Latest news with #Marcos
GMA Network
8 hours ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
FL Liza won't join Marcos on US trip, says Palace
First Lady Louise ''Liza'' Araneta-Marcos will not join President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr.'s visit to Washington, D.C. this month to meet US President Donald Trump. Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro disclosed this in a radio interview on Wednesday. ''Hindi po (No),'' Castro said when asked if the First Lady would go to the United States with her husband. No reason was given why the First Lady would not join the trip. When the President travels abroad, the First Lady usually goes with him, although she also has her own commitments during the trip as well. Marcos is scheduled to visit Washington next week, the first head of state from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to be invited by Trump to the White House in his second term. Details of the summit between Marcos and Trump are still being finalized, according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro, but defense and security amid increasing Chinese aggression in the disputed South China Sea, US tariffs, and economic cooperation are likely to figure in their discussions. —VBL, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
11 hours ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
Imee seeks ban on transfer of Pinoys to foreign jurisdiction sans local warrant
Senator Imee Marcos has filed a measure seeking the prohibition of arresting or detaining any person in the Philippine territory and transferring them to an international court without a warrant of arrest issued by a local court. In the explanatory note of Senate Bill No. 557, also known as the President Rodrigo R. Duterte Act, Marcos called the arrest and turn over of the former president to the International Criminal Court 'abuses by the authorities' which may also happen to others. 'What took place on that fateful day was an extraordinary rendition—the transfer without due process of a detainee to the custody of a foreign jurisdiction,' Marcos said. 'Thus, it is necessary to make it exceedingly clear—if it is not yet clear already—that arresting an individual for the purpose of turning him or her over to a foreign jurisdiction without an order and a warrant of arrest issued by a Philippine court is against the Constitution and punishable under the law,' she added. The prohibited acts under the proposed bill include the transferring or causing the transfer of any person found within the territory of the Philippines to an international court, tribunal, organization, or State whose jurisdiction or authority to investigate, prosecute, detain, imprison, or execute such person is not expressly and unequivocally recognized by the Philippines through a treaty or international agreement from which the Philippines has not withdrawn at the time of such transfer; or without the written and voluntary consent of the person transferred or an order issued by a competent Philippine court allowing such transfer. The bill also seeks to ban the arresting or detaining or causing the arrest or detention of any person in the Philippines for the purpose of transferring him or her to any international court, tribunal, organization, or State without an arrest warrant issued by a competent Philippine court. Investigating, arresting, detaining, or prosecuting any local on behalf of, in favor of, or upon the orders of any international court or the like; or without a permit issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will also be prohibited. The proposed measure also provides that all transactions in all property and interests in property of any person who is formally charged in the proper Philippine court with any of the offenses penalized under the Act are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in, if such property and interests in property are in the country or are within the possession or control of a Filipino citizen or resident, unless the court determines specific circumstances. It will also allow any person to file an ex parte petition in the proper Philippine court to deny the issuance of or cancel any visa of an alien, if there is substantial evidence that such alien visited or will visit the country to conduct any investigation, inquiry, arrest, detention, or transfer persons on behalf of any foreign court or State whose jurisdiction is not recognized by the Philippines through a treaty. As a recourse, the bill will also grant all persons who have been subjected to extraordinary rendition, whether prior to or after the enactment of the Act, shall be entitled to the appropriate remedies in the Philippine court. 'The Department of Foreign Affairs shall exhaust every diplomatic channel to ensure that Filipino citizens who are victims of extraordinary rendition will be repatriated to the Philippines as soon as possible and that judgments of the Philippine court will be given effect,' the measure read. Duterte was arrested in the Philippines by local authorities on March 11, based on a warrant of arrest issued by the ICC. He is currently detained in the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague for charges of crimes against humanity for the extrajudicial killings during the drug war. —AOL, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
12 hours ago
- Business
- GMA Network
Marcos hopeful for Metro Manila Subway's operations by 2028
President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. on Wednesday expressed hope that the Metro Manila Subway Project could be partially operational by 2028. Marcos made the remark during the inspection of the Camp Aguinaldo Station of the Metro Manila Subway Project. ''Sana matapos natin ito hanggang sa Valenzuela, baka matapos natin ito '28. Baka puwede nang in-inaugurate sa 2028. Basta tingnan natin,'' Marcos said. (I hope we can finish until Valenzuela by 2028. Maybe we can inaugurate this by 2028. Let's see.) ''Lahat naman ay nag-a-agree na kailangan bilisan nang mabuti at nang husto dahil ang ating mga commuter... ay para naman maging mas maginhawa ang kanilang pag-commute,'' he added. (Everyone agrees that we need to hasten this to bring comfort to our commuters.) The first Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) CP103 was launched from Camp Aguinaldo Station toward Ortigas Station following a tunnel alignment under Barangay White Plains, Corinthian Properties, and Meralco Compound. 17 stations As of 30 June, the TBM has advanced 281.74 meters from the launching shaft and has reached the Camp Aguinaldo–White Plains boundary. The TBM is expected to reach Corinthian Properties by the last quarter of 2025. Upon its completion, the MMSP will have a total of 17 stations and a 30.34-hectare depot where the Philippine Railway Institute is located. The project involves the construction of a 33-kilometer railway line that will connect Valenzuela City to Pasay City, with a spur line to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3. The MMSP's 17 stations are: Valenzuela where the depot will be located, Quirino Highway, Tandang Sora, North Avenue, Quezon Avenue, East Avenue, Anonas, Katipunan (Camp Aguinaldo), Ortigas Avenue, Shaw Boulevard, Kalayaan Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Lawton East, Senate-DepEd, NAIA Terminal 3, FTI, and Bicutan. The MMSP is also envisioned to be interconnected with other rail systems: the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT1), the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT3), and the Metro Rail Transit-Line 7 (MRT7) through the Common Station; the Light Rail Transit-Line 2 (LRT2) at the Anonas Station; and a physical run through into the North-South Commuter Railway Extension (NSCR-Ex) at the FTI and Bicutan Stations. —VAL, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
13 hours ago
- Business
- GMA Network
Some of idled Dalian train coaches now operational —Marcos
Some of the Dalian train coaches, which have remained idle for quite some time, are already operational, President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. said Wednesday. 'Nakabili tayo ng 48 na karwahe para sa tren. Mula ng 2014, hindi pa 'to – nakatengga lang ito, hindi po nagamit,' Marcos said during the launch of the 50% discount for train fares of senior citizens and persons with disabilities. (We procured 48 coaches for this train line. Since 2014, they have remained idle.) 'Kaya ang ginawa natin ay binalikan natin itong mga ito at tiniyak natin na kung anuman ang kailangang gawin para magamit ang Dalian train na ito ay gawin na natin,' he added. (What we did was we ensured that whatever needs to be done will be done so that the Dalian trains can be used.) In 2023, it was reported that the 48 sets of Dalian trains procured by the Philippine government to expand the operations of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) remained unused due to unresolved incompatibility issues with the rail system. The procurement of Dalian trains was done to increase the capacity of the said train line to 800,000 passengers per day. This also seeks the decongestion of the rail system. —KG, GMA Integrated News
AllAfrica
a day ago
- Business
- AllAfrica
Marcos plans US trip this month to talk tariffs, South China Sea
MANILA – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is set to meet with his US counterpart Donald Trump later this month to bolster a longstanding military alliance as China increases its aggression in the South China Sea, nine years after a landmark ruling that invalidated Beijing's expansive claims in the sea region. Marcos's trip, from July 20-22, is to be the Philippine leader's first visit during the Trump administration to Washington, his country's staunchest ally. In May 2023, Marcos met with Trump's predecessor Joe Biden, during whose term US troops were granted expanded access to Philippine bases including in Luzon island near the strait between the Philippines and Taiwan. Also expected to be discussed is the Trump government's new decision to impose 20% tariffs on all Philippine exports to the US. The impact of the tariffs on the Philippine economy could be far-reaching, while it could also impact American-based firms that are sourcing from the Southeast Asian nation. Total trade between the two nations exceeded $23 billion, with Philippine firms exporting $14.2 billion worth of goods in 2024. Specific details of the trip are still being firmed up, although newly-installed Filipino Foreign Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro gave an account on Monday of how Washington regards its alliance with Manila. 'It is President Trump who invited President Marcos to this meeting,' she said, 'the first – if I am correct – among the ASEAN leaders to be invited by President Trump to the White House.' (An internet search indicates she was indeed correct.) 'In fact, it is a working, official visit,' she said, but 'the president will be staying at the presidential guest house, the Blair House, so that means something.' Lazaro said that the Philippines' position on the South China Sea has always been anchored on the July 12, 2016 arbitral award that had invalidated China's territorial claims stretching even to the shores of its smaller neighbors. The Philippines is the only country that had dared to take China to arbitration, and its victory was a watershed moment for others with similar disputes with Beijing. Key allies the US, Australia, United Kingdom and France had hailed the ruling, calling on China to respect the rule of law. Beijing flatly ignored it, and has since even increased its activities in the contested area, leading to dangerous confrontations between its own coast guard and that of the Philippines. 'The Philippines will always be very strong in our position on the arbitral award,' Lazaro stressed, and she called on China to follow international law even as communications lines remain open to resolve any outbreak of potential confrontations. On Saturday, her counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said the arbitral award clearly stated that China's claims 'have no basis in international law.' 'This decision, legally binding on both the Philippines and China, was a significant milestone and a useful basis for peacefully resolving disputes between parties in the South China Sea,' he said. Yet, since 2016 Beijing has ignored the ruling and has increasingly shown 'aggressive actions' against its neighbors, Rubio said.
