News Briefs: Dec. 26, 2018

Tagle to parents, elders: Give youth gift of faith

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle on Tuesday urged parents and elders to give the youth the gift of faith during the holiday season, saying faith in Jesus Christ would be the best present one could pass on to the younger generation.

“We always say that Christmas is for children. We also say that the future, every year, is for kids. So this Christmas and New Year, let us ponder over what the youth can inherit from us,” Tagle said over Church-run Radyo Veritas.

“I am hoping that apart from education, apart from good life, let us pass on Jesus, our faith in Him. That is something that cannot be destroyed by termites, grain weevil. It’s a gift that cannot be destroyed,” the archbishop of Manila added.

The Catholic Church in the Philippines has declared 2018-2019 as the Year of the Youth. —Tina G. Santos

2019 Senate polls to test strength of PDP-Laban

The 2019 midterm elections will be a test for the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), according to party president Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III.

The polls would show how effective the party could be in ensuring victory for its five senatorial candidates, said Pimentel, who is part of the group.

The other candidates are former Philippine National Police and Bureau of Corrections chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Maguindanao Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu, the President’s former special assistant Christopher “Bong” Go and former presidential political adviser Francis Tolentino.

Pimentel is optimistic that the party could deliver victory for its candidates. “It’s a test for the party as far as the five are concerned. But we think it’s easier to make five candidates win,” he said. —Leila B. Salverria

De Lima: Don’t turn blind eye to people’s woes

Detained Sen. Leila de Lima has called on her fellow politicians not to turn a blind eye to the real problems that Filipinos are facing today, as this would allow them to help the people address their woes.

De Lima, who is spending her second year in detention at Camp Crame on what she calls trumped-up drug charges, said she was praying for the country’s leaders to embody the teachings of Jesus Christ, who gave his life for the people.

They should learn to listen to each other instead of “constantly bickering,” she said in her Christmas message.

“Let us also open our eyes to the truth so that we could further understand and help those in need, and contribute to finding solutions to the challenges that our country faces,” she said. “Despite the darkness that besieges our nation, let us hope that better things will come.” —Leila B. Salaverria

Pili mayor acquitted over accountant’s unpaid wages

The Sandiganbayan has acquitted Mayor Tomas Bongalonta Jr. of Pili, Camarines Sur, of graft over his alleged illegal dismissal of the municipal accountant who was already suspended by the Ombudsman for the same offense in 2005.

In a recent 20-page decision, the court’s Seventh Division said Bongalonta could no longer have caused undue injury to accountant Eileen Ceron because the town government fully settled her claim to P955,285.06 in back wages and benefits in 2013.

The late Mayor Alexis San Luis partially paid the claim in 2007, while Bongalonta settled the remainder when he became mayor again in 2013.

The court said the late payment did not establish that Ceron sustained undue injury. —Vince F. Nonato