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Wed, Dec

The government should seize the opportunity with the implementation of the national ID system to design an information and communications framework for the interconnection of government departments and agencies from the national to the local level to include the LGUs.

Is People’s Initiative even legal?  YES!  Sec. 21, Article XVII of the 1987 Constitution guarantees the right of the people to amend it.  And although said provision is not self-executory, Congress passed an enabling law, RA 67352 in 1989.  Otherwise, if up to now there is still no enabling law after 31 years, then Congress has continuously been terribly remiss in complying with this Constitutional mandate to provide for the implementation of the right of the people to initiate amendments to the so-called “People Power Charter” wherein the sovereign will of the people is supreme as enshrined it the Preamble itself!  Even in the hierarchy of the three ways provided under ‘Amendments or Revisions’, people’s initiative is the supreme mode than through a constituent assembly or constitutional convention.

It is important for us to realize that the ascension to power of President Duterte is brought about by the evolving expectations of Filipinos on their leaders.

Mixing politics with sports is a bad and awful mix that lead to ugly results.

While social health insurance financing as well as government budgets have increased, efforts to improve technical efficiency and curb medical inflation through HTA have lagged behind.

We urgently need to redistribute wealth to all parts of the country so that services are equally delivered even in the far-flung areas now!

Today, 3 December 2018, marks the first Monday of the Christmas month. Many of our countrymen/women are expected to flock shopping malls, boutiques and bazaars in the forthcoming days. Company Christmas parties will also be celebrated at different events places, bars and small restaurants in the ensuing days and weeks to come.

“We are disturbed and disappointed by the House of Representatives committee on ways and means approved rate on tobacco tax. The marginal rate increase will not only increase the number of smokers by 200,000 each year. It will likewise translate to 2,000 yearly deaths from purely tobacco-related ailments.”