Phl, Australia firms team up to develop Pinoy technoprenuers

 Economy
Jun 252013
 
Phl, Australia firms team up to develop Pinoy technoprenuers

MANILA, Philippines — Incubator-accelerator firms from the Philippines and Australia have entered into a partnership to fund and mentor Filipino technopreneurs. Local incubator Kickstart Ventures Inc., a wholly-owned company by Globe Telecom, teamed up with Australian counterpart Pollenizer to bring the latter’s distinctive approach to company formation into the Philippines market. The partnership dubbed Pollenizer@Kickstart hopes to increase the chances of success of local technopreneurs by combining top talent, great ideas, and startup best practices. The concept is to provide highly-skilled engineers, business people, and product managers with a unique environment for entrepreneurial experimentation. Pollenizer@Kickstart encourages interested individuals to apply to join a team that Kickstart and Pollenizer are co-founding to address a well-researched problem, with the Pollenizer@Kickstart  program providing a built-in funding runway, and a structured incubation process.   Minette Navarrete, President of Kickstart, said team members could be corporate employees looking for more autonomy and freedom to experiment, entrepreneurs looking to plug into a support system and pre-defined project, or people who have moved between both environments. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Each team member is considered a co-founder and receives an equity stake in the business that they form as well as a salary to meet month expenses. Team members are expected to own the vision and execution for the business, with intense support, mentorship and guidance from Kickstart and Pollenizer. One of them will also be chosen as the Chief Executive Officer of the new business. The businesses will be given funding Read More …

Militants challenge US gov't to heed SC order on Tubbataha Reef grounding

 News
Jun 242013
 
Militants challenge US gov't to heed SC order on Tubbataha Reef grounding

Militant groups on Monday challenged the US government to heed a Philippine Supreme Court order for it to comment on a writ of kalikasan petition earlier filed in connection with the grounding of the US navy ship USS Guardian at the Tubbataha Reef last January. Salvador France, vice chair of the fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), said the US government should no longer invoke international treaties to skirt the SC ruling. “The US government must respond to and account for their crimes against the people and the environment. That is simple as ABC, nothing more, nothing less. The incident merits the filing of criminal and other appropriate charges against officials and the 79 other crew of USS Guardian and the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Defense Treaty between Manila and Washington,” said France. Earlier reports claimed that the high court had issued a resolution directing the US government and Malacañang, as well as Cabinet and military officials to file a comment on the petition filed last April 17 by a group of two Catholic bishops, environmentalists, activists, and lawyers. Supreme Court Public Information Office chief and spokesman Theodore Te could not immediately confirm if such a resolution had been issued. The US servicemen named as respondents in the petition were Navy officials Scott Swift, Commander of the US 7th Fleet; and Mark Rice, commanding officer of the USS Guardian. For his part, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary general Renato Reyes welcomed Read More …

Share transfer transactions

 Economy
Jun 232013
 

ECONOMISTS are touting the Philippines as being a “sweet spot” for investments — an impressive 6.8% GDP growth in 2012, a solid 7.8% growth in the first quarter of 2013, manageable deficit and inflation, recent credit rating upgrades to investment status, strong domestic consumption, increased government spending on infrastructure, and investor confidence in President Aquino’s good governance policies.

President Aquino says Philippines still has wealth of meteorologists to tap

 Entertainment
Jun 232013
 

MANILA, June 20 (Mabuhay) — President Benigno S. Aquino III is unfazed by the resignation of Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) Administrator Nathaniel Servando, saying the Philippines has a wealth of personnel and resources it could easily tap to fill the needs of the State weather agency. In an interview, the President […]

Win now, study later: Preparing neophyte politicians for the tasks ahead

 News
Jun 232013
 
Win now, study later: Preparing neophyte politicians for the tasks ahead

How do you prepare a politician with zero experience in government for three to six years in office—and do it in less than a week? This is the challenge being faced by some institutions which offer crash courses to newly-elected local officials and lawmakers to try to prepare them for the tasks ahead. The University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG), for instance, recently organized a five-day course for Senator-elect Nancy Binay. Before winning her Senate seat last elections, Binay served as personal assistant to her parents, Vice President Jejomar Binay and former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay. Maynard Matammu of the UP-NCPAG’s Center for Policy and Executive Development, one of the persons who prepared Binay’s crash course, explained that the topics tackled during Binay’s course were “customized” based on the senator-elect’s preferences. “We drafted the course and met with the senator. We informed her about the specific topics per session and who the resource persons will be. We made sure that the course will touch on her priority areas and subjects that were in her platform,” Matammu said in an interview. He said the center has been organizing these courses for years as part of its “extension services” to the public. In Binay’s case, her course included introductory discussions on the Philippine administrative system, the Senate, the economy and the national budget process—all tackled in sessions that lasted for an hour and a half. The course likewise allowed Binay to have “sessions with experts” on Read More …

USS Guardian grounding blamed on officers, gear

 News
Jun 212013
 
USS Guardian grounding blamed on officers, gear

By Nikko DizonPhilippine Daily Inquirer 3:31 am | Saturday, June 22nd, 2013 In a photo released by the U.S. Navy, the mine countermeasures ship USS Guardian sits aground in this Jan. 22, 2013 file photo on the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea in the Philippines. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Lack of leadership and faulty navigational equipment led to the grounding of the former USS Guardian on the Tubbataha Reef last January, which could have been prevented, according to the official report of the United States Navy. “The USS Guardian leadership and watch teams failed to adhere to prudent, safe, and sound navigation principles which would have alerted them to approaching dangers with sufficient time to take mitigating action,” concluded  Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, in the 160-page document. “The watch team’s observations of visual cues in the hours leading up to the grounding, combined with electronic cues and alarms, should have triggered immediate steps to resolve warnings and reconcile discrepancies,” Haney said. The US Pacific Fleet Public Affairs Office on Friday released a press statement summarizing the US Navy’s report on the results of its investigation into the minesweeper’s grounding on Tubbataha Reef. A link to the summary version of the report was also available online. Haney described as a “tragic mishap” the Jan. 17 grounding of the US vessel in the World Heritage Site, which destroyed more than 2,000 square meters of prized corals that would take years to rehabilitate.   Preventable mishap “This Read More …

$10M worth of smuggled elephant tusks destroyed

 News
Jun 212013
 
$10M worth of smuggled elephant tusks destroyed

By DJ YapPhilippine Daily Inquirer 1:47 am | Saturday, June 22nd, 2013 CRUSHED At least 5 tons of smuggled elephant tusks worth an estimated $10 million are destroyed by a road roller in support of a global effort to stop the illegal ivory trade. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ MANILA, Philippines—Environment officials on Friday led the crushing of some five tons of smuggled elephant tusks worth an estimated $10 million in a symbolic move to show the seriousness of the Philippine campaign to stop the “blood ivory” trade. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Friday destroyed the confiscated ivory using a road roller at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City. The shattered parts were to be incinerated at a government animal crematorium, officials said. The destruction of the stockpile would also eliminate any opportunity for corrupt officials to resell the ivory. “This act is a strong statement to the rest of the world that the Philippines is serious and will not tolerate illegal wildlife trade,” Environment Secretary Ramon Paje told a crowd of foreign dignitaries, wildlife campaigners and local and international media. Ivory can fetch from $1,000 to $2,000 per kilogram on the black market and more than $50,000 for an entire tusk, according to reports. Bonaventure Ebayi, chair of the Lusaka Agreement Task Force, an intergovernmental body on illegal wildlife trade based in Nairobi, Kenya, said the Philippine government’s action was a model that ought to be replicated in other parts of Asia. The US Read More …

PH urged to convict embassy execs in sex scandal to boost trafficking status

 News
Jun 202013
 
PH urged to convict embassy execs in sex scandal to boost trafficking status

By Karen BoncocanINQUIRER.net 12:50 pm | Friday, June 21st, 2013 MANILA, Philippines — In order to improve its status in the United States’ annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, the Philippines needs to convict embassy officials who will be found guilty of currying sexual favors from distressed female overseas Filipino workers in exchange for their repatriation, a lawmaker at the House of Representatives said Friday. Akbayan Partylist Representative Walden Bello felt that the Philippines was not doing enough to curb the incidence of human trafficking and said that one way of sending a message about the country’s resolve would be to “dismiss officials engaged in sex trafficking”. The US’ TIP Report showed that the Philippines retained its Tier 2 status and noted that there was a “paucity of arrests and convictions”. “We need to clean up our agencies,” Bello, who heads the committee on overseas workers affairs at the House of Representatives, told INQUIRER.net. The partylist lawmaker has accused three Philippine Embassy officials of involvement in sexual exploitation in the Middle East, prompting an investigation by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). The legislator warned that he would resign from the House should the government fail to hold accountable Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Polo) in Amman, Jordan assistant labor attaché Mario Antonio, Kuwait Polo officer Blas Marquez and a certain “Kim” in Damascus. Antonio in a press conference Thursday denied the allegation. Related stories:PH failed to restrain human trafficking–USSolon slams gov’t for Read More …

PH failed to restrain human trafficking–US

 News
Jun 202013
 
PH failed to restrain human trafficking–US

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 5:29 am | Friday, June 21st, 2013 US Secretary of State John Kerry. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines retained its Tier 2 status in the United States’ annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report as US authorities noted a “paucity of arrests and convictions” despite the country’s strong resolve to arrest trafficking incidents. In a report released in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, the US Department of State said the Philippines had failed to comply with standards for curbing trafficking, particularly with the country’s poor judicial system. “As both a source country and, to a lesser extent, a destination and transit country for sex trafficking and forced labor, the Philippines remained at Tier 2 on the state department’s three-tier ranking system. Despite making significant efforts to combat trafficking, the government of the Philippines does not yet fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” the TIP report said. The report, released by Secretary of State John Kerry on June 19, is considered “the most comprehensive report” on efforts of the world’s governments to stop human trafficking. The Philippines was first upgraded to Tier 2 in June 2011, considered an improvement after the country’s initial convictions of individuals involved in human trafficking. It had been at risk of being downgraded to Tier 3, which would have led to sanctions on US aid to the Philippines. In retaining the country at its current rating, the state department noted the Philippines’ “weaknesses in its judicial system,” Read More …

US prof held for sex with Filipino kids

 News
Jun 202013
 
US prof held for sex with Filipino kids

Associated Press 4:35 am | Friday, June 21st, 2013 This 2011 image provided by the FBI shows Walter Lee Williams, 64, one of the U.S. FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives has been arrested in the resort city of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Tuesday June 18, 2013. Prosecutor Gaspar Armando Garcia Torres says Williams is wanted on charges of sexual exploitation of children and traveling abroad for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with children. AP LOS ANGELES—A former professor of the University of Southern California (USC) accused of sex crimes involving two children in the Philippines has been deported to the United States after a Mexican citizen recognized his picture in a newspaper and informed the US Embassy. Walter Lee Williams, 64, will appear in a Los Angeles federal courtroom on Thursday to face charges of sexual exploitation of children and traveling abroad for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with children. He had been placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. The indictment alleges Williams traveled from Los Angeles to the Philippines to engage in sex acts with two 14-year-old boys he met online in 2010, the Department of Justice said in a statement. “He allegedly engaged in sexual activity via Internet webcam sessions with these boys and expressed a desire to visit them in the Philippines to have sex,” the indictment stated. A tip from a Mexican citizen who saw a photograph in a local newspaper and contacted the US Read More …

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