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. 

PPP for Iloilo River rehabilitation eyed

MANILA-A possible public-private partnership for restoring the Iloilo River is in the offing between the Iloilo City Government and the Manuel V. Pangilinan-led firms, a development that is being pushed by Senate President Franklin M. Drilon.

Drilon and Iloilo City Mayor Jed Mabilog met with Mr. Pangilinan and his team today/July 30 to brief the group of the business tycoon regarding Iloilo River and efforts, both short and long terms, being undertaken to revive the river and make it the anchor of economic development in the city.

“The group of Mr. Pangilinan is examining the entire plan to determine if there can be viable significant public-private partnership. Nothing is certain yet at this point because we are still in the exploratory talks as to which aspect of the rehabilitation plan hey can best intervene in,” said Drilon.

“I hope, as of all of us would like to see, to get Mr. Pangilinan and his group signed up for Iloilo River rehabilitation,” he added.

Drilon told Mr. Pangilinan that the Iloilo River is now a finalist in an international environmental feat known as the Thiess International Riverprize award because of the various collaborative undertakings that have been done to clean and save the 20-kilometer river from further damage.  

Iloilo River is representing the whole of Asia in the said award along with Bolshaya River in Russia, Mara River in Kenya, Africa and the Murray Darling Basin in Australia, noted Drilon.

Drilon also said to Mr. Pangilinan that the river used to contain various kinds of natural and man-made obstructions that altered the original flow of the water and brought about pollution to the river.

But with the strong political will and collaborative efforts among its stakeholders, Drilon said the redevelopment of Iloilo River is already showing positive effects.

Drilon relayed to MVP, as he is commonly referred to, the various activities the Iloilo River Development Council has so far achieved which include, among others, the removal of 10 derelicts and 38 idle vessels, fish pens; and relocation of about 1,000 families living along the danger zones of the river and its tributaries.

Drilon also constructed an Esplanade - funded through his priority development assistance fund - along the river to boost tourism in the city and to increase environmental awareness among its residents.

Legarda: Manage Our Environment Well Towards a Better Economy

MANILA-Senator Loren Legarda today said that the country should work on improving the state of the environment to include the Philippines among the top 20 economies over the next four decades.

Citing a prediction of international bank HSBC, Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Environment, said that the Philippines would leapfrog 27 places to become the 16th largest economy in the world by 2050, driven by an increasing and productive population – up to 70% more people by 2050.

“However, if we do not manage our environment well, and make our urban and land use planning risk sensitive, this increase in population and economic activity would translate to an equivalent increase in exposure to disasters,” Legarda noted.

“Our environment and the ecosystem services it provides support human life and provide the basic materials for our economy, such as food, fuel and clean water. It also sequesters carbon emissions, regulates erosion and landslides and reduces floods,” she added.

Legarda said that air pollution affects the productivity of citizens as it poses threat to human health. Small particles inhaled can damage lung tissue, aggravate existing cardiovascular diseases and lung problems or even cause cancer.

“The air quality of our country is still dirty but gradually improving. In 2004 the total suspended particulates (TSP) in our air was 145 micrograms per cubic meter. By 2011 the TSP level was 99,” she noted.

Meanwhile, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, of the country’s total land area of about 30 million hectares, only 7.168 million hectares, or 24.27 percent, are forest covered. The ideal should be at least 12 million hectares or 48 percent of the total land area.

The past three decades have also seen the rapid decline of the Philippine coastal ecosystem, which also needs to improve — 70 percent of the mangroves and 20 percent of its sea-grass have been destroyed; nearly 90 percent of coral reefs are under threat; and biomass of coastal fish stocks now stand at only 10 percent.

“To improve the situation, we need to start looking at how existing initiatives like the National Greening Program and the Integrated Coastal Management Program can be implemented fully,” Legarda said.

The National Greening Program, which was officially launched in May 2011, aims to plant 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares of land by 2016. For 2011, 89.6 million seedlings have been planted nationwide, while in 2012, a total of 125.6 million seedlings were planted.

“In parallel, we need to look at how sometimes a greener approach can be a more resilient approach. For example, instead of spending US$ 6.8 billion in drainage improvements, New York invested US$ 5.3 billion in green infrastructure – permeable pavements, more green areas, and other measures to address drainage capacity. Green infrastructure acts like a sponge – absorbing and regulating peak water flows,” Legarda said.

“We need to promote a new approach in dealing with climate change and disasters that would not only protect our environment, but would also reap development benefits. Let us pursue the path towards sustainable development so that we will be able to weather the many challenges of the fast changing environment,” Legarda concluded.

Gov’t to hire 33,194 teachers, build 43,183 classrooms, buy 42.6 M books next year

MANILA-Senate President ProTempore Ralph Recto today described the proposed education budget for 2014 as a “big shopping cart of school supplies” that will close manpower and equipment gaps in  public schools.

Recto said the Department of Education will hire 33,194 teachers and 1,500 principals next year, a move that will cost P9.5 billion in initial year salary.

“With this number, it can be said that DepEd will be holding a year-round job fair in 2014,” Recto said as he expressed hopes that DepEd will “use competence and not connection” as the yardstick in choosing new mentors.

To end the perennial problem of classroom lack, Recto said government next year will build 43,183 new classrooms, repair 9,503 existing ones, and buy 1.6 million seats at a cost of P44.6 billion.

“In terms of rooms to be built, this is by far the biggest in history,” Recto said.

The number of textbooks to be procured – 42.6 million  – will also break the record, he said.   On top of this, 38,351 sets of science and math laboratory equipment will be acquired.

Government is also planning to build 10 library hubs, which Recto described as “book centrals” that will cater to multiple school districts.

Total tab for the new books, science equipment and library hubs is P8.3 billion, Recto said.

These acquisitions, he explained, will be funded out of the P336.9 billion DepEd budget for 2014, an amount 15 percent higher than what the government’s biggest agency is getting this year.

DepEd’s budget in turn is but one component of the larger “education, culture and manpower” sector which has been allotted P389.5 billion in 2014.

Included in this sector are the allocations for Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and state universities and colleges which have been earmarked P3.7 and P39.3 billion for next year, respectively.

Recto said education spending of the government  “is a combination of catching up with existing backlogs and frontloading for future needs.”

The government’s K to12 program requires huge investments and the budget is amortizing in advance what needs to be bought.  “Previous budgets were downpayments. The 2014 budget is a continuation of the installment plan.” 

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.

Drilon: Provinces need to take more active role in national development plan

MANILA-Senate President Franklin M. Drilon today called for more active participation of provinces in crafting development strategies and investment plans.

Speaking at the launching of the 2012 Philippine Human Development Report, Drilon said he agrees that the greater weight must be put on the role and participation of the provinces in the formulation of national development strategies and investment plans.

Drilon also said that he agrees with the report that the province is a crucial bridge between parochialism and centralization.

“I must point out that there are provinces that are not large enough to play a critical role in an integrated and connective approach to economic development. Moreover, I have observed that provinces, regardless of size and level of development, tend to be parochial themselves,” said Drilon in a speech.

Hence, Drilon said there is a need for strengthening the regional planning and development councils (RDCs) in order to spur economic and social progress and make growth more inclusive.

“As highlighted in the 2012 HDN Report, there is a need to strengthen our local governments and, I must add, our regional development councils. The health and wealth of the LGUs truly matter in the lives of our people. Thus, we have to consistently arm the LGUs not just with resources, but with technical support as well,” stressed Drilon.

He, lamented the inadequate structure and powers of the RDCs as evident in the way the plans submitted by the sectors to the council are perfunctorily approved, without much of an analysis or debate.

"’Bahala na sila sa itaas’ (let the officials take charge) is what one hears when the RDC cursorily endorses a program or a project,” said Drilon.

“While the Regional Development Councils (RDCs) can make a big difference in the successful formulation of development plans, and implementation and integration of viable programs on the regional level, today, it is taken for granted,” he added.

Drilon is proposing for the National Economic Development Authority to conduct a reexamination of the RDCs present structure and powers in order that the RDCs to become more responsive to the need for an integrated planning at the local, regional and national level.

“We need to consolidate the inputs from our local government colleagues, the private sector and civil society, so that Congress and the national government agencies are reading from the same page of the development playbook,” said Drilon.

Legarda in Addressing New Norm: Make Resilience an Attitude

MANILA-Senator Loren Legarda today said that extreme weather events, such as torrential rains and harsher typhoons that are considered the new normal, should be addressed with a change in perspective—by looking at the opportunities in the face of threats.

“Resilience is an attitude. The new normal challenges us that our mindset should be focused on confronting risks and hazards,” said Legarda.

In a privilege speech, the Senator who is also the United Nations Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for Asia-Pacific, discussed ways on developing the attitude of resilience to hazards and disasters.

Legarda cited the story of Senator Monthian Buntan of Thailand, who, despite being blind since birth, remained clear on his vision to improve disaster evacuation plans around the world to meet the special needs of people including persons with disabilities, the elderly, children, refugees, and cultural/linguistic minorities.

“Our outlook should be that the glass is half-full, because after all, hazards are natural, and it is disasters that are man-made. We can always find innovative solutions to existing problems,” she said.

Legarda said that people can venture into developing climate change adaptation expertise or in other related areas, because a study done by Environmental Business International, Inc. estimates that, in the next seven years, the annual market for “climate adaptation services” will grow by 12 to 20 percent per year, becoming a $700-million annual market in the United States and $2 billion globally.

She also said that disaster risk reduction (DRR) should be viewed as an investment and not as additional expense. For instance, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has calculated that if the government of Pakistan invests on DRR now, it is projected to achieve approximately 25 percent more economic growth for the year 2042.

“We are never out of or lacking resources; we only need to effectively manage what we have so we can maximize on them. Developing resilience may be more effective if we provide adequate social protection especially to the poor, who bear the greatest economic losses in disasters,” she explained.

Legarda said that addressing disaster risks is also linked to poverty alleviation because the effects of disasters are immediately and greatly felt by the poor. For instance, when a daily wage earner is unable to go to work due to impassable roads caused by heavy downpour, he will have no earnings for the day and will be unable to feed his family.

“For many of our people, every single day of work is synonymous to survival. Beyond addressing structural poverty or merely satisfying the basic human needs of the poor, social protection must empower the poor to reduce their vulnerability and strengthen their resilience, and to free themselves from persistent poverty and inequality,” she stressed.

“While heavy and excessive rainfall is part of the new normal, we need not live with the risks that disrupt our social and economic activities. We need not have flooded streets, heavy traffic, and stranded commuters in the metropolis or washed away houses, collapsed bridges, and devastated farmlands for every intense rain or typhoon. We must learn from our past experiences, practice enhanced disaster preparedness more than response, and be proactive in reducing risks,” said Legarda.

MMDA pledges 29 kph traffic flow, gets P1.2 B budget increase in 2014

MANILA-The proposed budget of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) for 2014 is P2.65 billion, or P1.2 billion higher than this year’s P1.48 billion.

It is twice bigger than the P1.36 billion it got last year.

The MMDA’s budget is booked in the national budget as Allocations to Local Government. On top of what it will receive from the national government, the MMDA is authorized to use collections from fines, fees and charges it may impose as well as mandatory remittances by its member LGUs.

As part of the innovations introduced in the 2014 national budget, the MMDA has identified key result areas which will serve as performance indicators.

These “major final outcomes” are grouped into three : Solid Waste Disposal and Management Services, Traffic Management Services and Flood Control and Sewerage Management Services.

On traffic management, it promises to achieve an average travel speed of 29 kilometers per hour on the 197 kilometers of road under its management. This can be used as baseline data in measuring improvement as we hope that vehicle velocity will gradually increase in the years to come.

It has also pledged a maximum 15-minute response time to 90 percent of traffic obstruction cases. It will repair 98 percent traffic signal outages within two hours.

Another target it has imposed upon itself is to limit fatalities from vehicular accidents to one third of one percent of total cases.

On flood control, MMDA is responsible for the upkeep of 595 kilometers of drainage channel and waterways, or a length equal to the distance of Manila to Baguio and back.

It has committed to declog these waterways at least thrice a year and monitor them continuously.

To its credit, it has measured the aggregate size of flood-prone areas at 3,845 hectares, where it will focus its flood control operations and deploy quick-reaction teams in times of flooding.

As to solid waste disposal, the volume “under its management“ is 55 percent of the 43,491 cubic meters that the whole region generates daily. It is targeting a full 100 percent compliance with the provisions of the Ecological Solid Waste Act of 2000.

This is MMDA’s equity in the struggle to make Metro Manila a livable city. The other stakeholders are the 17 local government units and the national government.

The latter, under the leadership of President Aquino, is initiating big-ticket projects, from connector roads to new light rail train lines to flood control projects, that will address the infrastructure needs of a bourgeoning megapolis.

I fully support the MMDA budget request for 2014 as I endorse action on some immediately actionable measures that will close the gaps in personnel need and boost the welfare of the existing MMDA workforce.

These include the hiring of 400 additional traffic enforcers so that major intersections and thoroughfares are manned until late at night and the grant of hazard pay to “boots on the ground”MMDA traffic enforcers who are exposed to hazardous elements like toxic air.

I am also proposing that in the national budget, the other national government projects in Metro Manila be presented alongside programs of the MMDA so that we will be given a regional snapshot of what the government intends to do next year.

Chairman Tolentino’s job is hard. He deserves all our support.

Agency promissory notes like 5-minute fire response time included in ‘14 nat’l budget

MANILA-Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto has praised Malacanang for the “makeover “ of the national budget, in which spending is linked to clear outcomes, “that even the five minute response time of firetrucks is now attached to the budget of the Bureau of Fire Protection as a performance guarantee.”

“They are now counting the beans,” Recto said in describing the proposed P2.268 trillion 2014 national budget which he said contains “the single most important budgeting innovation” in years, and that is matching funds with “countable outputs.”

In the past, the budget of an agency contained only the amount. The one for 2014 includes performance benchmarks, Recto said. “The peso sign now comes with a performance guarantee.”

“The 2014 national budget has gone micro and I would even say that it has gone overboard in detailing what an agency must deliver,“ he said.

He cited the example of the proposed budget for the Philippine National Police in which among its listed major outputs is “a minimum 629,258 crime investigations to be conducted next year and a vow to increase by 25 percent the number of foot and mobile patrols.”

In the case of the Bureau of Fire Protection, its budget says it will have a five- to seven- minute response time to 87 percent of the 5,185 distress calls it expects to get next year, Recto said.

Over at the Department of Health, the hospitals it directly operates have pegged a target of 106,000 surgeries. The DoH has a proposed budget of P80.8 billion for 2014, or almost a P30 billion jump from what it is getting this year.

Another government hospital, the Philippine Heart Center, has a promised a three percent mortality rate from cardiac surgeries.

Recto said even defense units are not exempted from revealing what is expected of them.

“The National Arsenal said it will churn out 30 million ammunition rounds. From the Army comes this assurance that 90 percent of its 176 tactical battalions can be made combat-ready within one hour upon receipt of orders from higher authorities,“ he said.

Even the National Intelligence and Coordinating Agency cannot invoke secrecy as it has made public its deliverables of 39,215 intelligence reports in 2014.

Recto explained that the beauty of requiring these“promissory notes” is that “big ticket items get unbundled.”

“In the case of the DPWH, its budget says 1,022 gravel roads will be paved while 605 kilometers of national roads will be built. The Department of Agriculture has also indicated that it will repair 1,500 kilometers of farm roads,“ Recto said.

Another major recipient of funds for 2014, the DSWD, has attached a menu of targets to its request. In addition to the beneficiaries of its “mega P62.6 billion” cash transfer program, it says it will be serving meals to 2,568,811 schoolchildren next year.

On the part of the Department of Education, it has pledged an 84 percent National Achievement Test passing rate for 12.56 million secondary school students.

“Wala talagang pinalampas ang panukalang budget na ito. Pati ang inaasahang bilang ng mga bisita sa ating museums kasama sa kwenta,” Recto said, referring to the nearly 900,000 expected visitors of national government-run museums next year.

“Yun nga isang college, ang Tarlac College of Agriculture may quota na 621 graduates sa susunod na taon. Ganun katindi ang pagbubutingting,“ Recto said.

“May isang target na medyo nakakaaliw nga. Yung Bureau of Corrections, citing historical records siguro, nagsabi na hindi lalampas ng 89 na preso ang makakatakas, pero 100 percent naman silang mahuhuli muli,” Recto said.

As to documents, the Land Registration Authority said it is capable of releasing 666,283 land titles next year while the Department of Foreign Affairs said it would be issuing about 3,418,000 pieces of passports and other consular documents.

Recto said that the outcome-based presentation in the 2014 National Expenditure Program and the adoption of what the Budget department has dubbed as the “Performance-Informed Budget structure”will not only promote transparency but ensure “higher rate of returns on public money” spent.

Legarda Pushes for Child Nutrition Program in Schools to Address Malnutrition

MANILA=Senator Loren Legarda has called for the establishment of a child nutrition program in all public schools nationwide to address malnutrition, which affects at least half a million elementary students.

Legarda noted that statistics from the Department of Education (DepEd) showed that 562,262 pupils in kindergarten and elementary levels (Grades 1 to 6) enrolled in public schools in the previous school year were assessed as “severely wasted”.

“We hope that there will be better results in the DepEd’s assessment of our schoolchildren for this school year. We urge parents to have their children bring nutritious snacks to school, but the government needs to establish an innovative complementary feeding program that would ensure access to food supplements which will improve nutritional status of schoolchildren,” she said.

In this regard, Legarda re-filed the proposed Child Nutrition Law.

The bill seeks to improve the health status of schoolchildren through a system-wide plan to implement a nutrition and health program in schools and barangay day care centers, consisting of a complementary feeding program and may also include other nutrition-related activities such as micronutrient supplementation, weighing and growth monitoring, deworming of children, and promotion of improved hygiene practices.

“This intervention is urgent, as undernourishment is largely preventable. We must prioritize the needs of children who are most affected because they are the most vulnerable components of society,” said Legarda.

Metro summit needed to unify gov’t plans on traffic and kickstart prep for APEC

MANILA-Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto today said that Manila’s bus ban should provide the impetus for the convening of a Metro Manila summit that will tackle the flood, traffic and “the region’s other interlocking problems” and “to kick-start the preparation for the country’s hosting of the APEC Leader’s Summit in 2015.”

“In every crisis, there is an opportunity, and the city order preventing buses from plying Manila’s streets should prod Metro Manila mayors and heads of national government agencies to sit down and discuss how to jointly solve the problems of this megapolis of12 million residents,” Recto said.

“There are management collaboration issues in an area where operations of 17 local governments sometimes overlap with the work and mandate of national government offices,” he said in backing calls by some Metro Manila mayors that such a summit be called.

“Sa kaso nga ng bus franchises, mismong ang MMDA ay hindi alam kung ilan ang prankisang naibigay na ng LTFRB para sa ruta sa EDSA,”he said.

“At sa pagbibigay naman ng mga prankisa, walang konsultasyon sa mga local na pamahalaan, kung ang carrying capacity ba ng mga lungsod ay kaya pang i-absorb ang mga buses,” Recto said, in citing “one symptom of the sometimes dysfunctional state of intra-government coordination.”

Recto said the convening of a Metro Manila summit also becomes urgent when seen in the light of the country’s plan to host the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in 2015.

While the host city, or cities, has yet to be chosen, Metro Manila, as the nation’s capital and gateway, will play a major role in it.

“Ang tanong handa na ba tayo? Sapat na rin ba ang 15 buwan para ayusin ang ating kalsada, airport, at mga pasilidad para tanggapin ang dagsa ng mga bisita,” he said. “Gawin natin ang mga issues na bumabalot sa NCR bilang opportunidad na maagang ayusin ang mga ito.”

“Or if you want to be specific about names, will we be ready by then to roll out the red carpet when the likes of Obama, Putin, Xi Jinping and 16 other heads of state, and their senior leaders, come visiting?” Recto said.

The APEC Leaders Summit is but one of four high profile events the country is hosting from 2014 to 2017. The other three are the World Economic Forum’s East Asia Summit in 2014, the 2016 ASEAN Tourism Forum and the 2017 ASEAN Summit.

On the APEC Summit alone, it will be preceded by 17 high-level meetings, each having attendees ranging from 250 to 4,000.

While hosting duties of the four summits might be shared among 10 cities, and it is even possible that the APEC Leaders meeting will be held outside Metro Manila, “it is a foregone conclusion that Metro Manila must still prepare for the influx of delegates and world media,” Recto said.

“For Metro Manila to prepare for these four summits, there must first be summit on Metro Manila,” Recto said.

“But that is a secondary motivation. Regardless of APEC and whether the 21 leaders are coming to town or not, we must still fix things for the sake of our people. They should be the number one reason, and not because some aliens are flying into town,” he said.

“We need to solve the traffic mess and the constant flooding, ensure the humane relocation of informal settlers, and the improve rail services, not because of some international commitments, but because that is what we owe our people,” Recto said.

He explained that the earlier the Metro Manila summit is called “the better so whatever needs to be done can be considered in the 2014 national budget, which both houses of Congress will start hearing next month.”

“Kung kailangan i-jumpstart ang preparations, e dapat ang gastusin ay kalakip na sa 2014 budget. Kasi kung sa 2015 na, sa tingin ng marami, medyo huli na, “ Recto said.

New city hospital eyed in Ecija capital

PALAYAN CITY – A brand-new hospital that will cater to the health and medical needs of poor patients in this city is being eyed by the city government here in partnership with the Department of Health (DOH) and the Chinese General Hospital (CGH).

          Mayor Adrianne Cuevas told a press briefing that the hospital project is proposed to be set up at the present site of the Palayan City Information Technology (PCIT) center which used to house the old city hall.

          Cuevas said she has held initial discussions with James Dy, owner of the CGH to look into the possibility of setting up a new hospital along with the DOH people.

          “Mr. Dy is sending people to see how we can set up the hospital,” she said. She added that the DOH is asking for the city investment plan on health for the purpose of helping improve health services to the city.

          At present, the city has an emergency hospital which actually serves as a lying-in clinic with emergency room. However, the facility is not enough to meet the growing demands for medical services of local residents.

          The PCIT center where the hospital project is being proposed will be transferred to the compound housing the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

          Cuevas said health is one of the development agenda of her administration which will also focus on job generation and the provision of basic social services to the people of the city. (Manny Galvez) 

Legarda Reiterates Call for Strict Enforcement of Solid Waste Management Law

MANILA-Senator Loren Legarda today reiterated her call for faithful compliance with Republic Act 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act), saying that the failure to do so will endanger not only the environment but also more lives and livelihood.

Legarda made the statement in support of the joint call of the environmental groups Greenpeace and the EcoWaste Coalition for the cleanup of the Manila Bay by 13 government agencies as ordered by the Supreme Court five years ago, and the closure of a dumpsite located at Pier 18 in Manila.

“Open and controlled dumpsites should have long been closed as mandated by RA 9003. We must implement the law at full speed, especially now that we are facing threats of extreme weather events that can trigger environmental disasters such as the Payatas tragedy in Manila and the Irisan trash slide in Baguio,” said Legarda.

“I will push for an environmental audit to see the rate of compliance with our environmental laws, including the Solid Waste Management Act, and examine together with our lead implementing agencies what impedes the strict enforcement of these laws,” she added.

The Senator also stressed the need for a concrete report on the clean-up plan for the restoration and preservation of the Manila Bay to reclaim its stunning beauty and proclaim its significance as one of the images of the State’s capital.

“The Manila Bay is one of Metro Manila’s crowning glories, boasting the best view of the sunset as it features prominently in both local and international tourism campaigns. And yet it continues to be neglected—the view of the otherwise beautiful sunset is marred by styrofoam containers, plastic bags, or discarded appliances, and the stench is unbearable at times. It is time that we take a stand against this pollution and degradation,” said Legarda.