Tycoon and ex-Trade...

PAGE 6 including making the deals that brought the Shangri-La Group into the Philippines, Tagaytay Highlands, PhilWeb, and culminating in Alphaland Corporation, where he built his crown jewel, Alphaland Balesin Island Club,” his nephew wrote. our city. I expect the US government to pour in more funds to develop and fully capacitate the air base,” Rodriguez said.

He also said the free ports in Subic, Zambales and in Clark in Angeles City, Pampanga, which are former U.S. military bases, should be used for EDCArelated exercises and humanitarian activities.

“The presence of the U.S. in the former U.S. Navy base in Subic could deter Chinese Coast Guard and military vessels from driving away our fishermen from their traditional fishing grounds in Scarborough or Panatag Shoal, or Bajo de Masinloc, which is near Zambales and Pangasinan,” he said.

He also proposed that Pag-asa Island off Palawan be included in areas open to US troops.

“We have an airstrip there. The DND (Department of National Defense) is also building a small port. We could ask our US counterparts to improve those facilities,” he added.

Oil exploration

Rodriguez said the expanded defense cooperation should prompt the Marcos administration to allow and support oil and gas exploration in Recto (Reed) Bank near Palawan.

He maintained that Recto Bank is “reportedly holding more oil and gas reserves than the Malampaya natural gas project, also located in Palawan.”

Currently, a local company with foreign partners holds the service contract for exploring oil and gas in Recto Bank.

Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said EDCA is definitely advantageous to countries prone to disaster like the Philippines.

“We are the most disaster-prone country in the world. There’s no question American troops and their equipment can help us in a big way in critical life-saving disaster relief and recovery operations,” Pimentel said.

He said the arrangement would ensure “immediate availability of US military personnel and logistics to assist the Philippines in responding to natural disasters.”

The 2022 World Risk Index has tagged the Philippines as the most disaster-prone among 193 countries, with extreme vulnerability to destructive typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flash floods, storm surges and landslides.

The senior Mindanao legislator is also counting on the EDCA’s full implementation “to boost the ability of Filipino and American military forces to effectively combine operations and act together when needed.” – Delon Porcalla, Sheila Crisostomo n

Ongpin was a cum laude graduate of Ateneo de Manila and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. He worked briefly in Procter & Gamble’s Manila office before joining Sycip Gorres and Velayo from 1964 to 1979.

Apa paid tribute to his uncle’s philantrophy, saying that “he refused to publicize it, but since 1988, he has funded thousands of full scholarships to Ateneo de Manila University, in the name of his brother, Jaime, who passed away in 1987.”

“The brothers had attended both Ateneo and Harvard on scholarship from anonymous donors.”

Ongpin was long regarded as one of the Philippines’ wealthiest businessmen. In 2022, Forbes Magazine named Ongpin as the 23rd richest Filipino with a net worth of $830 million (P44.5 billion).

His remains will be brought to Manila and an official family announcement will be made once details of the wake are finalized, his nephew said. n

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160 cases of unspecified Omicron subvariants, and 154 cases with no lineage specified.

The BA.5 strain still holds the title of the dominant strain in the country, with 12,716 cases already recorded. The BA.2.3.20 follows second, with a total of 4,626 cases.

XBB subvariants account for

1,366 of the total cases, 705 are XBC, and 325 are BA.4. These results paint a grim picture of the current pandemic situation, but all hope is not lost. With the latest genome sequencing results in hand, the DOH is confident that they can develop more effective measures to contain the spread of the virus. n