(Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN)
The Senate received from the Palace President Duterte’s certification of Senate Bill No. 1945 “in order to address the strategic deficiencies in our anti-moeny laundering and countering terrorism financing legal framework and avoid adverse findings against the country.”
It comes at a time as international watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommended the strengthening of the country’s AMLA to prevent the Philippines from being grey-listed or tagged as high-risk for money laundering or terrorism financing.
Senators, however, were surprised after the President’s certification included certain conditions, which they noted was a first.
ICT group presses Congress to pass bills on Open Access, Faster Internet Services
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The Better Broadband Alliance (BBA) has called on Congress to pass the Open Access in Data Transmission and Faster Internet Services bills to address poor Internet access, especially in the rural areas.
In a letter sent to House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and Senate President Vicente Sotto III, BBA urged the passage of two key policy reforms to heed Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s repeated calls to improve telecommunications and Internet services.
Citing data from various sources, BBA claimed that Covid-19 and the lockdown restrictions have forced many sectors to deliver services online and revealed the poor state of Internet access. Millions of Filipinos are still unable to access the Internet, including 55% of adult Filipinos, 82% of households, and 83% of all enrolled students in public schools.
Vigilance needed to ensure corrupt-free govt COVID vaccination program: Pangilinan
THE taxpaying public need to be vigilant in how the government would spend their money, particularly on its COVID response and vaccination program, Senator Francis Kiko Pangilinan said Wednesday.
Pangilinan, who spearheaded the move to convene the Senate Committee of the Whole hearing on the government s COVID vaccination program, said the government should be transparent in its plans for vaccine procurement to ensure that not a single peso is wasted or corrupted. Hindi pa tayo nakakabawi sa nawawalang 15-bilyon-pisong PhilHealth funds at sa pagwawaldas ng pera ng bayan sa Manila Bay white sands. Kailangan nating maging mapagbantay kung paano gagastusin ang pondo para sa bakuna, at maging ang buong pondo ng gobyerno (We are still reeling from the still unsolved issues of missing P15-billion PhilHeath funds and from other wanton spending of people s money such as the Manila Bay white sands. We hav
Published December 16, 2020, 10:33 PM
Senate President Vicente Sotto III dismissed on Wednesday the report issued by International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda that there is basis behind the claims that crimes against humanity have been committed in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
Sen. Vicente Sotto III (Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN)
Sotto cited figures from law enforcement agencies Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to counter Bensouda’s initial findings.
“From July, 2016 to Oct[ober], 2020, PDEA and PNP have conducted 178,616 anti-illegal drug operations…where 259,296 drug personalities were arrested…5,903 died during operations…seized drugs amount to a total value of P54.02 billion,” Sotto told reporters in a message.
Imee Marcos sponsors hybrid elections bill
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 15) Senator Imee Marcos is pushing for a hybrid mode of manual and automated elections, citing a supposed lack of transparency in the current voting system.
The senator, who chairs the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms and People s Participation, endorsed for plenary approval Senate Bill 1950 or the Hybrid Election Act during Monday s session.
The bill seeks the conduct of a hybrid election to ensure transparency and credibility of the electoral process. It consolidates previous bills on hybrid polling which she and Senate President Vicente Sotto III previously filed.