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Congress set to okay budget Reconciled version up next week for PBBM signature before yearend By Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta
ENATE and House leaders on Friday expressed optimism that they could iron out the differences in their respective versions of the national budget and have it ready for signing by the President before the year is out.
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Senate finance committee chairman Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, who heads the Senate contingent in the bicameral committee, said Congress is expected to come up with a
Vol. XXXVI • No. 283• 3 Sections 12 pages • P20 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2022 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
reconciled version of the 2023 budget bill next week. Angara said the realignment of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) could be a sticking point Next page
BICAM KICKOFF. Senator Loren Legarda (center) explains a point while flanked by Senators Sonny Angara and Imee Marcos as the bicameral deliberations on the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023 start at the Manila Golf Club in Makati City on Friday. The lawmakers later gathered for a group photo (inset). Ver Noveno and Senate PRIB
‘Bato’ rethinking Big-time oil price cuts as much as P3.70/l by Tuesday By Alena Mae Flores own bill allowing JAPAN HONORS VILLAR. illegal drugs use By Rey E. Requejo and Joel E. Zurbano SENATOR Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, who recently authored a bill that seeks to decriminalize the use of illegal drugs in the country, said Friday he is now having second thoughts about pursuing the measure. While he clarified he is not withdrawing Senate Bill No. 202 as it contains other meaningful proposals, Dela Rosa said he is rethinking his stand after hearing the arguments during the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs’ discussion this week. The former national police chief, who led the Duterte administration’s bloody
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (center) is flanked by Manuel “Manny” B. Villar Jr. and Japanese Ambassador Kazuhiko Koshikawa after the latter, on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, conferred upon the former Senate President and House Speaker the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun at Malacañang on Friday. Also in picture (from left) are Senior Deputy Speaker Sandro Marcos, Senators Mark and Cynthia Villar, Las Pinas Rep. Camille Villar, and Paolo Villar. Japanese Embassy photo
CONSUMERS can expect price rollbacks in fuel products of as much as P3.70 per liter by Tuesday next week, reflecting the movement of prices in the world oil market, the Department of Energy said Friday. "For the four-day trading, there will be a rollback for gasoline (P1.00 to P1.20), diesel (P3.50 to P3.70), and kerosene (P2.20 to P2.40) per liter," DOE director for the Oil Industry Management Bureau Rodela Romero said. Romero attributed the impending bigtime rollback to the COVID-19 surge in mainland China, the increase in the fuel inventory data ofthe United States, and the higher price cap for Russian crude by the European Union. She said the level of rollback may still change once the results of the last trading day are factored into domestic pump prices. On Nov. 22, the oil companies implemented a per-liter decrease in gasoline by P0.40, diesel by P2.15, and kerosene by P2.10. These resulted in the year-to-date total adjustments to stand at a net increase of P17.75 per liter for gasoline, P33.85 per liter for diesel, and P27.85 per liter for kerosene.
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NKTI still open but full, short of 14 cases of ‘more transmissible’ health workers By Willie Casas THE National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) said it is not closing its emergency room despite a recent influx of patients and an ongoing staffing shortage. NKTI executive director Dr. Rose Liquete said its emergency room is handling an average of 100 patients daily, which is three times its capacity. "We are not closing the hospital," she Next page told ANC's "Headstart.”
Omicron BQ.1 variant now in PH By Willie Casas THE Department of Health (DOH) on Friday said the Omicron BQ.1, a sublineage of the highly transmissible BA.5 subvariant of the coronavirus, has been detected in the Philippines, citing results of the latest genome sequencing. The DOH said 14 cases of BQ.1 have been detected based on the latest genome sequencing of UP-Philippine Genome
Center, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, and San Lazaro Hospital from Oct. 28 to Nov. 18. Of these 14 cases, 13 were local cases from the Cordillera Administrative Region, Regions 1, 4A, 7, and National Capital Region (NCR), it said. The Health Department has yet to confirm if the remaining case is a returning overseas Filipino. Next page
Japan gives PH P3b in medical equipment Marcos toasts Ibrahim as new PM of Malaysia
THE Philippines has received valuable medical and cold chain equipment from Japan worth some P3 billion, the Department of Health (DOH) announced on Friday. The Japanese Embassy on Friday formally turned-over the donations through the office of DOH officer-in-charge Ma. Rosario Vergeire. Japanese Economic Minister Nihei Daisuke led the ceremonial turnover, accompanied by Japanese International Co-
operation Agency (JICA) chief representative Sakamoto Takema and Lung Center of the Philippines executive director Vincent Balanag Jr. Vergeire said the donations consisted of a portable X-ray machine, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, a CT scanner, refrigerated vans, a wing van, and ambulances. Vergeire said the equipment will be “given to the areas that needed them Next page most.”
By Vince Lopez PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday congratulated new Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in a telephone call, expressing his hope to work with the neighboring nation’s new Next page
VEEP’S VISITORS. Vice
President Sara DuterteCarpio thanks Vietnam Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue, who paid her a courtesy call on Friday. The concurrent Education Secretary also welcomes her Bangladesh counterpart, Her Excellency Minister Dr. Dipu Moni, at the DepEd Central Office in Pasig City. VPSD FB Page