‘Headlines’ Articles
Written by magnolia on 06 March 2010
THE board of election inspectors (BEIs) who will serve on election day will be given copies of the list of the alleged double and multiple registrants for the 2010 polls.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesperson James Jimenez said that there will be a watchlist so that the BEIs will be alert and they can check if a voter has already voted in other places.
Once the watchlist is out, Comelec will be issuing guidelines on the use of the watchlist.
Under the law, the latest registration of the double and multiple registrants will be honored by the poll body.
Jimenez also assured that the commission is not negligent towards the issue and the cleansing of voters that was earlier cited by the Philippine Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV).
Poll watchdog PPCRV earlier said there are about 40,000 duplicate voters in Davao City. Almost 1,000 are meanwhile alleged to be zombie voters.
The Comelec official admitted though that dead citizens who are still part of the voters list are quite difficult to track.
Comelec will soon be launching a page on its home website where people can report to the commission there dead relatives. The webpage will be helping to further cleanse the list of voters. (PIA-Bohol)
Tags: 2010 elections
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Written by magnolia on 06 March 2010
FOR the first time in the country’s election history, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will put up special polling precincts in detention cells to uphold the rights of the inmates to vote on May 10.
Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said the special polling precincts in the detention facilities will be manned by Special Board of Election Inspectors.
The Comelec, in Resolution 09-005, upheld the right to vote of detainees and prisoners in national prisons, provincial, city and municipal jails and other government detention facilities on May 10.
The resolution granted the petition of the Commission on Human Rights to establish special polling places complete with Special Board of Election Inspectors in municipal, district, city and provincial jails with at least 100 registered inmates.
Sarmiento said that if a jail has less than a hundred inmates who have registered, they will have to apply for escorted voting to enable them to vote in polling centers found in public schools.
According to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, of 50,000 inmates awaiting trial across the country, only 23,657 have registered for the May 10 polls. (PIA-Bohol)
Tags: 2010 elections
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Written by magnolia on 05 March 2010
THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said on Wednesday that it has exceeded its tax collection goal from operation last month by P3 billion.
BIR Commissioner Joel Tan-Torres said the country’s main tax collection agency generated P44.9 billion tax revenue from operation in February, higher by 8.3 percent compared to P41.43 billion goal for the month.
Tan-Torres told reporters on the sidelines of Philippine Economic Briefing that they are still expecting P2 billion to P3 billion in the coming days, so likely they will be exceeding their overall target by P3 billion in February.
Tan-Torres also said tax collection from the sale of Treasury bills, meanwhile, is still short by P1 billion against the target of P4 billion.
Overall, he said the BIR, which accounts for more than 75 percent of the national government’s revenue, is still short of target for February by P1.04 billion to P47.21 billion against the P48.252 billion target.
This has been the third straight month the BIR has exceeded its programmed collection since December last year. (PIA-Bohol)
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Written by magnolia on 05 March 2010
THE National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) will be convened soon to dialogue with manufacturers, producers and retailers to ensure supply and price stability of basic commodities as the El Niño phenomenon is expected to affect supply and prices of agricultural products.
Trade and Industry Secretary Peter B. Favila, who is co-chairman of the NPCC, told a press conference that he is calling for a dialogue with all the stakeholders to determine what causes price increases although he said that so far only prices of chicken have moved up.
He, however, admitted that the El Niño would impact on the supply and prices of agriculture products particularly rice and corn but not immediately on processed products.
He said that together with the Department of Agriculture, the DTI will strengthen its price monitoring activities and the government is ready to make the necessary interventions.
Based on the estimates by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the El Niño’s impact would account for a .4 percent of the country’s GDP, which is expected to hit between 2.6 percent to 3.6 percent.
Inflation though is expected to remain benign at 3.5 to 5.5 percent this year. (PIA-Bohol)
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Written by magnolia on 03 March 2010
THE Department of Health (DoH) has sent experts to Nueva Vizcaya to shed light on the death of two persons and the hospitalization of 150 others in a village in Lasam town.
Local experts suspect the cause of deaths and illnesses were due to the anthrax bacteria.
However, DOH Secretary Esperanza Cabral said it was unlikely the deaths were caused by anthrax.
Dr. Eric Tayag, National Epidemiology Center (NEC) chief said in an interview that two
epidemiologist will coordinate with local experts to study the cases and to find out if there are more cases that were unreported.
Last Friday, two people were reported dead and 150 more fell ill after eating meat taken from a dead carabao. But doctors in the area are yet to release a full report on the cases. (PIA-Bohol)
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Written by magnolia on 03 March 2010
The Supreme Court has affirmed with finality its decision upholding the constitutionality of the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement.
In a two-page resolution, the Court en banc, held that the petitioners led by the Bayang Alyansang Makabayan, former senator Jovito Salonga and lawyer Evalyn Ursua, formerly the counsel of Subic rape victim “Nicole,” failed to raise new arguments that would warrant the Court’s reversal of its ruling issued on February 11, 2009.
In its February 2009 decision penned by now retired Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna, the Court upheld the constitutionality of the VFA as it was “duly concurred in by the Philippine Senate and has been recognized as a treaty by the United States.”
It pointed out that Section 25, Article XVIII, 1987 Constitution provides that “foreign military bases, troops, or facilities shall not be allowed in the Philippines except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate and, when the Congress so requires, ratified by a majority of the votes cast by the people in a national referendum held for that purpose, and recognized as a treaty by the other contracting State.”
Thus, the Court ruled that the presence of US soldiers in the country is allowed under the VFA.
“The VFA, which is the instrument agreed upon to provide for the joint RP-US military exercises, is simply an implementing agreement to the main RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty,” the SC said. (PIA-Bohol)
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Written by magnolia on 03 March 2010
Manila, Philippines — Malacanang announced Wednesday the members of the Cabinet who would be replacing those who were deemed resigned as of March 2.
Justice Secretary (formerly Agnes Devanadera)
- Solicitor General Alberto Agra
Agriculture Secretary (formerly Arthur Yap)
- Secretary Ad Interim Bernardino Dizon
Head of Presidential Management Staff (formerly Hermogenes Esperon)
- Maritime Industry Authority head Elena Bautista
Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) – (formerly Augusto Syjuco Jr.)
- Rogelio Juan
Executive Secretary (formerly Eduardo Ermita)
- Leandro Mendoza
Click here for full article from Inquirer.net
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Written by magnolia on 02 March 2010
The 75 documented Filipinos residing or working in Chile have been accounted for and reported safe, the spokesman of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Sunday.
“So far, they do not have any reports of any Filipinos who have been affected or hurt during the earthquake. They have been able to account for almost all of the Filipinos,” DFA spokesman Eduardo Malaya told in an interview on Sunday afternoon, citing information from the Philippine embassy in Chile.
He added that a worker in the embassy had only injured his ankle at the height of the 8.8-magnitude earthquake that jolted the South American country early Saturday morning.
Contrary to earlier reports that there were about 89 Filipinos in Chile, Malaya said there were only 75 Filipinos serving as missionaries, engineers and businessmen or were spouses of Chile nationals.
Malaya also quoted Philippine Ambassador to Argentina Rey Carandang as saying that Filipinos in Argentina, located east of Chile, “were fine.” As of Sunday noon, international media pegged the quake’s death toll to about 214. (PIA-Bohol)
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Written by magnolia on 02 March 2010
Smartmatic-TIM has delivered all 82,200 counting machines to be used in the automated elections on May 10, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced Sunday.
Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the final shipment arrived Saturday, a day before the Feb. 28 deadline stipulated in the contract of Smartmatic-TIM with the poll agency.
Had Smartmatic-TIM, the consortium that won the P7.2-billion contract to automate the elections, failed to deliver the machines on time, it would have been fined more than P7 million for each day of delay.
The contractor earlier said it could deliver all the machines by Feb. 21, but did not meet its self-imposed deadline due to delays in shipping.
The firm had also missed earlier schedules in its delivery timetable, prompting lawmakers to demand that the Comelec impose fines. Comelec officials, however, said penalties should be based on failure to deliver on the entire package. (PIA-Bohol)
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Written by magnolia on 02 March 2010
THE House energy committee approved on Monday a proposal calling for a special joint session of Congress for the sole purpose of granting President Arroyo additional powers exclusively to address the Mindanao power crisis.
The panel, headed by Lakas-Kampi-CMD Rep. Mikey Arroyo of Pampanga, approved the proposal on the motion of opposition Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro and seconded by Nacionalista Party Rep. Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla of Cavite.
Mindanao congressman, led by House Deputy Speaker for Mindanao Simeon Datumanong also supported the proposal.
But Rep. Arroyo is cold to the proposals to grant the President additional powers in addressing the Mindanao power crisis saying that not only are there still enough remedies to resolve the issue, but the situation itself is not grave enough to necessitate such actions.
In pushing for the granting of emergency powers to Arroyo, Rodriguez involved Section 71 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), which states that “upon the determination by the President of the Philippines of an imminent shortage of the supply of electricity, Congress may authorize, through a joint resolution, the establishment of additional generating capacity under such terms and conditions as it may approve.” (PIA)
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Written by magnolia on 02 March 2010
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) will be sending out voters’ information sheets (VIS) to all of more than 50 million registered voters in April to prepare them for the country’s first-ever automated polls on May 10.
Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the VISs, which will be in the form of an official ballot, will be sent to more than 50 million voters via mail. The VIS would contain the list of all the national and local candidates, the voter’s name, address, precinct number and polling place.
Larrazabal said they hope that through the sample ballots voters will not only be familiarized with the ballot but also in the new process of voting.
Since the VIS is in the form of a ballot and is specific to the voter’s city or municipality, it could be used for practice voting. Instructions in Tagalog are also printed on the sheet.
Although the sample ballot is somewhat similar to the actual ballot, the Comelec ruled out the possibility of it being used in electoral fraud due to its distinguishing marks.
Among the differences include the sample ballots being black and white since the official ballot is colored. The sample ballots will also not bear the precinct identifier, which is the one required by the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines in order to verify its veracity aside from the sample ballots having an overarching label of “SAMPLE BALLOTS” in its face. (PIA)
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