filed by 188 congressmen last December 12, which alleges that Corona failed to disclose his SALN as required under Sec. 17, Article XI of the 1987 Constitution.

The senator-judges no longer voted on the 2 other articles of impeachment (Articles 3 and 7), which accuse Corona of failing to meet the competence, integrity, probity and independence of a government official, and favoring former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in one of his decisions.

During the 44 trial days spread out in 5 months, the chief justice's real property acquisitions and dollar deposits became the subject of heated debate and discussions.

Family feud

The family feud between the Coronas and the Basas over Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc. (BGEI) also hurt his stature during the trial, although the two families began to reconcile last Friday by hugging and kissing at the Senate session hall during a caucus break.

In the beginning, many thought the prosecution would likely lose, with many senator-judges criticizing them for their unpreparedness and poor presentation of evidence.

They were assailed for presenting a bloated list of Corona’s real properties, and for wrongly fishing for evidence during the trial.

The defense, on the other hand, earned the ire of many senators when they claimed that Malacañang tried to bribe a couple of them in order to vote for the opening of Corona’s dollar accounts. The Senate voted 13-10 to respect a Supreme Court TRO on Corona's dollar accounts.

Corona's dollar accounts

In the last days of the trial, the focus was on the dollar accounts of Corona. The defense presented a hostile witness, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, who presented an Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) report which purportedly shows Corona had at least $10 million-$12 million in transactional balances in 82 foreign-denominated accounts.

The allegation prompted Corona to agree to take the witness stand, a move which many thought was a big mistake.

Corona debunked Carpio-Morales’ accusations, saying he has only $2.4 million, including interest earnings since the early 1970s, plus P80 million in commingled funds.

He said there was no need to declare his dollar deposits in his SALNs because of the absolute confidentiality clause in the Foreign Currency Deposit Act.

He then signed a waiver authorizing banks to disclose his financial assets, but the Senate merely took note of it since it was not a producer of evidence for either party.

Corona's move last May 22 to leave the witness stand without being excused and attempt to leave the Senate also proved costly since many senators saw it as an attempted walkout and disrespect of the impeachment court.

He returned last Friday and apologized for his sudden exit from the witness stand.

Corona admitted that he did not disclose US$2.4 million in dollar deposits and nearly all his peso deposits. All in all, said he has P100 million in his bank accounts.

Following his conviction, he is removed from office and perpetually disqualified from elective or appointive public office.

As of posting, he was still in The Medical City in Pasig undergoing treatment.

SOURCE

NEW STUFF FOR TODAY: BB AND MASTER

A new mobile phone. I applied this afternoon at SUN Cellular Robinson's Forum for a post paid line. I didn't expect that the unit will be released on that very moment. I've got the Plan 999 for unlimited call and txt (SUN to SUN) and unlimited use of BB service. I just paid the upfront payment of Php 999 and I brought home the unit instantly. Well, that's the power when you know the person-in-charge. She was our former manager of our department.

A new credit card. Just on Monday, I was surprised to receive an SMS that my application was approved.  And actually, I've been waiting this card to be delivered since Tuesday. The guy there at the mall (when I was paying my other credit card bill last month) was so persistent to let me fill out the application form. So I did while waiting on the queue for payment just to please him.

THE TRUTH ABOUT DRACULA

SOURCE

The name Dracula was applied to VLAD during his lifetime. It was derived from drac, a Romanian word that can be interpreted variously as "devil" or "dragon." In 1431, shortly after VLAD Dracula's birth, Vlad's father had joined the order of the Dragon, a Christian brotherhood dedicated to fighting the Turks. The oath of the order required, among other things, wearing the order's insignia at all times. The name Dracula means son of DRACUL or son of the dragon or devil.

The actual birth date of VLAD, later known as VLAD The Impaler, is unknown, but was probably late in 1430. He was born in Schassburg (Sighisoara), a town in Transylvania. Soon after his birth, in February 1431, his father VLAD DRACUL traveled to Nuremburg, Germany, where he was invested with the insignia of the Order of the Dragon. The accompanying oath dedicated the family to the fight against the Turks, who begun an attack upon Europe that would eventually carry them to the very gates of Vienna. VLAD was a claimant to the throne of Wallachia, that part of Contemporary Romania south of Transylvanian Alps. He was able to wrest the throne from his half-brother in 1436.

Two years later, VLAD DRACUL entered an alliance with the Turks that called for sending his two sons, Mircea and VLAD, with the Sultan on a raid into Transylvania. The Sultan doubted the loyality of VLAD DRACUL and had him imprisoned. DRACUL nevertheless reaffirmed his loyality and had his two younger sons, VLAD (DRACUL had two sons named VLAD, born to different mothers)and Radu, remain with the Sultan to guarantee their pact. They were placed under house arrest at Erigoz. 

In December 1447 VLAD DRACUL was murdered along with his son Mircea and his other son was burned alive under the orders of Hungarian governor John Hunyadi ( Loande Hunedoara), with the assistance of the Boyers, the ruling elite families of Wallachia. The death of Mircea made VLAD the successor, but with Hunyadi's backing, Vladislav II, a member of another branch of the family, assumed the Wallachian throne. VLAD tried to claim the throne in 1448, but his reign lasted only a couple of months before he was forced to flee to the neighboring kingdom of Moldavia. In 1451, while he was at Suceava, the Moldavian capital, the ruler was assassinated. For whatever reasons, VLAD then went to Transylvania and placed himself at the mercy of Hunyadi, the very person who had ordered his father’s assassination. Hunyadi died of the plague at Belgrade on August 11, 1456. Immediately after that event, VLAD left Transylvania for Wallachia. He defeated Vladislav II and on August 20 caught up with the fleeing prince and killed him. VLAD then began his six year reign, during which his reputation was established. Early in his reign, probably in the spring of 1459, on Easter Sunday VLAD had the Boyer families arrested. The older ones he had impaled outside the palace and the city walls. He forced the rest to march from the capital city of Tirgoviste to the town of Poenari, where over the summer, in the most of humiliating of circumstances, they were forced to build his new outpost overlooking the Arges River. This chateau would later be identified as Castle Dracula. Vlad's brutal manner of terrorizing his enemies and the arbitrary manner in which he had people punished earned him the nickname "Tepes" or "The Impaler," the common name by which he is known today. VLAD was denounced by his contemporaries, and those in the next several generations who wrote of him published numerous tales of his cruelty. He was noted for the number of victims, conservatively set at 40,000, in his brief six-year reign. The beginning of the end of his brief reign can be traced to the last months of 1461. For reasons not altogether clear, VLAD launched a campaign to drive the Turks from the Danube River valley south and east of Bucharest. In spite of early successes, when the Turks finally mounted a response, VLAD found himself without allies and was forced to retreat in the face of overwhelming numbers. At Castle Dracula he was faced with overwhelming odds, his army having melted away. He chose to survive by escaping through a secret tunnel and then over the Carpathians into Transylvania. His wife, according to local legend, committed suicide before the Turks overran the castle. 

Dracula's end came at the hand of an assassin at some point toward the end of December 1476 or early January 1477. The actual location of VLAD Dracula's burial site is unknown, but a likely spot is the church at the Snagov monastery, an isolated rural monastery built on an island. Excavations there have proved inconclusive. A tomb near the alter thought by many to be Vlad's resting place was empty when opened in the early 1930's. In the Romanian folklore, Dracula is not considered only as a 
villain, opposite to the German, Turkish and Russian traditions. In Wallachia, VLAD is honored in popular songs and legends, mainly in the villages that round the Castle Dracula, the region where he is most remembered. Although the distortions occurred in the passing time, VLAD is really an important part in the reconstruction of the past itself. The farmers are proud about the military acts of Dracula, not caring about the ways he used. The fact that he fought to ban the non-Christians seem to relieve him from the guilt of impaling his own people. 

Research: J. Gordon Melton; The Vampire Book, McNALLY, Raymond T.; FLORESCU, Radu: In search of Dracula -The History of Dracula and Vampires-

Young Dracula

Dracula was born in November or December of 1431. His given name was Vlad. He had an older brother, Mircea, and a younger brother, Radu the Handsome. Their mother may have been a Moldavian princess or a Tranyslvanian noble. It is said that she educated Dracula in his early years. Later he was trained for knighthood by an old boyar who had fought the Turks.

Dracula's father was not content to remain a mere governor forever. During his years in Transyvlania, he gathered supporters for his plan to seize Walachia's throne from its current occupant, a Danesti prince named Alexandru I. In late 1436 or early 1437 Vlad Dracul killed Alexandru and became Prince Vlad II.

Vlad was a vassal of Hungary and also had to pay tribute to Hungary's enemy, Turkey. In 1442 Turkey invaded Transylvania. Vlad tried to stay neutral, but Hungary's rulers blamed him and drove him and his family out of Walachia. A Hungarian general, Janos Hunyadi (who may have been the illegitimate son of Emperor Sigismund) made a Danesti named Basarab II the prince of Walachia.

The following year Vlad regained the throne with the help of the sultan of Turkey. In 1444 he sent his two younger sons to Turkey to prove his loyalty. Dracula was about 13. He spent the next four years in Adrianople, Turkey as a hostage.

In 1444 Hungary went to war with Turkey and demanded that Vlad join the crusade. As a member of the Order of the Dragon, Vlad was sworn to obey this summons. But he didn't want to anger the Turks, so he sent his eldest son, Mircea, in his place. The Christian army was demolished at the Battle of Varna, and Vlad and Mircea blamed Janos Hunyadi.

In 1447 Vlad and Mircea were murdered. Mircea was killed by the boyars and merchants of the Walachian city Tirgoviste. There are different stories about how he died - he may have been tortured and burned, or buried alive. Apparently his father died at the same time. Some say that the assassinations were organized by Hunyadi.

Since Vlad and Mircea were dead, and Dracula and Radu were still in Turkey, Hunyadi was able to put a member of the Danesti clan, Vladislav II, on the Walachian throne. The Turks didn't like having a Hungarian puppet in charge of Walachia, so in 1448 they freed Dracula and gave him an army. He was seventeen years old.

It seems that Dracula's little brother Radu chose to remain in Turkey. He had grown up there, and apparently remained loyal to the sultan.

Dracula's Reign

With the help of his Turkish army, Dracula seized the Walachian throne. However, he only ruled for two months before Hunyadi forced him into exile in Moldavia. Again Vladislav II became Walachia's prince.

Three years later Prince Bogdan of Moldavia was assassinated and Dracula fled the country. By now Vladislav II had become a supporter of Turkey, and Hunyadi was sorry he had put him on the throne. Everyone switched sides - Dracula became Hunyadi's vassal, and Hunyadi now supported Dracula's attempt to regain his throne. In 1456 Hunyadi invaded Turkish Serbia while Dracula invaded Walachia. Hunyadi was killed, but Dracula killed Vladislav II and took back his throne.

He established his capital at Tirgoviste - you can still see the ruins of his palace there. And nearby a statue of Vlad Tepes still stands. He is considered an important figure in Romanian history because he unified Walachia and resisted the influence of foreigners.

But it's Dracula's cruelty that most non-Romanians remember. After becoming prince, Dracula supposedly invited many beggars and other old, sick and poor people to a banquet at his castle. When his guests had finished eating their meal and drinking a toast to him, Dracula asked them, "Would you like to be without cares, lacking nothing in this world?"

Yes, they said enthusiastically.

So Dracula had the castle boarded up and set it on fire. Nobody made it out alive - and that was the end of their problems, as he had promised. "I did this so that no one will be poor in my realm," he said.

According to another story, he invited 500 boyars to a banquet and asked them how many princes had ruled in their lifetimes. They said they had lived through many reigns. Shouting that this was their fault because of their plotting, Dracula had them all arrested on the spot. The older ones were impaled; the others were marched 50 miles to Poenari where they were forced to build a mountaintop fortress. They worked a long time; when their clothes fell off, they worked naked. Most of them died, of course. And of course Dracula seized the boyars' property and passed it out to his supporters. In that way he created a new nobility, loyal to him.

(The ruins of the Poenari fortress can still be seen. You have to climb nearly 1,500 steps and cross a little bridge to reach it. It's now called Castle Dracula, but several places are called that. Another "Castle Dracula" is Bran Castle, near the town of Brasov. Although Dracula may have stayed there occasionally, it certainly wasn't his home.)

Dracula liked to set up a banquet table and dine while he watched people die. His favorite form of execution was impalement. It was slow; people could take days to die. He liked to impale many people at once, arranging the stakes in fancy designs. Nothing was too brutal for Dracula - he enjoyed having people skinned, boiled alive, etc. He prided himself on making the punishment (supposedly) fit the crime.

By 1462, when he was deposed, he had killed between 40,000 and 100,000 people, possibly more. He always thought up some excuse for these executions. He killed merchants who cheated their customers. He killed women who had affairs. Supposedly he had one woman impaled because her husband's shirt was too short. He didn't mind impaling children, either. Afterwards he would display the corpses in public so everyone would learn a lesson. It's said that there were over 20,000 bodies hanging outside his capital city. Of course, the stories about Dracula's cruelty might have been exaggerated by his enemies.

Despite all this, Dracula's subjects respected him for fighting the Turks and being a strong ruler. He's remembered today as a patriotic hero who stood up to Turkey and Hungary. He was the last Walachian prince to remain independent from the Ottoman Empire. He was so scornful of other nations that when two foreign ambassadors refused to doff their hats to him, he had the hats nailed to their heads. He was opposed to the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches because he thought foreigners, operating through the churches, had too much power in Walachia. He tried to prevent foreign merchants from taking business away from his citizens. If merchants disobeyed his trade laws, they were, of course, impaled. 

Dracula created a very severe moral code for the citizens of Walachia. You can guess what happened to anyone who broke the code. Thieves were impaled, even liars were impaled. Naturally there wasn't a lot of crime in Walachia during his reign.

To prove how well his laws worked, Dracula had a gold cup placed in a public square. Anyone who wanted to could drink from the cup, but no one was allowed to take it out of the square. No one did.

A visiting merchant once left his money outside all night, thinking that it would be safe because of Dracula's strict policies. To his surprise, some of his coins were stolen. He complained to Dracula, who promptly issued a proclamation that the money must be returned or the city would be destroyed. That night Dracula secretly had the missing money, plus one extra coin, returned to the merchant. The next morning the merchant counted the money and found it had been returned. He told Dracula about this, and mentioned the extra coin. Dracula replied that the thief had been caught and would be impaled. And if the merchant hadn't mentioned the extra coin, he would have been impaled, too.





SOURCE

OKA TOKAT! TO THE LEFT... TO THE LEFT

SOURCE

OKA TOKAT! AIRMAN ON PHOTO

Group Captain Victor Goddard kept this rather strange picture. The photo was taken following the last mission of this group. In the photo appears the face of an airman who was killed several days before the photo was taken, when he walked into the rotating propeller of a plane. Obviously he did not want to miss out on the group photo.

SOURCE

OKA TOKAT! SANIB

SOURCE

Si Cheryl ay isinilang at lumaki sa Lipa. Mayroon siyang kakambal, si Shirley. Pareho silang maganda at walang itulak kabigin sa kanila. Bawat isa ay may katangian na tiyak na magugustuhan ng sinumang lalaki.

Si Cheryl ay magaling mag-drawing. Napakahusay ng kanyang kamay sa paggawa ng mga paintings. Magaling din siyang sumayaw at kumanta. Samantala, si Shirley ay mahilig naman sa sports. Nage-excel siya sa mga larong pampalakasan sa eskuwelahan lalo na sa swimming. Marami siyang medalya at trophy na natanggap at ang mga iyon ay naka-display sa kanyang silid.

Third-year college na silang pareho nang dapuan si Shirley ng karamdaman. Na-detect ng doktor na mayroon siyang breast cancer at iyon ay Stage 2 na. 

Binawalan na si Shirley na sumali sa mga competitions dahil mahina na ang kanyang katawan pero hindi iyon ininda ng dalaga. Ilang inter-university competition pa ang sinalihan niya at nanalo naman siya.

Noong nasa 4th year college na si Shirley ay lumubha ang kanyang kanser. Bagaman uma-absent siya sa eskuwelahan, hindi niya ipinaaalam na mayroon siyang kanser. Hanggang sa sumapit ang final competition sa swimming kung saan siya kalahok. 

Ang mananalo sa competition na iyon ay lalahok sa Beijing, China. Mahinang-mahina si Shirley at alam ni Cheryl na hindi makasasali ang kapatid. Maging ang mga magulang nila ay malungkot dahil alam nila na iyon ang pinakaaasam-asam ni Shirley.

Ilang araw bago maganap ang kumpetisyon ay kinausap ni Sherly ang kakambal. Pinakiusapan nito na sumali sa contest at magkunwaring siya.

Hindi pumayag si Cheryl pero nang umiyak si Shirley ay tinanong niya ang mga magulang kung ano ang nararapat gawin. Hirap sa pagdedesisyon ang mga magulang kaya si Cheryl din ang tinanong kung kaya ba niyang sumali. Alam kasi nila na 'di hamak na mas mahusay si Shirley sa paglangoy kumpara sa kakambal.

Pero naglambing si Shirley sa kapatid at hiniling na sumali sa competition. Sinabi pa niya na ipagdasaral niya na manalo si Cheryl. Bagaman napipilitan lamang, pinagbigyan ni Cheryl ang kapatid lalo na nang sabihin nito na iyon ang kanyang huling kahilingan. 

Noong araw ng laban, nagdaan si Cheryl sa ospital para magpaalam sa kapatid. Hiniling nito na ipagdasal siya ng kakambal para huwag lumabas na kahiya-hiya.

Bago magsimula ang competition ay nakaramdam ng kakaiba si Cheryl. Nanlamig ang buo niyang katawan at tila may kuryenteng pumasok sa kanyang mga paa. Pakiramdam ni Cheryl ay may espiritu na pumasok sa katauhan niya.

Nang oras na ng competition at kasalukuyang nakikipagbuno si Cheryl ay para siyang malaking isda na lumalangoy sa dagat. Napakabilis ng kanyang kilos at malayo ang agwat niya sa kalaban. Siya ang itinanghal na kampeon. 

Pag-ahon sa tubig, nakita niya ang ama at kapatid na bunso na umiiyak. Buong akala ni Cheryl ay naiyak ang mga iyon sa tuwa. Hindi niya alam na habang nasa swimming pool siya ay yumao na si Shirley.

Nalaman lamang ni Cheryl na patay na ang kakambal nang sabitan siya ng medalya at ihayag na magtutungo siya sa China bilang kinatawan ng Pilipinas sa inter-university competition.

Hindi makapaniwala si Cheryl nang marinig ang balita. Ngatal ang katawan niya na yumakap sa ama. Sa morgue na niya inabutan ang kakambal at doon niya inialay ang medalya. Suot ni Shirley ang medalya nang iburol. 

Habang nakaburol ang kapatid, napag-isip-isip ni Cheryl na pumasok sa katauhan niya ang kaluluwa ni Shirley kaya kakaiba ang pakiramdam niya bago magsimula ang competition. 

Gabi-gabi, binubulungan ni Cheryl si Shirley na tulungan siya sa competition para maging over-all champion. Kahit nakahimlay na ang kakambal, tila nagkaintindihan ang dalawa. Alam ni Cheryl na hindi siya pababayaan ng kapatid. Makalipas ang libing, nagbago ang interes ni Cheryl. Pansamantala niyang kinalimutan ang pagpipinta at lagi siyang nag-eensayo ng swimming. Pati ibang exercise na paboritong gawin ng namatay na kakambal ay siya niyang ginagawa palagi.

Isang linggo bago ang competition, tumulak patungong China si Cheryl. Samantala, sumunod ang kanyang ama dalawang araw bago ang araw ng kumpetisyon.

Gabi-gabi, kinakausap ni Cheryl si Shirley. Hinihiling sa kapatid na tulungan siyang manalo. Bagaman hindi nakikita ang kakambal, nararamdaman ni Cheryl na binabantayan siya ng kapatid.

Pagsapit ng araw ng competition, muling nakaramdam ng kakaiba si Cheryl. Sa pagkakataong iyon, nasisiguro niya na ginagabayan siya ng kapatid.

Alam din niya na papasok sa katauhan niya ang kaluluwa ni Shirley para manalo sa swimming competition. At gayon nga ang nangyari. Nagwagi si Cheryl at siya ang tinanghal na champion. Pagbalik sa Pilipinas, pinarangalan siya sa unibersidad na pinapasukan.

Nang magtapos siya ng kolehiyo, binigyan siya ng award bilang Best Female Athlete. Bagaman siya ang tumanggap ng medalya, dinala ni Cheryl ang medalya sa puntod ng kapatid at inialay iyon sa kanya. Alam kasi ni Cheryl na iyon ay para sa kakambal niya na siyang tumulong sa kanya para manalo sa labanan.

Nakapangingilabot ang ikinuwento ni Cheryl pero naniniwala ako na siya ay nagsasabi ng totoo.

Maraming pangyayari ang nagaganap sa paligid na mahirap ipaliwanag pero totoong nangyayari. Isa na rito ang pagpasok ng kaluluwa ni Shirley sa katauhan ng kapatid. Nakatutuwang isipin na maski nasa kabilang buhay na ang dalaga ay ginagabayan pa rin ang kanyang kakambal.





SOURCE

OKA TOKAT! MANIKA

SOURCE

Ang susunod na sulatin ay batay sa mga nakalap na kwentong-bayan, "patotoo" mula sa mga nakaranas, at/o mga salaysay na bagaman walang matibay na sandigan, maiging lumaganap hindi lamang sa kabihasnan, kundi sa mga liblib na kanayunan ng Naic. Samantala, upang mapangalagaan sa kung anumang maaaring maganap, hindi ilalantad ang kanilang mga tunay na pangalan.

Sa gitnang bahagi ng Kalye Pelaez, isang berdeng bahay ang matatagpuan. Bagaman ilang dekada na rin itong natatayo, hindi naman ito napapabayaan, at regular pa ring ipinaaayos at pinapipinturahan. Dahilan ang mga orihinal na may-ari ay sa Amerika na naninirahan, ang nasabing bahay ay pinauupahan na lamang. At sa lahat ng nanirahan, sari-saring kwento ng kababalaghan at katatakutan ang sa kanila'y maririnig--mga kaluluwang tulung-tulong na nagbabangon sa tulog; kaluluwang nagbabantay sa sanggol; mga tumutugtog sa lumang piano; humihila ng silya at lamesa; atbp. Subalit isa sa mga makatawag pansin sa mga kababalaghan, sa lahat ng lumang gamit na naroon, ay ang antigong manika na 'di umano'y sumasanib... naghihiganti.

Tag-init, taong 2002, gabi noon at walang kuryente. Sa pagiging bukas ng mga noo'y nakatira sa bahay, maraming kabataan ang nagkakatipun-tipon, nagkwekwentuhan at nagkakatuwaan. Samantala, hindi naiwasang pag-usapan ang mga kwentong katatakutan gayong makailang bahay lamang ay may patay na nakaburol.

Isa sa mga nasa bahay noon ay si Kano. Kilala si Kano sa baranggay bilang isa sa mga astigin at tigasin. Bahagi ng katuwaan, kinuha ni Kano ang isang manikang maraming taon nang hindi nagagalaw. Hindi lalayo sa tatlong talampakan ang taas ng manika, na ayon sa mga nakakita'y tila may sarili nang buhay. Sa ibang perspektibo, masasabing ang manikang iyon, kasama ang iba pang manika sa bahay, ang silang matatagal nang naninirahan sa bahay.

Ginalaw at pinanakot pa ni Kano ang manika sa mga kasamahan. Sa 'di sinasadyang pangyayari, naputol ang kamay ng manika. Mabilis naman ang mga sumunod na pangyayari. Biglang-bigla, hindi na maigalaw ni Kano ang kanyang buong katawaan. Pilit man siyang kumilos o magsalita, wala siyang magawa. Nagtagaktakan ang pawis ni Kano. Nagulat na rin ang lahat sapagkat wala nang tigil ang pagpatak ng mga luha ni Kano. Pilit na pinakakalma ng mga kasamahan si Kano. Nang maisip na may kinalaman ang nangyari sa manika sa sinapit ni Kano, sinabi ng mga kasamang humingi ng tawad si Kano.

Nang sa isip ay makahingi na ng tawad si Kano, unti-unti na ring nawala ang kung anong pwersang bumalot sa kanya. Ayon kay Kano, hindi niya rin maipaliwanag ang nangyari sa kanya. Sinabi naman ng albularyong agad na natawag, ang espirito ng manika ang nagalit at pilit na pumapasok sa katawan ni Kano. 





SOURCE

TULFO AND SANTIAGO BRAWL AT NAIA 3

ABS-CBNnews.com

Posted at 05/06/2012 9:03 PM | Updated as of 05/07/2012 1:19 AM

MANILA, Philippines – The scuffle between journalist Mon Tulfo and actor Raymart Santiago on Sunday has been caught on video and uploaded on the video-sharing site YouTube.

The 59-second video posted by glamchiq00 showed Santiago charging at Tulfo and people trying to stop the fist fight.

The video was uploaded after news broke out earlier in the afternoon about the incident.

Both Tulfo and Santiago were among the top trending topics on microblogging site Twitter because of the incident.

Santiago’s wife, actress Claudine Barretto, said she is challenging Tulfo to show the video which he claims caught her scolding the airport staff. Barretto also appealed to airport authorities to release the CCTV footage to determine who really started the brawl between Tulfo and her husband.

The amateur video was immediately shared on other social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

“I don't know what happened, but from this video, mas hinawakan at inawat si Mon Tulfo ng mga guards than Raymart Santiago. Walang pumigil kay Raymart sa pagsuntok niya kay Mon Tulfo while Tulfo was held down by the airport guards,” journalist Joel Pablo Salud said on Facebook.

“Just saw the Tulfo vs Claudine and Raymart fight. Clearly, Claudine and Raymart were the one beating Mon Tulfo to a pulp,” said Stella Apa on Twitter.

“Just saw the Tulfo -Raymart brawl vid. Whew! Gigil lang si Claudine! Tsk,” said Noel Manito also on Twitter.

“Ayaw ko manghusga kakapirangot na video lang kasi napanuod ko, at hindi naman pinakikita dyan pano nag simula ang gulo kung hindi paano natapos ang gulo eh,” said a comment on YouTube

“Edited na ang mga video. Pwede natin ma-cut ang truth sa video. pwede itago at ipasama ang kapwa tao. Di naman siguro gaganyan ang kabilang kampo kng walang may ngyari na mas matindi doon di, ba?” another comment on YouTube said.

Tulfo said he decided to take a photo of Barretto with his camera when he heard that Barretto was berating an airline employee. Then, Santiago approached him to get the cell phone and that’s when the fight started.

Barreto said she was complaining because the airline left their luggage at Caticlan.

In an interview with dzMM earlier, Santiago claimed that it was Tulfo who threw the first punch.

“Siya ‘yung unang nanuntok, may mga tama rin ako,” the actor said,

“Napakalungkot eh. Kunyari kukuha siya ng video, nag-co-complain kami, normal lang mag-complain. Bakit di siya lumapit, nag-interview? Sasagutin naman namin siya eh. Bakit hindi niya kami tulungan? Bakit hindi niya kami tanunging kung anong nangyari? Kung nagtanong lang siya ano bang nangyayari at sumide siguro sa amin, dahil wala naman kaming kasalanan eh.

“Sinabi ko lang po sa kanya ano po ba ang ginagawa niyo sinuntok na ako,” he said.

After the incident, both camps proceeded the hospital to have a medical exam.

According to the airport police, no one was arrested for the incident and that it is up to the parties involved to file a case.





SOURCE