Philippines

MANILA – Sun Cruises Inc., provider of cruise and tour services for Corregidor Island, on Tuesday announced that they will be officially closing down effective last May 16. Sun cruises, on their official Facebook account, posted a statement and a copy of the closure notice that ended a more than 30 years of service to people who are interested on …

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) has been named the second most helpful bank in Asia-Pacific during the coronavirus crisis – the only Philippine bank who made it on the top 20 list. UnionBank was next only to KakaoBank, the largest digital-only bank of South Korea. The online survey was conducted on April 1-30, 2020 by BankQuality Consumer Survey on …

MANILA – Former foreign affairs secretary Albert del Rosario said on Monday that the government can seize China’s assets and properties as payment for the damaged reef in the West Philippine Sea. Del Rosario cited a University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute study that China owes the Philippines over P230 bil for the environmental damage in the West Philippine …

MANILA – The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Monday announced that customers can expect a lower electricity in June, amid months of power rates increase. In an advisory, customers consuming 200 kWh per month will have a reduced rate of ₱4 in their billing, while ₱6 for 300kwh, ₱8 for 400 kWh and ₱12 for those consumers with 500 kWh. …

MANILA – The Department of Justice (DOJ) will look into the emergence of dummy or fake accounts in the popular social media site. The agency has received over a hundred reports from Facebook users containing two or more dummy accounts. According to Undersecretary Markk Perete, they have asked Facebook to take down but preserve the data for possible use as …

MANILA – The House of Representatives of the Philippines on Wednesday has approved the controversial new anti-terrorism bill and is now up to President Rodrigo Duterte for approval. The new anti-terrorism legislation will give Duterte sweeping powers such as carrying out arrests without warrants and hold suspects without charges. The bill were overwhelmingly approved by a total of 173 legislators …

MANILA – The Department of Education (DepEd) announced on Friday, June 5, that almost six million students enrolled in public and private schools for the 2020-21 school year. According to DepEd, a total of 5,995,962 students in both public and private schools nationwide have registered from June 1 to June 15. It is less than a fifth of almost 28M …

MANILA – ABS-CBN Corp. chairman emeritus Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III on Wednesday attended the congressional hearing of the House of Representatives on the network’s bid on a fresh franchise amid questions over his citizenship. Lopez attended the hearing after Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta who raised several issues against Lopez’s citizenship, said that the chairman emeritus should present in attendance in …

Metro Manila – The Philippines has announced yesterday that it has suspended its plan to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement with the US after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to pull the country out of the bilateral agreement. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said that the President has directed the Department of Foreign Affairs to inform the United States through …

MANILA – The Department of Education (DepEd) will let the parents decide and respect those who are against enrolling their children for the upcoming school year amid the threats of the Covid-19 pandemic. Education Secretary Leonor Briones said yesterday the next school year would be voluntary due to the concerns of the coronavirus disease and they would just give the …