Posts tagged Pres. Aquino
Aquino to settle digital TV issue by early 2012
0President Benigno Aquino III made an assurance that the Philippines will soon complete its technical evaluation of its digital television format in the first quarter of 2012.
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Aquino declares P9-billion budget surplus
0President Benigno S. Aquino III announced on Wednesday that the Philippines had a budget surplus of P9-billion for the month of August.
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Nokia Siemen’s Network picks Philippines
0President Benigno S. Aquino III inaugurated Nokia Siemens Network’s (NSN) research and development facility located at the University of the Philippines-Ayala Technohub in Quezon City on Monday, July 11.
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The 2010 Ramon Magsaysay Award
0Seven Asians were honoured for their selfless and devoted agenda in furthering the welfare of their fellowmen through the 2010 Ramon Magsaysay Award.
President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III lead the presentation of awards. He also had his congratulatory speech at the end of the program.
The recipients of the highly-coveted award are Tadatoshi Akiba of Japan, Huo Daishan of China, Pan Yue and Fu Qiping both from China, A.H.M. Noman Khan from Bangladesh, and Christopher and Ma. Victoria Bernido represents our country.
The award which remembers the late president of the Philippines, Ramon Magsaysay, is the counterpart of the prestigious Nobel Prize. This annual event was organized by the Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation lead by its Board of Trustees.
The awardees are chosen for their unrelenting advocacy of uplifting their nation as well as the whole Asia.
Akiba is a three-term mayor of Japan who pursye the stopping of nuclear proliferation. Daishan is a journalist who take care of the Huai River which benefits million of residents of China. While Khan’s advocacy is for the people with disability, Pan Yue and Fu Qiping strengthen environmental protection. Meanwhile, the Bernido couple fosters quality education through science and technology.
All of them except for Pan Yue and Fu Qiping accepted the award at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Reports said they have their personal reasons for not attending the ceremony.
PNoy’s Statement on the Manila Hostage Drama
0Here is the official statement of Pres. Aquino on the hostage taking incident in Manila on Monday:
With the rest of the Filipino people, I wish to offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims whose lives were lost in the hostage situation at the Quirino Grandstand. The Secretary of Foreign Affairs has conveyed our deep feelings of sorrow to the Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China and the people of Hong Kong through Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang. I have tasked Secretaries Soliman and Lim to provide everything necessary for the recovery and return home of the survivors. I have directed the fullest cooperation with the Hong Kong authorities on the part of our officials.
From the onset of this incident, the hostage-taker seemed to not be belligerent, as shown by the release of hostages. These were encouraging signs.
We were going to wait him out. The idea was to let the ground commanders who are the experts in this field handle the operation with minimal interference from people who are less expert.
But the situation deteriorated rapidly when, during the course of the negotiations, he was given the letter of the Ombudsman in which she promised to personally review his case. As he was reading the contents of the letter, while talking to an unknown individual on the phone, he became increasingly agitated.
The presence of his brother also added to the tension.
At this point, he threatened to kill a hostage. The police decided to remove the brother from the scene. As the negotiators were departing, the negotiators were shot at.
Media coverage of his brother being taken into custody further agitated the hostage-taker.
Shots were fired. They seemed to be warning shots, as there was no audible indication of tumult or chaos to show that the hostages were in immediate danger.
Nonetheless, the negotiators tried to reestablish contact with the hostage-taker but they were unsuccessful as the cellphone of the hostage-taker was continuously busy. He also refused to answer the throw-phone provided for him by the authorities.
The escape of the driver, combined with his reports that the hostages were being harmed, forced the assault to happen. When the vehicle began to move, and with reports that he had hand grenades, a decision was made to immobilize the vehicle as it would have made the situation even more dangerous.
As we know, the incident tragically ended in the deaths of eight innocent civilians.
We expect more of the facts to come to light and I have ordered Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to thoroughly lead this review.