By Senator Pia S. Cayetano
As all eyes turn to the Senate, to watch the impeachment trial unfold, an understanding of the procedure and the intent of the Constitution would help everyone understand this process better.
Role of the Senate
Article XI, section 6 of the Constitution states:
The Senate shall have the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment. When sitting for that purpose the Senators shall be under oath or affirmation.
Following the above mandate, last December 14, 2011, we took our oath as judges of the impeachment court. A …

The Philippines is one of the countries that suffer the most from extreme weather events, which exact a high death toll and economic losses, a study by an international think tank said.
Analyzing data from 1991 to 2010, Germanwatch, a climate and development organization, said the Philippines ranked 10th among countries when it came to exposure and responding to severe weather caused by climate change.
All the countries identified to be most affected in the past two decades were developing countries, the study noted.
Aside from the Philippines, these were Bangladesh, Burma (Myanmar), …

MANILA, Philippines – Celebrities, politicians, sports personalities and ordinary people across the country turned to social networking sites to mourn the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
Others praised and thanked Jobs for introducing the iconic iPhone, iPod, iPad and other devices that changed the daily habits of millions across the globe.
Below are some of their tweets:

“R.I.P. Steve Jobs. Thank you for making life easier.” — Angel Locsin, actress
“Steve Jobs!!! For the technology that enhanced not just my music but all our lives… thank you. Oh my Lord, this is a …

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 …

Resigned Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri urged former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo to respond to allegations of cheating during the 2007 elections.
“May mga alegasyon na lumalabas [at] dapat sagutin nila ‘yan. Kaya naman nilang sagutin iyan, mayroon naman silang mga abugado,” said Zubiri in an interview aired Thursday on GMA News’ “24 Oras.”
Thursday at the Department of Justice (DOJ), former Police Senior Superintendent Rafael Santiago submitted his sworn affidavit on the alleged operation to switch election returns (ER) from the 2004 presidential …

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, …

By Jerome Aning, Nikko Dizon, Radyo Inquirer
Philippine Daily Inquirer
3:38 am | Friday, August 5th, 2011
 
Photo credit: Ang Tatlong Utos
Where is he?
The Department of Justice (DoJ) on Thursday placed on the immigration watch list former First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, who flew to Hong Kong on Sunday without being noticed by the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
Amid reports that Arroyo left for Hong Kong last Sunday, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s check with the Bureau of Immigration showed no record of the former first gentleman leaving the country.
“It was possible that he …

By JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS
Published: June 22, 2011
One August morning nearly two decades ago, my mother woke me and put me in a cab. She handed me a jacket. “Baka malamig doon” were among the few words she said. (“It might be cold there.”) When I arrived at the Philippines’ Ninoy Aquino International Airport with her, my aunt and a family friend, I was introduced to a man I’d never seen. They told me he was my uncle. He held my hand as I boarded an airplane for the first time. …

Manila Bulletin
By SARAH HILOMEN VELASCO
June 11, 2011, 8:46pm
MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino teenager from Zamboanga del Norte, standing just 22 inches tall, is now proudly towering it over the rest of the world as he is set to be proclaimed the shortest man by the Guinness Book of World Records on Sunday as he turns 18 years old.
Junrey Balawing, who hails from Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte, is slightly taller than a glass bottle or a one-year-old toddler.
Junrey’s father, Reynaldo, is a blacksmith and only stays at home at weekends, while …

MANILA – Kinastigo ng isang grupo ng mga bakla at transgender ang ina ni Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao, na si Mommy Dionisia dahil sa umano’y nakakainsultong pahayag na binitiwan ng huli na may kaugnayan sa kontrobersiyal na Reproductive Health bill.
Sa isang pahayag nitong Sabado, sinabi ni Goya Candelario, tagapagsalita ng Progressive Organization of Gays (ProGay Philippines), na labis na nasaktan ang mga katulad niyang bakla sa naging pahayag ni Mommy Dionisia tungkol sa pag-inom ng ilang bakla ng pills para lumaki ang dibdib.
Ayon kay Candelario, ang naging pahayag ng ina …

Attention, Friendster users: You have until May 31 to save your account contents including photos, testimonials, and blogs —or else you’ll lose them in the social network’s upcoming major reformat.
Friendster, a pioneer social networking site launched in 2002, issued the warning as it prepares a “new and improved version” in the coming weeks.
“Your Friendster account will not be deleted. You will still have the same email login and password in the new Friendster. Also, your list of friends will be preserved, along with your basic profile information. However, all the …

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, …

An expert witness in the Ampatuan murder trial on Wednesday said the three massacre victims he autopsied all died with shattered skulls due to gunshots from a heavy firearm.
Senior Inspector Dr. Felino Brunia Jr. told a Quezon City court that he already found a huge portion of journalist Jose Duhay’s skull missing after it was “totally blown off” his head.
The medico-legal expert from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory also said Duhay, a reporter for the local newspaper Filipino Chronicle, sustained eight gunshot wounds all over his body.
The most …

MANILA, Philippines – A woman is seeking justice after her live-in partner died allegedly after surgical equipment were left inside him post-operation.
Hannah, not her real name, still can’t believe what happened to her live-in partner Roger Panzo.
She recounted that on January 30, Roger was brought to the FEU-Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation (NRMF) Medical Center after he sustained gunshot wounds in a robbery incident in Caloocan.
He was operated on and was able to recover, but the surgical wound was not closed immediately. The hospital said it was done to be able …

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 …

Manny Pacquiao and his wife, Jinkee, made a brief visit to the White House Tuesday (February 15) and visited with President Obama, the boxer’s publicist said.
Pacquiao, in the midst of a national promotional tour hyping his May 7 world welterweight bout against Pomona’s Shane Mosley, stopped in Washington to first meet with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), for whom Pacquiao campaigned before the senator’s narrow victory in November.
As Pacquiao walked toward the White House, a cluster of cars stopped to watch him and a four-car pileup occurred with no …

VOTING 7-5, with two justices concurring in part and one abstaining, the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the right of the House of Representatives to take up the impeachment complaints against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez over her alleged inaction on criminal cases lodged against former President now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo.
Some of the high-profile cases filed against Arroyo at the Ombudsman were the overpriced $329-million national broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corp., the alleged P728-million fertilizer fund scam, and various human rights cases and extra-judicial killings.
In the decision …

Written by: By SHAIMAA FAYED and ALEXANDER DZIADOSZ
Egyptian cities erupted in celebration when President Hosni Mubarak stood down on Friday and the crowds who had protested against him claimed victory over the man who had ruled them for 30 years.
“We have brought down the regime, we have brought down the regime,” chanted the hundreds of thousands of people packed into Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protest movement.
They waved flags, cried, cheered and embraced when the news reached them through a public address system. Drivers honked car horns and …

Here’s a statement released by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Angelo Reyes’ suicide:
Technically, Gen. Angelo Reyes died with the presumption of innocence on his side, because he never went to trial. During the Senate investigation, he was a “person-in-interest,” or a “suspect.” His death extinguished both his criminal and civil liabilities. In other words, his criminal liability was totally extinguished, both as to the personal and the pecuniary penalties.
However, the Penal Code provides that the obligation to make restoration or reparation for damages devolves upon his heirs. Thus, his wife and …

“Para naman ma-clear, p’wede bang matanong natin kung ako ay chief of staff, ako ay nag-suwapang, ganid, nag-demand ng pera officially or unofficially?”
This was the last that was heard of former AFP Chief of Staff Angelo Reyes as the Senate blue ribbon committee investigated alleged corruption in the military during its probe into former AFP comptroller Carlos Garcia’s plea bargain deal.
Reyes denied former AFP budget officer George Rabusa’s claims he received P50 million in sendoff money as he retired from the AFP.
Reyes was born in San Miguel, Manila on March …

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 …

Twenty-seven Filipinos are homebound on Saturday after they expressed their intentions to be repatriated following the ongoing political crisis in Egypt.
“They will comprise the first batch in the voluntary repatriation being conducted by the Philippine Embassy in Cairo and the DFA in view of the on-going crisis in Egypt,” Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Ed Malaya said in a text message to abs-cbnNEWS.com on Thursday.
The repatriates are composed of 13 women, 9 minors and 5 men. Three are nurses from the Dar Al Fouad Hospital, while the rest are …