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MANILA, Philippines – Major property developers will likely start laying the groundwork for the Philippines’ first smart and totally environment-friendly metropolis next year, a government official said. State-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) will start bidding out this year a 1,300-hectare portion of the 36,000-hectare Clark Green City project in Pampanga, a government official said. “We will parcelize the lot into six. We want different developers to come in,” BCDA president and chief executive officer Arnel Paciano Casanova said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) welcome reception. Major listed property firms, which approached the BCDA for the 1,300-hectare portion of the urban project, will likely start construction of mixed-use developments as early as 2015 as bidding is seen to be conducted this year, Casanova said. While the master development plan for the Clark Green City has already been approved by the National Economic and Development Authority, the state-run agency is still waiting for President Aquino’s go signal before the contract for the development could be offered for bidding. “It’s about time, we have a lot of opportunities and we are riding on the optimism of the market,” Casanova said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The country’s property sector is on a boom for the past few years on the back of strong end-user demand, large housing backlog, investor optimism and the increasing middle class capable of buying properties. BCDA said the Clark Green City project is a $5-billion development that will transform Read More …
At long last, the construction of the Puerto Prin-cesa International Airport is apparently about to move with the awarding of the project to a Korean contractor, Kumho. The airport project was the first of many big ticket airport projects to be approved by P-Noy after he assumed office. But it took DOTC quite a bit of time to get the project off and running. It was then DOTC Sec Mar Roxas who announced Malacañang’s approval of the project in late 2011. “P-Noy just OK’d our P4.5-billion Puerto Princesa airport project,” Roxas said in a “tweet” on social networking site Twitter.com. He said his target for the start of construction of the project is late 2012. “(I) feel big responsibility to deliver this. Tuloy-tuloy na ’to.” Tuloy tuloy turned out to be teka teka. The project was supposed to be a PPP project and some of our local conglomerates have expressed interest. But Mar had second thoughts about PPP and shifted his preference for ODA financing instead. I am glad the airport project is finally moving. But it will not be completed until first quarter of 2017, too late for P-Noy to inaugurate it and claim credit for it. Maybe that’s how life really is because P-Noy inaugurated and claimed credit for the Arroyo initiated but still to be really completed Laguindingan airport in Cagayan de Oro. Interestingly, Laguindingan was also funded by Korean ODA. It took seven years from the time when then President Arroyo broke ground in January 2006 to Read More …
Rosa Rosal is back at the Philippine Red Cross after being appointed to its board of governors. Rosal’s was among the appointments that Malacañang announced over the weekend. Last December, Rosal called for an audit of the PRC and for the board to suspend its secretary general, Gwendolyn Pang, while the audit was being done. She said a former accountant for the PRC found irregular transactions and requests for payment and disbursement of funds, including the use of PRC money for a birthday party for Pang. In a press statement in December, the PRC said it had already investigated the allegations and that Pang “was fully exonerated and the Philippine Red Cross Governing Board has expressed its full confidence in her continued leadership of the organization.” Aside from Rosal, other appointments announced by the Palace were: Nicolas Dy-Liacco Ojeda, Jr. as deputy executive director of the Information and Communications Technology Office, under the Department of Science and Technology (appointed May 19) Thomas Orbos as assistant general manager for planning of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Cyril Ramos as deputy ombudsman for the military and other law enforcement offices (MOLEO) Blas James Viterbo as Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner Aurora Centeno as deputy executive director of the National Archives of the Philippines Vicente Lao as a member of the board of directors, representing the business sector, in the Mindanao Development Authority Gino Alphonsus Bayot as assistant secretary for the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office — Joel Locsin/JDS, GMA News
A ceremony to mark the 116th anniversary of the Philippine Navy will be held at its base in Ulugan Bay in Palawan to demonstrate the support that frontline sailors have from Navy leadership, including President Benigno Aquino III, commander-in-chief. Vice Admiral Jesus Millan, Navy chief, told reporters Sunday that the anniversary rites will be held at Naval Station Carlito Cunanan, headquarters of Naval Forces West, on Tuesday to highlight improvements to the base, which, he said has strategic importance. He said developing the naval station will help sailors there perform their jobs – which includes securing the West Philippine Sea – better. “Yung ating morale of the men is one big concern for me, which will redound to the better accomplishment of their mission,” he said. Colonel Edgard Arevalo, chief of the Navy’s Civil Military Operations Group, said the celebration of the Navy’s anniversary is usually held in either Manila or Cavite. “Gusto nating ipakita sa ating personnel na binibigyan natin sila ng due attention,” he said of the decision to do it in Palawan this year. President Benigno Aquino III is expected to attend the ceremony, which, Arevalo said, will give the president the opportunity to meet the Navy’s frontline sailors. “Well, of course, other than…the boost it will bring to the morale of our personnel, [having] our commander-in-chief, no less, visiting them, ito rin ang opportnity for our commander-in-chief…to be able to see kung ano ang mga developments na meron tayo sa bagong nilipatang headquarters ng Naval Forces Read More …
President Benigno Aquino III might continue receiving his monthly salary of P95,000 for life should the bill filed by a party-list representative become a law. Citing the need to provide due recognition and to show gratitude to the Philippines’ former leaders for their services, ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Samuel Pagdilao Jr. said retired presidents should continue to receive an annual pension equivalent to their basic salaries. House Bill 4450, or the Retired Presidents’ Protection Act, seeks such benefit for former presidents as their “role as moral voice of the nation will continue” even long after they retired from government sevice, Pagdialo said in the bill’s explanatory note. Under HB 4450, the pension shall be paid monthly by the Office of the President to the former head of state. The bill defines “a retired president” as one who has completed his or her full term of office, the person who has served more than four years as the president’s successor, and the individual who resigns as president before his or her official term expires provided that he or she had not been removed from office or forced to resign due to impeachment. Meanwhile, under the 47-year-old Republic Act 5059, former presidents are only entitled to a tax-free life pension of P40,000 each year. Also, RA 5059 bans impeached presidents or those who assume another government post after stepping down from the presidency from receiving pension. Pension transfer In the event of a former president’s death, HB 4450 provides that the government should Read More …
Years ago, Abe Ignacio was surfing on eBay when he was stunned by one item for sale. It was a cover of an 1899 issue of Judge magazine showing President WilliamMcKinley scrubbing what was supposed to be a Filipino child, saying, “Oh, you dirty boy.” The caption read: “The Filipino’s first bath.” That discovery led Ignacio, in cooperation with three other Filipinos — including Jorge Emmanuel, Helen Toribio, Abe’s late wife, and Enrique de la Cruz — to write “The Forbidden Book,” a compilation of racist portrayals of Filipinos during the Philippine-American War. I wrote about a 2001 exhibit in Berkeley based on the collection for the San Francisco Chronicle. Abe has continued digging since then, finding a rich gold mine of information and photos at the San Francisco Main Library, where he is now a guest scholar. One of the items he found recently offers a different portrait of San Francisco, which is now considered one of the most liberal and open-minded cities in the world, where Filipinos have one of most vibrant and established immigrant communities. Just last month, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee announced that Tagalog is now the third required language, in addition to Chinese and Spanish, covered by the city’s language access ordinance. It showed the respect the Filipino community commands in San Francisco. Well, that wasn’t always the case. This was evident in a shameful, though forgotten, chapter in the city’s history. It happened 109 years ago, in 1905, when a group of 25 Read More …
• 20th anniversary campaign invites Filipinos to submit own video versions REDWOOD CITY, California – Following the success of its 20th year anniversary gala in April and the official launch of its anniversary music video performed by Gary Valenciano with son, Gab, on the Philippines’ number one weekend variety show, “ASAP 19,” The Filipino Channel (TFC) is inviting all Filipinos overseas to join in the celebration via the TFC20 Galing ng Filipino Dance Moves Promo. In the music video for the song “Galing ng Filipino,” which pays tribute to the “innate greatness of Filipinos” that enables them to thrive and excel wherever they are in the world, the choreography showed Gary and Gab executing specific dance steps for the last two lines of the chorus: “Oh oh oh, oh,oh (3x) Angking galing, ipagpatuloy mo!” The Valenciano father-and-son tandem does its own dance interpretation of the line that encourages Filipinos to “march on with their greatness,” making circular motions to represent continuing movement as they step to the rhythm and the beat of the song. TFC challenges global Filipinos to submit their own video versions of the “Galing ng Filipino” dance move. Exciting prizes await entries that are adjudged best renditions, according to TFC. “The song composed by Jonathan Manalo and Jay Santiago and arranged by Gary himself can be interpreted by Filipinos around the world in a million ways and that’s the beauty of it,” said ABS-CBN Global Chief Marketing Officer Jojo Ines. He explained, “While for this promo, we Read More …
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines is heartened by Vietnam’s plan to challenge China’s sovereignty claims over the South China Sea. Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said this was proof the Philippines’ advocacy for the peaceful settlement of maritime disputes was “gaining credence and support.” “If it comes to pass that another country other than the Philippines brings that issue to the tribunal, then it broadens the base for those that believe and adhere to the rule of law and to the concept of peaceful settlement of disputes,” Coloma said in an interview. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had said that his country was considering legal action against China. Two Vietnamese diplomats had said that Hanoi might file its own appeal and join Manila’s legal challenge against Beijing. Vietnam has tangled with China over the latter’s deployment of an oil platform in waters within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone, a move that sparked riots against Chinese nationals across Vietnam. China claims 90 percent of the 1.35-million square mile South China Sea, while the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan claim parts of it. The Philippines filed on March 30 a memorandum, also called a memorial, in the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (Itlos), asking it to rule on Beijing’s claims over most of the South China Sea. It asserted that the Chinese stance was illegal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), and that it interfered with Read More …
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono: Diplomacy AP PHOTO Buoyed by the new maritime boundary agreement with the Philippines, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has proposed that the two countries conduct joint naval patrols to combat poaching in the seas. The landmark agreement demarcating both countries’ overlapping exclusive economic zones (EEZ) in the Mindanao, Celebes and Philippine seas offers new opportunities in fishing, maritime and security engagements for both countries, Malacañang said. In his meeting with Mr. Aquino on Friday morning, Yudhoyono said he was instructing his minister for economic coordination “to prepare an outline for enhancing maritime cooperation,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said. One major area of cooperation between the two archipelagic countries would be joint naval patrols to deter crimes such as poaching of protected wildlife—a constant concern in the West Philippine Sea. Coloma said they could now move forward with maritime cooperation on fisheries and aquatic resource development, and prevention of maritime crimes like poaching since there were no “more pending issues” between the two countries. At the state dinner later Friday, Yudhoyono said both countries should “seize the momentum from the historic achievement” to also boost cooperation in the maritime and ecotourism sectors. “I am glad that our bilateral relations are indeed on the right track with plenty of room for further expansion,” he said in a toast to Mr. Aquino. Coloma, who was present at the bilateral meeting, said the two leaders talked of possible joint patrols in the resource-rich seas between them. “The good Read More …