GMA News Online / News / Nation

Palace congratulates Arida, Donaire for bringing positive news amid Yolanda tragedy

 News
Nov 102013
 
Palace congratulates Arida, Donaire for bringing positive news amid Yolanda tragedy

Malacañang on Sunday thanked Ariela Arida and Nonito Doniare for putting a smile on Filipinos’ faces, despite super Typhoon Yolanda that left hundreds dead in its wake. “I think any sort of positive news to us would be very welcome at this point, and we extend our congratulations to Ms. Arida and to the Filipino Flash for excelling in their particular fields—si Ms. Arida, syempre, doon sa Miss Universe pageant; si Nonito Donaire doon sa kanyang laban,” Deputy Spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a radio interview aired over state-run dzRB. Donaire scored a come-from-behind ninth round knockout win, Sunday at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas; while Miss Philippines-Universe Ariella Arida was 3rd runner-up in the Miss Universe 2013 pageant held in Moscow, Russia, early Sunday Morning (Manila). “We appreciate the efforts to bring a little bit of a smile to the faces of countrymen who are going through so much in the aftermath of the typhoon,” Valte added. Valte also expressed optimism that the victims will overcome the tragedy and damage brought about by the super typhoon. “We have no doubt that our citizens will get up and rise again. There is no doubt to that. We have seen that in the past, that no matter how heavy the calamity, we have always managed to pick ourselves up and to get back to our normal lives—kung ano ho man ‘yung normal pa sa atin. At katulad nga po ng sinabi ng Pangulo bago ho tumama itong bagyong Read More …

DATABASE: Yolanda missing persons inquiries

 News
Nov 102013
 
DATABASE: Yolanda missing persons inquiries

If you are worried about someone in any of the areas hit by Super Typhoon Yolanda, or if you’re in the Visayas and want to inform your loved ones of your whereabouts, please fill out the form below. Your information will be entered into Google’s People Finder database.  — TJD/VC, GMA News

Major PHL telcos: Restoration of mobile services in Leyte problematic

 News
Nov 102013
 
Major PHL telcos: Restoration of mobile services in Leyte problematic

Officers of the Philippines’ major telecommunications firm on Sunday said restoration of their mobile services is “problematic” in Tacloban City in Leyte, where some 10,000 people are feared dead due to Yolanda (Haiyan). Smart Communications’ Ramon Isberto said they could not restore mobile service in all areas yet, due to a lack of electricity. Altough 85 percent of Smart’s service in Central Visayas is functional, he said restoring services in Eastern Visayas remains problematic, and that their service in Tacloban is expected to be restored in one to two days. Meanwhile, in an interview on dzBB, Globe’s Corporate Communications Head Yolly Crisanto said Tacoban City is still an area of concern. Super Typhoon Yolanda cut mobile phone services early last Friday, with power outages affecting 67 Globe cell sites in Samar and Leyte, even as Smart’s service in Leyte was degraded. Smart Communications shipped personnel and equipment to Tacloban City using a C130 military aircraft, Isberto told GMA News Online in a text message. Isberto also said they could not restore mobile service in all areas yet, due to a lack of electricity. On the other hand, Globe said their communication services in Iloilo and Roxas City have been restored, while service in other areas will be restored in two days. It said telco equipment was shipped to Tacloban on Sunday morning through a Philippine Navy ship. In a message on Facebook, Globe said 20 percent  of all 2G and 3G sites affected in the Visayas region and 30 percent Read More …

SC: DAP oral arguments moved to November 19

 News
Nov 072013
 
SC: DAP oral arguments moved to November 19

The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday moved to November 19 the oral arguments on the constitutionality of the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). “Urgent Advisory: oral argument in the consolidated #DAP cases is reset from (November) 11 to (November) 19 at 2 PM,” the SC Public Information Office tweeted. The SC initially scheduled the oral arguments on October 22, had it reset to November 19 and moved the same to November 11. As of Thursday, the high court has received nine petitions questioning the DAP’s constitutionality especially as it was realigned without the Congress’ approval. The DAP received flack after Senator Jinggoy Estrada bared that he and other senators who voted to convict former Chief Justice Renato Corona in May last year received P50 million each in additional funds months after the impeachment trial. Budget Secretary Florencio Abad later admitted that the funds came from the DAP, but maintained these were not bribes or incentives for senators. He said the DAP fund, which is basically realigned savings, was released to address sluggish government spending in 2011. Estrada, along with Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile and Senator Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., is facing a plunder complaint over the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam supposedly masterminded by trader Janet Lim-Napoles. All three seantors have denied being involved in the alleged anomaly. In a televised address last week, President Benigno Aquino III criticized “thieves” who equated the DAP with the pork barrel scam, adding that his critics were diverting the public’s attention and smearing his Read More …

HK lawmakers vote to scrap visa-free access to Pinoys over Manila bus hostage tragedy

 News
Nov 072013
 
HK lawmakers vote to scrap visa-free access to Pinoys over Manila bus hostage tragedy

Hong Kong lawmakers voted this week to impose economic sanctions on the Philippines and cancel the visa-free access for Filipinos due to the Manila bus hostage crisis three years ago, South China Morning Post reported. The report said lawmakers voted to pass a non-binding motion by People Power’s Albert Chan Wai-yip calling on the government to impose sanctions.  They also voted 41 to three in favor of former security chief Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee’s amendment calling for visa-free access to be scrapped, the report added. More than 100,000 Filipino domestic helpers are working in Hong Kong. Hong Kong tourists, meanwhile, are among the top ten tourist groups arriving in the Philippines with 86,396 arrivals from January to August this year. Sought for comment, Foreign Affairs spokesperson Raul Hernandez neither confirmed nor denied the imposition of sanctions but said the government will continue to work to address the issue. “We will continue to work quietly to achieve a mutually satisfactory conclusion,” Hernandez said in a text message sent Friday to GMA News Online. Last Tuesday, Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying said the government may impose unspecified economic sanctions on the Philippines if Manila will not apologize and grant compensation for a hostage tragedy in 2010, Reuters reported. The Hong Kong government has been demanding for an apology–from the Philippine government and not the Manila City government– and compensation to the victims’ families.  Last month, former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada, now Manila mayor, personally delivered a written apology to the People’s Republic Read More …

SolGen asks SC to junk DAP cases for lack of merit

 News
Nov 072013
 
SolGen asks SC to junk DAP cases for lack of merit

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), representing the Aquino administration, on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to junk all cases filed against the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) for lack of merit.   In a 41-page comment, the OSG asked the high court to dismiss all petitions against DAP for “lack of merit” and deny the application for a temporary restraining order and/or writ of preliminary injunction. “The burden is on the petitioners to establish their case and prove grave abuse of discretion on the part of the respondents [but] the petitions, mostly anchored on newspaper clippings and media reports, are miserably lacking on the allegations of facts that would support a claim of grave abuse of discretion,” it said. “It is incomprehensible, therefore, given the insufficiency and uncertainty of facts, how petitioners can allege grave abuse of discretion,” it added. Last week, parties in at least eight petitions challenging DAP’s legality agreed to answer six main questions during oral arguments before the SC on Nov. 11. Among these questions are on the nature of the DAP, whether it is a fund or a program, and the legal basis for its creation. In its comment, the OSG said DAP is “neither a fund nor an appropriation but a program or an administrative system of prioritizing spending.” “As is obvious from its name, it is a program for accelerating disbursements. What is only unstated in the title of the program—DAP—is that the sources of funds are from, first, the legitimately-generated savings Read More …

Palace: No suspension of work in govt offices

 News
Nov 072013
 
Palace: No suspension of work in govt offices

Despite the threat of Typhoon Yolanda, Malacañang on Friday said that there is no suspension of work in government offices yet. “No announcement on work suspension from ES [Executive Secretary’s] office; not warranted by present and forecast weather situation,” Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio “Sonny” Coloma Jr. said in a text message to reporters. He issued the statement after Yolanda, dubbed the most powerful typhoon in the world this year, made landfall in the Philippines on Friday morning. On Thursday night, President Benigno Aquino addressed the public in a televised message and warned them about the danger Yolanda brings. — Kimberly Jane T. Tan /LBG, GMA News

HK activists plan new 'fishing trip' to disputed islands including Spratlys

 General
Nov 072013
 
HK activists plan new 'fishing trip' to disputed islands including Spratlys

HONG KONG – A group of Hong Kong activists Thursday announced they will embark on a “fishing trip” to disputed islands off Chinese shores this month, over a year after 14 were arrested in a similar venture. The activists said they would embark on a “fishing trip in Chinese waters” on November 13, but did not reveal their full itinerary, saying only that one destination would be the Spratly Islands. The Spratlys, known as Nansha Islands in China, are disputed between Taiwan, Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. “It is a fishing trip,” activist Tsang Kin-shing said in a press conference. “If there is no fish there, we will go somewhere else,” he told AFP on the phone after the press conference. Last year, the same group of activists underwent a similar trip, landing on the disputed islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Fourteen were arrested and deported by Japanese authorities. Also claimed by Taiwan, the Senkakus lie in an area with rich fishing grounds that is also believed to contain oil and gas deposits. “We can go anywhere that has fish. We are eligible to go anywhere in Chinese waters,” the owner of the fishing boat, Lo Chau, another activist who embarked on the trip to the Senkakus last year, said. Lo said the trip will last more than 10 days and will include 15 activists from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. Earlier plans to sail to the disputed waters were derailed by Hong Read More …

Senator Jinggoy Estrada departs for the US

 News
Nov 022013
 
Senator Jinggoy Estrada departs for the US

Senator Jinggoy Estrada promised the Philippines that, like Gen. Dougls MacArthur shortly after his harrowing escape from Corregidor, “he will return.” This was before the Senator left for the United States on Saturday morning amid the political controversies dogging him, including the P10 billion Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scandal. Sen. Estrada insisted he would return to the Philippines before the Senate session resumes on November 17 according to a report on GMA’s “Balitanghali” program on Saturday noon. The Senator added that he isn’t avoiding the imminent Senate probe where Janet Lim Napoles, alleged pork barrel scam queen, will be attending and scheduled to be questioned for her involvement in the said scam. Earlier, the Justice Department requested that the Department of Foreign Affairs cancel Estrada’s passport due to the plunder and malversation raps he was facing. But since this was only a complaint and not a charge the “hold departure” order was not implemented. Among some of those also recommended for passport cancellation were Senators Bong Revilla and Juan Ponce Enrile. The Ombudsman filed plunder and malversation of public funds raps on September 16 against Estrada, Revilla, and Enrile, among others. Sen. Estrada left to accompany his wife who sought treatment in the US after discovering a lump on her breast. – KDM, GMA News 

Palace: Preparations ongoing for last-quarter LEDAC meet

 News
Nov 022013
 
Palace: Preparations ongoing for last-quarter LEDAC meet

Preparations are ongoing for a prospective last-quarter meeting of the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), Malacañang said Saturday. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said a technical working group is preparing to present to President Benigno Aquino II the final proposals of the Cabinet clusters. “The TWG is still working to present to the President the number, at least the final proposals from the different Cabinet clusters. From the last update, na-consolidate na po nila yung listahan at kailangan na lang pong iharap sa Pangulong Aquino for his approval and then the LEDAC will be scheduled,” she said on government-run dzRB radio. LEDAC’s functions include determining and recommending socio-economic development goals, and providing policy advice to the President. It is also mandated to integrate legislative agenda with the national development plan; and recommend to the President and Congress sources of revenues and measures to reduce unnecessary expenditures in government. The LEDAC page on the National Economic and Development Authority said Republic Act 7640 provides that the Council shall meet at least once every quarter but it may be convened by the President to special meetings as may be necessary. Also, it said only two LEDAC meetings were held during the Aquino administration – on Feb. 28 and Aug. 16, both in 2011. It said there was no LEDAC meeting in 2012, and none so far this year. — LBG, GMA News

 Older Entries  Newer Entries