NATIONWIDE ROUND-UP
DoF assures local labor would be priority in infra drive
THE FINANCE department has assured that local workers won’t be displaced by foreign laborers in the government’s major infrastructure drive, with about P8.4 trillion planned for spending in the next five years. “No, that is not the governments policy, to import labor, but if you need special skills and they are not available in the country then what should you do, you’ll bring it in, right? Which we already do, there is a law that allows foreign workers to work in this country,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III told reporters last week, referring to the country’s amended labor code. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan >> See full story on https://goo.gl/Sy9YDL
FDA told to hasten clearance on contraceptives
SOCIOECONOMIC PLANNING Secretary Ernest M. Pernia revealed that the government has already directed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June “to finish the certification” on two contraceptives, the distribution of which are the subject of a temporary restraining order (TRO) by the Supreme Court (SC). Speaking at a roundtable session with BusinessWorld last Friday, Mr. Pernia said, “So the process now is, I think the FDA will finish certifying by the middle of August. To be followed by public hearing.” President Rodrigo R. Duterte, in his 2nd State of the Nation Address last July 24, lamented that TROs “have become the bane of the government,” citing that on the contraceptives, which he thought covered the entire Reproductive Health (RH) Law. Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno later issued a statement clarifying that the TRO does not apply to the whole RH Law, but only on the “two specific contraceptives… Implanon and Implanon NXT.” — Kristine Joy V. Patag
DA lifts ban on birds from Poland
THE DEPARTMENT of Agriculture (DA) has lifted the temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products from Poland as the country has attained influenza-free status. In a memorandum issued July 21, the DA cited the final report submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture in Poland indicating that it is now free from the highly pathogenic avian influenza HPAI. The DA memorandum said “the risk of contamination from importing poultry and poultry products from Poland is negligible,” as derived from the findings of the Bureau of Animal Industry. Avian influenza or bird flu is a disease capable of causing extremely high mortality, up to 100%, in domestic or wild birds. The flu can also be transferred to humans, which causes diseases or even death. — Janina C. Lim