RESIST CORPORATE GREED!
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Saturday, November 5, 2011
THE Philippines’ electronics and business process outsourcing industries reportedly shelled out $40 million in additional labor costs after Malacanang declared October 31 and November 7 as non-working holidays. This was pointed out by researchers of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the country’s biggest business organization, saying that the country has the highest number of holidays in Asia with 21 days this year. President Benigno Aquino III declared 16 regular holidays last year. The BPO and electronics industries have a combined work force of one million people, according to data gathered by the PCCI. During a non-working holiday, these industries which operate 24 hours, seven days a week, are required to shell out an additional $20 million to cover extra pay of employees who are made to work on a holiday, the PCCI said. Even during the time of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who signed a law on rationalizing holidays, the business community had asked Malacanang to limit the number of holidays to only 16. Last year, President Aquino made the same policy pronouncement by refusing to suspend work on a Monday following his father's death anniversary on August 21, which falls on a Saturday. This year, however, he declared four new special holidays. The Palace declared October 31 as a special non-working holiday to give Filipinos ample time to visit departed relatives and friends for “Undas” while November 7 was declared a regular holiday in observance of the Eid'l Adha (Feast of Sacrifice). Too many holidays have harmed both sectors’ abilities to compete with neighboring countries that keep fewer non-working holidays. Vietnam, for example, only has nine a year. Also, the practice by the government of declaring holidays on short notice has hindered corporate planning, the PCCI said. The business chamber suggested that this early, Malacanang should come out with a list of non-working holidays for the next two years and stop the practice of declaring new ones on short notice which only increases the cost of doing business. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex) Friday, November 4, 2011
MANILA -- LPG Marketers’ Association (LPGMA) party-list Representative Arnel Ty and others who were charged of violating the Oil Deregulation Law of 1998 will file a petition for review before the Department of Justice (DOJ). “We will file a petition for review and we will do all possible legal actions to protect consumers,” Ty said in a television interview. The DOJ on Friday recommended the filing of charges against Ty, Danilo Chua, Alison Sy, Rene Rosell, Ronnie Sevillana, Mar Dave Tang, Virginia Cid, Bonifacio Eleria, and Antonio del Rosario for setting a uniform selling price of LPG which supposedly leads to cartelization. Ty further said he will not temporarily abandon his duties in Congress pending the resolution of the case since the legal battle is only between the two opposing groups – one who wants an increase in oil prices and the other (LPGMA) which aims to protect the rights of consumers. The case was filed by Jesus Arranza, chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries last October 2010. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex) By Malen Catajan
Saturday, November 5, 2011 AMBASSADORS all over the world will converge in Baguio City for mining development. Seven ambassadors led by Australia’s Roderick Richard Campbell Smith, Brazil’s Alcides Gastao Rostand Prates, Chile’s Roberto Mayorga, South Africa’s Agnes Nyamande-Pitso, Switzerland’s Ivo Sieber, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s Stephen Lillie, and China’s Liu Jianchao will attend the four-day mining week in the city. The Philippines Ambassador Delia Albert, former Department of Foreign Affairs secretary and Philippine ambassador to Australia and Germany, will also be present in the festivities. The city will play host to the 59th Annual National Mine Safety and Environment Conference slated on November 8 to 11, gathering mining stakeholders and agencies with this year’s theme “Responsible Mining: Enabling a Better Future.” Activities will kick off with a tree planting on November 8 at the Botanical Garden area adopted by the Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association. The ambassadors will also attend the Mining Symposium geared to boost the industry and its standards through an exchange of information and technology. On November 10, the anticipated opening of Mining Exhibit at the Garden Wing of the CAP-Camp John Hay convention center is set to display the industry’s best. Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on November 05, 2011. By JM Agreda
Saturday, November 5, 2011 BAGUIO City Mayor Mauricio Domogan said Wednesday that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) approved a P110-million budget for the rehabilitation of the Irisan dumpsite. The approval, he added, is a result of the city's request for assistance from President Benigno Aquino III through DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson after the Summer Capital suffered multi-million worth of devastation especially during the height of Typhoon Mina. By JM Agreda
Saturday, November 5, 2011 BAGUIO City’s waste solution provider is having a hard time looking for a transfer and sorting station for the city's non-biodegradable trash. Mayor Mauricio Domogan told Sun.Star Baguio Friday that Rosario, La Union Mayor Bellarmin Flores III offered Pro Tech Machineries Corp. a four-hectare private lot to be used as a transfer and sorting station for the city’s residual waste. But Neil Orras, who claimed to be the owner of the lot, aired his protest against Flores’s action, saying the lot is not for the mayor to offer since Orras allegedly inherited it from his parents. Domogan admitted the city is pressed to look for a private lot to be used as a transfer and sorting station for its residual and recyclable wastes after the city delegated Pro Tech last month to collect non-biodegradable wastes. This prompted the city's waste solution provider and supplier of Environmental Recycling System (ERS) to search for an area outside the city where they could sort out trash. But as of now, there are still no takers except the offer from Mayor Flores. Domogan said prior to Pro Tech's collection of garbage from the barangays, they have allowed waste segregators to collect at least 30 kilos of recyclables inside the Irisan facility. But this only resulted in residuals being left out, scattered and stockpiled. The stockpiling of residuals has also been the main contention of Tuba residents, claiming the city has been continuously dumping trash in Irisan despite its closure order a few years ago. In response to numerous complaints on continued dumping, the mayor issued Administrative Order 125, allowing Pro Tech to collect the city's trash through a two-truck system. But waste segregators remain a problem, as Mayor Domogan claimed enterprising individuals have been following Pro Tech in the barangays during collection schedules, taking away the recyclables and leaving most of the trash unsorted, resulting again in mixed wastes. The waste solution company then decided to look for a transfer station as staging ground for the city's non-biodegradable wastes, Domogan added. He also said that at first, Pangasinan municipalities, like San Manuel, offered to accept the city's trash. Rosales, Urdaneta and Sison in Pangasinan also made an offer since both are closer to Baguio compared to the Capas, Tarlac facility where the city currently hauls its trash. All these proposals, however, did not materialize as problems on expensive tipping fees, lack of available space to accommodate residual wastes, opposition from community and municipal leaders and host community complaints met Pro Tech's plans to haul out trash there, said Domogan. “Certainly, there were no takers for the city's residual trash until the offer from Rosario town Mayor Flores came,” the mayor said. But with Orras, who claims ownership of the private lot, another round of opposition will be faced by Pro Tech and Mayor Flores. Mayor Domogan reiterated that the private lot will only be used by Pro Tech as a transfer and sorting station for non-biodegradable trash and not for malodorous biodegradable wastes. “The biodegradable wastes will still be fed into the ERS machines in Irisan,” he said. The owner said they are not even amenable to the area being proposed as a transfer and sorting area for Baguio's wastes. With this ongoing problem of continuous opposition of host communities to accept the city's wastes, Pro Tech is now left at a quandary where to temporarily store the city's recyclable and residual wastes before it is finally hauled to their facility in Malasiqui, Pangasinan, which the mayor claims is the final destination of the city's wastes. This transpired after Pro Tech's transfer facility in Carmen West, Rosales, Pangasinan, reportedly has also been opposed by neighboring establishments and residents, prompting the Municipal Government to disallow processing of residuals there. Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on November 05, 2011. |
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