VP De Castro backs Arroyo on revamp plan

By Cynthia Balana
Inquirer
Last updated 07:35pm (Mla time) 06/16/2007

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Noli De Castro on Saturday supported the call of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the resignation of the heads of government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and government financial institutions (GFIs).

 

“From a governance standpoint, this is a prudent move that would allow the President to weed out those who are not performing or delivering as expected among the heads of these agencies,” De Castro said.

 

He said the decision to retain or replace GOCC and GFI heads will definitely be performance-based.

 

“We only have three years left and there are still a lot of unmet performance targets. What we need at this point are real workers and performers. Everything that we do from now on must be aligned with the goals and objectives of the administration as spelled out in the governance plans and frameworks,” he said.

 

De Castro, who oversees six housing corporations, already asked the heads of these agencies to tender their resignations, yesterday.

 

The shelter agencies include the Home Guaranty Corporation (HGC) headed by its president Gonzalo Bongolan, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) headed by chief executive officer Romulo Fabul, National Housing Authority (NHA) headed by General Manager Federico Laxa, National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) headed by president Joseph Peter Sison, Pag-IBIG Fund under its President and CEO, lawyer Romero Quimbo, and Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) headed by laywer Fermin Arzaga.

 

“I will also assess the performance of the heads of the housing agencies under HUDCC. It is their responsibility to ensure that they are all focused toward the single objective of expanding access to shelter security,” the vice president said.

 

When asked about the Cabinet revamp, De Castro said, “I think the President deserves to have a team that can help her achieve her administration’s goals for the country. And there is no question that it is her prerogative to organize such a team.”

Make Palparan testify first in death squad probe

By Tonette Orejas
Central Luzon Desk
Last updated 04:57pm (Mla time) 06/16/2007

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — A national fishermen’s alliance has urged Senator-elect Antonio Trillanes IV to first call retired Major General Jovito Palparan Jr. in the planned investigation of the supposed existence of the military’s death squads.

 

The group Pamalakaya said these death squads were suspected to be behind the spate of extrajudicial killings and abduction of activists since 2001.

 

Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya national chair, said Trillanes, a former Navy lieutenant involved in the failed Oakwood mutiny in 2003, should “immediately summon ‘the Butcher’ (Palparan) to testify before the Senate regarding his role in the mass murder of left-wing activists in Southern Tagalog, Eastern Visayas, and Central Luzon.”

 

Activists and militant groups have called Palparan the “butcher” (or berdugo) of political activists and members of militant groups.

 

Palparan, reached by phone on Saturday, declined to comment on Pamalakaya’s proposal to Trillanes.

 

On the heels of the separate investigations by United Nations special rapporteur Philip Alston and the Commission on Human Rights last year, Palparan had denied masterminding the attacks on leftist activists in regions where he had been assigned.

 

His last stint in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was as commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division in Central Luzon for a year until September 11, 2006.

 

The human rights group Karapatan has recorded more than 800 killings and nearly 200 abductions of political activists since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed office in 2001.

 

Hicap said the probe should also cover Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Armed Forces chief of staff, General Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Defense Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, military intelligence chief Major General Delfin Bangit, and top commanders of the military in areas where killings and abductions of activists happened.

 

Hicap said Trillanes’s statement that he would conduct a probe of the killings was “promising.”

 

“We will see the meat of this statement once he assumes his political role as anti-Arroyo lawmaker in the 14th Congress. In the name of public interest, we will persuade the young officer to take the patriotic path and pursue the interest of the people in and out of the Senate,” Hicap said.

Afable resigns as chief govt peace negotiator

Oblate priest is new head of peace talks with MILF

By Jeoffrey Maitem, Edwin Fernandez
Mindanao Bureauinquirer.net
Last updated 06:48pm (Mla time) 06/16/2007

COTABATO CITY — Secretary Silvestre Afable has resigned as chairman of the government panel talking peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a Malacañang official told the Inquirer on Saturday.

 

Jesus Dureza, presidential assistant on the peace process, said he talked with Afable on Friday night and “he confirmed he was leaving the panel.”

 

“I think he wanted to return to the private sector,” Dureza said.

 

The MILF said it was saddened at Afable’s decision “to leave the negotiations at this crucial stage.”

 

Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesperson, said Afable is one of “those government officials determined to address the Bangsamoro problem.”

 

However, Kabalu said the negotiations would go on because the government could always find a replacement.

 

“The negotiations are not personality-centered,” he said.

 

Afable sat in the negotiations in 2003 after Dureza, who was then chief negotiator, resigned over the controversy created by his footnotes on the minutes of the negotiations held in Kuala Lumpur.

 

Dureza said a replacement for Afable had already been chosen in the person of Fr. Eliseo Mercado.

 

“He (Afable) welcomed Mercado as his successor,” Dureza said.

 

When asked if Afable’s resignation would affect the resumption of the peace process, Dureza said he did not think so.

 

The peace talks were stalled last year over the question of territory.

 

The MILF wanted the inclusion of at least 1,000 villages in the future Bangsamoro juridical entity but the government said it was only willing to let go of about 600 villages which are pre-dominantly Muslims.

 

“The immediate replacement of Afable by Mercado will ensure a smooth transition. The assumption of Mercado as panel chair will ensure a continuity in the efforts towards a peace negotiation with the MILF,” Dureza said.

 

Before Afable resigned, he said the peace talks would resume after “all the issues relating to the just concluded mid-term elections will be settled.”

 

Asked when it will take place, Afable said: “as soon as possible.”

 

Afable also said he believed the peace talks would not be disturbed even if it remains suspended because of the working ceasefire mechanism.

 

“It is so remarkable that since the deadlock on the talks, the ground situation remains to be very conducive for the impending resumption of the talks soon,” he said.

 

“The peace talks are in its final stage,” he added.

 

The MILF also welcomed the naming of Mercado as Afable’s successor.

 

“We know Mercado personally. He served also in the early stages of the peace talks. We do respect him,” MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said.

 

Dureza said Mercado, a priest belonging to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, has a vast experience in the Mindanao peace process.

 

He was a member of the government panel that talked peace with the Nur Misuari-led Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

 

The MNLF eventually signed a peace pact with the government.

 

Mercado was later elected floor leader of the now defunct Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD) Consultative Assembly and served as a chairman of the now-defunct Independent Ceasefire Monitoring Committee of the Philippine Government and the MILF.

 

Mercado was also involved with the Mindanao Task Force on Poverty Alleviation, the Social Reform Agenda, Council for Central Mindanao, the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor for Central Mindanao, the Mindanao Peace Advocates, and the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

CBCP condemns move to commute Jalosjos sentence

By Jerome Aning
Inquirer
Last updated 07:39pm (Mla time) 06/16/2007

MANILA, Philippines — The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Saturday condemned Malacanang’s decision to commute the double life prison sentence meted out to convicted child-rapist Romeo Jalosjos.

 

Rodolfo Diamante, executive secretary of the CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care, said the commutation clearly demonstrated the “bias of the Arroyo administration for known political allies.”

 

Diamante said there are more deserving prisoners, sick and much older than Jalosjos, that should be granted such privilege but the government has not acted on them.

 

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has commuted the two life terms of Jalosjos to a prison term of 16 years, three months, and three days, paving the way for the release of the former lawmaker convicted for raping an 11-year-old girl in 1996 as early as next year.

 

Diamante agreed that the commutation, as other critics claimed, was “payment for electoral services rendered.”

 

“Obviously it’s political because how come Jalosjos was given that privilege and denied the others who are more deserving,” said Diamante in a statement issued by the CBCP.

 

“There’s something wrong here. They exercise the executive privilege only to those who are giving benefits to the administration,” he added.

 

Diamante said that while the commission recognizes the presidential power to grant executive clemency, such authority should be used to give justice to people regardless of their position in society.

 

He also stressed that Arroyo’s move was a “big blow” to the country’s justice system, adding, “It shows that as long as you have the power and influence you’re given privilege and the justice system has been criticized as always tilted in favor of the rich and powerful.”

 

Diamante said he was sure there were many other convicts who have been truly and completely rehabilitated and who deserved commutation but do not have influential backers.

 

“We would appreciate it very much if the President will look into these more deserving people without certain kind of power and influence to be given such kind of executive privilege,” he said.

 

Jalosjos, 66, a former Zamboanga Del Norte congressman, was convicted in 1996 for raping an 11-year-old girl and got an additional 15 years for each of the six counts of acts of lasciviousness. He has so far served 13 years in jail.

 

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Jalosjos was among 10 convicts whose sentences were reduced by Arroyo upon the recommendation of the Board of Pardon and Parole with the approval of the Department of Justice last April 30.

 

Ermita said Jalosjos deserved to be commuted because he was already old and sickly.

 

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye also defended Arroyo’s move, saying there was nothing irregular in granting Jalosjos a commutation of sentence since this has also been done for several other convicts.

 

Bunye was earlier quoted as saying that the decision to commute Jalosjos’s sentence was a way to decongest the jails.

 

Diamante’s superior, commission chairman Palawan Bishop Pedro Arigo, branded Bunye’s statement as “surprising” and “so shallow, adding that commutation of sentences may, in a way, decongest jails but this should depend on the convict’s attitudes toward reformation.

Bohol militant leader critically wounded in slay try

By Kit Bagaipo
Visayas Bureau
Last updated 04:18pm (Mla time) 06/16/2007

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol — A single assailant shot and critically wounded Bayan Muna Bohol secretary general Mario Auxillo shortly before midnight Friday at the public market of Bien Unido town in Bohol.

 

Auxillo, 50, a resident of Barangay (village) Kabiguhan, Trinidad town, had just finished a meeting with local fisherfolk at around 11:30 p.m. when the assailant shot him twice, hitting him in the head and left arm, according to Auxillo’s sister, Gregoria.

 

As of 8 a.m. Saturday, doctors at the Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital in Tagbilaran City have still to operate on Auxillo, said Gregoria Auxillo Salces.

 

His condition remained critical as one bullet was still lodged in his jaw, Salces said in an interview.

 

Auxillo lost his bid for the second district seat in the Bohol provincial board during the last elections.

 

Bayan-Muna Bohol coordinator John Ruiz III said that since last year, “a smear campaign [was launched] against (Auxillo) by Mata na Bol-anon Movement, believed to be military-backed.”

 

Ruiz said the Mata na Bol-anon Movement has been labeling Auxillo as a manipulator of the people and with connections to the New People’s Army (NPA). Leaflets maligning Auxillo were also distributed in Bohol’s northern towns, he said.

 

While the initial police reports revealed that the shooter was a civilian, “a military connection could not be ruled out” as the “massive smear campaign and black propaganda against the victim by military propagandist had put his life under constant threat,” Ruiz said.

 

The Philippine Army’s 15th Infantry Batallion allegedly attacked Bayan Muna, local farmers’ organization Humabol and Auxillo during a meeting in Trinidad town with rebel returnees, Ruiz said.

 

Militant group leaders here have reported about “an organized surveillance” against them and some of their members.

 

Less than a year ago in August 2006, Bayan-Bohol chairman Victor Olayvar was shot dead in Danao town, after meeting with some farmers’ groups.

(UPDATE) 4 cops slain in rebel clash in Bicol identified

By Fernan Gianan
Southern Luzon Bureau
Last updated 04:44pm (Mla time) 06/16/2007
VIRAC, Catanduanes — Four policemen were killed by around 30 suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) early Saturday morning in Pandan town, some 90 km north of this capital town, in an apparent reprisal for the three communist guerrillas shot dead in a May 31 encounter.

 

 

 

The attack came two weeks after Catanduanes provincial police director
Senior Superintendent Francisco Peñaflor Jr. warned his officers and men to be vigilant against expected reprisals.

 

 

 

Sources at Camp Francisco Camacho here said an undetermined number of rebels first entered the house of Senior Police Officer 2 Joseph Evangelista in Barangay (village) Oga at the outskirts of the town proper at 5:30 a.m. when he was shot dead. Members of his family were however unharmed.

 

 

 

Minutes later, three other policemen from the Pandan police station identified as Police Officer 3 Juan Dominguez Jr., Police Officer 1 Noli Lopez, and Police Officer 1 Darryl Parado responded to the incident on board a motorcycle.

 

 

 

An NPA blocking force ambushed the three cops near the bridge leading to the barangay.

 

 

 

Peñaflor said the rebels were armed with a .30 caliber machinegun.

 

 

 

The Police Provincial Mobile Group (PPMG) under Superintendent Gil Francis Tria conducted pursuit operations against the fleeing rebels while an Air Force helicopter provided additional support.

 

 

 

On May 31, three NPA rebels were killed in a clash with the PPMG in the
remote coastal village of Cagdarao, Panganiban, some 30 km southeast of Pandan.

 

 

 

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a Maoist rebellion here since 1969 in what has become one of Asia’s longest-running communist insurgencies.

Cebu judge exposes marriage coordination scam

By Jolene Bulambot
Visayas Bureau
Last updated 07:14pm (Mla time) 06/16/2007

CEBU CITY, Cebu — A municipal trial court in cities judge in Cebu City has bared an alarming case of illicit wedding coordination business at the Marcelo Fernan Hall of Justice here allegedly involving a fellow MTCC judge and a court staff.

 

Judge Donato Navarro, presiding judge of MTCC-Cebu Branch 6, has also asked the Supreme Court to immediately investigate the allegations “to protect the image and credibility of the judiciary.”

 

Navarro alleged that one of his court stenographers, Corazon Retuya, connived with a fellow judge in making a business out of officiating marriages in the city courts by charging from P1,000 to P 8,000 when the marriage fee should only be P300.

 

He said the charge would even higher, from P15,000 to P100,000, if the union involves a Filipina marrying a foreigner.

 

In a press conference Friday afternoon, Navarro has also called on the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to condemn the “marriage coordination scam” and for concerned authorities to put a stop to the alleged irregularity.

 

“I call on the members of the legal community particularly the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to condemn the marriage coordination scam because it has affected not only the image but also the credibility of the judiciary. They are making millions out of this private business and this must be stopped,” he said.

 

Navarro, who was recently barred by the Supreme Court to preside over hearings and was instead ordered to concentrate on deciding the almost 2,000 pending cases in his court, made this allegation in his 48-page accomplishment report that he submitted to the High Tribunal two weeks ago.

 

The High Tribunal has stripped Navarro of some judicial and administrative functions after his staff filed administrative charges against him for, among others, neglect of duty and oppression.

 

Navarro said the complaints against him were fabricated and has asked the High Tribunal to dismiss the charges filed against him.

 

He also asked the Supreme Court to impose administrative sanctions against the court officials and staff who would be found to have been violating the law.

 

“The public has the right to know about the corrupt practices in the judiciary because they deserve the right justice. In my court, there has been a marriage coordination scam that has been going on for several years. I only learned of this when I discovered hundreds of these marriage certificates performed by a current judge. This judge is in collaboration (with) my court stenographer,” he alleged.

 

Attached to Navarro’s report were photocopies of some 408 marriage certificates performed during the last eight months of 2003 for a fee of P1,500 each, or a total of P612,000.

 

Retuya and her young daughter, Celeste, allegedly filled up the marriage certificates, Navarro claimed.

 

“The applications even show how much (Corazon) Retuya charges to coordinate the application of license from a low of P 1,500 to a high of P6,000 or more. In some of them, it even shows that this fee is divided among the guard, some court staff, and the judge,” he said.

 

The older Retuya denied the allegations, saying Navarro was making false accusations against her out of vindictiveness. However, she refused to comment further saying she would wait the action from the Supreme Court.

 

MTCC-Cebu Executive Judge Oscar Andrino, who presides over Branch 5, also declined to be interviewed when the Inquirer sought his comment.

 

But a Branch 5 staff who asked not to be named said Andrino would be calling a meeting among city judges next week and would include in the agenda the allegation raised by Navarro.

 

Navarro said he judge involved in the scam has earned the monicker “the marrying judge” because she performed an average of two marriages a day.

 

The same judge, Navarro claimed, even performed marriages in other cities no longer under her jurisdiction.

 

The Inquirer is withholding the name of the judge pending her comment. Several attempts to reach the judge in her courtroom where she was scheduled to officiate a wedding at 6 p.m. proved futile.

 

Navarro in his complaint added that because of the alleged connivance between the judge and his stenographer, Branch 6 has also earned the reputation as the “marrying court” and has been referred to as a church rather than as a court.

 

He also requested authority from the Supreme Court to seize any and all documents within his court including those locked in the drawers so he could forward them to the High Tribunal for evaluation.

 

“It is very obvious that some complainants, in praying for the removal of their superiors, may have filed this case in order to escape sanctions themselves, as some of them are guilty of offenses for which they may be dismissed,” he said.

 

Navarro has also asked the Supreme Court to require the executive judge to coordinate or enter into a memorandum of agreement with the Local Civil Registrar so that marriage contracts would be furnished to the court exclusively through the Office of the Clerk of Court.

 

“The undersigned believes that (by) simply having the Local Civil Registrar release marriage contracts supplied to the courts through only the Clerk of Court, to be released only upon payment of the P300 marriage fee, will do wonders in stopping (the) illicit business. This will at least make them aware that this is all that they have to pay since an official receipt has to be issued,” he said.

(UPDATE) Mayor, vice mayor shot dead in Nueva Ecija cockpit

(UPDATE) Mayor, vice mayor shot dead in Nueva Ecija cockpit

9-year-old boy among seven hurt in attack

By Anselmo Roque
Central Luzon Desk
Last updated 05:00pm (Mla time) 06/16/2007SAN JOSE CITY, Nueva Ecija –The newly elected mayor and vice mayor of Lupao, Nueva Ecija were killed while seven others, including a nine-year-old boy, were wounded when armed men shot them in a cockpit arena in this city Friday night.

Superintendent Peter Guibong, city police chief, said Board Member Alfredo Vendivil Sr., 54, the newly elected mayor of Lupao, and his cousin, vice mayor-elect Virgilio Vendivil, 45, were walking toward the San Jose City Cockpit Arena after a break in a cockfight derby when they were attacked by a group of three to five men at 11:30 p.m.

Reports said Alfredo took at least 15 bullet wounds in his head and body while Virgilio had seven bullet wounds. The suspects, police said, were armed with .45 caliber, .38 caliber, and 9-millimeter guns.

The seven wounded people were among the 1,500 spectators of the derby organized by the Vendivils.

The arena is about 500 meters west of the city proper and 14 km from Lupao town.

Among the wounded was Manuel Vendivil, 37, another relative of the victims. The wounded boy was identified as Michael Jordan Yanguas, a resident of this city. It was not known why he was in the cockpit at that time.

Lupao Councilor Rolando Bantigue, another relative of the Vendivils, said he was in the cockpit at the time of the attack but did not witness the shooting.

He said he talked to Alfredo before the derby that started at about 8:30 p.m. and did not sense that something was wrong.

“[Alfredo] was kind, always took a low profile, and was not heard saying he was receiving death threats. He had a civilian aide on Friday night but the aide was not carrying a gun. The aide told me he saw the face of one of the gunmen but he did not recognize him,” Bantigue told the Inquirer on Saturday.

Bantigue said Alfredo, a former Lupao mayor and councilor, defeated incumbent Lupao Mayor Alexander Joanino in the May 14 elections. Alfredo, according to Bantigue, was a farmer and truck driver before he entered politics.

His son, Alfredo Jr., 34, was shot and killed in August last year by unidentified suspects near his house in Barangay (village) Cordero in Lupao. Senior Superintendent Alfredo Caballes, acting Nueva Ecija police director, has formed a task force to investigate the killings and arrest the suspects.

The attack was the first incident that involved top politicians in the province after the May 14 elections.

More than 130 people were killed in election-related violence during and immediately after the three-month campaign for the polls.

Australian firm readies oil drilling in Calauit fields

By Abigail L. Ho
Inquirer
Last updated 04:17am (Mla time) 06/16/2007

MANILA, Philippines — Australian firm Otto Energy Ltd. said it had finished gathering 3D seismic data over 116 square kilometers of offshore fields named Calauit and Calauit South, in the southwestern island of Palawan, and would prepare a drilling plan.

 

The fields are covered by Service Contract 50.

 

In a disclosure to the Australian Stock Exchange, Otto Energy chief executive Alex Parks said seismic vessel CGG-Veritas Pacific Sword had also started gathering 2D seismic data over 954 kilometers off Palawan.

 

Data gathering in this area, covered by Service Contract 55, was 50 percent completed as of June 12, he said.

 

After SC 55, he said, the seismic vessel will move to Otto Energy’s SC 51 petroleum blocks in the East Visayan Basin to gather 3D seismic data over a 145-square-kilometer area and 2D data over a 261-square-kilometer area.

 

“The entire seismic program is expected to be complete by the end of July 2007, after which the seismic data will be processed … and drilling plans finalized,” Parks said.

 

Drilling has been scheduled for the third quarter of 2008, he said.

 

According to Otto Energy’s estimates, the Calauit field under SC 50 has potential to produce 40 million barrels of oil.

 

The data acquired from the SC 55 seismic survey will be used for plans to drill in the Marantao prospect in late 2008 or early 2009, the company said.

 

“It is the company’s opinion that Marantao has the volumetric potential to contain sufficient gas to warrant [a liquefied natural gas] project,” Otto Energy said in an earlier disclosure.

 

For SC 51, the seismic surveys focus on the Argao and Cabilao prospects, in preparation for drilling next year.

 

The two prospects have a combined potential of 200 million barrels of recoverable oil, the company has said.

 

Otto Energy holds a 65-percent working interest in SC 50, a 70-percent interest in SC 51 and a 75-percent stake in SC 55. With INQUIRER.net

NTC to buy anti-spam gear

By Riza T. Olchondra
Inquirer
Last updated 04:17am (Mla time) 06/16/2007

MANILA, Philippines — The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) plans to buy anti-spam equipment as part of efforts to prevent the spread of unwanted cell-phone text messages, an official said.

 

“We are looking at offers from several manufacturers of monitoring equipment, including those that can block SIMs and the unique international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) of individual phones,” NTC deputy commissioner Jorge Sarmiento said.

 

In the meantime, “blocking, if necessary, is still done via telcos’ networks,” he said. “We currently have agreements with telcos on procedures for doing this.”

 

The NTC has drafted a circular ordering cell phone makers, dealers and even users to register their units with the commission before use.

 

It says the draft circular titled, “Rules and Regulations for the Registration of Mobile Phones,” aims to control the importation, sale, purchase, possession and ownership of cellular phones.

 

Under the draft circular, cellular phones will be released from the Bureau of Customs only after the importer has registered the phones with the NTC.

 

The NTC is also working on a common reference on how long carriers can store subscribers’ text message and call records.

 

Voice calls and data traffic such as text messages, multimedia messaging service, or MMS, and Internet services are covered by the rules.

 

In the original draft, phone companies should retain the origin, destination, date, time, and duration of post-paid telephone services for two months.

 

Similar data for prepaid services will be kept up to six months. With INQUIRER.net