MISCEPY

Alcano off to hot start, crushes obscure rival

The Philippine Star
Ronnie Alcano made short work of little-known rival Carlos Talavera, scoring an 8-1 rout of the Guatemalan in the opening round of the 2008 World 8-Ball Championship Friday at the Amir Billiards Club in Fujairah City, United Arab Emirates.
Alcano, the title holder in the rich tournament, raced to 6-0 lead before yielding one rack then stringing up the next two to advance to the next round either against Chinese Liu Haitao and local bet Omran Saleem.
Elvis Calasang was the only other Filipino bet who started his campaign here Friday. He was playing Korean Ryu Seung Woo in Group B at presstime.
Ten Filipino pool masters made the tournament proper with Jeff de Luna, Warren Kiamco and Allan Cuartero finding them drawn together in Group F.
Roberto Gomez is in Group D, Antonio Gabica in Group E, Joven Bustamante in Group G and Dennis Orcollo and Israel Rota in Group H.
De Luna opens his campaign against former World Pool champion Ralf Souquet of Germany Saturday. Cuartero is up against Ibrahim Bin Amir of Malaysia and Kiamco against Amine Ouahbi in one of the toughest groups in the tourney.
Bustamante may have to hurdle Corey Deuel in Group B, Orcollo has to contend with Oliver Ortmann in Group H and Gomez has a tough assignment in Shane Van Boening in Group D.
Alcano, looking to become the first player to defend a major title in over a decade, displayed his pool savvy early against Talavera.
The Calamba, Laguna native was so impressive, losing only one rack in an alternate-break format.
Other players in Group A are Bernard Kiat, Mohammed El Assai, Naif Al Jeweni and Jianbo Fu.
The double-elimination format is in use in the group matches with four players from each group advancing to the knockout stage.

Two die in Sultan Kudarat landslide

By DEXTER GANIBE
ABS-CBN General Santos City
BAGUMBAYAN, SULTAN KUDARAT - Two miners were buried alive by a landslide in Barangay Bai Saripinang Wednesday.

Police identified the fatalities as Ernesto Abisado, 44 years old, of Ecoland, Davao City and Silverio Iwag, 39 years old of Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat.

The victims were unearthed shortly after noon Thursday by local folks. Their remains were found more than 300 meters away from their bunkhouse which was situated near a creek. They were found buried in mud, boulders and logging debris.

Barangay Chairman Vevidio Paez said that heavy rain poured over the mountainous areas Wednesday noon. After an hour of rains, they heard a thunder-like sound from the mountain.

Later in the afternoon, Paez received a report that there were two miners missing. This after a fourteen-year-old boy was rescued.

The boy, PJ Jimentiza of Tagum City, is also one of the miners for a small-scale mining company in the area. He was immediately rushed to the provincial hospital to recuperate.

The boy sustained bruises and wounds all over his body. These were caused by boulders, logging debris and mud brought down by the flashflood.

He was swept away and almost buried but was still able to shout for help.

Local officials advised residents living near creeks and rivers to vacate the area as rains continue to threaten in the region because of the intertropical convergence zone hovering over Mindanao island.

SC suspends oral arguments to hear govt motion to postpone

The Supreme Court temporarily suspended the scheduled oral arguments on the petitions of some local government officials and two opposition personalities to stop the government from pushing through with the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front .

SC justices went into an executive or in chamber session to hear and deliberate on Solicitor General Agnes Devanaderas second urgent motion to postpone the oral arguments.

An motion filed earlier this week by the solicitor general had been denied by the SC.

The SCs decision on the second motion to postpone would be announced immediately to the public.

The SC had began oral arguments on the petitions filed by local officials from North Cotabato and Zamboanga City led by North Cotabato Vice Gov. Emmanuel Piñol and Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat. Motions for interventions to the case filed by Sen. Manuel Roxas II and former Senate President Franklin Drilon were also granted by the SC.

The high court had earlier granted the petitioners' request for a temporary restraining order stopping the governments peace panel from signing the MOA-AD supposedly last August 5 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. With a report from Marieton Pacheco, ABS-CBN News

Lakers Pau Gasol is living a dream in the NBA Finals

Reuters
LOS ANGELES - The life of Pau Gasol improved dramatically in February when he heard the words, "you've been traded."

Then, for him anyway, came the best part.
"You're going to the Los Angeles Lakers."
Overnight, Gasol left the success-starved Memphis Grizzlies and landed with one of the most talented, glamorous and history-rich clubs in the NBA.
Just a few months after the trade, the 27-year-old Spaniard finds himself in the NBA Finals, facing the Boston Celtics, and living a dream.
"I'm having a lot of fun," Gasol said. "Winning to me is fun. Having an opportunity to win a championship is fun. That's something that I've been lacking in my NBA career."
The seven-foot centre with a soft shooting touch played seven seasons with the Grizzlies and never experienced the second round of the playoffs.
An All-Star in 2006, Gasol is widely credited with being a chief reason Los Angeles is in the NBA finals for the first time since the 2003-04 season.
Boston lead the Lakers in the best-of-seven series 2-1 with Game Four set for Thursday.
Memphis, meanwhile, finished 22-60 the last two years and has little hope of turning the tide anytime soon.
"Motivation is obviously a big factor," Gasol said. "It makes you play harder. You're playing for a purpose and that helps.
"Obviously being in LA, the exposure, is 1,000 times bigger than being in Memphis.
"People didn't notice me much when I was in Memphis because we probably had one or two nationally televised games.
"And when the games came on, people really didn't want to watch our game."
Among those attending the Lakers' game against the Celtics on Tuesday at the Staples Center were Hollywood heavyweights Jack Nicholson, Steven Spielberg, Sylvester Stallone and Eddie Murphy.
"I'm definitely enjoying this," he said. "I'm fortunate to have this amazing opportunity."

Coup accusation ‘stupid- Adaza

By ANGELO GUTIERREZ

Former assemblyman and lawyer Homobono Adaza has started to turn the table on a compañero, Raymund Fortun, who accused him of planning a coup with four former military officials.

At a press conference in Sulu Hotel on Wednesday, Adaza said it was Fortun who first mentioned a coup plan to him during a meeting sometime June.

"It was the lawyer whose name is unworthy of mention who whispered to me, since I was sitting by his side at dinner, that there was an ongoing plan to pull a coup by known personalities with active officers in the military," Adaza, who has been a lawyer for several critics of the Arroyo administration, said.

He said he thought Fortun's mention of the coup plan was a joke, "but when he asked me how much I thought it would cost to pull a coup, I thought he was serious."

Adaza quoted Fortun as saying, "Pañero I was informed that it takes four million to pull a coup, what do you think?"

The former assemblyman said Fortun was clearly lying when he told media and the police that he tried to extort $4 million from a Japanese client, a certain Motonori Sakuma.

He also denied meeting with the Japanese, as claimed by Fortun.

Adaza alleged that according to Col. Oscarlito Mapalo, one of the four former military officers who was arrested with him last July 2 in Mandaluyong City, it was Fortun who wanted Sakuma's two Filipino associates murdered.

The lawyer said Fortun "engaged" Mapalo's security service firm, the OMT Security Services, Inc., to plan the murder of Sakuma's associates, Manuel Copon and Emmanuel Galdo.

Copon is president while Galdo is vice president of the Island Country Resorts, Inc., where Sakuma is an investor.

Adaza said Mapalo refused to grant Fortun's request. "But there is no crime in planning a murder. Merely planning or inducing a murder is not a crime," Adaza said quoting Fortun as narrated by Mapalo.

Adaza said he has no immediate plans of filing counter charges against Fortun, but "surely there will be charges filed" not only against his lawyer accuser, but also against the police, including National Police chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr., and the officials of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

The former assemblyman also clarified that only two cases have been filed against him in court, one was the "proposal to commit a coup" before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 93 and another, an obstruction of justice case with the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 33.

He said an extortion complaint has been filed against him before the Department of Justice, which he said would be dismissed because the complainant was Asher Dolina, an official of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Adaza mentioned that instead of the Holiday Inn Hotel near the Robinson's Galleria mall in Mandaluyong City , the police mistakenly wrote in its affidavit that his arrest was made in Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Invitation to form revolutionary government
Adaza said one of the possible reasons for his arrest and the sudden coup allegation against him may be connected with his suggestion for the "organization of a revolutionary government."
The Alliance for Democratic Action , led by Adaza, came up with a pamphlet titled "Our Core Agenda" which was sent last May to heads of government, including the Office of the President, and leaders of the political opposition.

The pamphlet was an invitation for a "dialogue for change" instead of holding another senatorial and presidential election in 2010.

"We must reason together if we are to survive as a people," the invitation said. To survive, the group urged political leaders to "stop this insane preoccupation with the 2010 elections" and consider forming a "revolutionary government."

Adaza said the invitations were still unanswered, even by the political opposition.

"My message to the opposition is to sit down together and decide who is your leader. Other than the leader, create a program," he said.

Link to Adazas core agenda

'Fortun's failure'
Another reason behind the filing of cases against him, Adaza said, is Fortun's alleged failure to satisfy what his Japanese client wants.
Adaza said the Japanese client wanted their company's inter-island resort opened by May, with his full control. He said Fortun failed to do this.

"Fortun could not produce results to impress his Japanese client," he said.

Adaza said Fortun's accusations against him are "stupid" because it would be impossible for a lawyer like him and four ex-military officials to mount a coup against the Arroyo administration.

He added that the police, who had been claiming they have evidence against Adaza, should study the coup d'etat history of the Philippines .

He said not even Sen. Gregorio Honasan, with his band of young rebel soldiers from almost all the units of the military, was able to successfully take over the government through armed rebellion.

Adaza was referring to the several tries of Honasan to oust former President Corazon Aquino through coup d'etat. At least seven rebellions were launched, but Honasan's group failed.

No longer silent
Adaza, who openly fought the administrations of former presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada, said he had decided to retire from "fighting the battles of this country" thinking that younger ideologists would replace his vocal opposition against a corrupt administration.
"I did not choose this fight. I have been silent all these years," he said.

The former assemblyman, who was incidentally wearing red during the press conference, said he is again ready to go back to the arena of political debates and question the competency of the government.

"I have decided to be silent, but now they want me to raise issues and fight for the Filipino people," he said.