Good day. Here are the stories of The Manila Times for Monday, December 2, 2024.
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READ: Comelec unmasks new ‘flying voters’
ABOUT 300,000 voters were able to transfer their voter registration to another place where they are not residents through the use of a “barangay residence certificate,” the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has found. Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia disclosed over the weekend that the number of dubious transfers was still being updated since the commission was receiving more complaints about the “unusual” surge of non-resident voters.
READ: PNP eyes more charges against Sara
THE Philippine National Police said that more cases would be filed against Vice President Sara Duterte in relation to the incident that occurred during the detention of her chief of staff Zuleika Lopez at the House of Representatives. The PNP already filed charges of direct assault, disobedience, and grave coercion against the vice president, the chief of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG), Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, and several John Does, PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said in a radio interview she could not say what other cases would be filed against Duterte. The PNP said the actions of Duterte’s staff interfered with the detention order issued by the House.
READ: Enrile: New revolt a ‘zero-sum game’
CHIEF Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile on Sunday warned those calling for another “people power” that there is no room for bluffing as staging another revolution is a “zero-sum game.” Enrile’s remarks came several days after critics of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who are also supporters of Vice President Sara Duterte, started camping out at the EDSA Shrine. Duterte has publicly threatened to have the president, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez assassinated should something bad happen to her. Her outburst prompted the Department of Justice (DoJ) to order the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to launch a probe.
READ: Rose Nono Lin denies link to Pharmally
PHARMALLY Biological and Pharmaceutical Co. is not a sister company of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., which is the subject of an investigation in the House of Representatives. Rose Nono Lin, owner of the defunct Pharmally Biological, made the clarification during her recent appearance before the quad committee, saying she is neither an official nor a shareholder of the company. She said Pharmally Biological was separate and different from Pharmally Pharmaceutical. Nono Lin made a similar clarification before the Senate blue ribbon committee in 2021 when it investigated the 8 billion peso contract won by Pharmally Pharmaceutical to provide medical supplies to the government’s Covid-19 response efforts despite the firm having only 625,000 pesos in paid-up capital.
READ: NU reclaims UAAP Cheerdance crown
NATIONAL University (NU) reigned in the UAAP Season 87 Cheerdance competition on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. Performing before a crowd of 19,000, the NU Pep Squad claimed its eighth title overall. They also won in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2022. NU joined the University of the Philippines (UP) and the University of Santo Tomas (UST) as the schools with the most cheerdance titles. It garnered a total of 713 points to dethrone Far Eastern University, which placed third. NU took the stage dressed in astronaut costumes eventually transforming into aliens. The highlight of NU’s performance was two rotating dancers that were mounted, mimicking the spinning galaxies. NU team captain John Paul Cabido credited his coaches for the concept and theme.
SPORTS: Quiambao’s main goal: UAAP title repeat
DE La Salle University forward Kevin Quiambao is grateful and excited to claim his second straight Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament. His main goal is a title repeat for the Green Archers, though. Quiambao was quick to give credits to his teammates and coaches whom he said made his back-to-back MVP runs possible. The Green Archers put themselves closer to a title repeat after dispatching the Adamson Soaring Falcons in their Final Four match 70- 55 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday. Quiambao logged 14 points, three steals, three rebounds, and two assists for the top seed La Salle which needed to win only once to enter the finals, where it will face the second seed UP Fighting Maroons for the second straight year.
BUSINESS: Nov. inflation likely higher at 2.5% – poll
Over to business, inflation could have edged up in November due to a weaker peso, higher energy costs and as food prices rose in the wake of a string of typhoons that battered Luzon, analysts said. A Manila Times poll resulted in a median estimate of 2.5 percent, slightly higher than October’s 2.3 percent and near the lower end of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) 2.2- to 3.0-percent projection for the month. The rate will remain within the central bank’s 2.0- to 4.0-percent target, the analysts also said, and could prompt monetary authorities to continue lowering key interest rates later this month. Official November inflation data will be released by the Philippine Statistics Authority this Thursday, Dec. 5.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Rigoberto Tiglao, Fr. Ranhilio Aquino, and Francisco Tatad are today’s front page columnists. Tiglao believes China is developing Scarborough Shoal into a military base, Fr. Aquino says Advent is about consummation and promise, while Tatad asks if civil unrest is next in the Marcos-Duterte rift.
Today’s editorial says that curbing HIV remains a serious global challenge. Read the full version in the paper’s opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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