Tribune Stories

GMA panics, calls on NBI to destroy whistleblowers

STEPS TAKEN TO DISCREDIT ARCHBISHOP, OPPOSITION SENATORS

The recent testimony before the Senate panel investigating the illegal numbers racket and the corruption accompanying it by whistleblower Wilfredo Mayor, a self-confessed jueteng operator, so unnerved President Arroyo that she had quickly given her National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) chief, Reynaldo Wycoco, orders to start discrediting Mayor, the Dagupan Archbishop, Oscar Cruz and even the opposition senators who claim to have their own set of witnesses to corroborate Mayor's statements.

This was disclosed to the Tribune yesterday by an NBI source, who spoke under strict anonymity conditions.

But the archbishop yesterday said the list of personalities whom his witnesses are ready to link to the jueteng payoffs will go "higher and higher," stressing that the list "includes national figures."

Palace, DoJ bent on scuttling jueteng probe

Employing fear and intimidation to frighten the potential witnesses into backing off from testifying before the Senate panel to prevent them from causing more damage to President Arroyo and her family members as well as her officials who may be in on the jueteng take, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez yesterday declared that whistleblower Wilfredo Mayor, a.k.a. Boy Bicol, who, under oath linked the presidential son, Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo and hinted at the presidential spouse's link to jueteng payoffs, cannot be granted immunity from criminal suit, despite the Senate's assurance of immunity.

Threats and spins One can easily tell when the Estrada defense team scores victories in the plunder case.

Elegance in the smallest detail I have always wondered why a woman, the finicky Filipina in particular, takes up so

Guns blazing, 20 men rob Malate bank; 2 wounded Twenty heavily armed men clad in fatigue uniforms stormed a bank in Malate, Manila and carted away almost P2

Tanguilig out to disrobe Davadilla ALAMINOS CITY — Knowing Rhyan Tanguilig's penchance for big finishing kicks, this may be the proverbial calm before the storm.

GMA 'disappointed' over corruption in GSIS, AFP Apparently tired from the series of issues that have been rocking the Arroyo administration, President Arroyo's spokesman yesterday said the Chief Executive was saddened by the results of a survey which stated that the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are

BIR wants cut in refunds, Meralco seeks deferment The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has ordered Lopez utility firm Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to withhold 25 percent of refunds due industrial and commercial customers with active accounts and 32 percent on refunds for customers with terminated accounts as income tax, according to a Meralco official.