(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 ‘PNP Has No Nego Team ‘

PHILSTAR (PS) Noy Won’t Nominate DILG Chief To CA

B.

MANILA STANDARD Stocks Hit Bull Market Territory

MANILA TIMES RP Police Lack Negotiators

MALAYA Gloria Listed As Neri Trial Witness

DAILY TRIBUNE No PNP Nego Team, No Intel, No Manual - Yebra

 

ISSUES MONITORING

(Broadsheets)

On Congress

The Senate has postponed the inquiry into the role and possible lapses of the media in the bungled police rescue operations that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead during the hostage crisis at the Rizal Park last Aug. 23. Sen. Gregorio Honasan, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs and also of the panel on public information and mass media, said the Senate would give way to the ongoing probe of the Department of Justice (DOJ). (Philstar-p3) 

The country will be paying in 2011 the biggest interest payment in its entire history, Sen. Franklin Drilon said Monday. Drilon, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, said the government has no choice but to pay P823.2 billion for the interest of its debts even if the use of some of the debts was tainted with corruption. “This is a drag in our development but we have to move on but we are obliged to pay for the loan, otherwise, nobody would lend money to the Philippines,” he said. (Mla Times-p3) Debt payment

Malacañang yesterday said Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje and Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz were all appointed in an acting capacity so they would not have to be confirmed by the Commission on Appointments (CA). Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Robredo was appointed in an acting capacity from the beginning. Lacierda said he did not know why Paje and Baldoz were also appointed in an acting capacity. (Philstar-Banner) CA

The House committee on public order is not going to spare Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez from its investigation into the alleged “climate of corruption in the Ombudsman” that aggravated the hostage situation. According to Akbayan Rep. Kaka Bag-ao the climate of corruption in the Office of the Ombudsman could have aggravated the hostage-taking situation even as she called on Deputy Ombudsman Emilio Gonzales III to take a leave in the light of the allegation that he asked for a P150,000 bribe money from dismissed police officer Rolando Mendoza. (Tribune-p3) 

On Presidency

President Aquino is seeking P881 million for a food-for work program for tens of thousands of “internal refugees,” or persons displaced by internal conflicts in Mindanao and other parts of the country. The amount is part of the President’s proposed P1.645-trillion 2011 national budget. (Philstar-p6) 

President Aquino has said he has all the right reasons to proceed with his scheduled trip to the United States by the end of the month notwithstanding the fact that the country  is still nursing the negative effects of the raecent hostage tragedy. In a speech he delivered at the wake of his friend, lawyer Teodoro Macapagal, in Olongapo City the other day, Aquino said he is convinced that his US visit will bear fruit, hinting that it could possibly bring about “good news” for the country. (Tribune-p1) 

On The ‘Negotiator’

The chief negotiator in the Aug. 23 hostage fiasco said yesterday that the Philippine National Police had no official negotiating team and that the slaughter of eight Hong Kong tourists showed the rescue operation was a “failure.”  “The negotiating team does not really exist, until now, officially,” Supt. Orlando Yebra told the fact-finding committee formed by President Benigno Aquino III to look into the fiasco that prompted global denunciation of his administration for ineptness. (PDI-Banner) 

Even the police negotiator in the Manila bus hostage-taking incident was surprised at its bloody outcome. Superintendent Orlando Yebra, head of the Manila Police District (MPD)’s legal office who served as chief negotiator in the 11-hour standoff, told the incident investigation and review committee (IIRC) yesterday that he was still hoping for a peaceful resolution even after police had already started the assault on the bus. (Philstar-p1) 

On The President’s Man

Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo yesterday remained steadfast and refused to quit his post, even virtually blaming President Aquino for owning up to the responsibility over the hostage fiasco, beating him and other government officials who were involved in the botched rescue opera-tion to the draw. In yesterday’s hearing for the DILG’s P86.9 billion budget, Robredo was grilled by lawmakers from opposing camps on the hostage rescue at the Luneta grandstand, where eight Hong Kong travelers were killed and several others seriously wounded. (Tribune-Banner) 

Undersecretary Rico E. Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) says he will never turn his back on President Benigno Aquino III, not in the hostage-taking tragedy that has tainted his presidency this early. “I am willing to take a bullet for him. I never leave anyone,” Puno told the Inquirer. “We have been friends for so long. Why should I abandon him now of all times?” (PDI-p1) 

Calls for heads to roll in the bungled hostage rescue have prompted a Malacañang announcement that embattled Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo is serving only in an “acting” capacity and therefore not subject to confirmation of Congress. Two others named as acting Cabinet secretaries along with Robredo were Rosalinda Baldoz for labor and Ramon Paje for environment, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a text message to Palace reporters yesterday.“No need for confirmation,” Lacierda said.  (PDI-p1) 

On Luneta Carnage

The policeman brother of hostage taker Rolando Mendoza was so fearful for his life that he had to resort to creating a scene to call the attention of the mass media. Senior Police Officer 2 Gregorio Mendoza of the Manila Police District (MPD) traffic bureau told the incident investigation and review committee (IIRC) yesterday that he had to trigger a commotion to prevent what he believed was an order to silence him. Gregorio said he called on some of the journalists to protect him while he was being dragged by arresting policemen into a waiting van. (Philstar-p1) 

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez has affirmed her decision dismissing from the service for grave misconduct former police senior inspector Rolando Mendoza, who was killed along with eight Hong Kong tourists whom he had taken hostage last Aug. 23. After reviewing the case, Gutierrez denied Mendoza’s motion for reconsideration for lack of merit. (Philstar-p6) 

On The Ombudsman

Deputy Ombudsman for military and other law enforcement offices Emilio Gonzales III has refused to appear before the incident investigation and review committee (IIRC) to shed light on allegations that he had tried to extort P150,000 from hostage taker Rolando Mendoza. In a letter to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, IIRC chairman, Gonzales said he would not attend the hearing on grounds that the Office of the Ombudsman is an independent body. (Philstar`-p1) 

On The PNP

The battle for the next Philippine National Police (PNP) chief is not only heating up but also getting personal, eight days before Director General Jesus Verzosa officially steps down from his post after more than three decades of serving the police force. Drawing first blood from what many believed would be a tight race among classmates in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1977 was the No. 3 man in the police hierarchy, Deputy Director General for Operations Raul Bacalzo.

A group of junior PNP officers on Monday came up with a manifesto appealing to President Benigno Aquino 3rd to exercise prudence in choosing the next PNP chief and expressed their opposition to the possible appointment of Bacalzo as Verzosa’s successor. “Merit, fitness and loyalty are essential basis for choosing our next leader. But it should not end there.  What we need is a leader who would show power with conscience, honesty and who has never got himself involved in any irregularity. We need a man who is not corrupt,” the group said in a statement sent to the media through e-mail. They claimed that Bacalzo “was and still is involved in illegal gambling,” adding that “it’s an open book among us that the general has been receiving protection money from jueteng.” (Mla Times-p1) 

The Philippine National Police (PNP) will hire 3,000 additional policemen next year. Budget documents presented to the House appropriations committee chaired by Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya showed that P19.6 billion of the P21.7-billion increase in the budget of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) would go to the PNP. In his proposed P1.645-trillion 2011 national budget, President Aquino increased funds for the DILG from P66.5 billion this year to P88.2 billion. (Philstar-p2) 

On NBN-ZTE Scam

Ombudsman prosecutors will invite former President Gloria Arroyo as their first witness when the graft trial of former Planning Secretary Romulo Neri on the botched $329 million national broadband network deal begins Oct. 13.  Assistant Special Prosecutor III John Turalba said Arroyo, now congresswoman of the second district of Pampanga, would be asked to clarify the extent of Neri’s involvement in the negotiation. (Malaya-Banner) 

This time, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is being asked to talk about Romulo Neri, former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) chief, in connection with the controversial $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corp. Arroyo, now a Pampanga representative, and her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, are witnesses whom the prosecution intends to present at Neri’s trial, acting Deputy Special Prosecutor John Turalba Monday told the Sandiganbayan fifth division. (PDI-p1) 

On Mindanao

The Philippine Army’s anti-crime Task Force Tugis has sealed all key entry and exit points here after three separate bombings rocked the city and a commercial district in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao over the weekend. No one was reported injured after the three explosions, but the attacks caused panic among residents. (Philstar-p1) 

On GSIS Fund

Two Mindanao lawmakers urged the House of Representatives yesterday to look into the status of the $600 million that the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) invested abroad. In Resolution 124, Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City and his brother Maximo, representative of the party-list group Abante Mindanao, said the GSIS set aside the huge amount in 2007 for investment abroad. (Philstar-p2) 

On The National Budget

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is proposing a P86.9-billion budget for next year. Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said the proposed appropriation was 32 percent higher than this year’s budget of P65.6 billion. The P21.3-billion increase represents new spending proposals for personal services, maintenance and operating expenses, and capital outlay, he added. (Philstar-p3) 

On Poor Families

The number of Filipino families who consider themselves poor rose by over a million to roughly half of the population in the second quarter of the year, a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey revealed yesterday. The SWS survey, conducted from June 25 to 28, found 50 percent of respondents or about 9.4 million families who rated themselves as “mahirap” or poor, up by seven points from 43 percent or an estimated 8.1 million families in March. (Philstar-p7) 

On GOCCs

Malacañang justified yesterday a higher government subsidy for government-owned and controlled corporations, saying the administration of President Aquino needs the technical expertise of these firms. “Not all GOCCs are the same as MWSS (Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System). These are all competent people, that’s why we have to increase their budget,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said. (Philstar-p10) 

On The Supreme Court

The judiciary is on the brink of losing its justices and judges if the Aquino government continues to squeeze its meager budget. According to Midas Marquez, Supreme Court spokesman and court administrator, the budget of the judiciary now is less than its budget last year which was less than one percent of the proposed P1.65-trillion national budget for 2011. Marquez warned that the disposition of cases nationwide could be adversely affected with the inadequate budget given the judiciary. (Tribune-p1) 

On Barrangay Elections

It’s a fait accompli, the Senate’s actions on the proposed postponement of barangay elections and similar bills, the Senate chairman on local government said yesterday. Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. moved to have the measures “archived” by the upper chamber as no less than President Aquino ruled out any possibility of a postponement of the polls, himself already announcing recently that the scheduled barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections on Oct. 25 will push through. (Tribune-p3) 

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 PNP Unprepared, Ill Equipped

ABANTE Walang Hostage Team - Negotiator

PILIPINO STAR NGAYON ‘Takoot Akoo’ -Mendoza

BALITA Cellphones Isasauli Ng Hongkong

BULGAR Beybi Patay Sa Duyan

REMATE Tambay Hinostage Ang Sarili Tigbak