by magnolia_eic | Jan 15, 2010 | Features, National News
by: Rey Anthony Chiu
SMALL and medium enterprises who may have been delinquent in premium remittances can heave in relief when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed Republic Act 9903.
Despite losing possible billions of pesos in accumulated penalties for the government, the President who has been determined to help perk up the pension fund of private employees has enacted the law that condones penalties on delinquent remittances of premium contributions to the Social Security System (SSS).
Government sources revealed that un-remitted premium contributions all over the country runs at a staggering P109 billion.
This has also accumulated double in penalties, now estimated P280 billion.
The President said waiving the penalties will be a big help to small companies, especially those struggling to survive the global financial crisis, reports bared.
By propping up the small delinquent in premium companies, the government also hopes to goad them to resume their remittances.
Giving the employees their rightful benefits under the law would be a logical consequence of the government offer.
“For 2009 alone, the penalties amounted to P68 billion, which we did not expect to collect anyway since a lot of companies were so hard up, and this was our way of helping them survive,” said SSS president and Boholano, Romulo Neri in reports.
“But they must pay their share of the premiums so that their employees can avail themselves of the benefits under the system,” he added.
Under the law, the premium payment schedules would be in such a way that the company pays a downpayment of five percent of total contribution delinquency.
The balance is paid in equal monthly installments within 48 months from the time the proposal is approved by the SSS.
The installments carry a three percent annual interest, the new law also provides.
If the company regresses again, the penalty condoned by the law will, however, be re-imposed.
This happens in case the employer fails to remit in full the required delinquent contributions or he defaults in the payment of any installment under the approved proposal within the avail-ment period. (PIA)
PRESS RELEASE
REY ANTHONY CHIU
Philippine Information Agency
Tagbilaran City Information Center
411 2292 / 0920 954 5482 / 501 8554 email: piabohol171@yahoo.com
by magnolia_eic | Jan 15, 2010 | Features, Local News / Bohol Balita
ENVIRONMENTAL safeguards are in place, assures Vice Governor Julius Caesar Herrera over the ambitious plan to reclaim 450 hectares off a sea where environmentalists say is critical to the Bohol marine ecosystem.
The Herrera statement also come a few days before the Sangguniang Panlalawigan green-lighted by authorizing Governor Erico Aumentado to enter into an agreement with project proponents, Oasis Leisure Islands and Development Incorporated. (OLIDI).
In authorizing the governor, the provincial junta under Herrera also nailed a condition that would force the governor to operate only on the narrow principle of the Bohol environmental policy as a guiding principle.
In a press meeting while presenting the SP accomplishments weeks ago, Herrera reiterated the provincial government thrust for economic growth and development while keeping a balance on environment and resource protection and conservation.
The junta authorization would now allow the governor to enter into a joint venture agreement with the project proponents, but the vice governor assured that Bohol’s environment would be a primary concern.
The project, proposed to be a string of themed artificial islets along the south western coasts of Panglao island would make use of the shallow waters as the site for artificial islets created by landfill.
The junta head admitted his nod to the project is also biased on his strong conviction of the governor’s competence and wisdom to balance development and the environment.
Even then, Herrera also told the media that the SP authorization for the governor to enter into an agreement is filled with conditionalities that would assure that the project would not be pushed through if any of the conditions are unmet.
While he did not elaborate on the conditions inserted in the SP authorization, he personally admitted that the Bohol Environment Code, the Bohol Investment Code and the Bohol Tourism Code would be largely be considered as a beacon for the project. (PIA)
PRESS RELEASE
REY ANTHONY CHIU
Philippine Information Agency
Tagbilaran City Information Center
411 2292 / 0920 954 5482 / 501 8554 email: piabohol171@yahoo.com
by magnolia_eic | Jan 14, 2010 | Features, Local News / Bohol Balita
IN the continuing fight to dialyze renal illness into a no-threat in the country, the government is now resorting to the powerful broadcast media to widen the advocacy.
Engaging the broadcast media and turning broadcasters into their newest converts in the war against renal disease which ends up fatal in its end stage, the government’s Renal Disease Control Program (REDCOP) manned by the National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) of the Department of Health hopes to widen the information education communication campaign against the disease.
While broadcasters may not be the most able professionals talking about renal disease on the airlanes, the REDCOP has come up with an easy to follow broadcasters manual for the purpose, says program manager Dr. Remedios de Belen-Uriarte.
Speaking to keynote the Orientation-Briefing on the Broadcaster’s Manual for the Prevention of Kidney Diseases in Davao City, Dr. Uriarte pointed out that the government hopes to develop more advocates on the prevention of kidney disease.
To intensify the Information, Education and Communication as well as the advocacy on the prevention campaign, the gathering of selected broadcast practitioners from the four pilot regions in the country allowed the radio men to peep into the complex problem of renal disease and its issues, she added.
The DOH rated renal or kidney disease as one of the leading causes of death in the country in its 1997-2002 survey and monitoring data.
Kidneys perform vital life-maintaining functions as monitors and regulators of body fluids. They excrete excess body fluids and retains substances needed for the body’s continuing functions.
A non-functioning or diseased kidney causes imbalance in body fluids and can degenerate into multiple organ failures leading to death.
A bleaker scenario is even presented In its regional monitoring report which presents the disease in the sixth or seventh place.
In an annual report in 2008, the Philippine Renal Disease Registry noted 7,589 new patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who started dialysis. 82 patients have started pre-emptive transplants.
Dr. Uriarte said most patients with ESRD could not afford a restorative renal transplant, which can cost as high as half a million to a million excluding laboratory and medical expenses.
Even a palliative dialysis can be very restrictive, she pointed out.
Dialysis range from P2,500 in government subsidized to P7,000 in private hospitals, she said. (PIA)
PRESS RELEASE
by: REY ANTHONY CHIU
Philippine Information Agency
Tagbilaran City Information Center
411 2292 / 0920 954 5482 / 501 8554 email: piabohol171@yahoo.com
by magnolia_eic | Jan 13, 2010 | Headlines
Port Au Prince, Haiti — A powerful earthquake bearing a magnitude of 7.0 struck Haiti at 4:53 p.m.,Tuesday. The quake toppled everything from shacks to hospitals and the National Palace. The dead and the injured lay in the streets while thousands more remain burried under rubble and debris. An associated Press journalist based in Port Au Prince said the damage is staggering even in a country accustomed to tragedy and disaster.
According to the US geological survey, the quake was centered about 10 miles (15 km) west of Port Au Prince at a depth of 5 miles (8 km). The temblor appeared to have occured along a strike-slip fault, where one side of a vertical fault slips horizontally past the other.
Haiti’s President Rene Preval and his wife survived the earthquake.
It is the strongest earthquake Haiti has experienced in more than 200 years.
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by magnolia_eic | Jan 13, 2010 | Headlines, National News
Manila,Philippines — Pressure from magma is easing in Mayon, Phivolcs said Tuesday. This could lower the alert levels on the communities around the volcano.
Renato Solidum, Phivolcs chief, likened Mayon to a balloon losing air. Volcanologists noticed a “deflation” of the volcano. It is no longer producing as much steam as it did and the crater is reportedly not glowing as bright as it were in the past weeks. Solidum says alert level may be reduced from 3 to 2.
Although the volcano seems to be cooling down, Phivolcs still reiterates its warning against entry into the 6-kilometer permanent danger zone and a 7-km extended danger zone in the southeast flank of the volcano.
Mayon, believed to be the most active among the country’s 22 active volcanoes, has erupted at least 50 times since 1616. Its worst eruption buried Cagsawa town and killed 1,200 people in 1814. An eruption in 1993 killed 77 farmers.
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