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(The Manila Times) NEW Orleans Pelicans forward Herbert Jones went to Angat, Bulacan on Monday, August 22, to spearhead a basketball court dedication and youth clinic at the Enchanted Farm village of Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation Inc.

The outreach program is part of the NBA’s 75th Live, Learn or Play initiative for the 2021-22 season.

The project featured the ceremonial opening of a newly-refurbished basketball court and an NBA Cares youth clinic for more than 25 boys and girls from Gawad Kalinga and the Jr. NBA program in the Philippines.

Gawad Kalinga is a local nonprofit organization based in Bulacan province that aims to alleviate poverty through affordable housing and community development programs… Read More

(The Epoch Times) Millions of students in the Philippines have returned to school for in-person classes after more than two years of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students were seen donning face masks as they lined up to enter their classrooms on Monday. Temperature checks and limits on the number of students per classroom remain in place.

The Education Ministry stated that 27.6 million students enrolled in private and public schools this year, falling short of the government’s target of 28.6 million students, Philippines-based GMA News reported.

Students will be required to attend a combination of in-person classes and remote learning from August to October before switching to the full five-day in-person classes in November, according to the ministry.

The Philippines’ school closures due to the pandemic were among the longest in the world, with reopening delayed by slow vaccine rollouts and the country’s 2022 elections.

Vice President Sara Duterte described the resumption of in-person classes as a “victory” for the nation’s education sector, as students across the Philippines were finally able to attend school like their peers around the world.

“We cannot afford to delay the education of the Filipino youth any longer,” Duterte was quoted as saying by GMA News. She emphasized the need to provide students with proper and quality education through in-person classes.

Some schools decided to split classes into morning and afternoon sessions to accommodate students while maintaining physical distancing due to classroom shortages.

“We cannot make the lack of educational infrastructure or the inadequate number of classrooms in certain provinces another excuse to keep our children from schools,” Duterte said.

The ministry piloted in-person classes involving 300 schools in 2021 but didn’t extend this to cover all schools until the start of the current school year.

The shift to online classes, self-learning modules, and educational television and radio programs has proven extremely challenging for the country’s population, where less than a fifth of households have internet access and many lack mobile services… Read More

(PhilStar) MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government vowed it will go after those who contribute to the online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC), may it be parents or other individuals involved in the operations.

Government officials on Tuesday acknowledged that the Philippines has become the hub for explicit materials that cater to pedophiles around the world, harming Filipino children in the process.

“Ang pagsama samin dito ng law enforcement agencies natin ay isa lang hudyat na hindi talagang hindi tayo papayag na manatili ang ganito sa ating bansa,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said in a press conference on Tuesday.

(The presence of our law enforcement agencies here today is one of the signs that we will not accept that this will continue in our country.)

Officials noted that in some cases, the parents of the children are involved in the abuse. Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. even recalled a case where the parents got angry at local government officials for stopping their operations because they lost P20,000 to P30,000 worth of monthly income… Read More

(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila — The House of Representatives is set to receive on Monday the proposed ₱5.268-trillion national budget for 2023.

The proposed budget for 2023 is ₱244 billion or 5% more than this year’s ₱5.024-trillion allocation.

In a statement released on Sunday, House Speaker Martin Romualdez said the first National Expenditure Program (NEP) of the Marcos administration will be submitted through Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman. The turnover ceremony will be at 10 a.m. at the social hall of the Speaker’s Office.

Also expected in the ceremony are Majority Leader Manuel Jose “Mannix” Dalipe, Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan, House Committee on Appropriations chairman and Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co and his senior vice chairperson, Marikina City Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo… Read More

(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila — Tropical Depression Florita slightly accelerates west southwestward at 20 kilometers per hour over the Philippine Sea east of Cagayan, the state weather bureau said.

In its 11 p.m. bulletin, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Florita was estimated at 460 kms east of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, or 420 kms east of Casiguran, Aurora with maximum sustained winds of 55 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 70 kph.

Places under Tropical Cyclone Signal No. 1 are the northern portion of Aurora and the northern and eastern portions of Isabela. These areas may expect winds within the next 36 hours, with a minimal to minor threat to life and property, the agency noted.

PAGASA said signal no. 2 may be raised over areas in the eastern section of Northern Luzon as early as Monday morning. The highest possible wind signal that may be hoisted is signal no. 3, it added… Read More

(Bulatlat) MANILA – A group of Filipino fisherfolk urged the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to address the declining fisheries output by providing sufficient aid, instead of using a “tambiolo” scheme.
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“BFAR should seriously address the decline in fish production. It reflects the dire conditions that small Filipino fisherfolk are facing, with inadequate tools and insufficient capital to fish,” said Ronnel Arambulo, spokesperson of Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA).

The Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the value production in agriculture and fisheries declined by 0.6 percent, covering the months of April to June 2022 — with fisheries production contracted by 2.3 percent in the second quarter of the year.

To address this, the Department of Agriculture (DA) expanded the distribution of fuel subsidies to corn farmers and fisherfolk, which entitles them to a 30-percent discount on gasoline or diesel, at a maximum of P3,000 each.

Pamalakaya, however, said that their local chapters in Laguna de Bay reported the P3,000 fuel subsidy from the municipal office of BFAR was only for 25 fishers per village. To select the beneficiaries, officials opted for a “tambiolo” or raffle system… Read More

(Manila Bulletin) Jalen Green felt nothing but love and appreciation for the Filipino fans after visiting the Philippines for his “JG4 Manila Tour” last week, expressing his excitement to return again soon.

Taking it to Instagram, the 20-year-old Green posted a set of photos reminiscing his short stay in the country where he reconnected with his Filipino roots and conducted a couple of basketball activities back in Ilocos Sur, the hometown of his mother Bree Purganan.

“JG4 Tour in the [P]hilippines was sum [I]’ll never forget!!!! [E]veryone treated it like [I] never left and all the love remained the same,” wrote Green on his Instagram post.

“[I] got to connect with my culture in the [P]hilippines more and got to see where my family is originally from. [N]othing but love and appreciation from me to the [P]hilippines, thank you.”.. Read More

(Jounal Online) On Monday, August 15, Aboitiz Equity Ventures’ (AEV) Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Charmaine Rose A. Valmonte was recognized as the Top Women in Security ASEAN Region – Security Trainer and Educator. The prestigious award is part of the Top Women in Security initiative of the global Women in Security and Resilience Alliance (WISECRA) which promotes women in the security technology industry.

As the Aboitiz Group gears towards building the Philippines’ first ‘Techglomerate’, its ‘Great Transformation’ is driven by technological innovation and, just as importantly, the ingenuity and integrity of its people. An invaluable part of the Group, Valmonte educates and inspires team members so that being secure, vigilant, and risk averse is part of their daily mindset.

“We want to build cyber warriors,” says Valmonte. “We do this by giving back where we can; learning and sharing knowledge with our team members allows us to build the human firewall in each and everyone. A vigilant team member can ideate, build, develop, and innovate securely from the start.”

“It is similar to building a good foundation for a home, wherein if we ensure that we have a good base, enough of a foundation, we can build several floors above it. The deeper the foundation, the higher and stronger your building will be,” she explains. “It is the same concept for building the cybersecurity capabilities of our team members. Once trained, we need to continue the journey to ensure that our internal mechanisms and activities keep security in mind.”

Valmonte managed and implemented security and cybersecurity operations as an officer in the United States Army, where she says security is top priority. Returning to the Philippines, she helped develop the IT Risk Management and Resiliency Division of UnionBank, part of the financial services and banking arm of AEV, empowering its digital transformation.

“This special award confirms what I set out to do back in 2011 when I retired from the military,” says Valmonte, “to build and develop our future leaders here in the Philippines. We don’t need to rely on foreign talent, we have it here, we just need to build the capabilities… Read More