News Briefs: Nov. 8, 2018

Prices of oil products to be rolled back again next week

Pump prices of oil products will be rolled back again next week, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said on Wednesday.

Cusi said projections showed that the price of oil would taper down in the coming months.

“There will be a rollback again next week because of the improvement in the price of oil in the international market,” he said, adding this would help bring down the inflation rate, which remained at 6.7 percent in October.

It will be the fifth rollback of oil prices in the country in the past months.

But Cusi also said that despite the downward trend in oil prices, “the Philippine government is expecting further volatility as markets continue to adjust to these development.”

At a Palace briefing, he explained that the projection for the coming months by developing, producing and exporting countries was that oil prices were expected to remain in the “low” $70 per barrel.

At present, crude prices range from $76 to $78 per barrel, he said. —Christine O. Avendaño

Sandiganbayan drops Marcos crony’s estate from forfeiture case

The Sandiganbayan has dropped the estate of the late Marcos crony Roberto Benedicto from forfeiture proceedings, citing a compromise agreement struck with the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) 28 years ago.

The court said the government raised “no objection” to Benedicto’s exclusion as codefendant of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his widow Imelda in Civil Case No. 0034.

Government lawyers also confirmed that the Nov. 3, 1990 agreement between Benedicto’s estate and the PCGG was approved by the Sandiganbayan on Oct. 2, 1992, and affirmed by the Supreme Court on Sept. 10, 1993.

Citing the agreement, the administrator of Benedicto’s estate said the PCGG had agreed to withdraw its cases against the former Marcos crony in exchange for the full takeover of California Overseas Bank, shares in Oriental Petroleum and the management of the Broadcast City facility. —Vince F. Nonato

Pope accepts Quevedo resignation as Cotabato bishop

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Orlando Quevedo as Cotobato bishop and named Bishop Angelito Lampon of Jolo as his successor.

Quevedo’s resignation was announced in Rome on Tuesday, according to CBCPNews, the news service of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

The 79-year-old Quevedo submitted his resignation as early as four years ago when he reached the canonical age of retirement.

The Pope did not act on his resignation and instead made him a cardinal, the first from Mindanao, two months before he turned 75.

Even in retirement, Quevedo was asked by the Pope to continue as “apostolic administrator” of the archdiocese.

He can also still function as cardinal until he reaches the age of 80, CBCPNews said. —Tina G. Santos

AFP chief Galvez made an honorary Navy SEAL

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. was made an honorary Navy SEAL on Tuesday when he graced the  62nd founding anniversary of the Philippine Navy’s special operations group.

“To be welcomed as a member of such a vaunted force is indeed an honor, and I am privileged to join the ranks of honorary members of much distinction such as former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and former AFP chiefs of staff Generals Alexander Yano, Ricardo David Jr, Emmanuel Bautista and Rey Leonardo Guerrero,” Galvez said in his speech at Naval Base Cavite in Cavite City.

“Whether in the sea, air and land (SEAL), the nation … can very much depend on the mighty Navy SEALs in protecting the people and securing the state,” he added. —Jeannette I. Andrade