Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Sunday, July 16, 2022.

READ: PH Covid cases keep climbing

CASES of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country continued to climb, breaching the 1,700 daily average mark over the past week. In its Covid situationer issued on Friday, the Department of Health (DoH) said the national daily average jumped by 40 percent during the week of July 8 to 14, to 1,751 cases. The National Capital Region or Metro Manila still has the steepest increase, with 748 daily cases, while Mindanao's numbers are also inching up. Despite the rise, the risk classification remains to be low, along with average daily attack rates and health care utilization rates. Severe and critical admissions are also low — 651 out of the total 7,629 cases in hospitals across the country. The caseload is still a far cry from the record 39,004 cases on January 15, a surge driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant. Experts constantly remind that Omicron and its subvariants have high rates of transmission and could skirt immunity from vaccines. Majority of the Omicron cases, however, are mild, compared to the Delta variant. The DoH also reported that 71.2 million individuals have been fully vaccinated for Covid-19 as of July 13, while 15.5 million have received booster doses.

READ: NTF-Elcac offers amnesty to insurgents

THE National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) is recommending offering amnesty to communist guerrillas. National Security Council Adviser and NTF-Elcac Vice Chairman Clarita Carlos made the recommendation during a press conference at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Commissioned Officers Club on Friday. The members of the executive committee of the government's anti-insurgency machinery also vowed to continue the NTF-Elcac under the administration of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. Carlos said the amnesty will be offered to rebels in geographically challenged, isolated and disadvantaged areas. She said the executive committee has recommended reaffirming the importance of the whole-of-nation approach in addressing the root cause of the insurgency.

READ: PEZA holds out hope for Bulacan ecozone

PHILIPPINE Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Charito Plaza said she is ready to sit down with San Miguel Corp. (SMC) President and Chief Executive Officer Ramon Ang to "put everything in order" and "move forward" with regard to the Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone and Freeport Zone Authority (Bacsefza), a proposal that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. recently vetoed. House Bill 7575, which proposed the creation of a special economic zone and free port in the P750-billion airport city being developed by SMC in Bulakan, Bulacan, was thumbed down by Marcos on July 1, who cited the fiscal risks and provisions incompatible with existing regulations. It is also too close to the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga. In a roundtable interview with The Manila Times on Friday, Plaza pointed out that from the get-go, the measure was "legally and constitutionally defective." She said there are only two ways to create a special economic zone: by legislation or directly registering with PEZA. Public ecozones must go through legislation, while those privately owned should be registered with PEZA.

READ: 3 storms may hit PH until end of July

THERE may be two to three tropical storms that will possibly enter the country within the month of July, according to weather specialist Benison Estareja of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa). A storm is a violent disturbance of the atmosphere with strong winds and usually rain or snow or thunder, among others. The state-run weather agency will be closely monitoring the storms, Estareja said on Friday. He also said the low pressure area (LPA) that stayed in the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) for a couple of days has dissipated, and a generally fair-weather condition is expected until over the weekend. The southwest monsoon or habagat will be experienced particularly in the western section of Northern Luzon and Central Luzon until the weekend, Estareja added.

BUSINESS: OFW remittances up in May – BSP

Topping business, the amount of money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) increased to its highest level in two months in May, according to data released on Friday by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Personal remittances, or cash or kind transfers between families, reached $2.70 billion in the fifth month of 2022, up 1.27 percent from $2.67 billion in April and 1.99 percent from $2.65 billion in May 2021. Since the $2.88 billion sent in March of this year, this was the most OFs ever sent. The expansion over a year ago in May was related to remittances from land-based employees with contracts lasting one year or more, as well as from sea- and landbased employees with short-term contracts.

SPORTS: Rubilen Amit advances to quarterfinals at World Games

Over to sports, Filipino cue artist Rubilen Amit advanced to the quarterfinal round in women's 9-ball singles at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama on Friday (Manila time). Amit, a 10-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, defeated German Pia Filler, 9-8, in the round of 16 to enter the knockout stages. The 40-year-old pool player clawed back from a 6-8 hole to frustrate the 24-year-old Filler, who is the national champion in Germany. Amit, a two-time winner of the World Pool Billiard Association (WPA) Women's World Ten-ball Championship, is set to face Veronika Ivanovskaia of Germany in the quarterfinals.

READ: Opinion and editorial

Antonio Contreras, Yen Makabenta, and Danton Remoto are today's front page columnists. Contreras talks about political science and power, Makabenta urged President Marcos to resolve the contradictions in his policy choices, ad Remoto discusses the book Arsenic and Adobo.

Today's editorial believes the work in the 19th Congress has become sloppy. Read a full version on the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.

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This is EJ Gomez reporting.