Good day.
Here are the Top Stories of The Manila Times for Thursday, April 7, 2022.
READ: BBM maintains lead in 2 surveys
PRESIDENTIAL candidate Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. maintained his big lead in the latest pre-election surveys conducted by Pulse Asia and Laylo Research. In the Pulse Asia survey held from March 17 to 21, the former senator got the support of 56 percent of the respondents. In the Laylo poll, he got 61 percent, with six out of 10 respondents saying that they will vote for him. Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo was a far second with 24 percent in the Pulse Asia survey. She got 19 percent in the Laylo survey. Marcos support was highest in the National Capital Region (NCR) at 64 percent, followed by Mindanao at 62 percent, Balance Luzon, 54 percent, and the Visayas, 48 percent. He also led across socio-economic classes C, D, and E at 56, 56, and 52 percent, respectively.
READ: PH has lowest Covid cases in SE Asia
HEALTH Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd said the Philippines has the lowest number of Covid-19 infections among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) amid the onslaught of the highly contagious Omicron variant. To date, the Philippines has a total cumulative Covid-19 cases of 3.67 million. Our World in Data said Vietnam was leading with nine million cases, followed by Indonesia and Myanmar with four million cases each and Thailand with 3.6 million cases. In his report to President Rodrigo Duterte during his "Talk to the People" on Tuesday night, Duque also that the Philippines also ranked last among cumulative new cases per day, with only 225 cases reported on Tuesday, April 5, compared to Vietnam's 48,000 and Thailand's 21,000. He believes that the reason why the country did not reach the expected peak of 40,000 cases was because of the Department of Health's (DoH) aggressive vaccination campaign and the President's order to strictly enforce health protocols.
READ: No need to restrict entry of travelers – Concepcion
PRESIDENTIAL Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Maria "Joey" Concepcion 3rd on Wednesday said there is no need for the government to impose new travel restrictions amid the rising threat of the Omicron XE variant of the coronavirus disease. The Go Negosyo founder said that what is needed is for the public to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Concepcion said he will "try to pressure" the private sector to help the government in its efforts to further accelerate the mass vaccination drive and entice citizens done with their primary doses to get the Covid-19 booster jabs. Omicron XE is a recombinant of Omicron sub-lineages BA.1 and BA.2, the "more contagious" kind of the variant. It was first detected in the United Kingdom and later on in Thailand.
READ: The Times' PR strategies forum unfolds today
The Manila Times will hold today, April 7, an online forum exploring public relations strategies dubbed "Communications Innovations for Unified Nation Building." Moderated by The Manila Times Chairman and CEO Dante "Klink" Ang 2nd and editor Dafort Villaseran, the event will be livestreamed on all The Manila Times' social media accounts from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Among the experts who will share their insights on how public relations can assist in nation-building in the light of the May 2022 elections are Public Relations Society of the Philippines President and Megaworld Corporation Senior Assistant Vice President and head of Public Relations and Media Affairs Harold Geronimo, Agents International Inc. President Alan German, Ripple8 Inc. Managing Partner and Media Relations and Activations Director Michelle Orosa-Ople, and PR IdeasXMachina Group Managing Director Jeff "Dutch" Paulino.
Topping Business
READ: ADB still sees 6% growth for PH
THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) has maintained its Philippine economic growth outlook of 6 percent for this year, citing stronger domestic investment and consumption as key drivers of expansion. The forecasts for 2022 and 2023 are lower than the 7- to 9-percent growth objective set by the interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee for this year and the next, but higher than the 5.6-percent real GDP growth in 2021, the ADB said in its Asian Development Outlook 2022 report released on Wednesday. Government steps to unlock the economy, lift mobility limitations, increase Covid-19 immunization and relax international travel restrictions, the Manila-based multilateral lender stressed, will help the services sector which accounts for 60 percent of GDP.
In Sports
READ: Suns eliminate Lakers from playoffs race
PHOENIX: Devin Booker scored 32 points and the Phoenix Suns won their franchise-record 63rd game of the season Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila), beating a Lakers team minus LeBron James, 121-110, to eliminate Los Angeles from the playoff race. It was a tight game during the first half but Phoenix used a 29-9 run in the third quarter to create separation. The rest of the game was essentially a celebration for the Suns, who danced and dunked their way past the forlorn Lakers. Los Angeles — playing without James for a second straight game because of a sprained ankle — has lost seven straight. Russell Westbrook scored 28 points while Anthony Davis added 21 points and 13 rebounds. Deandre Ayton had 22 points for Phoenix (63-16), which avoided its first three-game losing streak of the season.
READ: Woods aims to pull off another Masters miracle
Tiger Woods plans to tee it up in the Masters on Thursday (Friday in Manila), gunning for a record-equaling sixth green jacket in what would be the most miraculous resurgence of a career studded with epic comebacks. Woods last played 17 months ago in the pandemic-delayed 2020 Masters. Seeking a repeat is defending champion Hideki Matsuyama. Rory McIlroy is still chasing the Masters title that would complete his career Grand Slam. Scottie Scheffler arrives at the first major of the year as a newly minted world number one. But Spain's second-ranked Jon Rahm is one of five players who could topple Scheffler from his perch. The others are British Open champion Collin Morikawa, US PGA FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay, rising Norwegian star Viktor Hovland and Aussie Cameron Smith — who shot four rounds in the 60s in 2020 in a runner-up finish to Dustin Johnson at Augusta.
READ: Opinion and Editorial
The Times Editorial strongly calls for a ban to e-sabong, calling it the only solution to the mess. Read the full version in the Opinion Section on the paper's print and Digital editions or listen to the Voice Of The Times. Antonio Contreras and Yen Makabenta are the featured columnists on the front page. With about a month before Election Day, Contreras talks about the scrambling taking place among presidential candidates behind frontrunner Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. as they make last-ditch attempts to change the tide in their favor. Makabenta writes about the other contest in the 2022 elections, which will determine the composition of the 19th Congress.
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This is Christian Crow Maghanoy reporting.