Maniolas

Kiko Pangilinan sworn in as new food security czar. President Benigno Aquino III swears in former Senator Francisco Pangilinan as Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization in a ceremony at Malacañang on Tuesday, May 6. Pangilinan, an administration ally, has been given power over NFA and three other agriculture agencies. Gil Nartea President Benigno Aquino III’s marching order to former Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, his newly appointed food security assistant, is to “clean up” the four agencies, including the National Food Authority (NFA), put under his office. “Ang sinabi ng ating Pangulo, I am here to help clean up these agencies, ‘yon ang kanyang sinabi sa akin,” Pangilinan said in a press briefing at Malacañang on Tuesday. “Kasama ang pag-address dito sa mga usapin ng katiwalian at itong smuggling.” In Executive Order 175 and Memorandum Order 70, the President transferred to Pangilinan, as the newly appointed Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization, authority over NFA, National Irrigation Administration , Philippine Coconut Authority and Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority. Proceso Alcala Pangilinan said the President did not mention any personality who should be included in the ‘cleansing,’ not even Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, whose office has been tagged in the P10-billion pork barrel scam. “Wala naman siyang binanggit kung sino ang isama, kung sino ang hindi isama. So kung sino ang dapat isama, isasama—sino man ‘yon,” he said. Alcala had earlier belied allegations that his office was used in the systematic funneling of lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund—or Read More …

Balloons and a walk highlighted early Tuesday the start of the voters’ registration for the May 2016 national and local elections. In Ilocos Norte, the Commission on Elections released blue balloons into the air to kick off an activity marking the event, GMA News’ Tina Panganiban-Perez reported. A Vine video showed the Comelec releasing the balloons to mark the start of “Walkah Walkah,” a walk that seeks to drum up awareness and support for the registration. Comelec personnel in Laoag City also processed the application forms of early registrants, Panganiban-Perez reported. Another Vine video she posted showed a band joining the “Walkah Walkah.” The Comelec’s “Walkahwalkah” Instagram account showed several people taking part in the Laoag City walk. Meanwhile, in Manila, early birds lined up at the Comelec’s Manila office for the voters’ registration, radio dzBB’s Glen Juego reported. A photo posted by dzBB’s Juego on Twitter showed voters lining up at the Comelec’s Arroceros Street office. The Comelec on Tuesday opened the registration for voters for the May 9, 2016 elections. The registration runs until Oct. 31, 2015.  Register early  On Monday, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez urged first-time voters and previously registered voters who need to give their biometrics data to take advantage of the early start of the registration period.    “Kung hihintayin natin na du’n tayo sa dulo magpaparehistro, magsisiksikan tayo diyan. Malamang sa hindi, mahihirapan kayo, baka mawalan kayo ng gana lalo. Bakit hindi niyo gawin ngayon habang maaga?” Jimenez said in a live interview on Read More …

Senate President Franklin Drilon on Tuesday dared critics of the new defense agreement between the Philippines and the US to question the pact before the Supreme Court (SC). In an interview, Drilon said only the high court can settle the issue on whether the newly signed defense pact–the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA)–is an executive agreement or a treaty that needs Senate concurrence. “There are various views. Marami po ang nagsasabi na ilegal kapag hinde, marami ang nagsasabi na hinde na kailangan. Sa akin po, dalhin na nila sa Korte Suprema. Whether this is a treaty or a document that would require concurrence or ratification of the Senate, or an executive agreement, that will have to be decided by the Supreme Court,” Drilon said after his speech at the UP College of Law on Tuesday afternoon. The Senate can always ask executive officials to explain the EDCA before the oversight committee on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), he added. As to whether the crafting of the EDCA was transparent enough, Drilon said the executive “cannot expose positions publicly” during negotiations. On Monday, Philippine and US officials inked the EDCA, which allows for an enlarged rotational presence of American troops in the country. Senators have differing opinions on the agreement–some considering it an implementing guideline of the VFA, with others described it as a treaty. Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, chairperson of the Senate committee on foreign relations, particularly lamented how the chamber was not included in the crafting of the EDCA. Read More …

Three weeks after the Supreme Court rejected pleas to reconsider its ruling upholding the legality of the Reproductive Health Law, four groups have banded together to ask the high court to restore the penal provisions that it earlier struck down. In a motion for reconsideration, the groups also asked the high tribunal to reverse its ruling last April 8 that declared as unconstitutional portions of Sections 7 and 23 of the controversial law, which President Benigno Aquino III enacted in December 2012. The groups that filed the appeal were the Filipino Catholic Voices for Reproductive Health (“C4RH”), Inc., Interfaith Partnership for the Promotion of Responsible Parenthood (IPPRP), Emeliza Bayya Mones (former national Council Representative of the UCCP), and Zahria Mapandi (Executive Director of Al-Mujadillah Development Foundation, Inc.). Section 7 on “Access to Family Planning” states among others that hospitals refusing to give reproductive health services to a person will have to refer him or her to another health facility which is conveniently accessible. Section 23, meanwhile, lays down the penalties on RH law offenders. Among the penalties nullified include sanctions for refusing to give RH Law services to minors without parental consent, and to give RH Law services to married individuals without the consent of the spouse. The groups said allowing healthcare service providers to refuse RH services like ligation due to absence spousal consent “will pave the way for abusive husbands to continue to abuse and control the health and lives of their wives.” “Between the so-called ‘marital privacy,’ Read More …

President Obama vowed anew to a military audience on Tuesday morning that the United States would come to the defense of the Philippines in case of attack, without once mentioning China. “Our commitment to defend the Philippines is iron-clad,” Obama told Philippine and US troops in Fort Bonifacio Monday morning, as a multiethnic backdrop of camouflaged soldiers stood behind him on stage. It was a reiteration of a message he delivered at the state dinner in Malacañang Palace on Monday night. “Through our treaty alliance, the United States has an iron clad commitment to defend you, your security and your independence,” Obama told an audience of dignitaries in the presidential palace, including President Aquino, referring to the 1951 mutual defense treaty between the two nations. On Monday morning, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) in Camp Aguinaldo, which will enlarge the presence of US troops in the Philippines, purportedly the latest step in the US’ so-called Asian pivot. Non-committal US officials have long been non-committal about the US response to any Chinese aggression in the South China Sea. Obama himself said at a press conference with President Aquino on Monday that the US does not take sides in disputes over territory in Asia’s cauldron of tensions, and did not cite any instances where the US would take up arms to defend the Philippines. Analysts have been skeptical that the US would get involved in any armed confrontation Read More …