MANILA, Philippines — Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban of the Department of Agriculture (DA) is facing graft charges in the Office of the Ombudsman for his alleged role in the sugar import controversy in February wherein he supposedly favored sugar traders to allegedly smuggle 250,000 metric tons of sugar into the country. ADVERTISEMENT“Sugar farmers and workers in the sugar industry have been gravely affected by the sudden influx of imported sugar in the market,” said Nacusip-ARB council director Roland dela Cruz. It was later revealed that the shipment, consigned to All Asian Countertrade Inc., was part of a 440,000 MT importation under Sugar Order No. Bad faith, partialityPanganiban later admitted that he had instructed “three capable and accredited companies to proceed with the importation of sugar” as early as January when Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin issued a memorandum allowing the sugar importation. By directing three importers as early as January to import sugar without an SO, they said Panganiban had “undermined and usurped” the function of the SRA board.

Civil servants will get a minimum 2.87 percent of salaries increase this year, the civil service chief announced Tuesday. The senior officials will follow the adjustments of the high-level employees, with retrospective effect from April 1 this year. The Secretary for the Civil Service, Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan, said on Tuesday that the decision of the pay hike was based on the previously conducted results of a salary trend survey and other factors such as the economic situation, the change in the cost of living, civil servant needs, etc. The Pay Trend Survey Committee revealed the survey results, showing that salary adjustments were 2.87 percent for high-level civil servants, 4.65 percent for middle-level civil servants, and 4.5 percent for low-level civil servants. According to previous data, civil servants’ salaries have been frozen six times and reduced four times since 2000, all during times of economic crisis in Hong Kong.

PLDT says submarine cable issues slowed internet browsing for usersMANILA, Philippines — PLDT Inc. said Monday some of its submarine cable partners reported connection issues, resulting in some users experiencing slow internet browsing. In a statement, the telco giant said it is trying to restore normal browsing experience for customers, some of whom reported having encountered issues accessing Google services like Gmail and Youtube. “One of our submarine cable partners confirms a loss in some of its internet bandwidth capacity, and thus causing slower internet browsing,” PLDT said. “We are now working with our partners to provide alternate capacity that would restore the browsing experience in the next few hours,” it added. Last year, PLDT announced it has invested $75 million or around P4.4 billion to expand its international capacity by laying down a 9,400-kilometer subsea cable traversing East and Southeast Asia.

Clockwise from far left, the father is taken home as the mother is escorted away, online photographs of the young girls and the mom, the father's sister, and police outside their subdivided unit. SING TAO Previous NextA mother has been arrested on suspicion of murder and has allegedly confessed to suffocating her three young daughters with a pillow in their subdivided flat in Sham Shui Po. The woman, of Indian ethnicity, earlier told police her husband, a Pakistani, killed their three daughters with a knife. A hawker surnamed Wong said it was heart-wrenching to see the motionless young faces. Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak Mei-kuen said authorities will hold community talks over the next few days.

(UPDATE) AGRICULTURE Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban was charged before the Office of the Ombudsman on Monday in connection with the order to import 440,000 metric tons of refined sugar last February. Photo By Ismael De JuanThe complainants alleged that Panganiban "acted under the pretense of official position when he used his position as the senior undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to direct three importers to import sugar without the necessary Sugar Order." They said that in issuing the order, he usurped the function of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) board. Based on the complaint, the SRA on February 15 issued Sugar Order 6 authorizing three sugar importing firms, including All Asian Countertrade Inc., to bring in the shipment of refined sugar. Testifying during a Senate hearing on the sugar importation last month, Panganiban said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had told him to hasten the importation of the commodity because the inflation rate could push sugar prices higher.

ADVERTISEMENTBut there’s a simpler way to define good governance, as stated by Fr. Based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the poverty incidence in 2021 was 18.1 percent, or 3.50 million households, way higher than the 16.7 percent, or 3 million households in 2018. ADVERTISEMENT“The target means that poverty incidence has to be cut by around 1.5 percentage points per year from the 18.1 percent in 2021. Based on SWS data, there are so many poor Filipino households, with the percentage of “self-rated poor” households even higher than the government’s official poverty statistics. Back in the first quarter of 2022, there were 10.9 million self-rated poor households.

Oil price rollback todayMANILA, Philippines — Three straight weeks of increases in the price of gasoline come to a halt today as oil companies implement a less than P1 rollback in pump prices. The downward price adjustments this week, which reflect the movement in the international oil market, end the three consecutive weeks of price hikes for gasoline. Last week, oil firms increased the price of gasoline by P1.10 per liter, while reducing that of kerosene by P0.35 per liter. These price adjustments resulted in a year-to-date net decrease of P6.75 per liter for kerosene and net increase of P6.10 per liter for gasoline, based on data from the Department of Energy. Diesel, meanwhile, has a year-to-date net decrease of P5.05 per liter.

Philippines losing war vs plastics – DENR chief“We are not winning the war definitely against single-use plastics,” said Yulo-Loyzaga at a press conference during the celebration of World Environment Day. “We are not winning the war definitely against single-use plastics,” said Yulo-Loyzaga at a press conference during the celebration of World Environment Day. “It is really difficult to find replacement because of the durability of single-use plastics and the cost… This is about investment in chemistry. We need to do the research to identify the proper product that will replace the single-use plastics. According to Yulo-Loyzaga, the government should address the social issue on the use of single-use plastics.

Previous NextLorraine ChiangFour men - including a 19-year-old student - arrested in connection to the organ donation registry saga could have committed the alleged criminal acts "for fun," police said. The four, aged between 19 and 47, were held for accessing a computer with criminal or dishonest intent, allegedly stealing other people's information to register and withdraw from the organ donation registry. Any person who obtains access to a computer with intent to commit an offense, with a dishonest intent to deceive, with intent for dishonest gain or with a dishonest intent to cause loss to another are liable on conviction to imprisonment of up to five years. On May 22, the Health Bureau said an "abnormally high" 5,785 withdrawals from the organ donation registry were recorded from January to May this year. Tang said the police may make arrests under access to computers with criminal or dishonest intent or even offenses under the national security law.

China's Ministry of Education issued guidance on Monday, calling on local governments to open more science courses at middle schools and incorporate experimental operations into high school entrance examinations. Schools, with the aim of promoting students' comprehensive and personalized development and healthy growth, should implement national curriculums of high quality, build a curriculum education system that reflects each school's characteristics, and has a focus on continuous optimization. The guidance also requires local areas to offer science courses and supplement science teachers through various means, including reinforcing interdisciplinary comprehensive teaching, and selecting and promoting a number of excellent cases of interdisciplinary and practical teaching. More importantly, schools are guided to strengthen experimental teaching, emphasize hands-on student experimentation, include the implementation of school laboratory courses in teaching guidance and daily supervision, and incorporate experimental operations into middle school exams. The ministry also detailed that local governments should select a number of science and technology museums, research bases, high-tech enterprises, etc., as primary and secondary school science education practice bases.

Kai Sotto FIBA PHOTO Kai Sotto FIBA PHOTO"I don't get what other people are saying about me not wanting to join; (I'm) not trying to listen to it, but just saying I want to focus on other stuff," he added. The 21-year-old former Ateneo Blue Eaglets' commitment to Gilas Pilipinas' preparation for the upcoming 2023 FIBA World Cup has been questioned due to Sotto's various commitments internationally. The Philippines is co-hosting the FIBA World Cup, along with Japan and Indonesia, which begins on August 25. "I never said no to play for my country because that's my dream ever since I started playing basketball. Gilas is set to resume its training for the FIBA World Cup on Wednesday, June 7, and will leave the country for a series of tuneup matches against Estonia, Finland and Latvia.

Philippines pitches international law, multilateralism at top Asian defense meetMANILA, Philippines (Updated 3:50 p.m.) — The Philippines during “Asia’s premier defense summit” stressed the importance of international law and multilateralism as it welcomed support for the 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated China's sweeping nine-dash-line claim in the South China Sea. Speaking before analysts, defense and diplomacy officials, and security experts, Defense Officer-in-Charge Carlito Galvez Jr. emphasized the importance of upholding the rule of law and of continuing dialogue with "vital voices" in the international copmmunity. “We realize that right alone, does not make might as it is ultimately your support that will preserve the global order at sea and uphold the universally recognized principles of international law,” Galvez said. READ: G7 declares support for South China Sea arbitral rulingThe Philippines has been dealing with intimidation and harassment by Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea, which China insists is part of its waters. Galvez points to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a good example of multilateralism that works.

The suspect involved in the murder case of two women at Plaza Hollywood in Diamond Hill was sent to Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre after appearing in a Hong Kong court Monday morning. The 39-year-old jobless man, Szeto, was brought to the Kwun Tong Magistrates' Court this morning on two counts of murder. Szeto was arrested on June 2 after he allegedly stabbed two young women multiple times - Lau Kai-hei, 22, and her 26-year-old friend Fong Hiu-tung - with a foot-long knife inside the Diamond Hill shopping mall. Upon the prosecution’s request, Acting Principal Magistrate Cheang Kei-hong adjourned the case to June 19 pending the prosecution obtaining psychiatric reports of the defendant. The defendant did not apply for bail and has been ordered to be remanded at Siu Lam Psychiatric Center until his next court date.

(UPDATE) POWERLIFTER Marydol Pamati-an seized a gold and a silver medal in the women's 41-kg class in the 12th Asean Para Games at the National Paralympic Committee Hall in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Sunday, June 4. Pamati-an lifted a total of 216 kg (combined three attempts) to get the gold in total lift. Marydol Pamati-an PSC PHOTO Marydol Pamati-an PSC PHOTOShe could have snatched a second one but settled for a silver after she lost via tiebreak to Indonesian Eneng Paridah even though they both had the best lift of 75 kg. Achelle Guion, a Paralympic veteran, chipped in a couple of silver in the women's 45 kg division. Swimmer Ariel Joseph Alegarbes, the flag-bearer and a triple gold winner in Surakarta, pocketed the silver in the 100 m breaststroke SB14 with a clocking of 1:13.59.

Insurance manager Joseph Lam Chok was fired by Prudential for issuing "inappropriate comments" on social media about the horrific murders in Plaza Hollywood. Despite Lam having deleted the Instagram post, commentators on Prudential's statement on Facebook blamed the barrister-turned-insurance manager for being cold-blooded and urged the sector to kick Lam out. A Facebook user, Ringo Pang, said: "I will cease my insurance policies immediately if any of the insurance companies dare to hire him. Lo Candy said online: "Your colleague is making use of such a tragedy to advertise himself, just for boosting his insurance sales. Lam still identified himself as Prudential's senior regional manager on Instagram yesterday.