Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Sunday, July 21, 2024.
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READ: BBM signs anti-scam, procurement laws
AHEAD of his State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed into law two measures aimed at streamlining the government procurement process and protecting the public from financial cybercrimes. Marcos led the signing of Republic Act (RA) 12009, or the "New Government Procurement Act" (NGPA), and RA 12010, or the "Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act" (Afasa), in a ceremony witnessed by lawmakers and other government officials in Malacañang on Saturday.
READ: President gets 'passing' grade from analyst, youth group
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. gets a "passing grade" during the first three years of his administration, a political analyst said when asked about the Chief Executive's performance on Saturday. Dr. Froilan Calilung, who teaches political science at the University of Santo Tomas, said he gave Marcos a 6 of 10 rating, noting that the President has only been in office for two years.
READ: BSP assures public outage being addressed
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said it was monitoring developments in the global outage that affected services from airlines to health care, shipping and finance worldwide on Friday but assured the public that the issues were being addressed. The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said on Saturday that more domestic and local flights were canceled even as computer systems worldwide were slowly getting back online following the mistake in a security software update that was traced to CrowdStrike, one of the largest operators in the industry, triggering systems problems that grounded flights, forced broadcasters off air, and left customers without access to services such as health care or banking.
READ: Angara takes oath as DepEd chief
NEWLY appointed Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara took his oath before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Malacañang on Friday, a week before the 2024-2025 school year opening. Angara replaced Vice President Sara Duterte, who filed her resignation as Department of Education (DepEd) secretary, effective July 19. Marcos said Angara was the best choice for the post because he understands the many problems hounding the education sector.
READ: Krishnah Gravidez is Miss World PH 2024
KRISHNAH Marie Gravidez of Baguio City is Miss World Philippines 2024 and was crowned on the coronation night at the Mall of Asia Arena on Friday. First Princess was Jasmin Omay of Tarlac, and Second Princess was Sophia Bianca Santos of Pampanga. The favorite since the start of the announcement of official candidates, Gravidez won most of the awards, including Miss Photogenic, Best in Swimsuit and Best in Evening Gown. She also was a Top Model which made her qualify automatically for the Top 20. Reigning Miss World Krystyna Pyszková of Czechia crowned Krishnah with the Rays of Hope crown designed by Oro China Jewelry, while Miss World Philippines 2022/2023 Gwendolyne Fourniol bestowed upon her the sash. This year's pageant had 33 candidates, trimmed to the top 20 and then the top 10.
READ: People stuck in SONA traffic to get free rides
COMMUTERS affected by road closures on Monday during the third State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be offered free rides by the Philippine National Police (PNP). Public Information Officer chief Col. Jean Fajardo said that PNP's mobile assets will be escorted to pick up stranded passengers. Likewise, Fajardo said the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will offer free rides to the public.
BUSINESS: PH data centers to hit 516 MW by 2028
In business, the country is expected to have installed a 516-megawatt (MW) capacity of data centers by 2028, Fitch Solutions unit BMI said. In its commentary released to the press on Friday, BMI said there were over 400 MW of committed data center capacity from companies over the past 10 months.
SPORTS: Don't be too reliant on Fil-foreign talents – Keon
Over to sports, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Michael Keon says they and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) do not want to be too reliant on Filipino-foreign talents. Keon made these comments at the height of the just concluded 64th Palarong Pambansa (National Games) in Cebu, where he made it clear that he's not against the idea of flying in Fil-foreign talents but just the "too much" reliance on it. Focusing on finding foreign talents instead of scouting and developing a homegrown one, Keon added, just hurts the local talents' chances of getting out of poverty, especially in a Third World country where sports can really be a tool to rise up the economic ranks.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Marlen Ronquillo is today's front page columnist, as he looks at former and current senators who were allegedly neutral to former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Today's editorial looks into the issues on the United States elections and the West Philippine Sea. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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