Category: General

Hanoi: Vietnam needs to complete a legal framework to better manage virtual assets (VAs) as well as virtual asset service providers (VASPs), experts said at an annual forum on Blockchain and AI held by the Vietnam Blockchain Association in Hanoi on April 24.

Some 20% of the Vietnamese population own crypto assets which are developed by blockchain technology, they said, stressing without strict management and failure to comply with global taxing principles, VA transactions will pose great challenges for the country in the coming time.

As of the end of December 2023, 32 countries regulated crypto-assets in their jurisdictions, including ten nations of the G20 group officially issuing regulations on VA and VASP, the Alantic Council’s surveys on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) and protection of users and the VASPs revealed.

Standing Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Blockchain Association Phan Duc Trung said 18 related documents have been issued in Vietnam so far. The notabl
e one being the national action plan to carry out the Government’s commitment to preventing money laundering and financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction so as to lift Vietnam out of the Financial Action Tasks Force’s list of Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring (grey list).

He said the plan has focused on the AML/CFT and VASP standard but neglected taxation of VA and protection of users. Therefore, a complete legal framework has not been shaped up yet.

The association hoped to collect opinions from the community and enterprises as well as have dialogue with state management agencies to develop a complete framework before May 2025.

At the event, the association announced the second Switch Up Accelerator, helping startups to call for funds, and highlighted an overview of the blockchain industry in Vietnam and the globe.

The Academy of Blockchain and AI Innovation was debuted on the occasion, aimed at providing blockchain and AI training strategies for 1 million people
by 2030, including 100,000 students in 30 universities across the nation./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

MANILA: The Climate Change Commission (CCC) has urged the public to take action and commit to tangible changes in their everyday lives by reducing the use of single-use plastics and promoting a circular economy by reusing, recycling, and repurposing them.

In commemoration of Earth Month this April and celebration of Earth Day, CCC Vice Chairperson and Executive Director Robert E.A. Borje said this year’s theme, which focuses on ‘Planet vs Plastics’, aims to raise public awareness, drive action, and promote community engagement on the critical issue of plastic waste.

The CCC’s social media campaign #PledgeForPlanetEarth encourages the public to share their actions aligned with their pledges by posting them in their social media accounts ‘stories’ and ‘my day highlight’.

It also urges social media users to use the #PledgeforPlanetEarth templates at https://tinyurl.com/PledgeForPlanetEarth to show support.

A study by the United Nations reveals that over 400 million tons of plastic are produced globally every
year, with 17 million barrels of petroleum used for plastic production.

Around 13 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean annually making up 85 percent of total marine wastes, killing up to 1 million seabirds, 100,000 sea mammals, marine turtles, and countless fish each year.

In the Philippines, approximately 2.7 million tons of plastics are produced annually, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and World Bank Statistics.

The CCC said the impact of plastic waste goes beyond pollution as it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of its lifecycle.

If this continues, plastics production could account for 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The CCC urged everyone to embrace the 5Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Refuse, and Repurpose to help cut down on plastic waste and reduce carbon footprint.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) reported on Wednesday that it has doubled its remittance to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) in 2024 compared to the dividends remitted in 2023.

The BCDA remitted PHP1.1 billion this year, higher than the PHP527 million worth of dividends the previous year.

Its remittance this year will augment the national government’s budget to be spent on critical projects and programs that will propel economic growth, the BCDA said.

‘The BCDA’s higher dividend remittance to the national government reflects its sustained good financial standing amid efficient revenue generation and expenditure management,’ BCDA President and Chief Executive Officer Joshua Bingcang said.

‘This year, we are remitting more than the share mandated by the law as a testament to our commitment to nation-building,’ Bingcang added.

Under Republic Act 7656, or the Dividend Law, all government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) are mandated to declare and remit at least 50 perc
ent of their net earnings as dividends.

The PHP1.1-billion remittance this year represents 75 percent of the BCDA’s net earnings in 2023.

Since the BCDA’s inception in 1992, the GOCC has remitted a total of PHP9.6 billion in dividends to the national coffers.

‘On top of dividends, the BCDA also remits to the [Bureau of the Treasury] guarantee fees for the loan of Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), as well as proceeds from its asset disposition program, which is distributed to several beneficiary agencies, primarily the Armed Forces of the Philippines,’ the BCDA added.

Source: Philippines News Agency

CALAPAN CITY: The Provincial Tourism Office (PTO) reported that Oriental Mindoro’s overall tourism receipts reached over PHP360 million in March 2024.

In an interview on Wednesday, Edwin Navarro of the PTO’s planning department said the local tourism sector is now experiencing a sharp rebound from a pandemic slump.

He said during the first quarter of 2024, Oriental Mindoro registered 117,684 tourist arrivals, or more than 13 percent growth over the 104,049 tourist arrivals from January to March last year.

‘The (tourism) industry is now seeing the benefits of a provincial tourism development master plan that was crafted during the pandemic. The pandemic was actually factored into the master plan,’ he told the Philippine News Agency.

The overall tourism receipts consist of expenditures by international inbound visitors, including payments to national carriers for international transport, he said.

Tourist arrival last March climbed to 40,870 visitors from only 37,379 visitors during the same period in 2023
– or a 9.34 percent increase year-on-year, based on PTO’s latest data.

South Koreans are still Oriental Mindoro’s top international visitors, followed by the Chinese, Japanese, Hong Kong Chinese and Germans.

Navarro said strained relations between Manila and Beijing does not seem to have affected the arrival of Chinese tourists.

‘If there will be a decline (in Chinese visitors) maybe we will see it in the coming months… but that has not happened yet,’ he said.

He said this year, his office is counting on the resorts and other tourism spots that have been established around Oriental Mindoro’s many inland rivers to bring in more revenues.

He said the ongoing El Niño dry spell and the heat wave accompanying it may eventually result in a decline in tourists heading to the beaches because it may get too hot there.

Resorts near inland rivers will offer a cooler alternative to visitors, he added.

Navarro said the provincial government’s efforts to attract more summer tourists this year will be ramped up furth
er with the Pandang Gitab Festival on April 30 and the Grand Santacruzan on May 1.

Source: Philippines News Agency

BUTUAN CITY: From barely breaking even, the 500-strong KM7 Farmers-Producers Cooperative (KMFPC) now earns PHP150,000 per month from its rubber production project of the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rural Development Program (DA-PRDP).

The project, established in 2018 under the Integrated Rubber Production and Marketing, was allocated PHP22.2 million, released separately through materials and support equipment.

“The first materials we received were composed of 100,000 seedlings of rubber which we planted in a 50-hectare area in Barangay Tungao, Butuan City,” KMFPC chair Samuel Calawigan Jr. said in an interview on Wednesday.

Calawigan said the DA-PRDP helped them establish a nursery for rubber seedlings to support their area expansion.

“We are now harvesting around 30 tons of rubber cup lumps from our rubber trees every 15 days. The price of rubber cup lumps now ranges from PHP25 to PHP30 per kilo,” he said.

Calawigan said the cooperative’s current earnings amount to about PHP75,000 every 15 days
.

He said the cooperative is expecting additional income from its expansion areas of rubber plantation by the end of this year and early 2025.

As of this year, the cooperative’s rubber production area has reached around 1,000 hectares in Barangays Tungao, Dankias, and Manila de Bugabus, he added.

“Our membership has also grown to more than 500, and we are thankful for the continuing support of the government, especially the DA-PRDP, in the development of our cooperative,” Calawigan said.

Plant disease threats

Meanwhile, Calawigan also reported threats of Pestalotiopsis or the rubber leaf fall disease in their plantations.

“We were able to monitor symptoms of Pestalotiopsis in some of our rubber trees, and we reported these to concerned authorities,” he said.

He said the regional DA office had already provided them with chemicals for spraying to prevent the spread of the disease.

Source: Philippines News Agency

SEOUL: Second Health Vice Minister Park Min-soo on Tuesday called on doctors to stop their collective action as medical school professors were considering taking a day off every week, a move that deepens concerns over further disruptions in the country’s health care system.

About 12,000 trainee doctors have left their worksites since Feb. 20 in protest of the government’s plan to boost the number of medical students, forcing major hospitals to delay or cancel surgeries and other public health services.

In support of the walkout by junior doctors, medical professors submitted their resignations.

“The medical community should stop collective action and join a special commission on medical reform set to be launched this week for productive discussions,” Park told a government response meeting.

Under the envisioned presidential commission, officials from the health ministry and other relevant ministries, as well as some 20 experts, will discuss how to reform the country’s medical system, including the possibl
e adjustment of medical school admissions and ways of raising investment in essential medical fields.

However, the Korea Medical Association and the Korea Intern Resident Association have vowed to boycott the initiative.

Upping the ante, medical professors were considering taking a day off every week as they have been stretched thin amid the prolonged walkout by trainee doctors.

The emergency committee for national medical professors will hold a general meeting later in the day and discuss the potential suspension of all surgeries and treatment for outpatients once a week, according to its officials.

Details, including when to begin the move, are expected to be decided in accordance with the situations of each hospital, though they are likely to continue operations of their emergency rooms and intensive care units, they added.

The professors, who serve as senior doctors in major hospitals, have been struggling to fill the void of junior doctors.

“Remaining professors have experienced heavy workloads and
have felt fatigued. So we are reviewing such an option,” a committee official said.

The move is also seen as a way of adding pressure by the medical community on the government to seek a breakthrough as the plan on the medical school admission quota for next year is supposed to be finalized by end-April.

Some hospitals, including the Chungnam National University Hospital in the central city of Daejeon, have already decided not to provide service for outpatients on Fridays starting this week, and many other hospitals are feared to follow suit.

Medical school professors at Seoul National University (SNU) will review the option during a meeting slated for Tuesday.

Adding to the woes is that medical professors began submitting their resignations on March 25, and the resignations could take legal effect after the elapse of one month even without approval from their employers.

The education ministry has said “not many” professors have tendered resignations, and no resignations have been accepted so far.

The g
overnment has proposed dialogue by setting up a special presidential commission on medical reform while allowing universities to decide their quotas by a range of 50 percent to 100 percent of what the government assigned for next year.

But doctors have rejected the proposals, calling for the government to revisit the issue from scratch.

The government has stressed the need to increase the medical school admission quota to address a shortage of doctors, particularly in rural areas and essential medical fields.

Given South Korea’s rapid population aging and other issues, the country is expected to fall short by 15,000 doctors by 2035, according to the health ministry.

Doctors, however, have said that the quota hike would compromise the quality of medical education and services and create a surplus of physicians, and the government must devise ways of encouraging more physicians to practice in such “unpopular” fields as high-risk surgeries, pediatrics, obstetrics, and emergency medicine.

Source: Philippine
s News Agency

MANILA: The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) on Tuesday reminded Filipinos planning to work and migrate to Canada to pass through the department’s verification process.

DMW Officer in Charge Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac made this remark after incidents of Filipinos migrating to Canada without going through the right processes and instead dealt with unlicensed recruiters who charged them exorbitant fees.

Cacdac said the DMW on April 12 issued Advisory 9, which provides the guidelines and processes governing the documentation of Filipinos under Canada’s immigration programs.

‘Ang puno’t dulo nito (The problem here) is the proper verification of documents and processing of OFWs bound for Canada. Ang nangyayari meron mga programa sa (what happens is that there are programs in) Canada that gear towards, well, nominee program, permanent residency programs, pero ang (but the) entry point to Canada is work, meaning work permit, OFW status, temporary work, bago tumuntong sa pagka-permanent resident (before the
y become permanent residents),’ Cacdac explained in an online press conference.

He said under Advisory 9, the OFWs are required to pass through the DMW to prevent illegal recruitment and trafficking of persons.

The advisory states that Filipinos bound for Canada who were hired through the Atlantic Immigration Pilot (AIP), holders of Canada’s Open Work Permit under the International Mobility Program, holders of Bridging Open Work Permit, Post Graduate Work Permit Program (PGWP), participants of the Home Child Care Provider Pilot (HCCPP) and Home Support Worker Pilot (HSWP) Programs, should undergo contract verification and documentary processing by the DMW.

Cacdac said the documentary processing as an OFW would be coursed through a licensed Philippine Recruitment Agency.

Meanwhile, Canada-bound Filipinos with an Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers would only be required to undergo the DMW’s documentary processing if they are already in possession of a valid/existing employment contract.

The advisory a
lso provides that work that is not religious, such as clerical, accounting, and administrative, would be required to undergo the DMW’s documentary processing even if the employer is a religious institution.

Spouses or common-law partners of principal foreign nationals who are or will be employed in high-skilled occupations, spouses, or common-law partners of principal foreign nationals who hold valid study permits and are enrolled full-time in post-graduation work permit eligible studies, and permanent residence applicants in the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class, are not deemed OFWs and need not pass documentary processing through the DMW.

Cacdac also reminded OFWs planning to apply to Canada of the ‘no placement fee policy.’

Source: Philippines News Agency