The Sandiganbayan today
found former President Joseph Estrada guilty of the crime of plunder. He was sentenced to reclusion perpetua or up to 40 years in prison. He was, however, acquitted in his perjury case. His co-accused in the plunder case, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Atty. Edward Serapio, were also acquitted.
Click here to read the Sandiganbayan Decision on the Estrada Plunder Case.
GMANews.TV reports that “the Supreme Court had allowed the live broadcast of the Sandiganbayan’s verdict on the P4.1-billion plunder case against former President Joseph Estrada…”
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines welcomed the development, saying a contrary decision would have been against the constitutional right of access to information.
The coverage the Supreme Court granted is still very limited but in responding favorably to the petition, it upheld the right of the people to information on such an important and historic issue and ensured the timely and speedy delivery of the information.
As in the issues of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, the High Court once again showed independence and adherence to our fundamental rights and liberties.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) today urged the Sandiganbayan to rescind its ban on live media coverage during the promulgation of the plunder case against deposed president Joseph Estrada.
“At the very least, we ask the anti-graft court to allow pooled coverage of the proceedings,” the NUJP said in a statement.
Below is a Technorati Where’s the Fire? (WTF) on Malu Fernandez. Technorati defines WTFs as “short blurbs that explain the buzz around people, things, or events—why the hot topics are so hot—and you can vote the best ones to the top.”
Society columnist Malu Fernandez of the Philippines, in her now-controversial People Asia article “From Boracay to Greece,†insulted overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) that she encountered in a plane trip to Greece.
Fernandez wrote that she “wanted to slash [her] wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them,†referring to the OFWs at a duty-free shop in Dubai, UAE. She also wrote that the OFWs were noisy and that her “Jo Malone [perfume] evaporated into thin air” while they smelled of cheap perfume brands.
Ellen Tordesillas’ blog reposted a report on the launch of “Trillanes, Paglingkurin!” movement, which included former Vice President Guingona and former UP President Francisco Nemenzo.
The group will do a nationwide campaign to exert pressure on the Arroyo government “to allow detained senator Antonio Trillanes IV to perform his duties as a lawmaker.” Trillanes, Paglingkurin! movement’s unity statement is reposted on Tinig.com, and the group could be contacted at trillanespaglingkurin@gmail.com.
Online news sources abs-cbnNEWS.com and GMANews.tv reported that Malu Fernandez has resigned and apologized over her People Asia article that insulted the overseas filipino workers (OFWs).
Anti-Malu Fernandez sentiments filled the Philippine blogosphere the past few weeks as a reaction to her controversial column “From Boracay to Greece” where she wrote that she “wanted to slash [her] wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them,” referring to the OFWs in Dubai.
The Filipino Press Club-Dubai, group of Filipino professional journalists from the print, broadcast and web-based media in the United Arab Emirates, has also issued a statement calling for an apology and disciplinary action against Fernandez.
“We strongly demand that the publishers of People Asia and Manila Standard Today to take full responsibility and do the right thing: give Ms Fernandez and her editors a disciplinary action and apologise to the people insulted by these articles,” the group said.
Congratulations to the winners of Digital Filipino‘s Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs [in the Philippines] for 2007:
