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FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com
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PCG to deploy two ships to Boracay T
HE Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) will deploy two patrol vessels to Boracay for the duration of its six-month closure for cleanup and rehabilitation, an official said on Wednesday.
In a statement, PCG spokesperson Armand Balilo said that the MRRV 4409 BRP Cabra and SARV 3504 BRP Davao Del Norte will sail for Boracay on Sunday, April 22. The PCG will deploy three groups namely the
Special Operations Group, Marine Environmental Protection Command Group and Coastal and Beach Patrol Group. The Special Operations Group will coordinate with the Philippine National Police and Philippine Navy on
conducting security patrols. The Marine Environmental Protection Command Group consisting of marine scientists from the PCG and Environment Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will conduct
water quality tests in the island as well as the transfer of petroleum products from Caticlan to Boracay. The Coastal and Beach Patrol Group will comprise of female members of the Special Operations Force.
The Coast Guard will also provide free medical assistance and food to families in partnership with the Chinese General Hospital and Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary during the medical and dental mission in Boracay.PNA
Sotto seeks creation of pres’l office on drugs and crimes By Macon RamosAraneta ALARMED by the huge number of dismissal on drug cases, Senator Vicente C. Sotto urged President Rodrigo Duterte to create a “Presidential Office on Drugs and Crimes” that will focus and address the problem of prosecution in the government’s war against illegal drugs and other crimes. Sotto filed resolution No. 202 to create an office under the direct supervision of the President, making the war on drugs lethal against drug syndicates in the country. Based on records, there are more than 70% dismissal on drug cases in the Philippines. This huge percentage prompted Sotto to file the resolution in a bid to solve this perennial problem. “Despite the strong cases filed, cases are eventually dismissed due to lack of coordination between the law enforcers and prosecutors especially in the case build-up stage,” Sotto explained. Sotto said the purpose of this office, which will be created through an Executive Order, is to ensure that cases will
CHANGE OF COMMAND. Philippine soldiers march in formation during the Armed Forces of the Philippines change of command ceremony at the AFP headquarters in
Camp Aguinaldo in Manila. AFP
Rep. Bertiz calls Magdalo’s Alejano a ‘faultfinder’ By Rio N. Araja ACTS-OFW Rep. Aniceto Bertiz III on Thursday slammed Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano for attacking President Rodrigo Duterte’s Hong Kong stopover as a junket and public relations stunt. He called Alejano a “grandstanding faultfinder.” “We cannot avoid grandstanding
nitpickers who always try to find fault, however petty, everywhere they look,” he said, referring to Alejano. Publicity seekers tend to get greater media mileage every time they pan Malacañang, thus their rants against the President, he said. “The way we see it, these whiners are actually the ones trying to draw attention to themselves. The President is a natural media magnet wher-
ever he goes, even abroad. He does not need gimmicks,” he added. In an official statement, Bertiz even said the Magdalo lawmaker is a “publicity-seeking whiner.” On April 12, the President, in a sixhour meeting, met with members of Hong Kong’s Filipino community as an online registration was extended to accommodate as many people as possible at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal.
He went to Hainan province to attend the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference last April 8 to April 11. Meanwhile, Bertiz said she sees a “positive upward pressure” on the wages of the 190,000 Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong in the years ahead, on account of the strong demand for educated, Englishspeaking household staff in mainland China.
Duterte wants to revive mandatory ROTC for college students By Vito Barcelo PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will push for the revival of the mandatory Reserved Officers Training Course (ROTC) for college students, mandatory Citizens’ Army Training (CAT) for high school students, Palace spokesperson Harry
Roque said. “We will look up to our neighbors like Singapore, South Korea, China and Japan because they are training their youth to become nationbuilders, to become patriotic citizens and enjoining them to become military reservists so that when typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis and nation-
al emergencies besiege their society, they immediately deploy their youthful citizens to rescue their elderly and their families,” Roque said. ROTC was abolished in 2002 after an investigation showed that a University of Santo Tomas student was murdered after he exposed alleged corruption in the ROTC.
The President was disappointed on how the ROTC program was scrapped by the Congress after the death of two neophytes during a fraternity hazing. He said scrapping the program was shortsighted when an investigation could have been conducted in the first place.
Duterte said those who will undergo ROTC training would be the ones who can guide and protect the civilians in case of violence and anarchy since they have the knowledge on handling firearms. In 2002, ROTC was made optional and voluntary through Republic Act 9163 or the NSTP Act of 2001.
be effectively prosecuted. “The said office shall also formulate programs and protocols to strengthen the prosecution of drug cases and assist law enforcers,” he added. The State and Public Prosecutors will be designated to the PNP, PDEA and NBI to advise, supervise and monitor anti-drug and crimes operations especially high profile drugs cases. The Presidential Office on Drugs and Crimes shall supervise and make into one body the DILG, PNP, PDEA, NBI, BOC and DOJ. The Solicitor General shall be designated as the head of this office. There shall also be Deputy Commanders for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The said Deputy Commanders shall be taken from the present Undersecretaries and/ or Assistant Secretaries from the Department of Justice, Department of Interior and Local Government, Dangerous Drugs Board, Philippine National Police, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and other necessary agencies. Personnel and staff of the Presidential Office on Drugs and Crimes will be coming from PDEA, PNP, DDB and NBI.
‘Labor Usec Say was on the chopping block’ good as gone LABOR Undersecretary Dominador Say was about to be fired when he resigned. This was according to presidential spokesman Harry Roque, who contested Say’s reasoning why he was quitting his post. Roque said that he was told that Say will be let go because of alleged corruptioln. ‘I was told already that he was the next on the chopping block,’ Roque said, adding that if Say did not resign, “he would have been fired.” Roque said the major issue against Say was “corruption relating to activities of labor recruiters” in the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). “I was just awaiting orders when to announce it, but I did not have to announce it because he resigned. But it was important still to say it because in his resignation letter, he said it was a matter of differences over endo (end-of-contract scheme). Well.” Say submitted his resignation letter to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III last Tuesday, April 17. He said that he wanted “spare the department [from] undue criticism” because of his “pro-management” background.
Gov’t to build new integrated bus terminal A SIGNIFICANT, concrete step towards solving traffic congestion in Metro Manila was taken, as the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with North Luzon Express Terminal Inc. to pave the way for the construction of the North Luzon Express Terminal (NLET), an integrated bus terminal facility for Northbound provincial buses located right next to the Philippine Arena inside the Ciudad De Victoria complex in Bocaue, Bulacan. According to Atty. GP Santos, the NLET is expected to remove close to six thousand provincial buses from Metro Manila’s already congested roads and contribute to government efforts to improve traffic in
the nation’s capital. “Based on a study by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), the worsening traffic in Metro Manila costs around 3.5 billion pesos a day in lost financial opportunities,” explained Santos, the Chief Operating Officer of Maligaya Development Corporation (MDC), the company that oversees the operations of the Philippine Arena and the Ciudad de Victoria complex. “These losses will climb to 5.4 billion pesos a day by 2035 if nothing is done.” “To decongest traffic in Mega Manila, it has been recommended that transport intervention should include the improvement of bus services through an intermodal bus terminal and interchange facility, ideally located outside Mega Manila,” said Santos.
Saudi HR body probes OFW Mancilla’s case—DFA
DENGVAXIA EVIDENCE. Families of children vaccinated with Dengvaxia troop to the Department of Justice in Manila to file additional evidence on their complaint regarding the Dengvaxia vaccine program of the past administration. Norman Cruz
THE HIGHEST human rights body in Saudi Arabia has taken “serious interest” in the case of Agnes Mancilla, the Filipina worker allegedly forced to ingest bleach in Jeddah, and is currently looking into her case, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday night. Consul General Edgar Badajos of the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah said representatives from the National Society for Human Rights in Saudi Arabia visited Mancilla at the King Fahd Hospi-
tal in Jizan to interview her and check the extent of her injuries. According to the envoy, the Society is an independent non-government organization cloaked with the power to investigate and make appropriate recommendations to the Prosecution Office based on its findings. He added that “the Society was organized to defend not only the human rights of Saudis but those of residents and visitors as well.”