Philippines-Canada Cooperation Office

The program support unit of CIDA in the Philippines

Daily News clips 

06 January 2009 (Tuesday)

ANTI-POVERTY

PGMA allots P5-billion for pro-poor program

The Arroyo administration is putting in an additional P5-billion for pro-poor program under the Department of Social Welfare and Development's Conditional Cash Transfer. According to Press Sec. Jesus Dureza the CCT will target more beneficiaries with its additional P5-bn budget. He said the Government is making sure that the funds will really go to the beneficiaries which are the poor and vulnerable. He said the program is part of Government's mobilization to face the Global economic crisis. Dureza said that the Government must take the lead and be the stimulus for more investments which are sorely needed. Read more...

DTI to assist laid-off workers in start-up biz

Trade Secretary Peter Favila said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) this year would focus on assisting those who might lose their jobs here and abroad in starting their own businesses in the country instead. “I’m convening DTI’s executive committee, regional directors and officials of DTI-attached agencies and mobilizing our people to embark on a massive development program which would help those who might be displaced from their work for any reasons start their own businesses,” he told reporters. “DTI would focus on providing livelihood and employment-generation programs,” he added. Read more...

ENVIRONMENT

DENR implements revamp

Atienza says move to ensure enforcement of environmental laws
Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Jose L. Atienza Jr. yesterday announced a revamp of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional officials, as part of the DENR’s efforts to ensure a more effective and efficient enforcement of environmental laws.

In DENR Special Order 2009-01 issued yesterday, 16 regional executive directors (RED) were transferred or retained from their current positions for the "organizational development" of the agency. Read more...

FOOD SECURITY

41,900 children benefit from Food-for-School program

Forty-nine thousand nine hundred day care children in at least 39 municipalities in Region XI have benefited from the Food for School Program, implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development. DSWD XI reported that the program is one of the successful projects handled by the department especially intended to mitigate hunger among the poor children.

Also, it has addressed the malnutrition problem in the provinces. Read more...

$1-B food security project to start soon

San Miguel and Kuok’s ‘Feeding the Future’

$1-billion food security program of Philippine beverage and food conglomerate San Miguel Corp. and Malaysia’s Kuok group will begin in the first half of the year in the southern province of Davao del Norte, where 18,494 hectares of logged-over lands have been identified for the program’s use, a government firm said.This will be the first phase of the ambitious venture dubbed “Feeding the Future,” said Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp. (PADC), which will oversee the implementation of the project together with the Department of Agriculture. Read more...

Govt names SMC-Kuok project beneficiaries

The government has identified four municipalities of Davao del Norte as initial beneficiaries of a billion-dollar food security project of food and beverage giant San Miguel Corporation and the Kuok Group of Companies, an official said. Marriz Agbon, Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corporation (PADCC) president, said the18,494-hectare over-logged areas in Davao del Norte were identified for upland agro-forestry development, which is part of the initial phase of the project Feeding the Future. The project aims to develop one million hectares of government-owned land to promote agricultural productivity and develop a sustainable food supply for the country. Read more...

GENERAL ECONOMY

P/$ rate closes at P47.16/$ 1

The peso exchange rate closed higher at P47.16 to the US dollar yesterday, the first trading day of 2009, at the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx) from P47.52, last December 24, 2008. The weighted average rate appreciated to P47.264 from P47.647 Total volume amounted to $ 486.5 million. Read more...

OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE

Foreign aid commitments fall in first nine months

The Philippines’ foreign aid commitments in the first nine months last year fell by more than a fifth due to declining pledges from the three biggest international funding sources, the National Economic and Development Authority said. Documents from socio-economic department’s Project Monitoring Staff showed that the country’s net Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments from January to September dropped by 12 percent to $7.95 billion from the $9.002 billion posted in the same period in 2007. ODA is defined as flows of official financing administered to promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries and is concessional in character with a grant element of at least 25 percent. Read more...

ODA commitments post double-digit decline

The country’s net official development assistance (ODA) commitments in the first three quarters of 2008 declined by almost 12 percent, according to data from the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). Documents from the Neda showed that net commitments for ongoing ODA projects only reached $7.948 billion from January to September 2008, down 11.71 percent from the $9.002 billion posted in the same period in 2007. As of press time, Neda officials do not have an official statement as to the reason for the decline. However, earlier, Neda Director General Ralph Recto said ODA commitments have been on the decline in the past few years and could continue in 2009 due to the global economic slowdown. Recto said the decline in ODA in 2009 is imminent considering that global ODA now only amounts to $100 billion while the stimulus package that will be released by donor countries will amount to around $5 trillion or more. Read more...

PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT

US to continue Mindanao development agenda under Obama presidency — ambassador

The United States government will continue to back the southern peace process under an Obama presidency, the US envoy has assured. "No matter who is president of the United States, we are very interested in helping Mindanao achieve its economic potentials and become a peaceful place," US Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney said in a New Year’s Day radio interview. Barack Obama, the 44^th US president, will be sworn in on Jan. 20 to replace George W. Bush.

Ms. Kenney said the US government will continue its development activities in Mindanao through the provision of health care and the building of roads, wells and bridges in poor and conflict-affected areas. Read more...

Peace talks top Cabinet agenda

Financial crisis to be tackled as well

Resuming formal peace negotiations with Moro rebels and firming up the country's defenses against the global financial turmoil top the agenda of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's first Cabinet meeting for the new year.The meeting will be held Tuesday morning in Iligan City where suspected rogue elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) exploded bombs in two shopping centers just before the yearend. Read more...

TRANSPORTATION

Fully-open NAIA 3 seen

Despite the expected decline in air travel due to the worldwide financial crisis, Philippine airport officials on Monday said they would push for full operations at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 in 2009. In his yearend report, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Alfonso Cusi said Terminal 3, which opened partially in July, was now handling about half of its designed capacity of 13 million passengers yearly. The NAIA’s three terminals comprise the main international gateway to the country. Read more...

OTHERS

RP moves to secure grant from MCC 

IN AN effort to secure a grant from Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the Philippines has fine-tuned six compact proposals for submission to the MCC Transaction Team prior to the MCC peer review process. The Millennium Challenge is a United States government corpora­tion that works with some of the poorest countries in the world to reduce global poverty by promoting sustainable economic growth, The Department of Foreign Affairs reported that the Philippines submitted the proposals after the MCA-Philippines (MCAP), led by Department of Finance and Secretary Dante Canlas of the Point of Contact (POC), held technical discussions with the MCC Transaction Team from December 1 to 5 last year. Read more...

Fewer than 1M to lose jobs due to crisis
Labor Secretary Marianito Roque on Monday belied the projections of economist Benjamin Diokno that the global economic crisis will raise the number of unemployed Filipinos to 11.4 million. At a press conference, Roque refused to make any projections on the effect of the crisis on domestic and overseas employment, saying he would rather get the actual unemployment caused by the crisis. He said his office will come out with the actual job cuts before the end of the month after tripartite consultations with industry and labor sectors. Read more...