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DFA: PHL not blacklisted by France for lack of transparency on foreign aid

 News
May 292013
 
DFA: PHL not blacklisted by France for lack of transparency on foreign aid

The Philippines was not blacklisted by France due to supposedly lack of transparency in foreign aid, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) clarified Wednesday. In a text message, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said the information that the Philippines was included by France on the list of “non-cooperative states” in its fight against foreign aid fraud was “totally inaccurate.” “We have, in fact, been informed that there is a new list and this list does not include the Philippines,” Del Rosario said. He added that the “mistake” on the Philippines’ blacklisting only arose from a French civil servant’s statements published on a French newspaper. On Tuesday, news reports quoted French minister for aids to development Pascal Canfin as saying that the 14 states and territories, including the Philippines, have been blacklisted by France due to lack of transparency in dealing with foreign aid. Del Rosario said that the French foreign ministry has already made a “full denial” on this “misinformation” concerning the Philippines. — Andreo Calonzo and Michaela del Callar/RSJ, GMA News

Youth groups seek SC help vs. tuition hikes

 News
May 292013
 
Youth groups seek SC help vs. tuition hikes

A party-list group advocating students’ rights and several youth and student organizations on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to stop 354 higher educational institutions (HEIs) from hiking their tuition and other fees this coming school year. The approval from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) that paved the way for the hike should likewise be reversed, the petitioners, led by Kabataan party-list, said in a 46-page petition for certiorari, mandamus, and prohibition. “The Commission on Higher Education violated the petitioners’ constitutional right to accessible and quality education for failing to perform its constitutional duties to take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all and to exercise reasonable supervision and regulation of all educational institutions,” the petition read. The petitioners asked the SC to issue a writ of preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order/status quo ante order to prevent the schools from implementing the tuition and other fees hike. The group accused CHED of failing to exercise “reasonable regulation and supervision” when it approved the increase without “implementing the statutory procedure for tuition consultation” as prrovided under Section 10 of Republic Act 6728 or the Government Assistance To Students and Teachers In Private Education Act. Section 10 states that “[i]n any proposed increase in the rate of tuition fee, there shall be appropriate consultations conducted by the school administration with the duly organized parents and teachers associations and faculty associations with respect to secondary schools, and with students governments or councils, alumni and faculty associations with respect to colleges… Read More …

Taiwanese probers quiz Coast Guard, BFAR men on Balintang Channel incident

 News
May 292013
 
Taiwanese probers quiz Coast Guard, BFAR men on Balintang Channel incident

NBI, Taiwanese probers inspect DA-BFAR vessel. At the Manila Port Area on Tuesday, NBI and Taiwanese investigators inspect the DA-BFAR Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS-3001) vessel that was used by PHL Coast Guard personnel in a shooting incident that killed a Taiwanese fisherman in Balintang Channel on May 9. The investigators checked every inch of the boat for new evidence. Danny Pata Visiting Taiwanese investigators on Wednesday quizzed 18 personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) as part of the parallel probe on the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman off Balintang Channel in northern Philippines early this month. Taiwanese prosecutor Lin Yeng Liang, however, kept mum on the details of their interview with the Filipino personnel embroiled in the incident. “It’s confidential,” Lin said when asked what questions they posed to the Filipinos. “With the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation today we started to investigate and collect evidence both from the BFAR and PCG,” he added. The Taiwanese prosecutor, however, stressed that three days since arriving in Manila for their own probe, the Taiwan team has yet to reach a conclusion. “We will continue doing the investigation… We will complete the investigation within two days,” he told a group of reporters, composed of both Filipino and Taiwanese journalists. For his part, NBI Deputy Director Virgilio Mendez, head of the NBI team separately probing the incident, observed that the Taiwanese probers were “doing their best” to finish their investigation Read More …

DOTC: Five flights canceled due to 'aircraft situation'

 News
May 292013
 
DOTC: Five flights canceled due to 'aircraft situation'

At least five domestic flights of air carrier Cebu Pacific were canceled Wednesday due to “aircraft situation,” the Department of Transportation and Communications said. In a post on its Twitter account, the DOTC said the affected flights had destination points in Metro Manila, Bicol, and Visayas. The affected flights included: – 5J-519 and 5J-523 (Manila to Naga)– 5J-520 and 5J-524 (Naga to Manila)– 5J-557 (Manila to Cebu) The DOTC did not elaborate on the “aircraft situation” that prompted the cancellation of the flights. Earlier Wednesday, state weather forecasters had warned of rain showers and thunderstorms as the rainy season approaches. — LBG, GMA News

Rainy Tuesday expected in NCR as rainy season looms

 News
May 272013
 
Rainy Tuesday expected in NCR as rainy season looms

Metro Manila and nearby provinces may expect more rain on Tuesday, even as state weather forecasters on Monday cited shifting winds as another sign the rainy season is drawing closer. PAGASA forecaster Meno Mendoza said the country is beginning to feel winds from the south, with winds from the southeast coming soon. “Sa ngayon nalalapit na tayo (sa tag-ulan) dahil pinapakita na rin ng nararamdamang hangin narito sa southeast to south ang nararamdaman. Malapit na ito maging totally southwest,” Mendoza said in an interview on dzBB radio. He said the shift of the winds to southwest will likely occur between now and the first week of June. Mendoza noted the rainy season in the Philippines usually starts between the last week of May and the first week of June. “Nagkaroon tayo ng cases na ganoon (late ang start) pero bihirang bihira,” he said. Tuesday outlook For Tuesday, PAGASA said the diffused tail-end of a cold front is affecting Northern and Central Luzon, while the inter-tropical convergence zone is affecting Southern Mindanao. “Metro Manila and the regions of Ilocos, Cordillera, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, CALABARZON and Zamboanga Peninsula will experience cloudy skies with light to moderate rain showers and thunderstorms,” it said in its 5 p.m. bulletin. It added the rest of the country will have “partly cloudy to at times cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms mostly over the western section.” PAGASA also said light to moderate winds from the southeast to south will prevail over Luzon and Read More …

Proclamation of remaining party-list winners set on Tuesday

 News
May 272013
 
Proclamation of remaining party-list winners set on Tuesday

The remaining winning party-list groups will be proclaimed Tuesday morning, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes said Monday. “Tomorrow at 10 o’clock,” Brillantes told reporters when asked on the schedule of the proclamation. During the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) session, Brillantes ordered the encoding team to include the corrected discrepanies, zero votes and the remaining uncanvassed report in the canvass report to allow the board to finalize a resolution. “We will finalize the resolution by tonight, it will be signed tomorrow morning and promulgated at 10 am,” Brillantes said on Monday. He, however, did not clarify the content of the resolution that they will issue. Earlier in the day, Brillantes said the Comelec en banc, sitting as the NBOC, will be meeting to discuss the issue on party-list. He said they will be declaring the remaining winners either Monday night or Tuesday. Comelec announced the first batch of party-list winners last Friday. — Amita Legaspi/KBK, GMA News

Brillantes on Gordon's plea to retain PCOS machines in present locations: Shoulder the cost

 News
May 272013
 
Brillantes on Gordon's plea to retain PCOS machines in present locations: Shoulder the cost

Shoulder the cost. This was Elections chair Sixto Brillantes Jr.’s comments to defeated senatorial candidate Richard Gordon’s request that seek to prevent the Comelec from removing the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines used in the May 13 polls from precincts, schoolhouses or present whereabouts. “Hindi na namin masosoli yung PCOS, wala na sa presinto yung PCOS. Kung gusto niya isoli niya ulit, pero gastusan niya. Nasa hubs na yung mga PCOS namin, pabalik na dito yung iba,” Brillantes told reporters Monday. Gordon filed last Wednesday an urgent petition for mandamus asking the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the Comelec from removing PCOS machines from precincts, schoolhouses or the machines’ present whereabouts. This was “to prevent anybody from tampering with the components, contents and software encoded into the said machine,” a press statement from Gordon’s camp said Thursday.   To which, Brillantes countered: “Basta ready siya to shoulder the cost we will open everything that he likes.”  Gordon also asked the SC to compel Brillantes to comply with his commitment to give him and other petitioners the complete digital copy of the source code for the automated election system used in this year’s polls. A source code is the set of instructions to be followed by the computerized voting machine, and is written by computer programmers in a readable symbolic language. Gordon, who placed 13th based on the official Comelec tally, is also the author of Republic Act 9369 or the Automated Elections Systems Law. — Amita Legaspi/RSJ, Read More …

CA affirms ruling holding AFP, PNP accountable for Burgos disappearance

 News
May 272013
 
CA affirms ruling holding AFP, PNP accountable for Burgos disappearance

(Updated 5:59 p.m.) The Court of Appeals has stood firm on its earlier ruling that the military and the police should be held accountable for the enforced disappearance of political activist Jonas Burgos in 2007. In a resolution penned by Associate Justice Rosalinda Asuncion-Vicente, the CA denied a motion for partial reconsideration filed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) seeking to reverse the court’s March 18 ruling holding the two agencies accountable for Burgos’ disappearance. “Suffice it… to state that this court’s finding and conclusion that [Burgos] was abducted by a group of persons, one of whom was positively identified as Maj. Harry Baliaga, Jr. of the Philippine Army, coupled with the AFP’s lack of serious effort to conduct further and deeper investigation simply because [Burgos] is allegedly not in its custody, speak loudly of the leadership’s accountability,” the CA said. As for the PNP’s accountability, the appeallate court said: “In the case of the PNP, suffice it to state that its failure to rap and elicit leads and information from Jeffrey Cabintoy, who personally witnessed [the abduction] and who was able to positively identify his abductor, is eloquent proof of its failure to exercise extraordinary diligence in the conduct of its investigation.” Concurring in the latest CA decision were Associate Justices Remedios Salazar-Fernando and Franchito Diamante. In a phone interview with GMA News Online, Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson  Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan said “they would respect the court’s decision.”  Read More …

PHL govt: MILF's plan to form political party 'consistent' with peace process

 News
May 272013
 
PHL govt: MILF's plan to form political party 'consistent' with peace process

Philippine government officials on Monday welcomed the plan of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to form a political party that will participate in the 2016 elections, saying it is “consistent” with the peace process. In a text message, presidential peace adviser Teresita Deles said the MILF’s political plan “demonstrates its commitment to prepare itself for the challenge of democratic and inclusive governance” in the Bangsamoro region, which is set to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). “It is consistent with the goals of any negotiated political settlement to transform the engaged armed party into an unarmed political and socio-economic force for continuing change and reform,” Deles said. Last week, the MILF, the country’s largest secessionist group, announced that it is set to form its political party this year to participate in the 2016 national elections. The announcement came months after the MILF and the Philippine government signed a framework peace agreement last October. At a press briefing, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte welcomed the MILF’s “preparation” for its participation in the political process. “As you all know, the road map towards the establishment of the Bangsamoro ends in 2016 and, understandably, the MILF needs to preparate for that,” she said. Valte, however, said that she is not aware of any plan from the government to help the MILF transition from an armed group to a political party. The peace panels of the Philippine government and the MILF are currently in the process of ironing out issues in Read More …

Palace: No report yet on Coast Guard negligence in May 9 incident

 News
May 252013
 
Palace: No report yet on Coast Guard negligence in May 9 incident

Malacañang on Saturday said it has not received any report that Philippine Coast Guard personnel could be held liable in an encounter in disputed waters that killed a Taiwanese fisherman last May 9. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte reiterated the government’s call to the public to wait for the final result of the probe, after a newspaper reported on the supposed liability of the Coast Guard. “Wala pang isinusumite, mabuti hintayin natin ang final na result bago pag-usapan ang sinasabing detalye,” Valte said on government-run dzRB radio. A 65-year-old Taiwanese fisherman was killed in the incident, prompting Taiwan to freeze the hiring of Filipino workers and discourage its residents from traveling to the Philippines. On Saturday, a report on The Philippine Star quoted a source that said initial findings may indicate criminal negligence by the Philippine Coast Guard personnel involved. It said its source indicated Coast Guard personnel in the incident may face criminal and administrative charges for possible violations of rules of engagement, excessive use of force, and neglect of duty. But the Coast Guard initially said its men fired on the Taiwanese boat as it was about to ram the Philippine vessel. Meanwhile, Valte reiterated President Benigno Aquino’s  stance that a fisheries agreement with Taiwan may have to wait until after the present row is settled. A fisheries agreement had been one of Taiwan’s demands following the May 9 incident. “I think the president has spoken very clearly about the proposed fisheries agreement, he had actually mentioned it Read More …

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