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House raises veterans’ pension By Maricel V. Cruz A pAnel in the House of Representatives has approved a proposal to increase the old age pension of Filipino military veterans to p10,000 per month from the present p5,000. The House committee on veterans affairs and welfare, chaired by Bataan rep. Herminia roman, author of House Bill 6230, said the enactment of the measure will enable the veterans to augment their resources so they may live decently and with dignity. House Bill 6230 seeks to amend Section 10 of republic Act 6948, as amended, otherwise known as “An Act Standardizing and Upgrading the Benefits of Military Veterans and Their dependents,” as amended, so that a veteran, who is at least 65 years old, shall be paid an old-age pension of P10,000 monthly for life, unless he is actually receiving a similar pension for the same consideration from other government funds. roman said the current monthly P5,000 pension enacted almost 21 years ago, is clearly not enough to meet the basic necessities of veterans for a decent living. “Our veterans have sacrificed so much for the county. They invested blood, sweat and tears and in return, it is only fitting that we repay their service by taking care of them in their old age. They have dedicated their lives in the service of the country. They should be able to live out the rest of their days comfortably without worrying about their basic needs,” roman said. roman noted that veterans face a new challenge which is the hardships of old age along with meager resources that they must stretch in order to survive. roman said the old age pension raise is also a way to show the nation’s grateful appreciation of the veterans’ bravery, service and sacrifice. “We must recompense them in a manner more fitting to what they have given. By giving them due importance to what they have done in the past, we show citizens, especially the youth, what the nation values—the traits of heroism, love of country and patriotism,” roman said. At a congressional hearing prior to the approval of the measure, lawyer rolando Villaflor, chief of the legal affairs division of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office and representative of defense Undersecretary and PVAO Administrator Ernesto Carolina said PVAO is in full support of the HB 6230. “The proposal to raise the old age pension of our veterans is not only urgent but it proceeds from a very compelling reason that it is based on justice, considering the steady decline in the number of our senior veterans due to advanced ages,” Villaflor said. Villaflor said the youngest veteran under this category is 84 years old while the oldest is aged 105. “As of June 2015, there are only about 12,730 senior veterans who stand to benefit from the proposed increase,” Villaflor added. He said the old age pension will require a funding of P1.9 billion in 2016, and will gradually diminish annually with a projected number of about 4,211 senior veterans in 2020 or the equivalent of P757.980 million. Villaflor said that as to post-World War 11 veterans, there are 27,137 of them as of this November. The corresponding amount of increase in their old-age pension to P10,000 will require P1,628 billion. For 2016, the funding requirement for the old age pension raise will be P1,832,820,000 then P1.8 billion for 2017, P1.9 billion for 2018, P2 billion for 2019 and P2.1 billion for 2020 according to him.
Green concerns.
Environmentalists dramatize their protest at Mendiola Bridge and call on industrial nations as the biggest contributor of green gas emission to reduce it rapidly that causes global warming. DANNY PATA
Panel sought to put old law into action By Maricel V. Cruz PrESidENT Benigno Aquino iii has to appoint the three members of the National Privacy Commission in order to finally put into action the data Privacy law of 2012, a Palace ally in Congress said on Sunday. “We need the NPC—composed of a commissioner with the rank of Cabinet secretary and two deputy commissioners with the rank of undersecretary —in place to enforce the threeyear-old statute,” Pasig City rep. roman romulo said. Malacañang has to constitute first the NPC, which is tasked to draft and issue the implementing rules and regulations of the data Privacy law, to republic Act 10173, according to romulo.
“The NPC is supposed to administer and enforce the provisions of the data Privacy law, and monitor and ensure the country’s compliance with international data protection standards,” said romulo, one of the principal authors of the law and senatorial aspirant. romulo’s remarks came not long after the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines openly expressed concern over the delayed implementation of the data Privacy law. The JFCP is the coalition of American, Australian-New Zealand, Canadian, European, Japanese, and Korean business groups in the country and the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies regional Headquarters inc.
The JFCP represents over 3,000 member-companies doing business in the Philippines, including some of the largest business process outsourcing firms that operate in the country. The data Privacy law requires all public and private entities, including BPO firms, to protect the confidentiality of personal information that they collect from clients and store in computer systems, in accordance with rigorous international privacy standards. “The law puts in check the possible misuse of personal facts, including identity theft; bolsters consumer confidence in electronic commerce; and boosts BPO activities that process a great deal of personal information,” romulo, a key backer of
the booming BPO sector, said. He said the law provides adequate safeguards against the potential mishandling of personal facts in outsourcing services, such as customer care and electronic data processing. “The BPO sector handles large customer or account master files. We have to assure the foreign clients of our BPO firms that we have definite, predictable and enforceable personal data privacy rules,” romulo said. The clients of BPO firms in the country include some of the world’s largest banks, insurers, stockbrokers, hotel chains, airlines, travel operators and newspaper publishers as well as providers of health, telecommunication, internet, and satellite or cable TV services.
Pump prices up by P0.45
His lifeline. A boy throws a fishing line in Manila Bay, one of the Philippines’ many
typhoon-vulnerable coasts, on Nov. 29, 2015. The Philippines is among countries pushing for a binding pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions at the United Nations summit in Paris this week. AFP
Oil prices went up by P0.45 per liter to reflect the movement in world oil prices. Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Phoenix Petroleum announced their respective oil price hikes, which took effect 6 a.m. Tuesday. Other oil firms were expected to follow suit. The oil firms raised the price of gasoline by P0.45 per liter, diesel by P0.20 per liter and kerosene by P0.10 per liter. Phoenix said in its advisory that the higher pump prices was “due to the higher prices of refined petroleum products in the international market.” World oil prices were expected to go up amid expectations that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries led by Saudi Arabia would maintain high production target. last Nov. 24, the oil firms cut pump prices by as much as P0.80 per liter. They slashed the price of gasoline by P0.75 per liter, P0.50 per liter for diesel and P0.80 per liter for kerosene The previous week, the oil firms also cut pump prices by P0.40 per liter for gasoline, P0.35 for liter for diesel and P0.45 per liter for kerosene. Alena Mae S. Flores