Andrea Rosal arrives at baby daughter’s wake

 General
May 212014
 
Andrea Rosal arrives at baby daughter’s wake

(Updated 2:35 p.m.) Suspected communist leader Andrea Rosal on Wednesday arrived at the wake of her baby daughter at Iglesia Filipina Independiente National Cathedral on Taft Avenue in Manila. According to a report on GMA News TV’s News TV Live, Rosal, who was heavily guarded, arrived at the cathedral shortly after 2 p.m. In a phone interview with GMA News Online, Karapatan’s media liaison Donna Quidayan said Rosal has requested for 30 minutes of privacy with her family. A mass and eulogy will then follow, which will be open to the public, she added. Meanwhile, according to Bagong Alyansang Makabayan group secretary general Renato Reyes Jr., some of the priests have asked the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology officers escorting Rosal to leave the cathedral. On Tuesday, the Taguig Regional Trial Court’s Branch 266 allowed Rosal to attend the wake on Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., after which she will have to be brought back to Camp Aguinaldo where she is detained on kidnapping and murder charges. The court, however, denied her petition to attend her daughter’s burial scheduled on Thursday in her hometown of Ibaan, Batangas. Rosal, who gave birth to Diona Andrea on Saturday, is the daughter of the late rebel spokesman Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal. She is also a suspected leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army. The infant died Sunday afternoon at the Philippine General Hospital due to oxygen deficiency in the blood. Militant groups have blamed prison Read More …

Report: 8 vessels from southern PHL ‘intercepted’ off Sabah

 News
May 202014
 
Report: 8 vessels from southern PHL ‘intercepted’ off Sabah

At least eight vessels allegedly from southern Philippines were intercepted off Sabah since Tuesday morning, a Malaysian news site reported Wednesday. The crew of one of the eight vessels – a pump boat – was detained off the Pulau Pandanan in Sabah, Malaysia’s The Star Online reported. Eastern Sabah Security Command Maritime Enforcement director First Admiral M Karunanithi said the first vessel was intercepted at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, spotted by the Maritime Enforcement Agency vessel “KM Banggi” near Pulau Mataking. But the crew of the vessel, appearing to realize they had been seen, sped toward the Philippine waters through the Alice Reef, The Star Online report said. After about 30 minutes, the KM Banggi crew saw seven more unidentified craft, each moving at about 30 knots. The crews of the seven vessels also headed toward Philippine waters when they realized they were sighted. Despite this, the KM Banggi crew caught and detained one of the pump boats with two people on board. Found aboard the vessel were 25 jerry cans believed used to smuggle fuel from Sabah to southern Philippines. — Joel Locsin /LBG, GMA News

Group condemns court decision prohibiting Andrea Rosal from attending baby's burial

 News
May 202014
 
Group condemns court decision prohibiting Andrea Rosal from attending baby's burial

A militant human rights group on Wednesday condemned a Taguig court’s decision denying the petition of suspected communist leader Andrea Rosal to attend her baby’s burial on Thursday. In a statement, the group Karapatan expressed its disapproval over the court’s decision to allow Rosal only three hours to visit the wake of her daughter, who died a day after she was born last weekend. “The short span of time allowed for Andrea to visit her daughter’s wake is rather cruel considering that this would be the last time that she would be with her daughter,” Pastor Beth Tendero, spokesperson of Free Andrea Movement, was quoted as saying in the statement. “The court has not allowed Andrea to grieve for her newborn, even while they were still at PGH (Philippine General Hospital). For the last time again, they are depriving Andrea of her right as a mother,” she added. On Tuesday, the Taguig Regional Trial Court’s Branch 266 allowed Rosal to attend the wake on Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., after which she would have to be brought back to Camp Aguinaldo where she is detained on kidnapping and murder charges. The court, however, denied her petition to attend her daughter’s burial scheduled on Thursday in her hometown of Ibaan, Batangas. Rosal, who gave birth to Diona Andrea on Saturday, is the daughter of the late rebel spokesman Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal. She is also a suspected leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army. Read More …

Comelec en banc disqualifies Laguna Gov Ejercito for campaign overspending

 News
May 202014
 
Comelec en banc disqualifies Laguna Gov Ejercito for campaign overspending

The Commission on Elections en banc, in a unanimous decision, ordered on Wednesday the disqualification of incumbent Laguna Governor Emilio Ramon “ER” Ejercito for overspending during the May 2013 elections. In a press conference, Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes said the en banc promulgated and upheld the September 2013 decision of the poll body’s First Division. He said Ejercito shelled out P6 million in just one contract for television advertisement for his campaign last year. Ejercito is allowed to spend P4.5 million for his entire campaign. He said candidates are only allowed to spend P3 per registered voter. Laguna has a total 1,525,522 voters. Ejercito won as Laguna governor in the 2013 elections with a total 549,310 votes. Brillantes said Ejercito has five days to bring his case before the Supreme Court. If there will be no action by that time, the order will be implemented. Laguna Vice Governor Ramil Hernandez will take over Ejercito’s post. The disqualification case stemmed from a petition filed by Ejercito’s close rival Edgar “Egay” San Luis. Brillantes said the poll body took the cue from the petition and audited Ejercito’s campaign expense report. — Amita O. Legaspi /LBG, GMA News

Napoles suffers bleeding, lawyers to appeal for longer hospital stay

 News
May 202014
 
Napoles suffers bleeding, lawyers to appeal for longer hospital stay

The camp of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles is set to ask a Makati court to recall its order for the return of the controversial businesswoman to her detention cell in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, due to bleeding. Lawyer Fay Isaguirre Singson, one of Napoles’ lawyers, said they will file this Wednesday the motion to recall and reconsider the order dated May 20 issued by Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda. “Her bleeding started on May 17 and last night her doctors, including Dr. Elsie Badillo-Pascua, visited her and confirmed that there was vaginal bleeding,” Singson told GMA News Online over the phone. She said the doctors recommended that Napoles have complete bed rest. “The doctors also recommended continuous hospital stay,” the lawyer said. Singson said they will include the written recommendation of the doctors in the progress report of Ospital ng Makati and attach it to the motion they will file before the court. “Because of the supervening event which is the bleeding, we have to adjust our actions. We did not foresee and we have no control over the situation,” she said. The lawyer said the main ground for the motion is the bleeding being experienced by Napoles. On Tuesday afternoon, Judge Alameda denied the earlier appeal of Napoles to extend her hospital stay.  He ordered the Philippine National Police to transfer Napoles on or before May 23. Alameda noted that after a month has passed since Napoles underwent surgery, “her attending physicians may Read More …

Lawyer: NBI to submit Luy’s digital files to Senate

 News
May 202014
 
Lawyer: NBI to submit Luy’s digital files to Senate

The camp of Benhur Luy on Wednesday said it will leave it up to the National Bureau of Investigation to submit to the Senate the digital files of the principal whistleblower on the P10-billion pork barrel fund scam. This was according to Luy’s legal counsel Raji Mendoza, when asked when their camp plans to comply with a subpoena issued last week by the Senate blue ribbon committee requiring them to hand over the files. “We will be complying through the proper protocol on evidence which is to submit an authenticated copy of the files,” Mendoza told GMA News Online. He said the authenticated files would be coming from the NBI, which earlier obtained a copy of them from the Luy family for its investigation on the multi-billion-peso diversion of Priority Development Assistance Fund and Malampaya gas fund. “We have already coordinated with the NBI and we have already informed the Senate blue ribbon committee that the digital files will be coming from the NBI,” said Mendoza. The subpoena for the digital files came on the heels of an earlier subpoena for alleged fund mess mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles’ affidavit and list of individuals said to be involved in the scam. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had already complied with the subpoena on the affidavit and list. Last week, De Lima said she has still yet to speak with the NBI and the camp of Luy on how to go about complying with the subpoena on Luy’s digital files.  Luy, a former Read More …

PHL economy to double in next decade: think-tank

 Entertainment
May 202014
 
PHL economy to double in next decade: think-tank

President Benigno S. Aquino III, assisted by SACASOL’s chairman Jose Maria “Jomari” Zabaleta and president Jose Maria “Sech” Zabaleta, Jr., leads the Ceremonial Switch-on of the San Carlos Solar Energy, Inc. (SACASOL) Phase I during the Inauguration Ceremony at the San Carlos Ecozone in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental on Thursday (May 15, 2014). The SaCaSol project is a greenfield, stand alone solar farm that would supply daytime base load power to the local grid throughout the entire year. It is expected to have a total gross capacity of 22 MW to be developed in two phases: Phase 1 with 13 MW and Phase 2 with 9 MW. The solar farm will provide supplemental electricity to an area of short supply and increasing demand for power. Its goal is to harness sustainable power from our planet’s largest source of energy, the sun. The Project is committed to maintaining the environmental integrity of the surrounding area. (MNS photo) MANILA (AFP) – The Philippine economy will more than double in the next decade as earnings from overseas workers and business outsourcing surge, a respected US-based think-tank said Monday. Once the region’s perennial economic laggard, the Southeast Asian country is poised to stage a major comeback to be one of the top three economies in the region by 2030, forecast Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist for IHS. “(The) Philippines economy has undergone a remarkable transition from a pussycat into a tiger economy over the last decade,” he said in a statement issued ahead Read More …

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