Secretary Martin Andanar, of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, is first Filipino conferred with Distinguished Alumnus Award by Australia’s Federation University.

MANILA — The Federation University of Australia (FedUni) has conferred the Distinguished Alumnus Award to a veteran journalist and Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar. He is the first Filipino to receive such prestigious award.

Andanar was recognized for his outstanding contribution to his chosen field of endeavor and continuous pursuit of excellence, both as a government official and as a private citizen. He shared his award with his colleagues in the media, friends, and family, particularly his wife Alelee and his children, Alexa and Vince.

In his acceptance speech during the awards ceremony held at the Caro Convention Center in the university’s Mount Helen Campus on August 31, Andanar recalled his years at the University of Ballarat, the former name of the FedUni, in Victoria where he lived after studying for a year at the University of the Philippines in the town of Los Banos in Laguna province. He remembered how he juggled his studies and several part-time jobs as a carpet installer, a waiter in a Chinese restaurant, a radio producer in SBS Melbourne, and as a volunteer in the community station Triple B FM.

“It was a season of serious learning and self-discovery until my graduation in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social and Political disciplines, including Film and Media Studies. Sadly, however, I was not able to get my diploma because I was already working in my home country, the Philippines, chasing my dreams,” he said. “It is therefore with great pride, honor and humility that I accept this Distinguished Alumnus Award the way I would have marched for my graduation diploma 18 years ago.”

The 43-year-old Andanar acknowledged that his years at the university serve as the foundation on which his present career is anchored and from which he draws “the strength to manage the media, communication and information programs for the government of a strong leader like our President Rodrigo Roa Duterte”.

After obtaining his bachelor’s degree from FedUni, Andanar went on to complete his Master’s degree in Entrepreneurship at the Asian Institute of Management. He also pursued doctoral studies at the University of the Philippines in Diliman but decided to focus more on his career.

In 2008, the U.S. State Department granted Andanar and 30 other Filipino youth leaders a one-month fellowship at the Northern Illinois University. A year later, he participated in a leadership seminar at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. He also completed a Senior Executive Fellows Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University in March 2010 and attended a Public Communications Executive Course at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore in 2015.  

This year, he attended the “Countering Violent Extremism” executive course at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and participated in the University of Hong Kong’s APAC news literary executive course. Before joining the Duterte administration, Andanar was a multi-awarded television news executive, news anchor, radio commentator, podcaster, audio blogger and voice-over artist at TV5. (Albert-Anthony Abando)

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Poundit.com, the Philippines’ leading online gadget and accessories retailer, has announced the 50 Days of Happiness sale for the holiday season. In this promo, buyers can get discounts as big as 50% on some of today’s hottest consumer electronic products. 

From November 8^th to December 25^th, one gadget will be put on sale for 24 hours. Shoppers can expect significant markdowns on products from their favorite brands including LG, Lenovo, Bowers & Wilkins and many more. 

Shoppers who’ve been waiting for great deals on smartphones, tablets, headsets, cameras and other items will be delighted to see Poundit’s products on sale. The LG X Screen, the Lenovo A7000 Plus, and the Apple MacBook Pro are just some of the products that Poundit will be putting on sale. 

Poundit has close partnerships with top consumer electronics manufacturers and their authorized distributors in the Philippines. This means that shoppers are guaranteed item authenticity and full aftersales support. 

The retailer is also holding its Give 100, Get 1,000 promo where shoppers can get PhP 1,000 off any purchase when they refer at least 10 people to shop at Poundit. Referred shoppers, on the other hand, will also get a PhP 100 discount for purchases of PhP 1,000 or more. 

The 50 Days of Happiness promo is valid while supplies last. For more information on exciting deals, visit Poundit’s Deals section. 

Poundit is an e-commerce site for electronics & accessories where customers can shop risk free, enjoy price savings, and experience unparalleled customer service. From smartphones, tablets, cameras, laptops, desktops, headphones, speakers, gaming, and even accessories – Poundit has it all. It’s aiming to build the most customer-centric electronics e-commerce site in the region. Starting in the Philippines, it’s the only online destination in the country that sells legitimate, authentic, and authorized electronic products from the top tech brands.

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MAKATI CITY – RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the global distributor for engineers, now offers its wide array of test and measurement equipment to the Philippine market. 

The UK-based distributor of electronics, automation and control components, engineering tools and consumables  has observed the rise of Southeast Asian economies and is keen on being a key provider of necessary supplies to support the growing infrastructure needs of countries in the region, including the Philippines. 

RS Components’ selection includes a large array of measuring tools and diagnostic equipment that includes everything from test leads to oscilloscopes. Force gauges, feeler gauges, anemometers, data loggers and gas leakage testers are also available. 

RS’ popular selection of multimeters are also offered, including the Isotech range that’s known for providing engineers with great value for money. RS’ multimeters come in both analog and digital varieties along with a myriad of accessories, software, cases and more. 

The company also boasts a robust range of power measurement devices such as power meters, energy monitors, power quality analysis tools and other products from leading brands like Fluke and Chauvin Arnoux. These products are available and ready to ship. 

For structural engineering and architectural requirements, the RS Components range of linear measurement equipment has an extensive list of items. Calipers, distance meters, tape measures and lever dial indicators from brands such as Stanley and RS Pro are always in tock. 

RS Components’ online store for the Philippines offers free shipping for all of its products. Delivery times may vary depending on the destination, applicable import regulations and customs inspections.

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MANILA – The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has conducted a dialogue with its development partners through a regional development forum that seeks to get insights and support for its programs and projects.

The forum was held in coordination with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). The multisectoral partners that were represented in the dialogue include various national government agencies, local and international nongovernmental organizations, and business chambers.

Atty. Laisa Alamia, ARMM Executive Secretary, said the forum served as venue to inform and to show to these development partners and stakeholders the milestones and accomplishments achieved by the regional government. “The ARMM RDP (Regional Development Plan), its 21 chapters, is anchored on the national long-term vision, a living document of the region’s vision for the Bangsamoro,” Atty. Alamia said.

The ARMM RDP, covering the years 2017-2022, was presented during the forum held two months ago. The five-year medium-term plan serves as the blueprint for the implementation of regional priorities in support of the attainment of the ARMMBisyon 2040, which represents the collective vision and aspirations of the Bangsamoro.  The ARMM drafted the long-term vision consistent with NEDA’s AmBisyon Natin 2040.

“By 2040, the peoples in the Bangsamoro are self-governing with predominantly middle-class society living in safe communities, having a dynamic economy including a Halal ecosystem, enjoying inclusive peace and diverse cultures, who shall enhance sustainable development ensuring that responsibilities and benefits are shared by all.”

The ARMM has identified six development goals as focus of its priority interventions during the RDP years. These are:

·        Open, transparent, accountable and inclusive governance practiced and sustained; Improved access of ARMM communities to basic services for human capital development; Sustained improved environment for more secured communities; Increased investments, employment and income; Accelerated infrastructure development for the region’s socio-economic growth; and     Enhanced integrity of ecosystems, adaptation to climate change, and disaster resilience of communities.

As identified in the regional development plan, the growth of Gross Regional Domestic in 2022 will increase to 5.25% from 0.3% in 2016; poverty incidence among families will be reduced to 33.2% in 2022 from 48.2% in 2015; and labor force participation rate would increase to 65% in 2022 from 53.1% in 2016. The plan is more than just a ‘to-do’ list since it will set the agenda for the future of the Bangsamoro – one which the current administration understands and implements with due diligence and which will serve as a guide for future leaders.

It follows a framework that will guide the region’s continued development while securing transparency and accountability in a society where – in the course of institutionalizing good governance and meaningful reforms – nobody will be left behind. During the forum, the different line agencies of the ARMM have set-up booths to showcase their department’s accomplishments. Some of the region’s best products such as cultural artifacts, hand-crafted native products, and different Moro delicacies were also placed on exhibit. (Bureau of Public Information)

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PRESIDENT RODRIGO DUTERTE is ready to face the International Criminal Court (ICC) to “personally” defend the legality of his administration’s war on drugs, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said following reports that the ICC would begin preliminary examination on the crimes against humanity linked to the campaign.

“The President has said that if need be, he will argue his case personally before the International Criminal Court,” Roque said, adding, Duterte has welcomed the preliminary examination as a chance to defend his drug war because he’s “sick and tired” of being accused of crimes against humanity.

Roque said: “This is an opportunity for him to prove that this is not subject to the court’s jurisdiction because of both complementarities that domestic courts and the fact that we have a domestic, international, humanitarian law statuted in our jurisdiction are reasons enough for the court not to exercise jurisdiction.”

He said the case was not subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC because Philippine courts were “more than able and willing” to exercise jurisdiction. He added there was even a pending complaint against the killings allegedly attributed to the war on drugs in the Office of the Ombudsman which has the power to recommend an impeachment, if successful, would lead to a criminal prosecution against Duterte.

“The President has made it clear that he will communicate, he will assert the principle of complementarity, he will assert the legality of the war against drugs as a valid exercise of sovereign powers and therefore the element required for a crime against humanity is lacking,” he said.

Roque explained that elements required for a crime against humanity must be either widespread or systematic attack directed against civilian populations with knowledge that it was being directed against civilian population.

He pointed out that the alleged extrajudicial killings “will not prove anything” because of the lawful sovereign act to deal with the problem of illegal drugs. “Because the war on drug is a lawful, legitimate police operation, it cannot be characterized as an attack against civilian populations because they are civilians. It is a lawful use of force and therefore we submit that the element of directing an attack against directing an attack is simply lacking,” Roque said.

Duterte was looking forward to engaging the ICC-Office of the Prosecutor and expressed confidence that it would not go beyond its preliminary examination, according to Roque. “The President himself is a lawyer, he looks forward in fact to engaging the prosecutor of the court as a former prosecutor himself,” he said.

Roque also stressed that Duterte stood by his position that he swore an oath to protect this republic against all threats to national security including the war on drugs.

He said Duterte wanted to put the prosecutor on the stand to ask who prodded them to proceed to preliminary examination noting that it was his suspicion that it was because the domestic enemies of the state behind this. “Obviously there’s been concerted public relations initiative against the President. Obviously this is intended to embarrass the President. But the President is a lawyer he knows what the procedures are. They will fail,” Roque said, clarifying that the decision of the ICC-Office of the Prosecutor stemmed not from a complaint, but two “communications” submitted by lawyer Jude Sabio, and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Representative Gary Alejano in 2017.

Sabio, in his communication, cited the number of people alleged killed by so-called Davao Death Squad in Davao City and the war on drugs which began in June 2016. While Trillanes and Alejano also cited Duterte’s pronouncements on killing drug addicts. “It’s not a complaint, it’s a communication because there’s no complaint yet, there are no charges yet. It emanated from the communication filed by individuals alleging crimes against humanity in the Philippines,” Roque said.

Roque also pointed out that it was not a preliminary investigation but examination because it merely involved the “collection and verification of information.”

He explained that the objective of the ICC- Office of the Prosecutor to conduct a preliminary examination is to determine if there is reasonable basis to proceed to a preliminary investigation. “I repeat no one should claim victory because we are only in a stage of preliminary examination,” he added. (Azer Parrocha)

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THE NATIONAL UNION of Journalists of the Philippines has strongly criticized the Philippine National Police for its alleged “Gestapo-like” methods in verifying identities of journalists newly assigned to cover the organization.

“While we welcome the assurance of PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao that they have put a stop to the heavy-handed vetting done by agents of what he now acknowledges is the Directorate for Intelligence, we reject his contention that “we have no other way to verify” the identities of reporters fresh to the beat.”

“Aside, of course, from the fact that the intelligence officers’ actions – tracking them, approaching or phoning them but refusing to identify themselves, visiting their homes and neighborhoods to ask about them – not only sow fear but border on the, if they are not actually, criminal,” the NUJP said.

It said Bulalacao admitted that a simple phone call or letter to the editors or managements of news outfits – who, after all, any organization that purports to be in the business of state security should know – should be enough to establish reporters’ bonafide. As it has, indeed, been the norm for generations of journalists covering the police beat.

“Surely, one does not need police spies to handle this routine task? Unless, of course, there is a more sinister explanation for this? This concern is magnified by the fact that the organization primarily tasked to guard and protect the citizenry cannot even get its act together, with PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa denying the background checks only for Bulalacao to admit them,” the media watchdog said.

“The media deserve a more forthright accounting of how and why this fiasco ever came to be, plus an unequivocal pledge to never, ever again resort to such underhanded tactics against journalists.

The same tactics are applied to activists, politic dissenters critical of the Duterte administration makes it even more threatening. Our right to privacy, communication and free movement are violated. We demand not only an apology but full disclosure of data collected about us,” the NUJP added. (Mindanao Examiner)

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THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) said it considers as temporary the elevated domestic inflation rate this year which is expected to “be around the high-end” of the government’s 2-4 percent target range for 2017-2019.

BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. said monetary officials expected inflation “to be around the high-end of the National Government’s target rate of 3.0 percent ± 1.0 percentage points in 2018 before settling above the midpoint of the target range in 2019.” “The higher inflation in 2018, due largely to the immediate impact of the TRAIN Law, is seen to be temporary,” he said.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that rate of price increases registered a faster rate of four percent in the first month this year, up from the 3.3 percent in December 2017 and the 2.7 percent in January 2017. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and oil, registered at 3.9 percent, faster than the three percent last December and 2.5 percent in January last year.

PSA traced this development primarily to faster inflation rate of the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages to 4.5 percent from the previous month’s 3.5 percent and the double-digit rate of the alcoholic beverages and tobacco index to 12.3 percent from 6.4 percent last December.

The first package of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN ), which took effect January 1 this year, gave workers’ first P250,000 annual income a tax-free rate but hiked excise taxes on fuel and sugar-sweetened beverages. Some analysts also attribute the faster inflation rate last January to the impact of the tax reform.

Amid the expected high inflation rate this year, Espenilla said, “Potential expansion of the economy’s productive capacity due to infrastructure spending would temper prices pressures in the long run.”

He cited that the planned one-year subsidies for the lower 50 percent of the society and the transport sector, which were targeted to help the poor cope with the increase of some commodity prices as a result of the tax reform, “could help mitigate the reduction in purchasing power of low-income households, and may help prevent further price increases.”

“Nevertheless, the BSP during its 8 February 2018 monetary policy meeting will evaluate carefully potential elevated risks to the inflation outlook, such as those coming from second-round effects of TRAIN and higher energy prices, to ensure that inflation expectations are well-anchored and remain consistent with the inflation target,” he said. (Joann Villanueva)

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THE HOUSE COMMITTEE on population and family relations has approved a consolidated measure institutionalizing absolute divorce in the country.

The bill aims to ensure that the proceedings for the grant of absolute divorce shall be affordable, efficient and inexpensive, especially for indigent litigants or petitioners. The grounds for absolute divorce are the same existing grounds for legal separation and annulment of marriage.

Also, a possible ground for absolute divorce is the couple’s separation for at least five years. While other valid grounds include psychological incapacity of either spouse, irreconcilable marital differences, or a gender reassignment surgery of either spouse.

The bill also provides for a mandatory six-month “cooling-off period” between the time that a petition is filed and when the court actually starts working on the case.

This allows the court to exercise all efforts to reunite and reconcile the parties. The bill penalizes spouses who are guilty of collusion with imprisonment of five years and a fine of P200,000. (Filane Mikee Cervantes)

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THE DEPARTMENT of Justice (DOJ) has dismissed criminal charges filed by the police and military against an alleged Islamic State militant who was captured recently in Manila.

In a seven-page resolution signed by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter L. Ong, the DOJ dismissed charges  of illegal possession of explosive devices and firearms complaint against Tunisian national Fehmi Lassqued and his Filipina live-in partner Anabel Salipada for lack of merit.

“After a careful review and evaluation of the evidence submitted by the parties, the undersigned finds no probable cause to charge respondents for violations of RA 10591 and RA 9516,” according to the DOJ resolution approved recently by Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Rassenell Rex Gingoyon and Acting Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan Jr.

“Basic and well-established is the rule that the party alleging has the burden of substantiating his allegation and any declaration or assertion not so substantiated is, at best, a self-serving statement or declaration which is inadmissible in evidence for being hearsay,” it stressed.

The two were arrested in Ermita on February 16. The charge sheet signed by Superintendent Carlito Narag Jr. sought the indictment of the suspects for violations of RA 10591 and RA 9516.

It cited as evidence the explosive devices seized from the couple during their arrest, including four pipes, two batteries, three capacitors, two integrated circuits, three battery clips, and 11 resistors and also the .45-caliber pistol and ammunition recovered from them. Both Lassqued and Salipada denied the allegations in separate counter-affidavits filed through the assistance of public attorneys.

In his counter-affidavit, Lassqued said contrary to the police’s claim, he was not arrested in Ermita, but in Ayala Triangle on February 16 while he was taking his cigarette break from his Spanish class.

Salipada, on the other hand, also denied owning the explosive devices and the firearm. She said when the police searched their apartment in Manila she was taken and held outside the apartment.

Ong said that among the evidence presented by the police, both the suspects and the arresting officers admitted that the five photographs of the seized items taken inside Room 409 but did not include the arresting officers and the suspects.

However, Ong noted that two other photographs which showed the suspects with the seized items were not taken inside Room 409 due “to the difference between the backgrounds of said photographs and earlier five photographs.”

“Furthermore, a perusal of the two photographs labeled as ‘Photograph of the arrested suspect and the confiscated evidence’ suggest that these pictures were taken in a place other than Room 409, since their background are different from those in the five photographs without respondent Lassoued,” Ong said.

“This supports the story of respondents that Fehmi Lassoued was not present inside Room 409, on February 16, 2018, during the implementation of SW M. 18-003, and further support Fehmi Lassoued’s story that he was later brought to an unfamiliar room with the seized articles,” he pointed out.

The prosecutor also learned that Salipada was brought by authorities to the Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center on February 17 for medical examination while Lassoued was taken at the Army General Hospital in Fort Andres Bonifacio on February 18.

“Finally, the fact that both respondents underwent medical examination at two different places and on two different occasions suggests that they were arrested in separate places at different time,” he said.

On the photos of the seized explosive devices and firearms, the military and police said it was taken at the house of Lassqued and Salipada. However, the DOJ resolution noted that the background of the picture where the seized items were taken is different from the couple’s apartment.

“A perusal of the photographs suggest that these pictures were taken in a place other than [the apartment of [Lassqued and Salipada] since their background are different,” the resolution noted. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan)

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THE NATIONAL Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said it has summoned Globe Telecom and its mobile content provider over reports and complaints by its subscribers that their “prepaid phone credit” has vanished even if they are not using their mobile phones.

The NTC ordered Globe to suspend the implementation of its content service provider agreement with Gotdeals Mobile Inc. pending an investigation into the reports and complaints. One woman, Feanne Mauricio, also filed a similar complaint with the NTC which prompted it to summon the giant telecom company.

The NTC said that it is eyeing to impose stricter penalties against those behind the vanishing prepaid phone credit.

During a recent Senate hearing on the issue, NTC Deputy Commissioner Edgar Cabarios admitted there are erring value-added service (VAS) providers that eat up a certain amount of prepaid load or credit without notifying the mobile phone user.

According to Cabarios, VAS groups’ other telecommunication services beyond standard voice calls and text messaging are considered as spam messages. A consumer should not receive messages if not registered with the VAS providers. The NTC can suspend the registration of the VAS providers.

Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, head of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, urged telecom companies to immediately institute clear-cut policies to solve the problem of unwarranted deductions on prepaid mobile loads. He proposed that telecom firms issue notifications to their subscribers whenever a load is added or deducted from their prepaid accounts.

Based on NTC figures, about 97% or 126 million of the country’s 130 million mobile phone owners are prepaid subscribers. (Aerol John Pateña)

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THE DEPARTMENT of Justice (DOJ) has filed criminal charges against a former editor-in-chief of motoring news website, Top Gear Philippines, in connection with an online libel complaint filed by a man who was mistakenly tagged in a road rage incident in Manila.

The DOJ panel of prosecutors found probable cause to indict Vernon Sarne on charges of violation of the libel provision of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, filed by Nestor Punzalan after he was mistakenly identified in a report published by the website as the gunman behind the shooting of cyclist Mark Vincent Geralde in Quiapo, Manila. Punzalan, in his complaint, accused Sarne of imputing him as the suspect who drove a red Hyundai Eon and shot Geralde dead on July 26, 2016.

After checking the plate number of the Hyundai vehicle from the closed circuit television footage of the incident, Sarne posted on the Facebook page of Top Gear the complainant’s Facebook account and his Hyundai Eon.

“The above posts by the officials of Top Gear Philippines allegedly subjected complainant and his wife to public ridicule, trauma, shame, casting dishonor, discredit and contempt,” read the resolution approved by Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon and Acting Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan Jr.

“He admitted having posted the subject photo and video of complainant’s vehicle and assumed full responsibility on the said act,” the resolution noted, adding that the alleged offense checked off all the elements for it to be considered as libel.

The case was referred to the City Prosecutor of Manila on February 23. Punzalan filed the complaint against Top Gear Philippines’ editors with the National Bureau of Investigation in August 2016, less than a month after he became the subject of netizens’ bullying due to the misidentification.

Authorities have earlier cleared Punzalan of wrongdoing, instead tracing the cyclist and gaming attendant Geralde’s killing to ex-Army reservist Vhon Tanto.

Meanwhile, the DOJ dismissed the complaint filed against other respondents – Top Gear Philippines officers Dinzo Tabamo, Tracy Carpena, Jeffrey Reyes, and Adelbert Christopher de Jesus for Punzalan’s alleged failure to establish their involvement in the uploading of the controversial post.

“The complaint against them is recommended dismissed for lack of probable cause,” the resolution said. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan)

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SENATOR Vicente Sotto III has urged the Senate to conduct a probe into the country’s automated election system after allegations of early transmission of votes and remote foreign access to the election server during the 2016 elections surfaced.

Saying that these claims, if proven to be true, amounted to electoral sabotage, Sotto said and in a privilege speech, the Senate Majority Leader said a concerned and impeccably reliable source handed him confidential information regarding the irregularities that happened on May 2016 which allegedly altered the results of the last national elections.

“What I am about to present to you may or may not be gospel truth but very accurate information, and if these allegations are serious enough and are proven to be true after due investigation, then we have a case of electoral sabotage. If we don’t do anything to clear the doubts as to the legitimacy of the previous election, then we put at risk the accuracy of the 2019 elections,” Sotto said.

He asked the Senate to subpoena the Commission on Elections and automated election provider Smartmatic to shed light on the issue.

According to the documents presented by Sotto, the alleged transmission activities started as early as 9 a.m. of May 8, 2016 and continued until 9 a.m. the following day prior to the official conduct of the elections.

In the slides presented by Sotto, the alleged early transmissions were supposedly being done by certain Vote Counting Machines to the Municipal Board of Canvassers. He said that all the early transmissions activities were captured and seen in the logs of the main server used by VCMs and Consolidated Canvassing System.

Sotto said that what he showed were only examples of the numerous early transmissions to different Municipal and Provincial Board of Canvassers in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. “The standard answer of Smartmatic would be that these transmissions are only testing’ transmissions,” he noted. “These transmissions cannot be in any way be claimed as testing transmissions because, as far as I can remember, the last official testing was made on April 23, 2016,” Sotto said.

On the issue of alleged foreign access into the election servers, Sotto showed slides of supposed secure logs of one of the two Domain Name Service (DNS) servers used during the 2016 elections. He said that there were a series of access before, during and after the election, with the time stamps indicating that accessing was done precisely every minute. He noted that “this is only possible to be done by machines.”

He showed that username “e360sync” is accessing one of the DNS servers with root access privilege, which means it can open, copy and transmit any information gathered. The DNS server in question is used only by the Queue Servers from May 10-11.

On May 8, 2016, or a day before the election, e360sync allegedly made a malicious activity -accessing DNS report logs – that is categorized as a critical intrusion to a computer system.

“Apparently, e360 is a server in amazonaws.com, which is a cloud computing service located mainly in the United States,” Sotto said, adding, that the username E360 looks very similar to a software product of the Philippine election provider, Smartmatic.

“To conclude the second issue, our election servers were allegedly accessed remotely, and information gathered were copied and submitted to a server in the amazon cloud services in the US,” Sotto said.

He said that these issues cannot be ignored as it weakens the propriety of our automated election system. Sotto said the full extent of the early transmission activities as well as that of the foreign access would be known in the course of the investigation.

Sotto said that the question on who might have benefited or who may have been detrimentally affected, if ever there were any, by the alleged irregularities may also be ascertained during the investigation. “We must ascertain the accuracy of these allegations as to either make the responsible officials accountable or finally put to rest the questions clouding the results of the 2016 elections. I believe that the outcome of any investigation on this matter will surely lead to a more accurate and transparent system and results for the coming 2019 elections,” Sotto said.

Sotto’s assertions came in the wake of recent reports that the Comelec en banc has unanimously voted to exercise its option to purchase Smartmatic’s vote counting machines for the 2019 polls. While Smartmatic has been the country’s automated election provider since 2010, doubts have been constantly cast about its track record. (Jose Cielito Reganit)

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THE IGLESIA ni Cristo (INC) has claimed to have broken the Guinness world record for the largest human sentence with 23,235 participants forming the sentence “Proud to be a member of Iglesia Ni Cristo” held at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.

“We broke the record for the largest human sentence with 23,235 participants,” said Bro. Erwin Briones, an INC spokesman.

The event held recently shattered the record set by India in 2016 with 16,550 people forming the sentence, “You Can You Will.”

Briones said they are also attempting to break four more Guinness World Records namely: the largest photo mosaic; the largest charity walk, single venue, multiple venues and most number of nationalities.

The human sentence formation was conducted in line with the INC’s “Worldwide Walk to Fight Poverty”, which was held at the iconic Roxas Boulevard in Manila. Participants, upon finishing the event, were directed to drop their wrist bands located at the end of the finish line.

The number of wrist bands would indicate the total number of people who participated in the event.  The proceeds of the Second Worldwide Walk will be used to continue providing food and medical assistance for those in immediate need in impoverished communities.

INC and Felix Manalo Foundation Inc. also elicited the support of the Office of the President for its “Worldwide Walk to Fight Poverty” simultaneously held in 358 areas in 44 different countries – in a milestone attempt to surpass its own Guinness World Record four years ago for the largest charitable walk in 24 hours.

Special Assistant to the President, Secretary Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go who was sent by President Rodrigo Duterte, walked with the crowd as he commended the INC’s effort, which complements the Duterte administration’s goal of reducing the poverty rate by 25 percent in three years.

Go said he came not only to represent President Duterte but to personally support INC because time and again it demonstrated that it has its heart for service not only for its members but beyond the confines of INC.

The 2014 charity walk benefitted victims of typhoon Yolanda, also known as Haiyan, which devastated the country in November 2013 particularly the Visayas region. It was the strongest tropical storm recorded in history. (Ferdinand Patinio  and Jun Ledesma)

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MANILA – Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Noel Puyat reaffirmed the PCOO management’s commitment to transparency and accountability.

Puyat made this statement in response to a malicious, unfounded and false report entitled “P647.11 milyon hinahanap ng COA” published by tabloid Hataw in its May 9, 2018 issue. The report alleged that a Commission on Audit (COA) report has questioned transactions amounting to P647.11 million of the PCOO related to the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) 2017 hosting.

COA, for its part, made a clarification to Hataw’s news article denying that any such audit report alleged in the tabloid report was ever issued.

Edna P. Salaguban, COA Supervising Auditor for PCOO, in a letter dated May 10, 2018 addressed to PCOO management, said the 2017 Annual Audit Report on PCOO is still undergoing review, hence the false news “could not have been lifted from [the] audit report.”

COA has yet to issue a final audit report. “As far as the COA-PCOO Audit Team is concerned, we do not have any knowledge on an ongoing investigation of a P 647.11 Million fund,” Salaguban’s letter added.

Undersecretary Puyat said, “We are confident that all our official transactions have been above-board. In fact, COA has given the PCOO a clean bill represented by certifications of ‘no disallowances’ for the past six audit quarters.” (Jun Ledesma)

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