Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Saturday, September 17, 2022.
THE Department of Health (DoH) agreed with the observation of the World Health Organization (WHO) that the end of the Covid-19 pandemic is "in sight," but added that the country must be prepared to transition to the endemic stage. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that with the number of new cases and deaths continuing to fall, the Covid-19 pandemic is nearing its end. DoH Officer in Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire agreed with Tedros, but said the country's health system must be ready to treat Covid as an endemic. In a briefing on Friday, Vergeire said the country must also brace for possible outbreaks of Covid-19 "every now and then" by continuing to build up the immunity of the population. Vergeire said the declaration of the pandemic being downgraded to an endemic will be made by the President on the recommendation of the DoH.
READ: No let-up in terror fight, Marcos vows
PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has vowed that there will be no let-up in the government's fight against terrorism and violent extremism. The President made the promise when he visited the officers and troops of the Philippine Army's 6th Infantry Division (ID) stationed at Camp Siongco in Sinsuat, Maguindanao, last September 15. Marcos said there are still extremist groups who resort to banditry and sowing chaos.
READ: Filipino girls better at learning than boys – Unicef
IN the Philippines, girls were better than boys at learning math, reading, writing and science, data from a recent United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) report showed. Unicef Philippines Chief of Education Isy Faingold told The Manila Times that girls outperforming boys was "consistent in all international tests" as well as in socio-emotional learning. As the country returns to in-person learning, the Unicef recommended remedial programs for foundational skills, such as numeracy and literacy, accompanied by psychosocial support strategies, to make up for the learning loss at the height of the Covid pandemic when schools worldwide were forced to close. Faingold also urged the strengthening of pre-service and in-service teacher training programs and increasing the budget for education. The results from the Philippines went against the international trend where girls in 34 low- and middle-income countries lag behind boys in mathematics, with sexism and gender stereotypes identified as among the root causes.
READ: Retail price of sugar drops to P90/kilo
THE retail price of refined sugar in some Metro Manila markets dropped to P90 per kilo days after President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. signed Sugar Order 2 allowing the importation of 150,000 metric tons of the sweetener. Based on the daily market monitoring of the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday, refined sugar was being sold for P90 per kilo at Muntinlupa Public Market in Muntinlupa City and Commonwealth Market in Quezon City.
READ: Second criminal case vs Kazuo Okada dismissed
THE Parañaque City Prosecutor's Office has dismissed the falsification case filed against Japanese gaming tycoon Kazuo Okada and his group for insufficiency of evidence. This is the second criminal complaint filed against Okada and his group by Hajime Tokuda, director of Asia Best Group International and Universal Entertainment Corp., the parent company of Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment Inc (TRLEI), operator of Okada Manila. Also named respondents in the case were Dindo Espeleta, Maximo Modesto, Josel Flores, Tetsuya Yokota and Hiroshi Kawamura. The case pertained to respondents' alleged "malicious falsification and use of the Secretary's Certificate dated May 4, 2022" whereby the Okada group supposedly made it appear that Espeleta was authorized to sign, execute and deliver documents on behalf of TRLEI's board. The respondents' lone defense was the authority supposedly endowed upon them by the Status Quo Ante Order (SQAO) issued by the Supreme Court on April 27, 2022 that temporarily reinstated Kazuo Okada as CEO and chairman of Okada Manila.
BUSINESS: Higher BOP deficit logged in Q2
Over to business, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Friday said the Philippines' balance of payments (BOP) position logged a deficit of $3.6 billion in the second quarter of 2022. In its BOP Developments Report, the BSP said that was a reversal from the $905-million surplus recorded in the same quarter last year. The BSP defines BOP as "a summary of the economic transactions of a country with the rest of the world for a specific period.It serves as an accounting statement on the economic dealings between residents of the country and nonresidents." It attributed the reversal to a wider current account deficit of $7.9 billion, equivalent to -7.7 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), in the second quarter of 2022. For comparison, BSP recorded a $1.3-billion deficit, which is equivalent to -1.3 percent of the country's GDP, in the same quarter in 2021.
SPORTS: Women's Grand Slams are in my radar – Eala
Topping sports, after conquering the girls singles event of the prestigious US Open Tennis Championships and making history as the first Filipino to win a Grand Slam, Filipino teen sensation Alex Eala is now priming up for the women's division. As the 17-year-old pointed out, her upcoming tournaments will determine her readiness for the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Grand Slam. Eala is actually no stranger to facing stiffer and more experienced competition as she has been competing in the professional circuit for two years now, winning three titles. Eala's sustained competitive stints in the pros bumped her from being ranked 529th in the WTA rankings at the end of 2021 to 288th before her US Open conquest. She is the highest ranked Filipino in WTA Tour history. Eala also said that her health will be a key if she is to compete in the WTA Grand Slam. Injuries had somehow derailed her progress in 2021.
Antonio Contreras, Yen Makabenta, and Danton Remoto are today's front page columnists. Contreras tackles "unlearning" for the future, Makabenta believes electric cars continue to have emissions, while Remoto tackles his novel, Riverrun.
Today's editorial believes the unemployment insurance plan must be handled with caution. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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This is Peter Stephen Llevares reporting. Happy weekend.