Bong seeks to rejoin Senate as Lakas-CMD candidate
“Pogi” is staging a political comeback. Detained since 2014 for allegedly pocketing P224.5 million of his pork barrel allocations, former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. is seeking to rejoin the Senate in next year’s midterm elections, former Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez said on Friday. Romualdez, president of the Lakas-CMD party, said Revilla will be running under their party, which the former senator also heads as its incumbent chair. “This decision was reached after a series of consultation with his family, close friends, constituents and political leaders,” Romualdez said. Despite his indictment for plunder and graft charges, Revilla’s “integrity and honesty” would help him retake his previous seat in Senate, Romualdez said. Witnesses claimed Revilla was known as “Pogi” in the financial ledgers of suspected pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles. —MARLON RAMOS
DFA has ‘very rough draft’ of proposed WPS joint exploration
Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday said he already had a “very rough draft” of the proposed agreement between the Philippines and China for the joint exploration of the West Philippine Sea (WPS). “I have [the] latest, very rough draft with me today, just outlining some of the basic principles,” Cayetano said on the sidelines of an interagency meeting on overseas Filipino workers concerns at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). He said he would be consulting a law expert on oil and gas deals and Malacañang lawyers, such as Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Presidential Chief Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, “for the constitutional side” of the proposed agreement before asking his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, “about their side.” Cayetano expected Wang to visit the country this month. “We’re trying to rush the framework so that if it’s acceptable to both sides, then even an agreement in principle . . . will be a giant step,” Cayetano said. —JEROME ANING
President ‘won’t run out of appointees’ if 8 execs seek election
The Duterte administration will continue to run smoothly even if eight or so Cabinet members decide to run in the 2019 midterm elections, according to Malacañang. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said there would be no power vacuum in the executive branch, particularly in agencies headed by officials who had signified their intention to throw their hat in the political ring. “The President will not run out of appointees. For every Cabinet official that leaves, there’s probably a hundred people interested in one post,” Roque said at a press briefing. “There will not be a shortage of individuals to fill in the slots to be vacated by Cabinet members who are seeking elective office,” he added. Roque made the statement after Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar revealed on Thursday that seven to eight appointees of the President might run in next year’s elections. —JULIE M. AURELIO
Duterte dismisses claims Davao-based businessman into drugs
President Rodrigo Duterte has cleared a Davao City-based businessman who was allegedly being linked to the illegal drug trade. The President said that Michael Yang, owner of the Davao City Los Amigos shopping center, could not be linked to the illegal drugs, citing Yang’s connections to Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. “This Michael Yang, they say he’s a drug addict . . . He’s always with Ambassador Zhao. But you can’t fool that ambassador because he’s from the military. That’s nonsense,” the President said during a dinner he hosted for alumni of the Philippine Military Academy in Malacañang. —JULIE M. AURELIO