Senate urged to pass anti-terror bill
Intelligence gathering and deep preemptive measures against terrorism are now in place across the country as the government calls on the Senate to pass the anti-terror bill, which would further boost the country’s anti-terrorism campaign.
Following the approval on second reading of the Anti-Terrorism Act at the House of Representatives, Speaker Jose de Venecia said the final enactment of the measure would greatly help the country’s efforts to wage war against all forms of terrorism.
SPO4 Hilbert Arinaza, chief intelligence police non-commissioned officer of the Provincial Police Office, says there is a compelling necessity to pass the bill so there would be appropriate guidelines to follow and charges could be filed against those arrested for terroristic acts.
The proposed law provides for a 72-hour detention period within which the State must file formal charges against any suspected terrorist.
It also defines the acts that the State would consider as terrorism.
Arinaza says the Senate should prioritize the anti-terror bill to address the global reach of terror. “Lasting peace is a pre-condition for progress and the anti-terror bill will give more teeth to our anti-terrorism campaign,” he said.
Arinaza also disclosed that security measures in vital installations here have been beefed up following reports indicating that armed regulars and party elements of the CPP-NPA-NDF remain intact in the province.
NPA members recently tried to attack the PA/CAA detachment stationed in Brgy. Villegas, Guihulngan, on April 22.
Arinaza said they are not discounting the possibility of future attacks and that the armed troops in the province are ready to quell attempts to disturb the peace and order in the province.
The government is sending out a stern warning to those who intend to overthrow the Government not to test the mettle of the authorities who will move forcefully in the case of a clear and present danger to the Republic.
No increase in Ceres bus fares yet; management still studying oil price situation
With the global oil price reportedly set to soar higher in the following weeks, the management of the biggest bus liner in the province said they haven’t implemented any fare increase yet.
According to Mr. Joel Borromeo, manager of the Vallacar Transit-owned Ceres bus liner here, they are studying the situation right now before considering an increase in local bus fares.
“We are evaluating the oil price movements on a weekly basis,” says Borromeo, adding that it could be possible that oil prices would reduce next month so any fare increase is not definite yet.
It can be recalled that despite the hike on the Expanded Value Added Tax in February, the Ceres bus liner unexpectedly cut down their bus fare by 10 centavos per kilometer to lessen the burden of the local passengers following the wave of repeated price increases in 2005 and early this year.
But now that the public is facing the inescapable global trend of oil price hikes, transportation fares are seen to increase again along with prices of basic commodities and services.
Since the global surge in oil price is beyond the control of the government, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is leaving no room for complacency and ordered the entire Cabinet with the Department of Energy at the lead to search and implement alternative renewable sources of energy and carry out stringent energy conservation programs and belt tightening measures.
The Congress was also urged to work on energy-related bills.
Environment friendly biofuels alternative to expensive crude fuels
With the soaring prices of crude oil in the world market, the government is aiming to reduce the country’s dependency on imported oil through supporting the production of biofuels.
President Arroyo announced last Wednesday the plans to promote utilization of ethanol, found mainly in sugar canes which is abundant in the country, and other biofuel products as an alternative fuel to the high-rising crude oil.
In a presidential palace statement, Arroyo ordered the Department of Enery to set up production facilities that will mix diesel and bio-fuels. Further, Mrs. Arroyo ordered her Cabinet last Sunday to intensify the search for alternative energy sources.
The Philippine National Co., the state owned energy company, is said to enter a joint venture with the armed forces to plant an abundant bio-diesel herb, jatropha.
Rep. Miguel Zubiri, the author of the recently approved Biofuel Act, hopes that four years from now ethanol will replace gasoline consumption in automobiles in the country.
According to Jacinto Tangente, Manager of Shell – Dumaguete, the government’s support in the production of biogas, sugarcane gas (ethanol), and virgin oil as a replacement of the expensive crude oil is indeed laudable.
Tangente said 90% of the country’s gas is imported and with the production of natural fuels would at least help the country from depending much to oil-producing nations and in the same manner promoting clean environment.
Peso’s Strength
Tangente said the strengthening of peso against the dollar helped curb the pressure of high oil prices in our economy.
The previous months has seen the stability of the peso-dollar exchange rate. Forex exchange traders predicted that the exchange rate of peso will surge further to 48 to $ 1.
Energy Crises
Despite the skyrocketing of oil prices, Tangente said this isn’t deterrent that our country is experiencing energy crises. He explained that our country has an adequate supply of oil imported from Venezuela, one of the growing oil producing countries in the world, therefore we don’t have an energy crises. “Besides every country is affected by the high oil prices, so this isn’t a factor of energy crises”, he added.
Oil prices hit $75.35 a barrel in New York Mercantile last Friday (Saturday in Manila), marking it the highest increase by far.
Oil firms in the country has added 50 centavos a liter last Saturday and this trend will likely continue for 4 –6 weeks according to Energy Undersecretary Peter Abaya.
To counter this, the government is making a lot of pro-poor program to help impoverish Filipinos from coping with the high prices of daily commodities due to the skyrocketing oil prices. (PIA/CMamigo)
Cong. Fua funds Siquijor water projects
Two completed in Enrique Villanueva and Lazi
Congressman Orlando B. Fua of the lone district of Siquijor recently funded water projects in Siquijor province.
Taken out of his Countryside Development Fund (CDF), a P1M water system was completed in Enrique Vilanueva, Siquijor through the Department of Public Works and Highways recently. This includes construction of four spring sources and laying-out of pipes connecting to the main pipelines to augment the water supply in different barangays in the municipality, DPWH said.
Another water project was completed in Talayong, Lazi, Siquijor. Amounted to P500,000 the water project was sliced out of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) also of Cong. Fua.
The scope of work also includes pipe laying of GI pipes from the spring source down to Horing-horing, Campalanas up to lower Cabangcalan.
“This is very timely, it’s summer time and most of the water supply need to be augmented,” says Project Engr. Clini Ocao.
The project is part of the government’s effort to provide potable water and sanitation facilities in waterless areas of the priority programs of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Search on for Child-Friendly Town
The Presidential Awards for the Child-Friendly Municipality and City is enjoining this year all municipalities and cities nationwide.
The Awards is being conferred in recognition of the vital role of the local government units (LGUs) in promoting children’s rights on survival, development, protection, participation and child-friendly governance, pursuant to EO 184 series of 1999.
Its aim is to encourage LGUs to prioritize and address issues/concerns affecting the full realization of the rights of children.
In line with this, an orientation on the Search guidelines and mechanics was done at Dapdap, Sunset Grill, Siquijor, Siquijor recently.
Nemia Antipala, chief of the Technical Assistance Division, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Region 7 office said all cities and municipalities are encouraged to join the search.
She said in order to level the playing field, considering the different socio-economic status of the different LGUs, there will be three categories of winners which are: a) 1st – 3rd class municipalities and component cities; b) 4th – 6th class municipalities; and c) highly urbanized.
Interested municipalities shall submit accomplished entry forms and required reports.
Along with this, a Provincial Technical Working Group (PTWG) was formed in Siquijor to promote the Awards and provide technical assistance in preparing and organizing the documents/reports submitted by municipalities and conduct initial screening of selection of municipalities.
The PTWG is composed of representatives from different local sectors or departments such as health, nutrition, social welfare, education, provincial planning, budget and accounting offices and child-related non-government organizations operating in the province.
Provincial screening and submission of provincial nominees to the regional committee/sub-committee for the Welfare will run from May 1, 2006 to June 16, 2006.
NSO Siquijor awarded as top province in Region VII, 4th best nationwide
The National Statistics Office (NSO) here was awarded as the top performing NSO provincial office in Region VII and 4th best nationwide for calendar year 2005.
This was bared during the Annual NSO Field Awards Ceremony held in Legazpi City, Albay recently. For this peat, the provincial office received their 5th consecutive glass trophy and cash prize from Hon. Carmelita N. Ericta, Civil Registrar-General and Administrator of National Statistics Office (NSO) and Senator Aquilino Pimentel, this years Field Awards guest of honor, says NSO Information Officer Rizalyn Teodora Gaviola.
NSO Siquijor which is only one of the three provinces nationwide who were consistently included in the “magic 15” or the top 15 performing provincial offices nationwide for the last five years now also won awards as 2nd best in General Administration, 3rd best in Partnership and Linkages and 4th best in the field of Civil Registration besting more than 80 NSO provincial offices nationwide, Gaviola added.
She said that the annual NSO Field Awards (NFA) is a system of rating and awarding regional and provincial statistics offices for exemplary performance. The FA was established as an internal tool of NSO to increase productivity and intends to raise the level of performance of the filed offices in the field of production of statistics, and for its services in civil registration, its partnership and linkages with other government and non-government agencies and organizations, information dissemination campaigns and advocacies and in the field of general administration and management.
Police to undergo training on criminal procedures
Some 80 law enforcers in the province will undergo an orientation-training on some rules on criminal procedures to arm them with adequate knowledge of laws that will help in the filing of drug cases.
Police Provincial Director, Col. Melvin Ramon Buenafe said, there is a need for the police personnel to be trained since drug cases filed by them in court are at times dismissed because of some technicalities and sometimes did not concur with some legal procedures.
According to Col Buenafe, from the preparation of complaints and documentation of evidence in inquest cases are oftentimes will not succeed in the filing of cases due to some deficiencies, with this problem, it is hard to reach for a convictions.
The training on the amendments of Rule 112 of the revise rule on criminal procedure and warrantless arrests is being organized by Negros Oriental Drug Abuse & Prevention Council (NORDAPC) on May 31, 2006 at Plaza Maria Luisa, this city.
Invited speakers are Judges Cresencio Tan, Joseph Elmaco, Provincial Prosecutor Diosdado Hermosa, and City Prosecutor Adrian Borromeo.
Meanwhile, Dr. Felix Sy of Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital (NOPH) has announced that the Drug Testing Center of the province is open to the public at the Diagnostic Center of NOPH. A minimal of P200 only will be charged for drug testing fee per patient. The center is open from Monday to Friday at 8:00AM to 4:00AM.
Ist CTEC drafts the Cebu Concord
Cebu (22 April)—The Ist Counter-Terrorism Experts’ Conference (CTEC) at Shangri-la, Mactan, Cebu ended with the 454 participants representing 56 foreign countries completing the draft of the Cebu Concord.
Ambassador Benjamin Defensor, Jr. CTEC task force chair said that the draft Cebu Concord will be presented to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as a testimony of support of the global community in its fight against terrorism.
The Cebu Concord reflects the consensus and agreements of the CTEC participating countries after a 3-day exhaustive and expansive plenary and panel discussions on the various topics and sub-themes on how to defeat dilemmas in counter-terrorism.
The Cebu Concord “calls on all nations, agencies and organizations to recognize and further explore the middle way as addition to the various approaches to counter the growing threat, spread and impact of global terrorism.” It also acknowledged that there is a need for a comprehensive long and short-term strategies; that there are gaps in the counter-terrorism capacities particularly of developing states that need to be bridged through international cooperation and that counter-terrorism maybe best supported through appropriately attuned donor country mechanisms, assistance coordination within and among donor and recipient countries and bridging of gaps in education and training, legal frameworks and counter terrorism regime.
Participants also agree that terrorism is a global challenge best responded to at the global level through the United Nations but also most effectively addressed by a mix of policy responses at the individual state and regional levels to complement global efforts. The Concord also urges all countries to become parties to the international convention and protocols on terrorism and to fully implement these instruments and relevant resolutions.
Finally, the participants accept that in counter terrorism, there remain barriers and challenges to regional cooperation on account of disparities in understanding, needs, capacities, resources and priorities, thus, the Cebu Concord reaffirms that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations which constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, should be CONDEMNED.(PIA-Cebu)
DOLE spearheads Labor Day celebration on May 1
Around 200 participants are expected to join in the activities initiated by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) here to mark the Labor Day celebration on May 1.
According to Atty. Jose Ogang, who heads the provincial DOLE office, they have invited employees from all national government offices here, city and provincial governments as well as members of the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council and labor groups in the province.
The celebration will kick off with a motorcade caravan at 3:00 p.m. on May 1 followed by a culmination program during which there will be parlor games.
Ogang said this year’s celebration is highlighted by the awarding of outstanding pioneer members of the employers and labor sectors.
In the employers sector, pioneer businessman Atty. Antonio Ramas-Uypitching will be awarded for his contribution to the local business industry as well as his active participation in the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council while a posthumous award will be given to Mr. Ybarra Teves in the labor sector.
Ogang said this is the first time that the pioneer awards are given and he hopes that this will be continued in the following years.
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