Higher pump prices for gas, diesel today

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

By Andrea E. San Juan

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through the Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS), has prevented the sale and distribution of 600 pieces of substandard equal-leg steel angle bars worth P740,000 in Valenzuela City.

In a news statement released on Monday, the Philippines’s national standards body said the substandard steel products, were found “non-conforming” to the elongation requirement of Philippine National Standard (PNS) 657:2008 (Hot-Rolled Steel Sections-Equal-leg Angles-Specifications) as confirmed by third-party testing. Elongation refers to the permanent extension in the gauge length of a steel bar which is measured after rupture,” the BPS said.

T he standards arm of DTI said it witnessed the destruction of the substandard equal-leg steel angle bars at the manufacturer’s warehouse in Valenzuela City on January 20.

Further, it said the substandard products were cut using an oxy-acetylene torch prior to transfer to the manufacturer’s smelting facility.

T he equal-leg steel angle bar is among the 111 products covered under the BPS’s Mandatory Product Certification Schemes.

Meanwhile, under the steel products, these are listed under mandatory certification: BI/GI steel pipes Black and Galvanized Longitudinally Welded Lightweight Steel Tubes; Deformed Steel Bars; EqualLeg Steel Angle Bars; Rerolled Steel Bars; Low Carbon Steel Wires and Steel Wire Nails.

OIL firms announced on Monday they will increase gasoline and diesel pump prices today, Tuesday. A n additional P0.90 per liter will be added to gasoline prices and P1.05 per liter for diesel. Meanwhile, kerosene prices will go down by P0.25 per liter.

Seaoil, Shell, Total, Unioil, Caltex, Petron, PTT, and Phoenix announced the price adjustment, which takes effect at 6 a.m. of Tuesday, February

21. Cleanfuel said it will implement the same amount at 4:01 p.m.

L ast February 14, oil companies implemented a per liter decrease of P2.20 for diesel and P2.50 for kerosene. No movement has been effected on the price of gasoline. These resulted to a year-to-date net decrease for diesel at P2.15/ liter and kerosene at P0.25/liter. Gasoline remains at a net increase of P5.10/liter. Movements in the world oil market affect local pump prices, oil firms said. Last week, Russia announced

FARMERS belonging to the Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura and the Malayang Kilusang Samahang Magsasaka ng Tinang (Makisama-Tinang) denounced on Monday the Municipal Agrarian Reform Office (MARO) in Concepcion, Tarlac for allegedly defying the directive of Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III to install agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) on their CARP-awarded lands.

T his after the MARO in Concepcion, Tarlac erected a tarpaulin billboard bearing a list of 237 “potential beneficiaries” last February 17, instructing them to participate in a validation activity at the Barangay Tinang Covered Court on February 20, 21, and 27.

This, they say, is contradictory to their official status as ARBs, as the list referred to the farmers as mere “claimants,” hence, reversing their validated status by the agency as early as 1996.

They said the announcement was made 10 days after Estrella himself, accompanied by Undersecretary Napoleon Galit of DAR’s legal affairs, held a dialogue with members of the Makisama-Tinang wherein the officials vowed to install the original ARBs who were already acknowledged and validated by DAR almost three decades ago within 45 days.

They said the revalidation ordered by the Concepcion, Tarlac MARO is subjecting the same ARBs to another round of validation that undermined the national office’s authority. They suspect that local officials of Concepcion plans to cut crude production by 500,000 barrels per day after a price cap was imposed on Russian oil and oil products by the West. are manipulating the DAR Concepcion, Tarlac process. UMA spokesman John Milton “Ka Butch” Lozande said a revalidation process had taken place as recently as June 20, almost two weeks after the alleged illegal arrest of 83 of their members. He said at least 178 of the original list of 236 ARBs should be installed on their land, insisting the legitimacy of their Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA).

T he Philippines does not directly import crude oil from Russia. It imports its finished products from China, South Korea, and Japan. These countries are the ones importing crude oil from Russia.

T he Department of Energy (DOE) said about 42 percent of the 5 million barrels per day of crude oil Russia exports is shipped to the Asia Pacific region.

“Why was MARO obscuring the fact that Tinang’s ARBs were already CLOA holders?” he asked.

UMA expressed hope that MARO’s action was not an act of retaliation by the local chief executive of Concepcion after the Ombudsman’s ruled that the complaint against the Concepcion police force, filed by the “Tinang 83” on July 26, was “sufficient in form and substance.”

Among the almost 30 police officers implicated was Police Lt. Col. Reynold Macabitas who had been seen receiving instructions from the mayor of Concepcion, on the day of the mass arrest, Lozande alleged.

“We respectfully urge Sec. Estrella to clarify DAR’s position on the matter, fast-track the installation of Tinang ARBs on their 200-hectare land, and look into why MARO officials have been throwing farmers under the bus in favor of Villanueva,” stated UMA acting chairperson Ariel “Ka Ayik” Casilao. “Please don’t let unscrupulous officials break the hearts of our farmers all over again.” Jonathan L. Mayuga

By Henry J. Schumacher

WHAT do ethics have to do with compliance?

Businesses have to have a clear vision of ethical standards and have to understand how compliance filters down throughout the company and how it impacts business performance.

Culture and ethics

THE ethical standards that the company wants to operate by must filter down efficiently within the organization. The culture should be founded on openness, humanism, collaboration, and should allow employees to speak up and raise problems which need solving. Compliance must be part of the business and be fully embedded in the overall business processes.

Compliance and commerce

COMPLIANCE officers have to understand the business that they’re in and the challenges faced by their colleagues. This way they can work with the team to design effective programs. This requires engaging with procurement or treasury teams to understand their decisionmaking process. They all bring a different perspective to the table, which allows compliance to get under the skin of the business and design solutions which are effective.

Perceptions of Compliance

COMPLIANCE has historically been about rules, about policy. But it is more than that today. It’s about behaviors, it’s about governance; most people want to do the right thing and the role of compliance is to show them what the right thing is. This could include considering cultural norms in different parts of the world or thinking two steps ahead of the situation and its implications.

Fundamentally, people want to

THE compliance world is unrecognizable from where it was even 10 to 15 years ago. The mood around the world and actions by different governments have transformed the corporate approach to ethics and the focus on sustainability, simplicity and effectiveness.

Navigating change

THE new tranche of Russian sanctions issued by the US Government are a prime example of the kind of challenges compliance professionals are faced with. This has been a learning curve for everybody from procurement to supply chain teams. Similarly, the pandemic has necessitated having compliance at the front and center of the business. We won’t know the answer to every question, but we need to know where to get the answer and get the answer quickly.

Technology

A LOT of thought goes into technology and the tools compliance might need to operate on excel or on paper. There are systems in place to monitor learning, due diligence, digital document signing, integrations and interactions between systems, and a whole host of other effective platforms.

The Future of Compliance

THE role of compliance is to drive corporate activity forward in an ethical way. The days when it was a competitive disadvantage to abide by compliance are over. It will now be a competitive advantage! Compliance will no longer be about reading external rules and procedures but will be about learnt behaviors. Children and adults alike learn most through doing and that’s what the future of compliance will be guided by. I hope you enjoyed this “excursion” on compliance, ethics, and integrity in doing successful business.

Feedback would be appreciated; contact me at hjschumacher59@gmail.com target resolver group and route tickets, do remote trouble shooting, install/uninstall applications for incidents raised by customers.

Basic Qualification: The position will require candidates to take calls using any of the 6 languages to support our clients with their IT-related incidents and request. Some of the roles and responsibilities for the role include perform initial triage for IT issues raised by customers log, track, and update incidents, attempt first time fix resolution for known issues, identify target resolver group and route tickets, do remote trouble shooting, install/uninstall applications for incidents raised by customers.

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Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin safety officer, familiarity, knowledge and awareness on machinery and heavy equipment use by company. Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin safety officer, familiarity, knowledge and awareness on machinery and heavy equipment use by company. Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

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The mandarin deck officer will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

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The mandarin deck radio officer will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin safety officer, familiarity, knowledge and awareness on machinery and heavy equipment use by company. Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin safety officer, familiarity, knowledge and awareness on machinery and heavy equipment use by company. Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification:

Proven experience as mandarin safety officer, familiarity, knowledge and awareness on machinery and heavy equipment use by company. Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification:

Proven experience as mandarin safety officer, familiarity, knowledge and awareness on machinery and heavy equipment use by company. Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999