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Towards a Sustainable Future on February 11, 2023 VOL. XXXVI • NO. 360 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2023 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
SC JUNKS GRAFT CASE VS. ENRILE, OTHERS OVER COCO LEVY FUNDS
NEWS / A2
REGIONAL ALLY. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and First Lady Louise AranetaMarcos arrive in Japan on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, for a five-day official visit, with a focus on security cooperation
PH, Japan eye VFA-like pact
PBBM says both nations want to assure free passage in S. China Sea By Vince Lopez
T
OKYO—Security and defense cooperation across the AsiaPacific region -- including more patrols in the South China Sea -- will be the key issues during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s five-day visit here as Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said the Philippines and Japan are “very close” to forging a pact similar to the Visiting Forces Agreement.
Mr. Marcos who deplaned at Hane- ment” in the relationship between Mada International Airport at 5:35 p.m. nila and Tokyo. yesterday, said security is “a new eleNext page
DMW defers sending first-time job seekers to Kuwait until after reform
Deaths from massive quake rise above 11,200 By Joel E. Zurbano and Willie Casas THE death toll from a massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria rose above 11,200 on Wednesday as rescuers raced to save survivors trapped under debris in the winter cold. The Philippines on Wednesday deployed an 85-person response team, as 33 personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines joined 33 health care workers from the Department of Health (DOH), 12 rescue personnel from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and eight firefighters from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority headed for Turkey. A Filipino community leader in Turkey told ABS-CBN that three Filipinos were among those missing after Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor. Turkish officials and medics said 8,574 people had died Next page
By Vito Barcelo, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz
to Kuwait. DMW Secretary Susan Ople said the suspension was to ensure the safety and welfare of OFWs following the murder THE Department of Migrant Workers of of household service worker Jullebee (DMW) has suspended the deployment Ranara last month. “The application of first-time migrant of first-time overseas Filipino workers (OFW), particularly domestic helpers, Next page
DEADLIEST QUAKE IN OVER A DECADE.
A man carries the body of a child pulled out from the rubble in the town of Harim, in Syria’s rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on the border with Turkey, on February 8, 2023, two days after a deadly earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria. Inset photo shows Philippine Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Stephen Parreño leading the sendoff ceremony for the PAF contingent to the country’s humanitarian team bound for Turkey. AFP, PAF
Unemployment dropped to 4.3% in December from 6.6% a year ago tistics Authority (PSA) said Wednesday. The latest jobless rate, however, was THE country’s unemployment rate slightly higher compared to the all-time dropped to 4.3 percent in December 2022, low of 4.2 percent in November 2022 as significantly lower than the 6.6 percent job losses were recorded in the agriculture registered a year ago, the Philippine StaNext page
By Julito G. Rada
Gov’t rates high DTI lists higher SRP for 70 food ‘overall’ but low products like noodles, milk, bread in inflation fight By Othel V. Campos
SWEET LOVE. SM Supermalls has a slew of activities coming up for Valentine’s Day,
including IF-worthy installations such as this in SM Marilao in Bulacan where an elderly couple pose for a souvenir snapshot.
THE current Marcos Jr. government has received low satisfaction ratings in fighting inflation and corruption but received a high satisfaction rating “on the overall” after the Social Weather Stations (SWS) released its annual Survey Review summarizing reports from past administrations on Wednesday. “Satisfaction with governance is generally high. However, net satisfaction ratings are ‘moderate’ (plus12) for fighting corruption and ‘neutral’ (plus-1) for fighting inflation,” the private polling firm said in its survey findings. Next page
AFTER months of delaying the inevitable, the Department of Trade and Industry published Wednesday the new and updated Suggested Retail Price (SRP) Bulletin with higher prices for
at least 70 stock keeping units (SKUs), including canned goods, milk, noodles and bread. The price hikes came a day after the country posted a record inflation of 8.7 percent in January. Next page
GOV’T ASKS ICC: CASES VS. BANTAG HALT DRUG WAR SUBMITTED FOR PROBE REVIVAL RESOLUTION—DOJ NEWS / A2
NEWS / A4