Mike Arroyo was again at the witness stand this afternoon in the libel suit he filed against Malaya publisher Jake Macasaet and business editor Rosario Galang.
These are the highlights of Arroyo’s testimony:
He said he undertakes charitable projects to gain points in heaven. “I do it for points in heaven. I do it for the greater glory of God.
A chartered plane carrying Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo to Leyte yesterday turned around over Masbate island after the police received a fax transmission from the judge who had ordered his arrest allowing his continued detention at the Manila Police headquarters.
Judge Ephem S. Abando of branch 18 of the Leyte regional trial court early in the morning said in a radio interview he had agreed to an oral representation of Ocampo’s lawyers that their client’s appearance be deferred until after the Supreme Court hearing on Friday on a petition to stop service of the arrest warrant.
The police, however, said they needed more than a voice over the radio to stop the transfer of Ocampo.
Early this morning, before 5 a.m., PNP officers forcibly took out Bayan Muna Partylist Rep. Satur Ocampo from the Manila Police District and brought to the Manila Domestic Airport. They want to bring him to Hilongos, Leyte.
ABS-CBN reported that Satur refused to take a military helicopter to Leyte as originally planned by the PNP.
Satur missed the 6 a.m. flight to Tacloban and is now at the airport waiting for the 10 a.m. flight.
Satur Ocampo, Bayan Muna partylist representative, by showing up more than a week after an arrest warrant for him was issued and submitting himself to the jurisdiction of the court, has shown the Filipino people and the world his respect for the rule of law.
He showed that he is a better person than his accusers, especially AFP chief Hermogenes Esperon.
Ocampo exposed a skill by Esperon known to the public only now: grave-digging. The AFP chief can surely can put it to good use when Gloria Arroyo is ousted from her stolen power and he goes down with her.
Tumatandang paurong itong si AFP Chief Hermogenes Esperon.
Sinabi niya sa kanyang talumpati sa Manila Overseas Press Club noong Huwebes na kinakailangan ibalik ang Anti-subsersion law na ipinawalang bisa noong 1992.
Ipinakikita ni Esperon kung gaano kakitid ang kanyang pag-iisip. Utak-pulbura talaga.
Lalong tumitibay ang akusasyon na ang military sa ilalim ni Esperon ang may kagagawan ng patayan ng mga miyembro ng progresibong organisasyon at mga journalists na bumabatikos kay Gloria Arroyo.
This is good news to us who are facing libel suits by Mike Arroyo as well as those who filed a class suit against Mike Arroyo.
The most important part of Judge Zenaida Daguna’s decision is: “The First Gentleman, it cannot be denied is a public figure.”
“Well-settled is the rule that public figures have lost, to some extent, their right of privacy because of the following reasons – they had sought publicity and consented to it and so could no complain when they received it, and their personalities and affairs had become public and could no longer be regarded as their own private businesss.”
By Evangeline de Vera in Malaya:
Update: Satur to be transferred to Leyte sans SC order. Click here.
BAYAN Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo appeared yesterday at the Supreme Court to file a petition seeking to stop court proceedings in connection with the murder charge filed against him in connection with communist purging operations.
Immediately after the filing, Ocampo was served by Manila policemen an arrest warrant issued against him March 6 by a Leyte court.
Ocampo, who went into hiding after the arrest warrant was issued, was allegedly among those who ordered the killing of scores of suspected military deep penetration agents in Inopacan town in Leyte in the 80s.
On-the-run Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, a subject of Gloria Arroyo’s political purge, is on YouTube appealing to the international community who have expressed alarm over the human rights situation in the Philippines to pressure the Arroyo administration to stop the unabated repression and the killings.
Nakakagalit ang ginawa ng administrasyong Arroyo na pagpapatay sa mga sinususpetsahan nilang kalaban nila.
Ganoon din ang pagpakalat ng military sa mga lugar ng mahihirap at sa mga paaralan sa Metro Manila.
Ngunit ang nakakabahala ay ang parang pagsawalang kibo ng karamihan sa atin. Mas nakakabahala pa ang pagtanggap kuno ng ilang residente ng pagkalat ng ma military sa kanilang kapaligiran.
Following story by Gerald Naval in Malaya. Picture borrowed from Ivan Henares without his permission.
FORMER Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) general managers Angelito Banayo and Nixon Kua yesterday asked Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano to bring charges against current PTA chief Robert Dean Barbers at the Office of the Ombudsman and the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission over the sports complex Barbers is building outside the walls of Intramuros.
Banayo and Kua said the construction is illegal and is putting the centuries-old walls of Intramuros in peril.