Senate renews franchises of 4 broadcast firms

Bills extending the franchises of four broadcasting companies to 25 more years hurdled the third and final reading at the Senate on Monday.

The Senate approved the renewal of franchises of the Manila Broadcasting Co., Bright Star Broadcasting Corp., Notre Dame Broadcasting Corp. and Vanguard Radio Network Co., Inc.

“Broadcasting services are the nervous system of our society as they connect communities and families through a seamless flow of information,” Senator Grace Poe, chairperson of the Committee on Public Services,” said on Monday.

“The Committee deems it fit to integrate a new provision mandating the grantees decent and productive employment opportunities as well as apprenticeship programs or on-the-job trainings for students and young Filipinos,” she added.

Poe highlighted in her sponsorship speech the role played by the Manila Broadcasting Co., which is known by its flagship AM radio station DZRH, in the nation’s history from World War II to the EDSA Revolution and even up to the administrations of former Presidents Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and Benigno Aquino III.

Created on April 1992, Bright Star or Retro 105.9 DCG-FM plays a diverse mix of retro pop, dance, hip-hop, rap, R&B, new wave and soul music.

Vanguard Radio provides news and entertainment through its broadcast stations in Nueva Ecija, Baguio City, La Union, Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela, Cagayan, and Bohol.

An affiliate of the Catholic Media Network, Notre Dame Broadcasting is based in Kidapawan City and was founded in 1956.

“Congress has the responsibility to ensure that only the most qualified individuals and organizations should be granted this privilege,” Poe said. ee

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Philippine Identification System empowers citizens to exercise rights and allows access to services

The establishment of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) will enable Filipinos to have proof of identity, to exercise rights and privileges and to access vital services.

An announcement made by the Philippine House of Representatives (Philippine Congress) highlighted the benefits of establishing the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys, which include proof of identity, empowerment to exercise rights and privileges as well as access to vital services.

Education, social protection, healthcare, banking and finance are some of the vital services that can be accessed by the Filipinos once the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) is established, said one of the principal authors of the measure creating a national identification system in the country.

“The PhilSys is particularly important for vulnerable sectors of our population, like those who are marginalized and living in poverty and those living in remote areas. Once they have the means to prove their identity, people will be empowered to exercise their rights and privileges and access basic services,” said Camiguin Representative Xavier Jesus D. Romualdo.

PhilSys is a single national identification system for all citizens and resident aliens of the Philippines. This unified system will promote seamless delivery of service, improve the efficiency, transparency, and targeted delivery of public and social services, and enhance administrative governance.
Moreover, the National ID is expected to reduce corruption, curtail bureaucratic red tape, avert fraudulent transactions and misrepresentations, strengthen financial inclusion, and promote ease of doing business.

Every Filipino and resident alien of the country shall be identified through the use of a unique and permanent PhilSys Number (PSN), which is randomly generated. It shall be the standard number assigned to each individual to be incorporated in all identification systems of government agencies.

According to the Identification for Development initiative of the World Bank, over 16.3 million Filipinos do not have proof of identity and are hindered from availing of government and financial services. Concerns raised by critics against the national ID system involve infringement on the rights and privacy of the citizens.

Rep Romualdo, a member of the bicameral conference committee, dispelled these by saying that Congress assures only basic personal information will be stored in the PhilSys and this information will be protected and kept confidential.

“Only one’s name, sex, address, date and place of birth, blood type, and biometric data, such as facial photo and fingerprints, are required to be entered in the PhilSys. Furthermore, disclosure of and granting access to stored data and information to anyone, even to law enforcement agencies and the military, is prohibited and penalised,” Rep Romualdo explained.

Disclosure of information, according to the reconciled version of the bill, is only allowed when the registered person has given his or her consent, specific to the purpose prior to the processing.

Information can also be disclosed upon order of a competent court, when the compelling interest of public health or safety so requires as long as the risk of significant harm to the public is established and the owner of the information is notified within 72 hours of the fact of such disclosure.

Information obtained as a result of any unauthorised or illegal disclosure is inadmissible in any judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative proceeding.

Presidential hits and misses

by Atty. Ignacio R. Bunye

President Rody has a flair for drama which he uses to clearly drive his point.

Instead of just confiscating smuggled luxury cars and auctioning them, as he is allowed by law, he orders them destroyed. And in a dramatic fashion. On two recent occasions, we witnessed on television how multi-million peso cars were flattened and reduced to scrap by graders – to the horror of high end car aficionados.

In his much-touted fight against corruption in government, the President fired persons supposedly very close to him. Not content, he even followed this up with a shame campaign against his former political supporters. Nowadays, he even asks Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque to pre-announce the forthcoming firings.

The message to corrupt officials would have been loud and clear.

Unfortunately, President Rody also has his share of misses which tend to negate his gains.

In his bid to get closer to his new friend – China – he is opening the way for six Chinese firms to corner the bulk (around R17B) of rehabilitation projects for Marawi. On the surface, nothing wrong with that especially if these Chinese companies can offer the best terms. After all, the offer of the Chinese will be subjected to “Swiss Challenge”.

Unfortunately, as it turned out, two of the companies have previously been blacklisted by the World Bank for alleged corrupt dealings involving Philippine projects. In an earlier clarification, the palace said that President Duterte was not aware of the blacklisting. Subsequently, the inclusion of the two companies was justified for the reason that the blacklisting, for 6 years and 5 years of the two companies, had already lapsed.

So what has happened to his “Ayaw ko sa corruption!” pronouncement?

Again, appointees who turned out to be incompetent (if not downright corrupt) were simply re-cycled. They were pulled out from their previous posting and kicked sideways to other jobs with high-sounding titles.

And just recently, he promoted to the next higher rank a Philippine Coast Guard officer who had been suspended over funds misuse allegations.

All of a sudden, the signals coming from the palace have become mixed up.

Marawi – a year hence

Seven months after the cessation of hostilities in Marawi, the rehabilitation of Marawiis moving ever slowly.

Nonetheless, considering the tedious process entailed preparing the rehab plan – much of which was taken up by multi-sectoral consultation on the best development mix – the palace has expressed satisfaction of what has been accomplished so far.

902 priority projects have been identified and are being readied for implementation. Adequate funding – estimated in excess of R70 billion over the next three years – is being budgeted.

Unsatisfied, critics have described the proposed rehabilitation of Marawi as “a patchwork of sketchy plans”. The plans do not address many problems – not the least of which is the age old question of unresolved property rights among the Muslim population. This thorny issue has been tagged as one of the root causes of conflict in Mindanao.

The government is working on it, assures Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jess Dureza. Dureza concedes, however, that as of now there is no magic formula which answers all these questions.

At last – a national ID

After several Presidents, we will soon have a national ID system. It is about time. We are one of 9 remaining countries in the world which, to date, have not adopted one.

The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Not only will a national ID facilitate public and private transactions. It will also help enhance national and community security.

Of course, a noisy militant minority will continue the protest the system not just for being invasive of privacy but for being reminiscent of the cedula – considered as a sign of subservience to our former colonial masters.

Come one, guys. This is already 2018. Let us just move on. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to be afraid of.
Note: You may email us at totingbunye2000@gmail.com. You may also “like” us at Facebook at “Speaking Out”.

CEZA pursuing expressway, railway projects in Cagayan

The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) is pursuing expressway and railway projects to link the northern part of the country to the capital, its top official told reporters.

In an interview over the weekend, CEZA Administrator and Chief Executive Officer Raul Lambino said the agency is eyeing to build a new six-lane expressway that will connect Cagayan North International Airport to Port Irene in the town of Sta. Ana and Lal-lo to Tuguegarao City to Aparri and Claveria.

Lambino said this will complement the planned Global TransPark System in Cagayan, which targets to have an international cargo airport and seaport; manufacturing, distribution and cold-storage facilities; multi-modal transport linkages; efficient cargo transfer system; and central cargo area.

The Global TransPark System aims to provide seamless and efficient supply chain in the economic zone and the freeport.

Aside from the six-lane expressway, Lambino said CEZA aims to build a parallel railway system for passengers and cargo to provide better connectivity as well as faster, cheaper, and more efficient way to transfer goods.
He mentioned that a Russian company is studying and looking into linking Cagayan and Manila through a high-speed train system.

To pursue these infrastructure projects, Lambino said CEZA is requesting Congress to release the remaining PHP14 billion investment of the government in the agency as stated in the Republic Act No.7922 or the Cagayan Special Economic Zone Act

Congress to ratify national ID bill today

After three decades of languishing in the legislative mill, the national ID system bill is expected to be ratified by Congress today, the final step before it is transmitted to President Duterte for his signature.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, principal author and sponsor of the bill, said the measure is something that he has been pushing for since he first became senator in 2001.

First proposed during the administration of former president Fidel Ramos, the national ID bill has failed to take off due to lack of support in Congress and a general fear of the system because of privacy issues.

But now, with the backing of Duterte, the bill, which is also dubbed as the Philippine ID system, has been approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The bill has also gone through the bicameral conference committee where a consolidated version has been prepared and would be presented today in both chambers of Congress for ratification.

“This is a landmark legislation because it is only under the administration of President Duterte that this was approved,” Lacson said in a radio interview.

The fears raised about the present national ID, according to Lacson, have been unfounded considering that the information that would be stored in the ID are basic details of an individual such as name, birthdate, address, gender, photograph and biometrics.

The senator explained that all these information about a person are already kept by various government agencies that issue IDs or other documents.

“I don’t understand the criticism and opposition (to the national ID). Don’t they have driver’s licenses? Don’t they have passports? Don’t they have voter’s IDs? The information needed for the national ID are the same so why should they complain when they have already gone through the same process before?” he said.
The information contained in the national ID would be kept secure, with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) as the repository of the data, according to Lacson, adding there are enough safeguards under the proposed law that would keep the data of the national ID holders secure against unauthorized disclosures.

The only people who should be worried about the national ID, according to the senator, are rebels, terrorists and other criminal elements who thrive on anonymity.

“Those with aliases would now have a difficult time maintaining their aliases. I suppose this is the fear of the leftists because there are NPA (New People’s Army), ASG (Abu Sayyaf group), who are fighting the government, so now, with a national ID system, they would be easily identified,” Lacson said.

The bill calls for the allocation of an initial P25 billion for the PSA to implement the law.

Lacson, however, said the PSA has aired its concern that P25 billion might not be enough if all of the safeguards would be included in the law; thus, the actual budget needed could run up to P40 billion.

He added that the implementation could also take some time, with the PSA saying that this could take five years to complete.

16.3 million Filipinos to benefit
More than the taxpayers,  proponents said the poorest of the poor reaching about 16.3 million out of the total 104 million Filipinos today stand to benefit from the establishment of the national ID system or the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys).

“The PhilSys is particularly important for vulnerable sectors of our population, like those who are marginalized and living in poverty and those living in remote areas,” Camiguin Rep. Xavier Jesus Romualdo, one of the principal authors of the bill, said.

“Once they have the means to prove their identity, people will be empowered to exercise their rights and privileges and access basic services,” the chairman of the House committee on government reorganization added.

A study undertaken by the Identification for Development initiative of the World Bank had shown that over 16.3 million Filipinos “do not have proof of identity and are hindered from availing themselves of government and financial services.”

Romualdo said PhilSys would enable “more Filipinos to access vital services, such as education, social protection, health care, banking and finance.”

Another co-author of the bill, former journalist and incumbent Laguna Rep. Sol Aragones, described as a “historical milestone” the passing of the measure after more than 20 years since it was first proposed in Congress.

“We now have an opportunity to create a significant impact and everlasting effect on the lives of our people with something that can fit in our pocket, kasya sa bulsa, in the form of an ID,” the legislator said.

“This ‘one for all, all for one’ ID seeks to synchronize and harmonize all existing government-initiated identification cards, into a unified, comprehensive and efficient system,” she added.

The PhilSys ID, according to Aragones, will be issued to all citizens and resident aliens to provide them with a valid proof of identity and a means to simplify public and private transactions.

“We will no longer need to present multiple IDs to transact with government and private establishments that require individuals to present two or more government-issued IDs,” Aragones assured.

This landmark legislation is expected to promote seamless delivery of service; improve the efficiency, transparency and targeted delivery of public and social services; enhance administrative governance; reduce corruption and curtail bureaucratic red tape; avert fraudulent transactions and misrepresentations, strengthen financial inclusion and promote ease of doing business. – With Delon Porcalla