Panelo seeks review of UP Technohub deal – The Manila Times
The property developer entered into a 25-year lease deal with UP in 2006 to develop and convert the land across the UP Diliman campus along Commonwealth Avenue. “Mukhang kawawa na naman ang gobyerno dito (It looks like that the government is on the losing end in this deal),” Panelo said. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday said the UP Technohub lease deal was “casually mentioned” during a meeting on the government’s review of the water concession contracts with another Ayala-owned firm, Manila Water Co. Inc. and Maynilad Water Services Inc. The President has confronted Ayala Corp. over its water distribution contract for Metro Manila, which he said was grossly disadvantageous to the government. Ayala Corp. owns the controlling stock in Manila Water, one of the two water concessionaires in Metro Manila.
Source:Manila Times
January 21, 2020 16:44 UTC
Hong Kong’s trouble has a long history – The Manila Times
The people power movement in Hong Kong began more than half a century ago when the territory was a British colony. A recently released book, Hong Kong — The Turbulent Times, recounts the genesis of this crisis. Its author, P. Viswa Nathan, a former senior editor of The Manila Times, is a longtime resident of Hong Kong. In the late 1970s, he was also editor in chief of the then broadsheet morning daily Hong Kong Standard. Nonetheless, the present Hong Kong uprising, Nathan pointed out during an interview, is not about Hong Kong breaking away from the mainland as an independent nation.
Source:Manila Times
January 21, 2020 16:30 UTC
Mexico ‘19 murder rate highest since ‘97 – The Manila Times
MEXICO CITY: There were nearly 35,000 murders in Mexico in 2019, the highest rate since 1997, the first year for which there is an official record, according to official data released Monday. This has broken the previous highest rate set in 2018 with 33,743 homicides. According to a report from the Secretariat of Public Security, June had the highest rate of murders, with 2,993 victims out of a total 34,582 murders in 2019. The 2019 rate equals an average of 95 homicides per day in Mexico, a country that has been plagued with violence since 2006, when the war on drugs was militarized. Since then, nearly 275,000 people have been killed in Mexico, according to official figures that do not specify how many of the cases are linked to organized crime.
Source:Manila Times
January 21, 2020 16:19 UTC
‘War crimes, not genocide, committed vs Rohingyas’ – The Manila Times
YANGON: A Myanmar-appointed panel concluded that some soldiers likely committed war crimes against its Rohingya Muslim community, but the military was not guilty of genocide, findings swiftly condemned by rights groups. It conceded some security personnel had used disproportionate force and committed war crimes and serious human rights violations, including the “killing of innocent villagers and destruction of their homes.”But the crimes did not constitute genocide, the panel decided. This is the furthest any Myanmar investigation so far has gone in accepting atrocities occurred. “Myanmar’s deeply flawed investigation into human rights abuses in Rakhine State is another attempt to whitewash the Tatmadaw’s brutal violence against the Rohingya,” said spokesman Tun Khin. The report seems to scapegoat individual soldiers rather than place responsibility on the military command, said Phil Robertson from Human Rights Watch, calling for the immediate release of the full report.
Source:Manila Times
January 21, 2020 16:19 UTC
Court clears Thai opposition party of sedition – The Manila Times
BANGKOK: Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday acquitted the country’s third-largest political party of seeking to overthrow the constitutional monarchy in another legal case highlighting political divisions in the Southeast Asian nation. The court ruled that the Future Forward Party showed no intention of committing sedition and that the complaint had not been filed correctly. The party criticized the military at a news conference at which it gave its reaction to the court ruling. Its Secretary-General Piyabutr Saengkanokkul said he and party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkrit had no intention of overthrowing the constitutional monarchy. “Tearing up the whole constitution and establishing oneself as the sovereign definitely destroys the constitutional monarchy.
Source:Manila Times
January 21, 2020 16:19 UTC
Mexico stops migrants’ caravan – The Manila Times
CIUDAD HIDALGO: Hundreds of Central Americans from a new migrant caravan tried to storm into Mexico Monday by fording the river that divides the country from Guatemala, but National Guardsmen fired tear gas to force them back. The Central Americans, from the so-called “2020 Caravan” of around 3,500 undocumented migrants, gathered on the Guatemalan side of the Suchiate River at dawn, demanding migration authorities let them continue their journey to the United States. When authorities did not immediately respond, the migrants began wading across the river, which is shallow this time of year.
Source:Manila Times
January 21, 2020 16:19 UTC
US allows use of opioid funds to battle meth, cocaine – The Manila Times
Starting this year states can also use those federal dollars to counter addiction to “stimulants,” a term the government uses for methamphetamine and cocaine. “Meth and cocaine are making a comeback and they are more potent than they were during the last wave,” said Mark Stringer, director of Missouri’s Department of Mental Health. Opioids are a drug class that includes fentanyl, heroin, certain prescription painkillers, and various chemical combinations concocted for street sales. In most states west of the Mississippi meth is the biggest killer, according to government data for 2017. Meanwhile, the highly lethal opioid fentanyl maintains its grip on the East and Midwest.
Source:Manila Times
January 21, 2020 16:19 UTC
Israel foils hundreds of attacks last year – The Manila Times
JERUSALEM: Chief of Israel’s internal security agency said on Monday “hundreds of terror attacks” have been thwarted in Israel during 2019. In a rare public remark, Nadav Argaman, head of the Shin Bet security service, said his agency foiled over 560 terror attacks, including ten suicide attacks, four kidnapping attacks and over 300 shooting attacks. “The past year was filled with security challenges on all the fronts in which we operate,” said Argaman. Israel has been facing a wave of “lone wolf” attacks by Palestinians, including mainly stabbing and shooting attacks, that broke out in 2014 after the collapse of the peace talks.
Source:Manila Times
January 21, 2020 16:19 UTC
Violence against women – The Manila Times
Dear PAO,I’ve been beaten so badly for several times by my second husband. Thus, based on such fact, he would always refute my hope by saying that he could not be prosecuted for physical violence under the so-called Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children (VAWC) Law. Pertinently, sexual or dating relationship is defined by law as follows:“’Sexual relations’ refers to a single sexual act which may or may not result in the bearing of a common child. In fact, the law even includes a single sexual act between the complainant and the accused to qualify the case of physical violence into a violation of the same law. Thus, physical violence under RA 9262 can also be committed by a man in an allegedly void marriage.
Source:Manila Times
January 21, 2020 16:18 UTC
2 Taal evacuees die of health problems
CAMP VICENTE LIM, Philippines — Two women staying at evacuation centers in San Pascual, Batangas for Taal Volcano victims have died of health problems in the past two days. The casualties are among the thousands of people housed at evacuation centers in Batangas following Taal Volcano’s eruption on Jan. 12. Hermilando Mandanas announced that the number of evacuees from the Taal Volcano eruption has reached one million as of yesterday. Solidum said existing hazard maps already included the scenario of eruptions in Taal Volcano’s various craters. The interior and local government chief has instructed police officers and soldiers manning security checkpoints to relocate outside the danger zone for their safety.
Source:Philippine Star
January 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
PNP chief: Drug traffickers to be ‘neutralized’
MANILA, Philippines — Stop drug trafficking or be “neutralized.”New Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa issued this warning to drug dealers yesterday during an event at Camp Crame in Quezon City. Gamboa secured just days ago a permanent appointment by President Duterte as the 23rd chief of the 190,000-strong PNP. With just seven months to lead the PNP before his retirement, the country’s top cop said he has his sights set on middle-level and high-value targets in the illegal drug trade. “At the same time, we look forward to greater cooperation from the PNP in investigating cases of human rights violations,” she added. “We trust that he will live by his statement of ensuring that all cops uphold due process, human rights, transparency and public accountability,” she said.
Source:Philippine Star
January 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
SWS: Duterte satisfaction rating hits record high
MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte’s net satisfaction rating hit a new record high in the fourth quarter of last year, registering an “excellent” +72, according to a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS). His latest net satisfaction rating was seven points above the very good +65 registered in September 2019, and a new personal record that surpassed the previous record of “very good” +68 in June 2019. His net satisfaction hit a new record +66 in balance Luzon in December 2019, up by 12 points from +54 in September 2019. By socio-economic class, Duterte’s net satisfaction rating rose from very good to excellent among class E, at +71 in December 2019 from +57 in September 2019. The December 2019 survey also found 52 percent of adult Filipinos who expect the President to fulfill “all or nearly all/most” of his promises.
Source:Philippine Star
January 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
‘Duterte Legacy’ cites admin’s fruitful years
MANILA, Philippines — The “Duterte Legacy” campaign seeks to highlight the successes and sacrifices made by President Duterte and his administration to bring progress to the country, according to Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar. “Through the ‘Duterte Legacy’ campaign, we are grateful and privileged to showcase through print and digital media, the honest summaries of successes and sacrifices of public servants in order to achieve our national goal of development,” he added. The communication drive focuses on the three key pillars of the Duterte administration’s legacy – peace and order, infrastructure development and poverty alleviation. “The Duterte administration is driven by radical change, marked with multiple milestones in progress and development,” Medialdea said. “The real change we have all yearned for so long is now happening.”Andanar acknowledged Duterte’s significant strides with the help of his Cabinet secretaries.
Source:Philippine Star
January 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
PAL’s Cebu-Los Angeles route stages a comeback
PAL said yesterday it would re-introduce in May a nonstop Cebu-Los Angeles service, which it briefly served from March 2016 to May 2017. The US will join Tokyo, Osaka, Bangkok, Nagoya and Seoul in the list of PAL overseas destinations served from Cebu. The carrier said American tourists can also now take advantage of Cebu’s hub transit facilities to transfer to connecting PAL flights to Siargao, Camiguin, Davao, Boracay, Coron, Bacolod, and Iloilo, among others. PAL’s Cebu-Los Angeles flights will depart three times weekly from the new Terminal 2 of the Mactan Cebu International Airport, utilizing PAL’s largest aircraft, the 370 seater Boeing 777-300ER. Seattle has long been in PAL’s pipeline for potential new services to other destinations in North America.
Source:Philippine Star
January 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
Palace: Duterte may be persuaded to go to US
Palace: Duterte may be persuaded to go to USMANILA, Philippines — President Duterte might still reconsider his stance of not going to the United States if he chooses to join other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders who will accept US President Trump’s invitation for a special summit in Las Vegas in March. “Yes, because there is a US-ASEAN special summit. The invitation to all ASEAN leaders? I haven’t talked to him… But given this is an ASEAN meeting of leaders, the President might be persuaded to attend. “The fact alone that it was President Trump who made the invitation, that contradicts already the position of the Senate,” Panelo said.
Source:Philippine Star
January 21, 2020 15:56 UTC