MANILA, Philippines--Jollibee Foods Corporation is suspending ad placement on television game show "Willing Willie", its media official said.
"Mang Inasal will be holding off placements within the week," said JFC corporate media officer Pauline Lao.
The announcement came as the drive to boycott products of TV5's "Willing Willie" show advertisers gains support on various social media sites.
"We are aware of the issues and the various sentiments raised regarding the Willing Willie program (boy simulating a striptease) incident last March 12," Lao said.
But the giant food conglomerate clarified that its other fastfood chains--Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich and Red Ribbon-- "do not have ad placements in the Willing Willie program." (report from Inquirer.net)
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Bida-Best sa Tag-Araw
BIDA BEST SA TAG-ARAW
ABS-CBN Summer Station ID 2011
Sung by Angeline Quinto & Vincent Bueno feat. J.O.L.O.
Music by Amber & Marcus Davis Jr.
Lyrics by Love Rose de Leon & Niño Anglo
MTV Directed by Richard Ang & Paolo Ramos
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
‘Doc Rod,’ artist-scholar, dies; 76
MANILA, Philippines -- Artist, critic and scholar Rodolfo Paras Perez died early Wednesday morning at the intensive care unit of the Medical City in Pasig City. He was 76.
Perez was rushed to the hospital Sunday after he was found unconscious in his home. He apparently had a massive heart attack, said Eddie Chua, an art collector and friend of Perez.
Known as ‘Doc Rod’ for his scholarship and for having been faculty member and assistant dean of the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, Perez was a Harvard-trained art historian and critic who became known for his graphic works as well as several authoritative books on Philippine art and art practitioners. (report from Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Perez was rushed to the hospital Sunday after he was found unconscious in his home. He apparently had a massive heart attack, said Eddie Chua, an art collector and friend of Perez.
Known as ‘Doc Rod’ for his scholarship and for having been faculty member and assistant dean of the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, Perez was a Harvard-trained art historian and critic who became known for his graphic works as well as several authoritative books on Philippine art and art practitioners. (report from Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Beatles songs sales cost music website $950,000
SAN FRANCISCO—US online music service Bluebeat will pay British recording label EMI nearly a million dollars to avoid trial in a case over rights to stream and sell versions of Beatles songs.
Along with paying $950,000, Bluebeat agreed to "permanently cease and desist" from infringing on copyrighted music belonging to EMI and other plaintiffs, according to a copy of the settlement.
EMI filed the suit in November 2009 in Los Angeles and trial was to begin Tuesday.
While granting a restraining order early in the proceedings, US District Court Judge John Walter indicated that he was shown no evidence supporting Bluebeat's claim that it wasn't infringing on EMI's rights to Beatles songs.
Bluebeat co-founder and chief executive Hank Risan had defended Bluebeat and sister website Basebeat.com, contending that they were legally selling "psycho-acoustic" simulated performances and not re-recorded Beatles tunes.
EMI countered that Bluebeat, which streamed music free and offered MP3 downloads of songs for 25 cents each, was distributing Beatles music without authorization.
Bluebeat had reportedly distributed 67,000 Beatles songs before the court intervened.
EMI owns the rights to Beatles recordings and collaborates with Apple Corps on distribution of the music.
Apple last year won the right to sell Beatles songs at its iTunes online ship, where tunes are priced at $1.29 each.
US District Judge Josephine Staton Tucker on March 25 endorsed the settlement, which leaves open the option of EMI going after Bluebeat for legal costs incurred by the case. (report from Agence France-Presse)
Along with paying $950,000, Bluebeat agreed to "permanently cease and desist" from infringing on copyrighted music belonging to EMI and other plaintiffs, according to a copy of the settlement.
EMI filed the suit in November 2009 in Los Angeles and trial was to begin Tuesday.
While granting a restraining order early in the proceedings, US District Court Judge John Walter indicated that he was shown no evidence supporting Bluebeat's claim that it wasn't infringing on EMI's rights to Beatles songs.
Bluebeat co-founder and chief executive Hank Risan had defended Bluebeat and sister website Basebeat.com, contending that they were legally selling "psycho-acoustic" simulated performances and not re-recorded Beatles tunes.
EMI countered that Bluebeat, which streamed music free and offered MP3 downloads of songs for 25 cents each, was distributing Beatles music without authorization.
Bluebeat had reportedly distributed 67,000 Beatles songs before the court intervened.
EMI owns the rights to Beatles recordings and collaborates with Apple Corps on distribution of the music.
Apple last year won the right to sell Beatles songs at its iTunes online ship, where tunes are priced at $1.29 each.
US District Judge Josephine Staton Tucker on March 25 endorsed the settlement, which leaves open the option of EMI going after Bluebeat for legal costs incurred by the case. (report from Agence France-Presse)
Beyonce says bye bye to dad as manager—report
NEW YORK—R&B superstar Beyonce Knowles and her father announced Tuesday that he'll no longer be her manager, People magazine reported.
"Business is business and family is family," Mathew Knowles said in a statement carried by the celebrity news magazine. "I love my daughter and am very proud of who she is and all that she has achieved. I look forward to her continued great success."
Beyonce, a multiple Grammy winning artist married to rapper Jay-Z, said she was "grateful for everything he has taught me."
"I grew up watching both he and my mother manage and own their own businesses. They were hardworking entrepreneurs and I will continue to follow in their footsteps," she said in a statement reported by People.
"He is my father for life and I love my dad dearly," her statement continued.
The identity of the new manager was not immediately clear. Beyonce topped rivals Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and Madonna last year with earnings estimated at some $87 million. (report from Agence France-Presse)
"Business is business and family is family," Mathew Knowles said in a statement carried by the celebrity news magazine. "I love my daughter and am very proud of who she is and all that she has achieved. I look forward to her continued great success."
Beyonce, a multiple Grammy winning artist married to rapper Jay-Z, said she was "grateful for everything he has taught me."
"I grew up watching both he and my mother manage and own their own businesses. They were hardworking entrepreneurs and I will continue to follow in their footsteps," she said in a statement reported by People.
"He is my father for life and I love my dad dearly," her statement continued.
The identity of the new manager was not immediately clear. Beyonce topped rivals Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and Madonna last year with earnings estimated at some $87 million. (report from Agence France-Presse)
George Clooney could testify for Berlusconi in sex case
ROME—Hollywood star George Clooney and Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo could testify in Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's defense in his upcoming sex trial, a lawyer told AFP Tuesday.
Clooney and his girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis, according to the defense, were among those who attended parties at Berlusconi's villa at Arcore which the prosecution says was the scene of orgies and strip-shows with prostitutes.
The 74-year old premier is to stand trial on April 6 for allegedly having paid pole dancer Karima El Mahroug, nicknamed "Ruby the Heart Stealer", for sex when she was 17, after one of his parties.
"We have proposed George Clooney as a witness," the lawyer said. "Ruby says both Clooney and Canalis were at a party at Arcore."
Clooney issued a statement expressing puzzlement.
"It seems odd since I've only met Berlusconi once and that was in an attempt to get aid into Darfur," he said.
The voluptuous dark-haired dancer told investigating judges she had sex with Real Madrid player Ronaldo after meeting him in a Milan nightclub in January 2010.
Ronaldo, currently the highest-paid footballer in the world, has denied ever meeting Ruby or giving her 4,000 euros in cash for her sexual services.
The current trial is centered around allegations that Berlusconi not only paid for sex with Ruby, but improperly used his power as prime minister by asking police to release her after she was arrested for suspected theft in May.
Both Ruby and Berlusconi have denied they had sexual relations.
Using the services of prostitutes is not a crime in Italy, but paying for sex with a girl under the age of 18 is illegal.
Ruby turned 18 in November 2010, and the prosecution alleges that Berlusconi had sex with her several months earlier.
The prosecution has submitted its own list of 136 witnesses, including 49 girls who attended the billionaire media magnate's parties, some of whom have provided photographic and video evidence of the raunchy evenings.
The defense team have argued that these witnesses have lied over Berlusconi's alleged nights with prostitutes and raucous parties with orgies and guests dressed up as nurses or policewomen.
The Milan judges may decide to refuse to grant the defense's proposed witnesses if they decide their testimony is not relevant to the case in question.
Clooney is no stranger to Italian courts. In 2010 the 49-year-old Hollywood heart-throb appeared at the fraud trial of three people accused of having co-opted his name for a fashion label.
The Golden Globe-winning actor has a house on the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy, not far from Berlusconi's private villa at Arcore.
He spends several months a year there, sometimes with Italian model and actress Canalis.
She too features on the list of 78 witnesses the premier's legal team would like to call in Berlusconi's defense. (report from Agence France-Presse)
Lindsay Lohan won't be charged for rehab scuffle
LOS ANGELES, California — Lindsay Lohan has one less legal worry after prosecutors announced Tuesday that they would not pursue any charges against her over a December scuffle with a rehab worker.
District Attorney's spokesman John Hall said prosecutors determined there was insufficient evidence to pursue a misdemeanor battery case against the actress.
Police were called to a Betty Ford Center facility in Palm Desert around 1 a.m. local time on December 12 after a worker accused Lohan of hurting her during an altercation. The worker, Dawn Holland, later spoke about the incident on camera with TMZ and was fired by Betty Ford for violating patient confidentiality rules.
Lohan was nearing the end of her three-month court-ordered treatment at the center after violating her probation on a 2007 drunken driving case.
Prosecutors had sought further investigation from police agencies that responded to the call, but ultimately found there was not enough evidence to file charges.
The "Mean Girls" star faces a far more serious case in Los Angeles, where she is accused of felony grand theft after a jewelry store claimed she took a $2,500 necklace without permission.
Lohan has pleaded not guilty and her attorney has said she is innocent. The actress last week rejected a plea deal that included guaranteed jail time and is due in court on April 22 for a preliminary hearing during which prosecutors will lay out some of their evidence against the starlet.
An email from Lohan's attorney, Shawn Holley, stated she was out of the office and was not immediately available for comment.
If she is ordered to stand trial, a judge could send Lohan to jail for violating her probation.
The actress has been a fixture at LA-area courthouses since May, when she missed a court appearance and was later sent to jail for 14 days for violating her probation. Another judge sent her to jail briefly and she was sentenced to rehab twice as well.
The jewelry store reported the necklace missing within three weeks of Lohan's release from the Betty Ford Center. (report from Agence France-Presse)
Kim Cattrall glams down for gritty indie role
NEW YORK—After 12 years playing sultry screen vixen Samantha Jones on "Sex and the City," Kim Cattrall says she's "letting it all hang out" in her new role as a has-been porn star.
Cattrall gained 20 pounds (9 kilograms) for the title role in the indie film "Meet Monica Velour," about a washed up, aging porn star living in a rural Indiana trailer park.
"It was actually kind of a relief," the 54-year-old actress said Tuesday in an interview. "It was like getting rid of the Barbie doll and throwing it out and starting again."
She said packing on the pounds for "Monica Velour," which comes out April 8, was her first break from dieting in 25 years and was "wonderful."
"We were shooting in Detroit, and there's a lot of great bars in Detroit," Cattrall said. "So I ate and I drank for about six weeks."
Not so wonderful, she admits, was getting back into her strict regimen so she could shoot her next project, Roman Polanski's "The Ghost Writer," which was released last year.
Cattrall hit the treadmill and cut out breads, dairy, sweets and most meats to prepare for her role as an assistant to a former British prime minister, played by Pierce Brosnan.
Cattrall said she hopes the stripped-down role in "Monica Velour" will remind people that before Samantha there was Kim, the actress with more than 35 years of varied film, television and theater credits.
"I loved working on 'Sex and the City.' It's a dream job and a great character to play," she said. "But before 'Sex and the City' I was a working actress, and hopefully I'll be until I can't talk or move." (report from Nicole Evatt/Agence France-Presse)
Cattrall gained 20 pounds (9 kilograms) for the title role in the indie film "Meet Monica Velour," about a washed up, aging porn star living in a rural Indiana trailer park.
"It was actually kind of a relief," the 54-year-old actress said Tuesday in an interview. "It was like getting rid of the Barbie doll and throwing it out and starting again."
She said packing on the pounds for "Monica Velour," which comes out April 8, was her first break from dieting in 25 years and was "wonderful."
"We were shooting in Detroit, and there's a lot of great bars in Detroit," Cattrall said. "So I ate and I drank for about six weeks."
Not so wonderful, she admits, was getting back into her strict regimen so she could shoot her next project, Roman Polanski's "The Ghost Writer," which was released last year.
Cattrall hit the treadmill and cut out breads, dairy, sweets and most meats to prepare for her role as an assistant to a former British prime minister, played by Pierce Brosnan.
Cattrall said she hopes the stripped-down role in "Monica Velour" will remind people that before Samantha there was Kim, the actress with more than 35 years of varied film, television and theater credits.
"I loved working on 'Sex and the City.' It's a dream job and a great character to play," she said. "But before 'Sex and the City' I was a working actress, and hopefully I'll be until I can't talk or move." (report from Nicole Evatt/Agence France-Presse)
Shakira confirms romance with Spanish footballer Pique
BOGOTA—Colombian pop star Shakira on Tuesday confirmed her romantic relationship with Spanish footballer Gerard Pique through a message on her Twitter account.
"I present to you my sunshine ... Shak," the 34-year-old singer wrote in the message accompanying a photo of the smiling pair.
Shakira and the 24-year-old Barcelona center-back became the focus of intense media attention earlier this month when gossip magazines published photographs of the couple holding hands and kissing in Barcelona.
In January, Shakira announced the end of her 11-year relationship with Antonio de la Rua of Argentina.
Shakira's wildly popular "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" was the official song of the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa, won by Spain.
Pique, a member of the World Cup team, told a March 3 press conference at Barca's training center that he prefers to just talk football.
Quizzed on his private life, he said: "I'd like it if people only talked about me from a sporting perspective but I get the impression that, ultimately, it's inevitable." (report from Agence France-Presse)
1950s screen idol Farley Granger dies at 85
NEW YORK—Farley Granger, the American actor known for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" and other films, has died at his Manhattan home. He was 85.
Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner's office, said Granger died Sunday of natural causes.
Born in San Jose, California, Granger was first tapped by producer Samuel Goldwyn when he was 18 years old. He played a small role as a resident of a Ukrainian village under a Nazi invasion in the 1943 film version of Lillian Hellman's "The North Star."
After World War II ended, he clinched his first major role in Hitchcock's 1948 thriller "Rope" alongside James Stewart.
The British director gave him the role of tennis star Guy Haines at the mercy of a psychotic socialite convinced he had struck a murder deal with the player in the 1951 "Strangers on a Train."
Those two early roles were his most famous collaborations out of a film career that spanned several decades.
A self-described bisexual, Granger had relationships with some of the biggest movie idols of his time, of both sexes.
He co-wrote the memoir "Include Me Out: My Life from Goldwyn to Broadway" in 2007 with his longtime partner, Robert Calhoun, who died of lung cancer a year later.
Previous amorous adventures had included actresses Janice Rule and Shelley Winters, whom he dubbed as "the love of my life and the bane of my existence," as well as Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Laurents.
In 1954, Italian director Luchino Visconti cast him as an Australian military officer for "Senso" (1954) alongside Alida Valli. The film was considered one of Visconti's greatest achievements.
In addition to his roles in dozens of films through the 1970s, Granger also entertained a significant acting career on and off Broadway, as well as for live television, an emerging medium at the time.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, he acted in television programs adapted from theater, such as the "Kraft Television Theater" and "Playhouse 90." He also played Morris Townsend opposite actress Julie Harris in "The Heiress," a 1961 television movie.
His Broadway stint including a role as Fitzwilliam Darcy in "First Impressions," a musical interpretation of the novel "Pride and Prejudice," and in "The Warm Peninsula." (report from Agence France-Presse)
Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner's office, said Granger died Sunday of natural causes.
Born in San Jose, California, Granger was first tapped by producer Samuel Goldwyn when he was 18 years old. He played a small role as a resident of a Ukrainian village under a Nazi invasion in the 1943 film version of Lillian Hellman's "The North Star."
After World War II ended, he clinched his first major role in Hitchcock's 1948 thriller "Rope" alongside James Stewart.
The British director gave him the role of tennis star Guy Haines at the mercy of a psychotic socialite convinced he had struck a murder deal with the player in the 1951 "Strangers on a Train."
Those two early roles were his most famous collaborations out of a film career that spanned several decades.
A self-described bisexual, Granger had relationships with some of the biggest movie idols of his time, of both sexes.
He co-wrote the memoir "Include Me Out: My Life from Goldwyn to Broadway" in 2007 with his longtime partner, Robert Calhoun, who died of lung cancer a year later.
Previous amorous adventures had included actresses Janice Rule and Shelley Winters, whom he dubbed as "the love of my life and the bane of my existence," as well as Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Laurents.
In 1954, Italian director Luchino Visconti cast him as an Australian military officer for "Senso" (1954) alongside Alida Valli. The film was considered one of Visconti's greatest achievements.
In addition to his roles in dozens of films through the 1970s, Granger also entertained a significant acting career on and off Broadway, as well as for live television, an emerging medium at the time.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, he acted in television programs adapted from theater, such as the "Kraft Television Theater" and "Playhouse 90." He also played Morris Townsend opposite actress Julie Harris in "The Heiress," a 1961 television movie.
His Broadway stint including a role as Fitzwilliam Darcy in "First Impressions," a musical interpretation of the novel "Pride and Prejudice," and in "The Warm Peninsula." (report from Agence France-Presse)
Smart Gilas books first semis' slot in Commissioner's Cup
MANILA, Philippines -- Smart Gilas Pilipinas booked the first semifinals slot after fending off a furious fightback by Ginebra, 111-104, Wednesday in the 2011 PBA Commissioner's Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
Marcus Douthit, who missed the Nationals' last game with a sprained ankle, came back in his usual form with 30 points and 17 rebounds.
The Nationals led by as much as 19, 79-60, in the third quarter before Ginebra gained steam and trimmed the deficit to five, 84-89 midway through the fourth.
But the Nationals, sans its skipper Chris Tiu, held its own and was able to restore order down the stretch en route to the grind-it-out victory.
Import Nate Brumfield and heady point guards Willie Miller and Mark Caguioa had 21 points apiece for the Gin Kings, who dropped to 5-3. (report from Mark C. Giongco/Inquirer.net)
Marcus Douthit, who missed the Nationals' last game with a sprained ankle, came back in his usual form with 30 points and 17 rebounds.
The Nationals led by as much as 19, 79-60, in the third quarter before Ginebra gained steam and trimmed the deficit to five, 84-89 midway through the fourth.
But the Nationals, sans its skipper Chris Tiu, held its own and was able to restore order down the stretch en route to the grind-it-out victory.
Import Nate Brumfield and heady point guards Willie Miller and Mark Caguioa had 21 points apiece for the Gin Kings, who dropped to 5-3. (report from Mark C. Giongco/Inquirer.net)
3 Filipino drug mules executed in China
MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE 4) Three Filipinos convicted of drug smuggling were executed in China Wednesday, triggering condemnation in the Catholic Philippines and despair for family members who shared their final moments.
"It is a sad day for all of us,” Vice President Jejomar Binay said as he confirmed that the three were put to death by lethal injection.
“Until the last moment, we did everything we could to save the three," Binay, who was in Qatar, said in a television interview.
Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, 32, and Ramon Credo, 42, met their families for the last time early Wednesday before they were executed in Xiamen, said Philippine Consul Noel Novicio. Elizabeth Batain, 38, was allowed to meet with her relatives hours ahead of her execution in Shenzhen, Novicio said.
The executions came after repeated pleas by the Philippine government for their sentences to be commuted were turned down, and ended vigils in the country where supporters of the trio had prayed for a miracle.
The three were arrested separately in 2008 carrying packages containing at least four kilograms of heroin and were convicted the following year. Smuggling more than 50 grams of heroin or other drugs is punishable by death in China.
"Our government had taken every available opportunity to appeal to the authorities of China for clemency in their cases," Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a statement.
"In the end, however, the sentences were imposed."
The three were due to have been put to death last February 20 and 21 but were granted a temporary reprieve following Binay’s trip to Beijing on February 18.
The three were not aware they would be executed Wednesday although their sentences were promulgated early in the day, Novicio said. China normally does not announce executions.
Final hours
The three were allowed to meet their relatives for an hour before they were put to death through lethal injection, in what turned out to be devastatingly emotional encounters.
Villanueva's relatives said she did not know that she was due to be executed on Wednesday, and was surprised to see her family there.
"I was the first one to see her, we locked eyes and we both cried. She said what are you doing here, why are you all crying, am I going to die," younger sister Mylene said on a radio interview.
"She tried to console us. She said, it's okay. I have accepted my fate. I will be your angel and watch over you."
"She was crying, she was partly incoherent. She had a lot of things to say," said Jason Ordinario, a brother of Villanueva who along with another sister and their parents met her as the final verdict was read in a court in Xiamen city.
"They already gave us (her) things. It's too much, they gave us only one hour (with her). They have no mercy," Ordinario-Villanueva's sister, Mylene, said in a separate text message from Xiamen to her family in the Philippines.
Final words
She said that her sister was blessed by a priest and "she said she wants to be forgiven for all her sins but she insisted that she was a victim."
"She asked us to take care of her children, to take care of each other and to help one another. I have not accepted what will happen. We are forcing ourselves to accept it but I can't," she said in a radio interview.
Villaneuva's children, aged 12 and nine, were not able to see or talk with their mother before she was killed. They did not travel to China and local authorities would not allow mobile phones into the meeting room.
Novicio said earlier that Villanueva and Credo met their families for the last time before they were scheduled to die by lethal injection in Xiamen. Batain, met her relatives before her planned execution in Shenzhen.
Anguished cries
Surrounded by a throng of supporters and journalists, Villanueva's relatives in Manila erupted in anguished cries as news of the execution broke.
There were similar reactions at the home of Credo, but the family of Batain had requested privacy and no media were with them.
Outside the Villanueva home in a northern Manila slum was a poster comparing her to Flor Contemplacion, a Filipina maid whose hanging in Singapore in 1995 led to a cooling of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Contemplacion was convicted of murder, although it was widely perceived in the Philippines that she was framed.
Her fate remains an infamous tale about the perils faced by the nine million Filipinos working abroad, many of whom face exploitation while toiling away in low-paying jobs hoping to earn enough money to support relatives at home.
Abolish death penalty
Amnesty International as well as the influential Roman Catholic church swiftly condemned the executions.
"We strongly condemn the executions of the three Filipinos," Agence France-Presse quoted Amnesty's Philippine representative Aurora Parong.
"The Philippines should have taken a stronger action, and it is now its moral duty to lead a campaign against death penalty in Asia."
Amnesty International says China is the world's biggest executioner, with thousands of convicts killed every year. The Philippines has abolished the death penalty.
Roman Catholic bishops asked the public to pray for the eternal repose of the three.
"We had knocked on the doors of heaven to pray for what turned out to be an impossible wish," Edwin Corros, executive secretary of church's commission for the pastoral care of migrants, told AFP.
"We call on China to abolish death penalty. We believe no one has the right to take a human life."
It was the first time that Filipino nationals were executed in China.
Pleas for mercy
The Philippine government insisted it did all it could to save the lives of the three.
It argued the trio, who are among 227 Filipinos jailed in China for drug offenses, were from poor families and had been duped by international crime syndicates into becoming drug couriers.
In its appeals for clemency, which included three letters by President Benigno Aquino III to his Chinese counterpart and a February visit to Beijing by Binay, the government said it was able to identify and arrest some members of the drug syndicate that took advantage of the Filipinos.
Jayson Ordinario, Ordinario-Villanueva's younger brother, said last week that his sister was hired as a cellphone dealer in Xiamen and was tricked into carrying a bag that had a secret compartment loaded with heroin, allegedly by her job recruiter.
In another move seeking to spare the Filipinos, Aquino decided not to send a representative to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in December in Oslo, Norway, honoring jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Manila also deported to Beijing last month 14 Taiwanese facing fraud charges in China despite protests from Taipei.
No favors
But the Chinese government insisted there would be no favors for the trio, and that their cases would be dealt with according to domestic laws.
"Drug trafficking is universally recognized as a severe crime," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters at a regular news conference Tuesday in Beijing.
"In China, our judicial authorities handled the case independently and we grant equal treatment to foreign drug traffickers. The involved individuals rights and treatment are ensured and safeguarded according to the law. China has fulfilled its international obligations in the process," she said.
She added, "We'd like to stress this is an isolated individual case. We would not like to see any impact on bilateral relations."
China and the Philippines also are facing off in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest sea lanes, where a Philippine oil exploration ship last month reported being harassed by two Chinese patrol boats. They left after the Philippine military deployed two aircraft.
The Chinese ambassador in Manila said earlier that the executions had nothing to do with the territorial spat.
The plight of Filipinos overseas is an emotional issue in the Philippines and one of the pillars of the country's foreign policy. About 10 percent of the Philippines' 94 million people toil abroad to escape widespread poverty and unemployment at home. (report from Agence France-Presse/Associated Press/Inquirer.net)
"It is a sad day for all of us,” Vice President Jejomar Binay said as he confirmed that the three were put to death by lethal injection.
“Until the last moment, we did everything we could to save the three," Binay, who was in Qatar, said in a television interview.
Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, 32, and Ramon Credo, 42, met their families for the last time early Wednesday before they were executed in Xiamen, said Philippine Consul Noel Novicio. Elizabeth Batain, 38, was allowed to meet with her relatives hours ahead of her execution in Shenzhen, Novicio said.
The executions came after repeated pleas by the Philippine government for their sentences to be commuted were turned down, and ended vigils in the country where supporters of the trio had prayed for a miracle.
The three were arrested separately in 2008 carrying packages containing at least four kilograms of heroin and were convicted the following year. Smuggling more than 50 grams of heroin or other drugs is punishable by death in China.
"Our government had taken every available opportunity to appeal to the authorities of China for clemency in their cases," Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a statement.
"In the end, however, the sentences were imposed."
The three were due to have been put to death last February 20 and 21 but were granted a temporary reprieve following Binay’s trip to Beijing on February 18.
The three were not aware they would be executed Wednesday although their sentences were promulgated early in the day, Novicio said. China normally does not announce executions.
Final hours
The three were allowed to meet their relatives for an hour before they were put to death through lethal injection, in what turned out to be devastatingly emotional encounters.
Villanueva's relatives said she did not know that she was due to be executed on Wednesday, and was surprised to see her family there.
"I was the first one to see her, we locked eyes and we both cried. She said what are you doing here, why are you all crying, am I going to die," younger sister Mylene said on a radio interview.
"She tried to console us. She said, it's okay. I have accepted my fate. I will be your angel and watch over you."
"She was crying, she was partly incoherent. She had a lot of things to say," said Jason Ordinario, a brother of Villanueva who along with another sister and their parents met her as the final verdict was read in a court in Xiamen city.
"They already gave us (her) things. It's too much, they gave us only one hour (with her). They have no mercy," Ordinario-Villanueva's sister, Mylene, said in a separate text message from Xiamen to her family in the Philippines.
Final words
She said that her sister was blessed by a priest and "she said she wants to be forgiven for all her sins but she insisted that she was a victim."
"She asked us to take care of her children, to take care of each other and to help one another. I have not accepted what will happen. We are forcing ourselves to accept it but I can't," she said in a radio interview.
Villaneuva's children, aged 12 and nine, were not able to see or talk with their mother before she was killed. They did not travel to China and local authorities would not allow mobile phones into the meeting room.
Novicio said earlier that Villanueva and Credo met their families for the last time before they were scheduled to die by lethal injection in Xiamen. Batain, met her relatives before her planned execution in Shenzhen.
Anguished cries
Surrounded by a throng of supporters and journalists, Villanueva's relatives in Manila erupted in anguished cries as news of the execution broke.
There were similar reactions at the home of Credo, but the family of Batain had requested privacy and no media were with them.
Outside the Villanueva home in a northern Manila slum was a poster comparing her to Flor Contemplacion, a Filipina maid whose hanging in Singapore in 1995 led to a cooling of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Contemplacion was convicted of murder, although it was widely perceived in the Philippines that she was framed.
Her fate remains an infamous tale about the perils faced by the nine million Filipinos working abroad, many of whom face exploitation while toiling away in low-paying jobs hoping to earn enough money to support relatives at home.
Abolish death penalty
Amnesty International as well as the influential Roman Catholic church swiftly condemned the executions.
"We strongly condemn the executions of the three Filipinos," Agence France-Presse quoted Amnesty's Philippine representative Aurora Parong.
"The Philippines should have taken a stronger action, and it is now its moral duty to lead a campaign against death penalty in Asia."
Amnesty International says China is the world's biggest executioner, with thousands of convicts killed every year. The Philippines has abolished the death penalty.
Roman Catholic bishops asked the public to pray for the eternal repose of the three.
"We had knocked on the doors of heaven to pray for what turned out to be an impossible wish," Edwin Corros, executive secretary of church's commission for the pastoral care of migrants, told AFP.
"We call on China to abolish death penalty. We believe no one has the right to take a human life."
It was the first time that Filipino nationals were executed in China.
Pleas for mercy
The Philippine government insisted it did all it could to save the lives of the three.
It argued the trio, who are among 227 Filipinos jailed in China for drug offenses, were from poor families and had been duped by international crime syndicates into becoming drug couriers.
In its appeals for clemency, which included three letters by President Benigno Aquino III to his Chinese counterpart and a February visit to Beijing by Binay, the government said it was able to identify and arrest some members of the drug syndicate that took advantage of the Filipinos.
Jayson Ordinario, Ordinario-Villanueva's younger brother, said last week that his sister was hired as a cellphone dealer in Xiamen and was tricked into carrying a bag that had a secret compartment loaded with heroin, allegedly by her job recruiter.
In another move seeking to spare the Filipinos, Aquino decided not to send a representative to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in December in Oslo, Norway, honoring jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Manila also deported to Beijing last month 14 Taiwanese facing fraud charges in China despite protests from Taipei.
No favors
But the Chinese government insisted there would be no favors for the trio, and that their cases would be dealt with according to domestic laws.
"Drug trafficking is universally recognized as a severe crime," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters at a regular news conference Tuesday in Beijing.
"In China, our judicial authorities handled the case independently and we grant equal treatment to foreign drug traffickers. The involved individuals rights and treatment are ensured and safeguarded according to the law. China has fulfilled its international obligations in the process," she said.
She added, "We'd like to stress this is an isolated individual case. We would not like to see any impact on bilateral relations."
China and the Philippines also are facing off in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest sea lanes, where a Philippine oil exploration ship last month reported being harassed by two Chinese patrol boats. They left after the Philippine military deployed two aircraft.
The Chinese ambassador in Manila said earlier that the executions had nothing to do with the territorial spat.
The plight of Filipinos overseas is an emotional issue in the Philippines and one of the pillars of the country's foreign policy. About 10 percent of the Philippines' 94 million people toil abroad to escape widespread poverty and unemployment at home. (report from Agence France-Presse/Associated Press/Inquirer.net)
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Lauren Young: 'Ayokong ma-compare kahit kanino'
Lauren Young was ecstatic that her hard work finally paid off when she was cast as the main lead of the early primetime teleserye Mula Sa Puso.
“Pinaghirapan ko talagang makuha ang role na ito. Talagang dinaanan ko ‘yung auditions, go-sees, mga workshops. At least dinaanan ko siya para masabi ko ring I actually worked hard for this, hindi lang siya ibinigay sa akin,” she explained.
Mula Sa Puso is the remake of the 1997 phenomenal hit series and Lauren is reprising the role of Olivia Pereira that was previously played by Claudine Barretto.
Lauren said that comparisons between her and Claudine are inevitable, but she is not letting these bother her.
“Everyone will always compare us because siya ‘yung original tapos ako nag-remake, pero ‘di naman po ako natatakot kasi iba naman ang acting before at acting ngayon. At the same time, hindi porke’t dahil matagal na ‘yon magpapabaya na ako. I’m still going to work hard naman.”
When prodded if she is not worried about being pitted against her colleagues and other actresses, Lauren replied, “Ayokong ma-compare kahit kanino. Basta gusto ko po I am who I am, ‘yun lang ho ‘yon.”
She is also confident that the management chose her for the part because they believe that she can effectively portray the role.
“Kung sa tingin ng management ‘di ko kaya, sana ‘di nila ako pinili. They think naman na kaya ko.”
While taping for a daily teleserye is difficult enough, Lauren continued that working with seasoned actors like Dawn Zulueta, Eula Valdez, and Ariel Rivera makes the project even harder.
However, she said that she uses her past experiences to motivate herself in doing heavy scenes.
With the possibility of becoming a teleserye princess, Lauren said that it feels good to finally have the chance to prove herself.
“I’m not going to let them down. I’m going to prove to them na kaya kong mag-deliver,” she said optimistically.
“This is what I want and I’m working hard for it and at least I’m getting something out of all the hard work I’m putting into it.”
At the press conference of Mula Sa Puso last week, Lauren said that it took a while before she got her break but she said that all happened at the right time.
“People expect kasi na once makapasok ka sa ABS-CBN, sunud-sunod din [ang projects]. Siguro sa iba ganun sila pero in my case naging okay sa akin na hindi ako pinasok [sa major roles] agad kasi alam ko rin na I wasn’t ready din naman. At least alam mo ‘yun I had time to work on my acting, I had the time to expand and learn everything. At least now I know it’s my time kasi antagal kong nag-training.”
Megan, Lauren’s older sister, is also getting an acting break in Hiyas, the next presentation of Precious Hearts Romances.
She plays the leading lady of Zanjoe Marudo.
But some reporters assume that the reason Lauren was given a bigger project is because she is a better actress than her sister.
“Hindi naman po,” Lauren defended.
“Si Megan kasi lagi naman niyang sinasabi, siya sa hosting [at] ako sa acting. Ako naman kasi, mas gusto ko talaga ang umarte, siya mas gusto niyang mag-host. We all have our differences pero ayoko namang sabihin na mas magaling akong umarte.” (report from Bernie Franco, Push.com.ph)
Queenie Padilla denies Mariel Rodriguez is a bad influence on her and her sister Kylie
During a March 28 press con, Queenie Padilla said that there’s no truth to recent reports that Mariel Rodriguez is a bad influence on her and her sister Kylie.
“Hindi po, napakabait po ni Tita Mariel. We’re close friends. May respeto naman kami. Minsan kapag magkausap kami ni papa, tatanungin niya ako, ‘Are you okay [na andito ako]? Baka hindi ka kumportable.’ ‘Hindi, okay lang po tita.’ Minsan bumibibisita ako sa [bahay nila sa] Fairview. Minsan iniimbita nila ako na manood ng sine tapos kumain, ganon po. My sister Kylie and I are okay with Tita Mariel. I love Tita Mariel,” she reiterated.
Queenie further stressed that she has actually gotten used to having a stepmom whom she could also confide in about her love life.
“In general na lang, ang sabi niya sa akin huwag masyado magmadali and enjoy life talaga muna. Na-inspire ako sa kanya dahil she married at the right age, tapos hanggang ngayon nagwo-work pa rin siya. Siguro ang ibig sabihin ni Tita Mariel, huwag magmadali magpakasal kung hindi ka sigurado. Marami akong natutunan sa kanya. Bilang isang artista, binibigyan din niya naman ako ng tips sa fashion.”
Apparently, the issue about Mariel being a bad influence on Robin Padilla’s children came out after Liezl Sicangco expressed her disapproval of Queenie and Kylie’s choice of skimpy outfits ever since they entered showbiz.
“Actually misunderstanding lang yun. Inexplain ko naman sa kanya na, ‘Ma hindi naman ako magiging full-on sexy. Lahat naman ng susuotin ko disente pa rin.’ Pinapaalaala lang ni mama na ‘wag namin kakalimutan yung faith namin,” said Queenie, referring to the restrictions of Islam concerning women’s behavior and manner of dressing.
Queenie added that her sister Kylie also had the chance to talk to her mom about the whole controversy.
As it is, Liezl seemed to be more disappointed with Kylie who rarely keeps in touch with her nowadays.
“Opo, tumawag din si Kylie after ng interview niya (Liezl). Maayos naman po sila. Wala naman silang pinag-aawayan. E kasi itong kapatid ko hindi masyadong close kay mama. Pero ngayon parang nagiging close naman. Actually, I am excited kasi baka sa July magbakasyon sila nila Ali dito sa Manila.” (report from Rachelle Siazon, Push.com.ph)
Angelica Jones urges Illac Diaz to tell the truth
Sanga-sangang pangyayari ang naganap sa isyung kinasasangkutan ng actress-turned-politician na si Angelica Jones at model-philanthropist na si Illac Diaz.
Una ay ang isyung diumano’y pagdi-date ng dalawa dati na itinanggi naman ni Illac na ngayon ay boyfriend ng actress-host na si Julia Clarete.
Pangalawa ay ang akusasyong diumano ay ibinulsa ni Angelica ang perang dapat sana ay gagamitin sa plastic-bottle school project nila ni Illac sa Laguna.
Kahapon ay ipinalabas sa The Buzz ang interview ni Boy Abunda kay Angelica hinggil sa nasabing isyu.
Sinabi niya na niligawan siya ni Illac noong 2009 pero hindi na lumalim pa dahil nalaman ni Angelica na dini-date din umano niya ang best friend ng aktres.
Mariing itinanggi naman ni Illac ang nasabing balita.
Nang magplano raw si Illac na ilunsad ang plastic bottle school project sa lalawigan sa Laguna ay tinawagan niya si Angelica na board member sa nasabing lugar para makipagtulungan.
Subalit nauwi ito sa away at demandahan ng dalawang kampo dahil sa diumano’y kawalan ng transparency ni Angelica na may hawak ng pondo para sa proyekto.
Dagdag pa ni Illac, hindi raw sumunod ang aktres sa kanilang napag-usapan.
Pero idiniin ni Angelica na kay Illac nagsimula ang nasabing gusot.
“Pinagtatalunan po kasi na ipinapalabas na tapos na ‘yung 'bottle school' ang sabi niya nagagamit na classroom at may teacher na, pero ‘di totoo,” buwelta ng bokal ng Laguna.
“Walang chairs, walang blackboard, walang estudyante, walang teacher. ‘Yun ang pinagtalunan at ayaw ko siyang kunsintihin sa kasinungalingan.”
Sinabi ni Angelica hinggil sa isyung transparency, nang humingi sa kanya ng mga resibo si Illac, sinabihan niya ang pilantropo na makipag-ugnayan sa kanyang treasurer, ang kanyang nanay.
Nagalit umano si Illac kung bakit ipinapasa siya sa kanyang staff samantalang sila ang magkausap sa nasabing proyekto.
Dahilan ni Angelica ay busy umano siya.
Nagdesisyon umano si Illac na babawiin na lang ang mga natirang materyales.
Kinumpirma rin niya kay Tito Boy na mayroon naman siyang mga resibo.
Nang magkita raw sila ay sinubukan niyang magpaliwanag kay Illac subalit ayaw raw nitong makinig.
Ang tanging sinasabi raw nito ay ilabas ang perang panlalawigan.
Tinawag pa raw siyang magnanakaw ni Illac.
Dahil dito ay sinubukan ng kuya ni Angelica na saktan si Illac pero naawat ito.
Itinanggi rin ni Angelica na sinaktan ng kanyang ina si Illac.
Nagpa-blotter raw si Angelica at nagdemanda ng grave oral defamation laban kay Illac at nais niyang korte na ang lumutas ng kaso.
Nang hingan ni Boy si Angelica ng mensahe para kay Illac, aniya, “Ano bang kasalanan ko sa 'yo? Wala akong alam na maling ginawa sa ‘yo. Hiling ko lang naman sabihin mo ang totoong nangyari.” (report from Bernie Franco, Push.com.ph)
Mariel Rodriguez says she is not a bad influence to Robin Padilla’s kids
Nagpaliwanag si Mariel Rodriguez sa The Buzz hinggil sa lumabas na isyu na diumano’y gusto ni Liezl Sycangco, dating asawa ni Robin Padilla na ngayon ay mister ni Mariel, na ibalik ang pananampalataya ng mga bata bilang Muslim at huwag na mag-artista.
Sinasabi diumano’y bad influence si Mariel sa mga babaeng anak ni Robin na sina Queenie at Kylie.
Pero sinabi ni Mariel na hindi siya naniniwala na inaakusahan siyang bad influence ng dating asawa ng kanyang mister.
“In Queenie’s E-Live interview yesterday (March 26), she mentioned that their mom is reminding them (because) bumalik sa (Muslim) faith ang mom nila and gusto rin ng mama nila na sila rin maging strong ang faith nila,” paliwanag ni Mariel.
Dagdag pa ni Mariel, kampante siya na suportado ni Liezl ang pagsu-showbiz ng kanyang mga anak na babae.
Nang umuwi nga raw sa Australia ang mga bata noong nakaraang Pasko ay tinulungan pa raw ni Liezl ang kanyang panganay na si Queenie na magpapayat.
“Alam ko may suporta (ni Liezl),” paniniyak ni Mariel.
“I think nire-remind niya lang talaga. I think pinapatigil is a strong word. Maybe she’s just reminding, lalong-lalo na sa mga nangyayari ngayon.”
On her part, ipinaliwanag ng actress-host na kaibigan ang tingin sa kanya ng mga anak ni Robin at hindi stepmother.
“Walang authority. We’re really just friends,” kuwento ni Mariel sa The Buzz kahapon.
“At saka marami kaming in common kasi we’re all in showbiz, mga babae rin sila, hindi malayo ang age difference, naiintindihan ko what they’re going through.”
Kahit nga rin daw si Robin ay parang kaibigan lang ang turingan sa mga anak.
“Feeling ko mas magwo-work ang relationship ‘pag ganon. From the very start sinabi ko na talaga ‘yon.”
Tanggap raw ng kikay na aktres na hindi niya mapapalitan si Liezl bilang nanay ng mga bata.
“Ako rin meron rin akong stepmom pero alam ko na may nanay naman talaga ako.”
Samantala, inamin din ni Mrs. Robin Padilla na mas lumakas ang kanyang pananampalataya dahil sa impluwensiya ng kanyang mister, pero itinanggi niyang magpapa-convert siya ng Muslim, na relihiyon ni Binoe.
“I am a Catholic. It is only now that I’m getting to know my religion (and) it is because of Robin and Tum (the movie). Paano mo pupuntahan o iiwan ang isang bagay kung hindi mo siya talaga alam?” ani Mariel tungkol sa pagpapalit ng relihiyon.
Marami raw naituro si Robin sa kanya lalong lalo na ang pagpapalakas ng kanyang pananampalataya.
Ipapalabas na sa sinehan ang pelikula nina Robin at Mariel, ang Tum: My Pledge of Love sa Abril 6. (report from Bernie Franco, Push.com.ph)
Kim Chiu congratulates Sarah Geronimo and Gerald Anderson
Very successful ang first ever movie na pinagsamahan nina Sarah Geronimo and Gerald Anderson na Catch Me, I’m In Love kaya masayang-masaya ang dalawa sa suportang natanggap mula sa kanilang fans.
Maging ang dating kapareha ni Gerald na si Kim Chiu ay masaya rin sa tagumpay na tinatamasa ng pelikula ngayon.
“Masaya ako for them and congratulations! Sinabi ko naman iyon kay Gerald na sure akong blockbuster yun dahil siyempre Gerald tapos kasama niya pa si Sarah,” nakangiting pahayag ni Kim.
Nagbigay din ng payo si Kim kay Gerald bago pa ipalabas ang pelikula sa mga sinehan.
“Sinabi ko sa kanya na huwag siyang kabahan dahil sigurado akong blockbuster iyan,” kuwento pa ng dalaga.
Hinding-hindi raw palalampasin ng young actress ang pelikula at siguradong panonoorin niya ito.
Samantala, ginulat ni Kim ang lahat sa kanyang sexy pictorials para sa Star Studio’s Sexiest Celebrities na kinunan kamakailan.
Silang dalawa ni Gerald ang itinanghal na Sexiest Young celebrities.
“Tiyan lang naman iyon, ‘tsaka pang-ano rin sa mga tao na lahat ng bumoto siyempre sayang naman yung daliri nila napudpod na sa kaboboto so sabi ko okay lang siguro mag-pose na ako ng ganito. Nagpapasalamat ako dahil ang daming text votes at ang daming bumoto,” paliwanag ni Kim.
May plano na ba siyang magtuloy-tuloy sa pagpapa-sexy o mag-pose for a men’s magazine?
“Ay! Hindi, hindi po talaga ako magpo-pose for a men’s magazine. Nakakahiya yung katawan ko,” natatawang sagot ni Kim. (report from James Cantos, Push.com.ph)
DOJ: Lacson, 'di mapipilit magbulgar ng detalye
AMINADO si Justice Secretary Leila de Lima na hindi maaaring obligahin si Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson na ihayag kung sino ang Philippine cdonsul na nag-isyu sa kaniya ng travel documents.
Ayon kay De Lima, hangga’t wala pang kaso ay hindi maaaring pilitin ang senador na ihayag ang mga detalye hinggil sa pagtatago.
Sinabi ng kalihim na maraming opsyon na siyang pinag-aaralan sa ngayon, kabilang na rito ay ang pakikipag-ugnayan sa Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) upang alamin ang hinggil sa pagkakakilanlan ng consul na nagbigay ng travel documents kay Lacson.
Kaugnay nito, sinabi ng kalihim na hindi pa lusot ang Bureau of Immigration sa akusasyong nagkulang ito sa mga hakbang upang hanapin ang senador.
Ang nasabing travel documents ang ipinakita ni Lacson sa halip na pasaporte kaya hindi matukoy ng mga awtoridad kung saan talaga nagmula ang senador. (ulat mula kay Teresa Tavares/Remate)
Ligot pinalaya na ng Senado
PINAKAWALAN na ng Senate Blue Ribbon Committee si dating AFP Comptroller Lt. Gen Jacinto Ligot at inalis na rin ang contempt charges laban sa asawa nitong si Erlinda Martes, Marso 29.
Ayon kay Committee Chairman Teofisto Guingona III, kuntento sila sa mga sagot ng mag-asawa kaya’t walang dahilan para ituloy pa ang reklamo sa kanila.
Magugunitang ikinulong sa senado si ligot noong Huwebes ng gabi samantalang si Erlinda ay nanatili sa tahanan nito “for humanitarian reason.”
Sinabi ni Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Jinggoy Estrada na inulit lamang nila ang mga tanong noong nakaraang pagdinig at nasiyahan naman sila sa sagot nang mag-asawang Ligot kung kaya’t nagpasya ang komite na pakawalan na ito.
Sa nasabing pagdinig, inamin ni Erlinda na ang Erllinda Ligot at Erlinda Yambao ay iisang tao lamang at siya ang nagbenta ng bahay sa Estados Unidos.
Inirekomenda naman ni Senador Franklin Drilon ang pagsampa ng graft charges laban sa mag-asawa.
“This Committee, in its report, should recommend that new forfeiture cases be filed against the Ligots and Mr. Yambao to include the properties and money that have not been included yet in the pending forfeiture case. We also recommend that anti-graft cases be filed against the General Jacinto Ligot, Mrs. Erlinda Ligot and Mr. Edgardo Yambao,” ayon kay Drilon.
Sa pagpapatuloy ng pagdinig, isa pang testigo ang lumutang sa Senado para patunayan ang talamak na kurapasyon sa Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Pinatunayan ni retired Col. Romeo Mateo ang mga akusasyon ni dating AFP budget officer George Rabusa na may conversion of funds sa AFP na pinagkukunan ng payola ng matataas na opisyal ng militar.
Ayon kay Mateo, simula taong 1989 ay mayroon ng conversion na nagaganap sa AFP kung saan kabilang siya sa nagko-convert ng allotment order sa J6 o office of the AFP comptroller upang gawing cash.
Hanggang sa P11 million umano ang kanilang kino-convert na pera bawat buwan.
Aminado si Mateo na kabilang siya sa nakikinabang sa naturang katiwalian dahil umaabot sa 1.5% ang kanyang tinatanggap na komisyon .
Nauna rito, inamin ni Col. Cirilo Thomas Donato, dating ISAFP comptroller, na tumanggap siya ng payola at kotse mula kay Rabusa. Pero itinanggi nitong nagkaroon ng conversion sa kanyang panahon sa halip ay cash advance lamang. (ulat mula kay Vicky Cervales/Remate)
Ayon kay Committee Chairman Teofisto Guingona III, kuntento sila sa mga sagot ng mag-asawa kaya’t walang dahilan para ituloy pa ang reklamo sa kanila.
Magugunitang ikinulong sa senado si ligot noong Huwebes ng gabi samantalang si Erlinda ay nanatili sa tahanan nito “for humanitarian reason.”
Sinabi ni Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Jinggoy Estrada na inulit lamang nila ang mga tanong noong nakaraang pagdinig at nasiyahan naman sila sa sagot nang mag-asawang Ligot kung kaya’t nagpasya ang komite na pakawalan na ito.
Sa nasabing pagdinig, inamin ni Erlinda na ang Erllinda Ligot at Erlinda Yambao ay iisang tao lamang at siya ang nagbenta ng bahay sa Estados Unidos.
Inirekomenda naman ni Senador Franklin Drilon ang pagsampa ng graft charges laban sa mag-asawa.
“This Committee, in its report, should recommend that new forfeiture cases be filed against the Ligots and Mr. Yambao to include the properties and money that have not been included yet in the pending forfeiture case. We also recommend that anti-graft cases be filed against the General Jacinto Ligot, Mrs. Erlinda Ligot and Mr. Edgardo Yambao,” ayon kay Drilon.
Sa pagpapatuloy ng pagdinig, isa pang testigo ang lumutang sa Senado para patunayan ang talamak na kurapasyon sa Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Pinatunayan ni retired Col. Romeo Mateo ang mga akusasyon ni dating AFP budget officer George Rabusa na may conversion of funds sa AFP na pinagkukunan ng payola ng matataas na opisyal ng militar.
Ayon kay Mateo, simula taong 1989 ay mayroon ng conversion na nagaganap sa AFP kung saan kabilang siya sa nagko-convert ng allotment order sa J6 o office of the AFP comptroller upang gawing cash.
Hanggang sa P11 million umano ang kanilang kino-convert na pera bawat buwan.
Aminado si Mateo na kabilang siya sa nakikinabang sa naturang katiwalian dahil umaabot sa 1.5% ang kanyang tinatanggap na komisyon .
Nauna rito, inamin ni Col. Cirilo Thomas Donato, dating ISAFP comptroller, na tumanggap siya ng payola at kotse mula kay Rabusa. Pero itinanggi nitong nagkaroon ng conversion sa kanyang panahon sa halip ay cash advance lamang. (ulat mula kay Vicky Cervales/Remate)
Billion-plus people to lack water in 2050—study
WASHINGTON—More than one billion urban residents will face serious water shortages by 2050 as climate change worsens effects of urbanization, with Indian cities among the worst hit, a study said Monday.
The shortage threatens sanitation in some of the world's fastest-growing cities but also poses risks for wildlife if cities pump in water from outside, said the article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study found that under current urbanization trends, by mid-century some 993 million city dwellers will live with less than 100 liters (26 gallons) each day of water each – roughly the amount that fills a personal bathtub – which authors considered the daily minimum.
Adding on the impact of climate change, an additional 100 million people will lack what they need for drinking, cooking, cleaning, bathing and toilet use.
"Don't take the numbers as destiny. They're a sign of a challenge," said lead author Rob McDonald of The Nature Conservancy, a private environmental group based near Washington.
"There are solutions to getting those billion people water. It's just a sign that a lot more investment is going to be needed, either in infrastructure or in water use efficiency," he said.
Currently, around 150 million people fall below the 100-liter threshold for daily water use. The average American has 376 liters delivered a day, although actual use varies widely depending on region, McDonald said.
But the world is undergoing an unprecedented urban shift as rural people in India, China and other growing nations flock to cities.
India's six biggest cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad – are among those most affected by water shortages. The study forecast that 119 million people would face water shortages in 2050 in the Ganges River delta and plain alone.
With an annual monsoon, India does not lack water. But it struggles to preserve the water from the wet season to the dry season, McDonald said.
West Africa, which sees some of the world's heaviest rainfall, will also face water shortages in cities such as Lagos, Nigeria, and Cotonou in Benin, the study found.
The study warned of threats to ecosystems if developing nations take water from elsewhere. India's Western Ghats region, a potential source for thirsty cities, is home to nearly 300 fish species, 29 percent of which are found nowhere else, it said.
"If cities are essentially drinking rivers dry, that has really bad effects on the fish and the reptiles and everything else in the river," McDonald said.
Instead, the study recommended reforms to agriculture – usually the top consumer of water – and improved efficiency, as nearly half of the water in some poor countries is wasted due to leaks.
"There is a lot of potential for increase in water-use efficiency in the agriculture sector, or indeed in the residential sector, to solve most of this challenge," McDonald said.
The study said there would be a need for international funding to help poorer nations "to ensure that urban residents can enjoy their fundamental right to adequate drinking water."
UN-led talks last year on climate change agreed on practicalities to set up a global fund to assist poor nations most hit by climate change, with a target of 100 billion dollars a year starting in 2020.
Other cities forecast by the study to face a water crunch include Manila, Beijing, Lahore and Tehran. (report from Shaun Tandon/Agence France-Presse)
The shortage threatens sanitation in some of the world's fastest-growing cities but also poses risks for wildlife if cities pump in water from outside, said the article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study found that under current urbanization trends, by mid-century some 993 million city dwellers will live with less than 100 liters (26 gallons) each day of water each – roughly the amount that fills a personal bathtub – which authors considered the daily minimum.
Adding on the impact of climate change, an additional 100 million people will lack what they need for drinking, cooking, cleaning, bathing and toilet use.
"Don't take the numbers as destiny. They're a sign of a challenge," said lead author Rob McDonald of The Nature Conservancy, a private environmental group based near Washington.
"There are solutions to getting those billion people water. It's just a sign that a lot more investment is going to be needed, either in infrastructure or in water use efficiency," he said.
Currently, around 150 million people fall below the 100-liter threshold for daily water use. The average American has 376 liters delivered a day, although actual use varies widely depending on region, McDonald said.
But the world is undergoing an unprecedented urban shift as rural people in India, China and other growing nations flock to cities.
India's six biggest cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad – are among those most affected by water shortages. The study forecast that 119 million people would face water shortages in 2050 in the Ganges River delta and plain alone.
With an annual monsoon, India does not lack water. But it struggles to preserve the water from the wet season to the dry season, McDonald said.
West Africa, which sees some of the world's heaviest rainfall, will also face water shortages in cities such as Lagos, Nigeria, and Cotonou in Benin, the study found.
The study warned of threats to ecosystems if developing nations take water from elsewhere. India's Western Ghats region, a potential source for thirsty cities, is home to nearly 300 fish species, 29 percent of which are found nowhere else, it said.
"If cities are essentially drinking rivers dry, that has really bad effects on the fish and the reptiles and everything else in the river," McDonald said.
Instead, the study recommended reforms to agriculture – usually the top consumer of water – and improved efficiency, as nearly half of the water in some poor countries is wasted due to leaks.
"There is a lot of potential for increase in water-use efficiency in the agriculture sector, or indeed in the residential sector, to solve most of this challenge," McDonald said.
The study said there would be a need for international funding to help poorer nations "to ensure that urban residents can enjoy their fundamental right to adequate drinking water."
UN-led talks last year on climate change agreed on practicalities to set up a global fund to assist poor nations most hit by climate change, with a target of 100 billion dollars a year starting in 2020.
Other cities forecast by the study to face a water crunch include Manila, Beijing, Lahore and Tehran. (report from Shaun Tandon/Agence France-Presse)
CNN beefs up newsgathering, lessens political debate
NEW YORK – CNN sent 11 crews to cover Japan's earthquake and tsunami, including headliners Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta. Anchors Wolf Blitzer and Piers Morgan were elsewhere recently: Blitzer hosting his evening newscast from France, Egypt and Tunisia, and Morgan heading to Israel to interview Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The deployment was the most visible example yet of new domestic chief Ken Jautz's vision of CNN as a substantive news network that takes full advantage of its company's newsgathering heft to concentrate more on journalism and a wide range of stories and less on political debate.
The abundance of news from Japan, Egypt and Libya makes this a particularly well-timed strategy. CNN is leading MSNBC in prime-time viewership in March and, if that holds up, it would be its first time in second place behind Fox News Channel in the cable news ratings since January 2010, the Nielsen Co. said. CNN's weekday prime-time audience is up 28 percent this year compared to the last three months of 2010, with MSNBC up 5 percent and Fox down 8 percent in the same period.
During the past few difficult years, CNN seemed more defined by what it took pains to say it wasn't – a partisan talk network – than what it was.
"It's important to stand out by being different," said Jautz, a longtime CNN executive who replaced Jon Klein last fall at the helm of the domestic network. "If much of the cable space is politically oriented and partisan politically oriented, the way to be different is ... to talk about different subject matters and approach it differently."
Jautz isn't afraid of opinion; as head of the HLN network he gave Glenn Beck a job. But he wants all points of view represented. He doesn't like the term nonpartisan and instead prefers "aggressively independent." Jautz's background is also deeply rooted in international news. Before moving into management to run HLN and before that CNNfn, Jautz spent much of his career overseas for CNN and The Associated Press. He covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the first Gulf War as a journalist.
CNN has built the biggest infrastructure in U.S. television news, partly with the help of money-making sister networks in CNN International and HLN. Since it collects advertising revenue as well as subscriber fees from cable and satellite systems, and its main business is news that gives CNN an advantage over advertiser-dependent broadcast networks that are cutting back in staff and relying more on video news services for images overseas.
Over the past few years, it was hard to tell that CNN had such a large international presence. CNN International, while produced out of the same Atlanta headquarters as the domestic network, might just as well have been part of another company.
Under Jautz during these big international stories, CNN has begun featuring news talent from CNN International. Hala Gorani has co-anchored newscasts on the main network, and reported from Egypt alongside Cooper. Isha Sesay co-anchored Blitzer's "Situation Room" while he was on the road recently.
"It certainly is noticeable that the network is using its news resources to cover hard news stories in ways in which its competition just can't do," said David Bernknopf, a 20-year CNN hand who now operates his own video production company, referring to an advantage CNN has in staffing.
CNN's hope is to create a contrast and make it appear that rivals Fox and MSNBC are one-dimensional with a focus on political arguments.
Even before the recent rush of breaking news, Jautz said he has tried to vary CNN's output to avoid the frequent tendency in cable news to concentrate on one story to the exclusion of most others.
He also wants a greater consistency in tone among different CNN broadcasts. Although former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez was fired Oct. 1 for remarks that included calling Jon Stewart a bigot, it's difficult to imagine his buzzy, social network-heavy afternoon show would have continued the way it was under Jautz. Another excitable daytime anchor, Ali Velshi, seems calmer, more serious these days.
"You have to be a place where people have an expectation of you and you fulfill their expectations," Jautz said.
Jautz said he wanted it to be a network where viewers learn something when they tune in. That doesn't mean turning its back on stories –celebrity items, for example – that don't fit some people's definition of serious news.
A model for CNN could be NPR (National Public Radio), which has built a strong business as a substantive news network despite management troubles, Bernknopf said.
"There's a very discernible difference in terms of tone and personality and content," said Frank Sesno, a former CNN Washington bureau chief and now director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University. "It helps that there's about 12,000 global crises taking place all at once because that plays to CNN's strengths."
It has always been best for the network when it realizes that news is a star, he said.
CNN still has work to do. It recently rebooted Eliot Spitzer's prime-time show with the exit of former co-host Kathleen Parker. Morgan's show can be wildly uneven – a serious interview with Netanyahu one day, an ill-timed chat with Hugh Hefner on a day of big news from the Middle East on another. Cooper has asserted himself and his ratings are improved, although it has yet to be seen whether the syndicated daytime show he will start next season proves to be a distraction.
Not everyone is convinced that there have been significant changes, despite the network's recent international coverage. "CNN is set up to cover that sort of stuff," said news consultant Andrew Tyndall, "and would have done that anyway."
Even though CNN scored some rare ratings wins recently, Fox is no doubt out of CNN's reach on a regular basis. But MSNBC, with the loss of its lead personality Keith Olbermann in January, could be vulnerable. The question for CNN, as always, is whether it can keep a larger audience when the big news stories quiet down. Competitors with a heavy emphasis on politics play to their strengths when a presidential campaign starts.
Sesno said Jautz has taken an important step by establishing a more consistent voice on the air.
"That is going to be a positive development for CNN," he said, "because with voice comes an identity, with voice comes a personality." (report from Associated Press)
The deployment was the most visible example yet of new domestic chief Ken Jautz's vision of CNN as a substantive news network that takes full advantage of its company's newsgathering heft to concentrate more on journalism and a wide range of stories and less on political debate.
The abundance of news from Japan, Egypt and Libya makes this a particularly well-timed strategy. CNN is leading MSNBC in prime-time viewership in March and, if that holds up, it would be its first time in second place behind Fox News Channel in the cable news ratings since January 2010, the Nielsen Co. said. CNN's weekday prime-time audience is up 28 percent this year compared to the last three months of 2010, with MSNBC up 5 percent and Fox down 8 percent in the same period.
During the past few difficult years, CNN seemed more defined by what it took pains to say it wasn't – a partisan talk network – than what it was.
"It's important to stand out by being different," said Jautz, a longtime CNN executive who replaced Jon Klein last fall at the helm of the domestic network. "If much of the cable space is politically oriented and partisan politically oriented, the way to be different is ... to talk about different subject matters and approach it differently."
Jautz isn't afraid of opinion; as head of the HLN network he gave Glenn Beck a job. But he wants all points of view represented. He doesn't like the term nonpartisan and instead prefers "aggressively independent." Jautz's background is also deeply rooted in international news. Before moving into management to run HLN and before that CNNfn, Jautz spent much of his career overseas for CNN and The Associated Press. He covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the first Gulf War as a journalist.
CNN has built the biggest infrastructure in U.S. television news, partly with the help of money-making sister networks in CNN International and HLN. Since it collects advertising revenue as well as subscriber fees from cable and satellite systems, and its main business is news that gives CNN an advantage over advertiser-dependent broadcast networks that are cutting back in staff and relying more on video news services for images overseas.
Over the past few years, it was hard to tell that CNN had such a large international presence. CNN International, while produced out of the same Atlanta headquarters as the domestic network, might just as well have been part of another company.
Under Jautz during these big international stories, CNN has begun featuring news talent from CNN International. Hala Gorani has co-anchored newscasts on the main network, and reported from Egypt alongside Cooper. Isha Sesay co-anchored Blitzer's "Situation Room" while he was on the road recently.
"It certainly is noticeable that the network is using its news resources to cover hard news stories in ways in which its competition just can't do," said David Bernknopf, a 20-year CNN hand who now operates his own video production company, referring to an advantage CNN has in staffing.
CNN's hope is to create a contrast and make it appear that rivals Fox and MSNBC are one-dimensional with a focus on political arguments.
Even before the recent rush of breaking news, Jautz said he has tried to vary CNN's output to avoid the frequent tendency in cable news to concentrate on one story to the exclusion of most others.
He also wants a greater consistency in tone among different CNN broadcasts. Although former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez was fired Oct. 1 for remarks that included calling Jon Stewart a bigot, it's difficult to imagine his buzzy, social network-heavy afternoon show would have continued the way it was under Jautz. Another excitable daytime anchor, Ali Velshi, seems calmer, more serious these days.
"You have to be a place where people have an expectation of you and you fulfill their expectations," Jautz said.
Jautz said he wanted it to be a network where viewers learn something when they tune in. That doesn't mean turning its back on stories –celebrity items, for example – that don't fit some people's definition of serious news.
A model for CNN could be NPR (National Public Radio), which has built a strong business as a substantive news network despite management troubles, Bernknopf said.
"There's a very discernible difference in terms of tone and personality and content," said Frank Sesno, a former CNN Washington bureau chief and now director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University. "It helps that there's about 12,000 global crises taking place all at once because that plays to CNN's strengths."
It has always been best for the network when it realizes that news is a star, he said.
CNN still has work to do. It recently rebooted Eliot Spitzer's prime-time show with the exit of former co-host Kathleen Parker. Morgan's show can be wildly uneven – a serious interview with Netanyahu one day, an ill-timed chat with Hugh Hefner on a day of big news from the Middle East on another. Cooper has asserted himself and his ratings are improved, although it has yet to be seen whether the syndicated daytime show he will start next season proves to be a distraction.
Not everyone is convinced that there have been significant changes, despite the network's recent international coverage. "CNN is set up to cover that sort of stuff," said news consultant Andrew Tyndall, "and would have done that anyway."
Even though CNN scored some rare ratings wins recently, Fox is no doubt out of CNN's reach on a regular basis. But MSNBC, with the loss of its lead personality Keith Olbermann in January, could be vulnerable. The question for CNN, as always, is whether it can keep a larger audience when the big news stories quiet down. Competitors with a heavy emphasis on politics play to their strengths when a presidential campaign starts.
Sesno said Jautz has taken an important step by establishing a more consistent voice on the air.
"That is going to be a positive development for CNN," he said, "because with voice comes an identity, with voice comes a personality." (report from Associated Press)
Mandela's foundation launches Twitter account
JOHANNESBURG – Nelson Mandela's foundation is reaching out to the young, networked and socially conscious, bringing teens to a news conference Monday to announce it was launching a Twitter account.
Thando Sithebe, a 17-year-old Soweto high school student, called Mandela a "father to everyone" and said he would use his own Twitter and Facebook accounts – and MXit and The Grid as well – to urge his friends to mark Mandela Day, an international day devoted to public service that falls on Mandela's July 18 birthday. Mandela, who turns 93 this year, has largely retired from public life.
The Nobel peace laureate spent 27 years in prison for fighting apartheid in South Africa. He became South Africa's first black president in 1994 and is celebrated for his efforts to overcome racial divisions that have lingered since the end of white rule.
His foundation oversees development and aid work and houses documents by and about Mandela. It is known on Twitter as CentreOfMemory – spokesman Sello Hatang said names more directly associated with Mandela had already been taken by other organizations.
The foundation also has a Facebook page under its full name, the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Earlier this month, Google gave the foundation $1.25 million it will use to scan more than 10,000 of Mandela's personal records. The database will be accessible for free to any Internet user.
While foundation officials have embraced the Internet as a way to spread Mandela's message, they have reason to be wary of social network platforms. Moments before going live on Twitter and Facebook during Monday's news conference, organizers said they had to take down nude photos posted by a prankster. And Hatang referred ruefully to false rumors of Mandela's death spread on Twitter earlier this year.
"We hope that it will be used for good," Hatang said as he launched the foundation's Twitter account.
The young people gathered for the launch at the foundation's Johannesburg offices appeared ready to take up the challenge Mandela set out when he laid the foundation for Mandela Day on his 90th birthday.
The theme of a London concert in his honor that year was "it's in our hands." Achmat Dangor, chief executive of the Mandela Foundation, recalled Mandela doing some editing when he made remarks that day.
"He said, 'It's in YOUR hands,'" Dangor said Monday. "He then made a pointed call on the next generation of leaders to take responsibility."
Sithebe, the 17-year-old who spoke at the Twitter launch, offered a list of suggestions for marking Mandela Day, from spending time with family to feeding the hungry.
Fellow 17-year-old Cassandra Collins said she was determined to do something to make the world better every day.
"We as a nation need to start with ourselves and change ourselves before we can change the world," she said. (report from Associated Press)
Thando Sithebe, a 17-year-old Soweto high school student, called Mandela a "father to everyone" and said he would use his own Twitter and Facebook accounts – and MXit and The Grid as well – to urge his friends to mark Mandela Day, an international day devoted to public service that falls on Mandela's July 18 birthday. Mandela, who turns 93 this year, has largely retired from public life.
The Nobel peace laureate spent 27 years in prison for fighting apartheid in South Africa. He became South Africa's first black president in 1994 and is celebrated for his efforts to overcome racial divisions that have lingered since the end of white rule.
His foundation oversees development and aid work and houses documents by and about Mandela. It is known on Twitter as CentreOfMemory – spokesman Sello Hatang said names more directly associated with Mandela had already been taken by other organizations.
The foundation also has a Facebook page under its full name, the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Earlier this month, Google gave the foundation $1.25 million it will use to scan more than 10,000 of Mandela's personal records. The database will be accessible for free to any Internet user.
While foundation officials have embraced the Internet as a way to spread Mandela's message, they have reason to be wary of social network platforms. Moments before going live on Twitter and Facebook during Monday's news conference, organizers said they had to take down nude photos posted by a prankster. And Hatang referred ruefully to false rumors of Mandela's death spread on Twitter earlier this year.
"We hope that it will be used for good," Hatang said as he launched the foundation's Twitter account.
The young people gathered for the launch at the foundation's Johannesburg offices appeared ready to take up the challenge Mandela set out when he laid the foundation for Mandela Day on his 90th birthday.
The theme of a London concert in his honor that year was "it's in our hands." Achmat Dangor, chief executive of the Mandela Foundation, recalled Mandela doing some editing when he made remarks that day.
"He said, 'It's in YOUR hands,'" Dangor said Monday. "He then made a pointed call on the next generation of leaders to take responsibility."
Sithebe, the 17-year-old who spoke at the Twitter launch, offered a list of suggestions for marking Mandela Day, from spending time with family to feeding the hungry.
Fellow 17-year-old Cassandra Collins said she was determined to do something to make the world better every day.
"We as a nation need to start with ourselves and change ourselves before we can change the world," she said. (report from Associated Press)
China rockets to second in science publications
LONDON – China has rocketed into second place in the number of articles published in international science magazines, according to a report released Monday by the Royal Society in London.
While the top 10 is filled with major Western powers, their share of research papers published is falling, while nations such as China, Brazil and India are growing.
Also on the rise but further behind are Iran and Turkey.
China has shot up from sixth place in the period 1999-2003 (4.4 percent of the total) to second place behind the United States with 10.2 percent over the years 2004-08, overtaking Japan.
The United States remains in the top spot, but has seen its share shrink from 26.4 percent to 21.2 percent.
Japan has slipped from second to fourth, falling from 7.8 percent to 6.1 percent, while Britain has remained third with its share at 6.5 percent, down from 7.1 percent.
Germany, in fifth place, published six percent, down from seven percent, while France, in sixth, published 4.4 percent, down from five percent.
They were followed by Canada, Italy, Spain and India.
"The scientific world is changing and new players are fast appearing," said Chris Llewellyn Smith, who chaired the study at the Royal Society, Britain's national science academy.
"Beyond the emergence of China, we see the rise of southeast Asian, Middle Eastern, North African and other nations.
"The increase in scientific research and collaboration, which can help us to find solutions to the global challenges we now face, is very welcome.
"However, no historically dominant nation can afford to rest on its laurels if it wants to retain the competitive economic advantage that being a scientific leader brings."
The Royal Society's findings were published in its report entitled "Knowledge, networks and nations: Global scientific collaboration in the 21st century".
Outside the top 10, Turkey improved its scientific performance rate at a speed almost rivalling China, with four times as many papers with Turkish authors published in 2008 as in 1996.
Meanwhile Iran was the fastest-growing country in terms of numbers of scientific publications, rising from 736 in 1996 to 13,238 in 2008. (report from Associated Press / Inquirer.net)
While the top 10 is filled with major Western powers, their share of research papers published is falling, while nations such as China, Brazil and India are growing.
Also on the rise but further behind are Iran and Turkey.
China has shot up from sixth place in the period 1999-2003 (4.4 percent of the total) to second place behind the United States with 10.2 percent over the years 2004-08, overtaking Japan.
The United States remains in the top spot, but has seen its share shrink from 26.4 percent to 21.2 percent.
Japan has slipped from second to fourth, falling from 7.8 percent to 6.1 percent, while Britain has remained third with its share at 6.5 percent, down from 7.1 percent.
Germany, in fifth place, published six percent, down from seven percent, while France, in sixth, published 4.4 percent, down from five percent.
They were followed by Canada, Italy, Spain and India.
"The scientific world is changing and new players are fast appearing," said Chris Llewellyn Smith, who chaired the study at the Royal Society, Britain's national science academy.
"Beyond the emergence of China, we see the rise of southeast Asian, Middle Eastern, North African and other nations.
"The increase in scientific research and collaboration, which can help us to find solutions to the global challenges we now face, is very welcome.
"However, no historically dominant nation can afford to rest on its laurels if it wants to retain the competitive economic advantage that being a scientific leader brings."
The Royal Society's findings were published in its report entitled "Knowledge, networks and nations: Global scientific collaboration in the 21st century".
Outside the top 10, Turkey improved its scientific performance rate at a speed almost rivalling China, with four times as many papers with Turkish authors published in 2008 as in 1996.
Meanwhile Iran was the fastest-growing country in terms of numbers of scientific publications, rising from 736 in 1996 to 13,238 in 2008. (report from Associated Press / Inquirer.net)
Gov’t after OFWs protection, says POEA chief over Saudi row
MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino government is after the protection of Filipinos working overseas, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) chief Carlos Cao Jr. told Radyo Inquirer Tuesday, a day after it was reported that Saudi Arabia stopped the processing of employment contracts for Filipinos household service workers (HSWs).
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs relayed this information in a note verbale to the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh on March 12 in what officials said was connected to the new Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act which requires prior to deployment a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) certification that the rights of domestic helpers would be adequately protected.
Cao said the certification was part of the Household Service Reform Program that sought to ensure the OFWs welfare.
Cao reiterated that the agencies concerned were trying to come up with a unified response to the Saudi note verbale. (report from Inquirer.net/DZIQ-Radyo Inquirer)
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs relayed this information in a note verbale to the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh on March 12 in what officials said was connected to the new Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act which requires prior to deployment a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) certification that the rights of domestic helpers would be adequately protected.
Cao said the certification was part of the Household Service Reform Program that sought to ensure the OFWs welfare.
Cao reiterated that the agencies concerned were trying to come up with a unified response to the Saudi note verbale. (report from Inquirer.net/DZIQ-Radyo Inquirer)
5 hurt as car smashes into medical lab
MANILA, Philippines – Five people were hurt when a Toyota Revo that went out of control after it developed engine trouble slammed into the glass wall of Hi Precision Diagnostic medical laboratory located at Biak na Bato corner Del Monte Tuesday morning, according to Traffic Officer Rey Salba.
Salba said the vehicle with plate number WPD 823 was to fetch one of the laboratory’s clients when the accident happened at 6:55 a.m.
The injured were taken to the Philippine Chinese General Hospital at Blumentriit, Manila. (report from Nancy C. Carvajal/Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Salba said the vehicle with plate number WPD 823 was to fetch one of the laboratory’s clients when the accident happened at 6:55 a.m.
The injured were taken to the Philippine Chinese General Hospital at Blumentriit, Manila. (report from Nancy C. Carvajal/Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Court defers ruling on TRO vs BSP receivership of Banco Filipino
MANILA, Philippines – The Court of Appeals has deferred the issuance of a temporary restraining order on the directive of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to place Banco Filipino under receivership due to capital deficiency.
Instead, the court ordered the BSP to submit a comment within a non-extendible five days from receipt of its resolution.
“Without necessarily giving due court, the court orders the respondent [BSP] to submit a comment [not a motion to dismiss] within a non-extendible period of five days from notice,” the appeals court 14th division through Associate Justice Agnes Reyes-Carpion stated in its resolution dated March 28 but was released only this Tuesday.
“Likewise address therein the propriety of the issuance of a temporary restraining order and with the issuance of a preliminary injunction. So ordered,” the appeals court added.
Associate Justices Fernanda Lampas-Peralta and Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla concurred in the resolution.
Banco Filipino last week filed a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals asking that the court declare as illegal the BSP order.
Lawyer Perfecto Yasay, BF Vice Chairman and former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission said they were questioning the legality of the BSP order since a preliminary mandatory preventive injunction has been issued by the Makati City regional trial court Branch 66 ordering the BSP to implement the (BSP and Monetary Board approved) business plan.
The BSP recently put under Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) receivership the Banco Filipino Savings and Mortgage Bank and ordered that assistance be immediately given to its 177,652 depositors.
The BSP explained that the bank has insufficient realizable assets to meet its obligations with its net realizable value at P8.4 billion.
But Yasay maintained that the BF was not insolvent and has assets worth P25 billion.
The Makati RTC in a 2009 decision ordered the BSP and the Monetary Board (MB) to immediately implement BF’s approved Business Plan by releasing, without delay, the P25-billion financial assistance and a package of regulatory relief. The decision was affirmed by the Court of Appeals last year.
The Business Plan for the once biggest savings bank in the country with almost four million depositors before its closure in 1985 during the time of the late Central Bank Gov. Jose “Jobo” Fernandez was approved by the MB through Resolution No. 1668 and subsequent amendments after seven years of continued summary denial.
The bank was ordered padlocked and liquidated in 1985.
In 1991, the Supreme Court declared the closure “arbitrary and with grave abuse of discretion.” The decision became final in 1992.
On July 27, 1984 when BF was placed under conservatorship through MB Resolution No. 955, the bank filed its first civil case denominated as CV No. 8108.
On Jan. 25, 1985, the then CB issued MB Resolution No. 75 that ordered the closure of BF and placed it under receivership. The second civil case denominated as CV No. 9675 was filed by BF.
On March 22, 1985, BF was placed under liquidation prompting the padlocked bank to file its third civil case denominated as CV No. 10183. (report from Tetch Torres, Inquirer.net)
Instead, the court ordered the BSP to submit a comment within a non-extendible five days from receipt of its resolution.
“Without necessarily giving due court, the court orders the respondent [BSP] to submit a comment [not a motion to dismiss] within a non-extendible period of five days from notice,” the appeals court 14th division through Associate Justice Agnes Reyes-Carpion stated in its resolution dated March 28 but was released only this Tuesday.
“Likewise address therein the propriety of the issuance of a temporary restraining order and with the issuance of a preliminary injunction. So ordered,” the appeals court added.
Associate Justices Fernanda Lampas-Peralta and Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla concurred in the resolution.
Banco Filipino last week filed a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals asking that the court declare as illegal the BSP order.
Lawyer Perfecto Yasay, BF Vice Chairman and former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission said they were questioning the legality of the BSP order since a preliminary mandatory preventive injunction has been issued by the Makati City regional trial court Branch 66 ordering the BSP to implement the (BSP and Monetary Board approved) business plan.
The BSP recently put under Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) receivership the Banco Filipino Savings and Mortgage Bank and ordered that assistance be immediately given to its 177,652 depositors.
The BSP explained that the bank has insufficient realizable assets to meet its obligations with its net realizable value at P8.4 billion.
But Yasay maintained that the BF was not insolvent and has assets worth P25 billion.
The Makati RTC in a 2009 decision ordered the BSP and the Monetary Board (MB) to immediately implement BF’s approved Business Plan by releasing, without delay, the P25-billion financial assistance and a package of regulatory relief. The decision was affirmed by the Court of Appeals last year.
The Business Plan for the once biggest savings bank in the country with almost four million depositors before its closure in 1985 during the time of the late Central Bank Gov. Jose “Jobo” Fernandez was approved by the MB through Resolution No. 1668 and subsequent amendments after seven years of continued summary denial.
The bank was ordered padlocked and liquidated in 1985.
In 1991, the Supreme Court declared the closure “arbitrary and with grave abuse of discretion.” The decision became final in 1992.
On July 27, 1984 when BF was placed under conservatorship through MB Resolution No. 955, the bank filed its first civil case denominated as CV No. 8108.
On Jan. 25, 1985, the then CB issued MB Resolution No. 75 that ordered the closure of BF and placed it under receivership. The second civil case denominated as CV No. 9675 was filed by BF.
On March 22, 1985, BF was placed under liquidation prompting the padlocked bank to file its third civil case denominated as CV No. 10183. (report from Tetch Torres, Inquirer.net)
Rebels push west before Libya crisis talks
NAWFALIYAH/MISRATA, Libya — Rebels advanced west on Monday toward Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's birthplace as President Barack Obama told Americans US forces will not get bogged down in an Iraq-style "regime change" war.
In a nationally televised address in Washington, Obama aimed to counter criticism that he lacked clear objectives and a credible exit strategy in Libya. But he underscored the limits of US military action and acknowledged Gaddafi may be able to cling to power.
Emboldened by Western-led air strikes against Gaddafi's troops, rebels took the town of Nawfaliyah and moved toward Sirte, Gaddafi's home town and an important military base, in the sixth week of an uprising against his 41-year rule.
Rebels fired mortars and heavy machine guns in sporadic clashes with loyalist forces.
As the rebels pressed forward in the east, Gaddafi's troops were patrolling an area near the center of Misrata after shelling the previously rebel-controlled western city for days and Arab news networks reported Western air strikes in the west of Tripoli.
The government in Tripoli said it had "liberated" Misrata from rebels and declared a ceasefire there.
In his speech, Obama vowed to work with allies to hasten Gaddafi's exit from power but said he would not use force to topple him -- as former US President George W. Bush did in ousting Saddam Hussein in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
"To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq," Obama told an audience of military officers in Washington. "But regime change there took eight years, thousands of American and Iraqi lives, and nearly a trillion dollars. That is not something we can afford to repeat in Libya."
Broadening the Libya military mission to include regime change would be a mistake, Obama said, and "if we tried to overthrow Gaddafi by force, our coalition would splinter," making it likely US ground troops would have to be deployed.
He did not specify how long US forces would be involved and how they would eventually exit the conflict.
London meeting
Diplomatic activity accelerated on the eve of a 35-nation meeting in London on Tuesday to discuss the crisis in the oil-producing North African desert state.
Italy proposed a deal including a ceasefire, exile for Gaddafi and dialogue between rebels and tribal leaders.
The rebel leadership ruled out compromise with Gaddafi's followers. "We have had a vision from the very beginning and the main ingredient of this vision is the downfall of the Gaddafi regime," spokesman Hafiz Ghoga told reporters in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in eastern Libya.
Qatar became the first Arab country to recognize Libya's rebels as the people's legitimate representative, in a move that may presage similar moves from other Gulf states. Libyan state television called the move "blatant interference".
Russia criticized the Western intervention that has turned the tide in the conflict, saying it amounted to taking sides in a civil war and breached the terms of a United Nations Security Council resolution.
On Sunday, NATO agreed to take full command of military operations in Libya after a week of heated negotiations.
The United States, which led the initial phase, had sought to scale back its role in another Muslim country after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. An alliance spokeswoman said the transition would take a couple of days.
Libya accused NATO of "terrorizing" and killing its people as part of a global plot to humiliate and weaken it.
US Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said the rebels fighting Gaddafi were not robust and the gains they have made on the battlefield in recent days were tenuous.
Gortney, director of the US military's Joint Staff, said the United States was not directly supporting the opposition but it had achieved a military benefit from coalition air strikes.
He said the United States had no confirmed report of any civilian casualty caused by coalition forces and that coalition had fired six Tomahawk cruise missiles in the past 24 hours and had carried out 178 air sorties.
'Gaddafi must go'
The French and British leaders called for supporters of Gaddafi to abandon him and asked Libyans opposing him to join a political process to pave the way for his departure.
"Gaddafi must go immediately," President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister David Cameron said in a joint statement. "We call on all his supporters to drop him before it is too late."
In the nine days since the start of the Western-led bombing, the motley volunteer force of rebels has pressed half-way along the coast from its stronghold of Benghazi toward Tripoli and regained control of major oil terminals in the OPEC state.
The United States gave a green light to sales of Libyan crude oil from rebel-held territory, giving a potential boost to forces battling Gaddafi.
With its finances under pressure, the rebel leadership said it hopes to restart oil exports within a week. Some energy traders said that, sanctions aside, they could not touch Libyan oil because of shipping and legal risks.
On Monday rebels met sporadic resistance as they pushed their advance in convoys of pick-up trucks with machine guns.
Just west of sandy, barren Nawfaliyah, bursts of sustained machinegun fire and the whoosh of several rockets could be heard, and plumes of black smoke rose ahead.
"Those are from our guns," said Faisal Bozgaia, 28, a hospital worker turned rebel fighter, pointing to the smoke.
Soldiers were manning checkpoints and green Libyan flags flapped in the wind. Militiamen fired AK-47 rifles defiantly into the air. "If they come to Sirte, we will defend our city," said Osama bin Nafaa, 32, a policeman.
In Misrata, Gaddafi soldiers manned checkpoints and took up positions on rooftops. Some house fronts were smashed, smoke rose from several areas and gunfire rang out across the city.
Several civilians approached a group of journalists, some of them woman and children waving green flags. "Misrata is ours, there are still some bad guys in other parts, but Gaddafi is winning, the city is ours," resident Abduq Karim said.
A rebel spokesman in another western town, Zintan, said forces loyal to Gaddafi had bombarded the town with rockets early on Monday, Al Jazeera reported.
Western-led air strikes began on March 19, two days after the U.N. Security Council authorized "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces.
The start of allied bombings proved a turning point for the rebels who were hemmed into Benghazi at the time.
Russia, which abstained in the U.N. vote, said Western attacks on Gaddafi forces amounted to taking sides.
"We consider that intervention by the coalition in what is essentially an internal civil war is not sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council resolution," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the BBC: "We are there to protect civilians -- no more, no less." (report from Reuters)
In a nationally televised address in Washington, Obama aimed to counter criticism that he lacked clear objectives and a credible exit strategy in Libya. But he underscored the limits of US military action and acknowledged Gaddafi may be able to cling to power.
Emboldened by Western-led air strikes against Gaddafi's troops, rebels took the town of Nawfaliyah and moved toward Sirte, Gaddafi's home town and an important military base, in the sixth week of an uprising against his 41-year rule.
Rebels fired mortars and heavy machine guns in sporadic clashes with loyalist forces.
As the rebels pressed forward in the east, Gaddafi's troops were patrolling an area near the center of Misrata after shelling the previously rebel-controlled western city for days and Arab news networks reported Western air strikes in the west of Tripoli.
The government in Tripoli said it had "liberated" Misrata from rebels and declared a ceasefire there.
In his speech, Obama vowed to work with allies to hasten Gaddafi's exit from power but said he would not use force to topple him -- as former US President George W. Bush did in ousting Saddam Hussein in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
"To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq," Obama told an audience of military officers in Washington. "But regime change there took eight years, thousands of American and Iraqi lives, and nearly a trillion dollars. That is not something we can afford to repeat in Libya."
Broadening the Libya military mission to include regime change would be a mistake, Obama said, and "if we tried to overthrow Gaddafi by force, our coalition would splinter," making it likely US ground troops would have to be deployed.
He did not specify how long US forces would be involved and how they would eventually exit the conflict.
London meeting
Diplomatic activity accelerated on the eve of a 35-nation meeting in London on Tuesday to discuss the crisis in the oil-producing North African desert state.
Italy proposed a deal including a ceasefire, exile for Gaddafi and dialogue between rebels and tribal leaders.
The rebel leadership ruled out compromise with Gaddafi's followers. "We have had a vision from the very beginning and the main ingredient of this vision is the downfall of the Gaddafi regime," spokesman Hafiz Ghoga told reporters in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in eastern Libya.
Qatar became the first Arab country to recognize Libya's rebels as the people's legitimate representative, in a move that may presage similar moves from other Gulf states. Libyan state television called the move "blatant interference".
Russia criticized the Western intervention that has turned the tide in the conflict, saying it amounted to taking sides in a civil war and breached the terms of a United Nations Security Council resolution.
On Sunday, NATO agreed to take full command of military operations in Libya after a week of heated negotiations.
The United States, which led the initial phase, had sought to scale back its role in another Muslim country after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. An alliance spokeswoman said the transition would take a couple of days.
Libya accused NATO of "terrorizing" and killing its people as part of a global plot to humiliate and weaken it.
US Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said the rebels fighting Gaddafi were not robust and the gains they have made on the battlefield in recent days were tenuous.
Gortney, director of the US military's Joint Staff, said the United States was not directly supporting the opposition but it had achieved a military benefit from coalition air strikes.
He said the United States had no confirmed report of any civilian casualty caused by coalition forces and that coalition had fired six Tomahawk cruise missiles in the past 24 hours and had carried out 178 air sorties.
'Gaddafi must go'
The French and British leaders called for supporters of Gaddafi to abandon him and asked Libyans opposing him to join a political process to pave the way for his departure.
"Gaddafi must go immediately," President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister David Cameron said in a joint statement. "We call on all his supporters to drop him before it is too late."
In the nine days since the start of the Western-led bombing, the motley volunteer force of rebels has pressed half-way along the coast from its stronghold of Benghazi toward Tripoli and regained control of major oil terminals in the OPEC state.
The United States gave a green light to sales of Libyan crude oil from rebel-held territory, giving a potential boost to forces battling Gaddafi.
With its finances under pressure, the rebel leadership said it hopes to restart oil exports within a week. Some energy traders said that, sanctions aside, they could not touch Libyan oil because of shipping and legal risks.
On Monday rebels met sporadic resistance as they pushed their advance in convoys of pick-up trucks with machine guns.
Just west of sandy, barren Nawfaliyah, bursts of sustained machinegun fire and the whoosh of several rockets could be heard, and plumes of black smoke rose ahead.
"Those are from our guns," said Faisal Bozgaia, 28, a hospital worker turned rebel fighter, pointing to the smoke.
Soldiers were manning checkpoints and green Libyan flags flapped in the wind. Militiamen fired AK-47 rifles defiantly into the air. "If they come to Sirte, we will defend our city," said Osama bin Nafaa, 32, a policeman.
In Misrata, Gaddafi soldiers manned checkpoints and took up positions on rooftops. Some house fronts were smashed, smoke rose from several areas and gunfire rang out across the city.
Several civilians approached a group of journalists, some of them woman and children waving green flags. "Misrata is ours, there are still some bad guys in other parts, but Gaddafi is winning, the city is ours," resident Abduq Karim said.
A rebel spokesman in another western town, Zintan, said forces loyal to Gaddafi had bombarded the town with rockets early on Monday, Al Jazeera reported.
Western-led air strikes began on March 19, two days after the U.N. Security Council authorized "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces.
The start of allied bombings proved a turning point for the rebels who were hemmed into Benghazi at the time.
Russia, which abstained in the U.N. vote, said Western attacks on Gaddafi forces amounted to taking sides.
"We consider that intervention by the coalition in what is essentially an internal civil war is not sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council resolution," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the BBC: "We are there to protect civilians -- no more, no less." (report from Reuters)
China finds trace radiation in more areas
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities say trace amounts of atmospheric radiation from Japan's stricken nuclear power plant have been detected in more parts of China.
Authorities have already reported that low levels of radioactive iodine-131 were detected in the air above northeastern Heilongjiang province over the weekend. In a notice on its website Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Ministry says further traces were found over the southeastern regions of Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Anhui, Guangdong and Guangxi.
The ministry says the tiny amounts of iodine-131 pose no threat to public health.
The reports are the only evidence of radiation reaching China linked to the leaking Fukushima nuclear plant, damaged by the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami. (report from Philstar.com)
Authorities have already reported that low levels of radioactive iodine-131 were detected in the air above northeastern Heilongjiang province over the weekend. In a notice on its website Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Ministry says further traces were found over the southeastern regions of Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Anhui, Guangdong and Guangxi.
The ministry says the tiny amounts of iodine-131 pose no threat to public health.
The reports are the only evidence of radiation reaching China linked to the leaking Fukushima nuclear plant, damaged by the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami. (report from Philstar.com)
Monday, March 28, 2011
Kris Aquino comes to President's rescue vs critics
MANILA, Philippines -- President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino's youngest sister, Kris, admitted that she was hurt by criticims that reforms and development were slow under the present administration of her brother.
Kris, speaking before the opening of the first TESDA's free assessment and certification week on Monday, even fired at her brother's critics, saying that no one in the Philippine history had recorded a 75 percent approval rating in the surveys like the President.
"Ngayon ho talaga, I'm proud to say na, iisantabi na natin ang pagiging Kris Aquino, kapatid ako ng Pangulo natin na ipinagmamalaki sya ng bonggang bonga," she told hundreds of people who attended the event.
"Bakit po? Alam mo kasi masakit na rin po minsan na parati kang nakakarinig ng batikos na ang bagal nang pag-unlad, na hindi naaaksyunan ang panangailangan ng Pilipino. Pero tinitingnan ko kayo ngayon, ang dami daming nandito na magkakaroon na ng opprtunidad na magkaroon ng magandang tarbaho at alam kong dahil yan sa liderato ng Pangulong Aquino," she said.
"So siguro kayo na ang magiging pruweba ng achivement ni President Noynoy [Aquino's nickname] para sa Pilipinas at siguro po tutulungan nyo kami dahil hindi naman sya magiging Pangulo kung hindi dahil sa inyong lahat, dahil sa botong binigay nyo sa kanya," she said.
And while critics were belittling the 75 percent approval rating of the President, Kris pointed out that no one in the past had gotten the same approval rating.
"Wala naman ho yatang nakatikim noon in the past so sana tigilan na ang kainggitan sa katawan at matuwa na lang tayo talaga na meron tayong Pangulong pinagkakatiwalaan natin," she said.
"Ako po, buong buo ang tiwala ko sa kanya at buong buo ang tiwala ko sa mamayang Pilipino," she further said. (report from Inquirer.net)
Village chair stabbed dead, wife hurt in N. Cotabato
COTABATO CITY, Philippines—A village chairman and head of an organization of villages was killed and his wife seriously injured when unidentified assailants stabbed them in their home in Alameda, North Cotabato early Monday, police said.
Senior Police Officer 4 Samson Pacete, Alamada police station chief, said victim as Joseph Allan Vallos, village chair of Poblacion Alamada and president of the Association of Barangay (village) Chairmen succumbed to four stab wounds.
Pacete said two men sneaked into the house of Vallos and one of them stabbed Vallos’s wife, Arlyn, who woke up to go to the bathroom at 1 a.m.
Vallos was awakened and rushed to his wife’s rescue but was instead attacked by the assailants.
Vallos died while being treated at a hospital in nearby Midsayap town. His wife is in critical condition.
Pacete said initial investigation showed the motive behind the attack was robbery because the family owns a drug store and a variety store.
Pacete however was “not discounting the attack was work-related,” adding that the victim had no known enemy and had not received death threats.
Three persons, their identities withheld, were invited for questioning. (report from Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao)
Senior Police Officer 4 Samson Pacete, Alamada police station chief, said victim as Joseph Allan Vallos, village chair of Poblacion Alamada and president of the Association of Barangay (village) Chairmen succumbed to four stab wounds.
Pacete said two men sneaked into the house of Vallos and one of them stabbed Vallos’s wife, Arlyn, who woke up to go to the bathroom at 1 a.m.
Vallos was awakened and rushed to his wife’s rescue but was instead attacked by the assailants.
Vallos died while being treated at a hospital in nearby Midsayap town. His wife is in critical condition.
Pacete said initial investigation showed the motive behind the attack was robbery because the family owns a drug store and a variety store.
Pacete however was “not discounting the attack was work-related,” adding that the victim had no known enemy and had not received death threats.
Three persons, their identities withheld, were invited for questioning. (report from Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao)
Dacers to pass petition questioning CA’s decision on Lacson—lawyer
MANILA, Philippines – The daughters of slain publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer have tasked their lawyer to pass a petition to review the Court of Appeal’s dismissal of the cases they filed against Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson.
Carina Dacer and her sisters’ lawyer Demetrio Custodio told Radyo Inquirer in an interview Monday that he was instructed to pass a petition which could question or reverse the CA’s dismissal of criminal case against Lacson.
The Dacer siblings were, according to Custodio, “very disappointed.”
The CA decision was not “adjudication on the case itself,” said Custodio. He said that the CA decision was based only on probable cause. (report from Karen Boncocan, Inquirer.net)
Carina Dacer and her sisters’ lawyer Demetrio Custodio told Radyo Inquirer in an interview Monday that he was instructed to pass a petition which could question or reverse the CA’s dismissal of criminal case against Lacson.
The Dacer siblings were, according to Custodio, “very disappointed.”
The CA decision was not “adjudication on the case itself,” said Custodio. He said that the CA decision was based only on probable cause. (report from Karen Boncocan, Inquirer.net)
Radiation in seawater may be spreading in Japan
TOKYO, Japan — (UPDATE 2) Highly radioactive iodine seeping from Japan's damaged nuclear complex may be making its way into seawater farther north of the plant than previously thought, officials said Monday, adding to radiation concerns as the crisis stretches into a third week.
Mounting problems, including badly miscalculated radiation figures and no place to store dangerously contaminated water, have stymied emergency workers struggling to cool down the overheating plant and avert a disaster with global implications.
The coastal Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, located 140 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo, has been leaking radiation since a magnitude-9.0 quake on March 11 triggered a tsunami that engulfed the complex. The wave knocked out power to the system that cools the dangerously hot nuclear fuel rods.
On Monday, workers resumed the laborious yet urgent task of pumping out the hundreds of tons of radioactive water inside several buildings at the six-unit plant.
The water must be removed and safely stored before work can continue to power up the plant's cooling system, nuclear safety officials said.
The contaminated water, discovered last Thursday, has been emitting radiation that measured more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour in a recent reading at Unit 2 — some 100,000 times normal amounts, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said.
Meanwhile, Agence France –Presse reported quoting the nuclear safety agency on Monday that the operator of Japan's disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear plant detected radioactive iodine 1,150 times the legal limit in water 30 metres (100 feet) from reactors 5 and 6.
As officials scrambled to determine the source of the radioactive water, chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano repeated Monday that the contaminated water in Unit 2 appeared to be due to a temporary partial meltdown of the reactor core.
He called it "very unfortunate" but said the spike in radiation appeared limited to the unit.
However, new readings show contamination in the ocean has spread about a mile (1.6 kilometers) farther north of the nuclear site than before. Radioactive iodine-131 was discovered just offshore from Unit 5 and Unit 6 at a level 1,150 times higher than normal, Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, told reporters Monday.
He had said earlier there was no link between the radioactive water leaking inside the plant and the radiation in the sea. On Monday, though, he reversed that position, saying he does suspect that radioactive water from the plant may indeed be leaking into the ocean.
Closer to the plant, radioactivity in seawater tested about 1,250 times higher than normal last week and climbed to 1,850 times normal over the weekend. Nishiyama said the increase was a concern, but also said the area is not a source of seafood and that the contamination posed no immediate threat to human health.
Up to 600 people are working inside the plant in shifts. Nuclear safety officials say workers' time inside the crippled units is closely monitored to minimize their exposure to radioactivity, but two workers were hospitalized Thursday when they suffered burns after stepping into contaminated water. They were to be released from the hospital Monday.
Meanwhile, a strong earthquake shook the region and prompted a brief tsunami alert early Monday, adding to the sense of unease across Japan. The quake off the battered Miyagi prefecture coast in the northeast measured magnitude-6.5, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
No damage or injuries were reported, and TEPCO said the quake would not affect work to stabilize the plant. Scores of strong earthquakes have rattled Japan over the past two weeks.
Confusion at the plant has intensified fears that the nuclear crisis will last weeks, months or years amid alarms over radiation making its way into produce, raw milk and even tap water as far as Tokyo.
On Sunday, TEPCO officials said radiation in leaking water in the Unit 2 reactor was 10 million times above normal — an apparent spike that sent employees fleeing the unit. The day ended with officials saying the huge figure had been miscalculated and offering apologies.
"The number is not credible," TEPCO spokesman Takashi Kurita said late Sunday.
"We are very sorry."
A few hours later, TEPCO Vice President Sakae Muto said a new test had found radiation levels 100,000 times above normal — far better than the first results, though still very high.
But he ruled out having an independent monitor oversee the various checks despite the errors.
Muto acknowledged it could take a long time to clean up the Fukushima complex.
"We cannot say at this time how many months or years it will take," he said. (report from Agence France-Presse)
Mounting problems, including badly miscalculated radiation figures and no place to store dangerously contaminated water, have stymied emergency workers struggling to cool down the overheating plant and avert a disaster with global implications.
The coastal Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, located 140 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo, has been leaking radiation since a magnitude-9.0 quake on March 11 triggered a tsunami that engulfed the complex. The wave knocked out power to the system that cools the dangerously hot nuclear fuel rods.
On Monday, workers resumed the laborious yet urgent task of pumping out the hundreds of tons of radioactive water inside several buildings at the six-unit plant.
The water must be removed and safely stored before work can continue to power up the plant's cooling system, nuclear safety officials said.
The contaminated water, discovered last Thursday, has been emitting radiation that measured more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour in a recent reading at Unit 2 — some 100,000 times normal amounts, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said.
Meanwhile, Agence France –Presse reported quoting the nuclear safety agency on Monday that the operator of Japan's disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear plant detected radioactive iodine 1,150 times the legal limit in water 30 metres (100 feet) from reactors 5 and 6.
As officials scrambled to determine the source of the radioactive water, chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano repeated Monday that the contaminated water in Unit 2 appeared to be due to a temporary partial meltdown of the reactor core.
He called it "very unfortunate" but said the spike in radiation appeared limited to the unit.
However, new readings show contamination in the ocean has spread about a mile (1.6 kilometers) farther north of the nuclear site than before. Radioactive iodine-131 was discovered just offshore from Unit 5 and Unit 6 at a level 1,150 times higher than normal, Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, told reporters Monday.
He had said earlier there was no link between the radioactive water leaking inside the plant and the radiation in the sea. On Monday, though, he reversed that position, saying he does suspect that radioactive water from the plant may indeed be leaking into the ocean.
Closer to the plant, radioactivity in seawater tested about 1,250 times higher than normal last week and climbed to 1,850 times normal over the weekend. Nishiyama said the increase was a concern, but also said the area is not a source of seafood and that the contamination posed no immediate threat to human health.
Up to 600 people are working inside the plant in shifts. Nuclear safety officials say workers' time inside the crippled units is closely monitored to minimize their exposure to radioactivity, but two workers were hospitalized Thursday when they suffered burns after stepping into contaminated water. They were to be released from the hospital Monday.
Meanwhile, a strong earthquake shook the region and prompted a brief tsunami alert early Monday, adding to the sense of unease across Japan. The quake off the battered Miyagi prefecture coast in the northeast measured magnitude-6.5, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
No damage or injuries were reported, and TEPCO said the quake would not affect work to stabilize the plant. Scores of strong earthquakes have rattled Japan over the past two weeks.
Confusion at the plant has intensified fears that the nuclear crisis will last weeks, months or years amid alarms over radiation making its way into produce, raw milk and even tap water as far as Tokyo.
On Sunday, TEPCO officials said radiation in leaking water in the Unit 2 reactor was 10 million times above normal — an apparent spike that sent employees fleeing the unit. The day ended with officials saying the huge figure had been miscalculated and offering apologies.
"The number is not credible," TEPCO spokesman Takashi Kurita said late Sunday.
"We are very sorry."
A few hours later, TEPCO Vice President Sakae Muto said a new test had found radiation levels 100,000 times above normal — far better than the first results, though still very high.
But he ruled out having an independent monitor oversee the various checks despite the errors.
Muto acknowledged it could take a long time to clean up the Fukushima complex.
"We cannot say at this time how many months or years it will take," he said. (report from Agence France-Presse)
2 injured in LRT train accident
MANILA, Philippines – The emergency brake caused smoke to billow into a Light Rail Transit (LRT) train when it broke down near UN Avenue Station Monday morning, causing panic and injuring two passengers, an LRT Authority (LRTA) spokesman told Radyo Inquirer in an interview.
Lawyer Hernando Cabrera, spokesman of the LRTA told Radyo Inquirer that the train’s passengers were injured when a stampede broke out after the windows were smashed due to the smoke that wafted into the last coach of the train at around 8:53 a.m.
The report said that the injured were rushed to a clinic at the LRT Central Station.
Cabrera said that the LRT resumed its operations at around 8:58 a.m. (report from Inquirer.net/DZIQ-Radyo Inquirer)
Lawyer Hernando Cabrera, spokesman of the LRTA told Radyo Inquirer that the train’s passengers were injured when a stampede broke out after the windows were smashed due to the smoke that wafted into the last coach of the train at around 8:53 a.m.
The report said that the injured were rushed to a clinic at the LRT Central Station.
Cabrera said that the LRT resumed its operations at around 8:58 a.m. (report from Inquirer.net/DZIQ-Radyo Inquirer)
Christmas in March—Lacson
MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Christmas in March. This was how Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson described his homecoming last Saturday after more than a year in hiding.
Lacson faced the public Monday morning at the Senate, saying that the weekend he spent with his family was the best days in his life, following an experience “so surreal, I never imagined could happen.”
The senator said that he learned to fend for himself throughout the time he was in hiding, preparing dishes such as afritada, adobo and menudo, and baking pan de sal and empanada.
He told the public that every day in hiding felt like being “a prisoner outside of a prison cell.” Lacson revealed that he traveled to several countries and operated on one rule: Do not get caught.
The worst part of his struggle, said Lacson, was that he did not know who his true friends were.
“Every crime demands justice but justice means truth and action,” said Lacson, “Without action to bring out the truth, justice will never be served.”
Lacson revealed that he decided to return as there was no legal barrier to his serving as senator, adding that he would work double time to fulfill his duties.
He admitted that evading arrest and going into hiding were the wrong things to do but that these were “the more sensible things to do given the prevailing circumstances.”
“Facing trial is not the be-all and end-all of settling and resolving this legal issue,” he added.
Lacson said that he was out of the country the entire time he was in hiding, but declined to disclose the locations in order to protect those who helped him.
“I was never here during the past year, that much I can tell you,” he said.
Asked what he thought of the Dacer sisters’ move to pass a petition questioning the Court of Appeal’s decision to dismiss his case and arrest warrant, he said that it was up to them.
He said he had questioned the lower court’s decision, calling it unfair for using the statements of a lone witness but said he would honor the judgment of the Supreme Court.
Lacson stated that he wanted to prove his innocence by explaining his side but was also inclined to “forgive and forget” instead of filing cases against his detractors. He said that the months he spent hidden gave him ample time to reflect.
The senator flew into the country from Hong Kong Saturday and arrived 11:42 a.m. at the Mactan International Airport in Cebu before heading to Manila in a chartered plane hours later.
The senator had been on the Interpol’s red-notice list for his alleged hand in the deaths of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000.
In March Lacson was excluded from the list after the Court of Appeals dismissed his arrest warrant. (report from Karen Boncocan/Inquirer.net and Louie Garcia/DZIQ-Radyo Inquirer)
Indian Navy foils pirate attack, nabs 16 Somalis
NEW DELHI (AP) – Indian Navy has foiled an attack by Somali pirates on a merchant ship, west off the Lakshadweep Islands, and nabbed some 16 sea bandits and rescued 16 hostages, local media reported Monday.
"The Maritime Rescue Coordination Center alerted the ships patrolling off the Lakshadweep of a distress message received from merchant ship MV Maersk Kensington at about 11 a.m. Saturday and foiled the attack," Defense spokesperson Captain M. Nambiar was quoted by The Indian Express as saying.
The Navy's warship, INS Suvarna, was on patrol in the Arabian Sea when it was asked to follow a lead on a pirate attack on cargo ship MV Maersk Kensington about 300 nautical miles west off Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.
Suvarna, a large offshore patrol, intercepted Morteza and warned it to stop. But the pirates fired, forcing it to retaliate which disabled Morteza.
The 16 pirates and 16 sailors were picked up from the waters by the Indian warships.
"All of them are being taken to Mumbai and will be handed over to the police for further investigations," another official told The Times of India. (report from Philstar.com)
"The Maritime Rescue Coordination Center alerted the ships patrolling off the Lakshadweep of a distress message received from merchant ship MV Maersk Kensington at about 11 a.m. Saturday and foiled the attack," Defense spokesperson Captain M. Nambiar was quoted by The Indian Express as saying.
The Navy's warship, INS Suvarna, was on patrol in the Arabian Sea when it was asked to follow a lead on a pirate attack on cargo ship MV Maersk Kensington about 300 nautical miles west off Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.
Suvarna, a large offshore patrol, intercepted Morteza and warned it to stop. But the pirates fired, forcing it to retaliate which disabled Morteza.
The 16 pirates and 16 sailors were picked up from the waters by the Indian warships.
"All of them are being taken to Mumbai and will be handed over to the police for further investigations," another official told The Times of India. (report from Philstar.com)
Unthinkable NCAA foursome heading to Houston
Even in the unpredictable, anything-goes world of March Madness, this is a Final Four nobody saw coming.
Kentucky, Connecticut, Butler and Virginia Commonwealth — the improbable, the implausible, the unthinkable and the downright unimaginable.
In one game in Houston next Saturday, No. 4 seed Kentucky will play No. 3 Connecticut — not a completely absurd thought as a Final Four matchup, though hardly a trendy pick given their up-and-down regular seasons.
In the other game, it will be No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth against No. 8 Butler — the team that was panned when its name was called on Selection Sunday against the defending national runner-up from a 4,500-student campus whose amazing success story had supposedly run its course.
"It never gets old," Bulldogs senior Matt Howard said.
Nor does the NCAA tournament, the three-week office pool that places the so-called experts on even footing with those who fill out brackets because they like a team's colors or its mascot.
Anything goes. Anyone can win.
And never has that been more true than this year.
Four teams with a combined 37 losses and a combined winning percentage of .755, second lowest since 1985.
Four teams whose combined seeding equals 26, breaking the record of 22 in 2000.
Not a single No. 1 seed for only the third time since seeding began in 1979 and, according to STATS LLC., the first time that no 1 or 2 seed will be there.
ESPN, which sponsors one of the country's biggest bracket tournaments, said that out of 5.9 million entries, only two had this foursome making its way to Houston. President Barack Obama? He went 0 for 4. He had plenty of company.
Kentucky is the new favorite in Vegas, at 8-5. VCU is listed at 7-1 — the longshot in the field, but still quite a bit better than 2500-1, which is where the Rams were listed at the start of the season.
"I think what it does as much as anything, it just puts a spin on the NCAA tournament," said Kansas coach Bill Self after his top-seeded team lost 71-61 to VCU. "It's wild. ... Because seeds are so overrated. It's about matchups. And their players could play for us any day."
VCU (28-11) got up early on Kansas on Sunday and never looked back, another upset winner in a tournament that's all about underdogs.
"Our guys have done a phenomenal job of putting all the doubters aside, putting all the people that didn't believe in us aside and going out and doing their job," VCU coach Shaka Smart said.
The Rams are the third No. 11 seed to make the Final Four and the first since George Mason in 2006, which also hails from the Colonial Athletic Association. But the Rams are the first ever that will need to win seven games — not the usual six — to win the title. They were one of the last at-large teams to make the newfangled 68-team field. They played in the new "First Four" — an extra round that was added as part of the NCAA's new $10.8 billion TV deal.
Now they're in the Final Four.
They'll play Butler (27-9), which slumped through big chunks of this season, a somewhat predictable result after what was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Final Four last year, played a scant six miles from their Indianapolis campus.
This year, the destination is Reliant Stadium — 1,036 miles away. The Bulldogs are once again proving that all it takes is good players — not a power conference, a big school or gobs of money — to compete on the biggest stage in college sports.
Last season, in one of the most epic finishes in Final Four history, Gordon Hayward's halfcourt shot banked off glass, nicked off the rim and barely bounded out to leave Butler two points short of Duke for the national title.
It was a heartbreaker, but maybe one that set the Bulldogs up for a repeat. They've won one game by one, another by two and another by three on this year's road to the Final Four. They beat Florida 74-71 in overtime Saturday to make their second straight trip.
"I think it (last year) helps you with knowing how you need to prepare and what you should do and what you should not do," Howard said. "I think that will help us."
Though UConn and Kentucky each struggled at times this season, they've had Final Four pedigrees for years (decades when it comes to the Wildcats) and they lived up to them this month.
Connecticut was 9-9 in the Big East this season but won an unprecedented five games in five days in the conference tournament to win its first big trophy of March. The big question was whether the Huskies, led by one of the nation's best players in Kemba Walker, would have enough energy to keep things going in the NCAA.
Short answer: Yes.
They held off Arizona 65-63 on Saturday and are in the Final Four for the fourth time since 1999.
"I've been fortunate over 39 years to have a lot of teams do a lot of different things," coach Jim Calhoun said, "but never could I imagine the team winning nine games in tournament play in 19 days."
To win No. 10, UConn (30-9) must beat Kentucky, a team led by three freshmen that might, nonetheless, have its biggest star on the bench. Coach John Calipari joined Rick Pitino as the only coaches to lead three different programs to the Final Four.
Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones are the three freshmen who helped the Wildcats (29-8) get to the Final Four for the first time since their 1998 national title team.
This was a team that lost four out of seven earlier this season and looked every bit as close to the tournament bubble as a national championship. Since then, the Wildcats have won 10 straight, including the 76-69 win over North Carolina on Sunday.
"We got Kentucky back," senior forward Josh Harrelson said. "A lot of people really didn't think we would be the team we are. We know we struggled early in the season, lost a couple of close games that we should have won. And you know, we really pulled it together as a team. And, you know, we're back now." (report from Associated Press)
Kentucky, Connecticut, Butler and Virginia Commonwealth — the improbable, the implausible, the unthinkable and the downright unimaginable.
In one game in Houston next Saturday, No. 4 seed Kentucky will play No. 3 Connecticut — not a completely absurd thought as a Final Four matchup, though hardly a trendy pick given their up-and-down regular seasons.
In the other game, it will be No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth against No. 8 Butler — the team that was panned when its name was called on Selection Sunday against the defending national runner-up from a 4,500-student campus whose amazing success story had supposedly run its course.
"It never gets old," Bulldogs senior Matt Howard said.
Nor does the NCAA tournament, the three-week office pool that places the so-called experts on even footing with those who fill out brackets because they like a team's colors or its mascot.
Anything goes. Anyone can win.
And never has that been more true than this year.
Four teams with a combined 37 losses and a combined winning percentage of .755, second lowest since 1985.
Four teams whose combined seeding equals 26, breaking the record of 22 in 2000.
Not a single No. 1 seed for only the third time since seeding began in 1979 and, according to STATS LLC., the first time that no 1 or 2 seed will be there.
ESPN, which sponsors one of the country's biggest bracket tournaments, said that out of 5.9 million entries, only two had this foursome making its way to Houston. President Barack Obama? He went 0 for 4. He had plenty of company.
Kentucky is the new favorite in Vegas, at 8-5. VCU is listed at 7-1 — the longshot in the field, but still quite a bit better than 2500-1, which is where the Rams were listed at the start of the season.
"I think what it does as much as anything, it just puts a spin on the NCAA tournament," said Kansas coach Bill Self after his top-seeded team lost 71-61 to VCU. "It's wild. ... Because seeds are so overrated. It's about matchups. And their players could play for us any day."
VCU (28-11) got up early on Kansas on Sunday and never looked back, another upset winner in a tournament that's all about underdogs.
"Our guys have done a phenomenal job of putting all the doubters aside, putting all the people that didn't believe in us aside and going out and doing their job," VCU coach Shaka Smart said.
The Rams are the third No. 11 seed to make the Final Four and the first since George Mason in 2006, which also hails from the Colonial Athletic Association. But the Rams are the first ever that will need to win seven games — not the usual six — to win the title. They were one of the last at-large teams to make the newfangled 68-team field. They played in the new "First Four" — an extra round that was added as part of the NCAA's new $10.8 billion TV deal.
Now they're in the Final Four.
They'll play Butler (27-9), which slumped through big chunks of this season, a somewhat predictable result after what was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Final Four last year, played a scant six miles from their Indianapolis campus.
This year, the destination is Reliant Stadium — 1,036 miles away. The Bulldogs are once again proving that all it takes is good players — not a power conference, a big school or gobs of money — to compete on the biggest stage in college sports.
Last season, in one of the most epic finishes in Final Four history, Gordon Hayward's halfcourt shot banked off glass, nicked off the rim and barely bounded out to leave Butler two points short of Duke for the national title.
It was a heartbreaker, but maybe one that set the Bulldogs up for a repeat. They've won one game by one, another by two and another by three on this year's road to the Final Four. They beat Florida 74-71 in overtime Saturday to make their second straight trip.
"I think it (last year) helps you with knowing how you need to prepare and what you should do and what you should not do," Howard said. "I think that will help us."
Though UConn and Kentucky each struggled at times this season, they've had Final Four pedigrees for years (decades when it comes to the Wildcats) and they lived up to them this month.
Connecticut was 9-9 in the Big East this season but won an unprecedented five games in five days in the conference tournament to win its first big trophy of March. The big question was whether the Huskies, led by one of the nation's best players in Kemba Walker, would have enough energy to keep things going in the NCAA.
Short answer: Yes.
They held off Arizona 65-63 on Saturday and are in the Final Four for the fourth time since 1999.
"I've been fortunate over 39 years to have a lot of teams do a lot of different things," coach Jim Calhoun said, "but never could I imagine the team winning nine games in tournament play in 19 days."
To win No. 10, UConn (30-9) must beat Kentucky, a team led by three freshmen that might, nonetheless, have its biggest star on the bench. Coach John Calipari joined Rick Pitino as the only coaches to lead three different programs to the Final Four.
Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones are the three freshmen who helped the Wildcats (29-8) get to the Final Four for the first time since their 1998 national title team.
This was a team that lost four out of seven earlier this season and looked every bit as close to the tournament bubble as a national championship. Since then, the Wildcats have won 10 straight, including the 76-69 win over North Carolina on Sunday.
"We got Kentucky back," senior forward Josh Harrelson said. "A lot of people really didn't think we would be the team we are. We know we struggled early in the season, lost a couple of close games that we should have won. And you know, we really pulled it together as a team. And, you know, we're back now." (report from Associated Press)
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