MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker yesterday allayed fears of some sectors that the proposed economic provisions in the Constitution will remove self-regulation and editorial independence in the advertising industry.
According to Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who chairs the House of Representatives committee on constitutional amendments, these two aspects are retained in Charter change resolutions pending in Congress.
“We are focused on the ownership issue. There is no plan to disturb whatever internal arrangement existing in the ad industry like self-regulation. I will not support any proposal to change that,” Rodriguez said.
He made the statement on the heels of concerns raised by stakeholders during the Senate’s hearing on amendment proposals last week.
During the hearing, Ad Standards Council legal counsel Rudolph Jularbal told the Senate that foreign ownership would not be a problem as long as self-regulation in the local ad sector remains in place.
Jularbal noted that as long as self-regulation “is functional, regardless of the ownership of adverti sing agencies, content will be regulated effectively.”
Rodriguez also contradicted a statement of another Senate resource person that foreign ownership does not add value to an ad agency.
“The infusion of additional funds to a business organization, whether in the ad industry or any other sector of the economy, always adds value to that entity,” he said.
On concerns that editorial independence would be comprom ised, Rodriguez denied that advertisers would be the ones dictating the content when the Constitution is amended.
He said that editorial independence would be left to the best judgment of ad agencies.
“We will not interfere with editorial judgment… As to the content of an advertisement, that matter is left to the discretion of both the advertiser and its ad agency,” he added.
MANILA, Philippines — Due to the continuing rise in inflation rates, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is pushing for an adjustment in the cash grants given to beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
DSWD Assistant Secretary for Disaster Response Management Group Irene Dumlao said on Friday that they recognize the need to adjust the 4Ps cash aid.
Dumlao noted the DSWD is now working with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in “trying to find the best index to use for the automatic adjustment” of the benefits.
“I would like to reiterate what DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said that adjusting the cash grants of 4Ps beneficiaries is not just timely but that it also preserves the value of the grants,” she added.
According to Dumlao, it is important for DSWD to work with NEDA and PSA to come up with the right amount to ensure that the 4Ps grants will be able to cushion the impact of inflation.
She cited the inflation rate has inched up to 3.8 percent in April from 3.7 percent in March.
The 4Ps is the national poverty reduction strategy and human capital investment program of the Philippine government and currently caters to 4.4 million household-beneficiaries nationwide.
Under the program, beneficiaries receive cash grants if they comply with the conditions of sending their children to school, bringing them to health centers for check-up and attending the monthly Family Development Sessions.
Family-beneficiaries receive cash grant of P300 a month for each child enrolled in daycare or elementary school; P500 a month for each child enrolled in junior high school and P700 a month for each child enrolled in senior high school for a maximum of 10 months a year.
Each beneficiary household also gets P750 a month in health and nutrition grants and a P650 monthly rice assistance.
MANILA, Philippines — A nurse’s group is calling attention to the worsening state of nurses, who are overworked and underpaid, as International Nurses Day is commemorated today.
The Filipino Nurses United (FNU) said nurses in the Philippines continue to suffer from very low wages amid the increasing cost of living, including the rise in prices of basic commodities and services.
Eleanor Nolasco, FNU president, has said that aside from receiving a low salary, the 1:20 – or one nurse to 20 patients – ratio in the country persists.
“In other hospitals, understaffing is very much felt with the one (nurse) is to 30 or even 40 (patients) ratio, depending on the number of hospital personnel,” Nolasco said in an interview.
She added, “Because of the lack of nurses, they work for 16 hours instead of the usual eight hours.”
Nolasco said that what should be observed in hospitals is the safe ratio of 1:8 – one nurse to eight patients.
The FNU said this dismal nurse work situation was addressed by the national government with the hiring of 300 unlicensed nurses and revision of the nursing education curriculum and masteral program.
“This is a mismatch and irrational solution to the nursing issues of understaffing, low wages and poor working conditions that discourage nurses to stay,” said Nolasco.
The group said this kind of situation pushes nurses further to massive migration, given the attractive offers abroad of nursing education scholarships with guaranteed employment, including bringing their families with them.
“There is apparent inadequate government support and lack of prioritization as to public health service budget allocation that incapacitates nurses in performing their tasks or leads to inadequacies of the health care system, thus not being able respond to the Filipinos’ health needs,” stressed Nolasco.
To commemorate International Nurses Day, Nolasco said nurses in hospitals, communities, schools and other settings all over the country will put up placards indicating their calls regarding salary increase, regularization and decent working conditions in their respective work areas.
“It is high time that concerned government authorities respond with concrete and decisive measures that will rescue nurses from the serious concerns, such as the legislation of just, decent wage increase, mass hiring of qualified nurses and regularize contractual nurses to fill up and add to more plantilla positions,” she added.
MANILA, Philippines — Technical and vocational skills training will soon be given to all senior high school (SHS) students, following the signing of a joint memorandum circular embedding the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) program of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in the revised SHS curriculum of the Department of Education (DepEd).
Representatives of the DepEd, TESDA, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) signed the Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1 Series of 2024 titled “Strengthening Senior High School Curriculum and Delivery by Embedding TVET in Senior High School Tracks towards Workforce Readiness and Employability.”
Under the joint circular, the TESDA’s technical-vocational training regulations (TRs) will be integrated in all SHS strands or area of study.
In a statement, the TESDA said its TRs were “developed in collaboration with the industry, are aligned with the priorities of the National Technical Education and Skills Development Plan 2023-2028 and key employment generators.”
“By embedding at least one TR in every grade level in the SHS, a learner may earn two National Certificates (NCs). The goal is to make learners workforce-ready and become employable,” the TESDA said.
Under the current set-up, the DepEd’s SHS program is divided into academic track and technical-vocational track.
Only students in the technical-vocational track undergo skills training while those in the academic track, composed of three strands – Business, Accountancy, Management; Humanities, Education, Social Sciences; Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics – undergo 80 hours of work immersion.
The private sector group Philippine Business for Education had earlier said the 80-hour work immersion may be inadequate for private companies to consider the SHS graduates ready for employment.
“By embedding the TVET in the senior high school curriculum, the TESDA’s quality assurance system is put in place to ensure that the education standards in the senior high school program is relevant and aligned with industry standards,” a video briefer on the joint memorandum circular stated.
“Graduates will be globally competitive, trained, certified and job ready professionals,” it added.
Meanwhile, at the same event, the DepEd and TESDA also signed another Joint Memorandum Circular that would mandate a standardized assessment and certification of SHS students who complete the program.
“By standardizing competency assessment, we empower our learners to demonstrate their skills effectively,” the briefer stated.
Under the joint circular, all students who have completed the TVET program will undergo an assessment for free and if passed, shall be given NCs from TESDA, which they can use in applying for work.
The TESDA’s NC serves as official proof that the TVET graduate has attained a mastery of skills and competency in the specific training he or she had completed.
Currently, it is optional for SHS graduates of the technical-vocational track to undergo TESDA assessment, which costs P1,000. — Rhodina Villanueva