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The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will continue to investigate big property developers after the agency received reports that they failed to remit the correct taxes to government. The BIR made the announcement following a directive from Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez to continue its tax review of real estate developers. Dominguez gave the BIR the authority to conduct the tax …

Incoming Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Chief Arsenio Balisacan said he plans to “reinvigorate” public-private partnership (PPP) projects under President-elect Bongbong Marcos’ administration. Balicasan said the President-elect believes the private sector plays a very strong role in economic development. Balisacan explained: “We should reinvigorate, reexamine and bring back PPPs. We’ll reach out to the private …

To ensure that public-private partnerships (PPP) will not be disadvantageous to Filipinos, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) under Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua approved the amended implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law. Chua said the approval of IRR will ensure that project proponents applying for the BOT scheme are qualified to implement properly designed PPP …

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) is expected to decide on the petition filed by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Inc. to remove the Ramon Cojuangco Building from the status as an Important Cultural Property (ICP). In its petition, PLDT said that it plans to “redevelop and transform [the building] into a modern, ecologically sustainable, and …

For the first four months of 2022, the Pag-ibig Fund has financed 5,411 socialized homes for minimum-wage and low-income members. From January to April 2022, socialized home loans make up 18 percent of the 29,310 units financed by the agency amounting to P2.35 billion out of the record-high P31.97 billion home loans released by the agency. The Pag-ibig Fund’s Affordable …

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) has turned over a thousand houses to internally displaced families affected by the Marawi last week. UN-Habitat awarded the last 462 permanent houses as it marked the end of its four-year engagement in the war-torn city. The funding support of US$10-million came from the Japanese government where the houses were built on the …

The town of La Paz in the province of Tarlac became the latest local government unit (LGU) recipient to unveil a fully-constructed Multi-Purpose Evacuation Center (MPEC) funded by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), following the facility’s inauguration on May 20, 2022. PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Andrea Domingo (3rd from right) and La Paz, Tarlac Mayor Venustiano Jordan (4th …

The Senate and House of Representatives should already prepare for the canvassing of votes for president and vice president, according to House Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez.  He urged Congress to immediately coordinate with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) for the expeditious transmission of certificates of canvass from provinces and independent cities to Congress.  “For the sake of transparency, a receiving …

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner George Garcia urged Congress to pass a law that would allow online voting (“internet voting”) in the next elections, after Comelec received reports that some over seas Filipino had difficulties voting in person.  Garcia attributed this to foreign employers who disallow their Filipino employees from going out, preventing them from exercising their right to suffrage.  “Ang …

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has appointed COMELEC Law Department Director John Rex C. Laudiangco as acting spokesman while his predecessor, James B. Jimenez, is undergoing an investigation.  COMELEC Chairman Saidamen B. Pangarungan told Laudiangco through a one-page memorandum: “You shall report directly to Commissioner George M. Garcia, the Commission-in-Charge (CIC)on Public Information and Education.”  Laudiangco said in a brief …