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DILG bares road closures for Asean convoy dry run
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['Rj Carbonell']
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2017-10-27 22:38:44+00:00
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The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has advised motorists to brace for road closures on October 29 during the final vehicle convoy dry run for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit on November 13-15.The Asean Summit will be held in Clark Field, Pampanga, north of Manila.The DILG, in a statement on Friday, said motorists should avoid the south-bound lane of EDSA, North Luzon Expressway and Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, as well as both south-bound and north-bound lanes of Roxas Boulevard, during the dry run from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. of October 29.According to DILG Officer-In-Charge Catalino Cuy, there will be full deployment of route marshals on Sunday and the final dry run will be longer compared to the four previous ones.“As we know, practice makes perfect and high-level meetings entail high-level security,” Cuy said.“It will take more or less ten years before the Philippines gets to host Asean again, so let’s give it our best shot as we have more to gain and nothing to lose from this experience,” he added.The Philippines is the chairman of the Asean for 2017.Cuy said previous Asean meetings in the country this year had been “orderly,” adding that they will try their best to keep it that way next month, the peak of the Philippines’ chairmanship.He said 59,000 security personnel would monitor the “peace and order” during high-profile meetings during the summit.“Seamless traffic flow is critical to the Asean activities to be attended by delegates and we call on the public to be supportive during the events in November,” Cuy added.Previous dry runs for ceremonial and security convoys were held on September 24 and October 8, 15 and 22 that tested various scenarios, light conditions and intervals for the summit.The delegates to the Asean summit are to be accommodated in hotels in Metro Manila where various meetings related to the summit will also be held.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/dilg-bares-road-closures-asean-convoy-dry-run/359043/
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July class opening in Marawi likely
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['Neil Alcober']
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2017-06-08 21:12:33+00:00
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THE opening of classes in public elementary and high schools in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, may be moved to next month because of damages to property brought about by armed clashes between government troops and the terrorist Maute Group in the city, according to a high-ranking official of the Department of Education (DepEd).“We [had] postponed the opening of classes in this city for two weeks but it can be extended. We’re telling them [the students] that it may be [beyond] June 19, though it is not yet final . . . [we are preparing]to transfer them [to other schools] in the meantime,” Tonisito Umali, DepEd assistant secretary for legal and legislative affairs, told this reporter in an interview on Thursday.DepEd records showed that at least 20,000 students from Marawi City have been displaced by the conflict there that began on May 23.Education Secretary Leonor Briones earlier ordered all regional and division offices to accommodate students from Marawi City and allow them to enroll even with incomplete requirements.“The secretary has ordered us to look for the students affected by the cancellation of opening of classes in Marawi City, and we have identified more or less 1,391 students from this city who enrolled in various schools nationwide,” Umali said.“We’re talking about gathering these students, convince them to enroll now and then take their modules, you know, whatever kind of studying that we could do given their situation in order not to delay too much their studies,’ he added.Umali said classes in Marawi City will resume after clearing operations to ensure the safety of returning students and teachers.“So it will take time to . . . and because of that we are urging parents not to wait for the opening of classes [in Marawi], and transfer them [students] to the nearest schools in the meantime while classes in this city are yet to resume,” he added.“We want the students to understand that there’s more to life than what’s going on right now,” the DepEd official said.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/july-class-opening-marawi-likely/331633/
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Estrada to seek last term as Manila mayor
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['Raadee S. Sausa']
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2018-02-06 00:03:26+00:00
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Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada will run for a third and last term next year.“Nobody can change my inspiration, no one can divert me on my mission, on my dream in Manila. I had already laid down my program of government to regain the lost pride and glory of Manila. I will fulfill my promises and with your help, with the support of the people of Manila, I know, we will win on my third run,” Estrada said in a statement on Monday.The mayor laughed off rumors that his son, former senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, will run for mayor in 2019.The young Estrada is frequently seen visiting Manila City Hall, fueling speculations that the mayor is contemplating retirement and will support his son’s bid for the mayoralty of the capital city.“I will run again in the 2019 elections,” Estrada said, adding that the issue of his health is another campaign propaganda of his political adversaries.“I will not renege on my promise . . . With the help of God, with the trust given to me by our people, we can make Manila a great city again,” he said.Estrada vowed to give priority to peace and order.“We all know, we cannot achieve progress without peace and order. A city, province or a country will face difficulties without it,” he said.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/estrada-seek-last-term-manila-mayor/378373/
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PCOO creates office for global media affairs
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['Ralph Villanueva']
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2018-11-13 00:05:27+00:00
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THE Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) has set up the Office for Global Media Affairs to address concerns of foreign journalists.In a radio interview, PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar said this would pave the way for the revival of the press attaché division, which will be operational once the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) has been set up.“The office of Global Media Affairs will address the concerns or questions of different foreign correspondents, not just in the Philippines, but from all around the world,” Andanar said.“So therefore, we will process the questions coming from anywhere in the world ― be that from Europe, from America, from Africa, from the Asia-Pacific. [It will answer] if there are questions for our President [Rodrigo Duterte] or from other branches of the government. This division will help manage the government, to give answers to the queries of reporters in the world,” he added.Andanar, however, said that even if the office of press attaché would not materialize, the OPS would still be operational and would “transition as the main or the headquarters for the press attachés that will be assigned in the important missions around the world.”A draft executive order for the revival of OPS was already sent to the Palace, and Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea is reviewing it, he said.Andanar said he has tapped former TV5 reporter Jayvee Arcena to head the office.Arcena is a former senior information/media specialist at the United States Department of State’s Asia-Pacific Media Hub.Former president Benigno Aquino 3rd split the functions of the OPS, creating the PCOO and Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO), while designating a separate spokesman for each.Under Aquino, the PCOO handled the dissemination arm of the President’s policies and programs while the PCDSPO supervised the crafting and development of “messaging.”When Duterte assumed office in 2016, the PCOO absorbed the functions of the PCDSPO.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/pcoo-creates-office-for-global-media-affairs/466651/
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Workers ‘frustrated’ over failed promise on ‘endo’
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['William Depasupil']
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2017-07-25 22:25:08+00:00
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THE country’s biggest labor groups were frustrated and felt neglected by President Rodrigo Duterte’s failure to lay down a clear-cut policy on work contracting and other forms of short-term employment during his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), through spokesman Alan Tanjusay, on Tuesday said 25 to 30 million contractual workers were expecting that the President will fulfill his promise to end the contractualization scheme during his speech.“We are very frustrated with Mr. Duterte as it turned out but we have no choice but to continue and [raise] the ante in pressing him to fulfill his promise to abolish endo (end of contract) and all forms of contractualization,” Tanjusay said in a text message to The Manila Times.He added that only the fulfillment of the President’s campaign promise and subsequent meetings with leaders of various labor groups to put a stop to all forms of contractualization can free millions of workers from the “slavery” of contractualized work , jobs that have no security of tenure and paid with low wages and meager benefits.“Mr. Duterte asked labor groups for time on the issue of contractualization on Labor Day. We hope that he would abolish it as he promised he would during his SONA,” Tanjusay said.“We urge the President to make clear in no uncertain terms, in plain, categorical language, his placing the contractual problem as among our—and his—top priorities in the national order of battle. All surveys indicate that the Top 3 concerns nationally are the spiralling the cost of goods and services, the meager wages and the lack of decent employment. All are directly traceable to the regime of contractualization,” according to the ALU-TUCP spokesman.The group noted that during their May 1 Labor Day dialogue with Duterte in Davao City, the President asked labor leaders to draft a presidential Executive Order (EO).The draft EO was submitted by the ALU-TUCP and the Nagkakaisa Labor Coalition last May 9 in compliance with the President’s directive.Covered by the EO are contracting and sub-contracting arrangements including cooperatives.The order prohibited all forms of labor contracting, labor-only contracting or job contracting, which are declared illegal and are therefore strictly prohibited.It stated, “All parties engaged in any arrangement in violation of this EO shall automatically be considered the worker’s direct employer and the latter shall be deemed as direct employees.”The order said violations of the EO shall be penalized under existing laws and regulations.If the offense is committed by cooperative, corporation, partnership, trust, firm, association or any juridical entity, the penalty shall be imposed upon the guilty officers of such groups.The draft EO, if approved by the President, will effectively nullify Department Order (DO) 174 of the Department of Labor and Employment, the new guidelines on contractualization that took effect last April 3.DO 174 replaced DO 18-A in response to the workers’s demand to abolish contractualization.Labor groups rejected DO 174, claiming that it only benefits employers and manpower service providers and cooperatives.During his meeting with organized labor in Davao City, the President assured them that he understood what the workers want and suggested that “we assert our public interest power to ensure a just transition to help him meet his promise to the nation.”“I stand firm on my conviction to end endo. Just give us time. The Labor Code guarantees all the right to security of tenure. This has to be strictly enforced. Labor laws must be enforced against endo and labor-only contracting,” Duterte told the workers.The President admitted in the labor dialogue that there is “resistance and objections” coming from some members of his Cabinet and interest lobby groups on his decision to ban contractualization “but the President said he has no sympathy for oligarchs.”
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/workers-frustrated-over-failed-promise-on-endo/340599/
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Bill to require first aid kits in vehicles
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['Angelica Ballesteros']
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2016-11-10 21:26:12+00:00
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A bill seeking to require motor vehicle owners to carry first aid kits in their cars was filed in the House of Representatives on Thursday.Laguna 3rd District Rep. Sol Aragones filed House Bill 4312 or the “Vehicle Emergency Preparedness Act of 2016” seeking to require car owners, government agencies and franchise openers of public utility vehicles (PUVs) to produce first aid kits.The kits will also be a prerequisite for vehicle registration as well as approval of franchises granted to PUVs.“The number of registered vehicles in the Philippines has steadily increased over the past few years. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the number of registered vehicles in the country jumped from 5,530,052 in 2007 to 7,138,942 in 2012, a 29 increase over a span of five years,” Aragones explained.“First aid kits do not cost much, with some kits selling for less than a thousand pesos each,” she said.A report of Global Status Report on Road Safety made by the World Health Organization (WHO) said there were 1,513 recorded road traffic deaths in the Philippines last year.The WHO, however, said 10,379 Filipinos died in vehicular accidents in 2015.According to the lawmaker, the bill aims to ensure that vehicle owners as well as pedestrians will receive immediate medical care while waiting to be treated by medical personnel.She said the measure will help save lives as it would mean that there would be immediate response to medical emergencies.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/bill-require-first-aid-kits-vehicles/295871/
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Duterte names Mama-o special envoy to Kuwait
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['Ralph Villanueva']
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2018-05-08 21:44:01+00:00
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PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has named presidential adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) Abdullah Mama-o as the country’s special envoy to Kuwait, Malacañang said Tuesday.Palace spokesman Harry Roque, Jr. said the appointment was announced during the Cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon.“Secretary Mama-o had just returned from Kuwait. He came bearing good news for the President. But the President then said that Secretary Mama-o would be appointed as Special Envoy to Kuwait and he was tasked to return to Kuwait immediately to make sure that all Filipinos who should be sent back home can return home,” Roque said.Mama-o replaces Ambassador Renato Villa who was expelled by the Kuwaiti government over the rescue operations launched by the Philippine government for distressed Filipino workers.Mama-o left for Kuwait on May 1.Roque said he is confident that the appointment of Mama-o will help normalize the ties between the Philippines and Kuwait and lead to the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Philippines and Kuwait.“We know our unsettled businesses. We have three diplomats [that are under restricted movements], we have four drivers [that are behind bars]. We want to see our three diplomats home, we want to see the four drivers cleared and there are about 800 runaway [OFWs] that we want to take home,” Roque said.“So, the mandate of secretary Mama-o is to take everyone home and to possibly normalize ties with Kuwait, sign the MOU, if possible,” he added.Duterte banned the deployment of workers to Kuwait after the body of Joanna Demafelis was found inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment in the Gulf State. He said the ban will stay until a memorandum of understanding protecting Filipino workers is signed.There are about 262,000 Filipinos working in Kuwait.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/duterte-names-mama-o-special-envoy-to-kuwait/397607/
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Customs-NAIA expects hitting target this year
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['The Manila Times']
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2017-09-28 20:09:19+00:00
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Officials of the Bureau of Customs (BoC) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on Thursday expressed optimism on meeting this year’s target of P50.1 billion with the acquisition of new scanning machines at the country’s premier gateway.Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said taxable items can be easily detected as well as drugs and guns hidden in luggage and balikbayan (returnee) boxes without opening them.“The target collection is P50.1 billion this year for NAIA,” Lapeña said, adding that he hopes the BoC-NAIA would increase its revenue.Lapeña, who inaugurated the X-ray machines to signal the start of operations, said a total of 19 units costing P172 million would be assigned to the NAIA terminals. “These are advance units. We will be able to improve the facilitation of luggage and at the same time, every box or bag would be subjected to thorough inspections.”The Development Budget Coordinating Committee assigned more than P4 billion as monthly revenue goal.District III Collector Ed Macabeo said Rapiscan X-ray machines are now installed at NAIA Terminals 1 and 3.Sixteen more X-rays will be installed at the three terminals of NAIA.Two more mobile X-ray machines will be utilized to check personal belongings and luggage of VIPs and celebrities, especially those with chartered flights and whose aircraft are parked at the remote parking of the NAIA terminals.Six months ago, NAIA came up with a policy not to open or subject to inspection the check-in luggage of passengers unless it was marked “X” indicating it may contain taxable items.The bureau has designated two lanes – red and green – for passengers and crew of arriving international flights to choose where to exit.The green lane is designated for passengers and crew who have nothing to declare or have no goods for purposes of import duties and taxes, with goods that can be admitted free of import duties and taxes or do not carry any goods which are subject to import prohibition, restriction and regulation.The red lane is intended for passengers of international airlines with goods to declare for purposes of import duties or taxes, those with goods above the exempted Customs limits or carrying goods or articles prohibited, controlled or regulated by several statutes.BENJIE L. VERGARA
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/customs-naia-expects-hitting-target-year/353462/
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Villar seeks probe of garlic ‘cartel’
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['Jefferson Antiporda']
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2017-05-30 21:35:01+00:00
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SENATOR Cynthia Villar on Tuesday asked the Senate to look into a reported resurgence of a garlic cartel as supposedly indicated by a sudden rise in garlic prices in the local market.Villar, who heads the Senate committee on Agriculture and Food, noted that the increase in garlic prices is reminiscent of 2014 when the prices of garlic ballooned to more than P300 per kilo.The 2014 garlic price surge prompted the Senate agriculture committee to investigate the matter that concluded that a garlic cartel exists.“We thought that they [cartel] learned their lesson but now we are sensing a similar scenario. We have a different administration, a different Secretary of Agricuture. I have to let them know what happened last time so we can stop this cartel,” Villar said.Her Senate Resolution 389 wants the agriculture committee to conduct an inquiry into a reported garlic importation by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and its role in the sudden rise of garlic prices in the market.According to the resolution, the price of garlic per kilo increased from P140 to more than P200.It cited a report on a decrease in local production, particularly in Ilocos Norte, of garlic because of lack of planting material.The DA reported that more than 57,000 metric tons of imported garlic have been given import clearance by the Bureau of Plant Industry and that as of this month 12,000 metric tons had arrived.The combined local production of garlic has only been an average of 9,000 metric tons a year, or six percent only of the yearly demand of about 139,777 MT, which is barely enough for the country’s monthly garlic requirement.“There is an urgent need to look into the garlic price situation to protect the general public from unscrupulous machination and provide a development policy for the local garlic industry,” Villar said.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/villar-seeks-probe-garlic-cartel-2/330109/
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DoLE ruling favoring Nutri-Asia questioned
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['Llanesca T. Panti']
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2018-07-02 00:04:09+00:00
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SOME members of the House of Representatives urged Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd to reverse a ruling that cleared big-time condiments-maker NutriAsia of labor malpractices.The Makabayan bloc party-list lawmakers, which include Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna, Antonio Tinio and France Castro of Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Emerenciana de Jesus and Arlene Brosas of Gabriela, Ariel Casilao of Anakpawis and Sarah Elago of Kabataan, were referring to the DoLE Region 3 ruling which said that NutriAsia workers from the Nagkakaisang Manggagawa ng NutriAsia Inc. (NMAI) who went on strike to protest poor labor conditions are not NutriAsia employees but are agency employees of labor contractor B-Mirk Enterprises Corporation.“DoLE Region 3’s decision only shows its clear anti-worker bias. DoLE chose to be blind, mute and deaf on the many sins of NutriAsia, which for a long time denied its workers decent salaries, continually abused its workers’ rights for better working conditions, practiced arbitrary termination, unjustly made deductions from the worker’s meager salaries and instigated the recent violent dispersal of worker’s strike that led to the serious wounding of five workers and the illegal arrest of 20 NMAI members and supporters last June 14,” Makabayan said in a statement.NutriAsia is the maker of Datu Puti soy sauce and vinegar, Mang Tomas lechon sauce, as well as UFC and Jufran ketchup.“Despite the serious violations of NutriAsia against its workers, DoLE’s Region 3 decision justified the abuses and passed the buck to their agency. This is highly unacceptable and deplorable. We are calling on Secretary Bello to immediately order the reversal of this ruling. NutriAsia and B-Mirk committed serious violations of the labor law and both should be held accountable,” Makabayan said.Makabayan also argued that the DoLE Region 3 decision affirmed the Duterte“The NMAI workers are just asking that those terminated be returned to work and that they be made regular workers. The decision of DoLE Region 3 wrongfully and unjustly ignores the fact that NutriAsia workers are not just an expendable labor force to begin with since they created NutriAsia’s wealth and success. They deserve better pay,” the group added.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/dole-ruling-favoring-nutri-asia-questioned/414931/
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Agriculture to sell rice for P38 a kilo
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['Eireene Jairee Gomez']
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2018-02-21 21:00:05+00:00
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Starting Monday, the Department of Agriculture (DA) will deploy trucks loaded with bags of rice to be sold for P38 per kilo as it starts its “surgical rice selling operations” in Metro Manila.The DA will target thickly populated districts of Metro Manila or the National CapitalRegion starting with Tondo in Manila and Payatas in Quezon City.According to Agriculture chief Emmanuel Piñol, a study conducted by the DA showed that rice should only be sold at a price double the buying price of paddy rice.This means that if the farmers’ palay (unhusked rice) produce is brought at 20 per kilo, the selling price of rice should not be more than P40 per kilo.“While freshly harvested commercial rice is being sold in the market for as high as P50 to P60, the Bigas ng Masa TienDA will maintain a selling price of P38 per kilo,” Piñol said.At least 1,00 bags of rice in 5 and kilo packs will be sold in Metro Manila starting next week.They include the supply from Star Capalay Association of Nueva Ecija, which committed to deliver 500 bags of 25 kilos every week.On Wednesday, outstanding rice farmaer Danilo Bolos of Talavera town brought with him a truck loaded with 350 bags of 25 kilos, which he wants to sell in Metro Manila through the Bigas ng Masa TienDA.Farmer groups from Cagayan Valley and the Ilocos Region, including Pangasinan, have also committed to sell their rice.Other agricultural products such as upland and lowland vegetables, dried fish and salted eggs may also be sold along with rice.Bigas ng Masa TienDA is a national program, which aims to directly link farmers to consumers and bring down the prices of basic food commodities like rice.“The Bigas ng Masa TienDa is the first step in our efforts to directly link our farmers with consumers and end the age-old anomalous farm-to market supply chain, which is controlled by middlemen and traders,” Pinol said.Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, DA Undersecretary for Agribusiness and Marketing, will oversee the expanded operations of the Bigas ng Masa TienDA.The DA chief said Bigas ng Masa TienDA will soon be offered in regional offices.Outlets will also be opened in different municipalities to provide the poor access to fairly priced farm products.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/agriculture-sell-rice-p38-kilo/381788/
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BBL signed into law this month – lawmakers
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['The Manila Times']
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2018-07-10 00:08:53+00:00
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The proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law will be in accordance with the Constitution and signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte during his third State of the Nation Address on July 23, lawmakers said Monday.Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas gave the assurance on the first day of the bicameral conference panel’s discussions on disagreeing provisions of the Senate and House versions of the bill.“In performing our duties, we should be guided with constitutionality. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land [and] sets both the latitude and delimitations of what we can incorporate in the BBL,” Zubiri said.Fariñas agreed.“We have to be guided by the Constitution because anything we do here will surely be questioned,” he said.The proposed BBL provides that the Bangsamoro Region will be governed by the Bangsamoro Parliament.Fariñas called on his colleagues to shepherd the passage of the measure to allow the President to sign it into law during his third SONA.“If we can come up with an acceptable version for both panels, we will present this to our respective chambers for ratification when we resume our Third Regular Session on July 23 so that the President can sign it into law in the afternoon of the same day,” Fariñas said.Zubiri said the BBL should guarantee autonomy, social justice, peace and development.The House and Senate versions of the measure allow the contiguous areas of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to be included in the new Bangsamoro Region provided that the local government unit passes a resolution or at least 10 percent of the registered voters in the geographic area seek their inclusion.Both versions earmarked P50 billion for the Special Development Fund for the rebuilding, rehabilitation and development of the Bangsamoro communities.The Senate on Monday “succumbed” to the request of the Bangsamoro Transition“We’re off to a good start. We finished three articles although we got bogged down on territorial jurisdiction,” Zubiri said. “We decided to table it (territorial jurisdiction) and defer action on it at a later time and agree (first) on all the acceptable provisions,” he said in a briefing.Not exclusiveGhazali Jaafar, head of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), also on Monday said the Bangsamoro government will not be exclusive to Muslims.“What I can assure you is that the best option for us is to resolve this in a peaceful way. The Bangsamoro people have a legitimate desire to be governed by a Bangsamoro government—a government that is not Islamic. The Bangsamoro government will be democratic and inclusive,” Jaafar told reporters.“The rights of everybody…Christians, lumads, indigenous peoples, Muslims will be respected and guaranteed. If somebody from these groups are qualified to run, then they can run [for a post in the Bangsamoro government]. They can get elected by the people,” he added.Jaafar said the six municipalities of Lanao del Norte, 39 villages of North Cotabato, Isabela City in Basilan and Cotabato City should be given the chance to join the Bangsamoro Region through a plebiscite. These areas are under the ARMM.“We do not want it (BBL) to be watered down. Now you will ask me how would we consider it a watered down version? The answer is if it is less than [what is provided under the] ARMM,” he said.LLANESCA T. PANTI AND BERNADETTE TAMAYO
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/bbl-signed-into-law-this-month-lawmakers/417750/
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Groups set to hold Labor Day rallies
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['William Depasupil']
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2017-04-23 22:37:02+00:00
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The country’s biggest workers group, the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), on Sunday said thousands of organized and unorganized workers from left, center and right ideological persuasions will hold nationwide rallies on May 1 to remind President Rodrigo Duterte to fulfill his promise to ban contractualization and all forms of fixed-term jobs in the public and private sectors.The planned rallies sat well with Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd, who assured the workers that the Duterte administraton would not stifle dissent provided that everything will be done peacefully and that no laws will be violated.“We welcome all forms of peaceful rallies, demonstrations and mass actions because to us rallies are a medium of communications. We will not know what our workers’ need if they don’t hold rallies,” Bello said.He added, however, that “it is best if we will be able to provide their needs without resorting to rallies.”Bello noted that President Duterte will be meeting with representatives of the labor sector and management on Labor Day.He said the President has committed a quarterly meeting with the labor sector, with the second quarter dialogue falling on May 29.Besides contractualization, the labor sector is also expected to bring up with Duterte the issue of meager salary and benefits.ALU-TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said they had received information that the President is inclined to hold the dialogue with labor leaders and workers in Davao City on May 1.“Regardless of the venue, we are looking forward to President Duterte’s Labor Day speech and his pronouncement on contractualization on his dialogue-meeting with organized and unorganized labor groups when we meet him in Davao City on May 1 and hear from him his take on his promise to ban contractual work in the country,” Tanjusay added.He said the moderate and centrist ALU-TUCP and the larger Nagkaisa labor coalition, an alliance of more than 40 leftist, rightist and centrist labor groups and workers organizations are set to hold rallies at the gates of Malacanang in Manila other areas in Metro Manila, Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, Central Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, including Davao City.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/groups-set-hold-labor-day-rallies/323680/
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Declaring Boracay under state of calamity mulled
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['Ralph Villanueva']
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2018-03-08 00:06:45+00:00
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PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte plans to put Boracay under a state of calamity in order to address environmental problems in the world-famous tourist destination.“I told [Department of the Interior and Local Government] Secretary Eduardo Año] to finish [the clean-up that I had recommended] in six months. End it. Six months, end the problem in Boracay. Now, I know it [will be hard] and that is why I would be declaring a state of calamity [there],” Duterte said during oath-taking of members of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission on Tuesday night.Duterte added that he would justify the declaration by highlighting that the pollution problem on the island is already affecting the public interest, public safety and public health.“In the meantime, if I were from Boracay or if you guys are from there, the best thing for you to do is to cooperate with the government and hasten the clean-up. For as long as there is shit coming out of those pipes [straight into] the sea, I will never give you the time of the day to go back,” the President said.Duterte warned the courts not to interfere with the declaration by issuing a temporary restraining order because it would just “exacerbate the situation” and would result in “loss of trust.”Last week, Año called for the declaration of a six-month state of calamity and a two-month business shutdown on the island in order to hasten the rehabilitation of Boracay.“It [declaration of the state of calamity] will afford the national government and LGUs [local government units] sufficient elbow room to utilize their respective calamity funds for the relief, recovery and reconstruction of areas affected by human-induced calamities and pollution happening in Boracay,” he said in a statement.The Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 defines state of calamity as “a condition involving mass casualty and/or major damages to property, disruption of means of livelihoods, roads and normal way of life of people in the affected areas as a result of the occurrence of natural or human-induced hazard.”Last month, Duterte called the island a “cesspool” because of the environmental problems afflicting its waters.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/declaring-boracay-under-state-of-calamity-mulled/384655/
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Duterte drug war mirrors 1972 martial law–Noynoy
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['Bernadette E. Tamayo']
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2017-08-21 21:58:53+00:00
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Former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd on Monday said the issue of violence during martial law under then-President Ferdinand Marcos has no difference with that under the drug war of the Duterte administration.He added that the problem that the Philippines was facing 34 years ago is the same one that the country is facing today.In a Mass commemorating the 34th death anniversary of his father and former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. who was assassinated in 1983 during the Marcos regime, Noynoy said, “Yung mga nahabol sa droga, karamihan namamatay, baka lahat pati sa ordinaryong panahon baka sumuko at mag-isip: Di rin naman ako lulusot dito, lalaban na ako [Drug suspects would eventually think that since they stand no chance against the police, it would be better to fight it out with them].”He said he learned of the story of Kian de los Santos upon reading the news.“Noong panahon naming, importante yung proseso, importante na walang babalik sa amin at sasabihin na kami mismo ang lumalabag sa batas [During our time when I was President, process was important and, as a result, nobody told us that we broke the law],” according to Aquino.He mentioned the story of the three monkeys to drive home his point that “we won’t be able to go anywhere if we refuse to speak about things around us, pretending not to see or hear anything.”Aquino was joined by his sisters Ballsy Aquino-Cruz, Pinky Aquino-Abellada, Viel Aquino-Dee and Kris Aquino during the Mass.With them at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City where Ninoy is buried were supporters and members of People Power Volunteers for Reform.Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo and Senators Paolo Benigno Aquino 4th, Francis Pangilinan, Franklin Drilon and Antonio Trillanes 4th also joined the Aquinos.Aquino thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for his message of appreciation for his late father.Drilon appealed to the public and the government not to dishonor the sacrifice of the late senator by “trivializing” human life.He and his fellow minority senators have expressed outrage at the spate of killings of suspected drug dealers and users during drug sweeps in Bulacan and Metro Manila that have reached over 70 since August 15.The fatalities included a Grade 11 student, Kian Loyd de los Santos, 17, who was killed in an alleged shootout with Caloocan City police during Oplan Galudad in Barangay 16 last week.“If Ninoy were alive today, he would have condemned the death of a teenager, a son, a child, a mother and a father. Ninoy valued life as much as he valued freedom,” Drilon said.WITH JOVILAND RITA
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/duterte-drug-war-mirrors-1972-martial-law-noynoy/345898/
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Land review alarms 5M workers
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['William Depasupil']
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2017-11-26 19:55:40+00:00
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ORGANIZED labor has urged Congress to be judicious in its investigation and review of Agribusiness Venture Arrangements (AVAs), including Joint Venture Agreements (JVAs), to protect the livelihood of almost 5 million plantation workers.The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) made the appeal over the filing of House Bill (HB) 5085 and House Resolution (HR) 919, which both intend to investigate AVAs and JVAs in response to concerns of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).According to the group, the entire 4.8 million workers in banana, pineapple, cacao and palm oil, including those jobs in the agribusiness value chain in Mindanao, are jittery over their fate in the light of ongoing congressional investigation of the AVAs and JVAs.“We respect the congressional inquiry into the AVAs but we cannot prevent Mindanaoan [the people of Mindanao in southern Philippines] workers and their families whose lives have been anchored on and around the agribusiness in Mindanao for decades to feel anxious and uncertain over the fate of their livelihood in view of the investigation,” ALU-TUCP president Michael Mendoza said.“We urge our lawmakers to assure Mindanaoans and guarantee that the outcome of the query into the arrangements shall not alter the existing playing field. It should not result in job losses and displacements. The investigation should not result in uncertainty among stakeholders. It should rather send a message that the government is a reliable social and economic partner,” he added.Mendoza said the ALU-TUCP supports measures that will strengthen generation of quality jobs for all workers in the agri-food value chain and enhance agri-entrepreneurship development and support mechanism for ARBs.“It is our view that any proposed laws on the matter should focus on developing a genuine partnership between farmer beneficiaries and the agribusiness so as to enhance the dignity of the farmers and farm workers, and promote their agricultural security of tenure. It must retain existing investors and attract new investors as well to broaden the development in Mindanao,” he added.The banana industry, the ALU-TUCP pointed out, is a good example in looking at the issue of the AVAs, saying the industry–with little or no government assistance–has created 503,000 direct and indirect jobs.In 2014, according to the group, the industry contributed P6.5 billion to the national, municipal, city and barangay (village) coffers in the form of business, real property, income, withholding and miscellaneous taxes and many other fees collected for the operation of the business.It urged Congress to be cautious in addressing the current issue and perform its role as a regulator to protect the most vulnerable sectors of society.The government, the ALU-TUCP said, must also be equally effective in performing its function as provider of stable business and investment environment and as enabler for social and economic development that will benefit Filipinos, most especially those in rural areas.The AVAs, based on Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) data as of March 2014, reached a total of 161 nationwide.The DAR said the most common AVA was contract growing/growership, which accounted for 72 or 45 percent of the total AVAs.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/land-review-alarms-5m-workers/365195/
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QC to crack down on online cockfight betting
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['Jing Villamente']
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2017-02-05 19:49:55+00:00
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The Quezon City goverment is running after operators of online cockfighting or sabong in various off-track betting (OTB) stations.OTBs are originally established to accept horseracing bets only but a group of businessmen introduced online sabong using facilities of the OTBs last year.And Quezon City has one of the biggest numbers of OTBs with 53 outlets, second only to the city of Manila, which has the highest number of active OTB stations with 58.There are 230 active OTB stations in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.First District Councilor Victor Ferrer Jr. said the OTBs that accept online sabong bets in Quezon City only have business permits from the Mayor’s Office, but these are not sufficient, unless there is an ordinance authorizing such activity.He added that the game needs the explicit approval or grant of a franchise by the City Council through an ordinance to be considered legal.“The Local Government Code is very clear; it specifically lists cockfighting as one of the amusement activities that must be regulated by the Sangguniang Panglunsod and as such, the taking or receiving of bets for the game and the payment of the winnings within the city, whether conducted live or through whatever means, falls under our jurisdiction,” the councilor said.Ferrer cited Section 458 of the Local Government Code that enumerates the powers, duties, functions and compensation of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, particularly the specific provision on cockfighting, which reads: “(v). any law to the contrary notwithstanding, authorize and license the establishment, operation, and maintenance of cockpits, and regulate cockfighting and commercial breeding of gamecocks: Provided, that existing rights should not be prejudiced.’“As it stands, the City Council has not passed any ordinance allowing this so-called e-sabong or online cockfighting in Quezon City, and my view is that these are illegal even though the concerned OTBs have secured business permits from City Hall,” Ferrer said.The councilor said the city is probably losing significant revenues from the operation of online sabong through the non-payment of the proper amusement taxes and franchise fees.“Based on reports reaching my office, online sabong in the OTBs generated billions of pesos in revenues in 2016 alone. How much in amusement taxes should we have collected from the operators? How much more can we collect from them through franchise fees?“I would certainly ask the City Council to look into the details of this online sabong and determine whether the operators have paid the right taxes, if any. We shall also require them to seek authority or franchise from the Sanggunian,” Ferrer said.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/qc-crack-online-cockfight-betting/310689/
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Senate passes 10-year passport validity bill
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['The Manila Times']
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2017-05-15 21:19:58+00:00
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THE passage of a bill making Philippine passports valid for 10 years will give much relief to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), according to Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara.“This measure will certainly give comfort to our OFWs. Often, they have to file a leave from work for them to be able to travel back and forth to the nearest Philippine Embassy or consular office to get their passports renewed,” Angara said in a statement on Monday after senators approved Senate Bill (SB) 1365, or the New Philippine Passport Act, on third and final reading, extending passports’ validity to 10 years.Angara expressed confidence that SB 1365 will easily hurdle the bicameral conference committee.Eighteen years after the passage of Republic Act 8239, or the Philippine Passport Act of 1996, there is obviously a compelling need to amend it to simplify the application process of the Department of Foreign Affairs since the number of passports issued by the DFA has been increasing by an annual average of 29.3 percent beginning 2010, he said.“It’s about time. We have to keep up with the standard practice of other countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, among others,” Angara added, referring to the 10-year validity of passports.NIKKI J. DE LOS REYES
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/senate-passes-10-year-passport-validity-bill-2/327360/
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ConCom OKs election of transition leader
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['Jefferson Antiporda']
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2018-07-11 00:08:19+00:00
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THE Consultative Committee (Con-Com) on Tuesday agreed in principle to include a provision in the draft federal constitution the holding of elections for the transition president after the ratification of the new charter.ConCom chairman Reynato Puno said the inclusion of the provision was in compliance with the instruction of President Rodrigo Duterte to exclude him and elect a new leader who would supervise the transition.“We agreed to put all these instructions of the President in this draft constitution. But we shall still be meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) to fine tune the details but in principle we will follow the instruction of the President,” Puno told reporters.Under the provision, the transition president will preside during the transition period or until 2022. He would be exercising all the powers of the president under the new constitution.“The transitory president shall be there only until 2022 and will not be eligible to run in the 2022 elections,” Puno added.He said all appointees of Duterte would all be required to vacate their posts once the transitory leaders are elected.Apart from the vice president and senators who will end their term on 2022, all officials elected under the 1987 constitution will end their term once the new constitution is ratified.“We will consider all these points but in principle the terms of office of all our officials elected and appointed under the 1987 constitution will end the moment the new constitution kicks in,” he explained.ComplicatedPuno admitted things could get difficult if there would be an election for a transition leader right after the new constitution is ratified.“Ang may maraming komplikasyon, kung tatawag ng isang halalan pagkatapos ma-ratify ‘yung constitution (There will be a lot of complications if an election will be held after the ratification of the constitution),” he said.He explained that holding an election would also affect the timeline of the planned shift to federalism because there would be a need to set the term of the transition leader.Puno said that while it is also possible that Duterte would stay in power even after a transition leader has been elected, the set up would be difficult as it would involve division of powers.“So we would need to discuss these things,” he added.The ConCom on Monday formally submitted its draft federal constitution to the President.Under the proposed constitution, Duterte will head the federal transition commission after its ratification to supervise the shift to federalism, including the holding of the first deferral elections on 2022.But the President instructed the Commission to revise the provision designating him as transition leader.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/concom-oks-election-of-transition-leader/418143/
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Priority transport seats for elderly pushed
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['Reicelene Joy Ignacio']
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2017-03-21 21:39:17+00:00
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The elderly should be given priority seats in public transport vehicles including air and sea, with the seats closest to entrance doors reserved for them, Sen. Grace Poe said on Tuesday.Senate Bill (SB) 1367 that she has filed proposes the priority seating for the senior citizens in jeepneys, buses, trains and airplanesBatas Pambansa 344 or the Accessibility Law mandates that posters or stickers shall be posted on public transport to generate awareness of the rights and needs of persons with disability that includes the marking of priority seats for the PWD.Such rule, however, is absent in the Expanded Senior Citizens Law despite it having been amended several times, according to Poe, who heads the Senate Committee on Public Services,“In fact, the latest iteration of the law under Republic Act 9994 merely states that the Department ofTransportation shall develop a program to assist senior citizens to fully gain access to public transport facilities,” the senator said, referring to the law that amended the Expanded Senior Citizens Act.Currently, Poe noted, there are reserved seats for the elderly in land transportation.But there are “no hard rules” mandating the designation of priority seating for the senior citizens in air and sea transport.According to SB 1367, elderly citizens cannot be forced to transfer seats in commercial air and sea vessels without one week of prior notice.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/priority-transport-seats-elderly-pushed/318422/
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Defense chief: We can look for other chopper sources
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['Dempsey Reyes']
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2018-02-12 00:50:44+00:00
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The Philippines can look for different country sources that can supply choppers similar to those from a Canadian manufacturer whose P12-billion contract with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had been ordered terminated by President Rodrigo Duterte.In a text message, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Sunday said Russia, China, South Korea, Turkey and India can be the new sources for choppers with capabilities similar to the Bell 412 EPI from Bell Helicopter.On Friday night, Duterte ordered the AFP to scrap the multibillion deal with Bell Helicopter and Canadian Commercial Corp. (CCC).His order stemmed from reports that the Canadian government had ordered a review of the helicopter contract after Reuters said the Bell choppers will be used in operations against the communist New People’s Army.“Are there other suppliers if the Canada deal will not push through? Yes, there are,” Lorenzana said.“They [Canada] can think of anything they want to. For me, I maintain that they should not meddle since we bought [the helicopters] from them, not asked for [them]. One more thing, these are not attack helicopters but medium-lift [helicopters],” he added.Last week, Arsenio Andolong, spokesman for the Defense department, said Canada should reconsider its decision to review the contract, adding that human rights violations allegedly committed by the military should be verified first.On December 29 last year, Lorenzana and representatives of Bell Helicopter and CCC signed the contract for the purchase of the helicopters that will be used by the Philippine Air Force for humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) operations and for ferrying injured soldiers from the battlefield.Delivery of the first batch of Bell helicopters had been expected by the first quarter of 2019.Purchase of these helicopters is part of the AFP modernization program.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/defense-chief-can-look-chopper-sources/379611/
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Teachers seek free medical assistance from govt to spare them from debt
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['Neil Alcober']
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2017-11-24 21:58:42+00:00
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A teachers’ group on Friday asked the government to provide free medical assistance to public school teachers so that they would not sink deeper into debt.One of the principal factors why teachers borrow money, according to the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), is that the government does not have medical assistance for them despite the mandate of a law.“Under the law, the government is responsible to maintain teachers’ health thru a compulsory, annual and free medical examination. And if the examination found that a teacher needs to undergo medication or hospitalization, again it should be at the expense of the government,” Benjo Basas, the group’s national chairman, said quoting Section 22 of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers (Republic Act 4670), a law enacted in 1966.The group argued that teachers, aside from daily expenses for their family and teaching aids, are also burdened by expenses for their medical needs and one of them is the annual medical check-up, which should be given free for all teachers. Despite the explicit provision of the law, teachers themselves pay for these tests.“One of the reasons why teachers borrow money is the emergency medical need for themselves and their family members. They run to loan agencies especially if they have no extra income or savings from their meager salaries. Then, it would be difficult for them to free themselves from the chain of debt,” Basas said.He added that there are some conditions that would really make things worse if the teacher needs to be confined in a hospital for weeks or if he or she has to undergo chemotherapy, dialysis or major operations for heart or lung conditions or complications because of pregnancy, which according to him the teachers can never afford for lack of money.Basas cited the case of Jennifer Nague de Jesus, a teacher of San Vicente Elementary School in San Pedro City, Laguna, since 2007. She was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in 2012 and was forced to leave her job for two years to undergo regular hemodialysis from 2013. During the period that she cannot report for work, she had no income and received no assistance from the government, except for quarterly pledge of P3, 000 from her mayor. She is back to teaching but still needs to undergo dialysis sessions two times a week that cost her not less than P4, 000, because she has consumed her free sessions from PhilHealth.“Where could Teacher Jennifer possibly get that amount if she will not run to loan agencies for fast cash? But at the end of the day, where will she get the money to pay for these loans? Clearly, she borrowed money, literally to live,” Basas said.Indeed, Jennifer suffered compounded interests of loans from a private bank. In the case of the Government Service Insurance System, she has no record of payment, both for premiums and loans for almost four years, another predicament she will confront in the near future.Basas actually said Jennifer may have been more fortunate than others. For instance, he cited the case of a teacher in Caloocan City who died in a private hospital early last year, but because the family lacks money to settle the bills, her body was seemingly made hostage for several weeks. Another teacher from Malabon City gave birth to her first baby in a lying-in clinic and had continuous bleeding, then was rushed to a private hospital where she was in coma for more than a week. The family, whose income depends mainly on her, solicited funds from politicians and guarantee letters from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office to pay for the bills. The poor teacher did not make it, she died few days before Christmas of 2016.These incidents prompted the TDC to ask the DepEd to establish a support mechanism through a mutual aid and benefit system that would be readily available to all teachers in need, on top of the immediate implementation of Sections 22 of the Magna Carta.Education Secretary Leonor Briones has said that her agency will consider increasing the school funds to cover free annual medical check-up for all teachers.“We appreciate these pronouncements from our Secretary and we would wait for them to be translated into policies,” Basas said.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/teachers-seek-free-medical-assistance-govt-spare-debt/364770/
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Sereno appearance in hearing of impeach raps not necessary
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['Ralph Villanueva']
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2017-11-17 21:55:53+00:00
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AN OPPOSITION lawmaker on Friday said Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno does not need to appear at the resumption of hearings by the House Committee on Justice of the impeachment complaint filed against her by lawyer Larry Gadon.The committee has sent an invitation to Sereno to personally appear before it on November 22, when the panel will determine whether there is probable cause in the complaint.According to a statement by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, the Chief Justice can effectively and legally appear through her counsel on record, who could also cross-examine Gadon and his witnesses on her behalf.Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, in reply, said it is really Sereno’s call on whether she will attend the hearing.“The task of the [committee] is to determine probable cause, thus we need to determine whether the accusations can be substantiated or controverted and she is the best person to rebut any evidence put forward by the complainant,” Umali told The Manila Times in a text message.Lagman disagreed with the opinion of Umali, also the chairman of the justice committee, that the Chief Justice herself must make the cross-examination.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/sereno-appearance-hearing-impeach-raps-not-necessary/363418/
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Marcoses urged: Bury Marcos in hometown
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['Llanesca T. Panti']
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2016-11-15 22:21:17+00:00
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Members of the family of former President Ferdinand Marcos should take the high road and bury him in his hometown of Ilocos Norte instead of pursuing a hero’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery) in Taguig City (Metro Manila).Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe made the call on Monday in the aftermath of a Supreme Court decision junking petitions against a hero’s burial for Marcos via a 9 to 5 vote.The petitioners had argued that Marcos does not deserve to be given a hero’s burial because of atrocities committed by his martial-law regime: 3,257 killed, 35,000 tortured, 70,000 incarcerated and 737 victims of enforced disappearances from 1976 to 1983 based on the records of Amnesty International.At least 75,000 torture victims have also filed their claims under the Marcos compensation law.“I would like to appeal to the Marcoses to take the moral high ground and don’t bury him in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. You have proven your point. The Supreme Court has said that there is no law preventing his burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Now, would his burial there bring peace to our country? You can’t be sure about that,” Batocabe told reporters.Marcos, who died in 1989, is survived by his wife, Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos, former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos and Irene Marcos.The Presidential Commission on Good Government estimates Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth at $5 billion to $10 billion, on top of the $13.4 billion deposited by Marcos and his family in various Swiss banks.“Anyway, laws or Supreme Court decisions do not define heroes. Heroes are defined by the collective memory of the people. They could just bury him in Ilocos Norte and put up a Libingan ng mga Bayani there,” Batocabe said.Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella announced that the hero’s burial for Marcos would be done by the end of the year.Batocabe, however, said the Marcoses would be putting the remains of the former leader at risk if they pushed through with the hero’s burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.“If his remains will be interred there in the Libingan, I doubt that it will bring peace to the family. Who knows, his remains could be dug up and stolen. And there will be people in the future who would not want to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The [Heroes’ Cemetery] will be devalued,” he added.“They have proven their point. The Marcos loyalists have proven their point. Why not bury him in a place where he is acceptable to all?” Batocabe said.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/marcoses-urged-bury-marcos-hometown-2/296702/
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PLDT, PAL biggest ‘violators’ of labor laws
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['William Depasupil']
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2017-04-19 22:21:25+00:00
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TWO of the country’s top corporations, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and the Philippine Airlines (PAL) and sister company PAL Express face stiff sanctions for violating the law against illegal work contracting and sub-contracting, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE).Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd disclosed on Tuesday that PLDT, owned by businessman Manuel Pangilinan, and PAL of business tycoon Lucio Tan were among the big companies subjected recently to a Special Assessment/Visit Establishment (SAVE), DOLE’s mechanism to assess, validate and verify compliance with labor laws and their contractors/sub-contractors.President Rodrigo Duterte also recently labeled Tan as a tax evader.During the inspection, Bello said, violations were found on PLDT, mostly among its sub-contractors and majority of which are not even registered or with expired registration.“I will order the regularization of close to 10,000 workers under contracting and sub-contracting arrangements but are performing jobs that are directly related to PLDT’s business,” Bello said in a news briefing.If PLDT fails to comply, “we will close them,” he warned.“Imagine PLDT, one of the biggest companies in our country contracting out with unregistered service providers,” Bello said.On PAL and PAL Express, including their contractors and sub-contractors, violations were noted on general labor standards and occupational safety and health standards.Their contractors’ workers are also performing jobs directly related to the main business of the companies.According to Bello, the firms may have other sister companies that are engaged in the same nefarious activities, saying “[w]e will not allow that to happen.”DoLE Department Order (DO) 174, or the Rules Implementing Articles 106-109 of the Labor Code, prohibits the following: labor-only contracting; farming out of work through “cabo;” contracting out of job or work through an in-house agency; contracting out of job or work through an in-house cooperative that merely supplies workers to the principal; contracting out of a job or work by reason of a strike or lockout, whether actual or imminent; and contracting out of a job or work being performed by union members and such will interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of their rights to self-organization as provided in Article 259 of the Labor Code, as amended.It also prohibits contractors and sub-contractors to require their employees to perform functions that are currently being performed by the regular employees of the principal.The order also bars the contractors and sub-contractors to oblige the workers to sign, as a precondition to employment or continued employment, an antedated resignation letter, a blank payroll, a waiver of labor standards including minimum wages and social or welfare benefits or a quit claim releasing the principal or contractor from liability as to payment of future claims.Further, it prohibits the contractors and sub-contractors to require the employees to become members of a cooperative and to repeatedly hire the employees under an employment contract of short duration.The Labor department’s investigating team head, Undersecretary Joel Maglungsod, said the erring firms were circumventing the law, prompting the affected workers to complain because of violation of their security of tenure.Maglungsod noted that in the 1990s, PLDT has some 15,000 regular workers but it dwindled down to more than half because of illegal contractualization.PLDT has a rank- and -file union with around 1,000 members and supervisory union with almost 5,000 members.“So after SAVE, we came out with findings that workers [doing regular work] are being sourced out from the agency or contractors,” Maglungsod said.“We have already an exit conference [with PLDT] last January. We presented to them our findings and ordered them to correct their mistakes,” he added.On PAL and PAL Express, Maglungsod said they were still in the process of completing their assessment and collating and validating their findings.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/pldt-pal-biggest-violators-labor-laws-2/323054/
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Notice of disallowance vs NFA execs affirmed
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['Mt Admin']
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2018-06-17 23:33:05+00:00
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The Commission on Audit (COA) has affirmed its notice of disallowance on P6.05 million worth of grocery incentives issued by nine National Food Authority (NFA) officials to themselves.The notice covered food and grocery incentives issued by NFA officials Beverlyn Peralta of Ilocos Norte, Fortunato Bulao of Ilocos Sur, Ramon Cuaresma of Eastern Pangasinan, Ronaldo Rufo of Western Pangasinan, Cecilia Concubierta of Benguet, Miguel Tecson of Kalinga, Roberto Gonzales of Batangas, Ruben Manatad of Eastern Samar and Zaldy Tan of Southern Leyte.The COA found the consolidated petitions for review of the officials devoid of merit, saying the grant of incentives violates Section 2, Administrative Order (AO) No. 37, s. 1998, which provides that “heads of national government agencies, local government units, government owned and controlled corporations (GOCC) and government financial institutions (GFI) as well as their respective governing boards are prohibited from authorizing/granting Amelioration Assistance or any other similar benefit without prior approval and authorization via Administrative Order by the Office of the President.”“Henceforth, anyone found violating any of the provisions of this Order, including all officials/employees and the COA Resident Auditor of such government entity found to have taken part thereof, will be accordingly and severely dealt with in accordance with the applicable provisions of existing administrative and penal laws,” the commission said.“Consequently, all administrative authorizations granting any and all forms of additional compensation paid outside of the prescribed basic salary under Compensation and Position Classification Act that are inconsistent with the legislated policy on the matter or are not covered by any legislative action are hereby revoked,” it added.It cited the Department of Budget and Management’s order banning all agencies “from granting any food, rice, gift checks or any other form of incentives/allowances except those authorized via Administrative Order by the Office of the President.”The agency also junked the defense of the respondents that the incentive was allowed by former Presidents Joseph Estrada and Macapagal-Arroyo.“The letter dated December 8, 1998 of the former NFA Administrator bearing the signature of former President Estrada was not the authority sanctioned by the aforecited administrative orders and Budget Department circular. Thus, it cannot be the basis for the grant of the incentives. Even assuming that the said letter constitutes authority for the grant, the approval applied only for the year 1998 and not to succeeding years” the COA pointed out.“Good faith cannot be appreciated in favor of the NFA personnel concerned, considering that from the start, they were aware of the infirmity on the grant of the incentives in view of the Deed of Undertaking they executed, authorizing the Accounting Department to deduct from their salaries and other benefits the amount they received without the necessity of demand, in case the incentives would be disallowed in audit thereafter,” it added.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/notice-of-disallowance-vs-nfa-execs-affirmed/409526/
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NBI takes custody of Kerwin Espinosa
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['Anthony Vargas']
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2016-12-15 21:56:11+00:00
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THE Philippine National Police (PNP) has transferred custody of alleged Eastern Visayas drug lord Kerwin Espinosa to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), The Manila Times learned on Thursday.Espinosa was reportedly in handcuffs and wearing a bullet-proof vest when he was brought by operatives of the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG) past 11 p.m., Wednesday, to the NBI office on Taft Avenue in Manila, a police source said.The source, an officer of the PNP-AIDG based in Camp Crame in Quezon City, said the transfer came a week after a trial court in Baybay (Leyte) issued an order for Espinosa’s transfer from the PNP-AIDG to the NBI.On December 6, 2016 Judge Carlos Arguelles of the Baybay Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 14 issued the order for Espinosa’s transfer to the NBI in the presence of the prosecutor and Espinosa’s lawyer.The court had directed the AIDG to make the transfer within 10 days upon receipt of the order and that thepolice unit should then inform the court of its compliance with the order within five days.Arguelles said in his written order to the NBI director, “I hereby commit to you the live body of Rolan Espinosa aka Kerwin Espinosa to be kept in custody as detention prisoner subject to the order of this court.”Espinosa had filed an application to be under the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Program.Espinosa’s counsel, lawyer Leilani Villarino, had told the court that her client had been under the provisional coverage of the program.Espinosa has been under the custody of the AIDG since his arrest in Abu Dhabi in October, months after President Rodrigo Duterte had linked him and his father, late Albuera (Leyte) Mayor Rolando Espinosa, to the illegal drug trade.Mayor Espinosa was reportedly killed after he and fellow inmate named Raul Yap fought off elements of the Eastern Visayas Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) who were serving a search warrant against him at the Leyte Sub-Provincial Jail early last month.Members of the CIDG led by its chief, Supt. Marvin Marcos, who were involved in the operation were placed under restrictive custody and are facing investigation.Some of them have been named by Kerwin in his judicial affidavit as among those who received drug money from him.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/nbi-takes-custody-kerwin-espinosa-2/301914/
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Duterte, Saudi prince vow to strengthen ties
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['Ralph Villanueva']
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2018-03-20 00:05:08+00:00
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PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte and Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif agreed to further strengthen the bilateral relations between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia on Monday.Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said the Prince, who is also the Minister of Interior, re-affirmed the importance of the Philippines to the Middle Eastern country.“The Prince conveyed the deep respect of the Saudi King for the President’s strong and decisive action that led to the liberation of Marawi from extremists and terrorists,” Roque told reporters.“The Prince conveyed the readiness of KSA to combat violent extremism and terrorism,” he added.Duterte meanwhile re-affirmed the commitment of the Philippines to “defeat and break” the backbone of terrorism and violent extremism. He also stressed the need to expand cooperation between the two countries in various fields, especially in security, trade and investment, as well as in promoting the rights, safety and well-being of Filipinos.The two also addressed issues in law enforcement, peace and order and security.Roque said the President and he Prince had “very warm and cordial” talks.“The Prince conveyed the personal and warm wishes of His Majesty and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman to the President,” Roque said.The Prince arrived in Manila on Saturday. He was welcomed by Chief of Presidential Protocol Robert Borje, Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the Philippines Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Bussairy, Interior and Local Government Officer-in-Charge Eduardo Año, Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Adnan Alonto, Office of Middle East and African Affairs (OMEAA) Hjaaycelyn Quintana, and Philippine Air Force Commanding General Galileo Gerard Kintanar, Jr.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/duterte-saudi-prince-vow-to-strengthen-ties/387228/
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Korean import traders’ deportation assailed
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['Jing Villamente']
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2017-04-25 20:13:58+00:00
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Over strong moves to recuse himself from the case of Kang Tae Sik, a South Korean businessman who was ordered arrested and deported by Justice Vitaliano Aguirre 2nd, Court of Appeals Justice Apolinario Bruselas instead ordered Kang’s former lawyer, Alex Tan, to file a comment on a motion for inhibition.Redentor Viaje, Kang’s lawyer, assailed the order to deport Kang, whom he said had been doing business in the country for 38 years.Kang was arrested and detained by Immigration agents last month on orders of Aguirre.The motion for inhibition was filed by the businessman after Brusuelas refused to act on the prayer for issuance of TRO (temporary restraining order) against Aguirre.Under the 1999 CA Rules, if the petition includes a prayer for issuance of TRO, it should immediately be ruled upon.The imminent arrest of Kang was announced by Aguirre during a Senate hearing last February 23 this year on the brutal kidnap-slay of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo.Viaje said Bruselas is one of the five aspirants for associate justice of the Supreme Court nominated by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) wherein Aguirre, one of the respondents in Kang’s petition, is a member.Final selection of the SC nominees shall be made by Malacañang.To remove any suspicion of “fear and favor,” Viaje said, Bruselas should inhibit himself, considering that his appointment to the SC is literally at the mercy of Duterte administration officials who are the respondents in the case, and that the case before him is like the sword of Damocles hanging over his head.The case was reraffled to Buzuelas on April 3, 2017 after Justice Elihu Ybanez inhibited himself on ground that Tan was his classmate in San Beda College.Viaje said they have learned that Tan, Ybanez, Aguirre and Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Paras were classmates in San Beda College.Kang’s petition for the TRO was filed on March 27, 2017.In his petition, he asked the CA to stop the DOJ and Bureau of Immigration from implementing the deportation order against him and the dissolution of the warrant of deportation because both emanated from a void resolution.On March 7, 2017, Aguirre in a resolution, reversed the decision of the DoJ dismissing the deportation complaint filed against Kang.Kang was also arrested and ordered deported in October 2015 when Sen. Leila de Lima was the Justice secretary.Tan filed the deportation case against Kang when the latter refused to relinquish his import business or pay P50 million “peace offering” to a Korean-Filipino group that wanted to take over Kang’s wine import business.The deportation order against Kang was reversed by then-Justice Secretary Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa.The Immigration bureau did not file a motion for reconsideration, thus rendering Caguioa’s decision final and executory.But Aguirre revived the case and gave due course to the motion for reconsideration of Tan.He told a Senate hearing that a certain Kang Tae Sik is the head of a Korean mafia.Viaje said his client was implicated in Jee’s kidnap-slay to get rid of him.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/korean-import-traders-deportation-assailed/324050/
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DOLE allocates P200-M ‘endo’ fund
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['William Depasupil']
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2016-11-08 20:38:20+00:00
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“DO not be afraid, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is not here to close your companies. Rather, it is here to help you.”Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd on Tuesday reiterated his assurance to workers as the government intensifies its campaign to end illegal contractualization, also known as end-of-contract (“endo”) employment.Bello disclosed that the government has allocated an initial P200-million fund to help workers who will be displaced in the process.About 250,000 workers are believed employed under the “endo” scheme that circumvents the law mandating employers to regularize workers.“Endo” is a system where employers hire and fire probationary employees to avoid making them regular employees, depriving workers of benefits that come with being regular employees, such as paid leaves, bonuses, overtime and member contributions to social and health benefits.Bello said the Labor department will provide affected workers with livelihood assistance so that they could have alternative source of income, while skills training will be given to those who would want to upgrade their competencies for other jobs.“The livelihood assistance is aimed at helping the displaced worker to have a sustainable self-employment through easy-to-learn livelihood undertakings,” Bello said.The DOLE will also provide workers who will avail of the livelihood assistance with training on business management, entrepreneurship and production skills to help them manage their business.The skills training will be provided by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).Benjo Santos Benavidez, Bureau of Labor Relations director, earlier said contracting or sub-contracting in itself is not illegal since this is allowed under provisions of the Labor Code of the Philippines.“Contracting is legal if the contractor or sub-contractor is registered under Department Order No. 18-A or the rules and regulations governing contracting and sub-contracting, carries a distinct and independent business and has a substantial capital or investment,” Benavidez explained.“Labor-only contracting is an arrangement where the contractor or sub-contractor merely recruits, supplies or places workers to perform job, work or service for a principal; does not have substantial capital or investment; and does not exercise the right of control over the performance of the work of the employee,” he said.But President Rodrigo Duterte wants to stop any form of contractualization and other similar work arrangements where security of tenure of workers is at the mercy of their employers.The DOLE is coming out before the year ends with a guideline on employment contractualization, which the labor sector blames as among the causes of the country’s high unemployment rate.“We will come up with a policy or guideline that will be enforced by the department before the year ends. We will decide whether we will end contractualization, allow contractualization or come up with a balance of the two positions,” Bello said.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/dole-allocates-p200-m-endo-fund-2/295480/
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Go springs surprise in Valenzuela CITY
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['Jing Villamente']
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2018-05-07 00:04:30+00:00
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A basketball game turned into a charity event when Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go showed up in Valenzuela City on Sunday.Go gave food to children and distributed eyeglasses and wheelchairs to the elderly who also availed themselves of free eye check-up.Go played a three-point game with Philippine Basketball Association stars like Allan Caidic, Jojo Lastimosa, Nelson Asaytono and Chris Tiu. They were joined by actors Dennis Padilla, Mark Herras and Joko Diaz at the city’s astrodome.Valenzuela Rep. Weslie Gatchalian and Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar helped Go distribute the new wheelchairs.The President’s special assistant also distributed shoes to 24 children.“Yung mga sapatos po para sa mga players ng Valenzuela na deserving, may mga kaibigan po nagbahagi po sa amin so yung mga kabataan nabigyan namin (The shoes are for the deserving players of Valenzuela. Some friends gave them to us, so we are able to share them with the kids),” Go said.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/go-springs-surprise-in-valenzuela-city/397291/
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Policeman in accidental firing surrenders
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['Jing Villamente']
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2017-02-18 22:09:31+00:00
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~By A Quezon City policeman who accidentally pulled the trigger of his M-16 assault rifle on Friday night grazing a detainee of the nearby Quezon City Female Dormitory has surrendered to his superior. Quezon City Police District Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar said Police Officer (PO) I Ericson Eslao of the District Public Safety Battalion Special Reaction Unit was cleaning his rifle at the 2nd floor of their barracks in Camp Karingal when he inadvertently pulled the trigger. The bullet grazed detainee Mary Grace Lasin in her left temple. She was treated for abrasion at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center and returned to the jail facility on the same night. Eslao immediately surrendered to PO3 Roberto Telan Jr., SRU team leader.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/policeman-accidental-firing-surrenders/312967/
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QC to hear Bistek’s 7th State of the City Address on Monday
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['Jing Villamente']
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2016-10-15 21:58:12+00:00
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Quezon City residents will have to listen to Mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista on Monday as he will deliver his 7th State of the City Address (SOCA) where he will report on the various socio-economic gains and accomplishments of his administration. Bautista’s SOCA, his first since getting a fresh mandate for his third and final term as local chief executive, is also expected to discuss the status of different city programs and projects, including upcoming developments, plans and goals in the next three years. During his third inaugural address last June 30, Bautista vowed to pursue three important policy directions during his final term as mayor. These are the rationalization of the city’s bureaucracy, modernization of city programs and automation of city government services to the public. Acknowledged for many years as one of the country’s best managed local government units, Quezon City is also leading other highly-urbanized cities in the country in terms of competitiveness ranking. This was made more evident when the National Competitiveness Council recognized Quezon City as the year’s most competitive city among all highly-urbanized cities in the country.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/qc-hear-bisteks-7th-state-city-address-monday/291412/
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DepEd tracks down Marawi teachers
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['Neil Alcober']
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2017-06-16 21:43:50+00:00
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THE Department of Education (DepEd) is tracking down hundreds of public school teachers from Marawi City in Lanao del Sur.“With the opening of classes in Marawi still pending, not all teachers have reported to the (school) division. Being unable to report, however, does not mean that they have gone missing,” Education Secretary Leonor Briones said.Since May 27, the DepEd, through its offices in Regions 9, 10, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Services, has been tracking and assisting students and teachers fleeing the fighting. The Education department deployed teams to evacuation centers and communities near the conflict area to find displaced students and teachers, assess their condition and refer them to schools where they can enroll.“They [Marawi teachers] are not missing, actually they were not just able to be present during that meeting understandably because they are also affected [by the conflict], and maybe some of them are looking for food and shelter,” Assistant Secretary for ARMM Marjuni Maddi told reporters in a news briefing at the DepEd central office in Pasig City.“We have to track them down to make sure that we properly account for the learners and the teachers of these affected areas of Lanao del Sur province,” Maddi added.Marawi City has a total of 1,411 teaching and non-teaching staff.“More than 200 are still to be tracked. Some of them presumably are temporarily residing with their relatives in Metro Manila, Cebu, and most are in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan,” Maddi said.He added that all Marawi teachers will undergo psychosocial first aid and support starting next week to ease the trauma caused by weeks of fighting in the city.“We will not deploy them to the temporary learning spaces if they did not yet undergo psychosocial first aid because they too have been traumatized,” Maddi said. “The task that will be given them will be determined after the psychosocial first aid because we cannot just simply let them work on something if we did not gauge how they are . . . after the trauma you cannot really say that they are perfectly ready to teach, some of them still have trauma,” he added.The stress debriefing, psychosocial first aid and orientation for interventions will take three days.The Education department gave assurances that all Marawi teachers will receive their salaries even if they have not reported to the division.“They can withdraw their salaries . . . we have to do that. That’s the best way to help them. We have to release their salaries,” Maddi said.“In case they lost their ATM, we can give them pay checks,” he added.As of June 15, 7,344 learners from Marawi have been enrolled in schools in Regions 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, Caraga, and National Capital Region. The education department has waived all requirements for enrollment and advised all public schools to accommodate the influx of transferees.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/deped-tracks-marawi-teachers-2/333186/
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Asean leaders guarantee workers’ rights in region
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['Bernadette E. Tamayo']
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2017-11-14 00:47:16+00:00
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Leaders of the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) are set to sign today the Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers that would benefit over 210,000 Filipino workers in the region.The signing of the document is one of the highlights of the 31st Asean Summit and Related Summits. Asean leaders signed in 2007 the Cebu Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers.The document fulfills the Asean’s goal to develop an instrument that establishes “a framework for cooperation in safeguarding the interests and welfare of the thousands of migrant workers in the region.”It strengthens the social protection and access to justice and health services of the region’s migrant workers, and ensures their humane and fair treatment.The consensus document upholds fair treatment of migrant workers with respect to gender and nationality, provides for visitation rights by family members, prohibits confiscation of passports and overcharging of placement or recruitment fees, protects against violence and sexual harassment in the workplace, regulates recruiters for better protection of workers and respects their right to fair and appropriate remuneration and benefits and their right to join trade unions and associations.Like all Asean agreements, the document would be subject to the respective laws of the organization’s member-countries. It was completed by Asean senior labor officials on August 25.Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd said the consensus document would benefit the region’s migrant workers, including 212,435 Filipino migrant workers in Southeast Asia, majority of whom are employed in Singapore and Malaysia, based on 2016 statistics from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.The document, he added, strengthens regional cooperation in preventing abuses, exploitation and violence against migrant workers.“In cases where Filipino migrant workers are imprisoned, they will have rights no less favorable than those applied to the local workers. They also have the right to file grievances with the relevant authorities in the countries they are working in,” Bello said.The Asean consensus document is a “living document” that would evolve in the years to come. It also calls for development of an action plan to concretize its implementation.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/asean-leaders-guarantee-workers-rights-region/362658/
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House leaders back pullout from IPU
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['Glee Jalea']
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2018-10-25 00:05:40+00:00
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House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez filed a resolution on Wednesday supporting the recommendation of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to withdraw the membership of the Philippines from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).Resolution 2270 states that the Geneva-based organization of international parliamentarians “stepped outside its boundaries with its interference in the country’s judicial processes which runs counter to the principle of State sovereignty.”With 178 members and 12 associate members, the IPU was formed in 1889 to “protect and build global democracy through political dialog and concrete action.”On Monday, Arroyo said the Philippines should leave the group after it proposed to probe the alleged political persecution of senators Leila de Lima and Antonio Trillanes 4th.“I am recommending to the Senate which heads the delegation that we should withdraw our membership with the IPU,” Arroyo told reporters in an ambush interview.House Deputy Majority Leader Ron Salo also backed Arroyo’s suggestion.Salo was part of the Philippine delegation to the 139th IPU Assembly held recently in Switzerland.“Our delegation expressly requested copies of the minutes of proceedings as well as any draft text of resolution, and also members of our delegation personally expressed their desire to participate in the meeting to afford the Committee the chance to hear their side but were denied this opportunity,” he said in a statement.Deputy Speaker Prospero Pichay said Arroyo’s proposal should be respected if she feels that the country’s sovereignty has been violated.“Where was the IPU when Speaker Arroyo was unjustly jailed for five years without any valid charges? Are they playing political partisanship?” Pichay said.Most members of the House and the Senate rejected the proposal and called it a potential “diplomatic disaster.”“Arroyo’s proposal is despairing, defeatist and will be seen by the world as a tacit admission that indeed critical lawmakers are being persecuted under the administration [of President Rodrigo Duterte],” Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said.“If we are really confident with the brand of ‘democracy’ the Duterte Administration is fostering, there should be nothing to worry about,” Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano said.Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said Arroyo and other members of Congress should not be “onion-skinned.”Sen. Francis Escudero said withdrawing from the IPU would only isolate the country.“Such isolationist policy will not serve the country’s interests—both long-term and short-term,” Escudero said.He added that withdrawing from the IPU would bolster allegations of political persecution of lawmakers critical to the Duterte administration.Rather than severing ties with the IPU, he advised the government to use the platform as an opportunity to defend its human rights record and clear its name in the international community.In March this year, the Philippines notified the United Nations that it was pulling out of the International Criminal Court after one of the court’s prosecutors announced the investigation of allegations that President Duterte and his top officials had committed crimes against humanity in connection with the government’s drug war policy.WITH BERNADETTE E. TAMAYO
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/house-leaders-back-pullout-from-ipu/456674/
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LTO says licenses, plates out in 2017
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['Jing Villamente']
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2016-11-19 21:07:46+00:00
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The Land Transportation Office (LTO) over the weekend reiterated an earlier announcement that plastic license cards and car plates will be available by the second quarter of 2017.Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante issued the statement after his office continued to receive inquiries and complaints about the non-availability of plastic license cards and car plates. He assured the public that they are taking steps to address the problem.He said that at present while the agency’s supply lasts, only Overseas Filipino Workers are given priority in the issuance of plastic license cards, subject to the submission of supporting documents such as their passport, employment contract, plane ticket, and/or POEA- or OWWA-issued/verified documents.It can be recalled that the shortage of license cards started three years ago after the Commission on Audit disallowed payments to a previous supplier, Amalgamated Motors Philippines Inc., for lack of a proper contract. A new supplier, Allcard Plastics Philippines Inc., won the bidding in 2015 to supply five million plastic card licenses for P336.8 million. However, the contract expired this year.Meanwhile, the problem with the car plates stemmed from the COA disallowance of the contract to manufacture the plates won by joint venture Power Plates Development Concepts and Dutch company Knieriem BV Goes.Although the 700,000 plates – seized by the Bureau of Customs in April due to the conglomerate’s non-payment of customs duties and taxes – were turned over to the government, the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order stopping the DOTC and LTO from releasing the same pending the final adjudication of the case.The TRO was issued after congressmen Gustavo Tambunting and Jonathan dela Cruz questioned the turnover of the license plates despite the notice of disallowance COA issued in 2015.The two lawmakers claimed the LTO violated the pertinent provision on the use of government funds when it bid out the project without the necessary appropriation.“They cannot source the funds from two distinct items in the General Appropriations Act that were declared as savings and then transferred as augmentation for the project,” the lawmakers said, adding that under the Constitution, only the president, senate president, House speaker, chief justice and heads of constitutional commissions can exercise the power to transfer funds.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/lto-says-licenses-plates-2017/297348/
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RESIDENTS CAN’T RETURN HOME UNTIL BUTIG IS FREE OF BOMBS
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['Fernan Marasigan']
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2016-12-04 22:45:58+00:00
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THREE days after it declared the municipality of Butig in Lanao del Sur as “100 percent cleared” of terrorists, the military is still not allowing residents to go back to their respective houses as “sweeping” operations are still ongoing for booby traps, landmines and unexploded bombs, a military official said on Sunday.“We are not yet allowing civilians to return to their respective residences and we hope they would understand that because we are still continuing to clear all the unexploded ordnance including booby traps and landmines and possible IEDs [improvised explosive devices],” said Col. Edgard Arevalo, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Public Affairs Office.He disclosed that additional K9 bomb sniffing dogs have been sent to the area to augment the military’s explosives ordnance unit and hasten the search for unexploded bombs.The military advised the residents to let the military finish its job before returning to their homes for their own safety.At present, the AFP official said military officials are talking to residents and are trying to enlist their cooperation by reporting any movements of the terrorist Maute group that occupied Butig on November 25 prompting the military to launch an all-out offensive.“Their [residents] contribution is very important because they are the ones who knew the people who should not be in the area in the first place. They are the ones who have the capability to report to the authorities if there are armed men seeking shelter. We are conducting monitoring but it would be best if we can get their cooperation,” Arevalo explained.The firefight lasted for six days that resulted in the killing of 61 Maute fighters and the wounding of 12 other jihadists.At least 35 soldiers including seven members of the Presidential Security Group were wounded.The PSG members were in Marawi City to coordinate security for President Rodrigo Duterte who was scheduled to visit the troops when they were attacked by supporters of Maute after a roadside bombing a day before the President’s visit.Arevalo said Col. Roseller Murillo, commander of the Philippine Army’s 103rd Brigade, has recommended the setting up of a military base or camp in the area that was previously occupied by the extremist group.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/residents-cant-return-home-butig-free-bombs/299991/
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‘Village head declared used vehicles brand new’
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['Catherine A. Modesto']
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2018-05-20 21:32:36+00:00
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The reelected chairman of a village in Las Piñas City is facing another complaint for allegedly purchasing two secondhand rescue vehicles but declared them as brand new.The complainant, Enrico Medina, an incumbent council member of Barangay Daniel Fajardo, claimed that their village head, Robert Cristobal, purchased a small fire truck and an ambulance last year. Although both were used, the vehicles were passed on as brand new, he said.“Yung fire truck at ambulance na secondhand, dineclare nilang brand new (The fire truck and ambulance were second hand but were declared as brand new),” Medina said.“Bago pa bilhin yan, minimeeting sa amin pero walang minutes of the meeting. Seldom magkaroon ng meeting tungkol sa projects, expenses. Pag nag-meeting kuno, next week darating yung penetrator na fire truck (Before they purchased the vehicles, we had a meeting but there was no minutes of the meeting. We seldom have meetings to discuss projects or expenses. The fire truck was delivered a week after we supposedly had a meeting),” he added.Medina claimed he had no say in the purchase of the vehicles.“When he (village chief) called for meetings for the purchase of two vehicles, he told stories and did not ask our advice. He would just say that he bought secondhand vehicles and that was that,” the council member said.Medina is one of the five members of the barangay appropriations committee, the panel responsible for allocating funds.He maintained that he did not get the chance to read budget reports because he felt “pressured” by Edna Cristobal, the barangay administrator.“Pinapapirma lang kami ng kontrata at budget report at kapag babasahin ko na, pine-pressure ako at sasabihin nila na ikaw na lang ang hinihintay. Wag mo nang basahin, inaantay na iyan ng CoA (Commission on Audit) at ni mayora. (We were just asked to sign contracts and budget reports. Every time I was about to read the documents, they would pressure me to speed it up because allegedly they are waiting for my signature. They would say, ‘Don’t read the documents anymore, CoA and the mayor are waiting,’ so I ended up not reading the entire thing),” he said.Medina maintained that “there was corruption in the release of funds for the ambulance and fire truck.”Medina is the second council member to accuse Cristobal of irregularities. Demetrio Fajardo, another council member, earlier filed a complaint against the village chief before the Department of the Interior and Local Government because of his failure to hold sessions for eight months.Fajardo also claimed that Cristobal does not reside in their barangay.Cristobal however said he was never involved in any illegal practice during his term as barangay chairman.“Basta ang gawin ko makatulong sa kapwa ko tapos iisyuhan ka ng napakaraming ganyan. Parang yung pinaghirapan ko ng maraming taon ay sinisira nila ng husto. Naiipon ang sama ng loob ko kaya lang di naman ako masyadong bayolenteng tao kaya ipagsasa-Diyos ko na lang sila (I only want to help others and yet they have these issues against me. They are trying to destroy what I have accomplished in so many years. I feel bad but I am not a violent person, so I will just leave this issue to God),” he said.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/village-head-declared-used-vehicles-brand-new/400115/
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Grounds for denial of petition for legal separation
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['Persida Acosta']
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2017-10-25 21:14:30+00:00
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Dear PAO,I found out that my wife filed a case for legal separation against me. I am yet to receive and see the actual case but I want to know the grounds for the denial of a prayer for a legal separation. Also, I want to know who will have the custody of our minor son in case the legal separation case is granted. Please give us advice. Thanks.ShawnieDear Shawnie,In general, a petition for legal separation will be denied if your wife who filed the legal separation case failed to prove in court the grounds she mentioned in her petition. Although you did not mention in your narration the specific ground cited by your wife in her petition for legal separation, it is important to know that she, as the petitioner, will have the burden of proof in proving the existence of a ground to support her petition.More specifically, Article 56 of the Family Code of the Philippines enumerates other grounds for the denial of a petition for legal separation, to wit:“Art. 56. The petition for legal separation shall be denied on any of the following grounds:(1) Where the aggrieved party has condoned the offense or act complained of;(2) Where the aggrieved party has consented to the commission of the offense or act complained of;(3) Where there is connivance between the parties in the commission of the offense or act constituting the ground for legal separation;(4) Where both parties have given ground for legal separation;(5) Where there is collusion between the parties to obtain decree of legal separation; or(6) Where the action is barred by prescription.”Please note that with regard to the denial of a petition for legal separation because of prescription, the law requires that an action for legal separation must be filed within five (5) years from the time of the occurrence of the cause, otherwise it will be deemed prescribed. (Article 57, Id.)As to the custody of a minor child in case a legal separation is granted, Article 63 of the Family Code states that the innocent spouse shall be the custodian of any minor children but subject to further determination by the court when deemed necessary. Therefore, should your wife prove before the court that you gave cause for the grant of petition for legal separation of your marriage, the custody of your minor child will be given to her since she will be deemed as the innocent spouse.Again, we find it necessary to mention that this opinion is solely based on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. The opinion may vary when the facts are changed or elaborated.We hope that we were able to enlighten you on the matter.Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to [email protected].
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/grounds-denial-petition-legal-separation/358628/
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Imee: Robredo all wrong on Top 20 poorest provinces
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['The Manila Times']
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2018-04-11 00:03:17+00:00
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Was it a simple case of misreading an official data, or an intentional political overture against her political rivals just to score points against them?Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos on Tuesday said she thinks that it was politics that took the better of Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo, whom she chided for doing the math wrongly in a recent engagement in the United Kingdom.Marcos corrected Robredo, who portrayed several provinces as among those in the Top 20 poorest provinces in her speech at the London School of Economics last Friday.Citing a so-called recent study by Ronald Mendoza, the dean of the Ateneo School of Government, Robredo said10 provinces with the highest dynastic share in the 2016 elections have consistently ranked in the Top 20 poorest provinces since 2004.These provinces, according to the Vice President, are Maguindanao, Sulu and Lanao del Sur in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; Batangas and Rizal in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon); Pampanga, Bulacan and Nueva Ecija in Central Luzon; and Pangasinan and Ilocos Norte in Ilocos Region.She even made the conclusion that these provinces are poor because of the existence of political dynasties.But Marcos quickly pointed out that Ilocos Norte is “definitely not among the Top 20 poorest provinces” in the Philippines, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).“She [Robredo] can easily check her data with experts, especially government agencies like the National Economic and Development Authority or the [PSA] if she wants a more accurate reading on the state of poverty in the provinces,” the governor said.“For the record, Ilocos Norte has been one of the provinces with the lowest poverty incidence estimates in the past decade and was not one among the Top 20 poorest provinces, “ Marcos added.Official PSA data shows that Ilocos Norte has 13.7 percent poverty incidence estimate in 2006, 11.1 percent in 2009, 8.4 percent in 2012 and 3.3 percent in 2015.The Ilocos Norte provincial government recently said it achieved a 16.7 percent economic growth in 2013-2014 compared to the 5.72 percent regional growth and 6.13 percent on a national level.Ilocos Norte significantly decreased its unemployment rate from 37 percent in 2010 to 4.2 percent today, it added.Marcos said the province is now one of the few provinces to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving the poverty rate.Also, official records from the Ilocos Norte tourism office put at more than 1.6 million the number of local and foreign tourists who visited the province in 2015 compared to the 259,148 recorded in 2012.Marcos said Robredo already visited Ilocos Norte twice with her children in tow, “so I guess she should have observed the developments in the province and the lives of the people.”
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/imee-robredo-all-wrong-on-top-20-poorest-provinces/391726/
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CBCP appeals to Duterte to free old and sick inmates
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['William Depasupil']
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2016-11-22 20:10:59+00:00
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THE Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has again knocked on President Rodrigo Duterte’s mercy and compassion as it appeals the grant of executive clemency for some 500 old and sick prisoners at the National Bilibid Prisons in Muntilupa City (Metro Manila).Bro. Rudy Diamante, executive secretary of the CBCP-Episcopal Commisson on Prison and Pastoral Care(ECPPC), made the appeal on Tuesday in reiteration of an earlier promise by the President to release the old and sick inmates.“On our part we have been trying to look at people in the govermment whom we can talk to. We were told to talkto the President because he is the one who will ultimately decide,” Diamante said in an interview with the Church-run Radio Veritas.“Of course, he [Duterte] has made a pronouncement that he will order the release of those who are 80 years old and above and have already served 40 years in prison,” he added.Diamante pointed out though that under the law, one should not be jailed for 40 years and should be released after 30 years whether there is an executive clemency.He expressed confidence that Duterte would deliver his promise as a Christmas gift to the prisoners.Earlier, Bishop Leopoldo Tumulak, chairman of the CBCP-ECPPC, also wrote to the President in behalf of the old and sick prisoners have served and suffer long enough inside the national penitentiary.“Therefore, we would like to appeal to His Excellency to grant their plea for executive clemency,” the prelate said.The Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) has recommended the release of hundreds of inmates, many of them with ages ranging from 75 to 90 in seven national prisons under the Bureau of Corrections.Senate Minority Floor Leader Ralph Recto has also filed a resolution in support of the CBCP’s position, saying that freeing the sick and aged prisoners is one way also to decongest the overcrowded jails in the country.Recto said former President Benigno Aquino 3rd had exercised his power to grant executive clemency 67 times during his six-year term, and Duterte can easily surpass it by using his pardon power.Two government agencies are in charge of prisoners–the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, which is under the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Bureau of Corrections, which is under the Department of Justice.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/cbcp-appeals-duterte-free-old-sick-inmates-2/297828/
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P2,000 SSS pension hike up to Congress –fund official
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['Nelson Badilla']
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2016-12-15 21:53:51+00:00
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The P2,000 across-the-board increase in Social Security System (SSS) pensioners’ benefits will not be released by January if Congress fails to approve its resolution by Christmas break.According to Dean Amado Valdez, Social Security Commission (SSC) chairman, the two chambers of Congress should approve their joint resolution first on the pension increase so that it can be submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte for his final approval before the SSS releases the pension increase of elderly fund members.Under the joint resolution, Congress is directing the SSS to give an additional P2,000 to the existing P1,200 to P2,400 monthly benefits of the SSS pensioners.The P2,000 increase will be given in two schedules–first P1,000 will be in January next year and the remaining P1,000 on or before 2022.Thus, Valdez is strongly urging the leadership of the two chambers to act on the matter before Christmas Day.Valdez, dean of the College of Law of the University of the East before becoming SSC chairman, noted that the joint resolution and Duterte’s approval are both needed before SSC can act on it.He said “the SSS is also guided by the Department of Finance in ensuring that the implementation of the proposed pension increase will not drive the fund to the brink of bankruptcy. We are wary of possible criticisms for our support for the pension increase, and we don’t want to be seen as irresponsible.”He said Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd is keen on ensuring that SSS funds would last at least until 2039.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/p2000-sss-pension-hike-congress-fund-official/301912/
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PH reopens consulate in Houston, Texas
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['Bernadette E. Tamayo']
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2018-09-22 00:04:41+00:00
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After 25 years, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is reopening the Philippine Consulate General in Houston on September 24, Monday, to serve the growing consular needs of the Filipino community in the south central United States.The Consulate General, which was closed in September 1993, is expected to serve some 179,000 Filipinos in the states under its jurisdiction, namely, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.“The reopening of our Consulate General in Houston is consistent with the priorities laid down by President [Rodrigo] Duterte for us to bring our services closer to Filipinos overseas,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said.“Through our Consulate General, we will endeavor to serve all Filipinos living on this side of the United States,” Cayetano said.Consul General Jerrill Santos said the reopening of the Consulate General was in response to the growing needs of Filipinos in south central US and the strong clamor of the Filipino community there.Upon its reopening, the Consulate General will offer civil registry services such as reports of birth, marriage and death; notarial services; affidavits certification; issuance of travel documents; and fingerprinting for National Bureau of Investigation clearances.Passport processing, visas, authentication services and dual citizenship services will also be made available in the coming days.The Consulate General will also provide assistance to distressed Filipino nationals, promote Philippine culture and strengthen economic ties between the Philippines and the south-central US.The Consulate General is temporarily housed in 9990 Richmond Avenue, Suite 270N, Houston, Texas, and will move into Suite 100N in the same building by the end of 2018.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/ph-reopens-consulate-in-houston-texas/443764/
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First storm of the year threatens Surigao
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['Dempsey Reyes']
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2017-01-07 21:50:01+00:00
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A low pressure area spotted east of Mindanao has developed into a tropical depression named Auring, the first storm to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) this year.According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), “Auring” will make landfall over the Surigao provinces between Sunday evening and early Monday morning.The storm will bring moderate to heavy rainfall within a 300 kilometer rain band.As of 5 p.m. yesterday, the center of “Auring” was spotted 185 km east southeast of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur. The storm had maximum sustained winds of up to 55 kilometers per hour (kph) and gustiness of up to 70 kph. It was moving west northwest at 7 kph.Cloudy skies with moderate to occasionally heavy rains and isolated thunderstorms are expected over the regions of CARAGA, Davao and SOCCKSARGEN. Residents in these areas were urged to prepare for possible flash floods and landslides.The weather bureau raised the tropical cyclone warning signal number 1 over Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Islands.Pagasa warned residents of the said areas to watch out for flash floods and landslides.Pagasa also advised fisherfolk and those with small seacraft not to venture out over the eastern seaboard of Mindanao.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/first-storm-year-threatens-surigao/305703/
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Poor kids at risk if 4Ps is abolished—think tank
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['Mayvelin U. Caraballo']
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2017-01-15 21:10:54+00:00
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The Conditional Cash Transfer Program (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps) is a smart populist program and its abolition or scaling down could damage the gains achieved especially on the welfare of poor children, according to state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).But this does not mean there is no room for improvement, it pointed out.In a discussion paper, PIDS said despite criticisms that the program promotes the culture of mendicancy and dependence, the 4Ps has become a highly popular and well-regarded program with international partners like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, which consider the Pantawid as one of the best conditional cash transfer programs in the world.The administration of then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo developed 4Ps and tried it as a pilot project in a few locations in 2008.Recognizing its potential, then-President Benigno Aquino 3rd started a massive expansion of the program in 2010, along with a series of measures strengthening its governance and management.The objective of the program is to immediately ease poor families’ pain of deprivation and simultaneously enable and motivate them to raise the education, health and nutrition status of their children.With increased human capital, these children would supposedly have a better chance of escaping poverty in the long run.“With this objective in mind, the government designed Pantawid Pamilya to assist the poor by providing them conditional cash transfers (CCTs). Unlike conventional social assistance, those grants are provided in exchange for certain actions [called ‘conditionalities’] that beneficiaries must comply with,” PIDS said.Starting with 284,000 in 2008, beneficiary households reached 4.1 million by 2015.In terms of population, the number of beneficiaries rose from 662,000 children 0-18 years old in 2008 to 10.2 million in 2015.Today, the program covers 79 percent of poor households whose income is less than the amount needed for basic necessities, PIDS noted.PIDS said its impact evaluations showed that the Pantawid has kept children in school; decreased the time spent on paid work for children although it has not significantly decreased the incidence of child labor; improved access to essential health services even though its higher-level impact is mixed perhaps because of supply side issues; increased household expenditure on education as well as expenditure on clothing; shown that adult members of the Pantawid households are as industrious as their non-Pantawid counterparts as indicated by all aspects of the labor market outcomes from labor force participation, employment, hours of work and looking for work when unemployed; and decreased conflict incidents.“Overall, the evaluations have shown that the poor, like anybody else, are rational on the use of their money. They respond to incentives such as giving importance to socially desirable expenditures like education and health promoted by Pantawid which are known to be of little current importance to them because the prospective benefits are too far in the future,” it added.“Indeed, Pantawid Pamilya is a smart populist program unlike other anti-poverty programs. It helps the poor with their urgent needs, while creating a more hopeful future for their children,” PIDS said.This alternative future, according to the think tank, is being created by helping the children of the poor develop greater capacity to eventually earn income through increased years of education.In addition, the program paves the way for the poor children’s development in terms of mental capacity and other physical abilities, qualities associated with good health and nutrition, PIDS said.This implies that the program supports interventions that would likely reduce the transmission of poverty from parents to children, the think tank added.“Therefore, the abolition or the scaling down of Pantawid would probably have damaging unintended consequences on the present and future welfare of poor children,” it said.PIDS added that such policy decision would arguably reduce beneficiary children’s opportunities for gainful jobs as well as their chances of moving out of poverty, when they become adults.Improvement neededNevertheless, despite advances in social assistance, the 2015 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) showed that there remains a considerable gap between the average household income of the poor and the poverty threshold.“The gap is estimated to be 135.6 billion pesos in 2015. This is the amount of transfer needed annually to bring the income of all poor households to the level of the poverty threshold,” it added.Despite large increases in Pantawid budget, therefore, the financial challenge of helping the poor close the gap between their income and the poverty line remains substantial, PIDS said.“Moving forward, there are important issues that need to be addressed to maintain and enhance the impact of Pantawid on the welfare of the poor,” it added.Therefore, PIDS said the three important issues needed to be addressed were: the mixed findings regarding the impact of the program on outcome indicators; the desirability of raising the amount of grants provided; and the need to adjust the program conditionalities.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/poor-kids-risk-4ps-abolished-think-tank/307111/
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Ex-PBA players used in spying
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['William Depasupil']
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2017-08-04 21:54:33+00:00
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AMONG other functions, some of the former Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) players hired by the Bureau of Customs (BoC) were performing intelligence work that effectively helped the bureau in law enforcement.“Why are EJ [Edward Joseph] Feihl and some of the PBA players in the intelligence [service]? They do not know anything about intelligence. That is precisely why they are there. Why? Because nobody expects them to be gathering information for the bureau,” Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon said in a media briefing on Friday.“So they are the most effective information gatherer because no one expects them to be there,” he added.Faeldon pointed out though that the ex-PBA players were no longer effective today because their cover has been exposed.Based on Customs Special Order (CSO) 58-2016, there are a total of 27 athletes hired by the bureau under its so-called Personnel Development Program with salary ranging from P20,000 to P45,000.Of the total number, six of them are assigned to the intelligence group. They are Feihl, Segundo dela Cruz, Ed Bundoc, Mark Mabazza, Rizal Vonn Ignacio and Samuel Ignacio.Aside from their covert function as data and intelligence gatherers, Faeldon said the ex-PBA players also serve as “ambassadors of goodwill” because they are very effective in telling the people about reforms in the bureau.Faeldon noted that because of the bad image of the BoC, not even a true-blooded Customs employee who knows everything about the bureau can convince people to listen to them talking about reforms.“I believe that every reform we will institute in the bureau will never succeed unless the people themselves support it. We need to bring effective communicators, so I called on the [ex-PBA] players like Kenneth Duremdes and Marlou Aquino who have millions of Filipino followers because Filipinos love basketball,” he said.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/ex-pba-players-used-spying/342431/
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Cabinet team to help kidnapped Pinoys in Libya
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['Catherine S. Valente']
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2018-08-08 00:05:13+00:00
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President Rodrigo Duterte will send a team composed of Cabinet members instead of warships to secure the release of two Filipino workers kidnapped by an armed group in Libya, his spokesman said on Tuesday.Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said Duterte formed a high-level task force led by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano to work with the Libyan government in dealing with the hostage crisis there.“We have formed a high-level, all Cabinet-member team to deal with the Libyan government and help in the effort to recover two of our countrymen who were kidnapped together with a South Korean national,” Roque said in a press conference.The team includes Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd, Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers concerns Abdullah Mamao and Mindanao Development Authority Secretary Datu Abul Khayr Alonto.Duterte earlier said he was considering deploying one or two Philippine Navy frigates to Libya to secure the release of the abducted Filipinos.Roque said Duterte deemed it more prudent to deploy a government task force to handle the hostage situation.“The problem that complicates this latest case of kidnapping is that the kidnappers are not state agents of Libya.They are militias who are engaged in an armed conflict also with the Libyan government. That is why it was deemed more prudent to work with the Libyan government to see what the demands are,” Roque said.The Filipino engineers and a South Korean were abducted during an attack on a water project site in western Libya on July 6.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/cabinet-team-to-help-kidnapped-pinoys-in-libya/427718/
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Deployment of OFWs to Saudi slows down
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['William Depasupil']
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2018-10-29 00:05:59+00:00
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The deployment of Filipino workers to Saudi Arabia had slowed down but that country remains the top destination of migrant Filipino workers, records from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed.In 2017, total deployment to Saudi Arabia reached 417,411, nine percent lower than the 2016 figure of 460,121. It is projected to further decrease to 10% this year following a slow down in hiring in the construction and services sector, and also because of the “Saudization” program that gives employment priority to Saudi nationals.However, the kingdom continues to be the largest market for Filipinos despite the decline in deployment.Figures showed that about one in every four Filipinos deployed abroad or 23.8% worked in Saudi Arabia. The other preferred destinations were United Arab Emirates (15.9%), Europe (6.6%), Kuwait (6.4%), Qatar (6.2%), Hong Kong (5.6%), Singapore (5.6%), other countries in Asia (21.5%), North and South America (5.6%), Europe (6.6%), Australia (1.4%), Africa (1.4%), other countries (0.03%).Recruitment and migration expert Emmanuel Geslani said Saudi Arabia is embarking on 10 major projects worth $1 trillion to be implemented from 2018 to 2030.The projects, he said, include the construction of new cities, expansion of the Grand Mosque, construction of one of the largest malls in the world, medical centers and security compound of the royalty, which will all need the expertise of Filipino workers who may be hired by International contractors from the United States, Korea and France.Saudi Arabia continues to hire Filipino nurses and medical staff. Skilled labor like maintenance personnel are also in demand.POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia on Sunday said the POEA is now accepting applicants for 1,000 female specialist nurses in all areas for the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia under the two countries’ government to government hiring program.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/deployment-of-ofws-to-saudi-slows-down/458772/
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Would the old pols let Bato jump the line?
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['Kwak Kwak Kwak', 'Rey David', 'Lucas Temoteo', 'Berdugo Katapang', 'Sam Nicolas', 'Myca Delos Santos', 'Michael Timbreza', 'Trisha Hipolito', 'Felipe Soriano']
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15/11/2017 0:00
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Last column I said Police Director-General Ronald dela Rosa would have a hard time becoming president even if he had a strong backer in the person of, ahem, President Duterte.In an unexpected outburst recently, he said he would grant pay and pension increases to cops “when I become president.”But how would he accomplish that? Maybe he has in mind the magnetic pull of Mr. Duterte to catapult him into the highest office.Duterte right now can get anyone elected if he really wanted to. He’s currently at the height of his power, he can do practically anything he likes. He’s at the same pinnacle of power that enabled the Roman Emperor Caligula to appoint his horse a consul.Which is not to say that Dela Rosa is a horse but to illustrate how power at its rawest and peak can be strange and grotesque.Yes, that powerful. But would Duterte do it? He may want to, come 2022, but it may not be so easy.First, would Duterte be still as powerful in 2022 as he is today? For all we know he would be a lame duck president by then.And, here’s the more critical factor: Would the old-time politicians allow Dela Rosa to run in 2022 and give up their own chance to run?Would Bongbong Marcos and his family let someone who came from nowhere and who has no political pedigree become president ahead of the Marcos heir?Would Richard Gordon allow Dela Rosa? Gordon has been “anointed” by Mr. Duterte as the next president and he wouldn’t let that opportunity pass. No individual would let an endorsement like that pass, no matter how seriously or unseriously it was made.Would Manny Pacquiao let Dela Rosa cut in on the line to the presidency ahead of him even though he thinks he’s more popular than Dela Rosa?So many others are aspiring and waiting in the wings. Alan Peter Cayetano, Koko Pimentel, Francis Escudero, Grace Poe, Pantaleon Alvarez, Rodolfo Farinas and others.A non-traditional politician like Dela Rosa will have a chance in 2022 depending on the dynamics at play at that time and the status of then retiring President Duterte, assuming things will turn out normally or no deaths occur along the way.But the politicians will always be in the way. They will not give up the chance so easily.Who will back up the politicians? Why, the power elite, of course, whatever may be its composition by then.If the politicians wouldn’t allow themselves out of the equation, would the elite be too far behind? The rich and powerful who let the traditional politicians feed off their hands will always be there to pick and choose their candidates.As long as the politicians and the elite are there to conspire, outsiders will have a hard time getting through the gauntlet. Unless they’re willing to play the game and be the elite’s servants and enforcers.So, when Bato dela Rosa promised policemen pay or pension increases “when I’m president,” no doubt a lot of politicians said under their breath: “No so fast, Bato.”***Tantrum Ergo. Sidewalks have long ago disappeared from our streets. It’s because we’re natural land-grabbers. We encroach and “steal” the sidewalk in front of our houses or establishments and force pedestrians to walk in the street or road and there mix it up with all kinds of vehicles and put life and limb in jeopardy.
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Manila Bulletin
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https://news.mb.com.ph/2017/11/15/would-the-old-pols-let-bato-jump-the-line/
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Govt auctions rice import permits for Zambasulta
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['Eireene Jairee Gomez']
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2018-09-22 00:02:25+00:00
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The government has awarded to 21 suppliers the rights to import 100,000 metric tons (MT) of rice meant to augment supply of the staple in the Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi or Zambasulta area, the National Food Authority (NFA) announced on Friday.This follows the successful auction conducted by policymaking body NFA Council and the Land Bank of the Philippines on Thursday at the bank’s head office in Malate, Manila.Due to very limited supply, rice prices in Zamboanga City and Basilan reached as high as P70 per kilo while Tawi-Tawi reached as high as P100 per kilo last month. To arrest the high prices of commercial rice in these areas, the government has approved the immediate importation under the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) scheme for crop year 2017-2018.According to NFA, the rice imports will arrive on October 1 to November 30 this year.“This is seen to boost the supply of rice in the area and complement ongoing rice distribution operations of the NFA,” the agency said in a statement.Based on the NFA’s Terms of Reference (TOR),winners of the auction consist of three private companies for the supply of 20,000 MT and 18 farmer cooperatives for 80,000 MT.The auction committee was led by the Bureau of the Treasury, with members from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).Zamboanga City port has been designated as the sole discharge port for the total imported volume, as indicated in the amended guidelines issued by the NFA Council on September 5.The NFA said only non-winning bidders in the previous auction held last June 25 would be allowed to participate in the importation.Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol earlier said the 100,000 MT rice “could be enough to supply the needs of the region.”
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/govt-auctions-rice-import-permits-for-zambasulta/443760/
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DENR says waste-to-energy viable solution to garbage problem
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['Elmer B. Sambo']
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23/08/2017 0:00
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RuizThe Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has cited waste-to-energy (WTE) technology as a viable solution to the worsening garbage problem in the country, particularly in the metropolis.DENR Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs Jonas Leones said WTE was a “smart alternative” to the traditional sanitary landfill, which is the waste disposal method allowed under Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.“Our landfills can only hold so much trash. We need to look for other ways to dispose of our garbage and WTE is a smart alternative with less environmental impact,” Leones said.Earlier, DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu met with board members of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), an umbrella organization of elected government officials from provincial down to the barangay levels, where he sought their commitment to prioritize solid waste management in their respective localities because of the increasing volume of garbage being generated throughout the country.“Local government units (LGUs) are duty-bound to comply with the existing law on solid waste management,” Cimatu said.“The law provides that the primary responsibility in the implementation of waste segregation and disposal at source is lodged with the LGUs,” he added.According to Leones, WTE was more environment-friendly than sanitary landfills.He noted that when waste sits in landfills, it leaks methane and other greenhouse gases that are harmful to the environment and human health.“On the other hand, there are WTE technologies that use biogas or enzymes to convert waste into useful energy,” Leones pointed out.“With these technologies, we will be able to reduce the need for landfill disposal,” he added.
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Manila Bulletin
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https://news.mb.com.ph/2017/08/23/denr-says-waste-to-energy-viable-solution-to-garbage-problem/
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Oil firms jack up gas, diesel prices anew
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['Aberon Voltaire Palaña']
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2017-07-10 19:52:38+00:00
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Motorists will have to pay more for diesel and gasoline as oil companies implemented a hefty price increase effective Tuesday, July 11.In separate advisories, Pilipinas Shell, Seaoil, Eastern Petroleum, Phoenix Petroleum, and Flying V announced that they will raise the price of diesel by P1.20 and gasoline by 70 centavos per liter.The price adjustment will take effect at 6 a.m. Flying V will impose the price hike at 12 midnight.Pilipinas Shell, Seaoil, and Flying V said they will increase the price of kerosene by 90 centavos per liter.Last week, oil companies raised the prices of diesel by 70 centavos and gasoline by 30 centavos per liter. The price of kerosene went up by 55 centavos per liter.Other oil companies like Petron, Caltex, Unioil, PTT Philippines, Total, and Jetti are also expected to adjust their pump prices.“This is due to the increase in demand by the US due to the driving season, and China and the devaluation of the peso,” Melita Obillo, officer-in-charge of the Department of Energy’s Oil Industry Management Bureau (OIMB), told The Manila Times in a text message.VOLTAIRE PALAÑA
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/oil-firms-jack-gas-diesel-prices-anew/337649/
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Customs bureau needs 2,000 employees
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['William Depasupil']
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2016-12-07 22:22:14+00:00
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THE Bureau of Customs (BoC) is hiring new employees to fill up the more than 2,000 positions that were left vacant for years as a result of the past administrations’ rationalization policies and freeze on hiring.The BOC spokesman, retired colonel Neil Anthony Estrella, disclosed on Wednesday that an initial 1,366 vacant positions in the Customs central office and various collection districts across the country are open to interested applicants.“We have the money [to fund the hiring of new employees or promotion of current employees],” Estrella told The Manila Times, saying that hiring of additional people is needed because of lack of manpower, particularly in offices performing important functions.Aside from the hiring freeze implemented at the start of the past Aquino administration, there are other factors that contribute to the decimation of almost half of the original workforce of the Customs bureau. These are Executive Order (EO) 366, Republic Act (RA) 9335 or the Lateral Attrition Law and lifestyle check on Customs officials and employees.EO 366, signed by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2004, aimed to rationalize the bureaucracy by removing 30 percent of the 1.5 million government workforce.RA 9335 lays out penalties and rewards against officials and employees of the BOC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Under the measure, employees and officials may be terminated by a revenue performance evaluation board if he or she is proven to have committed negligence in his or her duty that caused the government to miss its revenue targets.The lifestyle check was first implemented in 2005. It led to the dismissal from service of a number of officials and rank-and-file employees.At present, Estrella said, the BOC has only more than 3,000 employees servicing the public in 17 collection districts nationwide from a high of almost 7,000 in previous years.Estrella pointed out that the BOC as “ guardian of our borders” needs necessary personnel to cover and effectively carry out its mandate.Open for hiring are 18 positions in the bureau’s Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group (AOCG), Enforcement Group (EG), 313; Internal Assessment Group (IAG), 10, Intelligence Group (IG), 64; Management Informational and System Technology Group (MISTG),7; Revenue Collection Monitoring Group (RCMG), 20; Manila International Container Port (MICP), 100; Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), 225; Port of Aparri, 6; Port of Batangas, 26; Port of Cebu, 31; Port of Cagayan de Oro, 36;Port of Clark, 11; Port of Davao, 41; Port of Iloilo, 12; Port of Legazpi, 24; Port of Limay 23; Port of Manila, 301; Port of San Fernando, 13; Port of Subic, 8; Port of Surigao, 29; Port of Tacloban, 18; and Port of Zamboanga, 38.Qualified next-in-rank BOC employees are automatically included in the selection line-up as candidates for promotion with their mother unit.Others who may apply are Customs employees who are not next in rank or those who wish to apply for promotion or change of item number to a position outside of their mother organizational unit, as well as new graduates or non-BOC personnel.Not qualified to apply are government employees who are due for compulsory retirement on or before June 2017 and new applicants with relative/s within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity who is/are currently employed in the Customs bureau.Deadline of submission of documentary requirement is December 12, 2016. All applications received beyond the deadline will no longer be processed.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/customs-bureau-needs-2000-employees/300531/
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Toll increases baseless, questionable – lawmaker
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['Ralph Villanueva']
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2017-10-25 21:17:11+00:00
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A LAWMAKER has slammed the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) for the provisional toll increases recently granted to toll operators of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and Star, describing them as “baseless” and “questionable.”Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate in a statement on Wednesday said the toll hikes are just a way for the toll operators to make more money at the expense of the public.“We believe that there is no basis for such proposed hikes. In the last four years, these expressway companies have been earning P2.3 billion to P2.99 billion in income. These companies are hardly at the losing end of the deal, they just want to rake in more profits,” Zarate added.He pointed out that planned implementation of the toll increases on November 6 was hastily set as there have been no hearings held to discuss the matter.“These proposed hikes are very questionable because of lack of transparency. Up till now, these expressway operators are yet to give us a copy of their Supplemental Toll Operations Agreement [STOA] that we have requested since more than three years ago,” Zarate said in the statement.“The refusal of the parties involved in the STOA to disclose the contents of the said contract arouses suspicions of over-collection and over-compensation in favor of these companies,” he added.Zarate said he is still thinking of possible moves against the toll hikes, adding that Bayan Muna may intervene before the TRB on the planned toll increases.He said a congressional probe may also be in order to look into the toll hikes.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/toll-increases-baseless-questionable-lawmaker/358630/
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Former BI execs face graft raps
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['Ma. Reina Leanne Tolentino']
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2017-01-28 21:28:14+00:00
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The Office of the Ombudsman has filed graft charges against former Bureau of Immigration (BI) Acting Commissioner Teodoro Delarmente, former Acting Associate Commissioner Roy Almoro, former Associate Commissioner Jose Cabochan, and two others for allegedly allowing a convicted foreigner to leave the country in 2005.Also charged at the Sandiganbayan were former Executive Assistant Alejandro Fernandez and former legal aide Richard Perez.Assistant Special Prosecutor II Ma. Lourdes Mendoza of the Ombudsman accused the former BI officials of giving “unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference to Vo Van Duc, a US national who was detained at the BI Detention Center, by preparing, approving and issuing Summary Deportation Order (SDO) AFF-05-043 dated May 5, 2005 despite Vo Van Duc having been convicted by the Regional Trial Court of Pasig City.”The SDO was “issued in violation of the rules and regulations on summary deportation and on the basis of an old Charge Sheet,” the prosecutor said, adding that its issuance allowed Van Duc “to leave the Philippines and effectively avoid service of his sentence.”Van Duc was reportedly convicted for violating Republic Act (RA) No. 8294 which prohibits the unlawful manufacture and possession of explosives.According to the charge sheet, he was sentenced to four years up to six years in prison for violation of Section 4 of RA No. 8494.The Ombudsman also filed graft charges against Delarmente, former Civil Security Unit Acting Chief Wendy Rosario, former Detention Center Acting Warden Noel Espinoza, and former Security Escort Marcelino Francis Agana for allegedly issuing medical passes in favor of Van Duc “without the BI physician’s recommendation for outside treatment or hospitalization” and for allegedly “allowing him to stay in an apartelle without justification and authority.”It recommended P30,000 bail for each of the respondents.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/former-bi-execs-face-graft-raps/309394/
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Duterte order awaited to resolve SBMA row
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['Llanesca T. Panti']
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2017-06-08 21:14:28+00:00
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President Rodrigo Duterte will issue an executive order addressing a leadership dispute in the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority between SBMA Chairman Martin Diño and SBMA Administrator Wilma Eisma, a Palace official said on Thursday.Lawyer Eulogio Sabban, representative of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, made the disclosure during a congressional inquiry in connection with conflicting provisions of Executive Order 340, which was issued during the time of then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and signed by then-Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, and the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992.Arroyo’s EO designates an SBMA chairman and an SBMA administrator, while the existing law provides that the SBMA chairman is also the SBMA administrator.“[I am tasked to] give information and assurance that a draft executive order is for presentation to the President. But I am not privy and not in the position to divulge the details of the draft EO pending approval of the President,” Sabban told lawmakers.Diño, who first filed a certificate of candidacy for President in the May 2016 elections but was eventually replaced by then-Davao City Mayor Duterte, has refused to recognize the appointment of Eisma.Last week, he issued Administrative Order (AO) 01-2017, which created a task force under his office to “inspect, monitor and faithfully implement the laws in the conduct of business and financial operations and collections” of the SBMA.But when he faced lawmakers, Diño agreed to shelve this AO and let President Duterte intervene instead.“This is up to the President. I am here because the President wanted me here, wanted me to make SBMA thrive, so the decision is [for] him [to make],” he told reporters when asked if he feels confident about retaining his post.Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez of Davao del Norte has requested that subpoenas be issued to Medialdea and former Executive Secretary Romulo for the two to shed light on the matter.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/duterte-order-awaited-resolve-sbma-row/331635/
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72 private armed groups based in ARMM
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['Roy Narra']
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2018-10-11 00:05:15+00:00
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Out of the 77 private armed groups being monitored, 72 are based in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), according to the Philippine National Police. The others are in Masbate and Abra. Chief Supt. Benigno Durana Jr., PNP spokesman, said the 77 armed groups have 2,060 members and 1,574 firearms. He added that there are 166 “potential” private armed groups with 2,028 members and more than 1,000 firearms. These “potential” private armed groups are usually inactive but appear during the “market season” which could be during elections. Durana said the PNP deployed Special Action Force members in election hotspots to preempt activities of private armed groups.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/72-private-armed-groups-based-in-armm/450521/
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Duterte: Only PDEA can conduct anti-drug ops
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['Llanesca T. Panti']
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2017-10-11 20:12:27+00:00
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President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to exclusively conduct anti-illegal drug operations.In a memorandum dated October 10 and released on Wednesday, the President noted that all information received by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines, Bureau of Customs, Philippine Postal Office and all other agencies or any and all ad hoc anti-drug task forces should be relayed, delivered or brought to the attention of the PDEA for its appropriate action–all in accordance with the implementation of Republic Act (RA) 9165 or Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Law.The PNP spokesman, Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos, reacting to the President’s order, also on Wednesday said they would not object to the police organization playing a secondary role in the war on drugs.“We will follow the order of the Chief Executive and Commander-in-Chief,” a text message from Carlos read.The PNP-Drug Enforcement Group (PNP-DEG) conceded that the order of the President made its police division only secondary in the battle against outlawed drugs.“As of now, we are on standby for [PNP chief Ronald de la Rosa’s] guidance. Rest assured, we will abide, submit, support and follow the directive of [the President] to the letter,” PNP-DEG chief and Senior Supt. Graciano Mijares said also in a text message to The Manila Times.The President’s memorandum said, “I hereby direct the NBI, PNP, Armed Forces, Bureau of Customs, Philippine Postal Office and all other agencies or any ad hoc anti-drug ask force, to leave to the PDEA the conduct of all campaigns and operations against all those who, directly and indirectly, and in whatever manner or capacity, are involved in or connected with illegal drugs pursuant to RA 9165 and bring order in the campaign against illegal drugs, thus pinpointing precise accountability.”The Commander-in-Chief noted that the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Law already states that while it does not decimate the investigative powers of the NBI and the PNP on all crimes provided for in their respective organic laws, the PDEA should be the lead agency when the investigation being conducted by the NBI, PNP or any ad hoc anti-drug task force is found in violation of RA 9165.‘Deterrent’“The PNP should, at all times, maintain police visibility as a deterrent to illegal drug activities, leaving to the PDEA, however, the conduct of anti-illegal drug operations,” he said.Prior to the issuance of the memorandum, the PNP was implementing an anti-drug operation dubbed as Oplan: Double Barrel, which has two parts: going after high-value targets or big-time drug dealers and Oplan: Tokhang wherein policemen knock on doors of houses of suspected drug dependents.The PDEA’s powers as provided by the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Law include: carrying out a national anti-drug campaign program such as drug law enforcement as well as control and prevention campaign with the assistance of concerned government agencies; administering oath and issuing subpoena and subpoena duces tecum relative to the conduct of investigation involving violations of RA 9165; arresting and apprehending as well as searching all violators; and seizing or confiscating effects or proceeds of the crimes as provided by law and taking custody of the effects or proceeds.The President’s memorandum was issued a week after a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that seven out of 10 Filipinos (73 percent) fear that they themselves or someone they know could get killed in the police’s anti-drug operations.The SWS’ second quarter survey, conducted on June 23 to 26, also showed that 41 percent of the 73 percent are very worried while the remaining 32 percent are somewhat worried.Also, 90 percent of those surveyed said suspected drug dependents should be captured alive.Of the 90 percent, 68 percent thought having suspects alive is very important, while 22 percent said it is somewhat important.The highest percentage of surveyed adults who want drug suspects captured alive is in Metro Manila at 95 percent, followed by Balanced Luzon and Visayas, both at 90 percent.The percentage in Mindanao–where President Rodrigo Duterte is from–is slightly lower than the rest at 86 percent.The second quarter poll, a non-commissioned survey, was conducted before the death of three teenagers–Kian de los Santos, Carl Arnaiz and Reynaldo de los Santos–last August.They were all allegedly killed in anti-drug operations conducted by the Caloocan City police.The teenagers belonged to the 7,000 to 13,000 drug suspects who died in the past year amid the government’s brutal war on drugs based on accounts of human rights groups.WITH REPORT FROM RAMON CARBONELL JR.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/duterte-pdea-can-conduct-anti-drug-ops/355958/
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Lawmakers seek to oust each other
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['Llanesca T. Panti']
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2016-12-12 21:47:41+00:00
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Kabayan party-list lawmakers Harry Roque and Ron Salo called for each other’s ouster from Congress on Monday after exchanging allegations of dishonorable behavior over Roque’s apparent inappropriate questioning of Ronnie Dayan and Salo’s pending estafa case in connection with a P3.5-billion license plate deal.In a statement, Kabayan’s spiritual adviser Cesar Pabuayon on Monday said the Kabayan party-list is gravely concerned with Roque’s manners during the November 24 hearing where Roque asked Dayan–who is married–if he ever took advantage of then Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s frailties as a woman during their romantic relationship.“Instead of focusing on the subjects’ alleged links to the illegal drug trade, the focus has been on the salacious details of the love affair between Dayan and de Lima. We can ignore the actuations of other lawmakers, but we cannot tolerate the same from the one who represents us,” Pabuayon added.“Roque’s indecency has extremely affected the party-list, which prides itself of a principled advocacy for equality and respect for the dignity of people. We will recommend to the board that penalties should be meted to Roque, including his possible removal as Kabayan party-list representative,” he said.“[Roque’s] behavior in the House of Representatives has gravely tainted the reputation of Kabayan party-list,” Salo added.Roque, however, countered that it is Salo and Kabayan’s third nominee, Ciriaco Calalang, who are tainted because the court has already found probable cause to charge them with estafa for falsification of public documents in connection with the anomalous P3.- billion Motor Vehicle License Plate Standardization Program of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) during the Aquino administration.He said his pending bills, which include Universal Health Care and increasing government support for the National Housing Authority, make it clear that it is Salo who does not deserve to be in Congress’ halls.“You can look at my record here in Congress. I have stood for my party’s advocacies. What I asked Dayan during the investigation was relevant because it is Senator de Lima herself who said that it was because of the frailties of a woman that she had an affair with Dayan,” Roque added.“If the people and my colleagues find it unethical, then I will step down from my post. But I challenge Ron Salo.If there is anyone who should be investigated by Kabayan and booted out of the party-list, it should be Rep. Salo himself who is already facing charges in court for estafa through falsification of documents,” he said.Roque then cited that Salo has no idea on what he is doing, considering that existing law provides that a sitting lawmaker can only be unseated in the event of death, resignation or expulsion stemming from a decision of the ethics committee.“He was my student [in University of the Philippines law school] and it only shows that he is not a good student and he is not bright. I don’t understand why he is on a warpath when he is the one involved in the anomalous deal. He should be the one who should be ashamed,” the lawmaker, a former professor at the UP College of Law, pointed out.“Actually, I feel ashamed that I gave him a passing grade,” Roque said.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/lawmakers-seek-oust/301367/
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Customs chief orders tight watch on imported firecrackers
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['William Depasupil']
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2016-12-16 21:14:04+00:00
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Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon has ordered agency officials and personnel to keep a tight watch on the entry of illegal “finished” firecrackers, fireworks, and other pyrotechnic devices as the country prepares for the Christmas and New Year celebrations.Faeldon issued a memorandum reminding Bureau of Customs (BoC) personnel of the prohibition as stated in Republic Act No. 7183 or An Act Regulating the Sale, Manufacture, Distribution and Use of Firecrackers and Other Pyrotechnic Devices.Under the law, only the importation of chemicals and explosive ingredients used in the manufacture of firecrackers, fireworks, and other pyrotechnic devices is allowed. But such importation can only be made by a duly licensed manufacturer holding the corresponding authority to import issued by the Philippine National Police-Firearms and Explosives Office (PNP-FEO).Faeldon directed district collectors in all ports of entry, deputy commissioners, and other concerned officials and personnel of the bureau “to be more circumspect in denying entry and lodgement of finished firecrackers, fireworks, and other pyrotechnic devices in any port of entry in the country, and effect their seizure and forfeiture.”The BoC was earlier blamed for the proliferation of smuggled firecrackers being circulated and distributed locally.Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. of Negros Oriental said in a recent hearing that the customs bureau should be held accountable for smuggled firecrackers and pyrotechnic devices ahead of the holiday season.However, Faeldon said, “During my term, I have not upheld the release of any firecrackers. Give us the details of this, and I am willing to investigate.”WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/customs-chief-orders-tight-watch-imported-firecrackers-2/302185/
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Palace not keen on MCC grant
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['The Manila Times']
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2017-08-20 21:01:35+00:00
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The Duterte administration is not keen on accepting aid grants from the United States government under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a Palace official said on Sunday.Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella issued the statement in light of an announcement from the MCC that the Philippines made it to the list of candidate-countries under the low income category eligible to receive assistance for 2018.“We acknowledge and welcome the decision of the United States Millennium Challenge Corp. [MCC] to extend assistance to the Philippines after the first grant ended in May 2016. While we are happy with this new development, our economic managers would study the conditions set by the MCC if these are aligned with the President’s priority agenda,” Abella said.He added that being a candidate for the MCC grant speaks well of the government.“This is a recognition of the efforts of the Duterte administration, through its 10-point socio-economic agenda, to continue and maintain macroeconomic policies while investing in human capital development in health and educational systems and improving social protection programs to protect the poor,” Abella said.The 10-point socio-economic agenda of the Duterte administration include: instituting progressive tax reform and more effective tax collection, indexing taxes to inflation; increasing competitiveness and the ease of doing business; ensuring security of land tenure to encourage investments; improving social protection programs, including the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer program, to protect the poor; and strengthening the implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law to enable couples to make informed choices on financial and family planning.LLANESCA T. PANTI
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/palace-not-keen-mcc-grant/345735/
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VP Leni a mother, first and foremost
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['D P', 'Cecilia Sy', 'Ugly Whites']
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13/05/2017 0:00
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As the entire nation commemorates Mother’s Day and pays tribute to mothers, Vice President Ma. Leonor ‘Leni’ G. Robredo, a mother of three, recounts the enduring joys and challenges of being a mother to her children and attending to her duties as the second highest elected official of the land.Robredo bared that she continues to sleep with her daughters in the same room at home, their private moment together after her grueling day at work.“We still sleep beside each other, holding hands, that’s why I can’t stay out too late at night. All my children still sleep with me in the same room. It’s a practice that we have been used to since Jesse was alive,” she told a recent forum in Quezon City.The widow of the late Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo said her source of happiness is her children, who still remain as her “babies” despite their age.The Vice President and Jesse have three children: Aika, 29; Tricia, 23; and Jillian, 15.SCHEDULE WOESThe 52-year-old Robredo said she tries to find time for her daughters since she was elected Vice President and feels guilty whenever she misses some of their activities.She recalled that she came late for her youngest daughter’s aquathlon competition in Subic, only seeing her during the awarding ceremony, because of a provincial trip.“Guilty all the time because for the longest time I was there with them every step of the way. And now I was not able to watch the most important competition. You know, those things,” Robredo said.The Vice President noted there was no other choice, but to “move on from one situation to another.”“It is like you can’t just be too emotional about it because your children will gather strength from you. You can’t just be weak,” the former housing chief said.‘ZEN’ MOTHERRobredo is known to her three children as ‘Zen’ mother for staying calm and strong amid the political noise and issues hurled against her.“Children are very resilient right? Once they see you are strong, they are strong. Once they see you are a drama queen, they would also be drama princesses,” the Vice President said.PROTECTIVE MOMRobredo, who was thrust into politics after her husband died in a plane crash in August, 2012, is as protective to her daughters like any other mother.The Vice President said she opts not to tell her children all her burden because she wants to spare them.She said it has been her prayer that her children will be shielded from the viciousness of the attacks.Robredo said her greatest fear is she would regret that she ran for vice president.“I would only regret it if my children are negatively affected because I am the only parent left. But so far, they’re still okay,” she said.
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Manila Bulletin
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https://news.mb.com.ph/2017/05/13/vp-leni-a-mother-first-and-foremost/
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Duterte vows OFW Bank will open soon
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['Think Dynamic']
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13/05/2017 0:00
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President Duterte announced on Saturday that the proposed OFW Bank will be opened soon, as government finalized steps to acquire the Philippine Postal Bank (PPB).Speaking before some 1,000 representatives of the OFW community here, Duterte said the bank designed to upgrade the economic condition of workers deployed abroad is nearly at hand.However, he told reporters that the proposed financial institution may not be ready by October since legislation is required before it could start operating.He explained that along with legislation, the PPB will have to be reacquired by the government in order to operate the new bank. Still, he assured: “We are acquiring it (PPB), we are now preparing the law.”Duterte also said he will push for the creation of a separate agency that will address the needs and problems of Filipino seafarers.“Pinagpapasa-pasahan sila kung saan-saan sila pumupunta (They are being pointed in different directions; ending up in different offices). I want a building all for themselves where they can get requirements from government,” he said.
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Manila Bulletin
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https://news.mb.com.ph/2017/05/13/duterte-vows-ofw-bank-will-open-soon/
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Duterte appoints 17 new judges
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['Jomar Canlas']
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2018-04-23 00:05:54+00:00
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President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed 17 new judges, including two women whose fathers are also members of the judiciary.The appointments were contained in a transmittal letter of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (on leave) dated April 19, 2018.They were processed by Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio.Fifteen of the 17 judges were appointed to Regional Trial Courts (RTCs) in Metro Manila.Appointed were Pia Cristina Bersamin-Embuscado for Las Pinas RTC Branch 198.A product of the University Santo Tomas Law School, she is the daughter of Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin.Catherine Therese Tagle-Salvador was appointed to the Malabon RTC Branch 73.A graduate of the Ateneo Law School, she is the daughter of retired Court of Appeals justice and former poll commissioner Lucenito Tagle.Two prosecutors were also appointed as judges: Misael Ladaga to Malabon RTC Branch 292 and Ma. Rowena Violago Alejandria to Caloocan RTC Branch 121.Asigned to Malabon RTC are Anna Michella Atanacio-Veluz and Josie Negros Rodil.Six appointees were assigned to Makati RTC: Redentor dela Cruz Cardenas, Augusto Jose Arreza, RosarioEster Orda-Caise, Ricardo Moldez 2nd, Giovanni Vidal and Ma. Caridad SJ Villamor-Yee.For the Manila RTC, appointed judges are Caroline Tobias, Cynara Hannah Cayton and Renato Enciso.Two municipal judges were also appointed: Rhodora Gines Arrocena to Metropolitan Trial Court in Buguey, Cagayan; and Edwina Belcina Monceda to Metropolitan Trial Circuit Court in Canlaon City, Negros Oriental.The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), which had shortlisted the appointees, is constitutionally mandated to screen and vet nominees to the President for vacant posts in the judiciary and the Offices of the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman.It is now headed by Carpio, with ex-officio members Sen. Richard Gordon, Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali and Justice Menardo Guevarra.Retired SC Justice Jose Catral-Mendoza is the head of the JBC’s Executive Committee.Other regular members of the council are lawyer Jose Mejia who represents the academe, Milagros Fernan-Cayosa the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and retired Judge Toribio Ilao the private sector.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/duterte-appoints-17-new-judges/394196/
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4 ARRESTED FOR MAKING FAKE DOCUMENTS
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['Francis Earl Cueto']
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2018-09-09 00:01:15+00:00
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FOUR persons on Recto Avenue in Manila were arrested for making fake documents such as diplomas, transcript of records, drivers’ licenses and even police ID cards. Police made the arrest on a tip on renewed proliferation of such fake documents and IDs in the area. During the operation, police saw how ID cardss and even diplomas were being made in mere minutes. A total of 17 others were also arrested but later released. Inspector Victor Cruz Lalata of the Santa Cruz police said the forged ID cards were being used for extortion and in checkpoints, among others. Charges of falsification of public documents will be filed against the four suspects, who said they just needed the money when asked why they forged documents and ID cards.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/4-arrested-for-making-fake-documents/439666/
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‘Flat tax’ rate offered to self-employed
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['Bernadette E. Tamayo']
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2017-10-30 21:44:04+00:00
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THE Senate version of the tax reform package has offered an eight percent “flat tax” for self-employed individuals and professionals to encourage them to pay the correct taxes.Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara on Monday said the Senate version of the tax reform package has made available to self-employed individuals and professionals a flat tax regime that is “simpler and easier to comply [with].”“The previous administration opted for the ‘scare and shame’ tactic but I believe a developmental approach or incentivizing them to follow tax rules would be a more effective strategy,” he added.“That’s why we introduced an eight percent flat tax for easier compliance. Let us simplify the system for our small-scale businessmen,” the senator said.Under Senate Bill 1592 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train), self-employed individuals and professionals can choose between an 8 percent flat tax on gross sales or receipts to be filed only once a year or the personal income tax rate with allowable deduction.The eight percent tax will be in lieu of the personal income tax, which is currently filed quarterly, and the percentage tax, filed monthly, according to Angara, chairman of the Senate ways and means committee.“Congress is making a distinction between the tax treatment of compensation income earners and self-employed individuals and professionals because we recognize the need to really simplify the process and make it easier for them to comply and pay correct taxes,” he said.The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) reported that self-employed and professionals contribute only 15 percent of the total income tax collection and compensation income earners 85 percent.“Income taxes of compensation income earners, like our teachers, nurses, call center agents, are automatically withheld by their employers,” Angara said.“On the other hand, self-employed and professionals, like owners of sari-sari [variety] stores and carinderias [small restaurants], and our doctors and lawyers, have to file their taxes on their own or with the help of accountants, which they can’t afford to hire most of the time,” he added.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/flat-tax-rate-offered-self-employed/359630/
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DENR, Radio Veritas partners for climate-change awareness
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['Neil Alcober']
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2017-10-13 23:34:42+00:00
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THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has partnered with Catholic Church-owned Radio Veritas in providing the public with better understanding of climate change and other environmental issues through a weekly radio program.The radio program, entitled “Ang Tinig ng Klima” and aired every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., is hosted by Radio Veritas anchor Riza Mendoza and DENR Undersecretary for Climate Change Service Analiza Rebuelta Teh.Its theme, “Nagbabago na ang Panahon, Panahon na para Magbago” draws inspiration from Laudato Si’ (On Care for Our Common Home), the encyclical letter of Pope Francis addressing man’s destruction of the environment and its threat to man’s relationship with nature and one another.“This program aims for values transformation,” Teh explained. “There is so much we need to change in our lifestyle to prevent further degradation of our environment and to address climate change.”She said people can start with waste segregation and proper waste disposal, noting that the Philippines is the third contributor of marine litter in the world, and ranks third on the list of countries most vulnerable to climate change.DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu has listed as among his priorities solid waste management, clean air and clean water.Teh said the DENR-led Cabinet Cluster on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation and Disaster Risk Reduction has prepared a road map, which identified as a primary action the need to make communities and infrastructure resilient to climate change.On its pilot episode aired last Octpber 7, the program discussed Climate Change 101 with guests Rosalina deGuzman of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) and Yzabella Nazal of World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) Youth Council.De Guzman said climate change is based on a 30-year data on temperature and rainfall monitored by Pagasa.Data from Pagasa stations all over the country shows a rise in the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall and a marked difference in temperature with more warm days and fewer cold days.“Typhoons get their strength from water bodies. When the seas are warmer, stronger typhoons are formed,” de Guzman said.Temperature rise, she added, has melted glaciers and caused sea level rise.Teh said some 822 coastal municipalities are vulnerable to sea level rise and susceptible to storm surges.Naza encouraged use of eco-bags and metal straws instead of plastic straws and called for support to sustainable tourism. “Use the social media to remind people of the need to conserve energy.”An international non-government organization with focus on environmental conservation, WWF is the organizer of the Earth Hour, an annual event held every March that seeks to conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by switching off electricity for an hour.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/denr-radio-veritas-partners-climate-change-awareness/356262/
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‘Answer CJ’s junk quo warranto plea’
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['Jomar Canlas']
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2018-03-21 00:05:05+00:00
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~The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday ordered the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to file an answer to an explanation filed by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on its quo warranto petition seeking to oust her from her position.Quo warranto is a writ or legal action requiring a person to show by what warrant an office or franchise is held, claimed or exercised.During deliberations, SC spokesman Theodore Te said the OSG was given five days from notice to file its reply.It will be the last session of the SC magistrates for the month of March before they go on Holy Week break and before the en banc holds its summer session.“The court directed the Solicitor General to submit the Republic’s reply to the respondent Chief Justice’s comment within five days from its receipt of notice,” Te said.The deadline cannot be extended.Sereno filed her 77-page comment with the SC en banc wherein she pointed out that Solicitor General Jose Calida’s petition must be dismissed “for lack of jurisdiction and merit.”In her pleading, the Chief Justice–who was forced to go on indefinite leave–said the SC has no jurisdiction to sack her from office via quo warranto because “the text of the 1987 Constitution, the Constitutional Commission’s deliberations and established jurisprudence consistently state that impeachable officials like her can be ousted ‘only by impeachment.’”She added that it is only through impeachment proceedings by which a Chief Justice can be removed from office.Sereno said the people must give her a chance to explain her side and it can only be done before the Senate sitting as an impeachment tribunal.The petition for quo warranto, according to her, was filed by the OSG more than four years after the supposed expiration of the one-year statute of proscription, citing Section 11, Rule 66 of the Rules of Court.She said the issue of lack of integrity after she allegedly failed to submit her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) when she was law professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law prior to her appointment to the High Court as associate justice in 2010 is not included in an impeachment complaint before the House of Representatives.But in its petition, the OSG said the framers of the 1987 Constitution itself have placed the “moral provision” to members of the judiciary who must “be persons of proven competence, integrity, probity and independence.”It added that Sereno does not possess the qualification of proven integrity because she violated the rules of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) with her failure to file her SALN within the 10-year mandated period.“[T]he invalidity of respondent’s appointment as Chief Justice was exposed in view of her failure to submit her SALN for several years from 1986 to 2006 when she was a professor at the UP College of Law. It was discovered that aside from her SALN for the years 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2011, which she submitted in her applications for Associate Justice and Chief Justice, respondent only filed SALN for the years 1998, 2002 and 2006 during her tenure as law professor at the UP College of Law from 1986 up to 2006. Respondent was nominated to the positions of Associate Justice and Chief Justice despite her failure to file her SALN, which were required to determine whether she passed the constitutional requirement of integrity,” the OSG said.Sereno was a faculty member of the University of the Philippines from 1986 until her resignation on June 1, 2006.As a faculty member of the state university, she was considered a public officer occupying a closed career position in the career service.Sereno nevertheless failed to regularly file her SALN in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft Law) and RA 6713 (Code of Conduct for Public Officials and Employees).She, however, she prayed before the JBC that she be considered as a private person, not as a public officer, which prayer was not granted by the JBC.The university’s Human Resources Development Office in a letter dated December 8, 2017 to the House Committee on Justice, certified that “only the SALN for December 31, 2002 can be found in the 201 file” of Sereno.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/answer-cjs-junk-quo-warranto-plea/387417/
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Court stops suspension of ERC commissioners
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['Jomar Canlas']
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2018-02-10 21:20:39+00:00
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THE Court of Appeals (CA) on Friday stopped the suspension of the four Commissioners of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) so as “not to impair public service.”In a resolution by the appellate court’s 9th Division, dated February 9, 2018, the court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Office of the Ombudsman, which suspended for a year ERC Commissioners Alfredo J. Non, Gloria Victoria C. Yap-Taruc, Josefina Patricia M. Asirit, and Geronimo D. Sta. Ana. for alleged graft.Associate Justice Mariflor Punzalan Castillo penned the decision that was also signed by Justices Danton Bueser and Henry Inting.In its ruling, the CA said that “grave and irreparable injury” may be committed if the TRO would not be issued in favor of the commissioners who were also the petitioners.Since the suspension of the four ERC commissioners last December 11, 2017, Malacañang has not named their replacements.The Ombudsman suspended the commissioners for allegedly giving due preference to the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) and its power supply agreements (PSAs) with affiliated power generation companies by extending the deadline for their compliance with the competitive selection process (CSP).The Ombudsman said the ERC commissioners were “administratively liable for conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, aggravated by simple misconduct and simple neglect of duty” based on civil service rules.It also ruled that the ERC commissioners “cannot feign ignorance” when Meralco took advantage of the resetting of the effectivity date of the CSP.Also penalized was then ERC chairman Jose Vicente Salazar, whom President Rodrigo Duterte dismissed from the service on October 2017.Non-government organization Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas filed the complaint, which stemmed from an ERC decision to reset the CSP’s effectivity date from November 6, 2015 to April 30, 2016, exempting the PSAs from public bidding as required under the CSP.The Ombudsman said the ERC commissioners exercised “gross inexcusable negligence” in delaying the CSP’s implementation since the process was put in place to make the PSA costs more reasonable.“Hence, accommodating companies’ request to be exempted from CSP was a deviation from respondents’ duty to promote public interest through the CSP requirement,” it said.The Ombudsman said it was clear that the commissioners favored Meralco.“There is sufficient evidence that respondents gave unwarranted benefits to Meralco and other companies by exempting them from the coverage of the CSP requirement, which was already in effect after 06 November 2015. The 45-day period gave Meralco and other companies the opportunity to dispense with CSP,” it said.Under the CSP, distribution utilities may execute a PSA with a generation company after complying with the requirements. The distribution utility is required to open the bidding to generation companies to ensure the least cost of electricity. The ERC is supposed to not allow distribution utilities to file applications for PSAs without complying with the CSP requirements.But the ERC extended the deadline to comply with the CSP until April 30, allegedly to accommodate Meralco, which included its two subsidiaries – Powergen Corp. (MGen) – Redondo Peninsula Energy, Inc., and Atimonan One Energy, Inc.The seven Meralco PSAs—all coal-fired power plants—are: Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc., Atimonan One Energy Inc., Central Luzon Premiere Power Corp., St Raphael Power Generation Corp., Global Luzon Energy Development Corp., Mariveles Power Generation Corp. and Panay Energy Development Corp.Environmental groups have warned that the approval of Meralco’s PSAs would harm people’s health and the environment because of the combined 3,551 megawatts of coal that would be produced by these plants.The Ombudsman also said that to dispense with the CSP requirement did not conform with the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (Epira), which aims to bring down power rates and improve delivery of supply through greater competition and efficiency in the industry.“The CSP is an acknowledged mechanism to make the cost of PSAs more reasonable. Hence, accommodating companies’ request to be exempted from CSP was a deviation from respondents’ (ERC commissioners) duty to promote public interest through the CSP requirement,” the Ombudsman said.“By not implementing the CSP requirement which favored the filing of the PSAs of Meralco, respondents tarnished the image and integrity of their public office and reneged on their duty to protect the consumers by implementing the policy of the government against anti-competitive behavior in the electricity market.”
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/court-stops-suspension-erc-commissioners/379391/
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Taguig loses Global City roadblock case
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['Jomar Canlas']
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2017-03-12 18:54:21+00:00
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~THE Court of Appeals (CA) has granted a plea filed by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) in connection with thelower court’s injunction order preventing the firm, among others, from placing roadblocks in its property located along McKinley Parkway Drive in Taguig City (Metro Manila). In its 14-page decision dated January 31, 2017 that was released to the media only recently, the CA’s 16th Division granted BCDA’s petition for certiorari as it ruled that it “found to need to discuss the other assigned errors in the absence of a right in esse of respondent City of Taguig.” The case stemmed from a petition filed by the city alleging that McKinley, which is owned by BCDA, is a major thoroughfare located in Bonifacio Global City, Barangay Fort Bonifacio. The petition claimed that BCDA and BESC (Bonifacio Estate Service Corp.) had placed mounds of earth on an unfinished portion and concrete barriers in other parts, making the property inaccessible from 11th Street, among others. The Regional Trial Court judge who ruled on the case is former judge and now Judicial and Bar Council member Toribio Ilao Jr. He granted the city’s application for a writ of preliminary injunction as he junked BCDA and BESC’s motion for reconsideration. This prompted the two agencies to seek redress with the appellate court. The BCDA claimed that the City of Taguig exercises jurisdiction over McKinley although the property is no longer part of the city by virtue of the CA’s decision holding that the area is a part of Makati City. In its decision, the appellate tribunal held that the City of Taguig “failed to show that it has clear and unmistakable right to be protected and the acts against which the writ is to be directed is violative of said right.” “Respondent City of Taguig’s supposed right in esse, which it seeks to protect, is not at all existent. Hence, no irreparable damage or injury can be engendered against it,” the CA said. The ruling was penned by Associate Justice Marie Christine Azcarraga-Jacob and concurred in by Associate Justices Ricardo Rosario and Edwin Sorongon.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/taguig-loses-global-city-roadblock-case/316841/
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Two-tier tobacco market’s ‘multiple benefits’ cited
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['The Manila Times']
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2017-01-11 23:24:11+00:00
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House Bill 4144 is beneficial to all, a proponent of the measure argued during a recent hearing of the chamber’s committee on ways and means.“It’s a misconception that HB 4144 only favors one local manufacturer,” Quirino Rep. Dakila Cua said during the hearing.“Let’s not forget that foreign tobacco companies are also players in the lower-tier market as well,” Cua added.Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza has also given his support to HB 4144, saying the wisdom in the proposed amendment lies in its “multiple benefits.”He hypothetically raised that “if we consider the sin tax on cigarettes, we could consider the same for alcoholic beverages like San Miguel Beer and all other intoxicating beverages.”“Is it possible that the taxation for premium brands like Hennessy XO be the same with local brands like Tanduay or Ginebra San Miguel, to call it a form of unitary tax?”Atienza asked.He said it would immediately kill local brands because the negligible price difference because of a unitary tax system oversimplifies the problem and develops a bias for products of the rich against products of the less-moneyed sectors of society.“It’s about time we take a more serious look at sin taxes so that while we promote the objectives of good health, we at the same time raise revenue and discourage smoking. Let us not be unfair to our local industries particularly the farmers and manufacturers,” Atienza added.A World Health Organization study on Tobacco Tax Administration indicated that a tiered tax system, be it specific or ad valorem, may be an outcome of various political economic reasons, the most common one being protecting domestic products.Atienza likened the situation to the plight of the Philippine cigar industry where the country used to be number one until a series of measures that ostensibly would have helped them otherwise killed the cigar industry, now earning substantial global revenues, but without our homegrown Filipino brands being able to compete.“The proposed amendment gives a second look at the economic situation of our farmers, and at the same time, without forfeiting the objective of discouraging smoking since higher taxes means [fewer] smokers. I therefore find logic, justice and fairness [to this measure] and we are definitely supporting it,” he said.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/two-tier-tobacco-markets-multiple-benefits-cited/306437/
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30 more days of job help in typhoon-hit areas eyed
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['The Manila Times']
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2016-10-23 21:21:23+00:00
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The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Sunday said emergency employment in areas greatly affected by super Typhoon Lawin may be extended up to 30 days.“Due to the extent of damage in the regions, particularly in Isabela and Cagayan, the emergency employment may extend up to 30 days,” DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd said.The emergency employment program in Northern Luzon was set up upon assessment that the region was the hardest hit by Lawin, a super typhoon.Under the emergency employment program, about 800 workers had been provided with 10 days of work, including clearing operations, cleaning of roads and restoring of damaged structures in the community.Beneficiaries of the program will be provided with Group Personal Accident Insurance under the Government Service Insurance System.They will also be provided with personal protective equipment such as gloves, long-sleeved shirts, rubber boots and buri hats to ensure safety at work.Meanwhile, Bello urged the Social Security System (SSS) to facilitate early release of emergency and calamity assistance to affected private-sector workers in the typhoon-ravaged areas of Northern Luzon to help them quickly recover from the devastation brought by Typhoon Lawin.In addition, he requested the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) to open a special assistance window to enable workers and their families rebuild their homes, even as he directed the regional offices of the DOLE in the typhoon-hit areas to help in facilitating SSS and Pag-IBIG assistance to the affected workers.The super typhoon destroyed crops and public infrastructure and left thousands of residents homeless as it battered the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Kalinga, Apayao and Ilocos Norte late last week.Bello said instructions had been sent to DOLE offices in Regions 1 and 2 to help in facilitating requests for assistance from the affected workers and their families.He assured that the Labor department is looking at other possible means to help families of OFWs (overseas Filipino worker) in the region who were affected by Lawin.PNA
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/30-days-job-help-typhoon-hit-areas-eyed/292749/
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Tax filing ends on high note
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['Mayvelin U. Caraballo']
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2018-04-17 00:04:04+00:00
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The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) declared the end of the filing of income tax returns (ITR) a success, saying there were shorter queues and fewer complaints from taxpayers.“The last day of filing was successful. The lines are shorter now and complaints from taxpayers have lessened,” a bureau employee told The Manila Times.The tax agency had said the April 16 deadline will not be extended. Those who file their tax returns after the deadline will be slapped with the corresponding penalties as provided for in the Tax Code.BIR Deputy Commissioner Marissa Cabreros traced the easier ITR filing to the improvement in the e-filing system.“In fact, it is open 24/7, even on a weekend. Meanwhile, for those who want the comfort of having a BIR official assist them, the filing centers are open to help them out to e-file,” Cabreros said.E-filing through the use of Electronic BIR Forms has been mandatory since 2014 for all tax returns. It was developed by the bureau to provide taxpayers with an accessible and more convenient filing system.The bureau opened the National Office eFiling Center at the National Training Center Auditorium along BIR Road in Diliman, Quezon City to help taxpayers who are mandated to file and pay using the Bureau’s Electronic Filing and Payment System and the Electronic BIR Forms during the income tax filing season.The BIR has reported a double-digit tax collection growth in March, surpassing its target for the month.The bureau said it netted P130.334 billion last month, 11.06 percent higher year on year and also exceeding the P119.630-billion collection target for the month.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/tax-filing-ends-on-high-note/393033/
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Mayors should suspend classes – DILG
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['Roy Narra']
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2018-07-19 00:02:11+00:00
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Interior Undersecretary Epimaco Densing on Wednesday rejected the proposal of local chief executives that the authority to suspend classes be returned to the Department of Education (DepEd).In a radio interview, Densing called out the mayors for escaping their duty.“The opinion of bringing back the authority to suspend classes to DepEd is very wrong. That is your responsibility and you want to give it to other [entity] in order to escape your responsibility,” he said in Filipino.DepEd Order 43, series of 2012, states that local government units (LGUs) are responsible for suspending classes if there are no storm signals yet from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).Densing urged local governments to pass ordinances and coordinate with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) to localize suspensions when there are no storm signals.“Right now, they are depending on local chief executives and some of them are lazy or waking up late to suspend the classes early,” Densing said.There have been instances when students were already in their schools before local officials announce the suspension of classes.Based on Executive Order 66, however, local chief executives have the discretion to announce class suspensions before 4:30 a.m. or before 11 a.m. if there is an inclement weather condition.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/mayors-should-suspend-classes-dilg/420918/
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House okays bill on detection of eye problems
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['Ralph Villanueva']
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2017-12-25 00:04:31+00:00
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THE House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill seeking to facilitate early detection of eye disorders and ailments among kindergarten pupils.House Bill 3222 will establish a National Vision Screening Program (NVSP) to be under the Department of Education (DepEd), which will identify early childhood visual problems and provide immediate attention to visually impaired kindergarten pupils.A Vision Screening Continuing Research Fund (VSCF) will also be created under the bill, which will be done through donations DepEd or the Department of Health (DoH).It shall be subject to existing budgeting, accounting and auditing rules and regulations.The bill also provides that donations to the NVSP and the VSCF will be exempted from tax.Deputy Speaker and Taguig City-Pateros Rep. Pia Cayetano, a principal author of the bill, said many eye problems could be resolved at an early stage through simple diagnostic examinations and non-surgical procedures.According to data from the Philippine Eye Research Institute, one in 20 pre-schoolers and one in four school-aged children have eye problems.Another 10 percent of young Filipino children have visual acuity problems, which is higher than the five to 10 percent of their counterparts in the United States and Europe.The Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology says poor vision at a young age impairs the child’s performance in school and impacts their interactions with the community.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/house-okays-bill-detection-eye-problems/370493/
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Cigarette maker rebuts fake stamps allegation
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['The Manila Times']
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2017-01-25 21:22:39+00:00
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Mighty Corporation (MC), the country’s only Filipino-owned cigarette manufacturer fighting competition against a “monopolistic” multinational tobacco company, on Thursday strongly denied it is using fake stamps in its operation.“Our operation is transparent and closely monitored by revenue authorities from sourcing of raw materials to manufacturing and withdrawals of cigarettes,” according to retired regional court judge Oscar Barrientos, MC executive vice president and spokesman.“In fact” he said in a statement, “our company’s operation is the only one monitored by close-circuit cameras required by the Bureau of Internal Revenue [BIR] and it’s also on record that MC has spearheaded the campaign all over the country against the proliferation of fake cigarettes using fake stamps.”Barrientos reacted to a headline story run by the Philippine Daily Inquirer in its January 25, 2017 issue under the byline of its reporter, Ben O. de Vera, quoting BIR Commissioner Cesar Dulay that “BIR is investigating homegrown cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corp. for allegedly using fake tax stamps on its products.”He said MC has not received any notice of investigation by the BIR and if ever there will be, “we are prepared for it as our records are always open for scrutiny by the BIR.”“We are hoping that if ever this is done, the BIR should include in its investigation not only local manufacturers but also multinational companies and their local partners who are known for importing large quantities of raw materials without paying correct taxes to the prejudice of our local farmers,” Barrientos added.“It’s on record that as early as two years ago, Mighty has coordinated with the BIR, the Bureau of Customsthe police and the National Bureau of Investigation in the seizure of fake Mighty cigarettes and other brands and the arrest and indictment of persons involved in the smuggling, manufacturing and marketing of contraband cigarettes,” he said.According to Barrientos, Mighty has been subjected to unfair publicity by its rivals after its products, known for what he described as “smooth and superior blending,” eat a large share of their market in the low-priced category once dominated by multinational rivals who remit abroad a large part of their income to the prejudice of the Philippine economy.Two years ago, a ranking member of Congress requested then-Customs Commissioner John Sevilla to look into the “highly irregular” release of 500 containers of raw materials for the manufacturing of cigarettes from the Customs zone in Manila.The investigation, involving a multinational company, was allegedly never heard from again.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/cigarette-maker-rebuts-fake-stamps-allegation/308712/
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Pinoy workers ‘most at risk’
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['Aric John Sy Cua']
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2018-06-13 00:02:15+00:00
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Filipino workers face threats here and abroad and have no assurance that their labor rights will be upheld, according to the Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa.The group cited the recently released International Trade Union Confederation’s Global Rights Index that gave the Philippines a category five rating, or “no guarantee of rights.”Other countries with the same category were Greece, Bahrain, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.“While the legislation may spell out certain rights, workers have effectively no access to these rights and are therefore exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labor practices,” the ITUC said in its report.Josua Mata, Sentro’s Secretary General, said Filipino workers are “screwed up” whether they are home or abroad.“The problem is our own government does not have the moral ascendancy to demand rights for our workers abroad when the Philippine government itself can’t protect its own citizens,” Mata said in a statement. “It can’t even guarantee the fundamental rights of its own workers.”The ITUC also said the Philippines is among the ten worst countries for working people, along with Turkey, Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Kazakhstan.“In a context of extreme state violence and suppression of civil liberties, workers and trade unionists in the Philippines faced threats and intimidation,” the ITUC’s report said, citing the martial law declaration in Mindanao. “Employers frequently used intimidation tactics and dismissals to prevent workers establishing unions.”Sentro said the issue on illegal contractualization will persist if workers’ rights continue to be repressed.Every year, the ITUC Global Rights Index “documents violations of internationally recognized collective labor rights by government and employers.”“So long as trade union killings remain unresolved, so long as employers can abuse contractualization, the violent repression of workers’ rights in the country will continue with impunity,” the group added.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/pinoy-workers-most-at-risk/407414/
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34 cities, towns recognized for education reforms
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['Neil Alcober']
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2018-09-08 00:02:54+00:00
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THIRTY-four cities and municipalities from across the country were recognized for their efforts in improving the quality of basic education in their communities.Seventeen local government units were conferred the “Seal of Good Education Governance,” while the rest received the Jesse Robredo Award in Education Governance, named after the late interior secretary and former mayor of Naga City.All 34 local government units met the Synergeia Foundation’s criteria for good education governance.To qualify, they must have reinvented their local school boards and organized functional school governing councils. The cities and municipalities must have also reduced the number of non-readers and frustrated readers in their locality by at least 20 percent.Moreover, their cohort survival rate (the percentage of first graders who went on to sixth grade) must be higher than the national average of 80 percent or must have increased by at least two percentage points. The local government units must have devoted an increasing amount of their budget to education.Synergeia – a coalition of individuals and organizations working closely with local government units – started giving the Seal of Good Education Governance last year to promote transparency, accountability, and excellence in the delivery of basic education by local governments. It received 350 local government unit nominations this year, higher than last year’s 250 submissions.This year’s results were deliberated upon by Synergeia trustees and representatives from PLDT, Smart Communications and SGV Foundation.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/34-cities-towns-recognized-for-education-reforms/439189/
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‘Duterte can sit as DENR chief’
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['Lance Ceellot', 'Maynila Dyaryo']
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4/5/2017 0:00
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Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said yesterday that President Duterte can head the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), but if it were up to him, he’d rather not see the President saddled with more work since his hands are already full with matters of the state.“A president can always assume any position in the Cabinet while being president. But I think – let’s not saddle him with work. There’s so much work already burdening him,” said Panelo, following the Commission on Appointments’ (CA’s) rejection DENR Secretary Gina Lopez’s reappointment last Wednesday.“I am very sad about the rejection of DENR Secretary Gina Lopez. The President has been supporting her all out. But we have to respect the decision of the Commission of Appointments. That’s how the laws work in this country,” he said.Panelo cited former leaders who assumed Cabinet posts while being President like Joseph Estrada as who stood as Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary from June, 1998 to April, 1999; and Benigno Aquino III as OIC of the DILG from June 30 to July 9, 2010.REFORM REMAINSMaking sure that “sweeping reforms” will continue in the DENR, Lopez had signed an administrative order that centralizes the processing of environmental compliance certificate (ECC), particularly for projects critical to the environment.Under the DENR Administrative Order (DAO) No. 2017-04, which was signed by Lopez prior to the rejection of her reappointment, the project proponent has to seek approval from the DENR Secretary before it could secure an ECC.An ECC certifies that the proposed project under consideration will not bring about unacceptable environmental impacts.The order also ensures that specific conditions are first met by project proponents before they are issued ECCs. The order will take effect today, May 5.JUDASES OF CAMeanwhile, Lipa Archbishop Emeritus Ramon Arguelles branded the CA’s action against Lopez’s heading of the DENR as a betrayal of God’s will.In an interview in Church-run radio station, Radyo Veritas, Arguelles condemned the lawmakers, who voted against Lopez’s appointment as the country’s “Judases.”Arguelles was referring to Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus Christ in exchange for 30 silver coins. “They betray God and our people because of self interest,” he said. (With reports from Ellalyn B. De Vera and Samuel P. Medenilla)
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Manila Bulletin
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https://news.mb.com.ph/2017/05/04/duterte-can-sit-as-denr-chief/
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‘Paolo’ intensifies, rainshowers ahead
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['Mary Gleefer F. Jalea']
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2017-10-17 23:17:22+00:00
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TROPICAL storm Paolo (international codename: Lan) has slightly intensified, the state-run weather bureau reported in a Tuesday morning forecast.According to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), Paolo at 3 a.m. was located 885 kilometers east of Guiuan, Eastern Samar, with maximum sustained winds of 85 kilometers per hour and gustiness of up to 105 kph.It was moving west-northwest at 13 kph.Despite Paolo having entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility, it would not directly affect the weather condition as would a low-pressure area (LPA), which was located 165 km west of Coron, Palawan, embedded along an inter-tropical convergence zone (ITZC).Both the LPA and the ITCZ would bring cloudy conditions with scattered rain and thunderstorms over the Visayas, Mindanao, Bicol Region and Palawan.The rest of the country would be partly cloudy to cloudy with afternoon or evening isolated rainshowers, Pagasa said.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/paolo-intensifies-rainshowers-ahead/357060/
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QC, BJMP sign deal for new jail in Payatas
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['Dempsey Reyes']
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2017-05-06 23:45:03+00:00
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The Quezon City government and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) had executed an agreement designating a portion in Payatas as the site for a new city jail.Through City Resolution 7077-2017 introduced by Councilors Alexis Herrera and Franz Pumaren, a deed of usufruct was entered into between the city government and the BJMP to utilize 2.4-hectare property in Quezon City that was acquired in 2015.In August 2016, the deed was signed by Mayor Herbert Bautista and BJMP chief Supt. Serafin Barreto Jr. to exercise administrative and operational control of the city jail.As provided in the agreement, the BJMP will be responsible for the construction of buildings, structures, facilities and improvements on the property lot.The master plan includes provisions for a health center, rehabilitation facility, fire station, food establishments and lodging area for visitors.In 2012, the BJMP allocated P200 million for the construction of a new city jail to replace the facility in Kamuning, but the fund was reverted to the national treasury.The new city jail to be built in Payatas is expected to accommodate at least 6,000 to 8,000 inmates.“We are very serious in our efforts to relocate the inmates in a facility that is compliant to human rights standards,” Bautista said in a statement.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/qc-bjmp-sign-deal-new-jail-payatas/325891/
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LTO to set allowable tint grade for cars
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['Reicelene Joy Ignacio']
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2017-05-21 19:32:09+00:00
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The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is set to meet tint manufacturers this week to determine the allowable grade of tints for cars.“Assistant Secretary [LTO chief Ed] Galvante will talk to tint manufacturers this week to determine which grade of tint is allowable,” Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board spokesman Aileen Lizada said in a radio interview on Sunday.Lizada advised motorists not to tint their cars heavily until the allowable grade is determined.Earlier, Galvante said motorists whose cars are tinted than what is allowed should also face sanctions under the newly implemented Anti-Distracted Driving Law.According to the law, motorists are not allowed to use any gadgets while driving, or even when caught in traffic.Accessories such as stuffed toys and figurines, among others, blocking the field of view of the driver are also prohibited under Land Transportation Office (LTO)- LTFRB Joint Administrative Order 2014-01.“What we are implementing, even though we find it sometimes difficult, we are just complying with the mandate given to us,” according to Lizada.In a text message to the media over the weekend, she said the LTFRB is suggesting that an information drive be conducted simultaneously with enforcement of the Anti-Distracted Driving Law (Republic Act or RA 10913).“It would be good though to focus on the purpose of the law, which is safe driving practices,” Lizada.The Highway Patrol Group is deputized to catch violators of the law.Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority is set to gather evidence such as a screen grab, which it will submit to the LTO.The LTO will, in turn, issue notices to the violators of RA 10913.First offense will be penalized P5, 000; second offense, P10,000; and third offense, P15,000 and suspension of driving license for three months.Fourth and succeeding offenses will result in a fine of P20,000 and revocation of drivers’ license.REICELENE JOY N. IGNACIO
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/lto-set-allowable-tint-grade-cars/328448/
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New Interior chief can help reform police – US envoy
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['Jefferson Antiporda']
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2018-01-10 22:05:57+00:00
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FORMER Armed Forces chief Eduardo Año’s takeover as head of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) could help straighten up some members of the police force who have not been behaving well, United States Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim said.Año on Tuesday officially took over as officer-in-charge of the DILG replacing Catalino Cuy, who was appointed as chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DBB) by President Rodrigo Duterte.According to Kim, Año’s strong leadership could help in straightening up the Philippine National Police (PNP) ranks and enable the police organization to effectively address the country’s problem on illegal drugs and crime.“I had a chance to work with him [Año] when he was the chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. I think he is an honorable man, very dedicated and committed,” Kim said in a television interview.The US ambassador was among those who called for full accountability in the killing of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos during a supposed anti-drug operation carried out by members of the Caloocan City police in August 2017.Apart from delos Santos, members of the PNP were also charged for the killing of 19-year-old Carl Arnaiz, who was accused by police of robbing a taxi driver.The Senate in 2017 adopted a resolution condemning the killings and conducted a separate investigation on the matter.“I think many Filipinos would agree with me that there is more work that needs to be done in terms of investigations and accountability involved and these allegations of police abuse,” Kim said.But the US ambassador noted that while there has been no full satisfaction, the issue has been addressed many times during his discussions with Duterte and other senior officials of the Philippine government.“I’m hoping that his [Año] leadership in the DILG will translate into more responsible behavior by some of the police officers who are not behaving in a best possible way,” Kim said.One of the challenges Ano would be facing as head of the DILG is the anti-illegal drugs campaign of the government and Kim expressed belief that the former miliary chief would be able to handle it effectively.According to the US diplomat, he was not surprised that police were not able to eradicate the drug problem within the time period set by Duterte and nobody really expected that it could be done.“I think in General Año, as new head of the DILG, you have a very strong leader and he has been very clear that he will deal with this issue in a strong, honest and sincere manner and I believe him,” he said.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/new-interior-chief-can-help-reform-police-us-envoy/373449/
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Afp races to save German hostage
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['Fernan Marasigan']
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2017-02-15 22:58:20+00:00
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The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) intensified its operations to save a German hostage whom his captor–the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG)–had threatened to behead before the lapse of a two-week ultimatum, a military official said on Wednesday.“They [jihadists] gave a February 26 deadline and we are doing our best efforts to rescue the kidnap victim and we have enough forces to do that,” said Col. Cirilito Sobejana, commander of the AFP Joint Task Force Sulu.But the job, Sobejana added, would not be easy as the military needs the support of the community particularly in pinpointing the exact location not only of German Juerguen Kantner, 70, but also of other hostages.The ASG, he said, is holding 27 hostages composed of Filipinos, Malaysians, Indonesians, Vietnamese, Dutch and Germans.“So this is the challenge ahead of us. [But] we will be doing relentless effort, we will pursue them and hopefully we will be able to make it… I will make the full use of my available manpower, troops, under my command and of course, we are a joint force here, I have the Navy and Air Force component, we will use all of them,” according to Sobejano.The task force, he said, has at least 14 battalions.“We are trying to strategize. With so many battalions that I have, we want to cover all areas of Sulu particularly where the ASG took their victims,” he said.Sobejano refused to divulge what particular area the military is concentrating on or what ASG faction is holding the hostages.In a two-minute video released on Tuesday, Kantner tearfully pleaded for his life as the ASG threatened to kill him if the demanded P30-million ransom is not paid.Released by the SITE Intelligence Group, the video showed Kantner sitting in front of four masked men, three of whom were brandishing high-powered firearms and the one behind the German hostage holding a sickle.The AFP Chief of Staff, Gen. Eduardo Año, has ordered to wipe out in six months, or by July 31, the ASG and other terrorist groups in southern Philippines.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/afp-races-save-german-hostage/312476/
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Palace asked to ‘physically’ oust Deputy Ombudsman
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['Catherine S. Valente']
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2018-02-24 00:01:46+00:00
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A group of lawyers led by two former lawmakers on Friday filed a motion before the Office of the President, urging it to enforce “necessary and reasonable force” to implement the 90-day preventive suspension against Overall Deputy Ombudsman Arthur Carandang.In their joint motion, the complainants, lawyers Manuelito Luna and Eligio Mallari, asked Malacañang to “bodily or physically remove” Carandang from office as the latter refused to acknowledge the suspension imposed on him.The appeal was made after the Office of the Ombudsman defied the Office of the Executive Secretary’s order in January to suspend Carandang for 90 days.“It is respectfully prayed of the honorable office to cause respondent Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur H. Carandang to be bodily or physically removed from office or restrained from the exercise thereof [for a period of 90 days counted from date of actual suspension], through the use of necessary and reasonable force,” Luna and Mallari said.The lawyers recommended that the executive branch could deploy a group of enforcers within the vicinity of the Ombudsman building in Diliman, Quezon City, to block Carandang.“To prevent Carandang from returning to his office and make a mockery of the process, contingents of enforcers may be stationed at or near the entry and exit points of the Ombudsman building, Agham Road, North Triangle, Diliman, Quezon City, and empowered to prevent such from happening,” they said.Carandang, who announced that the Office of the Ombudsman has launched an investigation of the alleged billion-peso unexplained wealth of President Rodrigo Duterte and his family based on a complaint of Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th, was charged and ordered suspended for grave misconduct and grave dishonesty.The decision against Carandang was in compliance with the administrative complaint filed by Luna, Mallari and former lawmakers Jacinto Paras and Glenn Chong in October 2017.Carandang was found liable for “misuse of confidential information and disclosure of information” with regard to the First Family’s bank records.In a media interview, Paras said Carandang “divulged falsely the purported records of the President,” which had been denied by the Anti-Money Laundering Council.Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales had said Carandang’s ouster clearly violates the 2014 ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) that invalidates the President’s power to remove a Deputy Ombudsman from office.But Luna, during the same media interview on Friday, expressed confidence that the ruling can be reversed.“The legal basis is the law itself. The ruling of the Supreme Court is 8-7 and based on precedents in the past, the Supreme Court reverses itself once an issue is again brought up to [its] jurisdiction. So we believe that Section 8 of RA [Republic Act] 6770 is [still valid],” Luna said.The lawyer was referring to Section 8(2) of RA 6770, which the SC declared unconstitutional on January 28, 2014 for violating the independence of the Office of the Ombudsman.An earlier ruling in 2012 upheld the constitutionality of the provision by an even vote of 7-7, leading to the dismissal of a consolidated petition of then-Deputy Ombudsman Emilio Gonzales 3rd and then-Special Prosecutor Wendell Barreras-Sulit.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/palace-asked-physically-oust-deputy-ombudsman/382164/
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7 ROB INDIAN OF VALUABLES
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['Nelson Badilla']
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2017-06-10 00:18:10+00:00
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Makati city police on Friday asked the public to help them find seven individuals who robbed an Indian of over $900,000 and P200,000 in cash and gadgets at dawn of Friday inside a posh hotel in the city. Police identified six of the seven suspects as Alma de Leon, Edna Genon, Evelyn Mendoza, Jayson Avilla, Joseph Feliciano, and Wilson Daman. Police are still finding out the identity of the seventh suspect.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/7-rob-indian-valuables/331926/
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Register ‘kasambahays’ in barangays
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['Jing Villamente']
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2017-02-18 22:15:25+00:00
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Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ismael “Mike” Sueno urged those who have domestic workers or kasambahays in to register them in their barangay (villages) centers.In his directive to local executives, Sueno urged the implementation of Republic Act (RA) No. 10361 or “Batas Kasambahay,” which requires every household or employer to register all domestic workers in the Registry of Domestic Workers in barangays, also called as Barangay Registration of Kasambahays.“Kasambahays have a big role in keeping socioeconomic activities running. They take care of households and look after their employers’ children in order for their bosses to go to work or attend to their enterprise,” Sueno said.“Their well being ought to be taken cared of just like workers in the formal public and private sectors,” he added.The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary also called on all punong barangays (village heads) through a directive to enact local ordinances in support of RA 10361 and to implement the Barangay Registration of Kasambahays in their areas of jurisdiction.“Registering kasambahays is both beneficial to kasambahays and their employers,” he emphasized.“I also encourage barangay officials to discuss your implementation of the Batas Kasambahay during the coming law-mandated conduct of Barangay Assembly Day this first semester of the year, which will be on March 25,” he said.Under RA 10361, a domestic worker or kasambahay is any person engaged in domestic work within an employment relationship such as but not limited to: general househelp, nursemaid or “yaya,” cook, gardener or laundry person, but shall exclude any person who performs domestic work only occasionally or sporadically and not on an occupational basis.The term does not include children who are under a foster family arrangement, and are provided access to education and given an allowance incidental to education, i.e. “baon”, transportation, school projects and school activities.Barangay Kasambahay DeskIn July 2013, the DILG directed barangays to have Kasambahay Desks. Barangay chairpersons were ordered to devise a system to ensure the registration of all kasambahays in their barangays including an online registration through their official website or e-mail.The KR Form 1 and the Kontrata sa Paglilingkod sa Tahanan are available at the barangay and city or municipal Public Employment Service Office (PESO). Both forms are also downloadable at www.dilg.gov.ph and www.dole.gov.ph.In case of termination of the contract, employers must immediately notify the Kasambahay Desk for updating purposes.The disclosure of information about the kasambahay and the employer by the barangay and the local PESO are subject to compliance with the requirements of RA No. 10173 (Data Privacy Act of 2012) and other existing laws. Violators shall be subjected to fine or imprisonment.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/register-kasambahays-barangays/312979/
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Group seeks smoking ban in ports, terminals
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['Reicelene Joy Ignacio']
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2017-04-09 19:08:17+00:00
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Anti-smoking group New Vois Association of the Philippines has urged the transport sector to consider implementing a “no smoking policy” in all ports and terminals nationwide.In a statement over the weekend, NVAP president Emer Rojas said actions undertaken by a bus port at the Araneta Center in Cubao, Quezon City, show it is possible to implement such policy in a public place.The Araneta Center opened the modern bus port in Quezon City to house air-conditioned buses that travel to provinces in Southern Luzon and Bicol Region.“This ingenious policy adopted by the new bus terminal is clear proof that it is doable to protect travelers from the dangers brought by cigarette smoking,” Rojas said.“We hope that other transport terminals, airports, seaports, and even jeepney and tricycle terminals, will make it a point to prohibit cigarette smoking,” he added.Rojas pointed out that prohibition of smoking is dictated by law.“The Tobacco Regulation Act outlaws smoking in public conveyances and public places. This, therefore, means that there is already an existing law that needs to be implemented strictly,” he said.Section 5 of Republic Act 9211 provides that smoking shall be absolutely prohibited in public conveyances and public places.Public conveyances refer to modes of transportation servicing the general population, such as elevators, airplanes, buses, taxicabs, ships, jeepneys, light rail transits, tricycles and similar vehicles.On the other hand, public places refer to confined areas servicing the general public, such as public transportation terminals.REICELENE JOY N. IGNACIO
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/group-seeks-smoking-ban-ports-terminals/321843/
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CHEd backs projects with up to P15M each
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['Neil Alcober']
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2017-08-22 20:37:02+00:00
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THE Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has announced the reopening of applications for the discovery-applied research and extension for trans/inter-disciplinary opportunities (DARE TO) Grant-in-Aid program, which will finance high-impact research proposals of up to P15 million each for a maximum duration of two years.With 76 approved research projects during the initial rollout last year, the commission is investing half a billion for around 33 available slots this year.CHEd Chairman Patricia Licuanan said she is looking forward to the next batch of inventive and high-impact research proposals from different higher education institutions (HEIs) all over the country.“DARE TO forms part of our continuing efforts to bolster productivity in high-end research and development in the Philippines. We are encouraging our institutions to take part and work together to develop technological innovations,” Licuanan added.The DARE TO grants aims to stimulate strong collaborative research and innovation ventures and sustainable partnerships for extension activities, giving faculty and staff a chance to participate and contribute in research work.“What is truly unique with this grant is the focus on building partnerships between institutions for the faster sharing of knowledge and expertise. We are taking this strategic and inclusive approach in building-up the capability of our universities and colleges to produce quality and high-impact research,” the CHEd chief said.Representing a partnership of HEIs, up to 15 faculty research team members comprised of de-loaded faculty members over the ongoing K-to-12 transition, may take part in the project.In addition, project proposals are required to be on trans-disciplinary or inter-disciplinary research, which must lead to new patents, new avenues of inquiry and internationally indexed papers.Further, submissions must have one unifying research platform, such as 1) food production and security, 2) environment, disaster risk reduction, climate change and energy, 3) terrestrial and marine resources: economy, biodiversity and conservation, 4) smart analytics and engineering innovations, 5) health systems, and 6) education for Science, Technology, Engineering, Agri-Fisheries and Mathematics.Part of the 76 approved research proposals last year included the development, innovation and engineering of zinc oxide nanoparticles for water antimicrobial application, as well as the invention of a small wireless sensor for disaster risk reduction.Research proposals for the DARE TO grants cycle II must be submitted via the online portal: bit.ly/daretocycle2.Deadline for applications is on September 15.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/ched-backs-projects-p15m/346108/
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Ombudsman backs changes in anti-wiretapping law
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['Ma. Reina Leanne Tolentino']
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2016-12-25 22:49:29+00:00
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The Office of the Ombudsman supports an amendment to the anti-wiretapping law allowing wiretapping for purposes of investigation without violating constitutional rights.Republic Act (RA) 4200 prohibits and punishes wiretapping and related violations of communication privacy, except in certain cases and provided that there is a court order.“Of course, we also advocate legislative reforms in order to strengthen our resolve to choke impunity. We also get some results from Congress, while our proposed bills with respect to other matters are still pending consideration,” Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said in an anti-corruption forum earlier this month in Quezon City (Metro Manila).“We’re trying to see to it if we can modify the wiretapping law so that we can probably use wiretapping without violating constitutional rights. Among other things also, we want to see to it that our investigators should also be given immunity from false accusations in order to discourage them from doing what is expected of them,” she added.Under RA 4200, authorities are allowed—provided that they are authorized by a written court order–to wiretap in cases involving treason, espionage, sedition, rebellion and kidnapping, among others.There are proposals in Congress to expand this law in order to cover other cases as well.House Bill 5044 was earlier introduced by Pangasinan Sixth District Rep. Marlyn Primicias-Agabas to amend RA 6770 or the Ombudsman Act of 1989 in order to, among others, give the Ombudsman the power to “[e]mploy wiretapping as an investigative technique when the circumstances of a case so warrant.”For this purpose, the bill seeks to amend RA No. 4200 by including plunder cases, graft cases, cases of forfeiture of alleged ill-gotten wealth and other cases involving offenses allegedly committed by public officers “in the cases for which wiretapping may be allowed after an application for and grant of a judicial authority.”The proposed measure has been pending with the House Committee on Justice since September 2014.Meanwhile, Senate Bill 1210 or the proposed Expanded Anti-Wiretapping Act of 2016 aims to include cases of coup d’état, robbery in band and brigandage/highway robbery as well as cases involving alleged violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act and of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.The bill, which was pending on second reading as of October, was filed by Senators Gregorio Honasan 2nd, Panfilo Lacson, Grace Poe, Juan Edgardo Angara and Vicente Sotto 3rd.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/ombudsman-backs-changes-anti-wiretapping-law/303646/
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Alvarez: Mindanao railway project breaking ground in 2018
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['Victorino Villaflor']
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17/06/2017 0:00
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Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said the first and second phases of the Mindanao Railway System would be completed within the six-year term of President Duterte, with the first phase set to start early next year.Alvarez added that the national government would fund the acquisition of the right-of-way while the rest would be funded through the official development assistance (ODA) packages.The 102-km first phase would cut through Tagum City, Davao City and Digos City, and would cost around R35.91 billion.Alvarez said that aside from Japan and China, other countries have expressed interest in funding the construction of the US$9 billion, 1,500-km railway project.He said phase 2 would connect Tagum City to Butuan City.The railway seeks to connect all key areas of the island such as Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Zamboanga, Butuan, Surigao, General Santos and Davao.“Just be patient to fulfill our duties,” he said.In a press release issued on June 8, 2017, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said the first segment would reduce travel time from Tagum City, Davao del Norte to Digos City, Davao del Sur from 3.5 hours to 1.3 hours once it starts operating in 2022.
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Manila Bulletin
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https://news.mb.com.ph/2017/06/17/alvarez-mindanao-railway-project-breaking-ground-in-2018/
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Knowing when to give
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['Rey David', 'Trisha Hipolito', 'Michael Timbreza', 'Myca Delos Santos', 'Parasa Bayan', 'Maka Pili', 'Liwanag Para Sa Bayan']
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26/11/2017 0:00
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and were promptly paid. The BSP kept growing its gold reserves.Then former BIR Commissioner Kim Henares stepped in sometime in 2011. Henares insisted on automatically withholding 5 percent on sales of gold to the BSP. No ifs and buts about it. That’s the law, Henares said.She may have been correct but unfortunately, Henares failed to anticipate the consequences of her decision. In the end, Henares was able to collect a whopping 5 percent of nothing!To a man, the small miners got scared and stayed away from BSP. Instead, they sold their gold in the black market.According to BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo, the purchase of gold by the BSP plummeted and the production of gold bars practically went pfft.From 2005 to 2011, the BSP bought an average of 900,000 troy ounces of gold which produced 2,500 gold bars a year. This plunged to only 35,000 ounces, yielding 79 bars the year Henares stepped in.Last year, sales to the BSP further declined to 14,000 troy ounces or the finished equivalent of 25 gold bars.BSP averted a layoff of employees by retooling and re-assigning them elsewhere in the Security Plant Complex.But the major collateral fallout, explained Guinigundo, was the reduction of BSP’s ability to build up its foreign exchange reserves.Dominguez said that the reduction in the withholding tax rate will be effected via a revenue regulation but the DOF will work with Congress to institutionalize the revenue regulation thru an appropriate amendment of the National Internal Revenue Code.If everything works out as envisioned, the small miners are expected to troop back to the BSP, instead of being shortchanged, as it frequently happens, in the black market.The move is also expected to allow the BSP to grow its international reserve without spending dollars since the purchase of gold from the small miners will be done with pesos.No more talks with the RedsPresident Duterte has had it.From hereon, there will be no more talks with the CPP-NDF, previously released negotiators for CCP-NDF will be re-arrested, and the CCP-NDF will be declared a terrorist organization.The President has been dismayed by the apparent lack of sincerity of the other side as manifested by continued attacks on government troops and various extortion activities.Critics are wondering why it took the President that long to realize that he was only being taken for a ride by the Communists. “Ang tagal na tayong inuuto ng mga yan.”Peace will continue to be elusive, at least in this administration. But one can not fault the President for not trying.Note: You may e-mail us at [email protected]. You may also “like” us on Facebook at “Speaking Out.”
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Manila Bulletin
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https://news.mb.com.ph/2017/11/26/knowing-when-to-give/
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Paid sex to blame for most HIV cases in October 2017
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['Kenneth Hare Hernandez']
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2018-01-11 18:30:15+00:00
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Paid sex was behind most of the 918 cases of Filipinos found to be carrying the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in October 2017.These cases brought to 9,217 the partial total for last year of the number of Filipino HIV carriers, according to the Department of Health (DoH)-Epidemiology Bureau.They made for an average of 31 recorded a day, the HIV and AIDS Registry of the Philippines report of the DoH said.Among the newly-reported cases are 129 suffering from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).There were 41 deaths from HIV/AIDS in the same month.Sexual contact continued to be the main mode of transmission with 873, most of which involved men-having-sex-with-men (MSM) with 753.Homosexual contact had the highest number with 528, followed by bisexual contact with 228, while heterosexual contact led to 117 cases.The report identified 116 individuals who acquired HIV through paid or transactional sex.It said 65 men were infected after they paid for sex.Twenty-nine men, on the other hand, acquired HIV after accepting payment for sex.There were also 35 cases of infection acquired through injected drug use, one case of mother-to-child transmission and four cases had no data.Majority of the cases were recorded in Metro Manila with 323, followed by Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) with 153, Central Luzon with 110, Central Visayas with 81 and 179 from various parts of the country.A total of 70 overseas Filipino workers were also found to have acquired HIV/AIDS, the majority of whom were infected through sexual contact.From January to October 2017, the DoH reported a total of 9,217 HIV cases, including 1,150 AIDS cases, and 415 deaths.Since 1984, there have been 48,839 HIV cases, including 4,815 AIDS cases, and 2,384 deaths.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/paid-sex-blame-hiv-cases-october-2017/373699/
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High court to retrieve votes in Iloilo this week
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['Llanesca T. Panti']
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2018-05-20 21:34:08+00:00
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The Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), will retrieve votes cast in the 2016 vice- presidential race in Iloilo from May 21 to May 25.The Iloilo votes will be counted next in the ongoing manual poll recount that stemmed from the poll protest lodged by former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. against Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo.The Office of the Vice President on Sunday said Robredo’s legal counsels Bernadette Sardillo and Romulo Macalintal would observe the retrieval of ballot boxes on May 21.Ballots from Guimbal, Miag-ao, Oton, Tigbauan, San Joaquin, Igbaras and Tubungan will be retrieved on May 21, while those from Alimodian, Leganes, Leon, New Lucena, Pavia, San Miguel, Santa Barbara, Zarra, Iloilo City, Mina will be retrieved on May 22.Votes from Badiangan, Bingawan, Cabatuan, Calinog, Janiuay, Lambunao, Maasin, Pototan, Passi City, Anilao, Banate, Barotac Nuevo, Dingle, Duenas, Dumangas, San Enrique, Ajuy, Balasan, Barotac Viedo, Batad, Carles, Concepcion, Estancia, Lemery, San Dionisio, San Rafael, Sara for May 25.Robredo beat Marcos by 263,473 votes in the 2016 polls.The manual recount covers Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental provinces, the areas chosen by Marcos.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/high-court-to-retrieve-votes-in-iloilo-this-week/400117/
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1,000 workers cry rescue from layoff
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['Nelson Badilla']
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2016-10-23 21:21:54+00:00
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Around 1,000 workers, majority of them women, of a SouthKorean-owned factory in Cavite are hoping that the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) could change the mind of the firm’s management to save the workers from being jobless just as Christmas is fast approaching.The workers’ union and the management of Faremo International Inc. in Cavite’s Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) are set to meet with officials of the Department of Labor and Employment on Monday afternoon.In a statement sent to The Manila Times on Sunday, the union said Faremo International has decided to close the company immediately.The firm is said to be the biggest garments factory in EPZA.It supplies garments to global brands such as Gap, JCPenney and Kohl’s.The union said the owners of Faremo International had chosen to shut the company down rather than grant demands of the workers.Among the demands are recognition of the union that was formed last year, end of verbal abuse of workers, grant of due benefits and increase in the workers’ monthly salary as prescribed by the Minimum Wage Law.All these demands, according to the union, are contained in the Collective Bargaining Agreement concluded last May but were eventually rejected by the management.The union was told that Feramo International would end up bankrupt if the employees’ demands were accepted by the management.It has proposed work rotation so that the 1,000 employees would not be jobless but the management ignored the proposal.NELSON S. BADILLA
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/1000-workers-cry-rescue-layoff/292750/
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De Lima: Jail, not Cabinet post for Cam
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['Herbert Halm']
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12/3/2017 0:00
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a matter which the President is supposedly willing to give to the former witness in the 2005 jueteng payola scam.“Sandra Cam must not be allowed to have a respectable position of trust in government. She must instead be investigated for certain nefarious activities,” De Lima said in a handwritten note she sent to her supporters.“Credible sources say she has managed to get involved in all these years such as swindling, illegal gambling and even drugs,” the senator said.De Lima, who is detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) custodial center after being arrested on drug charges, believes Cam was involved in the Duterte administration’s plan to implicate her in the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).She said Cam played a huge role in the demolition job against her and even harassed potential witnesses to turn against her.The President has said he is willing to give Cam a Cabinet position because she helped him during the presidential campaign.
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Manila Bulletin
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https://news.mb.com.ph/2017/03/12/de-lima-jail-not-cabinet-post-for-cam/
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Luxury cruise ship docks at Port Area in Manila
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['Kenneth Hare Hernandez']
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2017-03-19 20:03:09+00:00
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Asia-Pacific cruise ship SuperStar Virgo of global line Star Cruises has home-ported in the Manila South Harbor at the Port Area in Manila.In a statement, Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said the docking of the cruise ship will be a milestone in local tourism as SuperStar Virgo and its destinations will provide the convenience of not having to fly to Taiwan or Hong Kong.Teo added that the cruise ship will ensure a unique travel experience for passengers, making the cruise trip unforgettable.Star Cruises, a subsidiary of leading global leisure corporation Genting Hong Kong, has been operating since 1993 and employs many Filipino seafarers and hospitality staff.SuperStar Virgo is a 13-story cruise ship with 935 cabins and could carry 2,400 passengers and 1,100 crew.A six-day, five-night cruise program called the “Golden Triangle” will include Manila as its home port and will travel to Currimao, Laoag, then to Kaihsuing, Taiwan and end in Hong Kong.Balcony rooms will cost around $490 per person while executive suites are valued at around $1,230 per person.It will be home-porting from March 19 until May 29, 2017 and promises to come back in December of this year with Palawan added to its port destinations.The cruise ship’s home-porting in Manila is seen serving as a catalyst for the Philippines to move toward the vision of achieving 300 cruise calls by 2021.KENNETH HERNANDEZ
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/luxury-cruise-ship-docks-port-area-manila/318061/
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Body formed to probe PNPA practices
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['Bernadette E. Tamayo']
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2018-10-27 00:03:24+00:00
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Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian on Friday urged the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) to punish the three cadets allegedly involved in the hazing of two plebes.The senator said, “heads must roll at the Philippine National Police Academy for the despicable sexual hazing incident involving three PNPA cadets and two plebes.”The Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC) Director Ricardo de Leon told reporters in Camp Crame that they would form a fact-finding committee to identify illegal practices happening inside the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) after the oral sex controversy among their cadets.The committee will have four members led by Chief Supt. Ramon Rafael, director of the National Police Training Institute.A report about the incident stated an upperclassman ordered two male plebes to perform oral sex while two upperclassmen watched. The upperclassmen are sons of a PNP official and a Bureau of Jail Management and Penology official.“The purpose of the fact-finding committee is to identify what other practices inside PNPA should be addressed so that that we can form policies addressing them,” de Leon said.He added that this “grave offense” would lead to the dismissal of the upperclassmen involved.De Leon said the cadets were aware of the consequences they face for the act that they did, as after all cadets were made aware of the anti-hazing law in the academy.“They have the full knowledge and therefore, they are properly warned,” he said.Gatchialian said that Congress passed the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018 or Republic Act 11053 “precisely to punish without mercy hazing perepetrators like them.”“The PNPA administration must ensure that these disgraced cadets are prosecuted under RA 11053 and thrown behind bars for a very long time,” he said.He urged the PNPA officials “to dismantle the culture of hazing that seems well-entrenched in the academy despite the passage of the new anti-hazing law.”“This is not how the future leaders of our national police force should act. It is disgraceful, to say the least,” Gatchalian said.The PNPA has already filed administrative cases against the suspects while the victims filed criminal cases against them.DILG officer in charge Eduardo Año earlier ordered the relief of Chief Supt. Joseph Adnol as the PNPA director.Meanwhile, PNP Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said the incident is proof the training of future police officers in PNPA should be transferred from the DILG to PNP.With a reports from ROY D.R. NARRA
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/body-formed-to-probe-pnpa-practices/457742/
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‘54 children killed in drug war’
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['Mary Gleefer F. Jalea']
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2018-04-06 00:06:52+00:00
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Fifty-four minors were killed from July 2016 to August 2017 during the first year of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, according to the watchdog Children’s Legal Rights and Development Center (CLRDC).Kian de los Santos was the 54th victim, the CLRDC said.De los Santos, 17, was found dead on the night of August 16 in Caloocan City with a gunshot wound in the head.Police officers of the city have maintained that the teen-ager “fought back,” which led to his death.From September to December 2017, 20 more children between 13 and 16 years old were added to the list, the CLRDC said.“We could not do away with how many lives were lost. These children are not just accused but also become actual targets, contrary to… the government describ[ing] [them] as mere ‘collateral damage,” the watchdog’s Rowena Legaspi said.Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said aside from fear, families of the victims face other problems such as discrimination and lack of legal knowledge on the cases of their loved ones.“The war on drugs is a far more complex problem. After several months, families of victims would go back to us with questions because their breadwinners have been killed, their children get sick, they don’t have any support system,” CHR spokesman Jackielyn de Guia said.According to De Guia, out of 1,100 cases that the CHR investigated, only 10 percent were resolved with the help of complainants who dared to reach out to them.“We are supposed to carry out our own investigations but only a small fraction of these cases have resolutions primarily due to the complainants’ fear of the authorities and lack of legal knowledge on their cases,” she said in an interview with The Manila Times.The CHR has filed 47 criminal and administrative cases before various local courts and the Office of the Ombudsman involving perpetrators and policemen involved in anti-illegal drug operations.It said the Philippine National Police (PNP) still has not collaborated with them in their investigations by sharing reports and police documents to establish transparency for each case.Last December, the PNP agreed to turn over spot reports of drug-related killings to the CHR, which had requested their assistance on the status of each drug-related death.“If they are open to cooperate with the agency [CHR], this demonstrates that the government is willing to investigate all cases,” De Guia said.Rose Trajano, secretary general of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (Pahra), said the issue “should not just revolve around the numbers” but also the economic and socio-cultural rights of the victims.“If the breadwinner of the family is not around, what will happen to the children? This is more like a ‘war on poverty’ instead of a ‘war on drugs,’” Trajano noted.The government’s #RealNumbersPH campaign showed that out of 91,704 anti-drug operations conducted, only 4,075 drug suspects had been killed as of March 2018.Human right groups, however, claim that deaths have reached 13,000 since the government launched its war on drugs.These groups, including the CHR, CLRDC and Pahra, gathered on Thursday, declaring that the government’s war on drugs presents a “far more complex problem” beyond the death statistics.In a forum in Quezon City entitled “War on Drugs: Looking Behind the Numbers,” the human rights groups and a media organization, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, discussed the government’s drug campaign and its implications to the poor, the marginalized and the rights groups themselves.
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Manila Times
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https://www.manilatimes.net/54-children-killed-in-drug-war/390655/
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