|
By Carlito C. Dar
BAGUIO
CITY -- With the implementation of the Sin Tax Reform law this year,
alcoholic beverages and tobacco products jumped at the top of the consumer
price index (CPI) as shown in a National Statistics Office (NSO)
data.
Based
on the NSO-Cordillera’s February 2013 Regional Price Situationer,
Cordillera’s CPI stands at 131.1, higher by 5.9 compared to the 125.2 CPI
last February 2012.
CPI
is defined as a general measure of the change in the retail prices of a
market basket or collection of goods and services commonly purchased by the
average Filipino household.
The
said regional price situationer shows that all the provinces in the region
reflect an increase in CPI due to increase in prices of goods and services.
As
per commodity groups, alcoholic beverages and tobacco reported the highest
CPI with 166.5, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages with a CPI of
141.3 and transportation with 130.9.
Republic
Act 10351 or Sin Tax Reform 2012 signed by President Benigno Aquino III
last December 2012 and took effect last January 1, aims to increase
government revenues on alcohol and tabacco products that will also help
elevate the quality of public health in the country through the Universal
Health Care program.
With
higher prices of alcoholic beverage and sin products, the government also
aims to discourage the public especially the young against such vices,
which also causes financial and health constraints to every Filipino
family.
Meantime,
the same NSO data sheet shows that the increase in the CPI also brings up
the region’s inflation rate to 4.7, an increase by 2.4 percent compared to
the February 2012 inflation rate of 2.3 percent.
As
for the average purchasing power of peso in the region, the NSO data shows
that the value of peso dropped to 76 centavos compared to last year’s 80
centavos; meaning the market value of goods and services worth 76 centavos
in February 2006 (baseline date) are bought at one peso this February
2013.
The
province of Apayao has the highest peso value at 82 centavos, followed by
Abra and Kalinga with peso value of 79 centavos. Ifugao registered the
lowest peso value at 74 centavos. -- PIA
Airshed body resurrected to improve
Metro Baguio air
BAGUIO CITY - Air quality in
the highlands, particularly along the Metro Baguio area (Baguio and the
towns of La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan , Tuba and Tublay), will soon be
cleaner with the 10-year old “Airshed Governing Board” springing back to
life.
Resurrected by the Environment
Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources,
the airshed body aims to put together an integrated master development plan
as recommended by a study done in 2004 by the European community.
The Environment Department rates
Baguio’s air as “fair to good”. The Metro Baguio government has already
vowed to coordinate for the effort.
Airshed refers to “a geographical
area within which the air frequently is confined or channeled, with all
parts of the area thus being subject to similar conditions of air
pollution”.
Such, however, is undefined in the
Clean Air Act (Republic Act 8749), said Ramon Dacawi, an environmental
advocate and public information officer of Baguio City.
On Feb. 12, 2003, DENR
Secretary Elisea Gozun issued Administrative Order 2003-04 creating the
BLISTT Airshed interim governing board.
Under RA 8749, “the designation of
airsheds shall be on the basis of, but not limited to, areas with similar
climate, meteorology and topology which affect the interchange and
diffusion of pollutants in the atmosphere, or areas which share common
interest or face similar development programs, prospects or problems”.
The governing board has already
reaffirmed 10-year-old resolutions adopted including strengthening the
campaign against air pollution from motor vehicle exhaust.
Environment officials recall how
Baguio was portrayed in a Philippine Star report as “being the most
polluted city in the country” based on the vehicle smoke emission
monitoring at the foot of Session Road, the city’s main business
thoroughfare.
The EMB said, however, that the
extent of air pollution at the base of the main street did not reflect that
average air quality of the whole city.
With the revival of the airshed
board, Baguio is now calling for the expansion of its membership, to
include the jeepney and taxi associations, the Commission on Higher
Education and the Department of Education.
The DENR-Cordillera is calling for
the strengthening of the campaign through the installation and activation
of a closed circuit television system that would monitor vehicles emitting
excessive exhaust, resulting in easier apprehension of violators of the
Clean Air Act.
Others are also pushing for the
identification of and support to existing local clean air and environmental
initiatives being undertaken with or without the sanction of the airshed
board and the use of manual emission measuring gadgets far cheaper than the
P10 to P12 million electronic device at the foot of Session Road which
conked out last December.
Vizcaya town demands share in
Casecnan tax
By Charlie Lagasca
BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – About
300 residents from Alfonso Castañeda town in this province held a picket at
the capitol compound yesterday to ask for the release of their P50-million
share from the operation of the US-owned firm Casecnan Multipurpose and
Irrigation Project.
The placard-bearing residents asked
the provincial government to release the amount, which has been withheld
since October last year.
Gov. Luisa Cuaresma withheld the
release of the quarterly real property tax share of Alfonso Castañeda amid
allegations of fund misuse.
In her letter, Cuaresma told Mayor
Jerry Pasigian to comply first with the order of the Commission on Audit to
explain the alleged misuse of funds from the tax share, which has
reached P130 million.
Start of P’sinan bets’ campaign
peaceful
DAGUPAN CITY – The start of the
campaign period for local candidates in Pangasinan turned out peaceful
yesterday except for reports of posting of campaign materials on structures
not designated by the Commission on Elections as common poster area.
Lawyer Marino Salas, provincial
election supervisor, told the media local bets have started going around to
boost their candidacy.
Salas said he was informed by a
concerned voter that in Binmaley town, the entire fence of the public
auditorium was decorated with posters of re-electionist Mayor Lorenzo
Cerezo and re-electionist Councilor Ellen Alipio.
“We will immediately act on this
matter and call the attention of the ‘Oplan Baklas’ committee in the area
to notify the mayor and the councilor about it,” Salas said.
Salas said Cerezo and Alipio have
three days to remove their illegal posters.
3 arrested for gun ban violation in
Pangasinan
LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – Three
persons have been arrested for gun ban violation in this province.
Reports reaching the Pangasinan
Provincial Office here showed that Marcelino Obra, 44, of Barangay Diaz,
Umingan town was drinking with his friends last Thursday when his brother,
barangay captain Paquito Obra, passed by and found in his possession a
fragmentation grenade and a fan knife.
Paquito arrested his brother and
turned him over to the police.
Meanwhile, 24-year-old Jar-Ar San
Miguel, of Sitio Dalumat, Barangay Sto. Tomas, San Jacinto was nabbed for
possession of a caliber .38 revolver.
Police said they also recovered
from San Miguel marijuana leaves and live ammunition for caliber magnum 35.
Jimmy Rebudan Jr., 41, of Barangay
Salud, Bolinao town, was apprehended after he allegedly fired his homemade
shotgun in front of the house of barangay councilor Rolando Casta.
Charges of violation of the Omnibus
Election Code have been filed against the suspects, police said.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment