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V ice President Leni Robredo. (FILE PHOTO from CNN) Metro Manila   (CNN Philippines, June 30) —  The Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for failing to liquidate the travel expenses made its personnel last year within the prescribed period.  The 2017 COA report said OVP personnel spent ₱ 26.4 million on local trips and ₱ 953,550.75 for foreign trips. But, they were unable to file liquidation reports on time. "Cash advances (CAs) for local official travels were not liquidated within 30 days upon return to official station, while unused/excess cash advances were refunded even later than the submission of the Liquidation Reports," the COA report read.\ Under the COA Circular No. 97-002,  failure of a personnel to liquidate these advances may result in the withholding of their salary. "Neglect of management to demand the immediate refund of unused/excess cash advances and the submission of liquidation...

Bro. Eddie Vilanueva run for a senatorial position three times / photo from Rappler (ctto) Another veteran writer and commentator, Jojo Robles slammed the recent statement of Jesus Is Lord founder Bro. Eddie Villanueva, who said that President Rodrigo Duterte violated the Constitution and demanded the president to issue a public apology over his ‘stupid god’ remarks. Robles noted on this Manila Times article that this issue on the president’s supposedly non-controversial remarks had gone too far. The columnist said that he had not plan on writing something about the president’s recent remarks about God, but what Villanueva said had changed his mind. “But that was before I read about a local religious leader who announced yesterday that he hoped Duterte would apologize for maligning the Creator, if he did not want to face a huge prayer rally denouncing him and urging divine punishment to befall him. Then I decided that this non-controversy had gone too far.” Rob...

Netizen Aveen Acuna-Gulo, a Filipino Catholic, had some words to say to the bishops and clergymen that have commented on the issue of President Rodrigo Duterte saying that God is stupid. Photo credit to the owner According to Acuna-Gulo, her being a Catholic has given her disadvantages. Including “ bearing the brint of the indiscretions ” of some of the people in the community in the catholic church; what she calls a “hierarchy”. Acuna-Gulo then goes on to defend the president from his recent controversy. She spoke for herself when she admitted that the president indeed has a foul mouth, but according to her, she can stand it.   Photo credit to the owner Photo credit to the owner One of her defenses on why it was okay, is that she says that Duterte is not a Catholic anymore.   She seems to hint that the president’s religious personality is detached from his political personality. By saying that she voted for him to be president of the state, an...

Maureen Rose Mejia-Villar, a netizen in support of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, took to Facebook to express her thoughts on the issue of Duterte cursing at God and calling Him “stupid”.  Photo credit to the owner Mejia-Villar went on to defend the president, saying that Duterte is being just like everybody else.   One who curses the Lord if struck with hardships and struggles. She shares her own experience of questioning God and cursing at Him when she was dealing with pain. Maureen Rose Mejia-Villar / Photo credit to the owner Mejia-Villar said that when she found out that her 3 sons had autism, she questioned God’s role in her life and how unfair He was being to her. Which is why she thinks that Duterte’s statements and outbursts is not new. Many people have questioned God’s existence and kindness before, she says. She then goes on to say that questioning God is okay as a lot of people, including herself, has done it before. She also says that this is a ...

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines or CBCP had recently released, through Rappler, a list of online news portals or websites which, according to them, are unreliable news sources with unverified news content. With more than 29 websites written on the list, CBCP consequently received criticisms coming from journalists, political analysts, and even from the netizens. Despite the outcry from various concerned parties and entities, the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines remained firm to their campaign to ward off the spread of “fake news” over the internet. Moreover, CBCP never gave a public statement, they were totally silent about the issue as if they had no intentions to justify or defend at least, their so-called “propaganda”. RJ Nieto, the man behind Thinking Pinoy (TP) blog, which was included on the list released by CBCP and Rappler, made a simple recollection and to its surprise, was able to unearth some grie...