Biden-Marcos meeting: Key items to watch By Andreo Calonzo Bloomberg
U THE WORLD »A6
HUGE LABOR DAY EVENTS IN ASIA CALL FOR BETTER LABOR CONDITIONS
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S President Joe Biden and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. are set to meet on Monday to strengthen one of the oldest alliances in the region that was threatened by a pivot to China under the latter’s predecessor. Marcos’s first White House visit since he took power last year is expected to lead to broader economic partnerships and even greater de-
fense ties between the two nations against the backdrop of escalating tensions with China over the disputed South China Sea, and more recently over Taiwan. Biden will reaffirm the United States’ “ironclad commitment to the defense of the Philippines” when he meets Marcos, according to the White House. In his departure remarks on Sunday, Marcos said he’s “determined to forge an even stronger relationship” with the US as well as “push for greater economic engagement” between the
two countries. Marcos, who met Biden in the US in September on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly, said then that he couldn’t envision his country without America as a partner, setting into motion a restoration of the nations’ ties undermined by ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s shift toward China. The leaders’ meeting comes as the US accused China at the weekend of harassing Philippine ships after a near collision in the contested waters days ago while Washington and
Manila conducted their biggest ever joint defense drills. Here are the items to watch during Marcos’s official US visit:
Defense
US-PHILIPPINE defense ties are expected to be high on the agenda, with Marcos hoping to discuss with Biden how military agreements can “evolve.” The two nations are bound by a 71-year-old mutual defense treaty, to which Biden earlier said the US has an “ironclad” commitment. See “Biden-Marcos,” A2
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NAIA BROWNOUT SPURS FULL AUDIT; SABOTAGE? n
THOUSANDS of passengers endured hours of long lines, heat and delays at NAIA Terminal 3 after a power outage shortly after 1 a.m. of Labor Day hit the facility, evoking recollections of the New Year’s Day glitch that hit the air traffic control system. NONIE REYES By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan & Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM
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Special to the BusinessMirror
HE Department of Transportation (DOTr) has ordered the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to conduct a “full electrical audit” of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), following the power outage on Monday, a disruption where sabotage has not been ruled out.
In a press briefing, Transportation Secretary Jaime B. Bautista said the airport is due for an audit, and this time, he is ordering a “full audit” instead of the usual periodic review. “We are talking about a full electrical audit of Terminal 3, which started operations in 2009 and underwent electrical audit in 2017. Not all recommendations were implemented and since then the capacity of Terminal 3 increased,” he said. Bautista told a news briefing he was not ruling out “sabotage” as a possible cause of Monday’s power outage at Terminal 3, as well as previous outages on New Year’s Day in 2023, and last September 17, 2022.
“We’ve contacted NICA [National Intelligence Coordinating Agency] to investigate these. We’re not discounting sabotage [as the cause]. Meralco will also help assess if there was sabotage,” he said. MIAA General Manager Cesar Chiong apologized for the inconvenience experienced by the passengers at Naia 3 due to the power outage. He said 9,000 passengers and 247 flights were affected by the power outage, which lasted from 1:05 am to 8:46 am. “No international flights were affected,” he noted, and underscored that the 9,000 passengers affected accounted for 7 percent of total passengers who use the Naia daily. See “NAIA,” A2
PHL KEEN ON STAYING IN IMO MARITIME-COMPLIANT LIST By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan
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HE Philippines is now gunning to remain in the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) whitelist of countries that are compliant with global maritime practices. Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) Administrator Hernani N. Fabia said the Philippines is submitting its report to the IMO soon and is now confident of changing its status of a mere conditional inclusion in the whitelist. “We are confident that the Philippines shall likewise get a positive decision from the IMO. This time we are confident,” he said during the Joint Maritime Committee (JMC) Meeting of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (DCCP), the German-Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GPCCI), the Nordic Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (NordCham), and the Philippines Norway
Business Council (PNBC). The Philippines is included in the IMO whitelist, albeit on a conditional basis due to its incomplete submission of its compliance report in 2017. Nonetheless, Fabia said the Philippines has implemented several initiatives to ensure that it complies with global maritime standards and conventions, especially the 1978 standards of training, certification, and watch keeping (STCW) convention. “We have completed 101 percent of the compliance report. We are 101 percent complaint,” he said. Once submitted, the IMO will refer the report to a panel of competent persons, who will then review the submission and forward it to the Maritime Safety Committee. “The Maritime Safety Committee will decide on the fate of the Philippines— whether or not we will be excluded,” Fabia said. See “PHL,” A2
Wage hike, job security top Labor Day appeals By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
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RGANIZED labor called for higher wage, permanent and decent jobs and respect for labor rights during their Labor Day march. At least 10,000 members of the All Philippine Trade Unions (APTU) joined nationwide demonstrations on Monday. The APTU is composed of the countr y’s largest trade federations including the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), K i lu s a ng M ayo Uno ( K M U ), Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition, and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), as well as other workers’ organizations. Their foremost demand is a significant hike ranging from P150 to P750 before the regional wage boards and in Congress to allow workers to cope with rising cost of living. “It is a great irony and a grave injustice that while prices continue to skyrocket and economic growth and labor productivity
steadily grew, wages of workers stagnated for all these years,” TUCP president Raymond Mendoza said. They also called for the passage of the Security of Tenure Law to end mass contractualization. “It is time for our government to address the increasingly precarious work conditions that millions of contractual workers are facing today,” BMP President Luke Espiritu said. APTU also called for the creation of a national employment plan to provide decent employment to 2.47 million unemployed Filipinos as well as the ratification of Convention 190 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) to prevent workplace discrimination.
Lack of tripartism
L ABOR leaders also criticized President Ferdinand R . Marcos Jr. for his “ band-aid solutions” to their demands and for his failure to personally meet them. See “Wage,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 55.7420 n JAPAN 0.4163 n UK 69.6552 n HK 7.1011 n CHINA 8.0548 n SINGAPORE 41.7543 n AUSTRALIA 36.9402 n EU 61.4667 n KOREA 0.0417 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.8618 Source: BSP (April 28, 2023)