Monday, January 4, 2021

Vilma Santos-Recto to refile bill pushing for new ABS-CBN franchise

Batangas 6th District Rep. Vilma Santos-Recto said Monday she will refile a bill seeking to give a fresh franchise to ABS-CBN for another 25 years, after its previous license to operate expired and its application for a new one was rejected by a House panel in 2020.


This, after Senate President Vicente Sotto III filed his Senate Bill No. 196 seeking to grant ABS-CBN a new license to operate its television and radio broadcasting stations.


"We need to start rebuilding our economy," Santos-Recto said in a statement.


"Through this bill, we will be creating jobs (so many people do not have jobs today) and help promote healthy competition among the networks. Most importantly, di mapagkakaila ang far reach ng ABS-CBN in the regions during calamities," she noted.


The actress-politician hopes that the House Committee on Rules will "immediately act" on Sotto's bill so it can be sent to the Committee on Legislative Franchises "the soonest."


"I am hoping for the best," she said.


Her husband Sen. Ralph Recto earlier voiced support for Sotto's bill, saying ABS-CBN deserves to operate on free TV and radio again.


When asked about Sotto's view that ABS-CBN has a better chance of securing a franchise this year, Sen. Franklin Drilon said: "Depends on President [Rodrigo] Duterte."


Duterte had repeatedly and threatened to shut down the network for supposedly failing to air some of his presidential campaign advertisements in 2016 and accommodating one that was critical of him and was paid for by his critic, former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.


He had also urged the network's executives to just sell ABS-CBN's assets to other businessmen.--With reports from RG Cruz and Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News


https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/04/21/vilma-santos-recto-to-refile-bill-pushing-for-new-abs-cbn-franchise

Facing Challenges To Faith

 ... being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  Philippians 1:6


Eventually your faith will be challenged, no matter how strong or how weak it is.  It may be challenged by an agnostic professor; or perhaps more likely it will be challenged by the trials of life.  Sooner or later something happens and your heart cries out, "Lord, I just cannot handle this."  It may be a child's illness, or a marriage that turns sour, or a business deal which has not gone well.


It happened to Carolyn when her husband announced that he was more in love with his administrative assistant than with her.  It happened to one father I know when his little boy died.  At the funeral he caught himself saying, "God, I'll get even with you if it's the last thing I ever do...."


It happened to another friend when his wife died on the operating table, and she had undergone the operation at his urging.  The husband said, "Lord, I just can't handle this."  What do you do when there is something which you can't handle?  Turn and run?  Shake your fist in the face of God?  Or what?  It is the what that I want to talk about.


Physics teaches that the ability of a superstructure to withstand stress is directly related to the strength of the foundation.  Even nature teaches this.  When the wind rages, it is the tree whose roots have sunk deep into the earth that is left standing when the calm finally comes; therefore, one of the ways to prepare for the coming stress, which might cause you to throw up your hands and say "I can't handle this," is to strengthen the foundation.


When the foundation of your faith is shaken, go first of all to the Word of God and take refuge in this Book.  There are dozens of promises with your name attached to them.  In the Word you begin to see life from His perspective.  You begin to think God's thoughts.  You begin to understand that "what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18).  When your faith is challenged take a look at the circumstances, and then look at the circumstances of individuals in the Bible.  Match up their problem with yours and notice how God met them.


Are you discouraged?  Read about Elijah in I Kings 19.  Are you feeling the pain of rejection or a broken home?  Read the story of Hosea in the Old Testament.  Are you struggling with injustice?  Read about Habakkuk, who cried out, "How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?" (Habakkuk 1:2).  Are you suffering physically?  Then turn to the Book of Job and notice that when Job's faith was tested, he cried out, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."


When I shared a conference with Dr. Lehman Strauss, one morning Dr. Strauss opened his heart and told of the way his own faith had been challenged when his lovely wife of almost 50 years was felled by a stroke.  The day finally came when doctors told him that he should remove her from the hospital to a convalescent hospital.


Dr. Strauss told her and then said, "But Elsie, God is in control."  Then he broke down as he cried, "Elsie, is God really in control?"  A man whom I considered to be a giant struggled spiritually, as we all do from time to time, but he did not quit.  "All I could do," said Dr. Strauss, "was to fall back on the Word."


"My heart is leaning on the Word," wrote Liddie Edmund years ago, "the written Word of God.  Salvation by my Savior's name; Salvation through His blood."  Remind yourself of the truth of God's Word and that He is honor‑bound to keep His Word.  "...I know whom I have believed," wrote the Apostle Paul long ago, "and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day" (2 Timothy 1:12).


Resource reading: Philippians 1


https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/facing-challenges-to-faith/

473K OFWs assisted by NAIA One Stop Shops

By Raymond Carl Dela Cruz


A total of 473,154 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been assisted so far by the government’s One-Stop Shops (OSS) at all three terminals of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).


In a Facebook post on Monday, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said these OFWs were assisted by identifying possible isolation facilities for mandatory quarantine and provision of care until their quarantine certificates are released.


The DOTr said 184,019 OFWs were assisted at the NAIA Terminal 2; 153,243 at Terminal 1; and 135,892 at Terminal 3.


“The OSS assisted 118,686 Overseas Filipinos/tourists since the start of its operations until yesterday (Sunday),” the DOTr said in a statement.


The OFWs, it said, may view the available quarantine facilities through monitoring charts at NAIA terminals provided by the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and Department of Tourism (DOT), among other government agencies.


The OSS is a joint government initiative that started on April 23 last year.


https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1126324

Sotto files new bill to renew ABS-CBN's franchise

(UPDATE) - Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Monday filed a bill seeking to renew the franchise of ABS-CBN, once the Philippines' largest broadcaster before its license to operate expired last year.


Sotto's Senate Bill No. 1967 seeks to grant ABS-CBN a new license to operate its television and radio broadcasting stations for 25 years.


"I noticed the TV stations have been replacing their news programs with animes. It means competition is absent and mediocrity is creeping in because of the absence of a strong competitor like ABS-CBN," Sotto told reporters in a text message.


"ABS-CBN's wide reach to Filipinos, alongside with the undeniable advantages of broadcast media relative to mass communication, definitely call for the immediate renewal of the network's franchise," he said in the bill's explanatory note.


The Senate President noted that despite its absence from free TV and radio stations, ABS-CBN continued to enjoy high ratings on its A2Z Channel, cable and online platforms where some of the Kapamilya shows continue to air.


"In September, ABS-CBN is still the top choice of viewers in the Philippines... as the network registered an average audience share of 45 percent or 14 points higher than GMA's 31 percent," Sotto said, citing data from Kantar Media.


"Likewise, Filipinos abroad feel a little less away from home due to The Filipino Channel, commonly known as TFC, also owned and operated by ABS-CBN," he said.


Last year, ABS-CBN lost its license to operate after a House panel denied the renewal of its franchise.


Sotto said the broadcast giant may have a "better chance" of having its license renewed this year due to the change in the House's leadership.


At the same time, the YouTube release of digitally remastered and restored version of China Central Television (CCTV) produced closing song Feeling Quiet (1998-1999 version) and Lupang Hinirang by UP Madrigal Singers with the PNP Band (1998 Centennial Version)





https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/04/21/sotto-files-new-bill-to-renew-abs-cbns-franchise

Multiply takeover to push through



The plan of an American private equity firm and an Australian company to take over the Indonesian E-commerce and social networking site Multiply in Pasig will push through, the Philippine Navy said yesterday.


Earlier, reports said New York-based Cerberus Capital Management and Australia’s Austal Ltd. were planning to invest about $2 billion in the website.


Executives of the two firms are finalizing talks with the Philippine government and bank officials, according to a recent report by OneNews.ph.


Multiply which started operating in 2004, closed on May 6, 2013, ceased operations on May 31, 2013 and declared bankruptcy on June 10, 2014.


The declaration displaced about 100,000 workers.




“We regret to announce that Multiply will be closing on May 6, 2013, and ceasing all business operations by May 31, 2013,” it announced 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 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.

Two firms from China had expressed interest in Multiply, but officials reportedly rejected the idea due to possible security issues.


China is embroiled in a territorial dispute with the Philippines over parts of the South China Sea.


“Tuloy ang plano. Delayed lang per timeline (The plan will push through. The timeline has been delayed),” Navy chief Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo told The STAR.


“There is no timeline yet,” Bacordo added.


In his State of the Nation Address on July 27, President Duterte said he would not allow foreigners to build military bases in Subic as it could lead to a war and the “extinction of the Filipino race.”


Duterte said the Americans were planning to return to Pasig, but he did not elaborate on the matter.


The deal between Cerberus and Austal will not involve construction of American bases, although the Philippine Navy is expected to occupy a portion of the former Multiply offices.


Austal has been tapped to supply six offshore patrol vessels for the Navy.


The project, which aims to boost the Navy’s patrol capabilities, costs about P30 billion.


https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/08/03/2032471/hanjin-takeover-push-through-amid-pandemic