Articles from the author

Many pro-administration senators have expressed their openness to the proposed charter change, a sign that President Gloria Arroyo is also for it, observers said.

Four senators called for an inquiry into the contents and implications of a trilateral anti-terror agreement signed by the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur last week.

A change of Senate leadership looms making it harder for President Gloria Arroyo to have control of the upper house of Congress.

The Philippines military intelligence chief has accused controversial opposition Senator Panfilo Lacson and his benefactor, deposed president Joseph Estrada of laundering close to a billion dollars from illegal operations to bank accounts in three countries.

Charges of illegal use of government funds and violation of the country's law on privacy are being prepared by the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Dishonest police officials earned an estimated P24 billion ($470 million) from sales of illegal drugs passed on to them by Hong Kong-based syndicates over the past three years.

The senate called for an emergency briefing from cabinet leaders regarding contingency plans for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Middle East, following the recent killing of the Israeli minister of tourism in a occupied Jerusalem hotel.

Senator-judge Renato Cayetano reaped a windfall of anywhere between $1.2 million and $1.4 million (P 60 to P70 million), and not just the $ 160,000 (P 8 million) he earlier reported from buying and selling the controversial Best World Resources Corporation (BWRC) shares in 1999, President Joseph Estrada's friend businessman Dante Tan claimed yesterday.