Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Sunday, September 29, 2024.
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READ: 4 nations join PH patrol
THE Philippines joined four other countries on Saturday in the largest joint patrol to date as China conducted its own naval and air exercises near Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) on the same day. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the combined armed and defense forces of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines and the United States successfully conducted the one-day joint patrol inside the country's exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). Brawner said the naval and air force units of participating nations "operated together, enhancing cooperation and interoperability."
READ: Alice Guo: 'I am not a spy'
DISMISSED Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo again denied that she is a Chinese spy after a documentary shown during the House quad committee hearing on Friday night alleged that a Chinese tycoon in jail in Thailand tagged her as one. Davao Oriental 2nd District Rep. Cheeno Miguel Almario showed an excerpt of the documentary produced and aired on Al Jazeera English, where the tycoon, She Zhijiang, revealed through his dossier that Guo Hua Ping, the alleged Chinese name of Guo, is a state agent. In the documentary, She said that he used his handler's mobile phone to speak to Guo in the Philippines, adding that Guo wanted She to fund her campaign in 2022.
READ: Imee rebuffs admin alliance, to run as independent
SEN. Imee Marcos on Saturday backed out from the administration Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas and said she would seek reelection in the 2025 elections as an independent. The move was a rebuff of the alliance spearheaded and supported by her brother, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Imee thanked his brother, President Marcos, for including her in the senatorial slate under the administration's Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas.
READ: 'Julian' intensifies into a tropical storm
THE state weather bureau on Saturday upgraded "Julian" (international name: Krathon) from a tropical depression to a tropical storm and said it could intensify to a typhoon by Monday. As of 5 p.m. on Saturday, the weather bureau said Julian was 380 kilometers east of Aparri, Cagayan, with maximum sustained winds of 65 km per hour (kph) near the center and with gustiness of up to 90 kph and moving west-northwestward at 15 kph, as well a central pressure of 996 hectopascals. It was moving west-northwestward at 15 kph. Julian also has strong to galeforce winds extending outwards up to 420 km from the center.
READ: Court finds firm guilty of illegal dismissal
THE Supreme Court ruled that demotion, verbal abuse and hostile behavior by an employer that forced an employee to resign constitute constructive illegal dismissal. The ruling stemmed from a decision by Supreme Court Second Division Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier on a case of an employee of Toyota Quezon Avenue Inc. (TQAI). The employee, who was regularized in 2010, was tasked with selling Toyota cars, products and services. Court records showed that he faced hostility from the company's senior management during his employment. In 2015, the said employee was suspended for seven days due to frequent absences. It added that during a meeting with Toyota's management, the employee's sibling, acting as his legal counsel, accompanied him. The president of the company, it said, publicly humiliated the employee for bringing his sibling to the meeting. The said employee was subsequently transferred to another team, while many of his accounts were taken away without explanation. Toyota's general sales manager later turned down his attempt to process a sale, and his new boss explicitly asked if he planned on resigning. Citing a hostile work environment, the employee resigned in 2016.
BUSINESS: DoF, BoC ready for anti-sabotage law
Over to business, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto has assured the public the Department of Finance (DoF) and the Bureau of Customs (BoC) are ready to fully implement the anti-agri economic sabotage law to end agricultural smuggling, profiteering and hoarding. In a statement on Friday, Recto said Republic Act (RA) 12022, or the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday, will put an end to rampant smuggling, cartels, profiteering and hoarding of agricultural products to ensure food security for Filipinos.
SPORTS: Bado bags bronze in World Boxing Cup
In sports, Filipino pugilist Aaron Jude Bado won the bronze medal during the 2024 World Boxing Cup in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, but this came at a cost. Despite being ahead in the first round of the quarterfinals of the men's 51-kilogram division against Italy's Allesio Camialo, Bado suffered an injury above his right eye because of a headbutt. As a result, this bout was called off and Bado was still declared the victor via split decision, but doctors in Mongolia deemed the Iligan City boxer unfit to fight.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Marlen Ronquillo is today's front page columnist, as he wants a "Question Time" for government officials.
Today's editorial looks into a call from South Korean labor activities to scrap Seoul's Filipino caregiver program. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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