Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Saturday, January 21, 2023.
READ: GOCCs to finance wealth fund rollout
THE proposed Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF) has been "re-engineered" to limit the funding needed to start it up to dividends from government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs), Albay Rep. Joey Salceda revealed the revision during a television interview on Friday. Salceda said it was the new version that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this week. He said that right after Christmas, he and three others were commissioned "to rewrite, essentially reengineer" the country's version of a sovereign wealth fund.
READ: Marcos back from Switzerland visit today
READ: PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. was scheduled to arrive home on Saturday after a six-day visit to Switzerland. Marcos attended the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos and met with business leaders on the sidelines of the event to persuade them to invest in the Philippines. During his one-on-one dialogue with WEF President Børge Brende, Marcos said his administration is concentrating on empowering micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) which make up a large part of the economy. Sen. Mark Villar, who accompanied the President to Switzerland, said Marcos obtained good inputs from experts, stakeholders and international counterparts in relation to the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF). On Wednesday, Marcos told the forum the process for the establishment of the MIF is in the pipeline.
READ: Police to protect 'harassed' onion grower
THE PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief on Friday assured protection for the widow of an onion farmer from Pangasinan who was reportedly harassed by policemen after she testified at a Senate inquiry into the high price of onions. Gen. Rodolfo Azurin said he has directed the Pangasinan Provincial Police Office (PPO) to assure that the family of Merly Gallardo and her family will not be the subject of police intimidation.
READ: Rabbit will bring vigor, tension in 2023
THE Year of the Water Rabbit will bring fresh vigor to the country, but there could also be conflict and tension. Feng Shui practitioner Patrick Lim-Fernandez made the prediction as the Philippines celebrates the Chinese New Year on Sunday. Fernandez said that even if Year of the Water Rabbit has the Peach Blossom Star, which signifies good relations, the country's southeast location could result in an overarching energy of conflict and tension. In feng shui, lucky and unlucky stars fall on different sectors, which shift every year. The Philippines is in Southeast Asia, and that augurs a portentous episode, Fernandez said.
READ: LP leader seeks De Lima's release after Enrile aide
LIBERAL Party President and Albay First District Rep. Edcel Lagman welcomed the release of lawyer Jessica Lucila "Gigi" Reyes from the Taguig City Jail Female Dormitory. Reyes was arrested for her suspected participation in the pork barrel scam in which her superior, then-senator Juan Ponce Enrile, reportedly accepted bribes totaling P172.8 million from Janet Lim Napoles, the accused mastermind of the multi-million-peso illegal operation.
READ: DSWD: Beware of solicitation scams
THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) cautioned the public against fake solicitations for money or inkind assistance using its name. pines Inc. was conducting public solicitation using a certificate of fund raising allegedly granted by the DSWD. The forged document bore the signature of former DSWD Field Office 3 Director and current Assistant Secretary Marites Maristela. According to Maristela, using a forged Certificate of Fund Raising in her name is illegal and unauthorized.
BUSINESS: WEF participation 'path-breaking'
Over to business, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s participation in the just finished annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) was "path-breaking" as he successfully presented a fundamentally sound Philippines to the international community, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno claimed on Friday. Marcos, over the course of a six-day visit to Switzerland, detailed the state of the Philippine economy and told investors about initiatives being undertaken to ensure the country's continued recovery and make it more conducive for business. At the Philippine Country Strategy Dialogue in Davos earlier in the week, the President pointed out that the economy was projected to grow by around 7 percent this year. While the actual projection is 6.5 percent, "there are signs that we might be able to surpass that," he added.
SPORTS: Saso cards 70 in first round of season opener
Topping sports, Filipino Japanese golf ace Yuka Saso carded a two-under-par 70 in the first round of the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at the Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, Florida on Friday (Manila time). Saso tallied four birdies against two bogeys for a share of seventh place with English Jodi Ewart Shadoff in the Ladies Professional Golf Association's (LPGA) 2023 season opener. The 21-year-old Saso got off to a slow start on the backside, incurring bogeys on the 14th and 16th holes before checking it with a birdie on the 17th and a par on the 18th. Saso, the 2021 US Open women's champion, then closed out strong with birdies on the second, fifth and ninth holes. The world's No. 33 ranked player trails leader Brooke Henderson of Canada by three shots, as the latter opened the first of the four-round tourney with a solid five-under-par 67.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Antonio Contreras, Yen Makabenta, and Danton Remoto are today's front page columnists. Contreras discusses claiming and owning the Filipino identity, Makabenta weighs in on China's population drop, and Remoto talks about the echoes of the Vietnam War being "heard" during the Miss World pageant.
Today's editorial talks about the hazards of gas cooking. 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 Kim Luden Salinas reporting.