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DECEMBER 29, 2023-JANUARY 4, 2024 Volume 17 - No.12 • 16 Pages
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PH to China: Respect, sincerity DATELINE USA are key to sea row dialogue FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA
by FRANCES MANGOSING Inquirer.net
CHINA should first stop its hostile actions at sea before it enters into a dialogue with the Philippines, an official of the National Security The 2023 Larry Itliong Leadership Award was presented to California Council (NSC) said on Tuesday, December 26, Attorney General Rob Bonta. Photo above shows (from left) Carson Mayor Emeritus Jim Dear, FAVU Chairman Nimfa Gamez, Bonta, Carson Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes, FAVU Director Evelyn Andamo, FAVU President Jerry Perez de Tagle and City of Tacoma Commissioner Maricres Valdez Castro. Contributed photo
amid worsening tensions in the West Philippine Sea. The territorial disputes between the two countries have grown more tense this year as Beijing seeks to assert its maritime dominance in the South China Sea. “Dialogues can only succeed in an atmo-
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Marcos’ foreign trips yield P4 trillion worth of investments
California Attorney General Rob Bonta is the 2023 National Larry Itliong Leadership awardee LOS ANGELES – During Filipino American History Month last October, the state celebrated the more than 400 years of Filipino presence in the United States. Filipinos, numbering around 4.4 million nationwide, have a deep and rich history in California. Many have heard of the Mexican American labor leader Cesar Chavez. But few are aware of the all-American national hero of Filipino
sphere of mutual respect and sincerity between two sovereign nations. The Philippines is ready to reciprocate provided that the bullying, harassment, and aggressive actions are ended immediately,” NSC spokesperson and Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya
by ZACARIAN SARAO Inquirer.net
LUCKY CHARM. A salesperson shows a lucky charm dragon figurine at the Christmas Bazaar in Ali Mall, Araneta City in Quezon City on Wednesday, Dec. 27. In Chinese culture, the dragon is a symbol of luck, wealth, and power and with the Year of the Wood Dragon set to begin on Feb. 10, 2024, dragon figurines and charms are in high demand. PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler
MANILA — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s foreign trips have obtained P4.019 trillion ($72.178 billion) worth of investments as of December 21. The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said the total investment value consists of 148 projects based on DTI’s latest monitoring of consolidated and processed investments. However, the exact period of when the investments – whether pledges or actual – were acquired was not mentioned. “These investments – realized and in the pipe-
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TIP students’ edible cutleries project wins in Marcos marks 2023 with structural Lifting restrictions on Swiss innovations contest changes in his policies and decisions foreign investments by JANE BAUTISTA
by JEAN MANGALUZ
TO reduce plastic pollution, a group of engineering students from the Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP) in Quezon City have proposed making cutleries from flour instead of single-use plastics. Collectively called “Edgetec,” the six students from the TIP in Quezon City came up with the idea of turning flour into “edible cutleries”—an alternative to disposable utensils that earned them a third-place finish at the recent 2023 Swiss Innovation Prize competition.
MANILA — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has been in office for a year and six months. As he spends his second Christmas as the chief executive, he describes 2023 as the period for changes at the core. “Those structural changes were necessary because we have to remodel, or readjust rather, our… for example, our fiscal policy, even our monetary policy, our spending policy, so that we
Inquirer.net
Inquirer.net
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are slowly moving, or not so slowly, so, we’re moving away from the COVID economy,” observed Marcos. He made the remark during a media interview as he went to Japan trip in December. Changes were, indeed, present in the halls of Malacañang. The events this year included Marcos signing the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund and the completion of the presidential cabinet. The president’s cabinet was capped by the appointment of Francisco Tiu
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‘good for economy’ REMOVING the protectionist provisions of the Constitution will make the Philippines more attractive to foreign investors and power up economic growth, the government’s chief socioeconomic planner said. “Clearly, if we can remove all these restrictions, particularly constitutional restrictions, it’s good for the econo-
my because we know all along that these very protectionist [and] restrictive provisions have prevented us from moving as fast as we want to,” Secretary Arsenio Balisacan of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said in an interview with reporters. Balisacan was responding to questions on moves at the
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