PGMA set to certify as urgent a bill institutionalizing pro-poor scheme
CALAUAN, Laguna—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday morning said she will certify as urgent a proposed measure institutionalizing the administration’s pro-poor initiative called 4Ps or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
The President asked Deputy Speaker and Mindoro Rep. Amelita Villarosa to fast-track passage of the bill.
In her talk with reporters, the President who was in town to distribute livelihood checks to the former squatters relocated to Southville Phase 7, said she wants succeeding administrations to ensure that the most marginalized members of society get the proper support from the government continuously.
The 4Ps program is being implemented and budgeted on the basis of an executive order.
“I want it continued by the leaders who follow me, long after I have left the government,” she said.
The President has patterned the pro-poor scheme after a program she saw in
On another area of concern, the President was pleased to hear the report of Vice President Noli de Castro that his office will soon sign a memorandum of agreement with EEI on the one-month skills training for some of the residents so they can be absorbed for jobs here and abroad.
The MOA will be signed by the EEI on one hand and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and National Housing Authority, both under the Vice President, on the other.
The Vice President said he is also talking with an investor to finance mushroom production for the local market.
It is noted that Southville 7 alone has a population of 3,000, which could easily absorb agricultural products grown in the area.
“We are in the process of making this village a wholesome community, where there is livelihood for the residents, schools for the children, and soon, even a public market,” the Vice President said.
The community already has 30 schoolbuildings.
Investor interest in RP remains keen—PGMA
CALAUAN, Laguna--- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday said keen investor interest in the
“Based on the roadshow of Finance Secretary Margarito Teves to sell Philippine bonds abroad, there is keen investor interest in the country,” the President said.
The country hopes to raise this week as much as $1.5 billion in dollar-denominated bonds although order books, mostly in
Global ratings agencies Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s assign foreign currency rating of Ba3 with a stable outlook and BB-senior unsecured debt rating, respectively, on the bonds.
Proceeds from the 10- and 25-year bonds due in 2020 and 2034, respectively, will help pay off or refinance foreign debts due this year.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data placed the country’s full-2009 balance of payments (BOP) at $5 billion, an improvement over the previous year’s $89 million but lower than $8.58 billion generated in 2007. A BOP surplus means the economy generated more dollars from exports, remittances, and borrowings than it paid for inputs and debt servicing.
The President has yet to sign the P1.541 trillion national budget, which is 8.6 percent higher than the 2009 budget. In her message for this year’s budget, the President stressed that she intends to complete the flagship projects since she assumed the presidency in 2001.
Immediate beneficiaries of the Arroyo administration’s flagship projects are the 3,000 relocatees at the National Housing Authority’s Southville 7 housing projects here. “This is just one district that benefited from the budget and we have more of these all over the country. There are lots of relocation sites and housing projects for those who want to be relocated,” the President explained.
The President turned over deeds of donation for the 30 school buildings built by NHA in its Southville and Northville projects to the Department of Education, saying that these elementary schools must operate on two shifts—one in the morning and another in the afternoon.
Law condones penalties on unremitted SSS premiums
CALAUAN, Laguna -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday morning signed Republic Act 9903 condoning penalties on delinquent remittances of premium contributions to the Social Security System (SSS).
The government hopes that the condonation would lead to increased collections for the pension fund of employees working in private corporations.
Unremitted premium contributions is estimated at P109 billion, with accumulated penalties placed at P280 billion.
The President said waiving the penalties will be a big help to small companies, especially those struggling to survive the global financial crisis. It will also encourage them to resume their remittances, thus giving their employees the benefits due them under the law.
“For 2009 alone, the penalties amounted to P68 billion, which we did not expect to collect anyway since a lot of companies were so hard up, and this was our way of helping them survive,” said SSS president Romulo Neri. “But they must pay their share of the premiums so that their employees can avail themselves of the benefits under the system.”
Under the premium payment schedules, a downpayment of five percent of total contribution delinquency is made upfront, with the balance paid in equal monthly installments within 48 months from the time the proposal is approved by the SSS.
The installments carry a three percent annual interest.
The penalty condoned by this law will, however, be re-imposed in case the employer fails to remit in full the required delinquent contributions or defaults in the payment of any installment under the approved proposal within the availment period.
Automated national elections will push through – Palace
Malacañang expressed confidence on Thursday that the country’s first automated national elections in May will push through despite the reported failure in the initial testing of the newly delivered precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.
“We are confident that any problem will be appropriately addressed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec),” said Presidential Spokesperson Gary Olivar in a press briefing in Malacañang this morning.
The use of automation to ensure the clean, honest and orderly conduct of elections is one of the 10-point agenda of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Earlier, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said some of the PCOS machines failed to read most of the ballots during a lab test at the Smartmatic warehouse in Cabuyao, Laguna..
Reports said of 600 ballots, only 30 were read by the machines. The rest were rejected.
According to Larrazabal, the machines were erroneously set at a “high shading threshold,” thus they were unable to read partial and lightly shaded ovals.”
Gov’t to implement unified ID system in March
CALAUAN, Laguna – A unified identification (ID) system will be implemented this year with the signing in the first quarter of the memorandum of agreement among the Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), and Home Development Mutual Fund (PagIbig).
SSS administrator Romulo Neri, who is spearheading the national ID system, made the announcement during the signing of Republic Act 9903, condoning penalties on un-remitted SSS premium contributions by employers.
“By March, we will be printing two million IDs,” said Neri. “We expect to print 12 million IDs in five years,” said Neri.
Initially, the unified ID system was intended to be used also for the poll automation of the Commission on Election (Comelec).
“Since Comelec has not completely finished its registration and other concerns, then we strongly doubt we can push through with it. Besides, we do not want to make it appear that we are doing this for the election,” said Neri.
The national ID system was revived by the Armed Forces of the
In September 2008, the SSS spearheaded the project with a common reference number to be issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO) based on its database.
