Says former prexy deserves
sympathy and compassion
BY REGINA
BENGCO
INTERIOR Secretary Ronaldo Puno
yesterday said President Arroyo should immediately
act on the appeal for pardon by former President
Joseph Estrada, adding Christmas could be a
"pessimistic target" for his release from almost six
years of detention.
"I’m hoping it would be very,
very soon. It could be anytime because the petition
is already there. The action could be taken today,
tomorrow, next week, one month from now," he said.
Estrada’s lawyers on Monday
withdrew his motion for reconsideration on his
plunder conviction before the Sandiganbayan Special
Division and wrote a letter to President Arroyo
seeking a "free, full and unconditional pardon,"
saying he deserves sympathy, compassion and
understanding.
Cops 90%
sure Glorietta
blast was caused by gas mix
BY RAYMOND AFRICA
THE PNP yesterday said it was "90 to 95
percent sure" that the Glorietta 2 mall explosion last
Friday was caused by a reaction of gases from the mall’s
basement.
Director Geary Barias, chief of the
Metro Manila police office, said post-blast investigators
on Monday night wrapped up gathering of physical evidence
from the seat of the explosion and "with due diligence"
found no traces of bomb components there.
"It is only a small percentage, about 5
to 10 percent, that the explosion was caused by a bomb
although the ‘bomb theory’ has not been ruled out because
of the traces of RDX (research and development
explosive)," Barias told a news conference in Camp Crame.
SEN. Antonio Trillanes IV yesterday said he
has evidence that Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr.
and national security adviser Norberto Gonzales engineered last
Friday’s bombing at the Glorietta 2 mall in Makati City that
left 11 people dead and scores injured.
"As a person, and now as an elected lawmaker,
I do not just make statements out of pique, or without anything
to stand on, or to grandstand," said Trillanes, a former Navy
officer who is under detention for leading the short-lived
Oakwood mutiny in July 2003, in a statement posted at his
website.
Trillanes did not say what his evidence was.
He said he would disclose this only before "an independent,
impartial and credible body."
THE PNP yesterday said it was "90 to 95
percent sure" that the Glorietta 2 mall explosion last
Friday was caused by a reaction of gases from the mall’s
basement.