NEWSCAPS
May 31, 2013
(POLITICAL)
I. 7.8% Q1 GROWTH
 The Philippines became the fastest growing economy among
Asian countries during the first quarter of the year, with a betterthan-expected growth rate of 7.8 percent, boosting the country’s
efforts to attract more foreign investments.
 Driven by strong manufacturing and construction sectors, the
first-quarter growth was the highest since President Aquino took
office in 2010.
II. VICE PRESIDENT BINAY
ESCUDERO ON POLL PROBE
AND
SENATORS
PIMENTEL,
 Vice President Jejomar Binay and re-elected Senators Aquilino
Pimentel III and Francis Escudero are moving behind a call by
poll watchdog groups for an inquiry into alleged discrepancies
between random manual counts and computerized tallies in the
May 13 elections.
 VP Binay said that his team was putting together reports about
irregularities during the polls, including claims of vote-buying and
possible involvement of government agencies in “questionable
circumstances.” “We are verifying. If they are true, then we will
present (the reports) to the Comelec,” VP Binay said.
III. 4 FILIPINOS IN FORBES ASIA’s ‘HEROES OF PHILANTHROPY’
 Mall magnate Henry Sy Sr., the Philippines’ richest person with a
net worth of some $13.2 billion, is also one of the country’s
notable donors, according to Forbes Asia’s latest list of “Heroes
of Philanthropy.”
 Sy, 88, founding chair of the SM group, is joined by perfume
manufacturer Joel Cruz, tycoon John Gokongwei Jr. and
renowned architect Felino “Jun” Palafox Jr. to represent the
Philippines.
1
PREPARED BY:
PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC PLANNING
OFFICE (PCDSPO)
IV. SC TRO ON PROCLAMATION OF 5 PARTY-LIST WINNERS: DE
CASTRO VS SERENO
 For the second time in five months, Senior Associate Justice
Teresita Leonardo-de Castro is questioning Chief Justice Ma.
Lourdes Sereno.
 This time, it was Sereno’s ruling issued on Wednesday, while the
high tribunal was in recess, stopping the Commission on
Elections (Comelec) from proclaiming the five remaining winners
of the May 13 polling in the party-list system until the
disqualification protest of the Coalition of Senior Citizens in the
Philippines has been resolved.
V. PROBE INTO SHOOTING OF TAIWANESE FISHERMAN
 Taiwanese investigators in Manila reportedly became emotional
while watching a video of the encounter between the Philippine
Coast Guard (PCG) and a Taiwanese fishing vessel in the waters
off the northern Philippines that resulted in the shooting death of
a Taiwanese fisherman.
VI. WEST PH SEA DISPUTE
 The Philippines has been complying with the Declaration on the
Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and it is China
that has been violating it, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin
maintained.
 Despite China’s violations of the DOC, the Philippines will
continue to strive to deescalate tensions in the West Philippine
Sea.
VII. US, AUSTRALIA, UK, CANADA ON TRAVEL ALERT TO
MINDANAO
 Three more countries have issued travel advisories on Mindanao
amid the United States’ warning of a “credible kidnap threat” in
the Zamboanga peninsula.
2
PREPARED BY:
PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC PLANNING
OFFICE (PCDSPO)
 Australia advised its nationals against traveling to parts of
Mindanao, particularly Zamboanga and Sulu, citing the warning
the US issued to its citizens.
 Citing the same kidnap threat against foreign nationals in
Zamboanga, the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth
Office elevated its travel advice on western Mindanao.
 Canada was more expansive in its advice, calling on its citizens
to defer any travel to all of the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM) and surrounding areas.
VIII. PALAUI, EL NIDO, BORACAY AMONG CNN’s 100 BEST
BEACHES
 The CNN international cable network has included three
Philippine beaches in its list of 100 best beaches in the world, as
tourist arrivals in the country were reported to have increased by
10 percent in the first four months of 2013.
 It ranked Palaui, an island that lies off the northeastern tip of
Luzon, at No. 10, the only Southeast Asian beach in CNN’s Top
10. El Nido landed at No. 14, and Boracay, particularly Puka
Beach, made it at No. 84.
IX. ANTI-DRUNK AND -DRUGGED DRIVING LAW
 President Aquino has signed into law a measure that would
penalize drivers found to be driving under the influence of liquor
or prohibited drugs with up to three months in prison and a fine of
P80,000.
 Republic Act 10586 or the “Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act of
2013” also imposes harsher penalties in cases of drunk or
drugged drivers getting involved in accidents, especially if there
are casualties.
X. PRESIDENTIAL VETO ON 65 OUT OF 200 LOCAL BILLS
 Senators called for better coordination between the Senate and
Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) Secretary Manuel
Mamba when the 16th regular session of Congress opens in July.
3
PREPARED BY:
PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC PLANNING
OFFICE (PCDSPO)
 Senators Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Antonio Trillanes IV, Gregorio
Honasan and Sergio Osmeña IV made the call after President
Aquino vetoed the proposed Rights of Internally Displaced
Persons Act of 2013 and the bill that would have given 75 percent
discount to centenarians in restaurants and other business
establishments.
 Mamba said that the President also vetoed 65 out of 200 local
bills approved by the 15th Congress.
XI. DEPED
TEXTBOOKS
ON
SUFFICIENT
CLASSROOMS,
TEACHERS,
 There will be no more shortage of classrooms, teachers and
textbooks in public schools this coming school year, the
Department of Education (DepEd) said.
 The government is building 34,131 classrooms, which is enough
to erase the backlog this year and would continue to do so every
year. There will be hiring of 61,510 additional teaching personnel
this year. As of last school year, the book-student ratio is 1:1 in
both public elementary and secondary schools.
XII. ACT TEACHERS ON P25,000 BASIC PAY FOR TEACHERS
 Party-list group ACT Teachers vowed to push for a P25,000 basic
monthly salary for public school teachers. Rep. Antonio Tinio said
that his group would re-file bills seeking to adjust the pay scale of
teachers from Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 15.
XIII. NPA APOLOGY FOR CAGAYAN AMBUSH
 The New People’s Army (NPA) unit in western Cagayan has
owned responsibility and apologized for the May 27 ambush of a
team of the police special action force (SAF) that killed eight
policemen in Allacapan, Cagayan.
XIV. LOZADA RANT VS DAANG MATUWID
 National broadband network (NBN) deal whistleblower Rodolfo
Lozada Jr. lashed out at the present administration again and
4
PREPARED BY:
PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC PLANNING
OFFICE (PCDSPO)
accused President Aquino and his officials of not really fighting for
the truth and the so-called principle of taking the straight and
righteous path.
 “I will go straight to the point, I no longer believe in the straight
path,” he told reporters in Filipino after a hearing on the graft case
filed against him before the Sandiganbayan. The hearing was
postponed due to the absence of Lozada’s accuser, Philippine
Forest Corp. (Philforest) president Erwin Santos, who was
supposed to take the witness stand for the prosecution.
XV. SMS ALERT SYSTEM FOR DISASTER-PRONE AREAS
 The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) is forging a partnership with
Smart Communications, Inc. to set up a system that will alert
disaster-prone areas through text messaging.
 OCD Administrator Eduardo del Rosario said that the objective of
the system is to save lives through timely, fast and accurate
information. Local leaders would be given free Smart SIM cards
so they could avail of the service.
XVI. POEA ON ILLEGAL JOB RECRUITERS
 The Philippines Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)
warned Filipinos wishing to work abroad about immigration
consultants and travel agencies that offered overseas jobs.
 POEA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said that offering
overseas employment in the guise of visa assistance without a
license or authority from the POEA constituted illegal recruitment
under the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act.
XVII. WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY
 The World Health Organization (WHO) called for a
comprehensive ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and
sponsorship as it marks World No Tobacco Day today.
 The WHO said that the ban should include point-of-sale (POS)
advertising or store sales promotions, the last refuge of
5
PREPARED BY:
PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC PLANNING
OFFICE (PCDSPO)
advertisers still allowed in most countries where all other kinds of
tobacco advertising have been banned.
(ECONOMY)
I. WORLD BANK ON INCLUSIVE GROWTH
 The World Bank (WB) hailed the Philippines’ better-thanexpected 7.8 percent economic growth in the first quarter, with its
country representative saying that the next step is to work for
inclusive growth.
 WB Country Director Motoo Konishi said that the robust growth is
“exciting” and indicated global confidence in what the Philippine
government has been doing.
 Konishi, who earlier said that the country is poised to become
Asia’s newest economic tiger, said that the growth must be
shared across the country and not just in Metro Manila. He noted
that this is what President Aquino’s administration has been
espousing.
II. BIDDING FOR NAIA REPAIRS
 Following another ceiling collapse, the state operator of the Ninoy
Aquino International Airport (Naia) plans to bid out next month a
P151-million construction contract to upgrade the parapet walls,
eaves and elevated roadway at Terminal 1.
III. PESO LEVEL
 The peso recovered yesterday from its 11-month slump against
the dollar. The local unit closed 42.32 against the dollar, 12
centavos stronger than the previous day’s 42.44, which was the
weakest since June 2012.
 Manny Cruz, chief strategist at Asiasec Equities Inc., said that it
seemed that some large funds were dumping stocks from
emerging markets —particularly the bloc referred to as TIMP, or
Thailand-Indonesia-Mexico and Philippines— selling out of Japan
to shift to US dollar assets on valuation concerns.
6
PREPARED BY:
PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC PLANNING
OFFICE (PCDSPO)
IV. BILL ON HYBRID VEHICLES
 Lawmakers are optimistic that a pending bill providing incentives
for the manufacture, assembly and importation of hybrid vehicles
will be signed into law in the coming weeks.
 Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas, one of the authors of
House Bill 5460 or the proposed “Electric, Hybrid and Other
Alternative Fuel Incentives Act of 2011,” said it is even possible
the measure would be finalized in the bicameral conference
committee and ratified by the House and the Senate when the
15th Congress convenes for the last time.
V. REMOVAL OF HOTEL TAX PERKS
 Big industry players are against the government’s proposal to
remove the income tax holiday (ITH) being enjoyed by hoteliers in
Metro Manila and Central Visayas, and nearby provinces, saying
that this is a violation of the Tourism Act.
 Rajah Tours Philippines president Alejandra Clemente, who had
been privy to the crafting of Republic 9593 or Tourism Act of 2009
since day one, said the scrapping of the tax perks is a blatant
disregard of the existing law.
VI. GOVERNMENT ON TRACK WITH DEBT, REVENUE GOALS
 The government is “on track” to meeting its debt and revenue
goals, the Department of Finance (DOF) said, despite the firstquarter data showing new figures were actually lower than their
previous year’s levels.
 For the first quarter, state revenues already accounted for 13.7
percent of economic output, lower than the 14.9 percent posted in
the same period last year.
 The target has been set at 14.7 percent. Of these, tax collections
were equivalent to 11.92 percent, down from 12.5 percent, but on
track to meeting the 13.5-percent target for the year.
VII. PH SPENDING AHEAD OF ASEAN INTEGRATION
7
PREPARED BY:
PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC PLANNING
OFFICE (PCDSPO)
 The government needs to increase its infrastructure spending if it
wants to be able to compete in an integrated regional market, an
economist said.
 With the global economy still sluggish, the Philippines should
seize the opportunity and spend now so it can compete later on
when other countries bounce back, University of the Philippines
economist Benjamin E. Diokno said in a Management Association
of the Philippines (MAP) forum.
 "The message is clear, the best way to prepare for the ASEAN
(Association of Southeast Asian Nations) integration is by making
the Philippines stronger domestically. We have to ramp up public
infrastructure spending," Diokno said.
VIII. POWER MARKET ON EASING MINDANAO WOES
 Mindanao could get its own electricity trading platform before the
end of the year with Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC)
having sought regulatory approval for a pricing scheme.
 PEMC asked the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for
authorization to implement a price determination methodology
(PDM), which will allow the start of the Interim Mindanao
Electricity Market’s (IMEM) commercial operations by Sept. 26.
IX. SURVEY ON FILIPINO BUSINESSES CALL FOR WIDER TAX
BASE
 Filipino businesses feel the government is not taxing enough
entities and are not including more people into the tax base, the
Grant Thornton International Business Report showed. The
survey polled 100 Filipino executives in the first quarter, seeking
their comments on the tax policies of the country.
 "There are respondents who believe the current tax regime does
not bring enough economic participants into the tax base: 62% of
Filipinos polled said not enough people and entities are being
taxed, compared to 49% globally," Grant Thornton, through its
local partner Punongbayan & Araullo, said in a statement.
8
PREPARED BY:
PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC PLANNING
OFFICE (PCDSPO)
X. PH STOCK EXCHANGE
 The main Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 275.22
points, or 3.81 percent, to close at 6,953.35. This marked the
PSEi’s steepest single-day decline since Sept. 21, 2011 when the
index slumped by 4.2 percent at the height of the European fiscal
crisis then.
 This time, however, financial markets across the globe are jittery
as prospects loomed that the US Federal Reserve would temper
its liquidity-inducing bond buyback program that has perked up
markets across the globe.
(END)
9
PREPARED BY:
PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC PLANNING
OFFICE (PCDSPO)