News Roundup 08 July 2022
Jul 08, 2022 • 5 min Read
Tolentino eyes changes in Senate blue ribbon hearing rules | INQUIRER.NET – There will be some changes on how investigations will be conducted by the Senate blue ribbon committee, its incoming chairperson Senator Francis Tolentino said Friday. The primary changes include the manner a resource person is invited and treated at the hearings and how the recommendations for the filing of charges are to be conducted, Tolentino said. “Ganito kaaga pa lang ay gumagawa na tayo ng mga pagbabago sa rules sa blue ribbon committee at ito ay patungkol sa paggalang sa mga nasasalang sa imbestigasyon,” he said in an interview over ABS CBN’s TeleRadyo. (We are already crafting changes in the rules this early, particularly on how to respect the resource persons.) He said that before a resource person is chosen and invited to the blue ribbon panel investigation, there will first be a small committee that will determine probable cause to proceed. “Bago isalang nang full blast, magkakaroon ng maliit na committee to determine kung mayroon bang substantial likelihood na dapat mag-proceed, mayroon bang probable cause, etc.” the senator said. (Before they go to the hearings, there will be a small committee to determine whether substantial likelihood to proceed, probable cause, etc.) The blue ribbon committee will also respect the rights of resource persons, Tolentino said. Another change to be made allows the blue ribbon committee to issue a referral to prosecute anyone found to have potentially broken the law in the course of their investigations in aid of legislation. He said this referral only needs to be signed by the committee chairperson and approved by the Senate President to be transmitted directly to the judiciary. “Magkakaroon ngayon ng referral to prosecute. Pag pinirmahan ng chairman ng committee ng blue ribbon at inaprubahan ng Senate President, diretso na sa husgado na ‘yun. Tuloy-tuloy na ‘yun sa husgado so mabilis ‘yung proseso,” Tolentino said. (There will be a referral to prosecute. Once this is signed by the chairman of the committee and approved by the Senate President, it will go straight to the judiciary. The process will be quicker.) The blue ribbon committee will also have a general counsel to help with the prosecution, Tolentino said.
Big-time roll back in pump prices expected next week, says DOE | INQUIRER.NET – There will be a big-time roll back in the prices of all fuel products by next week, the Department of Energy (DOE) said on Friday. “May malakihang rollback tayo next week on all products … 5-6 (pesos per) liter,” Department of Energy-Oil Industry Management Bureau Director Rino Abad told INQUIRER.net in a text message. (We are going to have a big-time rollback…) Abad said this is due to the effects of lockdown in Shanghai, China, with interest hikes by various countries and threat of recession that could cause demand alteration. It can be recalled that oil companies on Tuesday, July 5, slashed the prices of diesel by P3 per liter and kerosene by P3.40 per liter. The prices of gasoline, however, remained unchanged. The cumulative increases stand at P30 per liter for gasoline, P45.90 per liter for diesel, and P39.75 per liter for kerosene, based on DOE’s price monitoring. Oil companies implemented the reduced prices this week after raising local pump prices for four straight weeks.
Bulatlat takes Esperon’s request for blocking of website to court | PHILSTAR.COM – Independent media organization Bulatlat.com is taking the government’s arbitrary blocking of public access to its website — that cited baseless terrorist connections and the anti-terrorism law, despite the measure not sanctioning the move — to the court. Alipato Media Center that publishes Bulatlat.com filed a complaint before the Quezon City court on Friday to ask it to issue a Temporary Restraining Order and a Writ of Preliminary Injunction to enjoin the National Telecommunications Commission from enforcing its memorandum that ordered the immediate blocking of Bulatlat’s website and of more than 20 other groups. Ultimately, Bulatlat, through their counsels from the National Union of Peoples Lawyers, asked the court to nullify NTC’s memorandum and award them with P1.00 for damage. Aside from the NTC, the National Security Council and former National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon are also named as respondents. Bulatlat asserted that it is engaged in news, and not “affiliated to and are supporting” terrorists, as Esperon wrote in his letter-request as justification for his request for blocking of the public’s access to more than 20 websites. “Plaintiff and any person serving in the editorial board as well as staff of Bulatlat.com are not in any way affiliated to and/or are supporting terrorists and terrorist organizations,” the complaint read. “As there is no factual or legal bases therefore, none of them designated, much less being prosecuted for any of the prohibited acts under the Republic Act 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020,” it added. Alarms have been raised with Esperon’s letter, made public a week before he steps down, with the arbitrariness of the order, supposedly based on the powers of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, that not only covered independent media websites but also of progressive groups. Bulatat said the NTC memorandm is ultra vires (beyond legal power of authority) as it stressed that nothing in the EO that created the NTC and RA 7925 or the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines “clothes the NTC with the power to block websites listed in the memorandum… without securing a court order.” This makes the memorandum that ordered the blocking of the access to the websites illegal and should be nullified by the court, they said. Bulatlat also said the order violated their freedom of press, speech and expression. “The questioned Memorandum cited no constitutionally permissible restriction to the Plaintiff’s freedom of expression and speech. There is no danger, real, imminent, clear and/or present danger that would pass the standard of strict scrutiny to justify the blocking of access to the Plaintiff’s website,” the complaint read. They also pointed out that while Esperon cited three Anti-Terrorism Council, where the former sits as vice chairperson, resolution designating certain groups, Bulatlat is not among them and blocking of a website is not a sanction of the ATA. The ATA only holds designation would trigger the Anti-Money Laundering Council’s powers to freeze assets of the tagged individuals or organizations. When the NTC “mechanically adopted” Esperson’s conclusion on his letter request, the commission also deprived the complainant with the right to be heard, in violation of its right to due process.
