Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Sunday, June 26, 2022.
READ: China pursues oil exploration talks
CHINA looks forward to continuing talks with the Philippine government under the administration of President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on the joint oil and gas exploration in the West Philippine Sea, a Foreign Ministry official said. In a press conference in Beijing on Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, "China stands ready to work in concert with the new Philippine government to advance negotiations on joint development and strive to take early substantive steps so as to deliver tangible benefits to both countries and peoples." The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman made the remark on the same day that Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said the Philippines-China discussion for a joint oil exploration in the West Philippine Sea has been terminated on President Rodrigo Duterte's order.
READ: BBM congratulates Concepcion for 3MOW
PRESIDENT-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is committed to "help the MSMEs to level up, succeed and wants government agencies to work hand-in-hand," Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Maria "Joey" Concepcion 3rd said on Saturday. Speaking at the launch of the expanded entrepreneurship mentoring program 3M (Mentorship, Money and Market) on Wheels (3MOW) at The Block, SM City North mall, Concepcion said the support for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will continue at a "faster phase with great and more support from the Marcos administration." The Go Negosyo founder told thousands of future and present entrepreneurs to avail of the free mentorship. In his video message, Marcos greeted Concepcion whose launch of the program coincided with his birthday.
READ: US finds 'deepest shipwreck' from WW2 off PH
A US Navy destroyer sunk during World War 2 has been found nearly 7,000 meters (23,000 feet) below sea level off the Philippines, making it the world's deepest shipwreck ever located, an American exploration team said. The USS Samuel B Roberts went down during a battle off the central island of Samar on Oct. 25, 1944, as US forces fought to liberate the Philippines — then a US colony — from Japanese occupation. A crewed submersible filmed, photographed and surveyed the battered hull of the "Sammy B" during a series of dives over eight days this month, Texas-based undersea technology company Caladan Oceanic said. Images showed the ship's three-tube torpedo launcher and gun mount.
READ: Five NCR cities under moderate risk – DoH
FIVE local government units in the National Capital Region (NCR or Metro Manila) have been placed under moderate risk due to increases in their coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases, the Department of Health (DoH) said Saturday. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a public briefing on government-run PTV-4 that the cities that have been placed under moderate risk are Pasig, San Juan, Quezon City, Marikina and the municipality of Pateros. The areas were placed under moderate risk because of the surge in their two-week growth rates, with some of them having a 200 percent two-week growth rate.
READ: More private schools eye in-person classes
THE number of private schools in the country offering face-to-face classes could increase beyond the 600 that have signified their intent to the Department of Education, according to an official of the Coordinating Council of Private Education Associations of the Philippines (Cocopea). In an interview with radio DZBB on Saturday, Cocopea Managing Director lawyer Joseph Noel Estrada said that they have consulted with other private schools to convince them to hold face-to-face classes. Estrada said that most schools are now opting to have full faceto-face classes while others will continue to hold hybrid classes. A "small percentage of schools" will stick with the full online class setup for varied reasons.
READ: BoC rice import tariff collection up
Over to business, the Department of Finance (DoF) reported over the weekend that the Bureau of Customs' (BoC) rice import tariff collections increased to P8.35 billion in the first five months of the year. It said in a statement that a 37-percent uptick in import volumes was the reason the most recent figure expanded by 14 percent from P7.32 billion during the same period last year. The DoF said that the BoC informed Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd that its import tariffs on rice were collected from 1.43 million metric tons (MT) of the grain from January 1 to May 2022, which is 36.9 percent more than the 1.04-million MT sent in during the same period in 2021. It said Customs Deputy Commissioner Edward James Dy Buco noted that despite the continued decline in the average price of rice on the global market, which dropped 16.3 percent from P19,977 per MT in the period of January to May 2021 to P16,712 per MT during the same period this year, the bureau was still able to maintain its collections on rice import tariffs.
READ: SMB wants payback vs Converge
Topping sports, its unblemished record tarnished by Barangay Ginebra on Friday night, San Miguel Beer returns to the hard court and tries to get back on track when it takes on Converge in the main game of the PBA Philippine Cup today, Sunday. The Beermen and the FiberXers will square off at 6:30 p.m. right after the match between the TNT Tropang Giga and the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters at 4:30 p.m. While San Miguel hopes to atone from a 75-72 loss to Ginebra, now the solo leader in the tournament at 4-1, Converge will welcome the return of FilAm center/forward Abu Tratter, who had just been activated on Saturday in time for the game against the Beermen.
Marlen Ronquillo is today's front page columnist, as he discusses on "nuking" a booming growth corridor.
Today's editorial calls for a thorough review of the K-12 education system in the 19th Congress. Read a full version on the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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For The Manila Times, this is Paulo Dimaapi.