Let ordinary people feel peso's rise

THE positive gains in the Philippine financial markets have not been felt in the everyday lives of ordinary Filipinos, Senator Manuel Roxas II said Wednesday.
For the full story, read the Manila Bulletin, Inq7.net, and the Mindanao Daily Mirror.

Labor office favors 'holiday economics'

THE Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) Tuesday welcomed the proposal of Senator Manuel Roxas II to permanently adopt the holiday economics introduced by the Arroyo administration.
Read Sun.Star for the full story.

Senator Roxas files Holiday Act of 2005

SEN. Mar Roxas has introduced a bill that will set a standard schedule for observing nonworking holidays to address businessmen’s concern over the unpredictability of holiday observances in the country. “While the intent of holiday economics has yielded positive results, the business sector has expressed concern on the unpredictability of the dates set for the actual observance of legal holidays,” Roxas noted.

Read The Manila Times and Manila Standard Today for the full story.

Some pointers for Manila panel at WTO trade gab

The Philippine government should assert in the forthcoming World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong next week the reclassification of rice as a “special product” to protect the interest of some 3.2 million Filipino rice farmers, Senator Mar Roxas said yesterday.

Roxas, chairman of the committee on trade and commerce, said the Philippine delegation should resolutely negotiate for export subsidies and agricultural price support that would be good for the country.

Read the Manila Standard Today for the full story.

$2.5-M HP center seen to boost RP outsourcing bid

WITH the investment of Hewlett-Packard of 2.5 million US dollars in a new facility for its business process and application outsourcing arm in the Philippines, the country is expected to gain the expertise needed to tackle higher value-added offshore projects. "Definitely, it moves us higher up in the outsourcing food chain," Senator Manuel A. Roxas II said in response to a question from INQ7.net.

Read Inq7.net and Computerworld for the full story. Visit xieurx blog for a photo shot too.

Tax incentives for alternative fuel users sought

WITH a pending world oil crisis and the continued damage brought by fossil fuels to the environment, the Philippine government must grant tax incentives to those who will use alternative fuels, Senator Manuel Roxas II said Saturday. Citing the oil crisis forecast by the Asian Development Bank, the senator said oil production is expected to rise to 90 dollars per barrel next year. He noted that the Philippines depends on oil as the primary fuel source for transportation, importing at least 126 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products worth five billion dollars in 2004.
For the full story, read Inq7.net.

Fertilizer fund audit sought

Senator Mar Roxas II is asking for a special audit of the Department of Agriculture’s P728 million fertilizer project to detemine who are liable for the alleged misuse of funds. Roxas stressed the need to ensure that the intended recipients benefited from the funds and the officials involved are held accountable for any misuse.

Read the Manila Standard and the Philippine Star for the full story.

Mar wants probe on brain drain of health professionals

Sen. Mar Roxas has called for a Senate inquiry into the decline in the quality of healthcare service due to the continuing migration of Filipino health professionals to rich countries.

Roxas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, voiced concern over the damaging effects of the exodus of Filipino nurses and doctors on the country’s healthcare system.

“The government cannot afford to play deaf and blind to the problem of migrating health professionals. It must find ways to encourage Filipino doctors and nurses to remain in the country by giving skills training and work incentives,” he said.

Read the Philippine Information Agency for the full story.

Lack of business opportunities limits potential for OFWs' dollars

Roxas said, even the improvement in the stock market would not trickle down to the poor, neither would the dollars from foreign portfolio investments plough into the real economy, "except if a few stock brokers buy a home. But that's about it."

The senator explained that given the absence of a strong regulatory regime that would guarantee the continuing viability of such investment ventures, OFWs would simply keep their funds in the bank, while rich Filipinos would invest theirs abroad, instead of engaging in a profitable business in the country
Read Balita.ph for the full story.

Roche okays local Tamiflu production

THE Philippines is free to produce a generic version of Tamiflu, a known antibird flu drug, at its discretion and without paying compensation to Swiss-based Roche pharmaceuticals. In a Nov. 23 letter to Senator Mar Roxas, Roche Philippines general manager Warwick Bedwell said that Tamiflu, otherwise known as “oseltamivir,” is not patent-protected in the Philippines, “therefore, voluntary or compulsory licensing cannot be pursued where no patent protection exists.”

Read the Manila Standard Today for the full story.

OFWs to benefit from VoIP

Iloilo City (23 November) -- The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration 6 (OWWA) expects that communication between Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and their families will become frequent and easier with the use of VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol which is being pushed by Senator Mar Roxas.

Visit the PIA site for the full story.

Do we have a future in offshoring?

Here's an interesting column piece from Boo Chanco.

When Sen. Mar Roxas was still DTI Secretary, I asked him what he was doing to prepare us to meet the challenges of globalization. Why wasn’t he, I asked him, choosing the industries where we have competitive advantage and give them full support to be world class players. He told me he didn’t want to "play God" in the sense of deciding which industries lived and which ones died. He said he wanted the market to determine that.

Read the Philippine Star for the full story.

Roxas urges revision of telecom statutes

Senator Mar Roxas, co-chairman of the Senate oversight committee on e-commerce, on Monday underscored the need to amend provisions of the country's telecom laws, stressing that these may have become obsolete because of the changing business models, consumer demands and technological innovations. "Using VoIP lowers communication cost. It enables our OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) to communicate with their loved ones as often as they want," Roxas said, adding that exporters may transact business at lower costs, making them more competitive.

Read ABS-CBN News and Inq7 for the full story.

DoH asks for antibird flu fund

Senator Mar Roxas called for a Senate inquiry into the financial condition of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. after its officials admitted that it needs P150 billion in trust funds to settle the claims and availments of its members. Roxas said while the financial records of PhilHealth appeared to be “looking good,” these do not reflect the agency’s capability to fully pay all the claims and availments of the members.

Read The Manila Standard Today for the full story.

Philippines To Soon Lead In Global BPO Industry: Solon

The Philippines ranks third in the world's top 14 destinations for BPO, behind India and Canada in the recent 2005 Mapping Offshore Markets Update conducted by neoIT. "Despite the problems the country is facing, this is an indication that nothing is impossible to the Filipino if he will only put his mind into it. With stronger English proficiency and professional experience in the field of BPO and IT, I am confident the country will take the top post sooner than expected. Well done!" Roxas said.

Visit Yahoo! Australia for the full story and some insights from the Project Management Digest.

Senators propose to transfer P16-B pork to DepEd

Sen. Mar Roxas yesterday criticized the Department of Education’s (DepEd) 2006 budget proposal for "lack of focus," saying the department ought to present education programs that will directly benefit Filipino students. During Senate deliberations on the DepEd budget, Roxas instructed DepEd officer-in-charge, Undersecretary Fe Hidalgo to focus on certain aspects of education with direct benefits to the country’s educational system.
Read the Manila Bulletin for the full story.

The 2006 Budget (statement as of Nov. 14)

Today we begin deliberations on the national budget, a tremendous responsibility for any given year. But this year, in these straitened circumstances, it is even more imperative for us to ensure that we craft a responsive and responsible budget document that will meet real needs.

When we passed the EVAT law, we made it clear that we were doing so for extraordinary reasons—to stave off a crippling shortfall in the resources we need for proper governance and development.

Now that the EVAT is in effect, we should remember what we passed it for, and make sure that its fruits are spent on equally extraordinary priorities.

Our people will be paying government an additional of about P80 billion in VAT for 2006. They want value for money for their sacrifice. Kailangan sulit ang paggastos nito. The best thing we can do to justify that burden is to prove that every extra peso we earn will be an extra peso spent on their most urgent needs.

Our people will have every right to ask: where is our money going? Who will stand to benefit from the government’s largest expenditures? At the end of another year, what can we claim to have achieved with a trillion pesos?

Will we see any appreciable impact in the areas that matter most to us—our children’s education, our food, our housing—or will this budget be frittered away on business as usual, on a little bit here and there, on political payback and on onerous contracts? Maybe, maybe not; I am saying that we should do everything to make sure that it will not.

I will work to pass a budget that will focus on and address real priorities. I expect the EVAT to be complemented by continuing efforts to improve collection efficiency, to ease the burden of the ordinary taxpayer.

Palace has spent P27B of FM loot

MALACAÑANG has spent P27 billion of the P35-billion ($718 million) Swiss deposits of the late President Ferdinand Marcos recovered by the government, Budget Secretary Romulo Neri admitted Monday to the Senate committee of the whole. Sen. Mar Roxas asked the DBM to give a detailed report on how the government spent the P27 billion.

Read The Manila Times for the full story.

P175B lost yearly to technical smuggling

SEN. Mar Roxas reiterated his appeal to the government to address the problem of smuggling, saying it would save the country a lot of revenues. “If you add up and collect all the government revenues lost to smuggling, there is no need to impose new taxes to fund the budget,” Roxas said.

Read the full story at Manila Times and The Daily Tribune.

Firm offers cable TV connection via power lines

Earlier, Roxas was worried that because the technology proposed would use the same facilities used by Capelco in delivering electricity, all their officials must exercise greater diligence in evaluating the said business opportunity and always weigh benefits relative to the stability of its primary function, which is to provide electricity at affordable prices to all Capicenos. "There is a need to slowly evaluate this contract because any mistake will ultimately be shouldered by the consumers of Capelco," Roxas said.

Read Sun.Star Iloilo for the full story.