Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Sunday, July 24, 2022.
READ: BBM vetoes bill for govt lawyers
PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has vetoed a proposed bill seeking to strengthen the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) "due to the inequity in compensation and substantial fiscal risk it may bring to the country," Malacañang announced Saturday. Press Secretary Rose Beatrix "Trixie" Cruz-Angeles said Marcos vetoed Senate Bill (SB) 2490 and House Bill (HB) 9088 titled an "Act Strengthening the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) By Rationalizing and Further Professionalizing Its Organization, Upgrading Positions and Appropriating Funds Therefor." SB 2490 or HB 9088 seeks to improve the legal services of government corporations to address their expanding needs. Among the salient features of the bill is to make the agency's employees' positions, salaries and benefits upgraded to be at par with their counterparts in the judiciary branch, Office of the Solicitor General and Court of Appeals. In his veto message to the House of Representatives, Marcos said this may be achieved with the strengthening of the OGCC as the principal law office. The OGCC, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice (DoJ), has "control and supervision over the legal departments of government corporations, and has the authority to allow the hiring of private lawyers by the government corporations."
READ: 3 more Cabinet secretaries named
PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has reappointed J. Prospero "Popoy" de Vera 3rd as chairman of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), Malacañang announced on Saturday. Press Secretary Rose Beatrix "Trixie" Cruz-Angeles said the President also named Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Alex Quiroz as chairman of the Governance Commission for Government-Owned or Controlled Corporations and former lawmaker Franz Josef George Alvarez as acting president and chief executive officer of the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC). De Vera was previously appointed CHEd commissioner by former president Rodrigo Duterte with a tenure lasting from from October 2018 to July 21, 2022. Before joining the Duterte administration, de Vera was University of the Philippines vice president for public affairs from 2011 to 2016. Marcos also named Rosalia Villegas de Leon as treasurer of the Philippines, Emmanuel Buenaflor Salamat as executive director of the National Secretariat of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, Epimaco Verano Densing 3rd as undersecretary of the Department of Education, Ferdinand Galvez Sevilla as president of the Philippine Public Safety College, and Benny Diaz Antiporda as acting administrator and member of the Board of Directors of the National Irrigation Administration. The other new appointees were Monica Prieto Teodoro as special envoy of the President to the United Nations Children's Fund, Philippe Jones Lhuiller as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Spain, including the Canary Islands, and Pedro Ramirez Laylo as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the State of Israel.
READ: Obiena enters World Athletics finals
FILIPINO Olympian pole vaulter Ernest John "EJ" Obiena on Saturday advanced to the finals of the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA. The 26-year-old Obiena cleared 5.75 meters, finishing third in Group B and sixth overall in a field of 32 competitors. Only 12 out of 32 participants, including the lone Asian Obiena, made it to the final round.
READ: Gin Kings, Bolts begin quarterfinal series
Staying in sports, Barangay Ginebra and Meralco, the two protagonists in four of their exciting championship showdowns of the Governors' Cup, will square off earlier than expected as they clash at the start of their best-of-three quarterfinals showdown even as NLEX and Magnolia begin their own race-to-two series. These four teams will take center stage on Sunday's double header at the Araneta Coliseum, with the Gin Kings trying to reassert their mastery over a Bolts team they had defeated in all of their four championship encounters in the Governors' Cup. The Gin Kings and the Bolts shoot for the early upper hand in Game 1 of the scheduled main game at 6:30 p.m. as the winner moves closer to the Final Four. Barangay Ginebra finished in a three-way tie along with TNT and Magnolia Timplados with the same 8-3 win-loss record, but the Tropang Giga, who have the superior quotient among the three teams, moved up to second place and earned a twice-to-beat advantage in the next round. The Gin Kings, who had the inferior quotient, ended up at No. 4 and the Hotshots wound up at third spot to face No. 6 seed NLEX Road Warriors at the start of their own best-of-three series at 4:30 p.m. Magnolia and NLEX wrapped up their elimination round campaign on a winning note.
READ: Senators look forward to Marcos' SONA
In other news, several senators have bared their expectations of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday. Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero said he expects Marcos to reveal a concrete plan on how to solve the country's problems. The senator reminded that the SONA should not merely be an oratorical piece but a list of what must be done. Escudero said he is looking forward to the release of the proposed P5.2-trillion national budget for 2023, adding it would determine if the SONA promises were indeed funded. Meanwhile, Sen. Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go said he is expecting Marcos' SONA to give special focus on pandemic response. Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, said he hopes that Marcos will prioritize policies that will strengthen the country's health care system, improve the nation's ability to withstand natural disasters, and guarantee food security for Filipinos. Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa said he is hopeful that Marcos will state in his SONA that the peace and order achievements of his predecessor — the Duterte administration — like the campaign against illegal drugs, criminality, and terrorism, will be sustained under his administration.
READ: Flores: Opportunities outweigh challenges
In business, multi-awarded writer and geopolitical analyst Wilson Lee Flores believes that there is so much to gain from an ongoing bilateral friendship between the Marcos administration and China that it outweighs its disadvantages. Speaking in a webinar last Thursday, Flores explained that there would be an "Infrastructure Cooperation" as the Philippines Build, Build, Build program and China's Belt and Road Initiative both focus on constructing modern infrastructures. f we cannot seize the opportunity. Flores also talked about the importance of the world's largest free-trade agreement: the "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and how this could also be another opportunity for the country.
Marlen Ronquillo is our front page columnist for today. He weighs on the polymer banknote situation that will test President Marcos' pro-farm agenda.
Today's editorial believes the decriminalization of libel may lead to more convictions. Read a full version on the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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For The Manila Times, this is Paulo Dimaapi.