DAVAO CITY – Government troops on November 26 have disarmed more than 400 paramilitary members believed to be the private army of the powerful Ampatuan clan in three Maguindanao municipalities as the armed forces also kept a close watch for any sign of rido, or traditional Moro vendetta killings from the two feuding clans in Central Mindanao.
Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ 6th Infantry Division, told BusinessMirror in a mobile phone interview on November 26 that members of the Special Civilian Armed Auxiliary (SCAAs) in the towns of Datu Unsay, Ampatuan and Shariff Aguak did not offer any resistance when asked to turn in their rifles.
As of noontime that Thursday, the disarming was continuing and the firearms consisted of M14’s, vintage Garands and Carbines.
“We disarmed them to avoid them from falling into the control of politicians and other unscrupulous groups,” he said. The SCAAs are supposed to be supervised by the Army in the fight against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front then, but he said that the Army division moved in to disarm them after the Maguindanao massacre on Monday, which turned in 57 bodies in a secluded area in Ampatuan town.
He said a parallel move was being done by the National Police in recalling the firearms given to members of the Civilian Volunteers’ Organization (CVOs) for inventory, accounting and licensing.
Ponce clarified that the perpetrators of the massacre did not use the highway in escaping after burying their victims “but scampered westward toward the forested area after sensing that the troops were closing in on them”. Ponce made the statement to clear of suspicion the alleged complicity of some soldiers who were alleged to have been uncooperative in providing details as to how the alleged convoy of perpetrators were able to pass through the Army checkpoints along the highway.
Radio commentaries monitored here have alleged the Army checkpoints to have been receiving regular grease money from politicians in the area.
“We are pursuing the suspects in this direction,” he said, as he also ruled out the complicity of the Moro National Liberation Front due to the location of the gravesite in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman which has a signage indicating that it was its territory.
Ponce said that the barangay was supposed to be an MNLF training area but there were no MNLF personnel at that time. Besides, he said, “the training area is westward and there is no possibility that the perpetrators have sought refuge with the MNLF”.
The MNLF has signed a peace pact with government in September 1996 that bind them into a political settlement in Mindanao. Some 7,500 of its combatants have been absorbed into the National Police and the Army.
Ponce said that the number of soldiers was adequate to provide the vacuum left by the disarmed SCAAs and CVOs, saying that it has an infantry brigade in and around Ampatuan town, and two more brigades ready for in the entire province.
After the surrender Thursday of Datu Unsay mayor, Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr., the 6th ID has busied itself into putting more checkpoints and chokepoints “to deter civilians from sneaking in firearms and to prevent any movement and outbreak of violence coming from either [the Ampatuans or Mangudadato]”.
“These would also prevent other unscrupulous groups from taking advantage of the situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, radio reports from Maguindanao monitored here, cited inquiries from unnamed family members of still missing members of their families who suspected that they may have joined the ill-fated convoy when it was stopped and its passengers massacred along the highway in Ampatuan.
The GMA radio, dxGM Super Radyo here, aired reports of more inquiries from families of media persons in Koronadal City and Tacurong City who were not originally accounted in the initial list of media persons to comprise the convoy but who joined it in the last minute.
“Does it mean that we could expect many more? Is it true then that there could be 30 media persons as being reported?,” the dxGM anchorman of the morning slot said.
The dxGM also said that the 57 bodies dug may be more “because there have been suspicion that the retreating killers brought with them some of their victims as possible shield in case they would be trapped”.
30 -
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Dismantle private armies – groups
DAVAO CITY – Lawyers and journalists here echoed long-standing calls for government to move in against political warlords and disband their private armies as relatives of the two feuding clans in Maguindanao have asked protection from local police, at least in Davao City.
Lawyer Carlos Isagani Zarate, secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) told an indignation rally in front of the Sangguniang Panlungsod here in late afternoon of November 24, that “Maguindanao killings are a grim commentary of Philippine democracy”.
“The country would continue to suffer from these violence for as long as there are people who believe that they can kill just anyone and getting away with it, without this government doing anything,” he said.
“Government should disband now the private armies and dismantle the control of the political warlords,” he said.
He said that “what happened in Maguindanao is a grave crime against humanity that deserves the harsh and strongest condemnation of the world”.
“Considering their proximity to the present occupants of Malacañang, these warlords, as well as their henchmen, certainly believe that they can get away with cold-blooded mass murder,” he said. “We demand that the Arroyo administration throws the full force of the government to bring the perpetrators, regardless of their affiliations, to the bar of justice.”
He UPLM said that the two lawyers who were killed, Attys. Concepcion Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo, were their members.
The National Union of People's Lawyers also reminded government “lawyers are essential agents of the administration of justice, and journalists are an institution in a civilized society”. “If lawyers and journalists are brutally murdered while in the performance of their duties, and in broad daylight at that, democracy is dead, plain and simple.”
the NUPL said that Malacañang “must see to it that it knows how to accord justice to the hapless victims, especially in this case where military reports disclosed that the mastermind is its closest political ally in Mindanao, the Ampatuans”.
“All government resources must be brought to bear on the Ampatuans. Otherwise, Malacañang itself would tolerate lawlessness and violence. The private army of the Ampatuans must be instantly disarmed and placed under immediate custody and investigation, and all their firearm licenses immediately revoked.”
It said however, that “Malacañang’s tolerance of warlords greatly contributes to the persistence of the culture of impunity in our society. Since 2001 and prior to the Maguindanao massacre, 22 lawyers and 15 judges in the country have already been murdered and not a soul was put in prison by the authorities, and this has earned the present administration the dubious distinction of having the most number of lawyers and judges that were killed in an administration.”
The Cotabato City-based Alyansa ng mga Mamamayan para sa Karapatang Pantao (AMKP), also raised concerned on the declaration of the their city, including Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, the bailiwick provinces of the feuding clans Ampatuans and Mangudadato, respectively.
In a statement, it said that it feared both a new wave of human rights abuses and a likelihood of manipulation of the elections “considering that it is already common knowledge that Maguindanao has the strongest support to the administration”.
“Whether it was politically motivated or not, the mass killings remains to be the sole but biggest heinous crime against life and an affront to democracy, against peace and order and a great security threat to Mindanao and the entire country,” said Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos of Butuan City, in an open letter yesterday.
While he appealed to the masterminds and the perpetrators of the crime “to surrender immediately to the government authorities because crime does not pay and violence only begets violence and not peace”, he recommend though, that “the full force of the law and the greatest penalties be meted to those suspects if found guilty to stop the senseless killings and violence”.
“We further recommend that those involved in the mass killings should be barred from running to any elective or from holding any appointive positions in government,” he added.
In Davao City, Police Chief Ramon Apolinario said that the relatives of the Ampatuans and the Mangudadato have sought police protection after the incident in Maguindanao although a round made by television crew in their residences showed that these have been abandoned. Neighbors told the TV crew that they have hastily left for Manila.
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has earlier ordered a heightened security dragnet for the city where the Ampatuans have especially acquired large properties, and where the Mangudadatos have also established residences.
Police and units of the anti-terror military unit, Task Force Davao, have deployed personnel outside and inside the college and grade school campuses of the Ateneo de Davao University.
The Task Force Davao checkpoint in the southern approach to the city also tightened its checks of vehicles.
Lawyer Carlos Isagani Zarate, secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) told an indignation rally in front of the Sangguniang Panlungsod here in late afternoon of November 24, that “Maguindanao killings are a grim commentary of Philippine democracy”.
“The country would continue to suffer from these violence for as long as there are people who believe that they can kill just anyone and getting away with it, without this government doing anything,” he said.
“Government should disband now the private armies and dismantle the control of the political warlords,” he said.
He said that “what happened in Maguindanao is a grave crime against humanity that deserves the harsh and strongest condemnation of the world”.
“Considering their proximity to the present occupants of Malacañang, these warlords, as well as their henchmen, certainly believe that they can get away with cold-blooded mass murder,” he said. “We demand that the Arroyo administration throws the full force of the government to bring the perpetrators, regardless of their affiliations, to the bar of justice.”
He UPLM said that the two lawyers who were killed, Attys. Concepcion Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo, were their members.
The National Union of People's Lawyers also reminded government “lawyers are essential agents of the administration of justice, and journalists are an institution in a civilized society”. “If lawyers and journalists are brutally murdered while in the performance of their duties, and in broad daylight at that, democracy is dead, plain and simple.”
the NUPL said that Malacañang “must see to it that it knows how to accord justice to the hapless victims, especially in this case where military reports disclosed that the mastermind is its closest political ally in Mindanao, the Ampatuans”.
“All government resources must be brought to bear on the Ampatuans. Otherwise, Malacañang itself would tolerate lawlessness and violence. The private army of the Ampatuans must be instantly disarmed and placed under immediate custody and investigation, and all their firearm licenses immediately revoked.”
It said however, that “Malacañang’s tolerance of warlords greatly contributes to the persistence of the culture of impunity in our society. Since 2001 and prior to the Maguindanao massacre, 22 lawyers and 15 judges in the country have already been murdered and not a soul was put in prison by the authorities, and this has earned the present administration the dubious distinction of having the most number of lawyers and judges that were killed in an administration.”
The Cotabato City-based Alyansa ng mga Mamamayan para sa Karapatang Pantao (AMKP), also raised concerned on the declaration of the their city, including Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, the bailiwick provinces of the feuding clans Ampatuans and Mangudadato, respectively.
In a statement, it said that it feared both a new wave of human rights abuses and a likelihood of manipulation of the elections “considering that it is already common knowledge that Maguindanao has the strongest support to the administration”.
“Whether it was politically motivated or not, the mass killings remains to be the sole but biggest heinous crime against life and an affront to democracy, against peace and order and a great security threat to Mindanao and the entire country,” said Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos of Butuan City, in an open letter yesterday.
While he appealed to the masterminds and the perpetrators of the crime “to surrender immediately to the government authorities because crime does not pay and violence only begets violence and not peace”, he recommend though, that “the full force of the law and the greatest penalties be meted to those suspects if found guilty to stop the senseless killings and violence”.
“We further recommend that those involved in the mass killings should be barred from running to any elective or from holding any appointive positions in government,” he added.
In Davao City, Police Chief Ramon Apolinario said that the relatives of the Ampatuans and the Mangudadato have sought police protection after the incident in Maguindanao although a round made by television crew in their residences showed that these have been abandoned. Neighbors told the TV crew that they have hastily left for Manila.
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has earlier ordered a heightened security dragnet for the city where the Ampatuans have especially acquired large properties, and where the Mangudadatos have also established residences.
Police and units of the anti-terror military unit, Task Force Davao, have deployed personnel outside and inside the college and grade school campuses of the Ateneo de Davao University.
The Task Force Davao checkpoint in the southern approach to the city also tightened its checks of vehicles.
Only GMA can end the tension, political violence in Maguindanao – Moro group
DAVAO CITY - The militant Moro group in Mindanao, Suara Bangsamoro, dared President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to put a “decisive end” to the tension and the other future conflict expected to still break out during the entire election period in Maguindanao and the rest of the Cotabato provinces in Central Mindanao, saying the powerful political families were her allies,
“Only GMA can put an end to this crisis knowing that the rise in the killings in Maguindanao coincided with her rise into power and that of her political allies in Maguindanao,” said Amira Lidasan, the spokesperson of the group, in her text message to reporters on Tuesday.
Lidasan was alluding to the Ampatuans, which in the 2007 elections, figured in the controversial turnout of perfect voting for the administration.
“If [these killings] will not be resolved, we will expect more election related violence in the ARMM,” she said.
But Toy Mangudadato, brother of Buluan town Vice Mayor, Ismael Mangudadato, has already assured that they would not “make any move that is against the law”, following concerns that the massacre may trigger more bloody retaliatory killings in the nature of the rido, the traditional Moro practice of exacting vengeance.
“We are a disciplined family and we will let the law takes its own course
In his interview with the GMA TV in Davao City on November 24, he said that their attention now was how to retrieve their dead, whose graveyards were yet to located.
He repeated previous statements of his brother Ismael who accused the Ampatuan clan of the massacre saying that their long running and bloody feud “is the knowledge of everybody and this massacre is obviously politically motivated”.
“Look, they raped our women, they killed even the innocent ones,” he said. “We never expected them to hurt the women.”
He also disclosed that the members of the media accompanied the group “because they said they were excited to witness the filing of candidacies of the Mangudadato who will square off with the Ampatuan”.
“They said ‘this is exciting and a scoop’,” he said.
The armed forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command spokesman, Maj. Randolph Cabangbang told BusinessMirror yesterday, that it would decide soon if it would add an additional battalion in Maguindanao to replace the 46th Infantry Battalion that was pulled out a few hours before the massacre happened on the same morning Monday.
“This forced the 64th IB to extend its area of responsibility,” he said. “Ideally, in situations like this, any new unit that is added should have no previous experience or exposure in the place to ensure impartiality, and to complement the move of the PNP in relieving the town police chief in the area.”
He said that Eastmincom chief, Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer attended the closed door meeting with Defense Sec. Norberto Gonzalez and Mindanao Affairs Adviser, Sec. Jesus Dureza in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. Ferrer could not be immediately reached for comment.
On late Tuesday afternoon, Dureza and Gonzalez also met privately with Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan in Shariff Aguak, the capital of Maguindanao.
Cabangbang also expressed hope that the massacre of the members of a Moro political clan and journalists who accompanied them “would help dissuade other political families to commit a similar act and thus allow Filipinos to have a peaceful elections next year”.
“We hope something positive would come out of this incident, that other groups would learn the bitter lesson that nothing desirable has come out of it,” he said.
He said the eastern half of Mindanao, which include the traditionally politically explosive Cotabato provinces, have several other areas where political violence was also expected to erupt, but Cabangbang said that “they don’t have the same brutality and gruesome nature as what happened yesterday”.
In Davao City, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte gathered the police and the military’s special anti-terrorist unit, Task Force Davao to a meeting to prevent the violence between the two clans from spilling over to the city.
“Only GMA can put an end to this crisis knowing that the rise in the killings in Maguindanao coincided with her rise into power and that of her political allies in Maguindanao,” said Amira Lidasan, the spokesperson of the group, in her text message to reporters on Tuesday.
Lidasan was alluding to the Ampatuans, which in the 2007 elections, figured in the controversial turnout of perfect voting for the administration.
“If [these killings] will not be resolved, we will expect more election related violence in the ARMM,” she said.
But Toy Mangudadato, brother of Buluan town Vice Mayor, Ismael Mangudadato, has already assured that they would not “make any move that is against the law”, following concerns that the massacre may trigger more bloody retaliatory killings in the nature of the rido, the traditional Moro practice of exacting vengeance.
“We are a disciplined family and we will let the law takes its own course
In his interview with the GMA TV in Davao City on November 24, he said that their attention now was how to retrieve their dead, whose graveyards were yet to located.
He repeated previous statements of his brother Ismael who accused the Ampatuan clan of the massacre saying that their long running and bloody feud “is the knowledge of everybody and this massacre is obviously politically motivated”.
“Look, they raped our women, they killed even the innocent ones,” he said. “We never expected them to hurt the women.”
He also disclosed that the members of the media accompanied the group “because they said they were excited to witness the filing of candidacies of the Mangudadato who will square off with the Ampatuan”.
“They said ‘this is exciting and a scoop’,” he said.
The armed forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command spokesman, Maj. Randolph Cabangbang told BusinessMirror yesterday, that it would decide soon if it would add an additional battalion in Maguindanao to replace the 46th Infantry Battalion that was pulled out a few hours before the massacre happened on the same morning Monday.
“This forced the 64th IB to extend its area of responsibility,” he said. “Ideally, in situations like this, any new unit that is added should have no previous experience or exposure in the place to ensure impartiality, and to complement the move of the PNP in relieving the town police chief in the area.”
He said that Eastmincom chief, Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer attended the closed door meeting with Defense Sec. Norberto Gonzalez and Mindanao Affairs Adviser, Sec. Jesus Dureza in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. Ferrer could not be immediately reached for comment.
On late Tuesday afternoon, Dureza and Gonzalez also met privately with Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan in Shariff Aguak, the capital of Maguindanao.
Cabangbang also expressed hope that the massacre of the members of a Moro political clan and journalists who accompanied them “would help dissuade other political families to commit a similar act and thus allow Filipinos to have a peaceful elections next year”.
“We hope something positive would come out of this incident, that other groups would learn the bitter lesson that nothing desirable has come out of it,” he said.
He said the eastern half of Mindanao, which include the traditionally politically explosive Cotabato provinces, have several other areas where political violence was also expected to erupt, but Cabangbang said that “they don’t have the same brutality and gruesome nature as what happened yesterday”.
In Davao City, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte gathered the police and the military’s special anti-terrorist unit, Task Force Davao to a meeting to prevent the violence between the two clans from spilling over to the city.
Britain mulls over peace panels' invitation to join ICG
DAVAO CITY – London is still studying the offer of the peace panels of the Philippine government and Moro guerrillas, including that coming from the Malaysian facilitators of the peace negotiation, to join the international contact group (ICG) , a new feature in the still unscheduled but upcoming formal talks between the two panels.
British Ambassador the Philippines, Stephen Lillie, confirmed to reporters here on November 23, that his country was one of those offered to compose the ICG, a third party to the talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The MILF sought its creation as a condition to the resumption of the talks in its bid to ensure that all agreements would be internationally binding.
Both the MILF and the government panel refused to divulge that identity of the countries that they sought to compose the ICG, and MILF Vice Chairman for political affairs, Gadzali Jaafar, told BusinessMIrror in a previous interview that the ICG and the International Monitoring Group would have to be composed yet before there would be a formal round of negotiations.
Lillie said that the offer “is being considered by our [Prime] Minister in London”.
He said that his government was studying “at the nature of the invitation, the requirement and expectation of the panels in the participation in the ICG”.
“We are supportive though, of the peace efforts in Mindanao,” he said, adding that the formation of the ICG and the recent informal meetings of the panels since June were “encouraging signs [in the peace process] in Mindanao”.
Jaafar also said in the previous interview when contacted through his mobile phone that “these were the same considerations being taken by the countries that they have approached”.
Both government chief negotiator, Ambassador Rafael Seguis and Peace Process Adviser, Annabelle Abaya, told reporters here in previous and separate interviews last month that they expressed hope that the formal meeting would be held by next month the soonest that they could compose the ICG.
British Ambassador the Philippines, Stephen Lillie, confirmed to reporters here on November 23, that his country was one of those offered to compose the ICG, a third party to the talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The MILF sought its creation as a condition to the resumption of the talks in its bid to ensure that all agreements would be internationally binding.
Both the MILF and the government panel refused to divulge that identity of the countries that they sought to compose the ICG, and MILF Vice Chairman for political affairs, Gadzali Jaafar, told BusinessMIrror in a previous interview that the ICG and the International Monitoring Group would have to be composed yet before there would be a formal round of negotiations.
Lillie said that the offer “is being considered by our [Prime] Minister in London”.
He said that his government was studying “at the nature of the invitation, the requirement and expectation of the panels in the participation in the ICG”.
“We are supportive though, of the peace efforts in Mindanao,” he said, adding that the formation of the ICG and the recent informal meetings of the panels since June were “encouraging signs [in the peace process] in Mindanao”.
Jaafar also said in the previous interview when contacted through his mobile phone that “these were the same considerations being taken by the countries that they have approached”.
Both government chief negotiator, Ambassador Rafael Seguis and Peace Process Adviser, Annabelle Abaya, told reporters here in previous and separate interviews last month that they expressed hope that the formal meeting would be held by next month the soonest that they could compose the ICG.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Bank monitoring shows lot of OFW remittance enter Mindanao economy
DAVAO CITY – Monitoring done by Mindanao’s largest banking network showed a huge jump in remittance earnings from overseas Filipinos to their families and relatives, indicating that the same amount has also been plowed to the local economy, easing the apprehension of a deep backlash of a rampaging global recession.
But Alex B. Buenaventura, president of the One Network Bank, said that the 52 percent jump in remittance in only the third quarter, amounting to P100.635 milllion, was only a little percentage of the entire amount that was actually sent to both the bank, non-bank and undocumented channels.
“It shows that a lot of money went in despite the global crisis, and we would expect the amount to enter the economy, whether it is in the form of consumption or expenditure,” he said.
ONB’s remittance payout carries a fraction of the clients of the other remitting companies, eleven of them having a tie-up with ONB to serve their clients that can not be reached and which the ONB could penetrate.
ONB is one of the country’s largest rural bank with the widest banking network in Mindanao, most of them located in rural areas.
ONB has remittance tie-up with Uniteller, RCBD (Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.) Tele, BDO, Moneygram, Philippine National Bank, Epci Xoom, I-Remit, Development Bank of the Philippines, Asia United Bank, Security Bank and Trust Co. and G-Cash.
ONB gets a fixed amount transaction fee from these remittance outlets for handling out their payout to clients, especially those in the countryside.
ONB payout reached P96.359 million in the second quarter this year, indicating an increase of four percent by the third quarter. But the third quarter figure was a 54 percent jump compared to the 3rd quarter figure last year, which posted P66.194 million.
Buenaventura said that their figure was “only a little fraction of the combined payout done by these remittance companies. We could not even be two or five percent, of the combined transactions of these 11 remittance outlets”.
He said the bigger transactions may be carried by the non-bank remittance outlets, “these pawnshops and remitting outlets, probably because of the perception that these outlets require less documents as required by banks”.
Four more banks have finalized their tie-up agreement with ONB, which has started installing the system software to start the formal operation. These are the Bank of Philippine Islands, LBC Bank, MetroBank and Perhillion, the remittance arm of Philippine Business Bank.
Although the remittances were not the lone indicator of prosperity, Buenaventura said that combined with the double-digit upward performance of their deposit and loans of the ONB would actually show that “Mindanao is not in crisis”.
Its deposit volume has jumped 21 percent higher to P6.5 billion as of the end of the third quarter, and loan volume also reached P6 billion, a six percent increase from the same period last year. Its total assets was currently placed at P9.3 billion, an increase of 18 percent from last year.
The ONB has 75 branches in Mindanao, making it the rural bank with the widest banking network in the island, with five more branches awaiting final approval from the Central Bank. It has absorb also the Rural Bank of New Corella, with final consolidation operation in April next year. The absorbed bank located in New Corella, Davao del Norte, has a total asset of P25 million.
But Alex B. Buenaventura, president of the One Network Bank, said that the 52 percent jump in remittance in only the third quarter, amounting to P100.635 milllion, was only a little percentage of the entire amount that was actually sent to both the bank, non-bank and undocumented channels.
“It shows that a lot of money went in despite the global crisis, and we would expect the amount to enter the economy, whether it is in the form of consumption or expenditure,” he said.
ONB’s remittance payout carries a fraction of the clients of the other remitting companies, eleven of them having a tie-up with ONB to serve their clients that can not be reached and which the ONB could penetrate.
ONB is one of the country’s largest rural bank with the widest banking network in Mindanao, most of them located in rural areas.
ONB has remittance tie-up with Uniteller, RCBD (Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.) Tele, BDO, Moneygram, Philippine National Bank, Epci Xoom, I-Remit, Development Bank of the Philippines, Asia United Bank, Security Bank and Trust Co. and G-Cash.
ONB gets a fixed amount transaction fee from these remittance outlets for handling out their payout to clients, especially those in the countryside.
ONB payout reached P96.359 million in the second quarter this year, indicating an increase of four percent by the third quarter. But the third quarter figure was a 54 percent jump compared to the 3rd quarter figure last year, which posted P66.194 million.
Buenaventura said that their figure was “only a little fraction of the combined payout done by these remittance companies. We could not even be two or five percent, of the combined transactions of these 11 remittance outlets”.
He said the bigger transactions may be carried by the non-bank remittance outlets, “these pawnshops and remitting outlets, probably because of the perception that these outlets require less documents as required by banks”.
Four more banks have finalized their tie-up agreement with ONB, which has started installing the system software to start the formal operation. These are the Bank of Philippine Islands, LBC Bank, MetroBank and Perhillion, the remittance arm of Philippine Business Bank.
Although the remittances were not the lone indicator of prosperity, Buenaventura said that combined with the double-digit upward performance of their deposit and loans of the ONB would actually show that “Mindanao is not in crisis”.
Its deposit volume has jumped 21 percent higher to P6.5 billion as of the end of the third quarter, and loan volume also reached P6 billion, a six percent increase from the same period last year. Its total assets was currently placed at P9.3 billion, an increase of 18 percent from last year.
The ONB has 75 branches in Mindanao, making it the rural bank with the widest banking network in the island, with five more branches awaiting final approval from the Central Bank. It has absorb also the Rural Bank of New Corella, with final consolidation operation in April next year. The absorbed bank located in New Corella, Davao del Norte, has a total asset of P25 million.
BIMP-EAGA countries want RP to waive or lower real estate taxes
DAVAO CITY – The four countries of the East Asean Growth Area (EAGA) has expressed their wish for the Philippine government to waive or lower tax on renting properties or putting up big-ticket investments in Mindanao and Palawan, in fresh indication of their continued interest in these places as preferred investment site in this part of the subregion of the Asean.
This was expressed in the recent summit of heads of state and senior officials in Thailand late last month representing Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, which comprised the BIMP-EAGA.
Sec. Jesus Dureza, the Presidential adviser on Mindanao Affairs, told reporters here that Malaysia has requested the Philippines “to waive real estate taxes, especially with the decision of one of its business groups to revive operation of the Samal Casino Resort Hotel [in the Island Garden City of Samal]”.
On the part of the Philippines, the local governments in Mindanao may likely consider it. “But the national taxation is not decided on it yet, because of the concern that waiving it may open te floodgate for other countries.”
“It would be a policy issue to be studied carefully,” Dureza said.
The Malaysian Ekran Berhad Services, operator of several hotels and resorts in Malaysia, announced in August this year, also during a senior officials meeting in Brunei, that it was reopening the P1.5 billion casino and resort. The company also told Philippine officials and local government officials that it planned “to work on mounting flights between Davao and Kota Kinabalu, in partnership with Malaysian Airlines (MAS) to coincide with the re-opening of the resort”.
The Ekran Berhad has opened only 245 rooms in 1998, from a planned 1,400-room resort before it closed in 2001 due to the Asian financial crisis. The resort and hotel sprawls on an area of 250 hectares and includes a planned golf course.
Malaysian airlines folded its Davao flight also in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.
The request to waive Philippine local real estate tax was one of the highlights of the October 25 leaders’s summit, that also included the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between BIMP-EAGA and China, one of the three northeastern Asian countries admitted as observers to Asean’s subregional group. The others were South Korea and Japan.
Other commitments include more aggressive push on BIMP-s eco-tourism sector but with special caution to “protect, convserve and sustainably manage [its] rich marine and terrestrial resources such as the Heart of Borneo and Coral Triangle initiatives”.
Alongside eco-tourism, the BIMP also vowed to implement more initiatives to develop the former backwater regions of the four countries into a food basket of the Asean and the rest of Asia.
But it also promised to resolve existing bottlenecks, especially in uniform customs, immigration, quarantine and security issues, to energize the food basket goal and other objectives of the BIMP-EAGA.
This was expressed in the recent summit of heads of state and senior officials in Thailand late last month representing Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, which comprised the BIMP-EAGA.
Sec. Jesus Dureza, the Presidential adviser on Mindanao Affairs, told reporters here that Malaysia has requested the Philippines “to waive real estate taxes, especially with the decision of one of its business groups to revive operation of the Samal Casino Resort Hotel [in the Island Garden City of Samal]”.
On the part of the Philippines, the local governments in Mindanao may likely consider it. “But the national taxation is not decided on it yet, because of the concern that waiving it may open te floodgate for other countries.”
“It would be a policy issue to be studied carefully,” Dureza said.
The Malaysian Ekran Berhad Services, operator of several hotels and resorts in Malaysia, announced in August this year, also during a senior officials meeting in Brunei, that it was reopening the P1.5 billion casino and resort. The company also told Philippine officials and local government officials that it planned “to work on mounting flights between Davao and Kota Kinabalu, in partnership with Malaysian Airlines (MAS) to coincide with the re-opening of the resort”.
The Ekran Berhad has opened only 245 rooms in 1998, from a planned 1,400-room resort before it closed in 2001 due to the Asian financial crisis. The resort and hotel sprawls on an area of 250 hectares and includes a planned golf course.
Malaysian airlines folded its Davao flight also in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.
The request to waive Philippine local real estate tax was one of the highlights of the October 25 leaders’s summit, that also included the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between BIMP-EAGA and China, one of the three northeastern Asian countries admitted as observers to Asean’s subregional group. The others were South Korea and Japan.
Other commitments include more aggressive push on BIMP-s eco-tourism sector but with special caution to “protect, convserve and sustainably manage [its] rich marine and terrestrial resources such as the Heart of Borneo and Coral Triangle initiatives”.
Alongside eco-tourism, the BIMP also vowed to implement more initiatives to develop the former backwater regions of the four countries into a food basket of the Asean and the rest of Asia.
But it also promised to resolve existing bottlenecks, especially in uniform customs, immigration, quarantine and security issues, to energize the food basket goal and other objectives of the BIMP-EAGA.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Differing government positions on dealing with rebellion, conflict worry Mindanaoans
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More findings in Mindanao peace survey show development projects, news media contribute to violence
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Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Panels talking with interested countries to compose ICG, new IMT to be formed
Formal talks with MILF “very imminent”
DAVAO CITY – Chances were high of a new meeting in formal negotiation between the panels of government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), government and guerrilla leaders said after their third informal meeting led to a signing of an additional agreement on the protection of civilians from any aggressive or offensive actions by any of them.
“It’s highly imminent,” government chief negotiator, and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis said on October 30 at the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao, after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also received the result of the Mindanao consultations on peace initiated and undertaken by the Bishops-Ulama Conference (BUC) this year.
Secretary Annabelle Abaya, chief of the government’s Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, separately told reporters that the formal meeting may take place soonest in December this year.
Seguis also said that that meeting could happen within the next six weeks at the earliest but expressed reservation that the date could drag on until both parties could smoothen out the composition of an international contact group (ICG).
The ICG was a separate group that the MILF has previously wished to be formed to ascertain that any new agreement between the two parties becomes internationally binding. It was made a condition after the MILF expressed dismay that the mutually crafted Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), which the two panels placed their initials as indication of agreement, was eventually shelved and declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in August last year.
Malacanang, whose Cabinet Cluster E on security has been consulted every step of the way towards the formulation of the agreement, also distanced itself and rejected the document, and later scuttled its peace panel.
Both panels have started talking, either jointly or separately, with countries that might be interested to join the ICG, and Seguis said that the composition should be mutually agreed also by both panels.
Government has already talked with four countries but Seguis said they could not yet send formal invitation until both panels could clarify certain issues, including their role, if they were there to be advisers only or to support the talks. He declined to disclose the countries being tapped.
Gadzali Jaafar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, also confirmed to BusinessMirror of a likelihood of a formal meeting after the three informal meetings they have conducted since June.
“That’s the assessment of Secretary Seguis of a very imminent formal talks. To us, we can only say that it is very possible,” he said in an interview from his mobile phone on Sunday.
He said that the MILF would be concerned first on the ironing out of the composition and the giving of the mandate to the ICG, as well as the reconstitution of the same International Monitoring Team led by Malaysia.
“We have identified these countries, but yes, I would agree with Seguis that we have to keep on exploring for others until we can get their confirmation,” he said.
He disagreed with Seguis’s view however, when Seguis told reporters here, that government would have a new IMT “because the old IMT has already finished its [tour of duty] last year”.
“It’s mandate was not renewed, and thus they have to leave, because the talks have also collapsed that year. So we would have to seek another IMT,” he said. the old IMT was formed by Malaysia with military experts from Brunei and Libya and a lone economic expert from Japan comprising the 57-person team. The IMT has a mandate of only monitoring and investigating incidence of violations of the ceasefire.
Jaafar said however, that they would prefer the same IMT and would negotiate with the panel to agree to it. “Anyway, Malaysia did not say officially and privately that it would discontinue the mission of the IMT. We would like to renew that mandate,” he said.
“We would like to settle these two issues first, the ICG and the IMT, before we would conduct formal talks. We don’t like to leave unattended these two issues when we go to the negotiation table,” he said. “That’s why we can not say for certain when we would be starting the formal talks.”
Asked to comment on the MOA-AD, Jaafar said that “that’s already moot and academic now that we are meeting”.
“It remains there. It has been initialled. We have not discarded it,” he said.
DAVAO CITY – Chances were high of a new meeting in formal negotiation between the panels of government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), government and guerrilla leaders said after their third informal meeting led to a signing of an additional agreement on the protection of civilians from any aggressive or offensive actions by any of them.
“It’s highly imminent,” government chief negotiator, and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis said on October 30 at the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao, after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also received the result of the Mindanao consultations on peace initiated and undertaken by the Bishops-Ulama Conference (BUC) this year.
Secretary Annabelle Abaya, chief of the government’s Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, separately told reporters that the formal meeting may take place soonest in December this year.
Seguis also said that that meeting could happen within the next six weeks at the earliest but expressed reservation that the date could drag on until both parties could smoothen out the composition of an international contact group (ICG).
The ICG was a separate group that the MILF has previously wished to be formed to ascertain that any new agreement between the two parties becomes internationally binding. It was made a condition after the MILF expressed dismay that the mutually crafted Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), which the two panels placed their initials as indication of agreement, was eventually shelved and declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in August last year.
Malacanang, whose Cabinet Cluster E on security has been consulted every step of the way towards the formulation of the agreement, also distanced itself and rejected the document, and later scuttled its peace panel.
Both panels have started talking, either jointly or separately, with countries that might be interested to join the ICG, and Seguis said that the composition should be mutually agreed also by both panels.
Government has already talked with four countries but Seguis said they could not yet send formal invitation until both panels could clarify certain issues, including their role, if they were there to be advisers only or to support the talks. He declined to disclose the countries being tapped.
Gadzali Jaafar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, also confirmed to BusinessMirror of a likelihood of a formal meeting after the three informal meetings they have conducted since June.
“That’s the assessment of Secretary Seguis of a very imminent formal talks. To us, we can only say that it is very possible,” he said in an interview from his mobile phone on Sunday.
He said that the MILF would be concerned first on the ironing out of the composition and the giving of the mandate to the ICG, as well as the reconstitution of the same International Monitoring Team led by Malaysia.
“We have identified these countries, but yes, I would agree with Seguis that we have to keep on exploring for others until we can get their confirmation,” he said.
He disagreed with Seguis’s view however, when Seguis told reporters here, that government would have a new IMT “because the old IMT has already finished its [tour of duty] last year”.
“It’s mandate was not renewed, and thus they have to leave, because the talks have also collapsed that year. So we would have to seek another IMT,” he said. the old IMT was formed by Malaysia with military experts from Brunei and Libya and a lone economic expert from Japan comprising the 57-person team. The IMT has a mandate of only monitoring and investigating incidence of violations of the ceasefire.
Jaafar said however, that they would prefer the same IMT and would negotiate with the panel to agree to it. “Anyway, Malaysia did not say officially and privately that it would discontinue the mission of the IMT. We would like to renew that mandate,” he said.
“We would like to settle these two issues first, the ICG and the IMT, before we would conduct formal talks. We don’t like to leave unattended these two issues when we go to the negotiation table,” he said. “That’s why we can not say for certain when we would be starting the formal talks.”
Asked to comment on the MOA-AD, Jaafar said that “that’s already moot and academic now that we are meeting”.
“It remains there. It has been initialled. We have not discarded it,” he said.
Port workers trained anew on health and occupational safety
DAVAO CITY – Workers at the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) facilities in Luzon and Mindanao were trained anew on handling industrial hazardous and toxic materials – from cargo-handling and inspection to observing health and occupational safety standards – to improve port services and reduce accidents.
Davao Port District Manager Abdussabor Sawadjaan, said the PPA has stepped up “on raising-awareness on Basic Occupational Safety and Health Standards (BOSH) Course in tandem with the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)”.
The move was intended to increase personal consciousness of the workers' occupational health “as industrial hazards escalate in modern work settings”.
Some 35 participants from Luzon and Mindanao joined the BOSH seminar held at the training center of the PPA Port District Office here on October 19-23. They represented local cargo handling operators, in-house PPA ports and terminals safety staff and private ports.
One foreign shipping company based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates also sent participants to the training.
The course modules covered topics on introduction to occupation safety and health (OSH), occupational safety, occupational environment, occupational health, responses to OSH issues and concerns, and re-entry planning.
OSH standards are mandatory rules and standards implemented to eliminate or reduce occupational hazards in every workplace. A PPA statement said that OSH standards “provides protection for each worker from dangers of injury, illness, physical harm or death while doing one’s job, particularly in areas where the interplay of people and elements such as corrosives, electricity, flammables, metals, microbes, oils, virus, among others, are relatively high".
“Port operational areas, hence, are hazard-prone as they serve as the conduits of various goods and humans whose interactions bring about possible threats to health, safety and even security of the area,” the PPA said. “Thus, dockworkers such as arrastre and stevedores, who directly deal with chemicals, equipment, machines or come in contact with dangerous cargoes apart from the natural and man-made elements exposure everyday are most prone to physical stressors and threats while at work which may affect their well-being at present or in the long-term.”
Among the hazard-prone places include garages, dry docks, port hangars, maintenance and repair shops of establishments engaged in air, land and sea transportation, the PPA said.
Under the law, every organization or place of employment covered in the OSH manual has to be inspected at least once a year to determine compliance with OSH standards, the PPA said.
“Special visits may also be authorized by the DOLE to investigate accidents, occupational illnesses or dangerous occurrences, especially those resulting in permanent total disability or death due to working conditions, environmental contaminants and physical conditions,” it added.
Sawadjaan said that safety and health consciousness “is one of the cornerstones of port operations management [and] this mindset should be a daily practice in the workplace to fulfill the Zero Accident Program (ZAP) commitment”.
Annual trainings and updates on OSH were being conducted on those assigned in the implementation of health and safety standards in their respective organizations such as doctors, medics, industrial nurses, safety officers, and field supervisors and managers. “These are the core staff who are in the position to model and teach principles and practices on OSH standards in their respective working environment”.
“Although we already have a safety program, I learned that there are illnesses which our laborers contract on the job, especially skin irritations especially while working in the ship’s hatch,” said Concepcion Dulay, general manager of B.S.D. Arrastre and Stevedoring Services based in Culion, Palawan.
She said she would push for provision of physical protective gears such as masks, gloves, raincoats and towels, including the putting up of drinking water stations “within every worker’s reach to avoid heat stroke”.
Resource speakers were: OSH Training Specialist II Marnie Pebrada (Unsafe/Unhealthy Acts or Conditions); Engr. Alex Marlo Sacabon (Housekeeping Materials Handling and Storage, Electrical Safety, Personal Protective Equipment and Safety Inspection); Engr. Onna Cruz (Fire Safety, Machine Safety and Development/Improvement of OSH Programs at the Establishment Level); Engr. Nelia Granadillos (Industrial Hygiene and Control Measures) and; Dr. Maria Beatriz Villanueva (Workplace Hazards and Their Potential Health Effects).
Davao Port District Manager Abdussabor Sawadjaan, said the PPA has stepped up “on raising-awareness on Basic Occupational Safety and Health Standards (BOSH) Course in tandem with the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)”.
The move was intended to increase personal consciousness of the workers' occupational health “as industrial hazards escalate in modern work settings”.
Some 35 participants from Luzon and Mindanao joined the BOSH seminar held at the training center of the PPA Port District Office here on October 19-23. They represented local cargo handling operators, in-house PPA ports and terminals safety staff and private ports.
One foreign shipping company based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates also sent participants to the training.
The course modules covered topics on introduction to occupation safety and health (OSH), occupational safety, occupational environment, occupational health, responses to OSH issues and concerns, and re-entry planning.
OSH standards are mandatory rules and standards implemented to eliminate or reduce occupational hazards in every workplace. A PPA statement said that OSH standards “provides protection for each worker from dangers of injury, illness, physical harm or death while doing one’s job, particularly in areas where the interplay of people and elements such as corrosives, electricity, flammables, metals, microbes, oils, virus, among others, are relatively high".
“Port operational areas, hence, are hazard-prone as they serve as the conduits of various goods and humans whose interactions bring about possible threats to health, safety and even security of the area,” the PPA said. “Thus, dockworkers such as arrastre and stevedores, who directly deal with chemicals, equipment, machines or come in contact with dangerous cargoes apart from the natural and man-made elements exposure everyday are most prone to physical stressors and threats while at work which may affect their well-being at present or in the long-term.”
Among the hazard-prone places include garages, dry docks, port hangars, maintenance and repair shops of establishments engaged in air, land and sea transportation, the PPA said.
Under the law, every organization or place of employment covered in the OSH manual has to be inspected at least once a year to determine compliance with OSH standards, the PPA said.
“Special visits may also be authorized by the DOLE to investigate accidents, occupational illnesses or dangerous occurrences, especially those resulting in permanent total disability or death due to working conditions, environmental contaminants and physical conditions,” it added.
Sawadjaan said that safety and health consciousness “is one of the cornerstones of port operations management [and] this mindset should be a daily practice in the workplace to fulfill the Zero Accident Program (ZAP) commitment”.
Annual trainings and updates on OSH were being conducted on those assigned in the implementation of health and safety standards in their respective organizations such as doctors, medics, industrial nurses, safety officers, and field supervisors and managers. “These are the core staff who are in the position to model and teach principles and practices on OSH standards in their respective working environment”.
“Although we already have a safety program, I learned that there are illnesses which our laborers contract on the job, especially skin irritations especially while working in the ship’s hatch,” said Concepcion Dulay, general manager of B.S.D. Arrastre and Stevedoring Services based in Culion, Palawan.
She said she would push for provision of physical protective gears such as masks, gloves, raincoats and towels, including the putting up of drinking water stations “within every worker’s reach to avoid heat stroke”.
Resource speakers were: OSH Training Specialist II Marnie Pebrada (Unsafe/Unhealthy Acts or Conditions); Engr. Alex Marlo Sacabon (Housekeeping Materials Handling and Storage, Electrical Safety, Personal Protective Equipment and Safety Inspection); Engr. Onna Cruz (Fire Safety, Machine Safety and Development/Improvement of OSH Programs at the Establishment Level); Engr. Nelia Granadillos (Industrial Hygiene and Control Measures) and; Dr. Maria Beatriz Villanueva (Workplace Hazards and Their Potential Health Effects).
Monday, November 9, 2009
Voters' education trims down filling up of ballot to 6 minutes – group
DAVAO CITY – A monitoring conducted by the election advocacy group, YouthVote Philippines, said repeated voter education has familiarized Filipino voters with the automated process, trimming down to six minutes the length of stay of a voter in the polling precinct.
The YouthVotePhilippines said that its second round time-and-motion study on filling up the ballot held October 24-25 in San Isidro Central School, Nueva Ecija showed that education campaign by various groups helped voters to rummage through the new technology introduced by the Commission on Elections for the 2010 Presidential elections.
“Results of the recent study show that, on average, it may take a voter six minutes and one second to fill up the proposed ballot for the automated elections,” the group said, adding that this was an improvement from the average in the first study conducted in Tanauan, Batangas, which recorded an average of eight minutes and four seconds.
It said that it conducted the two studies with PoliticalArena.com, a socio-political networking site. The group said that it used an improvised ballot based on the sample design of the Comelec, and in the second study, the ballot featured substitute questions for 32 electoral positions with 338 candidates printed on both sides of the paper.
For its second round, the YouthVote Philippines also shortened the ballot size from 25 to 20 inches and “adjusted the font size to Arial Narrow 11 also as per Comelec advice”.
“Proper orientation on the voting process can really help a voter fill up the ballot easier and faster,” said Ching Jorge, lead convener of the YouthVote Philippines in an internet posting. “The result is a welcome development and we’re gearing our voter education program to not only get people informed about the candidates but to also familiarize them with the ballot and the new process.”
The group said that an exit interview it alsoconducted among participants of the study indicated positive feedback. “Several teachers, elderly and experienced voters, who participated in the study, said they were relieved that voting will still be done using paper ballots, as they were afraid that automated elections meant computerized voting”.
“Previous Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) chairpersons also expressed relief that the voting process will not be very different from past elections. A 74-year old voter said he was thankful the youth were initiating change. A total of 534 people of voting age participated in the study,” the group further said.
“People are always wary about new processes especially for events that will impact them personally like elections. It’s important that experienced voters have seen that it is not so much changing the old process but making it more efficient,” said Jaime Garchitorena, YouthVote information technology strategist.
“What we need to do now, especially Comelec and other groups with voter education programs, is to enlighten the public on which parts of the process will be automated, which parts will be a bit different and which parts will be similar,” he said.
“As we improve the way we conduct elections, we think we should also improve the way we conduct voter education. Aside from knowing more about the candidates and developing democratic criteria, people should also now be informed on how exactly to engage the electoral process so they won’t feel indifferent,” added Tanya Hamada, YouthVote regional convener.
In the second time-and-motion study, the participants came from different sectors including the out-of-school and elderly voters. The participants were oriented on the mechanics of filling up the ballot to avoid over-voting and shading problems.
“When we released the results of the first study, some people said we got a good average time because our participants were all students who are used to shading, like when they do it during exams,” Jorge said. “But with the result of the second study, it goes to show that with proper guidance even experienced voters can easily adjust to the new process.”
The group said it launched the studies and information campaign to address “concerns regarding difficulties and delays that might be caused by the new process and clustering of precincts”. It said that the Comelec had planned “to collapse the existing 320,415 voting precincts into 80,146 clustered precincts in order to match the available 82,200 counting machines, also known as PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan)|.
“The new set up will cluster up to 1,000 registered voters in every precinct, which will be open for 11 hours,” it said.
“We thought it better to experiment and investigate instead of whining about automated elections,” said Garchitorena. “I think the youth and the public in general deserves to know the facts of this new technology and process.”
The group made its presence felt since June 2008 when it began to engage the Comelec in dialogues focused on the immediate resumption of the registration of voters
The YouthVotePhilippines said that its second round time-and-motion study on filling up the ballot held October 24-25 in San Isidro Central School, Nueva Ecija showed that education campaign by various groups helped voters to rummage through the new technology introduced by the Commission on Elections for the 2010 Presidential elections.
“Results of the recent study show that, on average, it may take a voter six minutes and one second to fill up the proposed ballot for the automated elections,” the group said, adding that this was an improvement from the average in the first study conducted in Tanauan, Batangas, which recorded an average of eight minutes and four seconds.
It said that it conducted the two studies with PoliticalArena.com, a socio-political networking site. The group said that it used an improvised ballot based on the sample design of the Comelec, and in the second study, the ballot featured substitute questions for 32 electoral positions with 338 candidates printed on both sides of the paper.
For its second round, the YouthVote Philippines also shortened the ballot size from 25 to 20 inches and “adjusted the font size to Arial Narrow 11 also as per Comelec advice”.
“Proper orientation on the voting process can really help a voter fill up the ballot easier and faster,” said Ching Jorge, lead convener of the YouthVote Philippines in an internet posting. “The result is a welcome development and we’re gearing our voter education program to not only get people informed about the candidates but to also familiarize them with the ballot and the new process.”
The group said that an exit interview it alsoconducted among participants of the study indicated positive feedback. “Several teachers, elderly and experienced voters, who participated in the study, said they were relieved that voting will still be done using paper ballots, as they were afraid that automated elections meant computerized voting”.
“Previous Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) chairpersons also expressed relief that the voting process will not be very different from past elections. A 74-year old voter said he was thankful the youth were initiating change. A total of 534 people of voting age participated in the study,” the group further said.
“People are always wary about new processes especially for events that will impact them personally like elections. It’s important that experienced voters have seen that it is not so much changing the old process but making it more efficient,” said Jaime Garchitorena, YouthVote information technology strategist.
“What we need to do now, especially Comelec and other groups with voter education programs, is to enlighten the public on which parts of the process will be automated, which parts will be a bit different and which parts will be similar,” he said.
“As we improve the way we conduct elections, we think we should also improve the way we conduct voter education. Aside from knowing more about the candidates and developing democratic criteria, people should also now be informed on how exactly to engage the electoral process so they won’t feel indifferent,” added Tanya Hamada, YouthVote regional convener.
In the second time-and-motion study, the participants came from different sectors including the out-of-school and elderly voters. The participants were oriented on the mechanics of filling up the ballot to avoid over-voting and shading problems.
“When we released the results of the first study, some people said we got a good average time because our participants were all students who are used to shading, like when they do it during exams,” Jorge said. “But with the result of the second study, it goes to show that with proper guidance even experienced voters can easily adjust to the new process.”
The group said it launched the studies and information campaign to address “concerns regarding difficulties and delays that might be caused by the new process and clustering of precincts”. It said that the Comelec had planned “to collapse the existing 320,415 voting precincts into 80,146 clustered precincts in order to match the available 82,200 counting machines, also known as PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan)|.
“The new set up will cluster up to 1,000 registered voters in every precinct, which will be open for 11 hours,” it said.
“We thought it better to experiment and investigate instead of whining about automated elections,” said Garchitorena. “I think the youth and the public in general deserves to know the facts of this new technology and process.”
The group made its presence felt since June 2008 when it began to engage the Comelec in dialogues focused on the immediate resumption of the registration of voters
ADB pleased with RP's aggressive push for mitigation mechanism Vs. climatic changes
Japan notes surge in carbon credit applications worldwide – consultant
DAVAO CITY – A consultant of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said the agency has been pleased with the slew of mitigation actions undertaken by the Philippine government saying that the move was “only fitting for a country so vulnerable also to typhoons and other issues on climate change”.
Kenjiro Suzuki, ADB consultant on clean development mechanism and sustainable infrastructure division, also disclosed to reporters that Japan has noted a surge in applications for carbon credits for various projects from developing countries worldwide.
“It's not only in Southeast Asia but worldwide, where people are getting to be more aware of developing projects to mitigate the impact of climate change,” he said.
In the Philippines, he said the ADB has committed a sizeable amount already to help fund the emerging undertakings of the government to put up infrastructure and projects aimed at reducing the risk of the communities to the increasingly unpredictable changes in weather patterns, especially against typhoons where the Philippines is one of the most visited and damaged, countries in the world.
Suzuki, who joined the panel in the regional consultation on October 22 here on clean energy development initiated by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), did not cite projects of the Philippine government that it funded although he has been mentioning the rehabilitation efforts in the aftermath of the typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng and the new push for more environment protection measures.
The other project it was funding was the shift in the uee of the light bulbs in the households and industries with the more cost-efficient energy-saving compact flourescent lamps (CFLs), which the DOE would soon offer a bulb-to-CFL exchange project to the households.
“The Philippines is doing great in coming up with mitigation measures against climate change especially that it is the most vulnerable,” he said. “The Philippines is, in fact, much more advance than any other [developing] countries in adapting measures to mitigate the effects of climate change.”
He said that the ADB has been “mainstreaming” climate change as a major funding section of the bank, alongside with the major funding for such items as infrastructure and government. That means, he said in his presentation earlier in the consultation at the Grand Men Seng Hotel here yesterday (Thursday), that projects along the line of climate mitigation and risk reduction would have major funding commitment from the bank.
“The bank sees the major need of reducing the impact of climate change,” he said.
The major role of the climate change allocation would likely help boost the widening clamor of developing countries for more and greater financial assistance from the rich countries to cushion the climatic devastation of the largely agriculture economies of the former and the increasing dislocation and deaths of their poor residents during natural calamities blamed on abrupt changing weather patterns.
“It's a good move of the ADB to mainstream climate change in their funding assistance to developing countries,” said Davao City Councilor Leonardo Avila III, the chairman of the council committee of the City Council and the vice chairman of the Task Force on Climate Change that Mayor Rodrigo Duterte created recently.
“The developed countries should give more. In fact, what the ADB would give is still ours, because this is a loan which we pay anyway,” he said. “The rich countries should give more assistance because we are the victims here, not the culprits in the carbon emissions and other greehouse gases that have damage the earth's atmosphere.”
The climatic changes have been devastating much of the agriculture of the developing countries, he said. “which are also highly dependent on the output of this sector”.
Also, he said, “the world's poor are also in the developing countries which must suffer from the onslaught of natural calamities. These are the people that live in the esteros, the canals, the riverbanks, mountain sides, the coastal areas, who are those first affected by typhoons and floods and who have to go hungry with every calamity”.
He said the local task force on climate change was yet to meet soon to thresh out the details of their plans.
DAVAO CITY – A consultant of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said the agency has been pleased with the slew of mitigation actions undertaken by the Philippine government saying that the move was “only fitting for a country so vulnerable also to typhoons and other issues on climate change”.
Kenjiro Suzuki, ADB consultant on clean development mechanism and sustainable infrastructure division, also disclosed to reporters that Japan has noted a surge in applications for carbon credits for various projects from developing countries worldwide.
“It's not only in Southeast Asia but worldwide, where people are getting to be more aware of developing projects to mitigate the impact of climate change,” he said.
In the Philippines, he said the ADB has committed a sizeable amount already to help fund the emerging undertakings of the government to put up infrastructure and projects aimed at reducing the risk of the communities to the increasingly unpredictable changes in weather patterns, especially against typhoons where the Philippines is one of the most visited and damaged, countries in the world.
Suzuki, who joined the panel in the regional consultation on October 22 here on clean energy development initiated by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), did not cite projects of the Philippine government that it funded although he has been mentioning the rehabilitation efforts in the aftermath of the typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng and the new push for more environment protection measures.
The other project it was funding was the shift in the uee of the light bulbs in the households and industries with the more cost-efficient energy-saving compact flourescent lamps (CFLs), which the DOE would soon offer a bulb-to-CFL exchange project to the households.
“The Philippines is doing great in coming up with mitigation measures against climate change especially that it is the most vulnerable,” he said. “The Philippines is, in fact, much more advance than any other [developing] countries in adapting measures to mitigate the effects of climate change.”
He said that the ADB has been “mainstreaming” climate change as a major funding section of the bank, alongside with the major funding for such items as infrastructure and government. That means, he said in his presentation earlier in the consultation at the Grand Men Seng Hotel here yesterday (Thursday), that projects along the line of climate mitigation and risk reduction would have major funding commitment from the bank.
“The bank sees the major need of reducing the impact of climate change,” he said.
The major role of the climate change allocation would likely help boost the widening clamor of developing countries for more and greater financial assistance from the rich countries to cushion the climatic devastation of the largely agriculture economies of the former and the increasing dislocation and deaths of their poor residents during natural calamities blamed on abrupt changing weather patterns.
“It's a good move of the ADB to mainstream climate change in their funding assistance to developing countries,” said Davao City Councilor Leonardo Avila III, the chairman of the council committee of the City Council and the vice chairman of the Task Force on Climate Change that Mayor Rodrigo Duterte created recently.
“The developed countries should give more. In fact, what the ADB would give is still ours, because this is a loan which we pay anyway,” he said. “The rich countries should give more assistance because we are the victims here, not the culprits in the carbon emissions and other greehouse gases that have damage the earth's atmosphere.”
The climatic changes have been devastating much of the agriculture of the developing countries, he said. “which are also highly dependent on the output of this sector”.
Also, he said, “the world's poor are also in the developing countries which must suffer from the onslaught of natural calamities. These are the people that live in the esteros, the canals, the riverbanks, mountain sides, the coastal areas, who are those first affected by typhoons and floods and who have to go hungry with every calamity”.
He said the local task force on climate change was yet to meet soon to thresh out the details of their plans.
Davao City’s sanitary landfill ready for use by December
Duterte to court: Don’t look at us if city would suffer flashflooding like Metro Manila
DAVAO CITY – By the yearend, this city would be one of the few cities with functional sanitary landfill, although Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said that a court order suspending some of his key operations officials are preventing a full clearing of clogged waterways and extrication of clogged materials from the canals.
The city government has spent P200 million to put up the landfill in Carmen, about 45 kilometers northwest of downtown, and Duterte said that its two previous dumpsites have all been planted with trees already.
Duterte said however, that he would defy a government ban on incinerators saying that he would purchase one machine to help hospitals dispose of human parts.
“I will use an incinerator. I will buy one to help the Davao Medical Center [and other hospitals] to dispose properly the human parts. They can not just dispose anywhere these intestines, or amputated legs, and those human parts,” he said. “This will be an exception [to that ban].”
The machines and equipment to implement the sanitary landfill disposal have been purchased, he told a regular Sunday public affairs program of the city government, Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa, over at ABS-CBN on October 18. He said that the equipment and their use were being fine-tuned.
“We are only one of the few cities which complied with the sanitary landfill requirement of government,” Duterte said.
Although sanitary landfills would require special features and financial requirements according to the economic capacity of localities, environment experts have asked basic requirementsin site design and operation before it can be regarded as a sanitary landfill.
One is full or partial hydrogeological isolation to ensure leachate security, or the protection of the groundwater from seepage of the liquid contaminants from the garbage. An Internet posting said that if a site cannot be located on land which naturally contains leachate security, additional lining materials should be brought to the site to reduce leakage from the base of the site (leachate) and help reduce contamination of groundwater and surrounding soil.
“Leachate collection and treatment must be stressed as a basic requirement,” it said.
Another requirement is the formal engineering preparations where designs “should be developed from local geological and hydrogeological investigations [and where] a waste disposal plan and a final restoration plan should also be developed”.
Also required is permanent control where “trained staff should be based at the landfill to supervise site preparation and construction, the depositing of waste and the regular operation and maintenance”.
A fourth requirement is for a “planned waste emplacement and covering: waste should be spread in layers and compacted. A small working area which is covered daily helps make the waste less accessible to pests and vermin”.
Duterte said he was told by technicians that the landfill would follow the process of covering the disposed garbage excluding toxic materials with a lining after a certain period, and after a certain number of layers, the site would be planted with trees.
He said that previous open dump sites have all planted with trees.”We won’t have problem anymore with disposal. Except that we would still have the problem of extricating the garbage from areas with only small alleys because these are the ones that clog our canals.”
He said he has formed a task force to work this out, although, he also expressed concern with the current suspension of three of his officials involved in the clearing operations of the canals. Suspended were City Administrator Wendel Avisado, Drainage Maintenance Unit head Yusop Jimlani, and City Engineer Jose Gestuveo Jr.
The Overall Ombudsman suspended them without pay on July this year after House Speaker Prospero Nograles filed administrative and criminal charges after the city demolished a Nograles Park along Quezon Boulevard purportedly to clear the canal of obstruction.
The local SunStar Davao reported that the Court of Appeals reversed the Ombudsman decision for alleged “grave abuse of its discretion”.
Duterte said he has appointed Jimlani to the task force to dismantle the blockade in the canals and “to know if the canal water could flow to the waterways”. He said that “the problem is Jimlani is afraid to remove the blockade because of the case against him.”
The program showed footages of clearing the canals using a backhoe but was unable to clear the clogged materials from a covered canal.
“It depends now on the court to decide on the merit of the case especially after what happened to the Philippines lately, but don’t look at our direction if the city would be flooded because our canals were unable to let flow the flood waters,” he said. “On our part, we have done our best efforts.”
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DAVAO CITY – By the yearend, this city would be one of the few cities with functional sanitary landfill, although Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said that a court order suspending some of his key operations officials are preventing a full clearing of clogged waterways and extrication of clogged materials from the canals.
The city government has spent P200 million to put up the landfill in Carmen, about 45 kilometers northwest of downtown, and Duterte said that its two previous dumpsites have all been planted with trees already.
Duterte said however, that he would defy a government ban on incinerators saying that he would purchase one machine to help hospitals dispose of human parts.
“I will use an incinerator. I will buy one to help the Davao Medical Center [and other hospitals] to dispose properly the human parts. They can not just dispose anywhere these intestines, or amputated legs, and those human parts,” he said. “This will be an exception [to that ban].”
The machines and equipment to implement the sanitary landfill disposal have been purchased, he told a regular Sunday public affairs program of the city government, Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa, over at ABS-CBN on October 18. He said that the equipment and their use were being fine-tuned.
“We are only one of the few cities which complied with the sanitary landfill requirement of government,” Duterte said.
Although sanitary landfills would require special features and financial requirements according to the economic capacity of localities, environment experts have asked basic requirementsin site design and operation before it can be regarded as a sanitary landfill.
One is full or partial hydrogeological isolation to ensure leachate security, or the protection of the groundwater from seepage of the liquid contaminants from the garbage. An Internet posting said that if a site cannot be located on land which naturally contains leachate security, additional lining materials should be brought to the site to reduce leakage from the base of the site (leachate) and help reduce contamination of groundwater and surrounding soil.
“Leachate collection and treatment must be stressed as a basic requirement,” it said.
Another requirement is the formal engineering preparations where designs “should be developed from local geological and hydrogeological investigations [and where] a waste disposal plan and a final restoration plan should also be developed”.
Also required is permanent control where “trained staff should be based at the landfill to supervise site preparation and construction, the depositing of waste and the regular operation and maintenance”.
A fourth requirement is for a “planned waste emplacement and covering: waste should be spread in layers and compacted. A small working area which is covered daily helps make the waste less accessible to pests and vermin”.
Duterte said he was told by technicians that the landfill would follow the process of covering the disposed garbage excluding toxic materials with a lining after a certain period, and after a certain number of layers, the site would be planted with trees.
He said that previous open dump sites have all planted with trees.”We won’t have problem anymore with disposal. Except that we would still have the problem of extricating the garbage from areas with only small alleys because these are the ones that clog our canals.”
He said he has formed a task force to work this out, although, he also expressed concern with the current suspension of three of his officials involved in the clearing operations of the canals. Suspended were City Administrator Wendel Avisado, Drainage Maintenance Unit head Yusop Jimlani, and City Engineer Jose Gestuveo Jr.
The Overall Ombudsman suspended them without pay on July this year after House Speaker Prospero Nograles filed administrative and criminal charges after the city demolished a Nograles Park along Quezon Boulevard purportedly to clear the canal of obstruction.
The local SunStar Davao reported that the Court of Appeals reversed the Ombudsman decision for alleged “grave abuse of its discretion”.
Duterte said he has appointed Jimlani to the task force to dismantle the blockade in the canals and “to know if the canal water could flow to the waterways”. He said that “the problem is Jimlani is afraid to remove the blockade because of the case against him.”
The program showed footages of clearing the canals using a backhoe but was unable to clear the clogged materials from a covered canal.
“It depends now on the court to decide on the merit of the case especially after what happened to the Philippines lately, but don’t look at our direction if the city would be flooded because our canals were unable to let flow the flood waters,” he said. “On our part, we have done our best efforts.”
- 30 -
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Erratic weather pattern renders impractical the shift of class opening to September
Two whammies to force makeup classes in typhoon-whacked Luzon
DAVAO CITY – Education Secretary Jesli Lapus ruled out anew the recurring proposal to move the class opening to September or October apparently to spare classes from the onset of the rainy season, citing recent survey of parents and teachers as well as the growing manifestation of the unpredictable weather pattern.
“Climate change is now ravaging the world in ever unpredictable pattern, and look now, if we have moved the class opening in September, we could have sustained two damaging typhoons already in just one month,” he told a press conference at the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao, where education officials were gathered for a regional education summit.
The summit would try to surface the problems in the education sector within the Davao Region.
The suggestion was already tested in 1972 “and for the next three years there was the bad experience that children have been complaining of the hot weather in summer because the new school year would cover the summer months”.
“Summer months would be bad for children inside the classrooms with no good ventilation,” he said.
“It’s exactly why the people in the West moved their class opening in September because the June and July months are summer in their countries,” he said.
He said that a recent survey among parents and teachers nationwide turned up a 65 percent disapproval to the proposal.
Meanwhile, Lapus clarified that the twin whammies of the influenza A(H1N1) virus and the two typhoons has rendered moot and academic the debate on whether or not to extend classes to the weekend and including holidays.
He said that the forcible suspension of classes in many schools in Metro Manila due to the influenza A(H1N1) and the devastating two typhoons last week have already wrought more than enough interruption in the school year’s schedule.
“There have been debates in Manila about how to make up for lost classes, but what is certain is that we have to make up for that,” he said.
Lapus said that Saturdays would be used to make up lost classes in the areas affected by the typhoons, to cover Metro Manila and most of Regions 4A (Calabarzon) and 4B (Mimaropa), the most affected by Typhoon Ondoy, and the northern Luzon battered by Typhoon Pepeng.
The last week of October, commonly devoted for in-school service training but which is often used as a semestral break, would be utilized for makeup classes.
For Typhoon Ondoy alone, 1,008 schools were damaged and another 242 were being used as temporarily shelter of 34,087 evacuees. The DepEd was assessing the effect of Typhoon Pepeng.
Loses to damaged classrooms was valued at P344,192,840, and other properties such as textbooks, desks, computers and other equipment, amounted to P206,096,062. He said that the
P550 million total damage would take time to recover, but focus was on rehabilitating the classrooms to be used immediately.
DAVAO CITY – Education Secretary Jesli Lapus ruled out anew the recurring proposal to move the class opening to September or October apparently to spare classes from the onset of the rainy season, citing recent survey of parents and teachers as well as the growing manifestation of the unpredictable weather pattern.
“Climate change is now ravaging the world in ever unpredictable pattern, and look now, if we have moved the class opening in September, we could have sustained two damaging typhoons already in just one month,” he told a press conference at the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao, where education officials were gathered for a regional education summit.
The summit would try to surface the problems in the education sector within the Davao Region.
The suggestion was already tested in 1972 “and for the next three years there was the bad experience that children have been complaining of the hot weather in summer because the new school year would cover the summer months”.
“Summer months would be bad for children inside the classrooms with no good ventilation,” he said.
“It’s exactly why the people in the West moved their class opening in September because the June and July months are summer in their countries,” he said.
He said that a recent survey among parents and teachers nationwide turned up a 65 percent disapproval to the proposal.
Meanwhile, Lapus clarified that the twin whammies of the influenza A(H1N1) virus and the two typhoons has rendered moot and academic the debate on whether or not to extend classes to the weekend and including holidays.
He said that the forcible suspension of classes in many schools in Metro Manila due to the influenza A(H1N1) and the devastating two typhoons last week have already wrought more than enough interruption in the school year’s schedule.
“There have been debates in Manila about how to make up for lost classes, but what is certain is that we have to make up for that,” he said.
Lapus said that Saturdays would be used to make up lost classes in the areas affected by the typhoons, to cover Metro Manila and most of Regions 4A (Calabarzon) and 4B (Mimaropa), the most affected by Typhoon Ondoy, and the northern Luzon battered by Typhoon Pepeng.
The last week of October, commonly devoted for in-school service training but which is often used as a semestral break, would be utilized for makeup classes.
For Typhoon Ondoy alone, 1,008 schools were damaged and another 242 were being used as temporarily shelter of 34,087 evacuees. The DepEd was assessing the effect of Typhoon Pepeng.
Loses to damaged classrooms was valued at P344,192,840, and other properties such as textbooks, desks, computers and other equipment, amounted to P206,096,062. He said that the
P550 million total damage would take time to recover, but focus was on rehabilitating the classrooms to be used immediately.
Expansion program points to growing clientele of medical spa
DAVAO CITY – The expansion program of a medical spa here, including a planned branch at the Alexian Brothers' wellness center, has indicated a strong showing of the spa industry here with no sign of rust from the lingering global financial crisis.
And the males may not overtake the proclivity of the females for the wellness benefits of the spa yet, but Rayanne Arao, marketing manager of The MediSpa, by Skin Specialist, said that the males have posted a strong showing as a spa goer.
“More males are becoming conscious of their health and wellness, and they are becoming a good clientele base,” she told a regular fortnight business forum on Tuesday at their clinic at the SM City here.
In less than a decade of operation, the MediSpa would open a branch at the new building of the Alexian Brothers wellness center at its compound along MacArthur Highway here, providing the same brand of aesthetics and therapeutic services that now includes the Filipino traditional hilot services and the Chinese's age-old expertise in acupuncture.
The new branch would open next month, as well as plans were also being laid in the pipeline to put branches at the upcoming upscale shopping center of the Ayala Land, Inc.
“The clientele is growing, with no sign of having been troubled by the financial difficulty,” she said.
She said the local clients remain its strong base of those seeking wellness and medically-supervised relaxation and therapeutic massage.
The only one medical spa in Southern Philippines, the MediSpa is managed by the Guillano couple, with the wife, Dr. Victoria Patiño-Guillano, is one of only two dermapathologist in Mindanao. Her husband, Franklin is a nephrologist, and helps manage the nephrology center in Davao, which would also open a new branch alongside with the MediSpa.
The MediSpa has added new services to the common spa services, Arao said. This includes adaption of the Pinoy hilot expertise in the treatment of joint and muscle pains, of the needle-less acupuncture, the Chinese traditional practice, as well as the application of the healing wonders of the jade stones.
Arao said that wider education of Filipinos may further improve the understanding of how the spa operates. “More people have come to understand that the spa is not a salon and we have helped reduced the misconception that the spa offers other undesirable [sexual] services,” she said.
And the males may not overtake the proclivity of the females for the wellness benefits of the spa yet, but Rayanne Arao, marketing manager of The MediSpa, by Skin Specialist, said that the males have posted a strong showing as a spa goer.
“More males are becoming conscious of their health and wellness, and they are becoming a good clientele base,” she told a regular fortnight business forum on Tuesday at their clinic at the SM City here.
In less than a decade of operation, the MediSpa would open a branch at the new building of the Alexian Brothers wellness center at its compound along MacArthur Highway here, providing the same brand of aesthetics and therapeutic services that now includes the Filipino traditional hilot services and the Chinese's age-old expertise in acupuncture.
The new branch would open next month, as well as plans were also being laid in the pipeline to put branches at the upcoming upscale shopping center of the Ayala Land, Inc.
“The clientele is growing, with no sign of having been troubled by the financial difficulty,” she said.
She said the local clients remain its strong base of those seeking wellness and medically-supervised relaxation and therapeutic massage.
The only one medical spa in Southern Philippines, the MediSpa is managed by the Guillano couple, with the wife, Dr. Victoria Patiño-Guillano, is one of only two dermapathologist in Mindanao. Her husband, Franklin is a nephrologist, and helps manage the nephrology center in Davao, which would also open a new branch alongside with the MediSpa.
The MediSpa has added new services to the common spa services, Arao said. This includes adaption of the Pinoy hilot expertise in the treatment of joint and muscle pains, of the needle-less acupuncture, the Chinese traditional practice, as well as the application of the healing wonders of the jade stones.
Arao said that wider education of Filipinos may further improve the understanding of how the spa operates. “More people have come to understand that the spa is not a salon and we have helped reduced the misconception that the spa offers other undesirable [sexual] services,” she said.
Inventors of herbal meds craft document to standardize practice
DAVAO CITY – A group of inventors and distributors of known herbal medicines are crafting a document that would form the standardized practice in developing new products and marketing them in various media forms, an executive of the group said.
The group has been meeting since August this year when they formed the Philippine Society of Traditional and Alternative Medicine Inc. (PSTAMI) here, said Edgar Delibo, the adhoc president.
Incidentally, said Delibo, many of the major herbal medicines commercially marketed and widely adevertised were developed here or elsewhere in Mindanao, or owned and distributed by their own inventors.
The PSTAMI would like to enforce standard, from developing and testing of the product, to the manufacturing and labelling of the product. “We would like to protect all those engaged in traditional and alternative medicine, as well as the consumers and end-users of the products that we develop and commercialize,” Delibo said.
Production and commercial distribution of herbal medicines is covered under Republic Act 8423, or the the Traditional and Alternative Medicines Act of 1997 but he said that 12 years later “the law has not been adequately implemented”.
Delibo has developed medicines and food supplements to treat various ailments including glaucoma and dengue and has been developing lately a concoction to treat hypertension and stroke which is in its two years of clinical and field testing conducted by various hospitals and monitored by government agencies.
He said that his members professing similar intention include the inventors, distributors and manufacturers of known products such as the MX3, which was developed here, the MI capsule and the Nanz herbal capsule.
There were 20 of them so far, “but we are tapping all the rest in the country to subscribe to our goal”. “The minimum intention is for the manufacturers and distributors to follow the manufacturing and labelling standard and for developers of the product to apply the modalities of testing and handling.”
The group's goal was backed by the Food and Drugs Administration, formerly the Bureau of Food and Drugs which he said would ensure the product quality and safety, and the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCCII).
“We would like to ensure the truthfulness and reliability of the products as they are advertized,” he said. “We would discourage the testimonial type of advertising because testimonies can be faked and there are a lot of people who are complaining that the products they bought were not effective and have caused harm instead,” he added.
- 30 -
The group has been meeting since August this year when they formed the Philippine Society of Traditional and Alternative Medicine Inc. (PSTAMI) here, said Edgar Delibo, the adhoc president.
Incidentally, said Delibo, many of the major herbal medicines commercially marketed and widely adevertised were developed here or elsewhere in Mindanao, or owned and distributed by their own inventors.
The PSTAMI would like to enforce standard, from developing and testing of the product, to the manufacturing and labelling of the product. “We would like to protect all those engaged in traditional and alternative medicine, as well as the consumers and end-users of the products that we develop and commercialize,” Delibo said.
Production and commercial distribution of herbal medicines is covered under Republic Act 8423, or the the Traditional and Alternative Medicines Act of 1997 but he said that 12 years later “the law has not been adequately implemented”.
Delibo has developed medicines and food supplements to treat various ailments including glaucoma and dengue and has been developing lately a concoction to treat hypertension and stroke which is in its two years of clinical and field testing conducted by various hospitals and monitored by government agencies.
He said that his members professing similar intention include the inventors, distributors and manufacturers of known products such as the MX3, which was developed here, the MI capsule and the Nanz herbal capsule.
There were 20 of them so far, “but we are tapping all the rest in the country to subscribe to our goal”. “The minimum intention is for the manufacturers and distributors to follow the manufacturing and labelling standard and for developers of the product to apply the modalities of testing and handling.”
The group's goal was backed by the Food and Drugs Administration, formerly the Bureau of Food and Drugs which he said would ensure the product quality and safety, and the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCCII).
“We would like to ensure the truthfulness and reliability of the products as they are advertized,” he said. “We would discourage the testimonial type of advertising because testimonies can be faked and there are a lot of people who are complaining that the products they bought were not effective and have caused harm instead,” he added.
- 30 -
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