Php1.7 billion new UP national science complex marker unveiled led by Angara

SENATE OFFICE, Manila, February 3, 2011-Senator Edgardo J. Angara, former University of the Philippines (UP) president, led the unveiling of the project marker for the Php1.7 billion construction of the new National Science Complex (NSC) at the College of Science in UP Diliman yesterday to provide facilities and equipment for the UP College of Science which includes both pure and applied Science and Mathematics courses, saying that the NSC had been a long-standing plan which had come into fruition because of the leadership of the University.

“We had earmarked 21 hectares of the UP Diliman Campus in the hopes that it will one day give rise to a world-class facility for our scientists early on in my term as UP president,” the senator said, adding that even then the Arts and Humanities programs of the university was already internationally recognized to the point that they realized that the university needed to make Science and Technology one of the priorities for the UP system.

It was during Angara's term as UP President when a three-way split was made among the College of Science, College of Arts and Letters, and College of Social Sciences and Philosophy from an unwieldy College of Arts and Sciences.

Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology said that the reason was to give due recognition to the identity of Science as a profession and to its prime importance as an instrument of national development stressing that the separation allowed for a more effective academic leadership, administration, and coordination of the undergraduate, graduate, and research programs in the Natural and Mathematical Sciences

“The mass of scientists produced by UP hold the key to the future of our country and therefore there is a need to groom our scientists to spearhead the development of the S&T sector, so that they become globally competitive like our Asian contemporaries,” he added.

Angara concluded that these scientists will provide the change and innovation that the country needs right now. The most important now is what we do next, saying that to translate what they learn from the lab and transform it into something meaningful for the Filipino people, it is up to the academe, both the faculty and the students of the College of Science. (Jason de Asis)

Ombudsman should scrap the plea bargain deal to Garcia says Drilon

SENATE OFFICE, Manila, February 3, 2011- In a recent testimonies of two (2) witnesses who appeared in the congressional hearings yesterday, Senator Franklin Drilon, a former Justice secretary, said that the Office of the Ombudsman should immediately scuttle the plea bargain deal struck between state prosecutors and former military comptroller and ex-General Carlos Garcia who was accused of plunder, adding that state prosecutors should present former Armed Forces budget officer George Rabusa and former state auditor Heidi Mendoza as witnesses for the prosecution.

“When they entered into that plea bargaining agreement these testimonies obviously were not present,” Drilon said, explaining that with these testimonies now there is reason to rescind the agreement and simply submit the new evidence in court and proceed with the trial for plunder.

“There is no reason for Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to say that the evidence is weak in arriving at a plea bargain deal with Garcia that in effect reduced the former military general’s plunder case of at least P300 million to a lesser offense of direct bribery and violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Law,” the Senator added.

He furthered that the evidence is strengthened a hundred times by the testimonies of these people and therefore, they should withdraw from that plea bargaining, rescind it, proceed with the trial and present other witnesses.

Earlier, Ombudsman Gutierrez and former military comptroller Garcia finally showed up at the House of Representatives Justice Committee probe into the latter’s controversial plea bargain agreement while former military chief of staff Angelo Reyes, Diomedio Villanueva and Roy Cimatu snubbed the hearing, which had already branched off into an investigation on the alleged payola among top military brass.

Former state auditor Heidi Mendoza dominated the proceedings where she narrated how she labored on building up the case against Garcia.

Ombudsman Guttierez advised DOJ secretary Laila de Lima to mind her own business and just do her job in the DOJ and do not interfere in the affairs of the Ombudsman particularly in the case on plea bargaining agreement filed by Garcia for the DOJ secretary doesn’t have the facts of the case.

Meanwhile, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile joined Drilon in his view that said plea bargaining agreement should be scrapped off and proceed to the investigation of the case. (Jason de Asis)

AFP should continue receiving a lion share in the yearly budget-Estrada

SENATE OFFICE, Manila, February 3, 2011-Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada expressed his belief that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) should continue receiving a huge share in the yearly budget although hundreds of millions of pesos of military funds were already lost due to some corrupt military generals.

Estrada said that these revelations on the ‘generosity’ of some high rank military officers in rewarding not only their peers but even themselves of additional benefits should not put us off in addressing the concerns of thousands of our lowly soldiers.

In the light of the expose on the misuse of funds, the senator enjoined colleagues to review the salary structure of the rank and file and junior officers vis-à-vis the senior officials in the AFP.

Estrada lamented that this is an eye-opener for all of us in connection with the overindulgence of some generals at the expense of the taxpayers. Our soldiers, who are in the line of fire, who have chosen to embrace the noble profession of arms, should be spared from this scandal. 

It is a reality that ordinary soldiers remain ill-equip and under paid despite the scandal which rocked the military cradle. He still believe that there are only few rotten eggs in the military and non of them belong to the rank and file. (Jason de Asis)

AFP should continue receiving a lion share in the yearly budget-Estrada

SENATE OFFICE, Manila, February 3, 2011-Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada expressed his belief that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) should continue receiving a huge share in the yearly budget although hundreds of millions of pesos of military funds were already lost due to some corrupt military generals.

Estrada said that these revelations on the ‘generosity’ of some high rank military officers in rewarding not only their peers but even themselves of additional benefits should not put us off in addressing the concerns of thousands of our lowly soldiers.

In the light of the expose on the misuse of funds, the senator enjoined colleagues to review the salary structure of the rank and file and junior officers vis-à-vis the senior officials in the AFP.

Estrada lamented that this is an eye-opener for all of us in connection with the overindulgence of some generals at the expense of the taxpayers. Our soldiers, who are in the line of fire, who have chosen to embrace the noble profession of arms, should be spared from this scandal. 

It is a reality that ordinary soldiers remain ill-equip and under paid despite the scandal which rocked the military cradle. He still believe that there are only few rotten eggs in the military and non of them belong to the rank and file. (Jason de Asis)