Philippine Ambassador to Poland Leah Ruiz (Screengrab) MANILA - Philippine Ambassador to Poland Leah Basinag-Ruiz said Filipino women in Ukraine married to locals are undecided if they will leave the strife-torn European nation or not. Ukainian men aged 18 to 60 have been restricted to leave as they must join the Army to help defend their country against Russian forces. During an OFW (overseas Filipino worker) town hall meeting initiated by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and aired online on Monday, Ruiz said they are exhausting all efforts to assist remaining Filipinos in Ukraine. "The Ukrainian wives have no problem and we were able to issue them visas but when the Ukrainian males were prevented to leave, that's when the dilemma started," Ruiz said in Filipino. Still, the Philippine Embassy in Warsaw, Poland is urging all Filipinos still in Ukraine to decide immediately so they can be assisted at once. "The priority right now is to ensure that Filipinos are
Official logo of the 85th Araw ng Dabaw (Photo from Araw ng Dabaw Facebook page) DAVAO CITY - For the third time since the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic was declared in March 2020, the celebration of the 85th Araw ng Dabaw will still be held online. In a video message Wednesday afternoon, Vice Mayor Sebastian Z. Duterte urged the Dabawenyos to join the virtual festivities. "Our celebration would still be online because we are still battling with the threats of Covid-19," he said. Duterte also urged the Dabawenyos to enjoy the fruits and other delicacies in the city. "Let's celebrate the Araw ng Dabaw as united Dabawenyos," he said. The city government decided to continue with the virtual celebration this year despite the easing of regulations covering events by government offices in the barangay, local, and national level, including government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) events. Mayor Sara Z. Duterte issued an executive order allowing
MANILA - Philippine food companies that participated in the Gulfood 2022 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates closed the four-day expo with initial sales amounting to USD23.6 million, or around PHP1.2 billion. In a statement Wednesday, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) said the value is expected to increase as local food firms had business-to-business matching activities at the Gulfood 2022. According to CITEM, this is the country's 17th participation in the Gulfood and the largest delegation so far. Forty-eight Filipino food firms were part of the delegation, with nine of them having physical presence during the four-day expo and 39 showcased their products online. "The Philippines is a great sourcing destination for food products because of its diverse agricultural landscapes and rich gastronomy. Especially with this pandemic, the demand for healthy and halal-certified food products is high, and the country is poised to be a leader in this categor
FACE-TO-FACE. Students attend classes in person for the first time since the pandemic started two years ago, as the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao started Monday (Feb. 21, 2022) the pilot of the face-to-face (F2F) classes in Tawi-Tawi. Three schools were selected for the pilot of the F2F classes in the province. (Photo courtesy of MBHTE-BARMM) ZAMBOANGA CITY - The Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MBHTE-BARMM) has begun the pilot of the face-to-face (F2F) classes in three elementary schools in the island province of Tawi-Tawi. Fatima Abubakar, the Tawi-Tawi schools division superintendent, said Tuesday the three schools have undergone validation by the MBHTE regional team and were found to have full compliance with School Safety Assessment Tools (SSAT) for the pilot run of the F2F classes. The schools undergoing a four-week pilot of the F2F
MANILA - Concerns on the Ukraine-Russia tension and higher average domestic inflation projection for this and next year resulted in the upticks of Treasury bill (T-bill) rates on Monday. The average rate of the 91-day paper increased to 0.899 percent, the 182-day to 1.157 percent, and the 364-day to 1.568 percent. These were at 0.810 percent, 1.066 percent, and 1.475 percent for the three-month, six-month, and one-year papers during the auction last February 14. The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) offered each tenor for PHP5 billion, and the auction committee made full awards across-the-board. Total tenders for the 91-day paper reached PHP13.314 billion, the 182-day at PHP11.49 billion; and the 364-day at PHP11.118 billion. "Rates rose following (the) upward adjustments for inflation this year and increasing tension in Ukraine," National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon told journalists in a Viber message. Last week, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported the increase of its av