SC grants SALN request of GMA News, Solar

 News
Jun 182013
 
SC grants SALN request of GMA News, Solar

The Supreme Court has approved the request of GMA News and Solar News to obtain copies of the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) of the high court’s justices. At a press briefing in Manila, Public Information Office chief Theodore Te said the request of GMA News reporter Lia Manalac and Solar News reporter Anjo Alimario were granted by the high court sitting in full court. “After having complied… the clerk of court recommended the approval of the request subject to condition [payment of fees],” Te said. Meanwhile, TV5 reporter Marlene Alcaide’s request was “deferred” pending the submission of additional requirements. Alcaide was requested to “state as clearly as possible the purpose of her request, the interest ought to be served.” Te said “if public concern is cited, she need to justify how the request can serve public interest.” — Mark Merueñas/KBK, GMA News

BRP Ramon Alcaraz en route to Balboa for refueling

 News
Jun 182013
 
BRP Ramon Alcaraz en route to Balboa for refueling

BRP Ramon Alcaraz, the Philippine Navy’s newly acquired warship, is crossing the Panama Canal and is en route to Balboa in Panama for refueling, the Philippine Embassy to Washington said Tuesday. The embassy tweeted that the BRP Ramon Alcaraz is to dock in Balboa, and will then leave for San Diego the next day. “[The] BRP Alcaraz [is] expected to dock at Rodman Pier in Balboa on 18 June and depart for San Diego on 19 June,” it said. As of Tuesday noon Philippine time, the embassy tweeted that the vessel was crossing Miraflores Locks of Panama Canal en route to Balboa. Only last week, the crew of the BRP Ramon Alcaraz held a successful test-firing of the ship’s main weapons system. The BRP Ramon Alcaraz is expected to take nearly two months to reach the Philippines. According to the embassy, the vessel’s other stops include San Diego, Honolulu, and Guam. Last week, Capt. Ernesto Baldovino, the vessel’s commanding officer, described the weapons system as “very reliable,” and in possession of a “high degree of accuracy.” Baldovino said the BRP Ramon Alcaraz’s Italian-made Oto Melara rapid-fire cannon fired 15 rounds, including three for calibration and 12 at floating targets two to three miles away. — VC, GMA News

Amid threat of heavy rain, PNoy, Cabinet tackle flood control projects in NCR

 News
Jun 182013
 
Amid threat of heavy rain, PNoy, Cabinet tackle flood control projects in NCR

As more heavy rains threaten Metro Manila, President Benigno Aquino III met with Cabinet officials on Tuesday afternoon to tackle the status of flood control projects in the country’s capital region. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the President called for the meeting last week to “be apprised of all the flood control projects that is going on” in Metro Manila. The meeting was ongoing as of posting time. “The master flood control plan is in various stages. Those that are doable are already being done,” Valte said at a press briefing. She added that Aquino will also tackle contingency measures during floods and the relocation of informal settlers in waterways during his meeting with the Cabinet officials. PAGASA earlier warned of more heavy rains over Metro Manila until the weekend due to cyclone

After ending formal peace talks, govt chief negotiator with NDF nominated as PhilHealth head

 News
Jun 182013
 
After ending formal peace talks, govt chief negotiator with NDF nominated as PhilHealth head

President Benigno Aquino III has nominated the government’s chief negotiator with the National Democratic Front (NDF) as head of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), two months after talks with the communist-led group were formally ended. Aquino approved the nomination of Alexander Padilla, who serves both as government chief negotiator and PhilHealth chief operating officer, as the corporation’s president and chief executive officer last week, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte announced at a press briefing Tuesday. Padilla has also been appointed to the Philhealth’s board of directors, she added. But Valte said that Padilla’s nomination to the PhilHealth does not mean that the government is no longer interested in talks with communist rebels. “We have always been open to talks with the NDF. Matagal na pong may mga ginagawang magkasabay si Usec. Padilla. The idea to divide out his work is not novel,” Valte told reporters. “There should be no problem with this appointment. His [Padilla’s] records show that he could do different tasks,” she added. Only last April, Padilla announced that the Philippine government will no longer return to the negotiating table with the NDF, saying that the talks were “going nowhere.” NDF chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni, for his part, said that it was the Aquino administration, not the communist-led group, which “dimmed” the prospects of peace due to the government’s supposed refusal to hold its end up on agreements signed by both parties decades ago. The armed struggle being pursued by the NDF in the Philippines, through its Read More …

130 inmates so far freed on 'Judgment Day'

 News
Jun 182013
 
130 inmates so far freed on 'Judgment Day'

(Updated 3:06 p.m.) At least 130 inmates were freed on Tuesday after trial courts simultaneously heard and decided on cases in five cities with the most inmate population, including Manila and Quezon City. Court Administrator Midas Marquez, who led the event dubbed as “Judgment Day” at the Manila City Jail, said the event aimed to decongest court dockets and prison cells by acting on pending cases, especially minor ones. “It’s not really about iyong nature ng kaso but more on ano na ang nangyari sa kaso. Gaano katagal na ‘yung kaso. Iyon ang tinitignan natin,” he told reporters. “Halimbawa minor offense siya. Limang beses nang nai-set pero ‘di sumisipot mga private complainants. Baka puwedeng provisional dismissal ng case muna iyon,” he added. Apart from Manila, simultaneous hearings were also conducted in four other highly prisoner-populated cities like Quezon City, Cebu City, Davao City, and Angeles City in Pampanga. The hearings were ongoing as of posting time Marquez. As of 2 p.m., Marquez said a total of 115 cases were heard in Manila, with 75 detainees ending up being ordered released. In Angeles City, 68 cases were heard, 55 of which arrived at a decision, resulting in the release of 43 inmates. In Cebu City, 12 inmates were freed. “Some hearings still on going, particularly in Quezon City and Davao City,” Marquez said. At the Manila City Jail, home to more than 3,000 inmates, some 30 Manila judges conducted simultaneous hearings inside the facility’s basketball court. The hearings also aimed to Read More …

Legislator bares sexual exploitation of Filipinas by PH embassy personnel

 News
Jun 182013
 
Legislator bares sexual exploitation of Filipinas by PH embassy personnel

By Leila B. SalaverriaPhilippine Daily Inquirer 1:32 pm | Tuesday, June 18th, 2013 Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello PHOTO TAKEN FROM FACEBOOK.COM MANILA, Philippines—Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello claimed Tuesday that three Philippine embassy officials have been sexually exploiting distressed Filipino female workers in the Middle East, a practice that higher-ups had allegedly ignored. Bello said at a news conference that two of the embassy personnel, whom he identified as officers of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in the Jordanian capital Amman and in Kuwait, were involved in running sex rings in those two places that send Filipinas to service wealthy clients. The third official, he claimed, was a member of the augmentation team of the Department of Foreign Affairs at the embassy in Damascus, Syria, who allegedly engaged in sexual acts with OFWs staying at the embassy’s shelter for distressed workers. Bello said he was making a public disclosure of the information, which he claimed had come from “unimpeachable sources” within the DFA and the DOLE, after they asked him to expose the unsavory deeds perpetrated in their offices. “Indeed, our sources have asked us to expose the criminals in their ranks because their acts are giving the agencies a bad name, and they can no longer tolerate the inaction of their superiors,” he said. Follow Us Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, Read More …

Philippines’ sweetheart Anne Curtis entertains at Pechanga Hotel and Casino

 Entertainment
Jun 172013
 

Anne Curtis 2011 Album Cover The U.S. concert debut of “Annebisyosa” in Temecula, CA was a success.  The show featured 28-year old Filipino actress, Anne Curtis, whose ambitions of becoming a singer were realized when the concert opened at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in the Philippines.  Despite the fact the she admits to being a […]

US convenience stores exploited immigrants from PH, Pakistan

 News
Jun 172013
 
US convenience stores exploited immigrants from PH, Pakistan

Associated Press 7:50 am | Tuesday, June 18th, 2013 Graphics depicting the locations of 7-Eleven stores involved in a federal indictment are shown after a news conference at the US Attorney’s office, Monday, June 17, 2013, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. United States Attorney Loretta E. Lynch has announced the indictment of nine individuals involved in a multi-state scheme to conceal the systematic employment of illegal immigrants and steal their identities. AP PHOTO/JOHN MINCHILLO NEW YORK—Nine owners and managers of 7-Eleven convenience stores were charged Monday in a scheme to exploit immigrants from Pakistan and the Philippines, in part by paying them using the stolen Social Security numbers of a child and three dead people while stealing most of their wages. Most of the defendants were arrested early Monday as federal authorities raided 14 franchise stores on Long Island, New York, and in Virginia. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were executing search warrants at more than 40 other stores across the US suspected of similar infractions, authorities said at a news conference in Brooklyn. “These nine defendants created a modern-day plantation system, with themselves as overseers, with the immigrant workers as subjects, living in their version of a company town,” US Attorney Loretta Lynch told a news conference in Brooklyn. Four defendants who hold both US and Pakistani citizenship belong to a family that has participated in social events with Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, prosecutors said in court papers as they highlighted foreign ties while successfully Read More …

California Senate honors June 12 and Filipino contributions

 News
Jun 172013
 
California Senate honors June 12 and Filipino contributions

INQUIRER.net U.S. Bureau 5:13 am | Tuesday, June 18th, 2013 Philippine Consul General Marciano Paynor with California Senate Majority Leader Ellen M. Corbett. The Senate officially declared June 12 as Philippine Independence Day. SACRAMENTO– California’s State Senate unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Ellen M. Corbett (D-East Bay) Senator Corbett honoring June 12 as Philippine Independence Day. The state Senate also made a  “special recognition of California’s Filipino American citizens” and thanked them for their “countless contributions to our nation’s cultural, economic and political heritage.” “I thank my Senate colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, for supporting SCR 47 today to honor Philippine independence, as well as the thriving Filipino-American community in California,” Senator Corbett said. “The 10th State Senate District is home to tens of thousands of Filipino-Americans that contribute to the diversity of our state, in fields such as government, medicine, business and education.  Visiting Naga City in the Philippines as Mayor of San Leandro during a Sister City trip helped me appreciate even more the strong connection between our East Bay communities and the beautiful island nation of the Philippines.  I greatly appreciate their rich history and traditions that live on in California today.” Many Filipino-Americans continue to make an indelible mark on life in California, including several individuals that live and work in the 10th State Senate District.  Some of those community leaders include: ·    Assemblymember Rob Bonta (First Filipino-American elected to the California Legislature) ·    Chief Justice of California Tani Cantil-Sakauye ·    Philippine Read More …

 Older Entries  Newer Entries