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(SunStar) PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. met on Sunday, September 18, 2022, the members of the Filipino community in New Jersey and recognized their sacrifices and contribution to the country’s economic recovery amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

Prior to his engagements in relation to the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York, Marcos met with the Filipinos at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

In his speech, the President acknowledged the role, especially of the overseas Filipino workers (OFW), in pandemic recovery, especially the remittances that help support the economy’s recovery from the health crisis.

“‘Yung remittances na pinadala ninyo, alam ko ang iniisip ninyo ay tulungan ang mga pamilya ninyo. Pero kahit hindi niyo nararamdaman, malaking naitulong ninyo sa ekonomiya ng Pilipinas. At siguro hindi lang malaki ang naitulong, binuhay ninyo ang ekonomiya ng Pilipinas,” he said.

“We have over 10 million kababayans all over the world, and as your President, I understand and know fully well the significant impact of the Philippine diaspora on our motherland, especially in terms of supporting our post-pandemic economic recovery,” he added… Read More

(Bulatlat) MANILA – These days, Berlita Ante, a senior citizen and a local leader of a neighborhood association in one of Bacolod City’s poor, wakes up very early every day to fill up several barrels of water for her family’s use. If she fails to do so, her family would have no water to use for the entire day.

While there is water from the faucet, it becomes murky brown by 4:00 a.m. “It is like seeing coffee come out of our pipes,” she told Bulatlat in a phone interview.

She would then allow the faucet to run for at least 45 minutes until the water clears. “This can happen more than once a day. It’s why our water bills are so high.”

In 2020, Primewater, a company owned by one of the country’s richest and former senator Manny Villar, acquired the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa), which provides water services to nearly half of the city population.

“Before Primewater, we used to buy water by the container. But when Primewater came in, they offered promos and discounts. But in the end, we ended up paying more,” said Ante.

Poor services, increased water costs

Privatization of water services is not new in the Philippines… Read More

(InquirerPh) MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. left on Sunday for New York to participate in the 77th United Nations General Assembly.

The President was given departure honors at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 2 and among those present in the ceremony were Vice President Sara Duterte, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro, and Philippine Army Commanding General Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr.

The President’s flight departed at around 8 a.m. Upon arrival, he is scheduled to meet with the Filipino community at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Marcos Jr. will be with the First Lady, some Cabinet members and business leaders.

The President is set to speak at the UN high-level debate on Tuesday, Sept. 20, where he is expected to discuss climate change, rule of law, and food security.

He will deliver his statement at 3:15 p.m. New York time… Read More

(Business Mirror) A lawmaker on Friday called on Congress to immediately work for the banning of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) in the country, amid the recent spate of kidnappings, abductions and other illegal activities involving Chinese nationals working in the online gaming industry.

House Committee on Appropriations Vice Chairman and Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin said kidnapping incidents have immensely affected the image of the Philippines and might be driving away investors.

The lawmaker’s statement came after Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Thursday, said the country faces “reputational risks” if it continues to allow POGOs to operate.

He added that POGOs’ impact on the country’s revenues would not be significant enough since revenues have reached only P3.9 billion in 2021, a little over half the P7.2 billion it generated at its peak… Read More

(Epoch Times New York) A state commission in the Philippines has ordered to ban five books deemed to have “subversive” contents, drawing outcry from human rights groups who viewed the move as repression of free speech.

The Commission on the Filipino Language (KWF) issued a memorandum in August calling for a halt to the distribution of the books in schools and libraries, which allegedly contain “anti-Marcos and anti-Duterte contents.”

KWF accused its chairman, Arthur Casanova, of approving and entering into contracts without the board’s knowledge and demanded that he be held accountable, local media PhilStar reported on Aug. 14.

The commission demanded that the publications cease, citing their violations of the anti-terrorism act, and criticized Casanova for “inciting rebellion” by allowing the books to be published.

Casanova denied the accusations and said the five books passed through the KWF review process and “the usual scrutiny” that all publications must go through.

“The allegations that these books are subversive is a dangerous accusation which may already be stepping on the boundaries of freedom of expression and academic freedom,” he said in a statement on Facebook.

Casanova said he was willing to divulge any information at the proper forum and urged authorities to investigate the allegations against him.

“I am also calling on the proper authorities, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the Anti-Terrorism Council, to look into these allegations and see for themselves that they are baseless and malicious,” he added.

NTF-ELCAC is a task force formed by the Philippine government in 2018 to raise awareness about the rebellion in the country… Read More

(Journal Online) The sea cucumber puti-an, scientifically known as Holothuria scabra, is currently an Endangered (EN) species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List because its population face a high risk of extinction in the wild. The risk is primarily attributed to overfishing because of its high value in the fishing trade.

The puti-an is one of the 1,250 known species of sea cucumbers that are related to starfish and sea urchins. All sea cucumbers are ocean dwellers, inhabiting both shallow and deep ocean. Commonly, they are gleaned in shallow seagrass beds or fished in deeper reefs by free- or compressor-diving.

Surprisingly, a rapid scanning conducted by the University of the Philippines Mindanao (UP Mindanao) researchers in September 2021 found the existence of the endangered puti-an at the beach area of the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park in Sitio Punta Dumalag, Matina Aplaya, Davao City. Back in 2015, the team also conducted a rapid scanning of the beach and the nearshore reef. However, the puti-an was not encountered inside the observation transects… Read More

(SunStar) INTERNATIONAL and local experts from the digital and cryptocurrency industries have come together to host the first Philippine Blockchain Week.

The week-long event will be held from November 28 to December 4, 2022 at the Marriott Grand Ballroom of the Newport World Resorts in Pasay.

Called “Chaintrix” and inspired by the meta universe of the movie the“Matrix”, it seeks to promote inclusiveness by educating more Filipinos about blockchain in order to harness its benefits for the country’s various industries.

“We have gathered experts from the blockchain ecosystem to discuss this technological advancement and how companies and people can benefit from it. The Philippine Blockchain Week also lets investors and businesses network and explore opportunities in the Philippine market,” Donald Lim, lead convenor of the event, said.

Lim, who is considered the Father of Digital Marketing in the Philippines, believes that the country has a strong chance of becoming the “Blockchain Capital of Asia.”.. Read More

(Interaksyon) A meme featuring Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio and fictional superhero “The Flash” gained buzz on Reddit Philippines for encapsulating Filipino pedestrians’ reality in the metro.

A Reddit user on Monday shared the meme showing a carefree Leonardo with the text: “How pedestrians cross the street.”

It was collated with a picture of the running superhero with the text: “How Filipino drivers expect pedestrians to cross the street.”

The post has been upvoted at 98%.

The post also earned dozens of comments, among which were from Filipinos who claim to have a different experience abroad.

“Stayed abroad for more than a decade. Sanay ako na pedestrians ang may right way sa ped xing. Naloka ako dito, display lang siya hahaha, as in, walang tumitigil para patawirin ka hahaha. Kaya whenever I take public transpo dito, jusko, feeling ko ‘yung isang paa ko nasa hukay,” a Redditor claimed with an emoji.

“When I first came to Canada, I still had this mentality to rush through the pedestrian lane because the drivers would get mad at me for being slow, then upon learning that cars here would have to wait until the pedestrian crosses the street, no matter how long it would take reasonably, it hit me as a culture shock,” claimed another Redditor.

Others, meanwhile, shared their own experiences as commuters in the country… Read More