Category: General

Para±aque: A joint Bureau of Immigration (BI) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) operation netted 32 foreign nationals found to be working for clandestine Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) in Para±aque City on Friday night. BI intelligence division chief Fortunato Manahan Jr. reported that the foreigners were involved in online gaming and scamming operations in a building in Aseana City, a mixed-use central business district. According to Philippines News Agency, the operation nabbed 20 Chinese, 11 Malaysians, and a Cambodian. ‘Let this be a warning to foreign nationals who blatantly continue illegal operations despite the ban of the President,’ BI

Prague: Filipino Nika Juris Nicolas finished second overall at the Prague Open 23rd International Chess Festival in Czech Republic on Friday. According to Philippines News Agency, the 12-year-old from Pasig City achieved six wins, two draws, and one loss in the tournament for players with a FIDE rating of 2000 and below. Nicolas tied for No. 2 with Andreas Schindele of Germany, Frantisek Korenek and Petr Hrebicek of Czech Republic, and Giorgi Bekauri of Georgia, all scoring seven points each, but Nicolas secured the second spot through tiebreaks. Spyridon Ilandzis of Greece emerged victorious with a score of 7.5, clinching

Manila: A celebration of Philippine sporting excellence takes center stage on Jan. 27 as the country’s Olympic and Paralympic heroes from the 2024 Paris Games will be honored at the San Miguel Corporation-Philippine Sportswriters Association (SMC-PSA) Awards Night at The Manila Hotel Grand Ballroom. According to Philippines News Agency, marking the centennial of the country’s participation in the Olympics, the PSA, led by president Nelson Beltran of the Philippine Star, will also pay tribute to Filipino Olympians from the past six decades. Representatives from each Olympic batch, organized by the Philippine Olympians Association, will grace the occasion. Previous Olympic teams

Quezon City: The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Saturday clarified that there is no rice supply shortage amid plans to declare a food security emergency. “We just would like to reiterate: There is no shortage in the supply of rice in the country,” DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa stressed at the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City. According to Philippines News Agency, Republic Act 12078, which amended the Rice Tariffication Law, cites two main grounds for the DA Secretary to declare a food security emergency: shortage in supply and extraordinary increase in the price of rice. “The first main

Manila: The Department of Finance (DOF) announced that the PHP107-billion funds remitted by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) to the national government are unrestricted and will not impact the PDIC’s reserve funds. These funds, comprising cash and investment balances, are free for other uses and are net of restricted funds. According to Philippines News Agency, the PDIC retains a reserve fund worth PHP250 billion, known as the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF). This fund is reserved for specific uses like deposit insurance payouts and financial aid to banks in emergencies. The DIF represents at least 5.5 percent of the country’s