President Macapagal-Arroyo has signed into law the republic Act 9745 or the Anti-Torture Act of 2009 last tuesday. RA 9745 penalizes physical acts by persons in authority or their agents that cause severe pain, exhaustion, disability or dysfunction on detainees as well as mental or psychological acts calculated to affect or confuse the mind or undermine a person’s dignity and morale.

The jail terms for violators are upto 30 years of prison depending the gravity of the offence.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) program that LTO want to implement became a hot issue among motorists as they have their own reactions to the program. Some of them are worried that this program can be use to spy on other drivers while public vehicle drivers said P350 for the said chip will be an additional burden to them.

The Philippine National Police also gave their side regarding the RFID program that they need to discuss and study further the RFID system with LTO. LTO Chief Arturo Lomibao said that the data on the RFID chip installed on vehicle will be limited.

Meanwhile, Stradcom, the company who will be providing the RFID chip also mentioned that the system is only limited to 10 meters and it will help authority to recover faster carnapped vehicles since the system will alarm while in range once reported.

Militant government workers organization Courage filed graft charges against Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo yesterday before the Ombudsman as they urge an investigation to his alleged unexplained wealth. Courage asked the Ombudsman to probe the presidential son’s failure to declare the P6 City, California in his SALN ( Statements of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth ). The group noted a media interview in GMA Morning show, “Unang Hirit” where Arroyo said that his money came from wedding gifts and campaign contributions from the last elections. According to Courage President Ferdinand Gaite, Arroyo violated Republic Act 6713, or The Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. Meanwhile, Assistant Ombudsman Jose de Jesus Jr. said the complaint would be evaluated to find if sufficient basis exists to warrant an investigation.

Legality of the automation of next year’s elections was upheld yesterday by the Supreme Court as they ruled that the automation deal was properly documented and that the petition of the Concerned Citizens Movement had no factual basis. SC said, COMELEC and Smartmatic Corp.-Total Information Management Inc. did not violate Republic Act 9369, commonly known as the Poll Automation Law. They also added that the law’s requirement for the Comelec to automate in at least 12 areas was not a prerequisite for the automation of next year’s elections. Chief Justice Reynato Puno concurred with the majority decision together with 9 other justices Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Renato Corona, Minita Chico-Nazario, Antonio Eduardo Nachura, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Mariano del Castillo, and Roberto Abad.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is set to have her state visit again after she went to Libya a week ago. The President is scheduled to leave again next week for London, Saudi Arabia and New York this coming Sept. 17 to 26. She will be in London for a speaking engagement upon the invitation of the weekly news publication, The Economist. She is also set to have a state visit in Saudi Arabia and New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. Meanwhile, the President defended her foreign visits amid persistent allegations of extravagant spending, saying the benefits far outweigh the cost as she wants to ensure the stability of the economy through her state visit.

Unang Hirit TV Host and Entrepreneur Regine Tolentino was sued by the Social Security System ( SSS ) for allegedly not remitting her employees’ contributions to the pension fund. SSS accused Regine Tolentino, Regine Vera Perez in real life, of violating provisions of the Social Security Act of 1997. Regine is the owner of Regine’s Children’s Wear, a clothing store for kids located at 47 Victoria St. in the village of Damayang Lagi, Quezon City. According to SSS Legal Unit Accounts Officer Marilyn Gonzales, SSS records showed that Tolentino did not remit her employees’ SSS contributions from August 2007 to January 2008 totaling P20,950.80. Gonzales added that she paid the actress a visit to remind her and to give her copies of the pension fund’s records of her company’s SSS remittances but Regine failed to comply with the request for her to settle the said obligations. She also said that her duties included inspecting employers’ records to determine whether or not they were remitting their workers’ contributions to the agency.

House Committee on Ways and Means has already approved a resolution imposing a five-centavo excise tax on every text message, without passing the burden to consumers. According to Quezon Representative Danilo Suarez, the tax would be shouldered by the telecommunications companies. He also added that the additional tax was expected to generate at least P20 billion annually. The amount is intended for computer literacy program of public schools students. Meanwhile, Speaker Prospero Nograles, said he supported the measure but wanted an assurance that the tax would not be passed on to the country’s millions of text message users, including him.

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held today as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and DPWH Secretary Hermogenes E. Ebdane Jr. is set to lead the construction of the first sky bridge in Bicol Region. According to DPWH Usec.Rafael C. Yabut, the project includes the construction of sky bridge 1 which is composed of 300 lineal meter while the sky bridge 2 has a total length of 125 lineal, both on which are 2 lanes of pre-stressed concrete girder. The bridge will connect the towns of Libmanan, Canaman and Magarao in Camarines Sur. The project will also address the traffic congestion problem between municipalities of San Fernando, Milaor and Naga City. They will also build the replacement of six existing bridges, widening of two existing reinforced concrete box culverts, retrofitting of Bulaong Bridge, widening/reblocking of existing 20.4 kilometers of road and construction of 5.5 kilometers of new asphalt road. The project has a total fund of P1.3B and is expected to be completed by April 28, 2011.

Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson threw his support for Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who has yet to decide whether or not to run for president in 2010. He also said that Former President Joseph Estrada should give up his presidential bid if he really wanted to lead a unification move in the opposition. Lacson gave his preference for Aquino as he believed it would surely fight corruption in the country. He also believes on Ninoy’s integrity as intact and would not steal the government’s coffer. It was recalled that Senator Lacson withdrew his desire to run for the 2010 Presidential race as he was allegedly involved in the Dacer-Corbito case in 2000 where he was the PAOCTF Chief that time.

As the whole Iglesia Ni Kristo mourns for the passing of its Executive Head, Brother Erano ” Ka Erdy ” Manalo, President Arroyo joined Iglesia ni Cristo members in mourning the death of their leader whom she described as someone who provided hope to all Filipinos. She made a visit yesterday according to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita. President Arroyo will also issue a proclamation honoring Manalo as the details were still unknown as of press time. Meanwhile, Proclamation No. 1869, declaring Sept. 12 as the national day of prayer for peace and sanctification of spiritual leaders was released yesterday.

Parañaque Mayor Joey Marquez was cleared from graft charges filed to him in connection with the city government’s purchase of “walis-tingting” in 1996 that was worth P2.9 million. This was after the Supreme Court has reversed the conviction of the former Mayor after finding out all the evidences insufficient. Sandiganbayan earlier sentenced Marquez o 50 years imprisonment for the purchase of the said broomsticks that were allegedly overpriced. Ofelia C. Caunan, OIC of the General Services Office of Parañaque, was also included in the graft charges before. The Court also added that the allegation of overpricing was not adequately proven as the gross and manifest disadvantage to the government was not sufficiently shown.

It was a biggest decision Sen. Mar Roxas has made as he sacrificed his dream of running as President in 2010 elections to give way to Sen. Noynoy Aquino’s candidacy. Roxas’s decision was the product of serious talks with Sen. Aquino and that he would like to make the sacrifice for the sake of the country. He was cheered by the audience composed of his family members, LP leaders and members led by former Senate president Jovito Salonga, and supporters. It is also his way to unite the opposition as both of them were having the same dream to implement a clean, honest, and selfless public service. Meanwhile, Sen. Aquino is about to give his statement today.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr stated that the government plans to spend some P235.2 billion for education in the proposed 2010 national budget, or P13 billion more than its allocation for the sector this year. He also added that DepEd will account for P170.85 billion while the country’s 112 state universities and colleges will get the second biggest chunk of the budget with an allocation of P21.1 billion. The third biggest recipient will be the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) while the fourth biggest beneficiary will be the DepEd school building fund which will receive P2 billion allocated budget. Andaya said that the budgets of the agencies in the education sector are actually bigger than what is attributed to each of them because of the segregation into a separate fund of the requirements for next year’s salary increase of government employees, including teachers.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo led the opening of the C-5 Road Extension Project that will cut travel time for vehicles going to the expressways last Thursday. The NLEX-SLEX-Coastal Road Connection project had a budget of P260M. The toll-free flyover of DPWH will cross Sucat Road all the way to the South Luzon Expressway. The construction began in September 2008 and was finished in July 2009, two months ahead of the scheduled inauguration.

The government is said to be planning to hire a total of 10,000 new policemen this year. According to Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya, Jr., there is a P1.4 billion allocation in the 2010 national budget prop for the hiring of new policemen and another P2 billion for the police equipment. He also added that the rookies will raise the troop level of the PNP to 142, 393, from 115,743 seven years ago, and improve the policeman-to-citizen ratio to 1:663 from last year’s 1:700. Hiring of additional policemen is part of a five-year police modernization plan which President Macapagal-Arroyo started in 2006.