President Aquino declares September 18 as
special non-working day in Zamboanga Del Sur in celebration of its 61st
Foundation Day
President Benigno S. Aquino III has declared
September 18, which falls on a Wednesday, as a special (non-working) day in the
province of Zamboanga del Sur in celebration of its 61st Foundation Day.
The Chief Executive issued the declaration
through Proclamation No. 642 signed by Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr.
on August 22 to give the people of Zamboanga del Sur the full opportunity to
celebrate and participate in the occasion with appropriate ceremonies.
Zamboanga province, which encompassed the entire
peninsula in the southwestern Mindanao, was divided into Zamboanga del Norte
and Zamboanga del Sur by virtue of Republic Act No. 711 in 1952.
Zamboanga del Sur became the 52nd province in
the Philippines and Pagadian City was named its capital. A third province in
the Western Mindanao peninsula, Zamboanga Sibugay, was created in 2001. PND
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Palace says claim that President Aquino spent
several hours with Janet Napoles on the day of her surrender is fiction
Malacanang denied the claim of a former senator
that President Benigno S. Aquino III spent several hours in “closed-door
conversations” with Janet Lim Napoles on August 28 - the day of her surrender.
"The claim of Marcos-era Public Information
Minister and former Senator Francisco S. Tatad that the President spent several
hours in “closed-door conversations” with Janet Lim Napoles on Wednesday,
August 28, 2013, is pure fiction," the Office of the Presidential
Spokesperson (OPS) said in a statement released on Monday.
Contrary to the claim of the former senator, the
OPS said the Chief Executive attended the 8th East Asia Conference on Competition
Law and Policy at Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Pasay City at 10 a.m. and the
27th Apolinario Mabini Awarding Ceremony at the Malacanang Palace's Heroes Hall
at 1:30 p.m.
"The storyline pushed by Tatad is an
obvious fabrication. The President was at two high-profile events at 10:00 a.m.
and 1:30 p.m. with hundreds of attendees. At both events the President also
delivered speeches, the videos of which are now collectively embedded on the
President’s Day page for August 28, 2013," the OPS said in response to the
senator's Manila Standard Today First Things First column dated Sept. 16.
The former senator claimed that Napoles arrived
at Malacañang Palace at 10:27 a.m., accompanied by Presidential Spokesperson
Edwin Lacierda. He said Napoles remained in a room for the next six hours,
meeting behind closed doors with the President, Secretary of the Interior and
Local Government Mar Roxas, and Lacierda. Other cabinet members who supposedly
joined the meeting were Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras, Secretary of Budget
and Management Florencio Abad, and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa.
"Secretary Abad denies having gone to the
Palace at all on that day. He was at his office from 12:15 p.m. until having to
leave for a 3:00 p.m. meeting in Quezon City and from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. was at
the DILG to meet with some organizers and attendees of the One Million People
March," the OPS statement said.
"This administration believes in truthful
and transparent reportage, which the former Marcos-appointee may not be accustomed
to," the OPS said.
The OPS also released anew the President’s
official working schedule for August 28. After attending the 8th East Asia
Conference on Competition Law and Policy and the 27th Apolinario Mabini
Awarding Ceremony, the President had a meeting with Ochoa and the officials of
the Department of Budget and Management and the Department of Finance at the
Malacanang Palace's Study Conference Room at 3 p.m. before heading to a meeting
with the Secretary of Transportation and Communications (SOTC), among others
also at the Study Conference Room. PND (js)
