Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Monday, September 12, 2022.
READ: Eala wins US Open singles Grand Slam
ALEXANDRA "Alex" Eala has etched her name in Philippine sports history as the first Filipino tennis player to win a juniors singles Grand Slam event. The 17-year-old captured the US Open Girls singles title with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Czech Lucie Havlickova in Flushing Meadows, New York City early Sunday (Philippine time). Eala reached the final round without dropping a set through six matches. She now owns three junior Grand Slam titles, taking the girls doubles championships in the 2020 Australian Open and the 2021 French Open. During the on-court ceremony after the match, Eala, speaking in Filipino, held back tears as she thanked all the people who helped her win the title.
SPORTS: Swiatek defeats Jabeur to clinch US Open crown
In another part of the tournament, Iga Swiatek surged to the third Grand Slam title of her career with a maiden victory at the US Open on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), defeating Tunisia's Ons Jabeur in straight sets to extend her remarkable finals winning streak. The 21-year-old world number one from Poland saw off a second set fightback from history-chasing Jabeur to prevail 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) in 1hr 52min at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The win was Swiatek's second Grand Slam title of 2022 to set alongside her French Open victory in June, which followed her maiden Grand Slam win at Roland Garros in 2020. Swiatek's victory was her 10th straight win in a final. She is unbeaten in finals since suffering a lone reverse in her first WTA final in Lugano three years ago. Swiatek collapsed on court in relief after a win that saw her pocket a hefty $2.6 million in prize money.
READ: Metro Manila Covid positivity rate rising
In other news, the seven-day Covid-19 positivity rate in the National Capital Region (NCR) or Metro Manila rose by 1.2 percent increase — from 12.1 percent on September 2 to 13.3 percent on September 9, OCTA Research reported Sunday. This increase was gleaned after an average of 10,247 daily RT-PCR tests were made over the past week. The World Health Organization (WHO) sets a 5-percent positivity benchmark for declaring that Covid in a particular area is under control. OCTA also noted that the reproduction number, referring to the number of new cases caused by one infected individual, also rose from 0.93 on August 31 to 1.11 on September 7.
READ: Court raps Pagcor for meddling in Okada case
THE Court of Appeals (CA) admonished the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and Tiger Resort Asia Ltd. (TRAL) for interfering in the Okada Manila casino resort case. In a resolution it promulgated last September 7, the court ordered Pagcor and TRAL, which owns 99.9 percent of Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment, Inc. (TRLEI), which runs Okada Manila, to "cease and desist from performing any and all acts that interfere with, impede and obstruct the proceedings."
READ: Marcos marks father's 105th birth anniversary
PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Sunday led the celebration of a Mass commemorating the 105th birth anniversary of his father Ferdinand Sr. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City. The Chief Executive was joined by his mother, other members of the Marcos family, close friends, longtime supporters and former officials of the Presidential Security Group. Marcos briefly addressed those who attended to express his thanks for their support throughout the years.
READ: 2.9M families experienced involuntary hunger in Q2
THE June 2022 survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that 11.6 percent of Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the second quarter. The pollster estimated that 2.9 million families had nothing to eat at least once during that period. This was 2 percent lower than the figure in June 2021, when around 3.4 million families experienced hunger. Hunger was highest in Metro Manila at 14.7 percent, followed by Mindanao at 14 percent, Balance Luzon at 11.9 percent and the Visayas at 5.7 percent. Compared to the previous year, the decrease in hunger was highest in Balance Luzon by 3.1 percent, followed by the Visayas by 2.6 percent and Mindanao by 1 percent. On the other hand, Metro Manila recorded a slight increase of 0.2 percent. Of the 11.6 percent of families who experienced hunger, 9.4 percent experienced it only once or a few times (moderate hunger) while 2.1 percent experienced it often or always (severe hunger). It was estimated at 2.4 million and 744,000 families, respectively.
BUSINESS: Officials should support PH peso – economist
Topping business, an economist said local authorities "have already signaled" that they do not want further weakness in the Philippine peso exchange rate versus the United States dollar. This is after the local currency fell to P57.18 against the US dollar at the Philippine Dealing System last week. Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., told The Manila Times that financial authorities might need to use all the available measures or tools to support or stabilize the peso exchange rate and inflation.
Rigoberto Tiglao and Fr. Ranhilio Aquino are today's front page columnists. Tiglao has had enough of royalty, while Fr. Aquino discusses on the Commission on Audit and the misuse of funds.
Today's editorial believes North Korea's Kim Jong-un should be ignored because his country is craving for attention. 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.