News Roundup 29 August 2022

News and Updates

Aug 29, 2022 • 4 min Read

Fuel firms announce diesel, kerosene price hike by P6.10, gas by P1.40 | INQUIRER.NET – Fuel companies on Monday announced another hike in the price of diesel, kerosene, and gasoline starting Tuesday. Pilipinas Shell Petroleum, Seaoil Philippines Inc, Flying V, Petron Corp, Chevron Philippines (Caltex), and Cleanfuel all said in separate announcements that they would raise the diesel price, kerosene, and gas by P6.10 and P1.40 per liter, respectively. All companies will start charging the increased prices at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, August 30. At 12:01 a.m., Caltex’s new prices will take effect. Cleanfuel, on the other hand, said its price increase would be effective at 8:01 a.m. the same day. According to Petron, the fuel price adjustments “reflect movements in the international oil market.” The said major hike comes just a week after the said fuel companies hiked the price of diesel by P2.60, kerosene by P2.80, and gasoline by P0.70.

Barring of VIP guests on her 63rd birthday ‘regrettable,’ says De Lima | INQUIRER.NET – Former Senator Leila de Lima on Monday lamented the decision of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to ban the entry of her guests as she celebrated her 63rd birthday in jail, adding that authorities could have been more lenient. The PNP denied the entry of De Lima’s guests, citing PNP Memorandum Circular No. 2018-027, which states that a written request to visit a person in police custody must be made at least 10 working days before the date of visit. De Lima’s camp submitted the list on August 27. “It’s regrettable that PNP authorities resorted to a strict technicality in justifying their barring of my VIP guests last Aug. 27,” said De Lima in a statement penned on Monday. “They cited the 10-day prior notice requirement under PNP Memo-Circular No. 2018-027 as if it’s an inflexible rule when they know it’s not,” she added. De Lima explained that her camp was still waiting for the guests’ confirmation, as they opted to send a complete list instead of piecemeal submissions. She added that they were also focused on the preparations for the US Congressional Delegation visit last Aug. 18 initially, then moved to Aug. 19. “We fully recognize that the matter of approving requests like this is discretionary on the part of the PNP Chief or any other PNP official with delegated authority. But we were hoping that, given the circumstances, such discretion would be exercised on the side of liberality,” said De Lima. In fact, De Lima said there had already been instances where their requests have also fallen short of the requirements but had still been approved despite not being able to comply with the 10-day rule. “It’s unfortunate that the discretion of the approving authorities, this time, was imprudently exercised, thereby causing yet again another unnecessary ruckus, just like in the case of the earlier US Congressional Delegation visit,” said De Lima. “Once again, I express my profound apology to my esteemed friends and allies who were denied entry for any inconvenience this has caused. My heartfelt thanks also for their unceasing support,” she added. De Lima had been detained since February 24, 2017, less than a year since President Rodrigo Duterte became the president of the Philippines, for drug charges which her camp said were “trumped up.”

CA lifts travel ban on Trillanes | PHILSTAR.COM – The Court of Appeals (CA) has lifted the hold departure order issued against former senator Antonio Trillanes IV. Trillanes has been allowed to travel to the United States and Singapore to attend courses on leadership and public policy starting yesterday until Sept. 22. In a four-page resolution issued by the CA’s Seventh Division, Associate Justice Michael Ong granted the motion for leave filed by Trillanes. The former senator was given five days, upon his return to the country, to submit to the appeals court a copy of his Philippine passport and other travel documents. Trillanes will be attending the Mastering Policy Impact Evaluation and Analysis Course at the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore beginning today until Aug. 31. He will also attend a leadership course at the Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University from Sept. 11 to 16. Trillanes said these courses are in line with his occupation as a professor at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Government and University of the Philippines College of Public Administration and Governance. “We are convinced that Trillanes is not a flight risk, thus the lifting of his ban to travel abroad,” the CA resolution read. “He has been traveling to other countries even if there were pending criminal complaints against him, but he had always returned and complied with the conditions set by the court,” the CA added. The Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 has found Trillanes guilty of libel for accusing former mayor Junjun Binay Jr. of bribery. In granting Trillanes’ request, the CA noted that the lower court did not sentence Trillanes to life in prison and only imposed a fine of P100,000. “This is also the same amount of Trillanes’ travel cash bond which, in case of flight might be forfeited,” the appeals court said.