The ANC Brief: Changing tune

A petition asking the government to impose its laws in the West Philippine Sea could be headed down the drain. Here are the stories making the headlines on ANC today:

It looks like a petition by fishermen asking the government to enforce Philippine laws in the West Philippine Sea is dead in the water. Solicitor General Jose Calida told reporters both the government and the petitioners agreed to have the petition dismissed. It turns out that the 22 fishermen-respondents had disowned the petition saying they were deceived. A counsel of the fishermen, Chel Diokno, accused the government side unethically talking to his clients to change their tune.

The issue of the next House Speaker is far from resolved even after President Duterte made an endorsement. Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte denies reaching out House members and asking them to reject Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano as House speaker. Party-list Rep. Mike Defensor earlier said a Davao congressman sent him a text supposedly from Sara asking them to junk Cayetano, who was endorsed by her father President Duterte. Sen. Koko Pimentel, head of the president’s party PDP-Laban will be in a forum to talk about the speakership race. Rep. Mikee Romero will be on ANC’s Headstart also on the same subject.

Bulacan Gov. Daniel Fernando lamented the Amnesty International report that branded his province the “bloodiest killing field” in the country. But he welcomed a probe into the killings by the United Nations. Foreign Affairs Sec. Teodoro Locsin and Carlos Conde of Human Rights Watch are crossing swords online on the call for a UN probe on the war on drugs. President Duterte will be in an event in the Palace at 4 p.m. and might talk about the subject.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) warned the public of investment scammers claiming to represent the PSE and hawking shared of nonexistent companies. The Insurance Commission also ordered Caritas Health Shield to stop selling HMO products due to alleged fraud.

On the second floor of a Filipino restaurant in Camiguin is the Chan Ancestral Home. Built in 1906, it remains the picture of elegance and staying power—despite the decades of storms, typhoons, and even the eruption of Mt. Hibok-hibok.