It’s not a simple postponement proposal. The identical bills filed in the Senate and the House of Representatives do not just seek to delay again the schedule of the first regular elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). They also seek to change the composition of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) as...
Members of the House of Representatives’ quad committee on Wednesday expressed frustration at the seeming passiveness of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) in seeking a freeze on the assets of Chinese nationals who had illegally acquired land and other properties in the country, including a warehouse in Mexico, Pampanga, which is under investigation since 2023...
SAN SALVADOR ISLAND, Zambales—At first glance, 60-year-old Fernando Avilla looked like he had been spearfishing for some time as he rested with his gear in his wooden boat. It was not fish in his net though but bits of coal he had retrieved underwater. Avila and most fishermen on San Salvador Island off Masinloc, Zambales,...
Confronted publicly for the first time by two of his fiercest critics, former senators Leila de Lima and Antonio Trillanes IV, former president Rodrigo Duterte gestured as if to hit them in separate occasions on Wednesday at the 11th hearing of the House of Representatives’ quad committee. It was Trillanes who appeared to enrage Duterte...
Before September, the first regular elections next year in the five-year old Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) were already shaping up to be a highly anticipated event. Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan, who announced his bid to become the BARMM’s chief minister last May, was set to face whoever would emerge as the contender...
COTABATO CITY—With reporters in tow, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia flew into the city on a C-130 plane early Monday, Nov. 4, to witness the opening of the six-day filing of certificates of candidacy (CoCs) and manifestations of intent to participate (MIPs) in the May 2025 elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in...
A former customs intelligence officer told the House of Representatives’ quad committee on Thursday that he wept on seeing ex-colonel Eduardo Acierto because of “anger and joy” that they are both still alive after losing their men to the “Davao Mafia” that prospered during then President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. Jimmy Guban, who is serving a...
MASINLOC, Zambales—As leader of the San Salvador Biodiversity Friendly Association, Edna Sarmiento is committed to conservation projects such as planting mangroves, monitoring environmental violations, and pushing cleanups in the Masinloc-Oyon Bay Protected Seascape and Landscape (MOBPLS). This is why Sarmiento and her group were gravely alarmed when, last Oct. 24, a barge carrying more than...
MASINLOC, Zambales—Local residents are worried about a marine disaster after a barge carrying more than 11,000 metric tons (MT) of coal ran aground last week in a fish sanctuary within a government-declared protected seascape off this town. Nestor Dait, 67, the chair of the Bantay Dagat civilian volunteer group in Masinloc, said the barge Katapatan...
(Last of two parts) The Sanggunian Kabataan (SK) law and Bangsamoro Electoral Code define and prohibit political dynasties. However, these laws only cover the SK and Bangsamoro parliamentary elections. In national and local elections, clans continue to consolidate political and economic power. Based on the electoral plans for May 2025 of district representatives belonging to...
