Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Friday, July 19, 2024.
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READ: Sara: no campaign role
VICE President Sara Duterte said Thursday she will neither campaign for the Marcos administration nor a possible ticket with her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, in the 2025 elections. Duterte, who ended her stint as education secretary, said she was invited by both Marcos and her father to campaign for their candidates, but she declined them both as she wants to think about her direction in the 2025 polls. Duterte also said that her regional party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago, is not going to participate in the "Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas" coalition of the President's Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, Nationalist People's Coalition and the National Unity Party. However, she said she would have a "heart-toheart" talk with her father's allies in the Senate, Senators Bong Go and Ronald dela Rosa, who are likely to seek reelection.
READ: More senators back POGO ban
SEN. Juan Miguel Zubiri on Thursday became the sixth senator to support a total ban on Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), saying the revenue earned from taxing their operations "is not enough to justify their continued stay, which results in criminality and immorality." Zubiri's statement dovetails with the recommendations of Finance Secretary Ralph Recto and National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan and influential business groups to impose a complete ban on the online casinos that have been linked to crimes such as human trafficking and kidnapping. The Department of Finance has said the net cost of POGO operations in the country is 99.52 billion pesos annually, excluding substantial social costs such as the loss of life, security risks, and the harm done to the country's reputation. Zubiri, who says licensed POGOs should be given a two-year transition period before they are banned, pointed to the trafficking of women, illegal employment of foreign workers pretending to be tourists, prostitution, kidnapping, gun running and murder as crimes that plague the industry.
READ: Tulfo brothers lead survey
THE Tulfo brothers claimed the first two spots in the 2025 Senatorial Election Survey conducted by independent pollster OCTA Research for the second quarter of the year. Conducted from June 26 to July 1, the survey showed ACT-CIS Rep. Erwin Tulfo with 58 percent voting preference, followed by his brother, broadcaster Ben Tulfo with 45 percent, tying with reelectionist Sen. Bong Go.
READ: Real estate sector expected to hit pre-pandemic levels
THE Philippines' real estate industry is expected to return to its pre-pandemic levels due to increasing demand across various sectors, especially for office spaces, Lobien Realty said in its midyear outlook. Lobien Realty Group Chief Executive Officer Sheila Lobien said despite the challenging environment at the start of 2024, the second half prospects are "very positive" as transaction volumes rise.
READ: Woman selling baby on Facebook arrested
THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Human Trafficking Division arrested a woman Tuesday for selling a baby through Facebook. Christina Paule of Muntinlupa City will be charged for child trafficking, the NBI said. NBI chief Jaime Santiago said after they received information that Paule was trying to sell the baby for 25,000 pesos through Facebook, an NBI agent posed as a buyer.
BUSINESS: Higher but below target growth expected for PH
Topping business, S&P Global Ratings expects Philippines economic growth to pick up from last year but miss official targets up to 2027. From 2023's below-target 5.5-percent growth, which slowed from 7.6 percent a year earlier and missed the government's 6.0- to 7.0-percent goal, S&P Global expects the country to record an improvement to 5.8 percent this year, 6.1 percent in 2025 and 6.5 percent in 2026 before slowing to 6.4 percent in 2027. The forecast for this year falls below the government's downwardly revised goal of 6.0 to 7.0 percent. That for 2025 is also below the 6.5- to 7.5-percent target for the year. The outlook for 2026, meanwhile, falls at the bottom end of the 6.5- to 8.0-percent goal for 2026 to 2028, while that for 2027 again falls below target. S&P Global expects most EMs to grow faster this year than in 2023, and its forecast for the Philippines is only topped by India, seen expanding by 6.8 percent but down from last year's 8.2 percent. Matching the Philippines is Vietnam, whose 5.8-percent growth forecast is higher than the 2023 result of 5.0 percent.
SPORTS: Agusan del Sur to host Palaro in 2026
Over to sports, the province of Agusan del Sur has officially been selected as host of the Palarong Pambansa in 2026, winning over two other Mindanao-based bidders. This announcement was made during the closing ceremony of the Palarong Pambansa 2024 in Cebu City on Tuesday. In an audio-video presentation after the official turnover of hosting rights from 2024 host Cebu City to next year's host Ilocos Norte, it was revealed that Zamboanga City and Misamis Oriental were also in the running. However, Agusan del Sur ultimately secured the hosting rights for the games in 2025. In accordance with the rotation of hosting, next year's games will be held in Luzon, followed by Mindanao in 2026 and the National Capital Region in 2027.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Rigoberto Tiglao and Francisco Tatad are today's front page columnists. Tiglao hits at the "depravity" of the new Senate building, while Tatad analyzes how the world would look like if Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Today's editorial says organ trafficking is a problem driven by poverty. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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