Here are today’s headlines – the latest news in the Philippines and around the world: - Martin Romualdez transfers P130-M US property to corporation for just $1 - Trillanes sues Duterte, Bong Go for plunder over contracts given to Go family firms - Chinese smugglers ‘operate freely’ with help of PH gov’t officials — Pangilinan - Palace assures business groups: Gov’t taking anti-corruption drive seriously - Carlos Yulo qualifies for vault, floor exercise World Championship finals
00:06Former House Speaker Martin Romualdez transfers a 130 million peso property in Massachusetts
00:17to a fraternity brothers corporation for $1.
00:21Sonny Trillanes files plunder and graft complaints against Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Bong Go
00:26for government contracts awarded to Go family firms.
00:30Senator Kiko Pangilinan says Chinese smugglers operate freely in the Philippines with the
00:35help of government officials.
00:37Malacanang assures concerned business groups the government is serious in fighting corruption.
00:43And Olympic gold medalist Carlos Yulo qualifies for vault and floor exercise events in the
00:48World Championship Finals.
00:51Former House Speaker and Presidential Cousin Martin Romualdez transferred a Massachusetts
00:56property worth $2.24 million or 130.5 million pesos to a fraternity brothers corporation
01:03for just $1.
01:05U.S. government records list the 2.5-hectare estate in Dover, Massachusetts under the full
01:10name of the House Speaker since 1988.
01:13On July 1, 2025, Romualdez signed the quitclaim deed transferring ownership to a corporation
01:18named AMMY Inc. for only $1.
01:22Delaware state records show the company was formed as a foreign corporation only on June
01:2620, 2024, with a certain Andrew Casino listed as president.
01:31Casino, a fraternity brother of Romualdez in Upsilon Sigma Phi, sits on the board of directors
01:36of Benguet Corporation owned by the Romualdez family.
01:39U.S.-based realtors and lawyers say a quitclaim deed is not unusual as it is a legal means of
01:45transferring property.
01:46But what makes Romualdez's transaction stand out is a multi-million dollar estate being
01:51turned over to a corporation for practically no payment at all.
01:55A U.S.-based lawyer tells Rappler the transaction could count as a
01:58quote, fraudulent conveyance because it may be used to hide assets from creditors.
02:03Rappler reached out to Romualdez and Casino via various channels for comment but has yet
02:07to receive a response.
02:08Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV files plunder and graft complaints against former
02:15President Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Bong Goh over 7 billion pesos in government contracts
02:20awarded to Goh family firms.
02:23Trillanes also files the same cases against Goh's father, Desiderio of CLTG Builders,
02:28and his brother, Alfredo of Alfrego Builders and Supply.
02:32The complaint was partly based on a 2018 Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism report
02:37that CLTG and Alfrego secured the most government projects in Davao from 2007 to 2017.
02:43This was when Duterte was mayor of Davao City until he became Philippine president.
02:47We know that we have a lot of people who have been involved in Pongco and Duterte,
02:53so that they can't be able to find out that they're not going to influence us.
02:58This is a violation of our rights and that's why we have to be able to work.
03:05Trillanes also notes that the two firms were awarded a total of 6.6 billion pesos in government contracts
03:11from 2007 to 2018.
03:14He filed similar charges in 2024, which was later dismissed by former Ombudsman Samuel Martires.
03:20What's new in this complaint was the mention of the Goh family's links to contractors Curly and Sara Diskaya.
03:26CLTG and St. Gerard Construction were in a joint venture in five Davao region projects,
03:32amounting to 816 million pesos.
03:36Chinese smugglers, Philippine government officials and employees, and local businessmen
03:41connived to bring millions worth of misdeclared agricultural goods into the country.
03:46Senator Kiko Pangilinan says during a Senate hearing,
03:49officials from different government agencies allowed these Chinese smugglers
03:52and their local partners to operate freely.
03:55These include the Bureau of Customs, the National Bureau of Investigation,
03:59the Philippine National Police, the Department of Agriculture,
04:02the Department of Justice, and the Bureau of Immigration.
04:04The government had seized containers of misdeclared goods coming from China.
04:25Pangilinan adds the seizures were only done to show a semblance of law enforcement
04:29while ensuring that no big-time smuggler is prosecuted for the non-bailable offense of economic sabotage.
04:35Smuggling is one of the crimes considered as economic sabotage under the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act.
04:44Malacanang assures concerned Philippine business groups the government's anti-corruption campaign is in full swing.
04:50This after 34 organizations described the flood control scandal as having eroded public trust,
04:56which now threatens our national security.
04:58The 34 business groups also co-sign a resolution urging Marcos to urgently address the corruption
05:04surrounding flood control and other public works projects.
05:07Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro cites various actions taken by the government.
05:13The business groups also urge Marcos to give full legal authority and independence to the ICI, punish those involved, make reforms, recover ill-gotten wealth, and keep the public informed.
05:40It says,
05:41This is more than a financial loss.
05:43It is a fatal breach of public trust that leaves our people vulnerable and outraged.
05:48Double gold Olympic medalist Carlos Yulo qualifies for the finals of his pet events, vault, and floor exercises in the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships.
06:01Based on the latest results and qualifiers lists of the International Gymnastics Federation,
06:04Yulo is well within the top 8 cutoff for the finals after placing first overall in vault and second in floor exercise.
06:11Yulo will have a chance to win another vault world title on Saturday, October 25, his first since 2021 after topping the qualifiers with a score of 14.750.
06:21Yulo's quest to the World Championship Finals comes shortly after it was announced he would skip the 2025 Southeast Asian Games set for December.
06:30This due to a controversial one medal, one apparatus limit imposed by the host country, Thailand.
06:51This is a major of this region that has traveled along with a rating from 49.91.
06:53This shows a number of the history of the former J-Pierre in the past, country, and the first stage in the past.
06:54This will be in the past when revisiting the past.
06:55This is a number of the project that's the same size of the current PRIME, the last ochrean critical year of the R-Pierre in the future.
06:56This is a number of the project that's the most part of the project's rising generation, the new university will be launched by its brokerage,
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