Category: Malaya

What happened to one of Mike Arroyo’s best friends, former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc Joc” Bolante, should worry other members of Gloria Arroyo’s crime syndicate.

It’s just a preview of things to come. When truth and justice finally catch up with them, Gloria and Mike Arroyo, even with all their stolen power and resources, would not be able to protect them.

Bolante has been in detention at the San Pedro Processing Center in California since July 7, when he arrived in Los Angeles from Seoul, Korea not knowing that his business and tourist visa had been cancelled.

While former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante, who has been held at the San Pedro Processing Center in Los Angeles since Friday, refused the assistance of the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles, our sources said his son, Anthony, has requested Mike Arroyo’s help.

Anthony, our source said, left Manila immediately after news of his father’s detention. It was a lucky coincidence that Mike Arroyo arrived in San Francisco July 10 from Europe.

Lack of information on Bolante’s detention has given rise to speculations. Foreign Affairs spokesman Bert Asuque said they respect the request of Bolante’s family to refer all queries to Atty. Antonio Zulueta.”

The bishops’ pastoral letter last Monday, in effect, said that our congressmen are a hopeless bunch as far as the search for truth is concerned.

House majority leader Pros-pero Nograles said the CBCP is “correct”.

I am flabbergasted.

(This piece by Malaya columnist JB Baylon first appeared in the July 7, 2006 issue of Malaya.)

The President of the Philippines yesterday condemned the missile testing by North Korea.

I am not exactly sure what else our president said beyond aping the remarks of US President George W. Bush, but effectively telling North Korea to behave are tough words from a Philippine president.

I wonder what we will say should North Korea decide to lob one missile or two our way in response.

Retired Commodore Rex Robles said the release of the tape showing Brig. Gen. Danny Lim announcing withdrawal of support from a “bogus president” is a “knife that can cut both ways.”

Malacañang may use it to support its claim that there was a planned attempt against Gloria Arroyo’s presidency, which is what presidential chief of staff Mike Defensor and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales have been crowing about since Monday when ABS-CBN first showed it in their reformatted late evening news, “Bandila”.

On the other hand, Robles said, it can also backfire because it allows Lim to disseminate his message publicly which is close to the hearts of military officers who have not lost their idealism. He noted that Lim and the officers implicated with him, like Col. Ariel Querubin, are bemedalled and respected. “They are credible,” he said.

There’s no doubt, at this point, that the classroom hours spent by Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and Mike Arroyo together have produced a special relation worth sacrificing national interests and risking damage of institutions.

It is clear that Malacañang is protecting Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos. Malaya yesterday carried a story by Peter Tabingo exposing a 45-page findings by the Ombudsman’s panel of investigators dated June 23, 2005 on the P1.3 billion stink that was the Comelec-Mega Pacific Solutions poll automation deal.

Tabingo reported the 2005 resolution categorically stated that “With regard to the liability of the Comelec Chairman and the Commissioners, this Office finds that probable cause exists for charging them with a violation of Section 3 (e) (of RA 3019) except (Commissioner) Rufino SB Javier (who) has not participated in the award of the project as he was then on official business trip.”

Isn’t this interesting?

Juris Soliman, Mike Arroyo’s chief of staff, told reporters covering the Arroyo’s sojourn to the Vatican, Italy, and Spain, what a lovely sight it was seeing the Arroyo couple holding hands while shopping last June 27.

“There were no politicians, no meetings and no cellular phones. They were just there for family bonding and for spiritual upliftment,” the devoted Soliman said.

“THOSE times when Iraqi insurgents would attack American facilities in Baghdad with rockets and mortars, I would ask myself, is this worth the $3,000 a month I’m here for?”

JP (for understandable reasons, we are not giving his real name) was sharing with us, one afternoon last week, his experience as security specialist for Private Military Contractors (PMC) securing American facilities and officials in Iraq.

JP, 42, was one of the 25,000 armed personnel in Iraq working for PMCs in a $100 billion industry spawned by the privatization of war jobs normally performed by national military forces. They are also referred to as “mercenaries.”

At the twice- a- month gathering of Carmen G. Nakpil’s friends at Havana restaurant last Wednesday, the favorite topic was Mike and Iggy Arroyo’s claim…