BROADSHEETS 

PHIL. DAILY INQUIRER -- Nation on bended knees

MANILA BULLETIN -- China executes 3 OFWs Wednesday

PHILIPPINE STAR -- China: 3 Filipinos' death sentence final  

DAILY TRIBUNE -- RP’s China consulates: No travel papers issued to Ping

TABLOIDS

PEOPLE’S JOURNAL -- PH prays for miracle

ABANTE -- I-ban na si Willie -- lady solon

PILIPINO STAR NGAYON -- 3 Pinoy bibitayin ngayon! 

PEOPLES TONIGHT -- Couple hacked dead

 

ISSUES MONITORING

On Congress

President Aquino met yesterday with 27 of the 62 female members of the House of Representatives including those from the opposition, except former president and Pampanga congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. “The President said this will not be the first and the last time he will be meeting them. And members of the opposition came except GMA,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said, referring to Arroyo through her initials. Aquino invited the female lawmakers regardless of their vote in the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and the deferment of the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).(Philstar)

On OFWs on death row

China confirmed last night that it would carry out today the execution of Ramon Credo, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva and Elizabeth Batain for drug smuggling, ignoring a last minute plea for mercy by the Philippine government. “The verdict is final by the Chinese judicial authorities in strict accordance with the Chinese law. We hope that the Philippine side could understand,” Sun Yi, Chinese embassy spokesman, said. (Philstar)

On P-Noy

President Aquino accepts the drop in his public approval ratings as shown by the results of the latest surveys conducted by polling firms Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations (SWS) and vowed to work harder to deliver his promise of change in the country, Malacañang said yesterday. Last week, Pulse Asia reported that based on a survey it conducted from Feb. 24 to March 6, public approval of the Aquino administration dropped to 74 percent from 79 percent in the survey conducted last Oct. 20 to 29. A survey conducted by SWS from March 4 to 7, on the other hand, showed that Aquino’s net satisfaction rating among Filipinos went down to 51 percent from 64 in November. (Philstar)          

On AFP scam

The jetsetting wife of beleaguered former military comptroller Gen. Jacinto Ligot named yesterday the wife of the late Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes as her frequent companion in various travels abroad during their husbands’ terms in early 2000. Pressed to answer questions from Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, Erlinda Ligot confirmed that her frequent companion was a certain “Dara” who was believed to be Reyes’ wife Teresita. (Philstar)

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima yesterday created a five-man Fact-Finding and Evidence Evaluation Committee tasked with investigating allegations of corruption in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). De Lima issued the order designating Senior State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva to lead the committee, with Assistant City Prosecutor Alfredo Agcaoili, State Prosecutor Merba Waga, State Counsel Charlene Mae Tapic and lawyer Gregorio Arizala as members. (Philstar)

On surveys

Sen. Francis Escudero topped the latest awareness and performance ratings of senators in a survey conducted by Pulse Asia from Feb. 24 to March 6 this year. Escudero garnered 82 percent approval rating, followed by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, and Senators Loren Legarda and Franklin Drilon, completing the top five highest pointers among the senators. Santiago scored 79 percent approval, while Estrada enjoyed 75 percent awareness. Legarda and Drilon both received 70 percent awareness ratings. (Philstar)

On Ombudsman

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and Sen. Panfilo Lacson have something in common – both claim to be victims of injustice. This was according to lawyer Salvador Panelo who believed this parallelism would play a role in the impeachment trial at the Senate, which will begin in May. “Sen. Lacson’s lamentation that he himself was a victim of injustice and that in deciding his case in the lower court, the rules on evidence were disregarded, finds a parallel in the disregard of the rules on evidence when the House committee on justice steamrollered the finding of probable cause of an impeachable offense,” Panelo said. (Philstar)

On transport strike

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is ready to deal with the jeepney caravan tomorrow to be staged from Quezon City to Manila by militant transport groups. MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino yesterday said that aside from monitoring the situation, the agency is also ready to deploy more than 60 vehicles, mostly trucks and buses, to provide free rides to commuters should the protest action leave them stranded. “We will provide all the necessary services and manpower to make sure that the commuting public will not be inconvenienced,” Tolentino said. (Philstar)

On oil price hike

Shell, Petron and Chevron yesterday raised their gasoline prices by 85 centavos per liter, diesel by 40 centavos and kerosene by 20 centavos per liter. Over the weekend, the oil firms had already sounded off plans to jack up their prices by more than 60 centavos per liter. These so-called Big 3 oil companies last week also raised their diesel prices by 60 centavos and kerosene by 50 centavos per liter. But the diesel price hike coincided with a P1 per liter rollback on gasoline products in response to competitive pressure as other small players reduced their prices Monday last week.(Philstar)

On Japan radiation

The government gave assurance yesterday that the radiation particles from Japan that reached the Philippines are too “miniscule” to threaten public health and contaminate food supply.  Corazon Bernido, deputy director of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI), said the radioactive particles from Japan will disperse once carried by the air. “There was an explosion of radioactivity towards the Pacific Ocean. Once these (particles) move, there would be dispersion…The main bulk of the plume will not be brought here,” she said in a meeting with disaster management officials in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.(Philstar)