Category: General

MANILA: The Philippine Army hopes to declare a state of Stable Internal Peace and Security (SIPS) in Panay before this year ends by working on dismantling the two already-weakened guerrilla fronts on the island.

Lt. Col. J-Jay Javines, chief of the 3rd Division Public Affairs Office (DPAO), said the Central Panay and Southern Panay Fronts of the New People’s Army (NPA) no longer have any hold on any of the barangays in these areas after losing their political-military structure in the villages.

‘We already have zero-affected barangays. If we dismantled them by the third quarter, then we will facilitate the declaration of SIPS,’ he said in an interview on Thursday.

Javines said the declaration of SIPS could boost investor confidence.

Aside from having a stable power supply, the business sector looks at security as a parameter when investing.

He said the Feb. 28 encounter with members of the Southern Panay Front, Komiteng Rehiyon Panay in San Joaquin town in Iloilo, was a big blow to the communist group.

The encounter left four members of the communist group dead while one was captured. The group also lost several firearms.

‘They will have difficulty looking for a replacement if they lose their senior officials,’ he said, adding that their operations resulted in the neutralization of their squad leader, finance, and medical officers.

He also credited the support of civilians for providing them with information.

‘The popular support of our civilians is a very important indicator. If we can get information from them, it means they are no longer supporting the armed group,’ he added.

Meanwhile, the bodies of three of the four fatalities during the encounter had already been claimed by their respective families.

Javines said they are still trying to identify the fourth, earlier identified as Patrick Reovoca, because his family denied that it was him.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) on Friday assured that the agency would have significant accomplishments that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. could report to the public in his upcoming State of the Nation Address (SONA).

During the groundbreaking ceremonies of the Philippine Cancer Center, PhilHealth president Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said several reforms have been implemented in the agency that will benefit its members and address the healthcare of all Filipinos.

“I’ve assured the First Lady and the President just last week, that in the upcoming SONA, a lot of accomplishments will come from PhilHealth and the Department of Health,’ he added.

Among the reforms, he said, is the agency’s increased coverage for cancer patients, particularly the increased ‘Z-benefit’ package for breast cancer patients from PHP100,000 to PHP1. 4 million.

Ledesma said once the Philippine Cancer Center becomes operational, PhilHealth will immediately work for its inclusion in its list of contracted partn
ers so that ‘Filipinos may avail of these life-saving packages.’

‘Let me assure you that PhilHealth will maintain its commitment to battle cancer at every step. We are one with the Philippine Cancer Center’s mission of bringing hope to every Filipino in the fight against cancer,’ he said.

The allocation for the center’s fixed assets and critical services was made through the House Committee on Appropriations as part of the mandate of Republic Act (RA) No. 11215 and the Resource Stratified Framework set by the National Integrated Cancer Control Council.

Ledesma also thanked Speaker Martin Romualdez, who led the groundbreaking event, for giving the full support of the House of Representatives in PhilHealth’s endeavor to provide more services to Filipinos.

‘I’d like to think we were able to move forward substantially, and with the 24/7 never-ending support and help of our dear Speaker Martin Romualdez, we continue to do so,” he said.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: A partnership expansion with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for rice intervention convergence may be feasible by the second half of the year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Friday.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. shared the DA proposal to utilize IRRI’s intervention and technologies in select clusters of rice farmlands.

‘Together with farmers, DA and its operating units like PhilRice (Philippine Rice Institute), NIA (National Irrigation Administration), the National Rice Program, LGUs (local government units), and IRRI, we will showcase convergence of interventions and services like mechanization and digitalization in these clustered farms,” he said in a news release.

“This, basically, will be commercial-scale testing. If you agree with that concept, we will find the legal framework to do it, and fund it,’ he added.

The DA chief said such an approach will help the administration achieve its rice self-sufficiency targets by 2028.

‘Let us continue to wor
k together on technology scaling, utilization, and deployment, as well as in setting priority research-for-development projects,’ Laurel said.

IRRI Board of Trustees Chairperson Cao Duc Phat expressed willingness to actualize such a partnership expansion.

‘The Philippines can be the model to the rest of the world to show how to bring these packages of technologies to be useful to the environment, to the farmers, and the people generally. So we are very happy to do that,’ he said.

The DA and IRRI earlier agreed to scale up research in rice production in the country, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Feb. 13.

Under the five-year term MOU, both agencies will continue collaborative activities and implement rice-based research for development.

The IRRI is an independent, non-profit, research and educational institute, which aims to reduce poverty and hunger through science.

Source: Philippines News Agency

Hanoi: Vietnam’s telecom companies on March 7 entered a bidding race over the rights to develop and exploit the country’s 5G 2500-2600 MHz band for the next 15 years.

The band, officially designated as B1 during the bidding, had a starting price of 3.9 trillion VND (158 million USD).

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung said the bidding is a historic day for the telecom sector and the commercialisation of 5G in Vietnam.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said the ministry’s 5G policy remained open, allowing all eligible enterprises to participate in the auction, not just mobile network providers offering new 5G services. In the event a business wins a bid for the 5G frequency, it will subsequently be granted a licence to provide mobile services.

While any company could participate in the 5G frequency auction, industry experts said it would be extremely challenging for new players to enter the 5G game, and it was almost a given th
at the winners would be among the existing mobile service providers.

It is expected that new players must invest up to 1 billion USD in network infrastructure to make use of 5G technologies. It is said to be very unlikely as the country’s mobile market has long reached saturation. In addition, voice calls and SMSs, traditionally strong sources of income for telecom companies, have been on the decline.

In recent years, telecom companies have reported dwindling profits as the market sees increasingly fierce competition, which has discouraged new players from joining.

In an earlier interview with the press, Hung said the MIC had picked this year to roll out the commercialisation of 5G nationwide. He stressed the importance of 5G, citing China Mobile as a successful example of an early adopter of the technology. The group, after investing nearly 4 billion USD in developing 5G and creating more than 30,000 industrial-use applications, had reported over 10 per cent growth in annual revenue.

For example, factory
workers in China had started using 5G-enabled cameras equipped with SIM cards to capture images of standard circuit boards, which were then sent to data centres for AI analysis to identify faulty components. This simple and elegant solution had both enhanced efficiency and contributed to improved accuracy and productivity.

Hung said while a 10% growth rate in revenue could not be accomplished without 5G, the technology must be developed into an ecosystem to realise its full potential.

According to the MIC, Vietnam has set a target to provide 5G coverage to 99% of the country’s residents by the year 2025 at 100 Mbps speed.

Representatives from Ericsson Vietnam said 5G could be seen as a complete digital infrastructure, which could replace physical infrastructure in the future. 5G digital infrastructure not only could connect people to people, but also people to machines, and machines to machines.

Nguyen Van Son, Director of Viettel Telecom’s Mobile Centre, said that while there was a high demand for 5G amo
ng the population, the number of devices supporting 5G still remained low, accounting for only 17-20%. He said that given the circumstances, Viettel had plans to deploy 5G in areas with high demand and a high percentage of 5G-compatible phones, which includes industrial zones, export processing zones and innovation centres.

Two other 5G bands, 3700-3800 MHz (C2) and 3800-3900 MHz (C3), both with a starting price of 1.89 trillion VND are next to go up for auction on March 14 and March 19./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

MANILA: Over 1 million Filipinos have already applied to become registered voters for the May 2025 National and Local Elections (NLE) barely a month after registrations started.

Latest data from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) revealed that 1,027,572 individuals have submitted their applications from Feb. 12 to March 6.

The highest number of applicants was recorded in Calabarzon (Region 4-A) with 187,372, followed by National Capital Region with 156,990; Central Luzon (Region 3) with 111,681; Central Visayas (Region 7) with 79,552; and Davao Region (Region 11) with 63,998.

The regions with the lowest number of registrants are the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) with 11,403; Mimaropa (Region 4-B) with 20,554; and Caraga (Region 13) with 28,070.

The poll body projected that some 3 million individuals will apply to become registered voters during the seven-month voter registration period that will end on Sept. 30, 2024.

Meanwhile, Comelec chairman George Garcia said they will only hold a plebis
cite for the creation or division of municipalities until July this year, as they continue to prepare for the May 2025 polls.

‘Ibig sabihin kung hindi aabot at hindi magiging mabilis ang proseso, hindi na po namin makakayang magdaos ng isang plebesito lampas ng July ng 2024 (It means that if the process is not expedited, we will not be able to hold plebiscites beyond July 2024),’ he said in an interview.

‘Ang Comelec ay nasa kainitan at taas ng paghahanda namin para sa 2025 national and local polls, at may posibilidad, base sa mga ugong-ugong, na plebisito para sa pagbabago ng Saligang Batas (The Comelec is in the midst of preparation for the 2025 national and local polls, and there is the possibility, based on reports, of a plebiscite for the amendment of the Constitution),’ Garcia added.

Incidentally, the Comelec will be holding a plebiscite on Saturday in Marawi City for the proposed creation of three additional barangays.

Registered voters numbering to 2,265 in Barangays Patani, Kilala and Dulay Prope
r will be voting if they are in favor or not of creating Barangays Sultan Corobong, Sultan Panoroganan, and Angoyao.

The voting period will be from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. to be held in eight clustered precincts in three voting centers.

After the end of voting hours, the counting of votes shall immediately commence, to be followed by the canvassing of plebiscite returns and the proclamation of the result.

Under the proposal, Barangay Sultan Corobong is to be taken from the mother Barangay of Dulay Proper; Barangay Sultan Panoroganan from the mother Barangay of Kilala; and Barangay Angoyao from the mother Barangay of Patani.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: US President Joe Biden said he is determined not to use US troops in Ukraine in his State of the Union address.

“They are not asking for American soldiers. In fact, there are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine. And I am determined to keep it that way,” he said.

The US President also argued that Kiev could win the conflict with Moscow if the United States “stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself”.

In this regard, Biden once again called on the US Congress to support the decision to allocate a new aid package to Ukraine.

Joe Biden claimed that Ukraine can stop Russia thanks to US arms supplies.

“What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time. Overseas, (Vladimir) Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond. If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not. But Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukra
ine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself,” he said.

Source: Philippines News Agency