September 12-14, 2018 Volume 28 - No. 72 • 3 Sections - 22 Pages
DATELINE
USA
FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA
California to run on 100% clean electricity by 2045
Gov. Brown signs new bill that aims to combat damaging effects of climate change
GOVERNOR Jerry Brown signed two measures on Monday, Sept. 10 aiming to convert California to 100 percent renewable energy and “carbon neutrality” by 2045, securing the state’s reputation as a national and global leader in clean energy and environmental innovation. SB 100 seeks to meet the state’s clean energy goals and ensuring carbon emissions are low by expanding green electricity sources like wind and solar. Brown also signed an executive order pushing the state to decrease the state’s net output of greenhouse gasses — of which the largest source is cars and trucks — to zero by 2045. “There’s no understating the importance of this measure,” Brown said before signing the two bills. “SB 100 is sending a message to California and to the world that we’re going to meet the Paris [climate] agreement, and we’re going to continue to transition our economy to zero-carbon emissions and to
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Filipino family charged with numerous violations at adult and child care facilities Most of victims were Filipino, said Attorney General Becerra THE Filipino owners of six Bay Area adult and child day care facilities were charged last week for numerous violations including human trafficking, wage theft, possession of illegal weapons, and rape. A total of 59 charges were filed Friday, September 7, against four members of the Gamos family — Joshua, 42; Noel, 40; Gerlen, 38; and Carlina Gamos, 67 — who while operating their four adult care facilities and two child care facilities in the Bay Area, employed and exploited mostly Filipino immigrants. At a news conference Friday, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said that it was the workers who “helped bring this case to light.” “It is the workers who are the greatest victims of Rainbow Bright and its operations. Most of the workers are Filipino immigrants,” he added.
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US National Security Adviser: ICC is ‘already dead to us’ by RAE
International Criminal Court says it will continue work ‘undeterred’
ANN VARONA
AJPress
THE International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday, September 11 said
that it will continue to do its work “undeterred,” after the United States criticized the court’s legitimacy. “The ICC, as a court of law, will
continue to do its work undeterred, in accordance with those principles and the overarching idea of the rule of law,” the Hague-based court said in a
statement. The statement came a day after U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton
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Duterte discusses national issues during a ‘tête-à-tête’ with Panelo by AJPRESS
PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday, September 11, addressed the country with varied matters of national importance during a “tête-àtête” with Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo in Malacañang. Initially, the president called for a press conference at 3 p.m. without disclosing the scope of his speech. However, an hour before the said media affair, Presidential Communications Group Undersecretary Feducia Mia Reyes-Lucas said Duterte’s press conference would no longer push through. Palace officials told the media that the president will instead answer questions solely from his legal counsel. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. cleared out the official activities that were to transpire that afternoon, as reported by Inquirer. “Lilinawin ko lang po, matutuloy po ‘yung pinaplanong têtê-a-têtê ni Presidente at ni Presidential Legal Counsel Panelo. Ang format po pala ay it will
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‘TÊTE-À-TÊTE’ WITH THE PRESIDENT. Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo sits down with President Rodrigo Duterte in a televised interview in Malacañang Palace on Tuesday, September 11. The president discussed previous issues with Panelo including the rice crisis, amnesty and the supposed destabilization plot, among others. PNA photos
‘PH with most activists killed outside Americas’ by ARTEMIO
DUMLAO Philstar.com
THE Philippines was tagged by Irelandbased human rights group Front Line Defenders (FLD) with having the highest number of killings of activists along with Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. In its 2017 report titled “Stop the Killings” released this week, the FLD said the six countries accounted for more than 80 percent of killings of human rights defenders. The report said at least 60 activists were killed in the Philippines last year. Extrajudicial killings remain the top threat facing human rights defenders in the country, according to the report. The FLD, which probes attacks on activists in six countries, documented more than
1,000 killings since 2014. The group said at least 474 human rights activists were slain during the Arroyo presidency from 2001 to 2010 and 139 during the term of former president Benigno Aquino III from 2010 to 2016. The FLD also reported that 300 rights activists were killed in 27 countries in 2017. The fatalities were defenders of the environment and indigenous people’s rights, especially in remote areas with little access to protection, documentation, reporting and justice. Only 12 percent of murders were resolved with the arrest of the suspects, according to the FLD. “In these countries where death tolls in- Senator Antonio Trillanes IV creased, corruption and collusion between states and businesses have resulted in a political system designed to keep the elites
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Xiamen penalty now almost P72 million, says MIAA chief by MAILA
AGER Inquirer.net
In this August 17 photo, Xiamen Air flight MF8667 gets stuck beside the main runway of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), prompting airport authorities to close down the airstrip and call off or divert a number of international flights. Inquirer.net photo
THE penalty that Chinese Xiamen Airlines will have to pay to the Philippines for the August 16 accident at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) has now reached to almost P72 million. Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Eddie Monreal disclosed this during the resumption of the hearing of the Senate committee on public services on Monday, September 10. From an initial estimate of P33 million, Monreal said Xiamen’s penalty has more than doubled based on latest computation.
“The penalty reached almost P72 million. We’ve already discussed the additional P42 million plus,” he told the committee, responding to the queries of the committee chair, Senator Grace Poe. Montreal said they already talked with the finance officer of the airline last Friday and they got an assurance that Xiamen would pay for the initial cost. The chairman of Xiamen, he said, would also go to the Philippines this week to discuss the matter further. Thousands of passengers were affected when a Xiamen aircraft veered off the runway of Naia last August 16. ■
Philstar.com photo
Makati court defers DOJ motion amid Trillanes arrest by AJPRESS
THE Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 150 on Monday, September 10 has scheduled a hearing later this week, declining the omnibus motion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue an arrest warrant against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV without litigation. The hearing has been slated for Friday, September 14, at 9 a.m. “The court is not persuaded with the argument of the prosecution that its omnibus motion should not be set for hearing and should be acted by this court exparte,” the order stated. Presiding Judge Elmo Alameda signed the order that explained that the issuance of an arrest warrant and travel ban without
any hearing would compromise the right of the accused to due process. Clerk of Court Diosfa Valencia clarified that the RTC must respect the petition of the accused opposition senator before the high court, as reported by The Philippine Star. “The court has to observe judicial courtesy because there is a pending motion filed by Sen. Trillanes before the Supreme Court,” Valencia explained. She also noted that they will await the decision of the SC on whether to pursue any court proceedings. “If the Supreme Court ruled that there would be no proceedings at all before lower courts, then we will abide,” Valencia
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