Archive - Top Stories

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS A DEFENSE undersecretary who was investigating two cases of irregularities involving high-ranking defense officials was peremptorily dismissed two weeks ago. Retired Vice Admiral Ariston V. Delos Reyes, undersecretary for internal affairs in the Department of National Defense, sent his colleagues in the military an email in which he relates the unceremonious termination

VARIOUS civil society organizations staged a rally on Padre Faura in Manila yesterday to protest the Supreme Court decision allowing President Gloria Arroyo to appoint a new Chief Justice during the election campaign period. The High Tribunal had voted 9-3 to give the president the power to appoint, saying the constitutional provision barring the president

By CAROLYN ARGUILLAS MindaNews DAVAO CITY.— The “all out peace” and “primacy of the peace process” policy statements notwithstanding,  President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her nine-year presidency with peace as elusive as it was under predecessor Joseph Estrada, the man who declared “all out war” against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)  on March 21, 2000.

By DANNY SABINO GENERAL SANTOS CITY—At least three areas in Central Mindanao will be free from guns, goons and gold this May elections, as long as candidates who pledged to do so honor their promise. About a hundred officials vying for elective positions in South Cotabato, Sarangani and General Santos City signed a peace covenant

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS INDEPENDENT presidential candidate Ma. Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal said Tuesday she will leave the country if Nacionalista  Party presidential candidate Manuel “Manny” Villar wins. “If Villar wins, I will emigrate for a few years,” she told  TV host Pia Hontiveros at the start of  ANC’s Strictly Politics’ miting de avance series. She

By LUZ RIMBAN TWO presidential candidates said they were fit to run the country despite some health problems. Bagumbayan Party candidate Richard Gordon said his blood pressure was normal although he is a little overweight from overeating. Administration candidate Gilbert Teodoro said he was taking maintenance medicine for hypertension and high blood sugar, and he

REP. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo of the second district of  Pampanga gave up his re-election bid in favor of his mother, President Gloria Arroyo, who has made an unprecedented move of an outgoing president  running for a  congressional seat. But it doesn’t mean Mikey will be out of the House of Representatives. It has been

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES TWO people were wounded in an ambush in Abra early morning yesterday, one of them a political supporter of Bangued Mayor Dominic Valera. Robert Villastique, 38, and his live-in partner, Ofelia Garcia, 40, were on board a motorcycle when they were shot at in Sitio Sukib, Barangay Lubong in Bangued around 8:30

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS WHEN Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao faces Joshua Clottey of Ghana in the ring on Sunday (Saturday in the U.S.) in Texas to defend his welterweight crown, the Ampatuan clan won’t be in the audience at the  Dallas Cowboys stadium to cheer him like in his past fights. Twelve prominent members of

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS EVEN in detention, Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. of Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao continues to issue orders to kill those he suspects would expose his role in the Nov. 23 massacre, a former hitman of the Ampatuans revealed Tuesday. In an interview with reporters, “Jesse” (not his real name) said around four

Jesse (not his real name), a trusted henchman of the Ampatuans, narrates his role in the Nov. 23 massacre and subsequent coverup in the following account: I DID not have any opportunity to study. My family was poor and my father farmed land that was not his. I only reached grade one. I could neither

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS, AVIGAIL OLARTE, YVONNE CHUA and LUZ RIMBAN THE controversial $1.32-million house at 1655 Beach Park Blvd in Foster City, California is no longer listed in the name of presidential daughter-in-law Angela Arroyo Montenegro, wife of First Son and Pampanga representative Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo. Arroyo lawyers and associates quietly reported the transfer