Detained opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said he wants to participate in the election of new Senate president, pro tempore, majority and minority leaders, asking a Makati City court to grant him permission to attend the opening session of the Senate on July 26.

Atty. Reynaldo Robles, Trillanes lawyer, filed a motion before Judge Oscar Pimentel, Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 148, who is hearing the coup attempt case against him and Magdalo soldiers linked to the Oakwood mutiny in 2003.

“Accused-Movant Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV most respectfully moves and prays of the Honorable Court to grant him leave of court to attend the opening session of the Philippine Senate for the 15th Congress scheduled on Monday, July 26, 2010 starting at 10 a.m.,” stated in the motion.

Robles pointed that Trillanes’ presence in the Senate session is “particularly crucial in the light of the fact that only 21 out of the 24 duly elected senators will most probably be present if he will not be able attend and/or participate in the said opening session”. (Anna Liza Villas)

House, Judiciary in peace panel
Sulu Rep. Tupay T. Loong on Wednesday called for the inclusion of members of the Legislative and Judiciary in the five-man peace panel being formed by the Aquino administration to fully address the “pressing” and decades-long armed conflict in the southern Philippines.

President Aquino should see the need to gain inputs from the members of the Congress and the judiciary to address the issue in a wholistic approach, saying that the Executive should not take all the responsibility in finding solutions to the Mindanao problem, he said.

“The three major branches of government should be included in the peace panel. We should also erase mistrust between Muslims and non-Muslims,” the Muslim legislator said.

He noted that when the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain was finalized and initialed by both government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on July 27, 2008, the Senate reacted negatively questioning its legality.

Learning from that experience, he said, every one should be consulted. (Charissa M. Luci)

Vehicle donations in Taguig
The city government-owned service vehicles that were reportedly donated to some 25 barangays in Taguig were doled out by outgoing mayor Freddie Tiñga “months before the elections.”

Thus, was the claim of Tiñga’s long-time ally, re-elected Vice Mayor George Elias, saying that the move was aimed to fully equip and improve the barangays’ services and to ensure that these services reach the grassroots level.

“The donations were done months ago, even before the elections, on the request of the barangay captains that they be given more autonomy,” Elias said.

“And as we can see, they were right in requesting for this, since they wanted to have the freedom to execute their own programs, and not be beholden to city hall,” he added.

Last Tuesday, the camp of Taguig Mayor Ma. Laarni “Lani” Cayetano cried foul over the alleged “wholesale donation” of around 200 city-owned service vehicles, leaving the new administration with no “wheels” of their own.

Lawyer Darwin Icay, spokesperson of the youthful mayor, gathered that the outgoing Tiñga administration facilitated the distribution of vehicles to 25 allied barangay leaders just before the 28-year-old Cayetano took over the post. (Ellson A. Quismorio)