By Ronron
March 7, 2008
Commissioner Wilhelm Soriano of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and Gina de Venecia, wife of former House Speaker Jose de Venecia, visited on Friday morning the detention facility of Marine Gen. Renato Miranda, Col. Ariel Querubin and other accused in the alleged February 2006 coup plot at the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) compound in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
Soriano, who is Commissioner-in-charge for the the National Capital Region, said he was invited by de Venecia because she was not allowed by ISAFP and AFP Custodial Center officials to visit Querubin, whom she described as a friend.
Soriano said he was able to convince the ISAFP and AFP Custodial Center Officials to allow de Venecia access inside the detention facility after they failed to cite a legal ground for the prohibition.
He said they entered around 9;30 am but he left earlier at past 10:30 am. De Venecia and the wives of the other detained officers emerged later from the ISAFP compound at around 11:30 am. The wives include Mrs. Maria Flor Querubin, Mrs. Marife Aquino, and Mrs. Maze Cordero.
Soriano said that based on his inspection, he found out that the military leadership had already acted on their recommendation to improve the facility.
"During our initial ocular inspection two weeks ago, we found out that the compound is not suited or designed for pro-longed detention. So we recommended for their return to Tanay," Soriano said.
"But the military cited security reasons since their hearing was already transferred at Camp Aguinaldo. So we made some recommendations instead for the improvement of the facility," he continued.
The recommendations are the following: 1) a separate gate to the detention facility; 2) improvement of the receiving area for visitors; 3) provision of female guard to the only lady officer in detention; 4) not to lock up the detainees, especially those at the inner cells, due to poor lighting and ventilation; and, 5) not to use the two inner-most cells, which, Soriano said, are very substandard.
He said the detention facility was really just for interrogation and brief holding purposes only, so it was not equipped with materials for long-term detention.
So far, Soriano observed during his visit yesterday morning that all recommendations were already complied with.
"On the human rights perspective, the court martial proceedings should be speeded up so that if they are found guilty, then they are transferred to the proper jails, or if they are acquitted, then they can immediately be released. But I don't really think the court martial proceedings will be finished soon," he said.
Out of the 28 officers charged before the General Court Martial for alleged mutiny and other violations of the Articles of War in relation to the February 2006 incident, 24 are at the ISAFP.
Four others, namely Army Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and Captain Dante Langkit, and Marines Cols. Januario Caringal and Armando Bañez, are in different facilities. Lim is at Camp Crame, Langkit at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Caringal at the Cavite Naval Hospital, and Bañez at the Bonifacio Naval Hospital in Fort Bonifacio.
The detained officers were transferred from Tanay to Camp Aguinaldo last February 6.
"The main complaint of the detainees is that they should not be in ISAFP. They should be in a custodial center or confined to quarters/barracks, or tent, not in a detention cell," Mrs. Querubin said.
Mrs. Querubin complained yesterday that the military leadership has also suspended "conjugal visits" for the detained officers since February 15 when the AFP went on red alert status.
AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro did not deny this, saying that is really their policy. But he said now that the status has gone back to normal, then the suspension of the conjugal visits is already lifted.
Nonetheless, Bacarro assured that the detained officers are not being maltreated.
"The Armed Forces of the Philippines are providing the regular meals and there are ongoing improvements in their detention facility. Actually, right now, a basketball court area there is being improved that would enable them also to have athletic facility and of course, their sunning privileges," Bacarro said.
"And then, there is a regular Sunday mass there… and then their regular medical check ups and visits to (the AFP Hospital) has been allowed," he went on./DMS
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Suspected Reds raid mining firm in Compostela Valley
By Ronron
March 7, 2008
Suspected members of the New People's Army (NPA) raided a mining firm on Thursday night in Compostela Valley province, burning some equipment and carting away firearms from the blue guards.
Col. Benito de Leon, chief of staff and spokesman of the Philippine Army's 10th Infantry Division, said Friday that the incident happened at around 7pm at the APEX Mining Co. in Barangay Masara, Maco town.
De Leon said about 50 armed rebels stormed the mining firm, burning four low-profile trucks and a payloader, and disarming the civilian guards of five M16 rifles, two shot guns, two caliber 38 revolvers and four handheld radios.
He said the perpetrators arrived and left aboard one bus and two dump trucks.
De Leon has yet to find out if there was a firefight that actually happened after the raid, as well as the motive of the attack.
There were no casualties reported.
The military estimates that there are about 800 NPA elements in eastern Mindanao area, which, De Leon said, are active in their efforts against the government.
The 5,760-strong NPA has been waging guerilla warfare in the countryside for almost four decades now, but the government vows to crush the movement by 2010 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her term.
The communist movement withdrew from the peace negotiations with the government in August 2004 after they were tagged as terrorist by some foreign governments./DMS
March 7, 2008
Suspected members of the New People's Army (NPA) raided a mining firm on Thursday night in Compostela Valley province, burning some equipment and carting away firearms from the blue guards.
Col. Benito de Leon, chief of staff and spokesman of the Philippine Army's 10th Infantry Division, said Friday that the incident happened at around 7pm at the APEX Mining Co. in Barangay Masara, Maco town.
De Leon said about 50 armed rebels stormed the mining firm, burning four low-profile trucks and a payloader, and disarming the civilian guards of five M16 rifles, two shot guns, two caliber 38 revolvers and four handheld radios.
He said the perpetrators arrived and left aboard one bus and two dump trucks.
De Leon has yet to find out if there was a firefight that actually happened after the raid, as well as the motive of the attack.
There were no casualties reported.
The military estimates that there are about 800 NPA elements in eastern Mindanao area, which, De Leon said, are active in their efforts against the government.
The 5,760-strong NPA has been waging guerilla warfare in the countryside for almost four decades now, but the government vows to crush the movement by 2010 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her term.
The communist movement withdrew from the peace negotiations with the government in August 2004 after they were tagged as terrorist by some foreign governments./DMS
Transport groups Metro Manila strike on March 11
By Ronron
March 7, 2008
Various transport organizations will stage a strike on Tuesday in Metro Manila and nearby provinces to denounce the alleged abuses of local government units (LGU's) against their members.
FEJODAP national president Zenaida Maranan said the "transport holiday" will start 12:01 AM and end midnight that day.
Participating in the strike are FEJODAP, MJODA, KKPPI, ALTODAP, Pasang Masda, ACTO, NTU Transporter, Nactodap, AUV Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, QC Tricycle TODA, Navotas TODA, Marikina TODA, PADYAK, Provincial Bus Operations Association of the Philippines, Rizal TODA, United Metro Manila Bus Operators Associtation, Pasig TODA, Alyansa ng mga AUV Driber at Operators, and I-UTAK.
Maranan said among their complaints are the use by LGU's of traffic citation tickets, the collection of exorbitant fines, the proliferation of transport terminals, and continuous issuance of new tricycle and pedicab franchises.
"Re-routing in violation of the franchise granted by the national government, ID's and mandatory stickers are just sample programs being implemented by various LGU's for fund raining purposes under the guise of regulation in clear violation of national transport policies and laws," the groups said in a statement.
Maranan said these practices actually "bred widespread corruption on the road."
She said these concerns are on top of their demand for fare increase due to high cost of fuel.
Maranan said they expect a hundred percent paralysis of public transportation in the capital as well as in some areas in Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Quezon.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Geary Barias said they will provide five trucks to transport passengers on that day, apart from other vehicles that will be put on standby at the national headquarters in Camp Crame.
Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Marius Corpuz said the government cannot prevent the groups from holding the transport holiday, saying it falls within their rights.
He said what is important is the groups assured that it will be held "peacefully and orderly" and that the police will be ready to secure both the public and those participating the strike.
As to the concerns of the groups, Corpuz said he brought up with the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), particularly the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LFTRB), the possible review of the different ordinances of the various LGU's pertaining to traffic violations by public transport vehicles.
Hopefully, a "uniform and equitable fee" can be arrived at and imposed soon.
Corpuz said the DILG cannot just revoke the ordinances of the LGU's because it only has supervisory powers, and no direct control over them.
"We are ready to cooperate with our public officials in all of their programs and policies for as long as they are legal and for the greater good. In the same vein, we are ready to escalate our cause even further, by way of nationwide transport holiday, in order to defend our rights and protect public interest," the groups said.
Representatives of the participating transport groups held a meeting Friday afternoon at Camp Crame with Barias, Corpuz, and other Metro Manila police officers./DMS
March 7, 2008
Various transport organizations will stage a strike on Tuesday in Metro Manila and nearby provinces to denounce the alleged abuses of local government units (LGU's) against their members.
FEJODAP national president Zenaida Maranan said the "transport holiday" will start 12:01 AM and end midnight that day.
Participating in the strike are FEJODAP, MJODA, KKPPI, ALTODAP, Pasang Masda, ACTO, NTU Transporter, Nactodap, AUV Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, QC Tricycle TODA, Navotas TODA, Marikina TODA, PADYAK, Provincial Bus Operations Association of the Philippines, Rizal TODA, United Metro Manila Bus Operators Associtation, Pasig TODA, Alyansa ng mga AUV Driber at Operators, and I-UTAK.
Maranan said among their complaints are the use by LGU's of traffic citation tickets, the collection of exorbitant fines, the proliferation of transport terminals, and continuous issuance of new tricycle and pedicab franchises.
"Re-routing in violation of the franchise granted by the national government, ID's and mandatory stickers are just sample programs being implemented by various LGU's for fund raining purposes under the guise of regulation in clear violation of national transport policies and laws," the groups said in a statement.
Maranan said these practices actually "bred widespread corruption on the road."
She said these concerns are on top of their demand for fare increase due to high cost of fuel.
Maranan said they expect a hundred percent paralysis of public transportation in the capital as well as in some areas in Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Quezon.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Geary Barias said they will provide five trucks to transport passengers on that day, apart from other vehicles that will be put on standby at the national headquarters in Camp Crame.
Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Marius Corpuz said the government cannot prevent the groups from holding the transport holiday, saying it falls within their rights.
He said what is important is the groups assured that it will be held "peacefully and orderly" and that the police will be ready to secure both the public and those participating the strike.
As to the concerns of the groups, Corpuz said he brought up with the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), particularly the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LFTRB), the possible review of the different ordinances of the various LGU's pertaining to traffic violations by public transport vehicles.
Hopefully, a "uniform and equitable fee" can be arrived at and imposed soon.
Corpuz said the DILG cannot just revoke the ordinances of the LGU's because it only has supervisory powers, and no direct control over them.
"We are ready to cooperate with our public officials in all of their programs and policies for as long as they are legal and for the greater good. In the same vein, we are ready to escalate our cause even further, by way of nationwide transport holiday, in order to defend our rights and protect public interest," the groups said.
Representatives of the participating transport groups held a meeting Friday afternoon at Camp Crame with Barias, Corpuz, and other Metro Manila police officers./DMS
Thursday, March 6, 2008
AFP mulls sedition charges against Aparri for attempting to recruit military officers in destab efforts against the government
By Ronron
March 6, 2008
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. said Thursday that they are considering the possible filing of sedition charge against retired Commodore Ismael Aparri and other retired military officers who allegedly attempted to recruit active servicemen for destabilization moves against the government.
Esperon had identified Aparri as among those who approached the National ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Course) Alumni Association (NARAA) to solicit support allegedly in their fight against the Arroyo administration, particularly last February 29 when a mass gathering was held in Makati City to call for the ouster of the President.
“We are looking into the possibility of charging them with inciting to sedition or similar offenses,” Esperon said in an interview.
“Our legal teams will be looking into that,” he added.
In a news conference yesterday at Camp Aguinaldo, NARAA President Brig. Gen. Jerry Jalandoni, the AFP deputy chief of staff for logistics, said Aparri attempted to recruit twice – the first in January, and the second was third week of February.
“He has approached the Navy chapter of NARAA under Commodore Amado Sanglay (retired), also the NARAA Chairman, prior to the February 29 Makati rally, but he was outrightly rejected,” Jalandoni said.
Jalandoni said Aparri tried to get their support for the fight of his organization, YES-ARMS (Young Enlisted Soldiers – Active and Retired Military and Police for Solidarity), against the Arroyo government and “most probably” to get some NARAA members join the February 29 rally.
Following Aparri’s visits at the Navy chapter of NARAA in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, Jalandoni said he “urged the 15,000 NARAA members and the nation’s half-a-million reservists to remain steadfast and carry out our mandated Constitutional role.”
Aparri has denied the allegation./DMS
March 6, 2008
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. said Thursday that they are considering the possible filing of sedition charge against retired Commodore Ismael Aparri and other retired military officers who allegedly attempted to recruit active servicemen for destabilization moves against the government.
Esperon had identified Aparri as among those who approached the National ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Course) Alumni Association (NARAA) to solicit support allegedly in their fight against the Arroyo administration, particularly last February 29 when a mass gathering was held in Makati City to call for the ouster of the President.
“We are looking into the possibility of charging them with inciting to sedition or similar offenses,” Esperon said in an interview.
“Our legal teams will be looking into that,” he added.
In a news conference yesterday at Camp Aguinaldo, NARAA President Brig. Gen. Jerry Jalandoni, the AFP deputy chief of staff for logistics, said Aparri attempted to recruit twice – the first in January, and the second was third week of February.
“He has approached the Navy chapter of NARAA under Commodore Amado Sanglay (retired), also the NARAA Chairman, prior to the February 29 Makati rally, but he was outrightly rejected,” Jalandoni said.
Jalandoni said Aparri tried to get their support for the fight of his organization, YES-ARMS (Young Enlisted Soldiers – Active and Retired Military and Police for Solidarity), against the Arroyo government and “most probably” to get some NARAA members join the February 29 rally.
Following Aparri’s visits at the Navy chapter of NARAA in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, Jalandoni said he “urged the 15,000 NARAA members and the nation’s half-a-million reservists to remain steadfast and carry out our mandated Constitutional role.”
Aparri has denied the allegation./DMS
PNP prepares for weekend rallies in Mendiola; Barias says despite many rallies in the first two months, crime rate was lower compared to last year
By Ronron
March 6, 2008
The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) gears up for the rallies today (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) in Mendiola at Manila City, although it does not see the need to raise their alert level compared to the previous mass demonstrations.
NCRPO chief Director Geary Barias told a news conference Thursday in Camp Crame that the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) will lead today’s mass action of at most 1,000 people, while Gabriela will do the same tomorrow in celebration of the International Women’s Day.
“I have directed Manila Police Director Chief Supt. Roberto Rosales to coordinate with the rally organizers because so far, I have no feedback that they have a permit for that,” Barias said.
“Our main concern is the peace and order there and nothing else. So, let’s try to find some middle ground if there is no permit,” he added.
Citing the small crowd that is expected on both activities, Barias expressed confidence that the Manila Police District (MPD) will be able to handle the situation well, thus no need for a raising of the alert level.
“There is no threat of violence tomorrow and on Saturday… In my consultation with the PNP Officer-in-Charge now, Deputy Director Gen. Jesus Verzosa, we have agreed that there will be no change of status of our alert. So we will be on normal alert status over the weekend because we feel that the district director can take care of the situation,” he said.
Melay Dapulang, vice president of the National Federation of Labor Union-KMU, said they will actually start their activity through a picket on Thursday night at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), to be followed by a march to Mehan Garden near SM Manila at 8am Friday.
From Mehan Garden, the group will proceed to Mendiola.
“The issues to be raised involve the labor sector such as the unjust removal from work, low salary, contractualization, etcetera. Of course, we will bring up the sins of GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) so we will call again for her resignation,” Dapulang said.
She said the group will also join the mass action on Saturday that will be led by Gabriela.
Gabriela spokesperson Joms Salvador said in a separate phone interview that their activity tomorrow will start at 9am as all groups converge at Welcome Rotonda, the boundary of Quezon City and Manila City.
From their, they will march starting 10am going to Plaza Miranda in Quiapo District. The activity will be called “Women’s March.”
Salvador said there will be a program at Plaza Miranda upon their arrival there up to 1pm. Expected to be there are former Senator Leticia Ramos-Shahani, film scriptwriter Bibeth Orteza, and former House Speaker Jose de Venecia’s wife, Gina.
They expect a total of 10,000 participants, which would also include the Concerned Women of Assumption where the President graduated, Salvador said.
“The theme for that day is to show the outrage of the women against Mrs. Arroyo… We will be chanting OUST GMA!,” said Salvador.
Barias said that for the Saturday event, he has directed Rosales to provide “extra-special nature of dealing with” the demonstrators because they are women.
While there may be male members of the Civil Disturbance Management that will be deployed there, Barias said female policemen will be placed at the frontfline.
Barias disclosed that so far, the number of rallies for the first two months this year has already outnumbered those held in the same period last year.
He said that a total of 128 rallies were already recorded in the capital from January up to February this year, an increase of 43 percent from the 80 in the same months last year.
But despite this, Barias proudly announced that the number of crimes for the said period this year was lower compared to last year’s.
Barias said that for the months of January and February last year, a total of 3,337 crimes were recorded. But for this year, an 11.57 percent decrease was noted, with only 2,961 incidents recorded.
“That tells us that your same policemen who are fighting criminality are also busy with these rallies. So they are working double time,” he said.
Among the new measures taken this year, he said, is the increased police visibility in the metropolis, which was done after a series of robberies hit Quezon City starting January.
Barias said that 300 additional policemen will be downloaded today (Friday) from NCRPO to the different areas in Metro Manila./DMS
March 6, 2008
The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) gears up for the rallies today (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) in Mendiola at Manila City, although it does not see the need to raise their alert level compared to the previous mass demonstrations.
NCRPO chief Director Geary Barias told a news conference Thursday in Camp Crame that the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) will lead today’s mass action of at most 1,000 people, while Gabriela will do the same tomorrow in celebration of the International Women’s Day.
“I have directed Manila Police Director Chief Supt. Roberto Rosales to coordinate with the rally organizers because so far, I have no feedback that they have a permit for that,” Barias said.
“Our main concern is the peace and order there and nothing else. So, let’s try to find some middle ground if there is no permit,” he added.
Citing the small crowd that is expected on both activities, Barias expressed confidence that the Manila Police District (MPD) will be able to handle the situation well, thus no need for a raising of the alert level.
“There is no threat of violence tomorrow and on Saturday… In my consultation with the PNP Officer-in-Charge now, Deputy Director Gen. Jesus Verzosa, we have agreed that there will be no change of status of our alert. So we will be on normal alert status over the weekend because we feel that the district director can take care of the situation,” he said.
Melay Dapulang, vice president of the National Federation of Labor Union-KMU, said they will actually start their activity through a picket on Thursday night at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), to be followed by a march to Mehan Garden near SM Manila at 8am Friday.
From Mehan Garden, the group will proceed to Mendiola.
“The issues to be raised involve the labor sector such as the unjust removal from work, low salary, contractualization, etcetera. Of course, we will bring up the sins of GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) so we will call again for her resignation,” Dapulang said.
She said the group will also join the mass action on Saturday that will be led by Gabriela.
Gabriela spokesperson Joms Salvador said in a separate phone interview that their activity tomorrow will start at 9am as all groups converge at Welcome Rotonda, the boundary of Quezon City and Manila City.
From their, they will march starting 10am going to Plaza Miranda in Quiapo District. The activity will be called “Women’s March.”
Salvador said there will be a program at Plaza Miranda upon their arrival there up to 1pm. Expected to be there are former Senator Leticia Ramos-Shahani, film scriptwriter Bibeth Orteza, and former House Speaker Jose de Venecia’s wife, Gina.
They expect a total of 10,000 participants, which would also include the Concerned Women of Assumption where the President graduated, Salvador said.
“The theme for that day is to show the outrage of the women against Mrs. Arroyo… We will be chanting OUST GMA!,” said Salvador.
Barias said that for the Saturday event, he has directed Rosales to provide “extra-special nature of dealing with” the demonstrators because they are women.
While there may be male members of the Civil Disturbance Management that will be deployed there, Barias said female policemen will be placed at the frontfline.
Barias disclosed that so far, the number of rallies for the first two months this year has already outnumbered those held in the same period last year.
He said that a total of 128 rallies were already recorded in the capital from January up to February this year, an increase of 43 percent from the 80 in the same months last year.
But despite this, Barias proudly announced that the number of crimes for the said period this year was lower compared to last year’s.
Barias said that for the months of January and February last year, a total of 3,337 crimes were recorded. But for this year, an 11.57 percent decrease was noted, with only 2,961 incidents recorded.
“That tells us that your same policemen who are fighting criminality are also busy with these rallies. So they are working double time,” he said.
Among the new measures taken this year, he said, is the increased police visibility in the metropolis, which was done after a series of robberies hit Quezon City starting January.
Barias said that 300 additional policemen will be downloaded today (Friday) from NCRPO to the different areas in Metro Manila./DMS
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
AFP suspends Army General and other soldier upon Ombudsman's order over extortion allegations
By Ronron
March 5, 2008
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) leadership suspended an Army General and another soldier upon the order of the Ombudsman over their alleged involvement in extortion activities in Mindanao.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, Jr. said Wednesday that the suspension of Maj. Gen. Jose Barbieto, erstwhile commander of the 4th Infantry Division, and Staff Sergeant Roseller Echepare became effective upon the AFP's receipt of the February 29, 2008 order of the Ombudsman.
Ombudsman information officer Anna Sanchez said the Ombudsman had ordered Barbieto and Echepare to be placed on a six-month preventive suspension without pay, citing Section 9 of the Rules of Procedure, as they undergo investigation.
The two are charged with Violation of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) and RA 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees) for allegedly collecting money from Army applicants, ranging from P25,000 to P30,000, to guarantee enlistment without having to pass the standard procedures adopted by the AFP, said Sanchez.
The complaint was made by "several personnel of the 4th ID," which is based in Cagayan de Oro City in northern Mindanao.
"They (complainant) stated that the money collected from the said candidate soldiers are being given to Barbieto thru his bagman, Echepare," Sanchez said, quoting the five-page Order of the Ombudsman.
Aside from the extorting Army applicants, the complainants alleged that Barbieto and Echepare were also doing the same to enlisted personnel who wish to be reinstated.
And they are also allegedly behind some anomalies hounding the implementation of the AFP's Balik-Baril Program at the 4th ID.
Barbieto had initially taken a leave as 4th ID commander last February 20 "to give way to an impartial investigation" that was conducted also by the Army Inspector General.
Taking over him was his deputy, Brig. Gen. Roland Rodriguez.
"As a consequence of the suspension order of the Ombudsman, the Army subsequently recommends the relief of Maj. Gen. Barbieto as the commander of the 4th ID. This administration option is resorted to in order to allow a just, fair and independent disposition of the case filed against him," Torres said.
The relief order will come from the AFP Board of Generals, said Torres.
Army chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano assured that there will be no cover-up in the probe as he also assured the accused "of due process."
"We strictly impose laws that govern military discipline, ethics and conduct, regardless of rank or position. We will not condone malpractices and abuses if such cases are proven. Such soldiers will be dealt with accordingly," he said./DMS
March 5, 2008
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) leadership suspended an Army General and another soldier upon the order of the Ombudsman over their alleged involvement in extortion activities in Mindanao.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, Jr. said Wednesday that the suspension of Maj. Gen. Jose Barbieto, erstwhile commander of the 4th Infantry Division, and Staff Sergeant Roseller Echepare became effective upon the AFP's receipt of the February 29, 2008 order of the Ombudsman.
Ombudsman information officer Anna Sanchez said the Ombudsman had ordered Barbieto and Echepare to be placed on a six-month preventive suspension without pay, citing Section 9 of the Rules of Procedure, as they undergo investigation.
The two are charged with Violation of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) and RA 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees) for allegedly collecting money from Army applicants, ranging from P25,000 to P30,000, to guarantee enlistment without having to pass the standard procedures adopted by the AFP, said Sanchez.
The complaint was made by "several personnel of the 4th ID," which is based in Cagayan de Oro City in northern Mindanao.
"They (complainant) stated that the money collected from the said candidate soldiers are being given to Barbieto thru his bagman, Echepare," Sanchez said, quoting the five-page Order of the Ombudsman.
Aside from the extorting Army applicants, the complainants alleged that Barbieto and Echepare were also doing the same to enlisted personnel who wish to be reinstated.
And they are also allegedly behind some anomalies hounding the implementation of the AFP's Balik-Baril Program at the 4th ID.
Barbieto had initially taken a leave as 4th ID commander last February 20 "to give way to an impartial investigation" that was conducted also by the Army Inspector General.
Taking over him was his deputy, Brig. Gen. Roland Rodriguez.
"As a consequence of the suspension order of the Ombudsman, the Army subsequently recommends the relief of Maj. Gen. Barbieto as the commander of the 4th ID. This administration option is resorted to in order to allow a just, fair and independent disposition of the case filed against him," Torres said.
The relief order will come from the AFP Board of Generals, said Torres.
Army chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano assured that there will be no cover-up in the probe as he also assured the accused "of due process."
"We strictly impose laws that govern military discipline, ethics and conduct, regardless of rank or position. We will not condone malpractices and abuses if such cases are proven. Such soldiers will be dealt with accordingly," he said./DMS
National ROTC Alumni Association confirms recruitment attempts of retired officers to join Feb. 29 rally
By Ronron
March 5, 2008
The National ROTC (Reserved Officers Training Corps) Alumni Association (NARAA) confirmed Wednesday that some of their members were recruited by retired military officers to join the rally last February 29 at Makati City for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
But no one from them heeded to the recruitment attempt, said NARAA spokesman Army Col. Juanito Dalmas.
"The (NARAA) President, Brig. Gen. Jerry Jalandoni, has confirmed that there were indeed attempts of recruitment from the ranks of the NARAA to join the destabilization moves," Dalmas said.
"But he (Jalandoni) has outright rejected these recruitment offers and has instructed all Chapter Presidents in the Army, Navy, Air Force and GHQ (General Headquarters) to do likewise," he added.
The NARAA is an organization outside of the Armed Forces of the Philippines but consists of alumni of the ROTC program in all schools nationwide. It has a member of 15,000 officers, about two-thirds or 70 percent of them are in the active service of the AFP.
Dalmas said the recruitment attempts were made "immediately prior to February 29" to get "active military men to join the rally."
But he said "the NARAA is committed to support the decision of the AFP leadership not to participate in the present call to take sides in the ongoing political exercise and instead focus on carrying out its Constitutional mandate and to follow the chian of command."
Dalmas identified the recruiters as "retired military officers," but would not name names.
AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr., however, did not hesitate to identify retired Commodore Ismael Aparri as among those who approached NARAA members.
"Commodore Aparri was trying to get in touch with some of the members of the NARAA… But he is not gaining headway, I tell you," Esperon said.
Aparri denied the allegation, saying he is focused on fighting to getting the benefits due to 256,000 veterans, which, he said, has ballooned now to about P40 billion.
Aparri said he does not even know Jalandoni, the NARAA President who is also the AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics.
"No, I am not involved. But if he keeps on hitting me, and since there are more people recruiting now, I might as well join them, I will include my voice," Aparri said, referring to Esperon.
Aside from retired officers, Esperon said detained officers who were involved in the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny and the 2006 alleged coup plot are also actively recruiting their fellow soldiers for present destabilization efforts.
"They are even admitting that, that they will not stop (to fight this government)," Esperon said.
Asked how they could do that when they are detained, Esperon said: "Well, they can make statements. They are able to use some (to) relay messages through means that they are able to devise."
Sought for comment on this, Atty. Trixie Angeles, lawyer of some of the detained officers said: "My clients must be very good, they are already detained but they could still recruit."
"But let's formalize this… He (Esperon) is basically accusing people who are in jail, have no access to the media, who have had no visitors for over a week of recruiting, and he is basing this on hearsay," Angeles said.
Denying that his clients are recruiting fellow soldiers, Angeles hit Esperon's allegation as "an oppressive statement," and "baseless."/DMS
March 5, 2008
The National ROTC (Reserved Officers Training Corps) Alumni Association (NARAA) confirmed Wednesday that some of their members were recruited by retired military officers to join the rally last February 29 at Makati City for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
But no one from them heeded to the recruitment attempt, said NARAA spokesman Army Col. Juanito Dalmas.
"The (NARAA) President, Brig. Gen. Jerry Jalandoni, has confirmed that there were indeed attempts of recruitment from the ranks of the NARAA to join the destabilization moves," Dalmas said.
"But he (Jalandoni) has outright rejected these recruitment offers and has instructed all Chapter Presidents in the Army, Navy, Air Force and GHQ (General Headquarters) to do likewise," he added.
The NARAA is an organization outside of the Armed Forces of the Philippines but consists of alumni of the ROTC program in all schools nationwide. It has a member of 15,000 officers, about two-thirds or 70 percent of them are in the active service of the AFP.
Dalmas said the recruitment attempts were made "immediately prior to February 29" to get "active military men to join the rally."
But he said "the NARAA is committed to support the decision of the AFP leadership not to participate in the present call to take sides in the ongoing political exercise and instead focus on carrying out its Constitutional mandate and to follow the chian of command."
Dalmas identified the recruiters as "retired military officers," but would not name names.
AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr., however, did not hesitate to identify retired Commodore Ismael Aparri as among those who approached NARAA members.
"Commodore Aparri was trying to get in touch with some of the members of the NARAA… But he is not gaining headway, I tell you," Esperon said.
Aparri denied the allegation, saying he is focused on fighting to getting the benefits due to 256,000 veterans, which, he said, has ballooned now to about P40 billion.
Aparri said he does not even know Jalandoni, the NARAA President who is also the AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics.
"No, I am not involved. But if he keeps on hitting me, and since there are more people recruiting now, I might as well join them, I will include my voice," Aparri said, referring to Esperon.
Aside from retired officers, Esperon said detained officers who were involved in the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny and the 2006 alleged coup plot are also actively recruiting their fellow soldiers for present destabilization efforts.
"They are even admitting that, that they will not stop (to fight this government)," Esperon said.
Asked how they could do that when they are detained, Esperon said: "Well, they can make statements. They are able to use some (to) relay messages through means that they are able to devise."
Sought for comment on this, Atty. Trixie Angeles, lawyer of some of the detained officers said: "My clients must be very good, they are already detained but they could still recruit."
"But let's formalize this… He (Esperon) is basically accusing people who are in jail, have no access to the media, who have had no visitors for over a week of recruiting, and he is basing this on hearsay," Angeles said.
Denying that his clients are recruiting fellow soldiers, Angeles hit Esperon's allegation as "an oppressive statement," and "baseless."/DMS
PNP forms task group to arrest Salappudin, three others over Batasan blast
By Ronron
March 5, 2008
The Philippine National Police (PNP) is creating a task group to arrest former Basilan Representative Gerry Salapuddin and other accused in relation to the Batasan blast last year.
PNP Deputy Chief for Administration Dep. Dir. Gen. Jesus Verzosa told reporters in Camp Crame on Wednesday that the task group will be headed by the director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), Chief Supt. Raul Castañeda, and will have elements of the Quezon City Police, the Police Regional Office 9, and the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as members.
He said the task group will have about 20 personnel in all.
"We have received information that the warrant against the suspects of the Batasan bombing will be coming out. So, in anticipation, we have formed a task group specifically to implement the warrant when it comes out, and also as a matter of securing the other suspects in our custody," Verzosa said.
A personnel of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 83 said an arrest warrant may be released in the coming days or weeks against Salapuddin and other individuals for the bombing at the House of Representatives last November 13, 2007.
The incident killed Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar and some employees at Congress, and wounded several others. Police have said that it was a plot of Salappudin, intended to kill Akbar, a political nemesis.
The suspects are charged with multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder.
Verzosa said they expect that the subjects of the warrant will cooperate as he assured them of "according their rights" during the service of the warrants.
"We hope that the cooperation from the suspects will be held because in the preliminary investigation of the case, they have been cooperating, and they have submitted their counter-affidavits," he said.
Verzosa said that as of this time, three suspects are under police custody while four others have yet to be accounted./DMS
March 5, 2008
The Philippine National Police (PNP) is creating a task group to arrest former Basilan Representative Gerry Salapuddin and other accused in relation to the Batasan blast last year.
PNP Deputy Chief for Administration Dep. Dir. Gen. Jesus Verzosa told reporters in Camp Crame on Wednesday that the task group will be headed by the director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), Chief Supt. Raul Castañeda, and will have elements of the Quezon City Police, the Police Regional Office 9, and the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as members.
He said the task group will have about 20 personnel in all.
"We have received information that the warrant against the suspects of the Batasan bombing will be coming out. So, in anticipation, we have formed a task group specifically to implement the warrant when it comes out, and also as a matter of securing the other suspects in our custody," Verzosa said.
A personnel of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 83 said an arrest warrant may be released in the coming days or weeks against Salapuddin and other individuals for the bombing at the House of Representatives last November 13, 2007.
The incident killed Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar and some employees at Congress, and wounded several others. Police have said that it was a plot of Salappudin, intended to kill Akbar, a political nemesis.
The suspects are charged with multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder.
Verzosa said they expect that the subjects of the warrant will cooperate as he assured them of "according their rights" during the service of the warrants.
"We hope that the cooperation from the suspects will be held because in the preliminary investigation of the case, they have been cooperating, and they have submitted their counter-affidavits," he said.
Verzosa said that as of this time, three suspects are under police custody while four others have yet to be accounted./DMS
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Razon attends Interpol meeting in Hongkong
By Ronron
March 4, 2008
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. and other top officers of the agency went to Hongkong Tuesday to attend the 20th Asian Regional Conference of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
PNP spokesman Sr. Supt. Nicanor Bartolome said Razon was in the company of PNP Director for Plans Dir. Romeo Ricardo, PNP Director for Personnel and Records Management Dir. Edgardo Acuña, and PNP Director for Operations Chief Supt. Silverio Alarcio. They took a commercial flight at noon yesterday.
In a statement, Bartolome said Razon “will present before the Interpol body a country paper on current domestic and regional security concerns.”
Bartolome said the agenda of the event include regional issues on transnational crime involving trafficking in illegal drugs, commercial fraud, bank and internet fraud, currency counterfeiting, human trafficking, intellectual property crimes, transnational terrorism, and international fugitives.
The updates on the ongoing development of the I-24/7 Interpol Database Network, which is shared among 186 member-countries as a means to share crucial information on criminals and criminal activities, is also expected to be discussed, he said.
Bartolome said the conference will be attended by the heads of the National Central Bureaus (NCB) of Interpol from 47 countries in the Asian, Middle East, and South Pacific Regions.
This year’s event is hosted by the Ministry of Public Security of China, and the Hongkong Police Force (HKPF), which is a sub-bureau of NCB-China.
Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble and HKPF Commissioner Tang King-shing will formally open the conference at 9am today (Wednesday, Manila time) at the HKPF Headquarters in Hongkong’s Wanchai District, said Bartolome.
“It is an honor for the Philippine National Police to be represented in this international conference among heads of national police organizations in Asia who are committed to a common goal against transnational crime and terrorism,” Razon said in the statement.
Bartolome said Razon and his companions will be back in the country on Saturday.
In the meantime that he is not around, Razon designated Deputy Director General Jesus Verzosa, the deputy chief for administration, to be the PNP Officer-in-Charge, Bartolome said./DMS
March 4, 2008
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. and other top officers of the agency went to Hongkong Tuesday to attend the 20th Asian Regional Conference of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
PNP spokesman Sr. Supt. Nicanor Bartolome said Razon was in the company of PNP Director for Plans Dir. Romeo Ricardo, PNP Director for Personnel and Records Management Dir. Edgardo Acuña, and PNP Director for Operations Chief Supt. Silverio Alarcio. They took a commercial flight at noon yesterday.
In a statement, Bartolome said Razon “will present before the Interpol body a country paper on current domestic and regional security concerns.”
Bartolome said the agenda of the event include regional issues on transnational crime involving trafficking in illegal drugs, commercial fraud, bank and internet fraud, currency counterfeiting, human trafficking, intellectual property crimes, transnational terrorism, and international fugitives.
The updates on the ongoing development of the I-24/7 Interpol Database Network, which is shared among 186 member-countries as a means to share crucial information on criminals and criminal activities, is also expected to be discussed, he said.
Bartolome said the conference will be attended by the heads of the National Central Bureaus (NCB) of Interpol from 47 countries in the Asian, Middle East, and South Pacific Regions.
This year’s event is hosted by the Ministry of Public Security of China, and the Hongkong Police Force (HKPF), which is a sub-bureau of NCB-China.
Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble and HKPF Commissioner Tang King-shing will formally open the conference at 9am today (Wednesday, Manila time) at the HKPF Headquarters in Hongkong’s Wanchai District, said Bartolome.
“It is an honor for the Philippine National Police to be represented in this international conference among heads of national police organizations in Asia who are committed to a common goal against transnational crime and terrorism,” Razon said in the statement.
Bartolome said Razon and his companions will be back in the country on Saturday.
In the meantime that he is not around, Razon designated Deputy Director General Jesus Verzosa, the deputy chief for administration, to be the PNP Officer-in-Charge, Bartolome said./DMS
Two kidnap victims rescued by police operatives in southern Metro Manila cities
By Ronron
March 4, 2008
Two kidnap victims were rescued by police operatives last week, with the supposed P2 million ransom payment intact, an official said Tuesday.
Sr. Supt. Leonardo Espina, chief of the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response (PACER), identified the victims as Alberto Cabrera and Jerry Katigbak, both in their 40’s and of Molino in Bacoor, Cavite.
Espina said the two are half-brothers, with Cabrera engaged in the buy-and-sell of cars business.
Espina said the two are aboard Cabrera’s Toyota Fortuner sports utility vehicle (SUV) in Muñoz, Quezon City in the morning of February 26 when unidentified armed men commandeered their vehicle.
They were then taken to the suspects’ safehouse in BF Homes, Parañaque City, where Cabrera was asked by his captors later in the evening to call his wife and prepare the Official Receipt and Certificate of Registration (ORCR) of their SUV and his passbook.
“The suspects were interested in both getting ransom money and the SUV,” Espina said.
After receiving the call, Cabrera’s wife sought help with the PACER for possible entrapment operation, Espina said.
On the following day, at 2pm, Espina said the wife received again a call from the suspects and directed her to go to SM South Mall in Las Piñas City with the car’s document and Cabrera’s passbook.
But when the wife was already on her way to SM South Mall together with PACER operatives, she received a call again from the kidnappers, instructing her to proceed instead to Trinoma Mall in Quezon City.
This, after the kidnappers learned from Cabrera that the passbook was actually in the SUV. Thus, they brought Cabrera to the said bank to withdraw money, although only the victim got inside.
“It was the ransom demand of the kidnappers to withdraw all the money in Alberto’s account with the SM South Mall branch of China Bank,” Espina said.
At around 2:30 pm, the PACER operatives who went to China Bank in SM South Mall noticed Cabrera go out of bank. “When nobody approached Cabrera to take the ransom, PACER operatives rushed to rescue the victim. The ransom was recovered intact,” Espina said.
Cabrera then led the PACER operatives to the suspects’ safehouse in BF Homes to rescue Katigbak. However, while still on their way, they spotted the SUV of Cabrera being driven by the suspects.
“After a brief chase, the SUV was abandoned by the kidnappers in the parking lot of a fastfood store and victim Katigbak was rescued unharmed past 4pm,” Espina said.
Espina said Katigbak claimed that the suspects escaped on foot.
In the debriefing, the two victims claimed that the suspects numbered no less than seven and they were armed only with short firearms, Espina said.
Judging from the refusal of the suspects to immediately approach Cabrera upon his emergence from the bank, Espina described them as “amateurs” since they manifested panic.
In a separate statement yesterday, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. said that he has “ordered the PACER to continue follow-up operations with the cooperation of the victims and their family, to identify and arrest the suspects.”
“Should the victims and their family feel the need for police protection, we will be glad to provide them with appropriate security,” Razon said./DMS
March 4, 2008
Two kidnap victims were rescued by police operatives last week, with the supposed P2 million ransom payment intact, an official said Tuesday.
Sr. Supt. Leonardo Espina, chief of the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response (PACER), identified the victims as Alberto Cabrera and Jerry Katigbak, both in their 40’s and of Molino in Bacoor, Cavite.
Espina said the two are half-brothers, with Cabrera engaged in the buy-and-sell of cars business.
Espina said the two are aboard Cabrera’s Toyota Fortuner sports utility vehicle (SUV) in Muñoz, Quezon City in the morning of February 26 when unidentified armed men commandeered their vehicle.
They were then taken to the suspects’ safehouse in BF Homes, Parañaque City, where Cabrera was asked by his captors later in the evening to call his wife and prepare the Official Receipt and Certificate of Registration (ORCR) of their SUV and his passbook.
“The suspects were interested in both getting ransom money and the SUV,” Espina said.
After receiving the call, Cabrera’s wife sought help with the PACER for possible entrapment operation, Espina said.
On the following day, at 2pm, Espina said the wife received again a call from the suspects and directed her to go to SM South Mall in Las Piñas City with the car’s document and Cabrera’s passbook.
But when the wife was already on her way to SM South Mall together with PACER operatives, she received a call again from the kidnappers, instructing her to proceed instead to Trinoma Mall in Quezon City.
This, after the kidnappers learned from Cabrera that the passbook was actually in the SUV. Thus, they brought Cabrera to the said bank to withdraw money, although only the victim got inside.
“It was the ransom demand of the kidnappers to withdraw all the money in Alberto’s account with the SM South Mall branch of China Bank,” Espina said.
At around 2:30 pm, the PACER operatives who went to China Bank in SM South Mall noticed Cabrera go out of bank. “When nobody approached Cabrera to take the ransom, PACER operatives rushed to rescue the victim. The ransom was recovered intact,” Espina said.
Cabrera then led the PACER operatives to the suspects’ safehouse in BF Homes to rescue Katigbak. However, while still on their way, they spotted the SUV of Cabrera being driven by the suspects.
“After a brief chase, the SUV was abandoned by the kidnappers in the parking lot of a fastfood store and victim Katigbak was rescued unharmed past 4pm,” Espina said.
Espina said Katigbak claimed that the suspects escaped on foot.
In the debriefing, the two victims claimed that the suspects numbered no less than seven and they were armed only with short firearms, Espina said.
Judging from the refusal of the suspects to immediately approach Cabrera upon his emergence from the bank, Espina described them as “amateurs” since they manifested panic.
In a separate statement yesterday, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. said that he has “ordered the PACER to continue follow-up operations with the cooperation of the victims and their family, to identify and arrest the suspects.”
“Should the victims and their family feel the need for police protection, we will be glad to provide them with appropriate security,” Razon said./DMS
Two NPA fighters killed in raid by government troops in Quezon province
By Ronron
March 4, 2008
After being on the receiving end in the last three days, government troops scored against the New People’s Army (NPA) on Tuesday when they raided some guerillas in Quezon province, killing two.
Armed Forces Southern Luzon Command spokesman Maj. Randolph Cabangbang said the incident happened at around 5am yesterday at Barangay Mamala Uno in Sariaya town.
Cabangbang said elements of the 740th Combat Group of the Philippine Air Force, led by 1Lt. Sangjan Panding, conducted the surprise raid against some 20 NPA members believed to be under the command of guerilla leader Tirso Alcantara.
“The NPA’s were on an extortion mission in the area. They have frequented the businessmen there for quite a long time already, so one of the businessmen there cooperated this time with the military,” Cabangbang said in Filipino.
The successful operation came after government forces were attacked in various ways by communist rebels in Davao City on Saturday, in Surigao del Sur on Sunday, and in Samar on Monday.
Cabangbang said that aside from killing two rebels, the government troops also recovered two M16 rifles and what he calls as “valuable enemy documents.”
He disclosed that the body of the first fatality was recovered immediately after the raid, while the second one was discovered at around 12:25 pm some 500 meters away from the raid site.
“He was initially wounded but was abandoned and left to die by his group to evade pursuing government troops,” Cabangbang said of the second NPA fatality.
Cabangbang said Philippine Army 202nd Brigade Commander Brig. Gen. Jorge Segovia, where the 740th Combat Group of the Air Force is attached, believes that they were able to foil a planned atrocity by the NPA group.
Pursuit operations, aided by helicopter gunships, were conducted against the NPA elements who managed to escape, said Cabangbang.
The 5,760-strong NPA has been waging guerilla warfare in the countryside for almost four decades now, and which the government intends to put to a stop by 2010 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her term.
Peace talks between the communist movement and the government bogged down in August 2004 after the former and its leaders were tagged as terrorists by some foreign governments./DMS
March 4, 2008
After being on the receiving end in the last three days, government troops scored against the New People’s Army (NPA) on Tuesday when they raided some guerillas in Quezon province, killing two.
Armed Forces Southern Luzon Command spokesman Maj. Randolph Cabangbang said the incident happened at around 5am yesterday at Barangay Mamala Uno in Sariaya town.
Cabangbang said elements of the 740th Combat Group of the Philippine Air Force, led by 1Lt. Sangjan Panding, conducted the surprise raid against some 20 NPA members believed to be under the command of guerilla leader Tirso Alcantara.
“The NPA’s were on an extortion mission in the area. They have frequented the businessmen there for quite a long time already, so one of the businessmen there cooperated this time with the military,” Cabangbang said in Filipino.
The successful operation came after government forces were attacked in various ways by communist rebels in Davao City on Saturday, in Surigao del Sur on Sunday, and in Samar on Monday.
Cabangbang said that aside from killing two rebels, the government troops also recovered two M16 rifles and what he calls as “valuable enemy documents.”
He disclosed that the body of the first fatality was recovered immediately after the raid, while the second one was discovered at around 12:25 pm some 500 meters away from the raid site.
“He was initially wounded but was abandoned and left to die by his group to evade pursuing government troops,” Cabangbang said of the second NPA fatality.
Cabangbang said Philippine Army 202nd Brigade Commander Brig. Gen. Jorge Segovia, where the 740th Combat Group of the Air Force is attached, believes that they were able to foil a planned atrocity by the NPA group.
Pursuit operations, aided by helicopter gunships, were conducted against the NPA elements who managed to escape, said Cabangbang.
The 5,760-strong NPA has been waging guerilla warfare in the countryside for almost four decades now, and which the government intends to put to a stop by 2010 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her term.
Peace talks between the communist movement and the government bogged down in August 2004 after the former and its leaders were tagged as terrorists by some foreign governments./DMS
Monday, March 3, 2008
Four soldiers killed, three injured in alleged NPA-initiated landmine blast in Samar
By Ronron
March 3, 2008
Four government troops were killed and three others were injured by an explosion Monday morning of several landmines planted allegedly by New People’s Army (NPA) elements at a barangay road in Motiong, Samar, a military spokesman said.
Maj. Armand Rico, spokesman of the Philippine Army’s 8th Infantry Division based in Samar province, said in a phone interview last night that the incident happened at around 8:15 am at Barangay Pange while the victims, who are elements of the Army’s 46th Infantry Battalion, were responding to alleged NPA presence in said area.
The attack came after Saturday’s ambush by suspected guerillas against Army troopers in Davao City, and Sunday’s harassment at a CAFGU detachment in Carmen, Surigao del Sur.
Rico said about 10 rebels first attacked a private residence at around 5am yesterday in Barangay Bliss in Paranas, Samar, thinking it was of their target’s, PO2 Servando Arellano of the Paranas Municipal Police Station.
“The neighbors just heard the suspected rebels shouting outside. They were asking Servando to surrender his firearms to them,” Rico recounted.
“Their contact must have erred in pointing the house of Arellano because the perpetrators went to the house of Gaspar Dacula, the supervisor of Samar Electric Company II. Their houses were just near each other,” he added.
When no Arellano came out, the guerillas fired at Dacula’s house using M16 and M14 rifles. They later threw a grenade that exploded inside the house, said Rico.
Fortunately, Dacula and his wife, who were the only people inside, were able to hide at their basement when the rifles started firing, and were spared from any injury, Rico said.
When the rebels left on foot, the incident was immediately reported to the military, prompting the deployment of a platoon from the Bravo Compnay of the 46th IB, which was based in Motiong town.
The troops, led by 2Lt. Leonard Orbase, headed to the reported route of withdrawal of the rebels at Barangay Pange, said Rico.
By this time, the 10 rebels already grew to at most 30 as reinforcement arrived.
But before the government troops could get closer to their targets, they were hit by the explosion of three landmines, Rico said.
This resulted in the death of four enlisted personnel and the woundning of Orbase and his two men, identified as Private First Class Julius Leyson and and Private First Class Priscilo Covarrubias.
Orbase, Leyson and Covarrubias are now being treated at the Camp Lukban Station Hospital in Catbalogan town. Rico said they are in stable condition, he even talked to Orbase.
The other men of Orbase who survived the attack and tried to fire at the withdrawing rebels recovered two unexploded landmines during clearing operations, said Rico.
“There were reports from civilians that there are bloodstains in their route of withdrawal so we believe they suffered some casualties, whom they brought along,” Rico said.
He said the Army “condemns” the attack of the NPA against civilians and the use of landmines against the government forces.
“We are pursuing them,” Rico said of the rebels.
Interviewed at Clark Airfield in Angeles City, Pampanga earlier in the day, Army chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano said the series of NPA attacks “is not really alarming, considering that we are telling the whole country of the positive developments in our pursuit to end the insurgency problem.”
Yano said the series of attacks only shows that their “soldiers are not sleeping” because there are efforts against them by the NPA.
The 5,760-strong NPA has been waging guerilla warfare in the countryside for almost four decades now.
The government vows to crush them by 2010 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her term.
Peace talks between the communist movement and the government bogged down in August 2004 after the former and its key leaders were tagged as terrorists by some foreign governments./DMS
March 3, 2008
Four government troops were killed and three others were injured by an explosion Monday morning of several landmines planted allegedly by New People’s Army (NPA) elements at a barangay road in Motiong, Samar, a military spokesman said.
Maj. Armand Rico, spokesman of the Philippine Army’s 8th Infantry Division based in Samar province, said in a phone interview last night that the incident happened at around 8:15 am at Barangay Pange while the victims, who are elements of the Army’s 46th Infantry Battalion, were responding to alleged NPA presence in said area.
The attack came after Saturday’s ambush by suspected guerillas against Army troopers in Davao City, and Sunday’s harassment at a CAFGU detachment in Carmen, Surigao del Sur.
Rico said about 10 rebels first attacked a private residence at around 5am yesterday in Barangay Bliss in Paranas, Samar, thinking it was of their target’s, PO2 Servando Arellano of the Paranas Municipal Police Station.
“The neighbors just heard the suspected rebels shouting outside. They were asking Servando to surrender his firearms to them,” Rico recounted.
“Their contact must have erred in pointing the house of Arellano because the perpetrators went to the house of Gaspar Dacula, the supervisor of Samar Electric Company II. Their houses were just near each other,” he added.
When no Arellano came out, the guerillas fired at Dacula’s house using M16 and M14 rifles. They later threw a grenade that exploded inside the house, said Rico.
Fortunately, Dacula and his wife, who were the only people inside, were able to hide at their basement when the rifles started firing, and were spared from any injury, Rico said.
When the rebels left on foot, the incident was immediately reported to the military, prompting the deployment of a platoon from the Bravo Compnay of the 46th IB, which was based in Motiong town.
The troops, led by 2Lt. Leonard Orbase, headed to the reported route of withdrawal of the rebels at Barangay Pange, said Rico.
By this time, the 10 rebels already grew to at most 30 as reinforcement arrived.
But before the government troops could get closer to their targets, they were hit by the explosion of three landmines, Rico said.
This resulted in the death of four enlisted personnel and the woundning of Orbase and his two men, identified as Private First Class Julius Leyson and and Private First Class Priscilo Covarrubias.
Orbase, Leyson and Covarrubias are now being treated at the Camp Lukban Station Hospital in Catbalogan town. Rico said they are in stable condition, he even talked to Orbase.
The other men of Orbase who survived the attack and tried to fire at the withdrawing rebels recovered two unexploded landmines during clearing operations, said Rico.
“There were reports from civilians that there are bloodstains in their route of withdrawal so we believe they suffered some casualties, whom they brought along,” Rico said.
He said the Army “condemns” the attack of the NPA against civilians and the use of landmines against the government forces.
“We are pursuing them,” Rico said of the rebels.
Interviewed at Clark Airfield in Angeles City, Pampanga earlier in the day, Army chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano said the series of NPA attacks “is not really alarming, considering that we are telling the whole country of the positive developments in our pursuit to end the insurgency problem.”
Yano said the series of attacks only shows that their “soldiers are not sleeping” because there are efforts against them by the NPA.
The 5,760-strong NPA has been waging guerilla warfare in the countryside for almost four decades now.
The government vows to crush them by 2010 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her term.
Peace talks between the communist movement and the government bogged down in August 2004 after the former and its key leaders were tagged as terrorists by some foreign governments./DMS
Gunban lifted Monday midnight, three civilians nabbed - PNP
By Ronron
March 3, 2008
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. said the suspension of the Permit-to-Carry-Firearms-Outside-of-Residence (PTCFOR) is already lifted effective midnight of Monday as scheduled.
The PTCFOR was imposed Monday last week when several anti-government groups converged in some parts of Metro Manila and in other parts of the country to call for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Razon had said then that the PTCFOR suspension was intended to limit the movement of firearms as several rallies were held that day and on February 29.
Sr. Supt. Nicanor Bartolome, PNP spokesman, said that during the weeklong implementation of the gun ban, three persons were nabbed in Metro Manila and will face illegal possession of firearms charges.
In other parts of the country, he said 20 different firearms were seized from February 25 until March 2 as the PNP implemented Presidential Decree 1866 and Republic Act 8294 on illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Bartolome said that from the start of the year, a total of 163 illegally possessed firearms were already accounted for by police operatives in checkpoints.
The entire year of 2007 resulted in the confiscation by the PNP of 2,238 illegally-possessed firearms, said Bartolome./DMS
March 3, 2008
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. said the suspension of the Permit-to-Carry-Firearms-Outside-of-Residence (PTCFOR) is already lifted effective midnight of Monday as scheduled.
The PTCFOR was imposed Monday last week when several anti-government groups converged in some parts of Metro Manila and in other parts of the country to call for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Razon had said then that the PTCFOR suspension was intended to limit the movement of firearms as several rallies were held that day and on February 29.
Sr. Supt. Nicanor Bartolome, PNP spokesman, said that during the weeklong implementation of the gun ban, three persons were nabbed in Metro Manila and will face illegal possession of firearms charges.
In other parts of the country, he said 20 different firearms were seized from February 25 until March 2 as the PNP implemented Presidential Decree 1866 and Republic Act 8294 on illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Bartolome said that from the start of the year, a total of 163 illegally possessed firearms were already accounted for by police operatives in checkpoints.
The entire year of 2007 resulted in the confiscation by the PNP of 2,238 illegally-possessed firearms, said Bartolome./DMS
Incoming AFP chief says he will support VP de Castro in case there is vacancy in the Presidency before 2010
By Ronron
March 3, 2008
Angeles City, Pampanga – Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano said Monday that he will support Vice President Noli de Castro in taking over the Presidential post if it becomes vacant before 2010.
“That (Vice President) is the Constitutional successor,” Yano said when asked by reporters here if he supports de Castro in case President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo fails to finish her term by 2010.
“If there’s any vacancy, but there is none,” he added.
Yano will takeover Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. when the latter’s extended term ends on May 9 of this year.
Calls for Arroyo’s resignation mounted this month after Rodolfo Lozada, Jr. bared the alleged irregularities behind the now-cancelled $329-million national broadband network project of the government.
Arroyo, however, is determined to finish her term by 2010.
Yano maintained that the 120,000-strong military will not heed to calls for them to intervene in current efforts to oust Arroyo, and sought instead for the public to take legal means.
“Every group, every individual can have his own perception. And if there are 90 million Filipinos, and we follow the individual perception of each, then we will have chaos,” he said.
Yano said the stand of the military is they are for the “Constitution and the duly Constituted authority, not for any group or individual.”
“If we have laws, let’s follow the rule of law,” he said./DMS
March 3, 2008
Angeles City, Pampanga – Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano said Monday that he will support Vice President Noli de Castro in taking over the Presidential post if it becomes vacant before 2010.
“That (Vice President) is the Constitutional successor,” Yano said when asked by reporters here if he supports de Castro in case President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo fails to finish her term by 2010.
“If there’s any vacancy, but there is none,” he added.
Yano will takeover Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. when the latter’s extended term ends on May 9 of this year.
Calls for Arroyo’s resignation mounted this month after Rodolfo Lozada, Jr. bared the alleged irregularities behind the now-cancelled $329-million national broadband network project of the government.
Arroyo, however, is determined to finish her term by 2010.
Yano maintained that the 120,000-strong military will not heed to calls for them to intervene in current efforts to oust Arroyo, and sought instead for the public to take legal means.
“Every group, every individual can have his own perception. And if there are 90 million Filipinos, and we follow the individual perception of each, then we will have chaos,” he said.
Yano said the stand of the military is they are for the “Constitution and the duly Constituted authority, not for any group or individual.”
“If we have laws, let’s follow the rule of law,” he said./DMS
RP-US Balikatan ’08 ends, multi-lateral exercise with other force foreseen
By Ronron
March 3, 2008
Angeles City, Pampanga - The 2008 Balikatan Exercises between the Philippines and the United States formally ended Monday with a hope from no less than Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. that it will eventually evolve into a multi-lateral activity in the coming years.
“We have built schools, renovated road, and constructed houses of worship. We have brought medical, dental and veterinary assistance to the remotest areas of the Philippine archipelago… This makes the success of Balikatan more than just a military accomplishment; it is more importantly also the success for the Filipino people,” Esperon said in a speech during the exercise closing ceremony here yesterday morning.
Some 6,000 American troops coming from the US 3rd Marine Expeditionary Unit and about 2,000 Filipino counterparts participated in the exercise that was held in various parts of the country, particularly in Luzon and Mindanao, starting February 18 of this year.
Esperon said what made this year’s Balikatan exercises different is the focus on humanitarian projects over the regular inter-operability trainings.
US Exercise Director Brig. Gen. John Ma said their government spent at least $5.6 million for all the activities conducted.
Exercise information officer Army Maj. Ramon Zagala III of the AFP said the civil-military operations component of the activity resulted in the following accomplished projects: nine engineering projects in Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Cotabato and Palawan; 20 medical events in the same provinces, plus Lanao del Norte, benefiting 20,235 people; 15 dental events, benefiting about 2,000 people, and six veterinary events, benefiting 600 animals.
The military exercise, on the other hand, included jungle survival trainings in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija; firing exercises in Crow Valley, Capas, Tarlac; and staff exercise on responding to volcano eruption incident, among others.
Ma said there was no specific enemy group cited in the military exercises component of the activity.
“Now, both of our Armed Forces are more prepared than even to face this challenge and timely event (volcano eruption) for a strong and swift response should that need arise,” Ma said.
Zagala said all military exercises were held in Luzon since in Mindanao, only the humanitarian missions were conducted.
Zagala’s counterpart with the US, Army Lt. Col. Mike Donnelly, said the US troops who participated in the Balikatan are expected to leave the country “within the week” when they complete packing their equipment.
Some will be aboard the USS Essex, which will sail to Okinawa, Japan, while the rest will take commercial and military flights going there and in other home bases in Hawaii, Alaska and other parts of the US, he said.
Asked on what benefits did the US side get from the exercises, Ma said: “A lot of it is the opportunity to train with our Filipino counterparts and subjected to how they do their thing.”
“Part of the benefit is being able to help those who need decent medical care… giving them livelihood,” he added.
Citing the presence of observer troops from Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, Esperon said he hopes the bilateral activity will soon be joined by forces from other parts of the region.
“On a more important note, with the presence of observer teams, Balikatan need not remain bilateral. We hope that in the future, our Balikatan exercise can evolve into multilateral exercise,” he said.
Esperon said this can be done if the Philippines signs Visiting Forces Agreement with other countries, like the one it has with the US now.
So far, the Philippines is awaiting the ratification by the Philippine Senate of the RP-Australia Status of Visiting Forces Agreement. Efforts to forge the same agreement with Brunei and Singapore, among others, are still ongoing.
Ma said the US forces are willing to “execute” that if sanctioned by their “national” and US Pacific Command leadership./DMS
Sunday, March 2, 2008
One soldier, at least one NPA killed in clash at Surigao Sur
By Ronron
March 2, 2008
A government soldier and at least one communist rebel were killed in a four-hour firefight early Sunday morning in Surigao del Sur province, a military spokesman said.
Maj. Michele Anayron, spokesman of the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division based in Cagayan de Oro City, said the incident started at around 3:30 am when at least 150 suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) harassed the detachment of the Army’s 23rd Infantry Battalion in Barangay Hinapuyan, Carmen town.
Anayron said the incident lasted until 7:30 am because all 25 personnel of the Army CAFGU detachment decided to fight it out with the perpetrators. He said the detachment was composed of former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) fighters who have since been integrated with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Anayron identified the government fatality as Corporal Jaire Jadjuri, the detachment commander, who was hit as the suspected rebels were withdrawing at around 7:20 am.
The slain rebel, on the other hand, has yet to be identified even if his remains were recovered by the government forces.
Anayron said recovered from the cadaver of the NPA fighter was an M16 rifle and a hand-held radio.
He said that civilians in the area have also reported seeing two wounded and one slain rebels being carried by their withdrawing comrades.
“That must have been a high-ranking rebel because they brought his body, while they left the other one,” said Anayron.
Anayron said further that they are checking the report of civilians that a Caucasian woman was seen in the company of the suspected rebels, and acting like a medic officer as she was seen administering intravenous procedures to the wounded soldiers.
“Pursuit operations are ongoing,” Anayron said.
The 5,760-strong NPA has been waging guerilla warfare in the countryside for almost four decades now, although the government intends to neutralize them by 2010 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her term.
Peace talks between the government and the communist movement bogged down in August 2004 after the latter was tagged as terrorist by some foreign governments./DMS
March 2, 2008
A government soldier and at least one communist rebel were killed in a four-hour firefight early Sunday morning in Surigao del Sur province, a military spokesman said.
Maj. Michele Anayron, spokesman of the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division based in Cagayan de Oro City, said the incident started at around 3:30 am when at least 150 suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) harassed the detachment of the Army’s 23rd Infantry Battalion in Barangay Hinapuyan, Carmen town.
Anayron said the incident lasted until 7:30 am because all 25 personnel of the Army CAFGU detachment decided to fight it out with the perpetrators. He said the detachment was composed of former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) fighters who have since been integrated with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Anayron identified the government fatality as Corporal Jaire Jadjuri, the detachment commander, who was hit as the suspected rebels were withdrawing at around 7:20 am.
The slain rebel, on the other hand, has yet to be identified even if his remains were recovered by the government forces.
Anayron said recovered from the cadaver of the NPA fighter was an M16 rifle and a hand-held radio.
He said that civilians in the area have also reported seeing two wounded and one slain rebels being carried by their withdrawing comrades.
“That must have been a high-ranking rebel because they brought his body, while they left the other one,” said Anayron.
Anayron said further that they are checking the report of civilians that a Caucasian woman was seen in the company of the suspected rebels, and acting like a medic officer as she was seen administering intravenous procedures to the wounded soldiers.
“Pursuit operations are ongoing,” Anayron said.
The 5,760-strong NPA has been waging guerilla warfare in the countryside for almost four decades now, although the government intends to neutralize them by 2010 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her term.
Peace talks between the government and the communist movement bogged down in August 2004 after the latter was tagged as terrorist by some foreign governments./DMS
Two soldiers, four civilians hurt in blast in Sulu
By Ronron
March 2, 2008
Two soldiers and four civilians were hurt in an explosion Saturday night at a videoke house in Sulu province, police and military officials said Sunday.
Army Maj. Roel Ebreo, spokesman of the military’s anti-terror Joint Task Force Comet based in Jolo town of said province, said the incident happened at around 9:30 pm at a videoke house in Sitio Tabak, Barangay Busbus of said town.
Initial investigation by police scene of the crime operatives and military bomb experts believe the explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) charged with an 81 mm mortar shell based on the shrapnel recovered from the blast site, said Sulu Provincial Police Director Sr. Supt. Julasirim Kasim.
Regional police director Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao said this is a signature of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).
In a phone interview, Kasim said the IED was seen left by three men 30 minutes before it blew off right inside the videoke house that is owned by retired Marine Sergeant Felix Cordizal. A follow up operation is now conducted against the three.
“We are still conducting discreet investigation to apprehend the unidentified perpetrators… Our intelligent community is continuously conducting monitoring,” he told Manila Shimbun.
Kasim said the injured victims include two elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and four employees of the videoke house.
Ebreo said the two soldiers were identified as Privates First Class Mark Anthony Taborno, 26, and Jun Cani, 28, both from the Intelligence Security Group (ISG) of the Philippine Army. They were reportedly drinking and singing inside the videoke house at that time.
The civilians, on the other hand, include three females who are believed to be guest relations officer of the videoke house, and a gay employee, said Kasim. They are aged 24 and 25.
Kasim said they suffered shrapnel wounds and were initially brought to the Trauma Hospital inside the 3rd Marine Brigade camp in said town for medical treatment. Hours later, they were transferred to a public hospital in the same town.
Kasim said they are still investigating the motive for the attack, which includes possible retaliation against Cordizal over business matters and terrorism.
“There is an information that the other night (on Friday), there was an alteration at the said videoke house so we are following that up,” Kasim said.
Asked if this could be an act by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), which is present in the island province, he said: “We can’t say yet if it’s by ASG. That is part of our in-depth investigation.”
Kasim said the investigation is being conducted jointly by the intelligence and investigation branch of the Sulu Provincial Office, and the Jolo Municipal Police Office./DMS
March 2, 2008
Two soldiers and four civilians were hurt in an explosion Saturday night at a videoke house in Sulu province, police and military officials said Sunday.
Army Maj. Roel Ebreo, spokesman of the military’s anti-terror Joint Task Force Comet based in Jolo town of said province, said the incident happened at around 9:30 pm at a videoke house in Sitio Tabak, Barangay Busbus of said town.
Initial investigation by police scene of the crime operatives and military bomb experts believe the explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) charged with an 81 mm mortar shell based on the shrapnel recovered from the blast site, said Sulu Provincial Police Director Sr. Supt. Julasirim Kasim.
Regional police director Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao said this is a signature of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).
In a phone interview, Kasim said the IED was seen left by three men 30 minutes before it blew off right inside the videoke house that is owned by retired Marine Sergeant Felix Cordizal. A follow up operation is now conducted against the three.
“We are still conducting discreet investigation to apprehend the unidentified perpetrators… Our intelligent community is continuously conducting monitoring,” he told Manila Shimbun.
Kasim said the injured victims include two elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and four employees of the videoke house.
Ebreo said the two soldiers were identified as Privates First Class Mark Anthony Taborno, 26, and Jun Cani, 28, both from the Intelligence Security Group (ISG) of the Philippine Army. They were reportedly drinking and singing inside the videoke house at that time.
The civilians, on the other hand, include three females who are believed to be guest relations officer of the videoke house, and a gay employee, said Kasim. They are aged 24 and 25.
Kasim said they suffered shrapnel wounds and were initially brought to the Trauma Hospital inside the 3rd Marine Brigade camp in said town for medical treatment. Hours later, they were transferred to a public hospital in the same town.
Kasim said they are still investigating the motive for the attack, which includes possible retaliation against Cordizal over business matters and terrorism.
“There is an information that the other night (on Friday), there was an alteration at the said videoke house so we are following that up,” Kasim said.
Asked if this could be an act by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), which is present in the island province, he said: “We can’t say yet if it’s by ASG. That is part of our in-depth investigation.”
Kasim said the investigation is being conducted jointly by the intelligence and investigation branch of the Sulu Provincial Office, and the Jolo Municipal Police Office./DMS
UST Rector bares objection to calls for Arroyo’s resignation in mass attended by Cory and Lozada
By Ronron
March 2, 2008
The Rector of the oldest university in the Philippines, the University of Sto. Tomas (UST), did not call for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a mass he officiated Sunday at the school’s parish in Manila City attended by no less than former President Corazon Aquino and self-proclaimed corruption whistleblower Rodolfo Lozada, Jr., an alumnus of said school.
Instead, Fr. Rolando de la Rosa urged the people to start building up the fight against irregularities within themselves, and then exercise their democratic right to choose a good and able leader in 2010.
This was different from the stand taken by the UST Central Student Council, which joined Aquino and Lozada’s calls for Arroyo’s resignation after her family and administration were linked to the alleged anomalies behind the $329 national broadband network project.
Lozada, a former consultant of the NBN project, and former National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary and now Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Romulo Neri had implied that former Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos was soliciting commission from ZTE Corporation for making sure that it gets the NBN contract.
Lozada revealed further that First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo knew about and tolerated the actions of Abalos.
Just last Friday, Lozada and Aquino led thousands of people at Ayala Avenue corner Paseo de Roxas in Makati City in urging Arroyo to step down.
Arroyo, who has cancelled the project last year after learning about the alleged anomaly, denied the allegations of Lozada and insisted she will finish her term in 2010.
Because of this, Aquino organized a series of “Mass for Truth,” the first of which was at La Salle Greenhills on February 17, and then followed at the Adamson University. Yesterday’s mass was the third in a series of nine.
In his homily, de la Rosa said: “It would be simplistic and hypocritical to say the problem of our country is the President and the men and women who are behind her. This is a dangerous misunderstanding of the crisis we are facing today.”
“The integrity crisis involves not just the President and the men and women behind her. The integrity crisis involves us all,” he said.
De la Rosa, who was delivering his homily just about three meters in front of Aquino and Lozada, said, “if we want to restore truth and integrity in society, government and the churches, we must stop looking for scapegoats to ease our burden of guilt and failure.”
“If we want to restore integrity and honesty in government, the best way is not through a rigodon of leaders who are forcibly removed through People Power, but through an enlightened, educated and conscientious electoral process,” he said.
“We have 26 months before the next election. We have enough time to prepare ourselves so we can vote wisely. Let us use People Power during election time, not only before or after,” the priest continued.
To prove his point that this happens in reality, de la Rosa cited the election of Pampanga Governor Fr. Ed Panlilio and Isabela Governor Grace Padaca in the last elections.
“We can make it happen again,” he assured the mass-goers, which was estimated to be about 2,000 in strength, occupying both the seats inside and outside the Santisimo Rosario Parish.
Anticipating the objection of others that such suggestion takes time and those in power may not even allow it, de la Rosa said: “Don’t you notice? We are always in a hurry, but always late. Life is not a matter of speed but depth. The faster we go through life, the shallower our understanding of it becomes. Quick successes usually are a fluke. Real and lasting victories take time.”
He said the two previous People Power events did not really produce the desired result of restoring integrity and honesty.
“We delude ourselves if we think that by driving Gloria Arroyo away from Malacanang, as we did with Marcos and Erap, integrity and honestly will be restored,” de la Rosa said.
If any, he said it was democracy that was restored by the two People Power events. And this should be the one used to rid the country of “many present-day elected officials” who “are mere surrogates of hidden power-brokers, who, after election, take back what they had invested in.”
The priest said the people should now “discard that model of democracy, which portrays government leaders as the active molders, and we, their constituents as the passive clay.”
“Our task as voters is not only to elect our officials but to keep them in their proper place, which is to be our servants, not our lords and masters. We have to make them aware that they are accountable to us,” he said.
UST Central Student Council Reyner Villaseñor said he respects the decision of the University Rector, saying the latter in fact offered a wholistic approach in addressing the crisis.
“Actually, we agree on a common ground that this is beyond Lozada. The Rector tackled corruption, our election, and others… So, while we, the students of UST, call for the resignation of Arroyo, we were not surprised with the Rector’s homily,” Villaseñor told Manila Shimbun in a phone interview after the mass.
The same opinion was given by former Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, who attended the mass along with former Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Delez, former Education Secretary Florencio Abad, former Trade Secretary Cesar Purisima, former Congresswoman Rosetta Rosales, Mrs. Gina de Venecia, Senator Benigno Aquino III, and Manila City Mayor Alfredo Lim, among others.
“That, I think, is okay because the people now are already thinking on their own,” Soliman said in a separate interview.
In a speech after the mass, Aquino said that “whatever difference we have now with each other,” what is important is these differences can be set aside “for a common, greater mission of searching for the truth.”
Dressed in her signature yellow color, Aquino appealed to the public, especially the youth, to be more patient on their advocacy for Arroyo’s resignation, citing the lack of enlightenment of other Filipinos.
“I am not losing hope. We have removed a dictator before, how much more now when we are not under Martial Law,” she said in Filipino.
As she thanked the people, especially the youth, for joining her in her “difficult but meaningful search for truth,” Aquino assured Lozada of her continuous support.
“Do not lose hope, many believe in you,” Aquino told Lozada, who was wearing a black shirt, marked with “WE ARE UST,” which stands for “We are United in the Search for Truth.”
The 1984 engineering graduate of UST, for his part, sought for the public’s continuing support as he carries what he calls his heavy cross, a decision, he said, he made in spite of being scrutinized in public and placing his life and that of his family at risk.
Lozada denied that he came out in the open upon the prodding of opposition Senator Panfilo Lacson, with whom he met first in December last year about the NBN controversy.
“This was a decision between me and my God… Many are insisting their speculations that Lacson came between me and God, or JDV did. Maybe, these people do not believe that there is a God,” Lozada said.
Lozada did not react directly to the homily of de la Rosa. But at one point, as a premise to his revelation about a priest’s piece of advice to him on what he should do in the situation he is situation in, Lozada disclosed that the UST Rector was once a part of the CHED leadership.
“He came from CHED. He was once part of the government. Like me, he also came home here (in UST). I know he also knows some truth in government. All of us in government knows some element of truth in government,” Lozada said in Filipino, drawing applause from the mass-goers.
The entire mass, which began shortly past 10 am and ended before 11:30 am, stuck to its sacred mood all through out its duration, until it ended with a political mood as the recessional hymn sang by the choir was “Bayan Ko.”
The same song was sung after Lozada’s speech.
Joining de la Rosa in administering the mass are at least 15 other priests./DMS
March 2, 2008
The Rector of the oldest university in the Philippines, the University of Sto. Tomas (UST), did not call for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a mass he officiated Sunday at the school’s parish in Manila City attended by no less than former President Corazon Aquino and self-proclaimed corruption whistleblower Rodolfo Lozada, Jr., an alumnus of said school.
Instead, Fr. Rolando de la Rosa urged the people to start building up the fight against irregularities within themselves, and then exercise their democratic right to choose a good and able leader in 2010.
This was different from the stand taken by the UST Central Student Council, which joined Aquino and Lozada’s calls for Arroyo’s resignation after her family and administration were linked to the alleged anomalies behind the $329 national broadband network project.
Lozada, a former consultant of the NBN project, and former National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary and now Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Romulo Neri had implied that former Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos was soliciting commission from ZTE Corporation for making sure that it gets the NBN contract.
Lozada revealed further that First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo knew about and tolerated the actions of Abalos.
Just last Friday, Lozada and Aquino led thousands of people at Ayala Avenue corner Paseo de Roxas in Makati City in urging Arroyo to step down.
Arroyo, who has cancelled the project last year after learning about the alleged anomaly, denied the allegations of Lozada and insisted she will finish her term in 2010.
Because of this, Aquino organized a series of “Mass for Truth,” the first of which was at La Salle Greenhills on February 17, and then followed at the Adamson University. Yesterday’s mass was the third in a series of nine.
In his homily, de la Rosa said: “It would be simplistic and hypocritical to say the problem of our country is the President and the men and women who are behind her. This is a dangerous misunderstanding of the crisis we are facing today.”
“The integrity crisis involves not just the President and the men and women behind her. The integrity crisis involves us all,” he said.
De la Rosa, who was delivering his homily just about three meters in front of Aquino and Lozada, said, “if we want to restore truth and integrity in society, government and the churches, we must stop looking for scapegoats to ease our burden of guilt and failure.”
“If we want to restore integrity and honesty in government, the best way is not through a rigodon of leaders who are forcibly removed through People Power, but through an enlightened, educated and conscientious electoral process,” he said.
“We have 26 months before the next election. We have enough time to prepare ourselves so we can vote wisely. Let us use People Power during election time, not only before or after,” the priest continued.
To prove his point that this happens in reality, de la Rosa cited the election of Pampanga Governor Fr. Ed Panlilio and Isabela Governor Grace Padaca in the last elections.
“We can make it happen again,” he assured the mass-goers, which was estimated to be about 2,000 in strength, occupying both the seats inside and outside the Santisimo Rosario Parish.
Anticipating the objection of others that such suggestion takes time and those in power may not even allow it, de la Rosa said: “Don’t you notice? We are always in a hurry, but always late. Life is not a matter of speed but depth. The faster we go through life, the shallower our understanding of it becomes. Quick successes usually are a fluke. Real and lasting victories take time.”
He said the two previous People Power events did not really produce the desired result of restoring integrity and honesty.
“We delude ourselves if we think that by driving Gloria Arroyo away from Malacanang, as we did with Marcos and Erap, integrity and honestly will be restored,” de la Rosa said.
If any, he said it was democracy that was restored by the two People Power events. And this should be the one used to rid the country of “many present-day elected officials” who “are mere surrogates of hidden power-brokers, who, after election, take back what they had invested in.”
The priest said the people should now “discard that model of democracy, which portrays government leaders as the active molders, and we, their constituents as the passive clay.”
“Our task as voters is not only to elect our officials but to keep them in their proper place, which is to be our servants, not our lords and masters. We have to make them aware that they are accountable to us,” he said.
UST Central Student Council Reyner Villaseñor said he respects the decision of the University Rector, saying the latter in fact offered a wholistic approach in addressing the crisis.
“Actually, we agree on a common ground that this is beyond Lozada. The Rector tackled corruption, our election, and others… So, while we, the students of UST, call for the resignation of Arroyo, we were not surprised with the Rector’s homily,” Villaseñor told Manila Shimbun in a phone interview after the mass.
The same opinion was given by former Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, who attended the mass along with former Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Delez, former Education Secretary Florencio Abad, former Trade Secretary Cesar Purisima, former Congresswoman Rosetta Rosales, Mrs. Gina de Venecia, Senator Benigno Aquino III, and Manila City Mayor Alfredo Lim, among others.
“That, I think, is okay because the people now are already thinking on their own,” Soliman said in a separate interview.
In a speech after the mass, Aquino said that “whatever difference we have now with each other,” what is important is these differences can be set aside “for a common, greater mission of searching for the truth.”
Dressed in her signature yellow color, Aquino appealed to the public, especially the youth, to be more patient on their advocacy for Arroyo’s resignation, citing the lack of enlightenment of other Filipinos.
“I am not losing hope. We have removed a dictator before, how much more now when we are not under Martial Law,” she said in Filipino.
As she thanked the people, especially the youth, for joining her in her “difficult but meaningful search for truth,” Aquino assured Lozada of her continuous support.
“Do not lose hope, many believe in you,” Aquino told Lozada, who was wearing a black shirt, marked with “WE ARE UST,” which stands for “We are United in the Search for Truth.”
The 1984 engineering graduate of UST, for his part, sought for the public’s continuing support as he carries what he calls his heavy cross, a decision, he said, he made in spite of being scrutinized in public and placing his life and that of his family at risk.
Lozada denied that he came out in the open upon the prodding of opposition Senator Panfilo Lacson, with whom he met first in December last year about the NBN controversy.
“This was a decision between me and my God… Many are insisting their speculations that Lacson came between me and God, or JDV did. Maybe, these people do not believe that there is a God,” Lozada said.
Lozada did not react directly to the homily of de la Rosa. But at one point, as a premise to his revelation about a priest’s piece of advice to him on what he should do in the situation he is situation in, Lozada disclosed that the UST Rector was once a part of the CHED leadership.
“He came from CHED. He was once part of the government. Like me, he also came home here (in UST). I know he also knows some truth in government. All of us in government knows some element of truth in government,” Lozada said in Filipino, drawing applause from the mass-goers.
The entire mass, which began shortly past 10 am and ended before 11:30 am, stuck to its sacred mood all through out its duration, until it ended with a political mood as the recessional hymn sang by the choir was “Bayan Ko.”
The same song was sung after Lozada’s speech.
Joining de la Rosa in administering the mass are at least 15 other priests./DMS
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