Several senatorial candidates both from the Team PNoy and the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) are set for a showdown Wednesday as they participate in the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s first Senate Forum with the topic “How Does the Senate Really Work?” Reelectionist senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis Escudero, Loren Legarda, and Aquilino Pimentel III of the Liberal Party-led coalition, and former senators Richard Gordon, Ernesto Maceda of UNA, and Ramon Magsaysay Jr. of LP will all attend the event. The event at the University of the Philippines Film Center is open to the public.

Home Minister MK Alamgir on Saturday praised Hefajat-e-Islam Bangladesh for not allowing BNP-Jamaat and some other political parties to be there on their podium during their Dhaka rally.“BNP-Jamaat had wanted to use the platform, but they failed to do so as the Hefajat men didn’t allow them to stand on the podium,” he said. The Home Minister also greeted the Hefajat activists for completing the long march peacefully.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), the agency tasked to hunt and recover the Marcos ill-gotten assets, only learned of the alleged offshore trust of Ilocos Gov. Imee Marcos Manotoc and her sons in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) from the report of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ). “We learned about it a few weeks ago,” said PCGG chair Andres Bautista.

A Thai anti-graft body said it had found no irregularities in an asset disclosure by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, effectively removing any question that she might have to step down, a prospect which unsettled Bangkok markets on Thursday. “The National Anti-Corruption Commission has found no discrepancies in its initial investigations into these allegations but we will keep evidence as background for any future investigations,” Klanarong Chanthick, a member of the committee, said in a televised statement. “The prime minister will be able to continue in her position as normal.