Cars remains at the entrance to the Philippine House of Representatives in suburban Quezon City, north of Manila, which was damaged by an explosion late Tuesday Nov. 13, 2007. The incident killed a driver and injured at least nine people, including lawmakers, officials said. --AP Photo/Perfecto Camero

A BOMB tore through the South Wing of the House of Representatives at the Batasan Complex in Quezon City just minutes after congressmen adjourned past 8 p.m. Tuesday night, killing

Basilan Representative Wahab Akbar and two House employees.

Two other solons, Lakas Rep. Pryde Henry Teves of Negros Oriental, a nephew of Finance Secretary Gary Teves, and Gabriela Representative Luz Ilagan, and at least seven more people were reportedly injured.

SENATORS moved on Tuesday to block the planned bidding next week of prime shares of the Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC), valued at P35 billion, to enable the Senate to first consider the implications of the sale on the government’s energy program in relation to its fiscal position.

THE government vowed to set aside an increasing amount of its budget for infrastructure over the next three years to lift its capital outlay from the present equivalent of 2.9 percent of local output to 5 percent of GDP by 2010.

THE Intellectual Property Ofice of the Philippines (IP Phils.) will start “selling” the patented inventions of local innovators to different industries to promote their commercial use.

HAD it not been for the phased intervention of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the local currency could have lifted far beyond the estimated year-to-date appreciation of 14 percent thus far, BSP governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said on Tuesday.

THE indebted state of government increased by nearly 3 percent or by P107 billion in August to P3.871 trillion, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said on Tuesday.

AN official of a company named in the plunder charges filed in connection with the more-than-a-decade old tax-credit scam has denied any role in the conspiracy to use fraudulently obtained tax-credit certificates (TCCs). Instead, he said he was an innocent player in a special arrangement between top oil refiner Petron Corp. and the businessman at the center of the operations, Faustino Chingkoe.

AGRICULTURE Secretary Arthur Yap said on Tuesday that the government will exert greater effort in the repair and rehabilitation of the country’s irrigation system in anticipation of a “constriction” in world food supply next year due to biofuel production.

THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Asian countries, including the Philippines, should become more responsive to climate change since energy-related greenhouse-gas emissions in the region have more than doubled compared with the level three decades ago.

THE Supreme Court has junked the second motion for reconsideration filed by importers of second-hand vehicles seeking the Court’s reversal of its decision prohibiting the importation into the country of used motor vehicles except those imported through the special economic and free port zone or the Subic Bay Free Port.

ALTHOUGH unable to compete with other countries in modern infrastructure, the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) yesterday rebranded itself as a “people- oriented airport” with ever-smiling personnel ready to greet, assist and comfort travel-weary passengers.

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NICOLAS MOREY (left), European Patent Office head, Asia unit, and Director General Adrian Cristobal Jr. of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines listen to a presentation at the Fourth International Heads of IP Offices Conference that opened in Makati City on Tuesday. --NONIE REYES