Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Wednesday, November 8, 2023.
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READ: 'OVP should return confidential funds'
THE Supreme Court on Tuesday was asked to declare as unconstitutional the transfer of 125 million pesos in confidential funds to the office of Vice President Sara Duterte. A petition filed by legal and economic experts led by former Finance undersecretary Maria Cielo Magno and lawyer Barry Gutierrez, the spokesman for former vice president Leni Robredo, asked the tribunal to order the return of the money to the government treasury.
READ: Senate to allot funds to build facilities in WPS
THE Senate will provide a budget for the establishment of new facilities at the Ayungin Shoal and Kalayaan Island, Sen. Francis Joseph "Chiz" Escudero said Tuesday. He said that the allotment of funds to enhance the country's frontline posts in the West Philippine Sea is a "done deal" in the Senate. The senator made the assurance as the Senate is set to start debates on the 2024 national budget this week.
READ: PH air quality improves
AIR quality in the Philippines improved during the first six months of 2023, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said. The department's Environmental Management Bureau reported on Tuesday that air quality in Metro Manila from January to June was at 40 micrograms per normal cubic meter for Particulate Matter 10, which is below the 43 micrograms per normal cubic meter posted in the same period in 2022.
READ: Senate begins 2024 budget deliberations
SENATE President Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri said Tuesday that the chamber will start on Wednesday its marathon plenary deliberations on the proposed 5.768-trillion peso spending plan for 2024. To ensure the passage of the budget measure before the Christmas break, senators will have morning and afternoon sessions, and put the Senate version of the bill to a vote on November 27, to be followed by a bicameral conference meeting to reconcile the differing versions of both chambers of Congress. Zubiri said Sen. Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara, who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance, will sponsor the proposed General Appropriations Bill on Wednesday.
Survey: Most Filipinos back realignment of secret funds
NEARLY six out of 10 Filipinos approved the move of the House of Representatives to reallocate the confidential and intelligence funds of civilian agencies to agencies that deal with national security concerns, a survey by OCTA Research showed. In its third quarter Tugon ng Masa survey conducted from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4, 2023, 57 percent of respondents agreed with the decision of the House leadership to realign the confidential funds to agencies that deal with national security concerns. The survey showed that 14 percent of those surveyed disagreed with Congress' decision, while 29 percent "did not know" or refused to answer.
BUSINESS: Inflation slows in Oct as food prices decline
Over to business, inflation markedly slowed last month as prices of key food items fell, the government reported on Tuesday. October's 4.9-percent result, down from September's 6.1 percent, snapped a two-month run of consumer price hikes that began in August and was also lower than the 7.7 percent posted a year earlier. It was much lower than the 5.1-5.9 percent estimated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for the month and the 5.4-percent median in a Manila Times poll of economists.
SPORTS: Green Archers shoot for 5th straight win
THE streaking De La Salle Green Archers aim for their fifth straight win as they face the Adamson Soaring Falcons in the U.A.A.P. Season 86 men's basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum today. Likewise seeking to boost its bid for a top two finish that merits a Final Four twice-to-beat incentive, and sweep its season series against the San Marcelino-based team, the third seed and Taft-dweller La Salle battles the fourth-running Adamson at 6 p.m. in the main event of a quadruple-header.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Rigoberto Tiglao and Francisco Tatad are today's front page columnists. Tiglao hits out at two fellow columnists over "racist paranoia", while Tatad looks into term limits.
Today's editorial wants the World Bank to manage the climate funds. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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