rate the question of calling in...joint session,” Mr.

sion,” Mr. Bernas was
convention,” the Constitu-
eads.
nators,The
Nation
however, have in-
on voting separately on this
position that both chambers must
quoted as saying.
“there is no general provision
which says that Congress...must
meet inTUESDAY,
joint session. there
JANUARY 16, 2018 is none.
He added: “(f)orgive me from
vote separately.
Ms. Poe said the House is free
to file their own resolution re-
garding the constituent assembly.
Constitution on Wednesday.
saying but i think my counterpart
in the Senate, Senator [francis
n.] Pangilinan,...he was just wast-
ing our time and the money of
Mr. Mercado said his commit-
tee is set to meet today, Jan. 16.
— Minde Nyl R. dela Cruz and
EDITOR ricky s. torre
Camille A. Aguinaldo

e
d”
#nationataglance NATIONWIDE ROUND-UP
nationaL CapitaL reGion Fuel prices up this week
REUTERS

oiL CoMpanies are raising the prices of

...
r
he
o forced to work in Japanese military brothels during the Pacific
a
-
nationaL CapitaL reGion
Judge inhibits from De Lima case
MuntinLupa reGionaL trial Court (rtC) Branch 204 execu-
G. tive Judge Juanita t. Guerrero has voluntarily inhibited from
- hearing the illegal drugs case against senator Leila M. de
Lima, according to a court order signed by the judge on Jan.
or 4. Ms. De Lima previously sought Ms. Guerrero’s inhibition,
e citing “evident partiality and bad faith in ensuring the deten-
n tion and deprivation of liberty” of the embattled senator. Ms.
st Guerrero was among the three judges who issued warrants
ell of arrest against Ms. De Lima in connection with her alleged
involvement in the illegal drug trade in the new Bilibid prison
(nBp). Due to the inhibition, Ms De Lima’s Jan. 24 arraignment
was canceled as the case was re-raffled to other regional trial
court branches. — camille A. Aguinaldo
nationaL CapitaL reGion
LTFRB to release guidelines
on common base supply of TNcs
the LanD transportation Franchising and regu-
in- latory Board (LtFrB) is set to release guidelines
ng on creating a common base supply of ride-shar-
up” ing vehicles. “We will release the MC [Memoran-
m- dum Circular] within the month,” Board Member
air, aileen Lourdes a. Lizada told reporters on the
ali, sidelines of an uber philippines event. she was
18. referring to the common base supply, or a generic
pool of transport network companies (tnCs). the
common base supply serves to indicate a specific
number of tnC vehicles depending on demand,
int without separating the vehicles by their tnC
o (uber philippines, Grab philippines, and u-hop).
“if uber has let’s say 40k, then Grab has 40k, and
nd uhop has 20k, and another player comes and it
y will request another 40k. so try to imagine the
r number of cars on the road. But if you have com-
mon base supply that the franchise is generic, no
9, labels of uber, Grab, or u-hop. so they can be
ce accredited by whichever tnC,” Ms. Lizada said.
ad. she added that the cap will be higher than the
20,000 registered tnC vehicles under LtFrB.
this common base will be reviewed every three
months. the LtFrB can then add to the supply by
accepting new applications for the certificate of
public convenience (CpC) or provisional authority
(pa). also yesterday, uber philippines launched
its safety feature for uber drivers — the ride
identification, which requires cash-paying riders
who will register with the app starting today, Jan.
16 to link their Facebook accounts to the app for
identity verification. this is to deter crimes that
can be committed to drivers, such as holdup and
carjacking incidents. Last october, a Grab driver,
Gerardo amolato Maquidato Jr., was shot dead
by suspects disguised as passengers. — P.P.c.
Marcelo
f crater glow on sunday, signifying lava had started to flow from the crater.
ue nationaL CapitaL reGion
sMc to open new skyway runway
do toll plaza on Jan. 26
h san MiGueL Corp. (sMC) unit skyway o&M Corp.
- is set to open on Jan. 26 its newly completed run-
d way toll plaza in skyway. in a statement, sMC said
that the new toll plaza, consisting of three lanes
u- dedicated to faster electronic toll Collection (etC)
system and four cash lanes, is designed to better
handle increased traffic volume, by facilitating
faster toll collection. “at skyway, traffic volume is
a reality we all have to contend with. But for our
nit part, we continue to look for ways to manage traf-
r fic better. this new toll plaza is an enhancement
to the skyway that we initiated in order to facili-
nd tate more efficient toll collection. With dedicated
etC lanes and Cash lanes that can accommodate
more tellers per lane, we’re hoping to improve
traffic throughput at the toll plazas,” ramon s.
ang, president of sMC, said in a statement sMC
however acknowledged that the transition to a
modified system might cause some delay and
confusion. — P.P.c. Marcelo
controversial statue
Members of a women’s group offer flowers at a memorial statue
that commemorates the Filipino “comfort women” who were
War. The statue was erected along Roxas Boulevard, prompting
Japanese scrutiny and controversy among officials here.
Palace backs DFA on Benham Rise
MaLaCañanG on Monday, Jan. 15,
defended the Department of Foreign
affairs’ (DFa) allowing a Chinese entity
to conduct a study in Benham rise. “the
president implements the law. When
the law talks of sovereign rights, that
includes the sovereign decision to share
the sovereign rights with others. and
this has been decided already by the
supreme Court in La Bugal,” presidential
spokesperson herminio harry L. roque
said at a press briefing. — A.L. Balinbin
afp
BiCoL reGion: aLBaY
Phivolcs: Mayon eruption possible ‘within weeks or days’
the phiLippines’ chief volcanologist warned on Monday of a possible
hazardous eruption at Mount Mayon “within weeks or even within days,”
as magma continued to pile up at the summit of the country’s most active
volcano. the 2,462-meter (8,077-foot) high volcano, a tourist attraction
in central albay province because of its near-perfect cone shape, spewed
ash and burning mud and rocks over the past two days, forcing more
than 3,000 residents to evacuate from nearby villages. it showed a bright
renato solidum, chief of the philippine institute of Volcanology and seis-
mology (phivolcs), described Mayon’s current activity as a non-explosive
magmatic eruption, but he would not rule out a more dangerous volcanic
explosion in coming days. phivolcs raised the volcano alert to level 3 late
on sunday after detecting the lava flow. Mr. solidum said raising the alert
to level 4, under which the danger zone would be expanded and a hazard-
ous eruption could happen within a few days, depended on how Mayon
behaved next. Level 5 indicates an eruption is in progress. — Reuters
Malaysia upholds death sentences for 9 Filipinos over 2013 incursion
KuaLa LuMpur — a Malaysian court on Monday upheld death sentences handed down to nine men from the philippines in
connection with a 2013 incursion into the Malaysian part of Borneo island by philippine fighters seeking to stake an ancient
claim. the incursion by the fighters from the southern philippines into Malaysia’s sabah state sparked a month-long crisis and
at least 27 people were killed when Malaysian troops backed by fighter jets eventually subdued the militants. the nine were
among fighters captured. a five-member Federal Court panel unanimously ruled that the death sentences were the most ap-
propriate, upholding a decision by a lower court to increase the penalty from life sentences, according to the state news agency
Bernama. the court also upheld a lower court’s decision to release 14 other men who had been held in connection with the
fighting in the sleepy Lahad Datu district. the fighters were from a group that has demanded recognition, and an increased
payment from Malaysia, for their claim to be the rightful owners of sabah, which an ancient sultanate leased to British colonial-
ists in the 19th century. Malaysia dismissed their demands and the philippine government repeatedly told the group to put down
their weapons and go home. the fighters declared loyalty to the self-proclaimed sultan of the southern philippine region of
sulu, Jamalul Kiram, in the philippines. — Reuters
petroleum products this week to reflect the
movement of prices in the international market.
Gasoline products will increase by p0.80 per
liter after being unchanged last week. Diesel
prices will rise by p0.55 per liter or the same
increase reported last week. Kerosene prices
will also increase by p0.55 per liter, a bigger
hike after last week’s p0.30-per-liter adjust-
ment. those that sent advisories as of yesterday
afternoon said they would be implementing the
price increase at 6 a.m. on tuesday, Jan. 16. the
Department of energy (Doe) earlier reminded
oil companies to ensure and advise their dealers
that old stocks should be sold on the old excise
tax rate or at zero-rated excise tax for diesel
products. it may opt to check importation no-
tices to check compliance with its advisory.
Gov’t to inaugurate new air traffic system
the GoVernMent is set to inaugurate today,
Jan. 16, a p10.8-billion air traffic system eyed to
reduce congestion in the philippine airspace. the
Civil aviation authority of the philippines (Caap)
said in a statement that with the new system,
the agency can accommodate demand of the
aviation industry for more capacity in airspace;
ensure safety and efficiency in the airspace; and
reduce congestion in airspace, therefore reduc-
ing travel time to airport destinations. “the new
Cns/atM systems project established an avia-
tion infrastructure to more than 40 airports, air
navigation facilities and air traffic control facilities
nationwide, from Basco, Batanes in the north to
Jolo in the south,” Caap said in a statement. the
project is financed by the Japan lnternational Co-
operation agency (JiCa) under a loan agreement
between the philippine and Japanese govern-
ments. — Patrizia Paola c. Marcelo
Dante Jimenez appointed to head the
Presidential Anti-corruption commission
presiDent rodrigo r. Duterte has appointed
an anticrime advocate and leading supporter,
Dante L. Jimenez, as chairperson of the presi-
dential anti-Corruption Commission (paCC).
the paCC was created last year through the
president’s executive order no. 43. the presi-
dential anti-Corruption Commission (paCC) is
under the office of the president and is primar-
ily made up of a chairperson and four commis-
sioners. the commission was established in the
wake of Mr. Duterte’s criticisms against the of-
fice of the ombudsman, which is constitution-
ally mandated to investigate police and other
officials on Mr. Duterte’s watch. Mr. Duterte
signed Mr. Jimenez’s appointment papers last
Friday, Jan. 12. — Arjay L. Balinbin
Duterte to attend India-AsEAN summit
MaLaCañanG on Monday, Jan. 15, confirmed
that president rodrigo r. Duterte will attend
the india-asean summit on Jan. 24-26. presi-
dent Duterte’s participation is an outcome of
his bilateral meeting with the prime Minister of
india at the sidelines of the 31st asean summit,”
presidential spokesperson herminio harry L.
roque, Jr. said at a press briefing. “the fact that
the president decided to attend is also because
of a personal appeal by the indian ambassador
that in 2012, the Commemorative summit held
in 2012 in india, the philippines was the only
country that was not represented by a head of
state, and that is why he has confirmed his at-
tendance,” Mr. roque said.