Senators want 3 justices to inhibit but Villar,Pimentel are hesistant
April 7, 2008
THE Senate wants Associate Justices Arturo Brion, Renato Corona and Presbitero Velasco to inhibit themselves from acting on its motion for reconsideration on the Supreme Court’s March 25 ruling upholding the petition of former Planning Secretary Romulo Neri to invoke executive privilege.
The Senate legal team and majority leader Francis Pangilinan said the petition for inhibition would be filed after the filing today of the Senate’s motion for reconsideration.
Pangilinan said the petition for inhibition against Brion, Corona and Velasco was due to their supposed close ties with President Arroyo and Neri.
Brion is the President’s latest appointee to the high court. He was Arroyo’s labor secretary. Brion and Neri, as then budget secretary, sat together during Cabinet meetings.
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The Spratly deal covers 6 RP-occupied islands
March 9, 2008
Annex of secret pact bolsters ‘treason’ charge
By YVONNE T. CHUA and ELLEN TORDESILLAS
VERA Files
SIX islands occupied by the Philippines in the disputed Spratly Islands groups are covered by two controversial joint seismic monitoring agreements among the Philippines, China and Vietnam that have come under fire for purportedly “sacrificing” Philippine interests in exchange for huge loans from Beijing.
Based on coordinates provided in the annex to both agreements, the agreement area includes Patag (Flat), Lawak (Nanshan), Parola (Northeast Cay), Panata (Lankiam Cay), Kota (Loaita) and Likas (West York) islands occupied by the Philippine military.
The agreement also covers 24,000 square kilometers of undisputed Philippine territory.
The area’s easternmost edge is around 25 kilometers from the southern tip of Palawan.
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Chinese envoys to RP “offended” by senators handling of ZTE probe
March 9, 2008
Chinese officials in Manila were reportedly displeased by some senators’ recommendation to subpoena them in order to force them to testify on the botched $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with the Philippine government.
A Department of Foreign Affairs official, speaking on condition of anonymity, yesterday said Chinese Embassy officials were “offended and disappointed” because of the Senate’s lack of regard to their diplomatic rights and privileges.
“They said the Senate cannot do just that because it is against the Vienna Convention. They are right. We can’t force them to testify and grill them,” the official stressed.
The official explained the Senate cannot compel the Chinese Embassy to order its diplomats to speak on the NBN deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp. because under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, diplomats are exempted from jurisdiction of the receiving state.
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Gloria ally seeks to pin down JDV in ‘sellout’ of RP territory
March 5, 2008
REP. Luis Villafuerte, president of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino, the political party of President Arroyo, unwittingly dragged her into the investigation into the controversial “Spratly deal” in his effort to pin down former Speaker Jose de Venecia for his role in alleged anomalous transactions with China.
Villafuerte (Camarines Sur) on Tuesday night moved that the House investigate De Venecia’s role in the deal which reportedly allows China to explore the territorial waters of the Philippines in exchange for deals such as the $329 million national broadband network project and the $500 million NorthRail project.
“He’s the one who said he brokered this particular agreement in many statements and press release. He was proud of this agreement,” Villafuerte told the plenary.
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‘SHE’S EVIL’
February 18, 2008
SHE’S evil.
According to engineer Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr., this was how Commission on Higher Education chairman Romulo Neri described President Macapagal-Arroyo during a dinner meeting last December 7 with Senators Panfilo Lacson and Jamby Madrigal.
Lozada, who was also present during that meeting, was visibly upset and hesitant when Lacson pressed him to divulge a certain part of the meeting wherein Neri allegedly called some people “names” to express his disgust at the extent of corruption in government.
But Lacson pointed out to Lozada, a major witness in the Senate probe into the alleged overpriced $329-million national broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corp., that the December 7 dinner meeting already came out in the media and Neri himself had confirmed it had happened.
“I want the exact conversation. Maanghang man, matamis man, mabaho man. Kailangang sabihin mo. We have been hearing innuendos here. Let’s go to the nitty gritty. What are the facts. You tell us the whole story,” Sen.Juan Ponce Enrile told Lozada.
Distraught, Lozada said: “Hinihingi ko lang po in public yung pagpapatawad ng kaibigan ko si Romy. Rom, patawad, di ko kagustuhan ito. He (Neri) called po si Presidente GMA, ahh, ‘she’s evil.’ Evil daw po.”
After saying that, he asked for a short break to compose himself. When the hearing resumed, he appealed to the senators to see to it that Neri, whom he described as a close friend, will “be safe” from any threat or harm.
“I would like the Senate and people to make sure that the life of my friend will never be put in danger,” Lozada said.
Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan asked Lozada why Neri had described Mrs. Arroyo as “evil.” “We want to know the context of such statement,” he told Lozada.
“Kasi Neri wanted to resign sana. Iyung dine-describe niya yung web ng corruption she’s (Mrs.Arroyo) in the middle of,” Lozada said.
Pangilinan again asked why Neri considered resigning. “He’s been agonizing over it because the President lost moral authority over him,” Lozada said.
He said the dinner meeting took place at a bistro on the fifth floor of the Asian Institute of Management. He said that at the time, Neri was already apprehensive that if he testified in the Senate concerning what he knew about the NBN-ZTE scandal, it might cost him his job.
“He was trying to ask me to raise patriotic money, yung pwedeng tumulong sa kanya para mamuhay ulit after his stint sa gobyerno kung magsasalita siya ng alam niya tungkol sa transaction. He was concerned na that sasabihin niya ay ikaaalis sa gobyerno,” Lozada said.
Lozada said that Neri presented his view of how corruption was happening in the government. But Lozada hesitated again when asked whether Neri had mentioned some people allegedly involved in corruption. “Ang dami ng galit sa akin,” he told the senators.
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