The United Senior Citizens (USC) Party-list has decried what it said was disinformation launched against them by certain camps that want to promote their own misguided agenda. In a statement on Thursday, Rolleo Ignacio, 2nd nominee of the group, said there are people who want to discredit them, claiming that the party-list has been disqualified to mislead the voters this coming election. This came after recent surveys showed the strong performance of the party-list as it secured a spot in the Top 20. “We are somehow expecting this kind of scheme from others who are desperate for high rankings but

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday said four presidential and three vice presidential candidates have so far confirmed their attendance to the panel interview sessions to be aired by the poll body and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) next week. Comelec Commissioner George Garcia urged all presidential and vice presidential bets to attend the event. “We are really asking them to participate, other than the fact that this is their last hurrah. The KBP has 1,000 (members), try to imagine this opportunity,” he said in a press briefing. “They are paying to run their 30-second ads.

Senator Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian on Thursday said politics should not play a role in the renewal of franchises of public utilities. During a forum with representatives from the electricity sector, Gatchalian admitted that politics is indeed interfering in the franchise renewal. “Kapag politika po, walang tama at mali eh. Politika is politika. Whatever benefits you, yun po ang nagiging basis ng renewal (When it comes to politics, there is no right or wrong. Politics is politics. Whatever benefits you, it becomes the basis of the renewal),” he said. Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, assured the electric utilities

With only less than two weeks before election day, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday said the deployment of election paraphernalia including official ballots, vote counting machines, among others, is almost complete. Comelec Commissioner Aimee Ferolino said all ballot boxes and transmission devices have been delivered to local hubs. The deployment of vote counting machines is almost complete at 96.44 percent, external batteries 99.54 percent have been delivered, and 99.01 percent of the consolidated canvassing system laptop have been dispatched. As for the official ballots, 48 percent have been deployed. Meanwhile, the Comelec has allowed companions of persons with

UniTeam senatorial candidate Harry Roque has thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for supporting an alternative faith-based rehabilitation of young Filipino drug addicts relative to the government’s war on illegal drugs. “I told myself, this man is not the murderer that his critics portray him to be in the international community. The President is receptive to a church-based, Christ-centered therapeutic approach towards drug-dependent youth from the urban poor,” he said. “Contrary to the unfounded accusations against him, the President has a full grasp of the country’s drug problem and is open to alternative ways to solve it.” The former presidential spokesman said

The winner of the heaviest bangus (milkfish) in this year’s Bangus Festival Rodeo weighed 6.24 kilograms. In an interview on Thursday, Bangus Festival 2022 Secretariat head Maximo Tan said the return of the Bangus Rodeo is a sign of the good quality of milkfish products in the city and how the residents value the Dagupan Bangus. The Bangus Rodeo is one of the festival’s institutional events since its launch in 2002 under the leadership of then-Mayor Benjamin Lim, father of incumbent Mayor Brian Lim. Retired city agriculturist, now city consultant, Emma Molina, said: “We could glean from this activity that