Miriam challenges Enrile to debate

BY PRINCE GOLEZ Manila Reporter

MANILA – Feisty Ilongga senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago has had enough of being called names by the allies of 89-year-old Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.

Santiago said Enrile’s camp should stop criticizing her for the statement she made on the possibility of Senate leadership change in the next Congress.

“His so-called friends in the Senate should stop talking in his defense. He (Enrile) should have defended himself and come face me. We’ll debate,” the International Criminal Court judge said.

Earlier, Santiago said Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and senators Franklin Drilon, Teofisto “TG” Guingona III and Serge Osmeña could replace the veteran lawmaker as Senate President.

“They have to stop calling me names. I am not the one who invented this development. I am only just sending a message. I am only a messenger. Why kill the messenger,” she added.

Santiago judge further said the final tallies in the recently concluded senatorial elections reflect that majority of the Filipinos would support the thrusts of the Aquino administration.

“The administration coalition would get majority control in the Senate. And, it is impossible that those nine new senators who ran under the administration’s Team PNoy would not approve of or vote for the President’s choice for Senate presidency,” Santiago stressed.

She also claimed President Benigno Aquino III no longer trusts Enrile as he failed to support his priority bills – the Reproductive Health Bill and the Sin Tax Reform Bill.

She previously said the “timeline” of Enrile as Senate President would “grow shorter” if the above-mentioned bills were not passed in the Senate.

The bills were indeed passed but Enrile did not support them./PN

Only 15% of overseas Pinoys voted in mid-term elections

BY PRINCE GOLEZ Manila Reporter

MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) have been urged to explain the low voter turnout in overseas absentee voting during the recent mid-term elections.

Out of 737,759 registered Filipino voters abroad, only 113,209 exercised their right to vote, government data showed.

In 2010, the actual number of voters that participated in the elections totaled 153,323.

September last year, the Aquino administration increased the budget allocation for the implementation of the overseas absentee voting law so that more Filipinos abroad could take part in the elections.

Some P105.038 million and P44 million had been allocated for the Commission on Elections and DFA, respectively, for the implementation of the absentee voting law this year.

“I deplore the dismal implementation of the absentee voting law in the just-concluded mid-term elections. Why,” said Senate finance committee chairman Franklin Drilon, one of the principal authors of the law.

The 2013 overseas absentee voting turnout was way below the already low 26 percent overseas absentee voting turnout in the last presidential elections, Drilon said.

“When we crafted the law, we wanted to empower overseas Filipino workers in the hope that at least they can influence the results of the elections by electing qualified leaders,” Drilon explained./PN

De facto embassy in Taiwan under tight security

By SAMMY JULIAN Manila News Bureau Chief

MANILA – Amid threats of harassment and attacks by Taiwanese angry over the fatal shooting of one of their fishermen by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on May 9, Taipei's police department, particularly those in charge of diplomatic security, have provided 24-hour security to the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO).

According to MECO Executive Director Antonio Basilio, Taiwan's law enforcement authorities have already detailed police officers to secure the premises of the Philippines' representative office in Taipei.

Basilio also disclosed that they requested for additional police patrols in areas frequented by Filipinos.

MECO has also taken steps to ensure the safety of Filipinos in Taiwan.

“We have issued an advisory and also set up 24-hour emergency hotlines," Basilio said. “We have advised our kababayans to be aware of the potential risks, to not draw attention by being raucous, not to go out if not necessary, and to explain to their employers what is happening.”

In addition, the Philippine diplomat said they have been going to places where Filipinos congregate and that MECO staff have been briefing them on the situation.

People from Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs have also been going around the places where Filipinos gather to assure them of their safety, said Basilio.

“Ordinary Taiwanese citizens are not violent,” he clarified. “But there are gangs who have preyed on foreigners and they make take the current environment as a license to attack Filipinos, which is what happened in the cases that we have so far.”

To ease the current tension between the two countries, Basilio said everyone should refrain from making statements “which does not help cool down the situation.”

Aside from keeping the lines of communications open, he stressed that the government should speak with one voice “so there are no conflicting statements that confuse the public and the media and negate the purpose.”

“The feelings of the family of the slain fisherman are also crucial,” he emphasized. “I have visited the widow to convey sympathy and apology for the loss of life.”

According to Basilio, in Taiwanese culture, “no matter who is at fault, when someone loses his life, apology and compensation are offered.”

“The conflict is in Philippine legal parlance, apology infers admission of culpability,” he pointed out.

Basilio said public anger cannot be underestimated particularly since, in this case, it is “fed by heavy media coverage that tends to highlight the negative.”

“So we have to appeal to everyone to be circumspect in their public utterances, particularly government officials and the media,” he stated. “Everything that is said here and appears in the papers are picked up by the Taiwanese media.”

“They (Taiwanese) spend hours poring over written statements or articles and so one must be careful in what they put on paper,” Basilio added even as he noted that some public officials have already called for calm and sobriety. “We have come across bloggers who have also appealed for rational and thoughtful discernment.”/PN

Bill seeks social security for spa workers, etc.

BY PRINCE GOLEZ Manila Reporter

MANILA – A party-list is proposing for the inclusion of barbers, beauticians, masseurs/masseuses, fitness trainers and dieticians, among others, in the coverage of the Social Security System (SSS).

House Bill 1558 authored by Cong. Raymond Democrito Mendoza of the Trade Union Congress Party calls for the removal of the above-mentioned workers from the definition of “self-employed” under the SSS law.

He cited Section 18, Article II of the 1987 Constitution which “affirms labor as a primary social economic force” and mandates the State to “protect the rights of workers and promote their welfare.”

According to Mendoza, the social security of workers in wellness centers, beauty and grooming salons, fitness gyms, spas and massage parlors and other interrelated services should always be protected and promoted.

“The services of these persons are merely outsourced by the wellness centers. In other words, they are not employed but are treated as independent contractors,” Mendoza said.

The representative stressed that paying the entire SSS membership dues is expensive for such persons, which in turn, leads to the discontinuation of payment.

“They lease the facilities of the centers and bring their own set of clients there. Their compensation is based on a per head basis. They earn a commission or share in the payment due from their clients. They are not required to observe office hours or report to the company everyday,” Mendoza said./PN