GOV'T RENEWS MALAMPAYA EXTRACTION DEAL FOR THE LAST TIME

MANILA — The Marcos Jr. administration is keen on siphoning every last drop from the Malampaya gas field as the government renewed its production contract with private companies for the last time.

In a statement on Monday, the Department of Energy confirmed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the renewal agreement for the Malampaya service contact No. 38 (SC 38). This move extends the duration of the 25-year production deal for a final 15 years, or until February 22, 2039.

The service contract was renewed less than a year before it was set to expire.

The renewal of the extraction agreement came amid a looming power crisis in the country. The Luzon grid nearly blacked out in May as supply lines from power plants were tripped, as demand skyrocketed as a result of the dry season and El Nino.

As it is, the state allowed a Razon-led Prime Infrastructure Capital, Inc. unit to buy a 45% stake in SC 38 from Shell Petroleum N.V. in October 2022.

SC 38 comprises the Malampaya extraction project in northwestern Palawan. The Malampaya gas field was discovered in 1989, which the state began extracting from in 2001.

The SC 38 consortium houses the production stake of UC38 LLC holding (10%), and PNOC Exploration Corp. (45%).

The renewal agreement also required the SC 38 consortium to conduct geological and geophysical studies and drilling of at least two deepwater wells in the sub-phase 1 spanning 2024 until 2029.

The DOE noted that the drilling will be conducted “further away” from the Malampaya production area that is covered under the service contract. They indicated that this is a requirement for the consortium to retain access to the exploration areas and failure to comply would compel the state to relinquish access.

Likewise, the renewal requires the SC 38 consortium to submit a decommissioning plan and budget for wells and facilities within 30 days of the DOE’s approval of the agreement.

“The assessment encompassed legal, technical, and financial capabilities, and confirmed the Consortium’s capacity to sustain the production operations and meet its obligations under the Renewal Agreement,” Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said in a statement.

“The DoE recommended the renewal of the service contract, anchored on the commitment of the Consortium to actively explore and evaluate additional gas resources,” Lotilla added.

PH MARKS 5 WPS TERRITORIES

Five navigational buoys or sovereign markers have been successfully installed in “critical areas” of the West Philippine Sea, the Philippine Coast Guard said Sunday.

The buoys, installed near Patag Island, Balagtas Reef, Kota Island, Panata Island and Juan Felipe Reef carry the Philippine flag and signify the country’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the country’s exclusive economic zone, the PCG said.

The move also highlights the country’s unwavering resolve to protect its maritime borders and resources and contribute to the safety of maritime trade, the PCG added.

The PCG’s Task Force Kaligtasan sa Karagatan led by Vice Admiral Joseph Coyme led the placing of buoys.

Meanwhile, PCG said that they are currently monitoring several alleged Chinese militia ships anchored inside the country’s territory.

In an interview, Coyme said that there is no heightened tension between the country’s law enforcement agencies and Chinese vessels in the area.

“Our approach is diplomatic,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino. “We are not yet in the situation where tensions are heightened. With our ships there, we are normally conducting our law enforcement functions pertaining to maritime safety—and this is not provocative in nature.”

Also on Sunday, the PCG and Occidental Mindoro Rep. Leody Tarriela urged Congress to approve and pass the ‘PCG Modernization Act.”

“[The current maritime] challenges require the PCG to operate with the highest level of efficiency and effectiveness to safeguard the country’s maritime interests and territorial integrity. The current capabilities of the PCG, however, are insufficient to execute its mandates,” Tarriela said.

House Bill No. 8028 was filed by Tarriela on May 10 in recognition of the need to enhance the capability of the PCG to guarantee the efficient execution of its mandates.

“This bill, therefore, proposes a modernization program that aims to acquire state-of-the-art air and floating assets and implement interoperable communication systems to safeguard the country’s maritime interests,” the legislator said.

CANADIAN FM JOLY TO VISIT MANILA FOR BILATERAL COOPERATION, INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY

MANILA — Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly will be visiting Manila from May 18 to 21 as part of a trip to help advance bilateral cooperation and her country's Indo-Pacific Strategy, the Canadian government said.

In a release, Global Affairs Canada said Joly will be visiting Manila after also visiting South Korea for high-level meetings, including with President Yoon Suk Yeol.

In Manila, Joly will be meeting with Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and other members of the Cabinet on regional security and stability, Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy, and working with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"Minister Joly will also engage with government officials, academics, non-governmental organizations, and civil society leaders to gain insights into the challenges facing the Philippines and the region," Global Affairs Canada said.

"Building on the strong people to people ties between the two countries, she will seek ways to enhance cooperation under Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy to confront malign influence, combat climate change, protect maritime environments and build more resilient, inclusive and prosperous societies."

OPACC SAYS NEW 'COUNTRY BRAND' MEANT TO UPLIFT FILIPINOS ABROAD

MANILA — The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Creative Communications (OPACC) on Saturday explained that the Philippine government's new country brand, "We Give The World Our Best," was meant to showcase and promote the talents and skills of Filipinos working abroad.

In a statement, OPACC Secretary and filmmaker-producer Paul Soriano said the new "country branding campaign" aimed to "uplift the spirit of Filipinos doing well overseas."

Soriano issued the statement after the branding was "misconstrued" as the country's new tourism slogan. The Department of Tourism (DOT) had earlier clarified that its longtime slogan, "It's More Fun in the Philippines," would not be replaced.

However, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said her department would eventually come out with a tourism brand aligned with the OPACC's country brand.

“OPACC wants to clear the confusion and clarify that it was not meant, in any way, to promote the country’s tourist destinations,” Soriano said.

“Through this country branding campaign, we want to uplift the spirit of our Overseas Filipinos, and honor them particularly for their values that make Filipinos known to do their best at whatever chosen field, wherever they go and whatever it is they do,” he added, noting that Filipinos abroad "truly deserve this."

The new country brand was first seen in advertisements on double-deck buses in London, United Kingdom, in time for the coronation of King Charles III.

The ad featured Filipina-British nurse May Parsons, who administered the world's first COVID-19 vaccine.

Soriano explained that OPACC also released video commercials promoting the new country brand featuring other "successful Filipinos" overseas, including the stories of Charm, a Filipina caregiver in the UK, and DJ, a barista in Italy.

The filmmaker-producer also said the project was intended “to let the whole world know how good, compassionate and competent Filipinos are."

He added he was already in talks with other government agencies on launching their own versions of the new brand.

Since the brand's debut, it has received mixed reactions, with Senator Nancy Binay saying she was "bothered" by it.

"It seems that we are offering the world our nurses—which is a bit off kasi nauubusan na nga tayo rito ng mga health worker," she said on Thursday.

GOV’T ASSURES AID TO OFWS HIT BY KUWAIT VISA BAN

The government has assured assistance to the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) affected by the Kuwaiti government’s suspension of work visas, an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Saturday.

DFA Assistant Secretary Paul Cortes said the affected OFWs would be included in the National Reintegration Program of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), among other forms of assistance.

Reports said the government of Kuwait has suspended the issuance of new entry visas for Filipinos into the Gulf state.

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SENATE ASKED: PROBE SUCCESSIVE POWER TRANSMISSION DISTURBANCES

MANILA — Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian is calling for a Senate inquiry into the successive power transmission disturbances that cause hours-long blackouts in several parts of the country.

Gatchalian, vice-chairperson on the Senate energy panel, filed Senate Resolution 607, which noted that these power disturbances “caused inconvenience to communities and losses to businesses.”

“The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines as the operator of the transmission system in the country should be held to account for the root cause of these disturbances and be mandated to provide a comprehensive audit of the reliability of the transmission system,” Gatchalian said.

The NGCP last Monday raised red and yellow alerts over the Luzon grid after the Bolo-Masinloc 230kV Line 2 tripped, leading to the tripping of two units of the Masinloc Coal Power Plant.

This led to power interruptions across Luzon, affecting 300,000 customers served by Manila Electric Corporation in Paco and Sta. Mesa in Manila, Caloocan, Malabon, Batangas, Antipolo in Rizal, San Pedro and Biñan in Laguna, and San Rafael and Pulilan in Bulacan.

Meralco also reported power cuts on May 9 due to a temporary system imbalance caused by the sudden outage of the Duhat-Hermosa 290kV line.

Late April, the NGCP reported a system disturbance in the Visayas grid, which caused power interruptions lasting up to 12 hours in the islands of Panay, Guimaras and Negros, affecting over 1.5 million households.

RAGOS FACING PERJURY CASE FOR FALSE TESTIMONY—DOJ

Former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) deputy director Rafael M. Ragos may face prosecution for perjury for executing false testimonies, a Department of Justice official said Sunday.

Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento said that Ragos’ recantation of his earlier testimony against former senator Leila M. de Lima led to her acquittal in the case involving illegal drugs, but his retraction would pave the way for charging him with perjury case.

Court records showed that De Lima and her bodyguard Ronnie P. Dayanwere accused of receiving, on two occasions, a total of P10 million as proceeds from the illegal drugs trading at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City when the former was justice secretary.

Ragos had testified that he delivered the money in 2012 when he was officer-in-charge of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor). He later recanted his testimony against De Lima and Dayan.

The recantation paved the way for the acquittal of both De Lima and Dayan of the second criminal case filed against them.

The decision stated that “the testimony of witness Ragos is necessary to sustain any possible conviction,” said Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Abraham Joseph B. Alcantara.

“Ultimately, the retraction created doubt which warrants the acquittal of both accused,” the judge ruled.

Malcontento said that Ragos swore to the truthfulness of his testimony against De Lima and was even warned that he could be charged with perjury if this was found to be false.

On the filing of a perjury case against Ragos, Malcontento said:

“That’s a possibility, but we have to wait for directions of OSEC (Office of the Secretary).”

According to Prosecutor General, the decision to charge Ragos with perjury will come from Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla.

FDA WARNS VS UNREGISTERED CORNED BEEF

MANILA — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned against the purchase and consumption of unregistered imported food products being sold locally, a brand of corned beef in particular.

Mario’s corned beef is “not registered and has no corresponding certificate of product registration,” the FDA said in an advisory, noting that it made the verification “through online monitoring or post-marketing surveillance.”

The FDA said since the product “has not gone through the evaluation process, the agency cannot assure its quality and safety.”

Without proper authorization, the FDA stressed that the sale, distribution, use and promotion of the product is prohibited.

The FDA asked the Bureau of Customs to restrain the entry of unregistered imported products.

ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE

ACTION IS THE MOST POPULAR MOVIE, SERIES GENRE IN THE PHILIPPINES — STUDY

MANILA — Bring on the non-stop action! A recent study found that action is the most popular movie and series genre on streaming services among viewers in the Philippines.

Cloud service information provider Cloudwards conducted a data study to find the most popular content genre in different countries by gathering data from seven popular streaming services: Netflix, HBO Max/Go, Amazon Prime Video, Disney, Google, iTunes and Hulu.

Amazon only had data available for the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Germany markets, while Hulu is not yet available in the Philippines.

Cloudwards referred to data on the website FlixPatrol and narrowed the selection to 18 genres.

The results showed that the most popular movie and series genre in the Philippines is action, followed closely by comedy.

Other countries that saw action as its most popular genre include Japan, India, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia Greece, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Cloudwards noted that action being popular in India is a reflection of the country’s rich history of martial arts and adventure.

Action tied with animation, which dominated the Caribbean and South America, was the second most popular as they both topped 23 countries. Drama, meanwhile, reigned supreme in 28 countries, including the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, Argentina, Russia, Portugal and South Africa.

Crime stories are more popular in South Korea and Morocco. Viewers in Singapore and Spain count science fiction as their most popular genre. Westerns, fantasy and horror topped viewers' preferences in Canada, Israel and Uruguay.

Romance, thrillers and documentaries did not appear to top any country and were deemed the least popular genres, along with war. Cloudwards also noted that crime, fantasy, horror and Westerns were not very popular streaming genres.

PAULINE AMELINCKX CROWNED MISS SUPRANATIONAL PH 2023

MANILA — Bohol's Pauline Amelinckx is finally competing in an international pageant this year after being crowned Miss Supranational Philippines 2023 early Sunday.

Amelinckx was awarded the title, along with Baguio's Krishnah Gravidez as Miss Charm Philippines 2023, at a ceremony at Okada Manila around 2 a.m. after the Miss Universe Philippines pageant.

Both Amelinckx and Gravidez competed in the local Miss Universe pageant, where Makati's Michelle Dee was crowned winner.

Empire.PH, the local franchise holder of the Miss Supranational and Miss Charm pageants, conferred the Philippine crowns on Dee's fellow queens.

Dee, Amelinckx, and Gravidez emerged as the top three candidates in the Miss Universe Philippines pageant night, which gathered 38 candidates in total at a packed Mall of Asia Arena.

Christine Opiaza of Zambales placed 1st runner-up, while Angelique Manto of Pampanga finished 2nd runner-up.

The Miss Supranational 2023 pageant will be held on July 14 in Poland while the 2nd edition of Miss Charm has yet to be announced. Dee will represent the Philippines in the next Miss Universe edition in El Salvador. — Report from Dyan Castillejo, ABS-CBN News

SPORTS

SEA GAMES 2023 PHILIPPINES MEDALISTS MAY 11

NO.      MEDAL NAME              SPORT                                     EVENT                                     DATE

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GOLD

38         Gold    Elreen Ando      Weightlifting pictogram.svg Weightlifting            Women's 59 kg 14-May

39         Gold    Rena Furukawa Judo pictogram.svg Judo           Women's 57 kg    14-May

40         Gold    Carlo Paalam    Boxing pictogram.svg Boxing     Men's 54 kg         14-May

41         Gold    Paul Bascon      Boxing pictogram.svg Boxing     Men's 60 kg         14-May

42         Gold    Angelo Kyle "Pheww" Arcangel  Electronic sports pictogram.svg E-sports  Mobile Legends: Bang Bang – men's team         14-May

                        David "FlapTzy" Canon

                        Nowee "Ryota" Macasa

                        Marco "Super Marco" Requitano

                        Kyle "KyleTzy" Sayson

                        Rowgien "Owgwen" Unigo

43         Gold    Jason Balabal   Wrestling pictogram.svg Wrestling            Men's greco roman 82 kg           14-May

44         Gold    Charlotte Tolentino        Arnis pictogram.svg Arnis            Women's live contact passed stick bantamweight            14-May

45         Gold    Jedah Soriano   Arnis pictogram.svg Arnis          Women's live contact passed stick lightweight        14-May

46         Gold    Nesthy Petecio  Boxing pictogram.svg Boxing     Women's 57 kg    14-May

SILVER           

66         Silver   Rosalinda Faustino        Weightlifting pictogram.svg Weightlifting        Women's 55 kg 14-May

67         Silver   Nicole Cortey    Fencing pictogram.svg Fencing  Women's sabre team       14-May

                        Queen Dalmacio

                        Jylyn Nicanor

                        Andrea Sayson

68         Silver   Norlan Petecio  Boxing pictogram.svg Boxing     Men's 67 kg         14-May

69         Silver   Shugen Nakano Judo pictogram.svg Judo           Men's -66 kg         14-May

70         Silver   John Marvin      Boxing pictogram.svg Boxing     Men's 80 kg         14-May

71         Silver   Michael Cater    Wrestling pictogram.svg Wrestling            Men's greco roman 55 kg           14-May

72         Silver   Noel Norada     Wrestling pictogram.svg Wrestling            Men's greco roman 62 kg           14-May

73         Silver   Jason Baucas   Wrestling pictogram.svg Wrestling            Men's greco roman 72 kg           14-May

BRONZE

79         Bronze Richard Gonzales          Table tennis pictogram.svg Table tennis   Men's doubles   14-May

                        John Russel Misal

80         Bronze Charmaine Dolar           Gymnastics (artistic) pictogram.svg Gymnastics         Mixed aerobic pair         14-May

                        Carl Joshua Tangonan

81         Bronze Miguel Bautista Fencing pictogram.svg Fencing  Men's team epee        14-May

                        Rex dela Cruz

                        Lee Ergina

                        Noelito Jose

82         Bronze Daryl Mercado  Judo pictogram.svg Judo           Men's -55 kg         14-May

83         Bronze Chlovelle Van Adolfo     Wrestling pictogram.svg Wrestling            Women's greco roman 67 kg      14-May

84         Bronze Noah Gonzales Arnis pictogram.svg Arnis          Men's full contact padded stick lightweight 14-May

85         Bronze Ezekyl Habig     Arnis pictogram.svg Arnis          Men's full contact padded stick bantamweight        14-May

86         Bronze Jason Huerte    Sepaktakraw pictogram.svg Sepak takraw            Men's doubles   14-May

                        Elly Jan Nituda

                        Rheyjey Ortuoste

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Nothing is as real as a dream. The world can change around you, but your dream will not. Responsibilities need not erase it. Duties need not obscure it. Because the dream is within you, no one can take it away. – Tom Clancy