Mayor orders pipeline shutdown

MAKATI City Mayor Jejomar Binay Jr. ordered the First Philippine Industrial Corporation (FPIC) to shut down its pipeline following the discovery of continuous petroleum leak near a condominium in Bangkal village.

Charges vs Lacson strengthens

THE double murder charges against Senator Panfilo Lacson gained strength following the approval of a United States District Court, allowing the Philippine government to extradite former policeman Michael Ray Aquino.

Aquino is expected to shed more light in the 2000 killings of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

Gabriela dismayed over rude labor attaché issue

A LAWMAKER upholding women's rights criticized the maltreatment that a distressed Filipina worker in Hong Kong received from labor attaché Romulo Salud.

Gabriela Women's party-list Representative Luzviminda Ilagan called the attention of Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz over the verbal abuse that Agnes Tenorio received from the labor officer.

Enrile defends staff allowances

SENATOR Juan Ponce Enrile on Thursday said the allowances of Senate employees are reasonable and even smaller than the workers at the House of Representatives.

His statement came after reports circulated that the Commission on Audit (COA) is allegedly investigating the excessive allowances given to the workers at the Senate Secretariat.

Aquino names new Asean envoy

PRESIDENT Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III appointed Wilfredo Villacorta as the Philippines’ permanent representative to the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).

Aquino made the announcement while he is in Vietnam for the 17th Asean Summit.

Philippines to go from ‘RP’ to ‘PH’, ‘PHL’

THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced that the country will do away with the use of the acronym “RP” and will instead use “PH” and “PHL” when referring to the Philippines.

DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo said the department wants to ensure that the Philippines will go with the standards set in the country’s acquisition of membership in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

House committee to fight corruption pushed

ALARMED by the “highly corrupt” status of the Philippines, a lawmaker proposed the creation of a permanent oversight committee that would keep track on the major regulatory agencies of the government.

Representative Ben Evardone (lone district, Eastern Samar) said the committee would look into government offices especially those with rate-setting and franchise-awarding functions.

Teachers renew calls for optional poll duties

DESPITE additional pay and the assessment of the Philippine National Police and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that the village polls were generally peaceful, teachers reiterated their position that the election should not be made compulsory.

The Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC) said that with Comelec chairman Jose Melo's admission that the poll body lacked preparation for the smooth conduct of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections last Monday, the public school teachers who were board of elections tellers served as pawns of the Comelec.

Arroyo allowed to skip in NBN-ZTE trial

MANILA (Updated 12:02 p.m.) -- An anti-graft court upheld on Thursday the petition of Representative Gloria Arroyo not to testify before the graft trial of former socioeconomic secretary Romulo Neri.

In its four-page resolution, the Sandiganbayan ruled that former President Arroyo may not be forced to appear in court as witness in Neri's trial in connection with the government's botched $329-million national broadband network (NBN) project with China's Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment (ZTE) Corp. in 2007.

82 percent of election winners proclaimed

MANILA -- Eighty-two percent of the country's over 40,000 villages already elected a new set of leaders as voting in some areas affected by logistical delays resumed Wednesday, said the poll body.

Some of the candidates for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections who garnered the same number of votes were proclaimed after a coin toss and draw by lots, as allowed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

No special treatment for blast suspect: Palace

MANILA -- Malacañang assured Wednesday that the suspect in the post-Bar blast at De La Salle University will not get any special treatment despite his association with Vice President Jejomar Binay.

The September 26 bombing suspect Anthony Leal Nepomuceno, a member of the Alpha Phi Omega (APO) fraternity and a graduate of Manuel L. Quezon University, yielded to Binay on Wednesday.

Comelec: 82% of winners proclaimed

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) said 82 percent of the total villages in the Philippines already elected a new set of leaders as voting in some areas affected by logistical delays resumed Wednesday.

Commissioner Lucenito Tagle said 34,495 out of 42,025 villages (82.08 percent) have proclaimed election winners on Monday and Tuesday.

Ombud seeks permanent closure of impeach raps

OMBUDSMAN Merceditas Gutierrez asked the Supreme Court (SC) to grant her petition to permanently stop the House of Representative from hearing the impeachment proceedings filed against her.

In her 124-page memorandum filed through lawyer Serafin Cuevas, Gutierrez argued that the consolidation of the two complaints is circumvention to the one-year ban rule under Section 3(5), Article XI of the Constitution.

Neri takes witness stand against Abalos

FORMER planning secretary Romulo Neri reiterated Wednesday that former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos tried to bribe him for the approval of the scrapped national broadband deal in 2007.

Court defers coup promulgation

THE court granted the appeal of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and other military officers linked to several coup attempts to defer the October 28 promulgation on the cases filed against them.

Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 Judge Oscar Pimentel reset the promulgation on December 16, pending the proceedings of the Senate and the House of Representatives on the presidential amnesty issued earlier.

Cop participates in massacre for P15T

MANILA -- A police officer who was implicated in last year's Maguindanao massacre told the court Wednesday that he was paid P15,000 by a powerful Muslim clan to help carry out the country's worst election-related violence.

Police Inspector Rex Ariel Diongon, director of the 1508th Maguindanao Police Provincial Mobile Group (PPMG), pleaded "not guilty" to multiple murder charges last July 28 and turned himself into a state witness.

No term extension for non-career officials

THE term of non-Career Executive Service Officials (non-Ceso) of the previous administration will automatically end on October 31, a Malacanang official said Wednesday.

Court to resolve Vizconde case sans DNA test

THE Supreme Court (SC) is now ready to resolve the Vizconde massacre case, setting aside its earlier order for a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis on the semen specimen recovered from the body of Carmela Vizconde.

Study mining effects first, Aquino urged

A LAWMAKER is calling on the Aquino government to carefully study the disastrous effects of large-scale mining before opening up the country to more mining companies.

Aquino: RP ready to assist Indonesia

PRESIDENT Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III on Wednesday expressed sympathy for the victims of tsunami and earthquake in Indonesia, noting that the Philippines is willing to give any assistance if needed.

Agri department gives perks to senior citizens

SENIOR citizens can look forward for more discounts in basic commodities as the Trade and Agriculture departments listed new items that will fall under the five percent cap set by the Expanded Senior Citizens Act.

Bar blast suspect now in NBI custody

MANILA (Updated 12:02 p.m.) -- The suspect of a grenade explosion that rocked a university in Manila was turned over to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Wednesday.

The suspect surrendered to Vice President Jejomar Binay before dawn Wednesday.

Bar blast suspect surrenders to Binay

MANILA (Updated 9:18 a.m.) -- The suspect of a grenade explosion that rocked a university in Manila has surrendered to Vice President Jejomar Binay before dawn Wednesday.

Forty-seven people were injured on September 26 after a loud explosion rocked the De La Salle University campus along Taft Avenue where the last day of multi-stage examinations for aspiring lawyers took place.

Probe on election delays set

MANILA -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the House of Representatives will hold separate investigations on the delays in the deliveries of poll materials that caused the postponement of barangay elections in some areas across the country.

The Comelec has formed a fact-finding committee to be headed by Commissioner Armando Velasco to investigate the delays in 2,460 villages.

SC justice faces another plagiarism rap

MANILA -- Another allegation of plagiarism has been leveled against Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, this time in his ponencia allowing a gay rights group to run in the party-list elections last May.

Comelec: 45% of barangays proclaim winners

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) said the counting and proclamation of winners in this year’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections went smoothly with 45 percent of villages already proclaimed winners.

As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, Divina Blas-Perez of the Elections and Barangay Affairs Department (EBAD) said 18,936 out of the 42,025 villages nationwide have a new set of leaders already.

Post-Bar blast suspect identified

JUSTICE Secretary Leila de Lima said the suspect of a grenade explosion in De La Salle University has been identified but could not be arrested yet as “certain group” is protecting him.

In a press briefing, De Lima said she ordered to place the suspect, whose name was withheld, under the Bureau of Immigration’s watch list so he would not be able to leave the country.

4th massacre witness testifies today

THE court will resume the hearing today, Wednesday, on the Maguindanao massacre case with the prosecution panel readying to present its fourth witness in the gruesome killings.

Magna Carta for seafarers sought

TWO lawmakers in the House of Representatives pushed for a Magna Carta for Filipino seafarers, separate and distinct from land-based overseas workers.

Oct. 27 non-working holiday in some barangays

PRESIDENT Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III declared Wednesday, October 27, as a special non-working holiday in villages that were subjected under election postponement last Monday.