House 'kills' FOI bill

 News
Feb 062013
 
House 'kills' FOI bill

The House of Representatives on Wednesday failed to pass the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, which seeks to promote transparency in government transactions and data. The chamber adjourned Wednesday’s session without a single mention of the FOI bill at the plenary. The measure has been pending at the floor since December. The FOI bill only went as far as the period of sponsorship—the first step in plenary discussions of the measure—at the House during this Congress. The Senate was able to pass its version of the proposed legislation two months ago. Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, chair of the House committee on public information that passed the FOI bill last December, blamed his fellow lawmakers’ “reluctance” to pass the measure for their failure to approve the proposed legislation. “If the congressmen were enthusiastic about it (FOI bill) and showed up during sessions, then we could have acted on it,” Evardone said in a phone interview. He also said that he observed a “lack of support” from his colleagues in pushing for the bill’s passage. Both houses of Congress are to take a three-month break to give way to the campaign period for the May elections. Congress will resume session in June but only from June 3 to 6 before its final adjournment. Palace blamed Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño, however, said that Evardone himself had a hand in “killing” the FOI bill. The measure languished before Evardone’s committee for more than a year before it was recommended for plenary Read More …

Legarda denies filing bill reducing pay, benefits of govt employees

 News
Feb 062013
 
Legarda denies filing bill reducing pay, benefits of govt employees

Senator Loren Legarda on Wednesday belied rumors that she had filed a bill decreasing the salaries and benefits of government employees. In a speech delivered before the Senate on Wednesday, Legarda said rumors about her allegedly filing a bill reducing the leave credits and retirement benefits of public servants have been circulating through text messages and social media. “This information is totally false and fabricated, with no other purpose than to destroy my reputation as a champion for the rights of our dedicated government workers,” she said. “No legislator will introduce such a bill which would diminish the salaries and benefits of our personnel in government institutions that provide services critical to public safety and order,” she added. She countered that, rather than reduce benefits, she filed Senate Bill 2355 which seeks to increase the combat duty pay of Armed Forces of the Philippines personnel by 25 percent. Legarda, meanwhile, urged the “source of the malicious and baseless messages” to stop spreading falsehoods against her. “We should be cooperating and creating positive change not spreading lies that will distract us from our goals and that will result in unnecessary conflicts,” she said. She also noted it was suspicious that it happened just as the election was drawing nearer. Legarda does very well in the polls for Senate candidates. She came in second to fellow senator Francis Escudero in the last Pulse Asia survey. “Sinuman nag nagkakalat niyan harapin ninyo ako,” she challenged. The senator said she has an idea on Read More …

Korean faces raps for protected area encroachment

 News
Feb 062013
 
Korean faces raps for protected area encroachment

By Maricar Cinco Inquirer Southern Luzon 6:43 pm | Wednesday, February 6th, 2013 THE TAAL Volcano Jung Ang Leisure and Resort facility during its dismantling by the DENR in July last year. PHOTO COURTESY OF CENRO BATANGAS SAN PEDRO, Laguna, Philippines—A Korean national, who owns the P5-million floating restaurant that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) had shut down, is facing charges of violating Philippine environmental laws. Alexander Sandoval, assistant Batangas prosecutor, recommended the case against Kim Young Ok, the owner and president of the Taal Volcano Jung Ang Leisure and Resort located in Barangay Buco in Talisay town. In a resolution dated Dec. 10, 2012, Sandoval said Ok violated the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 and the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004 for building and operating a restaurant in part of Taal Lake, a protected area. The DENR, through the office of the Taal Volcano Protected Landscape (TVPL), in June 2012 closed down the facility after the owner refused to heed a notice of violation of environmental laws and voluntarily close down the facility. Sandoval agreed to the findings of the TVPL that the establishment did not have a waste disposal facility. He said its toilets, for instance, are not connected to any septic tank and flush out waste directly into the lake. The TVPL also said the company illegally reclaimed a 20-square meter portion of the lake when it built a wharf that connected Read More …

8 PH international airports to get security cameras—CAAP

 News
Feb 062013
 

By Jerome Aning Philippine Daily Inquirer 6:33 pm | Wednesday, February 6th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said Wednesday it has allocated P100 million for the installation of closed-circuit television cameras in the immigration areas of eight alternative international airports in the country. CAAP Director General William Hotchkiss III said the installation of the surveillance camera systems was in line with the agency’s safety and security program for all Philippine airports. According to Hotchkiss, CAAP will be signing this month an agreement with the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (Iacat) which would co-manage the operation of the CCTV systems that would record goings-on at the immigration counters. “The agreement is a joint effort by the Iacat and the CAAP designed to enhance airports’ capability in monitoring passengers and other airport users’ movement in the immigration areas,” Hotchkiss said in a statement. The eight airports are the Clark International Airport in Pampanga; Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City; Iloilo International Airport; Bacolod–Silay International Airport; Kalibo International Airport; Puerto Princesa International Airport; Zamboanga International Airport; and Laoag International Airport. Under the agreement, CAAP will provide funding for the surveillance equipment through competitive bidding while Iacat will co-manage the operations of the integrated surveillance systems. The Iacat, composed of five government agencies and three private-sector representatives, is tasked with crafting and implementing policies to stop trafficking in persons. There have been allegations that unscrupulous immigration and airport officials are conniving with traffickers to allow in and out of the Read More …

Lapid’s wife gets 3 years probation in US

 News
Feb 062013
 
Lapid’s wife gets 3 years probation in US

By Nimfa U. Rueda Inquirer Correspondent 6:14 pm | Wednesday, February 6th, 2013 Sen. Lito Lapid and his wife Marissa LOS ANGELES—The wife of  Sen. Lito Lapid felt “very relieved” that her cash smuggling case is over following her sentencing by the US district court to three years of probation, said her lawyer Eliot Krieger. The probation period includes five months of home confinement. Krieger said that Marissa Lapid, who remains confined in her residence in Las Vegas, Nevada, may be able to return to the Philippines “after five months of home confinement with the permission of the Probation Department.” Marissa Lapid “is very relieved to have the whole thing over,” Krieger told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Krieger said that in a plea agreement that he negotiated, Lapid pleaded guilty to cash smuggling and conspiracy to structure transactions “with intent to evade reporting requirements.” Lapid was charged before US Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen in Las Vegas and sentenced on Monday (Tuesday in Manila). The reporting violations stemmed from a series of cash deposits made by Lapid in different banks in Las Vegas from January 2009 to June 2010 totaling more than $150,000. Banks are required to submit to the federal government currency transaction reports on cash deposits that exceed $10,000. Lapid’s cash deposits ranged from $5,000 to $9,000. All the deposits, plus the $40,000 confiscated from Lapid when she arrived at McCarran International Airport on Nov. 27, 2010, were forfeited by the US government, Krieger said. The lien placed on Read More …

US navy contractor dumped millions of liters of wastes in Subic

 News
Feb 062013
 
US navy contractor dumped millions of liters of wastes in Subic

SAYS LEGARDABy Matikas Santos INQUIRER.net 5:48 pm | Wednesday, February 6th, 2013 Sen. Loren Legarda. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Millions of liters of sewage wastes were dumped in the Philippine waters by US Navy contractor Glenn Defense Marine Asia without proper permits from the government, Senator Loren Legarda, who headed an investigation into the waste dumping incident in Subic Bay in October, said Wednesday. “We are talking here of millions of liters of sewage wastes disposed at sea by Glenn Defense over a period of time, without the requisite permits from the government,” Legarda said in a statement. “They do not even have the necessary accreditation as waste collectors from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA),” Legarda said after the joint investigation of the Senate committees on foreign relations and environment and natural resources into the incident. Legarda said that Glenn Defense was guilty of violating Philippine laws when its tanker, MT Glenn Guardian, dumped sewage wastes collected from US Navy ships 37 kilometers off Subic, last October 15. She said that Glenn Defense, the Philippine arm of a Singapore-based company that operates in 27 countries providing marine husbanding services, had been doing the practice over the past several years. The estimated 200,000 liters of sewage that the MT Glenn Guardian collected from the US Navy ship Emory Land had previously been found to be in excess of the toxicity standards set by the DENR. The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) had also Read More …

Filipino killed in hijacking of tanker off Nigeria—DFA

 News
Feb 062013
 
Filipino killed in hijacking of tanker off Nigeria—DFA

By Tarra Quismundo Philippine Daily Inquirer 5:18 pm | Wednesday, February 6th, 2013 DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—A Filipino seafarer was killed when an unidentified group of pirates hijacked a chemical tanker off the coast of Nigeria on Feb. 4, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday. Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez, the DFA spokesperson, said pirates shot and killed the Filipino seaman when they boarded the Pyxis Delta, a tanker registered in the Marshall Islands, on Monday. He was rushed to the nearest hospital but was declared dead upon arrival at the facility, Hernandez said. Eight other Filipino crewmen who were also aboard the ship at the time of the hijacking are safe and are expected to be repatriated soon, Hernandez said. “They are safe and in good health but we don’t have a full report and details about the incident,” he said. The hostage-taking was apparently resolved immediately but Hernandez said the DFA has received only a sketchy preliminary report from the seamen’s local manning agent in Manila. Details remain unclear as to how long the pirates held the ship and how and why they finally let go of the vessel and its crew. The Pyxis Delta is now anchored off the Nigerian coast with its crew still on board, Hernandez said. At least 23 Filipino seamen are still in the hands of pirates on three hijacked ships in Somalia, some already for months, the DFA said.

Fisherfolk groups urge DOJ to slap raps vs. USS Guardian execs, crewmen

 News
Feb 042013
 
Fisherfolk groups urge DOJ to slap raps vs. USS Guardian execs, crewmen

A federation of fisherfolk groups on Tuesday formally asked Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to file charges against Navy officials and crew members of the USS Guardian for what they called a “grand massacre” of the Tubbataha Reef Park after an accident earlier this month. In a letter to De Lima, the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said Rear Admiral Jeffrey Harley and Lt. Commander Mark Rice of the US Asia Pacific military command and the 79 crew members of USS Guardian should all be held liable for the destruction of the reef. “The evidence is so damning enough to enforce the arrest of US Navy officials and 79 crew members of USS Guardian for extremely violating the country’s sovereignty and laws. But nothing has been done to pursue their arrest and demand accountability from them,” said the Pamalakaya, a national federation of small fisherfolk organizations in the Philippines. The USS Guardian ran aground on Tubbataha Reef last January 17 and could not immediately be extracted. Much of its potentially harmful content – including 15,000 gallons of fuel – have already been removed from the ship. An initial assessment of the incident had shown that about 1,000 square meters of corals in Tubbataha Reef park have been severely damaged. It is believed that it takes a year for a millimeter of mostly hard corals in Tubbataha’s South Section to go back to its sound condition and it will take 250 years for a meter of coral to Read More …

Senate approves bill regulating use of firearms, ammunition

 News
Feb 042013
 
Senate approves bill regulating use of firearms, ammunition

The Senate has approved on third and final reading a bill seeking to regulate the use of firearms and ammunition in the country. Senate Bill 3397 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammuition Regulation Act seeks to appeal sections of Presidential Decree 1866, a section of Republic Act 8294, and other laws, executive orders, letters of instruction, issuances, circulars, administrative orders, rules or regulations concerning firearms and ammunition. Under the measure, a person must be a Filipino citizen, at least 21 years old, has “gainful” work or business, and has filed an income tax return to qualify and acquire a license to own and possess firearms and ammunition. The applicant likewise must not be convicted of any crime involving moral turpitude and must have passed a drug test, psychiatric test, and a gun safety seminar. The bill says that permits to carry firearms outside of the residence shall be issued by the chief of the Philippine National Police or any duly authorized representative to “any qualified person whose life is under actual threat or their lives are in imminent danger due to the nature of their profession, occupation or business.” “It shall be the burden of the applicant to prove that his life is under actual threat by submitting a threat assessment certificate from the PNP,” it said. It said that the following professionals are considered to be in imminent danger due to the nature of their profession, occupation or business. members of the Philippine bar certified public accountants accredited media Read More …

Taiwan students, teachers to camp at Spratlys

 News
Feb 042013
 
Taiwan students, teachers to camp at Spratlys

Some 40 students and teachers from Taiwan will go on a camping trip to the disputed Spratly Islands, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported Monday night. The CNA report quoted the Ministry of National Defense as saying the 40 will include 10-member teams from four universities. It also said the students will send postcards upon arriving on the island to “assert Taiwan’s sovereignty over the Spratlys.” Each team will have one professor and nine graduate and doctoral students below 40 years old. However, the CNA report said the ministry declined to say when the camping will be held, due to “security concerns.” The CNA report said this will be the third year the defense ministry is organizing such a camp, with this year’s program focusing on the “history of the South China Sea, maritime law and marine ecology.” Taiwan is one of six claimants to the Spratlys, the others being the Philippines, Brunei, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. —KG, GMA News

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