Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Friday, December 30, 2022.
READ: NAIA privatization to push through
THE government will push through with the privatization of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista has announced. He said they have worked with the Asian Development Bank for the preparation of the terms of reference for the privatization of the airport. He said he hopes the terms of reference (TOR) will be ready by the first quarter of 2023 "so we can entertain proposals from interested parties." Included in the TOR is the rehabilitation of NAIA, which Bautista acknowledges is overdue. One of the improvements is to allow public utility vehicles to service passengers, especially in Terminal 3, which caters to domestic flights.
READ: Protection for Kalayaan Group's seas pushed
THE passage of a measure in the House of Representatives that seeks to declare the waters around the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) and Scarborough Shoal as a marine protected area will be a boon for Filipino fishermen in the area. The benefits from the enactment of House Bill (HB) 6373 were explained by Palawan Third District Rep. Edward Hagedorn in an interview with The Manila Times. Hagedorn said there will be more fish as long as spawning and breeding sites, which are located within three nautical miles of the Kalayaan and Scarborough Shoal, are safeguarded.
READ: Suggested retail price for onions pegged at P250/kilo
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has set the new suggested retail price or SRP for red onions at P250 for a kilo effective today, December 30. The department revised the SRP after failing to implement the earlier P170 cap and onion prices soared to as high as P720 per kilo. In a radio interview Thursday, Agriculture Assistant Secretary and spokesman Kristine Evangelista said the P250 SRP will be effective until the first week of January 2023. Last Wednesday, red onions retailed at P720 a kilo at the New Las Piñas Public Market in Las Piñas City. The DA price monitoring team reported onion prices ranging from P550 to P700 per kilo in 12 other markets in Metro Manila. Evangelista said that this time, the DA will make sure the P250 SRP is enforced.
READ: More than 3 million SIM cards registered
THE National Telecommunications Commission on Thursday said that more than 3 million SIM cards have been registered with the major telcos as mandated by the Sim Card Registration Act. At the Laging Handa briefing, NTC Deputy Commissioner Atty. John Paulo Salvahan said that as of December 28, 3.319 million SIM cards have been registered. This number was broken down as: DITO Telecommunity Corp., 530,424; Smart Communications, 1,019,207 and Globe Telecoms, 1,769,374. Salvahan said that the telcos experienced heavy volume of subscribers seeking to register their SIM cards that is why traffic slowed down, or in the case of Globe, they had to temporarily shut down the portal. The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) earlier said that telcos have two weeks to make adjustments to make the registration of SIM convenient.
READ: Richard Clarin named GAB chief
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has named Richard Clarin as chairman of the Games and Amusements Board (GAB), Malacañang said Thursday. Clarin, a litigation and corporate lawyer, will replace Baham Mitra. The GAB regulates and supervises professional sports and allied activities to combat the proliferation of illegal bookie joints and other forms of organized illegal gambling connected with play-for-pay sports and amusement games. It also exercises supervision over the operation and conduct of professional sports to promote and maintain orderly, honest and fair conduct of games and provide protection to the betting public.
READ: PH, China to sign sea agreement
THE Philippines and China will establish direct communication between their foreign ministries to avoid "miscalculation and miscommunication" in the hotly disputed South China Sea, Manila said Thursday. The deal will be signed next week during President Ferdinand Marcos' visit to Beijing, where he will meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, a foreign ministry official told reporters. Marcos has insisted he will not let China trample on the Philippines' maritime rights in the sea — in contrast to his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, who was reluctant to criticize the superpower.
BUSINESS: BSP eyes hotter inflation in Dec
Topping business, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects the inflation rate to remain elevated this month amid higher prices of agricultural commodities, electricity prices and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices. In its month-ahead inflation forecast released on Thursday, the BSP said the December inflation print is expected to settle within 7.8-percent to 8.2-percent range.
SPORTS: Dragons 'disrupted' Kings in Game 2 – Cone
Over to sports, Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone admitted that Bay Area did "a great job disrupting the Gin Kings" that led to the Dragons' one-sided 99-82 triumph in Game 2 to level their 2022-23 PBA Commissioner's Cup title series at one game apiece. With the Dragons playing excellent defense, the Gin Kings could only shoot 38 percent from the floor while the league's most popular squad was forced to rely too much on Best Import Justin Brownlee, which led to the blowout loss.
Rigoberto Tiglao and Francisco Tatad are today's front page columnists. Tiglao believes the proclamation of martial is the singular event that shaped the country's post-war history, while Tatad tackles what is the House of Representatives' initiative for the New Year.
Today's editorial believes peace in Ukraine as elusive as ever. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
For more news and information, get a copy of The Manila Times on print, subscribe to its digital edition or log on to www.manilatimes.net. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and Keep Up With The Times.
For The Manila Times, this is Kim Isabelle Dignadice.