Partial reactivation as a social networking site

Planned as early as 2018 during the terms of [[President of Indonesia|President]] [[Joko Widodo]] of Indonesia and [[President of the Philippines|President]] [[Rodrigo Duterte]] of the Philippines, the site and it’s social networking portion was to be reactivated and recovered while the worldwide unit Multiply International to be reopened as a subsidiary, comprising initially of user accounts including hosted blogs, videos and photos from March 2004 to March 2013 to be archived and recovered

Multiply, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 31, 2013, having faced financial difficulties since it closed down as a site. The website does plan to relaunch its social networking portion and worldwide unit Multiply International

The 2009 economic crisis negatively impacted the site, prompting the closing of it's social networking portion and and the eventual sale of the site from Naspers

Dismantling of Sucat Thermal Power Plant on

Talks are underway for potential projects that may rise in the Sucat Thermal Power Plant (STPP) site in Muntinlupa City after the impending removal of the plant structures, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp. said Wednesday.

“Dismantling the Sucat plant will pave the way for the rise of a new development project that will benefit the host community and the country, in general,” PSALM Officer-in-Charge, Lourdes S. Alzona, said. Initial discussions include transforming the site as a location for an energy related project, a transportation hub, or an economic zone.

The winning bidder, Riverbend Consolidated Mining Corporation, will carry out the disposal of the plant structures. It has fully paid PSALM the purchase price of the decommissioned asset in the amount of PHP305.2 on July 31, with the satisfaction of closing deliveries, the asset turnover was held on Aug. 2, 2017, This day also marked  the start of the 30-month implementation period for Riverbend’s dismantling and clean up obligations.

In the asset sale provisions, Riverbend is obliged to dismantle the STPP and return the current site to ground zero, free and clear of wastes, toxic substances, debris and structures.

PSALM will also proceed with the decommissioning of the pipeline embedded in the plant site that connects the Sucat Plant, Rockwell Power Plant and the Manila Thermal Power Plant. (PSALM PR)

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1005584

‘Trabaho’ bill mandates private schools, hospitals to ensure service or pay fine

THE chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means on Thursday warned that underperforming and low-quality private schools and hospitals will be slapped with higher taxes under the “Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High Quality Opportunities,” or the proposed “Trabaho” law.

Rep. Dakila Carlo E. Cua of Quirino, the panel chairman, said from the current 10 percent, the government may impose 15-percent to 20-percent taxes depending on the performance of schools and hospitals once the proposed Trabaho law becomes a law.

“Our objective is to put some discipline here. If your school is performing, you have the right sets of faculty with masteral degrees and it’s improving, then you should enjoy the [current] 10-percent [tax rate] by all means. But if your quality is suffering and your students [are] not really getting the value of their investment in your school, then it should not be encouraged,” Cua said in an interview.

Under the House Bill 7982, or the proposed Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Reform Act, proprietary educational institutions and hospitals shall pay a tax of 10 percent on their taxable income. Provided that they comply with established performance criteria to be determined and evaluated by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Department of Education (DepEd) and Department of Health (DOH).

The bill said education institutions and hospitals that fail to meet the established performance criteria shall pay a tax of 10 percent on their taxable income two years after the effectivity of the proposal, 15 percent in the succeeding three years, and 20 percent thereafter.

“Currently, all schools—except foundations, Catholic and religious schools are paying zero tax—but the proprietary or for-profit [schools], they are paying preferential rate of 10 percent. In the new regime, all low-quality standard schools and hospitals will [face] a higher tax rate,” he added.

“Eventually, they [school and hospitals] actually be closed down because they are not complying with the standards,” he added.

For his part, Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said companies should prove to the government that they deserve to keep their tax perks.

“If they want to pay lower tax they have to be first good schools and hospitals,” Chua said.

Moreover, Rep. Cua said they already asked the stakeholders from hospitals and schools to give the government the criteria that they think is fair to them. They were also offered to be part of the evaluation team for transparency.

The lawmaker, however, assured that the incremental revenue from the payment of education institutions and hospitals will be used back in a form of a voucher or subsidy from the government.

Under the bill, incremental revenue from tax payment of education institutions that fail to meet the established performance criteria shall fund a student voucher program to be implemented under the CHED and DepEd.

The measure provides that the incremental revenue from tax payment of hospitals that fail to meet the established performance criteria shall fund the universal health-care program to be implemented under the DOH.

Also, House Bill 7982, which was recently approved by the House Committee on Ways and Means, provides for the structural adjustment fund for five years to compensate workers that may be displaced by the implementation of this measure to mitigate its negative impact, as well as to improve the employability of workers.

Besides rationalizing fiscal incentives, the bill also seeks to lower corporate income tax.

From the current 30 percent, the bill said the rate of corporate income tax shall now be 28 percent beginning January 1, 2021; 26 percent beginning January 1, 2023; 24 percent beginning January 1, 2025; 22 percent beginning January 1, 2027; and 20 percent beginning January 1, 2029.

https://businessmirror.com.ph/trabaho-bill-mandates-private-schools-hospitals-to-ensure-service-or-pay-fine/

House panel returning 2019 budget to DBM, decries cuts

THE chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations on Thursday said lawmakers have decided to restore the obligation-based budget system for 2019 national budget. They are preparing a resolution recalling the budget reform bill endorsed by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), which proposes a shift from a multiyear obligation budget to an annual cash-based budget.

In an interview, Rep. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles of Davao City, the panel chairman, said several lawmakers have expressed their opposition to the cash-based budget system championed by the DBM as it slashed budgets of key agencies under the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019.

“We are not going to support the cash-based budgeting,” Nograles said.    He added the proposed 2019 budget—which is cash-based—was P10 billion lower than the current P3.767-trillion General Appropriations Act.

According to Nograles, the budget of the Department of Health was decreased by P35 billion; the Department of Education, by P77 billion; and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) by P95 billion.

There were also P5-billion reductions in the budgets of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The proposed 2019 national budget is cash-based as opposed to the traditional, multiyear obligations-based budgeting. The DBM has described it as the more efficient budgeting method since it limits incurring obligations and disbursing payments for goods delivered and services rendered, inspected and accepted within the fiscal year.

The obligations-based budgeting, meanwhile, is common budgetary practice in the Philippines. It allows appropriations and obligations until the next fiscal year, extending the validity of funds to two years.

Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno earlier stressed, however, that the proposed 2019 budget and the existing 2018 budget cannot be compared as “apples to apples” since one is cash-based while one is obligations-based.

Budget reform bill

Moreover, Nograles said the cash-based system was the whole concept of the budget reform bill that was approved by the House in  March and now pending in the Senate.

With this, Nograles said a resolution is now being signed by lawmakers requesting the Senate to return House Bill 7302, or the Budget Reform Act, in order for the lower chamber to introduce further perfecting amendments.

The bill seeks to reform the budget process by enforcing greater accountability in public financial management (PFM), promoting fiscal sustainability, strengthening Congress’s power of the purse, instituting an integrated PFM system, and increasing budget transparency and participation.

There is a need for the House of Representatives to recall the enrolled copy of House Bill 7302 “in order to introduce amendments,” said the resolution authored by Majority Leader Rolando G. Andaya Jr., Nograles and Albay Rep. Joey S. Salceda.

Moreover, Nograles said members of the House of Representatives have agreed to sign a resolution seeking the recall of the approved budget reform bill.

“The implication of recalling the budget reform bill is our opposition to the cash-based budgeting for 2019. So now, what the House is saying, we don’t want cash-based budgeting; what we want is to restore [the budget system to] obligation-based,” he added.

Challenging

During the hearing of the House Committee on Appropriations, Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar admitted that the shift to a cash-based budgeting is “challenging” for his agency.

According to Villar, the department has made several adjustments due to the cash-based budgeting system as it requires disbursements to be made within the fiscal year.

“We are adjusting to this new policy which is in contrast to the previous shift. It is the mandate of this department if they tell us to disburse in one year, we have to adjust our assumptions based on that,” Villar said.

“We have to make sure that our timelines are extremely accurate. We have to make sure preparations [for] our projects are all on time…  It’s more challenging, [but] it’s not impossible. It’s a different form of budgeting and we will do our best to adjust to it,” he added.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are pushing for the restoration of budget cuts of the DPWH.

Last Wednesday Majority Leader Andaya said “there have been suggestions that we overhaul it, we return it, we tweak it, [or] we change the forecast.”

According to Andaya, the 2019 national budget submitted by the DBM may have made wrong projections on inflation. He said the 2019 budget should be adjusted considering the country’s
soaring inflation.

“The inflation target may already be inaccurate. So faced with that situation, economic managers should submit a higher budget adjusted to inflation,” Andaya said.

“This is the first time that it will happen. There’s no precedent to this. Everything is uncertain maybe a little more study before we apply it,” Andaya added.

In his 2019 budget message, President Duterte urged Congress to pass the budget reform bill to promote and implement participatory budget mechanisms in the different phases of the budget cycle to encourage citizen engagement and ensure a more responsive budget.

https://businessmirror.com.ph/house-panel-returning-2019-budget-to-dbm-decries-cuts/

Cordillera autonomy bill set for committee hearing Aug. 14: GMA

The hearing on the Cordillera region’s autonomy bill has been set by the House of Representatives’ local government committee on Aug. 14, Regional Development Council (RDC) chairman and Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan here Wednesday.

Domogan said this was relayed to him by House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, when he paid her a courtesy call on Aug. 6, the day President Rodrigo Duterte had a ceremonial signing of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in Malacañang.

He said he came to ask for Arroyo’s help in pushing for Cordillera’s autonomy bid.

“Pinarating natin sa kanya bakit nandyan tayo maliban sa ating courtesy call sa kanya. Sabi niya nai-kalendaryo na for committee yung bill (We told her why we were there aside from giving her a courtesy call. She said the autonomy bill was already calendared in the committee). We hope that we will be in full force on Aug. 14 at the Lower House,” he told the media during a late-afternoon press briefing.

Domogan said members of the Cordillera RDC would also visit Majority Floor Leader Rolando Andaya, who schedules bills for deliberation in the plenary.

He added they would visit the Senate on Aug. 10 to see the status of the counterpart bill there, Senate Bill No. 1678.

“It is going on and it is moving,” Domogan said of the efforts to push for Cordillera’s autonomy.

On July 30-31, the RDC’s committee on Social Preparation of the Cordillera Administrative Region held a forum to drumbeat the call for autonomy through the passage of the two pending bills, House Bill 5343 and Senate Bill 1678.

The RDC chairman said they intend to take a closer look at the BOL, which was passed using Section 15 of Article 10 of the 1987 Constitution, and make it the same basis for Cordillera’s autonomy.

“Kung ano ang provisions sa BOL na approved by Congress, i-cull out na natin, ilagay natin as part of our autonomy bill. Siguro hindi sila maka-angal sa atin kasi in-approve naman na nila (Whatever provisions of the BOL that were approved by Congress, we could cull those to form part of our autonomy bill. Perhaps, they won’t complain anymore, since they have already approved those),” Domogan explained.

He said the Cordillera RDC is rushing the autonomy bill’s approval, hoping to get President Rodrigo Duterte declare it as a priority legislative agenda.

The RDC is also waiting for a schedule to meet with the President for this purpose.

In July 2017, Cordillera leaders visited Duterte, who committed to give the Bangsamoro and Cordillera autonomy bids the same treatment.

On Sept. 13, the Cordillera region will commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the Mount Data accord, locally called the “Mt. Data Sipat”, between the late president Corazon Aquino and the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army, led by rebel priest Conrado Balweg.

The agreement led to the issuance of Executive Order 220, creating the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), in preparation for the region’s eventual self-determination.

The agreement also led to the inclusion of Section 15, Article 10 in the 1987 Constitution, which says, “There shall be created autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and in the Cordillera”. PNA-northboundasia.com

http://northboundasia.com/2018/08/09/cordillera-autonomy-bill-set-for-committee-hearing-aug-14-gma/