Maniolas

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Thursday shrugged off reports that she wants to replace Sixto Brillantes Jr. as head of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). In a text message, De Lima, a former election lawyer, said she doesn’t know where 1-Bap party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello got the idea that she is eyeing the top Comelec post. “While I appreciate Rep. Bello’s candid statements, I don’t know where he got such idea,” she said. Bello, who once headed the Department of Justice (DOJ), was quoted in a report as saying in a minority bloc briefing that he has heard rumors that De Lima wants to chair the Comelec. The report further quoted him as saying that he is not discounting the possibility that De Lima might still pursue her bid to become a senator in the 2016 elections. De Lima dismissed Bello’s statements, saying she is more focused on her current job. “Regarding my supposed eye for those positions. I honestly don’t know yet what’s gonna be my next calling… Que sera sera… I’m just focused right now on my myriad tasks and challenges,” she said. Before serving as Justice chief in 2010, De Lima, in 2008, served as chair of the Commission on Human Rights under the term of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Before that, she worked as an election lawyer. De Lima is the daughter of former Comelec Commissioner Vicente de Lima. A November 2011 survey by Pulse Asia revealed that De Lima was among the Top 12 Read More …

Police will be on the lookout for bullies and juvenile trouble makers outside campuses when school starts next week, the spokesperson of the Philippine National Police said on Thursday. PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac said police teams on foot patrol will go around school zones for such activities, radio dzBB reported Thursday afternoon. He said the teams have been briefed to detect and deal with bullying and “rumbles.” Sindac, however, said the PNP can only intervene if an incident happened outside school premises. He Those inside the school have be dealt with by the school administration, he added. The new school year is due to start June 2. Meanwhile, the Department of Trade and Industry on Thursday morning inspected the prices and quality of school supplies in Manila’s busy Divisoria district. Parents flocked to Divisoria to look for school supplies, including uniforms, that they can buy at a lower price. —Joel Locsin/NB, GMA News

Malacañang does not seem keen on ordering a lifestyle check on officials implicated in the pork barrel scam despite calls from several lawmakers, a spokesperson hinted Thursday. “We note the call for a lifestyle check of public officials. There are, however, requirements under existing laws, such as the Anti-Graft Law (RA No. 3019) & the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards of Government Officials & Employees (RA No. 6713) before such check can be lawfully conducted.  This is in line with the Constitution’s guarantee to due process of law,” Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr. told GMA News Online. He issued the statement after militant lawmakers called on President Benigno Aquino III to order a lifestyle check on all government officials, including allies, tagged in the scam to determine whether they benefited from the multibillion-peso fraud. Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares, the House member with the 12th lowest net worth in 2013, said the Cabinet secretaries tagged in the controversy should also allow government agencies to look into their bank accounts to prove they did not amass ill-gotten wealth. Coloma, however, said the administration has “consistently advocated openness, transparency and accountability of public officials.” “In line with this advocacy, the SALNs (Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth) of the President and Cabinet members have been released and made available to the public,” he said. Budget Secretary Butch Abad and Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, who are close political allies of the President, have been listed as pork Read More …

Rosa Rosal is back at the Philippine Red Cross after being appointed to its board of governors. Rosal’s was among the appointments that Malacañang announced over the weekend. Last December, Rosal called for an audit of the PRC and for the board to suspend its secretary general, Gwendolyn Pang, while the audit was being done. She said a former accountant for the PRC found irregular transactions and requests for payment and disbursement of funds, including the use of PRC money for a birthday party for Pang. In a press statement in December, the PRC said it had already investigated the allegations and that Pang “was fully exonerated and the Philippine Red Cross Governing Board has expressed its full confidence in her continued leadership of the organization.” Aside from Rosal, other appointments announced by the Palace were: Nicolas Dy-Liacco Ojeda, Jr. as deputy executive director of the Information and Communications Technology Office, under the Department of Science and Technology (appointed May 19) Thomas Orbos as assistant general manager for planning of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Cyril Ramos as deputy ombudsman for the military and other law enforcement offices (MOLEO) Blas James Viterbo as Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner Aurora Centeno as deputy executive director of the National Archives of the Philippines Vicente Lao as a member of the board of directors, representing the business sector, in the Mindanao Development Authority Gino Alphonsus Bayot as assistant secretary for the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office — Joel Locsin/JDS, GMA News

President Benigno Aquino III might continue receiving his monthly salary of P95,000 for life should the bill filed by a party-list representative become a law. Citing the need to provide due recognition and to show gratitude to the Philippines’ former leaders for their services, ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Samuel Pagdilao Jr. said retired presidents should continue to receive an annual pension equivalent to their basic salaries. House Bill 4450, or the Retired Presidents’ Protection Act, seeks such benefit for former presidents as their “role as moral voice of the nation will continue” even long after they retired from government sevice, Pagdialo said in the bill’s explanatory note. Under HB 4450, the pension shall be paid monthly by the Office of the President to the former head of state. The bill defines “a retired president” as one who has completed his or her full term of office, the person who has served more than four years as the president’s successor, and the individual who resigns as president before his or her official term expires provided that he or she had not been removed from office or forced to resign due to impeachment. Meanwhile, under the 47-year-old Republic Act 5059, former presidents are only entitled to a tax-free life pension of P40,000 each year. Also, RA 5059 bans impeached presidents or those who assume another government post after stepping down from the presidency from receiving pension. Pension transfer In the event of a former president’s death, HB 4450 provides that the government should Read More …