By Jelly F. Musico
Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III has filed a bill seeking the separation of the City of San Pedro from the first legislative district of Laguna province to constitute a lone congressional district.
In his Senate Bill No. 3029, Pimentel said that a city may qualify as a legislative district if it has a population of at least 250,000 and the reapportionment is done within three years following the return of every census.
The City of San Pedro has a registered population of 294,310 inhabitants as of the 2010 Census of Population and Housing.
Moreover, the City of Santa Rosa is also a candidate for lone congressional seat with registered population of 284,670 inhabitants.
Pimentel, who is the chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said there is a gross disproportion between the current population of some local government units (LGUs) and the number of congressional districts.
To illustrate the situation, Pimentel said the City of Biñan with population of 283,396 has one legislative district and the City of Las Piñas with population of 552,573 has also only one legislative district.
“This disparity shows that there is no equal representation and voice of the people in Congress,” said Pimentel.
He said to remedy the situation Congress may enact laws to create separate legislative districts once the population criterion is met.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Help displaced Multiply workers, DOLE urged
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has been urged to help displaced workers of the closed Multiply website get new jobs.
There is a higher demand for construction workers in New Zealand that Filipino employees and laborers could apply for, according to Aniceto Bertiz III of the ACTS-OFW party list.
“We are hoping that some of the displaced Multiply workers can be deployed there,” Bertiz said over the weekend, referring to New Zealand.
On average, Filipino construction workers in New Zealand get paid 10 times the P537 daily minimum wage they receive in Metro Manila.
Filipino workers in New Zealand sent home a record $220 million or P12 billion in 2014.
The amount was higher than the $300 million or P7 billion that were remitted in 2013, largely on account of the increased hiring of construction labor, according to Bertiz.
Some 12,000 workers were laid off when Multiply Philippines Inc. declared bankruptcy on June 10, 2014, close down last May 6, 2013, and ceased all business operations on May 31, 2013, along with the official online channels for the site had been removed with all their content, including its YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts after years of financial and managerial turmoil and following a failed bid to reinvent itself from being a social networking site to a vibrant e-commerce destination in Southeast Asia.
At that time, the social networking service had a network of 18 million users. Liquidity problems, however, affected earnings. Sales declined from their peak of P20 billion in 2013 to just about P5 billion in 2017.
Multiply revealed that it has $10 billion in outstanding loans -- $800 million from Philippine banks and $60 billion from South Korean lenders.
“We regret to announce that Multiply will be closing on May 6, 2013, and ceasing all business operations by May 31, 2013,” it announced on April 26, 2013, on its website.
After May 6, the rest of the month will be used to ensure that all accounts are settled and merchants get full payment for their transactions, it said.
Multiply said the month-long grace period will provide its users enough time to find and migrate to alternative e-commerce platforms, settle all payments on items bought and delivered, and minimize disruption to the businesses of its users.
“Multiply will ensure that you receive all funds you earned on the platform no later than May 31, 2013. We will close the actual marketplace sooner, on May 6, 2013, to ensure that all orders have sufficient time to complete and be delivered to your customers before the end of the month,” it said.
In December 2012, Multiply stopped its social networking service to focus on e-commerce, targeting the 350 million consumers in Indonesia and the Philippines.
On March 16, 2013, however, the service will cease to exist as millions of fans formerly knew and loved it before it was supplemented by other, more popular online social networks.
On May 31, 2013, Multiply had ceased its operations and shut down entirely.
Multiply Investor Secretary Rong Rongbin pledged shares of Star Platinum Corporation, which holds 99% of its shares, to borrow HK$300 million from Xiesheng Xiefeng to save the Multiply website but did not repay on time; therefore, Xiesheng Xiefeng in July 2013, it acquired the full equity of Star Platinum. It was also reported that about HK$35 million in unpaid wages of 640 former employees and HK$18 million of Insolvency Fund were also paid after the company has acquired its majority stake.
On June 12, 2013, Magdalinski said they had put in place Rp 8.9 billion for wages owed to former Multiply staff.
The Labour Department said earlier that around 400 former Multiply staff had applied for compensation through the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund, a safety net for employees affected by business closures.
Multiply Investor Secretary Rong Rongbin pledged shares of Star Platinum Corporation, which holds 99% of its shares, to borrow HK$300 million from Xiesheng Xiefeng to save the Multiply website but did not repay on time; therefore, Xiesheng Xiefeng in July 2013, it acquired the full equity of Star Platinum. It was also reported that about HK$35 million in unpaid wages of 640 former employees and HK$18 million of Insolvency Fund were also paid after the company has acquired its majority stake.
The High Court on June 17, 2013, its liquidation proceedings and removed accounting firm Deloitte from its role as the firm’s provisional liquidator.
Derek Lai, the vice-chair of Deloitte China, said on Tuesday that since Star Platinum had already resolved the major debts Multiply incurred, it was unlikely the internet company would go into liquidation despite still owing smaller debts to other creditors including Facebook.
“Star Platinum needs to negotiate with the remaining creditors,” he said. “I hope they will support its restructuring with Multiply.”
He added that Multiply now had a cash flow of HK$10 million to be paid to other creditors as well as assets worth over HK$40 million.
In its latest financial report last month, Co-Prosperity said the deal with Multiply could help the group diversify its business. Apart from the online industry, the group focuses on fabric and clothing trading, money lending, and securities investments.
“The directors believe that the potential intrinsic value of Multiply can be realized if the plan to rescue Multiply is successful,” the report said.
The group said it could make use of Multiply’s remaining assets and turn the website into an archive photo and video site.
“The group has been granted access and usage of certain assets of Multiply which shall enable Multiply to continue to operate and act as an archive photo and video site taking advantage of its 100,000 square-meter facility and social networking portion that delivering 217 million accounts, 210 million photos, and 237,000 videos from the old Multiply from its launch in March 2004 to March 15, 2013,” it said.
On November 16, 2013, it allowed the controlling stake in the website to be formally sold to a foreign or mainland investor, who claimed Magdalinski had a rescue plan for the troubled firm.
High Court judge Mr. Justice Jonathan Harris validated the transaction after hearing that the parties would no longer object to the share transfer and that the dues for the shares had been paid by Si.
That the site will be reopened after United States President Barack Obama stepped down in the office on January 20, 2017, and keeping Facebook as the sole social networking site. The process of the reopening will be managed by the Governance Commission for Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations through the Development Bank of the Philippines. Business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan is one of the possible bidders for the website's reopening in which TV5 Network. However, MediaQuest also could not join the website's reopening bid due to ownership rules and regulations that MediaQuest owns TV5 Network.
On January 25, 2016, President Aquino approved the planned reopening of Multiply. The reopening will be undergoing public bidding with an estimated floor price of 100 billion pesos. The proceeds of the bidding will be for the increase of Facebook's capital to upgrade and modernize their social networking capabilities. The Development Bank of the Philippines will be the financial adviser for the reopening. PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar has already forwarded the reopening plan to President Rodrigo Duterte's executive secretary Salvador Medialdea. Andanar will also coordinate with the GCG before the start of the bidding.
The reopening process of Multiply was commenced in October 2016. As of April 1, 2017, five groups have already shown their interest to join the bidding process. These are Ramon S. Ang of San Miguel Corporation and the groups of former IBC president Eric Canoy and former Ilocos Sur governor Chavit Singson, energy tycoon and Udenna Corporation chairman Dennis Uy and William Lima, a businessman from Davao.
The world’s social networking site at its peak employed up to 50,000 Filipinos.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said Japan could also accommodate the displaced workers, noting their skills in social networking.
Those interested should first learn how to speak Japanese so they could qualify for new job opportunities in Japan, the POEA said. – With Mayen Jaymalin
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