Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Sunday, July 25, 2021.

'Lacson-Sotto may split administration votes'

SEN. Panfilo Lacson and Senate President Vicente Sotto 3rd's bid to run for president and vice president, respectively, will likely split the votes for the administration candidates in 2022, a convenor of an opposition coalition said. At the same time, lawyer Howard Calleja of 1Sambayan told an online press briefing on Friday that the coalition was hopeful that "democratic forces composed of the opposition will still unite" behind a single candidate to beat the administration party. Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, lead convenor of 1Sambayan, expressed confidence that they would be able to anoint their standard-bearer before the filing of certificates of candidacy in October. Carpio said it was "very possible to have a unified ticket."

Stricter border security mulled vs Delta variant

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte ordered the study of a plan to tighten border security and other measures that will prevent the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Sen. Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go, Duterte's trusted aide, disclosed that the President had called the meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), health experts and economic managers in response to the Department of Health's (DoH) recent confirmation on the local transmission of the more contagious variant in the country.

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Monsoon rains to linger 3 more days

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said on Saturday that rains are expected to continue for the next three days in parts of Luzon due to an enhanced habagat or southwest monsoon as typhoon Fabian exits the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR). Weather specialist Joey Figuracion said Pagasa is monitoring another storm outside of the PAR named "Nepartak," located some 2, 855 kilometers east-northeast of extreme Northern Luzon with maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of up to 90 kph.

Pinoy pug Petecio cruises to round of 16

Nesthy Petecio scored an impressive win in women's boxing while Kurt Barbosa suffered a setback in men's taekwondo at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday morning.

Petecio advanced to the women's featherweight round of 16 after posting a 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27 unanimous victory over Marcelat Sakobi Matshu of the Democratic Republic of Congo at the Kokugikan Arena. Petecio sized up Matshu in the first round before turning up the heat in the second round. The former world champion employed quick footwork to outbox the Congolese in the third and final round. The world No. 7 Petecio will face world No. 1 Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan in the round of 16 on Monday at 12:39 p.m. (Philippine time) at the Kokugikan Arena.

Duterte keeps approval ratings up

As President Rodrigo Duterte enters the last 12 months of his term, a so-called independent poll indicates that he has kept his high approval and trust ratings. According to the latest survey of the RP-Mission and Development Foundation Inc. (RPMDinc), the President remains popular in the National Capital Region (NCR or Metro Manila) with an approval rating of 77 percent, and a trust rating of 72 percent.

PH, UN launch joint human rights program

THE Philippine government and the United Nations formally launched the UN Joint Program: Technical Cooperation and Capacity-Building for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Philippines (2021–2024). The launching came after the signing of the UNJP document by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr., Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and UN Resident Coordinator in the Philippines Gustavo Gonzalez at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Pasay City on July 22, 2021. The UNJP document outlines the strategies, targets, indicators and governance mechanism of the cooperation, and was developed following a series of intensive consultations between Philippine government agencies and participating UN organizations.

BUSINESS: BSP raises P100B from securities

In business, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) raised P100 billion in its weekly securities auction. The central bank's one-month BSP bill was oversubscribed by 1.62 times the proposed volume of P100 billion, culminating in P162.51 billion in bids. The weighted average interest rate on the 28-day BSP bill was 1.7602 percent, down from 1.7844 percent previous week. The accepted yields for the auction ranged from 1.7450 to 1.7705 percent.

SPORTS: Ravena, Parks get green light to play in Japan

In other sports news, Kiefer Ravena of the NLEX Road Warriors and Ray Parks of the TNT Tropang Giga can play in Japan's B.League. On Saturday, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) gave the go signal to Ravena to suit up for the Shiga Lakestars in the B.League, where he signed a one-season contract last month. NLEX had also given the same approval to Ravena, who signed a three-year contract extension with the Road Warriors in September last year. But following the agreement among the PBA, the NLEX management and Ravena, the high-scoring guard needs to play for his PBA squad until the end of the ongoing Philippine Cup before he can join the Shiga Lakestars.

Opinion and editorial

Marlen Ronquillo is our front page columnist this Sunday. He gives his view over the surveys for next year's elections.

Today's editorial discusses the current Olympic Games in Tokyo and its significance in the world of sport. Read a full version on the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.

For more news and information, get a copy of The Manila Times on print, subscribe to its digital edition or log on to www.manilatimes.net. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and Keep Up With The Times.

For The Manila Times, this is Paulo Dimaapi.