Archive - Top Stories

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue modified on Monday its Oct. 7 ruling to include “all subsequent holders” of the PEACe Bonds, in addition to the original buyer, the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (Code-NGO), as liable to pay the 20 percent final withholding tax on the bonds that mature Tuesday.

WHILE countless Filipinos still believe in the American dream, the big names in local entrepreneurship have proven that dreams can come true even here at home.

By LUZ RIMBAN and YVONNE T. CHUA
THE BUREAU of Internal Revenue has found the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (Code-NGO) liable to pay close to P5 billion in taxes for its purchase of the so-called PEACe Bonds 10 years ago.

By LALA ORDENES Photos by Mario Ignacio THEY didn’t have the tsunami walk of Miss Universe third runner-up Shamcey Supsup.Their legs were not as long, their bodies not as lean.

ARE things better now for local governments 20 years after the Local Government Code, or Republic Act 7160, was signed into law on October 10, 1991?

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
ARISTON Dawang Jr does not take the strings of floods brought about by typhoons sitting down.

By MEI MAGSINO
CHARITY Diño, a former school teacher in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, has been languishing at the Batangas Provincial Jail for almost two years now.

By BOBBY Q. LABALAN
LEGASPI City- Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes challenged government officials who advocate mining to live in areas ravaged by mining so they would have a taste of the sufferings of the poor.

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
IT was a night away from the” immoral” taunts, discrimination and homophobia that has haunted every gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender at least once.

FORMER First Son and incumbent party-list congressman Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo and his wife Angela Montenegro will be charged with tax evasion, after the Department of Justice found probable cause to sue them.

LEADERS of indigenous communities in Bukidnon have refused to engage in any discussion over the planned construction of the Pulangui V Hydroelectric Project (HEP), until dam proponents submit a cultural impact assessment that will detail the damage the dam will cause the tribes.

By JOSEPH HOLANDES UBALDE
There was a hint of embarrassment in Mark Gilbore’s voice as he pointed to the infamous red light district of Angeles City.It was almost dusk when girls of various shapes and sizes began to pour out to the streets.

A WHISTLEBLOWER from Lagayan town in Abra has filed before the Ombudsman a P133-million plunder case against former mayor and congresswoman Cecilia Seares-Luna and her eldest son Jendricks.

By LUZ RIMBAN
TWO prominent members of a powerful political family in Abra are facing plunder charges for allegedly embezzling more than P130 million in municipal funds, in what a whistleblower has called “big-time corruption in a small town.” Named in a complaint-affidavit are former Abra congresswoman Cecilia Seares-Luna and her eldest son Jendricks

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS
THE displaced director of the Commission on Elections’ Law Department has accused Chairman Sixto S. Brillantes Jr. of unethical behavior for allegedly requesting him to help absolve two Comelec officials ordered suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman for approving the P690 million contract to purchase ballot secrecy folders for the 2010 elections.

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS
FORMER Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafy contributed P5 million to the campaign of former President Ramos in 1992, according to US Embassy report exposed by Wikileaks. The Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines (Batas Pambansa 881) prohibits accepting contribution from foreigners.

By TESS BACALLA
THE sun has been up at least two hours. Yet hardly anyone in the remote village of Kanapawan, Camarines Norte---an eight-hour bus drive from Manila---seems poised for farm work. This is unusual for a community used to rising at the crack of dawn.

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS
A COMMISSION on Elections executive who investigated the overpriced P690-million ballot secrecy folder contract bought for the May 2010 elections with OTC paper supply has been put on “floating” status.

By NESTOR B. RAMIREZ
TAGBILARAN CITY—It was Gerry Cuñado’s third time to take the witness stand. But the grief that overcame him in court the morning of July 15 was as raw as what he first felt when his wife, Liezelda, a women’s rights advocate, was killed in their home in Candijay town the night of July 3, 2006. She was 30 at the time.

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
IN olden times, churches were considered sanctuaries where even criminals could seek refuge from harm and arrest. That’s long in the past. In fact, churches may be among the worst places to commit a crime, especially when a wedding is taking place. On Dec. 16 five years ago, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in New Manila, Quezon City became the site of blood spill and murder.

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS and YVONNE T. CHUA
THE military fact-finding board created to investigate allegations of the soldiers’ involvement in the 2004 election cheating did not pursue information given by two Marine officers of the money distributed by a general during and after elections that did not need liquidation.

By JOSEPH HOLANDES UBALDE
INSTEAD of determining who truly owned the overpriced helicopters sold to the Philippine National Police in 2009, the Senate veered to digging up the past attempts of Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Tuason Jr. to cover up for his brother former First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo.

By ARMAND GALANG
LAUR, Nueva Ecija – Lolita Guevarra is consumed by envy over what she says is the preferential treatment wealthy crime victims receive from law enforcers, compared to the neglect the poor suffer.

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS and YVONNE T. CHUA
RETIRED Vice Admiral Mateo M. Mayuga once said he would bring the results of his factfinding mission on the purported involvement of the military in the cheating in the 2004 presidential elections that enabled Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to stay in power to his grave. But Mayuga isn’t getting his way. Recently, President Benigno S. Aquino III declassified his “secret” report, popularly known as the Mayuga Report, and the 15-page executive summary has made its way to the news media.

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS
THE resignation of Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim has left unresolved the problem with a politically well-connected tourism official he has brought to the attention of President Aquino. Highly reliable sources said Lim has informed President Benigno S. Aquino III about alleged questionable activities of Mark Lapid, chief operating officer of Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).

By JOSEPH HOLANDES UBALDE
FAKE or highly questionable ballots and certificates of canvass were some of the strongest pieces of evidence that showed newly proclaimed Senator, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, was nearly robbed of his seat in the Senate.

By JOSEPH HOLANDES UBALDE
EVEN before the inspection team approved the purchase of three overpriced helicopters that allegedly belonged to former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, top officials of the Philippine National Police have already recommended the purchase.

By CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS,Mindanews
GENERAL SANTOS CITY - Now the silence can be explained. President Benigno Simeon Aquino III and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim on Thursday evening shook hands and talked peace for two hours in a hotel in Japan with their respective panel chairs taking down notes, the President’s Cabinet members and the MILF’s peace panel and Central Committee members as well as the Malaysian facilitator waiting outside the meeting room.

By JOSEPH HOLANDES UBALDE
Interaksyon.com
THE owner of the Manila Aerospace Products Trading Corp., which sold two pre-owned helicopters refurbished to seem brand new to the Philippine National Police, claimed on Tuesday that Jose Miguel Arroyo, husband of the former president, ordered the irregular transaction.

By MELVIN GASCON
SOLANO, Nueva Vizcaya—The Philippine National Police has released a second artist’s sketch of the possible gunman in the year-old assassination of a human rights lawyer and Liberal Party campaign manager here.