News Briefs

Quezon poaching seen as plant stems seized

The illegal trade of wildlife plants in Quezon province has been exposed after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) seized over 30 sacks of illegally collected stems of a plant species popularly used in making bonsai. In a report, the DENR said operatives had confiscated on Aug. 9 at least 34 sacks of bantigue (Pemphis acidula), estimated to cost around P300,000 inside a suspect’s house in Barangay Umiray in General Nakar town. The collection, selling and transport of bantigue is prohibited by Republic Act No. 9147, or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act, according to Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu. He said the DENR would continue to pursue wildlife traders. A type of mangrove, bantigue is on the DENR’s list of threatened Philippine plants. —MELVIN GASCON

Group wants deposit for recruiters pushed

A group advocating for the rights of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) urged President Duterte on Friday to order the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) to implement the escrow deposit requirement for foreign recruitment agencies, especially those in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, to better ensure the safety and welfare of vulnerable workers, like domestic helpers. According to the Advocates and Keepers Organization of OFWs Inc. (Ako OFW), there was no need for Dole to craft another set of escrow deposit guidelines for recruitment firms since the revised rules were already drawn up by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration in 2016. —JOVIC YEE

Duterte: PDP-Laban moribund, fragile

CEBU CITY—Moribund.

President Duterte made this description of the political party that served as a vehicle for his rise to the presidency but which is now being wracked by factionalism. He said the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), which carried Mr. Duterte as standard-bearer in the 2016 presidential elections, had come alive only after he became President. “Let us admit that PDP is a moribund organization,” Mr. Duterte said in a speech before at least 200 Visayas mayors at Radisson Blu Hotel here on Tuesday night. “It is only after I became President that many joined PDP,” he said. “But PDP-Laban is a very fragile party,” he added. —MOREXETTE MARIE B. ERRAM

Eastern Samar town councilor killed

TACLOBAN CITY—A councilor was watching a presentation inside a jam-packed basketball court in Mercedes town, Eastern Samar early on Saturday when a lone gunman shot him in the head. Councilor Antonio Abris, of Mercedes, fell on the ground with a gunshot wound in the head. The gunman, clad in a hooded jacket, escaped. —JOEY A. GABIETA AND ROBERT DEJON