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#3647 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Tue Jan 17, 2012 9:47 pm
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: Day 2: Nothing went right
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita   

GLOBAL BALITA

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


FEATURED
 

Day 2: Nothing went right

Solon-prosecutors came unprepared

BY JP LOPEZ and WENDELL VIGILIA
MALAYA

THE Senate was forced to postpone yesterday what should have been the first day of the trial proper on the Corona impeachment case after the 11-man prosecution panel came unprepared to present evidence before the impeachment court.

“Since the prosecution is not prepared to present evidence, the Senate motu proprio suspends trial until Wednesday 2 p.m.,” said Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the trial’s presiding officer.

The proceedings yesterday lasted about two hours, just a little longer than the opening Monday.

Rep. Lorenzo Tañada, a spokesman of the prosecution panel, said, “I admit that I was a bit disappointed with the turnout.”

Even prosecutor Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas hastily left the Senate building after Enrile announced the suspension.

“Saling-pusa lang naman ako dito,” he was heard as saying as he was leaving [...]

Read the full story >>  Day 2: Nothing went right


ALSO IN THE NEWS 

 

First day of Corona impeach trial filled with ironies, bereft of drama

By Michael Lim Ubac
Philippine Daily Inquirer


The first day of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s trial was filled with ironies but bereft of the highly charged political drama that engulfed the nation 12 years ago, when then President Joseph Estrada went on trial for almost the same impeachable offenses.

Unlike the opening of the Estrada trial on Dec. 7, 2001, the hearing on Monday cannot be characterized as a political circus.

While both the prosecution and defense panels had traded barbs through the media in the weeks leading up to the Corona trial, there were no such fireworks on the Senate floor when the contending parties delivered their opening statements.

Unexpectedly, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile stole the thunder from former Supreme Court Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas, head of the defense panel, and Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr., the chief prosecutor of the  [...]

Read the full story >> First day of Corona impeach trial filled with ironies, bereft of drama

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Prosecutors ask Senate to subpoena BIR chief on Corona tax returns

KIMBERLY JANE TAN
GMA News

(Updated 12:15 p.m.) The House prosecution is asking the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, to subpoena the chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and other government employees to testify in connection with the alleged properties of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

In a request filed late Monday, the House prosecutors asked the Senate to subpoena BIR commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares to the impeachment trial on January 17 or on any date deemed appropriate by the impeachment court.

They likewise asked that Henares be made to bring with her the original and certified true copies of the annual income tax returns (ITR) of Corona (for the years 1992 to 2010), his wife (1992 to 2010), his daughter Carla (2000-2010), his son-in-law Constantino Castillo (2000 to 2010), his son Francis (2005 to 2010), and his other daughter Charina (2005 to 2010).

They also asked that the BIR chief bring the certificate authorizing registrations covering the sale of the following [...]

Read the full story >>  Prosecutors ask Senate to subpoena BIR chief on Corona tax returns

**************************
 

SC won’t stop Senate

By Edu Punay
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday thumbed down bids to stop the ongoing impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona in the Senate through the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO).

In its first full-court session this year, the SC instead opted to first seek comments from both the House of Representatives and the Senate before deciding on the necessity of issuing a TRO, as prayed for in the petitions of taxpayer Danilo Lihaylihay, former Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) president Vicente Millora, and lawyers Oliver Lozano, Homobono Adaza, Vladimir Cabigao and Allan Paguia.

SC spokesman Midas Marquez said the high court, in a unanimous vote, ordered the respondents to submit their separate comments within 10 days from receipt of notice.

“The justices voted unanimously that there was no urgency to rule on the prayer for TRO at this point. They felt it would be necessary to first hear comments from the respondents, after which they will decide if there’s need to issue a TRO [...]

Read the full story >>  SC won’t stop Senate

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One buiIds, the other destroys

BY AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA

‘Growth shown by economic indicators is meaningless if what we see is a naked effort by the Supreme Court to save Gloria Arroyo.’

THE fallacy in the present imbroglio over the impeachment of the Chief Justice is that the accuser – President Aquino and the House of Representatives – and the accused Chief Justice Renato Corona are accusing each other of the same crime.

While the Constitution requires only one -third vote of the House of Representatives to impeach, 188 lawmakers signed the impeachment complaint. That is clear manifestation of desire of the people to yank the Chief Justice out of the Supreme Court.

That is how, theoreticalIy at least, representative government works.

President Aquino has repeatedly said that the sanctity of the Court must be regained and thereafter preserved for the people. The only way to do that is to impeach the Chief Justice who is believed to be wielding the baton over the majority of the Court for the protection of  [...]

Read the full story >>  One buiIds, the other destroys

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The nation’s on trial

ON DISTANT SHORE
By Val G. Abelgas

In the current hullabaloo over the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, it is good to know that the man who presides over the court that will judge the chief justice understands the consequences of the entire democratic process to the nation and to the institutions that are involved.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, in his remarks at the start of the trial, cautioned his fellow senators sitting as judges that as jurors, they have the “obligation and responsibility to closely and diligently examine the evidence and the facts to be presented before [them], to determine whether such evidence and facts sufficiently and convincingly support the charges, and ultimately, to decide the fate of no less than the Chief Justice of the Highest Court of the land, and the head of a co-equal branch of our government.”

Enrile reminded the senators that although an impeachment trial is political in nature,

it should not be taken as an excuse “to ignore and abandon our solemn and higher obligation and responsibility as a body of jurors to see to it that the Bill of Rights are observed and that justice is served, and to conduct the trial with impartiality and fairness, to hear the case with a clear and open mind, to weigh carefully in the scale the evidence against the respondent, and to render to him  [...]

Read the full story >>   The nation’s on trial

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Impeachment trial as comedy

By Ellen Tordesillas
Malaya

 

Who says the Corona impeachment trial would be boring with all the legal gobbledygook, a classic quote by then Sen. Rodolfo Biazon during the Estrada impeachment trial in 2000, that we expect would dominate the trial?

It was the second day and the prosecution was expected to start the presentation of evidence. It was Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr (Cavite, 2nd dist) who was the lead prosecutor and he started with saying that it was in the public interest that they start with Article 2 of the Impeachment complaint which was“culpable violation of the Constitution and/or betrayed the public trust when he failed disclose to the public his statement of assets, liabilities, and networth statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth as required unders Sec. 17, Art. XI of the 1987 Constitution.”

The defense, as expected, opposed the re-arranging of the order of presentation of evidence. Barzaga said the prosecution was not ready with the evidence for Article 1 which was “betrayal of the public trust through his track record marked by partiality and subservience in cases involving the Arroyo administration from the time of his appointment as supreme court justice which continued to his dubious appointment as a midnight chief justice and up to the present. “

In the course of the exchanges among the prosecution, defense and the presiding judge, Barzaga said that he was just  [...]

Read the full story >>  Impeachment trial as comedy

**************************
 

It’s the truth, liar

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star

What’s interesting in the recently released essay of detained former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) titled “It’s the economy, student” is not what it said but what it inadvertently reveals about her. Her chosen title takes off from candidate Bill Clinton’s campaign line against President George H. Bush — It’s the economy, stupid.

Pretending to be a comparative review between the country’s economic performance under her and President Noynoy Aquino (P-Noy) – GMA’s paper is more of a summary of the unsubstantiated issues that P-Noy haters and critics have been spreading. One wonders if they inspired her to use these issues or it was she who fed them these.

She wrote: “It is in poverty that we find the material roots of the problem of corruption — because the political system based on patronage — and ultimately, corruption to support patronage — is made possible only by the large gap between the rich and the poor.” Never mind the awful syntax — GMA has some nerve to talk about corruption as if it did not flourish during her 9 years [...]

Read the full story >>   It’s the truth, liar

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World Bank report on SC is ‘genuine’: Palace

Source: abs-cbnNEWS.com

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) – Malacañang on Tuesday said a World Bank report, which questioned the Supreme Court’s use of funds allocated for the Judicial Reform Support Program (JRSP) under Chief Justice Renato Corona, is “genuine.”

“We have verified with officials who were furnished copies of the World Bank report that the version uploaded by a media outfit online, and theirs, are a match. The report details the expenditures declared ineligible for World Bank funding. It also demanded a refund from the Supreme Court for expenses that were not covered by the grant,” said presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, in a statement.

The World Bank’s aide memoire, dated December 28, 2011, said progress in judicial reforms has been slow ever since Corona assumed the position.

The multilateral agency supposedly uncovered incomplete information in the disbursement of a $21.9-million loan for the JRSP. It tagged the program as “high-risk.” The World Bank gave the fund for reforms in the judiciary, but part of it was allegedly used for other purposes such as [...]

Read the full story >>   World Bank report on SC is ‘genuine’: Palace

**************************
 

Senate wants plunder raps vs Arroyo

Source: BusinessWorld

FRESH PLUNDER charges were recommended to be filed against former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and past officials of a state-run lottery office over alleged fund misuse.

“Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Mrs. Rosario Uriarte should be charged with the crime of plunder,” the Blue Ribbon committee said in its report promulgated on Tuesday.

The case involves the alleged irregular use of confidential/intelligence funds (CIF) of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). Ms. Uriarte was former PCSO vice-chairman and general manager.

Committee Report 95 noted that the CIF had a budget of P325 million in the period 2008-2010, significantly higher than the annual P10-million regular budget in previous years.

“Neither common sense nor meticulous analysis can explain the necessity, relevance and reasonableness of the sudden bloat in the CIF budget of the PCSO,” the committee noted.

Moreover, the funds “were illegally siphoned into the pockets of Mrs. Uriarte and GMA [Mrs. Arroyo’s initials],” it added.

Further, the report said Misses Arroyo and Uriarte should be “held liable for technical malversation” over the use of the CIF for [...]

Read the full story >>  Senate wants plunder raps vs Arroyo


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3648 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:29 pm
Subject: PerryScope: Corona's 'day in court'
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita  

GLOBAL BALITA

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                 "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"
 
PerryScope 
 

Corona’s ‘day in court’

By Perry Diaz



"Could it be that his appearance was calculated to evoke public sympathy and make him a martyr in the public eye?"

FINALLY, Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona had his day in court.  Accused of betrayal of public trust, and graft and corruption, and culpable violation of the Constitution, Corona was impeached by the House of Representatives and is now facing his accusers – eleven representatives of the people – before a Senate impeachment trial with the 23 senators sitting as judges.

Corona and his wife Cristina attended the first day of the trial to prove — as his chief defense counsel retired Supreme Court Justice Serafin Cuevas pronounced — that he is not hiding anything.  But as it turned out, Corona’s defense attorneys demanded that the list of 45 properties allegedly owned by the Coronas not be accepted in the trial.  If he was not really hiding anything, why would he object to the introduction of public information as evidence?

Collective voice

The impeachment trial is all about Corona’s character.  It’s all laid out in the prosecution team’s opening statement, which was read by Congressman-prosecutor Niel C. Tupas Jr.

As public servants,” Tupas began, “we took an oath to uphold the people’s will at all times. All who hold positions in the government of our Republic are accountable for their actions. For the power of the sovereign Filipino people is a power that is higher than the Executive, the Legislative or even the Judiciary. And therefore, no matter how high and mighty one’s position may be, one can never, ever be beyond public accountability.  Today, we lay down before this impeachment tribunal the product of the collective voice of the people.” [...]

Read the full story >>  Corona’s ‘day in court’


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.

END
 

#3649 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:10 pm
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: Day 4: Was this the smoking gun?
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita   

GLOBAL BALITA

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


FEATURED
 

Day 4: Was this the smoking gun?

Prosecution, defense clash on listed assets

BY WENDELL VIGILIA and JP LOPEZ
MALAYA

IS this the smoking gun that will nail Chief Justice Renato Corona?

Yes, says the prosecution, based on the documents. Not on your life, says the defense, with allegations based on suspicions and speculations.

The head of Taguig City Registry of Deeds testified yesterday at the impeachment trial of Corona that he and wife Cristina own the controversial 303.5-sq. meter penthouse at the Bellagio condominium at The Fort.

Randy Rutaquio was able to testify on the Coronas’ ownership of the properties despite the attempts of lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas to block the presentation of evidence on the ground that the allegation under Article II of the Articles of Impeachment was based merely on “suspicion” and “reports.”

Article II accuses Corona of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and graft and corruption for not disclosing his statement of assets and liabilities and net worth (SALN) as required by the Constitution.

Under the same article, the complainants also accuse Corona of having accumulated ill-gotten wealth, “acquiring assets of high values and keeping bank accounts with huge deposits, including among others [...]

Read the full story >>  Day 4: Was this the smoking gun?


ALSO IN THE NEWS 


 

Corona may have committed perjury, prosecution panel says

Source: Sun Star

CHIEF Justice Renato Corona may be guilty of perjury, the impeachment prosecution panel said, if the acquired real properties declared in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) were found to have been undervalued.

“The SALN is (filed) under oath and if you are not telling the truth, you are guilty of perjury,” House Deputy Majority Leader Romero Frederico “Miro” Quimbo, spokesperson for the prosecution panel, said Thursday.

In Corona’s 2010 SALN submitted to the impeachment court by SC Clerk of Court Enriquetta Vidal, he declared a net worth of P22.94 million. Real properties were valued at P18.4 million.

The Chief Justice declared five real properties: a house and lot in Quezon City acquired in 1970; and four condominium units [...]

Read the full story >>  Corona may have committed perjury, prosecution panel says

**************************

Corona’s ‘day in court’

PerryScope
By Perry Diaz


Finally, Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona had his day in court.  Accused of betrayal of public trust, and graft and corruption, and culpable violation of the Constitution, Corona was impeached by the House of Representatives and is now facing his accusers – eleven representatives of the people – before a Senate impeachment trial with the 23 senators sitting as judges.

Corona and his wife Cristina attended the first day of the trial to prove — as his chief defense counsel retired Supreme Court Justice Serafin Cuevas pronounced — that he is not hiding anything.  But as it turned out, Corona’s defense attorneys demanded that the list of 45 properties allegedly owned by the Coronas not be accepted in the trial.  If he was not really hiding anything, why would he object to the introduction of public information as evidence? [...]

Read the full story >>   Corona’s ‘day in court’

**************************
 

Will the senator-judges affirm Corona’s impeachment?

No Limitation
By Ted Laguatan


Formally, in this impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, it is the Senators who will act as judges. However, in a very real way, the Filipino people will be the true judges.

In their minds, many Filipinos have already provided him a proper hearing. They read newspapers, watch TV, listen to the radio and engage in discussions. They know that Corona and the other Arroyo appointed Justices have repeatedly and blatantly conspired to protect the interests of the Arroyos as against those of the people – as indicated by their decisions. They don’t need the Senator-Judges to tell them basic facts that everybody knows.

Also, from their own or relatives’ and friends’ court experiences – they are deeply aware of how the “utang na loob”, “lagayan”, “pakikisama” and “tayo-tayo” cultural traits are widely ingrained in the judicial system – which coupled with plain greed – translate into corruption and all kinds of injustices.

The first three traits are self explanatory. “Tayo-tayo” stems from familial, political, school, fraternity or sorority ties.
(Perhaps more than anyone else, Filipino lawyers who engage in litigation wish that these distortions in the justice system were not so – but many are resigned to realities of which they believe they have no control. To win their cases, even if  [...]

Read the full story >>  Will the senator-judges affirm Corona’s impeachment?

**************************
 

The senators are also on trial

To the Point
By Emil Jurado
Manila Standard Today

In just three days of the biggest entertainment in town—the impeachment trial at the Senate of Chief Justice Renato Corona—the public is beginning to judge the mettle of the House of Representative prosecutors as against the defense panel of the Chief Justice.

As a lawyer and a journalist, I have met many people and have walked the corridors of power. I have covered all beats. Thus I would like to think I am a good judge of mettle. And outright, I can say that the House prosecutors pale in comparison to Corona’s defense panel,

The prosecutors boasted about a so-called smoking gun several days ago, but they were not able to produce it.

And imagine admitting that they were not prepared to tackle Article 1! The prosecutors said they were ready for Article 2 instead. And yet, when they were asked for evidence, all they could present were computer-generated copies of the 45 alleged properties of Corona.

Novatos all!

It is not difficult to predict the outcome of this trial. After all, it will not be the public who will determine the guilt or innocence [...]

Read the full story >>  The senators are also on trial

**************************

A crown of arrogant thorns

By Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS
Chairman, Filipino United Network – USA

Philippines Chief Justice Renato Corona, last week, sounding arrogant and confrontational before his impeachment trial began, said on television that he was willing to “donate” all his (30 or 40+?) undeclared properties in question to the government.

With his righteous demeanor, I hope, for his reputation and integrity, the impeachment procedure will find him “not guilty,” which he has repeatedly claimed to be.

The law is clear that a thief who is proven guilty and decides under fire to return his loot to escape justice is still a criminal who deserves nothing but a jail term and disdain from society…and that stolen properties can not be used as a bargaining chip.

The appropriate law would be especially more Solomonic if the one who broke the law was a president or a chief magistrate, because, like all other public officials, both Gloria Arroyo and Corona MUST BE HELD, not to a HIGHER, but to the HIGHEST standard of law and justice. After all, they occupied the highest and most honorable positions [...]

Read the full story >>   A crown of arrogant thorns

**************************


Boo for bullies

Chasing Happy
By Adelle Chua
Manila Standard Today

It’s a relief, however small, to know that Congress was able to act on some legislative measures in recent days even as it appears to be preoccupied with impeaching the Chief Justice and other related events.

This month, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading House Bill 5496 or the Anti-Bullying Act of 2012. It was endorsed for the approval of the plenary by Rep. Salvador Escudero, chairman of the House committee on basic education and culture.

While the anti-bullying measure may not have the same historic, monumental significance as the events taking place at the Senate these days, it could spell the difference between normalcy and hell for young people in schools.

We have heard reports of children in other countries committing suicide because they were being bullied. Some kids get [...]

Read the full story >>  Boo for bullies

**************************
 

Justice Delayed, Still Better than None

Telltale Signs
By Rodel E. Rodis


The families of Bubby Dacer and Emmanuel Corbito have been waiting for justice for more than 11 years since November 24, 2000 when operatives of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), then under the command of Gen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, abducted, tortured and executed Dacer and Corbito. Their families may take comfort in the news this past week that a family that has waited even longer for some measure of justice finally found it when the new Ombudsman reversed the actions of her predecessors and filed charges against 10 Philippine Navy officers for the murder of Navy Ensign Philip Andrew Pestaño on September 27, 1995.

I first wrote about this case on December 10, 2007 (“Death of an Ensign”) after reading an account of it by Jesuit educator Fr. James Reuter (“Justice at 3 A.M.”). Pestano, an idealistic graduate of the Ateneo de Manila High School in 1989, entered the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), and graduated as an Ensign in the Philippine Navy in 1993, when he was then assigned as a cargo master on a Navy ship.

Sometime in 1995, Fr. Reuter wrote, Pestaño discovered that “the cargo being loaded onto his vessel included logs that were cut down illegally, were carried to the ship illegally, and were destined to be sold, illegally… Then there were 50 sacks of flour, which were not flour, but shabu (methamphetamine) – worth billions. Literally, billions … And there were military weapons which  [...]

Read the full story >>  Justice Delayed, Still Better than None

**************************

Pestaño appeared to healing priest

Human Face
By Ma. Ceres P. Doyo
Philippine Daily Inquirer

The Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Jan. 12 banner story: “Pestaño case not suicide but murder” (by Lelia B. Salaverria). The lead paragraph: “Agreeing with the parents of Navy Ensign Philip Pestaño that he did not kill himself 16 years ago, the Office of the Ombudsman reversed itself and filed murder charges against 10 Navy officers in the Sandiganbayan yesterday and ordered their dismissal for grave misconduct….

“The 24-year-old Pestaño was found dead in his cabin aboard the BRP Bacolod City on Sept. 27, 1995, shortly before the ship was to dock at the Philippine Navy headquarters in Manila. He had a bullet wound in the head.”

In 1995 I was assigned to explore the suicide angle while another reporter was to do the murder angle. I remember then Navy Capt. Alex Pama (now Navy commodore) come to the Inquirer to explain why it was suicide. After the story came out, a sister of Pestaño wrote to convince me to think otherwise even though the front page was quite balanced—two stories on two angles. I just happened to be assigned to do the suicide angle.

Fast forward 16 years later: For the Halloween issue of the Sunday Inquirer Magazine, I wrote a long feature story (“He sees dead people and they confess to him,” November 2011) about Fr. Efren “Momoy” Borromeo of the Society of Our Lady of the Trinity and who is known as a “healing priest.” This was not your usual ghost story and Father Borromeo is not so ordinary. He has the God-given gift of healing the sick and seeing souls, usually at 3 a.m. He revealed that  [...]

Read the full story >>   Pestaño appeared to healing priest

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Yingluck a ‘good match’ for PNoy, Kris Aquino tweets

Chichi Conde
InterAksyon.com

 

MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III’s sister Kris Aquino said visiting Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will be a “good match” for her 51-year-old bachelor brother.

The actress and multimedia endorser made her feelings known in a tweet after attending the luncheon hosted by the President for Yingluck at the Palace on Thursday.

Aquino said in her Twitter post: “Came from Malacanang. Lunch for Thai PM Shinawatra. She’s tall slim attractive! 44 yrs old, bagay for PNoy!” [...]

Read the full story >>  Yingluck a ‘good match’ for PNoy, Kris Aquino tweets

 
Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3650 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:24 pm
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: EXPLOSIVE! -- 'SALN enough to convict Corona'
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita   

GLOBAL BALITA

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


FEATURED
 

‘SALN enough to convict Corona’

By Paolo Romero and Jess Diaz
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – Any discrepancy in Chief Justice Renato Corona’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) from 2002 to 2010 is enough to convince the Senate, convened as an impeachment court, to convict him, House prosecutors said yesterday.

The prosecutors also said that through Corona’s SALN, they would be able to prove that the Chief Justice had amassed ill-gotten wealth.

Prosecution panel spokesman Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada noted that every SALN ends with a sworn statement of the signatory attesting to the veracity and accuracy of the document.

“If there is a single or small discrepancy or any unexplainable item (in the SALN), the oath becomes useless. Even if he (Corona) gives away or returns his assets, the violation, the lie and the ruining of the trust of the people cannot be denied,” Tañada said in Filipino.

“If that is the case, he should not stay a second longer in his post,” he said. “How can he discharge his duties as chief justice if he himself violated his sworn statement in his SALN?” [...]

Read the full story >>  ‘SALN enough to convict Corona’


ALSO IN THE NEWS 

 

Corona’s SALNs: 2002 to 2010

Source: abs-cbnNEWS.com

Below are the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth of Chief Justice Renato Corona turned over by the Supreme Court Clerk of Court Enriqueta Vidal to the impeachment court on Wednesday. The documents show that his net worth went up from P14.9 million in 2002 to P22.9 million in 2010. Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed him to the Supreme Court in 2002. She named him chief justice in 2010 [...]

Read the full story >>  Corona’s SALNs: 2002 to 2010

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Democracy At Trial

GLIMPSES
By Jose Ma. Montelibano


It is not a circus, it is an impeachment trial. It is of utmost importance to the Filipino people that what is debatable should find clarity, if that which is debatable is crucial to societal well-being.

It is democracy in trial, no less. Philippine society now pays for the shortcomings of history. But more than a karmic consequence, what can happen is that the shortcomings will be addressed and substantially resolved.

Our democracy is a copy of the democracy that America understood and lived by – at the time political independence was granted to Filipinos last July 4, 1946. The elite of our society produced most of the Ilustrados who became part of Commonwealth governance, Filipinos who could speak Spanish and English, went to the best schools available at that time, and had the family fortune to sustain their political careers. Because the Americans really ruled the Philippines despite their liberal posture in allowing limited Filipino participation in governance, the democracy was taught by behavior, democracy American-style. It was at best a confusing expression of democracy as explained by the books, but yet was clear to a people who never read about democracy. To Filipinos, they were race native to the land but governed by Americans after three centuries of being governed by Spaniards. Monarchy and democracy had a strangely familiar taste to the native islanders.

The history of democracy in the Philippines began with an invasion, a bloody pacification or subjugation of natives by American forces. It is no wonder that democracy is difficult to really understand if one is Filipino. Why would our people be invaded and conquered in a brutal manner when we had done no wrong to America, the champion of democracy? [...]

Read the full story >>  Democracy At Trial

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My birthday wish: Hope in action

By Tony Meloto


Despite Sendong, GMA, Corona, Ampatuan and the Piolo/KC break-up, I’m amazed that 95% of Filipinos see 2012 as a year of great expectations. Undoubtedly, its more fun in the Philippines as I turn 62, where the outlook is positive and the mood is heroic.

Like today. I’m here in Iligan on my birthday with Gawad Kalinga heroes from all over Mindanao to help build homes and restore the lives of the victims of Sendong. This is hope in action.

Watching them, I can only say what a gift to be Filipino, living in the Philippines, surrounded by hope-builders and solution-seekers as we get closer to our dream of Filipinos ending poverty together by 2024.

OUR BRAND OF HOPE

The mood here contrasts with the pessimism in developed economies in the West that are going through recession, where many find it hard to cope in a bad economy as their hope is anchored mostly on money. Maybe this is the reason why I was invited to speak about our brand of hope at the public session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland next week.

ITS ABOUT THE GOOD

In the Philippines, our spirit is soaring not merely from wishful thinking but due to a real silver lining in the horizon – that the bad things from old habits and mind-sets are starting to challenge us to discover the good that we can do together and result in our stronger resolve and collective action never to allow them to happen again [...]

Read the full story >>  My birthday wish: Hope in action

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Demeanor

BY AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA

‘Instead of humbling himself as an alleged victim of revenge, he fell for the bait of the administration to convert the trial into a public relations war.’

CHIEF Justice Renato Corona was heard on Tuesday morning TV program as saying “patayin muna nila ako” (they have to kill me). These words are typical of us Batanguenos when we are suspected to have done wrong, even if we indeed did wrong.

In fact to us, it is an impulsive way of admitting guilt. The message sent is the accused would rather die or be killed than admit guilt.

These worlds are heard among people in the streets, among the shirtless, among the drunks, among petty thieves. The words never come out of the mouths of people who value self-respect, people who are above others in terms of having had the opportunity to get higher education, particularly law.

Lawyers and other people worthy to be guests in a television show to clarify a sticky issue never use street language.

Only Chief Justice Corona did. He was referring to suggestions that he file a leave of absence while on trial. Or resign before [...]

Read the full story >>  Demeanor

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Why do we impeach?

BY DUCKY PAREDES
MALAYA

‘Someone is impeached for one reason alone — for the good of the country and the civil society.’

THE impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona is not really about making him accountable for his partiality and bias for Gloria Arroyo, acceptance of his “midnight” appointment, and of late, amassing ill-gotten wealth consisting of more than P200 million in various real estate properties. It is about reforming the judiciary. Someone is impeached for one reason alone — for the good of the country and the civil society.

The impeachment complaint lists eight articles detailing his transgressions of the Constitution and even the Supreme Court’s own rules. But, what really maters is that this Chief Justice may well represent what is terribly, horribly wrong with the Philippine judiciary.

There are enough horror stories of prosecutors, judges and even justices on the take. Our problem of what Erap called “hoodlums in robes” is a real—and continuing—one, and if there are those who now staunchly defend Corona, it must be asked whether those who do so count themselves as pert of the solution or part of the problem.

Do those who insist on “judicial independence” mean the freedom of judges and justices to sell their decisions to whoever is buying? Why would it be wrong to bring down a Chief Justice who has been found wanting? [...]

Read the full story >>   Why do we impeach?

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Betrayal of public trust: the framers’ intent

By Gerry Geronimo
Manila Standard Today

Seven of the eight articles of impeachment filed against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona cite “betrayal of public trust” as basis. What exactly is “betrayal of public trust”?

The 1935 Constitution, in Section 1 of its Article IX on Impeachment stated, as grounds for removal on impeachment, only “culpable violation of the constitution, treason, bribery, or other high crimes.” The 1973 Constitution, in Section 2 of its Article XIII on Accountability of Public Officers, added a fifth, namely, “graft and corruption.” “Betrayal of public trust” was the latest addition to the grounds that was effected by the 1987 Constitution (the current constitution) in Section 2 of its article on Accountability of Public Officers, renumbered as Article XI.

What makes a public office a “public trust” is not expressly explained anywhere in either the 1973 nor the 1987 constitutions. We can safely assume, however, that by the use of that venerable word “trust,” both constitutions were invoking the centuries-long principle of equity jurisdiction that makes the trustee a fiduciary, i.e. someone who has powers that he or she was bound to exercise not for his or her own sake and gain, but instead, in the interest of someone else. In the case of a public official, the indisputable assertion of the two constitutions is that he or she is a fiduciary of the people constituting the state. For that reason, Section 1 of the relevant articles of the 1973 and 1987 constitutions requires his or her compliance with a certain standard of demeanor, both in official acts as well as private behavior [...]

Read the full story >>  Betrayal of public trust: the framers’ intent

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Corona used WB loan as personal piggy bank: Palace

By David Dizon
ABS-CBNNews.com

WB findings scandalous, shocking, says Lacierda

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang on Wednesday castigated Chief Justice Renato Corona for misusing World Bank funds intended for judicial reforms for out-of-town trips and other unauthorized expenses.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that while Corona and Supreme Court spokesman Jose Midas Marquez plead ignorance, the World Bank aide memoire “is the surest evidence that funds meant for judicial reforms were wasted: and in the process, basic rules of good governance were ignored.”

“The findings are as scandalous as they are shocking. The Chief Justice used judicial reform funds as a personal piggy bank to fund travel, gifts, dining and recreation; the Court Administrator who reports directly to the Chief Justice violated basic government rules by being the proponent, approver, and head of bidding for his own proposed expenses and acquisitions,” Lacierda said.

The spokesman said he is wondering why Corona would order an investigation when the aide memoire discloses that Corona  [...]

Read the full story >>  Corona used WB loan as personal piggy bank: Palace

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Which Side to Take?

Which Side to Take?
By Erick San Juan


Once again the country is in the wait and see mode for the next episode of the impeachment trial of the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice Corona. But this writer’s concern are the events that occurred prior to the scheduled impeachment day.

On the eve of the Feast of the Black Nazarene, a possible terror threat was announced by the President himself that according to Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, the reliability of the intelligence report was so high.

After tracking down the possible terrorists’ hideouts in the metropolis and found nothing, the heightened alert was withdrawn. The fiesta ended peacefully. Although the terror alert stays.

But the fear sowed upon the populace was still there and for many who are taken for a ride still believes the synthetic terror warning.

Then the weekend after that, another rumor was floated that there was a threat upon the president’s security. So, what else is new? [...]

Read the full story >>   Which Side to Take?

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This is a case of “justice delayed, justice denied.”  It took the Sandiganbayan 25 years to issue its ruling!  Once again, the victims of this miscarriage of justice are the Filipino people.  This ruling is the “smoking gun” evidence that the judicial system is broken and needs to be reformed if Philippine democracy is to survive. — PERRY DIAZ

Court junks P51-B suit vs Marcoses

By Michael Punongbayan
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – As the government prepared for month-long activities commemorating the 1986 people power revolt, the Sandiganbayan junked yesterday a P51-billion damage suit filed 25 years ago against deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos, his widow Imelda, two other former officials, and several others accused of dollar salting.

In a 69-page decision, the anti-graft court’s Special Second Division cleared the Marcos couple, former trade minister Roberto Ongpin, former military chief Fabian Ver, and several other government and private individuals of involvement in the operations of the so-called “Binondo Central Bank,” which sold US dollars in the black market from 1984 to 1986.

The Sandiganbayan, in a ruling penned by Associate Justice Samuel Martires, cited the “absence of evidence” and said the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) and the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) failed to prove that the Marcoses and their co-accused had enriched themselves by stealing government money.

The case, filed on July 23, 1987, held that the Marcoses and their officials conspired with private individuals – including eight Chinese businessmen who acted as operators, financiers, couriers and agents – in managing and operating the [...]

Read the full story >>  Court junks P51-B suit vs Marcoses


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3651 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:03 pm
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: Questions on Corona's P11M cash advance
perrydiaz2001
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Global Filipinos in perspective --

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Questions on Corona’s P11M cash advance

The impeachment prosecution team should delve into this seemingly anomalous transaction.  The questions are: Can a corporation operate and receive money after it ceased to exist?  Who is the ultimate recipient of Corona’s money that he paid to Basa-Guidote Corp., a corporation that is no longer in existent?   — PERRY DIAZ

‘Corona’s P11M cash advance came from unlicensed firm’

Source: abs-cbnNEWS.com

MANILA, Philippines – Chief Justice Renato Corona’s P11-million cash advance in 2003, which he supposedly used to pay for some of his condominium acquisitions, came from his wife’s family corporation that had “ceased to operate legally by 2007,” according to journalist and blogger Raissa Robles.

In her new blog entry uploaded on Sunday, Robles discovered from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that Mrs. Cristina Corona’s family corporation, Basa-Guidote Corp., which supposedly turned over an P11-million cash advance to Corona, was no longer legally operating in 2007, even though Corona was still supposedly making payments to the company until 2009.

Corona’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN) were turned over to the impeachment court last Wednesday. Its contents have since been put under public scrutiny.

Robles said: “What he didn’t say in his SALN was that the lender company had its registration revoked by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2003, the same year he got his cash advance. What this means is that the company – Basa-Guidote Enterprises, Inc. – ceased to operate legally by 2007 or three years after revocation. The law gives a three-year grace period for revoked companies to wind up their affairs.”

Robles sought the opinion of legal experts about this and one lawyer, Prof. Rowena E.V. Daroy-Morales of the University of the Philippines College of Law, told her these facts raise the question of whether the parties involved in the P11-million cash advance were paying the corresponding taxes required under the law [...]

Read the full story >>  Questions on Corona’s P11M cash advance


ALSO IN THE NEWS 

 

Prosecutors vow to present ‘explosive witnesses’

Source: abs-cbnNEWS.com

BIR expected to present Corona’s income tax returns

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – House prosecutors have between 50 to 60 witnesses against Chief Justice Renato Corona in his impeachment trial in the Senate, according to lawmakers who want him removed from office.

Prosecution panel head Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. said on Friday that they have “explosive witnesses” and more evidence to show against Corona.

“May mga article kaming ipre-present na talagang hindi namin dinesclose sa publiko purposely at doon lang sa impeachment [trial] malalaman,” he said.

The House prosecution team is hoping to finish its presentation of evidence and witnesses on Article 2 of the impeachment complaint by next week.

Tupas said they are eyeing some 15 to 20 more witnesses to back their case on Corona’s alleged failure to disclose his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

He said they have have already established that Corona did not declare some properties and that those declared were undervalued.

Tupas revealed that their next step is to show that these properties are ill-gotten [...]

Read the full story >>  Prosecutors vow to present ‘explosive witnesses’

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‘I have never amassed ill-gotten wealth’

By Rey E. Requejo
Manila Standard Today

CHIEF Justice Renato Corona on Friday rejected insinuations that he had acquired assets through illegal means and put them under his wife’s and children’s names.

It would have been “careless and stupid” of him to do so, he said.

House prosecutors had claimed earlier this week that Corona failed to declare all his property in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth. They presented several witnesses who claimed he owned pieces of property in Taguig City and Quezon City.

Among those who took the witness stand to provide the documents of Corona’s supposed real estate assets were register of deeds Sedfrey Garcia of Marikina, Carlo Alcantara of Quezon City, Randy Rutaquiao of Taguig, and Constante Caluya Jr. of Makati.

The prosecutors claimed that the documents were for property that Corona had acquired illegally, a claim he denied.

During the impeachment hearing Thursday, Corona’s counsel, retired Justice Serafin Cuevas, questioned the relevance of the land titles to Article 2 of the impeachment complaint, which accuses Corona of failing to file  [...]

Read the full story >>   ‘I have never amassed ill-gotten wealth’

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JPE’s ‘corona de gloria’

BABE’S EYE VIEW
By Babe Romualdez
The Philippine Star

For a man who will be turning 88 this February 14, Juan Ponce Enrile is unquestionably at the highest point of his political career. JPE, as the Senate President is popularly known, is a man whose life has turned around so many times, and during the course of his colorful and storied career, he has proven to be the quintessential survivor — bouncing back just when it seemed it was over.

Most everyone is now familiar with the story of Juanito Furugganan — the boy from Cagayan who worked as a houseboy to put himself through school. The war brought him face to face with the father he had never known and gave him the name — Juan Ponce Enrile — that would figure prominently during critical moments in our nation’s history. The barrio kid’s circumstance was practically reversed, his formidable intellect coming to the fore when he graduated cum laude from Ateneo and obtained a law degree in UP as 1953 class salutatorian.

Manong Johnny, as many of us fondly call him, got a 91.7 percent rating for the 1954 bar exams with a perfect score of 100 percent in Commercial Law. He distinguished himself as a corporate and litigation lawyer, and began his career in government as Finance Undersecretary in 1966, followed by a stint as Customs Commissioner in 1968. He became Justice Secretary in 1970 and was eventually appointed as Secretary of National Defense — a post he held [...]

Read the full story >>   JPE’s ‘corona de gloria’

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Probe set on SC loan misuse

By Jess Diaz
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives will conduct its own inquiry into alleged irregularities in the Supreme Court’s use of a $21.9-million loan from the World Bank.

Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said at least two resolutions calling for the inquiry would be included in the order of business for this week.

“We will refer these to the committee on good government, which we will ask to start the inquiry as soon as possible,” he said.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone filed the first resolution, while Bayan Muna Representatives Teddy Casiño and Neri Colmenares authored the second.

Sen. Franklin Drilon, who chairs the Senate finance committee, also wanted a Senate inquiry, but shelved his proposal in view of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Evardone, a former journalist, said the House has to conduct an inquiry since “it is the House that appropriates loan payments [...]

Read the full story >>  Probe set on SC loan misuse

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Corona personally met with WB officials, bank documents show

Read the SC expenses rejected by the WB

My Exclusive by Raissa Robles
http://raissarobles.com/2012/01/17/chief-justice-corona-personally-met-with-world-bank-officials-bank-documents-show/

Last Monday January 16, Chief Justice Renato Corona denounced as “a huge lie” a leaked World Bank report stating that the WB had rejected the charging of plane fares, dinners, hotel expenses incurred under CJ Corona’s watch. These expenses amounting to US$199,900 were charged against a US$21.9 million WB loan to fund a project for speeding up justice and “enhancing institutional integrity.”

CJ Corona very categorically said:

This (alleged diversion of funds) happened before I became Chief Justice. I was not responsible for this. This happened a decade ago and I have been Chief Justice for just a year and a half.

However, the 97 pages of documents prepared by the WB – which I have obtained – shows that the questionable diversion of funds from the Judicial Reform Support Project (JRSP) took place only last year. The documents – consisting of an Aide Memoire and Annexes – detail the expenses for which the WB demanded reimbursement because these were not in line with the justice project.

Among the rejected expenses were meals of members of the judiciary of Guam and their Philippine counterparts [...]

Read the full story >> Corona personally met with WB officials, bank documents show

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Gatdula vows to fight back

By Sandy Araneta
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – Former police general Magtanggol Gatdula vowed to fight back to clear his name of the allegations of kidnapping and extortion that led to his relief as director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

“I want my name, my reputation to be cleared. It may be a long fight but I have to protect my name, which I have protected through my 40 years in public service. I will fight back,” Gatdula said over GMA-7 late Friday.

Gatdula also spoke on ABS-CBN regarding his relief as NBI chief.

“When the President lost trust and confidence, that’s my signal to go out,” Gatdula said.

Gatdula said he had accepted the order of relief from the President but stressed he could not accept his person being maligned by the allegations.

Gatdula claimed he was not even given a chance to air his side.

“I kept my silence these past few days when my reported removal started coming out in the media. I filed my leave of absence precisely to give them a free hand to investigate. But they trampled on the rule of law. Where is the rule of law when I was not even given a chance to face my accusers?” [...]

Read the full story >>  Gatdula vows to fight back

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Gov’t set to appeal Marcos case ruling

By Aurea Calica and Czeriza Valencia
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – The government will appeal the Sandiganbayan dismissal of the P51-billion damage suit against the late President Ferdinand Marcos, his widow Imelda, and several others.

Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz said that the anti-graft court seemed oblivious to the political reality during martial law in deciding to clear the Marcoses, several officials of his administration and some businessmen of liability.

“We should appeal this,” Cadiz said, noting that the justices who came out with the ruling were the same ones who upheld the plea bargaining agreement between the special prosecutors of the Office of the Ombudsman and dismissed military comptroller and accused plunderer Carlos Garcia.

He said he would coordinate with the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) on the action to be taken once they receive their copies of the decision.

In a 69-page ruling, the anti-graft court’s Special Second Division cleared the Marcos couple, former trade minister Roberto Ongpin, former military chief Fabian Ver, and several other government and private individuals of involvement in the operations of the so-called “Binondo Central Bank,” which sold US dollars in the black market from 1984 to 1986 [...]

Read the full story >>  Gov’t set to appeal Marcos case ruling

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Is it DOJ or ES?

BY AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA

‘Bautista cannot claim he is a representative of the PCGG because the sequestration of POTC has been lifted.’

LONG before Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa dreamed of it, the supervision of the Presidential Commission on Good Government was transferred from the Office of the President to the Department of Justice.

The 35 percent ownership by the state of Philippine Overseas Telecommunications Corp. (POTC) was transferred to the Department of Finance for privatization.

Simple logic should have made Andy Bautista, chairman of the PCGG who is aspiring to become Solicitor General, understand that the government representation in the board of POTC and its wholly-owned subsidiaries should be nominated by the Department of Finance to which the shares of the state were transferred.

If the DoF names Bautista, chairman of PCGG, and elected to the board by the 35 percent interest of the state, that should be it. He is a duly elected member of the board, not a representative of the PCGG.

But then Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa issued Executive Order No. 42 allowing the nominees of the state in POTC and its subsidiaries to name or nominate their replacements who could very well be nobody else but themselves. Bautista refuses  [...]

Read the full story >>  Is it DOJ or ES?

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Impeachment, China, Spratlys, and ‘Pilipinas’ (First of Two Parts)

Empowering the Filipino People
By FIDEL V. RAMOS Former Philippine President
Manila Bulletin

MANILA, Philippines — We are at a crucial period of Philippine nation-building. In the center of events is the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona by the Senate (as Impeachment Tribunal) upon the filing of 8 Articles of Impeachment approved by the House of Representatives.

To concerned Filipinos and interested foreign onlookers, however, all three branches of Government – the Executive, Congress, and Judiciary which are separate, but co-equal and coordinate – are considered active protagonists in this titanic exercise which must be decided on the basis of “the merits” and the rule of law, in accordance with the Constitution. The future character of our nation and the welfare of our people ride on the impeachment results.

Both prosecution and defense, and especially the Senate Court, have expressed common hopes that the entire proceedings will be completed with impartiality, and final judgment delivered as expeditiously as possible.

Clearly, such is also the citizenry’s larger interest for a just but transforming outcome, considering the impact of the ultimate decision on many other grave problems facing the Filipino people today. Filipinos aspire for a better future under the blessings of God, and a more inclusive, more representative, more peaceful, more prosperous, and truly  [...]

Read the full story >>  Impeachment, China, Spratlys, and ‘Pilipinas’ (First of Two Parts)

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DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3652 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Mon Jan 23, 2012 9:24 pm
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: Vizconde to testify vs Corona -- A MUST READ
perrydiaz2001
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Vizconde to testify vs Corona

‘Serious breach’ of high court rule cited

By Cathy C. Yamsuan
Philippine Daily Inquirer


 

Lauro Vizconde has decided to appear in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona to discuss the details of a private meeting with him in September 2010.

Vizconde, 74, said that during this meeting Corona told him about the alleged efforts of Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio to pressure (binabraso) colleagues to vote for the acquittal of Hubert Webb, son of former Senator Freddie Webb.

The younger Webb had spent 15 years in prison awaiting the final ruling of the high tribunal in connection with the rape of Vizconde’s daughter, Carmela, who was later murdered, along with her younger sister and mother in their Parañaque City home on July 31, 1991, in which he was the principal accused.

Vizconde said he had spent the past two weeks agonizing on whether to testify against Corona whose revelation to him in that private meeting was cited as one of the grounds in Article 3 of the impeachment complaint against the chief magistrate for betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.

Prosecutors said the disclosure constituted a “serious breach of the rule of confidentiality” on cases pending in the high tribunal.

“I really don’t want to testify because of utang na loob (debt of gratitude) because the Chief Justice had accommodated me [...]

Read the full story >>  Vizconde to testify vs Corona


ALSO IN THE NEWS 

 

Judge Drilon

BY AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA

‘If nobody objects to the presentation of evidence to the senator judges who may not all understand the meaning of a piece of document, the presiding officer may have a duty to explain it, or have it thrown out if it is not relevant to the case.’

SEN. Frank Drilon, acting as one of 24 judges in the impeachment court, should feel entirely indifferent to media reports that he should inhibit himself for alleged bias. He and his fellow judges, Kiko Pangilinan and Peter Cayetano, did not show any bias at all.

Frank did a judge duty by helping the court understand what was happening. That is not objectionable.

Drilon merely assisted a lawyer presenting evidence to the court. He was trying to make the court understand what was happening when a piece of evidence is presented. That is for the edification if not for the education – without hinting at insult – to other judges.

I guess what is patently objectionable and should be sustained by the presiding officer of the court is when a judge himself presents a piece of evidence for the accused or for the complainants [...]

Read the full story >>   Judge Drilon

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Drilon attack exposes defense desperation

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star

The defense panel in the impeachment trial of Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice (CJ) Renato Corona must be getting desperate already. On the surface, the less seasoned prosecution panel appears to be overwhelmed by their more senior counterparts, led by no less than former SC Justice Serafin Cuevas. However, the examination of what each side has accomplished, and failed to accomplish thus far, would tell another tale.

The move of defense panel lawyer Jose Roy III to charge Senator-Judge Franklin Drilon of “lawyering” for the prosecution, which was later escalated to a call by the defense panel for Drilon to inhibit, is a tell tale sign of desperation in the ranks of the defense lawyers. Presiding officer, Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile (JPE), has debunked Roy’s assertion and reiterated the right of Senator-Judges to seek information and clarification at any time during the trial. The defense conveniently forgets that the objective of the trial is to simply know the truth.

Roy’s interest conditions him to perceive any act by Senator-Judge Drilon as partial if it helps the prosecutors. Former senator Kit Tatad is similarly disposed. Tatad had earlier ventilated views against the impeachment move. In the case of Roy, he would [...]

Read the full story >>  Drilon attack exposes defense desperation

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Is the Defense in trouble?

BY DUCKY PAREDES
MALAYA

‘What can we do if the partiality has already been exhibited to the detriment of our client? When will be the proper time for us to do it?’

DEFENSE lawyer Ramon Esguerra, at this early stage, already says that it’s “Do or Die” when they seek the inhibition of Senator Franklin Drilon, a fellow member of President Benigno Aquino III in the Liberal Party.

“What can we do if the partiality has already been exhibited to the detriment of our client? When will be the proper time for us to do it?”

Is this a case of the “pot calling the kettle black”? After all, isn’t that precisely PNoy’s problem with the Chief Justice and the rest of the Gloria 12?

Drilon, a lawyer, seems to have done favors for the congressmen-prosecutors and their private counsels by eliciting from the witnesses what the prosecution seemed unable to do in the direct examination of their own witnesses.

Drilon asked Enriqueta Esguerra-Vidal, clerk of court of the Supreme Court, whether she followed what the subpoena of the impeachment court ordered her to do; she replied that, yes, she brought with her Corona’s  [...]

Read the full story >>  Is the Defense in trouble?

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Palace: Tax returns needed on CJ wealth

By Aurea Calica
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – The income tax returns (ITR) of Chief Justice Renato Corona will “connect the dots” on his alleged unexplained wealth, a Malacañang official said yesterday.

It is not yet clear if President Aquino will allow the release or presentation of the ITRs to the Senate impeachment court by Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) chief Kim Henares.

Corona’s camp said the ITRs are irrelevant and that they can only be released upon the approval of Aquino, who makes no secret of his disdain for the Chief Justice.

Supporters of the Chief Justice said they were saddened by the prosecution’s move to link the issue of Corona’s alleged illegally acquired wealth to the non-disclosure of his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) as discussed in Article 2 of the eight Articles of Impeachment. Defense lawyer Tranquil Salvador III argued that the issue of the release of Corona’s tax records is not within the ambit of Article 2.

But presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the ITRs were needed considering the discrepancies between the SALN of Corona and his actual list of registered properties [...]

Read the full story >>  Palace: Tax returns needed on CJ wealth

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Aquino wants next NBI chief to be ‘tough and clean’

BY AMITA O. LEGASPI
GMA News

President Benigno Aquino III wants somebody who is “tough and clean” to replace sacked National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) chief Magtanggol Gatdula, who was embroiled in a kidnapping case.

“Ang utos kay [Justice] Secretary Leila de Lima ay maghanap ng isang NBI chief na tough and clean,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said at a press briefing in Malacañang on Monday.

The NBI is under the supervision of the Department of Justice (DOJ). De Lima has yet to recommend someone for the NBI chief position to the President.

Aquino sacked Gatdula after the official was implicated in the alleged kidnapping and extortion on an undocumented Japanese national arrested by the bureau. A DOJ fact finding panel also recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against Gatdula and the other NBI officers involved.

Gain respect

Lacierda said the next NBI chief should be tough “because it’s an organization that would deal with criminal elements and you have to gain the respect of people within and outside the organization [...]

Read the full story >>  Aquino wants next NBI chief to be ‘tough and clean’

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Mike now pointing to poor, sick brod

GOTCHA
By Jarius Bondoc
The Philippine Star

Two National Police generals reportedly are being considered to replace sacked NBI director Magtanggol Gatdula. Huh, pulis na naman?

Neither of the two nominees, one retired, the other in active duty, were able to curb the rash of murders by gunmen riding motorcycles in tandem. Gun-for-hire has been thriving of late as a cottage industry. Every week someone is shot dead in the same modus operandi. Two gunmen on a motorbike would approach, fire at close range, then flee. A moneylender, a two-timing lover, an insolent co-worker: some of the victims are not even big shots but ordinary folk who happened to have earned someone’s ire. The hired killers are everywhere; from reports, they fetch as low as P20,000 per contract. Likely they were once petty thieves who grabbed handbags or mobile phones from pedestrians, but have graduated to the “big-time.”

Police precinct blotters show a surge in street crimes involving R-I-T (riding in tandem) in the past two years. At least 1,700 incidents were reported last year, with 2,089 victims. In 2010 it was 1,565 incidents, with 1,819 victims. And that’s only from citizens who bothered to file reports; most crime victims don’t, because of the hassle.

If police generals cannot stop the crime wave, can they be trusted to lead the NBI in busting big-time syndicates? [...]

Read the full story >>  Mike now pointing to poor, sick brod

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Pacman to Floyd: Take it or leave it

By Abac Cordero
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao won’t take anything less than 50 percent even if it means the sudden death of the latest talks of a superfight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

“That’s it. That’s the best offer from Manny,” said the Filipino boxer’s lawyer, Franklin Gacal.

“If Floyd says no, then fight someone else. I don’t think Manny will agree to anything less than 50 percent,” said the lawyer from General Santos City.

Pacquiao said a few days ago he spoke to Mayweather on the phone and said they can do the fight if there’s a 50-50 split of the purse.

Mayweather said it’s not going to happen that way.

Gacal did not say who that “someone else” is but signs point to  [...]

Read the full story >>  Pacman to Floyd: Take it or leave it

**************************
 

Battle for control of Asia’s seas goes underwater

Associated Press

Battle for control of Asia's seas goes underwater

FILE – In this April 23, 2009 file photo, a Chinese Navy nuclear-powered submarine sails during an international fleet review in the waters off Qingdao, China, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of People’s Liberation Army Navy. Nearly every Asian country with a coastline is fortifying its submarine fleet amid territorial disputes stirred up by an increasingly assertive China and the promise of bountiful natural resources in the Pacific. (AP Photo/Guang Niu, Pool, File)

It’s getting a bit more crowded under the sea in Asia, where Andrew Peterson commands one of the world’s mightiest weapons: a $2 billion nuclear submarine with unrivaled stealth and missiles that can devastate targets hundreds of miles (kilometers) away.

Super high-tech submarines like Cmdr. Peterson’s USS Oklahoma City have long been the envy of navies all over the globe _ and a key component of U.S. military strategy.

“We really have no peer,” Peterson told The Associated Press during a recent port call in Japan [...]

Read the full story >>  Battle for control of Asia’s seas goes underwater

**************************
 

China’s new mega catamaran style aircraft carrier 

Click HERE to view photos  

 

Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3653 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:57 pm
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: Gaps between Corona's SALN and land records
perrydiaz2001
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Gaps between Corona’s SALN and land records

By LALA ORDENES-CASCOLAN
VERA FILES

CHIEF Justice Renato Corona, impeached for failure to disclose to the public his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), among others, has three condominium units and three other real properties in Marikina, Taguig and Quezon City registered to him, his wife Ma. Cristina, and to both of them as co-owners.

Of these, the chief magistrate failed to declare a 631.6-sq. m. lot in Quezon City he bought in 1995; a Marikina property—seven parcels of land covered by seven TCTs—was declared in his 1992 SALN and was no longer mentioned since; and a 113.02-sq. m. condominium in Bonifacio Ridge in Taguig, acquired in 2004, was not declared until 2010. A 62.7-sq. m. condo, acquired by installment in 1997, was declared only in 2003.

The titles to the properties were submitted on Thursday by the registers of deeds of the three cities to the Senate in compliance with the subpoena issued by the chamber, which is sitting as impeachment court and trying Corona on allegations of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and graft and corruption.

Three other properties owned by the chief justice’s daughters were also presented in court, two in the name of “Constantino Castillo III, married to Ma. Carla C. Castillo,†and one in the name of  Charina Corona [...]

Read the full story >>  Gaps between Corona’s SALN and land records

 
ALSO IN THE NEWS 

 

Miriam: Learn from Erap trial and let public see evidence

Source: GMA News

Senator-judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Tuesday asked the Senate sitting as an impeachment court to be more liberal about accepting pieces of evidence against Chief Justice Renato Corona to let the public know the truth regarding the charges against the chief magistrate.
Speaking before the impeachment court for the first time, Santiago urged the other senator-judges to recall what happened during the aborted impeachment trial of former President Joseph Estrada 11 years ago in deciding how to deal with evidence in Corona’s trial.

“If there is doubt, admit the evidence. That is what the people ruled during the Estrada impeachment trial,†she said during Tuesday’s lackluster proceedings.

Santiago made the remarks as the defense panel sought to stop the admission of evidence that would pin down Corona for his alleged failure to publicly disclose his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) and for supposedly amassing “ill-gotten wealth†during his tenure at the Supreme Court. His SALNs and titles to various properties in Metro Manila were eventually unearthed during the trial last week.

Appointed by former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as Chief Justice just a few weeks before she stepped down from office, is facing charges of culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust in the impeachment court. He was impeached by the House of Representatives last month [...]

Read the full story >>   Miriam: Learn from Erap trial and let public see evidence

**************************

Henares slated to bare Corona ITRs this week

By Cynthia D. Balana
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Upon the request of the House prosecution team, the Senate has directed Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and at least six others to appear this week at the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The prosecution will present Henares who was subpoenaed to bring the original and certified true copies of the annual income tax returns (ITRs) of Corona (from 1992 to 2010), his wife Cristina (from 1992 to 2010), his daughter Carla (2000-2010), his son-in-law Constantino Castillo (2000-2010), his son Francis (2005-2010) and his other daughter Charina (2005-2010).

Also scheduled to testify this week are the following [...]

Read the full story >>  Henares slated to bare Corona ITRs this week

**************************
 

Prosecutors told: Read Corona’s ruling on Marcos ill-gotten wealth

Source: ABS-CBNnews.com

MANILA, Philippines – When prosecutors submit their position paper on issues surrounding Chief Justice Renato Corona’s alleged ill-gotten wealth, there’s one document they can cite in their favor: Corona’s own decision on the case of the Marcos ill-gotten wealth which resulted in the forfeiture to the Philippine treasury of money hidden in Swiss banks.

In her latest blog entry, journalist and blogger Raissa Robles said prosecutors might not know that they can use Corona’s own decision on the Marcos ill-gotten wealth to prove their case.

Robles said Corona’s “landmark decision on July 15, 2003″ on the Marcos wealth stashed in Swiss banks made the following points:

“He said the burden of proof lies with the person being accused of having amassed such wealth.

“He also said the court should disregard technicalities thrown by the defendant’s side [...]

Read the full story >>  Prosecutors told: Read Corona’s ruling on Marcos ill-gotten wealth

**************************
 

Judges not allowed to talk to litigants

BY AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA

‘The Chief Justice, to my mind, has gone out of his way to show everybody that he is unfit to sit as Chief Justice.’

NOT being a lawyer, I would not know what the Judicial Code of Ethics (or is it Conduct?) says about judges privately talking to litigants. What I do know is that Chief Justice Renato Corona talked privately to Lauro Vizconde regarding the appeal of Hubert Webb and his friends on their convictions for the alleged murder of Vizconde’s two daughters and a house help.

Vizconde was in grief when the Supreme Court in the pen of Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio acquitted the suspects. The state cannot appeal a criminal acquittal. Otherwise the respondents will be tried twice for the same offense. Double jeopardy is not allowed by the Constitution and the laws.

What has this got to do with the impeachment trial of the Chief Justice? [...]

Read the full story >>  Judges not allowed to talk to litigants

**************************

SC affirms government reconveyance of coco levy funds

By Edu Punay
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld government’s re-conveyance of the 24 percent block of shares or a total of 753.8 million shares in San Miguel Corp. (SMC) acquired through coconut levy funds and registered in the names of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) and its holding companies.

Voting unanimously in full-court session yesterday, magistrates of the high court affirmed the 2004 decision of the Sandiganbayan that had found the subject shares to be ill-gotten during the time of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) hailed the ruling. In a statement, PCGG chair Andres Bautista said, “Finally a measure of justice has been dealt to the long-suffering Filipino coconut farmer. The new PCGG is committed to ensuring that the monies that represent these shares should now be used to alleviate his plight and rehabilitate the coconut industry.â€

The SC ruling penned by Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., which was not yet released to media yesterday pending completion of signatures of the justices, held that the CIIF shares in SMC valued at about P50 billion to P100 billion should be used for  [...]

Read the full story >>   SC affirms government reconveyance of coco levy funds

**************************

JDV talks of GMA role in NBN-ZTE

BY PETER TABINGO
MALAYA

Former Speaker and Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. testified yesterday at the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division that he joined President Gloria Arroyo, her husband Mike and former Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. on a visit to the corporate headquarters of ZTE Corp., in Shenzen, China in November 2006 where they dined and played golf with the company’s officials.

De Venecia’s testimony was part of the prosecution’s evidence in the graft trial of Abalos for his alleged unlawful intervention in the overpriced $329 million NBN-ZTE contract.

Under direct examination by Assistant Special Prosecutor Jacinto dela Cruz Jr., De Venecia told the graft court that he received a surprise invitation from Arroyo to play golf while he and his wife Gina were vacationing in Hong Kong during the Halloween break of 2006.

“I didn’t ask where. I thought it was nearby. It was already when we were on the road that she said we were going to Shenzen,†De Venecia said.

He said he joined the Arroyos and Abalos for breakfast at the golf clubhouse and some Chinese personalities that he later  [...]

Read the full story >>   JDV talks of GMA role in NBN-ZTE

**************************
 

Plunder sought vs Arroyo, Uriarte over PCSO scam

By Angie M. Rosales
The Daily Tribune

The Senate blue ribbon committee has recommended the filing of plunder cases against former President Gloria Arroyo and former Philippine Charity Sweeps-takes Office (PCSO) general manager Rosario Uriarte for the misuse of some P244.5 million of the lotto agency’s intelligence funds, Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, chair-man of the Senate body, said.

Additionally, Arroyo and Uriarte should likewise be charged with technical malversation for using confidential or intelligence funds as “blood money†for two overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sentenced to death in Kuwait, Guingona said.

The Senate committee report, at the same time, did not find any violation of the Constitution in the donations of vehicles to various Catholic priests since the donation was for a public, and not a religious, purpose and that these were not for the personal use of any religious leader.

While they were public officers, Arroyo and Uriarte teamed up to rob PCSO of at least P244.5 million.

“Arroyo made mere marginal notes and caused the release of millions of pesos to her partner, Uriarte who was in charge [...]

Read the full story >>  Plunder sought vs Arroyo, Uriarte over PCSO scam

**************************

‘Downsizing, not closing’

BY REY O. ARCILLA
MALAYA

‘An effective way to save on resources is to downsize and to appoint effective and efficient personnel.’

FOREIGN Secretary Albert “Amboy†del Rosario recently bared plans to close several diplomatic and consular offices abroad to “rationalize foreign service posts†and to effect savings.

Those reportedly to be closed include the embassies in Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Romania, Ireland, Palau and Venezuela and the consulates general in Saipan, Barcelona and Frankfurt.

A group of dedicated and concerned DFA foreign service officers has the following to say about the projected closures:

“It is true that there was a circular regarding “Rationalization of Foreign Service Posts†dated 30 March 2011 signed by Undersecretary Rafael Seguis instructing 59 posts to submit a two-page justification paper for their existence, focusing on  [...]

Read the full story >>   ‘Downsizing, not closing’

*************************
 

Comelec wants GMA transferred to regular jail

By Pat C. Santos
The Daily Tribune

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has asked, through a motion, the Pasay Regional Trial Court (RTC) to order the transfer of the detained former President, Rep. Gloria Arroyo, to a regular detention facility, which would be the Pasay City Jail.

The former President is currently detained under medical arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez revealed that the petition was included in a three page motion at the sala of RTC 112 Judge Jesus Mupas where it asked the VMMC officials and doctors to explain why the former president should still remain in the hospital.

It will be recalled that on Dec. 9, 2011, the court had ordered the transfer of Arroyo from the St. Lukes Medical Hospital in Taguig City to VMMC in Quezon City.

Arroyo was ordered arrested through the strength of a warrant of arrest with no bail granted by Pasay Judge Mupas for electoral sabotage where stands accused of alleged massive fraud during  [...]

Read the full story >>  Comelec wants GMA transferred to regular jail


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DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3654 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Wed Jan 25, 2012 4:27 pm
Subject: PerryScope: The Gatdula cause célèbre
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita  

GLOBAL BALITA

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                 "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"
 
PerryScope   

The Gatdula cause célèbre

By Perry Diaz



CLAIMING innocence, former police general Magtanggol Gatdula, who was fired as Director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), vowed to fight back to clear his name of allegations of kidnapping and extortion.

However, he conceded that when the President lost trust and confidence in him, that was his signal to go out.  And that’s precisely the crux of the matter: President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III expects his appointees to walk a straight line – “daang matuwid” — in the performance of their jobs.

According to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Gatdula was relieved from his post following the recommendation of a DOJ fact-finding panel — which investigated the alleged kidnapping and extortion of Noriya Ohara, a 33-year-old Japanese national — to file charges against him and other NBI officials involved in the caper.

The DOJ report said that Gatdula participated in the planning and cover-up of the alleged crime last October 29 in which NBI agents abducted Ohara, who is in the country illegally.  According to the report, the NBI agents demanded a P15-million ransom from Romulo Marzan’s family with whom Ohara was staying.  The NBI agents threatened the Marzans with criminal charges for harboring an illegal alien.  After haggling over the ransom amount, which took place in the NBI office, the Marzans paid the agents P6 million.

During the investigation, Ohara incriminated Gatdula before the DOJ panel whom she positively identified from a picture of Gatdula hanging on the wall of the office of Mario Garcia, chief of the NBI-Security Management Division (SMD), where she was initially brought in after her abduction.

“Rescue” operation

But here is the stinger:  Garcia, who led the operation, claimed that it was to “rescue” Ohara. He said that Gatdula  [...]

Read the full story >>   The Gatdula cause célèbre


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.

END
 

#3655 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Fri Jan 27, 2012 8:31 am
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: Dismantling Coronarroyo, A Conspiracy of Millions
perrydiaz2001
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GLOBAL BALITA

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                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


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Dismantling Coronarroyo, A Conspiracy of Millions

Akbayan Rep. Kaka Bag-ao’s Speech on the Occasion of Akbayan Party’s 14th Year Anniversary Celebration, 23 January 2012, Pugad Lawin Hall, Quezon City Sports Club, Quezon City

Distinguished and honored guests, friends of Akbayan, my party-mates in Akbayan Kung Hei Fat Choi!

I welcome this invitation to speak before you today as a refreshing break from the intense preparation sessions of our team of lawyers for the prosecution of Articles 3 and 4 of the Articles of Impeachment. Sa totoo lang po ako’y medyo kinakabahan sa bigat ng hamon sa akin at sa laki ng expectations ng mga mamamayan sa aming mga prosecutors sa impeachment trial ni Chief Justice Renato Corona. But since I do not see the now-familiar faces of the Defense Panel – Former Justice Serafin Cuevas, my former teacher Atty. Jack Jimenez in the hall, I do not expect to be interrupted by any objection, technical or otherwise.

Also, before I begin to discuss some serious stuff, I would like to take this opportunity to correct the misimpression being peddled by a certain Professional Heckler. Ang suot ko noong opening ng Impeachment trial ay hindi galling sa alin man branch ng SM. Yan ay isang kasinungalingan. At kung kailangan kong ipa-subpoena sa witness stand si Manay Gina de Venecia at ang iba pang miyembro ng Association of Lady Legislators upang patunayan ito ay gagawin ko. At bago pa man makapag-object si Congressman Walden Bello, na hindi nabigyan ng terno, ay itutuloy ko na po ang aking speech.

The year 2011 will be remembered as the year of reckoning against the corrupt past of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. “Taon ng pagsingil ng mga mamamayan sa siyam na taong pandarambong at katiwalian ng mga Arroyo.”

We began the year 2011 with a full-court press to dismantle the first line of defense cleverly and maliciously put in place by former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, by impeaching her appointed Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. Merci and her cabal single-handedly frustrated all attempts to make GMA accountable to the various graft and corruption charges against her. It took [...]

Read the full story >>  Dismantling Coronarroyo, A Conspiracy of Millions


ALSO IN THE NEWS 

 

Movement 188 says Corona camp in ‘panic mode’

By Lilybeth G. Ison
Zamboanga Today

A newly-formed potent bloc in the House of Representatives comprising the 188 signatories to the resolution impeaching Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona said on Sunday the chief magistrate’s camp is in “panic mode” with barely a week into the Senate trial, owing to the prevalence this early of evidence buttressing the prosecution panel’s charges that he had allegedly amassed ill-gotten wealth — and was thus no longer morally fit to serve at the helm of the High Tribunal.

The Movement 188 said the surfeit of diversionary moves and scare tactics mounted by the Corona camp and its allies at the end of Week 1 of the impeachment trial show that they are “already running scared” and hell-bent on preventing the whole truth from coming out, more so now when the 11-member team of House prosecutors is set to present more official and authentic documents and more reliable witnesses in the second week of the impeachment trial proving that the beleaguered chief justice had misdeclared and/or underdeclared his assets in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs).

Among these latest dilatory and scare ploys, they said, are the plans by the Corona camp and its allies to put the Senate Impeachment Court in a “straitjacket” by asking the Supreme Court to make certain senator-judges inhibit from the trial.

The group also alleged that the Corona camp is set to file an urgent motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) for the Supreme Court to stop the Senate from proceeding with the trial.

Movement 188 stalwarts belonging to the various majority-coalition parties include [...]

Read the full story >>  Movement 188 says Corona camp in ‘panic mode’

**************************

Day 7: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

Call to order

  • The trial resumed at 2:03 p.m. Thursday.

Presumption of ‘unexplained wealth’ more relevant to trial

  • Senator-judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago asked the House prosecution panel whether Chief Justice Renato Corona was being charged under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
  • Private prosecutor Arthur Lim answered in the affirmative, saying the prosecution was accusing Corona of violating paragraphs (c), (e), and (f) of Section 3 of the law.
  • However, Santiago said these provisions were irrelevant to Article II, which accuses Corona of not disclosing his Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net worth (SALNs).
  • She said the more pertinent section of the law would be the presumption of unexplained wealth when a government official’s assets do not tally with his income. She said this provision had more to do with the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (Republic Act 6713), which requires the faithful submission of SALNs.

Release of trial documents to the media [...]

Read the full story >>  Day 7: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

**************************
 

The good that can come from Corona’s impeachment trial

No Limitation 
By Ted Laguatan 


Never mind that the prosecution team appears sometimes like bumbling freshman Moot Court law students. Understandably, they are primarily not trial lawyers but congressmen instantly casted as prosecutors. Unlike the defense lawyers, trying cases is not their usual everyday fare. They cannot be faulted for not appearing like seasoned trial lawyers. They are not.

Nonetheless, they have laid out adequate allegations, which are somewhat poorly drafted and rough in some spots, but if proven by competent evidence to be true — theoretically should result in a final order of impeachment against Chief Justice Renato Corona.

However, the reality is that not all the Senator-Judges will vote according to compelling evidence and logic — but according to personal philosophies, party lines, individual political agendas, moral or immoral incentives and intuition. This is the nature of the process.

It’s somewhat similar to how jurors make decisions in US courts. There are other factors other than the available evidence [...]

Read the full story >>  The good that can come from Corona’s impeachment trial

**************************
 

‘Mrs. Corona used as dummy to buy P11M property?’

Source: ABS-CBN News

MANILA, Philippines- Lawyer Vicky Aveña questioned Thursday Cristina Corona’s purchase of an P11 million property in La Vista subdivision after failing to file her yearly income tax return.

“On its face, there is no explanation as to where she got the money to buy because if that money was hers, the question is why did she not report it for purposes of taxation? On the other hand, if it wasn’t hers, she was acting as a dummy,” she said.

Aveña said the La Vista property was supposed to have been purchased by Mrs. Corona. However, Chief Justice Renato Corona also reported in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth that he got an P11 million loan from his wife’s family corporation, Basa-Guidote Enterprises, Inc.

“Is it being implied that the Chief Justice borrowed from the wife’s corporation in order to lend it to the wife to buy the property? Is that the implication here?” she asked.

The lawyer said a report by journalist Raissa Robles showed that the Securities and Exchange Commission had already revoked the charter of Basa-Guidote Enterprises in 2003. The report said the corporation had “ceased to operate legally  [...]

Read the full story >>  ‘Mrs. Corona used as dummy to buy P11M property?’

**************************

‘Coronas’ income, assets don’t match’

By Helen Flores
The Philippine Star

Photo is loading...
 

MANILA, Philippines – The declared income of Chief Justice Renato Corona and his wife Cristina did not match records of their asset acquisitions.

This was the gist of the testimony yesterday of Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares before the Senate impeachment court.

After ordering the issue of ill-gotten wealth stricken off the impeachment complaint against Corona, the Senate impeachment court allowed Henares to take the witness stand.

Henares’ testimony centered on the Corona couple’s income records and the real estate purchases.

She revealed that Corona never filed income tax returns from 2002 to 2010. She stressed that Corona was not required to file ITRs based on Section 51 of the National Internal Revenue Code, which provides that individuals who have only one source of income do not have to file an ITR.

In lieu of the ITR, the employer – in Corona’s case the Supreme Court (SC) – submits to the BIR a so-called alpha list  [...]

Read the full story >>  ‘Coronas’ income, assets don’t match’

**************************
 

The Gatdula cause célèbre

PerryScope
By Perry Diaz


Claiming innocence, former police general Magtanggol Gatdula, who was fired as Director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), vowed to fight back to clear his name of allegations of kidnapping and extortion.

However, he conceded that when the President lost trust and confidence in him, that was his signal to go out.  And that’s precisely the crux of the matter: President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III expects his appointees to walk a straight line – “daang matuwid” — in the performance of their jobs.

According to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Gatdula was relieved from his post following the recommendation of a DOJ fact-finding panel — which investigated the alleged kidnapping and extortion of Noriya Ohara, a 33-year-old Japanese national — to file charges against him and other NBI officials involved in the caper.

The DOJ report said that Gatdula participated in the planning and cover-up of the alleged crime last October 29 in which NBI agents abducted Ohara, who is in the country illegally.  According to the report, the NBI agents demanded a P15-million ransom from Romulo Marzan’s family with whom Ohara was staying.  The NBI agents threatened the Marzans with [...]

Read the full story >>  The Gatdula cause célèbre

**************************
 

We Are Your Family

GLIMPSES
By Jose Ma. Montelibano

I am not sure anymore about the latest death count and the numbers of the still missing from the destructive Typhoon Sendong. What I am sure about is the deep pain of the affected, the nightmare the floods must have been, and the continuing agony of accepting death in the family and accepting the loss of homes at the same time. Just 48 hours after the disaster struck, I was able to accompany a few leaders of Gawad Kalinga from Manila to CDO and Iligan. We joined volunteers of GK from the affected cities and several provinces in Mindanao who brought with them the first truck of food packs for distribution. Twice, I returned to monitor the developments after the first visit before Christmas to just days before I flew to the United States.

In a month’s time, a miracle of sorts was beginning to emerge. Of course, I have to begin with the instant and massive response of Filipinos towards their own. While I had experienced this kind and generous behavior during the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy, seeing so many from all over the country rush to help CDO and Iligan convinced me that the new dawn for Filipinos has arrived. In Iligan especially, I also saw a powerful response from the local government, its leadership quickly taking charge despite the initial shock and overwhelming tragedy.

As I write this, Iligan is experiencing the end of a most unusual but inspiring day. It began with the President himself  [...]

Read the full story >>  We Are Your Family

**************************

Lapid’s wife arrested in US for smuggling $50,000

By Ding Cervantes
The Philippine Star 

ANGELES CITY, Philippines – The wife of Sen. Lito Lapid was arrested shortly after her landing in Las Vegas last Jan. 15 in connection with the dollar smuggling charges filed against her after she was accosted at the international airport there last November.

Senator Lapid confirmed yesterday that his wife Marissa was arrested but she was released on bail. She will, however, remain in Las Vegas pending the resolution of the case involving the alleged smuggling of $50,000 in cash last November.

He said an American lawyer is now assisting Marissa.

“I have also sought the help of the Department of Foreign Affairs to find out what really happened,he said, adding that he has coordinated with the US embassy in Manila for clarification.

Reports from the US said agents of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Marissa Lapid at the Las Vegas International Airport last Jan. 15.

Marissa’s arrest arose from a US federal warrant issued against her on Jan. 5, 2012 in connection with her earlier arrest on [...]

Read the full story >>  Lapid’s wife arrested in US for smuggling $50,000

**************************

Nine dead, hostages saved: SEAL Team 6 does it again

Source: Sunday Morning Herald

First they took out al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Now the US Navy SEALs have earned their “special forces” designation once again by conducting a daring, pinpoint rescue of two aid workers held hostage for three months in Somalia.

US officials confirmed it was a Navy SEAL team that carried out the pre-dawn raid, but the Pentagon, citing “operation security reasons”, would not confirm US media reports that it was SEAL Team 6, the same unit that killed bin Laden deep inside Pakistan last May.

American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Thisted, who both worked for the Danish Refugee Council Demining Group, were rescued unharmed after helicopter-borne US commandos landed in scrubland in central Somalia early on Wednesday local time, a Somali official said.

Rescued ... Poul Hagen Thisted, left, and American Jessica Buchanan.
 

They killed all nine of the captors, the US military said. US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said no US troops had been wounded or killed in the operation, which was personally authorised by President Barack Obama.

The SEALs – an acronym of “Sea, Air, Land” – specialise in reconnaissance and sea-borne assaults, often on vessels. They [...]

Read the full story >>  Nine dead, hostages saved: SEAL Team 6 does it again

Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3656 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:03 am
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: Senate to convict Corona -- A MUST READ
perrydiaz2001
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GLOBAL BALITA

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                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


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Senate to convict Corona

BY  JAIME PILAPIL
THE MANILA TIMES

Verdict aims to spare Aquino from embarrassment — senator



Out of respect for the Office of the President, particularly for a popular leader, majority if not all of the current 23 senator-judges will vote to convict impeached Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, a respectable senator, who asked not to be identified, recently told a select group of reporters covering the Malacañang beat.The male senator, who is not a member of the ruling Liberal Party, said that only Sen. Joker Arroyo is the remaining senator-judge who is not inclined to vote for the conviction of Corona.He added that the rest, including Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, would accede to the call of President Benigno Aquino 3rd to vote for the expulsion of Corona from the Supreme Court.“I’m sure the senators would heed the call of the President and they would vote for the conviction of the Chief Justice,” the senator told reporters over dinner somewhere in Manila near Malacañang, official residence of President Aquino.

In a bid to give credence to his analysis, he gave a rundown of the voting inclination of the senator-judges.

Corona needs seven votes to acquit and 16 votes to convict [...]

Read the full story >>  Senate to convict Corona


ALSO IN THE NEWS 
 
 

Fraud, tax experts to face off in impeachment trial

By Christina Mendez
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – As the impeachment trial enters its third week today, the prosecution will present a certified fraud examiner (CFE) in its list of witnesses to bolster further their allegations in Article 2 of the Articles of Impeachment against Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The defense would also present an expert witness in a bid to weaken the prosecution’s case against the chief magistrate in Article 2 on Corona’s alleged non-disclosure of assets and failure to include properties.

Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, a spokesman for the prosecution, said the CFE will render expert opinion on the true or correct net worth of Corona and his incapacity to acquire the properties registered under his name and that of his wife and children based on his declared income.

Quimbo, however, refused to elaborate further on the CFE’s testimony so as not to preempt the strategy of the prosecution panel.

He said the House prosecution is ready to wind up its offer of documents and witnesses on Article 2 of the impeachment complaint.

“We hope to wrap up Article 2 this Wednesday or Thursday so we can go to Article 1,” Quimbo said.

Under Article 1 of the impeachment complaint, Corona is accused of betrayal of public trust due to  [...]

Read the full story >>  Fraud, tax experts to face off in impeachment trial

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Chief Justice lied in SALN

AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA

‘The prosecutors did not see the bigger offense of falsifying a statement under oath, an offense that may border on the question of betraying public trust or forgery of a public document.’

THE law requires all state workers, including the Chief Justice, to declare or include all assets in the annual statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

Since the Chief Justice did not include all of his assets in the SALN which is a document under oath, Renato Corona lied under oath as discovered by the Senate trying him for eight alleged offenses.

His SALN shows he falsified the document.

The impeachment court ruled that ill-gotten wealth is not to be admitted as evidence of guilt in Article 2 of the impeachment charges.

But the offense is not exactly in relation to ill-gotten wealth. The charge against the Chief Justice in Article II is refusing to make public his SALN. With the permission of the Supreme Court the document was submitted and examined by the senators  [...]

Read the full story >>  Chief Justice lied in SALN

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Unexplained or ill-gotten wealth?

By Ellen Tordesillas
Malaya

‘“What is the difference between “unexplained wealth” and “ill-gotten wealth”? A lot, if you read RA 3019 and RA 7080.’

THE prosecution’s clumsy preparation of the Articles of Impeachment against Chief Justice Renato Corona has caught up with them.

Last Wednesday, the impeachment court trying Chief Justice Renato Corona decided to reject the prosecution’s request to present evidence in relation to the alleged ill-gotten wealth of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, acting as the impeachment court’s presiding officer, said: “This impeachment court has arrived at a decision in that caucus that this court will allow the introduction of evidence and impeachment on article 2 paragraph 2.2 and 2.3 but not the introduction of evidence of paragraph 2.4. And so parties must be guided accordingly,” Enrile said.

Paragraph 2.4 states: “Respondent is likewise suspected and accused of having accumulated ill-gotten wealth, acquiring assets of high values and keeping bank accounts with huge deposits.”

Article of Impeachment No. 2 deals with Corona’s non-disclosure of his statement of assets liabilities and net worth [...]

Read the full story >>  Unexplained or ill-gotten wealth?

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Law frats also in spotlight at CJ trial

By Delon Porcalla
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – As lawyers slug it out in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, their fraternity affiliations in law school have also come under scrutiny.

In the spotlight in particular are Ateneo de Manila University’s Aquila Legis and Utopia fraternities and the University of the Philippines’ Sigma Rho and Alpha Phi Beta.

There is speculation that the impeachment of Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, an Aquilan, was initially shelved by the House of Representatives with the help of his fraternity brothers who belong to the Liberal Party and currently hold key posts in the chamber. The House is reviving this week its probe of Del Castillo for alleged plagiarism.

Although Del Castillo was absolved by his SC colleagues, congressmen initially found merit in the complaint that he plagiarized portions of a court ruling that he wrote about Filipino comfort women.

On the other hand, Aquilans are seen to be behind the impeachment of Corona, a member of Aquila’s rival Utopia. SC spokesman and court administrator Midas Marquez is also a Utopian, like several of Corona’s  [...]

Read the full story >>  Law frats also in spotlight at CJ trial

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Llamas says sorry; fate hangs in the balance

By Christine O. Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer

 

Would an apology to no less than the President save his job?

Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas may know the answer today (Monday).

Llamas on Sunday said he had apologized to President Benigno Aquino III over last week’s incident in which he was photographed by an editor buying pirated DVDs in a Quezon City mall.

Five days after the Inquirer ran the story with a picture of him in the mall, Llamas finally broke his silence. He said he saw the President on Friday to explain his side.

“He told me I had to undergo internal processes and investigation,” Llamas said in a phone interview. Asked whether he apologized to the President for the incident, Llamas said he [...]

Read the full story >>   Llamas says sorry; fate hangs in the balance

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Llamas and Caesar’s wife

BY DUCKY PAREDES
MALAYA

‘As for Rolando Llamas, here’s friendly advice: The next time you want to buy a DVD, send your driver.’

ONE theory about how cabinet secretaries should behave is that they should, at all times, be like Caesar’s wife meaning that they should always be above suspicion. In the case of Pompeia, the wife Caesar divorced, Caesar. when asked about why the divorce, replied: “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.” Obviously, Caesar had his suspicions about Pompeia.

Caesar next married Calpurnia who had a premonition about the Ides of March but Caesar, like most husbands, ignored her warnings and realized too late that he should have fully trusted his last wife. Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March, the 15th day of the month.

In the case of the acts of political affairs adviser, Secretary Ronald Llamas, caught on a cellphone camera actively haggling over the price of pirated DVDs from a Quezon City mall, what did he do that you and I and most of our fellow citizens have not done again and again? In fact, buying pirated CDs and DVDs is so prevalent in this country that, although we have laws that prohibit the selling of purloined music and movies on CDs and DVDs, there is no law prohibiting us ordinary folk from buying.

Atty. Coco Padilla, chief of the Legal Division of the Optical Media Board (OMB), the government agency that has jurisdiction over the issue of pirated DVDs, clarifies that individuals who purchase pirated DVDs for their own personal use do not  [...]

Read the full story >>   Llamas and Caesar’s wife

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Can our media be trusted with sensitive information?

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star

During the 1974 Academy Awards show, just as British actor David Niven was about to present a winner, a streaker (1970s fad when naked people dash around public places or gatherings) suddenly sprung from behind him and ran through the theatre aisle, drawing varied reactions from the startled audience. Unfazed, Niven coolly remarked: “The only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping … and showing his shortcomings.” The audience roared in laughter and applauded David Niven.

The critics of President Noynoy Aquino (P-Noy) remind your Chair Wrecker of that streaker at the 1974 Academy Awards event. They too like to flaunt what little they’ve got, aside from their biases.

It’s about time that the critics of P-Noy accept the reality that he will abide by his standards and not pander to theirs. To begin with, they don’t have access to the wealth of information that a president has. They don’t have the qualified staff to competently study the complete ramifications of a policy or action. They don’t have the intelligence apparatus and P-Noy is one president who is [...]

Read the full story >>  Can our media be trusted with sensitive information?

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The trophy mistress

Corporate Watch
By Amelia H.C. Ylagan
BusinessWorld

She exudes the mystique of the faraway unknown. Standing proud and beautiful, she subtly beckons to escapist liaisons by her seeming inaccessibility. Many want her for the glamour and romance of anticipated capture, pheromones excited by competitive pursuit and the final vanity of victorious acquisition. I must have her, he says.

And so Chinese-Filipino billionaire Lucio Tan, tobacco and alcohol taipan, bought Philippine Airlines (PAL) in 1992, when it was offered for sale in then-president Fidel Ramos’s massive privatization program. To be exact, it was not publicly known until a year after that Tan was actually PAL’s majority buyer,when he quarreled with Antonio “Tony Boy” Cojuangco, then Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) chairman, who had won the fight for PAL by a thin 7% over the bid by the PCI Capital Consortium of John Gokongwei and Eugenio Lopez, Jr.

Cojuangco and his AB Capital and Investment Corp., in partnership with the Soriano family, was to have paid the Philippine government P9.78 billion for PAL. But rumors had it that when the call came for the payment by Cojuangco, he had to “borrow” from Tan to support his share of the commitment. Few knew of the quid-pro-quo for Tan’s subsequent backdoor 40% share in PR Holdings Corp., the new consortium formed to operate PAL in its apres-privatization start-up.

The Soriano group was reportedly angry over discovering that they were in bed with Tan, and promptly bailed out of PAL. It was shocking to most, in the heightened idealism of the immediate post-EDSA I People Power Revolution, that a reported Marcos crony had surreptitiously taken control of the then 51-year-old flag carrier — PAL — national patrimony by its very name and proud existence as Asia’s first airline. On the other hand, it can be easily understood why Tan wanted so much to have PAL as a “trophy mistress” perhaps for the vanity of acquisition and the loud braggadocio of the low-key Chinese Filipino (naturalized) having [...]

Read the full story >>  The trophy mistress

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Fil-Cans condemn racist acts of Canada’s neo-Nazi group

By Alex P. Vidal

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance, Philippine Women Centre of BC and SIKLAB for Migrant Workers will hold a “protest of all forms of racism” on Feb. 13, 2012 at 9 a.m. in front of the Vancouver Provincial Court on 222 Main St.

The groups have condemned “the racist acts of neo-Nazi group Blood and Honour for setting a young Filipino man on fire while sleeping on a couch on Commercial Drive in 2009.”

In a statement released January 27, 2012, the three groups “hold Canada’s legal and policing system accountable for not acting fast enough to penalize and dissolve the white supremacist group. On Feb. 13, during the hearing of the men charged with burning the Filipino man, Filipino Canadians will take to the streets in protest of the racist acts.”

THIRD

They lamented that “despite being the third largest minority group in Canada, Filipino youth are faced with racist systemic barriers and limited access to resources in Canada. Education obtained in the Philippines is often not recognized, pushing college kids back to high school upon arriving in Canada. There are few public services that integrate Filipinos successfully while  [...]

Read the full story >>   Fil-Cans condemn racist acts of Canada’s neo-Nazi group

 
Read the full story >>  



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DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
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#3657 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:08 pm
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: Corona's FMD
perrydiaz2001
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FEATURED 

Corona’s FMD

BY AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA

‘Like those who speak without thinking, Corona confirmed that he is nothing more than a political partisan.’

AS he was about to be impeached, Chief Justice Renato Corona dramatically stepped out of the Supreme Court to address his loyal minions. His message was loud and clear: Bring it on!

Like a small town mayor addressing a party caucus in front of the town hall, Corona that day shed every veneer of judicial statesmanship.

Using crude rhetoric worthy of the gutter and condescension typical of a small claims lawyer, Corona virtually called PNoy dumb and stupid several times in his speech. The clueless partisan crowd laughed and cheered him on.

Like those who speak without thinking, Corona failed to realize that the joke was actually on him.

Corona sealed his fate with his belligerent tone. He confirmed that he is nothing more than a political partisan who let politics seep into the judiciary. With his speech, he willingly entered the political arena to joust with a politician who had just won an election in overwhelming fashion and managed the rare feat of keeping his popularity after assuming office.

If anything, Corona confirmed that magistrates are better read than heard.

A magistrate is better off speaking through their decisions. The worthy ones write decisions that display their erudition. Jurisprudence they pen shaped the evolution of our laws. In well written prose, they showcase their legal philosophy. In their decisions, they marry the facts with the law in the grandest fashion, in full glory and majesty of the law.

Corona fails in this class of jurists as much as he deserves his fake doctorate degree summa cum laude [...]

Read the full story >>  Corona’s FMD


ALSO IN THE NEWS 


 

Day 9: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

January 31, 2012 6:33pm

Call to order

  • The trial resumed at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Price of Corona penthouse reduced due to damage, not discount

  • Witness Noli Hernandez, senior vice president for marketing at Megaworld Corporation, testified that the Bellagio Tower I penthouse purchased by Chief Justice Renato Corona’s wife Cristina in 2008 had a steep reduction in price from P24 million to P19.6 million because of “water damage” following a typhoon. The price was further slashed by P3 million, or the standard 15-20 percent discount, because Corona paid “almost in cash” and on a “shorter term” of less than a year.
  • Private prosecutor Joseph Joemer Perez asked whether it was the usual practice of Megaworld to sell damaged units, drastically reduce its prices, or give big discounts. He also asked if the company had filed insurance claims after the condominium was damaged by the typhoon.
  • The presiding officer cautioned Perez about his manner of asking questions. Enrile clarified that a price reduction is different from a discount: the condition of the unit is a reason for reducing the price, while a discount is a privilege extended to the buyer.
  • During the cross-examination by lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas, Hernandez said Megaworld could have given the same price reduction to any customer. Hernandez added that he did not know at the time that it was Chief Justice Corona who bought the penthouse.

Senators ask: What’s the connection? [...]

Read the full story >>  Day 9: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

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Day 8: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

January 30, 2012 6:24pm

Call to order

  • The trial resumed at 2:01 p.m. Monday.
  • Senator-judges Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Sergio Osmeña were absent.

Trillanes likens impeachment to PMA ‘honor’ trial 

  • Senator-judge Antonio Trillanes IV compared the impeachment trial at the Senate to Honor Committee trials at his alma mater, the Philippine Military Academy, where only the unanimous decision by an eight-man jury can convict an accused cadet, not technicalities or lawyers.
  • He said will apply a “basic sense of justice” in determining the moral fitness of the impeached chief justice who must “possess the highest possible moral standards for public officials.”
  • Trillanes said the presentation of evidence even before Chief Justice Renato Corona was appointed as head of the Supreme Court should be allowed.

Protecting constitutional rights of Corona, family members

  • The Senate Secretary, as the clerk of court of the impeachment court, read the Senate resolution disallowing developers from presenting  evidence that are not related to Corona and members of his family, so as not to violate their right to privacy and not subject them to unreasonable search and seizure.
  • She also read the impeachment court’s decision to disallow the introduction of evidence on Article 2.4 on ill-gotten wealth. Instead, the court will rely on legal presumptions on the properties of the respondent.

New order of presentation and list of witnesses [...]

Read the full story >>  Day 8: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

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Condo builder: No favors for CJ, wife

By Christina Mendez and Marvin Sy
The Philippine Star

Photo is loading...
 

MANILA, Philippines – Megaworld Corp. denied yesterday that the P10-million price reduction it gave Chief Justice Renato Corona and his wife for a penthouse in the Bellagio condominium in Taguig City was in exchange for favorable Supreme Court (SC) decisions involving the real estate company.

“Some of these allegations purport to allege that the sale of the units mentioned in the impeachment proceedings were in consideration for favors received or requested from the Court. These allegations are completely baseless and malicious,” Megaworld said in a statement.

The real estate company said the SC’s decisions would show that Megaworld “never requested nor obtained any favor from anyone in the Court, including the Chief Justice who is presently standing trial.”

On the ninth day of the trial yesterday, lawyer Noli Hernandez, senior vice president for marketing of Megaworld, reiterated that no favor was given to the Corona couple in the sale of Unit 38-B.

Hernandez said the unit was water-damaged after a typhoon and the economic situation was not good in 2008, which prompted the company to cut the price by about 40 percent.

“The discount was not any favor but a force majeure?”  [...]

Read the full story >>  Condo builder: No favors for CJ, wife

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Defense admits ‘inaccuracies’ in Corona SALN

By David Dizon
ABS-CBNnews.com

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) – A member of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s defense team admitted Tuesday that there were “inaccuracies” in Corona’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) when he belatedly declared several real estate properties years after they were acquired.

Former justice undersecretary Ramon Esguerra said the Chief Justice acquired a condo unit at Spanish Bay Tower, Bonifacio Ridge in 2005 and another condo unit at The Bellagio, Taguig in 2008 but only declared both properties in 2010. The Bonifacio Ridge property was purchased for P9 million; The Bellagio unit P14 million.

Esguerra said Corona broke no law when he disclosed ownership of the real estate properties belatedly in his SALN.

“It was disclosed although belatedly but does that constitute violation of the law insofar as SALN filing is concerned? It does not. Even the law allows a corrective measure if a filer of a SALN does not accurately reflect what should be reflected in his SALN,” he told Mornings@ANC.

Esguerra said that under Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials, there is a pertinent provision that a filer must be informed about inaccuracies in his SALN and allowed to correct it.

He added that under this particular provision, “no liability for perjury attaches” for inaccuracies in the filing of SALN.

Asked if Corona lied in his SALN because he belatedly declared his properties, Esguerra said: “Not really lying. It is really up to the filer. But in the case of the Chief Justice [...]

 Read the full story >>  Defense admits ‘inaccuracies’ in Corona SALN

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How did CJ get a loan from ‘dead’ company?

By Carmela Fonbuena
Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – On Tuesday, January 31, the prosecution panel will tackle the Basa Guidote Enterprises Inc (BGEI), the now-moribund company owned by the family of Cristina Corona, wife of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Basa Guidote was managed by Cristina Corona. In his 2003 Statement of Asset, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), the Chief Justice declared an P11-million loan from the company.

He said the loan was used to buy a 1,200-sq-m lot in the posh La Vista subdivision in Quezon City in September 2003.

In his SALN, Corona declared that he bought the lot for only P3-M. A deed of absolute sale however shows that the property was purchased for P11-M.

Corona’s SALNs indicate that he started paying back the loan in 2005. It went down to P10-million in 2005; P8-million in 2006; P6.5-million in 2007; P5-million in 2008; P3-million in 2009.

The loan was apparently fully paid by 2010, since it no longer appeared in his SALN that year.

But records show that Basa Guidote was revoked by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2003, the same year when Corona said he borrowed P11-M from the company.

The question is: How did the Chief Justice take a loan from a revoked company? And who was receiving his payment from 2005 to 2009? [...]

Read the full story >>   How did CJ get a loan from ‘dead’ company?

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For delicadeza po Justice Cuevas, inhibit, and, be happy, be Budoy!

The Tall Order
By Mon Datol
The Philipine Courier
Toronto, Canada


Retired Justice Serafin Cuevas, the lead defense lawyer for CJ Renato Corona in the latter’s impeachment trial, claimed the other day that the Palace is pressuring him to quit his post. Ayaw ni Justice Cuevas.

 Megadz, if Justice Cuevas would only read RA 910 where it states: a retiring justice who is receiving pension from government cannot appear as counsel before any court in a) any civil case wherein the Government or any subdivision or instrumentality thereof is the adverse party or in b) any criminal case wherein an officer or employee of the Government is accused of an offense committed in relation to his office or c) collect any fee for his appearance in any administrative proceedings to maintain an interest adverse to the Government; he would immediately inhibit himself in the foregoing Corona impeachment … [...]

Read the full story >>For delicadeza po Justice Cuevas, inhibit, and, be happy, be Budoy!

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The slogan works both ways

ON DISTANT SHORE
By Val G. Abelgas 

While the nation remained riveted to the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona for the third week on Monday, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) reported that the Philippines’ economy grew by only 3.7 percent last year, less than half of the 7.6 percent growth registered last year.

NSCB Secretary General Romulo Virola said the “relatively feeble” growth was posted “amidst the obstinate economic woes, the government under-spending on infrastructure in the second and third quarters, and the sustained decline in fishing.”

The 3.7-percent growth rate the Philippines registered in 2011 makes it the second slowest-growing economy among Southeast Asian nations, higher only than that of Thailand, which was severely affected by severe flooding that year.

The gloomy economic report followed an announcement in November by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas that foreign direct investment to the Philippines in the first eight months of last year totaled only $810 million, or a 19.2 decline from the $1-billion net inflows in the same period in 2010.

The NSCB report confirmed what respondents feared in a Pulse Asia survey released the other week where 45 percent [...]

Read the full story >>  The slogan works both ways

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Lapid’s wife: Money was for my house

Balitang America
ABS-CBNnews.com

MANILA, Philippines – Contrary to claims by her husband, Marissa Lapid said the money confiscated from her by United States airport officials is for a “house.”

Senator Lito Lapid said on Thursday that his wife had no malicious intentions with the money found by US airport officials in her luggage in the Las Vegas International Airport.

Lapid said her wife Marissa needed it for the treatment of her heart condition. “Medyo naharang siya doon dahil sobra ang dala niyang pera siguro dahil nagpapagamot siya dahil may sakit siya eh,” the senator had said.

Marissa was arrested after arriving at the Las Vegas International Airport last Jan. 15. The arrest was based on a warrant  [...]

Read the full story >>   Lapid’s wife: Money was for my house

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Plan to expand U.S. military presence in Philippines assailed, defended

Source: Philippine Star

MANILA (Xinhua) — The plan to expand United States military presence in the Philippines as agreed during the Jan. 27 bilateral dialogue in Washington, D.C. has been assailed by the country’s groups but defended by officials of the government of President Benigno Aquino, III.

Teodoro Casino, a party-list member of the House of Representatives representing Bayan Muna (Country First), said that there is no need for the expansion of U.S. military presence in the country. He even called for a congressional probe into the planned deal.
“We were able to get rid of the U.S. bases and we are still fighting against the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), we do not need the government to once again sell out our sovereignty,” Casino said in a statement.

The VFA, signed in l999, allows the temporary stay in the country of American military forces but only during joint military exercises and other non-combatant operations.

Casino said that the review of the VFA, which the Aquino administration has agreed to, has not even started yet but “we are going to enter a new agreement that would further put us in a disadvantaged position.”

According to Casino, the U.S. move to reassert its military presence in the Pacific Ocean is not merely intended to block China’s so-called increasing dominance in the region but  [...]

Read the full story >>  Plan to expand U.S. military presence in Philippines assailed, defended



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#3658 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Wed Feb 1, 2012 7:00 pm
Subject: PerryScope: Brouhaha over pirated DVDs
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita  

GLOBAL BALITA

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                 "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"
 
PerryScope 
 

Brouhaha over pirated DVDs

By Perry Diaz

"Would P-Noy do for Llamas what he did for his other two shooting buddies, Rico Puno and Virginia Torres, that is — keep them?"

FROM THE TIME President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III appointed Ronald Llamas as presidential adviser on political affairs, Llamas has become the lightning rod for criticism against P-Noy’s administration.  But P-Noy doesn’t seem to be bothered with the attacks directed at Llamas.  Indeed, nobody could touch Llamas…  unless his critics could produce incontrovertible evidence of malfeasance.

The latest “torpedo” launched at Llamas was an allegation that he purchased pirated DVDs.  As a result of this controversy involving one of P-Noy’s despised – and envied – shooting buddies, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. issued a memorandum instructing Llamas to explain within five days – by February 1 — why no administrative disciplinary case should be filed against him for buying pirated DVDs.

In his memo, Ochoa said that Llamas was “seen buying a stack of pirated DVDs worth P2,000.”  Llamas responded to the memo immediately to which Ochoa’s office said that it would make a recommendation.  According to deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, the recommendation could be administrative sanctions or dismissal.

When P-Noy heard the story, he pooh-poohed it saying that Llamas “might just have been passing by.”  But according to a first-hand account by Dona Policar, the associate editor of Bandera, she saw — and photographed — Llamas going over the pirated DVDs on display at the Circle C mall in Quezon City.  According to the DVD retailer, Llamas bought P2,000 worth of pirated DVDs.  He also said that Llamas was a regular customer.

Poor Llamas, he never realized that in one of his rare personal and private moments, a paparazzo was lurking behind a stack of DVDs while he was browsing over the merchandise displayed.  But Llamas should have known better that as an alter ego of the President, he is public property, 24/7 [...]

Read the full story >>  Brouhaha over pirated DVDs


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#3659 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Fri Feb 3, 2012 6:21 am
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: Corona got P11-M cash from 'dead' firm
perrydiaz2001
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Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


FEATURED

Corona got P11-M cash from ‘dead’ firm

By Cathy C. Yamsuan, Christian V. Esguerra, TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer


‘NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC’
This corporate notice appeared

in the Classifieds section of the

June 4, 1995, issue of the

Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Prosecutors on Wednesday zeroed in on what one senator-judge described as an “unexplained inclusion†in the statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

On Day 10 of Corona’s impeachment trial, the prosecution contended that the Chief Justice could not have received an P11-million cash advance from a company owned by his wife’s family in 2003 because its certificate of registration was revoked that same year.

“Our theory is that there could not have been any transaction made by Basa-Guidote (Enterprises Inc.) with Chief Justice Renato Corona because … the corporate franchise had already been dissolved or revoked and therefore, the only action that can be taken by Basa-Guidote (was) just to liquidate and wind up the affairs of the corporation and distribute the shares,†Representative Reynaldo Umali told the impeachment court.

Prosecutors presented Director Benito Cataran of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)  to show that the company was no longer in a position to release money to Corona.

The approach puzzled some of the senators, who questioned the relevance of Basa-Guidote being “dead†to the charge that Corona did not publicly disclose his SALN and because of that, should be convicted of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust [...]

Read the full story >>  Corona got P11-M cash from ‘dead’ firm


ALSO IN THE NEWS 


 

Day 11: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

February 2, 2012 7:37pm

Call to Order

  • At 2:04 p.m. Thursday, the trial resumed.
  • Senators Miram Defensor-Santiago and Sergio Osmeña were absent.

Cross-examination of registers of deeds

  • During cross-examination by defense counsel Ramon Esguerra, Quezon City Register of Deeds Carlo Alcantara produced the transfer certificate of title (TCT) for a P15-million lot under the names of Carla Constantino, the daughter of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona, and her husband.
  • Alcantara also produced registration certificates for the following properties of the Corona family:
  • A unit at the Burgundy condominium with a market zonal value of P1.5 million and a selling price of P2.5 million
  • A lot at the Ayala Heights with a market zonal value P13.8 million and a selling price of P8 million
  • A lot at La Vista with a market zonal value of P21.6 million and a selling price of P18 million
  • Two properties at Xavierville Subdivision

SALN entries: zonal value, fair market value, or selling price? [...]

Read the full story >>  Day 11: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

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Day 10: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

February 1, 2012 6:45pm

Call to order

  • The trial resumed at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Corona’s P11-million loan

  • House prosecutor Rep. Reynaldo Umali conducted the direct examination of Director Benito Cataran of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) Company Registration & Regulatory Department, who testified on the P11-million loan that Chief Justice Renato Corona got in 2003 from his wife’s corporation; it was declared as his liability in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) from 2004 to 2009.
  • Cataran produced the articles of incorporation of Basa Guidote Enterprises, Inc. (BGEI), which was registered with the SEC in May 30, 1961. He said neither Corona nor his wife Cristina Roco-Corona were listed as shareholders in the company, whose incorporators and officers had the surnames Basa or Roco.
  • Director Cataran added that the SEC revoked BGEI’s articles of incorporation and considered the company dissolved in 2003 – the year Corona got a loan from BGEI – after it failed to file general information sheets (GIS) from 1991 to 1997, and financial statements from 2000 to 2003 as required under the Corporation Code.
  • However, presiding officer and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the dissolution of a corporation is not its end because it still has to undergo liquidation. He explained that the SEC can only suspend a non-compliant corporation’s license, but the corporation can only be dissolved by its own stockholders or by the government through a case filed against entities that usurp authority. He directed Cataran to submit a legal memorandum showing the authority of the SEC to dissolve non-compliant corporations.
  • Umali said the prosecution panel was out to prove that Corona could not have borrowed from BSEI “because the corporation’s franchise has already been dissolved or revoked [and] the only action that can be taken by [BGEI] is to liquidate, wind up and distribute the shares.†He added the prosecution wants to prove that the P11-million loan obtained by Corona is “fictitious.â€
  • Senator-judge Francis Pangilinan noted that the prosecution was trying to prove a questionable or “unexplained inclusion†which goes to the truthfulness of Corona’s SALN.

Much ado about nothing [...]

Read the full story >>  Day 10: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

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Corona’s bank records may be subpoenaed

Source: Vox Bikol

MANILA, Philippines (Feb 01, 2012) – The Corona family might be awash in undeclared cash as indicated by the pattern of buying properties on “almost cash basis†and the uncovering of secret dollar accounts traced to their names and the prosecution team is now eyeing the presentation of the bank records of Chief Justice Renato Corona and his wife Cristina.

The prosecution team aims to bolster its argument that the chief justice, now on impeachment trial, has substantial assets not declared in his Statement of Assets Liabilities and Networth (SALN).

The prosecution has initially identified a secret dollar account opened under the account of CJ Corona with the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) in October 31, 2008 with an initial deposit US$700,000 and another account in the name of Corona’s daughter, Carla, and her husband but with CJ Corona as the sole signatory.

The prosecutors are optimistic of Corona’s bank records shall be allowed by the Senate tribunal because the Bank Secrecy Law does not apply in impeachment cases and said assets are not declared in Corona’s SALN.

“We are currently discussing the bank accounts of the Coronas. Although there is no decision yet, there is an inclination to [...]

Read the full story >>     Corona’s bank records may be subpoenaed

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Relative warned JBC in 2001: Corona could bring “disrepute†to SC

 My exclusive
By Raïssa Robles

When Renato Corona was nominated for a vacant seat in the Supreme Court back in 2001, an uncle of his wife Cristina personally wrote the Judicial Bar Council (JBC) to oppose his nomination in order “to save the SC from discredit and disrepute.â€

Jose Maria Basa III warned that Corona “will not be capable of rendering fair and just decisions as he has not exhibited such character†in connection with his actions regarding Basa-Guidote Enterprises, the corporation jointly owned by the Cristina Corona’s parents and the latter’s relatives  like Basa.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to the defense of Corona, who was then her Malacanang Chief-of-Staff.

Arroyo’s spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao was quoted by the Manila Bulletin as telling reporters in a September 2001 news [...]

Read the full story >>  Relative warned JBC in 2001: Corona could bring “disrepute†to SC

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‘Movement 188′ hits alleged ‘squid tactics’ of Corona lawyers

Source: ZamboTimes.com

MANILA — Congressmen signatories to the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, who called themselves “Movement 188,†on Tuesday hit the alleged “squid tactics†in firing “made-up stink bombs†at the prosecution team of the House of Representatives and their spokesmen “in a desperate bid to muddle up the trial and divert national attention away from testimonies and evidence submitted to the Senate impeachment court.â€

The Movement 188, in a press briefing, claimed that “after resorting to dilatory tactics to torpedo incriminating evidence against Corona during the first two weeks of the trial, the chief magistrate’s defense team has now turned to firing made-up stink bombs at certain House prosecutors and their spokespersons, in a frantic bid to muddle up the proceedings and sidetrack the Senate court’s focus from the submission of evidence and testimonies proving that he does not deserve to stay one minute longer at the helm of the Supreme Court.â€

The group believes that the defense team “has apparently seen this early the writing on the wall — the losing legal battle of the Chief Justice to wiggle himself out of crimes contained in the eight Articles of Impeachment — that they want to put the prosecution on the defensive by hurling trumped-up charges against them and to similarly put senator-judges in a straight-jacket by moving for the inhibition of certain senators on the trumped-up allegation that they have been lawyering [...]

Read the full story >>   ‘Movement 188′ hits alleged ‘squid tactics’ of Corona lawyers

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Brouhaha over pirated DVDs

PerryScope
By Perry Diaz

Shooting buddies

From the time President Benigno “P-Noy†Aquino III appointed Ronald Llamas as presidential adviser on political affairs, Llamas has become the lightning rod for criticism against P-Noy’s administration.  But P-Noy doesn’t seem to be bothered with the attacks directed at Llamas.  Indeed, nobody could touch Llamas…  unless his critics could produce incontrovertible evidence of malfeasance.

The latest “torpedo†launched at Llamas was an allegation that he purchased pirated DVDs.  As a result of this controversy involving one of P-Noy’s despised – and envied – shooting buddies, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. issued a memorandum instructing Llamas to explain within five days – by February 1 — why no administrative disciplinary case should be filed against him for buying pirated DVDs.

In his memo, Ochoa said that Llamas was “seen buying a stack of pirated DVDs worth P2,000.â€Â  Llamas responded to the memo immediately to which Ochoa’s office said that it would make a recommendation.  According to deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, the recommendation could be administrative sanctions or dismissal.

When P-Noy heard the story, he pooh-poohed it saying that Llamas “might just have been passing by.â€Â  But according to a first-hand account by Dona Policar, the associate editor of Bandera, she saw — and photographed — Llamas going over the pirated DVDs on display at the Circle C mall in Quezon City.  According to the DVD retailer, Llamas bought P2,000 worth of pirated DVDs.  He also said that Llamas was a regular customer.

Poor Llamas, he never realized that in one of his rare personal and private moments, a paparazzo was lurking behind a stack of DVDs while he was browsing over the merchandise displayed.  But Llamas should have known better that as an alter ego of the President, he is public property, 24/7 [...]

Read the full story >>  Brouhaha over pirated DVDs

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What’s the unbelievable tale and retraction of Cuevas all about?

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star

The tale of impeachment trial lead defense lawyer Serafin Cuevas that Malacanang Palace is pressuring him to quit from the defense panel was simply unbelievable. To a political and marketing communications strategist — the Cuevas tale appears to be directed at winning the public relations battle of the impeachment trial rather than exposing an irregularity.

Cuevas could not name names after Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda challenged him to do so. That’s untypical of a top caliber lawyer like Cuevas who would know the difference between a factual assertion and a tall tale. It’s also something we would not expect somebody like Cuevas to state sans any other details that would protect him from being called to account.

Last Tuesday’s dailies carried the subsequent denial of Cuevas. He was emphatic in saying that nobody representing the Palace ever approached him to ask that he quit from the defense panel. The Philippine Daily Inquirer, which broke the “Palace pressure on Cuevas†story last Monday, countered in the face of the Cuevas denial that the tape and transcript of the interview with Cuevas says otherwise — meaning that Cuevas did tell the tale. Hearing that tape in the Inquirer website prevents us from giving [...]

Read the full story >>  What’s the unbelievable tale and retraction of Cuevas all about?

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Ping: Mike A, Iggy have P4-billion deposits

By Marvin Sy
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Panfilo Lacson says he has documents to prove that former first gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike†Arroyo and his late brother Ignacio or Iggy each owned bank accounts containing over P2 billion.

Lacson yesterday said the two accounts are in one bank, and that these are still active.

The accounts are no longer in the names of “Jose Pidal†but those of Mike’s and Iggy’s, Lacson added.

Lacson said he intended to revive the Jose Pidal probe with the new evidence in his possession.

“There was really no closure (on the issue),†he said.

“There really has to be closure, but not at this time because Iggy has yet to be buried.â€

Lacson asked Ferdinand Topacio, the lawyer of Mike Arroyo, to ask his client for a written waiver on the money contained [...]

Read the full story >>   Ping: Mike A, Iggy have P4-billion deposits

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The Legacy of 182 Trees in Baguio City

As the Bamboos Sway
By Rudy D. Liporada

While the Sendong mudslide catastrophe which killed thousands of Filipinos is still fresh in our emotional quotient and with the seeming withering away from memory of similar disasters in Bicol and Leyte, Baguio City citizens are up in furor against what they call the impending ‘massacre’ of 182 trees by conglomerate ShoeMart (SM).

These 182 trees might as well be the hallmark of the fight against denudation in the Philippines which have given way to mining conglomerates, real estate expansions, and commercial encroachment which, unbridled, have proven disastrous to the environment – bringing death and continuing pestilence.

The issue on the 182 trees has all the trappings of the conflict drama involving a heartless conglomerate, a castrated Baguio mayor and his City Council, environmental policies which are being railroaded – all against Baguio citizens who are against the ‘massacre’ of these trees.

While the Sendong, Bicol, and Leyte and other denudations were happening which caused those thousands to be buried in their sleep, no huge clamor against those denudations really hit the headlines before the denudations. Reactions after the disasters, investigations, policy resolutions against more denudations were mere talk as the onslaught on the environment continued waiting for the next disasters [...]

Read the full story >>  The Legacy of 182 Trees in Baguio City


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3660 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Sat Feb 4, 2012 8:58 pm
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: We Watch While They Go Hungry
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita   

GLOBAL BALITA

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


FEATURED
 

We Watch While They Go Hungry

GLIMPSES
By Jose Ma. Montelibano


4.5 million Filipino families experience hunger and the rest who can help prevent this watch as they go hungry. It is a cursed life that the hungry live, and it is a curse that many who can help, but do not, will have to bear in their lives.

As I travel around the United States, speaking to Filipino-Americans who have keen interest in learning more about the plight of the poorest among our people, I appeal for their sympathy and active intervention. My basis is in their latest annual remittance to their families in the Philippines estimated at around $9 billion, proof of massive resources and proof of consistent generosity. I have not asked them to send more money to the Philippines. I have simply pointed out that they sent money to their families but not their country, to individuals but not to the collective. If their generosity has lifted their beneficiaries out of poverty, it has not lifted lifted the hungry from their misery.

To feed the hungry is a Christian obligation. To not do so will not allow salvation or entry into the kingdom of God. This is not my claim. This is the promise of the Founder of Christianity – Jesus Christ. I am Christian so I had been taught this, by my parents who were Christians themselves, by my schools which were Christian as well, and by the religious authorities of the Catholic Church. According to their teachings, each believer will be asked at the end of time important questions by Jesus Himself – and one would be, “When I was hungry, did you feed me? [...]

Read the full story >>  We Watch While They Go Hungry


ALSO IN THE NEWS 

 

The Great Poverty Divide

By Fr. Shay Cullen
(His columns are published in The Manila Times,
in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line)

Manuel a semi-illiterate teenager just rescued from the filthy jails of Metro Manila was longing to see his parents and family. He told us that they had no home and lived on the street. They had a food stall near Baclaran Church and lived there under a plastic sheet. They eked out a living selling bananas cooked in recycled vegetable oil and brown sugar to the church goers at the weekly novena and daily masses.

Both rich and poor filled the Wednesday novena prayers. The poor being the vast majority were begging divine help to find enough food for their families and medicines for their sick and the irresponsible and unrepentant rich praying for forgiveness and donating coins for a ticket to heaven. Alas that’s the great divide; the poor trying to live for a few days more, the rich trying to live forever.

Blessed are the responsible well off rich people, the Zacchaeus people of this world who are enlightened and see the social and human reality and are determined to use their influence and resources to change it for the better. They are agents of change and have compassion for the poor, exploited and the abused, and they dedicate their talents, wealth and efforts to change this unjust divide between the haves and have not. But it’s not an easy task. In Davos, Switzerland the world leaders have lost their way. Greed and excess has damaged the world economy and they can’t fix it [...]

Read the full story >>  The Great Poverty Divide

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Criminal intent, not number of properties, is key in Corona trial—Sen. Santiago

By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago
 

MANILA, Philippines – While probably terrified of her, prosecutors at the House of Representatives may have found an ally in Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who thinks there’s been too much ado over the prosecution’s “flip-flop” on the number of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s properties.

“There is a Latin phrase we often use, ‘falsus in unum falsus in omnibus’ [false in one thing, false in everything ]. If a witness is caught lying in one detail, he has been lying in other details,” Santiago said in a telephone interview.

However, regardless of the number of properties, Santiago said, the more important issue was whether there has been  “criminal intention” on the part of the respondent not to declare his assets, which she said would constitute “proof of a high crime.”

“If it appears indicative of a criminal intent, there’s no need to go to the other properties. One or two examples would suffice,” she said, quickly adding, “Unless he has an explanation acceptable to a  reasonable man.”

So far, in their presentations on Article 2, Corona’s alleged failure to disclose his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth, the prosecution “attempted to show certain irregularities.” The defense, however, has been able to [...]

Read the full story >>  Criminal intent, not number of properties, is key in Corona trial—Sen. Santiago

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Prosecution insists on getting CJ bank records

By Christina Mendez
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – The prosecution panel yesterday reiterated the need to subpoena the bank records of Chief Justice Renato Corona in a bid to bolster allegations in relation to the failure of the chief magistrate to truthfully declare information in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs).

Prosecution spokesman Rep. Miro Quimbo said the members of the defense team and bank executives cannot invoke the confidentiality rule under the Bank Secrecy Law before the impeachment court.

“The banks cannot refuse the subpoena of impeachment court. It is the highest court, it is in fact a Constitutional Court. The secrecy of bank deposits is not above the impeachment court. In fact an impeachment is a clear exemption to the Secrecy of Bank Deposit Law,” Quimbo stressed.

Quimbo accused the defense of trying hide the truth from the public when it repeatedly objected to the prosecution’s move to subpoena Corona’s records with two banks.

As regards foreign bank deposits, Quimbo said the prosecution would understand the banks’ stand against the subpoena but the law has made exception as regards impeachment proceedings.

“We can understand the banks will hesitate because they would want as much as possible not to reveal (those records for the protection of the) banking system but precisely that’s why the law makes exceptions, the law is very specific. Impeachment is one exemption when it comes to secrecy of bank deposits,” he said [...]

Read the full story >>  Prosecution insists on getting CJ bank records

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‘5 or 10 or 20 or 45, Corona did not declare these assets’

By Gil C. Cabacungan, TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Spokespersons of the prosecution in the trial of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona on Friday said the criticism directed at it for its failure to present proof of his purported 45 properties is not only undeserved but also missed the point of the impeachment.

“They claimed we have lost the case because we only presented 25 and not 45 [properties]. But whether it is 5 or 10 or 20 or 45, the point is he did not disclose and declare them for years. And why were these declared at very low values? It’s like he’s hiding something, like where did he get the money to pay for these?”  Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara said.

The lawmaker also said saying sorry would not cut it for Corona, who is expected to argue that his omissions in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) were not enough grounds for his ouster.

Apology acceptable if…

“[The apology] will be acceptable if he makes it voluntarily and before there was a full-blown trial,” Angara said. “Clearly, it will [...]

Read the full story >>  ‘5 or 10 or 20 or 45, Corona did not declare these assets’

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Corona, Megaworld & SC 2004 decision

By Atty Batas Mauricio
Zamboanga Today

LIFE’S INSPIRATIONS: “… Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love…” (Ephesians 4:2, the Holy Bible).

LACK OF PREPARATION HOUNDS PROSECUTION: Well, I am now inclined to believe that before they filed the impeachment articles against Chief Justice Renato Corona with the Senate for trial, the 188 congressmen who signed and endorsed it did not really prepare their cases, as they even failed to research Corona’s decisions as a justice of the Supreme Court involving the companies where he supposedly bought his posh properties.
Otherwise, they would have found out that on March 31, 2004, or more than six years before he became chief justice, Corona authored a decision in the case entitled “Megaworld Properties and Holdings, Inc. vs. Hon. Judge Benedicto Cobarde”, and docketed as G.R. No. 156200.

THE PEOPLE HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW: In that decision, concurred in by then Justices Conchita Carpio Morales and Angelina Sandoval Gutierrez, the Supreme Court favored Megaworld by striking down a Court of Appeals’ decision requiring Megaworld to pay some P25 million to a couple who acted as agents over a vast beachfront property which Megaworld contracted to develop. In other words, Megaworld was spared the agony of paying P25 million to the couple, which the Court of Appeals earlier  [...]

Read the full story >>   Corona, Megaworld & SC 2004 decision

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Supreme Court should fire Midas, solon says

Source: ABS-CBNnews.com 

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court should sack spokesman and administrator Jose Midas Marquez for abusing his position, Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello said Wednesday.

Bello has filed House Resolution 2103 calling for Marquez’s removal from office.

Bello, in a press statement, said Marquez caused pubic anger by failing to separate the interests of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona and the Supreme Court.

He said Marquez should step down “to prevent the further erosion of the people’s trust in the highest court of the land.”

“We are pulling all stops to prevent Mr. Marquez from escaping accountability for his abuse of office,” he added.

He mentioned Section 3 of Presidential Decree 842, as amended, that describes the qualifications, appointment and tenure of the members of the Office of the Court Administrator in the Supreme Court.

The decree states that “The Court Administrator and the Deputy Court Administrators may be removed or relieved for just cause by a vote of not less than eight (8) Justices of the Supreme Court.”

Bello said the way Marquez has been defending himself puts the credibility of the Supreme Court [...]

Read the full story >>  Supreme Court should fire Midas, solon says

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Lito Lapid Pampanga’s pride, shame

By Inquirer Central Luzon
Tonette Orejas

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Kapampangan pride received either a boost or a beating depending on who you ask among the cabalen of Senator Manuel “Lito” Lapid concerning his first-ever “performance” at the Senate impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

For a few minutes, the action star-turned-lawmaker, not exactly known for eloquence but more for his membership in the so-called committee on silence, rose confidently on Day 10 of the trial to throw questions in Filipino at a prosecution witness from the Security and Exchange Commission.

Lapid took to the floor on Wednesday at the time when he was in the media spotlight albeit for an entirely different case closer to home: His wife Marissa was charged with dollar smuggling in the United States last week.

Kapampangan musician Irwin Nucum was hardly impressed by what he saw. He dismissed as “insignificant,” for example, Lapid’s question on the difference between a “cash advance” and a “loan.” [...]

Read the full story >>  Lito Lapid Pampanga’s pride, shame

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Grace Lee: PNoy courts ‘like any normal guy’

BY ROWENA JOY A. SANCHEZ
MANILA BULLETIN

 

MANILA, Philippines – Following President Noynoy Aquino’s admission that they are dating, TV and radio personality Grace Lee has become more open in disclosing some details about their burgeoning bond.

Despite holding the highest post in the country, PNoy’s courtship style remains “normal,” according to the Philippines-based Korean.

“I don’t know about calling everyday, I don’t wanna divulge too much details, pero yes very normal, like any normal guy,” Grace said in an interview on “24 Oras,” Feb. 2.

She has also received “a couple of chocolates and flowers” from the chief executive.

“He’s just very sweet,” Grace added.

Although she’s been part of the entertainment industry for some years now, Grace is still surprised by the outpour of attention she’s receiving. Reporters and photographers of international wire agencies, such as Agence-France Presse, were seen tailing her on Thursday, “24 Oras” stated.

It took a while for the GMA-7 showbiz reporter to speak up about PNoy because she “wanted this to be more private.”

“We’re still at the stage of getting to know each other. And I didn’t want so many people having so much to say about what’s going on between us… I don’t think I’m gonna waste my time, spending hours of my day trying to know a man if [...]

Read the full story >>   Grace Lee: PNoy courts ‘like any normal guy’

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GMA News TV to air documentaries on Marcos, Aquino on EDSA anniversary

Source: GMA News



GMA News TV commemorates the Edsa Anniversary this year by airing two powerful documentaries on former Philippine Presidents: “Marcos: The Fall of a Dictator” and “Cory Aquino: The Housewife Who Led a Revolution”.  Commissioned by and first aired on History Channel Asia, the documentaries include valuable archival video of the Marcos era and Martial Law years as well as of the Edsa Revolution and Aquino’s first years in office — footage few of today’s youth have ever seen.

The documentaries feature interviews with those close to the former Presidents including former senators Joker Arroyo and Jovito Salonga, former President Fidel V. Ramos, human rights lawyer Rene Saguisag, and sons of Ferdinand and Cory: Senator Bongbong Marcos, and President Noynoy Aquino, to name just a few [...]

Read the full story >>  GMA News TV to air documentaries on Marcos, Aquino on EDSA anniversary


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DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3661 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Tue Feb 7, 2012 4:26 am
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: Corona's secret stash in cash -- A MUST READ!
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita   

GLOBAL BALITA

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


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Corona’s secret stash in cash

BY AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA

‘A clear pattern is emerging. Corona’s true wealth is either not declared or undervalued in his SALN.’

THE impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona is about to take a crucial turn.

The prosecution has just filed more requests for subpoenas for the submission of bank records that are expected to raise legal issues involving the secrecy of foreign currency deposits.

These accounts are expected to open a can of worms. Do not be surprised to see defense lawyers frothing in their mouths trying to block the damning evidence.

Fact is, since Corona joined the Supreme Court in 2002, he declared under oath no more than P3.5 million in cash. If copies of bank documents relating to a dollar account in the name of Corona are accurate, he appears to have at some point at least US$700,000 or about P34 Million deposited in a PSBank account as of October 2008.

These funds, as well as those deposited in several other accounts in PSBank also covered by the request for subpoena, were never declared in Corona’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) [...]

Read the full story >>  Corona’s secret stash in cash


ALSO IN THE NEWS 

 

Corona bank deposits allowed to be opened 

BY JP LOPEZ
MALAYA

ON the 12th day of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, the court granted a prosecution request to subpoena bank documents under the account name of the magistrate.

Presiding officer Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the resolution “was simply to authorize the issuance of a subpoena, and whether those evidence subpoenaed are admissible evidence, given the fact that they apparently appear in violation of existing law, is a question that must be resolved in due course.”

“I hope that is understood. We are not prejudging the admissibility or non-admissibility of this evidence and this issue will come up at that point when the subpoenaed material and testimonies are offered in evidence,” he said.

Subpoenaed to appear before the court tomorrow are bank managers of the BPI branch at the SGV Building along Ayala Ave., Makati City and the PSBank branch on Katipunan Ave. in Quezon City.

The PSBank manager was ordered to bring bank records of Corona’s 10 accounts, showing balances as of  [...]

Read the full story >> Corona bank deposits allowed to be opened

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Day 12: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

February 6, 2012 7:03pm

Call to Order

  • At 2:11 p.m., the trial was resumed.
  • Senator-judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago was absent.

ITRs of Corona’s son-in-law

  • Presiding officer and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, over the objection of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas, allowed private prosecutor Arthur Lim to resume his direct examination of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) chief even though cross-examination had started.
  • BIR commissioner Kim Henares produced the income tax returns (ITRs) from 2005 to 2010 of Corona son-in-law Constantino T. Castillo III (husband of Carla Corona), which were marked in court.
  • Enrile did not allow Lim to read the contents of Castillo’s ITRs for “propaganda” purposes, and chided Lim for pointing out “unnecessary details” in describing the documents.
  • The presiding officer Enrile added that the impeachment court will not accept evidence on paragraph 2.4 on allegations of ill-gotten wealth because the Senate has disallowed this.
  • After Enrile stressed that the prosecution must demonstrate the relevance of the ITRs to Article II on lack of disclosure in Corona’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALNs), Lim said they were trying to show that the La Vista property belongs to Corona because his daughter and her husband did not have the financial capacity to buy the P18 million property.
  • The prosecution also presented a deed of sale for shares at the exclusive The Palms Country Club from Filinvest in the name of Corona and his wife, that were not declared in his SALN.

BIR ‘investigating’ Corona [...]

Rad the full story >>   Day 12: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

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Prosecution: Corona opened $700K bank account in 2008

BY ANDREO C. CALONZO
GMA News 

(Updated 2:50 p.m.)The House prosecution team has urged the Senate to look into Chief Justice Renato Corona’s bank account after an “anonymous source” provided the panel with documents showing that the chief magistrate opened a bank account in 2008 for over $700,000 (about P34 million).In a supplemental request to summon Corona’s bank records submitted to the Senate last Friday, the prosecution presented a customer identification and specimen signature card from the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) to the impeachment court.

The document indicated that a certain Renato Geronado Corona opened a bank account with an initial deposit of $700,000. It also showed that the depositor wrote “income and investments” as the source of the money.

The prosecution, however, noted in its request that it “cannot vouch for the authenticity of the said documents.”

“The prosecution believes that it is its duty to submit the documents to this honorable impeachment court, as they may have a bearing on the court’s resolution of the pending request for subpoena,” the supplemental request read [...]

Read the full story >>  Prosecution: Corona opened $700K bank account in 2008

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Henares cites discrepancies in Corona’s SALNs

By Ira Pedrasa
ABS-CBNnews.com

MANILA, Philippines (1st UPDATE) – Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares said she found several discrepancies in the Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALNs) vis a vis the income tax returns (ITRs) of Chief Justice Renato Corona, which pushed her to launch a separate tax investigation.

During her re-direct examination on day 12 of the impeachment trial, Henares said nine properties were not included in Corona’s 2002 SALN.

These properties, as well as the La Vista and Marikina properties, were omitted in the 2003 SALN. She said Corona stated his net worth in his SALN to be P7 million, when it should have indicated a net worth of P14 million.

For 2004, Henares said that Corona should have disclosed a P21-million net worth, instead of [...]

Read the full story >>  Henares cites discrepancies in Corona’s SALNs

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What is ‘public trust?’

By Christina Mendez
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines –  How can a government official be held accountable for negligence or dishonesty in public office or negligence in the entries in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN)? What is betrayal of public trust?

Are these impeachable offenses?

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, presiding officer in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, has ordered the defense and prosecution to define public trust and betrayal of public trust.

Dishonesty became a buzzword after prosecutors of the House of Representative asserted that Corona had demonstrated dishonesty in his non-declaration of some properties in his SALN.

The prosecution said such dishonesty constitutes betrayal of public trust, an impeachable offense under the Constitution.

However, retired Supreme Court Justice Serafin Cuevas, the lead defense counsel, said Corona’s apparent failure to  [...]

Read the full story >>   What is ‘public trust?’

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Aquino admin finally submits its version of FOI bill to House

AMITA LEGASPI
GMA News 

UPDATED 5:00 p.m. – The Aquino administration has finally submitted to the House of Representatives its version of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill which aims to promote transparency by giving people greater access to government information.

In his speech during the 112th anniversary of the Manila Bulletin on Thursday, President Benigno Aquino III said the FOI bill was sent to their coalition partners in the Lower House that day.

“We want every other administration voted into power to work under the same standard of transparency and accountability that we have set for ourselves. This is a significant step toward achieving that goal,” he said.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the FOI bill may not be included in the priority bills of the administration but its passage will be pursued vigorously.

“The FOI version we submitted yesterday was crafted way after decision on the 13 priority measures was made, President Aquino has finally authorized a version and we will pursue it vigorously,” Valte said in a text message to reporters.

Last month, Aquino ordered his Cabinet to ‘push ahead’ with  [...]

Read the full story >>  Aquino admin finally submits its version of FOI bill to House

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President Noynoy As Starmaker

Moviegoer
BY NESTOR CUARTERO
MANILA BULLETIN
President Benigno Aquino III and Grace Lee (Photo by Richard Viñas)
President Benigno Aquino III and Grace Lee
(Photo by Richard Viñas)

Just a thought: At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. – Plato

MANILA, Philippines — Pnoy As Starmaker: By virtue of Pres. Noynoy Aquino’s bachelor status, he has unwittingly become today’s hottest starmaker.

Every girl who gets linked to the 51-year-old President attains celebrity status that often leads to a showbiz career. Some of the women who had been linked to the President include Shalani Soledad, Liz Uy, and now, Grace Lee.

Recently married Shalani Soledad is a case in point. A simple, small-town councilor at the time she dated PNoy, Shalani went on to pursue a TV career as co-host to Willie Revillame on “Willing Willie.”

These days, the media’s eyes are focused on Grace Lee, a GMA News TV broadcaster, radio host, and a columnist of  [...] 

Read the full story >>  President Noynoy As Starmaker

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Dionisia Pacquiao says she suffered from ‘spiritual disease’

Source: ABS-CBNnews.com


MANILA, Philippines – Dionisia Pacquiao, more popularly known as Mommy D, is back in the limelight, sharing with her fans what she went through during her four-month absence from show business.

The mother of boxing champ Manny Pacquiao said she suffered from unexplained swelling in different parts of her body — from her tummy to her feet. She said, however, that it is not life-threatening.

Dionisia said it is a “spiritual disease,” the same one she experienced in 2000.

“Sakit na hindi naman nakakatakot, sakit na hindi pisikal. Spiritual ba,” she said in an interview with Korina Sanchez on radio dzMM on Friday. “Pero wala na, di na sila nakaganito sa akin.”

Dionisia said she consulted the help of an albularyo (folk healer) in Cavite to treat her illness which, she hinted, is kulam (a form of hex where rag dolls are stabbed with needles, causing unbearable pain to the intended victim).

She said some people may have done this out of jealousy. “Sobrang inggit, may naiinggit sa akin. Sobrang inggit, sabi ng [...] 

Read the full story >>   Dionisia Pacquiao says she suffered from ‘spiritual disease’

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Miriam hits ‘Brenda’ attacks

By  Marlon Purificacion
Journal Online

SENATOR-JUDGE Miriam Defensor Santiago yesterday lambasted the alleged attempt by her enemies to use her mental health condition to pressure her in the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

In a press statement sent to Senate media, Santiago said any attempt to resurrect the age-old issue of mental health is a dead give-away that the personal attacks are part of an orchestrated smear campaign.

‘As the last ploy of desperation, it was used against me during the 1992 presidential campaign. It always resurfaces when, in my crusade against corruption, I make enemies who are so filthy rich that they hire an expensive PR firm specializing in dirty tricks,” said Santiago.

The veteran senator informed the media that she would no longer answer any question from the media to respond to personal attacks.

The senator gave two reasons: First, taking the debate outside of the courtroom would distract the public discourse on the issues raised by the impeachment trial and second, it would raise her blood pressure that could make her suffer [...]

Read the full story >>  Miriam hits ‘Brenda’ attacks 


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3662 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Wed Feb 8, 2012 7:10 pm
Subject: PerryScope: What is Corona hiding?
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita  

GLOBAL BALITA

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                 "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"
 
PerryScope 
 

What is Corona hiding?

By Perry Diaz


A storm is brewing at the Senate impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.  In a move to prove charges of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust against Corona, the House of Representatives’ prosecution team subpoenaed his bank records, which makes sense if conviction is to be secured.  It did not then come as a surprise that Corona’s defense team opposed every attempt to delve into Corona’s bank records, particularly his secret dollar account, which many believe is the repository of his alleged ill-gotten wealth.

The prosecution claimed that Corona and his wife Cristina’s account won P1 million in Philippine Savings Bank’s “Monthly Millions” raffle draw and that the couple “had time deposits, money market placements, and dollar accounts in the bank.”  But the defense team’s spokesman, Tranquil Salvador III, said, Why should the Chief Justice be faulted if he really won the raffle? If he’s just lucky, is it a sin? I don’t think there’s a problem with that or if any law was violated.”

I agree that Salvador was right in that sense.  But would he agree that for the Coronas to qualify for the P1-million monthly raffle, they should have had a huge deposit in that bank?

So, how much moolah do the Coronas have stashed in the banks? [...]

Read the full story >>  What is Corona hiding?


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.

END
 

#3663 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:25 am
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: 'I am not guilty, I don't want trial'
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita   

GLOBAL BALITA

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


FEATURED
 

‘I am not guilty, I don’t want trial’

BY AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA

‘In this sense, it is Gloria Arroyo who is under trial. If Chief Justice Corona is not convicted, Mrs. Arroyo’s majority of eight jurists will save her from the gallows.’

FIRST, the Chief Justice declared upon impeachment that he did no wrong and was prepared to face trial.

Second, he declared that anybody who can find the 45 or so pieces of properties in five cities of Metro Manila in his name and that of his wife will get them. Upon his written permission, of course.

Third, the prosecution was furnished machine copies of his “initial deposit” of $700,000 in a savings bank in Quezon City. Now he objects to the production of the records for examination by the senators sitting as judges in the impeachment trial.

Now comes Chief Justice Renato Corona filing a petition with the Supreme Court seeking to stop the impeachment trial.

The petition, denied or granted, does not prove his claim of having done no wrong. He does not want to defend himself as he said he was ready to, in fact in full battle gear to face his accusers, namely President Aquino, who he said wants  [...]

Read the full story >>  ‘I am not guilty, I don’t want trial’


ALSO IN THE NEWS 

 

What is Corona hiding?

PerryScope
By Perry Diaz


A storm is brewing at the Senate impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.  In a move to prove charges of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust against Corona, the House of Representatives’ prosecution team subpoenaed his bank records, which makes sense if conviction is to be secured.  It did not then come as a surprise that Corona’s defense team opposed every attempt to delve into Corona’s bank records, particularly his secret dollar account, which many believe is the repository of his alleged ill-gotten wealth.

The prosecution claimed that Corona and his wife Cristina’s account won P1 million in Philippine Savings Bank’s “Monthly Millions” raffle draw and that the couple “had time deposits, money market placements, and dollar accounts in the bank.”  But the defense team’s spokesman, Tranquil Salvador III, said, Why should the Chief Justice be faulted if he really won the raffle? If he’s just lucky, is it a sin? I don’t think there’s a problem with that or if any law was violated.”

I agree that Salvador was right in that sense.  But would he agree that for the Coronas to qualify for the P1-million monthly raffle, they should have had a huge deposit in that bank?

So, how much moolah do the Coronas have stashed in the banks? [...]

Read the full story >>  What is Corona hiding?

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Our billionaire CJ

BY DUCKY PAREDES
MALAYA

‘(E)veryone can see how dumb the bum is and how, if he was a little smarter, he could have got away with (if not murder) billions!’

SO they found that our Chief Justice has P24 million in a bank and who knows how much more in other banks where he also has deposits. Why am I not surprised?

How much more has to be revealed before the Impeachment trial winds down? How much more must still be discovered before a judgment can be made?

In existing legislation, if a civil servant is found with more money to his name than he could have legitimately earned and cannot explain how this could have happened, the excess is forfeited to the government. This being only an impeachment trial, why not rule on the crook, kick him out and let’s all get on with our lives? What is an impeachment all about, anyway? Isn’t it only to decide whether the bum should continue serving the public? What else do we want to know about this awful person?

Spending any more funds for several more months of impeachment time is impractical and pointless.

Frankly, going on with it will only uncover more dirt and may only serve to inspire crookedness in many of our young. After all, everyone can see how dumb the bum is and how, if he was a little smarter, he could have gotten away with  [...]

Read the full story >>  Our billionaire CJ

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The issue is Corona’s guilt, not the prosecutors’ competence

By Ted Laguatan 

Like many who follow the Corona impeachment trial, I am often frustrated by the obvious lack of competence shown by the prosecution team. Repeatedly, they fail to do what needs to be done. They are often unprepared, show sophomoric exposure to rules of evidence, lack tactical skills and fail to anticipate that their own witness might turn hostile against them.

But from something bad, something good can sometimes happens.

Let’s take the last point. They brought in the Megaworld witnesses to support their argument that Corona did not declare the correct value in his SALN and to obliquely attack him by showing that he was given an extraordinary 40% discount — subliminally suggesting that this was a bribe.

They should have anticipated that the Megaworld witnesses could easily turn hostile. Certainly, Megaworld would look bad and could be subjected to criminal penalties if they gave the impression that the 40% discount was a bribe.

Predictably the witnesses justified the discount: They claimed the unit was water damaged due to a typhoon and that the [...]

Read the full story >>  The issue is Corona’s guilt, not the prosecutors’ competence

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Iglesia ni Cristo-led rally cheers up tearful Chief Justice

By Jaymee T. Gamil
Philippine Daily Inquirer


 

Seven thousand people and not one organizer behind them.

This was what the rowdy crowd that gathered outside the Supreme Court building on Thursday would have the public believe, with picketers saying they were simply “concerned citizens” who happened to come across one another at the same place and time.

As early as 11 a.m. Thursday, droves of people, many of them members of the politically influential Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), started convening outside the Supreme Court compound on Padre Faura Street in Manila.

They carried placards bearing such messages as “No to Impeachment,” “Uphold Judicial Independence,” “Uphold bank secrecy law” and “Stop Malacañang takeover of the judiciary.”

At least 20 placards were obviously from the same source, with red words printed on white tarpaulin sheets. But when asked, the picketers said they were “volunteers” or “individuals” showing support for Chief Justice Renato Corona.

At around 2 p.m. a tearful Corona appeared with his wife Cristina at the tribunal’s balcony and waved to the crowd.

“Walang iiyak! Walang iiyak (No tears)!” the crowd chanted [...]

Read the full story >>  Iglesia ni Cristo-led rally cheers up tearful Chief Justice

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Saved by a TRO

SKETCHES
By Ana Marie Pamintuan
The Philippine Star

Maybe I’ve become so used to seeing the nation lurch from crisis to crisis that I am not overly concerned about the Supreme Court (SC) stopping the Senate impeachment court from looking into the dollar deposits of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Concerns have been raised that the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the SC yesterday on that particular issue will trigger a constitutional crisis.

I prefer to look on the bright side, which is that the SC restrained itself from stopping the impeachment trial altogether – something Corona also sought. His motion initially landed in the lap of SC Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco, who promptly dropped it like a hot potato (the official reason is that Velasco’s son is a congressman).

The SC instead gave the opposing camps 10 days to submit their respective comments. By that time, enough dirt would have been hurled at Corona by the prosecution that the damage to his reputation is likely to be irreparable.

Even the TRO on the opening of his dollar deposits gives the impression that he is hiding something – normally seen in this country as a sign of guilt.

The ease and speed by which information can spread these days also do not help Corona’s cause. That document supposedly leaked from PSBank’s Katipunan branch in Quezon City, showing “$700K” deposited in the name of  [...]

Read the full story >>  Saved by a TRO

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After another prosecution folly Farinas is a breath of fresh air

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star

If ever you have a pressing need for a lawyer, the likes of the Senate Impeachment Trial’s prosecutors — the very ones who have been making a series of fumbles — should be the last that you should enlist. These fumblers are capable of getting you a life term for a simple violation of the jaywalking law.

If the numerous fumbles of the prosecutors were not enough to raise your blood pressure, the latest boner from the House of Representatives Committee on Justice, the very same committee that formed the prosecution panel in the Senate Impeachment Trial of Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice (CJ) Renato Corona, could give you a stroke. In a move that defies logic and common sense, the House Committee on Justice endorsed to the House Plenary the impeachment case against SC Associate Justice Mar del Castillo.

Going for a second impeachment case would have been understandable if the prosecution in the CJ impeachment trial was doing a splendid job. However, as we all saw it on television and in living color – the successes in bringing to the fore vital pieces  [...]

Read the full story >>  After another prosecution folly Farinas is a breath of fresh air

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Science, not just English skills

ON DISTANT SHORE
By Val G. Abelgas

Amid the distraction created by the ongoing impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona are a couple of good news coming from the Department of Education that assures us that it has begun to realize the need to push science education in the Philippines.

On Monday, Education Secretary Armin Luistro allayed fears that the teaching of science has been dropped from the Grade 1 curriculum as he clarified that the new K-12 program, which adds two years to the current 10-year Basic Education curriculum, will not de-emphasize science education. He said science would continue to be embedded in Grades 1 and 2 subjects such as math, language and health education. Science as a separate subject will continue to be taught starting in Grade 3. Luistro said Science has not been taught as a separate subject in Grades 1 and 2 for more than 30 years now.

Some sectors were concerned that the Education department was dropping the teaching of science in the early grades, and would instead focus on developing the students’ English language skills to prepare them for an expected boom in business  [...]

Read the full story >>  Science, not just English skills

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Subic Coal Plant Getting Permits by Stealth?

By Fr. Shay Cullen
(His columns are published in The Manila Times,
in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line)

Wherever there is a coal-fired power plant, people get sick and die and the environment is damaged beyond repair. Coal is the dirtiest and most toxic form of power generation.

The people of Zambales, Bataan and Olongapo City vehemently oppose the proposed coal plant to be built on scenic Subic Bay and are asking what dirty coal deals have been made between the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and “The Power Company”, made up of Aboitiz Power Corporation, RP Energy, and the Taiwan Cogeneration Corporation (TCC) and the higher Philippine government officials who have allowed this to go forward?

The toxic fumes of the electricity-generating coal plant will cause many diseases especially among the children and the elderly. Despite the campaign of President Aquino for a transparent, clean nation, environment and good government, a dirty deal from the past administration is still going ahead in the SBMA and will bring shame and hurt to the President.

The three main provisions of the original Memorandum of Understanding set up under the corrupt Arroyo Administration have not been honored or implemented by the proponents of the coal plant. The agreement started out as a joint-partnership agreement between the SBMA, the Aboitiz Power Corporation, RP Energy, and the Taiwan Cogeneration Corporation (TCC), call them “The Power Company”. The government was to have a role as partner to monitor compliance with safety and health standards [...]

Read the full story >>   Subic Coal Plant Getting Permits by Stealth?

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Tobacco Farmers, Officials Up In Arms VS Hike In Phl “Sin Tax”

By Artemio A. Dumlao

Candon City, Ilocos Sur (February 9, 2012) – Tobacco farmers are up in arms over proposed hikes in “sin taxes” particularly on tobacco and alcohol being introduced in Congress.

Tobacco farmers backed by Ilocos Sur officials are frowning over the proposed bill seeking to restructure the excise tax collected from alcohol and tobacco claiming such moves “stunts their economic growth and eventually kills them.”

Ilocos Sur tobacco farmer-leader Benjamin Sarmiento claims House Bill 5727 authored by Representative Joseph Emilio A. Abaya (1st district, Cavite) “is not favorable to the tobacco industry.”

Abaya’s bill was tagged by the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council as a priority bill.

But according to Sarmiento, “If the bill will be passed and be approved, the tax for locally made high quality cigarette will be increased from P12.00 per pack to P30.00 per pack until 2014 while the premium imported cigarettes would only increase from P28.30 per pack to P30.00 per pack.” With such, he explained, “the importers are greatly benefited considering that only 40 percent from the total volume of cigarette produced in the country are high quality and the remaining 60 percent  [...]

Read the full story >> Tobacco Farmers, Officials Up In Arms VS Hike In Phl “Sin Tax”


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DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3664 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:46 pm
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: Poll: 54% think Corona will be convicted
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita   

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Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


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Poll: 54% think Corona will be convicted

Source: ABS-CBNnews.com 

MANILA, Philippines – Fifty-four percent of respondents in an online poll by The Philippine Star believe he will be convicted by the Senate.

As of 12:20 p.m. of February 11, the Philippine Star’s online poll question “Do you think Chief Justice Renato Corona will be convicted?” had generated 20,528 responses.

Of the 20,528 responses, 11,121 or 54% said they believe Corona will be convicted; 9,407 or 46% said they believe Corona will be acquitted.

An earlier poll conducted by Inquirer.net found that as of February 5 (Sunday), 10,057 out of 15,510 responses or 64.84% voted no to the question, “Do you think the Senate will convict Chief Justice Renato Corona?” [...]

Read the full story >>  Poll: 54% think Corona will be convicted


ALSO IN THE NEWS 

 

Unopened dollar accounts do CJ Corona more harm

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star 

It’s regrettable that the Supreme Court (SC) decided by a vote of 8 (for) — 5 (against) — and 2 abstentions to issue a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) disallowing the opening of the US dollar accounts of Chief Justice (CJ) Renato Corona with PSBank (Philippine Savings Bank) by the Senate Impeachment Trial. Many level headed persons didn’t think that the SC would risk pushing the country to the brink of a Constitutional crisis owing to a dispute between institutions — the Senate sitting as an impeachment court versus the SC.

The decision would have been better appreciated if the respondent involved happened to be another person and not the CJ. The fact that the SC was making a decision on an impeachment case involving its CJ should have prodded its Associate Justices to refrain from issuing the TRO as they could be perceived as merely protecting their CJ. The naturally suspicious public mind will be inclined to appreciating more the decision as one that was influenced by close relationships, one that might even be perceived as self serving for Associate Justices who might find themselves in a similar fix in the near future.

Already, impeachment trial prosecutor Rep. Rudy Farinas threatened last Thursday to impeach all the 8 Associate Justices who voted to issue the TRO. Oddly, one of those who voted to issue the TRO was Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes, an appointee of President Noynoy Aquino (P-Noy) — something the defense panel quickly capitalized on.

Up to last Wednesday, the defense panel had been perceived as enjoying the upper hand in the impeachment trial. This impression was created largely by the series of fumbles by the prosecution, led by Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. After filing that motion for certiorari with the SC, many changed their minds and saw it was an act of desperation on the part of the defense. If you were playing Talk N Text in the PBA (Philippine Basketball Association), how would you feel if Talk N Text coach Chot Reyes was suddenly tapped to referee the game?

Read the full story >>  Unopened dollar accounts do CJ Corona more harm

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Corona is finished

By Ellen Tordesillas
Malaya

 

As I was writing this piece, Supreme Court Spokesman Midas Marquez was having a press conference announcing the Temporary Restraining Order that the High Court issued against the Senate, seating as an impeachment court, to subpoena information on the foreign dollar account of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The vote was 8-5-1. Corona inhibited.

As to the petition of Corona to stop the his impeachment trial, no action was done because when it was raffled Wednesday, it went to Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco, who inhibited because his son is a member of the House of Representatives from where the Corona impeachment emanated.

Whatever would be the final decision on the Chief Justice’s dollar account or accounts, Corona is finished.

In last Wednesday’s hearing, PSBank President Pascual Garcia revealed that the five peso accounts of Corona as of Dec. 31, 2010 contained P19,728,555.39.

Yesterday, the manager of the Bank of the Philippines Island, Ayala branch testified that as of Dec. 31, 2010, the balance of Corona’s checking account with them was P12,024,000.67.

What has been revealed in the impeachment court was that as of Dec. 31, 2010, Corona had about P32 million in the bank.

Corona stated in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) for 2010 that he had only P3.5 million in cash and investments.

The huge discrepancy is glaring proof of dishonesty [...]

Read the full story >>  Corona is finished

**************************
 

P-Noy dares Corona: Bare dollar accounts

By Delon Porcalla
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino challenged yesterday Chief Justice Renato Corona to disclose all his bank accounts if he has nothing to hide.

In an interview at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in Taguig, Aquino said Corona’s alleged “$700K” in Philippine Savings Bank contradicts the P23 million he had declared in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

“Bakit hindi tugma?” he said.“Ngayon kung biglang haharangin iyung pagsiyasat niyan, pangit iyung mensaheng kinakalat natin sa lahat, na ito ang paraan para maitago.”

(It doesn’t add up. Now if we suddenly restrain the investigation it might appear that something is being hidden).

Aquino said the Supreme Court (SC) ruling protecting the secrecy of foreign currency deposits had became a tool for injustice.

“Parang napakahigpit, napaka-narrow ng definition nila doon sa pagbasa doon sa batas na tungkol sa foreign currency deposit,” he said.(The reading of the law on foreign currency deposit is too narrow).

Aquino said people who committed injustice must not find refuge in the Foreign Currency Deposits Act [...]

Read the full story >>   P-Noy dares Corona: Bare dollar accounts

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Reforning the bank secrecy laws

I agree with Sen. Recto that the laws should be responsive to the “changing times and changing crimes.”  With the way Republic Act 6426, it would be attractive for corrupt officials, criminal elements, money launderers, gambling lords, and foreign drug cartels to hide their ill-gotten wealth in dollar accounts in Philippine banks and nobody could touch them including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which is tasked with tracing where drug cartels deposit their money.  This could lead the Philippine banking community to be branded as pariahs by international banking institutions.  — PERRY DIAZ

Recto seeks review of bank secrecy laws

ABS-CBNnews.com

MANILA, Philippines – As lawyers in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona debate on whether or not his dollar accounts should be opened, Sen. Ralph Recto, one of the senator-judges, has called for a revisit of the laws governing confidentiality of bank accounts in the country.

Recto has filed Senate Resolution 711 seeking a review of Republic Act 6426 or the Foreign Currency Deposits Act and Republic Act 1405 or the Bank Secrecy Act.

Recto said the laws should be responsive to the “changing times and changing crimes.”

“With FCDU (foreign currency deposit unit) and the Bank Secrecy Act taking center stage in the ongoing impeachment trial, we deem it imperative to call a review of these laws,” Recto, who is chair of the Senate ways and means committee, said.

“The review is not meant to de-fang said laws but to make certain that no one gets hurt or gets special treatment when the claws of these laws start to pounce on its object of prey,” he added.

Recto said he has received admonitions from concerned members of the banking community about the ramifications of  [...]

Read the full story >>  Reforning the bank secrecy laws

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Corona And Beyond

GLIMPSES
By Jose Ma. Montelibano

If we are to gauge things from the advocacies that individuals and groups devote to reform of institutions and public agencies, one would be shocked at the utter lack of initiatives for reform in the Judiciary. This gives the impression that there is little or no concern about the state of affairs in this very important branch of government., presumably because there is no cause for alarm.

In contrast, the Executive and Legislative Branches of government have been perennial targets of not only criticism but reform initiatives as well. The most known and persistent advocacy is popularly known as “good governance.” Every election, and often in-between, the cry of the opposition, justified or magnified, is good governance, meaning that the incumbent is unable to govern well.

Electoral campaigns themselves allow the people to hear the criticisms and accusations in a hyped manner, often overdoing what media does on a daily basis. Beyond that, elections allow the people to get rid of unwanted public officials – or install new ones who bear new hope of a better tomorrow. Because of elections, the most criticized public officials are changed without the need of impeachments.

What about the Judiciary? The current impeachment trial of Chief Justice Rene Corona is not only about the highest symbol of law and justice, it is also about to open Pandora’s box. The Chief Justice is not any better, or worse, than the collective  [...]

Read the full story >>   Corona And Beyond

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Will Corona resign after the trial?

As I See It 
By: Neal H. Cruz
Philippine Daily Inquirer 

It looks like most lawyers have given up on saving impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona. At the Kapihan sa Manila at the Diamond Hotel last Monday, all the four guests unanimously agreed that Corona can no longer stay in the Supreme Court even if he is acquitted. In the words of former Sen. Rene Saguisag, Corona is “very badly damaged goods.”

“He is merely floating on the waters of the law,” Saguisag added. “We cannot have a perjurer, a falsifier in the Supreme Court.”

Lawyer Rudy Salalima said win or lose, Corona would no longer have the moral ascendancy to lead the judiciary, considering all the negative evidence coming out against him.

Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said that Corona can no longer serve effectively as Chief Justice even if he is acquitted. “He would not have the moral ascendancy to continue to serve,” he added.

Former Rep. and now Tesda chief Joel Villanueva said practically the same thing. “A chief justice must have the complete trust and confidence of the people to be effective,” he said. “After what we have heard at the Senate impeachment trial about his assets and income, I don’t think he still has that trust and confidence.”

Saguisag said there is a rumor that once Corona is acquitted, he would probably resign anyway. That is the honorable thing [...]

Read the full story >>  Will Corona resign after the trial?

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Is Senator-judge Joker Arroyo joking?

By Raïssa Robles
http://raissarobles.com/2012/02/07/is-senator-judge-joker-arroyo-joking/

In January 2001, Joker Arroyo took the lead in asking the Senate impeachment court to subpoena Cathy Weir, then president of Citibank N.A., in order to produce records on then President Joseph Estrada’s dollar deposits. Arroyo was then a House senior prosecutor in Estrada’s impeachment trial.

A grateful nation subsequently voted Joker Arroyo to the Senate four months later in May.

I am raising this matter because moments ago, I heard Joker Arroyo, now a senator-judge, express wariness and caution in opening Chief Justice Renato Corona’s bank records, particularly dollar account records.

Sen. Arroyo said:

Whether foreign bank deposits can be opened and disclosed before us, an impeachment court, it is very serious….We are treading on a gray area which I share….I have read all the books….on this. we have to discuss this very thoroughly. No one can say he is an expert on this interpetation of the bank secrecy law. And whether it can be opened or not. And because of the policy consideration of course (whether) there will be capital flight or whether there’ll be a bank run and all that sort of thing.

I just could not believe it when I heard Senator Arroyo say all that because he did the exact opposite 11 years ago  [...]

Read the full story >>  Is Senator-judge Joker Arroyo joking?

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House panel votes to impeach Del Castillo

By Jess Diaz
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines –  The House of Representatives moved closer yesterday to impeaching another member of the Supreme Court (SC) while the Senate impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona is ongoing.

Voting 27-4 with one abstention, the committee on justice handily hurdled the third step of its four-step impeachment process by finding “sufficient ground for impeachment” against Justice Mariano del Castillo for alleged plagiarism and misrepresentation.

Minutes before it found enough ground to pursue the impeachment complaint against Del Castillo, the committee, by a 28-5 vote, threw out a motion presented by former minority leader Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman to dismiss the case.

If the two lopsided votes were a portent of things to come, it could be just a matter of time before the House impeaches Del Castillo, who is going on sick leave next week.

According to SC spokesman Midas Marquez, Del Castillo would take a leave next week to undergo a heart bypass operation.

Those who voted against Lagman’s motion belong to the ruling Liberal Party and its coalition partners, including [...]

Read the full story >>   House panel votes to impeach Del Castillo

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Minister Bloy: We need more immigrants to build Canada

By Alex P. Vidal

PORT MOODY, British Columbia — In the next 15 years, Canada will need 650,000 skilled laborers, Minister of State for Multiculturalism Harry Bloy disclosed during a gathering of four state ministers and representatives of the Filipino community at the Inlet Theater on February 6.
“Immigration has built this country,” Bloy declared. “We need you (immigrants) to continue to build this country.”

He assured the third largest ethnic community in Canada that “we are always prepared to listen and work with all of you to the best that we can.”
Bloy emphasized that Premier Christy Clark has a “family first” policy saying “we all share the same values and we shall continue to build jobs so you can provide for your families.”

Bloy and Clark’s chief of staff Pamela Martin represented the Premier in the two-hour program. They were joined by  [...]

Read the full story >>  Minister Bloy: We need more immigrants to build Canada


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3665 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:27 am
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: 'Explosive Monday' seen over SC TRO
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita   

GLOBAL BALITA

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


FEATURED
 

‘Explosive Monday’ seen over SC TRO

By Christina Mendez
The Philippine Star

Palace dangling P100 M to senators? Lacierda slams ‘diversionary tactics’

MANILA, Philippines – Citing “very reliable information,” lawyers of Chief Justice Renato Corona accused Malacañang last night of offering P100 million for pet projects to each senator who will defy the Supreme Court’s order stopping the opening of Corona’s dollar accounts.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, however, dismissed the accusation as part of the defense team’s “diversionary tactics” following revelations that Corona had several dollar accounts that he apparently failed to declare in his official asset statements.

Lacierda predicted an “explosive Monday” as the Senate tackles today its final response to the SC’s temporary restraining order, issued upon the request of Philippine Savings Bank. PSBank, fearing sanctions for violating laws on the secrecy of foreign currency deposits, sought the TRO last week.

In a press conference at Club Filipino in San Juan last night, Corona’s defense team claimed Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., “acting on behalf of President Aquino,” personally contacted several senators and offered them [...]

Read the full story >>  ‘Explosive Monday’ seen over SC TRO


ALSO IN THE NEWS 

 

Crunch time for senators

Obey or junk TRO? Decision made today

BY JP LOPEZ
MALAYA

SENATOR-JUDGES will hold a caucus at 11 a.m. today to discuss the Supreme Court’s temporary restraining order on disclosing the foreign currency deposits of Chief Justice Renato Corona as the impeachment trial enters its fifth week.

The senators are being pressed to either respect the TRO, as urged by lawyers’ groups, or to defy it, as demanded by elements sympathetic to the administration.

The impeachment imbroglio turned ugly when the defense camp Sunday night accused President Aquino of arm-twisting senator-judges to defy the TRO.

Defense counsel Dennis Manalo said the President, through Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, contacted senator-judges and allegedly offered them P100 million each for “soft” projects in exchange for their vote to defy the TRO.

“Yesterday (Saturday), we received very reliable info that Executive Secretary Paquito “Jojo” Ochoa, acting in behalf of President Benigno Aquino III, is personally contacting and phoning senator-judges to persuade them to defy the Temporary Restraining Order issued by the Supreme Court in favor of Philippine Savings Bank,” Manalo said [...]

Read the full story >>  Crunch time for senators

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Defense: Palace offered P100-M per senator to skirt TRO

By Ira Pedrasa
ABS-CBNnews.com

Palace says claims are ‘unsubstantiated,’ a ‘desperate gimmick’

MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) – The defense on Sunday alleged that Malacanang offered P100 million for senators to skirt around the Supreme Court-issued temporary restraining order on the subpoena issued on Chief Justice Renato Corona’s alleged dollar accounts.

Citing a “very reliable” source, defense lawyer Dennis Manalo said Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. has been contacting senator-judges not to honor the halt order.

Another lawyer, Jose “Judd” Roy III, alleged the money will be sourced from government savings to be used for “soft projects.” The funds will supposedly be released this week.

In a prepared statement read by Manalo, the defense said: “Yesterday, we received very reliable information that Executive Secretary [Ochoa], acting in behalf of President Aquino, was personally contacting and phoning senator-judges to pursuade or pressure them to defy TRO issued by SC in favor of PSBank.”

He said they condemn in the strongest terms the actions of President Benigno Aquino III to “undermine the constitutional process that he himself initiated.”

He added that Corona “in good faith” participated in the process, but now “it’s apparent that the President is bent on  [...]

Read the full story >>  Defense: Palace offered P100-M per senator to skirt TRO

**************************

Day 15: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

February 9, 2012 7:47pm

Call to Order

  • The trial resumed at 2:07 p.m.
  • Senator-judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago was absent.

Which is higher, SC or impeachment court?

  • Lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas said the statement of Senator-judge Teofisto Guingona III on Wednesday implied that the Senate sitting as an impeachment court is higher than the Supreme Court (SC). He insisted that “impeachment procedures are still subject to SC’s power of review.”
  • Guingona clarified that the SC “cannot impose its will” on the trial because the Senate is “not a co-equal branch” when it is “exercising a judicial function as an Impeachment Court,” and not doing its legislative role. He added that this view was shared by many senator-judges.
  • Regarding the claim of Cuevas that no jurisprudence supports Guingona’s view, Senator-judge Francis Pangilinan explained that no SC ruling would be applicable because the Senate was “treading on unfamiliar terrain where no entity has ventured thus far before.” He said precedent can be drawn from foreign jurisprudence concerning impeachment.

PSB bank manager is ‘tall’ and not ‘small lady’ [...]

Read the full story >>  Day 15: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

**************************
 

SC shield of Corona deposits too late?

GOTCHA
By Jarius Bondoc
The Philippine Star

It shouldn’t matter that the Supreme Court forbade the disclosure of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona’s dollar accounts. Prosecutors already have shown preponderant proof of his understating of assets. Senator-judges can proceed to try the other impeachment counts of graft, culpable violation of the Constitution, and betrayal of public trust.

Already exposed in hearings are Corona’s five peso deposits in PSBank and a checking account in Bank of P.I. From these appear a mis-declaring of his sworn Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). As culled from news reports:

• One PSBank account had a balance of P5,018,255.76 in yearend-2007, plus P5,069,711.18 in BPI — adding up to P10,087,966.44. Corona declared P2,500,000 in “cash and investments” in his SALN for that year. There is an unexplained [...]

Read the full story >>  SC shield of Corona deposits too late?

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Culture of impunity rules in the SC

BY DUCKY PAREDES
MALAYA

“What better proof of a prevailing culture of impunity in the SC than that its justices see wrong in what others do but not in the exact same thing when it is them doing this exact same thing.”

IT was a familiar tableau — the most hated person in the country at the time and his beauteous edy wife beside him, thanking the loyal followers cheering them below their balcony.

A bit teary-eyed, the man extends his arms as if to embrace them all, much like some errant Pope, having been rejected by the Almighty, embracing all of his still-loyal followers. It is, of course, simply something as from a play — a production to show that they still have supporters even if the masses have already gotten sick of them.

The difference is that in 1986, the Marcoses were soon gone. This time the Coronas are still here, vowing to fight their perceived enemies — the Filipino people — to the death.

Why do they hold on? Whence can they expect their saviors to come? Can there still be any?  [...]

Read the full story >>   Culture of impunity rules in the SC

**************************
 

‘Sila ang pari, sila ang hari’

BABE’S EYE VIEW
By Babe Romualdez
The Philippine Star

Thirty years ago, I had a rare opportunity of interviewing Senator Ninoy Aquino in Tokyo while he was traveling in exile. I was then a news reporter for Channel 9 when I bumped into the senator at the shopping arcade of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. He invited me for coffee in his suite that evening where he was having a meeting with Doy Laurel, Lorenzo Tañada Sr., and Ernie Maceda. I distinctly remember asking him, “Why do you want to go back at this time when you know Secretary Enrile is going to have you arrested?”

I will never forget his classic Ninoy answer: “Sila ang pari, sila ang hari. Tell them they can start cleaning their guns. I am going home.”

The world — and our country’s history — has indeed turned around many times since then. Today, Ninoy’s son Noynoy is president, facing what is perhaps the biggest test of his administration thus far – the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, whom he has identified as a stumbling block in his fight against graft and corruption. But for many Filipinos however, the underlying issue has gone beyond the removal of Renato Corona – and has inadvertently shifted to the separation of powers between co-equal branches of government. The question now foremost in the minds of people is whether the Senate, acting as the impeachment court, has the sole authority to decide on matters pertaining to the impeachment without interference or intervention from the Supreme Court [...]

Read the full story >>  ‘Sila ang pari, sila ang hari’

**************************
 

Grace Lee wants PNoy to stop smoking

By Ellen Tordesillas
Malaya

‘Lee should have a good chance to succeed in convincing Pnoy to stop smoking because she said they always talk animatedly for three to five hours.’

ANTI-SMOKING advocates have a new ally and could yet be the most effective in the crusade to stop the habit that kills some 80,000 Filipinos every year.

In her radio program, “Good Times in the Morning”, with Mo Twister last Wednesday, the 29-year old Korean TV and radio host who has admitted dating 52-year old President Benigno Aquino III, said, “I can always convince the guy to quit smoking.”

Lee should have a good chance to succeed in convincing Pnoy to stop smoking because she said they always talk “animatedly for three to five hours. ”

Lee says her relationship with the President going the “full length” and is headed to “the altar.”

Lee’s self-imposed mission should warm the hearts of anti-smoking advocates in the country like Dr. Anthony Leachon, internist-cardiologist and consultant to the Department of Health on Non-communicable Diseases and Dr. Cecilia Llave, gynecologist-oncologist, Initiative Coordinator of the national Cancer Institute [...]

Read the full story >>  Grace Lee wants PNoy to stop smoking

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Let’s Get Our Acts Together!

By Erick San Juan

Americans are our friends. But, let us all be wary every time Uncle Sam’s top officials and representatives visit the country. . .

In May of last year, I wrote about the “visit” of US Senators Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and William Thad Cochran (R- Mississippi) to the country for a “possible return of the US naval base in Subic.” Of course, the US embassy here denied this and that the visit was “to see the economic progress in the Subic Freeport area that has been made over the years and to ask how the US can collaborate.”

And, could it be that the said visit of the two elder senators from the US Senate Appropriations committee was to test the water, so to speak of what could be the reaction of the populace?

It has been ten months since that visit (translation – ocular inspection) and there seems to be a follow-up on the matter now that the Pentagon is seeking to cut about  [...]

Read the full story >>  Let’s Get Our Acts Together!

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Why the World Needs America

Foreign-policy pundits increasingly argue that democracy and free markets could thrive without U.S. predominance. If this sounds too good to be true, writes Robert Kagan, that’s because it is.

By ROBERT KAGAN
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

History shows that world orders, including our own, are transient. They rise and fall, and the institutions they erect, the beliefs and “norms” that guide them, the economic systems they support—they rise and fall, too. The downfall of the Roman Empire brought an end not just to Roman rule but to Roman government and law and to an entire economic system stretching from Northern Europe to North Africa. Culture, the arts, even progress in science and technology, were set back for centuries.

Many of us take for granted how the world looks today. But it might look a lot different without America at the top. The Brookings Institution’s Robert Kagan talks with Washington bureau chief Jerry Seib about his new book, “The World America Made,” and whether a U.S. decline is inevitable.

Modern history has followed a similar pattern. After the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, British control of the seas and the balance of great powers on the European continent provided relative security and stability. Prosperity grew, personal freedoms expanded, and the world was knit more closely together by revolutions in commerce and communication [...]

Read the full story >>  Why the World Needs America


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

 


#3666 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Wed Feb 15, 2012 5:21 am
Subject: PerryScope: 'Catch me if you can'
perrydiaz2001
Send Email Send Email
 
Welcome to Global Balita  

GLOBAL BALITA

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                 "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"
 
PerryScope   

‘Catch me if you can’

By Perry Diaz

 

"For someone who had been in both the wrong side and right side of history, how would he [Enrile] want to be remembered as the presiding officer of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona?"

HAS IT OCCURRED to you that when a person tries to convince others, more doubts are raised about that person’s sincerity or honesty?  Such is the situation that Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona has gotten himself into.  It’s likened to a person who falls into a quicksand; the more he tries to get out of it, the faster he sinks.  But if that person remained immobile he’d still sink nevertheless.  The lesson here is: Don’t go near a quicksand.

And that’s precisely what Corona did when he accepted an illegal appointment from then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during a period when a ban on “midnight appointments” was in effect.  He jumped into a quicksand knowing full well that he might not get out of it!   It’s a case of “come what may” or “bahala na.”

It did not then come as a surprise when a year and a half after he reached the pinnacle of his career – a dream come true – Corona found himself in a quicksand of legal and moral questions about his ascendancy to the highest position of the judicial branch of government.   And now, he is struggling to save his career and what is left of his reputation.  He might have a chance of saving his career; however, it seems that his reputation is now stained indelibly as a result of a slew of damaging evidence that came out at the Senate impeachment trial in which he is accused of culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust.

When the Senate impeachment trial began, Corona’s battery of topnotch lawyers led by retired Supreme Court Justice Serafin Cuevas took the offensive like a German blitzkrieg, which caused heavy damage to the House prosecutors’ initial presentation.  Even the experienced private prosecutors who were helping the House prosecutors seemed ill equipped in battling the legendary Cuevas.  In his cross-examination of the prosecutors’ witnesses, Cuevas assaulted them with a “take no prisoner” stance and at one point declared one witness as “bankrupt.”  He was brutally effective in pulverizing the testimony of the witnesses and neutralizing the prosecutors with his courtroom maneuvers… until he met his Waterloo [...]

Read the full story >>  ‘Catch me if you can’


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.

END
 

#3667 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Thu Feb 16, 2012 8:54 am
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: The Trials of Al Capone and CJ Corona
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita   

GLOBAL BALITA

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


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The Trials of Al Capone and CJ Corona

Telltale Signs
By Rodel Rodis


If Senator Miriam Santiago had been the defense lawyer of Al Capone in his tax evasion trial in 1931, she may have argued for the exclusion of all evidence of unexplained wealth as she warned her Philippine Senate colleagues this week that exposing the dollar bank accounts of Chief Justice Renato Corona in the Senate Impeachment Trial would have a “devastating effect” on the Philippine economy and “would drive away the capital market for our country.”

Al Capone’s lawyers employed similar apocalyptic hyperbole when they exhorted a Chicago jury to “stand as a bulwark against an oppressive government that was using the tax law as a means to stow Al Capone away.” One Capone defense lawyer implored the all-male jury: “You, gentlemen, are the last barrier between the defendant and the encroachment and perversion of the government and the law in this case.”


Unfortunately for Capone, he faced a judge who was not at all like the Philippine Supreme Court justices who issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) preventing the disclosure of the dollar accounts of their Chief Justice to comply, they said, with the strict disclosure rules of the Foreign Currency Deposit Act of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 6426) on dollar accounts.

The problem with their argument, as Justice Antonio Carpio explained in his dissent, is that RA 6426 was specifically intended to protect foreign depositors and not Filipinos. If Ferdinand Marcos had deposited his hundreds of millions of US dollars in foreign currency accounts with local banks – instead of in Swiss banks – under RA 6426, “he would have gotten away with his loot under this ruling of the majority,” Justice Carpio wrote.

US government prosecutors faced a more difficult task in accumulating evidence of tax evasion against Capone because he had no bank deposits in his name unlike CJ Corona who kept his funds in his own name in the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and in the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank). In two of his peso accounts in the PSB, Corona had [...]

Read the full story >>  The Trials of Al Capone and CJ Corona


ALSO IN THE NEWS 

 

It’s safer here

Source: Journal Online
www.journal.com.ph

We don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

It’s not only more fun in the Philippines.

It’s also safer to keep your funds secret here than in Switzerland. Got that?

Yes, especially if it’s tainted cash.

So step right in, folks. We welcome mob money, narco-cash, jueteng proceeds, and other dividends of criminal activities.

Our financial system must be awash in dirty money.

But is it an honor for our banking institutions, our monetary enforcers, and our financial legislation?

Would the Transparency International give the country accolades or citation? Is an award forthcoming from the Bank for International Settlements? [...]

Read the full story >>  It’s safer here

**************************

‘Catch me if you can’

PerryScope
By Perry Diaz

 

Has it occurred to you that when a person tries to convince others, more doubts are raised about that person’s sincerity or honesty?  Such is the situation that Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona has gotten himself into.  It’s likened to a person who falls into a quicksand; the more he tries to get out of it, the faster he sinks.  But if that person remained immobile he’d still sink nevertheless.  The lesson here is: Don’t go near a quicksand.

And that’s precisely what Corona did when he accepted an illegal appointment from then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during a period when a ban on “midnight appointments” was in effect.  He jumped into a quicksand knowing full well that he might not get out of it!   It’s a case of “come what may” or “bahala na.”

It did not then come as a surprise when a year and a half after he reached the pinnacle of his career – a dream come true – Corona found himself in a quicksand of legal and moral questions about his ascendancy to the highest position of the judicial branch of government.   And now, he is struggling to save his career and what is left of his reputation.  He might have a chance of saving his career; however, it seems that his reputation is now stained indelibly as a result of a slew of damaging evidence that came out at the Senate impeachment trial in which he is accused of culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust.

When the Senate impeachment trial began, Corona’s battery of topnotch lawyers led by retired Supreme Court Justice Serafin Cuevas took the offensive like a German blitzkrieg, which caused heavy damage to the House prosecutors’ initial presentation.  Even the experienced private prosecutors who were helping the House prosecutors seemed ill equipped in battling the legendary Cuevas.  In his cross-examination of the prosecutors’ witnesses, Cuevas assaulted them with a “take no prisoner” stance and at one point declared one witness as “bankrupt.”  He was brutally effective in pulverizing the testimony of the witnesses and neutralizing the prosecutors with his courtroom maneuvers… until he met his Waterloo [...]

Read the full story >>  ‘Catch me if you can’

**************************
 

The people’s comments and why the Impeachment Court should ignore the Supreme Court

No Limitation 
By Ted Laguatan 

“Siguradong limpak limpak na dolyar ang tinatago nitong si Corona!” (“For sure, Corona is hiding tons of dollars.”)

Anthony, a care home owner in the San Francisco Bay Area, home to hundreds of thousands of Filipinos – was reacting to the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued by the Philippine Supreme Court against the subpoena issued by the Senate Impeachment Court on the dollar accounts of Corona.

Thanks to ABS CBN TV, Filipinos worldwide get real time live full coverage of the impeachment proceedings. For sure, the following real comments on the trial are heard globally. These comments express the people’s sentiments. They tell us much.

Here they are:

Comment 1: “Kung walang tinatago iyan, e di dapat matutuwa pa siyang ilabas ang kanyang mga ari-arian at bank accounts para mapakita niya na hindi siya magnanakaw.”
(“If he has nothing to hide, he should be happy to reveal his properties and bank accounts to prove he is not a thief.” [...]

Read the full story >>  The people’s comments and why the Impeachment Court should ignore the Supreme Court

**************************
 

The rule of law should always prevail

ON DISTANT SHORE
By Val G. Abelgas 

By deciding to respect the temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court against disclosing the foreign currency deposits of Chief Justice Renato Corona, the Senate averted what could have been a constitutional crisis that can bring irreparable damage to the nation and its democratic institutions.

The Supreme Court was not expected to stand still if the Senate chose to ignore its position as a co-equal branch of government or its constitutionally mandated authority as the final arbiter of laws. The Senate made the right move, choosing “government stability over constitutional crisis,” as Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago puts it.

“Obedience to the TRO preserves governmental stability, while disobedience precipitates a constitutional crisis. If we have a choice between stability and crisis, the wiser choice is always national stability,” she said.

The senators, sitting as an impeachment court, on Monday voted 13-10 to respect and obey the TRO issued by the high tribunal last week.

Senate Preident Juan Ponce Enrile, however, made it clear that the impeachment court is still seeking to assert the efficacy of its subpoena powers over Corona’s dollar accounts and that it would pursue the matter before the Supreme Court. For his part, Sen. Francis Escudero said he voted to respect the TRO, even though he believes it was wrong. “I believe the TRO issued by the Supreme Court is wrong. However, the place to slug it out is not here, but in the Supreme Court,” [...]

Read the full story >>  The rule of law should always prevail

**************************

Corona goes back on his own words

BY AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA

‘Presiding Officer Enrile and Senator-Judge Defensor-Santiago cavalierly dismissed the Nixon case as one that applies only as a precedent In the US.’

OUR piece on the sanctity of the impeachment court and how it is beyond the pale of judicial authority merited the following comment from a lawyer who said his name is not as important as this thoughts on the subject:

***

An impeachment proceeding is a remedy for offenses against the people and entirely results from removal of impeachable officers from their positions for violating the mandate that public office is a public trust. In fact, in his separate opinion in Francisco Jr. vs. House of Representatives, 415 SCRA 44 (2003), involving the impeachment proceedings against then Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., then Associate Justice Renato Corona wrote in his own words [...]

Read the full story >>   Corona goes back on his own words

**************************
 

In due time?

BY DUCKY PAREDES
MALAYA

‘We need a Court that can rise above their friendships and clients, rise above their biases and make sacrifices for the blind Lady Justice and the Country.’

HOW much has chicanery must be uncovered about a sitting Chief Justice before he is proven to be unfit for his lofty perch? Why doesn’t impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona want to open his dollar accounts? What is he hiding? He keeps saying that – in due time – he will reveal anything,

When will that be? When he retires in 2017?

On his deathbed? Pagputi ng uwak?

Is he afraid that disclosure of his hoard of dollars would open a can of worms, that his claimed four decades of “hard and honest toil” where he says he accumulated a lot of savings would turn out to be the proceeds of quite possibly under-the-table deals? [...]

Read the full story >>  In due time?

**************************
 

That terrible script of the defense worsened the SC’s woes

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star

The Supreme Court (SC) created its own nightmare when it issued that TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) that prevents indefinitely the opening of Chief Justice (CJ) Renato Corona’s dollar bank accounts with PSBank (Philippine Savings Bank). Had the Senate politely refused to obey the TRO — the SC merely demonstrated how toothless it is to enforce its own orders. The Senate impeachment court could opt though to act with diplomacy by asking the Solicitor General to appeal to the SC to reconsider its TRO.

Widely regarded as a desperate move based on a very bad script, the defense panel of the impeachment trial hurled wild accusations during a press conference last Sunday evening. Judging from the media questions, apparently the defense panel failed to sell their line, which was clearly intended to influence the Senate’s Monday caucus on the TRO. Many Senators felt insulted instead.

It’s the Executive Branch of government, under President Noynoy Aquino (P-Noy), that has the capability to enforce. As Commander in Chief, P-Noy commands both the military and the police forces. An alignment of the Executive and Legislative branches of government against the SC places the CJ and Associate Justices at a great disadvantage. The CJ and Associate Justices are not elected by the people but appointed by representatives of the people. With no real political base, unlike P-Noy and all the nationally elected Senators and District Representatives, the SC is easily isolated [...]

Read the full story >>  That terrible script of the defense worsened the SC’s woes

**************************

Lessons in Davos: Listen to the poor, work with the young

By Tony Meloto

Davos 2012 was a contrast of many worlds that the World Economic Forum was valiantly trying to bridge.

I was there hoping to be an active contributor on behalf of the poor but I ended up mostly as a spectator to superpowers who were groping for clues on how to keep poverty out of their door.

As the newcomer to the forum, it was wise to simply listen and learn from the successes and failures of those who developed ahead of us. I was there with a clear agenda: to promote the best interest of the poor and help address poverty wherever they exist.

Understandably, it was a Eurocentric event. From Merkel to Lagarde to Cameron, many were trying to sort out the debt mess -over borrowing, overspending, lack of growth, rising unemployment – and finding ways to respond to the immediate threat of a currency collapse. Those of us from the East were quiet as European experts were battling with Americans but we were eager listeners nevertheless since we are all enmeshed in this mess. Besides lasting solutions to the problems of the West perhaps could also be found in our expanding markets. As part of the WEF family we are all in this together, “committed to improving [...]

Read the full story >>  Lessons in Davos: Listen to the poor, work with the young

**************************
 

No rhyme or reason

BY REY O. ARCILLA
MALAYA

‘The proposed closure of some diplomatic and consular posts will not be consistent with one of the three pillars of Noynoy’s foreign policy.’

TAKING the cue from his boss President Noynoy Aquino, Foreign Secretary Albert “Amboy” del Rosario has been very particular about showing his official, if not personal, concern for the welfare of our heroic OFWs. And rightly so. It is one of the three pillars of Noynoy’s foreign policy.

Del Rosario has made several trips to strife-torn Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria and lately, to Iraq, to somehow ensure the safety and in some cases the smooth repatriation of our nationals in those countries.

Recently, however, Del Rosario announced that about ten diplomatic and consular posts will be closed to “rationalize the foreign service posts”. While there is a case to be made in four or five of those reported to be shut down, there definitely is no rhyme or reason for the closure of the others.

If indeed Ireland, Palau, Barcelona, Frankfurt and Saipan are in the list of those proposed to be closed, it would not be consistent with Noynoy’s policy. There are tens of thousands of Filipinos residing and working in [...]

Read the full story >>  No rhyme or reason


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3668 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:39 pm
Subject: PerryScope: It's all about Gloria
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita  

GLOBAL BALITA

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                 "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"

Dear readers:

A lot of you are probably wondering what happened to Global Balita?  Well, Global Balita is doing well; however, I have been "out of commission" since February 17 when I underwent a total knee replacement.  I was suffering from ostheoarthritis, which had deteriorated to a point where my left knee had to be replaced.  I am now a bionic man with stainless steel left knee.

The surgery took two hours but I was anesthesized for the duration of the procedure.  But the real challenge is the rehabilitation process, which I started last February 20 at an Eskaton rehab center. I have been doing physical therapy and I hope I'd be going home by next weekend; however, I expect to continue the therapy for a few more weeks.  

I'm excited at the prospect of total recovery particularly at being able to go back to work at publishing Global Balita again.  But I didn't want to stop writing my weekly column PerryScope. Except for last week when I was in the hospital following my surgery, I haven't stopped writing and I managed to write my latest column, "It's all about Gloria." 

It was hard to do since I had to use my email to draft my article.  I didn't have any access to Microsoft Word, which has all the tools I need to format, edit, spell check, and count words.  I struggled but I did it!

Here it is.  Enjoy reading!

All the best,
Perry


 
PerryScope 
  
By Perry Diaz

It’s all about Gloria

Recently, Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona’s defense lawyers at his Senate impeachment trial called on the House prosecutors not to associate Corona to former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.  Well, isn’t that like asking them to disregard that “chief justice” Corona was a creation of Gloria?  In fact, “chief justice” Corana’s “birth” was induced during a period that the Constitution banned such births.

But like all ill-conceived creations, there is a danger of creating a “monster” that could irreparably damage the very institution he was supposed to protect.  And that’s what happened to the “midnight” creation of “chief justice” Corona during the constitutional ban on “midnight appointments.”   And in an act of judicial voodoo, the Supreme Court issued a ruling legalizing the “midnight appointment” of Corona — a legal precedent that would be part of the country’s jurisprudence, which makes future “‘midnight appointments” of the chief justice legal regardless of the constitutional ban.  It’s like a wart that would not go away, unless surgically removed...

Read  the full story >>  http://globalbalita.com/2012/its-all-about-gloria/ 

Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.

END

#3669 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:52 pm
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: Is Corona morally fit for the job? -- A MUST READ!
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita   
 
Global Balita

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


Dear readers:

After three weeks of inactivity due to my knee surgery, I am happy to announce that I am back in circulation!  Although I'm still undergoing rehabilitation at home, I have regained control of my computer keyboard, ready to provide you once again with the news as they develop. 

I am happy to announce that, while I was "out of commission," Global Balita migrated to a new host that is faster and easier to access regardless of the volume. Indeed, with more than 6,400 articles and 11,000 readers' comments, Global Balita is a treasure hove of information readily accessible to the public.

I am excited to be back in the forefront of debate on issues affecting our country and people.  With the Corona impeachment trial starting today with the presentation of evidence by the defense panel, it is the most opportune time for Global Balita to bring the news to you -- at home or wherever you may be with your smart phone -- just at the click of the keyboard!

 
Here it is. Enjoy reading!

All the best,
Perry


FEATURED
 

Is Corona morally fit for the job?

March 10, 2012 | Featured, Opinion, PerryScope

PerryScope
By Perry Diaz

In a stinging setback for embattled Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, the Senate sitting as an impeachment court junked on March 6 his motion to “suppress” the alleged illegally-obtained evidence by the House prosecution team against him. According to one senator, who asked to remain anonymous, the ruling was “unanimous.” However, absent in the caucus were Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Manny Villar, and Aquilino Pimentel III.

Had the senator-judges ruled in favor of Corona’s motion, the prosecution team would have difficulty establishing an airtight case against Corona. But accepting the evidence wouldn’t necessarily mean that the Corona is headed for a conviction. The real battle has just begun.

Strong evidence

The question is: Is there “clear and convincing” evidence to convict Corona? To convict Corona, a minimum of two-thirds — or 16 — “guilty” votes are required while only eight votes would suffice to acquit him. The prosecution team’s challenge is how to convince eight senators who are inclined to vote for acquittal. And if these senators can claim that the prosecution team was unable to present “clear and convincing” evidence, then all is lost – Corona would emerge victorious.

Given the political nature of the impeachment trial, the prosecution team should – nay, must – not only present “clear and convincing” evidence to prove Corona’s guilt but also prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Corona is guilty as hell! The prosecutors should prove that he is not only guilty of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust but is morally unfit to preside over a collegial body of 15 men and women whom the people have given the supreme – and absolute — power to protect the sanctity of the Constitution and the sovereignty of the people.

And this brings to fore the question: What kind of a man is Renato Corona? [...]

Read the full story >>   Is Corona morally fit for the job?


ALSO IN THE NEWS 

 

The Nun who floored the Chief Justice

March 10, 2012 | Opinion

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star

Last Thursday, your Chair Wrecker was informed that Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice (CJ) Renato Corona had announced in a Radio DWIZ interview that he was blaming me for the spread of that story about a second wife that he allegedly has.

Valuing our relationship, my immediate reaction was to text CJ Rene this message: “Rene, I was just informed that you’ve blamed me for that ‘second wife’ blogger’s posting. I never wrote that. In case, you read my columns, I shy away from such issues where innocent victims could get affected. That was from a blogger, identified as PedestrianObserverGB, who posted it all over.” CJ Rene duly acknowledged receipt of my text message.

Last Wednesday, CJ Rene initiated a media blitz to address the fallout spawned by Ana Basa’s revelations on how he and his wife Tina allegedly maltreated their family and illegally acquired their Basa-Guidote assets. Ana Basa is the daughter of one of the original owners of the Basa-Guidote Enterprise, Inc. (BGEI), Jose Ma. Basa III.

Ana Basa’s story must have thrown the CJ camp into panic, as evidenced by the media blitz that it spawned. In his March 8 column, Mon Tulfo of the Inquirer, a CJ backer, wrote that his sympathy for the Chief Justice “was somehow lessened after reading Basa’s story.” [...]

Read the full story >>   The Nun who floored the Chief Justice

**************************

An Open Letter to Sister Flory Basa

March 10, 2012 | Opinion



Dear Sister Flory,

I almost gave up on the impeachment process. I thought it was going nowhere. The defense team was succeeding in their suppression of evidences. The prosecution was fumbling all over the place. Some Senator-Judges were openly showing their dogged resolve to literally look the other way as the impeached pretender to the position of Chief Justice trampled on the very basic tenets of integrity and honesty. Like you, I had left it to the Good Lord to do justice in His own time.

But then your family, most especially you, came along. God indeed works in mysterious ways! The lawyers of Mr Corona and their misguided followers have done and will continue to do everything to discredit you, short of calling you a lying senile and disgruntled relative who wants more money. I saw your interview on TV, and you have that serenity about you. It is a peace of mind and soul that only true forgiveness can bring about. But you also have that resoluteness in your voice – firm, truthful and honest. You said charity made you forgive the Coronas, but truth and justice compels you to speak up and let the people confront the truth about Mr Renato Corona [...]

Read the full story >>   An Open Letter to Sister Flory Basa

**************************
 

March 10, 2012 | Politics & Government

By Cynthia D. Balana
Philippine Daily Inquirer

(First of two parts)


ANNA BASA “We were shocked to know
that there was an P11-million cash advance
given to Corona in his SALN report.”
RICHARD REYES

Impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona reported in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) in 2003 and 2004 that he had obtained an P11-million cash advance from Basa-Guidote Enterprise Inc. (BGEI).

The alleged loan has turned media attention to BGEI, the company established in 1961 by the family of the Chief Justice’s wife, Cristina Roco-Corona, and the internal squabble that pitted one side of the family against another.

At the impeachment trial, Corona’s lawyers said the money [P32.6 million according to the prosecution] withdrawn by Corona from his three peso time deposit accounts with Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) on Dec. 12, 2011, came from the proceeds of the sale of a piece of BGEI property to the City of Manila. The withdrawals came on the same day that 188 members of the House of Representatives impeached the Chief Justice.

Jose Ma. Basa III, one of the original BGEI stockholders and Cristina’s uncle, had filed an estafa case against his niece for her alleged failure to account for the P34-million income from the sale of a property on Bustillos Street in Sampaloc, Manila, to the city government [...]

Read the full story >>   Ana Basa: We were oppressed by the Coronas

************************** 

Ana Basa: We’re talking only now due to revelations in trial

March 10, 2012 | Politics & Government

By Cynthia D. Balana
Philippine Daily Inquirer

(Last of two parts)

(Editor’s Note: In this interview, Ana Basa, one of Jose Ma. Basa III’s nine children and one of the heirs of the original stockholders of Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc., talks about the family corporation and what she says were the injustices heaped on them by Chief Justice Renato Corona and his wife Cristina.

For security reasons, Ana, who is here on a short visit, requested the Inquirer not to reveal her whereabouts. She has been in the casino business for more than 20 years in Las Vegas, Nevada.

She clarified on Tuesday a sentence in the introduction to Part 1 of the Q and A which reads: “Jose Ma. Basa III, one of the original BGEI incorporators, had filed an estafa case against his niece [Cristina] for her alleged failure to account for the P34-million income from the sale of a property on Bustillos Street in Sampaloc, Manila, to the city government.”

Ana said the estafa case against Cristina Corona, filed in 1995, was about the BGEI rental income, not the proceeds from the sale of the property. )

Philippine Daily Inquirer: Of the original stockholders of Basa-Guidote, how many are still alive?


Ana Basa and Cristina Corona

Read the full story >>  Ana Basa: We’re talking only now due to revelations in trial

**************************

March 10, 2012 | Opinion

BY DUCKY PAREDES
MALAYA

‘Renato Corona, then a Malacañang lawyer pulled out a gun, pointed it to the face of Mang Indo, a long-time caretaker of BGEI, and screamed in his face: ‘Gusto mo pasabugin ko ang mukha mo?’”

WHO really is Renato Corona? Is he the softie who sheds tears in public over his troubles with Malacañang? Or is he no more than a goon, a scheming, egotistical power tripper who will put a gun to the head of an octogenarian caretaker of Basa Guidote Enterprises, Inc. (BGEI)? Hopefully, the Impeachment Court will soon tell us.

In the old days, when the Commission on Appointments (CA) vetted all of our justices, a letter, such as what Jose Basa III, the uncle of Cristina Corona, wrote the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), which now does what the CA used to do, would not have been completely ignored. The letter outlined why his wife’s uncle thought that Corona did not have the moral ascendancy to be appointed as an SC Justice. Jose tried to block Corona’s nomination as SC associate justice, citing the injustices Corona and Cristina heaped on the siblings of the Basa-Guidote clan.

Had this been a letter to the CA, surely, the headlines the next day would have wondered whether the presumptive CJ was the right man for the job.

Of the five Basa siblings, who owned BGEI, only Flory, a nun, still survives at 90. Ana, the daughter of the eldest, Jose Basa III, was recently interviewed.

According to Ana, it was Renato Corona’s machinations and intimidation of their family as a Malacañang official during the Ramos and Arroyo administrations that allowed Cristina to take over BGEI as its “administratix.” [...]

Read the full story >>   The real Renato Corona

**************************
 

March 10, 2012 | Opinion

BY AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA

‘Unfortunately, he only succeeds in sinking himself deeper in the hole every time he talks.’

CHIEF Justice Renato C. Corona charges the Philippine Savings Bank with leaking his dollar accounts as early as September last year.

The charge is stupid.

He publicly accused the bank of leaking his peso and dollar accounts, an imputation of a crime that could very well be interpreted as having severely damaged the reputation of PSBank.

It is for this reason that the bank may consider the withdrawal of a petition for a TRO. Instead, the bank should release to the impeachment court all the records of deposits of the Head Magistrate. The impeached magistrate should know that all banks and financial institutions are examined periodically by the Bangko Sentral.

In every examination trip, the BSP is accompanied by a member of the Anti-Money Laundering Council whose eyes are trained solely on undeclared deposits of foreign currencies.

It is not correct for Mr. Corona to say that it was the PSB which leaked the details of the dollar accounts. Leaked to whom, he did not say. The fact is the $700,000 account turned up during a regular examination.

The dollar deposit was not leaked. It was discovered by the BSP and the AMLA in the course of routine examination of all financial institutions [...]

Read the full story >>  Concealing dollars is money laundering

**************************
 

How Many Dirty Judges, Justices and Lawyers Are There?

GLIMPSES
By Jose Ma. Montelibano

It is jolting to reflect on the corruption of the Judiciary even though it can be everyday man’s assumption that our justice system sucks. The poor have long experienced a different kind of justice for them and a far friendlier one for the rich. That is nothing new and has been a powerful issue used by the rebellion to recruit partisans. But corruption is not about a rich-versus-poor scenario, it is the corrupt for themselves against everybody.

From the onset, I had welcomed the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Rene Corona. I have less interest in Rene Corona the person and much, much more for Rene Corona as the personification of both the Supreme Court and the Judiciary. It has been a keen interest of mine to have the public eye focused deliberately to the corruption of the Judiciary because it is the worst kind of corruption. And if others, especially the Judiciary and the legal profession would like to make a counter claim and deny the shameful level of corruption in their area of responsibility, they may wish to look at how the Philippines can be considered a corrupt country with one crucial branch not blackened as well [...]

Read the full story >>   How Many Dirty Judges, Justices and Lawyers Are There?

**************************

Is Aquino ready to end impunity?

ON DISTANT SHORE
By Val G. Abelgas

On Friday, March 2, another journalist was shot and wounded by two motorcycle-riding gunmen outside his home in Iloilo City in the latest attacks on media men in the country. The victim, Fernando Gabio, who hosts the “Mr. Expose” program on Radyo Mo Nationwide, was lucky he was hit only in the leg and survived.

So far, 10 journalists have been killed in the country since President Benigno S. Aquino III took over in July last year. That means one journalist killed every other month, reinforcing the Philippines’ rank as the toughest country in the world for journalists, trailing only behind Iraq, a nation still reeling from a virtual civil war.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines reports that more than 150 journalists have been killed since the fall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. In 2009 alone, 39 journalists were killed, with at least 30 killed in the infamous Maguindanao massacre.

In 2010, four journalists were killed and in the following year, eight more were gunned down. Last year, broadcaster and environmental activist Gerry Ortega was ruthlessly murdered in Palawan. In January, publisher and editor Christopher Guarin of General Santos City was killed in cold blood [...]

Read the full story >>  Is Aquino ready to end impunity?

**************************
 

Clerical Abuse of Children Must Rooted Out

By Fr. Shay Cullen
(His columns are published in The Manila Times,
in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line)

The conference recently held at the Vatican’s Gregorian University brought together cardinals, bishops, priests from over 100 countries and the heads of thirty-three religious orders to tackle the sexual abuse of children by catholic priests. Marie Collins from Ireland, abused at 13, by a priest was the only victim of clerical abuse allowed to speak.

Revelations of widespread child sexual abuse and their cover-up by bishops in the United States and Europe in recent years have brought shame and disgrace on several dioceses and led to the resignation of bishops in Ireland and elsewhere. It is now recognized that the issue of clerical child sexual abuse was grossly mishandled for decades if not generations, with a policy of cover up, secrecy, denial, and private payoffs. The failure of church authorities to act on behalf of the victims and report the offenders to the civil authorities allowed them to abuse children repeatedly.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle told the Vatican conference that clerical child abuse was a problem in the Philippines and in Asia too. The Archbishop said that in Asia this is due to a “culture of shame that holds dearly one’s humanity, honor and dignity,” A children’s rights defender told this column, “The Archbishop is correct, this is a false and warped sense of honor and has no dignity or humanity at all. There is no honor, dignity or humanitarian care in ignoring a child’s cry for help having being raped” [...]

Read the full story >>  Clerical Abuse of Children Must Rooted Out


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3670 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Tue Mar 13, 2012 8:26 pm
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: May the farce be with you
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita   
 
Global Balita

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


FEATURED
 

May the farce be with you

Telltale Signs
By Rodel Rodis


To describe the Senate Impeachment Trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona as a farce is to be historically accurate as a farce is a comic play in which authority, order, and morality are placed at risk in a ridiculously absurd situation where everything goes wrong or becomes a sham.

The word can be traced to 15th-century France where it was first used to describe the elements of clowning, acrobatics, caricature, and indecency bound together in a single form of entertainment which often included acts of impromptu buffoonery inserted by actors into the texts of religious plays.

How else would you describe a trial where the presiding judge is a former client of the chief defense attorney? [...]

Read the full story >>  May the farce be with you


ALSO IN THE NEWS 

 

Cristina Corona retained lot title 21 years after sale

By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer


 

The deed of absolute sale between Cristina Corona and Demetrio Coronado Vicente involving seven parcels of land in Marikina City was notarized by an unlicensed notary public in Makati City in 1990 and Renato Corona himself witnessed this.

While the deed of absolute sale was executed over 20 years ago, the parcels of land with a total area of 1,700 square meters and purchased for P509,900 in 1990 remained in Cristina’s name. The tax declaration was also in her name.

All this surfaced on Tuesday during the cross-examination of defense witness Vicente, a relative of Corona, on Day 28 of the impeachment trial of the Chief Justice.

He was presented as a defense witness in connection with the second impeachment article, which accuses Corona of not disclosing his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs).

Vicente, 70, told the Senate impeachment court that he purchased seven parcels of land in Marikina Heights, Marikina City, from Cristina in July 1990 [...]

Read the full story >>   Cristina Corona retained lot title 21 years after sale

**************************

Corona may have used power for wife

BY AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA

‘The inconsistencies in the statements of the Chief Justice insult even a moron.’

THE first wonder of it all is how Basa-Guidote Enterprises, a dissolved corporation, could have advanced P11 million to a stockholder. Cristina R. Corona, wife of the impeached Chief Justice.

We maintain that the advances may be considered in two ways. First, as a cash dividend from the profits of the corporation which have not been given to other stockholders in proportion to the number of shares they held.

Second, dividends are considered income and therefore subject to tax. There is no record that the advances, treated as obligation if it were not to be classified as such, were listed as a liability in the joint statement of assets, liabilities and net worth of the spouses Renato Corona and Cristina Roco.

If the money was treated as income, a tax should have been paid. The money does not appear as an income (if considered as dividend) or a liability (if classified as advances as the Coronas claim). The failure or refusal to have the amount included in the joint SALN implicates Chief Justice Corona [...]

Read the full story >>  Corona may have used power for wife

**************************
 

Corona’s latest offer: I’ll resign but I keep everything I have

By Ellen Tordesillas
Malaya

I find the revelations of Chief Justice Renato Corona of the meetings that he had with President Aquino and other administration stalwarts very interesting. I just wish that he tells the complete story and not just be selective in his sharing with the public.

I also expect the same from Malacañang.

Corona disclosed the proposal of administration ally Sen. Teofisto Guingona for a term sharing with Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, which Guingona denies.

He should also disclose his counter-offers especially the latest ,made through a retired associate justice , that he was willing to resign on condition that he would keep everything that he owns now.
What Corona has only disclosed were his meetings with President Aquino and the Guingonas, father and son.

The Aquino-Corona meeting has been confirmed by Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda. It took place in July 2010, a few weeks after the latter was sworn into office by Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales, in the house of the President’s sister, Pinky Abellada.

It’s only now that we are learning that despite the inaugural snub, Aquino met with Corona in private. Corona said Aquino was not friendly with him during the meeting which was arranged by former Associate Justice Antonio Nachura, a member of the Liberal Party, the administration party [...]

Read the full story >>   Corona’s latest offer: I’ll resign but I keep everything I have

************************** 

Putting his foot in his mouth?

To Take A Stand
By Oscar P. Lagman
BusinessWorld

I heard Chief Justice Renato Corona tell Arnold Clavio during the latter’s TV program Unang Hirit, early morning of Wednesday last week that he decided to close his three bank accounts in PSBank Katipunan branch when some depositors of the branch who have been his friends and neighbors for over 40 years told him that the branch manager, Annabelle Tiongson, had been discussing his accounts with some people.

“We lost trust in the bank. We believe that the leak came from there. If you were faced with that situation, I’m sure you would have done the same because you already lost trust in the bank.” I heard the Chief Justice tell Noli de Castro more or less the same thing during the latter’s “Magandang Umaga, Bayan” radio program the following day.

As usual, Corona raises a number of perplexing questions whenever he opens his loose mouth. First, if he had lost trust in the bank, why did he re-deposit in his name in the same PSBank branch still managed by the supposedly talkative Tiongson the money he withdrew from those three accounts? In a hearing in late February, I heard PSBank president Pascual Garcia III say, in answer to Senator Franklin Drilon’s question that the money Corona had withdrawn from his three accounts has been re-deposited in the same bank branch of PSBank under Corona’s name. Secondly, why did he maintain his dollar deposits, which according to Senator Jinggoy Estrada amount to $700 K, in the same bank that has betrayed his trust?  [...]

Read the full story >>  Putting his foot in his mouth?

**************************

Why coup plots have a dismal track record of failure

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star

According to Muntinlupa City Representative Rodolfo Biazon, retired generals from the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) regime have been meeting since November 2011in order to plot a military coup that’s intended to topple President Noynoy Aquino (P-Noy). Senator Sonny Trillanes IV shared the same information. In our contemporary history, coup plotters proved to be greater threats to themselves than to the government but a coup, whether serious or mere daydreaming, has to be monitored.

The November 2011 timing mentioned by Biazon as the start of the said recruitment is significant in the light of the recent events involving the detention of GMA for charges of electoral fraud and the impeachment trial of Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice (CJ) Renato Corona. A GMA desperately seeking escape from the many cases filed and will still be filed against her is more than enough motivation for one seeking to escape from accountability.

Several factors determine if a coup can attract public support. For a coup to succeed, it must attract the critical mass. The most important factor is the unpopularity of the sitting president, in this case — P-Noy. In fact, for the coup plotters to even get to first base, the people’s disenchantment with the administration should have elevated to what can be called HATE level. Even if the coup plotters have billions to buy [...]

Read the full story >>  Why coup plots have a dismal track record of failure

**************************
 

Galunggong economics

ON DISTANT SHORE
By Val G. Abelgas


If his mother’s yardstick were to be followed, President Noynoy Aquino’s economic program would get a failing grade.

During the snap election campaign in 1986, opposition presidential candidate Corazon Aquino, in downplaying the economic achievements of then President Ferdinand Marcos, said that the price of “galunggong” has risen to P12 a kilo (about 80 US cents at the prevailing exchange rate then of P14 to a $1) and, therefore, Marcos should go. “Sobra na, tama na, palitan na!”

Indeed, if an administration cannot lower the price of galunggong and rice, the Filipinos’ staple foods, then it has not helped the people economically. The administration is a failure.

Since then, opposition presidential candidates would use the lowly galunggong (round scad) to stress the poor economic achievements of the previous administration. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, for instance, said in 2002 that she has lowered the [...]

Read the full story >>  Galunggong economics

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South China Sea – Asia’s Tinderbox

By Erick San Juan

Over half of the world’s annual merchant traffic in tonnage passes through the Malacca, Sunda and Lombok Straits with some 10 million barrels of crude oil transiting the region everyday. As well as being a vital transit route, the South China Sea is also a resource in itself with an estimated seven billion barrels of oil and 900 trillion cubic feet (25 trillion cubic meters) of natural gas. (Source: Broadsides Sink South China Sea Peace by Chietigj Bajpaee)

Given the abovementioned situation, the fact remains that its still the world’s economy which is at stake here. Whether we like it or not, both big powers-the US and China are watching and suspect each other. Uncle Sam’s dislike on China’s rise gave way to more US troops in the region while China has been protesting and re-arming to counter US intervention. There is a greater possibility of a regional conflict that might lead to a global confrontation this time.

The stake is high in maintaining peace in this region. For as I have mentioned, the world’s economy will be the most affected here, not only the claimants of the disputed areas in the South China Sea. The mere fact that Uncle Sam’s “return to Asia” has added greater tensions among the claimants especially Beijing, which actually turned the region into a military camp [...]

Read the full story >>   South China Sea – Asia’s Tinderbox

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‘PMA Breeding Ground of Putschists, Cheats, Fascists No More’

By Artemio A. Dumlao

Fort Del Pilar, Baguio City (March 12, 2012) – The Filipino people can be sure the Philippine Military Academy is no more a breeding ground of military officers staging coup d’ etats, corrupt practices and fascism.

PMA superintendent Major Gen. Nonato Peralta said drastic changes in the Academy were undertaken already to mean that “culture” is fixed so that values like maltreatment are nowhere already.

“Maraming innovations ang ginawa to erase maltreatment,” Peralta explained during the presentation of the top ten graduates of the PMA class of 2012 (Bagwis) becoming military officers on Sunday here.

Tom Puertollano, son of a lowly carpenter and market vendor from barangay Tambo, Lipa City, Batangas topped this year’s graduates [...]

Read the full story >>  ‘PMA Breeding Ground of Putschists, Cheats, Fascists No More’

**************************
 

Who Coddled The Toxic Terror?

By Fr. Shay Cullen
(His columns are published in The Manila Times,
in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line) 

The protection, preservation and nurturing of life is more than just an act of survival based on instinct as it is with the animal kingdom. For human persons it is a rational balancing of alternatives as to what action is best to take in any given situation. The fact we have free will to choose a way of life that will save life rather than destroy or damage or endanger it would seem a very rational and morally right thing to do.

But not all humans will agree on what is the right course to take, the best thing to do in various given situations and competing opinions and interests can result in conflict if reason does not prevail. So it is morally reprehensible to spread toxic waste in a neighborhood, cut the trees that will result in landslides that can bury hundreds of people or build a poison factory in a pristine environment. The poison fumes and waste from such a facility will contaminate the air and environment and is very life threatening to those living within its vicinity. Rational moral people would not even think of it [...]

Read the full story >>  Who Coddled The Toxic Terror?

 

Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3671 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Wed Mar 14, 2012 10:50 pm
Subject: PerryScope: Ana and the 'King'
perrydiaz2001
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 Welcome to Global Balita   

 
Global Balita

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


Dear readers:

Just a short note to thank you for your kind words of encouragement when I was recovering from my knee replacement surgery.  Reading your notes made me feel great!  While I'm not fully recovered yet, I'm back at what I love doing. 

I just want you to know also that Global Balita has successfully migrated to a new host -- faster and easier to move around. 

Enjoy reading!

All the best,
Perry

PERRYSCOPE

Ana and the ‘King’

PerryScope
By Perry Diaz

 

Just when the House prosecutors seem like they’re losing steam in building a strong case against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona… just when the senator-judges are beginning to doubt if there is even “clear and convincing” evidence to convict him… just when Corona went on a media blitz against President Benigno Aquino III and others whom he perceived as conspiring to oust him… and just when Corona’s invincibility seems beyond the reach of ordinary mortals, a young lady appeared on the scene.

During the early days of the Corona impeachment trial, it was revealed in Corona’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) for 2003 and 2004 that he obtained a “cash advance” of P11 million from Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc. (BGEI), a corporation that has since been dissolved.  That caught the attention of Ana Basa, a Las Vegas-based Fil-Am and daughter of the late Jose Ma. Basa III, one of five siblings who established the Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc. (BGEI) in 1961.  One of the other siblings was the late Asuncion Basa Roco, the mother of Cristina Roco Corona.

The buzz generated in the media about the “cash advance” in Corona’s SALNs prompted Ana to fly to the Philippines to talk to her aunt, Sister Flory Basa, the sole survivor of the Basa siblings.  Sister Flory is a nun at the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary [...]

Read the full story >>  Ana and the ‘King’


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3672 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Fri Mar 16, 2012 8:19 pm
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: One Can Smell Change
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita   
 
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Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


FEATURED
  

One Can Smell Change

GLIMPSES
By Jose Ma. Montelibano

 

I noticed that I had written about the impeachment trial, the Chief Justice and the Judiciary in my last few articles. I know that the topic has been a hot one, but I also know I had wanted to write about other matters closer to my heart but passed them over for the impeachment trial. I think I gave in to a human desire to check on my readers’ responses – which are more if the subject matter is on the impeachment and less when it is about poverty, about hunger.

There are facets of life that need even more attention than the impeachment of a Chief Justice whom I believe to be utterly unworthy to be the chief symbol of justice, of integrity and transparency. There are other cancers that have to be addressed, great challenges that should be welcomed, great opportunities that have to be embraced. Life goes on with or without Corona in the Supreme Court, though I admit the kind of life with Corona as Chief Justice will be very different than life without him in the Supreme Court [...]

Read the full story >>   One Can Smell Change


ALSO IN THE NEWS 

  

The Original Sin of Renato Corona, the Most Controversial Chief Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court

By JJ Domingo
International Business Times

“I know the legal justifications for your appointment, but what’s the moral justification?”

This was my question to Renato C. Corona, the most controversial Chief Justice the Philippines ever had, during a dinner-meeting with several bloggers at his Supreme Court office in Manila last Wednesday. The said meeting was organized by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado, editor of Blogwatch.


“Well, modesty aside, if you see my qualifications, I think you’d agree that any president would appoint me, or at least consider appointing me, to the post,” he said.

“Yes, I do agree with you, sir. But why, then, did you not wait for President Aquino to appoint you instead?” [...]

Read the full story >>    The Original Sin of Renato Corona...

**************************

‘Chief Justice Corona’s fortune worth P80M’

Prosecution based it on acquisition costs; a ploy, says defense

By Gil Cabacungan, TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Claiming he undervalued his assets, prosecutors on Friday said impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona should have declared a personal fortune of as much as P80 million—more than four times what he put down in his most recent statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

“We believe that his net worth should have been P70 million and P80 million based on our computation of all of his assets and bank deposits that were presented in the trial. He only declared a net worth of P22 million in his SALN in 2010,” Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III said at a press conference.

Defense counsel Tranquil Salvador III rejected the prosecution claim.

“That is their own computation. We don’t know where they got the values or how they got the computation. We should be given a chance to lay down our evidence. It appears they’re preempting our presentation of evidence by making their own explanation of evidence they have presented,” Salvador said [...]

Read the full story >>   ‘Chief Justice Corona’s fortune worth P80M’

**************************
 

Still unexplained: The gap between Corona’s wealth and SALN

By Ellen Tordesillas
Malaya

‘What the public wants Corona to explain is his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth, which is required by the law. That’s all.’

IT’S perfectly understandable for Chief Justice to take care of his cousin, Demetrio Vicente, who testified in his favor Tuesday at his impeachment trial.

The 70-year old Vicente is not in the best of health having suffered two strokes and Marikina is quite a distance from the Senate in Pasay City.

But he should have used his personal car, not the vehicle belonging to the Supreme Court,

Solar News reporter Albert Alicer and his crew caught on video Vicente riding in a beige Toyota Camry 1996 model with a red plate SEJ.953 after the impeachment hearings Tuesday evening. The vehicle turned out to be registered with the Supreme Court.

Another Solar News reporter interviewed Vicente and the old man, sans guile, admitted that he was “hatid-sundo (fetched and brought home) ” by the chief justice [...]

Read the full story >>   Still unexplained: The gap between Corona’s wealth and SALN

************************** 

Solons see breakthrough

Say door opened on hidden wealth

BY WENDELL VIGILIA and JP LOPEZ

THE 11-man prosecution panel in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona yesterday said the defense committed a “strategic error” by presenting witnesses and evidence that tend to prove that the assets of the magistrates were not illegally obtained, even if amassing wealth is not among the allegations in the Articles of Impeachment against him.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara said the defense strategy would open the door for the prosecution to present evidence on ill gotten-wealth during rebuttal.

The court has barred the prosecution from presenting evidence on allegations of ill-gotten wealth because it was not among the main causes of action in the 79-page Articles of Impeachment prepared by the House committee on justice chaired by Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas, the head public prosecutor.

“Itong ebidensiya na nilalatag po nila ay nakikita po natin hindi nakakatulong sa kanila. Pero mas nakakatulong po sa panig po ng prosecution,” said deputy speaker Lorenzo Tañada III [...]

Read the full story >>   Solons see breakthrough

**************************

GMA is in, Mike Arroyo to follow, Pacquiao joining them?

The Tall Order
By Mon Datol
Philippine News Today
Vancouver, Canada

The Sandiganbayan ordered the arrest of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo, former COMELEC chair Benjamin Abalos and former transportation secretary Leandro Mendoza on Tuesday for allegedly receiving millions of dollars in bribes from a Chinese telecommunications company ZTE over the anomalous contract with China’s ZTE Corp.

However, Sandiganbayan just pegged the bail for GMA et al at P30,000 each. Peanuts to them. Ang laki ng money involved sa botched ZTE Corp. contract, something like US$329-million, tapos, P30,000 bail lang? Pang-mahirap na piyansa. Gayung something like US$200-million ang overpriced ng nasabing broadband contract. Dapat na bail kina GMA, Mike Arroyo, Ben Abalos at Leandro Mendoza ay tig…. [...]


Read the full story >>  GMA is in, Mike Arroyo to follow, Pacquiao joining them?

**************************

Filipino nun opposes graft and former President Arroyo’s husband

By David Viehland
Asia News

The Sandiganbayan Court orders the arrest of Jose Miguel Arroyo, husband of the Philippines’ former president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, for kickbacks involving a project with a Chinese company. The main witness in the case is living under the protection of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines.

Manila (AsiaNews) – Sister Mary John Mananzan, women’s chairperson of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP), praised anti-graft court’s decision to arrest Jose Miguel Arroyo, husband of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The latter is co-accused in an aborted telecommunications project with a Chinese company. For the nun, the move is a necessary step in transforming the Filipino government and society.

The husband of ex-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo reportedly posted bail two days ago after the Sandiganbayan (People’s Advocate) Court ordered his arrest on charges of graft in an alleged overpriced deal with a Chinese company, ZTE, which allegedly paid him kickbacks. Mr Arroyo has denied the charges [...]

Read the full story >>   Filipino nun opposes graft and former President Arroyo’s husband

**************************

Paradise Lost to Destructive Mining

By Fr. Shay Cullen
(His columns are published in The Manila Times,
in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line) 

President Aquino plans to issue a historical Executive Order (EO) to regulate the mining industry to protect the environment and the rights of the people. A strict order is needed and hopefully, it will levy at least a 20% tax on mining profits. Hundreds of thousands of justice loving Filipinos live in hope and expectation that it will be so.

Mining in the Philippines has a bad reputation for environmental destruction, bribery, low tax and even extensive “tax holiday” privileges despite soaring commodity prices. It has provoked reaction and a strong people’s power opposition. (See the resistance to these incursions www.preda.org/environment). The investors in mining don’t need low tax incentives. The high commodity prices of minerals worldwide assure big profits. There should be no mining allowed where there will be serious environmental and community damage.

Without strong taxation on the mining industry, the government and the people will get practically nothing from the vast wealth of the nation’s minerals. In Australia, the profits of mining corporations are recently taxed to 35%. Now that is what we need in the Philippines [...]

Read the full story >>  
Paradise Lost to Destructive Mining

**************************
  

In These Exciting Times – Be Wary

By Erick San Juan

The UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) or drone was first used in the US wars in Bosnia in 1995. After the balkanization of Yugoslavia, it was used in Southeast Asia, in the Philippines. Have we forgotten how the US drones monitored the attack of the Abu Sayyaf’s of our soldiers in Basilan as reported by several newspapers in Mindanao? What about the successful simultaneous attack by the drones of several camps of the MILF in central Mindanao, assisting our armed forces as told to us by the late Defense secretary Angelo Reyes?

As reported by different news network, remember the airstrike by the AFP, killing three senior militants from al-Qaeda-linked groups (last February 2) in the south known to be the terror groups stronghold, has also been fruitful.

Partylist Rep. Luz Ilagan has aired her concern of a possible hand of the US troops stationed in Mindanao in the said airstrike. Her fear regarding the said operation also worries us of Uncle Sam’s meddling in our military’s undertakings on the insurgency problems in the south [...]  

Read the full story >>  In These Exciting Times – Be Wary

**************************
 
 

Filipino community devastated by death of 4 Pinoy workers in Calgary

By Alex P. Vidal

BURNABY, British Columbia – The death of four Filipino temporary workers in a car mishap in Edmonton on March 4 has devastated the Filipino community in Calgary.

“We are still at loss on how to accept the sad news and we continue to mourn until today,” said Rachelle Antiojo, a hotel worker in Edmonton.

Erlinda Mamora, a nanny, said she was a friend of one of the four saying “she could not come to terms” realizing how brutal was their death when a suspected drunk driver rammed their vehicle in a head-on collision on the QE II Highway.

Antiojo and Mamora said the whole community continued to mourn “like we lost four members of our own family.”

They were among the hundreds of members of Edmonton’s Filipino community that gathered March 12 night to celebrate the lives of victims — Anthony Subong Castillon, 35, Joey Flores Mangonon, 35, Eden Dalu Biazon, 39, and Josefina Flores Velarde, 52 — all temporary foreign workers from the Philippines [...]

Read the full story >>   Filipino community devastated by death of 4 Pinoy workers in Calgary

 

Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3673 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Mon Mar 19, 2012 3:30 am
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: Annoying P-Noy
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita   
 
Global Balita

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


FEATURED  

Annoying P-Noy

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star

Because the Reds have time and again failed to sell to the majority of Filipinos their offered prescriptions to our national problems, they’ve resorted to all sorts of gimmicks in order to get our attention.

The latest concoction of the Reds is this term NOYNOYING, which is a pun on the president’s nickname and associating it with LAZY, CLUELESS and INEFFECTIVE. It’s a very cheap form of argumentum ad hominem. Their NOYNOYING term has no basis at all.

During the worst period of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship, a period when the Reds, or Left as they’re sometimes called, should have grown by leaps and bounds — they could not even muster enough public support to pose a strategic threat to the dictatorship. Their controlled areas grew but not to the extent where strategic victory could be attained. To many Filipinos, yes Marcos was a mega problem but no, the Left is not the solution.

Deposing Marcos was finally successfully undertaken thanks to the sacrifices of Ninoy and Cory Aquino. Ninoy gave up his life in order to stir the nation. Cory guided an angered nation to regaining democracy by ways of democracy [...]

Read the full story >>   Annoying P-Noy
 

ALSO IN THE NEWS 

  

Corona pressed on dollars

Enrile: Must explain absence from SALN

BY JP LOPEZ and WENDELL VIGILIA

SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday said impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona still needs to explain his reported dollar account at the Philippine Savings Bank despite a temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court barring the public disclosure of foreign currency deposits.

“Inaantay pa natin yung presentation ng depensa ng ebidensya… hanggang ngayon di pa napapaliwanag ang mga sinasabing bank accounts ng Chief Justice. Antayin natin,” he said in an interview over radio dzBB.

He said Corona has to explain why the dollar account was not included in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) if it was indeed excluded.

“Yung bank account, di mo maitatanggi na meron nun…ang hindi talaga maliwanag dun, magkano ba talaga yung peso bank account and yung sinasabing dollar account…Hindi ko alam kung sa kanya ba talaga yun o hindi. Kaya yun ang hintayin natin na ipaliwanag…Sapagkat assets yun, ngayon kung hindi isinama (sa SALN), kailangan ipaliwanag kung bakit hindi isinama,” he added [...]

Read the full story >> 
Corona pressed on dollars

**************************

Ombudsman asks AMLC for Corona’s bank records

By Ellen Tordesillas
VERA Files 

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales has asked the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) for a copy of the records of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona’s bank deposits, including dollar accounts that are the subject of a temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court.

A highly placed source in the Office of the Ombudsman confirmed that Carpio-Morales sent the request after her office received a complaint seeking an investigation on Corona’s supposed ill-gotten wealth and possible money laundering. But AMLC Executive Director Vicente Aquino said he was not aware of such a letter in his office. “We have not received such request,” he said.

Aquino also said he refuses to talk about Corona’s assets in the media, calling it a “sensitive” issue.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council is composed of the governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Insurance Commissioner and the Securities and Exchange Commission chairperson [...]

Read the full story >>  Ombudsman asks AMLC for Corona’s bank records

**************************
 

Defense sees no reason for Corona to testify

Source: ABS-CBNnews.com 

MANILA, Philippines – The defense team of Chief Justice Renato Corona still sees no need to summon their client to his impeachment trial, despite calls from some senator-judges for him to testify and explain discrepancies in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN).

The defense lawyers believe that their evidence and witnesses’ testimonies are strong enough to defend their client.

“Wala pa kaming nakikitang dahilan para gawin ito. Ang pambabastos ang ikinakatakot namin (We’ve not yet seen any reason to put him on the witness stand. We’re afraid he will be disrespected),” Atty. Tranquil Salvador III, one of Corona’s lawyers, told ABS-CBN News on Friday.

Lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas said on Wednesday he has not made a final decision whether to put Corona on the witness stand [...]

Read the full story >>   Defense sees no reason for Corona to testify

************************** 

Corona trial relates to the just war against corruption

No Limitation 
By Ted Laguatan 

The Constitution provides for an impeachment process to immediately remove from office a key official who betrays the public trust.

However, in the warped Philippine socio-political setting, successfully removing an official through the impeachment process is as likely as the Ampatuans becoming Carmelite nuns.

Removing erring Philippine officials, no matter what process is involved, is extremely difficult. Even Justices and judges with notoriously questionable reputations and exorbitant lifestyles that reek of corruption remain unchecked and unpunished. Enough effective mechanisms are just not there to correct the whole sorry mess.

The impeachment process is inherently defective and bound to fail in accomplishing its purpose of removing key officials who ought to be removed. We have seen the systemic defects in the Estrada impeachment trial. We are seeing it again now [...]

Read the full story >>   Corona trial relates to the just war against corruption

**************************

Is there hope in mining?

By Rita Linda V. Jimeno
Manila Standard Today

Rita Linda JimenoI salute Gina Lopez, a zealous environmental advocate, for courageously standing her ground against mining, amidst big businessmen who were pro-mining, in a recent forum. Rather than mining, Lopez said, our nation should focus more on eco-tourism. Mining destroys the ecological balance and leaves the soil toxic and bereft of life, she explained in so many words. I could not agree with Lopez more when she said that mining results in wastelands. Because the reality is, in mining, trees are cut (the forest cover diminished); the earth is excavated to extract minerals; and toxic chemicals are used to separate the minerals from the soil. Consequently, the soil’s nutrients die. Once mined, a place turns into a barren, lifeless piece of wasteland forever. “Sustainable” mining is, therefore, an oxymoron because after mining, land can no longer sustain any form of life.

The Nauru experience is the strongest argument why mining should be rejected. Nauru is a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean which used to be called the “Pleasant Island”. Before it was discovered by Europeans, it had a thriving agriculture, a rich forest with a healthy flora and fauna. Fishing, farming, weaving of crafts, and wood carving, used to be the Nauruans’ sources of livelihood. Because the Nauruans were secluded from the world, they had a rich culture and equally rich traditions. When the Europeans discovered their [...]

Read the full story >>  Is there hope in mining?

**************************  

Church and People Call For a New Mining Law

By Fr. Shay Cullen
(His columns are published in The Manila Times,
in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line) 

Bishops, priests, pastors, people from all walks of life and non-government organizations have taken a stand against the unfair, exploitative and damaging mining operations in this country. It is an important moral issue because for generations 75% of the people have endured a life of poverty and want, exploitation and injustice. Wealth distribution in the Philippines is among the most unequal in the world and 1% of the population unjustly own or control 70% of the national wealth.

The mineral wealth is said to be worth US$680 billion and is the heritage of the Filipino people. If not stolen by the 1% it can be a way out of poverty for millions [...]

Read the full story >>   Church and People Call For a New Mining Law

**************************

PNoy To PMA Grads: ‘ End Of Vacation… On To Real Life… Of Serving The Filipino People

By Artemio A. Dumlao



Fort Del Pilar, Baguio City (March 18, 2012) — President Benigno Aquino III “ended” the four-year “vacation” of the 187 members of the 2012 graduating class at the Philippine Military Academy Sunday.

Both in jest and seriousness, Pres. Aquino III after congratulating the graduates for hurdling the rigors of four-year cadethood at the premier military officers training institution, said their graduation also ended their vacation at Fort del Pilar..

‘Now is the start of real woes you will face in your chosen field,’ he said in Filipino as he challenged 22-year old Batangueno Tom Puertollano, the topnotcher of the class, and his 186 other mistahs of “Bagwis” class that it is now the start to face the real problems of the society. “Panahon na ng totoong sukatan ng inyong pagkakawal, pagka-Pilipino, at pagkatao [...]

Read the full story >>   PNoy To PMA Grads: ‘ End Of Vacation…

**************************

Pacquiao Watch: Double taxation, no way

By Edwin Espejo

Manny Pacquiao (Credit: AP)

Senator Ralph Recto recently defended Rep. Manny Pacquiao’s earnings from professional boxing in the US against taxation by the Philippine government.

Recto said Pacquiao’s income in the US is already subject to withholding taxes by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), counterpart of the Philippine’s Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

The Filipino boxing champion’s income tax became an issue after the BIR filed criminal charges against him for violation of Article 266 of the National Internal Revenue Code, ostensibly for failing to comply with summons.  The BIR said Pacquiao failed to present his book of accounts including copies of his fight contracts and other endorsement deals for 2010 despite formal order from the tax bureau [...]

Read the full story >>  Pacquiao Watch: Double taxation, no way

**************************
 
 

Duero: A principled worker ditched by a corrupt officialdom

By Dionesio C. Grava

pinoywatchdog-duero

One of the stumbling blocks regarding President Noynoy Aquino’s “matuwid na landas” commitment is the perception that his administration is quite selective regarding the choice of guilty officials to prosecute. While he is preoccupied tooth and nail in former President Gloria Arroyo’s incarceration and Chief Justice Corona’s impeachment, he handles with velvet gloves allegations of  irregularities involving associates in the so-called “kakampi, kaklase and kabarilan” circle.

To cite examples, there was Juan Romeo Nereus Acosta who P-Noy swore into office as Presidential Adviser for Environmental Protection despite adverse information about the former Bukidnon congressman’s two graft charges in the Ombudsman. Land Transportation Office Chief Virginia Torres is a shooting buddy who was recommended for dismissal by the Department of Justice but survived unscathed [...]

Read the full story >>  Duero: A principled worker ditched by a corrupt officialdom

 

Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3674 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:29 pm
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: Is P-Noy aspiring to be our Fuehrer?
perrydiaz2001
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Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


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Is P-Noy aspiring to be our Fuehrer?

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star

Last Thursday, Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice (CJ) Renato Corona spoke before an assembly of the PWJA (Philippine Women Judges Association). Being members of the judiciary, the forum offered the besieged CJ a sympathetic ear for pursuing his “defense by publicity” tactic.

CJ Corona said: “Recent events point out that the nation is now in great peril of teetering toward one-man rule, where executive action aims to shield, to shackle judicial independence undermining the rule of all and erode the systems of governance, particularly the principle and the mechanism of checks and balances.”

Of course, that was nothing new from the CJ’s many incredible assertions since his impeachment trial started. From Day 1, CJ Corona tagged President Noynoy Aquino (P-Noy) as lusting to dominate the judiciary in order to expand the president’s power base. The CJ camp must have thought that Filipino love for democracy will tilt public opinion in favor of CJ Corona if they can sell that “lust for power” concoction. However, all these selling of concocted falsehoods could only gain traction if there’s a base in the public mind for it to take off.

Last Friday, at the Ang Paglilitis (The Trial) program of PTV-4, a student asked former Senator Rene Saguisag what his reaction was to the CJ’s assertion of a “teetering toward one-man rule” in our country. They could not have asked a better [...]

Read the full story >>   Is P-Noy aspiring to be our Fuehrer?


ALSO IN THE NEWS    
 

Enrile: Corona erred in SALN

Status of condo unit not properly stated

BY WENDELL VIGILIA
MALAYA

SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday said Chief Justice Renato Corona erred when he did not declare ownership of a P3.5-million condominium unit at The Columns in Makati just because his wife Cristina had a pending complaint with Ayala Lands about the “defective” unit.

The property was not in the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) filed by Corona for the years 2004 to 2010.

“If the buyer wanted to rescind the contract, he (Corona) should have declared it (in the SALN) as a receivable,” Enrile, presiding officer of the impeachment court, told defense counsel Judd Roy on Day 31 of the Corona impeachment trial.

Roy presented the defense’s 11th witness, Benz Lim, property manager of the Ayala Property Management Corp., to show the court that there was a valid reason for Corona’s failure to declare the property in his SALN for six years.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson noted that the deed of sale for the property was executed on Oct 1, 2004 and Condominium Certificate Title (CCT) was subsequently issued to Cristina on Nov. 3, 2004, which made the couple the owner of the unit.

The unit at The Columns was one of the 45 properties which the 11-man prosecution panel originally linked to Corona based  [...]

Read the full story >>   Enrile: Corona erred in SALN

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‘Omission in SALN an admission of guilt’

By Paolo Romero
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – Administration lawmakers said yesterday that Chief Justice Renato Corona had virtually owned up to committing an impeachable offense when his lawyers admitted to some omissions in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs).

Movement 188, composed of the 188 congressmen who signed the impeachment complaint last year, said the defense lawyers’ new argument that the “non-compliance” by Corona with certain SALN requirements is a virtual admission by them that the prosecution had nailed their client on Article 2.

Article 2 alleges that Corona failed to publicly disclose his SALN, and that the Chief Justice had not been truthful and even concealed certain assets from his annual wealth declarations.

The group noted comments from defense lawyers that Corona’s failure to declare the acquisition costs of his real properties in his SALN is not sufficient to remove him from office.

The group hit the “cavalier attitude” of defense lawyers in dismissing the discrepancy in the chief magistrate’s SALN [...]

Read the full story >>  ‘Omission in SALN an admission of guilt’

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Part I: Corona listed Marikina lot in his SALN two years after sale to cousin

Our Plaza Miranda Exclusive -

By Raïssa Robles

Chief Justice Renato Corona listed the Marikina property as an “Asset” in his 1992 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) two years after his wife Cristina sold it to his cousin.

This point – raised by Senator Judge Ralph Recto – was probably the most interesting revelation in the four hour-long testimony on March 12 of CJ Corona’s buyer-cousin, Demetrio Vicente.

Defense out to prove genuine sale 

Vicente’s direct testimony for the defense was devoted to proving that Cristina Corona really sold her Marikina property and therefore CJ Corona was justified in no longer reporting it in his SALNs when he became a member of the Supreme Court in 2002.

This was even though the country’s land records – maintained by the Registry of Deeds – still lists Mrs Corona to this day as the owner of seven parcels of land in Marikina totaling 1,700 square meters.

Last January 12 before the start of the impeachment trial, the prosecution had listed the Marikina properties as among CJ Corona’s “undeclared wealth”. House prosecution lawyer Jose Justiniano, who grilled Vicente, insisted that the sale between Vicente and Mrs Corona was merely “simulated” [...]

Read the full story >>   Part I: Corona listed Marikina lot in his SALN two years after sale to cousin

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Corona’s late declaration of posh condo ‘absolutely ridiculous’

BY ROUCHELLE DINGLASAN
GMA News   

Sen. Sergio Osmeña on Monday said Chief Justice Renato Corona’s delayed declaration of one of his condominium units in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) was “absolutely ridiculous.”

“It (condominium unit) was paid in 2004 but was not declared in his SALN up to 2010. It is absolutely ridiculous,” Osmeña said during the 31st day of the impeachment trial in the Senate.

He was referring to the one-bedroom, 43-square-meter unit that Corona’s wife, Cristina, bought at The Columns in Makati City in 2003.

Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson said the Deed of Absolute Sale between Mrs. Corona and The Columns’ property developer Ayala Land was signed on Oct. 1, 2004. The condominium title was transferred to the Corona couple on Nov. 3, 2004.

“After the transfer, the Coronas already owned the condominium unit,” Lacson pointed out [...]

Read the full story >>   Corona’s late declaration of posh condo ‘absolutely ridiculous’

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Senator Santiago spells out winning tacks for prosecution, defense

By Cathy C. Yamsuan
Philippine Daily Inquirer 

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Monday spelled out the gut issue as the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona heads for a Lenten break.

Santiago said prosecutors would win their case if they convinced senator-judges that Corona deliberately committed dishonesty and gross misconduct when he omitted several properties in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

But if Corona’s lawyers could show that he did not act in bad faith when he omitted specifically the dollar accounts being questioned in his SALN, the Chief Justice would be acquitted, she said.

“You now have your work cut out for you,” Santiago told the prosecution and defense panels on Day 31 of the trial [...]

Read the full story >>  Senator Santiago spells out winning tacks for prosecution, defense

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Comelec finally admitted PCOS defective

SHOOTING STRAIGHT
By Bobit S. Avila
The Philippine Star

Last Friday, I was in the midst of a very important meeting when a friend interrupted our meeting to show us a texted report that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) finally approved the purchase of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines. My meeting had nothing to do with politics, yet a report like that was shocking enough for us in Cebu because of the incident that happened in the town of Compostela, 25 kilometers North of Cebu City where they didn’t have any town officials for 22 months, thanks to the PCOS machines that doesn’t know now to count!

But in truth, the Comelec decided to re-proclaim Mayor Joel Quiño despite the request of complainant Richie Wagas to open the ballot boxes to prevent more embarrassment. Opening the ballot boxes would have revealed that what’s inside the ballot boxes would not match with what the PCOS machines reported. This is the same in all the electoral protests in the 2010 polls.

If indeed our Comelec officials want to ferret out the truth… they should have agreed to open the ballot boxes… but they did not because it would prove what we’ve been saying all along… that the PCOS machine doesn’t know how to count and worse as [...]

Read the full story >>    Comelec finally admitted PCOS defective

**************************

President: Recto Bank Explorations Continue

BY GENALYN D. KABILING
MANILA BULLETIN

BAGUIO CITY — The government will still pursue oil and gas exploration in the Recto Bank, also known as the Reed Bank, because it is still within its territory, according to President Aquino.

The President has downplayed the protest of Taiwan against the country’s plans to search for oil and gas in Recto Bank, insisting the area is not part of the Spratlys Island disputed by claimant countries.

Aquino pointed out that Recto Bank was mentioned by Taiwan only in 2009 when it followed China’s nine-dash territorial claim over the South China Sea.

“The exploration has been ongoing even before I assumed office. I assume yung Taiwan is adopting the People’s Republic’s nine-dash policy. The nine-dash theory just got broadcasted in 2009. The dispute in Spratlys for instance, of which Recto Bank is not part of, was in the 70s,” Aquino said in an interview with reporters late Sunday night at the Mansion, the official [...]

Read the full story >>   President: Recto Bank Explorations Continue

**************************


‘China can carry out explorations but under Phl supervision’

By DJ Sta. Ana
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – China is welcome to carry out oil and mineral exploration activities in the Philippine zone of the disputed Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea – but they must abide by Philippine laws.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, in an exclusive interview with News5, disclosed that China has made several overtures for possible joint exploration and development in the Spratlys even as Beijing had made it clear it considers the disputed areas as sovereign territory. The Spratlys are claimed in whole or in part by six countries, namely the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia, and are widely believed to have substantial deposits of oil, gas and minerals.

Meanwhile, the Philippines will raise with American officials its grave concern over President Obama’s plan to bring back outsourced jobs to the United States when key officials meet in Washington in April. Obama’s plan is expected to impact heavily on the Philippines’ call center industry [...]

Read the full story >>  ‘China can carry out explorations but under Phl supervision’

**************************
 
  

Manny Pacquiao says God told him in a dream to quit boxing

Philippine Daily Inquirer


 

MANILA, Philippines—What his mother failed to accomplish, God apparently succeeded with Manny Pacquiao.

It took a divine vision, by way of a dream sometime in January, to make the Filipino ring icon change his ways and mull early retirement.

Pacquiao, widely regarded as the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter, said that God appeared to him in a dream and asked him to retire soon.

“I will not stay long in boxing because He said: ‘You have done enough. You have made yourself famous but this is harmful,’” Pacquiao told dzMM radio in Monday’s interview that was also broadcast over the network’s Teleradyo show.

As early as 2009, Aling Dionesia, Pacquiao’s mother, had been badgering her son to hang up his gloves to avoid further harm [...]

Read the full story >>    Manny Pacquiao says God told him in a dream to quit boxing

 

Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3675 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Wed Mar 21, 2012 4:57 am
Subject: GLOBAL BALITA: A hard-working president
perrydiaz2001
Send Email Send Email
 
Welcome to Global Balita   
 
Global Balita

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


FEATURED  

A hard-working president

March 20, 2012 | Featured, Opinion

BY DUCKY PAREDES
MALAYA

‘(I)t looks as if the time has arrived when the regime of higher oil prices is here to stay.’

CLEARLY, President Aquino is not a do-nothing president as proclaimed by those who would annoy him by “noynoying” would have us believe. Would he have the kind of popularity ratings that he continues to have if he were actually doing “nothing”? The masses are smarter than those who see everything in a negative way, who criticize whatever a sitting government does or does not do.

Sure, oil prices are up and rising; but, where in the world is this not happening? Nowhere, except, perhaps, in the countries where the oil is found underground. Those countries can give away the oil to their citizens while selling it at top prices to those who have no oil, countries like the Philippines.

So, what can one really do about it? Shall we, as Marcos did, control the price by supporting the previous lower price, incurring debts with the oil companies so that our transportation costs do not go sky-high? [...]

Read the full story >>
  A hard-working president



ALSO IN THE NEWS    

47% of Pinoys think CJ is guilty: Pulse Asia survey

March 20, 2012 | Politics & Government

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
ABS-CBNnews.com

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) – Nearly half of Filipinos believe Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona is guilty of the charges filed against him in the Senate impeachment court.

“Almost half of the Filipino population (47%) is of the view that Supreme Court Chief Justice Corona is guilty, with 33% saying he is probably guilty and 15% being certain about his guilt,” Pulse Asia said in its March 2012 Ulat ng Bayan national survey.

However, 43% of the Filipinos cannot say whether Corona is guilty or not. Only 5% say he is innocent [...]

Read the full story >>   47% of Pinoys think CJ is guilty: Pulse Asia survey

**************************
 

Is Corona contradicting self in SALNs?

March 20, 2012 | Politics & Government

By Ayee Macaraig
Rappler

'HIS WORDS.' The prosecution is using a decision penned by Chief Justice Renato Corona to argue that he should have declared The Columns property back in 2004. File photo from the Supreme Court website.
‘HIS WORDS.’ The prosecution is using a decision penned by Chief
Justice Renato Corona to argue that he should have declared The

Columns property back in 2004. File photo from the Supreme Court

website.

MANILA, Philippines – Back in February 2010, when Renato Corona was still Supreme Court Associate Justice, he penned a decision on the sale of land and the payment of an outstanding loan.

“Article 1498 of the Civil Code provides that, as a rule, the execution of a notarized deed of sale is equivalent to the delivery of a thing sold,” Corona wrote in his ruling in Raymundo S. De Leon v Benita T. Ong.

Two years later, Corona’s decision again becomes relevant with the legal debate in his impeachment trial as Chief Justice. At issue is the condominium unit that he and his wife bought in The Columns, Makati in 2004, and why he declared this only in 2010 in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). (See SALNs of Chief Justice Renato Corona.)

In a legal memorandum submitted last month, the prosecution cited Corona’s very own ponencia in arguing that the Corona couple assumed ownership of the property in 2004 because a deed of absolute sale was executed in their favor that year [...]

Read the full story >>  Is Corona contradicting self in SALNs?

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SC agenda: Corona’s dollar accounts

March 20, 2012 | Politics & Government

By Rappler.com

DOLLAR ACCOUNTS. Will the Supreme Court on Tuesday decide with finality on the TRO against the disclosure of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s dollar accounts?
DOLLAR ACCOUNTS. Will the Supreme Court on Tuesday decide
with finality on the TRO against the disclosure of Chief Justice Renato

Corona’s dollar accounts?

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday, March 20, is set to discuss the temporary restraining order (TRO) it issued last month on the disclosure of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s dollar accounts in the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank).

It is unclear, however, if the SC justices will vote on the matter during their en banc session Tuesday.

After Tuesday, the High Court’s next en banc session will take place April 10. The impeachment court also takes a long break next week and won’t resume trial until the first week of May.

Issued on February 9, the TRO stopped PSBank from further testifying and presenting documents before the impeachment court about Corona’s dollar accounts. Citing bank secrecy laws, the SC voted 8-5 to issue the TRO.

The prosecution has appealed the ruling, and it is now up to the High Tribunal to decide on the matter with finality [...]

Read the full story >>  SC agenda: Corona’s dollar accounts

************************** 

Enrile: All assets should be in SALN

March 20, 2012 | Politics & Government

By Ira Pedrasa
ABS-CBN News 

MANILA, Philippines – Senator President Juan Ponce Enrile said an asset, whether concrete or not, should be disclosed in a public official’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

During day 32 of the trial, the defense presented anew Benz Lim, the property manager of The Columns in Ayala to show that there was delay in the delivery of a condominium unit to the Coronas.

The deed of sale for the more than P3-million one-bedroom unit was drafted in 2004, but the asset was only disclosed in Chief Justice Renato Corona’s SALN in 2010.

The defense said it was only “accepted” in 2009 because the wife of Corona had reservations regarding the unit’s condition.

Enrile said: “There was still an asset, even if it passes from cash to concrete which we now know as the condominium unit. It came to existence then as an asset, and which should have been reflected in the SALN.” [...]

Read the full story >>   Enrile: All assets should be in SAL

**************************

Talking out of turn

March 20, 2012 | Opinion

BY AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA

‘Aided by media, the President and the Chief Justice are promoting the culture of irresponsible talk.’

IF he has the capability to listen, his chief legal counsel should tell President Aquino to stop talking out of turn. There are things proper for the President to say. There are things that are not and are variously interpreted as not knowing the dignity of his office. Therefore unpresidential.

For example, it is not proper for the President to tell media that he wants to secure the conviction of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Neophytes in media, on the other hand, should not ask the question. A president who is aware of the powers of his office should not answer when asked beyond saying that everything properly belongs to the impeachment court over which nobody has any form of control except the presiding officer [...]

Read the full story >>  Talking out of turn

**************************  

Ask $3 billion a year for ‘light footprint’

March 20, 2012 | Opinion

BY REY O. ARCILLA
MALAYA

‘Giving up once again sovereignty over parts of our national territory seems almost certain.’

THE United States’ expressed wish “to maintain a light footprint,” a euphemism for maintaining “small” military and naval bases in the Philippines, is beginning to look inevitable.

In an obvious attempt to cushion or soften its impact on the national psyche, there has been a spate of pronouncements coming from both the governments of the PH and the US.

For instance, Foreign Secretary Albert “Amboy” del Rosario said we received $123 million in US defense aid last year (to be increased by $21 million this year, according to him).

On the other hand, the US said we were provided $193 million in grant funds last year [...]

Read the full story >>    Ask $3 billion a year for ‘light footprint’

**************************
  

Bishop hails Pacquiao as ‘modern-day saint’

March 20, 2012 | Business & Lifestyle

By Jocelyn R. Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer 

To some, boxing champion and Saranggani Rep. Manny Pacquiao may be losing his marbles, but for some bishops of the Catholic Church he just may be a modern-day Filipino saint.

“Let him be called crazy because when God converts people, others cannot understand whether it is the great grace of God,” said Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes, who was ecstatic about Pacquiao’s decision to heed God’s message and retire from boxing.

Bastes said some of the most revered saints and prophets were called “crazy,” citing St. Francis of Assisi, an Italian monk and son of a wealthy cloth merchant who left everything behind for the sake of the Lord in the 11th century.

“Many saints were called crazy … we can also have some modern saints in the Philippines like Pacquiao,” said Bastes in a phone interview with reporters on Tuesday [...]

Read the full story >> Bishop hails Pacquiao as ‘modern-day saint’

**************************

The mangos that saved a village

March 20, 2012 | Opinion

By Fr. Shay Cullen
(His columns are published in The Manila Times,
in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line)

As I walked the last few meters with a medical team organized by the Preda Fair Trade Development Foundation to the hillside village, high in the Zambales Mountains, I was not greeted with the usual rush of excited smiling children curious at the arrival of visitors from the lowland. The Preda team entered a village of Indigenous People, known as the Aeta and we were greeted by the village chieftain and the elders who smiled a greeting as best they could. It was a village gripped by sadness at the death of several children caused by malnutrition. When they sent us a message asking for help we responded.

The medical team set up their portable clinic in a grass roofed hut and began to meet the villagers and weigh the children, take sputum tests and blood pressure and check the vital signs. I met a mother holding Epang, a small child seemingly five years old but in fact was ten. Her physical growth and brain development were severely impaired by that hidden killer – malnutrition [...]

Read the full story >>  The mangos that saved a village

**************************
 

Mga bilyonaryong Pinoy

March 20, 2012 | Opinion

Pagtanaw at Pananaw
Ni Bert de Guzman

Mahigit sa 6 bilyon ang populasyon ng mundo sa ngayon. Sa bilang na ito, may 1,226 bilyonaryo (sa dolyar), at ang anim dito ay mga Pilipino. Sila ay sina Henry Sy, Lucio Tan, Andrew Tan, Enrique Razon, Eduardo Cojuangco at Roberto Ongpin.

-0-0-0-0-0

Samantala, milyun-milyong Pinoy ang nagdidildil ng asin, nagtitiyaga sa kaning tutong at sangbasong tubig para mapawi ang gutom [...]

Read the full story >>   Mga bilyonaryong Pinoy


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

#3676 From: Perry Diaz <PerryDiaz@...>
Date: Thu Mar 22, 2012 4:58 am
Subject: PerryScope: It's time for Corona to face the music
perrydiaz2001
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Welcome to Global Balita   
 
Global Balita

Global Filipinos in perspective --

                  "From Manila Bay to San Francisco Bay"


PERRYSCOPE  

It’s time for Corona to face the music

PerryScope
By Perry Diaz


Attempts by Chief Justice Renato Corona’s defense lawyers to present witnesses and evidence to prove that Corona has other sources of income backfired and only solidified the prosecution’s case against him.  Indeed, after failing to convince the senator-judges after six days of testimonies by witnesses and disclosure of evidence, there is a consensus among the senator-judges that only Corona could explain the discrepancies in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs).  But taking the witness stand would only expose him to questions that he might not be able to satisfactorily explain.

Last March 19 – Day 31 of the impeachment trial – Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said that if the House prosecutors could show “intent to commit dishonesty,” then they have won their case.  On the other hand, she said that if the defense panel could show that Corona had acted in good faith and declared all deposits — both peso and dollar – in his SALNs, then he would be [...]

Read the full story >>   It’s time for Corona to face the music


Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news and updates.
 

DISCLAIMER: Commentaries or articles may be submitted for publication. However, the commentaries and articles submitted by writers and readers for publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Balita and its Editor. The Editor does not knowingly publish false information and may not be held liable for the views of writers and readers exercising their right to free expression. Global Balita and its Editor reserve the right to reject any commentary or article submitted for publication.

 
END

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