TRANSITION PLAN. Agriculture Secretary William Dar assures the public that the Department of Agriculture is ready to turn over short-, medium-, and long-term programs and plans to incoming President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. as he leads the agency during the Laging Handa public briefing on Wednesday (June 22, 2022). Dar also said they are confident Marcos will act against those involved in agricultural smuggling. (Screengrab) MANILA - Agriculture Secretary William Dar said Wednesday he is confident President-elect and incoming Agriculture chief Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. will act on agricultural smuggling issues that harm the value of local production. In the Laging Handa public briefing, the outgoing chief said they are intensifying efforts to collect evidence to ensure corrupt personnel are held liable. "Dapat iyon po ang isang pagtuunan po. Yes, malaki po ang tiwala natin (That should be the focus. Yes, we have high trust [on president-elect
(File photo) MANILA - Instead of increasing taxes on mining, President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Monday said he is eyeing the collection of value-added taxes (VAT) from the export of partially-processed ore. "What we would like to do is encourage that the value added [taxes] to the raw ore stay in the Philippines as much as possible. Whether there should be fiscal measures in that regard is something we have not decided on and what the levels that will be. But I think what we are trying to achieve, the desired result for all of this, is instead of exporting raw ore, we export at least partially-processed ore so that may value added that's left in the Philippines," he said in a press briefing in Mandaluyong City. Marcos also emphasized the need to push for "clean mining" in the country, citing its negative environmental impact. "I cannot believe that here in the Philippines we cannot monitor and regulate the mining industry sufficien
(File photo) MANILA - The Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAPI) is in favor of the National Capital Region (NCR) remaining under Alert Level 1 status until June 30. In a televised public briefing, PHAPi president Dr. Jose Rene de Grano said the hospital utilization rate of Covid-19 cases in private hospitals is low. "So, ibig sabihin, we can still admit [patients] at saka very low risk pa rin po tayo sa Covid-19 kasi mainly because ang mga sintomas po ng ating mga new variants siguro ay mas mild rather than the previous variants ano po. So, kaya pa po ng mga hospitals iyan (that means, we can still admit patients and we're still very low risk for Covid-19 mainly because the symptoms of our new variants are milder than previous variants. So, the hospitals can still admit)," he said."Iyon pong pagmi-maintainnatin saAlert Level 1,sa palagay ko po ay okay na iyan(Maintaining the Alert Level 1, I believe, is okay)." However, he said the healthcare
MANILA-Teachers who performed as electoral boards (EBs) and have worked overtime during the May 9 polls are entitled to receive additional honoraria amounting to PHP2,000, an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Friday. Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said the additional payment has already been approved. "We are just determining the precincts where machines malfunctioned and the staff that served there," he said in a Viber message. "It's PHP2,000 across the board." He said they are targeting to start distributing the additional honoraria before May 25. Aside from the EBs, those who will be given additional payment are the support staff and technicians. Garcia said the additional honoraria would be sourced from Comelec's savings. "What is important, all those who worked in the precinct will be getting additional pay," he added. Earlier, Garcia proposed to give extra pay to teachers who have encountered problems with the vote co
MANILA-Teachers who performed as electoral boards (EBs) and have worked overtime during the May 9 polls are entitled to receive additional honoraria amounting to PHP2,000, an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Friday. Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said the additional payment has already been approved. "We are just determining the precincts where machines malfunctioned and the staff that served there," he said in a Viber message. "It's PHP2,000 across the board." He said they are targeting to start distributing the additional honoraria before May 25. Aside from the EBs, those who will be given additional payment are the support staff and technicians. Garcia said the additional honoraria would be sourced from Comelec's savings. "What is important, all those who worked in the precinct will be getting additional pay," he added. Earlier, Garcia proposed to give extra pay to teachers who have encountered problems with the vote co