Palace on record low self-rated poverty: ‘Change has indeed come’ THE Palace welcomed on Monday a record low self-rated poverty rate, saying Filipinos have started to feel the change promised by President Rodrigo Duterte in the last May 2016. “Change has indeed come, and it is being felt by our people,” Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Martin Andanar said in a press statement. For two consecutive quarters, Filipino families who considered themselves ‘mahirap’ or poor
reached new record low, according to the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey last December 3-6. In the third month of the Duterte administration last September 2016, the average self-rated poverty rate was 42 percent while in December 2016, it was 44 percent, both surpassed the previous record of 47 percent registered in 1987. “On the two-point increase in self-rated poverty nationwide, we take note the survey finding that self-rated poverty rose in Balance
Luzon,” Andanar said. “We thus factor in strongerthan usual typhoons that hit Luzon towards the later part of the year which may have affected the perception of our respondents,” he added. Last year, typhoon Karen damaged thousands of hectares of agricultural lands in Ilocos, Cordillera Administrative Region, Central Luzon, CALABARZON and Bicol while typhoon Lawin destroyed houses and crops and displaced
thousands in the northern part of Luzon. “The Department of Agriculture has been providing assistance to those affected farmers in the wake of two destructive storms last year,” Andanar said. According to the SWS survey conducted on 1,500 respondents nationwide, the self-rated poverty reading “has been either steady or declining for nine consecutive quarters from 52 percent in December 2014 to 44 percent in December last year. (PNA) DUTERTE
MINDANAO DAILY T H E P U RV E YO R O F T R U T H , J U S T I C E , A N D D E V E LO P M E N T
Volume VI, No. 188
Website: www.mindanaodailynews.com
Tuesday
January 17, 2017
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60 Higaonon families flee As suspected NPA rebels arrive
By Froilan Gallardo, of MindaNews
C
AGAYAN de Oro City-The sight of heavily armed men was enough for some 60 Higaonon families to flee their homes in Sitio Bulahan, Barangay Dansolihon here on Saturday night.
Higaonon bakwits. Some
60 Higaonon families from Sitio Bulahan, Barangay Dansoliho in Cagayan de Oro City seek shelter at their tribes’s meeting hall Saturday, July 14, 2017 after suspected communist rebels allegedly visited and tried to convince them to join the guerilla movement. MindaNews photo by Froilan O. Gallardo
P1,000 pension hike not enough, group says FOR not following through on his electoral promise, the labor group Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) expressed dissatisfaction over the measly additional one thousand pesos monthly pension of 2.2 million pensioners ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte last Monday. In a press statement, the group claimed that the hike is not only short of what was promised to the pensioners but is also “clearly insufficient to cover even the barest nutritional and medical needs of pensioners
and will only be cancelled out as prices of commodities are expected to steadily rise after oil and electricity rates increased December last year. The government’s own economic think tank, the NEDA admitted that the projected inflation rate for 2017 will “likely be 3%” from a mere 1.8% last year, but assures the public that it shall have no significant impact on the gross domestic product targets for the year. “It will only take a few See PENSIOn, page A7
Dansolihon Barangay Chairman Gilbert Nacalaban said the evacuation started Saturday night after residents heard of persistent reports of the presence of suspected communist rebels. “I had to make four trips to the village on my pickup and Isuzu truck to ferry the residents. They all look very terrified Nacalaban said. Two teams from the 58th Infantry Brigade and Cagayan de Oro Police Special Weapons Action Team were on standby at the police station in Barangay Lumbia awaiting orders to go to Sitio Bulahan. Senior Inspector Dennis Ebsolo, Lumbia police station chief said they are still checking whether the armed men were members of the New People’s Army (NPA) as reported by some villagers. See FLEE, page A7
Solon eyes passage of death penalty bill before June 3 House of Representatives justice committee chair Reynaldo Umali said on Monday the bill that seeks to restore death penalty will likely be approved before the end of the first regular session of 17th Congress on June 3. In a press conference, Umali said the death penalty bill, a priority measure of the Duterte administration, is an important reform to pursue in overhauling the criminal justice system of the country. “More importantly in my
own sense, this is the part and parcel of the criminal justice system reforms that we would like to pursue and the death penalty will surely be a factor in strengthening or enhancing the criminal justice system,” he said. Umali shared that he was once against capital punishment, but he saw the need for its reimposition after his committee conducted its hearing on the illegal drugs trade inside the New Bilibid Prison last September. “I am now in favor of death penalty on drug-
related heinous crimes,” said Umali. The Mindoro Oriental lawmaker said the lower chamber will still have to work on the contentious measure “regardless of what action Senate will take on the bill”. Under the proposed measure, the heinous crimes for which the death penalty will be imposed include trafficking in illegal drugs, arson, treason, murder, rape, kidnapping, and carnapping. The mode of capital
INSIDESTORIES
n Duterte confirms arrest, detention of Sema’s son in KL/A2 nHow to become more productive when facing obstacles/A5
See DEATH, page A7
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