A health official on Monday said the National Capital Region (NCR) shows a slow downward trend with its reported coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infections at a 28-percent decrease from the past week. “In the NCR, the seven-day moving average showed a decrease as cases in the recent seven days have decreased compared to the previous seven days by 1,199,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during an online media forum. For the period of September 27 to October 3, the average daily reported cases in the NCR is 3,121. Previously, its average daily reported cases for the week of September

The local stock barometer started the week higher as overseas investors continued to worry about China’s real estate developer Evergrande issue, but the peso ended the day sideways against the greenback. “Philippine shares were traded higher as investors sought refuge from regions being sold down due to the Evergrande debacle,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales. Limlingan said among the factors that will play a part in the week’s equities trading include US trade balance data, jobless claims report, and unemployment rate. He added that onshore factors are the September inflation report and the August industrial

As the Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP) filed its certificate of candidacy (COC) with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday, the National Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) is confident that the party-list group will be disqualified to run for next year’s congressional elections. At the virtual press conference of the NTF-ELCAC, National Security Adviser and NTF-ELCAC Vice-Chairman Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the evidence in support of the disqualification case filed against Gabriela before the Comelec is solid. “Dapat silang madisqualify dahil talagang tumatanggap sila ng pondo sa abroad. At marami sa miyembro ng Gabriela ang napupunta