News Roundup 17 January 2023
Jan 17, 2023 • 3 min Read
Defense chief Galvez acknowledges ‘rumblings’ in ranks over delayed promotions | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. acknowledged before senators on Tuesday that there were complaints among military personnel over delays in promotions and in official designations.
Galvez during a Senate hearing with the Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification, and Reconciliation said he brought up the “major issue” to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
“I told [the chief executive this] is a major issue that we need to tackle because this involves the lives of our officers, they worked hard for this for 30 years and then they will end up on the brink of being default just because of a one-day delay in their promotion and the delay of their designation,” Galvez said.
Full Story at: Defense chief Galvez acknowledges ‘rumblings’ in ranks over delayed promotions | Philstar.com
Magalong, Badoy joust over red-tagging | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — A “word war” has erupted between Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong and former National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF- ELCAC) spokesperson Lorraine Badoy, Eric Celis and pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
Magalong yesterday blasted Badoy, Celis and Quiboloy for “destroying” his “reputation as a public servant by branding me as a traitor, a person of no principles among other unfounded accusations, during their recent programs on SMNI.”
The Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) is owned by the self-proclaimed “Son of God” Quiboloy where Badoy and Celis host a talk show.
Magalong was red-tagged by Badoy because of his alleged connections with activists whom she claimed belong to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) and are “communists and terrorists.”
Full Story at: Magalong, Badoy joust over red-tagging | Philstar.com
Losses driving onion farmers to desperation | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — Onion farmers have been driven to despair, with some taking their own lives, after bearing the brunt of protracted losses, mounting debts, unscrupulous traders who have made their crops out of consumers’ reach, and the deluge of smuggled onions in the market.
This was the human element, the hard reality, behind the macroeconomic abstraction of rising prices of onions, as senators looking into that matter were apprised of that situation on the ground at their hearing on Monday.
Merlita Gallardo of Bayambang, Pangasinan, the widow of an onion farmer who killed himself in January 2021, recounted to the Senate committee hearing on agriculture how their sustained losses beginning with the pandemic year worsened their anxieties.
“He went far away from the farm to kill himself. Because our debts were piling up, and he didn’t want to borrow [money] anymore. That’s why he began to worry too much,” she said about her husband Roger, 49.
Full Story at: Losses driving onion farmers to desperation | Inquirer News
SC to lawyers: Don’t date your client | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — All may be fair in love and war but it’s unethical to have an affair with your client.
The Supreme Court has issued this reminder to lawyers as it moves to revise the code governing the conduct of Filipino law practitioners, including a ban on attorney-client romance.
“[W]e want to be very clear that the lawyer-client relationship can clearly define what are your duties and what are your responsibilities. We don’t want any dating or romantic factor to blur these lines,” Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh said in an ANC interview on Monday.
The proposal to formalize the prohibition on romantic entanglements between lawyers and their clients is part of the high tribunal’s project to update the 34-year-old Code of Professional Responsibility.
Full Story at: SC to lawyers: Don’t date your client | Inquirer News
