Vol. 36 No. 356
2 SECTIONS
February 5, 2023 8 PAGES
20 .00
IN MET R MANILAO
ART ATTACK. A man looks intently at an innovative blockhain-integrated 75-foot tall wall art entitled ‘Existential Voyage’ by doodle artist Lei Melendres in Bacood, Manila. Norman Cruz
4 China boats harass PH ship
BRP Andres Bonifacio monitored, tailed off Panganiban Reef in WPS n By JOYCE PANGCOPAÑARES
NEDA vets 206 flagship plans, final list in Q1
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OUR Chinese vessels tried to intercept a Philippine Navy warship near Panganiban Reef (Mischief Reef) in the Spratly Islands on February 1, the Philippine Coast Guard said yesterday.
n By VINCE LOPEZ THE National Economic and Development Authority is vetting a total of 206 major projects and is expected to come up with a final list by the end of the first quarter. NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said the initial 206 are only the administration’s “flagship projects” included in a much longer list of about 3,000 more programs that span up until 2028. Edillon said this number could still be trimmed down depending on a project’s viability and cost-effectiveness. “We will come up with the list. It will be uploaded on the NEDA website by the end of this first quarter,” she said in a press forum Saturday. The socioeconomic planning official said CONTINUED ON 3A
PCG spokesperson Commodore Armand Balilo said the BRP Andres Bonifacio was conducting a patrol and search mission when it was “monitored and tailed” by Chinese Coast Guard vessels with bow numbers 5204 and 5304 and Chinese maritime militia boats Qiong Sansha Yu 0001 and Qiong Lin Yu 19002 near Panganiban Reef. “The Chinese maritime militia ‘fishing vessels / boats’ even conducted an CONTINUED ON 3A
Pupils prefer use of Filipino in classroom A DIALECT or a language spoken in a particular region is the least preferred medium of instruction for Grades 1 to 3, the results of a Pulse Asia survey showed. This prompted Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who commissioned the survey, to push for a thorough and rigorous review of the implementation ofthe Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE), which is mandated by the K to 12 law. “Based on our observation of the abilities of schools and what the survey respondents said, we need to study our next steps on the use of the mother tongue,” said Gatchalian, CONTINUED ON 3A
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PNP insists autopsy on Kian ‘honest’
GOOD AS CASH. Customers use onions to pay for selected items at a department store selling Japanmade home products in Panay, Quezon City, on Saturday, February 3, 2023 during its one-day only ‘Pay with Sibuyas’ campaign. Norman Cruz
Onion good as cash for a day in QC store ONIONS, quite literally, were as good as cash if only for a day at the Japan Home Centre in Panay, Quezon City yesterday. People flocked to the store’s one day only “Pay with Sibuyas” campaign where a piece of onion is equivalent to one item worth P88 or less. The store accepted any size or color of
onion, but purchase was limited to three items per customer. Farmgate prices of onions have since gone down to about P180 per kilo from a high of more than P700 per kilo in December as imports arrive. The Department of Agriculture, however, clarified on Saturday that only
a fraction of the more than 21,000 metric tons of onions that were authorized for importation has arrived in the country. In January, the DA approved the importation of 3,960 metric tons of fresh yellow onion and 17,100 metric tons of fresh red onion. CONTINUED ON 3A
THE Philippine National Police on Saturday defended its autopsy report on drug war victim Kian Delos Santos, insisting it was conducted with strict adherence to standard operating procedures. The PNP Forensic Group issued the statement after forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun earlier said the police and the Public Attorney’s Office did not properly examine the remains of the 17-year-old boy. “The autopsy findings of the PNP’s expert witness which were presented as one of CONTINUED ON 3A
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Business ................................................................. Sports.......................................................................... Entertainment ......................................... Pets...................................................................................
4A 1B 3B 4B
US says second Chinese ‘spy balloon’ over Latin America WORLD | 3A
Gatchalian seen to breeze through appointnents panel NEWS | 2A
ASEAN prods Myanmar on agreed peace plan WORLD | 3A