Miriam: SC ruling on anti-cybercrime law lacks understanding of technology

 Entertainment
Feb 212014
 

MANILA (Mabuhay) — Calling the Internet as a “marketplace of ideas,” Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago on Thursday said the Supreme Court (SC) erred in upholding the online libel provision in the anti-cybercrime law. At a press conference, Santiago said the high court decision on the anti-cybercrime law was “a case of jurisprudence trailing after technology because of lack of understanding.” “In all, I just think it was a bad idea for the SC to look at the Internet as another form of media. It’s not like radio, TV or print. It is a completely different form,” the senator said. “On the Internet, if someone calls you names, then you call him back with names too! It’s the marketplace of ideas,” she added. On Tuesday, the SC declared the online libel provision in the cybercrime prevention law as constitutional, “with respect to the original author of the post.” The court, however, struck down the provision that empowers the Department of Justice (DOJ) to restrict or block access to data violating the law. Santiago, a former trial court judge, said the high court should have favored freedom of speech, which is enshrined in the Bill of Rights in the 1987 Constitution. “In case of doubt, the doubt should be resolved in favor of the freedom and against the restriction,” she said. Santiago authored the Magna Carta for Philippine Internet Freedom, which seeks to uphold the right to security of Internet data, and the protection of the Internet as an open network. The Read More …

Joblessness and poverty

 General
Feb 202014
 
Joblessness and poverty

The increase in the SWS joblessness rate in the last quarter of last year from 21.7 percent in September 2013 to 27.5 percent in December 2013 was reported to have sparked a full Cabinet meeting that took more than five hours. Last Monday, Economic Planning Secretary Arsi Balisacan called a press conference where he admitted that “growth is not denting poverty.” I like the honesty of Sec. Arsi who went on to explain why poverty is a tough nut to crack. High unemployment and poverty incidence, he admitted, will remain a big challenge for the government in the next 10 years or so even amid steady growth. Balisacan didn’t make a big thing of what he called a modest reduction of poverty incidence since 2009 – declining from 27 to 25 percent. Of course years of bad economic management and even squandered growth opportunities are responsible for our stubborn poverty situation. But past administrations are quick to resort to technicalities to highlight whatever little positive result they can squeeze out from the numbers. Indeed, it would have been easy for Sec Balisacan to say that journalists are being myopic for highlighting the single-quarter increase in joblessness. Arsi could have taken journalists like myself to task for failing to notice that the full-year data reveals a FALL in the SWS average from 2012 to 2013 as Malacanang apologists have always done. Arsi could have even castigated newspaper headline writers for disregarding the fact that the 21.7 was the lowest quarterly percentage Read More …

Alphaland eyes add’l cash via loans, share sale

 Economy
Feb 202014
 
Alphaland eyes add’l cash via loans, share sale

MANILA, Philippines – Upscale property developer Alphaland Corp. is planning to raise additional cash through loans and share sales. Proceeds from the equity offering, which will also increase its public float, will bankroll the construction of two new developments, the firm said yesterday. “In order to rectify the public ownership deficiency of the company due to the Ashmore Group misrepresentation, the board of directors authorized the management to make such number of private placements through the issuance of shares to non-related and qualified entities,” Alphaland said in a disclosure to the stock exchange. Management was authorized to sell shares at a minimum price of P2.50 each. Alphaland, whose shares were suspended from trading since Jan. 20, currently has a public float of 5.07 percent. “The board of directors also authorized management to secure sufficient funding, both through borrowings and equity placements either through private placements or public offerings,” Alphaland said. Fresh capital will augment the funding for projects including the P2-billion Alphaland Marina & Country Club and residential towers, and the Alphaland Baguio Mountain Log Homes. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Early this month, Alphaland completed a P270-million share sale exclusively for minority shareholders. Alphaland earlier said the stock rights offering will give minority shareholders a chance not to be diluted following a billion-peso capital infusion from large stakeholders early in January. Due to time constraints, the previous capital call was made only to owners of more than 10 percent via a private placement. The transaction Read More …

Globe sees better 2014 amid lower write-downs

 Economy
Feb 202014
 
Globe sees better 2014 amid lower write-downs

MANILA, Philippines – Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. is looking at better earnings this year as the amount of one-time write-downs arising from its $790-million network and information technology modernization and transformation program is expected to be completed in the first quarter of the year. Ernest Cu, president and chief executive officer of Globe, said in an interview with reporters that the accelerated depreciation arising from its transformation program is expected to be completed within the first quarter of the year.  “There will some more left because I believe we still have in the first quarter some things to write off… The strength in the core business remains. It has been that way over the past three years and we expect it to continue that way,” Cu said. The company’s net income plunged 28 percent to P4.96 billion last year from P6.85 billion as accelerated depreciation charges related to assets affected by the modernization program jumped 78 percent to P9.06 billion resulting in a 17-percent rise in depreciation charges to P27.48 billion. However, Cu said the focus should be on the core income that measures the underlying financial performance of a company. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1  “The core net income of the company shows you the underlying performance is outside of these one time extra ordinary events of transformation. Transformation means we took away the old equipment, we threw them out or sold them at salvage value and we have to write them down. But it Read More …

Holcim breaches P4-B profit mark in 2013

 Economy
Feb 202014
 
Holcim breaches P4-B profit mark in 2013

MANILA, Philippines – Robust sales and improvement in operating efficiencies allowed cement maker Holcim Philippines Inc. to breach the P4-billion income mark last year. In a disclosure to the stock exchange, Holcim Philippines said its net income jumped 26 percent to a record P4.55 billion last year from P3.62 billion in 2012 on the back of strong demand and good cost management. The cement manufacturer expects further demand growth this year even as it has postponed its plan to invest $550 million for a new factory in Bulacan pending studies on the synergy with other Holcim offices in Southeast Asia, a company official said. “Our company benefited from the good business environment, which has allowed the construction boom to persist and cement demand to thrive,” said Holcim Philippines CEO Eduardo A. Sahagun. Revenues rose six percent to P28.89 billion from P27.15 billion. The firm said its revenues improved last year, buoyed by good price management and steady volumes on the continued growth of cement demand. “The market was made robust by the government’s heavy investments on infrastructure and the private sector’s commercial, residential and industrial projects,” Holcim Philippines said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 In anticipation of continued demand growth this year, Sahagun said the company finished major projects in 2013 such as the capacity upgrades for its La Union and Misamis Oriental plants and the reactivation of its idle grinding facility in Batangas. “Strong cement demand seen on continued construction, with the industry recognized as Read More …

Whistleblowers' lawyer: No need for Mat Ranillo III to turn state witness

 News
Feb 202014
 
Whistleblowers' lawyer: No need for Mat Ranillo III to turn state witness

The legal counsel for the whistleblowers in the P10-billion pork barrel fund scam is not in favor of turning actor Matt Ranillo III into a state witness, saying it is unlikely that the actor had personal transactions with the senators implicated in the scam. “Ang pupuwede sa kanya ay isang ordinary witness. Ang tingin ko kay Mr. Matt Ranillo ay hindi niya kayang i-divulge yung mga naging transactions niya involving legislators implicated,” lawyer Levito Baligod said in an interview on GMA News “24 Oras” aired Thursday evening. Baligod added waiting for Ranillo’s affidavit on the scam might only hamper the investigation of the Office of the Ombudsman. More than 30 people, including former and incumbent government officials, are facing graft complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the pork barrel scam. Among the respondents are Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Juan Ponce Enrile.  Detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and Ruby Tuason, the latest whistleblower, are also respondents in the complaints. Last week, at a Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on the scam, principal whistleblower Benhur Luy said Ranillo signed vouchers to show that pork barrel kickbacks had been received by Estrada and his mother, former First Lady Loi Estrada. GMA News is still trying to reach Ranillo as of this post, but his lawyer—who refused to be named—said the actor has not yet made a decision on whether or not to testify on the plunder case.  — Elizabeth Marcelo/JDS, GMA News

Jake Cuenca ready for haters as TV bad guy

 General
Feb 202014
 
Jake Cuenca ready for haters as TV bad guy

Jake Cuenca (MNS Photo) Actor Jake Cuenca is getting ready for the hate as he is set to play the villain in the upcoming series “Ikaw Lamang” with Kim Chiu, Julia Montes and Coco Martin. Cuenca, who just finished ABS-CBN’s hit series “Maria Mercedes” with Jessy Mendiola, is excited to be playing the bad guy again. “I miss being the villain. After being the lading man in ‘Mercedes’ it feels brand new being the bad guy again,” he said. The actor feels viewers will really hate his character in the series, a period teleserye set in a hacienda in the 1960s. It also stars veteran actors Ronaldo Valdez, Cherie Gil, Angel Aquino, John Estrada and Tirso Cruz III. “I think a lot of people will get mad at me after watching this show. If they don’t that just means I’m not doing my job well. I am not planning to portray this role grey, I want this character to be as dark as possible,” Cuenca said. “More important for me is I perform well and again be different from my other projects in the past,” he added. (MNS)

Senators push for bills to counteract SC ruling on online libel

 News
Feb 202014
 
Senators push for bills to counteract SC ruling on online libel

Senators on Thursday pushed for bills meant to counteract the recent Supreme Court decision upholding the online libel provision in the anti-cybercrime law. Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Teofisto Guingona III separately called for immediate action on measures they filed seeking to decriminalize libel. Cayetano, author of Senate Bill 245, said the SC ruling on online libel will just further clog the country’s courts. “Kung magkakasuhan tayong lahat, mapupuno ang mga korte. Walang mangyayari kung hindi ang mga piskalya, walang ibang gagawin kung hindi mag-prosecute ng Internet and social media libel cases,” Cayetano said in a statement. Guingona, who filed Senate Bill 2128, meanwhile said the Philippines, as a democratic country, should promote freedom of expression and not dangle the “threat of jail” to those who want to speak out through any medium. “We must not forget how hard we fought for the democracy that we now enjoy, and that includes our freedom to speak against erring public officials. It is counter intuitive therefore for us to have come this far and yet have the cloud of possible imprisonment impinge on the liberties that the very democracy we have fought for seeks to protect,” Guingona said in a separate statement. On Tuesday, the high court declared the online libel provision in the cybercrime prevention law as constitutional, “with respect to the original author of the post.” The court, however, struck down the provision that empowers the Department of Justice (DOJ) to restrict or block access to data violating the law. Read More …

Families of fatalities in bus crash mull class suit vs. Florida bus company

 News
Feb 202014
 
Families of fatalities in bus crash mull class suit vs. Florida bus company

After the mourning comes the pursuit of justice.  But the families of 15 fatalities of the Florida bus crash last Feb. 7 have yet to agree whether they will pursue it collectively. In a phone interview with GMA News Online, Ayeen Karunungan, spokesperson of the artist collective Dakila, said the families, including the wife of the late comedian Arvin “Tado” Jimenez, are discussing the details for a possible class suit against the owners of G.V. Florida Transport Inc. One of its buses fell into a ravine in Bontoc, Mt. Province on Feb. 7, killing their loved ones. “Wala pang final, pero so far, criminal and civil cases,” she said, when asked what cases they might file against the company. Karunungan said this after the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, together with the Insurance Commission, were able to convince the owners of G.V. Florida Transport to shell out money for the fatalities. At the hearing on the incident, LTFRB chairman Winston Ginez said each family of the 15 fatalities will receive P150,000 in insurance benefits—P100,000 from G.V. Florida Transport, Inc. and P50,000 from an insurance consortium.  However, Ginez stressed that there are no strings attached to the money given to the family of the fatalities. “Hindi po ito nakatali dun sa anumang additional claims, cases that you may pursue against the parties involved in this case. Maliwanag po ‘yan sa G.V. Florida, sa Dagupan Bus, kay Mr. Norberto Que. So kung ano pa ‘yung gusto ninyong i-pursue na mga legal Read More …

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