READ: Sara not running for president
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Thursday said she will not run for president in 2022 after her father, President Rodrigo Duterte, accepted his party's nomination for vice president. Duterte-Carpio said she and her father had agreed that only one of them can run for a national post in next year's elections. The mayor maintained that her relationship with her father will remain "the same as it was before." During the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) national convention in San Fernando City in Pampanga on Wednesday, Duterte accepted the endorsement of the bloc led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi to be its vice presidential candidate, with Sen. Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go as the standard bearer. Duterte, whose six-year term ends next year, is barred by the Constitution from seeking a second presidential term. The 76-year-old President said his decision to run for vice president was driven by his "love of country."
READ: Go again turns down party nomination
Meanwhile, Senator Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go again appealed to his partymates in the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) to respect his decision declining the nomination for him to run for president. The PDP-Laban faction, led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, proclaimed Go and President Rodrigo Duterte as the party's bets for president and vice president during its national assembly held in Pampanga on Wednesday. Go thanked his partymates but repeated that he is not interested in running for president.
READ: Lacson: Syndicate in DBM office behind shady deals
SEN. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson on Thursday said a syndicate in the Department of Budget and Management's Procurement Service (PS-DBM) office is behind the anomalous purchase of medical supplies. Lacson said in a television interview at least one person with knowledge about the syndicate wants to cooperate with the Senate investigation on questionable contracts involving face masks and face shields. He said the Senate is working on something that would further open up the case involving Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., a firm with only P625,000 in paid-up capital that has bagged at least P8 billion worth of medical supply contracts from the PS-DBM.
READ: Bakuna bubble to revive economy – Concepcion
Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Maria "Joey" Concepcion 3rd is confident that a "win-win" solution can be reached with the implementation of "bakuna (vaccine) bubble" aimed at kicking back the country's economy safely amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic Concepcion, the founder of Go Negosyo, made the statement as he thanked the mayors of Metro Manila for urging the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to ease the Covid-19 guidelines for fully vaccinated persons. The Metro Manila Council (MMC), which is composed of the mayors of 17 local government units in the National Capital Region (NCR), made the call through a Metro Manila Development Authority resolution dated Sept. 9, 2021.
READ: Tiny percentage of vaccinated people got Covid
Only 242 out of the nearly 14 million individuals who had been fully vaccinated, or about 0.0017 percent, were infected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), proof that the vaccines available in the country work, according to the chief of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA Director General Rolando Enrique Domingo said the number of infections among the vaccinated is even lower than those who got infected from March 1 to August 28, when the data was compiled. Based on the VigiFlow reporting system utilized by the FDA, Sinovac Biotech's CoronaVac, the dominant vaccine in use in the country, had 180 breakthrough infections, AstraZeneca's Vaxzevria vaccine had 47, Janssen Covid-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson had 11 and Pfizer's Comirnaty had 4. Breakthrough infections are cases that have been infected more than 14 days after getting their second dose, or in the case of the Janssen vaccine, their first dose. Most of the breakthrough infections were from the 18 to 44 and 45 to 64 age brackets, said to be the most active age groups in terms of work in the community.
READ: 99 kids in QC orphanage positive for Covid-19
NINETY-NINE children and 23 personnel of a private orphanage in Quezon City tested positive for Covid-19. Mayor Josefina "Joy" Belmonte placed the facility under lockdown. The children, aged 18 and below, and the workers were from the Gentle Hands Orphanage in Barangay Bagumbuhay, Project 4, she said. Dr. Rolando Cruz, chief of the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU), said an asymptomatic adult visited the facility and unknowingly spread the virus that caused the outbreak. Belmonte said the outbreak could have been prevented and the children could have been saved from the life-threatening risks of Covid-19. She said the persons in authority of such facilities must be strict in implementing the minimum health protocols to prevent the spread of the deadly disease. The mayor called on other high-risk closed facilities to strictly enforce health protocols.
BUSINESS: Trade gap declines in July
Topping business, the trade gap widened in July as imports again exceeded exports, data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Thursday showed. Preliminary figures put inbound shipments at $9.7 billion for the month, 24 percent higher year-on-year. Outbound merchandise, meanwhile, expanded by 12.7 percent to $6.4 billion.
SPORTS: Phoenix ends Terrafirma's winning streak
In sports, Filipino tennis sensation Alex Eala got pushed to the limit by the opposition but still managed to enter the quarterfinal round in the girls singles and doubles events of the US Open early Thursday (Philippine time) at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York. Girls world no. 2 ranked Eala outplayed fellow 16-year-old Michaela Laki of Greece, 4-5, 7-5, 6-4, in a three-set match that lasted for two hours and 23 minutes in the third round.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Rigoberto Tiglao and Ruben Torres are today's front page columnists. Tiglao asks if the Fall of Kabul symbolizes the end of a so-called American Empire, while Torres discusses the struggle for legitimacy in Myanmar.
Today's editorial believes it is time to try-out in-person classes.
Read a full version on the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
READ: Times forum checks out BPO industry's resiliency
The country's business process outsourcing (BPO) industry continued to grow in 2020 despite the economic contraction caused by the pandemic. Exactly how resilient the industry will be in the years to come will be the focus of a forum at 10 a.m. today, September 10, organized by The Manila Times. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd will be the lead discussant in the forum, "Resiliency and adaptability at all times of the BPO industry - bedrock of PH employment through the years." Other speakers include Zoe Diaz de Rivera from Lead for Talent Attraction and Academe Linkages, IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines, and Ronell "Ellah" Delerio, senior officer of the Department of Labor and Employment's (DoLE) Institute for Labor Studies. The forum will be moderated by Times president and CEO Dante "Klink" Ang 2nd and business columnist Ben Kritz. See you there.
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On behalf of The Manila Times, this is Aric John Sy Cua reporting. Have a safe Friday ahead.