News Briefs: September 28, 2018

Impeachment case vs De Castro, 7 SC justices ‘still on’

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman on Thursday said the impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro and seven other Supreme Court justices remained alive as the House justice committee report junking the case had not been approved by the body’s majority. “When the motion to approve the committee report and resolution dismissing the impeachment complaints was lost for lack of the requisite 35 votes, the impeachment complaints were reinstated and their dismissal negated and reversed,” Lagman said in a statement. The committee had 68 members. Last Sept. 25, when the justice committee report and resolution were adopted, only 22 members were present, and they voted unanimously to adopt the resolution. —JEROME ANING

Big number of illegal foreign workers worries Dole

The labor department has expressed alarm over reports that a significant number of foreign nationals may be working illegally in the country, considering that it had issued Alien Employment Permit (AEP) to only 115,000 foreigners. Senate Majority Leader Franklin Drilon last week claimed that there were about 400,000 foreigners working in Metro Manila alone. “The [Department of Labor and Employment, or Dole] is bothered by the report of increasing number of foreign workers in the country,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said, adding the agency is strengthening its AEP enforcement through inspections at workplaces.  —TINA G. SANTOS

Arroyo praises late solon’s legislative achievements

Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other House leaders paid tribute to the late Kabayan party-list Rep. Ciriaco Calalang’s legislative achievements during a necrological service at the plenary hall on Thursday. Arroyo recalled that the bill creating the Department of Disaster Resilience, which Calalang coauthored, was included in President Duterte’s priority legislative agenda. She said that when she was social welfare secretary, Calalang was one of her volunteer lawyers because he was active in child rights advocacy. She thanked Calalang for being one of the 163 congressmen who signed the manifesto of support to install her as Speaker. Calalang died last Sunday. He was 67.  —JEROME ANING

OFW killed after fatally stabbing Saudi boss, coworker

An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Saudi Arabia was shot and killed by security personnel after he stabbed dead his boss and a coworker on Wednesday, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). The name of the OFW, who worked for a subcontractor of the Saudi Electric Company on Farasan Island, was withheld pending notification of his family. Consul General Edgar Badajos said the DFA had sent a team to Jizan, 50 kilometers from Farasan Island, to help in repatriating the OFW’s body. According to Badajos, the Filipino stabbed his Pakistani coworker after a heated argument. The OFW also stabbed his Saudi manager and several other workers who tried to intervene.  —LEILA B. SALAVERRIA