 |
||
| 12 APRIL 2008 | . | |
|
|
||
| 12 APRIL 2008 | . | |
|
|
| Statement of Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye: From Usec Edwin Enrile in Geneva |
|
Glad to report that the presentation of the Philippine delegation led by
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita this Friday afternoon before the UN Human
Rights Council which has pioneered a universal periodic review of the human
rights situation of all 192 member countries was quite successful. The Philippines was praised by most member countries for having given a comprehensive and candid picture of the human rights situation in the country. In its presentation, the delegation highlighted our achievements in the field of human rights and the reforms and measures we continue to pursue, even as we also acknowledged the challenges our country face, and we welcomed the recommendations and all forms of cooperation from the international community. Our presentation touched on the whole spectrum of human rights issues, violence against women and children, children in conflict with the law and in detention, human rights education, poverty, corruption, unexplained killings, civil and political rights, economic social and cultural rights, rights of migrant workers, disabled persons, and indigenous peoples, our accession to human rights treaties and protocols. After the presentation, the delegation was openly applauded by the human rights council; an applause is not quite usual for such presentations. |
|
|
| PGMA to witness the initial unloading of plentiful summer rice harvest of Mindoro |
|
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will witness the unloading of plentiful
Mindoro summer rice harvest initially from five trucks (or about 2,500
sacks) at the port of Batangas City on Monday, April 14. The five truckloads of commercial rice represent a portion of the second harvest ("palagad") output from April to May of the rice-producing island of Mindoro, considered as the rice granary of southern Luzon. The start of the second harvest season in many rice producing areas is expected to beef up the the country's rice inventory. Earlier, the President directed the National Food Authority (NFA) to procure palay from farmers to beef up its rice inventory that would include eventually the expected entry within the next three months of some 750,000 metric tons of rice from the United States and Vietnam. NFA Batangas provincial manager Alejo Tamayo said Oriental Mindoro produces five million sacks (250 million kilos) of rice annually including those coming from Mindoro Occidental. At present, there are 31 Roll-On Roll-Off (RORO) ferry trips daily between Batangas and Calapan City of Montenegro Shipping Lines and Starlite Ferry, aside from the four RORO trips from Abra de Ilog and one from San Jose in Mindoro Occidental that transport rice and other agricultural products to neighboring provinces. Alejo said Mindoro supplies the rice requirement of Metro Manila, Batangas, Laguna, Rizal, Quezon and even of Panay Island through the RORO ferry system between Roxas, Oriental Mindoro and Caticlan, Aklan. To ensure supply and stable prices of rice, the President has ordered decisive measures against rice hoarders, and people engage in the diversion of NFA rice to the commercial market, rehabilitation and construction of irrigation facilities and farm-to-market roads, investing in planting, agricultural modernization, and provision of rice subsidies for the poor. The President said her administration's near-term objective is focused on putting food on every table as the current global rise in the prices of basic commodities like fuel and rice is putting a strain on all hardworking Filipinos, especially the very poor. |
|
|
| PGMA’s 11,000 “Botika ng Brgy” stores serve 25 M Filipinos with half-priced medicine |
|
The Botika ng Barangay (BnB) that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo launched
in 2003 to cut medicine prices in half for the Philippines’ poorest of the
poor has paid off. Funded with close to half a billion pesos over the past five years, medicine prices in BnB’s have not only been cut in half – they have nosedived by as much as 62 percent compared to branded-medicine prices for the 25 million Filipinos now patronizing the grassroots-level “botikas.” Thus reported President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday (Friday, April 11) when she launched the 11,000th outlet of the now five-year-old BnB at the Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan in Taguig City at 10 a.m. “Ang masa ang pangunahing nakikinabang dito sa mas murang gamot na ipinagbibili. In fact, bagamat ang layunin natin ay 50 percent less than 2001 (price levels), sa katotohanan, ang average reduction ay 62 percent sa mga gamot na binebenta ngayon,” the President enthused. In her speech at the camp of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) where a “bigasan” was also set up beside the 11,000th “botika,” President Arroyo added, thus: “Kalat sa buong Pilipinas ang BnB. Yung 11,000 na BnB ay nagbebenta sa halos 25 million Filipinos, pati sa mga barangay na ginugulo ng mga rebelde meron kayong makikitang Botika ng Barangay.” Also launched yesterday were the country’s 10,996th to 10,999th BnB’s in Rizal, Marinduque, Negros Oriental and Davao City. President Arroyo revealed that the cheaper medicine prices in the BnB’s have been made possible by the country’s “temporary parallel imports” from India, plus “the government’s Botika ng Barangay, such as what we have today, and the Botika ng Bayan na pag-aari naman ng pribadong sector…” The President pointed out that the intervention was resorted to because “20 years later after the Generics Law (that took effect in 1988), let us look at the industry -- 90-plus percent of all medicines are now off-patent, yet 90 percent of all medicines sold are still branded and more expensive than generics.” “Explanation. Sabi nila, ito ang explanation: That the multinational cartel with 70-percent market share, it is said, controls the marketing channels. Thus, the typical consumer is unaware that the doctor can, and if asked by the patient, will prescribe cheaper generics that are available in the market, cheaper but at the same quality because in the region, the high quality of Philippine-manufactured pharmaceuticals is acknowledged.” “Kasi maraming gamot na fraction talaga lang ng gamot sa labas… Kaya kung ina-average out niyo, hindi lang 50-percent reduction, it is 62-percent reduction of the medicines carried in the Botika ng Barangay. “And the mandate (of the BnB) is to carry the medicines most commonly purchased by the poor. Iyan ang mandate,” stressed the President who revealed that her administration has poured close to P500 million to ensure affordable medicine supply for the BnB’s: “Para maglagay nitong Botika ng Barangay, para magbenta ng kalahating presyong gamut, halos kalahating bilyon piso ang ipinuhunan ng gobyerno sa mga gamot na ibinebenta sa mga BnB at mga Botika ng Bayan... “…Bibigyan ng preyoridad ang mga BnB sa mga pinakamahihirap na lugar upang ang mga dukha ang unang makikinabang. Halimbawa, pinakamahirap na bayan sa buong Pilipinas ay Tawi-Tawi, so dapat magtatayo tayo doon ng maraming Botika ng Barangay.” The President further revealed that next in the pipeline to really bring cheap but quality medicine to the masses is the setting up of “Botika ng Parokya” starting next month. |
|
|
| PGMA inaugurates Monday unique Cancer Institute in Batangas |
|
There is a new hope for patients who suffer from cancer and other deadly
ailments with the establishment of a first-of-its-kind medical facility in
Sto. Tomas, Batangas. The hospital offers a holistic approach to medical
problems through the integration of advanced medical treatment with
complementary healing therapies. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is going to inaugurate this medical institute on Monday morning in Sto. Tomas. The cancer institute features a modern Image-Guided Radiation Therapy, a first of its kind in the Philippines and a Chemotherapy Section set amidst a healing garden to ensure a holistic environment for patients. The Cancer Institute is an expansion project of the St. Frances Cabrini Medical Center (SFCMC), one of the 35 tertiary hospitals servicing the CALABARZON area. Included in the medical center's expansion program is the construction of a hospital building to increase its present 100-bed capacity to 200. An apartelle will also be made available for patients from other provinces who need to stay a week or two to complete their treatment. The medical center is the Philippines' first proclaimed Medical Tourism Special Economic Zone. Established in 1998 to cater to the 8,000 employees of its affiliate company, the Yazaki-Torres Manufacturing, Inc., the medical center, at present, has become the preferred health services provider of over 220 companies in nearby industrial parks. After the inauguration, the President is scheduled to tour the expansion facilities of the Yazaki-Torres Manufacturing, Inc. plant in nearby Calamba, Laguna. A joint venture of the Yazaki Corporation and industrialist Feliciano Torres, the company is the biggest producer of automotive wiring harness in the Philippines and has been exporting its products to Japan, Europe and the United States. Now employing 11,000 people, the company has been the Philippines’ biggest exporter of automotive products over the last 15 years. With an annual revenue of P13 billion, the company produces exports of $290 million a year, generating a net foreign exchange earnings of $60 million annually. The first Far East company awarded with its QS 9000 Certification, the Yazaki-Torres manufacturing company has become an industry benchmark in quality and productivity and a showcase among joint venture firms in the government's campaign to attract foreign investors. |
|
|
| PGMA to release P290-M to complete “monument to corruption” bridge in Abra |
|
The upland Cordillera province of Abra – the 10th poorest country in the
Philippines – got an unexpected P290-million bonus from President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo when the Chief Executive flew to this province Thursday
(April 10) to address the peace assembly in the capital town of Bangued. In her speech at the Provincial Capitol’s social hall where the peace assembly was held, the President announced that she had instructed the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to complete the half-finished bridge that has been towering for more than a decade over banca-riding commuters crossing the Manabo River in hinterland Manabo, Abra. “A few days ago, and I'm so glad that (DPWH Secretary) Jun Ebdane is here, because I instructed Secretary Ebdane to complete the long-unfinished Manabo Bridge, a monument to corruption…” the President revealed to the audience’s applause. The President continued: “A monument to corruption where you spent on infrastructure, and then you'll just leave it alone, no matter what, you know, never mind what happens.” The President then revealed that she had earlier resolved to do something about the bridge that looks like a suspended rainbow of concrete over the Manabo River that residents cross with bancas to this day. “(Construction started) many administrations ago, standing half-built. I've been looking at that since I was a senator and I said, someday, when, you know, when I started to think of running for President, I said, that's one of the things that we have to work on. “And Jun Ebdane said it needs 290 million pesos for its completion but we will do it (applause).” The President also assured the participants to the peace assembly that the Arroyo administration “would want to bring a lot of development projects” to Abra. Also in the peace assembly in Bangued were Philippine National Police chief Avelino Razon, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral, and Peace Process Adviser Jesus Dureza, among others. |
|
|
| RP report to UN Human Rights Council in Geneva applauded |
|
The “candid and comprehensive” presentation by Executive Secretary Eduardo
Ermita about the Philippines’ human rights situation and the Arroyo
administration’s interventions to stem human rights violations has been
applauded by members of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UN-HRC) in
Geneva, Switzerland. This was revealed by Ermita’s deputy, Undersecretary Edwin Enrile, who joined the Philippine delegation to Geneva, and later reported about the success of Ermita’s presentation in an e-mail to Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye. “Glad to report that the presentation of the Philippine delegation led by ES (Executive Secretary Eduardo) Ermita this Friday afternoon (April 10 in Europe) before the UN Human Rights Council which has pioneered a universal periodic review of the human rights situation of all 192 member countries was quite successful.” Undersecretary Enrile further enthused that “the Philippines was praised by most member countries for having given a comprehensive and candid picture of the human rights situation in the country.” “In its presentation, the delegation highlighted our (Philippine) achievements in the field of human rights and the reforms and measures we continue to pursue, even as we also acknowledged the challenges our country face… and we welcomed the recommendations and all forms of cooperation from the international community.” Ermita’s deputy said the “candid and comprehensive” Philippine presentation “touched on the whole spectrum of human rights issues -- violence against women and children; children in conflict with the law and in detention; human rights education; poverty; corruption; unexplained killings; civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights; rights of migrant workers, disabled persons, and indigenous peoples; (and) our accession to human rights treaties and protocols.” “After the presentation, the delegation was openly applauded by the (UN) Human Rights Council (where) an applause is not quite usual for such presentations…” Enrile further reported to Press Secretary Bunye. |
|
|
