Maniolas

President Benigno S. Aquino III administers the oath of office to newly appointed government officials in a ceremony held at the Rizal Hall of the Malacañan Palace on Monday (September 01). (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – The House justice committee on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to junk the three impeachment complaints against President Benigno Aquino III, declaring them to “insufficient in substance.” Voting 54-4 in all three impeachment complaints, the panel moved to dismiss the impeachment raps against Aquino. Two of the three complaints filed against the President alleged that Aquino committed a culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in connection with his implementation of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). The Supreme Court has declared the DAP partially unconstitutional. The third complaint also alleged culpable violation of the Constitution with regard to the Aquino administration’s signing of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the US. The EDCA is now the subject of a suit before the Supreme Court. Tension marred the House justice committee’s deliberations on the sufficiency of substance of the three impeachment complaints against Aquino III after a heated exchange between an administration ally and a militant lawmaker. The argument started after Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone accused Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares, one of the endorsers of the impeachment complaint, of having received funds from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), which has been declared partially unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and is the basis of two of the three complaints. In response, Read More …

President Benigno S. Aquino III is joined by the Liberal Party candidates from Zamboanga del Norte Province and Dipolog City, headed by reelectionist Dipolog City Mayor Evelyn Uy, Zamboanga del Norte Gubernatorial candidate former Dipolog City Mayor Roberto Uy, Vice Gubernatorial candidate Dipolog City Vice Mayor Senen Angeles, reelectionist Zamboanga del Norte 2nd District Representative Rosendo Labadlabad, 1st District Congressional candidate Vicente Balisado and 3rd District Congressional candidate Isagani Amatong, flashes the Laban “L” sign during the meeting with local leaders and the community at the Dipolog Sports Complex in Barangay Olingan, Dipolog City on Thursday (April 18). LP was founded on January 19, 1946 by Manuel Roxas, the first President of the Third Philippine Republic. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is asking media organizations to submit a report detailing political advertising on radio and television. “Hihingi rin kami ng mas epektibong kooperasyon mula sa media entities na mag-submit sila ng report, as required by law, ng kontrata for advertisement ng kanilang mga kandidato,” Comelec Commissioner Luie Guia said. The Comelec official made the statement after the Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down as being “arbitrary” the airtime limits on campaign ads imposed by the Comelec. The high court unanimously junked the poll body’s resolution of summing up the total airtime of political advertisements instead of limiting the airtime per station, and declared parts of Comelec Resolution Nos. 9615 and 9361 as a violation of press freedom. The resolutions set the following guidelines for political Read More …

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the National Food Authority will name the parties behind the hoarding of rice will be named soon, but not while an investigation is still ongoing. She said the NFA is not keen on publicizing names at this time, lest those involved be tipped off. (MNS Photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – Exepct the price of rice to remain high in the coming two months amid delays in the government’s procurement of additional supply, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said today. Agriculture Assistant Secretary Edilberto de Luna said farm gate prices would remain elevated until end-October after farmers put off planting on fears that the looming El Nino dry spell would lay their crops to waste. “There are some movements in the planting calendar because farmers fear that there will be insufficient water supply and delayed rainfall in these areas,” said de Luna, who is also coordinator of the DA National Rice Program. “About 77,000 hectares of rainfed areas were delayed. Instead of planting in June, farmers opted to start their cropping calendar in July, which will be harvested by October,” he added. With the delay in planting, the third-quarter harvest may reach only 3 million metric tons, or short of the 3.3 million recorded last year. “At P18-P21 per kilogram of palay would be a ‘good price’ for farmers. That’s why there’s the imported rice…to stabilize prices,” de Luna said. The June to September period is considered the lean season for rice, which is why the Read More …

A recent study says that exercise is important if one is to reap the cardiovascular health benefits of wine.©.shock/Shutterstock.com (Relaxnews) – At the European Society of Cardiology Congress, researchers from the Czech Republic presented a first of its kind study in which they concluded that wine has its greatest cardiovascular benefits for those who exercise. “This is the first randomised trial comparing the effects of red and white wine on markers of atherosclerosis in people at mild to moderate risk of CVD,” says Professor Milos Taborsky, Director of the Internal Cardiology Clinic of the University Hospital and Palacky University in Olomouc. “We found that moderate wine drinking was only protective in people who exercised. Red and white wine produced the same results.” Dr. Taborsky’s “In Vino Veritas” study involved 146 participants who, according to Heart Score, an international risk assessment tool, carried mild to moderate risk of cardiovascular disease. They were assigned at random to drink a moderate amount of Czechoslovakian wine from the same year and region over the course of a year, either Pinot Noir (red) or Chardonnay-Pinot (white). Researchers defined moderate consumption according to the World Health Organization standards of .02 L for women and .03 L for men, not more than five times per week. Participants made no dietary changes and kept a logbook of wine and other alcohol intake in addition to medication use and, importantly, exercise. To insure that participants drank their wine rather than selling it, researchers required them to reveal their corks, also Read More …