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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 …

Loading the player… • Flawless liftoff follows a failed previous attempt  • Spacecraft to study movement of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere  VANDENBERG (AFB), California – After the failure of their first attempt to launch an orbiting carbon observation laboratory, NASA scientists led by project manager Dr. Ralph Basilio were ecstatic at the flawless launch of their second attempt on July 1. “I am happy to report that from the initial health check perspective of the observatory, that we do have indeed a healthy observatory,” said Filiipino American astrophysicist Basilio, the project manager of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The OCO-2 spacecraft is NASA’s first science satellite meant to study where carbon dioxide is moving into and out of the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Since it is dedicated to studying carbon dioxide, the spacecraft “is of “critical importance to the scientists who are trying to understand the impact of humans on global change,” said Betsy Edwards, program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington during the pre-launch news conference, according to Reuters. “Roughly half of the carbon is re-absorbed by forests and the ocean, a process that is not well understood,” the report added. “Understanding the details of those processes will give us some insight into the future and what’s likely to happen over the next decades, even if we continue to consume more and more fossil fuels and emit more and more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,” atmospheric scientist Read More …

By Tina G. Santos |Philippine Daily Inquirer 5:03 am | Monday, July 7th, 2014 MANILA, Philippines–The Bureau of Immigration (BI) will soon implement cashless transactions in a bid to cut red tape and corruption. In a statement, the BI said various fees and dues may soon be paid using an automated teller machine (ATM) card or prepaid card. “We have decided that we can take advantage of the available technology and, consequently, the usual exchange of cash and the age-old practice of bribery or grease money is eliminated, once and for all,” said Immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison. Mison said cashless transactions would also be more convenient for foreigners dealing with the BI. He said using the ATM would speed up transactions like the annual reporting to the BI by resident aliens, visa extensions and applications, among others. The bureau has signed a memorandum of agreement with the Land Bank of the Philippines establishing point-of-sale (POS) terminals at several BI offices. POS terminals will be set up in the BI offices on Magallanes Drive, Intramuros, Manila, and in Cebu in the coming weeks. They will honor ATM and debit cards under the Bancnet, Megalink and Expressnet networks.–With a report from Jocelyn P. Uy Follow Us Other Stories: Remittance firm moves to strategic locations Fil-Am scientist leads launch of NASA’s first carbon observation space lab Fil-Am confirmed as Los Angeles community service commissioner Australian aid for ‘Yolanda’ tops P3B Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and Read More …