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#8: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Nintendo Switch


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#9: 1 Month PlayStation Plus Membership - PS3/ PS4/ PS Vita [Digital Code]


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#10: Nintendo Switch - Neon Blue and Red Joy-Con


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Smartphone and walkie-talkie phone

Descriptions:
Snopow M5P outdoor smartphone with 4700mAh high capacity battery, which can power through your long distance and longtime outdoor activities. And the best equipment in your outdoor activities is PTT Walkie-talkie function, by using, always keep all team members are in contact with one another even without the internet connected talkie range. What's more, it can be worked in some harsh environments, like heat, cold, humidity and so on.

Parameters:
● Display: 4.5 inch 960 x 540 qHD screen
● CPU: MTK6735 Quad Core 1.2GHz 64-bit Processor
● GPU: Mali - T720
● Operating System: Android 5.1
● Memory: 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM
● Camera: back camera 8.0MP ( SW 13.0MP ) + front camera 2.0MP
● Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, PTT ( walkie talkie )
● GPS Navigation: Yes
● SIM Card: dual SIM, dual standard SIM
● Network:
4G: FDD-LTE B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B7/B8/B12/B20
3G: WCDMA B1/B2/B5/B8
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz

Additional Important Functions:
● SOS: launch SOS distress signal when you are in trouble, get lost, injured, dropped out, trapped, slide from the snow mountain and so on
● OTG: connect the mouse, you can use a mouse to control your phone, connect the U disk, you can read and manipulate the content of it by your phone ( but return should be operated on the phone ). Connect a charging cable can charge for another phone
● PTT: push to talk, built in hardware Walkie-talkie PTT function, transmission distance is far, can free flowing talk even when phone has no signal, no SIM card

LAWMAKERS PROPOSE CHANGES AT CHED

Two congressmen have recommended changes at the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to address massive work backlogs because on scholars' allowances and internal discord given that the agency now has two executive directors: one a recent Duterte appointee and another who is suspended and battling a graft case.

"CHED Chairperson Patricia Licuanan apparently has vertigo, which can, in unfortunate situations, be precursors to accidents. I hope she consults her doctor or doctors often and that she takes care. If, however, Dr. Licuanan's health makes her unable to run the CHED well in the months ahead, then my suggestion is the honorable exit which is for her to resign," said Iligan City Representative Frederick Siao, who has been taking up the cudgels for college faculty scholars whose K to 12 Transition program allowances have not yet been released after months of delays.

Siao said CHED officials "must clean up this mess. Then when CHED Chairperson Patricia Licuanan steps down, the executive director should also leave when she leaves. The other directors responsible for not solving the gridlock should also leave with them."

Siao said he does not wish to add to her health concerns but he has to "come to the defense of my constituents who are among the 9,500 who are in the K to 12 Transition Program for college faculty."

"In the meantime, college faculty are living in poverty and heavy debt. The CHED has demeaned them inexcusably," he added.

1-Ang Edukasyon Party-list Rep. Salvador Belaro Jr noted that the term of Dr. Patricia Licuanan as CHED chairperson will end later this year.

"But before she leaves, I urge the CHED Commission en banc to draw up a checklist of strategic priorities and formulate a road map. The road map ought to have proposals for the strengthening of the CHED Law, which, enacted in 1994, would be 24 years old this year.

Belaro also said he agrees with CHED officials that structural reforms are needed.

"I see a need for more front line field directors, where the work backlog and traffic choke points seem to be creating work flow problems...some of the CHED regional offices with heavy work volumes may need larger staff complement or provincial offices, but adding these to the CHED organizational structure has to be gradual so as not to be too burdensome on the national budget," Belaro added.

The party-list congressman said there is "urgent need for a fully-functional online transaction portal for better front line services to the public. There may also be a need to boost the funding of the Higher Education Development Fund." (END)

^^^^^^^
Book your place/hotel/apt to stay on your next travel at www.booking.com

THE HONORABLE SALVADOR B. BELARO, JR.
1-Ang Edukasyon Party-list
Assistant Majority Leader

CHED NEEDS ENHANCED CHARTER, STRUCTURAL REFORMS

In 2018, the current term of Dr. Patricia Licuanan as CHED chairperson will end, but before she leaves, I urge the CHED Commission en banc to draw up a checklist of strategic priorities and formulate a road map.

The road map ought to have proposals for the strengthening of the CHED Law, which, enacted in 1994, would be 24 years old this year.

I agree with CHED officials that structural reforms are needed.

I also see the urgent need for a fully functional online transaction portal for better front line services to the public.

There may also be a need to boost the funding of the Higher Education Development Fund.

On structural reforms, I see a need for more front line field directors, where the work backlog and traffic choke points seem to be creating work flow problems.

Also on structural reforms, some of the CHED regional offices with heavy work volumes may need larger staff complement or provincial offices, but adding these to the CHED organizational structure has to be gradual so as not to be too burdensome on the national budget. (END)

^^^^^^^
Book your place/hotel/apt to stay on your next travel at www.booking.com

THE HONORABLE HENRY C. ONG
2nd District of Leyte

Vice Chair, Committee on Banks & Financial Intermediaries

HISTORIC TRAIN NECESSITATES BIR RESPONSIVENESS TO PUBLIC CLAMOR FOR CLARITY ON TRAIN IMPLEMENTATION, IMPACT

I again express my appreciation to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, but now particularly to Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay, for being responsive to our suggestion and the public clamor for further clarity on the details of the implementation of the TRAIN tax reform law.

In just these past first days of January 2018, the BIR has:

1) announced public consultations on the implementing guidelines for the TRAIN Law;

2) issued guidelines and an excise tax return for sweetened beverages; and

3) issued a revised computation table and procedures guide for withholding tax on compensation income.

The public consultations are scheduled for January 11 and 12 at the BIR National Training Center auditorium in Diliman, Quezon City.

The historic nature of TRAIN necessitates even further responsiveness. I am hopeful the BIR and the Department of Finance will help clear the air further about the impact of TRAIN with informative, easy-to-understand guides on how each of the new taxes will affect the finances of Filipino households, based on the final text of the TRAIN Law. Earlier DOF guides happen to have been based on earlier versions of TRAIN.

What is needed are rational estimates on the combined effects of the different TRAIN provisions on minimum wage earners, those who earn lower than minimum wage, the different middle class strata, as well as the upper middle class and the rich. Such information would counter any disinformation and misinformation that prey on the fears of the public.

Lastly, I reiterate my eagerness to work with the DOF and BIR on TRAIN 2. (END)

^^^^^^^
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Common Plugs in Most Countries
Adopter type

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government forces and allied militiamen are advancing on the largest remaining rebel-held territory in the country's north, forcing thousands of civilians to flee toward the border with Turkey in freezing winter temperatures.

The offensive on Idlib — a large province in northwestern Syria packed with civilians and dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants — was expected after the defeat of the Islamic State group late last year. Last week, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the main military operations against IS in Syria have ended and signaled that the focus would shift to al-Qaida-linked militants.

The Idlib offensive carries significant risks.

The province bordering Turkey is home to an estimated 2 million Syrians, including tens of thousands of people who fled fighting elsewhere. A full-blown government offensive could cause large-scale destruction and massive displacement.

Turkey, a supporter of the rebels, has deployed military observers in the province as part of a de-escalation deal with Iran and Russia, but that has not stopped the fighting on the ground or Russian airstrikes against the insurgents.

It is not clear how far the current offensive aims to reach, and recapturing the entire province is expected to be a long and bloody process. Opposition activists say the main target for now appears to be the sprawling rebel-held air base of Abu Zuhour, on the southeastern edge of the province, and securing the Damascus-Aleppo road that cuts through Idlib province.

Over the past two months, troops backed by Russian airstrikes have captured more than 80 towns and villages in the northern parts of the nearby Hama province and breached Idlib itself for the first time since mid-2015.

The offensive gained more intensity on Christmas Day, when one of President Bashar Assad's most trusted and experienced officers took command of the operation to extend the government's presence toward Idlib and boost security for the road that links the capital, Damascus, with Aleppo, Syria's largest city.

Brig. Gen. Suheil al-Hassan, also known among his troops as "Tiger," has led elite forces to many victories against insurgents since the conflict began nearly seven years ago. He has been credited most recently with the defeat of IS in much of eastern Syria, including the months-long battle for the city of Deir el-Zour.

"Conditions on the ground are wretched for the rebels," said an opposition activist based in northern Syria who asked to be identified by his first name, Hassan, for fear of reprisals by insurgents. He said rebels are stuck in a two-front battle with government forces and remaining pockets of Islamic State militants. He said the Russian airstrikes have exacted a heavy toll.

Another opposition activist based in Hama province, Mohammed al-Ali, said the Russians and the Syrian government are "carpet bombing" villages before pushing into them.

"The Russian airstrikes, weak fortifications and Islamic State attacks in Hama" have all helped government forces, he said by telephone.

BEIJING (AP) — An Iranian oil tanker collided with a bulk freighter and caught fire off China's east coast, leaving the tanker's entire crew of 32 missing and causing it to spill oil into the sea, authorities said Sunday.

Chinese authorities dispatched police vessels and three cleaning ships to the scene after the collision, which happened late Saturday. The South Korean coast guard also sent a ship and a plane to help search for the missing crew members — 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis.

The Panama-registered tanker Sanchi was sailing from Iran to South Korea when it collided with the Hong Kong-registered freighter CF Crystal in the East China Sea, 257 kilometers (160 miles) off the coast of Shanghai, China's Ministry of Transport said.

All 21 crew members of the Crystal, which was carrying grain from the United States, were rescued, the ministry said. The Crystal's crew members were all Chinese nationals.

It wasn't immediately clear what caused the collision.

State-run China Central Television reported Sunday evening that the tanker was still floating and burning, and that oil was visible in the water.

It was not clear, however, whether the tanker was still spilling oil. The size of the oil slick caused by the accident also was not known.

Earlier Sunday, Chinese state media carried pictures of the tanker on fire with large plumes of smoke.

The Sanchi was carrying 136,000 metric tons (150,000 tons, or nearly 1 million barrels) of condensate, a type of ultra-light oil, according to Chinese authorities.

By comparison, the Exxon Valdez was carrying 1.26 million barrels of crude oil when it spilled 260,000 barrels into Prince William Sound off Alaska in 1989.

The Sanchi has operated under five different names since it was built in 2008, according the U.N.-run International Maritime Organization. The IMO listed its registered owner as Hong Kong-based Bright Shipping Ltd., on behalf of the National Iranian Tanker Co., a publicly traded company based in Tehran. The National Iranian Tanker Co. describes itself as operating the largest tanker fleet in the Middle East.

An official in Iran's Oil Ministry, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said 30 of the tanker's 32 crew members were Iranians.

"We have no information on their fate," he said. "We cannot say all of them have died, because rescue teams are there and providing services."

THURMONT, Md. (AP) — President Donald Trump says he's done campaigning for insurgents challenging incumbent Republican members of Congress.

Trump told reporters after meeting GOP House and Senate leaders at Camp David on Saturday that he's planning a robust schedule of campaigning for the 2018 midterm elections and that includes involvement in the Republican primaries. He'll campaign for incumbents, he said, and "anybody else that has my kind of thinking."

But after a stinging loss in Alabama, Trump said he's done supporting challengers, declaring: "I don't see that happening." Trump had supported Roy Moore after he won the GOP primary. Moore's defeat in the subsequent special election handed Democrats another seat in the Senate.

Trump spent much of Friday and Saturday morning hashing out his 2018 agenda with GOP House and Senate leaders, top White House aides and select Cabinet members at the presidential retreat at Camp David. He described the sessions as perhaps transformative in certain ways."

A long list of high-stakes topics were on the agenda, from national security and infrastructure to the budget and 2018 midterm election strategy. Though Democrats were not included in the discussions, the leaders — some dressed casually in jeans, khakis and sweaters — said they were optimistic that more Democrats would be working with Republicans.

"We hope that 2018′ll be a year of more bipartisan cooperation," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters, predicting a "significant number of Democrats" would be interested in supporting Trump's agenda.

It's a reflection of reality: Republicans hold a razor-thin majority in the Senate and will need Democrats' support to push through most legislation. It's unclear, however, the extent to which Trump is willing to work with Democrats to achieve that goal.

Trump, for instance, declared Saturday that he will not sign legislation protecting hundreds of thousands of young people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children unless Congress agrees to fund his promised border wall as well as overhaul the legal immigration system. Trump last year ended the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shielded more than 700,000 people from deportation and gave then the right to work legally in the country, and gave Congress until March to find a fix.

Trump said any deal must stop immigrants from being able to sponsor their extended family members and must end the diversity visa lottery, which draws immigrants from under-represented parts of a world . That's in addition to funding for the southern border wall, a deeply unpopular idea among Democrats.

The administration on Friday unveiled a 10-year, $18 billion request for the wall that roiled the immigration talks and infuriated Democrats who've spent months in negotiations, increasing the prospect of a government shutdown.

But Trump appeared oblivious to the anger on Saturday. "We hope that we're going to be able to work out an arrangement with the Democrats," he said. "It's something, certainly, that I'd like to see happen."

Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the House majority whip, also expressed guarded optimism when he returned to his state after the retreat. "For a few weeks now it seems like there's the ability to get an agreement reached but none has been finalized yet," he said of the effort to protect the young immigrants who came under Obama's program. "I think the framework is there and the president is fully engaged."

Trump also appeared Saturday to back away from efforts to overhaul the welfare system, which just weeks ago had been identified as one of the White House's top two legislative priorities, along with a massive infrastructure investment plan.

McConnell had argued that welfare reform was a no-go given Democratic opposition. And Trump appeared to have come around.

"It's a subject that's very dear to our heart," Trump said. "We'll try and do something in a bipartisan way. Otherwise, we'll be holding it for a little bit later."

Republicans are eager to build on the victory achieved late last year with the overhaul of the nation's tax code. But before moving on to infrastructure and other items, Trump and his GOP allies first must navigate a tricky landscape of leftover legislation from last year that promises to test party unity in the coming weeks.

The need to work with Democrats on a spending package, for instance, is sure to whip up opposition from many conservatives to a hoped-for catchall spending bill slated for next month.

The Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains provides a woodsy respite from Washington. It's a place where presidents and lawmakers can bond over meals, hikes and movie nights.

"There's a feeling here that you don't have in very many places. There was a bonding," Trump said of the visit.

Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, told reporters Saturday that lawmakers and top White House officials had enjoyed "a couple of glasses of wine together last night" and gathered with Trump to watch the new movie "The Greatest Showman," starring Hugh Jackman. (He described it as "very, very entertaining.")

Politics, too, were on the agenda, with talks about the midterm elections. Republicans are at risk of losing the majority they've held in the House since 2011, and could also lose seats in the Senate, though many more Democratic incumbents are up for re-election this year.

Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, became a self-styled leader of an insurgency against Republican incumbents, arguing that Trump's agenda could only be passed with an influx of outsiders. But Bannon is on the outs with Trump and the president's comments Saturday suggested he's washing his hands of any such uprising. Trump said he needs more Republicans in Congress.
___
Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor in Washington and Rebecca Santana in New Orleans contributed to this report.

Boluntaryong sumuko sa estasyon ng pulisya ng Piddig, Ilocos Norte ang 30 taong gulang na construction worker na si Jennifer Corpuz Sabado ng umaga.

Si Corpuz ang suspek sa pananaga sa kanyang kapwa construction worker at kabarangay na si Jun Bartolome ng Barangay Cabaroan, Piddig, Ilocos Norte.

Batay sa imbestigasyon, nasa isang inuman ang dalawa sa Barangay Cabaroan gabi nitong Biyernes nang mangyari ang insidente.

Kwento ng biktima, nakikipag-usap siya sa isang kamag-anak nang bigla na lamang tinaga ni Corpuz ang likod nito.

"Kine-claim ng biktima, kauupo lamang niya at nakikipag-usap sa certain Den Guillermo nang bigla siyang may naramdaman na masakit sa kanyang likod, kinapa niya ito, at nang lumingon siya, nakita niya itong suspek na si 'Dianong' na tumakbo hawak hawak ang isang itak," paliwanag ni SPO2 Carlos Juan, imbestigador ng Piddig Police Station.

Aminado naman ang suspek na tinaga niya si Bartolome. Nagawa lamang daw niya ito dahil sa inis at sakit ng loob na inagawan siya ng grupo ng biktima ng kakantahin sana niya sa videoke.

"Nangyari 'yun, minsan lang na kinanta ng isa sa mga kasama namin, hindi ako umimik. 'Yung sumunod, doon na ako nainis, dalawang beses na nangyari. Inagaw nila, kinanta lamang ang napili kong kanta," sabi ng suspek.

Nagtataka naman ang biktima kung bakit nagawa siyang tagain ng suspek. Wala naman daw siyang kasalanan o atraso sa kanya. Hindi rin umano niya inagawan ng kanta si Corpuz.

Si Bartolome pa nga umano ang nagsabing kantahin na lamang ang mga napili niyang kanta sa videoke.

"Naglagay ng kanta para kantahin daw namin kasi baka hindi niya na raw mahintay. Kantahin mo na, sabi ng pinsan ko. 'Hindi na, kantahin niyo na lang,' sabi niya dahil nahihilo raw ito, hanggang sa nagpaalam sa akin nauuwi na siya. Mabilis lang kasi malapit lang ang bahay nila. Mga 15 minutes lang siguro, bumalik siya, at doon, tinaga na lang ako," ani Bartolome.

Hindi raw mapapatawad ni Bartolome si Corpuz na kanyang sasampahan ng kaso. - source: ABS-CBN

Sige na ni mahitabo nga kung dili yabag, nag-ilog sa microphone sa videokehan.

THE HONORABLE FREDERICK W. SIAO
Lone District of Iligan City
Vice Chair, Committee on Tourism
Member, Appropriations, Economic Affairs, and 8 other committees                                                                   
Facebook: /congressmansiao Twitter: @freddiesiao                                                                                                             

CHED HAS DEMEANED 9,500 K TO 12 TRANSITION PROGRAM SCHOLARS

In a press release sent to the media on Saturday, January 6, I quote:

CHED International Affairs Staff Director Atty. Lily Frieda Milla clarifies that, "all official travels of the Chairperson are covered by appropriate travel authorities from the Executive Secretary and signed by Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra." Milla further explains, "the Chairperson is allowed to travel business class for long-haul flights as warranted under OP Memorandum Circular No. 7, s.2010 and because of her vertigo."

CHED Chairperson Patricia Licuanan apparently has vertigo, which can, in unfortunate situations, be precursors to accidents. I hope she consults her doctor or doctors often and that she takes care.

I do not wish to add to her health worries, but I must come to the defense of my constituents who are among the 9,500 who are in the K to 12 Transition Program for college faculty, but whose allowances have not yet been released after many months of delay.

I continue to receive complaints. Despite assurances and notice last December that allowances to some of the faculty studying in Manila will be released, they still had zero allowances.

CHED is not lacking in people with intellect and matching advanced academic credentials and work experience, but I can not longer accept the excuse that they we unable to anticipate the volume of work that 11,000 sets of documents.

They could have hired additional personnel to deal with all those 11,000 sets of documents. They could have designated a dedicate lane or process for the K to 12 Transition program. They could have done many other measures.

In the meantime, college faculty are living in poverty and heavy debt. The CHED has demeaned them inexcusably.

I am, however, stopping short of asking for the resignation of the CHED Chairman and of the CHED Executive Director. They are not getting away from this that easily. Only about six months remain of the term of office of Dr. Patricia Licuanan.

They must clean up this mess. Then when CHED Chairperson Patricia Licuanan steps down, the executive director should also leave when she leaves. The other directors responsible for not solving the gridlock should also leave with them.

If, however, Dr. Licuanan's health makes her unable to run the CHED well in the months ahead, then my suggestion is the honorable exit which is for her to resign. (END)

By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan
MANILA -- The family of slain radioman and environmentalist Dr. Gerry Ortega was "shocked" upon learning that the Court of Appeals (CA) cleared former Palawan governor Joel Reyes of his liability in connection with the 2011 murder case filed against him.

The former governor was freed from Palawan city jail Friday following Jan. 4 CA ruling, which found no basis for the Palawan Regional Trial Court to order his arrest nor convict him for Ortega's death.

Ortega's daughter Mika Ortega lamented that the CA decision came only a few weeks before the 7th year anniversary of her father's murder, or as she called it, "seven years of fighting for justice and press freedom."

"Our family is still recovering from the shock of yesterday's (Jan. 4) CA decision ordering the release of former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes, the mastermind for the murder of radio broadcaster, environmentalist, and anti corruption advocate Dr Gerry Ortega," MIka said in a text message sent to reporters on Saturday.

"We have not received the copy of the decision yet. We will need time with our lawyers to study it and plan our next move. Until then, we ask everyone to remain vigilant," she said.

According to the CA's Former Eleventh Division, Special Division of Five, there was no evidence presented to try Reyes for Ortega's killing.

"Our hands are tied by our bounded duty to administer justice and abide by the law. No evidence, no conviction. So be it," the appellate court said in its 24-page decision penned by Associate Justice Normandie Pizzaro.

"This Court could only hope that he would take advantage and give full-faith and meaning to this second lease on life given him. He is definitely saved from the 20 year or so imprisonment metable to the offense charged," read the decision dated Jan. 4, 2018.

"Call it a second chance afforded him by God, or a lucky three-point play for him to use a common street lingo or a miracle in his favor, the petitioner (Reyes) must by all means be exonerated from the charge," it said.

In turn, the CA ordered the Palawan RTC to dismiss the cases against Reyes and ordered his immediate release from detention.

Reyes was released from jail at about 5:40 p.m Friday (Jan. 5)., according to his lawyer Demetrio Castro.

The former governor's release, he said, is happy news for all his supporters.

Before he was jailed, Reyes escaped to Phuket, Thailand with his brother Mario. They were arrested by Thai police in September 2015 and repatriated to Palawan. (PNA)

Cusi Pushes Smart Energy Use As a Way of Life

Buy fuel efficient vehicles, choose household appliances with excellent energy efficiency ratings and unplug the latter when not in use for long periods of time.

These were some of the smart energy utilizations tips which Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi on Thursday (January 5) pushed to become a way of life for Filipinos starting this new year.

"I'd like to emphasize the concept of smart energy utilization so consumers can save on energy costs based on strategies already laid down by the government," said Cusi.

Among the strategies being referred to by the secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) is the use by consumers of the Minimum Energy Performance Standard in the purchase and the proper use of energy efficient appliances.

Sec. Cusi said that the Yellow/Energy Labels on common household appliances state the energy efficiency ratings of the latter and should be used by consumers as a guide in purchasing said items.

Consumers should also turn off and unplug unused appliances to avoid electricity wastages, said the DOE chief, who added that regularly cleaning light bulbs, refrigerator, television, electric fan and air-conditioners can save power.

In view of the effects on oil and vehicle prices of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN), Cusi urged consumers to be more rational in their choice of vehicles to buy, as well as in their fuel purchases.

Planning trips and properly maintaining vehicles will also save consumers money while prolonging the service life of their rides, added Cusi.

The DOE also offered the following tips:
•   Gas up wisely by using quality and clean fuels and by not filling fuel tank up to the brim and tighten gas cap to avoid spillage;
•   Avoid overloading; accelerate with care and anticipate stops;
•   Avoid idling of vehicles; shift gears sensibly and pick a lane and stay on it;
•   Use windows and air-conditioning wisely; keep the music volume down or turn off other unused and fancy car accessories;
•   Check tires regularly; change oil and oil filters; and ensure regular and proper maintenance of the vehicles.

For those planning to buy new vehicles, the DOE said consumers should go for fuel economy.

According to the DOE's data, a liter of diesel saved reduces emission of about 2.7 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2), while a liter of gasoline saved would be equivalent to 2.3 kilograms of CO2 release avoided.

"It's the benefit for the consumers that is my primary concern," concluded Cusi.

The LGBT and Same-Sex Marriage Issues in Philippine Context
By Y. A. "Joey" Tugung | 01/05/18

Majority of the Filipino people have conflicted views on this sexuality and gender identity-based issue. This level of dysfunction has been agonizing as a result of the friendship and kinship that we have with the LGBT community on one hand versus our social and cultural mores and the moral conviction and creed that we hold on the other hand. Not to mention that the current law of the land, which regulates marriage ("The Family Code of the Philippines"), clearly prohibits same-sex marriage. And this is compounded, ironically, by the supreme law of the land (the "1987 Philippine Constitution") since it is open-ended on the matter as it neither discriminates nor prohibits same-sex marriage. 

In a snapshot, this is how convoluted this very important civil rights issue is in our country. Regardless, whatever differing opinions and views that we have – be it legal, moral, social, cultural and religious; this emotionally charged identity politics issue (politics based upon issues such as gender and sexual orientation) is not a zero-sum game anymore in the 21st-century context. Thus, at this juncture, let us not be pugnacious, but instead, we just have to face realities by debating this national issue with an open mind and listening to the better angels of our nature. And towards that end, we have to come up with a mutually acceptable compromise, i.e., a kind of concession that places everyone in a "win-win" situation without undermining our confidence in the legal system of our country, and if possible, without insulting our spiritual, moral, social and cultural values and sensitivities.

To most, anchored on their personal social, cultural, historical and spiritual orientation, the issue of legalizing same-sex marriage is not only a non-starter but a no-brainer, as well. Understand, Philippines is the 4th largest Christian country on earth, with about 90% of the population being adherents. It is one of two predominantly Roman Catholic nations in Asia, and is the third largest Catholic country in the world. And along with the other major religions, such as Islam, including the different Christian denominations and sects present in the country, its tenets arguably forbid homosexuality and same sex-marriage.

Historically, since the birth of our Republic in 1989 through the early 60's, the DNA strands of the Filipino Nation consider gay, lesbian and bisexual a "taboo" in the country's moral, social and cultural fabric; while the idea of same-sex marriage was totally inexistent nor was a part in any of the public policy discussions. In fact, people of such sexual orientation were even ostracized, while some were disowned, not only by their family and kin but also by their peers and the community, in general. In short, homosexuality then was something that no one wanted to admit or dare to talk about.

However, since the advent of the civil rights movement of the transitional 1960s, headed by Martin Luther King, Jr., and the growth of counter-culture activism and sexual revolution through the 90's; the world's  social, moral, and cultural order has shifted in tectonic proportions, such that gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and homosexuality in general, did not only become socially acceptable in society but were also given civil rights and gender diversity protection against sexual harassment and discrimination by some western countries.

Moving to the New Millennium, due to the advancement in surgical science and the rise of international activism on gay rights; the social, moral and cultural composition of society were again subjected to another shot of transformation. This time with Darwinian evolutionary-like proportions, the change came with the gender birth of transgender and transvestite and the rise of gay marriage or same-sex marriage, which admittedly has shaken the foundations of civil society.

The increasing Gay pride or LGBT pride in worldwide events, through Pride parades with their conspicuous Rainbow Flag, is a global manifestation that have cancelled shame and social stigma of being a LGBT. And at the heart of this worldwide social acceptance and recognition is HUMAN DIGNITY. Without a doubt, it is a fact that the LGBT, now a very popular byword, is not only here to stay permanently but has now earned its place in society as a social class and as a community, as well; afforded by some countries with civil rights and statutes decriminalizing homosexuality while in others, legalizing same-sex marriage.

In 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed its first resolution recognizing LGBT rights and the UN Human Rights Commission urged all countries which had not yet done so to enact laws protecting basic LGBT rights. As of March 2017, 23 countries recognize same-sex marriage. In the United States, in June, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all state bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional – thus allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry in all 50 states. Evidently, while the LGBT around the world in the last decade has gained important milestones in their quest/fight for equal rights, the gender-identity rights of the Filipino LGBT community is still very much wanting.

Undeniably, "The Times They Are a-Changin." In this life imitating art famous 60's song of Bob Dylan, is a metaphor that indeed we just have to accept the fact that our society is gradually shedding its misconception of what defines a human being. LGBT people have existed as long as humanity itself. They have made history and important contributions even in the face of societies that discriminate against them or pretend they do not exist. We have famous LGBT figures throughout time who have changed the world for the better, such as, Alexander the Great, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Anderson Cooper, Angelina Jolie, Freddie Mercury, Ellen DeGeneres, Elton John, Michael Kors, Giorgo Armani, Madonna, David Geffen, and surprisingly, even Abraham Lincoln. In the Philippines, we have notable LGBT celebrities, such as, Boy Abunda, Ricky Reyes, Monique Wilson, Vice Ganda, Aiza Seguerra, and Mocha Uson.

As a result of this dynamic social revolution; concomitantly, as a nation, instead of outrightly being prejudicial and judgmental towards the LGBT community, there is a need for us to recalibrate our social, cultural and moral perceptions, and even convictions, including revisiting our understanding of our faith concerning gender identity. Nothing better capsulizes this social activism than in the landmark case of Ang Ladlad LGBT Party v. COMELEC, where the highest court of the land, Supreme Court, said: "practical solutions are preferable to ideological stalemates; accommodation is better than intransigence; reason more worthy than rhetoric. This will allow persons of diverse viewpoints to live together, if not harmoniously, then, at least, civilly."

With that being said, on the issue of LEGALIZING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, it would be wise for President Rodrigo Duterte, and the members of both houses of Congress, neither to thrust nor to lean-on their political ideology to their political base on this issue. More so, to debate this matter in the court of public opinion. And for the homophobic citizens amongst us, let's likewise avoid pontificating and litigating this issue. Instead, we should submit this highly sensitive issue to the Filipino people in a non-partisan way through a nationwide referendum-plebiscite in the next 2019 national election. And on the issue of GRANTING CIVIL RIGHTS TO THE LGBT COMMUNITY, it is high time for President Rodrigo Duterte in his upcoming 3rd SONA to certify a bill as Urgent to both houses of Congress to legislate an Anti-Harassment and Discrimination law that protects the rights of the LGBT in the workplace, both in public and private establishments. To use the words of civil rights activist and global advocate of human rights, Nelson Mandela, "To deny the people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity."

- END OF ARTICLE | NOTHING FOLLOWS –

Note from Y. A. "Joey" Tugung: Modesty aside, I am an expert on the subject on harassment and discrimination in the workplace. In fact, I conduct seminars on a regular basis on Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Prevention training. Moreover, other than enforcing the same, I also conduct investigations on allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination. Since I come home to the Philippines annually, and for those who are interested, I am offering my services to conduct this seminar on the subject for FREE. This would be a half-day seminar and it already covers Q & A.

God Looks for Clay

"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the LORD. "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!" Jeremiah 18:6

God knows how to bring salvation to your family, your friends, your community, and your world. Accordingly, He looks for those who will allow Him to shape them into the instruments He requires to do His divine work. Clay has no plans of its own, no aspirations for service, nor reluctance to perform its given task. It is just clay. Moldable, pliable, totally submissive to the will of its master. At times we excitedly announce to God: "I've discovered my strengths and gifts, and now I know how I can best serve You!" At other times we inform Him, "I am aware of what my weaknesses are, so I know which tasks I'm not capable of doing for You." Yet this is not characteristic of clay. God is not limited to working with our strengths (2 Cor. 12:9-10). He can mold us into whatever kind of instrument He requires. When God's assignment demands humility, he finds a servant willing to be humbled. When His work requires zeal, He looks for someone He can fill with His Spirit. God uses holy vessels, so He finds those who will allow Him to remove their impurities. It is not a noble task, being clay. There is no to it, nothing boast-worthy, except that it is exactly what Almighty God is looking for. Compliant, moldable, yielded clay. If your tendency is to tell the Father what you can and cannot do for Him, submit to His agenda and allow Him to shape you into the person He wants you to be. Like clay.  Henry and Richard Blackaby

REP. ABAYON FILES BILL ON RECKLESS DRIVING
HB 6925 seeks to make law on Reckless Imprudence fair

Recent road tragedies, including that involving truck driver Tedy Gotis and teenager motorcycle rider John Mark Navarro in Muntinlupa City in November and the ones that happened approaching Christmas Day which killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens in different parts of the country, illustrate how reckless imprudence on our roads is rampant.

Senseless and avoidable road mishaps like these prompted House Committee on Transportation Member Neil Abayon to file House Bill 6925 (Philippine Responsible Driving and Accountability Act), the bill that intends to update the country's road safety laws, as well as statutes on criminal, civil, and administrative culpability and liability of drivers involved in traffic violations and road safety incidents.

This bill also defines different types of unsafe driver behavior: dangerous driving; reckless driving; suicidal driving; terroristic driving; careless driving; impaired driving; and irresponsible custody of vehicle.

References: INQUIRER https://goo.gl/eE2rjc CNN https://goo.gl/JrHxPh
Under current laws and procedures, drivers or motorists involved in road safety incidents and traffic violations are presumed at fault even when pedestrians and/or other motorists are at fault or also share fault. This bill seeks to make our laws also fair to the drivers who were not at fault.

In this bill, the driver is presumed to be not initially culpable or not totally at fault for the incident under investigation when:

1)   the victim is intoxicated or under the influence of illegal drugs or prescription medication;
2)   the victim was not crossing the street at a pedestrian lane or road intersection;
3)   the victim crossed the street or highway instead of using a nearby pedestrian footbridge;
4)   the victim is a bicycle rider not wearing safety devices or wearing dark clothing;
5)   the victim is a driver of a motorcycle, bicycle, or tricycle traveling on a national highway under the minimum speed limit and not on the rightmost lane of the roadway;
6)   the victim is a driver who, at the exact time of the incident, did not have right of way on the road;
7)   the driver did not flee from the scene of the road safety incident;
   the driver was suffering, at the time of the incident, a medical emergency such as a heart attack, stroke, asthma attack, or diabetes shock; and
9)   the driver of the other vehicle has non-functional or lacking in head lights, tail lights, and other warning devices.

The driver involved in a road safety incident is presumed to be initially culpable when:

1)          the driver flees from the scene of the road safety incident;
2)          the driver was driving at high speed according to recorded eyewitness accounts taken at the scene of the road safety incident;
3)          the driver had just committed at least one serious traffic violation;
4)          the driver is intoxicated or under the influence of illegal drugs or prescription medication;
5)          the driver does not have a driver's license or has an expired driver's license; and
6)          the victim is a child younger than fifteen (15) years of age.

This bill also provides for the following mitigating circumstances in driving violations:

1)  Fast driving due to medical emergency to rush to a hospital or other medical facility for immediate care;
2)  Pursuit of a suspect in a crime who is fleeing or has just fled from the scene of a crime;
3)  Rushing home or to workplace because of a fire or other disaster; and
4)  Serious to gross defects in the design and construction of roads and bridges, and of traffic signs and warnings.
     
The initial presumption of culpability shall be determined by the person in authority or law enforcer who is first at the scene of the incident or on whom continuing investigative responsibility is vested by competent authority over the road safety incident resulting in death, injury, destruction of property, or traffic congestion.

The determination of initial culpability must be either in writing in a traffic incident report or orally, with witnesses present, while the law enforcer's lawful arrest without warrant or civilian citizen's arrest is being made.

A person in authority or deputized law enforcer may order the confiscation or personally and immediately confiscate the driver's license of a suspected erring driver to prevent or avoid probable immediate future danger to self or other persons on the road or sidewalk.

Whether the driver or drivers are initially culpable or not, the law enforcer investigating the road safety incident is required to secure the signed and sworn statements of the drivers and other persons involved in and who witnessed the incident. (END)

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kining TRAIN maoy makasamot mahal sa goods.

HIGHER GASOLINE PRICES WILL MAKE ORDINARY MOTORISTS CHANGE THEIR HABITS

Romero foresees motorists keeping cars in garage, riding TNVS often, and buying less gas

The oil firms know the market and consumers well. They will be careful. They will not be rash in their decision-making on fuel price increases especially for gasoline and lubricants which have the highest new excise tax rates of P7.00 and P8.00, respectively. They know the Philippine market is price sensitive.

As an economist, I now see microeconomics is at work in the minds of the technical experts and officials of the oil firms.

It is quite possible the oil firms will not pass on to gasoline consumers the full impact of the excise tax.

It is also probable they are now generating options and crunching the numbers because a P7.00-price hike would be enough to significantly reduce demand for gasoline.

We have seen in previous big-time price hikes that the oil firms staggered their price adjustments. They might, as they have in the past, spread out the seven pesos in installments. Maybe the staggering could be a P1.50-hike per week. There are other combinations they can do.

If the oil firms' economists say the P7.00 is too much to pass on fully at the gas pump, they might recommend to management that the pass on be anywhere within the range of  50 percent to 90 percent of the full P7.00 excise tax per liter.

Many owners of gasoline-powered vehicles could use their vehicles less. Some could now switch to public transportation because there are different options to choose from.

The TNCs and TNVS will see their ridership spike because private vehicle owners' gasoline-powered cars will spend more time parked at home.

The MMDA and DOTr should now seize this opportunity of a real shift in consumer choices. More point-to-point buses should ply the major roads to ferry office workers and students.

For jeepney drivers, the government can revive the Pantawid Pasada Program to subsidize PUJ purchases of diesel which now has an excise tax of P2.50 per liter. (END)

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PARTY-LIST CONGRESSMAN REACTS TO ANNOUNCEMENT OF FUEL PRICE HIKES

In the wake of  New Year's Day announcement of fuel price hikes effective January 2, 2018, a party-list congressman has voiced his policy views on how new excise taxes will have an impact on pump prices.

"We have seen in previous big-time price hikes that the oil firms staggered their price adjustments. They might, as they have in the past, spread out the seven pesos in installments. Maybe the staggering could be a P1.50-hike per week. There are other combinations they can do," 1-PACMAN Party-list Representative Michael Romero, an economist, said Monday evening in a statement.

P7.00 per liter is the 2018 excise tax rate on gasoline according to the TRAIN Law, Republic Act 10963.

Romero also said oil firms might also consider not passing on to consumers the full cost of the excise taxes because they are aware that Filipino consumers are price-sensitive.

"If the oil firms' economists say the P7.00 is too much to pass on fully at the gas pump, they might recommend to management that the pass on be anywhere within the range of  50 percent to 90 percent of the full P7.00 excise tax per liter," Romero said.

The congressman, who is also a young business tycoon, said motorists and commuters now have more transport options than before.

"Many owners of gasoline-powered vehicles could use their vehicles less. Some could now switch to public transportation because there are different options to choose from. The TNCs and TNVS will see their ridership spike because private vehicle owners' gasoline-powered cars will spend more time parked at home," Romero also said.

He suggested that the MMDA and DOTR "now seize this opportunity of a real shift in consumer choices."

"More point-to-point buses should ply the major roads to ferry office workers and students. For jeepney drivers, the government can revive the Pantawid Pasada Program to subsidize PUJ purchases of diesel which now has an excise tax of P2.50 per liter." Romero recommended.  (END)

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MGA PRIBADONG KOTSE, MALAMANG GUMARAHE NANG MADALAS SANHI NG P7.00 EXCISE TAX SA GASOLINA

Press Release - "Palagay ko'y maaaring hindi ipapasa ng mga oil firm ang buong bigat ng P7.00 per liter excise tax sa gasolina sa mga motorista," yan ang sabi ni 1-PACMAN Party-list Representative Michael Romero, ekonomistang may Ph.D. sa Political Economics.

"Alam ng oil firms na price sensitive ang Philippine market. Mag-iingat sila dahil ang gasoline price hike na P7.00 ay maaring magpababa ng demand para sa gasolina. Maaring hindi na dalasan ng mga motorista ang paggamit nila ng kanilang mga sasakyan," aniya.

"Batay sa mga dati nang ginagawa ng oil firms, maaari nilang utay-utayin ang taas presyo. Maaring P1.50 kada linggo ang dagdag presyo," dagdag ni Romero.

"Kung maisip ng mga ekonomista ng oil firms na mabigat masyado ang seven pesos, maaaring irekomenda nila na 50 percent hanggang 90 percent lang ng excise tax ang ipapasa sa konsyumer," aniya.

Nakikinita ni Rep. Romero na maaring magdesisyon ang maraming pamilya na sumakay sa TNVS o kaya ay sa mga point-to-point bus service para makatipid.

"Pagkakataon na rin ng DOTr at MMDA na buhayin ang Pantawid Pasada cash transfers para sa operators at drivers ng public utility jeepneys," dagdag ni Rep. Romero.

P2.50 kada litro ang ipinataw na excise tax ng TRAIN law sa pag-import ng diesel. (END)

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ECONOMIST-SOLON: FUEL PRICE HIKES WITH EXCISE TAX LIKELY RIGHT AFTER FIRST PAYDAY OF JANUARY 2018

Right now, the hot button issue is the fuel price hikes. In the months ahead, it is likely that new so-called cause-oriented groups will sprout here and there to try to sow more fear. They will fail.

My latest take on the excise tax on oil products is that the oil companies will wait until or soon after the first or second payday of January 2018 before they start reflecting the impact of the new excise taxes.

The oil companies are wise enough not to shock consumers. Remember what they did when world crude oil prices were rising to and reached US$100 per barrel in 2015? The local oil firms had frequent staggered fuel price hikes. Oil firms are aware of the tolerance levels of consumers.

Future hot button issues would be electricity power rates and metered water rates. I have two sets of policy comments on these.

First, peso depreciation is only temporary and businesses must seize opportunities as they come.

Second, the country must have much more foreign investments, especially of the direct investments into businesses, factories. BPOs, and SMEs. More foreign investments mean more jobs, more dollar inflows, a stable peso-dollar rate, and inflation kept in check. 

Those BOI-approved investments, a lot of those should materialize in 2018. (END)
 
REFERENCES:

https://www.doe.gov.ph/oil-monitor 
http://www.manilatimes.net/dbcc-retains-inflation-target-2018-2020/371114/
https://www.reuters.com/article/oil-options/want-to-bet-on-100-oil-in-2018-some-investors-already-have-idUSL8N1M95TN
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-oil-prices-will-never-return-to-100-a-barrel-in-one-chart-2017-02-22

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REP. HERRERA-DY PUSHES FOR NEW CCT FOR PUV DRIVERS

To absorb in full or in part the impact of the TRAIN excise taxes on diesel and lubricants, I ask the Department of Transportation, in coordination with the DSWD, to expand the 4Ps to include PUV drivers. 

Unlike the Aquino administration's Pantawid Pasada, the new CCT program's first phase should cover all PUV drivers, whether or not the PUV they drive has an LTFRB franchise or not. The sins of the PUV operator must not be the sin of the PUV driver.

If this expanded CCT is successful, a future phase of the new CCT for drivers can include tricycle and pedicab drivers.

The CCT for PUV drivers would also be a transitional program to help them cope with the PUV modernization program, which includes the phase-out of old, non-roadworthy PUJs and colorum PUVs i three years starting 2018.

For the new CCT for PUV drivers, I am proposing a refocusing. Instead of the cash transfer being for fuel purchases, the new CCT for PUV drivers will be more similar to the 4Ps of the DSWD. It will enable them to purchase food items for drivers' families, send to and keep their young children studying in elementary and high school, and get vaccines and medicines.

The contact person of DSWD 4Ps are the mothers. It is now time to help the impoverished fathers, some of whom are single parents or breadwinners supporting siblings, children and elderly parents.

To instill responsibility and accountability, the new CCT for PUV drivers, ATM cards cannot be used for any purchases of alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, and illegal drugs. Those ATM cards cannot be pawned or used as collateral in any way and doing so will mean automatic removal from the CCT program.

A strict condition for inclusion in the CCT for PUV drivers must be staying drug-free, alcohol-free, and gambling-free.

To help weed out colorum PUVs, the DOTr can work out some way to dangle incentives to PUV operators to convince them to let go of and forever stop operating colorum units.

Funds for this 4Ps expansion can be sourced from the P24.488 billion in the Landbank budget for which Landbank and DSWD are developing guidelines. For the CCT for PUV drivers, perhaps the Malampaya Fund or road user's tax or some other flexible fund can be the budget source.

Most Filipino drivers are living in poverty. Drivers of jeepneys, tricycles, and pedicabs often live in extreme poverty. They are disadvantaged because of the lack of education, livelihood options, and poor or zero access to basic government services.

As a form of non-cash benefit to drivers, the LTFRB should require all PUV drivers to undergo the TESDA courses on driving and automotive servicing, so the driver can get formally certified. TESDA can offer these courses for free to PUV drivers. Those certifications they can use to advance their careers/ Drivers can even seek overseas employment using TESDA skills certification.

While the DSWD and DOTr are registering the qualified PUV drivers for the new CCT, the DSWD might as well bring in the PhilHealth, SSS, and BIR to issue each of them their numbers and IDs. This way, the drivers can legally avail of government services due them as working individuals.  

It would be prudent for the LTFRB to cooperate with the DSWD on these measures and to factor in the impact of the cash transfers before they decide on petitions for transport fare increases. (END)

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DOE Directive to Oil Companies
 
Department of Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi released the Guidelines, thru the Oil Industry Management Bureau headed by Undersecretary Donato M. Marcos, to all oil companies to effectively monitor and implement the new Tax Reform Inclusion and Acceleration (TRAIN).  

Pertinent provisions of the Guidelines are as follows:

1) Submission of a duly notarized inventory report as of 31 December 2017. The inventory shall be on per depot and per product basis; 

2) Implementation of the excise tax under TRAIN shall not be applied unless the 31 December 2017 stocks of finished products are fully exhausted. (The minimum 15-day inventory requirement shall be enforced in accordance with Department Circular ‎2011-03-0002);

3) Submission of the daily summary of withdrawal starting 01 January 2018 until the depletion of the declared inventory as of 31 December 2017, supported by the Official Registry Book (ORB); 

4) Retailers are required to post in a conspicuous area, for transparency, notice of the new excise tax implementation under the TRAIN in a signage measuring 1 meter by 1 meter in size; and

5. Submission of the petroleum products inventory report as of December 31, 2017 is on 5 January 2018.

"We remind the consumers and the oil industry participants that violators face the sanctions under the law," Cusi said. 

The DOE calls on the public to be vigilant and to report any violation to info@doe.gov.ph or to the Consumer Welfare and Promotion Office at Tel. No. ‎‎479-2900 loc. 329.

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EXEMPTION OF P250K FROM INCOME TAX IS THE BEST SHIELD OF THE MIDDLE CLASS VS. TRAIN TAX HIKES

Exempting the first P250,000 of the income of individual taxpayers is the most effective shock absorber of Filipino families, especially those in the middle class, against the price increases resulting from tax hikes in the TRAIN tax reform law.

Note also that already factoring the impact of TRAIN, the inflation forecast of the DBCC for 2018 to 2020 is 3 percent plus or minus 1 percentage point. The DBCC is the government's Development Budget Coordinating Committee. For 2018, the Bangko Sentral forecast is 3.4 percent. 

There are fear mongers out there who continue to paint the TRAIN Law as bad for Filipinos, when it is not. TRAIN is one of the most historic tax laws of the country. It corrects the gross injustice the old income tax system has been inflicting upon the middle class and the poor since the 1990s.

The second TRAIN is coming soon according to Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez. I, for one, look forward to seeing the details of the second tax reform package. I look forward to working with President Duterte's economic advisers on arriving at the right mix for the people and the economy.

When individual income tax payers start receiving their salaries in January, the fear mongers' protestations of gloom and doom will fall on deaf ears. When the poor get their tax reform cash transfer subsidies, the fear mongers will encounter deafer ears. When college students enroll in SUCs, deafer ears. Soon enough, the fear mongers will only have each other to talk with.
 
I now take this opportunity to offer some advice to salary earners, the self-employed, and small-scale entrepreneurs on how their personal disposable income can be put to good use.

Remember all those times before when you or your loved ones got sick or you needed cash for tuition and you wished you had some extra cash stashed away? Now would be the time to open an extra savings account to which you will transfer some or all of the extra cash because of TRAIN. 

Another way to save for those emergencies is to purchase a pre-need medical plan for ER, diagnostic exams, and hospitalization.

Savings can also be used for buying assets that will earn additional net income for the family, but before embarking on that please compute all the costs, risks, and conservatively estimate for possible future income.

The very last thing you should spend that extra cash on is impulse buying, purchasing a "want" item instead of a "need", or any other expense that does not come with a future benefit. (END)

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Two temporary ERC Commissioners need to be quickly appointed

To address the immediate matters of quorum and continuity of operations at the ERC, I urge President Duterte to urgently issue two temporary appointments for the two temporarily vacant positions of ERC Commissioner. 

The Ombudsman suspended four ERC Commissioners, but for a quorum of the ERC en banc, two temporary Commissioners are needed. The other two may be appointed several weeks later.

The temporary appointees ought to possess the qualifications similar to those of ERC commissioner as stated in the EPIRA Law (RA 9136). Related to this is another factor to consider are the terms of the appointment of the suspended ERC commissioners. 

If one or some of them have terms expiring within the one-year suspension from the Ombudsman, then it would save the government a lot of trouble or hassle later on if one or some of the temporary appointees could be given permanent appointments effective the day after the expiration dates. 

May I suggest further that two of the temporary appointees be chosen from among the ranking career civil servants of the ERC who have no pending Ombudsman or court cases involving corruption, and that the two other temporary appointees may be borrowed either from other energy agencies or from the University of the Philippines on secondment. 

The President can invoke Sections 16 and 17 of Chapter 5 of the Administrative Code of 1987 to address the temporary vacancies in the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) because of the suspension of four of its commissioners.

Sections 16 and 17 of Chapter 5 of the Administrative Code of 1987 allow for temporary appointments lasting up to one year. 

The EPIRA Law, which includes the revised charter of the ERC (Chapter IV), does not provide for appointments in case of temporary vacancy, in which case, it is the Administrative Code that would apply. (END)

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By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan
The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office on Monday urged local government units anew to give their all-out support to state-sanctioned Small Town Lottery and help the government in its fights against illegal gambling.

PCSO General Manager Alexander Balutan said such support from mayors and governors are very crucial so as not to waste the efforts of the government in fighting all forms of illegal gambling as this becomes the breeding ground of corruption.

Last week, the Congress expressed their support to the PCSO's effort in increasing revenues for the government by expanding the STL nationwide as long as the government is getting its rightful share.

"Once again, I urge the mayors and governors and the local police nationwide to unite in the fight against jueteng and other forms of illegal gambling, and identify those gambling lords, their coddlers and file appropriate charges against them," Balutan said in a statement.

He said though STL is winning the ground against illegal gambling, they still need all the help they can get to increase revenues for this government. "Jueteng is still rampant and we must eradicate it the soonest possible," he added.

Balutan believes that the efforts of the government will not go to waste as long as local government units (LGUs) and the police will work together in fighting illegal gambling which continues to hinder STL operations.

According to Balutan, in the first semester of 2017, cities and municipalities, congressional districts, and provincial governments all over the country received more than P271 million from STL operations.

"As STL revenue increases, your share also increases. So, can you help us promote STL against jueteng in your area? It is going to be beneficial to your constituents because you will surely receive funds for your health services and programs," he said.

Balutan stressed that giving shares to the LGUs are meant to eliminate corruptions. He described how it filled the pockets of elected officials and government employees, and allow gambling lords to continue their illegal activities.

STL, as the only legal numbers game has been in the response to President Duterte's marching order to stamp out illegal gambling, particularly to combat "jueteng", that continued to proliferate in different parts of the country.

"Let us put President Duterte's dream into a reality in attaining the quest for corruption-free government," he said.

The general manager asked the mayors and provincial governors to instruct their police to go after illegal gambling operators in their area and protect STL.

He also cited the 15 days ultimatum issued by Philippine National Police chief Ronald Dela Rosa to all regional directors to stop illegal gambling and if they don't comply they will be relieved from their post.

"On the alleged bookies of some STL players, we urge PNP to identify them and submit prima facie evidence so we will revoke their authority to operate STL," Balutan said.

He likewise encourages the public to report any illegal gambling in their area and support the STL because everything will come back to them through charitable programs and services of the agency.

During the public hearing on the proposed 2018 national budget on Wednesday, House Appropriations Committee chair Karlo Nograles stressed the need to impose stricter rules and regulations on the operation of the STL.

Nograles said the present set-up of the STL operations could only become fronts of illegal gambling lords to legitimize their operations.

"The STL operations were allowed by law to eliminate illegal gambling. Sad to say, it has become a convenient front for the proliferation of illegal gambling like jueteng," Nograles said.

Nograles warned that the government is still losing a lot of potential revenues because some of these STL franchise holders are the very people who used to run illegal gambling operations like "jueteng".

"The PCSO chairman (Jose Jorge Corpuz) admitted during our second day open public hearing on the 2018 national budget that in some areas, some STL operators are raking in PHP400 million daily but only declare PHP100 million," he said.

Nograles stressed the need to review the PCSO charter including the guidelines covering the grant of franchises for STL.

"There is the need to review the PCSO charter, its rules and regulations relative to the grant and operation of franchises to pinpoint legal loopholes that are used by concerned parties to cover their illegal gambling activities that deprive government of much needed funds to fuel the government," he said.

"We need to dig deeper and sanitize the rules and procedures in the operation of STL. We need to ensure that these so-called gaming lords are no longer doubling as gambling lords," Nograles said.

Corpuz said there are now 92 STL operators that have been accredited from the original figure of 18.

STL retail receipts for the first semester this year is PHP6.17 billion as compared to last year's PHP2.47 billion. (PNA)

By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) called on law enforcement agencies to expedite investigation and arrest of the culprits to bring justice to the family of the killing of judge in Butuan City.

Judge Godofredo Abul Jr., 68, of the Butuan City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 4 was fatally hit on his head while his wife Bernadeth, 65, was wounded in the attack.

"The IBP sees the killing of Judge Abul as a stain against the Rule of Law. We view all judges as members of our profession-one that is sworn to protect everyone's right to life, liberty and property. Any life – be it innocent or guilty – does not deserve to be taken away so lightly by unaccountable assassins," read the IBP statement signed by its new national president Abdiel Dan Elijah Fajardo.

"Summary and violent death sentences administered by unknown individuals is no substitute for a working judicial system," it added.

The IBP also called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) to resolve the case immediately amid the mounting unresolved deaths in the country.

"We are committed to upholding the judicial process and work against those who applaud its erosion. We call on our law enforcement authorities to take all necessary steps to ensure that the killers and their principals are found so that they may be brought to justice," it added.

The mandatory organization of lawyers in the country also supported the call of the Supreme Court for law enforcement agencies to expedite the probe and bring the culprits to the hands of justice.

The couple were about to leave their house at Alviola Village in Barangay Tiniwisan before 10 a.m. on Saturday when the gunman entered through the open gate of their garage and opened fire.

Witnesses said the gunman fled on a motorcycle driven by his cohort.

Abul succumbed to four gunshot wounds. His wife Bernadeth was initially taken to the Butuan City Medical Center, but was transferred to a private hospital where she was treated for wounds on her shoulder and leg.

The judge was suspended for six months in February over an extortion case filed by a Catholic priest, whose relative is facing drug charges.

Abul was the second judge in Caraga region killed this year.

Retired Surigao City judge Victor Canoy was gunned down while buying food at an eatery along Borja street last Feb. 2.

Meanwhile, Caraga Police Regional Director Chief Superintendent Rolando B. Felix immediately ordered the creation of a special investigation task group to assist in the investigation to identify and go after the assailants. (PNA)

By Azer Parrocha
Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Monday described government underspending as a "major flaw" that is delaying several projects, particularly in infrastructure, from being completed.

"The government is not implementing the budget fast enough, we need better budget reforms," Diokno told the Senate Committee on Finance during the first hearing on the proposed 2018 national budget of PH 3.767 trillion.

This amount is 12.4 percent higher than the PHP3.35 trillion budget for 2017 and represents 21.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Diokno said that although underspending has improved over the years, it is still happening.

He said that in 2016, budget underspending reached PHP96.3 billion or 3.6 percent of the budget.

Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said that it is "imperative" that the country's legal framework on public financial management framework should be "revised and updated."

This way, she said it would ensure efficient budget execution, financial management and to limit Executive discretion in budget implementation.

Moreover, she said that it is also imperative that Congress ensures that existing policies on public financial management are fiscally responsible, transparent and involve people's participation.

On July 24, President Rodrigo Duterte submitted to Congress the proposed 2018 national budget.

The Department of Budget and Management earlier said that the proposed budget prioritizes education and infrastructure development, particularly for the government's infrastructure program, "Build, Build, Build", and the provision of social services to the people. (PNA)

By Azer Parrocha
Senator Risa Hontiveros on Monday said she sees no reason for hospitals to question the legality of the recently signed strengthened anti-deposit law since it would benefit the poor and save lives.

"Why do they need to question it before the Supreme Court if they follow the law?" Hontiveros said in a press conference following reports that hospital groups plan to question the legality of the newly-signed law.

She said she found it unreasonable for hospital groups to argue about it when a patient's life is at stake especially since doctors have pledged to "do no harm."

The neophyte senator, meanwhile, expressed confidence that if the legality of the law is questioned, she is confident that the Supreme Court will be on her side.

"I am confident that the Supreme Court will be on our side. Several sectors have also expressed support for this law," she added.

On August 4, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act No. 10932 or the Strengthened Anti-Hospital Deposit Law which raises penalties for hospitals and health professionals who refuse to treat patients in emergency situations.

The law, authored by Hontiveros, now includes imprisonment of up to four to six years for hospitals who demand any deposit or other forms of advance payment as a pre-requisite for admission or medical treatment of an emergency patient.

Fines have also been increased to reflect the strengthening of the regulation. Hospitals that refuse to provide emergency patients with basic care face penalties ranging from PHP500,000 to PHP1,000,000.

The Department of Health (DoH) has also been authorized to revoke the license of a health facility after three repeated violations pursuant to an established policy of the hospital or clinic or upon the instruction of its management. (PNA)

By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan January 3, 2018, 6:18 pm
MANILA -- The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday cited numerous attacks made by Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) in various provinces all over the country as basis to legally declare it as a terrorist group.

Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong, head of the panel tasked by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, said that they are close to finalizing the government's resolution to be filed before a Regional Trial Court seeking to declare the CPP-NPA as terrorist organizations.

Ong said the attacks occurred as President Rodrigo Duterte was "extending his hand" and "showing good faith" in the peace talks between the government and the rebels.

"The point is, the President was extending his hand, showing his good faith and sincerity for just and lasting peace. And yet ito pa ang mga offensives ang kapalit ng peace negotiations," Ong told reporters during the press conference.

The senior prosecutor said their investigation showed how the CPP-NPA did not honor the good faith and sincerity extended by the Duterte administration and continued their offensives during the earlier peace talks.

"They committed terrorist acts that will justify in designating them as terrorist organization," Ong explained.

The petition was expected to be filed with the court within January, Ong said, explaining the DOJ was still waiting for certified copies of incident reports on the attacks.

"Perhaps (it would be filed) within the month, kaya na ito. So many incidents, im still waiting for the reports to come in, certified true copies of the reports," Ong said.

"We listed about 15 incidents. Baka i-zero in namin ito sa 10 or 12," he said.

Ong said that among the attacks cited was the ambush of communist rebels against two soldiers in a storm-hit village in Catubig, Northern Samar.

On December 17, two soldiers were reportedly injured when suspected rebels opened fire on a military unit heading towards Barangay Hinagoyonon, Catubig to assist residents affected by flooding.

"These are very recent incidents. The attack on the rescue operations ng military sa Catubig, Samar (during) typhoon Urduja," he noted.

"We were able to gather incidents, they call it atrocities, tactical offensives, incidents of terrorist acts, but we want to focus in the incidents after the president assumed office," he said.

Ong clarified that the petition will target the organization and not its individual officials like founding chairman Jose Mari Sison.

"But there are implications once the petition is granted and they are declared a terrorist group. Under the Human Security Act, you can apply for judicial order for wiretapping against members of a terrorist organization. You could also apply surveillance of bank accounts or freeze their assets," he explained.

Section 17 of Republic Act No. 9372 (Human Security Act of 2007) requires the DOJ to first seek clearance from the court before an organization, association or group of persons can be declared as terrorist and outlawed group.

"The petition will also lay down their history. There were incidents in the past that showed a pattern," he said.

Earlier, Aguirre said he had formed a team of prosecutors to file a formal petition in court to legally declare the groups as "terrorists."

Ong is head of the team created by Aguirre to draft the petition following President Duterte's decision to issue a proclamation naming the CPP as a terror group.

"It has excellent chances (of being approved) because of the numerous supporting evidence we have (showing) that they are committing terroristic activities despite numerous initiatives of President Duterte to reach out to them," Aguirre said in a text message to reporters on December 6.

Aguirre expressed confidence that the lower court would grant the government's request following President Rodrigo Duterte's proclamation naming the CPP-NPA as terror organizations.

Earlier, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced that the President has signed a proclamation formally designating the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization.

Roque said the President signed the proclamation pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No. 10168 or the Human Security Act.

Roque said that under the law, affiliate revolutionary groups of the CPP-NPA would now also be considered terrorist groups, and anyone proven to be financing them would be held liable.

Citing the pertinent provisions of RA 10168, Roque said that a designated person is "any person or entity designated or identified as a terrorist, as one who finances terrorism or a terrorist organization or group under the applicable United Nations Security Council resolution or by another jurisdiction or supranational jurisdiction and pursuant to the proclamation which implements the Human Security Act."

"Take note that the domestic statute and the UN Security Council prohibit the giving of funds to terrorist organizations. This will enable law enforcement agencies to run after individuals who will, in any way, provide financial support to the NPA now that it has been described as a terrorist organization," Roque said.

In his proclamation, Duterte directed the Department of Foreign Affairs "to publish the foregoing designation of CPP-NPA and other designated persons, organizations, in accordance with Sections 3 and 15 of RA 10168 and its implementing rules and regulations."

The proclamation was issued after the Philippine government terminated peace talks with the CPP-NPA after a series of violent attacks that the President said is against humanitarian law. (PNA)

By Leslie Gatpolintan January 3, 2018, 8:44 pm
MANILA -- Listed chemical trader-distributor SBS Philippines Corp. has signed a deal with The Coca Cola Export Corp. (TCCEC) to acquire a 4.7-hectare warehouse facility complex located in Calamba City in Laguna province for PHP520 million.

SBS, through its subsidiary, Lence Holdings Corp., entered into a share and asset purchase agreements with TCCEC and its related parties last week for the 100-percent equity interests of Benesale Land Inc., the owner of the facility.

"The facility will principally be used in the warehouse and distribution operations of the corporation to serve as a key distribution center for regional market customers south of Metro Manila," it told the local bourse.

Under the share purchase agreement, LHC will acquire a total of 27,000 BLI shares, representing the total outstanding capital stock of BLI.

Under the asset purchase agreement, LHC will acquire buildings, property improvements and machinery, including the warehouses, freezer and cold storage buildings, and other facilities owned by TCCEC.

The purchase price for the stock and asset sale is payable in full on completion date which is targeted this January 29, subject to the satisfactory completion of the closing requirements by the parties.

"It is expected that the transaction will result to some gains from the real estate investments and operational enhancements to be generated which will grow and diversify the corporation's income streams in the future," the company added. (PNA)

By Jelly Musico - PNA
Malacañang released on Wednesday directives to all government officials and personnel in the executive department applying for foreign travels.

The memorandum signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea was issued in line with President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign to cut down extravagant and lavish foreign trips.

According to the new foreign trips guidelines, government officials and personnel will not be allowed to have official foreign trips that do not satisfy all three minimum criteria:
1. The purpose of the trip is strictly within the mandate of the requesting government officials or personnel;
2. The projected expenses for the trip are not excessive; and,
3. The trip is expected to bring substantial benefit to the country.

The directives also provide that no government official or personnel shall be allowed to depart for any travel abroad "unless such official or personnel has obtained the appropriate travel authorization from his/her agency, has duly accomplished the requisite leave forms, and his/her absence shall not hamper the operational efficiency of said agency."

The heads of agencies authorized to approve foreign trips shall submit every end of the quarter all travel authorities and documents to the Office of the President through the Executive Secretary.

"All heads of agencies are directed to strictly enforce the requirement on submission of reports with appropriate recommendations," the memorandum said.

In case of participation in an international conference or convention abroad, where the Philippines is represented by a delegation, a report of the delegation shall be submitted to the President through the Secretary of Foreign Affairs within 30 days.

"Failure to comply with above directives may result in the filing of administrative actions for misconduct, insubordination, and other related offenses under the Civil Service Commission Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service and/or relevant laws, rules, and regulations against the travelling official/personnel, as well as the official who unduly endorsed or approved his/her travel authority or who failed to submit the list required, herein," Medialdea noted in the memorandum.

The memorandum covers all department secretaries and heads of agencies, government-owned and/or controlled corporations (GOCCS) and government financial institutions (GFIs).

According to the directives, the requirement to submit a quarterly list of travel authorities issued shall also be observed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government with regard to foreign travels of local government officials. (PNA)

By Aerol John Pateña
A group of taxi operators is seeking a dialogue with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on its proposed PHP50 flag down rate for taxis. 



A fare increase on taxis is necessary in order to cushion the impact of higher excise taxes on oil that will be implemented under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, according to the Philippine National Taxi Operators Association (PNTOA). 



"We hope to have a dialogue with the LTFRB as soon as possible in order to discuss our proposal and relay our concerns on the TRAIN law," PNTOA president Bong Suntay said in an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) Wednesday. 



The group is asking for an additional PHP10 increase from the current PHP40 flag down rate, PHP13.50 for every kilometer of distance traveled and PHP2.50 for waiting time. 



Taxi drivers and operators need to recoup the higher operating costs brought about by the recent series of oil price increases, the group said. 



"The current flag down rate of PHP40 is being imposed since 2010. The rate needs to be adjusted because of the likely impact of the higher fuel excise tax to drivers and operators," Suntay said. 



Taxi drivers have reduced their trips because of inflationary concerns and competition from ridesharing companies. 

Currently, there are around 42,000 franchised taxi units nationwide, according to PNTOA. 



The LTFRB has said a petition for fare increase must be filed by taxi operators in order for the Board to deliberate on the matter and to hear the side of commuters that would be affected. 



Under the TRAIN law, an initial excise tax of PHP2.50 per liter shall be imposed on diesel this year, which will eventually increase to PHP6 by 2020.

An excise tax of PHP7 will be imposed on gasoline in 2018, gradually increasing to PHP10 in 2020. 



The Department of Energy (DOE) has advised oil companies not to apply the new excise taxes on old stocks of petroleum products, as these are levied on importation and not at the point of sale to consumers. (PNA)

By Albert-Anthony Abando
PNA - The Department of Energy (DOE) warned industry players against using the new excise tax on oil under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law to jack up prices. 



The department said the implementation of the new law would not automatically raise oil prices in the first month of the year. 



Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi assured the public in a statement on Wednesday that the DOE is keeping a close watch over oil firms to prevent possible profiteering over the implementation of the TRAIN law.



The DOE explained that no oil excise taxes should be collected within the first fifteen days of the year and no excise tax should be collected on liquefied petroleum gas within the first seven days. 



Meanwhile, no coal excise tax should also be collected based on existing 2017 stockpiles and therefore, this should not result in an increase in electricity costs within 30 days. 



Cusi has invited the oil companies to meet with his department on Wednesday to clarify the mechanisms in the implementation of the new tax law. 



Cusi stressed that the additional excise tax on fuel under TRAIN should not affect the prices of old stocks of oil firms, including their stocks under the 15-day Minimum Inventory Requirement.



"As directed by President Duterte, the government taxes should not profit the companies, because these are all intended for the services of the government to the public and the public alone," the energy chief said. 



In a press conference at the DOE in Taguig on Wednesday, Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella explained that under the TRAIN law, the excise tax will be collected on a per liter basis for gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and fuel oils, while the excise tax for LPG will be collected per kilogram. 



Cusi said the oil companies had willingly agreed to submit their stock inventories as of the cut-off date of December 31, 2017 under a notarized document to the DOE. 



The oil companies also concurred to share their data on their sales to the dealers/retailers to determine which stocks will be affected by the excise tax. 



"We have to make an effort to make sure that the declared stockpiles are accurate and the DOE will come up with public advisories to let the public know that an increase is imminent," Fuentebella explained. 



Assistant Secretary Bodie Pulido of the Oil Industry and Management Bureau said: "It would have been simpler if we just issued a date but it would prejudice the consuming public and the government because the oil companies are like collecting agencies. If we don't take the time to find out the actual stock inventory of oil companies, we might end up in a situation, where some companies might incur losses while some make a profit." 



For further transparency, the oil companies will also require their retailers to post what the products will be charged with excise tax and when it will be implemented. 



Cusi said the DOE and other concerned government agencies would conduct random audit and monitoring activities on the compliance with TRAIN, both in the depot/refinery and the retail level or gasoline stations. 



The DOE calls on the public to be vigilant and to report any violation to info@doe.gov.ph or to Consumer Welfare and Promotion Office at tel. no. 479-2900 loc. 329. (PNA)

Terrorism
I  INTRODUCTION

Terrorism, the deliberate creation and exploitation of fear for bringing about political change. All terrorist acts involve violence or—equally important—the threat of violence. These violent acts are committed by nongovernmental groups or individuals—that is, by those who are neither part of nor officially serving in the military forces, law enforcement agencies, intelligence services, or other governmental agencies of an established nation-state.

READ: Word's deadliest terrorist attack on sea targetting commerical passenger boat

Terrorists attempt not only to sow panic but also to undermine confidence in the government and political leadership of their target country. Terrorism is therefore designed to have psychological effects that reach far beyond its impact on the immediate victims or object of an attack. Terrorists mean to frighten and thereby intimidate a wider audience, such as a rival ethnic or religious group, an entire country and its political leadership, or the international community as a whole.

READ: President Duterte wants to end terrorism by extending Martial Law in Mindanao

Terrorist groups generally have few members, limited firepower, and comparatively few organizational resources. For this reason they rely on dramatic, often spectacular, bloody and destructive acts of hit-and-run violence to attract attention to themselves and their cause. Through the publicity generated by their violence, terrorists seek to obtain the leverage, influence, and power they otherwise lack.

II  WHAT IS TERRORISM?

The word terrorism was first used in France to describe a new system of government adopted during the French Revolution (1789-1799). The regime de la terreur (Reign of Terror) was intended to promote democracy and popular rule by ridding the revolution of its enemies and thereby purifying it. However, the oppression and violent excesses of the terreur transformed it into a feared instrument of the state. From that time on, terrorism has had a decidedly negative connotation. The word, however, did not gain wider popularity until the late 19th century when it was adopted by a group of Russian revolutionaries to describe their violent struggle against tsarist rule. Terrorism then assumed the more familiar antigovernment associations it has today.

A  Terrorism as a Political Act

Terrorism is by nature political because it involves the acquisition and use of power for the purpose of forcing others to submit, or agree, to terrorist demands. A terrorist attack, by generating publicity and focusing attention on the organization behind the attack, is designed to create this power. It also fosters an environment of fear and intimidation that the terrorists can manipulate. As a result terrorism's success is best measured by its ability to attract attention to the terrorists and their cause and by the psychological impact it exerts over a nation and its citizenry. It differs in this respect from conventional warfare, where success is measured by the amount of military assets destroyed, the amount of territory seized, and the number of enemy dead.

READ: Terrorist attack in Alabama,USA

Terrorists typically attempt to justify their use of violence by arguing that they have been excluded from, or frustrated by, the accepted processes of bringing about political change. They maintain that terrorism is the only option available to them, although their choice is a reluctant—even a regrettable—one. Whether someone agrees with this argument or not often depends on whether the person sympathizes with the terrorists' cause or with the victims of the terrorist attack. The aphorism "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" underscores how use of the label terrorism can be highly subjective depending upon one's sympathies.

At the same time terrorist acts—including murder, kidnapping, bombing, and arson—have long been defined in both national and international law as crimes. Even in time of war, violence deliberately directed against innocent civilians is considered a crime. Similarly, violence that spreads beyond an acknowledged geographical theater of war to violate the territory of neutral or noncombatant states is also deemed a war crime.

B  Government Definitions of Terrorism

Legal statutes in most countries around the world regard terrorism as a crime. Yet there is considerable variation in how these laws define terrorism, even in countries whose laws derive from a common origin.

In the United Kingdom, for example, legislation titled Terrorist Act 2000 states that terrorism is "the use or threat of action . . . designed to influence the government or to intimidate the public or a section of the public . . . for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause." The legal system and code of law of the United Kingdom has influenced those of the United States, Canada, and Israel.

United States federal statute defines terrorism as "violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that . . . appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by assassination or kidnapping." This definition appears in United States Code, Title 18, Section 2331 (18 USC 2331).

Canada's Anti-terrorism Act (Bill C-36) designates "terrorist activity" as "an act or omission . . . that is committed in whole or in part for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause and in whole or in part with the intention of intimidating the public, or a segment of the public, with regard to its security, including its economic security, or compelling a person, a government or a domestic or an international organization to do or to refrain from doing any act, whether the person, government or organization is inside or outside Canada . . . ."

Israeli law does not address terrorism specifically. But in the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance No. 33, it defines a terrorist organization as "a body of persons resorting in its activities to acts of violence calculated to cause death or injury to a person or to threats of such acts of violence."

III  CAUSES OF TERRORISM

Terrorism has occurred throughout history for a variety of reasons. Its causes can be historical, cultural, political, social, psychological, economic, or religious—or any combination of these. Some countries have proven to be particularly susceptible to terrorism at certain times, as Italy and West Germany were during the 1970s. Terrorist violence escalated precipitously in those two countries for a decade before declining equally dramatically. Other countries, such as Canada and The Netherlands, have proven to be more resistant, and have experienced only a few isolated terrorist incidents.

In general, democratic countries have provided more fertile ground for terrorism because of the open nature of their societies. In such societies citizens have fundamental rights, civil liberties are legally protected, and government control and constant surveillance of its citizens and their activities is absent. By the same token, repressive societies, in which the government closely monitors citizens and restricts their speech and movement, have often provided more difficult environments for terrorists. But even police states have not been immune to terrorism, despite limiting civil liberties and forbidding free speech and rights of assembly. Examples include Russia under tsarist rule and the Communist-ruled Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, as well as the People's Republic of China, Myanmar, and Laos.

In broad terms the causes that have commonly compelled people to engage in terrorism are grievances borne of political oppression, cultural domination, economic exploitation, ethnic discrimination, and religious persecution. Perceived inequities in the distribution of wealth and political power have led some terrorists to attempt to overthrow democratically elected governments. To achieve a fairer society, they would replace these governments with socialist or communist regimes. Left-wing terrorist groups of the 1960s and 1970s with such aims included Germany's Baader-Meinhof Gang, Italy's Red Brigades, and the Weather Underground (see Weathermen) in the United States. Other terrorists have sought to fulfill some mission that they believe to be divinely inspired or millennialist (related to the end of the world). (See Millennium). The Japanese religious cult Aum Shinrikyo, responsible for a nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995 that killed 12 people, falls into this category. Still other terrorists have embraced comparatively more defined and comprehensible goals such as the re-establishment of a national homeland (for example, Basque separatists in Spain) or the unification of a divided nation (Irish nationalists in Northern Ireland).

Finally, some terrorists are motivated by very specific issues, such as opposition to legalized abortion or nuclear energy, or the championing of environmental concerns (see Environment) and animal rights. They hope to pressure both the public and its representatives in government to enact legislation directly reflecting their particular concern. Militant animal rights activists, for example, have used violence against scientists and laboratory technicians in their campaign to halt medical experimentation involving animals. Radical environmentalists have sabotaged logging operations and the construction of power grids to protest the spoiling of natural wilderness areas. Extremists who oppose legalized abortion in the United States have attacked clinics and murdered doctors and other employees in hopes of denying women the right to abortion.

National governments have at times aided terrorists to further their own foreign policy goals. So-called state-sponsored terrorism, however, falls into a different category altogether. State-sponsored terrorism is a form of covert (secret) warfare, a means to wage war secretly through the use of terrorist surrogates (stand-ins) as hired guns. The U.S. Department of State designates countries as state sponsors of terrorism if they actively assist or aid terrorists, and also if they harbor past terrorists or refuse to renounce terrorism as an instrument of policy.

State sponsorship has proven invaluable to some terrorist organizations—by supplying arms, money, and a safe haven, among other things. In doing so, it has transformed ordinary groups, with otherwise limited capabilities, into more powerful and menacing opponents. State sponsorship can also place at terrorists' disposal the resources of an established country's diplomatic, military, and intelligence services. These services improve the training of terrorists and facilitate planning and operations. Finally, governments have paid terrorists handsomely for their services. They thereby turn weak and financially impoverished groups into formidable, well-endowed terrorist organizations with an ability to attract recruits and sustain their struggle.

The U.S. Department of State has designated seven countries as state sponsors of terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Cuba, North Korea, and Sudan. In the year 2000, it named Iran as the most active supporter of terrorism for aid to groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestine Islamic Jihad. Although the former Taliban government in Afghanistan sponsored al-Qaeda, the radical group led by Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, the United States did not recognize the Taliban as a legitimate government and thus did not list it as a state sponsor of terrorism.

IV  THE INCREASING DEADLINESS OF TERRORIST ATTACKS

Although the total number of terrorist incidents worldwide declined during the 1990s, the number of people killed in terrorist incidents increased. Thus, while terrorists may have become less active, they also became alarmingly more lethal. One key factor behind this trend is the amount of terrorism motivated by religious views, as were the attacks on New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on September 11, 2001 (see September 11 Attacks). Terrorism motivated by religion has frequently led to acts of violence with higher levels of fatalities than the relatively more targeted incidents of violence perpetrated by many secular (nonreligious) terrorist organizations.

Another key factor that has contributed to terrorism's rising deadliness is the ease of access to a range of low-tech and high-tech weapons. At the low-end of the weapons spectrum, terrorists rely on guns and bombs, as they have for more than a century. At the high end of the spectrum, there is evidence that groups such as al-Qaeda seek to acquire chemical, biological, and even nuclear weapons (see Chemical and Biological Warfare; Nuclear Weapons). Other terrorist groups, such as Aum Shinrikyo, already have carried out terrorist attacks using biological and chemical weapons. It is feared that the nuclear weapons stockpiles of the former Soviet Union could produce an international black market in fissionable materials that terrorists might potentially obtain. Finally, in the middle range of the weapons spectrum the world is awash in sophisticated items available to terrorists everywhere, including plastic explosives and hand-held, precision-guided surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).

An increase of suicide attacks has also contributed to terrorism's rising death count. Suicide attacks differ from other terrorist operations, because the perpetrator's own death is a requirement for the attack's success. Suicide bombers, therefore, are typically highly motivated, passionately dedicated individuals who decide voluntarily or upon persuasion to surrender their lives in fulfillment of their mission.

A wave of suicide attacks began in 1981 in Beirut, Lebanon, when a group called al-Dawa used a car bomb to blow up the Iraqi Embassy. Al-Dawa, ("the call" in Arabic, as in "the call for Holy War") was a terrorist organization composed of Shia Muslims from Iraq who were backed by Iran. (Muslims belonging to the Shia branch of Islam form a minority in Iraq but the majority in Iran.) The Beirut attack killed 61 people and wounded more than 100 others. In 1983 a truck filled with explosives drove into the U.S. embassy in Beirut, killing 49 and wounding 120 others. It was followed later that year by a suicide bombing of U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 persons. A group called Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for both attacks. Another suicide bombing destroyed a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1994, killing 96 persons. More recently, al-Qaeda staged suicide attacks on the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, causing nearly 300 deaths; on a U.S. Navy warship the U.S.S. Cole in 2000, causing 19 deaths; and on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, causing about 3,000 deaths. Many of the attacks carried out by Palestinian organizations, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, in Israel and the Occupied Territories have involved suicide bombings. Other terrorist groups also have adopted this tactic, including Tamil separatists fighting in Sri Lanka and India, and Kurdish separatists in Turkey. These separatists belong to ethnic minorities that seek to set up separate homelands.

Terrorists today claim credit less frequently for their attacks than they once did, a fact that also reflects terrorism's increasing deadliness. Unlike today's reticent terrorists, the more traditional terrorist groups of the 1970s and 1980s not only issued communiqués explaining why they perpetrated an attack but also boasted proudly after a particularly destructive or deadly operation. The current trend toward less communication implies that violence may be less a means to an end than an end in itself for some terrorist groups. In other words, terrorists today may use violence simply as vengeance or punishment rather than as a means to achieve political change. Therefore, their actions require no explanation or justification outside the terrorist group itself or its supporters.

V  CHARACTERISTICS OF TERRORIST ATTACKS
A  Planning and Organization

All terrorists share one characteristic: They never commit actions randomly or senselessly. Every terrorist wants an attack to generate maximum publicity because media attention helps achieve the intimidation needed for terrorism's success. Accordingly, terrorist acts are carefully planned. Testimony by a terrorist convicted in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Kenya revealed that al-Qaeda spent nearly five years planning the attack.

Several essential elements go into planning a major terrorist attack. Planning begins with gathering detailed reconnaissance and intelligence about a target: its defenses, vulnerabilities, and patterns of daily activity. Meanwhile, logistics specialists ensure that all the supporting tasks are accomplished. These tasks include assembling the weapons and other supplies and communications equipment needed for the operation, arranging for safe houses and transportation for the terrorist attack team, and mapping escape routes. A bombmaker or other weapons expert often joins the final planning phases. Finally, after all the preparations have been completed, the operation is handed off to the team that carries out the attack. For security reasons separate teams that do not know one another execute each step, from planning to logistics, attack, and escape.

All terrorist groups share another basic characteristic: secrecy about their operations. Terrorism operates underground, concealed from the eyes of the authorities and from potential informants among the populace. To maintain secrecy, terrorist groups are often organized into cells, with each cell separate from other cells in the organization but working in harmony with them. A terrorist cell can be as small as two or three people, with only one person knowing someone in another cell. Should the authorities apprehend a member of one cell, they can obtain information only about the activities of that cell—or at most about an adjacent cell—and not about the entire organization. For this reason terrorists prefer this organizational structure of interconnected cells. The structure narrows, in pyramid fashion, as it rises toward the group's senior command structure and leadership at the top, to whom very few have access.

B  Targets of Terrorism

Terrorism often targets innocent civilians in order to create an atmosphere of fear, intimidation, and insecurity. Some terrorists deliberately direct attacks against large numbers of ordinary citizens who simply happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

More selective terrorist attacks target diplomats and diplomatic facilities such as embassies and consulates; military personnel and military bases; business executives and corporate offices; and transportation vehicles and facilities, such as airlines and airports, trains and train stations, buses and bus terminals, and subways. Terrorist attacks on buildings or other inanimate targets often serve a symbolic purpose: They are intended more to draw attention to the terrorists and their cause than to destroy property or kill and injure persons, although death and destruction nonetheless often result.

Despite variations in the number of attacks from year to year, one feature of international terrorism has remained constant: The United States has been its most popular target. Since 1968 the United States has annually led the list of countries whose citizens and property were most frequently attacked by terrorists. Several factors can account for this phenomenon, in addition to America's position as the sole remaining superpower and leader of the free world. These include the geographical scope and diversity of America's overseas business interests, the number of Americans traveling or working abroad, and the many U.S. military bases around the world.

C  Weapons of Terrorism

Bombing historically has been the most common terrorist tactic. Terrorists have often relied on bombs because they provide a dramatic, yet fairly easy and often risk-free, means of drawing attention to themselves and their cause. Few skills are required to manufacture a crude bomb, surreptitiously plant it, and then be miles away when it explodes. Bombings generally do not require the same planning, organization, and knowledge required for more sophisticated operations, such as kidnapping, assassination, and assaults against well-defended targets.

Not surprisingly, the frequency of various types of terrorist attacks decreases in direct proportion to the complexity or sophistication required. Armed attacks historically rank as the second most-common terrorist tactic, followed by more complex operations such as assassination of heads of state or other well-protected people, kidnapping, hostage taking, and hijacking.

C1  Bombs

Bombs can consist of commercially produced explosives such as black powder, TNT, or dynamite; military supplies such as plastic explosives; or commercially available materials made into homemade explosives, such as fertilizer (ammonium nitrate) mixed with diesel fuel. Bombs can be either explosive or incendiary (designed to cause a fire upon impact). The most effective bombs typically employ a shaped charge (explosive) that channels the force of the blast in a specific direction. Bombs are detonated (made to explode) by a variety of means. Time-delay detonators use a clock, wristwatch, or other timing device. Remote-control detonators rely on radio or other electronic signals. In command-wire detonation a button is pressed or a plunger pushed to trigger the explosion.

C2  Firearms

Many terrorists have favored firearms, including automatic weapons such as assault rifles, submachine guns, and pistols; revolvers; sawed-off shotguns; hunting rifles with sniper sights, especially for assassination; and machine guns. During the 1990s, terrorists increasingly used rocket-propelled grenades and other armor-piercing projectiles in their attacks. These weapons, more powerful forms of the bazookas used in World War II (1939-1945), can penetrate successive layers of ceramic and reinforced-steel that protect vehicles used by the police and military forces. Another favorite terrorist weapon is the hand grenade or its homemade equivalent, the Molotov cocktail. This crude grenade is made by filling a glass bottle with gasoline, stuffing a rag down the bottle's neck, and igniting the rag just before tossing the bottle at a target.

C3  Chemical and Biological Weapons

Concern over terrorist use of chemical and biological weapons increased after the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway and the discovery in 2001 of anthrax spores mailed in the United States. Chemical weapons consist of toxic chemical compounds, such as nerve gas or dioxin, whereas biological weapons are living organisms or their toxins, such as anthrax spores.

Chemical weapons can be divided into five main classes: incapacitating, choking, blistering, blood, and nerve agents. Incapacitating agents are the only deliberately nonlethal chemical weapon. They include the tear gases and pepper sprays typically used by police and other law enforcement agencies for crowd control or to subdue a person temporarily. Choking agents attack the victim's respiratory system and hamper breathing, leading to death by suffocation. Blister agents produce large blisters on exposed skin that do not heal readily and therefore easily become infected. Blood agents, which victims absorb through breathing, enter the bloodstream and lead to convulsions, respiratory failure, and death as they shut down the body's functioning. Nerve agents are especially effective. They can be either inhaled or absorbed through the skin and quickly attack the central nervous system, obstructing breathing.

Biological agents are disease-carrying organisms that infect people through inhalation, contaminated food or water, or contact with the skin. They include bacterial toxins, such as anthrax, Clostridium botulinum (botulism), and salmonella; plant toxins such as ricin; and viruses, such as tularemia, yellow fever, and smallpox.

D  Demands of Terrorism

The demands of terrorist groups have ranged from such grand schemes as the total remaking of society along ideological lines to far narrower goals such as the release of hostages for money or the publication of a tract stating the terrorists' goals. During the 1970s and 1980s Marxist-Leninist groups such as the Baader-Meinhof Gang (later renamed the Red Army Faction) in West Germany and the Red Brigades in Italy waged campaigns to remake society along communist lines (see Communism). Radical Islamic groups have pursued the creation of devoutly religious theocracies (governments under divine guidance). These groups include Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization, the Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines, and the Armed Islamic Group in Algeria. Other groups seek narrower goals, such as the reestablishment of a national homeland within an existing country, as does the Basque separatist movement active in Spain, or the unification of a divided nation, as do Irish nationalists in Northern Ireland.

E  Impact of Terrorism

Although most terrorist groups have failed to achieve their long-term, strategic aims through terrorism, terrorism has on occasion brought about significant political changes that might otherwise have been impossible. Moreover, despite the claims of governments to the contrary, terrorism has sometimes also proven successful on a short-term, tactical level: winning the release of prisoners, wresting political concessions from otherwise resistant governments, or ensuring that causes and grievances that might otherwise have been ignored or neglected were addressed.

Terrorism was used by some nationalist movements in the anticolonial era just after World War II, when British and French empires in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East dissolved. Countries as diverse as Israel, Cyprus, Kenya, and Algeria owe their independence to these movements.

Evidence of terrorist success has come more recently in the examples of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness in Northern Ireland and Yasir Arafat in the Middle East. Adams, president of the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland, and his deputy McGuinness both won election to the British Parliament in 1997. Arafat, as leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), won international recognition for the PLO. Through tactical victories and political achievements, each of their organizations demonstrated how a series of terrorist acts can propel to world attention long-standing causes and grievances.

At the same time, for every terrorist success, there are the countless failures. Most terrorist groups never achieve any of their aims—either short-term or long-term. The life span of most modern terrorist groups underscores this failure. According to one estimate, the life expectancy of at least 90 percent of terrorist organizations is less than a year, and nearly half of the organizations that make it that far cease to exist within a decade of their founding.

Terrorism is designed to threaten the personal safety of its target audience. It can tear apart the social fabric of a country by destroying business and cultural life and the mutual trust upon which society is based. Uncertainty about where and when the next terrorist attack will occur generates a fear that terrorism experts call "vicarious victimization." A common response to this fear is the refusal to visit shopping malls; attend sporting events; go to the theater, movies, or concerts; or travel, either abroad or within one's own country.

The public's perception of personal risk, however, often does not dovetail with the observable dimensions of the terrorist threat. Even though the United States was the country most frequently targeted by terrorists from 1968 to 2000, fewer than 1,000 Americans were killed by terrorists, either in the United States or abroad, during that 32-year period, according to figures tabulated by the U.S. State Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Although more than three times that number were killed on September 11, 2001, the fact remains that the perception of the terrorist threat far outweighs the likelihood of being the victim of a terrorist attack. Nonetheless, terrorism's ability to engender so acute a sense of fear and unease is a measure of its impact on our daily life.

According to official Canadian government sources, no reliable list of terrorist incidents in Canada exists. An unofficial estimate, however, puts the number of Canadians killed by terrorists both in Canada and overseas since 1968 at roughly 294 persons. This figure includes 279 Canadian citizens among a total of 329 persons killed in 1985 when a bomb exploded aboard an Air India flight en route from Montréal, Québec, to London, England.

VI  COUNTERTERRORISM
A  Jurisdiction over Counterterrorism in the United States

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, is the primary agency responsible for directing the U.S. government's efforts to prevent and respond to terrorism. Its creation stemmed from criticism of how the U.S. government was organized to address the threat of terrorist attack in the United States. The act consolidated in one department dozens of existing government agencies that all share some responsibility for preventing and responding to terrorism, including the Coast Guard, the Border Patrol, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Transportation Security Administration. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), also transferred to DHS, retains responsibility for assisting in recovery from terrorist attacks.

Although the DHS unified many of the government's counterterrorism functions, others remain outside the department. As the nation's largest law enforcement agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) maintains responsibility for investigating acts of terrorism, and its counterterrorism division works to protect the country from terrorist activity. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) collects intelligence in foreign countries about terrorist activities. Other U.S. government agencies with counterterrorism responsibilities include the departments of State, Defense, Energy, Justice, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Agriculture, Commerce, Treasury, and Interior; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Nuclear Regulatory Agency; and the Environmental Protection Agency.

B  Jurisdiction over Counterterrorism in Canada

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) is the Canadian government institution with primary responsibility for the country's security and intelligence, and within this context, for counterterrorism. Because of concerns over the scope of surveillance powers accorded to CSIS, the Canadian government in 1984 created an oversight agency, the Security Intelligence Review Committee. Its primary responsibility is to act as an independent body to investigate complaints about the CSIS. The Solicitor General's Office oversees measures to improve airport security, to improve applications of technology in counterterrorism, and to enhance and strengthen cooperation between Canada and the United States against terrorism. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is the national law enforcement agency of Canada with powers of arrest and search and seizure of evidence relating to terrorist crimes.

C  Methods of Counterterrorism

At times of extraordinarily serious terrorist threat, many governments have accorded law-enforcement authorities special powers of arrest and detention. These powers have generally been temporary and were meant specifically to aid the government in capturing and prosecuting terrorists and eliminating extremist threats to society, while avoiding the imposition of unjustly severe measures that might infringe on civil rights and civil liberties. These expanded powers, however, have generated public concern and criticism of government, especially when coupled with the suspension of long-standing and cherished democratic protections such as habeas corpus and due process of law.

The United Kingdom provides a good example of a democratic country that has made extensive use of such emergency powers. Since 1973 the United Kingdom has enacted no less than three separate laws sanctioning extrajudicial measures. They include successive Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Acts, first signed in 1973; the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 1975; and the Terrorism Act 2000. These laws must be formally reconsidered and approved by Britain's Parliament on a regular basis. In various forms, they have allowed arrests without warrants (written authorizations) and prolonged detentions of terrorist suspects without the bringing of charges; broader police powers of search and arrest; trial by judge alone rather than by jury; denial of access to the media for banned groups; and the outright banning of organizations designated as subversive (intending to overthrow the government).

D  International Counterterrorism

International cooperation against terrorism historically has had a somewhat uneven record. During the early 1970s international cooperative efforts produced various aircraft antihijacking agreements, including the 1970 Hague Convention for the Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft and the 1971 Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation. Attempts were later made to extend these treaties to embrace a broader array of international antiterrorist agreements. Almost without exception, however, those efforts foundered because of the international community's failure to agree on a definition of terrorism.

Recent events suggest greater progress toward meaningful cooperation among governments in fighting terrorism. Even before September 11, 2001, the United Nations had taken important steps to punish Afghanistan's Taliban regime for providing sanctuary to Osama bin Laden. U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1267 (passed in 1999), 1333 (2000), and 1363 (2001) imposed sanctions on the Taliban for harboring bin Laden and failing to close down al-Qaeda terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. These resolutions demonstrated a change in international attitudes toward terrorism along with a commitment to isolate states that refuse to adhere to international norms.

On the day after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks the UN Security Council approved Resolution 1368, which reaffirmed the UN's commitment "to combat by all means threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts"; recognized the "inherent right of individual or collective self-defense in accordance with the [UN] Charter" against terrorism; and unequivocally condemned "in the strongest terms" the September 11 attacks. Two weeks later, Security Council Resolution 1373 was approved. It called for the prevention and suppression of terrorism financing and greater exchange of the operational information needed by UN member-states to fight terrorism.

VII  HISTORY
A  Early Terrorism

More than 2,000 years ago the first known acts of what we now call terrorism were perpetrated by a radical offshoot of the Zealots, a Jewish sect active in Judea during the 1st century ad. The Zealots resisted the Roman Empire's rule of what is today Israel through a determined campaign primarily involving assassination. Zealot fighters used the sica, a primitive dagger, to attack their enemies in broad daylight, often in crowded market places or on feast days—essentially wherever there were people to witness the violence. Thus, like modern terrorists, the Zealots intended their actions to communicate a message to a wider target audience: in this instance, the Roman occupation forces and any Jews who sympathized or collaborated with the invaders.

Between 1090 and 1272 an Islamic movement known as the Assassins used similar tactics in their struggle against the Christian Crusaders who had invaded what is today part of Syria. The Assassins embraced the same notions of self-sacrifice and suicidal martyrdom evident in some Islamic terrorist groups today. They regarded violence as a sacramental or divine act that ensured its perpetrators would ascend to a glorious heaven should they perish during the task.

B  The French Revolution to World War I

Until the French Revolution (1789-1799), religion provided the main justification for the use of terrorism. This situation changed, however, as nationalism, anarchism, Marxism (see Marx, Karl), and other secular political movements emerged during the 1800s to challenge divine rule by monarchs. Modern terrorism was initially antimonarchical, embraced by rebels and constitutionalists during the late stages of the French Revolution and in Russia by the People's Will (Narodnaya Volya) organization.

The People's Will was active between 1878 and 1881. Its revolutionary, antigovernment orientation became the model for future terrorists. The group selected targets that represented the state's oppressive instruments of power, and it embraced "propaganda by the deed," using the terrorist act to instruct. It sought thereby to educate the public about the inequities imposed on them by the state and to rally support for revolution. Among the terrorists' targets were the governor general of Saint Petersburg, the head of the tsarist secret police, and even the tsar himself. Tsar Alexander II was assassinated by a member of the People's Will in March 1881.

The assassination of Alexander II, in particular, inspired a group of political radicals who met in London four months later, in July 1881, to discuss how to achieve revolution that was worldwide, not just national. Their idea was to create an Anarchist International, also called the Black International after the black flag they adopted, to coordinate and support a global terrorist campaign that would overthrow both monarchies and elected governments of democratic states, including the United States. Between 1881 and the first decade of the 20th century, anarchists assassinated an American president (William McKinley); the president of France and Spain's prime minister; Empress Elisabeth of Austria and King Humbert I (Umberto I) of Italy.

Anarchist elements also became involved in, and were accused of fomenting, labor unrest in the United States. Sometimes these disputes turned bloody as a result of anarchist agitation. The most infamous incident was the 1886 Haymarket Square Riot in Chicago, where a bomb exploded in the midst of a demonstration by some 3,000 striking factory workers and their supporters. In the confusion that followed, both the police and armed demonstrators opened fire on one another. Seven policemen were killed and at least 60 others were wounded. At least four demonstrators also were killed, but no accurate tally of their death count exists.

An act of terrorism involving the assassination of a royal heir is credited with lighting the fuse that ignited World War I. On June 28, 1914, a young Bosnian Serb radical named Gavrilo Princip, seeking to free his country from Austrian rule, murdered Austrian archduke Francis Ferdinand, who was on an official visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia. The militant student group to which Princip belonged had close ties to the intelligence service and military forces of Serbia, Austria's archenemy in the Balkans. Like many contemporary state sponsors of terrorism, Serbia also provided arms, training, intelligence, and other assistance to a variety of revolutionary movements in neighboring nations.

C  Government Terror: From the 1920s On

During the 1920s and 1930s, terrorism became associated more with the repressive practices employed by dictatorial states than with the violence of nonstate groups like the anarchists. The word terrorism was used to describe the wanton violence and intimidation inflicted by the Nazi, fascist, and totalitarian regimes that respectively came to power in Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union. The repressive means these governments employed against their citizens involved beatings, unlawful detentions, torture, so-called death squads (often consisting of off-duty or plain-clothes security or police officers), and other forms of intimidation. Such practices by governments against their own citizens continue today.

Recent history records the use of such measures by the military dictatorships that took power in Argentina, Chile, and Greece during the 1970s. But these state-sanctioned acts of violence are more generally termed terror to distinguish them from violence committed by nonstate entities. As noted previously, the word terrorism is generally reserved for acts committed by groups outside government.

D  Anticolonialist Terrorism 

After World War II, terrorism reverted to its previous revolutionary associations. During the 1940s and 1950s, "terrorism" was used to describe the violence perpetrated by indigenous nationalist, anticolonialist organizations that arose throughout Asia, Africa, and the Middle East in opposition to continued European rule. Countries such as Israel, Kenya, Cyprus, and Algeria, for example, owe their independence at least in part to nationalist movements that used terrorism.

The most spectacular terrorist incident of the anticolonial period was the 1946 bombing of Jerusalem's King David Hotel, by a Jewish underground group known as the Irgun Zvai Le'umi (National Military Organization). The hotel was attacked because it served at that time as the military headquarters and offices of the British administration in Palestine. Ninety-one people were killed and 45 others injured: men, women, Arabs, Jews, and Britons alike. The bombing ranks among the most deadly terrorist incidents of the 20th century. The Irgun's commander at the time was Menachem Begin, a future prime minister of Israel and 1978 Nobel Peace Prize cowinner.

Begin is not alone among those once called terrorists who later ascended to the highest levels of power in their newly independent countries. Others include Kenya's president Jomo Kenyatta, Cyprus's Archbishop Makarios, and Algeria's president Ahmed Ben Bella.

E  The Late 1960s and 1970s 

During the late 1960s and 1970s terrorism assumed more clearly ideological motivations. Various disenfranchised or exiled nationalist minorities—as exemplified by the PLO—also embraced terrorism as a means to draw attention to their plight and generate international support for their cause. The PLO sought to create a state in what was historically known as Palestine: the land that became Israel in 1948 and the West Bank and Gaza Strip—territories occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. A Palestinian group, in fact, was responsible for the incident that is considered to mark the beginning of the current era of international terrorism. On July 22, 1968, three armed Palestinians belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked an Israeli El Al commercial flight en route from Rome, Italy, to Tel Aviv, Israel. Although commercial planes had often been hijacked before, this was the first clearly political hijacking. The act was designed to create an international crisis and thereby generate publicity.

Two years later, the PFLP staged an even more dramatic international incident, when it hijacked three commercial airliners—two American and one Swiss—although an attempt to seize a fourth plane, a British aircraft, was foiled. The planes were flown to a remote airstrip in Jordan and blown up after the passengers were evacuated, as television cameras recorded the incident for a worldwide audience.

The murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games provides one of the most notorious examples of terrorists' ability to bring their cause to world attention. Members of a Palestinian group called Black September seized the athletes at the Summer Games held in Munich, Germany. A global audience that had tuned in to watch the Olympics found themselves witnessing a grisly hostage situation that ended in a botched rescue attempt by German authorities in which both the terrorists and their captives were killed.

The PLO effectively exploited the publicity generated by the Munich hostage taking. In 1974 PLO leader Yasir Arafat received an invitation to address the UN General Assembly and the UN subsequently granted special observer status to the PLO. Within a decade, the PLO, an entity not attached to any state, had formal diplomatic relations with more countries (86) than did Israel (72)—the actual, established nation-state. The PLO would likely never have attained such recognition without the attention that its international terrorist campaign focused on the plight of Palestinians in refugee camps.

At a time of growing ethnic and nationalist awareness worldwide, other nationalist groups began to emulate the Palestinian example to increase recognition of their grievances. In Canada, for instance, a group of French-Canadian separatists kidnapped James Cross, the British trade commissioner to Québec, and Pierre LaPorte, Québec's Minister of Labor, in October 1970. The group called itself the Front de Libération de Québec (FLQ), or Quebec Liberation Front. Although Cross was released unharmed, LaPorte was brutally murdered. Fearing more widespread unrest, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the country's War Powers Act in Québec, which suspended civil liberties and accorded the army extraordinary powers to maintain order in the province and uproot the FLQ.

Also during the late 1960s and early 1970s, political extremists began to form terrorist groups that opposed American intervention in Vietnam (see Vietnam War) and what they claimed were the fundamental social and economic inequities of the modern capitalist liberal-democratic state. These extremists were drawn mostly from radical student organizations and left-wing movements then active in Latin America, Western Europe, and the United States. Terrorist groups such as the Baader-Meinhof Gang in Germany and the Red Brigades in Italy received training at Palestinian camps in the Middle East. Among Baader-Meinhof's most famous acts was the 1977 kidnapping and murder of Hanns Martin Schleyer, a wealthy Germany industrialist. The Red Brigades achieved their greatest notoriety for the kidnapping and execution of former Italian Premier Aldo Moro in 1978.

F  The 1980s and 1990s

Right-wing, or neo-fascist and neo-Nazi, terrorism movements also arose in many Western European countries and the United States during the late 1970s in response to the violence perpetrated by left-wing organizations. However, the right-wing groups lacked both the numbers and popular support that their left-wing counterparts enjoyed. Thus the violence of these right-wing groups—while occasionally quite deadly—was mostly sporadic and short-lived. The three most serious incidents connected to right-wing terrorists occurred in Bologna, Italy; Munich, Germany; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In Bologna a 1980 bombing of a crowded rail station killed 84 people and wounded 180 others. The date of the bombing coincided with the opening of a trial in Bologna of right-wingers accused of a 1976 train bombing. Also in 1980 a bomb planted by a member of a neo-fascist group exploded at Munich's Oktoberfest celebration, killing 14 and injuring 215 others. In 1995 white supremacists carried out a truck-bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which claimed the lives of 168 people.

Two of the most important developments in international terrorism during the 1980s were the rise in state-sponsored terrorism and the resurgence of religious terrorism. An example of an attack believed to be state sponsored was the attempted assassination in 1981 of Pope John Paul II by a Turkish citizen who allegedly was working for the Soviet and Bulgarian secret services. Other examples include the Iranian-backed car- and truck-bombings of the American embassy and U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983 and Libya's role in the in-flight bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.

Religion was used to justify and legitimize, if not actually encourage, terrorist violence in the assassinations of Egypt's president Anwar al-Sadat in 1981 by Islamic extremists and of Israel's prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1994 by a Jewish militant. In both cases the assassins considered it a religious duty to halt the peace efforts of their victims. Muslim terrorists carried out the bombing of New York City's World Trade Center in 1993, and an obscure Japanese religious sect was behind the 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway. Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization carried out simultaneous suicide bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998; a suicide attack in 2000 on a U.S. navy warship in the harbor of Aden, Yemen; and the suicide attacks of September 11, 2001.

G  September 11 Attacks 

The events of September 11, 2001, have no precedent in the history of terrorism. On that day 19 terrorists belonging to bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization hijacked four passenger aircraft shortly after they departed from airports in Boston, Massachusetts; Newark, New Jersey; and Washington, D.C. The first plane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City shortly before 9:00 am. About 15 minutes later, a second aircraft struck the south tower. Shortly afterward, a third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. A fourth aircraft crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania after its passengers, hearing by cell phone of the other hijackings, attempted to take control of the plane from the hijackers before they could strike another target. Before September 11, terrorists had killed no more than about 1,000 Americans, in the United States and abroad, during the modern era of international terrorism, which began in 1968. Approximately three times that number perished on September 11.

The attacks also showed a level of patience and detailed planning rarely seen among terrorist movements today. The hijackers stunned the world with their determination to kill themselves and take the lives of the hijacked passengers and crews as well as the lives of thousands of people working in or visiting the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The United States reacted by declaring a global war against terrorism. In the first phase of the war, U.S. forces launched a massive attack on al-Qaeda's training and logistics bases in Afghanistan and toppled Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement. The Taliban had provided bin Laden and his followers with sanctuary and an opportunity to plan and orchestrate their worldwide terrorist campaign. See also September 11 Attacks.

The September 11 attacks prompted intense scrutiny of why the United States government had failed to detect or thwart the attacks—and what it should do to prevent future attacks. In 2003 a congressional inquiry detailed systemic problems in the U.S. government's counterterrorism efforts prior to the attacks. It revealed how the terrorists had entered and remained in the United States without raising suspicions, and how key opportunities to disrupt the attack were missed because of poor communication between the FBI, CIA, and other government agencies.

In 2004 an independent, bipartisan commission released an exhaustive account of the circumstances surrounding the attacks. The 9/11 Commission, known in full as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, found "failures of imagination, policy, capability, and management" across the government. Government leaders, it said, had failed to fully appreciate the sophistication and lethality of al-Qaeda and the probability that the group would launch an attack on U.S. soil.

The commission recommended a three-pronged strategy for preventing future attacks: (1) continuing to root out and attack terrorists, (2) preventing the further growth of Islamist terrorism, and (3) developing better protections against terrorist attacks. As part of this strategy, the commission recommended several changes in government structure. It proposed the creation of a national intelligence director to coordinate all intelligence-gathering work. It also urged the establishment of a National Counterterrorism Center to analyze all terrorism-related intelligence and to plan counterterrorism operations.

VIII  THE FUTURE OF TERRORISM

Terrorism has existed for at least 2,000 years and is likely to remain a fixture on political agendas, both domestic and international, for years to come. Terrorism provides a means by which the weak can confront much stronger opponents. It therefore has an enduring appeal to the alienated and the disenfranchised, the aggrieved and vengeful, the powerless and the would-be powerful. In addition, it is relatively inexpensive to conduct while offering a vast potential payoff: the ability to evoke fear and alarm and inflict pain and suffering in the hope of compelling agreement to demands made.

Terrorism, moreover, is evolving constantly to overcome governmental countermeasures designed to defeat it. Terrorism thus involves an ongoing search for new targets and unidentified vulnerabilities in its opponents. This quest also raises the possibility that terrorists may pursue unconventional means of attack, such as chemical, biological, or radiological (radioactivity-spreading) weapons, or nuclear weapons. Future terrorist tactics could include cyberterrorism (sabotage using computers to destroy computer networks or systems) or electronic warfare that targets critical infrastructure, such as communications and power facilities, or societies in general.

Throughout the world, terrorism reinvents itself in new and more dangerous forms. As older groups are defeated or exhausted, more radical and more violent successors often take their place. Although terrorism likely can never be completely eradicated, countering its threat requires continuing vigilance. The highly individual nature of terrorism's causes, the diversity of its perpetrators, and the complexity of its fundamental characteristics present enormous challenges to those who must effectively counter this menace.

Contributed By:
Bruce Hoffman
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Suicide
I  INTRODUCTION

Suicide, intentional, self-inflicted death. A uniquely human act, suicide occurs in all cultures. People who attempt or complete suicide usually suffer from extreme emotional pain and distress and feel unable to cope with their problems. They are likely to suffer from mental illness, particularly severe depression, and to feel hopeless about the future.

II  PREVALENCE AND TRENDS

Suicide ranks as a leading cause of death worldwide, making it a significant public-health problem. In addition, some researchers believe official statistics underestimate the actual number of suicides.

READ: Leading cause of death in America
A  In the United States

In the United States, suicide ranks in the top ten causes of death, accounting for about 1.5 percent of all deaths. The annual number of suicides has averaged about 30,000 since the late 1980s and has consistently exceeded the annual number of homicides. The suicide rate (number of suicide deaths per 100,000 people) in the United States has remained relatively stable since the 1950s, ranging between 10 and 13 per 100,000 each year.

The suicide rate varies by age group. Of all age groups, the elderly have the highest suicide rates, particularly white men over the age of 75. The increased rate of suicide among elderly people appears mostly due to the debilitating effects of physical illness, loss of social roles and relationships, and untreated depression. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 24. Suicide rates for this age group almost tripled from 1950 to 1990, going from a rate of 4.5 in 1950 to a rate of 13.1 in 1990. The reasons for this increase are not entirely clear, but researchers have associated it with a greater prevalence of mental illness in young people, an increased use of drugs in this population, and the increased availability of firearms in the home. However, the suicide rate for youth aged 15 to 24 declined slightly after 1995, holding steady at about 10 per 100,000.

Suicide rates also vary between men and women and between ethnic groups. Men complete about 80 percent of all suicides, at a rate four times as high as women. However, women attempt suicide three times as frequently as men. Among men, whites have the highest suicide rate, followed by Native Americans. White men and women account for about 90 percent of all suicides.

B  In Other Countries

Canada's suicide rate has historically been similar to or slightly higher than that of the United States. More than 3,500 suicides are recorded in Canada each year, at a rate of about 13 per 100,000. Countries with the highest reported suicide rates include Lithuania, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Sri Lanka, and Latvia. Countries with the lowest reported suicide rates include Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Jordan, Egypt, and Syria. An accurate comparison of suicide rates among countries is difficult because of the unreliability of official suicide statistics and varying methods of certifying how deaths occurred.

III  METHODS

Methods of suicide vary from culture to culture. Hanging is the leading method of suicide worldwide. In the United States about 60 percent of all suicides are committed with firearms. In Canada, where guns are less accessible, about 30 percent of suicides are committed with guns. Poisoning, such as taking an overdose of medication, accounts for about 18 percent of U.S. suicides. Researchers believe that a small proportion of fatal single-occupant automobile accidents are actually suicides.

IV  CAUSES

Suicidal behavior has numerous and complex causes. The biology of the brain, genetics, psychological traits, and social forces all can contribute to suicide. Although people commonly attribute suicide to external circumstances—such as divorce, loss of a job, or failure in school—most experts believe these events are triggers rather than causes in themselves.

The majority of people who kill themselves suffer from depression that is often undiagnosed and untreated. Because depression so often underlies suicide, studying the causes of depression can help scientists understand the causes of suicide (see Depression: Causes). Other mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders may also contribute to suicidal behavior.

A  Biological Perspectives

Research indicates that suicidal behavior runs in families, suggesting that genetic and biological factors play a role in one's suicide risk. Among one community of Amish people in Pennsylvania, almost three-quarters of all suicides that occurred over a 100-year period were in just four families. Studies of twins reared apart provide some support for a genetic influence in suicide.

People may inherit a genetic predisposition to certain psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and alcoholism, that increase the risk of suicide. In addition, an inability to control impulsive and violent behavior may have biological roots. Research has found lower than normal levels of a substance associated with the brain chemical serotonin in people with impulsive aggressiveness.

B  Psychological Theories

In the early 1900s Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud developed some of the first psychological theories of suicide. He emphasized the role of hostility turned against the self. American psychiatrist Karl Menninger elaborated on Freud's ideas. He suggested that all suicides have three interrelated and unconscious dimensions: revenge/hate (a wish to kill), depression/hopelessness (a wish to die), and guilt (a wish to be killed).

An American psychologist considered to be a pioneer in the modern study of suicide, Edwin Schneidman, has described several common characteristics of suicides. These include a sense of unbearable psychological pain, a sense of isolation from others, and the perception that death is the only solution to problems about which one feels hopeless and helpless. Cognitive theorists, who study how people process information, emphasize the role of inflexible thinking or tunnel vision ("life is awful, death is the only alternative") and an inability to generate solutions to problems. According to psychologists, many suicide attempts are a symbolic cry for help, an effort to reach out and receive attention.

C  Sociological Theories

Most social scientists believe that a society's structure and values can influence suicide rates. French sociologist Émile Durkheim argued that suicide rates are related to social integration—that is, the degree to which an individual feels part of a larger group. Durkheim found suicide was more likely when a person lacked social bonds or had relationships disrupted through a sudden change in status, such as unemployment. As one example of the significance of social bonds, suicide rates among adults are lower for married people than for divorced, widowed, or single people.

Studies consistently show that although suicidal people do not appear to have greater life stress than others, they lack effective strategies to cope with stress. In addition, they are more likely than others to have had family loss and turmoil, such as the death of a family member, separation or divorce of their parents, or child abuse or neglect. The parents of those who attempt suicide have a greater frequency of mental illness and substance abuse than other parents. However, suicide occurs in all types of families, including those with little apparent turmoil.

Fluctuations in social and economic conditions frequently result in changes in the suicide rate. In the United States, for example, suicide rates declined during World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945), when unemployment was low, but increased during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when unemployment was high. Occasionally, people commit suicide as a form of protest against the policies of a particular government. Mass suicides, in which large numbers of people kill themselves at the same time, are extremely rare. The most famous mass suicides occurred in ad 73 at Masada in what is now southern Israel, when 960 Jews killed themselves rather than face enslavement by Roman captors; and in 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana, when more than 900 members committed suicide on the orders of their leader, Jim Jones.

V  PREVENTION

Because depression precedes most suicides, early recognition of depression and treatment through medication and psychotherapy are important ways of preventing suicide (see Depression: Treatment). In general, suicide prevention efforts aim to identify people with the highest risk of suicide and to intervene before these individuals become suicidal.

A  Risk Factors

Certain aspects of a person's life increase the likelihood that the person will attempt or complete suicide. Studies have shown that one of the best predictors of suicidal intent is hopelessness. People with a sense of hopelessness may come to perceive suicide as the only alternative to a pained existence. People with mental illnesses, substance-abuse disorders such as alcoholism or drug dependence, and behavioral disorders also have a higher risk of suicide. In fact, people suffering from diagnosable mental illnesses complete about 90 percent of all suicides. Physical illness also increases a person's risk of suicide, especially when the illness is accompanied by depression. About one-third of adult suicide victims suffered from a physical illness at the time of their death.

Other risk factors include previous suicide attempts, a history of suicide among family members, and social isolation. People who live alone or lack close friends may not receive emotional support that would otherwise protect them from despair and irrational thinking during difficult periods of life.

B  Signs of Suicidal Intent

About 80 percent of people who complete suicide give warning signs, although the warnings may not be overt or obvious. These usually take the form of talking about suicide or a wish to die; statements about hopelessness, helplessness, or worthlessness; preoccupation with death; and references to suicide in drawings, school essays, poems, or notes. Other danger signs include sudden, dramatic, and unexplained changes in behavior and what are called "termination behaviors." These behaviors include an interest in putting personal affairs in order and giving away prized possessions, often accompanied by statements of sadness or despair.

A person who observes these signs should ask the person in question whether he or she is thinking of suicide. If so, the observer should refer the person to a trained mental health professional to reduce the immediate risk of suicide and to treat the problems that led the person to consider suicide. Most suicides can be prevented because the suicidal state of mind is usually temporary.

C  Suicide Prevention Programs

In the United States, mental health professionals established the first major suicide-prevention telephone hotlines in the 1950s. Counselors or trained volunteers usually staff the hotlines around the clock. The staff members provide a listening ear to those in despair and tell callers where they can go to receive professional help. Although hotlines provide a valuable service to people in crisis, research has shown that hotlines help only those that call. Young women call more frequently than do men, who have a greater risk of suicide.

An increasing number of schools have suicide-prevention programs that train students, teachers, and school staff to recognize warning signs and tell them where to refer students at risk of suicide. These relatively new programs have not yet demonstrated their effectiveness at preventing youth suicide.

Another prevention method involves restricting access to means of killing oneself. Barriers that prevent people from jumping off bridges, for example, and restrictions on access to firearms have shown some effectiveness in reducing suicides. Such methods introduce a delay during which suicidal feelings and decisions may change or rescuers can physically intervene.

VI  IMPACT ON OTHERS

Suicide has a devastating emotional impact on surviving family members and friends. The intentional, sudden, and violent nature of the person's death often makes others feel abandoned, helpless, and rejected. A family member or friend may have the added burden of discovering the body of the suicide victim. Parents often suffer exaggerated feelings of shame and guilt. Because of the social stigma, or shame, surrounding suicide, survivors may avoid talking to others about the person who died, and others may avoid the survivors. Despite these extra problems, research has shown that suicide survivors go through the same grieving process as other bereaved people and eventually recover from grief. Support groups may be particularly helpful for grieving suicide survivors.

Some evidence suggests that highly publicized suicides—those of celebrities, for example—may cause vulnerable individuals, especially teens, to kill themselves. However, these findings are controversial and other studies have found no such imitative effect.

VII  ATTITUDES TOWARD SUICIDE

Many people feel uneasy talking about suicide, in part because of a social taboo on talking or learning about suicide. One popular myth is that suicide should not be mentioned around depressed people because it would plant the idea in their minds. But most mental health professionals agree that people who have suicidal wishes can benefit by talking about their feelings.

Attitudes toward suicide have varied widely throughout history. In ancient Egypt people considered suicide a humane way to escape intolerable conditions. For centuries in Japan people respected instances of hara-kiri (ritual suicide with a dagger) as a way for a shamed individual to make amends for failure or desertion of duty. During World War II Japanese kamikaze pilots considered it an honor to perform suicidal missions by crashing their airplanes into an enemy target. In India women were once expected to burn themselves on a funeral pyre after their husband died, a custom known as suttee.

In many other societies, however, suicide has been strongly condemned or made illegal. The Greek philosopher Plato strongly disapproved of suicide. In general, ancient Roman governments opposed suicide when the state stood to lose assets, such as soldiers and slaves. Suicide was clearly prohibited by Judaism unless one faced capture by an enemy, as in the mass suicides at Masada.

Christianity has generally condemned suicide as a failure to uphold the sanctity of human life. In the 4th century ad, Saint Augustine decreed suicide a sin. By the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church forbade the burial of suicide victims in consecrated ground. English law considered suicide to be a crime punishable by the forfeiture of goods and property to the government unless the suicide was the result of madness or illness. This criminal view of suicide emigrated to colonial America and was adopted by individual states.

Today, with more modern views of mental illness and concern for the rights of survivors, most major religions offer compassion and traditional funeral rites in cases of suicide. No U.S. state now considers suicide a crime. Helping someone complete suicide, however, is criminally punishable in several states.

See also Assisted Suicide; Euthanasia; Death and Dying; Thanatology.

Contributed By:
Alan L. Berman
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

MGA PRIBADONG KOTSE, MALAMANG GUMARAHE NANG MADALAS SANHI NG P7.00 EXCISE TAX SA GASOLINA

"Palagay ko'y maaaring hindi ipapasa ng mga oil firm ang buong bigat ng P7.00 per liter excise tax sa gasolina sa mga motorista," yan ang sabi ni 1-PACMAN Party-list Representative Michael Romero, ekonomistang may Ph.D. sa Political Economics.

"Alam ng oil firms na price sensitive ang Philippine market. Mag-iingat sila dahil ang gasoline price hike na P7.00 ay maaring magpababa ng demand para sa gasolina. Maaring hindi na dalasan ng mga motorista ang paggamit nila ng kanilang mga sasakyan," aniya.

"Batay sa mga dati nang ginagawa ng oil firms, maaari nilang utay-utayin ang taas presyo. Maaring P1.50 kada linggo ang dagdag presyo," dagdag ni Romero.

"Kung maisip ng mga ekonomista ng oil firms na mabigat masyado ang seven pesos, maaaring irekomenda nila na 50 percent hanggang 90 percent lang ng excise tax ang ipapasa sa konsyumer," aniya.

Nakikinita ni Rep. Romero na maaring magdesisyon ang maraming pamilya na sumakay sa TNVS o kaya ay sa mga point-to-point bus service para makatipid.

"Pagkakataon na rin ng DOTr at MMDA na buhayin ang Pantawid Pasada cash transfers para sa operators at drivers ng public utility jeepneys," dagdag ni Rep. Romero.

P2.50 kada litro ang ipinataw na excise tax ng TRAIN law sa pag-import ng diesel. (END)

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War on Terror: Abu Sayyaf Bandits Drifted to Bohol on April 11, 2017
I took this photo at the height of the war against the Abu Sayyaf in Bohol and it was accepted by Getty Images. One of the photos accepted by GettyImages was published by The New York Times on April 25 (or 26), 2017

By Sarwell Meniano
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) regional office here urged media persons in Eastern Visayas to help in the promotion of AmBisyon Natin 2040, which represents the vision and aspirations of the Filipino people for themselves and for the country in the next 25 years.

NEDA Regional Director Bonifacio Uy said people should always be reminded of their own aspirations and urged them to work with the government to achieve the long-term vision of a better living condition.

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"NEDA and the Regional Development Council believe of the media's power in advancing the development efforts aligned with the vision of Filipinos in the next 25 years," Uy said in a recent year-end gathering of journalists here.

The official emphasized the important role of their partnership with the media as marketing arm in disseminating information and government policies.
Read: Philippine Economy in 2007 or 10 Years Ago

Read: Philippine Economic Data in 2011

Read: Emerging economic hub in the Philippines

"We understand the significance of media in attaining progress by shaping public perception, thereby, putting plans into concrete actions," Uy said.

To help map out communication plans, the NEDA regional office hired staff with communication backgrounds and listed a broadcaster and officials from the Philippine Information Agency as members of the region's highest policy-making body.

AmBisyon Natin 2040 is the result of a long-term visioning process that began in 2015. More than 300 citizens participated in focus group discussions and close to 10,000 answered the national survey, according to NEDA.

Technical studies were prepared to identify strategic options for realizing the vision articulated by citizens.

The exercise benefitted from the guidance of an Advisory Committee composed of the government, private sector, academe, and civil society.

Under the vision, all Filipinos by 2040 will enjoy a stable and comfortable lifestyle, secured in the knowledge that each one has enough for their daily needs and unexpected expenses, plan and prepare for their own and their children's future.

The blueprint's goal is for Filipino families to live together in a place of their own, and have the freedom to go where they desire, protected and enabled by a clean, efficient, and fair government. (PNA)

TAXPAYERS KAILANGAN PA RING MAG-FILE NG ITR ALINSUNOD SA LUMANG TAX LAW 

Press Release - Pinaalalahanan ni Leyte 2nd District Representative Henry Ong ang mga individual income taxpayers: hindi saklaw ng bagong Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act ang 2017 income. 

"Ang kinita at sweldo nating mga taxpayer nitong katatapos lang na taon ay bubuwisan alinsunod sa lumang batas kapag nag-file na tayo income tax returns o ITR bago ang deadline sa April 16, 2018. Kaya naman, kailangan pa rin natin ng withholding tax certificate para sa inyong 2017 ITR," ani Ong, kasapi ng House Committee on Economic Affairs.

Samantala, nakasaad naman sa Section 13 ng Republic Act 10963 o TRAIN Act na ang mga kumikita ng hindi lalagpas sa P250,000 sa buong taon simula 2018 ay hindi na kailangan pang mag-file ng ITR. 

Kaso lang, may nakikita si Ong na magiging problema ng ilang mamamayan sa 2019 tax filing season.

"Kailangan kasi ang ITR bilang document requirement sa loans, negosyo, o iba pang bagay na kailangan ng proof of income. Kaya naman sana ngayon pa lang makagawa na ng paraan ang BIR para may substitute sa requirement para dito," wika ni Ong. (END)

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For the first time, the celebration of New Year's Eve in this city did not record any incident or casualty due to firecrackers, and the police credit President Rodrigo Duterte's Executive Order (EO) No. 28.

Based on the information gathered by the police from hospitals in the city, no firecracker- or firework-related injury was brought for treatment on or before the eve of the New Year celebrations.

"We checked with the hospitals, particularly Ospital ng Palawan, and no one was brought for any firecracker-related injury. The celebration of the New Year was really peaceful in Puerto Princesa," said Police Sr. Insp. Pearl Lamban-Marzo, spokesperson of City Police Office (CPO), Monday morning. 

"We think President Duterte's executive order really helped a lot in preventing any firework-related injury. We could say it's generally a peaceful celebration of the New Year," she added.

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Except for the confiscation of two pieces of "boga" (traditional noisemaker canon made from PVC pipe using piezo igniter) and pieces of five-star from young boys, no other seizure of any banned firework was recorded.

"There were still violations, meaning people still using banned fireworks inside their home perimeters, but generally, no injury was recorded. The confiscations of the 'boga' were from kids who probably do not know they're banned," she added.

The CPO thanked city barangay officials and residents for heeding the EO that was issued by President Duterte in June 2017.

The EO regulates the use of firecrackers and pyrotechnic devices. (PNA)

By Erwin Nicavera

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The development of the 38-hectare economic zone (ecozone) in Silay City, Negros Occidental is expected to start early this year.

Roberto Montelibano, president of Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), said before the New Year they are waiting for the final valuation for the site.

The property was previously owned by Rolando Arnaiz, a member of the MBCCI.

Montelibano said the ecozone is mainly for light manufacturing. It is now open to interested investors, he added.

The property adjacent to the Bacolod-Silay airport in Negros Occidental has been registered by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) as a special ecozone.

Dubbed the Bacolod-Silay Ecozone and Technopark, the site in Barangay Bagtic has been acquired by the Golden Dragon Agri-Aqua Corporation.

The signing of the registration agreement was held in September last year between PEZA Director General Charito Plaza and Golden Dragon Agri-Aqua Corporation president Eric Hernaez at the PEZA office in Taguig City.

The registration is provided under Proclamation No. 315 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte on September 14, pursuant to Republic Act No. 7916, or the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995.

Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, executive director of the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology, who witnessed the signing had said the Bacolod-Silay Ecozone and Technopark is the 20th presidentially proclaimed ecozone in Bacolod City, and the first mixed-use zone in Negros Occidental.

"The ecozone will now allow the province to attract various types of locators from the information technology, manufacturing, tourism, agro-industrial, retirement villages, and other industries," she added.

Porferio Montesclaros, a trustee of the Mactan Export Processing Zone Chamber of Exporters and Manufacturers, then said the development will spread the economic boom of Silay City and Negros Occidental.

Montescarlos said that to make this happen, there should be a collaboration between the government and the private sector.

For her part, Plaza thanked Hernaez for registering with PEZA as she encouraged the firm's top official to work hard in attracting investors to create jobs in the countryside, the press statement added. (PNA)

By Nanette Guadalquiver
Several police stations in Negros Occidental seized and destroyed illegal firecrackers on New Year's eve as shown in posts in their respective social media accounts.

Around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, personnel of Escalante City Police Station in the north, together with a team of from the Bureau of Fire Protection, destroyed the confiscated items in front of the station.

Late afternoon of the same day, a team from Kabankalan City Police Station in the south seized firecrackers without permits in Barangay Magballo.

Personnel led by Senior Inspector Edgar Tonico Jr., deputy chief of police for administration, found the illegal firecrackers with an estimated street value of PHP30,000 around 3 p.m.

The firecrackers included small "trianggulos," "five star," "super lolo" "bawang," "camara," whistle bomb, "kwitis," and "katay." The confiscated items were also destroyed.

Around 10:30 p.m., In Manapla town, also in the north, the police led by officer-in-charge Senior Inspector Julius Caesar Colado took possession of the firecrackers sold outside the designated firecracker selling area in Barangay 2.

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The Philippine National Police had earlier identified Piccolo, Pop Pop, Goodbye Philippines or Crying Bading, Yolanda or Goodbye Napoles, Watusi, Pla-Pla and Giant Kuwitis as illegal firecrackers.
These firecrackers, except for watusi, have explosives content of more than 0.2 grams. (PNA)

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The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) has tied up with the Visayas State University (VSU) to conduct impact evaluation studies of anti-poverty farm-related projects in the region carried out by previous administrations.

NEDA Regional Director Bonifacio Uy said the agency issued a notice to VSU to proceed with the impact evaluation studies last December 19.

The studies will cover the Agri-Pinoy Livestock Program in three Samar provinces by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and by the Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Phase III (ARISP-III) in the entire region under the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

The studies, which will evaluate both the DA and the DAR projects carried out during the previous administrations, will run for 10 month to a year.

"The objective is to assess the contribution of the programs in achieving poverty reduction and inclusive growth. It will also provide a reference for policymakers in the appraisal and approval of future similar development projects," he said in a mobile phone interview.

The livestock program was designed to increase livestock and poultry inventory in Samar Island by at least 5 percent from 2012 to 2016, and meat and egg production by at least 3 percent per year for the same period based on 2011 inventory and production.

Backed by the Japanese government, ARISP III, which kicked off in 2007, involved the provision of Rural Infrastructures such as: irrigation facilities, farm-to-market roads, post-harvest facilities, and rural water supply systems.

The ARISP aims to increase average household income by at least 30 percent and improve productivity of agrarian reform communities nationwide by providing integrated package of support services. (PNA)

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DAGUPAN CITY -- At least 25 people, including 12 children, were hurt when baby rockets also known as "kwitis" misfired during a community fireworks display in Barangay Calmay here on New Year's Eve.

All the injured were transported by boat across the Calmay river and then rushed by ambulances of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council to the Region 1 Medical Center (R1MC) for treatment.

Calmay is one of the island barangays of Dagupan.

Twenty-four of the injured were admitted to R1MC as out-patients and one was hospitalized after doctors found blood coming out from one of his ears.

All those injured were to watch a fireworks display in their village when the baby rocket bombs failed to go up in the air but instead fired horizontally, hitting the crowd.

Before this incident, two others were treated for firecracker eye-related injuries at R1MC.

Before noon of Monday, the number of firecracker victims rushed to R1MC was placed at 40 coming from various parts of Pangasinan.

Ten victims -- either blast, burns, and amputation -- were brought to the same hospital from midnight to 7 a.m. of New Year's Day. (PNA)

DAVAO CITY -- A few minutes after welcoming the year 2018, at least 50 houses at Barangay Wilfredo Aquino, Agdao here were gutted down by fire past midnight Monday.

Based on initial investigation of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), the fire, which occurred at the corner of Lakatan and Marang streets, Jereza Subdivision in Barangay Wilfredo Aquino started around 12:15 a.m.

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Barangay captain Leo Aquino said residents were in the middle of merrymaking when the fire broke out.

"During that time, residents were enjoying their respective parties and according to my purok leader Neneng Guerra, the fire started on the second floor of one of the houses here," Aquino said.

Despite the prompt response of fire-fighters, houses burned down right away since the structures were made of light materials.

READ: List of those who died in NCCC Mall fire in Davao City

"Firemen immediately responded after 10 minutes of call but the problem was they cannot save the houses because the fire spread right away about 10 minutes," he said.

BFP Davao City officer-in-charge, Chief Insp. Joycelyn Grant, said the fire originated from the second floor of the house of a certain Flora Rodriguez.

Grant said a witness, identified as Lauro Lim, saw the house of Rodriguez in flames while people were out on the streets to welcome the New Year.

Probers have yet to determine the cause of the blaze.

"Kung sino man ang mananagot, kakasuhan natin (We will file a case once we will identify the suspect)," Grant said.

There was no reported casualty nor injury in the incident. It was declared under control at around 1:02 a.m. (Armando Fenequito Jr/PNA)

IMUS CITY, Cavite – Two persons were hit by stray bullets from indiscriminate firing while nine others were injured by assorted firecrackers in various parts of Cavite while celebrating and welcoming the New Year 2018 on Monday.

Cavite police identified a victim of stray bullet as Marilyn Bationg, 47, resident of Malagasang 1-A in Imus City, who was hit on her foot while swinging at a hammock around 6:40 p.m. on New Year's eve.

Police said Bationg, while waiting for other family members for the revelry, felt her foot went numb and blood oozed from the bullet wound on her foot.

READ: Massacre in Cavite, Philippines

Family members rushed her to the Kalayaan Hospital in Kawit, but was later transferred to the Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo Hospital in Trece Martires City where she underwent surgery due to the bullet that entered through her foot and exited near her knee.

READ: Crime data in Cavite in 2011
READ: Widow raped, murdered in Cavite

The other stray bullet victim was identified as 22 year-old Jhon Samarro Clenn, a vendor and a resident of Phase 4 Barangay Paliparan 3 in Dasmariñas City.

City Police Officers SPO1 Sean G Francisco and SPO1 Michael Dela Pena reported that Clenn fired his gun indiscriminatedly outside his home  while creating alarming and scandalous behavior at about 3 a.m. Monday.

A De La Salle United Medical Center security guard confirmed to the Dasmariñas City Police Station that Clenn actually discharged his improvised shotgun, locally know as "sumpak," which accidentally hit  his left arm.

Police arrested Clenn in the hospital where he was confined. The arresting officer failed to recover the suspect's improvised shotgun. (Rogelio Limpin/PNA)

LAOAG CITY -- Except for eight firecracker-related injuries, there were no reports of indiscriminate firing and stray bullet victims in Ilocos Norte in bidding goodbye to 2017, police here said Monday.

In a press statement released on New Year's Day, Police Chief Insp. Dexter Diovic Corpuz, chief public information officer of the Ilocos Norte Police Provincial Office, said the Philippine National Police (PNP) has succeeded in keeping the province safe and generally peaceful in welcoming 2018.

"Overall, this year's celebration of New Year is considered peaceful.

This was made possible through the concerted efforts of the PNP, Community and supportive friends from the media who helped in the massive dissemination of the Executive Order No. 28," said Corpuz.

READ: Firecracker injury in Baguio City
READ: Firecracker injury in Laguna in 2018 New Year Celebration

President Rodrigo Duterte issued Executive Order No. 28 which provides regulation and control of the use of firecrackers and other pyrotechnics devices.

This is the third straight year that Ilocos Norte has zero incident of stray bullet. The last reported two victims were in 2015.

For indiscriminate firing, this is the first time that there were no reported cases. There were three in 2015 and one case in 2016, the statement said.

However, the number of firecracker-related injuries rose as eight were reported for 2017, six for 2016 and 19 for 2015.

The eight minor firecracker-related injuries during the 2017 new year's celebration included Edilburg Bailon, 33, a construction worker from Bulbulalala, Vintar, Ilocos Norte who was reportedly intoxicated when he ignited a firecracker given by a friend. He sustained minor right ear injury.

Another reported injury involved Joseph Tacubong, 27 of Nagsanga, Pasuquin town who injured his right hand when he picked up a piccolo which suddenly exploded. (PNA)

READ: Firecracker injury in Bulacan in 2011 New Year

SAN PABLO CITY, Laguna – Six children, 6 to 13 years old, suffered minor burns due to some firecrackers that went haywire while joining the New Year revelry in the various barangays shortly after midnight Sunday here.

City chief of police Supt. Gil T. Torralba reported that three of the injured victims were rushed to the Laguna Provincial District Hospital while the three others were treated at the San Pablo City (SPC) Community General Hospital.

Torralba said the four children were injured when the "kwitis"  firecrackers failed to ascend sky-high and instead exploded near them.

READ: Tetanus infection due to firecracker injury

He said that the two other child victims suffered light burns when hit by the sparks as they were dazzled by the lighted fireworks and went nearer to the handheld-type lighted "lusis" (sparklers).

The six injured children were later sent home after their medical treatment. (Ruben E. Taningco/PNA)

By Lilian Mellejor
Davao Region has recorded zero casualties during the New Year's revelry.

The Police Regional Office (PRO) 11 reported that as of 9 a.m Monday, PRO 11 recorded "negative" incidents of stray bullet, indiscriminate firing, and fire or burning incident due to firecrackers.

There were no reported major injuries in relation to use of firecrackers.

In Davao City, there were no firecrackers and no "Torotot Festival" to welcome the New Year.

But for 17 years now since the passage of the city ordinance banning firecrackers and pyrotechnics in 2002, Dabawenyos have mastered how to celebrate the New Year safely.

Davao City maintained its record of zero casualties during New Year's revelry.

At the stroke of midnight on January 1, Dabawenyos welcomed the year by blowing horns, playing loud music, banging pans and pots, honking of cars and tying small cooking pots and tins to their cars as they moved around the neighborhood.

The Torotot Festival and other major Pasko Fiesta activities were deferred by Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio after two tragedies hit Davao City -- the flooding on the night of December 22 when the Davao River overflowed in 25 barangays due to Tropical Storm "Vinta" and the fire that gutted the city's home-grown New City Commercial Center (NCCC) Mall on December 23 that left 37 dead and one still missing.

Davao City has been holding aTorotot Festival every December 31 since 2013.

Duterte-Carpio said the cancellation of the activities is the Dabawenyos way of sympathizing with the victims of the flood and fire incident.

It was, however, unfortunate that a fire broke out in Barangay Aquino in Agdao District at the height of the New Year's revelry.

The fire incident which started 12:10 a.m, displaced 51 homeowners, 25 renters, 29 sharers and 20 boarders.

The rest of Davao region also registered negative in casualties.

This year, President Rodrigo Duterte issues Executive Order 28 regulating the use of firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices.

Aligned with the law, most municipalities in Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, and Compostela Valley have not totally banned the use of firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices but they had designated areas for firecrackers and fireworks display.

Other Davao local government units have copied Davao City's law like Sta. Cruz and Hagonoy in Davao del Sur; Sto. Tomas, Carmen, B.E Dujali and Panabo City in Davao del Norte.

Police authorities factored in the cooperation of the people for the zero casualties.

"Our goal is to have a safe and peaceful celebration of the New Year, and this would not be possible without the dedication among our personnel together with the local government units and other agencies like Department of Health, Department of Interior and Local Government,Bureau of Fire and of course public's cooperation," said Chief Superintendent Manuel Gaerlan, the Director of PRO 11.

Gaerlan, however, announced the PRO 11 still maintains its high alert status and will continue to monitor and provide overall security to maintain safety and peace and order for the whole region. (PNA)

HON. MICHAEL "MIKEE" L. ROMERO, Ph. D.
1-PACMAN Party-list
Assistant Majority Leader
Vice Chair, Youth & Sports Development and 2 other Committees

P24 BILYON PARA SA TAX REFORM CASH TRANSFER PROJECT, PASOK SA LANDBANK BUDGET

"Nakapaloob sa budget ng Landbank sa 2018 ang P24.488 billion para sa Tax Reform Cash Transfer Project nito. Kasama rin sa pondo ng Landbank at ng DBP ang tig-P1.33 billion para sa pautang sa mga PUV operator na susunod sa PUV modernization program ng Department of Transportation," pagsisiwalat ni 1-PACMAN Party-list Representative Michael Romero.

Binigyang-pansin yan ni Romero bilang kasapi ng House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries upang "malaman ng publiko ang mahalagang papel ng Landbank at Development Bank of the Philippines sa buhay ng mga mahihirap at mga PUV operator."

Hinihintay na lamang ng Kongreso ang "project mechanics and components" ng PUV modernization project mula sa DOTr, DBP, and Landbank.

Babalangkasin naman DSWD at Landbank ang guidelines para sa P24.488 billion subsidy para sa mga mahihirap. Matagal nang magkatuwang ang DSWD at Landbank sa pagpapatupad sa 4Ps program.

Ipinaalala rin ni Romero na ang forecast ng Bangko Sentral para sa buong taon ng 2018 ay inflation na hindi lalagpas sa 4 percent at ang inaasahan na pagtaas ng mga presyo ng bilihin dahil sa TRAIN law ay hindi pangmatagalan.  (END)

Background: Rep. Michael Romero has filed five (5) bills related to Land Bank of the Philippines

HB04353 AN ACT INCREASING THE ALLOTMENT OF THE REGULAR LOAN PORTFOLIO OF THE LAND BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES (LBP) FOR FINANCING AGRICULTURAL PROJECTS IN PURSUANT WITH THE PROVISIONS OF R.A. NO. 10000, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS "THE AGRI-AGRA REFORM CREDIT ACT OF 2009", AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

HB04472 AN ACT MANDATING THE LAND BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES (LBP) TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR THE "AGRICULTURAL CREDIT POLICY COUNCIL (ACPC)" TO ASSIST THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (DA) IN SYNCHRONIZING ALL CREDIT POLICIES AND PROGRAMS, DEFINING ITS FUNCTIONS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

HB04473 AN ACT MANDATING THE LAND BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES (LBP) TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR THE "AGRO-INDUSTRY MODERNIZATION CREDIT AND FINANCING PROGRAM (AMCFP)" TO IMPLEMENT CREDIT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS, DEFINING ITS FUNCTIONS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

HB04480 AN ACT MANDATING THE LAND BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES (LBP) TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL FUND ALLOTMENT FOR THE FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF RA NO. 3844 OTHERWISE KNOWN AS "THE AGRICULTURAL LAND REFORM CODE", AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

HB06735 AN ACT MANDATING THE LAND BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES (LBP) TO FOCUS ON ITS CHARTER TO ALLOCATE SIXTY (60) PERCENT OF ITS TOTAL LOAN PORTFOLIO IN SOLELY PROVIDING SUPPORT AND FINANCING SERVICES FOR FARMERS AND FISHERFOLKS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, TO PROMOTE INCLUSIVE GROWTH AND IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE ESPECIALLY IN THE COUNTRYSIDE THROUGH THE DELIVERY OF INNOVATIVE SCHEMES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Reference: http://www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/NEP2018/BSGC/C.pdf

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. (PRWEB) DECEMBER 31, 2017

This Spring, Dr. Benjamin Burris, Founder of Smile for a Lifetime (S4L) , announced his intent to donate his business interest in the MKS Forum to the Smile for a Lifetime Foundation. On Saturday, October 28th, S4L's interest was sold to the managing partner of MKS,Trudenta and a check for $100K was presented by Chip Fitchner, TruDenta Marketing Director to Dr. Don Montano, S4L National Board President, Jeff Behan, S4L National Vice President and MIchelle Von Fange S4L National Executive Director.

"With this check, we can raise our level of support to our current chapters, recruit additional doctors increasing our service throughout North America and change many more lives through the gift of a smile! " President Montano shared, "we are truly grateful to Dr. Burris for his generous gift and to TruDenta for their purchase.

The Smile for a Lifetime Foundation has chapters in 45 states and serves in 5 Canadian provinces as Smile for a Lifetime Canada. To date over 4500 children have received orthodontic scholarships and have committed over 40,000 hours of service to "pay it forward" in their communities. For more information please visit http://www.s4l.org.

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New Year's resolutions come and go, but a resolve to get sober is accessible and sustainable throughout the year. Experts working in addiction treatment and the recovery community contribute actionable ways to get sober in the new year with minimal or no cost.

1. Meetings! - " '90 in 90' is a popular phrase in the recovery community," responds Kate Toomey, Manager of True Intentions Sober Living in Tarzana, California. Commit to 90 meetings, either Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings in 90 days. "This may sound a bit overwhelming" admits Toomey, "... but when we're honest, we acknowledge that we're consumed with drinking or using." In contrast, Toomey encourages the recovery community to be consumed with 12 step meetings. After all, Toomey says, it's easy to find a meeting and they've helped people get and stay sober for decades.

To get the most out of meetings, arrive fifteen minutes early to enjoy fellowship, offers Jennifer Rosa, Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor for Oaks of Hope Addiction Treatment Center in Santa Clarita, CA. First timer's to a meeting should accept a newcomer's chip. Share in the meeting and ask for help finding a sponsor. When the meeting ends, don't leave. Stick around to talk to others who are sober and more than willing to help.

2. Get a sponsor - Be accountable. "Check in with your sponsor daily even if it's just to say hello," says Rosa. A sponsor can define and guide in applying the literature to life. "I've personally seen a high school dropout define the 12 steps to a doctor," says Toomey. "The doctor is still sober today." A sponsor will make introductions to other members of the 12 step community.
Antonio Sabato Jr., Candidate for Congress and Co-Founder of True Hope Calling, an addiction helpline, explains, "Twelve step members depend on helping newly sober people in order to stay sober themselves, so don't be bashful. Ask for help. Identify as a new comer by raising a hand. They are there to help without profit or judgement."

3. Use the "Buddy System" - In early sobriety it is very important to not feel alone, advises Rosa. The buddy system also fosters accountability. Why not get a sober exercise buddy? Ask a sober friend to workout daily together or to join in a new hobby, activity, or skill. Learn flower arranging, stained glass, rock climbing, yoga, cooking, or dancing.

Martial arts can be used to instill self confidence and mental strength to addicts and alcoholics in recovery. According to Brandon McVicar, Founder and Chief Instructor for Fighting For Recovery, a martial arts program that supports addiction recovery, "... adhering to a complete 'mind, body, and soul' philosophy, ...strive to build ...the warrior mentality needed to regain control of their lives."

Try something new. Take a class, or learn a new skill from Youtube. Settle on specific about days and times to get together. Calendar the dates and stick to them. Practice the new hobby or skill daily. Call or text each other often to share daily progress and encouragement.

4. Set health and wellness goals - Set long term and short term goals to achieve throughout the year, suggests Nick Warner, Clinical Director for Oaks of Hope Addiction Treatment. Get in the gym three times a week. Establish a healthy diet routine. Spend one night a month volunteering. Begin daily meditation. Aspire to run a ten minute mile, challenges Warner, then a six minute mile. Keep a daily journal of accomplishments, concerns and progress, adds Rosa, "Use the journal to process all thoughts no matter how crazy they may seem."

5. Ask for help - Being honest with self and others acknowledges the seriousness of addiction. Reconnect with sober friends and family. Call any number of helplines available, such as The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). According to Laurence Marinelli, CEO and Co-Founder of True Hope Calling, "Helplines should always be of service at no cost to the caller." Marinelli cautions that it's important to find out if Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) is needed. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), some drinkers that consume alcohol in quantities outside healthy limits will develop an Acute Alcohol Withdrawal (AAW) syndrome when they abruptly stop or substantially reduce their alcohol consumption. Deaths and seizures while detoxing off of alcohol and Benzodiazepines (Xanax) have been documented by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). If a helpline counselor's assessment leads to the necessity for medication assisted treatment, he should refer to addiction treatment providers that accept the caller's insurance plan. Marinelli adds that without insurance and limited resources, any helpline counselor should provide referrals to sliding scale or no cost addiction treatment providers.

"Most importantly, buckle in for a beautiful journey of recovery," offers Sabato, "We don't do this alone. We lean into each other. Sobriety is a gift of life. The contrast from dependency to freedom is beautiful."

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Philippine Army's 3rd Infantry Division Commander, Maj. Gen. Jon Aying, recently met the Muslim leaders in the province to tackle important issues on the prevention of any criminality, illegal drugs, and terrorism.


In their meeting, Muslim leader Sultan Tate raised some concerns that call for the army official's facilitation to address the issues.

MGen. Aying disclosed some issues raised by Tate which both agreed to iron out.

Issues cited include the security of Muslim leaders subjected to harassment by terrorist leaders from Mindanao.

While Mindanao is still under Martial Law, the movement of goods of some Muslim businessmen hampers the delivery of products from Mindanao to Negros Oriental or vice-versa.

Moreover, MGen. Aying said that Tate also asked to reduce incidents of possible harassment of Muslim brothers at checkpoints and on-the-spot inspections in their residences.

With this, MGen. Aying said measures will be done to immediately address the issues.

"Our immediate action here is to come up with an initial meeting with the core group between the PNP and the military and after that we can go to the next step which is to expand the meeting with the stakeholders including the local government and NGOs and Muslim communities," said Aying.

After the initial meeting, Aying said they will create a Technical Working Group to come up with specific programs and projects so that these three agenda will be addressed with focus programs that can be implemented effectively and sustainably.

"This is to improve the relationship between the local government with Muslim communities and with law enforcers that include the PNP and the military," he added. (jct/PIA7-Negros Oriental)

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The low pressure area (LPA) moving towards the Eastern Visayas and Caraga may hit ground either tomorrow night or Tuesday morning, DOST-Pagasa said on Sunday.

In 48 hours after forecasted landfall, Weather Specialist Ariel Rojas said, the LPA may strengthen into a tropical depression (to be named Agaton) while moving out of the Sulu Sea. 

As a tropical depression, Rojas said the weather system may cause moderate to heavy rainfall over Visayas and Mindanao that may trigger floods and landslides. But some parts of these areas have been experiencing rains already before the entry of the LPA into the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).

Rojas said the other cause of rainfall in the Visayas and Bicol region is the prevailing tail end of a cold front while trough extention of the incoming LPA may influence the scattering of rainshowers and thunderstorms over Northern Mindanao, Davao Regions and Caraga. 

The location of the LPA, as estimated by DOST-Pagasa as of 3 pm, Sunday was 850 kilometers east of Surigao City. 

Local governments in areas where the LPA (or tropical depression) is expected to pass were notified and preparing preventive measures.

DOST-Pagasa Weather Services Division Chief Esperanza Cayanan have been requesting the public to keep track of their latest forecasts and coordinate with their local governments for contigencies as well. (LP/PIA-Mimaropa)

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DAVAO CITY – Except for the first few weeks after martial law was first declared in Mindanao due to negative impression, Davao Region's trade and investments recovered even more robust until 2018.

"I think initially we thought this (martial law) would be detrimental to growth but because investors see that the President (Rodrigo Duterte) is serious in terms of bringing about lasting change, their interest remains bullish regarding Mindanao. In fact, more business delegations have expressed their interest in visiting Davao next year," said Ronald Go, president of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII).

The DCCCII, which has over 300 businessmen and firms as members, has supported President Rodrigo Duterte's declaration of martial law to resolve old conflicts especially in Mindanao.

"Our president is unlike those in the past who perceived the threats in Mindanao as just a petty disturbance that could be taken care of with little money. They tried to use band aid fixes for wounds which were long infected," Go said, emphasizing that the Philippines cannot move forward as a nation until these are handled with seriousness.

Go pointed out that other Asian nations became progressive once the elements which tried to sow division among them were dealt with decisively.

"We need to band together to quell any movement that seeks to divide us as a nation. If martial law is a means to that end then I think we all need to be patient and let things take their course," Go added.

Go's prospects for the region is confirmed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) XI based on statistics as a good indicator that "it's business as usual in Davao."

DTI is bullish to overshoot targets at the end of the year. DTI XI regional director Ma. Belenda Ambi pointed out that peace and security is a strategy to develop industries.

She said that despite the President's extended martial law from July to December, no significant change had been observed that caused the business climate to deteriorate.

While martial law had an impact on the tourism industry, Ambi said the sector quickly recovered few weeks after its declaration in May.

In fact, Ambi said, hotels were always fully-booked. "Our martial law is different. There is no fear that the military will abuse," she said.

There could be increase in the prices of commodities but these are still within the suggested price set by DTI, Ambi added.

Investments

In its preliminary annual report, DTI XI reported that investments in Davao region hit P7.62 billion as of the third quarter of the year with Davao City registering with the biggest total investments at P4.9 billion.

Davao del Sur's registered investments is pegged at PhP1.78 billion followed by Davao del Norte with P546.81 million and Compostela Valley province with P386.74 million.

Davao Region's top ten Board of Investments (BOI)-registered companies as of the third quarter are San Miguel Foods in Davao del Sur; Communities Davao, Inc in Davao City; 8990 Housing Development Corporation in Davao City; Davao Corrugated Packaging Company Inc.; Agri-Tech Corporation in Davao del Sur; Prestige Homes and Realty Development Corporation in Davao City; Primeland Properties in Dvaao City; Filinvest Land in Davao City; Ahya Coco Organic Food Manufacturing Corporation in Davao City; and Agrotech Integrated Farms Inc. in Compostela Valley.

The whole year in 2015, Davao Region has a total investments of P4.708 billion and in 2016 at 10.266 billion.

DTI said that the three-year investment performance is P7.531 billion with 2015 as the base year.

There is 118 percent increase in investment in 2016 while 62 percent in 2017, DTI reported.

The top industries in terms of project cost are real estate projects; manufacturing, agriculture, forestry and fishing; and, electricity, gas, steam and airconditioning supply. In terms of employment are agriculture, forestry and fishing; real estate projects; and, electricity, gas, steam and airconditioning supply.

Bullish

Ambi is bullish on local and foreign investments next year. She said investments would continue to increase considering the strong promotion and marketing of Davao.

Romeo Castanaga, provincial director of DTI-Davao del Norte, said he looks forward to two industrial estates in Davao del Norte, the launching of the P1 billion township project, and another project by Anflocor in partnership with UPLB for commercial and institutional project under PEZA.

For Compostela Valley, Lucky Siegfred Ballegue, said Torre Lorenzo is set to open to the public its project in Kopiat, Mabini town.

The beach club project is already 80 percent complete. There is also a 184-room hotel.

DTI-Davao Oriental is also looking forward to the P24 billion industrial park project in Maputi, Banaybanay.

Sec. Datu Hj. Abul Khayr Alonto, chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), said the swift action of the President to end terrorism in Mindanao had once and for all yielded positive results.

He said Mindanao continues to receive investment interests from various local and foreign investors.

Alonto bared that major infrastructure projects are being approved and rolled out as well.

"Rest assured that there is no letting up in our pursuit for economic progress and sustainable peace in the island-region, even in the midst of a martial law declaration," Alonto said. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)

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BAGUIO CITY -- The city government's hope to achieve a zero firecracker-related casualty this year was dashed by one "passive" case recorded on December 28, the city information office revealed on Saturday.

City Information Office chief Aileen Refuerzo said the City Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (CESU) of the City Health Services Office (CHSO) reported the incident on Friday.

CESU head Dr. Donnabel Tubera described the victim as an 18-year-old male from Pinsao Proper barangay who sustained an injury in his small finger (right hand) caused by a piccolo which was lit and thrown by a child on the road while the victim was passing by.

He was attended as an outpatient at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC).

The Department of Health classifies "passive victims" as those who do not use firecrackers and merely bystanders.

Tubera said this was the first firecracker-related injury recorded this year in the city.

Last year for the same period, the city had zero case, Tubera said.

At the close of New Year revelry in 2016, the city had a total of eight injuries recorded although 15 submitted themselves for check-up.

Refuerzo said the CHSO advises the public that "there is no safe firecracker and pyrotechnic devices."

"If injured, wash wounds with flowing water for five minutes then rush to the hospital;  fo not pick up unlit 'paputok' and just join community fireworks display manned by a pyrotechnician," she said.   (PNA)

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PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan – Police arrested on Dec. 30 a suspect in the murder of two Japanese nationals in Culion town, Palawan six months ago in Tarlac.

Palawan Provincial Legal Officer, lawyer Teodoro Jose Matta, confirmed Saturday afternoon the arrest of Sonny Anicete, alias "Tatan," in Barangay Poblacion 1, Pura town, Tarlac by police personnel from the PRO 3 Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB).

Matta said the manhunt for Anicete was supported by Palawan provincial government under its peace and order initiative.

Reported to be the founder of the Palawan-based "Commando" group, Anicete is now detained in a jail facility in Tarlac l. His arrest warrant was issued by Judge Arnel Cesar of Branch 49, Regional Trial Court (RTC).

"We're trying to see if he can be sent back to Puerto Princesa within the holidays. If not, maybe the first week of January next year, to be surrendered to the RTC," Matta said.

He said there is a possibility to recommend Anicete's incarceration at the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm (IPPF) where he could not escape.

"I am inclined to recommend that he be detained in Iwahig. He is very influential underground and can run away again if detained anywhere else. This goes to show too, that if you commit a crime in Palawan, it does not mean that you would go unpunished. Finally, the wheels of justice can now turn on this murder case," he said..

Anicete, who has been on the run since June this year, was reported to be the recruiter of the suspected killers of Japanese nationals Itani Masaru, 59, and Arai Yoshihiru, 24.

The victims were shot and their bodies dismembered before being dumped into the water in a remote island located west of Galoc Island in Culion town, Palawan.

Those who have already been charged in the murder case were Hiroyuki Nagahama, 55, the supposed mastermind; and co-conspirators Reynante Labampa, Jovis Viscarra, alias "Jun", and an alias "Bando." (PNA)

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PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan -- Thirty-eight fishermen, who were driven off the vicinity of Mangsee Island, Balabac, by Tropical Storm "Vinta" were greeted back in their homes by their relatives and families Saturday afternoon from Tawi-Tawi.

The fishermen were reported missing on December 24 after Vinta's strong winds pushed their fishing vessels away from the shoreline of Mangsee where they had originally sought shelter.

Abdelnasser Gregana, Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Office (MDRRMO) head of Mapun, said the rescued fishermen were transported to Rizal municipality in southern Palawan and were met there by relatives.

"Nandiyan na sila, 'yong sa Rizal tapos 'yong sa Mangsee unang sinundo ng lantsa ay walo bago sumunod ay anim (They are already there, 24 are from Rizal, and those from Mangsee, the first first survivors who were fetched were eight, then followed by six)," Gregana said.

Gregana related that upon their rescue, the fishermen were provided with medical attention as some had sustained wounds while struggling to survive the storm.

Bojie Lorenzo, MDRRMO of Rizal, said the fishermen were welcomed by their families who have been patiently waiting since Friday.

"They arrived here safely, bringing relief goods that were given to them by the local government. They were helped there in Mapun," he claimed.

Search and rescue operations, according to Gregana, are continuously being done in Mapun since the survivors have told them many are still lost at sea. (PNA)

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Hours before the New Year ushers in, the Department of Health (DOH) in Region 12 reported 18 cases of firecracker-related injuries Sunday.

Jenny Ventura, DOH-12 "Iwas Paputok" campaign focal person, said as of 6 a.m. Sunday (December 31) 18 persons were reported hurt by firecrackers in the provinces of North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and the cities of Cotabato, Kidapawan, Tacurong, Koronadal and General Santos.

The DOH monitoring on firecracker-related injuries started on December 21.

Ventura said the figure is 5 percent lower during the same period last year.

South Cotabato had the highest number of firecracker victims with 11, three in North Cotabato, two in Sarangani, one each in Sultan Kudarat and Gen. Santos City.

Ventura said 17 of the victims were male and one female. Twelve of whom were children and six were adults.

She said that four had eye injuries and one victim had to undergo amputation on one of his toes. Of the number of victims, five used legal and government recognize firecracker while 13 used illegal firecrackers like "kwitis," "piccolo," "5-star," "boga," and "triangle."

Five remained in the hospital while 13 were sent home, Ventura said.

The latest incidents of firecracker-related injuries came despite massive information campaign regarding the use and control of firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices.

The drive aims to lessen if not totally eliminate the incidence of firecracker-related injuries or death and damage to properties during the holiday celebrations. Monitoring period is from December 21- January 4.

Through this year's theme "OPLAN: Iwas Paputok, Fireworks Display ang Patok! Makiisa sa Fireworks Display sa Inyong Lugar," DOH-12 asked local government units to organize community fireworks to ensure the use of safer alternative noise-makers in welcoming the holiday season.

Ventura remained hopeful that with the public's cooperation the number of victims will be reduced than the previous years.

President Rodrigo Duterte on June 20 this year signed Executive Order No. 28 regulating the use of firecrackers and establishing community fireworks display. (PNA)

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To progressively address the issues beleaguering the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3), the Department of Transportation MRT-3 (DOTr MRT-3) team recently procured the first batch of various spare parts required for the system's maintenance.

Among those already procured by DOTr MRT-3 through its Maintenance Transition Period Bids and Awards Committee (MTP BAC) over the last seven weeks are spare parts for rolling stock, worth about PHP8.66 million and spare parts for tracks amounting to PHP7.33 million.

The rolling stock spare parts contract had an Approved Budget for Contract (ABC) of PHP8.89 million and was won by Linkers Enterprises, while the spare parts for tracks had an ABC of PHP7.97 million and was won by Nikka Trading. Notably, the contract for the Independent Audit and Assessment (IAA) Consultant of the entire MRT-3 system was also awarded to TUV Rheinland for PHP45.31 million.

The contract had an ABC of PHP48 million, and offers from TUV SUD and Bureau Veritas were also received. The IAA will cover all sub-components of MRT-3, including its signaling system, tracks, and rolling stock.

Both the current fleet of 73 Czech-made trains and the unaccepted 48 China-made trains will be covered by the IAA. The IAA Consultant will make specific and actionable recommendations to address identified issues.

To ensure quality and independence, the MRT-3 MTP BAC required all bidders for the IAA Consultancy to be ISO 17020:2012 and ISO 17065:2012 certified firms, and further required membership in the International Federation of Inspection Agencies (IFIA).

Other contracts for trunk radio communications (PHP924,000), spare parts for power (PHP6.44 million), pantograph strips (PHP7.88 million), spare parts for overhead catenary system (PHP2.8 million), and various bearings (PHP1.98 million) were also awarded to various bidders.

Assistant Secretary for Railways TJ Batan said the DOTr MRT-3 MTP BAC adjourned its 16th and last meeting for 2017 early Friday morning. The MTP BAC was created last November 9.

"The DOTr MRT-3 MTP BAC would sometimes start as early as 6 a.m., and on some days end as late as 12 MN, to ensure that the spare parts needed by our Maintenance Transition Team (MTT) are procured at the soonest possible time," Batan said.

The MRT-3 MTP BAC was created by DOTr after terminating its maintenance service contract with Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI) last November 6 due to poor performance and breach of contractual obligations.

"Deliveries of some spare parts have commenced, and will continue over the next 30 - 90 days. We got the commitment of all suppliers to exert best efforts to deliver earlier than the prescribed contractual lead times, and our MRT-3 team will focus on realizing this," he said.

With instruction and guidance from Secretary Arthur Tugade, Batan said the DOTr will continue procuring next year signaling spare parts and general overhaul services, among others.

"I believe the entire MRT-3 organization and our DOTr Central Office representatives have truly stepped up and delivered on our service commitment to the public," Batan said.

The purchase of spare parts for the MRT-3's Maintenance Transition Team (MTT) is Part 2 of DOTr's 4-Part Strategy for fixing MRT-3:

Part 1: Promoting accountability with the termination of BURI
Part 2: Ensuring continued service delivery by establishing the MTT and purchasing needed spare parts
Part 3: Contracting a rehabilitation and maintenance service provider together with an Official Development Assistance partner
Part 4: Putting in place a long-term, single-point-of-responsibility, operator and maintenance provider for MRT-3. (DOTR-PR)

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In line with efforts to take care of veterans and their families, the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) disbursed PHP9.06 billion worth of pensions in 2017.

This benefitted an average of 208,159 pension accounts, Department of National Defense (DND) spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said.

He added that PVAO subsidized various medical and health care services availed by Filipino veterans and their qualified dependents under the Veterans Hospitalization and Medical Care Program (VHMCP) worth PHP85.05 million as part of efforts to recognize the services rendered by Filipino veterans.

"This accomplishment leads PVAO to realizing its objective that no veteran should pay for his own medicine," Andolong stressed.

PVAO provided educational benefits to 2,185 "Iskolar ng mga Bayani" as of the end of November for a total amount of PHP38.11 million.

These beneficiaries are direct descendants of the country's valiant defenders who fought in World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War.

Andolong said PVAO's Educational Benefits Program has produced close to 7,300 graduates since 2002.

The educational assistance for the "Iskolar ng mga Bayani" is given to qualified and deserving students for a maximum of PHP36,000 per year per beneficiary.

In addition, PVAO gave burial assistance to 3,945 beneficiaries for a total amount of PHP80.93 million. (PNA)

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The Visayas and some parts of Mindanao would welcome the first day of 2018 with heavy rains and thunderstorms, as a low pressure area (LPA) prevails over Surigao City, Surigao del Norte, the weather bureau said Monday.

In its latest bulletin, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Visayas, CARAGA, and Northern Mindanao would experience cloudy skies with scattered to widespread rains and thunderstorms brought by the trough of the LPA.

PAGASA said the Bicol region and the rest of Mindanao would experience cloudy skies with scattered rains and thunderstorms.

Meanwhile, the northeast monsoon would bring cloudy skies with scattered rains over Cagayan Valley, Cordillera Administrative Region, Aurora and Quezon.

Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon would have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rains.

As of 3 a.m., PAGASA said the LPA was spotted 545 kilometers east of Surigao City. (PNA)

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The Widow and her Little Maidens.
A widow woman, fond of cleaning, had two little maidens to wait on her. She was in the habit of waking them early in the morning, at cockcrow. The maidens, being aggrieved by such excessive labor, resolved to kill the cock who roused their mistress so early. When they had done this, they found that they had only prepared for themselves greater troubles, for their mistress, no longer hearing the cock, was unable to tell the time, and so, woke them up to their work in the middle of the night.
Unlawful acts to escape trials only increase our troubles.

Aesop's Fables
Aesop

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THE HONORABLE FREDERICK W. SIAO
Lone District of Iligan City
Vice Chair, Committee on Tourism
Member, Appropriations, Economic Affairs, and 8 other committees
Facebook: /congressmansiao Twitter: @freddiesiao                                                                Merry Christmas indeed!

CHED'S FACULTY SCHOLARS TO START RECEIVING ALLOWANCES ON DEC 29

I thank the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for its action on my previous appeal on behalf of college faculty whose K to 12 Transition program allowances have been delayed. 

According to CHED Chairperson Patricia Licuanan, some 2,152 faculty members will receive their full allowances on December 29, while 1,011 will get their partial release on January 5, but 933 are pending with the CHED regional offices.

CHED has admitted it was swamped by the over 11,000 sets of documents from 9,500 faculty scholars of their historic K to 12 Transition program.

To express our sincerity, I am open to cooperating with the CHED Commission en banc on their proposals to address their internal weaknesses with external support on long term structural reforms.

I am also open to addressing their agency ailments via the 2019 budget, the budget call for which is expected to be issued by the DBM as early as January 2018. 

Those 9,500 faculty scholars and the hundreds of thousands of senior high school students who will graduate in 2018 and move on to college need a CHED that is working efficiently and effectively.

CHED has to do much better than it has so far. The transition impact of senior high on our colleges and universities will be felt for about three to five years after the current school year.

Add to that the systemic effects of free college education via the SUCs. (END)

REFERENCES:

MANILA BULLETIN  https://news.mb.com.ph/2017/12/15/iligan-solon-asks-ched-to-probe-delay-in-release-of-k-to-12-allowances/

BRIGADA NEWS FM https://www.brigadanews.ph/article/national/Delay-sa-allowances-ng-K-to-12-transition-beneficiaries%2C-pinaiimbestigahan

RADIO MINDANAO NETWORK https://rmn.ph/kinalampag-allowance-at-benepisyo-ng-mga-guro-hiniling-sa-ched-na-ibigay-na/

^^^^^^^
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A Cock, scratching for food for himself and his hens, found a precious stone; on which he said: "If thy owner had found thee, and not I, he would have taken thee up, and have set thee in thy first estate; but I have found thee for no purpose. I would rather have one barleycorn than all the jewels in the world."...

Aesop's Fables
Aesop

^^^^^^^
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Manila Times - ECONOMIC growth will likely fall below government expectations this year, despite massive spending on public infrastructure, with analysts forecasting expansion in the range of 6.3 – 6.8 percent for a median of 6.6 percent, lower than the 7 – 8 percent target.

The most optimistic with their forecasts are the Asian Development Bank, Fitch Ratings and UBS, which all said that the Philippines´ 2018 gross domestic product (GDP) would rise to 6.8 percent. HSBC, the World Bank and DBS, meanwhile, said the economy could grow by 6.7 percent.

Fastest-growing economies
An assumption of growth in the government´s infrastructure program—supported by improvements in budget execution and with more large investment projects under way—is what made the Manila-based ADB arrive at its 2018 outlook. This would maintain the Philippines´ place among the fastest-growing economies in the Asia-Pacific region, according to Fitch, an international credit ratings agency.

Financial services giant UBS also took into account the rising public investment in its forecast, saying the expansion should be supported by a wider fiscal deficit of 3 percent of GDP and also by an ambitious tax reform program that raised fuel prices and expanded the base for value-added tax in return for lower personal income taxes.

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art direct
definition from
Oxford Dictionary of English -

art direct
▸ verb [with object] to oversee or work on (a film, publication, or other media production) as an art director:

he art directed Nova magazine in the 1960s
[no object] she continues to design and art direct for the Hollywood film industry.


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THE BANNER
Who in the gorgeous vanguard of the years
With wingèd helmet glistens, let him hold
Ere he pluck down this banner, crying "It bears
An old device"; for, though it seem the old,
It is the new! No rent shroud of the past,
But its transfigured spirit that still shines
Triumphantly before the foremost lines,
Even from the first prophesying the last.
And whoso dreams to pluck it down shall stand
Bewildered, while the great host thunders by;
And he shall show the rent shroud in his hand
And "Lo, I lead the van!" he still shall cry;
While leagues away, the spirit-banner shines
Rushing in triumph before the foremost lines.

Collected Poems
Alfred Noyes

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The Ass and the Fox, having entered into a partnership together, went out into the forest to hunt. They had not proceeded far, when they met a Lion. The Fox approached the Lion and promised to contrive for him the capture of the Ass, if he would pledge his word that his own life should be spared. On his assuring him that he would not injure him, the Fox led the Ass to a deep pit, and contrived that he should fall into it. The Lion, seeing that the Ass was secured, immediately clutched the Fox, and then attacked the Ass at his leisure.

Aesop's Fables
Aesop

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A Frog once made proclamation to all the beasts that he was a learned physician, and able to heal all diseases. A Fox asked him: "How can you pretend to prescribe for others, and you are unable to heal your own lame gait and wrinkled skin?"

Those who pretend that they can mend others should first mend themselves, and then they will be more readily believed.

Aesop's Fables
Aesop

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February 2011 - TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol - Bohol Governor Edgar Chatto has tasked the Disaster Risk Reduction Managers (DRRM) here to inspect and report any earth movements in their respective areas following reported land movement in Sierra Bullones town last week. Chatto also advised residents of Barangays Magsaysay, Dusita, and Danicop in Sierra Bullones to immediately evacuate to the designated resettlement center located a kilometer away from their areas should said land movement continue. The land movement, known as landslip, in Sierra Bullones was not the first reported in Bohol last week.

STATEMENT BY THE
HONORABLE RON P. SALO
KABAYAN Party-list
Assistant Majority Leader

OIL FIRMS HAVE NOT YET ANNOUNCED ANY FUEL PRICE HIKES FOR JAN 1, 2018 

As of December 31, 2017, the three major oil firms in the Philippines have not made any new announcements about any fuel price increases taking effect on January 1, 2018.

Some sectors or groups may be using the higher excise taxes on fuel to sow baseless fear among Filipinos about imminent fuel prices increase.

Searches on Twitter, Facebook and Google show there are no new advisories of fuel price increases.

The supposed fuel price increases being cited in news media reports are either the rates stated in the TRAIN Law or the estimated impact of the higher taxes on fuel for the entire year of 2018. 

While it is true that the higher excise taxes on fuel take effect on January 1, 2018 it will still take weeks for the impact of the higher taxes to be reflected at pump prices under the current deregulated oil market.

Nevertheless, as member of the House Committee on Economic Affairs, I am asking Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi to take preemptive action to head off any attempt by any oil firm in the country to raise fuel prices using fuel stocks imported before January 1, 2018.

I also ask Secretary Cusi to make sure the true effect of the higher excise taxes is computed into future fuel price hikes of the oil firms.

Secretary Cusi and Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea shall ensure that Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is able to perform its function in protecting the public against any machinations and illegal moves of any oil firm or energy company on unwarranted increases in the price of fuels. (END)

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HON. MICHAEL "MIKEE" L. ROMERO, Ph. D.
1-PACMAN Party-list

Assistant Majority Leader
Vice Chair, Youth & Sports Development and 2 other Committees

P24 BILLION IN LANDBANK BUDGET TO CUSHION IMPACT OF TRAIN TAXES

1-PACMAN Party-list Representative Michael Romero pointed out that Landbank has P24.488 billion for its tax reform cash transfer project subsidy for which Landbank and DSWD will soon have guidelines on. 

DSWD's tax reform cash transfer budget is P1.184 billion. "Between just these two agencies, government has P25.672 billion for cushion versus consumer price impacts of the TRAIN Law," Romero said. 

DSWD and Landbank have been tasked in the 2018 GAA to issue the guidelines for the tax reform cash transfer subsidy.

Aside from these funds, Landbank and DBP also have P1.133 billion each for the PUV modernization program loans to PUV operators.

Romero is the author of five bills seeking to boost the ability of Landbank to serve its clients.

Congress awaits the project mechanics and components of the PUV modernization project from the DOTr, DBP, and Landbank. (END)

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It Is Finished!

(So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. John 19:30)

God always finishes what He begins (Phil. 1:6). God never speaks a word without ensuring that it comes to pass (Isa. 55:11). Christ is both the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Rev. 1:8, 17). Christ is as much at the end of His work as He is at its beginning. Jesus was given an enormous mandate. He was to live a sinless life, remaining absolutely obedient to His Father. Even the manner of His death was to fulfill numerous prophecies that had been foretold in Scripture (Matt. 26:24, 31, 54, 56; 27:9, 35; 46; John 19:28, 36-37). Yet, despite the extremely complex assignment Jesus received from His Father, He could shout triumphantly from the cross, "It is finished!" Christ now resides within each believer. His assignment today is to complete God's will in each Christian. He is just as determined to do this in us as He was to complete God's will for Himself. You will have to resist Christ in order to remain out of the will of God. What is it God wants to do in you? Have you allowed Him to complete what He has begun? He will not force you to receive all that He has for your life. If God's work has not been brought to fruition for you, it is not that Christ has not been diligently working toward that end. Rather, you may need to release areas of your life to Him and be as determined to see God's work in you completed as Christ is. Review the things God has said to you over this last year. Are there promises God has made to you that you have refused to allow Him to complete? If so, commit to yield your will to God today. - Henry and Richard Blackaby

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NATIONAL BUDGET FOR 2018 HAS SPECIFIC SUBSIDIES TO CUSHION TRAIN LAW IMPACT, GENERATE TOURISM JOBS

Two Congress leaders cited specific provisions in the 2018 national budget meant to cushion the impact of TRAIN and spur economic growth.

"DSWD has a P1.184 billion Tax Reform Cash Transfer Program allocation aside from the P89.4 billion for the 4Ps program, P19.26 billion for indigent seniors, P3.42 billion for supplemental feeding, and P38.9 million for street children," Bagong Henerasyon Party-list Representative Bernadette Herrera-Dy said in a statement. She is Assistant Majority Leader and Vice Chair of the House Committee on Women and Children.

She also said that aside from the SUC budgets, CHED has P5.86 billion for Tulong-Dunong grants and incentives, plus P3.9 billion for college faculty taking masteral at doctoral studies as part of the K to 12 Transition program.

"Malaki rin ang budget sa 2018 para sa kalusugan ng mga pamilya. Sa DOH budget naman na P106 billion, P4.34 billion ang pondo para sa indigents at P15.5 billion ang para sa pambili ng mga gamot at bakuna," Herrera-Dy said.

For his part, Iligan City Representative Frederick Siao said the 2018 budget has at least P34 billion for tourism. "There's P3 billion for the DOT and P31.97 billion for the Tourism Road Infrastructure Program," Iligan City Representative Frederick Siao said. He is Vice Chair of the House Committee on Tourism.

"For workers in the tourism sector, the DoT has P160 million for tourism industry training. For the tourism entrepreneurs running hotels, resorts, restaurants and other establishments catering to tourists, the agency has P124 million for standards development and enforcement," Siao also said.

The congressman added that the Department of Trade and Industry's Negosyo Centers budget of P514.579 million and shared service facilities funds of P200 million would also have multiplier effects the tourism sector can gain from.

Also favorable to the tourism sector is the National Greening Program of the DENR for which P2.787 billion was allocated, plus the various road and local infrastructure funds of the DPWH. (END)

Reference: https://goo.gl/xYkQxM

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THE HONORABLE HENRY C. ONG
2nd District of Leyte

Vice Chair, Committee on Banks & Financial Intermediaries

Member, Transportation, Visayas Development,

Economic Affairs, and 8 other committees

BUSINESSMAN-SOLON COMMENDS BIR FOR ISSUANCE OF CIRCULAR ON NEW WITHHOLDING TAX COMPUTATION 

The Bureau of Internal Revenue has formally circularized the new computation of the withholding tax to be deducted from salaries starting in January 2018 to comply with the new individual income tax provisions of the TRAIN Law. 

As you may recall, I requested the BIR to issue this guidance to the field and the general public so the additional personal disposable income effects of the TRAIN tax reform will be immediately felt starting the first payday of 2018. 

I commend the BIR for their efficiency and swift action. (END)
 
REFERENCES:

GMA NEWS https://goo.gl/yFc5sr
BOMBO RADYO https://goo.gl/G32AJL
MANILA BULLETIN https://goo.gl/mMC697
https://www.bir.gov.ph/images/bir_files/internal_communications_2/RMCs/rev%20WT.pdf
https://www.bir.gov.ph/images/bir_files/internal_communications_2/RMCs/2017/RMC%20No%20105-2017.pdf   

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DOE CONSUMER ADVISORY

(Taguig City). At the eve of the new year, the Department of Energy (DOE) clarifies various topics concerning the oil industry. 

A. Implementation of TRAIN for Petroleum Products

The implementation of excise tax and value added tax (VAT) for petroleum products under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) is effective on January 1, 2018. 

The DOE, through the Oil Industry Management Bureau (OIMB) and in coordination with the Department of Finance (DOF), is reminding the public that the new Excise Tax rates do NOT apply to the old stocks of petroleum products. Consequently, the retailers should not charge the new Excise Tax to the consumers. 

"The OIMB has issued an advisory to petroleum products stakeholders NOT to levy new Excise Tax rates on old stocks, considering that Excise Taxes are levied upon importation and not at the point of sale to the consumers," Assistant Secretary Leonido Pulido III clarified. 

For VAT, the new rates under the TRAIN that is applicable to consumers becomes effective on January 1, 2018.

B. Oil Price Movement for Tuesday

In addition to this clarification, the DOE stringently monitors oil trading in the international market and analyzes its effects on the domestic prices of petroleum products as mandated by the Oil Deregulation Law of 1998.

Pursuant thereto, the DOE observed that last week's international oil trading may affect the domestic prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene as follows:

·         Gasoline prices may increase by around P0.15 per liter;

·         Diesel may increase by around P0.60 per liter; and,

·         Kerosene may increase by around P0.55 per liter.

Adjustments on petroleum products are implemented every Tuesday of the week. Please note, however, that these findings may still be affected by the Friday trading activities which will be accessed on Monday.

C. Prize Freeze for Kerosene Household LPG for Calamity Areas

The DOE reiterates that upon a declaration of a State of Calamity, the DOE is implementing a 'price freeze' on kerosene and household liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). 

For its implementation, the DOE reminds the public of the following: 

·         The price freeze is applicable for 15 days, commencing one day after the declaration;

·         "Household LPG" refers to 11 kilograms and below of LPG in containers;

·         Price movements for kerosene are implemented every Tuesday of the week; and,

·         Price movements for LPG are implemented at the beginning of each month. 

Through the OIMB and the agency's Field Offices, the DOE is closely coordinating with the oil industry players in the implementation of the Republic Act (RA) 7581, as amended by RA 10623, which imposes a "price freeze" on these basic energy products being sold in the areas affected by the calamity.

D. General Reminder 

The DOE calls on the public to be vigilant and to report any violation to info@doe.gov.ph or to Consumer Welfare and Promotion Office at tel. no. 479-2900 loc. 329.

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THE HONORABLE FREDERICK W. SIAO
Lone District of Iligan City
Vice Chair, Committee on Tourism
Member, Appropriations, Economic Affairs, and 8 other committees                                                                   
Inserted into the budget of different agencies
THE 2018 BUDGET HAS AT LEAST P34B FOR TOURISM

"The Department of Tourism itself has a 2018 budget of only P3 billion but add to that the P31.97 billion in the DPWH budget for the Tourism Road Infrastructure Program and the Filipino people has at least P34 billion for tourism," Iligan City Representative Frederick Siao said. He is Vice Chair of the House Committee on Tourism.

P1 billion of the DoT budget is for its branding campaign and P1.6 billion is for market and product development, while P235.892 million is for policy and planning.

"For workers in the tourism sector, the DoT has P160 million for tourism industry training. For the tourism entrepreneurs running hotels, resorts, restaurants and other establishments catering to tourists, the agency has P124 million for standards development and enforcement," Siao also said.

The Congress added that the Department of Trade and Industry's Negosyo Centers budget of P514.579 million and shared service facilities funds of P200 million would also have multiplier effects the tourism sector can gain from.

Also favorable to the tourism sector is the National Greening Program of the DENR for which P2.787 billion was allocated, plus the various road and local infrastructure funds of the DPWH. (END)

REFERENCES: http://www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/NEP2018/TOURISM/A.pdf
http://www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/NEP2018/DPWH.pdf
http://www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/NEP2018/DTI/A.pdf

The internet-based job and applicant matching system of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) revealed that the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is still the biggest generator of jobs.

According to PhilJobnet, the said industry has posted a total of 133,300 call center agent positions from January to December 2017.

It added that in all months of the present year, the position of call center agent topped the list of job openings, with the months of August and September churning out the highest number of vacancies at 21,986 and 21,858, respectively.

Last week, the DOLE's Bureau of Local Employment reported that the top 20 vacancies in the DOLE job portal are call center agent -- 781; office clerk -- 756; service crew -- 756; non-formal education teacher -- 359; food service dispatcher -- 300; salesman -- 295; health consultant -- 200; staff nurse -- 159; and production/factory worker -- 150.

Rounding up the top vacancies are sales and marketing assistant -- 130; company nurse --128; market salesperson -- 122; sales associate professional -- 100; cashier -- 98; truck driver -- 97; facial/skin treatment consultant -- 96; quality inspector -- 94; and casino dealer -- 90.

The positions of food service dispatcher, along with health consultant, market salesperson, cashier, truck driver, quality inspector, and casino dealer are the new active vacancies recorded by PhilJobnet during the holiday season.

Employment opportunities and other labor market information that are not disseminated in usual job fair sites, such as schools, malls, city, or town halls, can be found at PhilJobnet, which is designed both for job seekers and for employers.

Filipino jobseekers, who are at least 15 years old, may register in the PhilJobNet. Employers can also use PhilJobNet to invite registered job applicants for the job interview on the desired date and have the option to print an applicant's profile.

PhilJobNet service is free of charge for both job applicants and establishments. Its facilities can also be accessed at the Job Search Kiosks, an ATM-type stand-alone equipment, at DOLE attached agencies and regional offices, Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs), and selected schools throughout the country.

An employer or establishment duly recognized by Philippine business authorizing agencies and with existing Tax Identification Number (TIN) can register in the PhilJobNet.

Job seekers and employers can log in at http://philjobnet.gov.ph/ to know more about job vacancies and other employment facilitation services or visit Bureau of Local Employment at 6th Floor, BF Condominium cor. Solana & Soriano St., Intramuros Manila.

They can also call the PhilJobNet Hotline at ‎(632) 527-2543 Fax: ‎(632) 527-2421 or at DOLE Hotline 1349. (PNA)

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By Leslie Gatpolintan
Local government units (LGUs) need to invest in the development of a climate-smart agriculture that fits the needs of the community in an effort to address the adverse effects of sustained weather fluctuations, according to a study published by think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

A new policy note, authored by PIDS senior research fellow Connie Bayudan-Dacuycuy and research analyst Lora Kryz Baje, analyzes chronic food poverty and how it is affected by weather variability.

It finds that chronic food poverty is higher for households that experience rainfall deviation than for similar households that do not.

"Given that community-based development of good agricultural and livelihood practices harnesses local skills and knowledge, it instills strong ownership in the community and climate change adaptation is likely to be successful," Dacuycuy said.

They also pushed for enhanced technical assistance for LGUs, noting some adaptation funds remain untapped.

The study said the Climate Change Commission (CCC) can enhance their technical assistance by providing LGUs an annual technical workshop on crafting proposals with strong climate change adaptation initiatives.

It should also improve its information dissemination campaign not only to inform the public about their function, but also to increase awareness on climate change adaptation and the various services CCC provides.

The study further called on the government to explore adaptive social protection (ASP) initiatives that support pro-poor climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction by strengthening the resilience of vulnerable populations to shocks.

It said one ASP initiative that can be explored is to include environment protection as a condition to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

"4Ps strengthens human capital and self-sufficiency but does not explicitly address risks associated with climate change. The program has to evolve with the needs resulting from climate change and changing weather patterns," Baje said. (PNA)

Quote from: grazie7y on April 10, 2011, 08:21:16 AM

Quote from: Mulligan on April 06, 2011, 09:09:15 PM
Exciting ang mga topics nila Chongki ug Mike kay bahin sa Bohol politics.  Minaw lang tawon ko kay wa koy kasumpay.        

Beds, nice nag EB diay mo.  Nagkita pod mo ni Carl sa Manila?

Niwang pa man diay ko ani. Asa na kaha si Chongki ug Bedo Ado Salada karon?

Representative FREDERICK W. SIAO
Lone District of Iligan City
Vice Chair, Committee on Tourism
Member, Appropriations, Economic Affairs, and 8 other committees                                                                   
Facebook: /congressman Siao Twitter: @freddiesiao                                                                                                             
Nakapasok sa iba't ibang ahensiya

AABOT SA MAHIGIT P34 BILYON ANG BUDGET NG GOBYERNO PARA SA TURISMO SA 2018

"Bagaman P3 billion lamang ang budget ng Department of Tourism sa 2018, nariyan naman sa loob ng budget ng DPWH ang P31.97 billion para sa Tourism Road Infrastructure Program para pasiglahin ang turismo sa iba't ibang panig ng ating bansa," pahayag ni Iligan City Representative Frederick Siao bago magtapos ang taong 2017.

"Sa pagbusisi ko ng DoT budget bilang Vice Chair ng House Committee on Tourism, nakita kong nakalaan ang malaking bahagi ng DoT budget sa branding campaign (P1 billion) at market & product development (P1.6 billion), habang P235.892 million naman para sa policy and planning," ani Siao.

Dagdag pa ni Siao: "Direktang makikinabang ang mga manggagawa sa sektor turismo sa pamamagitan ng tourism industry training na binigyan ng Kongreso ng P160 million na budget. Iyong mga hotel, resort, at iba pang tinutuluyan ng mga turista ay matutulungan ng P1.6 billion sa market and product development at P124 million para sa standards development and enforcement na programa ng DoT."

Nakakatulong din sa sektor ng turismo ang mga programa ng Department of Trade and Industry lalo na itong Negosyo Centers na pinaglaanan ng P514.579 million at shared service facilities na mayroong P200 million na budget.

Pabor rin umano sa turismo, ayon kay Siao, ang National Greening Program ng DENR na mayroong budget na P2.787 billion at iba't ibang road and local infrastructure fund ng DPWH.

"Sana lang nga ay dagdagan na ng Tourism Department ang kanilang personnel dahil ayon sa datos na nakapaloob sa 2018 GAA, may 488 personnel lang ang DoT bagaman ang kanilang authorized plantilla positions ay 754. Kapos sila ng 266 tao," punto ni Siao.

"Kahit man lang siguro dagdagan ng 100 or 150 regular personnel ang DoT ay malaking tulong na sa pagpapatupad ng mga serbisyo at programa lalo na sa mga tourism destinations," ani Siao. (WAKAS)

REFERENCES: http://www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/NEP2018/TOURISM/A.pdf
http://www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/NEP2018/DPWH.pdf
http://www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/NEP2018/DTI/A.pdf

KGG. BERNADETTE "BH" HERRERA-DY
Bagong Henerasyon Party-list
Chair, Committee on Public Information
GAA review – DSWD, PCOO, DICT, CHED, at DOH
ALAGA ANG MAHIHIRAP SA 2018 NATIONAL BUDGET

Naglaan ang Kongreso ng P1.184 billion para sa Tax Reform Cash Transfer Program sa loob ng budget ng DSWD para sa mga mahihirap na maapektuhan ng epekto ng pagtaas ng buwis, sabi ni Bagong Henerasyon Party-list congresswoman Bernadette Herrera-Dy, Vice Chair ng House Committee on Welfare of Children.

"Ang Tax Reform Cash Transfer Program na P1.184 billion ay bukod pa sa P89.4 billion para sa 4Ps program ng DSWD, P19.26 billion para sa indigent seniors, P3.42 billion para sa feeding program, at P38.9 million para sa street children," aniya.

Nakalaan sa 4Ps ang pinamalaking bulto—halos 65 percent—ng P137.67 billion DSWD budget. P82.077 billion niyan ay yung mismong cash grants.

"Para maipabatid sa taumbayan ang mga programa ng gobyerno, binigyan ng Kongreso ang Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) at mga ahensiya nito ng P1.095 billion na kabuuang budget. Nasa Bureau of Broadcast Services ang pinamalaking bahagi na P370 million," sambit ng congresswoman, na chair ng House Committee on Public Information.

Iyong mga ahensiyang laging kasama ng Pangulo, ang Presidential Broadcast Staff at ang News and Information Bureau ay mayroong budget na P210 million at P129 million, habang ang Philippine Information Agency ay P129 million ang pondo.

"Para hindi mapag-iwanan ang masa sa mga latest trend sa internet , P1.74 billion ang inilaan na budget para sa free wifi connectivity in public places," ayon kay Herrera-Dy na isa sa mga principal authors ng RA 10929 (Free Internet Access in Public Places Act)

"Malaki ang naisabatas na budget para sa SUCs, CHED, at TESDA bilang pagtupad sa pangako ng administrasyong Duterte na gawing libre ang college education. Bukod sa budget ng bawat SUC, P5.86 billion ang magagamit ng CHED sa Tulong-Dunong grants at incentives para sa mga kabataan habang P3.9 billion naman ang para sa mga college faculty na pinag-aaral ngayon ng CHED ng masters at Ph.Ds," dagdag pa ni Herrera-Dy, isa sa principal authors sa Kamara ng RA 10931 (Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act)

Malaki rin ang budget sa 2018 para sa kalusugan ng pamilya. "Sa DOH budget na P106 billion, P4.34 billion dito ang pondo para sa indigents at P15.5 billion ang para sa pambili ng mga gamot at bakuna," aniya.

P2.09 billion ang pondo para sa barangay health stations sa buong bansa at P6.798 billion ay pambili ng hospital equipment, habang sa PhilHealth ay P57.1 billion. (WAKAS).

REFERENCES:
http://www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/NEP2018/DSWD/A.pdf
http://www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/NEP2018/DOH/A.pdf
http://www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/NEP2018/HFEP.pdf
http://www.dbm.gov.ph/?page_id=21152

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) strongly urges the public to refrain from acts that could cast doubt on the credibility of our legal tender.  Posting photos of alleged misprinted banknotes on social media causes confusion which may negatively affect commerce.

The public is also advised to be vigilant against acts of those who wish to confuse, deceive or illegally profit from posting, producing and/or selling fake "misprinted" notes with no numismatic value.

The BSP reiterates that alleged faceless/misprinted Philippine Peso Bill/s must immediately be brought to the BSP Head Office in Manila, the Security Plant Complex in Quezon City or any of its Regional Offices and Branches nationwide for the authenticity of the said bills to first be established.

BSP contact numbers are:

BSP Main Office - (02) 7087701
BSP Currency Issue and Integrity Office - (02) 9884834
BSP Corporate Affairs Office - (02) 7087140
Security Plant Complex - (02) 9884800

Numbers and addresses of its Regional Offices and branches and addresses are posted on the BSP website: http://www.bsp.gov.ph/contact/regional.asp

The BSP assures the public that it is, and has, always been committed to safeguarding the authenticity and genuineness of our currency and to protecting the public interest.

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Cusi: Clean Energy Renewable Portfolio Standard Will Not Result in Higher Rates for the Consumers

(Taguig City). The pursuit towards clean and renewable energy (RE) will not burden electricity consumers. This is the assurance of Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi to the energy family and industry players.

"The RPS for On-Grid rules outlined various safety nets to protect the electricity end-users and to ensure that this new venture will not result in higher electricity rates," Sec. Cusi pointed out.

"The DOE, after consultations with consumer groups and industry players, clarified this policy and placed the 'no higher rates' condition in the Department Circular itself," Cusi emphasized.

The energy chief said that the DUs and other mandated participants shall undertake a Competitive Selection Process (CSP) in sourcing their compliance to ensure the "no higher rates" policy. Moreover, the DUs have the obligation to look for the optimal supply mix and ensure a level playing field among the power developers. Essentially, all the RE options available (like encouraging Net-Metering installations and implement the Green Energy Option program that empowers a customer to choose RE as part of its supply) should be explored.

According to Sec. Cusi, the requirement to comply with the CSP ensures a transparent mechanism that ascertain least cost procurement of power supply and ensure competition among the players.

Following a laborious technical studies and public consultations since 2011, the Circular on RPS for On-Grid Areas also contains the following safeguards:

1. The RPS for On-Grid areas is initially anchored on the country's aspirational target of 35% RE share in the energy mix by 2030, which will be reviewed under the forthcoming updating of the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP);

2. The minimum RE sourcing will not be imposed immediately but on the third year (2020) considering 2018 and 2019 as transition years only to prepare the mandated participants in developing their compliance plans to the minimum RPS requirements; and,

3. The RPS also entails the timely and rigorous review and assessment by the DOE through a composite team.

Sec. Cusi recently signed the Department Circular that prescribes the rules and guidelines in the establishment of Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards (RPS) for On-Grid Areas on 22 December 2017. Department Circular No. DC2017-12-0015 mandates distribution utilities (DUs), retail electricity suppliers including those power generation companies serving directly-connection customers to source or produce a certain percentage of their electricity requirements from eligible RE resources.

The Circular provides that eligible RE participants may use the following resources and technologies: biomass, waste-to-energy technology, wind energy, solar energy, run-of-river hydroelectric power systems, impounding hydroelectric power systems, ocean energy, and geothermal energy, among the other systems as defined in the RE Act.
 
"A regular review process on RPS will be conducted by the DOE to ensure the compliance all the participants to the RPS, determine the impact to the consumers and whether the imposed minimum RE generation requirement should continue or be adjusted upon accordingly."
Sec. Cusi also stated that a holistic information, education and communication (IEC) campaign and hands-on training will be undertaken to guide the DUs and other relevant stakeholders with an aim to impart various developments in the implementation of the policy and the other pertinent policy issuances of the DOE. 

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iBaby Labs is launching the new iBaby Care M7, a smart baby care ecosystem that trespasses the boundaries of a conventional baby monitor. Fully equipped with smart features, the iBaby Care M7 promotes early childhood education, listening, speaking, vision and improved breathing skills.

The iBaby Care M7 is giving parents a smart care technology by promoting early development through the wide variety of age-appropriate early childhood education content, a never before seen built-in moonlight soother, air quality alerts, bedtime stories, white noises, and diaper and feeding alerts.

"The iBaby Care M7 goes far beyond a regular monitor for safety, two-way talk, and cloud storage. All the existing traditional baby monitors will disappear in two years because of the new smart care technology," said iBaby Labs CEO Karl Xu.

Apart from promoting early childhood education, the iBaby Care M7 provides parents with safety notifications that include motion, sounds, temperature, humidity, and TVOC alerts.

iBaby Labs is giving parents control over their children's development and safety straight to their mobile device through the free iBaby Care app. Even from a vast location.

"Giving parents a helping hand is important to us," said Xu. "And it's an undeniable truth that parents care about their children's development with new smart technology."

Our integrated moonlight soother includes a large variety of audible content like music, soft lullabies and natural sounds that will help infants sleep cycle, and stimulate their hearing.

The moonlight soother will bring excitement to your baby's senses as they follow the shapes, colors, and movements with their eyes. This provides exceptional visual stimulation that will help maintain your baby's interest.

Additionally, iBaby Labs is happy to announce the launch of the iBaby Monitor M2S Plus, the newest adaptation of the highly sought-after and top-rated iBaby Monitor M2 Pro.

The compact iBaby Monitor M2S Plus is fully loaded with smart characteristics that promote early childhood education and child safety. With a large collection of early childhood audible content that includes music, lullabies, bedtime stories and white noises parent's can challenge their children's intellect through the free iBaby Care app.

"The new iBaby Monitor M2S Plus is giving parents an easier way to monitor and communicate with their babies," said Xu. "It's crucial that parents get alerts and notifications to ensure the well being of their babies, whether they're at home or at the office ."

Both the iBaby Care M7 and iBaby Monitor M2S Plus are implemented with total care solutions that include 1080p HD Video & Audio, two-way audio speakers, smart alerts, sensors, and encourage early childhood education.

About iBaby Labs Inc.

iBaby Labs is a Silicon Valley-based startup specializing in video monitoring and wellness connected home products for the whole family. For over 5 years, iBaby has been changing parent's lives with smart baby monitors that are sold online with Apple, Amazon, Nordstrom, Target, buybuy BABY, Walmart, and other major retailers.

iBaby has received worldwide recognition by largest media outlets and won highest awards and nominations in the industry that include awards from The Bump, NAPPA, National Parenting Center and others.

Visit https://ibabylabs.com to learn more.

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Digital marketing has changed the way business works.

In the past, most companies would put their marketing dollars toward advertising. They loved seeing their name or logo splashed across billboards and on television during NFL games and would focus on shoving their brand, service and product in front of the customer's face. But digital marketing has changed the way business works, and now it's time to put the customer first.

Magnificent Marketing is excited to announce that it has teamed up with expert Michael Brenner - author, Forbes' Top CMO Influencer, and the CEO of Marketing Insider Group - to present a new webinar with new-school leadership and marketings strategies that revolve around the customer and result in business success.

In the webinar, Brenner discusses the following topics:

-Old-school marketing and why it doesn't work
-What it means to put the customer first
-Switching up leadership style
-Creating healthy and happy work environments
-And more!

The website is available on Magnificent's YouTube channel and with an accompanying blog on Magnificent.com.

Magnificent Marketing is your full-service content marketing agency that will take care of all your marketing needs so that you can concentrate on the core duties needed to manage and grow your business.

Their objective is to generate leads that turn into customers while focusing on expanding the visibility of your company and brand, and positioning you to be "top of mind" for future potential clients.

In order to achieve this, they draw on their experience and belief that a mixture of traditional marketing techniques combined with modern marketing tools will yield the best results. In other words, they blend old and new school marketing to create the best school of thought.

About Michael Brenner:

Michae is a globally-recognized keynote speaker, author of The Content Formula and the CEO of Marketing Insider Group. He has worked in leadership positions in sales and marketing for global brands like SAP and Nielsen, as well as for thriving startups. Today, Michael shares his passion on leadership and marketing strategies that deliver customer value and business impact. He is recognized by the Huffington Post as a Top Business Keynote Speaker and a top CMO influencer by Forbes. Follow Michael on Twitter @BrennerMichael.

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The Police Regional Office 3 (PRO3) has designated 619 areas in Central Luzon as firecracker zones in an effort to prevent firecracker-related injuries during this holiday season.

Chief Superintendent Amador V. Corpus, PRO3 regional director, said out of 619 identified firecracker zones in the region, 201 are in Bulacan; 163 in Zambales; 92 in Nueva Ecija; 68 in Bataan; 31 in Pampanga; 27 in Tarlac; 23 in Aurora and 14 in Angeles City.

President Rodrigo Duterte has earlier issued Executive Order No. 28, providing for the regulation and control of the use of firecrackers and other pyrotechnics devices.

Under the EO, community fireworks displays may only be held in areas designated by the local government.

The prohibited firecrackers include piccolo, "super lolo," whistle bomb, "goodbye earth," "atomic big triangulo," "Judas' belt" and "watusi."

The allowed ones, on the other hand, are baby rocket, "bawang," "el Diablo," paper caps, "pulling of strings," sky rocket or "kwitis" and triangulo, which should be used only in identified firecracker zones.

Only pyrotechnic devices, which utilize visuals such as colored lights, flames, smoke, sparks and flashes are allowed within the surrounding of their homes.

Violators of EO No. 28 will be fined PHP20,000 to PHP30,000 or may be imprisoned for one to six years.

"We once again appeal to the public to refrain from using illegal firecrackers to avoid any injuries. Instead of firecrackers, we could all welcome the New Year with other forms of merriment," Corpus said. (PNA)

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Just and the Justifier
JUST AND THE JUSTIFIER
WE HAVE SEEN the ungodly justified, and have considered the great truth, that only God can justify any man; we now come a step further and make the inquiry--How can a just God justify guilty men? Here we are met with a full answer in the words of Paul, in Romans 3:21-26 . We will read six verses from the chapter so as to get the run of the passage:

"But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."
Here suffer me to give you a bit of personal experience. When I was under the hand of the Holy Spirit, under conviction of sin, I had a clear and sharp sense of the justice of God. Sin, whatever it might be to other people, became to me an intolerable burden. It was not so much that I feared hell, but that I feared sin. I knew myself to be so horribly guilty that I remember feeling that if God did not punish me for sin He ought to do so. I felt that the Judge of all the earth ought to condemn such sin as mine. I sat on the judgment seat, and I condemned myself to perish; for I confessed that had I been God I could have done no other than send such a guilty creature as I was down to the lowest hell. All the while, I had upon my mind a deep concern for the honor of God's name, and the integrity of His moral government. I felt that it would not satisfy my conscience if I could be forgiven unjustly. The sin I had committed must be punished. But then there was the question how God could be just, and yet justify me who had been so guilty. I asked my heart: "How can He be just and yet the justifier?" I was worried and wearied with this question; neither could I see any answer to it. Certainly, I could never have invented an answer which would have satisfied my conscience.

The doctrine of the atonement is to my mind one of the surest proofs of the divine inspiration of Holy Scripture. Who would or could have thought of the just Ruler dying for the unjust rebel? This is no teaching of human mythology, or dream of poetical imagination. This method of expiation is only known among men because it is a fact; fiction could not have devised it. God Himself ordained it; it is not a matter which could have been imagined.

I had heard the plan of salvation by the sacrifice of Jesus from my youth up; but I did not know any more about it in my innermost soul than if I had been born and bred a Hottentot. The light was there, but I was blind; it was of necessity that the Lord himself should make the matter plain to me. It came to me as a new revelation, as fresh as if I had never read in Scripture that Jesus was declared to be the propitiation for sins that God might be just. I believe it will have to come as a revelation to every newborn child of God whenever he sees it; I mean that glorious doctrine of the substitution of the Lord Jesus. I came to understand that salvation was possible through vicarious sacrifice; and that provision had been made in the first constitution and arrangement of things for such a substitution. I was made to see that He who is the Son of God, co-equal, and co-eternal with the Father, had of old been made the covenant Head of a chosen people that He might in that capacity suffer for them and save them. Inasmuch as our fall was not at the first a personal one, for we fell in our federal representative, the first Adam, it became possible for us to be recovered by a second representative, even by Him who has undertaken to be the covenant head of His people, so as to be their second Adam. I saw that ere I actually sinned I had fallen by my first father's sin; and I rejoiced that therefore it became possible in point of law for me to rise by a second head and representative. The fall by Adam left a loophole of escape; another Adam can undo the ruin made by the first. When I was anxious about the possibility of a just God pardoning me, I understood and saw by faith that He who is the Son of God became man, and in His own blessed person bore my sin in His own body on the tree. I saw the chastisement of my peace was laid on Him, and that with His stripes I was healed. Dear friend, have you ever seen that? Have you ever understood how God can be just to the full, not remitting penalty nor blunting the edge of the sword, and yet can be infinitely merciful, and can justify the ungodly who turn to Him? It was because the Son of God, supremely glorious in His matchless person, undertook to vindicate the law by bearing the sentence due to me, that therefore God is able to pass by my sin. The law of God was more vindicated by the death of Christ than it would have been had all transgressors been sent to Hell. For the Son of God to suffer for sin was a more glorious establishment of the government of God, than for the whole race to suffer.

Jesus has borne the death penalty on our behalf. Behold the wonder! There He hangs upon the cross! This is the greatest sight you will ever see. Son of God and Son of Man, there He hangs, bearing pains unutterable, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. Oh, the glory of that sight! The innocent punished! The Holy One condemned! The Ever-blessed made a curse! The infinitely glorious put to a shameful death! The more I look at the sufferings of the Son of God, the more sure I am that they must meet my case. Why did He suffer, if not to turn aside the penalty from us? If, then, He turned it aside by His death, it is turned aside, and those who believe in Him need not fear it. It must be so, that since expiation is made, God is able to forgive without shaking the basis of His throne, or in the least degree blotting the statute book. Conscience gets a full answer to her tremendous question. The wrath of God against iniquity, whatever that may be, must be beyond all conception terrible. Well did Moses say, "Who knoweth the power of thine anger?" Yet when we hear the Lord of glory cry, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" and see Him yielding up the ghost, we feel that the justice of God has received abundant vindication by obedience so perfect and death so terrible, rendered by so divine a person. If God himself bows before His own law, what more can be done? There is more in the atonement by way of merit, than there is in all human sin by way of demerit.

The great gulf of Jesus' loving self-sacrifice can swallow up the mountains of our sins, all of them. For the sake of the infinite good of this one representative man, the Lord may well look with favor upon other men, however unworthy they may be in and of themselves. It was a miracle of miracles that the Lord Jesus Christ should stand in our stead and

Bear that we might never bear
His Father's righteous ire.
But he has done so. "It is finished." God will spare the sinner because He did not spare His Son. God can pass by your transgressions because He laid those transgressions upon His only begotten Son nearly two thousand years ago. If you believe in Jesus (that is the point), then your sins were carried away by Him who was the scapegoat for His people.

What is it to believe in Him? It is not merely to say, "He is God and the Saviour," but to trust Him wholly and entirely, and take Him for all your salvation from this time forth and forever--your Lord, your Master, your all. If you will have Jesus, He has you already. If you believe on Him, I tell you you cannot go to hell; for that were to make the sacrifice of Christ of none effect. It cannot be that a sacrifice should be accepted, and yet the soul should die for whom that sacrifice has been received. If the believing soul could be condemned, then why a sacrifice? If Jesus died in my stead, why should I die also? Every believer can claim that the sacrifice was actually made for him: by faith he has laid his hands on it, and made it his own, and therefore he may rest assured that he can never perish. The Lord would not receive this offering on our behalf, and then condemn us to die. The Lord cannot read our pardon written in the blood of His own Son, and then smite us. That were impossible. Oh that you may have grace given you at once to look away to Jesus and to begin at the beginning, even at Jesus, who is the Fountain-head of mercy to guilty man!

"He justifieth the ungodly." "It is God that justifieth," therefore, and for that reason only it can be done, and He does it through the atoning sacrifice of His divine Son. Therefore it can be justly done--so justly done that none will ever question it--so thoroughly done that in the last tremendous day, when heaven and earth shall pass away, there shall be none that shall deny the validity of the justification. "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth."

Now, poor soul! will you come into this lifeboat, just as you are? Here is safety from the wreck! Accept the sure deliverance. "I have nothing with me," say you. You are not asked to bring anything with you. Men who escape for their lives will leave even their clothes behind. Leap for it, just as you are.

I will tell you this thing about myself to encourage you. My sole hope for heaven lies in the full atonement made upon Calvary's cross for the ungodly. On that I firmly rely. I have not the shadow of a hope anywhere else. You are in the same condition as I am; for we neither of us have anything of our own worth as a ground of trust. Let us join hands and stand together at the foot of the cross, and trust our souls once for all to Him who shed His blood for the guilty. We will be saved by one and the same Saviour. If you perish trusting Him, I must perish too. What can I do more to prove my own confidence in the gospel which I set before you.

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It Is God That Justifies
"IT IS GOD THAT JUSTIFIETH"
Romans 8:33
By C. H. Spurgeon

A WONDERFUL THING it is, this being justified, or made just. If we had never broken the laws of God we should not have needed it, for we should have been just in ourselves. He who has all his life done the things which he ought to have done, and has never done anything which he ought not to have done, is justified by the law. But you, dear reader, are not of that sort, I am quite sure. You have too much honesty to pretend to be without sin, and therefore you need to be justified.

Now, if you justify yourself, you will simply be a self-deceiver. Therefore do not attempt it. It is never worth while.

If you ask your fellow mortals to justify you, what can they do? You can make some of them speak well of you for small favors, and others will backbite you for less. Their judgment is not worth much.

Our text says, "It is God that justifieth," and this is a deal more to the point. It is an astonishing fact, and one that we ought to consider with care. Come and see.

In the first place, nobody else but God would ever have thought of justifying those who are guilty. They have lived in open rebellion; they have done evil with both hands; they have gone from bad to worse; they have turned back to sin even after they have smarted for it, and have therefore for a while been forced to leave it. They have broken the law, and trampled on the gospel. They have refused proclamations of mercy, and have persisted in ungodliness. How can they be forgiven and justified? Their fellowmen, despairing of them, say, "They are hopeless cases." Even Christians look upon them with sorrow rather than with hope. But not so their God. He, in the splendor of his electing grace having chosen some of them before the foundation of the world, will not rest till He has justified them, and made them to be accepted in the Beloved. Is it not written, "Whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified"? Thus you see there are some whom the Lord resolves to justify: why should not you and I be of the number?

None but God would ever have thought of justifying me. I am a wonder to myself. I doubt not that grace is equally seen in others. Look at Saul of Tarsus, who foamed at the mouth, against God's servants. Like a hungry wolf, he worried the lambs and the sheep right and left; and yet God struck him down on the road to Damascus, and changed his heart, and so fully justified him that ere long, this man became the greatest preacher of justification by faith that ever lived. He must often have marveled that he was justified by faith in Christ Jesus; for he was once a determined stickler for salvation by the works of the law. None but God would have ever thought of justifying such a man as Saul the persecutor; but the Lord God is glorious in grace.

But, even if anybody had thought of justifying the ungodly, none but God could have done it. It is quite impossible for any person to forgive offences which have not been committed against himself. A person has greatly injured you; you can forgive him, and I hope you will; but no third person can forgive him apart from you. If the wrong is done to you, the pardon must come from you. If we have sinned against God, it is in God's power to forgive; for the sin is against Himself. That is why David says, in the fifty-first Psalm: "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight"; for then God, against whom the offence is committed, can put the offence away. That which we owe to God, our great Creator can remit, if so it pleases Him; and if He remits it, it is remitted. None but the great God, against whom we have committed the sin, can blot out that sin; let us, therefore, see that we go to Him and seek mercy at His hands. Do not let us be led aside by those who would have us confess to them; they have no warrant in the Word of God for their pretensions. But even if they were ordained to pronounce absolution in God's name, it must still be better to go ourselves to the great Lord through Jesus Christ, the Mediator, and seek and find pardon at His hand; since we are sure that this is the right way. Proxy religion involves too great a risk: you had better see to your soul's matters yourself, and leave them in no man's hands.

Only God can justify the ungodly; but He can do it to perfection. He casts our sins behind His back, He blots them out; He says that though they be sought for, they shall not be found. With no other reason for it but His own infinite goodness, He has prepared a glorious way by which He can make scarlet sins as white as snow, and remove our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west. He says, "I will not remember your sins." He goes the length of making an end of sin. One of old called out in amazement, "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy" (Micah 7:18).

We are not now speaking of justice, nor of God's dealing with men according to their deserts. If you profess to deal with the righteous Lord on law terms, everlasting wrath threatens you, for that is what you deserve. Blessed be His name, He has not dealt with us after our sins; but now He treats with us on terms of free grace and infinite compassion, and He says, "I will receive you graciously, and love you freely." Believe it, for it is certainly true that the great God is able to treat the guilty with abundant mercy; yea, He is able to treat the ungodly as if they had been always godly. Read carefully the parable of the prodigal son, and see how the forgiving father received the returning wanderer with as much love as if he had never gone away, and had never defiled himself with harlots. So far did he carry this that the elder brother began to grumble at it; but the father never withdrew his love. Oh my brother, however guilty you may be, if you will only come back to your God and Father, He will treat you as if you had never done wrong! He will regard you as just, and deal with you accordingly. What say you to this?

Do you not see--for I want to bring this out clearly, what a splendid thing it is--that as none but God would think of justifying the ungodly, and none but God could do it, yet the Lord can do it? See how the apostle puts the challenge, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth." If God has justified a man it is well done, it is rightly done, it is justly done, it is everlastingly done. I read a statement in a magazine which is full of venom against the gospel and those who preach it, that we hold some kind of theory by which we imagine that sin can be removed from men. We hold no theory, we publish a fact. The grandest fact under heaven is this--that Christ by His precious blood does actually put away sin, and that God, for Christ's sake, dealing with men on terms of divine mercy, forgives the guilty and justifies them, not according to anything that He sees in them, or foresees will be in them, but according to the riches of His mercy which lie in His own heart. This we have preached, do preach, and will preach as long as we live. "It is God that justifieth"--that justifieth the ungodly; He is not ashamed of doing it, nor are we of preaching it.

The justification which comes from God himself must be beyond question. If the Judge acquits me, who can condemn me? If the highest court in the universe has pronounced me just, who shall lay anything to my charge? Justification from God is a sufficient answer to an awakened conscience. The Holy Spirit by its means breathes peace over our entire nature, and we are no longer afraid. With this justification we can answer all the roarings and railings of Satan and ungodly men. With this we shall be able to die: with this we shall boldly rise again, and face the last great assize.

Bold shall I stand in that great day,
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
While by my Lord absolved I am
From sin's tremendous curse and blame.
Friend, the Lord can blot out all your sins. I make no shot in the dark when I say this. "All manner of sin and of blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men." Though you are steeped up to your throat in crime, He can with a word remove the defilement, and say, "I will, be thou clean." The Lord is a great forgiver.

"I believe in the Forgiveness of Sins." Do You?
He can even at this hour pronounce the sentence, "Thy sins be forgiven thee; go in peace;" and if He do this, no power in Heaven, or earth, or under the earth, can put you under suspicion, much less under wrath. Do not doubt the power of Almighty love. You could not forgive your fellow man had he offended you as you have offended God; but you must not measure God's corn with your bushel; His thoughts and ways are as much above yours as the heavens are high above the earth.

"Well," say you, "it would be a great miracle if the Lord were to pardon me." Just so. It would be a supreme miracle, and therefore He is likely to do it; for He does "great things and unsearchable" which we looked not for.

I was myself stricken down with a horrible sense of guilt, which made my life a misery to me; but when I heard the command, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else"--I looked, and in a moment the Lord justified me. Jesus Christ, made sin for me, was what I saw, and that sight gave me rest. When those who were bitten by the fiery serpents in the wilderness looked to the serpent of brass they were healed at once; and so was I when I looked to the crucified Saviour. The Holy Spirit, who enabled me to believe, gave me peace through believing. I felt as sure that I was forgiven, as before I felt sure of condemnation. I had been certain of my condemnation because the Word of God declared it, and my conscience bore witness to it; but when the Lord justified me I was made equally certain by the same witnesses. The word of the Lord in the Scripture saith, "He that believeth on him is not condemned," and my conscience bears witness that I believed, and that God in pardoning me is just. Thus I have the witness of the Holy Spirit and my own conscience, and these two agree in one. Oh, how I wish that my reader would receive the testimony of God upon this matter, and then full soon he would also have the witness in himself!

I venture to say that a sinner justified by God stands on even a surer footing than a righteous man justified by his works, if such there be. We could never be surer that we had done enough works; conscience would always be uneasy lest, after all, we should come short, and we could only have the trembling verdict of a fallible judgment to rely upon; but when God himself justifies, and the Holy Spirit bears witness thereto by giving us peace with God, why then we feel that the matter is sure and settled, and we enter into rest. No tongue can tell the depth of that calm which comes over the soul which has received the peace of God which passeth all understanding.

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PCG: Elements of Coast Guard Sub-station Ubay together with Ubay Bantay Dagat and Municipal Fisheries Aquatic Resources Management Council recovered a dead body at the vicinity waters of Tapal, Ubay, Bohol this morning, December 26.

The cadaver was identified as Mr Enelito L Permitez, 31-year old and resident of Brgy Fatima, Ubay, Bohol. He was reported missing after his unregistered motor banca capsized at the vicinity waters of Purok 6, Union, Ubay, Bohol last December 24.

Said motor banca departed Tapal Wharf, Union, Ubay enroute to Sitio Popoo, President Carlos P Garcia Bohol with nine (9) passengers onboard to attend a birthday and Christmas party. While underway at approximately 800 meters away from the wharf, the motor banca suddenly encountered engine trouble and was battered by big waves causing her to capsize.

Eight ( passengers were successfully rescued by a concerned citizen and were immediately brought to shoreline. A 4-year old child named May Princess Permitez, one of the passengers, was declared dead on arrival at Don Emilio Hospital in Ubay, Bohol.

Both cadavers were brought to Funeraria Gomez for proper disposition.

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By Ben Cal
By Philippine tradition, it is during the celebration of Holy Innocents' Day that Filipinos play tricks to friends or neighbors like borrowing money, but with the intention of not paying back.

The moment you give the money, they will say, "No hurt feelings, no payback Remember, it's Holy Innocents' Day today!"

Others would use the day to play jokes as part of the annual celebration that occurs three days after Christmas.

For those who are "victims" of Holy Innocents' Day jokes, stay calm. Just laugh to make your day.

According to the New Testament, Holy Innocents' Day was the massacre of some 20,000 boys - ages two years old and below which was ordered by a furious King Herod more than 2,000 years ago after he learned that he was tricked by the Three Kings whom he asked to drop by at his Palace in Bethlehem so he would go with them to visit the newly born child, Jesus Christ.

But deep inside Herod was his sinister plot to kill Baby Jesus whom he considered a rival to his throne.

In the reading of Matthew 2:16-18, it says: "When Herod realized that the visitors (Three Kings) from the East tricked him, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and neighborhood who were two years old and young – this was done in accordance with what he had learned from the visitors about the time when the star had appeared. In this way what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true: A sound is heard in Ramah, the sound of bitter weeping. Rachel is crying for her children; she refuses to be comforted for they are dead."

Matthew also wrote that the Holy Family fled to Egypt after "an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, 'Herod will be looking for the child in order to kill him. So get up, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to leave."

"Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left during the night for Egypt, where he stayed until Herod died. This was done to make come true what the Lord had said through the prophet, I called my Son out of Egypt."

The Romans had considered Herod as the King of the Jew.

According to the Gospel of Matthew, Herod ordered the execution of all young male children in the vicinity of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth had been announced to him by the Magi.

In typical Matthean style it is understood as the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy which says: "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more."

More than 2,000 years had passed the Christian world celebrates Holy Innocents' Day in deep reflection of the mass killings of innocent children. (PNA)

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DFA allows Pinoys to come home and still return to Iraq

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced that Filipinos in hardship areas, such as Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, could now come home to the Philippines following the approval of a proposal that would allow them to visit their loved ones and still return to their jobs.

In a statement, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said he has approved the proposal of the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad to allow Filipinos working in Iraq to be covered under the Balik Manggagawa program as long as their employers could guarantee their safety and security.

"After more than three years of waiting, our kababayans in Iraq will now have the opportunity to be reunited with their families in the Philippines without having to worry about not being able to return to their jobs in Baghdad, Basra, and other safe locations there," he said after signing the letter now up for Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III's approval.

Cayetano said Bello had expressed his "full support" for the selective Balik Manggagawa coverage for Filipinos in Iraq when he discussed it with him in Manila a few weeks ago.

As per the agency, the move is expected to benefit some of the estimated 1,000 Filipinos working in Baghdad, Basra and other areas who, unlike workers in Afghanistan and Libya, have not been able to return to the Philippines since 2014.

Manila maintains Crisis Alert Level IV or mandatory repatriation in Iraq and has suspended deployment of new workers in the area after the Islamic State captured Mosul and other key cities and threatened to overrun Baghdad and Erbil.

"Our decision to approve the request of our kababayans in Iraq is based largely on humanitarian grounds and is similar to what has been granted to our other kababayans working in Afghanistan and Libya," Cayetano said.

He, however, clarified that the move does not lift the current ban on the deployment of new workers nor will it lower the current alert level for Iraq.

In approving the recommendation, the official said he took note of the reports not just of the Embassy but also of the assessment team from the Office of Migrant Workers Affairs and the Office of Middle East and Africa Affairs on the improved security situation in Baghdad and other parts of the country as a result of the recent victories by the Iraqi Government against the Islamic State.

Cayetano said the proposed exemption would cover Filipinos registered with the Embassy in Baghdad and those who are employed by Filipino, foreign and Iraqi companies with existing contracts with the Iraqi government, the United States government and those of member-states of the International Coalition, the United Nations, and other international and non-government organizations.

It will also cover those employed as private staff by foreign diplomats assigned in Baghdad and ranking officials of the Iraqi Government provided that such employers have no pending labor-related cases as certified by the Philippine Embassy.

As per Embassy Chargé d'Affaires Elmer Cato, one of the conditions before a Filipino can avail himself of Balik Manggagawa coverage is for his employer to bring him to the nearest airport and back to their premises using secured non-public transportation.

Filipino workers who meet these requirements must submit an official letter from the employer to the Embassy containing relevant information about the employee requesting that he/she be included in the coverage of the Balik Manggagawa Program, along with the following documents:

• Signed employment contract in English;
• Employee and next of kin information sheet;
• Copy of Employee's passport and iqama;
• Certificate from Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs that employer has been paying employee's social security contributions;
• Certificate of no pending labor-related case from the Embassy;
• Certificate of undertaking for demobilization, evacuation and repatriation of Filipino employee and provision of direct and secured transportation from working premises to or from the nearest airport;
• Payment of certification, authentication, and other fees.

The Embassy shall provide the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, on a regular basis, the list of Filipino workers who have applied for Balik Manggagawa coverage.

In order to travel back to Iraq, Filipino workers covered by the exemption are required to submit to the POEA a certificate of exemption from the Embassy and copies of the other requirements for the issuance of an Overseas Employment Certificates. (PNA)

also read: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/all/moving-philippine-embassy-from-tel-aviv-to-jerusalem/

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) made clear on Wednesday there are no discussions to move the Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, contrary to international reports that circulated Tuesday.



"There has been no recent discussion, whether among relevant government agencies, or bilaterally with Israel or with any other country, on the location of the Philippine Embassy in Israel," the DFA said in an official statement sent by Acting Spokesperson Robespierre Bolivar.



On Tuesday, reports said Israel is in touch with "at least 10 countries" over the possible transfer of their embassies to Jerusalem in line with the United States recognizing it as the capital of Israel.





While Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely did not name the foreign governments, Agence France Presse quoted public radio citing Israeli diplomatic sources that Honduras, the Philippines, Romania, and South Sudan are among states considering such a move.



"Any decision on the location of our Embassy will be based firmly on our national interest and our long-standing support for peace in the Middle East," the DFA cleared.



It also explained that the country's vote to abstain on resolution ES-10/18 on the "Status of Jerusalem" before a United Nations General Assembly is in support of the implementation of UN initiatives aimed at the peaceful resolution of the Middle East conflict.



"The Philippines puts a premium on peace and the peaceful resolution of disputes," it said.

"Our Constitution clearly states that the country renounces war as an instrument of national policy and will strive to maintain friendly relations with all countries."





"It is in consideration of this principle that the Philippines has always supported the policy of two states for two peoples as a long-term solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians," it added.



The DFA said the government is willing to play its part in brokering peace in the region. (PNA)