Maniolas

The Supreme Court has ordered a Manila court to proceed hearing the estafa cases against the executives of Orient Commercial Banking Corporation (OCBC), including its owner, Jose Go, for alleged falsification of checks. In a ruling penned by Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, the SC reversed a September 30, 2009 decision and a January 22, 2010 resolution of the Court of Appeals that upheld the dismissal of the cases against Go and the others that were pending before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 49. “For purposes of proving the crime, it has been shown that Go converted bank funds to his own personal use when they were deposited in his accounts and his personal checks were cleared and the funds were debited from his account. This suffices,” the high court said. The SC ruled that the prosecution’s reliance on supposed loan documents, subsidiary ledgers, deposit slip, cash proof, and other documents was proper. “They are both public and private documents which may be received in evidence; Notably, petitioner’s documentary evidence was admitted in full by the trial court,” it said. OCBC The OCBC was shut down on Oct. 14, 1998 and was placed in receivership by the The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC). A string of estafa cases and other charges were filed against Go in various courts. The PDIC, as the statutory receiver of OCBC, effectively took charge of OCBC’s assets and liabilities in accordance with its mandate under Section 30 of Republic Act 7653. PDIC then began Read More …

Citing threats to his life, retired Major General Jovito Palparan said Sunday he will file a motion to be transferred from Bulacan Provincial Jail to a military detention facility. In a report aired on “Balitanghali”, Palparan said he will also file a petition before the Supreme Court to change of venue of his trial for kidnapping and serious illegal detention from the Bulacan Regional Trial Court to the Sandiganbayan in Quezon City. The former military official is implicated in the disappearance of of college students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño in 2006. Palparan said his trial deserves to be held at the Sandiganbayan by virtue of his rank when the incident that became the basis for the case against him took place. “The crime that was committed happened during my time as commander of the Army 7th Infantry Division.The rank calls for a Sandiganbayan hearing,” he said. Narzal Mallares, a lawyer for Palparan, said last week that the retired general would ask the Malolos Regional Trial Court to allow him to be detained instead at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, where other high-profile detainees are being held. According to Mallares, Palparan’s life is in danger because of the reported presence of detained New People’s Army rebels at the provincial jail, where he is currently detained. Aside from being implicated in the disappearance of Cadapan and Empeño, Palparan was also tagged in several cases of political killings. He earned the nickname “Butcher” from communist rebels and militant groups for Read More …

Advocates for the abolition of the pork barrel system kicked off a signature campaign for a bill that they say will remove discretionary spending in government. Under the Initiative and Referendum Act, petitions need “at least ten per centum of the total number of the registered voters, of which every legislative district is represented by at least three per centum of the registered voters thereof.” The petition, if found sufficient by the Commission on Elections, will be subject to a referendum and will need to get a majority vote for approval. Church for the Poor, one of the groups supporting the initiative, has provided a copy of the petition: People’s Initiative Petition vs. Pork Barrel Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte, in a Palace briefing over government radio on Sunday, declined comment on the initiative but said people are free to pursue it. She said the Palace would rather wait for the results of the campaign, which will need around six million signatures. “Parang six million po yata ‘yung kanilang tina-target and, of course, even if you—if that is achieved, it is the Comelec that will have to check the validity of signatures, et cetera, ‘yon—and so on and so forth,” she said. — JDS, GMA News

Girls and women getting into the artificial fingernails craze may want to think twice – the glue they use to put on the accessories may contain a potential toxin, an ecological group warned. The EcoWaste Coalition said the nail adhesive used to bond the fake nails may be dangerous to one’s health, after encountering plastic nails with no authorization from the Food and Drugs Administration in Divisoria. “The glue’s orange label includes the precautionary warning ‘keep out of reach of children,’ but the product itself is being sold in toy stores and often bought with the intent of re-selling to kids,” said coordinator Aileen Lucero. According to the group, the fingernails come in 20 small plastic packets with six to 12 decorated nails and a small tube of nail adhesive. Such products sell for P50 to P80 per set, or P2.50 to P4 per packet. The group noted the tube label lists the ingredients of the nail adhesive as acetone, carboxylated vinyl resins, hexamethylene, methyl ethyl ketone and dibutyl phthalate. EcoWaster said DBP is classified by the European Chemicals Agency as “toxic to reproduction,” and is banned in cosmetics, and child articles and toys. EU also considers DBP as “dangerous for the environment” and “very toxic to aquatic life,” the group said. According to the group chronic exposure may damage the kidneys, liver and the central nervous system, and cause adverse reproductive effects and birth defects (teratogenic), and may also affect genetic material (mutagenic). The group also expressed concern over Read More …

A lotto bettor won P22.76 million in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s Lotto 6/42 draw Saturday night, with the winning combination of 16-28-13-15-09-08. On the other hand, no one got Saturday night’s Grand Lotto combination of 44-21-07-39-34-14. The Grand Lotto had a jackpot of P110,076,172. The last time a PCSO prize was won was in May 22, when a lone Super Lotto 6/49 bettor won P98,612,308 with the combination of 31-35-04-06-30-03. On April 7, a lone bettor hit the Grand Lotto jackpot, getting the combination of 39-21-42-28-05-27 to win P249,841,572. The biggest lotto prize ever won was the November 2010 Grand Lotto prize worth P741.176 million, won by a lone bettor with the winning combination 11-16-42-47-31-37. — Joel Locsin/DVM, GMA News