PHNO-STANDARD: VICE PRESIDENT BINAY BLASTS TRILLANES FOR DISRESPECT


STANDARD: VICE PRESIDENT BINAY BLASTS TRILLANES
FOR DISRESPECT

MANILA, SEPTEMBER 24, 2012
(MANILA STANDARD) By Joyce Pangco Panares - Veep blasts
Trillanes for disrespect, says nation can do without him
Vice President Jejomar Binay on Sunday said the country could do without the
likes of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who is running for re-election next year.

At the anniversary of the 365 Club at the Hotel Inter-Continental, Binay, who
heads the opposition United Nationalist Alliance, took Trillanes to task for
disrespecting Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Foreign Affairs Secretary
Albert del Rosario.
After his role as a back-channel negotiator with China was exposed, Trillanes
accused Enrile of being a lackey of former President and now Pampanga Rep.
Gloria Arroyo. He also called Del Rosario a traitor.
Binay's spokesman, Joey Salgado, said the vice president was amplifying the
sentiments of Enrile and ousted President Joseph Estrada, who are the other two
leaders of the UNA.
Enrile vowed to expose Trillanes' clandestine activities in behalf of China
in the run-up to the 2013 mid-term elections.
It was Enrile who helped Trillanes, who had led several failed coup attempts
against Arroyo, get out of jail and serve his first term as senator.
Estrada called Trillanes a boastful ingrate.
Binay said he felt sorry for Trillanes and urged him to reassess his actions.

He said he was saddened by Trillanes' statements against Del Rosario, who was
"correctly guiding" the country's foreign policy.
"Secretary del Rosario is a hardworking government official. We had trouble
in Syria and Libya and he was there. He is really a man of action," Binay said.

Binay said being disrespectful appeared to be part of Trillanes' personality
since he showed the same lack of courtesy when he interrogated the late Armed
Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes.
In a separate radio interview on Sunday, Trillanes urged Enrile to keep quiet
and challenged him again to file a case against him if he felt he had committed
a crime.
Trillanes also recalled Enrile's role during the martial law years, when he
served as Defense secretary for the strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
"Remember, this is the person who faked his ambush, and we are to believe him
like a Santo Papa [Pope]?" Trillanes told radio dzBB, referring to a staged
attack that Marcos used as a pretext to declare martial law in 1972.
He called Enrile a "manipulator" who maneuvered investigations to suit his
interests and his patrons.
Trillanes insisted that, as a back-channel negotiator, he did not need to
clear any of his actions with Del Rosario, even though the Palace had said he
had no blanket authority to make any deals.
"It is not my responsibility to talk to Del Rosario," Trillanes said.
"Why should I coordinate with him? I am not working under him. Maybe if I was
a functionary of the Executive branch, perhaps that can be."
President Benigno Aquino III earlier confirmed that China approached
Trillanes and asked him to serve as a backchannel negotiator between Manila and
Beijing to diffuse the tensions over the conflicting territorial claims in the
West Philippine Sea. Mr. Aquino, however, did not say who spoke to Trillanes
from China's end.
The Palace also remained silent over Trillanes' claim that it had paid for
his trips to China.
A Palace spokesman last week said the President had sent Trillanes a text
message asking him to stop issuing statements in the wake of his word war with
Enrile.
In his radio interview Sunday, however, Trillanes thanked the President for
defending him and acknowledging the job he did.
He also reiterated his accusation that Enrile was pressuring senators to pass
a bill that would split the province of Camarines Sur, a move that he said would
benefit Arroyo.
He said Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III and Senate President
Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada called him Monday last week and asked him to
withdraw his opposition to the bill so it could be passed in time for the filing
of the certificates of candidacies for the next election.
"So how can they say that there was no pressure to pass this bill?" he said.

He also refused to vacate his membership in several Senate committees, saying
his party, the Nacionalistas, would decide how many of the panels it was
entitled to head.
"They should bring it to vote in the plenary to remove me. Why would I give
up [the committee], I'm entitled to that," Trillanes said.
Trillanes had earlier admitted seeking to oust Enrile as Senate president, a
bid that none of his colleagues supported.
The Nacionalistas disowned the bid to oust Enrile, describing it as "the
effort of one senator." With Macon Ramos-Araneta


Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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PHNO-ABS-CBN: CHINA IS THE WINNER IN JPE-TRILLANES ROW


 



ABS-CBN: CHINA IS THE WINNER IN JPE-TRILLANES
ROW

MANILA, SEPTEMBER 24, 2012
(ABS-CBN) By Ryan Chua, ABS-CBN News - China enjoying
Enrile-Trillanes rift, Miriam says MANILA (UPDATED) - In the row between Senate
President Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV over the latter's
backdoor negotiations with Beijing, no one wins but China, their fellow senator
said.
"They're enjoying the show," Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago (photo)
told reporters on Monday, referring to Chinese officials. "Now they're plotting
how to maximize it."
Santiago, who used to chair the Senate's foreign relations committee,
believes Enrile and Trillanes both committed blunders in their rift with each
other over negotiations with China on disputed territories.
She said the circumstances behind Trillanes' trips to China as back channel
negotiator are questionable.
"Apparently, he first went to China, and there he made his contacts. Then he
came back to the Philippines and thereafter he now served out his role as a back
channel negotiator. If there is any question at all, it will be, 'What was he
doing in China the very first time he made his contacts?'" Santiago said.
Enrile, on the other hand, should not have read in public Philippine
Ambassador to China Sonia Brady's notes of her meeting with Trillanes, she
added.
Santiago pointed out the basic principle in international negotiations that a
country must never reveal to another country with which it has differences what
it is doing and its real sentiments and goals.
"These private notes of an ambassador are always, always highly confidential.
They are written only for the eyes of the secretary of foreign affairs, who at
his reasoned discretion can report them to the President or not. In any event,
the public are not supposed to know about these notes," she said.
Santiago said the best way for officials to control the damage is to stop
talking.
She also thinks Trillanes must cease being the country's backdoor negotiator
with China now that his activities have been revealed.
"His effectiveness depended on great part upon the secrecy of the
negotiations. If that is the case, since his cover has already been blown, he's
no longer as effective as he was before," Santiago said.

Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All
rights reserved

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HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE



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PHNO-STANDARD: CHINA HANDPICKED TRILLANES, SAYS PNoy


STANDARD: CHINA HANDPICKED TRILLANES, SAYS
PNoy

MANILA, SEPTEMBER 24, 2012
(MANILA STANDARD) By Joyce Pangco Panares - Senator
remains backdoor negotiator amid ruckus on his role.
It's now out in the open: it was China which handpicked Senator Antonio
Trillanes IV and asked him to serve as backchannel negotiator between Manila and
Beijing over conflicting territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea.
Trillanes, who was then in China, in turn called up President Benigno Aquino
III and offered his services as backchannel negotiator.
This was confirmed by Mr. Aquino himself on Friday amid accusations from
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile that Trillanes was working for China.
Mr. Aquino's statement appeared to be a turnaround of the Palace's earlier
stance, when it tried to distance itself from the senator, with presidential
spokesman Edwin Lacierda saying that Trillanes neither had blanket authority nor
plenipotentiary powers even if the senator's offer was taken up by the Palace.

Trillanes had claimed that it was Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa who asked
him to serve as the president's backchannel negotiator, which the Palace denied.

"Senator Trillanes called me up and he was in China at that time. He was
approached (and) he was asked on the possibility of him serving as backchannel
negotiator," the President said.
"So in the absence of any other channels that were existing beforehand, and
since we wanted to resolve the situation in Scarborough Shoal (Panatag Shoal), I
thought we will not lose anything if we listen to what was relayed to us. So
that was how it started," he added.
The President, however, did not say who had approached Trillanes when the
senator was in China.
But Mr. Aquino credited Trillanes and "other efforts" for bringing down the
number of Chinese vessels inside the Scarborough Shoal.
He said that before Trillanes acted as negotiator, the number of the ships
reached 30, but significantly gone down after Trillanes started talking with his
contacts.
The President said Trillanes will remain as a backchannel negotiator. He
added that he planned to talk to Trillanes about the now controversial issue.

"Well, as of now yes he is (still a backchannel negotiator) but I will have
to talk to him soon. I'm just loaded with so many things these past six weeks
now since (the flooding caused by) Habagat. I have to talk to him," Mr. Aquino
said.
Amid all these issues, Mr. Aquino also said his administration would try a
new approach towards moving forward relations with China through a
"party-to-party dialog."
He had earlier assigned Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II as special envoy
when he attends the 9th China-Asean Expo in Nanning, China. While in Nanning,
Roxas is slated to meet with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to relay the
country's concerns on the ongoing dispute in the West Philippine Sea.
Xi is being groomed to succeed Hu Jintao as president of China.
Mr. Aquino explained that China appeared to favor Roxas to be the country's
special envoy to the 9th China-Asean Expo because he was also the head of the
Liberal Party.
"China is a one-party state. And Mar Roxas is president of the party that I
belong to," the President said.
Mr. Aquino expressed optimism that the party-to-party dialog will be able to
iron out differences between the two countries over conflicting territorial
claims in the West Philippine Sea.
Roxas left for Nanning Thursday evening, accompanied by Lacierda.
"My instructions to Secretary Roxas were very simple: ensure that our
position will be relayed to the highest levels of the leadership of the Peoples'
Republic of China so that everything is clear and nothing is lost in
translation," Mr. Aquino said.
"We want to make it clear where we are coming from, our concerns and
expectations. If China responds, well and good. If not, at least we are able to
explain our side," the President added.
In a separate interview, Roxas said the discussions with Xi will not cover
the back-channel efforts of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
Mr. Aquino was supposed to meet Hu during the 20th Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation in Vladivostok two weeks ago but the bilateral dialog did not push
through.
Mr. Aquino said he would have wanted to have a "frank exchange of thoughts"
with his Chinese counterpart.
The President said he and Hu could "divorce diplomatic niceties" so that both
sides can really understand each other's position on the territorial disputes in
the West Philippine Sea.
Roxas' trip to Nanning comes at a time when Beijing appears to be taking a
"conciliatory approach' with its Southeast Asian neighbors, in sharp contrast to
angry rhetoric targeting Japan over disputed islands.
According to an AP report, Xi had emphasized economic ties and civic
exchanges in remarks Friday to delegates from the ASEAN during the Expo. He also
avoided mentioning South China Sea territorial disputes with the Philippines,
Vietnam and others that have recently flared again.
That's in sharp contrast with recent violent protests in China and angry
statements directed at Japan over islands in the East China Sea that both
countries claim.
Meanwhile, a source said it was not clear who paid for Trillanes' trip to
China when he called up Mr. Aquino, since it happened before he was tapped as
backchannel negotiator.
Trillanes claimed the Palace paid for his 16 trips to China when he assumed
the role of informal negotiator.
Referring to the notes from Philippine Ambassador to China Sonia Brady,
Enrile accused Trillanes of "protecting the Chinese" and wanted the Department
of Foreign Affairs to "quiet down" on the Panatag Shoal issue.
Trillanes also reportedly said "no one cares about Panatag Shoal in the
Philippines" and that Beijing wanted Manila to tone down its rhetoric on Chinese
incursions in the disputed area.
Meanwhile, Albay Rep. Al Francis Bicharra, chairman of the House Committee on
Foreign Affairs, said that regardless of whether Malacanang or the People's
Republic of China had initiated backdoor channeling to resolve the territorial
dispute with the two countries, Trillanes had no business at all to meddle and
muddle the proper diplomatic process that should be followed by the Philippine
government.
"The way things stand right now, Trillanes' intrusion in the diplomatic
process was uncalled for and caused a major diplomatic ruckus that could have
been avoided in the first place," Bichara told the Manila Standard.
Bichara added the Department of Foreign Affairs and its experienced diplomats
could have done better as they would be able to present a unified position of
the Philippine government on the territorial dispute with China.
Vice President Jejomar Binay also defended del Rosario from earlier claims by
Trillanes that the country's top diplomat had committed "treason" and was not
doing his job.
"The official (foreign) policy comes from Secretary del Rosario. Then you
have someone calling him a traitor. That's rather unfortunate," Binay said.
"He is correctly guiding our foreign policy. And he speaks for the President
in matters of foreign policy. It saddens me that this has happened," he added.

But House Assistant Deputy Majority Leader and Rep. Sherwin Tugna of the
Citizens Battle against Corruption said that it was the sole prerogative of
President Benigno Aquino III to choose the delegation of envoy to negotiate on
behalf of the country.
"He can appoint anyone on top of the DFA," said Tugna, a lawyer and member of
the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Meanwhile, Tugna believed that the treason case filed against President
Aquino and Trillanes (see related story) would not prosper.
"It lacks the element of giving aid to the enemy country and it must be in
times of war," Tugna said.
"Trillanes did not give aid to China. His statements, admitting that it is
true, are strategies of our country and did not give any aid to China," Tugna
said. With Maricel V. Cruz


Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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PHNO: VIDEO CLIPS LIVE AT THE SENATE: THE ENRILE-TRILLANES WORD WAR


VIDEO CLIPS LIVE AT THE SENATE: THE
ENRILE-TRILLANES WORD WAR

MANILA, SEPTEMBER 24, 2012
(iSTORYA NET) VIDEO REPORTS
LIVE FROM THE SENATE
mora na man hinuon ni ug expert bahin ug Foreign Affairs issues ni si
Trillanes
Sen. Trillanes withdraws from majority, says he has lost confidence in Sen.
Pres. Enrile

Sen. Pres. Enrile, nagbibigay ng talumpati kasunod ng pagbibitiw
sa mayorya ni Sen. Trillanes
Sen. Enrile replies to Trillanes

YAHOO! NEWS

[PHOTO -Word war: Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile vs.
Senator Antonio Trillanes (Joseph Vidal/PRIB/NPPA
Images)
Enrile on Trillanes: 'My God, this guy is a fraud!'
By Rio Rose Ribaya | Yahoo! Southeast Asia Newsroom – Wed, Sep 19,
2012.. . .

A fraud and a coward.
This was how Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile described Senator Antonio
Trillanes IV in a word war that broke the silence during a caucus meeting in
Senate Wednesday.
Enrile was supposed to preside over a meeting to discuss a bill dividing
Camarines Sur when he suddenly took a swipe at Trillanes, divulging the "real
story" behind his mission as special envoy to China concerning Panatag
(Scarborough) shoal.
He charged Trillanes of selling the country's sovereignty to China when he
was tasked to conduct a "backdoor negotiation" to ease tension between Manila
and Beijing over territorial dispute last May.
The Senate president accused Trillanes of telling "falsehoods" to Chinese
officials that were allegedly "detrimental to the country" and Foreign Affairs
Secretary Alberto del Rosario.
"'In the Philippines, no one cares about Panatag Shoal,' he told (them). Is
that patriotic? My God, what kind of a senator is this?" Enrile said.
"He told the Chinese that we cannot enforce our own coastal protection. That
our fishermen are living on subsistence living. That they cannot go too far so
they can give the (disputed) part of the waters to us," he added.
Citing notes from Philippine Ambassador to China Sonia Brady, Enrile said
that Trillanes told officials in Beijing that Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto
del Rosario no longer enjoys confidence of the Filipino people.
"My God, this guy is a fraud!" Enrile said, describing his expose as an
attempt to "unmask the Phantom of the Opera" in Philippine Politics.
Enrile issued the statement after Trillanes bolted out of the majority bloc
in the Senate, joining the minority in expression of his lost of confidence in
the senate president's leadership.
Earlier, Trillanes criticized Enrile for his "shabby policy" in a speech he
delivered during a caucus discussing the bill seeking to divide Camarines Sur
into two provinces before walking out on Wednesday afternoon.
The neophyte senator called Enrile "a bully" after claiming he was shoved
aside for the nth time when Enrile called for a caucus to discuss the bill
dividing Camarines Sur in July.
"I got out of that caucus feeling trampled upon by a bully determined to get
his way. My neophyte instincts were telling me then to just keep the peace and
get out of his way," Trillanes said.
"But then, the public servant in me just couldn't let this thing pass," he
added, reiterating the division of Camarines Sur will not be beneficial to the
state.
He then accused Enrile of accommodating former President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo's three allies, including former Camarines Sur Rep. Luis
Villafuerte, who will benefit from the bill.
He also charged Enrile of gerrymandering in pushing for division of Camarines
Sur, which would benefit Arroyo's son and incumbent Camarines Sur Rep. Dato
Arroyo.
Citing a published article, Trillanes revealed that another senator confirmed
that Enrile was receiving personal calls from Mrs. Arroyo in a bid to hasten the
passage of the measure in the Senate.
"There remain only two possibilities: that our Senate President is deeply
indebted to GMA; or that he is a GMA lackey," Trillanes said.
"Either way, I have lost trust, faith and confidence in Senator Enrile's
capability to lead the senate along the path consistent with the reform agenda
that I espouse," he added.
Senator Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada defended Enrile, saying his "second father"
has always been "balanced" and never "a bully" or a lackey of Arroyo.
Estrada and Senate Majority Leader Senator Tito Sotto manifested Trillanes'
walkout and baseless accusation as cowardly.

[PHOTO -Trillanes walks out on Enrile. (Photo by Joseph Vidal, PRIB, NPPA Images)]


Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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PHNO-TL: FEATURE BOOK - HOUR BEFORE DAWN: THE FALL & UNCERTAIN RISE OF THE PHL SUPREME COURT


HOUR BEFORE DAWN: THE FALL & UNCERTAIN RISE
OF THE PHL SUPREME COURT

MANILA, SEPTEMBER 24, 2012 (RAPPLER.COM) Below
are excerpts from the author's new book, Hour Before Dawn: The
Fall and Uncertain Rise of the Philippine Supreme Court.

[A MIXED BAG. When President Aquino made his first appointment to
the Court, he cared about issues and where the candidate stood on these. But
this slipped away as political realities and personal conveniences took over.
This is the front cover of Marites Dañguilan Vitug's newest book.]

[PHOTO - Marites Dañguilan Vitug]
MANILA, Philippines - In July 2010, when the Judicial and Bar Council
conducted its routine public interviews for Supreme Court applicants, something
in the air was different. It was not in the setting, a small session hall on the
ground floor of the Supreme Court building with its dull gray carpet and deep
maroon drapes.
Neither was it in the quality of questions asked by the JBC members, which,
for those who regularly watched the interviews, brought no surprises.
The intangible change, a feeling actually, was that, for the first time in
many years, each of the candidates vying for the highest court of the land had a
fighting chance. With the old President gone, the sense was that the playing
field had opened up and evened out.
President Benigno "Noynoy" S. Aquino III was brand new in office, not even a
month old, and he was due to make his first appointment to the Court. He had won
by an overwhelming vote, garnering the widest swath of votes in post-Marcos
history.
Maria Lourdes Sereno, a former law professor who then headed the Asian
Institute of Management policy think tank, was among the 28 candidates, most of
whom were from the mid-level courts.
Only 8 of them were outsiders, either from the academe or private practice.
It was her first time to compete for the post although she had considered
applying during the latter years of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
The political environment, however, was forbidding; those who usually made it
to the Court had tight links to the Palace or were endorsed by power brokers.

When her turn for the interview came and she was asked, like all others, to
introduce herself, she talked mainly about her pioneering work in law and
economics ("economic development as it relates to Constitutional law"), her
early work in the 1990s on judicial reform, and her experience in the litigation
of domestic and international cases, especially on trade and investment law
disputes.
The Q and A was in full swing—Sereno had answered questions on the kind of
reforms the judiciary needs, including improving dispensation of justice with
technology, the intersection of the judiciary and politics, and why she wanted
to give up good private-sector pay for the Court's uncompetitive rates ("A
person can only live in one house")—when the newly appointed Chief Justice,
Renato Corona (photo at right), walked in.
Hardly had he warmed his seat when he threw his first question.

[PHOTO -Lawyer Maria Lourdes Sereno]
Was it true, he asked, that one of your students in UP (University of the
Philippines College of Law), petitioned that you be taken out of the faculty
because you were not attending classes? Calmly, Sereno said this wasn't true.
Rather, the student wanted a change of grades which she didn't grant. The
complaint was eventually dismissed.
Corona went on to ask her ideas on how to rid the judiciary of "hoodlums in
robes." Quickly and in a forthright manner, Sereno answered: "Entrapment is one
method. But first, there should be a clear signal from the leadership for
reform."
The Chief Justice visibly took offense and countered that the Court's
leadership had already spoken about reforms. Sereno diplomatically replied,
"Your recent pronouncements are right."
And she explained what was on her mind: that funds would be needed for the
investigation of corrupt judges and justices; entrapment could be outsourced;
sophisticated bribe attempts should be cracked; a confidential map of "players"
should be documented; and all these activities should be under the supervision
of the Chief Justice.
"Is the Office of the Court Administrator not doing enough?" Corona followed
up.
"There should be no let up in disciplining judges," Sereno continued, like a
professor talking to her peers. "The perceived lack of deterrence, the
probability of being caught is low."
Sereno was respectful but she didn't have that submissive demeanor palpable
among judges honed in the hierarchical culture of their institution.
She was not in awe of title and position and was rather unafraid in speaking
out her ideas.
This may have caused unease for some on the JBC. Regino
Hermosisima (photo), for one, the longest-serving member of the JBC and a
former Supreme Court Justice, showed an open dislike for her, asking if she had
considered joining the Court of Appeals instead.
At odds with Corona
But there was a deeper undertone in Corona's and Hermosisima's apparent
hostility toward Sereno.
During the highly charged debate on the midnight appointment of Corona,
Sereno, representing the AIM Policy Center, issued a forceful statement opposing
it.
She wrote: "Whoever accepts the nomination from President Arroyo as next
Chief Justice will in all likelihood be perceived as benefiting from a clearly
illegal act by the most distrusted President in the Philippines; someone willing
to risk throwing the country into chaos for his or her personal advantage."
Hermosisima, who was appointed thrice to the JBC by Arroyo, supported Corona's
appointment.

BACK COVER
Sereno did not know President Aquino although they were contemporaries at the
Ateneo where she took up her undergraduate economics course. Aquino was a year
below her but they were never introduced to each other on campus.
Decades later, however, their paths would cross. By then, Aquino was a
senator after serving 3 terms in Congress, and Sereno was a lawyer known for her
work in international trade law. She was actively involved in resolving trade
disputes in the World Trade Organization and other international arbitration
bodies.

[PHOTO - FORMER SENATOR NOYNOY AQUINO]
The Senate foreign affairs committee had invited her and retired Supreme
Court Justice Florentino Feliciano to brief the senators on a proposed economic
agreement with Japan known as the JPEPA or the Japan-Philippines Economic
Partnership Agreement. It was up for ratification by the Senate then.

Sereno had cautioned the Philippine government about rushing into this
agreement because it had "far-reaching" implications. The Philippines, for one,
"essentially abdicated its legislative power to enact preferential or protective
measures over Japanese investments." It so happened that she and Senator Aquino
were on the same side.
In his vote against the agreement, Aquino criticized it as being lopsided in
favor of Japan: "Its disadvantages far outweigh the treaty's projected hoped-for
benefits. In fact, we gave away practically everything and instead settled for
maintaining the status quo as our sole benefit." But he lost as a majority in
the Senate ratified it.
Their next encounter would be serendipitous. Aquino was already president and
Sereno had just been shortlisted for the Supreme Court.
By sheer coincidence, they attended the same event, the 60th
anniversary of the TV network GMA-7 which the President was to address, and
there, they were reintroduced to each other. Aquino remarked to Sereno that he
remembered her from the JPEPA briefing.
One other thing kept Sereno on the President's radar screen. In July 2010,
the Philippine government won its long-running arbitration case over the Ninoy
Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, saving the country billions of pesos.
The Singapore-based International Chamber of Commerce dismissed all claims made
by the Philippine International Air Terminal Co. Inc., which constructed the new
airport. Malacañang was delighted about this victory.
Sereno played a role in this as she was co-counsel, together with retired
Supreme Court Justice Florentino Feliciano, of the Philippine government. They
worked with a US-based law firm, White and Case, on this contentious and complex
dispute, which spanned about seven years.
Aquino, who his aides say is a very consensual person, asked his legal staff
as well as advisers about each of the shortlisted candidates to the Court. He
had no close ties to any of them. The JBC sent his office 6 names: Court of
Appeals Justices Japar Dimaampao, Noel Tijam, and Abdulwahid Hakim, UP law
professor Raul Pangalangan, Commission on Elections Commissioner Rene Sarmiento,
and Sereno.
Out of the 7 JBC members (one position was vacant), 4 voted for Sereno:
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Rep. Niel Tupas, who was her student at UP, J.
Conrado Castro (representing the Integrated Bar of the Philippines), and Justice
Aurora Lagman (private sector).
Factions' choices
The run-up to decision day was filled with buzz about who was lobbying for
whom and who was edging out whom in a list that would be pruned and sent to the
President by the Executive Secretary. The Palace was split into two factions so
information on who had the inside track depended on what side of the divide one
spoke to.
Liberal Party elders pushed for their choice while Speaker Feliciano Belmonte
reportedly endorsed a candidate as well. Nothing seemed certain. Even Sereno
received a call from a friend early morning of the day that her appointment was
announced, informing her that she was not on the all-male shorter list submitted
to the President by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. This information came
from a Palace insider.
However, when Aquino saw the list, he supposedly asked, "Where's the woman?"
It was only then that Sereno's name was added.
In conversations with a close adviser, the President would say that he and
Sereno had taken similar positions on key issues. This struck him.
First was JPEPA, and the second was the controversial memorandum of agreement
on ancestral domain or MOA-AD, which was meant to arrive at a political
settlement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
During the presidential campaign, Aquino told reporters that President Arroyo
should not rush into an agreement that could be rejected by the public.

[PHOTO -Moro Islamic Liberation Front]
He chided the Arroyo government for not conducting massive public
consultations on the issue. He later agreed with the Supreme Court's decision to
strike down the MOA-AD for being unconstitutional.
It was Sereno who argued on the Court, in a five-hour session, on the
unconstitutionality of the MOA-AD. She represented various petitioners and
intervenors led by Sen Franklin Drilon. "She (Sereno) became lead counsel
because of her ability to marshal the arguments," Drilon recalls.
This fact stayed with Aquino and he held on to it until he made a decision
and sent the appointment papers of Sereno to the Court on August 13, 2010, a
Friday.
The next day, Sereno, while attending a family reunion in Davao, got a call
from Aquino's aide asking her to meet with the President in Malacañang.
She was prepared to take the next flight out but, instead, Aquino called her
and did a fast-paced interview that lasted about 30 minutes. And then he broke
the news about her appointment.
What Aquino stressed was that the job was going to be lonely. He asked, "Are
you prepared to fight alone for a long time?" Sereno was 50, one of the youngest
to be appointed to the Court. "You have 20 years to serve," Aquino reminded her.
(The retirement age for Supreme Court Justices is 70.)
Sereno would make an early mark on the Court through her dissents that gave
the public a glimpse of the Justices' deliberations in crucial cases. Her
detailed narration of events, complete with timelines, clarified confusing
decisions issued by the Court. For her, confidentiality was secondary when the
truth was violated.
She spoke her mind and mildly shook an institution nestled in secrecy and
steeped in hierarchy. Far from being Ms. Congeniality, she was disliked by some
of her colleagues, offended that an upstart, a junior on the Court, didn't
display team spirit.
It reached a point when the Chief Justice stopped the promulgation of one of
her dissents until after it was taken up in two en banc meetings and only until
after some of the Justices wrote their counter-dissents to respond to her.
Sereno angered her colleagues when she discussed the exchanges
between the Justices in the decision to issue a highly controversial temporary
restraining order against the justice department that allowed Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo (photo at right) to leave the country.
At the time, a number of complaints for plunder had been filed with the
Ombudsman against the former President, apart from an electoral sabotage case
with the Department of Justice.
Sereno found out that it was Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr who instructed the
clerk of court to hold off her dissent, with the blessings of Chief Justice
Corona.
He took issue with Sereno's "disclosures" and said they violated the Court's
internal rule on the confidentiality of deliberations. More importantly, Velasco
wrote in his counter-dissent, Sereno was "encroaching into the functions of the
Chief Justice" whose duty it was to record actions taken on cases.
These notes are the bases of the minutes of the sessions, not anybody else's.
What Sereno did was to "sow doubt and suspicion on the veracity of the
resolutions of the en banc" and "compromised" the stability of judicial
decisions.
During an en banc meeting, a Justice pointedly asked her why she had been
writing her dissenting opinions that way, "broadcasting to the whole world the
Court's internal discussions." Didn't she know that it created a "chilling
effect" on the freedom of his opinions?
"I said I was not introducing anything new, and that since 1958 to as late as
2009, this Court has had Decisions and Opinions disclosing the process and the
content of its internal discussions," Sereno recounted in her opinion on the
Arroyo TRO case.
"Those disclosures were so detailed as to state who opined what, and who
changed their vote at the last minute from one position to another. In all those
instances, the Court never took action against the disclosure itself by
withholding promulgation, or against its author by disciplining the same."
It was the breaching of the confidentiality rule that upset some of the
Justices. But for Sereno, "When the accuracy and the content of the
deliberations of the Court's confidential session are being disputed, it is the
constitutional duty of the Members of the Court, especially the minority, to
speak up and put on record what actually took place."
She was particularly incensed that the Court spokesperson Midas
Marquez (photo at left) continued to misinform the public, with the
imprimatur of the Chief Justice, on the TRO.
It was a clash of cultures. "Meilou (her nickname) was never subjected to a
bureaucratic culture, that if you're a junior, then you defer to the seniors,"
Roan Libarios, Sereno's close friend and former classmate at the UP College of
Law, explains. "She doesn't have that baggage. She's used to an environment of
academic freedom and has a strong streak of independence."
What is little known is that Sereno is a devout Christian, belonging to the
Higher Rock Christian Church, a Bible-based group. Her unwavering faith is also
a source of her strong positions, sometimes described as "extreme" by some of
the Justices.
Chief Justice Renato Corona would later publicly acknowledge his great
discomfort with Sereno in a motion filed with the Court to inhibit her and
Justice Antonio Carpio from his petition to nullify the impeachment complaint.
Her arrival in the Court, he said, has "signaled a new period of difficulty and
embarrassment" for him and she has "openly defied and challenged" his authority.

Personal relations
Aquino's next two choices were lackluster. Both came from the same
judicial cloth: Court of Appeals Justices Bienvenido Reyes (photo) and
Estela Perlas-Bernabe (photo below).
In the case of Reyes, the deciding factor was personal relations: Aquino and
he had worked closely together in the late 1980s in a security agency, when his
mother, Corazon Aquino, was president. Antolin Oreta, Aquino's uncle, and Reyes
put up Best Security Agency; Oreta tapped Reyes as finance manager while Aquino
became vice-president and treasurer. The company's acronym BSA also stood for
Noynoy's initials. (Severino is his middle name.) This minted name attracted
clients to the company.
The Nacionalista Party dug this up and turned it into a campaign issue in
2010, saying Aquino had used his mother's influence to bag a contract with a
government corporation, the Philippine National Construction Corp. This
conflict-of-interest issue didn't gain much traction, however.
Reyes, who was with the Court of Appeals then, jumped to the rescue. He
provided the campaign staff with the documents on BSA, showing that Aquino had
divested his shares worth P50,000 in 1987. But he stayed on with the company
until 1993. In the CA, it was openly known that Reyes was an Aquino supporter.

Reyes, tall and thin, has gentle manners and a quiet personality. He is easy
to be with. Those who know him attest to his integrity. His record in the
judiciary, however, is blotted by a reprimand from the Supreme Court.
In a high-profile intra-corporate case between Meralco and the Government
Service Insurance System, Reyes promulgated a decision in favor of Meralco even
before the CA presiding justice could resolve which division was in charge.
(Reyes chaired one of the divisions.) Allegations of bribery and breach of
ethical conduct prompted the Supreme Court to investigate some CA justices,
including Reyes.
Early in his career in the judiciary, he had another brush with the Court. In
2001, when he was a Regional Trial Court judge, he received an admonition from
the Court for failing to immediately resolve a case. An admonition is merely a
warning while reprimand is a notch higher, the lightest of the penalties.
Reyes seemed to be affected by the Court's reprimand such that he didn't vie
to be a Supreme Court Justice. He revealed during his first public interview
with the JBC that, for sometime, he felt "unprepared" for the "privileged
position." During the first round of selection under President Aquino, "I
manifested my intention to join the race but withdrew after soul-searching. Now,
I feel more prepared because I took into consideration my number of years [20]
in the judiciary."
Like Sereno, Reyes was a first-time applicant. Both were fortunate to be
immediately appointed. The President did not interview Reyes, however, unlike
other candidates who were shortlisted.
Reyes would later disappoint President Aquino when, in a crucial case, he
voted with the majority in favor of issuing a TRO to the Philippine Savings Bank
so that it would not disclose Chief Justice Renato Corona's dollar accounts
during the impeachment trial. Reyes comes from a culture that doesn't encourage
dissent and an exchange of ideas and discussions on cases.
Most of the time, in the Court of Appeals, the judges strive for unanimity.
Reyes admitted as much during the Supreme Court's probe into the Meralco case.
As "practiced," Justices in the appellate court do not hold deliberations before
they sign the ponencia (decision). "The ponente just gives a copy of the
decision to the other members of the division. If they agree with the decision,
they just sign the ponencia," he explained. "The ponente is really the captain
ball."
Power of lobby
Estela Perlas-Bernabe, at 60, looks strikingly young. She has
logged 15 years in the judiciary, rising through the ranks, from metropolitan
trial court judge to Court of Appeals Justice. Before that, she was in private
practice and way before that, her first job was as clerk for a Supreme Court
Justice. On her third try, she finally made it, and she is one of only three
women Justices on the 15-member Court.
She comes with nearly impeccable credentials: salutatorian of her law class
at the Ateneo, a high affirmation rate with the Supreme Court (97 percent of
cases she resolved, which reached the Court, were affirmed), and zero backlog in
her cases. Her interview with the JBC, however, was forgettable. She gave broad
answers that lacked authority and her tone was, at times, tentative.
The story of her appointment to the Court shows the power of lobbying coupled
with the paucity of options. Given limited choices, President Aquino, his
advisers say, was torn between two or three contenders. (The shortlist was
composed mostly of Court of Appeals Justices.) At one point, he considered
returning the shortlist to the JBC, to include other names, but was advised
against it. President Arroyo did the same once and the JBC ignored her and
returned the list, as is.
"The dilemma is, with all our friends, allies, partymates, people we've
worked with, those who have stuck with us through thick and thin, you'd think
there will be somebody [among them] with the necessary expertise [for various
positions]. That isn't the case," Aquino said in an interview when asked what
dilemmas he experienced in making appointments to the Court. "Sometimes we rely
on the advice of the people who came from the field, who would know.
We talk to politicians, NGOs, we talk to everybody who can provide us some
information. I have no personal knowledge of their [candidates'] capabilities,
attitudes. So there's a bit of prayer involved that we've managed to unearth the
relevant facts but I would be lying if I said that I did not make mistakes [for
some positions]. But fortunately, we rectified this in the selection process."

One of the first to send word to Aquino that Bernabe should be highly
considered was the Jesuit priest Joaquin Bernas (photo), former dean of
the Ateneo College of Law. Bernabe was his student in constitutional law,
election law, administrative law, and public corporations. "Her performance in
the RTC shows that she satisfied the constitutional requirements of competence,
probity, integrity, and independence," Bernas recalls of his letter recommending
Bernabe.
By accident, she was the only Ateneo graduate on the shortlist. Bernas' word
meant a lot to the president who once referred to the constitutional lawyer as
his "idol" in a speech during the diamond anniversary of the Ateneo College of
Law in June 2011.
"Not once did you give wrong advice," Aquino said, addressing the prominent
law professor and one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution. "And not once did
you say, 'It depends.'" The president added, "I hope you accept a post in this
government."
Senator Franklin Drilon (photo), a close ally of Aquino,
weighed in and his endorsement mattered much. His ties to Bernabe are personal;
they live in the same Greenhills enclave. Moreover, Bernabe gave assurances that
she would support the President's anti-corruption and anti-poverty programs.

In the end, Aquino listened to the lobby. - Rappler.com

The book launch will be on September 21, 2012, 5 p.m.
at the atrium of Fully Booked on Bonifacio High Street, Global City, Taguig.

[PHNO NOTE: THE PHOTOS OF THE PERSONALITIES IN THIS
REPORT ARE NOT PART OF MS. VITUG'S BOOK. THEY ARE GOOGLE IMAGES USED ONLY TO
ENHANCE PAGE'S VISUAL EFFECT AND PERCHANCE ADD BREVITY TO
READERS]
EXTRA
VIDEO REPORT: UPDATE ON THE 27th EXPLORATORY TALKS LAST APRIL
24, 2012 IN KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA- THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

Published on Aug 29, 2012 by Bangsamoro Substate
After 22 months of negotiations between the Philippine government (GPH) and
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) under the administration of President
Noynoy Aquino, a major breakthrough finally took place during their 27th
exploratory talks last April 24, 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where both
parties signed the "10-decision points on principles as of April 2012".
The principles that the parties mutually agreed upon include recognition of
the Bangsamoro identity and legitimate grievances and claims of the Bangsamoro
people, creation of a new autonomous political entity in place of the ARMM which
shall have a ministerial form of government, the institution of transitional
mechanisms to implement agreement and the power-sharing and wealth-sharing
between the National Government and the new political entity.
For the civil society organizations, the principles clearly presented the
foundations and basic layout for a comprehensive peace agreement. Historians
viewed the signing as a "miracle". Peace groups lauded this as a "significant
breakthrough" that should pave the way for both parties to craft a peace
agreement. For the GPH peace panel, they hope to sign a peace agreement with the
MILF with "due and deliberate speed". For the MILF peace panel, they finally saw
"light at the end of the tunnel" for the first time after years of negotiations
with the government which started in 1997 - spanning four Presidential
administrations, and three major wars in 2000, 2003, and 2008.
Given the encouraging developments in the GPH-MILF Peace Talks where both
parties are working on a signing of a peace agreement within 2012, we deem it
imperative for peace advocates and civil society leaders to also conduct the
necessary ground work in order to prepare our constituents and communities and
for us to generate popular support for the final outcome of this long drawn
peace negotiations.
Considering the proximity of the signing of a peace agreement this year, we
believe that the local government should this time take the lead in ensuring the
success of the peace talks. The more dialogues and consultations that we conduct
among our constituencies, the bigger will be our chance to bring about just and
lasting peace in Mindanao.
Sign Petition for a Bangsamoro-Substate at www.change4peace.org





Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi

© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE
HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved




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Read more

PHNO-SI; iPHONE 5 FULL REVIEW: FINALLY THE iPHONE WE'VE ALWAYS WANTED - PART 1


 



iPHONE 5 FULL REVIEW: FINALLY THE iPHONE WE ALWAYS WANTED
- PART 1
[PHOTO - Scott Stein, CNET
Senior editor E-mail
Scott ]
CYBERSPACE,
SEPTEMBER 24, 2012 (CNET.COM) BY SCOT STEIN - The good: The iPhone 5 adds
everything we wanted in the iPhone 4S: 4G LTE, a longer, larger screen, free
turn-by-turn navigation, and a faster A6 processor. Plus, its top-to-bottom
redesign is sharp, slim, and feather-light.
The bad: Apple Maps feels unfinished and buggy; Sprint and Verizon
models can't use voice and data simultaneously. The smaller connector renders
current accessories unusable without an adapter. There's no NFC, and the screen
size pales in comparison to jumbo Android models.

[Apple demos its new Maps app at the iPhone 5 launch event
on September 12. (Credit: James Martin/CNET) After
users this week discovered glitches in Apple's update to its mobile operating
system -- the first to include the company's mapping technology instead of
Google's Maps app -- the conventional wisdom had it that Apple acted in a very
un-Apple-like manner by pushing live an obviously defective
product.]
The bottom line: The iPhone 5 completely rebuilds the iPhone on a
framework of new features and design, addressing its major previous
shortcomings. It's absolutely the best iPhone to date, and it easily secures its
place in the top tier of the smartphone universe.
The iPhone 5 is the iPhone we've wanted since 2010, adding long-overdue
upgrades like a larger screen and faster 4G LTE in a razor-sharp new design.
This is the iPhone, rebooted.
The new design is flat-out lovely, both to look at and to hold, and it's hard
to find a single part that hasn't been tweaked from the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 5
is at once completely rebuilt and completely familiar.
I've had the chance to use the iPhone 5 for nearly a week, and have been
using it for nearly anything I can think of. Is it as futuristic or as exciting
as the iPhone 4 or the original iPhone? No. Does this change the smartphone
game? No. Other smartphones beat it on features here and there: if you want a
larger screen, go with a Samsung Galaxy S3. If you want better battery life, go
with a Droid Razr Maxx.
But, if you want a great, all-around, beautifully engineered smartphone that
covers all bases, here it is. Just like the MacBook is to the world of laptops,
the new iPhone is one of the top three, if not the best-designed, smartphone
around. It's better in all the important ways.
Editors' note: we are continuing to update this review with additional
observations and test results. It will continue to evolve in the days ahead.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)
What's different? Look at our review of last year's iPhone 4S, where
we said, "Even without 4G and a giant screen, this phone's smart(ass) voice
assistant, Siri, the benefits of iOS 5, and its spectacular camera make it a top
choice for anyone ready to upgrade."

(Credit: CNET)
Well, guess what? Now it has 4G LTE and...well, maybe not a giant screen, but
a larger screen. That's not all, though: the already great camera's been subtly
improved, speakerphone and noise-canceling quality has been tweaked, and -- as
always -- iOS 6 brings a
host of other improvements, including baked-in turn-by-turn navigation, a
smarter Siri, and Passbook, a location-aware digital wallet app for storing
documents like gift cards, boarding passes, and tickets.
The question is: a full year later, is that enough? For me, it is. I don't
want much more in my smartphone. Sure, I'd love a new magical technology to sink
my teeth into, but not at the expense of being useful. Right now, I'm not sure
what that technology would even be.

(Credit: CNET)
Like every year in the iPhone's life cycle, a handful of important new
features take the spotlight. This time, 4G, screen size, and redesign step to
the top.
You've gotten the full rundown already, most likely, on the various ins and
outs of this phone, or if you haven't, I'll tell you about them below in greater
detail. Here's what I noticed right away, and what made the biggest impression
on me.

(Credit: CNET)
First off, you're going to be shocked at how light this phone is. It's the
lightest iPhone, even though it's longer and has a bigger screen. After a few
days with it, the iPhone 4S will feel as dense as lead.
Secondly, the screen size lengthening is subtle, but, like the Retina
Display, you're going to have a hard time going back once you've used it. The
extra space adds a lot to document viewing areas above the keyboard,
landscape-oriented video playback (larger size and less letterboxing), and
home-page organizing (an extra row of icons/folders). Who knows what game
developers will dream up, but odds are that extra space on the sides in
landscape mode will be handily used by virtual buttons and controls.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)
Third, this phone will make your home Wi-Fi look bad. Or at least, it did
that to mine. Owners of other 4G LTE phones won't be shocked, but iPhone owners
making the switch will start noticing that staying on LTE versus Wi-Fi might
actually produce faster results...of course, at the expense of expensive data
rates. I hopped off my work Wi-Fi and used AT&T LTE in midtown Manhattan to
make a FaceTime call to my wife because the former was slowing down. LTE, in my
tests, ran anywhere from 10 to 20Mbps, which is up to twice as fast as my
wireless router's connection at home.
Using your iPhone 5 as a personal hot spot for a laptop or other device
produces some of the same strong results as the third-gen iPad...and it's
smaller. Of course, make sure you check on your tethering charges and data usage
fees, but my MacBook Air did a fine job running off the LTE data connection at
midday.

(Credit: CNET)
The look: Thin, metal, light as heck You know its look, even if the look has
been subtly transformed over the years: circular Home button, pocketable
rectangle, familiarly sized screen. Can that design be toyed with, transformed a
little, changed?
From left: The Lumia 900, iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3. (Credit: CNET)
The newest iPhone has a wide metal body that stretches above previous
iPhones, but is also thinner; still, this isn't a massive phone like the Samsung
Galaxy Note or HTC One X. The iPhone 5 rises above the iPhone 4 and 4S, but
subtly.

From left: The Lumia 900, iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3. (Credit: CNET)

The newest iPhone has a wide metal body that stretches above previous
iPhones, but is also thinner; still, this isn't a massive phone like the Samsung
Galaxy Note or HTC One X. The iPhone 5 rises above the iPhone 4 and 4S, but
subtly.

Credit: CNET)
From the front and sides, it looks very similar to the iPhone 4 and 4S. The
same rounded metal volume buttons, sleep/wake button on top, and silence switch
remain. The headphone jack has moved to the bottom of the phone, just on like
the iPod Touch. Some will like it, some won't; it makes standing the iPhone
upright and using headphones a virtual impossibility. Actually, the entire
bottom is all new: the headphone jack, the larger, redesigned speakers, a
different type of perforated grille, and a much tinier Lightning connector port.

Credit: CNET)
The Gorilla Glass back of the last iPhone is gone, replaced with metal. The
two-tone look might seem new, but it's a bit of a reference to the
silver-and-black back of the original iPhone. The very top and bottom of the
rear is still glass. That anodized aluminum -- which Apple claims is the same as
that on its MacBook laptops -- feels exactly the same, and is even shaded the
same on the white model. So far, it's held up without scratches. I'd say it'll
do about as well as the aluminum finish on your 2008-and-later MacBook. On the
black iPhone, the aluminum matches in a slate gray tone. On my white review
model, it's MacBook-color silver. That aluminum covers most of the back and also
the sides, replacing the iPhone 4 and 4S steel band, and lending to its lighter
weight. The front glass sits slightly above the aluminum, which is cut to a
mirrored angled edge on the front and back, eliminating sharp corners.
(Credit: CNET)

(Credit: CNET)
Why the move away from a glass back? Is it about creating a better, more
durable finish, or is it about weight reduction? Apple's proud of its claims of
how light the iPhone 5 is, and the new aluminum back is part of that. So is the
move to a Nano-SIM card (making SIM swaps once again impossible and requiring a
visit to your carrier's store). So is the thinner screen and the smaller dock
connector. You get the picture.
Hold an iPhone 4S up to the new iPhone, and I could see the difference in
thickness. It's not huge, but it feels even slimmer considering its expanded
width and length. What I really noticed is how light it is. I still feel weirded
out by it. The iPhone 5's 3.95-ounce weight is the lightest an iPhone's ever
been. The iPhone 4S is nearly a full ounce heavier at 4.9 ounces. The iPhone 3G
was 4.7 ounces. The original iPhone and iPhone 4 were 4.8 ounces. This is a
phase-change in the nearly constant weight of the iPhone -- it's iPhone Air.

Yet, the iPhone 5 doesn't look dramatically different like the iPhone 4 once
did. Actually, it seems more like a fusion of the iPhone with the iPad and
MacBook design.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)
And, of course, there's the new, larger screen. You may not notice it from a
distance -- the screen's still not as edge-to-edge on the top and bottom as many
Android phones, but extra empty space has been shaved away to accommodate the
display. There's a little less room around the Home Button and below the
earpiece. The iPhone 5 screen is just as tall as the screen on the Samsung
Galaxy S 2, but it's not as wide. That thinner body design gives the iPhone the
same hand feel, and what I think is an easier grip. The extra length covers a
bit more of your face on phone calls.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)
Over the last week with the iPhone 5, I started to forget that the phone was
any larger. That seems to be the point. And, the iPhone fit just fine in my
pants, too: the extra length has been traded out for less girth, so there's
little bulge. And, with that awkward statement having been uttered, I'll move
on.
That 4-inch screen: Going longer The iPhone 5 finally extends the 3.5-inch
screen that's been the same size on the iPhone for five years, but it does so by
going longer, not wider. A move from the iPhone 4 and 4S' 3.5-inch,
960x640-pixel display to a 4-inch, 1,136x640-pixel display effectively means the
same Retina Display (326 pixels per inch), but with extra pixel real estate
versus a magnified screen. All the icons and app buttons are the same size, but
there's more room for other features, or more space for videos and photos to be
displayed.
The iPhone's interface is the same as always: you have app icons greeting you
in a grid, and a dock of up to four apps at the bottom. Instead of a grid of
four rows of four apps, the longer screen accommodates five rows of four apps.
More apps can fit on the home screen, but that's about it as far as user
interface innovation. Extra screen height means pop-up notification banners are
less intrusive at the top or bottom.

(Credit: CNET)
It's odd at first going longer versus also adding width, and it means a shift
away from the iPad's more paperlike 4:3 display ratio. Pages of e-books could
feel more stretched. In portrait mode, document text may not seem larger, but
you'll see more of it in a list.

Credit: CNET)
In landscape mode, text actually seems bigger because page width stretches
out (so, you can fit more words on a line). The virtual keyboard in landscape
mode also ends up a bit more spread out, too, with a little extra space on the
sides, which took some getting used to.

(Credit: CNET)
I preferred portrait typing because the keyboard size and width remains the
same, while the extra length allows more visible text above the virtual keys.

The screen difference isn't always dramatic, especially compared with some
ultra-expansive Android devices: the Samsung Galaxy S3 beats it both on overall
screen size (4.8 inches) and pixel resolution (1,280x720). In the iOS 6 Mail
app, with one line of preview text, I fit six and a half messages on the screen
at the same time on the iPhone 5 versus five and a third on the iPhone 4 and 4S.
Other apps toy with the layout more; I fit eight tasks on one screen in the new
iOS 6 version of Reminders, versus five on the iPhone 4S with iOS 5.1.1.

Infinity Blade II, before iPhone 5 optimization. Note the black bars.
(Credit: CNET)
Of course, you'll need new apps to take advantage of the longer screen, and
at the time I tested the iPhone 5, those weren't available because iOS 6 hadn't
formally launched. Older apps run in a letterboxed type of mode at the same size
as existing phones, with little black bars on the top and bottom. Apps work
perfectly fine this way, especially in portrait mode, but you definitely notice
the difference. App-makers will be scrambling to make their apps take advantage
of the extra screen space, and my guess is it won't take long at all for most to
be iPhone 5 (and iPod Touch) ready.

(Credit: CNET)
I tried iMovie, iPhoto, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, GarageBand, iCards, and all
of the iPhone 5's built-in apps (Maps, Reminders, Messages, Photos, Camera,
Videos, Weather, Passbook, Notes, Stocks, Newsstand, iTunes, the App Store, Game
Center, Contacts, Calculator, Compass, Voice Memos, Mail, Safari, Music, and, of
course, Phone), and they all take advantage of the extra space in a variety of
useful ways. How others will adopt the extra real estate remains to be seen.

(Credit: CNET)
I'm looking forward to killer apps that will take advantage of the larger
screen. So far, I haven't found any that do it in surprising ways. My guess is
that games will benefit the most, along with video and photo apps, and, to some
degree, reading/news apps.

(Credit: CNET)
Video playback, of course, has a lot more punch because the new 16:9 aspect
ratio reduces or removes letterboxing across the board in landscape mode. An HD
episode of "Planet Earth" filled the entire screen, while the available viewing
space shrank down even more on the iPhone 4S because of letterboxing. YouTube
videos looked great. Some movies, of course, like Pixar's "Wall-E," still have
letterboxing because they're shot in the superwide CinemaScope aspect ratio
(21:9), but they look a lot larger than before -- and you can still zoom in with
a tap on the screen.
I think that, much like the Retina Display, you'll miss the iPhone 5's new
screen more when you try to go back to an older phone. The new display feels
like a natural, so much so that to the casual eye, the iPhone 5 doesn't look
entirely different with the screen turned off. The iPhone 4 and 4S screens feel
small and hemmed-in by comparison.

iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S video playback of the same 1080p nature video.
(Credit: CNET)
The new iPhone 5's display also has a layer removed from the screen, creating
a display that acts as its own capacitive surface. I didn't notice that
difference using it; it feels as crisp and fast-responding as before. Apple
promises 44 percent extra color saturation on this new display, much like the
third-gen iPad's improved color saturation. The difference wasn't as dramatic in
a side-by-side playback of a 1080p episode of "Planet Earth," but the iPhone 5
seemed to have a slight edge. It was a little too close to call in game-playing,
photo-viewing, and everyday experience with the phone, even held side-by-side
with the iPhone 4S. The real difference, again, is the size. Autobrightness
adjustments have also been tweaked a little, and I found on average that the
iPhone 5 found more-appropriate brightness levels for the room I was in.

(Credit: CNET)
This seems like a good time to discuss thumbs. As in, your thumb size and the
iPhone 5. Going back to the iPhone 4S, I realized that the phone's design has
been perfectly aligned to allow a comfortable bridge between thumbing the Home
button and stretching all the way to the top icon on the iPhone's 3.5-inch
display. That's not entirely the case, now. I could, with some positioning,
still thumb the Home button and make my way around the taller screen, but the
iPhone 5's a little more of a two-hander. It might encourage more people and app
developers to switch to landscape orientation, where the extra length and pixel
space provide finger room on both sides without cramming the middle.

(Credit: CNET)
Game developers are likely to lean toward the landscape 16:9 orientation,
because it more closely matches a standard HDTV's dimensions, and most console
games. The extra width allows useful virtual button space, too.
4G LTE: Faster, at last Last year's iPhone 4S had a subtle network bump to
3.5G (listed as "4G" on the iPhone 4S following iOS 5.1), offering faster data
speeds on AT&T. The iPhone 5 finally adopts faster LTE, joining most other
smartphones on the market and even the third-gen iPad, with the leap to LTE back
in March. (On the top corner of the iPhone, the service indicator reads "LTE"
when it's up and running.) However, the presence of LTE doesn't mean a world LTE
phone; currently, LTE roaming between carriers overseas is impossible.

(Credit: CNET)
There's also support, depending on the iPhone 5 version you buy, for slower
GSM (including EDGE and UMTS/HSPA) and CDMA/EV-DO networks. The iPhone 5's LTE
uses a single chip for voice and data, a single radio chip, and a "dynamic
antenna" that will switch connections between different networks automatically.

In the United States, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless will carry the
iPhone 5. T-Mobile loses out. In Canada, it's Rogers, Bell, Telus, Fido, Virgin,
and Koodo. In Asia, the providers will be SoftBank, SmarTone, SingTel, and SK
Telecom. For Australia there's Telstra, Optus, and Virgin Mobile, and in Europe
it will go to Deutsche Telekom and EE. On carriers without LTE, the iPhone 5
will run on dual-band 3.5G HDPA+. I didn't notice any problems when switching
between LTE and 4G, but I tended to find myself stationary in a place that had
LTE service or a place that didn't, without much time to test the transition
midcall.
There's a catch, though: there are now two versions of iPhone 5 in the U.S.,
one GSM model and another version for the CDMA carriers. You may not have your
dream of a universal LTE phone, but international roaming is possible between 2G
and 3G. Also, get ready to accept that Verizon and Sprint iPhone 5s still won't
be able to make calls and access data simultaneously, even though many other
Verizon/Sprint LTE phones can pull this off. That's because those other phones
use a two-antenna system for LTE/voice (voice doesn't run over LTE yet), while
the iPhone 5 only uses one plus a dynamic antenna for what Apple says is more
connection stability.
Nevertheless, data access via 4G LTE is stunningly fast. This is no gentle
upgrade. In my home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, I tested both my
AT&T iPhone 4S and the AT&T iPhone 5 at the same time. The iPhone 4S
averaged a 2.4Mbps download speeds over "4G," whereas the iPhone 5 averaged
20.31Mbps. In comparison, my home wireless Internet via Time Warner averaged
9.02Mbps at the hour I tested (1:30 a.m.).

(Credit: CNET)
The difference can be felt loading Web pages: the mobile version of CNET took
5.3 seconds over LTE, versus 8.5 seconds on the iPhone 4S. A graphically
intensive Web site like the desktop version of Huffington Post took 16 seconds
to load via LTE, versus 23.3 seconds on the iPhone 4S in 4G.
Those who already use 4G LTE may simply be nodding their heads, but to iPhone
owners looking to upgrade, this is major news. For many people, LTE will be
faster than their own home broadband.
Of course, that's a dangerous seduction: with fast LTE comes expensive rates
and data caps. AT&T also requires a specific plan to even enable FaceTime
over cellular. Make sure you don't fall down the rabbit hole of overusing your
LTE, because believe me, you're going to want to. I tried setting it up a
wireless hot spot for my MacBook Air, and the result was generally excellent.

Outside major cities, it's not quite as exciting if you don't have LTE
coverage. Using the AT&T iPhone 5 out in East Setauket, Long Island, data
download speed was merely 3.5Mbps because of a lack of AT&T LTE service.
Verizon's LTE coverage map is larger, but Sprint's LTE network is small as well.
My experience with AT&T and LTE may not necessarily be yours.
Wi-Fi has also gotten a bit of a boost via dual-band 802.11n support over
both 2.5GHz and 5GHz. It should help in the event of interference with other
Wi-Fi devices, although I never encountered that problem before, even with tons
of Wi-Fi gadgets scattered about my apartment.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)
The camera Something on the iPhone 5 has to not be new, right? Well, even the
rear iSight camera's been tweaked, but not quite as much as other features. It's
still an 8-megapixel camera, but there's a new sapphire-crystal lens, and
improved hardware enabling features like dynamic low-lighting adjustment, image
stabilization on the 1080p video camera, and the capability to take still shots
while shooting video.

(Credit: CNET)
The camera takes excellent pictures, a bit more so now than before. The
iPhone 5 takes far clearer low-light pictures, but the result, while more
coherent, is grainier and lower resolution than the wonderfully detailed images
taken in bright, direct light. I ran around in semi-darkness in my son's room
taking pictures of his toys, and found that the iPhone 5 was able to make things
out in places where the iPhone 4S couldn't.

Indoor shot with the iPhone 5. (Credit: CNET)
I settled for some indoor house shots instead to show off how the camera
works in dimmer conditions. Of course, you'll probably use flash in those
instances, but it can't hurt to have it as a backup.

iPhone 5 camera, outdoors. (Credit: CNET) Continue to next page 1 2 .

TO BE CONTINUED......

Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi

© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
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PHNO-SP: PACQUIAO WILLING TO GIVE MAYWEATHER MAJORITY SPLIT AFTER MARQUEZ


PACQUIAO WILLING TO GIVE MAYWEATHER MAJORITY SPLIT AFTER
MARQUEZ

MANILA, SEPTEMBER 24, 2012 (PHILSTAR) Should Manny Pacquiao
beat Juan Manuel Marquez when the two face off in December for the fourth time,
the Filipino congressman is already looking towards Floyd Mayweather, and this
time, he's going to give the boxer known as "Money," what he wants.
Pacquiao appeared on ESPN2's
First Take and when asked why he and Mayweather have yet to face off
against each other, said, "I'm waiting for that fight to happen. I'm eager to do
that fight....I don't know what's the reason why that fight has not happened.

"It's okay for me if he gets the higher percentage than me....I told him
[Mayweather] that I agree with 45 [percent] and 55 [percent].

The split of pay-per-view revenue has long been a sticking point for the
Mayweather camp. Last January, Mayweather called Pacquiao and offered him a flat
$40 million dollars to fight him, which the Filipino fighter turned down.
Pacquiao's side countered with a 50-50
split, which Mayweather declined, saying, "How my deal is structured at
this particular time in the sport of boxing, I keep 100 percent of the revenue.
So why would I even give a guy 50-50 if I'm out there?"
Since then, Pacquiao's camp has gotten more creative, first offering a 55-45
split in favor of the winner, and even a 70-30 split with the victor getting the
lion's share. Both were rejected by Mayweather and his team.
Pacquiao's declaration that he would be willing to give 55 percent to
Mayweather, regardless of whether he wins or loses, could be a major turning
point in getting one of the most anticipated fights to finally happen.
Another old problem, Olympic-style drug
testing, something Pacquiao was vehemently against in the past, was
similarly shrugged off, with him saying, "Whatever he wants...no problem. Even
the night of the fight, no problem."
When asked if he thought Mayweather was afraid of him, Pacquiao couldn't help
but giggle, before replying, "I think it's kind of that."
In the past, Mayweather has said that Pacquiao's promoter, Top Rank CEO Bob
Arum was the biggest hurdle to the two boxers finally duking it out, saying
after he defeated Miguel Cotto last May, "He's [Arum's] stopping the fans from
getting what they want." - AMD, GMA News

WATCH VIDEO NEWSCAST OF THIS
REPORT




Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi

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PHNO-PESO CURRENCY EXCHANGE Monday September 24, 2012 6:53 am


 



PHNO-PESO CURRENCY EXCHANGE
Monday September 24, 2012 6:53 am
www.yahoo.com/finance P1=US41.48,Can42.58,UK67.71,SA11.40,YEN 0.53, HK5.38, EUR53.93 China's Troubles Continue to Plague Investors2 days 22 hours ago, CNBC VideosRay Dalio, Bridgewater Associates founder, & CIO, discusses his concerns about China's deteriorating economy, with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin. Also, Mohamed El-Erian, Pimco CEO, weighs in on the risks of investing in China. Click video URL for complete news analysis: http://alturl.com/g4soh --------------------------------------30---------------------------------------------

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