GMA News Online / News / Nation

Dec 042013
 
New Customs chief possibly by Friday, says Biazon; Dellosa may be on shortlist

The new Commissioner of the Bureau of Customs may be named as early as Friday, the exiting Customs chief Ruffy Biazon said Wednesday. His recently-appointed deputy, Jessie Dellosa, may be on the short list of possible appointees, GMA News’ 24 Oras newscast reported. Dellosa, is a former chief of staff the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and was appointed last September as the Customs Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence, replacing Danilo Lim, another retired military officer. Biazon said Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima revealed during their most recent meeting that President Benigno Aquino III has received a list containing the names of individuals eyed to replace him as the chief of the Bureau of Customs (BOC). “Sa discussion namin (ni Purisima), nakapagbigay na ng mga pangalan sa Presidente para siya na ang mamili kung sino ang magiging either OIC (Officer in Charge) or permanent successor ko,” he said. Biazon announced his irrevocable resignation from the BOC Monday after having been named by the Department of Justice as a respondent together with 33 others in a malversation case connected to the P10 billion pork barrel scam. Biazon said he aims to settle by Friday all immediate concerns at the BOC that needed to be addressed since his request to stay at his post until the end of December has been turned down by Malacanang. He said he had requested the President for an extension of his term to facilitate a smooth period of transition at the bureau. “Hinahabol na within this week [na Read More …

Dec 042013
 
Miriam: Lacson, Enrile have 'relationship with feelings'

Miriam rages at Enrile, calls him ‘womanizer’. Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago challenges Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile (seated in lower left) to a televised debate on the PDAF scam, after calling him a litany of names. The elder statesman seemed unfazed, as he was seen on television fiddling with his tablet computer while his mortal enemy declaimed. Benjie Castro Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago on Wednesday did not spare former Senator Panfilo Lacson from her strongly-worded privilege speech against Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce-Enrile. Santiago said Enrile has “a relationship with feelings” with Lacson, whom she also called as the opposition leader’s “attack dog.” Asked to comment on Santiago’s remarks, Lacson said he “won’t waste time on rubbish.” Santiago further accused Enrile of coddling Lacson when the latter became a fugitive from justice in 2010. “Many believe that Enrile provided safe haven to Lacson in Cagayan. That is why these two men are so close,” Santiago said. She further said that Lacson got recently appointed as rehabilitation czar “to abort the endless stream of his self-serving press releases whenever there is a vacancy.” Over the weekend, Lacson confirmed that he will head efforts to rebuild communities destroyed by Typhoon Yolanda. During his Senate stint, Lacson also engaged in a word war with Santiago, calling her a hypocrite and a “crusading crook.” Santiago, in return, threatened to expose Lacson’s sexuality.  — ELR, GMA News

Dec 042013
 
Roxas: Charges to be filed over delayed cleanup of Iloilo oil spill

Charges await Napocor officials in charge of removing the power barge that has been leaking oil off Iloilo province after it was damaged by Typhoon Yolanda early last month, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said Wednesday. “There will be cases [of] negligence, incompetence, and for bad practice that will be filed,” Roxas said in a report on GMA News’ “24 Oras.” He, however, added that the current focus is on how to remove the barge. Authorities are racing against time to remove the damaged barge that caused the oil spill in Estancia town following reports that the spilled fuel has reached areas two kilometers away from the coastline. Roxas stopped by Estancia to inspect the damage caused by the oil spill during his short visit to Iloilo with Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Dinky Soliman and Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. The Cabinet officials visited Iloilo to discuss rehabilitation efforts for typhoon-stricken areas with local officials. At least 200,000 liters of bunker fuel spilled on the coast of Estancia after Power Barge 103 slammed into the rocky shoreline of  Barangay Botongan when the super typhoon struck on Nov. 8. Iloilo governor Arthur Defensor Sr. has ordered the forced evacuation of nearly 1,800 families  in the area after the Department of Health reported that air pollution from toxic fumes from the oil spill was “off the charts,” with benzene levels 32 times higher than normal. The barge’s crewmembers have tried containing the spill by deploying 100-meter Read More …

Dec 042013
 
Belmonte conducts own probe on fake SAROs

House Speaker Sonny Belmonte is “quietly” conducting his own investigation on the fake Special Allotment Release Orders (SARO) parallel with the one being conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). “I am quietly investigating, rest assured that I’m not just doing nothing,” Belmonte told reporters Wednesday. “I am actually very interested in what’s going on but I also don’t want to prejudice the investigation by in effect not keeping the confidences of the NBI.” The Commission on Audit defines a SARO as a “specific authority issued to one or more identified agencies to incur obligations not exceeding a given amount during a specified period for the purpose indicated.” Under control At least four lawmakers have already been dragged into the issue. Belmonte said he has full confidence in the investigation of the NBI, which has so far summoned several personalities, including staff members of lawmakers, to its probe. “The NBI has had it under control and as I said, so far we are a small portion of this whole thing but rest assured that we will get to the bottom of it here in the House,” Belmonte said. A fake SARO for a P161-million farm-to-market road in Cagayan was brought to the NBI office last Friday by a staff member of Cagayan Rep. Baby Alfonso Vargas. Based on an investigation conducted by Belmonte’s office, the fake SARO was given to Vargas’ chief of staff Bong Pelonio. Earlier, a report on GMA News’ “24 Oras” traced a fake SARO to Read More …

Dec 012013
 
Lacson: Yolanda-hit areas rehabilitated before PNoy's term ends in June 2016

Fresh from being installed as the new “rehabilitation czar,” Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Monday assured that areas hit by super typhoon Yolanda would be rehabilitated within the next three years, before President Benigno Aquino III’s term ends.  Speaking to reporters at a “kapihan” at the Diamond Hotel in Manila, Lacson said he had already consulted with architects, egineers, urban planners, and lawyers, who told him that rehabilitating Visayas and other areas struck by Yolanda would be “difficult but doable.” “Sa 2016, iyon ang best efforts ko from nasa notes ko [during consultation with experts]. Puwede ba i-complete within the term of PNoy [Aquino]? Sabi nila [experts], doable,” said Lacson, who became Philippine National Police Chief during the presidential term of Joseph Estrada  before becoming a senator. “Siyempre hindi daw completely sure pero doable… If I can accomplish 85 or 90 percent, okay na iyon for me,” Lacson said. —KG, GMA News

Dec 012013
 
Lacson accepts 'daunting but doable' task of post-Yolanda rehab

Former Senator Panfilo Lacson will lead reconstruction efforts in areas ravaged by Super Typhoon Yolanda (international codename: Haiyan), which hit the Visayas region on Nov.8. “After a series of consultations and briefings from experts in the field of reconstruction and rehabilitation of disaster-stricken areas over the weekend, I decided to accept the President’s offer to be rehab czar,” Lacson told reporters in a text message on Sunday night. “Those consultations gave me the confidence that the task, while daunting, is doable within the period of his presidency. I have informed the President of my decision and he has acknowledged the same,” he added. The monster typhoon took more than 5,600 lives and left more than P30 billion damage in agriculture and infrastructure. — JDS, GMA News

Dec 012013
 
A polarizing figure, Lacson says he will head reconstruction of central PHL

Former senator Panfilo Lacson told reporters Sunday that he will lead reconstruction efforts in areas ravaged by super typhoon Yolanda. “After a series of consultations and briefings from experts in the field of reconstruction and rehabilitation of disaster stricken areas over the weekend, I decided to accept the President’s offer to be rehab czar,” Lacson told reporters in a text message on Sunday night, December 1. The Palace has yet to confirm the appointment. President Aquino reportedly told a Cabinet meeting on Friday that he had decided to appoint Lacson his rehabilitation “czar.” Lacson said he would spend the weekend thinking it over after a lengthy meeting with Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa. The Palace has yet to confirm Lacson’s announcement. It is still not clear why Aquino would choose Lacson, one of the most controversial and polarizing political figures in the last two decades. As a senator for 12 years, his law-making often took a backseat to highly public word wars with fellow senators, especially Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, and ex-President Estrada, his former boss with whom he had a falling out during EDSA Dos in 2001. He was linked to several brutal murders, including those of the well-known publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver. Lacson was eventually cleared by the courts. For more than a year while he was a senator, Lacson was overseas as a fugitive from justice, with Interpol assisting in the search. But as the head of rehabilitation dealing with both national and local government officials each Read More …

Dec 012013
 
Palace: PNoy meeting with Customs chief Biazon set

Malacanang on Sunday confirmed that President Benigno Aquino III has called embattled Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon to a private meeting, presumably to discuss being implicated in the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.  Communications Secretary Heminio Coloma said that the discussions could also include Biazon’s readiness to perform his duties despite the allegations against him.  “Ang sinabi nga po ng Pangulo, mag-uusap po sila ni Commissioner Biazon hinggil sa bagay na ito. Kaya po magkakaroon ng pag-uusap ang ating Pangulo at si Commissioner Biazon. Wari ko po’y tatalakayin ‘yung bagay na ‘yan,” Coloma said. However, when asked if Biazon still has the confidence of the President, Coloma said there have been no indications otherwise. “Wala namang indikasyon to the contrary. Ipinaliwanag ko po na simula pa ‘nung State of the Nation Address nang nagkaroon ng talakayan hinggil diyan sa bagay na ‘yan ay nailinaw naman po na hindi magbabago ang pananaw ng ating Pangulo hinggil sa kakayahan ni Commissioner Biazon na pangunahan ang Bureau of Customs,” he said.  “Sa buong daloy po ng mga pangyayari, simula pa ‘nung SONA noong 2013 hanggang po sa pagre-reorganisa ng Bureau of Customs, ay naipahiwatig naman po ng Pangulo ‘yung kanyang pagkakaroon ng buong pagtitiwala at kumpyansa sa kakayahan ni Commissioner Biazon,” Coloma said. Biazon, Muntinlupa representative from 2001 to 2010 and a party-mate of President Benigno Aquino, was the most surprising name among the 34 individuals comprising the second batch of criminal complaints in the PDAF scam. The cases were filed Friday morning.  Meanwhile, Read More …

Dec 012013
 
Palace gives hint of who is going to head Yolanda rehabilitation effort

Malacañang on Sunday gave a hint of the person it will choose to lead rehabilitation effort in Yolanda-hit areas, even as it stresed the great responsibility that the work entails. “‘Yun pong pangangasiwa sa rehabilitation efforts ay isa pong malaking responsibilidad at malaki po ang sakop nitong responsibilidad na ito. [Pero] wala po tayong pinag-uusapan dito na partikular na indibidwal,” Communications Secretary Hermino Coloma said in an interview aired over state-run DZRB. While maintaining that no particular person was talked about to head the rehabilitation efforts, in the same interview, Coloma did sing praises over the qualifications of former Senator Panfilo Lacson. “Kilala na po siya sa kanyang record ng paglilingkod. Naging director general po siya ng Philippine National Police bago po siya naging senador, at ‘yung kanya namang paglilingkod [as] senador for two terms ay maganda naman po ang kanyang record bilang legislator at public servant,” Coloma said. Coloma said disaster relief was the primary discussions during Friday’s cabinet meeting, where the President and his men also discussed other calamities that befell the country. He said members of the Cabinet are all ready and able to perform their duties, but that the President is studying ways to make relief efforts more efficient. “Nandiyan na rin po ‘yung responsibilidad ng mga kalihim ng Gabinete na nangunguna sa kanilang mga kagawaran. Pero kakaiba rin po ‘yung sitwasyon na marami po tayong kinakaharap na hamon ng pagbabagong-tatag, pagre-rehabilitate, at muling pagsasaayos o reconstruction,” he said. “Kaya ‘yan po siguro ang dapat na Read More …

Dec 012013
 
Women-friendly spaces set up at Yolanda evacuation centers

Women-friendly spaces have been set up at evacuation centers for female survivors of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), especially those who need to breastfeed their children. The DSWD said the women-friendly spaces (WFS) will also let the women survivors get counseling and learn about health and well-being. Initially, the DSWD said five WFS had been set up at the Redemptorist Church, San Fernando Community School, San Jose Elementary School, Rizal Central School, and the Tacloban Convention Center. The DSWD said the WFS also serves as a venue for women to interact and share stories as part of their coping mechanism to overcome their trauma. Social workers trained in stress debriefing are on hand to guide them. The DSWD said the establishment of the WFS is integrated in evacuation camp management, which seeks to respond to the effects of displacement on women and children. WFS strategy focal person Alona Bermejo said this project, where the WFS can be set up in a classroom or even a tent, is co-funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The DSWD said the WFS concept taps service providers in providing psycho-social support for the internally displaced women as well as medical, reproductive health services and basic food and non-food needs. “Beneficiaries of the WFS will become part of the local government unit referral system where they will be accessed to different agencies for livelihood opportunities,” the DSWD said. — LBG, GMA News