Police officers have arrested two alleged big-time drug suspects and seized over PHP1 million worth of illegal drugs in separate operations here, an official announced Tuesday. Col. Rexmel Reyes, Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO) chief, identified the suspects as Daniel Umdah Rajal with aliases “Joedel” and “Papart”, 24, and, Ajid Oron Abdulah, 27. Reyes said Rajal was arrested in an operation around 10 a.m. Monday on Veterans Avenue, Barangay Camino Nuevo. Seized from Rajal were some 100 grams of shabu worth PHP680,000, a bundle of PHP240,000 boodle money topped with a genuine PHP1,000 bill as marked money, a mobile phone,
A group of charitable foundations has turned over the first tranche of salary and bonus assistance to nurses who are serving in the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19)-dedicated hospitals in Cebu. A statement from the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) on Tuesday said the Project Balik Buhay’s “Salary and Bonus Assistance for our Bidas (PBB-SalBaBida)” program released on Monday the first monthly allowance of PHP15,000 to each of the nurses. The program was launched last July to encourage nurses to continue serving the front-line facilities. They were deployed to private hospitals in August at the height of
An economist has discounted a real estate bubble despite the increase in building permits issuance while the residential real estate price index (RREPI) declined. Citing Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data, ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Mapa cited the pick-up in construction activities in the second quarter of 2021 compared to last year. “This reflects pent up permits as construction activity was finally allowed to resume in some parts and on a staggered and limited basis,” he said in a report Tuesday, noting the impact of the movement restrictions by the government to address the rise of coronavirus disease 2019
As the government shifts to community quarantine policy in Metro Manila, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the new policy aims to bring back more business activities and jobs gradually and safely amid the threats of Delta variant. In a Palace briefing Tuesday, Lopez said about PHP180 billion per week in revenue will be restored in the economy with the new community quarantine policy. Some 144,000 jobs from the formal sector and up to 200,000 jobs from the informal sector are also expected to return in the labor market, he said. By Sept. 16, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management
Six new niche centers for research and development (R&D) are set to boost the resilience of the agriculture industry in the regions. The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has allocated over PHP208 million for the six niche centers that it unveiled virtually on Tuesday. “In response to the government-led efforts to counter the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are launching six new R&D centers in the areas of agriculture, livestock, and natural resources. These R&D centers will open up facilities, devise new strategies, and ramp up initiatives and efforts towards food resiliency in the new normal,” DOST Undersecretary
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is ready to help Filipinos that lost their jobs amid the pandemic through its agencies’ livelihood programs. In a Palace briefing Tuesday, DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez said the department is distributing livelihood kits worth PHP5,000 to PHP10,000 to an individual to start his own business. Lopez said these livelihood kits are given for free and not as loans. “We teach the nation to fish to feed them for a lifetime,” he added. Lopez said over 50,000 livelihood kits were distributed throughout the country. Aside from livelihood kits, the DTI is still rolling out
