1st-APLUMA NEWS SUMMARY FOR DEC. 20, 2010
Posted by unang apluma on Sunday, December 19, 2010
Under: news
BROADSHEETS
PHIL. DAILY INQUIRER -- 15 Killed In Cagayan Hotel Blaze
MANILA BULLETIN -- Hotel Fire Kills 15
PHILIPPINE STAR -- 15 Dead In Cagayan Fire
MANILA STANDARD -- Bangko Sentral Fumbles Again On New Peso Design
MANILA TIMES -- 15 Killed In Cagayan Blaze
MALAYA -- SC Stops Manila City Gov’t From Freezing Port Project
DAILY TRIBUNE -- Experts: Errors Fill New Peso Bank Notes
TABLOIDS
PEOPLE’S JOURNAL -- Cagayan Inferno
ABANTE -- Hotel Fire: 15 Patay
PILIPINO STAR NGAYON -- 15 Patay Sa Hotel Fire!
BALITA -- Trahedya Sa Tuguegarao
PEOPLES TONIGHT -- Psychic: Vizconde Killers Just Nearby!
REMATE -- 15 Guest Natusta Sa Hotel Fire
ISSUES MONITORING
On Congress
The House of Representatives is scheduled to send to President Aquino this week the proposed P1.645 trillion 2011 national budget. Grace Andres, chief of staff of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., said yesterday that Belmonte instructed her to transmit the three-inch thick budget documents to Malacañang before Dec. 25. She said the printing of the document would be finished over the weekend. She said the President has enough time to sign the budget bill into law before the end of the year. (Philstar-p11)
Sen. Edgardo Angara cited yesterday the possible danger on the P21-billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) program the Aquino administration will implement for some 2.3 million indigent families. Interviewed over dzBB radio, Angara said the program might cause instability in the government if not sustained through the years. (Philstar-p6)
On Presidency
Presidential sister and actress/TV host Kris Aquino said Saturday night she will not remarry until elder brother President Aquino gets to the wedding altar. But the way the people, specially the media, are not giving the President enough slack in his own love life, Kris may have to wait a long, long time. He has complained that he cannot even go out on dates without media speculations and outright gossip, discouraging, he said, potential brides. (Malaya-p1)
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) chief Carmelita Dimzon said President Aquino would personally welcome today the homecoming overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and hand out cash and other prizes to three lucky winners. Each of the three raffle winners would receive from the President cash and gift certificates as well as reintegration livelihood checks from Globe Telecom, Banco de Oro, Bank of the Philippine Islands, SM Supermalls, Duty Free Philippines, National Reintegration Center for OFWs, and the Land Bank of the Philippines. (Philstar-p7)
President Aquino’s running mate during the last national elections — former Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas — is bent on removing Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. from his post, a source from the Liberal Party (LP) yesterday said. Roxas, according to the source, is now trying to twist some arms in order to pressure Aquino into appointing him in Ochoa’s place even as Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ricky Carandang was allegedly spreading the “news” that Ochoa is on his way out. “It was Ricky who was spreading the news of the alleged plan,” the same source said expressing some serious disappointment at the continued bickering among the supporters of Aquino. (Tribune-p1)
On Gen. Garcia
Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez should explain why prosecutors struck a deal with retired Major Gen. Carlos Garcia that allowed him to walk out of jail when there was enough evidence to imprison the former military comptroller for plunder, a Malacañang official said. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said all that Malacañang knew was that the plea bargain negotiations, which resulted in Garcia leaving prison after posting a P60,000 bail, happened this year and before President Benigno Aquino III assumed office on June 30. (PDI-p1)
President Aquino cannot intervene in the case of former military comptroller Carlos Garcia at this stage, Malacañang said yesterday. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the plea bargaining agreement only involves Garcia himself and the Office of the Ombudsman, an independent body. Valte said Aquino has ordered Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. to check the details on how the plea bargain came about despite the overwhelming evidence against the Garcias. (Philstar-p11)
On The Peso
Geographically challenged Philippine maps and a rare parrot with the wrong-colored beak have perturbed the country after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) rolled out error-filled new editions of its peso bills. The new banknotes, scheduled to be rolled out this month and containing the signature of President Benigno Aquino III who took office this year, bombed spectacularly in the graphics department, according to critics. (PDI-p1)
On Vizconde Massacre Case
With a limited timetable, the administration of President Aquino will be exerting its best efforts to arrest and hale to court in less than six months the culprits behind the 19-year-old Vizconde massacre. “Best efforts will be exerted to locate the suspects,” Undersecretary Abigail Valte said, insisting that “it is within the power of the President to review and order a reinvestigation” of the case, after the Supreme Court (SC) freed suspects Hubert Webb and six others. (Philstar-p1)
On Cagayan Fire
A fire tore through a five-story budget hotel before dawn yesterday, leaving at least 15 people dead, nine of them nursing graduates in town to take a licensure examination, police said. Some firefighters wept and prayed as they retrieved badly burned bodies from the gutted Bed and Breakfast Pension House in Cagayan’s provincial capital. (PDI-Banner)
On Rainy X-mas Day
Christmas Day is likely to be rainy in many parts of the country, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said yesterday. Robert Sawi, weather branch chief of Pagasa, said the northeast monsoon would likely bring rains over most parts of Luzon and the eastern sections of the Visayas and Mindanao in the next several days. “We can expect brief light rains due to the active northeast monsoon,” Sawi told The STAR. (Philstar-p1)
On The Armed Forces
Pretrial, preparatory to possible trial by court martial, has been recommended against Rear Adm. Feliciano Angue who had accused fellow officers of politicking in the May elections and who had denounced as crooked the AFP promotion system. Angue was placed under investigation last August for violation of the AFP’s code of ethics and insubordination for airing his gripes before the media and not through the grievance mechanism. (Malaya-Banner)
A Navy panel has recommended a pre-trial investigation of Rear Adm. Feliciano Angue, who had previously criticized the supposed favoritism and politics in the military’s promotion system. A senior officer who requested anonymity said the panel’s recommendation has been forwarded to the office of Armed Forces chief Gen. Ricardo David Jr. in the first week of November. (Philstar-p16)
On The Insurgents
The military yesterday urged communist rebels to comply with international agreements that prohibit the use of landmines in the wake of an ambush staged by the New People’s Army (NPA) in Northern Samar, which left 10 soldiers and a nine-year old boy dead. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said the rebels violated the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAHRIHL) when they used landmines during the attack last Tuesday. (Philstar-p1)
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has dubbed its new counter-insurgency campaign plan as “Bayanihan” which is people-centered and focused more on the whole-nation approach to finally end the decades-long communist insurgency problem in the country. AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said that AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Ricardo David Jr. will formally present the campaign plan Bayanihan to the commander in chief President Aquino during the celebration of AFP’s 75th founding anniversary on Tuesday in Camp Aguinaldo. (Tribune-p3)
On HongKong Travel Advisory
The government is hoping that Hong Kong will eventually lift its black travel alert on the Philippines, amid efforts by the Aquino administration to rebuild diplomatic ties with the special administrative region. Hong Kong imposed its highest travel alert on the Philippines hours after the hostage crisis at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila last Aug. 23 left eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage taker dead. (Philstar-p1)
On The Driver’s License
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has taken over from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) the task of holding a public bidding for the P500-million contract to supply next year’s driver’s license cards. Sources at the LTO said agency officials were surprised by the DOTC’s creation of a special bids and awards committee (SBAC) to handle the supply, production and delivery of the driver’s license. (Philstar-p19)
On The Catholic Church
The Catholic Church admitted Sunday that it has abandoned the youth. Legazpi diocese Bishop Joel Baylon, the chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Commission on Youth, made the admission during the formal launching on Sunday of the “Year of the Youth” for 2011. “Many of them feel abandoned by the institutions that are supposed to take care of them—the Church included, we must humbly admit,” he said. Baylon said that today’s “sad truth” is that many of the young people are exploited and treated “unjustly.” (Mla.Times-p1)
PHIL. DAILY INQUIRER -- 15 Killed In Cagayan Hotel Blaze
MANILA BULLETIN -- Hotel Fire Kills 15
PHILIPPINE STAR -- 15 Dead In Cagayan Fire
MANILA STANDARD -- Bangko Sentral Fumbles Again On New Peso Design
MANILA TIMES -- 15 Killed In Cagayan Blaze
MALAYA -- SC Stops Manila City Gov’t From Freezing Port Project
DAILY TRIBUNE -- Experts: Errors Fill New Peso Bank Notes
TABLOIDS
PEOPLE’S JOURNAL -- Cagayan Inferno
ABANTE -- Hotel Fire: 15 Patay
PILIPINO STAR NGAYON -- 15 Patay Sa Hotel Fire!
BALITA -- Trahedya Sa Tuguegarao
PEOPLES TONIGHT -- Psychic: Vizconde Killers Just Nearby!
REMATE -- 15 Guest Natusta Sa Hotel Fire
ISSUES MONITORING
On Congress
The House of Representatives is scheduled to send to President Aquino this week the proposed P1.645 trillion 2011 national budget. Grace Andres, chief of staff of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., said yesterday that Belmonte instructed her to transmit the three-inch thick budget documents to Malacañang before Dec. 25. She said the printing of the document would be finished over the weekend. She said the President has enough time to sign the budget bill into law before the end of the year. (Philstar-p11)
Sen. Edgardo Angara cited yesterday the possible danger on the P21-billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) program the Aquino administration will implement for some 2.3 million indigent families. Interviewed over dzBB radio, Angara said the program might cause instability in the government if not sustained through the years. (Philstar-p6)
On Presidency
Presidential sister and actress/TV host Kris Aquino said Saturday night she will not remarry until elder brother President Aquino gets to the wedding altar. But the way the people, specially the media, are not giving the President enough slack in his own love life, Kris may have to wait a long, long time. He has complained that he cannot even go out on dates without media speculations and outright gossip, discouraging, he said, potential brides. (Malaya-p1)
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) chief Carmelita Dimzon said President Aquino would personally welcome today the homecoming overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and hand out cash and other prizes to three lucky winners. Each of the three raffle winners would receive from the President cash and gift certificates as well as reintegration livelihood checks from Globe Telecom, Banco de Oro, Bank of the Philippine Islands, SM Supermalls, Duty Free Philippines, National Reintegration Center for OFWs, and the Land Bank of the Philippines. (Philstar-p7)
President Aquino’s running mate during the last national elections — former Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas — is bent on removing Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. from his post, a source from the Liberal Party (LP) yesterday said. Roxas, according to the source, is now trying to twist some arms in order to pressure Aquino into appointing him in Ochoa’s place even as Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ricky Carandang was allegedly spreading the “news” that Ochoa is on his way out. “It was Ricky who was spreading the news of the alleged plan,” the same source said expressing some serious disappointment at the continued bickering among the supporters of Aquino. (Tribune-p1)
On Gen. Garcia
Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez should explain why prosecutors struck a deal with retired Major Gen. Carlos Garcia that allowed him to walk out of jail when there was enough evidence to imprison the former military comptroller for plunder, a Malacañang official said. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said all that Malacañang knew was that the plea bargain negotiations, which resulted in Garcia leaving prison after posting a P60,000 bail, happened this year and before President Benigno Aquino III assumed office on June 30. (PDI-p1)
President Aquino cannot intervene in the case of former military comptroller Carlos Garcia at this stage, Malacañang said yesterday. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the plea bargaining agreement only involves Garcia himself and the Office of the Ombudsman, an independent body. Valte said Aquino has ordered Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. to check the details on how the plea bargain came about despite the overwhelming evidence against the Garcias. (Philstar-p11)
On The Peso
Geographically challenged Philippine maps and a rare parrot with the wrong-colored beak have perturbed the country after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) rolled out error-filled new editions of its peso bills. The new banknotes, scheduled to be rolled out this month and containing the signature of President Benigno Aquino III who took office this year, bombed spectacularly in the graphics department, according to critics. (PDI-p1)
On Vizconde Massacre Case
With a limited timetable, the administration of President Aquino will be exerting its best efforts to arrest and hale to court in less than six months the culprits behind the 19-year-old Vizconde massacre. “Best efforts will be exerted to locate the suspects,” Undersecretary Abigail Valte said, insisting that “it is within the power of the President to review and order a reinvestigation” of the case, after the Supreme Court (SC) freed suspects Hubert Webb and six others. (Philstar-p1)
On Cagayan Fire
A fire tore through a five-story budget hotel before dawn yesterday, leaving at least 15 people dead, nine of them nursing graduates in town to take a licensure examination, police said. Some firefighters wept and prayed as they retrieved badly burned bodies from the gutted Bed and Breakfast Pension House in Cagayan’s provincial capital. (PDI-Banner)
On Rainy X-mas Day
Christmas Day is likely to be rainy in many parts of the country, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said yesterday. Robert Sawi, weather branch chief of Pagasa, said the northeast monsoon would likely bring rains over most parts of Luzon and the eastern sections of the Visayas and Mindanao in the next several days. “We can expect brief light rains due to the active northeast monsoon,” Sawi told The STAR. (Philstar-p1)
On The Armed Forces
Pretrial, preparatory to possible trial by court martial, has been recommended against Rear Adm. Feliciano Angue who had accused fellow officers of politicking in the May elections and who had denounced as crooked the AFP promotion system. Angue was placed under investigation last August for violation of the AFP’s code of ethics and insubordination for airing his gripes before the media and not through the grievance mechanism. (Malaya-Banner)
A Navy panel has recommended a pre-trial investigation of Rear Adm. Feliciano Angue, who had previously criticized the supposed favoritism and politics in the military’s promotion system. A senior officer who requested anonymity said the panel’s recommendation has been forwarded to the office of Armed Forces chief Gen. Ricardo David Jr. in the first week of November. (Philstar-p16)
On The Insurgents
The military yesterday urged communist rebels to comply with international agreements that prohibit the use of landmines in the wake of an ambush staged by the New People’s Army (NPA) in Northern Samar, which left 10 soldiers and a nine-year old boy dead. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said the rebels violated the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAHRIHL) when they used landmines during the attack last Tuesday. (Philstar-p1)
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has dubbed its new counter-insurgency campaign plan as “Bayanihan” which is people-centered and focused more on the whole-nation approach to finally end the decades-long communist insurgency problem in the country. AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said that AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Ricardo David Jr. will formally present the campaign plan Bayanihan to the commander in chief President Aquino during the celebration of AFP’s 75th founding anniversary on Tuesday in Camp Aguinaldo. (Tribune-p3)
On HongKong Travel Advisory
The government is hoping that Hong Kong will eventually lift its black travel alert on the Philippines, amid efforts by the Aquino administration to rebuild diplomatic ties with the special administrative region. Hong Kong imposed its highest travel alert on the Philippines hours after the hostage crisis at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila last Aug. 23 left eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage taker dead. (Philstar-p1)
On The Driver’s License
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has taken over from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) the task of holding a public bidding for the P500-million contract to supply next year’s driver’s license cards. Sources at the LTO said agency officials were surprised by the DOTC’s creation of a special bids and awards committee (SBAC) to handle the supply, production and delivery of the driver’s license. (Philstar-p19)
On The Catholic Church
The Catholic Church admitted Sunday that it has abandoned the youth. Legazpi diocese Bishop Joel Baylon, the chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Commission on Youth, made the admission during the formal launching on Sunday of the “Year of the Youth” for 2011. “Many of them feel abandoned by the institutions that are supposed to take care of them—the Church included, we must humbly admit,” he said. Baylon said that today’s “sad truth” is that many of the young people are exploited and treated “unjustly.” (Mla.Times-p1)
In : news