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PBBM vows more local jobs
Reassures OFWs in Indonesia of options at home during his term By Vince Lopez
N HIS first foreign trip as Chief Executive and first visit to Jakarta, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Sunday vowed to make the Philippines more conducive for tourism and investment and create more jobs at home so Filipinos wouldn’t have to chase opportunities abroad.
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In Indonesia for three days in his first state visit, Mr. Marcos nevertheless lauded overseas Filipino workers in Jakarta and elsewhere in the Philippines’ southern neighbor for becoming “valued members of the local society.” “We made sure to visit on a Sunday on the day-off of the Pinoys here,” the President said, as he looked forward WARM WELCOME. President Ferdinand to meeting with Indonesian counterMarcos and his delegation, which includes members of the Cabinet and Speaker part Joko Widodo to strengthen their Martin Romualdez, are warmly welcomed two countries’ bilateral relationship by members of the Filipino community and partnership as well as people-toin Jakarta Sunday evening. Mr. Marcos people ties. is in Indonesia -- home to around 7,451 But not losing sight of a campaign caption Filipinos – for a three-day state visit before promise that helped sweep him to power he proceeds tomorrow to Singapore in his via landslide in the May 9 elections, Mr. two-nation inaugural foreign trip. Next page
Press chief says Palace won’t act yet on face mask concern in Cebu PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will not step in just yet to resolve the face mask mandate row in Cebu City as he is still weighing the positions of various agencies as well as that of the local government, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said in an inter-
view in Jakarta on Sunday. “Primarily, this is a matter for the Department of Health and it will be the DOH who will primarily advise the President on health matters. That being said, we will also have to wait because Next page
VOL. XXXVI • NO. 202 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
Locsin named envoy to Britain, Northern Ireland P1b set aside for victims of Marawi siege By Vince Lopez
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has named former Foreign Affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Malacañang announced Sunday.
Teodoro Locsin Jr.
Locsin will have concurrent jurisdiction over Ireland, Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Jersey, and Bailiwick of Guernsey, according to his appointment papers dated Aug. 30. He will also have the salary and emoluments of a Chief of Mission, Class I. Under his term as DFA chief, Locsin pursued former President Rodrigo Du-
terte’s “independent” foreign policy. He earlier said he left the department proud of its accomplishments in the field of diplomacy. Locsin is a lawyer, politician and former journalist. He served as speechwriter and press secretary of the late President Corazon Next page
Imee calls out DA for slow release of P9b gov’t subsidy to farmers By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATOR Imee Marcos On Sunday warned of low farm yields and even food shortages if farmers are unable to use the P9 billion government subsidies as she urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to hasten its release. The amount, Marcos said, would be used by farmers to buy fertilizers and other farm inputs. Marcos said the subsidies should be distributed to the rice farmers who are now preparing for the wet planting season this September to October. “The DA is creating bigger problems for itself if it delays the release of farmer subsidies. Farm yields for the country’s staple crops cannot be maintained, much less increased, if farmers can’t afford fertilizers and quit their livelihood,” she said. Rice farmers sought help from Marcos’s office and complained that the Next page
BRACE FOR HIGHER GRAIN PRICES. A rice retailer is seen arranging placards bearing the price per kilo of the different grain varieties at Commonwealth Market in Quezon City. An agricultural group warned on Friday that the retail price of rice could increase by as much as P5 per kilo due to the delayed disbursement of government subsidies to farmers. Manny Palmero
By Rio N. Araja AT LEAST P1 billion has been set aside to compensate residents of Marawi City in Lanao del Sur who lost private property during the 2017 siege, Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said Sunday. “The allocation for the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Fund has been included in the 2023 national budget,” he said. “The item is lodged in the P31-billion Calamity Fund for next year,” he added. The reparation fund is pursuant to the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Law of 2022, or Republic Act No. 11696. Pimentel said the P1-billion fund would be used to provide tax-free compensation to lawful owners of residential, commercial and other properties, including cultural structures, destroyed or damaged during the Marawi siege, and owners of private properties demolished in accordance with the Marawi recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction program. “We expect the compensation payout to rev up reconstruction activities in Marawi by private property owners,” he said. “The private rebuilding activities in turn will have a multiplier effect on the local economy in terms of creating new jobs and income that tend to benefit low-income households,” he said. Under the law, the compensation fund also covers owners of mosques, madaris, schools, colleges, hospitals and other health facilities destroyed Next page
PAGCOR intervention brings WHO sees more COVID patients, deaths in winter order to Okada Manila row TIGER Resort Asia Ltd. (TRAL) has successfully reinstated its board members in Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc. (TRLEI) and ousted a rival board in casino resort Okada Manila. This came after the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) enforced its order to implement the status quo ante order (SQAO) within
its proper context over the weekend. Despite a brief scuffle, as Kazuo Okada’s board tried to bar government authorities from entering Okada Manila, the transition was generally peaceful, TRAL said in a statement Sunday. Police officers assisted PAGCOR representatives in enforcing the order, it added. Next page
AN INCREASE in global hospitalization and deaths from COVID-19 in the coming months is “reasonable to expect,” a World Health Organization (WHO) official said. In a recent media briefing, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said COVID-related deaths have been declining globally, but the approaching colder weather and the continued spread of Omicron subvariants may bring risk to people’s health. “With colder weather approaching
in the northern hemisphere, it’s reasonable to expect an increase in hospitalizations and deaths in the coming months. Sub-variants of Omicron are more transmissible than their predecessors, and the risk of even more transmissible and more dangerous variants remains,” he said. Ghebreyesus also noted that vaccination rate among most at-risk people remains low, particularly in low-income countries. High-income countries, meanwhile, have yet to vaccinate 30 percent of health
workers and 20 percent of older people. “These vaccination gaps pose a risk to all of us. So, please get vaccinated if you are not, and get a booster if it’s recommended that you have one,” he said. The Philippines is seeing an “improvement” in its COVID-19 situation with the continued decline of reported COVID-19 cases, ABS-CBN Data Analytics head Edson Guido said. But Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire Next page