House approves K-12 program on 2nd reading

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has approved on second reading the bill on the K-12 program which seeks to add two years to the present 10-year education program in the country.
Despite Kabataan Partylist Representative Raymond Palatino’s statements against the bill, it was passed by lawmakers through a viva voce vote or by saying ‘aye’ or ‘nay’. The other form of voting is nominal.
The session was however momentarily disrupted by militant youths who shouted protests against the K-12 program. The protesters, members of the League of Filipino Students, were quickly dragged out by security personnel after the commotion.
The K-12 program is envisioned by the Department of Education as a way to improve the present state of education in the country and was started last June despite lacking an enabling law.
Palatino and Gabriela Partylist Representative Luzviminda Ilagan have voiced their objections to the new education program, saying that it is not the solution to the poor quality of education in the country.
The government, they said, should instead find solutions to the lack of teachers, classrooms and education materials.
But Eastern Samar Representative Ben Evardone, a member of the House basic education panel, was positive that the K-12 program would “make our educational system more competitive and responsive to the demands of the job market.”
Aside from adding two more years to the current education program, technical vocational courses will also be included in the curriculum for basic education.

By Karen Boncocan
INQUIRER.net

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Australian yacht designer killed in Philippines

 MANILA, Philippines (AP) — An acclaimed Australian yacht designer was hacked to death inside his residence in the northern Philippines, police said Wednesday.
A neighbor found the body of 81-year-old Joe Adams early Monday and blood scattered on the floor of his two-story house that was left open in the village of Tuding in Benguet province's Itogon township, said regional police director Benjamin Magalong.
Hack wounds on Adams' hands suggest that he tried to fight off attackers armed with a machete, Magalong said. He said police are investigating the motive for the killing and that forensic experts are examining possible fingerprints left by the suspect or suspects.
The Sydney-born yacht designer was behind the record-breaking Sydney-to-Hobart winner Helsal in 1973. After moving to the Philippines, he became an investor in a property development company in northern Baguio city.
Tuding police investigator Julius Acay said Adams may have been killed between late Sunday and early Monday. His valuables were left intact although his wallet contained no money when it was found, Acay said.
Acay said Adams had been a Philippine resident for about 10 years and lived for many years in Tuding's Alphaville subdivision. During that time, there was no record of disturbance or altercation involving Adams, who lived alone after separating from his third wife, a Filipino who now lives in Australia, Acay said.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed Adams' death.
Acay said that Adams recently let go of his Filipino maid because he could no longer pay her. He was last seen walking his maid to her new employer within the village Sunday afternoon.

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Senators defend NGO’s grants; Enrile calls it foreign interference

 

Senators Frank Drilon and Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday defended non-governmental organizations that received grants from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for their anti-tobacco advocacy.

 

"The grants are not lobby money because these NGOs are advocates of something that Bloomberg believes in," said Drilon.

 

“You want to put up an anti-cigarette foundation and you show that you will work for the reduction of smoking in our country you can apply for a grant but it doesn’t mean [it’s] lobby money. I don’t think that’s correct," he added.

 

Meanwhile, Lacson believed there is no need to investigate the supposed lobby fund given to the organizations.

 

"It doesn’t merit [an investigation] Nasa website naman yan. Kung lobby ilalagay mo sa website?," he asked.

 

But Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has a different take on the matter.

 

"I do not know whether that is a lobby fund. I just read that most of the projects where the money, where allotments were made were all dealing with tobacco control," he said.

 

"It only shows that there is an effort by foreigners to influence the internal policies of the country," he added.

 

‘Industry lobbyists are the problem’

 

In a privilege speech Monday, Senator Ralph Recto said it did not matter to him if groups that received lobby money from Bloomberg’s foundation opposed his version of the sin tax bill.

 

But NGOs criticized Recto for questioning the motives of health and human rights groups funded by Bloomberg.

 

“Casting malice over good work is an act of despair,” said Evita Ricafort of public health policy NGO HealthJustice. 

 

“Recto singled out Mayor Bloomberg as a funding source, but didn’t say New York City’s lung cancer rates have dropped dramatically,” said Ricafort, “ He wants to ‘help’ consumers by providing affordable access to an addictive product that kills? That’s hardly good for consumers and is far from a public service." 

  

“We thank Recto for resigning and withdrawing his report but he needs to realize that tobacco industry lobbyists are the problem and not Mayor Bloomberg who is only helping the Philippines and not gaining anything from it,” said Emer Rojas of New Vois Association of the Philippines, a group of cancer survivors and persons with disabilities actively lobbying for tobacco tax reform.

 

The groups said Recto was not the first to argue against funding for tobacco control. They said Rep. Mitos Magsaysay, Rep. Eric Singson, and even Enrile have often been critical of such grants for both NGOs and government agencies. 

 

The NGOs argued that under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization, the Philippines is obligated to shield public health policy from the influence of the tobacco industry which stands to gain if more people smoke.

 

Also, Recto said he could not see how raising sin taxes will bring in the revenue that the government is targeting while decreasing the number of smokers at the same time.

 

But the NGOs claimed that Recto refused to meet with health expert Dr. Prakit Vathesatogkit, a former senator of Thailand who sent Recto a graph of their experience where cigarette sales volumes have stayed constant while revenues successfully quadrupled over the last 22 years

 

Also, Recto proposed that if public health is really the goal, cigarettes should be banned altogether rather than be heavily taxed.

 

“This part, Recto got right: banning cigarettes would be the best thing our government can do,” said “running priest” Fr. Robert Reyes, “Kung seryoso siyang naniniwalang nakakamatay ito, ipanukala niya ang total ban kesa gamitin ang argumento laban sa tamang buwis.”  

 

“Pero aasahan pa ba natin sa kanya yun, kung buwis nga hindi niya maitaas ng husto,” Reyes added. — DVM, GMA News

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Leyte governor to head DOE; Almendras to Palace

Leyte Governor Jericho “Icot” Petilla will be named energy secretary, replacing Rene Almendras, in a minor revamp of President Aquino’s two-year-old Cabinet, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad confirmed on Tuesday.
“A formal announcement will be made soon,” Abad said when reached by phone. He did not provide other details.
Another Malacañang official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the matter, said Almendras would go to the Office of the President (OP), “but a formal designation will be announced when he takes his oath.”
Asked if Almendras would replace Executive Secretary (ES) Paquito Ochoa, the official said: “No. ES Ochoa will stay as ES.”
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda neither confirmed nor denied Petilla’s appointment at a briefing in the Palace. “We have no advice from the Palace yet. Let’s wait for the official announcement if there’s any,” he said.
Mother spills beans
In Tacloban City, the third-term governor’s mother, Mayor Remedios Petilla of Palo town in Leyte, broke the news of her son’s appointment as energy czar in an interview with the Inquirer on Saturday. She even disclosed that there would be an oath-taking ceremony supposedly on October 21.
“His appointment was hastened when it was known that the (political) coast is now clear,” she said. The Petillas are political allies of the President.
Petilla, 49, chose not to run for any elective post in the May 13, 2013, elections, contrary to an earlier rumor that he would seek a congressional post in Leyte’s first district.
Reached by the Inquirer, Petilla confirmed that there was an offer for him to join the Cabinet, but said he had yet to receive any appointment paper.
“There are talks but I have to be honest with you that any pronouncement is actually premature because there is no appointment at this point although there were already advanced talks,” he said.
“I serve under the pleasure of the President because he is the appointing authority. It is up to him when he will appoint me. At this point, in the absence of any document, these are all talks,” Petilla said.
The governor said the President had offered him a Cabinet position as early as 2010, but he did not accept it as there were still things he had to do as Leyte governor.
Petilla, who is on his third and last term as governor, was asked by journalists to comment on the matter after he led in the unveiling of a marker at the provincial capitol building for the bronze award the province received from the Department of the Interior and Local Government for the seal of good housekeeping.
Asked if he would accept a Cabinet post, Petilla said he would “most likely” accept the offer from the President, whom he described as a “person full of integrity.”
The governor said he was flattered by the offer, saying the job could be good for Leyte and the rest of the country. “If it will be offered to me, most likely, I will accept the offer … for the good of the people of Leyte and for the people of the country,” he said.
“You know, the position is sensitive because it deals with energy. Anything done now by the secretary and by the DOE will actually affect the power and gas situation 10 years from now,” said Petilla, who obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in management engineering from Ateneo de Manila University.
Mayor Petilla agreed that the appointment of her son as energy secretary would be a big help to the region.
“The position is not just all about energy. It also deals with financial matters, which the governor can handle so well,” she said.
Tesda chief, too
In Manila, Secretary Joel Villanueva, director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), has not denied reports that he would also be moved to a different agency.
In a phone interview, Villanueva said he, too, heard the rumor but that he had not yet talked to the President about it.
It was also unclear if Almendras would be moved to the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) to replace Julia Abad, who has long wanted to quit her post and return to the private sector. The graduate of Harvard Kennedy School of Government also wants to relocate to Washington.
The Palace official said the President had yet to decide whether Almendras would become PMS chief or occupy another Cabinet-level position and hold office right at the Palace.
The PMS is the workhorse of the OP, “providing relevant and timely information to the President and helping build and nurture a bureaucracy marked by good governance and leadership by example,” according to the agency’s website.
Its mandate is to be the “primary government agency responsible for providing technical assistance and advice to the President in exercising overall management of the development process.”
When asked if he would be taking his oath on October 21, Petilla said he learned that it had been reset.
If he assumes the position of energy secretary, he will be replaced by Vice Gov. Mimietta Bagulaya.

By Michael Lim Ubac, Joey Gabieta
Philippine Daily Inquirer

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An official end to MILF rebellion

Just one month shy of turning 40 years, the Moro rebellion in Mindanao officially comes to an end as the Aquino administration and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) sign Monday a framework agreement creating Bangsamoro.
While the stirrings for Moro revolution emerged after the infamous Jabidah Massacre on Corregidor Island on March 17, 1968, it was not until Nov. 14, 1972, that “the guns of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) started to speak,”  Salah Jubair wrote in the book “Bangsamoro: A Nation Under Endless Tyranny.”
The first assault was in Jolo, Sulu, a month after then President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. Rebels put the town to the torch in an attack reminiscent of the World War II bombing of Manila by Japanese invading forces.
In all, the Moro rebellion is estimated to have claimed some 120,000 lives and kept Mindanao impoverished.
The preliminary pact provides the “overarching architecture” for the process of addressing the so-called Bangsamoro question, defining the powers and structures of a new self-governance entity that will replace and have far greater political and economic powers than the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
It also lays down the principles, processes and mechanisms “that will shape the new relations between the Central Government and the Bangsamoro.”
Bangsamoro force
Although details are still to be threshed out, the agreement enshrines the MILF’s agreeing to “undertake a graduated program for decommissioning of its forces so that they are put beyond use.”
In turn, the government agrees to “a phased and gradual” transfer of  law enforcement functions from the Armed Forces of the Philippines to a Bangsamoro police force, which is also to be defined further.
Chief government negotiator Marvic Leonen has said the decommissioning of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the MILF’s armed wing, “can keep apace within the period of transition” from the ARMM to Bangsamoro. This means within the next two years.
By mid-2016, the first set of elected Bangsamoro leaders, to rule under a ministerial government, is expected to assume power.
“The agreement heralds a change of status of the parties vis-a-vis each other, from enemies to partners,” Leonen said.
With an estimated 12,000-strong army, the MILF is the remaining Moro revolutionary group in Mindanao which enjoys international legitimacy.
The self-styled Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement, a band of some 300 armed men led by erstwhile  commander Ameril Umra Kato, has been relegated by authorities to “a lawless group” that will be subjected to joint pursuit efforts by government and the MILF.
Although still posturing as a revolutionary movement, the MNLF has disintegrated into various factions after it signed a final peace agreement with the government on Sept. 2, 1996.
The MILF itself split from the MNLF in 1977 over differences in strategy and political outlook.
Apprehension
National Democratic Front chief Luis Jalandoni has expressed apprehension at the overdependence on legal and constitutional processes for entrenching the Bangsamoro.
But MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said they were confident the government would fulfill its commitments especially in the face of a very high international interest on the Mindanao peace process.
MILF chief Murad Ebrahim has praised President Aquino for his “unflinching commitment to justice and reforms” which is “amply manifested by the exercise of his resolute political will to resolve the Bangsamoro question on the negotiating table.”
In a statement, the MILF said the framework agreement “is a template for real self-rule for the Bangsamoro in Mindanao.”
“It is a solid document, [although] short of the ideal option providing for an independent state,” it added.
“Of course, it is not a perfect agreement, especially for those who wish for a better one. But for those who have been in the negotiation since 1997, especially negotiators of the MILF, the agreement is the best,” the MILF stressed.
“There could never be another like it, because so much blood, sweat  and tears have been invested in it, and there would have been no time in the past and perhaps in the future that such agreement will ever be possible.”
By Ryan D. Rosauro
Inquirer Mindanao

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Palace to back changes to ‘sin’ tax bill

HE PALACE is banking on the Senate to introduce changes to a committee-approved ‘sin’ tax bill, stressing the need to collect more revenues and discourage smoking and drinking among the public.

  “We will have the opportunity to re-emphasize, during the debates on the floor, the primacy of the health issue and how important this measure is to expanding the government’s universal health care program,” said Deputy Presidential Spokesman Abigail F. Valte in an interview over state-run dzRB yesterday.

“The Finance department studied its proposed bill very carefully,” she pointed out, to counter the statement of Senator Ralph G. Recto, Senate ways and means committee chairman, that the P60 billion envisioned by the government from ‘sin’ tax reforms was “not realistic.”

The Senate will start plenary debates on Senate Bill (SB) 3299 today after Mr. Recto delivered his sponsorship speech on the measure last Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente C. Sotto III said in a text message on Saturday a number of senators wished to interpellate Mr. Recto regarding SB 3299. Last week, Senators Alan Peter S. Cayetano, Panfilo M. Lacson and Franklin M. Drilon vowed amendments to the bill.

SB 3299 proposes two tax tiers for fermented liquor and four for distilled spirits. It provides three tiers for cigarettes packed by machine, to be reduced to two by 2020. It seeks to impose an 8% increase in tax rates every two years, to be reduced to only 4% by 2020. House Bill (HB) 5727, passed in June, proposes two tiers for tobacco products and three for alcohol products with an 8% increase in tax rates every two years until 2025.

The SB 3299 is expected to generate P15 billion in additional revenues, half of the expected take from the House-approved version.

HB 5727 earmarks majority of proceeds to universal health care, with 15% to fund alternative livelihood for farmers and workers in tobacco-producing provinces. SB 3299 will give 40% of proceeds to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., 10% to the Health department and P1 billion for alternative livelihoods of tobacco farmers. -- Kathryn Mae P. Tubadeza

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