Senate probe on Binay may last until May 2015 –Trillanes

 News
Nov 112014
 
Senate probe on Binay may last until May 2015 –Trillanes

The Senate blue ribbon subcommittee investigation on corruption charges against Vice President Jejomar Binay may last until May 2015, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said Wednesday, adding that their goal is to send Binay to jail. In an interview with GMA News TV’s “Unang Balita,” Trillanes said the investigation could take a few more months because it is already dealing with other allegations of corruption involving Binay aside from the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall Building II. Trillanes also countered President Benigno Aquino III’s observation that the panel is releasing evidence on a piecemeal basis, saying they are just gathering more information on the other allegations. “Liliwanagin natin, hindi naman po ito pautay-utay. Lahat ng ebidensiya ukol sa Makati Parking Building, nasa Ombudsman na po at sa DOJ (Department of Justice). Hindi lang po kasi naimpormahan ang presidente of the status,” he said. On Tuesday, Aquino called on the subcommittee to present all evidence against Binay at once instead of doing it on a piecemeal basis. Meanwhile, Trillanes said with the investigation, they aim to send the vice president to jail for his alleged ways of corruption. “Sa akin, ang ating objective is to make sure na makulong si Vice President Binay. Milyun-milyon na po ang nanakaw nito,” he said, adding that they have more to expose in the upcoming hearings, including more alleged overpriced buildings in Makati and other types of corruption. Binay has denied the allegations but backed out of a public debate with Trillanes scheduled for November 27. Read More …

Ex-Comelec exec to face malversation, graft raps over P44.3-M unliquidated funds

 General
Nov 112014
 
Ex-Comelec exec to face malversation, graft raps over P44.3-M unliquidated funds

The Office of the Ombudsman is set to file malversation and graft charges against former Comelec Director for Finance Services Gideon De Guzman for allegedly failing to liquidate P44.3 million he received from 1998 to 2007. According to a press statement, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales ordered the filing of 46 counts of malversation of public funds, and violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act against De Guzman. The Ombudsman found that De Guzman failed to liquidate cash advances worth P44.3 million for “various expenditures ranging from expenses for conferences and meetings, and food allowances to gifts and tokens.”  In 2008, a series of demand letters to liquidate the amount were sent to him, but were ignored, it added. “[De Guzman’s] failure to settle and liquidate the P44,332,613.67 despite repeated demands raises the presumption that he has either appropriated, took, misappropriated or through abandonment or negligence allowed another person to take them,” the Ombudsman said. “Malversation is committed when a public officer, who has custody of funds or property by reason of the duties of his office and to which he is accountable, appropriated, took, misappropriated or consented or, through abandonment or negligence, permitted another person to take these funds or property,” the Ombudsman explained. Section 3 (e) involves, “causing any undue injury to any party, including the Government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, Read More …

Asean summit gets underway in Myanmar

 News
Nov 112014
 
Asean summit gets underway in Myanmar

A sweeper cleans a road in front of a billboard promoting Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, Nov 11, 2014. AP Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar–The formal opening ceremonies for the 25th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit has started here at 9:20 a.m. Wednesday (10:55 a.m. in Manila). President Benigno Aquino III was the last of the Asean leaders who were welcomed by host, Myanmar (Burma) President Thein Sein and his wife Khin Khin Win at the lobby of the Myanmar International Convention Center. The President, who planed in a little after 11 p.m. Tuesday (around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday in Manila) after a five-hour trip from Beijing, China, shook hands with the Myanmar leader and his wife. After shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries, Aquino checked his watch as he was led by Myanmar president to leave the stage to head to the Jade Hall. Myanmar, which remains under a military regime, is chairing the 10-nation Asean for the first time. The summit takes place with just a year to go before the start of the Asean economic integration by the end of 2015. The 10 Asean members are the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia. During the Asean Summit and the 9th East Asia Summit that follows, the Asean leaders will also hold talks with their counterparts from China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, the United States as well as the United Nations. RELATED STORIES Aquino arrives Read More …

Filipino priests’ home in Rome needs repairs

 News
Nov 112014
 
Filipino priests’ home in Rome needs repairs

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle: Appeal for support. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA MANILA, Philippines–Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle is appealing to the Catholic faithful to support a global campaign to raise funds and refurbish the crumbling Pontifico Collegio Filippino, the “Home in Rome” to Filipino diocesan priests. “The restoration of the Collegio will help preserve the environment of excellence it has established through the years, a quality that would redound to the entire Catholic community,” Tagle said in a statement. Inaugurated in 1959, the four-story structure outside the Vatican walls—known officially as the Pontifical College Seminary of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage—on Via Aurelia in Rome “is in pretty bad shape,” according to CBCP News, the official news service of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. Quoting the Collegio’s rector, Fr. Gregory Ramon Gaston, the CBCP said the building’s pipelines and heating system were in bad need of an upgrade, while its dilapidated walls and cracked floors were in need of major repair. The high construction cost in Europe, however, was a “major concern,” said Gaston, who added that the subsidy the Collegio received from residents’ lodging fees and guests’ donations were just enough to cover its daily operations. Highlighting the importance of the Collegio and how it helped support the life of the Church, Gaston said it had produced more than 500 alumni, many of whom were bishops, archbishops and papal nuncios who later became professors and members of the Diocesan Read More …

Aquino to raise sea row in Asean

 News
Nov 112014
 
Aquino to raise sea row in Asean

Myanmar soldiers in ceremonial uniforms stands while an army officer checks their attire as they wait to welcome the arrival leaders of Southeast Asian countries at Naypyitaw International Airport for upcoming the 25th ASEAN summit, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. President Aquino is scheduled to meet one-on-one with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Wednesday afternoon. He is to meet later with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. AP NAYPYITAW, Burma—President Aquino will meet with his counterparts from major security allies Japan and Australia on the sidelines of the two-day 25th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit opening Wednesday where he is expected to talk about China’s intrusions in the West Philippine Sea. The President is scheduled to meet one-on-one with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Wednesday afternoon. He is to meet later with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The Philippines has received strong support from Japan and Australia in maritime security cooperation and capability enhancement. Japan also has a territorial dispute with China over the Senkaku islands (which the Chinese call the Diaoyu islands) in the East China Sea, while Australia has voiced concern over the maritime dispute in the South China Sea. Aquino met with Abe on June 24, at the height of tension over China’s insistence on claiming the entire South China Sea. The dispute with China and the upcoming Asean economic integration are uppermost in the President’s agenda for the Asean summit in Burma (Myanmar). This is the first time the President will sit down at the biennial Read More …

UN laments slow relocation of ‘Yolanda’ survivors

 News
Nov 112014
 
UN laments slow relocation of ‘Yolanda’ survivors

A baby sleeps as typhoon survivors continue to live in tents at a coastal village in Tacloban, Leyte province in central Philippines Friday, Nov.7, 2014. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—The head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has expressed concern over the slow relocation of many survivors of Supertyphoon Yolanda, known internationally as Haiyan, forcing them to rebuild their homes in the so-called “danger zones” using unsafe materials. Margareta Wahlstrom, who is also UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special representative for disaster risk reduction, noted that one year after the storm ravaged Eastern Visayas, “only 150 households have been relocated to permanent shelters, as part of the government housing program.” “Survivors are complaining about the rebuilding process, which is, according to them far too slow,” she said in a statement furnished the Inquirer by the UN agency’s head office in Geneva. Wahlstrom, who is in Manila to attend the Top Leaders Forum, which aims to promote public-private partnership and multi-stakeholders’ collaboration as the best way to ensure long-term resilience in the face of disasters, pointed out “land tenure is a major hurdle to the resettlement program.” This, she said, was “adding to the frustration of the many people who want a new home now.” “Too many people have already rebuilt their homes in danger zones using unsafe materials,” she said. Wahlstrom also reported that SM Prime Holdings, one of the region’s top private property developers, had turned over 200 permanent homes to the same number of families Read More …

UN notes change year after ‘Yolanda’

 News
Nov 112014
 
UN notes change year after ‘Yolanda’

A building is constructed from a village which was almost totally wiped out by Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (Haiyan) last year in Tacloban City on Nov.7, 2014. When the UNDP Asia-Pacific director, Haoliang Xu, returned to typhoon-ravaged Eastern Visayas last weekend, he noticed not just the buildings and homes that have risen again. He also saw the lives rebuilt a year after Super Typhoon “Yolanda” smashed through the region. AP MANILA, Philippines–When the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Asia-Pacific director returned to typhoon-ravaged Eastern Visayas last weekend, he noticed not just the buildings and homes that have risen again. He also saw the lives rebuilt a year after Super Typhoon “Yolanda” smashed through the region. Haoliang Xu, the UNDP’s assistant administrator and regional director for Asia and the Pacific, saw the “enormous” recovery when he visited Tacloban and Palo in Leyte province, among the worst-hit areas when Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) struck on Nov. 8, 2013. “Of course, the scars of the disaster are still there, it’s not as if everything is perfect,” Xu told the Inquirer. “The scars are still visible but the changes are enormous.” “Buildings have been repaired, businesses have opened. Life has come back, not fully to normal, but you can see that a lot has come back,” he said in an interview on Monday, the eve of his departure after an eight-day visit. From the air and on the ground, Xu saw how far the affected communities had come a year since they lost their loved Read More …

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