Maniolas

Senate President Franklin Drilon delivering his eulogy for former Senator Flavier. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – While “elated” and “humbled” by a recent survey showing rising public satisfaction with his work, Senate President Franklin Drilon said he was bracing for a new wave of negative propaganda against him and the chamber. From a moderate +28 percent in December, 2014, Drilon’s net satisfaction rating rose to a good +35 percent in the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted from March 20 to 23, 2015. Based on the survey, it is the rise is the highest among the country’s top officials. “I am elated and humbled by the results of the latest SWS survey showing a renewed people’s trust and confidence to my office in the past months,” the Senate leader said in a statement on Monday. “I know that there is no better and more apt way to show to the Filipino people that I value and deserve their trust, than by working even harder, and fulfilling my duties to the Senate with greater zeal,” he said. Drilon said that he would continue “to listen to the voice and will of the people,” which have always guided him in every decision he makes as a senator, and as a public servant. The Senate President also topped the recent Pulse Asia survey, which gave him a near majority public approval rating of 49%, higher than his 47% approval rating last November 2014. However, Drilon said, public appreciation with his work might not Read More …

Smile, you’re on camera: The Murad counter on the first floor of Rustan’s Makati, with a skin specialist manning the Youthcam, which analyzes your skin Photos by Walter Bollozos We all have our issues when we look into the camera. While I’ve been growing increasingly concerned about the fine lines and wrinkles that start to plague every 40-something, like the truth-telling mirror in Snow White, Murad’s Youthcam gave me the real skinny on the state of my skin. It’s like getting a skin consultation for free. At the Murad counter in Rustan’s, you put your chin in a little cup in front of the camera and it takes a snapshot of the side of your face. Hooked up to a laptop, the Youthcam then analyzes your skin in terms of five skin conditions: fine lines and wrinkles, pigmentation, inflammation, redness and pores. “It will give you a percentage and count of each skin concern, so you’ll know which one is highest,” says Aprille Cabrera of Rustan’s Cosmetics & Toiletries Division, Skin Care Category. “When someone comes for a skin consultation and says they’re really concerned about acne, for example, what the camera and Murad’s skin health specialists do is we address your concerns, but the camera shows you your major concerns in terms of scores of each aspect.” With zero as the perfect score, what the Youthcam showed was that sun damage and discoloration was my primary skin concern at 34.26 percent, followed by fine lines and wrinkles at 28 Read More …

More than 81 percent of the 2015 national budget or a total of P2.126 trillion has been released as of the end of the first quarter, the latest Department of Budget and Management (DBM) data showed. Total disbursements as of the end of March included continuing appropriations under the 2014 general appropriations and the supplemental budget. The national budget for this year amounts to P2.606 trillion. Releases under the original 2015 appropriations hit P2.095 trillion or 80.4 percent of the total. In a statement issued Monday, the DBM said the first quarter releases were bigger this year than the 63.7 percent released in the same period last year. Also, comprehensive releases to government departments as of the end of March reached 92.5 percent of the total or P1.234 trilion, higher than the 89.4 percent disbursed to government agencies in the same period in 2014. The DBM attributed the faster disbursement to government departments to the implementation of the general appropriations act (GAA)-as-release-document regime since last year. “Under the GAA-as-release-document regime, departments and agencies can begin obligating funds, start procurement procedures, and enter into contracts without securing a special allotment release order (SARO) from DBM. The GAA is used as the official release document, which facilitates speedier project execution and reduces bottlenecks,” the DBM said. Of the first quarter releases, a total of P1.295 trillion was under the GAA, of which P61.36 billion were poured into special purpose funds. Thus, of the P1.740 trillion programmed as allotment releases under the 2015 Read More …

Senator Koko Pimentel, chair of the Blue Ribbon Sub-committee, together with Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV, listen to businessman Roberto Ongpin as he faces the Senate panel for the first time. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – Senator Aquilino Pimentel III wants to know the extent of graft and corruption practices allegedly committed by local officials that make them the top subject of the cases filed by the Ombudsman in the last four years. In Senate Resolution 1260 he filed on April 6, Pimentel urged the Senate committee on local government to conduct an inquiry into the Ombudman’s report that for four consecutive years since 2011, local officials top the list of the most number of cases filed before the anti-graft body. “It becomes imperative to conduct an inquiry into the Ombudsman report to find out the varying forms of graft and corrupt practices that have been committed by the LGU officials, which led to the filing of graft cases against them,” Pimentel said. Also, he said it is necessary “to determine if the existing anti-corruption laws such as Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act); Republic Act No. 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees); Republic Act No. 9485 (Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007); and other related laws are sufficient to deter graft and corruption.” A total of 2,053 cases were filed against local officials in 2014, the Office of the Ombudsman’s report showed. However, the anti-graft body Read More …

Although Senator Antonio Trillanes IV is keeping mum on the new allegations of corruption he claims to have against Vice President Jejomar Binay, Makati City Rep. Mar-len Abigail Binay has taken it upon herself to explain what she thinks will be tackled at the resumption of the Senate’s hearing against her father Monday— her parents’ wealth. In a statement, Rep. Binay said her family can fully account for the P254 million in bank deposits that the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) claims her father had accumulated from 2007 to 2014. She said a study of the the cash flow statements of the vice president and his wife, former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay, will show they have accumulated P630.9 million over the past 27 years. Of this amount, over P330 million came from JCB Farms, a piggery business which the vice president started in 1994 with a P400,000 capital while P14 million came from his salaries as a public official from 1986 to 2013, Rep. Binay said. In addition, the vice president had collected more than P4 million in professional fees from his law practice while his wife earned more than P49 million from her flower shop business, Blooms and Bouquets. Also included in the cash flow is over P13 million in excess campaign contributions of the vice president, which his daughter said he disclosed in the Statement of Contribution and Expenditures he filed with the Commission on Elections. Rep. Binay said her father had disposed of his business interests for a profit Read More …