News Roundup 16 December 2022
Dec 16, 2022 • 4 min Read
Biz group opposes the proposal to allow hybrid, e-vehicles on EDSA busway | PHILSTAR.COM – A business group expressed opposition to the proposal to allow hybrid and electric vehicles on the EDSA busway, stressing that doing so will reduce the efficiency of the capital region’s important transport corridor. In a statement Friday, the Management Association of the Philippines said that implementing the proposal allowing other vehicles on the EDSA busway “amounts to policy backsliding and will seriously set back the gains thus far achieved.” EDSA busway is used exclusively by public buses, reducing the amount of time spent by commuters on travel. “Clogging the busway with other vehicles will severely degrade the efficiency of the busway to the great detriment of the larger constituency—400,000 bus passengers who now use this vital transport corridor,” MAP said. Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said on Tuesday that the government is eyeing to allow hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs) to use bus lanes and bike lanes in major thoroughfares such as EDSA in a bid to encourage Filipinos to use EVs, the Philippine News Agency reported. MAP said it supports the announcement of Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista to upgrade the busway to full bus rapid transit (BRT) standards. According to MAP, the standards call for specifications such as a dedicated busway for the exclusive use of public buses, alignment away from traffic conflict lanes, and control from inclusion and intrusion by other vehicles with its outer edges delineated with barriers. “The solution to traffic congestion on EDSA is to fully develop this busway into a full BRT to conveniently and comfortably convey daily commuters more efficiently and entice motorists to ride the bus,” the business group said. Bautista said in November that the agency hopes to privatize the EDSA busway to ensure the transport corridor will be funded in the long run.
Hontiveros: Gov’t must pass urgent measures to lower food prices instead of Maharlika Investment Fund | INQUIRER.NET – Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros on Friday said the government should certify as urgent a measure that would lower food prices instead of the Maharlika Investment Fund. “Certify urgent? Eh kung ang gawin munang urgent kaya ay ang pag baba ng presyo ng pagkain para may disenteng Noche Buena, ang pagtaas ng sweldo ng mga manggagawa lalo ang mga teacher at health workers, at ang ayuda sa matatanda, solo parents at mga may kapansanan?” Hontiveros said in a statement. (Why don’t we make urgent the lowering of food prices so people would have a decent Noche Buena, the salary increase for workers, especially teachers and health workers, and the cash aid for the elderly, solo parents, and the disabled?) President Ferdinand, “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., certified the passage of the sovereign wealth fund as urgent, according to the House of Representatives. On Thursday, House Bill (HB) No. 6608 was approved, with 279 lawmakers voting affirmative while six voted against it. No legislator abstained from the voting. Hontiveros said the measure “is premature and a misplaced priority.” “Our economy is already hurting now; imagine the world of pain we’ll be in if we rush head first into a P250 billion mistake,” the senator said, referring to the venture capital of the sovereign wealth fund that would be derived from government agencies and state-owned corporations.
SC grants temporary protection for red-tagged UCCP leaders and families | INQUIRER.NET – The Supreme Court (SC) has issued a writ of amparo and a temporary protection order in favor of two pastors and a lay leader of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and their families. In a resolution made public Friday, the SC “grant the temporary protection order prohibiting respondents from going within a radius of one kilometer of petitioners and their immediate families.” Last month, UCCP pastors Edwin and Julieta Egar and lay leader Ronald Ramos, a former barangay captain, filed a writ of amparo before the SC asserting that members of the Army’s 59th IB continue to threaten and violate their right to life, liberty, and security as well as their families. Petitioners said the troops “gravely coerced” them to “surrender” and admit to being part of the New People’s Army (NPA) despite the lack of evidence. They added that there exists an “outright threat of a military operation” against them based on various text messages sent to them. Named respondents in the petition were: Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro, Philippine Army Commending General Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., Commanding officer of the 2nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army Maj. Gen. Roberto Capulong, 59th IB commander Lt. Col. Ernesto Teneza Jr., and enlisted men of the battalion.
