Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Friday, August 9, 2024.
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READ: Forces gather for 2025 polls
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) on Thursday formalized an alliance with the Nacionalista Party (NP), gathering forces behind a "grand coalition" for the 2025 elections. Marcos led the formal signing ceremony of the alliance between his party and the NP led by former Senate president Manuel Villar Jr. at the Brittany Hotel in Taguig City. In his speech, the President said the PFP seeks unity with influential political parties such as the NP, the oldest political party in the Philippines, to "better orchestrate our collective priorities and plans for the nation."
READ: Garcia set to file ethics complaint vs detractor
COMMISSION on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia on Thursday vowed to file an ethics complaint against his detractor soon after he gets hold of the results of the ongoing investigation over claims by a member of the House of Representatives that he owns 49 offshore bank accounts with a combined deposit of at least $15.2 million or almost 1 billion pesos. At the same time, Garcia appealed to both Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senate President Francis Escudero not to allow their chambers to be used by people who disseminate lies to and destroy the credibility and integrity of other people. Aside from 49 offshore bank accounts, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), on Garcia's own request, are also investigating allegations by the same critics that he also owns six local bank accounts and several properties abroad. Garcia said that an ethics complaint should be filed to show that nobody is above the law, regardless of one's status in life, particularly if it involves falsification of documents.
READ: Sy siblings, Razon, Villar top richest list in PH
THE Philippines' 50 richest tycoons amassed a combined wealth totaling $80.8 billion according to the August issue of Forbes Asia magazine, relatively flat compared to $80.4 billion last year. Forbes said that more than half of the country's 50 richest are less wealthy this year, due to slower growth in the Philippine economy in the first quarter at 5.7 percent, as well as inflation and high borrowing costs that weighed down domestic demand. Heirs to the SM group of the late tycoon Henry Sy Sr., the Sy siblings were still the country's richest in 2024, even though their net worth fell to $13 billion from $14.4 billion last year. Ports and casino billionaire Enrique Razon Jr. jumped to the second spot as his wealth grew by $3 billion to $11.1 billion, ranking him one step higher than property tycoon Manuel Villar, whose net worth was $10.9 billion, up from $9.7 billion last year. Razon was the biggest dollar gainer as shares of International Container Terminal Services have been in expansion mode, climbing 80 percent last year amid the global trade rebound. Villar, meanwhile, capitalized on the property market as his Vista Land and Lifescapes and flagship Golden MV Holdings diversified into high rise apartments.
READ: PH economy grows 6.3% in Q2
DESPITE local and global challenges, the Philippine economy significantly grew by 6.3 percent in the second quarter of the year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday. The result was up from the revised 5.8 percent in the last three months and markedly higher than last year's 4.3 percent. It is also higher than the 6.0-percent median in a Manila Times poll of economists. This is the highest recorded growth rate since the January to March 2023 period at 6.4 percent. The first half growth rate of 6.0 percent was within the government's target of 6 to 7 percent for the year.
BUSINESS: Challenges to growth remain
ACHIEVING this year's growth target is doable, but many challenges remain, analysts said after a higher-than-expected second-quarter result. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth accelerated to 6.3 percent in April-June, the government reported on Thursday, up from the first quarter's 5.8 percent and the 4.3 percent posted a year earlier. It exceeded the market consensus of 6.0 percent and drove year-to-date growth to 6.0 percent, at the bottom end of the government's 6.0- to 7.0-percent target for 2024. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the country was on track to achieve this goal, adding that the Philippines remained one of the fastest growing in the region. Consumer spending grew 4.6 percent in the period, accounting for two-thirds of output. Investments increased 11.5 percent while government spending expanded by 10.5 percent.
SPORTS: Petecio ends Paris campaign with bronze
NESTHY Petecio of the Philippines held her head up high after a stinging loss to Julia Szeremata of Poland in the women's 57kg boxing semifinals in the Paris Olympics at the Roland-Garros Stadium early Thursday morning (Manila time). The 20-year-old Polish boxer outplayed the Tokyo 2020 Olympics silver medalist in the second and third rounds to escape with a 4-1 victory and reach the gold medal bout. With the setback, the 32-year-old Petecio settled for the bronze, the country's fourth medal in Paris after the double gold medal performance of gymnast Carlos Yulo and the bronze medal finish of boxer Aira Villegas. Still, the boxer from Davao del Sur said that she is proud to have represented the flag in the Olympics for the second time.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Rigoberto Tiglao, Francisco Tatad and Jeffrey Sachs are today's front page columnists. Tiglao claims the military is furious over the government's failures on flood control, Tatad says the Supreme Court should heal the rifts between the two Houses of Congress, while Sachs talks about achieving peace in the "new multipolar age".
Today's editorial believes the show of force does not help defuse South China Sea tensions. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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