SAN FABIAN, Pangasinan — Residents of this town will enjoy a special non-working holiday here on March 21 of each year to celebrate their town’s founding anniversary after President Rodrigo Duterte made it official.
“Republic Act (RA) 11132, otherwise known as an Act Declaring March 21 every year as San Fabian Day, was already signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte,” said the author of the bill, Representative Christopher de Venecia of the 4th District of Pangasinan, in an interview on Thursday.
De Venecia said he filed the RA, which was then House Bill (HB) 1865, two months after he was elected representative of his district on July 25, 2016.
“Prior to its founding, San Fabian was just a barangay named as Anguio, which means a tree of bitter fruit. Yet on March 21, 1717, San Fabian marked its sweet start as a town following the petition of the Provincial Dominican Fathers. From then on, San Fabian progressed rapidly to become a first-class municipality in the province of Pangasinan,” de Venecia's HB 1865 stated in the explanatory note.
De Venecia expressed his joy for the declaration made official by the President.
“As the author of this bill, I am happy now that we now have a special day, when we can all celebrate San Fabian’s history. Indeed, this is another victory for us kabaleyans (townmates),” he said.
San Fabian is a first-class municipality of the province, known for its beach and dried fish (tuyo) products, among others. (PNA)
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1056559
Thursday, December 13, 2018
PLDT, DPC launch 33rd Visual Arts Competition with Tandem Forum Series
Leading digital services provider PLDT and Directories Philippines Corporation (DPC) have officially opened the 33rd DPC-PLDT Visual Arts Competition (VAC 33) with the theme, “Creating Legacy, Creating the Future.”
VAC 33 invites Fine Arts students, 18 to 24 years of age and enrolled in school year 2018-2019 at any accredited Philippine tertiary school with a Fine Arts program. A cash award of P100,000, among other prizes, awaits the winner is the cover of Metro Manila Telephone Directory.
All entries must be submitted through the schools. Fine Arts colleges, schools and departments nationwide are urged to select as many as five oil or acrylic paintings by their students as official entries to VAC 33.
Fine Arts students are challenged to visualize legacy in a new light. As explained by the VAC 33 organizers, “One is never too young to think about legacy. In a rapidly changing world that is increasingly being driven by younger generations, we need to be more aware of the impact that our day-to-day life decisions — and the values we hold dear — will have on the future shape of our society and the sustainability of our planet.”
Aside from adherence to the theme, submitted paintings will be judged on the basis of visual composition, originality and their suitability as cover of the print telephone directories of PLDT (White Pages) and DPC (Yellow Pages).
All entries must be submitted by 4pm of March 1, 2019 at the DPC Main Office, 2322 Don Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City.
Full competition mechanics can be downloaded at www.visualarts.ph.
A fresh aspect of this year’s VAC is the introduction of a tandem DPC-PLDT Visual Arts Forum (VAF) Series. “The VAC has always been about supporting young Filipino artists in their formative years in the academe,” explained Chiqui Abad, Head of Home Customer Care at PLDT. “The companion forum series we are launching early next year is an exciting new avenue by which PLDT and DPC would like to deepen this advocacy and our engagement with Fine Arts schools and students nationwide.”
Conceived as a three-part forum series on salient art topics, featuring well-known artists and resource persons, the inaugural VAF will be hosted by a Metro Manila-based school in January 2019. Two other forums will be held in Cebu and Davao in January or February 2019.
Fine Arts students and faculty of the host school and neighboring schools will be invited to participate in each forum. To enable other schools nationwide to join the discussion online, each talk will be livestreamed via Facebook Live powered by PLDT broadband facilities.
http://pldt.com/newscenter/news/2018/12/12/pldt-dpc-launch-33rd-visual-arts-competition-with-tandem-forum-series
VAC 33 invites Fine Arts students, 18 to 24 years of age and enrolled in school year 2018-2019 at any accredited Philippine tertiary school with a Fine Arts program. A cash award of P100,000, among other prizes, awaits the winner is the cover of Metro Manila Telephone Directory.
All entries must be submitted through the schools. Fine Arts colleges, schools and departments nationwide are urged to select as many as five oil or acrylic paintings by their students as official entries to VAC 33.
Fine Arts students are challenged to visualize legacy in a new light. As explained by the VAC 33 organizers, “One is never too young to think about legacy. In a rapidly changing world that is increasingly being driven by younger generations, we need to be more aware of the impact that our day-to-day life decisions — and the values we hold dear — will have on the future shape of our society and the sustainability of our planet.”
Aside from adherence to the theme, submitted paintings will be judged on the basis of visual composition, originality and their suitability as cover of the print telephone directories of PLDT (White Pages) and DPC (Yellow Pages).
All entries must be submitted by 4pm of March 1, 2019 at the DPC Main Office, 2322 Don Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City.
Full competition mechanics can be downloaded at www.visualarts.ph.
A fresh aspect of this year’s VAC is the introduction of a tandem DPC-PLDT Visual Arts Forum (VAF) Series. “The VAC has always been about supporting young Filipino artists in their formative years in the academe,” explained Chiqui Abad, Head of Home Customer Care at PLDT. “The companion forum series we are launching early next year is an exciting new avenue by which PLDT and DPC would like to deepen this advocacy and our engagement with Fine Arts schools and students nationwide.”
Conceived as a three-part forum series on salient art topics, featuring well-known artists and resource persons, the inaugural VAF will be hosted by a Metro Manila-based school in January 2019. Two other forums will be held in Cebu and Davao in January or February 2019.
Fine Arts students and faculty of the host school and neighboring schools will be invited to participate in each forum. To enable other schools nationwide to join the discussion online, each talk will be livestreamed via Facebook Live powered by PLDT broadband facilities.
http://pldt.com/newscenter/news/2018/12/12/pldt-dpc-launch-33rd-visual-arts-competition-with-tandem-forum-series
Unlike House, Senate wants PCGG to stay
In a departure from the House of Representatives’ measure, the Senate has passed a bill strengthening the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) but without the controversial provision abolishing the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).
The chamber, by a 16-0 vote, approved on third and final reading Senate Bill No. 1823, which would expand the powers of the OSG, including the authority to hire more lawyers to boost its efforts as the government’s principal law office and legal defender.
Notably absent from the bill is a provision that abolishes the PCGG, the agency tasked to run after the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family and its cronies, and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC).
Those provisions were in earlier versions of the bill primarily authored and sponsored by Sen. Richard Gordon.
The House version, which passed on third reading in May, also includes provisions allowing the OSG to absorb the functions of the PCGG and the OGCC.
Accomplishments
Critics had slammed the move, noting that the current solicitor general, Jose Calida, who would benefit from the measure, was a known Marcos loyalist and election campaigner of the dictator’s son and namesake, former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
In his sponsorship speech in May, Gordon said he “disagreed” that the PCGG should be abolished, taking note of its accomplishments in recovering billions of pesos of the Marcos family’s ill-gotten wealth after the peaceful Edsa People Power Revolt in 1986.
According to the PCGG, it had recovered more than P170 billion in ill-gotten wealth from the family of late dictator and his cronies from 1986 to 2015.
Under the version passed by the Senate, the bill would primarily amend Executive Order No. 292, or the Administrative Code and Republic Act No. 9417, to introduce provisions that directly deal with the most important challenges faced by the OSG.
Overloaded with cases
“The Office of the Solicitor General is in dire need of competent, dedicated and honest lawyers to perform its mandate of being the People’s Tribune and the legal defender of the Republic of the Philippines. We need to aid the OSG to take on this formidable task,” Gordon said.
To solve the problem of OSG lawyers who are overloaded with cases, the bill mandates “competitive” retirement perks and other benefits for them so they would stay and help the agency recruit new lawyers.
The Senate and the House will meet in conference to reconcile the differences between their versions of the bill.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1062658/unlike-house-senate-wants-pcgg-to-stay
The chamber, by a 16-0 vote, approved on third and final reading Senate Bill No. 1823, which would expand the powers of the OSG, including the authority to hire more lawyers to boost its efforts as the government’s principal law office and legal defender.
Notably absent from the bill is a provision that abolishes the PCGG, the agency tasked to run after the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family and its cronies, and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC).
Those provisions were in earlier versions of the bill primarily authored and sponsored by Sen. Richard Gordon.
The House version, which passed on third reading in May, also includes provisions allowing the OSG to absorb the functions of the PCGG and the OGCC.
Accomplishments
Critics had slammed the move, noting that the current solicitor general, Jose Calida, who would benefit from the measure, was a known Marcos loyalist and election campaigner of the dictator’s son and namesake, former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
In his sponsorship speech in May, Gordon said he “disagreed” that the PCGG should be abolished, taking note of its accomplishments in recovering billions of pesos of the Marcos family’s ill-gotten wealth after the peaceful Edsa People Power Revolt in 1986.
According to the PCGG, it had recovered more than P170 billion in ill-gotten wealth from the family of late dictator and his cronies from 1986 to 2015.
Under the version passed by the Senate, the bill would primarily amend Executive Order No. 292, or the Administrative Code and Republic Act No. 9417, to introduce provisions that directly deal with the most important challenges faced by the OSG.
Overloaded with cases
“The Office of the Solicitor General is in dire need of competent, dedicated and honest lawyers to perform its mandate of being the People’s Tribune and the legal defender of the Republic of the Philippines. We need to aid the OSG to take on this formidable task,” Gordon said.
To solve the problem of OSG lawyers who are overloaded with cases, the bill mandates “competitive” retirement perks and other benefits for them so they would stay and help the agency recruit new lawyers.
The Senate and the House will meet in conference to reconcile the differences between their versions of the bill.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1062658/unlike-house-senate-wants-pcgg-to-stay
PH press freedom 'robust,' says Malacañang after Time honors Maria Ressa
'That's the call of the awarding organization. It has its basis for awarding certain people. Certainly we cannot intrude into that,' Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo says of the choice of Maria Ressa as Time 'Person of the Year'
Malacañang on Wednesday, December 12, reiterated that press freedom in the Philippines continued to be "robust" after Time Magazine named Rappler CEO Maria Ressa as among the journalists and media groups it collectively named "2018 Person of the Year."
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in response to questions in a Palace news briefing that the continued publication of reports critical of the Duterte administration should dispel notions that the government does not tolerate dissent.
"Obviously, since there are still critics attacking the administration, criticizing the administration, the freedom of expression in this country is a robust one," he said, when asked to describe the state of press freedom in the country now.
Apparently referring to the legal cases filed against Rappler and Ressa, Panelo said these are not attacks on press freedom as the cases supposedly have nothing to do with content Rappler publishes.
"Those who have been charged are in connection, not with their freedom of expression, but for commission of crimes which the courts have found probable cause, that's precisley why they are being tried," said Panelo
Yet press freedom advocates have pointed out that governments often resort to the filing of cases related to the business operations of media organizations they consider a threat, in order to justify crackdowns on journalists often protected by freedom of expression laws. (READ: [OPINION] A new weapon against press freedom)
Duterte has publicly called Rappler a source of "fake news" and banned its reporters from covering all of his events and from entering Malacañang.
He had also repeatedly threatened to block the franchise renewal of television network ABS-CBN and accused the Philippine Daily Inquirer of biased reporting while hurling allegations about the newspaper's owners.
Asked to comment on the recognition given to Ressa by TIME, Panelo said, "With respect to the awardee Ressa, that's the call of the awarding organization. It has its basis for awarding certain people. Certainly we cannot intrude into that."
Asked if Malacañang agrees with the recognition, President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman said, "Whether we agree or not it doesn't matter. That's the award of a particular organization."
Ressa is facing 5 tax evasion cases, apart from complaints filed before the Department of Justice – one for alleged violation of the Anti-Dummy Law, and another for cyberlibel.
These moves have been slammed by various media and human rights groups as harassment stemming from Rappler's critical reportage on the Duterte administration.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/218759-malacanang-statement-maria-ressa-time-recognition-press-freedom-robust-philippines
Malacañang on Wednesday, December 12, reiterated that press freedom in the Philippines continued to be "robust" after Time Magazine named Rappler CEO Maria Ressa as among the journalists and media groups it collectively named "2018 Person of the Year."
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in response to questions in a Palace news briefing that the continued publication of reports critical of the Duterte administration should dispel notions that the government does not tolerate dissent.
"Obviously, since there are still critics attacking the administration, criticizing the administration, the freedom of expression in this country is a robust one," he said, when asked to describe the state of press freedom in the country now.
Apparently referring to the legal cases filed against Rappler and Ressa, Panelo said these are not attacks on press freedom as the cases supposedly have nothing to do with content Rappler publishes.
"Those who have been charged are in connection, not with their freedom of expression, but for commission of crimes which the courts have found probable cause, that's precisley why they are being tried," said Panelo
Yet press freedom advocates have pointed out that governments often resort to the filing of cases related to the business operations of media organizations they consider a threat, in order to justify crackdowns on journalists often protected by freedom of expression laws. (READ: [OPINION] A new weapon against press freedom)
Duterte has publicly called Rappler a source of "fake news" and banned its reporters from covering all of his events and from entering Malacañang.
He had also repeatedly threatened to block the franchise renewal of television network ABS-CBN and accused the Philippine Daily Inquirer of biased reporting while hurling allegations about the newspaper's owners.
Asked to comment on the recognition given to Ressa by TIME, Panelo said, "With respect to the awardee Ressa, that's the call of the awarding organization. It has its basis for awarding certain people. Certainly we cannot intrude into that."
Asked if Malacañang agrees with the recognition, President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman said, "Whether we agree or not it doesn't matter. That's the award of a particular organization."
Ressa is facing 5 tax evasion cases, apart from complaints filed before the Department of Justice – one for alleged violation of the Anti-Dummy Law, and another for cyberlibel.
These moves have been slammed by various media and human rights groups as harassment stemming from Rappler's critical reportage on the Duterte administration.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/218759-malacanang-statement-maria-ressa-time-recognition-press-freedom-robust-philippines
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