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PBBM lauds Cerberus investment
PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. expressed optimism Friday on the Philippines' chances to regain its footing in the global shipbuilding industry with the aggressive investment and expansion of Cerberus Global Investment LLC.
“We’re all very excited about this project and… we have always tried to find a way to regain our position in the shipbuilding. We were already number 2 for awhile, and then when Hanjin closed (we went down),” President Marcos said during a meeting with Cerberus top executives in Malacañang.
Cerberus is a global alternative investment firm with assets across credit, pri-
Kuwait...
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Earlier reports from GMA News TV said Filipinos already on their way to Kuwait have been kept from boarding their flights following the country’s suspension of their visas.
About 3,000 workers headed to Kuwait are stranded in the Philippines owing to the ban, while those already in the Gulf state were saddened by the development, ABS-CBN reported last night.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega said the ban was a way to pressure the Philippines into lifting its deployment ban on first-time Filipino household workers Kuwait following the murder of 35-year-old Jullebee Ranara, whose burned remains were left in a desert in Kuwait by the 17-year-old son of her employer, who confessed to killing her.
The deployment ban was imposed in February to obtain guaranteed protection for Filipino household workers in Kuwait.
De Vega said Kuwait's response to the ban was to "expand" the non-deployment of Filipinos to all other workers, aside from household workers.
"What Kuwait is saying is: well, we won't take other workers then. So that was obviously their response and some measure of pressure, shall we say, for the Philippines to reconsider its decision," De Vega said in a television interview.
De Vega said the effect of the entry ban would not be massive. There are 275,000 to 300,000 Filipinos in Kuwait, almost all of whom have residency. About 5,000 to 10,000 are undocumented, he added.
The DFA official noted there have been two recurring issues the Kuwaiti government is concerned about pertaining to the bilateral labor agree -
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"May I say this to my oppressors: you can never crucify the truth."
The acquittal came after the court found reasonable doubt that De Lima and Ronnie Dayan, her co-accused and former bodyguard, were involved in the illegal drug trade—a case brought against her by the Duterte administration.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte accepted the decision of the court to acquit de Lima, according to Salvador Panelo, presidential legal counsel during his administration.
Panelo said Duterte told him that as a lawyer he should abide by the court ruling on De Lima's case, according to a
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“That is quite bad for us,” he added.
The PAOCC, which helped facilitate the repatriation of the Filipino victims, said they were recruited through social media by false promises of employment in Thailand as customer sales representatives.
Last week, the Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) rescued about 1,000 people of different nationalities, who were allegedly forced to work for a cyber fraud outfit in Clark, Pampanga.
Upon arriving in Thailand, the Filipino workers were taken via boat across the Moei River to the border town of Myawaddy in Myanmar, where they were forced to stay in a dormitory building and compelled to work as online cryptocurrency scammers.
In a press conference, the victims, who arrived in Manila on Thursday night, recounted what they went through at the hands of traffickers in Myanmar.
"The first thing we were told was that we would be sales representatives. We were called direct sales. The problem was that what we were doing was scamming people through dating sites in the US," Lovelyn, not her real name, told reporters in an ABS-CBN report.
According to PAOCC director Winston Casio, the scam targeted men from the United States, Europe, and Australia.
"It is a love style in which men, whether European, Australian or American, 35 years old and above, lonely, without emotional support and financially independent. They will entice these men.
Former US Vice President and Cerberus chairman James Danforth “Dan” Quayle told the President during the courtesy call that the company isexcited to be a part of the Philippine economic growth story and has been planning more and bigger investments to the Philippines.
Apart from Quayle, the company of- ment of both countries.
These are an initiative to set up a shelter for runaway Filipino household workers and the effort to reach out to Kuwaiti employers over reports of abuses.
De Vega said these efforts have been identified by Kuwait as violations of its labor laws.
"They say, under Kuwaiti law, there should not be a shelter forrunaway workers but then again under Philippine law, we have to have those shelters and of course it is the obligation of the Philippine government to protect them," he said.
"We are not encouraging them to escape from their employers,” he said.
“But in case of abuses and they have to leave, then they have to have a place to go to.”
De Vega said the second issue they were complaining about was that whenever there is a complaint about labor abuse, the Philippine government asks the worker's foreign placement agency in Kuwait to contact the employer, which is also not allowable under Kuwaiti law.
While these issues are referred to by Kuwait as violations, these are "not clearly defined in the agreement (between Kuwait and the Philippines)," De Vega said.
De Vega said Kuwait was not sending home those who are already there, and those who are visiting the Philippines can still return, as long as they have a Kuwait civil residence ID. But Kuwait is not issuing new visas to Filipinos.
He said Filipino authorities would fight for the interests of Filipino workers in talks this month or June.
“Now, this is up to our people, do we lift the deployment ban while Ranara's case is not yet resolved? Will we lift the ban while giving in to Kuwait's demands?” De Vega said in Filipino, adding that this could last several months.
De Vega said the decision to lift the
GMA News “24 Oras” report.
Duterte also said he was not the one who started the case against the detained former senator, a staunch critic of his anti-illegal drugs campaign. The former chief executive said he never interfered with any decision of the executive departments in his administration.
The court stated that while the prosecution was able to establish the existence of rampant illegal drug trading at the New Bilibid Prison, the retraction of former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Rafael Ragos cast reasonable doubt on De Lima and Dayan’s involvement in it.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla welcomed the court’s acquittal of De Lima, saying "the rule of law has prevailed, and it just points out to us that the independence of the judiciary is a basic
Now once they fall for it, that's when it's going to be like, 'Maybe you want to invest in cryptocurrency?' They go slowly until they can get their victim's money," he said.
Aside from Filipinos, other victims of the human trafficking scheme were Pakistani, Indonesian, Ethiopian, Nigerian, and Sri Lankan, and Malaysian, Lovelyn said.
Meredith, another victim, said the physical abuse started when they asked their employers to return to the Philippines.
She said they were told to pay at least US$7,000 or around P300,000 each in exchange for their freedom, and were physically assaulted each day that they failed to produce the required amount.
"When they asked me to send money to the family, on my side, nothing was sent, just a little. So, on the first day, I was hit by a pipe in the head, in different parts of the body, and my back," Meredith said.
“On the second day, the beating came every 30 minutes. When they ask me if I have money — I couldn't really produce anything on my side.
That's when they beat me every 30 minutes in the back. Ten blows, a man was beating me, he was a Chinese man," she added.
A video obtained by the PAOCC showed a Filipina, her hands restrainedby two uniformed Chinese males, being beaten by a third Chinese national who repeatedly hit her back with a stick inside her dormitory. It was unclear whether the Filipina was among the repatriated victims.
Arjay, another victim, also narrated enduring torture from his traffickers.
Vince Lopez (See full story online at manilastandard.net) ficials who met the President were Cerberus Co-Chief Executive Frank Bruno and Co-head Alexander Benard.
The Cerberus offer came following the President’s success in the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo Indonesia earlier this week.
Cerberus acquired Subic shipyard in 2022 and has invested $40 million to make the shipyard operational again. Currently, the Philippine Navy has a naval operating base in Subic with 800 personnel.
Hyundai, one of the most prestigious shipbuilding companies, expressed interest in using two drydocks in Subic for shipbuilding, which, officials said could ban will still have to bediscussed by concerned agencies, including the DFA and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW). foundation of our democratic system."
"We have meetings today. We hope to engage the Congress as well, (and then) eventually give recommendations to the President," he said.
De Vega said the Philippines "won't just lift the ban just like that,"as the country is still seeking justice for Ranara.
There will be meetings with Kuwaiti officials this month.
Remittances from Kuwait declined at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching $580 million in 2020 and $576 million in 2021. In 2016, cash remittances from Kuwait hit a record $856 million.
Last year, cash remittances from all Filipinos abroad rose 3.6 percent to a record $32.54 billion from $31.42 billion a year ago on sustained demand for skilled Filipino workers overseas. The full-yearremittances growth, however, missed the official target of 4 percent earlier set by the Bangko Sentral.
The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia,Singapore, Qatar, and United Kingdom contributed largely to the increase in remittances from January to December 2022. In terms of country sources, the US posted the highest share of overall remittances in 2022, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia.
For the month of December alone, cash remittances coursed through banks grew by 5.8 percent to an all-time high, on a monthly basis, of $3.16 billion from $2.99 billion a year ago due to the growth in receipts from land- and sea-based workers.
Philippine remittances from overseas workers have consistently been the fourth largest in the world after India, China, and Mexico, amounting to about $35 billion per year in 2020, a sign of resilience despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It’s good. It’s good for us. It just proves that things are working in our country," Remulla said. Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, reacting to the acquittal, said the country’s justice system is working.
De Lima, who has been detained in Camp Crame since February 2017, was accused of benefiting financially from the alleged illegal drug trade inside the NBP during her stint as Justice secretary to support her senatorial bid in 2016. She has consistently denied these allegations.
In May 2022, Ragos retracted his testimony against De Lima.
Ragos had earlier claimed that he and aide Jovencio Ablen Jr. delivered P5 million in proceeds from the illegal drug trade inside the NBP to De Lima's house
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Cerberus, employing a different approach to investment, wants to ensure diverse economic activity by having multiple companies engaged in various businesses.
The firm also sees value and potential in improving the Subic airport for logistics or cargo and plans to propose to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to convert the airport into a cargo and logistics hub.
Aside from those ventures, Cerberus is also looking to invest in the country’s semiconductors, and energy sectors.
Vince Lopez
The Philippines has been among the biggest suppliers of nurses around the world, accounting for at least 20 percent of the total globally.
The Philippines has also been the biggest supplier of seafarers worldwide, accounting for about 20 percent to 25 percent of the total around the world.
An official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said officials are discussing what should be the best response to Kuwait’s suspension of entry and work visas for Filipinos.
The Kuwait Directorate General of Civil Aviation on May 10 ordered airport personnel to bar Filipinos from entering the country, except for those who are Kuwait residents.
The chairperson of Migrante, Arman Hernando, said the DFA and DMW must act swiftly to find out what the country’s alleged labor agreement violations are.
This is also a good time to see how both the Philippine and Kuwait are complying with agreements to protect migrant workers, Hernando said.
Kuwait hosts from 275,000 to 300,000 Filipinos, most of them household workers while some are in the hotel, restaurant, and healthcare industries, De Vega said.
The DFA said the Philippines remained committed to resolving bilateral issues "in an amicable manner."
"In the case of Kuwait, we are confident that with our friendly relations and strong people-to-people links, we shall be able to find a mutually satisfactory solution that will take into account the need to provide maximum protection and access to justice for all our nationals working in the country," the agency said.
The DMW issued a statement vowing to continue pursuing the track of labor diplomacy to ensure the welfare and safety of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), while awaiting more details as to why the Kuwaiti government imposed the entry ban.
in Parañaque City in 2012.
The court noted that Ragos was the only one who had personal knowledge of the source of money.
“Under the circumstances of this case, the testimony of witness Ragos is necessary to sustain any possible conviction. Without his testimony, the crucial link to establish conspiracy is shrouded with reasonable doubt,” the judge ruled.
“Ultimately, the retraction created reasonable doubt which warrants the acquittal of both accused,” the trial court declared.
In a statement read by De Lima’s lawyer Filibon Tacardon, said she had no doubt that she would be acquitted in all cases filed against her by the Duterte administration. With AFP (See full story online at manilastandard.net)
The high tribunal pointed out that it has no reason to give due course to the “premature petition” without an actual case or controversy “ripe for adjudication.”
But the asserted that there is already an actual case or controversy because a constitutional provision has been violated.
“By the foregoing consumed and completed actions, the facts are already sufficient to judicially determine whether or not there has been grave abuse of discretion on the part of the President and the lower House in certifying a bill urgent when there is no calamity or emergency being addressed,” it said.
Because of this, the petitioners submitted a motion for reconsideration, seeking to have the petition assigned to a ponencia and be considered for full disposition.
The petitioners include Bayan Muna chairman Colmenares, former Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, ACT Teachers party-list group Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Women’s party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas, and Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, and the House of Representatives are the respondents to the petition.
The MIF bill was approved on its third and final reading at the House back in December with 279 yes votes, six no votes, and zero abstentions. In March, the bill creating the MIF reached the Senate plenary after the committee ended its hearings on the Maharlika bills.
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“The government will be the lead driver of economic activities and job and income generation,” he said.
Romualdez also said an International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation was impressed by the economic performance of the Philippines and government policies meant to ensure sustained economic growth would benefit ordinary Filipinos.
The Speaker met with the IMF mission members and briefed them on the pro-poor reforms being implemented by the administration to ensure that no one