It is just like one of those in the movies, the daring rescue of Betancourt and other hostages in  Colombia by the Colombian military intelligence agents. Agents posed as media crew and aid workers.

Rescue video shows duped rebels, elated hostages

By IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombian military intelligence agents posing as aid workers and a media crew flew to the jungle aboard a white helicopter, staging a mock humanitarian mission that rebels were told would ferry their hostages to another camp for talks on a prisoner swap.

The would-be envoys had honed their accents in acting lessons: Italian, Arab, Caribbean Spanish, and Australian English — “identical to Crocodile Dundee,” Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said Friday as he explained how the military duped the rebels into turning over 15 hostages.

Santos said military intelligence agents had infiltrated the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, so that guerrillas believed the hostages were being moved on the orders of top rebel leader Alfonso Cano for negotiations on a prisoner exchange. To play their roles, some soldiers wore Che Guevara T-shirts.

Video filmed during the rescue shows the hostages filing grim-faced toward the helicopter in a grassy clearing fringed with a coca field, then embracing and weeping with joy after they are aloft and realize they are free.

Presenting the video at a news conference, Santos said that Wednesday’s elaborate ruse intentionally mimicked two hostage handovers brokered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez earlier this year, when Venezuelan helicopters carrying International Red Cross observers picked up six hostages.

“In the last two handovers of hostages,” Santos told reporters, “there was always a cameraman sent by Chavez.”

The three-minute video presented at Colombia’s military headquarters showed the mission was modeled after the Venezuelan operations down to the red T-shirt worn by a supposed journalist, who poses questions to a rebel while hostages’ hands are bound with plastic handcuffs.

The guerrillas’ most famous hostage, former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, stands with an angry expression.

American Keith Stansell nears the camera.

“I love my family,” Stansell, one of three Americans freed in the operation, tells the cameraman. “Pray a lot.”

The local rebel commander, alias Cesar, cheerfully refuses an interview.

The video shows a line of rebels standing in the distance watching as the helicopter starts up. Cesar and another rebel came aboard the helicopter and, once airborne, were overpowered by the soldiers — a moment that was not filmed.

The final images on the video capture the hostages’ elation as they realize their captors are actually soldiers rescuing them.

Betancourt, the French-Colombian politician kidnapped in 2002, cries with joy and astonishment, and hugs William Perez, a fellow hostage whom she later credited for nursing her through jungle illnesses.

“We waited 10 years for you!” exclaims Perez, an army corporal who was captured by the FARC in March 1998.

A lawyer for Cesar, whose real name is Gerardo Aguilar, told The Associated Press that his client was completely hoodwinked by the operation.

Rodolfo Rios said his client, who is now jailed in Bogota, “only realized the deception when he was in the aircraft. … He also told me he was hit and that, after they immobilized him, they applied various injections.”

Paraded past reporters on Friday, Cesar wouldn’t say who had hit him. He had a black eye and bruises on his face.

A beacon and microphones were aboard the Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter, allowing those overseeing the rescue to monitor its progress, a U.S. official told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the subject’s sensitivity.

Santos said a U.S. surveillance plane was overhead monitoring the mission.

He denied reports in international media that Israel was involved in the operation, adding that it was “100 percent Colombian.”

“Not a single foreigner participated,” he said.

He also denied a Swiss radio report that Colombia had paid millions of dollars in ransom to rebels in exchange for the hostages.

The government does offer rewards for information leading to the arrest of FARC leaders, but in this case, Santos said: “Not a cent has been paid.” 

Captive for 6 years from the jungle of Colombia, Betancourt a former candidate for Colombia’s presidency is now in France; given a hero’s welcome led by no less than President Nicolas Sarkozy, she will “undergo medical exams Saturday at Val-de-Grace military hospital in Paris.” She said it’s very moving in her part to be breathing the air from France. ”France is my home and you are my family,” telling it to supporters and reporters who met her at the tarmac.

Freed hostage gets hero’s welcome in France

By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer

PARIS - “I cry with joy,” Ingrid Betancourt said. And she did. After six years as a hostage in the Colombian jungle, the former Colombian presidential candidate and French citizen flew back to her beloved France to be embraced Friday as an icon by the country that raised her.

A hero’s welcome — led byPresident Nicolas Sarkozy — greeted Betancourt from the moment she descended from the plane at the Villacoublay air base southwest of Paris. A dual French-Colombian citizen, Betancourt was campaigning for Colombia’s presidency when she was kidnapped in 2002.

Betancourt won a hug from Sarkozy — who called her “radiant” — and a kiss from first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Talking excitedly and smiling broadly, they were joined by Betancourt’s children, other family members and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

“It’s a very, very moving moment for me: Breathing the air of France, being with you,” Betancourt told supporters and reporters gathered on the windswept tarmac. “France is my home and you are my family.”

“I have cried a lot during this time from pain and indignation. Today, I am crying from joy,” she said, her voice choked and eyes moist.

Betancourt’s captivity caused widespread concern in France, and her supporters held candlelight vigils and marches around the country urging efforts to free her from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Her release Wednesday in an ingenious Colombian military operation along with 14 other hostages prompted celebrations around France.

Betancourt appealed to Sarkozy for help in freeing thousands of other hostages who remain in Colombia’s jungles.

“I still need you, because we cannot leave them where they are,” she said at later at a party in her honor at the presidential palace. “They are suffering, they are alone.”

Sarkozy said Betancourt’s rescue sends a message to people in difficult situations that “it’s worth it to fight. There is no such thing as inevitability.”

“All those who suffer, like you, throughout the world should know that … there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said in greeting her. “You are free, radiant, with your life ahead of you and surrounded by your family.”

Betancourt, her family and supporters later went to a party at the presidential palace staged in her honor Friday. Hundreds of people, some carrying Colombian or French flags and many with cameras, lined up behind police barriers around the Elysee palacein hopes of getting a glimpse of her.

She exhibited a sense of humor in describing her ordeal in the jungle. “There was no sun, no sky, just a green ceiling. I am very ecological, but no, that was too much,” she said, to laughter from the gathered supporters.

Betancourt was to undergo medical exams Saturday at Val-de-Grace military hospital in Paris, Sarkozy’s office said. It said the chief doctor in the French president’s office, Christophe Fernandez, already gave Betancourt a preliminary medical exam aboard the French government plane that carried her to France.

From the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI sent word Friday that he would be happy to meet with Betancourt as soon as his schedule permits. He had met with her mother at theVatican in February.

Betancourt spent much of her childhood in France and attended university at Paris’ Institut d’Etudes Politiques. Her own children — Melanie, 22, and Lorenzo, 19 — reached adulthood in Paris during her captivity.

Betancourt was reunited with her children in Colombia on Thursday. Interviewed byEurope-1 radio before her arrival in France, said she was proud of how her children had forged “extraordinary characters” in her absence.

She recalled humiliating treatment by the FARC, saying she had to wear chains 24 hours a day for three years.

“When you have a chain around your neck, you have to keep your head down and try to accept your fate without succumbing entirely to humiliation, without forgetting who you are,” she said.

Sarkozy made freeing Betancourt a priority the night he was elected France’s president in May 2007. The previous government of Jacques Chirac also worked for her release, and then-Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is a longtime friend of Betancourt.

Betancourt’s release was a big image boost for Sarkozy; even his rivals acknowledged that his diplomatic efforts kept up the pressure on Colombia to find ways to get her released.

But Sarkozy had been pushing for negotiations with the FARC, not a military raid, and his top aide said he was not informed of the operation that freed her until minutes before the first Colombian media reports about it emerged.

(Photo of a screen page from the website of the  FLDS)

Getting enough negative publicity after Texas authorities seized some 400 children and taken into state custody due to alleged abuse from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the sect surprised the world with the launch of a new clothing line. Women have “turned their skills into commerce and launched an online shop.” The idea is great for sound business, but what is really the motive behind, building a fortune on clothing industry or rebuilding a lost image?

Women from Texas polygamous sect launch clothing line

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The raid by Texas authorities on a reclusive polygamous sect in April and their seizure of 400 children amid allegations of abuse has had an unexpected consequence — the launch of a new clothing line.

Women from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who were called upon to make clothes en masse for the children taken into state custody, have now turned their skills to commerce and launched an online shop.

The austere dresses with long-sleeves and high collars, loose-fitting pants, long-johns and modest blouses worn by members of the sect are reminiscent of 19th century American pioneers and highlighted the sect’s isolation.

But with the children returned to their legal guardians following a court ruling in May, the sect’s members are turning their hand to providing their distinctive clothes to the general public — and the demand appears strong.

“We don’t know what to expect on demand but we have a flood of interest,” Maggie Jessop, a member of the sect, told the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper.

At the website, www.fldsdress.com, the women propose clothing for children and teenagers that “meets the FLDS standards for modesty and neatness” and assert that “each piece is made with joy and care.”

Among the items for sale is a “Princess” dress with long sleeves and wide pleats available in eight different colors, while the site’s founders are hoping to soon add recipes and songs.

The investigation into allegations of “spiritual” marriages of underage girls to older menat the sect compound continues, although no arrests have been made.

Officials said girls were being “groomed” to accept sex with their middle-aged “spiritual husbands” as soon as they hit puberty and boys were being indoctrinated to perpetuate the cycle of abuse.

 

(Photo courtesy of ABS-CBN)

With relatives of victims already tired and outraged with the slow pace of recovery operation, the Philippine government and owners of the ferry abandoned plans to bore a hole in the 24,000 -tonne vessel to pull out the bodies and agricultural chemicals threatening marine environment but instead refloat the vessel. Authorities however said that refloating the vessel would take about a month. Will this be a more practical and safest way to do it?

Here is an update:

Princess of the Stars to be refloated

Agence France-Presse

SAN FERNANDO - A Philippine ferry that sank in a typhoon will be refloated, officials said Wednesday, ditching a bid to use divers to retrieve hundreds of bodies and toxic pesticides some 11 days after the disaster.

Amid anger at the slow-moving recovery operation, the government and ferry owners abandoned plans to bore a hole in the 24,000-tonne vessel to pull out the bodies and agricultural chemicals that threaten the marine environment.

A salvage outfit hired to execute the plan, as well as Filipino and US military divers, have left the site off the central island of Sibuyan, Transportation and Communication Undersecretary Elena Bautista said.

“Subsea (the salvage firm) is pulling out because we will refloat the vessel,” Bautista told AFP here.

While tests showed waters have not been contaminated with the endosulfan cargo, there was concern containers could corrode allowing the chemical to leach and contaminate the area.

“The potential danger to marine life is a major factor in the decision,” a coast guard biologist, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

An air force helicopter circled the ship, whose bow is still jutting above the water, on Wednesday and dropped pink, yellow and white flowers in a ceremony to mark the end of the divers’ efforts to recover bodies.

Government officials were now meeting with representatives of ferry company Sulpicio Lines “on how they will go about refloating the boat,” Bautista said, giving no timetable for the operation.

The announcement further extends the recovery bid which has caused anger and frustration among relatives still waiting to confirm loved ones perished in tragedy and to bury their bodies.

Vice President Noli de Castro, who has been supervising the recovery, has said refloating the vessel and retrieving the bodies would take about a month.

Filipino coast guard and navy divers had originally tried to enter the vessel which is resting upside-down on a reef to find the bodies.

But poor visibility and strong currents hampered the start of the operation and then divers found the ship’s passageways blocked by debris.

The operation was suspended Friday with the belated discovery of the illegal cargo of tonnes of endosulfan pesticide which was deemed a health hazard.

The ferry sailed into the the eye of Typhoon Fengshen on June 21, ran aground and was sunk by huge waves as it tried to seek shelter.

Only 57 of the 850 passengers and crew survived, making it one of the country’s worst maritime disasters.

Usually it’s a woman who actually cuts her lover’s penis due to jealousy and for some other reasons. But this time it’s a jealous man who cut off his boyfriend’s penis which he regretted later. Better for him (the suspect) he has still his penis intact and useful but his boyfriend’s (victim) is gone forever flushed into a toilet bowl. Both have girlfriends, but what would the ladies feel now about them after the incident?

Jealous man cuts off boyfriend’s penis

Jealousy allegedly drove a man to cut off the private part of his boyfriend while inside a hotel along Quirino Highway in Novaliches, Quezon City.

Reports said the suspect, identified as Jose Feliciano, and his alleged boyfriend checked-in at the hotel early morning.

 

The two allegedly argued while having a drinking spree inside the rented room.

When the victim fell asleep, Feliciano allegedly took a knife and cut off the victim’s penis. He then flushed the severed penis into a toilet bowl.

 

“Lasing na lasing yung complainant pag gising niya duguan na siya putol na ari niya. Dapat magus-suicide daw yung suspect pero pinigilan lang ng complainant (The complainant was dead drunk. When he woke up, his penis had been cut off. The suspect was supposed to commit suicide, but he was prevented by the complainant),” police said.

 

Feliciano admitted committing the crime out of jealousy because he suspected his boyfriend of being interested in another person.

 

“Talagang ganun. Pagsisisi ay nasa huli,” Feliciano said.

 

Police said the suspect and victim’s relationship started a year and a half ago while they were both employed as mall salesmen. The two also have girlfriends, reports added.

 

Authorities are now preparing charges against Feliciano while the victim is still recuperating in a hospital. — With reports from Doland Castro, TV Patrol World

Sa ating mga Kristiano ang pakikipagrelasyon ng isang lalaki sa kapuwa lalaki, o babae sa kapuwa babae (same gender relationship) ay isang uri ng pagkakasala sa Diyos. Ngunit dahil permissive na ngayong ang lipunan, napapahintulutan ang mga ganitong uri nang relasyon na sinasamantala naman ng mga iba. Sa Amerika nga may tinatawag na same gender marriages at ito’y pinagtibay pa nga ng Korte.

Ang isyu ng putulan ng ari ay karaniwang nangyayari sa mag-asawa o nagsasama bilang mag-asawa na lalaki at babae (live-in partners). At ang tanging nagiging biktima dito ay ang mga lalaki. Kamakailan lang ay may pinutulan na naman ng ari na lalaki dahil lamang sa pagmamalabis sa kanyang live-in partner. Wala naman kasing mapuputol sa babae, kaya hindi daw dito patas ang labanan.

Ke sa patas pa iyan o hindi, isang kasalanan din sa batas ang manakit ka ng kapuwa mo tao.

Sabi nga nila, para mo na rin daw pinugutan  ng ulo ang isang lalaking pinutulan mo ng ari. Buhay man siya pero wala nang saysay pa ang kanyang pagkatao (pagkalalaki). Sira na rin ang kanyang mga pangarap at kinabukasan.

Kaya ikaw kuya mag-ingat ka nang dika maputulan ng “instrumento” ng kaligayahan baka tuluyan ka nang iwan ni Manay.

(Photo courtesy of Reuters)

It is difficult to believe that the United States is the world’s leading country in substance abuse. But World Health Organization researchers said so. This keeps the US drug enforcement agencies busy.

U.S. leads world in substance abuse, WHO finds

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States leads the world in rates of experimenting with marijuana and cocaine despite strict drug laws, World Health Organization researchers said on Tuesday.

Countries with looser drug laws have lower rates of abuse, the researchers report in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine.

The survey of 54,000 people in 17 countries found that 16 percent of people in the United States had used cocaine in their lifetimes — far higher than the next highest rate, found in New Zealand, where 4.3 percent of people reported having used cocaine.

More than 42 percent of Americans admitted to having tried cannabis, closely followed by 41 percent in New Zealand, Dr. Louisa Degenhardt of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia and an international team of colleagues found.

Americans were also the most likely to have smoked, with 74 percent saying they used tobacco at some time in their lives, although current smoking rates are far lower at 21 percent.

The next-highest lifetime smoking rate was found in Lebanon at 67 percent, with 60 percent of Mexicans and the 61 percent of Ukrainians having ever smoked.

“Globally, drug use is not distributed evenly and is not simply related to drug policy, since countries with stringent user-level illegal drug policies did not have lower levels of use than countries with liberal ones,” Degenhardt’s team wrote.

Alcohol was by far the most common substance used, the researchers found in their face-to-face interviews with people.

“Alcohol use by age 15 years was far more common in European countries than in the Middle East and Africa,” they wrote.

By the age of 21, up to 99 percent of Europeans, 92 percent of Japanese, 94 percent ofNew Zealanders and 93 percent of people in the Americas had tasted alcohol.

“Estimates were lower in the Middle East and Africa (40 percent to 63 percent)” the researchers wrote.

“In the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, and New Zealand, more than 60 percent of young people had started to drink by age 15 years,” they added.

“These findings add to our understanding of substance abuse world-wide, and suggest that drug use is still a major problem in this country, pointing to the need for more effective prevention interventions,” U.S. National Institutes of Health director Dr. Elias Zerhouni added in a statement.

The researchers said their findings shed light on drug, alcohol and smoking policy.

“The use of drugs seems to be a feature of more affluent countries,” they wrote.

“The United States, which has been driving much of the world’s drug research and drug policy agenda, stands out with higher levels of use of alcohol, cocaine, and cannabis, despite punitive illegal drug policies, as well as (in many U.S. states), a higher minimum legal alcohol drinking age than many comparable developed countries,” they added.

“The Netherlands, with a less criminally punitive approach to cannabis use than the U.S., has experienced lower levels of use, particularly among younger adults.”

 (Reporting by Maggie Fox, Editing by Michael Kahn and David Wiessler)

Retrieval operations for the bodies inside the sunken ship M/V Princess of the Stars will soon resume after the chemical shipment is taken out according to Transportation and Communications Undersecretary Elena Bautista, who is also the head of the government task force overseeing search and retrieval operations.

Water samples brought to the Department of Health in Manila for testing turned out negative from endosulfan contamination. This signals that retrieval operation may now be safe and can resume anytime soon.

Sa ngayon, itong Sulpicio Lines ay itinatanggi pa rin na may kaalaman sila na ang  chemical shipment ng  Del Monte Philippines, Inc. (at karga ng M/V Princess of the Stars) na endosulfan ay nakakalason. Kaya tuloy maraming tao ang naalarma sa pagbili ng isda baka ito ay huli sa karagatan malapit sa pinagyarihan ng sakuna. Ika nga ng iba, buking na nagmamaang-maangan  pa.

Divers finished with water sampling from Sulpicio ship

ABS-CBN News Online

Divers who went near the ill-fated M/V Princess of the Stars have taken the final water samples from the sunken ship to determine if the vessel’s endusulfan shipment is still intact, a transportation and communications official said Tuesday.

Transportation and Communications Undersecretary Elena Bautista, head of the government task force overseeing search and retrieval operations, said divers took the water samples on Monday by drilling holes into the cargo hold of the ship owned by Sulpicio Lines Inc.

“If it turns out negative from contamination, most likely the endosulfan inside the ship is still intact,” Bautista told radio dzMM.

She said the water samples will be brought to the Department of Health office in Manila on Tuesday for testing.

Experts from Subsea Services, a commercial diving company, started the inspection Monday morning. The company’s Filipino diving supervisor, Ruben Jeciel, led the divers.

Bautista said a total of four samples were taken, three of which turned out negative for contamination.

The official said other chemicals were present in the sunken ship. She, however, clarified that the endosulfan shipment is the only dangerous cargo.

Bautista said the government is speeding up the retrieval of the 40-footer container van where the 10-metric ton of endosulfan is kept. She said that based on documents from the Philippine Coast Guard, the pineapple pesticide was placed in a plastic bags sealed by plastic wires.

She said retrieval operations for the bodies inside the sunken ship will immediately resume right after the chemical shipment is taken out.

The task force halted the retrieval operations late last week after discovering the chemical shipment. Del Monte Philippines, Inc. (DMPI), the owner of the pesticide, informed the government about the shipment.

Meanwhile, Bautista admitted that she already has her “personal” opinion on who should be blamed for the sinking of the ship and the undisclosed chemical shipment in the Sulpicio Lines’ sunken ship.

She, however, declined to reveal it as she said the government would have to wait for the results of the Board of Marine Inquiry. She said the board promised to finish the inquiry in 15 to 20 days.

 

Sulpicio blames PAGASA

 

Sulpicio Lines on Monday filed a civil case against the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and two of its officials for “gross negligence and incompetence” in forecasting the path of typhoon Frank (international codename, Fengshen), which it blamed for the sinking of its ship.

In the civil case, the PAGASA, as an agency, as well as its director Prisco Nilo and chief weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz, are being sued for “gross negligence and incompetence” in forecasting the weather, particularly the projected path of the typhoon from June 20 to June 21.

Sulpicio Lines lawyer Arthur Lim said the agency first announced on the evening of June 20 that the storm was moving northwest, but at 5 a.m. of June 21 the agency announced the storm had moved westward.

In effect, Sulpicio Lines said that due to faulty weather forecasting by the national weather bureau, the ship’s captain directed the ferry towards the typhoon path.

…and also Del Monte

Also on Monday, the Sulpicio Lines said it was not aware that the “endosulfan, technical” shipment of the ill-fated ship was hazardous and toxic.

“There should be a complete disclosure on the part of the shipper. We have to rely in good faith because the shipper is the owner of the cargo (endosulfan shipment),” Sulpicio’s lawyer, Ma. Victoria Lim-Florido, told ABS-CBN’s “Umagang Kay Ganda”.

Florido said the shipper, Del Monte Philippines, Inc. (DMPI), described the toxic shipment only as “endosulfan, technical” and failed to disclose that the cargo was “toxic and marine pollutant.”

The lawyer added that DMPI’s customs document and transshipment permit did not indicate that the endosulfan cargo was a restricted chemical.

“As the shipper, the (DMPI) has the obligation to fully disclose the kind of shipment. The contract in the bill of lading should have a complete disclosure,” the lawyer insisted, adding that the Sulpicio Lines accepted the shipment “in good faith” even if there was no complete disclosure.

‘Impossible’

DMPI, however, insisted that it was ”impossible” for Sulpicio Lines not to know that the Princess of the Stars carried the endosulfan shipment when it capsized during the height of typhoon Frank last June 21.

DMPI said Sulpicio, as the carrier of the shipment, “has the responsibility for the endosulfan and all cargo” aboard the ill-fated ship.

“It is impossible for Sulpicio not to know that endosulfan is a toxic material despite having been presented with the required documents, as Sulpicio admitted on national television last Friday,” the statement said.

“Under the law, Sulpicio must exercise extraordinary diligence in ensuring that all cargo arrive safely at their destination,” Del Monte said.

 

 

 

True to his words to offer his victory to the typhoon victims, Manny Pacquiao will be giving relief assistance to victims of typhoon Frank.

Mula sa kanyang pagkapanalo, hindi nakalimutan ni Pacman ang kanyang pangako na aambonan niya sila ng tulong mula sa suwerting dulot ng kanyang pagkapanalo sa WBC lightweight boxing championship kung saan niya pinatulog si David Diaz, ang dating kampeon. Ano naman kaya ang tulong na maasahan mula sa pambansan kamao, “surprise, pagdating ko diyan” ang kanyang sabi.

Pacquiao vows to surprise typhoon victims with aid

(ABS-CBN News on Line)

Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao, the newly-crowned World Boxing Council lightweight champion, vowed to bring aid to victims of typhoon Frank that ravaged parts of the Visayas and Luzon last week.

 

The champ, interviewed on the telephone on ABS-CBN’s “Umagang Kay Ganda” morning show, however, declined to elaborate on what sort of help he will extend to the victims once he comes home later this week.“Surprise pagdating ko diyan,” he said.

 

Pacquiao reiterated his promise made during the post-fight press conference at the Mandalay Bay Hotel Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night.“Nagsalita ako na sabi ko, sabik ko na silang madalaw at pag-uwi ko diyan gagawa ako ng paraan para matulungan sila kahit papaano,” he said.

 

Insiders believe that Pacquiao, today’s top pound-for-pound fighter, got no less than $3 million after the ninth round knockout of David Diaz. The amount is aside from his share of the pay-per-view purse and product endorsements.

 

The boxer and the rest of his team are scheduled to arrive in Manila on Friday, July 4, after resting and scheduled engagements in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, California.

 

More than 3 million people from 15 regions were affected by the typhoon. The figure includes those who died after a passenger ferry sank off Romblon province at the height of the storm’s onslaught.

 

As of Sunday night, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said 718,457 families or an equivalent of 3,622,958 people were affected by the calamity. These victims came from 5,140 barangays from 395 towns and 53 cities in 48 provinces.

 

Typhoon damage to livelihood, infrastructure and agriculture was estimated to cost not less than P7 billion.

Nearly half of LTO enforcers suspended, grounded

By SANDY ARANETA
The Philippine Star

Defense in Campbell murder hopes for lighter verdict for suspect

By XENIA RIBAYA
ABS-CBN Baguio

(Update: Killer of US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell, Juan Donald Duntugan, was given a life sentence for murder)

Both the defense and prosecution panels in the murder trial on the death of US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell are bracing for a court’s upcoming promulgation of its verdict.

The verdict is expected to be read on Monday.

“We expect a conviction because of the admission of the accused, but it will not be for the crime of murder. It may be at most, homicide,” said suspect Juan Donald Duntugan’s lawyer, Atty. Pedro Mayam-o in a phone interview.

In case Duntugan would be found guilty of homicide he would escape the maximum penalty of life imprisonment and would be meted a 20-year imprisonment instead, as stated under the Revised Penal Code.

The prosecution, meanwhile, is confident. “We are leaving it all to God. whatever happens is the will of God,” said lead prosecution counsel, Atty. Raynaldo Agranzamendez, in a phone interview.

Campbell was declared missing on April 8, 2007. She was last seen alone, trekking through the rice terraces of Batad, Banaue, Ifugao. After ten days, her decomposing body was found buried in a shallow grave.

Coinciding with Campbell’s first death anniversary was the final hearing on the murder case of Duntugan at the Ifugao Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 34 in Banaue, Ifugao.

The defense presented their last witness, Police Officer 3 Arnold Daluyon, uncle of Duntugan who purportedly helped in the latter’s surrender to police officials.

After Duntugan surrendered to the authorities, he admitted killing Campbell stating that he thought she was his neighbor Emiliano Blas. Duntugan said he thought Blas, who he said was his enemy, was ready to attack him.

Presiding Judge Ester Piscoso-Flor of RTC Branch 34 then gave both the defense and prosecution panels 30 days to file their respective summary of the evidence presented in the trial.

(Photo courtesy of Solar Sports)

“What a masterpiece,” ang sabi ni President Arroyo sa galing, tapang, at bilis ni Pacman nang patumbahin niya sa ika-siyam na round ang kanyang kalabang American Mexican lightweight boxing champion na si David Diaz. Apat na ang koronang nakamit ni Manny Pacquiao sa boxing. Masaya na naman ang mga Pilipino sa pagkapanalong ito ng tinatawag na pambansang kamao. Talagang kakaiba ang galing nitong pinoy boxer na ito na noon pa man ay sinabi nang tatalonin niya si Diaz. Ang tanong, sino ang susunod na susubok sa kanyang galing sa boxing?  

Pacquiao wins WBC lightweight belt, makes history

By DENNIS GASGONIA
and ROY MEDINA

abs-cbnNEWS.com

Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao made history by knocking out Mexican-American David Diaz in the ninth round, winning his fourth title before a jampacked crowd at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

Pacquiao sent a battered Diaz down the canvas 2:24 in Round 9 to snatch the WBC lightweight title, thus becoming the first Asian to win four titles in four different divisions.

Interviewed after the fight, Pacquiao said he was impressed with Diaz.

“I’m very surprised. You know, Diaz, I think he’s the toughest opponent that I’ve had…and I’m very surprised that he kept a lot of strong punches and power punches,” Pacquiao said.

Asked if he will stay at lightweight, the champ said: “It depends on Bob’s decision. I can fight 140 or I can fight 135 lbs.”

For his part, Bob Arum, the promoter of the “Lethal Combination” fight card headlined by Pacquiao and Diaz, said the strict regimen he and chief trainer Freddie Roach imposed on Pacquiao paid off.

Arum said that at the onset, he and Roach decided to keep Pacquiao in the gym in Los Angeles, California, to train for the fight instead of opting for a longer stay in the Philippines.

“No fight, no training in the Philippines anymore. Look at the shape he’s in, look at the punches he threw,” Arum added.

The Top Rank big boss added that he and Roach are also concerned with Pacquiao’s activities outside the ring, especially immediately before a scheduled match.

“We do. That’s why Freddie and me beat the hell out of him,” Arum said of Pacquiao’s post-fight dates in the past, which included politics and entertainment.

Pacquiao ran for a congressional seat in his native General Santos City in the Philippines in the May 2007 elections. He lost.

Aside from politics, the champ also hosts a weekly television show.

Another notch

 

Before winning the lightweight title, Pacquiao won the WBC super featherweight and flyweight belts and the IBF super bantamweight crown. He also held Ring Magazine’s super featherweight title.

The Filipino’s date with history was unquestioned during the fight, as he outclassed a slower Diaz throughout the match.

Pacquiao was the clear aggressor starting from the opening round as he launched a vastly improved right hand against Diaz.

By Round 4, Diaz already had a puffy left eye and cut on the bridge of his nose. In Round 5, his right brow was badly bleeding.

In Round 6, referee Vic Drakulich had to temporarily stop the fight to have the ringside doctor check on Diaz’s wound.

Pacquiao continued to punish the Mexican-American in the succeeding rounds, until he caught Diaz with a one-two to the chin some late in Round 9.

The Filipino’s left fist sent the champ to the canvas face first.

The fight ended with Diaz lying flat on the canvas.   

Pacquiao’s record improved to 47-3-2 with 36 victories by knockout. Diaz, meanwhile, suffered his second career-loss against 34 wins.

Before the fight, most analysts saw the Filipino having the edge over Diaz in terms of skills, speed and punching power.

However, speculations about his added weight spread as observers expressed concern on how it would affect his performance inside the ring.

Pacquiao was a super featherweight (130 pounds) when he won the division’s WBC crown from Juan Manuel Marquez on March 15. He immediately climbed to lightweight (135 pounds) to challenge Diaz.

The Filipino has been dubbed “The Mexi-cutioner” for his successive victories against Mexican fighters in his last fights.

Diaz is a Mexican-American born and raised in Chicago, Illinois.