more bullshitism and the smell comes from sh!@.

Critic says his arrest a Palace retaliation

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A CRITIC of President Arroyo yesterday said his arrest on libel charges
last Friday was in retaliation by Malacañang for his exposure of big
time graft and corruption and his participation in the oust-Arroyo
campaign.

Pastor "Boy" Saycon, secretary general of the Council on Philippine
Affairs, said the service of the arrest warrant on him, at 6:30 p.m.
last Friday was also highly irregular in that warrants are not supposed
to be served shortly before the weekend.

Saycon, nonetheless, was able to find a judge, Selma Alaras of the
Makati regional trial court, last Saturday and a filed a bail of
P10,000.

Had a judge not been available, Saycon would have not been able to post
bail until Tuesday because of the weekend three non-working days.

The arrest warrant against Saycon, dated November 14, was issued by
Judge Rommel Baybay of the Makati regional trial court of branch 132.

The arrest order stemmed from a P10 million libel suit filed by Public
Estates Authority chairman Ernest Villareal.

In 2002, Saycon and other members of the group Plunder Watch filed a
case before the Ombudsman against PEA officials who undertook the
construction of the allegedly anomalous Diosdado Macapagal Avenue at
the Roxas boulevard reclamation site.

Saycon said he was the only one among the complainants who was slapped
with a libel suit.

Saycon was joined by PEA director Sulficio Tagud Jr., Bagong Alyansang
Makabayan, Gabriela and E-Just, among other groups, in the complaint
against Villareal, PEA general manager Benjamin Cariño and 24 others.

The Ombudsman has downgraded the case from plunder, which is punishable
by death, to a violation of the anti-graft law.

The Ombudsman said although there is evidence of a P530 million
overprice of the P834 million construction price, there is not enough
evidence to show that the overprice went to the pockets of the
officials. - Evangeline de Vera

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