PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Monday approved the establishment of a national broadband system that would provide connectivity to areas not served by commercial telco players, according to a Cabinet Secretary who was present at the meeting.
Christmas decors and amenities at Marikina Riverbanks.(MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – Malacañang on Thursday said it will be up to the court to decide on whether to allow former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to spend the Christmas holidays with her family. “She is under the jurisdiction of the courts and we defer to the court’s jurisdiction of the courts and we defer to the court’s judgment if and when the former President of her lawyers will make such request,” Communications Secretary Hermino Coloma said. 1-BAP party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello III, who served in the Arroyo Cabinet, has called on the Sandiganbayan to grant a Christmas furlough for the former Philippine leader. Arroyo, now a congresswoman representing Pampanga’s second district, is under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City for a plunder case in connection with the alleged misuse of P366-million Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) intelligence funds during her incumbency. She was earlier allowed to post bail in connection with the electoral sabotage case pending before the Pasay Regional Trial Court. In Resolution No. 537, Bello said he is “requesting the Sandiganbayan to grant Honorable Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, former President of the Philippines and incumbent representative of the second district of Pampanga a Christmas furlough for humanitarian and compassionate considerations.” Bello, who is a current member of the Makabayan bloc within the minority, said he filed the resolution in consideration of Arroyo’s health. During the Arroyo administration, Bello held various government posts, including Cabinet Secretary and Presidential Read More …
MALACAÑANG will meed with lawmakers on Wednesday to draw up a list of priority measures for the 16th Congress, a Cabinet Secretary said Friday.
President Benigno Aquino III’s State of the Nation Address for 2013 is still in its early stages, with speechwriters still working on the outline as of Saturday, Malacañang said. On state-run dzRB radio, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) and Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras are collating data from concerned agencies. “Between now and SONA, apart from the daily briefings (and) the daily work the president will be engaging, there will be opportunities to meet with speechwriters, Cabinet members and the Cabinet Secretary to discuss the SONA,” he said. He added the PMS is responsible for tracking the promises Aquino had made when he assumed office in 2010. It will assess “what we delivered and what we still need to deliver,” he added. Citing updates from communications undersecretary Manuel Quezon III, he said this year’s SONA has undergone at least two outline revisions. “Wala pa ang talumpati (We have not started work on the speech itself),” he said. On July 22, Aquino is to deliver his SONA before members of the 16th Congress at the Batasan complex in Quezon City. The Official Gazette website said the SONA is a “constitutional obligation,” and stems from Article VII, Section 23 of the 1987 Constitution. Under that provision, the president “shall address the Congress at the opening of its regular session,” it said. “Moreover, Article VI, Section 15 prescribes that the Congress ‘shall convene once every year on the fourth Monday of July for its regular session,’” it added. Read More …