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THE Cebu City Police (CCPO) filed a case on Friday July 7, 2023, against two people involved in the assault against Dr. Charles Sia, 41, on Wednesday, July 5, inside his dental clinic on Queens Road, Barangay Kamputhaw.

CCPO Director Col. Ireneo Dalogdog did not identify the accused but said that a case for serious physical injuries was filed against them. He said the two perpetrators were identified by the victim and his secretary.

Police are looking into a conflict concerning the victim’s lending business as one of the possible motives for the attack.

Dalogdog said the doctor sued three women who owed him money in court. Two of the cases were dismissed, but one case prospered.

Sia and his secretary, Rose Rosell Bardisco, told police in a statement that the boyfriend of the woman who owed him money, along with an accomplice, were the ones responsible for last Wednesday’s attack.

The woman, though, was not charged because she was not involved in the crime.

Before Sia’s attack, the men entered his clinic, pretending to deliver an item to the dentist. One of the accused was dressed in a black jacket, while the other in a green one. They were both wearing masks.

The accused in green jacket pulled out a weapon and barged inside the doctor’s room where a foreigner was being operated on, according to Bardisco.

The accused tied the hands of the victim, Bardisco and the patient. Afterwards, they struck the victim’s eyes with a blunt object until they bled.

Dalogdog said security has been provided to the victim who is still under observation in a private hospital in Mandaue City because the accused are still at large and are believed to still be in Cebu.

Dalogdog said they are waiting for the warrants to be released so that police can arrest the two men. He said they considered the case closed.

Sia remains in stable condition; although his doctor said he suffers from blurred vision in one eye because it is still swollen. Sia can see clearly with his other eye. (AYB / WITH CNU INTERN JUDIE LIZA ALANTOSON)

Researchers try to quantify just how severe the stranglehold of patriarchy on Hindi cinema is.

July 12, 2023 5:00 AM

The inquiry is looking at the risk posed to Australia’s democracy by social media. 

Some victims hope the #MeToo resurgence could lead to amendments to the law governing sexual harassment in workplaces, due for review by Taiwan’s legislature in July.

Marius Mihai Draghici was jailed for 12 years and 7 months over the deaths of 39 migrants who suffocated in a lorry brought to the UK from Belgium in 2019.

Perfectly foamed milk. A delicate butterfly enswirled atop. A bittersweet tang on the palate. A perfect cappuccino? It is beyond that. This particular cup was masterfully frothed and served by Denny, an inmate in Tangerang, a prison to the west of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, who joined a UN-supported training programme aimed at helping prisoners to re-integrate into society after serving time.

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Ben Rich explains how the Indian develops and why it can bring so much rain.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that management of population growth is key to socio-economic development for countries around the world, especially developing countries including Pakistan.

"Population remains at the heart of effective national planning...No country, however resourceful, can deal with population explosion. Drawing a balance between population and resources is

The government can still tap nearly P15 billion in calamity funds to finance various disaster relief operations for the second semester of the year.

The Senate is targeting the passage of a measure imposing a value-added tax on digital services like Netflix and Disney Plus, among others, so that the government can collect up to P145 billion in VAT from 2024 to 2028, according to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.

Controlling the rising costs of basic commodities and increasing the pay of workers remained the most urgent national concerns of Filipinos, according to a recent survey conducted by Pulse Asia.

To totally get rid of ghost voters and multiple registrants, the Commission on Elections is seeking the nullification of the national voters’ list.

It may take three to five years before public elementary and high schools can revert to the old school calendar of June to March, according to an official of the Department of Education.

The first week of July was the warmest week ever recorded, according to preliminary data from the United Nations weather agency.

On the seventh anniversary of the international arbitral ruling in The Hague invalidating China’s claim over almost the entire South China Sea, European Union member-countries and their embassies have lauded the landmark decision, which has also reaffirmed the Philippines’ maritime entitlements.

The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board has allowed the screening of the Greta Gerwig film “Barbie” in the Philippines starting July 19.

There are about 124,000 licensed and registered Filipino nurses who are jobless, underemployed or are doing non-related work, a lawmaker said recently, citing data from the Department of Health.

To cushion the impact of the El Niño phenomenon on farmers, Deputy Speaker and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar is pushing for the establishment of an assistance fund for them in the form of loans, direct cash aid or cash-for-work.

A PROPOSED ordinance authorizing the Mandaue City Government’s plan to borrow P3 billion to fund its infrastructure projects has been approved on its first reading during the City Council’s regular session on Tuesday, July 11, 2023.

Among the projects in the pipeline are the conversion of the abandoned Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) into a one-stop-shop Mandaue City Government Center in Barangay Guizo, and the construction of a parking building, playing area, and convention center.

The City Government anticipates that these developments will generate revenue, according to City Councilor Immaline Cortes-Zafra, chairperson of the budget committee.

The draft Ordinance 228-2023 aims to allow the City to secure a loan from lending facilities, Zafra said.

Zafra said an ordinance is required as it will serve as an initial step to initiate the City’s loan acquisition process. After the ordinance is passed on third reading and signed by Mayor Jonas Cortes, the Bureau of Local Government Finance will evaluate the local government unit’s borrowing capacity, which means the maximum amount the City can borrow without jeopardizing its financial solvency.

Cortes-Zafra said that as of now, the city is debt-free.

CICC purchase

The Mandaue City Government purchased the CICC from the Provincial Government for P300 million in 2018 during the time of then-mayor Luigi Quisumbing and then-governor Hilario Davide III.

In 2020, the Capitol under Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia wanted to renegotiate the deal after the Commission on Audit (COA) had called the Province’s attention to the 2018 sale because it was conducted without a bidding or getting approval from state auditors.

Agreement

However, in March 2023, Garcia and Cortes and other city officials agreed for Mandaue City to push through with its plan for a new government center while waiting for COA’s reappraisal of the CICC.

CICC was built for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in 2007. The three-story structure cost around P840 million to build.

The facility has been unused since it sustained damage during the magnitude 7.2 earthquake on Oct. 15, 2013, and Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) on Nov. 8 of the same year.

Section 296 of the Local Government Code (LGC) states that LGUs “may create indebtedness, and avail of credit facilities to finance local infrastructure and other socio-economic development projects in accordance with the approved local development plan and public investment program.”

LGUs may obtain credit lines from government and private banks and lending institutions to stabilize local finances, according to the LGC.

They are allowed to engage in deferred payments, contract loans, credits and other forms of indebtedness to finance the construction, installation, improvement, expansion, operation or maintenance of public facilities, infrastructure, housing projects, the acquisition of real property, and the implementation of other capital investment projects, subject to the terms and conditions agreed upon by the LGU and the lender.

WHERE are the best workplaces in the information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) industry in the Philippines?

The IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (Ibpap) on Monday, July 10, 2023, released a list of the best places to work in the IT-BPM sector in the country. It is the first industry list that celebrates people-first organizations.

Synchrony Global Services Philippines Inc. tops the list, followed by Accenture, Inc. (Philippines) and Via Appia Philippines Inc. on the second and third spots, respectively.

“They are part of the dynamic and vibrant Philippine IT-BPM industry, and that 16 of the 30 organizations included in the list are esteemed Ibpap members,” Ibpap said.

Ibpap created the list in collaboration with Great Place To Work Philippines, a firm that surveys employees to help employers improve office culture.

Antoniette Mendoza-Talosig, managing partner at Great Place to Work, said certain factors contribute to high-trust and high-performance work cultures in the IT-BPM industry.

She said findings showed that the country’s best IT-BPM workplaces scored higher than typical organizations on leaders that consistently walk the talk; build strong personal connections with their people; and inspire innovation. These companies also did remarkably better in embracing diversity and inclusion.

In a statement, Ibpap noted the workplaces were chosen based on whether or not “every single employee, no matter who they are or what they do for their company, is having a consistently positive experience at work.”

The companies that made the list are:

1. Synchrony Global Services Philippines Inc.

2. Accenture Inc. (Philippines)

3. Via Appia Philippines Inc.

4. Teleperformance Philippines

5. 3M Global Service Center – Philippines

6. American Express International Inc.

7. Genesys Cloud Services Cayman Ltd.

8. Genpact Philippines

9. Asurion

10. [24]7.ai Philippines

11. Booth and Partners

12. Navitaire Philippines Inc.

13. Goodyear Business Services Manila

14. KMC Solutions

15. Amadeus Marketing Philippines Inc.

16. Connext

17. ECo Global Consulting Inc.

18. Kollab

19. Tech One Global Phils. Inc.

20. Tech Mahindra Limited

21. ADP Philippines Inc.

22. Rocket Station

23. Limitless Connect

24. J4RVIS

25. Five9 Philippines Inc.

26. Arcanys

27. HelpGrid

28. Lexmark Research and Development Corporation

29. Infinit-O

30. Cobenn Business Consultancy Services

Over 500,000 employees in the IT-BPM sector were covered in the Great Place To Work survey from January 2022 to May 2023. (CSL)