spouses may substitute BSKE candidates’

ONLY spouses of candidates are allowed to substitute for the forthcoming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Tuesday.

According to Comelec chairperson George Garcia, they will only allow a wife or husband to substitute a candidate seeking position in the village polls.

“The only substitution that we shall allow are the spouses. We won’t allow others to become substitute bets,” he said in a radio interview.

The poll body chief noted that the policy is based on the Supreme Court decision in 2003 (Rulloda vs Comelec; GR 154198).

After a series of big legislative wins and momentous foreign policy struggles in his first two years in office, Biden has no real challenger from within the Democratic Party.

But in a campaign that may result in a rematch of the 2020 election against Donald Trump, he is expected to face constant and fierce scrutiny over his age.

The veteran Democrat would be 86 by the end of a second term. Even if a medical exam in February found him “fit” to execute the duties of the presidency, many including in his own voter base believe he is too old.

An NBC News poll released over the weekend found that 70 percent of Americans, including 51 percent of Democrats, believe he should not run.

Sixty-nine percent of all respondents who said he shouldn’t run cited concerns over his age as a major or minor reason.

Biden likes to answer those concerns by saying, “watch me” -- meaning that voters should focus on his policy wins at home and his marshaling of an unprecedented Western alliance to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s invasion.

Over the next year and a half, Biden will have all the advantages of incumbency, backed by a united party, while Republicans are only just starting a messy primary season.

Trump, despite becoming the first former or serving president to be criminally indicted -- and facing probes into his attempt to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 election -- is the overwhelming Republican frontrunner.

On Monday, Trump was quick to pitch in his own criticism of the man who defeated him last time around.

“With such a calamitous and failed presidency, it is almost inconceivable that Biden would even think of running for reelection,” he said in a statement.

“Most of the services that come with the cell phones that are not registered will be cut off with the telcos,” Remulla said.

The SIM Registration Act signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took effect last December.

The President has tasked the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to make a public announcement on the extension.

“DICT is targeting to register 70 percent of active SIMs within the 90-day extension and reports to the President that more Filipinos will enjoy social, digital and financial inclusion upon SIM registration,” the department said.

The DICT said subscribers who fail to register their SIM cards might encounter a “gradual loss of phone services.”

“We are exploring some options that will be available to us [to] incentivize the public to register,” said DICT Secretary Ivan Uy.

“We did not put those conditions in the first SIM card registration but because of our observation that people are not taking our deadline seriously, we are now exploring other options to incentivize registration,” he added.

“We will observe the rate of registration and after a certain period, we’re seeing maybe 30 days or 60 days into registration, we will start deactivating some services on the SIM card,” Uy said.

“Let’s say after 60 days, you will lose your access to your Facebook accounts or your TikTok accounts. You can still use your phone, you can still call, you can still text and then after a certain period, you will lose your outgoing calls so that way, you can feel the effects if you fail to register,” Uy said.

The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has ordered several government agencies and private telecommunications companies to answer a petition challenging the constitutionality of RA 11934.

The most likely Republican challenger to the 76-year-old Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, presents a similarly right-wing figure, though starkly younger at 44. AFP army chief and his deputy, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Sudan’s RSF said on Monday it agreed to a US-mediated 72-hour truce with the Sudanese Army starting at midnight to facilitate humanitarian efforts.

The respondents include the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the National Privacy Commission, the DICT, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Department of Education (DepEd).

The SC also directed Globe Telecom, Inc., Smart Communications, Inc., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Dito Telecommunity Corp., Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc., Sun Cellular and Cherry Mobile Communications, Inc., to file their comment on the petition.

The petitioners in the case were the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, journalist Ronalyn V. Olea, Lumad leader and former Bayan Muna Party List representative Eufemia C. Cullamat, Bayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes Jr., Llorre Benedicto Pasco, Dean Matthias Razi Timtiman Alea, Maded Batara III of Junk SIM Registration Network, fisherfolk leader Alberto Roldan of PAMALAKAYA, peasant leader Danilo Hernandez Ramos of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, and lawyer Michael Christopher de Castro.

The petition invoked freedom of speech, rights against unreasonable searches and seizures, and privacy of communication in seeking to declare RA 11934 unconstitutional.

“Given the nature of cell phones and devices connected to the internet, the SIM Registration Act partakes in the nature of prior restraint. On its face, the law chills all speech done through SIM if disclosure is not made,” they also said.

“By imposing a condition to speech expressed through the modern-day equivalent of the printing press, the SIM Registration Act imposes prior restraint,” they added.

They also told the SC that the deactivation of unregistered SIMs will affect the government dissemination of public service announcements and that ordinary citizens will not be able to capture, following a meeting with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Department of National Defense (DND) on current issues including the Sudan situation, particularly on how the government can bring Filipinos to safety. share, and discuss the misbehavior of their public servants, which is vital in a democratic country.

“Right now, we are hoping that the 72-hour ceasefire that has been declared will hold and we will --- we are preparing ourselves,” Marcos said.

Also, they said that Filipinos with unregistered SIMS will be deprived of essential online services such as digital banking, online shopping, and transportation to courier services.

“Unregistered Filipinos will not be able to use internet services, websites, and social media platforms that require phone numbers as a mode of receiving one-time passwords (OTPs) to secure or recover user accounts,” the petitioners said.

Globe and TM subscribers may now register their SIMs on the GCash app.

“Globe and TM customers who are GCash users will receive a prompt to register their SIMs and they just need to follow the instructions. Once successful they will get free 1GB of data which they can use right away,” Globe said.

By registering their SIMs, customers will avoid SIM deactivation and have uninterrupted access to their ewallet accounts.

Customers who fail to register their SIMs that are linked to their accounts can still access their funds by requesting a transfer to a new registered mobile number from the GCash Help Center. The process, however, will take several days.

“That’s why we encourage SIM users with GCash wallets to register their SIMs before the deadline to avoid this inconvenience. We remind our customers to register their SIMs only with the GCash app or through the official portals of their respective telco providers,” what we’re working on now. The difficult thing is that even the land routes are not completely safe. As yet, those airports that are still bombed cannot really be used. We are still trying to find alternative ways,” the President said.

Martha Sazon, GCash president and chief executive said.

GCash said it will never ask its customers to share their OTP, MPIN, or other sensitive information.

Senator Grace Poe said the extension of the registration deadline was a welcome development.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, on the other hand, said the extension should be the last.

“The BSKE is apolitical. Therefore, there are no political parties that can make substitutions,” he added.

To ensure that only rightful substitutes can replace the barangay bets, Garcia said that a candidate has to identify his/her spouse, if any.

“In their Certificates of Candidacy (COCs), we will ask them to identify their spouses,” he said.

The Comelec chair, however, said that substitution is not allowed among the youth aspirants.

The COC filing period for the 2023 BSKE will be from Aug. 28 to Sept. 2.

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Vasquez said the pledge of commitment by P&I was timely since the United States and Japanese coast guards that brought their own remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) have already left the site where MT Princess Empress sank.

“We gave them (P&I) 10 days to give us the report and for them to tell us how soon they will do that,” he said.

It was estimated that the vessel still contains about 300,000 liters of industrial fuel oil from the 900,000 liters it initially carried when it sank on Feb. 28.

Vasquez said that International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC) Director Gaute Sivertsten also attended the dialogue for the first time.

“The fact that the IOPC visited us showed their commitment to settle all claims because the IOPC is the one that handled the funds,” he said.

Meanwhile, Vasquez said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has “more or less completed the factfinding data.”

“Under the case buildup rule that we have now under the DOJ, the findings will now have to be assessed by the National Prosecution Service before we would even initiate a case whether criminal, civil or administrative against anyone,” he said.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has been working closely with the DOJ in its case build-up against those responsible for the Mindoro oil spill.

Acorda said all movements in the organization would be based on policies, guidelines, merit, ability, capability, and moral ascendancy.

He also said the shuffling in the ranks has been discussed during his first command conference.

“This SOPB (Senior Officers Placement and Promotion Board) will be empowered to make sure no policies are violated and also the candidates are scrutinized,” he added.

Fajardo said Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. announced that 917 of the 953 senior police officials who submitted courtesy resignations were already cleared. She said the release of the names of the cleared third-level police officers will depend on the decision of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

On January 4, Abalos appealed to senior PNP officials to submit their courtesy resignations as part of the government’s efforts to rid the police force of officers involved in the illegal drug trade or so-called “ninja cops.”

Abalos said this was “the only way to make a fresh start” in the PNP, as he expressed concern over the involvement of some high ranking police officers in the illegal drug trade.

On April 20, the five-man advisory group completed the review on the courtesy resignations of 953 senior police officers of the PNP.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Tuesday that the government is doing the necessary preparations in anticipation of the 72-hour ceasefire declared in Sudan, hoping it could provide an opportunity to bring home Filipinos stuck in the war-torn country.

President Marcos made the remarks

“So, we’re trying --- we’re watching this situation very, very closely and to see if there’s a window of opportunity to evacuate our nationals,” he added.

The President said Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople is on her way to the region, hoping to take advantage of the lull in the fighting to move people out of Sudan.

“We can get our people out. So that’s

The government, he added, is looking at Saudi Arabia and Djibouti in East Africa although the original plan was to take Filipinos to Cairo, Egypt, despite being a longer route than other locations.

The US announced on Monday that the warring factions in Sudan had agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire starting at midnight on April 24.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the agreement between the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, and the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, came following intense negotiation.

DENR Undersecretary Jonas Leones said possible violations against environmental laws, especially the Philippine Clean Water Act, will be added to the overall assessment of the potential damage, which will be determined by the DOJ.

“The DOJ findings will also include the compensation due to affected fishermen,” Leones said in a statement.

Leones said the DENR will continue to monitor water quality in affected areas, assess the environmental impact, and provide the necessary technical assistance in addressing the oil spill.

President III, stressed the importance of getting the additional booster dose at least six months after the first dose to improve the body’s resistance against COVID-19.

“It’s for our protection because we know that after a few months, the ‘fighter’ in our vaccine decreases, thus a booster shot is needed. The booster shot would increase the level of our immunity against the disease,” he said.

De Guzman noted the omicron subvariant was still the most predominant COVID variant in the Philippines.

* The COVID-19 positivity rate in Metro Manila increased beyond 10 percent on Sunday, data by independent monitoring group OCTA Research showed on Tuesday. OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said the percentage of people found positive for COVID-19 in the National Capital Region among the total number of individuals tested jumped from 7.3 percent on April 16, to 10.6 percent as of April 23.

Department of Health officer-incharge Maria Rosario Vergeire, however, reiterated that there are a lot of factors affecting the positivity rate, thus it should not be the sole basis of the COVID-19 situation in the country.

“As compared to before, only a few people now get themselves tested. We may get biased towards people who really have symptoms and get tested, if we only look at those who are getting tested,” Vergeire said.

* The Philippines has confirmed its first case of omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, which is spreading around the world, according to the Department of Health.

Based on the agency’s latest COVID-19 biosurveillance report, the case of XBB.1.16 was detected in Western

Visayas.

Dubbed “Arcturus” on social media, the new COVID-19 offshoot is a descendant lineage of XBB, a recombinant of two BA.2 descendent lineages.

The World Health Organization designated the XBB.1.16 as variant of interest or VOI last week following a sustained increase in its prevalence.

So far, the XBB.1.16 has been reported in 33 countries and has been mostly documented in India.

* The Philippines was known to have the longest and strictest lockdown in the world, as the previous administration employed a militaristic method instead of a health-centric approach to our COVID-19 response, said Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

In her speech before the Global Conference of Parliamentarians on Population and Development in Tokyo, Japan, Hontiveros noted that the consequences of the long lockdown were most felt by the most vulnerable among us, especial- ly our women and children.

The event was organized by the Asian Population and Development Association, the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development Japan, the Parliamentarians Federation for Population, and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, the United Nations Population Fund, and the Japan Trust Fund. “Cases may have risen because number 1, the Lenten season just finished and a lot of people went out. We see each other more often, and we are more mobile,” De Guzman said.

Hontiveros also detailed the forms of gender-based violence, from incidents of sex-for-pass in checkpoints to cases of online sexual exploitation of children on social media, that were prevalent in the Philippines, primarily brought about by the health and economic crisis.

The DOH has signed a set of guidelines for the use of a second COVID-19 booster to the general population.