PNoy names former colleague as new SC justice

President Benigno Aquino III has appointed a former colleague in a security agency as the new associate justice of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court received the appointment papers of Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes on Friday morning.

Justice Bienvenido Reyes

Reyes fills up 1 of 2 vacancies following the retirement last June of Associate Justices Conchita Carpio Morales and Antonio Eduardo Nachura. Reyes and the President worked together in Best Security Agency Inc. (BSA), a security agency business Aquino put up with his uncle Antolin Oreta.
Reyes had disclosed to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) that he served as BSA finance manager from 1987 to 1990 during the term of Aquino's mother, former President Corazon Aquino.

The President met with MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad

President Aquino left the country without fanfare last Thursday and held a secret meeting with the leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Japan in a bid to hasten the peace process in Mindanao.

The President met with MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ibrahim for two hours in a Tokyo hotel and obtained commitment to forge a peace agreement within his term, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) announced Friday.

But Professor Marvic Leonen, government peace panel chairman, said President did not meet with Murad in Japan in his capacity as head of state but as Commander-in-Chief to show the Aquino administration’s sincerity in forging a peace agreement with the MILF within his term.

Gloria Arroyo now recuperating

Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is recuperating in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Global City, Taguig City, after going through a risky but successful surgery to repair her damaged cervical spine.

Doctors said the former President had to be confined at the ICU to ensure that there would be no problems arising from the surgery. They said Mrs. Arroyo would have to stay in the ICU until they are sure that there would be no more complications arising from the surgery.

Friday night, Mrs. Arroyo’s doctors declared the surgery had been completed successfully, and that the confinement in the ICU was only meant to ensure the full recovery of the patient after a long, risky surgery.

Mrs. Arroyo was taken to the hospital last Monday after she felt pain in her neck caused by the damaged cervical spine.

Palace exec: Let's wait for PNoy announcement on new Ombudsman

Malacañang kept mum Monday on reports that President Benigno Aquino III has chosen retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales as the next Ombudsman.

In a radio interview, Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ramon Carandang asked the public instead to wait for Aquino to make his formal announcement.

"Tingnan na rin natin. Sabi nga ni Pangulong Aquino sa media noong nakaraang linggo [na] malapit nang ianunsyo ang bagong Ombudsman. I'm sure in the next few days, meron din tayong marinig tungkol diyan," Carandang said in an interview on dzXL radio.

Palace urges Pinoys: Listen to SONA on Monday

Malacañang is urging Filipinos, including former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, to take time out on Monday to at least listen to President Benigno Aquino III's second State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte made the call over the weekend amid Arroyo’s reported plan not to show up at the House of Representatives when Aquino delivers the SONA.