NOVEMBER 9-11, 2022 Volume 32 - No. 89 • 14 Pages
Marcos to lay down economic agenda in APEC Summit by KRISTINA
MARALIT ManilaTimes.net
PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is expected to lay down his administration's economic agenda when he meets with his foreign counterparts at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting (AELM) in Bangkok, Thailand on November 16 to 19. Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) Officer in Charge Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil said that Marcos will discuss his plans on trade, President Marcos is also slated to take part in the APEC CEO Summit where he will have face- investment and post-pandemic to-face discussions with the region's top business leaders. Malacañang file photo PAGE 2
USA
DATELINE The pandemic’s collateral damage: Long COVID FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA
AN estimated 4 million people in the U.S. have permanently dropped out of the workforce due to long COVID, which can include an array of symptoms that last well after the initial infection. Experts say the nation lacks the resources to handle the predicted swell of such cases. Long COVID is characterized as people experiencing a multitude of symptoms for three months or longer after first being infected. Such symptoms include: tiredness, fatigue, malaise, fever, shortness of breath, brain fog, dizziness, headaches, and sleep disturbance. People also experience psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety. More than 21 million Americans have experienced long COVID. A paper released last month in the scientific journal Nature found that almost half of people who had PAGE 3
Election officials bracing for trouble at the polls DOUBTS about election integrity among Republicans continue even as experts say rigorous and transparent safeguards are in place to ensure a secure election. Three hundred candidates are running for office in 2022 who don’t believe Joe Biden won the 2020 Presidential Election. They won’t all win but imagining even half of them in office is an unsettling thought. According to election experts, there are so many safeguards in place to protect election integrity that finding no evidence of fraud is reassuring, but not surprising. “Despite the many challenges that election officials faced in 2020 with the pandemic and with record breaking turnout, federal officials and election security experts declared that election the most secure in history,” said Derek Tisler, an election specialist with the Brennan Center. “We are confident that 2022 will have a similar outcome.” Tisler spoke during an EMS media briefing alongside California Secretary of State Shirley Weber. PAGE 5
UNDER YOUR UMBRELLAS. Colorful umbrellas don the exit gate of the Jose P. Laurel Sr. High School in Project 4, Quezon City on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Ryan Noel Doña, head teacher of the school’s Science Department, said the initiative called “Sukob Laurelian” is part of their flagship program under the Brigada Eskwela school preparation for this year. PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler
Filipino man sentenced to 20 years for deadly stabbing on LA-bound container ship by AJPRESS A FILIPINO man who fatally stabbed a fellow crewmember on a container ship heading to Los Angeles was sentenced on Monday, November 7 to 20 years in federal prison. Michael Dequito Monegro, 44, a resident of the Philippines, was sentenced by United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer, who said in court at the court hearing that Monegro’s “conduct was unusually heinous, cruel and brutal.” Monegro pleaded guilty on May 2
to one count of committing an act of violence against a person onboard a ship that is likely to endanger the safe navigation of the ship. In September 2020, Monegro was working as a seaman aboard the MSC Ravenna, a 153,000-grosston Liberian-flagged container ship. The murder took place on September 20, 2020, when the Ravenna was approximately 80 nautical miles from Southern California and nearing the end of its two-week voyage from Shanghai to the Port of Los Angeles, according to a release from the U.S.
Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. That morning, several crewmembers were in a dressing room on the ship’s upper deck, preparing for their shift and waiting for their direct supervisor to provide their work assignments for the day. Shortly after Monegro saw his direct supervisor – identified in court documents as “M.S.” – in the hallway outside the locker room, Monegro began stabbing him with a knife while they were both in the hallway in full view of several crewmembers.
The victim grappled with Monegro and the two fell to the floor. Monegro then got on top of the victim and continued stabbing him. Monegro then removed a second knife from the victim’s coveralls and stabbed him with both knives. Crewmembers attempted to intervene to stop Monegro, including throwing a trash can at him, but their actions were unsuccessful. Monegro stopped stabbing the victim only when he became too tired to continue. In total, Monegro stabbed PAGE 2
UN rights experts concerned over ‘pervasive’ corruption in Philippines MANILA — In its recent periodic review, the United Nations Human Rights Committee raised alarm over reports that graft and corruption in the Philippines worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an advanced version of the report, the committee, composed of independent experts, acknowledged some strides made in recent years, but it pointed to areas that are lacking. Philippine officials reported the establishment of the 8888 Citizens' Complaint Hotline in 2016 as well as the creation of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission in 2017. The UN body found the measures
insufficient, citing reports of allegations against public officials while the country dealt with the health crisis. "The Committee remains concerned by reports that corruption remains pervasive and has intensified in the context of the State response to the COVID-19 pandemic," it said in the 13-page report. In 2021, a series of testimonies bared the involvement of foreign-owned and undercapitalized Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. in questionable health supplies contracts with the government amounting to P42 billion. Two of the company's executives who Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and Koko Pimentel allegedly benefited from the sizeable PAGE 3
PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan
Zubiri told: Journalists not meant Do the US midterms matter? How results to ‘beautify’ Philippines’ image may influence foreign policy in Asia by JELINE
MALASIG Philstar.com
by KAYCEE
VALMONTE Philstar.com
PHOENIX — What does a vote in Arizona have to do with life in Manila more than 12,000 kilometers away? Potentially a lot, since results of the ongoing midterm elections could have far-reaching effects in a region where the U.S. and China are competing for influence. Republicans taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections could mean less engagement on international issues, analysts said, saying also that rivalry with China would likely still remain a hot-button topic for both
the Republican and Democrat parties. All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 34 of 100 Senate seats are being contested in the ongoing polls. A win by the dominant Democratic party would see a likely continuation of U.S. President Joe Biden's foreign policy but a Republican win in either house of U.S. Congress could lead to a more isolationist stance, which would limit Washington's involvement outside U.S. borders. Joshua Kurlantzick, senior fellow for Southeast Asia at Washington-based think tank Council on Foreign Relations, said there is already a growing number of Republican PAGE 3
A SENATOR was reminded of the duties of media after calling on journalists to help beautify the country’s image when the United Nations Human Rights Committee called out the government over its drug war and media killings. Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri made the appeal in a press briefing on Monday, where he claimed that other countries such as Malaysia and Vietnam have it worse in terms of critical reportage. “I appeal to the media,
tulungan niyo naman kami na pagandahin ang imahe ng Pilipinas. Katulad noong Percy Lapid na iyan, nahuli na nga iyong bumaril at mahuhuli na nga iyong mastermind,” he said. “Tumulong naman kayo i-announce ‘yan sa buong mundo. Buti sana kung hindi inaksyunan. If hindi inaksyunan, eh di sana I’ll stand with you here. Pero inaksyunan nila. Kaya iyan ang apila ko. We are a free media,” Zubiri added. Various media outlets reported Lapid’s killing. He was the second journalist to be killed under the Marcos administration, and the PAGE 3