New Iloilo Airport to open June 13 after a month’s delay

By David Israel Sinay
Inquirer
Last updated 04:56am (Mla time) 06/03/2007

ILOILO CITY—THE New Iloilo Airport would have its first commercial flight and its inauguration on June 13.

 

Rafael Coscolluela, presidential adviser for Western Visayas, said Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza has cleared the airport so it could start operations.

 

President Macapagal-Arroyo is expected to attend the airport’s inauguration, Coscolluela said over radio station dyFM. The inauguration and opening of the New Iloilo Airport had long been delayed.

 

Ms Arroyo reportedly scheduled the opening of the airport last April 16 but with the First Gentleman undergoing a critical heart operation, she cancelled her Iloilo trip.

 

Bessi Cebuano, a staff from the Air Transportation Office (ATO), said airline companies have started to transfer some of their facilities from the existing Iloilo Airport at Mandurriao district in this city to the New Iloilo Airport property.

 

Cebuano said ATO personnel and offices would start to transfer on June 7.

 

Arturo Valero, National Economic Development Authority regional director, said the new airport would serve as the gateway to the Visayas of air travelers in the country and worldwide. “The transfer will be a big boost to the business sector,” Valero said.
The government plans to sell the existing 54-hectare Mandurriao airport property.

 

During an earlier visit here, Ms Arroyo said she was confident that the closure and privatization of the Mandurriao facility would further boost local tourism and economic activities.

 

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas said he wants the winning bidder to consider either of these projects: develop the property into a theme park or build a 5,000-seat convention center or establish a hospital or set up an information technology (IT) park for business process outsourcing to encourage call center companies to invest here.

 

The new airport has a runway of 2.5 kilometers long and 45 meters wide, a passenger terminal with 12,000 square meters of space, and a 1,281-square meter cargo terminal. The airport can accommodate six aircraft simultaneously parking at a time.

(2ND UPDATE) 10 killed, 16 wounded as man runs amok in Samar

By Joey A. Gabieta, Gina Ragudo
Visayas Bureau inquirer.net
Last updated 06:54pm (Mla time) 06/02/2007

TACLOBAN CITY — A 39-year-old jobless man believed to be mentally deranged went on a killing spree in an interior village in Calbayog City, Samar, hacking 10 people to death and wounding 16 others in an hour-long rampage early Saturday, police said.

 

Chief Inspector Aniceto Tecbobolan, Calbayog police chief, identified the amok, who is now in police custody, as Danny Guades of Barangay (village) Gadgaran.

 

The police identified the fatalities as Eric Benjamin Ponce, 7; 32-year-old Gemma Jadulco, who was eight months pregnant, and her children, Jennelyn, 12; Jinggoy, 8; Renato, 3; Nadine, 2; and Christine, 1; Candido Conteras, 46; Danilo Contreras, 12; and Eduardo Lecis, 35, all from Barangay Gadgaran.

 

Two of the slain victims, Ponce and Danilo Contreras, died in a hospital, while the others were killed on the spot, police said.

 

The wounded victims included Emily Guades Ponce, 27, a cousin of Guades; her husband Benjamin, 42; and her children Benjie, 5; and Marilyn, 3.

 

Also injured were the Enis Lecis, 54; Jadulco sisters Jocelyn, 9, and Joan, 4; Maria Conteras, 37, and her daughter Jennelyn, 16; Francisco, 56, Ernesto, 45, Armando, 35, all surnamed Ramada; Michael Caber, 31; Myra Manlapid, 24; and couple Eddie and Jocelyn Gonzaga.

 

Police said Guades’s rampage started around 2 a.m. Saturday when he entered the house of his cousin, after which, he proceeded to different places in the same barangay, moving from house to house and swinging his bolo with deadly precision.

 

It took about an hour before Guades rested his bolo.

 

“It was so shocking an incident,” Tecbobolan told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.

 

He said the police were readying multiple murder and multiple frustrated murders against Guades as ordered by police regional director, Chief Superintendent Abner Cabalquinto.

 

Guades first entered the house of his cousin Emily and hacked away at its occupants, most of whom were asleep.

 

He first attacked his cousin’s husband, Benjamin, who was hit on the left shoulder, and vented his rage on the couple’s sleeping children, Eric Benjamin, who was hacked on the head; Benjie, who was hit at the back of his body, right arm and head; and Marilyn, who was hit at her head.

 

Emily, who was also hacked, jumped from a window and could hear the cries of her husband and children during the rampage, police said.

 

She and the rest of her wounded family were brought to the St. Camillus Hospital for medical treatment.

 

Guades then moved to the house occupied by the family of “Totoy” Jadulco where he killed Jadulco’s wife and five children, the youngest of whom was a year-old baby girl.

 

Jadulco’s wife Gemma and children Jennylyn, Jinggoy, Renato, Nadene, and Christine died from multiple wounds. The other children, Joan and Jocelyn, sustained wounds in the different parts of their bodies and were treated at the Calbayog Sanitarium and Hospital.

 

However, for unknown reasons, Guades did not harm Totoy Jadulco.

 

The next stop of the suspect was the house of Candido Conteras, who died immediately due to head injuries. Conteras’s wife Maria and children Danilo and Jennylyn were hit in different parts of their bodies and were taken to the St. Camillus Hospital in Calbayog
Danilo died while under treatment in the hospital.

 

Guades then entered the house of Lecis, who died from the hack wounds on the head. A household member, Enis, 54, was also hit on the head and is now confined at the Calbayog Sanitarium and Hospital.

 

Guades continued his rampage at the funeral wake for one Teotime Ramada where he hacked and wounded Ramada family members Francisco, 56, in the throat, and Ernesto, 45, on the nape. He also stabbed Armando, 35, on the left side.

 

Two people attending the wake, Michael Caber, 31, and Myra Manlapid, 24, sustained wounds on their left arms.

 

Guades fled when the other people at the wake tried to subdue him.

 

He walked toward a street junction at the nearby Barangay Bontay where he met Eddie Gonzaga and his wife Jocelyn who were on a motorcycle. He attacked the couple, hitting Eddie in the right armpit, right arm, and forehead, and his wife on her left elbow.

 

Guades left his victims and went to the house of one Fortunato Burbana, 62, of Gadgaran, where responding police officers led by Police Officer 3 Inocente Laure arrested him.

 

Guades, now detained at the city police detention cell, denied that he was responsible for the killing spree. The police received the information about the rampage from some of the people attending the wake.

 

“He is suffering from mental problem and is known to be a trouble-maker in their village. But just the same, we will file multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder against him before the City Prosecutor’s Office any time today,” Tecbobolan said.

Garbage, smelly portalets infront of Comelec office

Cebu City Councilor Edwin Jagmoc

Cebu Daily Newsinquirer.net
Last updated 04:10pm (Mla time) 05/24/2007

CEBU, Philippines–Two days after the canvass of election returns from Bogo town was transferred to the regional Comelec office, occupants of establishments near the WDC building have started to complain of uncollected garbage and smelly portalets.

 

Cebu City Councilor Edwin Jagmoc yesterday ordered the removal of two portable toilets from a sidewalk, after City Savings Bank personnel complained about the foul odor.

 

Jagmoc said he also detailed street cleaners to dispose of the garbage left behind by supporters of the congressional candidates.

 

A government employee said that even with the portalets, some rallyists still urinated on the walls of nearby establishments.

 

About 100 men supporting fouth district congressional candidate Benhur Salimbangon occupy the sidewalk of P. Burgos Street, from the corner of Legazpi Street to Magallanes Street.

 

They take shelter in nearby establishments like City Savings Bank and the BF Goodrich tire store.

 

About 4 p.m. on Tuesay, some 2,000 people claiming to be supporters of Bogo Mayor Celestino Martinez, Salimbangon’s opponent in the congressional race, were ferried by dump trucks, buses and some multicabs to the Plaza Independecia.

 

The group later marched to the regional Comelec office located on the ground floor of the WDC Building to call for a speedy canvassing of the election returns from Bogo.

 

But barely a hundred remained when CDN visited the area about 4 p.m. yesterday.

 

Frecil Jamora, a Mabolo resident, said the huge crowd of supporters was causing inconvenience to those needing to transact business inside the WDC building.

 

Jamora, a poll clerk during the election, was at the Cebu City north district office yesterday to secure a copy of her voter certificate.

 

It took a while before she managed to enter the Comelec Cebu City office located beside the poll body’s regional office.

 

Surprised by the steel barricades that were set up on the corner of P. Burgos and Osmeña Boulevard, Jamora said she proceeded to the corner of Lapu-Lapu and Osmeña.

 

She had to ask the permission of the security personnel before she was allowed through the barricades.

 

A streamer with the words “Sorry for the inconvenience, Comelec activity on going” hangs from the barricades.

 

Some supporters of the two congressional candidates spent the night on the sidewalk of their assigned areas. They slept on top of corrugated cartons.

 

Councilor Jagmoc said he took the initiative of assigning two portalets each for the use of the two conflicting camps.

 

“SOP na nga kung naay daghan taw butangan gyud dayon nato ug portalets. Amo sad gi sige ug monitor ang garbage disposal (It is standard operating procedure that if there are plenty of people converging in one area, we immediately send our portalets. We also constantly monitor the garbage disposal),” he said.

 

Equipped with their pushcarts, street cleaners roamed the crowded streets yesterday to retrieve garbage left behind.

 

CDN saw yesterday that puso (hanging rice) and fried meat inside plastic bags were distributed to Salimbangon’s supporters.

 

Water jars were also stationed in front of the bank for their use.

 

A sidewalk vendor, who used to tend her stall near Magellan’s Cross, moved to Osmeña Boulevard to be closer to the rallyists.

 

“Mas kusog man ang halin sa mineral water diri kay daghan man ug taw (The bottles of mineral water sell faster because there are plenty of people here),” she said.

 

While both Martinez and Salimbangon claimed that their supporters were not rallyists for hire, some City Hall personnel working at the legislative department said they saw some neighbors among the rallyists.

 

A City Hall employee told CDN that he saw a neighbor in barangay Pasil in Cebu City join Salimbangon’s crowd of supporters.

 

“Ni apil kuno siya kay P150 a day ang ihatag unya libre pa gyud kaon (My neighbor joined becuase they were paid P150 per day with free meals),” the employee said.

 

A Salimbangon supporter told CDN that he was from barangay Lahug but joined the rally to support Salimbangon, who was his employer.

 

Henerato Punay, one of Salimbangon’s political leaders, denied in an earlier interview that they recruited Cebu City residents to join their rally.

 

Punay said more supporters, including women, will arrive in the city from the fourth district in time for Salimbangon’s proclamation.

Smokey Mountain: Hope springs from former dump

B y Allison Lopez
Inquirer
Last updated 02:19am (Mla time) 06/03/2007

MANILA, Philippines—Scavengers who make little money by selling trash from the former dump in Tondo, Manila, now have an opportunity to earn more with the recent inauguration of a material recovery facility (MRF).

 

Touted as a symbol of hope for the poorest of the poor, the MRF serves as a recycling area where workers can sort out garbage from households, schools and firms which can be sold at higher prices in sophisticated “junkyards” overseas. This means a bigger income for residents, unlike in the past when they sold unsorted trash.

 

The segregated waste is bought by local companies which sell it to international markets like China, which transforms the garbage into new primary materials.

 

The opening of the MRF is also in line with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, which encourages the establishment of recycling facilities in communities to divert waste from active landfills.

 

But what makes the MRF in Smokey Mountain more special is that it was born out of a partnership involving the community, a nongovernment organization and a private company.

 

Symbol of hope

 

“It’s a small building but it’s a symbol of hope. It can show you what can happen in a community. If you’re talking about alleviating poverty, you should start where poverty is,” said J. Hugh Faulkner, president and founder of Sustainable Project Management (SPM).

 

SPM is a Geneva-based NGO whose members have helped residents in the area improve their waste recycling by better collection, sorting and exporting.

 

For the past two years now, the SPM has been teaching members of the Samahan ng Muling Pagkabuhay Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SMP-MPC) how to segregate their trash according to type and color. Aluminum, paper and carton are also accepted for trading apart from plastic. A kilo of mixed waste priced at P15 can go up to P26 to P30 when it is segregated.

 

Construction of the two-story building that houses the garbage facility was sponsored by a $229,500 grant from the Asian Development Bank.

 

Tom Crouch, ADB country director, said the grant was actually a “modest” one compared with their other projects—but with a “highly visible impact on poverty.”

 

For over 40 years, Smokey Mountain was a two million-ton garbage heap that served as Metro Manila’s dumping ground. It drew a large community of informal settlers who turned into scavengers in order to earn money. Once known as the symbol of poverty, it was later transformed by the government into a showcase of low-income housing community of over 30,000 people.

 

“Smokey Mountain is the face of poverty. But today, it’s the face of hope and inspiration. The MRF is indeed a symbol of hope because it will provide livelihood opportunities and improve the environment at the same time,” Crouch said, adding that before the MRF’s construction, jobs were scarce in the area with the health of workers always at risk.

 

With the “greener and safer” workspace at the MRF, workers no longer have to worry about getting sick when they gather toxic waste materials.

 

Designed by architect Clifford Espinosa, the MRF was constructed using hollow blocks and pavers made from residual waste. It has natural ventilation plus protection from heavy rains. The facility will soon have a large kitchen area for an expanded food catering business, originally to feed workers at the site.

 

But the structure itself was built by the community, specifically, by 40 residents who underwent a 10-day crash course on construction conducted by Holcim Cement.

 

“It has truly taken the effort and support of the whole community to make this new building a reality,” said SPM program director Anita Celdran.

 

The recycling program of SPM also includes teaching Smokey Mountain residents to manage their household waste, which can be turned into organic fertilizer.

 

Over 100 housewives have also benefited from learning to make notebooks, ladies’ bags and accessories from old newspapers and phone directories. Most of their products are being exported to Australia. Soon, a clothing line will also be launched to open more job opportunities in the community.

 

Need for more training

 

“It became apparent that there was a need to improve the recycling facility and provide capacity building and skills training to the community,” Celdran said.

 

Though Smokey Mountain has slowly veered away from its previous image of being the symbol of poverty in the Philippines, much still needs to be done in the remaining landfill that still emits toxic fumes.

 

Because of the danger posed by the fumes, several residents have been forbidden from growing vegetables on top of the former dump, while children who used to play in the area have also warned against doing so.

 

A leachate study on the metals and toxins seeping from the former mountain of garbage was also conducted by the SPM and the University of the Philippines. Its findings are being finalized.

 

Even the MRF is still incomplete. A connecting building is expected to rise on the 1,000-sq m leased land soon.

 

But it can wait, just as the Smokey Mountain residents have, for a glimmer of hope in this place they call home.

NBI charges 6 in mail-order bride scam

By Tina Santos
Inquirer
Last updated 07:06pm (Mla time) 06/02/2007
MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation has filed charges against six persons, including two Korean nationals, for allegedly exploiting young Filipinas through their mail-order bride business.

The arrested suspects were identified as Seung Han Lee and Moo Hwan Lee, both Korean nationals and temporarily residing at Milyang Hotel and Restaurant, Valdez Street, San Miguel Village, Makati City; Susana Obano, Girlie Alayon, Jane Mahusay, and Marlene Ambasan.

They were charged with violating the Mail Order Bride Law, or Republic Act 6955, the NBI said.

Investigation showed that prior to the suspects’ arrest, the authorities were tipped off in April that a group of Koreans and some Filipino women were enticing young girls to be matched for marriage with other visiting Korean nationals.

The families of the “chosen” girls were given P100,000. The girls were promised a bright future once they set foot in Korea, the NBI added.

Following surveillance, bureau agents immediately formed a team for an entrapment operation.

Except for Ambasan, NBI agents arrested the suspects, who were with “prospective brides” inside a room at the Milyang Hotel.

The suspects were in the process of introducing prospective “brides” to two Koreans who were then conducting interviews allegedly for marriage, the NBI said.

The special law against mail-order brides signed by former President Corazon Aquino on June 13, 1990, makes it unlawful for anybody to engage in matching Filipino women for marriage to foreign nationals on a mail-order basis and other similar practices. This includes soliciting or attracting a Filipina to become a member of a club whose objective is to match women for marriage to foreigners through personal introduction for a fee.

Ermita denies rumors of impending Cabinet revamp

By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
Inquirer
Last updated 06:43pm (Mla time) 06/02/2007

MANILA, Philippines — There will be no Cabinet fall-out from Team Unity’s embarrassing defeat in the senatorial elections.

 

This was declared Saturday by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, supposedly the biggest casualty in the rumored plan of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to enforce a massive overhaul of the Cabinet after Independence Day.

 

In a phone interview, Emita said the President has not mentioned any plan to tinker with her Cabinet. “I guess it is safe to say that since she has not given any orders on who she wanted replaced and who will replace them that the Cabinet will be intact in the near future.”

 

Multiple sources interviewed by the Inquirer said that the President was very disappointed with the turnout of the mid-term elections largely because it has become what the opposition had predicted it would be — a referendum on her administration.

 

Only two administration bets are so far in the top 12 of the senatorial elections based on the Commission on Elections’ on-going canvass, which is close to being completed. The President had sounded off to her close advisers her plans to either fire or reassign key Cabinet officials in order to give her administration a fresh start and fresh face as she begins the last three years of her second term in office.

 

The last three years have been a tortuous ride for the President as she had to contend with numerous scandals — from Hello Garci to Jose Pidal to the fertilizer fund scam — a failed mutiny, and street protests.

 

Ermita is rumored to be appointed to a coveted diplomatic post and among his possible replacements is another ex-general, Transportation and Communication Secretary Leandro Mendoza.

 

“All these talks are baseless. I believe there is no reason for the President to change her Cabinet. She is satisfied with the people she has in place,” said a confident Ermita, who has taken in stride the pro-administration slate’s defeat.

“It’s not the end of the world. The opposition controlled the Senate before, so it’s nothing new. We have to move on and work for our country’s progress,” said Ermita

GO bets continue to dominate Comelec count 8-2-2

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 06:02pm (Mla time) 06/02/2007
PASAY CITY, Philippines — The Genuine Opposition continues its dominance at 8-2-2 in the canvass of the Commission on Elections on its 17th day of canvassing here at the Philippine International Convention Center.

The Comelec en banc, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, finished counting Shariff Kabunsuan and North Cotabato, leaving six more certificates of canvass (CoCs) left un-canvassed.

The Special Board of Canvassers created to re-canvass North Cotabato said that 17 of the 18 CoCs from the province were included; only the CoC from the municipality of Banisilan, which has a total of 22,172 registered voters, was not canvassed.

These 17 CoCs represent 96 percent of the 556,474 registered voters in the province, the chairman of the SBOC said.

The NBC adjourned around 5 p.m., and will resume canvassing of the remaining CoCs Monday afternoon.

The top 12 candidates as of the unofficial media count of the Comelec canvass are as follows:

 Legarda, Legarda (GO) 17,716,801
 Escudero, Francis (GO) 17,516,758
 Lacson, Panfilo (GO) 14,928,901
 Villar, Manuel (GO 14,710,757
 Pangilinan, Francis (Ind) 13,992,145
 Aquino, Benigno III (GO) 13,797,943
 Angara, Edgardo (TU) 11,833,989
 Cayetano, Alan Peter (GO) 11,322,192
 Arroyo, Joker (TU) 11,161,442
 Honasan, Gregorio (Ind) 11,060,192
 Trillanes, Antonio IV (GO) 10,716,221
 Pimentel, Aquilino III (GO) 10,445,773

Serge Osmeña happy to be wrong about forecast

 

Serge Osmeña happy to be wrong about forecast
By Dona Pazzibugan
Inquirer
Last updated 02:16am (Mla time) 06/03/2007
MANILA, Philippines—The Genuine Opposition’s strong showing in the May 14 senatorial election surpassed even the expectations of GO campaign manager Sen. Sergio Osmeña III.

 

In the ongoing official canvassing of the Commission on Elections, eight of the 11 candidates who ran under the GO coalition have remained within the winning circle for several days now.

 

Two candidates of the administration Team Unity and two independent candidates complete the Top 12 so far.

 

Osmeña intimated to reporters on Election Day that he expected only six
to seven of the GO candidates to win.

 

Though he did not give names, Osmeña most likely was thinking of the preelection surveys that showed six GO candidates as likely winners.

 

These are reelectionist Senators Manuel Villar and Panfilo Lacson, ex-senator Loren Legarda and Representatives Francis Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano and Benigno Aquino III.

 

The same surveys said four administration candidates were likely to win: Reelectionist Senators Edgardo Angara, Joker Arroyo and Ralph Recto and ex-senator Tito Sotto.

 

Independent candidates, reelectionist Sen. Francis Pangilinan and ex-senator Gregorio Honasan were to complete the winning 12, according to the surveys.

 

Outside Magic 12

 

Despite his strong showing in preelection surveys, Recto is outside the winning circle at 14th place, followed by former presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor who has conceded defeat.

 

Osmeña had correctly predicted that administration candidates would be fighting among themselves to get into the last few places.

 

But he also predicted that Honasan might not win and that Zubiri and Defensor might win because of sheer “government machinery.”

 

“I don’t think Honasan might make it because the administration is going to protect the tail-enders like Tito (Sotto) and (Michael) Defensor. They’ll all be cheating each other,” he said.
Dark horses

 

Osmeña considered as “dark horses” GO candidates lawyer Aquilino Pimentel III, Sonia Roco and rebel officer Antonio Trillanes IV.

 

Osmeña said at the time that he would have been particularly sorry if his cousin, former senator John Osmeña and Trillanes were to lose.

 

But on Election Day, and despite what the early surveys showed, Osmeña already believed that Trillanes had a strong chance of winning.

 

“If there’s anyone who is likely to squeeze through, it’s Trillanes because he’s going up 10 percent every week. He’s rising so fast that they did not even bother to cheat him,” Osmeña said.

 

Defying surveys

 

As it turned out, the detained officer charged with being one of the ring leaders of the failed July 2003 coup, defied preelection surveys and has consistently held on to 11th place in the official and unofficial tallies.
Pimentel is at 12th place, followed closely by Team Unity candidate Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri.

 

Roco, a neophyte politician, managed a respectable 17th place while John Osmeña is at 20th place.

 

Former senator Nikki Coseteng, another GO candidate, is at 22nd place in a field of 37 candidates.

 

Osmeña had predicted that Cayetano and Aquino would be the likely targets of vote-shaving (dagdag-bawas).

 

Cayetano and Aquino were active in the two failed impeachment attempts against President Macapagal-Arroyo in 2005 and 2006 along with Escudero, who was the House Minority Leader.

 

But unlike Escudero, Cayetano and Aquino had to go through legal battles to get namesake candidates disqualified.

 

As it turned out, the ongoing Comelec tally showed Aquino at sixth place even ahead of Angara at seventh, Cayetano at eighth, Arroyo at ninth and Honasan at 10th.

 

‘Wholesale’ cheating

 

Osmeña had said that in case of “wholesale cheating,” which would be most obvious in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, GO candidates might lose between 600,000 to one million votes.

 

“If they cheat by more than a million, we’ll get six (candidates). If they don’t cheat, we’ll get seven or more,” he had said.

 

Osmena, who took over as campaign manager in the middle of the campaign, said GO campaign leaders had done their best to coordinate the activities of the individual candidates.

 

He said most of the GO candidates like Villar, Lacson, Escudero and Legarda had their own campaign staff.

 

“We were left with coordinating efforts and doing things that the individual candidates could not do, like commissioning a survey. I hope that helped them,” he said.

 

Osmeña also produced omnibus TV campaign ads hitting at the Arroyo administration’s supposed failure in eradicating poverty, corruption, human rights abuses and rising prices.

 

But he admitted that winning elections were still a matter of the individual personalities of the candidates.

 

Personality-based votes

 

“People still vote based on personalities. If this had been bloc voting, we would have a 12-0 result against Gloria,” he said.

 

Osmeña waited until May 30, more than two weeks after the May 14 elections, to celebrate, treating the GO campaign staff at their Makati headquarters to lechon, pancit, ice cream and cake.

 

Osmeña, who underwent a minor heart operation during the campaign, even tasted some of the renowned Cebu lechon.

 

“It’s worth it,” quipped Osmeña, who will be stepping down as senator in July.

 

Also around to celebrate were his campaign assistants Renato Constantino Jr., George Balagtas and Adel Tamano, who served as campaign spokesperson.

 

Deposed president Joseph Estrada’s lawyer Rufus Rodriguez, who was elected representative of Cagayan de Oro, also showed up at the afternoon party.

 

Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, one of the senior convenors of the GO coalition, dropped in but did not join the party.

Roxas urges passage of cheaper meds law

By Dona Pazzibugan
Inquirer
Last updated 02:16am (Mla time) 06/03/2007

MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II has kept hope alive a law making medicines affordable will be passed by the current 13th Congress.

 

Roxas, principal proponent of the proposed law, urged his fellow legislators in the Senate and House of Representatives to devote their last three plenary session days to passing the bill.

 

The 13th Congress resumes session for the last time on June 4 after a four-month break for the midterm elections in May. It is expected to adjourn on June 6.

 

The Senate had approved Senate Bill No. 2263 on Jan. 31.

 

The House has yet to approve the bill on third and final reading. It, however, passed its version, House Bill No. 6035, on second reading on Feb. 20.

 

The House needs to get a quorum on June 4 to pass the bill on third reading.

 

But even if it is passed on final reading, the bill would have to undergo revision in the bicameral conference committee which reconciles differences in Senate and House versions of a bill.

 

The bicam then submits the proposed consolidated version to both chambers for ratification. If ratified, the consolidated version is sent to the President for signing.

 

Roxas is hopeful all this would be done in three days.

 

Moral imperative

 

“This is a very important piece of health legislation. Providing quality and affordable medicines to our people is a moral imperative. It should no longer be delayed,” he said.

 

“I ask my colleagues in both houses to exercise political will and pass this bill into law before the session ends,” he said.

 

Roxas said the bicameral conference committee meetings should not take long since consultations on the bill continued during the election break.

 

“Even before the bicameral meetings could be held, we’d been in constant communication with our counterparts in the House, with the government agencies involved and stakeholder groups, and our staff was consolidating the drafts of the bill,” he said.

 

The proposed law has met with stiff resistance from multinational drug companies which claim it would violate international copyright rules.

 

But Roxas said stakeholder groups had actively lobbied for the bill, among them, the British aid agency Oxfam, 3CP Net (Cut the Cost, Cut the Pain Network), AGAP (Ayos na Gamot sa Abot-kayang Presyo), Third World Network and Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development.

 

“I greatly appreciate the activities of the stakeholders in support of this bill. Their vigilant efforts are very helpful in preventing those who are blocking the bill from succeeding,” he said.

Ka Bel, kin to sue gov’t over arrest

By TJ Burgonio, Alcuin Papa, Jerome Aning
Inquirer
Last updated 02:16am (Mla time) 06/03/2007

MANILA, Philippines—While euphoric over the Supreme Court junking of rebellion charges against him and his five colleagues, Anakpawis party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran and his family said yesterday they will sue the government for his illegal arrest and detention.

 

“Because of the irregularities in the administration of justice, we’re seeking damages, if this is going to be allowed by the Supreme Court,” the 74-year-old labor representative said in a phone interview.

 

For starters, Beltran and his family will seek P1 million in damages for every month of his 15-month-long detention at the national police headquarters in Camp Crame and at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City.

 

“We will not give up until we get them to pay for what they did to us,” the lawmaker’s wife Rosario Beltran, 68, clad in a white T-shirt with the message “Free Ka Beltran” emblazoned on it, said at a press briefing.

 

Their daughter Ofelia Balleta, 46, said the government should pay for the misery and distress it brought to their family.

 

Beltran’s co-respondents—Bayan Muna Representatives Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casiño Jr. and Joel Virador, Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza, and Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano—also indicated that they would sue the government for moral damages.

 

Reacting to the reports, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief Edgardo Doromal said it was Beltran’s right to file charges against them if he wanted to.

 

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Makati Regional Trial Court to dismiss the cases of rebellion against Beltran, the five other lawmakers and four civilians for insufficient evidence. The high tribunal noted that the preliminary investigation was “fraught with irregularities” and obviously involved political considerations.

 

It called for Beltran’s release from detention, unless he was facing other charges in court, and chided Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez for prejudging the case.

 

“We seem to have clear basis to sue at least the secretary of justice and other members of the Cabinet for damages for filing injurious cases that caused anxiety, disrupted our work and blackened our name,” Ocampo said in an interview Friday night.

 

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, head of the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG), who also recommended the filing of charges against the lawmakers, may also be charged.

 

But whether they would file the suit collectively or separately has yet to be decided by the group, according to Mariano. “We will discuss this collectively,” he said at the same briefing.

 

Beltran’s family as well as his colleagues called for the resignation of Gonzalez, Gonzales and other government officials who had a hand in the filing of the charges against them.

 

The Quezon City-based Center for Trade Union and Human Rights hailed the Supreme Court decision, saying Beltran should be released soon and those responsible for his illegal detention should be punished.

 

“I wish he would be fired from his job. He’s done nothing but sow disorder,” Beltran’s wife Rosario said of the justice secretary. “He should step down on the day that Ka Bel is released…delicadeza (propriety) would dictate that.”

 

The Supreme Court decision had come as a surprise to Beltran. Beltran’s daughter said they were merely pinning their hopes on getting her father allowed to post bail (they had raised P200,000), and never expected the dismissal of the rebellion case.

 

“When I heard the news on the radio, I started crying. Now he’s free not on humanitarian grounds but because he’s innocent,” Balleta said.

 

The family has asked the Makati RTC to issue the release order so Beltran can attend the resumption of the 13th Congress tomorrow.

 

Beltran plans to deliver a speech narrating his experience and making a manifestation on his pet bills: The P125-across-the-board increase for private employees and the P3,000 monthly increase for government employees.

 

He was just worried that red tape in his clearance papers would make him miss the afternoon session.

 

With Anakpawis getting more than 2 percent of the total votes counted so far in the party-list elections, Beltran looks set to gain a fresh term in the House of Representatives. A party-list group that gets 2 percent of the votes cast for party-list groups is entitled to one seat.