PIA Dispatch - Wednesday, July 22, 2009

PGMA inaugurates Bohol Medical Care Institute

TAGBILARAN CITY – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurated on Wednesday the Bohol Medical Care Institute (BMCI), a facility that will provide cheap socialized medical and diagnostic services to indigent families of this island province.

Immediately upon her arrival at the Barangay Dao District here, the President unveiled the marker of the P20 million BMCI facility located at the right side of the building’s main entrance.

On hand to assist the President were Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus, Governor Erico Aumentado, Tagbilaran City Mayor Dan Lim, and First Consolidated Bank foundation chairman Dr. Richard Yu.

In his brief remarks, Governor Aumentado said the opening of the BMCI and the Sandugo Regional One Town, One Product (OTOP) provincial trade fair reflects the administration’s focus on key areas of success in the province especially in health, trade, agriculture, education and livelihood.

He stressed that the formal opening of the BMCI “will address the shortage of appropriate diagnostic facilities in Bohol” and the prohibitive cost of medical care services whenever Boholanos go to the cities of Cebu, Manila, Cagayan de Oro or Davao for diagnosis or treatment.

The BMCI will house diagnostic equipment and specialists clinics designed to provide indigents and middle class patients socialized services.

These include radiology, laboratory/pathology, endoscopy, treatment of eye, ear, nose, throat (EENT) diseases, therapy/pain management, internal medicine and cardiology, and ambulatory services.

The BMCI is a joint project of the provincial government, First Consolidated Bank (FCB) Foundation, Bohol Chronicle-DYRD-Inyong Alagad Foundation and the New York-based Home Reach Foundation aimed to provide indigent and middle class families socialized medical/diagnostic services.


SONA to focus on PGMA accomplishments

MANILA, July 22 - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will highlight the achievements of her administration and the status of the government’s projects and programs in her upcoming State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the opening of the Joint Congress on July 27.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said in a press briefing today that President Arroyo will dwell on how her administration has given “too much attention to the overall welfare of the Filipinos.”

He explained that President Arroyo will try to highlight the accomplishments of the major projects she initiated since 2001.

Ermita cited the BEAT THE ODDS program of the government which the Chief Executive will most likely tackle on Monday’s SONA.

BEAT THE ODDS is an acronym for the government’s priority project which stands for: Balance budget, Education for all, Automated elections, Transportation and digital infrastructure, Terminate hostilities with the MILF and NPA, Heal the wounds of EDSA’s I, II and III, Electricity and water for all, Opportunities for livelihood and ten million jobs, Decongestion of Metro Manila, and Develop Subic and Clark.

President Arroyo, Ermita added, may also report the developments on the Super Region concept, the development in Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon and the other parts of the country.

Ermita reiterated that this is President Arroyo’s last SONA and she wants to inform the Filipino people on the accomplishments of her administration and the status of the projects and programs that she initiated for the welfare of the citizens.


EO on drug price ceiling to take effect August 15

MANILA, July 22 - Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita confirmed on wednesday that an executive order for the imposition of maximum drug price ceilings on several essential drugs may be signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo before she leaves for the United States late this month.

The EO, he said, will take effect on August 15.

Ermita said the report from the Department of Health will be the basis of the draft executive order that they will submit to President Arroyo “to implement the intent and spirit of the Cheap Medicines Act.”

“You can be sure that the President will take a final decisive action on that matter that would be advantageous and beneficial to the majority of our people. You can be sure of that,” Ermita told Malacanang reporters in a press briefing.

In a letter submitted to the Office of the President, the health department disclosed that they have finalized the review and validation of the Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) letter of undertaking where prices of 16 drugs were voluntarily reduced by 50 percent while five other were non-compliant.

Among the 16 preparations that complied were medications to treat hypertension, diabetes, common infections, amoebiasis and some cancers like leukemia.

The five others that did not voluntarily comply with the 50 percent price cut will be recommended for the imposition of the maximum drug retail price through an executive order to be signed by the President.

However, pharmaceutical companies have added 22 molecules (or 31 products) that will have voluntary price cuts from 10 to 50 percent. These medications will treat diseases such as goiter, hypertension, high cholesterol levels, arthritis, fungal infections, diabetes, among others.
President Arroyo last year signed into law RA 9502, or the Universally Accessible, Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008. Under the law, any individual or organization listed with the Bureau of Food and Drugs may import medicines and sell them at affordable prices to the public


OAV registration for 2010 elections breaches record for 2007, says DFA

MANILA, July 22 — At 143,659 overseas voters so far registered for the May 2010 elections, the number has breached the total of 142,667 for the 2007 national elections, according to Nestor Padalhin, vice-chairman of the Overseas Absentee Voters Secretariat (OAVS) based at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Still, both totals fared much lower than the 361,457 registered in the two-month registration period for the 2004 presidential elections, records show. The August 1 to September 30, 2003 OAV registration was the first since the law on overseas absentee voting and the law on dual citizenship were passed by Congress.

The second OAV registration was for a one-year period from October 31, 2005 to October 31, 2006, yet the total was the lowest of the three periods.

For that first-time ever registration, foreign posts were on their toes as they have to respond to both face-to-face and online queries by first-time prospective absentee voters and master the mechanics of registering Filipinos abroad. Both registrars and registrants were experiencing overseas registration and actual voting for the first time.

The current seven-month registration period, from February 1 to August 31, shows that the consulate-general in Hong Kong, reaping 14,259, leads some 90 foreign diplomatic posts in attracting registrants. The HK performance accounts for the overall regional lead of the Asia-Pacific, or for a regional total of 39,239.

With only five weeks to go before the August 31 deadline, the OAVS hopes that registration reaches at least 200,000.

DFA Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, OAVS chair, earlier said that he has factored the Filipino habit of scrambling over a project at the 11th hour.

Also, various foreign posts have multiplied their campaign for mobile registration, operating out of public places and centers in the Middle East, Europe, Hong Kong and the U.S. to attract Filipinos to register — and eventually vote in May 2010.

Padalhin said there is nothing unusual about the fluctuation in numbers as many OAV registrants are transient overseas workers. The point is that they have a chance to register and exercise their right of suffrage even when abroad, he added.

Next to Hong Kong, with a large Filipino community of at least 180,000, the top 10 registrars are: Los Angeles, 8,114; Dubai, 7,907; Singapore, 6,300; London, 4,662; Riyadh, 4,570; Toronto, 4,202; New York, 4,085; Tokyo, 3,363, and Washington, 3,214.

The U.S., where many Filipinos are dual citizens, leads among countries where registration is in the top five. The rest are China (15,288), United Arab Emirates (10,555), Saudi Arabia (8,413) and Singapore (6,300).

But DFA noted that there were also enlistment in the newly-opened diplomatic posts of Barcelona (Spain, 1,559), Oslo (Norway, 938), Macau (SAR China, 465), Damascus (Syria, 277), Frankfurt (Germany, 44), and Chongqing (China, 43).


CLEEP employs 237,601 Pinoys

National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban revealed that at least 237,601 Filipinos have earned employment during the last six months under the Arroyo government’s Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP).

In a statement, Secretary Panganiban said the generated jobs are in public works and services with more than P7 billion already committed of the P13.58 billion as pledged by various agencies to the CLEEP.

Panganiban reported that DPWH has hired some 46,604 workers; DA provided emergency jobs for 37,524 workers; DSWD 27,127; DTI hired some 29,545; DepEd employed 19,356 workers for its herbal soap-making project and as utility workers; and 13 other government agencies
provided jobs to 77,445 Filipinos across the country.

The Secretary hinted that the figure is yet to grow as agencies are still in the process of tallying its CLEEP reports.

Accordingly, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is closely watching the implementation of the project to ease the burden of the people amidst the challenges of the global economic slowdown.

In a related development, the Arroyo administration, in its relentless effort to open new and better job opportunities here and abroad, has already generated more than 6.3 million jobs since 2001 for wage employment alone in sectors like the ICT and BPO and through jobs facilitation program.

To better the workers condition, the daily minimum wage in the private sector were increased from P265 in 2001 to P382 to date, while in the government, salaries of state employees were raised four times, including this year with the first of the four tranches of the Salary Standardization Law 3 after being signed by President Arroyo.