MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 3, 2008) - The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has urged the House of Representatives to promptly pass the Senate-approved bill seeking to increase by P9,000 or double the minimum basic pay for the country's public school teachers.
"House leaders should now stop paying lip service to the plight of our more than 500,000 public school teachers, and waste no time in passing the bill that the Senate already approved two months ago," TUCP secretary-general and former Senator Ernesto Herrera, said in a statement.
Herrera was referring to Senate Bill (SB) 2408, principally authored by Sen. Loren Legarda. The bill proposes to raise from Salary Grade 10 to 19 the entry-level pay classification for teachers in public elementary and high schools.
This means their initial monthly pay would be jacked up to a new range of P18,471 to P21,995. The existing range is P10,933 to P12,997.
On top of the preliminary P9,000-increase, public school teachers would also get a P3,000-pay raise every three years.
Once approved, the initial adjustment would likewise automatically set off commensurate pay increases for every teacher in the public school system currently receiving compensation higher than the starting rate.
Herrera stressed the need for Congress "to redeem public school teachers from grinding poverty and restore the nobility of the teaching profession."
He warned that unless the House passes the Senate-approved bill, the public school system would continue to lose thousands of highly qualified instructors forced to seek greener pasture overseas, or here in the private sector.
Herrera noted that English-speaking Filipino teachers continue to leave in droves for overseas employment, particularly for the United States, where they get up to $4,000 monthly.
"Advancing in a big way the quality of life of our teachers and keeping them constantly motivated is the best way for Congress to check and reverse the rapid decline of basic education," Herrera pointed out.
Once SB 2408 is enacted, the first-year pay for public school teachers would be almost 25 percent higher than the P15,000 average starting pay for their counterparts in the private sector.
House Bill 4734, principally authored by Gabriela party-list Rep. Luzviminda Iligan, is the counterpart of SB 2408. Ilagan’s bill has been pending with the House appropriations committee since July 2007.
Showing posts with label Sen. Loren Legarda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sen. Loren Legarda. Show all posts
Monday, November 03, 2008
Friday, September 07, 2007
Pinoy Porn Site Shut Down
MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 07 Sept) – Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Friday tracked down the alleged owner of a Filipino web site accused of pornography by a solon.
Sen. Loren Legarda said the website boybastos.com provides Internet users, including minors, free and unrestricted access to the largest online accumulation of “extremely” hardcore pornographic materials of Filipino women and girls.
“This is by far the filthiest Internet site we've come across that offers open and unlimited access to some of the most obscene videos and photographs of Filipino women and girls,” Legarda said.
She urged the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) and the NBI to find ways to shut off boybastos.com, which claims on its site to be "the premiere bastos (lewd) portal of the Philippines.”
The IACAT is the agency tasked to enforce the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and other laws against the prostitution, white slavery and the sexual exploitation of women and children.
The NBI tracked down the owner of the website through its hosting provider and was held for questioning over the reports. The young man said the website was only for entertainment.
The gallery on Friday was offline and a notice on the site reads: “Mga mahal naming boys bastos, masyado po tumaas ang traffic ng site dahil sa libreng publicity na binigay satin ni Senadora, GMA News, at iba pang mga istasyson ng radyo."
"Dahil dito, baka ma-kansela ang account natin sa ating hosting provider at lalo nang magkandaloko-loko. Pahinga muna tayo mga kaibigan.”“Maraming site dyan na pwede nyo bisitahin, alam nyo naman na siguro yun. Babalik po tayo (online) paglipas ng ilang araw,” it said.
Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago, chairman of the House committee on information and communications technology, also supported Legarda in the war on computer pornography.
“We wholly support the fight against online pornography," Santiago said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
Santiago said the decision of boybastos.com to close down its electronic gallery of Filipino women and girls indicates guilt, and “that its administrator is fearful of the potential legal consequences of the site's lewd materials.”
Santiago also said the NBI could find ways to remove the domain name boybastos.com with the help of Network Solutions Inc., a US company that registers and manages domain names.
“We've checked the domain name boybastos.com. It is registered with Network Solutions. The original domain name registrant is traceable, even if they tampered with the online listing on the day Senator Legarda assailed the site, and put in her name as registrant, apparently in a feeble attempt to mock her,” Santiago said.
“The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has already managed to get Network Solutions to remove several domain names used by pedophiles to traffic in child porn,” Santiago said.
“The NBI can make a case that the porn site has been violating existing Philippine laws against obscenity and child sexual exploitation. This can then be used to persuade Network Solutions to remove the domain name boybastos.com,” Santiago said.
Sen. Loren Legarda said the website boybastos.com provides Internet users, including minors, free and unrestricted access to the largest online accumulation of “extremely” hardcore pornographic materials of Filipino women and girls.
“This is by far the filthiest Internet site we've come across that offers open and unlimited access to some of the most obscene videos and photographs of Filipino women and girls,” Legarda said.
She urged the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) and the NBI to find ways to shut off boybastos.com, which claims on its site to be "the premiere bastos (lewd) portal of the Philippines.”
The IACAT is the agency tasked to enforce the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and other laws against the prostitution, white slavery and the sexual exploitation of women and children.
The NBI tracked down the owner of the website through its hosting provider and was held for questioning over the reports. The young man said the website was only for entertainment.
The gallery on Friday was offline and a notice on the site reads: “Mga mahal naming boys bastos, masyado po tumaas ang traffic ng site dahil sa libreng publicity na binigay satin ni Senadora, GMA News, at iba pang mga istasyson ng radyo."
"Dahil dito, baka ma-kansela ang account natin sa ating hosting provider at lalo nang magkandaloko-loko. Pahinga muna tayo mga kaibigan.”“Maraming site dyan na pwede nyo bisitahin, alam nyo naman na siguro yun. Babalik po tayo (online) paglipas ng ilang araw,” it said.
Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago, chairman of the House committee on information and communications technology, also supported Legarda in the war on computer pornography.
“We wholly support the fight against online pornography," Santiago said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
Santiago said the decision of boybastos.com to close down its electronic gallery of Filipino women and girls indicates guilt, and “that its administrator is fearful of the potential legal consequences of the site's lewd materials.”
Santiago also said the NBI could find ways to remove the domain name boybastos.com with the help of Network Solutions Inc., a US company that registers and manages domain names.
“We've checked the domain name boybastos.com. It is registered with Network Solutions. The original domain name registrant is traceable, even if they tampered with the online listing on the day Senator Legarda assailed the site, and put in her name as registrant, apparently in a feeble attempt to mock her,” Santiago said.
“The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has already managed to get Network Solutions to remove several domain names used by pedophiles to traffic in child porn,” Santiago said.
“The NBI can make a case that the porn site has been violating existing Philippine laws against obscenity and child sexual exploitation. This can then be used to persuade Network Solutions to remove the domain name boybastos.com,” Santiago said.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Japan-RP Economic Deal, To Ratify Or Not?
MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 05 Sept) – Opposition Senator Loren Legarda on Wednesday questioned the effects on local trade of the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) after one of the country’s oldest Japanese firm says it will shutdown operation in the country.
She asked: “Will Manila's weakened import tax system that comes with the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement drive large Japanese companies to close down their factories here, and simply bring in at lower cost their finished products from Thailand, Vietnam and other Asian countries?”
Legarda, head of the Senate committee on economic affairs, raised this question shortly after Japanese condiment maker Ajinomoto Co. Inc. bared that it would terminate its Philippine manufacturing operations effective Oct. 10.
Ajinomoto, which has been in the country since 1953, said it would reduce its Philippine activities to the marketing, distribution and sales of ready-made condiments from facilities in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and China.
The shutdown of Ajinomoto Philippines Corp.'s Pasig City factory would result in dislocation of 271 full-time workers.
Ajinomoto is a well-established brand in the Philippines. The firm produces mostly food seasoning, soup mixes and cooking oils, including monosodium glutamate (MSG), more popularly know here as "Vetsin" and the first-of-its-kind "Ginisa flavor mix."
The firm's Pasig plant also produced frozen foods and juices.
“If Japanese firms like Ajinomoto are already abandoning their manufacturing plants here, even before the onset of the lower (Philippine) tariff schedule that comes with the JPEPA, what assurance do we have that the promised increased productive investments from Japan will actually come in, once the Senate ratifies the accord?”
“What impact will the JPEPA actually have, for instance, on our automotive manufacturing industry, which is dominated by Japanese firms, and which employs thousands of Filipino workers?” Legarda asked.
The Department of Trade and Industry earlier said it expects a total of P222 billion in incremental investments from Japan over the next four years once the Senate ratifies the JPEPA.
“Once the JPEPA is in place, will Toyota Motor Phils. Corp., Honda Cars Phils. Inc., Mitsubishi Motors Phils. Corp. and Isuzu Phils. Corp., also start dismantling their manufacturing plants here? What will stop them from just bringing in, at lower cost, completely build up Japanese cars from Thailand or somewhere else?" Legarda asked.
"These are justifiable questions that the administration, which is pushing hard for the JPEPA, should answer straightforwardly," she said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
"If the feared risk of migration by some Japanese manufacturers is real, then we hope the administration had the foresight to prepare a program of safety nets to go with the JPEPA, once the agreement is finally endorsed to the Senate," Legarda said.
Legarda, however, said economic and trade planners should clearly project and specify as to which sectors or industries stand to gain from the JPEPA, and the extent of the benefits in terms of jobs creation.
She asked: “Will Manila's weakened import tax system that comes with the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement drive large Japanese companies to close down their factories here, and simply bring in at lower cost their finished products from Thailand, Vietnam and other Asian countries?”
Legarda, head of the Senate committee on economic affairs, raised this question shortly after Japanese condiment maker Ajinomoto Co. Inc. bared that it would terminate its Philippine manufacturing operations effective Oct. 10.
Ajinomoto, which has been in the country since 1953, said it would reduce its Philippine activities to the marketing, distribution and sales of ready-made condiments from facilities in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and China.
The shutdown of Ajinomoto Philippines Corp.'s Pasig City factory would result in dislocation of 271 full-time workers.
Ajinomoto is a well-established brand in the Philippines. The firm produces mostly food seasoning, soup mixes and cooking oils, including monosodium glutamate (MSG), more popularly know here as "Vetsin" and the first-of-its-kind "Ginisa flavor mix."
The firm's Pasig plant also produced frozen foods and juices.
“If Japanese firms like Ajinomoto are already abandoning their manufacturing plants here, even before the onset of the lower (Philippine) tariff schedule that comes with the JPEPA, what assurance do we have that the promised increased productive investments from Japan will actually come in, once the Senate ratifies the accord?”
“What impact will the JPEPA actually have, for instance, on our automotive manufacturing industry, which is dominated by Japanese firms, and which employs thousands of Filipino workers?” Legarda asked.
The Department of Trade and Industry earlier said it expects a total of P222 billion in incremental investments from Japan over the next four years once the Senate ratifies the JPEPA.
“Once the JPEPA is in place, will Toyota Motor Phils. Corp., Honda Cars Phils. Inc., Mitsubishi Motors Phils. Corp. and Isuzu Phils. Corp., also start dismantling their manufacturing plants here? What will stop them from just bringing in, at lower cost, completely build up Japanese cars from Thailand or somewhere else?" Legarda asked.
"These are justifiable questions that the administration, which is pushing hard for the JPEPA, should answer straightforwardly," she said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
"If the feared risk of migration by some Japanese manufacturers is real, then we hope the administration had the foresight to prepare a program of safety nets to go with the JPEPA, once the agreement is finally endorsed to the Senate," Legarda said.
Legarda, however, said economic and trade planners should clearly project and specify as to which sectors or industries stand to gain from the JPEPA, and the extent of the benefits in terms of jobs creation.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Generic Drugs Law Gets New Facelift
MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 29 Jul) – A Filipino senator is pushing for a new law that aims to provide greater access to low-priced medicine through the rigorous enforcement of the Generic Drugs Law.
Senate Bill 268, authored by Sen. Loren Legarda, seeks to create a new Generic Drugs Board to thoroughly review, monitor and supervise the law's strict enforcement.
"Lost in the drive to make cheap medicine more accessible to Filipinos is the spineless enforcement of, and inadequate compliance with the almost decade-old Generic Drugs Law," Legarda said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
Under the bill, the punishment for violators would be increased in order to strengthen compliance.
The new board would probe Generic Drugs Law violations; recommend the license suspension or cancellation of erring practitioners and firms, after investigation; and periodically endorse to Congress new measures needed to make the law more responsive to changing market conditions.
This in turn may be attributed to the lack of a specific agency exclusively tasked to purposely build up conformity with the 1998 Generic Drugs Law, also known as Republic Act 6675.
"The Generic Drugs Law is definitely poorly enforced. Just about anyone who has consulted a physician recently can attest that chances are you are getting a brand-name drug prescription. You seldom get a generic drug prescription," Legarda said.
"Yet, the law clearly mandates the use of generic terms not only in drug labels and advertisements, but also in prescriptions," she pointed out.
Generic drugs are just as potent but typically 80-percent cheaper than their brand-name versions.
The Generic Drugs Law requires the use of generic terms in the importation, manufacture, distribution, marketing, advertising, promotion, prescription and dispensing of all drugs.
At present, disregardful practitioners draw penalties ranging from a simple reprimand from the Professional Regulation Commission, to a fine of at least P10,000 and one-year license suspension. The maximum penalty would be raised to a fine of at least P50,000 and two-year license suspension or longer under Legarda's bill.
Firms violating the law now draw a fine up to P10,000, business license suspension/revocation and/or six to 12 months imprisonment for their officers. This would be increased to a P50,000-maximum fine and/or at least 12 months in prison under Legarda's bill.
Legarda is also supporting the Cheap Medicine Bill approved by the Senate in the previous Congress, but which the House failed to pass. "We are in fact looking to consolidate our proposed Generic Drugs Law reforms with the cheap medicine bill," she said.
Senate Bill 268, authored by Sen. Loren Legarda, seeks to create a new Generic Drugs Board to thoroughly review, monitor and supervise the law's strict enforcement.
"Lost in the drive to make cheap medicine more accessible to Filipinos is the spineless enforcement of, and inadequate compliance with the almost decade-old Generic Drugs Law," Legarda said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
Under the bill, the punishment for violators would be increased in order to strengthen compliance.
The new board would probe Generic Drugs Law violations; recommend the license suspension or cancellation of erring practitioners and firms, after investigation; and periodically endorse to Congress new measures needed to make the law more responsive to changing market conditions.
This in turn may be attributed to the lack of a specific agency exclusively tasked to purposely build up conformity with the 1998 Generic Drugs Law, also known as Republic Act 6675.
"The Generic Drugs Law is definitely poorly enforced. Just about anyone who has consulted a physician recently can attest that chances are you are getting a brand-name drug prescription. You seldom get a generic drug prescription," Legarda said.
"Yet, the law clearly mandates the use of generic terms not only in drug labels and advertisements, but also in prescriptions," she pointed out.
Generic drugs are just as potent but typically 80-percent cheaper than their brand-name versions.
The Generic Drugs Law requires the use of generic terms in the importation, manufacture, distribution, marketing, advertising, promotion, prescription and dispensing of all drugs.
At present, disregardful practitioners draw penalties ranging from a simple reprimand from the Professional Regulation Commission, to a fine of at least P10,000 and one-year license suspension. The maximum penalty would be raised to a fine of at least P50,000 and two-year license suspension or longer under Legarda's bill.
Firms violating the law now draw a fine up to P10,000, business license suspension/revocation and/or six to 12 months imprisonment for their officers. This would be increased to a P50,000-maximum fine and/or at least 12 months in prison under Legarda's bill.
Legarda is also supporting the Cheap Medicine Bill approved by the Senate in the previous Congress, but which the House failed to pass. "We are in fact looking to consolidate our proposed Generic Drugs Law reforms with the cheap medicine bill," she said.
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