AS PREDICTED, critics of the administration will again blame the government kung bakit nakoryente sila sa testimony ng much-ballyhooed surprise witness—Leo San Miguel.
Now that San Miguel has not testified in accordance with the expectations of some senators, government detractors are accusing the administration of having “coached” this witness, just like what happened to Erwin Santos […]

NEWSPAPER HEADLINES have once more appeared to have already convicted President Arroyo in connection with the supposed agreement on what media claimed to be “exploration” of the Spratlys by China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Critics claim that this may be an impeachable offense committed by the President for violating the Constitution because of Section 2, Article 12, […]

AT THE BEGINNING of this year, even since late last year, both the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) were complaining that the tax-collection targets assigned to them for 2008 were unreasonably high.
They are concerned, after their failure to achieve their respective targets in 2007, that despite the continuous appreciation […]

Speech delivered by Senate President Manuel Villar at the awarding ceremonies of the Gawad Haydee Yorac, Meralco Theatre, March 4, 2008 
HAYDEE YORAC, whose memory we honor tonight with the presentation of an award in her name, was essentially a person for others. Her precious time, exceptional talents and remarkable energy were all devoted ultimately to […]

THE OPPOSITION keeps bloating the number of people who attended the Makati interfaith rally last week. At the height of the rally, the Black and White Movement, when interviewed over ANC and dzMM radio, placed the number of the crowd at 30,000, while in another radio station, the organizers of the rally estimated the attendance at […]

I AGREE WITH a newspaper article that says businessmen, as well as much of the citizenry at large, are shying away from political disturbances that only tend to disrupt the daily transactions and their lives.
A thrift-bank president said “there has been a slow decoupling between political disruptions and business. . .” and this is true, […]

THE SENATE inquiry into the irregularities that surrounded the $329-million contract for a national broadband network (NBN), which has received very wide media coverage, has unfortunately created public impression that the upper chamber of Congress has been neglecting its other mandate—that of lawmaking.
It is an unfortunate misimpression. In reality, the Senate in this 14th Congress […]

I AM AMAZED at how some people in media can twist statements just to make some headlines. A good example was my statement that if Secretary Romy Neri did really call the President “evil,” then Neri must resign.
Broadcast and print media later quoted me but omitted the preamble of my statement, making it appear that I […]

LET US CONGRATULATE the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), particularly the Large Taxpayers Service, for having collected revenues in excess of last month’s collection. It has been reported that this month’s revenue collection amounted to P32.06 billion, higher than its goal of P30.59 billion.
In fact, it appears that for the past several months, the collection has […]

HEADLINES IN MEDIA screamed that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) “raided” the office of Mr. Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. This is farthest from the truth.
I am sorry to state that these headlines are clear propaganda against the administration. In fact, when the story broke, I ordered the NBI to explain within 24 hours what that […]