Welcoming the arrival of the ‘ber’ months

Source Manila Bulletin

President Marcos wants to expand economic relations between the Philippines and the US to help the country recover from the pandemic-induced economic downturn, Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez told lawmakers yesterday...

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The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has finally shed light on the alleged P588-billion “grey area” in the 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP), which was flagged in Congress...

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Headline inflation likely settled within 5.9% to 6.7% in August as food prices continued to rise, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Wednesday...

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President Marcos’ economic managers have slightly downscaled their infrastructure spending ambitions for the next six years as more funds had to be set aside for agriculture, health and other priority sectors, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said on Wednesday...

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The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has deployed more traffic enforcers to major thoroughfares to go after errant motorists after the Supreme Court stopped the implementation of the no-contact apprehension policy (NCAP)...

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European Union recession fears will definitely have an impact on the Philippines as a whole and the local markets, according to expert analysts...

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The Department of Health (DOH) conceded that it would no longer be able to meet its vaccination targets within the first 100 days of the Marcos administration, as the booster campaign has so far reached only about 9 percent of its target population for first boosters...

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The government is still looking at how tons of sugar seized from raided warehouses can be sold to the public despite their being already committed for industrial use, a ranking Department of Agriculture (DA) official said yesterday...

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The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Wednesday explained the budget for the University of the Philippines (UP) system and the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) next year...

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Only a tenth of the proposed ₱5.268-trillion budget for 2023 is allocated for the country’s debt burden, an economic manager of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said Wednesday...

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Due to the petitioner’s failure to present an actual case or controversy that would warrant a judicial review, the Supreme Court (SC) has allowed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to proceed with its registration of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) as voters...

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Senator Loren Legarda has filed a measure that seeks to develop and preserve the country’s culinary heritage in recognition of the importance of the culinary tradition as a vital part of the nation’s cultural heritage...

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The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has reclassified the exemptions from the expanded number-coding scheme...

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Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama on Wednesday signed an executive order lifting the mandatory face mask policy in outdoor and open spaces in the Visayas metropolis amid the COVID-19 pandemic...

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Motorists who were tagged by the no-contact apprehension policy (NCAP) before the Supreme Court stopped it with a temporary restraining order (TRO) should wait for the case to be resolved before paying any fines, a Court spokesman said Wednesday...

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The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) clarified on Wednesday, Aug. 31, that traffic violators caught via the no-contact apprehension policy (NCAP) before the Supreme Court’s issuance of the temporary restraining order (TRO) will still have to settle the corresponding penalties...

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Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople on Wednesday called on legislators to expand the coverage of the country’s anti-sexual harassment law to include all government personnel stationed overseas...

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The United Nations said the Government of Japan has donated $6 million, or P337.5 million, to support the new initiatives by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Food Programme (WFP) for farmers and fisherfolk affected by typhoon “Odette” (international code name Rai), in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM)...

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Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said the ongoing strike at Felixstowe Port in Southeastern England would have some “temporary effect” on trade between the United Kingdom (UK) and the Philippines...

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The Philippines is eyeing to be Canada’s production hub in Southeast Asia (SEA), according to the Board of Investments (BOI)...

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Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez said the Department of National Defense is "now looking into" the offer of the United States (US) to provide 13 or 14 Black Hawk helicopters as replacement to the scrapped chopper deal with Russia...

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The Philippines will suffer an average annual gross domestic product (GDP) loss of 0.7 percent due to water-related disasters such as droughts, floods and storms, according to new "Aquanomics" research from global professional services company GHD...

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The Philippines is open to resuming talks with China on oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea despite a sea dispute, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo said on Wednesday...

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The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) discussed the strategic priority and framework of the Food and Agriculture Organization at the corporate and regional levels with the DSWD...

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The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said most Filipinos in Shenzen, China are not affected by the lockdown imposed in the area to fight the Covid-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) outbreak...

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Taiwan said on Wednesday it would exercise its right to self-defense and "counterattack" if Chinese fighters and warships were to enter its territorial space, in the wake of Beijing's huge military drills around the East Asian island...

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More than 50,000 monkeypox cases have been recorded in the global outbreak, WHO figures showed Wednesday, but transmission is slowing in the virus hotspots of Europe and the United States...

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World stocks fell again on Wednesday, as expectations that central banks on both sides of the Atlantic will likely raise borrowing costs again next month soured sentiment and stoked recession fears, which dragged oil prices below $90 a barrel...

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United Nations inspectors arrived on Wednesday in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on a mission to prevent a nuclear accident at a Russian-occupied power plant where nearby shelling has prompted global fears of disaster...

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The US Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday, August 31, authorized the retooled COVID-19 booster shots of both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech that target the currently dominant BA.4/BA.5 Omicron subvariants of the coronavirus...

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Mikhail Gorbachev, who changed the course of history by triggering the demise of the Soviet Union and was one of the great figures of the 20th century, has died in Moscow aged 91...

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Russian on Wednesday warned the European Union of consequences over the bloc moving to fully suspend the visa facilitation agreement between the European Union and Russia, according to state news agency RIA Novosti...

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Against China's wishes, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Wednesday released a much-anticipated report on China's treatment of Uyghur and other Muslim minority peoples in its northwestern Xinjiang region...

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A planned joint Philippine-China exploration in the resource-rich West Philippine Sea has yet to push through, as China insists on applying its laws on Philippine territory, Foreign Affairs Secretary-designate Luis Enrique Manalo told senators on Wednesday...

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Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Susan Ople assured senators Wednesday the newly-established agency is on track in its bid to “digitalize all processes” overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are required to go through “so they do not need to line up repeatedly.”...

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Lawmakers at the House of Representatives are looking to quadruple to P12.2 billion the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) proposed P3.2-billion budget for next year to enable the agency to regain its competitive edge and achieve its thrust of turning the Philippines into a tourism powerhouse in Asia...

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The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Wednesday is ready to defend the P588.1-billion standby funds under the proposed P5.268-trillion national expenditure program (NEP) for 2023...

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Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban on Wednesday said that he ordered the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to locate the P100 million funding allocated last year to assist salt producers...

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Supreme Court Justice Marvic Leonen on Wednesday posted on social media site Twitter: “Unsolicited or scam text messages on our phones already contain our names. This means that there is a data provider out there that has leaked or sold or been careless about our information. This makes all of us now vulnerable. Very dangerous...

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The Department of Tourism (DOT) is projecting foreign visitor arrivals of at least 3.23 million by 2023, still below the 8.26-million historic high in 2019...

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House Appropriation Committee Chairman Rep. Elizaldy Co on Wednesday said the P30-million to P50-million disaster resilience funds that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) will provide each legislative district is crucial in ensuring the safety and survival of the country’s disaster-prone areas...

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The Department of Energy (DoE) has formed special technical and financial review committees and tapped consultants to review the proposed sale of the interest of Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEx) in the deepwater Malampaya project...

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A study on the establishment of a strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) in the country is expected to be completed by next year, with state-run Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) targeting to onboard a transaction advisor for the project in the fourth quarter...

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The Commission on Elections (Comelec) wants brand-new vote counting machines (VCMs) for the 2025 midterm elections, warning that reusing the 90,000 old VCMs would lead to problems because the machines are already obsolete...

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The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) called on the Department of Education (DepEd) to “think outside of the K-12 box” as it expressed reservations on the agency’s decision to remove extracurricular activities from the students’ campus life...

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The traffic violation and road accidents in Manila went down by 90 percent and 62 percent, respectively, after implementing the no contact apprehension program (NCAP) in Manila...

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More traffic enforcers will be deployed in areas implementing the No Contact Apprehension Program (NCAP) following the suspension issued by the Supreme Cout, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said Wednesday...

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The National Privacy Commission finished its initial probe into text message scams plaguing mobile phone users all over the country, although results of the investigation remain unknown...

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It is unlikely that the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, built in the 1970s, will be revived during the first year of the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr...

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The government’s two main tax agencies secured more than a quarter of the Marcos administration’s budget for information and communications technology (ICT) next year, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said...

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In May this year, it was announced that the government has begun focusing on “long COVID cases.” However, since then, little to no update has been made available to the public...

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Lending activity in the country continued to be strong in July amid high prices, as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported a double-digit growth in loan expansion during the month...

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The Philippines’ information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) sector is expected to boost its revenues by as much as 10% this year, and create over 1.1 million jobs in the next six years, as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic...

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Despite expectations that raw sugar output will improve in the new crop year, the Philippines’s sugar sector may not be out of the woods yet as production could remain below 2 million metric tons (MMT)...

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The growth in wholesale prices of building materials in Metro Manila slowed in July, amid increasing construction activity...

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Tax revenues collected with the help of fuel marking breached the P500-billion level a week before the fourth year of implementing this program aimed at eliminating oil smuggling...

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The ongoing review of Enrique Razon Jr.-led Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc.’s acquisition of a controlling stake in the Malampaya gas project is “on track,” according to the Department of Energy (DOE)...

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The increase in loans extended by the country’s large banks continued at a brisk pace, pegged at 12 percent in July which was the same yearly rate observed in June, amid the continuing reopening of the domestic economy and despite higher benchmark interest rates set by the Monetary Board...

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The producer price index (PPI) for manufacturing continued to expand at a faster rate in July, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed...

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The National Food Authority (NFA) launched a program to increase the buying price of palay to P20 to P21 per kilo from the current P19 a kilo...

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Infrastructure, particularly transport projects, and social programs will get the chunk of the unprogrammed appropriations under the proposed 2023 budget as the government maintained no irregularities in allocating such funds...

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A 4.6 percent increase in tourism workers this year from 4.7 million in 2021 shows that the tourism industry is now capable of regaining its pre-pandemic figures...

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The Philippine peso was weaker so far this week compared to its position last Aug. 26 as the global financial markets absorbed the latest hawkish comments from United States Federal Reserve...

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