The Sunday Times


A 6


news SUNDAY Oc tober 3, 2010


Palace lobbies for duty free garment exports to America


BY JUN MEDINA SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT


is strongly lobbying for the immediate passage of US legislation intended to boost the US textile industry and the labor- intensive Philippine garment industry.


S


The Aquino administration hopes the pending US bill, “Save Our In- dustries Act of 2010” or SAVE Act, would be enacted into law before the November US midterm elections. The measure seeks to eliminate tar- iffs of certain Philippine-made gar- ments that use American textiles and yarns for 10 years. If passed into law, the bill will not only create jobs but also boost trade between the United States and the Philippines, according to Trade and Industry Secretary Cristino Panlilio, concurrent managing head of the Board of Investments. “The SAVE Act is a win-win for- mula that will benefit both the US textile manufacturers and the Phil-


President to go over plan versus jueteng


THE President on Saturday said that he has yet to go over the comprehensive plan submitted to him by Interior and Local Govern- ment Secretary Jesse Robredo on how to fight jueteng “I told Robredo I want a comprehensive plan, not piece- meal plans, on how to get rid of jueteng,” President Benigno Aquino 3rd, said in an interview during the nationwide distribution of the PhilHealth cards to indigent members at the President Corazon Aquino High School in Baseco Compound, Tondo, Manila. The President added that, “Ayaw natin ng parte-parte lang ang tutugunan ng plano. Gusto natin yung kabuuan ng problema. [I don’t want the plans to focus on bits and pieces. I want it to deal with the whole problem].” “The comprehensive plan contains improved enforcement and improving the STL, a legal alternative to jueteng,” which reports said have been greasing the hands of a few politicians and administration officials at the expense of small bettors. Robredo, however, told report-


ers that he has submitted the comprehensive plan against jueteng to President Aquino. Meanwhile, President Aquino stressed that he had only a “hello, goodbye” talk with his cousin Tony Boy Cojuangco in the US. Cojuangco has reportedly met with anti-jueteng advocate—retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz. JOVEE MARIE N. DELA CRUZ


■ President Benigno Aquino 3rd along with members of his cabinet visit a newly built lying-in clinic in Baseco compound in Tondo during PhilHealth’s nationwide registration day campaign. MALACAÑANG PHOTO


Aquino wants health insurance for all


“THE path towards universal healthcare does not start nor end with this event,” this is the state- ment given by President Benigno Aquino 3rd on Saturday during the day PhilHealth Sabado one-day reg- istration for new members in Presi- dent Cory Aquino High School in Baseco Compound, Tondo, Manila. He said that initiative instead


would serve as “an impetus to propel the health sector in achieving its goal of providing equitable and sustain- able healthcare for every Filipino.” According to President Aquino


his administration is committed to provide healthcare benefits and cheaper medicines for all Filipinos. “Our movement for change de- pends on our ability to empower the vulnerable, and there is no better way of becoming part of this transformative agenda than to em- brace our communal responsibility and safeguard the well-being of our people,” the President added. Mr. Aquino said that the confusing figures about the actual non-insured indigent population prompted the PhilHealth to come up with the one-


day registration program and said, “make people aware of the benefits that await them for registering in the na- tional insurance health program and who are qualified to such benefits.” “The listing of new members is just a small step to expanding the health insurance in the country,” the President added.


The President added that he took home $2.7 billion from his last week’s foreign trip to the United States—the big part of which will fund programs for the poor. JOVEE MARIE N. DELA CRUZ


NPA rebels harass troops in Davao City


ZAMBOANGA CITY: Communist rebels harassed government troops en- gaged in humanitarian works in Davao City in the southern Philip- pines, officials said Saturday. Officials said the New People’s


Army (NPA) rebels opened fire on soldiers while they were resting in the village of Fatima in Paquibato dis- trict. The attack on Thursday lasted more than 15 minutes, said Lt. Col. Medel Aguilar, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.


“There were no military or civil- ian casualties,” he said. He said the troops deployed in


Paquibato district, a known lair of communist rebels, were working on peace and development out- reach program.


“These soldiers are involved mainly in the conduct of dialogues with the people and in the planning and implementation of humanitar- ian assistance programs that will benefit the people,” Aguilar said.


Maj. Gen. Jorge Segovia, com- mander of the 10th Infantry Divi- sion, said the harassment would not affect peace and development projects in the area.


“The harassments are aimed to


divert our attention away from im- plementing community projects, but they will fail. If they continue with their harassments and other violent activities, our soldiers will be there to protect the people,” Segovia said. AL JACINTO


Only few poor families in Cam Sur have insurance - PhilHealth


LEGAZPI CITY: Political maneuvers have defeated the purpose of the govern- ment to finance the poor’s medical services in the countryside as 97 per- cent of almost 100,000 PhilHealth card holders in Camarines Sur do not belong to the impoverished fami- lies—the target of the project to alle- viate poverty here. David Escandor, PhilHealth field operation division chief in Bicol told The Manila Times that based on their validated report that out of 94,038 card holders in Camarines Sur, only 6,738 fami- lies truly belong to indigent com- munity, while majority of the card holders do not fit in the govern- ment’s program—as they were given with free PhilHealth cards by the local governments because of


political preferences.


He said that the 6,738 families identified by the National House- hold Testing Survey (NHTS) of the Department of Social Welfare De- partment were legitimate poorest of the poor families and the 87,300 card holders were not meant and suit with the govern- ment’s program.


Sponsored indigents The Times asked PhilHealth offi-


cials in Bicol if which province in the region with high prevalence of poverty but with less number of free PhilHealth cards or sponsored indigents—Escandor said that among the six provinces of the re- gion, Camarines Sur has a high in- cidence of underprivileged fami-


lies, yet with less members of free PhilHealth card.


“Camarines Sur is still the high- est number of poor families due to biggest number of municipalities but with lesser members of PhilHealth card holders. Worst is that out of 94,038 families spon- sored by the local government units, only 6,738 families truly belong and identified by NHTS as poor and majority does not suit with the pro- gram,” Escandor told The Times. According to him, Albay is the only province in Bicol wherein al- most all poor families are PhilHealth cardholders, which are sponsored by the provincial government. Gov. Joey Salceda allocated P173 million for health department of Albay this year from P103 million


in 2007. The health budget now in Albay is about 17 percent of the to- tal budget here. Following the revelation of Escandor, corrective measures will be done in the nationwide Phil- Health registration day so as not to repeat similar incidence in Cama- rines Sur, Dr. Veerenica Mateum, PhilHealth officer in charge in Bicol told The Times.


She said that currently there are 379,424 families in Bicol identified as totally impoverished families based on the NHTS results. At least 46,509 indigent families with PhilHealth cards or 12.56 percent while the total indigents sponsored by various local governments totaled to 487,412.


RHAYDZ BARCIA


ippine apparel industry,” Panlilio said Friday (Saturday in Manila) in a luncheon briefing in Washington D.C. “This is the message we want, to put across in Capitol Hill, and we need the help of our Filipino compatriots in America to help us lobby their lawmakers.” Panlilio said the proposed meas-


ure would grant duty-free treatment to garments wholly assembled in the Philippines, provided that these are made from US-made fabrics, such as yarn and cotton. In ex- change, US yarn and fabrics will also be granted duty-free entry to the Philippines for use by local ap- parel manufacturers for export to the United States.


eizing the goodwill generated by his recent visit to the United


States, President Benigno Aquino 3rd


Generate 450,000 jobs Panlilio estimates that the deal


would generate 450,000 additional jobs in the country in five years and double or treble Philippine gar- ment exports to America to as much $3 billion from the current $1 billion yearly.


Philippine Ambassador to the US Willy Gaa, who attended the same briefing, said the three-million strong ethnic Filipinos in the US “could make a difference” by actively lobbying and engaging their respec- tive congressmen and senators. “I urge our Filipino Americans to


call or e-mail their legislators to sup- port this crucial measure—in the same way they lobbied strongly for our World War II veterans,” Gaa said. According to Panlilio, “95 per- cent” of the legislators they have met so far indicated their support for the SAVE Act, but he added they need to generate a critical mass of Ameri- can lawmakers to pass the bill. “We need a fastbreak,” said


Panlilio, a member of the 1969 Ateneo Blue Eagles National Colle- giate Athletic Assiciation champion team. “We’re in the last two minutes, and this is a never say die game.” He said they are optimistic about


getting the support of congressional leaders—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senator Daniel Inouye and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—to shepherd the bill’s passage. Capitol Hill observers, however, doubt if there is enough time dur- ing the so-called lame-duck sessions to muster enough support to pass the bill at a time when most legisla- tors are fighting for their own sur- vival in the November US polls. One major thing going for the Philippine lobby is the fact that the US textile industry is strongly sup- porting the SAVE Act. The reason, of course, is that passage of the bill will dramatically increase US textile exports from $13.5 million in 2009 to $500 million in five years. In return, Philippine garment ex- ports which have declined from $2.1 billion in 2006 to just $1 bil- lion in 2009 will also rebound to previous high levels. The US mar- ket accounts for 80 percent of Phil- ippine garment exports.


Much of the decline in RP-made apparel exports to the US was caused by cheap and subsidized ex- ports from China plus the 17 to 33 percent tariff levied on these ex- ports, from zero level before.


China launches second unmanned lunar probe


BEIJING: China on Friday celebrated 61 years of communist rule with the launch of its second lunar probe— the next step in its ambitious pro- gram to become the second coun- try to put a man on the moon. A Long March 3C rocket carry- ing the Chang’e-2, which is due to go into orbit within 15 kilometers of the moon, blasted off from the launch center in Xichang in the southwestern province of Sichuan, state media said.


The unmanned probe will con-


duct various tests over a six-month period in preparation for the ex- pected launch in 2013 of the Chang’e-3, which China hopes will be its first unmanned landing on the moon. “Chang’e-2 lays a foundation for the soft-landing on the moon and the further exploration of outer space,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted the chief designer of China’s lunar orbiter project, Wu Weiren, as saying.


The probe successfully entered its trans-lunar orbit, Xinhua said. It will take five days for the Chang’e-2 to arrive at its lunar orbit.


It will first circle the moon at a distance of 100 km, before hope- fully dropping into orbit 15 kilometers from the moon’s surface.


The Chang’e program, named af-


ter a mythical Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, is seen as an ef- fort to put China’s space explora- tion program on a par with those of the United States and Russia. Beijing hopes to bring a moon rock sample back to earth in 2017, with a manned mission pencilled in for around 2020, according to state media. Earlier this year, China postponed the next step in its space station pro- gramme—the placement of the Tiangong-1 space module in orbit —until 2011 for technical reasons, state media reported.


The Tiangong-1, or “Heavenly


Palace,” is seen as the building block of China’s maiden space station. Weighing about 8.5 tons, it would provide a “safe room” for astronauts to live in and conduct research in zero gravity.


After being placed in orbit, the Tiangong-1 would dock with the unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in the country’s first space docking —a feat to be controlled remotely by scientists on the ground. Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10, carrying two to three astronauts, would dock with the orbiting module in successive years, offi- cials have said.


AFP worldinbrief


TRAIN WRECK KILLS 33 PASSENGERS PEMALANG, Indonesia: At least 33 people were killed Saturday when a passenger train slammed into the back of another train in Indonesia, leaving dozens trapped in the mangled wreckage, an official said. Police said human error was to blame for the accident, which occurred early in the morning at a station in Petarukan Pemalang, Central Java province.


CHINA CALLS ON JAPAN TO ‘MAINTAIN RELATIONS’ BEIJING: China has called on Japan to “maintain the full spectrum of relations” between the two nations amid a damaging territorial row that has rumbled on for more than three weeks.“China attaches great importance to its relations with Japan. We hope Japan will work with China to maintain the full spectrum of bilateral relations,” said Ma Zhaoxu, the chief spokesman for the ministry of foreign affairs.


TAIWAN TO LOCATE ILLEGAL MIGRANTS AFTER MISHAP TAIPEI: Taiwan will attempt to track down migrants working illegally on the island after six foreigners were killed in a construction accident, a report said Saturday. Labor authorities will attempt to locate an estimated 33,000 undocumented foreign workers following the accident this week, the Liberty Time newspaper quoted labor officials as saying.


US DRONE STRIKE KILLS SIX REBELS MIRANSHAH, Pakistan: A US drone strike killed six militants on Saturday in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt along the Afghan border, local security officials said. Four missiles hit a house used by militants in Dashgah village near Datta Khel town, some 45 kilometers west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district, the officials said. According to the Wall Street Journal, The US military is secretly diverting aerial drones from Afghanistan to escalate a Central Intelligence Agency-led campaign against militants in neighboring Pakistan.


NIGERIAN POLICE HUNTS OIL MILITANTS AFTER BLAST ABUJA: Nigerian authorities hunted oil militants on Saturday who claimed responsibility for two car bombs that killed at least 10 people near independence celebrations in the first such attack in the Nigerian capital—Abuja. The United States has condemned the bombings saying the attack shows the importance of Nigeria’s elections and that violence has no place in political disclosures.


PROSECUTORS JAILED ON TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE TOKYO: Two senior Japanese prosecutors have been arrested on suspicion of covering up alleged evidence-tampering, in a case that has sparked widespread outrage in the law-abiding country.


SYRIA, IRAN TO DISCUSS REGIONAL, BILATERAL ISSUES TEHRAN: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met his Iranian counterpart and staunch ally Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Saturday, with Lebanon, Iraq and Palestinian issues topping the agenda, media reports said.


RUSSIA RESCUES 8 PASSENGERS, 3 PILOTS IN SIBERIA MOSCOW: Russian emergency services Saturday rescued eight passengers and three pilots who were stranded in a remote Siberian region after their plane made an emergency landing, officials said.


JAPANESE RALLY AGAINST ‘DIPLOMATIC DEFEAT’ TOKYO: Japanese nationalist groups rallied against Japan’s “diplomatic defeat” to China in a maritime dispute as Russian pressure grows over another simmering territorial row.


TRUCKS, TANKERS BLOCK LAND FOR NATO SUPPLIES PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A blockade of the main land route for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) supplies from Pakistan into Afghanistan continued as queues of trucks and tankers formed at the border crossing, officials said.


US BUSINESSMAN FACES PROSTITUTION CHARGES ANKARA: A US-based property developer has been charged in Turkey with running a prostitution ring after he was detained in a raid on a yacht once used by the country’s founder, media reports said Saturday.


GREECE SEEKS AID FROM CHINA IN DEBT CRISIS ATHENS: Cash-strapped Greece plays host to China’s Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday, hoping to drum up sorely needed investment as Athens battles to emerge from an unprecedented debt crisis.


PANETTA VISITS NEW DELHI FOR SECURITY TALKS NEW DELHI: US Central Intelligence Agency chief Leon Panetta made a stopover in New Delhi to discuss security threats in the South Asian region after visiting Pakistan, a report said Saturday.


AFP


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