Maniolas

Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. will have to bear the heat inside his detention cell for now because he needs a court order for the coveted air cooler. “‘Yung request for an air cooler will have to be addressed to the court,” Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Supt.  Reuben Theodore Sindac told reporters on Sunday. “Hopefully, they (Revilla camp) will be able to manifest this to the court as soon as possible,” he said. Revilla’s case has been referred to the Fifth Division of the Sandiganbayan. The senator has been detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center since he surrendered at the Sandiganbayan on Friday. The anti-graft court issued a warrant of arrest against the senator last Friday for graft and plunder charges in connection to the P10-billion pork barrel scam. Revilla has denied the charges against him and has said they are meant to remove obstacles to the administration Liberal Party’s presidential campaign in 2016. Revilla is chairman of the minority Lakas party. On Friday, Revilla’s wife, Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado-Revilla, lamented that the senator was suffering from a heat-induced headache. — Rouchelle Dinglasan/JDS, GMA News

After migraines and the heat, Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. faces a new possible health risk while in detention – overeating. Revilla’s wife Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado said this Sunday, even as she asked relatives to go easy on bringing food to her lawmaker husband. “Sabi ko baka mag-gain ng pounds,” Mercado said in an interview on dzBB radio, noting relatives had been bringing in food to the senator in his first two days in the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame. Besides, she said too much food could attract cockroaches and rats, which she said they had seen inside the facility. “Sa pagkain, sabi namin tama na, baka magsaya doon ang daga at ipis,” she said. For now, she said the senator has an exercise-yoga mat he can use to work out. Revilla was detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame Friday, hours after surrendering to the Sandiganbayan. The anti-graft court had issued a warrant for his arrest based on graft and plunder charges stemming from the P10-billion pork barrel scam. Revilla had insisted he is innocent of the charges. Meanwhile, Mercado said another concern is that her husband is alone in his detention cell, and is far from guards. This could be a problem if he has a migraine attack or health problem, she said. “Yan ang worry, ‘pag wala siyang kasama at hindi niya matitimbrehan ang guard… malayo layo ang guard,” she said. — Joel Locsin /LBG, GMA News

Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.’s wife is snubbing President Benigno Aquino III’s State of the Nation Address this July, saying she expects him to crow about her husband’s arrest and detention over the P10-billion pork barrel scam. Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado said this will be the second time she will not be attending Aquino’s SONA, which is scheduled July 28 at the House of Representatives’ complex in Quezon City. “I have no intention of attending. This will be the second time…,” she said in an interview on dzBB radio. On Friday, Revilla was placed under detention at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, after he surrendered to the Sandiganbayan. Revilla faces graft and plunder charges before the anti-graft court in connection with the multibillion-peso scam. Mercado said she and Revilla had been victims of a shame campaign by Aquino, adding Aquino is “bound to do that” in his SONA. “Oh yes. Naging biktima na kami ng maraming [pamamahiya] and he’s bound to do that,” she said when asked if she expects Aquino to mention Revilla’s detention. She added Aquino shamed her husband by telling people not to believe in “anting anting” and “agimat” during a speaking engagement in Cavite, Revilla’s home province. In his speech in February, the president said the electorate should not take their chances on “agimat” or “anting-anting (amulets)” – a statement that could be construed as referring to Bong Revilla and his family. Last Independence Day, Mercado said Aquino took a dig at Read More …

President Benigno Aquino III has yet to choose a new associate justice for the Sandiganbayan more than 90 days after a vacancy was created when Associate Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang was appointed presiding justice of the anti-graft court. According to a report on “24 Oras” aired Saturday, the president found out that one of the nominees for the position, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Bernelito Fernandez, was recommended to the position by Senator Juan Ponce Enrile in 2012. Enrile is one of three senators charged with graft and plunder before the Sandiganbayan over their alleged participation in the Priority Development Assistance Fund. According to the Palace, the president has asked the Judicial and Bar Council, which prepares a list of nominees for vacancies in the judiciary for additional information on the nominees. The request was made because the president wants the appointee to be “beyond suspicion” especially since PDAF cases are already with the Sandiganbayan. “Considering na sa Sandiganbayan po ‘yung puwestong pinag-uusapan natin, kung saan tumatayong akusado ‘yung nag-endorso sa kanya, siguro po malinaw naman ‘yung duty ng Executive na i-verify muna at i-clarify ‘yung katayuan; at kung meron pa hong similar cases that would apply to those in the shortlist, kung merong similar circumstances,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a briefing over government radio dzRB on Saturday.   Valte added: “We expect some movements in filling this particular position very soon.” Judge Fernandez has confirmed that he asked for Enrile’s recommendation, but said that that was Read More …

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has called for the linkage of the peace pacts with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), saying the Philippine government “overlooked” the previous agreements. “The support of the rapprochement of both fronts and legal follow up of the implementation of the new agreement and the compliance of the Philippine government to its text and soul is unavoidable if we want Bangsamoro Muslim people in the Philippines to obtain their most basic rights,” OIC secretary-general Iyad Ameen Madani said at the 41st Session of The Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers Session of Exploring Areas of Islamic Cooperation held in Saudi Arabia last June 18. He said that there is a need to do this because “all factions” of the MNLF opposed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and the declared texts of the new pact “do not mention or build explicitly” on the Tripoli and Jakarta Agreements of 1976 and 1997 with the MNLF. “Being the two conventions which establish the position of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation towards that conflict – the General Secretariat has spared no effort to bring the two fronts together,” he said. “They actually met a few days ago and reached a memorandum of understanding which we hope will be the basis for bridging the gap between them and establishing a united national front that follows up the implementation of the new agreement and links it to the previous agreements overlooked by Read More …