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DEPED, DBM EXECS FACE RAPS FOR OVERPRICED LAPTOP PURCHASE By Macon Ramos-Araneta THE SENATE Blue Ribbon panel found that the laptops purchased for the Department of Education in 2021 were overpriced by almost P1 billion and recommended the filing of charges against former and current officials of DepEd and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
In its 197-page report, however, the committee found no evidence linking former secretary Leonor Briones to the P2.4 billion overpriced laptop scandal. It recommended abolishing the Procurement Service of the DBM, which purchased the laptops on behalf of the DepEd. The report recommended the filing of administrative and criminal charges
against the following: • Former DepEd undersecretary Alain del Pascua, Undersecretary Analyn Sevilla, former assistant secretary Salvador Malana III, director Abram Abanil, former PS-DBM OIC director Lloyd Christopher Lao, former PSDBM acting director Jasonmer Uayan, BAC chairman Ulysses Mora, and other members of SBAC 1 and SBAC TWG
secretariat and staff, for violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act; and • Sevilla and former executive assistant Alec Ladanga for falsifying public documents. In a media briefing, panel chairman Senator FrancisTolentino said the panel found no legal liability on the part of Briones due to a lack of evidence. "In other words, she (Briones) was
merely used," Tolentino said. The Blue Ribbon Committee ruled that the "contract for the supply and delivery of laptop computers for public school teachers… was overpriced by at least P979 million." Because of this, it said there is sufficient basis to believe that there was a conspiracy to facilitate or generate an Next page
Tulfo names ‘oil smugglers,’ slams BOC for turning blind smugglers as Don Rabonza who is known in Navotas; Sonny Qiu, Jackie Chu, SENATE Energy committee chairman Aron Uy and Lindon Tan in Batangas Senator Raffy Tulfo revealed the names of and Sariaya, Quezon; Alex Chua, Bogs those implicated in oil smuggling during a Violago and Jong Mangundadatu and hearing Thursday. Dondon Alahas in Mariveles, Bataan. Tulfo identified the alleged oil Next page
By Macon Ramos-Araneta
VOL. XXXVI • NO. 338• 4 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P20 FRIDAY, FRIDAY JANUARY 20, 2023 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
‘Workforce to fuel PH growth’ PBBM touts the country’s young, well-trained labor pool in WEF talk HIGH-LEVEL TALKS. President
HE Philippines will continue to lean on its young and welltrained workforce to fuel future economic growth, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Thursday, as he noted the country was currently in a "demographic sweet spot" that will play a "major role" going forward.
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Ferdinand Marcos Jr. speaks next to WEF president Borge Brende during a session at the Congress Center during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland on January 18, 2023. AFP
Apart from being "well-trained and sophisticated," Mr. Marcos said Filipino workers are also known to be English-speaking and techsavvy. "The demographic sweet spot is the period where the optimal number of the country's population would be in the working age and have few dependents," he said in an interview in Switzerland, where he
MARCOS OKAYS 5-YEAR NO TARIFF FOR E-VEHICLES
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NEWS / A2
Davos trip gains investment interest from 9 int'l firms 'I joined politics By Maricel V. Cruz and Vince Lopez NINE multinational companies have signified interest in investing or expanding their operations in the
Philippines after their top executives met with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said Thursday. Diokno and other economic managers who accompanied the President to the
forum said they are confident that his participation and meetings with top international chief executives would bring economic gains to the country. Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said among the nine companies interested in investing here is Astranis, a US provider of low-orbit satellites used for internet
access. He said such a service would provide connectivity to areas that are not yet connected through the main telecommunications providers. On Wednesday, Marcos also met with executives from Morgan Stanley, which is set to open an office in Manila. Next page
Enrile’s ex-aide Gigi Reyes set free after 9 years THE former chief-of-staff of then Senator and now chief presidential legal counsel Juan Ponce Enrile was released from custody Thursday evening, ending almost nine years of being in detention for her alleged complicity in the pork barrel scam, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology said
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for our family's survival, legacy'
By Vito Barcelo and Vince Lopez PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said his ambition to enter politics turned on his family's survival and legacy, and that it was something he had to take upon himself after his namesake father's death. Speaking to World Economic Forum (WEF) president Børge Brende, Mr. Marcos said he was determined to avoid politics when he was still young after seeing the "sacrifices" his father, former President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., did for them. "My father has done everything in politics, and the life is difficult, and I Next page
QUEST FOR BUSINESS. Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Special Assistant to the President Secretary Antonio Lagdameo engage CNN anchor and correspondent Richard Quest in an animated conversation Wednesday during the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Ver Noveno
DA raises health risk of big onions currently for sale THE Department of Agriculture (DA) This developed as the government is warned the public on Thursday not to buy working towards increasing the country’s onions as big as apples or fists from local onion production, as consumers continued markets because they were most likely to deal with high prices. smuggled and could have food safety risks. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who
is concurrently the Agriculture chief, said the move is his government’s response to the crisis because it is a "demand and supply situation." Next page
RED FOR GOOD LUCK. A couple takes photos under a tunnel dotted with Chinese lanterns inside a shopping mall in Cubao Quezon City ahead of the Chinese New Year celebration on Jan. 22. Manny Marcelo