OFFBEAT MAIL

Onlookers watching a dead journalist. Photo: Inquirer.net The killing of journalists, especially the hard-hitting personalities, has become a habit in the Philippines. In fact, the Union of Journalists of the Philippines has recorded 19 killings since President Benigno Aquino III took over the helm of power. The latest casualty was Rogelio Butalid, 46, a block timer for 107.9 FM Radyo Natin and a host of an hour-long program "Kamatuoran" (The Truth) in Tagum City. Butalid was the third casualty in two weeks time. According to witnesses, he just stepped out from the radio station after his radio program when a man wearing dark glasses approached him and fired several shots at him. The other journalists killed include radioman Michael Milo in Tandag City, Surigao del Sur province; Joas Dignos of Valencia City in Bukidnon province. Another radio reporter, Jonavin "Jhey-R" Villalba, had suffered gunshot wounds when he was fired upon by an unknown assailant i...

Supertyphoon Yolanda as it hits the Philippines. Many US-based Filipinos are calling on the Philippine government to act in the soonest possible time over the US government's impending plan to put the Philippine nationals under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS). But without a letter of request from the Philippine government, the TPS can't be granted by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The TPS will, once and for all, allow many Filipinos in the United States to be covered by the TPS to come out from the shadows and work legally for undetermined number of years. The Philippines is qualified to be covered by the TPS considering that it has been hit by the worst super typhoon in the world history. Currently, at least a million Filipinos are scattered all over the United States. Some of them are working without the necessary permits in order to survive. Once the TPS is approved, many of them will be able to work legally and continue sending remittan...

MILF fighters on foot patrol in Mindanao. Despite the call of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to re-think its position concerning the inking of peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Philippine government is hell bent on pursuing the peace plan  with the MILF early next month. Already the third framework on power-sharing had been signed in Malaysia this week. MNLF vice chair Hashim Habib told media that the proposed peace pact is a violation of  the Tripoli Agreement which created theAutonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) after then President Fidel V. Ramos and MNLF chairman Nur Misuari agreed to ink the peace deal. As this developed, MILF vice-chair Ghadzali Jaafar has expressed elation over the trust that the government put on the MILF, which in effect, could once and for all, establish a Bangsamoro sub-state in Mindanao. Once approved, the MILF can pursue political and economic developments which could trickle down for th...

House of Representatives, Philippines A lawmaker from the Second District of Valenzuela City in Metro Manila has proposed a bill that will ultimately give a tax-exemption privilege to eight-division boxing champion Manny Pacquiao. Initiated  and authored by Valenzuela City Cong. Magtanggol Gunigundo, the bill is meant to free Cong. Pacquiao from paying his tax liabilities to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). This issue has cropped up after BIR Commissioner Kim Henares slapped Pacquiao, who beat American-Mexican Brandon Rios in Macau for the WBO Welterweight Belt last Nov. 23, 2013, with a P2.2 billion in tax liabilities after he failed to settle them for the period covering tax years 2008 and 2009. Unable to compose himself, Pacquiao had resorted to ventilating his grievances through the media, saying that his lawyers already presented documents to prove that he paid his income tax liabilities in the United States.   But the BIR official didn't honor the document...

Red zones show most of the damaged houses. Photo: wikipedia While the comprehensive immigration reform bill remains pending in the Lower Chamber of the United States Congress, the federal government has flexed its muscles by introducing some kind of immigration relief measures that would allow U.S.-based Filipinos, whose immigration status is in limbo and whose families back home were affected by super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), to take advantage of this opportunity. In a press release posted on its website on November 15, 2013, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had reminded Filipinos nationals that they can avail of these immigration relief measures if requested. According to the USCIS, a natural disaster can affect an individual's ability to establish or maintain lawful immigration status in the United States, considering that Filipinos impacted by super typhoon Haiyan may be eligible to benefit from the following relief measures: a) change or extension of no...

Former Senator Panfilo Lacson. Has anybody ever heard of the name Ping Lacson? There's never a day when that name crops up in almost all the front pages of newspapers, not to mention interviews with known local and foreign broadcast networks. A couple of days ago, President Benigno Aquino III has named former Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson to oversee the massive reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in  the provinces of Leyte, Samar, Bohol, Cebu, Iloilo and Negros provinces, to name a few. As top honcho of the rebuilding efforts in the heavily devastated regions of Eastern and Central Visayas, (perhaps, including Zamboanga City) Lacson will ensure that the public funds totalling P40.9 billion that was set aside for this purpose will not end in the pockets of some corrupt local government officials who are suspected of making a practice of amassing wealth in preparation for the next elections. Bad experiences in the past have re-awaken the senses of the Aquino...

Filipino boxing champ Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao. After Filipino boxing champ Manny  "Pacman" Pacquiao beat up Mexican-American Brandon Rios to win the IBF welterweight belt in Macau on November 22, 2013, he felt ecstatic to be back home owing to a warm welcome accorded to him and his team by the people of General Santos City, Mindanao for bringing another prestige to the Philippines. Obliviously, Pacman never knew that another legal battle was looming in the horizon. This after the Philippines' Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) came out with a Notice of Garnishment that led to the freezing of his bank accounts in Metro Manila for his failure to pay his taxes for the years 2008 and 2009. Why is this so? According to BIR chief Kim Henares, Pacquiao failed to settle his tax problems amounting to some P2.2 billion for the years 2008 and 2009, despite the two-year grace period given to him by the tax bureau. But Pacquiao said in an interview that his lawyers ...