Gloria allies stall
impeach-Mercy rap
Lack of quorum seen as latest Palace ploy

BY VICTOR REYES  and REGINA BENGCO

THE Armed Forces yesterday said six former military personnel, including a 2003 Oakwood mutineer, and a New Zealander arrested by security forces last week in a private shooting range in Clark /field, Pampanga were training for jobs abroad.

Their arrest "is not in any way connected to any destabilization attempt," said Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, chief of the AFP public affairs office.

Torres’ statement contradicted that of Mariano Villafuerte, director of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), who said the group foiled another plan to overthrow the Arroyo government.

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Health chief says
swine flu alarming

HEALTH Secretary Francisco Duque III yesterday said the Philippines should be alarmed by the swine flu case following the World Health Organization’s (WHO) raising of the global pandemic alert to Level 4.

He said there should be stricter monitoring and screening of inbound international travelers in airports and seaports.

In a press briefing after the Cabinet meeting in Tacloban City, Duque said Level 4 means there is already human to human transmission of the virus that has resulted from the recombination of all other viruses and which is causing a sustained community outbreak such as what is happening in Mexico.