February 24, 2010
France grants 150 million euro loan for developing LGU finances
The French government has granted a P9.3-billion (150 million euro) loan to the Philippines to improve the country’s machinery of local government, its Manila embassy said Tuesday in a statement.
The loan, packaged as Local Government Financial and Budget Reform Program, subprogram 2 (LGFBR-2), aims to help improve efficiency and effectiveness in delivering basic public services to communities by increasing fiscal resources and financing options for local government units (LGUs), the French Embassy said.
The funding is expected to help enable the LGUs to enhance their capacities to plan and budget for the basic needs of their constituent communities in a transparent and accountable way.
According to the embassy, the program’s focus is on the following areas: “intergovernmental fiscal relations; fiscal management, planning and public expenditure management; performance measurement and service delivery in credit financing; and local own sources revenues."
Based on the said “key reform areas," the program is expected to ensure that local government shares in national revenues are more complete, more timely and more transparent, and to “deepen reforms in fiscal management."
It is also expected to make the delivery of critical public services at the local level more effective and transparent; improve local government access to sources of capital; and reduce local government dependence on Internal Revenue Allotments, the embassy said.
The loan, co-financed by the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), has a maturity of 20 years including a five-year grace period.
Finance secretary Margarito Teves signed the loan agreement with AFD Director of Asia Department, Martha Stein-Sochas, and Ambassador Thierry Borja de Mozota for the government of France.
AFD is France’s bilateral development finance institution, and also its main development agency that implements the EU member-nation’s development aid policies in the Philippines.—JV, GMANews.TV
9 beauty products banned for containing mercury
Health authorities on Tuesday banned nine unregistered beauty cream products after finding them to contain excessive amounts of mercury.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the products had more than one part per million of mercury, and pose an imminent danger or injury to the public.
“Accordingly, in the interest of protecting public health and safety and pursuant to Section 12 of Republic Act 9711, the Food and Drug Regulation Officers of this Office ... are hereby ordered to seize immediately the above identified cosmetic products for custody from all outlets or establishments where they may be found," acting FDA director Nazarita Tacandong said in FDA Circular 2010-004.
The seven face cream products listed included:
* Jiaoli Huichusu Whitening Speckles Removal Cream
* Xin Jiao Li 7-Days Specific Eliminating Freckle Cream
* Jiao Li 10-Days Eliminating Freckle Day & Night Set
* Jiao Li 7-Days Eliminating Freckle AB Set
* Jiao Liang Miraculous Cream
* Xin Jiao Liang 7-Days Miracle Package for Spots Refining
* Jiao Mei Miraculous Cream
The two whitening cream products included:
* Jiao Yan Specific Miraculous Cream
* Jiao Li Extra Pearl Facial Cream
Tacandong also urged local government units for assistance in reporting outlets found selling the products.
“All enforcement agencies are hereby deputized to apprehend and cause the appropriate criminal action against all outlets or establishments found selling the above identified products," she said. - KBK, GMANews.TV
Magdalo set to announce support for Villar, Roxas
A group of junior military officers that allegedly staged a mutiny against the Arroyo government in 2003 is set to announce its support for Senator Manuel Villar Jr. for president and Senator Manuel Roxas II for vice-president.
Knowledgeable sources revealed this to GMANews.TV on Tuesday, a day before the Magdalo group, which claims a membership of 55,000, is scheduled to make an announcement.
The Magdalo group — whose officers took over the Oakwood Premier Ayala Center, an upscale serviced apartment in Makati City in July 2003 to demand President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s resignation — will announce its presidential, vice-presidential, and senatorial candidates in a press conference Wednesday.
To be held in Greenhills, San Juan, it will be presided by Magdalo group national spokesman Francisco "Ashley" Acedillo, a media advisory stated.
Acedillo is running for a Lower House seat representing Cebu City's first district.
Villar’s camp has not received any reports of the endorsement from the Magdalo group, Nacionalista Party (NP) spokesperson and senatorial aspirant Gilbert Remulla said.
“We have not heard about that," he told GMANews.TV.
In the meantime, Liberal Party (LP) spokesperson lawyer Edwin Lacierda said that the party has received unconfirmed reports about Magdalo’s endorsement of Roxas.
However, he said that LP is still hoping that the group would also support the party’s standard-bearer, Sen. Benigno Simeon Aquino III.
“We welcome all endorsements… I hope they haven’t decided on the president yet, because we have a better candidate," Lacierda told GMANews.TV in a separate phone interview.
Trillanes supports Ople
Candidates to be supported by the Magdalo group will be “a mixed ticket," Susan Ople, an NP senatorial candidate, said in a press statement.
The candidates were chosen through “a series of consultations among the Magdalo officers and members," Ople said, adding that she is grateful and proud to be included in the Magdalo list.
No less than detained Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, the group’s leader, assured Ople of Magdalo’s support during a meeting held on Tuesday. The two met at the custodial services unit of the Philippine National Police where Trillanes is detained.
She was also informed that the Magdalo movement will actively campaign and vote for her.
"Senator Trillanes told me to expect a major announcement tomorrow regarding the full line-up to be backed by the 55,000-strong Magdalo party," Ople, a former Labor official, said in the same statement. “He assured me that this comprises a solid vote among members with a multiplier effect on their families and communities."
Ople said she was briefed about the names of the Magdalo-backed candidates for president, vice-president, and 12 senators.
Consultative process
Lawyer Rey Robles, Trillanes’ chief of staff, said the Magdalo Party followed a consultative process in formulating its own list of candidates.
Party delegates were made to select from among the senatorial bets on the basis of the latter’s character, vision, and leadership, Robles said.
Earlier, the Magdalo group endorsed the senatorial candidacy of their fellow members Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim (LP) and Col. Ariel Querubin (NP).
The group had also expressed support for Senator Francis Escudero’s presidential ambitions who later backed out of the race.
The group boasts of many local chapters nationwide, and has been projecting the image of a silent but influential organization in terms of command votes among the military personnel and their families.
Magdalo supporters delivered votes for Trillanes, who ran — and later won — as an independent senatorial candidate during the 2007 elections despite lack of campaign funds. - RJAB Jr/KBK, GMANews.TV
February 23, 2010
DepEd to schools: Keep graduation rites austere, politics-free
It may be election season, but public and private schools have been ordered to keep graduation rites for Batch 2010 politics-free.
The Department of Education, in Order No. 13, also ordered the schools to keep their graduation rites solemn yet simple and austere.
"The graduating rites should be conducted in an appropriate solemn ceremony befitting the graduating students and their parents and shall not in any way be used as a venue for political forum," DepEd Secretary Jesli Lapus said in the order.
In the past, many schools usually invite political figures to speak at graduation rites. During election time, these politicians take the opportunity to campaign before their captured audience, in particular to parents and guests of the graduating students.
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In the same department order, Lapus said the rites should be as simple as possible, especially due to difficulties brought about by recent natural calamities.
Lapus reiterated the department's policy on the conduct and collection of fees for graduation rites, where public schools are not allowed to collect graduation fees or any contribution for graduation rites.
While the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), however, may solicit minimal voluntary contributions from members for graduation ceremonies and celebration, teachers and principals should not be involved in it.
The use of contributions are to be coordinated with and properly reported to the PTA, Lapus said, adding that no non-academic project will be imposed as a requirement for graduation.
On the other hand, he said there should be no extravagance in graduation rites.
"No extraordinary venue for ceremonies should be required," he said, adding holding the graduation in school premises is encouraged.
Also, Lapus said there should be no special attire for the ceremonies.
While wearing togas are allowed, "only the actual cost of rental of togas (will be shouldered) by the graduating class," he said.
Lapus also stressed contributions for the annual yearbook will be on a voluntary basis only. - RSJ, GMANews.TV
NKorea proposes talks on joint complex with SKorea
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea proposed Monday that it join South Korea next week for military talks on how to push progress forward on developing a joint factory park in the communist country, an official said.
The complex, located at the North Korean border town of Kaesong, is a key symbol of inter-Korean cooperation because it combines South Korean capital and know-how with cheap North Korean labor. The park was put in jeopardy last year amid high tension between the Koreas, which remain in a state of war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
Earlier this month, officials from the two Koreas met but failed to reach a breakthrough on the complex's further development. The sides agreed instead to hold separate military talks to discuss South Korea's longtime request that border crossings be eased for its workers at Kaesong.
On Monday, the North sent a message proposing the military talks be held at Kaesong on March 2, said an official at Seoul's Defense Ministry, on condition of anonymity citing department policy.
South Korea, which had earlier told the North it wants to hold the talks at the southern part of the border village of Panmunjom this week, was considering whether to accept the North's counterproposal, the official said.
The North has been reaching out to the U.S. and South Korea in recent months, with leader Kim Jong Il telling a visiting Chinese envoy this month that Pyongyang remains committed to a nuclear-free Korea. Kim later sent his chief nuclear envoy to Beijing for talks on the resumption of disarmament negotiations on the North's nuclear weapons program.
North Korea quit the nuclear talks and conducted a second atomic test last year, inviting tighter U.N. sanctions. The regime has called for a lifting of the sanctions and peace talks formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War before it returns to the disarmament talks. The US, South Korea and Japan have said the North must first return to the negotiations and produce progress in denuclearization. - AP
Gov’t lowers price of FTI lot by up to P4 billion
The government, faced again with a swelling budget deficit this year, has lowered the price of its 103-hectare Food Terminal, Inc. (FTI) property in Taguig City.
The Department of Finance (DOF) is now willing to sell the agro-industrial lot for roughly P9-P10 billion from a previous estimate of P13 billion so it can dispose of the property in the first quarter, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said on Friday night.
"Thirteen billion pesos is something that might be too difficult at this point in time, so we're looking at somewhere between P9 and P10 billion," he said.
The Finance chief said the government was in talks with two to three parties for a possible negotiated sale of the FTI property.
FTI is a 120-hectare agro-industrial commercial estate in Taguig. It was originally built as a food processing and consolidation center for agricultural products.
It houses more than 300 small and medium companies from manufacturing, garments and electronics.
Of the 120-hectare property, the National Government is selling 103 hectares because the remaining 17 hectares are owned by the National Food Authority (NFA).
Last year, private property developers snubbed a public bidding for the property, resulting in a failed auction.
Four developers that include Ayala Land, Inc. and the Gokongweis' Robinsons Land Corp. had expressed interest in the FTI property but none submitted bids at last year's sale.
The government is counting on the FTI sale to boost revenues and plug an estimated record deficit of P293 billion this year.
Proceeds from the FTI sale will form part of the P30-billion target collections from the privatization of state-owned assets this year.
The government is also selling its 60-percent stake in Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. for P14-P15 billion, as well as leasing its property in Fujimi, Japan for P3 billion.
Last year, the budget gap swelled to P298.5 billion, above the expected P290 billion and also higher than the P250-billion target due to poor revenues following the enactment of measures that cut taxes and failure to sell big-ticket state assets.
This was more than four times the P68.1-billion deficit in 2008.
Last December alone, the budget deficit reached P26 billion, higher than the P1.4-billion gap posted a year earlier. — GMANews.TV
February 22, 2010
Green Arroyo streamers litter Quezon Ave. footbridges
Green streamers thanking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo were still hanging from several footbridges on Quezon Avenue in Quezon City despite a local government ban on political propaganda in major roads in the city.
Several footbridges along Quezon Avenue featured the green streamers, without any indication of who was behind these.
"Salamat po Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sa footbridge na ito (Thank you, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for this footbridge)," the streamers read.
Green is also the campaign color of administration presidential bet Gilberto Teodoro Jr.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority earlier claimed the streamers were from nongovernment groups and were therefore not political.
MMDA General Manager Roberto Nacianceno also told dzXL radio Mrs. Arroyo, who is running for congressman in Pampanga this May, was not considered to be politicking since she is not running for a post in Quezon City.
Under Quezon City Ordinance 153, "no political propaganda will be allowed in all major roads and streets in Quezon City." — NPA, GMANews.TV
Remember the EDSA revolutions in substance, not in form.
This was the advice given by Malacañang to the Filipino people on Sunday, three days before the 24th anniversary of the historic EDSA People Power Revolution in Feb. 1986 that ended the more than 20 years of Marcos dictatorship.
Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar said street protests aimed at ousting a leader do not give a good impression before the international community.
“My challenge is to remember EDSA in substance, and not in form. Let’s keep the important moral and spiritual lessons of EDSA in our everyday lives, in dealing with each other and in supporting our leadership instead of in form, such protests in the streets," Olivar said.
“[Let us] avoid things like that and settle our problems constitutionally, peacefully, under the law. That will prove that we deserve to be the inheritors of the EDSA legacies," he added.
The EDSA People Power 1 in Feb. 25, 1986 ousted the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos and installed the late Corazon Aquino, widow of slain Senator Benigno “Ninoy" Aquino Jr., to the presidency.
Incidentally, Olivar’s superior, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was catapulted to Malacañang through a similar revolution in January 19, 2001, which ousted the then two-year-old administration of Joseph Estrada.
Olivar said he is uncertain whether President Arroyo would attend the EDSA 1 commemoration rites this week. President Arroyo and Aquino parted ways in 2005 after the former refused to step down during the height of accusations that she manipulated the result of the 2004 elections to favor her.
Olivar called for reconciliation in the light of the power and water crises that are threatening the country due to the El Niño phenomenon. He said reconciliation remains a priority of the Arroyo administration.
He said political divisiveness is already creeping in following proposals that President Arroyo be granted emergency powers to solve the crises. The opposition, from whose ranks the suggestion came, contends that corruption may take place once President Arroyo gains special powers.
Special powers give incumbent presidents right to negotiate contracts.
“Even now we are starting to see political divisiveness undermine the consensus that we should instead be building in order to effectively tackle this problem. It is at moments like this that we will in fact show that we deserve to be inheritors of the two EDSA legacies left to us and by being worthy inheritors thereby also put to the world that they need not worry about an EDSA 3 or EDSA 4 happening again because we have achieved political maturity and unity in dealing with the problems and challenges we face. It’s really up to us to prove we have earned our spurs that we deserve the legacy left to us by the heroes of both of those [peaceful revolutions]," he said.
He said the El Niño issue should not be used to drag the administration into the campaign strategy of opposition parties, especially since President Arroyo is no longer running for president.
“We represent a President who is about leave and wishes to leave a legacy of stability and reconciliation behind her together with the economic achievements she has brought about," he said. - KBK, GMANews.TV
Despite Comelec’s warning, posters are still on buses, trees
Despite the Commission on Elections' repeated warnings, posters and campaign materials of candidates in the May elections are still being plastered on buses and trees.
In Manila, a poster of a presidential candidate was seen on the rear of a passenger bus near the City Hall area.
The Comelec had declared as illegal large campaign materials on public utility buses and other public passenger vehicles.
But the poll body said those on private vehicles are not covered by the poster ban because owners have the right to promote freely their candidates.
On the other hand, posters of some candidates - including a senatorial bet - were seen plastered on a tree near the Rizal Memorial Coliseum along Vito Cruz Street.
The Comelec and several ecological groups had called on candidates to spare trees from campaign materials. - LBG, GMANews.TV
February 19, 2010
Mike Arroyo in stable condition after car accident
First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo figured in a car accident on Wednesday but is now in stable condition, a Palace official said.
"Stable na po ang condition niya pagkatapos ng aksidente (He's condition is now stable). Nothing to be alarmed about," deputy presidential spokesperson Gary Olivar told GMANews.TV in a phone interview.
Arroyo was on his way to Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong City when his Toyota Land Cruise hit a post, according to his lawyer Ruy Rondain.
A report in GMA News' "24 Oras" said Arroyo was not injured. His son, Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo, said his father even played golf afterward. - Aie Balagtas See/KBK
Saguisag says no to Arroyo appointing next chief justice
Former Senator Rene Saguisag is not in favor of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointing the next chief justice.
In a letter dated Feb. 18, 2010, Saguisag, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, cautioned the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) against upholding “midnight appointments" by prematurely submitting a shortlist of nominees to Malacañang.
“The Constitution does not say that midnight appointments are all right when it concerns the Supreme Court. With all due respect, you may not tempt the Palace and contribute to our divisions. Self-restraint seems indicated to land on the right side of history. We don’t need a midnight CJ nor another division," he said.
The selection for the successor of Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who will retire on May 17, has caused legal and political debates on whether President Arroyo can make the appointment despite the constitutional ban against it in relation to the May 10 elections.
Under the Constitution, an incumbent president is prohibited from making appointments 60 days before elections. Applied this year, the appointment ban will start on March 11.
Malacañang said President Arroyo would appoint Puno's successor once the JBC, the body that screens nominees to vacant judicial posts, submit its list of nominees.
Saguisag said there is nothing in the 1987 Constitution that allows “midnight appointments," noting that the Palace is given 60 days to fill up the vacancy in judicial posts.
“That means it [Constitution] accepts that a vacancy in the post is acceptable or something we can live with," he said, adding that the present controversy is just being fueled by the Arroyo administration in a bid to further divide the public opinion.
The former lawmaker pointed out that there was a time in the nation’s history at the height of the Marcos dictatorship that there was no Supreme Court or a chief justice for years, yet the collegial body and the country had gone on. - KBK, GMANews.TV
Quake rocks China-Russia-North Korea border region
BEIJING – An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 struck Thursday morning in the region where China, Russia and North Korea meet, the US Geological Survey reported.
The temblor hit about 9:15 a.m., and office towers in Beijing swayed slightly for about a minute.
The USGS said the quake was centered on the Russian coast along the sea of Japan, 61 miles (98 kilometers) west-southwest of Vladivostok, Russia and about 70 miles (110 kilometers) east from Yanji city in northeast China's Jilin province.
A man at the Jilin province earthquake bureau said the agency was trying to get more information and did not have any immediate details. - AP
February 18, 2010
Comelec allows suspension of Rizal town mayor
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has allowed the suspension of Rodriguez, Rizal Mayor Pedro Cuerpo, granting the recommendation of its law department.
In an en banc decision, the Comelec decided to to suspend Cuerpo – who is running against incumbent Rizal Governor Jun Ynares in the coming polls – even though an earlier resolution restricts elected officials from being suspended.
The Comelec’s law department said that Cuerpo’s suspension may be implemented in the prosecution of charges related to the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Under Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code, any public official may be suspended even during election period if it will be “for purposes of applying the "Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act."
In the meantime, Comelec’s Resolution 8737 states that elected local officials may not be suspended during the election period.
Under Philippine laws, election period covers 120 days before the actual date of the elections and 30 days after it.
For the 2010 polls, the election period would be from January 10 to June 9.
The same Comelec decision also granted the request of Rizal Sangguniang Panlalawigan acting secretary Joseph Ceniodoza and Rodirguez Councilor Lita Aquin-Sanguyo to implement the Cuerpo’s suspension.
Cuerpo and municipal engineer and building official Fernando H. Roño, Barangay Burgos chairman Salvador Simbulan and police officer Renato Evasco were accused of demolition of temporary shelters and tents of several families in Bgy. Burgos, Rodriguez, Rizal between August 2002 and October 2003.
Complainants Leticia B. Nanay, Nancy B. Barsubia, Gemma I. Bernal, Ma. Victoria G. Ramirez, Crisanta S. Oxina and Adelaida H. Ebio said the demolition was without basis because they owned the land on which their shanties were erected through transfer of certificate title No. 436865.
The Department of the Local and Interior Government (DILG) thus ordered for Cuerpo's suspension.
The Sandiganbayan upheld the decision, saying that there is a “probable cause" to try the respondents in connection with the complaint.
In its resolution, the anti-graft court said Cuerpo and the other respondents deprived “the residents of lawful use of their land and demolishing the houses without due process and without any legal basis". - GMANews.TV
Fears of another quake become new Haiti boogeyman
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Hundreds of houses that survived Haiti's killer quake still stand empty even as quake victims desperate for shelter crowd the streets. The reason is fear: Nobody is quite sure they can withstand another quake.
At least 54 aftershocks have shuddered through Haiti's shattered capital since a Jan. 12 quake killed more than 200,000 people. They have toppled weakened buildings faster than demolition crews can get to them, sending up new clouds of choking dust. On Monday, three children were killed when a school collapsed in the northern city of Cap-Haitien. It wasn't clear what caused the collapse, which occurred after a late-night tremor and heavy rains.
"I tried sleeping in the house for a night, but an aftershock came and I ran outside," said Louise Lafonte, 36, who beds down with her family of five in a tent beside her seemingly intact concrete house. "I'm not going inside until the ground calms down."
That may be awhile. Seismologists say more, damaging aftershocks are likely and there's even a chance of another large quake following quickly after the initial catastrophe in the capital of 3 million people.
In 1751, a large quake hit the island that Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic. About a month later, another one destroyed Port-au-Prince.
A magnitude-7.4 quake that killed more than 18,000 people in northwestern Turkey in 1999 was followed three months later by another of magnitude-7.2 only 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the initial epicenter.
"There are many other examples like that of two significant earthquakes following each other," said Eric Calais, a geophysicist at Purdue University who said he warned the Haitian government two years ago that the country was vulnerable to a major quake.
The prospect of another quake is on the minds of planners trying to rebuild the country and on those trying to prevent more deaths.
U.N. inspectors have advised people to stay away from dozens of structures. On Jan. 26, four people were trapped when a building collapsed on them, and on Feb. 9, a magnitude-4.0 aftershock shook loose debris at a shattered supermarket, trapping several more.
"One of the problems with aftershocks is that lot of buildings are already damaged, so aftershocks can punch above their weight," said Brian Baptie, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Even Haiti's President Rene Preval is scared to sleep inside. He said he was staying with friends until he could move to an earthquake-resistant structure. Days after the quake, he said he was considering sleeping in a tent.
"Like you, I am nervous to be under cement," Preval said in an interview with AP Television News. "Nobody can say when exactly this fault will erupt again."
On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his country will spend up to $12 million to build Haiti's government a temporary base to replace official buildings damaged in the quake.
Seismologists say Port-au-Prince was particularly vulnerable due to its population density and shoddy construction.
Haiti's government on Sunday banned the use of quarry sand in structures, although it is not clear how it will enforce the ban. Engineers say the limestone quarry sand produces brittle concrete easily damaged by quakes.
The US Geological Survey estimated at the end of January that there was a 90-percent likelihood of at least one more magnitude-5 quake in the coming month, a 15 percent likelihood of one of magnitude-6 or greater, and a 2 percent possibility of a shock as great, or bigger, than the Jan. 12 quake.
At least 15 of the aftershocks near the original epicenter have registered at least magnitude-5.
Scientists say the impact of the quake last month may spread far wider.
A magnitude-5.8 earthquake struck off the Cayman Islands two days after the Haiti quake. Last week, a magnitude-5.4 quake jolted eastern Cuba. And Montserrat's volcano, more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to the east, shot ash some 15 kilometers (nine miles) into the sky during one of its most dramatic events since a 1997 eruption that drove away half the Caribbean island's population.
"These events we're seeing might be because of the passage of seismic waves — what we call dynamic triggering — that shake already damaged fault lines in places like Cuba," Calais said. "The same type of thing could be happening in Montserrat, but it's very difficult to tell."
Strong quakes relieve stress along fault lines, but that stress is often shifted elsewhere.
Last month's earthquake occurred along the east-west Enriquillo Fault, where two pieces of earth's crust slide by each other in opposite directions like a zipper. Surprisingly, aftershocks haven't clustered on the Enriquillo, but along what appears to be a previously unidentified separate fault.
Arthur Lerner-Lam of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York said there is a heightened risk of quakes for some time because strong temblors force the Earth to rearrange itself.
Estimating where a major quake may strike is an imprecise science anywhere — and especially in Haiti, which lacks seismometers and has never logged histories of temblors.
That sort of historical record is critical for scientists like Calais, who is advising Haiti's government and the U.N. and is trying to develop an earthquake hazard map that can be used to mitigate risks for the reconstruction effort.
"We're half-blind when it comes to Haiti," Calais said. - AP
Meralco overcharged clients in 2004, 2007 — COA report
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) overcharged consumers after unduly generating almost P7 billion in excess revenues in 2004 and 2007 by unjustly including billions of pesos worth of property, equipment and expenses in the computation of power rates under a scheme that breaks down components of its business activities, state auditors said.
In a report, the Commission on Audit (COA) said the country's biggest power distributor generated P1.68 billion above what it should have fairly collected in 2004, and P5.33 billion more in 2007 due to a misapplication of its so-called unbundled rates.
"Unbundling" involves breaking out the components of traditional bundled services — generation, transmission, distribution and supply — and assigning existing costs to service components, as well as developing prices based on these costs.
The scheme, which is pursuant to Section 36 of Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, is supposed to promote transparency in the local power industry by allowing consumers to find out how much they are being charged for various service components.
State auditors audited Meralco's books pursuant to a Supreme Court ruling directing the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to examine the utility's accounts to make sure a rate increase for 2003 was justified. The high court upheld the increase approved by the regulator, but ordered a review.
In their report, government auditors said Meralco should not have included in the computation of its rate increases P3.7 billion worth of property for 2004 and P3.5 billion in equipment for 2007.
Meralco should also not have included a parking area almost a kilometer away from its office, as well as employees' pension and benefits worth P2.356 billion in the computation of its rate adjustment, the COA said.
“Certain operating expenses amounting to P3.48 billion and P2.92 billion for calendar years 2004 and 2007, respectively, were not considered recoverable from consumers [since] these were not reasonable and necessary in the delivery of distribution services," the report said.
Meralco officials declined to comment on the audit report pending receipt of a copy from the ERC. "We will study the report as soon as we get the official transmittal from the ERC," Joe R. Zaldarriaga, Meralco external communications manager, said in a text message.
The ERC, which released the audit on Tuesday, asked concerned parties to submit their comments on the audit. After that, the regulator will rule on Meralco's unbundled rate, ERC Executive Director Francis Saturnino Juan said.
Juan noted that while they would take the COA report into account, they were not bound to follow everything it said. “It will be a judgment call on the part of regulators if we will allow these assets to be included in the computation of the unbundled rates of Meralco," he added.
Caught red-handed
This is not the first time that state auditors have found Meralco overcharging its customers. In 2003, the Commission on Audit discovered that the utility had overcharged its clients by 1.7 centavos/kilowatt-hour (kWh) by including income tax as an expense that it had passed on to consumers from 1994 to 2002.
The Supreme Court subsequently ordered Meralco to stop this practice and to refund as much as P30 billion to consumers.
The ERC, meanwhile, has been criticized for supposedly being powerless in preventing the power distributor's allegedly recurrent abuse.
In 2003, the Freedom from Debt Coalition questioned the ERC’s approval of Meralco's provisional authority to raise rates by as much as 12 centavos/kWh. The high court, however, rejected the ERC ruling in January 2004 because it violated certain rules during its own hearings.
In June 2004, Meralco again applied for an increase of 13.27 centavos/kWh through its so-called generation rate adjustment mechanism. The Supreme Court again junked the petition in February 2006, saying the utility had not followed the prescribed process.
The Lopez family, which used to own majority of Meralco, has since divested much of its stake in the company following a spat with the government over high energy costs.
The Lopezes first sold a 20-percent stake in Meralco to the PLDT group of Manuel Pangilinan in March 2009, raising P20 billion to retire mounting debt incurred in their foray into power generation, particularly geothermal energy.
Firms allied with Pangilinan's Metro Pacific Investments Corp. later obtained an additional 14.7-percent stake from the open market, sending Meralco share prices skyrocketing. An alliance with the Lopezes fended off a takeover attempt last year by San Miguel Corp., which has a 27-percent stake but claims to be able to muster 43 percent.
Last November, the power struggle took another twist when the son of mall tycoon Henry Sy, the country's richest man, offered to buy half of the Lopezes' remaining 13.4 percent Meralco stake for P300 apiece.
Pangilinan's group, which had the right of first refusal, matched the offer under complicated terms — Metro Pacific first extended an P11.2-billion loan to the Lopezes in November, and then would be given a call option to expire on March 31 over the 6.6-percent stake for P22.4 billion.
The latest deal will allow the Metro Pacific-PLDT bloc to hike its interest in Meralco to 41.4 percent from 34.7 percent. The Lopezes will reduce their stake to 6.7 percent from 13.4 percent. — Norman P. Aquino, GMANews.TV
February 17, 2010
Aquino cries foul against ‘bias’ of forum moderator
Liberal Party standard bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III on Tuesday cried foul over a perceived bias against him by the moderator of a forum hosted by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce Industry (PCCI).
“Napaghahalataan yata masyado, manong Tony (It’s becoming too obvious, brother Tony)," Aquino told moderator Tony Lopez after he was bypassed in the sequence of questioning.
Aquino was referring to what he felt was Lopez’s preference for his closest rival Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. of the Nacionalista Party.
Lopez, for his part, apologized and quipped: “Ah sorry, kasi bawat tanong pare-pareho lang kayo ng sagot (Oh, I’m sorry, that’s because for each question you all give the same answer)."
At the start of the forum, Lopez introduced Villar in thinly-veiled optimistic tones as a “former future president," while he introduced Aquino, with a touch of sarcasm, as the candidate who came from a “good pedigree of heroes."
Lopez, a journalist by profession, had been writing negative articles about Aquino, such as his recent column piece in the ManilaTimes.net, “A president by osmosis."
In the said column piece, Lopez claimed that Aquino “has little to show in his nine years as congressman and barely three years as senator to deserve to be elected president."
“His only claim for presidential gravitas is having had Ninoy Aquino, a martyr, as father, and Cory Aquino, a beloved president, as mother. In effect, he is offering a presidency by osmosis," the article read.
The PCCI-organized forum was attended by four other presidential aspirants including evangelist Eddie Villanueva (Bangon Pilipinas) administration bet Gilberto Teodoro Jr. (Lakas-Kampi-CMD), Se. Richard Gordon (Bagumbayan), and former President Joseph Estrada (PMP).
The presidential candidates bared their national economic platforms and business agenda. They were later grilled in front of hundreds of businessmen from all over the country.—Aie Balagtas See/JV, GMANews.TV
Revilla Jr.'s surname is now Bong Revilla
So that he will be on top of the alphabetical list of senatorial candidates in the ballots, re-electionist Senator Ramon “Bong" Revilla Jr. decided to change his surname to Bong Revilla.
Revilla’s lawyer, George Erwin Garcia, said the Cavite Regional Trial Court Branch 19 had approved the use of Bong Revilla as a registered family name last October 19, 2009.
“At least yung paggamit niya ng (his use of) Bong Revilla has the imprimatur of the court, it is perfectly legal," Garcia said, adding that even Revilla’s birth certificate has been corrected.
Revilla’s decision to change his surname prompted a certain Mary Emily Verr Peji to file a disqualification case against him with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) last December.
In her petition, Peji said Revilla, an actor, committed material representation in his certificate of candidacy by stating that his surname is Bong Revilla with the intent of putting his name on top of the list of senatorial candidates.
The Comelec Second Division on Tuesday junked the petition.
“No misrepresentation whatsoever has been committed by respondent as there was already a decision rendered by the trial court allowing him to use the surname 'Bong Revilla'," the resolution read.
Garcia said Revilla (Jose Maria Bautista in real life) is fully aware of the downside of his surname change, especially to members of his family. “Siya naman ay fully aware ng legal implications (He is fully aware of the legal implications)," he said.
Revilla is running under the Lakas-Kampi-CMD banner and a guest candidate under four other political parties.
A recent Pulse Asia survey showed that Revilla is the top choice of voters among all the senatorial candidates running in the May 2010 elections. - KBK, GMANews.TV
Obama-Dalai Lama meeting probably won't be public
WASHINGTON — The Dalai Lama's chief envoy says President Barack Obama probably the Tibetan monk and President Barack Obama probably will not meet in public this week during a White House visit that already has angered China.
Briefing reporters Tuesday on the eve of the Dalai Lama's arrival, Lodi Gyari said Thursday's meeting in the White House between the Nobel Peace laureates, even if out of the public eye, would be an important boost for Tibet and for the broader US commitment to human rights.
A joint appearance by Obama and the Dalai Lama before reporters could make tense US-China ties even worse and further complicate US efforts to secure Chinese help in settling North Korean and Iranian nuclear standoffs and crucial economic, military and environmental problems.
The Dalai Lama, who has met with every US president for the last two decades, is a recurring needle in US-Chinese ties. China accuses the monk of pushing for Tibetan independence, which he has denied repeatedly. The Chinese consider the Dalai Lama's meetings with any foreign leaders to be an infringement on Chinese sovereignty.
This week's meeting follows a tense couple of months in the US-Chinese relationship, which the Obama administration has called the world's most important. Besides the recurrence of the Dalai Lama visit, the United States recently announced a $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island that Beijing claims as its own.
Gyari said that while the Dalai Lama does not care where he meets the president, the symbolism of the location is very important to other Tibetans and to human rights activists in the United States and elsewhere. Gyari said he has always been puzzled by US presidents not meeting with the Dalai Lama in the Oval Office.
Former President George W. Bush appeared at the public presentation in 2007 of a Congressional Gold Medal Award to the Dalai Lama, but presidential meetings with the monk typically have been held away from reporters, often in the White House's private residences.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday that he did not know whether Obama and the Dalai Lama would make a televised appearance after their meeting.
Obama received heavy criticism when he did not meet with the Dalai Lama when the monk came to Washington in October. Gyari called that decision a "setback" and said it hurt Tibetans, who expect the Dalai Lama to meet with the president when he visits Washington.
Gyari said that smaller countries also could point to the decision as a precedent for bowing to pressure by China to scrap meetings with the Dalai Lama. The White House said no meeting was scheduled with the Dalai Lama in October so that Obama could better raise Tibet issues in a November summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Gyari said his high-level talks with Chinese officials last month on Tibetan efforts to gain greater autonomy produced no results. He warned that the Dalai Lama is China's best chance for gaining legitimacy for its rule in Tibet and said Beijing must stop insulting the Dalai Lama and treating Tibetans as second-class citizens.
He said China's angry reaction to Thursday's meeting is a sign of worrisome arrogance and chauvinism in Beijing.
China maintains that Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries, but many Tibetans say the region was functionally independent for much of its history. - AP
February 16, 2010
No classes on Feb 22, Palace says
To mark the 24th anniversary of the first People Power Revolution on February 25, Malacañang announced that classes would be suspended on February 22, the Monday nearest the historic celebration.
The Office of the Press Secretary said that according to Proclamation No. 1841, signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in July 2009, February 22 is only a special holiday for schools.
This means it will be a regular working day on February 22.
Every year, the country celebrates the first EDSA Revolution that ended the 20-year rule of the late President Ferdinand Marcos and catapulted Corazon Aquino to the presidency.
Aquino was installed the new president on Feb. 25, 1986, the culmination of the people-backed mass protests.
For this year’s commemoration of the historic event, the government would inaugurate the Light Rail Transit-Metro Rail Transit closing the loop project, said Subic Clark Alliance for Development Council chair Edgardo Pamintuan. - RSJ, GMANews.TV
SC removes Marina chief from post
The Supreme Court on Monday declared as unconstitutional the appointment of former Transportation Undersecretary Maria Elena Bautista as officer-in-charge of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) in a concurrent capacity.
In a 19-page decision, the court granted the petition filed by a certain Dennis Funa, a lawyer, challenging the constitutionality of Bautista’s appointment.
Funa said Bautista’s concurrent positions as Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) undersecretary and Marina OIC is in violation of Section 13, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution.
“Allowing undersecretaries or assistant secretaries to occupy other government posts would open a Pandora’s box as to let them feast on choice government positions," the ruling said.
The decision came after Bautista left the DOTC post.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointed Bautista to the DOTC on October 4, 2006. On September 1, 2008, Bautista was designated as Marina OIC in a concurrent capacity following the resignation of then Marina administrator Vicente Suazo Jr.
Funa filed his taxpayer’s suit on October 21, 2008.
The SC, however, said that despite the mootness of the petition, there is a need to resolve the legal and constitutional issues it raised since the case can happen again in the future. - KBK, GMANews.TV
TESDA chief Syjuco to face plunder charge
A group of government employees will file on Tuesday a plunder case against Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) director general Augusto Syjuco for alleged anomalous projects amounting to P3.8 billion in government funds.
Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLIC) will initiate the filing of the plunder case with the Office of the Ombudsman.
The case was based largely on the 2008 report from the Commission on Audit (COA), according to PSLIC general secretary Annie Enriquez Geron.
“Syjuco must be made accountable for no less than P3.8 billion in anomalies during his term. This includes wasteful caravans and unnecessary spending on infomercials, ridiculously high telephone bills and frequent travels to Iloilo, unsubstantiated and insufficiently documented expenditures on representation… and diversion of at least P231 million to his favored district 2 of Iloilo in pursuit of his political goals and vested interests," said Geron.
Syjuco could not be reached for comment as of posting time, but TESDA public information office chief Marta Hernandez said the accusations have already been answered by Syjuco as early as last year.
“Matagal na ‘yan. Last year pa ‘yan nasagot (That’s already an old issue. It has already been answered last year). Director General Syjuco has already requested help from the National Bureau of Investigation for a formal investigation," Hernandez said.
She was referring to the complaints earlier filed by the group where some of the allegations were included in the new plunder case.
Hernandez said Syjuco had denied all the accusations against him.
The plunder case seeks to take Syjuco to task for violations of Republic Act (RA) 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, RA 6713 or the Code of Conduct of and Ethical Standards for Government Officials and Employees, and the General Appropriations Act of 2006, 2007 and 2008. - KBK, GMANews.TV
