PH ‘PROGRESSIVELY’ BUILDING MILITARY AMID WPS TENSIONS – AÑO
File photo dated July 27, 2016 shows President Duterte during a National Security Council meeting attended by four former presidents including (from left) Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Fidel V. Ramos and Benigno Aquino III. Presidential Spokesman Harry NEWS / A2 Roque says Malacanang is inclined to ask the four ex-presidents to attend a meeting on issues besetting the West Philippine Sea. NSC file
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VOL. XXXVIII • NO. 135 • 2 SECTIONS 12 PAGES JUNE 30, 2024
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‘EX-CABINET OFFICIAL BACKED ILLEGAL POGOS’
BINI BEATS TAY TAY AS MOST SEARCHED ON YT BY PINOYS SHOWBIZ | B2
DOJ: TEVES EXTRADITED LIKELY BY LATE JULY NEWS | A2
PAGCOR CHIEF VOWS TO UNMASK ‘LOBBYISTS’
By Charles Dantes
Tengco said the number of licensees went down from 298 during the previous administration to only 43 under the Marcos government. “What we need to question, in the first place, was how those 298 POGO licensees were able to secure their licensees in the past because clearly, during our cleansing process, we found most of them to be ineligible and outright suspicious,” Tengco said. “We are also ready to reveal the roles of other controversial individuals behind these criminal POGO enterprises,” he added. The agency is also investigating the role of other former officials and their conduits in lobbying for the grant of licenses to POGO applicants
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FORMER Cabinet official tried to facilitate the grant of gaming licenses to some of the illegal POGOs that have been recently raided and found engaged in illegal activities, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco said. “It is in the interest of the government to crack the whip against illegal operators, including the so-called offshore gaming operators or POGOs and their backers, because the criminal activities associated with their illegal operations pose serious threats to our people,” he said in a
statement issued on Saturday. Tengco said he will “reveal in the proper forum the identity of the former Cabinet member who had been lobbying for illegal POGOs, as well as the circumstances that led to the proliferation of illegal and criminal offshore gaming operations.”
with dubious backgrounds, he said. “As a regulator, it is our mandate to ensure that only those with valid licenses are allowed to operate all forms of gambling and gaming activities, whether these are landbased casinos or online platforms,” Tengco said. For his part, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian warned there may be more foreign nationals pretending to be Filipinos after the National Bureau of I nvestigation said suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo and Chinese national Guo Hua Ping are the same person based on their matching fingerprints. “I think there are many more ‘Alice Guo’ out there. They are not just as high profile,” Gatchalian told Teleradyo Serbisyo.
PFP, NUP FORGE ALLIANCE PACT FOR ‘UNITED’ PH By Charles Dantes and Maricel V. Cruz
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos led the signing of an alliance between his political party, the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) and the National Unity Party (NUP) in a bid to forge stronger political ties for the upcoming 2025 midterm polls. “It is good to see that we are still solidly behind the concept of unification, which we started before the 2022 elections,” said Mr. Marcos, who is also the PFP chairman. “When you hear that phrase ‘marriage of convenience,’ then let us answer them: No. Unity is, in fact, our ideology. This is not just to win the next elections but to make the Philippines a better place,” he added. He acknowledged that some would view alliances as typical political maneuverings but he underscored the ideological basis for the partnership – in particular for an inclusive Bagong Pilipinas. “We speak now of unity, of Bagong Pilipinas – transforming the country to a better place,” President Marcos declared. NUP president and Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said the alliance marked the “logical conclusion” of two years of close ALLIANCE PACT. President Marcos witnesses the signing of an alliance pact between the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) working partnership and the National Unity Party (NUP) at the Manila Golf and Country Club in Makati City on Saturday, June 29, 2024. He was joined by with Mr. Marcos and PFP National President South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. (left) and NUP Chairman Ronaldo Puno (right). PPA POOL his administration.
NEXT DEPED CHIEF MUST ‘BRING UP PH TEST SCORES’ – MARCOS By Charles Dantes PRESIDENT Marcos on Saturday said he would need more time to choose the next Education Secretary, acknowledging that the Cabinet portfolio entails “complicated” work as he needs someone who can “bring up the test scores” in the country. “Simply put, I struggled to choose because the work of DepEd is very complicated. We have to see really what the DepEd needs,” he said. “Of course, there are many calls for the new secretary to be an educator. There are many calls for the new secretary to be an administrator. There are new calls for a historical professor. All of these, and they are all valid concerns. That’s what education is all about,” Mr. Marcos added. The President earlier said he would name a new DepEd chief by the weekend after Vice President Sara Duterte tendered her resignation on June 19. Asked if he has a shortlist, Mr. Marcos said: “I’m not going to let you tie me down to anything. We’re looking at everyone. We don’t make a shortlist.” Earlier, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) said the Philippines logged a mean score of 14 on the creative thinking performance of 15-year-old students.
8,000 LEYTE RESIDENTS GET P5K AID, RICE PACKAGE By Maricel V. Cruz
GOV’T AID. Speaker Martin Romualdez leads the Cash and Rice Distribution (CARD) program for 5,000 beneficiaries at Tacloban City Astrodome on Saturday, June 29, 2024. Ver Noveno
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TWO programs initiated last year by Speaker Martin Romualdez yesterday benefited a total of 8,000 qualified residents in Leyte, each receiving P5,000 in financial assistance as well as rice packages. Romualdez personally led the distribution ceremonies of the Cash and Rice Distribution (CARD) Program and the Integrated Scholarship and Incentives for the Youth (ISIP for the Youth) Program in the province. “We will continue to help our countrymen who need help, those from vulnerable sectors and our college students,” he said. The CARD and ISIP Program distribution usually coincides with the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF), which rolls out millions of pesos in
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services and financial assistance to many qualified sectors in the country. “These two programs are important for us in Congress because they directly help the sector of qualified students, senior citizens, PWDs, indigenous peoples, single parents and many others,” the Speaker said. For the CARD program, a total of 5,000 qualified beneficiaries from Leyte each received P5,000 in financial aid through the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) Program and 20 kilograms of rice in a simple ceremony held at the Tacloban Astrodome in Tacloban City. A total of 3,000 qualified beneficiaries in Leyte under the ISIP program each received P5,000 each, also through the DSWD’s AICS, and 5 kilograms of rice at the Alba Hall of the Leyte Normal University.
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