News in Pictures: September 1, 2024
TRASH IN THE KINGDOM
Garbage piles up outside the compound of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) in Davao City, amid the weeklong standoff between police and members of the sect led by fugitive televangelist Apollo Quiboloy. Tarps on the compound walls are printed with KOJC’s message accusing the police of “overkill” in their pursuit of Quiboloy.
His followers also gathered this week for a protest rally outside Jose Maria College, a school that he founded in 2002.
The Davao City Regional Trial Court on Tuesday directed the police to remove their barricades around the compound. The court said, however, that its order does not stop the police from enforcing an arrest warrant on the preacher, who faces sex trafficking and other charges here and in the United States. The renewed effort to arrest Quiboloy follows after the reported escape of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo to Indonesia. Expelled lawmaker Arnolfo Teves Jr. and former Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag, both wanted for murder, have also eluded the government’s clutches. —PHOTOS BY JOSELLE BADILLA AND GERMELINA LACORTE
TOUR OF THE GENERALS
Gen. Samuel Paparo, chief of the US Indo-Pacific Command (Indopacom), is accompanied by Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. during his visit on Wednesday to Basa Air Base in Pampanga province, one of nine Philippine locations where the US military may deploy its personnel and equipment under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement of 2014. Paparo also visited Brawner’s alma mater, the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio. Upon assuming command of Indopacom in May, Paparo criticized China’s “troubling actions” in the Indo-Pacific. On Tuesday, he offered to have US vessels “escort” Philippine ships on their resupply missions, which prompted a warning by China against US support for the Philippines in the South China Sea. —ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES
TOLLWAY CONTROVERSY
A car on Tuesday enters a tollway in Manila where most lanes only accommodate vehicles with RFID (radio-frequency identification) stickers. Labor group Federation of Free Workers (FFW) early this week urged President Marcos to scrap a joint circular by transport agencies penalizing motorists on these expressways who have no RFID stickers. The group said the fines, ranging from P1,000 to P5,000, are “discriminatory and antipoor.” The Department of Transportation on Tuesday said it was postponing the circular’s implementation to Oct. 1. But FFW maintained that the order should be scrapped—a position now supported by some lawmakers. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
NEW BOAT FOR COAST GUARD
An uncrewed surface vessel (USV) donated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime under its Global Maritime Crime Program is seen parked on Wednesday at the headquarters of the Philippine Coast Guard in Manila’s Port Area.
As its name suggests, the USV can be operated remotely without a crew on board. The vessel is equipped with monitoring sensors that gather oceanographic and atmospheric data in the maritime area where it is deployed. The UN agency posted a tweet on Tuesday showing the boat being tested in Subic Bay, Zambales. —RICHARD A. REYES
