(Photo courtesy of the DA)
From the previous 25 to 30-year market presence requirement, the agency has reduced it to only 10 years to allow more manufacturers to join farm mechanization program biddings, particularly on the procurement of four-wheel tractors.
“The policy democratizes the procurement process and makes the bidding more competitive, in pursuant to the Government Procurement Reform Act or Republic Act (RA) 9184,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said.
“Further, it avoids allegations of tailor-fitting the bidding process to favor a few suppliers. It also responds to complaints of prospective bidders as the 25-year to 30-year market presence requirement has deprived them of participating in the DA farm mechanization program,” Dar added.
TAGUIG CITY, May 9 Strong enforcement measures have kept the Philippines out of the United States (US) watchlist, which flags countries with pressing concerns in intellectual property (IP) rights protection, while also successfully eliminating an allegation raised since 2019.
“We welcome the country’s continued exclusion from the US Trade Representative s (USTR) Special 301 Report, an achievement since 2014 that helps promote the Philippines as a vibrant investment place for US and other foreign businesses, Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) Director General Rowel S. Barba said. Most especially, we are pleased with the removal of the erroneous finding that our own government uses unlicensed software, a claim which we have repeatedly disproved,” Barba added.
Senator Sonny Angara
This is but one of the big questions that I think about constantly as a legislator, considering that our home, the Philippines, a low-middle income country, stills deals with abject poverty, gaping inequalities, widespread hunger and malnutrition, homelessness, and joblessness not to mention a raging pandemic.
I posed this same question during an online lecture which I delivered to graduate students of Stanford University’s Public Policy program. Noted economists and thinkers have already propounded several theories on this matter. But as I argued in the lecture, the most compelling framework is the one proposed by Harvard University’s Ricardo Hausmann and MIT’s Cesar Hidalgo on economic complexity.
Published April 30, 2021, 12:23 PM
The House Special Committee on Creative Industry and Performing Arts has launched an inquiry into the status of the implementation of various law governing architects, interior designers and other design professionals to determine legislative measures that would further support them in carrying out the demands of their profession under the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic situation.
Committee chairman and Pangasinan Rep. Christopher V.P. de Venecia has filed House Resolution No. 1668 authorizing the House panel to inquire into the implementation of Republic Act No. 9266 or the Architecture Act of 2004; RA No. 10350 or the Philippine Interior Design Act of 2021 and other laws relating to design professionals.
Sandiganbayan (MANILA BULLETIN)
Aside from Tuquero, also convicted in the decision promulgated on Oct. 9, 2020 were Sangguniang Bayan (SB) members Lourdes Alberto del Rosario, Rosario T. Mollasgo, Domingo Creer Villanueva, William Tuno Tuplano, Horacio Timola Aquino Jr., and Gomercindo Tebelin Litong.
They and former Viga Mayor Jose dela Cruz Toress were found guilty of violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in the purchase of a backhoe loader from Compressed Air Machineries Equipment Corporation (CAMEC) for P13.95 million without public bidding and with a declaration that CAMEC was the sole distributor of the equipment.
All the accused were sentenced to a prison term ranging from six years and one month to 10 years with perpetual disqualification to hold public office.