The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) on Thursday opened its public interviews for candidates vying to become the next Ombudsman, tackling issues on graft, lifestyle checks, and reforms in the anti-corruption watchdog. First to face the JBC was former Commission on Audit chief and current Philippine Competition Commission chairperson Michael Aguinaldo, who vowed to inhibit himself from cases involving any …

The Pag-IBIG Fund has launched its Acquired Assets Super Sale, offering more than 30,000 foreclosed properties nationwide at discounts of up to 40 percent to make homeownership more affordable for Filipino workers. The nationwide sale, which began on Aug. 25, will run until Dec. 14 and covers both occupied and unoccupied properties.  Occupied units are available at discounts of up …

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno joined officials and members of the Association of Philippine Journalists – Samahang Plaridel Foundation (Samahang Plaridel) in celebrating the 175th birth anniversary of Filipino propagandist Marcelo H. del Pilar (a.k.a. Plaridel) at Plaridel’s monument in Malate, Manila. Mayor Moreno challenged the current crop of media practitioners to remain truthful amidst self-proclaimed journalists using social media platforms. …

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s recent order to conduct lifestyle checks on government officials, starting with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), is a move both necessary and long overdue. Sparked by an expanding investigation into alleged anomalies in flood control projects, this initiative has the potential to pierce through layers of deeply entrenched corruption. But only if it …

BEYOND ELLIPTICALBy Rose Marie de la Cruz The first step is to project an expected shortfall in onions, then the following day an announcement of the onions (red and yellow) to be imported come November.  This has been the pattern each year of the Department of Agriculture, which raises the question– why can’t we even produce enough so we don’t …

A command center that would manage the country’s food supply chain– ereging all commodities data from different agencies–  would soon be up and operating in November, as promised by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. As envisioned, the command center will consolidate critical data, including production, imports, stock levels, different types of the same products, movements, wholesale and retail prices, …

The  declaration by the President of a rice import ban, beginning September 1, would put heavy pressure on rice prices even with the increased local rice output. The US Department of Agriculture said the Philippines imported over 750,000 metric tons from mid-September to mid November in the last two years and that import demand during the import ban is pegged …

Aware of the huge cost in storing imported rice and buying new harvests of the local farmers, the Department of Agriculture has devised a scheme to compel accredited rice traders to hold part of the national rice reserves in their storage facilities as well as save part of their rice imports for government’s rice sufficiency program. It envisions a 50-50 …

PASSERBYBy Nestor Cuartero People say the ancient art of statesmanship has been lost on our senators and congressmen. Remember how in the past, we used to refer to their places of work as the “hallowed halls” or the “august halls” of Congress? Yet, kudos to Senator Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto for taking the high road, standing up against all odds, in …

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has condemned the killing of engineer and contractor Angelito Mendoza, 58, who was shot by unidentified assailants while on his way to a quarry site in Santa Catalina, Negros Oriental on Wednesday. “It is only right to investigate that so we can find out the root cause. And we condemn these acts of violence, as …