6,000 Central Luzon students to get employed this summer

SAN FERNANDO CITY, Pampanga, April 6, 2011-Department of Labor and Employment Regional Director Leopoldo “Pol” B. de Jesus and information officer Jerry Borja said that  the 6,000 Central Luzon deserving college and vocational students from the poor families will be benefited this summer by the government’s Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) and now have the opportunity to work in private companies and local government units (LGUs).

“Pampanga got the most SPES slots this year at 2,300 followed by Bulacan and Nueva Ecija with 1,000 each; Bataan, Aurora and Zambales with 500 each; and Tarlac with 200,” de Jesus and Borja said, adding that the distribution was based on the SPES provincial performances in the last five years.

They furthered that SPES seeks to help poor but deserving students who pursue their education by enlisting them during summer and/or Christmas vacations where the provincial, Municipal and City Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs) are mandated to select the students based on their required qualifications according to their age, grades, income, and other pertinent documents.

According to law, a student must at least be 18 years old but not more than 25 years old. It is also required to submit the combined net income after tax of his/her parents, including his/her income if any, does not exceed the latest annual poverty threshold level for a family of six as determined and provided by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and he/she must have obtained passing grades in the last school term attended.

The duo explained that the tasks they will perform includes tax mappers, barangay survey personnel, encoders, school assistants, food service crew, gasoline attendants and promotion merchandisers where the students salary will be in accordance to the prescribed minimum wage wherein 40 percent will be shouldered by DOLE while the remaining 60 percent will come from the participating companies and LGUs. (Jason de Asis)

Angara warned the public against “LizaMoon” new web virus

SENATE OFFICE, Manila, April 6, 2011-Senator Edgardo J. Angara, who chairs the Senate Committee on Science and Technology warned the public to protect and to prepare their computer systems following reports of a new virus called “LizaMoon” that hits more than 4 millions of internet users worldwide which was discovered late March of this malware.

Angara said that the virus installs malicious code into websites, redirecting unknowing users to a site called “LizaMoon” and then asks the user to install needless antivirus software, adding that this particular malware can reach the country in no time that’s why we must not wait for these kinds of viruses to hit the Philippines and cause harm before establishing security measures with the speed and pervasiveness of the Internet.

Earlier, Angara filed Senate Bill No. 52 commonly known as “An Act Defining Cybercrime, Providing for Prevention, Investigation and Imposition of Penalties Therefore and for Other Purposes” known simply as the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2010 in the 15^th Congress.

“The bill seeks to protect internet users from illegal online activity such as fraud, identity theft, hacking and virus attacks, among many others,” Angara said, saying that the person who will be convicted of the said crime would be punishable by imprisonment or a fine of at least Php50,000.

In today’s modernization, Angara said that the majority of our countrymen have access to the Internet and there is a need to be diligent and to set safeguards to protect them from malicious entities wanting to take advantage. (Jason de Asis)

Legarda urges total plastic bags ban to fight climate change

SENATE OFFICE, Manila, April 6, 2011- Senator Loren Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change urged a total ban on the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags throughout the country with the objective of curbing pollution and helping the nation manage its ecological resources more wisely, following the recent United States Environmental Protection Agency study that about 500 billion to one trillion plastic bags consumed worldwide yearly while the 2005 World Wildlife Fund Report showed that about 200 different marine species die due to ingestion and choking from plastic bags.

Legarda said that the study revealed the unrelenting and neglectful use of plastic bags around the world, saying that plastic bags end up as litter as it makes its way to landfills, drainages and bodies of water, taking decades to decompose and damaging marine life when dumped in the sea. This issue of pollution is further aggravated by natural hazards, which have become unpredictable due to climate change.

She cited the flooding in Metro Manila areas and made post-cleanup in 2009 as typhoon Ondoy struck the country where plastic bags severely worsened the flooding; thus, Legarda filed Senate Bill 2759 otherwise known as the Total Plastic Bag Ban Act of 2011, which prohibits groceries, supermarkets, public markets, restaurants, fast food chains, department stores, retail stores and other similar establishments from using non-biodegradable plastic bags to prevent the problem from worsening.

Legarda proposed penalty for violators with a fine of P10,000 for the first offense; P50,000 for the second offense; and, P200,000 as well as one year suspension of business permit for the third offense.

The Senator said that all sectors of society should act with dispatch in the problems of pollution, environmental degradation and severe weather shifts escalate, saying that to produce impact in the environment everybody must make conscious efforts to change the daily routine and practices.

“Business establishments have to change their economic mindset, wasteful production processes and packaging methods from the use of seemingly cost-effective plastic bags into investing in long-term reusable and recyclable bags which are more sustainable in the long run, adding that this will help a lot in fighting pollution in the country,” Legarda furthered. (Jason de Asis)