THE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Monday revoked its order for Grab Philippines (MyTaxi.PH, Inc.) to reimburse passengers who paid a P2 per minute charge from June 2017 to April 2018, saying there was “lack of basis to support reimbursement by way of rebate for future riders.”
In the Sept. 4 order, the regulator said it is partially granting Grab Philippines’ motion for reconsideration on its earlier order for the company to reimburse by way of rebate the P2 per minute fare component it charged its passengers.
However, the LTFRB said Grab Philippines still has to pay the P10 million fine for overcharging its passengers and its failure to inform the board of its P2 per minute charge.
“The Board en banc takes note of the fact that the respondent herein unilaterally imposes the P2 per minute of travel time without authority from the Board despite the Order dated Dec. 27, 2017. The issuance of the said order is clear indication or reminder that prior approval of the Board is required before the additional rates may be imposed,” the LTFRB said.
Grab Philippines was sought for comment on the regulator’s latest decision but is yet to issue a statement as of press time.
Grab Philippines has always maintained its fare structure is legal and has been fully disclosed with the LTFRB. It said Department Order 2015-011, which was the government’s guiding document for transport network vehicle services (TNVS) at that time, allowed Grab Philippines to impose its own fares.
Since June, the LTFRB was tasked by the Department of Transportation through a new department order to also regulate the fares of TNVS. The government has yet to implement a new fare structure. — Denise A. Valdez
WHEN AN exquisite item has served its purpose with an owner, it a privilege of a new owner to enjoy and appreciate its beauty.
On its fifth year, Salcedo Auctions’ The Well-Appointed Life auction will be presenting selected items from its four sale categories — important Philippine art, connoisseur collection, fine jewelry and timepieces, and rare automobiles — on Sept. 22 and 23 at the Peninsula Manila.
The centerpiece of this year’s auction is what is believe to be a boceto for Juan Luna’s Spoliarium.
Salcedo Auctions director Richie Lerma recalled receiving a mysterious e-mail in February from an anonymous private collector based in Europe.
The collector wrote that their family owned a painting which was referred to as the boceto for Juan Luna’s Spoliarium, the masterpiece that won the first gold medal at the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in Madrid in 1884. A boceto is a study for large-scale paintings which an artists creates to map out the image prior to the final painting.
The e-mail contained photographs showing details of the brush strokes of the boceto.
As Mr. Lerma studied the photos, an interesting detail caught his attention — the signature of Juan Luna — on the lower right hand corner of the canvas. His curiosity led to further investigation of the artwork.
“Whenever an artwork is presented to Salcedo auctions, we ask questions. We don’t take everything at face value. In fact, when this piece was brought to us, we always tried to disprove any doubts that we have. And we go to great lengths to do our due diligence before we make an attribution, because we do understand the trust of the public is important,” Mr. Lerma told the press during the preview on Aug. 30. THE EVIDENCE
According Mr. Lerma, one piece of evidence on the boceto’s authenticity was the inscription: “SPOLIARIVM = boceto,” and the baybayin (early Tagalog syllabic alphabet) symbols “BU LA = LVNA R1883” (“bu la” is the Ilokano word for “moon”).
In a booklet made by Salcedo Auctions about the discovery and examination of the boceto, the analysis of the penmanship stated: “the writing on the boceto and those on art historically accepted, exhibited, and published works by Luna matched: from the block letters that spell out the title of the artwork and the artist’s name, to the distinctive manner in which the ‘R’ preceding the year ‘1883’ echoed the manner in which the ‘R’ in ‘Roma’ had been inscribed on the other known works by Luna that he had painted in the city.”
According to Mr. Lerma, the way to examine the artwork’s authenticity is through sight and science. He noted that the type of canvas and type of stretcher (with a keyhole at the back) are of the 19th century. Mr. Lerma also noted that under the UV light test, the signature is not seen. It was an indication that “the signature was painted at the same time when picture was being painted.”
“We had the owners bring it to Manila. They had to take responsibility for it until it was transferred to us,” Mr. Lerma told the press.
He pointed out that the artwork has not been given a starting price prior the press launch. He also said that Salcedo Auctions is open to negotiations if the state is interested in acquiring the boceto.
“Who would not want this to be in a collection of [the] state to be enjoyed by as many people as possible?” Mr. Lerma told the press.
“I think by now we have a fuller picture of the creative process of [Juan] Luna,” he told BusinessWorld. THE AUCTION WEEKEND
The auction for the important Philippine art and connoisseur collection will be held on Sept. 22. Pieces include two Paris oil paintings by Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo, two “Gold Period” paintings by National Artist Fernando Amorsolo, as well as National Artist Jose Joya’s Two Faces of Villafernandina, Fire Lake, White Symbol, and Nirvana. A large 18th century ivory Christ on the Cross, a Renaissance-style Ah Tay half-tester bed, and an 18th century Hispano-Filipino “Dinimonyo’ altar table are among the pieces in the connoisseur collection.
On Sept. 23, a Rolex Stainless Steel Cosmograph Ref. 6263 and a Rolex Submariner-Sultanate of Oman Ref. 16613 are among the fine jewelry and timepieces which will be up for auction, while vintage motor vehicles such as the Guards Red 1976/77 Porsche 911 Targa, and two collectible BMW motorcycles — R69S-1965 and R50-1969 — pioneer the rare automobiles auction.
The Well-Appointed Life auction weekend will be held on Saturday, Sept. 22, and Sunday, Sept. 23, at the Rigodon Ballroom of The Peninsula Manila, with the preview starting on Sept. 13 and running through to Sept. 21, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at The Gallery, Level 3, The Peninsula Manila. For inquiries, call (659.4094, 823.0956, 0917894.6550) or e-mail info@salcedoauctions.com. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman
PHILIPPINE Veterans Bank (PVB) is set to launch online and mobile banking services as it embarks on its digital transformation.
In a statement on Tuesday, PVB said it has selected American financial services technology firm Fiserv, Inc. for its digital banking services.
The bank will use Fiserv’s DigitalAccess solution for online and mobile banking which will be integrated with its core account processing platform.
DigitalAccess enables digital on-boarding, allowing customers to open bank accounts, apply for loans, manage personal finances, search for branches and electronic teller machines and top up mobile phones, among others, electronically.
“The new technology…facilitates interactions across physical and digital channels, allowing the bank to provide seamless financial services to customers,” Fiserv Managing Director for Asia Pacific Marc Mathenz was quoted as saying in the statement.
Camille Maricelle M. Canullas, Philippine Veterans Bank senior vice-president and information technology group head, added that the lender will put in place technology enabling it to better serve existing clients and attract new ones.
“Our staff will have a more comprehensive view of customer relationships and customers will have access to digital services aligned with how they live and work,” Ms. Canullas said.
Philippine Veterans Bank is licensed as a commercial bank owned by Filipino World War II veterans and their heirs. It operates 60 branches nationwide and caters to both corporate and retail clients.
It is the 26th biggest lender in the country with P51.324 billion in assets at end-March, according to central bank data. — KANV
GLOBE Telecom, Inc. said it is moving closer to reaching its target of deploying long-term evolution (LTE) services to 95% of cities and municipalities in the country by end-2018.
In a statement on Tuesday, the telco company said it has established 1,752 new LTE sites all over the country over the January to June period, bringing the number of LTE stations nationwide to 12,000.
The new LTE sites carry frequency bands of 700 megahertz (MHz) and 2600 MHz.
“We are on course to fulfill our commitment of deploying LTE services to 95 percent of municipalities nationwide by the end of 2018,” Globe Senior Vice President for Program Governance Joel R. Agustin said in the statement.
The Ayala-led telco giant noted its customers’ continued use of streaming services is spurring demand for mobile data. Globe said mobile data traffic grew 40% to 390 Petabytes in the first six months of 2018 compared to 280 Petabytes during the same period last year.
Globe saw its net income for the first half of the year rise 21% to P9.8 billion, fueled by higher revenues driven by strong demand for data. — Denise A. Valdez
THE College of St. Benilde-School of Design and Art’s Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) is partnering with Leon Gallery for an auction-exhibition that aims to raise funds for the museum’s endeavours over the next three years.
Called “Funding the Future,” the MCAD’s fund-raising sale presents 35 lots for auction on Sept. 8 at 2-6 p.m. at Leon Gallery, Eurovilla 1, Rufino cor. Legazpi Sts., Makati.
The 35 art works are part of Leon Gallery’s Magnificent September Auction, which has 143 lots of its own. Leon’s lots include Fernando Amorsolo’s Dalagang Bukid, Vicente Manansala’s Pila sa Bigas, and Carlos V. Francisco’s The Nose Flute.
MCAD’s 35 artworks are from artists Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, Gary-Ross Pastrana, Jose Tence Ruiz, Kawayan de Guia, Manuel Ocampo, Maria Taniguchi, Mark Justiniani, Martha Atienza, Pacita Abad, Pio Abad, Poklong Anading, Romina Diaz, and Yason Banal, among others.
MCAD deputy director Chris Green told BusinessWorld during the auction’s launch on Aug. 28 that all 35 works were donated directly to the museum by the participating artists, all of whom have exhibited at least once at MCAD.
“Typically, in an auction, you see [that] the art for sale is either owned by collectors or galleries and has been passed on from three, four, five hands. But for this auction, all the works are donated directly by the artists,” said Mr. Green.
The works for sale are paintings, prints, and small installations. The works can be viewed at www.leon-gallery.com/auctions.
The starting bids for the 35 lots range from P40,000 to P1.3 million, which is Paul Pfeiffer’s Live Evil (Gothenburg), a digital video loop on LCD monitor with a DVD player and cast armature.
Mr. Green said the majority of the prices of the “Funding for the Future” were set by the artists themselves or the galleries that represent them.
The museum teamed up with Leon Gallery through MCAD’s board of advisors. And with the booming local auction scene, Mr. Green said, “I hope they respond as well to this because the difference is that the profit is for the museum space, a good cause.”
All proceeds from the sale of the 35 pieces will go to MCAD and will fund the museum’s research, publication, and residencies, among others. SOCIAL RELEVANCE
MCAD has been holding exhibitions and education programs for the last 10 years. The museum’s education program targets young children (7-11 years old) through its family day programs; supports the curriculum taught in high school targeting older children (12-16 years old); and CSB and De La Salle University students, alumni, young professionals, and people who have never stepped inside the museum.
The goal of MCAD, said Mr. Green, is to bridge the gap between art and people.
A British national, Mr. Green has been working in the Philippines for two years and says that he is aware of and excited about the art scene in the Philippines.
While commercial art is rising, and he has nothing against it (“it’s not the sector I’m working in”), he said people should also be unafraid to visit museums and galleries whose aim is public exhibition and education.
“Art has the ability to shape people. But when I see street kids in our museum doing our art coloring sheets in workshops, and the next day they’re there again, I genuinely feel humbled. We’ve reached out to somebody who has never been to a museum before. Museums should never be boring,” he said.
“Museums have a social responsibility to allow anyone to come in. And be socially relevant while doing it,” he added. — Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman
ING Groep NV agreed to pay €775 million ($900 million) to settle an investigation by the Dutch prosecutor into issues including money laundering and corrupt practices in one of the biggest fines ever given to the country’s banks in a criminal case.
The lender acknowledged “serious shortcomings” in executing customer due diligence policies to prevent financial crime at its Dutch unit from 2010 through 2016, according to a statement from the Amsterdam-based bank on Tuesday. The lender is taking action against a number of current and former senior employees in relation to the case, though said that it expects to resolve the matter with the US Securities and Exchange Commission without further fines.
The investigation focused on the bank’s role in matters including unusual payments by VimpelCom Ltd. to a company owned by a Uzbek government official, the Dutch public prosecution office has said. VimpelCom, which has changed its name to Veon, pleaded guilty in 2016 to violating US corruption laws and agreed to a $795 million settlement with US and Dutch authorities in a case related to its subsidiary in Uzbekistan. ING is suspected of failing to report unusual transactions or not reporting them in time, the prosecutor said.
“Given the severity of the issues and the fact that the US justice department was involved in the investigation, I had expected the total fine to add up to several hundreds millions of euros,” Robin van den Broek, an analyst at Mediobanca, said in an emailed statement.
ING shares fluctuated between gains and losses in early trading in Amsterdam with the stock down 1.3% at €11.5 as of 9:35 a.m. local time.
The payment will consist of a €675-million fine and €100-million disgorgement, with the total amount being taken as a one-off charge in the bank’s third-quarter results, the bank said. Previously, it had just said that it may have to pay a significant amount to end the case. The €100-million payment represents the underspend by ING during the period in question on staffing for the implementation and execution of policies and procedures.
The bank’s executive board will waive their bonuses for 2018 because of the fine.
“We are taking a number of robust measures to strengthen our compliance risk management and support a strong risk culture and will be making further improvements to ensure we can play a full role in contributing to protecting the integrity of the financial system,” Vincent van den Boogert, chief executive officer of ING in the Netherlands, said in the statement.
The measures against a number former and current senior employees include withdrawing bonuses and “suspension of duties,” according to the bank. ING announced a raft of new measures intended to strengthen its compliance and know your customer requirements, including client risk committees across business unit and a program to strengthen the bank’s internal compliance culture.
The bank had hinted that it might be able to raise its dividend later this year after recovering from a dip in fee income, adding new customers and building up its CET1 ratio — a key measure of financial strength — to more than 14%. — Bloomberg
A subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) in Australia said it was able to handle larger capacity vessels at the Port of Melbourne. Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT) said it recently welcomed Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) Seoul — a 8,063-TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) capacity vessel. “VICT… is a highly automated terminal designed to meet the requirement for new capacity in Melbourne but more importantly to provide an efficient solution to catering for the larger vessel types now being progressively introduced into Australian container trade lanes,” ICTSI said in a statement.
MENCHU LAUCHENGCO-YULO will star in Red Turnip’s production of A Doll’s House Part 2.
FOR Its 5th season, theater company Red Turnip presents Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House Part 2, starring Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo as Nora. Directed by Cris Villongco, the play will run from Sept. 15 to Oct. 7 at the Zobel de Ayala Recital Hall, Maybank Performing Arts Theater, BGC, Taguig. Tickets are available through TicketWorld (891-9999 or www.ticketworld.com.ph) and Red Turnip Theater (redturniptheater@gmail.com). Written almost 140 years after Henrik Ibsen’s original A Doll’s House, A Doll’s House Part 2 picks up the story 15 years after Nora slammed the door shut on her family and the life she once knew. Now a successful author of feminist literature, Nora returns with a task to accomplish — a divorce, for without it she is ruined. She faces a series of loaded intimate and philosophical confrontations and recriminations from her former housekeeper, her daughter, and her (possible) ex-husband. And with this, questions of freedom, marriage, and family come into play in this 90-minute intermissionless dramedy. The production also stars Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, Sheila Francisco, and Rachel Coates.
Last chance to catch this exhibit
THERE are a few more days to catch 1335 Mabini’s exhibit Forms Please, featuring works by Gus Albor, Anna-Maria Bonger, Miggy Inumerable, Kanchana Gupta, Klaus Wanker, and Ian Woo. The exhibit runs until Sept. 8 at the Karrivin Plaza, Makati branch of the gallery. This group exhibit explores the realm of materiality by showcasing works by artists from Asia and Europe. Working across different disciplines, the works of these artists are placed in a dialogue within the gallery’s space, rendering the forms of these works unstable and, in turn, leaving room for poetic mistranslations and diverse aesthetic experiences within the bodies of visitors. Meanwhile, opening on the 15th is History of the Present, featuring works by Jill Paz. The Filipino-Canadian artist has returned to the Philippines to reconnect to the country, her ancestral home, and the art scene. For the exhibit she revisits and reinterprets the body of work of the 19th century Filipino painter Félix Resurrección Hidalgo, her great grand-uncle and an important figure in the Philippine art history. The exhibit will run until Oct. 13.
Shell art tilt calls for entries
FOR more than 50 years now, Shell has championed the arts through the National Students Art Competition (NSAC). Now on its 51st year, Shell NSAC presents the theme “Perspective,” and calls for young artists to show their visions of the future and to share their unique take on how to make the future bright. “Through this year’s NSAC, we continue to discover young artistic talents whose art pieces not only promote our nation’s art and culture but also inspire a bright perspective of the future,” Sankie Simbulan, Pilipinas Shell Social Performance and Social Investment Manager, was quoted as saying in a release. The Shell NSAC is open to all college students enrolled with at least 12 units in a recognized Philippine school in the school year 2018-2019. Participants can submit a maximum of two entries in the following themed categories: oil/acrylic, watercolor, sculpture, and digital fine arts (print). Across all categories, grand prize winners will each be awarded P60,000, while second and third prize winners will receive P40,000 and P30,000, respectively. Major winners will also receive medals and plaques. All finalists, except major winners, will each receive P2,000 and a Certificate of Merit. Submission of provincial entries will be on Sept. 18, 19, and 20 at any Shell depot and installation outside Metro Manila. Participants may also submit entries in any of the following centers: Gallery Orange, 2/F Art District, Lopue’s Main Bldg., Mandalagan, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental; and Museo Iloilo, Bonifacio Drive, Iloilo City. Metro Manila-based contestants must submit their entries on Oct. 4, 5, and 6 at the Shell House, 156 Valero St., Salcedo Village, Makati City.
Two exhibits, one gallery
THE Artery Art Space has opened two exhibits: Quixotic Trolls and Shadow Casts from the Pale Moon Sky. They are both ongoing until Sept. 22 at the gallery, which is located at 102 P.Tuazon Blvd., Cubao, Quezon City. Quixotic Trolls features paintings by Lec Cruz, Robert Langenegger, Jason Montinola, and David Ryan Viray. These paintings are marked with sharp wit about the representation of the world, the retelling of history, and the conceptual refashioning of cultural conventions into unique works of timeless vision. Shadow Casts from the Pale Moon Sky features works by Julius Bagoyo, Nile Pobadora, and Elijah Santiago. They explore the monochromatic temper of light absent from animate living.
Ongoing at West Gallery
WEST GALLERY has several exhibits which are ongoing until Sept. 15. At Gallery 1 is a group show, Alternative Fallacies, featuring works by Ronald Achacoso, Juan Alcazaren, Nilo Ilarde, Jonathan Olazo, Bernardo Pacquing, and Soler Santos. Galleries 2, 3, and 4 all have solo shows: Gallery 2 has Katrina Bello’s Drawing Abundance; Gallery 3 has Isabel Santos’s Image May Contain; while Gallery 4 has Nicole Tee’s A Glimpse of A Field. West Gallery is at 48 West Ave., Quezon City.
PURCHASING activity, a proxy for the robustness of the manufacturing sector, exceeded the regional average in the Philippines but placed the country in the second tier among Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to an IHS Markit survey conducted for Nikkei released on Tuesday. Read the full story.
PRESIDENT RODRIGO R. Duterte has signed Proclamation 572 revoking the amnesty for Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV, in connection with his acts of mutiny and sedition against the government of then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The proclamation was signed last Friday, Aug. 31, and published in a newspaper on Tuesday, as authorities sought Mr. Trillanes at the Senate but was stopped by his colleagues.
Mr. Duterte’s Proclamation 572 states that “the grant of amnesty to former LTSG Antonio Trillanes IV under Proclamation No. 75 is declared void ab initio (from the beginning) because he did not comply with the minimum requirements to qualify under the Amnesty Proclamation.”
The directive referred to his involvement as a Navy lieutenant leading the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny, the 2006 Marines stand-off, and the siege of the Manila Peninsula in 2007, all in protest of Ms. Arroyo’s rule amid accusations of corruption against her administration then.
According to the proclamation, Mr. Trillanes — as a grantee under then president Benigno S.C. Aquino III’s Proclamation No. 75, providing for his amnesty and that of other participants in the said mutinies — “never expressed his guilt for the crimes that were committed on occasion of the Oakwood Mutiny and Peninsula Manila Hotel Siege,” on which the grant of amnesty should be predicated.
Mr. Trillanes also “did not file an Official Amnesty Application Form,” according to a certification on this procedure by the military just last week, Aug. 30, as also cited in the proclamation.
Thus, “the Department of Justice and Court Martial of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are ordered to pursue all criminal and administrative cases filed against former LTSG Antonio Trillanes in relation to the Oakwood Mutiny and the Manila Peninsula Incident,” Mr. Duterte’s proclamation read.
The AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP) are also ordered to “employ all lawful means to apprehend” Mr. Trillanes “so that he can be recommitted to the detention facility where he had been incarcerated for him to stand trial for the crimes he is charged with.”
Mr. Duterte is currently in a state visit to Israel. In a press briefing there on Tuesday morning (Manila time) Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. said of the paper work on Mr. Trillanes: “Two years na ito in the offing. And unang-una, hinahanap iyong mga record. They had to make sure na talagang walang application at walang pag-amin itong si Trillanes.” (This has been two years in the offing. First of all, [we were] looking for the records. They had to make sure that there was really no application [for amnesty] and admission [of guilt] on Mr. Trillanes’s part.)
Mr. Duterte was elected president in 2016.
Mr. Roque also stood by the military certification, when asked about videos of Mr. Trillanes’s amnesty application being circulated online on Tuesday.
For his part, Justice Secretary a Menardo I. Guevarra said of Mr. Duterte’s proclamation, “This is not a matter of revocation. When you revoke, there is something that was given validly, and you are taking it back for some reason. But that does not seem to be the case here. This proclamation declares that the grant was invalid and void ab initio, right from the beginning. So you are not taking back something. You are declaring something never actually validly existed.”
At the House of Representatives, Magdalo Representative Gary C. Alejano, who also took part in Oakwood, said he is aware his own amnesty may be voided. He also criticized the proclamation against Mr. Trillanes as “political persecution,” following after Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes P.A. Sereno’s ouster and Senator Leila M. De Lima’s arrest and detention.
At the Senate, Mr. Trillanes told reporters after meeting with Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III and Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, “I was placed in the custody of the Senate President until my lawyers will file the necessary petitions in the Supreme Court.”
“As I mentioned, this is a warrantless arrest so we need to fight (this),” he added.
Sought for comment, Mr. Sotto told reporters: “I have given instructions to the sergeant-at-arms that based on the tradition of the Senate, to preserve the dignity of the Senate, we cannot allow a senator to be arrested in the Senate premises.”
In his privileged speech on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Trillanes maintained that he had complied with all the requirements for his 2011 amnesty.
“I swore under oath in the application. There I admitted my guilt based in the application form that the Department of National Defense provided….The Defense officials said there was a 15-day period for anybody to oppose (the application). Mr. (Solicitor General Jose C.) Calida and Mr. Duterte should have appealed then. There was a committee who deliberated the applications for amnesty and it was approved,” he said.
“Hindi ko alam kung saan nagma-magic itong mga taga-Malacañang (I don’t know what magic [tricks] those in Malacañang are pulling off),” he said, as he also criticized the “stupid” proclamation against him. — Arjay L. Balinbin,withCamille A. Aguinaldo, Charmaine A. Tadalan,andVann Marlo M. Villegas
By Charmaine A. Tadalan
THE HOUSE BILL increasing from 60 to 100 days the paid maternity leave was approved on third and final reading on Tuesday, Sept. 4.
With 191 affirmatives, zero negatives and no abstention, House Bill (HB) 4113, “The 100-day Maternity Leave Law,” is a step closer to enactment. Its counterpart bill, Senate Bill 1305, which grants a 120-day maternity leave, had earlier hurdled that chamber on third and final reading.
Under both measures, all covered female workers will also be granted an optional 30-day extension without pay, in addition to the initial maternity period.
Further, in the House version, women in government offices on maternity leave shall receive full pay based on their average weekly or regular wages. Meanwhile, women in the private sector will be paid a daily maternity benefit, based on the average monthly salary credit.
The benefits shall apply to all covered female workers, regardless of civil status and birth procedure. The bill, if enacted, will also include workers in the informal economy as well as female workers facing administrative cases.
The Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) welcomed the development and considered it as “a sweet victory for Filipino women workers.”
“The Expanded Maternity Leave measure is the country’s non-cash investment in producing a healthy, intelligent and well-developed future breed of Filipino workers without losing the wages and benefits of nursing moms during maternity period and without sacrificing their health and well-being,” ALU-TUCP Vice President and Women’s Committee head Eva B. Arcos said in a statement, Tuesday.
The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), for its part, said while it does not object to the proposed measure, it has reservations about its implementation.
“ECOP did not object to that, okay lang kasi (it’s okay because) it’s not so far from what the international standard ng ILO (Internal Labor Organization). But we reiterated dapat ang arrangement niyan pareho ng SSS na nagbabayad (ng) daily credit, ina-advance lang ng employer, nire-reimburse lang ng SSS,” ECOP honorary chair Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr. told BusinessWorld in a phone interview. (But we reiterated that the arrangement should be the same as with the Social Security System, which reimburses the employer’s advance.)
WEST GALLERY has several exhibits which are ongoing until Sept. 15. At Gallery 1 is a group show, Alternative Fallacies, featuring works by Ronald Achacoso, Juan Alcazaren, Nilo Ilarde, Jonathan Olazo, Bernardo Pacquing, and Soler Santos. Galleries 2, 3, and 4 all have solo shows: Gallery 2 has Katrina Bello’s Drawing Abundance; Gallery 3 has Isabel Santos’s Image May Contain; while Gallery 4 has Nicole Tee’s A Glimpse of A Field. West Gallery is at 48 West Ave., Quezon City.
