No Christmas furlough for Arroyo, et all (abs cnb news 2:28pm)
Former president GMA and  3 other co-accused in a plunder case will remain in detention during the holidays after the Sandiganbayan junked their request for a Christmas furlough.

Dzmm reporter:
> inakusahan ng united nationalist alliance si dilg sec mar roxas ng pang aagaw ng kapangyarihan kaugnay ng suspensyon kay cebu gov gwen garcia.
> ayon kay una sec gen toby tiangco na dahil sa suspension order hahalili rito ang vice gov na si agnes magpale ng liberal party.
> binigyang diin ni tiangco na malinaw itong pang aagaw sa kapangyarihan ni garcia.

ISSUE: INTERVIEW WITH REP. TOBY TANGCO (12:50-12:53 pm) DATELINE PHILIPPINES ANC) TJ Manotoc/Gigi Grande - This is definitely a power grab; it's so obvious. You don't have to read between the lines; the lines are so clear. LP would want to benefit from Gov. Garcia's suspension.

anc: just in: sandigan denies xmas furlough for cgma.

Holduper: Pili ka, wallet mo o pasabugin utak mo?

P-noy: Ikaw na bahala..basta pareho yang walang laman!

INQUIRER: Malaysia gaming firm threatens to sue PCSO - Philippine Gaming Management Corp. (PGMC), the local gaming unit of Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya, has accused the state-run PCSO of working relentlessly to bring down the Malaysian-led company.  PGMC legal counsel Jose Bernas accused the PCSO management of favoring a rival local lottery equipment provider at PGMC's expense.

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GMA NEWS: The booming PHL's missing link - foreign investors Guillermo Luz poked holes in the Philippines' fairytale economic revival.
- While foreign funds have poured into Philippine assets this year, driving the main stock index up around 30 percent to a succession of record highs and lifting the peso, foreign direct investment (FDI) remains embarrassingly low.

PEOPLES JOURNAL: LINGAYEN-DAGUPAN Archbishop Socrates Villegas yesterday said the controversial Reproductive Health bill would be a moral time bomb wrapped as a Christmas gift if President Benigno Aquino signs it into law. Villegas said the proponents of the RH bill may have won through the tyranny of numbers but it does not mean that they are right. "It is only a matter of  time and then we will see more violations of "Thou shall not kill" and "Thou shall not commit adultery" among our families, our youth and children," the prelate warned.

ABS-CBN NEWS: PHILIPPINES IN GLOBAL TOP 10 'DIRTY MONEY' LIST - Total illicit outflows increased by 11 percent from the prior year, Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-based group that campaigns for financial accountability, said in its latest report released on Monday. "Astronomical sums of dirty money continue to flow out of the developing world and into offshore tax havens and developed country banks," said Raymond Baker, director of Global Financial Integrity. All the countries in the top 10, which this year saw India, Nigeria, the PHILIPPINES and Nigeria joins the ranks, face significant problems with CORRUPTION, and in most there are vast gaps between rich and poor citizens as well as internal security problems.

TEDITORIAL: The burden of proving the threat of the bill articulated by the Church shifts to government to realize the promise of the bill that pushing contraception harder will quicken a decline in population already evident and give everybody a high standard  of living as a result. The proposition will be put to the test that MORE PEOPLE mean LESS PROGRESS and more progress demands less people even if Germany conquered Europe 2 times by having the HIGHEST BIRTH RATE, and today with the biggest population, DOMINATES the economy of all Europe. The offensive will shift to the Church and the defense to government. Once implemented, every day that passes, it will be legitimate to ask, DID YOU STOP A BIRTH LAST NIGHT? And are you therefore RICHER THIS MORNING?

ANC: jobless growth: while economy jumped to 7.1%, unemployment rose to 6.8%. jobless Filipinos now 2.76 million, up from 2.64. people with jobs fell to 37.7 million from 38.6.

GMA NEWS TV Kape at Balita: CBCP supports Arroyo petition for Christmas furlough. Bishop Reyes asks that Arroyo's anti-RH vote won't be use against her.

INQUIRER: GOV'T DEBT RISES BY 2% IN OCTOBER
The government's debt stock reached P5.36 trillion in October, rising by P146.3 billion, or 2.8 percent, from the September level, largely due to a net issuance of domestic securities as well as the sustained strength of the peso. Also, the amount of outstanding obligations as of the end of October was 9.4 percent, or P461 billion, higher than the level posted in the same month of 2011. And if the burden were to be spread among the 96 million Filipinos in the country today, based on the National Statistical Coordination Board's account, each person would have been saddled with a debt burden of P55,827.

ABANTE: ARNOLD CLAVIO: Sa ilalim ng Arroyo Administrasyon, bilang saradong katoliko, nangako sa dating Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sa harap mismo ni Pope John Paul II sa Vatican na 'di niya susuportahan na maipasa ang RH bill nang tyansa ng RH bill nang maluklok si Pangulong Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III. Sa taas at lakas ng kanyang popularidad, maraming politiko ang nagbaligtaran. Dagdag pa na kaalyado ng Pangulo ang ilang party-list, tulad ng Akbayan, na nagsusulong sa RH bill. Naninindigan pa rin ako na walang karapatan tayong nabubuhay ngayon sa mundong ito na panghimasukan o pakialaman ang buhay ng susunod na henerasyon. May karapatan silang mabuhay!

BUSINESSWORLD: PROF BEN DIOKNO
I know that in addition to poor budget prioritization, there is a problem with Executive Department's poor 'absorptive capacity' (a.k.a. incompetence). I know that public-private partnership (PPP) initiatives have not moved because of deeper and more complicated problems, such as restrictive constitutional provisions which discourage foreign direct investments, lack of credibility, policy inconsistency, and failure to honor contracts.

BUSINESSWORLD: THE PHILIPPINES accounts for one of the highest amounts of ILLEGALLY TRANSFERRED MONEY among developing countries, an international advocacy group found. In a study conducted by GLOBAL FINANCIAL INTEGRITY (GFI) released  yesterday, the Philippines ranked SIXTH OUT of 143 developing countries in terms of CUMULATIVE ILLICIT FINANCIAL FLOWS.

BUSINESSWORLD: UNEMPLOYMENT AT 6.8%; 2.8M WITHOUT JOBS
Unemployment was higher than the 6.4% recorded a year earlier, data from the quarterly Labor Force Survey of the National Statistics Office showed. In absolute terms, the number of jobless Filipinos as of October was 2.8 million, the same as July's but up from the 2.6 million a year ago. GDP (gross domestics product) was high but the pattern of growth is not job intensive. It is worrisome because we are not creating jobs," said Rene E. Ofreneo, director of the Center for Labor Justice.

INQUIRER BREAKING NEWS: Ombudsman presses graft raps vs Padaca - Dec 19, 2012, 5:38 AM - The Office of the Ombudsman is pressing for the prosecution of Comelec Commissioner Ma. Grace Cielo Padaca for alleged graft and malversation when she was Isabela governor, and is opposing Padaca's motion invoking her immunity from suit.

TRIBUNE: House Speaker Feliciano "Sonny" Belmonte yesterday expressed support to the petition of former President now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for a two-week Christmas furlough. At a press briefing, Belmonte bared he does not object to Arroyo's motion for temporarily release from detention to spend the Christmas season with her family and constituents in Pampanga. "It's only for a few days," said Belmonte as he pointed out that she will be "under guard" anyway.

Aksyontv: cbcp favors Christmas furlough for pampanga rep gloria arroyo; cbcp chairman bishop gabriel reyes said she deserves it as she served the country; bishop reyes said politics and money ensured rh bill passage.

CBCP FORUM: BISHOPS SUPPORT XMAS FURLOUGH FOR GMA - Catholic bishops have expressed support to the move of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for a Christmas furlough. In the Catholic Bishop's Conference (CBCP) Forum, Antipolo City Bishop Gabriel Reyes, Chairman of the CBCP's Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, said the Sandiganbayan should allow Arroyo to spend Christmas and New Year with her family since she is a former president and she did many good things to the country.

INQUIRER: The fight isn't over yet, so said Sen Pres Juan Ponce-Enrile just hours after the Senate passed the Reproductive Health bill on third and final reading Monday night. "Itong pangyayari ngayong gabi e palagay ko hindi ito ang hangganan ng paligsahan dito sa issue na ito," he said. "Meron pang third stage yan. Yung bicameral conference committee kaya abangan."

ABS-CBN: Mikey noted that there was a lower population growth rate during the Arroyo administration, which espoused birth spacing. "This, without my mother pushing for artificial birth control as had been done in previous years. Rather, she focused on responsible parenthood, respect for life, birth spacing, female education and empowerment and informed choice. She emphasized informing about modern natural family planning to correct the bias in previous years which taught only artificial birth population," he said.

ABS-CBN: Former Pres Gloria Macapagal Arroyo cast her vote against the Reproductive Heath (RH) Bill when it was put a vote on 3rd reading at the House of Rep. Her vote was relayed by her son, Ang Galing Pinoy Rep. Mikey Arroyo, who likewise voted no. The youngest Arroyo,  Dato Arroyo of Camarines Sur's 2nd district, also voted no. In explaining his negative vote, Mikey Arroyo read his mother's position on the bill, which Mikey adopted as his own. Mikey said, "She wishes to vote NO, and I adopt her explanation as my own."

(8:20-8:22 SRO DZMM) NEWS BY JON IBANEZ
REP. MIKEY ARROYO, NANINIWALANG HINDI NA KAILANGAN NG RH BILL PARA MARESOLBA ANG PROBLEMA SA KAHIRAPAN SA BANSA. ARROYO, SINABING NAGING MATAGUMPAY ANG KANIYANG INA NOONG PRESIDENTE PA ITO NA MAPABABA ANG PAGLOBO NG POPULASYON NG WALANG RH BILL. REP. MITOS MAGSAYSAY, SINABI NAMAN NA 25 KONGRESISTA NA BUMOTO KONTRA RH BILL NOONG SECOND READING ANG HINDI NA DUMALO SA IKATLO AT PINAL NA PAGBASA DAHIL UMANO SA PULITIKA AT PANANAKOT NG LIDERATO NG KAMARA PARTIKULAR NI REP. NEPTALI GONZALES II NA NAGBIGAY BABALA SA MGA KAPARTIDO NITO NA HINDI SUSUPORTA SA NATURANG PANUKALA.