PGMA signs Baseline Bill into law
The Philippines has defined the extent of its territories.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has signed Tuesday Republic Act No. 9522 otherwise known as the Baseline Law in compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
“Para may basis, para lahat ng ginagawa natin, ang mga claim natin, as far as territories is concerned, is based on a UN law…ngayon, masasabi natin with much authority that the Philippine in its claim of its area, is official as far our exclusive economic zones are concerned,” said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.
For his part, Commission of Maritime and Ocean Affairs Secretary General Henry Bensulto said these areas are defined in the new law as regime of islands which essentially similar to the principle that the United States of America uses on Hawaii.
Baseline Bill, nilagdaan na ni PGMA
Niliwanag na ng Pilipinas ang mga nasasakupan nitong teritoryo.
“Para may basis, para lahat ng ginagawa natin, ang mga claim natin, as far as territories is concerned, is based on a UN law…ngayon, masasabi natin with much authority that the Philippine in its claim of its area, is official as far our exclusive economic zones are concerned,” ani Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.
Para naman kay Commission of Martime and Ocean Affairs Secretary General Henry Bensulto, ang mga lugar na ito ay tinawag na regime of islands na katulad sa prinsipiyong ginagamit ng Estados Unidos sa kaso ng Hawaii.
PGMA signs baselines bill into law
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the newly-enacted law, known as Republic Act 9522 or the Philippine Archipelagic Baseline Law, affirms the country’s claim of its territorial waters, extended continental shelf, economic zones, and the controversial Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) and Scarborough shoal off the waters of Palawan province.
``The Philippine government, in its claim of areas, is official as far as economic zones are concerned… We are asserting our sovereignty because that’s the right thing to do,`` Ermita said.
RA 9522 is necessary in meeting the deadline of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) set on May 13 this year for countries and archipelagic states to submit their claims for an extended continental shelf.
Department of Foreign Affairs Executive Director Henry Bensurto said the law is a ``clinical and technical adjustment`` of the existing baseline law as required by UNCLOS.
``The adjustment was in purpose of making it compliant to UNCLOS. Since UNCLOS lays down all technical requirements by which the archipelago can draw baselines, it is imperative for us to adjust the technical requirements as compliance to UNCLOS,`` Bensurto said.
He noted that UNCLOS did not yet exist when the old law RA 3046 on baselines was signed. UNCLOS was established in 1994.
Under the new law, the disputed KIG and Scarborough Shoal remain part of Philippine territory but under a ``regime of islands,`` defined by UNCLOS Article 121 as `islands that are naturally formed areas of land, surrounded by water, which are above water at high tide.`
Aside from the Philippines, the disputed islands are also being claimed by five other countries --Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei.
Earlier, both China and Vietnam took offense on the final version of the baselines bill.
Ermita said since six countries, mostly Southeast Asian nations, lay claim to the islands in whole or in part, the Philippines ``respects various agreements and conducts entered we entered into.``
``We are mindful of the fact that we claim this. We are not an isolated country but we are part of a community. We have to take into account that community and honor various agreements we entered into,`` Ermita said. (PNA)
SEC chair guarantees cooperation on corruption probe
SEC Chairperson Fe Barin assured the cooperation of the commission.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has directed the Department of Justice and the Presidential Commission on Graft and Corruption look into the allegations against Commissioner Jesus Martinez.
The beleaguered commissioner, whose term of office ends on March 12, has gone on leave.
A hold departure order against Martinez has been issued.
As for calls for the resignation of the whole commission, Barin sees no ‘reason to come out and resign.’
Kooperasyon ng SEC sa imbestigasyon sa di umano’y katiwalian sa komisyon, tiniyak
Ayon kay SEC Chairperson Fe Barin, walang dahilan ang komisyon para hindi makipag-tulungan sa anumang gagawing pagsisiyasat kasabay ng pagsasabing lahat ng dokumentong umaabot sa kanilang tanggapan ay bukas sa publiko.
Isang panel na ang binuo ni Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales para imbistigahan ang kaso ni Martinez.
Si Martinez ay naakusahang tumanggap ng mga regalo mula sa Legacy Group.
Hinggil naman sa mga panawagan para sa pagbibitiw ng lahat ng mga miyembro ng SEC, sinabi ni Barin na wala silang nakikitang matinding dahilan para bumaba sa puwesto.
New Overseas Absentee Voting Registrants at 15,234
The OAV registration started last February 1 and will end on August 31.
"These figures will increase tremendously as the OAV registration activities in all Philippine Foreign Service Posts (FSPs) intensify in the coming days, weeks and months," DFA Undersecretary for Special and Ocean Concerns Rafael E. Seguis, who is also the Chairman of the DFA Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat, said.
The total number of new OAV registrants for the different regions worldwide is as follows:
Americas - 4,236
Asia and the Pacific - 3,606
Europe - 2,714
Middle East and Africa - 1,261
The recently-opened Comelec COAV-DFA OAVS' registration centers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency yielded 1,665 and 1,752 new OAV registrants, respectively. The OAV registration will continue until the end of August.
Undersecretary Seguis lauded the combined efforts of the Comelec-COAV, DFA-OAVS, and all the Philippine FSPs and Offices in the on-going exercise.
The DFA-OAVS was established under DFA Department Order No. 06-03, dated 03 March 2003, to direct, coordinate, and oversee the DFA's participation in assisting the Commission on Elections in implementing the Overseas Absentee Voting Law, R.A. 9189. (DFA-PISU)
DSWD’s 4Ps alleviates the lives of poor beneficiaries in Oriental Mindoro
The Department of Social Welfare & Development (DSWD) continues to develop and thrive in its endeavor to uplift the lives of Filipinos despite the current worldwide economic crisis.
More than P11 million was spent by the government in its Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in Oriental Mindoro alone after helping the 7,875 beneficiaries of the program in the municipalities of Pola, Mansalay and Bulalacao.
Each family-beneficiary received P500 cash grant for health services and P300 for every child member of the family as support for their education according to DWSD 4B report.
A number of beneficiaries were added by some 4,433 families who would be considered eligible to receive aid from the government based on the recent Community Assembly held in the municipality of Bongabong.
In a related report from Florence Baula of DSWD 4B, a Community Assembly was held in the municipality of Bansud where their group screened some 3,300 potential beneficiaries of the program. It was followed by the municipality of Naujan where there were more or less 6,000 potential beneficiaries.
4Ps is implemented by DSWD nationwide in cooperation with the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Education (DepEd).
The province of Oriental Mindoro will be benefited by the program in the next five years but it doesn’t mean it’s a “free gift” for the recipients or beneficiaries of the program.
They signed their Oath of Commitment in order to comply with the conditions stipulated
or provided in the program in exchange of cash grant they will receive.
Moreover, the following conditions are included in the recipients’ oath of commitment: a) undergo pre-natal and post natal care for pregnant women with their doctors, nurses or whoever responsible for child birth, b) parents’ attendance to family planning sessions, mothers’ classes, and other related activities, c) regular check up and vaccination of 0-5 years old children, and e) regular attendance to school of 6-14 years old children wherein they should not spend lower than 85% of their time in school in a day.
The 4Ps aims to help the poorest of the poor in their basic needs particularly in education and health services. With this program, the government is optimistic to cut the intergenerational poverty in the entire country. (Louie T. Cueto, ICM-Oriental Mindoro Infocen)
RP to join preparatory meeting in Washington toward 2nd Annual Transatlantic Forum on Migration
Manila (PNA) -- The Philippines, a leader in the global arena on welfare-oriented and productive migration, will boost the crucial preparatory proceedings to the 2nd Annual Transatlantic Forum on Migration and Integration meeting which will take place in Washington, D.C. on March 13 to 15.
The three-day agenda-setting meeting will be under the aegis of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMFUS) in cooperation with the Robert Bosch Stiftung Foundation, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced on Wednesday.
Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito D. Roque has assured that key labor and employment expertise would facilitate the Philippines’ inputs during the event, which will chart the agenda of the forthcoming 2nd Annual Transatlantic Forum on Migration and Integration in Austin and San Antonio, Texas, the United States from July 15 to 19, 2009.
Roque cited the importance of the Transatlantic forum, at which the allied economies and host nations of the United States and Europe play a major role, in understanding and leading the development of responses to the issues and trends affecting global productive migration today.
“Inevitably, such an effort will hold the promise and potential, whether directly or indirectly, of complementing the current efforts among the economies to address the global financial crisis (GFC) and its effects on vulnerable migrant workers.”
The Labor and Employment chief stated that notwithstanding the GFC, the Philippines remains a leader in the field of productive migration following the global deployment of some 1.376 million documented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), who also remitted back to the Philippine economy some US$ 16.4 billion from more than 190 host destinations in 2008.
Roque further reported that, undaunted by the GFC, global OFW deployment showed an uptrend reaching some 165,737 in January 2009 alone, for a total worldwide growth of 25.3 percent from 132,285 in the same period in 2008.
In connection with the country's participation in the agenda-setting meeting on March 13-15 and the 2nd Annual Transatlantic Forum on Migration and Integration in the GMFUS headquarters in Washington on July 15 to 19, Roque designated DOLE official Merliza M. Makinano, who is the vice head of the DOLE Task Force on the Global Forum on Migration and Development, to attend the proceedings.
Makinano, who represents the Philippines in the international forum, is currently the deputy executive director of the DOLE’s “think-tank,” the Institute for Labor Studies (ILS), after previously heading the department’s International Labor Affairs Service (ILAS).
She had earlier represented the Philippines in the pioneering, first Annual Transatlantic Forum on Migration and Integration held at the Castle Pommensfelden near Nuremberg, Germany on July 9 to 13, 2008.
The sponsors of the successful first forum -- GMFUS which is a grant-making and public policy institute dedicated to strengthening cooperation, as well as the Robert Bosch Stiftung, a major German foundation devoted to international relations, health, and education -- ensured the participation of some 55 emerging leaders from migrant sending and receiving nations, including the Philippines, Bulgaria, China, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Gambia, Senegal, Spain, Tanzania, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, along with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and Organization for Undocumented Migrant Workers (OUMW).
