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| Government efforts vs Trafficking in Persons cited |
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The ninth annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report of the US State
Department has cited the government’s sustained efforts in providing support
services to victims of trafficking in partnership with non-government
organizations (NGO) and other international organizations. The same report, which was released last month, noted the Arroyo administration’s efforts to raise awareness and prevent trafficking in persons, mainly among migrant workers. The Department of Justice, in a report submitted to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said that despite budget constraints, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT)--the body created under R.A. 9208 to oversee the implementation of the law and monitor all anti-trafficking activities--have lined up various activities this year to help curb the menace. Among its priority projects are continuous training for stakeholders, a manual on the law enforcement and prosecution of trafficking in persons cases, implementing rules and regulation (IRR) on organ trafficking, model local ordinance against trafficking in persons, guidelines for the protection of the rights of trafficked children, and women, and manual on the recovery and reintegration of victim-survivors of trafficking. The council will also create a database on trafficking in persons, launch a “We are not for sale” campaign and establish standard operating procedures for task forces against trafficking in persons in international airports. The report pointed out that last year, law enforcement agencies reported 168 trafficking cases to the DOJ, of which 97 prosecutions were initiated, an increase of more than 60 percent over the prior year. The 2009 TIP report, highlights high levels of trafficking for forced labor in many parts of the world and systemic contributing factors to this phenomenon. These include fraudulent recruitment practices and excessive recruiting fees in workers, home countries, the lack of adequate labor protections in both sending and receiving countries and the flawed design of some destination countries. |
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| Palace to support Comelec on poll automation issue |
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Malacanang will support and respect whatever the Commission on Elections (Comelec)
decides in resolving the automation of the 2010 polls, Press Secretary Cerge
Romonde said today. In a media briefing this afternoon, Remonde said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo remains confident in the ability of the Comelec, as an independent Constitutional body, to resolve the current issue on the poll automation. “The Palace will continue to support and respect the actions and decisions of the Comelec. With or without full automation, the elections will push through. And no matter what form it may take, the elections must always be safeguarded by our people, as their birthright in a democracy,” Remonde said. Prior to the briefing, Remonde read the President’s message on the occasion of the Philippine-American Friendship Day tomorrow, July 4. “The ties that bind our nations are strong. They are based on family, a shared history, and a common commitment to democratic values. This is a day that celebrates the special relationship between the Philippines and the United States,” the President said in her statement. Remonde said one of the values that we share with the US is a “fierce commitment to electoral democracy and the institution of suffrage.” “It is a bedrock belief of our people that political leadership is not something that is won by wealth, bequeathed by inheritance, or conferred by regal or religious authority,” Remonde said. In an electoral democracy, Remonde said political leadership must be won in a free and open contest “and protection of the ballot is among the most sacred duties of those who govern us.” Remonde said this is the reason why the President has long been pushing for the automation of the 2010 elections as part of her 10-point agenda. Time and again, Remonde said the government has been stressing there will be elections next year, as he urged the public to support and respect whatever decision the Comelec may take in resolving the poll automation issue. |
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| PGMA in pink of health, says Palace |
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After a self-imposed quarantine and a routine medical check-up upon her
return from Japan, Brazil and Hong Kong Monday night, President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo is back in the swing of things. She was declared in the pink of health by her gynecologist, Maria Theresa Tangkeko-Lopez, following a biopsy for a lump on her breast and discharged from the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Muntinlupa Thursday. Dr. Tangkeko-Lopez said President Arroyo went for her routine yearly gynecological check-up even before she left for her trip last month. Some of the test results which needed further follow-up came out while she was still on her trip. “When she was admitted for quarantine in accordance to the Influenza AH1N1 advisory, biopsies were done which turned out to be normal and she was discharged with a clean bill of health,” Dr. Tangkeko-Lopez said in a medical advisory. The President is now back at work in Malacañang and ready to face her engagements once again, according to Press Secretary Cerge Remonde. She is very healthy and will maintain a very active work pace, an indication that there is nothing wrong with her, Remonde said in reaction to a report that the President had a breast implant. “That report is totally absurd. I stand by our statement that the President checked in at the Asian Medical Center as part of her quarantine and as part of her quarantine, she had the opportunity to undergo her regular ongoing medical check- ups.” As to whether the President will take action against a leak on her medical records, Remonde said: “No harm done. I think the President is very forbearing when it comes to this matter. What is important is she is healthy.” “We can never plug rumors. But the best proof of the pudding is in the eating and you can see how she will be all over the place in the next few days, which is the best proof of her health,” Remonde said. |
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| PGMA cites long standing RP-US friendship |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the Philippines and the United States
share a long-standing friendship based on family, shared history and
commitment to democratic values. The President’s message on the occasion of the Philippine-American Friendship Day tomorrow, July 4, was read today by Press Secretary Cerge Remonde during a media briefing this afternoon in Malacañang. “The ties that bind our nations are strong. They are based on family, a shared history, and a common commitment to democratic values. This is a day that celebrates the special relationship between the Philippines and the United States,” the President said in her statement. Filipinos and Americans have enduring historical, cultural and economic ties personified by the almost three million Filipinos who live in the United States including America’s important role in the history of the Philippines during World War II. After 9/11, these bonds became even stronger when the President committed the Philippines in the fight against global terrorism. In 2008, the United States remains the Philippines’ top trading partner, cornering 14.6 percent of the country’s total trade. Last year, exports to the Unites States totaled $8.207 billion while imports were valued at $7.222 billion, or a trade surplus of $985.84 million. Filipino Americans is the second largest Asian American group in the United States next only to the Chinese community. The US Congress has established two months in celebration of Filipino-American culture in the United States. The Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebrated in May, and the Filipino-American History Month celebrated every October to commemorate the first landing of Filipinos on October 18, 1587 in Morro Bay, California. In the Philippines, the Filipino-American Friendship Day is being commemorated every July 4, to commemorate the liberation of the country by joint Filipino and American forces from the Japanese occupation at the end of World War II. While World War II ended in 15 August 1945, the United States recognized the independence of the Philippines on July 4,1946 upon the signing of the Treaty of General Relations between the US and the Philippines. |
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| Palace to call PASG, OMB officials to a dialogue |
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Malacañang is set to call top officials of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling
Group (PASG) and Optical Media Board to a dialogue over the missing P100
million replicating machines seized in a raid in Quezon City last April. Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said he is calling both PASG Chief Antonio Villar and OMB Chairman Edu Manzano next week to thresh out their differences. Remonde said that since both agencies are both under the Office of the President, it is important to unite them because of their crucial role in the campaign against smuggling, corruption and piracy. He recalled that during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s meeting with Tony Kwok, the former deputy commissioner of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) last week, the latter cited the PASG accomplishments as among the bright points of the administration in the drive against smuggling and corruption. The OMB, on the other hand, has scored a series of successful raids and confiscated multi-million worth of replicating machines used by the syndicates in their illegal activities. |
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| Malacanang clarifies poll automation, No-el issues |
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Malacañang clarified today that it has always been for full automation of
next year’s elections, dismissing claims that it has changed its policy on
account of the recent stalemate between SmartMatic and Total Information
Management. Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said in a briefing today that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has “committed herself long ago to full automation as part of her 10-point agenda.” Remonde noted that when the Palace issued a statement that elections will push through with or without automation, “that does not mean we are changing our policy. We are always for full automation but what we are saying is that the failure to achieve full automation, for whatever reason, should not be a hindrance to the holding of elections.” Remonde said he does not believe the US government is concerned that there will be no elections next year. “I think it was an answer from a question. No-el talks do not come from the government because the government and the President have always confirmed there will be elections,” Remonde said. He called on everyone to support the Comelec in its undertakings and safeguard the results of the election. “In the final analysis, the electoral process belongs to the people and to all of us,” he said. |
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