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THE sister of whistleblower Lt. Sg. Nancy Gadian asked the Supreme Court Tuesday to issue an order to protect the military officer after she disclosed the alleged misuse of the P46 million allocation for the RP-U.S. Balikatan exercises. Nedina Gadian-Diamante cited serious threats to her sister’s life, liberty and security in filing the writ of

TROPICAL cyclones frequent the Philippines and Japan every year. Between the two countries, Japan has more people exposed to this natural hazard—22.5 million Japanese or 1.4 times more than the 16 million Filipinos. But should a cyclone of the same magnitude strike both countries, the death toll in the Philippines would be 17 times higher

THE number of jobless adults in the country rose to about 14 million in the first quarter of this year, pushing adult unemployment to a record high of 34.2 percent, according to the latest Social Weather Stations survey. Adult unemployment stood at 27.9 percent or about 11 million in the previous quarter, the research organization

LAWYER Harry Roque has been shortlisted for the London-based Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards. The awards given by the United Kingdom’s leading organization promoting freedom of expression are co-sponsored by the Economist, the Guardian, The Robert Gavron Trust and Bindman’s, a leading law firm in London. Roque, chairperson of the Center for International Law,

TWO out of three voting-age Filipinos are against amending the Constitution to allow President Gloria Arroyo to continue as the country’s chief executive after her term expires on June 30, 2010, according to the Social Weather Stations. The SWS, which conducted the survey in the first quarter of this year, said the proportion is about

By TESSA JAMANDRE    THE Philippines has filed before the United Nations a claim over Benham Rise, an extinct volcanic ridge off the east coast of Luzon, beating the May 13 deadline for states to submit claims over their extended continental shelves. The Philippine delegation deposited the claim with the UN Commission on the Limits of

THE Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Tuesday removed the Philippines and three other countries from its list of noncooperative tax havens. The OECD said the Philippines, Costa Rica, Malaysia and Uruguay have officially committed to cooperate in the fight against tax abuse and to propose legislation this year to remove the impediments to

FILIPINOS remain satisfied with the performance of Vice President Noli de Castro, are neutral toward Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Chief Justice Reynato Puno, but are dissatisfied with Speaker Propsero Nograles, according to the latest Social Weather Stations survey. Nograles’s net satisfaction rating worsened from to–22 from–17 in the previous quarter, the lowest rating

THE Philiippines is one of the four countries in the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s list of noncooperative tax havens, news reports from Paris today said. Reports said after G20 summit in London earlier Thursday, the OECD agreed to name and shame Costa Rica, Malaysia, the Philippines and Uruguay for having “not committed to

INTERNATIONAL law and constitutional experts who asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to nullify the recently signed Philippine baseline law went back to the High Court today to prevent government officials from depositing it with the United Nations next week. The petitioners said they learned that a delegation of officials from offices the Department of

THE director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is following up the Arroyo government on its investigations of the 2006 killings of six Filipino journalists. In a letter received on March 25 by the Philippine permanent delegation to Unesco in Paris, Unesco assistant director general for communication and information Abdul Waheed

By TESSA JAMANDREINTERNATIONAL law and constitutional law experts are set to ask the Supreme Court on Wednesday to nullify the three-week-old Archipelagic Baselines Law, barely a month before the May 13 deadline for the Philippine government to submit to the United Nations its claim over its extended continental shelf under the UN Convention on the

A RESOLUTION Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte is poised to file seeking to convene Congress into a constituent assembly to amend the Constitution without the Senate and the House of Representatives voting separately pledges that elections would be held next year and the terms of President Gloria Arroyo and Vice President Noli de Castro would

BUSINESS and economic journalist Leticia “Jane” Subang-delos Reyes passed away on March 29. She was 50. She is survived by husband Joy, Malaya editor-in-chief; children Antonio Isabelo, Aida Corazon and Jose Socrates;  parents Dominador and Peregrina; and siblings Ma. Beth and Rebecca and Guy Bourret. Wake will be the University of the Philippines Chapel, Diliman,

VICE President Noli De Castro and senators Manny Villar, Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero are the people’s top recommended successors to President Gloria Arroyo in 2010, according to the latest Social Weather Stations survey. Asked who they think are good leaders who should succeed Arroyo when her term expires next year, 27 percent of the

MARINE Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino is not going on leave from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. Citing “operational commitments,” PDEA Director General Dionio Santiago denied Friday Marcelino’s request for leave of absence filed earlier in the week. Marcelino, head of PDEA’s Special Enforcement Service, sought permission to go on leave after President Gloria Arroyo ordered him

AS presidential son and Pampanga representative Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo continues to push for charter change, Pulse Asia came out with its latest survey results showing that four out of 10 Filipinos are not in favor of amending the Constitution now.   The survey conducted Feb. 2 to 15 with 1,200 respondents showed a big plurality

A SOUTHEAST Asian journalists’ mission has called on the Arroyo government to intensify efforts to prosecute the killers of journalists and arrest the suspected masterminds in the 2005 killing of Mindanao journalist Marlene Garcia Esperat. “We are alarmed by the continuing killing of media workers in the Philippines and the inadequate measures the government is

JOURNALISTS who were arrested, “processed” and detained during the Nov. 29, 2007 Manila Peninsula standoff filed Tuesday their brief before the Court of Appeals as they pursued their appeal on the dismissal by a Makati City regional trial court of their P10 million class action suit against government officials. The journalists said Judge Reynaldo Laigo committed

MARINE Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino, on detail with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, challenged Monday all government officials who are under investigation in connection with the “Alabang Boys” controversy to go on leave as a matter of delicadeza as he himself took a leave of absence following President Gloria Arroyo’s order to have him investigated for

PRESIDENTIAL son and Pampanga congressman Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo confirmed the meeting with former Speaker Jose de Venecia during which they discussed charter change, the Philippine Star reported Friday. Star sought Arroyo’s reaction to a VERA Files report that he and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez sought in late February to enlist De Venecia of Pangasinan’s

PRESIDENT Gloria Arroyo has ordered the filing of bribery charges against State Prosecutor John Resado, who is accused of having been bribed by the “Alabang Boys” to get them off the hook following their arrest by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency last September for drug pushing. Resado wrote the Dec. 2 resolution dismissing

FORMER police Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao has implicated former president Joseph Estrada and Sen. Panfilo Lacson in the November 2000 kidnap-murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported Friday. The Inquirer, quoting from Mancao’s Feb. 14, 2009 affidavit executed in Florida, also reported that Lacson ordered Mancao

By TESSA JAMANDRE THE Philippines will soon initiate border talks with its neighbors and finally confront territorial issues it has long avoided, the most contentious being the dispute with Malaysia over Sabah, now that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed the Philippine Archipelagic Baseline Law. The Baseline Law defines the limits of Philippine territory. It is

DETAINED Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Monday called the approval of the final version of the Senate bill on the country’s baseline a “sell-out.” The Senate approved the bicameral conference committee report classifying Scarborough Shoal and the Kalayaan Island Groups as a “regime of islands.” In a statement, Trillanes attributed the exclusion of Scarborough Shoal

MANY governments are still in denial about people being trafficked and, worse, neglect to report or prosecute cases of modern slavery, the United Nations on Drugs and Crime said. “Many criminal justice systems belittle the seriousness of this crime,” said UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa at the Feb. 12 worldwide launching the Global Report

KIDNAPPINGS in the country have returned to an all-time high, averaging one incident every other day, an anti-crime NGO said Tuesday. The Citizens Action Against Crime recorded a dozen kidnap-for-ransom cases from Jan. 8 to Feb. 5, four of which occurred in Metro Manila and eight in Mindanao.  The figure excludes the kidnapping on Feb.

MALACANANG got its way in drawing the country’s archepelagic baseline after all. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives agreed in Monday’s bicameral conference to adopt the Palace position to treat the disputed Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) and the Scarborough Shoal as “regimes of islands of the Republic of the Philippines” instead of enclosing

THE  Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility and the National Union of Journalists have called on the Senate committee on economic affairs to withdraw its invitation to Newsbreak senior writer Aries Rufo to testify in its hearings on the World Bank ban on construction firms that have engaged in corrupt practices. The two media organizations

By ELLEN TORDESILLASPRESIDENT Arroyo is making a quick visit to the United States today, catching by surprise even Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo. Based on Arroyo’s original schedule, she should have left Milan, Italy last night for Saudi Arabia. She was expected in Bahrain today for an official visit. A naughty mind in the Palace