The Freedom of Information (FoI) bill was on its death throes yesterday as its main proponents withdrew support to what they called the “Malacañang FoI bill” while a multisectoral group pushing for its passage is already blaming the House leadership for what it anticipated as another failure of the lower chamber to enact the bill.
The Right to Know, Right Now Coalition accused Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and Majority Floor Leader Neptali Gonzalez III of command negligence on the likely death of the bill in the current Congress.
MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is turning over P4.14 billion to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to support preparations for the midterm elections in May this year.
The release was charged against savings from unutilized appropriations under the 2012 General Appropriations Act, the DBM said.
MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has issued a resolution cutting the airtime allowed for candidates running for national posts in the May mid-term elections.
Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said that candidates running for national posts will only be allowed to run their campaign ads for 120 minutes on television and 180 minutes on radio.
MANILA, Philippines - Environment Secretary Ramon Paje on Wednesday called on candidates to be mindful of the environment and avoid using non-biodegradable materials for their campaign paraphernalia.
“We are calling on all well-meaning candidates to be mindful of the environment when they hit the election campaign trail. They should put waste avoidance and reduction at the heart of their strategy to win in order to minimize trash and its impact on the environment and humans,” Paje said.
MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has created the Campaign Finance Unit (CFU) to scrutinize the statement of campaign contributions and expenditures (SOCE) of candidates in the May 13 elections.
“The commission wants to implement strictly the laws on elections, particularly the rules on campaign finance. The purpose is to make sure that figures on the SOCE are true and correct,” Comelec Law Department director Esperanza Ladra said.