News Roundup 24 September 2022
Sep 24, 2022 • 4 min Read
Pimentel questions budget increase for DepEd voucher program | INQUIRER.NET – Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III questioned on Saturday the proposed budget increase for the Department of Education’s (DepEd) voucher program, asking for assurance that the grants will go to the program’s intended beneficiaries. “This voucher program being administered by the Department of Education has ballooned exponentially to a tune of P39.326 billion under the 2023 National Expenditures Program from only P16.534 billion this year,” Pimentel said in a statement. Pimentel also pointed out how the Senior High School (SHS) Voucher Program had the biggest increase, and yet was underutilized by DepEd in 2021. According to the Commission on Audit 2021 report, the SHS Voucher Program only benefitted 1,107,083 students, whereas the DepEd’s target was to distribute the vouchers to 1,417,613 students. In addition to this, Pimentel noted that the target number of SHS Voucher beneficiaries for 2023 also dropped despite the proposed budget increase. From 2022’s 1.383 million target beneficiaries, DepEd lowered its goal down to 1.132 million. Pimentel also asked the DepEd to explain why it is asking for a “subscription expense” amounting to P2.563 billion for 2023, whereas the budget for 2022 is only P24.68 million. “I am not saying that I am against it or it is anomalous. But I wanted to be clarified because this is such a huge increase that should not skip scrutiny,” said Pimentel. Deped’s proposed budget, now at P709 billion, was also scrutinized by other lawmakers. During the agency’s House appropriations committee budget briefing, Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas questioned the DepEd’s proposed P150 million in confidential funds. Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte defended the proposed confidential funds saying that “the success of a project, activity or program really depends on very good intelligence and surveillance because you want to target specific issues and challenges.”
CHR: Remember Palimbang Massacre on its 48th anniversary | INQUIRER.NET – The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Saturday called to remembrance the gruesome Palimbang massacre, urging Filipinos to remember the Moro residents who were killed, raped, and tortured by the Philippine Army in 1974. “As we commemorate the Palimbang massacre, let us honor the victims and their families by remembering their sufferings and help ensure that such grave violence will not be repeated,” the CHR said in a Twitter post. On September 24, 1974, 1,000 men were killed in the Tacbil Mosque in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat. That is not, however, where the violence ended. “[One hundred] heavily armed men entered a small village and razed it to the ground. Men, women, children and the elderly were tortured and murdered. Over 300 hundred houses were burned, women were raped, and men made to dig their own graves before they were shot,” said the CHR. “When it was already over, 1,500 village members perished. This act of heinous violence happened during Martial Law, and the armed men were members of the Philippine Army,” said the CHR. This is considered as one of the many human rights violations under the term of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. The government would not acknowledge the atrocities for another forty years until 2014, stated the CHR.
SK officer, blogger face charges over ‘fake news’ | PHILSTAR.COM – A Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officer and a blogger are among the latest netizens who could face charges for posting false information about alleged crimes in Quezon City. The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) is readying charges of unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances under Article 154 of the Revised Penal Code against James Aldrich Amora, SK kagawad of Barangay Sangandaan, and blogger Eric Batac. QCPD director Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III said the two are among the people who are being held accountable for posting on social media platforms alleged crimes that turned out to be hoaxes. “We will track those persons who spread fake news on social media at kung mapatunayang may paglabag sa batas ay kakasuhan natin sila (and if proven to have violated the law, we will charge them),” Torre said in a statement. Last Aug. 24, Amora posted on Facebook an alleged abduction of two girls by people in a white van. Police declared the post as a hoax following an investigation. The SK official later posted a public apology on his Facebook account on Sept. 5. Batac, meanwhile, claimed on his Facebook account that a suspect in a stabbing last Sept. 19 would be released by the police after the victim was not able to give his statement. The QCPD earlier filed charges against a certain Marichu Ramos, who claimed she was abducted, only to later admit that she made up the incident. Torre also denied the supposed discovery of a dismembered body near White Plains, adding it was the same information in 2017 that police branded as a hoax. Mayor Joy Belmonte warned netizens not to post or share unverified information that only sow confusion and fear among the public. “When posting on Facebook, please be mindful and be a responsible social media user,” she said.
