Big business

Another billion-peso illegal operation is the mining of black sand or magnetite along the northern coastline of Cagayan and also parts of Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, which has been going on for more than 10 years.

Malacañang has appointed Manuel Mamba, Presidential Legislative Liaison Officer as head of a task force to go after illegal black sand mining operations.

To the credit of Governor Manuel Ortega, he has not allowed black sand mining in La Union.

Illegal logging, illegal mining, and now illegal black sand mining is all over the country.

What is DENR Secretary Ramon Paje doing?          

The Regional and Provincial Directors of DENR are tasked to stop this illegal black sand mining operation. Why have the governors and  mayors kept a blind eye to this environmentally damaging operation? The same is true of illegal quarrying.

2nd deadly blast

After Cagayan de Oro, another bomb blast hit a major Mindanao City: Cotabato, 9 persons died, while 40 were wounded when a car bomb on a parked multicab was set off as a Mayor’s convoy was passing.

This incident is more serious because it is a car bomb, not an ordinary IED. What is problematical is that limited and inefficient government forces do not have enough intelligence personnel to prevent more bombings in Mindanao.

Davao City has set the good example of local government and police taking concrete steps to try to prevent a bombing incident in that city. How about DILG? What’s their answer?

The twin bomb explosions in Cotabato and Cagayan De Oro can be attributed to MILF or BIFF forces as they are the only ones who have the capability to build such intricate bomb devices which can be detonated by remote control.

Unfortunately, some of the victims were school children on the way home from school.

PNP believes the Cotabato blast was a “bomb for hire” contract targeting to kill City Administrator Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi.

However, President Aquino holds the view that it is meant to disrupt the present peace process with the MILF.

Good bill

Congresswoman Rosemarie Arenas (Pangasinan, 3rd District) has refiled the OFW bill, previously authored by her daughter, Congresswoman Rachel Arenas whom she succeeded.

Congresswoman Rosemarie Arenas believes that President Aquino is admirable for doing a great job for the OFW sector. The bill is in full support of the President’s initiatives.

She is confident that under his leadership the bill will be passed into law.

The bill aims to create an OFW Department in which all related government agencies will be consolidated to take the case of OFW concerns from recruitment to reintegration. It intends to enhance the Executive’s capability to deliver one-stop service for OFWs.

Rice prices up

The Confederation of Grain Retailers Association (GRECON) has warned that the price of rice may go up by P5 per kilo.

James Magbanua, national president of Grecon warned that supply of rice in warehouses is good only to the middle of the month.

He expects prices to rise by more than P5/kilo in parts of Mindanao where floods have affected the harvest.

BOC Commissioner Ruffy Biazon must review his stand against selling smuggled rice to NFA to increase the government supply of rice.

Up to now, no concrete action has been done against rice cartels. 

Resignations rejected

The President has rejected the resignations of Customs Deputy Commissioner Danny Lim and Juan Lorenzo Tañada.

He said the measures to reorganize the Bureau of Customs will be announced in one month’s time. That means everything will be on hold at BOC for one month.

Surprisingly, Malacañang announced that the budget of the BOC for 2014 is being cut by P227 million from P2.166 billion to P1.939 billion. I would have expected an increase to add new personnel to the bureau.

It is clear now that the President himself is taking charge of the BOC revamp.

Based on the rejection of the Lim and Tañada resignations, it indicates that there will be no mass layoff of Customs personnel.

Let’s wait and see.

National confab on Legal education

The nation’s top law schools, law firms, legal experts and practitioners joined by academicians and administrators from here and abroad converge in Cebu on August 16&17 at the Radisson Blu Hotel for a long overdue high level conference on legal education.

The conference theme is “Philippine Legal Education and the Profession: Preparing Our Students for the Practice of Law and  Leadership in Society.” 

Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes P. A. Sereno, Associate Justices Arturo D. Brion and Roberto A. Abad, all long-time law professors, lead the panel of speakers at the conference.

For details, their email is [email protected]  or call (0916) 3425259.

Congratulations to the organizing committee, the Legal Education Board headed by able chair, Justice Hilarion Aquino and to the Philippine Association of Law Schools led by its hardworking President.

Close diploma mills

Congressman Roman Romulo (Pasig, Lone District), Chairman of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education has announced a plan to review the performance of 1,636 private and 227 public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).

The Committee will review the performance of the HEIs in professional licensure examinations.

Romulo said the review will enable the CHED to get rid of “diploma mills”.

CHED Executive Director Julio Vitriolo announced support for Romulo’s plan and said their campaign against diploma mills especially nursing colleges is continuous.

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TIDBITS: Senator Ralph Recto has filed Senate Bill 257 entitled the Family Care Act of 2013 seeking to grant tax exemptions to persons taking care of ailing parents or persons with disabilities. This is a good bill. It is expensive to take care of old, ailing parents, or of wards with disabilities.

Congratulations to newly-elected Congressmen Cheryl Deloso Montalla (Zambales, 2nd District), Evelina Escudero (Sorsogon, 1st District),  Lawrence Lemuel Fortun (Agusan Del Norte, 1st District), Gwendolyn Garcia (Cebu, 3rd District), Oscar Garin, Jr. (Iloilo, 1st District), Arcadio Gorriceta (Iloilo, 2nd District).