The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in the Philippines have been urged by the Filipino senator Francis Tolentino to consider non-defense allies such as Norway and the Netherlands.
A measure promoting the use of waste-to-energy (WTE) technologies, in a bid to ease the environmental burden of unmanaged solid waste while securing more energy sources, has advanced in the Senate Tuesday after it was reported out for plenary approval. The measure was sponsored by Senate energy committee chairman Sen.…
Senators gave mixed reactions to reports of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to proceed with its prosecutor’s investigation of the Duterte-era bloody war on drugs. The chairman of the Senate’s Justice and Human Rights panel, Sen. Francisco Tolentino, said the decision, announced in The Hague on Tuesday afternoon (Manila time),…
• RITZY R. MALO-OY Negros Occidental 2nd District Rep. Thirdy Marañon and Sagay City Vice Mayor Leo Rafael Cueva, on behalf of Mayor Narciso Javelosa Jr.,
Supreme Court (File photo) MANILA - The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the conviction by the Sandiganbayan of a former vice mayor in Iloilo province for graft and falsification in connection with a spurious council resolution passed in 1996 to authorize quarrying. The SC's Second Division dismissed the appeal filed by ex-Maasin vice mayor Arnaldo Partisala who was charged in 1999 for making it appear that a municipal resolution was passed to authorize private individual Helen Lee Tan's firm to engage in massive quarrying in the guise of rechanneling the Tigum River. Also sued were former mayor Rene Mondejar; Sangguniang Bayan secretary Francisco Tolentino; and Sanggunian members Ildefonso Espejo, Margarita Gumapas, Manuel Piolo, Roberto Velasco. Residents of Barangay Mabini-Rizal sued them over the destruction of the river due to quarrying activities in Barangay Naslo. In 1997, the provincial government said Maasin violated ordinances by quarrying without the necessary permit