MANILA: Malacañang said it wants to hear nothing but the truth from potential state witness Ruby Tuason when she appears at the Senate hearing on the multi-billion-peso Priority Development Assistance Fund scam today.
“Nothing but the truth, and perhaps, that is also what our people want to know,” Communications Sec Sonny Coloma said at a televised press briefing yesterday afternoon.
A former employee of former President Joseph Estrada, Tuason was among those charged before the Office of the Ombudsman for their alleged involvement in the diversion of Priority Development Assistance Funds to fake non-government organizations supposedly set up by detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.
Sri Lanka nabs boat people
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s police arrested 75 would-be asylum seekers yesterday, including nine women and six children, who were trying to leave for New Zealand illegally by boat, police said.
The group was arrested in the southern coastal town of Moragolla, the first large-scale arrest of nationals in months after Australia, long a favourite destination for Sri Lanka’s refugees, tightened its borders.
“These people were trying to leave illegally for New Zealand,” a police statement said, adding that they would be taken before a magistrate later that day.
The arrests came five days after Australia announced illegal boats had not reached its shores for 50 days thanks to tighter border patrols.
Lutfi is Jakarta trade minister
JAKARTA: Indonesia named the US-educated former head of its investment agency, Muhammad Lutfi, as trade minister yesterday, with the government entering its last few months before a presidential election set for July.
Lutfi replaces Gita Wirjawan who stepped down last month to focus on his campaign to become the presidential candidate for the ruling Democratic Party.
“My priorities will be one, to stabilise prices and reduce inflation ... and two, to boost exports,” he told reporters.
Agencies
