Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Tuesday, September 5, 2023.
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READ: 'Review free college education program'
SEN. Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara underlined the need to review the government's free education program so that students from wealthy families will be made to pay tuition. Angara was asked to comment on the proposal of Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno to review the program which Diokno considered inefficient and wasteful.
READ: Senate panel OKs OVP confidential fund
VICE President Sara Durterte said the Office of the Vice President (OVP) "can live without" the confidential and intelligence fund, as the Senate approved, at the subcommittee level, the O.V.P.'s proposed 2.385 billion peso budget for 2024. Duterte, who is also Education secretary, on Monday attended the Senate finance subcommittees A's and D's hearings on the proposed budgets of the O.V.P. and the Department of Education. The panels also approved DepEd's 758.69 billion peso budget.
READ: Comelec to monitor bets' socmed accounts
THE Commission on Elections said on Monday it would monitor the social media accounts of Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections candidates for possible election law violations, particularly premature campaigning. Comelec Chairman George Garcia B.S.K.E. said candidates are strictly prohibited from promoting themselves through social media until the start of the campaign period. He cited Section 80 of the Omnibus Election Code, which prohibits election campaigns or partisan political activity outside the designated period. Under Comelec Resolution 10905, campaigning is not allowed between Sept. 3 and Oct. 18, 2023. The campaign period is from October 19 to 28.
READ: Govt to provide aid to rice retailers
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the immediate release of assistance for rice retailers who will be affected by the imposition of a price cap on the food staple. Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rexlon Gatchalian said that his agency will aid the affected traders through its sustainable livelihood program.
READ: Obiena bounces back with gold in Berlin
THREE days after finishing last in the Diamond League's Zurich leg, Filipino pole vault ace Ernest John "EJ" Obiena bounced back big time, winning the gold medal in the Istaf Berlin at the Olympiastadion in Germany Monday (Manila time). Obiena cleared 5.92 meters in his third attempt to return to the podium after missing it in Zurich on September 1. The Zurich leg of the Diamond League saw the 27-year-old Obiena end his 11 straight podium finishes this season. In the Istaf Berlin meet, he started at 5.52 meters and cleared it with ease. Obiena needed two attempts to surpass 5.72 meters before clearing 5.82 meters in just one try.
SPORTS: 4 teams gun for FIBA WC semis berths
Sticking to sports, after 10 days spent for two rounds and classification phase games, the FIBA Basketball World Cup has now reached the knockout phase. Composing the quarterfinal casts are the U.S.A., Italy, Serbia, Lithuania, Germany, Latvia, Canada and Slovenia. All eyes, however, will be directed at the youthful, talent-laden, and crowd favorite Americans in the first quarterfinals game day at the Mall of Asia Arena today. Opposite the U.S.A. squad is Italy in the main event of the doubleheader set at 8:40 p.m., as Lithuania and Serbia clash to open the curtains at 4:45 p.m. The Americans' bounce back genes are set to be tested following its first loss in the tournament in a 104-110 submission to the Lithuanians on Sunday. While the loss put a dent on U.S.A.'s then immaculate run, coach Steve Kerr said that they needed to experience such a defeat as they try to eclipse their country's quarterfinal finish in the 2019 edition of the world meet. The U.S.A. finished second in Group J with a 4-1 slate behind the still perfect Lithuania at 5-0.
BUSINESS: PH debt service burden up 158.3%
Over to business, the country's debt service burden ballooned by 158.3 percent to $6.46 billion at the end of May from $2.5 billion a year earlier, preliminary Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data showed. Both principal and interest payments surged during the five-month period, the former by 176 percent to $3.75 billion from $1.36 billion and the latter by 137.3 percent to $2.7 billion from $1.14 billion. The country's outstanding external debt, meanwhile, reached $118.81 billion as of the end of March, 8.25 percent higher compared to year-earlier $109.75 billion. Broken down, $75.16 billion of the amount was owed by the public sector, up 11.5 percent from the $67.37 billion recorded a year earlier.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Antonio Contreras and Orlando Mercado are today's front page columnists. Contreras weighs in on the swift passage of the budget of the Office of the Vice President, while Mercado talks about the issues on salvage killings.
Today's editorial tackles the upcoming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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