Legarda to Gov’t: Ensure Release of P75-B AFP Modernization Fund

MANILA-Senator Loren Legarda extends her full support to the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and calls on the government to ensure the release of funds amounting to P75 Billion over a period of five years, as mandated under the law.

Legarda, Vice Chair of the Senate Finance Committee for the AFP Budget, noted that in the proposed national budget for 2014, only P5 Billion is allotted for the AFP modernization.

“You get what you give," Legarda said in expressing her frustration over the issues that has derailed the modernization of the AFP. 

"The revised AFP modernization program requires that at least P15 Billion should be allotted for the program every year to cover the procurement of major weapon and non-weapon equipment and technology, and for the construction of needed major infrastructures. If we withhold support to our AFP, we are, in effect, compromising our national security,” said Legarda.

The first AFP Modernization Law was passed in 1995, allocating an initial budget of 50 billion for the acquisition of new assets for the country's territorial defense to cover the first five years of the law's implementation.  During the briefing by the AFP, Senator Legarda was informed that only Php30 billion of the original funding requirement was released.

"In effect, the Php5 billion being requested under the 2014 budget of the AFP is funding that was supposed to have been due more than a decade ago under the 1995 AFP modernization law. We cannot adhere to a "tingi" mentally if we are serious about achieving a stronger and more dependable armed forces," the Senator said. 

"We must ensure that the P10 Billion unprogrammed fund, on top of the Php5 billion budget, is released to the AFP beginning 2014 and the years following, if we want an armed forces that can fulfill its mandate of protecting the Filipino people not only from external and internal threats, but also from the destructive consequences of disasters," she stressed, citing that the AFP also has a civil defense component in its budget.

Legarda said that the Revised AFP Modernization Program under Republic Act No. 10349, which President Benigno Aquino III signed into law in December 2012, requires a budget of at least P75 Billion for the first five years of implementation, or P15 Billion every year from 2014-2018.

In relation to this, she also noted that there were proceeds from the sale of military reservations and camps and from the lease or joint development of military reservations.

Legarda said there should be a report on how much have been raised from such sale and to what extent have these been used to modernize the AFP.

As OFW abuse cases mounts, Recto bats for deployment of more 'social welfare attaches

MANILA-Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto today called for the deployment of more “social welfare attaches” (SWAs) abroad following the deployment of an initial nine to countries which reported a high incidence of Filipinos in distress.

Recto said the rise in the number of overseas Filipino workers in crisis situations should be met with an increase in the number of trained government personnel who can give them comfort and aid.

He said personnel of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Labor and Employment and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration stationed in government’s 92 foreign posts are already having a hard time responding to a “myriad of OFW needs.”

Recto suggested “a fourth leg to the three traditional agencies assisting OFWs  and that would be the Department of Social Welfare and Development which can dispatch professional social workers to countries where there are Filipinos in distress who need to be aided.”

He said professional social workers and trained counselors might be the right kind of personnel who can give succor to Filipino migrants who have suffered maltreatment and abuse in the workplace or host community.

“Our posts have the competency to make legal representations or attend to labor matters but there is a reported big gap when it comes to comforting Filipinos in distress,” he said.

When it comes to intensive therapeutic counseling to victims of abuse or stress debriefing for those who have experienced traumatic events, for example, there is no designated personnel in a typical embassy, Recto said.

Recto said the deployment of SWAs to selected diplomatic posts had been authorized as early as February 2004 when Executive Order 287 was released.

Among the first countries to which SWAs were sent was Malaysia, after it expelled Filipinos by thousands from 2000 to 2010. 

Recently, the Department of Budget and Management approved the creation of six SWA positions, each with the rank and pay officially of Social Welfare Officer IV.

The six will be stationed in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Jeddah, Hong Kong, South Korea and Qatar. Previously, three social welfare officers were deployed to “OFW heavy” cities of Amman, Jordan and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Recto said that a preliminary count by his office using 2012 reports filed by DFA missions showed that at least 1,272 Filipinos were languishing in jails in 42 countries. Of this, 776 were men and 446 were women.

Recto said if there are existing budget limitations in the hiring and deployment of SWAs, one possible funding source are “reasonable adjustments” in the proposed P5.4 billion “operating cost and administrative overhead” of  DWSD’s P62.6 billion Conditional Cash Transfer program in 2014.

Recto said next year’s CCT has a proposed allocation of P3.38 billion for salaries and wages; P533 million for trainings; P550 million for bank service fees; P141 million for information materials and publicity; P356 million for monitoring and evaluation; P372 million for administrative expenses and P80 million for capital outlays.

”If we can save a little from these expenses, then we can rechannel ‘savings’ to the deployment of more social welfare attaches,” Recto said.

Gov't to hire 131 docs to the barrios, 22,500 nurses; repair 2,871 clinics, spend P10.2 B for drugs, insure 14.7 M families

MANILA-Describing it as a “prescription for drugs, doctors, and clinics”, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto today likened the P81.7 billion proposed budget of the Department of Health for 2014 as a “needed shot in the arm for the public health system.”

“It is definitely a booster shot. It is P30 billion bigger than the DoH’s adjusted budget of P51.9 billion this year,” Recto said.  

Recto said the budget will allow the Health department to hire131 “doctors to the barrios,” regularize the employment of 22,500 nurses who were taken in as contractual workers, and field 3,000 midwives.

The initial year’s salary of this “army of health workers,” according to Recto, is P3 billion.

Also included in the DoH’s 2014 budget is P13.3 billion for the rehabilitation and construction of 2,871 health facilities and purchase of new equipment. 

To be built or spruced up are 962 barangay health stations, 1,265 rural health units, 561 hospitals run by local governments, and 60 hospitals operated by the DoH, including nine leading specialty hospitals which will be given P2.3 billion for new buildings and medical equipment.

He said the purchase of P4.3 billion worth of apparatus will allow health facilities nationwide to improve their diagnostic and treatment capabilities.

Also to be procured next year are P10.2 billion worth of medicines and vaccines, Recto said. Included in the buying list are vaccines costing P2.8 billion for 2.7 million children targeted by an “expanded program on immunization.”

 These are, however, on top of local government purchases as most of public hospitals have been “devolved” to LGUs, Recto said.

However, the biggest chunk in the Health budget remains the P35.3 billion cost of enrolling 14.7 million “poor and near-poor families” in the National Health Insurance Program.  

With this amount, 100 percent of indigent families identified in official poverty counts will be brought under health insurance, Recto said.

Recto said the P81.7 billion DoH outlay for 2014 likewise includes P2.8 billion for “Family Health and Responsible Parenting.”

"Included in this expense item is Rotavirus vaccination for 2.4 million infants," Recto said. 

Gov’t to spend P2.17 billion a day in 2014 for debt service

MANILA-Government’s interest and principal payments on its debts will reach P791.5 billion next year, or a daily disbursement rate of P2.17 billion, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said.

While debt service will climb to an all-time high next year, “the good news is that share of interest payments in the national budget has been falling sharply,” Recto said.

Recto added that the debt-to-GDP ratio, which is a better barometer of a country’s indebtedness, is also improving, with the country’s numbers better than its Southeast Asian neighbors and even developed countries like the United States.

Recto said that interest payments for 2014 has been programmed at P352.7 billion, or 15.6 percent of the proposed P2.268 trillion budget. 

“This is a very impressive markdown compared to what we were coughing up ten years ago when interest payments were eating up 35 percent of the national budget,” Recto said.

“Gone are the days when one-third of the budget was remitted to our creditors,” Recto said.

In 2010, on the first year of the Aquino administration alone, share of interest payments was already pared down to 19.1 percent of the national budget.

Of the 352.7 billion earmarked for interest payments for 2014, P248.4 billion will be for domestic liabilities while P104.3 billion will be for foreign debt.

Next year’s interest payments expense is P20.5 billion or 6.2 percent bigger than the P332.2 billion allocated this year. 

Recto explained that only interest payments are included in the national budget. Principal amortization – or the amount for the retirement of debts – is treated as an off-budget item and is not included in the General Appropriations Act.

For principal amortization, the amount allotted for next year is P438.8 billion, with domestic obligations cornering P350.9 billion.

Principal payments on foreign debt, on the other hand, will range from P85.8 billion to P89.9 billion, depending on the US dollar-Philippine peso exchange rate which for 2014 budgeting purposes was pegged at P41-43 per US$1.

As of April 2013, national government outstanding debt stood at P5.309 trillion, an amount representing 48.9 percent of the GDP.

In contrast, the United States and Greece have a debt-to-GDP ratio of 114 percent and 200 percent respectively. 

Recto : Tap P7.5 B Calamity Fund to help Mindanao areas hit by floods, bombings

MANILA-Mindanao areas battling both natural and man-made calamities of flooding and bombings should receive national aid in the form releases from the P7.5 billion Calamity Fund, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said today.

While popularly known as the source of aid in times of natural calamities, the Calamity Fund also finances  relief and rehabilitation activities  in places hit by armed conflict, insurgency and terrorism, Recto said.

“In fact, the Calamity Fund can be used for disaster prevention activities,” Recto explained.  “So if provinces would like to buttress their security as a reaction to a clear and present danger against them, then they can qualify for Calamity Fund assistance.”

“Kasi kung magdadagdag ng patrolya, kailangan ng gasolina. Kung maglalagay ng dagdag na pwersa, kailangan siguro ng suporta, tulad ng pagkain,” he said.  

Recto made the explanation as he called for the urgent release of calamity funds to Mindanao provinces grappling with the problem of terror and rising waters.    

Quoting official reports, Recto said 500,000 people have been affected by flooding in at least  six provinces and one city in Mindanao.

In Maguindanao, 300,000 residents have been displaced as rivers overflowed  from weeks of  torrential rain while 26 submerged barangays in Cotabato City  have forced 100,000 people out their homes.

Nearby North Cotabato is also reeling from floods, with the town of Tulunan the  hardest hit.  Davao Norte, Sultan Kudarat, Saranggani and Zamobanga Norte have also reported flood damage. 

To compound matters, Recto said Cotabato City and Midsayap, North Cotabato were hit by bombings recently.  “Hit by flood, bathed with blood. They are fighting there in two fronts and they need all the help they can get and all that we can give.”

Recto said the national government should speed up the release of the funds that will help these provinces fight two calamities at the same time.

He doubts whether the affected towns, cities and provinces have reserve or contingent funds that can be tapped to respond to the emergency.  “The gravity of the problem requires national help.”     

He said a great chunk of the Calamity Fund has been “forward deployed” to agencies identified as “first responders to crisis.”

He said that under the General Appropriations Act for 2013, funds have been advanced to six agencies with the instructions that these be used as a Quick Reaction Fund.

These agencies are the Department of Social Welfare and Development  (P662. 5 M), Office of Civil Defense  (P530 M), Department of National Defense  (P352.5 M), Department of Public Works and Highways (P600 M),  Department of Education (P550 M), Department of Agriculture (P500 M), and the National Irrigation Administration (P500 M).

"Kung stand-by fund ang mga ito, pwede na ipadala," Recto said.

He said Cagayan de Oro should also be given calamity funds.

Trillanes slams water concessionaires, seeks Senate investigation

MANILA-Senator Antonio “Sonny” F. Trillanes files resolution, seeking investigation into the alleged act of water concessionaires of passing on their corporate income taxes and other expenses to consumers.

In a privilege speech delivered by Trillanes on Tuesday, he said that: “There is an urgent and imperative need to conduct an investigation into this very important matter, affecting as it does millions of Filipino consumers, not only in order to enact remedial legislation but also to once and for all clarify whether or not the two (2) water concessionaires are acting within the bounds of the law and their respective concession agreements with the MWSS.”

According to consumer advocacy groups, MWSS issued in 2004, Resolution No. 04-006-CA which permitted the concessionaires to transfer the burden of paying their corporate income taxes to their customers. It was also revealed that from 2008 to 2012, consumers have been shouldering about P 1.5 Billion and P1.6 Billion annually in taxes for Manila Water Company, Inc. and Maynilad Water Services, respectively, over the past five (5) years or some 15.3 Billion Pesos in total. Apart from their corporate income taxes, the water concessionaires have also allegedly passed on other charges to consumers, including their travel and entertainment expenses, advertisements, donations, training expenses and even expenses for flowers.

“It appears that the previous action of the MWSS Regulatory Office of issuing Resolution No. 04-006-CA in 2004 effectively runs in direct contravention of, and diametrically opposed to, the Supreme Court’s landmark decision that the burden of paying corporate income taxes should not be unjustly borne by consumers but by the party maintaining the facility,”Trillanes added.

Trillanes further explained that the investigation is made more imperative because of the fact that the MWSS has reportedly rescinded the resolution allowing these water utilities to pass on their corporate income taxes to consumers and has issued a new resolution superseding the former, which is currently pending approval and confirmation of the MWSS Board of Trustees.

4 ‘misbehaving’ Ecija cops axed, face probe

CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija-Four rookie policemen were restricted to a police station in Nueva Ecija and placed under investigation for allegedly barging inside while drunk and creating trouble in a restaurant in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija last Sunday.

            Senior Superintendent Crizaldo Nieves, Philippine National Police provincial director, identified the four as PO2 Michael Pineda, PO1 Alexander Ordonio, PO1 Marvic Pasion and PO1 Robert Patrick Jan Tuquero.

            Pineda and Ordonio are both assigned at the Zaragoza police station while Pasion and Tuquero both belong to the Regional Public Safety Battalion based in Camp Olivas, Pampanga but on detail at the same station.

            Nieves said the four lawmen were placed under investigation based on the complaint filed by businesswoman Eva Escosa of Barangay Sto. Rosario Young, Zaragoza. Escosa, 48, is the owner of the Eva’s Restaurant in the same barangay.

            In her complaint, Escosa said the four entered her restaurant at around 6:30 pm last August 4, apparently drunk. They then approached three of the waitresses and started making advances by holding their hands.

            The waitresses, sensing that the lawmen were drunk, got scared and called up Escosa who was not around when the four arrived.    

             Nieves said the four were subjected to liquor test at the nearby La Paz Medicare Community Hospital and restricted at the station pending the results of the investigation.

             He said if found guilty, the four will be meted disciplinary sanctions. (Manny Galvez)

Legarda Wants Stronger Implementation of Tropical Fabrics for Gov’t Uniforms

MANILA-Senator Loren Legarda has proposed amendments to the Tropical Fabrics Law of 2004, also known as R.A. 9242, to ensure realistic and stronger implementation of the law, which mandates public officials and employees to wear uniforms made from natural fibers in the country.

Legarda, author of the Tropical Fabrics Law, said that she has proposed amendments to the law to consider the capacity of the local textile industry to meet the needs of government.

“It is lamentable that eight years after the law was enacted, its full implementation still needs to be achieved.  I have proposed amendments to the law to transform this policy into reality,” she said.

“In relation to this, I also enjoin my fellow senators and government officials to help achieve the goals of this law by wearing garments made from natural fibers in the country. In fact, as part of our call for the strict implementation of the law, my office has assigned Monday as Tropical Fabric Day. My staff and I wear garments made from tropical fabrics on Mondays,” Legarda said.

Under the proposed measure (Senate Bill No. 353), tropical fabric refers not only to textiles produced by spinning, weaving and knitting natural fibers originating from the Philippines, but also to textiles produced from a combination of synthetic and natural fibers, both of which should have originated in the country.

Furthermore, if local sources are incapable of supplying the natural fiber needs of the government, tropical fabrics can be purchased abroad with the following conditions: that the fibers used also originated from the Philippines, and that the Department of Trade and Industry issues a certification confirming the incapability of local sources to meet the tropical fabric demands of the government.

“Our goal is to promote the preferential use of goods produced using local resources and manufactured by domestic enterprises, adopt measures focused on making these products competitive based on global standards, and develop a self-reliant economy characterized by high employment levels. Ultimately, we want to instill patriotism and nationalism among Filipinos, with the government leaders as frontrunners in this endeavor,” Legarda concluded.

Legarda Urges Gov’t To Maximize Benefits of Malunggay

MANILA-Senator Loren Legarda today highlighted the varied uses of malunggay  and urged the government to maximize the benefits of the tropical crop.

Legarda said that she has re-filed the proposed Malunggay  Development Act, under Senate Bill No. 104, to spur the production, processing, marketing and distribution of malunggay in suitable areas of the country in order to acquire its benefits.

“Malunggay is one of the most useful tropical trees. Its young leaves are commonly cooked and eaten like spinach or used to make soups and salads; its dry seed can be ground to a powder and used for seasoning sauces; its flowers can be eaten after being lightly blanched or raw as a tasty addition to salad; and the oil content of its kernel is used as lubricant for fine machinery and also as vegetable cooking oil,” she explained.

“There are a lot of studies that have been conducted on the uses of malunggay. It can even be used to treat wastewater,” she added.

At Biomasa, a Technical University based in Nicaragua, studies have been conducted using the seeds from malunggay for the final treatment in wastewater treatment units.

Malunggay is also a good source of provitamin A, vitamins B and C, and minerals, such as iron, among others.

Malunggay leaves are also good for headache, bleeding from a shallow cut, bacterial and fungal skin complaints, and gastric ulcers and diarrhea.

Malunggay pods are dewormers, and good for treating liver and spleen problems, pain of the joints and malnutrition; while malunggay seeds can treat arthritis, rheumatism, gout, cramps, sexually transmitted diseases, boils and urinary problems, and a relaxant for epilepsy.

“Because of the many uses of malunggay, the government should formulate a sustainable framework for development that will serve as guide to the formulation and implementation of plans, programs and projects for the production, marketing, processing and distribution of malunggay for food, medicinal, health, and commercial needs. This is the goal of the proposed measure I filed,” said Legarda.

The bill also seeks to establish a Malunggay Development Fund to provide for the funding requirements for the production, marketing, and processing of malunggay, with an initial amount of one billion pesos to be taken from the existing budget of the Department of Agriculture.

Drilon: Senate will save P50 million from rationalization of oversight committees

MANILA-Public clamors to trim down the number of congressional oversight committees will not fall on deaf ears as the Senate is poised to overhaul them with the end in view of generating approximately P50 million in annual savings, Senate President Franklin M. Drilon said today/August 06.

“We will rationalize the oversight committees so that we will be able to save funds by the end of the year,” said Drilon.

“We have reached a consensus that there is a need to rationalize the oversight committees so that we can save on public funds,” he added.

Drilon said they will have yet to decide on which oversight committees will be removed and retained.

Drilon also said that the rationalization of the oversight committees is just one of the reforms that are going to be implemented in the 16^thCongress.

Oversight committees are ad hoc panels created by law or Senate resolution to monitor the implementation of specific laws. 

‘How can we stop PAGASA forecasters from leaving Phil area of responsibility?’

MANILA-PAGASA lost another seasoned weather forecaster, Ricky Fabregas, who had reportedly accepted a P100,000 a month job in Congo.

At the rate weather forecasters are leaving the Philippine area of responsibility, we may end up with no one alarming us that a typhoon is coming.  If the problem is in the delay of the release of the benefits of PAGASA people, then I am confident that the DBM, being the main preacher of the gospel against red tape, will resolve it soonest.

Based on the 2013 budget, the money for Hazard Pay and the Magna Carta for Science and Technology, or RA 8439, the two allowances PAGASA personnel claim they are  entitled to receive, is there.

For Hazard Pay, the bureaucracy-wide budget this year is P51.8 million while that for RA 8439 benefits is P183.7 million.  This excludes hazard pay for the military and uniformed personnel.

For next year, the total allocation for Hazard Pay will increase to P832 million, and the Magna Carta for Science and Technology benefits to P224.6 million.

But the good news is that four new "hazard and hardship" allowances for civilian employees have been created in the 2014  budget.

These are : "Hazard Duty Pay" (P1.3 billion), "High Risk Duty Pay" (P893,000), "Hazardous Duty Pay" (P586 million), "Special Hardship Allowance" (P1.17 billion).

I think the restructuring and right-sizing of the hazard pay allocations stem from the redefinition of what constitutes a hazard. And the creation of "different shades" of hazard pay should be welcomed by those in high-risk jobs.  

Thus I hope that the perennial compensation issues confronted by personnel in PAGASA and similar agencies will be solved by the new allocations in 2014.

If not, then ipapatawag natin sa Senado ang lahat ng stakeholders, hihingan natin sila ng solusyon, legislative in kind, if necessary, kung papapaano maagapan  ang paglisan ng mga technical people na nasa “mission critical posts” tulad  halimbawa  ng air traffic controllers.  Ito marahil ang una kong bubusisihin bilang Chairman ng Committee on Science and Technology. On how to stop this conversion of government technical people into OFWs.

Kung kailangan bang i-rebisa ang pay classification sa Salary Standardization Law III or special provisions or additional allocations sa General Appropriations Act,paguusapan  natin ‘yan.

Talent has the right to follow where the money is.  Talented people has the right to happiness. Kung mababa talaga ang sweldo dito , hindi mo pwedeng i-Hold Departure Ordersila. Ang pwede lang nating gawin ay isagad kung hanggang saan kaya, ang benepisyong kayang ibigay.  And having lessened the gap between actual and potential income, pray that love for country will be enough to fill the difference. Kung hindi pa rin kaya, then we thank them for their services to the Republic, and wish them all the best.

De Lima debunks reports implicating Trillanes , Legarda, Pimentel in 'pork' barrel scandal

MANILA-Justice Secretary Leila De Lima debunks news reports of several media outfits which named Senators Antonio Trillanes, Loren Legarda, and Koko Pimentel  as additional legislators linked to the misuse of P10-billion pork barrel funds.

De Lima, in her press statement, categorically denied that Senators Trillanes, Legarda, and Pimentel are in any way connected to the on-going investigation. She said: "We are wondering where those additional names are coming from. As far as I know, those names do not appear in the documents/records currently in NBI’s possession. There appear to be unseen hands or elements that are trying to muddle the on-going NBI probe."

Meanwhile, Atty. Levito Baligod, whistleblower Benhur Luy's lawyer, also denied these reports. He clarified: "There is no truth to what came out in certain print and on-line news items that Benhur Luy named in any written statement additional legislators as being involved in the so-called PDAF scam. Any statement to that effect is the responsibility of the concerned reporter." 

The National Bureau of Investigation Director Nonnatus Rojas likewise made a similar statement belying the published reports. Rojas said that:  "We just want to make it of record na as far as NBI is concerned, wala kaming mga nilalabas na pangalan. Wala din kaming dokumento na nilalabas implicating the senators and even yung mga ibang personalities." 

"Hindi kasi namin policy sa NBI ang nagrereveal ng mga pangalan or implicate prematurely ng mga personalities especially legislators and senators until na matapos namin ang aming imbestigasyon. It just so happened that in the newspapers today, parang lumalabas na NBI ang nagre-reveal ng mga pangalan ng mga certain senators and other persons pero klaro ko lang hindi namin ginagawa ‘yun and that even documents, we are not revealing or furnishing documents," Rojas added. 

Rojas also warned readers to be discriminating of the reports coming out: "It's very important.. for the readers to discriminate ‘pag nagbabasa sa diyaryo. Tingnan mabuti kung based ba sa interview, did they name kung sino ang ini-interview at pinangalanan si ganito at si ganyan, or nakalagay lang sa diyaryo na according to sources, according to sources that is privy to the investigation. Ang sinabi daw ay si senator ganyan, congressman ganyan. Ika-klaro ko lang, NBI will not reveal the progress of the investigation kaya if ever those will come out in the newspaper, I hope that our readers will be more discriminating.

20 ‘capitalists’ financing illegal logging operations in NE?

CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said at least 20 capitalists have been financing illegal logging operations in Nueva Ecija, where there are at least six identified “hot spots.”

Leovino Ignacio, DENR provincial environment and natural resources officer, said the logging capitalists are the ones providing logistical support to illegal loggers in hauling forest products in the mountains to buyers in the lowlands.

“By our count, there are at least 20 of them operating in four towns, or five capitalist per town,” Ignacio said.

The DENR has identified six areas as illegal logging “hot spots” namely Bongabon, Carranglan, Gabaldon, Gen. Tinio, Laur and Pantabangan.

Ignacio said the financiers normally provide allowance to illegal loggers before they go to the mountains to fell trees, at an average of P15,000. These the illegal loggers leave to their families before they go out to log for a period lasting at least one month.

These financiers are working in cahoots with syndicates believed to be behind the twin assassination attempts of a forest ranger in June and last May.

          Ignacio said the forest ranger, Edgardo de Luna has already been transferred to Cagayan Valley under heavy security on the order of DENR Secretary Ramon Paje and on the recommendation of DENR regional executive director Maximo Dichoso. 

          De Luna, 49, of Barangay Bantug Bulalo here suffered a gunshot wound at the back of his neck after he was shot by a motorcycle-riding gunman last June 14 at Purok Camalig, Barangay Bangad. He was driving his motorcycle on his way home when shot from close range by the gunman who was riding in tandem with a companion.

          It was the second slay attempt on De Luna who was also shot by a lone gunman on May 23 by a gunman while he was aboard a XLT passenger jeep in Barangay Bitas also in this city.

          Ignacio said De Luna angered members of the syndicate operating in Bongabon town following a series of successful anti-illegal logging operations there.

“This is a big syndicate,” he said, adding many were hurt by the DENR’s campaign against illegal logging of which De Luna is in the forefront, particularly  in Bongabon. (Manny Galvez)   

Statement of Sen. Sonny Angara, Chair of the Senate Committee on Games, Amusement and Sports, on the 27th FIBA Asia Championship

I wish the Gilas Pilipinas men's national basketball team the best of luck in the upcoming 27th FIBA Asia Championship. It is the country's great pride and honor to host the most prestigious basketball competition in Asia.

Nobody can deny the extreme perseverance and dedication of Gilas Pilipinas as they seek to relive the glory days of Philippine basketball in the region. I am looking forward to a very exciting tournament, and I hope you do your best in keeping the Filipinos' hopes up that we will be champions again. Mabuhay kayo!

Drilon: 2014 Budget seeks swift project implementation

MANILA-Senate President Franklin M. Drilon is hopeful that bureaucratic red tape that turns away business sector will be restricted with the new feature of the proposed P2.268-trillion 2014 National Budget that will allow agencies to proceed with implementing their projects on the first day of the year sans submission of Agency Budget Matrices (ABMs) and request for release of Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs).

One of the innovations introduced by the Executive branch to the budget is the budget-as-a-release document regime, which means that the budgets of agencies are considered released to them as soon as the National Budget is enacted, noted Drilon.

SAROs and ABMs are documents that authorize the agency to enter into an obligation or commitment.

“On the first day of the year, the approved National Budget will be enough to authorize all government agencies to obligate their budget without needing to submit budget matrices, which takes considerable time of about two months before agencies could actually submit them,” said Drilon, who, in the last Congress, chaired the Senate Finance Committee that hears the budget.

“That one or two months being spent by agencies in preparing these documentary requirements could have been spent in the actual implementation of important programs such as the building of classrooms, health centers, or provision of medicines to our elderly,” emphasized Drilon.

“The new system, once in place, can help cut red tape and ease and speed-up the processes securing a really early delivery of much-needed programs and services,” said Drilon, noting, however, that there will still be minimal items in the budget that will be needing clearance from proper authorities which may include, among others, intelligence and lump-sum funds.

"Sa tuwing may budget hearing at sisitahin namin yung agencies kung bakit delayed yung implementation ng kanilang mga proyekto, scapegoat nila ang DBM. Wala pong ni-release na budget ang DBM. Late dumating ang SARO," said Drilon.

(“Whenever we would ask agencies to explain why there are delays in the implementation of their programs, they would pass the blame to budget department, making it their scapegoat. The DBM did not release us funds. The SARO is released late.")

Drilon warned agencies: "you will have no one to blame but yourselves if you still fail to implement your programs and deliver services to our people in a timely manner come 2014."

He also encouraged agencies to proceed with the bidding process, short of award, while the budget is still being deliberated, so that once it is approved, they can already obligate their budgets.