Sold: 24,000 sq. km.
RP territory in GMA deal delineated
THE joint seismic study agreement the
Philippines struck with China in 2004 preparatory to oil
exploration in the disputed Spratlys covers an area that
laps the western shores of Philippines, Malaya was able
to establish yesterday.
The agreement has been kept secret by
the Philippine government, but Malaya was able to secure
a copy of Annex "A" which delineates the boundaries of
the area covered.
At its farthermost eastern edge, the
area is around 25 kilometers from the southern tip of
Palawan. At its northern boundary, the area abuts the
Malampaya oil field and includes an area the Philippines
had long awarded to a British company for oil
exploration.
WALK-IN ZTE witness Dante Madriaga
yesterday said the Senate should again summon Finance
Secretary Margarito Teves who he said "knows a lot" about
the alleged initial payment by the Arroyo government to
China's ZTE Corp.
Madriaga said the information related
to the initial payment is contrary to government claims
that no single centavo from the taxpayers has been spent
on the national broadband network project.
Madriaga said the payment could amount
to at least $49 million or 15 percent of the $329 million
total contract price, which according to businessman Jose
de Venecia III and ZTE witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr.
included an overprice of some $130 million.
SOME 50 New People's Army rebels attacked a
gold mine in Compostela Valley Thursday night and fled with
firearms after burning several pieces of equipment.
Lt. Col. Benito de Leon, spokesman of the
Army's 10th Infantry Division, said the rebel band arrived at 7
p.m. at the Apex Mining Co. in Masara village, Maco town aboard
a bus and two dump trucks and immediately disarmed the security
guards.
They then burned a pay loader and four
trucks, and carted away five M16 rifles, two shot guns, two.38
cal. revolvers and four hand-held radios.
