Robert Lim, head of CFO of COMELEC to resign after the approval of Mar Roxas and Liberal Party request

Lim, head of the CFO of the COMELEC in charge of receiving and evaluating the SOCEs of all the candidates recommended and voted to deny the request of LP and Roxas to extend the filing of SOCE extension.

“…the undersigned, in his capacity as commissioner-in-charge of the Campaign Finance Office, respectfully votes to deny the request of the Liberal Party and its presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II, as communicated by Atty. Sardillo,” the document said.

However the commission en banc decided to grant the request of Liberal Party (LP) and its standard bearer, Mar Roxas, to extend the deadline for the submission of statement of contributions and expenditures (SOCE) for the May 2016 polls.

Lim then decided to resign a day after the decision.

“I will tender on Monday,” CFO head Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said in a text message when sought to confirm talk that he had quit his post.

“’Di acceptable ang policy shift (The policy shift was not acceptable),” Lim added but did not elaborate.

Aquino and Duterte first conversation done in just a minute! Read it here.

    

       "We had a conversation, perhaps, short conversation, a minute or so wherein I congratulated him," President Benigno Aquino III told members of the Malacañang Press Corps over lunch in Manila last Friday. He personally offered his assistance to his successor, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, in a phone call Thursday night.

          "I think we asked each other how we were and I reiterated my offer to be of assistance in any and every manner that they deem fit. More or less that was it. It was a pleasant conversation," he added.

     "Parang natuwa naman siya (Duterte). Hindi naman tinanggihan at parang pinasalamatan yung alok natin. Sabi ko ano ba matutulong namin sa inyo, sa transition at sa pagkatapos," Aquino said.

      "I think every patriot should be looking towards helping the next incoming administration and address the problems that are still here and the forthcoming problems that are bound to happen in the spirit of global challenges," he added.

              Aquino also noted that Duterte helped his campaign in both the senatorial and 2010 presidential elections. “Nung ako’y tumakbo both times, tinulungan tayo ni President-elect Duterte, including the presidency. One of the first major turnouts of people happened in Davao,” he said.

           It was Aquino and Duterte's first conversation since Duterte won the 2016 presidential elections.

Mass surrender of drug pushers, due to "DUTERTE EFFECT"

ROSARIO, Agusan del Sur – President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s promise to rid the country of drug abuse has sent a chilling effect to more than 200 shabu drug dependents and suspected peddlers in this gold-rich town.

Users of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) from the neighboring mining villages of Bayugan 3 and Sta. Cruz here on Tuesday voluntarily surfaced and turned themselves in before Mayor Jose Cuyos and police authorities.

Police claimed that the surrender of residents who admitted they have been addicted to shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) or have been engaged in selling, was considered the biggest mass surrender in the country.

“President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has not yet assumed office but you already came ahead to change your ways,” Cuyos said, urging them not to backslide into their old habits.

He also warned shabu pushers against continuing with their illicit trade.

The mass surrender was triggered by the killing of two suspected drug pushers and the wounding of two others in Bayugan 3 last week.

Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Gilbert Elorde, relaying a message from Gov. Adolph Edward Plaza, told the drug dependents and pushers in the gathering to make good of their commitment.

“Don’t fear for your lives, rather, pity yourselves and change for the better,” Elorde said.

Cuyos said he would shoulder the costs of rehabilitating the drug dependents at rehabilitation centers in Davao City and other urban areas.

COMELEC denies Roxas, LP request for SOCE extension

The Campaign Finance Office (CFO) of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has denied the request of the Liberal Party (LP) and its presidential bet Mar Roxas to extend the filing of their statement of contributions and expenditures (SOCE).
"...the undersigned, in his capacity as commissioner-in-charge of the Campaign Finance Office, respectfully votes to deny the request of the Liberal Party and its presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II, as communicated by Atty. Sardillo," the document said.

LP and Roxas had earlier asked for a 14-day extension to file their SOCE after they failed to meet the June 8 deadline set by the Comelec. They finally filed their SOCE on June 14.

According to Lim, Republic Act 7166 clearly states that submission of SOCE should be made within 30 days after the elections. He said extension to the deadline means that Comelec should amend the law.

He also said it is stated in the Omnibus Rules on Campaign Finance that the June 8 deadline is "final and non-extendible."

He added that it will not be fair to other candidates who submitted their SOCEs on time to extend the deadline for LP.

"To grant the request for extension would not only be unfair to other candidates and parties who complied within the prescribed period but also would be a reversal of the commission's own resolution on the matter," Lim said in the memorandum.

He also noted that even defeated presidential candidate Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago was able to file her SOCE before the deadline despite her being on medical leave.

"It is worthy to note that even presidential candidate and incumbent Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago was able to comply… despite being on medical leave and her confinement in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Makati Medical Center a few days before the deadline,” he said in the memorandum.

Lim’s recommendation, however, is not yet final, as the seven-member Comelec en banc will vote on the recommendation on Thursday.

Republic Act 7166 states that winning candidates cannot take their posts if their party failed to file their SOCE. LP’s failure jeopardizes the position of their elected members, including Vice President-elect Leni Robredo.

Pnoy Aquino SILENT amidst the beheading of the Canadian victims by the Abu Sayyaf

This is the second time that a Canadian kidnap victim was beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf group and yet President Aquino (Pnoy) remains invisible and silent. The first time was the same as Pnoy was busy campaigning for his bet Mar Roxas during the election campaign period. 

Senator Juan Ponce Enrile once famously described Aquino as a “three-day president,” a thoroughly unflattering nickname referring to the incumbent’s distressing predilection of disappearing for that long whenever a crisis situation develops. In the case of the beheading of Canadian John Ridsdel, Aquino was determined to max out all three days Enrile had allotted to him.

It took Trudeau only hours to condemn the killing of Ridsdel, after the former mining executive was killed in cold blood Monday night because his family and his government were unable to raise the P300 million in ransom demanded by the Abu Sayyaf Group. 

The people calling for Aquino to focus on his job in the remaining days of his administration were speaking in the context of the so-called Kidapawan Massacre, of which the administration basically washed its hands after allowing a farmers’ protest to degenerate into a violent and fatal police dispersal operation after just four days. So that took more than three days—maybe Aquino was trying to disprove Enrile’s theory.

Duterte's Presidential Spokesman was once a kidnap victim he helped to be freed

Ernesto Abella is the newly "designated presidential spokesman"of the Duterte administration. But did you know that he was once a KIDNAP VICTIM?

He narrated that in 1996, he was kidnapped by ethnic bandits while looking for a piece of property in Monteritz, Davao City. His companions then sought the help of then-Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who asked help from some Moro National Liberation Front leaders to help secure Abella's freedom.

In 24 hours, Abella was once again a free man.

Despite what happened two decades ago, Abella says he considers Duterte more of a good acquaintance than a friend. Now, Duterte has appointed him as the new presidential spokesman – alongside Atty. Salvador Panelo.

As a spokesman, Abella says his job is to act as conduit between himself and the people through the media. He says he wants the Office of the Spokesman to articulate the true intention of the President as clearly as possible.

Abella is an educator, social entrepreneur, and a former pastor.