12.07.2005
Newsbriefs 7 December Morning
Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan
Garci takes ‘striptease’ to House (www.manilastandardtoday.com)
AFTER tantalizing the political scene with hints and partial revelations, former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano may well bare all today when he faces the House panel investigating wiretapped conversations during the 2004 elections that linked him to over 30 politicians.
Some 250 policemen will be deployed around the Batasan Complex today in preparation for Garcillano’s arrival at the House at 10 a.m.
Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño, an outspoken critic of the administration, urged Garcillano not to be a “tease” and make a full disclosure of his alleged participation in rigging the May 2004 elections.
“Garci’s striptease may appear titillating at first but when the time comes for him to bare all, he’ll most likely hide the essential parts of his testimony. Baka mabitin ang live show (The live show might leave us hanging),” Casiño said.
On the other hand, the chairmen of the five committees in the investigating panel said they would not allow Garcillano to dictate what lawmakers would ask him at the hearing today.
Every committee member would be given three minutes to question Garcillano, said North Cotabato Rep. Emmylou Talino Santos, head of the panel.
Makati City Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr., chairman of the committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, rejected Garcillano’s conditions that he not be asked about the contents of tapes, since these are the subject of an appeal at the Supreme Court.
“Nobody can dictate on us during the proceedings,” Locsin said.
Supreme Court won’t stop House wiretap probe (news.inq7.net)
THE SUPREME Court has refused to stop a congressional inquiry into the wiretapping controversy which is set to resume Wednesday at the House of Representatives.
Instead, the high tribunal ordered the five House committees jointly investigating the alleged wiretapped recordings to comment within 10 days on the petition of former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to stop the probe, saying the tapes were illegally obtained and could not be used as evidence.
Allegations that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo rigged last year's elections are largely based on wiretaps of phone calls in which the President is allegedly heard speaking to an election official, believed to be Garcillano, about ensuring a million-vote victory in the presidential race.
Ordered by the Court to comment are members of the House committees on public information, public order and safety, national defense and security, information and communications technology, and suffrage and electoral reforms, Court information officer Ismael Khan said Tuesday.
In his November 25 petition, Garcillano also asked the high court to order the House committees to strike off the record all references to the wiretaps and refrain from further using them in future hearings.
Defensor confirms report: No more logging in Samar (news.inq7.net)
ENVIRONMENT Secretary Michael Defensor yesterday confirmed reports attributed to the bishops of Samar Island that he had given them his personal commitment that San Jose Timber Corp. (SJTC) would not be allowed to resume logging operations on the island.
SJTC is owned by Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.
SJTC counsel Napoleon Poblador earlier said that Defensor may have been misquoted.
"There's no legal move by the [opponents] to question the lifting of the moratorium. How can the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) make a pronouncement like that?" he said.
At a news conference where he announced the cancellation of 276 forest management agreements covering 3 million hectares, Defensor said Borongan Bishop Leonardo Medroso was not misquoted when he told reporters about the secretary's commitment.
DA officials admit fertilizer scam documents missing (www.philstar.com)
Officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) led by Secretary Domingo Panganiban admitted to the Senate yesterday that the documents pertaining to the release of P728 million in fertilizer funds were missing.
Panganiban, however, snubbed the initial hearing of the House of Representatives good government committee on the fertilizer fund scam totaling P2.8-billion. So did Budget Secretary Romulo Neri.
The two Cabinet members failed to send a representative to the inquiry. Also, they did they write the committee to explain why they could not attend.
During the budget hearing for the agriculture department at the Senate, the DA officials said the request document for the release of the funds by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the "program of work" or description of the program that accompanied the funding request could not be found.
What the DA had with them was only a copy of the annex to the request made to the DBM that was signed by former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante which contained the list of the alleged proponents of the program.
But Bolante and other key DA officials who could shed light on the controversy failed to attend the budget hearing.
Napocor to raise rates in January (www.manilastandardtoday.com)
The state-owned National Power Corp., in a move to recover its various deferred charges, will raise power rates in January, ranging from 8.31 centavos to 51 centavos per kilowatthour nationwide.
The move followed the approval by the Energy Regulatory Commission of Napocor’s application to collect deferred generation, fuel and foreign exchange costs.
Napocor power rates will go up by 12.23 centavos per kilowatthour in Luzon, 8.31 centavos in Visayas and 51 centavos in Mindanao.
Napocor said the new adjustments will be reflected in January electric bills of its consumers, considering that generation charges of distribution utilities and electric cooperatives to their customers have a one-month lag following.
Napocor’s petition under the generation rate adjustment mechanism (GRAM) and incremental currency exchange adjustment (Icera) covers the period October 2004 to March 2005. ¶ 2:03 PM
Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan
Garci takes ‘striptease’ to House (www.manilastandardtoday.com)
AFTER tantalizing the political scene with hints and partial revelations, former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano may well bare all today when he faces the House panel investigating wiretapped conversations during the 2004 elections that linked him to over 30 politicians.
Some 250 policemen will be deployed around the Batasan Complex today in preparation for Garcillano’s arrival at the House at 10 a.m.
Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño, an outspoken critic of the administration, urged Garcillano not to be a “tease” and make a full disclosure of his alleged participation in rigging the May 2004 elections.
“Garci’s striptease may appear titillating at first but when the time comes for him to bare all, he’ll most likely hide the essential parts of his testimony. Baka mabitin ang live show (The live show might leave us hanging),” Casiño said.
On the other hand, the chairmen of the five committees in the investigating panel said they would not allow Garcillano to dictate what lawmakers would ask him at the hearing today.
Every committee member would be given three minutes to question Garcillano, said North Cotabato Rep. Emmylou Talino Santos, head of the panel.
Makati City Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr., chairman of the committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, rejected Garcillano’s conditions that he not be asked about the contents of tapes, since these are the subject of an appeal at the Supreme Court.
“Nobody can dictate on us during the proceedings,” Locsin said.
Supreme Court won’t stop House wiretap probe (news.inq7.net)
THE SUPREME Court has refused to stop a congressional inquiry into the wiretapping controversy which is set to resume Wednesday at the House of Representatives.
Instead, the high tribunal ordered the five House committees jointly investigating the alleged wiretapped recordings to comment within 10 days on the petition of former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to stop the probe, saying the tapes were illegally obtained and could not be used as evidence.
Allegations that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo rigged last year's elections are largely based on wiretaps of phone calls in which the President is allegedly heard speaking to an election official, believed to be Garcillano, about ensuring a million-vote victory in the presidential race.
Ordered by the Court to comment are members of the House committees on public information, public order and safety, national defense and security, information and communications technology, and suffrage and electoral reforms, Court information officer Ismael Khan said Tuesday.
In his November 25 petition, Garcillano also asked the high court to order the House committees to strike off the record all references to the wiretaps and refrain from further using them in future hearings.
Defensor confirms report: No more logging in Samar (news.inq7.net)
ENVIRONMENT Secretary Michael Defensor yesterday confirmed reports attributed to the bishops of Samar Island that he had given them his personal commitment that San Jose Timber Corp. (SJTC) would not be allowed to resume logging operations on the island.
SJTC is owned by Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.
SJTC counsel Napoleon Poblador earlier said that Defensor may have been misquoted.
"There's no legal move by the [opponents] to question the lifting of the moratorium. How can the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) make a pronouncement like that?" he said.
At a news conference where he announced the cancellation of 276 forest management agreements covering 3 million hectares, Defensor said Borongan Bishop Leonardo Medroso was not misquoted when he told reporters about the secretary's commitment.
DA officials admit fertilizer scam documents missing (www.philstar.com)
Officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) led by Secretary Domingo Panganiban admitted to the Senate yesterday that the documents pertaining to the release of P728 million in fertilizer funds were missing.
Panganiban, however, snubbed the initial hearing of the House of Representatives good government committee on the fertilizer fund scam totaling P2.8-billion. So did Budget Secretary Romulo Neri.
The two Cabinet members failed to send a representative to the inquiry. Also, they did they write the committee to explain why they could not attend.
During the budget hearing for the agriculture department at the Senate, the DA officials said the request document for the release of the funds by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the "program of work" or description of the program that accompanied the funding request could not be found.
What the DA had with them was only a copy of the annex to the request made to the DBM that was signed by former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante which contained the list of the alleged proponents of the program.
But Bolante and other key DA officials who could shed light on the controversy failed to attend the budget hearing.
Napocor to raise rates in January (www.manilastandardtoday.com)
The state-owned National Power Corp., in a move to recover its various deferred charges, will raise power rates in January, ranging from 8.31 centavos to 51 centavos per kilowatthour nationwide.
The move followed the approval by the Energy Regulatory Commission of Napocor’s application to collect deferred generation, fuel and foreign exchange costs.
Napocor power rates will go up by 12.23 centavos per kilowatthour in Luzon, 8.31 centavos in Visayas and 51 centavos in Mindanao.
Napocor said the new adjustments will be reflected in January electric bills of its consumers, considering that generation charges of distribution utilities and electric cooperatives to their customers have a one-month lag following.
Napocor’s petition under the generation rate adjustment mechanism (GRAM) and incremental currency exchange adjustment (Icera) covers the period October 2004 to March 2005. ¶ 2:03 PM
