Good day. Here are the top stories of The Manila Times for Monday, Sept. 30, 2024.
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READ: PNP chief reopens Barayuga slay case
PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rommel Marbil on Sunday ordered the reopening of the case involving the killing of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board secretary Wesley Barayuga in 2020. Marbil said he was prompted to reopen the Barayuga case following testimonies during a House quad committee hearing last Friday that implicated ranking police officials in the killing. Police Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza testified that he was instructed by National Police Commission (Napolcom) Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo and former PCSO general manager Royina Garma to take down Barayuga, who was also a retired police general. Mendoza said Garma, who was also a former police official, provided him with information on Barayuga, whom she linked to illegal drug activities. Mendoza, who is presently assigned at the PNP Drug Enforcement Group Headquarters in Camp Crame, said he was offered P300,000 for killing Barayuga. Mendoza said Garma’s order to kill Barayuga was relayed to him through Leonardo. He said Leonardo contacted him for a “special operation” against Barayuga. Garma, who was at the hearing, denied Mendoza’s claim. Marbil said the information that surfaced during the quad hearing highlighted the need for a more thorough investigation of Barayuga’s death.
READ: Chinese navy shadows PH, allies during sea drill
CHINESE navy vessels monitored the joint maritime exercise of the Philippines with its allies Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United States in the West Philippine Sea, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Sunday. AFP spokesman Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said the military monitored People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels in the vicinity of the exercise on Saturday.
Padilla said the multilateral maritime cooperative activity or MMCA “proceeded as planned without any interference, and the safety of participating countries’ vessels was ensured by the protocols in place.”It was the fourth MMCA in the West Philippine Sea. The first, carried out by the US, Japan, Australia and the Philippines, was held within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in April. The Royal Canadian Navy joined the second in June and the third in August. Padilla said the AFP views the MMCA as a “pivotal demonstration of international cooperation, strengthening partnerships and enhancing the capabilities of allied nations.” The exercise is vital to the country’s Maritime Security Operations, particularly in strengthening Philippine presence in the West Philippine Sea, Padilla said.
READ: No extension as voter registration ends today
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) expects a last-minute surge in voter registration today, September 30, the deadline for filing an application to be able to vote in the 2025 elections. Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia reiterated that the registration period would not be extended so as not to jeopardize ongoing preparations for the May 12 polls. The system of continuing registration started on February 12. Today is also the last day for overseas voting registration. He said the Comelec had to finalize the voters list, the project of the precinct and the list of voters who will be transferred to other precincts. Garcia said that historically, a surge always happens on the last registration day period because of the Filipinos’ “last-day syndrome.” Comelec records show that as of September 19, 6,442,112 have applied for registration. More than 3 million were new voters, including more or less 100,000 reactivated voters. Garcia said that while the Comelec had already reached its goal of enlisting 3 million new voters, a huge chunk of the 5.3 million deactivated voters had yet to reactivate their status. Voters are placed on the deactivated list if they fail to vote in two successive elections. A voter is also removed from the list because of a court decision, among other reasons. Garcia said there were 66 million registered voters, although the Comelec projects 70 million to 71 million voters in 2025.
READ: SpaceX launches mission to return stranded astronauts
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A SpaceX rocket soared into the sky Saturday with two passengers on board, leaving two seats empty to return American astronauts who have been stranded for months on the International Space Station, NASA said. The Falcon 9 rocket took off at 1:17 p.m. (1717 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It used a new launch pad, the pad’s first use for a crewed mission. On board were NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. When they return from the space station in February, they will bring back two space veterans — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — whose stay on the ISS was prolonged for months by problems with their Boeing-designed Starliner spacecraft. The newly developed Starliner was making its first crewed flight when it delivered Wilmore and Williams to the ISS in June. They were supposed to be there for only an eight-day stay, but after problems with the Starliner’s propulsion system emerged during the flight there, NASA was forced to weigh a radical change in plans.After weeks of intensive tests on the Starliner’s reliability, the space agency finally decided to return it to Earth without its crew and to bring the two stranded astronauts back home on the SpaceX mission Crew-9.SpaceX, the private company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, has been flying regular missions every six months to allow the rotation of ISS crews. But the launch of Crew-9 was delayed from mid-August to late September to give NASA experts more time to evaluate the reliability of the Starliner and decide how to proceed. It was then delayed a few more days by the destructive passage of Hurricane Helene, a powerful storm that roared into the opposite coast of Florida on Thursday. SpaceX’s Dragon vessel is set to dock with the ISS on Sunday around 2130 GMT.
In Business
READ: Inflation seen slowing to 2.6% in September
LOWER fuel and food prices coupled with favorable base effects will likely pull inflation down in September, analysts said, raising the possibility of more interest rate cuts by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The median forecast in The Manila Times poll of economists was 2.6 percent, near the bottom of the central bank’s 2.0- to 4.0-percent target and down from the August result of 3.3 percent. All but one of the economists expect consumer price growth to slow in September. The BSP will release its estimate for the month today while official inflation data will be issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority this Friday.
Topping Sports
READ: Ginebra, SMB eye semis berths
TOURNAMENT favorites Barangay Ginebra and San Miguel Beer will go for a sweep of their respective series as Game 3 of the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup moves back to the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Monday. The Gin Kings jumped to a 2-0 lead, thanks to Justin Brownlee’s game-winning three-point shot. The PBA’s most popular squad will go for no less than a sweep of its series when it faces Meralco at 5 p.m. Similarly, San Miguel will be gunning for its own series sweep against Converge when both squads collide at 7:30 p.m.
READ: US regains lead at Presidents Cup
MONTREAL — Patrick Cantlay made a dramatic birdie putt at 18 from just inside 17 feet in near-darkness to give the United States a 11-7 lead over the Internationals after Saturday’s (Sunday in Manila) matches at the Presidents Cup. Cantlay delivered a 1-up foursomes victory with second-ranked Xander Schauffele over South Koreans Tom Kim and Kim Si-woo, the latter missing a tying putt at 18 after a tough fight at Royal Montreal.Cantlay hoped his emotional putt could inspire the Americans to a 10th consecutive victory. They need only 4.5 points from 12 Sunday singles matches to win the Cup again.
READ: Opinion
The Times, in today’s editorial, says Alliance-building reinforces PH shield of deterrence. Read the full version on print or digital or listen to the Voice of the Times. Featured columnists on the front page are Rigoberto Tiglao, Fr. Ranhilio Aquino and Francisco Tatad. Tiglao asks whether Vice President Sara Duterte pushed up the ratings of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.; Aquino on Humanae Vitae still a good teaching after more than five decades; while Tatad questions whether the Philippines missed the boat at the United Nations.
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