US: Talks on details of possible joint maritime activities still ongoing

MANILA — Discussions on the specifics of the joint maritime activities between the United States and the Philippines are may begin as soon as third quarter this year.

“Our conversations on combined maritime activities with the Philippines are continuing, and our planners are working hard on specific issues such as timing, assets, and logistics,” the embassy said in a statement on Tuesday. Manila and Washington “agreed to restart joint maritime patrols” in the South China Sea when

Gov’t debt soars to record P13.8T

by Niña Myka PauliNe arCeo ManilaTimes.net

CONTINUED borrowings and an anemic peso pushed the national government’s debt to a new high of P13.86 trillion in March, the Bureau of the Treasury said on Monday, May 8. In that month alone, P104.15 billion was added to the total outstanding debt. This is 0.8 percent higher than the previous month’s P13.75 trillion, owing to the “net issuance of domestic and external debt,” the bureau said.

As of end-March, local borrowings were at 68.7 percent and external debt at 31.3 percent.

The domestic debt surged to P9.51 trillion, P71.00 billion or 0.8 percent higher than the end-February’s P9.44 trillion.

“In March, the P72.87 billion net issuance of domestic securities outweighed the P1.87 billion effect of local currency appreciation against the US dollar on onshore foreign currency denominated securities,” the Treasury said.

From the end of December 2022, domestic debt rose by 3.3 percent, or P304.78 billion.

External debt ballooned to P4.34 trillion, P33.15 billion more than the P4.31 trillion in the previous month.

The Treasury attributed the drop in external debts to “the P84.26 billion net availment of foreign loans and P18.53 billion impact of third-currency adjustments against the US dollar.”

“These more than offset the P69.64 billion effect of local currency appreciation against the U.S. dollar,” the bureau said.

Compared to the end of December 2022, u PAGE 4

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visitied Manila to meet his counterpart, Carlito Galvez Jr., in February.

A month later, the Department of Foreign Affairs said that the government already kickstarted creating guidelines for combined maritime activities in the West Philippine Sea.

Dismiss 4 top cops linked to drugs, Bongbong Marcos asked

by Dexter Cabalza Inquirer.net

“I KNOW it’s a bitter pill to swallow. This will be a painful situation at first, but for me this will lead to a better and renewed police force that is united in fighting illegal drugs.”

The National Police Commission (Napolcom) has asked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to accept the resignations of two generals and two colonels for their involvement in illegal drugs.

The recommendation followed the investigation of 953 officials of the Philippine National Police who filed their courtesy resignations last January as part of government efforts to cleanse the police force of the “deeply entrenched” illegal drug problem.

Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos, who sits as ex officio chair of Napolcom, declined to disclose the names of the four officials pending the official u PAGE 4