THE Supreme Court on Tuesday declared as unconstitutional the 2005 Tripartite Agreement for Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) among China National Offshore Oil Corp.
(CNOOC), Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp. (PETROVIETNAM), and the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) covering 142,886 square kilometers in the South China Sea.
Voting 12-2 with one associate justice
AT LEAST nine officials of the Department of National Defense -five undersecretaries and four assistant secretaries -- have also quit their posts following the resignation of acting Defense Secretary Jose Faustino Jr., DND spokesman Arsenio Andolong said Tuesday.
Faustino, for his part, disclosed yesterday that he resigned from his post after learning about the leadership change in the Armed Forces of the Philippines only in the news and on social media -- a claim that the Palace immediately denied. “The President as the Commanderin -Chief has the sole prerogative to appoint the AFP Chief of Staff. According to Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, former DND OIC Jose Faustino Jr. knew of the developments with regard to the appointment of Gen. Andres Centino, who is the
THE Department of Education (DepEd) is expected to present a revised Kinder to Grade 12 (K-12) curriculum by Jan. 30, beating a July deadline set by the Palace.
Malacañang press briefer Daphne Oseña-Paez said this was among the topics raised during a Cabinet meeting presided over by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday.
“The Department of Education, the Secretary VP [Vice President] Inday Sara Duterte-Carpio presented the plans for inclusive learning, support for teachers, and improving the curriculum.
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TRANSPORTATION Secretary Jaime Bautista on Tuesday said he may ask some officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to go on leave as the government investigates the New Year’s Day air traffic fiasco that
HIGH-RANKING police officials will undergo a lifestyle check as part of efforts to cleanse the ranks of the Philippine National Police (PNP), its chief, Police Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., said Tuesday.
In an interview on radio dzBB, Azurin said a lifestyle check is among the ways that the five-member panel responsible for reviewing the records of police generals and colonels who have been asked to submit their courtesy resignations.
Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong, the only member of the five-person panel to be identified so far, also said a lifestyle check would be part of the
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Monday that only 3 to 4 percent of 900 colonels and generals of the
closed Philippine airspace for hours and grounded more than 300 flights.
During a hearing before the House committee on transportation, Bautista said his department would lead an investigation into the power outage and technical glitch that caused chaos at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport
By Maricel V. Cruz, Macon Ramos-Araneta, Vito Barcelo, Vince Lopez and Othel V. CamposOffice of the Ombudsman on Tuesday said it would investigate officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) for buying onions worth around P500 per kilo even as a lqwmaker called for a congressional inquiry into the alleged cartel behind the scarcity and high prices of onions.
The Ombudsman said it would investigate the DA and the FTI’s procurement of onions worth P537 per kilo from the Bonena Multipurpose Cooperative.
Ombudsman Samuel Martires said he will send notices to DA and FTI officials, who will be made to explain why they bought onions at that price when the commodity is sold in Kadiwa stores at P170 per kilo.
Meanwhile, in a resolution, Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo urged the House committees on economic affairs and trade and industry to conduct an inquiry, in
(NAIA) on Jan. 1. “We are doing a fact-finding [probe]... getting all the documents. The investigation is continuing, and we will be considering asking those people involved to take a leave of absence,” Bautista said during the hearing.
By Vince Lopez and Willie Casas
THE Cabinet will meet to discuss cases of Filipinos on death row in other countries, Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Susan “Toots” Ople said Tuesday.
Ople said Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin would convene the meeting with other secretaries.
“Just as an FYI, on Friday, the Executive Secretary will be convening a meeting. To be present in that meeting are the Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, myself, and of course the ES, to discuss transitional matters. For example, the death row cases,” Ople said at a Palace briefing.
Ople was responding to a question
regarding updates on the request for executive clemency for Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipino woman who was convicted of drug trafficking and meted the death penalty in Indonesia in 2010.
The DMW chief deferred to the Department of Foreign Affairs when asked about the matter, as DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo and Labor Secretary Benny Laguesma will also attend the Cabinet meeting.
Veloso’s parents Cesar and Celia have asked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to ask for clemency from Indonesian President Joko Widodo for their daughter.
The DepEd will be presenting a revised K-12 curriculum for basic ed on January 30th,” she said in a Palace press briefing.
Last July, shortly after the President’s State of the Nation address, Duterte-Carpio said DepEd had until this July next year to finalize its review of the K-12 program. The agency under former Education Secretary Leonor Briones already finished the review for the lower grades.
“We were given by President Marcos one year, this School Year 2022-2023, to give a final answer about our K-12 program here in the country, “ DuterteCarpio said then.
A Pulse Asia Survey last year, commissioned by Senator Win Gatchalian, also showed that 44 percent of 1,200 respondents were unhappy with the
ation, and Unity Carlito Galvez Jr. as Defense secretary.
Andolong, for his part, said the resignation of other high-ranking Defense officials is “normal.”
current system -- 16 percentage points higher compared to the results of a similar survey done in September 2019.
“It is clear from the voices of our countrymen that they are not satisfied with the K-to-12 program,” Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, said in a statement.
“This is because its promises are not being fulfilled and it has only become an additional burden on our parents and students,” the lawmaker added.
Implemented in 2012, the current K-12 program in the country covers kindergarten, six years of primary education, four years of junior high school, and two years of senior high school to prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.
Mr. Marcos earlier asked Duterte-Carpio to carefully review the K-12 program, citing the need to “develop” and “refine” the great pool of Filipino talent. He also
man is solid.
“I dont think he will have a problem with CA,” Ejercito said.
wanted the country’s literacy rate to improve under his administration.
In his first State of the Nation Address in July last year, the President said the Philippines should do better in international rankings when it comes to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.
Also during the Cabinet meeting, Mr. Marcos asked the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to remain on heightened alert amid the inclement weather.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla also presented his department’s achievements in 2022 and plans for 2023.
“He highlighted the Justice department’s theme of compassionate justice in keeping with the directive of the President, who asked that he check on the legal representation of prisoners based on the President’s experience in Ilocos Norte where he remembered that many prisoners didn’t have access to lawyers,” Oseña-Paez said.
The PCO shared a photo of Mr. Marcos administering Garafil’s oath at Malacañang Palace, about three months after the President plucked the lady lawyer and former journalist out of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to replace erstwhile Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles.
Meanwhile, Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said Tuesday she will leave it up to Mr. Marcos Jr. to appoint her as full-fledged Health Secretary, following the appointments of Garafil and new Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez on Monday.
“We congratulate those who have been appointed already. They are well-deserved for Secretary Galvez and Secretary Garafil,” Vergeire said in a press conference.
The other appointees were Antonio Paolo Serrano Lim as Assistant Secretary for the Office of the Senior Deputy Executive Secretary (OSDES); Manuel Lahoz Argel Jr. as Acting Member, representing the Employer’s group of the SSS; Commissioner Lolibeth Ramit-Medrano of the Philippine Competition Commission; and Peter Anthony Joseph Felarca Felix as Assistant Secretary for the OSDES.
For the DBP, the President tapped Michael Osmeña De Jesus as the Acting President and Chief Executive Officer and Board Member; and Emmeline Calderon David, Jaime Zita Paz, Maria Lourdes Laurel-Avanceña Arcenas as acting members of the Board of Directors.
Before being named to the post, Garafil served as officer-in-charge (OIC) and Undersecretary of the now defunct Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) since October last year.
Under Executive Order (EO) No. 11, the OPS was renamed to the PCO, which will be responsible for crafting, formulating, developing, enhancing, and coordinating the messaging system of the Executive Branch and the OP.
only 4-star general in the AFP,” the Palace said in a statement released by Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cheloy Garafil. Faustino said he submitted his irrevocable letter of resignation to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday -- the same day that the reappointment of Centino as AFP chief of staff was announced.
Noting how the AFP has transformed into an institution that the Filipino people can trust over the years, Faustino said: “Fully cognizant of the selfless sacrifice and courage of our troops and civilian human resources, I cannot allow the AFP’s reputation to be tarnished, maligned, or politicized.”
“I assure everyone that I will always hold the AFP in high esteem, which its men and women have painstakingly earned,” he added.
Since the resignation of Faustino, who himself is a former AFP chief of staff, Mr. Marcos has appointed Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconcili-
“All those part of the team brought by General Faustino resigned. It is customary, part of procedure for them as coterminous officials,” he said.
Destabilization rumors swirled over the weekend following the replacement of Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro as AFP chief. One alleged memo from the Philippine National Police Caraga statement said the PNP was on full alert status “in view of the resignation of Department of National Defense personnel.”
Both the military and the police denied there was a destabilization plot even as the PNP said it has already identified the sources of the fake memo that circulated on social media.
Meanwhile, at least three senators on Tuesday expressed confidence that Galvez will easily get the nod of the powerful Commission on Appointments.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III and Senator JV Ejercito said the record of Galvez as a military
problems, especially those affecting the country’s air traffic navigation system.
Bautista also apologized to the thousands of passengers affected by the airport shutdown.
Bautista made the statement in response to the remarks of Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez who sought accountability over the seven-hour NAIA glitch.
Rodriguez said the incident calls for leave for absence for those responsible especially while the probe is ongoing.
“This [call for leave of absence] is because we have to preserve the evidence in the investigation and allow an indepth probe,” the lawmaker said.
“It is what the Filipino nation would want because what happened was a result of gross negligence and incompetence,” he added.
The CAAP earlier said the incident was caused by a problem in the system’s electrical network, with its uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which is to be used as backup power supply, also failing.
The glitch caused 282 flights to be canceled or delayed, affecting 56,000 passengers on the first day.
Bautista assured lawmakers that the DOTr would come up with permanent solutions to the recurring transport
Bautista said that 90 percent of the operations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) had been restored within 24 hours of the incident.
He added that an intra-agency investigation is being conducted on the source of the air traffic navigation system glitch.
Bautista welcomed the opportunity to highlight the critical need for technical and financial support for upgrading the facilities at the CAAP, the NAIA and regional airports throughout the country.
Bautista earlier said the agency is proposing to procure A new Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ ATM) System to avoid a similar situation from arising
He said over P13 billion will be needed to upgrade the system that caused the recent technical issues at NAIA.
Bautista also vowed to address “pain points” affecting airline passengers, including inefficient ticket booking, air-
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada said the appointment of Galvez was a welcome development, noting that the latter has also proven his mettle as National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar.
“This move by the President, hopefully, will somehow give a sense of stability insofar as the leadership in the DND and its attached agencies/organizations are concerned,” Estrada said.
In Cotabato, Bangsamoro officials welcomed the appointment of Galvez.
Education Minister Mohaguer Iqbal said Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim believes Galvez “will excel in this new position and that we are excited to see what he will have to achieve in the coming years.”
Iqbal said Galvez’s “deep understanding of the context and challenges of the Bangsamoro and (having established) good relations with the MILF has brought us nearer to the goal of peace in the Bangsamoro.”
port congestion, long lines, immigration issues, baggage system problems, and transportation around the airport.
Bulacan Rep. Salvador Pleyto asked the CAAP to improve their risk management in accordance with International Organization of Standardization (ISO) standards to prevent a recurrence of Jan. 1.
“If CAAP is an ISO-certified agency, it is mandatory to have a Risk Management Plan, which would address the risk of the occurrence of power outage by applying immediately the agency’s action or contingency plan,” Pleyto said.
Pleyto made the remarks as CAAP Director General Manuel Antonio Tamayo admitted before the House panel that the agency responsible for prescribing rules and regulations for all aircraft was “not ISO-certified.”
“Not yet your honor, but it is ongoing. We will work on this. That will be our priority. We will definitely work on getting this ISO certification,” the CAAP chief told Pleyto.
Also during the hearing, the CAAP said it purchased two uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems to prevent another air traffic management system malfunction.
aid of legislation, to assess reports of hoarding, price manipulation, smuggling and the presence of a cartel in the Department of Agriculture that Quimbo invoked Section 49 of the Philippine Competition Act (RA 10667) which asserts the power of the congressional oversight committee on competition to conduct the House probe as the special committee composed of chairpersons of several related committees.
The COCC, whose members also include senators, “oversees the implementation” of the PCA.
“Congress has to exercise its oversight functions on the PCC, which is expected to effectively perform its mandate to investigate and prosecute anti-competitive practices in the market for onions, considering the continuous rise in the price of onions,” Quimbo said.
PCC or the Philippine Competition Commission is an independent body whose function is to implement the PCA, It is the “main authority on competition-related matters in the country” that prohibits monopolistic practices.
Quimbo, the senior vice chairperson of the House committee on appropriations, said she was prompted to file the resolution in light of the 5.8 percent full-year headline inflation for 2022, where food inflation soared from 1.6 percent in January to 10.6 percent last December. The inquiry is also prompted by the series of seizures of millions of pesos worth of onions by the DA’s Bureau of Plant Industry starting in mid-2022 until December.
On Monday, Senator Cynthia Villar said a cartel could be behind the high prices of onions in local markets, citing a 2013 investigation that showed that there is an onion cartel that has “complete control” over the supply in the country.
Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian called for the creation of a task force to stop rampant smuggling and hoarding of agricultural products.
He said the task force should be headed by the DA and should involve the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Philippine National Police are directly linked to illegal drugs.
Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos said in a television interview that his source of the figure is from intelligence reports collated by the PNP.
“There are some intelligence reports, but we have to vet them very, very well. According to the chief PNP Rodolfo Azurin Jr. it’s about more or less, 3 to 4 percent of the top cops,” Abalos said.
National Capital Region Police Office director Maj. Gen. Jonnel Estomo said a total of 76 police colonels and other ranking officials assigned in Metro Manila have filed their courtesy resignations in compliance to Abalos’ request for them to do so as part of efforts to get rid of the “bad eggs” in the police force.
He said the NCRPO was “100 percent compliant” with Abalos’ call.
Estomo also said a total of 30 station commanders with the rank of Police Lieutenant Colonel conformed with his directive to undergo a drug test.
“If any of you test positive, you will be relieved immediately and I will file appropriate charges against you. If it’s negative, that’s very good for us,” he said.
Estomo said while the committee formed by Abalos is in the process of evaluating their submitted courtesy resignations, he will continue to conduct surprise drug tests on all his men.
abstaining, the SC resolved to declare JMSU as unconstitutional “for allowing wholly-owned foreign corporations to participate in the exploration of the country’s natural resources without observing the safeguards provided in Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution.”
The en banc decision penned by Associate Justice Samuel H. Gaerlan was not immediately available, but the SC Public Information Office released the summary of the ruling.
This came a day after the Department of Energy said it will proceed with oil and gas development in other areas of the country with an eye on foreign and domestic investors, as it awaits the resumption of talks with China for a possible joint exploration of the West Philippine Sea.
The agreement to restart talks with Beijing for a possible joint exploration was reached during the bilateral meeting of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, according to Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla.
Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo and 10 other justices concurred in
the decision. Associate Justices Amy C. Lazaro-Javier and Rodil V. Zalameda dissented, while Associate Justice Ramon Paul L. Hernando was on leave and did not take part.
The SC’s PIO said a copy of the decision would be made public as soon as it is available.
In 2008, the group of Neri Colmenares, Satur C. Ocampo, and Teodoro A. Casino, then Bayan Muna party-list representatives, questioned the threeway agreement before the High Court.
The petitioners argued that the JMSU violated Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution, which mandates that “the exploration, development, and utilization (EDU) of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State.”
According to them, the tripartite agreement was illegal as it allowed foreign corporations wholly owned by China and Vietnam to undertake largescale exploration of the country’s petroleum resources.
They noted it violated the Constitutional provision that reserves the EDU of natural resources to Filipino citizens, or corporations or associations with at 60 percent of Filipino-owned capital.
The government at that time countered that Section 2, Article XII of the
Constitution was inapplicable as the said provision contemplates EDU of natural resources, whereas the JMSU only involves pre-exploration activities.
In resolving the issue, the SC stressed that the term “exploration” pertains to a search or discovery of something in both its ordinary or technical sense, but the JMSU “involves the exploration of the country’s natural resources, particularly petroleum.”
The high court also cited the text of the fifth “whereas” clause of the JMSU, which states the parties “expressed desire to engage in a joint research of petroleum resource potential of a certain area of the South China Sea as a preexploration activity.”
Thus, the SC said, “it is clear that the JMSU was executed for the purpose of determining if petroleum exists in the Agreement Area.”
“That the Parties designated the joint research as a ‘pre-exploration activity’ is of no moment. Such designation does not detract from the fact that the intent and aim of the agreement is to discover petroleum, which is tantamount to exploration,” it added.
It said the SC also held that the “JMSU involves the exploration of the country’s petroleum resources; it falls within the ambit of Section 2, Article
XII of the 1987 Constitution.”
In a briefing Monday, Lotilla said: “The agreement was to resume negotiations or resume talks. So we do not have any agreement on moving forward yet with the actual carrying out of activities in the Recto Bank.”
“In the meantime, we are proceeding with oil and gas development in other areas of the country... We will be open to foreign and domestic investors carrying out development activities. As far as those are concerned, we will be able to go ahead,” he said.
The Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) has already issued an invitation for potential farm-ins to several of its service contracts.
Lotilla said the DOE will wait for guidance from the Department of Foreign Affairs as to “the timing and the subject matter of the resumption of talks and even the venue of the talks.”
“Our Presidents have agreed in principle, and we do not expect them to negotiate the details at this particular point. What it establishes is a healthy environment for the talks to take place that there is, at the highest levels of both the Philippine and Chinese governments, a commitment to move forward the discussions,” the Energy chief added.
MORE than 1,000 Catholic devotees have sought medical consultations in the aftermath of the greatly attended Feast of Black Nazarene on Sunday in Manila.
The Department of Health (DOH) advised those who experienced COVID-19 symptoms after coming out of the annual religious festivity in Quiapo, Manila to immediate isolate themselves and seek medical assistance.
The DOH logged a total of 1,046 consultations by people who attended the famous religious rites with the minor basilica of Quiapo Church as the center stage.
Majority of them or 788 cases involved cardio-related complaints such as hypertension, chest pain, and blood pressure.
Exactly 148 cases were neurological, notably headache and dizziness, while 85 others were trauma-related such as wounds and lacerations, the DOH said.
There were also 13 consultations related to respiratory illnesses such as difficult breathing and asthma, while seven complained of stomach pain.
An estimated two million devotees joined the three -day celebration of the Black Nazarene this year, according to church officials.
Tens of thousands of Catholic faithful walked through the streets of Manila early Sunday to pay homage to the iconic black image of Jesus Christ, which was believed to have miraculous powers.
This year’s parade replaced the traditional frenzied procession, which used to involve hundreds of thousands of believers pulling the bigger-than-life statue through the crowded streets of Manila in the vicinity of the Quiapo Church.
One of the biggest displays of Catholic devotion in the Philippines, the Traslacion was cancelled for 3 years in a row due to COVID-19 pandemic.
THE National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has promoted to the next higher rank a total of 4,461 police officers in Metro Manila.
NCRPO director Maj. Gen. Jonnel Estomo administered the oath to the newly promoted lawmen in a ceremony held at the NCRPO Grandstand at Camp Bagong Diwa, in Bicutan, Taguig City.
Twelve of them were promoted to police majors, while 462 others became new captains, and 38 others as lieutenants.
Also elevated to the next higher ranks were 82 police executive master sergeants, 266 chief master sergeants, 168 senior master sergeants, 345 master sergeants, 2,118 staff sergeants, and 1,170 corporals.
The promotions were a result of the merit system given to the uniformed personnel of the Philippine National Police in recognition of their years of dedication
to the service. The multiple promotions were carried out in the five police districts comprising the NCRPO.
Estomo congratulated the promotees and their families, saying he expects them to be of significant value to the NCRPO in achieving more success and accomplishments particularly in the government’s internal cleansing program initiated by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
“In every promotion comes maturity,” he said.
Estomo also challenged the newly promoted officers to remain upright and to refrain from involvement in illegal activi-
ties, especially in the campaign against illegal drugs.
“I have only one challenge to you— don’t go with illegals, especially illegal drugs because first of all, your promotion will be a waste and your family will be miserable,” he stressed.
He further conveyed his expectations from the newly promoted police officers to be of help in implementing the NCRPO’s S.A.F.E program and achieve more success and accomplishments against criminality.
SAFE refers to the Seen, Appreciated and Felt anti-crime campaign of the NCRPO.
BUREAU of Immigration (BI) officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) have arrested a Belarus national wanted by authorities in Cavite for sexual assault.
Immigration Commissioner Normal Tansingco identified the alien as 31-year-old Aliaksei Rudakou, who was apprehended at the NAIA 3 terminal upon arriving aboard an Emirates flight from Dubai.
Rudakou, also known as Ali and Aliak, was reported to be residing in a condominium unit in Quezon City.
Tansingco said the passenger was turned over to the Philippine National Police (PNP) for detention pending resolution of his criminal case.
It was learned that the Bacoor City regional trial court has ordered the suspect’s arrest on Nov. 22, 2022 following filing of rape with sexual assault charges against him.
Subsequently, the BI placed Rudakou on its alert list and directed immigration agents to turn him over to law enforcers if he is apprehended at the airport. Vito Barcelo
THE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Tuesday said it gave the green light for the deployment of 42 “rescue” bus units that will run on “trial” basis over the coming week.
The trial of the “rescue” Omnibus Franchising Guidelines (OFG)-compliant bus units started on Monday (Jan. 10) and will end on Jan. 16, 2023.
The extra units, which come from bus
companies that are not members of the two big consortiums that operate on the EDSA Busway Carousel, are meant to augment the existing number of buses plying said route.
In a resolution, the LFTRB said it has been consistently observed that the current deployment of bus units is below the requirement number of units, which is 80 percent of the authorized units, resulting in transportation shortage particularly during rush hours.
THE seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate in the National Capital Region (NCR) has dropped to 5.8 percent in the first week of 2023, according to data by independent monitoring group OCTA Research on Tuesday.
OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David showed that NCR’s positivity rate—or the percentage of people who were found positive for COVID-19 among individuals tested—decreased from 9.1 percent on Dec. 31, 2022, to 5.8 percent as of Jan. 7, 2023.
In Luzon, positivity rates in Batangas, Bulacan, Ilocos Norte, and Pangasinan declined to “low” level, meaning they went below the five percent threshold.
Bulacan recorded the lowest data at 3.5 percent, down from the previous week’s 4.4 percent.
Other provinces like Albay, Bataan, Benguet, Cagayan, Camarines Sur,
Cavite, Isabela, La Union, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Quezon, and Rizal all reported a decline in positivity rates over the past week as well.
Despite this, the positivity rates were still considered “high” in Isabela and Albay, with 35.1 percent and 25.6 percent, respectively.
The Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday a total of 3,127 new COVID-19 infections were registered nationwide from Jan. 2 to Jan. 8. The daily case average for the recent week was 447, or nine percent lower than the previous 494.
On Monday alone, 473 new COVID-19 cases were recorded.
NCR still reported the highest number of new cases in the last 14 days with 2,200. Calabarzon followed with 1,090; Central Luzon with 527;
Western Visayas with 339; and Cagayan Valley with 338. Willie Casas
“The provision of these ‘rescue’ units have been discussed with the two bus consortiums already. Rescue buses were being utilized when there is an established increase in passenger demand and the number of deployed units is insufficient to render efficient service,” LTFRB chairman Teofilo Guadiz III said.
He said developments related to these additional units or “rescue” buses would be monitored online by the LTFRB’s Franchise Planning and Monitoring Divi-
sion (FPMD), assisted by safetravelph.
After seven days, the LTFRB will sit down with the two consortiums, together with the bus operators that will provide the 42 bus units, to discuss how to finalize, modify or even enhance this new scheme.
Under the guidelines set by the LTFRB, the “rescue” units will operate for 12 hours or from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. after the 20-hour run by the regular buses, which is from 4 a.m. to 12 midnight.
MANILA International Airport Authority general manager Cesar Chiong has commended an aviation security (Avsec) officer for honesty after the employee turned over to airport management a bag containing P1.4 million.
Avsec Albert Bautista was on duty at the domestic arrival area of Ninoy Aquino International Airport - Terminal 2 on Jan. 4 when he saw a blue trolley bag in one of the chairs between Bay 8 and 9.
Thinking that the bag might contain valuables, Bautista immediately sought the assistance of the Airport Police officer on duty and the paging section to look for the owner. but no one came to claim the bag despite several announcements.
As part of security protocol, the airport management cordoned-off the area and called the Philippine National Police Explosive Ordinance Disposal and Canine Group to conduct an inspection.
The policemen cleared the baggage of any explosive elements and during the inventory, the bag was found to contain P1.4 million pesos, personal effects and identification cards of Mayor Hanie Bud of Maluso, Basilan.
Chiong and other airport officials praised Bautista and handed him a certificate of commendation during a simple ceremony at the MIAA administration office Monday.
“All of us here in MIAA, we appreciate very much your worthy contribution to promote NAIA as a safe and secured gateway to the Philippines. We are are proud of you,” Chiong said. Joel E. Zurbano
AFTER a five-year hiatus, the Quezon City government will resume collection of real-property taxes on landholdings this year based on the 2017 schedule of fair market values (FMVs).
“Beginning with the taxable year 2023, we will use the FMVs for various classes of real property as defined in Ordinance No. SP-2556, S-2016 which was passed in 2016 and was applied until 2017,” city treasurer Edgar Villanueva said.
He clarified that the adjustment was not a new increase, but simply a reversion to the rate used five years ago.
It was temporarily suspended by the Supreme Court following a petition filed by a homeowner’s association, questioning the legality of the ordinance.
In 2018, the Supreme Court lifted its temporary restraining order, allowing for the re-implementation of the updated schedule of FMVs.
Despite the favorable decision, the city government decided to continue its suspension until recently to alleviate “the effects of inflation caused by the Tax Reform Acceleration and Inclusion law.”
With the city government receiving P1 billion less in national tax allotment as a result of the national government’s shortfall in tax collections owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the reinstatement of the former rate is required to support the city’s five major thrusts.
It included the expansion of social services and the establishment of necessary infrastructure facilities.
CALOOCAN City Mayor Dale Gonzalo Malapitan, through the City Social Welfare Development Department (CSWDD), has provided opportunities for out-of-school youth, children-in-conflict with the law, and street children through ‘Cash for Work’ program.
A total of 196 beneficiaries were selected by CSWDD to help at Early Child Development Centers and Day Care Centers in the city.
According to the mayor, the program aims to help the disadvantaged youth to be able to continue their studies.
“Layunin po nating mabigyan ng karagdagang pang tustos sa pang araw-araw na gastusin ang ating mga kabataan tungo sa pagpapatuloy ng kanilang pag-aaral,” Malapitan said.
He praised the beneficiaries for their initiative and dedication to be valuable members of society. Jun David
CONSUMERS of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) are facing higher electricity rates in January by P0.6232 per kilowatt-hour due to higher generation charges and the completion of the distribution-related refund.
This developed as Meralco assured that it is working with the energy industry stakeholders to avoid any power supply shortage in May where the entire month is expected to have yellow alerts or thin power reserves.
Meralco’s overall rate for a typical household went up to P10.9001 per kWh this month from P10.2769 per kWh in December.
Residential customers consuming an average of 200 kWh can expect an increase of around P125 in their total electricity bill.
Meralco vice president and spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said the generation charge went up by P0.3316 to P7.1291 from P6.7975 per kWh the previous month.
He said charges from the independent power producers were higher by P0.4070 per kWh due to the increased use of more expensive alternative fuel
PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. instructed the Department of Justice (DOJ) Tuesday to continue releasing persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) who are qualified for parole to decongest the country’s correctional facilities.
During a Cabinet meeting in Malacañang, President Marcos said that based on his experience as governor of Ilocos Norte, most of the PDLs are languishing in jail because they can’t afford the services of good lawyers.
“Wala naman silang magaling na abugado. So that’s why we are in favor now to release many of them,” Mr. Marcos said. “They just needed representation to set them free. So let’s continue
COMMISSION on Elections (Comelec) chair George Garcia disclosed that the Comelec has yet to achieve half of its expected 1.5 million to 2 million new registrants for the 2023 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE).
Garcia, quoted by a GMA News report said “As of yesterday, less than 400,000 voters have registered. We expected 1.5 to 2 million voters to register from December 12 to January. We hope that more voters will register before the month ends.”
Garcia said this might be due to Filipinos’ mañana habit. “We think this is because many Filipinos wait for the last minute to register. Let us remember that it is our obligation to register as it is our right to vote.”
The poll chief also appealed to the public to visit the local Comelec offices and satellite registration sites in malls where the continuing registration is ongoing and avail of the Register Anywhere Project which is being conducted every weekend in select malls.
He maintained that the Comelec is not yet considering the extension of the voter registration which will run until the end of January.
Garcia further said the poll body “stands firm on its decision that the registration will only be until January 31.”
Garcia on Tuesday meanwhile signed a memorandum of understanding with Government Service Insurance System General Manager Jose Arnulfo “Wick” Veloso for the launching of the Register Anywhere Project (RAP) at GSIS Complex, GMA News also reported.
Garcia said the two agencies will also launch RAP at the Senate of the Philippines on January 25 to allow more government workers to register with the Comelec.
Garcia said they can expand the RAP to all regions in the Philippines but this will depend on the outcome of its pilot implementation.
with that,” the chief executive added.
The President also backed the DOJ’s plan to transfer hardened criminals to an Alcatraz-type prison, isolating them from the general population and putting a stop to their criminal activities as they were still able to direct operations while behind bars.
President Marcos also pointed to the rampant corruption inside the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) as he underscored the need for inmates’ transfer to
special facilities.
“Iyan ‘yung mga ganoon we have to do that para hindi na ka maka-contact. Alam mo, we have to isolate them properly,” Mr. Marcos said.
In its 2022 accomplishment report, the DOJ said it released almost 3,000 PDLs from July to December 2022 as an immediate step to decongest correctional facilities.
The DOJ also fast-tracked the processing of the release of qualified prisoners by digitalizing the systems of the Probation and Parole Administration.
This year, the justice department is eyeing to decongest prison facilities by transferring the maximum security compound in Muntinlupa City to a dedicated correctional facility in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro.
The DOJ is also planning to establish separate heinous crime facilities in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
For the first time, the BuCor allowed last December “inmate to inmate” visits, where inmates were allowed to visit loved ones held in another prison.
On Christmas and New Year’s Day, the corrections bureau allowed 300 inmates from the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City to visit their husbands at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
“The physical presence of their family will give PDLs the courage to fully serve their sentences and maintain good behavior so that their release may be expedited,” BuCor Officer in Charge Gregorio Catapang said.
by First Gas Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo amid the insufficient Malampaya gas supply.
Zaldarriaga said the peso’s appreciation, which affected 97 percent of IPP costs that are dollar-denominated, mitigated a further increase in power rates. IPPs provided 46 percent of Meralco’s energy requirement in December. Zaldarriaga said charges at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the trading floor of electricity, increased by P0.6808 per kWh as the increase in generation outages more than offset the decrease in power demand in the Luzon grid in December.
“The grid was placed under yellow alert for three days in December due to the tight supply conditions, and the persistently high spot prices triggered the imposition of the secondary price cap 61 percent of the time, compared to 21 percent in November,” Zaldarriaga said.
Meralco sourced 9 percent of its requirements from the WESM from 7 percent the previous month due to the suspension of its 2019 power supply agreement with South Premiere Power Corp. starting Dec. 7, 2022, for 670MW baseload supply.
DEPUTY Speaker and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar is calling for the passage of a measure mandating the provision of additional social safety nets for journalists.
Villar filed House Bill 6543 which seeks to provide disability, health and hospitalizations benefits to all practicing journalists, saying there is a need to safeguard the welfare of journalists in their news coverage.
“During important assignments, journalists face the most dangerous situations like typhoons, disasters, floods, riots, war and conflicts, to name a few, in order to deliver the news to the public,” said Villar in filing the measure.
Villar added some frontline journalists “accept field assignments bringing only their passion sans insurance or hazard pay although they risk their lives in the name of journalism.”
Under the bill, all practicing journalists are entitled to insurance, tax-exempt hazard pay, and other incentives, whether they are permanent, temporary, contractual or casual journalists being employed by media entities in the Philippines.
Freelance journalists are also entitled to insurance benefits, with the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System being mandated to create a special coverage for them, specifically when they are covering war zones, conflict-stricken areas, and calamity affected places. Maricel V. Cruz
SENATOR Grace Poe on Tuesday called on the country’s telecommunications companies to raise the bar in their campaign to get mobile phone subscribers register their Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) in compliance with the law.
“Telcos must ramp up their drive to encourage subscribers to register,“ Poe, author and sponsor of the SIM Registration Act, said.
“No amount of days will be enough if most of the over 100 million phone users will sign up at the last minute,” she added.
By Maricel V. Cruz
On Monday, the offices of the House leaders launched joint relief operations in various municipalities of the province by turning over one million cash aid and more than 1,600 food packs worth P500,000.
Each food pack contains three kilos of rice, three packets of instant noodles, three pieces of canned goods, and six sachets of 3-in-1 coffee.
The teams from the House sent help to the affected barangays of Tagum
Augmenting the relief packs produced by the Speaker’s office and Tingog Party list were an additional 3,000 family packs from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“This is the least that we can do for our kababayans who were displaced by the floods. Rest assured that we will always be responsive to calls for assistance from disaster-stricken provinces. A little malasakit can go a long way, and we’re here to lend a hand,” Speaker Romualdez said.
The distribution of food packs and cash donation were done in coordination with Davao del
Last month, the same offices turned over 1,000 family food packs and 17,650 bottled water to Misamis Occidental after heavy rainfall caused floods and landslides in the province. Cash assistance of P2 million was also given to the province.
Earlier last year, Speaker Romualdez also initiated a fund drive and relief operations to provide assistance to the victims of typhoon “Paeng”.
SAYING the country’s mobility infrastructure is lagging by “decades” behind its Southeast Asian neighbors, Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito underscored the need to hasten the modernization of the country’s transport system.
“My estimate is that we’re about thirty, thirty-five years behind in terms of infrastructure development and transportation modernization compared to other countries,” Ejercito said.
The senator, who currently serves as vice chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services, explained that the country’s current investments in infrastructure development and transportation modernization are still far from the ideal.
For several decades, he said the government have not really invested much on transport the way our ASEAN neighbors did.
“We are only investing about 2 percent of the gross domestic product. It’s supposed to be 5 percent for infrastructure development,” Ejercito said.
As of Jan. 9, 2023, over 16 million SIM cards or around 9 percent of the 168 million mobile subscribers have registered with the country’s three telcos. Republic Act No. 11934 requires phone users to register their mobile numbers as a way of curbing phishing attempts, scams and other cybercrime attacks propagated through calls and text messages.
Under the law, all mobile device users are required to register their SIM on the telcos’ authorized platforms until April 26.
The registration period could be given an extension of 120 days by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) after the April 26 deadline. Unregistered SIM cards would be deactivated.
“There’s a learning curve and some growing pains, but many of our countrymen are actually anticipating that they will register soon,” Poe said.
“I am just worried that everybody will try to do it at the very last minute, which will bring challenges in handling the traffic of registrants,” she added.
Poe also warned against the proliferation of fake or unauthorized sites that could dupe subscribers into sharing their personal information. Macon Ramos-Araneta
THE Philippine Consulate General in New York on Tuesday expressed support on the calls of Filipino-American nurses employed in two hospitals in New York for better wages and working conditions.
The statement came as thousands of nurses employed at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan went on a strike on Jan. 9 (New York time) after contract negotiations stalled over better pay and improved staffing standards.
“When New York City became the epicenter of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, our kababayan nurses stayed true to their oath to care for the sick and the dying, sometimes at the expense of their very own lives,” the consulate said. “For their compassion, dedication, and selflessness, their call for better employment terms and conditions should be heeded.”
The consulate expressed hope that the parties involved would soon have a “mutually acceptable” resolution.
“We look forward to a mutually acceptable resolution to the strike and hope that all dispute resolution avenues be exhausted to ensure the healthcare of New Yorkers and the recognition of the indispensable role of our nurses who are at the forefront of patient care,” it said.
Local reports said more than 7,000 nurses from the two
in the
staged at three locations in Bronx and one in Manhattan.
HOUSE Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez and Tingog Party-list Reps. Yedda Marie K. Romualdez and Jude Acidre have extended aid to floodstricken Filipinos in Mindanao, this time in Davao del Norte. City and the municipalities of New Corella, Asuncion, Kapalong, Carmen, and Braulio E. Dujali. Norte 2nd District Rep. Alan Dujali and Vice Governor De Carlo Uy, who provided the offices of the House officials with a list of recipients. Speaker Romualdez is congressman of Leyte’s 1st district. Rep. Yedda Romualdez, his wife, is chairperson of the House Committee on Accounts, while Acidre is one of the Deputy Majority Leaders of the House.The price spiral began at a 3.0 percent clip in January and February 2022 and climbed steadily to 8.1 percent in the final month to average 5.82 percent for the whole of 2022—the highest since the 8.3 percent of 2008, making the 5.82 percent annual rate a 14-year high.
If you remember, 2008 was the peak year of a three-year global financial crisis and America’s Great Recession.
This year, inflation, or the rate of increase (or decrease) in prices, at 8 percent clip, will impoverish millions of Filipinos and will deny millions more at least one of their three meals a day.
Medalla has more than doubled the BSP policy rate, from 2.2 percent when he began office in June 2022 to 5.5 percent by December.
The policy rate is the interest rate charged by the BSP when banks borrow from it overnight. In effect, that is the cost of money of lending banks.
The banks usually add from two to three percentage points as their margin or profit or administration cost.
With inflation the highest in 14 years, the BSP policy rate, of course, is now at its highest in 14 years.
Despite consecutive BSP rate increases, the inflation rate has remained unrestrained, more than doubling from a low 3 percent in January and February 2022 to 5.5 percent by December.
The betting is that Medalla will increase BSP rates to as high as 6.5 percent in the first half of 2023.
The banks, meanwhile, are expected to remain a pillar of strength for the economy, with the continued rise in deposits aiding growth in lending activities
According to the BSP chief, Philippine inflation has lately been what people expect it to be. Self-fulfilling.
So if consumers start believing prices will go high, they go on a buying binge, because the goods you buy today will have a higher price tomorrow.
To stop people from speculating, the BSP issues a punishment—a sharp increase in interest rates thru an increase in its overnight lending rate.
So high has the policy rate gone up, at 5.5 percent, that this rate is just one percent above the overnight lending rate of the US Fed, which is 4.5 percent.
Buying the US dollar is just one percentage point cheaper than buying the peso.
It is to Medalla’s credit that the BSP has gotten away with only a percentage point differential between the US cost of money and the Philippine cost of money.
One of Asia’s poorest nations is in effect lending money to the world’s richest country, the USA. The Philippines is awash with cash.
Albay Second District Rep. Joey Salceda, an economist, estimates that from OFW remittances and business process outsourcing forex revenues, the Philippines is making $90 billion.
This $90 billion is 100 percent value added.
Unlike exports (of $76 billion), from which the country probably generates just 20 percent in value added ($15 billion), and from investments for which the government gives away easily P200 billion ($3.6 billion) in annual incentives and tax perks.
The $90 billion is 8.5x the record 2021 Philippine foreign direct investments (FDI) of $10.5 billion, 5.8x the $15.5 FDI of Vietnam, 8x the $11.4 billion FDI each of Thailand and
THE last five months of 2022 coincided with my first five months serving as US Ambassador to the Philippines—an exciting time marked by nonstop engagements that strengthened our ironclad relationship as friends, partners, and allies.
Only three weeks after I presented my credentials to newly elected President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the Philippines.
Numerous other high-level exchanges between our two countries followed.
President Marcos met with President Biden in New York in September. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III met with DND Officer-in-Charge Jose Faustino Jr. twice soon thereafter, in Hawaii and in Cambodia.
Many other senior US officials met Philippine leaders from government, business, and civil society in 2022, including a 28-company trade mission from the US-ASEAN Business Council, a Congressional delegation led by Senator Ed Markey, multiple State Department officials, the Secretary of the Navy, and a constellation of Generals and Admirals from the US military.
These visits culminated with Vice President Kamala Harris’s historic trip to the Philippines
Malaysia, and just 10 percent below the $99 billion FDI of Singapore.
Medalla projects inflation to collapse to 4.5 percent in 2023, and to between 2 and 3 percent or 2.8 percent in 2024.
Having contained inflation, Medalla has in effect rescued President Marcos Jr. from the depths of unpopularity. Seven of 10 Filipinos are mad that prices are high and the price increases remain unabated.
“We are committed to take all the necessary monetary policy action to bring inflation back to a target-consistent path,” vows Medalla.
“While we may be off-target now in part due to strong supply shocks, we are confident that the actions that we have taken so far—and the full force of our expanded toolkit—will bring us to a target-consistent path of inflation,” the BSP chief explains in a prepared statement.
He adds: “Together with non-monetary measures from the national government, we hope that the combination of the three tools or policy levers—rate adjustments, letting the peso depreciate, and selling dollars—will bring us back to target-consistent inflation path with the least amount of pain or output loss.”
One problem with interest rate increases—they make capital expensive.
Capital is what you need to produce goods. If the cost of borrowed money is oppressively high, you don’t borrow, you quit producing. You lay off people. You rest muna.
“Of course, the central bank cares about growth,” Medalla assures, “but it is important to note that it is not an explicit part of our three pillars. When we do our job—our three pillars— and do them well, we create the conditions conducive to growth.”
The BSP has three tools to cope with inflation—interest rates, a flexible peso-dollar rate, and intervention in the foreign exchange market, like selling dollars when there is a huge demand for it.
Those dollars come from foreign reserves— currently at $93 billion.
Explains Medalla: “If you have low and predictable inflation, for instance, it becomes easier for the government and the private sector to borrow in order to support the development agenda. If you have strong banks that are actively lending, that bodes well for the economy.”
This year, the BSP chief expects the economy to grow robustly, at 6 percent. That is the highest in the ASEAN. Growth could even be 7 percent.
Based on the BSP’s estimates, remittances will likely grow by 4 percent and BPO receipts by 5 percent this year, which bode well for household consumption and job generation.
Meantime, good exports are seen to grow by 3.0 percent this year versus imports growth of 4.0 percent.
Against this backdrop, the country’s gross international reserves, or GIR, are seen to remain hefty at $93 billion, equivalent to 6.6 months of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.
The banks, meanwhile, are expected to remain a pillar of strength for the economy, with the continued rise in deposits aiding growth in lending activities.
Says Medalla: “We expect more banks to adopt sustainability principles in their operations as the BSP continued to advocate for sustainable finance.
“We also want to see more consolidation, particularly in the rural banking industry, after we launched the Rural Bank Strengthening Program last year.
“Finally, the BSP expects the Philippines’ continued transition from a cash-heavy to a cashlite and digital-heavy society.”
Under the BSP’s Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap, “we set twin goals of at least half of financial transactions being down electronically and at least 70 percent of Filipino adults having transaction accounts by the end of this year.”
biznewsasia@gmail.com
WE SHARE the hope the internal cleansing, ordered recently by Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos, of the Philippine National Police from full colonels to star rank would result in an undeniably categorical conclusion.
Which means the ranking officials, either by active participation or tacit approval of illicit drugs changing hands, are impeccably clean from any type of attachment or collusion with drug lords and peddlers of illegal drugs.
PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., who six days ago submitted his courtesy resignation to Abalos, said 500 to 600 ranking officials from the police force have submitted resignation as part of the internal cleansing.
The move of Azurin, who remains the country’s top cop pending any action by President Ferdinand Marcos and Abalos, is seen as an obedience to the authorities to address the persistent illicit drug problem linking the top echelons of the PNP.
Earlier, Abalos declared the officials will remain in their respective posts and perform their respective duties while being investigated.
The resigned officials will undergo a critical examination by the five-member committee, who
include Baguio City Mayor, a retired PNP deputy director general, tasked to screen the courtesy resignation.
Mr. Marcos said the government is not yet filing cases as it has not yet identified the high-ranking police officers supposedly connected with the illegal drug trade
The courtesy resignations and the review will help PNP’s future leaders to have a clean slate, which means police officials not involved in the illegal drug trade would no longer operate under a cloud of doubt that some of them “have been suffering (from) since 2016.”
Holding police officers with drug ties accountable was part of the “war on drugs” of the previous administration, with then President Rodrigo Duterte himself accusing active and former police officials of drug links in a speech
in 2016.
Through the years, several police officials were charged with drug-related offenses although convictions appeared not enough amid a high death toll of the controversial anti-narcotics drive.
President Marcos Jr. has admitted his administration has long been planning to call on senior police to submit their courtesy resignations in efforts – admittedly a short cut to the long legal processes – to cleanse their ranks of links to the illegal drug trade.
Mr. Marcos said calling for top cops to tender their resignations was his administration’s “different” approach to combating illegal drugs, which was a flagship project of his predecessor.
“We know the drug problem would not happen if it weren’t for some members of the police. That’s why we need to see who are accomplices, who are involved and who should not be in the service anymore because they’re associated with drug lords,” Marcos said in Filipino.
Mr. Marcos said the government is not yet filing cases as it has not yet identified the highranking police officers supposedly connected with the illegal drug trade.
Some bright light was seen in the President’s statement when he said “We’ll reinstate those who are clear, and maybe we will have to decide (on what to do) with those who are implicated (as) involved in the drug trade. Maybe in severe cases we’ll file charges.”
Clearly, the process is being done to ensure that the next-in-line officers, or those presently holding key positions, are clean from any type of complicity or connivance in the perennially pestering illegal drug trade.
THE good news is that the Philippines may soon be able to revive its moribund steel industry.
And the white knight in this particular case will be, as you might have guessed, China, our closest neighbor in our northwestern seaboard.
The good news was relayed by Jaime FlorCruz, our new Ambasssdor to Beijing, during a media forum in Quezon City last Saturday.
China has expressed keen interest in helping the Philippines become self-reliant in meeting its steel requirements by investing between $1.5 and $2 billion to put up a liquid steel plant here.
This is among the 14 bilateral agreements between the Philippines and China during the recent state visit of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. to Beijing.
The bilateral agreements covered areas as agriculture, infrastructure, development cooperation, maritime security, and tourism.
FlorCruz said the signed agreements that’s now on the table will lead to many projects that will boost the country’s economic development.
The establishment of the first liquid steel facility in the country, he pointed out, would end the Philippines’ dependence on imported steel for various uses, such as construction and manufacturing.
The agreement was signed between the Chinese firm Baowu and SteelAsia, a large steelmaking firm in the country.
The project will create between 2,000 and 3,000 jobs for Filipinos.
The deal, if it pushes through, will definitely be a game-changer as it will put up our own steelmanufacturing plant.
“We should have our own steel manufacturing plant. We cannot be forever dependent on imports,” he told media.
“We can see that this is aligned with own needs. China wants to invest in this project because we need such a facility and we will benefit from it in the long run,” he explained in a mix of English and Filipino.
The Philippine envoy to China expressed hopes the deals secured by the Marcos administration during the three-day state visit will deliver concrete projects and tangible benefits.
The state visit secured $22.8 billion in investment pledges from roundtable meetings with various Chinese companies, including
those engaged in agribusiness, renewable energy, e-commerce, and tourism.
He asked in Filipino: “Paano natin ma-assure na mangyayari yung pinapangako? Hindi po madali. Kasi kailangan ng follow-through at ‘yun ang importante.Yung mga pledges, una, ay ang tingin ko nanggagaling sa taas. Hindi lamang sa mga kumpanya, mga Chinese companies na nagsign.”
China has expressed keen interest in helping the Philippines become self-reliant in meeting its steel requirements by investing between $1.5 and $2 billion to put up a liquid steel plant here
(How can we assure that the pledges will be followed? It’s not going to be easy. We need to follow-through, and that’s what’s important. I believe the pledges are coming from higher officials, not just from the Chinese companies.)
“This time nararamdaman ko na ‘yung mga pledges, ‘yung mga MOUs [Memorandum of Understanding], ay talagang senyales ng mga opisyal sa taas na ‘this time we deliver, we deliver tangible benefits, tangible projects,” he added (This time, I feel that these pledges, the memorandums of understanding, are a sign from higher officials that ‘this time, we deliver, we deliver tangible benefits, tangible projects.’)
What Ambassador FlorCruz is saying, in short, is that the 14 bilateral agreements are worth their weight in gold since they have the backing of the Chinese government.
The academic lamented that while the previous Duterte administration wangled a total of $24 billion in investment pledges from Chinese businessmen when he visited Beijing in 2017, only a minuscule amount actually came in.
The Duterte administration had hoped that China would bring in precious funding for its ambitious “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program that envisioned 75 flagship projects, including roads and bridges, airports and seaports and an extensive railway system that would connect the three main islands.
But even as Duterte warmly welcomed the country’s participation in Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), only a few infrastructure projects were funded by the Chinese side for one reason or another.
Professor Calilung emphasized, like Ambassador FlorCruz, the importance of followthrough so that planned grand projects would not end up as epic failures.
Another resource person during the media forum, Lily Lim, a senior official of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FFCCCI), the largest group of Tsinoy entrepreneurs headed by Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong, likewise welcomed the signing of various economic cooperation agreements during the Marcos state visit to China.
She said the Filipino-Chinese business community fully supports the Marcos administration’s efforts to revive the economy amid daunting challenges, such as high inflation.
(Email: ernhil@yahoo.com)
in November, when, in addition to meeting with President Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte, she became the most senior US official ever to visit Palawan.
In my 37 years as a diplomat, I have never seen this level of bilateral engagement in such a short period of time.
It is a testament to the significance of our relationship.
And if what we see on the calendar for the new year is any indicator, our ties will continue to flourish in 2023.
All of us at the US Embassy are committed to strengthening the US-Philippine relationship, a cornerstone of the Biden administration’s IndoPacific Strategy.
We are excited that the Philippines became a founding partner in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, and we look forward to expanding our collaboration during the US-APEC host year.
This week, the US Embassy will highlight the rich US-Philippine economic partnership during the fifth Indo-Pacific Business Forum (IPBF), the US government’s premier annual regional event to promote trade, investment, and economic cooperation.
The United States is the largest market for Philippine goods and services in the world, and
2023 will also be a year to celebrate a milestone in bilateral ties: the 75th anniversary of the Fulbright program in the Philippines, and of people-to-people exchanges between our countries
the IPBF will highlight the Philippines’ role as an essential economic partner in multiple sectors.
We are honored by the many Filipino leaders from government and the private sector who will join us for this event.
Later this month, officials from the US State and Defense departments will lead a senior
US interagency delegation to the annual USPhilippine Bilateral Strategic Dialogue
The delegation will meet with representatives from the Departments of Foreign Affairs and National Defense, and other Philippine government partners to strategize about ways to advance cooperation in multiple fields, including energy and food security, defense, support for the judiciary, protecting the environment, and enhancing people-to-people ties.
In April, the U.S. and Philippine militaries will begin Exercise Balikatan 23, the largest joint military exercise in the history of our Alliance.
Our forces will work shoulder-to-shoulder on shared operations and tactics on land, at sea, and in the air. Philippine and US forces will also conduct multiple humanitarian and civic assistance projects during the exercise, including school renovations and health engagements with local communities.
Balikatan 23 will highlight the ironclad USPhilippine Alliance as a source of strength and stability for our peoples and others in the IndoPacific.
2023 will also be a year to celebrate a milestone in bilateral ties: the 75th anniversary of the Fulbright program in the Philippines, and of people-to-people exchanges between our countries.
Fulbright Philippines is the oldest continuously operating Fulbright program in the world. The program was the first in a rich array of exchanges with the Philippines, including the International Visitors Leadership Program, the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative, and many other programs.
Thousands of Filipinos and Americans have benefitted from these exchanges and brought those benefits back to their communities. We are also excited to welcome Peace Corps volunteers back to the Philippines this year.
Every day, the US Embassy team and I strive to channel the positive momentum in US-Philippine relations to advance our shared priorities.
The economic, political, security, and cultural efforts highlighted above represent just a fraction of what we expect to do in 2023.
The work we do together with our Filipino friends, partners, and allies is important: the US-Philippine relationship is central to ensuring an Indo-Pacific region that is free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient.
I can’t wait to see what we can achieve together in 2023 and beyond.
(The author is US Ambassador to the Philippines)
Professor Froilan Calilung, chair of the Department of Political Science of the University of Santo Tomas, shared the ambassador’s view that we should follow through on what has been agreed upon with the Chinese side, particularly when it comes to investment pledges.CHINA has suspended the issuing of short-term visas to South Koreans in response to Seoul’s imposition of travel restrictions on Chinese travellers over COVID concerns, Beijing’s embassy said Tuesday.
“Chinese embassies and consulates in Korea will suspend the issuance of shortterm visas for Korean citizens,” the embassy in Seoul said, adding the measures would be “adjusted again in line with South Korea’s removal of the discriminatory entry restrictions on China.”
CHINA on Tuesday said Australia should remember Japan’s war crimes during World War II before cosying up to the regional power.
Australia’s center-left government has been trying to repair its relationship with China, which soured considerably under the former conservative government.
But it has also recently signed a new security pact with China’s regional rival Japan, seen as an attempt to limit Beijing’s muscle in the Pacific region.
China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian said Canberra should be cautious about trusting Japan, given its attacks on Australia during World War II.
“During the Second World War Japan
Last month, Seoul imposed a wave of restrictions on travellers from China, including visa restrictions, testing requirements and some flight limits, citing a surge in COVID-19 infections.
Seoul has also capped flights from China, and travellers from the main-
land, Hong Kong and Macau have to test negative before travelling and are tested again on arrival.
Those testing positive are required to quarantine for a week, authorities have said.
China currently issues no tourist visas and requires a negative COVID test for all arrivals.
One Chinese national who tested positive on arriving in Seoul refused to quarantine and fled, sparking a two-day manhunt that dominated South Korean headlines.
Police eventually found the Chinese
invaded Australia, bombed Darwin, killed Australians and shot Australian (prisoners of war),” he told reporters.
“Be careful about what might happen in the future. When someone threatens you, he might threaten you again.
“China has been your friend.”
Xiao had bristled when asked about Japan’s ambassador to Australia, who told The Australian newspaper that there was a need to remain “vigilant” of China.
China slapped tariffs on key Australian exports such as barley and wine at the height of the dispute in 2020, and unofficially halted imports of Australian coal.
At one point Chinese government ministers even refused to take calls from their Australian counterparts. AFP
national – who was not identified, but described as a medical tourist – who will be questioned this week over the infraction, local media reported.
According to official figures, 2,224 Chinese nationals on short-term visas have landed in South Korea since January 2, with 17.5 percent testing positive on arrival.
South Korea has also restricted the issuing of short-term visas to Chinese nationals, excluding public officials, diplomats and those with crucial humanitarian and business purposes, until the end of January. AFP
THE leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada are expected to set aside simmering trade tensions and pursue deeper economic integration at talks on Tuesday that will also cover security and migration.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will host his US counterpart Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for three-way talks known as the “Three Amigos” summit.
While efforts to tackle migration and drug smuggling dominated a bilateral meeting between Lopez Obrador and Biden on Monday, the focus is expected to shift to the economy when Trudeau joins them.
Reinforcing regional economic ties “allows the United States to be the manufacturing powerhouse that President Biden has talked about but also is a win-win for Mexico and Canada,” White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.
Furthermore, it “reduces our dependencies on other countries and other parts of the world who don’t necessarily share the same values that we share with our partners here in North America,” he added.
Mexico hopes to benefit from Washington’s efforts to reduce its reliance on Asia-based manufacturers.
Last year, the Latin American nation was invited by the United States to join a multi-billion dollar push to boost semiconductor manufacturing to compete with China,
Biden revived the “Three Amigos” talks in 2021, seeking to restore normalcy to the three-way partnership after his predecessor Donald Trump shelved the regional summit.
But relations between Lopez Obrador and Biden have not been entirely smooth. AFP
chives,” he said.
Sauber described it as “a small number of documents with classified markings” that were found at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. He said they were in a locked closet at the time.
“The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry” and since handing them over, Biden’s attorneys have also cooperated “to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Ar-
CBS News reported that Attorney General Merrick Garland has assigned the US attorney in Chicago to review the documents and that the FBI is also investigating. According to the report, about 10 documents are involved and an unidentified source familiar with them said none contain nuclear secrets.
In August, authorities searched ex-president Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago after he failed to respond to repeated requests for cooperation on retrieving documents taken from the White House after his 2020 election loss. AFP
A 7.6-magnitude
di, an Indonesian in Ambon, told AFP. The country’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said at least 15 homes and two schools had been damaged in the Tanimbar Islands.
The epicentre of the quake was 427 kilometers (265 miles) south of the Indonesian island of Ambon at a depth of 95 kilometres, the US Geological Survey reported.
Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said the tremor was felt on the eastern islands of Timor, the Maluku archipelago and Papua. It reported some aftershocks at a magnitude of 5.5.
“I was in bed, then I felt a little shake. I woke up and found out that many of my friends felt it too,” Ham-
The strongest jolt was felt in Saumlaki, the archipelago’s biggest town with a population of 8,000 people, it said.
“For casualties, the local disaster agency reported one person was injured. The jolt was felt strongly (in Tanimbar) between three to five seconds,” BNPB spokesperson Abdul Muhari said in a statement Tuesday.
“People were panicking and fled their homes.”
Pictures shared by the agency showed damage to homes in several villages in Southwest Maluku Regency. AFP
China tells Australia: ‘Be careful of Japan’, rememberCLASSIFIED documents from the time when Joe Biden was serving as Barack Obama’s vice president have been found at a Washington think tank that Biden sometimes used as office space, the White House said Monday. Lawyers for Biden discovered the documents last November while clearing out the office space and handed them over to the National Archives, which handles all such materials, Biden’s special counsel Richard Sauber said.
“The White House is cooperating with the National Archives and the Department of Justice,” Sauber said in a statement.
LAST
1 LSC 0.63 0.14 28.57%
2 ROX 0.88 0.16 22.22%
3 MJIC 1.27 0.16 14.41%
4 VUL 1.02 0.09 9.68%
5 PBC 14 1.08 8.36%
6 LPC 0.131 0.01 8.26%
7 MPI 3.88 0.28 7.78%
8 BCB 4.67 0.33 7.60%
9 AXLM 2.79 0.17 6.49%
10 BSC 0.33 0.02 6.45%
1 SFIP 1.33 -0.55 -29.26%
2 APL 0.035 -0.004 -10.26%
3 VMC 2.65 -0.25 -8.62%
4 PERC 4.5 -0.36 -7.41%
5 MWP2B 94 -5.6 -5.62%
6 PNX 8.12 -0.47 -5.47%
7 LOTO 1.56 -0.09 -5.45%
8 NI 0.75 -0.04 -5.06%
9 TFHI 95 -5 -5.00%
10 SEVN 69 -3.5 -4.83%
VOLUME VALUE (PHP)
1 SM 594,580 537,147,695
2 BDO 4,136,650 461,202,849
3 TEL 291,615 417,382,425
4 ICT 1,852,750 372,822,897
5 SMPH 6,064,400 226,042,295
6 AC 317,790 223,940,935
7 MPI 57,352,000 218,331,370
8 JFC 772,810 186,964,036
9 BPI 1,761,460 184,252,607
10 RLC 10,979,600 164,609,434
BRUSSELS—Belgium has agreed on a deal with French energy firm Engie on extending the life of two nuclear reactors for a decade, the two sides said on Monday.
Brussels in March had announced it was delaying its long-planned exit from nuclear energy in 2025 for 10 years as Russia’s war on Ukraine sent power prices soaring.
The accord with Engie comes after months of fierce negotiation with the Belgian authorities over key questions such as how to set up the joint venture running the reactors and capping costs for the disposal of nuclear waste.
Engie said the “agreement in principle constitutes an important step and paves the way for the conclusion of full agreements in the upcoming months.”
“It also provides for the immediate start of environmental and technical studies prior to obtaining the authorizations related to this extension,” it said.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told a press conference that meant “work can start tomorrow for the extension of the two most recent reactors.”
Wedged between nuclear-powered France and gas-and-coal-dependent Germany, Belgium has relied on an aging stable of seven nuclear reactors operated by Engie for about half of its electricity needs.
The promise of a gradual phase-out of nuclear power has been enshrined in Belgian law since 2003, and the decision to delay the moratorium was fiercely resisted by the Greens party.
The plan outlined last year saw Belgium’s fragile coalition government agree to extend the operating lives of the Doel 4 reactor near the port city of Antwerp and Tihange 3 near Liege until 2035.
The move came after years of squabbling over the wisdom of the country’s nuclear exit. AFP
STOCKS retreated Tuesday, as growing optimism over China’s economic reopening was offset by warnings that US interest rates will continue to rise and stay elevated for some time.
The PSE index, the 30-company benchmark of the Philippine Stock Exchange, lost 33 points, or 0.49 percent, to close at 6,756.69, as five of the six subsectors declined.
The broader all-share index also dropped 9 points, or 0.27 percent, to settle at 3,559.23 on a value turnover of P20.64 billion. Losers outnumbered gainers, 101 to 86, while 51 issues were unchanged.
Four of the 10 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Metro Pacific
Investments Corp. which jumped 7.78 percent to P3.38 and International Container Terminal Services Inc. which rose 2.53 percent to P203.00.
Meanwhile, the peso breached the 54-a-dollar mark Tuesday to reach a sixmonth high against the greenback.
The peso gained P0.24 to close at 54.87 a dollar from 55.11 on Monday. It was the local currency’s strongest level in more than six months since it settled at 54.77 a dollar on June 28, 2022. Total volume turnover reached $1.067 billion, down from $1.219 billion previously.
“The peso again [is] stronger against the US dollar after the weaker US dollar vs. global, Asian, [and] Asean currencies recently,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said in a report.
“[The] market sentiment is also supported by Asia’s benchmark stock index [that] entered a bull market [+20 percent from the lows], as China’s reopening and a weakening US dollar lured investors back to the region,” Ricafort said.
He said global crude oil price reached one-year lows, which could help ease inflation.
“[The] peso is also stronger after the latest increase in the gross international reserves data to a four-month high at $96 billion, [and the] proceeds of the $3 billion global bond offering by the national government that could also add to the GIR and balance of payments,” he said.
He said the peso gained ahead of the release of US inflation data on Jan. 12 which is expected by the markets to ease further to 6.5 percent in December from the 11-month low of 7.1 percent in November 2022.
The peso depreciated by 9.3 percent against the US dollar in 2022, pulled down mainly by global uncertainties that impacted financial markets.
Meanwhile, equities have enjoyed a broadly strong start to the new year thanks largely to Beijing’s decision to throw off the shackles of its strict zero-Covid policy, which battered the economy.
BRUSSELS, Belgium—TikTok’s chief executive will hold talks with top EU officials in Brussels on Tuesday as the West steps up its scrutiny of the Chinese-owned social media giant.
Shou Zi Chew will meet EU vice presidents Margrethe Vestager and Vera Jourova, the bloc’s home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson and justice commissioner Didier Reynders.
On the agenda will be issues like privacy, content regulation, and child safety online.
TikTok, whose parent company ByteDance is Chinese, is under pressure on both sides of the Atlantic, as the West reviews its relations with Beijing on multiple fronts.
Some US lawmakers want to stop TikTok from operating in the United States, and last month, Washington banned the video-sharing app from federal government devices as fears grow about US citizens’ data in the hands of China.
ByteDance is already under investigation by the Irish privacy regulator, the DPC, over whether it violated the EU’s massive data protection law, the GDPR, in the way it processed children’s personal data and over transfers of data to China.
The DPC has submitted a draft decision in the investigation of children’s data to relevant supervisory authorities. In November, TikTok admitted that some staff in China can access the data of European users.
ByteDance also came under heavy criticism last year after it was revealed it spied on journalists from various media outlets, including Bloomberg.
The company strenuously denies the Chinese government has any control over TikTok.
The EU is building a formidable legal arsenal against technology companies, passing two major laws to ensure social media platforms follow the bloc’s rules.
Chew’s visit comes after the Digital Services Act (DSA), which imposes stricter online regulation, came into effect in November. AFP
SAN FRANCISCO—The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid by NSO Group to block a WhatsApp lawsuit accusing the Israeli tech firm of allowing mass cyberespionage of journalists and human rights activists.
The Supreme Court denied NSO’s plea for legal immunity and ruled that the case, which targets the company’s Pegasus software, can continue in a California federal court, a court filing showed.
By Julia Zappei with Elodie Le Maou in Leysin, Switzerland
SEMMERING, Austria—Brown hillsides and slivers of snow—a common sight across Europe’s Alps and a far cry from the winter wonderland tourists had banked on.
While some snow started to fall again early this week, Europe has seen “extreme” warm winter weather in recent days, experts say, with 2023 already posting record January temperatures across the region.
From Austria to France, Italy, and Switzerland, slopes have melted away —with temperatures too high even to make artificial snow.
Many lower-lying resorts have had to close, while others are offering reduced services.
“In the last days, it’s not been cold or wintery... so winter holidaymakers probably don’t really feel like skiing,” Nazar Nydza, managing director of the Semmering Hirschenkogel Bergbahnen told AFP.
‘Anxiety’
Until Monday, it had not snowed for weeks in Semmering, and temperatures had not dropped below minus three degrees Celsius (27 degrees Fahrenheit) in days, meaning it has not been economically viable to make artificial snow, ac-
cording to Nydza.
About a third of the slopes were closed in the small resort, which still held a World Cup race at the end of December and lay less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Vienna.
“It’s a shame. It would have been nice to come to Austria in the middle of winter and see it all snowy,” said Gregor Macara, 34, a climate scientist from New Zealand who was visiting a friend.
Further west, in Switzerland’s Leysin, near the border with France, student Alexis Boteron, 19, said that with artificial snow, “it’s not the best conditions for skiing.”
But he said it is “always a pleasure, we’re with our friends, we have fun.”
Many expressed worries about the ever-hotter temperatures and lack of snow.
Jean-Marc Gross, a hiker from Lausanne, said he felt “a little bit of anxiety about... what is happening to our climate and the future.”
Besides the lack of snow in Austria, an increase in the number of deadly ski accidents has also made headlines.
So far this season, 13 people have died in ski accidents, compared to a 10year average of seven for the same period, the Austrian Alpine Safety Board said in a statement last week.
Though investigations are ongoing,
some have said the lack of natural snow is making conditions tougher.
Amid such negative headlines, ski resorts and tourism officials across the Alpine regions are putting on a brave face after two years of coronavirus-related restrictions.
They say the final visitor numbers at the end of the season will matter -- so if it snows again, numbers could still be positive.
“The pre-season (before the holidays) was better than expected, that means people want to ski, people want to come back and do winter holidays,” said Walter Veit, president of the Austrian Hotelier Association, which represents mostly high-end hotels.
Yoga instead of skiing
Some ski stations have already moved to offer alternative activities, seeking to make up for the lack of snow.
The Swiss resort of Flumserberg, near Zurich, where just around a third of the length of slopes were open late last week, has organized special offers, including dance and yoga courses for those holding ski passes.
Torgon, a small family resort in the Valais Alps between 1,200 and 1,900 meters (3,900 and 6,200 feet) above sea level, has had to close for skiing, and hiking has taken its place on the slopes. AFP
Pegasus gives its government customers—which have allegedly included Mexico, Hungary, Morocco and India—near-complete access to a target’s device, including their personal data, photos, messages and location.
“We’re grateful to see the Supreme Court rejected NSO’s baseless petition,” said WhatsApp spokesperson Carl Woog.
“We firmly believe that their operations violate US law and they must be held to account for their unlawful operations.”
Meta-owned messaging service WhatsApp sued the Israeli technology firm in 2019, accusing it of targeting approximately 1,400 devices with spyware to steal information from people using the app.
“NSO’s spyware has enabled cyberattacks targeting human rights activists, journalists, and government officials,” Woog said.
NSO’s Pegasus software was described in court filings as enabling “law enforcement and intelligence agencies to remotely and covertly extract valuable intelligence from virtually any mobile device.”
The WhatsApp lawsuit said Pegasus was designed to be remotely installed to hijack devices using the Android, iOS, and BlackBerry operating systems.
NSO argued that it only markets Pegasus to governments and that it offered authorities a method to carry out
investigations on WhatsApp’s encrypted
Hong
THE Philippines returned to the international capital markets for the first time in 2023 with its $3-billion triple-tranche 5.5-year, 10.5-year and 25-year fixed-rate global bonds that were met by strong interest from investors, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said Tuesday.
The 25-year global bond was issued under the Republic’s Sustainable Finance Framework, marking the Philippines’ fourth G3 ESG bond offering.
It follows the country’s $2 billion triple- tranche bond offering in October 2022, JPY70.1 billion fourtranche Samurai bond offering in April 2022 and $2.25-billion tripletranche bond offering in March 2022.
“The new 5.5- and 10.5-year tranches were priced at T+105bps and T+145bps with a coupon of 4.625 percent and 5.00 percent respectively, 50bps tighter than initial price guidance of T+155bps area and T+195bps area, respectively. The 25-year Sustainability tranche was priced at 5.50 percent at par, 45bps tighter than initial price guidance of 5.95 percent area,” the Bureau of the Treasury said in a statement.
Global credit watcher Moody’s Investors Service on Monday gave an investment grade of “Baa2” to the bond offerings. The bonds were also rated “BBB” by Fitch Ratings. The transaction is expected to settle on Jan. 17, 2023.
“The robust demand for our first international bond offering in 2023 represents a strong vote of confidence by international investors. It is a testament to the Republic’s sound economic fundamentals and the resilience of our economy in the face of volatile global financial markets,” Diokno said.
“We are pleased to see international investors’ recognition of the Philippines’ strong economic recovery, sound fiscal policies and sensible socioeconomic agenda to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth,” he said. Julito G. Rada
The country’s trade deficit fell 21.9 percent in November to $3.677 billion from $4.71 billion a year ago, as exports expanded by 13.2 percent while imports declined 1.9 percent, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show.
This brought the 11-month trade deficit to $53.69 billion, higher than $37.113 billion in the same period in 2021. The balance of trade in goods deficit is the difference between the value of exports and imports.
Data showed that merchandise ex-
ports climbed to $7.1 billion in November from $6.273 billion a year earlier. This resulted in total exports of $73.169 billion in the 11-month period, up 7 percent from $68.374 billion a year ago.
The peso climbed Tuesday to a sixmonth high of 54.87 against the dollar following the release of the November foreign trade report. The peso fell to a record low of 59 against the greenback in November.
“[The] peso is also stronger today after the latest trade deficit, still among the narrowest in more than a year or since August 2021,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said.
Ricafort said the stronger peso against the US dollar could help reduce import costs and overall inflation.
The PSA said of the top 10 major commodity groups, five recorded annual increases in terms of the value of
exports in November.
These were other mineral products (which grew 51.0 percent) such as nickel oxide sinters and other intermediate products of nickel metallurgy and nickel ores; ignition wiring set and other wiring sets used in vehicles, aircrafts and ships (23.1 percent); electronic products (22.9 percent); cathodes and sections of cathode, of refined copper (8.7 percent); and other manufactured goods (4.8 percent) such as blister copper and other unrefined copper and other cigarettes containing tobacco. Electronic products remained the country’s top export in November with total earnings of $4.57 billion. This accounted for 64.3 percent of the total exports during the period. This was followed by other manufactured goods with an export value of $337.78 million (4.8 percent); and other mineral products, which amounted to $244.89 million (3.4 percent).
6,756.69
1.218700 67.2284
Dollar 0.128149 7.0692
Switzerland Franc 1.085423 59.8763
Canada Dollar 0.746993 41.2071
Singapore Dollar 0.751710 41.4673
Australia Dollar 0.691100 38.1238
Bahrain Dinar 2.653083 146.3547
Saudi Arabia Rial 0.266255 14.6877
Brunei Dollar 0.748895 41.3120
Indonesia Rupiah 0.000064 0.0035
Thailand Baht 0.029913 1.6501
UAE Dirham 0.272287 15.0204
Euro Euro 1.073200 59.2020
Korea Won 0.000807 0.0445
China Yuan 0.147645 8.1447
India Rupee 0.012170 0.6713
Malaysia Ringgit 0.228676 12.6147
New Zealand Dollar 0.636800 35.1284
Taiwan Dollar 0.032811 1.8100 Source: BSP
THE Philippines continues to recover from the impact of the global pandemic, but preparation is needed to meet other possible challenges ahead, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Felipe Medalla said Tuesday.
Medalla issued the statement during the release of the 2022 Financial Stability Report by the Financial Stability Coordination Council. The report underscored the importance of building the system’s resilience, amid fast-changing market conditions in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment.
Medalla noted the country’s continuing recovery from the disruptions caused by the pandemic. He highlighted a strong growth and the improving employment figures. He also underscored the need to be prepared for the challenges ahead.
“The supply and distribution of key commodities such as oil and food are still not where they were pre-pandemic. These bottlenecks would keep consumer prices high. The policy response, though, of raising interest rates will eventually affect the demand side of economic activity. How these changing demand and supply patterns manifest in 2023 at the global stage remains to be seen,” Medalla said.
Julito G. RadaWEST zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. said Tuesday it is spending P19 billion over the next five years to install 121 kilometers of new sewer lines to expand sewerage services.
HALF of the big companies in the Philippines reported that their hiring plans are now back to the pre-pandemic levels, according to online employment portal JobStreet by Seek.
Based on “2022-2023 Outlook - Hiring, Compensation, and Benefits Report”, one in two companies with over 160 employees in the Philippines said they returned to their preferred mode of hiring prior to the pandemic, but the emergence of remote working technology also affected the type of jobs being hired.
“As we return to pre-pandemic conditions, the competition for talent will also increase given current global conditions. Companies need to be able to strategize on their talent attraction and retention to remain at the top of employees’ minds. This includes providing compensation, benefits, and other programs that can enrich the working experience,” said JobStreet Philippines country manager Philip Gioca.
JobStreet surveyed 438 firms from large, medium to small companies in the Philippines, with the majority of companies surveyed being large.
Most companies surveyed had hired employees full-time, and only one in four companies laid off at least one employee in the past six months.
Based on the job functions, information technology, transportation and logistics, accounting, administration and HR and customer service are recovering in terms of hiring.
The survey also showed that the job functions most impacted by remote working technology and flexible working culture were those related to customer service, with most roles being hired on a part-time basis as the pandemic subsided.
JobStreet also found that small companies were more likely to increase their permanent full-time staff in the next three months including roles in sales/business development, admin and HR and information technology.
Large companies are looking to increase their workforce by maintaining or improving the number of part-time staff or hours worked, a signal that most small companies are expecting an uptick in sales and demand, it said.
MANILA Electric Co. said Tuesday it would proceed with negotiations with Solar Philippine Batangas Baseload Corp. over the latter’s unsolicited proposal for 200-megawatt baseload supply after other companies did not submit any competitive bids in the second round of the competitive selection process.
Meralco’s third-party bids and awards committee said in a report it did not receive any competitive bids from any challenger during the bid submission deadline on Jan. 10.
“SPBBC will provide the capacity
using solar and battery in compliance with Meralco’s Renewable Portfolio Standards requirement,” Meralco vice president and head of utility economics Lawrence Fernandez said.
“Once negotiations are completed, Meralco will enter into a power supply agreement with the original proponent and seek regulatory approval for the contract,” Fernandez said.
The TPBAC said that as there was no outstanding dispute on the first and second rounds of the competitive challenge for the contract, the distribution utility may enter into direct negotiation for the contract capacity requirement, as provided by the revised CSP rules.
SPBBC’s offer involves a 20-year contract starting 2024 at P4.65 per kilowatt-hour at 100-percent capacity factor.
It will source its contract capacity and guaranteed output from its 1,800MW solar project and 1,800-MWh of battery energy storage system.
SPBBC may also get backup power from other plants in its renewable energy portfolio.
Meralco, the country’s biggest power retailer with more than 7.5 million customers, has been trying to provide the least-cost power supply to consumers by diversifying its generation portfolio.
The new sewer pipelines which will be positioned in Manila, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Bacoor, Las Piñas, Caloocan and Quezon City, will catch used water generated by around 2.1 million customers and convey it to sewage treatment plants for proper treatment before discharge to the ecosystem.
“The installation of new sewer lines is part of our effort to protect community health and the environment through proper sewage collection and treatment. We hope for the continued support of the local government units so that we can fast track the implementation of these pipelaying projects in their area,” said Maynilad chief operating officer Randolph Estrellado.
Maynilad said to minimize public inconvenience resulting from the pipe-laying activities, it closely coordinates with the barangays and communities. Affected roads are also immediately restored with temporary asphalt pavement to make the roads passable to motorists.
Othel V. Campos
FILINVEST REIT Corp., the real estate investment trust company of Filinvest Land Inc., said Tuesday it redeemed P6 billion worth of bonds.
FILREIT said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it completed the payment on Jan. 9 of five-year P6-billion bonds which matured on Jan.7.
“The bonds were paid in full the following business day, Jan. 9, 2023, through the company’s paying agent, the Philippine Depository & Trust Corp.,” FILREIT said.
The bonds were issued in July 2017 and had a coupon rate of 5.0496 percent per annum.
The proceeds from the bond offering were used to finance the construction and operation of five office buildings in Filinvest City Alabang and Cyberzone in Cebu City.
FILREIT’s portfolio consists of 17 Grade A office buildings with over 300,000 square meters of gross leasable area valued by an independent appraisal company at P48.5 billion. Jenniffer B. Austria
THE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board on Tuesday ordered Grab Philippines to submit pertinent records on how they compute the so-called “surge fees” and “short trip rides” schemes.
The board en banc, headed by chairman Teofilo Guadiz, instructed Grab Philippines to explain and show all documents related to the way they charge fees for certain ride distances, which is often pegged at P85.
It asked Grab how it arrived at
the fare and ordered it to present the computation on “surge” fees in the next hearing on Jan. 12 at 10 a.m.
LTFRB initially scheduled a hearing on Dec. 13 where it asked Grab to explain and justify the alleged overcharging of passengers’ fare through the surge fee mechanism.
Atty. Ariel Inton, founding president of Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection, said the Grab officers should have brought with them the documents, knowing that they would be attending a hearing on the issue.
“On Dec. 13 scheduled hearing
they failed to attend claiming COVID infection as a reason. Now that they are here, even without those documents they must explain and clarify this surge fee fiasco,” Inton said.
Inton asked the LTFRB to come out with its parameters on the surge fee as thousands of commuters are affected daily by Grab’s practice.
Grab Philippines, in a statement, thanked the LTFRB for the opportunity to clarify key questions on its transport business’ pricing mechanisms.
The company said it was looking
forward to further expounding on the matter in the next hearing.
“Despite the shortage of drivers, Grab is making every possible effort to support commuters and existing driver-partners—while still remaining compliant with the fare matrix of the LTFRB,” Grab Philippines said.
“Grab hopes to put to rest these unfounded allegations, and address the most important issue at hand: resolving the country’s long-standing transport challenges for every Filipino commuter,” it said.
plans of most big firms now back at pre-pandemic levels
allow only seven countries to field in participants.
With the POC seeking full participation in the competitions, Tolentino will dig deeper to find out the status of bodybuilding, which has reportedly been scrapped, and what’s going on with muay thai as well.
THE bill concerning Justin Brownlee’s naturalization has been signed on its third and final reading in Congress, with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s signature the only one missing.
This means that Brownlee will have a great chance of wearing the Gilas Pilipinas uniform in the coming 2023 Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia in May, when his naturalization papers will have been already signed.
Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham ‘Bambol’ Tolentino said that the opportunity for Brownlee to play for flag and country is getting better.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas has included Brownlee in the Gilas roster, in a bid to reclaim the gold in men’s basketball in the biennial meet.
The Philippines lost the gold in after Indonesia, reinforced by former NBA player Marques Bolden, swept the cage tournament.
Tolentino said he will make sure to get a hold on the basketball rosters of other SEA countries to see whether they will be using naturalized players in the tournament.
“Titignan natin kung sino ‘yung ina-accredit ng Cambodia sa basketball para makapaghanda tayo,” said Tolentino. “Baka surpresahin na naman tayo sa Cambodia. Baka may exNBA player na naman.”
The organizers have focused on putting a lot of events in combat sports, with members of the Philippine national team unfamiliar to many of them.
Philippine Olympic Committee president and Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino learned this a few hours before he was to attend a virtual meeting of the SEA Games Federation Council.
“Medyo mabigat ang ginawa ng host country. They have put in a lot of martial arts events and even non-martial events, and limited the number of countries that can join most of them,” said Tolentino during Tuesday’s weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum.
For a country of less than 17 million people, Cambodia has lined up 608 events in 49 sports, far bigger than the 530 events in 56 sports in the Manila edition in 2019 and the 526 events in 40 sports in Hanoi last year.
But it doesn’t mean that the Philip-
pines, this early, is giving up the fight for the biennial event scheduled May 5 to 17.
Tolentino said the POC will still make sure that the Philippines will be represented well in as many events in Cambodia, and hope to match or improve on its fourth-place finish in Hanoi in May 2022.
“Salihan natin lahat ng events sa Cambodia,” he said during the forum presented by San Miguel Corporation, MILO, Philippine Sports Commission, POC, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.
The POC has recently assembled an 814-strong Team Philippines delegation to the Cambodia meet following the completion of two consultative meetings with national sports associations last October.
Among the sports where there are limitations is karatedo, where there are 15 events, with participating countries
Cambodia finished at No. 8 in the last SEA Games edition, winning nine gold medals along with 13 silver and 41 bronzes. Providing the golds for the country were vovinam with three and petanque with 2, then kickboxing, wrestling and taekwondo with one each.
Tolentino said it will be very difficult for Cambodia to win the overall title this year.
“Based on their formula hindi kaya mag-first. Pero sasaksak sa taas ‘yun whether second, third or fourth. So baka battle for fourth na naman. Tingnan natin,” said the POC president.
Tolentino said it will be a busy year for the Philippines, since the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China are set from Sept. 23 to Oct 8.
After that, it’s the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games from Nov. 17 to 26 in Bangkok, Thailand.
DANNY “The King” Kingad returns to the ONE Championship Circle next month against a fast-rising Indonesian MMA star.
The #3-ranked flyweight faces Eko Roni Saputra on the main card of ONE Fight Night 7: Lineker vs. Andrade II on February 25 at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Kingad was supposed to join his Team Lakay squad in ONE’s return to Manila last December, but his opponent Gurdarshan Mangat had to withdraw from the bout due to injury.
Now Kingad will finally get a chance to bounce back after his decision loss to Kairat Akhmetov, and he’ll try to do that by stopping the red-hot Saputra, who’s riding a seven-fight winning streak.
In that stretch, Saputra scored five submissions, but he also proved that he’s got power in his hands after knocking out Liu Peng Shuai in 2021.
While he’s been taking care of business in the Circle, he hasn’t faced someone like Kingad.
Kingad might probably be the most explosive athlete on the dynamic Team Lakay roster, with his seemingly bottomless gas tank and non-stop motor.
That means he’s explosive enough to hang with the Indonesian’s wrestling and has the capabilities to light him up on the feet, should the match stay there.
While a win will be crucial for Saputra and his hopes of barging into the rankings, this bout is equally as important for Kingad, especially since he’s looking for a rematch against either Demetrious Johnson or Adriano Moraes.
Johnson and Moraes will be wrapping up their trilogy for the American’s ONE Flyweight World Title at ONE Fight Night 10 this May, and an impressive win for Kingad could put him right back into the World Title mix.
Kingad and Saputra will be joining a stacked card bannered by the massive rematch between John Lineker and Fabricio Andrade for the vacant ONE Bantamweight World Title.
Catch all the ONE Championship action by downloading the ONE Super App.
Coach
Game time is set at 5:45 p.m., with Ginebra determined to end it and claim another Commissioner’s Cup crown.
“We realized that we have to come up with a better defensive presence,” said Cone after the Gin Kings took Game 5 with a 101-91 victory.
The Kings are keen on breaking a tie with Magnolia and Alaska by becoming the league’ second most winningest squad with a 15th crown.
In Game 5, Cone let Justine Brownlee take over defensively by making stops on Zhu Zhongwei and switches on Hayden Blankley, and doing help defenses.
But Game 6 will be a different scenario from the previous game, where the Dragons missed two key players—import Andrew Nicholson and top point guard Glen Yang, who both nursed ankle injuries.
To make up for Nicholson’s absence, the Dragons are bringing back Myles Powell, who has been out for Bay Area since late November following a foot injury.
The former NBA pro has averaged 37.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.0 steals per game.
The Gin Kings will find out if they can bring in LA Tenorio, who sat out the last quarter in Game 5 due to a strained hamstring.
“I kept telling them, we’re certainly not gonna blow ’em out, we’re certain they have capabilities that they’re gonna go away in runs from us, but don’t look at the scoreboard and just keep playing until it’s finished,” said Bay Area coach Brian Goorjian, who is expected to make more adjustments in a bid to force another series deadlock. Peter Atencio
In the SEA Games, Cambodia organizers only require a passport to be eligible to play for a certain country.
Peter Atencio
MATTHEW “Chew” Daves will not be playing out his final year with Ateneo de Manila University.
The 24-year-old Filipino-Canadian big man has told the school that he plans on turning pro after graduating this June.
“We at Ateneo support our athlete’s decision if they want to turn professional. More than winning a championship, our program’s main goal is to turn student-athletes into professionals,” said Blue Eagles team manager Christopher “Epok” Quimpo.
“They will be always welcome to train with us in order to continue the process of becoming better players heading into the pro league,” added Quimpo as Daves joins Dave Ildefonso, Angelo Kouame, BJ Andrade, and Jacob Lao as Blue Eagles who ended their collegiate careers after UAAP Season 85.
The 6’5” Daves committed to Ateneo back in 2018 after graduating from Central Tech in Toronto.
He was part of the Ateneo team that won gold in seasons 81, 82, and 85.
In his senior year, Daves averaged 1.93 points and 1.13 rebounds in eight minutes of play.
But it was in the Finals when he made his mark.
In Game 2, he put up six points in 15 solid minutes of action while in the clincher, he tallied four points and two rebounds while going a plus-17 in the 13 minutes he was on the floor.
“To the Ateneo community, I just want to say thank you for accepting and supporting me these last four years,” said Daves, who already has obtained a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies.
“Ateneo is my home and I will never forget the memories we all made together.”
Quimpo hopes that the next batch of Eagles will be able to carry on the legacy left by the school’s graduating players.
“We will miss their veteran leadership but we are confident that the incoming recruits and our next seniors will not allow the team’s standards and pursuit of excellence to be diminished,” said Quimpo.
KIMI Brodeth hopes to ride the momentum of her title romp in the Masters Top 8, gunning for no less than two titles in the PPS-PEPP Iloilo City national juniors tennis championships, which get going today (Wednesday) at LaPaz Plaza courts.
The Ormoc City star turned back Bacolod’s Hannah Divinagracia, 4-6, 6-0, 6-0, to claim the girls’ 16-U trophy in last Monday’s Masters Top 8 in San Carlos, Negros Occidental, which kicked off another busy season for the country’s leading and rising players in the junior ranks.
But Brodeth, who racked up a number of PPS-PEPP leg titles in last year’s edition of the country’s longest talent-search presented by Dunlop, will not only be shooting for her age-group crown but also for the 18-U plum in the Group 1 tournament sponsored by Mayor Jerry Trenas and executive assistant for Youth and Sports Rudiver Jungco, Sr.
Three other campaigners who shone in the Masters Top 8 are also in the fold, including boys’ 12-U winner Gabrio Serillo, girls’ 12-U champion Maristella Torrecampo, and girls’ 14-U titlist Jana Diaz, who, however, has opted to compete in the 16-U play of the event put up by Palawan Pawnshop, headed by president/CEO Bobby Castro.
Over 150 entries are vying for titles in nine age-group divisions with the 10-U category back in the PPS-PEPP calendar with Ma. Caroliean Fiel, finalist in last week’s Masters’ girls’ 12-U class, co-headlining the mixed cast that includes Naseem Serillo, Prince Crisosto and Francisco de Juan III.
Vince Serna and Ariel Cabaral, along with Benedict Santiago and Randy Pausanos, banner the boys’ 18-U field with Sanchena Francisco out to crowd Brodeth in the distaff side of the premier category of the event backed by ProtekTODO, PalawanPay, the Unified Tennis Philippines and UTR (Universal Tennis Rating).
Cabaral also leads the 16-U roster that also drew Reign Miravilla and siblings Frank and France Dilao with Joy Ansay and Francisco all primed to foil the projected Brodeth-Diaz title showdown.
PHILIPPINE Sports Commission chairman Richard Bachmann’s first order of mission for the PSC manpower—no delays on the financial support that PSC provides the athletes.
Bachmann, on his very first flagraising ceremony as the sports agency’s 12th chairman, made very clear his intent to be of service to the athletes.
“‘Yun ang pinaka urgent na bagay para matulungan natin sila. If there is any delay of allowances of any athlete, paki delay din ‘yung akin. My salary also. Give me the names of those athletes, give me the names of the NSAs, ako na ‘yung maghahabol. Because, when I say that there is no delay in allowances, I’m going to make it happen,” declared Bachmann.
The PSC chief also laid down his plans to bring back free meals for the members of the Philippine team.
He also encouraged the PSC workforce to come to him if they have any suggestions or thoughts they want to share relative to the service they carryout for their clients.
“I work best when I am on the ground - talking and listening to people I am supposed to serve,” said Bachmann, adding “I would rather go to the athlete, and I also encourage our commissioners to do the same.”
Bachmann, who was joined by commissioners Edward Hayco, Olivia “Bong’’ Coo and Walter Torres plans to take up a four-point priority plan with his commissioners as they hold a board meeting today.
Aside from supporting the athletes, the newly-appointed sports chairperson also assured the PSC family that they are part of his priority as he addressed them Tuesday saying, “kayo rin ay mga MVPs, because of the work you do to support our athletes.” The PSC employees also greeted chairman Bachmann, who will be celebrating his birthday tomorrow, January 11.
LOS ANGELES—Buffalo Bills player
Damar Hamlin was discharged from hospital in Cincinnati on Monday, just a week after suffering a cardiac arrest during an NFL game, medical staff confirmed.
Hamlin was released from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and flew to Buffalo where he will continue his recovery at another hospital.
“We are thrilled and proud to share that Damar Hamlin has been released from the hospital and returned to Buffalo,” UC Medical Center said.
“He is doing well and this is the next stage of his recovery.”
In separate posts on Twitter, Hamlin thanked medical staff in Cincinnati while paying tribute to the outpouring of goodwill across the sporting world.
“Grateful for the awesome care I received at UCMC,” Hamlin wrote, adding that staff at his new hospital, Buffalo General Medical Center, have “already made me feel at home!”
“Watching the world come together around me on Sunday was truly an amazing feeling,” Hamlin added in a separate tweet.
“The same love you all have shown me is the same love that I plan to put back into the world ‘n more.”
The 24-year-old safety was left in critical condition last Monday after collapsing during the Bills’ clash with the Cincinnati Bengals, forcing the abandonment of the game.
The scary incident shocked the sports world and once again drew more scrutiny on the physically punishing nature of America’s most popular sport.
Hamlin had made steady progress since being admitted to hospital last week, regaining consciousness on Wednesday before addressing teammates via a video call on Friday.
University of Cincinnati Medical Center physician William Knight, who accompanied Hamlin to the airport before his transfer to Buffalo on Monday, cautioned it was still too early to say whether the Bills player would resurrect his NFL career.
‘Premature’ comeback talk
“I think we’re in the same place—it’s entirely too premature to discuss not only his football, we’re focused on his day-to-day recovery,” Knight told reporters during a briefing.
“He still has a ways to go in terms of his recovery. We’re thrilled where he is today. He’s up, he’s walking around, he has an amazing sense of humor.
“But in terms of any kind of conjecture about his future, that’s still significantly into the future. It’s going to be up to Damar.” AFP
TNT kicks off the Philippine side’s campaign in the East Asia Super League Champions Week as it battles defending B. League champion Utsunomiya Brex on opening night of the regional league on March 1 at the Brex Arena.
The 7:30 p.m. encounter (Japan time) serves as the main game of the opener’s doubleheader that will have Anyang KGC featuring Filipino import Rhenz Abando taking on Taipei Fubon Braves in the curtain raiser at 5 p.m.
The following day, PBA Philippine Cup champion San Miguel Beer makes its debut against another B League runner up Ryukyu Golden Kings, even as Commissioner’s Cup guest team Bay Area Dragons tackle the Seoul SK Knights in the other game.
Utsunomiya will host the first six games of the eight-game group
stage, before the tournament travels to Okinawa, where the Golden Kings host the remaining two group stage games, before proceeding with the championship match and third place game at their newly-built home, the Okinawa City Multi-Purpose Stadium, which will also serve as the venue for the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
“EASL is excited to hold Champions Week in Japan, in collaboration with the B. League after over three years of no games on the court due to COVID-19,” said EASL CEO Matt Beyer. “Basketball continues to rise in popularity in Japan and across the region, and EASL Champions Week will provide a foundation for our home-and-away season beginning in October 2023.”
The eight teams have been divided
into two groups of four teams each, with Group A comprised of San Miguel, Anyang KGC, Taipeh Fubon Braves, and Ryukyu Golden Kings, while Group B includes TNT, Seoul SK Knights, Bay Area Dragons, and Utsunomiya Brex.
But owing to time constraints, each team will only play two games during the group stage.
The rest of the group stage will have TNT vs SK Knights at 5 p.m., and the Dragons against the Brex at 7:30 p.m. on March 3.
The Beermen then open hostilities in Okinawa by going up against Abando and KGC on March 4 in the first game, followed by the Kings taking on the Braves at 7:30 p.m.
The eight teams have been divided into two groups of four teams each, with Group A comprised of San
Miguel, Anyang KGC, Taipeh Fubon Braves, and Ryukyu Golden Kings, while Group B includes TNT, Seoul SK Knights, Bay Area Dragons, and Utsunomiya Brex.
But owing to time constraint, each team will only play two games during the group stage.
The top two teams in each group dispute the championship and the $250,000 prize money on March 5, while the two best teams in each group will battle for third place worth $50,000.
The runner-up meanwhile, takes home $100,000.
“We are very excited to host the highly-anticipated EASL Champions Week on our home courts in Japan,” said B. League chairman Shinji Shimada. “We are pleased to be able to hold EASL Champions Week as a
home event for the Ryukyu Golden Kings and Utsunomiya Brex. I hope Japanese basketball fans will enjoy it and support the teams during their B. League season and during the EASL Champions Week as the two B. League teams are aiming to be number one in East Asia.”
EASL Champions Week is finalizing broadcast deals with top indigenous broadcasters in all core EASL geographies and globally. Further news on how to tune into EASL Champions Week as well as where to purchase tickets will be released soon.
EASL Champions Week is finalizing broadcast deals with top indigenous broadcasters in all core EASL geographies and globally. Further news on how to tune into EASL Champions Week as well as where to purchase tickets will be released soon
FORMER NBA star Nick Young has finally arrived in the country to join the rest of the
Group team that has less than three weeks to ramp up its preparation and develop chemistry in time for the 32nd Dubai International Championship from Jan. 27 to Feb. 5.
The former Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors forward landed in the country on Monday, Jan. 9 along with fellow NBA player and former PBA import Shabazz Muhammad.
“Just landed in the Philippines,” tweeted by the one-time NBA champion who already met with Strong Group head coach Charles Tiu.
“Welcome to Manila @NickSwagyPYoung and @ShabazzMuhammad ! Let’s kill it in Dubai,” wrote Tiu while posting a photo with the two NBA players.
Strong Group owner Jacob Lao was likewise delighted with the arrival of the two imports, believing they will both play key roles in their bid to keep the country’s dominance in the annual event won by Mighty Sports the last time in 2020.
Young will be reinforcing a Strong Group side which is looking to retain the title in the tournament which was last won by then Philippine representative, Mighty Sports in 2020 before the annual tilt took a two-year hiatus
due to the Covid-19 pandemic
Young is joining fellow NBA player and former PBA import Renaldo Balkman along with Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player Ange Kouame and Fil-American guard Sedrick Barefield.
Also named in the lineup are Korean Basketball League-bound Justine Baltazar, NCAA MVP and College of St. Benilde forward Will Gozum, and former Ateneo Blue Eagles BJ Andrade and Inand Fornillos.
Tiu is hopeful Tiu’s system before they fly to Dubai and face other basketball clubs from Dubai, Lebanon and other Middle East countries.
“I want to assure everyone that I am here to be of service. Period. No personal agenda. I am here to serve our national athletes, the NSAs, and the PSC organization.” assured Bachmann.PSC chairman Richard Bachmann
The story follows Pam (Kim Molina), the “okay” girlfriend who is in her late 20s. Pam has been longing to finally move on to the next chapter of her life and marry her longtime boyfriend Jiggs (Gab Lagman). Despite their seven-year relationship, Jiggs has given no hints in popping the question to Pam. As it turns out, he is not so sure that Pam is the one for him. Hurt and insulted, Pam breaks up with Jiggs but regrets it almost immediately after realizing that Jiggs still owns her heart.
Instead of moving on from her now ex-boyfriend, Pam formulates a plan to make Jiggs want her back and make him realize that Pam is the one for him. With help from her friends, they will hire and create the perfect guy to make Jiggs jealous. This guy would be Isko (Jerald Napoles), a simple Buko Juice vendor who, in exchange for a good amount of money, agrees to pretend and be the perfect boyfriend for Pam.
What was at first a fake and forced relationship turns into a happy companionship as Pam and Isko’s humor jive perfectly, and realize that they also have a lot in common. Jiggs and their friends also begin to notice a change in Pam and her growing closeness with Isko.
Jiggs becomes jealous and now
“It’s so happy. It’s really really happy.”
Short, sweet, and meaningful. That’s the quick answer of Kylie Padilla when asked about the state of her heart.
“Let’s just put it that way,” she told Manila Standard Entertainment in an exclusive interview during her contract renewal with GMA Network’s talent management arm, Sparkle.
While she had a hard and tough year in 2021 and a challenging 2022, the actress is now positively looking forward to a good year in 2023.
“My life is an open book and people knew my struggles. When 2022 started, I was feeling afraid because a lot of changes were happening. Humugot ako ng lakas sa mga anak ko just focused on my kids, humugot ng lakas at inspirasyon just faced each day and tried to be present each day.”
In July 2021, Kylie broke her silence over her split with Abrenica whom she married in 2018. They have two kids together, Alas and Axl
“It was my personal journey and my trip to Thailand helped me to heal,” she said alluding to her life-changing sojourn in Thailand where she visited a few temples and scenic spots. She considers it one of the highlights of her “personal journey.”
“I learned to be a better person every day. That’s my goal. And not to be hard on myself because when you’re healing, it really takes time.
Healing doesn’t happen immediately. I’m still in my healing process but I have to try my best. Kung kaya kong bilisan, bibilisan ko,” she added.
While she draws strength from her children, she’s learned to also depend on herself to deal with the challenges that confront her.
“It can’t be all about my kids all the time, I needed to be strong for my children. I had to learn how to be patient with myself so I could be patient with my children. I can’t give out something I don’t have,” Kylie said.
Meanwhile, Kylie believes that renewing her ties with GMA Network came at a very opportune time. After the top-rating series Bolera, she has a few projects in the pipeline and will work on a movie, which she considers her dream project.
“I
Kylie is grateful for the opportunity that her mother network has
on her lap, to which she wanted to return the favor by giving her “best as an actor” and by continuously seeking to improve her craft.
“I’m just so excited to continue work with GMA. I feel that after the last two years, I was given another chance to prove myself. And we are very collaborative with my projects now, I think it’s about time to take risks with regard to my project and they’re ready to support me with that goal,” she concluded.
HORROR-COMEDY
Renfield is a modern monster tale of Dracula’s loyal servant, Hoult stars as Renfield, the tortured aide to history’s most narcissistic boss, Dracula (Nicolas Cage).
Renfield is forced to procure his master’s prey and do his every bidding, no matter how debased. But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is ready to see if there’s a life outside the shadow of The Prince of Darkness. If only he can figure out how to end his codependency.
Renfield
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The film co-stars Awkwafina (The Farewell, Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings), Ben Schwartz (Sonic, The Afterparty), and Adrian Martinez (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Focus).
Renfield is a Universal Pictures International release that will open in Philippine cinemas in April.
FILIPINA American H.E.R. (an abbreviation of ‘Having Everything Revealed’) is in Manila to celebrate the long Christmas season with her family.
Also known as Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson or Gabi for short, H.E.R. is currently one of the most celebrated and accomplished twentysomething singersongwriters in the international music industry.
To celebrate her many successes, ABS-CBN Global and MYX hosted an exclusive Mixer Event attended by partners, personalities from the music industry, and the country’s leading entertainment press last December 27 at Sheraton Manila Hotel.
ABS-CBN Global Chief Operating Officer Aldrin M. Cerrado also welcomes the opportunity to showcase Filipino talent to the country and the world.
“We’re very happy that H.E.R. is in town for the holidays. ABS-CBN Global and MYX are very excited about the projects we will work on together in the
coming months,” he says.
The 25-year-old San Francisco Bay Area native daughter of a Filipina American mother and African American father has landed in many headlines recently highlighting new career heights in music and film/TV.
With 25 GRAMMY nominations and 5 wins to date, H.E.R. has had an incredible journey, punctuated with inspiring projects and accolades that have quickly ascended her to superstar status. In 2021, her powerful song “Fight For You” from the Warner Bros. Pictures film Judas and the Black Messiah won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
H.E.R. was also covered by global media for her
role as the
HOW’S your first month of 2023 coming along?
Coming from the busiest and most festive time of the year, January is traditionally the quiet month for the performing arts industry. I’ve always thought of January as the warm-up before things get so hectic once more.
It is the time when cultural organizations, performing companies, and other art institutions are planning their artistic programs for the year ahead, or simply taking a breather before starting the creative engine again.
Looking at my calendar, things are really starting to pick up steam, especially at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).
We continue with the special screening of the CCP Met Opera Live in HD, featuring Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti’s La Fille Du Regiment yesterday (January 10) at the Ayala Malls Cinema. This special program of the CCP Film, Broadcast and New Media Division, is in partnership with the Metropolitan Opera of New York, aims to showcase operatic productions through high-definition digital video technology and Dolby sound, recreating the experience of watching an opera production at the Met “live.”
Our outreach projects kick off with the back-to-back concert of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra in Guimaras and Iloilo.
I believe this is the first time that the CCP resident orchestra company is performing in the province of Guimaras, happening today (January 11), at 7:00 p.m., at the Guimaras Museum.
The PPO moves and performs on January 13 (Friday), 6:30 p.m., at the Iloilo Convention Center as one of the opening events of the Dinagyang Festival, the biggest religious and cultural festival in the province.
Under the baton of resident conductor Maestro Herminigildo Ranera, PPO will perform “Poet and Peasant Overture,” “Carmen Suite No. 1,” “Andante Cantabile” from String Quartet No. 1,
Sabre Dance, “On the Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz” and selections from the Phantom of the Opera in Guimaras.
Meanwhile, for the Iloilo Dinagyang Opening Salvo Concert, the orchestra will play “Nabucco Overture,” “Carmen Suite No. 2,” “Sabre Dance,” selections from Annie, Mutya ng Pasig, Pakiusap, and Tritsch Tratsch Polka, traditional lullaby “Ili Ili Tuloy Anay,” “Star Wars Medley,” Aegis in Symphony, and many more.
The concerts are free and open to the public. Friends in Iloilo and Guimaras, please do come and enjoy world-class performances from The Nightingales Local talents Jomel Garcia (tenor) and Amabelle Pamocol Castro (soprano) will serenade the crowd for the Iloilo concert.
Those who are not in Iloilo and Guimaras can still watch the concerts; they will be live-streamed via the official CCP Facebook page.
The last installment of Triple Threats concert series, featuring Poppert Bernadas , pushes through on January 14 (Saturday), 7:30 p.m., at the Tanghalang Ignacio B. Gimenez (CCP Blackbox Theater).
The concert, dubbed Ang Musika, Ang Teatro, at Ako , was originally scheduled on December 21. It was postponed when a viral infection affected Poppert’s vocal cords.
Even if the show was sold out, the CCP (upon consultation with Poppert and the production team) decided to postpone the show to give enough time
for the singer to heal.
While we always say that the show must go on, it is important to prioritize our health. We can only give our 100 percent in any task or endeavor if we are at our healthiest. As the former US First Lady Michelle Obama once said: “We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own to-do list.”
There are two art exhibits I’ve been meaning to check out. One is the 9th Anniversary Art Exhibition of the United Women’s Artists Association of the Philippines, on display until January 28, at the Galerya Amalia/the LRI Design
MALLGOERS at SM Makati now have a new House of God where they can pray, attend mass and services, and find time to reflect and renew their spirit at the new Our Lady of Most Holy Rosary Chapel at the Third Level.
To mark this special occasion, a Solemn Blessing and celebration of the Holy Eucharist was held at the Our Lady of Most Holy Rosary Chapel on December 10, at the third level of SM Makati. This was led by His Eminence Jose F. Cardinal Advincula, Jr. D.D. , who officiated the Chapel blessing together with its mission station priest Fr. Reginald Malicdem, and members of the Sy Family.
“We are establishing a mission station here in SM Makati. We are bringing a Church closer to the people. The Church wants to be close to you, wants to accompany you where you are, whenever you need maternal guidance,” shared by His Eminence Jose F. Cardinal Advincula, Jr. D.D.
Designed by Casas + Architects, Inc., the 200-seater chapel is near the exits to the MRT station making the chapel accessible to commuters. Inspired by modern designs of the other SM Chapels in SM City North EDSA and SM City Grand Central with the same name and also dedicated to patroness Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, this chapel will surely give worshippers a serene place for prayers and devotions.
Some of the Chapel’s major highlights include the Sacred Sculptures of the Crucifix, Statue of the Image of Our Lady of the Rosary, and St. Joseph and Baby Jesus statue as well as a tabernacle or sacrament house at the altar and a sacristy room where priests change into
their vestments or the special robes for church services, and for storing other holy objects.
Also of interest are the Stations of the Cross with a bronze sculptured design which give the Chapel a contemporary look.
Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Chapel also invites you to attend daily masses during Monday to Saturday at 12:15 p.m. and 6 p.m. and on Sundays and Holidays at 12 p.m., 4 p.m., and 6 p.m.
Live Stream of Holy Mass are also broadcasted on the Chapel’s FB Page at www.facebook.com/ OurLadyoftheMostHolyRosaryChapelSMMakati
Aside from the Chapels of Our Lady of The Most Holy Rosary, SM has opened chapels at SM Megamall and SM Aura, as well as the Shrine of Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life at the Mall of Asia Complex and the Chapel of San Pedro Calungsod in SM Seaside in Cebu.
Another friend, Mimi Tecson, has an ongoing group
FROM handmade souvenirs, eco-friendly barong, and fashionable Filipiniana to artisanal chocolates and local coffee, Kultura is definitely your one-stop shop for all kinds of Filipino goodies.
In this season of giving, aside from supporting local artistry and promoting Filipino heritage and talent, you can also help the hungry with every purchase at Kultura using your SMAC (SM Advantage Card).
Leading digital solutions platform Globe and SMAC, the loyalty card of retail giant SM, are pleased to announce that they have come together to help put meals on the table of those in need through the Hapag Movement, Globe’s technology-driven program against involuntary hunger.
Through the partnership, P50.00 will be donated to the Hapag Movement and other SM Foundation programs for every purchase of a new SMAC card.
Until January 15, SMAC members who shop for select items at Kultura can earn up to 1,000 extra SMAC Points. Half of the extra points they earn will then be donated to Globe’s Hapag Movement.
“Now is the best time to discover local artistry, so get your shopping list ready and head to Kultura. Not only will you find unique and meaningful ‘pasalubongs’ for your loved ones, but a portion of your points will also be
“Whether you’re a balikbayan who wants to bring Filipino goodies overseas or a fan of local products, Kultura is the best place to get your post-Christmas shopping going. And through our partnership with SMAC, not only will you satisfy your shopping needs but also help the hungry,” said Yoly Crisanto Globe Group Chief Sustainability and Corporate Communications Officer.
Globe’s Hapag Movement leverages on technology and collaboration to help 100,000 families experiencing involuntary hunger through supplemental feeding and livelihood support.
Globe initiated the program to help Filipinos severely affected by the pandemic, with its effects still felt until today. An estimated 15 million Filipinos suffer from involuntary hunger, according to the Social Weather Stations.
More information about the Hapag Movement can be found on its official page , while shoppers may also visit smac.ph or download the SMAC app to learn more.