NESTHY’S SHOT AT THE TOP Nesthy Petecio, our last Filipino boxer in the 2024 Paris Olympics, is ready to follow in Carlos Yulo’s footsteps. She’ll face Julia Szeremeta of Poland in the women’s 57kg semifinals at 3:46 a.m. Thursday. Petecio is looking to secure her place in the gold medal match and potentially match her silver medal performance from Tokyo 2020. She’s been unstoppable so far, with dominant victories over Jaismine from India, Amina Zidani of France and Zichun Xu of China. With her impressive track record, Nesthy enters as the favorite against the 20-year-old Szeremeta, who is aiming to bring Poland its first Olympic boxing medal in over three decades. AP/ARIANA CUBILLOS
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Thursday, August 8, 2024 Vol. 19 No. 296
P. nationwide | sections pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
UNDEREMPLOYMENT DATA
BUGS JOBLESS PICTURE By Cai U. Ordinario
GIR inches up by end-July on higher gold prices
@caiordinario
STORM WATCH A personnel
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HE number of full-time Filipino employees looking for additional income sources increased in June 2024 when commodity prices remained elevated and preparations for the upcoming school year were under way.
of the Quezon City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (QCDRRMO) closely monitors the low pressure area over the northern Philippine Sea at the QCDRRMO office in Quezon City on August 7, 2024. The Philippine weather bureau, Pagasa, announced on Wednesday that two low-pressure systems have merged into a single weather disturbance. Additionally, another low-pressure area to the northeast has developed into a tropical depression, currently located approximately 575 km from Itbayat, Batanes. The consolidation of these weather systems highlights the need for vigilant monitoring and preparedness as the region braces for potential impacts. NONOY LACZA
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IGH gold prices boosted the country’s Gross International Reserves (GIR) in the period ending July 2024, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Central bank data showed the country’s GIR reached $105.65 billion, higher than the $105.19 billion posted in the end-June 2024 period. The data also showed the GIR in end-July 2024 was higher than the $99.951 billion posted in the same period last year. “[The data] reflected mainly the upward valuation adjustments in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ [BSP] gold holdings due to the increase in the price of gold in the international market, net income from the BSP’s investments abroad, and the National Government’s [NG] net foreign currency
While the number of unemployed Filipinos continued to decline to 1.62 million in June 2024, the number of underemployed Filipinos increased to 6.083 million in June 2024. (See: https://businessmirror.
See “Gold,” A
com.ph/2024/08/07/unemploymentcontinues-decline-only-1-62m-filipinos-unemployed-in-june-24-psa/)
The number of underemployed Filipinos increased 3.5 percent in June 2024 compared to June 2023, but surged 26.3 percent compared to May 2024. There was a 208,000 year-on-year increase in the number of underemployed Filipinos, but a 1.268-million increase month on month. “While we see encouraging figures in terms of our job generation, we will continue to focus on generating high-quality and well-paying jobs to address the issue of vulnerable employment and ensure a brighter future for our Filipino workers,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said in a statement. Based on PSA data, the number of underemployed Filipinos is composed of visibly underemployed and invisibly underemployed Filipinos. There were a total of 3.454 million who are visible underemployed and 2.629 million who are invisibly un-
’CONNECTIVITY KEY TO PINOY CRITICAL THINKING’ By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio
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HINK tank Stratbase ADR is asking the government to beef up the digital connectivity infrastructure in schools across the country to uplift the students’ declining critical thinking skills. “The start of another school year is upon us, and aside from the usual problems of providing basic school facilities for our public school students, we must address the lack of critical thinking skills that would allow them to navigate the challenges of the real world,” said Professor Victor Andres Manhit, president of Stratbase ADR Institute. “We want our learners to be capable of critical thinking so that they can analyze information and distinguish the real from the fake, form their opinions from sound and logical arguments, solve problems, and make evidencebased decisions in different aspects of their lives.”
Manhit also warned that critical thinking will not be achieved without the foundational skills obtained from the areas of math, science and reading. He stressed that Stratbase supports the new leadership at the Department of Education as it seeks to improve the Philippines’ performance in the next round of ranking of the Program for International Student Assessment, which measures the performance in these three subjects of students all over the world. In the recent PISA ranking, the Philippines scored 353 in reading, 340 in mathematics, and 357 in science, among the lowest in its ranking. “We were hoping that the dismal results in 2018 would prompt us to work harder for the sake of our students, but then the pandemic happened, and our schools were not ready to quickly shift to online learning creating what experts call a learning gap that must be addressed,” Manhit said. “As of 2022, we remain one of the most learning challenged countries in the world. This
has a tremendous impact not only on our economic future as a country but on the quality of life of our people,” Manhit said. “Technological advances have allowed foundation subjects like math, science, and reading to be taught more effectively, with interactive e-learning modules enriched with a multimedia learning experience,” Manhit said. “The conventional classroom methods can now be complemented by the rich content and digital skills that could be acquired through exposure to the online world—of course with proper guidance and precaution from mentors.” Nevertheless, the huge digital divide in the Philippines leaves students in disadvantaged areas way behind their counterparts in more “connected” geographical locations. The Philippines faces herculean challenges in providing adequate broadband connectivity, particularly in rural areas. As of 2021, only about 27 percent of the population had access to fixed See “Pinoy,” A
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PESO EXCHANGE RATES US 57.9100 Q JAPAN 0.4005 Q UK 73.5167 Q HK 7.4296 Q SINGAPORE 43.6925 Q AUSTRALIA 37.7457 Q SAUDI ARABIA 15.4242 Q EU 63.3014 Q KOREA 0.0422 Q CHINA 8.0936 Source: BSP (August 7, 2024)