00:05RAPED wants a budget of P976 billion for next year according to the 2027 National Expenditure
00:12Program.
00:13Sara Duterte's defense team says funny names in confidential fund receipts is not an issue
00:18for state auditors.
00:20The National Power Corporation says around 80% of the people who built the United Arab
00:24Emirates Baraka nuclear energy plant are Filipinos.
00:27Iran and the U.S. remain at odds over a permanent end to the war with no progress reported on
00:33reviving a June interim deal.
00:35And spectators across Spain gathered to watch a rare total solar eclipse.
00:48The Department of Education asks for a budget of P976 billion for next year according to
00:54the 2027 National Expenditure Program.
00:57The proposed budget for DepEd or Basic Education is 13.55% of the total P7.2 trillion spending
01:04plan, the largest allocation.
01:06The government is also seeking P176.5 billion for higher education, which includes the Commission
01:13on Higher Education in state universities and colleges.
01:16It also seeks an allocation of P21.2 billion for the Technical Education and Skills Development
01:22Authority.
01:23Under the constitution, the education sector must have the biggest budget.
01:27The proposed 2027 DepEd budget is broken down into P973.4 billion for the Office of the
01:34Secretary and over P2.5 billion for attached agencies.
01:38While the amount is around 5% higher than the 2026 NEP, the Education Department received
01:44over P1 trillion under this year's General Appropriations Act.
01:49Meantime, the Marcos administration is aiming for a P264 billion budget for the Department
01:54of Health in 2027.
01:56The proposed budget is P33.8 billion less than the Department's approved budget of P297.8 billion
02:03for 2026.
02:07Vice President Sara Duterte's defense team says there was nothing irregular about the
02:11names used in the confidential funds acknowledgement receipts and the simultaneous disbursement of
02:15these funds on the same day.
02:17Defense lawyer Christine Ferrer brought up names such as Mary Grace Piatos, Andy Lim, and
02:22Christine Applegate Estrada.
02:25This during her cross-examination of COA State Auditor Ceyline Del Campo on the 15th day
02:29of the impeachment trial.
02:31Ferrer asked whether these names appeared in COA's notices of disallowance covering
02:35the OVP's P73 million in 2022 confidential funds and P375 million in 2023.
02:43Del Campo says none of the names appeared in the notices.
02:46Ferrer then asked if the funny names meant they were fictitious, prompting a prosecution
02:51objection.
02:51Presiding Officer Cheez Escudero allowed the questioning and later asked Del Campo whether
02:56the funny names were mentioned in the notices of disallowance or audit observation memorandums.
03:00Del Campo said they were not mentioned.
03:05The National Power Corporation says around 80 percent of the people who built the United
03:10Arab Emirates Baraka nuclear energy plant are Filipinos.
03:13Napahor points out the pool of nuclear-capable overseas Filipino workers and the challenge
03:19of rebuilding the nuclear industry on Filipino soil.
03:22Napahor President and CEO Coco Nograles says many of our nuclear-trained personnel have since retired.
03:28Others took their expertise overseas where Filipino engineers and skilled workers have contributed
03:33to nuclear facilities around the world.
03:35Nograles says 80 percent of the people who built the four 1,400-megawatt nuclear facilities
03:41in Baraka are Filipinos, which he attributes to Filipinos possibly doing nuclear again.
03:47As of 2024, the Philippine government said that around 1,000 Filipinos were working at Baraka.
03:52The Philippines once had its own crop of nuclear-trained personnel for the Bataan Nuclear
03:56Power Plant, but the plant has been mothballed since 1986 over public safety concerns.
04:02Nograles says preparing the Filipino workforce could not wait until a new plant is already going up.
04:08The Napahor President adds building a nuclear power plant is easier than operating one.
04:15Iran and the United States remain at odds over a permanent end to the war in the Gulf.
04:20A senior Iranian source says there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal
04:25agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
04:28This after U.S. President Donald Trump issued yet another broadside against Iran's leaders,
04:34dealing another blow to hopes for a resolution to the crisis.
04:37The deal reached in June called for an immediate and permanent end to military operations but quickly
04:43fell apart. Trump declared it over on July 7, while Iran said it was suspended a week later.
04:49The U.S. accused Iran of failing to reopen the state of Hormuz, while Tehran said Washington had also
04:54failed to meet its commitments, including lifting a blockade of Iranian ports and then freezing Iranian assets.
05:01Trump said on Wednesday that the U.S. has total control over the state of Hormuz.
05:08Spectators across Spain gathered to watch a rare total solar eclipse that swept across the north of
05:13the country on Wednesday evening, plunging it into darkness. The country's government deployed a police
05:19contingent and set up special viewing spots across rural areas that offered the best views of the
05:24spectacle. Viewers in Buitrago de la Zoya, a rural district north of Madrid, clapped and cheered as
05:30the sky dimmed just after 8.30pm Madrid time, lasting barely a minute. Authorities were expecting up to
05:376 million visitors in mostly rural areas under the eclipse's path across the north of Spain and the
05:42Balearic Islands. The Iberian Peninsula last witnessed the total solar eclipse in 1912, but another is
05:48due on August 2, 2027, and an annular eclipse will follow in January 2028, completing the so-called
05:56Iberian Eclipse Trio. Meantime, six planets aligned in the sky on August 12. Jupiter, Mercury, Mars,
06:03Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune line up along the ecliptic, creating a rare planetary alignment.
06:08It was visible globally across both the northern and southern hemispheres in the early morning hours,
06:14just before sunrise.
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