News Roundup 11 August 2022
Aug 11, 2022 • 4 min Read
Hontiveros seeks probe into P7-B ‘questionable releases’ under CHEd scholarship agency | INQUIRER.NET – Senator Risa Hontiveros to look into nearly P7 billion “questionable releases” under the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHEd) scholarship agency. The Commission on Audit (COA) flagged “questionable releases” under CHEd’s attached agency Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST). In filing Senate Resolution No. 128, Hontiveros said that issue may “just be the tip of the iceberg” of UniFAST’s “questionable” practices and program implementation. “[T]he recent COA report casts doubt as to the veracity and strength of the control mechanisms within UniFAST in implementing the Universal Access to Quality Education,” the senator stated in her resolution. Based on COA’s report, CHEd overpaid tuition and other school fees worth almost P131 million. CHEd also reimbursed P251 million to local universities and colleges that were being fully subsidized by their respective local government units. Around P3.443 billion worth of delayed and non-submission of billings and documents for UniFAST’s Free Higher Education Program were also listed by COA. Further, CHEd paid P824 million to state and local universities and colleges with insufficient supporting official receipts. Hontiveros lamented: “[T]he leakages flagged by COA amount to almost P7 billion which could have been used to build at least 7,000 classrooms or given classroom allowance to 1.4 million teachers.”
New law providing reparations for Marcos-era martial law victims sought | INQUIRER.NET – A new bill seeking to provide reparation and recognition for human-rights violations victims (HRVVs) during the martial law regime of former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. has been filed in the House of Representatives. Lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc — Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas, Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel, and Alliance of Concerned Teachers Rep. France Castro — said they filed House Bill No. 3505 on Thursday to recognize martial law victims not included in other programs. Makabayan specifically talked about alleged HRVVs not claiming reparations under RA 10368 or HA 1304 because they failed to provide sufficient evidence. “Many of those who were disqualified or denied were disqualified on the basis of technicality such as failure to promptly present evidence or testimony or submit duly notarized affidavits; failure to reply or understand notices, rules and regulations, deadlines of submission; and other problems encountered by ordinary people not familiar with legal procedures,” Makabayan reasoned out in the bill’s explanatory note. “More and more relatives of martial law human rights violations victims have brought up their case on what they call an ‘unjust’ denial of their claims for reparation. Included among the claims denied by HRVCB were those from Hawaii class suit plaintiffs,” they added. A monetary award could not alleviate the suffering endured by many people during the regime of Marcos Sr. – the father of incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. -, the lawmakers said. However, recognizing the martial law abuses that happened is a huge step for most of them. “While no amount of monetary reparation will restore lost lives, properties, broken relations, and dreams of the human rights violations’ victims and their families, the reparation is important for them, as it forms part of the overall recognition of the reality of human rights violations and their immeasurable suffering of the people under the Marcos regime,” they explained. “It is thus a matter of justice that the recognition and reparation for martial law human rights violations victims and their families continue through a new law providing for reparation and recognition of victims of human rights violations during the Marcos regime,” they added.
Court orders NTC to stop blocking Bulatlat website | PHILSTAR.COM – Bulatlat reported Friday that they have scored a legal victory at a Quezon City court, which has ordered the National Telecommunications Commission to stop blocking the alternative news outlet’s website until the court decides on questions on the legality of the NTC order. In a tweet, Bulatlat said Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 306 Judge Dolly Rose Bolante-Prado granted its application for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction against the NTC memorandum. “To the court, any limitation or restriction in the exercise of one’s right, no matter the extent, and for even minimal periods of time, is a form of deprivation, and clearly, a violation of such right,” Bolante-Prado wrote in her decision, a portion of which was posted by Bulatlat. The issuance of the writ is conditioned on Bulatlat’s posting of a bond in the amount of P100,000 either in cash or by surety, which will answer for the damages the defendants would suffer due to the injunction should it be proven that the news outlet is not entitled to it. Bulatlat’s website was among the more than 20 sites which was ordered to be blocked by the NTC upon the request of former National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., who accused the sites of “being affiliated to and are supporting” communist rebels. In his letter to the NTC, Esperon cited the government’s terrorist designation of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines as basis for the blocking of the websites. Bulatlat has argued that it is not a designated organization and that it is not affiliated with the CPP-NPA-NDF. It also said there is no legal basis for the NTC to block access to its website.
