Maniolas

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales has asked the Supreme Court to create at least two special divisions of the Sandiganbayan to “exclusively try and conduct continuous trial” of the cases related to the alleged mulribillion-peso pork barrel fund scam. According to a post on the Ombudsman’s website, Morales has asked Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to consider creating the special divisions due to the “national magnitude of these cases, the complexities of the issues involved, the number of accused and the far-reaching consequences of these cases.” Morales made the request after the Ombudsman on Friday filed before the Sandiganbayan plunder charges against alleged scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles, Senate Minority Floor Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, Senator Jinggoy Estrada and Senator Ramon ‘Bong’ Revilla Jr. The last time a special division of the anti-graft court was created was in 2001 when former President Joseph Estrada was indicted for plunder. Jinggoy Estrada was also an accused in the earlier plunder case involving proceeds from the illegal numbers game jueteng. The news release said Morales’ letter to Sereno cited Section Five, Article Eight of the Philippine Constitution, which indicates that the Supreme Court has the power to “promulgate rules concerning x x x pleading, practice, and procedure in all courts.” Napoles’ racket involved the diversion of billions of pesos worth of livelihood projects and farm inputs intended for poor farmers to her fake non-government organizations and ghost projects.   Under the scheme, lawmakers and government officials get kickbacks for allowing priority development assistance funds to be Read More …

Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. may ask the Supreme Court to intervene in plunder charges filed against him after the Office of the Ombudsman junked a motion for reconsideration on the charges. Revilla is among three senators charged with plunder at the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court on Friday afternoon in relation to the supposed diversion of Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations to fake foundations connected to businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles. A report on “Balitanghali” prior to the filing of the charges said Revilla’s camp has yet to receive a copy of the Ombudsman’s resolution. They are studying their options, which includes bringing the matter before the SC through a Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition, said lawyer Joel Bodegon, Revilla’s counsel. Bodegon also countered the Ombudsman’s comment that their motion was rehashed. “Kung susuriin natin ang motion for reconsideration namin, meron kaming mga bagong argumento,” he said in an interview with GMA-7’s “Unang Balita”, also on Friday. “Kung susuriin ito, dapat ang resolusyon na ‘yun ay iba at dapat i-dismiss nila ang kaso laban kay Senator Bong Revilla.” In a statement issued after his motion for reconsideration was dismissed on Thursday, Revilla said he never expected the Ombudsman to rule in his favor. “Tanggap ko at inaasahan ko naman talaga ang desisyong ito na babalewalain nila ang aming motion for reconsideration dahil wala naman talaga kaming mahihita at ni hindi man lamang nila binabasa ang aming apela,” he said. — Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/JDS, GMA News

Filipino and Vietnamese troops will engage in a light-hearted round of sports diplomacy on contested islands in the South China Sea, the Philippines said Thursday, as tensions worsen with China. Basketball, beach volleyball and tug-of-war games will be held this weekend on tiny islands that are claimed by nations to show that rivals can still be friends, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said. “This is camaraderie. That is a friendly gesture,” del Rosario told reporters. The games will be held in the Spratly archipelago, a powder keg area of the South China Sea that is coveted by the Philippines, Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. All the claimants except for Brunei have for decades occupied islands in the Spratlys in a bid to block any of the others. It is part of a broader struggle for control over the South China Sea, which has enormous trade and military significance as it is the main maritime link between the Pacific and Indian oceans. China claims nearly all of the sea, which is also believed to contain vast deposits of oil and gas, even waters approaching the coasts of its neighbours. The Philippines and Vietnam have voiced growing alarm in recent years at what they perceive as China’s bullying tactics in staking its claims to the sea. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said last month that China had become a serious threat to peace, after the deployment of a Chinese oil rig in the Paracel archipelago to the north of the Read More …

PNoy meets EU rep Kristalina Georgieva. President Benigno Aquino III welcomes European Union Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Kristalina Georgieva during the Asia-Europe Meeting Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management at Diamond Hotel in Manila on Thursday, June 5. Also in photo is Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario. Gil Nartea The European Union commissioner on humanitarian aid on Thursday announced a €30 million grant for the Philippine government to increase the EU’s reconstruction assistance in areas destroyed by super-typhoon Yolanda. Kristalina  Georgieva, the EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, announced the grant in Manila, where she is attending the Asia-Europe Meeting n Disaster Risk Reduction and Management. Georgieva also went to Tacloban City to see the progress of EU-funded projects in the communities affected by the strongest typhoon ever in recorded history. A statement from the EU delegation to the Philippines said, “EU-funded humanitarian actions have already greatly contributed to meeting the emergency needs of the survivors of the world’s most destructive typhoon ever recorded to have made landfall. But the road to reconstruction is still long.” “My visit to Tacloban has been a stark reminder of the devastation which hit the Philippines last November,” Georgieva said. “Seven months on, many survivors are still struggling to recover. The need for assistance remains, but my visit has also been full of encouragement. Everywhere I turned, I saw people rebuilding their homes, replanting their fields, or reopening their businesses,” she added. “While there Read More …

A ranking police official on Thursday said a complaint has been filed against the lawyers of arrested businessman Delfin Lee for obstruction of justice. “I personally filed the case against the lawyers because of deception,” said Director Benjamin Magalong, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG). The two — William Rivera and Gilbert Requiso — were accused of muddling the status of the arrest warrant on Lee, a suspect in a multi-billion housing scam. “They made it appear that [the] arrest warrant was already lifted when in fact it’s not,” said Magalong. “I have consulted third party lawyers on this and they said that there are grounds to file a case against them,” he added. The warrant was issued by a Pampanga court in connection with the alleged double sale of house and lots and other units under Globe Asiatique Inc., which Lee owns. Lee was arrested last March after more than a year of hiding, but his lawyers questioned the arrest, saying the Court of Appeals had ordered the lifting of the warrant in November last year. The Pampanga court, however, had yet to act on the CA order pending the resolution of another motion filed with the Supreme Court. Despite this, Rivera and Requiso allegedly used the CA order to ask Philippine National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima to remove Lee from the police wanted list. At the time, the police were unaware of another motion pending with the high court. —KBK, GMA News