LENI ROBREDO ANNOUNCES PRESIDENTIAL BID

MANILA — Vice President Leni Robredo’s lengthy process of discernment is over and she has come to a decision: She is running for president in the 2022 elections, which she believes is crucial to ending President Rodrigo Duterte’s brand of leadership.

Robredo made the announcement Thursday, just two days after her rival former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, said he is running for president in next year’s polls.

This would mark the third time that Robredo would face Marcos in a political contest.

1Sambayan has endorsed Robredo for president ahead of her announcement, which left some members of the opposition coalition concerned that this would shut the door on unity talks with other non-administration players in the political arena.

Prior to announcing her presidential bid, Robredo had been busy with negotiations among other non-administration politicians, including presidential aspirants Sens. Ping Lacson and Manny Pacquiao and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso, to forge unity and come up with a single ticket that would contest Duterte’s anointed bets for the 2022 polls.

She was also involved in her office’s much-praised programs in response to the pandemic, but she still performs poorly in pre-election surveys, with the latest Pulse Asia poll showing that only 8% of Filipinos would vote for her for president.

In previous interviews, Robredo said she is unfazed by her low numbers, pointing out that she started the same when she vied for the vice presidency.

DUTERTE ON BARRING CABINET FROM SENATE PROBE: BRING COMPLAINT TO SUPREME COURT

MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday dared the Senate to file a complaint at the Supreme Court against his order to prohibit members of the Cabinet from attending Senate investigations.

Duterte on Monday said he has issued a memorandum to prohibit the members of his Cabinet from attending the Senate investigation as resource persons, claiming that they do not have the time for it.

"That's why I want them to go to the Supreme Court. Gusto kong makita ng footage ng behavior nila during...I want it recorded in history. It's a...'Yung pangyayari sa Senate, and how they behave badly," he said in a taped speech.

"Gusto kong dalhin nila sa Korte Suprema so itong ano nila, pinapa-withdraw nila 'yung order ko," Duterte added.

Duterte also said he will not withdraw his memo and claimed the Senate started the mess.

"There ain't no way that I will withdraw it...Kayo ang nag-umpisa nitong lahat (You started everything)," he said.

Duterte's order will also affect the resolve of civil servants, which is why there could be a Constitutional crisis, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) said on Tuesday night.

The IBP has called on Duterte to heed a Supreme Court decision which said that although the Executive and the Legislative are co-equal branches of government, the former "cannot frustrate the power of Congress to legislate by refusing to comply with its demands for information."

MARCOS TO PURSUE DUTERTE'S 'WAR ON DRUGS' WITH SAME VIGOR, BUT DIFFERENT APPROACH

MANILA — Should he win as chief executive, former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will pursue President Rodrigo Duterte’s  “war on drugs” with the same vigor, but will approach it differently.

In an interview with CNN Philippines’ The Source, Marcos noted that Duterte’s drug war focused on the enforcement side. If he wins as president, Marcos said he will also focus on prevention, educating the youth of the ill-effects of drugs and improving rehabilitation centers.

“Teach children that doing drugs is bad, the health implications. Improve rehab centers, not all are functioning properly. Enforcement, we have seen can only take you so far,” he added partly in Filipino.

Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs” that claimed thousands of Filipino lives is currently under investigation of the International Criminal Court.

When asked if he believes that human rights violations were committed in Duterte’s “war on drugs,” Marcos did not address it directly and instead referred to the ongoing ICC probe — which the Duterte government does not acknowledge.

“Well, they are investigating it and we will see the results,” he said.

Will he allow the ICC to investigate? Marcos echoed the stand of the present administration and said: “We withdrew already.”

He was referring to the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ratification of the Rome Statute that took effect in March 2019.

EX-DEFENSE CHIEF NORBERTO GONZALES RUNS FOR PRESIDENT

MANILA — Former Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales has officially entered the race to Malacañang, with him filing on Wednesday before the Commission on Elections his candidacy for president under the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas.

Addressing the media after he filed his candidacy, Gonzales said it is time to change the “rotten” politics he said is prevailing in the country.

“We have always been saying, as a party, that ang talagang sumisira sa kinabukasan natin at ang hindi magandang pagtakbo ng gobyerno ay yung hindi magandang paggamit ng pulitika dito sa atin,” he said.

Gonzales floated the possibility of changing the Constitution and shifting to a parliamentary form of government, but it was not clear whether he would actually pursue these reforms.

DOH, PHARMALLY NOT YET OFF THE HOOK IN HOUSE PROBE: SOLON

MANILA - Neither the Department of Health (DOH) nor Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. is off the hook in the House Committee on Good Government’s probe on government's alleged anomalous purchase of COVID-19 response supplies, the lawmaker leading the investigation said Wednesday.

Diwa Party-list Rep. Michael Aglipay said the panel will look into other possible cases of fraud and corruption in the procurement of supplies from Pharmally after they ruled out an overpricing of the goods.

“Lahat on the table, except yung overprice, concluded ko na po na walang overprice," he said.

“Wala ako sinabi na off the hook. Meron pa mga, besides overpricing, merong iba pang issues. Yung collusion, (Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service) at Pharmally, mga allegation na ganun. May iba pa na allegations na 'di ko na dedetalyehin. Marami pa, around 4-5 allegations," he added.

Aglipay said the House may release its report on its investigation by December 4 at the latest.

DUTERTE DEFENDS GOING TO LUXURY-WATCH STORE; PALACE SAYS NOTHING WRONG WITH ‘SIDE TRIP’

MANILA—President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said he went to a luxury-watch store over the weekend to meet a former girlfriend, a visit he has had to defend in the face of criticism.

"Pinuna mo ’yung pagpunta ko sa tindahan. Pagpunta ko sa tindahan kasi may gusto akong makipagkita ko sa isang tao, girlfriend ko noon. Hiwalay na kami. Pumasok kami roon," Duterte said, referring to Sen. Richard Gordon, who called out the President and Sen. Christopher "Bong" Go for the mall jaunt.

"Gusto ko lang mamasyal. Pumasok kami sa jewelry stores, totoo 'yun. Totoo 'yun nagtingin ako ng mga relo. Sino ba ayaw ng relo na magaganda?" Duterte added.

Duterte, without evidence, has repeatedly tied Gordon to the P86-million priority development assistance fund (PDAF) that Gordon allegedly gave to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC).

"Every time magkita tayo, the last time you were wearing Rolex. Parang gold. Hindi ako nagnakaw ng relo. Ngayon, pumunta akong tindahan. Kayo ang nagnakaw sa gobyerno ng P86 million," he said.

Gordon on Tuesday slammed Duterte and long-time aide Go for having the time to check out luxury watches at a high-end store in Makati amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gordon made the statement during the resumption of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the controversial Pharmally deal, likening Duterte and Go's shopping to the pharmaceutical firm's executives who bought luxury cars after they finalized multibillion-peso contracts with government.

Duterte and Go went to Greenbelt mall in Makati after Go filed his certificate of candidacy as vice president for the 2022 elections. Photos showed them passing through the luxury watch lane.

But Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said there's nothing wrong about doing "a side trip to a mall," and also questioned why this has been framed in the wrong way.

He said the President made no purchase of a luxury watch and just bought some cookies.

NOLI DE CASTRO EXITS ABS-CBN, SETS SIGHTS ON SENATE RETURN

MANILA —apamilya news anchor Noli de Castro on Thursday said farewell on TeleRadyo as he sets his sights on a political comeback in the 2022 elections.

"Sorry to say na ito ho ang huling araw ko na dito sa TeleRadyo for so many years," he said in his morning program "Kabayan".

De Castro, who served as vice president in 2004, is returning to politics after an 11-year break.

He is set to run for senator under Aksyon Demokratiko party of Mayor Franciso Isko Moreno Domagoso, who is running for president in next year’s elections.

NIKKEI ASIA: PHILIPPINES RANKS LAST IN GLOBAL COVID RECOVERY INDEX

MANILA - The Philippines fell to the bottom of the latest Nikkei Asia COVID recovery ranking this month, classifying it as the worst among 121 countries based on the trajectories of their recovery from the pandemic.

The new rating came a week after the Philippines also fell to the bottom of Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking.

According to the Nikkei Asia's COVID-19 Recovery Index, the Philippines still has one of the lowest vaccination rates since only 30% of the country's population have been fully inoculated against the coronavirus as of Sept. 30.

The index said this is "low even among ASEAN countries".

Nikkei noted that the Philippine government began "granular" lockdowns in Metro Manila last month, easing some COVID-19 curbs, but minors and senior citizens aged 65 and up are still ordered to remain home.

"The country is gradually easing restrictions on businesses to revive the economy, allowing gyms to reopen and increasing restaurant dining and salon capacities for vaccinated individuals," it added.

The index, which calculates a score between 0 and 90 for each country or region based on infection management, vaccine rollouts, and social mobility, gave the Philippines 30.5 points at 121st place.

Meanwhile, the ASEAN country highest on the list was Indonesia (54th), followed by Singapore (70th), Cambodia (76th), Malaysia (102th), Myanmar (105th), and Thailand (109th).

Vietnam, which was the worst performer in the previous two rankings of Nikkei, went up to 118th.

Laos, meanwhile, dipped to second-worst among all 121 countries.

China, where the coronavirus first emerged, fell from 1st place to 9th place. The country had taken the top spot since the index was first published in July, the media outlet said.

Malta took 1st place with a score of 73.0.

QUEZON CITY COURT ACQUITS 19 COPS IN ESPINOSA SLAY

MANILA — A Quezon City court yesterday acquitted 19 police officers who were implicated in the killing of Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa inside his jail cell in November 2016.

Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 104 Judge Catherine Pespes-Manodon cleared the policemen of homicide after the prosecutors were not able to prove their guilt.

Among those acquitted is Col. Marvin Marcos, current director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)’s field office in Region 12.

Marcos, then chief of the CIDG Eastern Visayas field office, led the implementation of a search warrant against Epinosa and Raul Yap at the Baybay municipal jail.

Police claimed a shootout occurred after the two allegedly opened fire at the CIDG operatives. They died at the scene.

Marcos was dismissed as head of the CIDG Region 8 office following the incident. He was ordered reinstated by President Duterte.

Lawyer Roland Inting, a counsel for one of the accused, said in an interview that the prosecution witnesses could not identify the police officers at the scene of the shootout.

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PHIVOLCS: TAAL EMITTING ‘ANOMALOUSLY HIGH’ SULFUR DIOXIDE

MANILA—An “anomalously high” amount of volcanic sulfur dioxide has been emitting out of Taal Volcano, the Phivolcs said on Tuesday.

The agency said it recorded the highest ever volcanic sulfur dioxide gas flux in Taal that day at 25,456 tonnes/day.

“Tuloy-tuloy ang pagbuga ng sulfur dioxide, kaya lang po dahil maulan sa Taal Volcano area kahapon po ay hindi tayo nakapagsukat ng sulfur dioxide,” Phivolcs director Renato Solidum said in an interview Thursday.

“Kailangan kasi na may araw para masukat ang asupre.

“Ang patuloy na pagbuga ng sulfur dioxide gas diyan sa Taal Volcano ay nangangahulugan na ’yung magma na sa mababaw na parte ng bulkan ay patuloy na nagpapakawala ng gas.

“Ito ay isang magandang senyales, kasi kung itong gas ay naiipon lamang sa loob ng magma posibleng ma-pressurize ang magma at magkaroon ng mas malakas na pagsabog.”

Nonetheless, he stressed that residents in nearby areas should not go to the Volcano Island for now.

OCTA: COVID-19 CASES DECLINING

MANILA — The average number of new COVID-19 cases continued to decline across the country over the past week, a member of OCTA Research said.

Citing data from the Department of Health (DOH), OCTA fellow Guido David yesterday said the Philippines recorded an average of 13,552 new cases per day from Sept. 29 to Oct. 5, down 23 percent from the average of 17,652 daily cases in the preceding week.

David said the last time the country had a similar seven-day average was from Aug. 14 to 20, when cases were surging due to the Delta variant.

He said the current reproduction number, which indicates the number of individuals a positive person can infect, continued to decrease to 0.77.

“At the current pace, the seven-day average of new cases could decrease to less than 10,000 per day by the next week,” said David.

The number of new COVID-19 cases dropped to less than 10,000 on Tuesday, with the DOH reporting 9,055 new cases.

Metro Manila still recorded the bulk of cases with 1,755, with Isabela logging the highest new cases among provinces with 725. It was followed by Benguet with 638, Cavite with 446 and Rizal with 299.

Also, data from the Philippine National Police (PNP) released yesterday showed the number of areas in the National Capital Region under granular lockdown went down by 21 percent.?The PNP said 192 areas in Metro Manila were under lockdown as of Oct. 5, lower by 21.35 percent compared to the previous day’s tally of 233.

ALL SET FOR START OF PEDIATRIC JABS

MANILA — With the necessary operation guidelines drafted, all is set for the inoculation of minors aged 12 to 17 against COVID-19, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said yesterday.

“We want the vaccination of the younger population immediately,” Galvez said. “The initial rollout will only involve a couple of thousand individuals under the age group. It will be phased, monitored and sequential.”

By phased, Galvez explained that the first to be inoculated are those aged 15 to 17, to be followed by those in the 12 to 14 age bracket.

There will be six pilot sites for the initial vaccination of minors – the Pasig City Children’s Hospital, Philippine General Hospital in Manila and the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, National Children’s Hospital, Philippine Heart Center and the Fe del Mundo Medical Center, all in Quezon City.

Galvez, the National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer, said they plan to expand the vaccine rollout for minors to select local government units (LGUs) in the National Capital Region (NCR), among them Taguig, Makati and Mandaluyong cities.

After 30 days of the rollout, the vaccination program will be opened to the rest of the NCR, including other regions that have inoculated at least 50 percent of their senior citizens or A2 group.

ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE

ARCI MUNOZ RECEIVES SPECIAL RECOGNITION FROM PHILIPPINE AIR FORCE

MANILA – Arci Munoz proudly showed off the special recognition bestowed upon her by the Philippine Air Force (PAF).

On Instagram, Munoz shared a photo of her plaque, which was given to her for her “invaluable services rendered through active participation in the different PAF relief operations.”

“THERE IS NO LIMIT TO WHAT WE, AS WOMEN, CAN ACCOMPLISH,” Munoz wrote in the caption.

“To the @philippine_air_force thank you so much for this recognition. Truly I am blessed and it is an honor to serve,” she added.

The PAF also recognized Munoz’s contributions during the conduct of its fund-raising activity dubbed “PAF Musicale,” as well as her efforts in advocating the PAF Reservists Program “that created positive impact in our society which immensely contributed on the overall mission accomplishment of the Philippine Air Force.”

Munoz enlisted as a reservist for the Philippine Air Force in June 2020.

SPORTS

SAN MIGUEL DEF. TNT, 98-96 (PBA) SEMIS GAME 2

San Miguel Beermen defeated TNT Tropang GIGA, 98-96 to tie their best-of-7 semifinal series at 1-1 in the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup on Wednesday at the Don Honorio Ventura State University (DHVSU) Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.

Marcio Lassiter drained the game-winning buzzer-beater putback (video below) to finished with 7 points (2/6 FG, 1/2 3PT, 2/2 FT) and 8 rebounds in 26 minutes of play. Terrence Romeo topscored for the Beermen with 26 points (10/22 FG, 3/7 3PT, 3/3 FT), 4 assists and 1 rebound while June Mar Fajardo finished with a double-double of 22 points (7/12 FG, 8/11 FT), 10 rebounds and 4 assists.

The Scores:

SAN MIGUEL 98 - Romeo 26, Fajardo 22, Cabagnot 14, Santos 11, Tautuaa 8, Perez 8, Lassiter 7, Ross 2, Pessumal 0.

TNT 96 - Pogoy 21, Erram 20, Rosario 14, M. Williams 12, Marcelo 9, Castro 8, Heruela 5, Montalbo 3, Reyes 2, Khobuntin 2, Exciminiano 0.

Quarters: 23-31, 46-53, 67-82, 98-96.

MAGNOLIA DEF. MERALCO, 92-78 (PBA) SEMIS GAME 2

Magnolia Pambansang Manok Hotshots uses strong fourth quarter to beat Meralco Bolts, 92-78 to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-7 semifinal series in the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup on Wednesday at the Don Honorio Ventura State University (DHVSU) Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.

Paul Lee topscored for the Hotshots with 28 points on 9-of-18 shooting including 5 three-pointers along with 3 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals in 34 minutes of play. Ian Sangalang finished the game with a double-double of 16 points (6/12 FG, 4/6 FT), 10 rebounds and 2 assists while Calvin Abueva had his own double-double of 11 points (4/14 FG, 0/4 3PT, 3/8 3PT), 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block.

The Scores:

MAGNOLIA 92 - Lee 28, Sangalang 16, Abueva 11, Dela Rosa 8, Reavis 6, Melton 6, Barroca 4, Corpuz 4, Jalalon 4, Dionisio 3, Pascual 2.

MERALCO 78 - Newsome 18, Pinto 12, Hugnatan 12, Quinto 7, Belo 7, Maliksi 7, Almazan 6, Caram 4, Hodge 3, Jose 2, Pasaol 0, Baclao 0.

Quarters: 13-13, 38-36, 64-58, 92-78.

INDICATORS

FOREX $1 = P 50.88

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Childhood - The period of human life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and the folly of youth -- two removes from the sin of manhood and three from the remorse of age. - Ambrose Bierce