Govt runs after tax evaders, smugglers
The government in 2006 filed a total of 70 tax evasion cases, the Department of Finance recently reported.
The cases were filed in line with the Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
In Oriental Negros, the BIR here has recommended the filing of one tax evasion case last year.
“We have a strong evidence so we recommended to our regional office to file this case,” said Jose Senador, who declined to identify the alleged tax evader.
In 2005, the government has set up RATE along with the Run After the Smugglers (RATS) program of the Bureau of Customs and the Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS) of the Department of Finance to pump up the government’s anti-corruption drive and to discourage the public from evading the payment of proper taxes and duties.
Under RATS, a total of 28 anti-smuggling cases were filed by the Bureau of Customs.
However, Oriental Negros has a clean slate as local BoC Subport Deputy Collector Datu Camad Ali said there has been no smuggling cases reported in the province.
While many cases have been filed in the country under the RATE and RATS, the success of the programs are not yet complete as prosecutors have yet to win a conviction.
Of the cases filed last year, some are still pending in courts while a few were dismissed.
The frequency of the filing of cases has also slowed down. When the programs were first implemented in 2005, the BIR, BOC and RIPS were each tasked to file at least one case a week.
But the DoF said the slowdown only meant that the prosecuting agencies were focused on quality rather than quantity of cases filed.
The RATE and RATS also used to cater to high-profile tax evaders and smugglers, but the programs now mostly charge lower-profile offenders. The BIR earlier said charging middle-income earners for tax evasion was also necessary to put more teeth into the program.
Convention center completion hastened for int’l rondalla festival
The provincial government is tripling its efforts to finish the construction of the province’s Convention Center as Oriental Negros is set to host the Second International Rondalla Festival dubbed Cuerdas sa Panaghiusa or “Strings of Unity” on February 19-25, 2007 at the Convention Center in
Oriental Negros Governor George P. Arnaiz said construction of the Convention Center is aimed to be completed on the third week of February in time of the opening of the Rondalla Festival.
“We will make sure that everything will be in place to make the Cuerdas sa Panaghiusa a success in our province,” Arnaiz said.
Around 450 delegates from Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, will set foot in
The National Music Committee of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) said the initial listing of countries who will participate in the festival include Spain, Hawaii, Israel, Mexico, Thailand, Japan, Myanmar, Russia and Australia.
Of the delegates, six are from Filipino local and national talents, foremost of which are
Provincial Board Member Mariant Escaño Villegas, chairperson of the Provincial Management Committee of Second International Rondalla Festival, said that from the European-Asian continent comes the Quartette Phoenix and the Heart of Russia from the former Soviet Union, and Turna Universitaria Complutense De Madrid,
From the Asia-Pacific comes the contingent from
Villegas added the other participating rondalla performers from the Middle East include the Three Plucked Strings of Israel and possibly,
In Latin America, two famous rondalla ensembles from
Meanwhile, other rondalla presenters from the Phillippines include the Celso Espejo Rondalla of Las Piñas City; the Kabataang Silay Performing Arts and Rondalla Ensemble, the Nabua National High School Rondalla; the Zamboanga del Norte National High School Rondalla; the Handurawan Ensemble; and the Philippine National University-Rondalla.
The Cuerdas sa Panaghiusa-Second International Rondalla Festival is a flagship project of the NCCA.
Its implementation is carried out by the Musicological Society of the Philippines, Inc. in partnership with the
To date, the festival has spawned a renewed interest from its first participants and other artists from different parts of the world.
The Convention Center, the first of its kind in
Meanwhile, an exuberant President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo described as a "moment of pride for all Filipinos," the
In her message at the Joint DND-AFP New Year’s Call 2007 at
The President chairs this year’s ASEAN Summit among the leaders of
NegOr agri yield unaffected by last quarter typhoons
By:Francis Ryan A. Salvador, PIA Intern
The province’s agricultural yield has shown improvement despite the amassing effects of typhoons that slammed the country in the third and fourth quarters of 2006.
Palay and corn production here in 2006 are up from the previous year’s yield, according to Ricarda P. Diamano, Officer in Charge/Provincial Agricultural Statistics Officer.
Records from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics show that palay production rose from 60,306 metric tons in 2005 to 66,452 metric tons in 2006.
Palay areas harvested in 2006 is at 21,159 hectares, from the 20,425 hectares in 2005.
Yield per hectare in 2006 is at 3.14 metric tons while in 2005, it was only at 2.95 metric tons.
Diamano explained that increase in the province’s yield is a result of an increase in production area, liberal use of improved seeds, organic fertilizer and less occurrence of major pests and diseases.
Palay areas harvested is also up due to the conversion of other farm areas such as sugarcane and corn to palay.
“Additional areas are being developed by the National Irrigation Administration as new service areas in Zamboanguita, Ayungon, Dauin and
She also attributes the yield increase to the absence of damaging effects from weather disturbances.
“Bisan daghan bagyo ang niagi, wala kaayo naapektuhan ang probinsya nato,” said Diamano.
The province’s location has also been pivotal to the province’s good performance in the agricultural sector.
This was affirmed by the Crops Division of the Provincial Agriculturist Office.
“There were no devastating effects (here) except in areas that were hit by the typhoons directly,” disclosed Alvin E. Blaza, chief of the Crops Division.
Corn yield, however, dipped slightly in 2006 with only 0.70 metric tons yield per hectare from 0.73 metric tons in 2005.
Corn production in 2006 is at 63,477 metric tons while the total yield in 2005 was at 65,300 metric tons.
Production went down because of the repeated use of open pollinated variety seeds in most farms in the province with limited use of inputs like fertilizer and pest control materials, Diamano stressed.
The province has a total stretch of 51,500 hectares of corn farms and a total of 13,925 hectares of rice fields, of which 3,550 hectares are rain fed, 1,075 hectares upland and 9,300 hectares irrigated land.
Farm sector productivity in the national level likewise grew despite the barrage of typhoons that hit the country with the country’s agricultural growth estimates pegged at 4.7-5% last year.
In terms of volume, farm output grew 5.4 percent to 59.6 million metric tons from 56.6 million metric tons a year ago.
“Full year growth in 2006 will not be lower than 4 percent. This is within the government’s target,” Agricultural Secretary Arthur Yap said. He noted that the agricultural sector contributed significantly to the economic growth in the first nine months of 2006.
The seaweed industry is expected to take a hit of at least $10 million as strong waves wiped out production facilities during that time.
Economists are keeping a tight watch on the agricultural sector as it still accounts for a fifth of the local economy. Government production data will be ready by the third week of January, officials said.
BAS NegOr ranked top 3 nationwide
The Bureau of Agricultural Statistics in Oriental Negros is the third top performing office under the bureau in the country.
Ricarda Diamano, Officer-in-Charge/Provincial Agricultural Statistics Officer of BAS here, disclosed this, saying that the local BAS office was recognized nationally for its excellent performance from July to September 2006.
But the local BAS division is no stranger to this recognition as it has been hogging top spots in the regional rankings in the past few years.
In regional standing, it ranked no. 2 in 2002 and no. 3 in 2003. Then it went on to hog the no. 1 spot in the region for two consecutive years from 2004 to 2005, besting the other three other provinces in the region.
She said they are now keeping their fingers crossed as to whether they will be ranked no. 1 again in Region 7 for 2006, completing a three-year streak as the top performing BAS office in the region.
Diamano said the ranking is based on a division’s performance in the technical and administrative operations.
Meanwhile, Malacañang is hopeful that with the opening of session in Congress before the end of the month, legislators would be able to get their act together and pass the General Appropriations Act.
Combined with the country’s very strong economic indicators, the passage of the 2007 budget will sustain the momentum that is driving the peso up, keeping inflation down and moving investments forward, it said.
Diocesan electoral board set to convene
The Diocesan Provincial Electoral Board is set to convene in preparation for the May 14, 2007 local and national elections to ensure a peaceful, orderly, and honest polls.
Rev. Fr. Julius Heruela, Convenor of the Electoral Board will meet the Electoral Board Working Committees on January 23, 2006 at the Pre-Jordan Hall, Cathedral Compound, this city.
In a core group meeting with Fr. Heruela last week, has identified the committees to meet are representatives of the Parish Pastoral for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), Vote Care, Commission on Elections (COMELEC), Philippine National Police (PNP), and some supportive and committed organizations and individuals to chair the finance, education, transportation, documentation committees.
Meantime, Dumaguete City Comelec’s Election Registration Board has continued its hearing this week to determine the exact number of registered voters in the city as registration of voters wrapped up last December 31, 2006.
The Comelec has also announced that the filing of candidacy for local officials will start on Monday, January 15 to March 29, 2007 and for senatorial candidates, January 15 to February 12, this year.
Indeed, the mid-term polls in May will be a referendum on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.
Secretary Bunye stated, the administration accepts the challenge on the basis of the performance of the President, who is the only leader in recent history who has decisively turned the economy around in record time, has dented poverty, has taken a strong stand against terror alongside our global allies, has paved the way for permanent peace in Mindanao and is on the way to modernizing the armed forces.
Bunye said, President Arroyo has put the
Organizers hopeful internet problem solved before ASEAN
But Ambassador Marciano Paynor Jr., NOC secretary general, said that journalists covering the
Paynor said that the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Smart and Globe, the main internet providers, have been doing everything they could to put back in harness the internet connection in the country.
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit
Sixty percent of Globe’s fiber optics submarine cables have been affected by the earthquake.
Ten days after the strong tremor, internet users in the
Some 1,700 foreign and local journalists covering the
But they have been advised to use other means, preferably the wireless high fidelity (wifi) technology, to transmit their stories if the internet problem is not fully solved.
Sixteen world leaders have confirmed attendance in the summit—10 from the ASEAN and six from the association’s dialogue partners.
Aside from the ASEAN Summit, there will be the ASEAN Plus Three Summit, the 2nd East Asia Summit, and the summit between the ASEAN and individual leaders of the dialogue partners.
Eggs, umbrellas for
The message here is that organizers of the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Aside from prayers, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has reportedly offered two truckloads of eggs to the Carmelite sisters as an offering for good weather, the bad one last month being the reason for the postponement of the original summit.
Even in the event the weather turns sour again and rain comes pouring down on Cebu this time (which weather forecasters discount), National Organizing Committee secretary general Ambassador Marciano Paynor has come up with the closest thing to most everyone’s simple answer: umbrella.
Paynor said more than 500 umbrellas will be available to protect summit participants from the rains.
This much, Paynor and Garcia detailed to members of the media men in Tuesday’s press conference at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) to emphasize the readiness of the country, particularly the
“We are procuring more than 500 umbrellas to protect us from the rain,” he said in answer to the possibility of the rainy weather continuing to the days leading to the summit. “In the event that it continues, we just have to accept it as it is.”
Metro
But Paynor quickly assured the fainted-hearted, saying “Natural occurrences such as the weather is something we cannot do anything about. Other countries still hold their summits even when snow is falling and world leaders still attend because they cannot do anything about it.”
Paynor assured that there has been no waning of enthusiasm among the participants notwithstanding the postponement of the summit last December.
“Everyone who needs to be here are here. The same countries that are supposed to come last December are also coming this January,” he stressed.
Paynor added that the postponement last month was a blessing in disguise as it allowed organizers to fine-tune preparations for the high-level meeting, including putting the finishing touches to the CICC, reinforcing security, and beautifying the city.
Garcia, who was obviously disappointed when the summit was postponed last month, put it more succinctly when she said: “We are ready then, we are more than ready now.”
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