News Briefs: May 28, 2019

Oil companies lower pump prices of diesel, gasoline

MANILA, Philippines — Pump prices of diesel went down by 45 centavos per liter and gasoline by 35 centavos per liter as the price of Dubai crude fell sharply last week.

As of this writing, Shell, Seaoil, PTT Philippines, Phoenix, Eastern and Caltex have announced price changes.

Shell, Seaoil and Caltex also reduced prices of kerosene by 60 centavos per liter.

The price of Dubai crude oil dropped to $69.37 per barrel on May 23 from $71.15 per barrel on May 16. —Ronnel W. Domingo

DDB to blacklist DOH units, LGUs with no fund use reports

MANILA, Philippines — The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) will now bar from getting annual cash assistance for drug rehabilitation facilities the Department of Health (DOH) field offices and local government units (LGUs) who have failed to liquidate or submit utilization reports on previous fund transfers made by the DDB to them.

“Under the recently issued internal guidelines prescribing the rules on the funding assistance [for] treatment and rehabilitation facilities, DDB Chair Secretary Catalino S. Cuy directs the blacklisting of entities that do not fully utilize and liquidate the funding support given by DDB,” the DDB said in a statement on Monday.

The DDB said it transferred P77 million annually to the DOH and LGUs for the construction of drug treatment and rehabilitation facilities.

The fund transfers must be liquidated within one year of its release, the DDB said. —Jaymee T. Gamil

Police training transfer to PNP seen to stop hazing

MANILA, Philippines — The transfer of the Philippine National Police Academy and the National Police Training Institute, directly under the supervision of the national police, is hoped to put a stop to hazing and abuses that have tarnished the police training school over the past year.

In a statement, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) welcomed the signing of Republic Act No. 11279, which transfers the training of police recruits from the Philippine Public Safety College to the PNP.

“This will pave the way for reforms and innovations in the police training program,” said Interior Secretary Eduardo Año. “This further enhances the police training curriculum, which will hopefully translate to the production of better police officers with utmost competency, high moral fiber and respect for human rights.”

Año noted that police trainees would  learn straight from retired and active PNP officers as their instructors and develop “competencies that will result in a more professional police service.” —Jaymee T. Gamil

Surge noted in registration of overseas voters

MANILA, Philippines — There was a surge in the registration of overseas voters in the recently concluded midterm polls, indicating heightened interest on Philippine politics among Filipinos abroad.

The polls in May also saw the highest overseas turnout for any midterm elections.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs-Overseas Voting Secretariat (DFA-OVS), the 2019 elections “reached a milestone for overseas voting.”

In a statement on Monday, the DFA-OVS said  the three-year cycle of voter registration from 2016 to 2019 churned out 1.8 million registered overseas voters, an increase from 1.3 million voters during the 2014 to 2016 registration period.

The DFA-OVS said that total voter turnout abroad reached 334,928, the highest for a midterm election.

Historically, the highest overseas voter turnout was recorded in the 2016 presidential elections where 432,706 Filipinos abroad cast their ballots.

The highest turnout was recorded among Filipinos in Hong Kong, Dubai and Singapore. —Jeannette I. Andrade