Manila Standard - 2022 July 15 - Friday

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PESO REBOUNDS AFTER BSP HIKES POLICY RATE BY 75 BPS

File photo dated July 27, 2016 shows President Duterte during a National Security Council meeting attended by four former presidents including (from left) Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Fidel V. Ramos and Benigno Aquino III. Presidential Spokesman Harry BUSINESS / B3 Roque says Malacanang is inclined to ask the four ex-presidents to attend a meeting on issues besetting the West Philippine Sea. NSC file

4Ps delisting may affect 2m

DSWD says 1.3m ‘non-poor’ recipients purged, over 600k under probe HE number of beneficiaries to be delisted from the government's conditional cash transfer program could reach 2 million families, Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo said Thursday.

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The number is higher than Tulfo's earlier estimate of 1 million "undeserving" beneficiaries, and accounts for almost half of the total 4.4 million beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) In an interview on CNN Philippines, Tulfo said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) was cleansing the 4Ps list so that other poor Filipinos could benefit from the cash grant. "[Based] on the records submitted to me by our division, the National Household Targeting System, we have identified 1.3 million families or households that are no longer considered poor,” Tulfo said in a mix of English and Filipino. He said “graduates” of the program have shown they already have the means to support themselves, or their children have already graduated from school. The DSWD is also looking at delisting 600,000 more beneficiaries who are refusing the agency’s efforts to verify their status. "This is a conditional cash transfer. Which means there are conditions before

you get this grant,” he said. "One of the conditions is you have to inform the DSWD if you will move from one barangay to another. Another condition is, if we come to your house and ask you questions for an update, you need to let us in and answer us. Failure to do so will really result in your being delisted as a 4Ps beneficiary.” Tulfo said they will submit the updated list to Malacañang soon. He said there are more than 14 million households living below the poverty line, but the department doesn’t have enough funds to support all of them. “We can service only about 4.4 million beneficiaries out of the 14 million identified as poor households,” he said. Tulfo also said that they are currently digitizing the department’s records for more efficient transactions in the future. Earlier, Tulfo said he would tap informers to identify persons who should be delisted from the 4Ps list. He said he is also eyeing an amnesty system to allow unqualified 4Ps beneficiaries to surrender their accounts to the DSWD to avoid facing charges. Gabriellea Parino

VOL. XXXVI • NO. 149 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2022 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Marcos appoints Vergeire as DOH officer-in-charge ROSARIO VERGEIRE

Office (PCSO). During a press conference in Malacañang, Angeles said Vergeire's term as OIC may be extended if the administration has not picked a Health secretary after a month. In a memo, the Palace directed the next-in-rank and most senior officials to take over as officers-in-charge in departments, offices, agencies, and bureaus where replacements of top executives have yet to be named. The OIC will perform the duties of the office until July 31, 2022, or until a replacement has been designated for the position. Angeles said the Inter-Agency Ta s k F o r c e ( I AT F ) f o r t h e Next page

By Willie Casas, Vito Barcelo, Vince Lopez and Macon Ramos-Araneta

MEL ROBLES

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire as officer-in-charge of the Department of Health (DOH), Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said Thursday. Angeles also announced that former LRT administrator Mel Robles has been nominated as general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes

FLOUR ALTERNATIVE. Customers line up for malunggay-fortified pan de sal sold for only P2.50 each in Binondo, Manila on Thursday, July 14, 2022. To cope with the rising prices of imported wheat flour, the Department of Science and Technology urges breadmakers to use substitutes such as coco flour while adding healthy ingredients like malunggay. Danny Pata

Worst is over with pandemic VP stands pat amid soaring cases—expert on class start on August 22

near” those recorded during the peak of the Delta variant transmission. “Due to this, we can say that because of vaccines, the worst is really over for the THE worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is pandemic, but of course, there is nothing really over because of the country’s high that will stop the virus from continuing vaccination rate, an infectious diseases to mutate, especially if the transmission expert said Thursday. continues,” Salvana said. In a briefing, Dr. Edsel Salvana, “Even if these are mild, even if these a member of the Department of are asymptomatic, the virus can continue Health (DOH) Technical Advisory to evolve so we need to be vigilant. But Group, said even if the number of in terms of deaths and severe disease, COVID-19 cases tripled at the start I think that the worst is over because of of the year due to the Omicron vaccination,” Salvana said in a mix of variants, the deaths were “nowhere English and Filipino. Next page

By Willie Casas and Macon Ramos-Araneta

DND to review P12.7b chopper deal with Russia China insists PH arbitral win ‘null and void’ By Rey E. Requejo CHINA has reiterated its position that the arbitral award rendered by the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration on the South China Sea case in favor of the Philippines is “null and void” and “violates international law.” In a press briefing on Wednesday, Wang Wenbin, spokesman of China’s Foreign Ministry, said that “China neither accepts nor recognizes it and will never accept any claim or action based on the award.” Wang issued the statement after the Philippines described as “final” and “indisputable” the arbitral ruling during the country’s celebration of the 6th anniversary of the arbitral ruling. The United States, among other Next page

THE Department of National Defense will review all its current projects, including the purchase of military helicopters from Russia worth P12.7 billion, DND spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said. The review comes as Defense Secretary Jose Faustinotook over the agency.

In March, Faustino's predecessor and now Bases Conversion and Development Authority chief Delfin Lorenzana said the contract for the procurement of heavylift helicopters from Russia was signed in November and a downpayment of an undisclosed amount was made in January. Andolong described the review as

"customary" given that there is now a new administration and was "not borne out of any suspicion." Faustino also has the option to cancel or terminate contracts if they were found disadvantageous to the government, Andolong said. Next page

Beetle species named ‘angatbuhay’ ONE of two new species of water scavenger beetles was named after "Angat Buhay," the social services program of former Vice President Leni Robredo. The two beetles were discovered by an undergraduate student of Ateneo de Manila University, Enrico Gerard Sanchez, and his thesis advisers, Dr. Emmanuel Delocado and Prof. Dr Hendrik Freitag, the university said

Thursday. Discovered in Ifugao, Anacaena angatbuhay was named “to honor the program's outstanding and unparalleled service, especially during the pandemic.” “Moreover, as the species has been thriving unnoticed in a humble mountain creek in Ifugao for at least the last few centuries, dedicating a Next page

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

VICE President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio said the start of the school year on August 22 is already final.

GSIS opens its education subsidy program for 10,000 college students who will receive P10,000 annually until they finish their course. “That has been approved by the President. The school year will be from August 2022 to July 2023,” she said amid calls for the postponement of the opening of classes. Next page

Gov’t to issue most national IDs by end-‘22 By Vito Barcelo

NEW BEETLE. Meet 'Angat Buhay,' a newly-discovered beetle named after the social service program of former Vice President Leni Robredo. Ateneo de Manila University

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is pushing for the fast release of the national identification cards to millions of Filipinos before the end of the year, Malacanang said Thursday. National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General Arsenio Balisacan said Marcos discussed Next page


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