TENURED N.F.A. EMPLOYEES TO CHALLENGE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF RICE TRADE LIB LAW By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas & Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario
T A MAN carries a sack of commercial rice in a store in Parañaque City as the market starts feeling the possible impact of the new law, which liberalizes the importation, exportation and trading of rice. The rice tariffication law has been signed, but tenured employees of the National Food Authority (NFA) are questioning its inclusion of provisions that overhaul the agency, displacing hundreds. NONIE REYES
DEPT. OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY
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ENURED employees of the National Food Authority (NFA) will soon file a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the new rice trade liberalization law, which could cause thousands of NFA workers to lose their jobs. NFA Employees Association (NFAEA) Central Office President Maximo M. Torda told the BusinessMirror the group will file the petition by May. Torda said the NFAEA will question the legislative history of the law, which started at first as a rice tariffication bill. The bill sought to convert the country’s quantitative restriction (QR)
on rice imports into ordinary customs duties. He said the initial bill had evolved into a measure that affected government safeguards against imports and included the deregulation of the food agency. “The rice trade liberalization law eventually removed all the effective safeguard measures for controlling and supervising the country’s food security,” Torda said in an interview. “From the simple objective of removing the QR, it evolved into an encompassing law which resulted in major changes, such as the revamp and reorganization of the NFA that would now lead to thousands of layoffs,” he added. Torda said NFAEA’s Supreme Court case is only part of a series of legal challenges that See “NFA,” A2
HENRY J. SCHUMACHER discusses in his Integrity Initiative column “Vendors—value, opportunity and risks,” the best practices that you may want to implement when managing data-privacy risk within your vendor network.
See Integrity Initiative on page B3
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n Tuesday, April 9, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 181
BIR probes recycled tax stamps on fake tobacco ₧200M T By Rea Cu
A recent DOF executive committee (Execom) meeting tackled the discovery by BIR officials of how some enterprising entities have come up with a supposed promotional scheme in which tax stamps on sold cigarette packs could be
exchanged for a can of sardines or a pack of noodles. Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III told the BIR to coordinate with the DTI in stopping this so-called practice, especially if it is determined that no permit
was issued for the promo. Illicit tobacco traders could be using the promotional scheme to gather used tax stamps to put on packs of fake cigarettes, according to BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel S.D. Guballa.
The estimated value of machines for making fake cigarettes, destroyed by the government recently, as certified by legitimate cigarette makers
“You better talk to the DTI and tell them that can’t be allowed,” Dominguez told BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay at the meeting. The finance chief also ordered the BIR to find out who are buying the used tax stamps.
@joveemarie
HE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on Monday said $4.5 billion in investment is needed to construct 50,000 new towers that would improve telco services in the Philippines. At a hearing of the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology, Acting DICT Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. said the Philippines needs an additional 50,000 towers to improve services and to catch up with its Asean neighbors as he admitted that the country has only 18,000 cell towers. He said building 50,000 telco towers will need an investment of $4.5 billion. A construction of a tower will cost P3 million to P5 million. “More or less we need 50,000 towers to catch up [with Asean neighbors] and [support the] 18,000 towers we currently have,” Rio said. According to Rio, the Philippines has the lowest density in the Asean region with 0.14 per 1,000 subscribers—far from 0.5 mark per 1,000 subscribers, and the 50,000 towers will help achieve this mark.
Manny F. Dooc
TELLTALES
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ITH the elections barely more than a month away, I remember Lee Atwater who was the youngest political strategist to run two victorious national campaigns in the US. He was only in his early 30s when he masterminded the successful political runs of two American presidents, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. He was a political brawler known for his aggressive campaign tactics. For instance, he played to racial prejudices and other controversial issues like the Willie Norton ad, which virtually ruined Governor Michael Dukakis’s race for the presidency. Eventually he was named chairman of the Republican National Committee. Even his partymates acknowledged that Atwater was a dirty and ruthless political operator. Continued on A11
See “Tax stamps,” A2
‘Maynilad deal writer not yet off the hook’
50,000
By Samuel P. Medenilla
Additional towers needed to improve services and to allow the Philippines to catch up with its Asean neighbors, according to Acting DICT Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. Rio said the agency wants to be on a par with Vietnam with its 70,000 cell sites. Moreover, Rio said private firms will be allowed to build new towers so that no fresh funds will be needed from the government. Rio said the country’s three telco players—Globe, Smart and Mislatel Consortium—have already identified 1,000 areas for the common tower projects. He said 19 companies have already signed memoranda of understanding with DICT for such tower projects. For his part, Atty. Vicente Castelo of Globe Telecommunication reiterated the telcos’ concern over the long process entailed to put up a tower. He said telcos have to get approval for at least 25 permits, including from local government units, to get a cell site tower constructed. See “DICT,” A12
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DICT: $4.5-B investment needed to allow the PHL to catch up with neighbors By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
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HE Department of Finance (DOF) has instructed the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to work with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in curbing a new scheme perpetrated by illicit tobacco traders who are suspected of using recycled tax stamps on fake cigarettes.
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affirmed that local and foreign investors establish their businesses in the special ecozones “because they get to enjoy a slew of tax incentives that they could not find elsewhere.” These special economic zones, he pointed out, particularly those supervised by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), are critical drivers of employment growth in localities hosting them.
HE people responsible for the government’s allegedly onerous agreement with private concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. are still not off the hook yet, Malacañang said on Monday. This even after an official of the water concessionaire said on Monday that they are willing to drop their pending arbitration proceedings against the government if it will address its tariff issue. The case stems from Maynilad’s indemnity claim against the government, which could amount to P3.4 billion, after the latter stopped its tariff adjustment from 2013 to 2017. Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and President ia l Spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said they could still file charges against Maynilad officials responsible for the said agreement. Panelo earlier said they might also have to run after the lawyers who drafted the agreement, since he claimed they might have
See “Ecozone,” A2
Continued on A12
‘HATOL NI JUAN 2019’ The Aliw Media Group chaired by D. Edgard A. Cabangon (sixth from left) formally launched on Monday the “Hatol ni Juan 2019” under which the media units of the group will mount their nationwide election coverage for the May elections. The launch was graced by Comelec Spokesman Director James Jimenez (fourth from left, shaking the hand of Cabangon). Those who joined the launch are (from left) Braggy Braganza of Home Radio, Jill Resontoc of DWIZ, BusinessMirror President Banjamin V. Ramos, Pilipino Mirror General Manager Joy Siddayao, Robertson Ong and Robert Rivera of Radio Phil. Network, BusinessMirror news editor Vittorio Vitug and Ely Aligora of DWIZ-Aliw Broadcasting Corp.
Angara’s plea: Don’t touch ecozone tax perks
S
EN. Juan Edgardo M. Angara asserted on Monday that tax perks currently enjoyed in economic zones should not be withdrawn in order to lure more investors and create more jobs. The senator stressed the need for the Duterte administration to continue granting tax incentives to investing companies in special economic zones (SEZs) if it wants to “attract and retain large-scale
investments” that create more job opportunities. “If we could provide quality livelihood opportunities and jobs because we have quality investors, we may be able to prevent our kababayan from leaving the country to work overseas,” said Angara, chairman of the Ways and Means committee. Apart from the quality of the work force in the country, Angara
n JAPAN 0.4672 n UK 68.0610 n HK 6.6486 n CHINA 7.7683 n SINGAPORE 38.5108 n AUSTRALIA 37.0521 n EU 58.5318 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.9159
Source: BSP (8 April 2019 )