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More sugar, this time imported SRA to boost local supply with 150,000 MT of refined sugar from abroad By Vito Barcelo
RESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved the importation of 150,000 metric tons of refined sugar to address the shortage of the commodity in the country.
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Through the Sugar Regulatory Administration, the President signed Sugar Order No. 2, detailing the country’s sugar import program for the crop year 2022 to 2023 and setting the maximum volume for bringing in refined sugar. The volume would be divided equally between industrial users and
VOL. XXXVI • NO. 211 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 THURSDAY, THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2022 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER. Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio pays a courtesy call on Speaker Martin Romualdez at his office in the House of Representatives on Wednesday ahead of the budget hearing for the OVP and DepEd. Deliberations for the OVP's proposed budget was terminated immediately in less than 13 minutes without any interpellation as lawmakers expressed 'full confidence' on Duterte-Carpio's performance as Vice President.
consumers, or 75,000 tons for each sector, according to a copy of the order posted on the SRA website and signed by Mr. Marcos as secretary of the Department of Agriculture and chairman of the Sugar Board. Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles confirmed the issuance of SO2 Next page
New basic curriculum for K to 12 up—DepEd By Maricel V. Cruz THE Department of Education (DepEd) will come up with a new basic education curriculum in two to three years, after the ongoing review of the K to 12 Basic Education program, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio said Wednesday. At a budget hearing for her department and the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in the House of Representatives, Duterte-Carpio said the review of K to 10 has been completed, while work continues on Grade 11-12. \“It will take two to three years for us to implement a new curriculum for the K
to 12... I am trying to push the curriculum and instruction strand to do it in one year. We will update you on that if we will be able to implement a new curriculum in a year or two,” she told lawmakers. The House appropriations committee swiftly approved the OVP's proposed P2.3 billion budget for 2023, ending the hearing in under 13 minutes, with no questions asked. House Minority Leader and 4Ps party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan said that while some opposition lawmakers wanted to pose some questions on the budget, these would be asked in the plenary session as a “courtesy to the Office of the Vice President.” Next page
MMDA joins calls for public to still mask up
NEDA chief sees jobless rate pre-pandemic level by 2024 NATIONAL Economic and Development Administration (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the country’s unemployment rate will go down to prepandemic levels by 2024. “We are making sure there will be more stimulus for job creation in the next quarter. More economic activities, particularly among small and medium enterprises,” Balisacan said during the Senate Finance committee's first briefing on the national expenditure program based on next year's P5.628-trillion national budget. Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva earlier asked Balisacan about the country's employment projections, citing
the 5.3 percent actual unemployment rate in 2018 and 5.1 percent in 2019. The figure rose to 10.3 percent in 2020, and then dropped to 7.8 percent in 2021, Villanueva said. The Development Budget Coordination Committee's (DBCC) data indicated the projected unemployment rate at 5.1 percent to 6.5 percent in 2022; 5.7 percent to 6.8 percent in 2023; 5 percent to 5.3 percent in 2024; and 5.5 percent to 5.8 percent in 2025. "We have made an exercise on that. Here, for 2023, we are expecting unemployment to reach 5.7 to 6.8 Next page
SWS: Mixed views on how life was in last 12 months LOT IN LIFE. File photo
shows a couple playing with their pet dog on their wooden cart along España Boulevard in Manila. A recent SWS survey show 31% of Filipino respondents saying their lives worsened in the past 12 months. Danny Pata
FILIPINOS had mixed views on how life was in the past 12 months, the second quarter survey released by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) yesterday showed. Some 31% of adult Filipinos said their quality of life got worse, while at least 29% said their life got better and
39% said it was the same compared to a year ago. Compared with the first quarter survey of SWS, the number of Filipinos who said their lives worsened slightly went down by three percentage points from 34% in April.
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By Joel E. Zurbano and Willie Casas
NEDA Director-General Arsenio Balisacan
PBBM says ML painted as dark chapter in history by the ‘victors’ MARTIAL law was painted as a dark chapter in Philippine history because the “victors wrote it,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Tuesday in an exclusive interview with ALLTV Channel. A week before the anniversary of the declaration of martial law on Sept. 21, Marcos echoed his father, the late former President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., in maintaining that martial law was declared to suppress the armed rebellion from two fronts.
He said military rule was needed to prevent rising disorder caused by the nascent Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) and the Muslim separatist movement of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). On another front, Mr. Marcos believes that his chief legal counsel, Juan Ponce Enrile, would not withdraw support from him the way he did with his father Next page
Cops rescue 43 kidnapped Chinese nationals INTERIOR Secretary Benhur Abalos said some 43 Chinese nationals who were alleged human trafficking victims have been rescued by the Philippine National Police-Anti Kidnapping Group (PNPAKG) yesterday. The operation was triggered by a message that Abalos received Tuesday afternoon from his friend whose Chinese assistant was kidnapped. Abalos said he then requested the PNPAKG to conduct an operation to rescue
the Chinese national, whose last known location was Clark City, Pampanga. “We are pleased to announce the successful rescue of another kidnapped Chinese shortly after midnight this morning in Angeles City,” he said. “The kidnap rescue operation stemmed from information provided by our foreign police counterparts based on complaints of the family of the kidnapped Chinese who was held for a P1 million ransom Next page
THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Wednesday added its voice to calls for people to continue masking up outdoors, despite a new policy that makes face masks optional outdoors. MMDA acting chairman Carlo Dimayuga III said the wearing of face masks protects individuals not only against coronavirus but also from pollution. He said his agency strongly enjoins Next page
END OF COVID PANDEMIC IN SIGHT, SAYS WHO CHIEF NEWS / A2
DILG tells local execs: No luxury vehicles for ops By Joel E. Zurbano THE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Wednesday reminded governors, town and city mayors they are not allowed to acquire or use luxury vehicles for their operations. DILG Secretary Benjamin Abalos, Jr. called on local officials to exercise due prudence when purchasing motor vehicles and observe strict compliance with budgetary, procurement and auditing laws, regulations and standards at all Next page times.