PIMAI NEWS: Philippine Investigative Media Alliance Inc

16/01/2025

Agriculture Secretary Francisco "Kiko" Tiu Laurel Jr. joins MMDA Chair Romando Artes and MMDA Metro Manila Council head Francis Zamora during the council meeting of the MMDA on Thursday (Jan. 16, 2025) in Pasig City. He laid down programs and requests to Metro Manila mayors including the expansion of kiosks and stores in all public and private markets in the National Capital Region. January 16, 2025. (Freddie Dionisio)

16/01/2025

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. and Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Cristina Roque lead a joint market inspection at the Mutya ng Pasig Mega Market in Pasig City on Thursday (Jan. 16, 2025). Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. on announced that the P40/kilo of rice under the DA’s Rice-For-All program will be reduced to P38/kilo. (Freddie Dionisio)

16/01/2025

PANANAKSAK SA LOOB NG INTERNET SHOP SAPOL SA CCTV

Nakuhanan sa Close Circuit Television o CCTV ang bilang pananaksak ng isang 17 anyos na lalaki sa isa ring 17 anyos sa loob ng internet shop sa Pioneer Village, General Santos City.

Makikitang inambaan din ng suspek ang ibang mga binatilyo na naglalaro lamang ng computer games. Kapansin-pansin sa video na sumisigaw at nanggigigil sa galit ang nasabing suspek kung kayat walang magawa ang mga kabataang nasa loob ng internet cafe.

Matapos ang insidente, isinuko rin ng kanyang mga magulang ang suspek sa General Santo City Police Office habang nagpapagaling naman sa pagamutan ang biktimang nasaksak.

15/01/2025

COMMUNITY-BASED CERVICAL CANCER
SCREENING PROGRAM SA QUEZON CITY

• Larawan ni Rick P. Nicolas

Simula sa February, bukod sa mga health center at lying-in clinics ng Quezon City, ay pwede nang mag-request ng cervical cancer test sa ilang SouthStar Drug store outlets!
Pormal nang inilunsad Miyerkules, Enero 15, 2025 ng Quezon City Government katuwang ang Department of Health (DOH) at Jhpiego Philippines ang mas pinaigting na community-based cervical cancer screening program sa lungsod.
Magiging available ang HPV DNA test para sa mga kababaihang QCitizen edad 30-49 years old sa Buwan ng Puso.
Dagdag ito sa iba pang cervical cancer screening programs sa mga health facility ng QC, kabilang ang HPV vaccination para sa mga kabataang babae edad 9-14, at visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) at Pap Smear para sa mga 50 years old pataas.
Kapag nag-positibo, agad na isasailalim ang pasyente sa thermal ablation intervention. Kapag mayroon pa ring bukol, ire-refer na siya ng health center doctor sa partner hospitals.
Nakiisa naman sa media launch ng programa sina QC Health Department OIC Acting Assistant City Health Officer Dr. Malu Eleria, QC Cancer Control Coordinator Dr. Karen See, Southstar Drug Corporate Affairs Manager in Drugstore Segment Carole Malenab, Kilusan ng Manggagawang Kababaihan Spokesperson Jacq Ruiz, Dr. Ara Jurao ng DOH, at Cervical Cancer Elimination Advocate Joycee Caubat.
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DISCLAIMER: No copyright infringement intended. I do not own the audio in this photo-video. They belong to their rightful owners

15/01/2025

ECOWASTE COALITION HIGHLIGHTS SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS IN MARINE LITTER REDUCTION ACCORDING TO 2024 MARINE LITTER MONITORING SURVEY

• Photos by Rick P. Nicolas

FOR A HEALTHIER MARINE ECOSYSTEM: Representatives from the EcoWaste Coalition and various stakeholders convene in Quezon City to discuss the findings of the 2024 Marine Litter Monitoring Survey Report, highlighting significant progress in reducing marine litter along Manila Bay’s coastline and calling for stronger efforts in waste management and plastic pollution reduction.

QUEZON CITY – The EcoWaste Coalition, in partnership with De La Salle University-Dasmariñas (DLSU-D), unveiled the findings of its 2024 Marine Litter Monitoring Survey Report during a press conference held in Quezon City, showcasing the progress made in reducing marine litter in Manila Bay while also addressing ongoing challenges.
The 2024 survey conducted across 10 project sites — Cavite (Silangan, Rosario; Timalan, Naic; Sahud Ulan, Tanza; Capipisa, Tanza; and Julugan, Tanza), National Capital Region (San Dionisio, Paranaque; and Tanza, Navotas), and Bataan (Cabcaben, Mariveles; Agwawan Beach, Brgy. Simsiman, Mariveles; and Bantan, Orion) — revealed a 36% decrease in the volume of marine litter and a 42% reduction in the total weight of collected waste from 2023 to 2024 as presented by Dr. Johnny Ching and Dr. Michael Guyamin of the DLSU-D research team.
However, plastics still represent a significant portion of marine debris, accounting for 91% of the total collected waste, with hard and film plastics being the most prevalent forms. Seasonal data further indicated a 16% increase in litter counts during the wet months compared to the dry season, illustrating the ongoing challenges that need to be addressed. These findings provide valuable insights into the current state of marine debris in the region, though the results are limited to the specific areas covered by the survey.
“These findings demonstrate the progress we’ve made, but they also highlight the urgent need for stricter waste management practices,” said Wes Lipana, Project Officer, EcoWaste Coalition's Enhancement of Marine Litter Management (EMLM) Project. “We have made significant strides in reducing litter, but the continuing dominance of plastics in our waste indicates the need for collective action—both from government bodies and the public.”

To address the persistent problem of marine litter, the report called for several key actions:
• Strict enforcement of existing environmental laws, such as RA 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act) and RA 9275 (Clean Water Act), to ensure accountability at all levels.
• Expansion of information campaigns at the barangay level to raise awareness
about waste segregation, plastic pollution, and sustainable disposal practices.
• Adoption of standardized cleanup methods, as outlined in the Manual for Beach Litter Monitoring Program, to improve data collection and cleanup efficiency.
• Development of a comprehensive, integrated marine litter management plan for Manila Bay, incorporating both government and community efforts.

The press conference also served as a platform for stakeholders from various sectors to engage with the findings and reaffirm their commitment to the sustainable restoration of Manila Bay. Furthermore, the EcoWaste Coalition presented the ongoing information, education, and communication (IEC) activities, underscoring the importance of public engagement in the long-term success of the project.
“We have made remarkable progress, but we can’t stop here,” Lipana concluded. “It is crucial that everyone — from government agencies to local communities — joins forces to implement the solutions outlined in this report. We need sustained commitment to tackle the marine litter problem and ensure the long-term health of Manila Bay.”
As the Zero Waste Month is observed this January, the EcoWaste Coalition calls on all citizens to take part in realizing the proposed solutions, whether through community-based actions or by adopting more sustainable waste management practices in their daily lives, to protect Manila Bay and other vital coastal ecosystems across the country.
The said survey is part of the Enhancing Marine Litter Management (EMLM) in Manila Bay (2021–2025) project, funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency Philippines (KOICA) and the Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation through Our Sea of East Asia Network (OSEAN). The Marine Litter Monitoring Survey Report forms part of the broader initiative to enhance marine litter management in Manila Bay, which focuses on comprehensive monitoring, advocacy, and community involvement.
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DISCLAIMER: No copyright infringement intended. I do not own the audio in this photo-video. They belong to their rightful owners

15/01/2025

Naga City Mayor Nelson Legacion has strongly condemns the proliferation of fake news in Bicol during a short press conference in Quezon City on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, and calls for a more transformative leadership and challenging political rivals to engage in honest discourse instead of resorting to disinformation. (Freddie Dionisio)

14/01/2025

NBI ARRESTS 12 CHINESE NATIONALS FOR SCAMMING ACTIVITIES; 5 FILIPINOS FOR BRIBING ARRESTING OFFICERS

The NBI-Cybercrime Division (CCD) and NBI-Special Task Force (STF), under the leadership of NBI Director Judge Jaime B. Santiago (Ret.), arrested twelve (12) Chinese nationals for scamming activities, and five (5) Filipinos for bribing the arresting officers.

On January 8, 2025, the operatives of NBI-Cybercrime Division (CCD) and NBI-Special Task Force (STF) augmented the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in the implementation of Mission Order, wherein the BI Officers were directed to conduct verification and investigation operation against foreign nationals found at RI RANCE CORPORATE CENTER II ASEANA CITY, Tambo, Paranaque City who are in violation of Philippine Immigration Act.

Subsequently, during the implementation of the Mission Order, while the BI Officers were verifying the identities of the foreign nationals, CCD and STF operatives coincidentally witnessed a fully operational office setup of a scam hub, which clearly shows that the individuals inside were engaged in scamming activities. The active desktops present at the scene were examined in plain view by the NBI-CCD digital forensic agents which yielded positive to the presence of romance or love scam scripts, messaging applications with fictitious accounts, bank accounts, and fraudulent cryptocurrency scams, and fake investment schemes.

The discovery resulted to the arrest of 12 Chinese nationals namely: XU CHAO, MENG WEI SHI, XING CHAO, QIN HAI FENG, LI XIANG HUA, ZHANG WEI, WANG QIN XIANG, WANG JIA FA, JIANG QI LONG, LUO SHANG FEN, QIXIN WANG, and CHEN JIANG SONG.

While the NBI operatives were preparing to return to the NBI Office with the arrested Subjects, EZECHIEL BERNALES, a Filipino-Chinese, volunteered to come, claiming that he is the Subjects' only official interpreter. EZECHIEL was repeatedly telling the NBI operatives that Subjects Wang Qin Xiang and Qixin Wang were offering to pay Php 300,000.00 for each arrested individual or a total of Php 3,600,000.00 in exchange for the release for the12 arrested Chinese nationals. Operatives agreed to such arrangement in order to make it appear that operatives concur with the offer.

An entrapment operation was then hatched to arrest the persons who will bring the money. In the afternoon of January 10, 2025, three cars arrived at the NBI 2nd floor parking lot. After the driver handed over to one of the operatives a black eco bag containing Php 900,000.00, CCD operatives who were strategically positioned at the 2nd floor parking lot, immediately arrested the driver identified as ROBUSTIANO HIZON, along with the other individuals identified as JOHN ABUNDA VILLANUEVA, KRISTOFFER RYAN HABELITO BAGUNA and HANIF MALA BAUTIL.

The 12 Chinese nationals were presented for inquest proceedings before the City Prosecutor’s Office, Paranaque City for Computer-Related Forgery under Section 4(b)(1) of RA 10175 otherwise known as the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012; Social Engineering Schemes under Section 4(b)(1), and Economic Sabotage under Section 4(c)(1) of R.A 12010 otherwise known as the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA) in relation to R.A. 10175.

The 5 Filipinos were presented for inquest proceedings before the City Prosecutor Office, Pasay City for Corruption of Public Officials under Article 212 of the Revised Penal Code.

14/01/2025

Sa pangalawang pagkakataon sa unang buwan ng taong 2025 ay nagdagdag presyo uli ang mga produktong petrolyo. Epektibo ngayong Martes, January 14, 2025, tataas ng 80 centavos kada litro ng gasolina, 90 centavos sa diesel at 80 centavos naman sa kerosene.
Ayon sa Department of Energy-Oil Industry Management Bureau (DOE-OIMB), ang sanhi ng pagtaas presyo ay ang pagbaba ng produksyon, ang inaasahang pagtaas ng Asian demand at ang states of emergency sa U.S. at Europe sanhi ng cold blasts. (Freddie Dionisio)

14/01/2025

Personnel from the Quezon City’s Department of Public Order and Safety remove tarpaulins consisting of greetings from public officials and politicians illegally posted in prohibited areas as part of the city’s “Oplan Baklas“ at the streets of Barangay Santo Cristo in Quezon City on Tuesday, January 14, 2025.
The QC government encouraged people to voluntarily take down illegal election materials to prevent penalties and sanctions, cautioning that the DPOS will keep carrying out surprise operations to remove unauthorized items from public areas. (Freddie Dionisio)

13/01/2025

Think tank Pinoy Aksyon for Governance and the Environment (Pinoy Aksyon) Chairperson BenCyrus Ellorin tears a paper with a printed dummy representation of a "mock ballot" featuring the name of Marikina City Mayor Marcy Teodoro, who is running for representative of Marikina's 1st district in the 2025 elections during a press conference held at UP Diliman on Monday, January 13, 2025. Pinoy Aksyon also lauds the Commission on Elections for cancelling Teodoro's Certificate of Candidacy and excluding his name from the final list of candidates for the 2025 elections. Pinoy Aksyon added that Teodoro's filing of the COC to represent Marikina's 1st district is a "blatant" disrespect for the law, as his listed address in Barangay Tumana is located in the 2nd district. (Freddie Dionisio)

13/01/2025

Sin Tax Coalition condemns Congress’ proposed reduction of to***co taxes

The Sin Tax Coalition denounces Congress’ brazen proposal to reduce to***co taxes inserted in the unnumbered substitute bill to House Bill 10329, or the Anti Illicit To***co Trade Bill.

In a House Ways and Means Committee hearing convened today by committee chair Representative Joey Salceda, a proposal was made to impose a moratorium on the automatic annual 5% increase in to***co excise tax rates, suspending the yearly increases until 2026.

The proponents of reducing taxes argue that to***co tax revenues have declined due to a rise in illicit trade. However, illicit trade is only being used as an excuse to reduce to***co taxes. Proponents of the reduction in taxes have not provided clear evidence that high to***co tax rates are the cause of the decline in revenue. Responding to illicit trade by reducing to***co taxes is a misaligned proposal.

Sound enforcement is the key to stopping illicit trade. Global literature shows that illicit trade can be neutralized by good governance and good institutions.

Further, sin taxes are primarily a health measure. If illicit trade is indeed rising, then the government should address enforcement, rather than reducing taxes. Reducing taxes will make to***co and e-cigarette products even more accessible to vulnerable Filipinos and go against sin taxes’ health objective of reducing consumption.

Lowering tax rates will not even achieve their desired outcome of making legal ci******es more competitive. Cutting a few pesos per pack will not address illicit trade and will only make ci******es more accessible to the poor and youth while forgoing billions in revenue, at a critical time that the economy is struggling to find fiscal space.

The deceptive proposal is an attempt of the to***co industry to hijack Congress and hijack a reform-oriented bill, or House Bill 10329, to accommodate their own agenda. It will dilute the monumental health and revenue gains from the sin tax reforms.

We call on the House to consult and involve all stakeholders to enable an informed debate on the matter. We urge the Senate to reject the proposal to reduce to***co taxes and not to railroad this proposal. We must see the proposal for what it really is: an attempt to increase the to***co industry's profit margins at the expense of the country's health and fiscal outcomes.

13/01/2025

13/01/2025

Lalong tumaas ang presyo ng mga pangunahing bilihin lalo na ang gulay sa mga palengke, isa na ang talong o eggplant na masarap gawing turta. Ang isang peraso ng talong sa isang palengke sa Quezon City nagkakahalaga ng 25 PESOS.

13/01/2025

10/01/2025

SIN TAX COALITION

• Photos by Rick P. Nicolas

The medical community and health advocates have criticized the P6.326-Trillion General Appropriations Act of 2025, which was signed into law by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., and called for the restoration of over 25 million contributors to PhilHealth. The 2025 Budget is the largest national budget in the nation's history, with Congress allegedly secretly inserting billions of pesos into "pork barrel" and slashing P12 billion from the DepEd Budget. An increase of P289 billion was inserted into the DPWH Budget for 2025. The 2025 GAA violated the 1987 Constitution, and there is no citizen's participation in the amount of P10 billion in the DBCCs. Dr. Juan Antonio Perez III, former PopCom Executive Director, emphasized that there is an existing health crisis in the Philippines, with only 768,384 pregnancies and 590,588 newborn infants covered by PhilHealth in 2023. They called for the restoration of the full premiums of 25,340,992 estimated indirect contributors in 2025 and ensure annual automatic appropriation.

10/01/2025

10/01/2025

SEC CANCELS CORPORATE REGISTRATION OF F2M AGRI-FARM OPC

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revoked the corporate registration of Farm to Market (F2M) Agri-Farm OPC for soliciting investments from the public without the necessary license from the Commission.

In an order dated October 9, 2024, the SEC Enforcement and Investor Protection Department (EIPD) revoked F2M Agri-Farm OPC’s certificate of incorporation for violating Section 44 of Republic Act (RA) No. 11232, or the Revised Corporation Code (RCC), Sections 8.1, 26.1 and 28.1 of RA No. 8799, or the Securities Regulation Code (SRC), and Section 11 of RA No. 11765, or the Financial Products and Service Consumer Protection Act.

The RCC prohibits corporations from possessing or exercising powers beyond those conferred by law and provided under the articles of incorporation.

The SRC, on the other hand, prohibits the selling or offering of securities without a registration statement duly filed with and approved by the Commission, and requires people engaged in the business of buying and selling securities to be registered with the SEC.

Accordingly, F2M Agri-Farm OPC was ordered to pay an administrative fine of P1 million, while its incorporator and nominee were directed to pay the same amount.

The EIPD found F2M Agri-Farm OPC and its related entities, namely F2M Tarlac City-Main Branch, F2M, F2M Paalaga System, Hog Raising Business, F2M Tuguegarao Branch, F2M Dagupan, F2M La Union Branch, F2M Lagawe, Ifugao, F2M-Solano Nueva Viz. Branch and F2M Tayug, to be offering investments in the nature of an investment contract without the necessary registration and approval from the SEC through the F2M 3 Months Paalaga System.

Under the Paalaga System, F2M and its related entities enticed the public to buy one piglet for P5,000 with a promised return of P7,600 after three months, representing a 30% return on investment less 5% service charge, as advertised on their social media page. If an investor buys 20 piglets for P100,000, the investor is expected to receive P152,000 return after three months.

The related entities of F2M Agri-Farm OPC are not registered as corporations or partnerships with the SEC and do not have the secondary license to solicit investments or offer securities.

The company’s illegal solicitation of investments also constitutes fraud due to its similarity to a Ponzi scheme, where profits or payouts are taken from incoming investors or additional pay-ins of existing member-investors as it does not have any underlying legitimate business to source the returns.

As early as April 16, 2024, the SEC has already issued an advisory against the company and its related entities. The Commission subsequently issued a cease and desist order against F2M Agri-Farm OPC on August 20, 2024 to stop the company and its related entities from soliciting investments.