The “AMR” section of the USS Guardian (MCM-5) has been successfully cut and lifted Wednesday afternoon.

Philippine Coast Guard Palawan District head Commodore Enrico Efren Evangelista said the said section, weighing an estimated 200 tons, was lifted by US Navy salvors at 1:20 p.m.

“AMR” refers to the ship’s auxiliary motor room.

“AMR successfully cut and lifted then transferred to barge, S-700 around 1:20 p.m.,” he said.

On Tuesday afternoon, the bow of the grounded US minesweeper was lifted around 2: 45 p.m.

“The bow section of the USS Guardian was lifted out of the water around 2: 45 p.m.,” he added.

Evangelista said work will continue even during Holy Week.

The Coast Guard officer added that the US Navy expects all cutting work to be completed by the first week of April and lifting of all cut parts by the second week.

It started as a slogan, now a cornerstone of governance by the Aquino administration.

This is how a business management graduate who waited for almost three years to get a job describe “tuwid na daan” (straight path) of the government.

Gerard Esteban of Quezon City said tuwid na daan becomes his passport to get a job after local and foreign businessmen started to invest and create local jobs.

“First, I think it is only a slogan of a running candidate in 2010 presidential elections,” said Esteban even boosting that with the Philippines News Agency he can now help his family make life easy because he is now earning for a living.

He said that he is now working as a junior clerk of Central
Forwarders, a cargo and container hauler.

Esteban who is also known as Jake said that he is too excited after completing college at Philippine School of Business Administration (PSBA) and aspiring to get a job to help his family.

But the wheels of fortune did not favor his expectation as employers just keep on saying that they will just call him after evaluation of his curriculum vitae.

Jake was among those shoppers who are awaiting for a ride when I overheard his conversation with his companion who happens to be his office friend narrating how patient he is to get a job.

I was amazed for what he had told to his friend Boy that President Aquino is lucky because almost all good things happened during his watch without exerting so much effort.

“Imagine, under his watch, stock market become bullish and breaks all time record since the start of the year and the Philippines
overshadowed neighboring countries in terms of economic gains,” Jake narrated.

The influx of local and foreign investors started to make business which creates jobs for the Filipino job seekers and construction business started to boom left and right.

Call centers also flourish like mushrooms all over the country giving opportunity to many college graduates and undergraduates of any four to five year course.

Inflation dramatically goes down as gross national product was remarkable after it posted all time high.

Surveys also show positive trust ratings of the president and his senior government officers that they are winning their fight against graft and corruption.

The trust of foreign investors on the Philippine government that they are indeed serious in fighting corruption entices them to invest in the country.

The latest of which is Fitch Ratings upgraded Philippines’ sovereign ratings to investment grade, citing “resilient economic growth” and fiscal reforms.

These are only few success of the present administration after it cleanse the government of its mess and resurrect the trust of investors.

With this, Jake said he expects that many Filipinos like him can get good paying jobs and give their share in oiling the Philippine economy.

The Quezon City government has extended to Friday, April 5, the deadline for the payment of real property tax for the first quarter of 2013 without penalty.

The original deadline is March 31, 2013 which happens to fall on Easter Sunday.

The City Treasurer Office cited that another consideration for the one-week extension was because the last week of March happened to be Holy Week.

Meanwhile, the city government is set to conduct its first public auction of delinquent real estate properties in various barangays of the city on April 4.

QC Treasurer Edgardo T. Villanueva said that the public auction will be held starting at 10:00 A.M. at the taxpayer’s Assessment and payment Lounge, Groundfloor, City Hall Complex.

Villanueva said the auction will be in accordance with the provisions of Section 260 and 263 of republic Act No.7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991.

He added that the properties to be sold have been certified to be delinquent in the payment of real property taxes and penalties as of the first quarter of 2013.

Prospective bidders on the public auction sale are required to post a cash bond of P10,000.00.

The tax delinquent properties include commercial/residential lots with improvements and condominium units.

The dominant weather system inthe country will be the easterlies or the wind coming from the east affecting the eastern section of the country, according to Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysicsl and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) on Thursday.

Aside from being “warm,” the easterlies are also “rich in moisture” and this “warm, moist winds” are expected to bring partly cloudy with isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms in the whole country mostly in the afternoon or evening.

PAGASA also said that moderate to occasionally strong winds blowing from the east to northeast will prevail over the eastern section of the country and its coastal waters will be moderate to occasionally rough.