Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Saturday, December 24, 2022, Christmas Eve.
READ: Marcos trips bring in P23.6B trade pledges
FOREIGN trips by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in his first six months of office yielded $23.6 billion in investment pledges, Malacañang reported on Friday. Citing the year-end report of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Palace said the President's visits to Indonesia, Singapore, the United States, Cambodia and Thailand brought in billions of pesos in investments as the administration steps up its efforts to attract more foreign businesses. This is apart from the P9.8 billion in investment pledges he was able to get in his recent trip to Brussels, Belgium earlier this month.
READ: Denmark seeks partnerships with PH in renewables, agri
In a related development, the government of Denmark is looking to explore areas of cooperation with the Philippines, listing renewable energy and agriculture as its preferred sectors, the country's Ambassador to the Philippines, Franz-Michael Mellbin, said in a recent exclusive interview with The Manila Times. Clean, renewable energy is a relatively untapped sector in the Philippines, the ambassador said, and there "is really a need" to explore it.
READ: DoH detects 4 cases of BF.7 subvariant
THE Department of Health (DoH) has reported four cases of the BF.7 subvariant of Covid-19 in the country, based on the latest genomic sequencing by the Philippine Genome Center (PGC). The subvariant showed up in the 133 samples sequenced by the PGC on December 14 to 15. One of the BF.7 cases was detected in the National Capital Region, while the area of origin of the other three is still being determined, the DoH said. BF.7, which is a sublineage of the BA.5 subvariant of the Omicron, is believed to be responsible for the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in China after it eased restrictions and shelved its zero Covid policy. In a message to reporters, the DoH said that BF.7, while being initially flagged by researchers as potentially more transmissible than the wild BA.5 subvariant and able to evade immunity, may not suggest any differences in disease severity or clinical manifestations compared to Omicron.
READ: 700% rise in passenger traffic swamps airports
THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) has fielded more personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and other international airports around the country to cope with passenger traffic which has ballooned by as much as 700 percent because of the Christmas and New Year holiday rush. Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said on Friday that the BI Port Operations Division chief, Carlos Capulong, had reported that his personnel were processing around 35,000 arrivals and 29,000 departures a day during the holiday season, compared to only 4,000 to 5,000 daily arrivals several months back. He attributed the big jump in passenger traffic to the easing of travel restrictions that triggered a rebound in global tourism.
READ: DoJ indicts 6 suspects in 'sabungero' case
THE Department of Justice (DoJ) has found probable cause to file criminal charges against six more suspects in connection with the alleged kidnapping of 34 sabungeros (cockfight aficionados) who remain missing to date. In a December 22 resolution, the suspects were identified as Julie A. Patidongan, Gleer Codilla, Mark Carlo E. Zabala, Virgilio P. Bayog, Johnry R. Consolacion and Roberto G. Matillano Jr. In a press briefer, DoJ spokesman Mico Clavano said that six counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention will be filed against the suspects.
BUSINESS: DoE: Power shortages seen in April-July 2023
Over to business, yellow alerts will likely be issued during the second quarter of next year as the dry months will thin the country's power reserves, the Department of Energy said on Friday. The Energy department was said to be "more worried" about supply from April to July next year than when the Malampaya Deep Water Gas-to-Project undergoes a regular maintenance shutdown from February 4 to 18, 2023. A yellow alert means that power reserves have fallen below ideal levels.
SPORTS: Locals dominate Mati junior tennis
In sports, top seed Duane Batad and unranked Jerame Balaquit produced a pair of lopsided results to rule their respective divisions and lead the local bets' romp in the PPS-PEPP Mati City national juniors tennis championships at the City of Mati courts in Davao Oriental. Batad yielded just two games in four matches to pocket the boys' 16-and-under title, capping his domination with an 8-0 rout of Jolimar Prado in the finals, while Balaquit blasted Louise Plaza in a duel of unfancied bets and took the girls' 14-U diadem via the same scoreline in the Group 3 tournament presented by Dunlop.
Antonio Contreras, Yen Makabenta and Danton Remoto are today's front page columnists. Contreras discusses the culture of giving, Makabenta recaps the year, while Remoto recalls his Christmas memories.
Today's editorial discusses the Christmas wishes for the country. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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On behalf of The Manila Times, this is Aric John Sy Cua reporting. Have a safe Christmas Weekend.