Philippine News

MATI CITY, Davao Oriental -- The Office of the President and the government's Kilusang Pagbabago (KP) movement rolled out on Sunday a housing and livelihood program for 300 beneficiaries in the remote village of Danao in this city.Led by the Office of the Participatory Governance, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC), and the Davao Oriental chapter of the KP, the government held a site inspection and orientation for the families living in danger zones in the village.PCOO Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy said the agencies are bringing the pro-poor program to the direct beneficiaries.She said the PCOO helps drum up the program aimed at cutting down the number of poor families that now stands at six million."We have the mandate of bringing down the programs of President Rodrigo Duterte to the grassroots," Badoy said.Saying the government is on track, she added: "The President is serious in bringing down the povert…

MANILA -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) will be meeting with mayors nationwide starting October to find out how to secure food supply in each locality."We'll ask what the towns need," Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said on the sidelines of a meeting with provincial governors in Metro Manila last week on the damages brought by Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut) in mid-September.The upcoming food security meetings will be by clusters, Piñol said, covering Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.Irrigation, farm-to-market roads, and post-harvest facilities might be among what the towns need to produce food for their respective populations, he said.Piñol said attaining food security in the towns will have its effect on the national scale, amid ballooning Philippine population and climate change.According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food security exists "when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to s…

MANILA -- Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro has ordered a reorganization for Supreme Court Justices representatives on the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) and House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET).The SET and HRET are mandated by the 1987 Constitution to rule on electoral protests of senatorial candidates and congressional candidates.In a one-page Special Order 2589, de Castro assigns the incumbent senior members of the High Court to represent them in the said electoral tribunals.Justice Antonio Carpio will be the chairperson for the SET, with Justices Lucas Bersamin and Estela Perlas-Bernabe as members.Justice Diosdado Peralta will be the chairperson for the HRET, while Justices Mariano del Castillo and Marvic Leonen are members."In the interest of the service, the regular members of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) and the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) are hereby designated as follows, effective August 28, 2018," read the specia…

MANILA -- Most dog owners in the country still lack proper knowledge about rabies. This is the observation of Rey del Napoles, program manager of Humane Society International-Philippines, when he visits one community after another to vaccinate dogs and cats against rabies. “Hindi po totoo ang pinaniniwalaan ng ilan nating kababayan na nakukuha ang rabies sa pagkain o sa hangin. (The belief of some of our countrymen is not true na that rabies is acquired through food or air.) We have to be clear also (that) dogs and cats are born with rabies, that is a common myth,” del Napoles told the Philippine News Agency (PNA). Adoracion Dare, resident of District 1 in Quezon City, told PNA that she once had a pet dog which acquired rabies. “Hindi ko sigurado kung saan nakuha ng aso namin iyon. Pinapalabas lang naman iyon para tumae tapos bumabalik din dito sa bahay (I’m not sure where our dog got it. We let it go out to poop then it comes back home),” she said. Dare added that she noticed that her do…

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Why does a man paint or sketch an artwork? Is it to grab and interpret either reality or fantasy and thus, rule over and suspend them? This is what probably happens to Bador Bandoy and the pedestrians who gather around him whenever he sketches fantastic figures and colors them at sidewalks in downtown Zamboanga City. Aside from being a daily scenario here, Bandoy said his art is his source of livelihood. He likes to move around -- one day he’s here, the next day he’s at a different “studio”. He would not qualify as master artist, as there is a kind of flatness and crudeness in his pieces, somewhat child-like in quality, which is probably why they are interestingly innocent, catchy, and dramatic. Using color pens and bond paper, he likes to paint imaginary mosques. He also paints humans displaying fantastic features, strange-looking, even mythic animals -- dragons, sphinxes -- even fishes, birds, and so forth. He always carries with him folios of his works, each piece wed…

CEBU CITY, Sept. 27 (PIA)--Human mihangyo si Naga City Mayor Kristine Chiong sa Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), nga mopatuman og striktong pagpabakwit sa mga residente nga anaa isa ka kilometro gikan sa danger zone, ang City Government sa Naga nag-abli og dugang evacuation centers.Gikan sa unang 6, nahimo na kining 11, segun pa sa lokal nga Department of Social Welfare and development (DSWD).Mao kini ang mga mosunod:  Enan Chiong Activity Center, Naga Central Elementary School, Naga National High School, Nalad Elementary School, Apo Cement Gym, Colon Elementary School, Church of the Latter Day Saints, Cepoc Elementary School, Langtad Elementary School, San Fernando Gym ug Cabungahan covered court.Ang Barangay Cabungahan gym mao ang pinaka bag-ong giablihang center gahapon, diin anaa sa dili moubos sa 30 ka pamilya o 148 ka indibidwal ang temporaryong gapuyo.Ang DSWD Field Office 7, isip nangulo sa koordinasyon ug pagdumala sa sitwasyon, nagpadayon sa pagpadala …

DUMAGUETE CITY, Sept. 24 (PIA)--Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher Lawrence ‘Bong’ Go Saturday launched the new Malasakit Center in Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital, as a way of helping relieve the patients and their families medical financial problems. SAP Go said the health of the population is one of the top priorities of the Duterte administration.“When we get sick, we usually don’t know where to go for help. But now with the Malasakit Center, they will be taught what to do,” said Go.The Malasakit Center is the one-stop shop program of President Rodrigo Duterte to hasten the delivery of medical services and give poor patients access to free medicines. In President Duterte’s 3rd state of the nation address, he said that Go has been “instrumental” in putting up Malasakit Centers in Visayas, and has been expanding the program nationwide.Under the program, patients are assisted in availing themselves of the services and financial assistance provided by the Philipp…

CEBU CITY, Sept. 28 (PIA)--Prices of gasoline and diesel have been continuously increasing these past few weeks, but it is not because of what most of Filipinos think.The Department of Energy (DOE), in its statement recently detailed causes to give light to motorists and oil consumers, about the stuttering oil price chain.Based on DOE's Oil Monitoring report as of September 27, 2018, Dubai crude has increased week-on-week by around US$0.25 per barrel.Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) gasoline and diesel have also increased at US$0.39 per barrel and US$0.14 per barrel, respectively.According to the report, factors affecting the increase of crude oil prices include the deepening trade tension between the United States and China, which is expected to dent global crude demand.China is the world second largest oil consumer.The tight gasoline supply is also coupled with robust demand from other large consumers like Indonesia and the Persian Gulf to support the East of Suez gasoline market…

MANILA-- Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Sunday (Manila time) underscored anew the country's commitment to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights. In his speech at the 73rd UN General Assembly in New York, Cayetano said the Duterte administration is one with the UN in being "uncompromising on the issues of rule of law, just and equitable peace that leads to order, development and prosperity, and the protection of each and every human being’s rights." As a sovereign state, he said the Philippines is on track in saving the nation from becoming "a narco-state or state held hostage by the rich and powerful who ignore the plight of the poor, powerless and marginalized, or worse, both. He stressed that the administration's hunger for change, for peace, for law and order is "genuine." The country's campaign against illegal drugs and the deaths associated with it had repeatedly caught the international community's attention. In his …

SAN ANTONIO, Nueva Ecija -- Central Luzon legislators and local officials on Friday have thrown their support to a PHP54-billion flood mitigation project which seeks to curb flooding in Pampanga and Bulacan. The meeting was presided by House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, upon receiving information that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is set to bid the feasibility study for the program on October 11, which include the construction of the stalled Pampanga Delta Development Project (PDDP) 2. PDDP 2 was supposed to have been implemented as a sequel of the PDDP 1 during the administration of former President Fidel Ramos but faced strong opposition then by local Pampanga and Bulacan officials as well as local residents and non-government organizations. The meeting was held in the light of massive destruction to crops and infrastructures brought by flash floods due to Typhoon Ompong that inundated huge areas in the region. “Ang napag-usapan ngayon, plano ng Pampanga River p…