Good day. Here are the top stories of The Manila Times for Tuesday, May 28, 2024.
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READ: DoJ moves vs online black market for babies
THE Department of Justice (DoJ) on Monday said it had filed charges against a woman who tried to sell her newborn baby online and the woman who helped her do it in a first move against a thriving black market on social media. Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said qualified trafficking and child exploitation charges were filed against Ma. Chariza Rivera Dizon, the baby's mother, and her companion, Arjay Escalona Malabanan, before a Manila regional trial court. The case stemmed from the complaint filed by the Philippine National Police-Women and Children Protection Center (PNP-WCPC) before the Justice Department against Malabanan and Dizon. On Feb. 12, 2024, the PNP-WCPC acted upon the information reported by the National Authority for Child Care (NACC) about a "black market" proliferating on some social media groups and communities where aspiring parents seek to illegally adopt children. On May 20, officials of the Department of Social Welfare and Development-National Authority on Child Care (DSWD-NACC) said they were monitoring Facebook pages that were peddling children in the guise of adoption. NACC Executive Director and DSWD Undersecretary Janella Estrada said they found 20 to 30 Facebook accounts buying and selling children.
READ: 300M kids face sexual abuse online a year - study
LONDON — More than 300 million children a year are victims of online sexual exploitation and abuse, according to the first global estimate of the scale of the problem published on Monday. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh found that one in eight of the world's children have been victims of non-consensual taking, sharing and exposure to sexual images and video in the past 12 months. That amounts to about 302 million young people, said the university's Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, which carried out the study. There have been a similar number of cases of solicitation, such as unwanted sexting and requests for sexual acts by adults and other youths, according to the report. Offenses range from so-called sextortion, where predators demand money from victims to keep images private, to the abuse of AI technology to create deepfake videos and pictures. The problem is worldwide, but the research suggests the United States is a particularly high-risk area, with 1 in 9 men there admitting to online offending against children at some point. The report comes after UK police warned last month about criminal gangs in West Africa and Southeast Asia targeting British teenagers in sextortion scams online.
READ: DoH orders stricter screening for Covid-19
THE Department of Health (DoH) on Monday said it has ordered the Bureau of Quarantine to enhance the screening for arriving passengers, specifically those coming from countries where new Covid-19 variants have been detected. The bureau has placed all its stations and other agencies under "heightened alert for KP.2 and KP.3 variants," said DoH spokesman Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo. The bureau called on all travelers to complete the health questionnaire, which is part of the e-travel declaration mandatory for departing and arriving passengers. Those who are experiencing signs and symptoms of Covid-19 were advised to go on home isolation. The KP.2 and KP.3 variants, more commonly known as "FLiRT," are descendants of JN.1 together with JN.1.18, and are being closely monitored by the World Health Organization. Earlier this month, Singapore said it saw a steep spike in Covid-19 infections, breaching the 25,000 mark for the period of May 5 to 11 alone. Because of this, at-home testing kits for the virus have been selling out in pharmacies across the island-nation. Herbosa last week said the DoH still does not see the need to impose health or border restrictions or recommend mandatory mask-wearing. The health chief instead advised the public, especially those who experience flu-like symptoms, to get tested for Covid-19 "only when they have access" and if their respiratory distress last longer than five days.
READ: 2K people buried in Papua landslide
PORT MORESBY —• More than 2,000 people have been buried in a Papua New Guinea landslide that destroyed a remote highland village, the government warned Monday as it called for international help in the rescue effort.
The once-bustling hillside village in Enga province was almost wiped out when a chunk of Mount Mungalo collapsed in the early hours of Friday morning, smothering scores of homes and the people sleeping inside them. The main highway to the large Porgera gold mine was "completely blocked," Papua New Guinea's national disaster center told the UN resident coordinator's office in the capital Port Moresby. The scale of the catastrophe required "immediate and collaborative actions from all players," it said, including the army, and national and regional responders. It called on the UN to inform Papua New Guinea's development partners "and other international friends" of the crisis, with relief to be coordinated through the disaster center. Locals and rescue teams have been using shovels and pieces of wood to find bodies under the landslide — a mix of car-sized boulders, uprooted trees and churned-up earth that is thought to be up to eight meters (26 feet) deep.
READ: Escudero: 'I lost in '22, that's enough for me'
SENATE President Francis Escudero, who ran and lost in the May 2022 vice presidential race, said he has no plans of seeking higher office in 2028. The senator, who unseated Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri as Senate chief, made the remark on Monday when asked what his leadership style will be. Meanwhile, Escudero said it is unfair to link Malacañang to Zubiri's ouster amid insinuations that the Palace got irked by the continuing Senate probe into alleged "leaked" Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency documents that linked then-senator and now President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to drug use. Escudero revealed that Sen. Bong Revilla was "the first [who] actually expressed support" for the plot to oust Zubiri. Revilla reportedly got offended when Zubiri denied his request to attend the Senate session online because he underwent foot surgery. But Zubiri explained that under the rules, senators are only allowed to attend sessions through teleconferencing if they were suffering from highly communicable diseases such as Covid.
In Business
READ: Inflation not seen breaching target
INFLATIONwill likely not breach target this month, Cabinet officials said, supporting the central bank's more dovish outlook on interest rate cuts. Speaking at the Philippine Economic Briefing on Monday, both Finance Secretary Ralph Recto and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said that May consumer price growth was expected to stay within 2.0-4.0 percent. Recto said that rice inflation, which was instrumental in the ongoing rise in inflation, was expected to decline moving forward given lower prices due to increased output and lower tariffs. Inflation, earlier expected to top 4.0 percent in the second quarter, was a lower-than-expected 3.8 percent in April. Data for May will be released next week. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli Remolona Jr. has said that inflation could breach the target this month but then decline moving forward and that monetary authorities could start easing policy as early as August.
Topping Sports
READ: Malabuyo shines in Asian Championships
PRESSURE creates diamonds, indeed. With a Paris Olympic berth slipping away from her hands at the FIG World Cup series Doha leg last month, Filipino-American gymnast Emma Malabuyo had her back against the wall.
Entering the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships slated May 24 to 26, Malabuyo must top the individual all-around event or emerge as the highest ranked eligible athlete to claim an Olympic slot. That's what the 21-year-old did on Friday, when she netted 50.398 points that was also good for a bronze medal.
READ: Riley wins 2nd PGA title at Colonial
LOS ANGELES — Davis Riley shook off some early struggles to card an even par 70 and claim his second US PGA Tour title Sunday (Monday in Manila) at the Charles Schwab Challenge, where honoring late colleague Grayson Murray gave him "a little extra to play for." Riley, who started the day with a four-shot lead over world number one Scottie Scheffler, had three bogeys and three birdies to finish with a 14-under par total of 266 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. He finished five strokes in front of Scheffler and Keegan Bradley on a day when Murray was in the thoughts of all the golfers on the course a day after his death at the age of 30. Murray's parents confirmed the two-time PGA Tour winner, who withdrew from the tournament late in Friday's second round, had taken his own life.
READ: Opinion
Saving young women and girls from unwanted pregnancies is today's editorial. Read the full version on print or digital or listen to the Voice of the Times. Antonio Contreras, Yen Makabenta and Orlando Mercado are the featured columnists on the front page. Contreras writes about the demonization of mahogany Makabenta says Senate must put paid to talk of the coup d'etat that wasn't and Mercado on the new 'cold war'
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