BROADSHEET

PHIL. DAILY INQUIRER -- Ampatuans Planned Murders Over Dinner

PHILSTAR -- Massacre Planned Over Family Dinner

MANILA STANDARD -- Compute Simulation Police May Have Hit Hostages

MANILA TIMES -- Andal Jr. Massacre Executor

MALAYA -- Ampatuan Clan Chiefs Plotted Massacre, Court Told

DAILY TRIBUNE -- HK Hostages Shot At Close Range ‘Not Conclusive’ -NBI

TABLOIDS

PEOPLE’S JOURNAL -- ‘Kill All’

ABANTE -- Drug Addicts Sinuplayan Ng DoH

PILIPINO STAR NGAYON -- P1,400 Kada Buwan Sa Mahihirap!

BALITA -- Walang Pumigil

PEOPLES TONIGHT -- Mendoza Had Nothing To Do With Lim’s Son

ISSUES MONITORING

(Broadsheets)

On Congress

The Senate wants to review the entire P1.425-billion intelligence funds set aside by the Aquino administration out of the P1.645-trillion national budget for next year. “We would like to take a look at intelligence funds in the entire bureaucracy,” said Senate finance committee chairman Sen. Franklin Drilon. (Philstar-p2)    

The Commission on Audit (COA) wants the Senate to account for about P74.36 million in bank deposits and to explain a P4.116-million accounting discrepancy in the acquisition of equipment. “There was an unaccounted bank balance per bank confirmation inquiry in the amount of P74,360,617.39, validity of which could not be determined due to the non-submission of Bank Reconciliation Statements,” Emilio Asi Jr., COA supervising auditor, said in a letter to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. The COA letter was dated April 25 this year. (Philstar-p8) 

On Presidency

President Aquino issued yesterday Executive Order 7 suspending the allowances, bonuses and incentives of directors and trustees of government-owned and controlled corporations (COCCs) and government financial institutions (GFIs) for more than three months or until Dec. 1, pending the issuance of new policy and guidelines on their compensation. EO 7, which seeks to rationalize the compensation and position classification system in GOCCs and GFIs, also imposed a moratorium on increases in the rates of salaries and the grant of new increases in the allowances, incentives and other benefits for all those who are not covered by the Salary Standardization Law, until specifically authorized by the President. (Philstar-p1) 

The country is committed to pursuing its five-year Millennium Development Goals (MDG) through good governance, transparency and accountability in government, President Aquino declared yesterday. (Philstar-p3) 

Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao met with President Aquino again yesterday even as Malacañang expressed satisfaction with the way the investigation into the Aug. 23 hostage-taking incident was being conducted. (Philstar-p8) 

President Benigno Aquino 3rd will face a no-holds barred panel interview today, in connection with the August 23 hostage-taking in Manila. President Aquino is expected to field questions from three major broadcasting stations on his involvement in the incident that left dead eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage-taker, dismissed police officer Rolando Mendoza. Malacañang spokesman Edwin Lacierda on Wednesday said that the panel interview will be held at Kalayaan Hall from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (Mla Times-p1) 

On The President’s Men

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo said yesterday he is willing to resign from his post if President Aquino has no more confidence in him. Robredo made the statement in an ambush interview after attending the anniversary celebration of the National Police Commission (Napolcom), which he chairs in a concurrent capacity as interior secretary. (PDI-p1) 

Allies of President Aquino have expressed different positions on the appointment in acting capacity of three Cabinet members, including controversial Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo. Sen. Sergio Osmeña, an Aquino ally, expressed surprise yesterday that the chief executive designated three acting secretaries despite his prerogative to appoint new and permanent members of the Cabinet. “It (appointment of acting secretaries) is unusual, yes. It is unusual because very few people have done it in the past. It’s also not good practice,” Osmeña said. (Philstar-p5) 

The abundance of incompetent men in his official family is all of President Aquino’s own doing. Zambales Rep. Milagros “Mitos” Magsaysay, in a privilege speech, yesterday said if Aquino is indeed serious and sincere in pursuing his “righteous path” kind of leadership, he should have started with the appointment of competent officials in his Cabinet to assist him in managing the country’s day-to-day affairs. (Tribune-p1) 

On The PNP Junior Officers

Malacañang yesterday branded as “speculative” the warning issued by the junior officers of the Philippine National Police to their Commander-in-Chief, President Aquino, on his supposed looming appointment of PNP deputy director general for operations Raul Bacalzo as the next PNP chief.  Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda explained that Malacañang is yet to receive a shortlist of possible candidates for the top PNP post which is about to be relinquished by Director General Jesus Verzosa who announced an early retirement this month. Aquino on Tuesday said he is set to reveal his chosen police officer to replace Verzosa on Sept. 14. (Tribune-p3) 

On The Armed Forces

Unlike previous counter-insurgency Oplan Bantay Laya II which was crafted solely by the military and was linked to numerous extra-judicial killings, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday vowed to come up with a new campaign plan heavy on civil military and other humanitarian missions. AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said this is why the AFP leadership has opened its doors to all the stakeholders in the internal security  situation, including militant groups like the Bayan Muna and Karapatan which were earlier tagged by the military as having links to the communist New People’s Army (NPA). (Tribune-p3) 

On Maguindanao Massacre

Over dinner amid laughter, the Ampatuan clan planned the massacre of a political rival and his supporters, and the family patriarch gave the final order to “kill them all” when the victims showed up six days later in an ambush that left 57 people dead, a house help testified yesterday. At the opening of the trial almost 10 months after the worst political violence in the nation’s history took place in Maguindanao, Lakmudin Saliao directly linked Andal Ampatuan Jr. to the killings allegedly on orders of his father, former Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. (PDI-Banner) 

A helper of the politically powerful clan accused in last year’s massacre of 57 people told a court yesterday that the family members plotted the killings of rivals and journalists over dinner six days before the ambush. The witness, Lakmudin Saliao, took the stand on the first day of trial nearly 10 months after the Nov. 23 massacre in Maguindanao. Among the 57 fatalities were 30 media workers traveling in a convoy, making it the deadliest single attack on journalists in the world. (Philstar-Banner) 

A witness to the planning of what turned out to be last year’s massacre of 57 civilians, including 31 journalists, on Wednesday told a court that the patriarch of a politically powerful clan in southern Mindanao and his youngest son had covered the bases weeks before the actual mass murder. At the start of the trial of the wholesale killing, though, it was Andal Ampatuan Jr. who stood as the prime suspect in the Philippines’ worst politically motivated slaughter. (Mla Times-Banner) 

On Luneta Carnage Probe

Where did some “intriguing” gunshots come from? Did the hostage-taker, dismissed Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza, use his M-16 or a pistol in his deadly rampage? Did sniper fire really kill Mendoza? On what was supposed to be the last day of its fact-finding investigation, the committee headed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima yesterday found even more questions surrounding the Aug. 23 incident in which eight Hong Kong tourists and Mendoza ended up dead. (PDI-p1) 

A raging ratings war among broadcast networks may have doomed negotiations and turned an 11-hourlong hostage drama into a bloodbath, a radio-TV reporter who was on the phone to the gunman during the critical hours told a fact-finding panel Wednesday. (PDI-p1) 

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim had ordered the brother of hostage taker Rolando Mendoza restrained and brought to Tondo, the chief on leave of the Manila Police Department (MPD) told a fact-finding panel last night. Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay said he did not know why the mayor wanted SPO2 Gregorio Mendoza, also of the Manila police, brought to Tondo instead of the MPD headquarters on UN Avenue, which is closer to the scene of the hostage incident at the Quirino Grandstand. (Philstar-p1) 

Results of police autopsies on the bodies of the eight fatalities in the hostage incident last Aug.23 showed no indication they had been shot at close range. But the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)’s medico-legal division chief Floresto Arizala Jr. said the results of the autopsies by the Philippine National Police (PNP) were not conclusive since these had not yet been counterchecked with other physical evidence. (Philstar-p1) 

On The National Budget

Malacañang has cut by nearly half the legal assistance fund for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the proposed P1.645-trillion national budget for next year. Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla and Gabriela party-list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan raised the issue during deliberations on the proposed budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) at the House of Representatives. (Philstar-p-7) 

A sizeable reduction in the 2011 budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will adversely affect what some lawmakers called the department’s “escort” service for members of Congress traveling abroad. (Philstar-p9) 

On Realty ‘ Express Lane ‘

Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corp. was able to get billions of pesos from the Pag-IBIG Fund for its projects in Pampanga province through the fund’s “express lane” program, the head of the national savings and housing agency said yesterday. Emma Linda Faria, officer in charge of the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIGFund ), said the new system allowed developers to receive housing loan applications and process them. (PDI-p1) 

On The Arroyo Administration

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo seemed to be in a generous mood in 2009, a year before she stepped down from the presidency. A report from the Commission on Audit (COA) showed that donations made by the Office of the President (OP) to government agencies and private groups nearly tripled last year, or from P628.544 million in 2008 to P1.743 billion in 2009 for a 177-percent increase. (PDI-p1) 

On LRT-MRT Fare

Beginning next month, commuters will have to pay more – perhaps as much as P30 – for riding the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT). Transportation and Communications Undersecretary for Public Information Dante Velasco did not mention the exact rates but stressed that the MRT fare hike would not be more than 100 percent and that for LRT 1 and 2, the fares would range from P20 to P30. The current maximum LRT and MRT fare is P15. (Philstar-p1) 

On Barangay Elections

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) wants a gun ban imposed during the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on Oct. 25. Speaking to reporters, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said they will recommend a gun ban during a meeting with police, military and Department of Education (DepEd) officials. “We got feedbacks that they (PNP and AFP) are also for total gun ban because of what happened in the May 2010 elections,” he said. (Philstar-p6) 

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 ‘Kill All’

ABANTE Drug Addicts Sinuplayan Ng DoH

PILIPINO STAR NGAYON P1,400 Kada Buwan Sa Mahihirap!

BALITA Walang Pumigil

PEOPLES Mendoza Had Nothing To Do With Lim’s Son