Maniolas

Muslim groups hold a protest to urge the passage of the Bangsamoro law at the Philippine Senate, Wednesday. The groups asked the senators to respect the peace agreements between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front will not avoid the legal process once complaints are filed against those responsible for the Mamasapano clash that left over 60 people dead, including 44 police commandos and 17 MILF fighters. MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal issued this assurance at the sidelines of the forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) in Ortigas Friday. “On an individual basis, we will not,” Iqbal said, adding that the MILF will not prevent their members from hiring lawyers to defend themselves. On Thursday, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said about 26 MILF fighters, as well as members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and private armed groups may be charged for the Mamasapano encounter. But Iqbal said the legal process should be within the peace process mechanism between the MILF and the government. The MILF signed a peace agreement last year ending the decades-old Moro insurgency in Mindanao. “If there’s a violation on either side; if it’s on the government side, the government will take charge. If it’s the MILF, then the MILF will take charge of that,” he said. The filing of complaints is expected next week and is the first step to a preliminary investigation into who Read More …

(photo courtesy of Los Angeles Football Club Facebook page) LOS ANGELES, CA – Los Angeles’ newest Major League Soccer team officially announced its name as the Los Angeles Football Club, which will make its debut in the 2018 MLS season. The Club determined the official name after months of engagement with supporters, partners, stakeholders and founding season ticket members. “The name that we chose is true to Los Angeles, authentic to world football and speaks to our global ambitions,” said the Club’s Managing Partner and Owner, Henry Nguyen The Club also launched a social media campaign to give its supporters a voice in selecting the Club’s official colors. The LAFC Club Colors campaign is part of the Club’s ongoing effort to engage its supporters across social media and include them in a collaborative effort to build the new club together.  This outreach will extend beyond social media into Town Hall meetings, where the Club’s leadership will have direct discussions with supporters and partners. “We promise to give our supporters an opportunity to have a significant voice as we build and co-create this Club together,” said Tom Penn, LAFC’s President and Owner. The campaign has already generated thousands of likes, shares, favorites and retweets across Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and ends on September 18.  The Club will use this feedback in combination with an evaluation of the MLS landscape to finalize the decision. The Club expects to announce its official colors and crest in the coming months. Earlier this year, LAFC announced its intent to Read More …

President Benigno S. Aquino III, together with Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, share the stage with theheads of finance ministries across Asia-Pacific and top executives of multinational financial institutions who attended the APEC Finance Ministers Meeting held at Shangri-La Mactan in Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu province on Thursday (September 10). (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – Count President Benigno Aquino III as among the men who are in awe of Filipino women’s strength and capabilities. During the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC’s) Women and the Economy fora in Manila on Thursday, Aquino hailed women leaders in government and economy. He went as far as saying, “Women, more often than not, are more strong willed and capable than men.” “Is it any surprise that the common Filipino male never questions the authority of Filipinas,” he added, to the amusement of the predominantly female audience. “I believe it is intrinsic to our society that we see women as superior in many aspects including prudent budgeting and focusing on the advancement of the family as a whole,” he explained. Aquino recalled that his mother, the late Corazon Aquino, had showed him “one of the clearest examples of conviction for one’s believe” when she would bring toiletries and extra clothes while campaigning. When he asked her why, the former president said she was just being ready in case she is arrested by agents of strongman Ferdinand Marcos. President Benigno S. Aquino III, together with Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, share the stage with theheads of finance ministries Read More …

Really?: An alleged photo of Jeane Napoles, daughter of Janet Lim-Napoles who is at the center of the pork barrel scam that involves lawmakers in the Philippines, as she is supposedly “bathing” in a tubful of money that has been circulating on the internet. This one was posted in en.wordpress.com. MANILA (Mabuhay) – The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) a P101.7-million tax evasion case against the children of alleged pork barrel scam brains Janet Lim-Napoles. Facing a complaint for violation of Sections 254 and 255 under the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) are officials of JCLN Global Properties Development Corporation (JCLN Corp.) together with its President James Christopher L. Napoles and treasurer Jo Christine L. Napoles. Sections 254 and 255 are about willful attempt to evade or defeat tax and deliberate failure to supply correct and accurate information in its Income Tax Return (ITR). The siblings, based on the complaint, violated the NIRC for taxable years 2008 to to 2011. The BIR conducted an investigation following media reports on the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) probe on the over P10-billion pork barrel scam. The BIR inquiry showed that JCLN Corp. was able to acquire various properties in Pasig City, Quezon City, Manila, Taguig, Bulacan and Kidapawan, Cotabato worth P16.5-million in 2008, P36.07-million in 2009, P44.19-million in 2010 and P43.21 million in 2011. The acquisition included condominium units in G5 and G6 Residences Discovery Center, The Beaufort and Eastwood Lafayette One Libis. Read More …

Security guards block around 200 anti-mining protesters, mostly indigenous people, during a rally against the International Mining Conference at the Solaire Resort and Casino in Paranaque on Tuesday. The groups oppose the militarization and the effects on the environment allegedly brought by mining operations. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has received “intelligence reports” that China may attempt to sabotage the Philippine elections in 2016, one of its ranking officials told lawmakers Wednesday. During the Comelec’s briefing for election preparations before the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, Comelec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said this is the reason why they transferred the location of the factory that will manufacture the voting machines that will be used in the 2016 elections from China to Taiwan. “We want to emphasize that the move to Taiwan was a product of the contract negotiations because we have received intelligence reports that there may be an attempt to sabotage the elections by China,” Lim said. Lim added the poll body en banc has made the transfer of the factory producing the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines “non-negotiable” for Smartmatic-TIM because they are concerned that the ongoing arbitration case between China and the Philippines may have an impact in the country’s national elections. “The commission made it non-negotiable that the provider would have to transfer the facilities to Taiwan at their expense,” he said. Beijing and Manila have been locked in a long-standing territorial dispute over portions of the South Read More …