Category: General

MANILA: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday called on the new graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) to maximize the use of technology for ‘smart policing, fire prevention, and penology.’

Marcos made the call during the 45th PNPA Commencement Exercises for the 223 cadets of the “Layag-Diwa’ Class of 2024, as he acknowledged that they were shaped into ‘tech savvy and digital natives,’ given that most of them were born ‘when the internet was no longer in its infancy.’

‘I challenge you to leverage that technology that you are familiar with as aids in protecting and serving our people, especially in battling cybercrime,’ he said in a keynote speech delivered at Camp General Mariano N. Castañeda in Silang, Cavite.

‘I ask you to embrace smart policing, fire prevention, and penology. There is still no substitute for pounding the streets. When it comes to assuring the people, analog will always beat digital,’ he added.

Marcos said the fight against crime is now ‘a potent mix of gadgets
and war rooms, and old-fashioned grunt work, by gritty police officers.’

He stressed the need to patrol the information highway, considering that robbers ‘lurk there too.’

Marcos also advised the new graduates who will join the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to take advantage of the technology to improve their service deliveries.

‘We should not be content with current fire response time, but instead strive to make it faster. We should not crow about jail improvements, but we should push the envelope further, lessening congestion. And most of those in uniform have kept the values and principles that define who public servants truly are,’ he said.

Marcos urged the members of the PNPA Layag-Diwa Class to continue bringing with them the academy’s core values of ‘justice, integrity, service’ as they serve the nation.

He advised them to tread a ‘better’path and continue what their predecessors have started to advance the cause of peace and order in the cou
ntry.

‘Let me remind you that your career should not be measured by the speed you have moved up the ranks alone, but by the quality of the service that you have given to our people,’ Marcos said.

‘The service you are about to consecrate your life to is not a race to collect insignia nor accumulate prized assignments. It is to do as much good as often to as many without expecting any reward in return, because service itself is our reward,’ he added.

The 223 graduates consist of 182 males and 41 females.

Ma. Camille Cabasis of Lian, Batangas emerged as valedictorian.

She was awarded the Presidential Kampilan, PNP Chief Kampilan, Plaque of Merit Graduating No. 1, Best in Laws and Jurisprudence, and Best in Police Administration.

The Class of 2024 is the final group of PNPA graduates who will be assigned to the Tri-Bureau Service (PNP, BFP and BJMP).

The transition in the academy is in accordance with Republic Act 11279, which amended RA 6975 by transferring the organizational control and management of the
PNPA from the Philippine Public Safety College to the PNP.

Starting in 2025, the PNPA will exclusively produce police lieutenants.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Friday expressed optimism that the implementation of revenue regulations enforcing the Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT) Act will lead to smoother tax transactions and improved revenue collection to support economic growth.

“Taxpayers can now rejoice as the dream of simpler tax payments becomes a tangible reality. I firmly believe that by fully implementing this legislation, we will not only ensure easier tax payments but also strengthen our commitment to efficient revenue collection,’ Gatchalian said in a news release.

“Gusto natin na mas maging madali para sa lahat ng taxpayers ang pagbabayad ng kanilang obligasyon sa gobyerno (We want to make it easier for all taxpayers in paying their obligation to the government),” he added.

The new regulations under the EOPT Act introduce new taxpayer classifications, a simplified filing process, and lower rates for micro and small taxpayers.

One of the new regulations is RR No. 4-2024, which governs electronic and manual tax filing a
nd payments; removes penalties for filing at the wrong venue; and exempts overseas contract workers solely earning income abroad from filing income tax returns.

Further, RR No. 6-2024 reduces interest rates and penalties for micro and small taxpayers, while RR No. 8-2024 classifies taxpayers based on gross sales.

The EOPT Act is one of the priority legislations cited by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. during his State of the Nation Address in 2022 and 2023.

Marcos signed the EOPT Act (Republic Act No. 11976) into law on Jan. 5, 2024.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Visayas grid under red alert status on Friday afternoon as more plants went on unplanned outage.

From 15 power plants on shutdown early Friday, the NGCP in its updated advisory this afternoon said 18 power plants are now offline, with the addition of three more plants, namely: PDPP1 Unit 3, BDPP 2, Panay Diesel 3-C.

Adding to the shutdown of plants are the derated capacity of 10 power plants.

From 2,614 megawatts of available capacity in the morning, the Visayas grid has a lower available capacity of 2,484 MW, with 130 MW of additional unavailable power capacity to the grid.

On the other hand, the demand grew from 2,445 MW in the morning to 2,504 MW this afternoon.

‘The Visayas grid was upgraded to red alert status due to higher [forecast] demand in Visayas and Mindanao, resulting in less power shared by Mindanao through the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection,’ the NGCP said.

A red alert status can trigger power interruptions, as t
he available power reserves do not meet the maintaining level of 4 percent of peak demand.

Since April 16, the Visayas grid was placed under a yellow alert status.

In a virtual briefing Friday, Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Raphael Lotilla said the energy stakeholders were able to respond to the situation ‘in a positive manner.’

Lotilla said despite the red alert status and planned manual load dropping (MLD) on Thursday, there were no rotational brownouts in the Luzon grid.

He said there were localized brownouts but those were not related to the red alert status issued by the NGCP.

ILP saves the day

Even for the franchise areas of Manila Electric Company (Meralco), the country’s largest distribution utility (DU) said it did not resort to MLD thus, there were no rotational brownouts among household customers of Meralco on Thursday.

This is because of the interruptible load program (ILP), where large-load users, especially commercial and industrial customers, were requested by Meralco to utilize t
heir own generator sets or reduce their operations, instead of relying on grid power.

This program aims to manage energy demand during red alert situations, where the power from the grid were utilized by household consumers and those without gensets.

As of April 2024, Meralco has over 100 companies across its franchise areas with a de-loading capacity of around 530 MW.

‘ILP participants are paid by the DU. The payment represents the de-loading compensation equivalent to the incremental cost incurred due to the full or partial de-loading,’ the DOE’s Electric Power Industry Management Bureau told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

‘The de-loading compensation shall be recovered from all customers of the DU as part of total cost of the DU generation rate,’ it added.

In a separate message to PNA, Meralco said the cost is ‘very minimal.’

‘Based on previous ILP activations, add-on rate is less than one-fifth of a centavo per kilowatt hour,’ Meralco added.

Source: Philippines News Agency

Hanoi: Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has asked village elders and chiefs, skilled artisans and reputable citizens to make greater efforts to preserve and promote tangible and intangible cultural heritage, which is the quintessence and core value of the nation.

He made the statement while meeting with them in Hanoi on April 19 on the occasion of the 49th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification (April 30), 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory (May 7) and Vietnam Ethnic Groups’ Culture Day (April 19).

At the event, PM Chinh stressed that the Party and State has paid due regard to and invested big in the development of the culture as well as preservation of traditional culture of ethnic groups, with various standout heritage items being recognised internationally and thousands of ethnic festivals being organised nationwide that help develop tourism into an economic spearhead.

He hailed local contributions, especially those by village elders and chiefs, skilled artisans a
nd reputable people, to promoting cultural traits and sound customs and traditions, wiping out supertious activities and building the political system at the grass roots level, security order and great national solidarity.

‘The 128 village elders and chiefs, skilled artisans and reputable people are prime examples for patriotism, responsibility, aspiration and devotion to the cause of the cultural and national development’, he affirmed.

He expressed his hope that despite challenges, they will continue mobilising their peoples to promote the patriotic and revolutionary tradition as well as enhance resilience and the great national solidarity to make contributions to building a prosperous nation.

He asked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and competent ministries, sectors and localities to continue raising local awareness of and complete mechanisms for cultural development, while paying attention to the education and training works on traditional culture and encouraging study and creativity in the
sector.

Besides, he ordered the mobilisation of all resources, particularly public-private cooperation, encourage the enthusiastic engagement of the whole people and business community to branch out the national culture, and promote the organisation of cultural events and festivals to boost locals’ pride in the country’s heritage items.

It is a must to complete the investment of the Cultural village Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism, making it a common house of the 54 ethnic groups, study policies to encourage village elders and chiefs, skilled artisans and prestigious people to effectively carry out the Party and State’s great national solidarity policy, bolster digital transformation in cultural development, and enhance international cooperation in preservation and promotion of the traditional cultural values, he highlighted.

Briefing the Prime Minister on the difficulties in the preservation work, the village elders and chiefs, skilled artisans and reputable people said they hope t
hat the Party and State will pen better policies for those who have significant contributions to handing down traditional cultural values to younger generations./

Source: Vietnam News Agency

MANILA: The new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scanners at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) in Quezon City are a huge boost in advancing and improving healthcare services and infrastructure for Filipino children, two senators said Friday.

The MRI TESLA, a first in the country, and the upgraded CT scan will double patient capacity and provide clearer images.

The funding for the state-of-the-art medical equipment was made possible through the efforts of Senators Christopher “Bong” Go, Pia Cayetano and Sonny Angara.

Go and Cayetano are the chairperson and vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Heath, respectively, while Angara chairs the Finance Committee.

‘These would allow us to serve more children and help our medical personnel diagnose their patients faster and better,’ Cayetano said during the unveiling of the two medical equipment.

She pointed out that the costly equipment usually could only be seen in private hospitals.

‘Pero yung goal po natin is t
hat yung mga public hospitals natin katulad nitong Philippine Children’s Medical Center magkaroon din ng mga (But our goal is for public hospitals like the Philippine Children’s Medical Center to also have) diagnostic equipment,” she added.

Meanwhile, Go thanked his colleagues for making the MRI and CT scans possible.

Through the lawmakers’ efforts, the PCMC’s radiology division was also able to undergo renovation after 40 years.

Source: Philippines News Agency

TACLOBAN CITY: Two members of the New People’s Army (NPA) and a member of the rebel’s militia unit have laid down their arms and voluntarily surrendered on Thursday to the military and members of the Municipal Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (MTF-ELCAC) in Las Navas, Northern Samar.

The Army’s 20th Infantry Battalion reported that extreme hunger and demoralization inside the armed group led to their surrender.

The armed rebels and supporters were identified as alias Rion, member of squad 1, platoon 2; alias Bunso, member of squad 1, sub-regional guerilla unit; and alias Ekgong, NPA Yunit Militia member and courier, all belonging to the remnants of the dismantled front committee 15 of the Eastern Visayas regional party committee.

They have surrendered one M16 rifle with one short magazine and 15 ammunitions, one caliber .38 revolver, and a compact submachine gun with one long magazine.

Lt. Col. Richard Villaflor, commander of the Army’s 20th Infantry Battalion, said the local task force, E
LCAC, led by Mayor Arlito Tan, facilitated the release of immediate assistance for the three surrenderers. The three received special cash assistance and food supplies.

Source: Philippines News Agency

LEGAZPI CITY: The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Camarines Sur II expects higher production and more income for five agrarian reform beneficiaries organizations (ARBOs) after it distributed nine farm machinery and equipment worth PHP930,000.

In an interview on Friday, Monica Camacho, DAR-Camarines Sur II senior agrarian reform program officer, said the ARBOs can have additional income by allowing their members and non-members to rent the machinery.

“With the different kinds of farm machinery and equipment, we are expecting at least a 5-percent increase in their total production. Aside from that, it will expedite the labor, and decrease harvest losses and production delays. For the additional income, under the memorandum of agreement between DAR and the ARBO, the policy system and procedure allowed them to lease the machinery to members or non-members as income-generating,” Camacho said.

She noted that usage fees would be lower for members of the organizations.

Among the farm machinery provided by
the DAR under its Climate Resilient Farm Productivity Support program for the first quarter of 2024 were hand tractors, rototillers, rice threshers and corn shellers.

Camacho said an ARBO could earn PHP400-PHP500 per day as a rental fee for a hand tractor and PHP20-PHP25 per sack for a corn sheller.

She said the distribution of the equipment was directed by their central office to empower the ARBOs in the region.

The recipients were the Pugay Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organization of San Jose town; Casuray Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organization of Magarao; Hanawan Farmers Association of Ocampo; Cawaynan Farmers Association of Tinambac; and Tabiguian Farmers and Fisherfolks Association of Caramoan, all in Camarines Sur.

Source: Philippines News Agency