Is your food safe?

 

Nearly 2,000 children in the Caraga region of the Philippines fell ill after eating durian candies, while about a dozen others got sick and vomited after consuming siopao sold in a school.

On Monday, proof was presented before a Senate hearing that the “fake rice” found proliferating in some markets was indeed “fake” and could prove harmful to people’s health when consumed.

The Department of Health (DOH) has already gathered samples of the durian candies to test for microbial contamination, while the company that produced the candies has been shut down. End of story?

Meanwhile, the school whose canteen sold the siopao promised to no longer outsource the food sold to its students. All’s well that ends well?

A senator, on the other hand, warned the public  that it’s hard to distinguish the fake rice from real rice when both have just been cooked – steaming hot. Forewarned is forearmed?

Not quite. It cannot be business as usual on the food home front because lives are being put in danger with the clear non-implementation of the Food Security Act of 2013 or Republic Act No. 10611.

The law laid down a comprehensive framework that sets the benchmark for food safety in the various stages of its production from harvest to manufacture, processing, handling, packaging, distribution, marketing, food preparation and consumption.

The legislation is supposed to protect the public from food-borne and water-borne illnesses by checking the proliferation of unsanitary, misbranded, unwholesome and adulterated foods. And that’s the operative word in all of this – SUPPOSED. Because if the government has been seriously implementing the Food Security Act of 2013, would we have these massive cases of food poisoning? Of course not. –end-      

Image by The Daily Meal

Mall Democracy?

A shopping mall is where you go to, well, shop. But if the Commission on Elections had its way, it could also be venue for the citizenry to exercise their civic duty, which is to vote.  Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said recently that the poll body is considering mall elections to “enhance the voting experience and to speed up the voting process”. This after the poll body studied election laws and found that there is no legal impediment to moving precincts near the malls to allow people to vote within the malls.

Thus, instead of  voting in a public school, people can go to the polling precincts within the malls.  Right now, the Comelec is already conducting satellite registration in a mall chain, which has also offered to host the elections in its 42 malls across the country. The Comelec is correct: mall voting can attract a larger voter turnout for the 2016 elections.

Mall voting is a “win-win” situation for the Comelec as it would avoid overcrowding, vote-buying and other problems on Election Day.  Mall voting is also good for business, to be sure, as the people flocking there to vote are also likely to patronize the various establishments within the mall.

According to the poll body, it will make the decision to push through with mall voting by November when it shall have finished its precinct mapping. We support the proposal of the Comelec to hold voting in the malls as his would definitely make it more convenient for people to cast their votes next year and thus contribute to free, fair and credible elections.

Mall voting, along with automated elections, will allow more people to exercise their constitutional right to choose the leaders of this country, and the  Comelec should push through with it. –End-

Image by: The Times

                          

A Scourge

 

The smuggling of rice has been continuing in the last two years, a senator told DZMM’s early morning radio show Tuesday, citing international data on rice exports to the Philippines and actual taxes paid for them.  In the lawmaker’s reckoning, about 650,000 metric tons of the country’s rice imports each year were smuggled, a problem which she said the Bureau of Customs and the National Food Authority (NFA) can easily solve if they really wanted to.

The solution, according to the solon, is to stop issuing rice importation permits to the private sector, and for government itself to import rice to cover the 5 percent or so of the Philippines’ annual rice requirement which local farmers cannot supply. Under the scheme, only the NFA would import rice and any other shipment of rice coming in would naturally be smuggled and can be automatically seized by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Actually, John Sevilla already expressed support for this set up of government-to-government rice importation, said the lawmaker, but  then Sevilla got axed as Customs chief before it could be implemented. Your guess is as good as ours as to why Sevilla got the boot.

Smuggled rice does not only translate to lost revenues for government. It is also used by unscrupulous traders acting as middlemen in the rice trading sector to lower the price of the rice they purchase from local farmers, sometimes at farm-gate prices that are even below cost of production.

The moment government itself starts importing rice to cover our deficit,  the middlemen who have been enriching themselves at the expense of our poor farmers would no longer have imported rice as a leverage to depress farm-gate prices of local rice.

This scheme could hit two birds with one stone by plugging a revenue leak for government and in paying our farmers a fair price for their produce. There’s a perfect balance somewhere there – of farmers earning enough to get out of their hand-to-mouth existence and our consumers having access to quality affordable rice. –end-

Image by North Watch

Poor Us

 

Pope Francis characterized corruption as the “gangrene of the people” that, if we may add, reduces many to abject poverty and sub-human existence.

In the Philippines, it’s been estimated by Washington-based think tank Global Financial Integrity (GFI) that the local economy had lost at least $133 billion to corruption from 1960 to 2011.

That’s $7.9 billion (roughly P357 billion) in lost government revenues each year – money that could have been used to create more jobs, build infrastructures like schools and hospitals, and increase the social security benefits of the poor and the elderly.

It was against this backdrop that the present dispensation got elected in 2010 on a strong anti-corruption stance.

Alas, that stance has proven to be just that – a stance – as many government agencies like the agriculture, budget, transportation and social welfare departments have been embroiled in corruption scandals under the outgoing administration.

In fact, the leadership of the outgoing dispensation which spent a lot of time going after past government officials may just find itself on the same boat, hounded and haled before criminal and civil courts by the next government.

It would then be déjà vu, or of history repeating itself, or of a vicious cycle going on and on.  Thus, the fight against corruption will always be won or lost through the ballot box. –END-

Image by: Equalizer Post

Dumbing down UP

The congressman who authored the Iskolar ng Bayan Act of 2014 claimed in news media reports that the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines (UP) alone can take in as freshmen scholars all of the top 10 graduating students of all the high schools in the entire Philippines.

Based on the lawmakers own data, that would translate to 80,000 freshmen entering UP  from the Iskolar ng Bayan Act, and not even counting those who would make it to UP through the dreaded UPCAT or the UP College Admission Test. Of course, the 80,000 would want to be in UP before entertaining thoughts of going to other state universities and colleges (SUCs).

Under the Iskolar ng Bayan Act, the top 10 graduates of all high schools in the Philippines get free entry into any and all SUCs within their region without the need to take entrance exams.  Their scholarships would also be automatic in the first year.  While UP insists it has autonomy and is not covered by the Iskolar ng Bayan Act, the latter’s authors insist otherwise. Surely, this conflict between the UP Law and the Iskolar Act is bound to reach the courts.

The problem here is that the entire UP system can only take in about 15,000 UPCAT passers from the  about 80,000 who take the exam each year, and that’s 15,000  UPCAT passers scattered in all seven of UP’s constituent universities in 15 campuses nationwide.

So how can UP Diliman or even the entire UP system, for that matter, accommodate 80,000 automatic freshmen entries under the Iskolar ng Bayan Act?  It’s like trying to pour onto a glass the entire content of a pitcher. Likewise, did this law   even consider the fact that many high schools in the country find themselves without any representation in UP  at any given year for the simple reason that sometimes none of their students are able to pass the UPCAT?

What happens if this law forces the top 10 graduates of even the lousiest high schools in the Philippines to be in UP? The dropouts of students who would find that they could not hack it out in UP would be atrocious. It’s altogether difficult to pass the UPCAT, but it’s way tougher to stay and graduate in UP. That’s a fact no law can change.  

What law would then be passed next? To dumb down  the UP system so as not only to accommodate 80,000 new freshmen but also to ensure they’d graduate? That would be a disgrace as UP at present is the only Philippine university ranked within the top 100 in Asia and the only Philippine school ranked within the top 300 universities in the world.

When that happens, Oble would just get down his perch and walk out. – END-

Image by: Deigong Tabak

SIM Swap Scam

Fraudsters can use your cellphone information to illegally transfer bank funds.

According to Globe post-paid subscriber Ian Caballero, he lost P48,000 in his online bank account when a scammer used the telco's “SIM-swap” promotion where an existing SIM card is replaced with a new one. The replacement allowed the scammer to take over his mobile number and use it for fraudulent activities.

Caballero said he called the Globe customer service hotline last July 2 after his phone suddenly went dead. The customer service agent told him that somebody had just requested to have his SIM card replaced.

Investigation by Globe Telecom revealed that Caballero’s case was a “targeted attack” since the scammer went to a Globe store, pretended to be Caballero and submitted complete documents, including an authorization letter, the SSS ID and driver's license of Caballero to request for a SIM change. The telco clarified, however, that the replacement of SIM cards is not fraudulent in itself.

Acting on Caballero's complaint, Globe said it is pursuing its campaign against all types of fraud that can put the company’s name in a bad light and negatively affect legitimate Globe customers.

As part of its security enhancement program, Globe said it has installed the most-advanced CCTV cameras in all its stores nationwide. CCTV recordings will be used to present evidence in police investigations and legal prosecution against fraudulent activities such as identity theft where impostors steal personal information and assume the identity of other people for personal gain.

For its part, a leading bank has also issued a warning to its customers against sharing “sensitive details” on social media accounts amid recent reports of attempts by scammers to illegally transfer funds via mobile phones.

 “These scams occur outside the scope of the bank’s already stringent online security, hence, we continue to encourage our clients and the general public to be extra vigilant in protecting their personal information,” the bank said. The bank also advised its customers to immediately change their online banking password and report incidents of a possible data breach.

Scam artists are always on the prowl to make the unsuspecting and the unwary part with their hard-earned money. You shouldn't fall prey to their schemes.  

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Image by www.pasei.com

Mama calls them 'Pampams'

Nothing could be more explicit than this: "It shall be unlawful for any person, whether or not a voter or candidate, or for any party, or association of persons, to engage in an election campaign or partisan political activity except during the campaign period."

That's Article X, Section 80 of the Omnibus Election Code. But for some politicians, this provision in our election law might as well not exist at all.    

The trouble is that no less than the Supreme Court has struck down this explicit prohibition on premature campaign by ruling that one's candidacy becomes official only within the campaign period. Hence, no one is a candidate unless he has filed a certificate of candidacy.

The High Court's ruling has therefore prompted some of our politicos to treat the Omnibus Election Code like a doormat and campaign to their heart's content on TV, radio and in print.

Of course, they're not saying, "Vote for Me on Election Day", but that's the not-so-subtle message they convey when they harp on their accomplishments as public officials.      

The good news is that at least one election watchdog, the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), has launched a campaign to "shame" politicians engaged in premature campaigning for the 2016 elections.

In its Facebook page "Election 2016 Pampams," the group has posted pictures and videos of politicians promoting themselves in various ways, whether through greetings and announcements on tarpaulin or paid advertisements on television and radio. The group also invited citizens to send photos and videos to their Facebook page.

For his part, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president, has also condemned politicians "circumventing the law against premature campaigning."

Civil society and the Church are correct in criticizing those engaged in  premature campaigning using what else but public funds. 

Let's not let them get away with murder.

Don’t vote for any of them come Election Day.

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Image by www.facebook.com/politikongpampam