Jul 132013
 

A weak southwest monsoon may bring rain to parts of Luzon including Metro Manila Sunday, even as state weather forecasters said parts of Mindanao may also expect rain.

PAGASA also said strong to gale-force winds may still affect the seaboards of Northern Luzon, even though Typhoon Huaning (Soulik) has left.

“Metro Manila, Ilocos region, Cordillera, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Caraga and Davao region will experience cloudy skies with light to moderate rain showers and thunderstorms,” PAGASA said in its 5 a.m. bulletin.

It added the rest of the country will be “partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms.”

Also, it said moderate to strong winds from the southwest to south will prevail over the western section of Luzon and coming from the southeast to south over the rest of Northern Luzon.

The coastal waters along these areas will be moderate to rough, it added.

Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the southeast with slight to moderate seas.

Gale warning

PAGASA also said strong to gale-force winds associated with the southwest monsoon may affect the seaboards of Northern Luzon.

These included Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, Isabela, Ilocos Sur and La Union.

“Fishing boats and other small seacrafts are alerted against moderate to rough seas,” it said.  — ELR, GMA News

Mar 142013
 
SC approves malversation raps vs. Ilocos Norte town vice mayor

The Supreme Court has given the go signal for the Sandiganbayan to hear the technical malversation case filed against a vice mayor from Ilocos Norte for allegedly using public funds to purchase a heavy equipment. In its decision, the Supreme Court second division junked a petition for certiorari filed by Vice Mayor Pacifico Velasco of Bacarra town seeking to stop the Sandiganbayan from hearing the case and accusing the anti-graft court of grave abuse when it denied on June 9, 2005 his motion for reinvestigation of the malversation case lodged against him. “In all, we see no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the Sandiganbayan in denying the motion for reinvestigation,” said the Supreme Court in a decision penned by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and concurred in by Associate Justices Arturo Brion and Mariano del Castillo. The Supreme Court dismissed Velasco’s claim that the Sandiganbayan denied him his right to move for the reconsideration of the Ombudsman’s recommendation to file malversation charges against him, with the high tribunal noting that he had filed earlier an Omnibus Motion for Reconsideration before the Office of the Special Prosecutor. “(W)hen petitioner filed an Omnibus Motion for Reconsideration, he was effectively appealing a Memorandum issued by the Office of the Special Prosecutor,” the Supreme Court said. “The filing of another [MR] constitutes a prohibited pleading.” The case against Velasco was filed by former Bacarra mayor Philip Corpus Velasco, who accused the vice mayor of misusing public funds to purchase a road grader Read More …