LGUs
Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor editor.lgustandard@gmail.com
B4
MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2017
Metro mayors’ spouses sign pact with Tesda
LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS
Signing the Tesda-MMMSFI memorandum of understanding are (from left) National Capital Region Tesda Director Cenon Querubin, Eva Nono, Edna Calixto, Tates Gana, Tesda Director General Guiling Mamondiong, Ricky Reyes, Janet Olivarez, Jenine Ponce, and representatives of other NCR cities at the ceremony at the Tesda head office in Taguig City. Manny Palmero
THE Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and the Metro Manila Mayors’ Spouses Foundation, Inc. have joined forces for the Special Skills Training Program for Marginalized Workers. Tesda Director General Secretary Guiling “Gene” Mamondiong said the Memorandum of Understanding they signed would provide free skills training, assessment and starter tool kits for the poor. The program will benefit the urban poor, disadvantaged women, informal workers and other marginalized workers who have no permanent jobs or livelihood, Mamondiong said. Through the MOU, Tesda and the MMMSFI will give free skills training to the marginalized workers of Metro Manila “so they would have enough skills when they are finally employed,” he added. Jun David
‘P400m in ghost projects’ T
HE mayor of Lubang Island in Oriental Mindoro has called on Public Works Secretary Mark Villar to investigate alleged ghost projects worth P400 million by an “unscrupulous, overstaying” district engineer. Mayor Roberto M. Sanchez wrote Villar on June 20, 2017, noting the “reported high percentage of accomplishments of the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) on most projects while the actual works done are low or the projects have not even started.” With Josefino “Jose” Mergal, the Oriental Mindoro DPWH District Engineer, reporting that these unstarted road projects were nearing completion,
Sanchez said: “It is presumed funds have already been disbursed and paid to contractors thus making them essentially ghost projects.” The mayor urged Villar to conduct a full audit of DPWH projects on the island “to determine the damage or losses suffered by the government, and pinpoint and prosecute public officials responsible for these gross misdeeds, dishonesty, dereliction of
duties and responsibilities.” The department had sent a team to Lubang Island on June 27 to verify Sanchez’s allegations. A week after, the audit team validated the mayor’s claims of ghost projects. National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. also wrote to Villar nearly a month after Sanchez’s appeal, urging the secretary to consider the “alleged gross anomaly and misreporting” of public works projects in Oriental Mindoro and update the mayor on their true progress. Mergal authored the dubious completion reports and has been district engineer of Oriental Mindoro for five years, despite the agency’s policy to reshuffle engineers every two to three years to avoid famili-
arity with local contractors and government officials. Mergal or Villar could not be reached for comment at presstime. Sanchez cited 19 road projects with a total project cost of P315.483 million as virtually ghost projects. These were undertaken by private contractors Algimar, CL Carandang, and Kejamarenik that could be liable for violations of the Revised Penal Code for falsification and malversation, and plunder under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito previously warned about possible plunder charges against DPWH officials regarding the ghost projects on Lubang Island, and likewise urged Villar to probe the issue.
INDUCTION RITES. National Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. president Domingo H.
Yap (left) leads the handover and induction ceremonies of the FFCCCI Lucena City Chapter headed by new president Gaspar K. Ong (fifth from right). Lucena City Mayor Rhoderick ‘Dondon’ Alcala, former Agriculture secretary Procy Alcala and other businessman also attended the event (inset photo). Benjie A. Antioquia
“Secretary Villar should do a thorough investigation on this. A lot of money has been earmarked for these projects, and we need to know if they’ve been used properly or not. If true, someone needs to be held liable for plunder,” said Ejercito, the vice chairman of the Senate committee on public works. Ejercito, who used to be the mayor of San Juan City, said the allegations of irregularities in certain DPWH projects show how powerful a district engineer is. “They are powerful, especially if there’s a lot of funds, they are instrumental to what project can continue or not. It can be defrauded, just by saying the project is already complete when in fact they are just partially finished,” the senator said. The biggest anomalies in the report were a combined P163.17 million in four road projects and a flood control project contracted by Algimar, which Mergal’s reports said were between 90 to 98 percent complete, when in fact they have not started or are just 50 percent finished at most. The DPWH engineer’s reports also claimed that a P6 million in farm-to-market road projects by CL Carandang were nearly 50 percent complete as of March 2017, but have in fact barely started. Mergal also claimed the P3.228-million Lubang Water System improvement project by Kejemarenik was 95 percent complete as of March 2017, but also has not yet started. Robert Evora
BACK TO NPC. Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista (left) is sworn in by former ambassador and Nationalist People’s Coalition chairman Eduardo ‘Danding’ Cojuangco Jr. (right) as the latter welcomes the mayor back to the party on Friday at the San Miguel Corp. head office in Ortigas, Pasig City. Bautista, who is serving his third and last term, is reportedly eyeing a congressional seat in QC’s third district. Manny Palmero
Manila cracks down on 2 funeral parlors By Bill Casas TWO funeral parlors in Tondo are facing immediate closure for operating without business permits and violating sanitation laws, after Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada ordered a citywide clampdown. Estrada said Punerarya San Rafael and Corazon Memorial Services, located in Moriones and Juan Luna streets, respectively, were recommended for permanent closure by the Manila Health Department’s Division of Sanitation. Citing a report submitted by MHD chief Dr. Benjamin Yson, Estrada said the two funeral establishments were found to have committed serious violations, foremost of which is operating without or expired Business Permit and
Sanitary Permit. “If there’s evidence, close it down,” Estrada said in an interview. The mayor ordered the crackdown against improperly managed funeral parlors and embalming establishments to safeguard public health. “We are only trying to avert some sort of a major health risk by ordering the closure of these ill-maintained funeral homes. I want immediate action,” he stressed. In separate endorsements sent to Bureau of Permits Director Fortune Mayuga on October 4, Yson said MHD is “compelled to recommend that a Closure Order be issued to and imposed on” Punerarya San Rafael and Corazon Memorial Services.
When the ‘Pearl of the Orient’ meets ‘Treasure Island’
The Taiwan Expo 2017 leads Taiwan and the Philippines to discover the importance of each other By Dr. Gary Song-Huann Lin DR. LIN is the Representative of Taiwan/ROC to the Philippines and head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines. THE three-day Taiwan Expo 2017, held at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City from 29 September- 1 October 2017, served as a catalyst to discover the importance of each other for the national developments of Taiwan and the Philippines in the years to come. Although Taiwan and the Philippines are the closest neighbors, Taiwan and the Philippines have long overlooked each other and are actually “neighboring strangers.” Since 2004, for more than 13 years, Taiwan has never organized any large-scale exhibition in the Philippines and vice versa. To implement the “New Southbond Policy,” TITRA and the Taiwan Association, Philippines,
Dr. Lin.
jointly organized the said Taiwan Expo 2017. The Taiwan Expo 2017 features more than 240 booths by over 190 exhibitors from Taiwan’s public and private sectors showcasing around 4,500 products, services and technologies. It comprises eight pavilions: agricultural technology, urban marketing, cultural tourism, Taiwan education, health and lifestyles, general services, innovative technology and Taiwan
enterprises in the Philippines. The Taiwan Expo 2017 underlined by the Taiwanese products enjoying advantages in the local market are those in green technology, medical solution, aquaculture technology and agriculture technology. Aside from the Taiwan Expo 2017, a Philippines-Taiwan Industrial Collaboration Summit was also held to explore opportunities of cooperation in the industries of green technology, industrial zone development, information and communication technology as well as machinery. During the Summit, six collaboration MOUs have been signed by the various industries and institutions. Moreover, during the DoSTMOST Science and Technology Pre-Review Meeting, the bilateral cooperation will be expanded to the spheres of health, agriculture, artificial intelligence, and startup, etc. In education, the Taiwan Expo 2017 has also marked a new milestone for the Taiwan-Philippines
educational exchange and cooperation, and specifically, 21 Taiwan universities participated in the Taiwan Expo 2017 event. As the Philippines increasingly requires highly educated talents to help drive its growing economy, the event serves as an excellent opportunity to encourage young scholars to pursue tertiary education in Taiwan. More importantly, as the Philippines has the biggest Englishspeaking population in Asean, and energetic and talented professionals, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education has pinpointed the Philippines, the “Shining Gem” and “Pearl of the Orient” in Asia, as being an important partner to Taiwan for the educational cooperation. To strengthen the PH-Taiwan educational cooperation, Taiwan has set up an Education and Resource Center in Makati City functioning as a platform to facilitate the exchanges in education and culture. Further, a forum for various universities’ presidents of our two
countries will be established and a new proposal on sending the Philippine Universities’ lecturers and teachers to pursue further studies and doctoral degrees in Taiwan is underway. It is worth mentioning that Mr. Tyson Hsieh, a prominent Taiwanese community leader in the Philippines, has offered to provide 50 round trip air tickets for the Filipino scholars to travel to Taiwan for the abovementioned purpose. Taiwan will also furnish more Taiwan scholarships for the Filipino students to study in Taiwan. Another good news is the announcement of visa-free treatment for all Philippine nationals. The visa-free entry to Taiwan has been approved by Premier William Lai of the ROC (Taiwan) to allow Filipino citizens to enter Taiwan for 14 days stay in Taiwan as part of Taiwan government efforts to promote people-to-people exchanges and tourism between Taiwan and the Philippines. The effective date of the new visa-
free program will be announced in due course. To reciprocate Taiwan’s goodwill and welcome, Taiwan also urges the Philippine government and Meco to follow the principle of reciprocity and grant Taiwan nationals visa-free treatment or at least to improve its visa arrangements and reduce visa fees for the Taiwan nationals. In the time of a new era that is mixed with opportunity and uncertainty facing today’s world, let’s expand and strengthen multifaceted cooperation and partnership, including more people-to-people engagement and interaction. By doing so, we will become good neighbors and good friends. By working together, we can build our prosperous, inclusive and innovation-led economics. It is my vision and dream that, as the closest neighbors, we can build a living economic community in which we can travel freely and our bilateral relationship will grow from strength to strength in the upcoming years.