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Monday, March 05, 2007
Defense chief takes jab at Joma-Ara Mina pose
By Carlo P. Mallo
DAVAO CITY -- National Defense Chief Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. couldn't help but take a jab at Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) chair Jose Maria Sison's photos with sexy actress Ara Mina that was published over the weekend.
"Marunong siyang pumili (He has good taste)," Ebdane said when asked to comment on the photos of Sison with Ara Mina.
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Ebdane and Armed Forces Chief Hermogenes Esperon were in Davao City over the weekend to inspect troops at the Eastern Mindanao Command.
The information about the website showing photos of the CPP chair being serenaded and dancing with the sexy actress was passed from email to email before it saw print.
Aside from Ara Mina, the album also showed Sison with singer-actor Janno Gibbs. With Sison in a group photo with Gibbs and Ara Mina was National Democratic Front of the Philippines negotiating panel chair Luis Jalandoni.
The captions of the photo say they were taken during the 2006 Christmas Celebration at The Sands in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The celebration was of The Stichting International Network for Philippine Studies (INPS), the website owner.
The photos of Sison with Ara and Janno were published in at least two national dailies last Saturday.
Among the photos from the website album that was not published in the newspapers was of a crowd shot with the caption: "A part of the Filipino community audience, including the Philippine ambassador to the Netherlands."
The website describes INPS as an educational foundation registered in the Netherlands for the purpose of promoting Philippine studies in the social, economic, political and cultural fields. It has Sison as its chair.
"It shows how much he is enjoying the good life out of the country," Ebdane said, referring to the photos.
Esperon said, "It was not our (the military's) paper that published the photos."
In addition, Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro, chief of the military's Public Information Office, said the photos send a disturbing message.
"It only shows how insensitive their leader (Sison) is," Bacarro said. He also added that the CPP chair is enjoying the luxuries of life while the combatant members of the insurgency movement find it difficult to eat three square meals a day.
Bacarro believes that this issue would have an impact on the grassroots of the insurgency movement as it shows that the leaders are not really there to live up to their advocacies. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (March 5, 2007 issue)
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