BROADSHEETS

PHIL. DAILY INQUIRER -- Nuclear Crisis Alarms US

MANILA BULLETIN -- 13,000 Feared Dead

PHILIPPINE STAR -- ‘Noy Won’t Back BNPP Opening

MANILA TIMES -- China To Execute Pinoy

MALAYA -- 45 Pinoys Remain Missing

DAILY TRIBUNE -- Japan Thumbs Down Noynoy’s $14-Million Aid Offer

TABLOIDS

PEOPLE’S JOURNAL -- Get Out!

ABANTE -- Alsa-Balutan Na Sa Tokyo

PILIPINO STAR NGAYON -- Bitay Sa 3 Pinoy Tuloy!

 

BALITA -- Ora De Peligro

PEOPLES TONIGHT -- Leyte Submerged, Family Buried Alive!

BULGAR -- Pangtanggal Sa Contratualization Lusot Na!

 

ISSUES MONITORING

On Congress

Sen. Joker Arroyo said members of the House of Representatives who would serve as prosecutors in the impeachment trial of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez should start preparing for their task. Arroyo said the senators are now preparing themselves to work as judges. Unlike the House, which would continue to function normally because only a handful of its members would be at the Senate as prosecutors, the Senate would have to adjust its entire schedule and would definitely have to sacrifice some of its other functions, Arroyo said. (Philstar-p10) 

Sen. Teofisto Guingona 3rd, the chairman of the Senate blue-ribbon committee, will be setting another “first” in the Senate when he conducts a public hearing on Monday on an issue that has been resolved by the panel through a committee report. Guingona issued a media advisory on Thursday that his committee would resume its hearing on Monday morning on a plea-bargaining agreement between government prosecutors and retired military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia.  (Mla Times-p1) 

Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo led 25 congressmen who met with Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal Wednesday night to plan moves to thwart the passage of the reproductive health bill at the House of Representatives. Arroyo and her colleagues met with Vidal at the Archbishop Palace in Mandaluyong City, where they discussed the issue over dinner which lasted for three hours.  (Malaya-p3) 

On Presidency

President Aquino yesterday offered condolences to the Japanese government and people by personally visiting Ambassador Makoto Katsura and offering sympathy over the crisis Japan is now suffering after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami last Friday. Aquino said he offered the Japanese envoy any assistance that can be extended by the Philippine government. (Philstar-p11) 

The Japanese government has “politely declined” the Philippines’ offer of assistance to Japan’s disaster-stricken communities in Japan even as President Aquino personally reiterated his pledged aid when he met with Ambassador Makoto Katsura yesterday morning. (Tribune-Banner) 

On Japan’s Crisis

Amid widening alarm in the United States and elsewhere about Japan’s nuclear crisis, Japanese authorities reached for ever more desperate and unconventional methods on Thursday to cool stricken reactors, deploying helicopters and water cannons in a race to prevent perilous overheating in spent fuel rods. (PDI-Banner) 

The official number of dead and missing after a devastating earthquake and tsunami that flattened Japan's northeast coast has passed 13,000, police said Thursday, but reports hinted at a much higher toll. This developed as operators of a quake-crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan dumped water on overheating reactors on Thursday while the United States expressed growing alarm about leaking radiation and said it was chartering aircraft to help Americans leave the country. (Mla Bulletin-p1) 

Airlines scrambled yesterday to fly thousands of passengers out of Tokyo as the United States authorized the first evacuations of Americans out of Japan and other governments—from Britain to South Korea—advised their citizens to leave. As an increasing number of governments also urged their citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to this country, there was a sharp drop in demand to fly to Japan amid growing concern over the country’s ability to contain its nuclear crisis. (PDI-p1) 

Operators of a quake-crippled nuclear plant in Japan dumped water on overheating reactors on Thursday. Engineers were rushing against time to run in a power line off the main grid to fire up the water pumps needed to cool two reactors and the spent fuel rods considered most at risk.  (Malaya-p1) 

Forty-five Filipinos remain missing in the quake and tsunami-devastated Japan. The website of the Philippine embassy in Tokyo earlier listed 42 missing. The three added to the list were Loramy Komatsu, Miho Komatsu, and Kenski Komatsu, all of Mesennuma-shi, Miyagi prefecture in northern Japan. "May we request those who may have information on these individuals to let the Embassy know of their situation," Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said in a briefing. (Malaya-Banner) Missing Pinoys

On Bataan Nuke

President Aquino will not support the revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). “As of today, no,” Science Secretary Mario Montejo said when asked if Aquino would support resolutions in the House of Representatives seeking the revival of the BNPP. Earlier, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Aquino had always expressed concern over safety issues in operating nuclear power plants. (Philstar-Banner) 

On The Bar Exams

A total of 982 examinees led by graduates from Ateneo de Manila passed the 2010 Bar examinations, the Supreme Court (SC) announced yesterday. Five Ateneo graduates led the successful batch of graduates out of the 4,847 who took the exam last year that was marred by a grenade explosion that left some 50 people injured. (Philstar-p1) 

On South China Sea

China rejected yesterday the United States’ proposal to forge a multilateral resolution of the South China Sea dispute as Beijing branded such action as “meddling.” The Chinese government has responded to the Philippines’ diplomatic protest and note verbale, justifying the operations of their patrol ships that harassed a vessel of the Department of Energy (DOE) that was conducting maritime exploration off the disputed Spratly Islands early this month. Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao told a press conference that the disputes over Nansha Islands (the Chinese name for the Spratlys) should be solved through the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). (Philstar-p1) 

The allegedly incessant intrusion of the United States into the conflict over disputed areas of the South China Sea does not help forge understanding and cooperation between claimant-countries, the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines said on Thursday. Liu Jianchao maintained that the “Americans [have] got nothing to do with Nansha Islands.” Nansha is the Chinese name for the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. (Mla Times-p1) 

On Bangko Sentral 

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) ordered yesterday the closure of Banco Filipino Savings and Mortgage Bank of the Aguirre family for insolvency after its liabilities overwhelmed its assets by P8.4 billion, prompting monetary authorities to prepare charges against the board of directors and officials of the bank. At a hastily called press conference, BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said the central bank’s seven-member Monetary Board (MB) decided yesterday to place Banco Filipino under the receivership of the state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC). (Philstar-p1) 

On Jeepney Fare

Party list group 1 Utak sought yesterday government intervention in the rising prices of oil. Vigor Mendoza, 1 Utak chairman, said jeepney drivers and operators are taking the brunt of the increasing oil prices. “Historically, passenger load drops by as much as 30 percent when summer vacation starts if this is coupled by continued high cost of fuel,” he said. (Philstar-p3) 

On Mining

President Aquino hinted yesterday that he is not keen on endorsing a ban on mining operations in the country, but he would approve the regulated mining of mineral resources. “I’m told that if there are resources and the large players would be out, the small-scale operations would come in, which is more difficult to regulate,” Aquino told the more than 800 members of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines who gathered here for a conference on climate change last Wednesday at the Grand Regal Hotel. (Philstar-p10) 

On ARMM Elections

The House of Representatives Wednesday night failed to pass on second reading the Palace-backed bill postponing the August 8 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and synchronize it with the midterm elections in 2013, due to an absence of quorum. Floor deliberations on the House Bill 4146 were suspended after Davao del Sur Rep. Douglas Cagas, of the minority bloc, questioned the quorum at 8 p.m. (Malaya-p3) 

On Balikatan Exercises

Officials of the United States embassy and the Armed Forces of the Philippines said the active involvement of American troops in relief operations in Japan would not hamper the holding of next month’s Balikatan exercises between the two forces. Quoting US ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas, US embassy spokesman Rebecca Thompson said that the Balikatan exercises are "still on track" for April 15 to 25. She said the exercises include "timely trainings in disaster relief." (Malaya-p2) 

On Pinoy Drug Mules

The verdict on the three Filipinos sentenced to death for drug trafficking in China was “final” and would be “carried out” at the proper time even as the Chinese government earlier postponed the execution for “humanitarian considerations,” the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines said on Thursday. Liu Jianchao, during a roundtable with reporters, asked the Philippine government to respect China’s laws in the case of the condemned drug “mules.” (Mla Times-Banner) 

On Smuggling

ORGANIZED smuggling syndicates operating at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) are using fake Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) forms to avail of the exemption from payment of tariff duties as agreed upon by Asean member countries. This surfaced after joint elements of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service and the National Bureau of Investigation seized Thursday 7 kilograms, or 600 sets of AFTA form-E in a warehouse in Caloocan City owned by Chinese-Filipino businessman George Tan. (Mla Times-p3)