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IATF FOR OPTIONAL USE OF MASKS OUTDOORS, PILOT TEST INDOORS
By Vince Lopez, Vito Barcelo, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Willie Casas
Diseases (IATF) has recommended the voluntary use of face masks outdoors, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday. THE Inter-Agency Task Force for the In a Palace media briefing, DOH Management of Emerging Infectious officer-in-charge Undersecretary Ma-
ria Rosario Vergeire said the optional wearing of a face mask is only for lowrisk individuals and in low-risk settings. “We liberalized the use of masks outdoors but for low-risk individuals and in Next page
MASKLESS SOON? The IATF has recommended relaxing the face mask mandate outdoors even as it encouraged senior citizens and immunocompromised individuals to continue wearing their face masks. Norman Cruz
PESO SLUMPS FURTHER TO P57.14 VS. $1 BUSINESS / B4 VOL. XXXVI • NO. 205 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2022 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
PBBM brings home $14.36b worth of investment pledges By Vito Barcelo and Vince Lopez
P
RESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he secured some $14.36 billion (about P804 billion) worth of investment pledges during this four-day state visits to Indonesia and Singapore. “My inaugural state visits to our two important Asean neighbors were fruitful and engaging,” Mr. Marcos said in his arrival speech in Manila late Wednesday evening. “We will do everything that we can to ensure that what we have started in my inaugural state visits will be completed, until ordinary Filipinos feel the impact of these investments. We look forward to doing the detailed work necessary to bring all of these proposals to fruition,” he added. Malacañang earlier announced that Mr. Marcos has secured $8.484 billion worth of investment pledges from his three-day state visit to Indonesia. Next page
ORCHID DIPLOMACY.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., accompanied by his wife, First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos, with Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan (2nd from left) and his wife Joy Balakrishnan (left) attend an orchid-naming ceremony at the National Orchid Garden in Singapore on September 7, 2022. The violet hybrid orchid, Dendrobium Ferdinand Louise Marcos, is named after the First Couple. AFP
Orchid named after First Couple SINGAPORE has named a purple orchid hybrid after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza AranetaMarcos during the last day of their state visit to the Lion City on Wednesday. The Marcoses got a first-hand look at the Dendrobium orchid when they visited Singapore’s National Botanical Garden on the last day of their state visit, according to Malacañang. “Dendrobium Ferdinand Louise Marcos” was described as “a robust and free-flowering orchid hybrid.” It produces semi-arching inflores-
NTC says ‘smishing’ likely text blasts, not data aggregator-generated By Othel V. Campos “DATA aggregators” and contact-tracing apps are not the culprit in the ongoing “massive” spam phone messages that have targeted individuals through personalized “smishing” (SMS phishing) operations that include the recipients’ actual names, the National Privacy
Murder raps filed vs. cops linked to ‘Bloody Sunday’ By Rey E. Requejo MURDER charges have been filed against 30 police officers and personnel allegedly involved in the “Bloody Sunday” incident on March 7, 2021 that led to the deaths of nine activists and the arrest of six others in the Calabarzon region, the Department of Justice said on Wednesday. Justice Undersecretary Brigido Dulay said the murder complaints against the policemen arose from the operation to serve search warrants in Batangas that led to the deaths of the activists. Next page
Commission (NPC) said on Wednesday. Though it may appear organized, the recent wave of smishing is likely “text blasts” transferred phone-tophone, Privacy Commissioner John Henry Naga said in the privacy webinar Privacy, Safety, Security and Trust Online (PSST!). “As confirmed with the telecommu-
nications companies, smishing messages which are sent using mobile numbers are possible through a phone-to-phone (P2P) transmission,” Naga said. “Such transmission is usually coursed through a telecommunication company’s regular network and does not pass through data aggregators,” he said. This developed as the Philippine Na-
tional Police renewed its call to enact a law that would mandate the registration of all SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards, amid the explosion of personalized text scams in the past weeks. Police Brig. Gen. Jose Chiquito Malayo, PNP Deputy Chief for Administration, said such a law would add more Next page
CA confirms Garcia for Comelec, Nograles for CSC By Macon Ramos-Araneta
THE Commission on Appointments (CA) on Wednesday confirmed the appointments of George Erwin Garcia and Karlo Alexei Bendigo Nograles as chairmen of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Civil Service Commission (CSC), respectively. Garcia was initially appointed by former President Rodrigo Duterte as Comelec commissioner in 2022. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. then appointed him as Comelec chairman. He was a former election lawyer of President Marcos in his election protest against former Vice President Leni Robredo in the 2016 vice presidential election. The CA Committee on Constitutional Commissions and Offices chaired
CSC chairman Karlo Nograles
Comelec chairman George Garcia
by Senator Cynthia Villar also favored Nograles’ designation as CSC chief. Nograles was appointed by then President Duterte. He was also designated by President Marcos to the same post. With the confirmation, Garcia will
serve as Comelec chairman and Nograles as CSC chairman until Feb. 2, 2029. Villar described Nograles as a versatile public servant having functioned as the chairman of the Cabinet Assistance Next page
cences of 50 to 70 centimeters in length that bear 20 to 30 well-arranged flowers, with each flower measuring approximately 4 centimeters in width. The orchid’s curled sepals have a white background adorned with lavender striations, while its petals are white and flushed with bluish mauve. Mr. Marcos is the latest leader to be honored under the so-called “orchid diplomacy,” a tradition of naming a new orchid species grown in Singapore after a foreign leader or celebrity. Next page
Palace to keep mum on Veloso case at this point PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will not express his stand on the case of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino on death row in Indonesia, until his government crafts a policy on the issue, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz Angeles said Wednesday. Cruz Angeles said the President will stay mum despite the appeal of the Veloso family for Mr. Marcos to bring up the matter with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo. “When it’s matters of international relations, the President will make a pronouncement only when the policy is already set in place and after recommendations made by DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs),” she said. “We are always very careful about any statements because they have repercussions later on. We also do not want to transgress the sovereignty of another state,” the Press Secretary added. Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo met with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in Next page