MANILA – The Metro Manila Council (MMC) has asked the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to consider easing restrictions for those fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in the National Capital Region (NCR). In Resolution No. 21-19, series of 2021 released on Thursday, the MMC — composed of the 17 mayors in NCR and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) — said the suggestion will be subject to an “inter-agency and inter-disciplinary study” to determine the appropriate policies. “The MMC urges the IATF-EID to consider the easing of the Covid-19 guidelines for fully-vaccinated individuals in the

ANKARA – Goldman Sachs has lowered its forecast of the United States (US) economic growth for this year to 5.7 percent from 6.2 percent. This marked the second time in a month that the New York-based multinational investment bank and financial services company has cut its gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for the US after Aug. 18 when it steeply lowered the third-quarter estimate to 5.5 percent from 9 percent. Goldman Sachs said the downgrade reflects “a larger effect of the Delta variant on services spending,” adding: “Although we expect the Delta setback to be brief, two longer-standing concerns pose

MANILA – A changed economy is seen for the Philippines post-pandemic, and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno forecasts the economy to regain its previous vigor starting in the last quarter of 2022. “On the aggregate level, we will be back by around the fourth quarter of 2022 or the first quarter of 2023. On the aggregate level. But the structure, the composition of that economy will be different from the pre-Covid level,” he told journalists in a virtual briefing on Thursday. After five consecutive quarters of contraction, the domestic economy was able to expand in the second

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has tapped retired Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) chief Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. as the new deputy director-general of the National Security Council (NSC), Malacañang announced Thursday. Parlade’s appointment paper was signed on Wednesday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press statement. “The Palace confirms that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed the appointment of Mr. Antonio G. Parlade, Jr. yesterday, September 8, 2021, as Deputy Director-General of the National Security Council,” Roque said. Roque said the Palace wishes Parlade well in his new assignment and is confident that the former military official would have

_:MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) has clarified “the doctrine of strained relations” between employers and their workers in labor cases and when such may merit the payment of separation pay in lieu of reinstating an employee. In a resolution recently made available online, the court made the clarification in a case where it denied the petition filed by a plumber, Daniel Candelaria against his employer, air conditioning and industrial ventilation firm Kalayaan Engineering Co. Inc. (KECI). The SC’S Second Division upheld a Court of Appeals (CA) ruling, saying the latter did not err in directing Candelaria’s reinstatement to his

MANILA – Developers can now avail of seamless permitting and license processing of housing projects as fast as three to six months, Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Eduardo del Rosario said Thursday. Del Rosario said the DHSUD has partnered with the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) to streamline transactions related to urban housing and human settlements projects. “Kaya ngayon nagkaroon kami ng joint memorandum circular na ito pinangunahan ng ARTA, pinatawag iyong labing isang government agencies na magkaroon kami ng convergence sa aming ginawa para mapabilis natin ang proseso (That’s why we issued a joint memorandum circular