Corona dollar accounts in trust for kids?
MANILA, Philippines – Lead defense lawyer Serafin Cuevas blew his top in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona on Thursday amid questions by Senator-judge Ralph Recto on Corona’s bank accounts.
He accused Recto of looking only at the evidence presented by the prosecution.
Cuevas also objected to what he felt was Recto’s alleged bias in favor of the prosecution.
“You are making a summation of facts solely on the basis in favor of one party. There is no evidence yet on our part. The only …

MANILA, Philippines – The wife of Sen. Lito Lapid is now required to wear an ankle monitor after being placed under house arrest in the US for allegedly smuggling $50,000 in cash last November 27.
Marissa Lapid was arrested at the Las Vegas International Airport last January 15. The arrest was based on a warrant issued last January 5 for allegedly smuggling $50,000 in cash last Nov. 27.
In a copy of the arrest warrant obtained by ABS-CBN North America News Bureau’s Bev Llorente, the senator’s wife said she only had with …

MANILA, Philippines – A loyal servant of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo or a fierce protector of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? House prosecutors and defense lawyers presented different pictures of embattled Chief Justice Renato Corona at the start of his impeachment trial in the Senate Monday.
Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Sr. described Corona as a “loyal servant” of Mrs. Arroyo even before she became president in 2001. He said Corona’s loyalty reaped numerous rewards.
“Imagine, GMA paid for his back surgery. His wife was given plum positions in the …

MANILA, Philippines – Former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo wants the Supreme Court to nullify the filing of electoral sabotage raps and the subsequent warrant of arrest against his wife, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
In an urgent petition filed before the Court, Arroyo is asking the SC to declare all the actions of the Joint Department of Justice-Commission on Elections fact finding and preliminary investigation committee to be illegal.
This includes the filing of information which was basis for last Friday’s issuance of a warrant of arrest.
“All the acts so far performed …

The Maguindanao massacre trial prosecution will ask a Quezon City court to arraign “as soon as possible” murder suspect Rizaldy Ampatuan in the high-profile case, almost two years after the killings happened.
The request came after the Court of Appeals Eleventh Division upheld — 4-1 — in a ruling the suspect’s inclusion on the charge sheet on the killing of 57 people at Barangay Salman in Ampatuan, Maguindanao on November 23, 2009.
However, prosecution cannot yet ask Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the QC Regional Trial Court Branch 221 to arraign Ampatuan due …

Col. Moammar Gadhafi, the dictator who ruled Libya for 42 years, was killed by rebels in his hometown of Sirte on Thursday. A dictator who oppressed his own people and sponsored terrorism abroad, Gadhafi’s legacy will be stained by violence. But beyond his brutality, Gadhafi will be remembered for something else entirely… being a first-class weirdo.
In no particular order, ABCNews.com brings you the seven weirdest things about Moammar Gadhafi.
1. The “Bulletproof” Tent: When Gadhafi was at home in Tripoli, he lived in a well fortified compound with a complex system …

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 was voted the world’s worst airport for 2011 by readers of “The Guide to Sleeping in Airports,” a site that reviews the quality and facilities of the world’s airports.
Its primary audience seems to be budget travelers who see sleeping in airports as one way to save money during their journeys.
Among the array of problems cited by international passengers who managed to survive the airport were theft, bribery, and the absence of toilet seats and running water in the bathrooms.
One reader had this experience:
“A big …

By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
2:00 am | Saturday, October 8th, 2011
With the possibility raised that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband could be in jail on nonbailable charges by Christmas, some lawmakers are wondering whether the couple will do “a Thaksin” or “an Erap,” (Joseph Estrada).
“They may likely do a Thaksin,” said Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao.
“The possibility [of seeking political asylum] is strong considering that the charges against them, ranging from plunder to electoral sabotage, are nonbailable offenses,” he said.
Aggabao was referring to Thaksin Shinawatra, the former …

KIMBERLY JANE TAN, GMA News
09/13/2011 | 10:48 AM
Photo Credit: Here
A former Shari’a court judge has admitted helping distribute alleged bribe money to help then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo win the 2004 presidential polls.
During Tuesday’s Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on the PNP choppers mess, Judge Nagamura Moner said that on May 13, 2004, former Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) director general Alfonso Cusi called him up to help Mrs. Arroyo.
“I received a call from Alfonso Cusi (at) about 9:30 p.m. telling me that I should go to Cotabato City, Tawi-Tawi, and …

How are you doing President Noynoy?
Well, my name is Reyna Elena. I was your number one supporter during the election, attacked by an unbelievable online hatred during the campaign because of my support for your presidency. Aherrm!
Oh, by the way, I thought I’d share this with you.
Here is my Elementary School in Castilla, Sorsogon. This picture was taken last week by my friend from Amsterdam. It’s one Uragon building. One unbelievable technology. The best. Western standards will drool at how mini, major and super-typhoons blasted that building away …

ANDREO C. CALONZO, GMA News
08/11/2011 | 10:30 PM
Results of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) recount of votes for newly proclaimed Senator Aquilino Pimentel III prove that massive cheating marred the 2007 elections, an official of the tribunal said Thursday.
After Pimentel’s proclamation in Pasay City on Thursday, SET Secretary Irene Guevarra told reporters “just the fact that there were many spurious ballots is an indication of electoral fraud.”
Deliberating on Pimentel’s electoral protest, the tribunal found more than 250,000 fake ballots from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Lanao del Norte, …

MANILA, Philippines – The Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) lawyer, who committed suicide after being caught up in an investigation into alleged anomalous transactions of the bank, was laid to rest on Saturday.
Benjamin Pinpin was buried at Loyola Memorial Park in Parañaque City past 4 p.m. following a requiem mass at the Holy Trinity Memorial Chapel around 12 noon.
Pinpin’s funeral service was attended by his family, friends and co-workers, who wore black clothes to mourn his death.
Pinpin was found dead in a bathroom of a hotel room in Las …

Gov’t needs smoking gun-type of witnesses, says IPER
MANILA, Philippines – The think-tank Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms (IPER) believes that the 2004 and 2007 poll fraud witnesses, their testimonies, and their evidence are not enough to muster a strong guilty verdict against the alleged masterminds, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and husband Mike Arroyo.
IPER Executive Director Ramon Casiple said what the government needs are smoking gun-type of witnesses who had direct participation and an eyewitness to the Arroyos physically orchestrating the election fraud.
He said this could include hearing the …

SOPHIA M. DEDACE, GMA News
08/04/2011 | 11:14 AM
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday filed a tax evasion complaint against Carlota Cristi Manalo-Tan, the owner of the company that supplied the bulk of the P1-billion coffee purchases of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR).
BIR commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares said Manalo-Tan defrauded the government of about P59 million in aggregate tax liabilities.
The BIR said Manalo-Tan earned almost P107 million in 2003 and 2004, but she supposedly reported only a total of P41.88 million for those taxable years.
As of posting time, …

MANILA, Philippines — A new witness appeared and pointed to former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo as having allegedly ordered the sale of two second-hand helicopters as brand new to the Philippine National Police (PNP), a witness told a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
In his testimony before the blue ribbon committee, Hilario de Vera, president and general manager of Manila Aerospace Products Trading Corporation (MAPTRA), said that Arroyo’s name was mentioned in one of his meetings with Archibald Po, president of the Lionair Incorporated.
Lionair Inc is the exclusive distributor of Robinson …

by Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News
Posted at 08/01/2011 12:29 PM | Updated as of 08/01/2011 12:32 PM
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice (DOJ) will issue a watch list order against former Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano today.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima told reporters on Monday that Garcillano will be placed on the immigration watch list.
“In the side of caution and because it [placing Garcillano on watch list] involves national interest,” De Lima said.
This means Garcillano cannot leave the country without permission from the government.
Garcillano got involved in the “Hello, Garci” 2004 …

“By the authority of the President:”
Malacañang on Friday fired Deputy Ombudsman Emilio Gonzalez III implicated in last year’s Rizal Park hostage-taking fiasco—and immediately met open defiance from the Office of the Ombudsman. The Incident and Investigation Review Committee (IIRC) that initially looked into the hostage incident found Gonzalez to have “committed serious and inexcusable negligence and gross violation of their own rules of procedure by allowing Mendoza’s motion for reconsideration to languish for nine months without any justification.”
The Palace also found “substantial evidence” to support the allegation that Gonzalez, deputy …

Aquino spokesmen: Spare people the trauma

BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
AS her impeachment trial at the Senate looms, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez was besieged yesterday with calls to either face the music or just resign.
In Singapore, President Aquino said the Ombudsman has no other recourse but to face the music.
“May prosesong dadaanan (sa Kongreso) pero at the end of the day, hindi naman ho pwedeng hindi nila harapin yung mga isyu na pagkatagal-tagal na sa kanila,” he told reporters.
In Manila, Secretary Ramon “Ricky” Carandang of Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office said only …

MANILA, Philippines—The houses that two former generals allegedly bought or rented using taxpayer money allotted to the Armed Forces took up much of Friday’s hearing at the Senate.
The blue-ribbon committee resumed its inquiry into the controversial plea bargain between state prosecutors and former military comptroller Carlos Garcia with the suicide of former AFP chief Angelo Reyes casting a cloud over the proceedings.
But nothing was said of Reyes’ alleged receipt of money from a purported military slush fund. Instead, the senators zeroed in on the houses, including a mansion at the …

Defense lawyers in the Maguindanao massacre case on Wednesday warned the prosecution and the victims’ families against putting them in bad light after one of them complained before the court that he was described as “baliw” (crazy) in one Twitter account.
During the resumption of the hearing at the Quezon City Hall of Justice, lawyer Paris Real, who once noted that some of the 57 victims may have died from insect bites or poisoning, cried foul over how he said he is being perceived by the public.
“In one of the tweets, …

The proposal to have the late president Ferdinand Marcos buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani will be studied by someone who has “less personal attachment,” said President Benigno Aquino III.
Marcos, whose regime lasted a total of twenty years, ruled the Philippines under Martial Law from 1972 to 1981. He was accused of amassing ill-begotten wealth and heading an administration under which human rights violations, torture, enforced disappearances and killings were perpetrated.
In 1986, he was deposed by the People Power Revolution, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month.
“Whatever I …

HINDI lamang sa Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) nangyayari ang talamak na paglulustay ng pondo ng bayan, kundi maging sa Philippine National Police (PNP) matapos kumpirmahin ng dating hepe ng pulisya ang P40M “pasalubong.”
Sa ipinadalang statement, sinabi ni Senador Panfilo “Ping” Lacson na tinabla niyang tanggapin ang P40 milyon “pasalubong” kada taon nang maluklok bilang chief PNP noong 1999 na nakatago bilang “commander’s reserve.
Ibinulgar pa ni Lacson na bukod sa naturang taunang pasalubong, naglalaan din umano ang PNP ng gas allowance sa hepe ng pulisya na katumbas ng …

Convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff has blamed others for being “complicit” in his scheme, which fleeced investors of billions of dollars.
Madoff is serving 150 years in jail in the US for a $65bn (£40bn) fraud which deprived thousands of investors of their savings.
Now he has told the New York Times a variety of banks and hedge funds “had to know” about his Ponzi scheme.
Such schemes pay out using new investor money rather than from any profits.
Madoff claimed banks and hedge funds who had dealings with his investment advisory firm showed a …

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Tuesday said it would take long before the impeachment complaint against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez can prosper, and warned that it might even fail.
For one, she said Gutierrez still has 15 days to appeal her case. If the Supreme Court upholds its decision, the House of Representatives has 3 months to hear it and would need the votes of 1/3 of all its members to transmit the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate, she added.
When the case reaches the Senate, which will act as …

Calling A Spade…
By Solita Collas-Monsod
Business World
The Garcia plea bargain hearings have taken some unexpected but very welcome turns that give the country greater reason to hope: the emergence of a role model in the fight against corruption — Heidi Mendoza, may her tribe increase; and maybe, just maybe, the much lesser likelihood now of the rank and file following blindly in their officers’ coup attempts — nothing like realizing that their so-called gods have feet of clay.
At the same time, it opens the door for a closer scrutiny of …