DMW’s Ople taking 2-week wellness leave

By Vito Barcelo

MIGRANT Workers Secretary Susan Ople will take a two-week wellness leave effective immediately following the deaths of her two elder brothers – both from lung cancer earlier this month.

Ople thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for granting her request and for expressing his personal condolences to her family.

Her brother, former Hagonoy Mayor Felix “Toti” Ople, died on July 13 at 65 years old while another brother, Blas Ople Jr., a former journalist, passed away five days later at 71 years old.

“Our family lost two good men within a span of five days,” Secretary Ople said.

“They are now in a much better place, free from pain and reunited with our beloved parents and brother, Raul,” she added.

Ople said she needs time to grieve and be with members of her family while also looking after her own wellness needs.

Destiny...

goal, parrying everything the Football Ferns dished out to the last minute of the match. Sara Eggesvik’s cross made it possible for Bolden to slam home the historic goal.

The whole team laid their hearts and soul on the pitch with their defense and the football gods blessed them with luck, twice – on the offside that could have been New Zealand’s equalizer in the 68th minute, and earlier in the 64th minute when Olivia Chance’s shot was just wide by a few millimeters, hitting the far post instead. Almost, but not quite.

Bolden headed the winning ball in the 24th minute right at New Zealand goalkeeper Victoria Esson, who blocked the attempt with her face and watched in horror as the ball flew over her head and into the back of the net.

“I know how hard we have to work throughout the game before we go celebrating. This (Bolden’s goal) is a special goal, our first goal for the country and its history. We’ve worked hard to come after that,” said Stajcic.

McDaniel, on the other hand, saved seven attempts by the world no. 26 Ferns, to help secure the win for the Filipinas, who moved to a share of second spot with their victims.

The confident Ferns missed outright qualification to the knockout stages with their first loss in two games in Group A.

The Ferns, who were riding high on their 1-0 upset of Norway, put on the pressure after Bolden’s golden moment.

The Jitka Klimkova-coached hosts got frustrated after many attempts missed their target and Fil-American

“This (win) means everything to us. I think we put our heads down the minute the game was up. New Zealand was coming on hard from their win against Norway. We just kept our heads down and focused. We had a goal in mind and achieved it. And now, we can our best for the better,” said McDaniel, who was named Player of the Match. She knocked away three of four attempts during the extended minute, including Grace Jale’s final assault.

Filipino fans roared the name of the Filipinas after Fil-Australian Angela Beard eluded the defense at the right wing and hit a cross to Bolden, who headed the ball past three defenders. The ball then sailed down past the head of Esson, who fell down in front of the goal mouth.

Klimkova said the Philippines’ win and Bolden’s heroics, ended the Ferns’ euphoric feelings over their memorable win over the Norwegian side.

“This is sports. Five days ago, we were celebrating, and we were so excited. Today, we didn’t get what we wanted and played for. I would say from what I saw so far, there were a lot of unforced errors in our game with Norway. So, execution today was not excellent,” said Klimkova.

The 48-year-old Klimkova, who used to play for the Czech national women’s team, said the Ferns still kept their best to score a goal, but the Filipinas kept the defense disciplined and tight in their backline.

The encounter attracted 32,357 fans, who came to watch as the Filipinas rebounded from their 0-2 loss to Switzerland.

The Ferns pushed for an equalizer and almost did after an excellent cross from Hannah Wilkinson found Jacqui Hand in the 69th minute.

Hand headed the ball into the net, but the goal was eventually ruled out after Wilkinson’s attack was deemed offside, following a screen from Hali Long at the left corner.

Jale tried her luck in the dying moments of the game, but a save by McDaniel denied the hosts their last chance at an equalizer.

Wilkinson, the heroine of the Ferns’ win over Norway, tried to score a header during the added time, but it went off to the left of the net.

McDaniel, knocked away three more attempts, including Jale’s final assault.

At the end of the match, credit should also be given to Coach Alen Stajcic. He brought the New Zealand team to class. The head coach made the needed adjustments and football smarts that the team observed to the fullest during the entire match.

Stacjic came prepared against the Football Ferns. His 5-3-2 formation was perfect to negate the explosive play of Hannah Wilkinson, who proved to be the biggest headache for the Filipinas, literally and figuratively, the entire match. The defensive alignment proved to be the key to shutting down Wilkinson, who never found the back of the net despite many attempts.

Stajcic was also able to motivate his players to be patient and to be more aggressive. The Filipinas went only for the long balls when a pattern of attack was available or possible. They took everything New Zealand threw at them in the opening minutes and grabbed the first opportunity presented to them.

Defense won the game for the Filipinas as they also showed discipline and maturity throughout the game.

“I am extremely confident that the House of Representatives would again rise up to the occasion and accept the challenge from our President: to pass the 17 priority measures needed to sustain our economic recovery and improve the living condition of our people,” Romualdez said.

The list of 17 SONA priority measures, he noted, does not include the proposed 2024 national budget which the Executive Department will submit to Congress sometime next month.

“Of course, the most important bill that we need to discuss and approve the soonest time possible is the 2024 general appropriations bill based on the National Expenditure Program prepared by the executive department,” Romualdez said.

Meanwhile, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said “higher spending on the President’s six priority concerns—infrastructure, food security, job generation, health care, education and social protection for the poor and other vulnerable sectors—will let the Chief Executive deliver on his goal to make sure no Filipino is left behind.

Villafuerte called on his fellow lawmakers in both the House and the Senate to support the passage this second regular session of the 19th Congress of the 17 measures that the President endorsed for urgent action in his second SONA, of which 10 are new ones that are not on the expanded list of 44 priority bills that the Chief Executive and the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) had drawn up.

“I think it will be very soon that cases will be commenced against people responsible for smuggling and hoarding,” he said.

Remulla admitted there is strong suspicion of the involvement of govern- ment officials, and that the DOJ’s probe could take one or two months to finish.

“We are looking at several persons who could be involved in what has been happening where we are duped by syndicates that have been manipulating prices and controlling the market where Filipinos have been relying on every day,” he said.

Based on information he received, Re- mulla said the agricultural smuggling has been taking place for the past 15 years, with reports as early as 2008. Thus, he said, former government officials will be included in the investigation. portions of Central Luzon, Southern Luzon, and the Visayas in the next three days.

“Egay” will turn northwestward or north-northwestward and pass over the waters south of Taiwan.

Speaker Martin Romualdez, for his part, said the House is committed to supporting the President’s war against smugglers and hoarders of agricultural products.

Before the match, New Zealand was riding high on the momentum of upsetting Norway in the first game for their first win in the World Cup. Many can’t be blamed if they expected the Football Ferns to run through the Filipinas with ease and march to the knockout stage with a foot in the door. Instead, they now have to win their last game against Switzerland to do so.

The Filipinas -- not given much by so many football pundits before the start of the tournament -- now have destiny on their hands. A win against Norway will guarantee them a spot in the knockout stage. What appeared to be an impossible scenario a few days ago is now an even bigger possibility.

The storm was moving northwestward at 15 km/h, packing maximum sustained winds of 185 km/h near the center and gustiness of up to 230 km/h.

It is forecast to make landfall or pass very close to the Babuyan Islands and the northeastern mainland Cagayan area between late last night and Wednesday morning.

After passing the Babuyan Islands,

It is forecast to exit the Philippine area of responsibility on Thursday morning. PAGASA said “Egay” is nearing its peak intensity, as only a handful of storms reached signal No. 5 since the agency first used the warning level in 2015. The last such storm was “Karding” in September last year. The southwest monsoon enhanced by “Egay” will continue to bring occasional monsoon rains over the western

Signal no. 4 was hoisted over the northern portion of Cagayan and the rest of Babuyan Islands.

Signal no. 3 was in effect in the northeastern portion of Isabela, the rest of Cagayan, Apayao, Ilocos Norte, the northern part of Kalinga, Batanes, and the northern portion of Abra.

The rest of Isabela, northern and central portions of Aurora, Quirino, the rest of Kalinga, the northeastern portion of

Nueva Vizcaya, Ilocos Sur, the rest of Abra, Mountain Province, Ifugao, the northern portion of Benguet and the northern portion of La Union are under signal no. 2.

Quezon, including Polillo Islands, the rest of Aurora, the rest of Nueva Vizcaya, the rest of Benguet, the rest of La Union, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales, Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan, Cavite, Metro Manila, Rizal, Laguna, Batangas, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes and Marinduque are under signal no. 1.

5 PNP-HS men face raps on gun licensing mess

FIVE personnel of the Philippine National Police-Health Service (PNP-HS) are facing administrative and criminal charges for alleged irregularities in the issuance of psychiatric and psychological examination results to applicants of license to own and possess firearms (LTOPF).

In a press briefing in Camp Crame, Quezon City on Tuesday, Civil Security Group (CSG) chief Brig. Gen. Benjamin Silo Jr. said the five personnel, consisting of a police major, three non-commissioned officers and a non-uniformed employee, would be charged with grave irregularity in the performance of duty, conduct unbecoming of a police officer and grave misconduct before the Internal Affairs Service for manipulating the results of the psychiatric and psychological examinations from August 2022 to February this year.

In Brief

PNP says PH generally peaceful during SONA

THE Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday reported that no senior untoward incident happened to mar President Ferdinand Marcos. Jr’s delivery of his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

The PNP Command Center in Camp Crame kept tab of all public engagements and activities nationwide related to the SONA, notably Metro Manila and key cities across the country where mass actions and public assemblies were held by militant groups, including some protesting members of a transport group that launched a 72-hour strike.

Adequate number of police forces were on duty to provide security and police assistance in all areas of engagement and strictly observed the maximum tolerance policy despite some uncalled-for actions by rallyists like burning of effigies, and illegal assemblies that obstructed traffic.

No arrests were made in all these engagements but violators of the law will be prosecuted to the fullest extent, the PNP said. Vince Lopez

Tansingco cites PBBM call to pass new BI law

THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) has welcomed the call of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. for the lawmakers to pass the Immigration Modernization Act replacing the country’s 82-year-old Immigration Law.

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco thanked the President for prioritizing the proposed legislative measure.

In his second State of the Nation address delivered on Monday, Mr. Marcos reiterated the need to pass new laws to boost nation-building.

He appealed to Congress to support the urgency of passing several legislations including the excise tax on single use plastics, military and uniformed personnel’s pension, amendment of the anti-agricultural smuggling act, new government procurement law, Tatak Pinoy Law, and ease of paying taxes.

Among those mentioned by President Marcos was the Philippine Immigration Act. Vito Barcelo

OPAPRU extols Marcos support to Bangsamoro

THE Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) has lauded the commitment and “unwavering support” of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for the Bangsamoro and in helping former rebels in their transformation process.

“What we have witnessed in today’s SONA (State of the NationAddress) is President Marcos’ genuine sincerity in implementing all the signed peace agreements, and his commitment to bring sustainable peace throughout the country. This is true to his mantra of unity towards national healing and reconciliation,” OPAPRU Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said in a statement.

In his second SONA, Marcos vowed to continue to support the progress of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), and to help former rebels to regain their legal rights through an amnesty program as part of the administration’s effort to push forward the country’s comprehensive peace process.