News monitors

1. Estrada calls on AFP to heed people’s call for change -GMATV

Pardoned former president Joseph Estrada on Saturday called on the military to joins hands with the people in urging President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to step down.

2. Ito pampasira ng eksena:

Estrada willing to lead the country again, if Arroyo is ousted

3. Ito naman gusto maki-ride on dahil nahalata niyang matutumba na:

In front of Gloria Arroyo, former president Fidel Ramos
said “greed, apathy and corruption
we brought down during those days are once again making themselves felt,”

3. Esperon says military won’t be pushed to intervene in another people powers - ABS-CBN news online

Bonfire of institutions


By Randy David

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Because it is easier to imagine it, corruption has taken center stage in the public’s appreciation of the current national crisis. Against the backdrop of mass poverty, the quantities are truly mind-boggling: $130 million in kickbacks for a government project worth $329 million, a bribe offer of P200 million for a single signature, cash gifts of half a million pesos each for politicians who attend a breakfast or lunch meeting with a President facing impeachment, half a million pesos in pocket money for a government functionary who flies to Hong Kong in order to evade a Senate inquiry, and many more. But it would be a mistake to think this is just about corruption. This is, more importantly, about the long-term damage to a nation’s social institutions.
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Arroyo: I learned about ZTE mess on eve of signing deal

From GMA-TV News

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Saturday said she learned that something was wrong about the Philippine government’s $329.48-million National Broadband Network (NBN) project with China’s Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment (ZTE) Corp the night before she witnessed the signing of the NBN-ZTE contract.

Mrs Arroyo told radio dzRH that the day before she witnessed the signing of the NBN-ZTE contract on April 21, 2007 in Boao, China, she was advised about the supposed irregularities in the project.

However, she said she could not readily terminate the deal that would be funded through a loan from the Chinese government.
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More soldiers from countryside to capital

by Victor Reyes

The Armed Forces has deployed additional troops to Metro Manila to pre-empt possible attempts to grab power during protest rallies scheduled for Monday.

A composite battalion arrived at the headquarters of the AFP National Capital Region Command (NCRcom) in Camp Aguinaldo Wednesday from nearby provinces, Maj. Gen. Fernando Mesa, NCRcom chief, said yesterday.
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Opportunity for Heroism

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No arraignment took place yesterday in the court martial hearing of the 28 officers accused of withdrawing support from Gloria Arroyo two years ago.

The court, though, denied the motion of Atty. Homobono Adaza for a suspension of the hearings for 45 days as a cooling off period. He said there’s no point “for both parties to be shouting at each other now,” when considering the current political situation, the case might be “moot and academic” in a few weeks time.

The court also didn’t agree with the defense that they have to wait for five days after service of the corrected amended charge sheet which was yesterday before they can go to arraignment.The five- day wait, the court said, applies only to the original charge sheet.
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