General

Manila: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has ‘made it clear’ that he will not abolish the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), National Security Council (NSC) Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said Wednesday. According to Philippines News Agency, Malaya conveyed this during a Palace press briefing in response to Gabriela Party-list’s call for Marcos to dismantle the task force. He emphasized that Marcos expressed satisfaction with the NTF-ELCAC’s achievements in combating communist insurgency during the 7th Executive Committee Meeting held at Malaca±ang. Malaya mentioned that the President highlighted the importance of capitalizing on the task force’s

Manila: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has expressed optimism that the new ambassadors of Colombia, Cambodia, and Ukraine to the Philippines would be instrumental in maintaining the three nations’ strong relations with Manila. According to Philippines News Agency, Marcos received the credentials of Ambassadors Edgar Rodrigo Rojas Garavito of Colombia, Sin Saream of Cambodia, and Yuliia Oleksandrivna Fediv of Ukraine in separate ceremonies at Malaca±an Palace in Manila on Tuesday. “I believe there’s more that we can do, that we can explore many other sectors, and strengthen and deepen the relations between our two countries,” Marcos told the Colombian ambassador,

Manila: Malaca±ang has declared April 5 a special non-working holiday in Pangasinan to mark the province’s 445th founding anniversary. The declaration was made through Proclamation No. 848, signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin by the authority of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and issued on Wednesday. According to Philippines News Agency, the proclamation stated, ‘It is but fitting and proper that the people of the Province of Pangasinan be given full opportunity to participate in the occasion and enjoy the celebration.’ Pangasinan first celebrated its founding anniversary on April 5, 2010. In August 2019, then-President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11374,

Prosperidad: Twenty farmers’ associations in Agusan del Sur province received composting facilities worth PHP19 million from the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Tuesday, marking a significant boost for organic agriculture in the Caraga region. According to Philippines News Agency, the Department of Agriculture-Caraga (Region 13) announced that the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) distributed the Composting Facility for Biodegradable Waste (CFBW) units at the Naliyagan Grounds in Prosperidad town as part of the Masagana Rice Industry Development Program. DA-13 Regional Technical Director Rebecca Atega highlighted the program’s triple benefits during the turnover ceremony. “These facilities will help reduce

Manila: The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday welcomed the Group of Seven’s (G7) recent objection to the ‘increasing use’ of dangerous maneuvers and water cannons against Philippine vessels in the South China Sea. According to Philippines News Agency, the G7 foreign ministers, who held a meeting in Charlevoix, Quebec in Canada from March 12 to 14, recently criticized ‘efforts to restrict freedom of navigation and overflight’ through militarization and coercion in the South China Sea, describing these actions as a violation of international law. The G7 condemned China’s ‘illicit, provocative, coercive, and dangerous actions’ in the Indo-Pacific and