Comelec readies rules for seafarers’ vote via internet

By Malou Talosig-Bartolome

THE Commission on Elections

Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said they are targeting the release of the guidelines for seafarers by next week.

Garcia hopes that by shifting to online voting, more Filipino seafarers would be encouraged to register and vote.

There were 489,852 Filipino seafarers deployed in various international ships in 2022.

The Comelec en banc had earlier approved a resolution allowing for around 5 million Filipinos working or residing overseas to vote via the internet.

Garcia said there were only

1.967 million Filipinos who registered in the last presidential elections in 2022. Of these voter registrants, only 600,000 cast their votes. For the past 10 years since the implementation of the Overseas Absentee Voting, this is already the highest turnaround of voters.

But Garcia said the 39 percent turnaround is still very small, and they want to know why. Aside from the 30-day voting period in person at the embassies and consulates, Filipinos were also allowed to mail in their votes.

“Why, despite all efforts by our embassies and consulates, we still failed to encourage Filipinos abroad to vote during 30 days?” he asked during the forum on OAV.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. also asked him during one of their meetings: “How come when we send the mail ballots, they will not send back even if the postage is still free?”

The government spent P417 million to implement the OAV in 2022.

“On a per capita basis, that’s very high. That does not include other costs like the leasing of machines,” he added.

Comelec is also coordinating with the House of Representatives and Senate if they can also be allowed to conduct the registration of first-time voters via the internet.

At the moment, only previously registered voters can register online for change of voting precinct or reactivation of voter registration for those who failed to vote in the last two national elections.

Index. . .

Continued from A1

Moving forward, Pagcatipunan said the industry is “likely” to continue to innovate and find new ways to mitigate high costs and maximize efficiency amid challenges that are expected to persist.

Across Asia, the report noted that cities such as Hong Kong, Tokyo and Macau are among the “top expensive cities” to build in.

Globally, the report showed that Geneva ranked first, followed by London, second; New York, third; and San Francisco, fourth.

Meanwhile, five of the “least expensive” cities in the index are found in Malaysia, Vietnam and India. The 2023 Arcadis ICC index covers 100 of the world’s cities across six continents.

According to Arcadis, the cost comparison was developed covering 20 different building types, including residential, commercial and public sector developments, and is based on a survey of construction costs, a review of market conditions and the professional judgement of Arcadis’ global team of experts.

The calculations, the company said, are based in USD and indexed against the price range for each building type relative to Amsterdam.

Meanwhile, Arcadis noted, “The cost data behind the ICC rankings also account for changes to specification, with lowcarbon design having an impact on construction pricing.”

“Short-term cost uplifts associated with upgraded specifications in both the UK and Europe can range from 5-7 percent for new homes and 7-10 percent for commercial buildings,” the company said.

However, Arcadis noted that with the need to mitigate against climate change and more “stringent” carbon reduction targets, sustainable buildings in prime locations are “increasingly in high demand.” This, it said, is resulting in the application of a “green premium” when it comes to how the most sustainable assets are being valued.

This means that, when prioritizing expenditure, owners and investors need to take a long-term view that will be critical to preserving value, the company said.

“It will be important to balance current asset, owner and occupier needs with the additional costs associated with, for example, complying with future energy performance and decarbonization standards, and mitigating against the effect of climate change exposure,” Arcadis’s statement read. For her part, Arcadis Environmental Sustainability Associate Director Katherine Ann Resurreccion said sustainability in real estate has become a “norm” among top developers in the Philippines.

“EDGE has recently become popular due to its relatively inexpensive certification fees and a more streamlined certification process compared to the more well-known LEED and BERDE; WELL remains the go-to standard for health and wellness,” Resurreccion said.

“Certifications are still more prevalent in buildings located in prime locations regardless of building type. However, this might change as a result of the [Securities and Exchange Commission] SEC ruling that requires annual sustainability reporting for publicly listed companies,” she added.

Moving forward, Resurreccion said the company is anticipating more organizations to take on sustainability endeavors for their buildings and townships, “not necessarily certifications” but other “lowkey” methods like energy optimization, switching to renewable energy and carbon offsetting.

Q2. . .

Continued from A1 full-year GDP growth of the Philippines this year will be supported by government’s infrastructure spending, especially on big-ticket projects coupled with revenge spending in domestic and foreign tourism.

The local think tank has also revised “downward” its inflation forecasts for second quarter to 6.3 percent and for the third quarter to 5.1 percent as government’s supply response to higher food prices is “gaining traction” amid weakening crude oil prices due to global economic slowdown.

“Headline inflation will likely continue to fall, averaging 6.3 percent in [second quarter] when it breaks through the 6 [percent] floor by June and we expect this to average 3.3 [percent] in [fourth quarter], well within the BSP’s target range of 2 [percent] to 4 [percent],” FMIC-UA&P Capital Market said.

WFH. . .

Continued from A1 proclamation to provide ready for occupancy sites for new and expanding investors,” Panga said.

“The President has tasked [Department of Trade and Industry] DTI, Peza and OP to harmonize and streamline the ecozone proclamation process to facilitate the creation of more ecozones particularly in the countryside,” the Peza chief added.

According to Panga, Peza is in “close coordination” with the other agencies and organizations to continuously address the “pain points” that are proving to be the “barriers” in the entry of investments to the Philippines.

During his keynote address at JCCIPI’s annual general meeting last May 17 which was attended by 330 members on-site and 70 virtual participants, Panga recognized the contribution of Peza’s Japanese locator companies.

“The remarkable contributions of our Japanese locator companies serve as a prime example of the strong partnership and economic progress achieved through the collaboration between Japan and the Philippines in which we continue to fortify,” Panga said in a statement on Tuesday.

To date, Peza said there are 884 Japanese enterprises in Peza contributing P745.637-billion investments and directly employing 345,807 workers.

Peza said it has also approved for this year three bigticket Japanese investments with a combined investment capital of P20.951 billion. Andrea E. San Juan

Tariffs. . .

Continued from A1 year, and [Department of Agriculture] has just forecast a pork shortage for the coming months,” it said.

“Clearly, the hog recovery is not going well. It is timely to now maintain low tariff for the next five years,” it added.

The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) disputed Mita’s arguments. “Tariff protects the local industry because the cost of production in the [country] source of imports is low,” being “heavily subsidized by their respective governments,” Sinag said in a statement.

“In the absence of comprehensive government support, tariff is the local industry’s last refuge,” the coalition added.

It chided Mita for, as it said in Filipino, acting as if “they’re the only ones who should survive.”

Barely hiding its sarcasm, it said Mita should not just wish for lower tariffs, but “go for zero percent across the board.”

Then, it could ask Neda “as well to slaughter all local livestock and don’t give any kind of budgetary support to local livestock. Close down all local hogfarms, close down feedmills, and close down animal nutrition and animal health companies.”

It stressed that “a million plus Filipinos” rely directly on the P160-billion livestock industry, and compared these “to a few dozen privileged importers na laging kinakatigan ng Neda [that Neda always sides with]?

Finally, Sinag pointed out that “reducing tariffs, just like unlimited and ill-timed imports, did not...redound to reduced retail prices—the very crux of Mita’s self serving letter to Neda.”

Declining pork production

Mita in its letter noted that global pork production is declining and is projected to further drop due to various global economic challenges.

It added that regional neighbors have already reduced tariffs on pork meat and approved more countries of origin to expand their import sources. The group explained that this is being down by other countries through the “application” of international guidelines and principles on regionalization.

“The Philippines should follow suit and diversify her sources,” the group said.

Mita noted that pork meat is “crucial” to the Filipino diet, claiming that it is “necessary to maintain its availability and affordability” of the meat product.

“Unfortunately, the uncertainty on whether the tariffs would revert to the previous rates hangs over our heads like the proverbial sword of Damocles,” it said.

The group urged the government to fast-track the completion of the Tariff Commission’s comprehensive review of all of the country’s MFN rates. The Tariff Commission is an attached agency of the National Economic and Development Authority.

“We do not wish to see repeats of the previous years wherein the same uncertainty caused importers to hedge and over-purchase, resulting in massive congestion in our ports and cold stores,” it said.

“Hence we request for clarity and certainty on the outcome of the review—whether the current rates would be reduced, maintained or revert to the higher rates,” it added. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas