News Roundup 27 February 2023
Feb 27, 2023 • 3 min Read
Hontiveros renews call to free De Lima | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — Senator Risa Hontiveros on Monday renewed her call to free detained former senator Leila de Lima.
De Lima marked her sixth year in detention last February 24 due to what she branded as “trumped-up” drug charges. She is a staunch critic of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who launched the bloody drug war.
“If the Senate as a body can recommend the filing of charges against individuals and personalities that violate the laws of these land, surely we can recommend the dropping of charges against those who are victimized by these laws and those who need the law and the Constitution’s protective mantle,” Hontiveros said in a privilege speech during the plenary session.
“A few days after we commemorated the sixth anniversary of her detention, I say Mr. President, dear colleagues, and I hope you say with me: Free Leila now,” she added.
The opposition senator noted that the Inter Parliamentary Union, the oldest and largest organization of parliaments in the world, as well as local and international organizations reiterated its push to release the former senator.
Hontiveros said that the right to a speedy trial is an “actionable” right.
“It is a right afforded to all citizens, and a right that Senator Leila may legitimately avail of. This is not about being in the opposition. This is not about the past or present administrations. This is simply the invocation of a human right that all Filipinos are entitled to,” she said.
Full Story at: Hontiveros renews call to free De Lima | Inquirer News
BuCor HQ at Masungi Georeserve: What’s really at stake? | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines—“Twenty years in the making,” the Masungi Georeserve has “successfully made progress in watershed rehabilitation and protection” within the threatened landscape of Rizal province.
Since the 2000s, the Masungi Georeserve Foundation (MGF) has conserved and rehabilitated the landscape, which is a 300-hectare land in the Sierra Madre Mountain Range.
“Trees are now growing taller, the wildlife is slowly but certainly getting richer,” the MGF said of the georeserve, which in 1996 was dedicated to conservation and restoration.
But not even a year has passed since the attack of seven park rangers by a mob of 20 to 30 people and the “attempted invasion” of over 30 armed men, the landscape is feared to be put at risk once again.
This, as the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) said it has a plan to build a new headquarters within the Masungi Georeserve, stressing that the bureau is the registered owner of 270 hectares, essentially most of the landscape.
Full Story at: BuCor HQ at Masungi Georeserve: What’s really at stake? | Inquirer News
Groups warn of transport crisis, shortage of jeepneys | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — Groups yesterday warned of a shortage of public utility vehicles come July 1 when the franchises of traditional jeepneys expire to give way to the government’s PUV modernization program.
In a dzRH interview yesterday, Ariel Inton of the Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection warned of a “paralysis” of the transport sector on the first day of the PUV modernization program.
Inton noted that at least 50,000 traditional jeepneys, which have not complied with the consolidation requirements, would be phased out.
Full Story at: Groups warn of transport crisis, shortage of jeepneys | Philstar.com
Retrieval of plane crash victims from Mayon may take at least 3 more days – mayor | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — The mayor of the Albay town home to Mayon where a Cessna 340 plane crashed said Monday that it may take at least three additional days before the bodies of the victims are brought down from the volcano.
Camalig Mayor Carlos Baldo said emergency responders are having a hard time getting the bodies down from the volcano due to its terrain and the weather.
“If the weather improves, the retrieval may take around three days,” Baldo told ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo in Filipino. “Our chopper cannot move at night, so operations would continue the next day. But of course, that depends on the situation up there and the weather.”
Full Story at: Retrieval of Cessna crash victims may take at least 3 more days – mayor | Philstar.com
