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PBBM lifts face mask use
Wearing them indoors, outdoors now voluntary under EO 7 By Vito Barcelo and Macon Ramos-Araneta
P
RESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday signed an executive order (EO) allowing the voluntary wearing of face masks in indoor settings.
Under EO 7, the wearing of face facilities, medical transport, and public masks in indoor and outdoor settings transportation by land, air, or sea. shall be voluntary except in healthcare The liberalization of the face mask
mandate has been recommended by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) through its Resolution 3 (series 2022). Mask-wearing is still encouraged for the elderly, individuals with comorbidities, immunocompromised persons, pregnant women, unvaccinated individuals, Next page
MARIKINA HOUSING. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. talks to Marikina City Mayor
Marcy Teodoro (right) and Housing Secretary Jerry Acuzar (left) as he inspects the DHSUD Land Development and Housing Project in Barangay Nangka, Marikina City on Friday. Presidential Photo
VOL. XXXVI • NO. 256 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2022 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
DOJ to name brain in Lapid slay next week By Rey E. Requejo and Rio N. Araja
43 killed as ‘Paeng’ thrashes south, rolls toward Luzon
By Francisco Tuyay, Nash B. Maulana, Ronald O. Reyes, and Joel E. Zurbano
“Paeng” lashed Maguindanao Norte, Cotabato mud overnight in mainly rural communities around City, and the rest of Visayas and Mindanao, a dis- Cotabato, a city of 300,000 people in Mindanao. aster official said Friday. Meanwhile, Paeng slightly intensified yesterThe storm (international name Nalgae) unleashed day afternoon as it roared closer to Metro Manila LANDSLIDES and flooding killed at least 43 people as heavy rain from Tropical Storm flash floods carrying uprooted trees, rocks, and Next page
SUFFERING FROM ‘PAENG.’ A woman wades through chest-deep muddy waters in Kalibo, Aklan on Friday as record floods hit the area (above inset) while Philippine Coast Guard men evacuate people in Parang, Maguindanao province amid the onslaught of Tropical Storm ‘Paeng’ on Friday. AFP, PCG photos
JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Friday said the mastermind behind the killing of radio commentator Percival Mabasa, better known as Percy Lapid, may be identified next week “The proper cases can be filed by the end of next week,” Remulla said, adding that it was “very possible” that the mastermind would be named. The Justice secretary said he was satisfied with the joint investigation being conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) on the Oct. 3 murder. “I think we have made a lot of progress. I’m guiding it through to make sure that this would get resolved,” Remulla said in an interview. Earlier, Joel Escorial, the gunman who surrendered and confessed to killing Mabasa, named his three accomplices and a middleman who was detained at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City. Hours after Escorial was presented to the media, however, the inmate, Jun Globa Villamor, died in the NBP. Several “persons of interest” in the death of Villamor are now under the custody of NBI and PNP and are Next page
Thousands stranded in terminals Speaker to fast-track House OK of e-measures by storm ahead of hectic ‘Undas’ By Rio N. Araja
THOUSANDS were stranded in airports, seaports, and bus terminals across the country as Tropical Storm Paeng bore down on Luzon on Friday night. At least 2,000 passengers, nearly 200 vessels, and scores of rolling cargoes were stranded in various seaports in Bicol Region, where the storm was heading after brushing past Samar Island.
Thousands more were waiting for transportation to be cleared as the state weather bureau raised Storm Signal No. 2 over several areas in Luzon and Visayas when Paeng intensified. This was as an aviation official said travelers passing through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Next page
SPEAKER’S ASSURANCE.
SPEAKER Martin Romualdez on Friday assured President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that the House of Representatives would speed up plenary approval of bills seeking to digitalize the government’s voluminous records under the proposed E-Governance Act and E-Government Act shortly after Congress resumes its session on Nov. 7. Congress has started its own digitalization project after a team of officers of the chamber led by Secretary General Reginald Velasco learned best practices in this area in a meeting with representatives of the Congressional Research Service of the Library of the United States Congress in Washington D.C. recently. “The House of Representatives has already initiated its digitalization program and I assure the public that we are exerting all efforts to deliver faster service and eliminate red tape in government transactions,” Romualdez said.
Speaker Martin G. Romualdez on Friday assures President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. the House would speed up the approval the proposed E-Governance Act shortly after Congress resumes its session on November 7. Ver Noveno
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THE BIRD IS MINE. In this file photo illustration, a phone screen displays the Twitter account of Elon Musk with a photo of him shown in the background, in Washington, DC. AFP
Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44b, New oil price cuts: diesel 60-95c, gas 30-60c fires company senior executives SAN FRANCISCO—Elon Musk be- world’s leading social media platforms. gins on Friday (Saturday in Manila) The mercurial Tesla chief’s tuhis first full day leading Twitter, with multuous, $44 billion bid to buy the critics and fans anxious to see how the company concluded after months of planet’s richest man will run one of the Next page
FUEL prices are seen going down for the second straight week by Tuesday, with the Department of Energy forecasting a rollback of under one peso for all products. In an interview with Super Radyo dzBB, DOE Oil Industry Management Bureau Director Rino Abad indicated the rollback, which sources said would be
about P0.60 to P0.95 per liter of diesel and P0.30 to P0.60 per liter of gasoline. GMA News Online said its sources cited oil trading in the past four days for their forecast. Oil companies usually announce fuel price adjustments every Monday, to be implemented on the following day. On October 25, local firms cut gaso-
line prices by P0.35, diesel by P1.10, and P0.45 for kerosene. This brought the year-to-date total adjustments to a net increase of P16.10 per liter for gasoline, P37.40 per liter for diesel, and P29.20 per liter for kerosene. Data from the DOE’s price monitoring from October 25 to 27, showed Next page