Guam Catholic group protests recruitment of abortion doctors
HAGATNA, Guam — A Catholic group has protested the governor of Guam’s plan to recruit abortion providers to the U.S. territory where no doctors are currently willing to terminate pregnancies. Lou Leon Guerrero’s recruitment idea has drawn criticism and support from residents, the Pacific Daily News reported Friday. One resident told the Pacific Daily News that recruiting an abortion doctor will make Guam a better place. ADVERTISEMENTThe archdiocese on the heavily Catholic island said in a statement it was appealing to the governor to change her position. Arsha Abellera, who has lived on Guam for the past decade, said the administration’s plan to recruit a doctor to provide abortion is long overdue.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 16, 2019 00:22 UTC
Strong 6.1 magnitude earthquake strikes NE of Tonga: US quake monitor
Strong 6.1 magnitude earthquake strikes NE of Tonga: US quake monitor 0 SHARES Share it! Share TweetBy Agence France-PresseA magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck Sunday centred 97 kilometres (60 miles) north-east of Ohonua, on the Pacific island of Tonga, the US Geological Survey reported. The quake hit at 2156 GMT Saturday with an epicentre depth of 10 kilometres, the US global quake monitor said. The reported epicentre lies within the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of regular seismic activity. In February 2018, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Papua New Guinea killed 150 people and destroyed hundreds of buildings.
Source:Manila Bulletin
June 15, 2019 23:15 UTC
Studies back up advice to limit processed foods
Yet advice to limit processed foods can seem unhelpful, given how convenient they are and the growing array of products that fall into the category. To more precisely identify the processed foods of most concern, scientists came up with a system that groups foods into four categories. It’s far from perfect, but the system says highly processed foods are made mostly of industrialized ingredients and additives, with little to no intact whole foods. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found people ate an average of 500 extra calories a day when fed mostly processed foods, compared with when the same people were fed minimally processed foods. Even without the latest studies, advice to limit processed foods probably makes sense to most people.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 15, 2019 21:55 UTC
FACES OF THE NEWS: June 16, 2019
The police described the wrongful arrest as a case of “mistaken identity,” and later apologized for the “unnecessary anxiety” it had caused Valle. A pageant veteran, Ganados joined the 2014 Miss World Philippines pageant and made it to the semifinals. She was first runner-up in the 2017 Miss Bohol pageant won by Pauline Amelinckx, who was crowned Mutya ng Pilipinas last year. Once he got to the French Open, he tore opponents apart and forged a title showdown with Dominic Thiem. After two tight sets, Nadal ripped the game wide open in the last two to stretch his reign on tennis’ toughest surface.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 15, 2019 21:55 UTC
‘Ghost dialysis’: Court orders NBI to release WellMed owner
MANILA, Philippines — A Manila court on Saturday ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to release the detained owner of WellMed Dialysis Center, who was charged with estafa in connection with patient benefit payments made by Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) for “ghost” dialysis treatments. An agent, however, said the NBI office that processes the release of detainees is closed during weekends. Devanadera found that WellMed officers “conspired in using falsified documents to collect payments from PhilHealth for alleged medical services to patients who were already dead.”Preliminary investigationSeven other WellMed officers, who are not yet in custody, will undergo preliminary investigation. WhistleblowersRoberto and De Leon blew the whistle on the “ghost” dialysis and other alleged WellMed rackets, which were first reported by the Inquirer. Following Inquirer’s report, the President ordered PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Roy Ferrer and six other officials to resign.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 15, 2019 21:33 UTC
A ‘sugar daddy’ and his sweet menagerie
How would we do that?’” said Ange, who also runs the desserts company The Sweet Life By Ange. He also gets a monthly retainer, food allowance and is paid for every event where he makes cotton candy in various shapes. He mastered it and, with the help of Ange’s attention to detail, his cotton candy animals looked better than ever — fuller and more intricate and colorful. They don’t touch the cotton candy, they shape as they spin,” she said. “If the demand for cotton candy goes down, we have other carts.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 15, 2019 21:33 UTC
Saving the world, one meatless week at a time
MANILA, Philippines — Go meatless even just once a week and save the world! This was the rallying call of Grade 8 student Myka Nadine Chua of Sophia School in Meycauayan, Bulacan, who represented the Philippines and Asia in the World Circular Economy Forum on June 3 in Helsinki, Finland. We just have to be ordinary persons who do ordinary things for extraordinary goals like saving Mother Earth. So let us all be earth warriors.”Chua’s speech moved Sophia School principal and dietitican Ann Regoso Abacan, who said she “got emotional” because going meatless once a week has been the school’s advocacy for the past decade. Sophia School implements a “Meatless Monday” policy, said Abacan, who was in Finland with Chua.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 15, 2019 21:22 UTC
Plane landing at Newark airport blows tires, skids on runway
NEWARK, N.J. – Authorities say a plane blew tires while landing at Newark Liberty International Airport, sending it skidding on the runway before coming to a halt. United Airlines said Flight 627 from Denver was landing at 1 p.m. Saturday with 166 passengers when the tires blew. ADVERTISEMENTUnited spokesman Robert Einhorn said the plane remained on the runway. The airport reported resuming flights shortly before 3 p.m. but said to expect delays. It later reported operating in “limited capacity” after the National Transportation Safety Board said the plane shouldn’t be moved until investigators arrived.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 15, 2019 21:22 UTC
Cloud seeding fails; rains seen to fill Angat Dam
CITY OF MALOLOS, Bulacan, Philippines — Operators of Angat Dam in Bulacan province are hoping the rainy season will succeed where a month of cloud seeding operations has so far failed, in replenishing the main source of potable water in Metro Manila. An average of two cloud seeding flights a day around the Sierra Madre range generated moderate to heavy rains in May, but the series of downpour hardly increased the water level at Angat Dam reservoir, said Mary Joy David, project development officer of the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM). ADVERTISEMENTOn June 15, water elevation at the reservoir was measured at 163.07 meters above sea level, just 3 meters above the dam’s critical low level of 160 masl. The BSWM would send three cloud seeding flights whenever experts spotted clouds near the area, David said. It may take at least three typhoons to get back the reservoir’s normal water elevation of 214 masl, the Inquirer learned.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 15, 2019 21:22 UTC
Elenita Binay acquitted of graft
MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division has effectively dismissed the graft case against former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay in connection with the procurement of overpriced office furniture in 1999. ADVERTISEMENTThe antigraft court said the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Binay was motivated by malice, gross inexcusable negligence or evident bad faith in approving the transaction. Binay faced one count of graft for supposedly giving undue advantage to Office Gallery International, Inc. in 1999, when she purchased office furniture which cost some P72.065 million during her term as Makati mayor. The court ordered that Binay’s bail bonds be returned and the hold departure order issued against her lifted. Read NextLATEST STORIESMOST READ
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 15, 2019 21:11 UTC
SEC secures P100M in Kapa assets
In a statement on Saturday, the SEC said the seizure followed an asset freeze order issued by the Court of Appeals on June 4. ADVERTISEMENTThe SEC said it believes millions of Filipinos were lured to invest in the fraudulent scheme, which allegedly disguised investment-taking activities as a religious exercise. “Several banks have initially frozen more than P100 million pursuant to the freeze order,” the SEC said. “We cannot simply wait for the fraudulent investment scheme to crumble and for the investors to suffer before we take action,” SEC chair Emilio Aquino said in the statement. “The commission will pursue more assets sourced from the investment scam perpetrated by Kapa,” the SEC said.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 15, 2019 21:11 UTC
Cops hunt down CEO in P200-M estafa case
TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte, Philippines — The police here are preparing a case of large-scale estafa against QuestLink Digital Marketing Services, after its chief executive officer allegedly fled with some P200 million of investors’ money. ADVERTISEMENTTirador quoted the complainant, an agent for some 100 investors who had put a total of P209 million in QuestLink, as saying that the company had promised a 500-percent return of investment in just 15 days. The complainant said QuestLink started its operations in Tagum only on June 1, with the investments placed between June 4 and early this week. The company has no office, with investors asked to deliver their investments through the company’s agents at the lobby of a hotel in the city. The police here have asked other aggrieved investors to come forward to file their complaints.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 15, 2019 21:11 UTC
Saving monuments of faith, relics of past
For Ignacio, a retired community organizer, old churches and chapels are not merely grand relics but are significant in the lives of the Catholic faithful. On April 23, the facade of Santa Monica Church in Minalin town, a national cultural property, was assessed to need steel braces. Some cracks are big, like those in the facade of San Agustin Church in Lubao town, the oldest church in the province. “The earthquake intensified the damage to our churches,” Guiao said, adding that experts were now determining the full extent of the destruction. “As much as possible, we are encouraging the faithful to take more responsibility for the restoration,” Guiao said.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 15, 2019 21:11 UTC
THIS WEEK’S MILESTONES: June 16-22, 2019
June 16, 2007The former agricultural town of Bogo was declared a city after a plebiscite was held for the ratification of Republic Act No. June 19, 2017Groundbreaking rites were held at Nuvali Spine Road in Santa Rosa City, Laguna province, for the construction of the 18-kilometer Laguna section of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax). The Laguna segment is part of the 45-km closed-system tolled expressway connecting Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex) and the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx). The project will start from Cavitex in Kawit, Cavite, and end at the SLEx-Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna. As of March this year, the Laguna segment is 30 percent complete.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 15, 2019 21:00 UTC
UK Pinoys raise funds for Besao triple murder
BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — Migrant Filipinos with roots in the Mountain Province have started a fund-raiser to help prosecute those behind the murder of three Besao residents who were fishing for eel near the border of Abra province on May 24. Agawa in Besao town, were found near the Nakanga River in Tubo town, Abra province on May 27. ADVERTISEMENTTwo of the men bore bullet wounds while the third bore stab wounds. TensionThe police have yet to arrest a suspect, but Besao residents have been forbidden by village elders from venturing near the “pagpag” [forest] due to tension between their community and the neighboring Abra town following the killing. The money will help with the litigation expenses of the families of the slain men, Cadiogan said.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 15, 2019 21:00 UTC