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The Mayor and the Elephant

August 10, 2013

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In today’s issue of South China Morning Post, my hubby Alan writes about the unusual problem facing former president-turn-mayor Joseph Estrada:

Mayor Estrada wrestles with jumbo problem

Saturday, 10 August, 2013, 12:00am

News› Asia 

PHILIPPINES

Alan Robles in Manila

Manila’s new mayor and former president Joseph Estrada faces a host of issues: traffic, garbage, urban decay, lack of funds. And then there’s the matter of a lonely female elephant confined in one of the world’s most miserable zoos.

Vishwamaali, Maali for short, is the only elephant in the Philippines. Shipped from Sri Lanka when she was three, the 39-year old elephant has spent her life in a concrete pen as the star attraction of the seedy Manila Zoo.

Estrada sympathised with Maali’s lonely plight during the election campaign. But he recently outraged animal rights activists when he clarified that he would remedy this by getting Maali some companions.

The five-hectare zoo, which is forested and has a lagoon, is smelly and forlorn. There are unlikely features such as a shrine of angels and the child Jesus, and a wishing well. Many of its enclosures are little more than cages with thick bars, rusty wire screens and padlocks.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) maintains Maali is suffering and demands she be freed and transferred to a sanctuary in Thailand.

The animal activists have allies in celebrities such as French film star Brigitte Bardot, Filipino musician Ely Buendia and Nobel Prize winning author J.M. Coetzee. Last year the Philippine Congress issued a resolution supporting the elephant’s transfer.

Three days before the mayoral election in May, Estrada wrote to Peta saying “it is not right for people, especially children, to see lonely, ailing and depressed animals living in deplorable conditions”.

The would-be mayor said Maali was “an example of how we can right some of the wrongs of the past and teach compassion and understanding to a whole generation”. He added: “She may be seen as ‘just an elephant’ to some, but she symbolises so much more.”

But it was only after he won that Estrada revealed what he was actually proposing to solve Maali’s loneliness.

To read the rest, please click on this link.

Tagged With: Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, Manila Zoo

Comments

  1. Aleksis says

    August 15, 2013 at 2:14 PM

    Why no investigative journalism on JLN? yon kay Corona, ang galing mo dun Ms. Raissa.

    • raissa says

      August 15, 2013 at 7:04 PM

      Here is the start –

      http://raissarobles.com/2013/08/15/janet-napoles-alleged-giant-jln-corporation-paid-less-taxes-than-a-public-school-teacher/

      The research and examination was difficult. Madugo talaga.

    • moonie says

      August 16, 2013 at 4:40 AM

      malay mo, baka journalist pa yong nag-leak. journalists share the same doj building as de lima but on different floor sila. they must have been watching her, sometime even do ambush interview on her in the elevator and in the toilet.

  2. sea voyager says

    August 15, 2013 at 12:12 PM

    share ko lang po ang link about Napoles:
    http://dulzspeaks.blogspot.com/2013/08/anonymous-speaks-pork-barrel-scam.html

  3. clearpasig says

    August 15, 2013 at 5:53 AM

    PETA, di lahat ng Pilipino ay may access sa Boracay, resort world at ibang fine places para mag decompress. Restore the Manila ZOO as a destination for everybody.

  4. clearpasig says

    August 15, 2013 at 4:59 AM

    nagbabayad ang tao sa zoo, dapat masaya ang experience ng public. tanggalin ang PDAF at maginvest sa parks, canals, museum, at libraries.

    • moonie says

      August 16, 2013 at 5:05 AM

      dapat nuon pa ay naghingi ang pamahalaan ng city of manila sa mga senadores na may malaking pork barrel in order for them to upgrade the facilities at manila zoo. sayang, ang hihina nila at napunta tuloy, halos lahat yong pork, kay napoles.

  5. rallie f. cruz says

    August 15, 2013 at 2:48 AM

    Regarding the Mayor and the elephant. I believe Mr. Mayor prior to being elected. made a promise of not letting Maali stay lonely though he did not mention not letting Maali stay “alone”. a wise word that gives him the idea to decide whichever will be beneficial for the Zoo but not necessarily for the Elephant.
    And regarding the Pork Barrel Scam..I can sense they will use the greatest Lawyers; trick of asking the witness like a husband caught by his wife in bed lying on top of a woman who is not his wife, “Did you see the accused clearly that he is the husband of the woman filing this complaint? Was the light on? Did you call his name to verify if he really is the man?..and about the woman, are you certain that she is not the wife? How sure are you?.If you say that the light was not on?

    • moonie says

      August 15, 2013 at 4:04 AM

      good thing, so far no one has tried putting TRO the investigation.

      • moonie says

        August 15, 2013 at 4:36 AM

        defending crooks and letting them off the hook even momentarily, lawyers’ fees are going to be astronomical. crooks are likey to be bled dry. and if not, there is always God’s way. many crooks dont live long and happy to enjoy the fruits of their crooked ways. they’re stricken with lethal diseases and their health suffer. when health is lost, everything is lost.

        • jorge bernas says

          August 15, 2013 at 12:54 PM

          @ moonie,

          Tama ka moonie, Tingnan mo nangyari kay G.M.A. ultimo paglunok nang saging ay nahihirapan dahil sa sakit daw pero hindi pa rin ako naniniwala dahil lagi nagsisinungaling kasama mga bayarang doctors na nagpatotoo pero bakit tumakbo pa sa congresso gayong sakitin pala?

          Pero ang pinaniniwalaan ko ay darating din ang KARMA sa mga Sinungaling, Mang-aapi at Magnanakaw….

        • moonie says

          August 16, 2013 at 4:55 AM

          pwede siyang kumain, jorge, pero mashed yong food, and seived, like the soft food you give to babies. sabi ng mga doktor ni gma na she is getting sicker by the day daw, but she is no sicker today than she was yesterday. if she is really getting ‘sicker by the day’ she should have been dead in 10 days. but no, she is still functional and filing laws together with her son, dato.

          at 66yrs, she can never be 21 again, strong and healthy, even with very expensive stem cell therapy.

      • leona says

        August 15, 2013 at 11:19 AM

        Phil News seen/read today 8 15 2013 –

        Businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles has been ordered arrested for alleged serious detention, reports say Wednesday.

        Reports quoting Justice Secretary Leila de lima said National Bureau of Investigation agents are set to arrest Napoles for supposed illegal detention of Benhur Luy, the whistle-blower of the P10-million pork barrel fund scam. Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 reportedly issued the arrest warrant.

        Also ordered arrested was Napoles’ brother Reynald “Jojo” Lim.

        Napoles and her brother cannot post bail, the report added.”

        • leona says

          August 15, 2013 at 11:30 AM

          website – http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/465693/arrest-orders-out-on-napoles-brother

        • leona says

          August 15, 2013 at 11:33 AM

          Excerpts of the news –

          “De Lima, in a phone interview, said state prosecutors filed the case in court on Tuesday after Prosecutor General Claro Arellano reversed the dismissal of the case by Assistant State Prosecutor General Juan Pedro Navera.

          Navera had initially dismissed the case filed by Luy against Napoles and her brother. The NBI filed a motion for reconsideration but Navera affirmed his decision.

          In a separate phone interview, Arellano told the Inquirer that he ordered a review of Navera’s resolution. The review was conducted by Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva who found probable cause to indict Napoles and her brother.

          Arellano said when Luy blew the whistle on Napoles’ alleged involvement in the scam, there was a motive for her to send Luy on a “spiritual retreat” and restrain him there.

          Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/465693/arrest-orders-out-on-napoles-brother#ixzz2c4297koL
          Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook”

        • leona says

          August 15, 2013 at 11:39 AM

          Excerpts from PhilStar news paper –

          “”They are very elusive,” Rojas said in a separate television interview.

          Related story: Napoles ordered arrested
          Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

          Rojas added that authorities are confident the suspects have not yet fled the country as international gateways have earlier been alerted of the warrant.

          Moreover, the siblings can be arrested on the spot at exit points once they attempt to leave as they cannot also post bail, he said.

          Rojas urged the public to report Napoles and Lim’s whereabouts through the mobile phone number 0929-295-8888.

          Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said in a radio interview that someone might have tipped the “well connected” Napoles about the warrant.”

          NBI CELL PH 0929 295 8888

        • jorge bernas says

          August 15, 2013 at 1:09 PM

          @ Leona,

          lto na naman tayo maghahanap sa taong nagtatago tulad nina janet lim napoles at jojo lim? ang gusto ko malaman kong anong ikakaso doon sa assistant state prosecutor juan pedro nadera na nagpakawala sa mga napoles noong june 10, 2013 dahil lack of probable cause samantalang nadakit na sila noong mar. 2013 lang? dapat malaman natin kong may nangyaring CASHunduan noon? bantayan ninyo ang nasabing judge at baka magbigti/magbaril sa sarili dahil sa kahihiyan biro mo hawak na pinakawalan pa, hay nako natatae ako…he he he he…

        • moonie says

          August 16, 2013 at 4:48 AM

          may 28 houses pala si jln all over the country, she could be hiding in one of them. gaya ng ginawa ni jason ivler. habang nanumpa ang mother ni jason na natamaan siya ng kidlat kung hindi siya nagsabi ng tutoo na talagang wala na sa bayan si jason. nasa abroad na raw samantalang sa bahay lang pala nagtatago yon. 3x ni-raid ang mansyon nila at hindi nakita si jason, but his luck did not hold out. jason was eventually caught hiding in the basement at nakipagbarilan pa sa mga agents ng nbi.

« Older Comments
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist Then they came fof the Trade Unionists, and I did not out speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me— And there was no one left to speak for me. —Martin Niemöller (1892-1984)

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