Comelec ReprintS fresh ballots to start Jan. 22

 MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Sunday said they would restart the printing of official ballots for the May elections on Wednesday, January 22, following the temporary restraining orders (TRO) the Supreme Court handed down to them last week. 

The High Court earlier issued TROs against the poll body for its decisions preventing certain individuals from participating as candidates in the 2025 national and local elections. This means that the 6 million ballots earlier printed would have to be destroyed. 

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said these decisions have greatly affected their timeline for the printing of official ballots but they would have to comply with the Supreme Court’s order.  “Gagamitin at gagamitin na namin lahat ng machines na pang-imprenta ng National Printing Office,” Garcia said in an interview. 

Comelec said this weekend, they have to craft around 1,667 new ballot page templates, serialize them, and produce the same six million printed ballots. “Seventy-one million lahat ng balota natin kaya sana maunawaan ng lahat kung bakit kami nagmamadali sa pag-imprenta at yun kasi, on the average ay maka-imprenta ka ng nasa isang milyon sa isang araw dahil ang timeline natin ay hanggang April 14 lamang para mag-imprenta,” he added. 

The poll chief said after this, all the 71 million ballots would have to undergo manual verification to check the ballot’s formatting, color, size, and cut. “Tama ba ang pagkakasunod-sunod ng mga pangalan, tama ba ang bilog? Eksakto ba ang kulay. Yan lahat ay tinitingnan na ganoon at pagkatapos, isa-isa siyang fine-feed o pinapasok sa makina para malaman kung ito ay tinatanggap. Ganoon ka-tedious ang proseso sa pag-imprenta,” he said. 

The Comelec said the discarded ballots were estimated to cost them P100 million.

MANILA, Philippines — Kach Medina Umandap shared her inspiring journey as the first Philippine passport holder to visit all 193 United Nations-recognized countries. In one of interviews, Umandap said the record-breaking travel expedition took 12 years to accomplish.

It started when she was 20 years old when she decided to work as an overseas Filipino worker for four years in the Middle East after graduating from college. "I didn't really intend to travel to every country in the world. I just want to travel. Like, I just really wanted to do it," said Kach.

She began backpacking in 2013 at the age of 24 until she realized her fondness for traveling overseas, which prompted her to leave her job the next year, fully adopting the digital nomad way of life.

Her early days as a travel vlogger led to exposure, sponsorships, and opportunities that helped her continue her travels. At 29, Kach already visited seven continents and hit 100 countries. However, she also faced significant challenges, particularly when visiting countries that required visas.

She said countries like Turkistan, North Korea, Sudan, and Tuvalu, as well as Paraguay and Uruguay were among the countries that were particularly difficult to visit due to factors like expensive flights, difficult visa applications, and limited embassy presence in the Philippines.

She also mentioned her experience traveling to North Korea, highlighting the need for a double-entry China visa and the unique process of crossing the border. Additionally, she recounted her experiences traveling to war zones like Sudan and Syria, where obtaining visas for these countries was challenging.

"There was a rule that a single Filipino woman was not allowed to enter because there's a lot of domestic helpers that were being abused. They were taken away from Lebanon, Jordan, to go to Syria," Kach said.

"I waited two years to enter Sudan because no one was allowed to enter until last year. I was the third tourist and first Asian to enter the country," she added.

Though she had to face these complex visa applications and travel to other countries to obtain visas from embassies and consulates not present in the Philippines, Kach still attributes the resilience and adaptability of her Filipino upbringing, which has helped her navigate challenging situations while traveling.

At 36, she has managed to visit the remaining 95 countries after seven years.

 Kach also added the challenges of traveling to certain places that are unsafe or uninteresting and the rules they follow for travel verification through an organization called Nomad Mania, which tracks travelers.

To be recognized as a global travel master, they must prove they’ve spent at least 24 hours in each country. Ultimately, she expressed a desire to inspire younger Filipinos, especially OFWs, to embrace remote work opportunities rather than traditional overseas jobs, suggesting this shift could lead to more meaningful travel experiences.

Now back in the Philippines, Kach wants to explore her home country, reconnect with friends made during their travels, and show them hospitality.

MANILA: The Philippine Navy said on Friday (Jan 17) its ships were holding drills near a contested shoal in the South China Sea, a day after Manila and Beijing agreed to seek common ground and find ways to cooperate despite ongoing disputes.

The exercise around the Scarborough Shoal, one of Asia's most hotly contested areas, was aimed at enhancing the navy's capability to secure what it said were Philippine waters and the country's territorial integrity, the navy said in a statement.

It described it as a "routine unilateral exercise" involving its Antonio Luna frigate and two other patrol ships operating in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone. The exercises would take place from Jan 17 to Jan 19, it said.

The drills coincided with the continued radio challenges by the Philippine Coast Guard to the presence at the shoal of China's largest coast guard vessel, which it says is illegally patrolling in Manila's EEZ.

"If China is genuinely committed to deescalating tensions and sincerely seeks to foster mutual trust and cooperation between our nations ... the Chinese government must respect the Philippines' sovereign rights in our EEZ," the coast guard said in a statement late on Thursday.

China's embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. China's expansive territorial claims in the key maritime trade route overlap with the EEZs of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

A 2016 ruling of an international arbitral tribunal said Beijing's claims, based on its historic maps, have no basis under international law, a decision China does not recognise.

During Thursday's 10th round of talks under a bilateral mechanism set up to address issues in the South China Sea, China and the Philippines both agreed to boost communication and deepen dialogue but also called each other out over recent standoffs.

They also pledged to advance coast guard and marine scientific cooperation while committing to resolving issues peacefully.

 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Taiwan has announced the extension of the trial visa-free entry program for nationals from Thailand, Brunei, and the Philippines by another year, from August 1, 2024 to July 31, 2025.

July 6, 2023, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Taiwan has announced extensions to several of its visa regulations, including an extension of the trial visa-free entry program for nationals from Thailand, Brunei, and the Philippines by one year, from August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2024.

To benefit from this visa-free entry program, travelers from the Philippines must submit information including verification of lodging, contact information for their host or sponsor in Taiwan and proof of sufficient travel funds. Furthermore, MOFA has decided to continue the “Project for Simplifying Visa Regulations for High-end Group Tourists from Southeast Asian Countries” until December 31, 2024. 

This project allows tourists from Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam to visit Taiwan using an electronic visa if they are in a group of at least five and travel via an accredited travel agency. These changes are aimed at strengthening mutual bilateral exchanges and tourism in Taiwan in the post-pandemic era.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to HKInitiations@fragomen.com.

 Together with partner-institutions, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) unveiled on November 26, 2024 the Philippine Intellectual Property Strategy (PHIPS) 2025-2030, a new roadmap designed to foster collaboration and unlock the full economic potential of homegrown intellectual property (IP) assets.

The PHIPS 2025-2030 aims to position the Philippines as a global hub for creativity and innovation, fostering IP creation, protection and commercialization. It emphasizes leveraging AI, promoting IP valuation and strengthening collaboration to drive economic growth, protect cultural heritage and contribute to sustainable development goals.

The PHIPS imagines the Philippines as a “Hapag-Isipan,” directly translated as a “Banquet of Ideas.” Coined specifically for the PHIPS, the term uses the Filipino word “hapag” to symbolize community, collaboration and togetherness, setting the Philippines as the global table for creativity, innovation and collaboration to build and enjoy IPs towards shared progress.

“We envision the Philippines as a global hapag—a global table, a platform for creativity and innovation, where nations, industries and individuals can come together to create, commercialize and consume IP and IP-backed products and services,” IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba said at IPOPHL’s annual stakeholders’ forum where the strategy was unveiled. 

“At this global hapag, the youthful energy of the Philippines combines with the resources and expertise of the world to generate new ideas, create high-quality IP products and provide vibrant markets for IP-backed goods and services. The result is an ecosystem where intellectual property thrives, economies grow, and societies flourish—a feast like no other,” Barba added.

To attract global investments and leverage them to stimulate domestic innovative and creative activities, the PHIPS sets out four key strategies: 

1. Strengthening IP Awareness and Education
2. Building Systems for IP Valuation and Commercialization
3. Enhancing Local and Global Cooperation
4. Maximizing Emerging Technologies

A key feature in the new strategy is its emphasis on IP as a tangible investment, introducing a bold approach to maximize IP’s value by:

• Building capacities for IP commercialization to help creators transform ideas into marketable ventures.
• Establishing systems for IP-backed financing to enable the use of IP as collateral and to access capital.
• Integrating investment banking services for IP to ensure creators and IP owners can achieve the full financial and economic potential of their innovations.

Implementing these strategies should result in the deeper integration of IP across industries, driving economic value and positioning the Philippines as a global leader in IP commerce. This will support IP-driven exports, expand e-commerce for IP-backed products, strengthen the digital economy and ultimately, help reduce the trade deficit. 

The Hapag-Isipan strategy reflects on the core priorities of the Philippine Development Plan, the National Innovation Agenda and Strategy Document, the Philippine Export Development Plan, the Philippine Creative Industry Roadmap and the E-Commerce Roadmap. It incorporates their shared goals into a cohesive roadmap for leveraging IP as a catalyst for growth.

It is also anchored on the goals of new and existing laws, such as the Internet Transactions Act, the Public Private Partnership, the New Government Procurement Act, the One Town One Product Law, the Philippine Creative Industry Development Act, the Innovations Act, the Innovative Start-Up Act, the Amendment to the Public Service Act and Retail Trade Liberalization Act and the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Act.

 MANILA, Philippines – The Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX), the multimodal transport facility which serves Metro Manila and areas south of the metropolis, announced Friday, January 3, its new parking rates effective January 14.

The transport hub will charge cars parking in the facility P60 for the first three hours and P15 per succeeding hour. Parking motorcycles will pay a P60 flat fee.

Meanwhile, overnight parking costs will double to P300 on top of the hourly parking fee. PITX defines overnight parking as between 1:30 am and 5 am.

Prior to the implementation of the new parking rates, PITX charged a P60 and P50 flat fee for cars and motorcycles, respectively. Overnight parking rates cost an additional P150.

According to Jason Salvador, PITX’s head for corporate affairs, the adjusted parking fees reflect an increase in parking demand and the occupation of the transport hub’s office towers.

Salvador said that the fees will fund technologies to make the parking experience in PITX more efficient. “We are now investing and implementing advanced technologies such as automatic plate number recognition, parking guidance systems and digital payment kiosks for a seamless and more efficient experience,” he said.

Salvador also allayed motorists’ fears of a drastic parking fee hike similar to that of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in 2024, when overnight parking fees quadrupled to P1,200.