– Police arrested a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) employee for reportedly extorting money from a business establishment during an entrapment last Feb. 14.

In a statement on Monday, BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said the agency received reports of a certain individual that was repeatedly extorting money from a business establishment selling kid’s bikes, under the guise of an official BIR Tax Compliance Verification Drive.

The BIR, in coordination with barangay officials and the Philippine National Police, caught the person in an operation and discovered that he is an employee of the bureau. It was not, however, his official function to be in the taxpayer’s place of business or vicinity.

‘All BIR officials conducting enforcement activities must be armed with the proper authority either a Letter of Authority or Mission Order. Taxpayers can always ask and verify the authority by which a BIR employee is visiting their office or business,” Lumagui said.

The suspect is facing charges for criminal cases
of robbery (extortion), grave coercion and usurpation of official function or authority, violations of Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

‘Pinangako ko ang (I vowed for the) integrity and professionalism of the institution and employees. Kaya hindi natin palalagpasin ang mga ganitong gawain. Walang lugar sa bagong BIR ang mga ganitong empleyado (We will not tolerate these kind of activities. Such employees have no place in the new BIR),” Lumagui said.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) will release next week the third set of guidelines for the deployment of Filipino seasonal workers to Korea.

In a press briefing on Monday, DMW officer-in-charge Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac said they are currently working with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of Justice (DOJ), concerned local government units (LGUs) in the country, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Philippine Embassy in Seoul, the Korean embassy in the Philippines and the Korean Ministry of Justice to improve policies.

Citing DMW data, Cacdac said there are about 3,353 Filipino seasonal workers in South Korea as of December 2023 who are employed under the Seasonal Worker Program (SWP), which is a clause under the sisterhood agrements between certain local government units of the two countries.

The SWP allows short-term employment of foreign agricultural workers in South Korea to address labor shortages during the peak planting and harve
sting seasons. It is managed by the Korean Ministry of Justice and the Korean Immigration Service.

However, since deployment of workers started in 2022, Cacdac said the Migrant Workers Office in Seoul has received several complaints from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) regarding questionable deduction in wages and involvement of brokers who collect exorbitant fees in hiring OFWs.

‘Around 150 or so are the registered complaints by our Migrant Workers Office in Seoul and there are also five documented cases of physical abuse, five medical cases, and four deaths in the course of two years,’ he said.

Cacdac said ‘while we recognize authorities of LGUs to enter into sisterhood agreements, there is unequivocal authority of DMW to step in and regulate (the hiring) for better protection of workers.’

‘It is embodied in our charter and our mandate. It’s embodied in the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act, (and is) embodied in the Constitution which affords protection to labor especially overseas workers,’ h
e added.

On Jan. 11, DMW issued its Advisory 1, putting a moratorium on the deployment of seasonal workers to Korea for a temporary period of time.

A related advisory was also issued establishing a process for interim pipeline processing of Filipinos bound for South Korea under SWP, underscoring the need for adequate welfare and monitoring systems to better the welfare of the OFWs.

Source: Philippines News Agency

The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday underscored the need to boost the production and exportation of the local seaweed.

In a news release, DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the country has the potential to regain its global top spot in terms of seaweed exportation, just like in the 1990s.

‘Indonesia already surpassed our production…(but) we still have (an) unutilized area of 85,000 hectares. Until we reach that, we shouldn’t stop. If possible, we should accelerate the industry’s area expansion,’ he said.

According to the DA, Indonesia currently produces five times more than the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Tiu Laurel said local harvest could generate as much as PHP550 million per 10,000 tons of dried seaweed each year.

He, however, noted the industry leaders’ concerns, including the lack of seedlings, logistical issues, and high power cost, among others.

The country’s seaweed processing facilities are also in Cebu and Manila even though most production comes from Mindanao.

To resolve these
, Tiu Laurel said the industry must be supported with bigger tissue culture laboratories, provision of training to more technicians, and securing additional ports and power plants in the country.

He said there is also the need to drop logistics costs.

‘There are a lot of dry containers in Zamboanga. I think we can solve the logistics issue there if we coordinate with other industries. It’s a matter of convergence,’ Tiu Laurel said.

To date, local farmers can generate 70,000 metric tons of seaweed annually.

In 2022, the country generated USD350 million or around PHP19.6 billion worth of export sales for seaweed, much higher than the pandemic export sales of USD250 million or PHP13.99 billion.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: House leaders on Monday filed a resolution seeking to amend certain economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr., Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, and Deputy Majority Leader David Suarez filed Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 7, which proposes economic Charter amendments similar to Senate’s RBH6, particularly Articles XII (National Economy and Patrimony), XIV (Education, Science, Technology, Arts, Culture, and Sports), and XVI (General Provisions).

Gonzales noted that the proposed changes would address restrictions on foreign ownership of public utilities, educational institutions, and advertising industries.

“Our RBH proposals are in toto to the Senate RBH. Parehong pareho po. Kailangan na rin namin pag-usapan ang mga proposed amendments at sabayan ang Senado para mapabilis ang proseso lalo na ang target ng Senado sabi ni Senate President Migs [Juan Miguel Zubiri] ay matatapos nila bago mag Holy Week (It is very similar. We need to start our own delibe
rations on the proposed amendments to keep up with the Senate and speed up the process, especially with Senate President Migs’ target deadline [to pass RBH6] before the Holy week recess),” Gonzales said.

Gonzales said the proposal leaves to Congress the discretion to adjust the foreign ownership percentage with the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law”.

“It will give Congress the discretion to adjust the percentage of ownership of Franchises, Educational Institutions and Advertising Industries. Pwede irelax o pwede din restrict (We could either relax or restrict),” he said.

Both resolutions call for a constitutional assembly as a mode for amending the Charter by restating the constitutional provision that Congress may propose amendments “upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members”.

Gonzales said President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and congressional leaders–Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senate President Zubiri–have agreed that certain economic provisions in the Constitution need to be relaxed.

Gon
zales further cited the President as saying that the 1987 Constitution “was not written for a globalized world”, emphasizing the need to amend it to boost the Philippine economy and attract more foreign investments.

More agile Philippine economy

In a press briefing, House Assistant Majority Leader and Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Mikaela Suansing said one of the key reasons for amending the Constitution’s economic provisions is to enhance the flexibility and adaptability of the Philippine economy amid a rapidly changing global landscape to generate more jobs for Filipinos.

“To this end, we need to amend the Constitution to allow for greater flexibility. Inserting the phrase ‘unless otherwise provided by law’ in the economic provisions of the Constitution would expand the scope of policymaking tools of our national economic managers to ensure that our economic policy framework continually keeps up with the evolving global economic landscape and keep the Philippine economy at par with global competition,” Suansing sai
d.

Suansing noted that the international investment community perceives the country’s foreign direct investment (FDI) rules as the third most restrictive in the world, based on the FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index.

“This perception has affected our country’s FDI inflows and has hampered our competitiveness vis-à-vis our neighbors in the ASEAN region,” she said, adding that the Philippines ranks 6th in the ASEAN region in terms of FDI inflows, accounting for only 3 percent of the region’s total.

She further argued that the constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership may be a “deterrent” in the country’s participation in highly beneficial trade agreements, thus translating to huge opportunity costs.

Source: Philippines News Agency

Fourteen more Filipinos have evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Cairo in Egypt through the Rafah border, the Philippine Embassy in Egypt said Sunday.

The embassy reported that the Filipinos, along with two Palestinians, crossed the border on Feb. 17.

‘This latest batch of repatriates is scheduled to leave Cairo on February 20, 2024 and will arrive in Manila on 21 February 2024,’ the embassy said in a public advisory.

Meanwhile, a 63-year-old Catholic nun from the Missionaries of Charity is the only Filipino remaining in Gaza, Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega earlier said.

She chose to stay behind, refusing evacuation since the attacks started as their church served as a refuge for the people, de Vega added.

Last week, Philippine Ambassador to Jordan Wilfred Santos told the Philippine News Agency that they lost contact with the nun around late November. They tried to reach out to her but no one was answering the church’s phone number.

Her church was reportedly hit by a sniper f
ire.

To date, 136 of the 137 Filipinos have been evacuated from Gaza to Egypt through the joint efforts of the Philippine Embassies in Cairo, Amman and Tel Aviv, and the DFA-Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: Investors extended their profit-taking for the second trading day dropping shares to 6,700-level, while the peso closed weaker on Monday.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 74.62 points to 6,798.61, and All Shares declined by 35.06 points to 3,562.61.

‘The negative cues from the US markets last Friday amid the rise in the US’ January producers price index weighed further on sentiments,’ Philstocks Financial, Inc. assistant research manager Claire Alviar said.

All sectors ended in the red, with the biggest loss coming from the Industrial counter, dropping by 141.73 points.

This was followed by Holding Firms, down by 64.74 points; Property, 50.14 points; Services, 21.72 points; Mining and Oil, 14.58 points; and Financials, 0.57 points.

Net market value turnover for the day stood at PHP3.9 billion, which was lower than this month’s average of PHP4.69 billion.

Decliners outnumbered advancers at 134 to 59, while 49 counters were left unchanged.

Also, the peso closed weaker at 56.07 to a
US dollar from its 55.96 finish last week.

It opened the day stronger at 55.87 from Friday’s kick-off at 55.93.

The currency pair traded between 55.86 and 56.13, bringing the average level for the day at 56.01 to the greenback.

Trade volume reached USD1.51 billion, higher than last Friday’s USD925.2 million.

Source: Philippines News Agency