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PRESIDENT HOPES TO END 4PS SOON, REACH ZERO-HUNGER TARGET BY ‘28 COMMITTED to achieving zero hunger for Filipinos by 2028, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday led the kick-off activity of the Food Stamp Program (FSP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Tondo, Manila.

Apart from vowing to improve the quality of life of the Filipino people living in poverty, Mr. Marcos also said he hopes the country would one day end the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the government’s conditional cash transfer program.

Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian also clarified the pilot testing of the program will last until March 2024. The pilot is funded with $3 million (approximately P163 million) in grants Next page

VOL. XXXVII • NO. 154 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2023 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

WORTH P3,000. Photo shows a sample of the Food Stamp Program (FSP) card to be given to 3,000 poor families nationwide, allowing them to buy up to P3,000 worth of food commodities from government-accredited local retailers every month.

PBBM signs MIF bill into law

Maharlika ‘a bold step toward transformation’

MAHARLIKA ENACTED INTO LAW. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. beams as he holds up a copy of the bill enacting the Maharlika Investment Fund as Republic Act 11954 in a ceremony at Malacanang Palace on Tuesday. Applauding the President are (from left) Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, Sen. Mark Villar, Speaker Martin Romualdez, Sen. Joel Villanueva, and House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, with Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin partly hidden (behind Zubiri). Ver Noveno

By Charles Dantes, Maricel V. Cruz, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Julito G. Rada

RESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the Maharlika Investment Fund Law Tuesday, calling it a bold step towards the country’s “meaningful economic transformation.”

He signed the law days before his second State of the Nation Address, and about two weeks after Congress had sent the bill, which he certified as urgent, to the Palace for his signature. Under the law, the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) is an independent fund that seeks to generate government revenue through investments in real and financial assets. MIF will generate its capital fund through government financial institutions and the national government. The President said that the money generated through MIF can be used for the Next page

MMDA, groups ICC nixes PH appeal, to resume drug war probe; Bato says ‘deadma’ set to negate SONA strikes By Charles Dantes, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel Cruz

By Joel E. Zurbano and Rio N. Araja

THE International Criminal Court Appeals Chamber on Tuesday ruled to resume the investigation into the bloody war on drugs during the administration

of former President Rodrigo Duterte. ICC Presiding Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, during an open court hearing in The Netherlands, denied the appeal of the Philippine government against the resumption of the probe. “It is rejected by the appeals chamber by the majority and the impugned de-

cision is therefore confirmed,” De Brichambaut said. Three out of five ICC judges rejected the appeal. Kristina Conti, a lawyer for some of the families of drug war victims, said she hoped the ICC ruling “will be a turn in the tide against impunity in the Philippines.”

By Rey E. Requejo

A US official on Tuesday said China’s claim that America is the “mastermind” behind the increasing number of countries recognizing the Philippines’ sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea is an “insult” to Manila. US State Department Counselor Derek Chollet said that it was China’s activities that have been inconsistent with the United Nations Convention

SHOE CHECK AT AIRPORTS FOR SOLONS TOO

NEWS / A2

TAYLOR SWIFT’S 4 ALBUMS MAKE BILLBOARD MARK ENTERTAINMENT / B3

‘China tack on US role in WPS an insult to PH’

THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said the government has a contingency plan to deal with a three-day transport strike that is planned to coincide with the President’s second State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA). More than 10 of the biggest transport groups in Metro Manila and other parts of the country also decided Tuesday not to join the three-day strike planned by the Manibela group’s 200,000 members from July 24 to 26 to coincide with the SONA.

LPA TO BECOME ‘EGAY’ TODAY, SAYS PAGASA

“Victims of Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’ are, as always, praying for genuine justice that has not been available for the poor, downtrodden, and powerless in the Philippines,” Conti said on Twitter. Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who headed the Philippine National Police during

FRIENDS MEET. In this photo shared by Chinese spokesman Hua Chunying on Twitter, China President Xi Jinping (right) meets with former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Xi said he appreciates the “strategic choice” Duterte made to improve relations with China during his presidency.

Elbridge Colby, former US defense assistant secretary for strategy and force development, failed to specify what Xi and Duterte discussed at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Monday, but he described it as “misleading at best.” In a post, Chinese Foreign Affairs

EIGHT out of 10 Filipinos want a return to the summer break of students in the months of April and May, a Pulse Asia survey showed. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Committee on Basic Education, commissioned the survey. The survey conducted from June 1923, 2023, asked respondents whether they agree or disagree with bringing back the students’ April and May summer break.

Marcos ‘sure’ Duterte to brief gov’t on Xi meeting By Charles Dantes and Rey Requejo FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte doesn’t need permission to meet with China’s President Xi Jinping, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Tuesday, adding that he is sure his predecessor will share details of the meeting with the

current administration. This developed as a former US defense official said China is trying to entice the Philippines and its neighboring countries into forming a “Chinese kind of hegemonic order” in the wake of the Duterte-Xi meeting in Beijing on Monday.

Survey: 8 of 10 want April-May summer break