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REDS WARN VS. US-CHINA PROXY WAR OVER EDCA
‘ASIAN COUNTRIES DISTRUST CHINA OVER INCURSIONS’
NEWS / A2
NEWS / A3 VOL. XXXVI • NO. 358 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2023 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
Onion, garlic hoarders face raps Speaker sets House probe vs. supply exploiters for economic sabotage By Rio N. Araja and Macon Ramos-Araneta
T
HE government will go after unscrupulous traders and hoarders of onion and garlic, whose days are numbered, House Speaker and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez said Sunday.
“We received information that these people are hoarding onion, and more recently even garlic, to create an artificial scarcity in supply and induce price increases,” he said. “This is economic sabotage.” Despite the ongoing harvest season and the entry of imported onions, retail
prices remain high, Romualdez said. He said he has already instructed the House committee on agriculture and food, chaired by Quezon Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga, to conduct an investigation and, if warranted by evidence, to recommend the filing of criminal charges against the people behind the scheme.
The House panel will also consider recommending to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. the “calibrated importation” of onion and garlic to force these hoarders to unload their stocks and drive prices down. This importation, however, should not in any way prejudice the welfare of local farmers, he said. Next page
US shoots PBBM assures OFWs of gov't support for their families down China ‘spy balloon’ off Atlantic PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has assured overseas Filipino workers that the government is working to ensure the families they left behind in the Philippines are cared for through housing and scholarship programs, among others. “Our approach now for our OFWs is
THE US military shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon off the US Atlantic coast on Saturday, triggering an angry response from China, which said it reserved the right to make “necessary responses.” The craft spent several days flying over North America before it was targeted off the coast of the southeastern state of South Carolina with a missile fired from an F-22 plane, Pentagon officials said, falling into relatively shallow water just 14 meters deep. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called the operation a "deliberate and lawful action" that came in response to China's "unacceptable violation of our sovereignty." But China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs blasted the US action in a statement Sunday morning, saying the downing of the "civilian" aircraft was "clearly overreacting and seriously violating international practice." In Manila, a professor of international studies at De La Salle University, Renato de Castro, told GMA News that a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon was spotted over the Philippines last year. He said there were photos of the suspected spy balloon in Pangasinan and Baguio. De Castro also linked those sightings with reports of the Philippine Air Force that unidentified aircraft earlier entered Pangasinan from Bolinao. Next page
not just to help our OFW but their family as well here in the Philippines," the President said in his vlog on Saturday. “So, things like housing and scholarship programs—we will make sure we are able to give these to the children of our OFWs," he added.
Mr. Marcos said there are also programs for OFWs who wish to return to the Philippines for good. “If they are looking for a new job here, we can help them through our training programs. We have what we call reskilling and upskilling especially since most jobs
now require highly technical skills. We need to retrain our OFWs to make them competitive in the global market," he said. The President said has also been working to improve bilateral ties with countries where Filipinos are staying. Next page
GRIEF UNBOUND. The family of Filipina household worker Jullebee Ranara weeps as her remains are laid to rest at the Golden Haven Memorial Park in Las Piñas on Sunday (see related photos on A4). Danny Pata
Rollback forecast: Diesel P3.10/liter, gas P2.40/liter OIL firms are expected to slash the pump price of diesel by P2.60 to P3.10 per liter on Tuesday, ending three straight weeks of price hikes. An industry source told GMA News prices of gasoline will also go down by P1.90 to P2.40 per liter to reflect the
movement of prices on the global market. Once implemented tomorrow (Feb. 7), the latest price movements will result in an estimated total net increase this year of P4.80 per liter for gasoline and a net decrease of P0.05 per liter for diesel. Department of Energy (DOE) director
for the Oil Industry Management Bureau Rodela Romero said she expects the price rollback based on the four-day trading in the world oil market. Romero attributed the price cut to the "ongoing recessionary fears, the threat of Next page
UN forensic expert to help probe ’wrongful deaths’ to the Philippines this month will help the government with its investigation of what he described as “wrongful death tragedies” in the country. JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla stressed that Tidball-Binz Remulla on Sunday said the visit of would not come to the country as a forensics expert Dr. Morris Tidball-Binz United Nations Special Rapporteur on
By Rey E. Requejo and Macon Ramos-Araneta
BAD BALLOON. This still image taken from a video shows the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon before it was shot down on February 4 by a US fighter jet on Saturday off the coast of South Carolina, the Pentagon said, over what it called Beijing's "unacceptable violation" of US sovereignty.
extrajudicial killings, but as an expert in the field of forensic pathology to help in the country’s capacity-building for its medical corps. “We need more capable doctors in our country to assist our law enforcement Next page
Ex-trade minister Roberto ‘Bobby’ Ongpin, 86 By Jenniffer B. Austria
Roberto “Bobby” Ongpin
BUSINESS tycoon and former Trade Minister Roberto “Bobby” Ongpin passed away Saturday night. He was 86. Ongpin’s nephew, former broadcast journalist Rafael Alfonso “Apa” Ongpin, said in a Facebook post that his uncle died in his sleep on Saturday in Balesin Island, a high-end exclusive resort development off the coast of Quezon province that he built in 2012. His remains will be flown to Manila and the family is expected to announce the details of the wake. Next page
LAKAS LEADERS. Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, and former President and current Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (seated, fourth to sixth from left) lead the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats’ (Lakas-CMD) Executive Committee meeting at the Manila Golf and Country Club in Makati City on Friday afternoon (see related story on A4). Ver Noveno