Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Tuesday, October 4, 2022.
READ: Green' energy open to foreigners – DoJ
FOREIGNERS can own 100 percent of renewable or "green" energy projects in the Philippines, the Department of Justice (DoJ) said. In a legal opinion it issued on September 29, the DoJ said the renewable energy sector is not covered by the 60-40 ownership rule in Section 2, Article XII of the Constitution. It said, "the Constitutional foreign ownership restriction on the exploration, development and utilization of natural resources only covers things that are susceptible to appropriation, thus excluding the sun, the wind, and the ocean."
READ: Metro subway a magnet for investors – BBM
PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Monday said he is confident foreign investments will be pouring into the country once the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) is completed in 2028. The President spoke during the groundbreaking of the subway's Ortigas and Shaw Boulevard stations and tunnels.
READ: US, PH troops hold combat drills to brace for crisis
MORE than 2,500 US and Philippine marines joined combat exercises Monday to be able to respond to any sudden crisis in a region long on tenterhooks over South China Sea territorial disputes and increasing tensions over Taiwan. The annual military drills are some of the largest so far between the longtime treaty allies under newly elected Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. His predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, had been an outspoken critic of US security policies and frowned on military exercises with American forces he said could offend China. Called Kamandag, the Tagalog acronym for "Cooperation of the Warriors of the Sea," the drills involve 1,900 US Marines and more than 600 mostly Philippine counterparts in mock amphibious assaults and special operations, US and Philippine military officials said. America's HIMARS missile launchers and supersonic fighter jets will be in live-fire maneuvers that will end on October 14, they said.
READ: 433 Lotto winners surprising but not impossible – expert
HAVING 433 bettors win the October 1 6/55 Grand Lotto draw is "surprising" but not impossible, a math professor said Monday. The huge number of winners, a first in local Lotto history, has sparked suspicions about the lottery's integrity and triggered calls for a congressional inquiry. The winning combination of 9-45-36-27-18-54 carried a P236-million jackpot prize, which must now be divided among the 433 bettors. That means each of them will be getting around P500,000. OCTA Research fellow and University of the Philippines Diliman Institute of Mathematics professor Guido David said in an interview with CNN Philippines the probability of having such a big number of bettors guessing the right combination is 1 followed by 1,224 zeros. The chances, meanwhile, of one bettor winning the Grand Lotto draw is one out of 29 million, David said. But he said that it is not impossible to have multiple winners, especially since last Saturday's winning combination was a mathematical sequence.
READ: Prices of sugar, other goods up
THE retail prices of various agriculture products continue to increase as the cost of refined sugar soared to P110 per kilo despite the earlier projection of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) that the price of sweetener is expected to go down. Based on the daily monitoring of the DA on Monday, the retail price of refined sugar ranged from P95 to P110 per kilo; washed sugar, P65 to P94 per kilo; and brown sugar, P70 to P90 per kilo. The DA also reported an upward trend on various farm products.
READ: Act on health workers shortage, govt urged
THE Philippine Federation of Professional Associations (PFPA) urged the government to address the shortage of health care workers in the country. Dr. Benito Atienza, PFPA vice president, said the Marcos administration must find ways to increase the numbers of nurses and other medical professionals and encourage them to stay instead of finding employment abroad.
READ: DoJ indicts gaming tycoon for casino takeover
THE Department of Justice (DoJ) has recommended the filing of grave coercion charges against Japanese gaming tycoon Kazuo Okada and his associates, including Filipino businessman Antonio "Tonyboy" Cojuangco, in connection with the May 31 takeover of the Okada Manila casino resort. However, in its 25-page resolution, the DoJ dismissed complaints of slight physical injuries, kidnapping and serious illegal detention, and unjust vexation filed by Tiger Resort Leisure Entertainment Inc. (TRLEI), operator of Okada Manila, against Kazuo, Cojuangco, Dindo Espeleta, Florentino "Binky" Herrera 3rd as well as several security personnel. The DoJ acted on the complaints filed by TRLEI officers James Lorenzana, Hajime Tokuda, Juan Peña and Michiaki Satate. The department said that by preventing Lorenzana, Tokuda and Satate from performing their duties as officers of TRLEI, there is probable cause to charge Kazuo, Cojuangco, Espeleta, Herrera and 20 others.
BUSINESS: Peso drops to new low of P59 vs dollar
Over to business, the Philippine peso closed at P59 to a United States dollar on Monday for another record low despite increasing by small increments against greenback in the past three trading days. Data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines said local foreign exchange trading opened at P58.75, weaker than Friday's P58.6. The local currency traded between P58.72 and P59, resulting in a weighted average of P58.877. Besides the peso, a host of foreign currencies are battling the dollar and losing value. Since the start of 2022, the peso has depreciated by a total of P8.00 or 15.7 percent versus P50.999 by end-2021.
SPORTS: Sotto shines in 36ers' win over Suns
Topping sports, Kai Sotto tallied 11 points to help Australia's Adelaide 36ers beat the NBA's Phoenix Suns, 134-124, in an NBA preseason game at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, USA on Monday (Philippine time). Playing 18 minutes in the contest, the 7-foot-3 Sotto also put up two rebounds, two steals and one assist. That Sotto playing in an NBA preseason game, and performing pretty well at that, is the farthest that a homegrown Filipino talent has ever reached yet. In the process, Sotto, who went undrafted in this year's NBA Rookie Draft, helped Adelaide become the first non-NBA team to win a preseason game since Fenerbachce beat the Brooklyn Nets in October 2015. Sotto, who was +11 in his time on the court, finally got the taste of playing an NBA level game as he also went up against Phoenix's big man DeAndre Ayton. The 20-year-old Sotto, who shot 3-of-6 from the field including 1-of-2 from deep, also got to share the court with Suns' stars Chris Paul and Devin Booker.
Antonio Contreras and Yen Makabenta are today's front page columnists. Contreras calls for a more science-based decision to cancel work or school, while Makabenta analyzes a move that backfired on Russia after trying to take four regions from Ukraine.
Today's editorial hits the decision on putting no budget on the Special Education Program. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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For The Manila Times, this is Kim Isabelle Dignadice.