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(SunStar) SENATORS Francis Tolentino and Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III are the new additions of lawmakers supporting the swab-upon-arrival policy of Cebu Province for arriving overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs).

Tolentino said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) should ease the burden of arriving passengers in Mactan who were mostly OFWs from various parts of the globe–some of them were even displaced in their respective jobs abroad due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Dagdag pahirap lang po sa mga pauwi nating kababayan. Marami po sa kanila ay napilitan lamang umuwi dahil nawalan sila ng trabaho sa ibayong-dagat dahil sa pandemyang nararanasan natin sa kasalukuyan,” said Tolentino.

Arriving OFWs and Filipinos based abroad need to undergo a mandatory RT-PCR Covid-19 swab test upon arrival in MCIA under Executive Order No. 17 issued recently by Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.

The said policy of the Cebu Provincial Government led to the National Government’s action to divert all Cebu-bound international flights to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
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(CNNPhilippines) Metro Manila – Responding to calls for changes in the rules on search warrants, the Supreme Court has disclosed steps to make revisions not only on the issuance of search warrants but also that of arrest orders.

Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo said on Friday SC Associate Justice Marvic Leonen has already submitted a working draft on the “revisions intended to specifically address the issue on issuance of arrest warrant and search warrant.”

“We’re working on it. In relation to that, we will be amending the rules on criminal procedures with respect to those provisions,” he said during his first Meet the Press event.

In March, more than 100 lawyers wrote to the SC proposing changes to rules on the issuance and service of search warrants. This was in response to the bloody raids in Calabarzon that left nine people dead when police tried to implement search orders issued by lower courts.

The lawyers said they feared that the rules of court were being “weaponized” to go after activists.

Gesmundo pointed out that judges know the responsibility that they have to comply with what the Constitution and the rules of court should provide.

The chief magistrate said that one of the things that they are working on is the adoption of the rule of body-worn cameras.

“So we hope that with the issuance of these rules on body-worn cameras, these issues will be addressed specifically. It’s in the works. By July perhaps, we will have the final version and we’ll approve it for implementation immediately.”

Revising the writs
Gesmundo said he also directed the office of court attorneys to research for the revision of writs of kalikasan and amparo.

“We are doing our continuous effort to revise these rules. It’s just that we have to gather more materials to guide us in the revisions but it is one of the priorities of the court for revision.”

A writ of kalikasan is a legal remedy available to a person whose constitutional right to a balanced and healthful ecology is violated or threatened.

The writ of amparo, on the other hand, is available to any person whose right to life, liberty and security is violated or threatened… Read More

(The Manila Times) GEN. Guillermo Eleazar urged activists planning protests on the 123rd celebration of Philippine Independence Day on Saturday to go online to avoid spreading the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

“Mas maigi pa rin po talaga na gawin ang inyong mga aktibidad para sa Araw ng Kalayaan sa pamamagitan ng Zoom o iba pang mga social media platforms (It is still better to do your activities for Independence Day through Zoom or other social media platforms),” said the Philippine National Police chief in a statement.

“The PNP respects everyone’s right to freedom of speech and expression subalit iba po ang ating sitwasyon ngayon. Maging responsable po tayo at unahin ang kalusugan at kaligtasan ng bawat isa (but our situation is different now. Let us be responsible and prioritize each other’s health and safety,” he added.

Nevertheless, the PNP will remain on alert in anticipation of people who will physically hold protest actions, according to Eleazar.

He also reminded all police personnel to observe maximum tolerance and to give activists’ time to disperse voluntarily.

“Huwag daanin sa init ng ulo ang pakikipagusap sa mga magra-rally sa Sabado upang maiwasan ang gulo (Let’s keep our temper down when we talk to theh rallyists on Saturday to avoid trouble),” Eleazar said.

“Kung talagang may mga pasaway na tahasan ang pagsuway sa ating minimum public health safety standards, pasensyahan po tayo pero we have to enforce the law (If there are violators of our minimum public health safety standards, we apologize but we have to enforce the law),” he added.

The PNP chief also appealed to the public to cooperate to maintain a peaceful and orderly commemoration of our Independence Day.|

He said the PNP was also on full alert for terror threats although none has been monitored so far… Read More

(CNNPhilippines) Regional officials renew their appeal to the national government to send more vaccines amid a new surge in COVID-19 infections in the provinces. Let’s hear from League of Cities of the Philippines president and Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia… Read More

(BusinessWorld) TOTAL hog deliveries to Metro Manila surpassed half a million heads as part of an ongoing initiative to augment pork supply after the African Swine Fever (ASF) reduced local inventory.

In a report, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said another 6,492 hogs arrived in Metro Manila on June 9, putting the total to 503,403 since the issuance of Executive Order No. 124 on Feb. 8 that capped the prices of pork products.

From the new shipments, 3,382 hogs were sourced from South Cotabato and General Santos City; 1,072 from Oriental Mindoro; and 988 from Batangas, Laguna, and Quezon.

Other areas that sent hogs were Bohol with 660; Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, and Sorsogon with 310; and Davao with 80.

Since Feb. 8, the DA said CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) accounted for 40.18% of total hog deliveries, followed by Western Visayas at 21.73%, and MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan) at 13.71%.

Meanwhile, the DA said 35,563 kilograms of pork in carcass form also arrived in Metro Manila on June 9.

The new shipments brought the total delivered pork carcass in Metro Manila to 3.88 million kilograms since Feb. 8, most of which were sourced from Central Luzon.

EO No. 124 capped the prices of pork shoulder (kasim) to P270 per kilogram (/kg) and pork belly (liempo) to P300/kg after pork prices skyrocketed due to the ASF outbreak.

It was lifted on April 8 and was replaced by a suggested retail price for imported pork kasim at P270/kg and imported pork liempo at P350/kg… Read More

(CNNPhilippines) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 10) — The Philippine Space Agency said the country’s biggest satellite yet is now in development for its expected launch into space by 2023.

Multispectral Unit for Land Assessment, or MULA, is a commercial-grade satellite weighing 130 kilograms and has features that will help observe terrestrial ecosystems and assess environment conditions to prepare for disaster management.

“Plans are underway to have a bigger Earth Observation satellite that can capture operational-quality images of approximately 100,000 square kilometers of land area daily,” said PhilSA in its website.

MULA is bigger than the 50-kg Diwata 1 and 56-kg Diwata 2 microsatellites.

It will be capable of capturing high resolution images that can be used for disaster management, land use and land cover change mapping, crop monitoring, and forestry management.

“With its capability to capture higher resolution images, we will be able to better monitor terrestrial ecosystems, as well as our land and marine resources to ensure both agricultural productivity and environmental integrity. In addition, we will also be able to assess environmental conditions to be more proactive in disaster management and mitigation,” said PhilSA Deputy Director-General Gay Jane Perez.

The new satellite will also be equipped with Automatic Identification System and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, which can be used for ship and aircraft detection and tracking.

MULA Project Manager John Leur Labrador likened MULA to an astronaut in space.

“We can think of this spacecraft as a Filipino astronaut tasked to take images of our natural resources while monitoring aircraft and ship activity in our country at the same time,” he said. “We aim to significantly increase the land area captured by this satellite compared to our previous ones, effectively increasing the information gathered from the produced images.”

Perez added that the creation of MULA is aimed at strengthening the country’s space technology.

“This is of course done not only to keep up with global competitiveness but most importantly, it is so we can minimize our reliance on foreign technologies…so we can have our own scientists and engineers whose expertise in space science and technologies can be targeted and tailored specifically to the needs of our land and our people,” she said.

The project is being developed by the Department of Science and Technology-funded Advanced Satellite and Know-how Transfer for the Philippines Project, as part of the agency’s “priority agenda under the emerging technologies sector of providing space technology applications to public services.”

The University of the Philippines and the DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute are implementing the project, in coordination with PhilSA.

MULA is being designed and manufactured by British company Surrey Space Technology… Read More

(GMA News) The World Bank on Thursday warned of fiscal risks that the Philippine government might encounter as it moved to implement a Supreme Court ruling widening the base of local governments’ share in all national taxes collected.

In its Philippine Economic Update report, the World Bank said “the government faces a significant risk that the transition process could lead to a large gap in service delivery, as a lack of coordination between the national and local government and weak implementation capacity could delay the transition towards increased decentralization.”

“Underspending by local governments may worsen, as many local governments do not have the capacity to absorb a significant increase in revenues,” the WB said.

In a virtual launch of the report, World Bank economist Kevin Cruz said addressing weaknesses in planning and coordination is a first step towards managing the transition and improving decentralization.

“The national government should clearly define re-devolved functions and communicate these clearly to both national government agencies and local government units,” Cruz said.

“The authorities need to ensure that the development goals of the national government and local governments are well-aligned, and that service delivery gaps are minimized, particularly during this unprecedented crisis. This will require the national government and local government units to review the division of labor between national government agencies and local government units in re-devolving functions, while keeping fiscal and absorptive capacity in mind,” he added.

The World Bank noted that as a result of the Mandanas Ruling by the Supreme Court in 2018 the internal revenue allotment of LGus are programmed to increase by 55% in the 2022 budget, reaching P1.08 trillion or 4.8% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) compared to 3.5% of GDP in 2021.

To implement the ruling, President Rodrigo Duterte issued Executive Order 138 which establishes a Committee on Devolution (ComDev).

Under Duterte’s EO 38, ComDev will propose to Congress the Growth Equity Fund (GEF) “to address issues on marginalization, unequal development, high poverty incidence and disparities in net fiscal capacities of LGUs.”

The so-called Mandanas ruling expands the LGUs’ internal revenue allotment share to all national taxes including those collected by the Bureau of Customs.

The Supreme Court ruling favoring increased share of taxes for LGUs stemmed from the petition filed by then Batangas Representative Hermilando Mandanas.

Addressing inequality in financial resources among LGUs, improving the capacity of LGUs, and enhancing transparency and accountability are key to improving decentralization as the country starts implementing the Mandanas Ruling in 2022 are among the recommendations of the Philippine Economic Update released by the World Bank… Read More

(PhilStar) ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Four tourists from Metro Manila were barred from entering Boracay on Tuesday night after they presented tampered reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results.

Malay police chief Lt. Col. Don Dicksie de Dios said the tourists, who arrived from Negros Occidental, were intercepted at the Tabon Port in Barangay Caticlan.

“The RT-PCR test results that they presented appeared to be legitimate. However, these were tampered to a later date,” De Dios said.

A negative swab test taken 72 hours prior to travel is required for tourists entering Boracay.

The tourists were brought to the Aklan provincial quarantine facility in Kalibo, where they underwent swab test.

Last week, seven tourists from Luzon were held for presenting fake swab test results.

The Department of Justice ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate the proliferation of fake RT-PCR test results presented by tourists entering Boracay.

The tourists will be charged for violation of Republic Act 11332 or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act as well as falsification of public documents… Read More