by magnolia_eic | Apr 21, 2010 | Announcements, Headlines, National News
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently signed Proclamation No. 2028, which declares May this year as National Census Month.
For the declaration, the President cited Batas Pambansa Blg. 72, which provides for the taking of an integrated census every 10 years beginning in 1980 and the requirement for an up-to-date and comprehensive data of the population at the local levels.
This is also in line with the national government’s thrust to decentralize functions to the local government units (LGUs)
President Arroyo enjoined all departments and other government agencies to implement and execute the operational plans, directives and order for the nationwide conduct of the 2010 Census of Population and Housing (CPH).
The National Statistics Office (NSO) is the lead agency in the conduct of the 2010 CPH that shall commence on May 17.
The census will take an inventory of the total population and housing units in the country and collect information about their characteristics.
The data that will be collected by the undertaking will be useful in the formulation of policies, plans and programs of the government relative to the delivery of basic health and social services to target beneficiaries and the general public, in determining business opportunities and industry status, in research and development, and in academic studies.
More specifically, data obtained from the census provides government basis for redistricting and apportionment of congressional seats, allocation of resources and revenues, and creation of political and administrative units.
The Philippines population was 76.5 million as of May 1, 2000 based on the 2000 CPH.
In 2007, a census of population (POPCEN 2007) was conducted by the NSO in order to get an updated population count for all barangays to serve as basis for the Internal Revenue Allocation (IRA) of the LGUs, among others.
Presidential Proclamation No. 1489 issued on April 16, 2008 made the results of POPCEN 2007 official and the country’s population was placed at 88,574,614 persons as of August 1, 2007.
The NSO will submit to the President of the Philippines for proclamation the population counts by barangay based on the 2010 CPH before the end of the year.
These data will be made available in print and electronic copies. (PIA-Bohol)
by magnolia_eic | Apr 21, 2010 | Election 2010, Headlines, National News
ALL ballots to be used for the Philippines’ first nationwide automated polls will be printed within the week, days before its April 25 deadline, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.
“Printing of ballots” will be finished “within the week,” Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said at a press briefing on Monday.
This was confirmed by Cesar Flores, president of the Asian office of Smartmatic, the company contracted by the Comelec to print ballots and supply poll machines.
Smartmatic will be able to finish ballot printing by April 23 or 24 because it was able to meet its target of printing a million ballots a day in the past few weeks.
As of Monday, 46.860 million of the more than 50 million ballots to be used in the May polls have already been printed, Larrazabal said.
Earlier, the Comelec brought a fifth Kodak printer to the National Printing Office in Quezon City — where the ballots are being printed — to speed up the process.
The Comelec plans to invite the media and the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Poll Automation on the day when the last ballot rolls out of the printer, Larrazabal added. (PIA-Bohol)
by magnolia_eic | Apr 21, 2010 | Announcements, Headlines, National News, World
SOME 1,390 Filipinos in Iceland are safe despite a volcanic eruption which continues to affect air travel in parts of Europe.
Philippine Ambassador to Oslo, Norway Elizabeth P. Buensuceso reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that Filipinos living and working in Iceland reside far from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano which erupted last April 14.
The eruption sent a massive cloud of volcanic dust thousands of feet into the air which has spread from the United Kingdom to continental Europe.
Iceland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Eyjafjallajokull volcano is located in southern Iceland.
Ambassador Buensuceso said the Philippine Embassy in Oslo is closely coordinating with Honorary Consul Priscilla Zanoria who is in touch with the Filipino Community in Iceland.
Meanwhile, the 12 Filipinos who were earlier stranded in Frankfurt, Germany are now in the UK after intercession by the Philippine Consulate General in Frankfurt.
Consulate officials immediately coordinated with the headquarters of the German Federal Police in Potsdam after it was alerted by the DFA about the stranded Filipino travellers at Frankfurt International Airport. The Filipino travelers were issued transit visas so they could fly to London. (PIA-Bohol)
by magnolia_eic | Apr 20, 2010 | Headlines, National News
Manila, Philippines — Justice Secretary Alberto Agra is facing a mutiny over his decision on clearing two members of the Ampatuan clan in the Maguindanao Massacre.
State prosecutors led by Chief State Prosecutor Claro Arellano Monday, protested the resolution that Agra issued on the eve of April 16, clearing the names of suspended governor Zaldy Ampatuan of the ARMM and his uncle, Maguindanao vice-governor Akmad Ampatuan Sr., from their murder cases.
Prosecutors questioned the move of Agra after having studied the evidences for only 24 hours. Arellano said that the prosecutors were hoping that justice would ultimately be served to the victims of the tragedy.
“It is along this line that we earnestly and respectfully request Acting Secretary Agra to revisit this resolution.”
Click here for full article from Inquirer.net
by magnolia_eic | Apr 20, 2010 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita, World
Manila,Philippines –Leaders of the Catholic Church have decided to relocate an American priest after having found out that he was convicted of sexual misconduct when he was a seminarian in Detroit,Michigan in 1988.
Father Joseph Skelton is to be moved from his ministry in Central Tagbilaran city, to a still undisclosed place, an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference said Monday.
“The CBCP will issue an official statement on the matter within the next few days,” a spokesman for the conference who did not want to be named, told the AFP.
The website story on the website said the bishops only found out in November that Skelton was convicted of sexual misconduct when he was a seminarian in Detroit, Michigan, in 1988.
“Had I known of his conviction, I would not have ordained him,” the website quoted Tagbilaran’s former bishop, Leopoldo Tumulak, as saying.
Click here for full article from Inquirer.net
