MANILA — Republic Act No. 11985, known as the Philippine Salt Industry Development Act, was signed into law by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on March 11, aimed at revitalizing the local salt industry and creating thousands of jobs, especially in rural and coastal communities.
According to Philippines News Agency, the principal author of the law, the new legislation is set to significantly enhance the income of salt farmers while promoting job creation across the country. The law provides a comprehensive roadmap for the development, management, research, processing, and commercialization of Philippine salt. It aims to increase local salt production by expanding existing salt farms and revitalizing dormant ones, and it emphasizes capacity building for salt farmers and strengthening market linkages.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is tasked with prioritizing salt as a key local commodity, exempting it from all taxes and spearheading the adoption of the latest technologies in salt production. This includes the development of year-round production methods and the mechanization of salt production processes to counteract erratic weather patterns.
“The ultimate goal is to achieve salt self-sufficiency and position the Philippines as a net exporter of salt, thereby avoiding the current necessity to import over 90 percent of the country's salt requirements,” Lee stated.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez lauded the enactment of RA 11985, noting its significance in advancing the development and modernization of the salt industry towards sustainable production and potential exportation.
NEW YORK — A New York state judge has agreed to postpone the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump regarding hush money payments by thirty days, following a request from Trump's legal team for more time to review a substantial amount of new evidence.According to Philippines News Agency, Trump's attorneys had sought a ninety-day delay, but the judge decided on a thirty-day adjournment. This decision allows the defense more time to examine over 100,000 pages of documents recently provided from a prior federal investigation into the same issues. The case involves allegations that Trump falsified records within his company to facilitate a payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign, purportedly to prevent disclosure of a past sexual encounter she claimed to have had with him.
The controversial USD 130,000 payment is alleged to have been processed through Trump's business operations, obscuring the payment's true intent, and subsequently handed to Trump's then-attorney, Michael Cohen, who then paid Daniels. These latest documents are linked to Cohen's 2018 guilty plea to various charges, including the concealment of payments to women alleging affairs with Trump and providing false testimony to Congress regarding Trump's business engagements.
Trump, who has pleaded not guilty, faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in relation to these hush money payments. These charges form part of a broader array of 91 state and federal criminal allegations against the former president, which include efforts to contest the 2020 election outcomes in Georgia, purported involvement in the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, and unauthorized removal of classified documents from the White House.
Originally scheduled to commence on March 25, the trial's start date is now pushed to no earlier than April 15, pending any further delays.