Category: Hot News

STATE AUDITORS flagged the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for failing to remit taxes withheld from employees, contractors and suppliers in the past two years worth P18.79 million.   In its 2022 audit report made available on June 8, 2023, the Commission on Audit (CoA) said the ERC failed to fully comply with Bureau of Internal Revenue […]

THE SOUTHWEST monsoon enhanced by typhoon Guchol, locally known as Chedeng, will bring “occasional to monsoon” rains over the western portions of Luzon and Visayas in the next few days, according to state weather bureau PAGASA.   “While the effect of Chedeng on the monsoon will decrease as it moves further away from the Philippine Area […]

TOWNS in Cotabato are seeing an increase in trade activities and business permit applications from barangays that are under the Bangsamoro as infrastructure and social support are rolled out by the provincial and autonomous region’s governments.    Cotabato Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza said new barangay halls and roads constructed using funds of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in […]

THE DAVAO Tourism Association (DATA) will forge stronger links with educational institutions to enhance the skills, knowledge and capacity of workers, seen as a key element for the industry’s growth, according to the group’s new head.   “Coming from a strong academe background and my experiences in the industry, I see it very important to collaborate […]

THE ECOWASTE Coalition has reiterated its warning to consumers to avoid purchasing toxic spray paints after it found two additional brands that have high lead content being sold online.     The group said in a statement over the weekend that it tested and found two imported spray paints with high levels of lead manufactured by China-based […]

INACTION on toll rate hike applications by the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) has served to erode confidence in the ability of companies participating in public-private partnerships (PPPs) to enforce the terms of their contracts, the Department of Finance (DoF) said on Sunday. It said toll hike applications by NLEX have not been acted on by […]

THE National Power Corp. (Napocor) said it expects the unit which provides power to off-grid areas to switch over completely to renewables by 2028.  Fernando Martin Y. Roxas, Napocor president, said on the sidelines of briefing that the company is seeking to make its Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) fully renewable by 2028. “By the […]

THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it had released P4.68 trillion of the 2023 national budget at the end of May. The release rate was 88.9%, slightly ahead of the year-earlier pace of 88.8%. The DBM said in its Status of Allotment Release report that P585.66 billion remains undistributed from the budget. At […]

A PLANNED free trade agreement (FTA) between the Philippines and South Korea could still be signed this year after the initial timetable was called into doubt, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).     “From what I see, feasible this year (in terms of the signing), so far, based on signals that I got […]

The global market and economy continually grapple with various disruptions and crises, and it has become imperative for chief information officers (CIOs) to maintain day-to-day operations with a reduced margin of error. It is incumbent on CEOs to balance technological investment with budget constraints while executives continually face the pressure of showing their clients and […]

WASHINGTON — US prosecutors unsealed a 37-count indictment against Donald Trump on Friday, accusing the former president of risking some of the country’s most sensitive security secrets after leaving the White House in 2021. Mr. Trump mishandled classified documents that included information about the secretive US nuclear program and potential domestic vulnerabilities in the event […]

BAHANAGA/NEW DELHI — An official probe into India’s rail crash is focusing on suspected manual bypassing of an automated signaling system that guides train movement — an action that investigators believe sent a packed express train into a stationary freight train, three Indian Railways sources told Reuters. The Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) investigators suspect […]

Ted Kaczynski, former math professor and “twisted genius” who came to be known as the Unabomber when he carried out a 17-year spree of mysterious bombings that killed three people and baffled the FBI, died on Saturday at the age of 81. Mr. Kaczynski, who made and sent many of his bombs while living in […]

KYIV — President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged on Saturday that his military was engaged in “counteroffensive and defensive operations” a day after Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin said Kyiv’s long-vaunted drive to retake territory was well under way. But the Ukrainian leader disclosed no details, telling reporters to pass on to Mr. Putin that his generals were […]

By Keisha B. Ta-asan, Reporter THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Thursday cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio effective June 30, while signaling that it would not touch the key rate. The central bank would cut the ratio for universal and commercial banks and nonbank financial institutions with quasi-banking functions by 250 basis points (bps) […]

BAD LOANS of Philippine banks rose in April, bringing their nonperforming loan ratio to the highest in seven months, the central bank said on Thursday. The banking industry’s gross bad loan ratio increased to 3.41% from 3.33% in March, though it was lower than 3.93% a year earlier, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas […]