Crazy as it may seem, but a barangay tanod shot a Cebuano actor while filming an indie film. Actor Kirk Abella, dressed as a gunman, was shot dead by a certain tanod in Barangay Parian. The movie is title "Going Somewhere" and indeed, poor Kirk did went somewhere - his grave.
More of the news can be found here -- TANOD SHOOTS ACTOR DEAD
Mechanics
- This photography contest is open to hobbyists, serious hobbyists and professional photographers.
- Official Entry forms are available at The Outpost in Lahug from 6pm to 2am, Tuesdays to Sundays.
- Registration fee is ONE HUNDRED FIFTY (P150) per registrant. This covers THREE (3) entries per category. An additional TWENTY pesos (P20) will be charged for every additional photo per category.
- Photo Contest Categories:
- “Sista” – any image of Cebu’s famous guitar (whether by itself, while it is being made, on display, as a souvenir, with or without a human subject, while being used/tuned, in a band or alone, etc.) The image should showcase the guitar as the main subject.
- Deadline for entries for “Sista” category will be on November 12, 2010 at 10:00 pm at The Outpost
- Stock photos are allowed.
- Entries are to be submitted as an 8”x10” printed photo, with or without borders, together with the corresponding RAW file in CD/DVD format with the name of the photographer on the CD/DVD and envelope.
- Entries should bear the number of the photographer and the orientation of the photo at the back of the entry
- Identifying marks (e.g. watermarks, initials, etc) that in any way identifies ownership are prohibited on the photo entry.
- Post processing in “Sista” category is limited to only basic, global, post-processing actions for contrast, levels, color, sharpening and cropping. Adding or removing of objects within the frame is prohibited. Composite pictures will be disqualified.
- “Ang Gitarista ug ang Sista” – This is an On-the-Spot photo contest of the live performances of Cebu’s guitarists performing at the Outpost during the “Cebu Guitarfest” which happens on November 6 – 26, 2010.
- The image should capture:
-any of the featured guitarists while performing onstage
-any guitarist AND his guitar offstage
-any roadie/assistant AND the guitar while preparing for the set
-any roadie/assistance AND the guitar on the way to the stage, etc. - All entries should be candid and unposed.
- Images captured (JPEG) are to be submitted for uploading straight from the camera on the same night the photo was taken.
- Images should be uploaded in the Cebu Guitarfest photo contest station. Entries will be accepted from 10 pm to 12 midnight.
- No post processing is permitted for “Ang Gitarista ug ang Sista” category.
- Awarding of Prizes to Winners will be on November 27, 2010 at the Outpost.
- Decision of the designated Board of Judges shall be final and unappealable.
- The photographer understands that photos submitted to this contest may be used by The Outpost and the organizers of the Cebu Guitar Festival. By submitting the photograph for entry into the competition, The photographer will retain his copyright and hereby grant the Outpost and the organizers of the Cebu Guitar Festival a royalty-free, non-assignable, worldwide, non-exclusive license to use the photo image in any of The Outpost initiated promotion/s. In addition, photos and CDs/DVD’s submitted will not be returned. Photo credits will be given whenever applicable.
PRIZES:
“Sista” and “Ang Gitarista ug ang Sista”:
1st place – P5,000
2nd Place - 3,000
3rd Place- 1,000
Finalists (4th to 30th) will receive certificates.
Thank God, Typhoon Juan didnt hit Cebu. Accoridng to news, it did killed 9 in Pangasinan while Isabela is in state of calamity. Now its heading in China. Thank God Cebu is safe from that super typhoon.
Here's a link to the 2010 Election UNOFFICIAL results
2010 UNOFFICIAL National Election Results Tally
src: GMA News
Got this from a forwarded email and is worth sharing.
We all just want a better Philippines, so let's think and vote wisely!
(Note: Click on the image for a better view)
Download sample ballots for your district @ COMELEC | Election Automation 2010
To get sample ballots for your zone. These sample ballots list positions that aren't nationwide (in other words, candidates who aren't running for president, for vice-president, and for senator), you may already have a good idea of who's running in your area, but you never know. Perhaps that low-profile candidate might be pushing the platform you're looking for.
Think wisely. Lets Cast our votes wisely this coming May 2010 election!
Too bad, the person heading the Opposed Poll Automation is a fellow Cebuano - no other than Deputy House Speaker Pablo Garcia (Cebu, 2nd district). It really bothers me (personally) whats the very good reason to oppose the automated voting system. They didn't make the move while the poll automation agenda was still in the making. Isn't this a very eleventh hour to do such nuisance (Mayo na gud ang election nya karun pa sila nag oppose2x)? Tikas na sad ni siguro? paita..
Source: Lawmakers: Poll automation ‘illegal’
NOYNOY ON "HELLO GARCI" TAPES
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Got this from a forwarded email. this may or may not be true, however the you readers could share your insights on this.
Which congressman doesn't want his voting record exposed to the public? You'd be surprised! Despite popular clamor led by the Opposition, Tarlac Representative Deputy Speaker for the Administration Noynoy Aquino protected President Gloria Arroyo by voting not to listen to the controversial "Hello Garci" tapes that revealed massive cheating during the 2004 presidential elections.
WHY DID NOYNOY PROTECT GMA? Around the same time, the Aquino and Cojuangco families were deep in negotiations with the Arroyo administration for one of the biggest anomalous deals in Philippine history.
Noynoy Aquino's vote to protect GMA merely completed the political transaction that is now the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) - an overpriced, anomalous arrangement that not only cheated taxpayers but the already oppressed, poor farmers of Hacienda Luisita.
Some points to ponder:
- Noynoy Aquino's family received P83 million from the government by selling 83 hectares of Hacienda Luisita land at 12 TIMES the actual zonal value.
- At 94 kilometers, the P32 billion SCTEX, bloated from the original estimate of P18.7 billion in 1999, is the longest continuous highway in the Philippines andpasses directly through Hacienda Luisita, the largest hacienda in the countryand owned by Noynoy Aquino's family.
- The Philippine government was made to shoulder the P170-million PRIVATE San Miguel Interchange of the Aquinos into Hacienda Luisita. This is the ONLY exit of the 11 exits that leads to a private property.
- Hacienda Luisita farmers own 33 percent of the estate, and yet received only THREE PERCENT of the total package amount of P83 million, or only P450 per family
- These same famers, who receive a measly P9.50 a day in wages compared to the legal minimum NCR wage of P345.00, have been denied for more than 20 years their right to land ownership under the agrarian reform law, which was enacted to transfer ownership of large haciendas to their tenant farmers, the same farmers who were called "spoiled" by Noynoy Aquino's sister Ballsy.
In 2004, government troops were sent in by the Administration to help Noynoy Aquino's family break up a strike by the farmers. The combined government and private security forces of Hacienda Luisita unleashed bursts of automatic fire into the ranks of the farmers, killing 7 - including two children and an Aglipayan priest - and wounding 121in a bloody tragedy known as the Hacienda Luisita Massacre.
Noynoy Aquino defended the "dispersal" in Congress, calling it an "illegal strike".
But don't take our word for it. Know the whole truth NOW as reported by the GMA7 investigative team here.
Dont know if its true, that one of Noynoy's staff posted the suspicious tweet that was broadcast Tuesday morning.
News said that Leah Navarro, content head of the online new media bureau of Noynoy Aquino, told Yahoo! in a phone interview that "Noy asked one of his staff to tweet".
Information says that an unnamed member of staff tweeted a personal rant but it was mistakenly broadcast on Aquino's official Twitter account at @noynoyaquino.
This message was broadcast on his Twitter account at 10:28 a.m. (Manila time):
"Won't be bringing a car to work na everyday! Stupid taxi who bumped my car! 5k down the drain!"
source: Yahoo! News Philippines
Come March 12, 2010 and Google will come to Cebu for a whole day event. The event will be happening in UP Cebu Visayas College @ the Conference Hall, Libaray Building. Google will be talking about feature developments in open source, applications like Google maps and whole lotta stuffs..
This Innovation forum was organized by Google, UPV Cebu DOST Technology Business Incubator , GTUG – Cebu, Developers Connect (DevCon), Philippine Emerging Start-Ups Open (PESO), Brain Gain Network (BGN) and the Ayala Technology Business Incubator (AyalaTBI).
The event is free. Interested participants may call 232 49995 for details.
wew! too bad to read this news.. i do hope the upcoming election would somehow (even by just a little) fix this issue.. voters wake up!
well, here's the news : Investors rank Philippines 4th most corrupt in AsiaPac
Come February 24, 2010 - Cebu's 73rd charter. ALPHA KAPPA RHO will be awarded as the most RENEWED and RE ORGANIZED organization in Cebu
CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Government will celebrate its 73rd Charter Day on February 24 by giving recognition to people who made an important contribution for the city’s progress, especially to its present booming business process outsourcing industry.
.....
“We’re just trying to demonstrate that Cebuanos must count their blessings,” mayor Tomas Osmeña said. “Then I intend to give an award to Akrho (Alpha Kappa Rho).”
Osmeña said that it has been a big turn around from where the group was before to where it is now. He lauded the group by having gone to the extent of participating in the Sinulog and showing they have discipline.
From being an extremist who were previously engaged in violence, Akrho have decided to move and integrate itself in the mainstream society, he added.
“I think they deserve, and we deserve to recognize them. These are the things we take for granted. Kining mga people na supposed to be destabilizing our community, are actually even helping us now,” Osmeña noting the group’s participation to various activities and projects of the city.
......
source: The Freeman
Read the complete story in the link. Everyone must read this.
After Luisita massacre, more killings linked to protest - Special Reports - GMANews.TV - Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs - Latest Philippine News
SOURCE: GMANEWS.TV
Here's one part:
“Hello Garci" and Luisita
The year 2005 was a crucial turning point in the farm workers’ struggle in Luisita, and once again demonstrated the transcendental link between the hacienda and Malacañang that has been manifesting since the time of President Ramon Magsaysay.
Under pressure from public outrage over the November 2004 massacre, the Arroyo administration, through the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), formed Task Force Stock Distribution on November 25, 2004 to study the causes of the workers’ strike. The Task Force was later renamed Task Force Luisita. In March 2005, teams were sent by the DAR to Luisita’s 10 barangays to investigate the SDO.
Three months later, while the investigation was ongoing, “Hello Garci" hit the country—and possibly turned the tide in Luisita.
Cory and Noynoy defend Gloria
In early June 2005, tapes of wiretapped phone conversations between President Gloria Arroyo and Comelec (Commission on Elections) official Virgilio Garcillano surfaced. This led to accusations that Arroyo cheated during the 2004 presidential elections, and a clamor rose up for her to resign.
The late former President Cory Aquino and son Noynoy initially defended Arroyo.
Even after Arroyo delivered her famous “I am sorry" speech on TV on June 27, 2005, which the public took as an admission of guilt, and which prompted Susan Roces, widow of Arroyo’s 2004 election opponent Fernando Poe, Jr., to deliver her own famous “not once, but twice" speech, Mrs. Aquino defended Arroyo, saying: “I am glad the President has broken her silence. Her admission of judgment lapses leading to improper conduct on her part is a truly welcome development. Tonight the President has made a strong beginning and I hope she will continue in the direction of better and more responsive governance. Let us pray for her and for all of us Filipinos."
Rep. Noynoy Aquino, for his part, said in a June 29, 2005 report of the Philippine Star that President Arroyo should be commended for admitting her mistake. He said her televised apology was “a good start" for her administration.
Two days later, on July 1, 2005, the Philippine Star reported, “Cory went on TV yesterday and… warned against using extra-constitutional means to oust President Arroyo." The article quoted Mrs. Aquino as saying she had gone to see Susan Roces to congratulate her on “the passion of her speech and the sincerity of her convictions", but also to stress that she would always stand by the Constitution.
Noynoy votes against playing Garci tapes
At the fifth Congressional hearing on the Garci issue on June 30, 2005, three days after Arroyo’s televised “I am sorry" speech, Rep. Noynoy Aquino voted against playing the “Hello Garci" tapes.
“Tarlac Rep. Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III disappointed his colleagues in the House when he voted on Thursday night against the playing of the audio tape, although an overwhelming majority had voted yes," reported the Philippine Daily Inquirer on July 2, 2005.
“(Aquino’s actions) are no less than political payback" because President Arroyo was the “most powerful and influential patron" of the Cojuangco-Aquinos in the Hacienda Luisita dispute, Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano said in the July 2, 2005 Inquirer report. Mariano said Arroyo knew what really happened during the Luisita massacre, and that was why Rep. Noynoy Aquino played “guardian angel" to Arroyo.
(Arroyo, whose candidacy in the 2004 presidential elections was supported by Noynoy and Kris Aquino, and who originally ascended to the presidency in 2001 after Cory Aquino and various groups led the campaign to oust President Joseph Estrada from office in EDSA 2, was suspected of aiding the Cojuangco-Aquinos during the November 2004 strike in Hacienda Luisita because of the involvement of the military in the dispersal and the Assumption of Jurisdiction that was declared by the Department of Labor.)
Unfazed by the criticism, both Noynoy and Cory Aquino continued to stand by Arroyo.
Cory and Noynoy drop Gloria
But on July 8, 2005, just a little over a week after Rep. Noynoy Aquino voted not to play the Garci tapes and Mrs. Aquino lauded Arroyo for her “I am sorry" speech before admonishing Susan Roces, the Aquinos dropped their support for Arroyo.
"I ask the President to spare our country and herself . . . and make the supreme sacrifice of resigning," Mrs. Aquino said in statement issued to the press.
The day before she gave this statement, Mrs. Aquino met with President Arroyo in Malacañang. There were rumors of a shouting match, which Mrs. Aquino denied. “Yes, we met last Thursday, but there was no shouting," she said in a July 12, 2005 report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “We just kissed each other goodbye."
From then on, she and son Noynoy actively joined the calls for Arroyo to either resign or be impeached, and to this day the scorching rift between the Aquinos and Arroyos continues to rage.
Luisita—the reason behind Aquino-Arroyo rift?
Luisita farm workers that GMANews.TV spoke to believe the Aquinos’ abrupt withdrawal of support for Arroyo had something to do with the hacienda.
The Aquinos broke ties with Arroyo in July 2005, the same month the DAR’s Task Force Luisita submitted the findings and recommendations of its investigation. This formed the basis for the government’s decision a few months later to revoke Luisita’s Stock Distribution Option (SDO) and order the distribution of the hacienda’s land to the farmers.
The farm workers believe widespread condemnation of the involvement of the military in the massacre pressured the Arroyo government into taking action to absolve itself, causing the breakdown of its ties with the Cojuangco-Aquinos. The original petition the farm workers submitted (mentioned in Part 2 of this series) lay dormant at the DAR since it was filed in December 2003, but began to move after the November 2004 massacre.
By August 2005, a special legal team was formed by the DAR to review the report submitted by Task Force Luisita in July 2005. On September 23, 2005, the special legal team submitted its terminal report recommending the revocation of Luisita’s SDO agreement.
(It was reported in part one of this series that the Stock Distribution Option was included in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law enacted during the Aquino administration. That crucial provision enabled landowners like the Cojuangcos to give farmers shares of stock instead of land.)
On October 1, 2005, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported Mrs. Aquino’s reaction to the allegations that she only wanted Arroyo to resign because of the hacienda. “To underscore the point that Cory Aquino should start behaving in a politically correct manner," Mrs. Aquino told a gathering of teachers and students at Miriam College, “the Hacienda Luisita [issue] was resurrected, a familiar refrain from the years of the Marcos dictatorship." She added, “If Luisita were the reason, then shouldn’t I have made sipsip or at the very least kept quiet?"
Cojuangcos suffering from “withdrawal syndrome"—Miriam
A few days later, Senator Miriam Santiago, Aquino’s former DAR Secretary in 1989, the year the SDO was implemented on Hacienda Luisita, reinforced the belief that the hacienda was a major motivating factor in the Aquinos’ moves to unseat President Arroyo .
“The Cojuangcos are suffering from acute withdrawal syndrome over the hacienda," Santiago said in an October 3, 2005 report of the Philippine Star.
The report said “Santiago, for her part, recalled that in 1957, Jose Cojuangco, Sr. purchased Hacienda Luisita with money partially borrowed from the Central Bank of the Philippines Monetary Board and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) on the condition that the land would be distributed to small farmers."
In 1985, Santiago said in the report, the Manila regional trial court (under President Marcos) ordered the Cojuangcos to sell the land to DAR for distribution to farmers. The Cojuangcos elevated the case to the Court of Appeals. Then Congress (under President Aquino) passed the agrarian reform law that allowed the SDO option in lieu of actual land distribution.
"For heaven’s sake, give it up and store up treasures in heaven," was Santiago’s concluding advice.
(i got this from a forwarded email. this seems to speak out aloud so might as well post it here. no offense to Noynoy fans)
NOY
In every election, the easiest choice to make is, who you would not vote for. This year, it is profoundly difficult because for me the easiest identifiable candidate whom I would not vote for, (aside from Erap of course, for who would vote for a convicted plunderer) is a leading candidate, with the widest of margin in the survey, Noynoy. He probably will be the next president and so, in my heart, I tried my best to consider and reconsider my decision, yet I became more convinced that he is my best choice on whom not to vote for. These are in my thoughts:
He is clean and honest
He really is unblemished, squeaky clean and immaculate.. . His record for nine years speaks for himself. I am reminded of a friend of mine, a cocky but very articulate and bright Solicitor General. At a certain time before he started winning his cases, his critics had a heyday criticizing the way he handled his job. They said, he had a perfect record of losing all cases. Thus, his record was clean and unblemished of victory. Like this solicitor general, Noynoy has also no record of dishonesty simply because he has no record of accomplishment at all. He was one of the prominent members of the committee of silence. I goggled his name to find out if, except for his name, there was anything he did that he should be proud of. I am sorry that I found nothing. It is time he reveals what he had done in congress for nine years, plus two years in the senate, to deserve the presidency. When he ran for Senate, he simply relied on his family name and the endorsement of his mother. Being in the Senate with no accomplishment will not hurt the nation except the wasted money paid to him as a public servant. But to be president and not knowing what to do is probably as disastrous as a corrupt president.
He comes from a good stock
A prominent columnist of the Inquirer believes that since hero’s blood runs in his veins, he is a natural hero and would do nothing to shame the good name. The prominent columnist also said that what we need is a good heart and correct values and Noynoy fits to the T. Of course heritage is a plus factor but unfortunately, this is no assurance that he too will be as upright as his parents... We do not have to look far. Look at his sister. She even gloated and flaunted her sexual indiscretions and gave press interviews of her indecent acts, in spite of the fact that at that time, her dear mother was very much alive. She fueled salacious gossip about her sexual escapades that she grabbed the headlines for days of the local papers. Not only that. She proudly proclaimed that she will have to do a wash over of sorts, on the personality of Noynoy. To be fair, since Noynoy is not the sister’s keeper, he should publicly open how he spent his several hundred million, probably billions of pesos, if cumulatively taken together, of pork barrel.. Joker and Lacson did not spend a single centavo on their pork barrel allocations. Moreover, Noynoy has not been battle tested; we do not know how he will react to temptation, simply because he has not been where the action is. He can not honestly and truthfully say that he is goodness personified and all others are evil just because he is the son of Cory. It is sheer arrogance and hypocrisy to make such claim.
He comes unprepared
Before the death of former Pres Cory, nobody considered him of presidential caliber, not even for vice president. His party mates knew of his capabilities and did not even look at his direction when they then considered their standard bearer. Noynoy himself, conscious of his own limitations, did not even dream of being one.. When his mother died and there was public mourning, all of a sudden, his party mates in spite of knowing his limited capabilities, and taking advantage of public sentiments, pushed him to be a candidate to the noble office of the presidency. This factual milieu clearly shows that his popularity is solely and purely for sentimental reasons, the death of Pres Cory. His supporters are praying to high heavens that the public sentiments on his parents would not wane and that the public would not see through the real Noynoy. Stripped of all sentimentality, there is nothing in his bio data that shows he is capable of the challenges of the highest office of the land. His biodata is uninspiring, to say the least. Aside from his public office due to his lineage, he was a sales person of Mondragon Industries, and a member of the board of directors of a security agency which the family owns. How in heavens name will he run the country?
Pres Cory’s landmark of achievement in her administration was her Land Reform program. Our own 24 hectares of irrigated rice land in Kinamayan, Davao del Norte was subjected to land reform and my Dad wanted to fight it out but I counseled him to surrender the land as I explained to him that ultimately the entire country will benefit from this pestering problem of unjust distribution of wealth. He understood the situation that each of us had to make sacrifices for the common good. This is not a unique scenario in Mindanao, then known as the Land of Promise . Little did we know that Pres Cory distributed all other people’s landholdings except her own Hacienda Luisita. She asked all of us to make sacrifices, except her own family. Her tenants protested and in the ensuing protest several tenants were mowed down. The tenants were unarmed and no casualties were suffered on the side of the soldiers trying to disperse the tenants. Of course, Noynoy is not her mother’s keeper, nor do I intend to diminish her mother’s role as our leader who toppled the dictatorship.
But when Noynoy declared his candidacy, he was asked point blank, what he planned to do with Hacienda Luisita. He had no ready answer but promised to give a stand soon. Three months passed and still no answer. Is he really prepared?
Trust
The argument goes, that since the people lost trust in the present leadership, Noynoy comes as a white knight, enjoying the trust and confidence of the people. But why should we trust Noynoy? Has he done something to deserve our trust?” Trust is earned, deserved and not bestowed nor inherited. We are now bombarded with propaganda about the goodness of Pres Cory, to the extent that Noynoy propagandists even go to the limit of declaring her a saint, in the hope that people will also view Noynoy as saint- like. The Liberal Party had even formulated its battle cry: “this (the election) is a fight between good and evil”. My goodness, don’t you agree that a man who pontificates that he represents goodness is really suspect of some loose screws somewhere.
Noynoy's handlers forgot the basic need of a responsible candidate-the need to have an advocacy. It should be pointed out that Noynoy has no advocacy at all in his public life. He won his senate seat solely upon his family name, like Loi Ejercito, Pia Cayetano, Bong Revilla and the like. This is very important to those who are very discerning. We do not know to what directions we will be going, with him as a leader. It is fearsome to have a president who is not only unprepared and unqualified, but also to be under the control of unknown advisers and heaven forbid, under the tutelage of his movie star sister. It becomes more dreadful because his popularity is seemingly sustained, thanks to the biased and twisted reporting of our media and most especially of a very large TV network who all have their interests to protect.
The above mentioned points are correct.
I am simply saying that Noynoy is “Not Worth to Vote for Him” because:
1. He has no capability to govern
2. He relies solely on the name of his parents
3. He has no advocacy
4. He has no achievement on his own
5. He is pure creation of media
Sadly, only Noynoy has all these attributes among all presidential candidates.
Dont know how much this is true, but who knows?
well anyways, heres what GMAnews.tv says:
AMITA O. LEGASPI, GMANews.TV
01/25/2010 | 06:16 PM
Senator Manuel Villar Jr. exerted his influence on the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) so that his properties would benefit from the alleged realignment of the controversial C-5 Road Extension in Parañaque and Las Piñas cities.
This is according to the report of the Senate committee of the whole seeking Villar’s censure for allegedly earning billions in the government’s C-5 road extension project.
The report, which was read by Senator Juan Ponce Enrile on Monday, said that Villar violated Section 14, Article VI of the Constitution for intervening in the project of the DPWH for his own pecuniary benefit.
“Senator Villar also became directly or indirectly interested financially in such contracts between his corporations and the DPWH, hence violating Section 14, Article VI of the Constitution," a portion of the report read.
The constitutional provision states that a senator or congressman should not be “directly or indirectly, be interested financially in any contract with, or in any franchise or special privilege granted by the Government, or any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including any government-owned or controlled corporation, or its subsidiary, during his term of office."
“He shall not intervene in any matter before any office of the Government for his pecuniary benefit or where he may be called upon to act on account of his office," it added.
The committee report was finally tackled by the Senate on Monday afternoon after days of delay.
Pimentel’s contention
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. questioned Enrile on why the report was the first item on Monday's agenda.
"I would like to specifically object to the taking up of this committee report as the first item on the agenda. We have a rule that those first filed will be discussed first. This committee report cannot supervene the resolutions and bills filed ahead of it," Pimentel said.
Enrile, head of the committee of the whole that probed Villar, said that under existing rules, a committee report is always in the order of business. "A committee report submitted takes precedence over other things."
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri sided with Enrile, saying they agreed Wednesday last week that the committee report would be the first item on the agenda after the chamber ran out of time to discuss it.
Enrile said the committee of the whole conducted 12 adjudicatory hearings and the complainant, Senator Ma Ana Consuelo Madrigal, presented 900 pieces of documentary evidence and testimonies of witnesses. He said that despite the opportunities accorded to Villar to participate in the hearings, the latter refused to do so.
The committee’s findings
The Senate chief said the committee found Villar, a presidential candidate, guilty of violating Section 12 of the 1987 Constitution and Section 3 (i) in relation to Section 9 of Repbulic Act 6713 or The Code of Conduct of Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and engaging himself in improper and unethical conduct "that adversely reflects upon the Senate."
Aside from censuring Villar, the committee wanted the senator to return to the government the P6.22 billion his company allegedly “gained" through illegal means from the construction of the C-5 road extension.
Enrile said there is substantial, credible evidence that Villar is a major stockholder of Adelfa Properties Inc, which owns Golden Haven Memorial Park and Azalea Real Estate Corporation (now Britanny Corporation), and was the proponent of Las Piñas-Parañaque Link Road project and the government's C-5 road extension project.
He said the road projects were made to pass through the properties of the corporations of Villar following a curved, instead of a straight, alignment.
Enrile said the alignment of the C-5 road extension segment of the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway Project had to be changed just to accommodate the alignments of the Las Piñas-Parañaque and C-5 extension projects.
Villar's corporations allegedly received road right-of-way compensation and still have unpaid claims. It said the properties of Villar that were acquired were given zonal valuation for different areas, thus increasing the compensation due them.
Enrile said Villar failed to avoid a conflict-of-interest situation by not divesting himself of his shareholdings or interest in the mentioned corporations. It added that Villar used his power to satisfy the interest of his corporations.
The Senate is still tackling the issue as of posting time. - with reports from Sophia Dedace/ KBK, GMANews.TV
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