Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Friday, October 28, 2022.
READ: US won't give up access to SCS
A senior United States Department of State official said Washington will oppose any attempt to block US access to the South China Sea. Amy Archibald, State Department director of the Office of the Maritime Southeast Asia, told visiting Filipino journalists on Wednesday that the Code of Conduct being drafted to govern activities in the South China Sea "would be important if it does lead to the international rules-based system that allows a free and open and prosperous Pacific." Tension has been building in the strategic waterway, which is the subject of overlapping claims by the Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. The Spratly island chain in the South China Sea is believed to be rich in oil and mineral deposits.
READ: Rodriguez is the issue, not the First Lady
Manila Times chairman emeritus Dr. Dante Arevalo Ang believes the one causing problems within the Marcos administration is former executive secretary Victor Rodriguez, not first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos. Read the full version in the paper's print, digital and online versions.
READ: House bill to exclude govt execs from ban on deposits probe
A BILL filed at the House of Representatives seeks to exclude government officials and employees from the Bank Secrecy Law's ban on the inquiry into bank deposits. Under the law, bank deposits, including investments in government bonds, are confidential and may not be looked into. The exceptions are when the depositor allows it, or when the depositor is involved in cases of impeachment, bribery cases, or dereliction of duty of public officials, or if the money deposited is the subject of litigation. House Bill 4060, filed by Quezon City First District Rep. Juan Carlos "Arjo" Atayde on August 24, seeks to amend Section 2 of the law by introducing another exemption. If the bill is passed into law, bank deposits may not be looked into except on the above-mentioned grounds "or when the depositor holds any public office in" the Philippine government.
READ: SC plan to reopen Marcos tax case questioned
A CONGRESSMAN on Thursday questioned the reported plan of the Supreme Court to reopen the estate tax case against the family of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Albay First District Rep. Edcel Lagman, president of the opposition Liberal Party, issued the statement after Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo said certain circumstances allow the review of court decisions that have been accorded finality. In 1997, the court ruled with finality that the Marcos family owed the government P23 billion in estate taxes, with the figure rising to over P200 billion due to penalties and surcharges. In a statement, Lagman said reopening the case would violate the principle of final judgment which rejects the revival of cases already ruled with finality by a competent court.
READ: Marcos seeks stronger PH-China ties
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday vowed to further strengthen the country's ties with China, as he congratulated Chinese President Xi Jinping on his reappointment as leader of the Communist Party of China. In his speech during the groundbreaking of the Samal Island-Davao City Connector bridge project in Davao City, Marcos extended his congratulations to Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ambassador Huang Xilian "for the successful conduct of the Communist Party Conference." Xi's third term makes him China's most powerful ruler since founding leader Mao Zedong.
READ: DoJ begins probe on Palaña's death
THE Department of Justice (DoJ) has started the investigation on the suspicious death of Cristito Villamor Palaña (previously identified as Crisanto or Jun Villamor), the alleged middleman in the murder of broadcaster Percival "Percy Lapid" Mabasa. Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin "Boying" Remulla said President Marcos wanted the mastermind caught. Without giving names, Remulla said there were now eight persons of interest in their custody, some of them identified by Palaña in his "dying declaration," referring to the information he relayed to his sister via Messenger chat. Remulla appealed to the other suspects who remain at large to voluntarily surrender, including brothers Edmon and Israel Dimaculangan, who acted as lookouts, and a certain "Orly/Orlando" who drove the getaway motorcycle after Lapid was shot dead. He said the missing phone of Palaña is yet to be found while the cellphone of Palaña's sister Marissa has already been recovered by the authorities. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is tracking the phone's digital record trail while Palaña and the other suspects' bank details were also being looked into by the NBI and the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
READ: PH to get bivalent Covid jabs in 2023
DEPARTMENT of Health (DoH) Officer in Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the Philippines can expect to receive the first doses of the bivalent Covid-19 vaccine by the first quarter of 2023. The bivalent vaccines contain a component of the original virus strain that provides broad protection against the succeeding mutations of the virus such as the Omicron variant. The results of a real-world study on the efficacy of the bivalent vaccines are yet to be released.
READ: Marcos pushes govt housing program
PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. met with officials of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and representatives from top banks in the country to discuss the government's housing program. A social media post by the Office of the President (OP) said the President met Wednesday night with DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar, representatives of different banking institutions, officials from government financial institutions (GFI), and representatives from BDO, Metrobank, Union Bank, Ayala Corp., and China Bank to discuss the Framework for Resilient Housing and Shelter Programs in the Philippines turned over by the World Bank (WB) earlier the same day. The framework lays down strategies "to direct the coordination and identification of housing strategies and programs of national government agencies, local government units, and government partners in all phases of disaster management," according to the OP.
BUSINESS: 'Hot money' outflows surge to $367M
Over to business, net "hot money" outflows ballooned to $367.3 billion in September, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Thursday, the highest since April last year. While the $892 million in inflows for the month was 12.7 percent higher compared to August, outflows increased by a significantly higher 43.4 percent to $1.3 billion. Foreign investments registered with the BSP through authorized agent banks (AABs) — formerly called foreign portfolio investments — have been posting net outflows since May this year. These investments — channeled to stocks, bonds and similar instruments — are also known as "hot money" as they can easily be taken in and out of a country. The net outflow in August had narrowed to $86.3 million. A year earlier, it was also smaller at $24 million. The last time that the net outflow was bigger was in April 2021 when it hit $373.95 million. Year to date, however, hot money flows were positive at a net $222 million, a turnaround from the $449-million net outflow recorded for the January-September 2021 period.
SPORTS: Ilocos Sur to host 2022 Batang Pinoy
Topping sports, Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Jose Emmanuel "Noli" Eala and Ilocos Sur Gov. Jeremias "Jerry" Singson signed the memorandum of agreement (MoA) on Thursday for the province to host the 2022 Batang Pinoy National Championships. This is the first time that the PSC will stage the said 15-under multisports event since 2019. The last time the Batang Pinoy was staged, host team Baguio City emerged as the overall champion. That was before the Covid-19 pandemic was declared and sports events were restrained. This is also the first major sports event under the leadership of Eala, who was appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as PSC chairman two months ago.
Rigoberto Tiglao and Stephen CuUnjieng are today's front page columnists. Tiglao weighs in on the recent investigation into the murder of the late radio commentator Percival Mabasa (Percy Lapid), while CuUnjieng has the consensus on the Washington Consensus.
Today's editorial discusses the government's one big push to overcome vaccine hesitancy. 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.