Articles in "All"

MANILA, April 3, 2009— House Speaker Prospero Nograles assured the immediate passage of the bill extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) by June.
After the dialogue last Thursday between lawmakers, Catholic bishops and some farmers, Nograles said they are committed to pass the bill with appropriate reforms.

SORSOGON CITY, April 3 (PNA) – The Philippine Army (PA) conducting anti-insurgency activities in Sorsogon, a highly communist rebel-infested province southeast of Luzon, has accused the New People’s Army (NPA) of killing a 37-year-old widow human rights activist here.

NAGA CITY—Sen. Francisco “Kiko” Pangilinan said he would strongly support the house bill filed by Laguna Rep. Edgar San Luis seeking to penalize public and private hospitals that ask payments from intern nurses.“It’s exploitation,” said Sen. Pangilinan who was in Naga City on Wednesday. “I am willing to look carefully at this [house]bill.”The senator said hospitals who give below-minimum-wage compensations to intern nurses should also be penalized.

MANILA, April 3, 2009— As the deliberation of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in Congress nears end, expect more dirt, Catholic Church officials said. San Fernando Archbishop Paciano Aniceto claimed local government officials will be “manipulated” to add support to the proposed measure. “They will try to get in the provincial and municipal level. They will influence the governors and mayors to promote the same bill in the LGUs,” he said.

LEGAZPI CITY, April 2 (PNA) -- Suspected communist rebels ambushed and killed three Philippine Army (PA) soldiers, while two others were injured on Wednesday in Ragay, Camarines Sur.
An Army official today identified those killed as Army Cpl. James Caronan, Pfc. Noel Bagao, and Pfc. Rolly Caitor.

MANILA--The country ’s oldest Catholic prelate, Bishop Manuel P. Del Rosario, emeritus of Malolos and a Bikolano, passed away at 1:00 A.M. today, at age 93.
Del Rosario has been confined to a wheelchair since he was paralyzed due to a stroke in 1963 while attending the conferences of the Second Vatican Council in Rome. The prelate died of pneumonia at Yanga Hospital in Bocaue, Bulacan according to his nephew newly-appointed SEC Commissioner Manuel B. Gaite.
“He is the country’s last living bishop ordained under Vatican I,” said Commissioner Gaite, a former seminarian.

MANILA--President Gloria Arroyo’s aproval of the poll automation bill into law has given a Catholic Church-back poll watchdog a leeway to focus more on intensive voters’ education.
The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said it is all systems go for the automation of the electoral system (AES) now that the P11.3 billion supplemental budget has been approved.
Their next step, PPCRV national chairperson Henrietta de Villa said, is to make sure that voters are well informed about the poll automation.

MANILA--Pope Benedict XVI has created Wednesday a new diocese in the country and named its first bishop.
Benedict XVI elevated the Prelature of Libmanan into a full diocese, in the province of Camarines Sur, and appointed as its bishop, Jose Rojas, 52, until now Bishop-Prelate of said ecclesiastical territory.
The announcement was made by Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, Pope’s envoy to the Philippines, in a letter sent to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

MANILA--Catholic Church leaders once again called on lawmakers Friday to ditch plans to amend the country’s constitution. Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal said there’s time for Charter change and it should not be done with haste.
He said a thorough review of the measure, which according to its proponents at the House of Representatives, only seeks to revise the economic provisions of the constitution.

The Optical Mark Reader (OMR) that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will use for the automated elections system (AES) in the May 2010 polls has not been fully proven as tamperand fraud-free, will encourage wholesale cheating, and will not ensure a transparent and open election system.
Moreover, it is doubtful whether Comelec will be ready for the full automation of the elections given the time constraints based on its own calendar.

IRIGA CITY--True to its mission of giving its students quality education and academic excellence, the University of Northeastern Philippines (UNEP) has invited Vice President Noli “Kabayan” de Castro as its distinguished guest and speaker during the school’s 61st Commencement Exercises on April 2 at the university gymnasium here.

LEGAZPI CITY--The Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) has earmarked P2-billion loan facility under its Development Advocacy Program for Bikol this year.
Mauricio Feliciano, LBP vice president and general manager for Bikol, said the amount would finance projects of priority sectors such as small fishermen and farmers (SFFs) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
“Most of our small farmers and fishermen are afraid of loans that is why, through this DAP, we are reaching out to them to make them realize the importance of financing for their economic advancement,” Feliciano said.
He said that the bank, as a government-owned financial institution, also assisted its clients in the marketing and technology transfer.