1. UP, ATENEO, MIRIAM JOIN RALLY VS PORK BARREL
Students from the Katipunan area – Miriam College, Ateneo de Manila University, and the University of the Philippines – held their own protest march for the abolition of the pork barrel along Katipunan Avenue on Wednesday. As their hard-core counterparts took to EDSA, the students said they too felt a sense of moral outrage against widespread corruption in the country. However, that didn’t keep them from having fun – as their selfies show.
2. CONFLICT IN ZAMBOANGA COULD HURT SARDINE INDUSTRY
The price of our favorite canned commodity, sardines, could go very high next year if the Zamboanga crisis is not resolved soon. Onjie Perez, president of Sardine Association of the Philippines said the industry is losing PHP33-million a day because of the work stoppage resulting from the armed conflict. Zamboanga is home to six of the biggest canneries in the Philippines and accounts for 85 percent of the country’s sardine production.
3. BONG REVILLA SPEAKS, PRAYS
Beleaguered senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. had kept mum throughout the Janet Lim Napoles issue but decided to break his silence on Wednesday, by praying. Reville was tasked to lead the chamber’s opening prayer before session and even became teary-eyed at some point. Revilla was tagged in the special audit report of the Commission on Audit as one of the lawmakers who misused their Priority Development Assistance Fund (otherwise known as pork barrel) by spending it on projects handled by bogus NGOs created by Napoles.
4. PHP 25.4 B PDAF DIVIDED AMONG 5 KEY AGENCIES
Lawmakers have agreed to divide the P25.4-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) from the 2014 national budget to various government agencies on Wednesday. The amount includes the PHP200 million pork barrel that Vice President Jejomar Binay had requested scrapped from his office’s share of the budget. DPWH will get PHP8.8-billion (35%); Department of Social Welfare and Development will get PHP5.1-billion (20%); and Department of Health, Department of Labor and Employment and Department of Education/Commission on Higher Education will get PHP3.8-billion each (15%).
5. 15 PINOYS INTERCEPTED OFF MALAYSIA
Malaysian authorities have intercepted 15 Filipinos off the waters of Semporna, Malaysia, and have taken them into custody. Reports say they recovered PHP10-million from the Filipinos, who were seen by a patrol team near Pulau Denawan past midnight. The group was said to have valid travel documents, however the boat had trespassed into an operational area and so they had to be detained and turned over to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.
[Photo: Philstar.com]
