Palace has no objection to Enrile's extended
hospital detention
Malacañang said on Saturday it does not object to
the Sandiganbayan's decision to extend the hospital detention of Senator Juan
Ponce Enrile as he faces plunder charges over the P10 billion pork barrel scam.
“Thus far, wala naman pong objection. As in the
pork scam cases, we’ve always abided by the decisions of the handling court,
especially when it comes to detention," Deputy Presidential Spokesperson
Abigail Valte said in a radio interview in dzRB Radyo ng Bayan.
The Sandiganbayan on Friday granted Enrile's
petition to prolong his stay in a police hospital while his petition for bail
is being heard.
Valte said she believes that President Benigno S.
Aquino III understands the decision, considering the senator's advanced age and
failing health.
Doctors from the Philippine General Hospital have
recommended to the Sandidanbayan that Enrile, 90, be detained in a hospital as
he could suffer a stroke or a heart attack.
The court said that placing him in a regular jail
“would definitely endanger his life”. PND (ag)
President Aquino to meet with Secretary Pangilinan
over NFA chief’s resignation
President Benigno S. Aquino III is slated to meet
with Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization
Secretary Francis Pangilinan to discuss the resignation of National Food
Authority (NFA) Administrator Arthur Juan, a Palace official has said.
“Ina-arrange na po ng Private Office ‘yung
pagkakasunud-sunod ng mga magiging pulong at pag-uusap ng Pangulong Aquino. I
think that also includes the meeting that the President will have with
Secretary Pangilinan on the resignation that was tendered by Arthur Juan of the
NFA,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a radio interview
with dzRB Radyo ng Bayan on Saturday.
Juan tendered his irrevocable resignation on
Thursday amid extortion accusations made by a rice trader.
Pangilinan, said Juan, 68, cited poor health as
the main reason for his resignation.
Juan, former president of San Miguel Foods Inc.
and former head of Monterey Foods Corp., has been in office for only three
months.
He and his assistant, lawyer Patricia Galang, have
been accused by rice trader Jomerito Soliman of extorting P15 million from him
after his warehouse in Bulacan was raided and padlocked upon the discovery that
imported Thai rice was being mixed with animal feed and sold as “sinandomeng”
rice.
Secretary Pangilinan has said that he and the
President would meet to discuss the next steps to take following Juan’s
resignation. PND (ag)
