Group decries ‘double standard’ in handling of US, Chinese Tubbataha intrusions

 News
Apr 102013
 
Group decries ‘double standard’ in handling of US, Chinese Tubbataha intrusions

By DJ Yap Philippine Daily Inquirer 6:56 pm | Wednesday, April 10th, 2013 Tubbataha Reefs. YVETTE LEE/CONTRIBUTOR MANILA, Philippines—Was there a double standard in the government’s handling of the back-to-back intrusions of a US Navy warship and a Chinese fishing vessel in the Tubbataha National Marine Park? The group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment assailed what it called the “great disparity” in the way the Aquino administration handled the grounding of the Chinese fishing vessel on Monday night and the USS Guardian in January. “While the Philippine Coast Guard swiftly acted to apprehend the Chinese intruders, it is shameful and appalling how the Aquino [administration] handled the American trespassers from the US Navy,” said Kalikasan national coordinator Clemente Bautista. “Any foreign intrusion into our territorial waters or infringement of our national patrimony should be dealt with accordingly. Whether it is Chinese or Americans, they must pay the damages and if proven should serve time in jail,” Bautista said in a statement. He noted the disparity in the government’s response to the grounding of the Chinese and Americans in the Tubbataha National Marine Park in the Sulu Sea, a World Heritage Site. “First, the PCG failed to apprehend the officers and crew of the USS Guardian in spite of their clear violations of our local and environmental laws. Second, the Philippine authorities embarrassingly failed to assert our right to directly investigate and interview the personnel of the USS Guardian as the US Navy did not allow it,” Bautista said. “Worst, Read More …

Palace: Still no need to raise alert level in Korea for now

 Entertainment
Apr 102013
 

MANILA, Apr 6 (Mabuhay) – Despite North Korea’s advice to foreign missions to consider evacuating their posts due to nuclear tensions, the Philippines still sees no need to raise its alert level in Korea as of Saturday morning. In a radio interview, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the situation at least in South Korea […]

Pacquiao ‘wants Macau fight’

 Entertainment
Apr 102013
 

MACAU, April 7, 2013 (AFP) – Philippines boxing hero Manny Pacquiao wants his next fight to be in Macau, according to his promoter Bob Arum, who says they are working on an autumn showdown in the casino enclave. Negotiations are ongoing for a September rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez, who knocked Pacquiao out in December, […]

PHL strike-free for 1Q of 2013

 Entertainment
Apr 102013
 

MANILA, Apr 8 (Mabuhay) – For the second year in a row, the entire country was strike-free for the first three months of 2013, said National Conciliation and Mediation Board Executive Director Reynaldo Ubaldo Monday. In his report to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, Ubaldo said: “We did this through the provision of timely, efficient, and […]

STRANGER THAN PARADISE

 News
Apr 092013
 
STRANGER THAN PARADISE

Will the Philippine government’s ambitious plan to attract luxury tourism threaten the environmental wonders that have made the country one of the last unspoiled tropical destinations in Asia? Two islands—one pristine, the other overpopulated—sound a cautionary note. READ FULL STORY

Intensified tax drive pits BIR vs. doctors

 News
Apr 042013
 
Intensified tax drive pits BIR vs. doctors

As an obstetrician in a local hospital in Pangasinan who would sometimes conduct free checkups on pregnant women, Dr. Amelie (not her real name) is not in favor of the government’s policy requiring doctors to issue receipts. “Hindi lahat ng patients ko nakakapagbayad ng consultations,” she told GMA News Online by phone. “So paano maa-assign ‘yun ng bayad sa gobyerno?” She added she issues receipt only when the patient asks for it. “Minsan nagbibigay ako pag humihingi sila ng resibo. Pero pag hindi sila humihingi, hindi na ako nagbibigay.” The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is requiring doctors to issue receipts during consultations as part of government efforts to ensure that professionals pay their respective professional income tax. Well-paying profession Since doctors are known to be a well-paying profession where official receipts are not given to patients, taxes are assumed to be vastly underpaid. According to the Philippine Medical Association (PMA), a doctor’s professional income tax could be as much as P200,000 every year. Nelson Aspe, deputy commissioner for operations of the BIR, said they decided to go after doctors after they noticed that doctors have the lowest income tax filed among other professionals. “Nung nire-evaluate namin ang mga tax filers, sila (doctors) ang mga pinakamababa,” he said without mentioning figures, citing confidentiality. Aspe insisted that issuing receipts is “obligatory” even among businesses and professionals. “The basic statement is that anybody earning… magi-issue ng receipts in their services or sales of goods,” he said. “[But] over the years, mababa ang Read More …

US to deploy F/A-18 warplanes for military drills with PHL

 News
Apr 042013
 
US to deploy F/A-18 warplanes for military drills with PHL

Washington will deploy this week a dozen F/A-18 fighters to the Philippines, the first time it has sent so many of the aircraft there, to take part in annual military drills with a close security ally amid rising tension in the Asia-Pacific region. The presence of the warplanes is not connected to tensions on the Korean peninsula, a Philippine army spokesman said. “These exercises were planned more than a year ago, well ahead of what is now happening in the region,” Major Emmanuel Garcia said. The United States plans to send a missile defense system to protect Pacific island Guam, where it has a large military base, after North Korea threatened to launch nuclear attacks on the North American mainland over disagreements on its atomic programme. The bilateral military activities will begin on Friday with 8,000 American and Filipino troops staging mock battles and simulating disaster responses, army spokesman Garcia said. The war games are being held to test the two allies’ defense plans based on the Mutual Defence Treaty, an important link in Washington’s chain of security alliances in the Asia-Pacific region. The U.S. has similar military arrangements with South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Australia. “There will be table top exercises on how the militaries of the two countries would respond to a destructive typhoon as well as in the event of a major ship collision on the high seas,” Garcia said, adding the combat aspect would showcase the capability of the U.S. Navy’s multi-role fighters. The Philippines lost Read More …

PH to probe ‘secret’ Marcos offshore trust

 News
Apr 042013
 
PH to probe ‘secret’ Marcos offshore trust

Agence France-Presse 5:15 pm | Thursday, April 4th, 2013 Imee Marcos. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine government said Thursday it planned to investigate an allegation that the eldest daughter of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was the beneficiary of a secret offshore trust. A report published by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) alleged Imee Marcos, 57, now a provincial governor, had failed to declare the British Virgin Islands trust as legally required. Andres Bautista, head of a presidential body tasked to recover the billions of dollars the Marcos family stole from government coffers during the patriarch’s 20-year rule, told AFP his office would look into the allegations. “We are duty bound to investigate and, depending upon informed preliminary findings, decide whether to pursue the matter,” Bautista said. A popular uprising topped Marcos in 1986, and he died in US exile three years later. His famously extravagant wife, Imelda, has always denied she and her husband were corrupt. The Presidential Commission on Good Government, which Bautista heads, has recovered $4 billion in assets that the Marcos illegally acquired, including from Swiss bank accounts and US properties. But Bautista told AFP in January that, with Imee, Imelda and Ferdinand Jr. having re-established political influence in the Philippines, the commission was considering giving up on the chase for the billions more believed to be hidden. “It’s been 26 years and people you are after are back in power. At some point, you just have to say, ‘We’ve done our best’, and Read More …

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