Our kailiyan Silvestre Afable (first from left; you can read our first blog entry about him here) resigned as chair of the government peace panel which is undertaking peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). According to Newsbreak, Afable resigned because of “lack of support from the President“. Fr. Eliseo Mercado, a known Mindanao peace advocate, has been appointed to replace Afable.
Some reactions on Afable’s resignation: Steve Rheault Kihara of the Canadian Embassy: “That is regrettable. He was a key factor in the very real progress so far and he is deeply respected by both sides as well as by the international community.”
Are you a sports junkie? Well I’m not, but in one of my past lives, I used to do freelance work writing stories about athletes. So sports is a topic I’m somewhat interested in but not to the point where I qualify as a junkie. I follow Roger “The Greatest of All Time” Federer’s exploits though, but he’s not been winning lately so I’m kinda avoiding going to the tennis pages. What’s up Roger? Get a grip of yourself and start raising trophies again will you.
Anyways, our kids from the Cordilleras went down to Mindanao this week to compete in the Palarong Pambansa which, as you may already know, is our national athletic meet for elementary and high school students. So how did the kids from the boondocks do? Not bad, my friends, not bad at all.
Are we on a roll or what? Here’s another kailiyan who is joining our List of Achievers. Actually, we should have posted this story earlier but it took us some time to find a picture of Councilor Henry Kipas. Anyway the Councilor, who comes from La-Trinidad, Benguet, was recently named as one of the Ten Outstanding Councilors of the Philippines, an annual search by the Junior Chamber International Philippines or the Philippine Jaycees.
Our fellow blogger, Atty. Mandy Dornagon sent us this article about our kailiyan Brig. General Johny Corcha (Philippine Military Academy ’77) who was recently appointed as brigadier general last December 2006. General Corcha joins our ever growing list of achievers who, we hope, could inspire us to do our best (add your own inspirational speech here :-). Thanks to Mandy, an achiever himself, for this article and the photograph of the General and his wife taken in Malacanang.
The New Igorot General: “An Officer and a Gentleman” By Atty. Mandy Dornagon The often- heard phrase, “An Officer and a Gentleman” aptly fits the newly promoted Igorot star-ranked officer, Brigadier General Johnny B. Corcha. He is an officer who personifies the noble tradition of soldiery and the fine traits of a gentleman. He is a consummate military professional, but kind-hearted and soft-spoken.
It is heartening to note that our kailiyan, Commissioner Romeo Brawner, is no administration lap dog. In case you read our earlier blog entries about him [here and here], you would know that Brawner is the former head of the Court of Appeals (CA) who was appointed to the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) soon after he retired from the CA. During the short span of time that he has served with the COMELEC, Brawner has earned a reputation as a “highly independent” commissioner. He is now also known as the COMELEC’s “great dissenter”.
Our kailiyan apparently earned his reputation “through his votes on cases that do not favor administration allies.” [Source: Newsbreak Magazine, click link for full story.]
Our kailiyan Silvestre Afable (first from left; you can read our first blog entry about him here) resigned as chair of the government peace panel which is undertaking peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). According to Newsbreak, Afable resigned because of “lack of support from the President“. Fr. Eliseo Mercado, a known Mindanao peace advocate, has been appointed to replace Afable.
