MANILA: The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is looking to register 2 million new voters before the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) next year.   Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said they are expecting Filipinos to register as regular and youth voters during the voter registration period which resumed on Monday.   “That is the minimum initial assessment based on the last voter registration in July, where we had 3 million new applications,” he said in an interview on Monday.   He said the figures include an estimated 1 million regular voters and 1 million youth voters.   Meanwhile, Laudiangco

MANILA : The Sandiganbayan handed guilty verdicts to the former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Central Visayas director and 12 others for graft charges arising from the multibillion peso government supply contracts when Cebu province hosted the 2007 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.   The 174-page decision of the Seventh Division promulgated Dec. 2 and published online recently sentenced ex-regional director Robert Lala, assistant regional director Marlina Alvizo, maintenance division chief Pureza Fernandez, and Bids and Awards Committee technical working group members Agustinito Hermoso, Luis Galang, Cresencio Bagolor, Ayaon Manggis, Marilyn Ojeda and Teresa Bernido to

MANILA: The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Monday warned motorists that traffic enforcers will continue to issue traffic citation tickets to erring drivers despite a moratorium on the confiscation of driver’s licenses.   In a Laging Handa briefing, MMDA spokesperson Melissa Carunungan said traffic tickets issued to motorists would have to be settled with the office of the apprehending officer such as the local government unit (LGU), the MMDA, or the Land Transportation Office (LTO).   “May moratorium sa pangungumpiska sa lisensya pero ililista ng LGUs ang lahat ng nahuli at ibibigay po ito sa LTO; ito ay iri-record

MANILA: The regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the National Capital Region (NCR) has been relieved from his post following the buy-bust in Taguig City, where a ranking official and two agents were arrested.   In a press briefing at Camp Bagong Diwa Monday, PDEA Director General Moro Virgilio Lazaro announced that Emerson Rosales is the new chief of PDEA-NCR, replacing Christian Frivaldo.   “He (Rosales) is now the new regional director for NCR,” Lazo said.   Rosales was the PDEA-Western Visayas director before his designation as PDEA-NCR chief.   Lazo also announced that all the

BACOLOD CITY: The Negros Occidental provincial government is hopeful that Covid-19 cases will continue to drop even as patients are still being admitted at the Cadiz District Hospital (CDH) in Cadiz City.   Latest data from the Provincial Incident Management Team showed there are still 287 active cases, mostly reported by local government units (LGUs) in northern Negros, while 28 patients, which is equivalent to 31 percent occupancy, are now confined in the hospital.   “We hope our Covid-19 cases will continue to go down,” Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz II told reporters on Monday.   In October, the CDH’s occupancy