The local bourse plunged on Monday as investors worried over the resurgence of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the country. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dropped by 1.81 percent or 124.45 points to 6,756.92, while the broader All Shares declined by 1.9 percent or 79.14 points to end at 4,079.40. AAA Equities […]

Grammy performers: Taylor Swift, BTS, Cardi B, Billie Eilish NEW YORK: Taylor Swift, BTS, Cardi B and Billie Eilish will perform at the Grammy Awards on March 14. The Recording Academy announced that Harry Styles, Bad Bunny, Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa will also hit the stage. The show will air live […]

SENATE President Vicente Sotto 3rd believes that it is not yet safe to place the entire country under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) as he and other senators expressed alarm over the surge in Covid-19 cases. Sotto and fellow Senators Panfilo Lacson, Aquilino Pimentel 3rd, and Mary Grace Poe voiced concern over the reported sharp rise in the number of infections. […]

For the fifth straight day on Monday, the country logged more than 3,000 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases closer to the 600,000 mark. The Department of Health reported 3,356 new cases, pushing the total caseload to 597,763. There were 39,330 active cases, mostly either mild or moderate. The 61 new new […]

LOS ANGELES: Meghan told Oprah Winfrey that she experienced suicidal thoughts over how she was being treated after marrying Harry, and the anguish she had over discussions about her son that ranged from questions about his skin color to the decision that he would not get a prince title. The Duchess of Sussex told Winfrey […]

ATLANTA: Stephen Curry shot his way to another 3-point title and Domantas Sabonis made sure the Skills Challenge still belongs to the bigs. Curry, the Golden State Warriors superstar, provided a dramatic preview for his seventh All-Star Game appearance when he sank his final 3-pointer to edge Utah’s Mike Conley for the title on Sunday […]

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The outsized impact Covid-19 has had on women in some countries could result in an additional 10 million child marriages in this decade, according to a new analysis released Monday by Unicef. “School closures, economic stress, service disruptions, pregnancy and parental deaths due to the pandemic are putting the most vulnerable girls at […]

Good day. Here are the top stories for The Manila Times for Monday, March 8, 2021. READ: Govt reviews policy amid virus surge The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) is reexamining its decision to ease quarantine restrictions after the country recorded over 3,000 new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases […]

PLDT, in partnership with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), launched a project that adopts the Food Always In The Home principle for Marikina Watershed communities. The pilot partner for the project is the Nagkakaisang Samahang Magsasaka sa Barangay Calawis (Nasamasabaca), based in Sitio Binayoyo, Barangay Calawis, Antipolo City. The project aims to provide […]

The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) recently forged an agreement with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to go after illicit activities that are potentially defrauding the National Health Insurance Program. The parties have agreed on a shared set of responsibilities to detect, deter and prosecute fraud committed by healthcare facilities, professionals, and even those […]

URDANETA CITY, Pangasinan: Officers and members of the Citizens Movement Against Corruption, Crime, Illegal Drugs and Gambling Inc. headed by Prof. Salvador Singson-de Guzman and thousands of residents in 14 villages here have commended the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) for issuing a cease-and-desist order for the closure of a sanitary […]

The Department of Health (DoH) reported 3,276 new cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) on Sunday, bringing the total to 594,412. The country’s positivity rate was at 9.2 percent. The department said that 36,043 cases were active. Also, 10,516 more patients survived the virus, for a total of 545,853 recoveries. However, 51 patients died, pushing the death toll to 12,516. The global cases of the respiratory disease have reached 116.5 […]

The country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to issue an Emergency Use Authorization for the Gamaleya vaccine in one or two weeks, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Sunday. “Yung sa Sputnik V, nasa advanced stage na po siya sa ating FDA clearance (The process for securing FDA clearance for Sputnik V […]

SEOUL: The South Korean and US militaries are scaling back their annual exercises this month due to the Covid-19 pandemic and to support diplomacy on North Korea’s nuclear program, officials said Sunday. Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the allies decided to start the nine-day drills on Monday after reviewing factors […]

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) is reviewing its  decision to ease pandemic restrictions after the country recorded over 3,000 coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in a single day. National Task Force against Covid-19 Deputy Chief Implementer and testing czar Vivencio “Vince” Dizon made the admission during the roll […]

SAMAHANG Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) Executive Director Sonny Barrios bared that FIBA is eyeing to roll out the postponed final window of the Asia Cup Qualifiers (ACQ) in June. “They’re looking at June 14 to 20. That’s the tentative schedule for now. They have yet to make an official release, but that’s what they’re looking […]

Myanmar appears to be spiraling out of control as violence escalates against demonstrators calling for restoring democracy and for releasing Aung San Suu Kyi and her allies. The political crisis there has also threatened key interests of Asean or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. For now, that regional bloc struggles to craft a strong […]

For most Filipinos, the “cruelest” month of 2020 was not The Wasteland’s April but the month before it. It was in mid-March of 2020 when an unforgiving lockdown, described by an Asian Development Bank study as the second most stringent in the Asian region after Nepal was ordered by the national government to rein in […]

Talk ‘N Text (TNT) star forward Bobby Ray Parks Jr. will not participate in the upcoming 46th Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) season due to ‘family reasons’. Parks Jr. himself made the announcement over his social media pages on Saturday afternoon. “It is with a heavy heart that I will have to excuse myself and not […]

ABOUT 39 percent of Filipino families with members studying through online distance learning have “strong” internet connection, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey. The nationwide poll from November 21 to 25 among 1,500 respondents, showed 39 percent of families with members aged five to 20 who are currently studying through online distance […]

IN a bid to protect and preserve the country’s health care system amid the health crisis, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. assured the public that all jabs for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) to be delivered this March and April would be “specifically allocated” to health care workers. In a statement, Galvez said the government […]

FR. Joaquin Bernas,SJ, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution died on Saturday morning, the Ateneo de Manila University announced. He was 88 years old. “It is with a heavy heart that Ateneo de Manila University announces the demise of priest, lawyer, and educator Fr Joaquin G Bernas SJ,” the university said in a […]

Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Saturday, March 6, 2021. READ: Govt races to beat variants, mutations The government is considering the simultaneous rollouts of the coronavirus vaccines of Sinovac and AstraZeneca to head off the growing threat of the virus’ new mutations. Speaking to reporters following the arrival of […]

Duties collected from rice imports grew to P2.04 billion in the first month of 2021, the Bureau of Customs (BoC) reported on Friday. The amount was a 58-percent increase from the P1.29 billion raked in the same month last year. In a statement, Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero cited preliminary data showing that the January […]

Credit weakness in the Philippine banking system is likely to continue despite the anticipated economic rebound from the coronavirus pandemic and the implementation of Republic Act 11523, or the “Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer Act” (FIST), according to Fitch Ratings. In a report on Thursday, Fitch Ratings analysts Tamma Febrian and Willie Tanoto said the New […]

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is likely to maintain an accommodative monetary-policy setting this year as the country’s headline inflation rose for another month. This is according to analysts from ANZ Research, ING Bank Manila, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and HSBC. ANZ Research economist Kanika Bhatnagar and […]

Listed Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) reported on Friday that its net income slid to P1.108 billion last year as it widened its loan-loss provisions amid the coronavirus pandemic. The latest amount was a 63.4-percent decline from P3.02 billion in 2019. In a disclosure on Friday, the thrift-banking arm of the Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. […]

Listed DMCI Holdings Inc. saw its net income fall to P5.9 billion last year as the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions it prompted affected its business. In a disclosure, the Consunji-led holding company said the amount was a 44-percent drop from P10.5 billion in 2019. DMCI Holdings Chairman and President Isidro Consunji blamed the state-imposed […]

The Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) on Friday proposed adjusting automatically the cash assistance extended for beneficiaries of the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). In a statement, the state think tank cited a paper, titled “Giving Cash to the Poor: A Study of Pantawid Pamilya Cash Grants Generosity, Frequency and Modality,” in highlighting […]

STRONGER ties are certainly growing among ABS-CBN Entertainment, Cignal and TV5 with this latest announcement of four more Kapamilya primetime shows airing by Monday, March 8 on TV5. These are top-rating titles, “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano,” “Ang Sa Iyo ay Akin,” “Walang Hanggang Paalam,” and “Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) Connect.” “We welcome the inclusion of ABS-CBN […]

BAGHDAD: Pope Francis arrived in Iraq on Friday to urge the country’s dwindling number of Christians to stay put and help rebuild the country after years of war and persecution, brushing aside the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns to make his first-ever papal visit. The pope, who wore a facemask during the flight, kept it […]

PASAY City on Friday deferred the partial re-opening of its cinemas as it grapples with the exponential increase of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases. Mayor Emi-Calixto Rubiano said the local government will keenly monitor and observe the developments in two weeks to enable them to come up with a “fact-based” decision. “Much as I want […]