News Roundup 05 December 2022
Dec 05, 2022 • 5 min Read
Pimentel hits P10B NTF-Elcac budget: ‘Bicam acting like a third house of Congress’ | INQUIRER.NET – Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III was puzzled why the P10 billion budget of the government’s anti-insurgency task force next year was restored when this was already reduced to P5 billion by both chambers of Congress. Pimentel noted that the P10 billion budget was Malacanang’s original proposal for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict’s (NTF-Elcac) next year but this was slashed by P5 billion in the House of Representatives. The budget cut was retained in the Senate. At the bicameral conference committee, however, the NTF-Elcac budget was restored to its original amount. “Ito po ‘yung problema eh. The bicam is acting like the third house of Congress,” Pimentel lamented after Senator Sonny Angara reported on the Senate floor the bicameral conference committee report on the 2023 national budget. “Sabi ng Executive P10B. Sabi ng House P5B. Sabi ng Senate agree, P5B, and then sabi ng bicam P10B? So why are these things happening Mr. President when the bicam is not the third house of Congress?” the opposition leader asked. (The Executive said, P10B. The House said, it’s P5B. The Senate agreed with P5B, and then in the bicam, it’s P10B? So why are these things happening Mr. President when the bicam is not the third house of Congress?) Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, defended the move, saying the issue of having a new provision during the bicameral meeting has already been settled by a court ruling. “But I think practically, it’s also being accountable or responsive to some of the stakeholders in the program,” the panel chief said. “May mga lumapit din po, some of the congressmen wanted to increase it…” he said, adding that some lawmakers might not have been aware when the NTF-Elcac’s budget was reduced by half in the lower chamber. “So dito lang po sa bicam na-highlight, I think ‘yung natapyasan s’ya ng pondo,” Angara added. (I think the budget cut was only highlighted here in the bicam.) Pimentel did not agree with the explanation, saying he would notice and raise it on the floor had the House-approved P5 billion NTF-Elcac budget been increased in the upper chamber. “Ang nangyayari naiiwasan ‘yung discussion sa floor. I mean, is this consciously being done, iwasan ‘yung discussion sa floor ?” the Minority Leader asked. Angara denied this, saying there was no such attempt to avoid the issue and proof of this is the fact that it was being raised now on the floor. “Only because it changed. Had it not changed, we will not be discussing this, Your Honor,” Pimentel argued.
Bantag wants DOJ to stay out of the case, cries ‘bad blood’ with Remulla, lack of jurisdiction | INQUIRER.NET – Suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gerald Bantag on Monday appeared before the Department of Justice (DOJ) and asked the panel of investigators to inhibit from handling the murder complaints related to the death of broadcast journalist Percy Lapid. “Today, in the hearing, we received a motion for inhibition of the panel of prosecutors from the counsel of Director General Bantag, the key respondent in this case,” Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Charlie Guhit, one of the panel members, told reporters. The motion to inhibit wants the DOJ panel to inhibit for lack of jurisdiction. Bantag’s camp said the Office of the Ombudsman has jurisdiction over Bantag. “Under the law, all offenses committed by the public officers with a salary grade of 27 and above should fall within the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan. Therefore, the preliminary investigation should fall under the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman,” Atty. Rocky Balisong said. The motion also mentioned the supposed “bad blood” between Bantag and Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, who they accused of prejudging the case. “Unfortunately, by naming Bantag as the mastermind in the twin killing, the SOJ invited attention to himself. It took Bantag to expose the SOJ (Secretary of Justice), and this is the cause of the bad blood between them now,” read the motion. “Bantag cannot expect justice, impartiality, and fairness from the Department of Justice at this time. He is the enemy of its head; hence, with due respect, Bantag can never be assured of the neutrality of its members,” the motion further stated. Sought for his reaction, Remulla said: “We have our duty to the law and the Constitution.” “Everything will be based on evidence. We will not do anything here that is not based on evidence,” he told reporters. Meanwhile, Guhit said they had given the complainants seven days from Monday to submit a comment, and from there, the panel will issue a resolution on the motion. Guhit said the Bantag’s submission of the counter-affidavit and the continuation of the preliminary investigation should be held in abeyance pending resolution on the motion for inhibition.
DOH logs 7,731 new COVID-19 cases, 134 deaths in past week | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines recorded 8,032 additional COVID-19 cases in the past week, the Department of Health said Monday. From November 28 to December 4, an average of 1,104 infections were logged daily. The figure was 4% lower than the cases reported from November 21 to November 27. Only two of the additional cases were severe and critical. Data from the DOH showed there were 595 patients in severe and critical conditions, which represented 9.1% of total COVID-19 admissions. Only 22.1% of the country’s 2,413 intensive care unit beds were used as of Sunday, while only 25.3% of 20,452 non-ICU beds were occupied. The health department also verified 134 fatalities in the past week. Only 19 of those deaths occurred in the last two weeks.
