BROADSHEETS

PHIL. DAILY INQUIRER -- ‘Ma, We’re Trapped’

MANILA BULLETIN -- Bloodbath In Libya

PHILIPPINE STAR -- Palace Supports Merci Impeachment

MANILA STANDARD -- Roxas Walked Into A Trap In Taiwan – Manila Envoy

MANILA TIMES -- Aquino Admits Roxas Failure

MALAYA -- Merci Defies Solons On Impeach Bid

DAILY TRIBUNE -- Noy, Aides Lied Openly - Taiwan’s Ma

TABLOIDS

PEOPLE’S JOURNAL -- Pinoys Trapped In Rubble

ABANTE -- OFWs Sa Libya Inaagawan Ng Pagkain

PILIPINO STAR NGAYON -- 12 Pinoy Nawawala Sa New Zealand

BALITA -- Matrikula Tataas

PEOPLES -- BI Deport Dirty Old Daddy!

BULGAR -- Final Answer: Dagdag-Pork Barrel, Aprub

 

ISSUES MONITORING

On Congress

The Commission on Appointments (CA) confirmed yesterday Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Transportation and Communications Secretary Jose de Jesus and six senior officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines led by chief of staff Gen. Ricardo David. Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano had asked Gazmin to return for a second hearing, but the defense chief was spared from further questioning during yesterday’s CA hearing and was confirmed without any objection. (Philstar-p1) 

On Presidency

President Aquino stood firm yesterday that the government will not apologize to Taiwan for the deportation of 14 Taiwanese to China. He also said Filipino workers bound for Taiwan can be redeployed to other countries. Speaking to reporters at the Rizal High School in Pasig, Aquino said given the circumstances, the Philippines has nothing to apologize for, and expressed belief that the problem would be ironed out in the long run. (Philstar-p2) 

President Aquino will embark on state visits to Indonesia and Singapore from March 7 to 11, Malacañang said. Sources, meanwhile, said the President’s trip to China has been set for May and that there are no indications that it would be scrapped because of the current issues involving Beijing and Taiwan. China earlier postponed the execution of three overseas Filipino workers on death row for drug smuggling. (Philstar-p7) 

President Benigno Aquino 3rd admitted Wednesday that the efforts of former Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd to patch up a rift with Taiwan over the deportation of 14 Taiwanese to mainland China was “not that successful.”  But Roxas assured Wednesday that relations between Taiwan and the Philippines “have not worsened” and that both sides expressed openness “to establishing a mechanism for cooperation and mutual legal assistance.” (Mla Times-Banner) 

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday accused the Philippine government officials of lying openly to cover up three major mistakes they made during the process, despite claims by President Aquino that an apology to Taiwan cannot be made because the correct processes were followed. (Tribune-Banner) 

On People Power

Any people power uprising will be protracted and bloody, with a highly uncertain ending, until a faction of the security forces breaks away from the status quo and joins the protesters in the streets. This was the analysis of former President Fidel V. Ramos, who led a faction of the Armed Forces that split from Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship starting on Feb. 22, 1986, triggering the four-day EDSA Revolution that showed the world how people power can be used for peaceful regime change. (PDI-p1) 

On The Ombudsman

Don’t count on it. Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez will not comply with the notice of the House of Representatives to file her reply to the two impeachment complaints until the Supreme Court rules with finality on her petition against the House committee on justice.  The Office of the Ombudsman, in a statement, said Gutierrez does not have to comply with the three-day deadline by the justice committee because she still has until March 5 to file a motion for reconsideration. (Malaya-Banner) 

Malacañang yesterday expressed its support for the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, a day after a committee of the House of Representatives voted to resume the impeachment process against her. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, however, said yesterday that Malacañang would like to focus on the possible charges to be filed against the prosecutors involved in the controversial plea bargaining agreement with former military comptroller Carlos Garcia. (Philstar-Banner) 

On New Zealand Earthquake

“Ma, we’re trapped at CTV building. We need help, please rescue us.” The desperate plea came from nurse Rhea Mae Sumalpong, one of at least seven reportedly trapped inside the Canterbury Television (CTV) building that collapsed in Tuesday’s devastating earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. Sumalpong, 25 and a native of Barangay Tuyan in Naga town in Cebu, sent a text message to her mother, Marlene Sumalpong, who is based in Australia, about 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday. (PDI-Banner) 

Eight Filipinos were trapped under the rubble of a hospital building that collapsed during a devastating earthquake that struck Christchurch in New Zealand last Tuesday, an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported yesterday. The official, who refused to be identified, said relatives of the trapped Filipino nurses have been informed by the DFA. (Philstar-p1) 

On Vizconde Massacre

Lauro Vizconde is ready to meet with Chief Justice Renato Corona and three other justices he named in an affidavit in connection with the case involving the 1991 murder of his wife and two daughters, if only to prove once and for all that everything he said is true. “Anytime, anywhere, I’m willing to go face to face with them. Given my situation, I have nothing more to protect. So why should I lie? I want to prove that all I revealed are true,” he said Wednesday in a phone interview. (PDI-p1) 

On Carnapping

Saying she has done nothing irregular, Virginia Torres said she is not about to quit as chief of the Land Transportation Office (LTO). Torres, a shooting range buddy of President Benigno Aquino III, said the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) of the Philippine National Police had cleared a smuggled Mitsubishi Pajero before she signed its registration papers in 2009 when she was head of the LTO branch in Tarlac City. (PDI-p1) 

On Government Position

Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, a close friend of the Aquino family, said he would prefer the chairmanship of the Commission on Audit (COA) as he prepared to relinquish his post to former ambassador to Washington Albert del Rosario at an informal briefing yesterday. Romulo said he was a “good soldier” and would accept any position that President Benigno Aquino III would offer him. (PDI-p1) 

Commission on Audit (COA) Chairman Reynaldo Villar has filed his resignation effective upon the appointment of his successor. In a three-page letter to President Aquino dated Feb. 22, Vilar denied allegations that he is clinging to his post. “What pained me, my family and co-workers is that some media practitioners and even politicians have alleged that I am simply clinging to the office and to power without any legal basis,” he said. He described the present condition of the commission to be at “its bleakest” in the 23 years he had been in it. (Philstar-p1) 

On UN Funds

The United Nations has decided to stop direct remittances of peacekeeping funds to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the wake of alleged abuses and corruption in the use of such funds. Consul Elmer Cato of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) told a joint hearing of the House committees on defense and appropriations that from now on, the UN would remit millions of dollars in peacekeeping funds to the national treasury through the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. (Philstar-p1) 

On The Vice President

Amid growing public clamor for the government to attend to Filipinos in the crisis-torn Middle East, Vice President Jejomar Binay is leaving tomorrow to confer with officials in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates for labor agreements that would improve the condition of the Filipino workers. Binay, also presidential adviser on OFW concerns, went to China Friday last week and secured the deferment of the execution of three Filipinos convicted of drug trafficking. (Malaya-p1)  OFWs

President Aquino has asked Vice President Jejomar Binay to decide on the request of Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos II to have his late father and namesake buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. “I’ve talked to the vice president and I asked him if he could be the one to decide on the case. Dahil sabi nga kahit ano pa ang desisyon ko, sasabihin na me bias agad ako (As they say, whatever decision I make, they would readily conclude that I am biased). I talked to him before he went to China,” Aquino said. (Philstar-p5)  Marcos burial

On “Finger-Pointing”

Officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) blamed each other for the government’s poor response in saving Filipino workers in troubled countries like Libya at a hearing at the House of Representatives yesterday. During the joint hearing of the House committees on overseas workers affairs and foreign affairs, it was revealed that DFA and DOLE officials have not been coordinating on the protection of Filipino workers in Libya, Yemen and Bahrain, which are all experiencing political unrest. (Philstar-p6) 

On Reproductive Health

With the highly-divisive reproductive health bill scheduled for plenary debates at the House, an official of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines yesterday said the Church has only two cards left in opposing its passage. "To lobby in Congress and mobilize rallies in dioceses," said Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Family and Life. (Malaya-p1) 

On Maguindanao Massacre

The families of the Maguindanao massacre victims expressed fear for their lives amid allegations that at least P200-million worth of lobby money is in place to secure the acquittal of Maguindanao massacre suspect Zaldy Ampatuan.  Monet Salaysay and Myrna Reblando, whose husbands Napoleon and Alejandro, respectively, were brutally killed during the November 23, 2009 massacre, made the statement during the “No Holds Barred” forum of the National Press Club on Wednesday. (Mla Times-p1)