General

Manila: Malaca±ang on Tuesday urged local farmers to seek local government units’ (LGUs) assistance for the direct selling of their palay (unhusked rice) to the National Food Authority (NFA). This call comes amid clarifications from Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro regarding the reasons behind the decline in palay prices. According to Philippines News Agency, Undersecretary Castro clarified that the significant drop in palay prices is not due to rice imports but rather a decrease in rice prices overall. “Based on the records, our imports are low. And it is not true that this is the

Manila: A petition has been filed before the Commission on Elections asking for the disqualification of the Pilipinas Babangon Muli (PBBM) party-list group for falsely suggesting an association with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. According to Philippines News Agency, in his petition dated March 7, lawyer Jess Christian Ramirez argued that the PBBM party-list could ‘mislead voters into believing there is an association between the party-list and the President when there is none.’ Ramirez contends that the party-list may be exploiting party-list registration for ‘political and financial motivations.’ The petition references the PBBM party-list’s registration with Comelec on September 21,

Iloilo City: Ilonggos on Tuesday remembered the heroism of thousands of Panay Guerilla Forces who stood their ground before Japanese forces and liberated Panay, Guimaras, and Romblon Islands 80 years ago. Wreaths were offered before the tombs of Col. Macario Peralta Jr. and his wife, Natividad, and at the wall of memories and tomb of the unknown soldiers at the Balantang Memorial National Shrine in Barangay Quintin Salas by descendants of World War II heroes, representatives of national government agencies, Veterans Federation of the Philippines, post-war veteran leaders, and other participating entities, as among the highlights of the event. According

Bacolod: The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) have committed PHP400 million for the upgrade of the Bacolod-Silay Airport in Negros Occidental. According to Philippines News Agency, in an interview, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez stated that CAAP has allocated PHP200 million for terminal renovations while TIEZA has pledged another PHP200 million for runway improvements. Benitez noted the need to follow up on these commitments due to changes in CAAP’s leadership. Benitez emphasized that the Bacolod-Silay Airport currently faces issues with overcrowding, and problems with restroom and escalator functionality. The passenger

Bacolod City: Candidates running for local positions here pledged peaceful polls during a covenant signing at Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) Tuesday afternoon. According to Philippines News Agency, twenty-five candidates signed the peace covenant to uphold the laws and resolutions for the conduct of a clean, honest, accurate, meaningful, and peaceful elections on May 12. They signed in the presence of Bacolod City election officer Revo Sorbito, Negros Occidental election supervisor Ian Lee Ananoria, and representatives of other concerned agencies. In his message, BCPO Director Col. Joeresty Coronica told the candidates that by affixing their signatures, they have declared that