Maniolas

CBCP confirms Pope Francis’ visit in 2015. At the CBCP office in Manila on Monday, July 7, Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas (left), Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle (center) and Pasig Bishop Mylo Vergara brief members of the press on the planned visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines in January 2015. Pope Francis will visit the victims of Typhoon Yolanda in the Visayas. AFP/Jay Directo Alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles wants the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines to take her into custody, GMA News’ Balita Pilipinas said on Monday. According to the newscast, Napoles wrote a letter to the CBCP to make her appeal but the latter has yet to respond. Napoles’ lawyer Stephen David said his client believed that she would be safer with the clergy. Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, the president of the CBCP visited Napoles when she was confined at the Ospital ng Makati.  He did so upon the invitation of Napoles’ relatives.  Villegas asked Napoles to tell the whole truth as regards the scam. “The family of Mrs. Janet Napoles requested for prayers and blessings for fast recovery. As a priest I went there,” Villegas said. But the prelate said he reminded her that “the blessing [would] only give healing if she [told] the whole truth without being selective.” The businesswoman was known to be close to religious people as she held masses at her office in Discovery Suites and during special occassions at the mausoleum of her mother Magdalena Luy Read More …

Malacañang on Monday brushed aside former Senator Joker Arroyo’s accusation that the disbursement acceleration program (DAP) showed how the Aquino administration is an “evil genius.” “With all due respect, we do not wish to dignify comments from Senator Arroyo,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said during a press briefing. Lacierda also shrugged off Arroyo’s dare to Aquino to discuss the DAP in his upcoming State of the Nation Address (SONA). “The President will choose to say what he wants to say in [the] SONA. Let’s just wait for the SONA,” the President’s spokesman said. In a radio interview on Sunday, Arroyo called the Aquino administration an “evil genius” for releasing DAP funds to agencies and lawmakers without authority to spend from Congress. Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court (SC) declared certain acts under the government’s DAP as unconstitutional, including the declaration of unobligated allotments as savings, the cross-border transfers of savings of the executive to other branches of government, and the funding of projects not stated in the national budget.    In September last year, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said P47 million in DAP funds were released to Arroyo’s office in 2013. Arroyo, however, denied receiving any allocations from the DAP.  In the radio interview, Arroyo also noted how past presidents, including President Aquino’s mom Corazon, never availed of the power to pool unused savings under the Administrative Code. Lacierda, however, maintained that this power is valid and legal. “The fact that one uses the law or not should not be a Read More …

A former Philippine congressman on Monday filed an impeachment complaint against President Benigno Aquino III for bribery and violating the Constitution, but analysts said the popular leader could defeat the motion, thanks to his grip on the legislature. It is the first time that Aquino, whose popularity rating in the past four years has stayed above 40 percent, could face impeachment for distributing his discretionary funds to lawmakers through the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), an act the Supreme Court has declared illegal. “The complaint is based on three grounds, namely, bribery, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution,” Augusto Syjuco, who also questioned Aquino’s discretionary fund action before the top court, told Reuters. “It has been filed to the records office of the House of Representatives until the resumption of Congress,” he said. The complaint will wait until Congress reopens for its second regular session on July 28, when a sitting member of Congress will endorse it, he added. Syjuco said the complaint had been signed by 25 other concerned citizens, but he was gathering still more signatures. Edwin Lacierda, the president’s spokesman, dismissed the complaint, saying Syjuco was known for filing cases against the administration. “It’s beyond us to comment,” he said. “What they do is their business, we will not comment.” The votes of about 96 of the 290 members of the House of Representatives are required to impeach a president, and the votes of two-thirds of the 24 senators are needed to remove him Read More …

Malacañang on Monday said it is not concerned with the rise in the satisfaction ratings of Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is eyeing the presidency in the 2016 polls. During a media briefing, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that throughout the years, the vice president’s ratings are almost always higher than those of other officials, including the president. “Historical iyan. If you look at the surveys of the president and the vice president, historical na mas mataas ang vice president. We’ve asked also the survey experts. They said it is historical, save for some exceptions,” Lacierda said. He also said that the 2016 elections is not the administration’s priority as of now. “We are all working hard for this government. 2016 may be around the corner, but we are not focused on 2016. We are focused on governance. We certainly welcome the numbers of Vice President Binay,” Lacierda said. In its latest survey released Monday, Social Weather Stations (SWS) reported that Binay’s satisfaction ratings improved from +62 last December to an “excellent” +73 in March. Meanwhile, the satisfaction ratings of Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., both administration allies, dropped. Last April, the SWS also reported that President Benigno Aquino III’s public satisfaction ratings dipped from +48 last December to +45 in March. Grateful Binay’s spokesman, Joey Salgado, meanwhile said that the vice president is “grateful to the people for their trust and confidence.” “With two years left to his term, Vice President Binay will remain Read More …

Ateneo de Manila University president Jose Ramon T. Villarin, SJ apologized on Sunday amid criticism of the presence of former First Lady Imelda Marcos at an event for the school’s scholarship foundation. The widow of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos attended the 40th anniversary celebration of the Ateneo Scholarship Foundation (ASF), where she was invited because the organization “began with a donation from the proceeds of a Van Cliburn piano concert that was organized by her in 1974.” Photos of the event surfaced on social media. Ateneo professor  Michael Liberatore expressed disappointment over Marcos’ presence in the event. “Had a hard time sleeping after seeing picture of Imelda as the guest of honor at an Ateneo scholarship fund event,” wrote Liberatore on Sunday on a Facebook post, which was shared 88 times and garnered 488 likes as of 8:50 p.m., including from Xavier School president Ari Dy, SJ. “Come tomorrow, I am supposed to return to school for the work week and participate in meetings and teach classes in which I strive with others to help our young people manifest values that our institution allegedly upholds in developing the nation? How can one possibly do this if Imelda is the guest of honor at a scholarship event under the rationale she helped start the fund before martial law?” While noting that ASF was “not an official school arm,” Villarin acknowledged that Marcos’ presence at the event was a problem. “Please know that in the education of our youth, the Ateneo Read More …