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January 23, 2011
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Practical benefits of dual citizenship here is a law that grants two citizenships to Filipinos. Republic Act No. 9225 allows the retention and re-acquisition of Filipino citizenship. This law is applicable to one form of dual citizenship. The dual citizenship circumstance to which this law applies, covers natural born Filipinos who lose their Philippine citizenship. Millions of natural-born Filipinos have gone abroad to seek greener pastures. Along the way, while living and earning abroad, they lost their Filipino citizenship and have, for practical purposes, obtained the citizenship of their adopted country Upon their retirement and return to the Philippines , they suddenly realize they are foreigners in their own homeland.
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Editorial Firing all the BINs
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he disbanding by the city mayor of the entire 46-man barangay intelligence network the next day after three of them sent a poor citizen with bloodied face as he was pistol-whipped by one of them, was an impressive quick-response by our city executive and deserves commendation. For he could have easily covered their tracks and in return elicit loyalty from the boys who will protect him from every harm henceforth. But Mayor Sagarbarria chose the road less travelled by most politicians and decided to fire all of them and saved the city P1.2Million in wasted allowances. Media also helped push Chiquiting spring into action as he was put on the spot by “Good Morning Dumaguete” talk show of DYEM Star Energy FM when a citizen reported the incident to the police and our reporters picked it up in the morning show. For how many times have hapless citizens been victims of many abusive policemen who make a black eye on the entire police force? SSupt Rey Lyndon Lawas too that morning was fuming mad when by command respon-
sibility, he had to choose between protecting his boys with tolerance or unleash a decisive blow while the iron was hot. He did. And the citizens praised him. On the other hand, we know that most BINs were sometimes bullies and body guards of politicians. Perhaps they were the choices of old mayors, so it was possibly convenient for Mayor Sagarbarria to dispose of these embarrassments. So will Sagarbarria replace them with his own boys now? Another candidate for disbandment is the 35-man Barangay Police Safety Officers who could be replaced in a zippy if they become liabilities and not assets to the city ‘s quest against criminality. They all get P2000 monthly allowances. But our point is: the new city mayor showed decisiveness and character. And this is a good sign. We hope he will not change as he goes up the ladder. As the saying goes, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And as most rules have exceptions, we hope our mayor is one of the few who will consistently say NO to abuse and corrupt practices.
The Philippine consulate in Los Angeles, USA is the site where former Filipinos who, after having obtained American citizenship, desire to re-acquire/retain their Philippine citizenship by taking their oath of allegiance. They meet the reality of being a “non-Filipino”. R.A. 9225 fixes this anomaly by allowing “former” Filipinos to re-acquire or retain their Filipino citizenship. It is easy— a do-it-yourself affair. The former Filipino just needs to Turn filetoapage petition 18-B
Philippine Economy, what now?
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Dateline Manila by Bingo P. Dejaresco
sn’t it a blessing that the RP economy could post a 6-7% GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in 2010 when some European countries are nearing bankruptcy and the United States is still struggling out of a mild recession?
In a developed economy like America, economic recovery is indicated by auto sales and housing starts. If such framework was applied in RP, we are already in a bull run. Imagine that Filipinos bought 58,691 new car and truck units in 2010, a 27% growth or the biggest rise in sales in 14 years - even eclipsing the record growth in 1996. All categories from passenger cars, Asian utility vehicles (AUVs), commercial vehicles (CVs) and the light commercial vehicles (LCVs) showed robust growths from 27% to 32%.
About seventy percent (70% ) of sold units went to Toyota (35% ), Mitsubishi (19% ) and Hyundai Asia (11% ). Meantime, six million in backlog units/houses for the low cost category (P700 - P1.3 million) is still being unaddressed though there may ensue a glut in the high rise condos and top-flight units in some cities. But overall, the Real Estate industry is booming - prices escalating and easy financing readily available. Low inflation rate has softened interest rate and monetary policy has placed
much liquidity (cash) in the marketplace. These, added to the all-time high in RP’s international reserves and the credible May 2010 national polls prodded Moody’s Ratings to upgrade the Philippines from “positive” to “stable”. That good rating, in turn, will enable the country to borrow from more alternative sources and at lower interest rates - in exchange for our lower credit risk. As most of us know, the Philippine stock market has crushed all previous all-time high records and was hovering at To page 12
37 36 YEARS OF COMMUNITY JOURNALISM
ELY P. DEJARESCO Editor-Publisher ATTY. JAY I. DEJARESCO Associate Editor GEROME JUMALON News Photographer RUBEN G. LABARES Graphics
MARLEN I. DEJARESCO Business Manager DEMS REY T. DEMECILLO REA LYNN D. REAL Senior Reporters JENNY B. DECIAR Legal Publications Officer
Pioneer BI-WEEKLY Newspaper in Dumaguete City and Negros Oriental. Address: E.J. Blanco Drive, Piapi, Dumaguete City. News and Advertising: (035) 225-4760 Fax: (035) 225-4760 E-mail: negroschronicle@yahoo.com Entered as Second Class Mail Matter in Dumaguete City on July 1, 1973.
Commercial Advertising Rate: Per Col. Inch P350.00 http://www.negroschronicle.com elydejaresco@yahoo.com
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