Debt of Society

Speed up reforms, World Bank tells PH

 

High power rates and limited access to financing for small enterprises are among the structural problems that the Philippine government should address so that economic growth can translate into poverty reduction, the World Bank said on Monday.

In its latest quarterly report on the Philippines, the World Bank said the country had achieved low inflation, a sustained economic growth, a declining debt burden, a stable banking sector and a comfortable level of foreign exchange reserves.

But the country should work on graduating from merely achieving and sustaining macroeconomic stability to spreading prosperity to most Filipinos, the multilateral agency said.

“The government has done a really good job in achieving macroeconomic stability. But there are structural impediments that have to be addressed … to achieve a more inclusive growth and to reduce poverty at a faster pace,” Karl Kendrick Chua, World Bank country economist for the Philippines, said at a press conference.

Besides high power rates and lack of financing for small enterprises, Chua enumerated other impediments to poverty reduction—unpredictable regulations, uneven playing field for businesses in terms of taxation, high cost of and a tedious process in starting a business, and limited access to education and skills training.

Read the full article http://business.inquirer.net/50079/speed-up-reforms-world-bank-tells-ph

Upcoming Election

 Comelec brass sees better 2013 elections


By May Anne Cacdac

Saturday, December 1, 2012

TAGAYTAY CITY -- Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rene Sarmiento anticipates a better conduct of automated elections this second time around.

Speaking before select media from Luzon during the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism initiated seminar on the election coverage, Sarmiento stressed moves by the Comelec are being made to ensure credible and peaceful elections on May 13, 2013.

“Noteworthy is the recent creation of the Comelec’s Campaign Finance Unit to oversee election campaign spending and see to it that laws governing fiscal related matters covering elections are strictly followed,” Sarmiento said.

Comelec Resolution 9476 outlines a new set of rules and regulations on electoral contributions, expenditures and procedures and states the CFU will receive and evaluate the candidates’ statement of expenditures and their contributors’ disclosure of campaign donations.

Apart from the CFU, Sarmiento also underscored the re-registration of voters and the cleansing of the voters’ list in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao where bulk of the cheating during the last elections.

“This is apart from the offsite registrations Comelec conducted to accommodate more Persons with Disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and even detainees,” Sarmiento added.

The commissioner noted a decrease in PWD voters during the first automated elections but stressed Comeleec is coordinating with the Dpartment of Public Works and Highways to provide ramps in polling places to accommodate PWDs.

The Comelec also had a command conference with key officers of the Philippine National Police to lay out security plans before, during and even after the May 2013 elections.

“The election is truly a complex process which entails a web of human resources, technology, facilities and materials. There were doomsday prophecies of the failure of elections in 2010 but leave it to the Filipinos to prove themselves and the world wrong. There were lessons to be learned and from there we can move on,” Sarmiento said in closing.

Tree Of Life

Coconut oil exports continue increase

Philippine exports of coconut oil continued to rise as of September this year on the back of stronger demand from the traditional markets, the United Coconut Association of the Philippines (UCAP) said over the weekend.

Yvonne Agustin, UCAP executive director, said that preliminary data showed that CNO exports reached 659,455MT in January to September 2012, or 3.8 percent higher from last year’s level of 634,911MT.

“Demand from our major markets for the product continued to be stable,” Agustin said, noting that ample supply of the commodity allowed the industry to meet demand.

In September 2012 alone, coconut oil exports surged 41 percent to 71,992 MT from 51,007 MT a year ago.

The UCAP official attributed the sharp increase to base effects, as demand from the United States and Europe—the key overseas market for the commodity—had slumped last year.

Agustin also ascribed the higher shipments this year to the market’s shift away from palm kernel oil toward CNO, because of narrowing price differentials.

“These shipments were traded maybe a month before, when coconut oil was still at a discounted price against palm kernel oil. That may have also caused buyers to favor coconut oil,” she said.

Palm kernel oil is coconut oil’s premier competitor in the world market.

Early this year, coconut oil was priced higher than palm kernel oil, but since March, the premium between both began to narrow, Agustin said.

Last month, CNO was priced at an average of $952 per MT during the period, while palm kernel oil was at $971 per MT.

With the continued growth in CNO exports, Agustin also said that the industry remains on-track towards meeting its target.

“It’s unlikely that we’ll exceed it, but we remain hopeful that we sustain this growth,” she said.

The Philippines aims to ship 925,000MT of CNO this year.

Human Trafficking in the Philippines

MANILA -- The Philippines is no doubt a good resource for human trafficking, a United Nations (UN) official said Friday.

In a press conference, UN's Joy Ngozi Ezeilo lamented how Filipinos are being trafficked in different parts of the world.

"Children, women, and men are trafficked in the Philippines abroad for the purpose of sexual exploitation, including sexual tourism, cybersex and pornographic purposes, for forced and bonded labor, domestic servitude, forced marriages, as well as for organ transplantation," Ezeilo said.

Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, gestures as she talks about her report on her fact-finding mission in the Philippines on Friday at Makati City. (Associated Press)

Ezeilo is in the Philippines for a five-day fact finding mission to examine the situation of trafficked persons and the impact of anti-trafficking measures in the country.

Among the places she visited are Manila, Cebu, and Zamboanga.

The Nigerian noted how trafficking worldwide can be attributed to the socio-economic conditions in the country, including growing poverty, youth unemployment, gender inequalities, discrimination, gender-based violence, especially to women and girls.

Other factors at play, she noted, were armed conflict, clan feuding, and natural disasters, which results to large numbers of individuals being displaced.

The special envoy also noticed that trafficking of Filipina migrant workers is chiefly due to poverty and unequal access to employment and means of livelihood for women.

"Women want to migrate to earn income or run away from gender-based violence at home country," the human rights lawyer noted.

On the other hand, Ezeilo credited the Philippines for demonstrating strong commitment in combating human trafficking since the enactment in 2003 of the Republic Act 9028, or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.

"This is reflected by the ratification of the Protocol Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children or the Palermo Protocol," Ezeilo said.

She also commended the Philippine’s initiative in entering bilateral agreements with numerous countries of origin, transit and destination both for cooperation on human trafficking issues, and for conducting training and capacity building activities in collaboration with other countries, the UN and other international organizations.

"The Philippine government's anti-trafficking initiative is, therefore, in-line with its anti-trafficking law, which indeed encompasses the definition of trafficking in persons provided under the Palermo Protocol and penalizes all forms of trafficking in persons," Ezeilo said. (HDT/Sunnex)

Opposition of Bills

OPPOSITION TO HOUSE BILL 6069 AND SENATE BILL NO. 3130

We, the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center Employees , strongly oppose the passage of House Bill No. 6069 and Senate Bill 3130  introduced by Congressman Anthony Rolando T. Golez, Jr. and Senator Franklin Drilon, respectively.

House Bill No. 6069 pertains to, “AN ACT CONVERTING GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS INTO NATIONAL GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL CORPORATIONS PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR, and AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES”; while Senate Bill 3130 pertains to, “AN ACT INSTITUTING A CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING PROGRAM FOR NATIONAL GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES”

That the said Bills include among others the corporatization of the 26 retained DOH Hospitals and Medical Centers including the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center;

That the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center is the only tertiary hospital serving the constituents of two administrative regions of  Region XII and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the City of Cotabato;

That, Region XII and ARMM are regions where majority of the people are marginalized, and displaced by the continuing armed conflict. The maternal and infant morbidity and mortality are its highest due to poverty and inadequate health care delivery. Cotabato Regional and Medical Center is the only tertiary hospital that serves the poor;

That, corporatization or privatization of Cotabato Regional and Medical Center, would mean that the government discharge its responsibility of providing health to all and deprive the people of its constitutional right to health care;
That, depriving the people of Region XII and ARMM of tertiary health services because of high cost is a neglect of the government and would worsen the poor condition of the people;
That, corporatization of the hospital is a step towards privatization or even a form of privatization. Privatization would mean that the ownership in control public functions is transferred in a whole or in part to a private operator. The primary objective is profit for the owner, among other things and this necessitates an avoidance of customers who cannot pay to maximize between revenues and costs;

That, engaging in so called Public Private Partnership as the main engine for growth and development denies the poor of their rights to health and financial freedom. It further deprives the employees of the government of their security of tenure and a threat to their employment;
That, House Bill 6069 and Senate Bill 3130 slowly put patients to coma and killing through overt euthanasia the dedicated and committed hospital employees;

Therefore, we strongly oppose the passage of these bills and ask the government to fulfill its promise and obligation to provide health for all.

Heroes of The Philippine Agriculture

Poor and landless

      In Tarlac province, about 100 kms north of Manila, Hacienda Luisita was once touted as a showcase of the land reform program. Here, however, CARP has failed to win the hearts and minds of farmers: In recent random interviews, they told Bulatlat.com that their lives have been ruined further because of CARP. Luisita is owned by the family of former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino.

      One of the workers, Francisco Nakpil, is an agricultural worker in the sugarcane plantation of Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) for 45 years. When the stock distribution options (SDO) scheme under CARP was introduced in the hacienda in 1989, Nakpil became one of the 7,000 workers who became instant “stockholders” of the agro-corporation. Within 30 years under this scheme, hacienda owners were to transfer 32 percent of the total stocks of the company to the farm workers.

     For the past 15 years, Nakpil received an average daily wage of P9, a sack of rice every month, a P4,000 educational loan every June and an average annual three percent profit share of around P2,000. Based on reasonable market price equivalents of the material benefits, Nakpil was in effect getting an average yearly income of P17,760 - or P48.66 daily. For being an HLI stockholder, he also got a 240 square meter home lot.

      Yet, has Nakpil become richer through the land reform program?

      Today at 62, Nakpil says he has only a home lot souvenir from the HLI, a P20,000 separation pay, and some P2,600 monthly pension from the Social Security System. His retirement ended his profit share from the HLI. He does not have land to pass on to his children. His monthly pension gave him just P86 a day that can hardly meet his family’s needs.

And so his answer in Filipino: “I am poor, past and present.”

Problema Sa Agrikultura ng Bansa

The Philippines exports its agricultural products around the world, including the United States, Japan, Europe, and ASEAN countries (members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Major export products are coconut oil and other coconut products, fruits and vegetables, bananas, and prawns (a type of shrimp). Other exports include the Cavendish banana, Cayenne pineapple, tuna, seaweed, and carrageenan. The value of coconut-product exports amounted to US$989 million in 1995 but declined to US$569 million by 2000. Imported agricultural products include unmilled wheat and meslin, oilcake and other soybean residues, malt and malt flour, urea, flour, meals and pellets of fish, soybeans and whey.
One of the most pressing concerns of the agricultural sector is the rampant conversion of agricultural land into golf courses, residential subdivisions, and industrial parks or resorts. In 1993 the nation was losing irrigated rice lands at a rate of 2,300 hectares per year. Small land-holders find it more profitable to sell their land to developers in exchange for cash, especially since they lack capital for seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and wages for hiring workers to plant and harvest the crops. Another concern is farmers' continued reliance on chemical-based fertilizers or pesticides that have destroyed soil productivity over time. In recent years however, farmers have been slowly turning to organic fertilizer, or at least to a combination of chemical and organic inputs.
Environmental damage is another major concern. Coral-reef destruction, pollution of coastal and marine resources, mangrove forest destruction, and siltation (the clogging of bodies of water with silt deposits) are significant problems.
The agriculture sector has not received adequate resources for the funding of critical programs or projects, such as the construction of efficient irrigation systems. According to the World Bank, the share of irrigated crop land in the Philippines averaged only about 19.5 percent in the mid-1990s, compared with 37.5 percent for China, 24.8 percent for Thailand, and 30.8 percent for Vietnam. In the late 1990s, the government attempted to modernize the agriculture sector with the Medium Term Agricultural Development Plan and the Agricultural Fisheries Modernization Act.

Read more: http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Asia-and-the-Pacific/Philippines-AGRICULTURE.html#ixzz2Hz2NVdd7