Ang Caviteno Newsweekly January 15-21, 2018 Issue | Page 8

Listen well ... p . 4

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VOLUME XXXIV No . 27 Enero 15-21 , 2018 P6.00
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PCOO , Japan cooperate to modernize state-run PTV4

Susan De Leon
QUEZON CITY -- Japanese Minister of Information and Presidential Communications Operations Office ( PCOO ) officials today led the ceremonial switch on of the state-run People ’ s Television Network ( PTV4 ) PTV Digital Terrestrial TV Broadcast .
Minister for Internal Affairs and Comm . of Japan Seiko Noda and Comm . Sec . Martin Andanar together with other PCOO officials led the event that signal the transition of PTV 4 from analog to digital terrestrial television ( DTT ) broadcast .
Andanar said the project is a testament of a strong cooperation between PH-Japan in the field of communications adding that it is also one the most meaningful modernization program under the Duterte administration .
“ This means really ushering a new era of television viewing in the country . So we are leading the way in changing broadcasting in the country ,” Andanar said .
PTV ’ s General Manager Dino Apolonio said that the network must keep pace with its counterparts , both locally and abroad . “ As the state network , we have to take it upon ourselves to lead the charge towards the digital transition . It will be very beneficial for the people first of all , and we have to keep up with the rest of the world .”
He added that while PTV is already doing digital test broadcasts as of now , the new equipment once installed , will significantly improve the public ’ s viewing experience .
Digital test broadcast of PTV-4 can be received in selected areas in Metro Manila on
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‘ Let me testify , prove my innocence in court ’ — Mary Jane tells Pres . Duterte on her birthday

“ President Duterte , my supposed execution was reprieved because Christina ( Sergio ) and Julius ( Lacanilao ) have pled their guilt and that I am innocent and had no knowledge of the drugs found in the luggage I brought .”
By MARYA SALAMAT
MANILA – Mary Jane Veloso turns 33 years old today . She is still a prisoner in an Indonesian maximum security jail . She lives on borrowed time . She knows , and her lawyers know , and her family and their friends at Migrante and everyone who came to wish her a happy birthday know , that the reprieve she got at the last minute of her scheduled execution three years ago might be lifted any time .
She still needs to have her death sentence removed . However , the Indonesian government said it would await the decision of Philippine courts .
In a shocking turn of events , Philippine courts have so far denied Veloso a chance to give her testimony in the case she and her parents filed against her recruiters , the couple Christina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao . Veloso presents a novel case in the Philippines – she couldn ’ t physically attend hearings because she is in jail in another country . She is in jail in another country because she was trafficked and did not know the luggage she was asked to carry were containing drugs . This was her consistent message , the same thing she wanted to say in the Philippine courts .
The Indonesian government disallowed Veloso from leaving prison to attend a court hearing in the Philippines . It only allowed her to send a deposition – it did not even allow her to face a camera or make a recording or virtually participate in an ongoing court hearing .
But the Philippine courts would not have this deposition . On January 5 , the 11th Division of the Court of Appeals ( CA ) issued a decision affirming the injunction that barred her written testimony .
This week Mary Veloso must have earned enough from washing the clothes of her fellow prisoners in Indonesia that she managed to call her family and friends more often . ( A representative of the Department of Social Welfare and Development , Aleli Bawagan , told her supporters at today ’ s
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Japanese Minister for Internal Affairs & Communications Seiko Noda , Sec . Andanar and other PCOO officials tour PTV4 facilities . ( Photo courtesy of PTV4 )

NAPC bats for new anti-poverty approaches

NAPC Secretary Liza Maza hopes that their book of proposals will inspire meaningful debates among policy makers , change the way they see the poor and poverty , and usher in a comprehensive and integrated approach to poverty reduction this new year .
By MARYA SALAMAT
MANILA – A year and a half since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed the presidency , the National Anti-Poverty Commission directly under the Office of the President released a 100-page book pushing for reforms on how the government approaches anti-poverty policy .
Over the past decades , every administration implemented anti-poverty programs . But all of it ultimately failed , said NAPC Secretary Liza Maza . An activist who represented the Gabriela Women ’ s Partylist and Bayan Muna in Congress , Maza presented the NAPC Secretariat ’ s book called “ Reforming Philippine Anti-Poverty Policy – Going Beyond , Moving Forward ” as their contribution , beginning this new year , to hopefully spurring “ meaningful debates ” among policy-makers and advocates .
Secretary Maza , however , is aware that they are going against the flow within the administration . She has given President Duterte a copy of the policy proposal since December .
She still has to hear from him
discrimination ,
and
other
about it .
vulnerabilities ,”
said
lawyer
The change they want to usher in includes setting the
Evalyn Ursua , also one of the authors .
government ’ s sights higher , going
Implementing
the
for poverty eradication instead human
rights-based
approach
of
mere
poverty
alleviation .
to eradicating poverty is in
They want the government to fact in the 1987 Constitution ,
deepen the reach of intervention
Ursua said . “ The Constitution
to
“ multidimensional ,”
which
provides that the thrust should
by their explanation means the government must also bring changes in the structures , systems , policies that bring about poverty . They want to change the current practice of “ compartmentalized ”
be poverty eradication and not alleviation .” Ursua added that much of the policies being issued are “ inconsistent with the Constitution .”
What the government
anti-poverty
actions
where
should be doing , according to
government offices attending to poverty function separately from
NAPC secretariat Considering
that
the
the offices and agencies issuing orders that cause poverty . They
country has failed to develop the economy in more or less
are proposing to the Duterte
four
decades
of
neoliberal
administration to make poverty eradication the centerpiece of its economic , social and environment policies . This way , they said , antipoverty actions won ’ t be mere palliatives .
policies , the NAPC proposal wants a reorientation of the economy . They said the main strategy to adopt should aim for healthy Philippine industries , a comprehensive agrarian reform ,
Besides ,
even
as
a developing countryside and
palliatives ,
the
government
“ transformative social policies ”
effort is far too little . “ Sa isang
which cover also social services
malaking dagat ng mahihirap , and protection .
ang liliit ng target ( Amid the wide
Co-authors of NAPC
sea of poverty , the government ’ s
Secretariat ’ s
proposed
antipoverty
target is too small ),” said Marivic Raquiza , one of the authors of the proposed policy reforms .
The NAPC secretariat
policy reforms . They culled it from a year ’ s work of numerous discussions with representatves of various sectors .
wants
to
broaden
the
Among
others ,
the
government ’ s view of poverty . following , according to NAPC
They observed that the prevalent view in government of poverty
secretariat , are some of the reforms their policy proposal
is merely that of having low hopes the Filipinos will support
income . “ It should include the people ’ s suffering from hunger ,
and urge President Duterte to
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