Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Saturday, August 17, 2024.
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READ: Duterte son linked to shabu shipment
A former customs intelligence officer on Friday linked the son and son-in-law of former president Rodrigo Duterte and his former economic adviser to the case involving the smuggling of an estimated 11 billion pesos worth of shabu into the country in 2018. Testifying at the House hearing held at the Villa de Bacolor Convention Center in Pampanga, Jimmy Guban named Duterte's eldest son, Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, Manases Carpio, the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, and Michael Yang as the owner of the container with magnetic lifters where part of the shipment was found. Guban, who has been indicted in connection with the shabu shipment, was temporarily released from detention to testify at the joint hearing of the "quadcom," made up of the House Committees of Dangerous Drugs, Public Order and Safety, Human Rights, and Public Accounts. He also accused former Environment undersecretary Benny Antiporda of facilitating the release of the shipment from the Manila International Container Port (MICP). Guban said a fellow Customs employee informed him that Antiporda had close connections to Duterte, Carpio and Yang, and a person connected with the National Press Club (NPC). He said he was ordered by Davao City Councilor Nilo Abellera to expedite the entry of shabu shipments that belong to "Michael Yang, Pulong Duterte and Mans."
READ: Another Chinese research ship monitored in Philippine EEZ
ANOTHER Chinese research vessel has been detected inside the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Ray Powell, director of SeaLight, a maritime monitoring agency, said on Friday that the ship, Haiyang Dizhi Si Hao, has been conducting survey operations since August 14 north of Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal. Prior to being sighted off Bajo de Masinloc, the vessel was monitored inside Malaysia's EEZ. Powell said the ship was "running mostly dark, making it difficult to track." However, one Malaysian military official said the vessel spent two weeks inside Malaysian-controlled waters. It was the second time in less than a month that a Chinese research vessel has ventured into the Philippine EEZ. The Ke Xue San Hao was sighted surveying the areas south and east of Escoda (Sabina) Shoal in the West Philippine Sea beginning July 25. Powell said the Ke Xue San Hao "traveled through the area around a host of submerged features south and east of Sabina Shoal, including First Thomas Shoal, Half Moon Shoal, Bombay Shoal, Royal Captain Shoal, Northeast Investigator Shoal and Boxall Reef." Powell said that based on satellite imagery, the ship passed within 600 meters of First Thomas Shoal, which is about 35 kilometers south of Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, on July 29.
READ: Survey finds over half of Filipinos against divorce
MORE Filipinos are against the legalization of divorce in the country, the latest survey of OCTA Research showed. Last May, the House of Representatives passed the absolute divorce bill on third and final reading. In OCTA's second-quarter survey, conducted from June 26 to July 1 and published on Friday, 57 percent of respondents do not favor passing a law to legalize divorce, a 6-percent increase from 51 percent last year. The percentage is highest in Balanced Luzon, with 61 percent. Mindanao ranked next with 57 percent, followed by National Capital Region (NCR) with 50 percent and the Visayas with 49 percent. The percentage of those in favor of passing the divorce bill is highest in the Visayas at 50 percent, followed by the NCR (46 percent), Mindanao (35 percent), and Balanced Luzon (35 percent).
READ: Marcos names Benitez Tesda director general
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed Negros Occidental Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez as the new director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), Malacañang announced on Friday. Benitez replaced Suharto Mangudadatu, who resigned from his Tesda post effective July 31, to prepare for the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
BUSINESS: BSP sees room for another rate cut
Headlining business, monetary authorities are likely to implement another rate cut this year, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Eli Remolona said, hoping it will significantly impact the country's growth. The Monetary Board reduced interest rates on Thursday by 25 basis points to 6.25 percent, ending the 17-year high of 6.5 percent. Remolona stated that headline inflation is expected to decrease to within the government's 2- to 4-percent target range despite the increase in July, adding that the risks to inflation are mostly on the downside for 2024 and 2025, with a slight risk of increase in 2026.
SPORTS: SMB, Ginebra, TNT remain as title favorites in PBA
Over to sports, sister teams San Miguel Beer (SMB) and Barangay Ginebra, as well as TNT, three squads that have made the PBA their stomping ground the last 10 seasons, were picked as the title favorites in a quick survey among the league governors. But interestingly, TNT's sister squad Meralco entered the conversation for the first time, with the top officials from the PBA pointing to the Bolts' first-ever franchise championship during last season's Philippine Cup as a turning point for the team.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Antonio Contreras and Danton Remoto are today's front page columnists. Contreras looks into the burden of being a "national" university in a sea of state universities, while Remoto continues narrating his experiences as a teacher.
Today's editorial weighs in on the issues surrounding holiday economics in the current administration. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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