The day after. A worker takes a nap near the Olympic flame cauldron a day after the closing ceremony for the Beijing Olympics in the Bird Nest’s National Stadium. Authorities are scrambling to make sure the 91,000-seat stadium and other venues are put to good use after the Olympics and September’s Paralympics end. They want to avoid the fate of other Olympic hosts that were left with empty, debt-burdened facilities. --AP

Budget needs P16-B adjustment

THE head of the Senate economic affairs panel said the Arroyo administration needs an additional P15.6 billion to adjust the government’s 2008 spending program to prevailing high prices triggered by double-digit inflation.

This, even as Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto said the proposed P1.4-trillion budget for 2009 would be enough to attain growth targets for that year, or a range of 6.1 percent to 7.1 percent. The proposed outlay is 15 percent higher than this year’s.

Oil execs warned on secrecy; new hearing set

AFTER getting a reprimand for “coming unprepared” and failing to answer lawmakers’ queries on their “questionable approaches” in increasing and reducing fuel prices, the so-called Big Three oil companies again got another broadside from the House for “withholding deliberately” vital information from lawmakers. They were warned they face sanctions if they persist.

Party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna, a member of the House Committee on Energy, issued the warning. He said the committee will continue the hearing on reforms in the problematic oil industry on Tuesday.

Seaoil puts off IPO plan; reports ‘price lock’ gains

WITH conditions at the local bourse seeming to be unfavorable for investors at this time, independent oil player Seaoil Philippines Inc. has decided to further defer its plan for an initial public offering (IPO).

“In terms of the IPO, we are still looking at the market, as the conditions have yet to become ideal,” said Francis Glenn Yu, company president.

Peace talks in South still on, GMA assures OIC 

PRESIDENT Arroyo on Monday assured the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and other supporters of government negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that her administration has not turned its back on the peace process and is doing all it can to have “all-out peace” in Mindanao.

The President made the assurance at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Global Gateway Logistics City in Clark Free Port in Pampanga, which was attended by executives of Kuwait Gulf and Link Investment Co., foreign partners in the P1.25-billion development.

Now, it’s ‘job-generation visa’

EIGHT foreign chambers of commerce in the Philippines are reportedly backing the proposed job-generation visa being pushed by the Bureau of Immigration (BI), amid an ongoing review of the impact of a controversial kind of “investor visa” popularized by the BI since last year.

The Philippine-based foreign chambers of commerce were present in a public consultation conducted by immigration officials on August 22 on the proposed grant of an indefinite-stay visa to foreigners who will employ at least 10 Filipinos.

GMA orders 40-percent improvement in social welfare, infra programs

PRESIDENT Arroyo has ordered the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) to “push” for a minimum 40-percent improvement in the performance of agencies implementing social-welfare and public-works programs.

Tribal chiefs tapped to cure birth-data gap

DAVAO CITY—The National Statistics Office (NSO) has tapped tribal chieftains and the religious and political leaders of Moro communities to help them document unregistered births, the bulk of which are in Mindanao.

Carmelita Ericta, NSO administrator and civil registrar general, said total unregistered births in the country are estimated to be around 10 million; most are in Mindanao owing to the weak presence of registrars and cultural practices.

House seen to railroad Cha-cha; Senate balks 

AS the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments deliberates and votes on proposed amendments to the Constitution on Tuesday, a group of lawyers and law students warned legislators against joining the bandwagon being generated by Malacañang for Charter change (Cha-cha), lest they once again be the center of massive protests.

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) fears another railroading by the Arroyo-dominated House of Representatives, as the committee headed by Lakas Rep. Victor Ortega of La Union failed to consult the public and conduct public hearings on the proposed Charter change.

No coercion please, Edcel asks Church

A SENIOR House leader said Monday the signature campaign against the reproductive-health bill to be sponsored by the Catholic hierarchy will be flawed if conducted under threat of damnation or waged in churches and confessionals.

Finally, Mangyans get safe water for drinking

OCCIDENTAL Mindoro—Into the mountainous ancestral domain of tribal settlers called Mangyans here, safe drinking water has been made to flow, with the help of an international humanitarian group promoting, among others, the welfare of indigenous peoples (IPs) in the Philippines.

Remembering them. A woman places candles on the tomb of a relative at the Heroes Cemetery in Makati City as the country observes an earlier date for National Heroes Day on August 25. --AP