Dutch activist who scolded Filipino cop detained

 News
Aug 062013
 
Dutch activist who scolded Filipino cop detained

Associated Press 2:46 pm | Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—Immigration authorities have detained a Dutch activist photographed confronting a police officer during a rally last month against President Benigno Aquino III, a lawyer said. Lawyer Rey Cortez said airport immigration staff prevented Thomas van Beersum from boarding his plane to the Netherlands early Tuesday. Cortez said his 20-year-old client was just being harassed by requiring him to obtain a “clearance” to leave the country. Beersum has said in an open letter that he joined left-wing demonstrators because he was outraged by alleged human rights violations in the country, including the killing of a Dutch aid worker last year. Many Filipinos have denounced Beersum for interfering in Philippine affairs. Spokesmen for the Bureau of Immigration and the Dutch Embassy could not be reached for comment. 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, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines. Tags: Activist , Bureau of Immigration , Police , rally Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s day desk. Believe this article violates journalistic ethics? Contact the Inquirer’s Reader’s Advocate. Or write The Readers’ Advocate:

Napoles fights back, to file flurry of raps vs. accusers

 News
Aug 052013
 
Napoles fights back, to file flurry of raps vs. accusers

(Updated 12:52 p.m.) Months after being embroiled in a supposed scam involving the pork barrel of lawmakers, businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles decided to fight back by hurling a flurry of charges against her accusers. Napoles’ lawyer, Lorna Kapunan, told GMA News Online on Tuesday that they would be filing within the day separate cases of perjury, libel, disbarment, and illegal arrest in Quezon City, Makati, and Taguig City. She said they would file perjury complaints against supposed whistleblowers Benhur Luy and Merlina Suñas for allegedly accusing Napoles of soliciting money from lawmakers’ pork barrel — or Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) — for non-existent projects through fictitious foundations. Luy’s family will also be included in the perjury complaint, Kapunan said. A disbarment case, meanwhile, would also be lodged against Luy’s lawyer, Levito Baligod, before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines for allegedly extorting money from the Napoles camp in exchange for his client clearing Napoles’ name in the issue. Tri-media campaign? Kapunan said their camp will also slap the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Rappler with charges of libel for its “disregard for the truth” and for “abusing the word ‘allegedly’” in its reports on the controversy. Kapunan said the Inquirer will be slapped with charges for the series of reports it did on the fund mess, while Rappler will be sued for its story on the lavish lifestyle of Napoles’ daughter, Jeane. “We want to test this so-called good faith in reporting. Kapag sinabi mong alleged at ipi-print mo, that in Read More …

Taguig to appeal CA decision on Fort Boni dispute

 News
Aug 052013
 
Taguig to appeal CA decision on Fort Boni dispute

After the Court of Appeals declared portions of Fort Bonifacio, including the upscale locale of Bonifacio Global City, as part of Makati City, the local government of Taguig City on Tuesday insisted that the disputed land is theirs. “The CA decision, with due respect, is erroneous,” Mayor Lani Cayetano said in a statement. “We will flight to make sure that the disputed land remains with Taguig,” she added. “We are confident that we will ultimately win this fight.” In a decision, the CA’s Sixth Division overturned the July 2011 ruling of the Pasig City Regional Trial Court that invalidated Presidential Proclamation Nos. 2475 and 518 that originally placed the disputed 729.15 hectares of land under the jurisdiction of Makati City. “We believe… that contrary to the findings of the lower court as between pieces of evidence presented, Taguig was not able to prove this greater weight of evidence to merit a favorable decision,” the CA said in a 37-page decision. The disputed areas consist of Enlisted Men’s Barrios (EMBO) barangays and Inner Fort barangays (which include Barangay Post Proper Northside and Barangay Post Proper Southside).   At stake in the decision were huge local tax revenues and the prestige that emanates from one of the trendiest places in the country. — Amanda Fernandez/RSJ, GMA News

Senate agrees to cut spending on oversight committees

 News
Aug 052013
 
Senate agrees to cut spending on oversight committees

The Senate has agreed to cut spending on oversight committees following controversies on the use of the government funds involving some senators. In a statement on Tuesday, Senate President Franklin Drilon said he and his colleagues have reached a consensus to trim down the number of oversight committees. “We will rationalize the oversight committees so that we will be able to save funds by the end of the year,” Drilon said. However, he noted that the Senate has yet to decide which of its 35 oversight panels will be removed and retained. Oversight committees are created to check the implementation of specific laws. Some existing oversight panels include those tasked to monitor the Clean Air Act, the Overseas Voting Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Law. Drilon said scrapping of some of these ad hoc panels will save the Senate up to P500 million annually. Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto earlier said the Senate leadership may trim down the number of oversight panels down to 20. The Senate made this decision after controversies involving some senators and the use of government funds over the past months. Last month, the Philippine Daily Inquirer ran a series of reports detailing how fake groups supposedly used the “pork barrel” of some senators and House members to fund ghost projects worth P10 billion. Earlier this year, former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile was also accused of irregular disbursement of maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) to some senators. Based on the proposed 2014 budget, the Read More …

Why the Hamilton-class ships are worth it–military, defense experts

 News
Aug 052013
 
Why the Hamilton-class ships are worth it–military, defense experts

By Frances MangosingINQUIRER.net 8:54 am | Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 The BRP Ramon Alcaraz is the second Hamilton-class cutter that was acquired by the Philippine Navy under the Foreign Military Sales Program of the United States. US EMBASSY PHOTO RELEASE SUBIC BAY, Philippines — The Philippines’ two biggest warships expected to boost maritime patrol amid a territorial dispute with China may be four-decade-old Hamilton-class cutters, but defense and military experts believe that acquiring these types of secondhand vessels was still worth it. “The positive outweighs the negative concerns” in getting Hamilton-class frigates for the Navy fleet, said Max Montero, an Australian-based security consultant and a former naval reservist officer of the Philippine Navy, in his blog post which he updates regularly on defense issues. In a separate interview with INQUIRER.net, Commander Joe Anthony Orbe, commanding officer of the BRP del Pilar, the country’s first Hammer-class weather high endurance cutter (WHEC) acquired from the United States, in 2011, said that Hamilton-class cutters were a good choice for used warships. President Benigno Aquino III will lead aceremony today, Tuesday, here welcoming the arrival of the second Hammer-class cutter acquired by the Philippines — the BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PF-16) — which arrived in the Philippines last Friday after a nearly two-month voyage from the US. Orbe, said, however that the Navy would still need to acquire other ships that would give complete capability. “It is a better platform than the ageing naval assets of the PN that negatively affects their capability considering the Read More …

Stocks fall anew on dismal US jobs data

 Economy
Aug 052013
 
Stocks fall anew on dismal US jobs data

MANILA, Philippines – Stocks declined for the second straight session yesterday as negative sentiment in the US caused by lower-than-expected hiring data spilled over to the local bourse. The Philippine Stock Exchange index fell 0.37 percent or 24.22 points to 6,509.73, closing at its intraday low in a lethargic session. The broader All Shares index declined 0.38 percent or 15.09 points to 3,967.04. “A shortfall in new hires in the US against expectations sent Asian investors rushing to the exits, pulling the regional benchmark and majors lower as the week’s trading opened,” said Justino Calaycay Jr., an analyst at Accord Capital Equities Corp. Late last week, the US Labor Department reported that 162,000 jobs were created in July, below the market’s expectation of 185,000 jobs. The unemployment rate, however, slipped to 7.4 percent, its lowest since December 2008. “Positive numbers, which generally should impart a positive spin to trades, particularly from the employment and inflation numbers, have generally elicited negative reactions at it draws the US Federal Reserve closer to justifying a cut to the bond purchase program,” Calaycay said. Around Asia, shares were mixed, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 losing 1.44 percent or 208.12 points to 14,258.04, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index inched up 0.14 percent or 31.04 points to 22,222.01. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Locally, all counters, save for mining and oil that rose 0.44 percent or 63.23 points to 14,395.28, were in the red. The decliners were led by holding firms that Read More …

T-bills still below 1%

 Economy
Aug 052013
 
T-bills still below 1%

MANILA, Philippines – Interest rates on treasury bills remain below one percent following Monday’s auction with mixed results and the government raising only P13.85 billion or just 70 percent of its planned offer size. The Bureau of Treasury rejected some bids for the six-month and one-year debt instruments to control the rates on the longer tenor government securities. The yield on the 91-day T-bills declined by 7.7 basis points to an average of 0.589 percent from the 0.666 percent in the previous monthly auction. Demand for the three-month debt paper was strong with bids reaching P5.91 billion compared with the P4 billion on offer. The government, however, accepted only P4 billion worth of bids in line with its borrowing plan. The rate for the 182-day paper, on the other hand, rose by 2.4 basis points to .897 from 0.873 percent the previous month. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Bids for the six-month bills stood at P7.5 billion, exceeding the offering volume of P6 billion. Despite the oversubscription, the BTR accepted only P4.85 billion worth of bids. Meanwhile, the yield on the 364-day bills dropped by 26.7 basis points to 0.933 percent from 1.2 percent. The one-year government securities attracted only P7.78 billion or less than the P10 billion on offer.

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