inside Philippine politics and beyond
By Raïssa Robles In January 2001, Joker Arroyo took the lead in asking the Senate impeachment court to subpoena Cathy Weir, then president of Citibank N.A., in order to produce records on then President Joseph Estrada’s dollar deposits. Arroyo was then a House senior prosecutor in Estrada’s impeachment trial. A grateful nation subsequently voted Joker Arroyo to the Senate [...]
My Exclusive By Raïssa Robles Almost a year ago, the Supreme Court led by Renato Corona affirmed the conviction and jail sentence of Rosalio Galeos for making “false” and “incomplete” declarations in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) for four successive years. Galeos’ case and that of his co-accused, former Naga, Cebu mayor Paulino Ong, are [...]
By Raïssa Robles This Year 2012, or the Year of the Black Water Dragon, one Chinese horoscope predicts that “something unexpected will happen.” That’s putting it mildly if applied to rapidly unfolding political events in the country. Long before the dragon sets foot on the celestial plain this February 4, two events have already occurred that would affect the [...]
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles Chief Justice Renato Corona was required by the SALN law to disclose starting 2003 that his wife sat on the board of a state-owned corporation, former Civil Service Commission chair Karina David told me in an interview. David was chair of the Civil Service Commission when Cristina Corona first joined the board of John [...]
Low taxes “unheard of” in the business, broker says My Exclusive By Raïssa Robles Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona may have been sold a luxury penthouse at a very special discounted price. He also may have enjoyed tax breaks on the same transaction, courtesy of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, sources separately confirmed to me. What’s wrong with [...]
Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, If I shall die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. - 18th Century Children’s Prayer By Raïssa Robles I couldn’t sleep last night thinking of the hundreds of children and their parents who were swept to sea in their [...]
By Raïssa Robles When obscenely rich and powerful Filipinos get into legal trouble, who do they turn to? Estelito Mendoza. When then President Joseph Estrada faced a Senate impeachment trial, who defended him? Estelito Mendoza. When former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently tried to skip the country ahead of an imminent electoral sabotage case, who went on her behalf to [...]
Read her signed counter-affidavit By Raïssa Robles Ramona Revilla is the only other living witness – besides girlfriend Janelle Manahan – to the murder of Ramgen Revilla on October 28, 2011. She submitted a 13-page counter-affidavit to the Philippine consulate in Ankara, Turkey last November 24. It is understandably short on details since the police has tagged her as an [...]
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles When Senator Antonio Trillanes was in detention for a capital crime, he was banned from using the Internet and mobile phone by a regional trial court judge. Trillanes appealed the ban but the government of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo successfully blocked this, as well as his request to physically attend Senate sessions. That was [...]
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