elected WHO committee chair

Palace hails Duque for being elected WHO committee chair

MANILA (Mabuhay) — Malacañang on Thursday congratulated Health Secretary Francisco Duque III for being elected as chair of World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Western Pacific.

In a Palace briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duque’s accomplishment showed that the WHO recognizes his capabilities.

“Our congratulations to Secretary Duque and my classmate in the Cabinet at ito po’y nagpapatunay na nagtitiwala po ang WHO sa kakayahan ni Secretary Duque (and this is proof that the WHO believes in the abilities of Secretary Duque),” he said.

Roque said it also means that the WHO acknowledges the Philippines’ efforts in responding to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

“Siguro po kinikilala natin na sa region eh talagang ang response po natin sa Covid ay mukha naman pong epektibo at naniniwala po ang WHO na tama ang mga hakbang na ginagawa natin para labanan ang Covid-19 habang wala pang bakuna at habang wala pa pong gamot (Perhaps the region recognizes that our response against Covid is effective and the WHO believes the country is taking the right steps to fight Covid-19 while there is no vaccine or medicine),” he added.

The WHO Regional Committee for Western Pacific is composed of health ministers and senior officials from 27 Western Pacific member countries that meet annually to discuss the region’s health issues.

According to the Department of Health (DOH), Duque will lead discussions on Covid-19, vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization, aging and health, safe and affordable surgical interventions, and the program budget for 2022 to 2023.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the committee will convene every year to formulate policies, provide oversight for regional programs, report on their projects and consider, revise and endorse new initiatives.

During the opening of the 71st session of the WHO Regional Committee for Western Pacific on October 6, Duque thanked his fellow representatives for their trust and confidence in electing him as their chairperson.

“The circumstances in which we meet this year are very different from last year when we came together to endorse the For the Future vision. Thank For the Future vision. Thank you for your continyou for your continued commitment in implementing that vision in the time of Covid-19, as we work together to adjust to a “new normal” and create a new future,” Duque said.

He will be presiding over the entire session virtually until October 9. (MNS)

HEALTH SECRETARY FRANCISCO DUQUE III

DOE urged to build foundations for sound nuclear power agenda

MANILA (Mabuhay) — Senator Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to focus on meeting the necessary steps in the adoption of a national nuclear energy policy before working on the possible use of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

Gatchalian said any discussion on jumpstarting a nuclear policy in the country has to be comprehensively studied and backed by rigorous research while taking into account the different infrastructure issues and how these will fit into the environmental, social, economic, and regulatory bodies to address pertinent issues including radiation protection and nuclear security and safety.

“Instead of wasting time in reviving the obsolete Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, the DOE should just focus on setting up the necessary legislation, regulations, and public acceptance through greater transparency,” the Senate energy committee chairman said in a press release on Thursday.

Gatchalian said the Philippines has yet to ratify the Convention on Nuclear Safety, the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, and the Amendment to the Convention of Physical Protection of Nuclear Material.

On top of the President Rodrigo Duterte’s directives to conduct a feasibility study on the existing legal framework on the viability of nuclear power in the country’s energy mix through Executive Order No. 116, Gatchalian emphasized the need for the Philippines, as a member-state, to comply with the prescribed guidelines and infrastructure gaps identified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

He said before embarking on a nuclear energy program, the Philippines needs to address and satisfy at least 19 infrastructure issues of the IAEA through comprehensive pieces of legislation on regulator, radiation protection, safety of nuclear facilities and decommissioning, energy preparedness and response, processing and transport of radioactive material, radioactive waste and spent fuel, nuclear liability, coverage and safeguard measures, export and import controls, nuclear security, physical protection and illicit trafficking, among others.

Gatchalian echoed the earlier assertions made by Russian Ambassador Igor Khovaev on the 43-year-old BNPP as “absolutely outdated” and already beyond revival.

He said the current international safety standards are also much higher than the standards on which the BNPP was built. The BNPP is located near Mt. Natib, a volcano and an active earthquake fault.

He added that refurbishing the BNPP to make it operational may entail some USD1 billion, based on estimates. It does not also guarantee a lower price of electricity.

“Hindi totoo na mababa ang presyo. Dahil sa dami ng safety procedures at technology na ilalagay mo, tumataas yung presyo, tulad ng naging karanasan ng Vietnam (It’s not true that price [of electricity] will go down. Due to many safety procedures and technology that have to be placed, the price increases, like the experience of Vietnam),” he pointed out.

He said the BNPP is obsolete already, having been built more than 40 years ago.

“Kaya sa aking pag-aanalisa, mas maganda pang magpatayo ng bagong planta dahil obviously mas marami nang bagong teknolohiya at mga bagong safety procedures na naaangkop sa panahon ngayon (That’s why, based on my own analysis, it is better to build new [nuclear power] plant because obviously there are many new technology and new safety procedures that are appropriate nowadays),” he said. (MNS)

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Velasco links Cayetano's actions to 'personal ambition' in 2022

MANILA (Mabuhay) — Speaker Alan Cayetano is refusing to yield the Speakership in defiance of an agreement he was part of because of his "personal ambition" to be President in 2022, Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco said Friday.

Velasco made the allegation two days after Cayetano moved to approve the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 and subsequently adjourn the session until November 16 — a departure from the October 14 timeline of budget approval on third and final reading that Cayetano’s leadership set.

Cayetano’s move extended his Speakership tenure that was supposed to end on October 14 as he agreed upon with President Rodrigo Duterte and Velasco, the other party in the term-sharing deal. House rules provide that Congress must be in session to approve a pending measure and for anybody to move to declare a post — including the Speakership — vacant.

“He is fighting for personal interest and ambition. Akalain mo ba naman, guluhin niya iyong buong budget process. Why? Out of fear. Speaker Cayetano is doing everything to be able to achieve his personal ambition and interes na maging Presidente ng 2022,” Velasco said.

“Pandemic [ngayon], we are looking at the survival of our country. Inuuna muna niya ang kanyang political survival before the survival of our country,” he added.

Cayetano was Duterte's running-mate in the 2016 polls. While Duterte won by a landslide with 16 million votes, he finished a far third with 5.9 million votes behind then-Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. with 14.1 million votes and Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo with 14.3 million votes.

Duterte, on Thursday night, gave Cayetano and Velasco an ultimatum to resolve the Speakership row especially since the approval of next year's national budget -- the first national budget to figure in the COVID-19 pandemic -- is on the line.

Both the camps of Velasco and Cayetano have claimed that they have numbers on their side.

Velasco’s allies were supposed to move to declare the Speakership vacant on October 14, but this was scuttled with Cayetano’s maneuver of adjourning the session after the second-reading approval of the budget.

Velasco, however, is confident that the House will be able to open session as long as the majority wants it.

“We can change the rules as long as the majority wants it,” he said.

“Even if the session is closed, if the majority wants to open the session, they can open the session,” Velasco added.

The last time that the House of Representatives elected a Speaker even if Congress was not in session was back in July 2018 when then -Pampanga Representative Gloria Arroyo got majority of the lawmakers to elect her as Speaker to replace Davao del Norte Representative Pantaleon Alvarez. Arroyo's election happened on the same day and hours before Duterte's third State of the Nation Address. (MNS)

VOTE

ON VELASCO CAYETANO

IATF sets protocols for Palawan division plebiscite

MANILA (Mabuhay) — The government’s COVID-19 task force has come up with health and safety protocols for the conduct of a plebiscite in the first quarter of 2021 on the law dividing Palawan into three provinces, Malacañang said Friday.

A two-day voting schedule will be implemented and only five voters will be allowed inside the room at any particular time, said presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, citing the resolution of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) approved on Thursday.

Registered voters between 18 and 21 years old and those who are 60 years old and above, those with immunodeficiency, comorbidity, or other health risks, and pregnant women may go out of their residences to vote, Roque said.

The task force also encouraged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to devise safety mechanisms and procedures to ensure that confirmed COVID-19 and/or symptomatic patients can exercise their right to vote.

The plebiscite was supposed to be held last May but the Comelec postponed it due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In April last year, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11259 dividing Palawan three provinces: Palawan del Norte, Palawan Oriental, and Palawan del Sur.

The three provinces will be created upon approval by the majority of the votes cast by the voters of the affected areas in a plebiscite to be conducted and supervised by the Comelec.

The election of the provincial officials will be held on May 9, 2022.

Proponents of the law had said the split up will address the issue of efficiency in the delivery of basic public services, especially in times of emergencies and calamities, considering the long geographical distance between the provincial capitol in Puerto Princesa City and the southern tip of mainland Palawan. (MNS)

If Prop 21 seems familiar, it’s because nearly 60% of California voters rejected the same flawed scheme in 2018.

Prop 21 does not protect low-income and working Californians.

• It allows landlords to raise rents on the lowest-income Californians by up to 15%, no questions asked. • In the current recession, this massive rent hike will lead to mass evictions all across California. This initiative does not address the real problem.

• It repeals portions of California’s Rent law that protects single family homeowners and has no plan to build affordable and middle-class housing.

Prop 21 will hurt homeowners of color and other minorities who worked hard to purchase a family home.

• Prop 21 penalizes people of color by devaluing their property and preventing them from renting their homes at a fair price.

VOTE

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