00:00Good Monday afternoon to all. Yours truly, Denise Osorio here for PTV News Now.
00:06Kicking off our stories this afternoon.
00:09Internet connectivity isn't a perk or a mere entitlement, but an essential universal right to daily survival.
00:17Even more for a nation encumbered by an archipelagic divide, online connectivity is indispensable toward the pursuit of inclusive growth.
00:26With the frozen and iconic images of the country's liberators in World War II as backdrop,
00:33President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. with House Leader Martin Romualdez and Government's Top Information Technology Officer Secretary Henry Aguda
00:41spearheaded today's sequel of Government's ambitious National Fiber Backbone Project, Phases 2 and 3.
00:48Phases 2 and 3 extend the reach of Phase 1 from Region 1 all the way to the Calabar Zone,
00:55to Bicol Region, Eastern Visayas, to Northern Mindanao, and Region 11 Davao Region.
01:01A total of 1,100 miles or 1,780 kilometers of fiber optic cables.
01:07The just-activated phases of the program add to the 1,245 kilometers of NFB Phase 1 that extends from Ilocos Norte to Metro Manila,
01:20covering multiple ecozones and national data centers.
01:23With all three phases of the National Fiber Program in place,
01:27some 70 million Filipinos are expected to enjoy faster online connection,
01:32with internet penetration seen to double, especially in rural and remote areas, from 33 to 65 percent.
01:41Bank secrecy rules here in the homeland are thought to be ironclad and immune to congressional amendments.
01:49Or perhaps they aren't anymore.
01:51As per his personal advocacy and in pursuit of his policy of transparency,
01:56President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. expressed in no uncertain terms
02:01his support for transparency and accountability in government
02:05in view of Senate President Francis Escudero's proposed legislation
02:08of waiving the seemingly immutable and impenetrable bank secrecy laws.
02:14This echoed by Palace Press Officer and PCO Undersecretary Claire Castro in her latest presser earlier today.
02:21For his part, principal sponsor of proposed waiver of bank secrecy rules,
02:25Senator Francis Escudero said,
02:27the Bank Secrecy Rules Act was intended to encourage savings and economic development,
02:34but ultimately turned into a tool to protect bad actors from being held into account over ill-gotten wealth.
02:41And that's a wrap for this afternoon's show.
02:43Join us on you later on for our evening edition of Breaking Stories.
02:47Always make your habit for stories you can count on, news you can trust.
02:52This is Denise Osorio and thank you for watching PTV News Now.
