RAILWAY.Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Trenas welcomes the revival of the railway system but proposed that it should be implemented outside of the city. In a press conference on Monday (Aug. 1, 2022), he said over 1,000 households need to be relocated for the project.(Photo courtesy of Iloilo City Government FB page) ILOILO CITY -The Iloilo City government welcomed the proposed revival of the Panay Railway but recommended for its establishment outside of the metropolis. "I believe that railway will help in the transportation and movement of goods and persons but my worry is the families that are here in the city," said Mayor Jerry P. Trenas in a press conference on Monday. Based on the previous count of Iloilo City Urban Poor Affairs Office (ICUPAO) head Roy Firmeza, he said there are around 1,000 to 1,500 houses that need to be relocated should the project pushes through. The mayor said those that will be affected are not informal settlers but mostly renting. Although relocating
DOLE Policy and Program Development Division chief Nicanor Bon (Screengrab from Laging Handa briefing) MANILA - Some 50,000 establishments in the country have complied with the grant of holiday pay to their workers in the first nine months of this year, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on Thursday. "So, our compliance rate, as far as holiday pay is concerned is high, 97 percent," Nicanor Bon, chief of the DOLE's Policy and Program Development Division, said in a Laging Handa briefing. Meanwhile, he said over 1,400 firms failed to comply with the measure. "Those who failed to comply are at 1,472. So, our data so far on violations on the payment of holiday pay is low," he said. Bon, however, said businesses that fully stopped operations during the community quarantine are exempted from paying holiday pay. He meanwhile, said the public may report to the DOLE offices in their region or they may call the DOLE Hotline 1349, to report establishments t