President Duterte declares Monday, May 13 a special non-working holiday for #Halalan2019 | via @arianne_merez pic.twitter.com/9ueEqcHjgu

— ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) May 9, 2019

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has declared May 13, 2019, a special non-working holiday as the nation holds the national and local elections.

Duterte signed on May 9 Proclamation No. 719 declaring May 13 a special non-working holiday to “enable the people to properly exercise their right to vote.”

Image source: justgola.com/ PTV News
Source: news.abs-cbn.com

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Photo Credit: bayambang.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines — Thousands of indigent senior citizens will receive a monthly stipend of P500 this year, one of their representatives in Congress said yesterday.

The 2019 national budget allots P23.2 billion for the stipend that will be distributed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), which also gets to qualify beneficiaries, Francisco Datol of party-list group Senior Citizen said.

“The mandate of the budget law is for the DSWD to give the P500 monthly stipend directly to each senior citizen-beneficiary or through money remittance centers accredited by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,” he said.

It also provides that no more than seven percent of the total appropriation should be spent for administrative expenses, he said.

He added that at present prices, the P500 allowance could buy 15 kilos of well-milled rice.

Datol pointed out that the money for the allowance should already be with the DSWD, since the national budget was signed almost a month ago.

He said the stipend should be paid effective January this year.

He promised to work to increase the allowance or augment it with medicine and food vouchers if his party-list group wins reelection in Monday’s balloting.

President Duterte signed the budget on April 15. He wanted it enacted in December before 2018 ended.

Months of wrangling between senators and congressmen on alleged pork barrel fund insertions delayed the enactment of the budget.

Source: philstar.com

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ANNOUNCEMENT – The Department of Education announced that the start of classes for public elementary and high school will be on June 3, 2019 (Monday).

DepEd announced earlier today (May 8, 2019 – Wednesday) the official set schedule for the opening of classes as well as the closing.

Photo Credit: depedapayao.ph

The official start of classes will be on Monday, June 3, 2019 and the official end will be on April 3, 2020. This is for the academic year 2019-2020.

DepEd also made the announcement on social media. In a Twitter post:

https://twitter.com/DepEd_PH/status/1126009323958575104

Secretary of Education Leonor Briones stated in a forwarded memorandum that the new system for this school year will be comprised of 203 school days, 5 days in-service training for teachers and 3 days for parents-teacher talks and meetings.

Private schools schedules may differ from DepEd’s imposed schedule however, Briones said that they could not officially start classes earlier than the first Monday of June or later than the last day of August.

Private schools that are looking to differ from the set schedules are required to inform their respective regional offices.

That is all there is to it, at least for now. We’ll post updates as soon as we got them.

Source: philnews.ph

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MANILA, Philippines — A group of young Filipino scientists on Sunday completed a two-week expedition to the Kalayaan Island Group in the West Philippine Sea aimed at studying the connectivity of ecosystems.

Deo Florence Onda of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute and chief scientist of the mission, described the two-week research a “success.”

The 74-member team aboard RV Kasarinlan left South Harbor last April 22 to explore marine life in the contested waters. While the institute had been doing this for years, it was extra special this time because they finally had their own research vessel.

“In terms of science, everything went well for us. For our part, we’ve proven that we can actually do it on our own. We used to be dependent on other agencies, which also have their own responsibilities. Now, we have the confidence that we can do this whenever we want and we can actually do it,” he told Inquirer.net.

The scientists have started to process the data they gathered during the expedition. It will take months up to a year before they completely make sense of the data they have collected at sea.

Divided into three teams depending on the tasks at hand, they have explored areas around Pag-asa Island, Kota and Panata Islands, Sabina Shoal and west of Palawan during the two-week expedition.

Humans and oceans

The mission, Onda said, has demonstrated the reach of human impact in the Spratlys, with plastics found near the isolated Philippine-occupied areas.

They didn’t even have to try so hard to find plastic refuse.

“We found so many of them floating along the way,” the scientist said.

Based on their observations, the trash did not come from a single place. Most of the litter found in a sandbar near Kota and Panata Islands, where plastic bottles and wrappers have drifted, bore foreign labels.

The team has collected six crates of plastic waste on their way back to Manila.

“This only emphasizes that the environmental protection of Kalayaan Island Group goes beyond territories. If you want to save the West Philippine Sea, it’s not a single country effort,” Onda said.

Microplastics, the tiny particles of plastic, were also found on Pag-asa Island, the largest occupied area of the Philippines in the contested waters. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration describe microplastics as less than 5mm in length.

“These tiny particles are ingested by small fishes, which are eaten by bigger fishes,” Onda said.

This was the first time that Filipino scientists made plastic pollution in the Spratlys as one of their focus of study.

In a two-week expedition to the Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea, Filipino scientists witnessed firsthand the human impact on the oceans. They found damaged coral reefs and plastic litter in isolated islands and reefs. / SCREENGRAB FROM DENR BMB

Broken coral reefs

The team also witnessed firsthand the extent of damage on coral reefs in Pag-asa Island, Panata Island, and Sabina Shoal.

While Onda said the ecosystem appears to be thriving, the coral reefs in the areas they checked out were not in the healthiest state.

He noted the destroyed reefs appeared to have been caused by blast fishing.

“In Sabina Shoal, the corals were not only dead but totally broken. I think it has been that way for a long time,” the scientist said.

The government recently said it is looking at the possibility of declaring parts of the West Philippine Sea as marine protected areas (MPAs) as part of their efforts to protect the environment and marine life there.

Onda commended the move but said “it may not work well” if only the Philippines would implement it.

“It should be a network of MPAs… Preserving Kalayaan Island Group is a joint effort it will never be a one country effort,” he said.

The Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan have overlapping claims in the South China Sea.

The scientist said he hopes their findings could help with the government’s policy and contribute to government efforts to declare parts of Kalayaan as marine protected area.

“That’s one of our ultimate goals, to help with legislation and policy, with management crafting. Because after we have processed the data, it ends there. How do we push through with it?” he said.

Onda is also looking forward to the possibility of discovering new species from the samples they have collected.

“The potential on new discoveries is high, especially on the seaweeds, because there are not many studies about it,” he said

The scientific mission, called Predicting Responses between Ocean Transport and Ecological Connectivity of Threatened ecosystems in the West Philippine Sea (PROTECT- WPS) is funded by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Overall, Onda said the research was a “pleasant” experience for them despite the presence of Chinese vessels.

They have observed dozens of Chinese Coast Guard and militia vessels around the Kalayaan Island Group during the two-week journey, but there were no attempts to block, harass or contact them.

“We were prepared for any untoward incident but surprisingly, it was a very pleasant experience,” he said.

Source: globalnation.inquirer.net

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Persons applying for a job for the first time won’t have to pay to get an NBI clearance, police clearance certificate, and a barangay clearance, thanks to the First Time Job Seekers Assistance Act

GETTING A JOB. Jobseekers flock a one-day job fair at the Resorts World Manila in Pasay City on May 1, 2019. Photo by Lito Borras/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – Under a new law, first-time job applicants no longer have to pay fees for government documents required for employment.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act No. 11261 or the First Time Job Seekers Assistance Act on April 10. Malacañang made it public on Tuesday, May 7.

Under the new law, national and local government entities must not collect fees from first-time job seekers when they apply for government documents needed for employment in the country or abroad.

The following government documents are covered:

• Police clearance certificate
• National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) clearance
• Barangay clearance
• Medical certificate from a public hospital (fees and charges for laboratory tests and other medical procedures will not be waived)
• Birth certificate
• Marriage certificate
• Transcript of academic records issued by state colleges and universities
• Tax Identification Number (TIN)
• Unified Multi-Purpose ID (UMID) card
• Other documentary requirements issued by the government that may be required by employers from job applicants

Exceptions

Government fees for applications to take professional licensure examinations conducted by the Professional Regulation Commission are not covered by RA 11261.

First-time job applicants must also still pay fees for application for Philippine passport authentication and application for a Career Service Examination with the Civil Service Commission.

Fees for application for a driver’s license are also not among the fees to be waived.

A job seeker can only avail of the privilege once. To monitor this, government agencies are ordered to keep a roster of all persons who have benefited from the new law.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology is to keep a database of all these individuals.

Source: rappler.com

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