News Roundup 30 August 2024
Aug 30, 2024 • 4 min Read
Philippines says US offered to escort supply ships in disputed sea | PHILSTAR.COM – BAGUIO, Philippines — The United States has offered to escort Manila’s resupply missions to outposts in the disputed South China Sea, the Philippine military chief said Thursday, following Beijing’s intensifying efforts to block them.
General Romeo Brawner said the Philippines would not take up the offer until it reached a point when they could not deliver life-saving provisions and troops were “on the verge of dying”.
“We’re happy that the US has given us a range of options including that of joining or escorting us for the ROREs (rotation and resupply missions),” Brawner told a news conference after meeting with US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo in the northern city of Baguio.
Paparo told reporters that “we stand ready”, without offering further details.
There has been a series of escalating clashes between Philippine and Chinese vessels in the past year during resupply missions to Filipino troops, coast guard personnel and fishermen at Second Thomas, Sabina and Scarborough shoals.
Full Story at: Philippines says US offered to escort supply ships in disputed sea | Philstar.com
Alice Guo, associates charged in money laundering raps | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — Dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo and her associates now face money laundering charges filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) on Friday.
Among those named in the money-laundering complaints, aside from Alice, are her sister Shiela Guo (Zhang Mier) and her father Angelito Guo (Jian Zhong Guo). Alice’s accountant, Nancy Gamo and Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) incorporator Cassandra Li Ong were also listed as respondents.
In a joint complaint-affidavit filed at the Department of Justice, the three agencies said that Alice and her associates violated the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
“Alice Guo and her cohorts intended to create layers and layers of corporations to make it appear that they were engaged in profitable and legitimate businesses, but in fact, they are not,” the complaint read.
Alice was charged in her capacity as an incorporator and president of Baofu Land Development Inc., QJJ Farm, QSEED Genetics, and as former Bamban mayor.
Angelito, Shiela and Amelia Leal (Alice’s supposed mother) were charged as conspirators for money laundering. Ong and Gamo were charged with aiding the commission of money laundering.
In the 106-page complaint, the authorities detailed their findings ever since the Senate inquiry into the Guos’ connection to POGOs began.
Full Story at: Alice Guo, associates charged in money laundering raps | Philstar.com
Advice to Sara Duterte on her budget: Don’t act like ‘entitled brat’ | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — In deliberations on the budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), Congress has always heeded what many politicians described as “parliamentary courtesy”, or the practice of letting the OVP budget sail smoothly.
But while such practice prevailed over OVP budget deliberations under previous vice presidents, it seemed to be absent in the case of Vice President Sara Duterte, who is being questioned on how it was possible for her office to spend P125 million in confidential funds in just 11 days.
In the Philippines, vice presidents are elected separately from the president, unlike in the United States where a vote for the presidential candidate is carried as a vote for the running mate.
So when Sara Duterte was elected as vice president in 2022, the House committee on appropriations took only five minutes to pass her P2.3 billion budget. Last year, her proposed P2.4 billion budget was approved in just 15 minutes.
This was not unusual, though, as previous OVP budgets under past vice presidents also benefited from parliamentary courtesy.
Then Vice President Leni Robredo’s budget proposal for the OVP was approved in a few minutes with her budget in 2017 being passed in just two minutes. The longest it took the House to pass her budget was less than 30 minutes. She was serving as second in line to then-President Rodrigo Duterte, who was generally hostile to her.
Full Story at: Advice to Sara Duterte on her budget: Don’t act like ‘entitled brat’ (inquirer.net)
Half of Quiboloy’s KJC compound inspected, search for hideout narrows | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) has inspected about half of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) 30-hectare compound in Davao City as the search for fugitive televangelist Pastor Apollo Quiboloy approached the seventh day, according to spokesperson Col. Jean. Fajardo.
Fajardo said this was according to Davao police regional office director Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III.
“According to him (Torre), more or less, around close to 40 to 50 percent [of the compound] were inspected,” Fajardo said in a press conference.
Fajardo noted that the police are zeroing in on the “specific areas” of the suspected underground facility where Quiboloy is believed to be hiding.
Full Story at: Half of Quiboloy’s compound inspected, search for hideout narrows (inquirer.net)
