News Roundup 01 May 2024
May 01, 2024 • 5 min Read
China Coast Guard becoming ‘more aggressive’ — Philippines | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — China’s coast guard has become more aggressive towards Philippine vessels in the South China Sea and its water cannon attacks could threaten the lives of crew, a government spokesman in Manila warned Wednesday.
A series of high-seas incidents involving the two countries have injured a number of Philippine troops in recent months as the neighbours asserted rival claims over waters, reefs and rocks in the strategic waterway.
In the latest incident on Tuesday, the Philippines said one of its coast guard vessels and another government boat sustained damage from water cannon fired by the China Coast Guard near Scarborough Shoal.
The water pressure was far more powerful than in previous incidents, and tore or bent metal sections and equipment on the Philippine vessels, said coast guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, Manila’s spokesman on the South China Sea.
“Obviously that would be very fatal,” the official said, describing the water pressure as 200 pounds per square inch (14 kilograms per square centimetre).
However he said there were no casualties this time as the crew were ordered to take shelter inside.
“The Chinese coast guard now has elevated the tension and the level of their aggression as well towards the Philippine Coast Guard,” Tarriela said.
Full Story at: China Coast Guard becoming ‘more aggressive’ — Philippines | Philstar.com
Philippines falls behind in 2024 THE Asia University Rankings | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — No Philippine university made it to the top 100 of the Times Higher Education’s 2024 Asia University Rankings, with the latest results showing that the country’s top schools either dropped or retained their place.
While still the top university in the Philippines, the Ateneo de Manila University has slid from 84th place to the 401-500 bracket, according to THE’s latest Asia rankings published on Wednesday.
The last time that no university from the Philippines appeared in the top 100 of THE’s Asia rankings was in 2022, when then-frontrunner University of the Philippines dropped to 129th place from ranking 84th the previous year.
Meanwhile, this is the fourth year in a row that the University of the Philippines slipped in THE’s Asia rankings, landing a few brackets lower from 201-250 to 501-600.
The De La Salle University and Mapua University remained in the 501-600 bracket and 601+ bracket, respectively.
The University of Santo Tomas placed for the first time in THE’s Asia rankings, landing in the 601+ bracket after being tagged with a “reporter” status the previous year.
A “reporter” status is given to a school when it submits data to THE but falls short of meeting the criteria needed to be ranked against other schools.
The latest rankings show that nine other universities in the Philippines received a “reporter” status. These are the following: Cebu Technological University, Central Luzon State University, Mariano Marcos State University, the Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology, the Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology, Tarlac Agricultural University, University of Eastern Philippines, University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines and Visayas State University.
Full Story at: Philippines falls behind in 2024 THE Asia University Rankings | Philstar.com
Comelec reverses ruling, declares Pichay is disqualified to run for office | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) overturned its initial ruling on the candidacy of former lawmaker Prospero Pichay Jr.
The poll body is now saying that he was not eligible to run for office in the 2022 elections.
In a resolution dated April 30, the Comelec en banc decided that Pichay’s certificate of candidacy (COC) for the 2022 local elections should be canceled after the Office of the Ombudsman found him guilty of grave misconduct.
Pichay was then gunning for the congressional seat of Surigao del Sur’s first legislative district.
According to the complainant, Rep. Romeo Momo Sr. — who won the elections for the district — Pichay committed material misrepresentation when he declared in his COC that he was eligible for the post when he has been perpetually disqualified from holding public offices.
Full Story at: Comelec declares Pichay is disqualified to run for office (inquirer.net)
Barbers hits background of ex-PDEA agent invited by Senate | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers has questioned the credentials of a former anti-drug operative who was invited by the Senate for a hearing, saying that the officer was dishonorably discharged from the police service.
Barbers, who heads the House of Representatives’ committee on dangerous drugs, said in a statement on Wednesday that former agent Jonathan Morales was dismissed from the Philippine National Police (PNP) before joining the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
Barbers said Morales is now part of a private organization which advocates against drug use, and links celebrities and politicians into the illegal substances.
“Base sa mga ulat, si Morales ay na-dismiss sa police service bago pa sya nag-apply as PDEA agent. Sa pinirmahan nya na personal data sheet sa PDEA, sinabi nya umano na wala, pero meron pala, syang kaso sa PNP bago sya nag-apply sa PDEA,” Barbers said.
(Based on reports, Morales was dismissed from the police service before he applied as a a PDEA agent. In the personal data sheet he signed with PDEA, he said that he did not have a case, but he did have one with the PNP before he applied with the PDEA.)
“Nuong nakalusot na siya sa PDEA, naakusahan naman siya later ng kanyang mga superiors at kasamahan mismo sa PDEA na umano’y sangkot sa pilipit na pag-aresto at P8 million extortion sa isang suspected Tsinoy drug lord,” he added.
(When he got through PDEA, he faced complaints from his superiors for the alleged forced arrest and the supposed attempt to extort P8 million from a suspected Filipino-Chinese drug lord.)
Full Story at: Barbers questions record of PDEA agent invited by Senate (inquirer.net)
