GMA TRANSFER TO HEART CENTER SOUGHT
THE lawyer of Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of Pampanga province asked the medical director of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) to expound the series of heart tests that the lawmaker has to undergo. In a two-page letter to Dr. Nona Legaspi, lead counsel Anacleto Diaz asked the VMMC director to provide the details of the examinations needed to be conducted especially the date and duration “which you may deem pertinent to our request to have [Arroyo] brought to another hospital.” Diaz asked the physician to disclose the information to the court in order for the defense to secure court permission before they transfer the Pampanga lawmaker to the Philippine Heart Center. Earlier, Diaz told the Sandiganbayan First Division that Mrs. Arroyo had to undergo two-dimensional echo, following the discovery of coronary ischemia, an ailment where the heart is not receiving enough blood through the coronary arteries. JOHN CONSTANTINE G. CORDON

QC HONORS TOP CORPORATE TAXPAYERS
Mayor Herbert Bautista of Quezon City (QC) has lauded the active participation of the local business community in QC efforts to become a 3G City within the next few years. Speaking at the big QC Business Night gathering at the Centris complex on EDSA and Quezon Ave., Bautista informed executives and representatives of big business corporations that Quezon City is now on the road to a 3G City status. The Mayor first mentioned this during his 2012 State of the City Address (SOCA) on October 8. Citicorp calls the 3Gs, the Global Growth Generators. “These are places where the next new economic miracles will take place, a city that will grow above expectations,” the Mayor said in his SOCA. In his speech, Bautista said that Quezon City now has the biggest number of registered businesses that no other local government unit in the Philippines can boast of. To-date, QC has more than 61,300 business enterprises. The number of new businesses in QC has grown by more than 12,000 every year. JING VILLAMENTE

GROUP CALLS FOR MILITARY PULLOUT IN TRIBAL AREAS
Human rights group Karapatan on Friday belied Philippine Army claim that a B’laan woman and her two sons were killed in a gunfight. “It was a massacre and not an encounter,” Karapatan sec. gen. Cristina Palabay said, belying the claims of Lt. Col. Alexis Bravo, head of the 27th Infantry Batallion of the Philippine Army that Juvy Capion and her two sons, John Capion and Pop Capion were killed in a gunfight “There was no gunfight between the military and Juvy’s husband Daguil as the military claimed,” Palabay said. The military said that Danguil Capion, a B’laan tribal leader, has taken up arms against the entry a mining corporation in the area, the Xstrata-Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI). “We call for the complete pullout of the 27th IB and other paramilitary groups from the Lumad communities. The military and paramilitary forces serve as company guards and they have harassed, threatened and intimidated the Lumad who are opposed to the SMI operation,” Palabay said.                      NEIL A. ALCOBER

TESDA SENDS DELEGATES TO GLOBAL SKILLS CONTEST
Sec. Joel Villanueva of the Technical Education Skills Development (Tesda) on Friday expressed confidence that the 16 national delegates who will compete in the Ninth Asean Skills Competition next month will bring the bacon when they get back to the country. “Keep the faith and go for the gold!” Villanueva told competitors. The delegates were present on Friday at the Tandang Sora Hall, Tesda Women Center at Tesda main office in Taguig City. To keep them in top shape for the international contest next month, Villanueva said that the competitors have turned offices, hospitals, and business establishments into training grounds. The 16 competitors are currently undergoing a three-week immersion in various establishments to practice and hone their specializations prior to the competition proper. NEIL A. ALCOBER

BICOL PARTY-LIST SCRAPPING DENOUNCED
LEGAZPI CITY: With the unified chant of “Bongkaras na Bicol, Oragon ka Baga [Rise up Bicol, you’re courageous]” thousands of Bicolanos from all walks of life stormed on the streets denouncing the Commission on Elections recent decision over the disqualification of Ako Bicol party-list. The protest rally participated by 7,000 Legazpeño children, parents, students, and local officials led by former city mayor Noel Rosal along with his wife incumbent Mayor Geraldine Rosal, AKB Representatives Alfredo “Pido” Garbin, Christopher Co and Rodel Batocabe. Most of the rallyists representing many of the Bicolano poorest of the poor families along with the AKB scholars walked the three-kilometer stretch from Quezon Ave. in the city’s downtown to Rizal St. up to Peñaranda Park in Albay District. AKB garnered 1.5 million votes in the 2010 elections, giving it three seats in the House of Representatives. RHAYDZ B. BARCIA