Results of Antique polls still hanging

By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Visayas Bureau
Last updated 04:57am (Mla time) 06/18/2007

SAN JOSE, ANTIQUE — The special board of canvassers has yet to declare the election winners in this province after it suspended the proclamation set on Friday.

 

The board of canvassers suspended its session at around 1 p.m., three hours after it started, after former Assemblyman Arturo Pacificador questioned the legality of the appointment of a new board and its composition.

 

Pacificador submitted a petition at the start of the session claiming that the composition of the board was illegal because it violated the Omnibus Election Code on who can be appointed as members of the provincial board of canvassers (PBOC).

 

He questioned the appointment of Commission on Elections assistant regional director Tomas Valera, as assistant chair of the board, and Iloilo provincial election supervisor Elizabeth Doronila as the board’s secretary.

 

Election laws limit the choice of the PBOC members to the provincial auditor, register of deeds, clerk of court and any other appointed provincial official, he said.

 

The Comelec’s first division on June 7 dissolved the previous PBOC and created the new one, chaired by Comelec regional director Renato Magbutay.

 

The Comelec also ordered the resumption of canvassing of votes and the proclamation of winning candidates of the province.

 

Gov. Salvacion Zaldivar-Perez led her opponents based on election returns from the province’s 18 municipalities with 68,867 votes.

 

Pacificador got 55,502 votes while Jovito Plameras garnered 54,062 votes.

 

Pacificador questioned why only the first division decided on the dissolution of the previous board and on the formation of a new one instead of the commission en banc.

 

“This board should not canvass and proclaim as winner any candidate,” Pacificador said in an interview.

 

The new PBOC issued a ruling during the session dismissing Pacificador’s petition. It said the first division had the authority to decide on the issue.

 

It also said that Pacificador should have directed his petition to the Comelec head office in Manila, which appointed the new PBOC.

 

While the new board dismissed Pacificador’s petition, it decided to suspend its proceedings because of his intent to appeal the ruling.

 

“The composition of the board is being questioned. It is now constrained to suspend the canvassing and proclamation of winners,” Magbutay said.

 

He said that the board members’ acts could be declared illegal if they continued with the proceedings.

 

Under election rules, Pacificador has five days within which to file his appeal, after which the Comelec will issue a ruling within two days, Magbutay said.

 

But Governor Perez’s legal counsel, Guillermo Alcantara, said the board should not have entertained Pacificador’s petition.

 

“They should have proceeded with the canvassing and proclamation because they have no authority to resolve the legality of their appointment as PBOC,” Alcantara said.

 

Perez said she would ask the Comelec in Manila “to call or discipline” the members of the new PBOC for failing to proclaim the winning candidates.

 

“The people of Antique are already exasperated why (the winning candidates) have not been proclaimed until now,” the governor said in a press conference after the board suspended its session.

Communist rebels bomb Globe cell site in Iloilo

By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Visayas Bureau
Last updated 04:50pm (Mla time) 06/18/2007

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Suspected communist rebels bombed a cell site of the Globe Telecom in Tubungan town in Iloilo near midnight Sunday for refusing to pay protection money.

 

At least 10 heavily armed men who introduced themselves as New People’s Army (NPA) rebels disarmed the cell site’s two security guards of their .38 pistols around 11:30 p.m. in the village of Ambarihon in Tubungan town, about 41 kilometers south of Iloilo City.

 

The blast could disrupt the signal of Globe subscribers from two to three days within a five-kilometer radius around the damaged site.

 

Lieutenant Colonel Nestor Porlucas, commander of the Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion, said in a telephone interview that the rebels tied the guards’ hands and ordered them to leave the facility.

 

The rebels detonated three improvised bombs 20 minutes after the guards left. The explosion destroyed the site’s generator set and control panel but did not damage the tower.

 

Porlucas said the explosion was strong enough to damage the concrete fence surrounding the 800-square-meter facility. Government troops recovered detonating wires reaching 200 meters long.

 

The cell site is around five kilometers from the municipal hall, which was also attacked and briefly held by NPA rebels in 2005.

 

Porlucas alleged that the rebels belonged to the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA’s Southern Front Committee led by Lahum Camriosa, alias Ka Bibong, which operates in the towns of Leon, Tubungan, Miag-ao and Igbaras. They were believed to have fled towards the hinterland villages of Guimbal and Igbaras towns.

 

He said the attack could be part of the rebels’ extortion activities.

 

The rebels have justified the attacks against firms, saying companies that operate within their alleged areas should pay “revolutionary taxes.”

 

Jones Campos, Globe assistant vice-president for public relations, said: “We only pay taxes to the government.”

 

The blasts damaged equipment costing “hundreds of thousands of pesos,” according to Campos. But he said the guards’ safety was more important and the company was glad they were unharmed.

 

A new cell site would cost P5 million to P10 million depending on the location of the facility. Campos said the cost to repair the damage would be less because the tower was not damaged.

 

“It’s unfortunate that this happened. But this is part of the risks in our operations and we hope the police will get the perpetrators,” said Campos.

 

Campos said company engineers were rushing to inspect the extent of the damage and restore its operations.

 

The NPA rebels have attacked several cell sites, mostly owned by Globe, in the past few years, including around five in 2007.

 

Campos said the company earlier asked the Armed Force of the Philippines and Philippine National Police for security of their cell sites. But he said they could not predict which of their 6,000 cell sites nationwide would be attacked.

 

The NPA rebels withdrew from Norwegian-brokered peace talks in 2004 after accusing the government of instigating their inclusion on US and European lists of terrorist groups.

Lucena cop shot dead

Lucena cop shot dead
By Delfin Mallari Jr.
Southern Luzon Bureau
Last updated 03:24pm (Mla time) 06/18/2007

LUCENA CITY, Philippines — A member of the Lucena police motorcycle unit has been shot dead while trying to stop a man from indiscriminately firing his gun, according to a police report.

The report identified the victim as Police Officer 3 Rizaldy Digma, 41, a resident of Campo Subdivision in the village of Gulang-Gulang in the outskirts of the city.

 

Investigation showed that Digma along with other policemen responded to the radio message from the police station that a man identified as Leonardo Garcia was indiscriminately firing a handgun in his neighborhood in the village of Gulang-Gulang located in the outskirts of the city last Saturday.

 

Upon arrival at the scene, the police tried to negotiate with Garcia for his peaceful surrender, the report said.

 

The neighborhood, including Digma, who also lived in the area knew that the suspect was “mentally disturbed,” the report said.

 

As the negotiation was taking place, Digma tried to sneak from behind Garcia with the intention of grabbing the gun to avoid bloodshed, according to the report.

 

Unfortunately, the suspect noticed the approaching cop and immediately fired the gun, hitting Digma in the chest, the report said.

 

Seeing a fellow officer down, the other policemen were compelled to return fire, hitting Garcia in different parts of the body, it said.

 

The two were brought to Mount Carmel General Hospital but were both declared dead on arrival, it said.

 

Police later learned that the handgun belonged to one Jail Officer 3 Teodorico Burac Jr., a staff of the local Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, the report said.

Witnesses said the jail guard, who was reportedly under the influence of liquor, had made fun of the suspect. Agitated, Garcia managed to grab the Ruger Caliber 9 MM of the jail guard who had fled in fear.

4 inmates escape from Laguna jail; police chief sacked

By Marlon Ramos
Southern Luzon Bureau
Last updated 03:18pm (Mla time) 06/18/2007

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna — The chief of police of Luisiana, Laguna, and one of his personnel have been relieved following the escape of four inmates, including a suspect in a kidnapping case, from the Luisiana municipal jail on Sunday, police said Monday.

 

Senior Superintendent Felipe Rojas Jr., Laguna police director, said he ordered the relief of Chief Inspector Wenceslao Anore after their initial investigation showed that there were no signs that the prison cell was “forcibly opened” by the escapees.

 

Aside from Anore, Rojas relieved Police Officer 1 Madonna Riña who was on duty when the prisoners fled from the detention center.

 

“According to the result of our initial probe, there were no signs of forcible opening of the detention cell. That’s why I have ordered a deep investigation on the incident to punish those responsible for the escape of the inmates,” Rojas said in a mobile conversation with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of the INQUIRER.net.

 

During pursuit operation, members of the Laguna police office were able to recapture one of the four escaped inmates.

 

Rojas identified the recaptured inmate as Robert Añonueno, 28, who is facing charges for slight physical injuries.

 

He said Añonuevo was arrested from a house in Barangay (village) Panglan in Majayjay, Laguna more than seven hours after his escape.

 

Still at large are murder suspect Enrique Hombera, 54, of Barangay San Jose, Luisiana; robbery suspect Joven Lobiano, 19, of Aurora province; and Guillermo Huad, 28, of Sto. Tomas, Luisiana, who has been charged with kidnapping.

Rojas said Riña was on a routine check of the jail facility at around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday when she noticed that its gate was partially opened.

When Riña inspected the steel gate, she discovered four inmates were already gone from their cell.

Rojas said he ordered all officers in all jail facilities being maintained by the provincial police to tighten their security.

Comelec affirms Bogo is now 6th city of Cebu

By Jolene Bulambot
Visayas Bureau
Last updated 07:03am (Mla time) 06/18/2007

CEBU CITY — From five component cities, the province now has six after the Commission on Elections proclaimed Saturday night the conversion of the municipality of Bogo into a city.

 

The former agricultural town in northern Cebu held a plebiscite on June 16. About 60 percent of 40,278 registered voters cast their ballots.

 

Bogo election officer Jose Minguez said Republic Act No. 9370, which legislated cityhood for Bogo, immediately took effect after the proclamation, making June 16 as the Charter Day of the new component city.

 

“The residents of Bogo have spoken through the plebiscite and now Bogo is officially a city,” he said.

 

Other component cities of Cebu are Danao, Toledo, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and Talisay. Cebu City is classified as a highly urbanized city and independent from the province of Cebu.

 

Minguez said 24,488 out of the total number of registered voters cast their votes on Saturday. A total of 23,955 voted “yes” while 482 voted “no” to Bogo’s cityhood.

 

Rep. Clavel Asas-Martinez (4th District) filed the bill in 1999 but it was only in January 2006 that it became law.

 

Outgoing Bogo Mayor Celestino Martinez III told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the proclamation of Bogo’s cityhood was a “dream come true and an achievement” that the residents had been waiting for the past nine years.

 

Bogo City is composed of 29 barangays (villages) with a population of 80,000 and with an Internal Revenue Allotment of P38 million, Martinez said.

 

Mayor-elect Celestino Martinez II, the father of the outgoing mayor, said that crafting the new city’s master plan would be first on his agenda after his assumption to office.

 

The older Martinez, a former congressman in the fourth district, said Bogo City would be Cebu’s center for trade and commerce and an economic gateway to Samar, Leyte, Masbate and nearby provinces.

 

Provincial election supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano said the conduct of the plebiscite was generally peaceful despite the contested May 14 elections where several election returns have yet to be canvassed because of election protests filed by both congressional candidates, outgoing Mayor Martinez and his rival, businessman Benhur Sa-limbangon.

 

Two units from the Special Reaction Unit from the Cebu Provincial Police Office supervised the plebiscite.

 

Castillano said Comelec Manila was still setting aside the 18 election returns pending a hearing scheduled for June 26.

 

Martinez and Sa-limbangon have exchanged accusations of political fraud, prompting the local board of canvassers to stop the canvass and bring the ERs to Manila for technical evaluation.

MILF doubts authority of priest as peace talks negotiator

MILF doubts authority of priest as peace talks negotiator

Mindanao Bureau
Last updated 06:12pm (Mla time) 06/17/2007

COTABATO CITY — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front said it was wary about an outsider taking over the role of the government chief negotiator.

 

Jun Mantawil, head of the MILF peace panel secretariat, said they respected Fr. Eliseo Mercado Jr.’s ability but they were not sure if he would be given full authority to negotiate with the rebel group.

 

“The MILF leadership has the highest respect for Father Eliseo Mercado Jr. as a person, friend and as a priest but he does not possess the authority that a Cabinet member possesses,” he said.

 

Mercado, former president of the Notre Dame University here, was named the new government chief negotiator following the resignation of Secretary Silvestre Afable from the talks.

 

Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief peace negotiator, called Afable’s resignation as a “setback,” saying that “changing horses in the middle of the stream’ is a dangerous decision.”

 

Mercado said he welcomed his appointment and that he believed he can contribute to efforts aimed at resolving the decades-old Bangsamoro problem.

 

But Mantawil said the negotiation was a clear-cut “state matter,” a “highly partisan” activity that “churchmen should not involve themselves in.”

 

He said the appointment of Mercado, a government outsider, was a “deliberate downgrading of the peace process.”

 

Peace adviser Jesus Dureza said Mercado, as an experienced peace builder, would bring about “a seamless transition” in the changing of the guard in the government panel in the Malaysia-brokered talks scheduled to resume sometime in July.

 

“The assumption of Fr. Mercado as the new panel chair will ensure a seamless transition and a continuity in government efforts to move forward the peace process with the MILF,” Dureza said.

 

But Mantawil said appointing a government outsider would also make the Malaysian facilitator uncomfortable.

 

“Datuk Othman bin Abdu’ Razak, the chief facilitator of the GRP-MILF peace talks, is of Cabinet rank being a special adviser to the Prime Minister of Malaysia,” Mantawil pointed out.

 

“There is protocol in the negotiation that all the parties, especially the state actors, must follow,” he said.

 

Mantawil pointed out that the peace talks between the government and MILF may be in the final stretch but the remaining issues were substantial enough to stall the process.

 

Mercado said there was nothing to fear because “the question of peace is paramount.”

 

He said his experience in peace-building efforts could help him in heading the government panel. “It’s a huge challenge but I know I can be of help,” he said.

 

Fr. Ramon Bernabe, superior of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Mercado’s religious order, said he hoped the priest would get the support of various stakeholders in the Mindanao peace process.

 

“I believe he can contribute in efforts to achieve peace in our land,” Bernabe said.

 

Mercado was a member of the government panel that negotiated peace with the Nur Misuari-led Moro National Liberation Front.

Gonzalez gets power over immigration

By Michael Lim Ubac
Inquirer
Last updated 06:56am (Mla time) 06/18/2007

MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez appears to have been quietly rewarded by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with the Bureau of Immigration.

 

On April 2, Ms Arroyo signed Administrative Order No. 175 strengthening the “Department of Justice in its role of ensuring that the Bureau of Immigration would be a more effective and highly responsive organization to carry out necessary police measures of the government.”

 

This has made Gonzalez the de facto immigration chief, documents obtained by the Philippine Daily Inquirer showed.

 

The order was signed prior to Malacañang’s announcement on April 18 of the appointment of former Eastern Samar Rep. Marcelino Libanan as immigration commissioner in place of Alipio Fernandez who won the mayoral elections in Dagupan City.

 

The President invoked her “continuing authority” to transfer any function under the Office of the President to any other department or agency in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 1416 as amended by PD 1772 and the Administrative Code of 1987.

 

The order gives the justice secretary or his duly authorized representative “the power to act on immigration cases, including waiver of visas and admission of aliens, and to countermand decisions of the BI Board of Commissioners.”

 

The DoJ chief also has the power to “transfer, detail, assign or reassign officials and personnel, including presidential appointees, of the BI.

 

“Provided, however, that such reassignment will not affect the tenure of office of the officials concerned nor result in the change of status, demotion in rank or deduction in salary,” the AO said.

 

Libanan, as vice chair of the House committee on justice, had served as a member of the Commission on Appointments which thrice bypassed Gonzalez’s appointment.

SC affirms implementation of gov’t textbook contract

By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 12:15pm (Mla time) 06/18/2007

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has given the go-signal for the implementation of the $40-million textbook supply contract between a private publishing firm and the government.

 

In its decision penned by Associate Justice Cancio Garcia, the high tribunal granted the appeals filed separately by the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Services, Inter-Agency Bids and Awards Committee (IABAC) and Vibal Publishing House when the High Court nullified the decision of the Manila regional trial court dated Dec. 4, 2006 that had nullified IABAC resolution No. 001-2006 A awarding the contract to Vibal.

 

At the same time, the Supreme Court also nullified the lower court’s decision affirming IABAC resolution No. 001-2006 that had declared a bidding failure due to a conflict of interest by the bidding participants.

 

The high tribunal agreed with DBMPS, IABAC and Vibal that losing bidder Kolonwel Trading, which had filed the petition before the lower court, had failed to observe the protest mechanism stated under Sections 57 and 58 of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Act.

 

Under the law, “decisions of the Bids and Awards Committee in all stages of procurement may be protested to the head of the procuring entity…Decisions of the BAC may be protested by filing a verified position paper and paying a non-refundable protest fee.”

 

The law also provides that “court action may be resorted to only after the protest contemplated [in RA9184] shall have been completed. Cases that are filed in violation of the process…shall be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.”

 

In the case of Kolonwel’s protest, aside from absence of letter of protest addressed to the head of the procuring entity, there was also no proof that the firm had paid the required filing fee, the High Court said.

 

“Considering that the respondent’s petition in RTC Manila was actually filed in violation of the protest process set forth in Section 55 of RA 9184, that court could not have lawfully acquired jurisdiction over the subject matter of this case. In fact, Section 58 of RA 9184 emphatically states that cases filed in violation of the protest process therein provided shall be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction,” it said.

 

The Supreme Court said it could have relaxed the rules on Kolonwel’s petition if only there had been an attempt on the company’s part to comply with the rules stated in the Government Procurement Act.

 

But Kolonwel itself had admitted that it did not submit a verified complaint before the IABAC, the high tribunal said.

 

The entire textbook project involves $100 million, $40 million of which has been set for the purchase of textbooks in Science, English, and Social Studies from the petitioner publishing companies.

 

Lawyers from both the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) and Vibal claimed that the injunction issued by the lower court was very “anomalous” and highly irregular, citing that there had not been any trial on the merits of the main case for certiorari and prohibition before the decision was issued by the lower court.

 

Petitioner said that it had been made to believe by the lower court that the issue to be resolved was limited only to the issuance of a “preliminary injunction” requested by Kolonwel. Instead, the judge issued a decision on the main case and issued a “final injunction” without giving the respondents their “day in court.”

 

The decision also affected foreign suppliers, Watana Phanit (Thailand) and Daewoo International (Korea) who were not included in the case or did not participate in the same case before the RTC.

 

The World Bank had confirmed that the contract was awarded to Vibal Group of Bidders in accordance with applicable guidelines for procurement with the bank’s financing and with the provisions of the legal agreement for the World Bank-assisted Second Social Expenditure Management Project.

 

Kolonwel was among the 18 firms that had joined the bidding for the purchase of 17.5 million copies of Social Studies textbooks and teachers manual for elementary and high schools in the country.

 

The acquisition program will be partially funded by the World Bank under its SEMP2 loan agreement, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through its Secondary Education Development and Improvement Project (SEDIP) loan agreement.

New gov’t peace negotiator not a ‘messiah’ but will try best

By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 01:23pm (Mla time) 06/18/2007

MANILA, Philippines — He might not be a “messiah” but newly -appointed government chief peace negotiator Father Eliseo Mercado is promising to do his best to forge peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

 

In a phone interview with INQUIRER.net, Mercado said he would do his “utmost work” to depoliticize the peace talks between the government and the MILF, and not make it partisan, by involving everyone in the negotiation.

 

“I am not a messiah but I can guarantee that I’ll do my utmost work and I’ll be very consultative. We should make peace sustainable,” he said.

 

Mercado was confident that his being a Catholic priest would not in any way affect the peace process even after some of MILF members had expressed apprehension over his appointment.

 

But in a separate interview with Radio Veritas, Mercado said the basic objection of the MILF was the issue of his proximity to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

 

“Ang kanilang [Their] basic objection I think, if you go down to their webpage, ay yung [is the] direct access to the President at yung being member ng [and being a member of the] Cabinet kasi ipinirma ng MILF ang kanilang [because the MILF has assured its] full confidence if the negotiator is a full member of the Cabinet,” he said.

 

“So sabi ko nga inaayos pa yung detail ng aking appointment [That’s why I said the full detail of my appointment is still being worked out]. As a matter of fact, lalabas na ‘to [this will come out] after a week, dini-discuss na yung details the details are being discussed],” he said.

 

And while he spent most of his time abroad, Mercado said he had been following the issue and even met with both parties on several occasions.

 

And since he has no specific plan yet on how to purse the peace talks with the Moro rebels, Mercado said he would use the lead of his predecessor, Silvestre Afable, as a benchmark to move forward and build on what has been done.

 

“We are moving towards the last lap of the peace process. This is very important because we are dealing with an Islamic content and we are very happy that the MILF is negotiating with the existing government,” Mercado added.

Lacson raps anti-money laundering body over freeze

Lacson raps anti-money laundering body over freeze

Inquirer
Last updated 06:50am (Mla time) 06/18/2007

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Panfilo Lacson has chastised the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) for freezing some P1.21 billion in transacted funds during the last election period, saying it smacked of political persecution.

 

Lacson questioned the AMLC’s announcement that it had frozen accounts involved in 8,520 suspicious transactions reported to the council by banks and other financial institutions in May.

 

Under Republic Act No. 9160, the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, daily transactions involving P500,000 or more are considered “suspicious” and the financial institutions are mandated to report the transactions to the council for investigation.

 

Lacson, in a statement, said the AMLC should have considered that the transactions were made during the campaign period when cash was in high demand.

 

“Although the AMLC has the power to do that (freeze the accounts), may I remind it of the provision in the law that safeguards it against being used as a tool for political persecution during or after the election period,” said Lacson, one of the principal authors of Section 16 of the AMLA which states:

 

“No case for money laundering may be filed against and no assets shall be frozen, attached or forfeited, to the prejudice of a candidate for an electoral office during an election period.”

 

“I advise [AMLC Executive Director Vicente] Aquino to review the law and take the necessary steps to correct this mistake of freezing these accounts. It is quite understandable for transactions to exceed the P500,000 threshold during an election period due to the campaign funding requirements of candidates,” Lacson said.

 

The AMLC reported it had frozen since May some P1.21 billion on suspicion the funds had come from illegal sources.

 

This after Aquino said his office had received reports from banks and other financial institutions of an increase in the “suspicious” movement of money. Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. and Mitch Remo