March 30, 2009 Major News Stories

DOLE conducts 'Jobapalooza' on May 1

Hundreds of thousands of local and overseas employment will be offered particularly to displaced workers and new graduates in the biggest, simultaneous job fairs nationwide on May 1, 2009.

Layoff concerns easing — gov't

OVER 121,000 WORKERS have either lost their jobs, suffered pay cuts or had work loads reduced because of the economic crisis but with the pace of retrenchments easing, the government is no longer counting job losses, the Labor department said.

TUCP may defer seeking wage hike

Workers who are expecting a package of financial relief on Labor Day may be in for disappointment.

Union recognized by Anita's not incumbent

Amidst allegations of "union raiding" by the Anita's Home Bakeshop Workers Union-Alliance of Nationalist and Genuine Labor Organization-Kilusang Mayo Uno, the militant labor group insists that the Anita's Home Bakeshop Incorporated Employees Association is not the incumbent union of Anita's Home Bakeshop Inc.

Malunggay eyed vs poverty

Proving that it is indeed a super vegetable, Malacañang has tapped "malunggay" (moringa) in the fight against poverty and climate change.  The government has sought the cooperation of malunggay farmers in helping alleviate poverty and save the environment because the vegetable can improve air quality, reduce the incidence of floods and lessen hunger and malnutrition.

LTO chief makigtagbo sa transport groups

Gikatakdang makigtagbo si Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief Arturo Lomibao ngadto sa mga transport operators sa Sugbu niining semanaha.

Guingona backs plea of transport groups

President Gloria Arroyo should direct the Land Transportation Office to stop the implementation of Department Order 2008-39, which increases the fines and penalties for traffic violations, said Deputy Minority Leader Rep. Teofisto Guingona III.

Suspend franchise

THE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory (LTFRB) 7 banned EDC Liner from allowing its other mini-buses to ply their routes starting today.

Aksidente sa Naga leksyon sa mga drayber 

Gipanghinaut sa mayor sa dakbayan sa Naga, Valdemar Chiong, nga maleksiyon ang mga drayber nga magpahaguros sa ilang sakyanan ang aksidente niadtong Sabado sa buntag sa Tuyan nga mikalas og 14 ka tawo.

Milugos ug mipatay sa 13 anyos kasohan 

Mga kasong pagpanglugos ug pagpatay ipasaka sa kapolisan karong adlawa batok sa unom ka dinakpan sa pagpanglugos ug pagpatay sa 13-anyos nga dalagita niadtong Miyerkules sa gabii sa sitio Lukata, Looc, Lapulapu City.  Pasakaan sa kaso ang 19 anyos nga si Victorio Oyames.

Ang biktima giingong sakop sa Youngster giunay ra sa mga kauban niya sa grupo.

Ang biktima namatay gumikan sa 70 ka dinunggaban sa Batangas knife ug ice pick.

Si Senior Superintendent Mariano Natuel, hepe sa kapolisan sa Lapulapu, nagkanayon nga sa unom ka suspetsado, ang kasong rape with homicide in relation sa Republic Act 7610, adto ipasaka batok kang Oyames, kay siya ray hamtong.

Ang laing lima nga nagpanuigon og 13, 14, 16 ug 17, ipaubos pa sa pag-atiman sa Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Inmate 'shot' by cop inside cell

A DETAINEE was shot dead inside a police station yesterday dawn after he allegedly tried to grab a policeman's gun. PO2 Ramil Tanggol, 27, is now detained at the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) stockade following the death of Mark Anthony "Makmak" Generali, 19, inside the Waterfront Police Station detention cell.

Sitoy nangayo'g dugang polis

Giawhag ni Mayor Adelino   Sitoy sa Cordova ang hepe sa kapolisan sa Sugbo paghatag og dugang olis alang sa Cordova aron mapalig-on ang ilang kampanya batok sa krimen.

Vintage bomb gipatimbang

Daling gitugyan ngadto sa kapolisan sa nanag-iya og junkshop ang vintage bomb sa ikaduhang gubat sa kalibutan nga gibaligya sa wala magpailang lalaki sa barangay Panadtaran, San Fernando niadtong Sabado sa alas 6 sa buntag.

Reds celebrate 40th NPA anniversary

 The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Sunday congratulated its armed wing, the New People's Army, on the 40th anniversary of its founding.

CHR probes summary killings in Davao 

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is slated to investigate starting today the series of summary executions in this southern metropolis that has largely been blamed on the vigilante group "Davao Death Squad."

Neck-and-neck race to succeed Arroyo

VICE-PRESIDENT Noli L. de Castro has lost ground in a new Social Weather Stations survey on the best leader to succeed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo next year, with his latest ranking statistically putting him in a neck and neck race with senators Manuel B. Villar and Loren B. Legarda.  From 31% in December last year, Mr. de Castro is now favored by 27% of survey respondents, followed closely by Mr. Villar at 26% and Ms. Legarda at 25%. The latest results, made exclusive to BusinessWorld, also showed declines for both Mr. Villar (from 27%) and Ms. Legarda (from 28%) but in absolute terms the gap was enough for the former to regain second place.

Moving up, meanwhile, were senators Francis G. Escudero who, while still in fourth place, found 23% favoring him from 19% previously, and Manuel A. Roxas, who jumped two places to fifth with 15% from 10% in December.

The SWS survey, conducted from February 20-23, used face to face interviews of 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. Sampling error margins were ±3% for national and ±6% for area percentages.

Former fifth placer senator Panfilo M. Lacson fell to 6^th (14%, the same as in December), while the former holder of that spot, ex-President Joseph E. Estrada, fell a notch to 7^th(13% from 11%).

Arroyo seeking Congress seat real--JDV

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo can run for a congressional seat in her hometown Pampanga if efforts of the House of Representatives to change the Constitution through a constituent assembly (Con-ass) would fail, ousted Speaker and Pangasinan Representative Jose de Venecia Jr. said.

No lavish party on Arroyo birthday—Palace

Expect no lavish party for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's 62nd birthday this April 5, a spokesman for the President said Sunday.

Nograles: 'No stopping Chacha'

House Speaker Prospero Nograles said there is already no stopping the debate on the proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution when Congress reconvenes next month after the Lenten break.

BF tinataboy ng Lakas

Sinabi ni Lakas-CMD spokesman Ed Malay na itinataboy ng partido si MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando matapos umanong takutin nito ang mga miyembro na iiwan niya ang partido kung hindi siya ang iiendorso sa pagkapangulo sa 2010 elections.

'I'm not joining the administration' - Chiz

Sen. Francis Escudero said there is no talk for a merger of the Nationalist People's Coalition with the administration party Lakas-Kammpi for the 2010 elections.

Chief Justice pressed to run for president

A group led by a former justice undersecretary is pressing Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno to run for president in 2010, despite his earlier pronouncement that he would not enter the political ring.  Jose Calida, the national president and founder of the Movement to Elect Non-Trapos (MEN), said no one among the presidential aspirants could come close to Puno in terms of honesty and integrity.

2 senator's bodyguards draw gun at NAIA

Two alleged bodyguards of an opposition senator were charged by the Philippine National Police-Aviation Security Guard (PNP-ASG) with grave threats after one of the suspects pulled out a gun during a routine police check in front of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3).  The PNP-ASG identified the two men as retired Navy man Arthur Llewelyn Benaguit and private security officer Jusepit Factor.

Abductors repeat threat, partial pullout

The Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group repeated its threat to harm three Red Cross hostages as the rebels insisted on a complete pullout of government troops in Jolo where the hostages are held.

Cyber spies hack into DFA computers

The computer network of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has been infiltrated by a cyber spy network based mainly in China, Canadian researchers said on Saturday.

HK scribe calls RP "nation of servants"

A non-government organization providing assistance to migrant Filipino workers on Sunday scored a Hong Kong journalist for describing the Philippines as a "nation of servants" in his magazine column.  Chip Tsao should be blacklisted as an "undesirable foreign employer" for allegedly using his Filipino house help as "pawn" in the Spratlys controversy.

Tsao mocked the Philippines as a "nation of servants" in his column called "The War At Home" that appeared in HK Magazine last March 27.

Tsao reportedly warned his Filipino maid that she would lose her wages if she would not tell her fellow Filipinos that Spartly Islands belong to China.

Obama's 1st overseas trip

President Barack Obama heads to London Tuesday for his first overseas trip since taking office, to take part in the economic summit of 20 major and developing nations that together represent more than 85 percent of the global economy.

Obama: Won't speed up Iraq pull out

President Barack Obama says he won't consider speeding up the troop pullout from Iraq even though security has improved and violence has decreased.

Tainted pepper recalled in California

The California government has ordered a recall of pepper tainted with salmonella after at least 33 people fell ill after eating the pepper, health officials confirmed yesterday.

Six killed in US nursing home shooting

A gunman stormed a nursing home in Carthage, North Carolina on yesterday morning, fatally shooting six people and injuring at least two others including a police officer, local police said.

Arum seeks Pacquiao's yearend foe

With divergent opinions as to whether or not Floyd Mayweather Jr. would make the perfect yearend foe for Manny Pacquiao, Top Rank chief Bob Arum has decided to look at yet another face—and possibly, in another weight division.  The 80-year-old American promoter said Pacquiao could be ranged against junior middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. late this year in what could be another classic Philippines-Mexico clash.

PBA board meets on new format, RP five 

The format for the next Philippine Basketball Association season will be tackled on Monday and Tuesday when the board holds a planning session in Cebu.

Ginebra looking for import replacement

Ginebra coach Jong Uichico said they would evaluate the performance of Rod Nealy during the Lenten break and decide whether an import change is necessary to put the Gin Kings back in the hunt for a second straight PBA reinforced crown.

Alma soon to be a Muslim?

Mr. and Mrs. Fahad Salic (nee Alma Moreno)

Now that she's married to a Muslim, will Alma Moreno become a Muslim, too?

She just might be...soon!

Her exes, Dolphy and Joey Marquez, are happy for Alma. And so are her children who include Vandolph (by Dolphy), Mark Anthony Fernandez (by the late Rudy Fernandez) and four by Joey (Yeoj, Wynwyn, VJ and Em-Em), all of whom were present at the Vista Mar Resort in Cebu City last March 21 when Alma married Marawi City Mayor Fahad U. Salic in Muslim rites.

Zanjoe romanticaly linked to a French girl

 Actor Zanjoe Marudo has flatly denied that he dated a girl in Paris, France while taping for a Filipino adaptation of hit Korean televenovela Lovers in Paris.

Joyce will be a mom soon!

Joyce Jimenez and her husband, Paul Eli Egbalic, are expecting their first child sometime in November this year.

Low pressure area to bring rains 

The low pressure area (LPA) off Mindanao is unlikely to develop into a tropical cyclone but it is expected to bring rains over some parts of the country until Wednesday.

P. J. O'Rourke  - "If government were a product, selling it would be illegal."