Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Tuesday, September 26, 2023.
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READ: PH to remove floating barrier
PHILIPPINE officials vowed Monday to remove a floating barrier placed by China's coast guard to prevent Filipino fishing boats from entering Bajo de Masinloc in the South China Sea. The officials all believe that the 300-meter-long barrier at the entrance to the lagoon at Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal, is "illegal and illegitimate." Last Friday, Chinese coast guard vessels laid the barrier, held up by buoys, as a vessel of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources approached. More than 50 Philippine fishing boats were outside the shoal at the time, the Philippine Coast Guard said.
READ: Pampanga congressman charged with graft
A GRAFT complaint was filed before the Office of the Ombudsman against House Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. over three civil works contracts worth more than P611 million awarded to an entity allegedly owned by his family. Based on the complaint filed by Terrence Napao, barangay chairman of Santo Cristo and president of the Association of Barangay Chairmen in Mexico on September 7, the contracts involved flood management projects.
READ: DepEd tries out revised K to 10 curriculum
THE Department of Education (DepEd) has launched the pilot implementation of the recalibrated Kindergarten to Grade 10 (K to 10) curriculum in basic education. Five schools each in seven regions were picked by the department to introduce curriculum changes for Kinder and Grades 1, 4 and 7. One of the pilot schools for the Matatag K to 10 program is the Tinajeros National High School in Malabon City. The new curriculum will be implemented in Grade 7 in the school, which comprises 19 sections with a total of 681 students. The DepEd's Curriculum and Teaching Strand has announced that teachers who will handle the classes for the new curriculum have completed their training. Other school personnel who will be part of the implementation, monitoring and assessment of the revised curriculum have also been trained, the DepEd said.
READ: Filipinos want Marcos to address high prices
MAJORITY of Filipinos believe that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should give priority to improving the economy, particularly arresting the rising prices of basic goods, the results of Publicus Asia's "Pahayag 2023 Third Quarter Survey" showed. The public's economic concerns included affordability of basic necessities and commodities (15 percent), increasing prices (14 percent), job-seeking challenges (12 percent), underpayment (12 percent), and unemployment (10 percent) — issues that have become significant concerns for Filipinos heading into the last quarter of the year.
BUSINESS: S&P Global revises PH forecasts
Over to business, S&P Global Ratings has issued new growth forecasts for the Philippines, lowering the outlook for this year and 2025 while slightly hiking that for 2024. The economy is now expected to expand by 5.2 percent this year instead of 5.9 percent, below the government's 6.0- to 7.0-percent target. A rebound to 6.1 percent – up slightly from the prior forecast of 5.9 percent – was forecast for 2024, rising to 6.2 percent the following year and 6.4 percent in 2026. The 2025 projection, however, is lower than the earlier outlook of 6.8 percent. The 2024 to 2026 forecasts also fall below the government's 6.5- to 8.0-percent target for 2024 to 2028. S&P Global listed the revisions in a fourth quarter outlook for the Asia-Pacific region released on Sunday. No reasons were cited but the financial information services provider noted a decline in the purchasing managers' index for manufacturing in August and slower-than-expected second quarter economic growth.
SPORTS: Gilas begins Asiad campaign vs Bahrain
Headlining sports, Gilas Pilipinas kicks off its gold medal quest for the 19th Asian Games when it takes on unpredictable Bahrain in the opening day of the men's basketball competition today in Hangzhou, China. Interim coach Tim Cone is sticking with the team's four recent replacements in Chris Ross, C-Jay Perez, Kevin Alas and Arvin Tolentino. The four are taking the spots of original Gilas members Calvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo, Moala Tautuaa and Jason Perkins, who were not part of the 60-man and 37-man lists submitted to the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Antonio Contreras and Orlando Mercado are today's front page columnists. Contreras believes the country got the legislators it deserved, while Mercado pays tribute to former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman and former Marikina City Rep. Bayani Fernando.
Today's editorial discusses the introduction to the K to 10 educational curriculum. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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