“Give peace a chance.” Muslims call for reopening of negotiations during a rally at the Golden Mosque in Quiapo.
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675,000-ton rice
tender scrapped
Lone seller found not qualified
THE Philippines yesterday scrapped a
tender for 675,000 tons of rice but set an auction for
163,000 tons for the private sector later in the week.
Vietnam's state-owned Vinafood II,
the sole bidder at the tender, failed to supply a bank
guarantee, said Ludovico Jarina, deputy administrator of
the National Food Authority.
Perez: Ombudsman using
me to deodorize bigger stink
BY PETER TABINGO
FORMER Justice Secretary Hernando Perez yesterday accused
Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez of using him to cover up
her inaction on "more important cases" in her office.
Perez said the cases against him should
never have been filed before the Sandiganbayan for lack of
basis and for procedural violations.
"If you will recall the circumstances
of the filing of the case, the first time the resolution
was handed down was when there was an issue about the
investigation of the Comelec (automation). (Next) there
was an issue about the release of the Americans (in the
Subic rape case). Then all of a sudden, Nani Perez was
used as a deodorant," he said in an interview after his
and his wife Rosario's arraignment on robbery was
postponed.
Palace backs GSIS bid to look
into books of Meralco but...
MALACAÑANG will support Government Service
Insurance System (GSIS) chairman Winston Garcia in scrutinizing
the books of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) but will not meddle
in its takeover.
"Ang suporta natin ay not so much sa change
in management. Kailangan hindi lamang ng stockholder katulad ng
GSIS kundi kailangan din ng tao ang transparency... We don't
need to make any enemies where we don't need to. We just want to
reduce power cost," said Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye.
Garcia has said the state pension fund is fed
up with the power distributor's lack of transparency and
demanded that Meralco open its books.
