The official results of the Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index (CMCI) for 2023 have been published and it shows Parañaque City did worse this time finishing as 24th Most Competitive Highly Urbanized City (HUC) of the nation and this includes finishing dead last (33rd place) among the HUCs in the categories of Innovation and Government Efficiency.
To put things in perspective, the HUCs (which covers very dense cities in the National Capital Region and the provinces) are determined by means of Competitiveness (the main category) as well as other related categories such as Economic Dynamism, Government Efficiency, Infrastructure, Resiliency and Innovation.
The 2023 CMCI showed that Parañaque City scored 36.301 for 24th place in Competitiveness (versus 19th place in 2022). The city’s highlight is finishing 11th place on Economic Dynamism with a score of 5.3264, 16th place on Infrastructure with 5.2753, and 26th place on Resiliency with 11.4956.
What is most notable is that Parañaque finished dead last among the 33 HUCs on the categories of Government Efficiency and Innovation with scores of 8.2859 and 5.9169 respectively.
How and why did Parañaque end up as the worst HUC on Government Efficiency and Innovation needs to be explained in detail by the local officials. I know for a fact that Parañaque has been a hot spot for crime but that alone does not explain the CMCI’s 2023 findings. I can only wonder how efficient the City Government of Parañaque has been over the past 24 months as well since the day Mayor Eric Olivarez took office.
Let me end this piece by asking you readers: What do you think about this recent development? If you are a resident of Parañaque and had been doing transactions with the City Government, did you notice anything wrong? Has the City Government been performing sluggishly in recent times? Did transparency at the City Government weaken? What do you think should the City Government do with regards to innovation in relation to public service?
For more South Metro Manila community news and developments, come back here soon. Also say NO to fake news, NO to irresponsible journalism, NO to misinformation, NO to plagiarists, NO to reckless publishers and NO to sinister propaganda when it comes to news and developments. For South Metro Manila community developments, member engagements, commerce and other relevant updates, join the growing South Metro Manila Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/342183059992673
Recently Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., emphasized the need to use new technologies so that the country will be able to improve the management of its water resources and ensure a stable supply for the people, according to a Philippine News Agency (PNA) news article. Along the way, Marcos mentioned Israel as a role model that the Philippines can learn from to achieve water security.
To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the PNA article. Some parts in boldface…
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday emphasized the need to use new and emerging technologies to improve the management of the country’s water resources and provide safe and affordable water to all.
Marcos made the statement during the opening of the 6th Edition of the Water Philippines Conference and Exposition at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.
“I happened to have been given the opportunity to walk around a little bit and see some of the exhibitors. And it is very gratifying to note that in fact, the technologies that are being used, that are being employed in terms of water treatment, in terms of water management are well-known technologies,” he said. “And so, I am very optimistic that the solutions that we need to formulate are out there, the technologies are out there. What has continued to change in the light of climate change is the management, the stratagems on how we manage our water.”
Marcos particularly pointed out that flood control projects have evolved through the years, along with the changing times, noting that these are no longer just exclusively used for that.
“We take the water and we use it for irrigation, we use it for drinking water if we have a treatment plant,” he said, adding that water can be used to produce power with small hydroelectric plants.
He also cited Israel’s experience showing how it promotes the sustainable use of clean water for various purposes despite having a limited water supply.
“I’d spent some time in Israel and I saw how they treat the water because water is very scarce. They live in the desert. Nevertheless, they are able to collect the water during the rainy season, whatever is available, they put fish in it to grow fish. When the summer comes, they take it out, take out the water, harvest the fish, and then that goes to irrigation and so forth,” Marcos said.
He said the Philippines could learn from Israel and apply this approach to achieve water security.
“These are the kinds of thinking that we have to apply to the Philippines because of the crisis that we are facing and how debilitating it will be to the entire economy, to the entire society if our water supply problem continues to get greater, continues to become more dependent on what we have been doing in the past,” he said.
It is very notable that President Marcos mentioned Israel while talking about the state of water in the Philippines. I myself had been to Israel recently on pilgrimage tour and there were times when our tour bus traveled great distances on desert areas, I did not just see sand and rocks. I saw lots of plantations along the road and the sight of lively vegetation in the desert of Israel was astounding. Israel is very well known not only for their highly advanced treatment and management of water, they are also highly proficient on agriculture and creating abundant supplies of food. Very recently, the 65th anniversary of friendship between Israel and the Philippines was commemorated. We need to pray to the Lord that President Marcos and an official delegation of the Philippines will someday visit Israel and have official meetings with their Israeli counterparts, meet with the Filipino community there and come up with new agreements for greater cooperation between the two nations.
To my fellow Filipinos reading this, I encourage you to accept the truth that Israel is the land God designated specifically for the Jewish people (read Genesis 35:10-12) and His command must be followed by all. If you want to be blessed further by the Lord, do so by loving and blessing the Jewish people (Genesis 12:1-3). I did my part when I was in Israel.
The Philippine Navy (PN) is looking towards Israel with regards to their plan to acquire several more missile boats, according to a news article by the Philippine News Agency (PNA). To be specific, they are looking for Israel-produced Shaldag Mark V missile boats. Thank note that Philippine Navy recently received two new missile boats made in Israel.
To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the PNA article. Some parts in boldface…
The Philippine Navy (PN) is planning to acquire at least 15 more Israel-made Shaldag Mark V missile boats, which are the basis of its Acero-class patrol gunboats.
“We are planning to get 15 additional ‘Acero’-class gunboats (to augment the) nine (now on the pipeline),” Navy chief Rear Adm. Toribio Adaci Jr. told reporters on the sidelines of the commissioning and send-off ceremony for the fast attack interdiction craft missiles (FAIC-Ms) BRP Nestor Acero (PG-901) and BRP Lolinato To-Ong (PG-902) Monday.
Adaci said the additional “Acero”-class gunboats would help them to meet their requirements in “patrolling the seas of the country”. He also said the FAIC-Ms will be assigned to the Littoral Combat Force.
He said four more FAIC-Ms, the other name of the “Acero” class in the PN service, will be delivered sometime in 2023.
“I don’t know the exact delivery dates next year but this shall be throughout (next year),” the PN chief added.
The last batch of three, which will be built at the PN shipyard in the Naval Station Pascual Ledesma in Cavite, is scheduled for 2024.
Adaci said Israel Shipyard Limited will help the PN rehabilitate the old shipyard and make it more modern and allow it to build these types of ships.
“In that way, our people can learn how to do it, maintain these ‘Acero’ class boats and that will be the start of the transfer of technology,” he said.
These 32-meter high-speed vessels are equipped with quick intercept ability, remote stabilized weapons, and short-range missiles that are capable of delivering precision strikes against larger hostiles and high-value targets on land and sea.
Four of the FAIC-Ms will be armed with non-line-of-sight (NLOS) missiles with pinpoint accuracy and a range of 25 kilometers while the other five will be armed with Typhoon-mounted 30mm main cannons and .50 caliber heavy machine guns.
The acquisition of these FAIC-Ms is among the 2019 projects approved by former President Rodrigo Duterte under the Horizon 2 List of the AFP Modernization Program.
The notice of award for the FAIC-M project, worth around PHP10 billion, was issued on January 5 last year. These are expected to replace the force of patrol killer medium or medium-sized patrol craft.
For the newcomers reading this, Israel is a military super power as well as a provider of advanced technologies which authorities here in the Philippines are realizing even more in relation to their military needs and objectives. For far too long have locals been obsessed with Silicon Valley (California, the United States) for just about anything related to technology. Many do not realize it but Israel is a major player in technology. As such, we should be thankful to the Lord that the Philippine Navy continues to look at Israel for new military hardware which is surely beneficial.
In recent times, the State of Israel engaged with the Philippines on managing water which is clearly an essential resource, according to a Manila Times news article. Israel’s Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss spoke at the meeting.
To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the Manila Times article. Some parts in boldface…
ISRAEL is offering innovative solutions to help the Philippines improve water resource management and conservation.
Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation and the United States Agency for International Aid shared with the Philippine government and local water concessionaires in the Philippines the expertise and experience of Israel on water resource management.
“Israel invested in technology to support the growing demand and urbanization in the country,” said Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss during a recent seminar.
The technologies, he said, “were introduced together with good policies and regulations that made Israel the leading country in the world in managing the water sector.“
“From desalination to reuse of sewage, minimum loss of water and more,” the ambassador said.
“Through this seminar, we hope that the Philippines’ key implementing agencies will gain insights from the Israeli experience and adapt them to local conditions,” he added.
He noted that Israel faced challenges in water conservation and management. The Middle East is a dry area and more than 50 percent of “Israel is actually desert,” he said.
The Israeli Embassy in Manila said National Water Resources Board Director Susan Abano shared the challenges that the Philippines faces as water availability continues to fall due to rising demand.
The embassy said that engineers Rodel Rik Tumanda and Jon Michael Esteban of Maynilad and Manila Water, respectively, as well as Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System chief regulator Patrick Ty presented their perspectives on managing water scarcity.
“These were analyzed by the Israeli water delegation and presented advanced solutions to better manage the water sector of the country,” the embassy said in a statement.
“The Israeli companies highlighted Israel’s innovation and technology to inspire and encourage the Philippine water sector, businesses and local government units to invest in technologies that will help manage water sustainably,” it added.
Among the Israeli companies who presented their water technologies were ARAD Group, Atlantium, Okiana and Watergen.
For the newcomers reading this, Israel is known for innovation not only with technology and agriculture but also in water management and the development of new sources of water. Constant problems of water supply and resource handling here in the Philippines are not new anymore and the assistance we got from Israel is crucial. This is something we have to be very thankful to our Lord for and we should pray that the Philippine water stakeholders who attended the reported meeting will put into action what they learned from their Israeli counterparts so that water management in the country will be improved.
To put things in perspective, posted below is the excerpt from the article of the PNA. Some parts in boldface…
Israel wants to increase cooperation with the Philippines on agriculture, cybersecurity, and other areas of mutual interest after the two countries cap their 12th Joint Commission Meeting this week.
The political dialogue, held in Manila on Sept. 5, was led by Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Alfonso Ver and Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Director General for Asia and the Pacific Rafael Harpaz.
“The Israeli delegation emphasized building bridges of innovations between the two countries in the areas of agritech, watertech, cybersecurity, ICT and connectivity, and more. Also included in the agenda is the topic of counterterrorism and the expansion of the defense cooperation between Israel with the Philippines,” the Israel Embassy in Manila said in a statement.
The delegations also discussed regional and international developments, particularly in the Middle East, Iran, and the West Philippine Sea.
On agriculture, Israel Ambassador Ilan Fluss said Israel would share with the Philippines its expertise as the two sides discussed solar-powered irrigation, increasing dairy output, as well as Israel’s agriculture internship for Filipinos.
“We are happy to share our expertise in the field of agriculture with the Philippines to address productivity and food security,” he said, citing a recent meeting with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who sought to enhance agriculture cooperation with Israel.
Be thankful to the Lord as Israel-Philippines ties continue to grow stronger. Israel’s willingness to engage with the Philippines on agriculture and cyber security is essential. More than ever, Philippine agriculture needs to improve dramatically not just to keep up with the world but also to ensure a huge and stable supply of food for the people. Enhancing cyber security will make the Philippines more secure and also become a more attractive and safer place for technology developers, foreign investors and the like. Keep on praying to Him to have the two nations rise high strongly and stand out among all nations of this very divided world we live in. Pray to Him that no enemy will ever succeed on opposing Israel and the Philippines. The evil ones will be exposed and will fall down in due time.
If you truly believe in Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God the Heavenly Father wholeheartedly and you continue to be faithful (not religious), you should be aware that Christians are meant to stand united with Israel, love the Jewish people and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. You can do your part supporting Israel by donating to Christians United for Israel (CUFI). Do not forget to read the Holy Bible, then pray in tongues to the Lord in the privacy of your room with the door shut.
To put things in perspective, posted below is the excerpt from the Manila Bulletin. Some parts in boldface…
The Philippines and Israel have committed to pursue science, technology, and innovation projects centered around agriculture and health, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) announced Friday, Jan. 29.
In a taped report, DOST Secretary Fortunato “Boy” de la Peña said he met Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss online on Jan. 24 to discuss the Department’s collaboration with Israel.
“The priority and the specifics of the cooperation identified were on the innovation, ecosystem which will focus on technology-based enterprise incubation and acceleration,” de la Peña said.
“One that will focus on agriculture, water management, one that will focus on the development of the vaccines and therapeutics for our livestocks,” he continued.
Partnership on drug discovery and drug commercialization, as well as the establishment of the Virology Science and Technology Institute will also be explored.
According to de la Peña, Fluss also expressed the intent of creating an incubator/facility in the Philippines.
If you truly believe in Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God the Heavenly Father wholeheartedly and you continue to be faithful (not religious), you should be aware that Christians are meant to stand united with Israel, love the Jewish people and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. You can do your part supporting Israel by donating to Christians United for Israel (CUFI). Do not forget to read the Holy Bible, then pray in tongues to the Lord in the privacy of your room with the door shut.
In ending this I Love Israel piece, posted below are Israel-related videos for your viewing pleasure.
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Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @HavenorFantasy as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/
The ties between the Philippines and Israel continued to get stronger as the new Israeli Ambassador Ilan Fluss confirmed that the State of Israel is committed to collaborate with the Filipino nation on important fields, the Manila Bulletin reported.
To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the Manila Bulletin news report. Some parts in boldface…
Israel is committed to pursue collaboration with the Philippines in the areas of technology, innovation and medicine, according to its new ambassador to Manila.
Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss confirmed at the “Pandesal Forum at Kamuning Bakery Café” that lots of cooperation are going on between the two countries.
In agriculture, the ambassador said that cooperation in agriculture technology is being discussed and is handled by its economic section. He mentioned of an Israeli initiative for an irrigation project in the country using solar technology to help Philippine agriculture.
Fluss also said that he met recently with Defense Secretary Eduardo Año to discuss cooperation in defense and military training.
On medicines, the ambassador explained that Israel is not yet into COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing, but they are going into that. He said that Israel is still in the second stage in their clinical research for COVID-19 vaccine.
“We are open to discuss partnership with the Philippines,” he said. In fact, he said, that an Israeli firm is already looking into the manufacture of medicines in the Philippines, but may not be necessarily COVID-19 vaccines.
Meantime, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority announced the approval of Israeli-Filipino joint venture Savepoint Biotek for its proposal to manufacture oral COVID-19 vaccines.
According to PEZA, Savepoint is investing P83 million initially for the project to be located in the Pampanga Economic Zone. The joint venture even projected annual sales of $180 million from the Philippines and export markets.
A source privy to the project application said the company has projected annual sales of $180 million of which 70 percent is expected to come from its export markets Asia Pacific and Africa. The project is also expected to employ 425 workers upon full commercial operation.
Sources said that partners, the Filipino and the Israel pharmaceutical firm, are still finalizing their equity structure. While waiting, the source said, the project would be represented by the Filipino group.
It is always great to learn of the cooperation and unity between Israelis and Filipinos, and as always, we must thank the Lord! Apart from the diplomatic developments, the establishment of Savepoint Biotek by Israelis and Filipinos is significant especially with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
If you truly believe in Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God the Heavenly Father wholeheartedly and you continue to be faithful (not religious), you should be aware that Christians are meant to stand united with Israel, love the Jewish people and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. You can do your part supporting Israel by donating to Christians United for Israel (CUFI). Do not forget to read the Holy Bible, then pray in tongues to the Lord in the privacy of your room with the door shut.
In ending this I Love Israel piece, posted below are Israel-related videos for your viewing pleasure.
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Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @HavenorFantasy as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/
Very recently, the Philippine News Agency (PNA) reported that the State of Israel will push through with hosting Filipino experts and orient them with the ways and means on tackling COVID-19.
To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the very short PNA article. Some parts in boldface…
The Israeli government is looking forward to hosting a group of Filipino experts to share firsthand its strategies and technologies in effectively dealing with the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
The planned visit was revealed by Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss on Thursday during the “Dealing with Delta and other Pandemic Challenges Lessons” forum organized by the Israel Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.
“Israel has innovations and quite a lot of new developments and we’d like to share (these) with the Philippines and this delegation, who we hope will visit this November. (They) would be able to see with their own eyes what are the opportunities and we’d be happy to share them,” he said.
Last July, a team of Israeli medical experts also visited Manila to share their success in the national vaccination campaign, which was followed by another group in August.
The second delegation gave their recommendations on ways to further improve systems and procedures in handling Covid-19 patients, including infection control protocols and hospital management.
Israel has been hailed for its rapid vaccination drive, successfully inoculating 70.7 percent of its population as of October 19.
It was also among the first countries to rollout booster shots after experiencing a dramatic increase in its Covid-19 cases last June and July despite the number of its fully vaccinated citizens.
Although the Delta outbreak is still not over, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett earlier said Israel is now starting to overcome this wave, giving credit to the country’s pandemic management strategies including the aggressive booster campaign and introduction of “green pass” for fully inoculated individuals to access events and facilities like cinemas, hotels, etc.
In the Thursday forum, infectious diseases and Covid-19 specialist Guy Chosen noted that booster shots have now become Israel’s “main mitigation tool” against the Delta variant.
“[W]e could continue and operate our commercial life, our cultural life, sports events, education system during the fourth Delta wave thanks to the rollout and effectiveness of the third dose, the booster campaign,” he said.
Citing a research published on medRxiv this October, Chosen said the rate of coronavirus infection and severe illness across all age groups was “substantially lower among those who received a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine.”
Since the sudden Metro Manila ECQ of August and the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) that followed, economic damage happened once again as people lost their jobs and income, and businesses struggled with the added difficulty as a result of the restrictions on capacity of customers and on their operations. Fortunately, a revision of the community quarantine and management happened using the alert levels approach which came into effect this past September.
Since October 16, 2021, the restrictions on Metro Manila were downgraded to Alert Level 3 and the result was more customers flocking to businesses which I personally witnessed in Muntinlupa City. Similar boost of economic activities, vehicular traffic and people moving around were also seen in other parts of the metropolis. As of this writing, things are looking better as the daily number of new COVID-19 infections went below 10,000 and more people got vaccinated. In recent times, the mayor of Las Piñas City stated that herd immunity is within reach based on their statistics on COVID-19 vaccination.
Going back to Israel, I am thankful to our Lord for their generosity and willingness to help the Philippines in the fight against COVID-19 as well as developing ways to recover from the effects of the pandemic. I hope that the authorities there in Israel will take a closer look at the situation of Metro Manila and examine how the top officials of the Metro Manila Council (MMC) and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) think and act when it comes to COVID-19. These local government and metropolitan authorities can use the help of Israel on managing people, their communities better than before.
As for the Filipino scientists who will be hosted by the State of Israel, our entire nation’s health is at stake and what they will learn will be crucial. For those reading this, I urge you to support Israel-Philippines relations.
If you truly believe in Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God the Heavenly Father wholeheartedly and you continue to be faithful (not religious), you should be aware that Christians are meant to stand united with Israel, love the Jewish people and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. You can do your part supporting Israel by donating to Christians United for Israel (CUFI). Do not forget to read the Holy Bible, then pray in tongues to the Lord in the privacy of your room with the door shut.
In ending this I Love Israel piece, posted below are Israel-related videos.
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Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me as well. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me at HavenorFantasy@twitter.com
Author Carlo Carrasco 