PHILIPPINES: Bracing for La Niña

web MANILA, 1 September 2010 (IRIN) – The Philippines is bracing for severe flooding over the next few months as a result of the La Niña weather effect, which is expected to whip up heavy storms. Some specialists are saying the country is not adequately prepared. With the country’s infrastructure and emergency safety mechanisms still reeling from the effects of Tropical Storm Ketsana and super typhoon Parma last year, the country is now racing against time to prevent large-scale destruction, said Heherson Alvarez, chairman of the country’s Climate Change Commission

New LRTA head vows safe train rides

MANILA, Philippines—The new administrator of the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) has vowed to continue providing safe mass transit for the millions of Metro Manila commuters.

Bad news for smokers: P90-tax per pack eyed

MANILA, Philippines—Everybody knows smoking will bust your lungs. A proposed tax increase on your next nicotine fix will bust your wallet as well. Citing the ‘Obama model,’ the Department of Health (DoH) Monday said increasing cigarette tax by P4.50 (or 10 US cents) per stick—that’s P90 for every 20-stick cigarette pack—was one of the ideas that cropped up during a meeting of health officials with officers of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP), an anti-tobacco advocate.

DepEd to unveil 12-year basic education program

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education will unveil on October 5 an initial draft for the 12-year basic education cycle, a new program aimed at providing students practical education so…

Lacson reinvestigation bid denied

A Manila court has denied for lack of merit a motion filed by Sen. Panfilo Lacson to reinvestigate charges of two counts of murder filed by the justice department over the Salvador Dacer and Emmanuel Corbito killings in November 2000.

More imported rice here

MANILA, Philippines—More shipments of rice imported by the previous Arroyo administration are arriving in the country in spite of a glut. Militant farmers and senators are demanding for the surplus commodity to be distributed to poor households. Danilo Bonabon, National Food Authority (NFA) director in Central Visayas, Wednesday said that around 2 million bags of rice were arriving in Cebu City until the end of August for Central and Eastern Visayas and the cities of Pagadian and Dipolog.

Former RP Defense Attache in DC is new DOD chief

MANILA – Retired Gen. Voltaire Gazmin, who was the Philippine defense attaché in the Philippine embassy in the early 90s, has been picked by President Benigno Aquino III as the new secretary of National Defense.
Gazmin, who was former chief of the Presidential Security Command when Cory was President, has defended himself from criticism that he [...]

IFES cites its role in ‘historic’ RP polls

WASHINGTON D.C. – The Washington-based International Foundation for Electoral Sstems (IFES) has described the May 10, 2010 automated Philippine elections as historic and memorable. It also bared the role it played in helping set up the automated system.
Bill Sweeney, IFES President and CEO, who was in the Philippines to observe the elections said “it was [...]

Envoy hails US commander

By Josh Scott
ZAMBOANGA CITY – Senior Philippine military and U.S. leaders recognized the exemplary service of a U.S. Army Special Forces commander who led U.S. efforts to support the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ fight against terrorism in the southern Philippines.
William J. Coultrup, Commander, Joint Special Operations Task Force -Philippines (JSOTF-P) relinquished command to U.S. [...]

Canyon Woods: The Ridge

By Marie Angeli Syjueco
In a nutshell, Ben Sison’s experience as a businessman is “from soy to soil”. As the big man behind the very known manufacturing company Silver Swan, he ventured to the real estate business, and founded Silver Wings from which Canyon Woods: The Ridge, a ready for occupancy condominium complex, is his first [...]

Ombudsman wakes up charges Jocjoc, Cito

MANILA – After sleeping on the P728-M fertilizer scam for four years, the Office of the Ombudsman finally woke up and recommended the filing of graft charges against former Agriculture Secretary Luis “Cito” Lorenzo and his former Undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante in connection with the case.
Cito Lorenzo, who had been in exile in Washington D.C. [...]

Aquino pledges to reveal all Arroyo ‘deals’

MANILA – President Benigno Aquino III, in his first press conference after his inauguration June 30, said his administration has unearthed allegedly irregular deals during initial review of the previous government’s transactions.
Aquino said the assessment is not yet complete and details were still being gathered about deals which “did not make sense from an economic [...]

DepEd asks LGUs to help catch teachers’ killers

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Education said Tuesday it had instructed its local officials to coordinate closely with the police to help catch the assailants who shot four teachers, three of whom died, in a span of one week. In a statement, Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the department…

2nd price cut on cooking gas in a month takes effect

MANILA, Philippines — Liquefied petroleum gas retailers have slashed prices of cooking gas by 50 centavos per kilogram effective Monday. This meant that the price of an 11-kg LPG cylinder, which is used by most households, is expected to…

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-04

[Tweets]: Quark Reduces Network Costs and Improves Application Performance With Virtela Global Managed Network Services http://bit.ly/a0OuiH #
[Tweets]: Kris Aquino admits end of marriage to James Yap http://bit.ly/c3rPJG #
[Tweets]: CBCP starts reviewing sex education modules http://www.manilamaildc.net/2010/06/27/cbcp-starts-reviewing-sex-education-modules/ #
[Tweets]: Arroyo move to convert hacienda hit http://www.manilamaildc.net/2010/06/27/arroyo-move-to-convert-hacienda-hit/ #
[Tweets]: Meralco elects Recto, Panlilio to board seats http://bit.ly/cdQBiF #
[Tweets]: Meralco elects [...]

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