Context Dispatch

Buying a house? Settling an estate? Transferring shares? All of it just got a little less confusing. 

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has expanded the government's Unified Package for Livelihood, Industry, Food, and Transport (UPLIFT) program to cover 7.5 million households as it moves to cushion families from higher fuel and living costs triggered by tensions in the Middle East. The new financial assistance will cost at least P25 billion until the end of 2026. The expanded package provides a one-time P2,000 cash aid to 3.5 million beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and Walang Gutom program, a P2,000 monthly subsidy from July to December for 1.5 million low-income Social Security System members, and extended assistance to 2.5 million poor and near-poor households identified under the 2024 Community-Based Monitoring System. The administration is also seeking the swift passage of the proposed UPLIFT law.

Batangas Rep. Gerville Reyes-Luistro, the ead prosecutor in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, told the Senate that it will not longer call 5 witnesses, including two journalists, in the articles covering grave threats and sedition. She said the withdrawal of witnesses was necessary since they will testify to facts already established during the testimony of previous witnesses. The Senate, acting as impeachment court, granted the prosecution's motion and welcomed it as a step toward the speedy disposition of the vice president’s trial. Presiding officer, Senator Francis Escudero, however, ordered that future withdrawals of witnesses shouldn’t be explained since the defense can’t confront the witnesses, or the manifestations of the prosecution that lead to conclusions of law.

The House prosecution has dropped Vice President Sara Duterte's chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, and security official Belinda Bello as witnesses in the impeachment trial. Prosecutor Lorna Kapunan said Tuesday their testimony under Article IV had become unnecessary, redundant or merely corroborative following evidence presented by two National Bureau of Investigation officials. Lopez was expected to authenticate a video of Duterte's Nov. 23, 2024 online press conference, but Kapunan said the defense had already acknowledged the event and used the same recording. Bello's testimony would have merely corroborated a detention-facility transfer order involving Lopez, Kapunan said. Senator-judges welcomed the move that helps in shortening the trial period.

American marine biologist Kent Edward Carpenter was shot dead during a robbery at his home in Sibulan, Negros Oriental, police said. Three masked men allegedly broke into the 73-year-old's residence late Sunday, with one suspect fatally shooting Carpenter while the others assaulted his Filipina companion and stole valuables. No arrests have been made. Authorities have formed a special investigation task group and are pursuing robbery, professional and personal motives. Carpenter was a renowned marine biologist and an expert witness in the Philippines' South China Sea arbitration case. This is the 10th anniversary of the WPS ruling. (Marjohara Tucay)