ZAMBOANGA CITY: Two suspects were arrested while an estimated PHP2.3 million worth of smuggled cigarettes were seized by authorities in an anti-smuggling operation here, an official said Tuesday.   Col. Alexander Lorenzo, city police director, said Aljhan Garabi, 20, and Radzmir Habibon, 22, were arrested in Barangay Santa Catalina at about 9:15 p.m. Monday.   Lorenzo said personnel of the police’s Regional Mobile Force Battalion 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) were manning a checkpoint when they intercepted the van driven by Garabi.   Upon inspection, he said, the van was found to be loaded with 67 master cases of trafficked cigarettes, consisting

BUTUAN CITy: Families badly affected by Severe Tropical Storm Paeng last month in Maguindanao received cash aid and relief goods from Dinagat Islands province.   “We also turned over relief goods that can be used by the affected families, especially clothing and the other basic needs,” Dinagat Islands Governor Nilo Demerey Jr. said in an interview on Tuesday.   Demerey personally handed over the PHP1 million cash aid Monday afternoon to Maguindanao’s top officials.   Accompanying Demerey during the delivery of the cash aid was Rosario Roxas-Alon, Dinagat’s provincial disaster and risk reduction management officer (PDRRMO), and officers from the

MANILA: The Social Security System (SSS) has disbursed a total of PHP 2.49 trillion benefits through the 45 million claims it has received when it started operations in September 1957 up to August 2022.   In a statement on Tuesday, SSS President and CEO Michael Regino said the long-term benefits accounted for almost 90 percent or PHP2.24 trillion of the disbursements with the retirement benefit at nearly PHP1.33 trillion, death benefit at PHP792.92 billion, and disability benefit at PHP119.18 billion.   The short-term benefits made up the remaining 10 percent or PHP251.47 billion with maternity benefit at PHP120.91 billion, funeral

MANILA: Business process management (BPM) firm Accenture Philippines reported Tuesday that some 145,000 learners have benefitted from its Skills to Succeed (S2S) Academy, a skills-building program to enhance Filipinos’ employability.   In a press conference, Accenture Philippines, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and their partner non-governmental organizations (NGOs) reaffirmed their commitment to continue the S2S Academy that was launched in 2018.   “Accenture has leveraged digital development and digital innovation in order to provide impact at scale, and help bridge the gap for the employment and skills gap for the vulnerable and marginalized sector of our society,” Accenture

MANILA: Further increase in interest rates, along with banks’ decision to keep their cash ahead of the holidays, resulted in the undersubscription in the central bank’s term deposit facility (TDF) on Tuesday.   The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) lowered the offering for the eight-day facility, auctioned a day earlier than the original seven-day tenor due to the Bonifacio Day holiday on Wednesday, to PHP180 billion from last week’s PHP200 billion.   Bids amounted to PHP111.737 billion, which the central bank fully accepted and awarded.   The average rate of the one-week TDF rose to 5.7514 percent from 5.4921 percent