. NEWS ROUNDUP .

Improvements in Pag-asa not violative
of Spratlys code of conduct

DEFENSE Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. justified as essential the improvement of facilities being done by the Armed Forces at Pag-asa island, one of the eight areas in the Kalayaan Island Group (or Spratlys) whose ownership is being disputed by the Philippines with five other countries.

"We have existing structures there, we are just improving them," Teodoro said. He said the improvements should not be misconstrued as fortification, being "essential for those who inhabit the island, to deliver the basic services to them."

He added that the improvements are not a violation of the Code of Conduct signed by claimant countries to observe the status quo and resolve territorial disputes through diplomatic means.

"It's an improvement of facilities, of infrastructure existing already. I don't see how that will aggravate any situation further. Secondly, there are inhabitants (in the island) whom we need to service," Teodoro said.

Set for improvement next month, possibly by military engineers, are Pagasa's runway and the soldiers' quarters. In a visit last week, Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said they also set up a VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) in the island.

Pagasa island, less than 300 nautical miles from Puerto Princesa City, is the largest island in the Spratlys occupied by Filipino forces and a civilian community of at least a hundred. It is known as Palawan's Kalayaan town.

Other countries with claims to the Spratlys are China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam. - Victor Reyes

Search still on for missing pilots

THE Philippine Air Force said it will continue its search for two pilots who have been missing since November while piloting a trainer aircraft off the disputed Kalayaan Island Group.

Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Pedrito Cadungog said the search will continue on a daily basis in the next six years before the pilots are declared legally dead.

Captains Gabino Mercado Jr. and Bonifacio Soriano disappeared in the morning of Nov. 26, 2007 in their S-211 aircraft, one of two that took off from an air base in Puerto Princesa City to look out for fishermen whose boat capsized near Pag-asa island.

The second aircraft returned to base at midday.

The military has not issued an official statement if the missing jet crashed or was shot down by military elements of the other countries also claiming the Spratlys. The Philippines occupies eight of the islands, including Pagasa which was visited by top AFP officials last week. - Victor Reyes

LAWYERS of former Surigao del Norte Rep. Constantino Navarro Jr. has asked the Sandiganbayan First Division to allow their client to complete his psychiatric examination in his own residence in Rolling Hills, New Manila, Quezon City in a bid to establish his mental unfitness to face trial on 10 graft charges and one count of malversation of public funds.

Constantino L. Navarro III, counsel for the defendant, filed the request last March 25 after prosecutors asked the court to proceed with Navarro's trial, citing his failure to go through the recommended third battery of tests at the National Center for Mental Health. The NCMH forensic psychiatry service reported that it could not make a conclusion on Navarro's mental health since he did not even complete the second batch of tests because he refused to answer the questions given him.

The Sandiganbayan ordered Navarro tested after defense witness Dr. Amadeo Alinea Jr. testified that Navarro was "mentally incapacitated to understand the nature of his illness and the outcome of his behaviors as well as decisions due to a major depressive episode and dementia due to renal failure and diabetes mellitus type II."

Defense lawyers said Navarro's family is willing to shoulder any additional cost the NCMH might incur. They said Navarro is now "immobile and nearly paralyzed."