MANILA – Malacañang on Thursday called on the public, especially those who will be affected by Typhoon Kiko (international name Chanthu) and Tropical Storm Jolina (international name Conson), to stay vigilant and coordinate with local governments. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made the call, as he ensured that the Palace is closely monitoring the developments of the operations for “Jolina” and preparations for “Kiko”. “We ask the public to continue to remain alert and vigilant, take precautionary measures, observe minimum public health standards, and cooperate with their respective local authorities in case of an evacuation,” Roque said in a press statement.
MANILA – Monetary penalties collected by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) from violations among BSP-supervised financial institutions (BSFIs) amounted to around PHP859 million from 2018 until 2020. In a virtual briefing on Thursday, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said PHP7.2 million of the said amount were imposed on directors, trustees, officers/or employees of the regulated institutions. “Top violations include non-compliance with BSP issuances on mandatory credit and other BSP regulatory requirements,” he said. He noted that violations of banking laws as well as BSP rules and regulations “result in safety and soundness concerns and are rooted on issues in corporate
MANILA – Deputy Speaker Eddie Villanueva on Thursday said the government should strengthen its information dissemination on its policy of setting a lowered price cap on real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing in the country. Villanueva said the Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Trade and Industry should make their messaging “unambiguous” and execute a “more vigorous information dissemination” campaign regarding the recent circular imposing a price limit on RT-PCR testing, which aims to “benefit Filipinos by enabling them to reduce healthcare-related expenses and preserve their pandemic-stricken savings.” The Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) party-list lawmaker said intensifying information
_:MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) has clarified “the doctrine of strained relations” between employers and their workers in labor cases and when such may merit the payment of separation pay in lieu of reinstating an employee. In a resolution recently made available online, the court made the clarification in a case where it denied the petition filed by a plumber, Daniel Candelaria against his employer, air conditioning and industrial ventilation firm Kalayaan Engineering Co. Inc. (KECI). The SC’S Second Division upheld a Court of Appeals (CA) ruling, saying the latter did not err in directing Candelaria’s reinstatement to his
ANKARA – Goldman Sachs has lowered its forecast of the United States (US) economic growth for this year to 5.7 percent from 6.2 percent. This marked the second time in a month that the New York-based multinational investment bank and financial services company has cut its gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for the US after Aug. 18 when it steeply lowered the third-quarter estimate to 5.5 percent from 9 percent. Goldman Sachs said the downgrade reflects “a larger effect of the Delta variant on services spending,” adding: “Although we expect the Delta setback to be brief, two longer-standing concerns pose
MANILA – State auditors and prosecutors will be fielded as resident ombudsmen in government agencies starting this month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Thursday. “The Office of the Ombudsman (OMB), the Commission on Audit (COA), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) under which prosecutors and state auditors will be deputized as resident ombudsmen in graft prone agencies of the government. The OMB, COA, and DOJ shall jointly enter into agreements with partner agencies for the deployment of the resident ombudsmen which is expected to start rolling this month,” Justice Undersecretary Neil Bainto
