November 2024

By Omar Fernando

DAVAO CITY – Despite budget constraints, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) remains resolute in delivering crucial services and advancing its operations to benefit the nation.

Vice President Sara Duterte assured this at a press conference on Wednesday, Nov. 13, following the Senate deliberations on OVP’s budget.

The Senate approved the OVP’s 2025 budget, totaling PHP733 million, per the Finance Committee's proposal.

Even before the bell could ring for the first round, former President Rodrigo Duterte had inflicted the House of Representatives’ Joint Committee on Public Accounts, Dangerous Drugs, Public Order and Security and Human Rights (QuadCom) a beating they will never forget.

Quadcomm had earlier invited the former President to attend its hearing on Nov. 13. This was a follow-up to a previous invitation set on Nov. 7, which FPRRD, through his counsel, Martin Delgra, had declined.

Contrary to the government’s recent claim that the Philippines is safer and people are more secure, a recent Social Weather Stations survey indicated a concerning increase in traditional crimes and cybercrime victimization rates compared to previous polls.

The Legal Cooperation Cluster (LCC) of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) strongly asserted that the recent arrests and detention of Porferio Tuna, Simeon Naogsan, and Wigberto Villarico were fully justified, legal, and moral.

A lawyer of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte said the latter’s no-show in today’s public hearing of the Joint Committee on Public Accounts, Dangerous Drugs, Public Order and Security and Human Rights (Quadcomm) is pointless, thus his unnecessary presence.

Lawyer Martin Delgra III, in a Nov. 5 letter addressed to Rep. Robert Ace S. Barbers,  Quadcomm chairperson, said the former president harbors some concerns regarding the integrity, independence, and propriety of the Quadcomm.

A day after the day of national mourning for the victims of Severe Tropical Storm Kristine, survivors of Super Typhoon Yolanda – the most powerful storm that hit the Philippines 11 years ago – urged the government to enforce stronger climate accountability policies for corporations.

By Julian Gempesaw

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—In the wake of reignited fears among residents of South Cotabato Province caused by flashfloods unleashed by Tropical Storm Kristine, Governor Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. allayed worries of environmental damage and destruction.

Tamayo Jr. denied large-scale mining operations in the hinterlands of Tampakan South Cotabato.

Is a falling out between First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos and Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez even possible?

Not a few people dismissed the alleged feud as just another political intrigue. The administration was desperate for a distraction after former President Rodrigo Duterte’s spectacular appearance before the Senate, and a Liza-Martin tiff was worth a try.