Philippines

Coronavirus could wipe over $200 billion off Asia Pacific economies this year, S&P Global ratings said Friday, pushing growth to its lowest level in over a decade as governments struggle to fight the disease. China could see growth of less than three per cent in a worst-case scenario, while Japan, Australia, and Hong Kong could “flirt with recession,” it said …

A Japanese man traveled to the Philippines and had several check-ins at Metro Manila hotels before checking for coronavirus disease positive 2019 (COVID-19) in Japan, the Health Department reported on Friday. The Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said at a press conference that the 44-year-old alien was in the Philippines from 21 to 28 February. The onset of cough for …

The gunmen waited for Kim Chui’s vehicle to exit the subdivision before the CCTV attack, said Thursday the Head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit of the Quezon City Police District. QCPD-CIDU Chief Major Elmer Monsalve, interviewed on GMA News ‘ Unang Balita, said that the special investigation task group had already obtained the CCTV footage of Chiu’s van …

The team will check shops and scrutinise the whole supply chain to detect whether and where the masks are being hoarded. The shops will be asked where they ordered their masks and if they received them. If the factories delivered fewer than ordered, the factories would have to explain, said the premier. Gen Prayut said more than a million masks …

Police Chief Archie Francisco Gamboa, a helicopter carrying the Philippine National Police (PNP), crashed in Laguna on Thursday morning. Gamboa, who was in Laguna to check the side of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG), rushed to the Westlake Medical Center in San Pedro Area. Apart from Gamboa, the two-year-old Bell 429 chopper was: PNP spokesperson Police Brigadier General Bernard Banac …

Legislators from the House of Representatives welcomed the decision of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises to begin formal discussions on the renewal bills for the ABS-CBN franchise on 10 March. Advertisement At a press conference in Quezon City on Thursday, Albay Representative Joey Salceda expressed appreciation for the expansion, adding that he had never seen the chance that the …

Pangilinan-led PLDT Inc. is set to increase its capital expenditure plan by 13,85 per cent this year, primarily to support its data sector and information technology (IT) ventures. Advertising According to PLDT president and chief executive officer Manuel Pangilinan, the firm will invest P83 billion this year, up from P72.9 billion in 2019. This sustained degree of investment in the …

For the first time since the reopening of the destination, President Rodrigo Duterte is scheduled to visit Boracay Island in an attempt to convince the public that domestic tourism is secure in the face of the 2019 coronavirus threat (COVID-19). Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said Duterte would travel to the island of Boracay next Thursday, March 12. As part of …

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) announced that alleged unions brought an estimated $370 million to the Philippines last year with the aid of the Philippine Armed Forces (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and airport police escorts. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said that after Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero provided him with a report detailing the activities of the alleged …

Countries scrambled to secure their mask supply as panic buying, hoarding and robbery spread over fears of the deadly coronavirus outbreak on Wednesday, with global health officials warning that protective gear stocks were rapidly dwindling. The disease that first emerged in China occurs almost daily in new countries, with Iran, Italy and South Korea facing increasing numbers. Italy’s death toll …