Dateline Kamuning:    Leyte Rep. Richard Gomez (2nd District) today cautioned the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for tasking local government units (LGUs) in the information dissemination campaign for the registration of SIM cards. Gomez, who was a two-term mayor of Ormoc City, reminded the DILG that the primary mover of the implementation of Republic Act   No. 11934 or the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act is the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT). "It is the responsibility of the DICT and the telecommunication companies to implement the registration of SIM cards, including informing the public the WHYs and the DOs. Why give the burden of letting the public know about the pros and cons of the measures, and the registration methods, to the LGUs when these already have so much task at hand?" Gomez asked. “The telcos should not burden the LGUs since they are the ones which earn hundreds of million...

 Dateline Kamuning  Leyte Rep. Richard Gomez has slammed the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU) over the lack of transparency and accountability in the decommissioning of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants. Gomez, during Monday’s House briefing on the state of the peace process and peace and order situation in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said the OPAPRU should have been more eagle-eyed in ensuring that the government is not placed at a disadvantage in the implementation of the normalization track of the peace agreement between the government and the MILF. “There should be accountability in the disbursement of government funds. The government cannot just allocate and release funds without being fully informed of who are the recipients of government support, without knowing who have availed of the decommissioning program. It is our duty as lawmakers and public leaders to scrutinize h...