News Roundup 14 February 2023
Feb 14, 2023 • 4 min Read
Robin can dance Cha-cha on his own but Senate to focus on Marcos’ priority bills | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — Moves to amend the Constitution now face a major stumbling block in the Senate as its leadership said they would rather focus on the Marcos administration’s priority legislation which does not include charter change.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said Tuesday that while the proposal is not dead in the chamber as the constitutional amendments panel chaired by Sen. Robinhood Padilla can still continue deliberations, it might encounter opposition from some senators.
“I have spoken to some senators who are not in favor of tackling charter change at this time,” Zubiri said in a media interview.
The Senate president himself is cold to the proposal, calling it a “very divisive issue” that the Senate does not want to touch for now.
“I think what the country needs to do now is to focus on post-pandemic recovery and reconstruction,” he said as he stressed that Cha-cha was never a priority of the Senate.
Full Story at: Robin can dance Cha-cha on his own but Senate to focus on Marcos’ priority bills | Philstar.com
Senators: Work with other states to counter Chinese aggression in WPS | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — Some senators are calling on the government to partner with other countries to defend the Philippines’ claims in the South China Sea and to deter Chinese aggression in the hotly contested strategic waterway.
Sen. Francis Tolentino reiterated his proposal for joint patrols with other countries in the West Philippine Sea — the portion of the South China Sea claimed by Manila — to prevent another incident with Beijing.
“If another coast guard, part of the joint patrol in an agreement to be formulated, would join us I think it will lessen that and even allow fishermen near Bajo de Masinloc to fish freely and it will likewise show the good faith of the Chinese Coast Guard and militia if they allow that,” Tolentino told One News’ “The Chiefs.”
For Sen. JV Ejercito, now is the “best time for us to work with our regional neighbors and defense partners in countering China’s aggression.”
Ejercito added that the government should fast track the modernization of the Armed Forces and strengthen the country’s defense posture.
Full Story at: Senators: Work with other states to counter Chinese aggression in WPS | Philstar.com
China’s harassment of PCG using laser ‘provocative, unsafe’ — US | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — China’s harassment of a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel using a “military-grade” laser is “provocative and unsafe,” the United States (US) said on Tuesday (Manila time).
The PCG reported that a Chinese Coast Guard ship directed a “military-grade” laser at one of its vessels as it was supporting a Philippine Navy rotation and resupply mission in Ayungin Shoal, also called Second Thomas Shoal, in the West Philippine Sea on February 6.
The laser caused temporary blindness to the PCG crew members.
“The PRC’s (People’s Republic of China) conduct was provocative and unsafe, resulting in the temporary blindness of the crewmembers of the BRP Malapascua and interfering with the Philippines’ lawful operations in and around Second Thomas Shoal,” US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.
“More broadly, the PRC’s dangerous operational behavior directly threatens regional peace and stability, infringes upon freedom of navigation in the South China Sea as guaranteed under international law, and undermines the rules-based international order,” he added.
Full Story at: China’s harassment of PCG using laser ‘provocative, unsafe’ — US | Global News (inquirer.net)
‘Disconnected from reality’: Gov’t told to present more honest labor numbers | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — “Vibrant” was how the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) described the labor market as the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said fewer Filipinos were jobless in December 2022 compared to December 2021.
As Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said, “the government remains committed to providing more, better and green job opportunities to Filipinos” to sustain a “vibrant labor market” laid out in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.
With the PSA saying that unemployment rate declined to 4.3 percent in December 2022 from 6.6 percent in December 2021, translating to 1.1 million fewer jobless Filipinos, Neda said the labor market “continues to record positive gains.”
But while it’s easy to brag, the think tank Ibon Foundation stressed that the government’s reading of statistics released by the PSA should not be disconnected from reality, especially of Filipinos still reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
“To be clear, this is not to say that the economic managers are lying in the way that Mark Twain said that there are three kinds of lies: ‘Lies, damned lies, and statistics’,” Ibon said, highlighting the “different story” that the PSA data present.
Ibon Foundation said on Feb. 11 that “it is to say that they are using the persuasive power of statistics to tell something that is less truthful than what a more honest reading of the statistics truly shows.”
Full Story at: ‘Disconnected from reality’: Gov’t told to present more honest labor numbers | Inquirer News
