Archive for March 13th, 2007
SC tosses LP squabble to Comelec
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has tossed back to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) the task of deciding on the validity of an amendment to the Liberal Party (LP) constitution that could decide which of the party’s two feuding factions should be recognized.
In a one-page decision, the high tribunal, voting 7-6, gave the Comelec five days upon receipt of the ruling to decide on whether or not the amendment, which was introduced by the faction of Senator Franklin Drilon, is valid.
“The Supreme Court has remanded the case to the Comelec,” court spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said in a phone interview.
The Drilon wing’s amendment calls for party elections after the May polls. This in effect would invalidate the election staged by another faction, led by Manila Mayor Jose Atienza, in late 2005.
The split in the LP was triggered by allegations in mid-2005 that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had cheated her way to victory in the 2004 presidential elections.
The Drilon wing of the party called for Arroyo to resign while the Atienza wing stood by the President.
Reacting to the Supreme Court decision, Senate Majority Leader and LP chairman Francis Pangilinan called on the Comelec to abide by the ruling and receive evidence so it can decide on the validity of the amendment to the party constitution.
“We call on the Comelec to resolve with finality the crisis of the Liberal Party and to adhere to the five-day deadline by the Supreme Court,” Pangilinan said, admitting that the issue has divided the party “for too long.”
“Now that the high court has reached this point all the members of LP hopes to be guided accordingly, especially with the filing of candidacy for local government just around the corner,” said the senator who is seeking reelection in May.
Pangilinan, who is identified with the faction of Drilon, noted the importance given by the Supreme Court to political parties and the stability they bring to the country’s political life.
“It has once again acted with dispatch as it has during the 2004 elections involving the LDP [Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino or Struggle of Democratic Filipinos],” he said.
Administration senatorial candidate Michael Defensor, who belongs to the Atienza bloc, also welcomed the court’s decision.
“It’s good. This is the Solomonic way of the Supreme Court,” Defensor said, adding the ruling could pave the way for another election in one of the country’s oldest political parties.
View article as posted on INQUIRER.net
Military claims Alston witness killed in ‘communist purge’
MANILA, Philippines — The military has again blamed a supposed communist rebel purge for the killing of a Bayan Muna (People First) member in Misamis Oriental province over the weekend.
“This is part of their [communists’] purging. Who else is to gain from all of this?” military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro said Tuesday.
“Based on our initial inquiry, no member of the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] is involved in the said killing as maliciously claimed by some groups,” Bacarro said.
The victim, Siche Bustamante-Gandinao, 56, was gunned down in front of her husband and daughter while they were walking along a village road in Salay town at 3 p.m. Saturday. The lone assailant, who wore a mask, escaped on foot.
Ironically, Gandinao appeared as a witness before United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Philip Alston to testify on the February 8 murder of her father-in-law, Dalmacio “Tatay Daki” Gadinao, then the provincial Bayan Muna chairman.
Alston later said his findings indicated that most of the killings could be “convincingly attributed” to the military.
She was the third victim of extrajudicial executions in Mindanao this year and the 837th victim of extrajudicial killings since 2001, the year President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed office, according to the count by the human rights group Karapatan.
But Bacarro said before Gandinao’s murder, she was “cooperating” with government forces. He refused to elaborate.
To prove his purge theory, Bacarro said at around 8 p.m. Sunday, a former New People’s Army (NPA) guerilla, Rolando Quinita, was wounded after his former comrades shot him in Sta. Cruz village, Rosario town, Agusan del Sur province.
He added another former rebel survived a similar attack in the same town.
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Dirty work begins for Metro troops
MANILA, Philippines — The real dirty work began on Tuesday for soldiers deployed in Metro Manila as they helped repair a daycare center in Manila’s depressed district of Tondo and prepared to construct public toilets, their troops commander said.
“The repair of the daycare center is ongoing. Other projects will follow in the coming days such as the construction of public toilets and another day care center in Parola [compound in Tondo],” said Colonel Ricardo Visaya, commander of the Philippine Army’s Civil-Military Operations (CMO) battalion.
Visaya said the public toilets would be set up at the Parola compound in Tondo and Sta. Mesa district in Manila and Payatas and Commonwealth villages in Quezon City.
He said medical and dental missions would start on March 17 in Commonwealth village.
Leftwing groups have accused deployed soldiers in Metro Manila of campaigning against their reelection bid in the May party list elections but an internal investigation at the Armed Forces National Capital Region Command (NCRCom) has cleared troops of the electioneering charges.
“We did not see any indication, based on witnesses accounts, that our troops were engaged in electioneering activities,” said NCRCom chief Major General Ben Mohammad Dolorfino.
On Saturday, troops gave free circumcision and haircuts to residents in Manila’s Pandacan district.
Since November 2006, the military has deployed some 260 soldiers in 10 slum areas in the capital as part of its “left-hand” approach in combating communist insurgency through dialogues and humanitarian projects.
The NCRCom has also started holding dialogues with Muslim communities under the “Bridging Leadership,” program which Dolorfino said was a sister project of the metro deployment.
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5 NPA rebels hurt, 1 captured in Catanduanes clash
MANILA, Philippines — Five suspected communist guerillas were wounded while another was captured following a firefight with government security forces in Catanduanes province, a Philippine Army spokesman said Tuesday.
The gun battle erupted at around 11:30 a.m. Monday when troops from the 65th Infantry Battalion encountered around 20 New People’s Army
(NPA) fighters in sitio (sub-village) San Isidro, Mayngaway village, San Andres town, said Major Ernesto Torres Jr.
The identity of the captured NPA amazon or female fighter was not immediately available. There were no reported casualties among the
Army troops, Torres said in a text message.
Troops recovered two M16 rifles, a carbine rifle, and personal effects from the rebels as they retreated, the spokesman said.
At around 5:30 a.m. Monday troops from the 36th Infantry Battalion seized a suspected NPA arms cache in sitio Greenfield, Sta. Juana village, Surigao del Sur province, Torres said in a separate statement.
The arms cache includes a grenade, four M60 machine gun barrels, an ammunition clip for .30-caliber rifle and ammunition for .30-caliber and AK-47 rifles, M79, and M203 grenade launchers.
Security forces have set a 2010 deadline to finish off the NPA, the 7,100-strong armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) that has been waging war against the government for more than three decades.
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