Merry Christmas. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Christmas Sunday, December 25, 2022.
Filipinos rekindle spirit of Christmas
Christmas is marked by big celebrations in the Philippines where most of its population professes the Catholic faith. It is the time when Filipino families and friends gather for yearly reunions, weddings and endless parties. They celebrate Christmas for four months, starting in September and ending in January. Shopping malls, decked with Christmas trimmings and blinking lights, and playing Christmas carols to bring festivity to mall-goers, now operate at full capacity as Covid-19 infections and hospitalization become manageable. Filipinos broke so many festive Christmas traditions in 2020 and 2021 as the Philippines grapples with a steady increase in Covid-19 cases. From a steep of nearly 40,000 daily cases in January this year, Department of Health (DoH) Officer in Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said coronavirus transmission has plateaued midDecember, with the current seven-day moving average at 1,100 per day. Masking, although still recommended, is now optional in most settings, and face-to-face classes have resumed. Filipinos are celebrating Christmas with "revenge" this year, meeting maskless with kin and friends for the first time in three years. Traffic jams are back in Metro Manila as people rush to Christmas parties, holiday shopping and reunions. Many mall operators say that shopper traffic has returned to 2019 pre-pandemic levels. People can now linger in shopping malls, eat in restaurants and watch movies in cinemas. Shoppers also flocked to flea markets that crop up during the holiday season. The Philippine economy has steadily recovered from the pandemic, with six consecutive quarters of robust expansion after five successive quarters of negative gross domestic product (GDP) growth beginning in the first quarter of 2020.
Cloudy skies, scattered showers forecast today
WHILE Metro Manila and nearby provinces may enjoy generally fair weather on Christmas Eve, it could be a wet Christmas for some parts of the country, especially in the Visayas. Weather forecaster Daniel James Villamil of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said on Saturday that the shear line, the point where the cold and warm air converge, will bring scattered showers in Eastern Visayas, the Bicol Region, Palawan and Dinagat Islands. Metro Manila, Cagayan Valley, the Cordillera Administrative Region, Aurora and Quezon will likely have cloudy skies with light rains due to the amihan or the northeast monsoon, Villamil told The Manila Times.
4,000 Covid cases expected by January
THE Department of Health (DoH) has projected that Covid-19 infection will increase by around 4,000 cases daily by the middle of January if the present high levels of mobility are sustained. Based on the latest projections of the DoH Fassster (Feasibility Analysis of Syndromic Surveillance Using SpatioTemporal Epidemiological Modeler For Early Detection of Diseases) team, the country can expect 4,114 cases by January 15 because more people were on the move during the holiday season. The team also said hospital admissions for severe and critically-infected Covid patients are expected to reach 2,252 by the same period. As of December 21, the utilization rate of Covid-19 hospital beds was at 21.73 percent, of which 10.57 percent are occupied by severe and critical patients. The DoH said its projection could still vary since there are other factors at work.
Marcos: YouTube Gold Play Button best Yuletide present
FOR President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., receiving his YouTube Gold Play Button is "the best Christmas present." YouTube confers the Gold Play Button to content creators surpassing the 1 million subscribers mark. In a Facebook post Friday, Marcos thanked his followers for helping him reach a wider audience on his various social media accounts, including YouTube. The President has more than 2.7 million subscribers on his official YouTube account.
Duterte rallies support for President's efforts
FORMER president Rodrigo Duterte rallied support anew for his successor President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., particularly in his administration's efforts to sustain law and order in the land. Duterte, whose notoriety for having an unforgiving, hardnosed approach against criminals earned him harsh criticisms in the international community throughout his regime, expressed satisfaction with how Marcos is governing so far. Duterte, who is now enjoying life as "citizen Rody" in Davao City, said he has "full faith and confidence" in his successor, while feeling "sorry" for those always choosing to view the current administration in a negative light.
Continue to cooperate, care, Filipinos urged
AS he vowed to continue helping more communities in need across the country, Sen. Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go called for continued acts of "bayanihan" and "malasakit" among Filipinos, especially this Christmas season. Go urged Filipinos to take advantage of the Christmas holiday to spend time with loved ones and to observe the Philippines' holiday traditions.
NGCP seeks ERC nod for rates reset
Over to business, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) officially filed with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) its application for the resetting of the transmission rates charged to all electricity end-users in the country. The NGCP's application, filed on Dec. 22, 2022, comes after the ERC denied its omnibus motion to hold the rate reset in abeyance until the ERC holds another round of public consultation on the rules and after ERC has clarified certain provisions in the Amended Rules for Setting Transmission Wheeling Rates (Amended RTWR). The ERC denied NGCP's omnibus motion in its order dated Nov. 25, 2022 stating that several public consultations on the amendments to the RTWR were held since 2014, all with NGCP's participation. ERC also addressed NGCP's requests for clarification in the said order.
PH bags 4 golds in Asian Kickboxing
In sports, Jovan Medallo performed his best while three fellow warriors stood tall over their respective counterparts to capture gold medal each in the 2022 Asian Kickboxing Championships over the weekend at the Bangkok Youth Center in Thailand. Medallo of Cebu City captured the country's first gold medal in the Asian competition by ruling the senior men's musical forms with weapons gold medal with a score of 28.8 points while Taiwan's Hsuan Wu Chi got the silver after tallying 27.8 and Chiu Ta-Ting also of Taiwan settled for bronze with 25.7 points.
Marlen Ronquillo is today's front page columnist, as he asks if the dance app TikTok has canceled the nation's sense of history.
Today's editorial believes doing more for domestic helpers may pay dividends. Read the full version in 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.