News Front

Title

News Front

Language

English

Year

1969

Subject

Philippines-News

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

News on the achievements of the Philippine government.

Fulltext

AID TO FISHERMEN The government is constructing 17 ice and cold storage plants in strategic fishing ports of the country, according to Vice President and Secretary of Agriculture Fernando Lopez. With the establishment of these plants, some P50 million worth of spoiled LOPEz fish is expected to be ·s llVed for the fishing industry each year. SSS DRIVE The Social Security System plans to undertake a massive drive to ferret out employers whQ have been deliberately withholding premium payments to the SSS. Reports said that out of some two million SSS members in the labor force only about one million are paying their premium payments. The SSS management says that most employers are not remitting to the System the premiums which they deduct from the salaries of their employes. SPECIAL SESSION The Congress is scheduled to go into another special session next week as the opposition succeeded in sidetracking vital measures, including the national budget. Senator Dominador Aytona, chairman of the Senate committee on finance and sponsor of the budget, deplored what he called the LiA Y.TONA berals' "filibustering" that prevented the passage of the budget and thereby forced the calling- of a_ n extra meet. Aytona also said that this would mean an additional expendi-· ture of Pl.5 million and "the Liberal senators should be made ~ccountable to the people for this wasteful expenditure." FARM DEVELOPMENT A new twist in farm development-the supervised credit--is being pursued by the government, according to Vice President and Agriculture Secretary Fernando Lopez. For this purpose, he said, the Development Bank of the Philippines has programmed P240 million. The measure is initiated by the Rice and Com Production Coordinating Council and is being undertaken with the cooperation of government and rural banks. CAR FACTORY IN ILIGAN The Fiat automobile manufacturing concern of Italy is planning to put up an automobile plant in Iligan C:ity, together with a big Philippine company. It is believed that such an ambitious project to manufacture cars locally instead of importing knocked-down units and assembling them would have far reaching effects on the Philippine industrialization program. LP CANDIDATES Senator Genaro Magsaysay has announced his bid for the LP nomination as presidential candidate last May 21 barely three days after he bolted the N acionalista Party to join the Liberals. Magsaysay's announcement has finally put an end to speculations on his political plans in the coming elections. The senator had earlier said that he was joining the Liberal Party "with no strings attached." DOLLARS FOR RP The so-called Marcos dollar remittance program has netted some $5 million as of the week ending May 25. The dollars remitted through the Philippine National Bank represented the dollar equivalent of peso requirements of the American government in procuring supplies and equipment in the country. PNB officials estimate that the rate of dollar income from this specific source would be at the level of $5 million every two weeks. LAND REFORM President Marcos has declared 64 municipalities in Central Luzon including all towns in Tarlac as land reform areas. The inclusion of the entire province of Tarlac is an answer to the demand of the farmers of the province who threatened to march to Malacaiiang sometime ago. The President has MARCOS simultaneously directed the budget commission to release P30 million to buy up the lands for distribution to the farmers. ELECTRICITY FOR BARRIOS A bill filed by Senator Emmanuel Pelaez and fully endorsed by President Marcos plans to provide electric power to the barrios all over the country through the cooperative way. The bill seeks to declare it a national policy that to_____ _, tal electrification be PELAEZ given the highest priority in implementation and that dt should be given "continued support" by the government. BOI APPROVES MORE PROJECTS As of April 30, the cut-off date for the first IPP, a total of 191 applications were received by the Board of Investments, 167 of which have been approved for registration. Of the remaining 84 applications, 25 were either withdrawn or abandoned by proponents while the rest are in various stages of evaluation by the . BOI technical staff. The projects of the following firms were approved in April: Philite Industrial Parts, Inc., Philex Mining Corporation, Matalin Coconut Co., Inc., Fil-~astem Wood Industries, Inc., and the Misamis Lumber Co., Inc. PUYAT PREDICTS NP WIN Senate President Gil J. Puyat predicted that President Marcos and the Nacionalista Party would win the national elections in November. Speaking on his arrival in Hongkong this weekend, Puyat said that his party (Nacionalista) is "predominantly in control," with 17 senators out of 24 and 36 governors out of 56. Judging from average reactions, he said, the administration of President Marcos is doing quite well. BILL FOR NEW VOTERS Senator Arturo Tolentino filed a bill in Congress that seeks to remove the time limit on the period of registration for new voters. The bill will eliminate the disqualification of new vot'ers from voting as a result of their failure to register within 60 days after reaching the age of 21. According TOLENTINO to Comelec Chairman Manuel Arranz the approval of the bill will open the door for the registration of every qualified 21-year old citizen for the coming November elections. THE PHILIPPINE MAGAZINE I MAY 31, 1969 I PAGE 11

Date Issued

1(8) May 31, 1969

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