Ligot admits being ‘front’ for condos, homes By Angie M. Rosales 02/25/2011

Ligot admits being ‘front’ for condos, homes

By Angie M. Rosales 02/25/2011

Unable to explain away a deed of sale, with his name and signature for marital consent on a P25-million posh condominium unit in Essensa, Fort Bonifacio under his wife Erlinda’s name as owner, and sold to her brother, former military comptroller under then Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Angelo Reyes, Maj. Gen. Jacinto Ligot admitted he and his wife were fronting for others, naming his brother in law although talk had earlier made the rounds that Ligot was a front for some powerful individuals within and outside the military establishment.

More prime properties in the country owned by the Ligot couple were uncovered yesterday by Senate probers investigating the issue of corruption in the military.

Ligot confessed that he and his wife merely acted as “fronts” for some of the questioned properties that are the subject of the forfeiture proceedings against them, but pointed to his brother-in-law as the real owner, Edgardo Yambao, whom Sen. Franklin Drilon noted to have accumulated through the years about P300 million in cash and assets even if there is no showing he had a source of income since 1999..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110225hed1.html

Noy gov’t under fire over Libya evacuation 02/25/2011

Noy gov’t under fire over Libya evacuation

02/25/2011
Thousands of Filipino workers are stranded in riot-torn Libya and are desperate to be rescued, an industry support group yesterday said as it blasted the Aquino government’s evacuation efforts.

Migrante International said it had lost contact with many of its members in Libya as they scrambled to find ways of crossing the border to neighboring countries without any government support.

“Government really messed up, they kept telling the workers that there was voluntary evacuation, but how will they know who to look for, or where and how do they get to the assigned places,” Migrante chairman Gary Martinez told Agence France Presse.

“When we spoke to one group of construction workers last night, they said they will try to make it across the border to Egypt by bus today, because they haven’t heard from any government official.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110225hed2.html

Palace moving to axe Garcia prosecutors By Benjamin B. Pulta and Angie M. Rosales 02/25/2011

Palace moving to axe Garcia prosecutors

By Benjamin B. Pulta and Angie M. Rosales 02/25/2011

The fate of state prosecutors handling the case of former military comptroller Carlos Garcia seems to have been sealed as the Palace is considering the termination of Special Prosecutor Wendell Barreras-Sulit and her deputies who arranged the claimed lopsided plea-bargain agreement in the plunder case against Garcia, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said yesterday.

At the Senate probe yesterday on the agreement it was found that prosecutors handling the plunder case of Garcia did not object when he entered a plea of guilty to lesser charges even when the plea bargain agreement was yet to be approved by the Sandiganbayan.

Senate probers managed to extract this answer from members of the prosecution panel under the Office of the Ombudsman, a matter that lawmakers could be deduced as “gross negligence” on their part.

The Ombudsman, through special prosecutor Barreras-Sulit, was given one week to study the possible filing of the motion to withdraw the said plea bargain deal..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110225hed3.html

Taiwan freeze hire still on despite 7 pt. consensus By Michaela P. del Callar and Aytch S. de la Cruz 02/25/2011

Taiwan freeze hire still on despite 7 pt. consensus

By Michaela P. del Callar and Aytch S. de la Cruz 02/25/2011

Taiwan Minister Jennifer Wang of the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) said yesterday her council will adopt an across-the-board freeze on the import of Philippines workers if the Philippine government fails to show goodwill to Taiwan in the wake of its failure to apologize for the wrongful deportation of 14 Taiwanese fraud suspects to China earlier this month, the China Post of Taiwan reported.

She said the CLA will follow the example of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in handling the row with the Philippines arising from the wrongful deportation case.

Once the CLA decides to freeze the entry of Philippine laborers across the board, there will be no timetable on how long the freeze remains in place unless the Philippine government shows goodwill toward Taiwan.

But following the acceptance of a seven point “agreement” given the Taiwan media, one of which insists on an investigation of Philippine officials and penal sanctions imposed on those who have committed wrongdoing, Taiwan now appears to have softened its stance on the Philippines, saying there is no need for Taipei to demand an apology from the government of President Aquino for its deportation to Beijing of 14 Taiwanese wanted for fraud in China..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110225hed4.html

Keep looking for quake survivors, RP asks N. Zealand By Michaela P. del Callar 02/25/2011

Keep looking for quake survivors, RP asks N. Zealand

By Michaela P. del Callar 02/25/2011
Philippine officials yesterday appealed to New Zealand rescuers to keep searching for survivors of this week’s killer quake, saying 14 Filipinos were feared buried under the rubble.

Twelve of the missing were believed to have been inside the Canterbury Television (CTV) building that collapsed when the 6.3-magnitude quake struck Christchurch city last Tuesday, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Ed Malaya said.

Rescuers announced they have started to shift from rescue to retrieval operations as hopes dim in finding more survivors at the CTV building, which housed a TV station and a language school for foreign students, three days after the disaster.

But Malaya said Philippine officials in Christchurch have appealed to New Zealand to resume
rescue operations since there is an indication that the most of the 14 missing Filipinos are still alive..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110225hed5.html

Noy does a Gloria, appoints DFA chief despite congressional ban By Michaela P. del Callar 02/25/2011

Noy does a Gloria, appoints DFA chief despite congressional ban

By Michaela P. del Callar 02/25/2011

Despite the existence of a constitutional ban for presidents to appoint and swear in a Cabinet official or any presidential appointee while Congress is in session, President Aquino yesterday swore in former US Ambassador Albert del Rosario as acting foreign secretary, immediately filling a vacuum left by Alberto Romulo due to major problems facing Filipino workers in China, Taiwan, quake-hit New Zealand and protests-hit countries of Libya, Yemen and Bahrain.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Del Rosario is a fitting choice to lead the DFA because “he comes with a sterling track record in foreign service to show that he will serve the President and the Republic with integrity and the highest devotion to the democratic principles that underscore all official actions, domestic and foreign.”

“He comes into office at a time filled with many challenges. The President believes that he must be brought to harness at the soonest possible time to be fully briefed and engaged,” Lacierda added in his statement released last night..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110225hed7.html

Singson gets 18 months jail term for cocaine smuggle 02/25/2011

Singson gets 18 months jail term for cocaine smuggle

02/25/2011
Hong Kong — A Philippine congressman from one of the country’s most powerful political families was sentenced to 18 months’ jail yesterday for smuggling cocaine and another drug into Hong Kong.

District Court Judge Joseph Yau described the prison term as a serious fall from grace for Rep. Ronald Singson, a politician and music promoter, who was caught with drugs at Hong Kong’s international airport last year.

Earlier this year, the colorful 42-year-old Singson admitted to bringing 6.67 grams of pure cocaine and two tablets of the narcotic Nitrazepam into the city on July 11, 2010. A vial of cocaine was found in his underwear.

“The defendant imported a substantial amount of cocaine into Hong Kong,” Judge Yau told the packed courtroom, adding that Singson was a politician whose family has substantial wealth..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110225nat1.html

Stradcom: Road Users Group misinformed 02/25/2011

Stradcom: Road Users Group misinformed

02/25/2011
“The Road Users Group is misinformed,” Margaux Salcedo, spokesman for Stradcom, said in reaction to the Road Users Group complaint against the company. “Interconnectivity fees are for operations that are beyond the scope of the primary LTO (Land Transportation Office) contract for computerization of drivers license and motor vehicle registration. We only added this to our services, upon the directive of the LTO and at minimal cost to the public, for greater efficiency at the LTO,” Salcedo clarified.

The public must know that Stradcom does not charge interconnectivity services from the public but from the private offices requiring interconnectivity like insurance companies that are required to be connected to LTO, Salcedo explained. It is the insurance company that is billed, not the vehicle owners or the motoring public..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110225nat4.html

More fumbles in Blunderland EDITORIAL 02/24/2011

More fumbles in Blunderland

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

02/24/2011
Not surprisingly, Noynoy’s special envoy to Taiwan to mend fences and chief troubleshooter Mar Roxas failed at his job, leaving Taiwan officials more furious than before and already making good their threat to freeze Filipino job hiring along with shipping home the first batch of Filipino workers whose contracts have probably expired.

But really, Mar, Noynoy, his Palace aides and defenders are to blame for this latest fiasco.

The reason is simple. There was already that plan to send Roxas, Noy’s emissary, to Taiwan to explain the Philippine side on the deportation of 14 Taiwanese nationals to China, instead of to Taiwan..... MORE
Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110224com1.html

Destroying the high court FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 02/24/2011

Destroying the high court

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

02/24/2011
It is really puzzling why the House of Representatives insists on proceeding with the impeachment hearing via its justice committee, instead of waiting, as called for by the Supreme Court (SC), for a final and executory decision, as the rules provide for the petitioner to file a motion for reconsideration.

Even Speaker Sonny Belmonte, who just last week told reporters that he would ensure that the justice panel would abide by the call of the high court, so suddenly changed his tune and gave the committee head, Rep. Niel Tupas, the green light to start impeachment proceedings against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. Is Belmonte a leader or a follower?

Also, those in the majority of the panel had earlier signified that they prefer to wait for the high court’s final resolution. Then all of a sudden, they all want to defy the high court by proceeding with the case against the Ombudsman.

The only logical reason for their change of mind can only point to the Malacañang tenant, who makes no bones about wanting Gutierrez impeached — along with charging her prosecutors. What else can make these congressmen, who are now allies of Noynoy, change their minds and defy the SC, if not the master’s voice coming from Malacañang to rush the impeachment proceedings against Merci?.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110224com2.html

Asian feet made for more than just walking FEATURE 02/24/2011

Asian feet made for more than just walking

FEATURE

02/24/2011
HONG KONG — Most people put one in front of the other as a most basic way to get around, though they often come in handy to kick a ball, ride a bicycle or dance a jig — maybe even walk a tightrope.

But in Asia, feet are far more than just the two pins that keep us upright and get us from A to B — they can lead people into a cultural minefield.

In India, touching another person’s feet is perceived as a sign of respect for their knowledge and experience, usually reserved for family elders and teachers and parents.

Feet also play a prominent role in Indian wedding ceremonies..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110224com3.html

Paco Larrañaga to be repatriated BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 02/24/2011

Paco Larrañaga to be repatriated

BLURBAL THRUSTS

Louie Logarta

02/24/2011
Due to his considerable influence and political connections (as well as that of his illustrious father), former party-list Rep. Joel Villanueva was able to delay the inevitable, that of being hauled before the bar of justice due to his alleged past sins.

Unfortunately for Villanueva, the son of twice-defeated presidential candidate Eddie Villanueva of the Bangon Pilipinas Movement and Jesus Is Lord religious congregation, the reprieve lasted only for a scant few months.

A scant seven months after being found guilty by the Supreme Court of illegally sitting as an honorable member of the 14th Congress (2007-2010), Villanueva now finds himself facing graft charges before the Office of the Ombudsman.

“Villanueva is declared ineligible to hold office as a member of the House of Representatives representing the party-list organization Cibac (acronym for Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption, ironically)… the Court finds that the respondent was not qualified to be nominee of either the youth sector of the overseas Filipino workers and their families sector in the May 2007 elections,” the SC said in a decision penned by Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110224com4.html

What’s going on? VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 02/24/2011

What’s going on?

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

02/24/2011
Dated Jan. 31, 2011, the CBCP Pastoral Letter issued on the occasion of the Plenary Assembly of the Church Hierarchy in the Philippines, formally exhorted the Catholic Faithful to: “Pray together, reason together, decide together, act together, always to the end that the truth prevail over the many threats to human lives and to our shared human and cultural values.”

The underlying reason behind the expressed CBCP exhortation is the disturbing conviction and posture of the present government in terms of the following basic thesis: Population is the underlying cause of poverty in the country. More human lives are thus taboo. Reduction of population at all cost is wherefore a priority. Thus: The “Reproductive Health bill” that precisely prevents human reproduction but promotes promiscuity, and that in effect undermines women’s health by anti-life chemical in-takes — courtesy of the Multinational Pharmaceuticals whose business is the manufacture and sell of contraceptives, and whose main preoccupation is profit. Ethics has no place in their agenda. Morals are irrelevant in their options..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110224com5.html

Afghan militants ramp up suicide strikes — experts focus 02/24/2011

Afghan militants ramp up suicide strikes — experts

focus

02/24/2011
KABUL — A recent wave of deadly Afghan suicide attacks with mass civilian casualties shows that insurgents waging a war now in its tenth year are resorting to bombing “soft” targets, officials and experts say.

In the last three weeks more than 100 persons, most of them innocent bystanders, have died in six suicide attacks. The government, Nato and a top US official say the apparent new tactic is proof the militants are running scared.

But not everyone agrees.

On Monday, a suicide attack killed 31 persons at a government office in the north, while on Saturday the troubled country witnessed its deadliest attack since June when 38 died at a bank in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan.

The capital Kabul has also been hit with high-profile attacks, including on a supermarket popular with Westerners and a shopping mall, leading to security on the streets being stepped up in recent days..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110224com6.html

Kurd play adds voice to Mideast anger focus 02/24/2011

Kurd play adds voice to Mideast anger

focus

02/24/2011
ARBIL — A play whose plot took actors and audience alike across Iraq’s Kurdish capital of Arbil this week delivered a stinging portrait of the northern region’s leaders as power-mad and greedy.

When Karukh Ibrahim’s 90-minute production climaxed outside the Kurdistan region’s parliament building, it was the 28-year-old director’s way of adding his voice to protests that have raged against entrenched rulers throughout the Middle East.

“Qabristan,” or “The Cemetery” in Kurdish, started at a park in the centre of Arbil and shifted locations in the city as the young hero in search of his mother and an old woman looking for her son were pitted against elitist offiicals.

From the Sami Abdul Rahman public park, the play shifted to the journalists’ guild headquarters and went on to the ministry of religious affairs before concluding in front of parliament, all with the audience in tow..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110224com7.html

Noy, aides lied openly—Taiwan’s Ma By Aytch S. de la Cruz and Angie M. Rosales 02/24/2011

RP GOV’T SHOULD TAKE PUNITIVE ACTION VS OFFICIALS INVOLVED IN WRONGDOING

Noy, aides lied openly—Taiwan’s Ma

By Aytch S. de la Cruz and Angie M. Rosales 02/24/2011

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday accused the Philippine government officials of lying openly to cover up three major mistakes they made during the process, despite claims by President Aquino that an apology to Taiwan cannot be made because the correct processes were followed.

A report by the Taiwan Times yesterday quoted Ma as saying that three major mistakes were committed during the process, pointing out that while the Taiwanese were expelled from the Philippines, Philippine officials said they were extradited (there was no request for extradition from mainland China). They were also not sent to their native country — the RoC (Republic of China) — a move Ma said seriously violated international law and practices.

The 14 Taiwanese were all RoC citizens who legally entered the Philippines with proper documents. However, the Philippine government claimed they did not have legal travel documents which has been disproved by their passports and visas.

“Your government officials lied openly,” Ma was quoted as having told Aquino’s special envoy and troubleshooter Manuel “Mar” Roxas..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110224hed1.html

RP won’t condemn Libyan gov’t; strong Manila-Tripoli ties remain By Michaela P. del Callar 02/24/2011

RP won’t condemn Libyan gov’t; strong Manila-Tripoli ties remain

By Michaela P. del Callar 02/24/2011

The Philippines yesterday expressed concern over the deteriorating situation in Libya but said it has no plans of breaking diplomatic ties with the leadership of Moammar Gadhafi, who has been condemned by world leaders for violence inflicted on anti-government protesters.

Peru’s government has announced it is suspending diplomatic relations with Libya to protest the violence unleashed by Gadhafi against his people, according to news wire reports.

“The Philippines has had a close friendship with Libya and its people and we treasure that friendship,” Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Ed Malaya told the Tribune. “They have helped us in the Mindanao peace process and our bid for the Organization of the Islamic Conference.”

Libya has contributed two military men to the International Monitoring Team, a 60-member Malaysian contingent safeguarding a ceasefire.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110224hed2.html

High growth rates bypass poor — WB 02/24/2011

High growth rates bypass poor — WB

02/24/2011
The high economic growth rates that the government has been reporting has no meaning for the poor since they have not benefited at all from the supposed economic gains in terms of uplifting their conditions, the World Bank (WB) said in its latest update on the country.

The quarterly update on the country titled “Robust Growth, Stubborn Poverty” stated that despite the remarkable rebound, the latest of which was a record 7.3 percent expansion rate for last year, growth continues to bypass the poor.

The report cited the latest official poverty data which it said “confirm a lack of poverty reduction response to economic growth in the Philippines.”

Even though real gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaged 5.4 percent during 2003 to 2006 and 4.3 percent during 2006 to 2009, or well above population growth, the poverty incidence rose from 24.9 percent of the population in 2003 to 26.4 percent in 2006, and inched up further to 26.5 percent in 2009, it noted..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110224hed3.html

12 Pinoys missing in New Zealand quake — envoy 02/24/2011

12 Pinoys missing in New Zealand quake — envoy

02/24/2011
Philippine officials in New Zealand are searching for 12 Filipinos who went missing following Tuesday’s magnitude 6.3 quake in Christchurch area.

Embassy Charge d’affaires Giovanni Palec has refused to release the names of the Filipinos, who are mostly students, because they are still verifying if they are indeed missing.

“As of now there are 12 missing but we are trying to confirm if it’s really 12. We are also trying to confirm if they are really missing or they might be separated and some had to stay in evacuation centers,” Palec told dzBB radio yesterday. “The situation on the ground is very fluid.”

Palec said an embassy team from capital Wellington will leave for Christchurch on Thursday to check on the condition of the 2,000 Filipinos there..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110224hed4.html

Rushing Merci impeach to delay resolution By Charlie V. Manalo and Gerry Baldo 02/24/2011

Rushing Merci impeach to delay resolution

By Charlie V. Manalo and Gerry Baldo 02/24/2011

House minority members yesterday said there is no need to rush the impeachment proceedings against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and that the committee should wait for the final decision of the Supreme Court (SC), since rushing this could result in further delaying the resolution of the case.

At a press briefing, House Minority Leader Albay Rep.

Edcel Lagman said the decision of the House committee on justice to resume the impeachment hearings “without waiting for the finality of the Supreme Court decision recalling the status quo ante order” is “rash and regrettable.”

The decision to resume the hearing immediately without the final decision, Lagman stressed, would only “trample on one’s right to due process.”

“The right of a litigant to interpose a motion for reconsideration is a component of due process. Thwarting one’s opportunity to file a reconsideration effectively tramples the right to due process,” Lagman said, adding that there was no reason for the House to ignore Gutierrez’s right to file a motion for reconsideration saying the House leadership and the panel, through the pleadings they filed before the SC and appearances at the oral arguments, had recognized the jurisdiction of the high court..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110224hed5.html