Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Wednesday, November 27, 2024.
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READ: Palace denounces Duterte coup
MALACAÑANG on Tuesday blasted former president Rodrigo Duterte for urging the military to overthrow President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. In a strongly worded statement, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said the former president had a selfish motive for calling on the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to "overthrow a sitting president" so that his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, could ascend to power. In a press conference in Davao City, Duterte on Monday called for the AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to take control and correct Marcos' "fractured governance." Duterte, whose daughter is facing congressional investigations over her use of confidential funds, told reporters that only the military can correct the situation.
READ: City mayors air support for Marcos
THE League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) on Tuesday condemned any actions that threaten the stability of the duly constituted government led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. In the same statement, a copy of which was obtained by The Manila Times, the 149 LCP members demanded an immediate cessation of all inflammatory rhetoric and personal attacks. They said that the use of public funds by the Office of the Vice President must be addressed in a manner befitting the gravity of public trust, not through accusations, name-calling or divisive conduct.
READ: POGOs run guerrilla scam operations
SOME illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) have broken up into smaller groups and relocated to the Visayas and Mindanao, where they now operate "guerrilla scam operations." The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) made the revelation during a public hearing led by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, chairman of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality. PAOCC Director Winnie Quidato on Tuesday said former POGOs have broken down into smaller groups and pretended to be call centers or business processing operators (BPOs). Quidato said these illegal POGOs shifted their operation outside Metro Manila because PAOCC is active in Luzon.
READ: NGCP turns on Cebu-Bohol line
TRANSMISSION operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) on Tuesday said it energized the 230-kilovolt Cebu-Bohol Interconnection Project (CBIP), a new transmission facility that will address the growing power demand in the region. In a statement, the NGCP said the project would also provide operational flexibility to the Cebu transmission system. The project, which was energized in two phases on July 16 and Sept. 27, 2024, establishes a new transmission link between Cebu and Bohol with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts. This connection comprises 54.6 circuit-kilometers of submarine cables across the Bohol Strait and 97.6 circuit-kilometers of overhead lines connecting Argao in Cebu to Maribojoc in Bohol. The NGCP said the line would help provide N-1 contingency in the province in the event of an outage of the existing Leyte-Bohol line.
BUSINESS: Growth, fiscal targets up for review
Topping business, economic managers could revise the country's macroeconomic assumptions in light of the peso's continued weakness and the possible impact of a second Trump presidency, Budget Secretary and Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) Chairman Amenah Pangandaman told reporters on Tuesday. The interagency DBCC, which reviews and approves macroeconomic targets, revenue assumptions, borrowing levels, the budget and spending priorities, is scheduled to meet next month. During its last meeting in June, the DBCC retained the economic growth targets for this year up to 2028. Changes made at that time focused on assumptions for 2024, including higher inflation of 3.0- 4.0 percent (from 2.0-4.0 percent), faster merchandise exports growth (5.0 percent instead of 3.0 percent), slower imports growth (2.0 percent from 4.0 percent) and a higher peso-dollar rate of 56 to 58 pesos to a dollar.
SPORTS: Cone sees bright future for Gilas
In sports, coach Tim Cone sees a bright future for Gilas Pilipinas. And he has every reason for that after seeing Carl Tamayo, Kevin Quiambao and Mason Amos perform in Gilas Pilipinas' 93-54 spanking of Hong Kong to clinch the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers Sunday night at the Mall of Asia Arena. Gilas stayed perfect in Group B with its 4-0 record. The American coach liked what he saw with Tamayo, who made the most of his 17-minute effort by leading Gilas in scoring with 16 points and five rebounds.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Rigoberto Tiglao, Fr. Ranhilio Aquino, and Francisco Tatad are today's front page columnists, as they all weigh in on the issue of the Vice President's issues in the House Quad Committee hearings.
Today's editorial looks into House Bill 8941, which seeks to bring in persons with disabilities to the workforce. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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