Tag: Arjay L. Balinbin

MALACAÑANG ON Monday thumbed down the suggestion of Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia that there should be a Department of Water “that would centralize all activities having to do with water resource.”

THE Philippine government will follow the United States’ policy on “denying or revoking” visas for members of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Malacañang said on Monday.

THE National Water Resources Board (NWRB), the state agency tasked to oversee the country’s water resources, has approved the activation of deep wells that will add 100 million liters per day (MLD) to ease the shortage being felt by consumers in Metro Manila’s east zone.

THE PHILIPPINES has officially withdrawn from the International Criminal Court (ICC) as of Sunday, March 17.

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has signed the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop (EVOSS) Act, which seeks to streamline the permit-issuing process for power generation, transmission, and distribution projects.

PRESIDENTIAL Spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo said on Thursday the government will look into Manila Water’s service interruptions in Metro Manila, saying the water shortage “could be artificial.”

A LAW intended to prevent and penalize the use of motorcycles in the commission of crimes by requiring bigger, readable and color-coded number plates and identification marks has been signed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

PRESIDENT RODRIGO R. Duterte has ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) to immediately track down the killers of a teen girl in Cebu, whom he said must be illegal drug users given the brutal nature of the crime.

THE PHILIPPINE government has asked the European Union (EU) to stop funding “communist front organizations” in the Philippines.

MALACAÑANG on Monday said President Rodrigo R. Duterte was ready to veto questionable provisions in the P3.757-trillion national budget for this year, even as it hoped both chambers of Congress would resolve their differences soon.

MALACAÑANG said Monday that relief from the Metro Manila water crisis may have to wait for the onset of the rains, though cloud-seeding was also an option, with the Department of Agriculture saying it ordered seeding in areas of Central Luzon that could help fill the capital’s reservoirs.

A PANEL of prosecutors is set to “rest its case” on the 2009 Ampatuan massacre “by the middle of the year,” according to Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra.

PRESIDENT RODRIGO R. Duterte will lead the distribution of Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) and turnover of common service facilities to agrarian reform beneficiaries in Davao City, his hometown, on March 15, Malacañang announced on Sunday.

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has fired Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) General Manager Alexander F. Balutan because of corruption allegations, Malacañang said on Friday.

MALAYSIAN PRIME Minister Mahathir Mohammad, who was in Manila on an official visit on Thursday, March 7, vowed the Malaysian government will help in the development of Mindanao, noting the area’s economic potential following the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

MONETARY POLICY easing could well be on the horizon in the face of easing headline inflation, central bank officials signalled on Wednesday.

THE delayed 2019 budget remained untransmitted to the President well into the third month of the year, amid claims of last-minute revisions to the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) approved by Congress, though a key legislator said the legislation will be forwarded to the Palace by March 10.

AGRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol invoked President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s authorization to propose a budget “10 times” his department’s current funding level, which was P56 billion in 2018.

MALACAÑANG on Tuesday said President Rodrigo R. Duterte has approved the “full and intensified” implementation plan for the government’s national program on family planning.

PRESIDENTIAL Spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo on Tuesday admitted that foreign countries are providing the Philippine government with “wiretapped” information on politicians in the Philippine government’s “narco-list” and on other criminal activities they may be involved in.

MALACAÑANG ON Tuesday said President Rodrigo R. Duterte has approved the proposed executive order for the implementation of the next plan for the newly-established Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which includes the disarming of private armies and former rebels in the area.

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has chosen Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno to replace the late Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr., who died of cancer last Feb. 23, top administration officials announced on Monday night.

MALACANANG ON Monday denied that President Rodrigo R. Duterte made any arrangement for the provisional liberty of rebel leader Nur Misuari.

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has signed into law a measure that requires the government to automatically enroll all persons with disabilities (PWDs) into the National Health Insurance Program.

MALACAÑANG ON Monday maintained that releasing the so-called narco-list, which names politicians allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade, will guide voters in the upcoming midterm elections.

DEFENSE Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana on Saturday said the national government may exercise its power to “remove” any appointed transition leader who is “perceived to be sabotaging” the transition government of the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

THE COMMISSION on Human Rights (CHR) has appealed to the public not to politicize the redistribution of financial reparations for human rights-abuse victims during the Marcos regime.

MALACAÑANG announced on Thursday that President Rodrigo R. Duterte has vetoed the bill that seeks to ban corporal punishment on children.

MALACAÑANG ON Thursday announced that President Rodrigo R. Duterte has approved Joint Resolution No. 04 by Congress, extending until Dec. 31 this year the maintenance, availability, and release of funds intended for human rights-abuse victims during martial law.

PRESIDENT RODRIGO R. Duterte has extended the terms of five special envoys to the People’s Republic of China.

MALACAÑANG on Wednesday said it hopes succeeding administrations will see to it that the Metro Manila Subway project is completed by 2025.

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Tuesday expressed doubts over accusations that the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr. had ill-gotten...

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Tuesday said the government is crafting a new deal with Nur Misuari’s Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

EIGHTEEN members of the European Parliament have called for more pressure on the Philippine government to release opposition Senator Leila M. De Lima In a letter dated Feb. 24 addressing the European Commission Vice President Federica Mogherini, the European legislators called for an official statement from the body to reinforce pressure on Philippine authorities to free the detained senator.

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has yet to consider candidates to succeed the late Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. who died of tongue cancer just last Saturday, his spokesman told reporters on Tuesday, but Malacañang expects to see some basic qualities as well as reforms sustained.

CHINESE AMBASSADOR to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua warned the Philippines against arbitrary deportations of Chinese nationals, and conveyed a warning that Beijing might retaliate, the president’s spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said.

Pompeo to visit Manila Malacañang on Tuesday said US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo is set to meet with President Rodrigo R. Duterte in...

THE LAW creating the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), which President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed on Feb. 14, will be followed by another proposed bill which will seek to address the housing needs of around 2 million informal settler families nationwide, according to Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairman Eduardo D. del Rosario.

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Sunday said his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio, is in control of the family’s political decisions.

MALACAÑANG has thumbed down the idea of granting the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) “prosecutorial powers.”

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Sunday said people should stop using his name to intimidate Church leaders, especially Catholic priests.

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte said the government’s greater capacity for collecting revenue has helped him fulfill most of his campaign promises, including free state university tuition, universal health care and higher salaries for soldiers and police, with schoolteachers next in line.

THE government of the United States remains concerned about the human rights situation in the Philippines amid President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s drug war, a US Embassy press attache said over the weekend when sought for comment.

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte will not order the deportation of Chinese nationals who are illegally working in the country, saying there are also at least 300,000 undocumented Filipino workers in China.

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Friday, Feb. 22, administered the oath of office to the newly appointed 80 members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA).