by anyajulia | Sep 1, 2008 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
INSURANCE incentives for barangay tanods? Why not?
Seeing the logic behind the move to motivate more police force-multipliers to actively keep crimes at bay in their districts, City Mayor Dan Neri Lim has directed Police Chief Julius Cesar Gornez to study the prospect of giving insurance incentives to barangay tanods hurt in the performance of their duty.
With the order given during the recent City Peace and Order Council Meeting (CPOC) at the Sangguniang Panlungsod Session Hall, the city mayor said he wants the city police to submit the study to his office within five days.
The provincial Government puts up death insurance to barangay peace officers but this does not cover for the government agent’s hospitalization and other medical benefits in case of job-related accidents, Gornez told the council.
This as the city police chief assessed that criminality in Tagbilaran is still manageable, especially wit the 86.98% crime solution efficiency as reported.
Despite the relatively high crime solution efficiency, Gornez said he’d bat for improved crime solution efficiency and a faster police response time under his leadership.
Over the insinuation that Tagbilaran has become a Sin City, Mayor Lim reasons out that most crimes reported are amicably settled or does not necessarily involve residents.
“Seven in every ten cases reported by the media gets amicably settled, so there is apparently no need to read all reports over the radio and put up a negative public perception”, the mayor pointed out.
Over all these problems, Gornez still cast his hopes that the community continues its key role in crime prevention.
Lim also vowed more police visibility as he shares a City Hall plan to acquire more Spider patrol cars to increase police mobility and patrol frequency.
Gornez also recommended the reformatting of the city clearance system using the more widely used standards of specimen signature data-banking.
The recommendation also jibes with the police plan to link all police stations across the country so as to further coordinate all efforts in crime prevention, criminal tracking system and missing persons information. (rachiu/PIA)
by anyajulia | Sep 1, 2008 | Headlines, National News
GREATER spending power for state workers to cope with the hard times comes next year as the government plans to implement the salary standardization.
The government has earmarked about P20B from the P1.4 trillion proposed 2009 national budget Malacañang has passed for enactment to Congress, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said lately.
According to him, the allocation for salary standardization of government workers is among the significant allocations lined up under the 2009 budget, which Congress may review and enact before December.
Andaya added that 2009 budget is focused not only on bigger government spending on priority infrastructure projects, but will also provide higher spending capacity for the low-salaried workers.
“We have had salary increases since 2006 and the President wants this continued even way beyond her term in 2010,” Andaya said.
He pointed out that the P20-billion allocation would somehow help cushion the impact of the spikes of food and fuel prices on lowly-paid government workers.
The increase would significantly help increase the take-home pay of government workers, especially for those who still belong to the low income bracket whose income tax payments were staved off, Bohol Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) officers reiterated at the BIR’s Kapihan sa PIA slot.
Zenaida Pancito, Bohol assistant Revenue District Officer stressed that Republic Act 9504 has already amended sections 22, 24, 34, 35, 38 and 79 of Republic Act 8284.
RA 8284 is the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.
When the law was signed, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said it aims to provide financial relief to taxpayers in hard times brought by multiple factors.
This also helps to reduce the wide tax gap in the taxation of self-employed and professionals.
The law has allowed minimum wage earners, including those in government whose incomes approximate the country’s minimum salary standards.
The law has then allowed between P35-P37 additional spending power to low-paid workers as these would not be deducted from their pay-slips due to the tax-withheld. (rachiu/PIA)
GREATER TAKE HOME PAY for low paid earners, says Zenaida Pancito of the local BIR at the Kapihan sa PIA. From the time the President enacts the exemption law, until the time when the government implements the standardized salary for state workers, more purchasing power is given to workers. (PIA)
by anyajulia | Sep 1, 2008 | Headlines, National News
Si Presidente Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo mipili kang Emmanuel “Manny” Angeles, isip bag-ong Chairman sa Commission on Higher Education kon CHED.
Mao kini ang gibutyag ni Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo. Ang “appointment” gilagda-an sa Presidente niadtong Agosto 20, 2008.
Si Angeles gatrabaho isip usa ka chancellor sa Angeles University Foundation ug kanhi presidente sa Clark Development Corp. kon CDC.
Siya mihulip kang Romulo Neri nga kasamtangang galingkod isip presidente sa Social Security System kon SSS. (PIA/ Bohol)
by anyajulia | Sep 1, 2008 | Headlines, National News
CONVERTING schools as zones of peace and networking student councils against crimes is what the country’s authorities eye for this year’s National Crime Prevention Week.
As the country gears up again to celebrate the annual event, leaders put up the urgent call for unity as the, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ronaldo Puno bares the theme.
In his memorandum to local chief executives and anti-crime authorities, Puno said the theme “Kapit-Bisig Kabataan Tungo sa Kapayapaan, Now Na!” will be projected in a slogan, “Lakad Kabataan Laban sa Kriminalidad.”
The memorandum dated July 17, 2008, had Secretary Puno, who chairs the National Police Commission enjoining Napolcom Regional Directors, DILG rank and file, governors, city and municipal mayors peace council officers to actively support the projects and activities of the National Crime Prevention Week celebration.
In Bohol, local police authorities who were at the launching said this year’s crime prevention focus is “a realization of a pilot program spearheaded by the National Police Commission’s pilot program of enlisting the youth’s help”, Bohol police authorities declared.
With the NAPOLCOM in the project is Assumption College and the Philippine National Police.
To recall, Police Director for Personnel and Resource Management Gen, Edgardo Acuña personally launched in Loboc town two years ago the schools as zones for peace and enlisted student councils of the town’s high schools as anti-crime force multipliers simply by denying crimes in school zones.
He then hoped that the initiative in Bohol would be replicated in all schools across the country.
The National Crime Prevention Week, celebrated every September 1-7 now hopes to pick up on the Bohol launching to make the project national in scope.
The focus on enlisting the youth against crime came after the gross discrepancy in the police and population ratio.
At the current 1:1000 avarage police per population ratio in the country, the task handled by police officers becomes even more daunting.
Straddled with the burden of lack of crime fighting equipment and mobility, at least taking off crimes from school zones and elimination student criminals raise our chances of managing criminalities to the minimum, a Camp Dagohoy based cop admitted. (rachiu/PIA)
PILOTING schools as zones of peace, Bohol student councils also showed the way to peace when the students in Loboc high schools vowed to keep crimes and criminals away from their schools. (PIA)
by anyajulia | Sep 1, 2008 | Headlines, National News
IS Malacanang ready if Congress fails to enact on time the proposed P1.4 trillion 2009 national budget it has passed? You bet.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has personally told Palace reporters “it would be `desirable’ if Congress could approve the proposed 2009 national budget by December”.
She however added that her administration has “lived for many years without the budget being signed in December.”
It may be recalled that Congress has failed to enact the proposed outlay, forcing the government to operate under a reenacted budget for the first quarter in the last two years.
The 2009 proposed budget is about 15 percent higher than the P1.227-trillion budget for this year.
She said the proposed budget would address not only the world food and fuel crises but also the funding requirements of the government’s priority programs — environment, education and economy.
Roads, bridges and other public works, along with the farm sector, schools, social welfare and the government’s health insurance program, would be the major recipients of the 2009 general appropriations.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto said the Palace has adopted a new policy for the new budget called “performance budgeting.”
He explained that the idea of a performance-based budgeting policy was “those who perform well—such as departments that were able to implement projects based on the 2008 funding—will naturally get more resources and those who have the absorptive capacity to spend, chances are will get more resources as well.”
Agriculture, public works and highways, and education will be among the “major recipients” of additional budget next year in keeping with the commitments that the President set out in her 8th state of the nation address (SONA).
The social welfare department and PhilHealth, the state medical insurance program, will also be getting a large share of the budget. (rachiu/PIA)
