Maniolas

The Supreme Court will decide by November whether the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund, commonly known as pork barrel, is legal or not. During the second session of the oral arguments regarding PDAF’s constitutionality on Thursday, Associate Justice Antonio Carpio disclosed that the High Court will decide on the case by November “to give Congress time to adjust” on the Court’s decision. The House of Representatives is currently on a session break. It is scheduled to reconvene next week to pass the budget (General Appropriations Act of 2014) on third reading. The oral arguments lasted for about five hours. Likewise, Carpio ordered Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza to submit a Memorandum within seven days or before October 17 without extension. On Thursday, Jardeleza asked the court to lift the temporary restraining order it imposed earlier on the release of funds. He reasoned that the scholars and indigent patients that were subsidized through PDAF funds were the ones suffering from the High Tribunal’s earlier decision. Meanwhile, Carpio suggested that the President’s Social Fund, dubbed the President’s pork, can be tapped for indigent patients and augment scholarship programs. However, the Solicitor General seemed lukewarm to the idea. In an ambush interview after the oral arguments, Jardeleza explained: “Well, ‘yung PSF hindi kasi pang scholarship na panglahatan. Ang scholarship doon ay limitado sa mga anak ng namatay na sundalo. Titignan naming kung pwede ‘yun.” Last Tuesday, it was the turn of the petitioners—losing senatorial candidates Samson Alcantara and Greco Belgica—to explain that the use Read More …

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN — Myanmar won a new diplomatic prize Thursday for its dramatic political reforms, taking the helm of Southeast Asia’s regional bloc despite warnings from some critics that the move was premature. The one-time international pariah was formally awarded the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) for 2014 at the end of the group’s summit in the oil-rich sultanate of Brunei. President Thein Sein said the theme of Myanmar’s chairmanship would be “moving forward in unity in a peaceful and prosperous community.” The former general has earned international plaudits and the removal of most Western sanctions for reforms that include freeing hundreds of political prisoners. Draconian media censorship has been scrapped and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy have been welcomed into parliament following landmark by-elections last year. But the military and its political allies remain firmly in control of the country while religious violence and the continued arrests of activists have tempered optimism about the political changes. Addressing Asean leaders in Brunei, UN leader Ban Ki-moon hailed Myanmar’s “unprecedented reform process.” “However, I remain concerned about ongoing communal violence,” he added. Around 250 people have been killed and more than 140,000 left homeless in several outbreaks of Buddhist-Muslim violence around the country since June 2012. Critics said the decision to hand the reins to Myanmar highlighted the bloc’s wider disregard for human rights. “Sadly, respect for human rights has never been an important qualification for being ASEAN Read More …