00:00A fine and fair Monday afternoon to all. Yours truly, Patrick DeSus here and this is PTV News Now.
00:07Kicking off our stories this afternoon, the nation's top cop, General Nicolás Torre III,
00:13wants a speeded up medical examination of the items recovered from Taal Lake last week.
00:19Earlier, he ordered the Calabarzon PNP Crime Lab to convey last week's items retrieved from Taal Lake to PNP headquarters post-haste.
00:30Torre's directive seeks a facilitated and transfer and forensics test to put all worries, doubts, and questions to rest.
00:38Whether the items the scuba teams recovered from the bottom of Taal Lake last week were phony or for real.
00:44Police Brigadier General and Spokesperson Gene Fajardo meanwhile affirmed that DNA samples taken from a dozen relatives of the missing cockfighting gamers are all set for forensic examination.
00:57The samples at hand will be cross-examined with DNA extracted from the mysterious items or substances retrieved from Taal Lake's bottom.
01:06And if DNA samples match, the suspects in custody will then be charged, or more suspects may be named or voluntarily surrendered for a plea deal.
01:16Dive search and recovery operations in Taal Lake resumed earlier today with a remotely operated vehicle or ROV top to aid in the search.
01:25For its part, the Philippine Coast Guard vehemently pushed back on speculations the items found from deep down Taal Lake were planted or pre-arranged.
01:36No sooner is one stone taken away than another one inlaid in its place.
01:44Today, the president officially filled out the gaps in his cabinet by officially putting his new communications chief and energy czar in place in simple out-taking ceremonies in Malacan.
01:55After taking his oath in a symbolic leadership turnover ritual, last week, from Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, newly minted and acting PCO chief Dave Gomez raised his right hand before the president and vowed to perform the duties of his post and office.
02:13He promised to pursue and promote transparency, press freedom, and a comprehensive transition into digitalization of his office and department.
02:24Likewise, the president also swore into office today his new lead person for the Department of Energy, Ms. Sharon Garin, with immediate family members looking on, took her out of office from the president as full-time head of her department.
02:41Ms. Garin's body of work and educational background is impressive.
02:46A party list representative for 13 years and first-ever deputy speaker from party list ranks.
02:54She was undersecretary of the department and its acting chief since 2025.
03:00Ms. Garin touts a dual professional status of being a lawyer and certified public accountant.
03:07After suffering a setback in trying to secure a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine,
03:15U.S. President Donald Trump has set his eyes to broker a truce between Israel and Gaza by next week.
03:22After last week's visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, D.C.,
03:28where he surprised the U.S. President with an announcement, he formally nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
03:36Efforts by the Trump administration have been ramped up to secure a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel for at a 60-day truce in war-torn Gaza.
03:46In a face-off with reporters Sunday, Trump said talks are afoot to clinch a U.S.-brokered agreement for an interim cessation to armed conflict in Gaza
03:57where the body count reached over 58,000 over the weekend.
04:02And that's a wrap for this afternoon's stories.
04:06Join us later on for another set of breaking stories in our evening edition.
04:11I am Patrick De Jesus and thank you for watching PTV News Now.
