National Economic and Development Authority
reports on country’s lower imports
The lower overseas purchases of mineral fuels
and lubricants, coupled with the drop in purchases of semi-processed raw
materials, led to the decrease in imports by 8.0 percent in January 2013.
In its five-page Memorandum for President
Benigno S. Aquino III, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)
reported that the country’s total merchandise imports declined by 8.0 percent
from US$5.1 billion in January 2012 to US$4.7 billion in January 2013.
"The lower payments for mineral fuels and
lubricants and raw materials and intermediate goods reduced total import bill
in January 2013," the NEDA said.
The NEDA noted that higher imports of consumer
and capital goods partially moderated the import drop during the period.
Petroleum crude payments also declined by 45.3
percent during the period on account of lower import volume and international
price of Dubai crude. In particular, the volume of petroleum shipments fell by
45.5 percent while the price of Dubai crude registered a 2.0 percent year-on-year
decrease in January 2013.
"These made the value of overseas purchases
of mineral fuels and lubricants drop by 30.0 percent (US$924.9 million) for the
period from US$1.3 billion in January 2012," the report said.
Likewise, the report pointed out that semi-processed
raw inputs decreased by 10.3 percent that pushed down imports of raw materials
and intermediate goods by 7.8 percent from US$1.9 billion in January 2012 to
US$1.8 billion in January 2013. These inputs include materials/accessories for
the manufacture of electrical equipment, which declined by 29.8 percent in
January 2013.
The trade-in goods deficit narrowed to US$713.9
million from US$1.0 billion in January 2012.
Imports for consumer goods grew by 19.5 percent
year-on-year to US$622.4 million while capital goods reached US$1.4 billion
(3.0%) in January 2013.
Higher inward shipments of passenger cars and
motorized cycle (21.1%), home appliances (99.6%) and miscellaneous manufactures
(7.8%) supported the growth in payments for durable consumer goods (22.3%).
The increase in the payments for imported
non-durable consumer products (16.8%) was mainly attributed to the increased
inward shipments of beverages and tobacco manufactures (115.9%), articles of
apparel (40.0%), fruits and vegetables (18.7%) and, fish and fish preparations
(29.8%).
Furthermore, the increase in import payments for
power generating and specialized machines (12.2%), aircraft, ships and boats
(50.6%) and land transportation equipment excluding passenger cars and
motorized cycle (11.6%) buoyed the growth of payments for imported capital
goods in January 2013.
The NEDA stressed that the increase in payments
for imported capital goods was supported by the continuously upbeat outlook on
the macroeconomy, with the percentage of businesses with expansion plans
increasing to 29.6% in the first quarter of 2013 from 28.8% in the same period
in 2012.
As for the source of the country’s imports, NEDA
said the People’s Republic of China had the highest share of 13.1 percent of
the total value of inward shipments in January 2013. The United States of
America came next with a 10.8 percent share, followed by Japan (8.9%), the
Republic of Korea (8.5%) and Taiwan (7.1%). PND (js)
Aquino vetoes consolidated bill that aims to
remove height requirement for applicants to the police, fire and jail bureaus
President Benigno S. Aquino III has vetoed the
bill that aims to remove the height requirement for applicants to the
Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and Bureau of
Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), a Palace official announced on Monday.
Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte
said in a press briefing in Malacanang on Monday that the Chief Executive
vetoed the consolidated enrolled Senate Bill 3217/House Bill 6203 entitled
"An Act Repealing the Minimum Height Requirement for Applicants to the
Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, and Bureau of Jail
Management and Penology."
Under existing laws, particularly the PNP Reform
and Reorganization Act of 1998 (RA 8551), the BFP and BJMP Professionalization
Act of 2004 (RA 9263 as amended by RA 9592) and the Department of the Interior
and Local Government Act of 1990 (RA 6975), applicants to the PNP, BJMP and BFP
must comply with certain general qualifications for appointment to the service.
“Whereas height is among these qualifications
(1.62 m or 5’4" for male and 1.57 m or 5’2" for female), a waiver of
this qualification is allowed under certain conditions. Hence, the total repeal
of the height requirement among these service bureaus is unnecessary,” the
President said in his veto message.
The veto message was transmitted to the Senate
and the House of Representatives last February 25.
"While I recognize the noble intent of this
measure to address height equality among these bureaus, I am also seriously
apprehensive of the concerns propounded by the PNP and BJMP in the safety of
their personnel in the performance of their duties, as well as public safety in
general," President Aquino said.
"As raised by the BJMP, jail officers, by
the nature of their work in guarding detainees or escorting criminals, must
possess the necessary physical attributes to perform their functions effectively.
Likewise, public safety is paramount in law enforcement by the PNP, as well as
in fire-fighting by the BFP," the President noted. PND (js)
Vacant positions in COMELEC shall be filled
soon, palace assures
Given the urgency of the situation now that the
country only has a little over a month to prepare for the upcoming midterm
elections, Malacañang assured that President Benigno Aquino III will soon
appoint two new commissioners for the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).
Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte
told reporters on Monday that the Office of the President (OP) through the
Office of the Executive Secretary (OES) already wrote COMELEC to seek an
exemption for its would-be members from the appointments ban.
“I understand that we are waiting for a reply
from the COMELEC but we’ve already been told, as we were given advanced
information, that the COMELEC does concur with the position of the OP that it
is not covered by the March 29 appointments ban due to the urgency and brought
upon by the upcoming elections in May,” Valte said.
It would be recalled that President Aquino
already named former ambassador Macabangkit Lanto and election lawyer
Bernadette Sardillo to replace the retired COMELEC commissioners, Rene
Sarmiento and Armando Velasco, last March 7 in Davao.
However, both Lanto and Sardillo withdrew their
applications thus leaving the two COMELEC commissioner posts empty anew.
Asked when the public can expect the
appointments to be made, Valte replied: “I don’t want to give a timetable but
rest assured that we are very cognizant of the urgency of the appointments.”
Valte relayed that President Aquino signed a
number of appointment papers Tuesday and Wednesday last week but none of these
include new members for the COMELEC.
She said she was told by the OES that majority
of these appointments are under the judiciary and are now being processed for
their transmittal. PND (hdc)
Palace on the Korean peninsula tensions
Contingency plans are in place in the event that
the recurring tensions on the Korean Peninsula escalate further in light of
North Korea’s recent declaration of a "state of war" with South
Korea, Malacañang said on Monday.
Quoting the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA),
Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said Filipino community leaders
in South Korea have already been contacted and put on Alert Level 1 for
heightened awareness of the situation.
“If you remember, when the tensions increased—I
think sometime in early 2011—we had the opportunity to give the contingency
plan a second look so that the preparations now are benefiting from that look
in 2011,” Valte told reporters in a press briefing.
Malacañang expressed readiness to evacuate the
estimated 40,000 Filipinos living and working in South Korea to the extent of
tapping commercial vessels if and when the need arises.
“We were able to do it in several other
countries. Hopefully, we will also be able to do it (again) but we hope that it
will not be necessary. And we are one with everybody in hoping that the
tensions decrease in that particular area,” she said.
Valte, however, added that she’s unaware whether
additional funds and personnel will be provided for the Philippine Embassy in
Seoul since they were told that "life seems to be normal" still in
that particular area.
“I did not hear any discussions as to augmented
funding and as to augmented manpower of our post there in South Korea. But, if and
when necessary, we will be able to provide what is needed,” she said.
“Our post reports that normal naman po ‘yung
situation on the ground and wala naman po daw silang nakukuhang impormasyon na
tumataas ‘yung tensyon. Life seems to be normal on that particular end.
However, we deemed it more prudent to still activate the contingency plan that
we have.”
Malacañang is leaving the finer details of the
government’s contingency plans to the DFA but the important thing, Valte said,
is that "we consider all options."
“I do know that the plan involves moving,
alerting our people at a certain time, reminding them of the particular
convergence points that have been identified, and then eventually moving to the
point where they will be taken out of that particular area.
Na-identify na naman po lahat diyan. In fact, I
was told this morning that the contingency plan is up on our embassy’s website
there (in South Korea). So you can check, if you’re curious about the details
of it, nandoon po ‘yan sa website ‘nung embassy natin doon.
We consider all options. One of the options will
be to employ commercial vessels. You’ve seen that in the case of our
evacuations in Libya, also in Syria, and also earlier in Lebanon,” Valte
explained. PND (hdc)
