Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Friday, September 24, 2021.

READ: Duterte to Gordon: Return P86 million

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to file a complaint against Sen. Richard Gordon for allegedly failing to return about P86 million in public funds when he was still chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA). In a prerecorded public address aired Wednesday night, Duterte said the Commission on Audit (CoA) issued a notice of disallowance for P140 million to the SBMA, but Gordon held on to the P86 million. The President said the notice of disallowance is a "final imprimatur" that CoA has finished its audit. Gordon has yet to issue a statement regarding Duterte's latest allegations.

READ: 23 local officials join Isko

A DAY after declaring his presidential run, Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso announced the defection of over 20 local officials to his camp. Domagoso on Thursday led a ceremony accepting the officials into the fold of Aksyon Demokratiko, the political party founded by the late senator Raul Roco where he now serves as president, in an apparent show of force at the Bulwagang Villegas of the Manila City Hall.

READ: Entrepreneurs: Adjusting key to surviving

SOME local entrepreneurs recounted how they transformed their business to survive the Covid-19 pandemic. Speaking during the online forum organized by The Manila Times on Thursday, Merle Balicao, owner and chief executive officer (CEO) of Laguna-based bakeshop MerNel's Cake House, shared how her enterprise even increased sales during the pandemic. Balicao said the key was to complete the construction of the bakeshop's commissary in order to produce a higher volume of cake orders.

READ: 'Bongbong doesn't need political handlers to win'

FORMER senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. will win the presidential race in 2022 without the help of political strategists and tacticians, the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) said. The PFP has endorsed Marcos as its presidential candidate for the 2022 elections. Marcos has yet to announce whether he will be seeking the presidency. PFP Secretary General Tom Lantion on Thursday said Marcos "holds a deep understanding and experience of the country's entire electoral processes."

READ: Covid cases on a downtrend – Duque


CASES of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country are on a downtrend, Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd said on Wednesday. In a prerecorded meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte, Duque said the 15,992 new infections was significantly lower than the over 20,000 cases recorded daily in past weeks. Metro Manila still has the biggest number of new cases at 3,627, followed by the Calabarzon Region (3,123), Central Luzon (1,549), Cavite province (1,174), Quezon City (1,015) and Rizal province (678). A surge in recoveries brought down the total number of cases from 171,142 on Tuesday to 162,580 on Wednesday, according to figures from the Department of Health (DoH). A total of 24,059 Covid-19 patients have recovered, pushing the total recovery count to 2.217 million. The death toll rose to 37,228. Duque said the fatality figure has improved, with the World Health Organization ranking the Philippines as third in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and 119th worldwide. The country's Covid-19 deaths per million is at 333. The figure indicates that the country was able to keep the fatality rate down even with a high number of cases due to the Delta variant, Duque said.

Get the latest news
delivered to your inbox
Sign up for The Manila Times newsletters
By signing up with an email address, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

READ: Use of face shields outside no longer mandatory


THE mandatory use of face shield will no longer be required, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday. The President approved the recommendation of the Technical Advisory Group and medical experts to limit the use of face shields to the so-called 3Cs, which refers to "closed and crowded" spaces, and activities that "promote close contact." Duterte said he had ordered that implementing guidelines be issued immediately.

BUSINESS: Budget deficit widens in Aug



Over to business, the national government's budget deficit widened to P120.9 billion in August, pushing the year-to-date gap to nearly P1 trillion, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data released on Thursday. The shortfall was higher than the P40.1 billion fiscal deficit from a year ago. The BTr said the threefold increase in the budget deficit "was due to 34.20 percent acceleration in public spending, outperforming the 6.59 percent growth in revenue performance." Revenues grew to P259.3 billion in August 2021, up from P243.2 billion the previous year, while spending expanded to P380.2 billion, picking up from P283.3 billion the year before. The July budget gap raised the year-to-date shortfall to P958.2 billion, compared to P740.7 billion in the first eight months of 2020.

SPORTS: Malditas gun for Asian Cup qualification


In sports, the Philippine women's football team guns for its 10th stint in the Asian Cup as the Malditas face Hong Kong on Friday in the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers at the JAR Stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Kick-off time is at 6 p.m. (Philippine time). All the Philippines needed is to hold Hong Kong to a draw to claim a slot in the Asian Cup slated in India next year. The Malditas lead Group F with three points following a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Nepal on September 18. Hong Kong and Nepal have a point each in the group after their match ended in a draw on September 21. The top team in Group F gets to compete in the 2022 Women's Asian Cup, while the other two get eliminated.

READ: Opinion and editorial

Rigoberto Tiglao and Ruben Torres are today's front page columnists. Tiglao quotes what he claims in his book about human rights abuses, while Torres hits out at Palace spokesman Harry Roque by branding him through a nonsensical Japanese word that resembles his name.

Today's editorial discusses US President Joe Biden's big push in the vaccine equity game. 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.

On behalf of The Manila Times, this is Aric John Sy Cua reporting. Have a safe Friday ahead.