Defense of the Republic of the Philippines

Carpio: Joint explorations in West PH Sea must follow service contract

Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News
Jan 21 2021 05:14 PM

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/21/21/carpio-joint-explorations-in-west-ph-sea-must-follow-service-contract

MANILA — Any joint exploration between China and the Philippines “must follow the service contract system” of the country as an assurance that the nation is not giving up its sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea, retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said Thursday.

Carpio, in a virtual forum, said China would come in through the Philippine service contract system under the terms of reference in the memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries on oil and gas development.

The contract system being referred to states that the oil and gas belong to the Philippines, and the country would govern the interpretation of the service contract. Both countries have signed a memorandum of agreement in November 2018 and the terms of reference (TOR) in August 2019.

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ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES
PHILIPPINE AIR FORCE
OFFICE OF THE PAF BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE
Colonel Jesus Villamor Air Base, Pasay City

https://notices.philgeps.gov.ph/GEPSNONPILOT/Tender/SplashBidNoticeAbstractUI.aspx?menuIndex=3&refID=7418761&highlight=true

Invitation to Bid

1. The Armed Forces of the Philippines, through the PAF Bids and Awards Committee (PAFBAC), invites suppliers/manufacturers/distributors to bid for the hereunder project:

Nomenclature/Activity: PB-PAFBAC-072-21 Procurement of Spares for the Maintenance of Electrical and Indicating System of C-130H #4704
*Approved Budget for the Contract: PhP36,227,000.00
Price of Bid Documents: PhP25,000.00
*Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2. Prospective bidders should have an experience in similar project within the last 5 years.

3. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II (Instructions to Bidders).

4. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) No. 9184.

5. Bidding is open to all interested bidders, whether local or foreign, subject to the conditions for eligibility provided in the 2016 revised IRR of RA No. 9184.

6. Issuance of Bidding Documents: January 19-February 7, 2021 at 8:00AM-12:00NN & 1:00PM-5:00PM and February 8, 2021 before 9:15 AM, Monday to Friday (except holiday), PAFBAC Secretariat, PAF Procurement Center Bldg., Colonel Jesus Villamor Air Base, Pasay City.
(NOTE: Prospective bidders should bring with them the printed copy of the Invitation to Bid for the project/s to be bid from PhilGEPS website which should be presented to Air Force Accounting Center for the issuance of Order of Payment. Payment for the Bidding Documents should be made at PAF Finance Center, Colonel Jesus Villamor Air Base, Pasay City from Monday to Friday at 8:00AM-12:00NN & 1:00PM-5:00PM.)

7. Pre-Bid Conference: January 25, 2021 at 10:00 AM through Videoconferencing via Zoom Application. (Zoom Meeting ID: 810 1503 6399; Passcode: 913779).

8. Manual Submission of Bids: February 8, 2021 at 9:00 AM, PAF Procurement Center Conference Room, Colonel Jesus Villamor Air Base, Pasay City. Late bids shall not be accepted.

9. Deadline of Submission of Bids/Opening of Bids: February 8, 2021 at 9:15 AM, PAF Procurement Center Conference Room, Colonel Jesus Villamor Air Base, Pasay City. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend the activity.

10. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 14.

11. The Philippine Air Force reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Sections 35.6 and 41 of the 2016 revised IRR of RA No. 9184, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to:

LCDR RAYMOORE A ARTATES PN
PAF Bids and Awards Committee Secretariat
Colonel Jesus Villamor Air Base, Pasay City
E-mail Address: paf_bac@yahoo.com
Mobile Nr: 09663479652 and 09229651074

PH output back to pre-pandemic levels by 2022: economist
By Joann Villanueva  January 23, 2021, 9:44 amShare

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1128296

MANILA – The Philippines’ pre-pandemic level expansion is seen to return by 2022, an economist said, noting that the government’s 2021 spending on infrastructure, among others, is key to economic recovery.

In a virtual briefing Friday, Chidu Narayanan, Standard Chartered Bank economist for Asia, forecast domestic growth to recover to about 6.1 percent this year from a projected -8.9 percent output last year.

Narayanan forecast 2022 growth, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), to be about 6.5 percent.

He also projected growth in the last quarter of 2020 to be about -6.1 percent, better than the -11.5 percent in the third quarter of last year.

The GDP in the first three quarters of last year contracted by 10 percent.

Economic managers have forecast a GDP of between -8.5 percent and -9.5 percent for 2020.

Consumption is also not expected to be back to pre-pandemic levels this year due to the slack in the labor market, which has been affected by the pandemic.

Narayanan said consumption is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels once the job situation has normalized and intervention to address the rise in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infections has improved.

“For investments to come back and for employment to come back, we’ll need infrastructure investment to pick up quite a bit of the slack in 2019 and 2020. These two are the fairly important prerequisites for consumption to come back as well,” he said.

In terms of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) contribution to cushion the economic impact of the pandemic, Narayanan discounted aggressive policy measures this year, unlike last year when monetary officials slashed the central bank’s key policy rates by 200 basis points.

He said a cut in banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR) is more likely to encourage more banks to lend.

Narayanan forecast a 100 basis points reduction in banks’ RRR in the second half this year, “given that liquidity is very, very flush at this point in time.”

Last year, the BSP slashed banks’ RRR by 200 basis points. (PNA)

The fundamental premise of the Kobayashi Maru thesis is that friendly engagement with China would put the Philippines in a better position to create economic incentives for that would serve as a deterrent against further Chinese aggression towards Philippine interests.

Fear of the loss of profit, not the fear of military force, would compel China to behave. The larger the potential loss, the stronger the deterrent. Far stronger than whatever ordnance the Armed Forces of the Philippines could hope to muster, and more reliable than what military alliances could summon.

This article is a summary of the economic retaliatory capability that the Philippines has amassed as a result of this strategy of engagement.

Project		Amount (USD)		Date approved / construction started
Railway
PNR South Long-Haul		219,776,242.63		29 August 2019
Subic-Clark Railway		940,000,000.00		15 January 2021
Bridges
Samal Island to Davao City Connector		401,960,714.40		14 January 2021
Davao River Bridge		60,000,000.00		9 December 2020
Binondo - Intramuros Bridge		70,530,371.75		17 July 2018
Estrella–Pantaleon Bridge		30,583,966.51		17 July 2018
Dam
Chico River Irrigation Project		55,550,469.79		16 November 2017
Kaliwa Dam		211,214,646.54		20 November 2018
TOTAL		1,989,616,411.62

DENR approves environmental clearance of China-funded Kaliwa Dam project
By CNN Philippines Staff

Published Oct 23, 2019 3:15:17 PM

https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2019/10/23/environmental-compliance-certificate-Kaliwa-Dam-project-.html

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 23)— The Department of Environment and Natural Resources approved the environmental compliance certificate of the heavily opposed New Centennial Water Source – Kaliwa Dam project in provinces of Rizal and Quezon proposed by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System.

DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau issued the conditional ECC to MWSS on October 11 for the project, which aims to serve as an alternate supply source to prevent a water crisis in Metro Manila and nearby areas.

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