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DAGUPAN CITY (March 11)—Three radio broadcasters here are facing multiple counts of libel and cyber libel charges filed by the local chief executive of the municipality of Mangaldan in Pangasinan province. Mangaldan town Mayor Marilyn de Guzman-Lambino was accompanied by her counsel, lawyer Joseph Frianeza, when she filed the complaint before the City Prosecutor's Office here on March 8, 2022. The respondents in the libel case filed by de Guzman-Lambino are radio commentators Joel Balolong of DWCM Aksyon Radyo 1161 AM, Tito Tamayo of DWIZ 89.3 FM and Dennis Mojares of DWJE 88.1 FM. The libel cases stemmed from the "malicious" and "brutal" commentaries of the broadcasters when Lambino and her husband, lawyer Raul Lambino, were accused of rape, child abuse and physical injuries bef...

BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO (From left) United States Agency for International Development Philippines Mission Director Ryan Washburn and US Embassy in the Philippines Chargé d’Affaires ad interim Heather Variava join Finance Assistant Secretary Paola Alvarez, Philippine Climate Change Commission Commissioner Albert dela Cruz, and Catholic Relief Services Country Representative Karen Janes Ungar at the formal launch of the P750-million ($15 million) Climate Resilient Cities project. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO THE United States government launched on Thursday, March 10, a new project to build climate resilience in cities in the Philippines, one of the world's most disaster-prone countries. According to the Information Office Public Affairs Section (Iopas) of the US Embassy in the Philippines, th...

BY TVJ STAFF United States Peace Corps doctors and nurses help fill critical healthcare worker shortages and meet vaccine demand amid the Omicron surge in January and February. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO MANILA (March 7)—The United States (US) Peace Corps in partnership with the Department of Health (DoH) and the US Agency for International Development's (USAid) ReachHealth project is set to vaccinate more than 10,600 Filipinos, according to the US Embassy in the Philippines. Jenner Edelman, US Peace Corps country director, said during her visit to a mass vaccination clinic in Quezon City they are pleased to team up with the Philippine government and USAid to support this critical, nationwide effort to protect the Filipino people and get children safely back to school in person. The US...

REPUBLIC Act No. 11648, or the act increasing the age for determining statutory rape, received the President’s signature on March 4, 2022. The long-awaited law raises the age of sexual consent from twelve (12) to below sixteen (16) years old. “I know this has been long-awaited by many families and child rights advocates, and as a parent to three young kids myself, I was really adamant that we get this out for the President’s signature this Congress,” said Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, author and co-sponsor of the law. He also co-chaired the Senate bicameral conference committee panel for the bill, along with Sen. Richard Gordon. “At thirteen or fourteen, our kids cannot make informed decisions about sex yet, especially sex with adults, so this is a really important law ...