The World Bank has in its possession documents of bribe payments to politicians in connection with public works projects it is funding in the Philippines.…
Making life worth living.
Category: Governance
Update: Rep. Roilo Golez raises questions on “independent” panel investigating Alabang Boys bribery case.
Please see under comments section.
I got a letter from a province mate, Restituto Tapacal, about the gang-rape and murder of a high school student which he said, “sent chills and shock to the peace loving people of Antique.”
Tapacal said the victim, a daughter of a prominent family in Antique was riding on a motorcycle with her boyfriend along the road in barangay Dalila early evening when a group of men hit them with a wooden club. “The boyfriend lost consciousness and the men grabbed the girl and brought her to ‘kampo”, an area adjacent to the police headquarters. The men took turns in raping her.”
While they were doing their evil acts, the girl’s cellphone rang. It was the girl’s mother asking where she was. One of the rapists even mocked the mother, telling her of what they were doing to her daughter, Tapacal related.
Related reports from Inquirer:
Update, Feb. 9,2009: Mike need not show up – Miriam
Senate won’t summon Mike Arroyo
Sa asal nina Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile at Sen. Miriam Santiago sa report ng World Bank tungkol sa kurakutan sa public works, napa-isip ako kung nakakabuti nga ba sa taumbayan ang pagtanggal kay Sen. Manny Villar bilang senate president na siyang nagbigay daan para ang mga senador na kaalyado ni Gloria Arroyo ngayon ang may kontrol ng pagpatakbo ng Senado.
Katulad nitong si Santiago, chairperson ng committee on economics na siyang nag-iimbistiga ng kurakutan sa DPWH base sa report ng World Bank na nag blacklist ng ilang construction company kabilang na ang E.C. Luna Corp, China Road and Bridge Corp ; China State Construction Corp, China Wu Yi Corp ; China Geo-Engineering Corp, Cavite Ideal International Construction and Development Corp. at CM Pancho Construction Inc. Halatang-halata naman na gustong protektahan ni Santiago ang mag-asawang Arroyo.
Kunwari nanggalaiti siya kina Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane at kay Eduardo de Luna, ang may-ari ng isang construction company na blacklisted ng World Bank. Ngunit nang binasa ni Senador Ping Lacson kay de Luna ang mga miting niya kay Mike Arroyo, hindi siya masyadong intresado. Half-day lang ang ginawa niyang hearing. Bitin tuloy.
Related story:
WB report says Mike Arroyo got 5% commission: Lacson
Bistadong-bistado na si Mike Arroyo, ang asawa ni Gloria Arroyo, sa kanyang ginawang pangungumisyon sa mga proyekto ng gobyerno.
Sa imbestigasyon na isinagawa ng Integrity Vice Presidency ng World Bank, lumabas na si Mike Arroyo talaga ang promotor ng kurakutan sa Department of Public Works and Highways. Kaya lalong tumibay ang mga isinawalat nina Jun Lozada at Joey de Venecia tungkol sa papel ni Mike Arroyo sa mga tongpats sa NBN/ZTE deal.
Itong World Bank report kasi ay tungkol lamang sa mga proyekto na kanilang ginastusan. Nagpa-utang sila ng pera at napag-alaman nga nila na kornered ng mga kontraktor na alaga ni Mike Arroyo ang mga kontrata. Siyempre malaki ang kumisyon niya kapalit ng pagkuha mo ng kontrata.
Photos taken after the mass last Thursday at La Salle Greenhills:
1. Jun with wife Violet and son
2. With supporters, Juana change and Dante Madriaga
3. Jun with sisters Oye, Carmen and friend Pong Querubin
by VERA Files
One year after he survived abduction by a team led by an officer of the Philippine National Police, the tables are turned on Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, one of the star witnesses in the aborted $329.5 million national broadband project with the Chinese firm, ZTE Corp.
Lozada is in danger of going to jail for the charges of perjury and graft filed against him by persons involved in his Feb. 5, 2008 abduction upon his arrival from Hongkong after he tried avoiding to testify before the Senate investigation on the reported overpriced telecommunication project.
He is embroiled in a theft case filed by a woman he swore he never met in his whole life.
Update on the hearing this afternoon. Judge Zenaida Laguilles was absent. “Emergency,” the staff said.
Mike Arroyo and his lawyer, Ruy Rondain, were also absent.
We were just curious why Arroyo and Rondain knew that the judge would be absent due to “emergency” while Atty Roque was not informed about it.
Related report on Mike Arroyo:
Mike Arroyo is expected to be at the Makati RTC, branch 143, tomorrow, Feb. 4 at 2 pm in connection with the class suit filed by journalists he had sued for libel.
More on this in the comments section.
by Aries Rufo
Newsbreak/ABS-CBN.com
It was a rude baptism of fire for the Japanese contractor. Right before him, “(They) first discussed bribes. They had a rough approach.” From that meeting, it was impressed on him that “(bribe) money was important to do business in the Philippines.”
This was how the Japanese contractor described his meeting with First Gentleman Miguel “Mike” Arroyo and a former senator to World Bank investigators who looked into alleged collusion and rigging in the Bank’s funded road projects.
Sabi ni Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita welcome na welcome daw ang sino na mag- file ng class suit sa kanila tungkol sa kanilang plano na gagamitin ang P12.5 bilyon na pera ng Social Security System sa P100 bilyon na economic stimulus ng pamahalaan ni Gloria Arroyo.
Ang tapang talaga ng apog nitong mga bata ni Gloria Arroyo. Paano kasi mana sa amo.
Marami kasi ang uma-alma, kasama na si Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, sa plano ni Arroyo na gamitin ang pera ng SSS para pangsalba sa problema ni Arroyo sa ekonomiya dahil and pera ng SSS ay hindi pera ng gobierno. Private funds yan. Pera ng nagta-trabaho sa pribadong kumpanya.
This is a story of my friend. She is so traumatized by her encounter with a bully from the Presidential Security Group that she asked me not to mention her name. For this article, I’ll call her “Gabby”.
Gabby works in an advertising agency in Makati. Last Jan. 23, a Saturday, she was driving home from Tagaytay around 8 p.m. Gabby was extra careful with her driving because there were a number of road repair works on the South Luzon Expressway.
She had passed the Sta. Rosa exit when she noticed from her rear view mirror a convoy led by motorcycle escorts. She was still figuring out where she would place herself (since it was a danger zone with constructions signs all over the place) when she was suddenly bumped by the convoy’s motorcycle escort. She took the service lane to give way to the convoy. At that time she didn’t know who was the all-important person it was protecting.
Daxim Lucas of the Philippine Daily Inquirer has come out with a good investigative report on the sordid mess that is The Legacy.
Lucas’ story implicates House Speaker Prospero Nograles. In the second part of the four-part series, the Inquirer said,
The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) started investigating what is now known as the Legacy Group rural banks four years ago during the term of then PDIC president Ricardo Tan.
Together with the central bank, PDIC initiated the probe of several Visayas-based rural banks that had aroused suspicion due to the rapid increase in their deposit levels and to reports of “sky-high” returns being promised to depositors or investors.
In the course of the probe, Tan recalled that he was asked out to dinner in 2005 by then House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles, through his “subaltern” George Regalado.
“To my surprise, when I got there [to Edsa Plaza Shangi-La Hotel], we were joined by Celso de los Angeles,” Tan said, referring to the alleged owner of several rural banks that PDIC was investigating for unsafe and unsound banking practices.
by Lito Banayo
Malaya
The signs are all around us. The agencies and institutions which form the polity of this nation are falling apart.
The regulatory agencies which are supposed to ensure that the public is protected from the excesses and abuses committed by private business in its pursuit of profit and market objectives are negligent, and in many instances, even collusive.
Of late, we have been shocked that the World Bank blacklisted three of the biggest public works contractors in the country, whose accounts with the DPWH run into the billions of pesos each. What became more shocking is that the House of Representatives, or at least its public works committee headed by a contractor, the gentleman from Southern Leyte, and whose vice-chair is another contractor, the gentleman from Pampanga, circled the wagons to protect their fellow contractors, and damned the World Bank for its effrontery in investigating three of their kind. Funny how these guys wrapped the Philippine flag around the blacklisted contractors.