Hontiveros Bats for Longer Maternity Leave, Add'l Allocation for Alternate Caregivers and Adopters

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Good news for women workers.

A bill was filed at the Senate pushing longer maternity leave and the expansion of the maternity benefit's coverage.

Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros filed Senate Bill No. 215 otherwise known as the "Expanded Maternity Leave Law of 2016" to bring the country's maternity leave law at par with international standards and make it more responsive to the everyday realities of working women.

Hontiveros said her bill seeks to provide women workers in the public and private sectors, married or not, 120 days of maternity leave, and an additional 30 days for solo mothers.

The Senator explained that the additional 30 days can be allocated by entitled women workers to alternate caregivers such as their spouses, common law partners, or relatives up to the 4th degree of consanguinity. It can also be extended to adopters or any person who has adopted a minor.

"The government must carry a new and progressive perspective on how it responds to women workers' pre and post-natal health care needs. It must radically reform the traditional maternity law and update it according to international standards," Hontiveros said.

"The country's maternity law must have a strong emphasis on reproductive work, which has historically been the onus of women, and has largely been left with minImum respect and recognition in Philippine society," Hontiveros added.

The Philippines' maternity leave law falls short of the standard set by the International Labor Organization (ILO) that mandates a minimum 98 days of maternity leave. Currently, women workers may take a maternity leave of 60 days pay. For women who undergo caesarian deliveries, they are entitled to take a leave of 78 days with pay.

The country is also lagging behind its ASEAN neighbors; Vietnam provides its women workers 120 to 180 days of maternity leave credits, Singapore, 112 days, and 84 days for Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Globe Telecom Not Blocking PCC to Do Job

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Globe Telecom took exception to the statement of the Internet Society-Philippines ISOC that the telcos particularly Globe Telecom are blocking the Philippine Competition Commission to perform its mandate of promoting fair market competition when it filed the Petition for Certiorari with the Court of Appeals, asking the latter to restrain the PCC from further reviewing the sale and purchase of assets of Vega Telecom from San Miguel.

The multi-billion joint buy-out deal gave Globe access to half of San Miguel’s telecommunication assets.

Globe General Counsel Atty. Froilan Castelo stressed the company supports the PCC’s mandate of ensuring fair and healthy market competition and promoting economic efficiency. “We are not in any way blocking the PCC from performing its mandate. In fact, we repeatedly invited the PCC to exercise its plenary powers under Section 12 of the Competition Act to investigate the conduct and behavior of the companies on this transaction for possible violations of the Act. Globe has consistently relayed to the PCC its willingness to submit to this investigation, and Globe is confident that all its actions pertaining to this transaction are all legal and above-board as certified by its legal counsels,” he said.

“With respect to the transaction itself however, Memorandum Circular 2016-02 of the PCC is very clear - the transaction is no longer reviewable as the same was ‘deemed approved’ under its provisions,” he said. The same memorandum circular states that it shall enjoy the benefit of Section 23 of the Philippine Competition Act, and therefore cannot be challenged under that law. The parties should abide by this provision, including the PCC, which is expected to uphold its own rules and the Philippine Competition Act. Globe has followed to the letter the rules of the PCC, and the same should be appreciated by the PCC, he added.

Castelo advises the ISOC to read and understand the law first before making such statement.

He said Globe will continue to roll out using the spectrum assets it gained access to following to deal with SMC as this is necessary to improve the internet situation in the country. Earlier, the Duterte administration called for a faster, reliable and cheaper internet service to be done in one year. With this, the company is currently in the process of activating the 700 MHz frequency spectrum in about 500 based stations in various parts of the country, expected for completion within by the end of the year. Globe is also making use of its additional allocation in the 2600 MHz band to provide additional layer for its LTE network for faster data connectivity.

Globe further emphasized that this sale will not restrict competition in the market, as both PLDT and Globe have surrendered a substantial block of frequency of San Miguel to the NTC. With these surrendered frequency plus those in reserve with the NTC, a substantial block will still be available for a potential third player. Moreover, the current stiff competition between major players Globe and PLDT is enough evidence that this will not result to an anti-competitive scenario. “In fact, this will benefit more the consumers, as this new frequencies will unlock a lot of service potentials which would lead to an efficient and better service”, Castelo ends.

AlDub’s Phenomenal Romance Celebrates First Anniversary With Special Twitter Heart Emoji

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Starting 12:00PM on July 16, AlDub fans can join the conversation on Twitter to mark the first year anniversary of supercouple Alden Richards @aldenrichards02 and Maine Mendoza @mainedcm by Tweeting with #AlDub1stAnniversary hashtag to unlock a special heart emoji. The Twitter emoji pays tribute to the global AlDub phenomenon and celebrates the romance that has taken the Philippines and the world like a perfect storm.

By including #AlDub1stAnniversary hashtag when composing a Tweet, a special Twitter heart emoji will appear after the hashtag in the sent Tweet. This is the first time that Twitter has created a customized emoji for a TV show in Southeast Asia.

“As a partner of Eat Bulaga, Twitter has witnessed the rise of AlDub from a local sensation on Philippine television to a global social TV phenomenon. It is powered by the love of fans all over the world, and the creativity of the show producers. The recent launch of the emoji for AlDub’s first year anniversary celebrates the show, the AlDub love story, and most importantly the fans who have flocked to Twitter to express their love and support over the past year,” said Pratiksha Rao, Twitter’s Head of Media Partnerships in Southeast Asia.

Looking back, the AlDub love team debuted on July 2015 in the ‘Kalyeserye’ segment of the popular noon-time TV show Eat Bulaga before they became one of the most well-known personalities on Twitter. Eat Bulaga’s Twitter account (@EatBulaga), which constantly keeps fans updated on the show by live-Tweeting each telecast and sharing behind-the-scenes images and videos, has added over 1.8 million followers in the past 12 months (over 200% growth) from 880,000 to 2.72 million followers today.