Good Day. Here are Top Stories of The Manila Times this Thursday, March 24, 2022.
READ: Marcos rides crest of socmed support
PHILIPPINE social media has exploded with support for presidential election favorite Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who continues to dominate major pre-election surveys. False and misleading claims have flooded Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter in the lead-up to the May 9 polls, pounding Filipinos with a relentless barrage of propaganda on platforms where they rank among the heaviest users in the world. Voter surveys show the son and namesake of the country's former leader heading toward a landslide victory — the endgame of a decades-long, well-funded effort to return the family to the presidential palace they fled in disgrace in 1986. Critics and opponents accuse Marcos Jr. and his supporters of trying to portray his father's two-decade rule as a golden age of peace and prosperity while whitewashing human rights abuses and the plundering of state coffers. But the effort to make over the family's image appears to be translating into votes among the largely young electorate and those nostalgic for the Marcos years.
READ: Govt can only fund 3 months of UCT – DBM
THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said on Wednesday that the national government has only three months' worth of excess revenues to finance the P500 monthly aid that President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered to be distributed among unconditional cash transfer (UCT) beneficiaries. DBM Officer-in-Charge and Undersecretary Tina Rose Marie Canda affirmed during the Laging Handa briefing what Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said that the government can only fund the UCT with dividends remitted by government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and collected fuel value-added tax (VAT). With the UCT recipients estimated at 13 million, Canda said the government needs to raise P20 billion for three months' worth of subsidy. She added that once the Bureau of the Treasury certified the availability of funds, the money will be released to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for disbursement to beneficiaries.
READ: 'My president is Bongbong Marcos'
Vice presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Wednesday rejected initiatives by some of her supporters to push for her tandem with presidential hopeful Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo. In a video message posted on her Facebook page, Duterte-Carpio said she will stick to her running mate, presidential candidate Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. Marcos and Duterte-Carpio comprise the so-called BBM-Sara UniTeam, and they have been the frontrunners in the presidential and vice presidential surveys, respectively. Duterte-Carpio's remarks came following the recent endorsement of Albay Second District Rep. Jose Maria Clemente "Joey" Salceda, Cagayan de Oro Second District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, and Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar of a Robredo-Sara tandem through their so-called ROSA movement.
READ: NPC calls for transparent poll preparations
THE National Press Club (NPC) on Wednesday filed a petition for mandamus before the Supreme Court seeking to compel the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to make transparent its preparations for the May 9 national elections. A writ of mandamus is a directive from a court to an inferior government official or agency, ordering it to properly fulfill its official duties or correct an abuse of discretion. In a 35-page petition, the NPC, along with the Guardians Brotherhood and Automated Election System Watch, told the high court that the poll body has demonstrated lack of sincerity in its preparations for the elections. The petitioners also sought the implementation of the digital signature, disclosure of critical information and access to inspect the reported 5.2 million defective ballots, viewing of the preparation and testing of the vote counting machines, and the presentation of transmission diagram or data/communications network architecture and all equipment that will be used to transmit election results.
Topping Business
READ: BSP could lose control of inflation – analyst
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) risks losing control of inflation if it continues to delay the tightening of its monetary policy, analyst Nicholas Antonio Mapa warned. Mapa, ING Bank Manila senior economist, said in a commentary released on Wednesday that despite rate hikes by the world's most important central banks — with promises of more to come — and a potential and likely breach of the country's inflation target in 2022 and 2023, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno remains dovish on monetary policy. He emphasized Diokno's preference for waiting until the second half of the year to raise the Bangko Sentral's already record-low interest rates. While the BSP chief has advocated for guiding policy based on how data evolves in the next months, he said the repercussions of the ongoing crisis in Eastern Europe has already pushed inflation estimates substantially higher, with ING now forecasting 4.3-percent inflation this year. The ING Bank analyst said the Philippines has already felt the impact of rising commodity prices in terms of a bigger trade deficit.
In Sports
READ: Antetokounmpo returns, leads Bucks past Bulls
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 25 points and 17 rebounds in his return to the lineup and the Milwaukee Bucks extended their recent mastery of the Chicago Bulls with a 126-98 blowout Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila). Antetokounmpo missed the Bucks' 138-119 loss at Minnesota on Saturday (Sunday) due to a sore right knee. Milwaukee played without All-Star forward Khris Middleton, who was dealing with a sore left wrist. Jrue Holiday had a game-high 27 points to go along with seven assists as the Bucks won for the 15th time in their last 16 meetings with the Bulls, including all three matchups this season. Chicago's lone win during that stretch came in their 2019-20 regular-season finale, when the Bucks rested their starters because they were locked into the East's No. 3 playoff seed. Nikola Vucevic had 22 points for the Bulls, who opened a five-game trip one night after a 113-99 victory over Toronto.
READ: Barty announces shock retirement
SYDNEY: World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty stunned the tennis world Wednesday by announcing her early retirement from the sport at the age of just 25. Barty dropped the bombshell weeks after becoming the first home-grown champion of the Australian Open in 44 years, joining tennis royalty's most exclusive club with a Grand Slam crown on three different surfaces. In the tearful video message with her close friend and former doubles partner Casey Dellacqua, Barty said she was "thankful for everything" the sport has given her. Barty has been world number one for more than two years and retires after winning three Grand Slam singles titles — the French Open in 2019, Wimbledon in 2021 and the Australian Open this year.
READ: Opinion/Editorial
The Times Editorial talks about the bike infrastructure as a traffic solution and not an obstacle. For the full version, read the Opinion Section on print and its Digital version or listen to the Voice Of The Times. The columnists featured on Page One are Antonio Contreras and Yen Makabenta. Contreras says Marcos Jr. trolls the debates by being absent while Makabenta writes about the race against the clock as the campaign enters a new phase.
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This is Christian Crow Maghanoy reporting.