Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Saturday, November 26, 2022.
READ: Ban imposed on chicken imports
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has temporarily banned the importation of chicken and other poultry products from Japan, Hungary and California in the United States amid the threats of bird flu. In separate memorandum orders, Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said the ban covers domestic and wild birds and related products, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen. Panganiban said that based on the reports submitted by the Japan Ministry of Agriculture to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) last November 1, there were outbreaks of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) virus in Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture and Atsu.
READ: 60 inmates' unclaimed bodies buried in Bilibid
AT least 60 unclaimed remains of prisoners in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) were buried at the facility's cemetery on Friday. The cadavers were among the 176 bodies of prisoners found piled up at the Eastern Funeral Homes in Muntinlupa City, the accredited funeral parlor of the NBP, last October during the investigation of the death of Cristito Villamor Palaña, an inmate who was identified as one of the middlemen in the murder of broadcaster Percival "Percy Lapid" Mabasa. Ten bodies were buried earlier this month. Based on the list from the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), most of the inmates died of acute myocardial infarction or heart attack, pneumonia and cardiorespiratory arrest.
READ: Marcos congratulates 'good friend' Ibrahim
PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Friday congratulated his "good friend" Anwar Ibrahim for becoming Malaysia's 10th prime minister. The President relayed his congratulatory message in a phone call with Ibrahim, saying he looked forward to working together in tackling "various challenges" in the Southeast Asian region.
READ: DoH to shift focus on reporting Covid variants
THE Department of Health (DoH) said that it will shift its focus on getting protected against the subvariants of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) virus than informing the public on the arrival of the subvariants in the country. This comes after the country detected the BQ.1 subvariant of Omicron, which is said to be driving a new wave of infections in several countries, including the United States. The BQ.1 subvariant, like all other subvariants of Omicron, has the same characteristics of increased transmissibility and possible evasion to immunity. According to the latest sequencing report conducted by the Philippine Genome Center, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and the San Lazaro Hospital, there had been 14 detections of the BQ.1 subvariant, which were reclassified from the BA.5 subvariant of Omicron. There had been 525 detections of BA.5 during the sequencing runs conducted from October 28 to November 18.
READ: Stronger PPPs needed in health care
PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has called for closer cooperation between the public and private sectors to improve health care in the country. The Chief Executive made the push in his meeting this week with representatives of the health care cluster of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC). He particularly directed the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to check the "best practices" in health care and include digitalization initiatives for improving health insurance operations and offering health benefits to the public. Strengthening public-private partnerships (PPPs), coupled with strong third-party assessments, the President said, will address efficiency concerns in dealing with the health needs of Filipinos. Marcos also said he wants to establish a "ladderized" learning program for medical workers to address the "brain drain" among nurses in the country.
BUSINESS: Govt budget deficit narrows to P99.1B
Topping business, the national government's budget deficit climbed to P99.1 billion in October, the narrowest in two months, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported on Friday. According to the BTr, the higher deficit for the period resulted from the 22.23-percent year-over-year acceleration in government spending outpacing revenue growth of 14.14 percent. The gap was smaller compared to September's 179.8 billion but was 54 percent higher versus the P64.3 billion posted a year earlier. Year to date, the budget deficit rose to P1.1 trillion, down from P1.2 billion in the comparable 2021 period. Total revenues rose to P288.9 billion from P253.1 billion, bringing January-October collections to P2.9 trillion, up 18.3 percent from a year earlier and nearly 90 percent of the P3.3-trillion target for the year.
SPORTS: Training 'sacrifice' pays off for Creamline
In sports, Creamline opened its round robin semifinals campaign in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Reinforced Conference with a resounding 25-21, 25-20, 25-23 win over defending champ Petro Gazz on Thursday at the PhilSports Arena. It was the first three-set sweep recorded by the Cool Smashers this conference, and they did it despite an unfavorable playing condition when the air conditioning system at the venue malfunctioned during the first set.
Antonio Contreras, Yen Makabenta and Danton Remoto are today's front page columnists. Contreras tackles on university rankings, Makabenta believes the COP27 climate summit in Egypt ended in a whimper, and Remoto discusses the novel Any Human Heart.
Today's editorial discusses the positive signs for the country. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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On behalf of The Manila Times, this is Aric John Sy Cua reporting. Have a safe weekend ahead.