TRB declares South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) Toll Road 5 and Pasig River Expressway projects as toll road projects

Wazzup Pilipinas!


The Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), an agency under the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has declared the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) Toll Road 5 and Pasig River Expressway (PAREX) projects as toll road projects.

In a TRB resolution dated 29 June 2020, the two road projects were declared as toll roads upon the request of, and based on the proposal submitted by the joint venture (JV) of the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC) and San Miguel Holdings Corporation (SMHC).

With the declaration of the two (2) projects as toll roads, the Technical Working Group (TWG) of the TRB, composed of representatives from the DOTr, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Finance (DOF), and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), as well as the private sector, is now in discussion with the Joint Venture on the technical, financial, and legal details of the 2 projects that will lead to the finalization of the concession agreement.

“The PNCC-SMHC Joint Venture requested that government recognize the 2 projects as toll road project. These have their respective basic design plan. The TRB has given an instruction to the TWG to discuss the details of the project with the JV that will be the basis of the concession agreements. We are also waiting for the JV to submit certain requirements,” TRB Executive Director Sales said.

Construction of the two projects is being eyed to start within the remaining two years of the Duterte administration,” added the TRB Executive Director.

Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1112 mandates the TRB to supervise, monitor and regulate the construction, operation and maintenance of toll facilities as well as the rates that may be charged therefrom.

The TR5 is a 4-lane divided toll road that starts from the terminal point of the SLEx TR4 Project at Barangay Mayao, Lucena City in Quezon, and ends at Matnog, Sorsogon, near the Matnog Ferry Terminal. The toll road is approximately 420-kilometers long, and will be composed of eight (8) segments and a total of 28 interchanges:

• Segment 1 (Lucena to Gumaca) – 61 kilometers

• Segment 2 (Gumaca to Tagkawayan) – 58.60 kms.

• Segment 3 (Tagkawayan to Sipocot) – 61.40 kms.

• Segment 4 (Sipocot to Naga City) – 39.50 kms.

• Segment 5 (Naga City to Polangui) – 45.90 kms.

• Segment 6 (Polangui to Legaspi City) – 33.60 kms.

• Segment 7 (Legaspi City to Sorsogon)- 57.70 kms.

• Segment 8 (Sorsogon to Matnog) – 62.30 kms.

The project has an estimated cost of P22.6-B (for Segment 1 only) and has an implementation period of 24 months (for Segment 1 only).

Through its legislative franchise, PNCC has the authority to construct, maintain and operate the South Luzon Expressway and Skyway Stages 1, 2, 3 and all extensions, linkages or stretches from any part of the existing toll roads.

Also declared as a toll road project, the proposed 19.365 km PAREX aims to connect Manila with the province of Rizal with a 6-lane elevated expressway that will traverse the entirety of the Pasig River.

The PAREX, which is also a joint agreement project between the PNCC and the SMHC, starts from Radial Road 10 in Manila and will end at a connection to the South East Metro Manila Expressway at Circumferential Road 6 (C6).

According to the TRB, the project will connect and utilize a 2.7-kilometer portion of the Skyway Stage 3 from Nagtahan to Plaza Azul.

Once completed, PAREX will be composed of three segments:

• Segment 1 (R-10 to Plaza Azul) – 5.74 kilometers.

• Plaza Azul to San Juan River (MMSS3) – 2.70 kms.

• Segment 2 (San Juan River to C5 Intersection) – 7.325 kms.

• Segment 3 (C5 Intersection – C6 Intersection)- 6.30 kms.

The project, which was earlier approved in principle by members of the TRB Board, has an estimated project cost of P95.413-billion. Its estimated project implementation period is 36 months.

TikTok Likely to be Banned in Japan Too for Alleged Sharing of User Data to Chinese Government

Wazzup Pilipinas!

"Following India, Japan is also likely to ban the popular video-sharing app Tiktok.

A group of lawmakers from the ruling party of Japan, led by Japanese Finance Minister Akira Amari, decided to take action against Tiktok. A team of parliamentarians of Japan has decided to submit a proposal to the government by next September.

The party has accused Tiktok of misusing data of the Japanese and handing over it to the Chinese government.

Tiktok has been the target of criticism since India imposed the ban last month. It is said that even the United States is preparing to ban Tiktok, followed by the Australian government.

Tiktok, meanwhile, has been denying claims of Japan that user data is available to the Chinese government. (via DGS Media)"

Pag na banned tiktok di nako makakakita ng mga nagtatalbugang mga dede.

Sa Philippines, government officials pa ang nagtitiktok. Unfortunately sa Pilipinas sasabihin ng gobyerno wala silang magagawa dyan. China kasi ay BFF nila.

Seriously, madami ang natutuwa pa rin sa paggamit ng tiktok kahit personal information, location at gps, at files nila makukuha ng Chinese government from their phone without the user's knowledge. Hello! You pressed the agree button para lang magamit ang app. That equates you are allowing the CCP to look to your phone's files thru tiktok app.

Foreign countries can't even sell in China with out a Chinese partner company.  You literally have to give your business product, secrets and earnings to a Chinese company to operate in their China, and once they have the specs they make cheap rippoffs and sell them everywhere else.  Chinese companies are accused of stealing so many patents for tech it's not even funny.  It's gets worse. Did you know that Facebook is banned in China and with other social media platforms?  Make no mistake, both countries mine data from social media. It's just that American platforms are already banned in China.

Sakop ba ng NTC ang ganyan? Although may mga pornsites na na-block na ng NTC.

What about Facebook? Ayaw sa chekwa pero umagree din naman sa policies ng IG and Twitter tapos sinync mo pa account mo sa FB. Whaaat!? So hello din sa mga android users.

More than 100 youth groups and individuals sign #NoToDeathPenalty statement

Wazzup Pilipinas!

As the House Committee on Justice is hearing the bills reviving the death penalty in the Philippines today, more than 100 youth groups and individuals from across the country have signed a statement against the revival of capital punishment.

The group Akbayan Youth is expecting more organizations and individuals to express their dissent against the death penalty, especially as the multiple crises during the pandemic are worsening.





FULL STATEMENT
On his State of The Nation Address (SONA), President Rodrigo Duterte conveyed his plan to bring back the death penalty via lethal injection, despite the entire country falling deeper and deeper into the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. We, the youth, reject a future of deaths, from this unaddressed pandemic and the looming death penalty. Here are our reasons:

The death penalty is a ploy to wage a war against the poor. According to the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), in the period where the country had the death penalty, most people in the death row did not reach college and were paid below the minimum wage. The poor are more likely to be subject to the death penalty than their wealthier counterparts due to the lack of resources to defend themselves in court.

The death penalty as a deterrent to crime is a myth. Studies on the cases in the US, Singapore, and Hong Kong have shown that imposing the death penalty is not in any way correlated to the rise and fall of crime rates. In fact, the countries with the lowest crime rates such as the Scandinavian countries do not employ the use of capital punishment. Their focus is on eliminating the conditions that lead to the crime and strengthening their justice system to ensure the likelihood of conviction. We should be fighting poverty itself--not the poor who are victims of a cruel, unjust social system.

Death is irreversible. In a justice system as flawed as ours, people can fall victim to mistrials and erroneous sentencing. In a 2004 decision by the Supreme Court, they revealed that appeals on death penalty convictions showed that majority of people sentenced to death were mistaken convictions! The death penalty will only add to the killing machine that targets the most vulnerable.

The incompetence of the Duterte administration is already a death penalty in itself. Day by day, Filipinos are not only dying due to the government’s abysmal performance in protecting families, but also of hunger and desperation to return to work and school. The imposition of the death penalty is another trick to maneuver our attention away from the swell of COVID-19 cases.

Our vigilance against crimes should also be directed at those in positions of power. We need to put an end to the system of governance that has done nothing but to perpetuate a culture of violence and oppression. We should be protecting Filipino families against the greedy who profit off of the pandemic, the powerful who endanger workers’ health and safety, and the paranoid who terrorize ordinary citizens for asking questions. We need to save more lives not compete with the virus in killing more Filipinos. ###


SIGN OUR UNITY STATEMENT AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY: https://forms.gle/Az43GrB3W1eJmG7v9