Here are today’s headlines – the latest news in the Philippines and around the world: ⁃ Comelec division cancels registration of Duterte Youth ⁃ Netherlands denies Harry Roque’s asylum bid – DOJ ⁃ MMDA warns against phishing site posing as ‘May Huli Ka’ NCAP offense-checker ⁃ Still awaiting SC nod for CIW hearing, Mary Jane Veloso yet to testify vs recruiters ⁃ US judge blocks Trump passport policy targeting transgender people
00:06The Commission on Elections cancels the registration of Duterte Youth Party List.
00:17The Netherlands denies the application for asylum of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
00:22The MMDA warns of a fake website similar to Mayhulika traffic violation checker.
00:27Former OFW Mary Jane Veloso is still waiting to testify against her recruiters for human trafficking.
00:33And a U.S. judge blocks the Trump administration's passport policy on transgender and non-binary Americans.
00:41The Commission on Elections' second division votes 2 to 1 to cancel the registration of the Duterte Youth Party List.
00:47The decision stems from a 2019 case youth leaders filed alleging that Duterte Youth was not a genuine representation of the youth.
00:54The division also ruled that the party list group committed grounds for cancellation when it nominated its chairman Ronald Gardema to sit as youth representative despite being overage.
01:04Comelec chairman George Garcia says the group may still file for a motion of reconsideration when the Comelec en banc would hear the case.
01:11Duterte Youth won three seats in the 2025 midterm elections, but its proclamation was suspended due to serious allegations raised in pending cases before the Comelec.
01:19Up to three defeated party list groups can benefit if Duterte Youth disqualification becomes final.
01:25Gabriela, ranked 55, Abono, ranked 56, and Ang Provinciano, ranked 57.
01:31It could take a while for another party list to fill the vacancy since the decision can be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.
01:37The Netherlands denies former Philippine presidential spokesperson Harry Roque's asylum application.
01:45Philippine Justice Secretary Boying Remulya says Roque is now in Germany.
01:49Remulya also says it is now up to Germany to give Roque asylum.
01:53Asylum is protection given by a country to a person who has left their home country as a political refugee.
01:59Following former President Rodrigo Duterte's international criminal court arrest, Roque appeared in The Hague after months away from the public.
02:05He then announced he would apply for Dutch asylum.
02:08At the time, Roque had only an arrest order from the House of Representatives after they cited him in contempt, thus allowing him to travel under the radar, reportedly to the United Arab Emirates and China.
02:19As of May 15, Roque has an arrest warrant issued by a Pampanga court over charges of qualified trafficking in persons in relation to his alleged ties to a Philippine offshore gaming operator.
02:28In April, the DOJ said it will block Roque's asylum bid, but for now, Remulya says they are waiting for the cancellation of Roque's passport.
02:36The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority warns of a fake website resembling the MMDA's No Contact Apprehension Traffic Violation Checking Site, May Hule Ka.
02:48The phishing site, titled May Hule Ba, with a letter B instead of K, tries to get information from prospective users, such as license plate numbers, among other things.
02:56The MMDA urges users to make sure they are visiting legitimate MMDA-affiliated links and reminds people they could go to the official website at mayhuleka.mmda.gov.ph to check the status of any offenses they may have incurred.
03:11Additionally, MMDA Hotline 136 is also available to answer queries from the public.
03:16Former overseas Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso is still waiting to testify against her recruiters for human trafficking.
03:25Veloso's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow her to testify from the prison facility in Mandaluyong.
03:30The high court is yet to act upon the request.
03:33Veloso spent 14 years on the Indonesian death row for drug smuggling before she was transferred to the Philippines in December 2024.
03:39She is the final witness in a case filed against her recruiters for human trafficking, illegal recruitment, and estafa at a Nueva Ecija court.
03:48Court hearing schedules have been reset due to procedural reasons and scheduling conflicts since March 2025.
03:54The latest hearing was set for Wednesday, June 18, but Veloso's legal team said the court rescheduled because the high court has yet to rule on the motions to allow the hearing to take place at the prison facility.
04:04In 2015, Veloso was spared from execution in Indonesia.
04:08Calls for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to grant Veloso a pardon continue.
04:14In the United States, a federal judge blocks U.S. President Donald Trump's administration from refusing to issue passports to transgender and non-binary Americans that reflect their gender identities.
04:25U.S. District Judge Julia Kobik in Boston expands a preliminary injunction she issued in April.
04:30She earlier allowed six transgender and non-binary individuals who challenged the policy to obtain passports consistent with their gender identities or with an ex-sex designation.
04:40She says Tuesday, June 12, granting class action civil status to two categories of passport holders was appropriate,
04:47given that the administration's actions affected them uniformly by, quote,
04:50preventing them from obtaining passports with a sex marker consistent with their gender identity.
04:55Lee Naolin Sol, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, calls the ruling a critical victory against discrimination.
05:01After returning to office in January, Trump signed an executive order directing the government to recognize only two biologically distinct sexes, male and female.
05:10Prior to Trump, the State Department for more than three decades allowed people to update the sex designation on their passports.
05:16And that's today's wrap. I'm Kara Oliver. Thank you for watching.
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