News in Pictures: August 25, 2024

FOOD FOR THE POOR?

Jonathan Detoyato presents meals at his food stall along NIA Road in Quezon City on Tuesday. A half rice at his modest establishment sells at P10, almost the same price as a whole cup of rice sold in other food stalls at P12 to P15. Among the cheaper food items here are string beans and a slice of luncheon meat, both of which sell at P15, while the relatively extravagant fare in his menu, such as pork adobo, “kilawin” and “kare-kare,” ranges between P40 and P60—prices beyond the P64 daily food budget which the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) pegs as above the “food poor” level.

The agency drew flak for this cost of living measure which, if consumers would indeed apply to their spending, could impact the viability of small enterprises like Detoyato’s “carinderia.” But the Neda chief, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, would later clarify that his agency’s “food, poverty thresholds are not meant to dictate the poor’s spending.” —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

THE DOCTORS ARE IN

Physicians at Philippine General Hospital on Monday hold a “white coat rally,” as they called their gathering, to protest the transfer to the national treasury of P89.9 billion from the funds of state health insurer PhilHealth. Ahead of a scheduled remittance of P10 billion to the treasury on Wednesday, more than 60 medical groups on Monday released a joint statement urging the Department of Finance to “be sensitive to public opinion” and stop the further transfer of funds needed for the government’s health-care programs. —PHOTO FROM DR. TONY LEACHON’S FACEBOOK PAGE

ENDANGERED SPECIES FOR SALE

This photo by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) taken on Aug. 19 shows a whitetip reef shark sold at a public market in Matnog town, Sorsogon province. The agency inspected the market last week after photos of sharks and rays sold there went viral on social media. BFAR said these species are deemed protected under international conventions and the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 (Republic Act No. 10654).

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‘WORTH FIGHTING FOR’

Passengers walk past a bust of the late former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. at the country’s main gateway named after him in 1987, a year after the Edsa Revolution that toppled the regime of Aquino’s rival, Ferdinand Marcos Sr. The history of modern Philippine politics is said to have been dominated by the Marcos-Aquino rivalry dating back to 1967, when Marcos, a year into his first term as president, campaigned against Aquino’s senatorial bid in a contest where he ultimately triumphed as the only winner of the opposition Liberal Party. Aquino would eventually play the lead role in the resistance to Marcos’ dictatorial rule. His assassination on Aug. 21, 1983, would mark the beginning of the end of the Marcos regime.

But after 36 years of the post-Marcos era, Marcos’ son and namesake would capture the presidency with the fourth biggest electoral mandate in the country’s history. Marcos Jr. had sought to put a closure to his family’s rivalry with the Aquinos even in 2009 when he visited the wake of Aquino’s widow, former President Cory Aquino, who died on Aug. 1 that year. In 2023, he issued a presidential message in honor of the late senator, but drew criticism this year for moving Ninoy Aquino Day in keeping with “holiday economics.” —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE