BROADSHEETS 

PHIL. DAILY INQUIRER -- Dominguez fears for life, turns self in

PHILIPPINE STAR -- Car trader murder: 9 charged  

MANILA BULLETIN -- Dominguez surrenders

DAILY TRIBUNE -- Noynoy junking rerun no guarantee vs Cha-cha

TABLOIDS

PEOPLE’S JOURNAL -- Carjack-slay suspect yields

ABANTE -- Paglikida kay Venson planado

PILIPINO STAR NGAYON -- Raymond Dominguez sumuko! 

PEOPLES TONIGHT -- Power rates to go down

ISSUES MONITORING

On Congress

Many members of the House of Representatives are not inclined to support the revival of the death penalty because flaws in the criminal justice system could lead to wrongful executions, Deputy Majority Leader Roman Romulo said yesterday. “Our criminal justice system has many imperfections, and capital punishment leaves no room for rectification once a convict has been put to death. We can’t free the dead,” he said. (Philstar)

On carnapping

Nine suspects in the grisly killing of used-car dealer Venson Evangelista were formally charged before the Quezon City Prosecutors Office late Saturday night amid tight security. The alleged gang leader and mastermind Raymond Dominguez, meanwhile, sought police protection after he was implicated by Alfred Mendiola and Ferdinand Parulan, who were earlier arrested in connection with the case.  Quezon City Police District director Chief Superintendent Benjardi Mantele, immediately after inquest proceedings that ended past midnight, said the prosecutors found probable cause to charge Mendiola (alias Bading, alias Allan Torres), Parulan (alias Batibot), and seven others with carjacking and murder. (Philstar)

On power rates

Electricity rates in Luzon are seen to go down by P2.38 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) this month, according to the Energy Regulatory Commission. In a decision, the ERC said it has provisionally approved on Jan. 17, 2011 the Maximum Annual Revenue (MAR) of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) for calendar year 2011 in the amount of P46.3 billion. Given this provisionally approved revenue for NGCP, the indicative equivalent monthly transmission charge to its customers will go down by an overall average of P2.64 per kwh (P366.92 per kwh in 2010 vs. P364.27 per kwh in 2011).(Philstar)

On nursing

The Philippines will be asking for the relaxation of some of the entry requirements of Filipino nurses to Japan during the renegotiation of the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) scheduled this year. Under the current JPEPA rules, only one Filipino nurse was able to go to Japan. “Something has to be done about this. Qualifications must be relaxed,” a ranking government official said in an interview. (Philstar)

On PIATCO

Malacañang said yesterday the Department of Justice’s decision to file Anti-Dummy Law charges against the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco) and its German investor, Fraport AG was a way to show that corruption and irregularities would not be tolerated even among investors. “You have legal issues concerning what happened. We want to make people who were responsible for this be accountable whether investor or not. Just because they are investors doesn’t mean they can violate the law,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.(Philstar)

On NFA

Malacañang has no concrete plans yet to abolish the National Food Authority despite its P176.7- billion debt. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said a formal investigation and audit are underway to determine how to reform the NFA. “At this point, discussions are preliminary and there is no solid path yet that is laid out on this matter,” she said. (Philstar)

On Comelec

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has ordered the distribution of computerized election machines to various courts nationwide to quickly resolve pending electoral protests in the May 10, 2010 elections. It said the use of poll count optical scan (PCOS) machines is necessary for authentication of official ballots in last year’s elections. In a resolution, the Comelec ordered that the PCOS machines be sent to any court with pending election protest cases.(Philstar)