Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Thursday, September 26, 2024.
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READ: US missile to remain in PH
AMERICAN and Filipino security officials have agreed to keep a US mid-range missile system in the northern Philippines indefinitely to boost deterrence despite China's expressions of alarm, two Philippine officials said on Wednesday. The US Army transported the Typhon missile system, a land-based weapon that can fire the Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, to the northern Philippines as part of combat exercises in April with Philippine troops and to test its deployability aboard an Air Force aircraft. Tomahawk missiles can travel over 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers), which places China within their target range. Officials are considering keeping the missile system in the northern Philippines until April next year, when US and Philippine forces are scheduled to hold their annual Balikatan — Filipino for "shoulder-to-shoulder" — large-scale combat exercises, he said. The two officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. There was no immediate comment from US officials. At the sidelines of the defense exposition at the World Trade Center Wednesday, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. shrugged off objections by other countries for the immediate dismantling of the missile in the country. Teodoro said that if other countries feel uncomfortable with Manila bolstering its defense capability, they should lead by example and dismantle their ballistic missiles and nuclear armaments.
READ: Cayetano, Zubiri in near fistfight
A HEATED debate over a resolution on enlisted men's barrio (Embo) almost resulted in a fistfight between Sens. Alan Cayetano and Juan Miguel Zubiri, both former Senate presidents. Cayetano said he filed Senate Concurrent Resolution 23 because the 10 Embo villages — comprised of 336,873 residents — now part of Taguig City should be given the right to vote for their congressional representative in the 2025 midterm elections. It also allows the increase in the number of councilors in each area to ensure fair representation.
READ: Comelec proclaims Akbayan
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) officially proclaimed Akbayan as a winning party-list group during the 2022 national polls, entitling it to occupy the 63rd and last slot for party-list organizations at the House of Representatives. Akbayan is a pioneer partylist organization in Congress, having participated in and won the first-party election in 1998 and all succeeding polls thereafter till it suffered its first defeat in 2019. Akbayan's entry into the winning party-list circle was the result of a Supreme Court ruling affirming the Comelec's decision to cancel An Waray's party-list registration. An Waray ranked 27th among the 56 party-list groups during the 2022 elections. In a 14-1 vote, the Court en banc said the Comelec did not commit grave abuse of discretion when it canceled An Waray's registration after one of its nominees, Victoria Isabel Noel, was found to have illegally assumed office as second representative in the 16th Congress without a certificate of proclamation. As a result of the Court's ruling, Akbayan, which got 236,226 votes, got the 56th place, which entitled it to one seat in Congress.
READ: I will not resign – Sara
VICE President Sara Duterte on Wednesday said she would not resign from her post amid calls from several lawmakers to quit due to her indifference in defending the budget of the Office of the Vice President. Duterte also answered several allegations over supposed fund misuse currently being raised in the House of Representatives Commission on Good Government and Public Accountability in the OVP and during her time at the Department of Education. In a rare press conference held at the Office of the Vice President in Mandaluyong City, Duterte said she believed that there were two options being presented to her as a "way out."
BUSINESS: August deficit hits P54.2T
Topping business, double-digit revenue growth and a slight drop in spending pushed the government's budget deficit to 54.2 billion pesos in August, the Bureau of the Treasury reported on Wednesday. The shortfall rose from July's 28.8 billion pesos but was narrower than the year-earlier 133 billion pesos. August's revenues totaled 386.3 billion pesos, up from 310.6 billion pesos a year earlier and said to be due to higher tax collections. Spending, meanwhile, hit 440.5 billion pesos from last year's 443.6 billion pesos.
SPORTS: George King open to play for Gilas
Over to sports, George King was among the foreign reinforcements who have expressed their desire to play for the Gilas Pilipinas squad. Seeing action for just seven games for Blackwater, the 30-year-old King admitted he enjoyed the atmosphere of the team, the league and the warm reception he had received as an import. In fact, the prolific Blackwater import nearly towed the Bossing to a playoff spot despite coming in as a last-minute replacement for Cameron Clark.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Antonio Contreras, Yen Makabenta, and Danton Remoto are today's front page columnists. Contreras analyzes the meeting of two vice presidents over the weekend, Makabenta says members of Congress still wallow in pork barrel, and Remoto talks about mystery food novels.
Today's editorial says Donald Trump's policies could pose serious risks to the Philippines. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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