Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Saturday, August 10, 2024.
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READ: US court indicts ex-Comelec chief
FORMER Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista and three executives of the company that provided the automated vote-counting machines for the 2016 elections in the Philippines were indicted on Friday (Manila time) by a federal grand jury in Florida for bribery and money laundering. The company that allegedly bribed Bautista was not named in US court records, but the description in an affidavit matched that of Smartmatic, which had won every contract to supply Comelec with voting machines since the first automated elections were held in 2010. Charged with Bautista were Smartmatic President and General Manager Roger Alejandro Pinate, Vice President for External Operations Jorge Miguel Vasquez, and Vice President for Global Services Elie Moreno. Bautista on Friday said that the charges against him were politically motivated. The four defendants were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments. Pinate and Vasquez were each charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and one substantive violation of the FCPA. If convicted, the four face a 20-year prison term for each count of international laundering of monetary instruments and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Pinate and Vasquez also face five years in prison for the FCPA and conspiracy to violate the FCPA counts. Based on court records, between 2015 and 2018, Smartmatic executives paid a bribe of at least $1 million to Bautista, the Comelec chairman at the time, to ensure that Smartmatic won the contract for vote counting machines and election services for the 2016 polls. More than 92,000 counting machines were used to digitize ballots and transmit the results for canvassing.
READ: Budget issues forced me to resign, Sara reveals
VICE President Sara Duterte said issues over the budget allocation for the Department of Education (DepEd) were among the reasons she resigned from the Cabinet of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. In a television interview aired on Thursday, Duterte said that while she is not ready to fully explain the real cause of her resignation as education secretary, she said she believed that the 2024 General Appropriations Act was not properly handled. Turning to her relationship with the President, Duterte said they were no longer meeting or talking with each other. Duterte was Marcos' running mate in the "UniTeam" that swept them to victory in the 2022 elections. Duterte said she was now more "free" to speak her mind after leaving the Cabinet.
READ: PNP: Search of Quiboloy compound may take days
SEARCHING the 30-hectare Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KoJC) compound in Davao City where the evangelist Apollo Quiboloy could be hiding may take days, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Friday. In a press briefing at Camp Crame, PNP spokesman Col. Jean Fajardo said among the challenges faced by the police in looking for Quiboloy are the reported tunnels inside the religious group's property. Quiboloy is wanted for child and sexual abuse and human trafficking.
READ: PH, Vietnam hold first joint sea drills
THE Philippine and Vietnamese coast guards held firefighting and searchand-rescue exercises off Manila on Friday, the first such drills between the two countries with maritime disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea. The Philippines and Vietnam both claim part of the strategic waterway's Spratly archipelago, but said the drills at the mouth of Manila Bay contributed to maintaining peace and stability in the contested sea.
READ: Leadership struggle torments PhilPost staff
SENIOR officials of the Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost) have raised concerns over the ongoing power struggle within the state-owned corporation, causing psychological stress, anxiety, and low morale among employees. In a strongly worded manifesto obtained by The Manila Times, the officials, led by three assistant postmaster generals and several unit and division heads of PhilPost, have called on government leaders, stakeholders and partners in governance to "aid them in their quest" for the immediate resolution of the leadership problem. PhilPost is being wracked by the power struggle between Luis Carlos, who was appointed as Postmaster General last April 2023 but was sacked by the board of directors, and former Quezon City councilor Michael Planas, who was appointed as Chairman by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last month and was later appointed Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer thereafter. In an interview with The Times on Friday, Assistant Postmaster General for Administration and Finance Benjie Yotoko said that with both Carlos and Planas reporting as Postmaster General, the employees are confused over whose order to follow.
BUSINESS: 'More deficits, growth and inflation'
Over to business, latest growth and inflation data have prompted the investment arm of Bank of America (BofA) to raise its economic forecasts for the Philippines. BoFA Securities (BoFAS), in a report released on Thursday, revised its 2024 and 2025 growth outlooks to 5.9 percent from 5.4 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively. The revisions, however, still fall below the 6.0- to 7.0-percent and 6.5- to 7.5-percent targets for 2024 and 2025. BoFAS also raised its deficit to GDP forecasts to 5.0 percent and 4.5 percent for this year and the next, respectively, from 4.7 percent and 4.5 percent. The average inflation projections for 2024 and 2025 were adjusted to 3.5 percent and 3.0 percent, from 3.3 percent and 2.9 percent, "factoring-in the more recent inflation print while still anticipating weaker inflation later in 2024." GDP growth accelerated to 6.3 percent in the second quarter, up from 5.3 percent in the first three months of 2024 and raising the year-to-date average to 6.0 percent, at the bottom end of the government's target.
SPORTS: Ando performs her best in Paris
GO hard or go home. That was the mentality of Elreen Ando when she battled the world's best lifters in the women's 59-kg division at the Paris Olympics on Thursday. Despite not taking home a medal from Paris, the 25-year-old Ando set personal marks in the clean and jerk and total lift. The Cebuana lifter cleared 130 kg in the clean and jerk in her third and final attempt and registered a total of 230 kg after clearing 100kg in the snatch. Her previous best total was 228 kg.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Antonio Contreras, Yen Makabenta, Danton Remoto, and Leonor Briones are today's front page columnists. Contreras looks into fairness in sports, Makabenta continues praising the Philippines' efforts against China, Remoto looks into the "self", and Briones tackles the fear of falling.
Today's editorial believes the good economic growth numbers are hiding troubling fundamentals. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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