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NEWS / A2
NEWS / A2
VP: Nothing to stop classes VOL. XXXVI • NO. 189 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 • TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2022 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
Says pandemic, classrooms lack no reason to keep kids from school By Vito Barcelo and Rio N. Araja
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CLASSROOM shortage is no excuse to keep children out of schools, Vice President and concurrent Education Secretary Sara Duterte said Monday as millions of students returned to schools that had been locked down for two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We cannot make the lack of educational infrastructure or the inadequate number of classrooms in certain provinces another excuse to keep our children from schools,” Duterte said at the National School Opening Day Program at the Dinalupihan Elementary School in Bataan. At the same time, Duterte said the pandemic can no longer be a reason to keep children from attending face-toface classes. “We cannot afford to delay the education of the Filipino youth any longer,” she said. “We need to get them back
BACK AFTER 2 YEARS. Grade 3 and Grade 6 elementary students stand in attention for the flag ceremony to start their first face-to-face classes since the COVID-19 pandemic began at the Pedro Guevarra Elementary School in Binondo, Manila on Monday. Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio was at Dinalupihan Elementary School in Bataan (right inset) to help kick off school year 2022-23, but students and teachers alike had to deal with their schools’ lingering problems, like flooding at Dalan Baliti Elementary School in Macabebe, Pampanga (left inset). Norman Cruz, Danny Pata, Dalan Baliti ES FB Page
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Some classes canceled due to ‘Florita’, NCR traffic manageable By Rio N. Araja and Joel E. Zurbano SEVERAL parts of the country suspended classes due to bad weather on Monday, as the cyclone “Florita” strengthened into a tropical storm just as schools opened for the new academic year.
In Metro Manila, however, the expected traffic from the first day of the school year 2022-23 and the rains that had prevailed over the last week did not develop. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority has described as “manageable” the morning traffic situation
in the metropolis during the first day of face-to-face classes at all school levels. Citing initial reports from the office of Traffic Engineering Office director Noemie Recio, MMDA chief information officer Sharon Gentalian said: “The traffic was manageable because the expected volume of vehicles did not
SPECIAL REPORT Full Reopening: PH Economy Nears Pre-Pandemic Level on August 29, 2022.
happen, except for the traffic build-up at the De La Salle (Greenhills) and Ateneo (universities), which was also immediately fixed in less than an hour.” In Cagayan, the provincial government canceled classes from the preschool to primary level, the National Next page
Tiamzons killed in boat explosion? PBBM asks Congress to act swiftly on nat’l budget Military mum on details of incident By Maricel V. Cruz
By Ronald Reyes TACLOBAN CITY—Top communist leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon were reportedly killed in a boat explosion in Catbalogan City, Samar on Monday morning, an initial report showed. The Philippine Army in Eastern Visayas, however, has yet to confirm that the two leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army were the ones killed in the explosion. Armed Forces of the Philippines - Joint Task Form Storm Next page Benito and Wilma Tiamzon
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged Congress to waste no time in passing the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023, citing its importance in helping the nation attain economic transformation, growth, and sustainability. “The formula for prosperity is simple: Increase productivity with the overriding commitment to leave no Filipino behind, including Filipinos of the next generation. Let us not waste more time in turning this dream into a reality,” he told Congress in his budget message. House Speaker and Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin Romualdez said the House will begin hearings on the National Expenditure Plan on Aug. 26, and finish committee and plenary deliberation on the budget proposal by Oct. 1, when Congress goes on its first recess. “We welcome the submission of the proposed 2023 national budget that will provide the broad strokes needed to speed up our economic recovery,” Next page
TURNOVER. Budget Secretary Amenah Pangadaman (left) submits to Speaker Martin G.
Romualdez the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023 during the turnover ceremony at the Social Hall of the Speaker’s Office in the House of Representatives. Ver Noveno
New oil prices: LPG P2.80, diesel P2.60, gas P0.70 Sugar cost seen to drop to P60/kl By Alena Mae S. Flores
reflect the movement of prices in the ing two consecutive weeks of rollbacks world market. across all petroleum products and seven The firms raised the price of kerosene straight weekly price cuts for diesel. THE country’s oil firms implemented “Petron will implement the following a pump price hike of as much as P2.80 by P2.80 per liter, diesel by P2.60 per per liter effective 6 a.m. Tuesday to liter, and gasoline by P0.70 per liter, endNext page
DOH: Non-traveler 4th confirmed monkeypox case By Willie Casas
history to or from any country with test. Fourteen close contacts have cases of the disease. been identified. The Department of Health said the “[The case] is being cared for and is THE country confirmed its fourth case of monkeypox on Monday in a 25-year-old patient was confirmed admitted in an isolation facility,” the Filipino with no documented travel positive on Aug. 19 through a PCR Next page
after stocks found in warehouses
By Vince Lopez and Joel E. Zurbano ducted on warehouses in the Visayas FROM a high of more than P100 per kilo, the retail price of refined sugar is expected to go down to P60 per kilo with the “discovery of thousands of stocks” in warehouses in Bulacan and Pampanga, senior Agriculture undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said. Panganiban, a former Agriculture chief, said that more raids will be con-
and Mindanao. “We expect to bring down the retail price of refined sugar between P60 and P65 per kilo. We have enough sugar supply following the discovery of thousands of stocks in Bulacan and Pampanga,” he said. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Customs on Monday implemented a Letter of Authority (LOA) and Mission Order Next page