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LTFRB OKs 1-peso provisional hike for base fares only starting Oct. 8 By Darwin G. Amojelar and Rio N. Araja
VOL. XXXVII • NO. 231 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2023 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
chising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) announced yesterday. LTFRB chairperson Teofilo Guadiz A ONE-PESO provisional hike in the III said the board decided to increase minimum fare for public utility jeep- the minimum fare for traditional PUJs neys nationwide will take effect on Oc- to P13 from the current P12 and for Next page tober 8, the Land Transportation Fran-
‘Medusa’ leaks PhilHealth data But membership, financial, claims details intact, agency claims
By Joyce Pangco Panares
H
ACKERS have started exposing data of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) on the dark web, the state health insurer admitted Tuesday, a day after denying the group’s $300,000 ransom demand and dismissing the threat of information getting leaked online as “clearly a bluff.” PhilHealth senior vice president and spokesman Israel Pargas said identification cards of their employees have been leaked online so far after the Medusa ransomware attack on their system. He said “membership data, financial data and claims data” remained intact. “The ransomware attack DID NOT
affect our servers containing members’ private information. PhilHealth’s membership database, claims, contribution and accreditation information which are stored in a separate database are intact and completely unaffected by the said cyberattack,” it added in a clarificatory statement last night.
“Only the application servers and employees’ workstations have been affected by the said cyberattack. Hence, files stored locally in the hard drive of the infected workstations may have been compromised.” “An inventory is being conducted in order to determine the extent of information which may have been exfiltrated from these workstations.”
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PROOF OF DATA LEAK. In this screen-
grab posted by the tech news site Newsbytes.ph, the Medusa group shows proof of its hacking of the PhilHealth database on Tuesday, days after it demanded a ransom of $300,000 for the data from the government.
DA ready to lift Gilas averts collapse, nips Iran; faces host China in Asian Games semis rice price cap on PBBM’s call By Riera U. Mallari
UP CLOSE. Gilas Pilipinas center Angel Kouame flips a shot past three Iran defenders in their Asian Games men’s basketball quarterfinal match Tuesday in Hangzhou, China. POC Photo
By Charles Dantes
HANGZHOU, China—Gilas Pilipinas averted a monumental fourth-quarter collapse and hung on to a scrambling 84-83 win over Iran on Tuesday to advance to the semifinals of the 19th Asian Games at the ZJU Gymnasium here. It took a Justin Brownlee basket in the final 44 seconds and a Calvin Oftana rebound off an Iran miss to finally secure the win for the Filipinos, who will now battle in the semifinals a Chinese host team seeking payback against Gilas for humiliating them in the FIBA World Cup last August. “It went down to the last play, and we’re lucky to win,” said coach Tim Cone. “But we shouldn’t have put ourselves in that position. But these are the kind of games are in international (tournament). They could turn on a dime.” After a massive 80-41 win over Qatar on Monday, Gilas looked primed to duplicate the ghastly win after leading the Iranians, 71–54, going into the final quarter. They had led by as many as 21 points earlier. But the Iranians would not fold down easily, outscoring the Filipinos, 29-13, in the final period, where they even led twice, the last at 83-82. Brownlee then saved the Filipinos with a f loater to give them back the lead at 84-83, before Oftana soared for the rebound off Matin Aghajanpour’s missed threepointer with 25 seconds to secure
THE mandated price caps on regular and well-milled rice could be lifted soon, a Department of Agriculture (DA) official said Tuesday, echoing the assessment made earlier this week by Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno. In a Palace briefing, Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI) Director Glenn Panganiban said global rice prices have slowly decreased, and local supply is expected to increase as the harvest season begins. “Based on our parameters, we seem to be ready [to lift the price caps]. But of course, it’s up to the President to decide on it,” he said in a mix of Filipino Next page
REP. HAGEDORN PASSES AWAY, 77; SOLONS MOURN
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Antipolo pupil dies 2 weeks DOLE: Companies shun K-12 grads, still hiring college-level workers after ‘slapping’ NEWS / A2
By Vito Barcelo
most local companies still prefer to hire college graduates or college undergradTHE Department of Labor and Em- uates. Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesployment (DOLE) said K-12 graduates are having a hard time getting jobs as ma made the remarks following a recent
Social Weather Stations survey which chief said K-12 graduates were being showed that at least 50 percent of Fili- hired at lower-level positions or posipinos were dissatisfied with the K-12 tions with low pay. program. He said the type of jobs available for In a television interview, the Labor Next page
Inflation still Pinoys’ top concern, BFAR: INTEL FUNDS Pulse Asia survey in Sept. reveals TO AID WPS WORK By Julito G. Rada ELEVATED inflation, which has affected consumer demand over the past few months, is still the top concern of Filipinos, according to a recent Ulat ng Bayan Survey for the month of September conducted by Pulse Asia. The survey found that 74 percent, or almost three-fourths of the country’s adult population, considered inflation -- the rate of increase in the prices of
goods and services -- as the top concern that must be addressed (see related story on page A4 – Editors). Across all income classes, elevated inflation is also the top concern at 67 percent in Class ABC, 75 percent in Class D, and 75 percent in Class E. “Inflation is the most urgent national concern identified by our people, this is the issue where the national administration obtained its lowest performance Next page
NEWS / A2
‘SAMASAMA’ SHIP. American and Philippine naval officers are on deck as their ship cruises Manila Bay on the first day of the 11-day ‘Samasama’ joint exercises on Tuesday. The United States is attending the exercises with the USS Dewey, USNS Wally Schirra, USNS Yukon, and a P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft (see story on A2). AFP Photo
A GR A DE 5 student in Antipolo, Rizal has died, around two weeks after he was allegedly slapped by his teacher, the Department of Education division office in the city said Tuesday. The student, Francis Jay Dumikib, succumbed to a brain hemorrhage on Monday afternoon, 11 days after being hospitalized, his family said. “DepEd Antipolo is taking appropriate actions to address the alleged child abuse incident in Peñafrancia Elementary School, Antipolo City,” the department said in a statement yesterday. “We have already forwarded the required Intake Sheet, Incident Report, and Narrative Report to the Office of the Regional Director, DepEd Region IV-A CALABARZON, for information and appropriate action,” it added. Next page