Prelude to pardon? Army Capt. Gerardo Gambala along with eight other convicted soldiers apologize to the government and public for the 2003 Oakwood mutiny.
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Convicted Magdalo
officers seek pardon
'Scripted clemency' playing out?
BY VICTOR REYES
NINE junior officers who have been
meted prison terms by a Makati court for the 2003
Oakwood mutiny yesterday asked for forgiveness for their
misdeeds as they said they are seeking "mercy" from
President Arroyo.
The nine, led by Capt. Gerardo
Gambala, faced the media in a press conference in Fort
Bonifacio for the first time since the promulgation of
their sentence last Tuesday.
Gambala said he and the eight other
officers drafted the letter seeking pardon from Arroyo
after the promulgation of their sentence. The letter is
now with their lawyer.
PRESIDENT Arroyo wants the "generics
only" provision withdrawn in the proposed Cheaper
Medicines Bill so it can be approved before the 14th
Congress adjourns in June.
Arroyo announced her order to Health
Secretary Francisco Duque III during the inauguration of
the 11,000th Botika ng Barangay under the President's
Half-Priced Medicines Program and the Department of
Agriculture's Barangay Bagsakan at Camp Bagong Diwa in
Taguig.
She said it was the DOH which proposed
the "generics only" provision last year, which is now
causing the delay of the bill's passage, because it was
the "ideal" bill.
THE Arroyo government is properly addressing
the situation of rising food prices and low food supply in the
world market, limiting chances of food riots, an official of the
United Nation's International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD)
said yesterday.
The food problems have sparked riots in at
least 33 countries.
Kevin Cleaver, IFAD assistant president for
program management department, said while the Philippines is in
a short-term but "difficult" situation due to the rice
situation, it is "not the worst off by any stretch of the
imagination."
