(Legend: Phil. Daily Inquirer, PDI; Mla. Bulletin, MB; Phil. Star, PS; Mla. Standard, MS; Daily Tribune, DT; Businessworld, BW; Malaya, Today)

A.

PHIL. DAILY INQUIRER Abu Commander Killed

PHILSTAR (PS) Ombudsman Exec: No P150K From Mendoza

B.

MANILA STANDARD Finance Sets Monthly Quota Of Corrupt Govt Bureaucrats

MANILA TIMES Trial Might Take 200 Years

MALAYA Bus Drive Talks To Probers Today

DAILY TRIBUNE Joker: Palace Moves ‘Cheapen’ Presidency

 

ISSUES MONITORING

(Broadsheets)

On Congress

The House of Representatives will conduct an inquiry on the alleged misuse and mismanagement of official development assistance (ODA) funds from foreign governments amounting to $10 billion that involved 38 projects in the last few years. Lawmakers, led by Kasangga party-list Rep. Teodoro Haresco, filed House Resolution No. 273, which cited a report of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) that ODA-assisted projects have been plagued by delays, cost overruns, overstatement of accounts, violation of the procurement law and auditing rules and unliquidated cash advances. (Philstar-p1) 

The Senate will review the role of broadcast media in the coverage of the bungled police assault during the hostage-taking incident in Luneta last Aug. 23 to remind them of the conditions of their franchises. Sen. Joker Arroyo said the Senate would review some of the measures that should be adopted by media in the coverage of certain events in relation to the freedom of the press. (Philstar-p16) 

When Malacañang submits to Congress for confirmation its list of Cabinet appointees, Interior and Local Governments Secretary Jesse Robredo, who is under fire for supposedly mishandling the Aug. 23 hostage-taking crisis at the Quirino Grandstand, won’t be on it. (Malaya-p1) Commission on Audit

On Presidency

President Benigno Aquino III on Friday received a rude shock from the first hearing of a Malacañang committee investigating the bloody climax of the Aug. 23 hostage crisis at Luneta, forcing him to immediately reassert control of the Philippine National Police. Friday’s hearing of the presidential fact-finding committee chaired by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, and the one that followed on Saturday, unfolded a national leadership vacuum in responding to the hostage-taking that left eight of 22 Hong Kong tourists dead in a bungled police rescue action. (PDI-p1) Amando Doronila’s column

President Aquino’s taking full responsibility for the botched hostage rescue operations amounts to nothing and the Palace efforts to drum it up cheapened the presidency, Sen. Joker Arroyo, a former executive secretary of Aquino’s mother former President Corazon Aquino, said yesterday. “It cheapens the presidency,” Arroyo said in criticizing what he described as the apparent publicity stunt executed by Aquino’s advisers to defuse public outrage over the authorities’ mishandling of the Aug. 23 hostage incident. (Tribune-Banner) 

President Aquino is keeping P650 million in intelligence funds that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had at her disposal each year during her nine-year watch. Of that amount, P500 million used to be under the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, but Mr. Aquino abolished the PACC and replaced it with the Anti-Transnational Organized Crime Commission (ATOCC). (Philstar-p1) 

Malacañang yesterday expressed confidence that the Aquino government would be able to regain the confidence of the international community in the aftermath of the Aug. 23 hostage crisis that claimed the lives of eight Chinese tourists. Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma said the Philippines’ policy of good governance and transparency continues to be attractive to its neighbor countries in Asia as well as in superpower economies like China and the United States. (Philstar-p9) 

President Aquino’s first foreign travel, an official visit to the US, will serve as another major test of what type of foreign policy will the new administration pursue, the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said yesterday. “The US trip is doubly important since it is the first foreign trip of the President and it will involve a country that has a tumultuous relationship with the Philippines,” Bayan said. Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes said Mr. Aquino’s trip to the US this month would serve as “a test of resolve of the new government to uphold national interest over foreign impositions.” (Philstar-p9) US Visit

President Aquino will meet with President Barack Obama on September 24 in New York City, joining other leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations during the US-Asean summit. This late, the word is there is no Aquino one-on-one meeting with Obama when he visits the US for the first time from September 22 to 25, a source said Friday (Saturday in Manila).  A one-on-one meeting has not been in the schedule, the source said, even from the time the visit was announced. The source also noted the lack of an invitation to meet at the White House in this capital.  (Malaya-p1) US Visit

On The DoJ Probe

The driver of the tourist bus taken hostage by a dismissed policeman some two weeks ago is scheduled to appear today before the interagency committee tasked to investigate the August 23 incident which left eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage taker dead. (Malaya-Banner) 

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa took responsibility yesterday for the Aug. 23 hostage crisis, admitting his accountability in the failure of the police force to resolve the standoff that ended with nine people dead. “More than ever, it is imperative to take responsibility especially with regards to what has transpired in the past week. In this regard, as chief of the national police, I take responsibility and accountability of all PNP units and all police personnel in everything they do and failed to do,” he said. (Philstar-p1) 

A ranking official of the Office of the Ombudsman who handled the criminal charges against the dismissed policeman who took a busload of tourists from Hong Kong hostage last Aug. 23 has denied allegations of extortion.  Deputy Ombudsman Emilio Gonzales denied insinuations that he demanded P150,000 from former police senior inspector Rolando Mendoza in exchange for dropping the robbery-extortion charges filed against him by a chef in 2008. If money was exchanged, it didn’t work; Mendoza was found guilty by the Ombudsman and dismissed from the service. (Philstar-Banner)

President Benigno Aquino III’s decision to take full responsibility for the bloody hostage rescue on Aug. 23 is a meaningless exercise that merely “cheapens” the presidency, Sen. Joker Arroyo said yesterday. “It’s good for listening and good for the image. But it amounts to nothing. It has no effect because he will not resign, according to his advisers. It is an unnecessary comment. If he said that, does it mean that everyone who is under investigation is absolved?” Arroyo said. (PDI-p1) 

Two weeks after the bloody hostage-taking incident at the Quirino grandstand, investigators has yet to establish the identity of the person that the slain hostage-taker, former Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza, was talking to on his cell phone before he went berserk and started his shooting spree. Sources from the Philippine National Police (PNP) has disclosed that the “mystery man” was no other than the lawyer of the hostage taker.  A day before the Senate opened its investigation on August 26, the same source revealed to a select group of reporters, including The Manila Times, that it was Mayor Alfredo Lim of Manila who gave the order to Manila Police District (MPD) director on leave Chief Supt. Rodolfo Magtibay to arrest Senior Police Officer 2 Gregorio Mendoza, the brother of the hostage taker. (Mla Times-p1) 

On The Insurgency

The Army is confident a new campaign plan replacing “Oplan Bantay Laya” will end the decades-old insurgency problem if followed faithfully by all stakeholders. Army spokesman Col. Antonio Paralde Jr. said the plan would entail greater participation of local government units and focus on the accountability of ground commanders and developmental projects. Oplan Bantay Laya was launched in 2002 to end rebellion in the country. But militant groups claimed it only resulted in human rights abuses and unexplained killings. It lapsed last June 30 without achieving its goal, they said. (Philstar-p4) 

On Maguindanao Massacre

Sen. Joker Arroyo expressed fears Sunday that it might take 200 years before the hearing of the Maguindanao massacre is terminated. “The Department of Justice filed a case against 161 defendants with 300 witnesses. The trial will be very long,” he said over dzRH public affairs program Balitang Todo-Todo. Senator Arroyo, a former human rights lawyer, cited his experiences as defense counsel in the MV Karagatan case where arms supposedly for the New People’s Army were confiscated by the military. (Mla Times-Banner) 

On Campaign Against Terror

Bouncing back from the humiliation it suffered in the hands of a lone hostage-taker in Manila, the Philippine National Police killed an Abu Sayyaf commander and two of his men in an assault on the bandits’ hideout in Sulu at the weekend. Concerned about possible retaliatory attacks by the bandit group, PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa yesterday immediately placed all police units in Mindanao on full alert. (PDI-Banner) 

On Police Training

Their bulletproof vests had reached the expiry date and were shrinking in the rain, and they lacked assault rifles. Lack of necessary equipment was blamed for the bungled police assault during the hostage-taking incident that resulted in the deaths of eight Hong Kong tourists last Aug. 23. (Philstar-p1) 

On Campaign Against Dengue

It took eight hours of waiting at the “Dengue Express Lane” before Roberto Sarmiento’s ailing 4-year-old daughter, Nicole Beverly, could be admitted at San Lazaro Hospital at dawn on Friday. But Sarmiento did not mind the wait. “This is the cheapest,” said the 28-year-old janitor, who had to make the trip from his home in Balintawak, Quezon City, to Sta. Cruz, Manila. (PDI-p1) 

On Government Operations

President Aquino does not have any plan to convert the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT) into a Cabinet department despite the vulnerabilities of some government websites.  Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma said a new department would only entail more expenses for the cash strapped government. Executive Order 269 creating the CICT was issued in January 2004. (Philstar-p10) 

On The Supreme Court

How can judges and justices deliver justice with dispatch when they don’t even have a  place to call their own? Supreme Court Administrator Midas Marquez raised this concern Sunday on the eve of the House deliberation on the proposed P27.1-billion budget the high court was asking from the national government to fund its various financial obligations and programs for 2011. (PDI-p3) 

On Barangay Elections

Smaller polling precincts will be set up for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections on Oct. 25 to avoid long lines of voters. Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesman James Jimenez said a smaller number of voters per polling precinct is necessary since the coming elections will be manual. “We will be clustering some polling precincts, but it will be smaller than the last polls,” he said. “This time the maximum will be 400 voters.” (Philstar-p6) 

On Mass Transportation

A commuter regularly taking the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) will receive a fare subsidy from the government to the tune of P23,850 next year, according to a lawmaker. Palawan Rep. Antonio Alvarez said the administration will allocate P7.3 billion in fare subsidy or P47.70 per MRT passenger in the proposed national budget for next year. (Phisltar-p10) 

On Poverty

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said that the food poverty reduction target under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015 is still achievable. In a statement, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga Jr. said that the country has a high probability of meeting  most of the MDG targets, including reducing the number of Filipinos below subsistence threshold, or those whose income cannot provide the basic food requirements. Paderanga’s statement came after a statement made by the chief of the Department of Social Welfare and Development that the government’s target to reduce the poverty by half is “unrealistic.” (Mla Times-p2) 

On Traffic Jam

If your husband comes home with murder in his eyes, there’s a pretty fair chance that the stress of having to plod through Manila’s traffic jams is finally overwhelming him. A study released recently by office solutions firm Regus revealed that commuting-induced stress may be responsible for raised blood pressure, musculoskeletal disorders, increased hostility and adverse effects on cognitive performance. (PDI-p1) 

NEWS SUMMARY

(Tabloids)

(Legend: People’s Journal, PJ; Abante, Ab; Tempo, Tem; Kabayan, Kab; Balita, Bal; Pilipino Star Ngayon, PSN; Remate, Rem; Bulgar, Bul; )

A.

PEOPLE’S JOURNAL Poll Fixer

ABANTE ‘Wag Mo Iabswelto Bata Mo!

PILIPINO STAR NGAYON 3 Zambo Blast Suspek Utas

 

BALITA Minaliit

PEOPLES TONIGHT Man Kills Wife’s Internet BF

REMATE Misis Patay Sa Taga Ni Mister