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ON YOUR April 8th issue, the article titled “Ethical Lapses Mark Ok Bio Fuels Law” allegedly written by Jessica Hermosa and Johanna Sisante, my name was mentioned as one who own agricultural lands, which can or will provide feedstock for bio fuel production. These writers, including “Vera files,” ought to undertake thorough study or investigation

I HAVE never denied that I am a scion from a sugar producing family. That my great-grandfather was planting sugarcane in the fields of Kabankalan, Negros almost 90 years ago. But I abhor the maliciousness of the VERA report by suggesting that my family today would greatly benefit from the Biofuels Law. How could we

THE VERA Files story, “Ethical lapses mark passage of biofuels law” written by Jessica Hermosa and Johanna Sisante, was the result of six months’ research that included gathering and reading voluminous documents and interviewing dozens of sources. The story is part of an abridged version of a thesis submitted to the University of the Philippines

A PEASANT federation based in Bacolod City on Tuesday dared presidential brother-in-law and Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo to make good his word and place the 157-hectare family-owned Hacienda Bacan in Isabela, Negros Occidental under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. In a press statement, Task Force Mapalad also said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should send

PRESIDENTIAL brother-in-law Rep. Jose Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo indicated yesterday that the sugar plantation the Arroyo family owns in Negros Occidental would still be covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program or CARP. “There is no truth to the allegation that the Biofuels Act will protect sugar land from CARP. Land conversion has no connection to

VERA Files maintains that its story, “Iggy to use biofuels law to evade CARP,” written by Jessica Hermosa and Johanna Sisante, is factual and accurate. The Biofuels Act of 2006 which Rep. Jose Ignacio Arroyo co-authored effectively creates a demand for ethanol. The construction of an ethanol plant on Hacienda Bacan was in line with

MALACANANG has asked the House of Representatives to reconsider a bill which seeks to enclose the Kalayaan Island Group (KIB) and Scarborough Shoal within the archipelagic baseline.  

SEN. Antonio Trillanes IV has warned the government of the likelihood of more skirmishes between the Philippine Navy and the naval forces of other countries claiming the Spratlys in view of the increasing global demand for oil and the growing need to explore oil reserves in the area.

REP. Antonio Cuenco has said that sending the proposed baseline law back to the House committee on foreign affairs after it has passed second reading would violate the rules of the chamber.

NEGLECT by President Gloria Arroyo and squabbles over turf and money have derailed government efforts to establish the country's new archipelagic baseline, and may jeopardize the Philippines' claim over resource-rich Spratlys that fall within its extended continental shelf.

SIX islands occupied by the Philippines in the disputed Spratly Islands Groups are covered by two controversial joint seismic monitoring agreements among the Philippines, China and Vietnam that have come under fire for purportedly “sacrificing” Philippine interests in exchange for huge loans from Beijing.