Senator Edgardo Angara.*

Senator Edgardo Angara yesterday said the act of Cabinet officials invoking Executive Order 464 to avoid attending budget hearings in the Senate will end up with the government having a reenacted budget this year, which he called "extremely undesirable."

A reenacted budget is bad for the country because it creates an opportunity for the president to juggle funds, and use them for partisan purposes, Angara said at a press conference at the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters office in Bacolod City yesterday.

If the government has a reenacted budget, Arroyo can "realign" savings, which is a polite word for juggling funds, he said.

Angara urges lobby
vs. education decline
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Senator Edgardo Angara yesterday called for a strong citizens lobby to prevent the further deterioration of Philippine education that, he said, has become a "ticking bomb."

We should pressure government to allocate a larger budget for education, to, among others, raise the starting salaries of teachers, he said.

Starting salaries of teachers should be raised from P8,000 to P15,000, he said, pointing out that many of the country's skilled teachers are being lured away by higher paying jobs abroad.

GSO head in drug
bust out on bail
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

The General Services Officer of Talisay City who was recently arrested for possession of illegal drugs and their paraphernalia, is now a free man, at least for now.

This is because Archibald Tuvilla was able to post bail of P160,000 for two drug cases filed against him by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. Tuvilla, said to be a human rights activist, was freed from the Talisay BJMP detention cell at about 5 p.m. yesterday.

However, his companion, identified as Sannil Arcenas, who is a job order casual employee the Talisay City government, was still in jail last night, for failure to post bail.