by Victor Reyes
The Armed Forces has deployed additional troops to Metro Manila to pre-empt possible attempts to grab power during protest rallies scheduled for Monday.
A composite battalion arrived at the headquarters of the AFP National Capital Region Command (NCRcom) in Camp Aguinaldo Wednesday from nearby provinces, Maj. Gen. Fernando Mesa, NCRcom chief, said yesterday.
No arraignment took place yesterday in the court martial hearing of the 28 officers accused of withdrawing support from Gloria Arroyo two years ago.
The court, though, denied the motion of Atty. Homobono Adaza for a suspension of the hearings for 45 days as a cooling off period. He said there’s no point “for both parties to be shouting at each other now,” when considering the current political situation, the case might be “moot and academic” in a few weeks time.
The court also didn’t agree with the defense that they have to wait for five days after service of the corrected amended charge sheet which was yesterday before they can go to arraignment.The five- day wait, the court said, applies only to the original charge sheet.
On days that Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada was testifying in the Senate, all the taxis that I took had the drivers tuned in to the live coverage of the Senate hearings. The drivers by now know the story of the NBN/ZTE, including the riveting kidnapping episode.
No doubt, the broadband deal has become a blockbuster. Rightly so, with a $329 million (P16.4 billion at the exchange rate of P50 to $1 at the time it was negotiated). It’s turning out to be mind-boggling in scope and audacity.
Although the title NBN/ZTE deal has already become a byword, there have been more colorful quotes from participants like “back off” or “may 200 ka dito” and the most recent “moderate their greed.”
Luneta protest moved to Makati
by Regina Bengco
Malacañang yesterday said government would allow its critics to hold a prayer rally on Friday but the justice department would monitor it for seditious statements.
“Hintayin natin ang mangyayari. Hindi namin sila pipigilan,” said chief presidential legal counsel Sergio Apostol.
I.The Godmother: fight the Philippine Mafia – a film showing
May we invite you to cover the “Premiere of the Godmother: Fight the Philippine Mafia”, a press conference and forum exposing the Philippine president and her “mafia” and revealing human rights violations under the present administration on February 22, 2008, Friday, 9:30 AM at the Sta. Ana Room, 3rd Floor, College of Law, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.
Sa gitna ng pagsubok, hindi nakakalimutan ng Pilipino ang tumawa.
Noong Martes, ang court martial hearing ng 28 na opisyal na sangkot raw sa withdrawal of support kay Gloria Arroyo noong February 2006 sa pangunguna ni Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda at Brig. Gen. Danny Lim ay medyo tensyunado dahil alam ng lahat na may order si AFP Chief Hermogenes Esperon na i-arraign o isakdal na sila ng pormal ngayong linggo.
Magdalawang taon na kasi at kung hindi pa sila maisakdal sa Martes, Feb. 26, i-dismis na ang isang akusasyon, ang “Conduct Unbecoming of an Officer and a Gentleman” na ang parusa ay dismissal sa serbisyo.
Take note of the yellow steel bars that confine the accused officers to a certain area of the courtroom.
As they mark next week two years in detention, the 28 officers facing trial for allegedly planning to withdraw support from Gloria Arroyo in February 2006, issued this statement on Truth.
In a statement that undermines the independence of the court martial trying the case,AFP Chief Hermogenes Esperon has made public statements that “they will be arraigned.” Court martial hearing resumes tomorrow.
It is often said that “the truth will set you free.” But this would be understood in the philosophical and moral context, because the truth, in many cases will send a person to prison. Mr. Lozada does not appear to be a saint, but the truth may have set him “free,” as perhaps, it was a means for him to attain peace with his own God and to reconcile himself with his concept of what is just and good. However, for Mrs. Arroyo, some members of her family, and their cohorts, including Mr. Esperon, the truth will send them to prison.
Text going around: “Yesterday, evil. Now, a bitch.”
From ABS-CBN online:
It was may have been a joke but it made its mark nonetheless, especially now that President Arroyo is being besieged by ouster calls amid allegations of corruption in her administration.
On Wednesday, one of the President’s economic advisers referred to her as the “luckiest b*tch around” during a forum attended by businessmen and business leaders.
Related story: Gaite admits giving P500,000 to Lozada. It’s his personal money,he said.
Asked in a press conference about the P500,000 that his deputy for legal affairs, Manuel Gaite, gave Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada for shopping money in Hongkong, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said he can’t say anything about it since it is connected to the NBN/ZTE issue, which is now subjudice because the Ombudsman has started its investigation on the matter.
That gave away the real purpose of the Ombudsman investigation: To stop public discussion of the matter. That will also save Malacañang officials from explaining the unexplainable. It’s part of a grand cover-up
Erap had a similar photo a few weeks before his downfall
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo walks with CHED Chairman Rony Nery,Vice President Noli de Castro, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Finance Secretary Gary Teves, Trade Secretary Peter Favila other members of her Cabinet, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, and Philippine National Police Chief Director General Avelino Razon on their way to the Aguinaldo State Dining Room in Malacanang where she presided over the joint Procurement Transparency Group-National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-Cabinet Group Meeting Tuesday (Feb. 19). (Rey Baniquet/OPS-NIB Photo)
by Jocelyn Montemayor
Malaya
President Arroyo and Cabinet members yesterday walked from the Premier Guest House to the State Dining Room in Malacañang and had their pictures taken for what the Palace said was a “solidarity walk.”