Wednesday, February 29, 2012

News Update Improvised bomb found at Philippine airport: Police

MANILA (AFP) - Philippine authorities have found and disarmed a small bomb at a provincial airport that serves the resort island of Boracay, one of the country's main tourist hotspots, police said on Wednesday.

Security staff found the improvised explosive device among cargo being processed at Kalibo International Airport on Tuesday night, national police spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz said.

Police experts brought the device, inside a plastic envelope about the size of a magazine, out of the airport and had it safely detonated, according to Mr Cruz.

He said the device was apparently dropped off at the airport counter of a cargo forwarding company and bore a name and address in the southern island of Mindanao, a hotbed of Islamic militants and Muslim guerrilla

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

News Update FHM Philippines scraps 'racist' cover after complaints

MANILA (AFP) - Publishers of the Philippine edition of men's magazine FHM apologised on Tuesday and said they had scrapped the planned front cover of March's issue after complaints the photograph used was racist.

Shown as a teaser on the FHM website on Saturday, the cover featured a light-skinned, scantily clad local film actress stepping into the light from a a group of dark-skinned young women in black bikinis in the dim background. The page carried the tagline, Stepping Out of the Shadows.

'We deem this to be the most prudent move in the light of the confusion over the previous cover execution. We apologise and thank those who have raised their points,' FHM said in a statement on its Philippine website.

'When FHM hits the stands in March it will have a different cover,' it added, but feature the same actress, Bela Padilla.

News Update Major Philippine sect rallies as ties 'sour' with Aquino

MANILA (AFP) - More than 200,000 members of an influential Philippine religious sect met for rallies on Tuesday, police said, amid perceived political tension with its once staunch ally President Benigno Aquino.

Police shut major roads in Manila from midday (12am Singapore time) and deployed about 500 officers as tens of thousands of Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) members trooped to a seaside park in the capital.

The three million-strong sect is one of a handful of religious groups courted by politicians of all stripes during election campaigns for its massive block vote that gives it huge political clout.

Local media said Mr Aquino's previously strong ties with the sect have soured since Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona - who has indirect links to the Iglesia - was impeached in December, stirring condemnation from the group

News UpdatePhilippines plans to slash fish catch to save stocks

MANILA (AFP) - The Philippines plans to impose wider limits on fish catches for up to two years to allow depleted stocks to recover, an official said on Tuesday.

The plan would force the government to allow more imports to meet demand, said Bureau of Fisheries assistant director Benjamin Tabios.

'We want to reduce the catching of fish in the next two years so that stocks will recover in order to protect our food security,' he told AFP.

'Importation will take up the slack.' Philippine fishery output dropped 4.1 per cent from a year earlier in 2011, suggesting depletion of stocks, he said, while growth had been slowing in previous years.

News Update A Filipino transvestite ransvestite arrested over assault at Changi condo

A Filipino transvestite who fled from a Changi condominium soaked in blood on Sunday evening was later arrested in connection with an assault.

Shortly after the 23-year-old left Sunhaven condo, a Caucasian man aged 46 was found at a lift landing there bleeding from stab wounds to his face, torso and arms.

He was taken to Changi General Hospital, where he had emergency surgery, and is believed to be stable.

The pair are believed to have had a scuffle in a fifth-floor unit of the condo on Upper Changi Road East.

News Update Japan: Philippines A Good Payer

OSAKA, Japan - The Philippines has yet to settle some ¥ 965 billion (P512.4 billion) worth of development packages it borrowed from Japan in the past years, making it the fourth country across the world with a huge outstanding loans based on the list of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
But the good news is that the Philippines has no current pending loans from Japan and is assessed to be a good payer, according to Michino Yamaguchi, of the JICA-Media Division.
"The Philippines repays the outstanding loan steadily," said Yamaguchi.
Based on JICA records, most of the loan packages were spent to transportation-based projects like building of roads, bridges, ports, and airports across the Philippines.
From 1971, Japan has already infused some ¥ 757 billion in the transportation-based projects, accounting for 35 percent of the entire development loan assistance to the Philippines.
Commodity loans came next with 19 percent, followed by electric and power-related projects with 13 percent, Agriculture/Forestry/Fisheries with 11 percent and Irrigation and Flood Control with 10 percent.
A total of $20.5 billion has already been lent to the Philippines via Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the Third World Countries, but only ¥ 965 billion remain unpaid so far.
"As the Philippines is classified to be a Lower-Middle-Income country based on Income Category of the World Bank, the terms and conditions of Lower Middle Income Countries are applied," said Yamaguchi.
As a lower middle income country, the Philippines is accorded concessional terms on its ODA loan availment. These include a 1.4 percent interest with repayment period of 30 years, including a 10-year grace period.
Topping the JICA list is Indonesia, followed by China then India. Completing the Top 10 list are Vietnam, Pakistan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Egypt, and Turkey.
Tsutomu Kudo, director of JICA-Media Division, said the ranking is as of 2010 as he explained that they are yet to wait until the end of next month to complete the figures for 2011.
"These loans have to be repaid," said Kudo, as he noted a downtrend on the amount being allocated by Japan for development assistance to the needy countries since 2005.
Kudo admitted that the downtrend was brought by the global financial crisis in the past years but he revealed Japan's plan to increase the ODA fund in the coming years.
But this time, he said the funds will be focused on countries that need most of foreign assistance like African countries.
JICA is the executing agency of Japan's ODA and works in more than 150 countries. Aside from granting loans, it also uses other ODA tools such as technical assistance and providing study grant to students and professionals of Third World countries.

News UpdatePrice stability can make PHL exports competitive, says BSP official

Stable commodity prices support the competitiveness of Philippine exporters in a weak global environment, a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas official said Monday.
“If we can maintain inflation at three percent to five percent that can translate easily and quickly into higher level of competitiveness,” Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said in an interview with reporters.
A steady cost of labor will help them be more competitive in the global market.
“In other words, if they source their raw materials from here including labor… and when your inflation rate is very modest and labor does not demand higher wage adjustment, our exporters should be more competitive,” Guinigundo added.
Merchandise export receipts fell 6.9 percent to $51.498 billion last year from $47.967 billion a year earlier on weak global demand.
National Statistics Office (NSO) data showed that merchandise exports contracted by 6.9 percent to $51.498 billion from $47.967 billion.
Government should continue to help develop alternative sources of cheaper energy as the cost of power in the Philippines is one of the highest in the Asia Pacific region, said Guinigundo.
“Being able to develop new sources of energy will also give [exporters] some headway in terms of competitiveness. Remember that the price of power in the Philippines is quite prohibitive compared to other countries,” he added.
But exporters mainly see the strong peso against the US dollar keeps them uncompetitive in the global market.
However, Guinigundo said that government should help exporters with market and product research and in putting up trade exhibits and fairs to showcase their products.
The Philippines can expand its trade with China, Japan, and other Southeast Asian countries to boost exports, he noted.
“Europe is now going into a very difficult situation that one can describe to be recessionary… If some of these issues can be addressed then our exporters can be more competitive without them asking for a significant depreciation of the peso,” Guinigundo added. — VS

Monday, February 27, 2012

News Update DOTC's Roxas emphasizes significane of regional connectivity to PHL tourism

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) air transport connectivity goal by 2020 is crucial for the Philippines to increase its tourist arrivals, but the country needs upgrade its airport facilities and establish more international airports, Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel Roxas II said Monday.
The Philippines is doing its best to achieve air transport connectivity and upgrade key airports in the next three to five years to be on a par with its Asia Pacific neighbors for the regional aviation connectivity, Roxas told participants at the APEC 2020 air connectivity forum at Sofitel hotel in Pasay City.
"The convenient mobility of local and international travelers hinges on efficient, reliable and safe air connectivity," Roxas noted, saying the Philippines will improve airport infrastructure by encouraging investors under the Aquino administration’s public-private partnership (PPP) initiative.
The Philippines is targeting at least 10 million tourist arrivals or 1percent of 1.43 billion global tourists expected to cross international borders by 2020.
Air transport connectivity is crucial as the tourism sector is the fourth largest source foreign exchange for the country, next to semiconductor exports, remittances of overseas Filipino workers and business process outsourcing, said Tourism Undersecretary Daniel Corpuz in the same forum.
"The importance of tourism industry is underscored in certain directions where it can be used to attract investments, provide jobs in services sector, accommodation and platform for economic development in small villages,” the Tourism official said.
Corpuz, one of the panelists during discussions on the benefits of air transport connectivity, said tourism accounts for an estimated 5.7 percent of gross domestic product and 10 percent of the national employment rate. Airports
Key improvements at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1, which started last month, will be finished in 18 months, Roxas noted
"One of the biggest improvements is adding 50 percent more immigration capacity as recommended by our Changi airports consultant, the transportation and communications chief said.
“We are improving space and flow allocation and managed to find space for an additional 10 immigration counters," Roxas added.
Government has allocated P500 million to upgrade and build two Rapid Exit Taxiways to address runway congestion and minimize delays and boost flight handling capacity to 45 takeoffs and landings per hour.
Roxas said the NAIA Terminal 3 will be fully operational by early 2013. Government, he noted, is now negotiating with Takenaka Corp. — the original contractor that built NAIA-3 — for upgrade and repairs.
International airports are being built in tourist destinations across the Philippines.
The P4.6-billion airport in Puerto Princesa is expected to be visible in 18 months while the Laguindingan airport in Cagayan de Oro will be completed by end of 2012, the transportation and communications chief said.
Government is studying whether to relocate the P5-billion Bohol International Aiport to Panglao or expand the current airport facility in Tagbilaran.
Studies are also under way on the possibility of relocating the Legazpi airport because of its 10 percent yearly flight cancellations. “Studies on air flow and weather pattern are complete and will be decided in the next several weeks and then subsequently put out to tender," according to the transportation secretary.
PPP projects in the pipeline involve the design, construction, operations and maintenance of passenger terminal buildings in Cebu and Tacloban airports, he added. — VS

News Update Century Properties eyes OFWs, Chinese, Singaporeans for Acqua Livingstone

Century Properties Group Inc. is building a 52-story development along Pasig River designed by Italian Missoni Home for P3.5 billion, the company said in a press conference over the weekend.
Called Acqua Livingstone, the development with a view of the Makati and Taguig skylines will be marketed mostly to overseas Filipino workers and foreigners.
“It is the first residential building in the world that will bear the creative and colorful mark of Missoni Home,” said Marco Antonio, Century Properties’ project head and managing director. “It is not available elsewhere, except in Missoni-branded hotels in Edinburgh, Scotland and Kuwait,” he noted.
“We're targeting our overseas Filipino workers, as well as our domestic and foreign markets. Our international sales have grown to about 35 percent of our total sales in the last five years,” said Antonio.
Acqua Livingstone will rise on a 2.4-hectare property in Mandaluyong, a bridge away from Makati, in 2016. Its groundbreaking will be on March 8.
The six Acqua Private Residences — Acqua Livingstone is the fourth — will change the urban landscape along the Pasig River where plans are afoot to refurbish the historic Post Office building into a tourist hotel.
Niagara, Sutherland and Dettifoss have been pre-sold since 12 months ago. “We sold at least 1,800 units for P7 billion,” Antonio said.
Century Properties expects P20 billion in sales this year, or 11 percent over P18 billion in 2011.
Apart from the OFW market, the company is also aiming to sell its units to Singaporean and mainland Chinese investors.
In the 10 months to October 2011, it said that net income grew more than four times to P781 million from P143 million a year earlier. It sold 5,367 units last year from 2,325 units.
Missoni celebrates life
Founded by Ottavio and Rosita Missoni in 1953 as a knitwear label, Missoni has grown into a fashion empire that includes Missoni Home. It has been run by three generations of the Missoni family.
“Missoni Home is known for creating its own style that reflects a celebration of life,” said Vittorio Missoni, marketing director and shareholder of Missoni S.p.A., in a statement.
“We are inspired by the seasons of nature and we play with color because life is more beautiful with color,” he said.
Acqua Livingstone will feature The Canopy, a multi-level center of amenities on the building’s skydeck, which serves as the pinnacle of Missoni Home's design imprint.
The Canopy will house functions rooms, business center, indoor and outdoor gym, Jacuzzi and library, as well as an amphitheatre, a lounge, and a DJ booth, including dance floor, pool with swim-up bar and barbecue facilities.
According to the Italian, Acqua Livingstone residents will enjoy a rainforest design that showcases Pasig River, with the four-story sports and leisure complex with three waterfalls called The Pebble.
A shuttle boat will take residents to and from the Makati side to the The Pebble’s RiverWalk Promenade which features restaurants, bars, cafes and a boardwalk. — VS,

News Update Palace Unfazed By Iglesia Gathering

MANILA, Philippines - There is no reason for the Aquino administration to worry about the grand rally of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) in Rizal Park in Manila Tuesday, even if some interpret it as a show of support for impeached Chief Justice Renato C. Corona.
Deputy Presidential Spokeswoman Abigail Valte said Sunday the Palace views the gathering of the Iglesia followers as a regular religious exercise.
''For us, it's really entirely a religious celebration and from what we understand, the activity on February 28 is part of their upcoming anniversary,'' Valte said in a radio interview.
''It is normal for them to have large gatherings. I am sure they have already coordinated with the local government unit in this case, the City of Manila for their security and peace and order arrangements,'' she said.
The INC announced the holding a ''grand Bible exposition'' which is expected to draw more than a million people.
There were reports that the group, which claims a membership of 3 million, will urge President Benigno S. Aquino III to respect the rule of law as it applies to the impeachment trial of Corona.
Other religious organizations are said to have been invited to the event. But El Shaddai, the Catholic charismatic movement, has said it will not attend.
''We are not joining,'' El Shaddai's spiritual adviser, retired Novaliches Bishop Teodoro Bacani, said in a recent interview.
Bacani made this statement after El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde reportedly agreed to attend the Iglesia event.
''I don't know if there are individual members of the El Shaddai that are joining but as an organization, we are not joining that rally,'' said Bacani.
Similar ''Bible Exposition'' rallies will be held simultaneously in other key cities and towns in the country.
El Shaddai and INC are considered two of the most influential religious groups in the country.

News Update Nomura hikes Phl growth forecast

MANILA, Philippines – Nomura Securities Co. of Japan raised the economic growth outlook of the Philippines this year and next year on the back of higher government spending and higher investment arising from the take off of the public private partnership (PPP) program of the Aquino administration.
In a report, Nomura economist Euben Paracuelles said the gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the Philippines has been raised to 4.6 percent instead of 4.2 percent this year and to six percent instead of 5.6 percent next year.
“Given the positive developments in the expenditure program and better prospects for execution, we upgrade our 2012 GDP growth forecast to 4.6 percent from 4.3 percent... We also raise our 2013 growth forecast to 6 percent from 5.6 percent,” he stressed.
The Philippines, according to Paracuelles, is one of only two countries in Asia aside from Thailand that is expected to experience a faster growth this year than last year amid the global external shocks.
He pointed out that the previous 2012 GDP growth forecast of Nomura incorporated a reversal of the large fiscal drag in 2011.
According to him, the Philippine government has scope to implement additional stimulus measures.
Nomura sees the country’s budget deficit hitting 2.8 percent of GDP this year before narrowing to 2.5 percent next year.
“However, given our analysis of the 2012 budget and the improved execution, we think there could be additional support to growth from fiscal spending and the associated boost to overall investment - hence the GDP upgrade,” Paracuelles added.
Nomura said it expects to witness the usual election-related boost from mid-term Congressional elections in May 2013.
Aside from election-related spending, Paracuelles said the momentum in public and private investment spending would be sustained in 2013 underpinned by improvements in governance and the overall quality of fiscal spending.
“We think consensus underestimates the extent to which the much-improved fiscal position is finally creating enough space to lift public investment spending in a sustained fashion, while simultaneously creating a virtuous cycle by lowering borrowing costs, crowding in private domestic spending and attracting more foreign direct investment, which in turn lifts GDP growth and further improves the public debt dynamics,” it added.
- By Lawrence Agcaoili

News Update Kenyan woman busted at Philippine airport

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - A Kenyan woman was caught trying to smuggle nearly 10 kg of shabu,or methamphetamine hydrochloride, into the country from the United Arab Emirates on Friday, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said Saturday.
Lina Aching Noah, 36, was arrested after customs inspectors found the illegal drugs, with a street value of about P45 million, in the lining of her luggage at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, PDEA Director General Jose Gutierrez Jr. said.
Noah, a suspected member of an African drug syndicate, arrived in the country at 7 p.m. on Friday on an Emirates flight from Dubai, Gutierrez said.
The PDEA said that prior to her arrest, it had received a tip from a foreign counterpart agency about Noah, prompting agents to coordinate with the Bureau of Immigration and Bureau of Customs to intercept her.
Noah is being held at the PDEA-National Capital Region detention facility.
COPYRIGHT: ASIA NEWS NETWORK

News Update Kenyan woman busted at Philippine airport

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - A Kenyan woman was caught trying to smuggle nearly 10 kg of shabu,or methamphetamine hydrochloride, into the country from the United Arab Emirates on Friday, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said Saturday.
Lina Aching Noah, 36, was arrested after customs inspectors found the illegal drugs, with a street value of about P45 million, in the lining of her luggage at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, PDEA Director General Jose Gutierrez Jr. said.
Noah, a suspected member of an African drug syndicate, arrived in the country at 7 p.m. on Friday on an Emirates flight from Dubai, Gutierrez said.
The PDEA said that prior to her arrest, it had received a tip from a foreign counterpart agency about Noah, prompting agents to coordinate with the Bureau of Immigration and Bureau of Customs to intercept her.
Noah is being held at the PDEA-National Capital Region detention facility.
COPYRIGHT: ASIA NEWS NETWORK

News Update Corona prosecutors to appeal SC ruling on confidential files

The House prosecution team will ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling rejecting the panel’s request for access on confidential court records supposedly to be used as evidence in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, one of the prosecutors, said the panel will appeal the decision since it is an “attack on the constitutional power of the impeachment court” and a violation of due process rights of the complainants’ access to the courts.
“It is absurd because it prohibits the disclosure of anything ‘pre-decisional.’
This means all evidence, including mere administrative matters, in a case that has not yet been ‘decided’ is confidential and therefore, cannot be accessed by anyone including the impeachment court,” he said in a statement.
He added the prosecution will particularly question the SC’s decision to bar its personnel, such as clerk of court Enriqueta Vidal, from testifying on administrative matters.
Last February 14, the SC came out with a resolution prohibiting the release of confidential court records to the prosecution team.
Corona, who heads the SC, is currently being tried in the Senate for betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution and graft and corruption.
Sereno Colmenares likewise said that the panel will also challenge the high court’s views on judicial privilege, which prohibits justices from revealing details on SC deliberations.
The prosecution asked the Senate impeachment court last week to invite Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to Corona’s trial to shed light on how the high court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the implementation of a watch list order on former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last November.
“Mano ba namang hayaan nila siyang [Sereno] tanungin ng dalawang tanong lang: nandoon ka ba noong deliberasyon noong Nov. 15 at yung sinabi mo ba sa dissent mo ay totoo sa iyong personal knowledge? Tapos na,” the lawmaker said.
The Senate earlier junked the prosecution’s plea to summon SC justices to the impeachment trial.
But even before the Senate impeachment court can decide whether or not to invite Sereno, the defense camp already plans to block the magistrate’s testimony in Corona’s trial.
Defense spokesperson Tranquil Salvador III said that while Sereno can voluntarily appear before the impeachment court, she is not allowed to talk about what took place during the SC deliberations on Mrs. Arroyo’s TRO.
“[Even] if she as a witness submits to the court voluntarily, we doubt whether she can testify or be subject to written interrogatories on matters covered by judicial privilege since only the SC as an institution can waive it,” he said.
Lawyer Ramon Esguerra, another member of the defense counsel, said Sereno’s appearance in the trial may expose her and the SC to “certain risks,” since the high court’s internal rules prohibits the disclosure of how the SC came up with its rulings. - KBK

News Update 10,000 students to benefit from Oracle-DOST program

At least 10,000 students stand to benefit from a joint program of the Oracle Academy and the Philippine Department of Science and Technology's Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO).
The state-of-the-art technology training program will help participating students develop business and technology skills that provide them with a competitive advantage once they enter the workforce.
“We are honored to work with DOST-ICTO to help prepare Filipino students for careers across every industry, to meet the needs of the economy,” said Krishna Sistla, Senior Director of Oracle Education Initiatives for the Asia Pacific.
Louis Casambre, Executive Director of DOST-ICTO, added the Oracle Academy program and its Advanced Computer Science offering are very important to Philippine universities and students.
"The curricula offers hands on experience with the latest technology and industry tools, as well as the potential opportunity for certifications that will help our graduates land industry jobs,” he said.
Under the collaboration, 24 state universities and colleges will integrate the Oracle Academy’s Advanced Computer Science curriculum into their programs.
Also, the Oracle Academy will provide software, technical support, and faculty professional development to enrolled institutions.
Faculty members will receive discounts to attend training and students will receive discount vouchers for certification exams.
The joint effort supports DOST-ICTO’s commitment to offer quality human resources to the IT industry through its eQuality Program.
Presently, more than 1.5 million students in 95 countries are enrolled in the Oracle Academy program.
In the Philippines, over 3,000 students from 20 educational institutions benefit from the Oracle Academy program. — TJD

DID YOU KNOW THAT ? Carrier Search For Oldest Aircon

MANILA, Philippines - Concepcion-Carrier, the country's leading provider of cooling solutions, is turning 50 years old in the Philippines this year. To celebrate half a century of pioneering cooling in the Philippines, the company is launching the ''Me and My Carrier'' campaign, which aims to search for the oldest working Carrier air conditioners and a chance for people to share their own Carrier experiences via its website.
According to Raul Joseph Concepcion, CEO of Concepcion-Carrier, ''The 'Me and My Carrier' campaign is a way for us to share with the whole country the unique Carrier experience that we have been giving to our customers for the past 50 years. This contest is also a way of showing our gratitude to these customers for trusting us to cool their indoor spaces.''
Rafael C. Hechanova, Jr., Concepcion-Carrier's Vice President added, ''Carrier is one of those few brands in the whole world that produce lasting innovations passed on from one generation to the next, and they have been doing so for the last 110 years. We want to reflect this heritage in our campaign, as we search for Carrier units that have been depended on by their owners' families and businesses for many, many years.''
Hechanova also said that when Carrier celebrated its 40th Philippine anniversary 10 years ago, the company launched a similar contest, where they discovered fully working Carrier units from their very first production line.
For ''Me and My Carrier'', the owners of the top five oldest working Carrier aircons will win a brand new, top of the line 1.0 HP Carrier Designer Series aircon, the most premium window room air conditioner line. The Designer Series is known for its stylish silver and black color grilles, and intelligent cooling functions such as its Run Hour Timer, a feature that acts like a prepaid card and allows you to program the hours of your aircon usage based on your monthly budget.
Three customers also stand a chance to win the coveted 1.0 HP Carrier Designer Series aircon by sharing their fondest memories about their Carrier units, testifying against the reliability and durability of the brand. Sodexho gift certificates will be given to two other finalists as consolation prizes.
To join the oldest aircon contest, interested contestants simply need to fill out an entry form, and then upload a colored photo of his/her old Carrier unit to www.carrier.com.ph or send the entry via traditional mail. Concepcion-Carrier's Customer Care team will then sort through all the entries, and validates and selects the winners.
Contestants who want to share their most memorable Carrier Experience can fill up the entry submission form at www.carrier.com.ph along with a photo of your unit. Accompany your entry with a short anecdote, not more than 500 words, about your fondest memory with your Carrier aircon. The entries will be posted at the Carrier website www.carrier.com.ph. The top three entries with the most votes will win the top prizes.
Hechanova said that the 'Me and My Carrier' campaign is just one of several exciting activities that Concepcion-Carrier has in store for customers as part of the brand's golden anniversary in the country.
''We are very proud that Carrier has truly made its mark in the country, and that the brand and our company have given many Filipino families and businesses cool and comfortable environments for the past fifty years. We want this year to be a season of celebration, and we want our customers to join in on the fun,'' Hechanova said.
The ''Me and My Carrier'' campaign runs from February 15, 2012 until noon of May 31, 2012. For more information, log on to www.carrier.com.ph.

News Update 'Resignation up to Pagcor chief'

Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chairman Cristino Naguiat Jr. can either quit his post or take a leave of absence while he is being investigated for bribery, Malacañang said yesterday.
“Any call for resignation or leave for any office, we leave it to the discretion of the official concerned. Bahala na siya diyan (It’s his call),’’ deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte told radio dzRB.

Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, a former official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), had earlier called for Naguiat’s resignation amid accusations that he received valuable gifts, including a $6,000-a-night accommodation at the luxurious Wynn Macau Hotel, and $20,000 shopping money from a Japanese casino operator.

Earlier, President Aquino defended Naguiat on bribery allegations made by American casino operator Steve Wynn, now at odds with his Japanese partner Kazuo Okada who reportedly gave the Pagcor chief a total of $110,000 in perks.

But yesterday, Aquino is bent on designating Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. as head of the committee that will conduct an investigation on Naguiat to give him a fair trial.

The President maintained that nobody from his Cabinet is exempted from administrative proceedings or sanctions.

“The least that chairman Naguiat should be able to expect is he gets a fair hearing. Let’s have the allegations (first), let him answer it, then we will weigh the allegations versus his defense of actions or lack of actions,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, the House committee on games and amusement is expected today to look into the alleged bribery of certain Pagcor officials by the Japanese casino operator.

The committee, chaired by Manila Rep. Amado Bagatsing, has set a hearing on Pagcor’s Entertainment City gaming-resort-recreation center project.

However, committee members said they would have to tackle the accusation against some Pagcor officials since the alleged bribery was in connection with Pagcor’s grant to Okada of a gaming license in its Entertainment City.

Okada’s Universal Entertainment-Azure Corp. is one of four hotel-casino operators Pagcor has so far licensed to operate in its casino-entertainment center project.

Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño has asked the House to look into reports that Okada bribed Naguiat, his predecessor Efraim Genuino, members of their families, and other Pagcor officers.

He said these officials might have violated the Anti-Graft Law and the Code of Conduct for Public Officials and Employees.

Binay defends Naguiat

Vice President Jejomar Binay has defended Naguiat from bribery raps, saying he re-established the confidence of investors in the gaming industry.

“Chairman Naguiat has restored integrity and transparency in Pagcor. This is why there is renewed confidence in the gaming industry,” Binay said in a statement.

“He is the unfortunate casualty of a corporate war. He has already refuted the allegations made by one party in the dispute,” he added.

Last year, Naguiat filed plunder and anti-graft charges against Genuino over questionable transactions, including the P1-billion overpriced casino coffee and the P26.7-million funding for the film “Baler” in 2008.

He said the lawsuit filed by Wynn Resorts Ltd. against Okada, “is a business dispute into which I have been dragged.” - With Jess Diaz

News Update PHL embassy in Oman launches official website

In a bid to connect with the Filipino community in Oman, the Philippine embassy in Muscat launched its own website this week.
The design of the site, www.muscatpe.org, was patterned after the Department of Foreign Affairs' official website to create a "one look, one feel" approach.
"The website contains information on the Embassy's consular services and provides easy access to downloadable forms.
It also features separate tabs for Overseas Absentee Voting, tourism, and investment," the DFA said.
Visitors to the site can click on the Tourism tab to get a comprehensive guide to tourist sites in the country.
An "Investment Philippines" tab contains the Philippines' Investment Checklist, which promotes the Philippines as the investment destination of choice.
"Through the website, the Embassy hopes to share the different projects and activities of the Embassy with the Filipino community in Oman," the DFA said. — TJD

News Update 2 NPAs, 2 kids killed in Camarines firefight

CAMARINES NORTE, Philippines – Army troops clashed with communist guerrillas in a fierce gunbattle that killed two rebels and two children who were with the insurgents in a village in Labo town here Saturday afternoon, officials said.
Maj. Gen. Josue Gaverza Jr., regional military commander, said he has ordered an investigation to determine if the soldiers committed lapses that led to the deaths of the two boys, aged seven and 10, and the wounding of their sister during the clash in Malaya village.
The three, who were believed to be children of one of the slain rebels, were hit in the crossfire, Gaverza said.
A platoon of soldiers of the 49th Infantry Battalion traveled to the village after being tipped off by residents that New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas had arrived in the area in search of food and to extort money.
As they approached, about 15 guerrillas opened fire from a hut and a nearby hill, sparking a brief but intense gunbattle, said Lt. Col. Epimaco Macasilang, commanding officer of the 49th IB.
After the outnumbered guerrillas withdrew, troops found the bodies of the two rebels and the boys in the hut. The boys’ 14-year-old sister was also found in the hut with a gunshot wound in her wrist and was taken to the hospital, Army officials said.
The slain rebels were identified as Rafael Llanto, second highest leader of the regional guerrilla unit, and Benjamin Manzera, 54.
The two boys were identified as Michael Manzera, 10, and his brother Richard, seven. They were reportedly the children of the slain rebel.
Gaverza said he was saddened that the children were caught in the crossfire.
Regional Army spokesman Maj. Angelo Guzman said the soldiers were unaware there were children in the hut, where some rebels were firing from and two rifles were later found. It was not immediately clear who hit the children, he said.
More than 120,000 combatants and civilians have been killed in the 43-year insurgency, one of Asia’s longest. The rural-based rebellion has endured amid widespread poverty, landlessness and faulty governance in the country’s poor countryside.
The NPA, estimated to have slightly more than 4,000 fighters, killed about 100 soldiers and policemen and waged 447 attacks last year despite a steady but considerable weakening of the insurgency, the military said. – Francis Elevado, Alexis Romero, Celso Amo, AP -

News Update DILG Scores Execs' Habitual Absenteeism

MAINILA, Philippines - The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sunday reported that some local chief executives are guilty of habitual absenteeism and negligence in the performance of their duties, despite the several warnings given out by the department last year.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse M. Robredo said they have been receiving reports concerning the habitual absenteeism of local chief executives, which is ''not keeping with the mandate of the law, to the prejudice of their constituents and ultimately, public service.''
''Some local government officials are either frequently absent or holding office elsewhere, other than their official places of assignment,'' he said.
The law considers a governor or mayor as ''habitually absent'' if he stays at least 10 cumulative working days in a month, out of his or her work station, or out of his or her jurisdiction.
The DILG Chief reminded local execs that they ''are expected to render full-time service, and devote time and attention to the performance of their official duties and should refrain from practicing professions, or engaging in any occupation other than the exercise of their functions.''
He specifically cited Section 90 of the Local Government Code which states that, ''all governors, city and municipal mayors are prohibited from practising their profession or engaging in any occupation other than the exercise of their functions as local chief executives.''
In his directive, Robredo directed the provincial governor to establish a monitoring mechanism to generate information on the presence of local chief executives in their official stations and on those who are habitually absent.
''In the exercise of your general supervisory power over component cities and municipalities, you (provincial governors) may admonish habitually absent local chief executives, or as may be warranted, cause the filing of appropriate charges against them,'' he told the governors.
Last year, the DILG issued a memo circular specifying the grounds for disciplinary actions against elective local officials pursuant to Section 60 of the Local Government Code.
The provision states that a local government official could be suspended or removed from office for dishonesty, oppression, misconduct in office, gross negligence or dereliction of duty, or unauthorized absence for 15 consecutive working days.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

News Update Another rob suspect slain in shootout

DAVAO CITY – Another motorcycle-riding robbery suspect was killed in a shootout with police in this city on Thursday bringing to two the number of slain suspects this week.
Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte lauded anew the policemen for a job well done.
San Pedro police chief Superintendent Antonio Rivera said they are yet to identify the suspect.
Rivera said his team members were onboard a vehicle at Marfori Heights around 12:10 a.m. when they saw two suspicious-looking men onboard a motorcycle.
The police tried to flag down the motorcycle for inspection but the two avoided them, prompting the chase. When they reached Saint John Street in Barangay 10-A, Davao City, one of the suspects started the shootout.
Rivera said no policeman was hurt, but the other suspect eluded arrest.
The slain suspect, whose body bore several tattoos, succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds in his chest and other parts of his body. He was brought to Angel Funeral Parlor on F. Torres Street.
Personnel of the Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) recovered one caliber .38 revolver without serial number containing three live ammunitions, six empty shells in the chamber, one fragmentation grenade, a wig, and professional driver's license of certain Joel Guc-ong Caburnay from the suspect's wallet.
Duterte, who lauded anew the policemen, also chided the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for accusations that the vice mayor paid the police for its anti-robbery operations.
"That's the problem of the human rights people. Mao na ila gina-atake sa ako. I do not compensate policemen; the amount given to them were just incentives as I would like to congratulate them for a job well done," Duterte said.
He also criticized some parish priests for having a bleeding heart for criminals.
Police records showed that on Tuesday evening, a robbery suspect identified as Bryan Baniug Macalos, 22, resident of Gulf View in Davao City, was killed in a shootout with Sta. Ana policemen along Sales Street in Davao City.
The police also launched intensified operations against robbery suspects after Vice Mayor Duterte expressed his alarm over the rising incidence of robbery in the city since January this year.
In a related development, police filed Friday a robbery with homicide case against an 18-year-old man and his companion in connection with the killing of Marjorie Kwan.
The Sta. Ana police headed by Senior Inspector Ronald L. Lao filed the case before the City Prosecution Office around 11 a.m. Friday against Carlo Maduyag Millado, 18, a resident of Barpa, Barangay Leon Garcia, Agdao.
When arrested, Millado claimed to be 17 years old, in an apparent bid to be released, but was later known to be already 18.
A witness positively identified Millado as the one who robbed and killed the 23-year-old nurse last February 18. (With Arianne Caryl N. Casas of Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)

News Update Aquino orders PAGCOR chief Naguiat probed on Okada bribery scandal

Gaming regulator Cristino Naguiat Jr. “will be asked to explain himself” when he goes under a investigation for supposedly receiving illegal gifts from Japanese gambling resort tycoon Kazuo Okada, President Benigno Aquino III said Friday.
Aquino said “(t)here is a formal process” Naguiat will undergo.
Naguiat is chairman and CEO of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), a major resource of the President’s Social Fund (PSF) through which Malacañang implements special projects.
"Everybody who has been proven to have done something they should not have done, or neglected to do what they should have, (will be) meted appropriate sanctions," the President said.
Aquino did not elaborate on possible sanctions but he pointed out that “there is presumption of innocence until proven guilty. In this particular instance, I think we should afford… (Naguiat) also the benefit of hearing him out before we make any judgment.”
But before the investigation gets underway, the President wants to see the specific allegations against the PAGCOR chief.
“Maganda siguro makita 'yung talagang specific allegations. Ang problema… two major players in the gaming industry who have suddenly fallen out of each other,” he said.
“I guess the least that chairman Naguiat should be able to expect is that he gets a fair hearing. Let’s have the allegations, let him answer it and we will weigh the allegations versus his defense of his actions or lack of action,” Aquino added.
US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Aquino’s decision to have the PAGCOR chief investigated came after United States-based Wynn Resorts alleged that estranged business partner Kazuo Okada had lavished more than $110,000 on Naguiat and other Philippine officials to ensure the Japanese’s plans for a Manila casino went ahead.
The lawsuit, filed in a US court on Tuesday, said the payments by Okada, who made his fortune on a Japanese pinball-like gambling game called pachinko, were in apparent violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The suit alleged that Okada billeted Naguiat, his wife, three children, a nanny and other PAGCOR officials in Wynn Macau hotel rooms during a five day stay in 2010.
Okada supposedly ordered that each of the guests be given a $5,000 advance for shopping during their stay in Macau.
Naguiat, appointed by Aquino just a few months earlier to PAGCOR's top post with a mandate to eradicate graft within the regulator, allegedly stayed at the resort's most expensive room at $6,000 a night.
It also narrated that Naguiat requested and received a Chanel designer bag worth more than $1,850 for his wife.
Naguiat confirmed to President Aquino that he stayed in the luxury suite, but denied accepting cash gifts. He said the Chanel bag was given to him, but that he returned it.
Aquino said there seemed to be malice when it was reported that Naguiat was given an expensive bag but the report did not mention that the latter immediately returned it.
“In the report sinabi na me binigay na bag tapos nilagyan ng footnote na fineprint, parang napakaliit na print, na hindi tinanggap o isinoli yung bag. Iha-highlight yung binigay... Pero sinoli nila agad hindi na binanggit na sinoli. parang may malice naman yata ‘yun,” he said.
Aquino’s order to investigate came after his spokesperson, Edwin Lacierda, repeatedly asserted this week that Naguiat had done nothing wrong.
The comments sparked public criticism that Aquino, who has portrayed himself as a zero-tolerance graft buster, was being lenient on one of his appointees. Investigators' report The document Wynn filed before the Nevada court alleged, “Mr. Okada, his associates and companies made payment exceeding US$ 110,000, which directly benefited senior PAGCOR officials, including two chairman and their family members.”
“Chairman Naguiat did not identify himself and Mr. Okada’s representatives insisted that his stay there be “incognito” and so the bulk of the charges for the… visit were “reflected in the City Ledge Account as attributable to “Suzzanne Bangsil” the wife of Rogelio Bangsil…” according to court records attributed to investigators Wynn hired to help build the case against Okada.
Rogelio Bangsil was identified in a chart attached to the court records as officer-in-charge of PAGCOR gaming department.
Attributed to Mrs. Bangsil was the amount of $50,523.22. Wynn’s investigators said “this US$ 50,523.22 was paid for Chairman Naguiat’s benefit.”
Okada, according to the investigators’ report, had Naguiat billeted at Villa 81 Master Bedroom 1, which was described as “the most expensive accommodation at Wynn Resorts Macau and is mostly reserved for high rollers.”
The expense account Okada used when charging expenses for his guests listed other PAGCOR officials who were guests at Wynn Macau at various times from May 2008 to June 2011.
Okada's Universal Entertainment was awarded a license in 2008 to build a gaming resort on the shores of Manila Bay with three hotels and 2,000 guest rooms.
PAGCOR officials have said the controversy will not affect the project, which is due to be completed in 2014. — With Agence France-Presse/Amita Legaspi/ELR/VS

News Update Iggy Arroyo gives all his estate’s income to Grace Ibuna – court records

All income of the estate of the late Negros Occidential Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo goes to his “partner” Mary Grace Ibuna, according to a “Declaration of Trust” that he supposedly made hours before his last will and testament on March 27, 2009.
The documents were obtained Friday by GMA News Online from a London-based contributor.
In the will, Arroyo placed all his assets in a “living trust” and appointed his eldest daughter Bernardina Arroyo Tantoco as trustee, executor of his estate, and attorney-in-fact.
Then in the “Declaration of Trust” created hours before the last will, Arroyo left instructions to Tantoco that she “distribute income only to Mary Grace A. Ibuna to be paid in quarterly or more frequent payments.”
Children to get share after Ibuna dies That same trust document provides that “the balance of the trust shall be distributed” to each of his children in equal, one-third portions only after Ibuna’s death.
None of the documents GMA News Online obtained included an itemized list or any other papers indicating the properties Iggy Arroyo placed in trust.
Tantoco and her sister Bianca Marie are Iggy Arroyo’s daughters by his first wife, Marlene Jacinta. Arroyo has a third daughter, whose mother is Alicia Rita Morales, his second wife.
Ibuna informed the chancery division of the High Court in London that Arroyo’s first marriage was annulled and that the second marriage with Morales is going through annulment proceedings.
The last will and declaration of trust were made in California and was among the documents Ibuna presented to the court in London, where she fought for and got authority to bring the remains of Arroyo to the Philippines.
Ibuna shares that authority with Tantoco.
Tantoco has control of the whole estate her father left, but her powers are limited by the specifics of her designation as trustee, executor and attorney-in-fact.
In the will, Arroyo “intentionally and with full knowledge omitted to provide for (his) heirs and if the will is contested, he gives only $1.00.”
— With Sonny Laragan (in London)/ELR/VS

Friday, February 24, 2012

News Update 4 to be charged for priest's slay

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has recommended for prosecution four suspects in the killing of Italian missionary priest Fausto Tentorio before the North Cotabato prosecutor’s office.
A report submitted to NBI officer-in-charge Nonnatus Caesar Rojas identified the four suspects as Jose Sultan Sampulna, Dima Maligudan Sampulna, Robert Ato, and Jimmy Ato.
Jimmy Ato was the only one arrested by the NBI last December. The three others are still at large.
Based on the accounts of nine witnesses, the NBI said Jose Sampulna was the one who drove the black Yamaha DT motorcycle used by the gunman, who was not named by the NBI.
Robert Ato, for his part, drove the blue Honda XRM motorbike ridden by Jimmy Ato, who acted as a “lookout” during the killing, the NBI said.
Several unidentified persons, considered as principals by inducement or masterminds, were also recommended for prosecution.
According to the joint police-NBI investigation, Tentorio was found bloodied in the parking area in the compound of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Arakan, North Cotabato on Oct.17 last year.
At the time of the incident, Tentorio, or Fr. Pops as he was fondly called, was the parish priest of the Arakan Catholic community.
The motive behind Tentorio’s killing was still unknown.
Minutes after the shooting, an ambulance arrived at the crime scene and immediately brought Tentorio to the Anipas Medical Specialists, where he was declared dead on arrival.
In the early morning of Dec. 29 last year, NBI agents, pursuant to a warrant of arrest issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 13 in Cotabato City arrested Jimmy Ato.
He was earlier charged with destructive arson with homicide, with no bail recommended.
In his sworn statement, Jimmy Ato admitted he was part of the killing, as he acted as lookout for the group of Jose Sampulna, Dima Sampulna and Robert Ato and was paid P1,500 for it.
Considering the gravity of Jimmy Ato’s allegations implicating high-profile personalities in Tentorio’s killing, a deeper probe is still underway.
At present, leads are still being pursued that may eventually unmask other co-conspirators and cohorts in the crime, the NBI said. - By Sandy Araneta

News Update Teen, pal charged for nurse's rob-slay

POLICE filed Thursday a robbery with homicide case against an 18-year-old man and his companion in connection with the killing of a nurse in Agdao, last Saturday.
Sta. Ana police, headed by Senior Inspector Ronald L. Lao, filed the case before the City Prosecution Office (CPO) around 11 a.m. Thursday against Carlo Maduyag Millado, 18, a resident of Barpa, Barangay Leon Garcia, Agdao.
When arrested, Millado claimed to be 17 years old, in an apparent bid to be released.
A witness positively identified Millado as the one who robbed and killed 23-year-old Marjorie Kwan while the latter was walking home in RGA Village at 11:30 a.m. of February 18.
In a separate police operation, one Junevi Panimdim was arrested by the Talomo Police on accusation of being the one who held up Zenaida and Shannen Adlaon last Monday evening in Puan.
With police escorts in tow, the family of Kwan and the witness submitted their affidavits before prosecutor Retrina E. Fuentes.
The complaint was raffled off to Prosecutor Marte Melchor Velasco for the inquest proceedings.
Public Attorney's Office lawyer Leah Garneth Solde assisted the suspect for the inquest proceeding. No family member accompanied Millado to the prosecutor's office.
In an interview with Sun.Star Davao, Millado denied the accusation claiming he was at Rizal Park when the incident happened.
Millado, a father of a one-year-old girl, said he has been working as a masseur at the park for two years now.
But contrary to his previous claims, the accused, when interviewed by Elric Ayop of ABS-CBN, said he was at home when the incident happened and reported to his duty in the park around 1 p.m. of the same day.
"Makita gyud nimo ang inconsistency sa iyang mga tubag (You could detect the inconsistency of his answers)," Lao said.
Still, Millado is presumed innocent pending the decision of his case.
Lao told Sun.Star Davao they already have the lead but no exact location yet on the companion of Millado who drove the motorcycle that was used as a get-away vehicle.
"Our manhunt operation is still ongoing," he said.
He added that subjecting Millado to a paraffin test is of no use by now since it has been days since the crime was committed and any trace of gunpowder burns would have been washed off already.

News Update Ayala opens walking mall strip

AYALA Land executives announced the opening of the walking mall strip in Camp John Hay.
The walking mall strip was built around trees in the former US military base.
“We had a special team of engineers and architects design the buildings for us,” said Javier Hernandez, AVP of the Ayala Commercial Group.
He said the company has since made it a policy to build around existing environment of each site. “We did not cut any trees; instead we built around them.”
Walking Mall fronting the Ayala Techno Hub is composed of differently sized buildings built to skirt around aged pine trees in the camp.
Hernandez said the procedure takes more time to build and utilizes more manpower but is a policy adhered to by the company.
“That is what we believe in, that is what we have been doing ever since,” Hernandez said.
The group has since planted over 3,000 trees in the area.
Ayala acquired 12 hectares of Camp John Hay property and will devote 2.6 hectares to vertical structures with the remaining 10 hectares left for open spaces and forest covers.
Ayala has brought in call center, Convergys, to the city and hiring 5,000 new employees. Ayala has also infused P6 billion to Camp John Hay coffers. (Ma. Elena Catajan)

News Update Philippines told to keep US out of Spratlys

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - Former Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Wang Yingfan warned that dragging the United States in the disputed West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) would be unacceptable to China and Beijing "certainly would react" if that happened.
"We could forge good neighbourly relations and work out something that's beneficial and acceptable to both sides¿You are happy and we are happy. Maybe, you're half-happy and we're half-happy, but it's acceptable to both sides," Wang said in a media forum on Wednesday organised by the Chinese Embassy.
Wang, who served in Manila from 1988 to 1990, said there was nothing wrong with the Philippines acquiring used US warships for defence purposes and that "any nation must do something (to improve) their own national defence."
"It's understandable. No problem," he said. "I know your Navy is very much backward in equipment. If you buy warships from the United States, I would understand."
But Wang, who said he still advised his government on regional issues despite his retirement, asserted that allowing the United States to meddle in the six-nation Spratly Island dispute was another story.
More complicated
"If it really happens that the United States and your country would talk about the South China Sea and how you should work together, I think that would be something which cannot be accepted by the Chinese," he said.
"If (the Americans) involve themselves in the territorial dispute, there will be problems with China. If that happened, the Chinese government certainly would react," he added.
That is why it would be "wise for the nations concerned in this region, including the Philippines, not to introduce Americans into the disputed waters," Wang said.
Six claimants
"That would make the issue more complicated and more difficult to settle among ourselves," he said.
The Spratlys are a chain of up to 190 isles, reefs, coral outcrops and banks believed to be sitting atop large deposits of oil and natural gas.
A Chinese report quoted by US authorities estimates there are 225 billion barrels of oil in the area.
The isles and their waters are claimed wholly or in part by China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
President Benigno Aquino III has said the gas deposits in the disputed territory are so enormous that they would dwarf the Malampaya oil and gas fields.
Wang Yingfan and another retired Chinese diplomat, Wang Chungui, who was ambassador to Manila from 2000 to 2004, are in the Philippines on a week-long goodwill visit as part of the two countries' friendly exchanges, the embassy said.
'Deng Xiaoping solution'
Wang Yingfan pushed for the so-called "Deng Xiaoping solution" to the dispute-setting aside the territorial quarrel in favour of joint exploration and development.
The late Deng, who led China from 1978 to 1992, steered the world's most populous state toward a market economy in the 1980s.
Wang Yingfan stressed "it is the time for cooperation, not confrontation, not fighting."
"I talked with some important people in your government that we should work hard to find ways that are acceptable to both sides, that we must work hard to prepare the ground so that we could share the resources together," he added.
"The response was very encouraging. They said they would consider this kind of thinking. So with patience, with goodwill and with hard work, we could find a way out that's agreeable and acceptable to both sides."
'Solution will come'
Instead of wasting time talking about the Spratlys dispute, Wang said it would be better if Filipinos "spend your energy on economic development."
He said "it would take some time before we could find a solution (to the dispute)" but he was "optimistic that that will come."
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has said a "rules-based" approach based on international law is the key to settling the dispute and that the Philippines expects nothing less from the other Spratlys claimants.
Following a recent meeting between the Philippines and China in Beijing, the Department of Foreign Affairs said the two sides had agreed to promote bilateral relations, such as on energy, science and technology, disaster mitigation, law enforcement and maritime cooperation.
The Chinese foreign ministry has said both countries have agreed not to let their quarrel over the Spratlys "affect the broader picture of friendship and cooperation" between them. With a report from Inquirer Research
COPYRIGHT: ASIA NEWS NETWORK

News Update Philippines bandits kill six in revenge raid: military

Six people were shot dead by gunmen who raided a remote Philippine village Thursday in apparent retaliation for the killing of a bandit leader, the military said.
About 10 gunmen attacked several homes at a farm on the southern island of Mindanao, targeting relatives of a police aide and killing six of them, regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang said.
The attack on Tininghalang village followed the killing nearby on February 11 of bandit leader Samang Andi, who was tracked down by police with the help of police aide Dencio Tabayag.
"The Tininghalang victims are relatives of Tabayag, who helped the police get Samang," the military spokesman told reporters.
A brother of the bandit chief led the attack on the village, Cabangbang added.
Police accuse the Samang gang of being behind a range of lawless activities in the area, Cabangbang said, but did not cite specific crimes.
Armed groups, including former rebels, engage in kidnapping, highway robbery, and extortion across Mindanao as the security forces fight decades-old Muslim and communist insurgencies as well as Islamist militants.

News Update 9 Chinese, 2 Filipinos get life for operating drug lab in Cebu

CEBU CITY -- A local court found Thursday 11 people, including nine Chinese nationals, guilty of operating a drug laboratory in Mandaue City in 2004 and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
In a decision promulgated Thursday, Mandaue City Regional Trial Court Judge Marilyn Lagura-Yap of Branch 28 convicted Chinese nationals Calvin Tan; Siew Kin Weng, 25; Liew Kam Song, 40; Joseph Yu, 41; Lin Li Ku, 35; Bao Xiafu, 35; Wu Tiao Yi, 33; Tao Fei, 34; and Liu Bo, 31; and Filipinos Allan Yap Garcia, 33, and Joseph Lopez, 33, for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002
Tan is said to be the financier of the shabu laboratory.
Yap also fined the 11 convicts, who are now detained at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, P10 million each for manufacturing illegal drugs.
Manila-based anti-narcotics agents seized more than P1 billion worth of shabu during a raid on a warehouse in Mandaue City on September 24, 2004.
During the raid, 11 persons, including nine Chinese nationals, were arrested. Tan was arrested in Hong Kong and extradited to the Philippines two months after the raid.
Among the nine Chinese nationals arrested was Hung Ching Chang, 40, but Yap exempted him from the charge after he agreed to become a state witness.
Hung Ching Chang said he was Tan's errand boy.
The defense lawyers said they will appeal the court decision. (Sunnex)

News Update PHL tries new tack: 'Healthy man of Asia'

It is getting busy in Cristino Naguiat's spacious 5th-floor office overlooking Manila Bay.
The chairman of gambling regulator Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp is fielding calls and booking appointments to meet possible investors in a sprawling gambling and entertainment project his government hopes will rival Las Vegas in five years.
Among them: Casino billionaire Francis Lui of Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. and executives from Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd., controlled by Australian billionaire James Packer and the son of Macau gambling mogul Stanley Ho.
"There is growing interest. The fact that in just two weeks I have had two visitors from big companies in Macau says something about it," said Naguiat, a veteran of the gaming industry.
"Investors are having a second look at the Philippines. The fundamentals are very good."
The Philippines, the perennial "sick man of Asia," has rarely looked healthier and investors are placing their bets.
Its stock market, the best performer in Asia last year, is up nearly 13 percent this year to a record high Monday. Benchmark 10-year government bond yields are down about 44 basis points, as prices jump. Overseas buying of Philippine stocks hit a record $938 million in the fourth quarter, and the pace has quickened this year, according to TrimTabs Investment Research.
Economic growth is projected at about 4 percent despite global headwinds, about middle for the region. Easing inflation, among the lowest in Southeast Asia at 3.9 percent in January, gives the central bank room to cut rates by at least another quarter-point this year. Infrastructure spending is rising.
Pressure on President But as investors crowd into Manila's hotels, pressure is growing on Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to go beyond usual half-hearted attempts to crack down on corruption, fix a stifling bureaucracy and find new streams of revenue in a country whose earnings usually end up in the hands of the elite.
Several crucial tests loom, including his pursuit of graft allegations against Gloria Arroyo, who until June 2010 was president, and the impeachment trial of the Supreme Court's chief justice, accused of protecting Arroyo from investigation.
Both cases could determine whether the Philippines moves ahead or withers again as a choice for investors after a brief spell of optimism.
Although he enjoys a 72 percent approval rating after 1-1/2 years in office, the odds are stacked against him.
"He is trying to transform the mindset of the people from being always suspicious to being hopeful, trustful of government," said Secretary of Finance Cesar Purisima in an interview at his home in a leafy Manila neighborhood.
‘Blooming tiger’ The "rise" of the resource-rich Philippines has been hailed before, only to disappoint. About a third of the archipelago's 94 million population still lives below the poverty line, fuelling an exodus of 4,000 workers a day joining a huge Filipino diaspora seeking opportunities abroad.
In the 1950s, it boasted one of the highest per capita incomes in Asia. President Ferdinand Marcos, however, intervened with two decades of dictatorship.
Optimism surged anew when Marcos fled a "People Power" revolt in 1986 that swept to Aquino's mother, Corazon, to the presidency. On January 30, 1997, then-Finance Secretary Roberto De Ocampo uncorked champagne on the stock-exchange floor as share prices pierced all-time highs, toasting "the blooming tiger economy of Asia" and predicting the Philippines would soon catch up with South Korea and Singapore.
Another flutter of optimism occurred in mid-2007, as the economy approached its best performance since the 1990s, pushing up stock prices and luring back foreign investors. Yet again, hopes were crushed. Corruption, cronyism and personality-driven politics flourished, squeezing the life out of reforms.
The $200 billion economy is on stronger footing this time.
Corporate balance sheets are in the best shape in a decade with gearing of less than 60 percent. The government's budget gap has narrowed to about 2 percent of the economy from a record 5.3 percent in 2002. Remittances from overseas Filipinos remain steady at 10 percent of GDP, and consumer debt as a proportion of the economy is just 7 percent, the lowest in Asia.
"The Philippines economy is clearly at the stage where it will be attracting more investor interest," said Prakriti Sofat, regional economist at Barclays Capital.
UBS offered an even rosier view. "We think the Philippines has one of the most attractive medium-term investment and consumption growth stories among emerging markets," its economists said in a January 11 report, calling it a safe haven in turbulent times.
The buzz is drawing inevitable comparisons with another booming Southeast Asian former basket-case: Indonesia.
Both mostly escaped fallout from Europe's debt crisis. Both limped to the International Monetary Fund for bailouts in the Asian crisis of the late 1990s. And both have since built up their reserves and slashed debt. In the Philippines, foreign exchange reserves have more than tripled since 2005.
Indonesia has been rewarded with a return to investment grade status. Many think the Philippines is next.
Standard & Poor's Corp. upgraded its outlook on Philippine debt in December to positive from stable. In June, Fitch Ratings raised the Philippines to one notch below investment grade, citing better government finances, a more stable economy and "favorable economic prospects."
"If Indonesia is investment grade, we cannot be two notches below Indonesia," Purisima said.
Like Indonesia, the Philippines' public debt as a percentage of GDP is falling, dipping to 57 percent from 79 percent in 2005. Indonesia, its population and economy more than twice the size, has done better, halving the ratio to 23.5 percent, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists.
"Cautious"
But making money in the Philippines remains difficult.
Its stock prices are among Asia's most expensive. Investment protection laws are opaque and government revenue is the weakest in Southeast Asia at just 13 percent of the economy. Long-running Communist and Muslim insurgencies and complex regulations deter mining investments.
"The economy seems to be on the mend, however when you look at the stock market, it is relatively small for a country that size and the good stocks are very expensive," said emerging-market investor Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management Ltd. in San Mateo, California.
Valuations have been rising: the MSCI's index of the Philippines, for instance, trades at 15.2 times 2012 earnings, up from 13.5 times a year earlier. Compare that to Singapore's 13.3 times, Malaysia at 14.3, Thailand at 10.6 and Indonesia at 12.90 times.
The problem, however, goes beyond high prices.
"You have to be quite cautious when looking at the Philippines. What's needed in the Philippines are more IPOs, more companies going to the market," said Mobius.
Just eight companies launched initial public offerings (IPOs) to list their shares in the Philippines between 2008 and 2011, a sharp contrast to 76 in Indonesia, 85 in Malaysia, 50 in Vietnam and 49 in Thailand, according to Reuters data.
That, too, appears to be changing. The Philippine Stock Exchange forecasts a doubling in total fund-raising to about $4.7 billion this year after foreign inflows into stocks rose more than three-fold in the first six weeks of the year to $351 million, overtaking net buying for all of 2009.
Multinationals needed But Aquino needs to attract more than just portfolio money. He needs spending by multinationals.
The Philippines attracted just $1.7 billion, or 2.3 percent of the $75.6 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) that flowed into the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations in 2010, trailing Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, the most recent ASEAN data shows.
In the 10 years to 2010, the country's annual net FDI never exceeded $2 billion.
"You have to look at the foreign investors negative list (FNL) — no changes in 10 years; it essentially stayed the same," said Jeffrey Woodruff, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Manila, referring to the list of sectors with limits to overseas investors.
"The only changes came in allowing investment in gambling, which took place a few years ago. Other than that, there's been no change in the FNL for a decade," he said.
Graft, mining troubles A report from the World Bank's private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, helps explain the trickle in investments: the Philippines ranked 136th out of 183 economies globally for the ease of doing business last year, and scored even lower for starting businesses. Overall, it was one place worse than the Sudan and two behind Syria.
To try to address that, the government has set up one-stop-shops in 252 economic zones to help investors. Outside those areas, however, lie thickets of red tape and bribes for permits.
Mining investments are especially difficult.
In 2005, the Philippines' Supreme Court upheld a law allowing full foreign ownership of mining projects. Top global miners such as BHP Billiton started investing, lured by an estimated $1 trillion in untapped mineral resources. But strong opposition from the Catholic church, mine accidents, a strong anti-mining lobby and the previous unpopular government's unwillingness to counter public opinion drove most miners away.
Xstrata Plc's $5.9 billion Tampakan project in southern Philippines, Southeast Asia's largest undeveloped copper-gold prospect, has yet to move off the drawing boards, caught between local and national policies on mining.
Turning that around and improving decrepit infrastructure are central to Aquino's plans as he tries to attack graft and low tax revenue that have undermined public spending.
December's successful bidding of the Philippines' first public private partnership project, the Daang Hari SLEX expressway, will be followed by at least $1.8 billion in similar auctions this year and $17 billion in the next five years.
"The Philippines appears to be at an inflection point," said Pauline Ng, investment manager for the Pacific at JP Morgan Asset Management, which oversees $102 billion in Asian client assets. "Sectors like industrial land, property, toll roads and cement will be key beneficiaries of investment-led growth."
The country is plagued by chronically low tax collection and domestic credit too is falling — at 8 percent as of June 2011 from around 17 percent in 2008 and well 15 percent in Indonesia and Thailand.
Aquino, 52, has vowed to enforce tax rules better before imposing new taxes or raising them. But he hasn't got far. Tax revenue rose to 12.3 percent of GDP last year, barely up from 12 percent in 2010 when it was the lowest in at least a decade.
He has now begun to raise duties on alcohol and tobacco — steps that could generate $1.4 billion in 2012 and $2.75 billion by 2014 if passed by Congress.
He hopes these and other measures will lift the economy's growth rate to as fast as 8 percent during his single term mandate that runs to 2016.
He enjoys almost unprecedented support. He is the first president since his mother to have backing of both chambers of Congress after winning elections in May 2010 by a record margin.
He owes part of his popularity to his revered family name and its reputation for probity. His father, Benigno, was an opposition leader assassinated during the Marcos era.
"This is a rare occasion in the Philippines where you have a president who has the largest mandate ever and he wants to use that mandate to really transform the country," Purisima, the secretary of Finance, said.
But it is unclear whether he will succeed in his biggest challenge of all: a confrontation with what he calls an obstructionist judiciary beholden to his predecessor.
As his government attempts to impeach Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, the stakes could hardly be higher. If the impeachment fails, Aquino has said it would virtually destroy his efforts to end corruption.
The final decision rests with the Senate where Aquino's party faces a struggle to win enough support to convict Corona.
Young population Fund managers such as Ng see opportunities for gains in stocks exposed to consumers. UBS, for instance, likes PLDT, the country's largest telecommunications company, and BDO Unibank Inc.
Part of the Philippines' allure is its youthful population. Half the population is under 20 years old, many speak English — a legacy of its past as an American colony - and the population itself is projected to swell to 190 million by 2040.
Remittances from more than 10 million overseas workers are a growing source of growth, pumping $20 billion into the economy last year.
The Philippines' business-outsourcing industry, including call centers, is also growing fast. It is projected to generate revenue of at least $13 billion this year, rising 20 percent from 2011 and more than four-fold from six years ago.
Aquino also has another wager that plays directly into hopes to transform Manila into a Southeast Asian Las Vegas.
He has targeted a rise in tourism to about 10 million visitors by the end of his term, from about 3.9 million now.
The Philippines awarded four licenses in 2008 and 2009 to operate casinos in a gambling and entertainment complex in Manila. Each Philippine licensee agreed to invest $1 billion over five years. Three of the four licenses went to a venture between Genting Malaysia Bhd and Alliance Global Group Inc., Philippine property developer Belle Corp., and ports tycoon Enrique Razon's Bloombury Investments Holding Inc.
But why should a wealthy gambler from China come to the Philippines instead of gambling resorts that have sprouted in Singapore, Macau in China and Genting in Malaysia?
"No gambler will play and lose everything in the same casino," Naguiat, the gaming regulator, said. "Look around. We're part of this circle. They'll go to Macau, they'll go Genting. They'll go to Singapore and they'll go to the Philippines." — Reuters

News Update Toyota official sees 2012 Philippine car sales growing 7%

The Philippine car industry will recover this year with sales increasing by 7 percent to 177,000 units from 165,000 in 2011, Rommel Gutierrez, Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines president, told GMA News Online.
Gutierrez, also corporate affairs vice president of Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation (TMP), on Wednesday said the industry expects a stable supply of vehicles, both completely knocked down and completely built units.
New models of all types of vehicles will also be introduced, Gutierrez noted.
“Some of the sales are carry-over from last year — customers who ordered last year but had to wait for their vehicles this year,” he said.
Last year, domestic sales fell 4 percent to 144,600 units because of disasters that hit Japan and Thailand, where most vehicle parts come from.
With this positive mood, TMP Foundation, Gawad Kalinga, and Sta. Rosa City launched on Wednesday the Gawad Kalinga Village project in barangays Pulong Sta. Cruz and Malitlit.
TMP foundations P20-million donation will build 158 houses on an 8,000-sqm property. It will benefit hundreds of families in slums near the TMP Sta. Rosa plant.
Starting next month, construction will start in 5,000-smq of the property and a park, school, and community and multipurpose centers will be built on 3,000-sqm. The project will be completed next year.
“The donation is Toyota's way of giving back to the community,” said TMP president Michinobu Sugata. “We help people living in areas where we operate.”
“Our employees, dealers and suppliers will help build the houses,” he added.
TMP sold 54,593 vehicles last year, accounting for 38.55 percent market share in the Philippines. —

News Update PHL Immigration warns foreigners to register before March 2

All foreigners in the Philippines must personally report to Immigration offices on or before March 2 so as not to be tagged as undocumented aliens, the Bureau of Immigration said Thursday.
“[Foreigners] have only until March 2 to report in person to the bureau for their annual report, lest they face sanctions for being improperly documented aliens,” the bureau said in a statement.
Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. noted that there are no extensions for the as mandated by Republic Act No.562 or the Alien Registration Act of 1950 which states that foreigners holding an immigrant or non-immigrant visa should have an annual report within the first 60 days of every calendar year.
“Those who fail to make the annual report will be meted administrative fines or face deportation proceedings,” David said.
Foreigners may opt to have their annual report at the bureau’s main office in Intramuros, Manila, or any satellite office nationwide, according to the bureau.
The annual report fee is P300, plus P10 for legal research.
“As for aliens who are below 14 years of age or 65 years old and above, it shall be the duty of their parents or legal guardians or representatives to make the report on their behalf,” the bureau noted.

News Update Phl eyes record P180 B from RTB sale

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines will close its retail Treasury bonds (RTB) issue ahead of schedule and expects to raise a record P150 billion to P180 billion ($3.5 billion) as small investors become more confident with longer-term placements, Deputy Treasurer Eduardo Mendiola said yesterday.
“Total retail bond sales could easily reach P150 billion,” Mendiola said. The country had raised P110 billion at its last retail bond sale in October, which was a record at the time.
The response from retail investors shows they are no longer afraid of long-term investments, as a liquid secondary market in the paper offers them an exit route, he said over the telephone.
Total bond sales reached P134 billion as of Wednesday, including P49.6 billion sold at an auction on Tuesday and purchases by state firms of P16 billion, Mendiola said.
The Treasury was no longer keen on offering a second retail bond issue this year, he added.
The nine-day public offer for 5.375 percent 2027 bonds and 5.875 percent 2032 bonds was originally set to end on Feb. 29.
One of the government’s underwriters, First Metro Investment Corp. had earlier said Manila could easily top the P110 billion raised from October’s retail bond sale.
“We are looking at setting a new high here,” said First Metro Investment Corp (FMIC) president Juanchito Dispo.
FMIC is one of the issue managers tapped by the government for the RTB sale.
National Treasurer Roberto Tan said the government is very pleased with the strong demand. “ We are very pleased with the robust demand. The strong build up of volume shows deep appetite by investors for government securities that provide good returns and liquidity,’’ Tan said.
The Philippines relies heavily on local and foreign borrowing to fund its budget deficit, expected to hit 2.6 percent of GDP this year, or P279 billion year, from an estimated two percent in 2011.
Mendiola reiterated the retail bond offer was meant to provide small investors with safe investment options and should not alter the government’s local borrowing plan for the year.
Apart from First Metro Investment, BDO Capital, BPI Capital, and Deutsche Bank are issue managers of the bonds.Landbank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, Philippine National Bank, China Banking Corp. are joint coordinators. - By Iris C. Gonzales

News Update Bill seeks to regulate cellphone services

QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA–House Bill 5653 or the “Mobile Phone Subscribers Bill” seeks to mandate all telcos to provide prepaid and postpaid subscribers of their detailed service charges as a pro-consumer stance against unsolicited and blind charges.
Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño said he is strongly pushing for the passage of the bill as mobile telcos refused to implement guidelines set by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), including the 20-cent deduction in interconnection charges for text messages last November.
Telecommunications firms have failed to produce a system that shows a prepaid subscriber’s usage of their phone credits prior to the load being consumed or expired, said Casiño.
“Prepaid subscribers often are left blind as to how their credits were consumed, if they were indeed consumed at all prior to the load expiration, which in itself is a dubious practice,” Casiño said in a statement.
“Postpaid subscribers meanwhile bewail a lack of transparency on the charges levied against them as found in billing statements,” he added.
Telcos Globe Telecom and Smart Communicationscan offer “onerous charges” due to the lack of transparency of the cost of their mobile services, the solon added.
He also scored the government’s failure to confront the alleged problem of “cartels” in the telco industry that have affected consumer rights.
For example, the NTC continues to avoid resolving the alleged irregularities of the telecommunications providers and only vaguely uses the provisions of Republic Act 7925 or the Public Telecommunications Policy Act, especially on deregulation.
With the passage of the bill into law, all telcos must file for a petition with the NTC to implement changes in market pricing of basic mobile services.
The NTC would also set the minimum performance metrics for all services, including calls, text messaging, and Internet data.
Under the bill, there should be no expiry of unconsumed prepaid credits and for calls made for only six seconds, the subscriber will be charged one-tenth of the usual minute charge.
Prepaid subscribers must also be presented the detailed service rates seven days after the consumption of the last load. Unsolicited advertisements will be made illegal, according to the bill.

News Update Philippines to contribute US$500m to IMF facility

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - The Philippines has pledged to contribute US$500 million to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) latest lending facility aimed at addressing crises such as volatility in the eurozone.
Diwa Guinigundo, deputy governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, said that the entry of the Philippines into the expanded New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) program of the IMF as a creditor country is currently being processed by the IMF.
Should the entry be finalized, the Philippines will make available $500 million, which the IMF can tap in its efforts to provide financial assistance to crisis-stricken countries, such as those in the eurozone.
The IMF puts up lending facilities such as the NAB to ensure there are sufficient resources that can be tapped in case of significant threats to global monetary stability.
The NAB has $579 billion worth of total pledges from various creditor countries, including the $500 million from the Philippines.
The pledge from the Philippines to the NAB program of the IMF is on top of the country's contribution of $251.5-million to the Financial Transactions Plan (FTP), another lending facility of the IMF.
Of the Philippines' contribution to the FTP, over half were actually used by the IMF as part of the overall financial assistance recently extended to debt-ridden Ireland, Portugal and Greece.
The Philippines used to be a net borrower from the IMF until 2006, when the country prepaid all its outstanding obligations to the multilateral institution.
By 2010, the Philippines became a net creditor to the IMF when it participated in the FTP.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

News Update Philippines' Arroyo to face court on fraud charge

MANILA (AFP) - Ex-Philippine president Gloria Arroyo is expected to plead not guilty when she appears in court on Thursday for the first time since being charged with rigging an election.

Arroyo faces life in jail if convicted of conspiring with a feared political warlord to rig the 2007 senatorial elections, but she has denied any wrongdoing and insists her successor, Benigno Aquino, is waging a vendetta against her.

'I have peace of mind because my conscience is clear,' Arroyo, 64, told local television station GMA in her last public comments in December.

Court officials said Arroyo, who was arrested in November shortly after authorities stopped her from trying to leave the Philippines, was required to formally answer the charge against her in person at Thursday's hearing.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

News Update Prosecution stopped from presenting PAL witness

The impeachment court on Tuesday disallowed the prosecution from presenting an official of the Philippine Airlines as witness.

The prosecution was supposed to present PAL Vice President for Sales Enrique Javier as witness for Article III of the impeachment complaint which pertains to Chief Justice Renato Corona’s alleged failure to act with competence, integrity and independence as a member of judiciary.

The witness' testimonies was supposed to prove that the Corona and his wife received special privileges and free travel benefits while the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) vs. PAL case is still pending, the prosecution added.

Lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas, however, pointed out that they have filed a motion to quash the request for subpoena addressed to Javier, noting that his testimonies will be irrelevant to Article III.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, presiding officer of the impeachment court, agreed and ordered to discharge the PAL official.

Private prosecutor Atty. Marlon Manuel continued to justify Javier’s appearance saying that his testimonies “will help establish the partiality of Corona in favor of PAL.”

“But you did not allege that in your article of impeachment! There must discipline in this court,”
an obviously irritated Enrile said.

The presiding officer then enumerated allegations included in Article III such as “allowing the SC to act on mere letters filed by a counsel which caused the issuance of flip-flopping decisions in final and executory cases; creating an excessive entanglement with Mrs. Arroyo through her appointment of his wife to office; and discussing with litigants regarding cases pending before SC.

Enrile however pointed out that nowhere in the article did the prosecution accuse Corona of receiving facors and gifts.

“Now you’re expanding the allegations in this article. The court would not allow any expansion of allegations unless you amend your articles,” Enrile told Manuel.

“I've warned you several times that there's something wrong with your articles of impeachment. There's a limit to the patience of this court,” he said.

But lead prosecutor Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. still took the stand and appealed to the court to reverse its decision.

“The very heart of Article III is integrity. To us, it’s important to prove the motive of the chief justice in the flip-flopping of the FASAP case,” Tupas explained.

Enrile then stressed that the prosecution should amend the impeachment complaint and accuse Corona of bribery.

“I'm basing my ruling based on your allegations. Mr. Counsel, I don't know where you learned your art of pleading. If you are going to insist with your position, I will say that I will not change the ruling,” Enrile told Tupas.

Tupas replied that they won’t amend the complaint saying that technicalities should not be permitted to delay such significant case.

Enrile, already losing patience, said that the rules for the grounds for impeachment are clearly stated in the Constitution.

“For heaven's sake! This is not just a technicality! We've already been very liberal but you're going too far. Do you want me to lecture you more?” he told Tupas.

“This presiding officer has been very lenient but there’s a limit to what this chair can do. If your articles of impeachment are defective, that’s your responsibility,” Enrile added.

Despite the ruling of the court, Manuel enumerated the PAL platinum card benefits Corona allegedly received which the witness was supposed to present.

Cuevas moved to strike Manuel’s statements out of record when Enrile told the lead defense, “You and I both understand that this evidence is nothing. Let it remain as a manifestation of counsel and we'll discuss this in due time.”

The presiding officer then called for the next witness but the prosecution asked that the hearing be continued tomorrow.

News Update Phl now a creditor nation

From being a user of the resources of the International Monetary Fund for decades, the Philippines has attained creditor status, with half of its $251.5-million contribution to the IMF as of December tapped to help European countries such as Ireland, Portugal and Greece ease the impact of the financial crisis in the euro zone, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said yesterday.

News Update Wynn casino sues Japanese partner Okada

The owner of the Wynn Macau casino accused Japanese gambling tycoon Kazuo Okada of paying off Philippine regulators in his bid to build a rival gaming resort in Manila.
Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts said in a lawsuit that Okada, Japan's pachinko king and a director of Wynn, went behind the company's back to build a stake in Asian gaming for his own Universal Entertainment group.
Wynn also accused Okada of spending more than $110,000 to curry favor with Philippines officials in apparent violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, jeopardizing Wynn's own reputation in the process.
The suit, filed Tuesday in Las Vegas district court, said that Okada had sought a gaming license in the Philippines and made the payments despite Wynn's telling him not to do so.
"Mr. Okada, his associates and companies appear to have engaged in a longstanding practice of making payments and gifts to his two chief gaming regulators at the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor)," the lawsuit said.
It named former Pagcor chairman Efraim Genuino and current Chairman Cristino Naguiat, and their families, as the main recipients of the payoffs and gifts. Okada paid for Genuino's trip to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Wynn said.
"Okada's conduct poses a direct assault upon, and a threat to, Wynn Resorts' reputation for probity, which is central to maintaining its stature in the gaming industry as well as its current and future licensing."
The suit was a strong blast against a potentially powerful competitor to Wynn in the high-stakes battle for the lucrative Asian gambling market.
Okada, who owns a 19.7 percent stake in Wynn Resorts, is already known as king of Japan's pachinko industry -- a hugely popular gambling business built around a pinball-like arcade game.
His Universal Entertainment broke ground last month on its multi-billion dollar Manila Bay resort, saying it was aiming to attract the same VIP Chinese gamblers Wynn has targeted at its five-year-old Macau casino.
The suit also accused Okada of paying for trips by South Korean officials to Wynn properties to boost his effort to build a gambling resort at the Incheon Free Economic Zone.
The suit came after the Wynn board voted Sunday to expel Okada and to redeem his 24 million shares in Wynn, held through Aruze USA Inc, a Universal subsidiary.
The board said it would redeem the shares at a 30 percent discount to the market price, issuing a 10-year, $1.9 billion promissory note for them.
Wynn filed the lawsuit after conducting a lengthy internal investigation led by former US Federal Bureau of Investigation chief Robert Freeh, hired to conduct the probe.
Wynn said the probe found that Okada had used Wynn's name to advance his own interests in the Philippines.
It also said Okada insisted that it was "customary" to give gifts to officials in Asia via intermediaries.
Wynn cited 36 separate instances "where Okada or his associates/affiliates made payments exceeding US$110,000 that directly benefited senior Pagcor officials."
The investigation report attached to the suit cited mostly free stays and dinners at Wynn resorts in Las Vegas and Macau for the officials, their families, and the husband of former Philippines president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
In a February 15 interview with Freeh's investigation, however, Okada denied knowledge of much of the money spent on the officials, and said that Naguiat's 2010 stay in the Wynn Macau resort was to allow the him "to better understand the casino business."
In a statement Sunday Universal branded the board's action "outrageous," saying the investigation had been "rushed."
"We have not even been provided with the opportunity to review the Freeh Report," it said.
"Universal Entertainment will take all legal actions necessary to protect its investment and prevent a forced redemption of its shares."
Universal, through Aruze USA, was one of four winners of provisional gaming licenses awarded by Arroyo's government in 2008.
It broke ground for its Manila Bay Resorts casino on January 26, promising ultimately more than 2,000 guest rooms in three hotels, with the planned opening in the first half of 2014.

News Update Police execs axed over jail attack

KIDAPAWAN CITY – The police chief of Kidapawan City including his deputy were relieved Tuesday from their posts while investigation on their culpability during the attack at the city jail last Sunday is ongoing.
Senior Superintendent Cornelio Salinas, provincial director of the North Cotabato police, said ordered relieved were city police director Chino Mamburam and deputy chief Rolando Dillera.
The newly appointed chief of police in Kidapawan City is Superintendent Reynante Cabico who is currently head of the investigation and intelligence division of the Cotabato Provincial Police Office.
The turnover of command is set today, Wednesday, reports said.
Salinas was told that operatives of the Kidapawan City police were slow in responding to the attack at the city jail, even if the policemen on duty heard the blasts and the ensuing gunfire.
The jail is just few meters away from the police station.
At the time of the incident, Mamburam was in General Santos City while Dillera was in his house.
The Police Regional Office (PRO) in Soccsksargen has created a group tasked to investigate the jail attack, including the apparently sluggish response of the alert team of the Kidapawan City police during the assault.
Dillera, however, was quick in saying that he was at the blast site, few minutes after the attack.
"I arrived at the area. Provincial director (Cornelio) Salinas was just two minutes ahead of me. I came from home, got wet by the rain, and was not feeling well at the time. Yet, I proceeded to the area because I know that was part of my duty," Dillera said.
Dillera immediately ordered the dispatch of his men to areas believed to be the exit routes of the suspects.
The pursuit operations lasted until the wee hours of the morning, he said.
Despite the pursuits, Salinas said none among the attackers was arrested.
The exit routes were dark and the attackers were able to blend immediately with the residents at Barangay Nuangan and Indangan in Kidapawan City, two of the areas the authorities considered as "haven of some armed lawless groups."
"Their tribes kept these men. The suspects had already blended with the people," Salinas said.
The Kidapawan City Peace and Order Council (CPOC), after an emergency meeting last Monday, recommended the immediate transfer of Datukan Samad Lontoc, who is also known as Lastikman, and 15 other high-profile inmates at the city jail.
In a resolution, the CPOC, led by Mayor Rodolfo Gantuangco, has sought the transfer of Lastikman to Bicutan jail in Taguig, Metro Manila.
"The Bicutan jail is a more secured place. With the minimal number of jail guards assigned at the facility, it's imperative that Lastikman and other high-profile inmates be transferred to another place," Gantuangco said.
At that time of the attack, the facility has only three jail guards manning the security, the mayor said.
Despite the number, the guards, with their gallantry or courage, were able to drive the attackers away from the facility, Salinas said.
Gantuangco said copies of the resolution they passed last Monday would be submitted to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo.
"The request is so immediate. We hope the National Government, including the Supreme Court, heed to our call," the mayor said.