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The UP Oblation in front of Quezon Hall of the University of the Philippines in Quezon City. Inquirer photo/Richard A. Reyes MANILA, Philippines — The University of the Philippines (UP) System has failed to implement audit recommendations on a digital infrastructure project that has been languishing since 2012, according to the Commission on Audit (COA). In its audit report for 2023, COA said the state university had yet to impose sanctions and enforce its rights in connection with its P134.6-million eUP Project. The eUP Project, supposed to be a flagship project of former UP president Alfredo Pascual in 2012, was intended to “modernize” the computer systems of all 17 UP campuses. Under Pascual, UP partnered in 2012 with ePLDT and Smart Communications Inc. for the project that was supposed to run software from the US software giant Oracle. READ: UP campuses now digitally connected [2012] In response to the COA report, the UP System on Wednesday said the matter was considered “closed” since it had reached a “mutually acceptable and fair settlement” with ePLDT Inc. But COA said that UP has not indicated if it received compensation for liquidated expenses or imposed sanctions on the telecom firm. Among the COA’s recommendations last year was to deduct liquidated expenses from any money due to ePLDT Inc. State auditors also urged UP to impose “appropriate sanctions over and above the liquidated damages” to be paid as prescribed by procurement laws. According to COA, the imposable liquidated damages already amounted to P39.7 million as of Nov. 30, 2022, which it said already caused damage to the UP System, particularly its students. But UP told COA that its Information Technology Development Center had yet to verify the total imposable damages. It also said that a memo was already drafted blacklisting ePLDT from other projects. But COA said no memo was submitted nor were there any updates that UP had already complied with the recommendations. In a statement to the Inquirer, the UP System said that it negotiated a settlement with ePLDT, but did not say whether it addressed outstanding legal issues. “Various settlement meetings were held, until both UP and ePLDT reached a mutually acceptable settlement that is not disadvantageous to the university,” it said. Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . It did not specify if it had implemented the recommended penalties or disqualified the telecom firm from future projects.
This year alone in the United States, there have been roughly 83 reported school shootings. Whether you’re a student, educator, or resident, it’s a nightmare that likely strikes a chord. Besides the back-and-forth debate on the government’s response to gun violence, with the most recent school shooting in Madison, Wisc., the conversation is once again at the forefront. So what is the Vallejo City Unified School District doing to prevent potential threats? Although details on how the district plans to address any type of crisis or emergency are not publicized, its safety plans are updated annually. Regarding the traffic of weapons into the schools, the district has been piloting a program at Jesse Bethel High School this year with EVOLV Technologies to install sophisticated metal detection systems. These walk-through systems, similar to those you might enter to get into a concert or baseball game, are partially looking for weapons, guns, knives, etc. “It definitely has supported our school feeling safer, students themselves feeling safer,” said district superintendent Rubén Aurelio. “The challenge with systems like that is, they’re only as good as them being monitored.” The reality of the situation, as the superintendent described, is that these systems are ultimately not going to protect students in the case of a school shooting but instead are “intended to be a deterrent.” As for situations where a crisis is underway or a threat is already within school walls, the district is ensuring that staff has the proper training. “The biggest thing we can do is make sure our adults are trained on how to handle situations when we call for lockdowns or shelter-in-place,” said Aurelio. And when it comes down to security, the district has made a point to strengthen relationships and communication with local law enforcement. Establishing partnerships with local police departments “has been really powerful,” Aurelio said. In its effort to do so, regular meetings take place with the interim police chief of the Vallejo Police Department, where they stay up to date with neighborhood happenings and discuss the types of support needed at the school sites. As of now, the district has intent to solidify a few plans it has already experimented with. Last spring, it piloted a program in partnership with the city closing off portions of Nebraska Street in front of Vallejo High School. The idea for the program stemmed from an incident that occurred the year prior, in which a VCUSD campus security employee was injured in a drive-by shooting. Besides some of the obvious inconvenience it may pose to drivers, we felt that the pros really outweigh the cons,” said Aurelio, “It’s something we are looking to bring back as a permanent feature.” School resource officers are another resource the district is open to implementing. With stretched police resources, however, it’ll have to wait. “It is something we would definitely consider in the future when available,” Aurelio said. In a conversation with the interim chief of police Jason Ta, the superintendent said, “We both agree that it’s a good program when it is done well. It’s just, right now it’s a staffing issue.” As far as more immediate safety resources go, Aurelio feels that “the best thing we can do is obviously maintain the partnerships we’re establishing with both the city and the law enforcement.”A video posted to social media by a Texas lieutenant in the Department of Public Safety shows a young girl at the U.S.-Mexico border standing alone. She has traveled from El Salvador, and holds just a Post-It note with a phone number on it. "How old are you?" a trooper asks. The girl holds up two fingers. A second video posted by the same lieutenant shows 60 migrant children who journeyed by themselves to the U.S. arriving in Eagle Pass, Texas. Another image shows an accused smuggler running across the border with a 5-year-old in his arms, reportedly paid to bring the girl to her mother already in the states. The Texas Department of Public Safety, under Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, openly supports President-elect Donald Trump's push to dramatically tighten immigration. Lt. Chris Olivarez began posting photos and videos of child migrants around the time Tom Homan, Trump's point-person on the border, visited Eagle Pass. "I guarantee some are in forced labor, some are in sex trades," Homan said. "We're going to save those children." RELATED STORY | Trump announces former acting ICE Director Tom Homan as new 'border czar' The arrival of unaccompanied minors is not a new phenomenon. Thousands have journeyed across the Mexican border each year, including during the first Trump term, according to a Scripps News review of data from the Department of Health and Human Services. The flow of unaccompanied minors, however, reached record highs during the first years of the Biden administration, as undocumented immigration soared. The numbers have fallen since 2022 but remain elevated today. The federal government tries to quickly place child migrants with a sponsor already in the country, usually a parent or other close family member. The sponsor pledges to care for the minor while ensuring they go through immigration proceedings. However, it is an approach that does not always work. RELATED STORY | Trump's mass deportation plan targets specific groups of immigrants A 2023 joint investigation by Scripps News and the Center for Public Integrity found many children end up disappearing from their sponsor homes. Thousands of unaccompanied minors run away, some winding up in dangerous illegal child labor jobs, or worse. "They've simply vanished into a dark underworld of sex and drug trafficking, forced labor, gang activity and crime," said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-California, during a November congressional hearing. McClintock and other Republicans say the Department of Health and Human Services is to blame for failing to properly vet sponsors. A 2023 report by a Florida grand jury obtained by Scripps News found some sponsor addresses were in fact empty lots or a strip club. One address listed 44 kids assigned to it. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra says they are doing the best they can with a limited budget. "What we don't do is short-change the vetting process," Becerra said at a November hearing on Capitol Hill. "We make sure that we follow best practices in the child welfare field. "We do background checks on every individual," he added. RELATED STORY | The struggle to locate migrant children missing from US homes Just how many migrant children have disappeared from their sponsors is in dispute. Becerra says a frequently cited estimate of 85,000 missing kids is too high and doesn't account for many children who are safe but just not reachable by HHS officials who make three attempts to contact them. "They may be at school, they may be at a doctor's appointment, they may not have a phone working anymore," Becerra said. Homan and the rest of the Trump administration have not yet laid out what their policy will be for those children who make the perilous journey to the U.S. alone.
North Dakota’s outgoing Gov. Doug Burgum used his final budget address to state lawmakers on Dec. 4 to advocate for education, housing, and child care funding to help grow the state’s workforce. Addressing a joint session of the state’s Legislative Assembly, Burgum noted that despite inflation and a growing population, North Dakota’s economic position remains “strong” with full reserve funds and revenues exceeding initial projections for the current fiscal period. “Today, we offer you a budget roadmap to continue down the path of even greater prosperity with ... a focus on workforce. And we do that by supporting families; supporting healthy, vibrant communities; by investing in education, critical infrastructure. And we’ll position North Dakota for even more long-term success,” the governor said. Proposing a slightly decreased budget of just under $19.6 billion for the next two years, he encouraged support for a $95 million housing package, a $50 million educational savings fund, and $19 million for child care initiatives. “Housing, just like child care, it’s workforce infrastructure,” Burgum said, noting that the costs and availability of both influence where workers choose to live. His proposals focus on addressing the state’s housing shortage and expanding child care availability and affordability for families. Meanwhile, the recommended Educational Savings Account fund would serve to bolster school choice by making funds available to every student for pre-approved programs and services. The governor also called for tax reform—including the eventual elimination of the state’s income tax. “If you tax income ... you’re taxing workforce,” Burgum said. “Energy states have figured this out. Texas, Wyoming, and Alaska all have zero income tax. Our neighbor, South Dakota, zero income tax. These are states that we compete directly with for workforce.” Burgum presided over an overhaul of North Dakota’s income tax system in 2023, when the state replaced its five existing tax brackets with a new three-bracket system with lower rates. His remarks come less than two weeks before his successor, Republican Kelly Armstrong, is set to be sworn in. The two-term governor announced in January that he would not seek reelection after dropping out of the Republican presidential primary race and endorsing then-former President Donald Trump. Trump, now president-elect, has tapped Burgum to lead both the Department of the Interior and the newly formed National Energy Council. “This Council will oversee the path to U.S. energy dominance by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on innovation over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” Trump said in announcing Burgum’s appointment. North Dakota is a major U.S. energy producer and ranks third in the nation in both crude oil reserves and production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The state also contains roughly 2 percent of the U.S. gas reserves and accounted for about 4 percent of the nation’s coal production last year. As chairman of the National Energy Council, Burgum will also have a seat on the National Security Council, Trump said. Burgum’s nomination for interior secretary is subject to Senate confirmation. Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), who is currently the top Republican on the Senate Energy and National Resources Committee, said Burgum is “the right choice” for the job. “I’m working to get him confirmed ASAP,” Hoeven wrote in a Nov. 26 social media post following a meeting in which the two North Dakotans reportedly strategized on how to “Make America Energy Dominant.”
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