MANILA – The House of Representatives approved Monday on third and final reading a measure that provides a comprehensive renal replacement therapy for patients with end stage renal disease.

Some 177 lawmakers voted in favor of House Bill 9156 or the “Comprehensive Renal Replacement Therapy Act.”

The bill also provides free dialysis treatment to indigent patients and expands the PhilHealth benefit package for kidney transplant replacement therapy from both living and deceased donors.

It also expands the PhilHealth coverage for kidney transplantation for the evaluation and screening of kidney donors and recipients up to the transplantation and post transplantation procedures and remedies.

The measure also provides the No Balance Billing (NBB) policy to incidents while increasing the PhilHealth Z Benefit package rates for peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis after kidney transplant procedures.

Likewise, it mandates the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to provide the remaining needed sessions for both peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis after the patient has consumed one’s benefit package from PhilHealth.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com

Continue Reading

Harassing women and those of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persuasion by catcalling, wolf-whistling or with sexist slurs and gestures is now punishable under a new law.

The proposed Safe Streets, Public Spaces and Workplace Act, also known as the “Bawal Bastos” bill, lapsed into law on April 21 after President Rodrigo Duterte did not act on a bicameral conference committee report ratified in February.

“Gender-based sexual harassment in the forms of stalking, leering, catcalling and wolf-whistling will be penalized under the new law,” Akbayan Rep. Tomas Villarin said in a statement.

“Fines and penalties for these acts range from P1,000 to P100,000 for multiple and grave offenses,” he added.

“These penalties are crucial in sending the message mahal mambastos (it is expensive to be rude) in the Philippines,” he continued.
Penalties also include community service and gender-sensitivity training.

“The passage of the law should change the cultural norm [on] how society treats women, how society puts importance on the rights of everybody,” Villarin said in a press conference.
Maica Teves of Spark Philippines lauded the measure as a “victory for women and the LGBT.”

LGBT advocate Anton Paderanga said the inclusion of the community was a welcome development, noting that “LGBT persons, like women, are subject to harassment daily.”

The law expands existing anti-sexual harassment laws. It covers sexual harassment in workplaces, including peer-to-peer and subordinate-to-superior cases.

Arline Santos of the Institute of Politics and Governance said the law also provided remedies for harassment that occurs online.

The new law also mandates all schools to establish anti-sexual harassment policies.

Source: manilatimes.net

Continue Reading

Photo Credit: wikimedia.org

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to boost the powers and functions of Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB).

The upper chamber of Congress approved Senate Bill No. 2133 or “An Act Further Strengthening the Powers and Functions of the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan.”

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, the sponsor of the bill, said the measure seeks to maximize the potential of AFAB to improve investment opportunities in the Philippines.

“The FAB has contributed not only to Bataan’s economy but also to the entire country over the past few years,” Gatchalian said in a statement.

“From 2010 to 2016, the FAB was able to contribute more than P74 billion to the Philippine economy, net of costs. In other words, the government has gained P6.45 for every peso it has spent or foregone on the FAB,” he added.

Under the measure, the FAB will include land territories in the Municipality of Mariveles, which used to be part of the Bataan Economic Zone, and other areas in Mariveles that are not included in the FAB Main Zone.

The Senator said the bill will permit AFAB “to create model business centers and a one-stop shop for locators by offering AFAB certain powers within the FAB territory.”

Gatchalian also noted that strengthening AFAB can address poverty in Bataan. He cited that the number of registered enterprises in FAB rose from 33 with P5 million investments in 2010 to 130 with P6.99 billion investments in 2018.

He said the FAB was also able to offer 39,266 jobs to Bataan citizens in 2018, up from 12,777 jobs in 2010.

The bill will be brought to the bicameral committee for further deliberations and returned to both Houses of Congress for ratification of the final version.

Once the bill is ratified, its final version will be sent for President Rodrigo Duterte for signature.

Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Continue Reading

Photo Credit: ironman.com

THE Century Tuna Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay Philippines continues to draw not only a stellar international cast but also another chief backer in Big Boss Cement (BBC) when it marks its fifth staging on June 2 in Subic Bay.

A new player in the industry specializing in production of environment-friendly cement in the country, Big Boss Cement comes in as the event’s presenter at a time when local triathlon is enjoying tremendous boom with top-notch endurance races held regularly across the country the last decade or so.

Sunrise Events Inc., organizer of the biggest, premier triathlon races in the land, recently inked a four-year pact with Big Boss Cement as presenting sponsor of the CT Ironman 70.3 up to 2022.

“The growth of triathlon in the country has considerably increased over the past few years. With Big Boss Cement’s support, we are assured of the sport’s continued advancement in line with our commitment to promote a healthy lifestyle among Filipinos,” SEI General Manager Princess Galura said.

“Big Boss Cement represents innovation and environment conservation by producing super strong premier cement that is eco-friendly,” said BBC Vice President and long-time triathlete Ishmael Ordoñez. “The CT Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay will be a test of human endurance but to be enjoyed in the surrounding nature which Big Boss Cement aspires to preserve through its products.”

Source: businessmirror.com.ph

Continue Reading

By: Tonette Orejas

DANGEROUS PATH The road leading to Barangay Diaz in Porac, Pampanga, is accessible only by motorcycles and carabaos. The upland village is prone to landslides, prompting environment officials to recommend the relocation of Aeta families living there after a strong earthquake hit the province last month. —PHOTO COURTESY OF MGB CENTRAL LUZON

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Some 260 Aeta families have been advised to permanently move out of harm’s way as the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) tagged their villages as prone to landslides after the 6.1-magnitude earthquake on April 22.

Noel Lacadin, chief geologist of MGB in Central Luzon, recommended that Sitio Tagak at Barangay Nabuklod in Floridablanca town and Barangay Diaz in Porac town be considered “no habitation zone.”

“Severe ground shaking occurred [in the villages],” Lacadin told the Inquirer on Wednesday.

Hazards assessment

Both villages are within the 10-kilometer radius of Mt. Pinatubo, which last erupted on June 15, 1991 after a strong earthquake in July 1990.

Lacadin said he issued a landslide threat advisory to the local governments after the MGB and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology conducted hazards assessments following the April 22 temblor.

Porac Mayor Condralito dela Cruz said 110 Aeta families from Barangay Diaz had moved to Barangay Babo Pangulo and then to Sitio Pangaralan there, about 3 kilometers away.

“They refused to return to Diaz. They claimed seeing a family buried by the landslide,” De la Cruz said.

Lacadin said cracks already formed on the only road in Barangay Diaz. The 150 Aeta families in Tagak refused to leave their village, opting to build sheds as they awaited relocation, according to Roberto Delgado, head of the local disaster risk reduction and management office.

A signboard has been put up in Tagak to remind the indigenous folk that the place is highly prone to landslides, Delgado said.

QUAKE DAMAGE An Aeta resident in Floridablanca, Pampanga, checks his house after it crumbled when a 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck in April. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Evacuation assistance

The Philippine Air Force at Basa Air Base in Barangay San Jose is on standby for evacuation assistance.

The provincial government has negotiated to buy a 28,000-square-meter land as a relocation site for the displaced Aetas, according to Angelina Blanco, executive officer of the Pampanga Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.

The Aetas of Mt. Pinatubo used to roam the Zambales mountain range, changing abode after a death, illness or bad luck in the family or clan.

Lacadin confirmed that damming or ponding of water has occurred at a tributary of the Porac-Gumain River on the side of San Marcelino town in Zambales province. The water could flow toward Floridablanca should it burst open.

Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Continue Reading