Neda prodded to frontload IRR of Public Service Act

By Butch Fernandez

NOTING that the amended Public Service Act (PSA), was enacted into law as Republic Act No. 11659 nearly a year ago, Senator Grace Poe on Friday urged the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) to finish the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the law.

RA 11659, which updated the 85-year-old Commonwealth Act No. 146, was signed on March 21, 2022, and relaxed restrictions on foreigners to completely own businesses in the country, but “with clear safeguards.” Poe, who chairs the franchisegranting Public Services Committee, said the provision relaxing old restric - tions on foreigners to completely own businesses in the country was a key reform measure.

In a statement, the senator called on concerned Executive agencies to “expedite the release of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Public Service Act (PSA) to allow the people to benefit from improved services and goods with more investments.”

The lawmaker lamented that the IRR intended to facilitate the law’s implementation “has yet to be issued close to a year after the PSA became a law.”

Airing her plea to the concerned Executive officials, Poe said, “I would like to appeal to the Executive, particularly the National Economic and Development Authority, to speed up the drafting of the IRR so that the benefits of the Public Service Act will finally be realized.” She pointed out, “It is in the law that within six months from the effectivity of the measure, the IRR shall be ready.”

Specifically, Poe pointed out that the law “allows full foreign ownership” of businesses in select industries such as telecommunications, airlines and railways.

She, however, added that “some sectors will remain restricted to full foreign equity,” such as public utility vehicles, water, electricity, petroleum pipelines and seaports.

“The final law was a product of years of deliberation and inputs by various stakeholders to ensure its soundness and positive impact on the lives of our people. It’s time we reap its benefits,”

Poe said.

At the same time, Poe recalled that the PSA was among the legacy bills passed by the 18th Congress to help shore up economic development. The other laws include the Foreign Investments Act and the Trade Liberalization Act.

In the Senate session this week, Poe acknowledged fellow Senator Robin Padilla for pointing out that the Filipinos have yet to feel the effects of the PSA without the rules and guidelines in place, adding, “We hope the IRR will be out soon. It is the broken thread to the full implementation of the PSA.”

“We may have an effective law, but we need one with clear guidelines to be implementable,” she said.

VP Sara’s proposal to upgrade learners’ skills competencies gets PSAC’s support

By Manuel T. Cayon

DAVAO CITY—A private sector council advising President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on important policy moves has declared its support to Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte’s proposal to revise basic and higher education to improve skills competencies of Filipino students.

“Under the leadership of Duterte, PSAC fully supports their [Department of Education] efforts and comprehensive plans for improving the Philippine basic education system. We believe that it will bring about positive change for students, educators, and the country as a whole,” said former Trade Secretary Joey Concepcion, currently the Jobs Lead of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC).

The PSAC was formed last year upon the instance of President Marcos to Aboitiz Group President and CEO Sabin Aboitiz to form an advisory group from among business leaders and experts to help him steer the economic goals of his administration.

Concepcion is president and CEO of the family-owned RFM Corp. and also founded the Go Negosyo program.

“PSAC is committed to working with the government and other partners to help achieve the goals DepEd has set out and to contribute to the development of a welleducated and skilled workforce,” he said.

Concepcion said PSAC had already met with Marcos, Duterte and other high-ranking government officials on December 9 “to discuss concrete plans to create more and better jobs for Filipinos,” or a month before Duterte disclosed the weaknesses of the current Philippine education, especially on the failure of the 12-year basic education program to produce a skills-certified graduate of the Kindergarten+12 basic education.

Makabansa agenda to address the challenges and roadblocks that young learners face.

“We will engage with CHED, Tesda and various industry partners to address the issue of skills mismatch in our senior high school program. We will need your help to make our graduates employable, we appeal to the industries and to employers to accept our students in work immersions and hire them when they graduate,” she added.

“We will make the curriculum relevant to produce competent, job-ready, active, and responsible citizens,” Duterte said.

The VP also said DepEd would strengthen the numeracy and literacy programs and to “revitalize our reading, science, technology, and math programs by utilizing the gains of previous programs.” She added the programs would be benchmarked by local and international best practices, “consulted with experts, and will be research- and evidence-based.” administration, the Opamine said.

“We will improve English proficiency while recognizing linguistic diversity. We will work towards the goal of English language proficiency within the context of a multilingual nation,” she added.

Both agencies agreed to coordinate with each other in identifying qualified properties and beneficiaries and monitoring of the implementation of the housing project.

In a message during the signing of the MOU, Magno assured Mindanaoans “of their fair share of the housing program of President Marcos considering that there are still considerable number of Filipino families in Mindanao that do not own a house.”

“This administration knows that we have to build houses to foster homes. Good homes would mean better Filipinos. Better Filipinos would pave the way for a better Philippines. We hope that this massive housing project of the Marcos administration would pave the way for a better life for all of us, most especially those who truly need and deserve to be given a better chance in life,” Magno said.

“Thus, I thank the DHSUD for partnering with us to give homeless families in Eastern Mindanao a better home, a better future. Rest assured that Opamine-Eastern will tediously do [its] responsibilities and obligations to faithfully execute the implementation of the project in Regions 11, 12 and 13,” Magno said.

One of PSAC’s proposals presented to Malacañang was to build skills and capabilities that would allow longer-term competitiveness, Concepcion said.

The PSAC Jobs Sector recommended “identifying specific skills for long-term competitiveness and revamping basic and higher education and workforce development to drive productivity and encourage entrepreneurship,” he added.

“The specific skills identified during the December 9 meeting were English proficiency, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics [STEM] related skills, and digital readiness,” Concepcion said.

In addition, he said, PSAC recommended further integration between DepEd, the Commission of Higher Education (CHED), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), and to work with the private sector to set standards, update curricula, and design training programs that match with the real skill needs of priority sectors.

“These recommendations were reflected in the speech of Vice President Duterte and the DepEd’s MATATAG agenda,” he said.

The PSAC said Duterte outlined in her January 30 report the current state of basic education in the country as she also launched DepEd’s MATATAG: Bansang Makabata, Batang

Saturday, February 18, 2023