“Repeated snubbing can’t be tolerated.” Cayetano, standing, looks on as Senate President Manny Villar signs arrest orders.
***
Senate: Arrest Neri, pal
Lozada brings back memories of ‘Joc Joc’ departure
BY JP LOPEZ
THE Senate yesterday ordered the
arrest of Commission on Higher Education chair Romulo
Neri and "close friend" Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. for
snubbing its inquiries on the $329 million broadband
deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp. that was cancelled by
President Arroyo last year.
Thirteen senators signed the contempt
citation and arrest order against Neri.
Sixteen senators signed the arrest
order for Lozada, president of Philippine Forest Corp.,
a subsidiary of the government-owned Natural Resources
Development Corp.
Joe allies foil ouster
try,
but plot seen as not yet over
BY WENDELL VIGILIA
ALLIES of Speaker Jose de Venecia
yesterday thwarted an "attempt" to oust him by abruptly
adjourning the session, giving him another four days to
prepare for a full-blown battle over the speakership.
Deputy speaker for the Visayas Raul del
Mar, the presiding officer, immediately banged the gavel
on the motion to adjourn of Rep. Janette Garin (Lakas,
Iloilo).
Garin said she moved for the
adjournment because Rep. Bienvenido Abante (Lakas, Manila)
would not entertain questions on his speech in which he
lambasted those behind the alleged plot to unseat De
Venecia.
FIVE soldiers were killed and six others were
injured yesterday in a firefight with communist guerrillas in
Baganga town in Davao Oriental.
The military setback occurred several days
after Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the
military will dismantle 17 of 87 guerilla fronts in the first
quarter of the year as part of government’s intensified campaign
against the communist group.
According to military estimates, the NPA has
at least 5,700 fighters as of end December.
