Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025.
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READ: PH to join biggest military exercise
THE Philippines will participate for the first time in Talisman Sabre, the "largest military exercise" in the southern hemisphere, said acting Ambassador of Australia to Manila Moya Collett. Collett made the announcement during a maritime security forum organized by the Stratbase Institute in partnership with the French embassy in the Philippines. She also mentioned the second iteration of Exercise ALON, designed to enhance interoperability among strategic partners, and reaffirmed Australia's continued participation in the United States-Philippines Balikatan exercises. On its website, the Australia Defense Force (ADF) said that Talisman Sabre 2025 will be the 11th and largest iteration of the exercise. Forces will be moving into Australian training areas from mid-July 2025. Nineteen nations were invited to this year's exercise, the ADF said. Talisman Sabre is a biennial exercise predominantly involving Australia and the US, the Australian Army posted on its website. The spelling alternates depending on which country is leading — "Sabre" if Australia leads and "Saber" if the US leads. It is a multi-national and joint multi-service exercise involving thousands of troops and major assets such as Australian and allied warships, fighters, bombers, helicopters, armor and artillery. The exercise will be conducted at designated ADF training sites throughout Queensland, and in adjacent maritime and airspace areas of the Coral Sea.
READ: CCG used acoustic device to harass PH ship
CHINA Coast Guard (CCG) vessel reportedly used a long-range acoustic device (LRAD) to harass a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) ship patrolling the coastline of Zambales on Saturday. Commo. Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, said on Sunday the LRAD was used by CCG 3103 on the BRP Cabra. The crew of the Cabra said they heard a loud, piercing sound from the CCG 3103. Tarriela said it was the first time the Chinese coast guard had used the LRAD, which can project powerful sound waves over great distances. It is typically used for crowd control and can produce pain-inducing levels of sound capable of causing hearing damage. Tarriela said the Cabra had "successfully pushed back" to 90 to 95 nautical miles Chinese ships that were sailing too close to the Zambales coast. He said the PCG vessels also constantly issued radio challenges to the intruding ships. The challenges are not just routine but "firm assertions" that the actions of the CCG violate the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), and the 2016 Arbitral Award, which definitively rules against China's extensive claims in the South China Sea, Tarriela said. The Chinese coast guard has been trying to keep a presence in Philippine waters. Recently, CCG 3304 was relieved by CCG 3103. Accompanying the CCG 3103 is the CCG-5901, referred to as the "monster ship" because of its huge size.
READ: DOJ dismisses 98 Dengvaxia complaints
JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla has dismissed the 98 complaints regarding Dengvaxia-related deaths. The dismissal enraged a group of parents whose children's deaths were linked to the controversial dengue vaccine, In a Jan. 10 resolution, a copy of which was obtained by The Manila Times, Remulla said that based on studies by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other experts, the deaths could not be attributed to the vaccine. He cited the claim of Dr. Scott Halstead, who said during a Senate blue ribbon committee that the cause of death could not be determined by the findings of an autopsy. Another expert, Dr. Raymundo W. Lo, said that viscerotropism and neurotropism "are terms that cannot be attributed to a deceased person, but only to a live human subject because the effects to be observed can be seen in living persons," Remulla said. He said the Philippine General Hospital Dengue Investigative Task Force recommended further investigation to confirm if the vaccine caused the death of the children. The complaints were based on self-serving hearsay and unreliable evidence made during the joint hearings of the Senate blue ribbon committee, the Committee on Health and Demography and Finance, he said.
READ: Printing of ballots starts today
BARRING unforeseen developments, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will resume today, Jan. 27, printing the 73 million ballots for the national and local elections and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections. The Comelec had already printed 6 million ballots before printing was stopped last Jan. 6 after the Supreme Court issued temporary restraining orders (TROs) for five candidates. Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia ordered the National Printing Office (NPO) to stop printing last July 14, but just as it was about to restart, four new TROs were issued by the Supreme Court. Printing was supposed to restart Friday but was again postponed after one of the senatorial aspirants, Francis Leo Marcos, who had filed a TRO, decided to withdraw his candidacy. With the withdrawal of Marcos, the Comelec needed two to three days to change the database and serialization of ballots and generate 1,667 ballot faces. Garcia said he had informed the high court, through Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, that printing would again start on Monday.
Topping Business
READ: Higher Q4 growth seen; 2024 target likely missed
ECONOMIC growth is expected to have picked up in the fourth quarter of 2024, but not to a strong enough pace to lift the full-year result to within the government's target. The median forecast for October-December from nine economists was 5.7 percent, which is an improvement from the lower-than-expected 5.2 percent seen in the third quarter and the year-earlier 5.5 percent. If realized, 2024 gross domestic product (GDP) growth would average 5.8 percent, below the narrower 6.0- to 6.5-percent goal adopted just before the year ended, but higher than 2023's 5.5 percent. The Philippine Statistics Authority will release preliminary fourth quarter and full-year GDP data this Thursday.
In Sports
READ: Yulo to be hailed as PSA Athlete of the Year
GYMNAST Carlos Yulo is all set to be hailed as the 2024 San Miguel Corporation-Philippine Sportswriters Association (SMC-PSA) Athlete of the Year at the said media organization's Awards Night at the grand ballroom of the Manila Hotel on Monday. Conquering the floor exercise and the vault competition at the Paris Olympics last August, Yulo cemented his legend as the greatest Filipino Olympian ever. Thus, the 4-foot-11 dynamo from Malate, Manila, is set to rightfully claim the highest award of the night. Other than his historic double gold feat, Yulo, the world champion in floor exercise (2019) and vault (2021), was already collecting medals, a premonition of things to come.
READ: Opinion
In today's editorial, The Manila Times says that the impact of climate change on children is overlooked. Read the full version on print and digital editions or listen to the Voice of the Times. Featured columnists on today's front page are Rigoberto Tiglao, Fr. Ranhilio Aquino and Francisco Tatad. Tiglao says our elections are so deeply flawed, that we are a Republic is fake news; Aquino asks, what now, Mr. Trump; while Tatad wants to know whether the US president has a peace plan for the Indo-Pacific.
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