DND CHIEF CAUTIONS vs RED-BAITING
MANILA Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has told several military
generals, including National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed
Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesman Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade to refrain from
issuing statements on the red-tagging of journalists, Malacañang said
yesterday.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the Palace is leaving it up to the
Department of National Defense to handle the issue.
Parlade has drawn flak for floating the possibility of filing charges
against Inquirer.net reporter Tetch Torres-Tupas, who wrote about the two
Aetas who claim to have been tortured by soldiers. The Aetas have asked the
Supreme Court (SC) to allow them to join the 37 petitions seeking to declare
the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020 as unconstitutional.
Retired Supreme Court Senior associate justice Antonio Carpio and other
critics of the Anti-Terrorism Act have cited Parlades statement in their
latest filing before the high court.
Roque told radio station dzBB in Filipino: Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has
issued guidelines and he has asked the generals to refrain from talking
about the issue. If Im not mistaken, General Parlade has also been informed
about it.
The President is not a micro manager. He will leave that to Secretary
Lorenzana and with regard to the petitioners, we will leave that to the
court, he added.
The STAR tried to reach Lorenzana for additional details but has not
received a response.
Media groups National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and the
Justice and Court Reporters Association have condemned Parlades remark,
saying it constitutes a threat against critics of the Anti-Terrorism Act and
the journalists covering them.
National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL) president Edre Olalia yesterday
said the red-tagging issues raised against Parlade might be taken up by the
SC when it continues with its oral arguments on the ATA on Tuesday.
PHILIPPINES TO EVACUATE FILIPINOS IN MYANMAR IF SITUATION DETERIORATES
MANILA - The Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday it is prepared to
evacuate Filipinos in Myanmar if the situation deteriorates following a
military coup and the detention of elected leaders there.
No Filipino has so far volunteered to return home to the Philippines, said
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.
"It is a military emergency, I assume that our people are apolitical and
that they are safe. My first instruction was to prepare for an evacuation in
the event things deteriorate," he told ANC's Headstart.
Locsin added that he would meet with Philippine Ambassador to Myanmar
Edwardo Kapunan on Monday afternoon.
The country's top diplomat said he wants Myanmar's status quo to be
restored.
"I want to engage with the situation in Burma and see if I can restore the
status quo, which is not to say for the army to retreat but for the army,
(Aung San) Suu Kyi and freedom to work hand-in-hand again because it was
working," he said.
Myanmar, a Southeast Asian country of about 54 million people grappling with
poverty and fledgling institutions, is seeing a political upheaval a year
into the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Feb. 1, the military took power from the civilian government, detaining
leaders elected in parliamentary polls held last year, including
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
It was the start of yet another chapter in Myanmars tumultuous history,
plunging the country back under military rule just 10 years since the people
won democracy.
LOCSIN WON'T PROTEST CHINA'S COAST GUARD LAW BEFORE UN
MANILA - Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., rejected Monday a
proposal to bring the Philippines' protest against China's new coast guard
law before the United Nations.
Retired Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio had said the Philippines and
other Southeast Asian Countries should ask a UN tribunal to declare it as
void under international laws.
"No. Everybody wants to enter a show. Everybody wants to show up at the
United Nations. Well, Im not going to go back there because the Coast Guard
Law has some claims as to the extent of their territory. That will reopen
the arbitral ruling and Im not going to give them a chance to do that,"
Locsin told ANC's Headstart.
"Chinese diplomacy has been very effective in most of the members of the
United Nations and Im not going to throw our victory to that and let them
decide," he said.
Last month, Locsin filed a diplomatic protest against the law, which lets
its coast guard fire on foreign vessels. He said enacting this "is a verbal
threat of war to any country that defies the law; which, if unchallenged, is
submission to it."
OVERSEAS VOTERS URGED TO PARTICIPATE IN INTERNET VOTING TEST RUN
MANILA The Commission on Elections called on registered overseas workers
to participate in the test run of internet voting.
In a release Monday, Comelecs Office for Overseas Voting (OFOV) urged
overseas voters who have active and complete voter registration to sign up
as test voters in the test run of four internet voting solutions.
To participate in the internet voting test run, a voter must have a
smartphone capable of running Android or iOS applications, a laptop or
personal computer, or any mobile device with internet or data access.
The registration status of voters must be also active, which means that it
must not have been deactivated for failure to vote in 2016 and 2019
elections.
Complete biometrics data of voters such as photograph, fingerprints and
signatures are also required.
In compliance with our data privacy policy, interested participants will be
required to email us their signed consent form, together with a copy of
their passport or seafarers book, OFOV Director Sonia Bea Wee-Lozada said.
The office advised that such documents be sent to its email address at
overseasvoting@comelec.gov.ph.
Test voters may sign up until 8 a.m. Manila time on February 12, Friday. The
link to the sign up form could be accessed on OFOV's Facebook page.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez told OneNews The Chiefs last November
that the idea of having internet voting is for overseas absentee voting
(OAV) only so far. He said the problem for OAV is the low turnout since
many Filipinos abroad could not go to their assigned polling centers.
There were 63.5 million registered voters, including 1.8 million overseas
voters, for the May 2019 midterm elections. OAV reported a voter turnout of
only 40%, lower than the national average of 75%.
SENATORS ALARMED OVER INCREASING NUMBER OF DROPOUTS
MANILA Senators expressed alarm over the growing number of out-of-school
youth (OSY) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic even as they asked
the Department of Education (DepEd) to immediately improve policies using
lessons learned from months of blended and distance learning.
Sen. Sonny Angara, who chairs the Senate committee on youth, warned the
increase in the number of OSY is a serious issue that could lead to bigger
problems later on if left unchecked.
We understand that the sharp drop in enrollment for the current school year
was due to the restrictions on face-to-face education. We hope to see these
figures improve once our schools start to open up again, albeit gradually,
Angara said.
What worries me is that many of the children who were not able to enroll
last year could end up missing even more time out of school or, worse, drop
out completely for one reason or another, he added.
Based on DepEd data, close to four million students were not able to enroll
for the current school year. As of Aug. 11 last year, DepEd reported that 23
million have enrolled in both public and private schools, a significant
reduction from the 27.7 million enrollees in 2019. The 2.75 million of the
four million who did not enroll were private school students.
PHILIPPINES POSTS ALARMING GROWTH IN TEENAGE PREGNANCIES
MANILA Almost seven girls aged 14 and younger are giving birth in the
country every day, according to the latest findings released by the
Commission on Population (PopCom) over the weekend.
PopCom reported that births among girls aged 14 years and below jumped by
seven percent in 2019 compared with the previous years figure provided by
the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In 2019, 2,411 girls considered as very young adolescents aged 10 to 14
gave birth, PopCom said.
This number translates to almost seven births daily, a three-fold increase
from 2000 when only 755 from this age group gave birth, it added.
Popcom noted that it is the ninth year that the Philippines recorded a
continuing rise in teenage pregnancies since 2011.
Calabarzon logged the biggest number of births among minors with 8,008,
followed by the National Capital Region (NCR or Metro Manila) with 7,546,
and Central Luzon with 7,523.
Other regions that recorded a high number of teenage pregnancies were
Northern Mindanao (4,747), Davao (4,551) and Central Visayas (4,541).
Overall, the number of Filipino minors who gave birth in 2019 rose to 62,510
compared to 62,341 in 2018.
PopCom executive director Juan Antonio Perez III said the government is
prioritizing its teenage pregnancy reduction program.
Perez said PopCom and the Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD) plan to roll out a social protection program for adolescent mothers
this year.
A whole-of-government approach, he said, is needed to address the problem of
teenage pregnancy, which has already been declared a national emergency.
39 PARTY-LIST GROUPS FACE CANCELLATION OF REGISTRATION
MANILA At least 39 party-list organizations may no longer be allowed to
participate in the May 2022 general elections, the Commission on Elections
(Comelec) announced over the weekend.
The Comelec has notified the party-list groups that their registrations are
being considered for cancellation.
Under Republic Act 7941 or the Party-List System Act, the Comelec may cancel
the registration of party-list coalitions that failed to participate in the
last two preceding elections or failed to obtain at least two percent of
votes cast.
These groups are Alay Buhay, Ating Koop, AVE, Abakada, Banat, Abamin,
Append, Ang Nars, Tao Muna, Ako An Bisaya, Anupa, Consla, ASEAN, Amepa OFW,
FICTAP, Global, KMM, Metro, PM, Samako, Sinag, Ito Ang Tama, Tinderong
Pinoy, TRICAP, UNIDO, ALL-FISH, Awake, Kamais, PBB and 1-Ahapo.
Party-list groups Ading, 1-AAMOVER, Ang Pamilya, AG, Alagad, ANAD, Kakusa,
Kalikasan and 1-Aani did not participate in the last two elections.
A total of 182 party-list organizations registered for the 2019 polls, the
Comelec said. Of the number, only 134 groups were allowed to join the
elections.
DSWD: BABIES FOR ADOPTION ON FACEBOOK
MANILA The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is working
with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and law enforcement agencies
to track down groups behind 48 fake Facebook accounts that claim to
facilitate illegal online adoption.
In an online forum on legal adoption organized by the DSWD last Saturday as
part of Adoption Consciousness Week, Wilma Naviamos of the departments
Program Management Bureau said they have already monitored and tracked down
the fake Facebook accounts.
DSWD has actually monitored 48 fake FB accounts saying they facilitate
online adoption. We have reported this actually and coordinated with NBI and
police authorities, to track these identified accounts, Naviamos said.
We would like to inform everyone not to engage in these fake FB accounts
that facilitate online adoption. We would like to share that in our
celebration, we do not encourage online adoption because that is illegal,
she added in mixed English and Filipino.
Lawyer Bernadette Abejo, executive director of the Inter-Country Adoption
Board (ICAB) who was also a panelist in the online adoption forum, said they
have complained of these social media accounts that claim to process online
adoption which has been hard to track.
Because it is illegal, we cannot track it. It will only come out when there
is a problem already or when somebody files a case or a complaint, Abejo
said.
THE REST
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PHILIPPINES' COVID-19 TALLY HITS 537,310 WITH 1,790 NEW CASES
MANILA - The Philippines confirmed 1,790 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday
bringing the countrys total to 537,310.
The Department of Health also reported 11,388 new recoveries pushing the
total number of Filipinos who recovered from the disease to 499,798.
This meant that the country has a total of 26,333 active cases as of 4 p.m.
Sunday.
Seventy more deaths were reported from the illness, bringing COVID-19s
death toll in the Philippines to 11,179.
This was the 9th straight day that more than 50 deaths were reported.
UP, DILG TO REVIEW 1992 PACT ON ENTRY OF PNP PERSONNEL IN CAMPUSES
MANILA The University of the Philippines (UP) and Department of the
Interior and Local Government (DILG) have agreed to review a 1992 accord
regulating the entry of uniformed personnel to campuses of the state
university, which the executive department said needs updating.
Representatives from the UP and the DILG disclosed on Saturday that they
held a meeting at Camp Crame in Quezon City last Friday, a day after UP
officials met with the Department of National Defense (DND) to talk about
their recently abrogated 1989 accord.
During the meeting, the DILG and the [Philippine National Police] affirmed
their recognition of the value of academic freedom as well as peace and
security in the University of the Philippines, the parties said in a joint
statement.
The DILG presented its concerns on the 1992 agreement, which included the
need to review and update the agreement to present conditions.
The DILG assured UP that the review of the agreement will not in any way
diminish basic rights and the freedom of speech and assembly in UP, which
are protected and enshrined in the Constitution, they said.
UP is set to present its own observations on the concerns raised by the
DILG and PNP in subsequent meetings.
The parties said they are willing to form a technical working group (TWG) to
study the agreement.
The UP and DILG may amend provisions of the decades-old pact depending on
the recommendations of the TWG, the parties said.
MAGNITUDE 5.7 QUAKE STRIKES OFF DAVAO ORIENTAL
MANILA A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Davao Oriental on Monday
morning, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.
The tremor happened 211 kilometers southeast of Governor Generoso town at 8
a.m., state seismologists said.
It was tectonic in origin and had a depth of 44 kilometers, according to
Phivolcs.
The tremor is not expected to cause damage and aftershocks.
"Malayo at malalim. Yung distansya din napakaimportante kaya di ito masyado
maramdaman at di mapaminsala," Phivolcs officer-in-charge Renato Solidum
told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo.
The temblor may be related to last month's magnitude 7.1 quake that was also
felt in parts of Mindanao and may be due to the movement of the Philippine
Trench, he added.
"Talaga namang aktibo ang trench na ito. Up north, 'yung haba ng Philippine
Trench, paminsan-minsan meron ding nararamdaman sa Surigao or sa Visayas,"
Solidum said.
On Sunday, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck Davao del Sur and was felt in
the entire region, leaving at least 3 injured.
ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE
JULIA MONTES SHOWS SUPPORT FOR COCO MARTIN'S FILM WITH ANGELICA PANGANIBAN
MANILA -- Actress Julia Montes took to Instagram to express her support for
rumored boyfriend, actor-director Coco Martin.
In her Instagram Story posts, Montes uploaded a screen grab and clip from
the official teaser of Martin's upcoming movie "Love or Money" with Angelica
Panganiban.
In her post, Montes simply wrote the movie's airing date.
To be distributed by Cinexpress, Love or Money will be streaming on
KTX.ph, iWant TFC, TFC IPTV, Cignal PPV, and Sky Cable PPV beginning March
12. The romantic-comedy film is directed by Mae Cruz Alviar.
Fans and followers of Montes and Martin expressed their excitement as the
actress continue to show her support for the "Ang Probinsyano" starr.
Last November, Montes also greeted the actor on his birthday. Without saying
anything else, the actress simply captioned her post with emojis of a
birthday gift, a heart and a birthday cake.
Montes has yet to make her showbiz comeback but she has been using her
platform to show support for her fellow actors, including Martin.
Every time she posts anything thats related to Martin, fans are sent abuzz
because they love how she still makes an effort to support her rumored
boyfriend.
In previous interviews, Montes neither confirmed nor denied that she is in a
relationship with Martin. The actor, likewise, has evaded questions about
the real score between them.
Montes and Martin were first paired in the 2012 series Walang Hanggan.
SPORTS
NBA SCORES FEB 6
FINAL
1 2 3 4 T
Trail Blazers 12-10 31 20 25 23 99
Knicks 11-13 26 31 27 26 110
SCORING LEADERS
D. Lillard POR
29 PTS, 4 REB, 9 AST
J. Randle NY
22 PTS, 11 REB, 4 AST
FINAL
1 2 3 4 T
Nuggets 12-10 25 27 29 33 114
Kings 11-11 26 27 34 32 119
SCORING LEADERS
N. Jokic DEN
50 PTS, 8 REB, 12 AST
H. Barnes SAC
28 PTS, 7 REB, 4 AST
FINAL
1 2 3 4 T
Bulls 9-13 31 30 34 23 118
Magic 9-15 31 12 21 28 92
SCORING LEADERS
Z. LaVine CHI
39 PTS, 7 REB, 4 AST
N. Vucevic ORL
17 PTS, 8 REB, 1 AST
FINAL
1 2 3 4 T
Nets 14-11 29 27 30 22 108
76ers 17-7 34 25 43 22 124
SCORING LEADERS
J. Harden BKN
26 PTS, 8 REB, 10 AST
J. Embiid PHI
33 PTS, 9 REB, 3 AST
FINAL
1 2 3 4 T
Raptors 10-13 34 29 31 27 121
Hawks 11-12 28 38 35 31 132
SCORING LEADERS
C. Boucher TOR
29 PTS, 10 REB, 1 AST
T. Young ATL
28 PTS, 2 REB, 13 AST
FINAL
1 2 3 4 T
Bucks 15-8 25 34 35 30 124
Cavaliers 10-14 22 32 23 22 99
SCORING LEADERS
G. Antetokounmpo MIL
24 PTS, 11 REB, 5 AST
A. Drummond CLE
28 PTS, 11 REB, 2 AST
FINAL
1 2 3 4 T
Spurs 13-10 29 22 33 27 111
Rockets 11-11 23 24 30 29 106
SCORING LEADERS
D. DeRozan SA
30 PTS, 8 REB, 7 AST
J. Wall HOU
27 PTS, 2 REB, 7 AST
FINAL
1 2 3 4 T
Timberwolves 6-17 24 38 32 24 118
Thunder 10-12 43 40 13 24 120
SCORING LEADERS
N. Reid MIN
29 PTS, 6 REB, 0 AST
S. Gilgeous-Alexander OKC
31 PTS, 9 REB, 7 AST
FINAL
1 2 3 4 T
Warriors 12-11 31 33 37 31 132
Mavericks 10-14 35 37 34 28 134
SCORING LEADERS
S. Curry GS
57 PTS, 2 REB, 5 AST
L. Doncic DAL
42 PTS, 7 REB, 11 AST
FINAL
1 2 3 4 T
Grizzlies 9-9 33 28 30 18 109
Pelicans 10-12 31 29 30 28 118
SCORING LEADERS
J. Valanciunas MEM
23 PTS, 7 REB, 2 AST
Z. Williamson NO
29 PTS, 4 REB, 5 AST
FINAL/2OT
1 2 3 4 OT T
Pistons 5-18 29 25 24 28 23 129
Lakers 18-6 27 36 25 18 29 135
SCORING LEADERS
J. Grant DET
32 PTS, 4 REB, 6 AST
L. James LAL
33 PTS, 5 REB, 11 AST
INDICATORS
FOREX $1 = P 48.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
When our memories outweigh our dreams, we have grown old. - Bill Clinton
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