FOR Blue Ribbon committee chairman T.J. Guingona to salvage a measure of credibility … the inquiry into the Malampaya Fund scam is necessary. If public and not party interest is to be served, the misuse of the fund generated from government royalties out of the lucrative natural gas project … should have had priority similar to the investigation into the Priority Development Assistance Fund ... anomaly.

…[I]f the Senate really wants to go deep into the root of corrupt practices in government, the investigation should be pursued to its conclusion and not halted midway to selectively condemn chosen personalities. Suspicions abound that the Malampaya Fund’s misuse will involve key personalities of the administration of [President] Noynoy which may reach all the way to the doors of Noynoy at Malacañang, which is the reason for the foot dragging of Guingona in holding a probe on it. In one of the Senate hearings, economic officials of Noynoy admitted that the collections from the Malampaya royalties that reached P130 billion was being used as a general fund and juggled at will. ... — (May 5)

Opinion

Editorial

Depopulating Gaza
Updated 07 Feb, 2025

Depopulating Gaza

The least feasible "solution" is the Trumpian plan for Gaza’s ethnic cleansing and occupation, which is a non-starter.
‘Pause’ in US aid
07 Feb, 2025

‘Pause’ in US aid

THE impact of the Trump administration’s decision to ‘pause’ all US foreign aid programmes, especially those...
Mobilising opposition
07 Feb, 2025

Mobilising opposition

POLITICS makes strange bedfellows. There has not, for quite some time, been a guest list as intriguing as the one...
No time left
Updated 06 Feb, 2025

No time left

Climate change concerns continue to remain a footnote as politics dominates national discourse, surfacing only when disaster strikes.
Karim Aga Khan
06 Feb, 2025

Karim Aga Khan

PRINCE Karim Aga Khan was a man who straddled various worlds and cultures. Beyond his role as spiritual leader of ...
Cotton production
06 Feb, 2025

Cotton production

PAKISTAN’S cotton crop is on the ropes. The crop output has been falling since FY15, when the country harvested a...