'TIME TO AMEND CORY CONSTITUTION': SENATE PANEL KICKS OFF NEW CHA-CHA DEBATE

MANILA — A new debate on proposals to amend the 1987 Constitution kicked off at the Senate on Thursday presided by newbie Sen. Robin Padilla, who vowed to "laymanize" the discussion.

Padilla is the first non-lawyer to be elected chairman of the Senate committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes.

"Bilang tagapangulo ng Komite ay sisikapin natin ang isang malaya, sistematiko, at produktibong talakayan tungkol sa mga usaping ito... Napalaban po tayo sa Tagalog," said Padilla.

"Ginagawa po natin ito para mas maintindihan ng ating mga kababayan dahil sa madalas pong mga ganap laging malalalim na Ingles, mga legal na pananalita ang ginamgamit," he added.

(As leader of the committee, we will strive for a free, systematic, and productive discussion of these issues. We will use Tagalog. We are doing this so that our compatriots could understand because English and legalese are often used.)

The 1987 Constitution was drafted and ratified under the administration of former President Corazon Aquino after dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. was ousted in 1986.

According to Center for Excellence in Local Governance (CELG) executive director Jonathan Malaya, it is about time to amend what he called the "Cory Constitution."

"After 36 years of the 'Cory Constitution' panahon na para amyendahan na ito. Wala na pong debate dito... Thirty-six years later alam na natin kung ano ang kailangang baguhin sa Saligang Batas," Malaya told the Senate panel.

"Alam na natin ang kakulangan nito. The flaws are clear. Ang dami na pong studies na ginawa dito. Hindi po kami naniniwala na ang Constitution na ito ay perfect."

Malaya previously served as undersecretary of Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and head of its inter-agency task force on constitutional reform.

According to Malaya, now is the perfect time to debate on Charter change (Cha-cha) in order to avoid allegations that it was meant to prolong the term of incumbent officials.

"Ngayon po ang tamang panahon dahil kasisimula pa lang ng termino ng Kongreso para hindi tayo magawan ng issue na gusto nating pahabain ang termino ng pangulo," he explained.

DISMANTLE POLITICAL DYNASTIES FIRST BEFORE CHARTER CHANGE PUSH: EXPERT

MANILA — One of the framers of the 1987 Constitution on Thursday opposed fresh proposals to amend the country's Charter, pointing out that "self-serving" members of political dynasties would be the ones leading the crucial process.

"When the Constitution is put together by Congress that's dominated by political dynasties with their own self interest, what kind of Constitution do you think they will come up with?" said lawyer Christian Monsod during the first hearing of the Senate committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes.

Monsod was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission that drafted the present Charter.

The Constitution has an anti-dynasty provision, but this has not been implemented due to the absence of an enabling law.

"Our problem in the Philippines on legislation is that, it is the power of political dynasties there. That's why in every reform, there are loopholes put there by the moneyed and dynastic families... That is called the iron law of oligarchy," Monsod said.

For him, Charter change (Cha-cha) would be meaningless unless the political dynasties are dismantled.

"Until we dismantle the political dynasties by voting for the poor from the bottom up, things will not change... You start at the bottom, at the barangay... The poor should control the barangays. Give them the power. Support them para maalis na 'yung mga dynasty sa barangay," he argued.

"It's a long distance run of endurance. But until we get a new generation of leaders who come from the poor, there will be no real change in this country," he added.

HOUSE PANEL OKS BI MODERNIZATION BILL

MANILA — A House panel has approved a proposal that seeks to reorganize and modernize the 82-year-old charter of the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

The measure was passed, but was not ratified during the previous 18th Congress.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, a congressman from Cavite until he was tapped to join the Cabinet by President Marcos, said the House committee refined the original bill he filed in 2019.

In August 2021, the House voted 209 (no negative and abstention votes) to approve on third and final reading House Bill 8850 or the Bureau of Immigration Modernization Act.

The measure seeks to modernize structures and mechanisms necessary for the administration of immigration laws and professionalize the immigration service by instituting a rigid system for screening and selection of officials and employees.

The bill also seeks to create a Board of Commissioners composed of the immigration chief as chair and two deputy commissioners as members.

House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan and Rep. Rufus Rodriguez – who both served as immigration commissioners during the time of former presidents Gloria Arroyo and Joseph Estrada, respectively – are now co-authors of the bill.

“We will transform the BI into an investor and tourist-friendly office. Hopefully, with a reinvigorated economy, less filipinos will leave the country as overseas workers,” said Libanan of the 4Ps party-list.

Libanan said the BI remains to be governed by Commonwealth Act 613 or the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940 until now, which has been “outdated by the constant evolution of international migration.”

He said it is crucial for the BI – being the agency in charge of controlling the entry of foreigners and migrants within Philippines’ borders, to be in tune with modern times in the interest of national security and development.

He expressed hope that a modernized BI would support the government’s program of ease in doing business in the country and encourage more foreigners to invest and visit the country.

'GOODBYE RECOVERY': PCGG ABOLITION WOULD MEAN END TO MARCOS WEALTH HUNT

A move to abolish the Presidential Commission on Good Government could mean an end to efforts to recover billions of pesos of ill-gotten wealth from the Marcoses, the Movement Against Disinformation said Friday.

"Goodbye recovery efforts...You are going to lose all the cases pending because the specialists, the lawyers who worked on this will all be gone," Atty. Tony La Vina, president of the movement, said in an interview with ANC's Rundown.

The late president Ferdinand Marcos Sr, his wife Imelda, and their cronies are estimated to have stolen as much as $10 billion or more than P500 billion, from state coffers during his 20-year rule, based on the World Bank-United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Stolen Asset Recovery report.

PCGG chair John Agbayani earlier said it will take about seven years to resolve all pending ill-gotten wealth cases it is handling against the family of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr.

He said there are still 87 pending cases against the Marcoses, with a combined worth of P125 billion. By Agbayani's estimates, half of the P125 billion may be recovered.

In the interview, La La Vina warned that the abolition of the PCGG is possible after Marcos scion, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jnr, was elected president.

"It looks like it's possible precisely because the President now is Marcos Junior and unfortunately many in the House and the Senate, there is a supermajority, of the administration...they might feel even without any pressure, they might feel they need to do this for the President and his family which is a mistake," he said.

"There will be a perception hat if the cases do not progress in the DOJ and the Ombudsman it is because the President himself is the one who prevented it from progressing."

La Vina said the Supreme Court upheld the executive order creating the PCGG precisely because of the massive scale of corruption during the Marcos dictatorship.

AFTER BRANDING SELF AS INDEPENDENT, ALAN CAYETANO NOW SAYS HE’S PART OF MINORITY

MANILA — He’s neither part of the Senate majority bloc nor of the minority one led by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, but an "independent minority" senator.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano had this to say after he was elected as the minority leader of the powerful Commission on Appointments, over which his rival for the position, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, raised "serious concerns".

"I will not join the Pimentel-Hontiveros minority because I don’t agree with some of their stance. And I want to be able to help the administration when, if possible, but to criticize and fiscalize when possible. But it’s very, very clear that I’m part of the minority," Cayetano said Thursday partly in Filipino in a news briefing.

Hontiveros had said she is not recognizing Cayetano’s leadership in the CA, a constitutional body that vets presidential appointments, as he is not a member of the Senate minority bloc.

But Cayetano said that since he did not vote for Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri to be Senate president, he automatically became part of the minority.

PALACE: NATIONAL ID PRINTING ON SCHEDULE

MANILA — The government is optimistic that it can achieve its goal of printing 30.1 million national identification cards and generating 19.9 million digital IDs this year.

Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has transferred to the Philippine Postal Corp. some 17.6 million physical national ID cards for delivery to the residences of applicants as of Aug. 23.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan has reported to Malacañang that in the last 11 days, the daily average number of physical cards produced at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ printing facilities is 103,000 per day, higher than PSA’s daily target. PSA is attached to the National Economic and Development Authority headed by Balisacan.

“The Philippine Statistics Authority is confident that it could meet the year-end target of 30.1 million printed national identification cards and the 19.9 million digital ID cards which are printable,” a statement issued by the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) last Wednesday read.

The OPS statement quoted Balisacan as saying that PSA is making “considerable progress” to hit the end-year target of 30.1 million physical ID cards, or 58 percent of the overall target. He noted that the government aims to issue 50 million IDs by yearend, 30.1 million of which are physical IDs and the rest, digital printable IDs.

The Marcos administration aims to issue 92 million national IDs by the middle of next year.

CHR RAISES ALARM OVER KIDNAP-SLAYS

MANILA — Recent abductions of women and young girls later turning up dead in the countryside are alarming the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) even as the Philippine National Police (PNP) points to numbers showing a decline in crime incidents.

“It is most concerning that the CHR has in recent weeks monitored an increase in abductions and incidents of gender-based violence (GBV) perpetrated against women and children and the increasing number of killings across different localities in the country,” CHR Executive Director Jacqueline Ann de Guia said yesterday.

De Guia cited the killing of industrial engineer Princess Dianne Dayor, of Barangay Tikay, Malolos City, Bulacan, whose body was found last July 5 after being reported missing days earlier.

She cited the case of Josie Bonifacio, 40, of Barangay Quirino, who was found dead on Aug. 9, only several hours after she was declared missing by her husband.

She also pointed out how Jovelyn Galleno, who had been reported missing since Aug. 5, turned up dead last Tuesday.

De Guia cited the gruesome killings of two minors, both females – one aged seven in Laguna and the other 15 years old who was also raped in Bulacan.

“CHR condemn perpetrators behind these incidents and we re-echo our call in our previous statement, as is the call of Sen. Imee Marcos and Gabriela party-list group Rep. Arlene Brosas for law enforcers to immediately investigate and employ action in line with the government responsibility to protect women, children, and as duty-bearer under Republic Act No. 9710 or the Magna Carta of Women,” De Guia said.

“This is increasingly important as more children return to school with the resumption of face-to-face classes,” she added.

De Guia said that the CHR had already launched its own investigation in these recent killings.

ANTI-CHILD ABUSE LAW AMENDMENT PUSHED

MANILA — Sen. Bong Go has refiled a measure to amend Republic Act 7610, or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act, in a bid to enhance the country’s protective measures for children.

Senate Bill 1188 seeks to amend Section 5 (b) of the Anti-Child Abuse Law regarding the penalty for persons engaging in lascivious conduct or sexual activity with minors under 12 years of age.

The proposed amendment will increase the penalty to reclusion temporal in its medium period to reclusion perpetua for any individual found violating the law under the provision.

Under the present law, lascivious acts against a minor below 12 years are penalized with reclusion temporal in its medium period while the same act committed against a child above 12 years but below 18 years of age is penalized with reclusion temporal in its medium period to reclusion perpetua.

In other words, the penalty is lower despite the fact that the victim is younger. Go also cited a 2019 Supreme Court case, People v. Tulagan, which called for “corrective legislation” to address the incongruent penalties.

“Mariin po nating tinututulan ang pang-aabuso sa ating mga kabataan. Kaya naman po isinusulong ko ang panukalang ito sa Senado upang masiguro na protektado ang ating mga kabataan laban sa mga ganitong pang-aabuso,” Go said in his previous statements.

The amendment to the Anti-Rape Law of 1997 is in keeping with the recommendation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to determine a more appropriate age for sexual consent.

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PHILIPPINES REPORTS 3,126 NEW COVID-19 CASES, 43 NEW DEATHS

MANILA — The Philippines recorded 3,126 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, according to latest data from the Department of Health (DOH), bringing the country's total confirmed coronavirus infections to 3,867,071.

This is the 11th straight day that additional daily infections were less than 4,000, noted ABS-CBN Data Analytics Team head Edson Guido.

Forty-three new deaths were also reported, raising the total number of people in the country who succumbed to the respiratory disease to 61,519.

Active cases stood at 31,037, while those who recovered from the illness have now reached 3,774,515.

‘DUAL INFECTION’ OF MONKEYPOX, COVID RAISED

An infectious disease expert warned on Thursday that COVID-19 and monkeypox could hit a person at the same time.

Dr. Rontgene Solante, head of the adult infectious diseases unit of San Lazaro Hospital, said it is not uncommon that a “dual infection” could happen.

“The fact that the person has COVID means his immune system is weakened in its response to infection,” Solante said in Filipino, in an interview with ABS-CBN News. “You add monkeypox and that can trigger a more serious infection.”

“It can be a critical or more severe form of monkeypox or the other way around. COVID can also be more severe,” he added.

Solante’s comment came after Italy reported a person infected by COVID-19 and monkeypox, as well as HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

According to the Journal of Infection, the patient is 36 years old, experienced fever with sore throat, fatigue, headaches and other symptoms for nine days when he went to Spain, where he had sex without protection.

The Department of Health (DOH) said it has not yet established the local transmission of monkeypox in the country, even as it traced 18 close contacts of the second monkeypox case – all but one of them health workers.

DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire also said it asked a regional office to investigate pictures of a monkeypox patient circulating on social media.

Vergeire said the unauthorized disclosure of private and confidential information about a patient’s medical condition violates the country’s existing laws.

The DOH is also talking to two monkeypox vaccine manufacturers for the country to receive its first doses.

ALAMIN: BENEPISYO NG PHILHEALTH KONSULTA PROGRAM

Ano ang mga benepisyo ng Konsulta Program ng PhilHealth?

Ayon kay Dr. Shirley Domingo, vice president ng corporate affairs ng PhilHealth, kasama sa primary care package ng ahensiya ang konsulta. Kabilang dito ang consultation, laboratory tests at medicines pero sa limitadong cases kagaya ng hypertension at diabetes.

Sakop ng Universal Health Care Law ang programa ng PhilHealth.

Walang dagdag sa kontribusyon ang bagong Konsulta Program ng PhilHealth.

Ani Domingo, target ng PhilHealth na magkaroon ng 1,375 healthcare providers upang mag serbisyo sa 27.5 milyong populasyon ngayong taon.

SPORTS

FIBA WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS: LEBANON FRUSTRATES GILAS PILIPINAS ANEW

Lebanon continued its mastery over Gilas Pilipinas, handing the Filipinos an 85-81 loss in the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers early Friday morning (Manila time).

Playing before a jampacked crowd at the Nouhad Naufal Sports Complex, the Lebanese squad took advantage of Gilas' unforced turnovers and rebounding problems despite the presence of NBA star, naturalized player Jordan Clarkson.

Wael Arakji remained as the biggest thorn in Gilas side, scoring the biggest shots down the stretch to give Lebanon the win.

The Filipinos were making a run for it in the final quarter, but Arakji came through, scoring 5 straight points including a corner 3 that stunned Gilas in the last 16.3 seconds.

Arakji finished the game with 24 points, while Amir Saoud made a killing from the perimeter for a total of 17 markers.

The Philippines was leading 17-8 against Lebanon on Clarkson's lead early in the match, but turnovers hurt Gilas. The Filipinos ended up committing 21 turnovers.

Gilas tried to fight back in the payoff period and momentarily held the lead courtesy of Clarkson and Dwight Ramos. However, Arakji took over for the Lebanese side.

Clarkson finished with 27 markers while Ramos ended up with 18.

The Philippines was looking to avenge a 95-80 loss to Lebanon last July.

Lebanon beat the Philippines in the group stage of the FIBA Asia Cup and went on to reach the final, where it lost a narrow decision to defending champion Australia.

INDICATORS

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it ill behoves any of us to find fault with the rest of us. - James Truslow Adams