PH leads opening ceremony of ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting

Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Saturday, August 5, welcomed his counterparts from different member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as they gathered in Manila for the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM).

Senior officials and delegates from other ASEAN countries are currently in Manila to attend the Foreign Ministers' Meeting and Related Meetings, which will be held from August 2 to August 8.

Secretary Cayetano led the opening ceremony of the AMM at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

ASEAN will not politicize human rights – ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting Chair

Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, Chair of the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and Related Meetings, has assured stakeholders that ASEAN will not politicize human rights.

“ASEAN is placing a great importance to human rights, if I may add, without politicizing human rights,” Cayetano said during the sixth Interface of ASEAN Foreign Ministers and ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) Representatives Friday.

Cayetano assured AICHR Representatives of ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ support to promote and protect human rights in the region.

“The coming years will bring more challenges in the field of human rights as we aim to strengthen our ASEAN Community and engage the world more extensively,” he said.

Duterte Suspends GOCC Compensation Scheme

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed Executive Order No. 36 on July 28 suspending the implementation of the compensation and position classification system (CPCS) and the index of occupational services (IOS) of government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs).

This is “to eliminate any excessive, unauthorized, illegal and/or unconscionable allowances, incentives and benefits,” EO 36 added.

In the interim, the compensation framework of GOCCs, including their subsidiaries, will be covered by the new measures under EO 36, subject to the approval of the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG)--- the central policy-making and regulatory body that monitors and oversees GOCCs' operations.

PH Infrastructure spending up to 12.2% year-on-year in June

The Duterte administration’s bid to further increase infrastructure investments continues to show force with the June 2017 spending up 12.2 percent year-on-year.

Data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) website showed that infrastructure/other capital outlays reached PHP51.9 billion last month, higher than year-ago’s PHP46.6 billion in May.

Infrastructure and other capital outlays accounted for the bulk of capital outlays last June that totalled to PHP77 billion, up 26.5 percent against the PHP51.7 billion in June 2016.

PNP: Government all set for 50th Foreign Ministers Meeting

The Philippines is geared up to host the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 50th Foreign Ministers’ Meeting that will be held in Manila from August 2 to August 8, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Tuesday, August 1. 

“I think with all the preparations that we’ve made, the country is very much ready to host this 50th Foreign Ministers’ Meeting,” National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) regional director Oscar David Albayalde said in a press briefing in Malacañan. 

PRRD Checks Condition of Freed Police Officer

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte personally checks the condition of Police Officer Alfredo Basabica Jr. after the latter was presented to the President at the Tactical Operations Group (TOG)-11 Headquarters in Davao City on July 30, 2017. Basabica was released from his captors on July 28, 2017, a day before his supposed wedding to his fiancé Princess Kaye Dacoycoy. 

PO1 Basabica, a member of 2nd Platoon of the Davao Oriental Provincial Public Safety Command in Aliwagwag PPSC Patrol Base in Cateel, Davao Oriental, was taken by members of the New People’s Army  while on board a passenger bus on his way home along Kilometer 26 of Barangay Panansalan in Compostela town, Compostela Valley Province last July 11. With them are PO1 Basabica’s fiancé 6-month pregnant Princess Kaye Dacoycoy and Special Assistant the President Christopher Lawrence Go. 

ROBINSON NIÑAL/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO