Ist doch nicht alles schlecht bei Facebook...

IT happens: Facebook sorry for Xi Jinping's name gaffe

The automatic translation feature on Myanmar's Facebook page renders Chinese President Xi Jinping's name from Burmese into English as 'Mr Shithole'

HISTORIC VISIT. Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) and Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi shake hands during a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Naypyidaw on January 17, 2020. File photo by Thet Aung/AFP

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar – Facebook apologized Saturday, January 18, for a distasteful mistranslation of Chinese President Xi Jinping's name from Burmese language posts during his much-touted visit to Myanmar.

His two-day visit to Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw was the first made by a Chinese leader in almost two decades. (READ: China and Myanmar 'stand together' despite Rohingya backlash)

But the historic moment was dimmed by the automatic translation feature on Myanmar's Facebook page – which rendered Xi Jinping's name from Burmese into English as "Mr Shithole."

The error most notably appeared on the official Facebook page of Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Mr Shithole, President of China arrives at 4 PM," said a translated announcement posted earlier Saturday.

"President of China, Mr Shithole, signed a guest record of the house of representatives," it continued.

Facebook said it was sorry and blamed a technical glitch.

"We fixed a technical issue that caused incorrect translations from Burmese to English on Facebook. This should not have happened and we are taking steps to ensure it doesn't happen again. We sincerely apologize for the offense this has caused," a Facebook spokesperson said.

Facebook said it did not have Xi's name in its Burmese translations data. In cases such as those, Facebook's system guesses and replaces them with words that have similar syllables.

The company tested similar words in Burmese, and other words that start with "xi" and "shi" in Burmese, which use the same character, were also translated as "shithole," Facebook said.

Tech-nascent Myanmar loves Facebook.

The platform is the most popular site for news, entertainment and chat many even see it as synonymous with the internet.

Politicians and government agencies also use it for official statements and announcements.

The site – which has more than two billion users globally – is restricted in China. – Rappler.com

Der Knaller vergnügt sich während die Landsleute leiden und der kleine Emporkömmling redet alles schön...

Duterte chided for riding bike amid crisis

Sen. Christopher Go on Thursday came to President Rodrigo Duterte’s defense after netizens called out the President for indulging in a motorbike jaunt around Malacañang while thousands of evacuees from the Taal Volcano eruption needed government attention.

Several photographs on social media showed Mr. Duterte and Go riding huge three-wheeled bikes on Malacañang grounds on Wednesday evening. “The President works 24 hours. Can he not ride a motorcycle even for a short while just to remove the stress from work?” Go said.

Those criticizing Mr. Duterte should just focus on helping the victims of the volcanic eruption, the senator added.

“The President has been in public service for 42 years and he is now 74 years old. To the critics, I hope you’d just help. Your criticism won’t be able to help or feed people. That’s a waste,” Go said.

Mr. Duterte on Tuesday visited Batangas to check on the evacuees forced out of their homes following the Jan. 12 eruption of Taal Volcano.

He apologized for not being on the scene immediately as, he said, the ashfall prevented him from flying to Manila from Davao.

The President had a motorcycle accident in October last year that, Palace officials said, led to his early departure for home during his visit to Japan. Mr. Duterte also suffered nerve damage from a previous motorcycle accident.

Quote from sanukk

Einerseits schreiben die, man kann/ darf einen privaten Sub Meter einbauen, andererseits aber auch nur mit Genehmigung von meralco

ich habe von Genehmigung nichts gelesen, wo steht das hier?

How can I request installation of a sub-meter?

Meralco allows use of sub meters as long as it is installed at any point on the loadside wire typically after the Meralco meter. However, maintenance and billing of the sub-meter is not covered by the customer's contract with Meralco.

Meralco personnel are not allowed to install sub-meters. Customers are in charge of the purchase and installation of the sub-meters. The customer however may seek assistance from an electrical experts Certified by Meralco (CBM) for the proper installation of a sub-meter.

Genehmigung?

Quote from sanukk

Darf man einen privaten Zwischenzählet anschliessen für Mieter anschließen oder darf das nur der official Stromlieferant, vergleichbar mit Stadtwerken?

darf man

auch hier hätte Google bzw zB die Meralco Seite geholfen wenn man sie denn bemüht hätte...

ein Link für die Bedürftigen...

Quote from der-wassermann

Quote from Schokoprinz

die jährlichen grübdstezern für z.b. 800qm Verkehrswert 10 mio liegen zw. 100,000 und 200,000

ein Glück dass mir im letzten Moment noch Google eingefallen ist....

The RPT rate for the cities and municipalities in Metro Manila is two percent (2%) while for provinces it is one percent (1%). To compute for RPT, the RPT rate is multiplied by the assessed value of the property. Assessed value is the fair market value of the real property multiplied by the assessment level.

Display More

Das mußt du aber mal genauer erklären. Die jährliche Grundsteuer soll bei 100000-200000 sein. Wer soll denn das bezahlen. Ist da nich eine Null zu viel?

Display More

Dann erkläre ich mal genau:

10 Millionen Verkehrswert stehen fest, das habe ich mir nicht ausgedacht. 10% wären also über den dicken Daumen 1 Million. Und 1% dann 100,000

Frage an die Experten. Wie viel wären 2%? Genau, 200,000

und bezahlen soll das der Eigentümer, 1% ist ja jetzt nicht so viel....

Quote from sanukk

wie hoch sind eigentlich die jährlichen grübdstezern für z.b. 800qm Verkehrswert 10 mio

die jährlichen grübdstezern für z.b. 800qm Verkehrswert 10 mio liegen zw. 100,000 und 200,000

ein Glück dass mir im letzten Moment noch Google eingefallen ist....

The RPT rate for the cities and municipalities in Metro Manila is two percent (2%) while for provinces it is one percent (1%). To compute for RPT, the RPT rate is multiplied by the assessed value of the property. Assessed value is the fair market value of the real property multiplied by the assessment level.

Da hat der Knaller wieder sein wahres Gesicht gezeigt, billig und missgünstig und überhaupt nicht am Land interessiert....crab mentality halt....

Don’t pursue projects you can’t finish within my term, Duterte tells Cabinet

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday called on his Cabinet to only pursue projects they can finish within his term which will end in 2022.

“Sabi ko sa lahat ng secretary ng mga departamento, ‘Do not go into projects which you cannot finish within the two-year time left for me in office,'” Duterte said in a speech during his visit to farmers in Cotabato.

“Gusto ko, kagaya nung mayor ako. Lahat ng projects ko calibrated in the sense na pagdating ng panahon, pag-alis ko sa opisina malinis lahat. Ang mga sakyanan assigned sa akin, sinauli ko in order,” Duterte added.

The Duterte administration’s big-ticket infrastructure project “Build, Build, Build” was recently revised, with its projects stretched to 100 worth at least P4.3 trillion.

“Build, Build, Build” received criticism last year from Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon who described the project as a “dismal failure” after finding out only nine of 75 programs started construction.

Malacañang, however, dismissed Drilon’s remark as baseless and told the opposition senator to instead “look at the administration you previously belonged.”

Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo added there are already 35 projects under construction while 32 more are set to begin in six to eight months.

Quote from dino

Es ist heute richtig angenehm in Manila rumzufahren. Ist fast so wie in der Karwoche! So könnte es immer sein!

dem kann ich nur zustimmen, heute morgen und nachmittags / abends war zB Makati sehr angenehm, man dachte wirklich es ist ein Feiertag. Aber es waren wohl auch viele Büros heute geschlossen bzw liefen auf Sparflamme...

Der Clown spricht über Glaubwürdigkeit und Kompetenz, das ist wie wenn ein Legastheniker über Rechtschreibung philosophiert oder ein Nichtschwimmer zum Rückenschwimmen gute Ratschläge geben will...

Panelo says Robredo has zero ‘credibility, competence’ in drug war

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo has “zero credibility and competence” when it comes to the government’s crackdown against illegal drugs, President Duterte’s spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Monday.

That said, Panelo claimed Malacanang would keep its hands off the plans of Congress to invite Robredo as resource person in the drug war hearings.

“The Palace leaves it to Congress to invite resource persons in its hearings. Congressional hearings are conducted in aid of legislation, a function belonging to the Legislative and not to the Executive Branch,” Panelo said in a statement.

Robredo earlier expressed willingness to attend the congressional hearings to discuss her findings and recommendations on the Duterte administration’s war on illegal drugs, which she has previously called a “massive failure.”

However, Panelo claimed Robredo’s 19-day stint as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) “does not make her an expert to make an objective and credible analysis of this administration’s centerpiece program on anti-illegal narcotics.”

Panelo said that Robredo’s “illogical extrapolations” against the drug war are mere desperate attempt to be “politically relevant.”

“What should be juxtaposed are the present achievements of the President with those, if any, of previous administrations. The latter may not even reach a significant fraction of 1%, using her untenable formula to criticize the drug war,” he said.

“As the President said, VP Robredo is a colossal blunder. Listening to her perorations about a matter she knows nothing about will be another herculean blunder. It is a useless exercise and a waste of time,” he added.

Duterte appointed Robredo to the ICAD after the latter criticized his brutal war on drugs. He then fired Robredo 19 days later supposedly due to “incompetence.”

Shortly after her stint, Robredo came out with a report tagging the government’s drug war as a “failure” as it only hardly scratched the surface of the drug menace despite all the money and resources given to it by the government.

Citing government data, the Vice President said the shabu supply and drug money were only reduced by 1 percent in the last three years. She also recommended that the chairmanship of ICAD be transferred from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to the Dangerous Drugs Board as the latter, according to her, has the capacity to lead the campaign from all facets.

But the President rejected her recommendation, calling her a colossal blunder.

ich habe heute morgen gegen 8 Uhr jemanden nach T 3 gefahren, die Einfahrt recht leer, niemand wollte nach Arrival aber die Departure Rampe war doch recht belebt, oben standen einige Autos und es gab sogar kurze Schlangen beim Eingang, Security Check.

Flug um 10 nach Cebu wurde aber gegen 9 dann doch gestrichen...

schau mer mal...

Da will jemand zurück an den Futtertrog....nicht zu früh bekanntgeben aber sehr früh bekanntgeben....

Bongbong Marcos says he will run for national post in 2022

MANILA, Philippines — Losing vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said Friday he will run in the 2022 elections.

Marcos said he will seek a national post in the next elections but he has not yet decided which position he will run for.

“My plan is I will be a candidate next election. For what? We’ll still have to decide. But I will not forget the advice of [former] Sen. Manny Villar after [he lost] the election: don’t make the same mistake I did of announcing my bid early,” the son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. said in a mix of English and Filipino.

He added: “Whatever it is, I will enter a national campaign.”

Marcos is currently contesting his defeat in the 2016 national elections, accusing the camp of Vice President Leni Robredo of committing electoral fraud to secure her win.

Robredo beat Marcos by a slim margin of 263,473 votes during the 2016 elections.

In the report of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal promulgated in October 2019 showed Robredo widened her lead over Marcos by 15,093 votes after the recount, revision and re-appreciation of ballots from Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.

Marcos asked the Supreme Court to “reconsider, review and re-examine” the recount results, while Robredo urged the tribunal to immediately dismiss the election petition filed by Marcos.

Marcos’ sister, Imee, is an incumbent senator.

Für alle die meinen der Knaller würde was gegen die Korruption tun....läuft wie eh und je....

Corruption eats up 15-35% ‍of construction firms’ budget

Construction companies allot up to 35 percent of their budgets for infrastructure projects to pay off government officials and employees and prevent them from causing any further delays, a think tank said, citing confidential interviews with industry players.

In some cases, companies have had to compromise other parts of the construction— such as the quality of raw materials—in order to accommodate the additional cost and to keep the projects moving.

In a presentation on Wed­nesday, the Reid Foundation gave a breakdown of the expenses that construction firms spent on average in putting up new infrastructure both for the public and the private sector. All the commonly disclosed expenses were there such as raw materials and labor. But the breakdown shaded a part of the graph in an ominous black, which claimed 15 to 35 percent of the expenses were spent on “other costs of doing business.” These “other costs” referred to a company’s budget for corruption as small and big companies were left with no choice but to play along in an abusive cycle that rarely gets brought to light, let alone stopped. “This is the problem that we want to address but nobody wants to talk about,” said Ronilo Balbieran, Reid vice president for operations, at the 4th Philippine Construction Industry Congress.

Reid interviewed various stakeholders in the construction industry from October 2018 to March last year to make sure the figures were as precise as possible. Balbieran deferred from disclosing who they interviewed or how many companies they talked to.

Construction companies have to maintain a net income margin of 8 to 15 percent, no matter the costs. Since the budget for a project was already fixed, other parts of the project sometimes suffered for those “other costs,”he said.

In this way, a company could do both—extort government workers and still maintain its profit margin.

Balbieran said a company then covered the expenses by making up all sorts of excuses, such as saying it had more workers than they actually had or using cheaper materials instead. “That’s why I said ‘take your pick.’ Something has to give. There is only a fixed cost of the project. You can’t just easily increase the budget for the project,” he said in an interview on the sideline of the event. “Delays always create opportunities for extortion,” he said, noting how these dealings were hard to trace back because these were made off the books. The interviews came before the appointment of the country’s first-ever director general of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (Arta) in July last year. Arta is supposed to implement the new ease of doing business law, which was delayed for more than a year because Malacañang did not right away appoint a director general. The law, among other provisions, will impose a zero-contact policy, including in local governments, once an online business registration system has been made. The policy bars government workers from having any contact with applicants and this hopefully will lessen the risk for corruption.

“This is why you need to modernize. You cannot say the policy is don’t do corruption. That policy doesn’t work because there are always these kinds of opportunities. It’s not modernized. It’s not digital. It’s not done online,” Balbieran said.

The Department of Trade and Industry tapped Reid to do the 2020-2030 road map for the construction industry. The think tank included the interviews as inputs for the road map, which was first announced last year.

If the construction sector—including the way the government handles business permits—were modernized and made digital, the value of the industry could reach up to P130 trillion from P2.3 trillion in 2018.

Without the road map, the industry’s value could go up to only P43 trillion in 2030, making a strong argument for modernization, which would increase the number of jobs in the industry from a current estimate of 3.9 million to 7.91 million.

When asked if the agency would pursue Reid’s leads, Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez said he was leaving it to the companies and the government agencies concerned to solve this issue.

“I guess that’s somehow the reality that we want to remove,” Lopez told reporters. He said the introduction of new technologies could hopefully minimize those kinds of costs.

It was not clear where Reid’s findings would lead the think tank to. While Balbieran said companies could always go to court to address the issue, individual litigation could only do so much to solve a problem that required a system-wide approach.

Er ist also nicht richtig dafür, aber auch nicht richtig dagegen, steht also wie fast immer mit beiden Beinen fest in der Luft....

Duterte not inclined to send troops to Iran

MANILA, Philippines—President Rodrigo Duterte will not send Philippine troops to the Middle East amid the escalating tension between the United States and Iran.

“Out of the question. Out of the question. Unless the national interest would demand it and it will be decided not by me, but me and Congress,” Duterte said Tuesday when asked about the possibility of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) joining the conflict in the Gulf region.

The President earlier ordered the military to prepare its air and naval assets for the possible repatriation of OFWs in the Middle East after the US launched an airstrike that killed Iran’s top general, Qasem Soleimani, in Iraq.

In a press briefing Tuesday, Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said the President would side with the Americans if Filipinos are harmed in Iran.

But Duterte said it is just a “projection” if the situation in the Middle East – home of millions of Filipino workers – worsens.

The President also said that the Philippines will honor its defense treaty with the US but won’t allow American troops to use the country as their launching pad.

“But to use the Philippines as a launching pad to fly the missiles and the rockets, I do not think that… I have to stop,” he said.

Die Glatze kann nicht rechnen, der Hofnarr (Sprecher) auch nicht so, und der amtierende Polizeichef ist auch nicht gerade ein Einstein. Kein Wunder also...

U.P. statistics professor: Robredo computed right in drug war report

MANILA, Philippines – Many national government officials have protested Vice President Leni Robredo's searing report on the Duterte administration's campaign against illegal drugs, saying her criticism of the supposed failure was based on a wrong computation of government data.

Robredo called the campaign a “failure” based on the police’s estimate that drug addicts consume 3 tons of shabu every week across the country, or equal to about 156,000 kilos every year, yet the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency was able to seize just 1,344 kilos from January to October 2019.

Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said “her computation is wrong.” Philippine National Police (PNP) officer-in-charge Lieutenant General Archie Gamboa said her comparison of the figures was “not even mathematically acceptable.”

So who got it right?

University of the Philippines statistics professor Peter Cayton told Rappler that Robredo’s computations and comparisons were correct.

“Generally, it is okay to use the estimated value in comparison to actual seizures,” Cayton told Rappler in a text message.

The administration officials, meanwhile, have offered little to no explanation as to why Robredo’s findings were wrong. When they speak, they don't address the issue.

“Remember, that is our estimate, we did not say that that is the amount of drugs in the streets. It’s just an estimate on the kind of convertation (sic) that we are going to make, and it is only a theoretical assumption,” Gamboa said in a briefing on Tuesday.

Zuerst hatte er ja kein Fettnäpfchen ausgelassen, dann wider Erwarten doch gelernt und sich etwas zurückgehalten mit lustigen Sachen, um jetzt doch wieder einen rauszuhauen....

Bato dela Rosa hits Robredo’s ignorance of drug problem

MANILA, Philippines— Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, a former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), hit Vice President Leni Robredo’s “ignorance” about the country’s drug problem after she called the government’s drug war a failure.

“When she complained why users and pushers are lumped in the same rehabilitation centers shows her ignorance of the drug problem,” Dela Rosa said in a statement.

“Why would not they be lumped in one rehab center when both are addicts? Doesn’t she know that pushers are also users? A lot of addicts are drug pushers to sustain their need to use drugs. That’s why they are lumped in the same rehab — because they need the same treatment for addiction,” Dela Rosa said in Filipino.

Dela Rosa made the remark after Robredo made public her report on the government’s bloody drug war.

Citing police data, the Vice President revealed that only less than 1 percent of the shabu supply and drug money in the country was seized in the last three years.

According to her, around 3,000 kilograms of shabu worth P25 billion is consumed per week — or 156,000 kilograms worth P1.3 trillion per year. But authorities only seized 1,344.87 kilograms in 2019; 785.31 kilograms in 2018; and 1,053.91 kilograms in 2017.

READ: Duterte’s drug war barely nicked surface of society’s menace – Robredo

Dela Rosa questioned Robredo’s data.

“I don’t understand her. She said there was no data or not enough data available from the government pertaining to the accomplishments on the war on drugs. Now she makes a presentation that only 1 percent of drugs and money was confiscated,” Dela Rosa said in a text message written in Filipino.

“Where did she get her data? Or maybe she only used the data that could destroy the government and not those that would project a good image — just like what she was insisting abroad that there are now more than 20,000 EJK victims from the war on drugs and she does not want to accept the 6,000 plus deaths from the government,” he added.

Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said Robredo raised “some very valid points” in her drug war report. He said, however, that he did not agree with her opinion that the drug war was a failure.

“War vs drugs fails only when you stop fighting. It’s a constant battle vs drug dealers, drug dependents, corrupt officials and cerebrally challenged critics,” Sotto said in a separate statement.

Sotto said Robredo’s perspective was also “very different and misplaced” from his own experience in fighting drugs since 1988.

“My experience in QC [Quezon City] which was emphasis on prevention brought down the drug stats from 54% prevalence to 9% in 1992. Ayaw nila makinig sa akin, eh di hwag!” the Senate leader added.

Even Sen. Panfilo Lacson would rather say that the drug war “has not been successful enough” but would not call it a failure.

He reiterated his earlier statement that there might be a need to shift the focus on the supply side more than the demand side — or the so-called low-life street pushers and the arrest should be directed at big suppliers.

Intelligence, he said, should also be given utmost priority, and a “no-mercy policy against corrupt anti-drug law enforcement operatives must be implemented immediately.”

“Having said that, the war against illegal drugs is a continuing fight and therefore, I would rather say, it has not been successful enough rather than call it a failure,” Lacson said.

Hier ist er wohl eher Zuschauer mit wenig Einfluss, aber der kleine Laufbursche konnte auch mal wieder was sagen...

Duterte to discuss US-Iran conflict with AFP officials

MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte has called for a meeting with military officials about the escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, a close ally of Duterte, said on Sunday.

Among those invited by Duterte is Lt. Gen. Felimon Santos Jr., newly installed chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

They are set to discuss the possible effects of the US airstrike on Baghdad in Iraq which killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

“President Duterte today called for a meeting with the new Armed Forces chief of staff, including the service commanders and the intelligence community to discuss the possible effects here in the country, especially among groups sympathetic to Iran,” Go said in Filipino in an ambush interview.

Go assured the public though that the government would do everything to maintain domestic security while monitoring the situation in the Middle East for the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

“The President will ensure security here in the country, and of course, our government is monitoring the situation in Iran, Bahrain, regarding the incident’s possible effect on our countrymen, especially those working in the Middle East,” Go said.

“Our Armed Forces is prepared if ever there is a need to conduct repatriation operations,” he added.

The fear that Iran would retaliate for the death of Soleimani has sparked tension and talks of a full armed conflict between the Western superpower and the Islamic country.

Labor groups in the Philippines have already raised possible scenarios that would require OFWs to be repatriated.

Economic concerns were also mentioned, as the airstrike has already pushed oil prices up by over 4 percent — prompting groups to urge the government to suspend the excise taxes on oil products and to stock fuel products to shield people from possible inflation effects.

Endlich kommt mal ein bisschen Pepp in die Bude, denn ganz zu Beginn seiner Amtszeit hat das Großmaul den MVP mal richtig von der Seite angemacht, hat der gute Manny bestimmt noch nicht vergessen....

MVP open to giving ABS-CBN a hand

TV5 chair Manuel V. Pangilinan is open to supporting media giant and rival ABS-CBN Corp. through the potential loss of its broadcast franchise next year, but fears over political retribution could hinder any deal.

Pangilinan heads some of the country’s largest companies such as telecommunications provider PLDT Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., an infrastructure conglomerate with interests in power, water, tollroad and railways.

When asked about a possible deal for ABS-CBN to rent TV5’s airtime, otherwise known as a blocktime agreement, the businessman said he was open to negotiations should they materialize.

“Setting aside politics, if they want to blocktime, we are prepared to talk,” Pangilinan told reporters while clarifying there were no ongoing discussions with ABS-CBN.

A potential alliance between ABS-CBN and TV5, first reported by the news website Bilyonaryo— which cited an unnamed source—would help keep ABS-CBN’s massive television business afloat should its broadcast franchise expire by March 30, 2020.

ABS-CBN’s chances of a franchise extension remain dim with President Duterte repeatedly threatening to block its renewal amid a feud that supposedly began when the TV network failed to air his advertisements during the 2016 presidential elections.

For Mr. Duterte’s critics, the row was mere cover for a chance to silence a powerful media organization that, at times, has been critical of his administration’s policies.

Pangilinan said his group, whose telco and water businesses had already been pressured to waive billions of pesos in forgone revenue during Mr. Duterte’s term, would need to weigh Malacañang’s reaction to any deal.

“Of course, politically, the President might say something so we’re a bit reluctant,” he said.

ABS-CBN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pangilinan has been a steady business ally of the Lopezes that own ABS-CBN. Several of Metro Pacific’s core businesses such as North Luzon Expressway, Manila Electric Co. and Maynilad Water Services Inc. were once controlled by the Lopez family.

Even then, Pangilinan said “I don’t want to be presumptuous if they will come and talk to us” about ABS-CBN.

He also shot down any prospect of selling TV5, which continues to post losses a decade since it was acquired by the media arm of PLDT, or its other media assets to the Lopezes.

“I don’t want to think about it because it won’t happen,” Pangilinan said.

ABS-CBN, which was seized from the Lopez family by allies of President Ferdinand Marcos during the Martial Law years from the 1970s until the regime was toppled by the People Power Revolution in 1986, is now one of the country’s largest media groups.

Its current 25-year franchise, granted in 1995, allows it to operate TV and radio facilities.

Despite its diversification into high-speed broadband, theme parks as well as international and digital productions, ABS-CBN still relies on advertising from its TV business for about half of its revenues, which hit P40 billion in 2018.

The company is also a major employer with close to 11,000 workers, some 6,730 of which were regular employees, its latest annual report showed.

Bills to renew ABS-CBN’s franchise have languished in Congress for years under Mr. Duterte.

Da können sich seine Günstlinge mal wieder so richtig die Taschen vollmachen, aber er will ja die Korruption bekämpfen, und manche hier glauben dass sogar...

NEDA ICC okays ₱49-B Davao airport modernization

Published January 2, 2020, 10:00 PM

By EMMIE V. ABADILLA

The National Economic and Development Authority-Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC) has recently approved the unsolicited proposal of Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corporation for the ₱48.9 billion modernization of the Davao International Airport.

The first phase of the operate-add-transfer project, slated to start this year, will boost the airport’s passenger traffic by 15.1 million passengers per annum. It will be completed by 2028, with a concession period of 30 years.

A modernized Davao International Airport, the primary gateway to Mindanao and the third largest airport in the country after the Mactan International Airport and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, will bring in more trade and tourism, hastening the economic growth of the region, stressed Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade.

The unsolicited proposal covers the reconfiguration and expansion of the terminal building, construction of parallel taxiway, improvement of airside and landside facilities, installation of modern airport IT systems, and all activities needed to improve airport services.

“This is a very positive development as far as fast-tracking our infrastructure backlogs is concerned,” Secretary Vince Dizon, Presidential Adviser for Flagship Programs and Projects, noted. “This will also speed-up the realization of the transportation roadmap which the DOTr envisioned.”

After hurdling the NEDA-ICC, Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp. will now hold further discussions with the DOTr before seeking final approval from the NEDA Board chaired by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Once the NEDA Board has approved the unsolicited proposal, it will still have to undergo a Swiss challenge to allow rival bidders to challenge the project’s original proponent, Chelsea Logistics, which will then be given the right to match other offers.

The NEDA-ICC has also recently approved the unsolicited proposals for the MRT-4 project, the upgrade of the Laguindingan Airport, the EDSA Greenways Project and the Maritime Safety Enhancement Program (MSEP).

Der Lustige hat sich ja schon öfter mächtig geirrt, also nichts neues.....und die US Senatoren leiden sicher ganz furchtbar unter dem Einreiseverbot (waren die jemals hier?)

Banned US senator: ‘Duterte sorely mistaken if he thinks he can silence me’

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the barring of his entry to the Philippines, U.S. Senator Edward Markey remains unfazed and said that President Rodrigo Duterte would not be able to silence his voice.

“President Duterte is sorely mistaken if he thinks he can silence my voice and that of my colleagues,” Markey said in a statement on Friday (Manila time).

“He has already failed to silence Senator De Lima, Maria Ressa, and others in his country who have spoken truth to power,” he added.

Presidential spokesperson and chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo earlier confirmed that the President had banned Markey for calling for the release of Senator Leila de Lima as well as for supporting the US entry ban to Philippines officials believed to have had a hand in her detention.

Markey was among the five U.S. senators who had filed a Senate resolution calling on the Philippine government to free De Lima.

De Lima has been detained since February 2017 over what she repeatedly called as “trumped-up” drug charges against her.

The Senate resolution, likewise, called for the withdrawal of all charges against Rappler CEO and journalist Maria Ressa.

“I stand with the people of the Philippines and with my state’s vibrant Filipino-American community in fighting for the highest democratic ideals and against the strongman tactics of the Duterte government,” Markey went on.

Two other US senators, Patrick Leahy, and Richard Durbin, have also been banned from entering the Philippines.

Leahy and Durbin introduced an amendment to the 2020 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill which sought to ban US entry to Philippine officials proven to be behind De Lima’s “wrongful imprisonment.”

Quote from hge

… ich habe auch keine exakte Erklärung.. vielleicht reisen dort viele Seemänner an, um auf den Schiffen zu arbeiten.

wäre eine naheliegende Erklärung...

ich habe öfter mit Seeleuten zu tun, denen ich hier etwas deutsch beibringe weil sie auf Kreuzfahrtschiffen arbeiten wo überwiegend deutsche Touristen sind, und von denen weiß ich, die beantragen ein Schengen Visum zB in der niederl. Botschaft hier (sind dann direkt 30 oder 40) und fliegen dann dahin wo das Schiff gerade liegt, kann Spanien, Italien, Griechenland, Skandinavien oder Deutschland sein....