For an uncrowded future

Title

Creator

Trinidad, Juanita G.

Language

English

Source

The Republic Volume I (No. 2) 1-15 October 1975

Year

1975

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

4 1-15 October, 1975 The N; THE REPUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM Presidential Decree (PD) 759 ap propriates Pl 8.3 billion for the develop ment of infrastructure projects all over the country. A sustained financial sup port is needed to make the national development program more effective. President Marcos has directed in the decree that in the execution and con struction of any public works project, labor requirements shall be filled by laborers from the locality where the project is being undertaken. However, skilled labor may be procured else where within the province and special ized skilled labor outside of the prov ince where the project is located. ONE HOUSING AGENCY In order to organize a mass hous ing development program, PD 757 dis solves all existing housing agencies (PHHC, PAHRA, Tondo Foreshore De velopment Authority, TEDA, CITRUS, PRECHUR) and creates the National Housing Authority (NHA) to provide and maintain adequate housing for the greatest number of people. This housing program under the new decree shall specify the priorities and targets in accordance with the in tegrated iiational human settlements plan prepared by the Human Settle ments Commission. The NHA shall un dertake housing developmen resettle ment and other activities that would provide housing for every Filipino; and harness and promote private participa tion in housing ventures in terms of cap ital expenditures, land, expertise, finan cing and other facilities for the sus tained growth of the housing industry. FREE LAND FOR INDUSTRY PD, 763 amends Section 121 of the Public Land Act, removing the restric tion that public lands acquired under the free patent, homestead or individual sale provisions can only be used for educational, charitable, religious or right of way purposes. This decree allows qualified juridical entities to acquire lands for commercial and industrial purposes. PD 763 says that “such restriction has been an obstacle to the efforts of the private sector to accelerate econo mic development”. NATIONAL POLICY ON WATER PD 198 declared as national policy the local operation and control of water systems. It authorized the formation of local water districts and chartered a national administration to facilitate im provement of local water facilities. PD 768 now amends certain provi sions of PD 198 to hasten and make more effective the implementation and administration of the program of total development and expansion of domes tic water systems. An orderly and effec tive system of local water utilities par ticularly in the area of water supply and sewerage services is a primary con cern of the government. SUB-REGIONS IN MINDANAO The system of creating administra tive regions brings the government closer to the people and encourages the participation of the people in the devel opment of their areas. Presidential De cree 742 restructured the regional or ganization of Mindanao and divided Region IX into 2 sub-regions. Amending PD 742, PD 773 dated August 21 clearly defines the composi tion and division of Region IX as fol lows: a) Region JX shall be composed of the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, TawiTawi, Zamboanga del Norte and Zam boanga del Sur, and the cities of Dapitan, Dipolog, Pagadian and Zamboanga, with Jolo as Regional Center. b) Region IX being divided into 2 sub-regions, Sub-Region IX-A will be composed of the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi. Under Sub-Region IXB are the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, the cities of Dapitan, Dipolog, Pagadian and Zam boanga. The center for Sub-Region IXB is Zamboanga City. Assistant Regional Commissioners shall be appointed for each sub-regions to assist the Regional Commissioner of Region IX. CRACK DOWN ON GAMBLING President Marcos, by issuing Presi dential Decree 771 dated August 20, declares null and void from the begin ning all permits, licenses and franchises issued by local governments on gam bling operations. The directive revokes all powers and authority of these local governments to grant franchise, license or permit and at the same time regulates wagers or betting by the public of horse and dog races, Jai-Alai, Basque pelota and other forms of gambling. Any person who will engage in these activities illegally will be prosecuted under the Revised Penal Code. BNFI photo New budget for infrastructures (Pl& 3 billion) means more farm-to-market roads. CAPITAL GAINS TAX The President has ordered, through Presidential Decree 779, the slapping of a capital gains tax on investments in stocks. The decree also revises the rates of taxes on profits made from invest ments in local stocks. The new tax rates, which follow a graduated scale, will take1 effect in January next year. This decree aims to encourage more capital investment, so that persons in vesting in shares of stock would be subjected to a lesser rate of capital gains tax. FISCAL YEAR IS REVISED Through Presidential Decree 777 dated August 24, President Marcos re vised the official fiscal year July 1 to June 30 to the calendar year January 1 to December 31. The President has found it necessary to modify the pres ent fiscal year to better synchronize the preparation, submission, authoriza tion and execution of the socio-econom ic development plans and programs and the annual budget. The decree shall take effect January 1, 1977. The Fiscal Year which begins July 1, 1975 and ends June 30, 1976 is extended to include 6 months from July 1 to December 31,1976. For an uncrowded future Sorry, Teroy... But my kids like this better... it's more durable! IT IS KNOWN by many names: Family Planning, Planned Parenthood, Birth Control; but whatever the name, it only boils down to one thing: the proper spac ing of births in a family. It is a continuing program the government has not taken for granted. At this moment, probably, in some areas of the country, there arc doctors and motivators explaining to the people the advantages or disadvan tages of the different contraceptive measures, the best method, and how to avail of it. Family planning, as a campaign in both rural and urban areas, has been steadily gaining ground. And if the current number of acceptors (those who resort to using the pill, IUD, condom, diaphragm, etc.) would increase as it has been consistently increasing through the years, then the Philippines, in the future, might cease as contributor (with 2.8 percent population growth rate) to Asia’s “baby boom.” Consider these: In 1972, there was marked increase of 52 percent over the 1972 levels when some 613,240 women acceptors registered all over the country. In 1973, no less than 740,123 accepted one form of contraception or the other. And last year, the program attracted 1,023,790 acceptors. With these findings, the Population Commission Board has adopted a battery of projects and at the same time sets more realistic targets for the next four years. By 1977, the Philippines hopes to slice its birth rate from an estimated 43.2 births per thousand of the pop ulation in 1970 to 35.9 in 1977. By that time a total of 3.5 million women representing 58 percent of the eligible population will have accepted a method of population control, according to estimates. In effect, this means the gov ernment hopes to cut present population growth, which at 2.8 percent is one of the highest in the world, to 2.47 percent in 1977. To achieve this objective, the gov ernment, aside from a continuing in formation campaign especially among rural folks, has adopted a series of policy options: □ It rewrote the Woman and Child Labor law to limit maternity leave benefits to four deliveries only. From the fifth child onwards, the family is on its own. Free family planning services for establishments employing 300 or more are now required. The law also calls for incentive bonus schemes for family planning acceptors, and removal of discrimination against unmarried female employees. □ A total of 3,838 family planning motivators have been fielded to provide information to potential acceptors. Eleven teams, equipped with projectors, films and printed literature are traveling from village to village organizing com munity assemblies. In 1973,about 1.610 barrios in 655 municipalities located in 36 provinces were covered. □ Schools have come into the picture. Last year, 152 supervisors who will train school principals and teachers in the field underwent training. In turn, they taught 3,450. district supervisors, principals, teachers and 80 college instructors. □ More effective evaluation systems arc being installed. Contraceptive req uirements of clinics and the payroll of personnel are now computerized. □ Research is continuing and 75 additional hospitals have been harnessed to provide support service for rural health units. —JUANITA G. TRINIDAD

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