DAVAO CITY, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte said he is supporting same sex marriage in the country, adding that the law governing marriage can be amended.
During the 7th LGBT Davao Year-end Gathering at the Azuela Cove here Sunday, December 17, Duterte was applauded after saying he wants same sex marriage and the government can change the law.
“Ako gusto ko same sex marriage (I want same-sex marriage). Ang problema (the problem is) we’ll have to change the law. But we can change the law,” Duterte said referring to the Family Code which provides for the marriage of a man and a woman.
“I don’t have any problems making it marrying a man, marrying a woman or whatever is the predilection of the human being,” Duterte added. Change of tune
In March this year, Duterte in a speech before the Filipino community in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, said same sex marriage cannot work for the Philippines where majority are Catholics and where “there is the Civil Code, which says that you can only marry a woman for me… for a woman to marry a man.”
“Yun ang kultura nila. Eh di kayo lang, hindi ‘yan pwede sa amin. Katoliko kami… (That’s their culture. It does not apply to us. We are Catholics…),” he said previously.
Before the Presidential elections last year, Duterte said he was would consider legalizing same-sex marriage. LGBT commission?
Duterte on Sunday added he wants the LGBT community to nominate a representative from their sector for a new commission which the government is yet to set up.
“I’d like a gay there somewhere or a lesbian. And mag-usap kayong lahat all over the Philippines ‘yung… You nominate somebody who is honest, hardworking. And I would like to show that any, any ma-bakla man o ma-tomboy can — well, can always work just like an ordinary human being (And you talk among yourselves all over the Philippines. And I would like to show that any, whether he is a gay or a lesbian, well, can alway work just like an ordinary human being),” Duterte said.
He said he will give the LGBT sector until the second week of January next year to nominate their representative. (davaotoday.com)
Research group IBON said that recently-released employment figures show that the jobs crisis is worsening under the Duterte administration’s neoliberal agenda, despite reported fast economic growth. The group said, there were jobs lost and an increase in the number of unemployed, primarily due to the over one million job losses in agriculture. These latest figures indicate that the government market-driven economic policies are failing to bring about the genuine long-term development of the domestic economy that could create sustainable livelihoods.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported 5% unemployment, 95% employment and 15.9% underemployment rates in October 2017. IBON said however that there were 134,000 jobs lost and 148,000 more unemployed this year compared to the same period last year, although the number of underemployed declined by 893,000. The employment rate could also be distorted considering government labor force definitions discount some 2-3 million workers not in the labor force.
The agriculture sector suffered 1.4 million in job losses which primarily contributed to the rise in the number of unemployed in October 2017. IBON noted that in the same period in the past five years, agriculture jobs have been declining, except for a slight uptick in 2016. Those employed in the sector decreased from 12.1 million in 2013, to 11.8 million in 2015; to 10.4 million this year.
The recent agriculture job losses were offset by increases in employed persons in the services and industry sector by 944,000 and 381,000, respectively. Under services, job increases primarily occurred in public administration and defense, compulsory social security (299,000), followed by transport and storage (215,000), and wholesale and retail trade (191,000). Manufacturing (239,000) and construction (136,000) accounted for the bulk of additional employed in the industry sector.
IBON said that these job losses and higher number of unemployed indicates that the country’s fast economic growth remains exclusionary. It also underscores the unsoundness of the neoliberal economic policies forwarded by the Duterte administration, which primarily serve big local and foreign business interests.
The significant decline in agricultural work is an example of the government’s neoliberal policies failure, as the sector remains backward and vulnerable to weather conditions and disasters, said the group. Government neglect and lack of support for domestic production, and its prioritization of pro-big business interests, such as corporate plantations, ecotourism complexes, mining, and large dams, among others, have affected rural livelihoods. The four-year non-recovery of agriculture in provinces stricken by supertyphoon Yolanda leaving farms vulnerable to repeated calamities also illustrates government’s long-term neglect of the vital sector.
IBON said that long-term sustainable employment will only be created by veering away from the same old neoliberal policies and working towards true long-term development of domestic agriculture and industries. ###
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte wants pushcart educator Efren Peñaflorida to head the Presidential Commission on the Urban Poor (PCUP) and Davao teacher Randy Halasan to sit as one of the commissioners.
Duterte made the statement before Davao City-based media Friday night, December 15. The President mentioned that he would want “yung nagtutulak ng karomata, yung nagaturo” (the one who is pushing cart and teaching) to chair the PCUP.
Duterte was referring to Peñaflorida who was named CNN Hero of the Year in 2009 for his efforts to bring education to poor children through a pushcart loaded with books and other teaching materials.
Peñaflorida was also conferred with the Order of Lakandula, the highest honors given to a civilian, by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Meanwhile, Halasan, a teacher of Pegalongan Elementary School in Marilog district here is also being considered to sit as a commissioner of the PCUP. Halasan won the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2014 for his dedication to help with the education and livelihood of the Matigsalug community in Sitio Pegalongan in Barangay Malamba.
Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go confirmed they have already reached out to Halasan.
Duterte on Tuesday, December 12 fired the commissioners of the PCUP, an agency supervised by the Office of the Cabinet Secretary, including its head Terry Ridon.
He said Ridon has traveled abroad several times since his appointment in September.
“There’s something wrong with this office, there was never a hearing en banc, or whatever, no major reports, no nothing,” Duterte added.
Ridon, however, said all their travels were authorized by the Palace.
“The public record of the agency can speak for itself: we had implemented with full integrity the presidential promise of no demolition without relocation. We had represented government and given voice to the urban poor in international conferences on public housing, poverty alleviation and climate change, which was unprecedented in any administration,” Ridon said.
In his latest Facebook post Saturday, December 16, Ridon shared photos of the Greens PH Laguna urban poor climate resilience forum.
“This is one of the landmark initiatives of PCUP, in which people’s organizations are empowered to determine climate resilient housing frameworks and petition housing agencies to implement these projects in urban poor areas,” he said.
Ridon added that it was “one of the most concrete results” of the PCUP’s participation in international conferences. (davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The City Council on Thursday, December 14 repealed two city ordinances approved about six decades ago.
During the last regular session for 2017, councilors voted with finality the ordinances to repeal the city ordinance banning the use, playing, operation and maintenance of pinball machines and other similar devices and the ordinance prohibiting the operation of jukeboxes within public markets.
The ban on pinball machines was approved in 1960 while the jukebox ordinance was made into law in 1975.
Councilor Mabel Sunga Acosta, chair of the committee on publications authored and moved to repeal both ordinances.
On previous reports, Acosta maintained that these ordinances have to be abolished and removed from the Code of Ordinances of the city since the said devices are already obsolete and the policies are not relevant anymore.
“We look over the code and we found out that there are some ordinances that are not relevant already,” Acosta said in a press conference on November.
She said the effort to repeal and revise old ordinances form part of the plan to update local laws published in the Code of Ordinances and include more recent ones in it.
“Several ordinances need to be reviewed so that the second edition of the Code of Ordinances will be updated and those that are not relevant already will be repealed,” she said.
The Code of Ordinances of Davao City contains all general and special ordinances of the city from 1937 until its publication in 2009, when President Rodrigo Duterte was still the Mayor of Davao. (davaotoday.com)
It’s no surprise that Congress decided to extend martial law in Mindanao given the supermajority held by the Duterte administration there, but only the naïve and their fanatically loyal followers would set aside the ramifications of President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision.
Simply and bluntly put, the Congress approval will be used as precedent by this administration to justify expanding the coverage of martial law to other parts of the country all the way to the seat of power in Manila.
What made it more sinister was Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque’s statement that the government could take over media outlets in Mindanao under martial law if it deems it necessary to preserve the peace and public safety.
But Roque, ever the lawyer, said any takeover of media outlets or specifically any abrogation of freedom of expression — of which an unfettered, uncensored mainstream media is one of its key cornerstones — should be reviewed under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as mandated by the United Nations (UN).
Given this administration’s propensity for making surprise announcements, however, and President Duterte’s disdain and adamant stance against those critical of his policies and administration, it is unlikely that he will respect and abide by any international or national covenants that would uphold such rights including freedom of expression.
The President’s palusot or alibi stems from the actual experience and accounts of those in Mindanao who had spent fewer than seven months living under his administration’s version of martial law. The general consensus, despite some vocal protests from militants, rights groups and
administration critics was that basic rights were respected, movement and freedom of expression were not curtailed, and life goes on despite the specter of martial law hovering over them.
Even with that general assessment, however, there is still valid cause and even fears that this year’s imposition of martial law is but a way for the administration to condition public sentiment into thinking that martial law isn’t all it’s cracked up to be by the opposition and rights advocates and that it is actually good.
Which is not only wrong but downright dangerous. In an effort to further secure public acceptance for martial law in Mindanao, the President’s people are taking pains to explain that freedom of expression will not be curtailed — only limited — during combat operations.
National Security Advisor Hermogenes Esperon said as much, clarifying that broadcasts during operations are restricted and that there won’t be any takeover of media. And Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra said any suppression of public assemblies, warrantless arrests and takeover of local media outlets can be done under martial law “hypothetically speaking.”
Despite Senator Franklin Drilon’s point that the Bill of Rights continue to operate even under martial law — and he voted against martial law extension in Mindanao — it won’t ease the anxieties of people not only in Mindanao but especially those in the Visayas and Luzon of the administration pulling a fast one and declaring martial law nationwide.
With President Duterte’s statement that “all options are on the table” and his previous warning to critics that he doesn’t need Congress to declare martial law, all that’s stopping him now from doing so is the military whose top leaders are said to be against it.
But that’s hardly a comfort, and the public needs to shake off its apathy and not only take notice but register its strong opposition to any plans to declare martial law over the rest of the country.
MANILA – A former government peace negotiator fears the government will declare a nationwide and indefinite martial law after Congress, voting 240-27, granted a 1-year extension of martial rule in Mindanao.
Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said anyone can be a suspect now that President Rodrigo Duterte has included in martial law’s targets not only communist rebels but also their supporters and coddlers.
“It’s really, really a very wide net. ‘Armed lawless groups’ have now been included. You have the so-called communist terrorists,” Coronel-Ferrer told ANC Thursday.
“Anybody can be accused now of being a sympathizer by just being on the same position on certain issues. Because alignments can really vary according to issues,” she added.
Coronel-Ferrer, who led peace talks with Moro rebels in the Aquino administration, also said a nationwide martial law is a possibility, considering that the communist rebels are operating nationwide.
Even Duterte’s vow to eradicate these threats in one year raises fears of an indefinite martial law, she said, considering the supposed to be 6-month war on drugs has also been extended.
“That’s really raising the bar of expectations very high. It’s like the war against drugs. That raises the specter of the indefinite state of martial law in Mindanao,” she said.
“The fact that the coverage has been expanded to cover the New People’s Army — and we know they operate nationwide — even the specter of a nationwide martial law [is] being justified,” she added.
Coronel-Ferrer laments that theses issues, which were raised during the deliberations in Congress on Wednesday, were not thoroughly discussed and considered by the lawmakers.
She believes martial law is not the cure-all solution to the peace problem in Mindanao and that the President should push for civilian leadership over military rule.
Tax reform measure to generate P130 B to fund infra, other projects
Published
By Ben Rosario and Vanne Elaine Terrazola
The proposed Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN), the first of four tax measures sought by President Duterte, is expected to go full steam in creating a more just, simple, and effective system of tax collection once it is signed into law after both houses of Congress ratified it late Wednesday night.
Under the TRAIN, the rich will have a bigger tax contribution and the poor benefitting more from the government’s programs and services.
The measure, once signed into law, is expected to generate P130 billion, which will fund the Duterte administration’s “Build Build Build” program, construction of public school facilities, and potable drinking water supply in public places, among others.
Key provisions
The TRAIN proposes to exempt from income tax persons who receive P250,000 earnings in a taxable year. It also raised to P90,000 the tax exemption for 13th month pay and other bonuses received by salaried workers.
Small businesses with total annual sales of P3 million and below will be exempted from paying value-added tax.
However, in order to raise foregone revenues due to the tax benefits, government pursued the TRAIN that would more than cover what will be lost in tax earnings.
House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas said that among the other provisions harmonized by the Bicameral panel are the following:
Doubling the excise tax rates of all non-metallic minerals and quarry resources, and all metallic minerals including copper, gold and chromite;
Tax of four percent for automobiles with a net manufacturer;s price of up to P600,000. Ten percent for over P600,000 to P1 million; 20 percent for over P1 million to P4 milionnad 50 percent for over P4 million;
Socialized housing tax exemptions will kept for three years then expansion of tax privilege as sought by Senate will be implemented then;
By 2018, a tax of P2.50 per liter of diesel fuel, P7 per liter of regular and unleaded premium gasoline, and P1 per kilogram of liquefied petroleum gas.
“Invasive” cosmetic procedures, surgeries, and body enhancements directed solely towards improving, altering, or enhancing the patient’s appearance will be levied with five percent excise tax.
Reduced and simplified donor’s tax to a flat tax rate of 6 percent on net donations for gifts exceeding P250,000 regardless of relationship between donor and recipient.
Prevailing documentary stamp tax rates on documents, instruments, loan agreements and papers such as bank checks will be doubled from P1.50 to P3.
House, Senate voting
At the House of Representatives, TRAIN was ratified despite strong objections over quorum.
On a quick “ayes” and “nays” vote, Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu declared that there was unanimous approval of the Bicaneral Conference Committee report on the TRAIN at past 10 p.m., with only a handful congressmen present.
ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, a senior member of the Makabayan bloc that recently severed ties with the Duterte administration, quickly rose to object to the motion to ratify the harmonized version of the TRAIN due to lack of “warm bodies” at the plenary.
Unable to stop the ratification, Tinio said the Makabayan bloc will question it before the Supreme Court.
“Since there was no quorum and no actual vote was taken, the alleged ratification is clearly invalid,” he stated.
Interviewed by reporters, Tinio said the plenary proceeding was a “total farce and travesty of the so-called representative democracy.”
He pointed out that there were not even 30 congressmen present when the TRAIN bill was ratified.
“Nasa Christmas party ng PDP-Laban sa Sofitel ang karamihan, kasama mismo si Duterte. GanyansaKongreso –“may boto kahit walang tao, pagpa-party sa five-star hotel habang nag papataw ng pahirap sa mga buwis sa mamamayan (Most were at the PDP-Laban Christmas party in the company of Duterte. That’s how it is in Congress, they vote even without members who were partying in a five-star hotel as they impose new taxes that would burden the people),” Tinio lamented.
Albay Rep. EdcelLagman, head of the Magnificent Seven minority group, backed Tinio’s protest, saying that the objection on quorum should have been heeded by Abu since this takes precedence over all other issues on the floor.
At the Senate, senator voted 16-4 to ratify the proposed TRAIN which aims to produce more revenues for the government by raising excise taxes on fuel, sugar-sweetened beverages, and automobile, among others.
Of the 20 senators present, Senators Panfilo Lacson, Riza Hontiveros, Antonio Trillanes IV, and Bam Aquino opposed the approval of the TRAIN.
Those who voted in favor of the tax reform measure were Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and Senators Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay, Franklin Drilon, JV Ejercito, Francis Escudero, Sherwin Gatchalian, Richard Gordon, Gringo Honasan, Loren Legarda, Grace Poe, Ralph Recto, Vicente Sotto, Joel Villanueva, Cynthia Villar, and Miguel Zubiri.
Senators resorted to nominal voting after objections were raised by some of them.
Angara, chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said the approval of TRAIN “would be the best gift that the government can give to Filipinos for Christmas.”
The ratified TRAIN, Angara said, contains provisions that ensures “further reduced” income tax rates. It also increases the take-home pay of minimum to middle-wage earners and raises the tax exemption for 13th-month pay and other bonuses.
Angara said that milk and three-in-one coffee will remain exempted from sweetened beverage tax, which levies a P6-per-liter excise tax for drinks using local sweeteners and P12-per-liter for beverages using high-fructose corn syrup.
Gordon noted TRAIN failed to justify how the profits will benefit the military. He, however, later voted “yes”after he was assured that 13 percent of the earnings will fund the needs of the soldiers, such as additional equipment.
Aquino, in explaining his vote, said the increase in excise taxes would burden consumers as prices of goods would be affected
Coal tax
Delay in the submission of the bicameral report was blamed on a deadlock between senators and congressmen in connection with the coal tax issue.
Deputy Speaker and Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo said a senator has proposed the repeal of a law exempting local coal from taxes but did never get off.
“It was clear to us that any repeal of an industry incentive is better taken up in Package 2 of the TRAIN,” Quimbo said.
Quimbo, former chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said the House contingent merely agreed to allow the removal of tax exemption for locally produced coal by imposing excise tax on all similar products, whether local or imported.
“Coal will not be exempted. It will be subjected to a new excise tax that is 500 percent higher than before the TRAIN,” he added.
The Senate version of the bill provides for the imposition of P300 excise tax on coal, up from P2 per metric ton.
The two panels agreed to a compromise that would impose excise tax of P50 per metric ton in the first year of implementation; P100 in the second year; and, P150 in the third and succeeding years.
Under Presidential Decree No. 972, the current law in place, local coals are exempt from any form of tax, including excise tax, value-added tax, and customs duties.
Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, who represented the House contingent in the Bicameral panel, said the House representatives have maintained a rejection of any hike on taxes imposed on coal.
Disgusted that the Bicam committee finally agreed to cut the proposed P300 excise tax imposition by 50 percent, Suarez did not sign the report, dramatizing an apparent protest.
Senators have reportedly raised an issue over the alleged “smuggling” into the bicameral report of a provision that exempted local coal distributors from taxes.
A Dutch national and four other persons were arrested, and several firearms and ammunition were confiscated in nearly two hours of separate police operations on Wednesday in San Francisco town in Camotes Islands in northern Cebu.
Niklaas Vondeling, 60, a Dutch national who is staying in Barangay Union, was arrested by a joint police team led by Chief Insp. Hector Amancia of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Mandaue City, said Senior Inspector Edwin Lacostales, CIDG-7 public information officer in a press briefing on Thursday.
Lacostales said the CIDG team served a search warrant against Vondeling at 10:25 a.m. on Wednesday.
Police confiscated from Vondeling a shotgun, a 9 mm pistol, 2 .45 caliber pistols, and ammunition for these firearms.
At 10:30 a.m., another CIDG-7 led team also served a search warrant against Benjie Castardo, 38, of Barangay Consuelo.
Castardo was arrested after the police team found and confiscated in Castardo’s house a .45 caliber pistol and ammunition.
At about the same time in the same barangay, police also arrested Jimmy Ibot, 46, after they found 2 .45 caliber pistols and ammunition in his house.
At 11:40 a.m. in Barangay Cagcagan, police arrested Allan Otadoy, 46, after they found a .45 caliber pistol and ammunition inside his house.
At 11:45 a.m. in Barangay Union, police also arrested Hanzel Benzig, 40, after a search in his house yielded a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver and ammunition inside his house.
Lacostales said Vondeling and the four other arrested persons were detained at the CIDG-7 office in Cebu City pending the filing of charges.
Lacostales said the separate operations were conducted as part of their Operation Paglalansag Omega, an operation against loose firearms.
