MANILA, Philippines — It kept the Palace rumor mill churning for weeks: that the Marcos campaign spokesperson who rose to become “Little President” was on his way out.

After only 79 days in office, Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez announced his resignation on Saturday, ending weeks of speculation about the most powerful member of the Cabinet whose image got an early battering for his purported role in the sugar importation fiasco and an alleged bribery scheme involving presidential appointments.

Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles confirmed in a separate statement that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had accepted Rodriguez’s resignation and given him a new role as presidential chief of staff, with “the rank and emoluments of a Cabinet secretary.”

The executive secretary is the No. 1 official in the Office of the President.

There was no official word on Saturday about Rodriguez’s replacement but two Inquirer sources — one in Malacañang and another in the judiciary — said former Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin had been chosen to succeed Rodriguez.

“The president will appoint Bersamin in the next few days,” the Palace source told the Inquirer on Thursday, two days before Rodriguez announced his resignation.

The second source, who had worked with Bersamin and asked not to be named for lack of authority to speak on the matter, said the former magistrate was “offered the post” last week.

On Nov. 8, 2016, Bersamin was one of the nine Supreme Court justices (against five) who voted in favor of having the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the President’s father, buried at Libingan ng mga Bayani. The low-key rites were carried out 10 days later amid protests, especially from martial law victims.

When Bersamin retired from the judiciary in February 2020, then President Rodrigo Duterte appointed him chair of the board of trustees of the Government Service Insurance System.

Angeles on Saturday did not confirm whether Bersamin had been offered or had accepted the job as Rodriguez’s replacement.

“There are names now being considered for the position of executive secretary and these names are now under the process of vetting by the Office of the President,” she said.

Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer..net/1665957/little-president-quits-after-79-days-in-post#ixzz7fCd45Pn1

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 CAMBODIA

54th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting opens

September, 14/2022

The 54th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting (AEM 54) and related meetings officially opened in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on Wednesday.

Cambodian Prime Minister Techo Hun Sen delivers a speech at the event. — VNA/VNS Photo

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PHNOM PENH — The 54th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting (AEM 54) and related meetings officially opened in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on Wednesday.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyễn Hồng Diên led the Vietnamese delegation to the event.

Opening the AEM 54, Cambodian Prime Minister Techo Hun Sen reviewed Cambodia’s engagement in building the common community, especially the ASEAN Economic Community, along with the ASEAN efforts and achievements over the past 30 years, making the association the third largest area in Asia and the sixth in the world in terms of economic scale.

Reviewing common difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years, the Cambodian PM underlined that efforts and priorities of the ASEAN Chair in 2022 are to ensure the efficiency of the association in response to relevant challenges and risks, especially in speeding up the economic recovery in a sustainable and comprehensive manner.

READ MORE :    https://vietnamnews.vn/politics-laws/1315185/54th-asean-economic-ministers-meeting-opens.html

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Latest stories

School gardens a lifeline for hungry Cambodian children

This photo taken on July 8, 2022 shows a teacher serving up breakfast to students before classes with Cambodia‘s school meals programme at a school in Siem Reap province. – Among the spinach crops at a rural Cambodian school garden, children test their mathematics skills weighing produce — but as food price rises rock struggling households, the veggie patch has become a critical safety net. (Photo by TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP) / To go with ‘CAMBODIA-HEALTH-EDUCATION,FEATURE’ by Suy SE and Lisa MARTIN in Bangkok

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SIEM REAP: Among the spinach crops at a rural Cambodian school garden, children test their maths skills while weighing produce — but as food prices rise, the vegetable patch has become a safety net for struggling families.

Long before Covid restrictions ravaged the economy, malnutrition and poverty stalked Cambodia’s youth — the legacy of decades of conflict and instability following the Khmer Rouge‘s genocidal rule in the 1970s.

Food insecurity has worsened since Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine stoked global shortages and inflation.

The World Food Programme (WFP) the prices of local staples have shot up in the past year: duck eggs by more than 20 percent and cooking oil by almost 40 percent.

READ MORE :  https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/09/06/latest-stories/school-gardens-a-lifeline-for-hungry-cambodian-children/1857433

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 9.17.22

MYANMAR |

Myanmar court sentences journalist to three years in prison

September 17, 2022

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ANN/THE STAR – A court in military-ruled Myanmar sentenced a freelance journalist associated with the international broadcaster BBC to three years in prison with labour on Thursday evening after she was found guilty of incitement, a legal official said.

Htet Htet Khine, who presented a programme called Khan Sar Kyi – ‘Feel It’ – for BBC Media Action, still faces an additional charge of unlawful association under which she could receive up to another three years in prison. The documentary programme, on which she worked from 2016 to 2020, showed the problems of people across the country caused by years of unrest and conflict.

Since seizing power in February last year by ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, the military government has cracked down heavily on media freedom. It has forced at least 11 media outlets to shut down and arrested about 142 journalists, 57 of whom remain detained awaiting charges or trial.

Some of the closed media outlets have continued operating without a license, publishing online as their staff members dodge arrest.

Htet Htet Khine was arrested in August 2021 along with Sithu Aung Myint, a columnist who did commentaries for the online magazine Frontier Myanmar and the broadcaster Voice of America, at an apartment in the country’s largest city, Yangon, where they had been hiding.

Htet Htet Khine was initially accused of serving as volunteer editor for Federal FM Radio, an underground broadcaster of the National Unity Government, a shadow civilian administration established to oppose the military takeover. The ruling military council has declared the group a terrorist organisation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing on the sidelines of the 2022 Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on September 7, 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed “positive” ties with Myanmar on Wednesday as he met with the country’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok. “Myanmar is our long-standing and reliable partner in Southeast Asia…Our relations are developing in a positive way,” Putin said during the meeting on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum. Min Aung Hlaing’s visit comes as both governments face diplomatic isolation — Moscow for its February military intervention in pro-Western Ukraine, and Naypyidaw for a military coup last year. As Moscow’s ties with the West unravel over Ukraine, the Kremlin is seeking to pivot the country towards the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. “I am very proud of you, because when you came to power in the country, Russia, so to say, became number one in the world,” Min Aung Hlaing told Putin, as quoted by a Kremlin statement that translated his remarks into Russian. “We would call you not just the leader of Russia but a leader of the world because you control and organise stability around the whole world,” he said.  The two leaders “friendly and openly” discussed cooperation and “exchanged views on relations and the international situation”, the Myanmar junta said in a statement.  Since the putsch that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in February last year, Myanmar has faced Western sanctions and a downgrade in relations. Myanmar has been in chaos and its economy paralysed as the military regime struggles to crush resistance. Russia and its ally China have been accused of arming Myanmar’s junta with weapons used to attack civilians since the coup. More than 2,200 people have been killed in the crackdown, according to a local monitor. During a trip to Naypyidaw in early August, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov backed the junta’s efforts to “stabilise” the country and hold a national poll next year. But US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned the international community to reject the junta’s “sham elections”.

Wed, September 7, 2022TOPICS : Vladimir-Putin Min-Aung-Hlaing Myanmar junta China politics

AFP/Valery Sharifulin

AFP Moscow, Russia   ●

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Today’s Paper: September 18, 2022

9.17.22

Marcos -Romualdez Family Newspaper- The Manila Times Political Troll … propagates FAKES NEWS

PAGE ONE SINGLE

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SINGAPORE |

Passengers from S’pore and Malaysia unable to board after cruise is overbooked

Adeline Tan

SEP 5, 2022, 10:53 PM SGT

SINGAPORE – Some passengers from Singapore and Malaysia who were booked on cruise ship Genting Dream were unable to board after they were informed that the trip had been overbooked.

The cruise was due to depart Singapore on Sunday, call at Port Klang on Monday, Penang on Tuesday, back to Singapore on Wednesday, before returning to Port Klang on Thursday.

But more than a hundred passengers were unable to board the ship at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre here on Sunday.

 READ MORE:   https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/consumer/passengers-from-singapore-and-malaysia-unable-to-board-after-cruise-overbooked

The Straits Times

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9.7.22

THAILAND |

10 Rohingya rescued from sea off Satun, 41 others found on island

Some undocumented Rohingya found on Koh Dong off Satun Province on Saturday/BERNAMAPix

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BANGKOK: Thai authorities rescued 51 Rohingya including two children in southern Satun province on Tuesday.

Local fishermen rescued 10 Rohingya from the sea in Satun’s La-ngu district and another 41 were found on an island in Thung Wa district.

Police are investigating whether both groups came from the same boat and are victims of human trafficking.

La-ngu district police superintendent, Pol Col Sitthipong Husrangsi said local fishermen found the 10 exhausted men clinging to a polystyrene foam.

“They have been placed at a temporary shelter pending further investigation,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, Satun Provincial Administration said upon interrogation it was found the 10 men, whom were from Rakhine, had escaped from a shelter in Bangladesh.

“The men said their overloaded boat that was bound for Indonesia was hit by a storm forcing them to abandon the vessel. They were in the sea for four days before being rescued by local fishermen,” said the statement.

Meanwhile, authorities extended their search after receiving information that more Rohingya had been pulled onto a beach nearby.

“They found another 41 Rohingya including two young boys on an island off the coast of Thung Wa district. All of them were found in a hungry and dehydrated state,” the statement said.-Bernama

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9.18.22

 

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