00:00Greetings! Patrick Bezos here, wishing you a safe, dry, and warm afternoon amidst the storm, kicking off our major stories for this afternoon.
00:11The Department of Budget and Management, or DBM, assured the public there's money in the path for disaster response and recovery,
00:20especially in areas hit hard by flooding due to the intensified southwest monsoon or habagat.
00:26Budget Secretary Amena Pangandaman said,
00:29There are standby funds under the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund, or NDRRMF, and quick response funds that frontline agencies can tap into.
00:42Agencies can even request replenishment once half of their QRFs are used up.
00:48Pangandaman emphasized that the DBM is prompt in releasing funds as long as all paperwork is provided and in order.
00:57She urged all agencies to make every peso count, ensuring health reaches those who need it most.
01:04U.S. President Donald Trump's war against the bureaucracy and American institutions has taken yet another prisoner.
01:14Columbia University, the epicenter for last year's mass student protest in college campuses all over the United States,
01:23finally yielded to Trump's threat to withhold funding for the school by agreeing to pay a financial settlement or fine
01:31and comply with strict guidelines on admissions, hiring, and other concessions.
01:37The preeminent New York City school will pay the U.S. government $200 million to end all federal probes
01:45and resume government funding for the school which President Donald Trump posed last year
01:51over mounting student protests in campus against Israel's war in Gaza.
01:56The deal also orders Columbia to pay $21 million more to halt all investigations by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
02:08over alleged violations of federal anti-discrimination laws.
02:15With that, we have come to the end of the show.
02:18Join us later on for our evening edition of Breaking Stories Here at Home and Away.
02:23This is Patrick DeSuz and thank you for watching PTV News Now.
