Malacañang on Saturday announced four new appointments. Jessica Marie Escaño-Pano was appointed a member of the provincial board of Southern Leyte. Meanwhile, Ramil Gabao was appointed chairperson of the Professional Regulatory Board of Criminology, while George Fernandez and Ruben Sta. Teresa were appointed members of the board. — Joel Locsin/DVM, GMA News
The Department of Education defended the impending implementation of the K to 12 program that has been the subject of criticism from the public. According to a report on GMA’s “Balitanghali” aired Saturday, the DepEd said preparations for the implementation of the program are almost done. It said the program will improve the quality of education in the country. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte has said the program is a major reform that will solve the country’s problem in quality education. “The record will bear this out: We have built more classrooms (over 66,000 since 2010), hired more teachers, acquired more textbooks and chairs, and more importantly introduced more reforms than any administration in recent history.” Valte said. “The K+12 like any major reform program will have obstacles in transition but we firmly believe that we can continue to hurdle thes eobstacles,” she continued. But for Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, the Philippine education system is not yet ready for sucha drastic change. Trillanes also said the program is impractical for the public’s financial capacity. “Paano tayo magiging globally competitive kung hindi na tayo makakapagpadala ng mga professional sa ibang bansa dahil wala nang nagtatapos sa kolehiyo?” Trillanes said. “Worse, we would have a generation of high school dropouts who will never be competitive in their lifetimes and would probably end up as criminals in order to survive,” he added. The K to 12 program will be implemented next school year. Students will be required to undergo kindergarten, six years of Read More …
The camp of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, now Pampanga representative, is now considering asking the Sandiganbayan to place her under house arrest because of her poor health. A report on GMA News TV’s “News TV Live” quoted Arroyo’s legal counsel Larry Gadon as saying the Arroyo’s continued detention at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City has worsened her condition. Gadon said Arroyo continuous to lose weight, and has already lost 15 pounds as she has been having difficulty eating. He said detaining Arroyo at her La Vista residence may help improve her health. Arroyo, who has a spine disease, has been under hospital arrest at the VMMC in Quezon City since 2012 for allegedly conspiring to fraudulently divert P366 million in Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office intelligence funds “for personal gain” from 2008 to 2010. Earlier in March, international human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney, wife of Hollywood actor George Clooney, filed a case against the Philippine government before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights over Arroyo’s continued detention. Clooney said Arroyo’s detention can be considered a violation of human rights given her worsening health. She also said Arroyo is a victim of political persecution, pointing out that it was only the Pampanga lawmaker who was denied bail for her plunder case while all her co-accused were granted the same privilege. Earlier this month, 16 senators urged the Sandiganbayan to allow another government official under hospital arrest on corruption charges to be detained at home instead. They Read More …
The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Saturday confirmed the involvement of the private armed group of former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. in a firefight with the Philippine National Police Special Action Force in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao on Jan. 25. “Kasama ‘yung private armed group ni former governor Ampatuan sa Mamasapano [clash],” military spokesman Brig Gen. Joselito Kakilala told GMA News Online in a phone interview on Saturday. Kakilala explained that most of the members of the private armed group joined the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters after being implicated in the Maguindanao massacre in 2009. “Most of them joined Ali Tambako’s group,” Kakilala said, referring to the former vice chairman of the BIFF who was arrested in General Santos City earlier this week. The Maguindanao massacre resulted in the deaths of 58 people, including 32 journalists, who were in a convoy headed to the Commission on Elections office to register Esmael Mangudadatu as a candidate in the 2010 gubernatorial race. The Ampatuan patriarch is the principal suspect in the massacre case and is already in government custody. A witness in the Department of Justice investigation into the Mamasapano clash has tagged a group called “Massacre” as among those that attacked the 55th Special Action Company in a cornfield there. “Hindi ko alam ang pangalan ng grupo, I will have to check, but the PAG [private armed group] of former Governor Ampatuan was part [of the clash],” he said. More than 60 people, including 44 police commandos, were killed Read More …
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board this week started inspecting bus terminals in the provinces in time for Holy Week. In Bacolod City, GMA Bacolod reported Friday that LTFRB teams checked buses in two private bus terminals to make sure they are roadworthy. Also, the LTFRB teams made sure the buses being deployed are not more than 15 years old, in line with the Department of Transportation and Communications’ modernization program. While most of the buses were found roadworthy, the LTFRB team said some had no fare matrix—a violation of LTFRB rules. The bus terminal managers said they are addressing the matter and will post the fare matrices on the buses once the LTFRB releases them. Filipinos are expected to flock to the provinces or to vacation spots to spend the Holy Week with their families. —Joel Locsin/KG, GMA News
WASHINGTON – Leading US senators expressed alarm on Thursday at the scale and speed of China’s land reclamation in the South China Sea and said a formal US strategy was needed to slow or stop the work. In a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry and US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Republican Senators John McCain and Bob Corker and Democrats Jack Reed and Bob Menendez said that without a comprehensive strategy “long-standing interests of the United States, as well as our allies and partners, stand at considerable risk.” They said China’s land reclamation and construction in the South China Sea’s Spratly archipelago gave it the potential to expand its military reach and was “a direct challenge, not only to the interests of the United States and the region, but to the entire international community.” The letter said Gaven Reef had grown about 28 acres (114,000 square meters) in the past year and previously submerged Johnson Reef (Mabini Reef) was now a 25-acre (100,000-square-meter) “island.” Fiery Cross reef increased in size more than 11-fold since August. “While other states have built on existing land masses, China is changing the size, structure and physical attributes of land features themselves,” the letter said. “This is a qualitative change that appears designed to alter the status quo in the South China Sea.” It said any attempt by China to militarize the artificial islands could have “serious consequences” and could embolden Beijing to declare a new air defense zone in the South China Read More …
Widows of some of the commandos killed in the Mamasapano incident on Thursday openly called on President Benigno Aquino III to apologize for what befell their loved ones after they successfully neutralized a suspected terrorist in late January. Julie Cayang-o, widow of PO1 Gringo Cayang-o told GMA News Online on Thursday that the president should apologize for the incident. “Yes, he must do that! ‘Yung public apology nga ay hindi pa sapat para sa nangyari tapos napakahirap pa nilang sabihin ang totoo,” Cayang-o said in a text message. Marie Angeli, widow of PO3 Noel Golocan, on GMA News TV asked Aquino why it seemed difficult for him to say sorry for what happened in Mamasapano. “As wife of isa sa mga fallen 44, lumabas na po lahat ng investigations ng BOI and Senate, bakit hanggang ngayon hindi man lang kayo makapagsabi ng sorry?” she said. The widow of PO2 Mark Lory Clemencio said Aquino’s apology would only be useless. “There’s no point. If he does [it], it’s because he is pressured… It’s better [i]f people ask him to step down,” Kristine Clemencio told GMA News Online. The draft report of the Senate joint committee that looked into the Mamasapano incident found Aquino “ultimately responsible” for the tragedy. More than 60 people, including 44 commandos, were killed in Mamasapano. The policemen found themselves in firefights with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and its breakaway Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters after neutralizing Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan in alleged MILF territory on Read More …
Senator Grace Poe admitted Thursday that she was shocked by the alleged hesitation of relieved Special Action Force chief Director Getulio Napeñas Jr. in telling the Senate joint committee the whole truth about participation of Americans in the Mamasapano operation in January. The senator said it took a while before Napeñas answered the questions of the senators during the executive session on the US involvement and the latter was inconsistent with his answers. “What shocked me the most was at the very beginning he was untruthful. We were asking him, “So were there Americans there?” And it took a while (before he) said yes. And then, ‘Papaano? nakipag-usap ba kayo? Did you coordinate?’” His initial answer was ‘Bigla na lang nandoon na e’,” Poe narrated the conversation in a television interview. “How will you believe that? That foreign… that the American was actually there because he just showed up? And then we said, ‘Ilan?’ At first, tatlo o dalawa ba? Biglang naging apat, naging anim… Tapos later on we found out, they were already setup in the command post with television monitoring equipment etc.” she added. Poe said it was acting Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III who was able get the information from Napeñas. “Senator Tito Sotto was the one who was able to get it out of him to say, ‘May Amerikano e, yung pangalan e….’ Basta he mentioned the name and that’s what we had to say because he figured out na mukhang may nagsasabi dito,” she said. Read More …
At least 39 of the 75-member ad hoc committee tackling the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in the House of Representatives have signed a manifesto calling for the postponement of next month’s closed-door deliberations on the measure until the chamber revives its probe into the Mamasapano police operation. Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat, one of the signatories to the manifesto, said he and his colleagues plan on gathering the signatures of two-thirds of the committee members, or a total of 50 lawmakers. The panel is set to resume executive sessions on the Bangsamoro bill on April 6, over a month after it was indefinitely postponed due to the outcry over the January 25 Mamasapano clash. Committee chair Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez plans to hold a two-week long closed-door discussions on the bill, have the members vote for its approval on April 16. However, Rodriguez will be forced to shelve the executive sessions if two-thirds of the committee will object to it. “Paano siya (Rodriguez) mag-uumpisa [ng hearing]? He can proceed if he wants to but that will not recognized as a committee hearing,” Abakada party-list Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz said. GMA News Online was unable to reach Rodriguez for comment as of posting time. Lobregat said that while he is not opposed to the Bangsamoro bill’s passage, he believes the ad hoc committee should only resume its deliberations until the House resumes and completes its investigation on the Mamasapano clash. Over 60 individuals, including 44 Special Action Force commandos, Read More …
More than five years after the November 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre, the Department of Justice was again conducting a preliminary investigation on the infamous killings, this time, however, involving a new set of suspects. The preliminary probe was conducted following the filing of new multiple murder complaints by Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu and other victims’ relatives against 50 new suspects, which included town mayors of Maguindanao and 14 members of the Ampatuan clan. “The new case will not cause a delay in the on-going trial of the first batch of the Maguindanao massacre case filed before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC),” Mangudadatu said. Assistant State Prosecutor Niven Canlapan, head of the panel of prosecutors, said the DOJ was expecting a total of 43 complaints by April 7, during the second day of the preliminary investigation., The respondents were given until April 16 to submit their counter-affidavits. Mangudadatu explained that they came up with the new batch of suspects based on witnesses’ testimonies during the five-year trial, as well as on new witnesses they had spoken with in September and October last year. Named respondents in the new batch of murder complaints were: Solicitor General of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and current City Administrator of Cotabato City Atty. Cynthia Guiani Sayadi; Mamasapano, Maguindanao Mayor Benzar Ampatuan; Jack Ampatuan Lumenda; Sukarto “Manguten/Teng” Singh; one Inspector Mariga of the Maguindanao police; Samer “Mama” Uy; Samsudin Ampatuan; Kage Ali Midtimbang; Kage Melo Lumenda; Farid Adas; Nanun Ampatuan; Pandag Ampatuan; Amerah Read More …