PH growth likely still below 6% in Q2 – poll »Story on B1 HH
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2019
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US State Department daunted to use ‘concerning’ on PH drug war First word T is striking that the US State Department punctiliously avoided using the word “concerning” in expressing its view of President Duterte’s war on illegal drugs, and what it has achieved so far.
OBSERVER YEN MAKABENTA
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Conversation between two BIR execs reveals all
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VIDIN MY LINE E O OF SIGHT recording exposes the rampant corruption at the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) under Commissioner Caesar “Billy” Dulay.
RAMON T. TULFO
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HELPLESS
A resident of Calibuyo village in Tanza, Cavite watches as waves lap at the remains of his house. Strong waves spawned by the southwest monsoon destroyed at least 25 houses in the village, prompting residents to beg the local government to set up a wall to protect them. PHOTO BY DJ DIOSINA
Dar gets DA post BY EIREENE JAIREE GOMEZ
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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has appointed William Dar, a columnist of The Manila Times, as acting secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA). He will replace Emmanuel Piñol, who was transferred to the Mindanao Development Authority.
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NO ANGST AS POLITICAL USA BASKETBALL ABERRATION ENTERS WC CAMP SportsE1 Antonio ContrerasA4
KATHDEN CLOSES IN ON KATHNIEL BOX OFFICE RECORD
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FIFTEEN flights to and from Hong Kong were canceled on Monday because of the anti-government protests that caused travel chaos in the city. The Manila International Airport Authority said at least 11 flights of Cathay Pacific were canceled. Philippine Airlines (PAL) canceled four flights: PR306 and PR318, both
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What’s inside OVERLOADING EYED IN ILOILO SEA TRAGEDY
FLIGHTS TO HONG KONG CANCELED
DENGUE CASES SOAR
THE Department of Health (DoH) has recorded 146,000 dengue cases this year, almost double the number reported in the same period in 2018 but Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd said the spike was normal. Last year, the DoH listed 73,818 dengue cases from January to July. “Every 3 to 4 years talagang nagtataasan ang dengue cases. Hindi lang sa Philippines, kahit sa karatig bansa (Dengue cases increase every 3 to 4 years, not only in the Philippines, but also in neighboring countries),” he said in a radio interview. “Ang mahalaga dito, mababang mababa ‘yung case fatality ratio (What is important is the case fatality ratio is low),” Duque said, adding that he aims to reduce the 0.4 fatality ratio to 0.2. The Health chief said Malaysia listed 75,000 cases of dengue for a population of 35 million.
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bound to Hong Kong from Manila; and PR307 and PR319, bound to Manila from Hong Kong. The airline said passengers could instead take available flights on Tuesday, rebook or ask for a refund. Cebu Pacific said it was advised by the Hong Kong Airport Authority that their opera-
tions were affected by the general strike that might cause delays or cancellation of flights between Hong Kong and Manila, Clark, Cebu and Iloilo. The airline offered to waive charges for rebooking and refunds for those who have booked their flights on August 5 with travel dates on Aug. 5, 6 and 7, 2019.
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Gretchen Ho tests mettle in Prudential Ride London LONDON: It’s mission accomplished for volleyball star Gretchen Ho, who posted an impressive finish for a first-timer in the women’s Surrey 46 of the prestigious 2019 Prudential Ride London-UCI World Tour that started in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and ended at the Buckingham Palace on Sunday (Monday in Manila). The former Ateneo de Manila University team captain registered two hours, 57 minutes and 49 seconds — better than the four-hour cut-off time in the lung-busting 46-mile (74-kilometer) event. “I’m happy that natapos ko siya in less than three hours na ikinagulat ko kasi sa Pilipinas
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HIGH HO
Volleyball star Gretchen Ho is all smiles after crossing the finish line of the women’s Surrey 46 of the prestigious 2019 Prudential Ride London-UCI World Tour that started in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and ended at the Buckingham Palace. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
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PH growth likely still below 6% in Q2 – poll BY ANNA LEAH E. GONZALES
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HE Philippine economy likely grew at a slower pace in the second quarter of 2019 than a year ago due to the continued impact of the delayed approval of this year’s national budget and the election ban on government spending, according to analysts surveyed by The Manila Times.
Poll results show estimates for April to June ranging from 5.7 to 5.9 percent, with a 5.8 percent average. This is lower than the 6.2-percent expansion in the same period in 2018 and slightly higher than the 5.6-percent growth in the first quarter. The Philippine Statistics Authority will announce official second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth
data on August 8. Security Bank chief economist Robert Dan Roces offered the highest projection at 5.9 percent. “We expected real GDP growth in Q2 (second quarter) to rebound following a sluggish first quarter. However, leading indicators suggest otherwise, and as such, Q2 is bound to be unremark-
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Yuan drop, Peso 2nd strongest Asian currency Diversionary tactics? trade war W ROUGH TRADE drag PSEi BEN to new low KRITZ THE stock market fell to its lowest level in more than two months on Monday, with analysts blaming it on the depreciation of the Chinese yuan and the trade war between the United States and China. The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dropped by 2.95 percent or 239.91 points to close at 7,890.02, a level it last touched on May 30. The wider All Shares declined by 2.14 percent or 105.45 points to finish
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THE Philippine peso has emerged as the second strongest currency in Asia as of last month, the Department of Finance (DoF) reported on Monday. In an economic bulletin, the Finance department said the local currency appreciated by 2.82 percent against the US dollar year-to-date. It
ranked next to the Thai baht, which appreciated by 4.27 percent. The local currency was followed by the Indonesian rupiah, which appreciated by 2.69 percent; Indian rupee, 1.06 percent; Japanese yen, 0.93 percent; Malaysian ringgit, 0.34 percent; and Hong Kong dollar, 0.21 percent.
In contrast, the South Korean won, Taiwanese dollar, Singaporean dollar, Vietnamese dong and Chinese yuan, depreciated by 6.65 percent, 1.75 percent, 0.42 percent, 0.16 percent and 0.02 percent, respectively.
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Govt still eyes UCPB stake recovery THE government still plans to recover its stake in United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), but not by privatizing the state-owned lender, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said. Dominguez told reporters late last week that the government still had a stake of “about P42 billion
with them (UCPB),” but clarified that the final amount was still being checked, as it probably had grown. “We haven’t come up with the final amount, but it’s large,” he said, adding: “[M]y estimate is it’s probably P100 billion already.” The government is evaluating
how it would recover the said amount, according to him. “As chief finance officer of the country, I would like to get back everything that we have there… I am pretty sure that privatizing it (UCPB) is not going to do it,” Dominguez said.
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ITH increasing frequency, it seems weekends in the Philippines are to be marked by one or more puzzling headlines about current government policy, and this past soggy weekend was no exception. Along with taking time out to complain about a critical op-ed column in the New York Times, the government served up not one but head-scratchers over the weekend. While they look silly enough on the surface, they have some rather alarming implications, and should be looked at more closely. The more harmless-sounding of the two was the announcement by freshman Senator Christopher “Bong” Go that he has filed a bill that would impose criminal pen-
alties on those who make prank or otherwise inappropriate calls to emergency numbers. Go’s Senate Bill 400, grandiosely titled the “Anti-Prank Callers Act of 2019,” at first looks like another example of President Duterte’s former sidekick’s uncanny affinity for low-hanging fruit, but he should be given more credit in this instance for exposing, perhaps unintentionally, some persistent process flaws in
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