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Category: General
A blogswarm or a blogstorm is a situation in which thousands of bloggers comment on the same story or news event. Bloggers who value truth…
The Sanctuary fund is to encourage those who know the truth about corruption in government to come tell the public about it. This is to…
On days that Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada was testifying in the Senate, all the taxis that I took had the drivers tuned in to the live coverage of the Senate hearings. The drivers by now know the story of the NBN/ZTE, including the riveting kidnapping episode.
No doubt, the broadband deal has become a blockbuster. Rightly so, with a $329 million (P16.4 billion at the exchange rate of P50 to $1 at the time it was negotiated). It’s turning out to be mind-boggling in scope and audacity.
Although the title NBN/ZTE deal has already become a byword, there have been more colorful quotes from participants like “back off” or “may 200 ka dito” and the most recent “moderate their greed.”
by JP Lopez
Malaya
Government and police officials yesterday failed to convince senators that ZTE witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. was not abducted as the lawmakers saw a clear effort by the executive branch to prevent him from testifying.
Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, PNP chief Avelino Razon and Alfonso Cusi, general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority, said Lozada was not kidnapped to prevent him from testifying.
Senate President Manny Villar said he took exception to testimonies of the law enforcement and airport officials that they were securing Lozada from possible harm.
The Catholic bishops’ leadership has called on for ‘communal action’ following Rodolfo Lozada’s expose on alleged corruption involving top public officials.
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said it’s about time to liberate the country that has long been ‘captive’ to government corruption.
Lagdameo said the “confession” recently made Lozada and ousted House speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. may save people from being “hostage to scandalous and shady government deals.”
Officers face new raps for resisting transfer
by Victor Reyes
Military officers accused of attempting to overthrow government two years ago were transferred yesterday to the Intelligence Service of the AFP in Camp Aguinaldo from the detention facility in Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.
The transfer of 24 of the 28 accused was ordered by AFP chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon to facilitate court martial proceedings which had been held in Camp Capinpin since December 2005. The military announced about two weeks ago that the proceedings will be transferred to Camp Aguinaldo.
A commotion erupted in Camp Capinpin as the accused were being prepared for transfer, according to Ma. Flor Querubin, wife of accused Col. Ariel Querubin.
Situation in the detention center of in Camp Capinpin of officers facing mutiny charges for allegedly withdrawing support from Gloria Arroyo is tense. AFP Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon has ordered them transferred to Camp Aguinaldo today, the day before their scheduled hearing tomorrow. They are resisting because they have learned of a sinister plot to link them to a fake destabilization plot and they will be incarcerated in the dreaded ISAFP compound.
(See earlier statement: Concerned voices from Tanay).
They sent the following message through their lawyers:
by Anthony Ian Cruz
Malaya
A highly influential American academic journal has published a stinging rebuke of President Arroyo, accusing her of “sinking Asia’s oldest democracy” into “a morass of corruption and scandal.”
“Arroyo continues to undermine the country’s democratic institutions in order to remain in power,” wrote political science Prof. Paul D. Hutchcroft of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in an analysis that came out in the January 2008 issue of the “Journal of Democracy.”
Published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, the “Journal of Democracy” is a project of the International Forum for Democratic Studies and the National Endowment for Democracy.
Extended na and serbisyo ni AFP Chief Hermogenes Esperon hanggang May 9 daw.
Sa report ng Philippine Star at ABS-CBN, sabi ni Esperon na gusto raw ni Gloria Arroyo isang taon ang kanyang extension ngunit mas maigsi ang gusto niya para naman raw hindi maantala ang promotion ng ibang opisyal.
Ganun pala, e. Hindi pala kapit- tuko itong si Esperon.. Tingnan nyo, alalang-alala siya sa promosyon ng ibang opisyal kahit na siya lamang ang maaring maglipol ng mga komunista. Wala ng iba. Kung hindi siya i-extend, masisira ang takbo ng “Bantay-Laya”, ang programa laban sa mga New People’s Army.
Sinabi sa report na kailangan raw i–extend si Esperon para ra hindi masira ang “momentum” ng Bantay Laya. Ibig sabihin noon masisira kapag si Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano ang chief of staff sa susunod na buwan kapag nag-retire na si Esperon.