Senate hearings on Charter change resolution set next week

THE Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revisions of laws is expected to hold hearings by next week on the resolution calling for Charter change (Cha-cha) that will enable the country to shift from a centralized to a federal form of government.

Committee chair Sen. Richard Gordon said he is studying when to schedule the hearings but said it will be soon.

Resolution author Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the Gordon panel, which is part the Joint Oversight Committee on Poll Automation busy conducting hearings on the automation of elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), will be ready to hold hearings on the Cha-cha resolution as soon as it wraps up work on the ARMM polls.

Pimentel said he expects to get 20 senators in all to sign his joint resolution before the week ends. He said that despite their reservations on the timing and mode of amendment, Senators Benigno Aquino III and Francis Escudero are for it, provided the changes take effect after President Arroyo's term ends in 2010. "For purposes of debate, I'm supporting it," Escudero had said.

Pimentel said Senators Loren Legarda and Lito Lapid have also manifested support. He said he also plans to get the signature of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano whose sister Pia has already signed the resolution.

Pimentel said Speaker Prospero Nograles and former Speaker Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia have agreed to push for a counterpart joint resolution in the Lower House.

A joint resolution approved by both houses of Congress has the effect of a law.

Pimentel's 63-page resolution calls for the breaking up of the country into at least 11 federal states and one federal administrative region. These will be called the federal states of Northern Luzon, Central Luzon, Bicol and Southern Tagalog in Luzon; the federal states of Minparom (Mindoro-Palawan-Romblon-Marinduque), Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas and Western Visayas in the Visayas; and the federal states Northern Mindanao, Southern Mindanao and Bangsa-moro in Mindanao.

Metro Manila will be converted into a federal administrative region along the lines of Washington D.C. in the United States, New Delhi in India, or Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. - Dennis Gadil

Cabinet revamp set; 2007 losers seen as gainers

PRESIDENT Arroyo will implement a Cabinet revamp in May.

Arroyo made the confirmation in an informal after-dinner chat in Cebu Monday night with reporters covering the launching of the new central seaboard roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) ferry route.

The one-year ban on appointing losers in the 2007 election lapses in May, and it is likely that at least losers in the senatorial elections will be appointed. Among those mentioned are former Rep. Prospero Pichay and former DENR Secretary Michael Defensor.

Asked who would be affected by the shake-up, she replied: "Secret."

When pressed for the identity or identities of the Cabinet members who would be axed, she said, "No more, that’s it."

There are rumors that Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro would take over the justice portfolio from Raul Gonzalez.

Teodoro will reportedly be replaced by Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. who will retire on May 9.

Esperon will be replaced by Army chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano.

There was also talk that Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita would be appointed ambassador to the United States vice Willy Gaa while Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno would take over as new executive secretary.

Gonzalez said he is not aware of any reshuffle in May.

"All members of the Cabinet should abide by the President’s decision. I am a soldier. Wherever the President thinks I am qualified for, I will go," he said.

Sen. Benigno Aquino III said while it is the prerogative of the President to change her Cabinet, this should redound to improvement in the delivery of basic services.

"Without improvement, they’re just going through a political exercise that redounds to nothing," he said.

He said the planned revamp would also displace programs implemented by affected departments and agencies since the new appointees would need at least six months to learn the ropes.

Aquino also questioned the timing of the revamp, noting that this belies the President’s assertion that her Cabinet is efficiently discharging its duties.

"If they are performing well, why do they have to be changed?" – Regina Bengco, Evangeline de Vera and Dennis Gadil

Miriam freezes action on JPEPA

BY DENNIS GADIL

SEN. Miriam Defensor-Santiago yesterday pre-empted a debate on the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) by deferring, on her own, plenary discussions on its ratification.

Explaining her decision, Santiago, foreign relations committee chair, said many senators requested for more time to study the subject.

"Our senators are not ready to discuss the JPEPA," she said, adding that the senators still lacked "technical knowledge" of the treaty.

She said instead of sponsoring the committee report's floor approval, she will distribute a hardbound copy of the treaty this week "written in layman's language."

Santiago said her fellow senators are unfamiliar with the term "conditional concurrence."

She said the term is often used in the United States to refer to a package of reservations, understandings, and declarations that become a common attachment.

Santiago also cited the request of the Department of Foreign Affairs for more time as another reason for deferral while "exploring" the proper exchange of notes between the country and Japan to address perceived constitutional and environmental loopholes in the agreement.

She said DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo is working on this exchange with Japanese Ambassador Makoto Katsura.

The notes, if ever, will be presented to the Senate as an integral part of JPEPA during the plenary debate on concurrence," she said.

Santiago's panel has recommended conditional concurrence, and insisted on compliance with 15 conditions to meet provisions of the Philippine Constitution.

She said that in a nutshell, the Philippines is merely asking for the same concessions that Japan has already granted in its economic partnership agreements with Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, and Indonesia.

Angara warns RP may lose Spratlys

BY DENNIS GADIL

SEN. Edgardo Angara yesterday warned that the Philippines could lose the Spratlys by default if Congress delays approval of the archipelagic baseline bill.

"It's either magiging part of international waters o ma-claim ng mga counter-claimants," Angara said.

Angara rejected the proposal of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chair of Senate foreign affairs committee, to create a joint congressional body to study the impact of the bill before deciding whether to approve it.

"Kukumbinsihin namin siya na maybe we can do that simultaneously (study and passing the bill), not only unilateral action," he said.

He added: "The passage of the delineation bill at pag-aaral don't contradict each other."

Angara said postponing approval of a baseline bill for at least six months would cause a setback in the country's bid to meet the May 2009 deadline set by United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Seas for the Philippines to define its archipelagic baseline.

"Pag hindi tayo kikilos, talo tayo by default. Kung hindi tayo magpapasa, we may forfeit by inaction," he said.

He said it would be beneficial for the country to pass a baseline bill to further strengthen its bid on the Spratlys.

Angara also brushed aside warnings that the passage of the baseline bill would heighten tension among Spratly-claimant countries like China.

The other claimant countries aside from the Philippines and China are Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

"Hindi totoo yan, scare mongering yan. With rapid advances in telecommunications and the sophistication of the United Nations, hindi mangyayari na ang isang bansa ay makikipag-gyera sa ibang bansa na tulad natin," said Angara.

"Huwag tayong magpatakot. Siguro mag-re-react, magpo-protesta sila (China). Karapatan nila yon. Pero mabuti na yan (at) lalabas at made-define ang dispute na pwede maging base ng settlement," he added.

The House version of the baseline bill authored by Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Lakas, Cebu) implicitly includes the Spratlys or Kalayaan Island Group and Scarborough Shoal as Philippine territories.

China last December sent a "note" to the Department of Foreign Affairs expressing its objection to HB 3216, prompting the Arroyo government to "propose" to the House that KIG and Scarborough Shoal be treated as mere "regime of islands."

Santiago has threatened to sit on the baseline bill in the absence of a joint congressional study.

She also said she does not care about the UN-imposed deadline.

Angara said only five senators are needed to transfer jurisdiction of a particular bill from a committee to the plenary, where the Senate as a whole would deliberate on the measure right at the session floor.

"Pero ayaw naming gawin yun. But it's bad impression na isang senator pwedeng pumatay ng isang bill," he said.

He reiterated that Spratlys should be part of the country's territory, which he said contains the biggest oil and gas reserve in the world and is said to be connected to the gas-producing Malampaya area in Palawan.

Angara noted that Vietnam has already awarded an oil concession to a private company while China has put up structures on the disputed islands.

Angara last week filed his version of a baseline bill which makes the Spratlys part of the national territory.

Enrile backs dropping of Spratlys from baseline

BY DENNIS GADIL

SEN. Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday said the Spratlys or Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) should be dropped from any proposed bill redefining the country’s archipelagic baseline.

"As far as the baseline is concerned, you cannot include that (Spratlys) because that is not yet a settled territory of the Philippines. We claim it but other countries dispute it," he said.

Sen. Edgardo Angara, in the Senate’s version of the baseline bill he filed on Wednesday, included the KIG in the country’s national territory.

Angara said the proposed Archipelagic Baseline Law of the Philippines has to be acted upon with urgency because the country might fail to claim the extended continental shelf, of which Kalayaan is a part, before the expiry of deadline of the United Nations Convention on the Law and the Seas in May 2009.

He said that should the Philippines fail to meet the Unclos deadline, the extended continental shelf areas which the country is claiming can either be considered part of the International Seabed Area, or the Common Heritage of Mankind, or be awarded to a neighboring state.

Under the 1982 Unclos, archipelagic nations such as the Philippines must have a law defining its baselines and provide supporting scientific data within a period of 10 years from May 13, 1999.

Unclos had also established the 12-mile nautical territorial sea, the 24-mile contiguous zone and the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone as the limits of the archipelagic jurisdiction.

Angara said that losing the country’s extended continental shelf claim "will have disastrous effects as the same contains mineral resources... as well as living organisms belonging to the sedentary species which are primarily raw materials for pharmaceutical products."

Malacañang denied that it was pressured by China into excluding the KIG and the Scarborough Shoal from the country’s archipelagic baselines.

"There is no such pressure coming from China that I know. I don’t know his basis for saying such. There was no statement coursed through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)... We are only doing what we think is to our best interest," Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.

Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Tuesday said excluding the KIG and Scarborough Shoal as proposed by Malacañang from the archipelagic baseline is "tragic if not, treasonous."

He added it is the duty of President Arroyo to assert the country’s territorial claims forcefully but peacefully.

He said the Palace efforts to block the bill’s passage only fuels suspicion that the Arroyo government is wary of offending China due to its offer of economic and business packages alongside soft loans.

Ermita said the Baselines Bill was not included in the agenda of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) last Tuesday as the Senate and the House have not agreed on a position on the issue.

"It is such an important bill. We want to be sure that both chambers would have unanimity of purpose...We want to have a consensus," he said.

He said the separate Ledac meeting exclusively for the baselines issue would be held in May.

Ermita said the passage of House Bill 3216 was postponed Monday because Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr. wanted to have consultations with the Senate "before the House makes a final push on HB 3216."

Ermita said the KIG and Scarborough Shoal "are definitely ours" based on a directive of Ferdinand Marcos. "Pinangalanan na natin iyan. Sila (China and Vietnam) nga ang naghahabol," he added. – With Regina Bengco

Villar asks OWWA to account for repatriation funds

SENATE President Manuel Villar, who paid for the plane tickets home of several stranded overseas Filipino workers in Jordan, yesterday asked the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to account for its repatriation funds for OFWs.

He also criticized OWWA for its failure to immediately repatriate distressed OFWs who have escaped from their abusive foreign employers. He said most of the stranded OFWs that he helped bring home Monday from Jordan have been languishing in embassy shelters for more than eight months.

"Sana naman magising na ang OWWA at ilabas na ang pondo nila kung may natitira pa para matulungan ang ating mga kababayan," Villar said. "Hindi natin alam kung saan dinadala 'yun. Ganunpaman, gusto kong dagdagan pa ang kanilang budget."

Villar said he would request the Department of Budget and Management to augment OWWA's repatriation fund if there had been a shortfall. He also said OWWA should not discriminate against distressed OFWs who have no proper documentation. "Isa pang problema, ang OWWA kasi ay pwede lamang magbigay ng pamasahe na medyo delayed pa, doon lamang sa mga properly documented OFWs. Para sa akin, maski properly documented iyan o hindi, dapat tulungan sila dahil mga Pilipino iyan," he stressed.

Villar said five more distressed female OFWs in Abu Dhabi who have been awaiting repatriation will finally arrive at NAIA on April 24, bringing to 15 the number of OFWs he has helped bring home. The five are Lea Malunes, 27, from Camarines Sur; Salama Bakal, 28, from Cotabato City; Bernadette Romero, 38, from Cavite; Luciana Lunar, 44, from Batangas; and Fennie Tiletile, 48, from Tagum City.

Villar said the OFWs all ran away from their employers due to overwork, maltreatment, and insufficient food. At least three of them, particularly Bakal, Romero and Lunar, have been ill and need medical attention.

Villar is also set to file a resolution urging the Senate to probe the increasingly rampant illegal recruitment of minors.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration head Rosalinda Baldoz said human trafficking charges are being prepared against the illegal recruiters who sent the six minors aged between 13 to 17 years to work as maids in Jordan. The six were passed off as 24-year-olds.

Baldoz said the NAIA task force on illegal recruitment will handle the case of the teenagers.

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates chapter of Migrante International yesterday asked senators and congressmen to jointly conduct a fact-finding mission to the Middle East to see for themselves the deplorable condition of runaways and distressed Filipino migrant workers in deportation centers there.

Nhel Morona, secretary general of Migrante-UAE said the mission could gather information that will be used to come up with legislation that would address the problem of runaways and distressed OFWs.

Migrante Middle East regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said Philippine officials abroad often submit "sugar-coated" reports about OFWs' situations in deportation centers and Philippine resource centers. "This was clearly manifested by the case of 30-year old OFW Ryan Castillo from Batangas, who died after contracting a disease inside the overcrowded deportation center in Jeddah, as revealed by his fellow OFW Armand Navarro who was just repatriated," Monterona said, adding that Migrante is willing to help the fact-finding team which should also include representatives from the Commission on Human Rights. - Dennis Gadil, Job Realubit and Gerard Naval

Kiko junks bid to inhibit 3 justices

BY DENNIS GADIL

SENATE majority leader Francis Pangilinan yesterday abandoned his plan to seek the inhibition of three Supreme Court justices after failing to get majority support from his colleagues.

"I take that to mean that the majority in the Senate would prefer that we take a different route," Pangilinan said yesterday at the resumption of sessions after a month-long break.

He admitted the petition still lacked the signatures of 12 senators. The Senate legal team has given Pangilinan until April 18 to produce 13 signatures before it files the motion for inhibition before the high court.

It was earlier reported that at least nine senators signed the petition, including Panfilo Lacson, Jamby Madrigal, Mar Roxas, Pia Cayetano, Alan Peter Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada and Pangilinan.

Pangilinan had indicated he would go solo if his colleagues would not join him in asking that Associate Justices Arturo Brion, Presbitero Velasco and Renato Corona inhibit from the deliberation on the Senate’s motion for reconsideration on the issue of executive privilege for their perceived closeness to President Arroyo and the petitioner, Romulo Neri.

Senate President Manuel Villar confirmed Pangilinan’s decision.

"We fear that the focus will shift to the inhibition of the three justices from the motion for reconsideration," he said.

Pangilinan chided Sen. Francis Escudero for earlier questioning the plan to inhibit the three justices, stressing the issue was not about losing or winning the petition but taking a principled stand.

LGUs urged to spare rice from politics

BY GERARD NAVAL

CARITAS Manila yesterday called on local government officials to perform in earnest their task of retailing government-subsidized rice to the poor community.

"Be sincere in distributing NFA rice to urban poor beneficiaries, whether of the same political affiliate or otherwise. Prioritize ultra poor and have rice available to as many poor constituents as possible," said Fr. Anton Pascual, executive director of Caritas Manila, the social action arm of the Archdiocese of Manila.

On Sunday, Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral warned poor families against local officials who she said might politicize the system by favoring their relatives and allies.

"LGUs and barangays can abuse it to favor `Kamag-anak Incorporated,’ political patronage and negative utang na loob, which may not be urban poor beneficiaries at all," Pascual said.

Pascual said monitoring the access cards being used by beneficiaries to purchase NFA rice would be a good way to prevent abuses.

President Arroyo has ordered the pullout from public markets of the rice being sold by the National Food Authority at P18.25 a kilo. She said the cheap rice would be made available through LGUs and Church retail stores.

The NFA’s commercial grade rice, sold at P25 a kilo, will remain in the public markets.

The Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) rice program said there is no rice crisis.

"If you go around rice-producing provinces for example Nueva Ecija, Isabela and Iloilo... we have more than enough as we would have more rice this season," said Dr. Frisco Malabanan, GMA program director.

"We are looking forward that by 2010 we could produce more and close the gap between the production and consumption," he said.

The GMA unveiled its program for next year, geared at improving rice productivity and raising farmers’ income.

The GMA rice program aims to increase palay production to 17.32 million metric tons this year and 19.06 million tons in 2010, from the 16.24 million metric tons in 2007.

For farming income, the target is an increase through a 10 percent reduction of production costs and 10 percent of post harvest losses, and by increasing yield by 20 percent from 2006 to 2010.

Sen. Edgardo Angara, chair of the Senate agriculture committee, batted for a nationwide rice price subsidy for the poorest of the poor as a short-term measure to cushion the impact of the rice problem.

"For many poor Filipinos, food especially rice, eats up the bulk of their expenses. The bottom of the 80 percent of our country’s population allots 60 percent of their expenditure on food, and half of it goes to buying rice," Angara said.

Angara said the government could draw lessons from what he did as agriculture chief of the Estrada government when "rice passports" were distributed to extremely indigent families identified by the NFA and the DSWD.

He said during that time, there was a temporary shortage of rice and his department’s response was the rice passport system, under which beneficiaries would be sold rice at half price subsidized by government.

Sen. Manuel Roxas II demanded full transparency and accountability in addressing the rice crisis.

"Responding to the rice and food crisis on one hand, and probing anomalies on the other, are not mutually exclusive. Checks and balances are needed at all times to ensure that whatever the government spends to address this crisis goes to the intended beneficiaries," Roxas said. – With Randy Nobleza and Dennis Gadil

11 stranded OFWs arriving today

AT least 11 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), including four minors and a two-month old baby, are set to arrive early this afternoon via Thai Airways after being stranded in Jordan for almost a year.

The OFWs, who ran away from their abusive Jordanian employers, were repatriated through the efforts of the office of Senate President Manuel Villar.

Avic Amarillo, Villar's senior media officer, said the identities of the OFWs are being kept confidential until their arrival and clearance by the immigration department.

She said Villar chanced upon the distressed OFWs in Jordan on his way to South Africa for the annual Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) summit. She said Villar, the richest senator based on submitted Statement of Assets and Liabilities, is shouldering the air fare of the 11 OFWs although she did not say if the money would come from Villar's pocket or from his Senate funds.

Villar visited one of the OFW shelters in Jordan and met the stranded workers who asked him for help in getting back home.

Amarillo said their office coordinated the repatriation project with OWWA. As of last week, she said five of the 11 already had complete travel documents. "Clear na iyong lima. Hopefully we can complete the documentation of the remaining six OFWs on Saturday. We're doing our best so they can be repatriated on Sunday," she said.

Villar's staff said they are also coordinating with OWWA the repatriation of six workers, most of them young women, from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia who are expected home by April 25. The six also ran away from abusive employers.

"Gusto ni Sen. Villar na makauwi na sila dahil nakita niya ang kalagayan ng mga OFWs doon. Sana lang maayos kaagad ng OWWA ang kanilang mga exit visas," Amarillo said.

Villar is set to file a resolution seeking an investigation on how Filipino minors are able to get work and travel documents for points in the Middle East like Jordan and Jeddah and the liability if any of the immigration bureau, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration of the Department of Labor. - Dennis Gadil

Pimentel: Only one justice should inhibit

BY DENNIS GADIL

SENATE minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. yesterday said only one Supreme Court justice should inhibit from the Senate’s motion for reconsideration on the issue of executive privilege and not three as suggested by majority leader Francis Pangilinan.

Pimentel declined to give the identity of the magistrate but said he believes that this magistrate should inhibit to protect the high court from questions of impartiality.

Pangilinan has drafted a petition for the inhibition of Associate Justices Arturo Brion, Presbitero Velasco and Renato Corona for their perceived closeness to Malacañang.

Pangilinan has said Brion was a former labor secretary of President Arroyo while Corona’s wife, in a paid advertisement, was reported to have publicly expressed support for the President. He said Velasco is said to be Neri’s golf buddy.

Pimentel, who has yet to sign the petition, said he sees no strong reason to move for the inhibition of the three justices.

Pimentel said the motion for inhibition will be discussed today when the Senate resumes session.

Pangilinan had hinted of going solo if his colleagues would not join him.

He said the grounds set forth in the motion for inhibition "are valid and material."

Sen. Francis Escudero last week urged senators to think "a thousand times" before filing any motion for inhibition.

Mar favors scrapping of ‘generics only’

SEN. Manuel Roxas II yesterday expressed support for President Arroyo’s order to drop the "generics-only" provision in the long delayed Cheaper Medicines bill.

"Implemented correctly by the executive branch and with the cooperation of all sectors, a 20 to 50 percent savings per family on medicines is achievable within a reasonable period after its approval," said Roxas, who was the original proponent of the measure.

Roxas urged his counterparts at the House of Representatives, particularly the committee on trade, to form a consensus around the President’s proposal.

The "generics-only" provision found in the House version requires doctors to write only the generic names of medicine in their prescriptions, instead of the current practice of writing both the generic and brand names.

This provision has been one of the most contentious issues in reconciling the versions of the two Houses.

Roxas said the Senate panel believes that amendments to the Generics Act can be the subject of a separate measure under the jurisdiction of the committee on health.

Roxas said with the latest development, the obstacles to the approval of the measure have been practically overcome.

He said the Department of Health should start laying the groundwork for an Affordable Medicines Summit to formulate a clear road map for the implementation of its provisions with the help of different sectors.

Roxas expressed confidence that the proposed law would free a large portion of the household income now spent by Filipinos to pay for expensive maintenance drugs.

Roxas cited the case of some 7.76 million Filipinos suffering from hypertension.

"Many Filipinos with high blood pressure now spend about P137.50 every day, or P4,125 monthly for their maintenance drugs. We reckon this amount can easily be reduced by at least half that amount, once more quality affordable medicines come in," the senator said.

Roxas is principal author of Senate Bill 1658, the proposed Quality Affordable Medicines Act. He is also co-chair of the Senate-House conference committee reconciling the final version of the bill.

SB 1658 seeks to provide Filipinos greater access to inexpensive drugs through parallel importation, and allows for a price regulation mechanism for certain medicines when the President, through the recommendation of the Secretary of Health, deems this warranted.

The measure proposes to relax existing patent rules by declaring that parallel importation would not violate trademarks, as long as the drugs brought in are determined to be genuine counterparts produced in other countries.

A study of the Philippine Development Forum Millennium Development Goals and Social Progress Sub-Working Group on Health showed that drug prices in the Philippines are among the highest in Asia – at least three to four times higher than the international price index scale. – Dennis Gadil

Kiko eyes going solo on bid to inhibit 3 High Court justices

BY DENNIS GADIL

SENATE majority leader Francis Pangilinan is considering going solo in filing a motion to inhibit three justices of the Supreme Court from hearing the Senate’s motion for reconsideration on the issue of executive privilege by former Planning Secretary Romulo Neri.

"Even without reaching a consensus, any senator or a number of senators may opt to file a motion for inhibition," Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan also denied reports that the Senate is abandoning its motion for inhibition of Associate Justices Arturo Brion, Renato Corona and Presbitero Velasco. "Contrary to reports, the issue of inhibition is not dead."

Pangilinan, however, said it still important to seek support of majority senators on the petition for inhibition.

‘’We have until this week to file a motion should a consensus be reached," he said.

Pangilinan said the grounds set forth in the motion for inhibition "are valid and material."

"Justice Arturo Brion was not yet appointed when the petition of Neri invoking executive privilege was heard. Justice Renato Corona’s wife, in a paid advertisement, was reported to have publicly expressed support for President Gloria Arroyo. Mrs. Corona wife is also reported to be a presidential appointee. Justice Presbitero Velasco is said to be petitioner Neri’s golf buddy," he said.

The high court, by a vote of 9-6, last March 25 upheld the decision of Neri to invoke executive privilege. Senators have asked him questions about his conversations with President Arroyo on the cancelled $329 million broadband project with China’s ZTE Corp.

The move to inhibit the three justices fizzled out last week when the petition initiated by Pangilinan and the Senate’s legal team failed to get the required signatories.

Sen. Richard Gordon, who who did not sign the petition, reminded his colleagues that SC justices always enjoy the presumption of impartiality.

"It is a constitutional body... there is no reason for them to be beholden to anybody because they are a co-equal branch of government," he said.

At least nine senators were earlier reported to have signed the petition, including Panfilo Lacson, Jamby Madrigal, Mar Roxas, Pia Cayetano, Alan Peter Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada and Pangilinan.

The office of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano has clarified what he signed was the draft of the petition and not the official copy.

Lacson appeared to have also lost interest.

Minority leader Aquilino Pimentel has distanced himself from the petition.

A Senate source said Senate President Manuel Villar and Pimentel had strong reservations about the petition as it might antagonize the high court as a whole and adversely affect their motion for reconsideration which they filed last Tuesday.

Villar and Pimentel left for South Africa to attend the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting without signing the petition.

Administration cheating scheme in place: Lacson

MALAYBALAY — Re-electionist Sen. Panfilo Lacson Thursday said a two-pronged cheating scheme is being cooked up by Malacañang to ensure the victory of administration candidates.

Lacson said in the first scheme, some local leaders particularly in Mindanao sell senatorial votes to the highest bidder.

He said voters in such areas tend to fill the space for local candidates in their ballots. The spaces for senators are left blank.

He said he has information that some Team Unity candidates have already approached these local leaders to haggle over the fee.

"Ito ang naririnig nating malimit ipagmalaki ng TU na pagpasok ng local campaign at ang machinery nila. Di botante ang pinag-uusapan kundi ang makinarya kung saan sino ang magbayad ng mataas bawa’t boto yan ang lalagyan ng pangalan," he said.

He said the second scheme involves Malacañang fixers in the party list elections, where Malacañang shoulders the campaign funding of some party list groups.

"Malacañang ang magde-designate kung sino ang nominee/s sa party list na accredited, tutulungan nilang magkampanya. Tapos sa halip na ire-represent mismo ng marginalized groups, nominee ng Malacañang ang papasok for a fee," he said.

GO spokesman Adel Tamano urged the Comelec to announce the names of party list nominees to weed out those "fronting" for Malacañang.

At least 11 organizations have been identified by Akbayan Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales as "front organizations" of the Arroyo administration.

These are Babae Ka; Ang Kasangga; Akbay Pinoy; Aksyon Sambayanan (Aksa); Agbiag! Timpuyog Ilocano Inc.; Ahon Pinoy; Biyaheng Pinoy; Aangat Tayo, Aangat ang Kabuhayan (Anak); Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (Anad); Banat and Kakusa.

In Cagayan de Oro city, GO candidate Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said at least 5 million "ghost" voters have still to be purged from the official list.

Pimentel said the figure could be used by the administration Team Unity ticket.

"That’s enough votes to ensure a victory for a senatoriable on top of what he or she will get from their actual voters," Pimentel said.which are difficult to trace. – JP Lopez, Ashzel Hachero and Dennis Gadil

Senate set to abandon bid to inhibit 3 justices

BY DENNIS GADIL

THE Senate is poised to abandon the filing of a petition for inhibition of Supreme Court Associate Justices Arturo Brion, Presbitero Velasco and Renato Corona on the issue of executive privilege for lack of signatures.

"It’s dead in the water," a ranking Senate source said.

Sen. Richard Gordon, in a media forum, yesterday reminded his colleagues that the SC is not a lower court whose members could be asked anytime to inhibit themselves.

Gordon was among the senator-lawyers who did not sign the petition which was the brainchild of majority leader Francis Pangilinan.

Gordon said SC justices always enjoy the presumption of impartiality.

"It is a constitutional body... there is no reason for them to be beholden to anybody because they are a co-equal branch of government," he said.

Senate sources have said at least nine senators signed the petition, including Panfilo Lacson, Jamby Madrigal, Mar Roxas, Pia Cayetano, Alan Peter Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada and Pangilinan.

The petition needed 13 signatures to make it a majority action by the Senate.

The pro-inhibit bloc lost one supporter in Alan Peter Cayetano after his office clarified that what he signed was the draft of the petition.

Lacson appeared to have also lost interest, not returning queries if the petition for inhibition would be filed at all.

Minority leader Aquilino Pimentel has also distanced himself from the petition.

Pangilinan also failed to clinch the support of Senate President Manuel Villar.

Villar and Pimentel left for the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting in South Africa without signing the petition.

A Senate source said Villar and Pimentel had strong reservations about the petition as it might antagonize the high court as a whole and adversely affect their motion for reconsideration which they filed Tuesday.

The high court, by a vote of 9-6, last March 25 upheld the decision of former Planning Secretary Romulo Neri last September to invoke executive privilege after senators asked him questions about his conversations with President Arroyo on the cancelled $329 million broadband project with China’s ZTE Corp.

Pangilinan said three justices should inhibit themselves because "Brion voted in favor of Neri, even if he was not yet part of the Supreme Court when the case was heard while Corona’s wife is said to be a presidential appointee and Velasco, on the one hand, is reported to have played golf with Neri."

Pangilinan said the three justices’ perceived closeness to Malacañang puts to question their credibility and impartiality in cases concerning the government, particularly in the NBN-ZTE contract.

First:	Acts 11:19-26
Resp:	Psalm 87:1-7
Gospel:	John 10:22-30

First:	Acts 8:1-8
Resp:	Psalm 66:1-7
Gospel:	John 6:35-40

‘Will SC let Arroyo Court image stick?'

BY EVANGELINE DE VERA

SENATORS yesterday asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling on the issue of executive privilege, saying the decision only made the Executive branch less transparent and weakens government accountability.

In a 103-page motion for reconsideration, the respondent Senate committees on accountability of public officers and investigations (Blue Ribbon), on trade and commerce, and on national defense and security said the assailed March 25 decision has far-reaching emasculating results on other legitimate inquiries on executive agreements or contracts involving public funds.

The committees urged the Court to schedule another oral argument and require former Planning Secretary Romulo Neri to be present.

The high court will tackle the Senate MR in an en banc session on April 15 in Baguio City.

The senators along with NBN-ZTE star witness Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada and some nuns filed the MR by staging a "Walk for Truth" towards the Supreme Court.

The MR said there is a serious public perception that there is a "pattern of concealment" by executive officials in many legislative investigations, while the dangers of abuse of executive privilege by the executive branch have significantly increased.

They added that the perpetuation of the Neri ruling will cause the lingering impression that the SC has lost its independence.

"And with all due respect to incumbent Honorable Chief Justice Reynato Puno who wrote a highly enlightening, if not perfect, dissenting opinion, the question may be truly asked: Will this Court be known essentially as the ‘Arroyo Supreme Court where majority of the justices are swayed by the various propaganda for the President?’ Harsh as they may sound, the perception is very serious," they said.

The senators added that the Neri decision "seriously strikes a debilitating blow" to the mechanism of checks and balances among the three departments of government which is designed to ensure the continued survival of a living and growing republican state.

If not corrected, the Neri decision could "effectively turn executive privilege into a refuge for scoundrels," the senators warned.

"When secrecy is invoked amid accusations of corruption, it is nothing but a tool for a criminal cover-up. If allowed to become final, it (decision) could result in a democracy of kept secrets buttressed by the Neri jurisprudence," they said.

The senators also lashed at the justices who joined the majority decision, saying they turned a blind eye to facts which are on record and disregarded settled jurisprudence, and took Neri’s representations at face value and adopted his position "hook, line and sinker."

The senators insisted they did not commit grave abuse of discretion in citing Neri for contempt and issuing a warrant for his arrest, and said these were issued in accordance with the Senate’s internal rules, which they said were duly published, contrary to the SC ruling.

The senators also argued that by answering three questions, Neri will not impair the country’s economic and diplomatic relations with China as ZTE is a private corporation.

The three questions are: Did the President follow up the NBN-ZTE project with Neri; was he told by the President to prioritize the NBN-ZTE project; and, did the President tell him to go ahead with the project after learning of the bribe offer from then Elections chair Benjamin Abalos Sr.?

In its ruling, the Court ruled that the three questions were covered by executive privilege as it dealt with delicate and sensitive national security and diplomatic matters and when divulged could cause possible loss of confidence of foreign investors and lenders.

The majority decision was penned by Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro. Associate Justices Leonardo Quisumbing, Renato Corona, Dante Tinga, Minita Chico-Nazario, Presbitero Velasco, Antonio Eduardo Nachura, Ruben Reyes and Arturo Brion concurred.

Chief Justice Reynato Puno and Associate Justices Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez, Conchita Carpio-Morales, Adolfo Azcuna and Antonio Carpio dissented.

Sen. Mar Roxas backtracked on his non-support for the motion for reconsideration, saying "it is the best means to clarify the true intent of the high tribunal in ruling in favor of the President in the Neri case."

Roxas nevertheless said it would have been different if the Senate had accepted the compromise offer of the Supreme Court, which would allow Neri to testify on the NBN-ZTE contract as long as senators avoided questions about his privileged communication with the President.

"The effect of the ruling will undoubtedly reveal itself as the Senate initiates hearings on other alleged anomalies such as the so-called "swine scam" and South Rail project," he said. – With Dennis Gadil

First: Acts 7:51-8:1

Resp: Psalm 31:3-4,6-8,17,21

Gospel: John 6:30-35

Senators want 3 justices to inhibit

But Villar, Pimentel are hesistant

BY DENNIS GADIL

THE Senate wants Associate Justices Arturo Brion, Renato Corona and Presbitero Velasco to inhibit themselves from acting on its motion for reconsideration on the Supreme Court’s March 25 ruling upholding the petition of former Planning Secretary Romulo Neri to invoke executive privilege.

The Senate legal team and majority leader Francis Pangilinan said the petition for inhibition would be filed after the filing today of the Senate’s motion for reconsideration.

Pangilinan said the petition for inhibition against Brion, Corona and Velasco was due to their supposed close ties with President Arroyo and Neri.

Brion is the President’s latest appointee to the high court. He was Arroyo’s labor secretary.

Brion and Neri, as then budget secretary, sat together during Cabinet meetings.

Brion was criticized for participating in the voting on the Neri petition despite having been appointed to the SC post shortly before the SC decision was promulgated.

Corona is a former chief of staff of President Arroyo. Velasco is perceived as "rabidly" pro-Arroyo and had been reported as a golfing buddy of Neri.

At least nine senators signed the petition for inhibition. Among them are Panfilo Lacson, Jamby Madrigal, Mar Roxas, Pia Cayetano, Alan Peter Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada and Pangilinan.
The petition needs 13 signatures to make it a majority action of the Senate.

As of press time, Senate President Manuel Villar and minority leader Aquilino Pimentel, a lawyer, had not signed.

A Senate source said Villar and Pimentel have strong reservations, fearing this might antagonize the high court as a whole and adversely affect their motion for reconsideration.

"Simply put, here we are wooing two SC justices to change position and then, here comes Sen. Kiko with a petition to inhibit not two but three justices! Eh, di lalo kaming nawalaan ng pag-asa," the source said.

The source said Villar "will not" affix his signature to the Pangilinan petition.

Senators are expecting that at least two of the nine justices who signed the majority position will change their minds.

In his briefing, Pangilinan announced the certainty of filing the petition for inhibition.

But hours later, he said the filing of the petition for inhibition was still being considered. He even said he was not sure if the petition would be directed against three justices or just one.

The Senate source said Pangilinan’s turn-about could be because he failed to get the support of Villar and Pimentel and some senator-lawyers including Richard Gordon and Joker Arroyo