71 buried in landslides in Negros Oriental

Army soldiers used picks, shovels and chainsaws in a race against time to rescue at least 71 people buried in landslides that covered 80 houses in two barangays (villages) in Guihulngan City and the adjacent La Libertad town, both in Negros Oriental.

President Benigno Aquino III will visit Dumaguete City, one of the areas affected by the temblor, on Wednesday, his 52nd birthday, Malacañang announced.

“(The President) will inspect damaged areas and meet with our countrymen affected by the calamity, as well as with the government workers who are providing much needed relief operations on the ground,” his spokesperson, Edwin Lacierda, said.

The number of victims of Monday’s 6.9-magnitude earthquake could still go up as some 90 houses were buried in Barangay Solinggon in La Libertad and in Sitio (sub-village) Moog, Barangay Planas in Guihulngan City. Eighty others were injured.

At least 45 people were confirmed dead—28 in Guihulngan, 10 in La Libertad, three in Jimalalud town, two in Tayasan town and two in Bindoy town, officials said.

In Moog, 29 houses were buried 6 meters (20 feet) deep when a portion of the mountain fell over the mountainside neighborhood during the temblor.

Available tools

More than 70 soldiers belonging to the 11th Infantry Battalion had to stop digging the soft ground during aftershocks for fear of another landslide.

“But they try to dig and look for survivors,” said Colonel Francisco Patrimonio, commanding officer of the Army’s 302nd Infantry Brigade.

“It is not that we are not conducting operations. We are just waiting for a safer time to continue the retrieval operations,” Patrimonio said.

He said the rescuers needed graders and backhoes to hasten their mission. But he added that bringing the equipment to the site would be difficult with several bridges damaged or which had collapsed from the earthquake.

“What we have on hand we are using. We are using available tool, like shovels, picks and chainsaws,” Patrimonio said.

Twenty-one people were killed in Planas, five in Barangay Poblacion, and one each in Barangay Magsaysay and St. Francis Academy, all in Guihulngan. Eighty others suffered injuries and were brought to Guihulngan District Hospital.

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Defense to seek Supreme Court relief over Corona bank documents

The lead defense counsel of Chief Justice Renato Corona on Tuesday said he might resort to a court order, possibly from the Supreme Court, barring the Senate as an impeachment tribunal from receiving bank documents as evidence unless it entertained a motion for reconsideration he would file.

Serafin Cuevas, a former justice secretary and former associate justice of the Supreme Court, was about to file on Monday night a motion for reconsideration right after the Senate issued subpoenas to officials of two Philippine banks to produce documents showing that Corona has deposits he allegedly failed to declare in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

However, Senator Francis Escudero immediately pointed out that only senator-judges were allowed to file such motions for reconsideration on rulings of the Senate President as presiding officer.

Escudero said the prosecution and defense panels were prohibited from doing so under Rule 6 of the impeachment court.

Santiago motion

While Cuevas did not challenge Escudero’s statement at the time, Senator Miriam Santiago, who was absent on Monday, submitted a letter to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Tuesday which constituted a motion for reconsideration against the subpoenas.

Santiago cited three reasons the Senate should reconsider the orders issued to representatives of Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) and Bank of the Philippine Islands branches in Makati City where Corona purportedly keeps deposits.

First, Santiago reminded the impeachment court it had already ruled against accepting evidence related to paragraph 2.4 of Article 2 referring to ill-gotten wealth.

“Since 2.4 is the only paragraph that specifically mentions ‘bank deposits,’ any requests for subpoena concerning any bank deposits should be rejected,” she said.

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Senate to take up Corona bank records

Senator-judges will decide before the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona resumes Monday afternoon whether to subpoena documents supposedly pertaining to his bank accounts in at least two Philippine banks.

The senators are also expected to discuss whether they would summon several associate justices of the Supreme Court to testify on the tribunal’s flip-flopping on certain cases.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said restrictions on the bank secrecy law would normally prohibit investigators from issuing a subpoena that would require a witness to produce documents related to Corona’s bank accounts.

Prosecutors from the House of Representatives earlier listed five accounts, supposedly owned by Corona, with BPI Family Bank and Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank). But only one bank account on the list provided to Senate reporters had a specific number allegedly traced to Corona.

The prosecutors said Corona’s failure to disclose these in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) made him liable for nondisclosure of assets—an offense specified in Article 2 of the verified complaint against the Chief Justice.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile expressed hesitation when initially asked about the chances of the impeachment court getting the bank documents when the motion for a subpoena was filed.

Enrile, the presiding officer of the impeachment trial, wanted prosecutors to indicate the specific banks accounts they wanted bank authorities to produce in court.

“Do they want us to summon all bank accounts in the whole world?” an annoyed Enrile thought aloud in Filipino at the time. Otherwise, the confidentiality guaranteed by banks would be violated, he said.

A senator-judge, who refused to be identified, said it was possible that the caucus would include a discussion on whether the impeachment court would issue a subpoena for dollar and other foreign currency accounts that may be traced to Corona.

“As far as I know, that would be a sensitive area because that is not really allowed in the case of dollar accounts, while the peso accounts are likely to be subpoenaed,” the senator-judge told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Lawyers of Corona accused prosecutors of resorting to unlawful means by presenting to the Senate “confidential” bank documents in their attempt to subpoena two private banks.

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Ignacio Arroyo’s daughter to bring her dad home, says former FG

The remains of Negros Occidental Representative Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo will be brought home by his eldest child, Bianca, and not by his estranged second wife Alicia “Aleli” Arroyo or his longtime companion Grace Ibuna, the lawmaker’s brother said Sunday.

In a phone interview, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, husband of former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said Bianca was scheduled to talk with the London coroner on Monday to seek the release of his younger brother’s body which would be flown into the country intact and not cremated.

Bianca is the only child of Iggy and his first wife, Marilyn Jacinto, sister of entertainer Ramon “RJ” Jacinto.

But lawyer Lorna Kapunan, Aleli’s legal counsel, said Bianca could not take charge of repatriating his father’s body because Ibuna had obtained a court order in the United Kingdom declaring her Iggy’s next of kin and barring Aleli from taking hold of the body.

Ibuna was at Iggy’s bedside when he was taken off life support on January 26. Iggy had sought treatment for cirrhosis of the liver in London.

“We don’t know if they (Mike and Bianca) know that there is a court order unless they are working together with Ibuna. They should just say it straight out. I don’t think Grace Ibuna is intelligent enough to make these maneuvers,” Kapunan told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Kapunan accompanied Aleli to London last week with the goal of bringing home Iggy’s body to the Philippines on Saturday.

The two came home empty-handed after solicitors of Ibuna served them papers preventing them from removing the body, which was frozen in a box at a London funeral parlor.

Kapunan said Aleli had not been able to see Iggy’s remains.

The lawyer claimed that Aleli and Bianca had a meeting in front of  Philippine consular officials the night before they went to the funeral parlor.

Among the things they ironed out was that a funeral parlor in the country would receive Iggy’s body from the United Kingdom. “We have to name a Philippine consignee which the London funeral parlor can coordinate with. Aleli wanted Loyola in Marikina City, but Bianca wanted Arlington, so we agreed with her (Bianca),” Kapunan said.

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Aquino appoints Montano OMB member

MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino has appointed actor-director Cesar Montano as a member of the Optical Media Board, replacing violinist John Philip Lesaca.

Montano, who unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in the May 2007 under the coalition Team Unity, was appointed as a private sector representative from an industry relying on intellectual property protection.

Montano was appointed to a term expiring on March 5, 2013.

Aquino also appointed former National Commission for the Culture and Arts commissioner Elmar Ingles to the OMB, replacing Maria Trinidad Villareal.

Ingles, who is also the executive director of the Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit, was appointed to the OMB as the representative of consumer organizations.

His term expires on June 7, 2013.

Montano was a special envoy for art, culture and film-digital and was a commissioner in the Unesco’s national commission of the Philippines.

Ingles, on the other hand, is also the executive director of the Philippine Legitimate Stage Artists’ Group, Inc., and the managing director of the Performers’ Rights Society of the Philippines.

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Corona got P11-M cash from ‘dead’ firm

Prosecutors on Wednesday zeroed in on what one senator-judge described as an “unexplained inclusion” in the statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

On Day 10 of Corona’s impeachment trial, the prosecution contended that the Chief Justice could not have received an P11-million cash advance from a company owned by his wife’s family in 2003 because its certificate of registration was revoked that same year.

“Our theory is that there could not have been any transaction made by Basa-Guidote (Enterprises Inc.) with Chief Justice Renato Corona because … the corporate franchise had already been dissolved or revoked and therefore, the only action that can be taken by Basa-Guidote (was) just to liquidate and wind up the affairs of the corporation and distribute the shares,” Representative Reynaldo Umali told the impeachment court.

Prosecutors presented Director Benito Cataran of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)  to show that the company was no longer in a position to release money to Corona.

The approach puzzled some of the senators, who questioned the relevance of Basa-Guidote being “dead” to the charge that Corona did not publicly disclose his SALN and because of that, should be convicted of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust.

“Yesterday (Tuesday), you were trying to prove … there were unexplained exclusions (in the SALN),” Senator Francis Pangilinan told prosecutors, referring to the allegation that Corona did not declare some properties in his SALN. “In this case, there is unexplained inclusion.”

Senator Joker Arroyo followed up: “If you are not sure of your evidence, do not present it.”

The P11-million cash advance from Basa-Guidote was declared as a liability in Corona’s SALNs for 2003 and 2004. It was later reduced to P10 million in the 2005 SALN, P8 million in 2006, P6.5 million in 2007, P5 million in 2008 and P3 million in 2009. The gradual decrease indicated that he was paying off the cash advance.

Cataran, head of the SEC’s company registration and monitoring department, testified that the commission revoked Basa-Guidote’s certificate of registration on May 26, 2003.

He said the company had not been submitting records such as financial reports and general information sheets from 1991 up to the year of revocation.

Cataran added that Corona’s wife, Cristina, was neither a stockholder nor a director of the company, which was registered on May 30, 1960.

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Lito Lapid question floors prosecution: Loan or cash advance?

An exasperated Senator Manuel “Lito” Lapid unexpectedly took the floor for the first time in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona yesterday with just one question.

Was the P11 million that Corona and wife Cristina purportedly took from Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc. a loan or a cash advance?

By asking this, Lapid inadvertently made a prosecutor admit he was out to prove that the Coronas possessed “unexplained wealth,” a charge whose presentation the Senate acting as tribunal had decided it could not allow because it was not included in Article 2 of the impeachment complaint.

Lapid’s question was not even addressed to the witness, Director Benito Cataran of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Looking impatient, Lapid told Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile that he wanted the prosecution to explain why it had been grilling Cataran for more than an hour on whether the Basa-Guidote continued to exist.

Cataran testified that the company, supposedly owned by the family of Cristina Corona, had been inactive since 1991.

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