News Roundup 24 June 2022
Jun 24, 2022 • 4 min Read
Noynoy Aquino embodied PH with ‘honor, dignity’, says Ateneo prexy | INQUIRER.NET – Former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III will be remembered throughout history as a leader who represented the country with “honor and dignity,” Fr. Bobby Yap, president of the Ateneo de Manila University said Friday. Yap made the remark during a Mass at the Church of Gesú to commemorate Aquino’s first death anniversary. “Despite the ups and downs of his term, he will be remembered as a president who showed our nation and the world how leadership with competence, conscience, compassion, and commitment can bring about a difference in the lives of millions of people,” Yap said. “He will also be remembered for representing the Philippines with honor and dignity, elevating our country’s status on the world stage,” he added. Yap added that Aquino’s love for the country and Filipinos, particularly the poor and marginalized, is “unquestionable.” “In the face of a planet in emergency mode, a chaotic political environment, wars in different places, disinformation and misinformation, and a heavily fractured society, we ask for President Noy’s prayers that Ateneo and Ateneans become true beacons of God’s light and love our world,” Yap said. “And that we would be steadfast in our commitment to walk with the excluded, to journey with the youth in creating a hope-filled future and to care for creation, our common home,” he added. Aquino finished his grade school studies at the Ateneo in 1973, his high school in 1977 at the Ateneo, and his bachelor’s degree in economics in 1981, also at the Ateneo. Noynoy Aquino, popularly known as PNoy, died “peacefully in his sleep” on June 24 last year.
Suspect in US attack on Filipino family arrested | PHISTAR.COM – Police have arrested the man who attacked a Filipino family at a fastfood parking lot in North Hollywood last month. The suspect, identified as Nicholas Weber, 31, was detained by police. He is being held on $300,000 bail, according to an ABS-CBN report. The Los Angeles Police arrested Weber on Tuesday. The suspect is facing hate crime charges and detained at the Los Angeles County Jail. Court records showed Weber has other criminal records in Los Angeles County. He was in prison for charges that include domestic violence, theft, driving under the influence of alcohol and probation violation. A judge issued an arrest warrant for Weber when he did not appear in court on June 8 to answer the charges from the incident at the fastfood parking lot when he was filmed attacking the Roque family. The Los Angeles Police Department said Weber is charged with one count of felony battery and one count of misdemeanor battery. Both charges bear a hate crime allegation. The latest Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics showed anti-Asian hate crimes increased 73 percent between 2019 and 2020. Patricia Roque said she was in a car on May 13 with her mother, Nerissa, waiting at a fastfood drive-thru line when Weber bumped them from behind with his vehicle and began hurling racial slurs at them. The incident was captured on video. “You’re so Asian. Yeah, you’re so Asian,” Weber yelled. When Roque’s father, Gabriel, arrived in the area, Weber rushed to him and punched him as he fell to the ground. Roque’s father had a broken rib on his left side. Her mother suffered physical injuries after Weber strangled and hit her in the breast.
Incoming NSA chief on ‘unproductive’ practice of red-tagging: Let’s stop doing that | PHILSTAR.COM – Incoming National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos voiced her disapproval Friday of the practice of red-tagging, or conflating progressive critics and activists as armed insurgents, calling it “unproductive.” This comes after incumbent National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, a retired Philippine Army general, launched an offensive against progressive groups and alternative media outfits with just two weeks left in his term. Advocates called this an attack on press freedom and civil liberties. Speaking over The Mangahas Interviews, Carlos questioned the practice of red-tagging — popularized as of late under the Duterte administration’s anti-insurgency campaign — calling it lazy thinking. “What I will bring into our national security landscape is really my training as a political scientist…when you run out of arguments, you label. It’s not a productive thing and it’s antithetical to the presumption of innocence, right?… Why are we doing things that are not productive? Let’s stop doing that,” she said in mixed Filipino and English. “If you have proof, well then you should file a case in court. Does labeling help you? No, so don’t waste your time.” Outgoing Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who has accepted his nomination as the next solicitor general, also said the statement earlier this week. The incoming solicitor general said that “labelling” is dangerous and complaints should be filed instead.
