News in Pictures: August 18, 2024
RENEWED TIES WITH SINGAPORE
President Marcos welcomes Singaporean Presi dent Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Thursday, the start of his three-day state visit. The relatively long visit for a state leader was marked by a full schedule which sought to establish networks between the two nations in health care, climate finance, energy, agriculture and other growth areas.
Tharman also stopped by the Luneta that day to lay a wreath at the Rizal monument. On Friday, he and Mr. Marcos witnessed the signing of two agreements on the recruitment of Filipino health workers to Singapore and on providing incentives to industries that aim to reduce their carbon footprints.
Relations between Singapore and the Philippines have been long, productive and also complex. The late Lee Kuan Yew, the city-state’s founding leader, once criticized Mr. Marcos’ father and namesake for “pillaging” the country and even the Philippines for what he called its “soft, forgiving culture.” These ties were severely tested by the 1995 execution of Flor Contemplacion which provoked outrage in the Philippines–with then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte even leading a flag-burning protest rally condemned by Singapore.
But relations nave since recovered. “I’m confident that the partnership between Singapore and the Philippines will not only endure but become stronger and livelier in the decades to come,” Tharman said at a state banquet that Mr. Marcos hosted in his honor. -PHOTOS FROM PPA POOL
EASING TEACHERS’ WOES
Teachers hold an Olympics-themed protest action on Thursday Outside the Department of Education’s main office in Pasig City, likening their familiar woes to hurdles disrupting their primary duty as educators. But Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara has begun to introduce reforms one step at a time only a month into his job-issuing implementing rules for a directive creating new teacher positions with upgraded salaries, and now “reclassifying” guidance counselor positions to entice more applicants. —LYN RILLON
VERY LIMITED BUDGET
Malo Oliquino, a member of activist group Bayan, holds a list of items to buy and P64 in cash to test if that budget is enough for her grocery on Saturday. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio balisacan told a senate hearing on Tuesday that a daily threshold of P64 is above being “food poor.” This prompted skepticism from the lawmakers themselves. Balisacan. who heads the National Economic and Development Authority, later clarified that his agency’s figures “were never intended to be prescribed budgets for a decent standard of living.” -LYN RILLON
NO STAFF WORK FOR THIS PHOTO OP?
First lady Liza Araneta-Marcos is joined by Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian and other officials in this Aug. 1 pho to showing one of three mobile clinics donated by Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Advocacy group Parents Against Vape, in a statement on Aug. 11, expressed concern over the government’s “acceptance and promotion” of the tobacco industry. The Quezon City government, which posted this photo on its Facebook page, also acknowledged the support of tycoon Lucio Tan’s LT Group, which has a 50-percent stake in Philip Morris. But the DSWD has not commented on the controversy over that photo opportunity. —PHOTO COURTESY OF QUEZON CITY GOVERNMENT
