MARCOS SAYS ECONOMY IS 'MOST IMPORTANT AREA' IN FIRST CABINET MEETING

MANILA - President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday presided over his first Cabinet meeting, where economic managers are expected to give a briefing about the Philippines' economic outlook and situation.

"The most important area that we will have to deal with will have to be the economy," Marcos told his Cabinet.

Marcos will start his administration faced with a looming food crisis and rising fuel prices, even as the economy is showing signs of recovery from the impact of the pandemic.

Inflation further quickened in June to 6.1 percent as food prices, transport costs continued to rise.

The live stream of the Cabinet meeting was halted after the first 5 minutes, before the economic team could begin its briefing.

Marcos - who also heads the Department of Agriculture - earlier said that ensuring access to sufficient and affordable food in the next 2 quarters would be given "preferential treatment" under his administration.

INFLATION QUICKENS AGAIN TO 6.1 PERCENT IN JUNE; PSA SAYS MORE PRICE HIKES LIKELY

MANILA - Inflation further quickened to 6.1 percent in June as food, fuel and transport prices continued to rise, the state statistics bureau said on Tuesday.

“The uptrend of inflation for June 2022 was primarily brought about by the higher annual growth rate in the index for food and non-alcoholic beverages at 6.0 percent, from 4.9 percent in the previous month,” the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Transport costs meanwhile grew by 17.1 percent annually, from 14.6 percent in May, the PSA noted.

The inflation rate in June was again above the 2 to 4 percent target range of government economic managers, and higher than the 5.4 percent level seen in May and the 4.9 percent rate seen in April.

But it was within the 5.7 to 6.5 percent forecast of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

National Statistician Dennis Mapa said food prices, particularly meat, fish and vegetables had double-digit annual increases in prices.

He added that they expect inflation to continue rising based on the data they gathered so far.

“Kung titingnan natin yung datos, ang slope trajectory natin sa presyo, yung overall inflation mula February, ito ay steep, at sa tingin namin di pa natin naaabot yung peak,” Mapa said.

“Nakikita pa rin namin na initial, particularly dito sa food products, na patuloy yung pagtaas,” he added.

The BSP has already raised its benchmark rate by 50 basis points to 2.5 percent this year to help tame inflation.

However, the central bank has also said that inflation is not likely to settle within the country’s target range until 2024.

MARCOS HOUSE ALLIES LOOK FORWARD TO HIS 1ST SONA

MANILA — Allies of President Marcos at the House of Representatives are hoping that he will reveal his plans to boost farm yield and renew the country’s aging infrastructure when he delivers his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 25.

“We in Congress want the President to succeed in his plans for the country. We are ready to help fulfill his legislative agenda. We are all definitely looking forward to his July 25 address,” Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said.

“Offhand, the President’s determination to give the highest priority to increasing farm output, along with building up our infrastructure, should keep the economy on track to achieving full recovery from the pandemic,” Pimentel added.

Other administration legislators have lauded Marcos for his sincerity in solving decades-long problems in the bureaucracy, as he repeatedly called for unity among Filipinos long engaged in political animosity.

“It is time to rally behind our new President – PBBM. If we want to help our country and ourselves recover from the post-pandemic economic problems, we must back up our new leader. His success is everyone’s success,” Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero said.

Romero’s fellow Deputy Speakers Arnolfo Teves and Bernadette Herrera also welcomed the new Chief Executive, so did Representatives Paolo Duterte of Davao City and neophyte Salvador Pleyto of Bulacan’s Sixth District.

“It was a speech that came from the bottom of his heart. You can feel his sincerity, and his ardent desire to unify the country’s much-polarized political landscape. There was no hatred in his heart even if the bashers continued on,” Teves of Negros Oriental said.

“We look forward to working with President Marcos and his administration, and the 19th Congress. As with every administration, there will be areas where we can agree and work closely together,” said Herrera, who represents Bagong Henerasyon.

“Our hats off to PBBM. We wish him all the best in his administration, and we are just here to support him all the way,” said Duterte, son of former president Rodrigo Duterte and brother of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Pleyto said he sees Marcos’ visionary late father in him.

PALACE: MARCOS UPBEAT, ENCOURAGING AS A LEADER

MANILA — In his first few days in office, President Marcos is a picture of an “upbeat” and “encouraging” leader who is “well received” as he goes about his official functions, his spokesman said yesterday.

“So far he is upbeat, that’s the observation that we have made. He is very encouraging. He attended today’s flag ceremony, of course, as required… what I can say is that he’s always well-received,” Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said at her first press briefing at Malacañang.

“So when he attended the flag raising, it’s also quite exciting for the people who are working with him. So far that’s what we can observe,” she said.

In his message during his first flag-raising ceremony as President, Marcos told Malacañang personnel not to worry about the changes in leadership style as he considers them “partners.”

“There will be changes but don’t worry. We are always – we consider you not as employees. You are our partners. We cannot do these without you,” the President said in mixed Filipino and English.

“And I’m very happy to see you all. You appear ready to go, very enthusiastic for this next administration. We need that. Keep it going. Keep up the good work that you have been doing for the years previous,” he said.

Angeles, meanwhile, declined to give details when asked about the President’s official residence.

“For security reasons, we cannot really divulge that yet. We’ll wait for the final announcement, we will wait for then,” she said.

In an interview with CNN Philippines last week, Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez, a relative of Marcos, said the first family will stay at the Bahay Pangarap (House of Dreams).

COA TELLS LRTA TO BLACKLIST CONTRACTORS OF DELAYED PROJECTS, REPAIRS

MANILA - The Commission on Audit (COA) has recommended to the Light Rail Transit Authority to blacklist contractors that have failed to complete projects within their target dates.

In the 2021 annual audit report on the LRTA, government auditors noted that 59% or 13 out of 22 Line 2 rehabilitation projects with a total cost of P984.563 million were delayed from their target completion.

The delays range from 77 to 1,065 days, in violation of the Government Procurement Act.

The audit report noted that the LRTA management agreed to the recommendation by the auditors to impose liquidated damages on contractors that have failed to satisfactorily complete the project within the target date of completion.

"Also, consider blacklisting of the contractors involved, and initiate the immediate take-over process of terminated projects, if necessary," the auditors said in the report.

The commission issued a memorandum to the LRTA management on April 12, 2021 to obtain information such as the amount of imposed liquidated damages, value of unperformed portion of the contract and the status of contract period extension but no reply was received.

The project with the highest contract cost amounting P436.736 million was for the improvement of Line 2 stations and facilities, delayed for 77 days as of December 31, 2021.

Other delayed projects were the replacement of 45 escalator units at mainline stations worth P187.2 million, rehabilitation of fire detection and alarm system and repair of unbonded concrete plinths.

Inquiry made by the auditors with the LRTA revealed that only two of the projects were already completed while three were terminated: replacement of 4 escalator units, construction of train lift system and repair of the unbonded concrete plinths.

"Lastly, the non-implementation and non-completion of the projects on their target date of completion consequently delayed the benefits that could be derived therefrom by the public," the auditors said.

A copy of the report, uploaded to the COA website was received by the office of LRTA Administrator Jeremy Regino on June 30, 2022.

JINGGOY TAPS ENRILE, CARLOS AS ADVISERS FOR DEFENSE PANEL

MANILA - Senator Jinggoy Estrada said Tuesday he would head the chamber's committees on national defense and labor.

Estrada, son of former president Joseph Estrada, said he has many potential advisers for heading the Senate Committee on National Defense, including Defense Secretary Clarita Carlos and former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.

"During the inauguration of President (Bongbong) Marcos, I bumped into Professor Clarita Carlos and then I asked for help if she can brief me with regards to national defense and she responded right away, 'Of course that is my forte and I will help you,'" Estrada told ANC's Headstart.

"I also called former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile who as we alll know is really well-experienced in national defense. At sabi naman niya of course tutulungan kita. Marami na ho tayong potential advisers tungkol sa national defense."

Estrada also said he would head the Senate Labor Committee and has filed 10 related bills, adding that he would like to "overhaul the Labor Code of the Philippines."

"Itong lahat ng bills na ito ay pwedeng mag generate ng trabaho para sa ating workers," he said. "I have 6 years to overhaul this Labor Code of the Philippines."

Asked about the difference between his 2019 campaign versus this year's, where he placed 15th and 12th, respectively, Estrada said he was "focused" in the recent elections.

Estrada ran against his half-brother JV Ejercito both times. Both candidates succeeded in securing a Senate seat in the 2022 elections.

MARCOS SON PLAYS IT SAFE ON CHA-CHA QUESTION

MANILA — The neophyte lawmaker-son of President Marcos apparently knows how to skirt controversy on his first few days in office as congressman: play it safe on the issue of Charter change, where term extensions are usually sought.

“Like I said, we have to study that thoroughly first. I don’t want to talk about it now. I just filed my first 10 bills,” Sandro Marcos, who represents the first district of their home province Ilocos Norte, told House reporters yesterday in a chance interview.

“I think there are much better legal luminaries here who are well-entrenched and much better asked and suited for that question,” he explained, adding he has been advised by his elders just to keep a low profile in the chamber.

In the past 18th Congress (July 2019 to June 2022), Marcos served as consultant to the office of his paternal uncle, House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, who is the incoming Speaker of the House come July 25, when the 19th Congress convenes and starts session.

“Their advice to me were: keep your head down and shut up the first few months. Just listen because there are many very good legislators here. Just make sure that you are absorbing everything and learning as much as you can,” Sandro quoted his mentors as saying.

Actor Richard Gomez, also a neophyte congressman but a veteran local chief executive having been mayor of Ormoc City for nine years, was more vocal in his stand, categorically stating the 1987 Constitution really needs to be fine-tuned at this time.

“If you ask me personally, I think it’s about time that we revise the Constitution. It’s been there when we were still young. It’s just like an old car, we have to replace the spare parts from time to time,” the incoming Leyte representative explained.

DOLE EYES WIN-WIN SOLUTION TO SAUDI DEPLOYMENT BAN

MANILA — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will look into a possible win-win solution to the existing ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Saudi Arabia.

“We know why there’s a deployment ban, but at the same time there are those directly affected by the situation. So there should be an arrangement or solution where the previous demands like the payment of overdue wages and benefits are upheld while recognizing the rights and opportunities of our workers seeking employment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said in Filipino during a press briefing on Friday.

Laguesma said he hopes the solution to the Saudi ban will later serve as a template for addressing similar issues with other destination countries.

Since the Department of Migrant Workers is yet to be fully constituted, Laguesma said that he still has the mandate to address the consequences of the deployment ban as DOLE chief.

SECOND IMELDA MARCOS BILLBOARD CALLED OUT

MANILA — A second billboard that contains the same image of former first lady Imelda Marcos caught the attention of "The Kingmaker" director Lauren Greenfield on July 3.

The American filmmaker called out the advertiser of the giant birthday billboard for Marcos on her 93rd birthday on July 2.

"Getting reports of a second copyright infringement in Manila that occurred yesterday as well. Same company involved dooh.ph," Greenfield tweeted.

She followed it up with an explanation on the copyright laws in the Philippines.

"Copyright infringement laws in the Philippines are very serious, not to mention the impact that this could have on media companies wanting to use a billboard service that engages in such violations of other people's IP…" the director added.

The second billboard was put up on  a foot bridge. It featured the same image of Marcos in red Terno and the same birthday message with grammatical error.

Digital-Out-of-Home (DOOH) Philippines released its statement of apology hours after Greenfield's first tweet.

"First, we would like to sincerely apologize for using your 'Kingmaker' image for our billboards," the statement read.

It added: "We must confess that we were unaware of your copyright, and we appreciate that you brought the matter to our attention. Please be informed that as soon as we were made aware of the issue, we immediately took the greeting down. We take full responsibility for the mistake, and we are truly sorry."

DOOH added that it is willing to "make it right" and has extended its services to Greenfield if she needs it in the future.

DOOH has yet to release a new statement on Greenfield's latest tweet.

The image was used in the official poster of Greenfield's award-winning 2019 documentary "The Kingmaker."

THE REST

========

PHILIPPINES' COVID CASES UP 60%; SEVERE, CRITICAL CASES DECLINE

MANILA - The Philippines' new COVID-19 cases in the previous week rose 60 percent while the number of severe and critical patients declined, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

From June 27 to July 3, the country recorded 7,398 new COVID-19 cases or an average of 1,057 per day, the DOH said in its latest case bulletin.

This is the highest number of cases logged in a single week in 17 weeks, or since the week of February 27 to March 5, 2022 when 9,411 cases were reported, according to the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group.

Of the additional infections during the week, 19 were severe and critical. This is higher by 36 percent or by 5 cases compared to the 14 severe and critical cases logged from June 20 to June 26, the research group said.

Some 497 or 8.4 percent of COVID-19 patients in hospitals were in severe and critical condition, according to the DOH.

The figure is lower than the previous week's 591 severe and critical patients who comprised 10.7 percent of COVID-19 hospital admissions at the time.

DIESEL PRICE DROPS P3 PER LITER

MANILA — Oil firms are lowering diesel prices today, snapping five consecutive weeks of increase, while rising gasoline costs also take a breather following four straight weeks of hikes.

Oil companies in separate advisories yesterday said they will reduce diesel prices by P3 per liter and kerosene by P3.40.

Meanwhile, there will be no adjustments in gasoline prices this week.

The price rollbacks for diesel and kerosene will take effect at 6 a.m. today for most oil firms, except for Caltex and Cleanfuel which will implement the adjustments at 12:01 a.m. and 8:01 a.m., respectively.

The Department of Energy (DOE)-Oil Industry Management Bureau earlier attributed this week’s price reduction to the China lockdown as well as the effect of various interest hikes all over the world.

Oil firms last week implemented a price increase of P0.50 per liter for gasoline, P1.65 per liter for diesel and P0.10 per liter for kerosene.

Latest data from the DOE showed that as of June 28, year-to-date adjustments stood at a net increase of P30 per liter for gasoline, P45.90 per liter for diesel and P39.75 per liter for kerosene.

NGCP PLACES LUZON POWER GRID UNDER ‘YELLOW ALERT’ AS SEVERAL PLANTS ON FORCED OUTAGE

MANILA - The country’s power grid operator has placed the Luzon grid on yellow alert, meaning possible power outages in some areas, as power reserves became thin on Tuesday.

The National Grid Corp of the Philippines (NGCP) said the yellow alert was in effect from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The NGCP said four power plants, with a combined capacity of 1,274 megawatts, were on forced outage on Tuesday.

Another plant, meanwhile, was “derated” by 165 megawatts.

Because of these developments, the Luzon grid had total unplanned unavailable energy of 1,439 megawatts, with a net operating margin of only 236 megawatts.

ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE

STAR MAGIC PRODUCES FIRST MOVIE 'CONNECTED'

MANILA -- ABS-CBN's talent arm Star Magic is venturing into film production with Star Magic Studios, which has released the full trailer and the official poster for its debut film "Connected."

The first movie produced by Star Magic Studios features former "Pinoy Big Brother" housemates Amanda Zamora, Chico Alicaya, Gail Banawis, Ralph Malibunas, Kobie Brown and Andi Abaya. "PBB" host Richard Juan is also part of the film.

The romantic-comedy is directed by Theodore Boborol and will be showing on July 22 on KTX, iWantTFC, TFC IPTV Video on Demand and Sky Cable pay-per-view.

The feel-good movie on youth-romance is part of Star Magic's 30th anniversary celebration.

INDICATORS

FOREX $1 = P 55.08

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. - Albert Camus