Nation News

Next RP president should have a ‘green mind’ - FVR

GMANews.TV - Tuesday, November 24

He has yet to name his preferred candidate in the 2010 candidates, but former President Fidel Ramos said the next Philippine leader should have a "green mind," or one who has a solid environment platform. More »

  • Hayden's license revoked due to sex scandal

    GMANews.TV - Monday, November 23

    (Updated 11:46 p.m.) The government has revoked the license of celebrity doctor Hayden Kho Jr. following the immorality complaints filed against him by his ex-lover, actress Katrina Halili.

  • Most Filipinos distrust, dissatisfied with Arroyo - survey

    GMANews.TV - Monday, November 23

    Seven months to go before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo bows out of office, majority of Filipinos still disapprove of her performance and even distrust her, a public opinion pollster said Monday.

  • CHR asked to prove feasibility of polling precincts in jails

    GMANews.TV - Monday, November 23

    The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday asked the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to prove the feasibility of setting up special polling precincts for detainees in jails all over the country.

  • Associate Justice Sabio suffers heart attack

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    Court of Appeals Associate Justice Jose L. Sabio Jr. is in critical condition at the UST hospital after he had a heart attack Saturday.

    Sabio is chairman of the CA's Sixth Division.

  • Political violence flares

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    Some 100 armed men abducted Monday morning the wife of a would-be gubernatorial candidate in Maguindanao, including two of her lawyers and 34 local media practitioners who were accompanying them in a six-car convoy.

  • Fuel prices rise anew

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    Small oil players Flying V Philippines and Eastern Petroleum made good on their word to hike pump prices again this week, adding P1.50 per liter on all their fuel products effective at the strike of midnight last night.

  • Brazilian coed is Miss Earth

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    A 20-year-old biology major from Brazil was crowned 2009 Miss Earth in a televised beauty pageant held at the Boracay Ecovillage Resort and Convention Center on Boracay Island in Aklan last Sunday night.

  • Nursing examinees top 95,000; PRC adds more testing centers

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    The number of nursing graduates who will take the licensure examination this month went up by 16,733 to 95,305, prompting the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to add two more examination sites in Central and Northern Luzon to spare the examinees the hassles of expensive and rigorous travel to the testing centers.

    "Instead of coming to Manila, the board takers from those regions can now take the test in th sites we assigned in Angeles City (Pampanga) and San Fernando, La Union," PRC Commissioner-in-charge Dr.

  • Storms caused more hunger among Pinoys, says SWS

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    The number of Filipinos who experienced hunger after Metro Manila and wide areas of Luzon were battered by storms "Ondoy" and "Pepeng," increased to 3.5 million families a special survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

  • PNP urges Senate to pass bill on stiffer gun control penalties

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    The Philippine National Police (PNP) appealed to the Senate Monday to pass its proposed gun control measures, which it said, will add more teeth to existing laws that penalize illegal possession of firearms.

  • CHR urges Comelec to allow detainees to vote

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to come up with a special voting procedure and special polling precinct for detainees in the May 2010 elections.

  • Mitra urges Senate to approve amendments to Agri-Agra Law

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    A House leader on Monday called on the Senate to act swiftly on the proposed amendment to the Agri-Agra Law in the face of the possible shortage of rice and agricultural products due to recent typhoons.

    House Agriculture Committee Chairman Abraham Mitra led the call for the passage of House Bill 6095 in the Senate, after its approval of the bill on third and final reading in the House.

    The Agri-Agra Law or Presidential Decree aims to enhance the flow of credit to the agricultural sector.

    "The recent developments have placed the government in a critical situation of explaining the possibility of rice shortage in the country and the price increase of other agricultural products such as vegetables, livestock and poultry supply," Mitra said.

    HB 6095 seeks to amend the Agri-Agra Law or Presidential Degree 717, to address, among others, the lack of credit sources available for farmers.

    Mitra said many farmers are discouraged to till their lands and grow crops due to lack of credit sources to depend on.

    "Most of them are now seeking alternative income source by selling their farmlands to real estate owners and developers," Mitra said.

    He said rapid changes in natural environment and structural defects in the agriculture sector are placing the state of food security in jeopardy.

    "The law (PD 717) was not fully utilized by the farmers due to some provisions, which allowed the diversion of the 10 percent agrarian reform share to government securities.

  • Join Youtube, CNN drive, Filipinos told

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    After seeing the havoc wrought by storms "Ondoy" and "Pepeng," two young Filipinos are appealing to Youtube viewers to think about the effects of climate change by joining the "Raise Your Voice" campaign, a global environmental campaign sponsored by CNN, Youtube and the Danish government.

  • Bongbong to Noynoy: Beware of Ramos endorsement

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    Being on the receiving end of many endorsements from various personalities and groups, presidential aspirant Sen.

  • Noli: Only 13 agencies submitted reports on idle land

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    Vice President Manuel "Noli" de Castro has disclosed that only 13 of 36 government agencies have submitted reports on their inventory of government-owned lands suitable for socialized housing.

    According to De Castro, concurrent chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, of the 13 which submitted reports, seven reported they had no idle properties.

    On the other hand, the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Philippine Reclamation Authority have identified properties that were for disposition or sale, De Castro said.

    The Department of Social Welfare and Development identified properties that are being occupied by informal settlers while the Social Security System cited properties that were earmarked for other purposes.

    The inventory was in line with Executive Order (EO) 841 issued by President Arroyo directing the HUDCC to do an inventory of government- owned land that could be used for socialized housing.

  • Senate leaders fear delay in budget okay

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri appealed on Monday to colleagues in the 23-member Senate to attend regular sessions to facilitate the passage of the proposed 2010 P1.5-trillion national budget when the chamber returns from a week-long recess on December 2, 2009.

    The Senate is expected to pass the proposed 2010 General Appropriations Act (GAA) which the House approved last November 8. The House is having the thick budget printed for submission to the Senate.

    Zubiri said senators, particularly those running for president, owe to the people the early passage of important measures, particularly the GAA. The winning presidential bet would be using the same GAA, he added.

    The young legislator said he expects Sen.

  • Arroyo set to revamp Cabinet

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is expected to embark on a Cabinet revamp this week given the imminent departure of several Cabinet members eyeing public office in next year's elections.

    Deputy Presidential Spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo said the President would announce in the coming days the replacements of Cabinet members who would file their certificate of candidacies this week.

    The President is scheduled to hold a Cabinet meeting in Boracay today, probably the last for her officials planning to run for national and local positions in the 2010 polls.

  • Senate probes firms for refusing to sell cheaper drug

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    Citing legislative powers of the Senate on the non-implementation of laws it had crafted and on allegations of unfair trade practices, the Senate trade and commerce committee on Monday vowed to investigate the alleged bullying by a multinational pharmaceutical company to force Filipinos to buy its more expensive medicine.

    Senator Manuel Roxas II, committee chairman, said he was forced to initiate the inquiry following the complaint of a group of stroke victims that a Mercury Drugstore branch allegedly refused to sell the cheaper anti-hypertension drug, "Avamax," because of threats of legal action from Pfizer which markets the "Lipitor" brand.

    Roxas said this is the nth time that he, being the primary author of the Cheaper Medicines Act, providing measures so the government could cut drug prices drastically to benefit consumers, intervened with the Senate's legislative powers to make Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies lower their prices to match those in other countries.

    Roxas is the vice presidential candidate of the Liberal Party (LP) in the 2010 elections.

    In Senate Resolution 1483 he filed on the issue, Roxas cited a complaint of actor Subas Herrero, a stroke victim and a diabetes patient, on behalf of a group of stroke victims that Mercury Drugstore does not sell the generic version of Pfizer's "Lipitor" brand of anti-hypertension drug because of threats of legal action from Pfizer.

    Roxas recalled that Pfizer had sued United Laboratories Inc. which manufactures the cheaper "Avamax" brand for allegedly violating the patent on the drug "Atorvastatin calcium."

    Pfizer has also threatened drugstores nationwide to stop selling "Avamax" even if it is 50 percent cheaper than the popular brand "Lipitor."

    This falls under the Senate power to investigate possible unfair trade practices of Pfizer and other multinational pharmaceutical companies that threaten Filipinos' access to cheaper but quality medicines, Roxas said.

    "Pfizer's demand from retail drugstores to stop selling the generic version of Atorvastatin Calcium and to forever desist from promoting the same can be seen as a means to prevent the manufacture, marketing and sale of competing or rival products like the generic version of Atorvastatin Calcium under the guise of intellectual property protection despite the provision in the law (RA 9502) which disallows extensions of patents for new users," the Roxas resolution stated.

    Roxas stressed that the Cheaper Medicines Law "specifically amended pertinent provisions of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines and liberalized the application of intellectual property laws, in order to promote wider competition, with the intention of lowering the prices of medicines."

  • BoC cites shortfall of P42.8-billion in revenue collection

    Manila Bulletin - Monday, November 23

    The Bureau of Customs (BoC) reported on Monday that its revenue collection continued to go down with a shortfall of P42.86 billion as a result of the economic slowdown.

    Data culled from the BoC showed that it only collected P183.94 billion against the programmed collection of P226.80 billion from January to October this year, an indication that the assumptions made by the Department of Finance (DoF) were not met.

    "Again, revenue collections were down because of the continued sluggish movement of international trade for the period which is beyond my control," Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said in an interview.

    Based on the same report, the BoC still has a deficit of P34.25 billion even it's compared to the agency's cash collections of P218.19 billion in 2008.

    The BoC insisted that its shortfall was caused by the lower volume and value of goods such as oil products and steel from January to October.

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