VP Sara Duterte steps down from her DepEd, NTF-ELCAC posts

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VP Sara Duterte steps down from her DepEd, NTF-ELCAC posts;  New Biden exec. order grants relief, protection to undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens;  4 high value individuals nets in a buybust operation;  BCBC Inc., re-launch Eco-Walk in Busol Watershed

Transcript

00:00Good evening, I am William Theo and this is PTV News Now.

00:10And at the top of the news leaderboard, a stunning development at the very corridors

00:14of power which few saw coming and yet did not come as a huge surprise.

00:20Early this afternoon, Vice President Sara Duterte Carpio arrived in Malacañang to officially

00:26step down from her post as the Department of Education's Secretary and Vice Co-Chair

00:31of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, or NTF-ALCAC, and formally

00:38announced her decision to the nation.

00:41Although she did not give a reason for her resignation during her podium speech, the

00:45Vice President issued a statement barely an hour later, offering a rather vague and head-scratching

00:52excuse for the abdication of her posts.

00:55Still, the Vice President vowed to work and promote quality education.

00:59All Filipino students deserve an advocate for the rights and needs of teachers.

01:04In line with government protocol and professional code, the Vice President's announcement

01:09of her resignation today kicks off the official 30-day notice for government and the department

01:15to fill out her vacated posts.

01:17PCO Secretary Cheloy Garafil confirmed the President's acceptance of the VP's resignation

01:23of her twin posts and thanked her for her service to the nation.

01:28Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden, in a move to lighten the burden on immigrants seeking

01:34a pathway to U.S. citizenship, announced Tuesday his new executive order granting relief and

01:40protection to undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens.

01:44This presidential directive, coming on the 12th year anniversary of President Barack

01:48Obama's stalled Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

01:55This report from VOA's Anita Powell.

01:58For Javier Quiroz Castro, setting foot inside America's most famous home was an impossible

02:04dream.

02:05His parents brought him to the U.S. at age three without legal immigration status.

02:09But on Tuesday, he was at the White House, a world away from the Houston hospital where

02:14he works as a nurse.

02:16He was here, he said, because he took advantage of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

02:19program known as DACA.

02:22Saving American lives was only possible because of DACA.

02:27It allowed me to live and work and build a family in the only country I have ever known

02:32and loved.

02:33On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new measure to offer protections to undocumented

02:37spouses of American citizens, a move the White House says affects more than half a million

02:41people.

02:43These couples have been raising families, sending their kids to church and school, paying

02:47taxes, contributing to our country for ten years or more, but living in the United States

02:54all this time with fear and uncertainty.

02:57We can fix that, and that's what I'm going to do today.

03:01But immigration is a sensitive topic this election year, and over the past 20 years

03:04crossings have been high at the U.S. southern border.

03:08Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has accused Biden of what he calls a migrant

03:12invasion.

03:13Trump blames immigrants for a number of ills, including crime, inflation, and even disease

03:18and terrorism, but often without clear evidence and sometimes in the face of facts.

03:23An estimated 50 percent of inflation has been caused by the soaring cost of housing, which

03:29is skyrocketing due to Joe Biden's tidal wave of illegal immigration and high interest rates.

03:35Immigration advocates disagree, saying research shows that those who benefit from this policy

03:39contribute about $13 billion in spending power to the U.S. economy each year.

03:43We estimate that if they were to be U.S. citizens years down the line, they could actually increase

03:51that amount by about $5 billion each year.

03:54With some kind of legal status that will be permitted through this policy, that will allow

03:59them to go into careers that are borrowed from them right now and to be more productive

04:03into our economy, which will be beneficial for their families, but also beneficial for

04:08our society as a whole.

04:09Rebecca Shi, executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition, says her mother

04:13had been undocumented for nearly two decades.

04:16She was a doctor in China, but for 19 years, undocumented here.

04:20She worked in Chinese restaurants.

04:22She worked in nursing homes, caring for elderly and emptying bedpans and wasn't able to practice

04:31her profession.

04:32And so when when she was able to get parole in place and a green card, she went back to

04:36the medical field and it's been thrilling and deeply humanizing for her.

04:41And just showing that when you legalize people who are here for decades already contributing,

04:47you unleash their economic potential.

04:49And that's good for every American.

04:51And for Americans like Javier Quiroz Castro, it's something more, a warm embrace from the

04:56country he calls home.

04:58Anita Powell, VOA News, the White House.

05:05Right now, let's turn to my colleague in PTV's Pine City Studios for what's relevant

05:10in the Cordilleras.

05:11Eddie.

06:42The

07:02footsteps during the echo walk after the 1990 earthquake in Baguio not only symbolized

07:08a reverence for nature, but also a dedication to leaving behind a greener, healthier world

07:15for future generations.

07:27Thank you, Eddie.

07:28And we've come to the end of our program.

07:30William Theo here reminding you to stay connected by catching the news right here.

07:34A cooler and more restful night ahead.

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