General Carlito G. Galvez, chief-of-staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, wants to completely eliminate the Abu Sayyaf Group by December in time for his retirement, a military commander in Mindanao said.
Brigadier General Cirilito E. Sobejana, commander of the Joint Task Force (JTF) Sulu, said the December timeline is possible if the military would fast track its operations, but the realistic target is within two years.
“Actually December pero ‘yun ‘yung talagang ipa-fast track natin na talagang pipilitin, pero the realization considering all factors sabi niya (Mr. Galvez) can be done in two years,” Mr. Sobejana said.
Mr. Sobejana said it is difficult to preempt, but emphasized that the military will do its “best effort” to meet the timeline set.
— Minde Nyl R. Dela Cruz

The Sandiganbayan first division cleared former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) General Manager and Vice Chairman Rosario C. Uriarte of plunder charges.
This follows the High Court’s acquittal of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the same case last year.
“The foregoing pronouncement was rendered by the Supreme Court after evaluation of the same sets of facts, circumstances, an evidence now under consideration,” the Sandiganbayan said in the decision promulgated May 11 and released on Thursday.
“The prosecution has not adduced any new or compelling evidence to warrant a finding different from what has already been rendered by the Supreme Court. Thus, as the High Tribunal categorically cleared Uriarte of culpability from the instant charge of plunder, it behooves this Court to acquit her.”
— Minde Nyl R. Dela Cruz
 

QBO Innovation Hub is eyeing to grant more tech startups the benefits of its incubation program.
QBO Operations Head Natasha Dawn Bautista said, of the total tech startups registered in its community, only those among the top 3% are chosen to enjoy the benefits of its JP Morgan incubation program which gives startups a boost in their pursuit.
This puts only five of its 200 registered tech startup members currently taking advantage of the startup boosting program. But five more tech startups are expected to join the roll while 15 more will be part of the program by the middle of the year.
— Janina C. Lim

According to a new report from Moody’s, the Philippines will be the sixth most affected country should trade tensions between the United States and China aggravate, tagging electronic exporters to China as the most hurt in a trade war.
“In terms of vulnerability to an escalation in the dispute between the US and China, Asia’s electronics sector is most exposed to further US actions,” the report said. — Janina C. Lim
 

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA — Tourism regulation in Antarctica has become an urgent matter due to environmental threats, officials from the 53 member countries of the Antarctic Treaty warned at their annual meeting, held this week in Buenos Aires.

In the absence of rules, travel agencies offer trips to the region on boats sometimes equipped with helicopters or submarines, according to Segolene Royal, French ambassador for the Arctic and Antarctic poles.

“This activity creates considerable disturbance … we are witnessing a race toward large-scale tourism that is dangerous for ecosystems,” she said at the assembly on Wednesday.

During the austral summer of 2016/2017, around 44,000 tourists set off for Antarctica, compared with just 9,000 in 1995/1996, according to French authorities.

However, the push for regulation is not about banning tourism, former environmental minister Royal said, but rather about ensuring it is managed in compliance with the treaty and its environmental protection protocol.

In Buenos Aires, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting — whose mission is to regulate human activity on the continent — also sought to encourage scientific cooperation between countries that have collectively set up around 100 research bases across the ice.

Also up for analysis is China’s proposed fifth permanent scientific station in Antarctica, which would be located in the Ross Sea area south of New Zealand. — AFP

Malacanang sees no conflictt in Solicitor General Jose C. Calida’s support for the Marcos family and his office’s handling of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), the agency that goes after the family’s ill-gotten wealth.
In his press briefing on Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. said there is a sense of “professionalism” among the lawyers in the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).
He also stressed that “no tasks will be abandoned with the PCGG’s abolition since all its tasks will be continued to by the OSG.”
“It doesn’t mean that PCGG is inefficient, but there is no need for it to be a separate agency,” he added.
Voting 162-10 last Tuesday, May 15, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading House Bill (HB) 7376 that seeks to abolish the PCGG and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) and transfer their functions to the OSG to eliminate overlap. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Palace Spokesman Harry L. Roque, Jr. said on Thursday that the Philippine government has already expressed its protest against the People’s Republic of China for breaching its international obligations in the disputed islands in the South China Sea region.
“Mas matindi pa nga po, hindi lang protesta yun. Pinarating nila ang ating saloobin na nababahala tayo,” Mr. Roque told Palace reporters in a press brieng when asked for an update regarding the status of the Philippines’ diplomatic protest against China.
(It was even more extreme. Not a only a protest, but we also expressed concern [about China’s actions].)
Last month, Mr. Roque said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) was considering filing a diplomatic protest with China.
The spokesman made his remarks after receiving information that there were two Chinese military transport planes that landed on the Panganiban Reef.
“The secretary of foreign affairs has said that they are preparing and exploring the possibility of a diplomatic protest,” Mr. Roque said in a press briefing. — Arjay L. Balinbin

BEIJING — China launched its first privately developed rocket from a launchpad in northwestern China on Thursday, state media said, the latest milestone in the country’s ambitious space exploration program.

Since coming to office in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made becoming a “space flight superpower” a top priority for the Chinese government, which has a goal of sending a permanent manned space station into orbit by around 2022.

The launch of the “Chongqing Liangjiang Star” rocket, developed by OneSpace Technology, a Beijing-based private firm, marks the first time a non-state Chinese rocket has successfully entered orbit, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The rocket is powered by a solid fuel engine developed by OneSpace and its control systems are customizable in accordance with user demand, the company’s chairman, Ma Chao, told Xinhua.

Also known as the OS-XO, the craft can place a 100-kilogram load into orbit 800 kilometers from the earth, according to state media.

The rocket uses energy-saving technology, such as wireless communications instead of wired internet that by cutting weight has helped lower fuel costs by about 30%, Xinhua said.

Founded in 2015, OneSpace is the result of a government effort to foster China’s commercial space flight and encourage private participation in the sector, according to state media.

The company expects 10 missions for carrier rockets in 2019, founder Shu Chang told the official China Daily last week.

“I hope we can become one of the biggest small-satellite launchers in the world,” Shu said.

Last year, the company signed a deal with the state-run Chongqing Liangjiang Aviation Industry Investment Group to build a joint research and manufacturing base in the southwestern city of Chongqing.

The base’s strategic location as part of China’s Belt and Road initiative, a key foreign policy initiative by Xi that aims to develop trade links between China and Eurasia, will provide a large export market for OneSpace, Shu told China Daily.

“We will develop bigger rockets in the future and participate in the global competition,” Shu said. — Reuters

SAN SALVADOR — A Salvadoran judge has decided to send former president Elias Antonio Saca and six ex-administration officials to trial over charges of embezzling $301 million in public funds, prosecutors said.

Saca, 53, was arrested in October 2016 with his former private secretary and former communications secretary, among others. They are charged with embezzlement, criminal association, and money laundering.

Saca faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted, according to prosecutor Mario Huezo.

The former conservative leader governed poverty stricken and gang violence-plagued El Salvador from 2004 to 2009. He was expelled from his Nationalist Republican Alliance party in 2009, accused of facilitating a historic presidential election victory for left-wing Mauricio Funes.

Funes, the first left-wing president in two decades, governed until 2014. He now lives in exile in Nicaragua, having obtained political asylum in 2016 after saying he feared for his life in El Salvador, where he was convicted of corruption last year. — AFP

TOKYO — A Japanese monk is suing his temple, claiming he was forced to work non-stop catering to visiting tourists and that the heavy workload gave him depression, his lawyer told AFP on Thursday.

The monk in his forties is seeking ¥8.6 million ($78,000) from his temple on Mount Koya, a World Heritage Site also known as Koyasan that regarded as one of the most sacred Buddhist sites in Japan.

The plaintiff began working at a temple there in 2008 and became depressed around December 2015, according to his lawyer Noritake Shirakura.

“If you work as a monk, too often you work without work-hour management,” Shirakura told AFP.

“You provide labor, but you are told it’s part of religious training. And if it’s training, you must endure even it causes you significant hardship.”

“Through this case, we will argue that such a notion is outdated,” he said.

Shirakura declined to name his client or the temple being sued, saying the man wanted to preserve his anonymity so he could eventually return to his job or find a position elsewhere in the small community of Buddhist monks.

The case argues that the monk was forced to perform paid labor far beyond his spiritual duties, and at times worked for more than two months straight.

In 2015, when the Koyasan area celebrated its 1,200^th anniversary, he was forced to work for up to 64 days in a row to handle a surge of tourists to the site, Shirakura said.

Some days, he worked 17 hours straight, performing various temple functions including attending to visitors, the lawyer said.

The monk has already won the backing of a local labor bureau, which acknowledged that the long stretch of work days without holiday met the definition of overwork.

The case is a rare, public labor dispute involving the Japanese spiritual sector.

In 2017, Kyoto’s renowned Higashi Honganji temple was forced to publicly apologise for failing to pay overtime compensation and engaging in work-place harassment.

Overwork is a major problem in Japan, and death by overwork is a recognised phenomenon that even has its own word in Japanese — karoshi.

A government report released last year found there had been 191 cases of karoshi in the 12 months to March 2017, and that more than 7% of Japanese employees logged over 20 hours of overtime a week.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has introduced reforms intended to tackle the problem of overwork, but family members who have lost loved ones to the problem argue the measures fall short. — AFP

Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. on Thursday clarified that there is no discrimination against women being appointed to government positions.
This is following President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s comment on Wednesday that he would not choose a woman to be the next Ombudsman.
The President made his remark during a chance interview with reporters, following his meeting with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’ Neill at the Palace.
“I do not know what the President meant by his comment [that he does not want a woman Ombudsman], I will clarify with him,” Roque said.
“I don’t think it is discrimination [against women], but I will clarify with him. As far as I know, there is no discrimination against women being appointed in government..”
As for Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III’s application for the post, Mr. Roque said: “May the best man or woman prevail. But JBC (Judicial and Bar Council) will have to submit shortlist of candidates.” — Arjay L. Balinbin