Category: General

MANILA: Around 500 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa were transferred this week to Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF) in Davao Del Norte as part of the continuing master decongestion plan of the Bureau of Corrections (Bucor).

In a statement, BuCor on Friday, Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. said the PDLs left the NBP on board 15 buses on March 16 and arrived on March 18 at DPPF.

They were escorted by 144 corrections officers composed of medical personnel, a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) Escort Team headed by CSINS Roberto Butawan, and assisted by the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

‘The transfer of PDLs from various operating prisons and penal farms is also part of our preparation for the closure of the NBP,’ Catapang said.

After-care program for PDLs

Catapang said he will also study the possibility of an after-care program for persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) who have been released from the correctio
n facilities.

Catapang was a resource person Friday morning together with Pastor Gary Galvez, who is a former PDL, at the Agenda forum at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan hosted by former Immigration Commissioner Siegfried Mison.

Galvez, who shared his experience as a former PDL, told Catapang that one of the programs lacking for PDL is the after-care program.

He narrated that when a PDL is released after serving his sentence, or after being paroled, they do not know what to do and where to go, especially those who do not want to go back to their families or have no families at all.

Catapang said it was an ‘eye-opener’ and vowed to look into the issue.

Source: Philippines News Agency

SAN JOSE DE BUENAVhISTA: Some 5,770 household members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program in Antique have availed of the electricity lifeline or subsidized rate program.

Jeffrey Gabucay, 4Ps Antique Provincial Link, said the electricity discount availed by indigent beneficiaries somehow alleviated their situations.

‘The household beneficiaries availing of the discount can use their money, supposedly to be paid for their electric bill, to meet their other needs,’ he said in an interview on Friday.

Antique Electric Cooperative, under General Manager Neal Peter Veñegas, said the lifeline rate program mandated by Republic Act 11552 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act 2001 provides discounts ranging from 20 percent to 100 percent in their monthly dues.

In a forum on Thursday, Pantawid Division Chief Belen Gebusion said Antique has the highest enrollees for the program in Western Visayas based on the Department of Energy data.

Regionwide, there are 34,969 household beneficiaries.

Gebusion, meanwh
ile, said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has also disbursed PHP7.09 billion in cash grants to 368,141 active members in Western Visayas.

‘There are also 82,041 household beneficiaries that have graduated and exited from the program in Western Visayas as of March 7 this year,’ she added.

From Antique, 10,248 beneficiaries graduated and exited the program after they were found self-sufficient and had no children of up to 18 years monitored in schools.

The DSWD also disbursed as of March 19 over PHP1.09 billion as social pension for 182,108 indigent senior citizens in the region; 22,878 came from Antique for the first semester of 2024.

Source: Philippines News Agency

Hanoi: Vietnamese fishing vessels’ infringements of foreign waters have gradually decreased over the past years, which is the clearest demonstration of the border guard and other forces’ moves to fight illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, an official has said.

Notably, violations of the waters of Pacific Islands nations such as Australia, Palau, New Caledonia, and Papua New Guinea have been eradicated since 2018, noted Col. Vu Van Hung, Deputy Chief of the Staff of the Border Guard High Command, in a recent interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency.

He said that placing importance on the IUU fishing combat, the High Command has seriously followed the directions given by the Party Central Committee, the Government, and the Ministry of National Defence while issuing a number of documents on concerted measures against IUU fishing. In particular, it launched a peak crackdown on IUU fishing through this April before the European Commission (EC) comes to Vietnam for the fifth inspection over the
issue.

During the campaign, it has been coordinating with the Party committees of coastal localities to enhance the leadership and directions over the work, increase personnel and vehicles for key border guard posts, and set up teams for patrolling islands, river mouths, estuaries where many unregistered and unlicensed fishing vessels or those without vessel monitoring systems (VMS) are often concentrated in to ensure all vessels operating at sea are eligible.

Another focal task the High Command has been performing is to work with local forces and administrations to boost communications and law dissemination to raise fishermen’s awareness, classify and make dossiers for strictly managing violating vessels and high-risk ones, and early detecting IUU practices to take timely counter-measures, Hung went on.

Besides, he added, it has maintained communication channels with other forces and localities in the IUU fishing combat.

To prevent and put an end to vessels’ infringement of foreign waters, the High Comma
nd will maintain close coordination with relevant forces and local authorities to strongly implement the Prime Minister and the Defence Ministry’s directions on urgent solutions to fight IUU fishing and lift the EC’s ‘yellow card’ warning.

It will effectively use the VMS system to monitor all fishing vessels at sea, detect any case of VMS connection rule violations, and demand the vessels going beyond the maritime boundary return to the Vietnamese waters in a timely manner.

Another important task is to order border guard units coordinate with local agriculture and fisheries authorities to make proper preparations for working sessions with the EC delegation, according to the official.

Vietnam has been working hard to carry out the EC’s recommendations about IUU fishing prevention and control, towards the goal of having the EC’s yellow card lifted.

The EC issued a ‘yellow card’ warning for Vietnam in this regard in 2017. The “yellow card” is followed by a “green card” if the problem is resolved or a “red ca
rd” if it is not. A ‘red card’ may lead to a ban on aquatic exports to the EU./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

RAJAH BUAYAN: Five members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) have voluntarily surrendered to military and local authorities here.

‘Four surrenderers belonged to the BIFF-Kagui Karialan faction while the fifth surrenderer is under the BIFF-Bungos faction with both groups operating in Maguindanao del Sur,’ Brig. Gen. Oriel Pangcog, the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade commander, said in a report to the Army’s 6th Infantry Division on Friday.

Pangcog said the former extremists conveyed their intention to rejoin mainstream society through Lt. Col. Udjie Villan, commander of the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion (IB).

Villan presented the surrenderers at the 33IB headquarters in Barangay Sapakan, Rajah Buayan, Maguindanao del Sur, on Thursday afternoon.

The group turned in a homemade 50-caliber Barrett sniper rifle and four Garand rifles to the military. In exchange, they initially received monetary and food packages from the government.

On March 10, nine BIFF members also surrendered to the militar
y after the death of their comrade and the arrest of their sub-leader as a result of military operations in the fringes of this town.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday said it collaborated with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite the process for the approval of the African swine fever (ASF) and the Avian Influenza (AI) vaccines.

At the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the move was in line with the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to fast-track the vaccine procurement to combat the effects of ASF and AI.

‘Isa po doon sa napag-usapan ay paano na po ma-harmonize iyong mga proseso at iyon pong mga approval process ay masigurado na iyong criteria na ginagawa ng Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) at ng FDA ay maayos na po para mapabilis iyong pag-approve (One of the topics discussed was how to harmonize the procedure and to ensure that the criteria in the approval process used by the BAI and FDA are organized to expedite the approval),” he said.

Discussions conducted between DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. and FDA Director General Dr. Samuel Zac
ate on Thursday involved the immediate approval of procedures for vaccines, bioproducts, and veterinary products.

Laurel and Zacate also discussed intensifying border control in partnership with the Bureau of Customs to combat the entry of illegal food products into the country.

The DA, meanwhile, earlier requested vaccine suppliers from the US and Vietnam to secure approval before the FDA.

ASF vaccines may be available by the year-end or early 2025, according to the DA.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Friday reminded BSP-Supervised Financial Institutions (BSFIs) offering PESONet and InstaPay services to ensure the availability of customer services during holidays and non-working days consistent with BSP Memorandum M-2023-011.

The BSP issued the reminder in anticipation of the public’s continued use of interoperable digital payment services over the holidays and long weekends.

“This reminder is likewise in line with the BSP’s broader efforts to promote financial consumer welfare,” the central bank said.

Memorandum M-2023-011 dated March 30, 2023 mandates all BSFIs participating in the PESONet and or InstaPay to ensure the continued availability and accessibility of their respective customer service such as hotlines and other support services to promptly and effectively provide assistance to clients regarding their PESONet and InstaPay-related concerns during non-working periods.

PESONet is a batch electronic funds transfer service that is a viable alterna
tive for checks and recurring payments.

InstaPay, meanwhile, is a real-time, low-value digital payments facility that can be used for more immediate payment transactions.

Source: Philippines News Agency