House adopts reso backing immediate RCEP ratification

people,” they said.

R ene Ofreneo, President of Freedom from Debt Coalition and Professor Emeritus of the UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations, said the automatic appropriations policy for debt service is curtailing citizens’ “right to information and participation in debt governance and management.” These public debts were and continue to be incurred in the name of the Filipino people. We are also the ones shouldering debt service payments, whether through taxes or cuts in public expenditures for health, education, job creation and other needs,” Ofreneo said.

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Yet, we only get to know what debts were contracted after the deed is done, and then bear the consequences for debt-funded projects that may have violated human rights or destroyed environments,” Ofreneo added.

T he CSOs were referring to Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1177 issued by former President Marcos Sr. that revised the budget process “in order to institutionalize the budgetary innovations of the new society.”

Continued on A5

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie \

T he plenary adopted House Resolution 728, after the House Committee on Trade and Industry approved the same at the committee level.

I n his manifestation, economist and Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda expressed his support for the ratification of the RCEP, provided that “we can address certain concerns about domestic competitiveness.”

A ccording to Salceda, the tariff reduction commitments are almost negligible, for only 14 tariff lines with import values in 2021, amounting to a total of USD131.5 million, are involved.

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None of these tariff lines are for products where a domestic industry is under threat. Live swine and live poultry are the closest I could think of, but it is not practical to import them in any significant way,” he said.

T his pitch, however, does not impress Sen. Chiz Escudero, who separately said, while grilling RCEP negotiators in the Senate plenary, the exclusions are no comfort for the local sectors, because under the treaty, the Executive Department or Congress can change “tomorrow, next week, next month” the exclusion lists embodied in the annex of the RCEP. See related story on page A2.

Salceda believes, though, that domestic competitiveness will not suffer as a result of the tariff reductions.

“ The issue that could affect domestic competitiveness is someplace else—particularly in the simplification of rules of origin,” he said.

Certain products with a certain level of regional value content—or how much of its inputs are from the region—qualify for preferential tariff treatment. That is particularly relevant for complex products where inputs are from RCEP partners,” he added.

W hat RCEP proposes basically is that inputs in complex products from the RCEP partner countries will be treated as domestic input, said Salceda.

“ Therefore, depending on regional value-content rules, many of these complex products involving inputs from RCEP countries could be tariff-free when imported within these countries,” he said.

Concerns HOWEVER , Salceda noted his two key concerns, including the level of preparation of local industries as well as the Bureau of Customs and the Tariff Commission.

“ The first is what are steps being taken to prepare Philippine industries for these changes? While raw ag-

Suicide rate among youths alarms solons

LAWMAKERS on Tuesday expressed alarm over the Department of Health (DOH) report showing that 17 percent of children and adolescents reported having thought of committing suicide.

A nakalusugan Rep. Ray Reyes and BHW Rep Angelica Natasha Co made separate statements after DOH reported its 2021 study during the briefing of the House Committee on Welfare of Children last Monday.

R eyes said the DOH had reported that the suicide ideation number has risen from 597,000 in 2013 to 1.5 million kids in 2021, with only 7 percent of that number seeking help from their parents or guardians, as opposed to 25 percent seeking advice from their peers.

“ This is alarming. Our children spend most of their time learning to navigate life from what they learn at school. Their young minds are still in their formative years, and the data showing that our children prefer seeking help from their friends than their guardians only show that professional help is much needed,” Reyes said.

T he Senate hearing earlier this month revealed that at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic more than 400 students committed suicide, while over 2,000 attempted suicides in School Year 2021-2022 alone.

“ It is incumbent upon us, lawmakers, to safeguard the mind and mental health of the young. I call for the immediate passage of policies towards the institutionalization of stronger and more comprehensive school-based mental health programs to ensure a more functional and more productive society in the coming years. As such, we call on the Senate to pass a counterpart bill seeking to strengthen the mental health services in schools,” Reyes said.

T he Lower House has passed on third reading House Bill No. 06574 or the Basic Education Mental Health and Well-Being Promotion Act. The bill was transmitted to the Senate on February 1 this year.

It directs the Department of Education (DepEd) to recruit, train, and hire additional mental health professionals in all public schools and adequately address various mental, emotional, and developmental needs of students, teachers, and school personnels.

T he measure likewise proposes ricultural products are not subject to tariff reduction, imported processed bananas, mangoes, and pineapples from RCEP countries could be zerotariff under these arrangements, if my reading is correct,” he asked.

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The second concern is administrative. Rules of origin are a customs valuation concern principally. Is our customs administration system prepared for these changes? What are the steps being taken at the Bureau of Customs and the Tariff Commission to prepare for these changes?” he added.

I f these concerns can be addressed, Salceda said the Philippines can better allay the fears of those who believe that Philippine industries, especially agriculture, will be hurt by the RCEP.

O n November 15, 2020, the Philippines signed the RCEP agreement, a trade agreement that covers trade areas for goods, services and investments, sustainable growth, and business environment involving the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its five other free trade agreement (FTA) partners, namely Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and Republic of Korea.

Continued on A5 the establishment of a Mental Health and Well-being Office in all school’s division offices and schools to cater to the needs of employees and learners. The office will then be headed by a qualified Mental Health Professional with a position of Guidance Services Specialist V.

For her part, Co expressed disappointment at the poor implementation of the National Mental Health Act and other laws, which, she says, could have prevented many of the suicides if they had been implemented. We want to see more trained peer counselors, especially those who are student leaders, the academic and non-academic student organizations. Parents’ organizations must be involved in the training of parents,” she said. We need more interagency coordination and monitoring and followup on all the cases of suicides, bullying, and violence involving students and teachers,” she added.

T he lawmaker said there must be synergy among all the implementing agencies, one hotline that the public can remember instead of the many hotlines per agency, and one concrete program that all can follow, including all barangays. We will work with the House Committee on Civil Service and Professional Regulation to address the shortage of guidance counselors. My suggestion is to have additional categories of guidance counselors— in the same way that the nursing and engineering professions have technicians, specialists, and aides,” she said.

“ We will ask the DOH to include mental health training for barangay health workers. This would be one quick way to swiftly add more people who can be first responders in communities and schools,” she added.

A lso, in recent data provided by the Department of Education, among the 28 million student population, 404 students ended their lives; 2,147 learners had attempted to end their lives in the year 2021; roughly 775,962 learners sought guidance counseling from a guidance counselor, and this is based on 2021 data that is approximately 2.85 percent of the population.

O f the 60,157 schools, there were only 16,557 guidance officers and 2,093 registered guidance counselors. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

Jinggoy: Time to abolish OMB, it's now irrelevant

THE Optical Media Board (OMB) has outlived its purpose and would best be abolished, Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada said on Tuesday as he filed Senate Bill No. 1904.

“The significant technological advancements in the media landscape rendered the use of video tapes and compact discs obsolete. Today, movies and television series are consumed through digital and online platforms and streaming services. Ang mandato na dapat ginagampanan ng OMB ay hindi na makabuluhan o naaayon sa kasalukuyang panahon [The mandate that OMB should carry out is no longer relevant today],” Estrada said. I n filing SB 1904 or the proposed “Act Abolishing The OMB, Created By Virtue of Republic Act 9239, Otherwise Known As The Optical Media Act of 2003, And For Other Purposes,” Estrada said the conception and implementation of regulatory policies of the board were due to the proliferation of film piracy, most of which were illegally circulated and physically stored in optical media. T hese activities greatly affected the operations of movie houses and theaters, causing a sharp decline in cinema attendance and substantial losses to government revenues, the senator said in explaining the enactment of RA 9239 which reorganized the Videogram Regulatory Board (VRB) and paved the way for the creation of the OMB to ensure the protection and promotion of intellectual property rights.

E strada first broached the idea of abolishing the OMB during the 2022 budget deliberations when he suggested the transfer of its functions to other executive offices, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) in particular, noting the agency’s dismal performance in the past years.

There was a steady decline in the estimated value of seized items in the last five years, from P763 million in 2018 to P305,000 in 2022. Also, no new administrative cases were filed against violators of RA 9236 last year; and by own admission of the OMB, this is because DVDs are not used anymore,” he said.

OMB is literally monitoring and regulating an already obsolete industry, Estrada stressed, pointing out that the storage medium and devices under the agency’s regulatory control are phased out already.

To address the displacement of OMB personnel, Estrada proposed to have some of them be absorbed by the FDCP, transferred to other agencies, or given separation benefits should they opt to retire from service. Butch Fernandez

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng