Category Archives: Politics

International, Law Enforcement, Politics, The Media

LACK OF QUORUM IN PHILIPPINE SENATE MAY LEAD TO CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

April 25, 2014 Pol Pinoy 1 Comment

Manila, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – Article VI, Section 2 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides that the Senate shall be composed of 24 senators who shall be elected at-large by the qualified voters of the Philippines. This makes junior Senator Nancy Binay extremely worried in light of the ongoing investigation of the pork barrel scam that siphoned 10 Billion pesos in taxpayer money into bogus nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and ghost pet projects of elected officials.

Disclosures by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Presidential Assistant Panfilo Lacson indicate that Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the pork barrel scam, has written affidavits implicating more than a dozen senators.

“So what happens if more than half of the senators are charged and indicted as a result of the investigation? The Senate will not have a quorum and not be able to function according to its constitutional mandate,” Binay said in fluent Tagalog.

In order to avert this potential constitutional crisis, Binay proposed that all 24 senators – implicated in the scam or not – execute a power of attorney designating either their spouse, partner , sibling or child as their proxy. “This way, Binay said, the Senate can continue to function and take care of the many problems facing our country.”

From all indications, Binay is not among the senators implicated in the pork barrel scam.

Constitutuonal crisis averted!

Business, Human Interest, International, Politics, Technology, The Media, Travel

OBAMA FACES DIPLOMATIC STANDOFF IN JAPAN

April 24, 2014 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

Tokyo, Japan – Barack Obama faced the most embarrassing diplomatic standoff to date in his years as U.S. President. It happened during his visit to Japan, the first leg of his multi-nation tour of Asia.

Obama’s advisers sure did a good job in briefing him about Japanese culture and etiquette, so the president knew that a “bow” was the appropriate greeting when meeting with dignitaries and the Japanese people. So when he was introduced to Asimo, the robot at Miraikan, Japan’s major science center located in Daiba, Tokyo, he did what he was supposed to do: bow his head. To his surprise, Asimo didn’t return his bow, but instead offered its robotic arm looking for a handshake, the American way of greeting. Obama froze and didn’t know what to do. And neither did Asimo.

The rest is history. The meeting has now been dubbed as the worst diplomatic standoff ever encountered by a sitting U.S. president.

To diffuse the awkward situation, officials at Miraikan asked Asimo to demonstrate to the distinguished visitor its running and soccer skills, and Obama was quite impressed although he admitted he was a little “scared.”

Want an oxygen mask? That would be $50 extra!

Business, International, Law Enforcement, Politics, Travel

U.S. ANNOUNCES ‘NO VISA’ POLICY FOR FILIPINOS

April 22, 2014 Pol Pinoy 549 Comments

DISCLOSURE: Please refer to the statement of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., on this issue.

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Washington, D.C. – The State Department today announced a life-changing new policy for Filipinos. Visas will no longer be required to travel to the United States. The policy to take the Philippines off the list of countries whose citizens are required to obtain visas for travel to the U.S. is effective immediately.

The new policy comes on the heels of a recent survey showing that an overwhelming majority of Filipinos have a favorable view of the United States. The Philippines ranked first in a global survey on the image of the United States worldwide, beating even the U.S. itself when it comes to a favorable view on the American people.

According to the 2013 Global Attitudes Project of the Pew Research Center in Washington DC, the Philippines got an 85 percent score, the highest, when people were asked “Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of the US?”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the State Department made this monumental decision as a way to reward the Filipinos for making the U.S. really look good in the survey.

With this new policy, the U.S. is now added to the list of 25 countries which do not require travel visas for Filipinos. These countries include most of the Philippines’ Southeast Asian neighbors as well as some countries in Latin America including Brazil, Costa Rica, Peru and Bolivia.

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The “no visa” policy comes just in time for the visit to the Philippines later this month by U.S. President Barack Obama.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Manila asked that Filipinos refrain from calling the consular office to avoid its phone system from crashing. Instead, people are being asked to download and complete the biographical form and submit it to the embassy, along with four 2×2 colored ‘selfie’ photos at least one week before they depart for the U.S. The biographical form will be filed by the embassy for reference just in case Filipinos overstay in the U.S. The no-visa policy for Filipinos is good for 60 days stay in all states except Alaska.