Duterte blames regulator for toll mess
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Wednesday night warned toll officials to improve their service amid public complaints against cashless toll transactions or step down.
The President in a televised speech blamed the Toll Regulatory Board for glitches in radio frequency identification systems at toll gates that had caused traffic congestion at major expressways.
He called the regulator incompetent for failing to do a trial run. 鈥淭he system was not tested thoroughly, which translates into something like incompetence.鈥
The government adopted a cashless toll payment system at about 200 toll gates after some workers got infected with the coronavirus.
Senators hit the regulator for failing to penalize toll operators for their faulty implementation of the cashless toll scheme since 2017.
鈥淵ou have the power but you鈥檙e not using it,鈥 Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian told a Senate hearing on the RFID system. 鈥 Gillian M. Cortez and Charmaine A. Tadalan
House deputy speakers balloon to 32
THE HOUSE of Representatives now has 32 deputy speakers, just two months after Speaker Lord Allan Q. Velasco assumed the leadership.
Congressmen on Wednesday 鈥 the last day of sessions this year 鈥 elected Cavite Rep. Abraham Tolentino and Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab as deputy speakers.
The deputy speakership is one of the chamber鈥檚 top posts. A deputy speaker can vote in all committees.
Some of the elected deputy speakers had helped oust Taguig City Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano, Mr. Velasco鈥檚 predecessor. 鈥 Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
80,000 more OFWs to return
MORE than 80,000 migrant Filipino workers are expected to come home early next year as countries continue to reel from the impact of a global coronavirus pandemic.
鈥淲e are expecting over 80,000 to come home,鈥 Hans Leo J. Cacdac, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) chief, told a news briefing on Thursday. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 for the first half of next year.鈥
More than half-a-million Filipinos have come home after being displaced by the pandemic, International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB) Director Alice Visperas told a separate briefing.
The government had helped more than 370,000 out of 550,000 overseas Filipino workers who got displaced to return to their home provinces, she said.
About 350,000 returning migrant workers also received a one-time cash aid of P10,000 each. 鈥 Gillian M. Cortez
NEDA bats for pilot physical classes
THE NATIONAL Economic Development and Authority (NEDA) on Thursday said a government plan to pilot-test face-to-face classes in January would help children learn more and boost the economy in the long run.
鈥淲e are glad as health systems improve and as we relax quarantines, we are now going to pilot face-to-face learning starting January,鈥 Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua told a news briefing. 鈥淚t will have a big impact on the economy because children will learn more and become more productive.鈥
鈥淏ut we have to do it safely and slowly,鈥 Mr. Chua said.
More than a thousand out of 61,000 schools in the country have been nominated to take part in the pilot run, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said on Wednesday. 鈥 Beatrice M. Laforga
