Fuel prices fall for 7th week
Crude oil exporters were likely to hold back production as world prices continued to fall amid a supply glut.
Local oil firms cut pump prices for the seventh straight week, leading to the biggest decline in diesel cost at P2.30 per liter and P1.10 per liter for gasoline.
Shell, Caltex, Seaoil, Total, PTT and Eastern Petroleum had announced the price cuts on Monday.
Monitoring by the Department of Energy showed the latest round of price decline brought diesel costs to a range of P38.72 to P43.59 per liter and gasoline to a range of P43.85 to P54.77 per liter. —Ronnel W. Domingo
Serge Osmeña pleads vs DQ case
Former Sen. Serge Osmeña had asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to dismiss the perpetual disqualification case filed against him for his supposed failure to file his statement of contributions and expenditures (Soce) twice.
Osmeña is among 460 candidates now facing perpetual disqualification cases at the Comelec due to their failure to file Soce twice.
Osmeña insisted he filed his Soce at the Comelec when he ran for senator in 2010 and 2016. —Tina G. Santos
5 provinces holdouts in war on malaria
Although the Department of Health (DOH) has been successful in battling malaria in most parts of the country, it continued to struggle in the fight against the mosquito-borne disease in five provinces where malaria persists in remote or war-torn areas.
Of 81 provinces, Palawan, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, Sulu and Occidental Mindoro still report cases of malaria.
The DOH said 95 percent of 4,100 cases reported this year were reported in one place only — the town of Rizal in Palawan.
To date, 50 provinces had been declared malaria-free. —Jovic Yee
Duterte gives medals, gadgets, cash to wounded troopers
President Rodrigo Duterte conferred the Order of Lapu-Lapu to 23 soldiers wounded in a clash with Abu Sayyaf and recovering at the Don Navarro Hospital inside the Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) in Zamboanga City.
Col. Gerry Besana, public affairs officer of the Wesmincom, said the soldiers were from the 41st Infantry Battalion involved in the clash on Nov. 16.
At least five soldiers were killed during that clash.
Sources said the President also handed out gadgets and cash to the soldiers. —Julie Alipala
Minority leader hits continued underspending
A legislator expressed disappointment over what he said was continued underspending by the government which the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) should explain. Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, House minority leader, said he filed a resolution asking the DBM to explain why government spending continued to be slow. He said in August, “year-to-date” spending was just P2.19 trillion out of the P3.7-trillion budget. He added that this meant that the government had spent only 60 percent of its budget with only several weeks before the year ends. —DELFIN T. MALLARI JR.
Group urges SC to overturn ruling on Filipino
A group of students and Philippine literature professors on Monday urged the Supreme Court to overturn its decision relegating the Filipino and Panitikan (Philippine literature) as elective subjects in college. Contrary to the high court’s Nov. 9 ruling, the Alyansa ng mga Tagapagtanggol ng Wikang Filipino insisted that teaching Filipino in the tertiary level was not a duplication of Filipino subjects in senior and junior high school under the K-12 program. The group said the use of Filipino “cannot be sustained by leaving it to the whims of higher educational institutions.” —MARLON RAMOS
CJ need not be subservient to Du30, says Panelo
Subservience to the appointing power is not one of the factors being considered by President Duterte in appointing the next Chief Justice. Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said even nominees, who had opinions on issues contrary to those of the President, had a chance of being appointed. Panelo made the comment when asked if Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio’s stand on territorial disputes in the South China Sea would affect his chance of being appointed.—JULIE M. AURELIO