by magnolia_eic | Feb 17, 2010 | Announcements, Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita, National News
Manila, Philippines — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has affixed her signature Tuesday, to the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 (ESCA), or Republic Act No. 994. This is a law that would benefit some five million elderly Filipinos in the form of discounts on certain goods and services.
“The President has signed the bill,” said deputy presidential spokesperson Charito Planas. The official copy of the measure arrived in Malacanang on Monday night.
The law allows senior citzens to avail themselves of the full 20-percent discount they are supposed to enjoy. The discount was reduced to 8 percent with the imposition of the 12-percent value-added tax on certain goods and services in 2005.
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by magnolia_eic | Feb 17, 2010 | Election 2010, Headlines, National News
It is still too early to discuss whether President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be fielded as the administration’s bet for Speaker of the House of Representatives, should she win as congresswoman for Pampanga’s second district.
This was what a Malacañang spokesperson said on Monday, amid claims of the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD members that Mrs. Arroyo would be their bet for the top House post.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Charito Planas in an interview over dzXL radio said it
is just speculation at this point. The bottom line is that the Speaker’s post is a result of an election to determine who will be the Speaker. Planas added that it was too early to tell if the President would also be part of the House majority or minority bloc.
On Monday, a report from the Philippine Star quoted Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano as saying that Lakas-Kampi would likely have the numbers to install Mrs. Arroyo as House Speaker. (PIA-Bohol)
by magnolia_eic | Feb 17, 2010 | Headlines, National News, World
THE Department of Foreign Affairs has instructed the Philippine embassy in Belgium to check if there were Filipinos hurt when two commuter trains collided head-on during the morning rush hour in Brussels Monday.
“The DFA has asked its embassy in Brussels to make inquiries and send a report as soon as possible,” said DFA Spokesperson Eduardo Malaya.
Online reports from Brussels said that at least 20 people were killed when the trains crashed into each other just before 8:30 am (Monday), at Hal, southwest of the capital. (PIA-Bohol)
by magnolia_eic | Feb 17, 2010 | Headlines, National News
TO mark the 24th anniversary of the first People Power Revolution on February 25, Malacañang announced that classes would be suspended on February 22, the Monday nearest the historic celebration.
The Office of the Press Secretary said that according to Proclamation No. 1841, signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in July 2009, February 22 is only a special holiday for schools. This means it will be a regular working day on February 22.
Every year, the country celebrates the first EDSA Revolution that ended the 20-year rule of the late President Ferdinand Marcos and catapulted Corazon Aquino to the presidency.
For this year’s commemoration of the historic event, the government would inaugurate the Light Rail Transit-Metro Rail Transit closing the loop project, said Subic Clark Alliance for Development Council chair Edgardo Pamintuan. (PIA-Bohol)
by magnolia_eic | Feb 16, 2010 | Headlines, National News
Manila, Philippines — Leiutenant General Raymundo Ferrer took the witness stand Tuesday, to present before a local court, documents and intelligence reports to justify the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao.
The documents he presented included a chronology of events and operations in relation to the declaration of the state of emergency and martial law in Maguindanao; intelligence reports and graphic situation in the province; location of planned attack against government troops; and inventory of firearms confiscated by government troops from November 24 to 29.
The hearing is presided by Judge Vivencio Baclig at Camp Crame.
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