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Detained but still running big-time

DAVAO CITY – Their leaders may be detained outside Maguindanao but they remain a clan to reckon with in Maguindanao, if we are to base it on the number of candidates running for election or reelection on May 10. The Ampatuans, Sinsuats, Sangkis, Mangudadatus, Pendatuns, Masturas, Midtimbangs, etc.. are fielding candidates for the May 10 polls but the Ampatuans have the highest number at 68, 50 of them carrying the same surname while the remaining 18 use Ampatuan as their middle name.

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Kamag-anak Foundations Inc.?

THE president’s husband has a foundation named after his official title – First Gentleman – and is listed as incorporator in the KGMA Foundation, as are sons Jose Miguel and Diosdado. KGMA also includes presidential brother-in-law and Negros Rep. Ignacio Arroyo, as incorporator.

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A watchdog in need
of watching

THE Provincial Mining and Regulatory Board (PMRB) acts like the environment department’s eyes and ears on the ground when it comes to how mining is being carried out in a particular, well, province. Among other things, a governor approves the issuance of a small-scale mining contract only upon the recommendation of the board.

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Jobs, mines, power, violence

ZAMBALES is not new to mining. Acoje Mining dug for chromite in Sta Cruz for 75 years beginning in the 1930s. In 1934, Benguet Corporation began to extract chromite from the mountains of nearby Masinloc town, and continued doing so for half a century. In San Marcelino town, the Benguet-Dizon firm leveled mountains for gold, easing up only when Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991.

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CSC, Ombudsman mum
on Arroyo SALNs

GETTING the responsible officials to talk about issues of compliance in form and in substance with the Statements on Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) law is sure to test anyone’s patience and stamina.

It took two weeks for Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to respond to a simple request from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) for an interview on the declared net worth of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

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The foggy financial history
of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

MULTIMILLION pesos of net growth in stocks, real assets, cash on hand/in bank, and other personal properties could not be accounted for in the statements of assets and liabilities and net worth (SALNs) that President Arroyo filed from 1992 to 2008.

With expert help from tax analysts and fund managers, the PCIJ mapped Arroyo’s financial history in the last 17 years she served as senator, then vice president, and finally, president.

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MWSS execs: On sick leave, out
of office, mum on Laiban

FOR a regulatory agency, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) seems given to secrecy, even when it is now bidding the biggest project of its 131-year existence.

Check out the PCIJ’s coverage of the Laiban dam project:

MWSS: Laiban deal with SMC ‘may or may not be best option’
Video: MWSS officials address Laiban project
Costliest dam project [...]

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‘Playground of the Gods’

IT IS Luzon island’s roof and highest peak, and the Philippines’ second highest, after Mount Apo in Mindanao. Now that it is almost summertime, Mount Pulag is bound to be at its busiest, having earned a spot on the itinerary of many nature-lovers and mountaineers.

But for the indigenous Ibaloi, Mount Pulag (also called Pulog) is where the gods live, rest, and play year-round.

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Of tribal leaders and dealers

IT MAY be just an unhappy coincidence that TVI’s activities in Canatuan began in 1997, the same year a mine-tailings accident occurred at the Marcopper Mining Corporation site in Boac, Marinduque. The mishap, which involved Vancouver-based Placer Dome, Inc, is still considered the worst in Philippine mining history. TVI’s projects do not seem to be challengers for that dishonor, but the company has nevertheless encountered one controversy after another in Canatuan, some 800 kms south of Manila.

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Young guns, young terror

In this issue:

Gloria’s inglorious record: Biggest debtor, least popular
The economy
Misplaced government spending worsens woes
‘Dubious’ oil price hikes hurt the poorest most
Romulo L. Neri: Can golf, realpolitik work at SSS?
Perspectives
That bumpy ride called democracy
First person: August 21, 1983
A million came for Ninoy as reporters battled with censors
On the 25th year of the Aquino assassination
Noynoy, [...]

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