After marathon hearings in the past few weeks, the Senate approved on third and final reading today the proposed national budget for 2009, dubbed by government as its “fiscal stimulus package” for next year.
This year’s budget represents an increase of 188.3 billion or 15.35 percent over the current year’s adjusted budget, said Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. “We imposed no cuts on the President’s budget proposal of 1.415 trillion, but we made certain realignments within agencies,” added Enrile who served as concurrent chairman of the Committee on Finance.
Under the proposed General Appropriations Act for 2009, the Department of Education received the highest allocation of 154.73 billion, followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways at 112.34 billion.
The Department of Agrarian Reform got 9.06 billion; 12.02 billion for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; and 27.2 billion for the Department of Health. The budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development also increased to 10.1 billion for poverty alleviation programs.
During the Senate budget hearings, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya explained that the reason why budget allocations for these agencies were significantly increased was to stimulate job creation and other livelihood programs in the face of the global financial meltdown expected to hit the national economy early next year.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) received a 3.6 billion allocation, which is up by 55.9 percent from 2008 budget. A substantial increase is allocated for this department, particularly for the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Program (AFMP), to provide for research and development needs of various State universities and colleges that specialize in agriculture and related courses, Enrile said.
The Senate President noted that the Finance Committee earmarked 122 million out of the DA budget under the AFMP.
The increase in the budget for research and development in agriculture would be more beneficial to the farmers and to the country's agriculture sector," said Senator Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate Finance sub-committee C that tackled the budget of the Department of Agriculture. He added that the areas that need further research are high value crops, biotechnology, biofuels, and livestock genetic upgrading.
New special provisions in the proposed 2009 budget include the establishment of computer database for Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, hiring of new teachers with majors in mathematics, sciences, and English, and the use of modern housing technologies and materials by shelter agencies.
The general provisions stipulate that allocations for science and technology research shall be primarily geared towards food production, renewable energy, health, and job creation, and shall be released only upon the recommendation of the Department of Science and Technology, Enrile explained.
“We are very positive that this budget would be an indispensable tool that would help the people in dealing with the economic crisis that afflicts our country”, Enrile added. ###
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Session Reopens Tomorrow: Budget Remains the Main Agenda
The Senate will resume its session tomorrow, January 19, with the approval of the 2009 budget as its main agenda. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile expressed optimism that the budget approved within the month as the bicameral conference committee is set to convene next week the Senate and the House versions of the budget.
“We will push for the approval of the budget so that the projects will be implemented early for the people's benefit,” the Senate President said.
The Bicameral Conference Committee has had difficulty reconciling the House and Senate versions of the P1.415-trillion budget bill because of the Economic Stimulus Fund. Nevertheless, the Committee had agreed to increase its budget from P10 billion to P50 billion.
“This 50-Million Fund is meant to enable the country to cope with the global economic crunch and not intended to be a source of pork barrel. This would be sourced from the cut in debt servicing and not from cuts in the individual budget of government agencies,” Senator Edgardo Angara said. The Fund includes Reintegration Assistance for Returning Overseas Workers, a Rural Micro Enterprise Program, Livelihood Projects, environmental protection, Skills Development Training and an Agricultural Support Fund.
“Despite the marathon hearings for the early approval of the 2009 budget, the Senate had faithfully complied with its responsibility of passing significant measures that will be of great benefit to our people,” added Enrile.
Before the adjournment for a month-long Christmas break, the Senate passed several bills such as the National Tourism Act of 2008 which aims to provide the Filipinos with much-needed job opportunities in our country; the Involuntary Disappearance Bill which imposes stricter penalties for those who commit the act of enforced or involuntary disappearance; and the Child Pornography Act which prohibits child pornography and imposes stricter penalties and imprisonment for those who committed the act.
The primary agenda is the approval of the 2009 National Budget by the President. Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel commented that the delay in the budget approval could be avoided if Malacañang would submit the General Appropriations to Congress earlier than July. This, he said, will shorten the budget deliberations by six months.
Before the adjournment for a month-long Christmas break, the Senate passed several bills such as the National Tourism Act of 2008 which aims to provide the Filipinos with much-needed job opportunities in our country; the Involuntary Disappearance Bill which imposes stricter penalties for those who commit the act of enforced or involuntary disappearance; and the Child Pornography Act which prohibits child pornography and imposes stricter penalties and imprisonment for those who committed the act.
“Despite the marathon hearings for the early approval of the 2009 budget, the Senate had faithfully complied with its responsibility of passing significant measures that will be of great benefit to our people,” declared Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
On the other hand, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri believed that the economic measures in the Senate agenda will help the people face the global economic meltdown which may result in job losses and decreased remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers.
However, the 2009 budget is currently at issue for reducing the budgets of the 21 state universities while tremendously increasing the budget of the University of the Philippines (UP), and for allocating P50 million for the Economic Stimulus Fund, which is known to be the biggest insertion by the Senate in the 2009 budget.
UP, the country’s premier state university, received the biggest increase of P362 million from the Senate that raised its 2009 budget to P6.8 billion. Reports said that UP’s subsidy next year is equivalent to the combined budgets of 47 state colleges and universities from the Ilocos Region, the Cordilleras, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, all the way down to Southern Tagalog and the Bicol Region.
Zubiri has lined up the following measures in the legislative agenda: the Baseline Bill, the Tourism Development Bill, the Anti-Child Pornography Law, and the Foster Care for Abandoned Children, which are all scheduled for bicameral conference committee; the Magna Carta for Women; the bill increasing the maximum deposit insurance coverage of PDIC; the Picture-Based Warnings on Tobacco Products; the Amendment to the PAG-IBIG Fund Charter; Amendment to the CARP Law; the Creation of the Climate Change Commission; the exemption of Senior Citizens from VAT; and the AFP Retirement and Disability Benefits.
###
“We will push for the approval of the budget so that the projects will be implemented early for the people's benefit,” the Senate President said.
The Bicameral Conference Committee has had difficulty reconciling the House and Senate versions of the P1.415-trillion budget bill because of the Economic Stimulus Fund. Nevertheless, the Committee had agreed to increase its budget from P10 billion to P50 billion.
“This 50-Million Fund is meant to enable the country to cope with the global economic crunch and not intended to be a source of pork barrel. This would be sourced from the cut in debt servicing and not from cuts in the individual budget of government agencies,” Senator Edgardo Angara said. The Fund includes Reintegration Assistance for Returning Overseas Workers, a Rural Micro Enterprise Program, Livelihood Projects, environmental protection, Skills Development Training and an Agricultural Support Fund.
“Despite the marathon hearings for the early approval of the 2009 budget, the Senate had faithfully complied with its responsibility of passing significant measures that will be of great benefit to our people,” added Enrile.
Before the adjournment for a month-long Christmas break, the Senate passed several bills such as the National Tourism Act of 2008 which aims to provide the Filipinos with much-needed job opportunities in our country; the Involuntary Disappearance Bill which imposes stricter penalties for those who commit the act of enforced or involuntary disappearance; and the Child Pornography Act which prohibits child pornography and imposes stricter penalties and imprisonment for those who committed the act.
The primary agenda is the approval of the 2009 National Budget by the President. Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel commented that the delay in the budget approval could be avoided if Malacañang would submit the General Appropriations to Congress earlier than July. This, he said, will shorten the budget deliberations by six months.
Before the adjournment for a month-long Christmas break, the Senate passed several bills such as the National Tourism Act of 2008 which aims to provide the Filipinos with much-needed job opportunities in our country; the Involuntary Disappearance Bill which imposes stricter penalties for those who commit the act of enforced or involuntary disappearance; and the Child Pornography Act which prohibits child pornography and imposes stricter penalties and imprisonment for those who committed the act.
“Despite the marathon hearings for the early approval of the 2009 budget, the Senate had faithfully complied with its responsibility of passing significant measures that will be of great benefit to our people,” declared Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
On the other hand, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri believed that the economic measures in the Senate agenda will help the people face the global economic meltdown which may result in job losses and decreased remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers.
However, the 2009 budget is currently at issue for reducing the budgets of the 21 state universities while tremendously increasing the budget of the University of the Philippines (UP), and for allocating P50 million for the Economic Stimulus Fund, which is known to be the biggest insertion by the Senate in the 2009 budget.
UP, the country’s premier state university, received the biggest increase of P362 million from the Senate that raised its 2009 budget to P6.8 billion. Reports said that UP’s subsidy next year is equivalent to the combined budgets of 47 state colleges and universities from the Ilocos Region, the Cordilleras, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, all the way down to Southern Tagalog and the Bicol Region.
Zubiri has lined up the following measures in the legislative agenda: the Baseline Bill, the Tourism Development Bill, the Anti-Child Pornography Law, and the Foster Care for Abandoned Children, which are all scheduled for bicameral conference committee; the Magna Carta for Women; the bill increasing the maximum deposit insurance coverage of PDIC; the Picture-Based Warnings on Tobacco Products; the Amendment to the PAG-IBIG Fund Charter; Amendment to the CARP Law; the Creation of the Climate Change Commission; the exemption of Senior Citizens from VAT; and the AFP Retirement and Disability Benefits.
###
Bundy Robots
Youngblood: Bundy robots
By N.L. Pardo
Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 01:33:00 06/26/2008
Upon arriving at the workplace, before they eat lunch, and before they leave for home, employees line up in front of a mechanical timepiece that tracks the hours they have worked. This is an everyday scene in every office anywhere in the world, and the government agency where I work is not an exemption. At the end of every working day, we prepare to leave early and hastily line up in front of the biometric machine. We are excited to go home, enjoy a good dinner, and get some sleep. My officemates, mostly parents, long for the hugs and kisses of their children at the end of a tiring day. But before we can enjoy the pleasures of coming home, we have to put some extra time lining up before the stupid machine. Those who want to get home early, line up early.
This stupid machine is known as a bundy clock. It is said to be named after a jeweler in New York, who invented it. A few years later after it was invented, the clock began to be mass produced. Then it started to move away from the mechanical version to a computer-based, time-tracking system.
Today, relatives of that machine proliferate. One is the magnetic card that needs to be swiped in a machine. Another is a biometric clock that scans fingerprints. The machine may now come in many forms, but what has not changed is that it is an instrument for control of employees. I am sure that if the machine were a living thing, it would swell with pride for having god-like powers. It enslaves and debases employees who are compelled to start and end their day by pressing their fingers to a scanner that logs the precise time of their arrival or departure.
They say that the machine streamlines payroll operations by providing the timekeeper with official records of the hours worked for easier computation. I say that the system of clocking in and out is demeaning because it is based in mistrust. It is a bureaucratic intrusion on professionals who should have the freedom to put in extra time on work assignments they love doing and enjoy a little flexibility regarding their work hours.
Recently, I came across a newspaper ad inviting company managers to a symposium on how to spot creative employees. I think picking creative individuals among job applicants is quite easy. What is difficult is maintaining the creativity of the hired employees. And in this regard, scrapping the system of clocking in and out would help greatly.
Why? Because a creative workforce is not one that punches in and punches out. The system transforms creative employees into robots. Slowly, they become mechanical devices that operate automatically and perform boring jobs. They execute tasks by following a set of instructions that specifies exactly what they must do to complete the job. Little by little, their minds become used to routine and eventually they will lose their imagination.
I do not intend to be trapped in this system. I want to have a business of my own and work at my own pace. I want the little creativity that I have to develop. More importantly, I want to spend ample time with the family I will soon have. I don’t want to leave my children under the care of a nanny, and I don’t want to miss any single detail in their life as they grow up. I guess everyone wants the same thing, because nobody wants to be a robot.
N.L. Pardo, 21, plans to put up a business someday with M, her partner.
By N.L. Pardo
Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 01:33:00 06/26/2008
Upon arriving at the workplace, before they eat lunch, and before they leave for home, employees line up in front of a mechanical timepiece that tracks the hours they have worked. This is an everyday scene in every office anywhere in the world, and the government agency where I work is not an exemption. At the end of every working day, we prepare to leave early and hastily line up in front of the biometric machine. We are excited to go home, enjoy a good dinner, and get some sleep. My officemates, mostly parents, long for the hugs and kisses of their children at the end of a tiring day. But before we can enjoy the pleasures of coming home, we have to put some extra time lining up before the stupid machine. Those who want to get home early, line up early.
This stupid machine is known as a bundy clock. It is said to be named after a jeweler in New York, who invented it. A few years later after it was invented, the clock began to be mass produced. Then it started to move away from the mechanical version to a computer-based, time-tracking system.
Today, relatives of that machine proliferate. One is the magnetic card that needs to be swiped in a machine. Another is a biometric clock that scans fingerprints. The machine may now come in many forms, but what has not changed is that it is an instrument for control of employees. I am sure that if the machine were a living thing, it would swell with pride for having god-like powers. It enslaves and debases employees who are compelled to start and end their day by pressing their fingers to a scanner that logs the precise time of their arrival or departure.
They say that the machine streamlines payroll operations by providing the timekeeper with official records of the hours worked for easier computation. I say that the system of clocking in and out is demeaning because it is based in mistrust. It is a bureaucratic intrusion on professionals who should have the freedom to put in extra time on work assignments they love doing and enjoy a little flexibility regarding their work hours.
Recently, I came across a newspaper ad inviting company managers to a symposium on how to spot creative employees. I think picking creative individuals among job applicants is quite easy. What is difficult is maintaining the creativity of the hired employees. And in this regard, scrapping the system of clocking in and out would help greatly.
Why? Because a creative workforce is not one that punches in and punches out. The system transforms creative employees into robots. Slowly, they become mechanical devices that operate automatically and perform boring jobs. They execute tasks by following a set of instructions that specifies exactly what they must do to complete the job. Little by little, their minds become used to routine and eventually they will lose their imagination.
I do not intend to be trapped in this system. I want to have a business of my own and work at my own pace. I want the little creativity that I have to develop. More importantly, I want to spend ample time with the family I will soon have. I don’t want to leave my children under the care of a nanny, and I don’t want to miss any single detail in their life as they grow up. I guess everyone wants the same thing, because nobody wants to be a robot.
N.L. Pardo, 21, plans to put up a business someday with M, her partner.
Cheaters
Inquirer Opinion / Columns
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=74802
Youngblood : Cheaters
Inquirer
Posted date: July 04, 2007
ANOTHER WORKING DAY HAD ENDED. I LEFT THE office at past six in the evening, which was later than usual. Since I moved in here to my new job, I usually step out of the building as the clock strikes six.
I must say that that day was different, not only because I left the office later than I used to but because I felt lethargic and frustrated. I was exhausted from the day’s work, and frustrated because I was supposed to get my salary (which was two days delayed) but still didn’t have it in my hands at the end of the working day. The accountant promised to pay me the next day, which meant I had to wait one more day to pay my tuition in full.
Adding to my frustration was the difficulty of getting a ride on a bus. After waiting for nearly an hour along the sidewalk of Gil Puyat Avenue, I made up my mind to take the next bus that would stop even if it was full.
Five minutes passed before a bus finally stopped. Just as I imagined, it was awfully jam-packed. But desperate to go home and get some rest, I got on the bus and found myself being choked inside it. It was so crowded that I could smell the vinegary stink of the man standing radically close to me. The driver seemed insensitive and greedy, stopping to pick up more passengers even if there was no more room inside the bus.
One man blurted out in protest, “Ganito pala ang feeling ng mga sardinas sa loob ng lata(So this is how sardines feel inside a can)! ” The sarcasm made me smirk.
It was just a 30-minute trip to LRT Buendia, but the fatigue I felt made it seem as if I had traveled all the way home to Bicol. Passengers who went on and off the bus always seemed to bump into me. At every stop where new passengers got in, the conductor kept reminding us, “Sa mga hindi pa po nagbabayad, kung maaari lamang ay magbayad na (To those who haven’t paid their fare, please pay now).”
Since he was hemmed in by passengers, he could not track who had paid and who had not paid their fare. There were some passengers who got on and off the bus without paying, just like the two men who were standing next to me. May God bless their conscience. And may He bless mine, too, for like them, I did not pay the fare.
It was not until I started walking toward the train station that I realized that what I did was unbelievable and completely wrong. Why unbelievable? Because I never imagined myself doing something like that. I hate thieves, cheaters and everyone who does crooked things. And here I was doing the same thing, and making me one of them. That simple act of dishonesty made me one of the people I abhor.
As I was going up to the LRT station, my disgust continued to grow. I began formulating reasons for my own defense: I was just not myself at that very moment; what I did was only fair because I was standing the whole time; the heaving passengers made it impossible for me to reach for my coin purse inside my bag. I kept trying to make up many reasons, but all of them were unsound and invalid.
I found it hard to accept that such act made me no different from candidates for public office who steal votes and cheat their way to their positions. And then when they get what they want, they keep on cheating the people by acting as if they are serving them when in fact they are just serving their own interests.
Just like what I did: I had gotten off the bus acting coolly and walked away like someone who had paid his fare. That was clear proof that I was a cheater.
I was still trying hard to justify my dirty little act, when a train stopped. As I went in, I told myself “All right, I give up.” Then I acknowledged to myself that it was all my fault. I was unfair. I had stolen from somebody. I had cheated. I had not given the driver and the conductor what I ought to and what they deserved.
I fervently hope our politicians will feel the same: that they will realize and admit their faults and give the people what is their due. I pray that they will not put into their pockets what they do not own, and that they will not steal votes for that is like stealing people’s souls, which is far worse than stealing their money.
As I got off the train, I promised never to repeat what I had done. That single act of dishonesty compromised my integrity and diminished my self-respect, and I do not want to lose them all.
Natalie Pardo, 20, is a BA Communication Arts graduate of the University of the Philippine Los Baños and works as an executive assistant in a gaming company.
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©Copyright 2001-2009 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=74802
Youngblood : Cheaters
Inquirer
Posted date: July 04, 2007
ANOTHER WORKING DAY HAD ENDED. I LEFT THE office at past six in the evening, which was later than usual. Since I moved in here to my new job, I usually step out of the building as the clock strikes six.
I must say that that day was different, not only because I left the office later than I used to but because I felt lethargic and frustrated. I was exhausted from the day’s work, and frustrated because I was supposed to get my salary (which was two days delayed) but still didn’t have it in my hands at the end of the working day. The accountant promised to pay me the next day, which meant I had to wait one more day to pay my tuition in full.
Adding to my frustration was the difficulty of getting a ride on a bus. After waiting for nearly an hour along the sidewalk of Gil Puyat Avenue, I made up my mind to take the next bus that would stop even if it was full.
Five minutes passed before a bus finally stopped. Just as I imagined, it was awfully jam-packed. But desperate to go home and get some rest, I got on the bus and found myself being choked inside it. It was so crowded that I could smell the vinegary stink of the man standing radically close to me. The driver seemed insensitive and greedy, stopping to pick up more passengers even if there was no more room inside the bus.
One man blurted out in protest, “Ganito pala ang feeling ng mga sardinas sa loob ng lata(So this is how sardines feel inside a can)! ” The sarcasm made me smirk.
It was just a 30-minute trip to LRT Buendia, but the fatigue I felt made it seem as if I had traveled all the way home to Bicol. Passengers who went on and off the bus always seemed to bump into me. At every stop where new passengers got in, the conductor kept reminding us, “Sa mga hindi pa po nagbabayad, kung maaari lamang ay magbayad na (To those who haven’t paid their fare, please pay now).”
Since he was hemmed in by passengers, he could not track who had paid and who had not paid their fare. There were some passengers who got on and off the bus without paying, just like the two men who were standing next to me. May God bless their conscience. And may He bless mine, too, for like them, I did not pay the fare.
It was not until I started walking toward the train station that I realized that what I did was unbelievable and completely wrong. Why unbelievable? Because I never imagined myself doing something like that. I hate thieves, cheaters and everyone who does crooked things. And here I was doing the same thing, and making me one of them. That simple act of dishonesty made me one of the people I abhor.
As I was going up to the LRT station, my disgust continued to grow. I began formulating reasons for my own defense: I was just not myself at that very moment; what I did was only fair because I was standing the whole time; the heaving passengers made it impossible for me to reach for my coin purse inside my bag. I kept trying to make up many reasons, but all of them were unsound and invalid.
I found it hard to accept that such act made me no different from candidates for public office who steal votes and cheat their way to their positions. And then when they get what they want, they keep on cheating the people by acting as if they are serving them when in fact they are just serving their own interests.
Just like what I did: I had gotten off the bus acting coolly and walked away like someone who had paid his fare. That was clear proof that I was a cheater.
I was still trying hard to justify my dirty little act, when a train stopped. As I went in, I told myself “All right, I give up.” Then I acknowledged to myself that it was all my fault. I was unfair. I had stolen from somebody. I had cheated. I had not given the driver and the conductor what I ought to and what they deserved.
I fervently hope our politicians will feel the same: that they will realize and admit their faults and give the people what is their due. I pray that they will not put into their pockets what they do not own, and that they will not steal votes for that is like stealing people’s souls, which is far worse than stealing their money.
As I got off the train, I promised never to repeat what I had done. That single act of dishonesty compromised my integrity and diminished my self-respect, and I do not want to lose them all.
Natalie Pardo, 20, is a BA Communication Arts graduate of the University of the Philippine Los Baños and works as an executive assistant in a gaming company.
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