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VVOL OL.. XXXXXXVI VI •• NO. NO. 285• 285• 33 SECT SECTIONS IONS 12 12 PPAGES AGES •• P20 P20 MON MOND DAY AY, NOVEMBER 28, 2022 • www.manilastandard.net •• mst mst.da .daydesk@gmail.c ydesk@gmail.com om
CHRISTMAS COMMERCE.
Senior citizens of Marilao, Bulacan display bags made of recycled products and newspapers, and Christmas lanterns made of empty plastic bottles, on Sunday to augment their income going into the holidays. Meanwhile, Christmas shoppers flock Tabora Street in Divisoria, Manila to avoid the late rush and high prices (inset). Manny Palmero and Norman Cruz
Higher electricity bills loom PBBM asks CA to rethink TRO on gov’t junking plea to raise power rates
By Vince Lopez
P
RESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Sunday described as “unfortunate” the recent Court of Appeals decision that would enable San Miguel Corp.'s power subsidiary to charge more for the electricity it supplies to the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), a move that could mean higher power bills for millions of consumers.
In a statement, Mr. Marcos echoed concerns raised by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) that the court's decision to suspend the power supply agreement (PSA) between Meralco and SMC's South Premier Power Corp. (SPPC) would mean high prices for Meralco customers. “We hope that the CA will reconsider and include in their deliberations the extremely deleterious effect this will have on power prices for ordinary Filipi-
nos,” he said in a statement from the Office of the Press Secretary. On Nov. 24, the CA 14th Division issued a 60day temporary restraining order (TRO) on the ERC’s rejection of Meralco’s joint petition with SPPC for a rate increase under their 2019 PSA. The ERC said it denied the plea because the agreed price in the PSA is fixed in nature, and the Next page
SolGen pushes BuCor’s total overhaul By Rey E. Requejo FORMER Justice Secretary and current Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra proposed on Sunday the “total overhaul” of the Bureau of Corrections and the restoration of the Department of Justice’s full administrative control over the controversial prison bureau. Guevarra, who served as DOJ secre-
tary from 2018 to early 2022, said most of the “shenanigans” at BuCor “were very deeply rooted and institutionalized,” which made the overhaul a necessity. He said one of the measures that Congress should consider in overhauling the bureau was “restoring full control, instead of mere supervision over BuCor, to the DOJ.” Under the 2013 BuCor Moderniza-
tion Law, Guevarra noted that the agency “was made autonomous.” “The DOJ now merely supervises, but does not exercise control over, the BuCor. But still, the DOJ steps in whenever the BuCor exceeds the limits of its powers,” he stressed. During his stint as DOJ secretary, Guevarra recalled that the department fixed Next page
Separate raids Pres’l pardon eyed for elderly yield P4.25m inmates to decongest prisons of illegal drugs AS LAW enforcement authorities shifted to a higher gear in the government's anti-drug campaign, about P4.25 million worth of suspected illegal drugs were seized in operations over the weekend. One such raid was conducted at a storage facility in Taguig City in Metro Manila, where suspected cocaine worth P2.65 million was reported confiscated. Authorities on Sunday also reported grabbing large quantities of suspected "shabu" (crystal meth) estimated to cost
SENIOR citizen persons who are deprived of liberty (PDLs) aged 70 and above may be granted executive clemency as part of decongesting jails under the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor). This possibility is being studied by the BuCor as the move was implemented during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, according to its officer-in-charge, retired Gen. Gregorio Catapang Jr., in an interview on radio
dzBB Sunday. Speaking in Filipino, Catapang recalled there was a law or executive order in Macapagal-Arroyo's incumbency which allowed those 70 and above “to be given parole or be released from prison because they said people that age could no longer think of committing crimes.” Catapang told the radio station that possibility was being studied right now Next page
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House to press budget revision to hike funds for social services By Rio N. Araja and Macon Ramos-Araneta
to the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget bill to augment the funds for education, health, transportation, and other critical social services, Speaker Martin THE House of Representatives to the bi- Romualdez said Sunday. cameral conference committee will push Romualdez said he is confident the P77 billion in institutional amendments Next page
LPG may buck oil price rollback next week
DOJ rules BSP deal on nat’l ID ‘legally infirm’ AMENDMENTS to a deal between the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to produce the Philippine Identification Cards (PhilID) are “legally infirm” – potentially delaying the distribution of the ID cards even further, a legal opinion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) released recently said. The DOJ opinion disagreed with the
MISS TEEN BET. Lyanella Antonie of Nasugbu, Batangas walks beside a 'Belen' during her photo shoots inside Paco Park in Manila on Sunday. Antonie will represent the Philippines in the Miss Teen beauty pageant in Vietnam in January 2023. Danny Pata
NATIONAL BIKE DAY. Hundreds of bikers ride around Metro Manila starting from Makati City on Sunday to mark the 8th National Bicycle Day, celebrated every 4th Sunday of November (see related story and photos on A4). Norman Cruz
PRICES of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) products may rise again next month, in contrast to the continued rollback in fuel pump prices in the next few weeks, the Department of Energy (DOE) said Sunday.
Although the Energy Department did not project the amount of the increase, LPG prices went up this month by P3.50 per kilogram, and AutoLPG prices rose by P1.96 per liter, according to Petron Corp.
PH CROCODILES NOW ALLOWED FOR EXPORT
PROTESTS RAGE ACROSS CHINA OVER COVID-19
NEWS / A2
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WORLD / B2