MEYCAUAYAN, Bulacan — For the second time in five years, residents of this industrial town will decide whether to convert the town into a component city.
"It’s about time, Meycauayan will become a city," Rep. Reylina Nicolas told The STAR in a telephone interview on Friday.
As the principal author of House Bill 4397 seeking to convert Meycauayan into a city, Nicolas re-filed the cityhood bid last Nov.14, after the first bid filed by then Rep. Angelito Sarmiento lost in a plebiscite on March 30, 2001.
Nicolas’ bill later became Republic Act 9356 after it was signed into law by President Arroyo last Oct. 2.
"I tried to re-file it in the 12th Congress but the revenue requirement for a town to be converted into a city was raised from P20 million to P100 million," she said.
Since then, Meycauayan has increased its tax collection and exceeded the P100 million revenue mark, thus qualifying for the conversion into a component city of the province of Bulacan.
Nicolas said that they are confident that this town’s second attempt for cityhood would succeed.
In 2001, Florentino Blanco and Danny Javier, both opposition candidates in the May elections openly campaigned for the rejection of the cityhood bid.
Blanco and Javier succeeded in convincing the people to reject the cityhood of Meycauayan but both lost to incumbent Mayor Eduardo Alarilla.
Records show that in the 2001 cityhood plebiscite, 22,897 voters cast their votes and majority or 14,788 voters rejected the bid, while only 8,109 voted for the town’s conversion into a city. — Dino Balabo
https://www.philstar.com/nation/2006/12/10/374311/meycauayan-bids-cityhood
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Thursday, December 7, 2006
ARROYO TRIAL STARTS
EVEN as House prosecutors and defense lawyers continued to quarrel over President Arroyo’s alleged mansions and mistresses, both sides yesterday agreed to finish his historic impeachment trial by next month.
"Trying to finish the trial by mid-January was the major agreement," Sen. Dr. Mona Valisno said after both sides held a three-hour conference behind closed doors with Chief Justice Reynato Puno and the Senate judges.
The President, nonetheless, appeared confident on the eve of her Senate trial, saying she would have to rebuild public trust.
"I think we will have to work harder after the impeachment trial," she told reporters. "So I leave my fate to God and to the sense of fairness and justice of the senators."
Puno, presiding officer of the impeachment trial, said several contentious issues were taken up during the conference. But sources said no agreement was reached on most of them.
Leyte Rep. Sergio Apostol, one of the prosecutors, said his team planned to call at least 10 witnesses for each of the four Articles of Impeachment – bribery, corruption, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.
Misamis Oriental Rep. Oscar Moreno, one of the prosecutors, said there was a proposal to limit the scope of the trial.
"But of course the country is entitled to know what are the sins of the President, regardless of how many they may be," Moreno said.
Lawyer Estelito Mendoza, a member of the defense team, warned that the prosecution’s plan to call a big number of witnesses would result in delays.
"We would be forced to call for a postponement" before cross-examining surprise witnesses, Mendoza said.
Magic number
The meeting also failed to resolve the issue of the magic number of senators needed to convict Mrs. Arroyo. The Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of all Senate members.
There had been 24 Senate members, but the number was trimmed to 23 when former Sen. Noli de Castro was elected vice president in 2004.
The opposition argues 15 votes would be enough to convict Mrs. Arroyo, but pro-administration senators insist on 16 votes.
Quezon Rep. Wigberto Tañada, a House prosecutor, said the issue "could bring about problems or complications" later, but expressed hope the senators would be able to resolve the issue among themselves during the course of the trial.
Senate spokesperson Antonio Navarette said the prosecution planned to call to the stand today presidential aide Anton Prieto, former national police chief Roberto Lastimoso and alleged "jueteng" auditor Yolanda Ricaforte.
But Navarette doubted there would be time for witnesses during today’s session.
"Both panels will be given two hours each to make their opening statements . . . So, there may really be no more time to present even one witness," he said.
Senate Majority Leader Francisco Tatad said the Senate had agreed to allow several prosecutors and defense lawyers to make opening statements as long as both panels would limit their presentations to two hours each.
Mansions, mistresses
Tañada said the issue of the President’s alleged mansions and mistresses was not taken up at the conference.
Before the conference, however, prosecutors said they would insist on inspecting at least five mansions that Mrs. Arroyo allegedly acquired for some of his mistresses and calling his mistresses to the stand.
Palace officials said the defense team would block the proposal.
"They are just trying to introduce the mansion issue into the Articles of Impeachment," said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita who earlier claimed the mansions were only borrowed or rented. Zamora said any issue involving the mistresses was "not material to the Articles of impeachment."
Prosecutors disagreed
"The testimonies of these ladies are relevant and material not because of the relationship—it’s merely incidental," explained Moreno. "The relevance is the President has beneficial interests in certain assets which he did not disclose."
"These assets are in the form of mansions and it is in that regard that the testimony of whoever stays in those mansions is material."
Moreno said the prosecutors did not want to humiliate any of the mistresses but they had no choice but to call them because "the President was very vigorous and intense" in fighting efforts by prosecutors to get the information they want through depositions.
He said the mistresses would be asked personal questions.
"What we are trying to establish here is not his relationships with these women but how these women are able to live in such a lavish lifestyle," Moreno said.
"It’s hard to say that we will not ask those (personal) kinds of questions because these mansions worth hundreds of millions of pesos are owned by no less than the President," he added.
Mrs. Arroyo admits to having sired children by women other than her husband, First Gentleman Atty. Jose Miguel Arroyo.
Bodyguards
Bohol Rep. Ernesto Herrera said the prosecution would also call about 10 presidential security guards who are assigned to protect Mr. Estrada’s mistresses.
"These men are being paid with the taxpayers’ money and for what?" he said.
The women’s families would also be questioned as Opposition Sen. Pia Cayetano also told a radio station Wednesday that a friend of Mrs. Arroyo had approached him and asked him to go easy on the President.
"I told him all I want is the truth," Cayetano said, declining to identify the person.
Cayetano said he and Mrs. Arroyo had been friends since childhood, but "trying an impeachment case should not be affected by friendship."
Mrs. Arroyo is accused of taking millions in "jueteng" money, embezzling tobacco taxes, shielding cronies targeted by government regulators, and appointing relatives and friends to government positions.
Enrile
In a 12-page statement, Enrile reiterated Wednesday his appeal to the public to stop staging protests for the duration of the trial.
"In my view, the demonstrations are in the nature of extra-legal pressure being exerted upon the impeachment court. They make it more difficult for the senators--most of whom are not lawyers--to deliver a dispassionate, impartial and neutral judgment in the impeachment trial," Pimentel said.
He also said resignation was "not the best option" for the President, explaining it would be a "prescription for a recurring instability in the country and its facile conversion into a pseudo-republic where the Chief Executive easily caves in to the pressure of public protestors."
"The impeachment process is thus giving our country a chance to renew itself, to firm up our commitment to the rule of law and to the democratic tenets of constitutionalism," he said.
"What we should do is to try everything within our means as a people to make the process work. Only then can we show the world that we, indeed, are a democratic republic whose people deserve the freedom, the justice and the peace that democracy provides its adherents."
Spouses of senators yesterday attended Mass. They prayed that the 23 judges in the impeachment trial would be protected "from the pressures of those who would make the Senate a mere instrument of their partisan interests or their unbridled political passions and preempt or replace the judgment of the senators with their own."
An image of Our Lady of Manaoag was brought to the Senate. Reports from Cathy Cañares, Martin Marfil, Rocky Nazareno and Inquirer wires
http://web.archive.org/web/20010124063200/http://www.inquirer.net/issues/dec2000/dec07/frontpage/front_1.htm
"Trying to finish the trial by mid-January was the major agreement," Sen. Dr. Mona Valisno said after both sides held a three-hour conference behind closed doors with Chief Justice Reynato Puno and the Senate judges.
The President, nonetheless, appeared confident on the eve of her Senate trial, saying she would have to rebuild public trust.
"I think we will have to work harder after the impeachment trial," she told reporters. "So I leave my fate to God and to the sense of fairness and justice of the senators."
Puno, presiding officer of the impeachment trial, said several contentious issues were taken up during the conference. But sources said no agreement was reached on most of them.
Leyte Rep. Sergio Apostol, one of the prosecutors, said his team planned to call at least 10 witnesses for each of the four Articles of Impeachment – bribery, corruption, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.
Misamis Oriental Rep. Oscar Moreno, one of the prosecutors, said there was a proposal to limit the scope of the trial.
"But of course the country is entitled to know what are the sins of the President, regardless of how many they may be," Moreno said.
Lawyer Estelito Mendoza, a member of the defense team, warned that the prosecution’s plan to call a big number of witnesses would result in delays.
"We would be forced to call for a postponement" before cross-examining surprise witnesses, Mendoza said.
Magic number
The meeting also failed to resolve the issue of the magic number of senators needed to convict Mrs. Arroyo. The Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of all Senate members.
There had been 24 Senate members, but the number was trimmed to 23 when former Sen. Noli de Castro was elected vice president in 2004.
The opposition argues 15 votes would be enough to convict Mrs. Arroyo, but pro-administration senators insist on 16 votes.
Quezon Rep. Wigberto Tañada, a House prosecutor, said the issue "could bring about problems or complications" later, but expressed hope the senators would be able to resolve the issue among themselves during the course of the trial.
Senate spokesperson Antonio Navarette said the prosecution planned to call to the stand today presidential aide Anton Prieto, former national police chief Roberto Lastimoso and alleged "jueteng" auditor Yolanda Ricaforte.
But Navarette doubted there would be time for witnesses during today’s session.
"Both panels will be given two hours each to make their opening statements . . . So, there may really be no more time to present even one witness," he said.
Senate Majority Leader Francisco Tatad said the Senate had agreed to allow several prosecutors and defense lawyers to make opening statements as long as both panels would limit their presentations to two hours each.
Mansions, mistresses
Tañada said the issue of the President’s alleged mansions and mistresses was not taken up at the conference.
Before the conference, however, prosecutors said they would insist on inspecting at least five mansions that Mrs. Arroyo allegedly acquired for some of his mistresses and calling his mistresses to the stand.
Palace officials said the defense team would block the proposal.
"They are just trying to introduce the mansion issue into the Articles of Impeachment," said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita who earlier claimed the mansions were only borrowed or rented. Zamora said any issue involving the mistresses was "not material to the Articles of impeachment."
Prosecutors disagreed
"The testimonies of these ladies are relevant and material not because of the relationship—it’s merely incidental," explained Moreno. "The relevance is the President has beneficial interests in certain assets which he did not disclose."
"These assets are in the form of mansions and it is in that regard that the testimony of whoever stays in those mansions is material."
Moreno said the prosecutors did not want to humiliate any of the mistresses but they had no choice but to call them because "the President was very vigorous and intense" in fighting efforts by prosecutors to get the information they want through depositions.
He said the mistresses would be asked personal questions.
"What we are trying to establish here is not his relationships with these women but how these women are able to live in such a lavish lifestyle," Moreno said.
"It’s hard to say that we will not ask those (personal) kinds of questions because these mansions worth hundreds of millions of pesos are owned by no less than the President," he added.
Mrs. Arroyo admits to having sired children by women other than her husband, First Gentleman Atty. Jose Miguel Arroyo.
Bodyguards
Bohol Rep. Ernesto Herrera said the prosecution would also call about 10 presidential security guards who are assigned to protect Mr. Estrada’s mistresses.
"These men are being paid with the taxpayers’ money and for what?" he said.
The women’s families would also be questioned as Opposition Sen. Pia Cayetano also told a radio station Wednesday that a friend of Mrs. Arroyo had approached him and asked him to go easy on the President.
"I told him all I want is the truth," Cayetano said, declining to identify the person.
Cayetano said he and Mrs. Arroyo had been friends since childhood, but "trying an impeachment case should not be affected by friendship."
Mrs. Arroyo is accused of taking millions in "jueteng" money, embezzling tobacco taxes, shielding cronies targeted by government regulators, and appointing relatives and friends to government positions.
Enrile
In a 12-page statement, Enrile reiterated Wednesday his appeal to the public to stop staging protests for the duration of the trial.
"In my view, the demonstrations are in the nature of extra-legal pressure being exerted upon the impeachment court. They make it more difficult for the senators--most of whom are not lawyers--to deliver a dispassionate, impartial and neutral judgment in the impeachment trial," Pimentel said.
He also said resignation was "not the best option" for the President, explaining it would be a "prescription for a recurring instability in the country and its facile conversion into a pseudo-republic where the Chief Executive easily caves in to the pressure of public protestors."
"The impeachment process is thus giving our country a chance to renew itself, to firm up our commitment to the rule of law and to the democratic tenets of constitutionalism," he said.
"What we should do is to try everything within our means as a people to make the process work. Only then can we show the world that we, indeed, are a democratic republic whose people deserve the freedom, the justice and the peace that democracy provides its adherents."
Spouses of senators yesterday attended Mass. They prayed that the 23 judges in the impeachment trial would be protected "from the pressures of those who would make the Senate a mere instrument of their partisan interests or their unbridled political passions and preempt or replace the judgment of the senators with their own."
An image of Our Lady of Manaoag was brought to the Senate. Reports from Cathy Cañares, Martin Marfil, Rocky Nazareno and Inquirer wires
http://web.archive.org/web/20010124063200/http://www.inquirer.net/issues/dec2000/dec07/frontpage/front_1.htm
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
3 Eastern Visayan towns bid for cityhood
TACLOBAN CITY — Partylist Rep. Florencio "Bembem" Noel and Leyte Rep. Remedios "Matin" Petilla confirmed recently that three towns in the Eastern Visayas will become cities soon.
The House of Representatives recently approved the conversion of the municipalities of Baybay (Leyte), Catbalogan (Samar) and Borongan (Eastern Samar) into component cities along with 18 cityhood bills and were immediately endorsed to the Senate this month for discussions and deliberations.
"The three towns were among the more than 20 towns in the country seeking cityhood," Noel said in a telephone interview.
"That’s good news because it will somehow attract people from Region 8 and those living in urban places like Metro Manila to come home and take advantage of the economic opportunities here," Noel said.
Leyte Rep. Carmen Cari said 55 bills seeking to convert certain municipalities into cities were filed during the 11th Congress. Of this number, 32 were enacted into law, one was rejected in a plebiscite and 21 were not acted upon because of the impeachment proceedings against former President Joseph Estrada in 2000.
The 21 municipalities are: Carcar, Cebu; Baybay, Leyte; Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro; Bogo, Cebu; San Francisco, Agusan del Sur; Bayugan, Agusan del Sur; Pontevedra, Negros Occidental; Lamitan, Basilan; San Juan, Metro Manila; Tandag, Surigao del Sur; Tabuk, Kalinga; Batac, Ilocos Norte; Naga, Cebu; Borongan, Eastern Samar; Claveria, Misamis Oriental; El Salvador, Misamis Oriental; Opol, Misamis Oriental; Catbalogan, Samar; Pototan, Iloilo; South Davao, Davao City; and Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte.
Meanwhile, Petilla said she is optimistic that the long-time dream of the people of Baybay, Leyte to become a city will soon become a reality.
"We will see the process during the Senate deliberations but I’m hopeful these towns will become cities," she said.
In a related development, a proposal to convert financially capable capital towns in provinces without cities yet into cities to hasten economic development was filed in Congress.
The proposal, embodied in House Bill 5737, was already passed by the House committee on local government,chaired by Negros Oriental Rep. Emilio Macias II, but still the subject of plenary deliberations.
But the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) had previously opposed the measure claiming that the conversion of the 32 capital towns of provinces without cities yet will drain by tens of millions the existing Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of each of the 117 existing cities.
The League distributed to each of the 117 city mayors and their respective representatives to Congress a matrix showing that some existing cities will lose by as much as P100 million of their IRA should the measure be enacted into a law.
Republic Act 9009, enacted in 2001, requires a municipality to have at least P100 million in local income before it can qualify to become a city.
https://www.philstar.com/nation/2006/10/25/365023/3-eastern-visayan-towns-bid-cityhood
The House of Representatives recently approved the conversion of the municipalities of Baybay (Leyte), Catbalogan (Samar) and Borongan (Eastern Samar) into component cities along with 18 cityhood bills and were immediately endorsed to the Senate this month for discussions and deliberations.
"The three towns were among the more than 20 towns in the country seeking cityhood," Noel said in a telephone interview.
"That’s good news because it will somehow attract people from Region 8 and those living in urban places like Metro Manila to come home and take advantage of the economic opportunities here," Noel said.
Leyte Rep. Carmen Cari said 55 bills seeking to convert certain municipalities into cities were filed during the 11th Congress. Of this number, 32 were enacted into law, one was rejected in a plebiscite and 21 were not acted upon because of the impeachment proceedings against former President Joseph Estrada in 2000.
The 21 municipalities are: Carcar, Cebu; Baybay, Leyte; Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro; Bogo, Cebu; San Francisco, Agusan del Sur; Bayugan, Agusan del Sur; Pontevedra, Negros Occidental; Lamitan, Basilan; San Juan, Metro Manila; Tandag, Surigao del Sur; Tabuk, Kalinga; Batac, Ilocos Norte; Naga, Cebu; Borongan, Eastern Samar; Claveria, Misamis Oriental; El Salvador, Misamis Oriental; Opol, Misamis Oriental; Catbalogan, Samar; Pototan, Iloilo; South Davao, Davao City; and Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte.
Meanwhile, Petilla said she is optimistic that the long-time dream of the people of Baybay, Leyte to become a city will soon become a reality.
"We will see the process during the Senate deliberations but I’m hopeful these towns will become cities," she said.
In a related development, a proposal to convert financially capable capital towns in provinces without cities yet into cities to hasten economic development was filed in Congress.
The proposal, embodied in House Bill 5737, was already passed by the House committee on local government,chaired by Negros Oriental Rep. Emilio Macias II, but still the subject of plenary deliberations.
But the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) had previously opposed the measure claiming that the conversion of the 32 capital towns of provinces without cities yet will drain by tens of millions the existing Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of each of the 117 existing cities.
The League distributed to each of the 117 city mayors and their respective representatives to Congress a matrix showing that some existing cities will lose by as much as P100 million of their IRA should the measure be enacted into a law.
Republic Act 9009, enacted in 2001, requires a municipality to have at least P100 million in local income before it can qualify to become a city.
https://www.philstar.com/nation/2006/10/25/365023/3-eastern-visayan-towns-bid-cityhood
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
GMA Network spends P250 million for the 2006 Asian Games and 2007 Southeast Asian Games coverage
MANILA, Philippines - Broadcast giant GMA Network, Inc. announced on April 18, 2006 for the formal signing of contract between the Network, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) for the live airing of 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar on December 1 to 15, 2006 and 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand on December 6 to 15, 2007.
GMA and sister network QTV will air the games live as the two free-to-air channels to go 24 hours a day on June 14, 2006, in time for GMA's 56th anniversary. The station will spend on airing the two regional sports meets aside from the Manny Pacquiao fights for 2006 and 2007. The final release of banners and pins and it's official merchandise as well the radio and television plugs for the coverage to release in August as part of the official 100-day countdown to the 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand on December 6 to 15, 2007.
The sponsors of the two games' TV coverage are PLDT, Jollibee, Unilever, PAGCOR and PCSO.
The print ad reads:
GMA and sister network QTV will air the games live as the two free-to-air channels to go 24 hours a day on June 14, 2006, in time for GMA's 56th anniversary. The station will spend on airing the two regional sports meets aside from the Manny Pacquiao fights for 2006 and 2007. The final release of banners and pins and it's official merchandise as well the radio and television plugs for the coverage to release in August as part of the official 100-day countdown to the 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand on December 6 to 15, 2007.
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| GMA The Official Network banner for the 2007 Southeast Asian Games |
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| The GMA The Official Network pin for the 2007 Southeast Asian Games |
The print ad reads:
"GMA and PAGCOR present “A Time for Heroes”It's a time for discipline and perseverance... A Time to rise above difficulty! It's a time to take pride in ourselves... and bear our triumphs with simple dignity!
It's a time for excellence, teamwork and self sacrifice... where our one goal is the greater good!
Watch the opening ceremonies of the 24th Southeast Asian Games on December 6, Thursday, 6:30PM on QTV-11, VIA SATELLITE!!!
Replay of the Opening Ceremonies at 6 to 8:30 AM Friday"
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| Arnold Clavio and Jessica Soho anchoring the papal visit coverage in January 1995 and January 2015. |
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| GMA's 1992 logo without the words "Rainbow Satellite" |
This TVB News Microphone Graphic used for TVB News reporters, while the GMA’s 1992 logo without the words "Rainbow Satellite" used in white and black tuxedos.
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| Vintage HK-TVB News logo |