MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) could
have a hard time renewing its franchise should it raise its power rates by as
much as 116 percent, an opposition member of the House of Representatives said
Monday. "Meralco might forfeit its chance to renew its franchise because
certainly, many congressmen whose constituents are directly affected by this
imminent increase will strongly oppose this plan," House Assistant Minority
Leader Gilbert Remulla said in a statement. Meralco's application for a new
franchise is now on second reading in the House...In a phone interview, Remulla
said he would ask the House to conduct an inquiry into Meralco's proposed power
rate increase, which he described as "highway robbery in broad
daylight." Remulla said Meralco, a Lopez-owned company, should explain in
the House inquiry why the power rate hike was necessary as he noted that he
"saw no reason for the increase right now." BUSINESS GROUP SAYS
MERALCO POWER RATE HIKE 'OPPRESSIVE' (Manila Standard,Page 5-Business)
Businessmen yesterday called the recent petition of the Manila Electric
Co. for an average increase of P1.12 per kilowatt-hour as "oppressive"
and they are calling the attention of President Arroyo to look into this
matter....As this developed, a lawmaker yesterday warned that
Meralco might enf\danger its bid to renew its congressional franchise
should it proceed with an alleged 166 percent increase in power redistribution
rates." Meralco might forfeit its chance to renew its franchise because
certainly, many congressmen whose constituents are directly affected by their
imminent increase would strongly oppose this plan," Remulla said.
(Philippine Star, Page 5)
Militant groups warned yesterday of
massive protests against the Arroyo administration if the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco)
pushes through with a proposed 116 percent or P3.97 per kilowatt hour (kwh)
increase in power rates. Meralco president Jesus Francisco was quoted as saying
their petition with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) was for an increase
of 30 centavos per kilowatt hour. The petition has been pending since it was
filed in April 2000, he added. But Rodolfo Sambajon, chairman of Pambansang
Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), urged electric
consumers to join the massive street protests.
(Inquirer, Page 3)
ALTHOUGH serving an uncooperative
client, Joseph Estrada's court-appointed lawyers are preparing to make their
court presentation on his petition to be allowed to go to the United States for
knee surgery. They are now studying the possibility of calling him to the stand
so he himself can articulate his physical sufferings before the Sandiganbayan,
one of the lawyers said Monday. The eight court-appointed counsels for Estrada
– who has dramatically dismissed his private lawyers – met Monday to plan
the defense of their controversial client. Four of the Estrada's new counsels
are from the justice department's Public Attorneys Office.
PAO CHIEF CANCELS MEETING WITH
ESTRADA AT LAST MINUTE
(Manila Times, Page 2)
Public Assistance Office chief
Atty. Percida Rueda-Acosta yesterday
failed to meet with ousted President Joseph Estrada at the Veterans Memorial
Mediacl Center. Acosta said she was supposed to meet with Estrada in the
afternoon but she had to unfortunately cancel at the last minute
because of her busy schedule.
(Inquirer, Page 3 )
THE GOVERNMENT has mobilized its
contacts in Taiwan to find out if businessman Charlie "Atong" Ang has
a Taiwanese passport that he could use to fly out of the United States if he is
allowed to post bail. Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said Monday he had asked
the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Manila Economic and Cultural Office,
the Philippine government's office in Taipei, to confirm reports that the
co-accused of former president Joseph Estrada had an alternative passport.
"This information would have a significant effect on his extradition
case," Perez told reporters at the justice department.
(Tribune, Banner)
The alleged biases of Hilario
Davide Jr. as chief justice of the Supreme Court (SC) again came under fire
yesterday, this time not only from deposed President Joseph Estrada but also
from opposition Sen. Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan. Estrada said Davide's
tendency for repaying past favors showed in the high court's recent decision
that declared constitutional a 10-year moratorium on the collective bargaining
agreement (CBA) being insisted by the management of Philippine Airlines, a
company owned by tycoon Lucio Tan.“The Filipino people now see that the deep
and close ties between Davide and Tan are rooted in the Chief Justice's sense of
gratitude to the businessman, whom he had asked to act as his godfather in
convincing me to appoint him to the country's highest judicial post,” the
ousted chief executive said in Pilipino in a statement.
(PHilippine Star, Banner)
ZAMBOANGA CITY — Thanks, but no
thanks. The military rejected yesterday an offer of the Abu Sayyaf to swap one
of its hostages, nurse Deborah Yap, for safe passage for a member of the group
who was critically wounded in a recent gunbattle, the Armed Forces Southern
Command (Southcom) said. Southcom chief Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu said relatives of
wounded Abu Sayyaf leader Bakal Hapilon relayed the request to him at around 8
a.m. yesterday. Cimatu rejected the offer. "Release all three hostages and
the military will agree that Bakal and all other Abu Sayyaf wounded be treated
at Southern Command hospital by military doctors. But there will be no
ceasefire," Cimatu said.
YIELD OR DIE, ABU TOLD
(Manila Times, Banner)
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
yesterday said the Abu Sayyaf would be wiped out if they do not surrender and
immediately free their remaining hostages. President Arroyo’s strong statement
came at the heels of a request from the extremist group led by
Commander Isnilon Hapilon for a ceasefire to set the stage for the
release of American Missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham and Filipino nurse
Deborah Yap.
MILITARY READY FOR SYYAF SUICIDE
SQUAD THREAT,HOLY WEEK ATROCITIES
(Manila Times, Page 1)
The military said yesterday it is
ready to thwart and attempt by the
Abu Sayyaf to mount attacks during
Holy Week in several areas in Mindanao.
(Philippine Star, PAge 1 )
Seventeen Filipino Muslims arrived
home Sunday after reportedly undergoing four months of military training in
Saudi Arabia under the aegis of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. Upon
disembarking from a Saudia plane at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA)
in Pasay City, the group’s spokesman, who identified himself as engineer Ali
Pangandan Daranginn, told reporters they were trained in military tactics at
Camp Alsansa in Madinah, Al-Munawara in Saudi Arabia. However, Daranginn refused
to elaborate on the kind of military training they had received or whether it
was sanctioned by Saudi authorities.
(Philippine Star, PAge 5)
Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda
terrorist network was behind the attack on the residence of the Philippine
ambassador in Jakarta, Indonesia and the bombing of a Light Rail Transit (LRT)
coach in Blumentritt, Manila, both of which occurred in 2000. Police officials
said yesterday arrested terrorist suspect Fathur Rohman al Ghozi told
investigators the two terrorist attacks were the handiwork of Riduan Issamuddin,
alias Hambali, Bin Laden’s pointman in Southeast Asia. Hambali is the most
prominent figure in the Southeast Asian operations of al-Qaeda, police officials
added. Police officials said Hambali had established links with terrorist groups
in the country, including the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
as early as the 1990s.
(Philippine Star,Page 5)
Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes
allayed fears yesterday that US troops taking part in the joint Balikatan war
games will remain in the country to set up military bases. Speaking at the
Army’s 105th founding anniversary at Fort Bonifacio in Makati City recently,
Reyes said there is no basis to the claim of Akbayan Rep. Loreta Ann Rosales
that US troops will not leave at the end of the joint Philippine-US military
exercises.
Gov't prejudging probe, says int'l peace mission
(Inquirer, Page 1)
MEMBERS of the International Peace
Mission on Monday expressed concern that the Philippine government had prejudged
the mission's probe of possible human rights violations in Basilan and Zamboanga,
saying that this was "rather unfortunate." In a statement, they
decried the lack of cooperation from the government and the attempt by some
government officials to block the mission's investigation in Basilan,
"despite assurances to the contrary from Malacañang." The peace
mission's four-day probe ends Tuesday. On Wednesday, they will hold a press
conference in Manila before the foreign delegates leave the country.
(Philippine Star, Page 1 )
(Inquirer, Page 2 )
At least five groups, including
supporters of disgraced former President Joseph Estrada and jailed rebel leader
Nur Misuari, may be behind the bomb scares in Metro Manila and other cities in
Mindanao last week, according to a police intelligence report. This developed as
military explosives experts defused another bomb that was planted at the
regional office of the Department of Education in Cotabato City yesterday.
Police also defused a bomb package along the expressway in Carmona, Cavi-te
while another bomb was reportedly found under a bridge in Davao City on Sunday.
The three bombs were the latest in a series of scares which began last week. The
obscure Indigenous People’s Federalist State Army (IPFSA) claimed
responsibility for planting the bombs in various places in Metro Manila last
week.
MENDOZA ORDERS EPLOSIVES INVENTORY
(Manila Times, Page 2)
Philippine National Police chief
Leandro Mendoza yesterday ordered
an inventory of all explosives
made, imported and distributed by industrial firms in the country.
Mendoza issued the directive amid apprehension that
the explosives may have fallen into the hands of terrorists.
New row
looms at Comelec
(Inquirer, Page 3 )
THE SPECIAL registration for youth
voters is set to become the next battlefield for the warring factions of the
Commission on Elections as both sides disagreed on the rules for the exercise.
Comelec commissioners Luz Tancangco, Mehol Sadain, Rufino Javier and Ralph
Lantion met in a special en banc session Monday to sign the resolution
stipulating the rules for the registration on April 22 to 27. But they dissented
to certain provisions in the resolution and said they would not allow the
Comelec to facilitate the registration.
COMELEC ROW, NOW, THERE ARE 2
RESOLUTIONS ON LISTING
(Today, Page 1)
A ceasefire called to temporarily
halt any violent actions from warring groups, does not seem applicable in the
Commission on Elections. Consider this election scenario: a registration of
voters without the involvement of the COMELEC, and worse, an election using
cartons as ballot boxes. While all the seven commissioners agree that the
registration be done from April 22
to 27, they do not agree on who will conduct the exercise.
(Philippine Star, Page 2)
(Today, Page 1)
ROME – The bill seeking voting
rights for more than seven million overseas Filipinos, half of them workers,
will be enacted before the next adjournment of Congress in June, Speaker Jose de
Venecia Jr. said here yesterday. "We will try to approve it late next
month. But definitely, the Absentee Voting Bill will be passed before the next
break in early June," he told Manila-based reporters who covered the joint
Senate-House consultations with Filipino workers here on the measure. He said
overseas Filipinos, especially workers, are overwhelmingly for the Malacañang-certified
bill and are eager to exercise the proposed voting rights.
(Philippine Star, Page 1)
President Arroyo stepped yesterday
into the raging war between local cement producers and importers on the issue of
protective tariffs, saying she supports a plan of the Department of Trade and
Industry (DTI) to extend the imposition of such industry safeguards. In her
regular Monday radio program, Mrs. Arroyo said she agrees with the position of
Trade and Industry Secretary Mar Roxas II, who had expressed inclination to
continue putting up barriers against the surge of imports, contrary to the
recommendation of the Tariff Commission. "Frankly speaking, I am not in
favor of the recommendation of the Tariff Commission. So I am supporting Mar
Roxas on whatever he does with the commission’s recommendation," the
President said.
(Inquirer, Banner)
(Philippine Star, Page 2 )
"SO HUMILIATING" was the
Mexican government's snub of Vice President and Foreign Secretary Teofisto
Guingona Jr., that the apologies extended by the Mexican Ambassador to the
Philippines were unacceptable. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) demanded
that the apology must come from the Mexican Foreign Ministry "no less"
for humiliating Guingona at a luncheon hosted for 150 heads of state and their
delegations last March 21. "It was not only the wrong done to the Vice
President. It was the wrong done to the state and the Filipino people because
Vice President Guingona was in Mexico to represent President Macapagal-Arroyo,"
according to DFA Undersecretary Franklin Ebdalin.
Executions
to resume; 2 kidnappers scheduled for lethal injection
(Inquirer, Page 3 )
THE DEPARTMENT of Justice confirmed
Monday the execution in August of two kidnapping convicts, marking the first
time under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that death
convicts would be executed. Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said that
kidnap-for-ransom convicts Roderick Licayan and Roberto Lara would be scheduled
for execution by lethal injection starting August this year. The Supreme Court
affirmed Licayan and Lara's death sentences on Aug. 15, 2001. Under the law, the
state could implement the death sentence a year after the Supreme Court's
affirmation of the sentence, and not later than six months thereafter.
(Philippine Star, Page 1 )
President Arroyo admitted yesterday
that she has been actively trying to woo the masses in a bid to make them
understand and appreciate the achievements of her administration in the past 14
months. The President, however, clarified that popular movie actresses Nora
Aunor, Vilma Santos and Rosanna Roces volunteered their help and were not hired
by the Palace to assist in her public relations blitz. "It is true that I
am wooing the public because it is the duty of a President to gain public
support for his programs," Mrs. Arroyo said in Filipino during her weekly
radio "Panawagan ng Pangulo." "If movie stars like Nora and Vilma
are ready to help, then we will accept their help... including Rosanna,"
she added. In her recent public appearances, Mrs. Arroyo has been noticeably
accompanied by show business personalities, bolstering observations that she is
aggressively trying to eclipse the mass appeal of disgraced former President
Joseph Estrada, himself a former action star.
(Tribune, PAge 1)
Former military rebels who swore
loyalty and support for President Arroyo and who had earlier claimed they were
done with military adven-turism yesterday sang a different tune. They are now
joining the clamor of junior officers in demanding that Mrs. Arroyo drop her
plan to name Armed Forces of the Philippines Southern Command (Southcom) chief
Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu as the next AFP chief, as this would mean an extension of
his term in the military service.The Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Makabayan (RAM),
which staged at least two failed coups in the 1980s during the Aquino regime,
said appointing Cimatu may force idealistic officers to come out and move
against the Arroyo administration.In a telephone interview, RAM spokesman Col.
Reynaldo Samaco said the President's plan of appointing Cimatu to succeed
outgoing AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Diomedio Villanueva and extend his term when he
retires in July this year will only cause demoralization among the officers.
(Philippine Star, Page 1)
SAN FERNANDO CITY, Pampanga — Go
ahead and flagellate yourselves and get crucified, but go to confession and have
communion first. This seems to be the common admonition of religious and local
government officials in the province to penitents this Holy Week after Catholic
bishops frowned on traditional Lenten practices that have become a major tourist
attraction here.