CIAC cites P20.5B DITO investments

 The Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) lauded DITO Telecommunity Corp.’s P20.5 billion  infrastructure investment in Clark as “a welcome respite to interrupted businesses because of the pandemic”.

DITO’s Google campus-inspired data center which recently broke ground at the Clark Global City will further boost business activities in Clark, according to CIAC president Aaron Aquino.

The mixed-use business district, Clark Global City, is located within the Clark Civil Aviation Complex owned and managed by the CIAC. 

“The government needs to keep the economy running even as we battle the pandemic and DITO’s ideal investment here at the strategic and disaster-resilient Clark Global City has a cascading impact on driving employment and attracting multiple local and foreign investments,” he explained.

The aviation complex is also home to the privately-run Clark International Airport, transport hubs, and several locators in cargo and aviation-related businesses.

“There’s a sharp growth in the consumption of communications services and DITO showcases the importance of always-on connectivity and job generation,”  Aquino pointed out. 

DITO is initially investing P13.6-billion in the first year, with an additional P6.9 billion in the subsequent four years.

The telco is hiring  800 workers in the first year, most likely residents of cities and towns surrounding Clark, and up to 4,500 locals on its fifth year of operations.

Aside from the state-of-the-art data center, DITO’s eight-hectare operations center will include a serve-call center, a regional center and a research and development facility.

Ang laki ng investment ni DITO sa Clark Global City (CGC) and in 5 years, pag medyo controlled na ang pandemic, around 5,000 to 100,000 plus ang employees ng DITO, together with the full operation of 5 Aero Park buildings and the NSCR Clark Station, medyo mabubuhay na ang foot traffic sa CGC, pwede na tayuan ng mga Hotels and Malls na naka plano na rin. Even SM has a huge leased lot in CGC.

https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threads/angeles-city-and-pampanga-province.2300505/page-10#post-173372689

Local journalists want protection amid hearing of Anti-Terror Law arguments

Philippine journalists on Monday demanded government to protect their rights and safety amid the ongoing oral arguments on the Anti-Terrorism Law.

At least 17 media organizations and 78 journalists signed a statement joining other petitions challenging the validity of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which could lead to human rights violations due to its provisions.

"Section 9 of the ATA proscribes speech, proclamations, writings, emblems, and banners that fall under the new crime of 'inciting to terrorism,' imposing a penalty of 12 years in prison," the statement read.

"As the law fails to provide a clear definition of terrorism and is vague about what constitutes acts of terrorism, Section 9 could make media practitioners vulnerable to wrongful charges and arrests, producing a chilling effect on all media practice."

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who sponsored the Anti-Terror bill at the Senate, and other officials have repeatedly defended the measure, which critics said could be used to tag government critics as terrorists.

Lacson said the bill has "enough safeguards against abuse," including a 10-year jail term and perpetual disqualification from public service for law enforcers violating the rights of suspected terrorists.

But Philippine media said the protection clauses "fly in the face" of news organizations and journalists who have been red-tagged and branded as “terrorists” by government officials.

"With the government’s anti-insurgency campaign causing a rise in killings of activists, we fear for the safety of our colleagues," the statement read.

"We call on the government to uphold the freedom of the press. We demand that the rights and safety of journalists and media houses be respected and protected at all time."

Last month, the Supreme Court resumed hearing the oral arguments on the Anti-Terrorism Law through videoconferencing, 2 weeks after the strictest lockdown in the NCR Plus bubble was lifted. 

At least 37 petitions have been filed against the law by various groups.

Concerns over press freedom in the Philippines increased after government ordered ABS-CBN, the country's largest broadcasting network, to close its TV and radio operations in May 2020 when its franchise expired. Congress refused to renew its franchise.

Prior to the shutdown, Duterte had threatened that he would allow ABS-CBN's franchise to be renewed.

news.abs-cbn.com is the official news website of ABS-CBN Corp.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/04/21/local-journalists-want-protection-amid-hearing-of-anti-terror-law-arguments

Nat’l ID ‘dream of every administrator in gov’t: Duterte

By Azer Parrocha

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night praised the start of online registration of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) on April 30.

This, after National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) chief Karl Chua apologized anew for “technical difficulties” that marred the pilot registration via the online portal for national ID registration.

“I have conveyed my sincerest apologies to the Filipino people for the inconvenience at ngayon po kausap namin araw-araw ang mga (and now we are speaking with) international and local experts para matulungan tayo na iimprove yung capacity. Dahil ito ay isang pilot (to help us improve the capacity. Because this is a pilot), we will make sure to learn from our experience,” Chua told Duterte in a pre-recorded meeting with core members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) in Malacañang.

Duterte allayed Chua’s concern, saying he appreciated the effort to push through with the pilot registration despite encountering problems on the online portal.

“This is something which has been the dream of every administrator in government. I congratulate you. Do not worry. You have your precious time to the people. Saludo ako diyan (I salute that),” Duterte replied.

Duterte recalled how past administrations have attempted to implement some form of national ID systems but failed due to protests from the Left.

“Matagal na talagang gusto natin ‘yan, ang problema ang una (We wanted to have a national ID system a long time ago, but the problem is first, the loudest you could hear at the time was the Left. Ayaw nila kasi (They disapprove of it because) it will identify [them]. May syndrome e, may syndrome sila so di natin masisisi (They have a syndrome so we can’t blame them),” he said.

Chua said the website, which is designed to accommodate 16,000 simultaneous users per minute, peaked at 35,000.

He said some 46,000 Filipinos, or three times the normal capacity, wanted to register at the same time in the first minute.

As a result, many were not served as the system experienced slowness and downtime, he added.

He also thanked Filipinos who have registered and are waiting to be registered for the national ID.

“Yung pagdagsa po nila sa registration last April 30 online ay isang patunay na maraming Pilipino ang may gustong kumuha ng national ID at pag may national ID na po sila ay mabibigyan pa natin sila ng mas maraming serbisyo at matutulungan natin yung recovery ng ating bansa (The influx of people in registration last April 30 is a proof that many Filipinos want to get a national ID and if they have a national ID, we can give them more services and we can help the recovery of our country,” he said.

In 2018, Duterte signed Republic Act 11055 or the Philippine Identification System Act, to establish a single national ID for all Filipinos and resident aliens.

Economic managers have said the national ID would help hasten the distribution of aid, broaden access to financial services, and streamline the Covid-19 vaccination program.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1138970

PH ‘doing good’ in fight against Covid-19

By Azer Parrocha

The Philippines is “doing good” in its fight against Covid-19 compared to other countries, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday night.

In a pre-recorded public address, Duterte made the remark while praising Health Secretary Francisco Duque III for leading the country’s efforts to respond to the prevailing pandemic.

“Compared with other countries, which is not really the time to make comparisons, but we’re doing good in the fight against Covid. And Secretary Duque is the hero there,” he said.

Citing the health department’s case bulletin, Duterte said it is worth looking at the country’s total Covid-19 recoveries instead of just the total number of infections.

As of Monday, health authorities recorded 7,255 new Covid-19 cases bringing the total active cases to 69,466. Covid-19 recoveries increased to 975,234 with the addition of 9,214 new recovered patients.

“When you try to figure out the actual numbers of the Covid cases, yung na-contaminate, recovery, tapos nakalabas na, kindly pag-aralan ninyo kung ilan ang nagkasakit at ilang ang gumaling (those who were contaminated, recovered and were discharged from the hospital, kindly study how many how many are getting sick and how many are recovering),” he said.

Duterte assured the public that the government is working “diligently” to slow down the spread of the virus.

“I assure you that we are all working diligently and truthfully. At gusto namin talagang makatulong (We really want to help),” he said.

More vaccines

While he admitted that the country is far from acquiring enough Covid-19 vaccines to inoculate the target 50 to 70 million Filipinos, Duterte noted that more vaccines are coming.

“We still have to have the vaccines in numbers because we have plenty of Filipinos to vaccinate,” he said.

The country now has three brands of Covid-19 vaccines in its inventory namely “Sputnik V” from Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, “CoronaVac” from China’s Sinovac Biotech, and “AstraZeneca” from a British-Swedish manufacturing company of the same name.

He is also optimistic of the government’s procurement of vaccines from different manufacturers.

“Wala tayong problema, sa tingin ko (We don’t have a problem, I think), in the acquisition ng bakuna (of vaccines) because we have at least some guarantees from countries who honor the contract at darating ‘yan ng panahon kailangan natin (and they will come at the time we need them),” he said.

He, however, expressed hope that vaccines acquired by the country would also be effective against new coronavirus variants.

“Let us just pray that itong mga (these) variants, itong mga (these) mutants will not go haywire. ‘Yan ang bantayan natin. Baka hindi na ma-control ng isang bakuna lang and we do not have insight yet kung anong pinag-aralan ng mga scientists (That’s what we should monitor. Maybe it can no longer be controlled by one vaccine and we do not have insight yet about what scientists are studying),” he said.

Duterte urged the country’s scientists to rise up to the challenge of learning more about the new strains of the virus.

“This would be another challenge maybe to our native scientists to work harder tsaka kaya man nila ito kung talagang trabahuin nila. Hindi man tayo nagkulang (and they can actually do it if they really work on it. We did not lack in providing them what they need). We will provide them with all that is necessary really to make a conclusive finding if they have one,” he added.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1138969

MOA on cables interconnection ‘vital’ to reach far-flung areas

The Department of Energy (DOE) said the memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed between the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) and the First Catanduanes Electric Cooperatives, Inc. (FICELCO) is vital in providing a stand-alone system to far-flung areas which are not yet connected to the main grid.

“DOE makes sure that the national policies are properly implemented and executed. As mentioned by President Duterte, we must finish our projects within this administration,” DOE Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said during the signing ceremony on April 30.

With the signing of the deal, residents of Catanduanes may now look forward to a more stable and reliable electricity at a lower price as it will pave the way for the island’s interconnection to Luzon Grid and for a modern system operation.

The island interconnection will also benefit all consumers in the country since FICELCO will no longer be needing subsidies that reflect to the consumer’s electricity bills as Universal Charges for Missionary Electrification (UCME).

TransCo, represented by President & CEO Atty. Melvin A. Matibag, and FICELCO, represented by Board President Dir. Rodulfo B. Vargas Sr. and General Manager Engr. Raul V. Zafe, forged an agreement for the construction and installation of 69-kV sub-transmission submarine electric cable lines from Presentacion/Caramoan, Camarines Sur to Codon, Catanduanes.

Under the agreement, TransCo shall:

* Conduct the feasibility study, including hydrographic analysis for the engineering design of the Catanduanes Island Interconnection to Luzon Grid;

* Develop—through Engineering, Procurement, and Construction—the Catanduanes Island Interconnection to Luzon Grid;

* Establish an Island Control Center, including Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), and telecommunications system for System Operation; and

* Enhance the technical capability of FICELCO in developing, operating, and maintaining the 69-kV transmission system, among others.

TransCo will likewise initially operate and maintain the 69-kV sub-transmission interconnection and turn over these duties to FICELCO upon development of its technical capabilities. It will also perform all functions of System Operator (SO) in optimal dispatching of power plants to achieve least-cost generation of electricity and real-time control of the power grid to maintain a stable, secure, reliable, and efficient power system.

In a separate message, Matibag said the partnership with FICELCO is just the beginning of the TransCo’s plan to interconnect small island grids to Luzon Grid to address lingering power-related issues.

He also thanked the DOE for the trust and confidence by designating TransCo to perform as System Operator in off-grid areas and to provide the needed technical assistance of the electric cooperatives.

Pursuant to DoE’s Memorandum Order dated 4 February 2021, TransCo was mandated to be the Off-Grid SO for any small-grid or off-grid power system with more than one power supplier.

"It is our privilege to become instrumental in empowering and stabilizing power in our small islands. We are one with the Energy Family in addressing the inadequate, unreliable, and costly power supply and delivery system,” Matibag said.

He said by interconnecting the small islands to the main grid and performing independent [System Operator], “disputes among the service providers and controversies related to procurement of power supply shall be put to an end.”

Also present at the MoA signing were Catanduanes Governor Joseph C. Cua and Lone District Representative Hector S. Sanchez.

“The construction and installation of the submarine electric cable distribution is not just a testament [to] this country's innovation, but is [also] a worthwhile investment that will economically benefit the Catandunganon,” Cua said.

Sanchez, the proponent of House Bill No. 01194 which provides for the in-principle approval of the said agreement between TransCo and FIELCO, said the project would save the national government and Catandunganon around PHP6 to PHP20 billion in savings and “assure citizens of zero brownouts and a cheaper cost of electricity in the long run.”

TransCo, a government-owned and controlled corporation operating under the DOE, is the owner of country’s power transmission assets.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1138968