Maniolas

President Benigno Aquino III on Monday defended his administration’s controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program, which he said was used to address underspending and to pay for badly-needed projects like classrooms and rural electrification. Minutes after Aquino’s speech, the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson released a list of 116 projects that were alloted funds through the DAP. The allocations include almost P8.3 billion set aside for priority local projects nationwide as requested by lawmakers, local government officials and national agencies; almost 8.6 billion for peace and development intervention in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; and a 6.5 billion in support for local government units affected by the decrease in the internal revenue allotment in 2012. The list also includes the rehabilitation of both lines of the Light Rail Transit, the upgrade of operating rooms and medical equipment at the Philippine Heart Center, and additional funding for the Philippine National Police modernization program. He said the government will file a Motion for Reconsideration on the Supreme Court’s ruling that aspects of the DAP were unconstitutional. List of DAP Projects released by the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson — JDS/NB, GMA News

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said he will not withdraw his support for the impeachment suit against President Benigno Aquino III that another militant lawmaker plans to file soon even after a newspaper report identified him as one of the recipients of the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program. In an interview with GMA News Online Thursday, Colmenares also said he will also continue to call for the abolition of pork barrel and oppose the inclusion of any kind of lump sum funds in the 2015 national budget. “If the intention of Malacañang is to intimidate me [with the report], they’re wrong. I’m still against pork barrel. Wala naman akong itinatago… I will still endorse the impeachment complaint against PNoy once it’s filed,” he said. Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon earlier said his group and other youth organizations will soon file an impeachment suit against Aquino over the implementation of DAP, parts of which the Supreme Court recently declared unconstitutional. A Philippine Daily Inquirer report published on June 9 named Colmenares as one of the House members who received P25 million from the DAP in two installments over a period of two years beginning 2012. According to the report, some of the projects the lawmaker implemented using his DAP allocation were farm-to-market roads in Pampanga worth P10 million, a multi-purpose hall in Aurora worth P1 million and two-classroom buildings in Iloilo worth P1.8 million. Colmenares also gave subsidies to select LGUs worth a total of P6.35 million and to public healthcare institutions Read More …

Rehabilitation czar Secretary Panfilo Lacson is confident that Pope Francis’ early 2015 visit to Yolanda-ravaged areas of the country will go off without a hitch “Wala namang threat sa security,” Lacson said in an interview with dzBB’s Nimfa Ravelo on Sunday. Lacson added that other notable personalities have visited Yolanda-hit areas without encountering trouble. “Si United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, pumunta na doon. Marami nang pumunta doon na masasabi nating importanteng tao mula sa ibang bansa, at basta naman may darating, alert siyempre ang kapulisan para ang seguridad nila ay maayos,” Lacson said. Last week, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Archbishop Socrates Villegas officially announced that the Pope will visit areas devastated by the super typhoon, “God willing at the beginning of next year, 2015.” Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said the Vatican will release the exact date of the visit either by the end of this month or in early August, while the schedule and itinerary of the pontiff’s visit will be released by November. Lacson added that he hopes permanent housing for the survivors will be completed before Pope Francis’ visit. “I hope and pray na pag dating niya sa Enero, marami nang nagawang mga bahay,” he said. — Patricia Denise Chiu/BM, GMA News

MANILA – Forty-two Taiwanese and two Chinese suspects have been arrested in the Philippines over a sophisticated Internet scam targeting compatriots back home, police said Thursday. The suspects — who posed as police officers, prosecutors, judges and anti-money laundering officials — cheated people from Taiwan and China out of their money by claiming they could safeguard their cash, a police statement said. The scammers would allegedly convince their victims that their bank accounts were being used for money-laundering and that their assets could be protected if they transferred all their money to accounts owned by the fraudsters, police added. “The syndicates… usually go to the Philippines as tourists and rent houses in posh (housing projects)” where they set up their illegal operations, a police statement said. The suspects were arrested in a series of raids in the central city of Iloilo on Wednesday by a police anti-cybercrime unit and immigration bureau agents. The law enforcers were aided by an official of Taiwan’s cultural office in Manila, it said. The two Chinese suspects were “caught in the act of engaging with their would-be victims abroad,” said Senior Inspector Joanna Fabro, adding that scammers often believed they were unlikely to be prosecuted in the Philippines. But she said the authorities were now boosting their anti-cybercrime capabilities. “Maybe they aren’t afraid of our laws. But we have more teeth and we hope more of them will be apprehended soon,” she said. The suspects will eventually be deported to China and Taiwan respectively but Read More …

Senate Minority Floor Leader Juan Ponce Enrile is set to undergo a cardiovascular examination on Tuesday morning due to fluctuating blood pressure, Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac said. Sindac said Enrile is set to undergo a two-dimensional echocardiogram (2D Echo) with doppler at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, following a recommendation from his physicians at the PNP General Hospital in Camp Crame where he is confined. On Friday, Enrile’s blood pressure shot up to 200/90 as he surrendered to the PNP after the Sandiganbayan Third Division issued an arrest warrant for plunder charges in connection with his alleged involvement in the multibillion-peso pork barrel fund scam. Sindac said that based on the latest medical examination on Monday, Enrile’s blood pressure went down to 140/70 with a pulse rate of 63 beats per minute.Sindac however said that the PNP doctors still recommended that Enrile undergo the 2D Echo exam to get a clear picture of his heart and assess the flow of blood through and out of his arteries. Earlier in the day, Enrile’s camp asked the Sandiganbayan to temporarily place the 90-year-old senator under hospital arrest at the PNP General Hospital pending the resolution of his motion for bail. In his petition, Enrile cited his advanced age and frail medical condition in his request for hospital detention. A medical certificate issued by Dr. Claver Ramos of Makati Medical Center dated May 6, 2014 stated that Enrile has diabetes mellitus, dyslipiddemia, hypertension, extensive coronary artery calcification in Read More …