Resource person in Senate probe rushed to hospital

MANILA - A resource person in the Senate committee on agriculture's hearing on the rice smuggling issue failed to appear in Monday's hearing after she was rushed to the hospital. Elizabeth Faustino, treasurer of a federation of rice cooperatives, was on her way to the Senate when was rushed to Marcelo Hospital in Baliuag, Bulacan. Her lawyer said she still does not know the condition of her client. Sen. Cynthia Villar told the lawyer that her client must appear in the next hearing scheduled on February 25. "If she does not appear in the next hearing, we will hold her in contempt of the Senate and we will have her arrested," Villar said. The senator also asked for a medical certificate from Faustino. Villar earlier said Faustino could shed light on the activities of the late Philippine Tourism Authority administrator Nixon Kua who was killed in what police claimed was a robbery attempt at his home inside an exclusive subdivision in Calamba, Laguna in July 2012. Kua's murder happened at the same time the Senate committee on agriculture and food began its probe on the suspected smuggling syndicate at the SBMA. Faustino earlier pointed to Kua as the financier and middleman for a multimillion-peso rice shipment abandoned at the Subic Freeport in Zambales. ANC, February 3, 2014