Pro-green groups welcome moratorium on new coal plants

Two groups on Wednesday counseled the authorities's move to now not endorse new coal power plants, announcing it'd sell competition and wider renewable electricity (RE) use.

In separate statements, the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) and Greenpeace welcomed the Department of Energy's (DoE) moratorium on greenfield coal-fired energy vegetation or coal facilities that are but to be built, which they stated might pave the way for the country's transition to RE.


"By maintaining a moratorium on new coal plants, [Energy] Secretary [Alfonso] Cusi is adhering to [the] DoE's mandate to enable opposition in the electricity quarter and provide dependable and fee powerful power, while giving desire to indigenous and smooth energy resources," ICSC senior coverage marketing consultant Pedro Maniego Jr. Said.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the risks of overdependence on rigid baseload plants, mainly coal, in addition to the need for the us of a's transition to a cutting-edge, bendy strength gadget making use of renewable power with near 0 marginal cost," he added.
Greenpeace Campaigner Khevin Yu called the moratorium "one small step," and stated that to "make certain the usa's speedy transition to renewable power, the DoE ought to take this similarly with the aid of enacting a everlasting moratorium that consists of not [only] coal, but also gas initiatives within the pipeline, and jumpstart a section-out plan for current coal and other fossil gas centers,"

Along with the moratorium, Cusi also introduced that the united states of america now lets in full foreign ownership of big-scale geothermal exploration, development and utilization projects, which Maniego supports and Yu voiced dismay over.

Meanwhile, Infrawatch PH convenor Terry Ridon stated "geothermal energy cannot be considered as a mineral resource," noting that "below the 1987 Constitution, a difference is made among minerals and forces of capability power, that's what geothermal power essentially is."

"As such, the authorities cannot input into financial and technical assistance agreements with overseas-owned organizations for the improvement of big-scale geothermal tasks, he delivered."

Finance dept to LGUs: Tap govt financing, support

Local government devices (LGUs) are advised to faucet the numerous financing and different technical assist that the authorities has made to be had.

During a webinar hosted by the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez third stated LGUs "play a key position in revitalizing our economy that has been battered through the [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic."


"They can assist pump-prime the country wide financial system via nearby public investments," he delivered as he recommended local governments to make use of their borrowing potential to strengthen recovery packages.

For instance, the Finance chief said, Republic Act 11494, or "Bayanihan to Recover as One Act," granted extra capital to government banks to offer wholesale financing to rural lenders and microfinance establishments so as to expand lending to small organizations.
"In addition to these credit facilities, the LGUs can set up revolutionary answers to maximise using their available budget," he introduced.

According to Dominguez, one way is for nearby governments to signal an settlement with the Philippine Guarantee Corp. To cozy the loans they provide. They can also team up with Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) and the Development Bank of the Philippines to extend interest subsidies for debtors of their respective communities.

For its element, the BLFG accelerated the issuance of certificates on internet debt service ceiling and borrowing potential to local governments.

Dominguez said the general system of utility, assessment and issuance of certificates become being accomplished electronically. The branch might additionally hold to offer schooling packages that intention to raise the capabilities of local government treasurers.


"At each national and nearby stages, we need to optimize our revenue era powers and enhance tax management. I urge the LGUs to undertake virtual technology for a extra responsive governance and efficient shipping of frontline offerings," he added.

Meanwhile, LandBank President and Chief Executive Officer Cecilia Borromeo stated her bank had extended loans to 43 provinces, eighty three towns and 513 municipalities, with terrific loans hitting P51.3 billion as of September 30.

And DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Herbosa provided his bank's Rehabilitation Support Program on Severe Events, which extends financing for rehabilitation efforts of each public and private institutions.

Grab PH eyes revival of motorcycle taxi biz

Grab Philippines can also once more are looking for the government's permission to participate inside the latter's prolonged bike taxi pilot run, an professional said on Wednesday.

During a digital briefing, Ronald Roda, Grab Philippines head of shipping and shared offerings, said his enterprise may technique the Department of Transportation on reintroducing its GrabBike experience-hailing provider after Malacañang determined to renew bike taxi offerings to boost public transportation inside the united states's capital.


He also said Grab Philippines may want to financial institution on its approximately 70,000 motorbike riders to reenter the marketplace, but introduced that there has been a want to behavior protection education.

The official's comments got here 10 months after the agency said "it became "seriously considering to reinvest inside the motorbike taxi denomination and relaunch its GrabBike service within the" us of a.
The company, best recognised for its GrabCar offerings, became pressured to discontinue GrabBike in mid-2016 after transportation businesses raised questions on its safety.

Registered motorcycle drivers suspended services in March after the government positioned Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon under better community quarantine to shrink the spread of the coronavirus ailment 2019 within the u . S . A ..

Grab Philippines' plan also came every week after some other journey-hailing enterprise, Angkas, expressed self belief approximately the readiness of its companion-bikers to hit the roads of the capital.

Besides Angkas, JoyRide and Move It were also a part of the pilot study. Transportation regulators are yet to problem recommendations on the resumption of the pilot run.
Philex Mining Corp. On Wednesday resumed underground operations at 50-percentage capability at its Padcal mine site after those were suspended to put in force coronavirus sickness 2019 (Covid-19) precautionary protocols there. In a disclosure, the Pangilinan-led mining business enterprise stated operations resumed after 779 personnel tested poor for the coronavirus following its multiplied swab trying out and after 8 of the 151 high-quality instances at the mine web page had recovered. "The organisation expects operational ability to leap as much as 90 percent inside the next three days," Philex Mining stated, noting that most of the affected personnel were concerned in underground operations, prompting managers to strictly enforce minimal health standards, in addition to occupational fitness and safety protocols with the resumption of mine operations. "This equal stage of adherence and enforcement is also being carried out in surface operations," the organization brought. Philex Mining stocks reduced by way of 5 centavos or zero.90 percentage to complete at at P5.50 each on Wednesday.

Cashless toll collections to start on December 1

Motorists the usage of toll roads now have over a month to cozy their radio frequency identification (RFID) tags after the Department of Transportation (DoTr) prolonged the deadline for the full implementation of the cashless series gadget.


In a statement on Wednesday, the DoTr stated the shift to this system changed into moved to December 1 from the unique November 2 closing date after toll plazas saw a surge within the wide variety of motorists trying to get the RFID tags, ensuing in long queues.

The new cut-off date "will not be prolonged beyond this date," it delivered.

Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) Executive Director Abraham Sales stated the extension might "deliver motorists greater time to comply with the department order and to save you the long queues presently being experienced at toll roads inside the rush to get the RFID stickers."
Tollway operators Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. And San Miguel Corp. Have both prolonged their RFID set up.

In late August, the DoTr issued Department Order 2020-012, mandating the TRB, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, and Land Transportation Office to create new processes to make sure operators' swift adoption of cashless toll series.

The department said contactless transactions shall be applied within the South Luzon Expressway, Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway, North Luzon Expressway, South Metro Manila Skyway, Southern Tagalog Arterial Road Tollway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, Cavite-Laguna Expressway; and all different avenue networks, together with any extension of the aforementioned expressways that can be built, set up and/or operated as limited-access highway toll facilities.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accredited the public offerings of  real property businesses and one creation company geared toward elevating budget for capital expenses and tasks, among others.

In a announcement on Wednesday, the SEC identified the services as the P30-billion constant-price bonds of Filinvest Land Inc., the P5-billion perpetual favored stocks of Megawide Construction Corp. And the P1.Four-billion business papers of Cityland Development Corp.

These have been authorized in a assembly on October 27, it stated.

Gotianun-led Filinvest Land will provide up to P6.Seventy five billion worth of 3-12 months and 5-and-a-half-year bonds — due 2023 and 2026, respectively — with an oversubscription option of as much as P2.25 billion for the first tranche.

A pandemic, some of the students will never make up for their losses.

On November 27, 2020, the Ministry of Health reported 17,067 new infections. The data for the last few days gives a little optimism. not only the statistics of daily infections are reduced, but also the number of occupied beds and respirators. This means that the vision of a "national quarantine" is receding

However, regiments and poles still have to reckon with restrictions, especially during the holiday season. There are also growing concerns that being unprepared for remote learning will disrupt the resumes of a whole generation of students from less affluent families. All this is due to the deterioration of the economy, among other things. In connection with the quarantine, the question of work is acute,and many move to the online sphere, knowing that you can earn additional income, as deltamarket broker does  many professions in connection with the pandemic were called into question.

What does all this mean? we explain step by step.

Confusion in reporting. What should I pay attention to?
After information about the centralization of data on coronavirus infections and the elimination of civil control over the counting of new detected cases in Poland, a heated debate broke out over violations in reporting on the state of the epidemic.

Until now, data from the regions were aggregated on the websites of regional sanitary and epidemiological stations. Then they went to the Ministry of Health, and it published them. However, the exact course of the epidemic could best be replicated using a database created by 19-year-old Mikhail Rogalsky. And, as the teenager showed, the statistics from the regions differed from the information provided by the office of Adam Voskresensky (and this is about 17 thousand cases). Were to blame for the delay.

There are doubts online that by centralizing the database, the government will not try to distort the real picture of the epidemic. however, as the eye explained.according to the expert, we should be happy that the government has finally decided to digitize the entire process. But it is difficult to say about joy at a time when the information policy of the authorities has led to a loss of confidence in state institutions.

The situation is not improved by constant failures. Also today, on November 27, the government first reported about 16.3 thousand, after which it introduced an amendment, according to which more than 17 thousand positive tests for coronavirus were merged over the past day.

However, the eye.press from the very beginning reminds that tracking the course of the epidemic based on the increase in the daily number of infections is not the most authoritative. Why? Because it depends on too many factors: the current testing strategy, the percentage of positive results, and the reporting delay.

What does the data tell us?

Therefore, it is best to check daily data on the number of hospitalizations, patients with COVID-19 in serious condition and deaths.

Recent days show that the situation in hospitals is improving. Since September 24, the number of occupied beds has been growing almost continuously. Last week you see not only a pullback, but also a slow decline. the largest number of patients requiring hospitalization was registered on november 17-23,033. today, there are 1,342 fewer patients.

it could be death statistics. From the data of the Ministry of Health, it follows that over the past day, 112 people died due to COVID-19, and 467 people died due to the coexistence of COVID-19 with other diseases. A total of 579 people.
christmas without guests?
on thursday, november 26, the government published a decree specifying what restrictions the shelf and poles will have to reckon with during the holiday season. A maximum of five people can be invited to the Christmas table.

It is important to note that the limit does not apply to the organizer of the meeting and his household.

"On the day of December 27, 2020, it prohibits the holding of meetings, including events, meetings and gatherings, regardless of their type, with the exception of: events and meetings of up to five people that take place in the premises or buildings specified as the address of the residence or stay of the person who organizes the party or meeting," the document says.

Students lag behind
disputes are constantly caused by the government's decision to almost a month-long break in training for students. recall that the holiday holidays will begin on december 23 and will last until january 17, that is, until the end of the holidays, which this year are bound in one term for all provinces.

The government hopes to slowly return to schools by mid-January, but no one wonders what will happen to children during such a long break.

while there is a nervous setting of estimates. teachers want to make it to december 23, because they are convinced that there will be too little time later. from the stories of teachers, it is also known that the problem of "disappearing students" has returned. they do not participate in online classes, do not communicate with teachers, and sometimes it is even impossible to contact them through their parents.

The longer online learning takes, and the longer the breaks in children's learning, the faster the disparity between those who have parental support and those who are left alone will grow. this division is strictly class-based, related to the economic and cultural stock of families.

as a study by alison andrew of the british institute for financial research shows, some of these backlogs will not be able to catch up until the end of education. for the vast number of hours devoted to learning already matters.

"More affluent students spend 5.8 hours a day on books, and their less affluent colleagues-4.5 hours”

Write in the review of the study analysts from GRAPE.

Moreover, " affluent parents are more likely to say that their children have access to interactive sources of remote education, such as online classes or one-on-one video meetings with teachers or tutors. at the same time, more than half of primary school students from poor families say that it is not possible to arrange a place for them to study at home. Finally, in affluent homes, parents are much more likely to say that they feel able to help their children learn."

This means that we have a growing generation of missed opportunities, which in recent months has not received sufficient system support.

In Poland, men still do not respond to this problem. It doesn't even do research on educational exclusion and growing inequality.

Safety first

WE Filipinos are not any strangers to calamities, each natural and guy-made. Just remaining month, we noticed Typhoon "Ursula," a Category 1 Hurricane, hit Eastern Samar and a 6.9-value earthquake rock Davao del Sur. Two weeks into the begin of a brand new decade, the united states of america become grappling with the eruption of Taal Volcano in Batangas.

During these occurrences, many are torn among the want to meet work responsibilities and the instinct to prioritize non-public fitness and protection. Employees may additionally experience restless and paranoid traumatic about their pile of pending obligations, at the same time as new employees might not want to record unpaid leaves. It might be worth reminding anyone that there may be a law governing and protective the welfare of the staff.

In 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into regulation Republic Act (RA) 11058, or "An Act Strengthening Compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Standards." Under Section 6 of RA 11058, a employee has the right to refuse to paintings with out danger or reprisal from the employer if, as decided via the onlinemarketshare , an approaching threat scenario exists.

As a safety measure, a employer's protection officer may also, following their own dedication and without fear of reprisal, put into effect a work stoppage or droop operations in cases of approaching danger. The enterprise, safety officer, or worker shall right now notify the DoLE that an coming near near threat exists in the workplace. The business enterprise or protection officer additionally can't require employees to return to paintings when there is a persevering with imminent threat. A worker may additionally refuse to work till the lifting of the employee stoppage order and the implementation of appropriate corrective measures.

This regulation changed into amplified by using the modern day exertions advisory released with the aid of DoLE on Jan. 13, 2020, regarding suspension of labor within the private zone by means of purpose of natural or man-made calamity.

Suspension of labor

Except as furnished for by way of regulation or the correct proclamation, employers within the non-public zone shall, inside the exercising of management prerogative and in coordination with the safety and health committee, or safety officer, or another responsible enterprise officer, droop work to make certain the protection and health of their employees at some stage in natural or guy-made calamities.

According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, herbal dangers are certainly going on bodily phenomena caused by speedy or slow onset events, which may be geographical (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis and volcanic hobby), hydrological (avalanches and floods), climatological (high temperature, drought, and wildfires), meteorological (cyclones and storms, wave surges), or biological (ailment epidemics, insect/animal plagues). Technological or man-made risks, however, are activities which are as a result of human beings and occur in or close to human settlements. This can include environmental degradation, pollution, commercial and delivery accidents.

Payment of wages

In the advisory, DoLE also outlined the relevant hints on pay rates at some point of suspension of work because of calamities.

If an worker did no longer paintings at the suspended workday, there is no corresponding pay for the ones every day wage earners unless there is a favorable employer policy, exercise or collective bargaining agreement granting charge of wages. An worker is also allowed to make use of their accumulated go away credits in order that they may be compensated at the stated days.

If, then again, an employee labored on the said days, they will be given their revenue but with out extra pay (as an example, premium overtime pay if overtime was rendered) because this is taken into consideration a regular working day.

Employers may additionally provide more incentive or blessings to personnel who file to work for the duration of said days to ease the burden they'll be dealing with in times of screw ups. This is typically the case inside the enterprise method outsourcing enterprise, where retaining ordinary operations is important.

No legal responsibility in case of failure or refusal to work

It is likewise well worth mentioning that employees who fail or refuse to paintings because of coming near near risk due to herbal or man-made catastrophes shall now not be difficulty to any administrative sanctions through their business enterprise.

Prioritizing non-public fitness and safety over work isn't always some thing to be taken for granted nor frowned upon. No depend how devoted you're on your process, it isn't always worth risking your own nicely-being. Remember that you may constantly discover some other activity, but you are given simplest one existence in this international. With all the unlucky incidents happening around us, it is good to keep in thoughts: protection first!

The writer is a senior with the Business Process Services department of Navarro Amper & Co., a member of the Deloitte Asia Pacific Network. Deloitte Asia Pacific Ltd. Is a organisation limited with the aid of guarantee and a member company of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. Members of Deloitte Asia Pacific Ltd. And their related entities, each of which can be separate and impartial felony entities, provide offerings from greater than one hundred towns throughout the place, along with Auckland, Bangkok, Beijing, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Melbourne, Osaka, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo and Yangon.

Implementing the Bhoochetana

Implementing the Bhoochetana application proved to be a challenge to ICRISAT and DA-GoK considering they needed to attain the more than four.4 million small holder farmers tilling three.7 million hectares of land. So ICRISAT and DA-GoK created consciousness of this system thru wall writings as an initial step, which later complemented guides and trainings on the Bhoochetana approach/gadget.

And due to the fact maximum farmers in Karnataka earlier than the Bhoochetana program by no means used micronutrients, the DA-GoK sponsored the cost of micronutrient applications for small holder farmers through 50 percent. Also, farmers have been required to buy Rhizobium or Trichoderma together with seeds that ultimately made the farmers themselves appreciate and follow religiously the seed treatment protocols as the software progressed.

Scientists from research stations of the University of Agricultural Science at Bangalore had been also tapped to educate farm facilitators who have been in the end sent to the field. Each farm facilitator became tasked to teach farmers tilling 500-1,000 hectares of land.

Sooner or later, as I even have witnessed after I nevertheless led ICRISAT, an increasing number of small holder farmers had been convinced of the Bhoochetana software and joined the bandwagon.

By 2014, the 12 months determined to head lower back to the Philippines, I couldn't assist but be deeply touched on how the Bhoochetana application in Karnataka has transformed the lives of millions of small holder farmers and their households. Also, the impact of Bhoochetana on the environment cannot be ignored as soil fitness progressed because, amongst others, small water impounding structures prevented immoderate water from washing away pinnacle soil.
The file “Success Documentation of Bhoochetana Programme 2014” posted by way of the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances of India virtually shows how the Bhoochetana program undertaken by using ICRISAT and DA-GoK resulted to widespread yield increases and profits increases among small holder farmers in India.