Roach on Pacquiao-Mayweather bout: “The sooner, the better!”

Boxing trainer Freddie Roach said that if he could have his way, he’d pit his prized ward Manny Pacquiao against Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the soonest time possible.

He said fight fans have long been waiting for the bout to take place.

“Floyd calling us out is one thing, but there’s a lot of negotiation that goes along with him calling us out. But I think that his move is a positive step,” said Roach in RingTV.com.

He believes that shelving the fight for another time could cause boxing fans to lose interest.

“So I think that the fight will happen now. It’s just that it’s the sooner the better for me. I haven’t talked to Bob or Manny yet, but I’m waiting for a call right now actually,” said Roach.

Roach hopes that the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight will take place no later than 2012.

Meanwhile, Roach believes that Miguel Cotto and Timothy Bradley are strong contenders in Pacquiao’s list of possible opponents.

“I think that [Top Rank CEO] Bob Arum’s choices, to me, are Cotto or Bradley,” said Roach.

He said he’d rather pick Bradley for Pacquiao since the Filipino champion had Cotto beat in 2009.

“I’d rather go with Bradley, because the Cotto thing is probably going to end the same way, I think,” said Roach. (abs-cbn news)

Floyd Mayweather twits Bob Arum: ‘Call Schaefer, stop lying’

Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s tweet targeting Top Rank CEO Bob Arum.

Unbeaten American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. once again fired off a series of tweets, this time singling out Top Rank chief executive officer Bob Arum, the promoter of his rival, Filipino boxing icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao.

In his first tweet, Mayweather (42-0) reiterated that he is “ready to fight Pacquiao 5/5/12.”

“Bob Arum know the date can’t change, I have my guarantee,” he added.

Mayweather’s adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, announced last year that the fighter has blocked off May 5 as the date for his ring return. This was in jeopardy for a while as Mayweather was sentenced to 90 days in jail following a domestic violence charge, but his jail time was put off so he can fulfill his fight obligations.

The unbeaten boxer then instructed Arum to “call (Richard) Schaefer and Al (Haymon) and stop lying to the public.”

Schaefer is the chief executive officer of Golden Boy Promotions, while Haymon is one of Mayweather’s advisers. Golden Boy has promoted all of Mayweather’s fights following his May 2007 victory over Oscar de la Hoya.

Mayweather’s instructions are seemingly in response to Arum’s recent statements, wherein the Top Rank boss said he is “unsure” if Schaefer and Golden Boy will even be involved in the negotiations.

“Unlike Top Rank, that has a contract with Manny, we are involved. I don’t know if Schaefer is involved,” he said in a recent Boxing Scene interview.

Arum then said that he will only sit down and negotiate with an authorized representative from Team Mayweather, but that everything was ready in the Pacquiao camp.

“We’re all set. Pacquiao and Top Rank are all set. I went to the Philippines and made sure of that,” he said.

May 5th

Mayweather says he is “begging” for a fight with Pacquiao.

Mayweather also sent a tweet directed at Pacquiao, saying, “January 16th was Dr. Martin Luther King Birthday, January 17th is Muhammad Ali Birthday and May 5th is Pacquiao a** whooping day.”

“First They say I’m Ducking the Fight. But now it seems like I’m begging for the fight. What is going on?” Mayweather added.

Boxing fans have been asking for a mega-fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather for at least two years now, ever since it became clear that the two boxers were the best pound-for-pound boxers in the sport.

But negotiations have fallen apart over numerous issues, including Mayweather’s demands of random drug and urine testing.

Pacquiao recently said that he has agreed to all drug testing demands, but said Mayweather will have to accept a 50-50 purse split.

Pacquiao and his camp also prefers to fight at the end of May instead of May 5, for “economic reasons.” (abs-cbn news)

Analysts say prosecution was weak, unprepared

The prosecution was weak and unprepared. These were the common observations of legal experts who personally attended the second day of the impeachment trial against Chief Justice Renato Corona.

University of the East College of Law Dean Amado Valdez and lawyer Romulo Macalintal agreed that the prosecution’s failure to present documentary evidence without a witness to testify to their authenticity is a sign that they are unfit for trial.

Valdez said, “yung mga prosecutors wala masyadong practice, sila’y nasa learning terms ngayon.”

Macalintal, on the other hand said, “dito nakita yung kahinaan ng prosecution.” He added, “ang inaasahan masisimulan na ngayon ang trial, pero nabigo ang taong bayan.”

Macalintal also took notice of the indecisiveness of the prosecution on which articles to start with.

He said it’s mystifying that the prosecution members are the ones who asked for the adjournment of the session. He said, “prosecution pa mismo ang humingi ng postponement, gayong dapat sila ang may interes na mapabilis ang kaso.”

Macalintal added that in this situation, a pre-trial is important. It is in pre-trial where both parties agree on certain terms to avoid technical delays such as the order of presentation of evidence.

Valdez said, however, this is actually a win for the prosecution since they were able to force the impeachment court to re-arrange the order of presentation of the eight articles of impeachment. He said, “kala natin talong-talo na ang prosecution, pero nakuha nila ang gusto nila, which is to change the order of presentation.”

Macalintal forecasts more technical problems will crop up sooner.

He believes that the issue on the World Bank report would be argued heavily by both parties since it is not part of the original articles of impeachment. He foresees that this will be inserted by the prosecution during the trial.

Valdez meanwhile observed that the senator-judges showed their high respect to the presiding officer with their 14-6 vote. They agreed with Senate President and presiding officer Juan Ponce Enrile denial of the request of the prosecution. (abs-cbn)

Quezon City court defers arraignment of Mikey Arroyo, wife

The arraignment of Ang Galing Pinoy party-list Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo and his wife Angela for their tax evasion case has been postponed anew pending a resolution from the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The Arroyo couple is charged with tax evasion for failure to file income tax returns (ITRs). They filed a motion for the postponement of the arraignment since the DOJ has yet to  decide on their petition for review they filed last December 16.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue said the lawmaker did not file income tax returns for the years 2005, 2008 and 2009 while his wife failed to file from 2003 to 2009.ang

Quezon City Regional Trial Court branch 100 Judge Marie Christine Jacob also agreed to reset the arraignment to March 7 since the prosecutors did not express any opposition.

Mikey’s and Angela’s arraignment was also postponed last November because the party-list representative needed to travel to the United States for a semi-official business.

The couple, accompanied by their lawyer Ruy Rondain, did not grant interviews while they were at the Quezon City RTC.

Rondain maintained the innocence of his clients and said the House of Representatives was the one who filed the lawmaker’s ITRs. (abs-cbn)

Prosecutors can prove case without Corona kin, says Sen. Drilon

By David Dizon, ABS-CBN News
Sen. Franklin Drilon on Wednesday said the House prosecution team can prove their case against Chief Justice Renato Corona even without summoning Corona’s family to the impeachment trial.

Drilon said that insofar as the law is concerned, the Chief Justice cannot be subpoenaed because he cannot be made to testify against himself.

He said that Corona’s wife can also claim marital privilege and cannot be required to testify against her husband. He said the same privilege is extended to Corona’s children but not to the Chief Justice’s son-in-law.

“In my view, the prosecution can still prove their case without putting on the witness stand the family of the Chief Justice. I lean backwards and sustain the Senate President’s decision because in my view the prosecution is not deprived of the means to prove what they want to prove. They can call the Register of Deeds,” he said in an ANC interview.

The Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, on Tuesday denied the prosecution’s request to summon Corona and his family to explain the circumstances behind the acquisition of their real properties.

In a resolution read minutes after the trial opened on its second day, the impeachment court said the move will run afoul against Corona’s right against self-incrimination.

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, however, expressed reservations insofar as the request for summons for Corona’s wife Cristina and their kids.

Presiding Judge and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile later asked for a division of the court. After around 30 minutes of suspension, 14 senator-judges voted that the request for summons be denied; 6 senator-judges voted in favor.

Birth pains afflict prosecution

Drilon, meanwhile, said the House prosecution team did not do well in the second day of the impeachment trial after they admitted not being ready to present their evidence.

He attributed this to “birth pains” and said he hopes the prosecutors will be better prepared.

“For all of them, this is the first time they are appearing before an impeachment
court. We will give them leeway. Maybe they are not comfortable with their surroundings, maybe they are nervous. They are before the glare of national TV,” he said.

Chief Justice Corona personally met with World Bank officials, documents show

Exclusive, by Raissa Robles

Read the SC expenses rejected by the WB

Last Monday January 16, Chief Justice Renato Corona denounced as “a huge lie” a leaked World Bank report stating that the WB had rejected the charging of plane fares, dinners, hotel expenses incurred under CJ Corona’s watch. These expenses amounting to US$199,900 were charged against a US$21.9 million WB loan to fund a project for speeding up justice and “enhancing institutional integrity.”

CJ Corona very categorically said:

This (alleged diversion of funds) happened before I became Chief Justice. I was not responsible for this. This happened a decade ago and I have been Chief Justice for just a year and a half.

However, the 97 pages of documents prepared by the WB – which I have obtained – shows that the questionable diversion of funds from the Judicial Reform Support Project (JRSP) took place only this year. The documents – consisting of an Aide Memoire and Annexes – detail the expenses for which the WB demanded reimbursement because these were not in line with the justice project.

Among the rejected expenses were meals of members of the judiciary of Guam and their Philippine counterparts.

Early last year, CJ Corona played host to his Guam counterpart, the Honorable Robert J. Torres Jr. See photo below:

WB—Guam-CJ-pic

The documents were made available to me by a source whom I can’t identify. All I can say is that these were not obtained from the WB. However, I’ve vetted their veracity and authenticity from two other sources, one of them overseas. Besides, the statement that the WB released today matches the conclusion in the documents. (abs-cbn)