KBP Ads Blues

A word from the sponsors

Bayani San Diego Jr.
Inquirer News Service

WHY did the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) resign from the Advertising Board of the Philippines (AdBoard)?

Maria Belen Fernando, president of Pana (or the Philippine Association of National Advertisers, an AdBoard member) explained to Inquirer Entertainment that KBP bolted "to keep its organization unified."

Fernando said the main issue was "the 18-minute commercial load limit (per hour of TV shows) that KBP wants followed, based on the rules in the KBP Code."

According to reports, KBP voiced out the concern that because non-KBP members—like TV giant GMA 7—could go beyond the 18-minute regulation, an "uneven playing field" had been created.

Pana, however, pointed out that advertisers were "not in agreement" as to what constituted the maximum commercial load.

Fernando elaborated: "Some believe 18 minutes is sufficient. Others believe it should be lower or higher, depending on the program or the time slot."

She recalled that the 18-minute rule was set about 10 years ago, when the load limit was increased from 14 minutes. "Considering the developments in the industry and the various markets that companies compete in," she said, "it may be time to (reconsider) the rule."

Business decisions

As of now, she added, "There is no basis in saying 18 minutes is high, low or just right. Advertisers' placements are business decisions, not whims."

The Pana board of directors has consulted the CEOs and marketing heads of major advertisers, Fernando said.

Ongoing are the meetings of Pana, the KBP Board of Directors and the 4 As (Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies).

It was decided in one of those meetings, said Fernando, that the Pana would commission a thorough research to determine the commercial load that consumers could take across various program types. She said a task force had been organized by the advertisers for this purpose. The group is composed of "research experts and representatives from Pana-member companies, independent media and advertising agencies."

This, she insisted, would be a milestone. "It would also be costly, [but] the results and information will be valuable and helpful." She was optimistic that the disagreements would eventually be ironed out.

"We look forward to the return of the KBP," Fernando said. "After all, media [particularly the broadcasting sector] is one of the pillars of the industry."

Davide on EVAT

SC to issue 'very good decision' on e-VAT law--chief justice

Tetch Torres
INQ7.net

THE SUPREME Court will issue a "very good decision" on the Expanded Value Added Tax (e-VAT) Law, according to Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. on Wednesday.

But Davide, whom reporters interviewed at the Lyceum University College of Law, refused to give a hint on what the high tribunal's decision would be.

"It will lose the beauty of the issue," said Davide who attended the opening of the 8th Chief Justice Davide Lecture Series.

But Davide said they would try to resolve the constitutional issue on the e-VAT law "as soon as possible."

"We are coming with it as soon as possible (because) this is a matter of public interest," Davide said, adding that they are halfway in the deliberations.

A source told INQ7.net on Tuesday that the high court deferred its decision after justices for and against the e-VAT extended their discussions.

The Supreme Court was supposed to have issued a ruling Tuesday.

Last July, the high tribunal stopped the government from implementing the e-VAT law after several lawmakers questioned its constitutionality.

Among the issues raised include the "undue delegation of legislative powers to the President" and the alleged "insertions" and "deletions" of some provisions in the bicameral conference committee that had not been tackled by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

FBI Snub

FBI turns down request to authenticate wiretapped tapes

Margaux Ortiz
Inquirer News Service

THE FEDERAL Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has turned down the request of Congress to have the controversial wiretapped recordings examined and authenticated at its laboratory.

In a letter to National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Reynaldo Wycoco, US Embassy Legal Attaché Stephen Cutler said: "It is the policy of the FBI laboratory to decline examination of materials that have been the subject of previous examination by other laboratories and scientists."

"We understand that the tapes, on which an examination is requested, have already been examined by other laboratories," Cutler said in his August 19 letter.

The House committee on public order and safety had written the NBI last August 16, asking the bureau to assist it in requesting the FBI to authenticate the alleged wiretapped compact discs and audio cassettes.

The controversial recordings allegedly caught former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo discussing ways to ensure an Arroyo victory in the 2004 presidential polls.

Tax Drop

Finance dept wants probe on drop in cigarette tax take

Inquirer News Service

THE law raising taxes on tobacco and alcoholic products has failed to meet the government's revenue expectations in the first half, prompting the Department of Finance to call for an investigation into the weak collections from tobacco manufacturers.

Instead of rising with the increased tax rates imposed by the new law, excise tax collections dropped 7.39 percent in the January-June period to P10.5 billion from P11.3 billion in the same months last year, according to documents from the department.

The collection of excise tax from cigarette firms in the six months fell short of the government's forecast of P11.34 billion.

On alcoholic beverages, collection of the increased excise tax reached P9.06 billion, compared with the government-set target of P8.6 billion. But in June, the government collected only P1.3 billion, 8.12 percent lower than the P1.4-billion target for the month.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said he would order the Bureau of Internal Revenue to make an inquiry to explain the drop in collection despite the increase in the tax rates.

The bureau said it had started monitoring the production volumes of cigarette and alcohol companies to check the accuracy of their excise tax remittances.

It said it had come up with a new technology that would electronically record the volume of products being released from cigarette and alcohol factories. Michelle V. Remo, with INQ7.net

CAP Blues

CAP negotiating with two prospective foreign investors
Elizabeth L. Sanchez
Inquirer News Service

PRE-NEED firm College Assurance Plan Philippines Inc. (CAP) said it was in talks with two prospective investors that might infuse fresh capital that is deemed crucial in its financial recovery program.

CAP said it had also finalized a proposed capital build-up program involving P20.9 billion in trust fund assets over eight years.

The company said it was "now seriously negotiating" with St. Augustine Humanitarian Foundation on an infusion of $4 million a year over the next five years.

It added it was in "serious negotiations" with an unnamed investor that would infuse up to $100 million if CAP could get a dealer's license -- its permit to operate -- which the Securities and Exchange Commission suspended in August last year.

The information is contained in the CAP's reply to an SEC show-cause order threatening administrative sanctions and formation of a management committee to take the company over.

An Inquirer source familiar with the negotiations said St. Augustine Humanitarian Foundation was based in Rome and a part of an "old and rich group willing to support worthy causes."

Under its proposed recovery plan, CAP expects to build up its trust fund assets through infusion of P6.72 billion in equity, accumulation of discounts on its holdings of Metro Rail Transit bonds worth P2.52 billion, and use of proceeds of development and sale of real estate assets.

The real estate assets include the Canyon Woods residential resort in Tagaytay City and the Harbour Town development project in Nasugbu town in the province of Batangas, just south of Manila. Expansion of the Manila Southwoods subdivision is also expected to raise additional P2.64 billion.

In its 40-page reply to the SEC order, CAP is asking the commission to hold off imposition of administrative sanctions, abandon a plan to create a management committee for CAP and to restore its dealer's license.

It said that without its dealer's license it was impossible for it to complete negotiations with potential strategic investors.

It added that a management takeover could only lead to its liquidation, at the expense of its more than 700,000 plan holders.

CAP said the SEC had no authority to form a management committee since its quasi-judicial authority had been transferred to the regular courts.

CAP was incorporated in 1980 as a pre-need company designed to help Filipino families pay for the education of its children. With INQ7.net

Viva VoIP

NTC declares VoIP as value added service

Erwin Lemuel Oliva eoliva@inq7.net
INQ7.net

THE NATIONAL Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has approved on Tuesday the final guidelines deregulating commercial voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services in the Philippines.

"We already signed the memorandum circular this afternoon. So we now have the final guidelines ready. Basically, we just reiterated what we have said earlier that VoIP is a value-added service. But we've added some few points to support our position," NTC Deputy Commissioner Jorge Sarmiento told INQ7.net.

This was after months of deliberation and heated public debates both at the NTC and the Philippine Congress.

Sarmiento said the NTD guidelines will become effective 15 days after it is published in a generally-circulated newspaper.

NTC's decision to deregulate commercial VoIP services in the country follows after mounting pressure from government, as well as the industry, in particular the Internet service providers.

VoIP routes phone calls through the Internet instead of through traditional public switched telephone networks. Its lower cost has made it a popular alternative to traditional voice calls.

The rules would now identify parties that are allowed to offer VoIP services, as well as standard agreements between telecommunications carriers and Internet service providers (ISPs) regarding service performance standards, interconnection charges, access costs, as well as consumer security and privacy.

Sarmiento said that NTC has followed its earlier position that VoIP is a value-added service instead of a regular voice service, which under the law is covered by the Telecommunications Act.

This was the primary contention that fueled the debates between the carriers and local ISPs.

VoIP is turning out to be a cheaper communications alternative to the public, and it can provide additional communication services not commonly found in traditional voice services.

The National Economic Development Authority has pushed for the deregulation of VoIP services in the country, saying that this would decrease government spending on telecommunications.

Books of Errors

130 English textbooks found full of grammatical errors

Alcuin Papa
Inquirer News Service

THE DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd) has discovered grammatical errors in 130 textbooks in English and social science submitted by local publishers for possible use in public elementary and high schools around the country.

In a meeting between DepEd officials and textbook publishers, Education Undersecretary for Finance and Administration Juan Miguel Luz said none of the books submitted by the publishers passed the department's evaluation. In fact, most books required either major or minor revisions.

In an effort to improve the quality of textbooks in public schools, the DepEd is evaluating textbooks even before they are submitted for bidding. The department is also bent on revising the textbooks every five years.

Luz gave publishers a tongue-lashing, telling them to improve the textbooks or the DepEd would not buy them.

"If you want to sell to public schools, comply with our requirements and competencies. Quality begets better quality and it's our right to buy quality," Luz said.

He added that publishers must invest in research and good writing.

Luz explained that the evaluation of the DepEd was now conducted on four levels, compared to the old system whereby the department bought books solely on the basis of the lowest bid.

"There is a need to fix the content. If we leave the quality to the publishers, we might as well buy on price. If you want to do it by the old system, I suggest you find another buyer," Luz snapped.

The four levels for evaluation now in use by the DepEd are: Coverage of learning competencies (level 1); accuracy of content (level 2); presentation, vocabulary, language and the use of visuals (level 3); and grammar (level 4).

Evaluation for level 1 is done by the DepEd's original pool of evaluators. Level 2 by university professors, level 3 by classroom teachers and level 4 by grammar specialists, according to Luz.

Based on the coverage of learning competencies, the elementary and high school English and social science textbooks, as well as the teacher's manual "failed to sufficiently develop and include the required learning competencies set by the department," the DepEd said.

Department of Education (DepEd)

More Casualties

Dengue deaths reach 197 in RP this year

Agence France-Presse

THE PHILIPPINES has reported 197 deaths and 14,738 cases of dengue fever this year, doctor Eric Tayag of the health department's National Epidemiology Center said Tuesday.

He said the number of reported cases was a 20-percent increase from the previous year, and that the death toll had exceeded the 144 registered for 2004.

"The health department placed the Philippines on a dengue fever alert last week and this is likely to stay in force for the remainder of the year," he said.

He said hospitals in some areas had become congested with dengue cases but added "we are coping at the moment."

The health department fears the number of infections could exceed 20,000 by the end of the year, and has ordered fumigation and other measures to prevent the spread of the mosquito-transmitted disease in the worst affected areas, including the capital Manila.

Department of Health

Clavel's Pork

22 opposition solons got road users tax funds, too--lawmaker

Maila Ager Lira Dalangin-Fernandez ldalangin@inq7.net
INQ7.net

CONTRARY to their claims, opposition legislators at the House of Representatives also benefited from the road users' tax, with at least 22 receiving a total of 399.395 million pesos or 20 percent of the 2.2 billion-peso fund, a colleague disclosed Tuesday.

Some of them are Cebu Representative Clavel Martinez, 37.8 million pesos; Nueva Vizcaya Representative Rodolfo Agbayani, 30 million pesos; Davao City Representative Ruy Elias Lopez, 29 million pesos; Laguna Representative Justin Chipeco, 20 million pesos;

South Cotabato Representatives Darlene Antonino-Custodio and Arthur Pingoy, 15 million pesos; 10 million pesos each for House Minority Floor Leader Francis Escudero, Taguig-Pateros Representative Alan Peter Cayetano, and Quezon Representative Proceso Alcala; and 7.6 million pesos for Bukidnon Representative Nereus Acosta, according to Mindoro Occidental Representative Amelita Villarosa.

"There are 236 congressmen, 22 minority members received 399.395 million pesos, more or less 20 percent of the total budget. Considering that the 22 solons are only 10 percent of the total number of congressmen, they got twice," said Villarosa, an ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who secured a copy of the figures from House records.

"If you will base this on a ratio -- like 10 percent of 200 Solons -- they should get at least [a] 10 percent allocation but in this case they got 20 percent," according to Villarosa who made the disclosure a day after Iloilo Representative Rolex Suplico and Bayan Muna party-list representative Teodoro Casiño accused the President of using the road users' tax to buy votes against her impeachment.

Suplico and Casiño had complained that they were not given proceeds from the road users' tax.

But Villarosa said there were also pro-administration lawmakers who did not get any budget, among them, Speaker Jose de Venecia, justice committee chairman Simeon Datumanong of Maguindanao, House Deputy Speaker for Visayas Raul del Mar, Surigao del Sur Representative Prospero Pichay, Bukidnon Representative Juan Miguel Zubiri, Cebu Representative Antonio Cuenco, Eastern Samar Representative Marcelino Libanan, and Leyte Representative Eduardo Veloso.

"This was prepared not according to politics or some favors but rather to address the road requirements all over the Philippines," Villarosa said.

Nueva Vizcaya Representative Rodolfo Antonino also pointed out that the special allotment release order for the road projects were requested on June 6 or even before lawyer Oliver Lozano filed an impeachment complaint against the President on June 27.

"For me, I consider it foul that the opposition is using this issue in order to discredit their own colleagues in Congress," Antonino lamented.

"I think that 's very wrong for them to use issues like this at any expense -- even at the expense of their own colleagues in order for them to achieve the single purpose that they are always trying to achieve and that is to discredit and bring down the administration of President Arroyo," he said.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita described the opposition lawmakers' complaints as "preemptive action" to stop the President from allegedly using the funds to woo support against the impeachment complaints.

Earlier on Tuesday, Budget Secretary Romulo Neri is considering reviewing the tax measure.

Neri said he had been approached by both pro-opposition and pro-administration lawmakers complaining about the funds' release.

"That's why I think it needs to be reviewed," he said on radio.

The President ordered on Monday the suspension of the release of the funds by the Department of Public Works and Highways, which Neri said could have been prompted by a problem in the distribution of the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) to the different engineering districts.

The road users' tax fund is sourced from the taxes consumers pay when they purchase gasoline or diesel and when vehicle owners register their vehicles, according to Neri.

Neri said the Department of Budget and Management releases the funds to the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The Road Board, using a formula for apportioning these funds based on the road density and the condition of the road, decides which areas to prioritize for maintenance, Neri said.

The basis of distribution is the engineering districts rather than congressional districts, he added.

Ideally, Neri said lawmakers should not have a hand on the funds.

"Dapat wala [They should have no involvement], because it's based on engineering districts," he said when asked if lawmakers could meddle in the funds' release.

"But this could not be helped because the congressmen would like to know what infrastructure projects [are there] that cover their congressional districts," he said.

In a separate interview, Road Board director Rodolfo Puno said 80 percent of the fund goes to preventive road maintenance while the rest are used for road safety devices, anti-pollution, and local road components.

In 2004, the Road Board collected 7.2 billion in road users' tax. This year, Puno said they collected an estimated 8 billion pesos.

Kill Impeachment Tax

Arroyo suspends P5.1-B road fund

Lira Dalangin-Fernandez ldalangin@inq7.net
INQ7.net

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has suspended the release of the controversial 5.1-billion-peso road user's tax, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye announced on Monday.

The fund for release to 210 members of the House of Representatives, except the party-list representatives, was allegedly being used to persuade lawmakers not to support the impeachment complaints against Arroyo.

Bunye said the President ordered Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane to immediately suspend the fund's release.

Bunye said that Arroyo's orders were in line with the "judicious use of resources."

"I think it's not advisable to carry out such projects under this weather," he told INQ7.net.

But Bunye could not say whether the money would be kept intact or would be used for other projects.

The fund, the biggest the Road Board would allocate since its creation in 2001, is to be used for road maintenance in the congressional districts. Each solon would receive 26.7 million pesos.

Last year, the government spent 2.5 billion pesos for the "Kalsada Natin, Alagaan Natin" (These are Our Streets, Let's Care for Them) program of the President where street sweepers wore shirts bearing her name.

Arroyo is facing possible impeachment before Congress on charges of vote fraud, corruption, and human rights violations.

Glo's Ouster

Rights mission joins call for Arroyo ouster

Philip C. Tubeza Luige A. del Puerto
Inquirer News Service

LONG before the Senate could try President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for impeachment, a group of international human rights advocates have found her guilty of numerous human rights violations and concluded that she should be ousted.

The group held an International People's Court (IPC) at the Film Center of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, on Aug. 19 and concluded that Ms Arroyo should be "perpetually barred" from holding public office.

The IPC was endorsed by well-known leftist personalities, like scholar Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"In the eyes of the world, Ms Arroyo is now in the infamous pantheon of human rights violators. If only for this, she should be immediately impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate," said Bayan Muna party-list Representative Satur Ocampo.

Ocampo joined the human rights advocates in turning over the evidence they had gathered to the impeachment prosecution team. The impeachment complaint against the President also accuses her of abetting numerous human rights violations perpetrated by the military.

"The voluminous evidence submitted to the IPC would be valuable in the impeachment complaint. No self-respecting member of Congress can turn a blind eye to such well-documented violations and Ms Arroyo's role in them," Ocampo said.

The human rights advocates also said that they supported moves to impeach the President.

"The human rights situation in the Philippines has reached alarming proportions which deserves international attention," said Canadian Barbara Waldern, one of the IPC jurors.

A signal

"This impeachment proceeding will send a signal to all countries in the world that the head of state could be indicted for acquiescence and abetting massive human rights abuses by state security forces," she said.

Waldern was among the 85 foreign delegates of the International Solidarity Mission (ISM) that visited areas of the country where the human rights situation "was at its worst," on Aug. 14-18.

The "judgment" of the IPC, which concluded its mission, was signed by all local and foreign delegates. It read:

"The Defendants (President Macapagal-Arroyo and ranking officers of the AFP and PNP) are hereby adjudged to have forfeited any right or authority to occupy their current political positions and hereby ordered removed from positions of power and perpetually and absolutely disqualified from holding any public office."

"The foreign delegates will urge our home countries to withdraw support to the Philippine President if she continues to acquiesce from the worsening human rights violation in the Philippines," said Kawal Ulanday, a member of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan from the United States and IPC juror.

"The worst violations, such as summary executions and enforced disappearances were deliberately and systematically done by state armed forces against legitimate political dissent, this is a serious crime against humanity which merits serious penalties in the international tribunals," added Selma Benkhelija, a lawyer from Belgium and IPC juror.

In a text message to the Inquirer, Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil said the PNP would investigate any charges of human rights violations.

"We maintain that we do not tolerate human rights violations and we have certain police operational procedures or rules of engagement to follow in certain situation(s)," Bataoil said. "Any deviation from the same, we will make them answer for it including the immediate supervisor on the ground if evidence warrants."

The judges

The IPC held Ms Arroyo responsible for the 4,207 cases of human rights violations from January 2001 to June 2005, which included 400 victims of summary executions and 110 victims of forced disappearances.

Those who testified in the tribunal included witnesses to the Hacienda Luisita massacre in Tarlac province on Nov. 16 last year, abductions and extrajudicial killings committed in Mindoro and Eastern Visayas, and cases of torture, massacres and other cases in Surigao and Sulu.

On the Hacienda Luisita incident, Bataoil urged the mission to also look into the "human rights violations [committed by] the picketers who injured a lot of our policemen in the area during our peacekeeping operation at that time."

The court's judges included American law professor Lennox Hinds of Rutgers University, who was also a lawyer for Nelson Mandela, independent South Africa's first president; Nobel Peace Prize nominee Irene Fernandez of Malaysia, and lawyer Hakan Karakus of Turkey, president of the International Association of People's Lawyers.

Besides Chomsky, the endorsers of the IPC were Ramsey Clark, former US attorney general and founding chair of the International Action Center, and Jitendra Sharma, former justice of the Supreme Court of India.

Police rights

Finding alleged evidence of extrajudicial killings, the international mission concluded that the Arroyo administration violated the Bill of Rights of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, the GRP-NDF (National Democratic Front) Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Law, among others.

Ocampo said the unresolved political killings under the Arroyo administration were an "enormous hindrance" to national reconciliation.

"A president that allows and encourages the killing of her own people for political ends, especially of her critics and human rights advocates, doing a grave injustice, culpably violates the Constitution and loses the moral right to govern and to unite the nation," said Ocampo, who is himself a former political detainee during the Marcos dictatorship.

He said that the reported relief of Brigadier General Jovito Palparan as head of the Army's 8th Infantry Division in Eastern Visayas indicated the President's "grudging admission of the politically motivated murders, abductions, torture, forced disappearances and other human rights violations" reported to human rights group Karapatan and the IPC and ISM.

Palparan's removal from Eastern Visayas and his expulsion from the military have long been demanded by Eastern Samar Representative Catalino Figueroa and various people's organizations.

"In spite of the rising incidence of political killings in Mindoro Oriental when Palparan was provincial military chief, Arroyo promoted him from colonel to brigadier general. True, he was removed from Mindoro but he pursued the same bloodthirsty campaign against anti-Arroyo activists," Ocampo said.

Guilty

The international mission was particularly appalled by the military general accused of numerous human rights violations in the course of his intensive anti-insurgency campaign.

"Due to the particular heinousness of his offenses, we particularly make a specific finding of guilt against (Maj.) Gen. Jovito Palparan," the group said.

The general, who had vowed to wipe out the insurgents, denied the allegations.

The international mission said evidence against the Arroyo administration demonstrated "beyond reasonable doubt that these human rights abuses are widespread, systematic and were done with impunity."

Support for Arroyo ouster

It also supported calls for Ms Arroyo's ouster and asked the international community to do the same.

"The defendants are sentenced to pay compensation and indemnification for the victims' rehabilitation, restitute their material and moral damages, and issue a sincere public apology to the Filipino people, and that all prisoners incarcerated because of political repression be released," it told the Philippine government.

The group further asked the Filipino people to file a complaint with the United Nations, the International Criminal Court and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

University of the Philippines (UP)

Philippine National Police (PNP)

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)

Libel vs. Lastimosa

Health official takes heat for dengue queries

by Sun-Star Daily Cebu
 

For issuing conflicting statements to the media, the Cebu City Health Department chief drew the ire of some councilors yesterday after her statements prompted a radio commentator to raise allegations of graft against city councilors.

In an executive session yesterday, the City Council clarified to the media and assured the public that all procedures and requirements have been complied with before they purchased anti-dengue chemicals.

A former city health officer also defended the council, saying the purchase of P1.5 million worth of chemicals is valid.

Despite the spraying activities, the number of dengue cases in the city continued to increase, from 704 cases last Aug. 9 to 767 cases as of Aug. 16.

Twenty-one deaths have been recorded so far since the listing started last January.

Libel charge

The Council is also contemplating on the filing of a libel complaint against radio dyAB news anchor Leo Lastimosa for insinuating that councilors got commissions from the purchase.

Vice Mayor Michael Rama reacted to Lastimosa's reports that the council authorized the purchase even if City Health Department Chief Fe Cabugao said they don't need the chemicals.

But at the session yesterday, Cabugao told the council that she signed the purchase request for Aqua Resigen weeks after she was appointed as city health officer in January.

"It's good that now she is finally admitting to this Council that she signed a request," an irate Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera said.

The council approved last February the purchase of 500 liters of resigen worth P1.5 million. The chemicals were delivered to the City only this month.

Cabugao admitted that she signed the purchase request but the request was made during their budget proposal meeting last year yet, when the sanitary division asked for more chemicals.

Cautious

"I did not say categorically that we don't need the chemicals. I only said we have to be cautious in using it because there are harmful effects," she explained to the Council.

Rama called for the executive session to clarify insinuations of Lastimosa that the Council hastily declared a state of calamity so the councilors can make money.

"But as a responsible department head, you would sign a request because you fully believe the chemicals are useful to the constituents, not just because your subordinates asked for it and you are afraid to displease your personnel. Tell us if you need it or you don't need it," said Pesquera.

Councilor Gerardo Carillo said he was upset when he heard Cabugao over the radio disown that she signed the request.

"Tell us what you need and you don't need rather than talk to the media and say we don't need it. If you feel you don't need the chemicals, then don't sign it," Vice Mayor Rama said.

Rama also asked Cabugao why they continue fogging and misting activities using Aqua Resigens when former city health chief Felicitas Manaloto already said it is harmful to the environment.

Because mist blowing using resigen has the least harmful effects, former city health officer Estella Ygoña said they shifted from fogging to misting, although they are still using the same chemicals.

Management

Ygona said, though, that misting or surface spraying will be done only in the houses and immediate surroundings of dengue patients in order to kill the adult-infecting mosquitoes.

She stressed that effective environmental management is still the only way to kill the larvae of dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

"So the purchase of 500 liters is still valid," Ygoña said.

With this said, Councilor Hilario Davide III said the Council has enough basis to file libel complaints against Lastimosa.

"I feel aggrieved because of his malicious statements. What facts does he have to say that the Council indeed made money?

It's up to us now what actions we would take against Mr. Lastimosa," the councilor said.

Since Lastimosa did not attend the first executive session last Aug. 11, the Council invited him again to the resumption of yesterday's session on Wednesday.

Rama also required Cabugao to submit in the next session the guidelines on how the city health department is implementing their dengue program.

He also said Cabugao should submit a report that fogging and misting are still options for the City to address dengue problems. (LCR)
 

Bar Exams

Multiple choice to be part of 2005 bar exams -- SC justice

Tetch Torres
INQ7.net

MULTIPLE choice will be included in the bar exams on September 4, 11, 18, and 25, according to the chairman of the committee tasked to formulate this year's tests.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Romeo Callejo Sr. told law school deans that he had asked the bar examiners to submit five multiple-choice type questions for possible inclusion in the examination.

During a knowledge-sharing forum on professional examinations however Callejo clarified that the examinees would still be required to explain their answers. "I will not allow guessing under my watch."

He said that even in actual practice, lawyers were required to explain their answers to certain questions.

"Allowing the examinees to explain their answers will train them to develop logic and correct reasoning," Callejo said.

In June 2004, the Supreme Court issued Bar Matter 1161, which outlines reforms such as using multiple choice on 30 to 40 percent of the total number of questions and the appointment of a tenured board of examiners.

There are 5,777 examinees this year.

Glo's Exit

Estrada snubs Arroyo's reconciliation attempts

Agence France-Presse

HONG KONG -- Deposed Philippine leader Joseph Estrada said his successor President Gloria Arroyo was doomed to share his fate as he rebuffed her attempts at a political reconciliation, a report said Monday.

"I have a room specially prepared for her, and a pony too," he said in reference to his term of house arrest while being tried for massive corruption.

For two years, he has been confined to his 15-hectare (37-acre), 14-bedroom villa east of Manila, which he shares with a stable of retired racehorses.

Estrada predicted Arroyo was not long for the presidency, based on his own experience.

"I was confident, too," of not being ousted. "In fact, over-confident," the former film star told the South China Morning Post in an interview.

"Ferdinand Marcos left (Malacañang Palace) by plane. I left by boat. She will leave by stroller," he said, in a joking reference to Arroyo's height of four foot 11 inches (1.48 meters).

Estrada was ousted by a military-backed popular revolt in 2001 due to a corruption scandal and replaced by his then-vice president Arroyo.

He is being tried on charges of plundering a personal fortune of about 80 million dollars but has been allowed to stay under house arrest at his vacation home outside the capital. He has always denied the charges.

Estrada has also consistently said he was illegally ousted, and last year tapped his best friend and fellow actor Fernando Poe to stand in the presidential election, which was won by Arroyo.

Estrada allies have since led an opposition campaign to oust Arroyo from office on charges that she cheated to win the election.

Arroyo was recently accused of committing nearly the same offenses Estrada is now standing trial for, including obstructing the investigation into accusations she rigged her electoral victory and receiving illegal gambling payoffs to fund her presidential campaign.

"I am glad not to be in her shoes at this time," he was quoted as saying. "This is one of the worst times."

There had been widespread speculation that Arroyo was seeking to make peace with Estrada after he was allowed a furlough from house arrest to attend a prayer rally in Manila on Saturday.

The fallen president remains the de facto leader of the opposition and is popular among the majority poor.

Garci Out

Immigration official denies helping Garcillano flee RP

Fraud Proof

House opposition unlocks 'roomful of evidence' of poll fraud

Maila Ager
INQ7.net

THE OPPOSITION bloc has unlocked a "roomful of evidence" of an alleged "general conspiracy" involving alleged cheating in the 2004 election, which ensured Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's victory in the presidential race.

An hour before the resumption of the impeachment hearing against the President on Wednesday, Taguig-Pateros Alan Peter Cayetano, spokesman of the pro-impeachment team, made a slide presentation of supposed copies of election returns (ERs) purportedly tampered and fabricated by operators of the administration.

Cayetano said that long before the 2004 election, a group of 50 people, led by an administration ally, had been holding office at the fifth floor of the Horizon Hotel (formerly Byron Hotel) in Mandaluyong City to manufacture ERs that would show a landslide win for Ms. Arroyo. He did not name the Arroyo supporter.

"While FPJ [Fernando Poe Jr.], [the late former senator Raul] Roco, [Senator Panfilo] Lacson, and Brother [Eddie] Villanueva were still tirelessly campaigning, the Byron Hotel operators were already silently filling up the ERs," he said.

He said first, the Byron operators determined the provinces where Ms. Arroyo had a high popularity rating --Pampanga, Iloilo, Cebu, and Bohol.

Once the areas were determined, the "doctors of Ms. Arroyo" went to work starting with the voters list, he said.

"The votes to be entered into the ER's were already pre-computed and printed in a master list," Cayetano explained. "They copied the numbers into the ERs, validated them in the names of elections inspectors."

The Byron operators allegedly had the master copy of the names of all elections inspectors and where they would be assigned.

"They have the specimen too and a master forger to forge them [signatures of the elections inspectors]," he said.

The bogus forms reflecting a landslide win for the President were then sent to the pre-determined areas where the election officers replaced the real results with the fabricated ones.

But Cayetano said the Arroyo operatives were sloppy because the thumbmarks in the ERs were too small compared with the normal size of a person's thumb.

He also noted that the ink used in some ERs was either blue or red when the official ink of the Commission on Elections was black.

Cayetano said they got all these information from witnesses who had personal knowledge of the operation.

"There were problems with money that's why this information was also leaked out," he told reporters.

Aside from the tampered ERs, Cayetano also pointed out that there were still 30,000 sets of overprinted election forms that the Comelec had yet to account for.

Cayteno said these ERs translated to six million votes.

House Minority Floor Leader Francis Escudero said he would also hold another press conference to expose more evidence of cheating.

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Hospitals churn out 7,800 kilos of harmful wastes daily
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Urine-powered micro battery invented by Singapore institute
 

Toxic Waste

Hospitals churn out 7,800 kilos of harmful wastes daily

Veronica Uy
INQ7.net

THE COUNTRY'S 200 hospitals produce an estimated 7,800 kilos of biomedical waste every day and most are not properly disposed of, Senator Pia Cayetano said Tuesday.

During a hearing on biomedical and hazardous wastes, Cayetano said only six disposal facilities are available in the country: five in Luzon, and one in the Visayas. Not a single facility is available in Mindanao, she said.

Cayetano said these biochemical and hazardous wastes are just thrown "anywhere," endangering people's health and the country's environment.

The hearing seeks to institute mechanisms to regulate and manage proper disposal of these wastes, said Cayetano, head of the Senate committee on health and demography and environment and natural resources.

Biochemical wastes include injection needles, used cotton, and internal organs removed during surgery. Hazardous wastes include batteries of cars, mobile phones, and wrist watches; toilet cleaners; and fluorescent bulbs.

Department of Health

Senate

Agri Loss

Drought, typhoons cost agriculture P953M

Christine Gaylican cgaylican@inquirer.com.ph
Inquirer News Service

WEATHER disturbances in the past weeks have affected the agriculture sector resulting in an estimated production loss of 953 million pesos, the Department of Agriculture said Tuesday.

The onslaught of tropical typhoons "Gorio" (international codename: Matsa) and "Huaning" (international codename: Sanvu) and the insufficient rainfall in Northern Luzon from July until the first week of August affected the planting and harvest of rice, corn, vegetables, fisheries, livestock and poultry.

The DA said damage to corn accounted for 5 percent of the national annual production target of 5.5 million metric tons, while damage to rice accounted for 0.2 percent of the national annual rice target of 14.75 million metric tons.

"The decrease in the production of rice and corn in the affected regions can be partially compensated by the projected good production in Mindanao," the DA report said.

Rehabilitation of affected areas are already underway and affected farmers have been given seeds for planting.

Typhoon "Huaning" affected towns in the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Apayao and Mt. Province resulting in a production loss of 16 million pesos.

Continuous rains affected areas in Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao resulting in a production loss of 70.8 million pesos, of which 80 percent was damage to palay.

Insufficient rainfall in Regions I and II also resulted in production loss placed at 866.4 million pesos.

Cloud seeding operations were conducted in the affected areas between July 28 to August 5 to save the standing crops and prevent additional damages.

Urine Power

Urine-powered micro battery invented by Singapore institute

Agence France-Presse

SINGAPORE -- A Singapore scientific institute on Tuesday said it has invented a urine-powered micro battery that can be used in disposable test kits for diabetes and other diseases.

The state-funded Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology said a drop of urine placed on the paper battery will generate enough electricity to power a "biochip device" that can analyze the urine sample for disease "biomarkers."

"We are striving to develop cheap, disposable credit card-sized biochips for disease," the institute's principal research scientist Dr. Lee Ki Bang said in a press statement.

"Our battery can be easily integrated into such devices, supplying electricity upon contact with biofluids such as urine," Lee added.

Urine is widely used to test for signs of various diseases and as an indicator of a persons general state of health, the institute said. The concentration of glucose in urine is a useful diagnostic tool for diabetics.

The battery unit consists of a cathode sandwiched between an anode and an electron-collecting layer. These are then held in place through a lamination process which coats the battery unit between transparent plastic films.

Lee said that someday, people would be able to monitor their health easily at home, seeking medical attention only when necessary, thanks to the patented invention.

"These fully integrated biochip systems have a huge market potential," he said.

Singapore is pouring billions of dollars into cutting-edge research and development programs in a bid to expand its biomedical sciences industry and reduce its dependence on assembly-line manufacturing.

A government-appointed panel has recommended that Singapore raise its research and development spending to 12 billion Singapore dollars over the next five years.

The amount proposed is more than double the five billion dollars spent on research and development from 2001 to 2005.