MARCOS MEETS BELGIUM’S KING PHILIPPE, PUSHES STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday met King Philippe of Belgium at the Royal Palace in Brussels, as he said he looks forward to pursuing a strategic partnership with Belgium in various fields.

The President also said they are poised to sign a Philippines-Belgium Joint Plan of Action for 2023 to 2027 that could enhance their bilateral cooperation.

Marcos made this remark during his meeting with the Filipino community at the Event Lounge in Brussels ahead of his participation in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-European Union (EU) Commemorative Summit.

Mr. Marcos also met Brussels Airport Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Arnaud Feist at the sidelines of ASEAN-EU Union Commemorative Summit in Belgium.

According to the Office of the Press Secretary, the President and Feist discussed the possible opening of direct flights from Belgium to Manila to support the development of the economy and tourism of the Philippines, Western Europe, as well as countries in Southeast Asia.

In his speech, he told Filipinos in Brussels about his scheduled meeting with Belgium’s King Philippe and how they would discuss the recent commemoration of 76 years of bilateral relationships between the Philippines and Belgium.

He also thanked the Filipino community for playing a huge part in strengthening Philippine-Belgian ties.

Aside from King Philippe, Marcos is also set to hold 10 bilateral meetings with leaders from Belgium, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Finland, the Netherlands, and the European Union.

Meanwhile, Mr. Marcos ordered the creation of an advisory board with government agencies, international shipowners, and other stakeholders to address the concerns about the deployment of Filipino seafarers.

The President issued the directive during a meeting with international maritime employers and various shipowners in Brussels.

MARCOS JR TO ATTEND WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM IN DAVOS, SWITZERLAND NEXT YEAR

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr will be attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2023, Speaker Martin Romualdez said.

"Yes, I believe so. Yes. It looks like he’s confirmed it. So that will be exciting," Romualdez told Palace reporters in a press briefing in Brussels, Belgium.

Marcos Jr back in November said he was still considering WEF Founder Klaus Schwab's invitation for him to attend the Forum next year because he was already "traveling too much."

After his trip to Brussels, Belgium, Marcos Jr is expected to fly to China in early January for a state visit.

“So I am undecided yet. It’s traveling too much. That’s already the end of January. I’m going to China on the third. Parang…like my mom says, ‘Kailan ka nag-oopisina?’” he said.

ADB RAISES GROWTH FORECAST FOR PHILIPPINES BUT LOWERS OUTLOOK FOR DEVELOPING ASIA

MANILA - The Asian Development Bank on Wednesday said it has lowered the outlook for developing Asia due to lingering risks while the forecasts for the Philippines and Southeast Asia were raised due to the "surprisingly robust" performance of select countries.

For 2022, the growth forecast for the Philippines was revised upwards to 7.4 percent in December from the 6.5 percent projection in September, according to the updated Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2022.

"The 2022 growth forecast for the Philippines is revised up after domestic demand spurred Q3 growth above expectations," the Manila-based multilateral lender said.

“The Philippine economy has shown strong underlying growth momentum and resilience in 2022 and this is expected to continue in 2023, with GDP growth converging towards its longer-term growth rate of about 6 percent,” said ADB Philippines Country Director Kelly Bird.

The Philippines' 7.7 percent gross domestic product growth (GDP) in the first 3 quarters was driven by robust private consumption and investment as well as sustained public infrastructure spending. Employment, tourism, production, retail sales and public investments, which have shown improvements, will continue to support growth, it said.

Economic managers have said that the Philippines is poised to meet its growth target of between 6.5 to 7.5 percent for the year given the robust growth in the previous quarters.

For 2023, the outlook was lowered to 6 percent from 6.3 percent "to accommodate monetary tightening, a sharper growth slowdown in the advanced economies, and continuing uncertainty arising from the Russian invasion of Ukraine," the ADB said.

MIF GAINS 200 HOUSE BACKERS

Over 200 congressmen are supporting the bill seeking to create the Maharlika Investment Fund, two senior lawmakers said Tuesday, even as Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile urged President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to carefully review the bill creating the sovereign wealth fund.

Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo, one of the authors of the House Bill 6608, put the number of co-authors at 216, while Manila 5th District Rep. Irwin Tieng, chair of the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries Chair, estimated the pro-Maharlika solons at 200.

But Enrile warned the President before he left for Belgium on Sunday that he may eventually be blamed should the MIF be abused, and said he was unsure of the direction of the proposed sovereign wealth fund, and whether it would receive funding even after Mr. Marcos’ six-year term.

“I told the President, Mr. President, let’s study it carefully because [the law will] be written during your time. But maybe your successor would not understand your good aspirations and squander the fund, then you would be blamed because you signed the law,” Enrile said in Filipino.

The former Senate President said he is not against the proposed MIF but noted that he wanted to make sure that the creation of a sovereign wealth fund would not harm the President’s reputation.

Instead of creating the MIF, Enrile said it is “safer” to use funds from the P5.268-trillion proposed national budget for 2023.

“Why not take it from the general fund and let it be a responsibility of the government and tighten the responsibility of the directors?” he said.

Enrile said while he trusts Mr. Marcos’ current Cabinet members, he doubted if he could give the same trust for Cabinet members of the next administrations.

In the latest iteration of the proposed bill creating the MIF, its initial capitalization was cut by more than half to just P110 billion from P275 billion after the House dropped the Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the national budget from its mandatory fund sources.

The President of the Philippines was also replaced by the Secretary of Finance as head of the MIF Corporation’s governing board.

NUJP WELCOMES MOVE TO DECRIMINALIZE CYBERLIBEL

MANILA – A journalists’ group on Wednesday welcomed Senator Risa Hontiveros’ move to decriminalize libel in the country.

“Very welcome itong finile ni Senator Hontiveros na actually very overdue na nga yung pag-decriminalize ng libel. Decades na ‘tong kampanyang ‘to ‘no,” National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) President Jonathan de Santos said.

“At ano kasi siya, parang incompatible na ang libel or criminal libel sa mga, parang sa principles na pinanghahawakan natin bilang bansa na supposedly, democracy tayo. We have free speech pero meron tayong mga kasama sa, hindi lang sa industriya ‘no, mga kababayan nga natin na pwede silang makulong for, basically for their reporting, para sa kanilang freedom of expression ‘no so medyo harsh talaga siya,” he added.

Hontiveros filed the bill on the same day that journalist Frank Cimatu was convicted of cyberlibel over a 2017 Facebook post about former Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol.

De Santos himself lamented the judgment on his fellow journalist.

“Parang beyond yung possibility ng makukulong siya or may multa, kasama na rin, kailangan natin tingnan yung struggle nung trial mismo, yung epekto ng sa kanyan financially, epekto noon sa kanya siguro, emotional state niya.”

The journalist stressed that they are not asking for alleged misdeeds by journalists to go unpunished.

“Ang sinasabi lang natin hindi ka dapat makulong para sa isinulat mo o sinabi mo, pwede naman kasing, pwede mong ihabla sa korte na humingi ka ng danyos,” he noted.

“Hindi naman tinatanggal yun sa batas, ano lang kasi, unang-una napakahaba ng trial ‘no, at alam din naman natin yung conditions ng prisons natin, napaka-harsh niya na punishment over your exercise mo of your freedoms.”

DUTERTE 'CONCERNED' ON RETURN OF ILLEGAL DRUGS: BATO

MANILA -- Former President Rodrigo Duterte, whose administration waged a bloody war against illegal drugs, has expressed “concern” about the seeming return of drug traders in the country, said one of his loyal allies.

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa disclosed this in an interview Tuesday. He said Duterte aired his concerns in their recent meeting.

Dela Rosa said Duterte was saddened by the series of reports about police officers getting caught in illegal drug operations, and cops killed by suspected drug syndicates.

“Talagang nalungkot siya na meron na namang pangyayari. But he doesn’t want to interfere how this government is running its own show… concern lang siya na babalik uli yung ninja cops, mga narco politicians, kawawa yung mga bata,” Dela Rosa told reporters.

“Umalis si President Duterte sa Malacañang, tapos bumalik sila (illegal drug traders)… kaya nga I am encouraging the PNP, diinan pa ninyo ang imbestigasyon. Talagang lilinisin mo pati ang hanay natin. Continuing internal cleansing process tayo. Tuluy-tuloy tayo dapat ngayon,” he added.

Dela Rosa said authorities should ensure that they will consistently use their “iron hand” against those criminals.

Even the PNP leadership should be tough in disciplining their personnel he said.

Such concern, was his main motivation why he decided to deliver a speech Monday, Dela Rosa said.

During Monday’s Senate session, Dela Rosa called on the Marcos Jr. administration to continue the Duterte government’s campaign against illegal drugs.

And from how he sees it according to the senator, criminal groups connected to illegal drugs, including the so-called “ninja cops” are now inching their way to be back in action, the senator said.

FALSIFICATION OF DOCUMENTS, OTHER OFFENSES PUNISHABLE UNDER SIM REGISTRATION LAW: OFFICIAL

MANILA - Falsifying documents, selling registered SIM and other offenses are punishable by either fines or imprisonment under the newly enacted SIM registration law, an official said on Wednesday.

Falsifying documents and proving wrong information during the registration are subject to fines by not lower than P100,000 or imprisonment of 6 months to 2 years, Department of Information and Communications Technology Usec. for Public Affairs and Foreign Relations Anna Mae Lamentillo told Teleradyo.

"Penalized po yun by law, kung magsisinungaling po kayo (That's penalized by law, if you're lying), or if you’re going to provide false of fictitious information or magbibigay po kayo ng fictitious identities or fraudulent identification document, meron yan penalty (those have penalty)," she said.

Penalties will also be imposed on the following offenses:

• breach of confidentiality

• selling of registered SIMs

• negligence resulting in other offenses

• spoofing to make it appear the message was sent from a certain number

• stealing registered SIM

Lamentillo said the registration period would be done online, which would allow overseas Filipinos to register their roaming SIMs.

Meanwhile, SIMs of minors should be registered under the names of their parents, she said.

The following IDs with pictures are among those accepted during the SIM registration period:

• Passport

• National ID

• SSS ID

• GSIS ID

• Police clearance

• NBI clearance

• PRC

The National Telecommunications Commission on Monday released the implementing rules for the law that is mandating the registration of all SIMs within 180 days starting Dec. 27.

BIR FILES TAX EVASION RAPS VS 5 'ILLEGAL' VAPE TRADERS OVER 1.2B-WORTH OF TAX VIOLATIONS

MANILA — The Bureau of Internal Revenue on Tuesday filed tax evasion complaints before the Justice department against 5 vape traders who allegedly committed P1.2 billion worth of tax violations.

BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui, Jr. led the filing of tax evasion and unlawful possession of article subject to excise tax without payment of taxes raps against Wei Feng Bao, alias Sofi Chua of TAP FOG Philippines, Christina Poa of Rocket Bull Race Marketing, Sandoval Severino Briones of SBS Motorcycle Parts & Accessories, Jimy Go of TAP FOG Philippines and Bibiano Lesaca.

“This is the first one…Sisiguraduhin natin na lahat ng malalaking illegal traders at mga big time smugglers yan ang hahabulin natin at seryoso tayo sa kampanyang ito,” he said.

The complaints were a result of raids the BIR conducted in November, seizing unregistered vape products, which are used as substitutes for cigarettes.

He said they are still determining how long the vape traders have been operating.

Lumagui, who was previously BIR deputy commissioner before being named to the BIR’s top post in November, earlier said the government is losing P1.4 billion taxes annually from vape products brought in illegally.

He vowed the BIR under his watch will be “very aggressive and very active” in pursuing tax evaders.

"As I’ve said before we are very serious in our crackdown on this illegal vape traders as well as all other illegal traders na hindi nagbabayad ng karampatang buwis,” he said.

‘CRIME RING BEHIND RED ONION HOARDING’

A Department of Agriculture official claims a crime syndicate could be hoarding red onions, the price of which stayed high two weeks ahead of Christmas, with authorities checking cold storage facilities for hoarded supplies.

DA spokesperson Rex Estoperez said he received information that some onions were bought way below the cost of production during the harvest season and have not yet been released in public markets.

At the same time, Estoperez, in a Super Radyo dzBB interview, warned those selling smuggled onions online or in markets they might face charges.

Estoperez explained they did not issue a permit to import white onions, thus those found selling this agricultural product would have their permits automatically canceled.

He added during a public hearing: “The prices are not moving even though we are encouraging those hiding red onions to release them. In some markets, there is a slight price movement, but this is too small.

“They have a responsibility to our countrymen and our monitoring team… If anything happens to the consumers, do they pay for them? Even though you bought the onions for a cheap price, the hospital bills are more expensive.”

The DA said Monday the smuggled onions intercepted by authorities were not fit for consumption after they were found with traces of bacteria.

Estoperez said monitoring teams would also visit Nueva Ecija to check possible off-season harvests that could increase the red onion supply, which he said was enough until the end of the year except for the price issue.

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DOH ALLAYS FEAR OF COVID CASES UPTICK, SAYS ALL REGIONS STILL LOW RISK

There is no cause for alarm regarding the recent uptick of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines, the Department of Health told a media forum Tuesday.

DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said all regions remained under low-risk case classification while hospital admission rates continued to be manageable.

“We don’t need to panic. We don’t need to panic,” Vergeire told reporters.

“We already know that expected cases… might increase. But as long as our hospitals are manageable… nothing is too severe and critical, we don’t need to panic,” she said.

From December 5 to 11, the Philippines tallied 8,292 new COVID-19 cases, which is 7 percent higher compared to the previous week.

In the same period, the country recorded an average of 1,185 daily coronavirus infections.

In the briefing, Vergeire reiterated that an area’s positivity rate was not an accurate way to measure the virus spread.

Vergeire stressed that most people were now using antigen tests. The country’s confirmed COVID-19 cases are those that tested RT-PCR positive by a DOH-RITM certified laboratory.

As of December 12, the Philippines had 18,355 active COVID-19 cases, DOH figures show.

OFWS CITED FOR POSITIVE JOB REPUTATION

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday praised Filipino workers in Europe for their dedication, generosity, and kindness, all of which contribute to the positive reputation that their compatriots enjoy abroad.

His administration is also looking at adding more labor attaches to protect the rights of Filipino migrant workers, a Cabinet member traveling with the President said.

In a meeting with the Filipino community in Belgium, Mr. Marcos vowed to strengthen the country’s economic institutions and create more jobs, so Filipinos do not have to leave their families behind for greener pastures abroad.

“The Filipino community organizations here in Europe continue to maintain deep and growing friendships with people of different nations. Filipinos in this part of the world will continue to be highly regarded because of your jolly and high-spirited manner, hard work, your dedication,” the President said.

“You are being admired here by the locals, all your co-workers, friends, they always commend the Filipinos,” he added.

Mr. Marcos said his administration is on track to create more quality jobs by investing heavily in human capital development, infrastructure, and the digital economy.

ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE

ROBI DOMINGO SHARES CLIP OF FIANCEE MAIQUI PINEDA IN WEDDING GOWNS

MANILA – It looks like Robi Domingo could no longer contain his excitement to marry his fiancée, Maiqui Pineda.

On Instagram, the Kapamilya TV host posted a clip of Pineda wearing various gowns giving his followers an idea that Pineda might already be looking for her perfect dress for the wedding.

“Right place. Right time. Just right,” Domingo captioned his post.

Pineda, however, was quick to clarify in the comments section that the video was taken back in 2019.

“FYI this was shot in 2019 for a special feature. Wasn’t a bride back then but now it’s finally happening,” she said.

Domingo and Pineda got engaged in Japan early last month after being a couple for four years.

Last November 20, Domingo revealed that he and Pineda are already planning their wedding.

"It’s gonna be a short engagement,” he said.

“Lahat ng mga decisions, mapupunta sa kaniya. As much as I want to say it’s a joint celebration – it is actually, siyempre we are gonna be celebrating our love and marriage – pero right now, totoo pala 'yung sinasabi nilang 'happy wife, happy life',” he added.

Domingo has yet to announce when they are finally exchanging vows.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don't trust enough. - Frank Crane