BusinessMirror PSA’s best stats advocate
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USINESSMIRROR is this year’s Best Media Advocate for Statistics beating other news organizations in the 11th National Statistics Month (NSM) Media Awards. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) bestowed the award on BusinessMirror for its “accurate, timely, and significant use of statistics, exemplifying wide reach and impact through public service in pursuit of delivering evidence-based reports.” This is the second time BusinessMirror was recognized as the best in statistics reporting among news organizations. The
BUSINESSMIRROR reporter Cai U. Ordinario (second from left) receives the award for Best Statistical Reporting in Print Media in the 11th National Statistics Month Media Awards during the 33rd National Statistics Month celebration of the Philippine Statistics Authority on Monday, October 3, 2022, in Quezon City. In photo above, Ordinario received on behalf of the BusinessMirror the Best Media Advocate for Statistics award. PHOTOS FROM PSA
first time was when PSA declared the newspaper its inaugural Data Champion in 2018. “The NSM Media Awards aims to recognize the significant role and contribution of media in promoting and popularizing official statistical information by way of featuring data/statistics and other products and services from the Philippine Statistical System in television, radio, print and online news service,” the PSA said. BusinessMir ror’s Macro economy reporter, Cai U. Ordinario, also won the Best Statistical See “BM,” A2
BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business
MERALCO PREPS DEALS WITH POWER SUPPLIERS www.businessmirror.com.ph
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Wednesday, October 5, 2022 Vol. 17 No. 362
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 24 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
By Lenie Lectura
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OPS, COA chiefs quit; 10 secretaries reappointed
@llectura
O ensure continued electricity supply to its more than 7 million customers, the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) said Tuesday it has forged emergency supply deals with other power suppliers after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) denied the P0.30 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) joint rate hike plea of Meralco and San Miguel Corporation’s (SMC). See “Meralco,” A2
By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
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FIRST 2 BILLS Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez show the enrolled bills on the SIM registration and on the postponement to 2023 of this year’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections after signing these on Tuesday. The two bills, earlier ratified by the Senate and the House of Representatives, are the first measures to be submitted by the 19th Congress to Malacañang for President Marcos Jr.’s approval. After the signing, the two enrolled bills were received by PLLO Sec. Mendoza for transmittal to the Office of the President. Story on A16, Second Front Page. SENATE PRIB PHOTO
WO more members of the Cabinet of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. have resigned from their posts. The Office of the Executive Secretary confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that Marcos accepted the See “COA,” A2
TEXT SCAMMERS GOT ‘MILLIONS OF DOLLARS’–DICT By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan
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AD actors, many foreignfunded, have so far amassed “millions of dollars” from Filipino victims who fell prey to the text scams of late, an official from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said on Tuesday. During a spot interview, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center (CICC) Deputy Executive Director Mary Rose E. Magsaysay confirmed that cybercriminals
have been able to monetize the text scams in the Philippines, and that the figures are “big— it’s in the millions of dollars.” She said the CICC has confirmed that the text scams are foreign-funded. “But there are local and international collaborations,” she said. Her agency, she noted, has started the ball rolling for prosecution, but so far, none have been arrested for the scams. Over the last few months, Filipinos have been complaining of increased spam messages bearing their
full names or monickers they use for different apps, giving rise to widespread concern, even among lawmakers who received such messages, that certain entities with access to a huge database have been selling personal data. The recent wave of scammers promise unknowing victims of jobs or money in exchange for personal and financial data. Another form of text scams involve online gambling deals. Some senior citizens who were also addressed by their names, reported getting notices of
“allowance” for the elderly, and were advised to click on to a certain “link” to enroll in the aid program. To combat these scams, telcos have been consistently updating their policies. Some even went as far as removing the links on SMS to increase their subscribers’ cyber hygiene and security. The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has also ordered all telcos to “block or deactivate” links from malicious sites identified by government and law enforcement agencies.
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 58.8770 n JAPAN 0.4072 n UK 66.6605 n HK 7.5003 n CHINA 8.2681 n SINGAPORE 41.1468 n AUSTRALIA 38.3407 n EU 57.8290 n KOREA 0.0411 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.6671 Source:
BSP (4 OCTOBER 2022)