and illegal gambling games became his prime
addiction.
His
actions
were
deemed
unconstitutional by the Sandiganbayan, and so
the former president was ousted from his
position.
Meanwhile, the nationwide circulation
of the Binay allegations remains interminable.
Current
Philippine
Vice
President
JejomarBinay and his son Makati Mayor Erwin
JejomarBinay Jr are now faced with corruption
accusations regarding their “scandalously
overpriced” Makati building. According to the
National Statistics Office (NSO), the Makati
building was overpriced by at least 1.9 billion
pesos. The older Binay, citing all claims against
him are false, said the building was not
overpriced – but rather, just ‘high quality’.
Where could have the excess money amounting
to nearly 2 billion pesos gone?
If this will continue, what kind of leaders
will we have in the future? They might become
the kind of leaders that we see today - leaders
who lie to hide the truths, steal, and ones who
only think of themselves. Certainly, the country
will continue to wallow in the pool of poverty
longing for progress, peace, and good life. Let
us then put a stop to this unending disease that
corrupts the country. Let us build a better
future, vote deserving people, create a stronger
nation, and advocate honest leadership so we
may be able to create an ideal community for
our children, and our children’s children. Let
us unload our country from this burden that
weighs us down.
Foreign helping hands
By: Juliana March S. Mendoza
The death of Filipino transgender Jeffrey
Laude has provoked questions about the treaties
and agreements between the United States and
the Philippines, such as the Visiting Forces
Agreement (VFA) and the Enhanced Defense
Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) wherein US
military troops are welcomed to the country for
military exercises and for them to station
operations in our territory. Over the years,
similar cases involving US Marines committing
what are considered as crimes in the Philippines
have happened. Are they still worthy to stay in
our country?
Allowing the US troops to stay in the
Philippines would be of great help to the country
in one way or another. The training, the fighting
strategies, the wider knowledge and their
expertise especially in the use of new
machineries and technologies for defense that
they share with our military men would be
beneficial to us especially in times of war.
Moreover, the friendship between the
Philippines and the Unites States would
eventually pave ways for economic prosperity of
the country. And since peace is a guarantee,
investors would be coming to open businesses
which would then provide jobs for the jobless
Filipinos.
On the other hand, the incident that happened
to Jeffrey Laude and the accused US Marine
Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton
would serve as a great reminder to us to be extra
careful on how and when to establish
relationship with someone especially with the
person we don’t know well.
“The sin of one person cannot define a
decision,” Presi