Maniolas

Luis Gabriel Moreno [by Abac Cordero via Philstar] Archer Luis Gabriel Moreno did the unexpected when he delivered the gold medal for the Philippines in the second Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China. Moreno, who was ranked 30th among 32 male archers here, teamed up perfectly with China’s Li Jiaman, ranked No. 3 in the women’s side, to win the gold in the mixed team event. The winning tandem stood at the middle of the podium and received their gold medals. Moreno, the flag-bearer of the Philippine delegation to this YOG, said he didn’t expect to win anything in this gathering of over 3,000 athletes from 202 Olympic nations. “I didn’t expect to win anything here. I just gave my best,” he said. It’s the first gold medal for the Philippines in the Youth Olympics for athletes aged 14 to 18 years. In the inaugural staging of the event in 2010 in Singapore, the Philippines didn’t win a single medal. “This is a big win for us coming from a third world country,” Moreno added. In the finals, Moreno and Jiaman defeated Muhammad Zoklepeli of Malaysia and Cynthia Freywald of Germany, 6-0 (38-37, 38-35, 37-33). Moreno clinched the victory with a nine on his last arrow. In the finals, he had 10s in the first and second sets. Jiaman had a 10 in each of the three sets. In the semis against Canada’s Eric Peters and Finland’s Mirjam Tuokkola, the 16-year-old Filipino archer had three straight 10s. The post Gabriel Read More …

Anti-pork barrel advocates will have difficulty gathering enough signatures for the people’s initiative they’ve started to enact a law against lump sum appropriations in the budget, former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Christian Monsod said on Friday. In an interview with News To Go, Monsod—a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission—said anti-pork barrel groups should instead focus on keeping a close eye on the government to make sure it wouldn’t circumvent the Supreme Court’s decision finding the Priority Development Assistance Fund unconstitutional. “I don’t know if they can do it. Mahirap ‘yan,” Monsod said. “Pero nandiyan na ang desisyon ng SC, bantayan na lang kung sumusunod diyan ang executive at legislative. Bantayan lang nila ‘yung circumvention—’yung [sasabihin na] wala nang PDAF, pero meron na namang ibang paraan,” he added. The anti-pork barrel initiative seeks enact a law abolishing the presidential and congressional lump sum funds and mandate line item budgeting. It also seeks to prohibit and to criminalize the appropriation and use of lump sum discretionary funds, and penalize violators with six to 10 years’ imprisonment and disqualification from public office. Organizers are hoping to gather six million signatures until December.  The campaign was launched this month in a series of public activities, including the rally in Luneta on August 25, National Heroes’ Day. The 1987 Constitution allows Filipinos to directly propose laws through a petition signed by at least 10 percent of the total number of registered voters, of which three percent of every legislative district must be represented. —Rose-An Read More …

Dennis Roldan found guilty of kidnapping Fil-Chi boy in 2005. Former Quezon City congressman and actor Dennis Roldan listens as the guilty verdict was handed down by Pasig RTC Judge Rolando Mislang on Tuesday, August 26, over the 2005 kidnap for ransom of a Filipino-Chinese boy. Two other co-accused were also found guilty of the crime. Mariz Umali From the hard court to the House of Representatives to National Bilibid Prisons, Dennis Roldan — convicted Tuesday for the kidnapping of a Filipino-Chinese boy in 2005 — has spent most of his adult life in the limelight, whether he liked it or not, or for good or bad. A report on “24 Oras” on Tuesday said Roldan, real name Mitchell Gumabao, first made a name as a professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in 1983. He later on left the hard court for a stint in showbiz, starring in several movies and soap operas for years. It was while in showbiz that he adopted the name Dennis Roldan. Politics hooked Roldan in the 90s. He initially served as councilor in Quezon City then as third district representative from 1992 to 1995. However, things started to go south for Roldan in March 2002 when he accidentally ran over an 11-year-old child in Quezon City. Although the victim died, no charges were filed against Roldan, who shouldered the kid’s hospital and burial bills. Then in 2005, he and several others were arrested for the kidnapping of then-three-year-old Kenshi Yu. The Read More …

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 …

In March 8, 2013, file photo, a UN peacekeeper from the Philippines UNDOF force crosses to Syria at the Quneitra Crossing between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. The pullout of more than 400 Filipino peacekeepers from Liberia and the Golan Heights may take two to three months, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Monday, Aug. 25, 2014. AP MANILA, Philippines–The pullout of more than 400 Filipino peacekeepers from Liberia and the Golan Heights may take two to three months, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said. “It may take two to three months to complete the process,” DFA spokesman and Assistant Secretary Charles Jose stated on Monday. Malacañang had said over the weekend it was ordering the repatriation of the Filipino soldiers serving as peacekeepers for the United Nations in the Golan Heights in the Middle East and Liberia in West Africa. The government was forced to pull the troops out due to security and health concerns. Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario had said 115 soldiers in Liberia were being recalled because the Ebola virus outbreak “has the potential of being catastrophic.” Top defense and military officials on Monday defended the decision to pull out the 332-strong Filipino peacekeeping mission from the Golan Heights, saying the security equation in the Israeli-occupied territory had changed. Not abandonment  Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin stressed the decision was not an abandonment of the Philippines’ commitment to the UN Disengagement Observer Force since the pullout process would only start in October when the Filipino troops’ five-year Read More …