PIA Dispatch - Wednesday, April 8, 2009

PGMA to join ASEAN Summit on Good Friday

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will leave for Thailand on Good Friday for the 14 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Leaders’ Summit.

The ASEAN summit, scheduled to be held at Pattaya City until April 12, will discuss the region’s response to ward off the ripple effects of global recession similar to the recent meeting of G20 countries in London.

The President is expected to participate in bilateral meetings as in the previous ASEAN summits.

Aside from the Philippines, the other members of ASEAN are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

After the summit, the President will fly to Dubai, United Arab Emirates to meet with the Filipino communities.

There are more or less 400,000 Filipinos working in UAE.

The Department of Labor and Employment has also arranged a meeting with prospective UAE employers. 

The President is expected to convince Arab employers to hire more Filipinos.


PGMA’s visit to UAE “a hectic working schedule,” says DFA

Manila, April 8 — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo changes gears from financial talks in Thailand and flies immediately to Dubai to tackle the Philippines’ own labor and employment situation and collateral issues with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

It will be President Macapagal-Arroyo’s second working visit to the UAE and only in a 15-month span, preceded mostly by high-level missions covering labor and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). 

It will be a “very busy, hectic working schedule,” a source at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said, without giving her itinerary. 

Since diplomatic relations were forged in 1980, the UAE has become the second top labor-receiving country in the Middle East for Filipino workers, next to Saudi Arabia. 

According to the records of the DFA, there are about 599,000 documented OFWs and an estimated 51,000 of undocumented ones in the Emirates — about 58 per cent being professionals and technically-skilled with the rest being semi-skilled or unskilled. 

Considering the ratio and the imbalanced nature of demands from the UAE, many problems have resulted such as visas, human trafficking, maltreatment, meager or withheld wages, criminal offenses and, in general, breach of contract. 

A few kinks and pending business will be discussed during the President’ visit, notably the effect of the UAE’s “emiratization policy” on current bilateral exchanges covering work deployment. 

In emiratization, the UAE would gradually phase out expatriate workers and replace them with local citizens who shall have gained enough competence and skills to take over jobs once held by foreigners. 

Of relevance also to Filipinos is the so-called “unified contract” system for domestics, in which OFWs may have to accept salaries lower than presently arranged to make the domestics-job market a level playing field for all nationals. Since other nationals would be willing to receive lower salaries, Filipino domestics would be easily displaced. 

For years now, the country has read of thousands of Filipinos stranded in UAE’s neighboring Kish Island in Iran as they wait out the approval of work permits into Dubai and other UAE cities. 

Heretofore, they could enter UAE as tourists, which was allowed, but no longer. Nowadays, they are reduced to beggars in Kish or are trafficked into other neighboring countries following the passage of a strict visa law. The rules for employment have become stringent and selective. 

In July 2008, the UAE has tried to address this problem with a new policy wherein a prospective worker must first secure a work visa from the Philippines to enter the UAE. 

Filipinos have been victimized by human traffickers, while some are believed to be in cahoots with such agents who use the UAE route to bring workers to work-rich sites as the military air bases in Afghanistan. 

The death on March 20 in Kandahar of carpenter Norberto Malana Hobayan is a telling case of how urgently such issues as “cross-border employment,” including to Oman, be discussed between the Philippines and UAE. 

So aware are UAE authorities of flagrant human trafficking occurring on its doorsteps that in November 2006, it imposed life imprisonment for convicted traffickers through a Federal Law issued by its President. The law also addresses trafficking in domestic servants in the UAE. 

While there are currently 11 existing bilateral agreements, which range from air services, agriculture and the recent one between JAFZA International FZE and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, nine are mostly pending for action on either the UAE or Philippine side. 

One that is pending on the Philippine side, and which President Macapagal-Arroyo is looking at, is a Memorandum of Agreement for a Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation on the Philippine side and the Economic, Trade and Technical Cooperation Agreement on the UAE side. 

According to the DFA, the creation of such a joint commission was last proposed by the Philippines in 2001. The UAE counter-proposed with a Economic Trade and Technical Cooperation agreement. 

The Philippines is now awaiting the revised proposal of the UAE, the DFA said. 

Another one that is being studied is a visa waiver agreement. (PNA)

Palace mourns over lives lost at the Bell 142 crash  

Malacanang is grieving over lives lost at the presidential helicopter that crashed in mountainous Benguet. 

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is saddened by the incident where most of the passengers of the ill-fated Bel 142 helicopter are her close aides. 

“I ask our countrymen to join me in extending my condolences to the families of the three victims and in praying that the five others are still alive and that they will be rescued soon.” said the President.

She also thanked the “troops, policemen, local officials, civil volunteers and the rest of the search party” who participated in the rescue operations. 

As of this writing, three bodies were found in the crash site: two were inside the burned chopper in Barangay Kawagan, Kabayan, Benguet based on the report made by Presidential Management Staff Chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr. 

Esperon said the recovered bodies will be processed for identification. 

Aside from search units of Ifugao, Baguio and Nueva Vizcaya local governments, volunteer miners and mountaineers are combing the crash site and surrounding areas to look for five more missing passengers.

The passengers of the fallen Bell 412 aircraft are Press Undersecretary Jose "Jocap" Capadocia, presidential military aide Brig. Gen. Carlos Clet, Undersecretary for Presidential Engagements and Appointments Malou Frostrum, Presidential Management Staff assistant director Perlita Bandayanon, Navy Petty Officer 1 Demy Reyno, and Air Force Staff Sergeant Roe Gem Perez. 

AFP public information chief Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres identified the chopper pilots as Major Rolando Sacatani and Captain Alvin Aligata. 

The chopper disappeared and lost contact after leaving Loakan Airport in Baguio City Tuesday afternoon. 

Jocap’s group is supposed to conduct an ocular inspection in government projects in Ifugao in preparation for President Arroyo’s visit.


Palace lauded OECD for taking off RP from tax haven list

Malacanang lauded the delisting of the Philippines from the list of countries labeled as tax evaders’ havens.

“We appreciate the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)… to remove the Philippines from the list of non-cooperative countries to the internationally agreed tax standard, as we always been ready to adopt international standard to facilitate transparency and exchange of information,” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said, quoting from the statement of Finance Secretary Margarito Teves. 

The Palace believed that OECD is convinced of the sincerity of the Philippines to fix gaps in its banking systems. 

Solution to the gaps would protect the country’s banking system from tax evaders and money launderers.

The passage of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, Ermita said, could be a reason why OECD took out the Philippines from its blacklist.

The Department of Finance is now coordinating with both Houses of Congress on proposed amendments that will relax the Bank Secrecy Law as part of complying with its commitments with OECD.

Also known as Republic Act No. 1405, the Bank Secrecy Law provides that "all deposits of whatever nature with banks or banking institutions in the Philippines, including investments in bonds issued by the Government of the Philippines, its political subdivisions and its instrumentalities, are considered as being of an absolutely confidential nature and may not be inquired or looked into by any person, subject to some exceptions."  

Aside from the Philippines, Costa Rica, Malaysia and Uruguay were also removed from the OECD black list.

The removal transferred the four countries to OECD’s grey list of countries that have committed to the international tax reporting standard but have not substantially implemented. 

Countries on the white list, on the other hand, are those that have implemented the international tax reporting standard.

Nations landing on the OECD blacklist are those that do not provide banking information upon request of foreign tax organizations. 

OECD produced the listing for the leaders of G20 countries who have met recently in London to discuss solutions to the ongoing financial slump. 

In its report, OECD stressed that the readiness of a country to share banking information is one of the keys to a transparent international financial transactions.

PGMA's economic team sees crying need to adjust economic forecast

To be more factual in its economic forecast, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s economic team sees the need to adjust some items set forth in its economic goals and targets in managing the country’s finances. 

In a press briefing, both Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Presidential Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said they see nothing wrong in being factual and realistic about the goals and targets in the government’s economic projections and neither would it (review) “send the wrong signals to the foreign community.”

“Our economic team is continuously evaluating our economic performance and therefore they want to be true to their evaluations so that targets being set by them are realistic especially now that we have a global financial crisis,” Ermita told reporters.

Fajardo said the economy is never static and entails many variables. “We will only be adjusting one or two items. Our assumptions and projections must remain as realistic as possible.”

Ermita said the economic managers --- officials from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Department of Finance, the National Economic and Development Authority, the Departments of Trade and Industry and Budget and Management -- “have to review the figures so I think that should not be taken as something alarming.”

“We are just being realistic and ‘alam naman niyo siguro na maipagmamalaki natin na our Finance Secretary Gary Teves is known as the Best Finance Man of Asia, and if only for that at least gusto natin sa puntong yan na let us be realistic with our goal setting at ng ating financial management,” Ermita said. 

On President Arroyo’s desire for a balanced budget, Ermita said “of course that is the objective of the national administrator so we can overcome our deficit dahil kung tayo ay walang deficit e baka magamit natin and pondo sa mahahalagang proyekto na ikabubuti ng ating mga kabababayan so that’s the goal of all presidents.”

On a proposed legislation pushing for 10 percent ad valorem tax on sodas to raise revenue for the annual revenue target, Ermita said “I have to find out from our economic team what this initiative is all about. This is the first time I am hearing this. Let us see what this ad valorem tax is all about, how they intend to go with that and of course definitely they must have legislation in both houses of Congress to find out whether that could be feasible and advisable.”

As they say, the only thing inevitable in life are taxes anywhere in the world. But when the President pushed for the expanded value added tax (EVAT), everybody thought it was a very unpopular move and yet the effective implementation of the EVAT somehow helped our economy, Ermita stressed. 

Palace seeks more price cuts on petroleum products 

Malacanang hailed the latest price rollback on gasoline and diesel.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde urged oil firms to find more ways to reduce the price of diesel and gasoline.

Philippine Shell and Chevron Philippines slashed Tuesday the price of diesel by 1 peso per liter and by fifty centavos per liter for gasoline.

Oil companies explained that lower world oil prices and foreign exchange last week caused the drop in prices.  

Remonde said that government through the Department of Energy (DOE) is monitoring their books to find out whether the hike in prices is justified.

If the price increase is found unreasonable, Remonde said the Department of Justice would take legal actions against erring oil firms.

BI and PNP on alert status throughout Semana Santa

The Philippine National Police will make its presence felt across the country during the Holy Week. 

PNP Director General General Jesus Verzosa said the heightened alert status is observed nationwide where police officers are deployed in bus terminals, airports, sea ports and even malls to ensure public safety.

Versoza also ordered the police to help decongest traffic jams in all national roads and highways.
The alert status is part of the PNP strategy to prepare for the mad dash of vacationers and penitents in the provinces.

Meanwhile the Bureau of Immigration is on the lookout for undesirable aliens. 

Like the Philippine National Police, BI is also in alert status until Monday, April 13, to discourage foreign terrorists from causing mayhem when most Filipinos are busy with the Holy Week break.

BI disseminated the alert order to all immigration officers in international and domestic ports.

PGMA declares “Sabado de Gloria” as special non-working holiday 

Manila, April 8 (PNA) - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has declared “Sabado de Gloria” which has been renamed Black Saturday by Rome -- as a special non-working holiday all over the country. 

Proclamation No. 1752, declaring April 11 as a special holiday, was signed for the President today (April 8, Wednesday) by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita. 

The President is in Baguio City as she was earlier scheduled to inspect the progress of the rehabilitation works for the Halsema Highway that connects the Cordillera provinces of Benguet, Mountain Province and Ifugao. 

Pointing out that “the observance of Holy Week is one of our people’s most cherished traditions,” the presidential proclamation said “our people must be given the full and uninterrupted opportunity to ponder on the significance of the Holy Week and to properly observe its traditions with religious fervor, without prejudice to public interest.” 

Falling between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Black Saturday has been traditionally declared a special holiday throughout the country.