Legarda to Gov’t: Scale Up Social Protection to Improve Disaster Resilience

MANILA-As incessant rains caused by Typhoon Maring and the southwest monsoon affect Metro Manila and several provinces in nearby regions, Senator Loren Legarda today called for a deeper study on how the government’s social protection program can be improved to help build disaster resilience of families and communities.

Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, said that the government should promote the scaling up of existing national programs to rectify the social and economic structures that breed disaster risk and trap the poor in the vicious cycle of risk and poverty.

“I propose that we examine how the government’s social protection programs, in particular the Conditional Cash Transfer and other poverty reduction-related initiatives, can be scaled up to not only address the structural poverty, but also build resilience against the recurring impact of natural hazards, which may well be holding them to the very poverty we are trying to address in the first place,” she explained.

“Scaling up our social protection program, with more innovative means to build the resilience of poor families, would help deliver the genuine reduction in poverty that the Aquino Administration longs for,” she added.

The Senator explained that economic losses in disasters are greatly felt by the poor because the effects are magnified in their life. For many Filipinos, every single day of work is synonymous to survival. When impassable roads due to heavy downpour prevent a daily wage earner from going to work, it would mean no earnings for the day, no food on the table.

Legarda said that the government should grow the economy but also develop resilience through social protection.

“Efforts of the government to improve the quality of life for the majority of Filipinos are not felt as disasters continually bring us down. We cannot let disasters keep the poor forever poor. We cannot let recurrent disasters take away from our people their lives and the little that they have in life. If we wish the poor to enjoy their rightful share of the fruits of development, then building resilience must be at the heart of the country’s social  protection program,” Legarda concluded.

Typhoon-hit Aurora observes 404th township of Baler amid devastation

BALER, Aurora – Amid the destruction wreaked by typhoon Labuyo which destroyed an estimated P500 million in infrastructure, agriculture and houses in northern Aurora, officials and residents will gather here today to observe the 404^th anniversary of this capital town in the post-Angara mayorship.

          Capitol officials led by Gov. Gerardo Noveras, Vice Gov. Rommel Angara and town officials led by Nelianto Bihasa and Vice Mayor Karen Ularan-Angara will lead the anniversary rites at the spanking P100-million new town hall, considered more austere than in previous years. 

          Also joining the celebration - which coincides with the 135^th anniversary of late Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon and in honor of the town’s Patron Saint San Luis Obispo de Tolosa - are Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara and former three-term governor and now Rep. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo.

          This year’s rites were in stark contrast to past years, including in 2009 when organizers erected a 40-feet-high monument that towers over this capital town’s skyline symbolic of its emergence from a once-sleepy municipality into a bustling and flourishing model for rural development on its quadricentennial two years ago.

          Located 232 kilometers north of Manila on the shore of a horseshoe-shaped coastal valley overlooking the Pacific Ocean, this town is a treasure trove of cultural heritage not only as Quezon’s birthplace but also for being the last bastion of Spanish forces during the Spanish Revolution. It is  the center of festivities for the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day which is celebrated every 30^th of June.

          The old Kinagunasan (township) was wiped out when a “tsunami” struck on December 27,1735, killing 500 families. Only five families survived, including the Angaras.

          Several stories account for the origin of the name Baler, the most popular of which was believed to have come from the word “Balod,” a large Paloma Montes (mountain dove) that abounded in the place.

Baler, to historians, was a place where pigeons came home to roost or a place to come home to. And that no matter where Balerianos go in their search for glory and fortune, they would always hope of coming back.

From a depressed town, Baler has emerged into a progressive municipality housing a public market, a fish port, sports complex, people’s center, a P130-million integrated rice processing complex, a polytechnic college, and other institutions of higher learning. (Manny Galvez)  

Drilon asks to speed up investigation into PDAF scam to give lawmakers a chance to defend themselves in proper judicial venue

MANILA-Senate President Franklin M. Drilon today asked for an speedy investigation into the alleged misuse of the priority development assistance fund of some lawmakers which has been the news headlines for over one month and continued to cause public’s uproar.

Drilon’s call came after the Commission on Audit, in a special audit report on the 2007-2009 PDAF allocations, disclosed that billions of pesos worth of pork barrel funds of lawmakers allegedly went to bogus non-government organizations.

“I call on government investigating bodies to speed up the probe into this pork barrel scam and ensure as well the speedy judicial process,” said Drilon.

“The government must show resolve in addressing this issue so that the public will realize that we are taking appropriate and swift actions to get to the bottom of the controversy; and in the end, the government must be able to observe and apply justice and the rule of law,” he stressed.

He said the resolution of the PDAF scam will help restore the people’s trust in the justice system.

“We need to finish the investigation so that those who are allegedly involved will be presented the opportunities to defend themselves and clear their names before an impartial and credible investigative body and appropriate judicial forum,” said Drilon.

The Senate chief also urged the Commission on Audit, the Ombudsman, and the Department of Justice to coordinate closely in resolving the case and formulating necessary actions including filing of charges to those who were involved in the scam.

“These three investigating agencies should exercise a close coordination in resolving this case and studying the appropriate actions to undertake,” he said.

Drilon said the COA audit report provided the evidence that the DOJ and the Ombudsman will have to carefully study in order to determine if they warrant filing for charges.  

“Because of the audit report, we are all under clout of doubt. Even if our names were not in the report, the people have the tendency to generalize and suspect us to be doing illegal in the use of our pork barrel,” said Drilon.

“That is why we need to finish the investigation the soonest in order to shed lights on the issue and to enable the involved lawmakers to answer allegations against them in the proper venue” he ended. 

JINGGOY PUSHES SPECIAL PROTECTION FOR CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICTS

MANILA-In time for the observance of the International Humanitarian Law Month this August, Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada is making a pitch for the passage of a bill which will provide special protection for children in situation of armed conflicts (CSAC).

 

Senate Bill 25, which is part of Sen. Estrada’s priority measures for the 16th Congress, declares as a state policy the provision of special protection for children in armed conflicts from all forms of abuse, violence, neglect, cruelty, discrimination and other conditions prejudicial to their development.

 

The proposed measure defines “children in situation of armed conflict” as persons below 18 years of age or those over but are unable to fully take care or protect themselves from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of physical or mental disability or condition and who are involved in armed conflict, who are affected by armed conflict and internally displaced children.

 

“This occasion is an opportune time to establish policies regarding the protection of innocent children caught in the crossfire of violent clashes of government troops and insurgents, and infighting among various secessionist, terrorist and ideological groups,” Jinggoy states.

 

The International Humanitarian Law is widely recognized as a set of rules protecting those who are not participating in hostilities particularly civilians, medical and religious personnel, wounded and sick combatants, and prisoners of war.

 

“Children should no longer be subjected to violence, but should be provided an environment that would nurture their hopes and dreams,” Jinggoy asserts.

 

Section 6 of the bill pronounces children as zones of peace where the rights of the child are promoted and protected at all times and considered as demilitarized zone and sanctuary that operates within principles of non-violence, free from weapons, injustice and environmental degradation. 

 

Moreover, the bill penalizes commission of any person of acts of grave child rights violations (killing, torture, maiming, rape, inhuman treatment and punishment, abduction, recruitment/enlistment into armed forces, denial of humanitarian access or assistance, attack on schools, hospitals, places of worship, evacuation centers and settlements and other public places where children can usually be found) with 14 years up to life imprisonment and fine of 1,000,000 pesos.

 

The proposed measure also institutes rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration systems, including psychosocial support, health and nutrition, education, livelihood for families, legal services, among others.

5 Arrested in Police Buy-bust in Aurora

BALER, Aurora-Agents of the Provincial Intelligence Branch and Baler Philippine National Police (PNP) arrested again another drug personality on their watch-list in a buy-bust operation conducted at about 5:00 p.m. yesterday in Ferreras/Mier Subdivision, Brgy. Suklayin, Baler, Aurora.

Nabbed were Edgar Cajucom Y’ Barribal, 36, married, Ferdinand Cajucom Y’ Barrival, 34, single and Jonathan Entienza Y’ Gudoy, 39, married, all residents of Brgy. Suklayin; Junetwelve Fontanilla Y’ Fuentes, 26, married and Herminio dela Cruz Y’ Barrientos, 40, single, caretaker of piggery and poultry, both residents of Sumacab Norte, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija.

Baler PNP Chief of Police, P/Senior Inspector George C. Calauad Jr. said, they conducted anti-illegal drug operation inside the house of Edgar at Brgy. Suklayin, that resulted to the arrest of five.

“Edgar was considered as one of the high-value targets and in the police watch-list as it was confirmed that he engage in the sale of prohibited drugs,” Calauad said.

Charges for violation of Section 5 of Republic Act 9165, or the sale of illegal drugs, will be filed against him tomorrow including his four companions at the Provincial Prosecutors Office.

Calauad said the crime is non-bailable to Edgar.

Calauad also said they recovered the marked money, one (1) heat-sealed plastic sachets containing a white substance weighing 0.02 grams believed to be shabu, and brought by their agent to their crime laboratory in Aurora Trading Center, Barangay Calabuanan for laboratory examination.

Edgar is one of the drug personalities on the PNP and PDEA watch-list.

The five are temporarily detained at Baler Police Station. (Jason de Asis)

Ambush survivor tags ex-mayor, fugitive in slay try

GAPAN CITY, Nueva Ecija – The son of a former mayoral candidate who survived an ambush attempt Tuesday yesterday tagged the father of incumbent Mayor Maricel Natividad and a fugitive   behind the daylight attack that led to the massacre of four persons.

          Emerson Pascual, one of four survivors in the ambush, accused Natividad’s father, former three-term mayor Ernesto and his alleged gun-for-hire Ricardo Peralta of orchestrating the ambush along with detained barangay chairman Montano Barlis.

          “They are out to kill us. They want to wipe us out so the murder cases against them would no longer be pursued,” Pascual told newsmen.

          Pascual was referring to the murder cases against the elder Natividad, Peralta and 17 others in connection with the March 20,2006 attack on a cockpit arena in Barangay Pambuan in which five persons, including two of Emerson’s brothers – Erickson and Ebertson were killed.

          The elder Natividad was arrested last February while Peralta, tagged as the country’s most wanted man in 2004, remains in hiding.

          Four persons, including a policeman, were killed last Tuesday when five armed men fired at Pascual’s group along Tinio St., Barangay San Lorenzo, triggering a brief firefight.

          Police arrested and detained Barlis who is now facing four counts of multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder.       

Police Superintendent Bernard Orig, Gapan police chief, said they will look into the political angle behind the massacre, which has been condemned by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption.

Rose Roque, VACC chief coordinator, described the attack as “cowardly and senseless killings.”

“This is detestable as they didn’t spare even innocent lives,” Roque said.  

Police authorities have yet to identify the other suspects although they vowed to come up  with cartographic sketches based on the description of witnesses.

Pascual’s group alighted from their vehicle and was about to enter a restaurant when the suspects, all armed with automatic gunfire, shot them. They fled aboard a beige Toyota Hi-lux vehicle with license plate TT-1506.

         Some 500 slugs of various types of guns were left in the crime scene from 9 mm and .45 caliber revolvers, M-14 Armalite rifle, AK-47 and M-16 rifles.

Orig said the vehicle, which was reportedly carnapped from its owner, was found abandoned in the adjacent town of San Isidro. It was registered in the name of businessman Rafael Reyes of Talavera town.

Pascual revealed that as early as three weeks ago, his family has information that armed men have been making the rounds in the city.

Chief Superindent Edgar Ladao and Senior Superintendent Crizaldo Nieves, regional and provincial directors, respectively, have ordered the deployment of more police personnel from the Police Security Protection Group to provide security to the Pascuals.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation has joined the investigation into the killings.

Lawyer Jose Justo Yap, NBI regional director for Central Luzon, has tasked provincial director Rizaldy Jaymalin to conduct a parallel probe in collaboration with Task Force Pascual led by the Nueva Ecija police. (Manny Galvez)

On increased US military presence Drilon tells DFA, DND to brief Senate and to strictly adhere to Constitution

MANILA-Senate President Franklin M. Drilon on Friday/August 16 told the Foreign Affairs and National Defense departments to brief and orient the Senate on outcomes of initial talks between the Philippine and the United States governments on the proposed expansion of the American military presence in the country.

The Senate chief likewise urged both departments to observe strict compliance with the Constitution and ensure that the proposal is not a move to make the US military’s presence in the country permanent.

“The American troops’ presence in the country is based on the Visiting Forces Agreement which the Senate ratified. Given that, their presence must be governed by the terms of the VFA,” said Drilon.

“There was not part in the VFA that allows permanent basing. The framework agreement should be in accordance with the restrictions set forth under the VFA,” he added.

Drilon nonetheless reassured the two departments of the Senate’s cooperation in the government’s resolve to bolster its defense and security capabilities.

“The Senate can be counted upon as an active partner in the diplomatic and national defense concerns our nation, in the context and within the confines of our Constitution, laws, and treaty obligations,” emphasized Drilon.

But if Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario's claim that any activity under the framework agreement will be governed by the Visiting Forces Agreement will hold true and be carried out until a final agreement is signed, Drilon said ratification by the Senate will no longer be necessary.

“We affirmed our commitment to the United Nations Charter and under the Mutual Defense Treaty. We also agreed that any activity under the framework agreement will be governed by the Visiting Forces Agreement,” Del Rosario said in a letter to Drilon.   

While Drilon gave Del Rosario assurance that the Senate will be cooperative on the proposed expansion, the Senate President vowed to scrutinize every detail of the framework agreement in order to ensure that it will not infringe on the Constitution.

“The devil is in the details. As a senator, it is my obligation to our people to ensure that any agreement the government will enter into is legal and in accordance with our Constitution. I will examine the outcome of the negotiations to see to it that it will not infringe on the lives of our people and their guaranteed rights,” stressed Drilon.

He also said that the ongoing negotiation should be characterized by transparency.

AURORA, HINAGUPIT NI LABUYO, 3 PATAY

BALER, AURORA – Ang lalawigan ng Aurora ang isa sa pinakamatinding sinalanta ng  bagyong Labuyo kung saan nagiwan ito ng tatlong patay at mahigit kalahating bilyong piso ang winasak na ari-arian at pananim at halos labingdalawang libong pamilya ang naapektohan.

 

Sa ulat ng Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council ng Aurora, kinilala ang tatlong nasawi na sina Romeo Gomez, 74 anyos at Samson De Mate, 47 anyos, kapwa mga mangingisda at residente ng Brgy. Esteves, Casiguran Aurora at si Ronald Borja, 27 anyos ng Butas na Bato, Dingalan, Aurora. 

 

Naisolate rin ang tatlong bayan sa Hilagang Aurora na kinabibilangan ng Dinalungan, Casiguran at Dilasag dahil sa mga landslides, pag-apaw ng mga ilog at sapa sa kahabaan ng Baler-Casiguran road at naputol ang kalsada sa bahagi ng Sitio Minanga,  Brgy. Calanguasan, Casiguran, mga dalawang kilometro ang layo sa poblacion ng naturang bayan.

 

Personal na pinangasiwaan ng Regional Director ng Department of Public Works and Highway-Region 3 na si Engr. Antonio Molano at ng District Engineer ng Aurora Engineering Disrict na si Reynaldo Alconcel ang clearing operations sa daan patungo sa Hilagang Aurora hanggang sa maayos at maging passable.

 

Maging ang daan na Baler-Bongabon , Nueva Ecija zigzag road ay nagsara rin dahil sa landslides at paglalim  ng Villa Aurora river at ang daan patungo sa Isabela na Dinadiawan-Maddela-Quirino road.

.

Nawalan rin ng signal ang Globe at Smart at nagbagsakan ang mga poste at linya ng Aurora Electric Cooperative, Inc. (AURELCO) sa naturang lugar. Sinikap ng sumulat na  kunin ang pahayag ng pamunuan ng  AURELCO hinggil sa laki ng pinsala pero wala diumano ang mga opisyales nito at nag-iinspection sa Hilagang Aurora.

 

Sa aerial inspection na isinagawa ng mga otoridad sa Casiguran at Dinalungan Aurora dalawang araw matapos ang pananalasa ng bagyo, natambad ang bangis ni labuyo sa naturang mga bayan. Maraming bahay ang winasak at nawalan ng bubong at hindi rin pinaligtas ang mga eskwelahan at maging ang nag-iisang pagamutan sa naturang lugar na Casiguran District Hospital ay tinuklap rin ng malakas na hangin ang malaking bahagi ng bubong.

 

Kasama rin sa mga hinagupit ng bagyo ay ang Patrol Gunboat ng Philippine Navy na PG 377 Liberato Picar na naalis sa pagkaka-angkla sa Casiguran Port sa Brgy. Dibacong at isinadsad sa dalampasigan hindi kalayuan sa naturang pantalan.

 

Sa panayam sa telepono kay Commander Levi Carane, ang Civil Military Operations chief ng Naval Forces Northern Luzon, Philippine Navy, sinabi nito na ang insidente ng pagkasadsad ng barko sa dalampasigan ay force majeure o dulot ng bagsik ng kalikasan.

 

Pinabulaanan rin nito ang sinasabi ng ilang residente sa lugar na iniwan ng mga tauhan ng PN ang barko noong kasagsagan ng bagyo kaya ito natanggal sa pagkaka-angkla.

 

Hindi diumano ito maaaring iwan dahil mahalaga ang barko at maraming mahahalagang gamit sa loob.

 

Sinabi rin nito na walang malaking sira ng barko at  minor damage lamang ang tinamo nito.

 

Ang barko ang inaasahan sana na magdadala ng mga relief goods sa Hilagang Aurora noong ma-isolate ang tatlong bayan subalit pilit diumanong inilihim ng mga tauhan ng Phil. Navy ang nangyari dito at nakita lamang ng mga media na nakasadsad sa dalampasigan kaya nabunyag ang kinahinatnan nito.

 

Samantala, patuloy ang pagdagsa ng mga tulong partikular ng mga bigas, bottled water at iba’t-ibang relief goods sa lalawigan matapos ang pananalasa ng bagyong Labuyo noong Linggo ng madaling araw.

 

Sa eksklusibong panayam sa provincial administrator ng Aurora na si Engr. Simeon De Castro, sinabi nito na nagpadala sila agad ng mga relief goods sa naturang mga bayan at patuloy pa ring naghahanda ng mga karagdagan makaraang isailalim sa state of calamity ang naturang tatlong bayan.

 

Nanawagan naman si Gobernador Gerardo Noveras sa mga kababayan nito partikular sa mga nakatira sa Gitnang Aurora na magbigay ng tulong sa mga kababayang sinalanta ng bagyo sa Northern Aurora.

 

Sa pinakahuling tala ng Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office ng Aurora habang sinusulat ang balitang ito, umabot na sa 11,757 na pamilya ang naapektohan ni Labuyo na may kabuuang 54,821 katao at umaabot na sa halos P700,000 (690,900.00) ang halaga ng naipamimigay na mga relief goods sa mga naapektohang pamilya buhat sa gobyerno at iba’t-ibang organisasyon hindi pa kasama ang ipinamamahagi ng GMA Kapuso Foundation. (RML)

Ecija barangay chief charged, detained for massacre of 4

GAPAN CITY, Nueva Ecija – An incumbent barangay chairman closely allied with the father of incumbent Mayor Maricel Natividad was charged with an information for multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder  before the city prosecutor's office and detained at the police headquarters here for the cold-blooded massacre of a  rookie policeman and three other civilians following an aborted ambush attempt on the son of a former mayoral candidate in a broad daylight ambush Tuesday.

          Police Superintendent Bernard Orig, Gapan police chief, said Montano Barlis, barangay chairman of Sta. Cruz, is now detained at the police station here following his arrest Tuesday night by a police team accompanied by Emerson Pascual who was the target of the ambush attempt.

          Barlis is a staunch ally of Natividad's father, former three-term mayor Ernesto Natividad who is also facing charges for the raid in a cockpit arena owned by the Pascuals in 2006. Two of Pascual's brothers - Erickson and Ebertson - were killed in the attack.

          Barlis said the five other suspects have yet to be identified although they will soon come out with cartographic sketches based on the description of witnesses.

          Three persons were killed following the ambush attempt which triggered a 10-minute firefight in a restaurant along Tinio St., Barangay San Lorenzo.

          Killed were Police Officer 2 Jefferson Lim, King Jasper Juvinal, student of the Midway Maritime Academy, of Barangay Mangino and driver Rufino Vendivil, 44, of Barangay Mahipon. Juvinal and Vendivil both died on-the-spot while Lim died while undergoing treatment at a local hospital.

          On Tuesday afternoon, a fourth victim Consuelo Manse, 86, died  at the intensive care unit of the Good Samaritan Hospital. Rodney Garcia,16 is listed in stable condition but is still confined at the intensive care unit of the same hospital.

          Pascual, whose two brothers were among those massacred in the 2006 cockpit attack here, escaped unhurt.

          Region 3 police director Chief Superintendent Edgar Ladao and provincial police director Senior Superintendent Crizaldo Nieves both visited Pascual at his residence in Barangay Pambuan here at noon.

          Police said Pascual’s group alighted from their vehicle and was about to enter a restaurant when the suspects, all armed with automatic gunfire, shot them.  They fled aboard a beige Toyota Hi-lux vehicle with license plate TT-1506.

          Some 500 slugs of various types of guns were left in the crime scene from 9 mm and .45 caliber revolvers, M-14 Armalite rifle, AK-47 and M-16 rifles.

          Orig said they have yet to establish the motive for the attack but said they are looking into politics and old grudge.

          Pascual said prior to the incident, he came across Barlis. He said he just attended the interment rites for a childhood friend and even greeted Barlis. “A minute after, it happened,” he said.

          The elder Natividad, his late brother Romeo and 17 others were tagged for the killings of the Pascual brothers. A year later, the Pascuals’ patriarch Rodrigo ran for mayor against Ernesto but lost.

The elder Natividad went into hiding in February 2012 after a warrant for his arrest was issued by a Manila court  in connection with the raid and after all 19 suspects were placed on a hold-departure order by the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) on orders of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 8 Judge Felixberto Olalia Jr.

          The Pascual family has raised a P1-million reward for the arrest of Natividad and his co-accused. The elder Natividad was arrested while undergoing dialysis treatment in Metro Manila a few months before the May 2013 elections. Romeo died while in hiding.

          The Department of Justice initially ordered the filing of murder charges against the suspects in 2009 and forwarded these to the Office of the Ombudsman for review.

On February 10, 2009, the Office of the Ombudsman affirmed the DOJ ruling. But when the two Natividads and Ricardo Peralta - another suspect - filed a motion for reconsideration, then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez reversed her ruling on April 8,2009, excluding the three from the charge sheet.

Mrs. Cristina Pascual, mother of the slain brothers, appealed the Ombudsman ruling. 

On November 25, 2011, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales found probable cause and ordered the filing of murder charges against the two Natividads and Peralta, in effect reversing a 2009 ruling of her predecessor Gutierrez and granting the  motion for reconsideration of  Mrs. Pascual.

          The latest Ombudsman ruling said the DOJ ruling should have been affirmed outright because the three filed their motions for reconsideration way too late, thus rendering as final and executory the Ombudsman’s February 10 ruling affirming the DOJ’s findings.

          The murder cases were eventually transferred to the sala of Manila RTC Branch 10 Judge Virgilio Alameda who last September 17 also found probable cause against Natividad and Peralta based on the records of the preliminary investigation and affirmed the findings of both the Office of the Ombudsman and the DOJ.  (Manny Galvez)  

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.