Marcos lays out plans to ensure food...

[Translation: “It’s not just the farmers who get in trouble, but also us consumers. So, we will not allow this trend. The days of these smugglers and hoarders are numbered.”]

The bravado failed to impress a farmer’s group that instead urged the Marcos administration to actually put these smugglers and hoarders behind bars.

“These smugglers and hoarders need to actually be brought to justice this year because they are the main reasons why the prices of agricultural products are high,” said Jayson Cainglet, executive director of Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag).

Danilo Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc., agreed, saying that “stopping and penalizing smugglers, hoarders, and price manipulators are necessary and a must for the government in order to protect farmers, fair trade, and the economy.”

Fausto and Cainglet lamented that to this day, none of the supposed smugglers and hoarders had been found guilty.

According to Cainglet, evidence presented by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) during congressional hearings were often deemed insufficient, thus halting further investigations.

“None have proceeded beyond the preliminary investigations. All [of the cases] have been dismissed,” he said.

Nevertheless, Sinag welcomed the proposed amendments to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act that lawmakers claimed would help the President’s drive against “unfair practices that hurt consumers and local farmers alike.”

Like Sinag, Marikina Rep. and House appropriations panel vice chair Stella Quimbo cheered Mr. Marcos’ stand against smuggling and hoarding.

“It is a manifestation of his conviction that smuggling, hoarding, cartels are huge problems and that curbing these will have a huge impact on food inflation. These have been systemic, decades-old problems. First time, as far as I recall that a President has made such strong pronouncements.”

Inflation

Marcos also pointed out in his Sona that the biggest problem that confronted his young administration was inflation, with global events such Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic leading to high prices of basic commodities.

Nevertheless, it has been decelerating for five straight months, putting the Marcos administration closer to its target of containing inflation to between 2 and 4 percent.

Marcos stressed that inflation was “stabilizing” and “moving in the right direction.”

This bolsters his claim that the country’s macroeconomic fundamentals remained strong.

He touted the Philippines’ economic growth in 2022, his first year in office, saying that the country achieved its fastest growth rate in 46 years despite the lingering impact of the pandemic.

“While the global prospects were bleak, our economy posted a 7.6-percent growth in 2022 — our highest growth rate in 46 years. For the first quarter of the year, our growth registered at 6.4 percent. It remains within our target of 6 to 7 percent for 2023. We are still considered to be among the fastest-growing economies in the Asian region and the world,” he said.

Marcos also said that higher revenue collections will be critical in his administration’s bid to boost public investments, citing that they project the government’s tax and revenues by 2028 to increase up to 16.9 percent and 17.3 percent, respectively.

From January to May, the Bureau of Internal Revenue said it posted record collection amounting to P1.05 trillion, an increase of almost 10 percent from last year, while the BOC collected P476 billion during the first seven months of the year, an increase of 7.4 percent during the same period in 2022.

However, it must be noted that the Philippine economy had barely recovered what it lost at the height of the devastating pandemic in 2020 with gross domestic product growing to P19.94 trillion in 2022, just 3 percent higher than the prepandemic level in 2019 of P19.38 trillion, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Think tank Ibon Foundation also pointed out that while the inflation rate indeed lowered, this only meant that prices “only rose slower recently.”

In reality, the group said rice prices, for example, rose from P42 to P45, more than double Mr. Marcos’ famous promise to bring down rice prices to P20 a kilo. Indeed, almost all commodities — onions, garlic, sugar, meat, fish and vegetable prices, water, electricity, and transport rates — increased under his administration, Ibon claimed.

“[Marcos] confirms his position as the country’s premier superspreader of hyperbolic and fantastic narratives, after a tedious Sona that struggled to give even flimsiest evidence of any progress,” said Ibon executive director Sonny Africa. The president of the country’s largest business organization, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said they were “generally satisfied” with the plans outlined by Mr. Marcos during his Sona, noting, in particular, the plans to bring in more renewable energy investments and recalibrating the K-12 curriculum. n estimated 16 additional people there die on the first day of extreme heat, with 40 more deaths a day by the fifth.

These hospitalizations and deaths disproportionately affect communities of color living in low-income, historically redlined neighborhoods, said Segura, “where the houses don’t have AC or air filtration.

When you start approaching heat vulnerability that way, it’s not only a sustainability issue — it’s public works, building development, water and power, tree shade and park access, and certainly a matter of public health.”

Heat is the top public health risk in LA, which experiences heat waves five times more often than it did 10 years ago.

As extreme heat waves in Los Angeles become longer, more frequent and more intense, public outreach becomes ever-more crucial. Across her Heat Relief 4 LA social media campaign, Segura emphasizes that “It’s not your typical summer anymore. Extreme heat can run from June to November.

As this means our bodies have less time to recover, we also distribute information on symptoms of heat exhaustion and heatstroke, and resources to cool off before hitting that point.”

Foremost among these resources are cooling centers; in Los Angeles, currently 119 are open. “We’ve established cooling centers and hydration resources throughout the city in facilities like libraries, senior centers and community centers,” said Segura. “We also made an app, Cool Spots LA, where you can find where and when they’re open, alongside other cooling spots like shade structures, hydration stations, and bus shelters.” Currently, only a quarter of all LA Metro bus stops are shaded.

The need for heat interventions like these can vary drastically from neighborhood to neighborhood, partly because of the region’s coastal and inland microclimates.

Accordingly, the city’s emergency alert system now uses National Weather Service data to identify heat wave severity in specific parts of LA.

However, these stark regional heat differences also owe to shade inequity. Research shows that with each 10% of canopy cover, trees keep ground-level temperatures about 2 degrees cooler. In a city where over half the surfaces are dark concrete or asphalt — which absorbs up to 90% of solar radiation — 20% of tree canopies are concentrated in four neighborhoods where less than 1% of the population live.

To address this inequity, 65,000 trees have been planted citywide in continuation of a 2019 plan by former Mayor Eric Garcetti to increase canopy coverage 50% by 2028 across LA’s least green neighborhoods. The aim is 90,000 trees by 2028.

Environmental inequity is a testament to why extreme heat is a public health issue, said Segura. “LA’s least green areas are historically disadvantaged neighborhoods where we not only see more heat-related illnesses but also more pollution and exacerbated chronic illnesses like asthma.” Hence, life expectancy in wealthy areas with ample green space like Beverly Hills is as high as 90, while that in disadvantaged south LA neighborhoods less than 15 miles away is as low as 77.

Thus, she continued, when heat policies “coordinate with departments across the city, the county, and” — under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s historic $800 million Extreme Heat Action Plan — “the state, the result can be life-saving.” Nevertheless, CHOs remain rare. Segura is joined by only two in the nation — in Phoenix, Arizona and Miami, Florida — and seven worldwide.

However, she continued, it’s becoming a matter of course for cities to develop not only general climate plans, but also heat action plans. These are largely a matter of “short-term planning for public engagement and emergency response, and long-term planning for public health and resilient infrastructure,” she added.

The heart of her work as LA’s CHO, Segura said, is aligning climate equity gaps with public health results: “to treat one is to improve the other. We can see the results all over the world — if we have no plan, it’s only going to get hotter and hotter.” (Selen Ozturk/Ethnic Media Center) the Filipinas to their first ever win in the Women’s World Cup.

But the home team didn’t give up the win without multiple scoring attempts — particularly in the second half where there were many close calls.

The closest one was Jacqui Hand’s header a little past the hour mark that actually got past Olivia McDaniel, who was a brick wall all throughout.

But after VAR review, the Football Ferns were deemed offside in the buildup. After celebrations in Wellington, the goal was waved off and the Filipinas were ahead once again. McDaniel also provided some crucial saves well into added time to preserve the scoreline.

The Filipinas thus put themselves in a good position to move on to the knockout rounds when they face World No. 12 Norway on July 30 in Auckland. They now have three points, tied with New Zealand, and Switzerland. Switzerland and Norway face off in Group A action later today. The Football Ferns triumphed over Norway in their World Cup opener last Thursday in Auckland, 1-0, while the Filipinas absorbed a fighting 0-2 loss to Switzerland in their debut the following day in Dunedin.

The Philippines and New Zealand previously engaged in a tightly-fought friendly in Fullerton, California in 2022. There, the wide-eyed Filipinas, then ranked 56th in the world, pushed the No. 22 Kiwis to the limit before conceding, 2-1, on account of two second-half goals from New Zealand. - With a previous report by Olmin Leyba diplomacy is the approach that this administration will take, I am sure that the President is very firm that he will not surrender any inch of our territory or sovereignty to any foreign power,” Bersamin said on television.

Bersamin also responded to calls asking the Marcos government to raise the issue of Beijing’s aggression to the UNGA in September.

If the issue is brought to the UNGA or the UN Security Council, he said that the most the Philippines can get is a resolution, which may still be ignored by China.

“We can bring that to the attention of the UN General Assembly, but all we can hope for is a resolution,” Bersamin said.

“But we are not ruling out anything because that is also part of our diplomatic tact, bringing this to the attention of the UNGA or the Security Council. Nothing is given up there, nothing is abandoned. All these options are open to us,” he added.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri had said that the upper chamber will pass a resolution urging the government to raise the issue of Beijing’s aggression to the UNGA.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros backed this possible move.

She filed Senate Resolution 659 in June, calling on the government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), to sponsor a resolution before the UNGA that will call on China to stop its harassment of Filipino vessels in the West Philippine Sea.

This development came after several reports on the China Coast Guard allegedly putting at risk the lives of Filipinos who were in a resupply mission in Ayungin Shoal this year.

Early this month, the Armed Forces of the Philippines reported more than 50 Chinese vessels have swarmed the vicinity of Iroquois Reef and Sabina Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

In his SONA on Monday, Marcos remained mum on the Philippines’ claim over the West Philippine Sea, but maintained that the country’s independent foreign policy has been effective. n

Indonesia seen becoming the world’s fourth largest economy by 2075.

Meanwhile, China and India are projected to be the first and second largest economies in the world, respectively, by 2075 and surpass the United States, which would take the third spot.

Goldman Sachs said China would overtake the US around 2035, while India should catch up by 2075.

“Second, while China and India are projected to be larger than the US by 2075, our projections imply that the US will remain more than twice as rich as both,” Goldman Sachs said.

The Philippine economy expanded 7.6% yearon-year in 2022, better than the 5.7% growth recorded in the previous year.

This marked another year of growth, two years removed since the pandemic sent the domestic economy into lows unseen since World War II. Consumer spending proved to be a bright spot. n