00:00A pleasant over-the-hump Wednesday afternoon to all. Yours truly, Daniel Manalastas, and this is PTV News Now. Let's begin what people are talking about.
00:12The Department of Justice or DOJ will file a motion for reconsideration after a San Pablo court allowed three police officers accused in the disappearance of Sabongero Ricardo Lasco to post bail.
00:25According to Prosecutor General Richard Fadulion, the DOJ is questioning the court's basis for granting bail in a case involving kidnapping, serious illegal detention, and robbery with violence.
00:39He said the department won't take this decision sitting down, insisting all accused, including whistleblower Julie Patidongan, alias Totoy, should remain behind bars.
00:51Totoy remains an accused despite turning into a whistleblower as his warned statement is still up in the air.
00:58The DOJ said it's willing to lend an ear to families who previously withdrew from the case but now want to return, though this may raise a few eyebrows given past compromises.
01:12A white elephant no more, the first batch of the 48 train cars procured from China and delivered to the homeland in 2015 during the Noinoy-Aquino administration,
01:27finally made its debut for public transport commute earlier today with the president leading the launch ceremony.
01:35This after the first three car sets passed technical and compatibility muster on orders of the president to have the entire fleet fixed and put them to immediate use to ease the woes,
01:49the hundreds of thousands of who ride the MRT railway line every day.
01:54Right now, three train sets are in service with the remaining units still in rehab and expected soon to see action after 10 years of being stuck in idle.
02:07Once in full deployment, all 48 units are expected to carry roughly 1,200 passengers per train set one-way and slash wait intervals by a minute and a half from 4 to 2.5 minutes
02:23easing congestion and enhancing the commute experience of each passenger.
02:30In the world news, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Indonesia that includes $15 billion in U.S. energy purchases,
02:40$4.5 billion in agricultural imports, and an order for 50 Boeing jets sidestepping a threatened 32% tariff hike.
02:51Trump said the deal was hammered out after direct talks with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, lowering the planned tariff to 19%.
03:03The agreement came just in the nick of time, avoiding what could have been a major blow to trade relations.
03:11Indonesian officials called it a win-win solution, saying the negotiation wasn't a walk in the park but paid off in the end.
03:19The deal also takes out the growing fears over escalating trade tensions.
03:24With more deals reportedly in the works, this may just be a preview of what Trump describes as a broader strategy in his America-first economic policy.
03:35And that's wrap for this afternoon's stories.
03:40Join us later on for another set of breaking stories in our evening edition.
03:46I'm Daniel Mananastas and thank you for watching PTV News Now.
