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By Luis Leoncio President Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 10924, or the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for Fiscal Year 2017, the first budget under the Duterte administration, as he took pride on the allocation item that will free farmers from paying irrigations fees.

By Riza Lozada From 2001 to 2014, the so-called road users’ tax or the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MUVC) raised a total of P112.5 billion against releases of P105 billion resulting in P7.5 billion balance in the fund, a study made by government think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) showed.

Ayala Corp.’s energy unit AC Energy will sell a 15 percent stake in South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp. (SLTEC) to Axia Power Holdings Philippines Corp. (Axia Power), a subsidiary of Marubeni Corporation.

The Philippines’ rock-solid macro­economic funda­mentals and the Duterte administration’s infra­structure buildup strategy will create enough fiscal and mon­etary buffers for the country to ride out external shocks, such as the latest move by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) Board to raise interest rates, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

Key reforms in the agricul­ture sector are expected to produce results next year in line with the thrust of the De­partment of Agriculture (DA) to achieve self-sufficiency, starting with the department assuming control of food-re­lated agencies, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel “Man­ny” Piñol said.

By Luis Leoncio The pension of more than 2 million members of state pension fund Social Securi­ty System (SSS) will be raised by P1,000 a month starting next year after both chambers of Congress passed a resolu­tion last week calling for the immediate pension increase.

President Duterte said im­posing sanctions can work both ways as he threatened last Saturday to abrogate an agreement that allows Unit­ed States troops to visit the Philippines after the US gov­ernment-backed Millenni­um Challenge Corp. (MCC) deferred a decision on a new round of aid package citing concerns over the rule of law in the Philippines.

The Film Development Coun­cil of the Philippines (FDCP) last week recognized The Mar­ket Monitor and 16 other print, broadcast and online journal­ists and their organizations as “film advocates” who covered and supported the Philippine movie industry and, in partic­ular, the agency’s initiatives in 2016.

SM Foundation, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of conglomerate SM Group, has been implementing pro­grams not only to improve the lives of Filipino minorities and the marginalized but to integrate them into society, as well.

President Duterte courted a group of business leaders in Singapore, telling them of the many developments and reforms in the Philippines especially in the key growth sectors: energy and infrastructure.