Luis Liwanag/BenarNews
The Philippine human rights commission and the government said Monday they were investigating anti-communist insurgency operations by police that killed nine people over the weekend.
Those slain during raids in four provinces on Sunday were vocal critics of the Duterte administration, human rights groups alleged, but government officials defended the raids and said they were justified.
“Activists are not necessarily terrorists,” lawyer Jacqueline de Guia, a spokeswoman for the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), said in a statement.
“There should be a differentiation between those who take up arms and those who merely exercise their constitutional right to form and join associations, organizations as well as petition the government for redress of its grievances,” she said.
The rate war also comes on the back of continuous prodding by the monetary authority which has slashed the repo rates by a whopping 200 bps since March 2020 to 4 per cent to help revive the economy ravaged by the pandemic, but still credit demand remains under 6 per cent.
Gqeberha man found guilty of three murders, attempted murder By Herald Reporter - 06 March 2021
SERIOUS CHARGES: Neavan Demingo, 23, was found guilty of a gang-related triple murder and attempted murder Image: Eugene Coetzee
A Gqeberha man was found guilty in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Thursday of a gang-related triple murder and attempted murder.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Anelisa Ngcakani said Neaven Demingo, 23, had also been convicted on two charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.
On April 30 2019, Demingo and another man approached Austin Carlo Tembula, Fernando Oswald Ashia and a third man, who is not being named to protect his identity, near an electric substation in Hibiscus Street, Bethelsdorp.
By Herald Reporter - 05 March 2021
THEFT ACCUSED:
A file picture of attorney and director Phillip Masiza and his wife, Nomsa, who both appeared in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday Image: EUGENE COETZEE
An attorney charged with theft of R1.7m was granted bail of R10,000 in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Anelisa Ngcakani said Gqeberha-based attorney and director Phillip Masiza made a brief court appearance alongside his wife, Nomsa, an estate agent and owner of Masiza Khulile Properties and Auctioneers.
They are charged with six counts of theft, totalling just more than R1.7m.