THE GOVERNMENT failed to disburse a fifth of last year’s appropriations for infrastructure and other capital outlays due to procurement and planning difficulties, according to the Budget department.
Apr 172016
Apr 172016
The pace of change within the technology sector is rapidly accelerating. Even within an industry that is accustomed to rapid waves of change, C-level executives and boards now find themselves navigating an unprecedented period of disruption and innovation. The era of cloud computing and smart mobility is bringing about change faster, more continuously and from different directions, allowing more fluid access and/or transfer of data. As a result, executives and top management are also becoming increasingly concerned about intellectual property (IP) protection and information security. This transformational force is global and highly complex, encompassing new business models, new entrants and new markets — and always with the looming prospect of next-wave technology disruptors.
Apr 152016
Chinkee Tan Do you know of people who are so secretive? People who you think are telling the truth, but are really hiding something from you? Or do you consider yourself as a secretive person? Do you sometimes find yourself not telling the entire story, or even telling an entirely different story, just so you could make your way out of a certain situation? “Mom, we have a group study tonight. I’ll be home late.” (But the truth is, you just want to go on a night-out with your friends.) “Just forget about it, I’m okay.” (But the truth is, the issues in your marriage have been piling up.) “Everything is going well, Sir.” (But the truth is, the client already backed out.) “Yes, it’s still with me, don’t worry.” (But the truth is, you lost it the day your friend asked you to keep it.) There are two kinds of secrets in this world. The first is the kind of secret that someone trusted you to keep. These are the kinds of things that you’re not supposed to tell anyone else about. The second kind is the secret that you try so hard to keep to yourself, but others need to know about – the kind that will only cause trouble if the people who are involved in the issue don’t find out about it. Sometimes, even if we already know that we will be putting other people at risk, or that we will be hurting others, or that Read More …
Apr 142016
THE COMPOUND annual growth rate (CAGR) for air travel in the Philippines will catch up with the rest of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc to average 5.8% from 2015 to 2020 — propelled by the aggressiveness of budget carriers and liberalization of skies in the region, Nomura said.
Apr 142016
THE DEPARTMENT of Agriculture (DA) wants to increase the country’s physical control of the Benham Rise by encouraging fishing communities on the east coast to exploit the new resource.
Apr 142016
DAVAO CITY — The first 105-megawatt (MW) unit of Sarangani Energy Corp.’s (SEC) 210-MW coal-fired plant will start delivering power to the Mindanao grid by the end of April, the top official of Alsons Consolidated Resources, Inc. (ACR) said.
Apr 142016
Filipino-American Immigration Lawyer, Atty. Luisito L. Lopez (photo courtesy of http://www.luisitolopez.com/) LOS ANGELES – Filipino-American immigration lawyer Atty. Luisito L. Lopez, died on Tuesday, April 5, after a car accident while on his way to visit a client in an immigration detention facility in Eloy, Arizona. He was 76. Lopez’s eldest daughter Rose, who was driving the Honda Odyssey van, was seriously injured and is now recuperating at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. For more than four decades, Lopez, who was born in Guagua, Pampanga, fought for people of different races in the United States, and won numerous difficult cases in immigration courts in Los Angeles, San Diego and other cities in California, Connecticut, Chicago, and in Phoenix and Eloy in Arizona. Lopez received his law degree from the San Beda College of Law and taught law at the University of the East before immigrating to the US in 1972. He was an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the America Bar Association (ABA). Lopez also championed the cause of Amerasian children, particularly those born in the Philippines and fathered by US servicemen who, he noticed, were specially excluded from the United StatesAmerasians Immigration Act of 1982 that allowed the children born in Vietnam, Loas, Cambodia and Korea to immigrate to the United States simply because “the Philippines was not part of the war zone.” Wasting no time in his crusade to right this grave injustice, he formed the Filipino American Movement for Amerasian Services (FAMAS) Read More …
Apr 142016
President Benigno S. Aquino III met with the families of the 18 killed soldiers at Edwin Andrews Air Base Multi-Purpose Lounge in Zamboanga City on Wednesday (April 13). Also in photo is Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. (MNS photo) MANILA, April 14 (PNA) – President Benigno S. Aquino III expressed optimism on Thursday that more investments would be realized until the end of his term in June, as government reforms and programs continue attracting new investments and creating jobs. In his speech during the anniversary celebration of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and Investors’ Recognition Night, the President said that as of December 2015, 50.5 percent of total PEZA-approved investments amounting to about Php1.59 trillion have been recorded under his administration. President Aquino noted that total approved investments reached Php3.16 trillion under PEZA Director-General Lilia de Lima’s watch, generating almost 1.2 million jobs. President Benigno S. Aquino III met with the families of the 18 soldiers killed in the Basilan clash at Edwin Andrews Air Base Multi-Purpose Lounge in Zamboanga City on Wednesday (April 13). (MNS photo) “In light of this, it seems a safe bet to say they have been true to their word and by the time we step down from office, there will be an even more significant margin of success,” he said. The Chief Executive hopes that investment numbers are likely to increase, with the establishment of a 63-hectare economic zone in Davao, the possible expansion of Osaka-based companies in the Philippines, and PEZA’s continued efforts Read More …
Apr 142016
United States Defense Secretary Ashton Carter arrives at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City at 6:20 p.m. on Wednesday (April 13, 2016) on board a Boeing 747 to visit two of the five Philippine military bases where American forces will have access under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan) MANILA, April 14 (PNA) – President Benigno S. Aquino III met with United States Defense Secretary Ashton Carter during a courtesy call in Malacañang on Thursday. Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Foreign Affairs Secretary Jose Rene Almendras joined President Aquino during his meeting with Carter. The American defense chief, who arrived in the country on Wednesday, was accompanied by US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg; Ambassador David Shear, US assistant secretary of defense; Eric Rosenbach, the defense secretary’s chief of staff; Brig. Gen. Eric Smith, senior military assistant to the defense secretary; and Peter Cook, Pentagon Press Secretary and chief spokesman for the Department of Defense. Also present on the Philippines’ side were Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino, Department of National Defense; Undersecretary Emmanuel Bautista of the Cabinet Cluster on Security, Justice and Peace; Gen. Hernando Iriberri, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; and Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia Jr. During a joint press conference with Secretary Gazmin in Malacañang, Carter announced the conduct of joint patrols between US and Filipino forces in Philippine territories, especially in the South China Sea. The joint patrols will involve the two countries’ navies Read More …
Apr 142016
By Jelly F. Musico Presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte addresses thousands of Taguig City voters during the grand rally of the Duterte-Cayetano tandem held at FTI Avenue, FTI Complex in Western Bicutan, Taguig City on Monday night (April 11, 2016). (PNA photo by Christopher Lloyd T. Caliwan) MANILA, April 14 (PNA) – If elected president, Senator Grace Poe will appoint closest rival Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as crime czar. This was the reaction of Poe when asked for comment on Duterte’s statement that he will offer the tourism post if he will win in May 9 elections. ”Well, thank you for his offer. In exchange, I want to offer to him the position as crime czar because of what he said that he will finish the problems of criminality in six months,” Poe said in a media interview during a campaign sortie in Baseco compound in Tondo on Thursday. Poe has been mentioning the name of former military Col. Ariel Querubin as her crime czar if she will prevail as the 16th president of the country. ”He (Querubin) said he will give way. That’s my offer to him (Duterte). He will be my crime czar,” Poe said. Poe denied that an emergency meeting was held after she slid down to second place in survey behind Duterte but clarified that the survey results has been discussed in their regular strategy meetings. ”It’s not only the survey, but we’re also running out of time and that’s why have Read More …