Maniolas

Presidential aspirant and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte chants “Mabuhay ang Moro people!” before entering his vehicle after his campaign rally in Cotabato City on Saturday. Majority of the Bangsamoros in the event expressed support for Duterte for his clear stance on resolving the Mindanao conflict.(MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) — A presidency by PDP Laban standard-bearer Rodrigo Duterte shall provide socialized housing for homeless Filipinos, but will not condone illegal settlers, especially those with connections to land-grabbing syndicates. PDP Laban spokesperson Atty. Paola Alvarez stressed this today, saying Duterte and his running mate Alan Peter Cayetano shall put a stop once and for all to those who, illegally and oftentimes by the use of force, take the land of others, including those owned by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). “OFWs are the most vulnerable to the nefarious activities of illegal settlers with ties to syndicates according to reports and complaints reaching the office of Senator Aquilino ‘Koko’ Pimentel III,” said Alvarez. “Our OFWs work long years on foreign soil only to find out that the properties they’ve bought with money earned from their blood, sweat and tears had been taken over by illegal settlers,” added Alvarez. Alvarez said that Sen. Pimentel, chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, has emphasized that while all Filipinos must be afforded roofs over their heads, this should not be accomplished by trampling on the rights of legitimate property owners. The lawyer lamented that land-grabbing victims are ironically prevented by law, specifically Republic Read More …

Representatives of the Makabayan bloc led by Rep. Neri Colmenares link arms with Sen. Grace Poe and Sen. Chiz Escudero during a solidarity event at the Quezon City Sports Club on Thursday. The group declared support for Team Galing at Puso in the 2016 election.(MNS photo) MANILA  (Mabuhay) – The Supreme Court decision declaring Sen. Grace Poe a natural-born Filipino and a resident of the Philippines should not be part of the law of the land because it practically “rewrote” the 1987 Philippine Constitution. This was the statement of lawyer Manuelito Luna, counsel for former Sen. Francisco “Kit” Tatad, as he slammed the high tribunal’s decision, through a 9-6 vote, to overturn Poe’s disqualification and allow her to run for president in May. Luna told reporters on Monday that their camp will file a motion for reconsideration “either Wednesday or Thursday” to contest the Poe main decision and seek its reversal. Citing a revelation made by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio in his dissent, Luna said the high court could not declare Poe natural-born because the tribunal apparently failed to get a majority vote of eight in favor of the lawmaker’s citizenship, after the justices voted 7-5-3. “Only seven justices or less than the majority of the SC voted to declare Poe presumptively natural-born. It binds no one. It cannot become part of the law of the land or jurisprudence,” Luna told reporters, citing Rule 12, Section 1 of the high tribunal’s Internal Rules. Under the rules, all decisions and actions Read More …

One in four deaths worldwide are due to environmental factors like air, water and soil pollution, as well as unsafe roads and workplace stress, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday. Air pollution is a factor in millions of deaths, according to a new WHO report.© agophoto/shutterstock.com An estimated 12.6 million people died in 2012 as a result of living and working in unhealthy environments, 23 percent of all deaths reported globally, according to the new study. “If countries do not take actions to make environments where people live and work healthy, millions will continue to become ill and die too young,” warned WHO chief Margaret Chan in a statement. The report defines environmental causes broadly, drawing links between a long line of environmental risk factors like pollution, chemical exposure, climate change and ultraviolet radiation, as well as access to firearms and more than 100 diseases and injuries. As many as 8.2 million of the deaths could be blamed on air pollution, including exposure to second-hand smoke, which is responsible for heart disease, cancers and chronic respiratory disease, the report said. Among the deaths attributed to environmental factors were 1.7 million caused by “unintentional injuries”, including road accidents. The report also counted 846,000 diarrhoeal disease deaths among environmental mortalities, adding that many were linked to pollution and unsafe drinking water. – Road accidents, suicides – The WHO reported 246,000 deaths due to intentional injuries, including suicides, which it linked to the unsafe storage and access to firearms, as well as Read More …