by Misael | May 9, 2008 | Headlines
WALA magtuo ang National Wage and Productivity Board (NWPB) nga ang gipaabot nga pagtaas sa suholan sa mga minimum wage earners sa Hunyo makahatag ug dautang epekto sa mga negosyo samtang magdugang sa pagtaas sa inflation rate.
Una na nga gikahadlokan sa mga ekonomista nga ang pagpatas sa suholan sa mga nag-sweldo ug inadlaw maoy maka-ingon sa halapad nga pagpamapha sa trabaho o ba hinuon sa permanente nga pagpang sira sa mga negosyo.
Gipaabot nga sa sunod buwan, ipatuman na ang pagtaas sa suholan sa mga minimum wage earners, ug matud sa ni Labor Secretary Marianito Roque.
Mituo ang NWPB nga dyutay ra ang epekto niini sa mga negosyo kay 2.7M ra ang mga minimum wage earners sa nasud.
Sa usa ka pagtuon sa National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), ang across-the-board wage increases ang may delikado nga epekto sa mga negosyo.
Gibanabanan nga halos 9 milyones ka trabahante ang mataktak sa trabaho kon may across-the-board wage increase nga ipatuman.
Dugang pa, kasamtangan pa nga gituki sa mga regional wage boards ang hisgutanan sa pagtaas sa suholan ug, dugang ni Roque, labing dugay na ang Mayo 15 nga mahipno sa RWBs ang tanan.
Nagkinahanglan pa usab og laing 15 ka adlaw alang sa pagpatik sa pahibalo diha sa nasudnong mantalan sa dili pa kini ipa-tuman, ni Sec. Roque pa. (rachiu/PIA)
by Misael | May 9, 2008 | Headlines
JUST as sanitary landfill projects across the country have considerable opposition, newly named Bohol environment officer believes operating the Metro Cluster Landfill in Alburquerque is still the most appropriate measure against our garbage woes.
Towns near the city have agreed to pool meager resources to put up a legal garbage disposal site in Alburquerque, thus the idea of the Metro Tagbilaran Cluster came.
Nestor Canda, the new Bohol head of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) aired his opinion during the recent Kapihan sa PIA which talked “Promoting Sustainable Tourism as a Strategy to Conserve the Coastal Environment.
The forum which was aired live over DyTR devoted precious airtime moments to discuss Bohol’s direst need for a sanitary landfill just as the country has outlawed the operation of open garbage dump sites by virtue of the Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) Law.
In the last few weeks, newspapers in Bohol exposed the desire of the Dampas local government to close the open dumpsite in their district for health, economic and social reasons.
Dampas barangay Chairman Fredison Englis has pointed out that his barangay has the most school drop outs, attracted unwanted scavengers and aired health concerns as raised by his constituents.
At the looming closure of the city dumpsite, garbage dumps sprouting in Bohol pose as the most logical thing for poorer local government units too cash strapped to operate a sanitary landfill as mandated by the ESWM Law.
The same law vows to hail to court any local government units found with violations against it.
A closure of the city dumpsite also means denying garbage from Panglao island, which unnecessarily makes Bohol beaches hit a garbage problem like Boracay.
During the weekly PIA forum, Canda, who has barely two days since getting his working papers as OIC PENRO said he could understand Albur contra-position on the landfill.
“Not in my back yard”, he quoted a familiar Alburanon point against the landfill.
“But as long as people religiously segregate garbage and only residual wastes are brought for disposal, garbage should only amount to 10-15% of the total volume of waste generated daily,” he said citing a DENR study.
Canda said as long as the operators remain vigilant and strictly implement proper policies and monitor its compliance, nobody can just thrown anything in.
“Given the proper transport practices with all safety measures on, the proper technology, we do not have anything to worry, he assured Boholanos.
As to the question of seepage, Canda explained that the clay dry lining as the landfill design shows would be more than enough to put environmental issues at rest.
Canda used the analogy of the clay jar to illustrate his point on making sure that garbage seepage is contained.
Many people in Bohol however believe that the opposition is due to failure in information dissemination. (rachiu/PIA)
by Misael | May 9, 2008 | Headlines
WILL the reported pay hikes be enough to boost the purchasing power of consumers in an economic crunch?
If not, then the local Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said no unreasonable price increases of basic goods should happen, to allow consumers to mount the rising tide of prices in basic commodities.
Concordia Erano of the local DTI price monitoring team claimed that assuring people of fair prices [in basic goods] is the best thing they can do, so a tight price watch is in order.
DTI is now warning unscrupulous businessmen who overprice basic commodities.
An overprice, which is essentially profiteering is pricing goods more than 10% of its average price in the preceding month, states Republic Act 7581.
Consumers have been wary about price increasers following weekly price adjustments in fuel and petroleum products.
“This should not be enough reason for entrepreneurs to get opportunistic,” DTI said.
To keep tabs on these things, Erano reported that the DTI is poised for another round of price monitoring activities, in an effort to implement the law so that prices will remain stable and good available to the consuming public.
Opportunists could get between a month to five months in jail or a penalty of at least P1T to a million, when caught profiteering. The law also provides tougher penalties for overpricing basic goods.
The country has noted weekly adjustments of 50 centavos on petroleum prices recently.
The DTI monitoring activities will put price coordinating council members in markets to make sure that any movement [in price] is justified.
This, following reports that daily wage earners are expected to get pay hikes starting June 1. State workers on the other hand are reported to get 10% salary increases by the following month.
On this, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque assured the June wage hike for daily wage earners, as regional wage boards are expected to decide how much, by mid-May.
Roque also cited the mandatory 15-day publication of rates before the wage hike is implemented.
Early last week, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (PGMA) instructed Regional Wage Boards to work overtime to finally set the rates of increase in their respective regions.
By law, the government set up the tripartite wage boards to determine the cost of living in areas so as not to kill investors who choose to put up country side businesses for cheaper costs.
This also happens just as the President urged companies to package non-wage benefits for workers while the government was yet to decide on the raise by May 1, Labor Day.
“Non-wage benefits are non-taxable, so workers tend to enjoy it to the hilt,” Malacanang was once quoted as saying.
For state workers, PGMA has recently okayed the 10% basic pay raise when she signed an executive order to that effect lately.
The fund has been incorporated in the 2008 national budget, which legislators passed. The allocation also included P41B share for state workers’ miscellaneous benefits.
As to the executive order, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said it would be similar to last year’s issuance which granted civilian employees of the national government a 10 percent increase in their basic salary.
Last year’s EO granted a P1,200 increase in the monthly subsistence and other allowances of policemen, soldiers and other uniformed personnel.
As to the June raise in daily wage earners’ pay, the National wage Productivity Board believes its should not cause layoffs or businesses to close.
“The basic pay hike is expected to have minimal effects on inflation rate and businesses since there are only 2.7 million minimum wage earners,” it said.
Much earlier still, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), in a study bared that a big across-the-board wage increase would have a devastating effect on businesses.
The same study revealed that some 800,000 to 900,000 workers might be laid off if a significant across-the-board wage increase is implemented. (rachiu/PIA)
by Misael | May 9, 2008 | Features
LAUNCHING a missionary roll-on roll-off (RORO) route to link Jagna Bohol to Mambajao Camiguin is not a political gimmick.
Doubting Thomases saying that the Central Nautical Highway, especially the Bohol Camiguin segment was just launched to accommodate President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (PGMA) and the government RoRo caravan’s one-way trip could now be proven wrong.
This as Asia Marine Transport and Shipping (AMTS) Services put up its Super Shuttle Ferry 1 (SSF1) to serve the route daily starting May 8.
Earlier, critics said the Jagna-Camiguin RoRo route which PGMA and her cabinet tested in a caravan of tour buses and support vehicles is just for show for the route is one up to drain investors of precious fund.
Not for AMTS, which fielded SSF 12 and 8 to load the presidential party on their maiden voyage last week.
In an interview a few minutes before Marine Industry Authority (MARINA) issued the Certificate of Public Convenience to AMTS, Business Development Manager Lowell Elim said it would be a missionary route at first.
He however revealed that they did a study on the profitability prospects of the trips, which he said the market could respond in time.
In fact, he admitted that the company is also getting support from the government, one they count for sustainability as the market picks.
Regular Jagna-Mambajao RoRo and passenger trips leave Jagna at 1 pm daily and sails back to Jagna at 8 am, with fares at P300 per person, reports said.
Shippers with rolling cargo also expect that the trips would lower rates compared to commercial shipping lines.
The Strong Republic Nautical Highway, which was pulled out from the shelved Development Bank of the Philippines projects in 2002, boasts of slashed-transportation rates.
PGMA, while sharing the RoRo story in Cagayan de Oro said “in 2002, during a Cabinet planning conference in Clark, I presented a work program — actually, eight work programs — one of them was a program to reduce transport costs from the food basket of Mindanao to the large consuming market of Luzon.
She said DOTC Secretary Mendoza, then Agriculture Secretary Cito Lorenzo and Philippine Ports Authority head Al Cusi were seeking ways of lowering handling and wharfage costs of farm products from Mindanao to the greater market in Luzon.
She said she then instructed the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to lead in drawing various measures, including financing logistics, storage and port facilities in Mindanao to carry out the RO-RO concept.
President Arroyo then recounted how she started implementing the “obscure” RO-RO plan from a DBP Program with a P20-billion fund portfolio for long-term lending.
In 2003, the Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte to Dumaguete, Negros Oriental route, and the Roxas, Mindoro Oriental to Caticlan, Aklan route was completed and allowed people to enjoy Boracay with just P500 bus ride from Manila compared to the P5T plane fare,” she said.
“So we launched the trip and we baptized what we rolled on — what we traveled on — as the Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SR-NH), a 900-kilometer seamless stretch of road and ports that cut travel time by 12 hours,” she added.
Like what is probably an unprofitable Jagna-Camiguin route, the President said the Dapitan-Dumaguete (route), was also unprofitable in the beginning.
Dapitan-Dumaguete however grew with nine trips a day now, she claimed.
Moreover, she added that the Dapitan – Batangas route cut down the travel time to 12 hours and allowed Mindanao products to hit Manila markets faster. (rachiu/PIA)
by Misael | May 8, 2008 | Features
Mapasaligon ang Department of Trade and Industry kon (DTI) sa mga consumedor nga dili mosaka ug magpabillin ang presyo sa mga pamaliton bisan nga gasige og saka ang presyo sa lana.
Kini ang gibutyag ni Kalihim Peter Favila sa DTI.
Matud pa ni Favila, bisan pa sa senemanang pagsaka og 50 sentavos sa presyo sa lana, dili kini maka-apekto sa presyo sa mga nag-unang pamaliton.
Hinuon, ang presyo sa mga materyales o gamit sa pananum, ug ang kasusaban sa panahon sama sa mga bagyo o baha, posibleng maka-apekto pa sa presyo sa mga pamaliton, gibasabot ni Favila.
Ang DTI mopadayan sa pag-monitor sa merkado kon adunay kasuban sa presyo o kon sakto ba ang pagsaka niini, kon ugali mosaka man, apas sumpay ni Favila. (PIA/Bohol)
