Day: September 11, 2024

MANILA – The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Wednesday confiscated around PHP136.58 million worth of smuggled agricultural products and cigarettes at Subic Port in Zambales. In an ambush interview, DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the intensified collaboration led to the seizure of illegal agricultural products. ‘It’s a clear sign to the smugglers that the Bureau of Customs and the Department of Agriculture are on top of the situation, and we are scanning all the imports and reviewing all the performance of the importers even from their past trends,’ he said. Confiscated were

MANILA – The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday reported that it was able to block 1,501 birth registrations by Chinese nationals with falsified documents from the local civil registrar (LCR) of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur. PSA National Statistician and Civil Registrar General Dennis Mapa said during a Senate budget hearing that some of the blocked birth registrations were already recommended to be canceled by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG). “We have already blocked 1,500 birth registrations. Karamihan po dun nanggaling sa Sta. Cruz. Ibig sabihin po hindi na nila mare-request (Most of them are from Sta.

MALASIQUI, Pangasinan – Rate of price increases in Ilocos Region decelerated to 1.8 percent in August from month-ago’s 3.3 percent due to lower inflation in food and non-alcoholic beverages, transport, and education services, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). PSA Ilocos regional director Sheila De Guzman, in virtual press conference on Wednesday, said slower upticks in the prices of cereals and cereal products, vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas drove the slower food inflation rate last month. Rice’s inflation rate in the region posted a lower rate of 10.4 percent in August from 23.6 percent in July; corn, from 35.6

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday led the distribution of assistance amounting to PHP157.95 million to farmers, fisherfolk, and livestock raisers at the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in Batac City, Ilocos Norte. During the ceremonial distribution of assistance, Marcos turned over the agricultural equipment and machinery to the representatives of different farmers association beneficiaries in Ilocos Norte. Marcos distributed units of agri-fishery machinery, seeds, fertilizers, fishery paraphernalia, fuel subsidies, and solar-powered irrigation systems to farmers, fisherfolk, and livestock raisers. ‘Kami ay nagdala ng karagdagang tulong para sa mga magsasaka, sa mangingisda, at sa mga nag-aalaga ng

MANILA – About 40 percent of the Philippines’ development finance from China is associated with at least one type of ESG (economic, social, and governance) risk, results of a study show. The findings were presented during a media briefing on Wednesday by US-based research firm AidData, which detailed China’s economic and diplomatic engagements in the Philippines for the past two decades. ‘The assessment we found is that 40 percent of the projects that China was bankrolling here in the Philippines had a heightened level of exposure to at least one form of risk – environmental, social or governance,’ AidData Director