Monday, September 12, 2005

Lacson Aide A Spy?

Ex-Lacson aide nabbed in US for espionage
Margaux Ortiz Inquirer News Service
MICHAEL Ray Aquino, a former police official and aide of then police chief Panfilo Lacson, was arrested during the wekend in New York for espionage, a National Bureau of Investigation official confirmed on Tuesday.
NBI Interpol chief Ricardo Diaz said a Federal Bureau of Investigation intelligence analyst, Leandro Aragoncillo, was also arrested for downloading documents on the Philippines, several of which were classified secret. Diaz said the documents were passed on to Aquino electronically.
He said Aragoncillo, who is of Filipino descent, works at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey.
Aquino is based in New York.

Anti Glo Rally in NY

Protesters stage rally ahead of Arroyo’s arrival in NY
Lira Dalangin-Fernandez ldalangin@inq7.net INQ7.net
NEW YORK -- Militant groups who want President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo out of MalacaƱang held a pocket rally here on the eve of the President’s arrival for the United Nations (UN) summit.
Calling themselves the “unwelcome party” for Ms Arroyo’s visit, some 20 members of the New York Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines and the Philippine Forum staged a one-hour mobilization in front of the Philippine Consulate office along Fifth Avenue.
The protesters held placards demanding Ms Arroyo’s ouster, saying she was a bogus president, and asking her to own up to the human rights abuses of civilians in the Philippines.
“With the impeachment process killed in Congress, this leaves us no choice but to gain strength in the streets of Manila, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco,” Rusty Fabunan, spokesperson of the committee told INQ7.net.
Fabunan said the rally intends to expose Ms Arroyo as the “fake and illegitimate representative to the UN.”
Similar protest actions continue to hound her in the Philippines even after her allies in Congress junked the impeachment complaint filed by the opposition against her on allegations that she committed electoral fraud and that her family benefited from illegal gambling.
Protest organizers said they would hold another rally on September 15, the day of Ms Arroyo’s departure for Manila.
Ms Arroyo is to attend the UN summit and world leaders forum from Sept. 12-15.
She will be the first Filipino leader, the first Asian head of state and the first woman leader to preside over a summit of the UN Security Council.
She is expected to be back home on Sept. 17.
United Nations

Yorac dies of kidney

Yorac dies of kidney failure
Fe Zamora Inquirer News Service INQ7.net
FORMER Presidential Commission on Good Government chairperson Haydee Yorac died of kidney failure in Chicago on Tuesday morning, RP time.
Yorac's death was confirmed by her law partner Felicidad Aquino-Arroyo.
Arroyo said Yorac died around 5:30 a.m. at the St. Francis Hosipital in Chicago where she had been confined for a week. The cause of death was kidney failure as a result of cancer complications.
Arroyo said most members of Yorac's family was at her bedside when she died.
Yorac was 64.
Known for her fearlessness and feistiness, Yorac also sat as chairperson and commissioner of the Commission on Elections.
In a phone interview with INQ7.net, PCGG spokesman Nick Suarez said the the commission would hold a memorial service for Yorac.