MANILA, Philippines—Despite a glut of licensed teachers, the Department of Education (DepEd) is finding it hard to fill all 61,510 vacancies in the public schools this year due to a lack of qualified teachers in some areas.   The DepEd’s P293.32-billion budget this year includes an allocation for the hiring of 61,510 new teachers to plug the shortage in public elementary and high schools.   The teachers shall be deployed in time for the new school year on June 3.   While some areas have an oversupply of applicants, other areas outside urban centers do not have enough applicants.   “Some provinces are having a hard time hiring because ther...

Keep on reading: DepEd scrambles to fill 61,510 teacher vacancies

A San Miguel-led consortium has petitioned the government to reconsider its disqualification from the P1.72-billion public-private partnership (PPP) project that seeks to introduce contactless-based smart card technology into the metropolis’ light railway transit (LRT) system.   The San Miguel Transport Solutions consortium (SMTSC) was disqualified from the bidding due to the “absence of any discussion on some material points as well as inadequacy of the discussions on others that were clearly prescribed for QD-13,” but the consortium said it believed this had no basis.   “The document in question (QD-13) is a project management plan. For a plan to be compre...

Keep on reading: SMC appeals disqualification from P1.7B LRT smart card project bidding

A Malacañang official on Sunday backed the proclamation of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) of winning senatorial candidates ahead of the full count of votes, but said anybody could hale the agency to court.   “The Comelec is the Comelec,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, a senior political adviser to President Aquino, said by phone. “At the end of the day, it’s the Comelec that oversees the election process. We should trust that it knows what it’s doing.”   Abad said that unless it could be proven that the Comelec violated its own rules, it should be presumed that it had been exercising its function with regularity. “People are free to go to the...

Keep on reading: Palace backs Comelec on proclaiming ‘Magic 12’

Philippine officials have advised thousands of Filipino workers to “limit their movement” in Taiwan, fearing a potentially violent backlash over the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).   Antonio Basilio, resident representative of Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) in Taiwan, issued the advisory following a reported upsurge of attacks on some of the 87,000 Filipinos working in Taipei, Malacañang said Sunday.   “According to Mr. Basilio, they have issued an advisory to our countrymen to limit their going out … They should avoid doing unnecessary things, in other words, to keep within their workplace and their hom...

Keep on reading: Filipinos in Taiwan told: Limit activities

Over the past few years, Vice Ganda has coined various phrases that have become part of the local pop culture slang: “I-Dawn Zulueta mo ako,” “unkabogable,” “PBB Teens”... During his packed solo concert Friday night at the Big Dome, Vice introduced a new one: “I-Vice Ganda mo ako!”   In an interview with Inquirer just a week earlier, Vice said, “It means, simply, to make people happy.” He vowed that he would make every centavo that fans would spend for their tickets count. Based on the eruptions of shrieks and laughter that shook the Smart Araneta Coliseum intermittently, Vice delivered.   In the opening production number alone, Vice ...

Keep on reading: The way of a clown: Vice Ganda sets tears aside

Hollywood action star Vin Diesel said becoming a father brought about a “powerful transformation” in his life.   Although projecting the image of a tough guy in his movies, the 45-year-old actor admitted that being with his two kids with partner Mexican model Paloma Jimenez had turned him into a softie “so quickly.”   “Becoming a father was life-changing. I waited a long time [to become one] because this industry is so demanding. If you want to be the biggest star in the world, you have to be very selfish at times. Sometimes, you have to be a little late at starting a family,” the actor said during a media conference for the latest installment of the...

Keep on reading: Kids make tough guy Vin Diesel a ‘softie’

Debuting filmmaker Dwein Baltazar set out to take an unflinching look at growing old. She said her father had led her to the idea behind her first film, “Mamay Umeng,” one of the entries in last year’s Cinema One Originals fest.   “My father told me the story of his godmother, who lived a very long life,” Baltazar recalled. “When people complimented her on her age, she told them that it was more of a curse than a blessing.” It was painful, the godmother said, “to watch your loved ones die ahead of you and feel your body growing weaker with each passing day.”   Baltazar felt strongly about telling the grizzled godmother’s story. “We have a t...

Keep on reading: Film on old age wins in Jeonju

MANILA, Philippines — And the search goes on.   The Philippine National Police (PNP) will continue to look for over 400,000 loose firearms all over the country even after the election gun ban ends on June 12.   PNP Director General Alan Purisima said the police had been able to account for more than 200,000 unlicensed guns since the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) launched a crackdown on loose firearms dubbed “Oplan Katok.”   “The lifting of the gun ban... will not be the end of the aggressive campaign against loose firearms,” Purisima told reporters last week.   “We may be gradually shifting to normal law enforcement f...

Keep on reading: PNP to continue search for 400,000 illegal firearms even after polls

MANILA, Philippines — Alaska leaned on a late surge to pull away from Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 104-80, and seized its first championship in three years after pulling off a three-game sweep in their best-of-five PBA Commissioner's Cup championship series before a record crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday night.   The game was tied at 76 early in the fourth period before the Aces went on a 20-3 run to break the game wide open en route to their 14th title overall....

Keep on reading: Alaska sweeps Ginebra to win PBA Commissioner’s Cup title

MANILA, Philippines -- A lawyer has been suspended by the Supreme Court from practicing law for two years after he was found to have done notary public work in Isabela province without proper authority.   Lawyer Anselmo Echanez was also disqualified last month by the high court from being commissioned as a notary public for two years.   In a five-page decision penned by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, Echanez was found by the high court to be guilty of "engaging in notarial practice without a notarial commission."   "He is warned that a repetition of the same or similar act in the future shall merit a more severe sanction," the high court said.  ...

Keep on reading: Lawyer suspended for serving as notary public in Isabela without authorization