Transcript for:
Philippine Senate Investigations and Updates

Three committees of the Philippine Senate set to investigate the alleged escape of dismissed Bambantarloc Mayor Alice Goh. The Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, led by Senate Minority Leader Coco Pimentel, will lead the probe. The Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, led by Senator Risa Hontiveros, and the Panel on Public Services, headed by Senator Rafi Tulfo, will serve as tertiary committees. Senator Hontiveros was the one who revealed...

Go is no longer in the Philippines. She welcomes the move to cancel Go's passport and government reaching out to the International Criminal Police Organization or Interpol to help locate her. It is a big or a significant step because the DFA knows that the whole problem of Pogo and all the crime connected here is not just a national problem. It is really regional. we could say a global problem.

The movement of Nina Guohuaping and her family is really starting to shrink. Of course, I think it's impossible for her to leave, to escape, that no one helped her, that she should have stopped her departure. Why is there no official record of her departure? Good thing Malaysia has a record that she arrived there.

Meanwhile, Senate President Francis Escudero doubts if the cases against Guo will prosper given her absence. The case is pending until it appears in court and is arraigned. So anytime it returns to the Philippines, there will be an additional warrant of arrest that can be issued against it. But if it is not found, what will happen is that the case will be archived first, and when it is shown again, an issue will be issued called an alias warrant of arrest.

House lawmakers denying impeachment efforts against Vice President Sarah Duterte. Duterte earlier claimed she received information that a plot to oust her is being discussed in the lower house. This, she said, is part of a plan to politically destroy her family.

But House lawmakers assert auditing the vice president's secret funds is just part of their job and not aimed at impeaching her. It basically runs the opposite of what we are aiming here in the House of Representatives. So it's not only resource-wise, it's too burdensome. It's also politically unwise for me that all the things that the House of Representatives did can be countered just because we need to focus on a certain issue that has no basis.

It's a waste of time to talk about something that has no basis and nothing really happens. Two Philippine opposition lawmakers seek to remove government funding for a children's book project of Vice President Sara Duterte. Her spokesperson defends the project's cost and objective. Joyce Balancho reports. Vice President Sara Duterte and Senator Risa Ontiveros got into an heated exchange on Tuesday when the Senate budget hearing tackled Duterte's 10 million pesos children's book project proposal.

Duterte wanted to distribute her self-authored book entitled Isang Kaibigan or One Friend to young learners in public schools to help them develop the habit of reading. She launched the book during the National Reading Month in 2023 when she was Education Secretary. This book was written by our Vice President, especially during the time when we were in DepEd. Reading was one of our hurdles, our challenges. The story of this book revolves around yung friendship na nabuo, lalong-lalo na at napatunayan sa panahon ng aberya o kalamidad.

Powa insists there is nothing irregular about the proposed project. We are ready to answer questions of the book dahil maganda naman po talaga yung layunin na yan. Wala naman po tayong tinatago at wala tayong pangangampanya na nasa plano dyan sa book na yan. For P10 million, the OVP plans to print out 200,000 copies, giving each book a ceiling price of P50.

The price per book could still go down, according to POA. Once we bid it out, it could go down even more because you know in bidding, bidders decide who is the lowest. Just how much will Duterte's book cost?

This shop told ABS-CBN News that That printing 200,000 copies of a book like Duterte's will only cost around 12 to 15 pesos each. As promised, the OVP sent a copy of the book to Senator Ontiveros on Wednesday. The senator insists questioning the OVP project is valid since it involves the use of public funds. Ontiveros says she will move for the realignment of the funding for Duterte's book as well as some items in the OVP's budget.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers Partylist Representative Franz Castro says she will block the funding of the book project. At the end of the day, again, wisdom of Congress is the budget. So what we can do is just answer the questions. Aside from the Senate, the OVP will also attend budget hearings at the House of Representatives in the succeeding days. Joyce Balancio, ABS-CBN News.

A Philippine House leader asks Congress to investigate... how the Duterte administration accumulated a debt of 7.2 trillion pesos during the COVID pandemic. Deputy Majority Leader Janet Garin says Congress should look into whether the funds were used appropriately.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte ended his six-year term in 2022 with over 12 trillion pesos in debt. His administration had borrowed aggressively to augment funds for pandemic response measures. News president Marcos orders the continuous surveillance of MPOCs following the detection of the latest case in the Philippines.

The health department says the 33-year-old patient has already recovered after contracting the mild strain of the virus, but 41 close contacts of the patients are under quarantine. The Quezon City government says the man went to a dermatology clinic and a massage spa along E. Rodriguez Avenue while he had the disease. We have levels of close contact. The most critical type 1 close contact is the massage therapist.

We monitor their quarantine for 21 days, so until September 1. None of them at this time have exhibiting symptoms. The patient is high risk because she has multiple sexual partners. Health chief Tedderbosa meanwhile assures the public the MPOC's outbreak in Africa will not start a new pandemic. What's clear to us is COVID. People are thinking, COVID, Herbosa will be quarantined, border control.

This is actually more similar to HIV, when it came out in 1983. In the Philippines, we still don't have a recorded case of death. The recorded case of death is in Africa, where there are thousands of cases. The Philippine Coast Guard says it may take two weeks to fully extract the industrial oil cargo of the sunken tanker MTKR Taranova. It says newly arrived booster pumps will speed up the rate of extraction to some 200,000 liters each day. The ship was carrying about 1.5 million liters of oil when it sank in rough waters off the coast of Bataan province in July.

We are expecting this activity. will flourish at the same time. They will continue to do what we are doing. We are watching them, we are monitoring and conducting a little bit here in Butter Tanker, Terra Nova.

Let's get an update on the weather now from Pag-Asa Forecaster, Chanel Dominguez. Chanel. Good morning, Rika, and good morning to all.

So currently, Easterlies are the warm and humid air from the eastern... The Pacific Ocean is affecting the eastern section of Visayas and Mindanao. Due to this, expect a generally fair weather with isolated rain showers and thunderstorms over our whole country.

We also are monitoring a tropical storm which had an international name, Shan Shan, outside our Philippine area of responsibility. cyclone is unlikely to enter our Philippine area of responsibility and have a direct effect in our Philippine landmass. And that's the latest here in Pag-Asa Weather Forecasting Center.

Chanel Dominguez and good morning. Thank you so much. Chanel Dominguez reporting live.

The family and supporters of democracy icon Ninoy Aquino Jr. gathered Wednesday to mark more than four decades since his 1983 assassination. They held the commemoration despite the rescheduling of the Ninoy Aquino holiday to Friday. story from izzy lee which earth has given a human hand a mass was held wednesday at the grave of the late philippine senator and opposition leader ninoy aquino jr at the manila memorial park to commemorate the 41st year of his assassination on august 21st 1983 in attendance were one of nino's children vl aquino d his nephew former senator bam aquino and other supporters the activity pushed through despite President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s decision to reschedule the so-called Ninoy Aquino Day from August 21 to Friday, August 23. The non-working day has been attached to the weekend to boost local tourism as part of the administration's holiday economic strategy, a move criticized by some sectors. I am a president who works in holiday economics and I understand that as a family member.

It's better to commemorate the day of Ninoy Aquino than the day he was killed. If you transfer him, the generation thinks that he's on vacation, not because he was killed. Aquino's assassination on the tarmac of the then Manila International Airport is remembered for sparking protests that eventually led to the ouster of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolt. Four decades later, Amarcos again occupies the highest post in the land. Bam Aquino responded to rumors about a possible alliance between the Aquinos and Borgoses in the 2025 national elections.

He clarified that he will run as an independent candidate but is open to collaborating with the administration on issues that will benefit the country. We can help. People are more important to our families. That's clear to me. Baguilat, who heads the Liberal Party's affiliate party list, Later, the Liberal belied the rumors of a coalition.

We will remain as an independent force. We are independent from the Marcos and the Dutertes. And the biggest reason why it's hard to have a coalition is because of this. The unacknowledged experience of the martial law. At the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, renamed after the late senator, the National Historical Commission along with other groups offered flowers.

This coinciding with other activities across the country along with calls to not erase or forget Ninoy's heroism and his belief that the Filipino is worth dying for. Izily, ABS-CBN News.