Photo Credit: PIA Gitnang Luzon Twitter page

CITY of BALANGA, Bataan – Residents of Barangay Doña Francisca, this city, flocked to their barangay covered court to be part of the “Refill Revolution” event of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Region 3, PENRO, PG-ENRO, and City Government of Balanga headed by Mayor Francis Garcia.

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Consistent with this year’s theme, “Beat Plastic Pollution: If you can’t reuse it, refuse it”, the event will still be a one-day refilling event where participants will be bringing their own bottles and containers to refill their supplies. Prices of product refills will be significantly lower than the existing retail prices.

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In his speech, Mayor Francis told the attendees to take care of the environment by strictly obeying the laws and also be an advocate in protecting it.

PIA Gitnang Luzon Twitter page

Meanwhile, Governor Abet Garcia said that all of us should support the various environmental programs of Balanga and the Provincial Government of Bataan by joining the 1 Million Trees for 1 Bataan Challenge (1M41B). Incidentally, the planting period was extended until September 2019.

Source: 1bataan.com

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Latter-Day Saints Charities Philippines Inc. awards a total of 12 tri-wheelchairs to persons with disabilities in Bataan during the Celebration of International Day of PWDs held at La Vista Inland Resort in Balanga City. (Mar Jay S. Delas Alas/PIA 3)

BALANGA CITY, Dec. 10 (PIA) — A total of 12 persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Bataan received tri-wheelchairs during the Celebration of International Day of PWDs.

The Latter-Day Saints (LDS) Charities Philippines, Inc. donated the mobility devices worth P60,000 each while the Provincial Council on Disability Affairs identified the 12 beneficiaries.

“What we did is just a small part. You great people who work with others with disabilities do the hard work,” missionary Elder Singleton of the LDS Charities said to beneficiaries.

Provincial Disability Affairs Office head Rolando Cortes said beneficiaries are those with orthopedic disability and have contributed significant services in the community.

“We identified PWD leaders in each municipality who deliver services to their fellow PWDs. The wheelchairs can support their livelihood and do more services to our people,” Cortes added.

Samahan ng Taong May Kapansanan sa Bataan President Elenita Cruz, one of the beneficiaries, said that the tri-wheelchair will help her efficiently serve other PWDs especially those in the far flung areas in the community.

Prior to the event, LDS Charities recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the provincial government of Bataan represented by Governor Albert Raymond Garcia.

Under the agreement, about 300 wheelchairs and other assistive devices will be distributed to PWDs in the province. (CLJD/MJSD-PIA 3)

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Two more French-made patrol boats, which will be fielded for anti-smuggling missions in the country, have arrived at the Port of Subic Thursday, the Philippine Coast Guard announced Friday.

The pair of 24-meter fast patrol boats will complete the four patrol vessels acquired through an agreement between the Philippine Coast Guard and the French ship builder in 2014.

Officials said the vessels will be commissioned to service as BRP Malamawi (FPB 2403) and BRP Kalanggaman (FPB 2404).

According to Capt. Armand Balilo, Coast Guard spokesman, the “primary mission of the boats is to boost the country’s fight against smuggling,” adding that three of the four vessels will be jointly operated by the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Customs.

Two vessels of the same kind were delivered in August and September this year.

According to the Coast Guard, the acquisition of the patrol boats is under the contract signed by the Department of Transportation with maritime technology expert and ship builder OCEA S.A. of France “to strengthen the enforcement in maritime safety and security, and marine environmental protection.”

Similar to the first two patrol vessels, the new fast boats have maximum speed of 28 nautical miles per hour and can carry 12 crew and 16 passengers.

The first French-built boat arrived in Subic in August followed by “BRP Panglao” in September.

Coast Guard also said an 82-meter offshore patrol vessel is scheduled to arrive in August 2019.

Rear Adm. Elson Hermogino, Coast Guard commandant, said the procurement of the vessels includes training, provision of spare parts and technical assistance after the delivery date.

It can be recalled that men from the Coast Guard have been deployed to the Bureau of Customs to assist in the smuggling operations of the bureau for six months.

The Coast Guard is tasked to “assist in the enforcement of laws on fisheries, immigration, tariff and customs, forestry, firearms and explosives, human trafficking, dangerous drugs, and controlled chemicals, transnational crimes, the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act and other applicable laws within the maritime jurisdiction of the Philippines.”

Prior to this development, the two organizations also signed a pact to jointly carry out anti-smuggling operations using Coast Guard vessels.

Source: news.mb.com.ph/

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Investment pledges from foreign investors increased for the second straight quarter, rising 6.5 percent year-on-year to P45.9 billion in the third quarter, the government reported Thursday.

In a report, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said total foreign investments green-lighted by seven investment promotion agencies (IPAs) from July to September grew from P43 billion in the same three-month period last year.

The seven IPAs included in the PSA report were the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (Afab), Board of Investments (BOI), BOI-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza), Clark Development Corp. (CDC), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

IPAs grant fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to investors, which the Duterte administration wanted to rationalize under the proposed second tax package or the Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-quality Opportunities (Trabaho) Act.

The Trabaho bill was also aimed at slashing the corporate income tax rate from 30 percent at present—the highest in Asean, to about 20 percent.

When these foreign investment pledges materialize after some time, then they are counted as foreign direct investment (FDI).

Following year-on-year increases in foreign investment commitments during the second and third quarters, the end-September haul reached P91 billion, up 8.2 percent from P84.1 billion in the first nine months of last year.

The PSA said the top three sources of foreign commitments during the July to September period were British Virgin Islands (P15.5 billion), Malaysia (P10.7 billion), and the US (P4.5 billion).

Meanwhile, the top three sectors that would receive these approved investments were the following: electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply (P16.1 billion); real estate (P11.8 billion); as well as manufacturing (P7.6 billion).

The bulk of these pledges were expected to materialize in the following regions: Northern Mindanao (P15.5 billion); Central Luzon (P13.5 billion); and National Capital Region (P8.3 billion).

However, when the foreign investment approvals were combined with those from local investors, the total commitments in the third quarter declined 5.3 percent to P259.7 billion from P274.4 billion a year ago.

From July to September, Filipino firms pledged P213.9-billion worth of projects, accounting for 82.3 percent of all IPA approvals.

In terms of job generation, the total approvals were expected to create 41,797 jobs, of which the bulk or 87.6 percent would be generated by foreign-led projects.

PSA data showed foreign investors’ pledges declined year-on-year during six of the first nine quarters of the Duterte administration.

In a speech on Thursday, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said that “with improvements in the ease of doing business, investments are flowing into the Philippine economy.”

“The FDI inflows reached a record high of 10 billion US dollars last year, double the FDI inflows in 2015. Meanwhile, net foreign direct investments rose by 31 percent to $7.4 billion in the first eight months of 2018 from $5.7 billion during the same period last year. This reflects stronger investor confidence in the Duterte administration’s decisiveness in pushing ahead with the economic reform agenda. This also dispels the concern that our tax reform is scaring away investors,” Dominguez said.

“While we saw a dramatic 31-percent rise in foreign direct investments in the first eight months of this year, the Peza continues to claim that investments registered with the agencies are down. This can only mean they are trying to attract investments that cannot be viable without unreasonable incentives. These are not the investments we need to become a strong economy. The more meaningful investments are being made by competitive companies that do not ask for tax holidays and other incentives,” he added.

“Those who oppose the reform of the incentives program are arguing against the facts. All over the world, fiscal incentives are less important in investor decisions than efficient infrastructure and a better-educated and healthier people. We cannot fully address these more beneficial concerns if we let bureaucrats give away revenue for private profit. We need to be fiscally responsible on this matter,” according to Dominguez.

Source: business.inquirer.net

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The Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO) has revealed the list of Most Outstanding Business Taxpayers for 2018 at Rizal Triangle covered court during the flag raising ceremony of the city government employees.

For the past years, the SM group of companies has topped the first 4 spots in terms of taxes paid. Based on the gross sales of 2017, Meridien Business Leader, Inc. (The SM Store) ranked #1, Supervalue,Inc. (SM Supermarket) ranked#2, SM Prime Holdings Inc. ranked #3 and Star Appliance Center, Inc.(SM Appliance) ranked #4.

Taxes collected cover all of government’s expenditures, such as those agencies that make it possible for us to access basic necessities and services including water, power, roads, airports, and even the Metro Rail Transit.

The presence of SM, with more than 100 tenants has made a big impact in the increase of tax collection in the city. The CSR program of SM under the SM Cares is another way of giving back to the community.

The top taxpayers awardees were recognized as the Most Outstanding Business Taxpayers in the city based on their gross sales in 2017 making it a remarkable benefactor for sustaining, maintaining, and improving the public services provided by government to its citizen.

Most Outstanding Business Taxpayers from SM City Olongapo include Jollibee Foods Corp., Ace Hardware Phils. Inc., Fresh and Famous Foods, Inc. (Chowking and Greenwich), and Familyhealth & Beauty Corp.(Watsons).

Source: zambalesherald.blogspot.com

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