Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Monday, August 5, 2024.
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READ: Yulo gifts PH with 2nd gold
GYMNAST Carlos “Caloy” Yulo has cemented his status as the greatest Filipino Olympian. About 24 hours after ruling the floor exercise final, Yulo conquered the vault competition at the Paris Olympics men’s artistics gymnastics, emerging as the first Filipino Olympic multi-gold medalist at the Bercy Arena on Sunday night, Aug. 4 (Manila time). His confidence through the roof after delivering the Philippines first gymnastics Olympic medal on Saturday, the 4-foot-11 dynamo unleashed his magic anew to top the vault with an average score of 15.116 points. The 24-year-old dazzled with a high-level execution of dragulescu pike in his first vault, just needing a little hop to gain balance after his landing and netting 15.433 points — 6.000 in difficulty and 9.433 in execution. Fourth to perform in the final, Yulo then executed a kasamatsu double in his second vault, which was not as good as his first vault but still solid for 14.800 points — 5.600 in difficulty and 9.200 in execution. After each vault, Yulo, as he has been all tournament, threw his fists into the air in high satisfaction of his performance. When the last four performers wound up with lower scores, Yulo was once again in disbelief after pulling off an Olympic feat no other Filipino athlete has done before. With Yulo’s two-gold haul, the Philippines will finish the Paris Games with at least four medals, the other two being guaranteed bronzes – one each for Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas. When Yulo comes home to the Philippines, he will get more than a hero’s welcome — he stands to receive at least 23 million pesos in incentives from the government and a posh condominium worth 24 million pesos from real estate giant Megaworld. A day before winning his second gold, Yulo delivered a dazzling performance that netted him 15.0 points and the gold medal at the Paris Olympics men’s gymnastics floor exercise at the Bercy Arena on Saturday evening, August 3 (Manila time). The gold was the first medal for the Philippines in Olympic gymnastics.
SPORTS: Obiena vies for medal in Paris Games
ERNEST John “EJ” Obiena of the Philippines shoots for a medal as he competes at the Paris Olympics men’s pole vault final at the Stade de France early Tuesday, August 6 (Manila time). The championship round is set at 1 a.m. here in Manila as Obiena tries to become the first Filipino medalist in Olympic athletics in 88 years. Miguel White was the last Filipino to have clinched a medal in Olympic athletics, claiming a bronze in the men’s 400-m hurdles at the 1936 Berlin Games. Obiena also looks to follow the lead of gymnast Carlos Yulo who clinched the men’s floor exercise gold medal on Saturday night, August 3, and boxer Aira Villegas who secured a bronze medal in the women’s 50 kg after her quarterfinal victory early Sunday, August 4.
READ: Garcia dares critics: Shed parliamentary immunity
In other news, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia has challenged his critics to shed their parliamentary immunity by putting their allegations under oath. Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta and former Caloocan City representative Edgar Erice claimed that a Comelec official they did not name has 49 offshore accounts in 18 banks where supposed bribe money amounting to almost 1 billion pesos was deposited. They also alleged that the same official owned accounts in six local banks. Last week, Marcoleta named Garcia as the owner of two accounts in a New York bank where he claimed they were able to have deposited $100 each in two separate offshore accounts in the name of the Comelec chief.
READ: PCSO chief sues vlogger in US court
PHILIPPINE Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) General Manager Melquiades Robles has filed defamation and invasion of privacy charges against vlogger Claire Contreras, known as “Maharlika,” before a United States court. In a press conference on Sunday, Robles said he decided to file the cyber complaints before the Central District Court of California after Contreras allegedly maligned his family in her vlogs. Robles said he and his wife, Sherwil, went to the US late last June to sue Contreras to “stop her from continuously harassing and maligning” them through her online vlog. Contreras, said to be a US citizen, has been dubbed as the “queen of fake news” by many social media users because of her criticisms against the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and other government officials. Robles said that for almost a year now, he and his family have been subjected by Contreras “to an almost daily barrage of vicious, unjustifiable and blatantly false attacks through her YouTube channel called ‘Boldyak’ TV.”
READ: ‘Govt spends nearly P500M for VP security’
THE government has spent nearly 500 million pesos for Vice President Sara Duterte’s 433 security details, Presidential Adviser on Poverty Alleviation Larry Gadon said Sunday. He claimed that the vice president has maintained 433 security personnel for the past two years, each earning an estimated salary of 50,000 pesos monthly. Gadon also cited online data showing that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) spent 55 million pesos from 2022 to 2024 on special duty allowances for military and uniformed personnel. The presidential anti-poverty adviser told The Manila Times that he would have kept quiet on this issue if not for the “ridiculous exaggeration of some people like Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ de la Rosa calling on private citizen groups to augment the security of VP Sara as if there is a constant, imminent grave threat and danger to her life.”
BUSINESS: Growth likely higher in Q2
Over to business, healthy domestic demand and increased government spending likely boosted economic growth in the second quarter, analysts said, while inflation could have breached the target last month due to higher energy and food costs. Consumer price growth figures for July will be released by the Philippine Statistics Authority on Tuesday, to be followed by preliminary gross domestic product (GDP) growth data for the April to June period on Thursday. Both indicators will be considered by monetary authorities when they meet next week to discuss whether to start cutting key interest rates. The median GDP growth estimate is 6.0 percent for the April to June period, an improvement from the first quarter’s 5.7 percent and within the government’s downwardly revised 6.0- to 7.0-percent target for this year. Inflation, meanwhile, is expected to have risen to 4.1 percent in July from 3.7 percent a month earlier.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Rigoberto Tiglao, Fr. Ranhilio Aquino and Francisco Tatad are today’s front page columnists. Tiglao cited a close friend’s former partner that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is an actual cocaine user, Fr. Aquino talks about the start of a new school year, and Tatad asks for a peace plan.
Today’s editorial believes that gender is not the issue in the latest women’s boxing controversy at the Paris Olympics. Read the full version in the paper’s opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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