Duterte’s aide denies frigate deal meddling

Thaksin calls for party unity

MANILA, Feb 19, (Agencies): Philippine senators began a public inquiry on Monday into the $300 million purchase of two navy frigates, to determine whether President Rodrigo Duterte’s closest aide had interfered in the procurement process.

The inquiry was prompted by media reports that carried a leaked document with an annotation that links the president’s longtime special assistant, Christopher “Bong” Go, to the process of procuring a combat management system for the frigates from South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries.

The hearing called by the Senate committee on national defence and security is looking to establish whether or not Go had gone beyond his remit by getting involved in a defence contract. He has not been accused of corruption.

Go denies any wrongdoing and read a statement critical of the media, calling it “fake news”. He said he was simply passing on to the defence department a “complaint” the Office of the President had received.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper and news site Rappler last month carried leaked copies of a white paper originating from the president’s office and asking the navy to look at a proposal by a South Korean subcontractor, Hanwha Land Systems, to supply the weapons system.

Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has confirmed he added an annotation to that document telling the navy chief to look at the proposal, and that the document had been given to him by Go.

However, Lorenzana told the inquiry on Monday that he could not be certain who gave it to him.

Go

Fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra met lawmakers from his Puea Thai Party in Hong Kong where he called for party unity ahead of an approaching general election, party members said on Monday.

Many are watching to see how Puea Thai Party performs in a vote which the military government has promised to hold in November but which could be delayed.

Thaksin, who founded Advance Info Service Pcl, Thailand’s largest mobile phone operator, was prime minister from 2001 to 2006 when he was overthrown in a military coup supported by the Bangkok-based establishment.

Indonesia has blocked more than 70,000 websites displaying “negative” content such as pornography or extremist ideology in the first month of using a new system to help purge the internet of harmful material, the communications minister told Reuters.

The world’s most populous Muslim-majority country has stepped up efforts to control online content after a rise in hoax stories and hate speech, and amid controversial anti-pornography laws pushed by Islamic parties.

Hundreds of tourists were stranded for hours after a cable car broke down on the Malaysian island of Langkawi, authorities said Monday, with some left dangling in cabins over a jungle-clad mountain as night fell.

Over 1,000 tourists, including some Western and Chinese visitors, and scores of cable car workers were trapped Sunday when a faulty part caused the popular attraction to grind to a halt, officials said.