Good day. Here are the stories of The Manila Times for Wednesday, February 5, 2025.
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READ: P55 ceiling set on imported rice
The Department of Agriculture (DA) will impose a P55 per kilogram maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) for imported rice starting today, Feb. 5, bringing it to 3 pesos lower than the level set on Jan. 20. The move follows Monday's declaration of a food security emergency that allows the government to release rice buffer stocks held by the National Food Authority (NFA) to bring down rice prices that have remained high in markets despite a cut in tariffs on imported rice. The MSRP could be further reduced in coming weeks to below 50 pesos a kilo by early March, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.
READ: Pro-Duterte bloggers snub House hearing
A HOUSE of Representatives panel on Tuesday issued show cause orders against former press secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles and several social media supporters of former president Rodrigo Duterte for failing to attend a hearing on the spread of fake news and disinformation online. Only three out of about 40 invited social media figures attended Tuesday's hearing conducted by the House Committees on Public Order and Safety, Information and Communications Technology, and Public Information on potential regulatory measures to curb misinformation on social media platforms. Among those who skipped the hearing were former National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict officials Lorraine Badoy and Jeffrey Celis, Cruz-Angeles, actress Vivian Velez, former broadcaster Jay Sonza, and bloggers Sass Sasot, Jun Abines, Mark Anthony Lopez, Lord Byron Cristobal (Banat By) and Krizette Chu. Cruz-Angeles, a lawyer and former chief of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, outright rejected the committee invitation, calling the inquiry unconstitutional. Abang Lingkod Party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano criticized Cruz-Angeles' response, saying it blatantly disregards Congress' authority. Paduano moved to issue a show cause order against Cruz-Angeles and refer her case to the House legal department for a potential disbarment complaint.
READ: Meralco franchise renewed for 25 years
VOTING 18-1-0, the Senate renewed the franchise of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) for another 25 years. Sen. Risa Hontiveros voted "no" on House Bill 10926 granting the franchise to Meralco, saying the company "throughout the years failed to abide by its obligations to serve the consumers as reflected by excessively high electricity bills." Hontiveros said the overcollection needs to be addressed before any further steps are taken. The Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) and four foreign chambers of commerce in January pushed for the renewal of Meralco's franchise for another 25 years to continue business confidence in the manufacturing sector. Sen. Joel Villanueva filed Senate Bill 2824, which seeks to grant Meralco a fresh 25-year authority to operate. He cited Meralco's critical role in ensuring continuance of delivering service to millions of homes and businesses.
READ: House, Senate OK BARMM polls on Oct. 13
SENATE President Francis Escudero said Tuesday the House of Representatives has agreed to adopt the Senate version of a bill postponing the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) from May 12 to Oct. 13. The final version of the ratified measure will be submitted to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for signature before Congress adjourns on Feb. 7 for the two-month campaign period leading up to the May 12 midterm national and local elections. The president had previously certified the Senate bill as urgent.
READ: US-trained doctor is new PhilHealth chief
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed Dr. Edwin Mercado, a US-trained orthopedic surgeon, as president and chief executive officer of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), Malacañang said Tuesday. Mercado, who replaced Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. as head of the state insurer, took his oath before the president in Malacañang on Tuesday, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said. Before his appointment, Mercado served as vice chairman of the Mercado General Hospital and QualiMed Health Network since 2021.
BUSINESS: Govt ends 2024 with P16.05-T debt
Topping business, the national government (NG) ended 2024 with 16.05-trillion pesos in outstanding debt, the Bureau of Treasury reported on Tuesday, with 1.44 trillion pesos having been added from a year earlier. Measured against the economy, which grew by 5.6 percent last year, the country's debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio edged up to 60.7 percent from 2023's 60.2 percent. It was also higher than the targeted 60.6 percent in the medium-term fiscal framework. Despite the uptick, the Treasury said that the "minimal deviation from the programmed debt underscores NG's effective cash and debt management strategies, including its proactive management of the level and timing of its external debt issuances amid volatile exchange rate environment."
SPORTS: Eala seeks to end string of early exits
Alex Eala seeks to end her string of early exits as she continues her campaign at the W125 Mumbai in India. The Filipino tennis ace faces either Nao Hibino and Mai Hontama, both from Japan, in the second round of the tournament on Wednesday. Hibino and Hontama were facing each other in a first round encounter at press time on Tuesday afternoon with the winner set to face Eala, who is ranked 134th in the world. Eala hurdled her first opponent in Japanese Sara Saito on Monday, 6-1, 6-0, getting the better of the latter once more in the span of eight days. The 19-year-old Eala and the 18-year-old Saito first collided at the Singapore Open qualifiers on Jan. 25. Eala outlasted Saito, 6-1, 6-7 (1), 7-5, in the first round qualifiers of the aforementioned tournament. After a semifinal finish in her first tournament of the 2025 season, W125 Canberra International, Eala suffered three straight early exits.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Francisco Tatad, Marlen Ronquillo, and Ingming Aberia are today's front page columnists. Tatad asks if the country's mutual defense treaty with the United States, Ronquillo talks about the Lagmans of Albay, while Aberia recalls words from Pope Francis.
Today's editorial weighs in on the latest Donald Trump tariffs. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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