By Alcuin Papa
Philippine Daily Inquirer
A Filipino-American businesswoman who initiated an investigation into the alleged US assets of Senator Panfilo Lacson is now singing a different tune and has accused Malacañang of concocting the charges against Lacson.
Blanquita Pelaez claimed that it was Major General Delfin Bangit, the former chief of the Presidential Security Group (PSG), who had ordered her to make up the charges against Lacson involving the latter’s US-based assets.
In the cover story of Time magazine’s July 21 issue, Nelson Mandela shared the lessons that he gained in his 90 years of extraordinary life.
An article by Richard Stengel, Time’s managing editor, who had collaborated with Mandela on the latter’s book, “Long Walk to Freedom,” listed the great man’s eight lessons of leadership.
What struck me was a paragraph in the sixth lesson about “the historical correlation between leadership and physicality.”
by Dennis Gadil
Malaya
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon yesterday said a probe into allegations that switching of 2004 election returns took place while the documents were in the custody of House should be handled by another body.
Biazon, chair of the Senate national defense committee, suggested that the Senate electoral reform committee headed by Sen. Richard Gordon undertake a fresh inquiry. Gordon was not available for comment.
Tinanong ko ang isang dating cabinet member ni Gloria Arroyo kung ano ang atmosphere kapag nasa loob ka ng Malacañang.
Gusto ko kasing intindihin kung bakit ang mga pinagsasabi ni Gloria Arroyo ay malayo sa nakikita at naramdaman ng taumbayan. Hindi ko alam kung siya ba ay nasa alapaap o talagang sobra siyang sinungaling.
Philippine National Police Chief Avelino Razon ordered yesterday Chief Superintendent Leocadio Santiago, director of the Special Action Force, to look into VERA Files two-part report…
Naloko Kayo ‘no?
That’s the after-Sona joke directed to those who applauded Gloria Arroyo when she announced that cost of text messages would now be 50 centavos per message.
Here’s Arroyo’s boast: “Texting is a way of life. I asked the telecoms to cut the cost of messages between networks. They responded. It is now down to 50 centavos.”
by VERA Files
(Conclusion)
It was no accident that it was the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police that penetrated the Batasan Pambansa and stuffed the ballot boxes with fake election returns to make it look like Gloria Arroyo won the 2004 elections.
Established in 1983 initially to help combat insurgency and later to “destroy enemy forces that undermine the nation’s stability,” the police commandos are trained as a rapid deployment force and to “noiselessly operate in the shadows.”
In its 25-year history, the elite unit has not been impervious to the country’s political upheavals. The SAF joined the February 1986 people power revolution that followed the defection of its founder, then Armed Forces vice chief of staff and Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police chief Fidel V. Ramos, and toppled President Ferdinand Marcos.
Nilabas ng Vera Files ang special report na ginawa ko tungkol sa pagpalit ng Election Returns ng 2004 election sa Batasan na isinagawa ng Special Action Force ng Philippine National Police.
Ang Vera Files nga pala ay binubuo ng anim na beteranong reporters (kasama ako doon) na sumusulat ng mga artikulong nagpapaliwanag at nagbibigay ng perspective sa mga nangyayari ngayon sa ating lipunan.
Golez shrugs off report on 2004 Presidential poll fraud
“Don’t believe in the baseless allegation, but, instead, respect the decision of the Supreme Court.”
This was the reaction of Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Anthony Golez to the claim of a certain police officer that irregularities were committed in Batasan in connection with the 2004 presidential election.
by VERA Files
When Gloria Macapagal Arroyo delivers her eighth State of the Nation Address at the Batasang Pambansa session hall today, she will be standing close to where, three years ago, police commandos say they replaced genuine election returns (ERs) with fake ones in ballot boxes that were being readied for a recount of the 2004 presidential election.
The ER switching at the Batasan had been talked about and reported on since 2005, when Arroyo apologized for talking to an election official while the votes were being counted, in what has since been known as the “Hello, Garci” scandal.
Recently, some of those who took part in that clandestine operation have sought legal refuge, executing affidavits and taped testimonies of their involvement. Others told friends in confidence, while a few boasted about it in drinking sessions.