The days of puffing cigarettes in public places, whether indoor or outdoor, are numbered.

President Duterte is set to sign an executive order (EO) that will implement a no-smoking policy nationwide, according to Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial.

Even if the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections will push through this month, there will be no candidates who will be able to participate in both polls.

This comes after Commission on Election (Comelec) Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said in her official Twitter account the poll body decided to forgo the filing of certificate of candidacy (COC) for the two elections, which was scheduled from October 3 to 5.

I’ve heard a good number of businesspeople say it’s not extrajudicial killings or President Duterte’s colorful language that has put major investments on hold. It’s more of the prospect of a substantial mandated wage increase. The number floating around for years as the desired hike in daily wage is P125, proposed to be legislated and applied nationally and across the board. Top officials of the Department of Labor and Employment have reportedly claimed that the President now wants the salary of workers in the provinces to be at par with those in Metro Manila, and have ordered all the regional wage boards to study a general wage increase.

They, of all the people, know the true nature of scandal. Many of them have faced it; many have emerged unscathed. Some have gone into hiding, only to come back famous. Some have been accused, and even convicted, of the most vicious crimes, only to return to the highest echelons of power. The people, fickle as the Paris mob during the French Revolution, have spurned them, only to eventually welcome them with open arms.

MANILA, Oct. 6 - The Department of Finance (DOF) envisions its comprehensive tax reform plan to be the catalyst of an ambitious government program to raise an extra P1 trillion yearly for unparalleled public investments geared to free some 10 million Filipinos from poverty in six years’ time and eventually transform the Philippines into a high-income state by 2040.

 

How is it that the six-year reign of the Liberal Party-dominated former PNoy administration could dazzle the economic growth figures but retain the same poverty levels and a relatively inactive labor force resulting from inadequate jobs, low-paying jobs, “endo” jobs, etc.? Given our youthful demographics and the very large numbers of new working-age youth numbering about a million joining the labor force every year, certainly, root causes have to be traced and solutions have to be found urgently.

 

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS on the foreign-relations front are becoming unsettling. Earlier, President Duterte insulted US President Barack Obama, the European Union and the United Nations for commenting on the rising number of extrajudicial killings here. He followed these up with announcements that he would seek to expand ties with China and Russia. Then last week, he said the coming US-PH war games would be the last.

 

THE WAR on poverty now appears to be a forgotten war. We have been waging war against it, but the problem is that numbers do not lie. In fact, one does not have to look for government statistics. One only needs to do a short walk around the city in order to find the ubiquitous presence of impoverished children. The harrowing tragedy that is human poverty does not only diminish the value of life; it also bespeaks the unequivocal reality of systemic abuse in which human beings are ultimately exploited and reduced to powerless artifacts.

 

The Centrist Democracy Political Institute conducted regular round table discussion on “Pursuing Federalism: A Shift from Presidential-Unitary to Federal-Parliamentary Government” to key leaders of the cooperatives last 25 September 2016 at the Tourist’s Inn, Tagum City.

MANILA, Oct. 3 -- The World Bank (WB) released a report entitled “Benchmarking Public-Private Partnerships Procurement 2017” giving the Philippine Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program high scores in preparation and procurement of PPPs.

The Philippines received a score of 96 in preparation of PPPs, 85 on procurement of PPPs, 84 for PPP contract management and 67 for unsolicited proposals.

‘Scores nearing 100 are economies that are considered having PPP regulatory frameworks that closely align with internationally recognized good practices”, the WB report said.

The report noted that that the Philippines is among the 23 percent of 82 economies that have PPP regulations that ensure consistency in its priority projects with the country’s investment agenda.

“In the Philippines, for example, procuring authorities must (a) prepare infrastructure or development programs to identify specific priority projects that may be developed as PPPs; (b) ensure that the list of priority projects is consistent with the Philippine Development Plan, the Provincial Development Plan, and the Physical Framework Plan; and (c) submit the list to the National Economic and Development Authority Board or the Investment Coordination Committee for approval”, the report said.

The World Bank report highlighted that the Philippines has prepared its own comprehensive risk matrix.

“In the Philippines, where the Generic Preferred Risk Allocation matrix indicates the type of risks to be assessed and also includes definitions, proposed allocations and rationales, possible risk mitigation efforts, and suggested contract provisions,” the report said.

The report also underscored the good practice of the PPP Center and implementing agencies (IAs) in conducting a market sounding to evaluate the investors’ interest in the PPP projects.

“The PPP Center and the procuring authority must perform a market-sounding process to determine the interest of private sector operators, taking into account different scenarios for revenue and economic growth in the short, medium, and long terms”, the report said.

The recent World Bank report is the latest study that recognized the successful implementation of the PPP framework in the Philippines. In April 2015, the Philippines has been recognized by the Economist Intelligence Unit Infrascope 2014 report as the most improved country in Asia-Pacific for PPP readiness. The country ranked number 7 among the 21 countries included in the study and was categorized as developed PPP market alongside countries like Japan, India, and Republic of Korea. (PPP)

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See more at: http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/2131475400055/world-bank-report-lauds-ph-ppp-framework