Sunday, August 12, 2007 (Philippines)

Inmates practice their dance steps for “Together in Electric Dreams”, a chosen homage to the inmates’ fans, at the Cebu Provincial and Rehabilitation Center in Cebu. Up to 1,500 march and clap in unison as they perform precision dance routines with the Village People’s “In the Navy” and “YMCA” pounding from six well-worn black speakers. Their version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” has been watched nearly 4.4 million times (as of Thursday) on YouTube.(AP photo) A FORMER member of Rep. Antonio Cuenco’s staff has surfaced to say that almost P3 million from the congressman’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in 2004 went to “ghost purchases.” James Yrastorza, who used to head the Cebu City south district congressman’s medical mission office at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), said that Wendell Villacin, owner of Dell Pharmacy and exclusive supplier of the medicines used in Cuenco’s P30-million medical program, facilitated the ghost purchases. Yrastorza named two other alleged cohorts: a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) examiner and a relative of the congressman. [full story]