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Jazz look to wrap up no. 5 seed with win over Blazers

AS HE wrapped up his media interview on Friday night, Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell voiced a message of hope to a fanbase that had just seen his team blow a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter for the sixth time this season.

“I know it sucks. Fans, hang with us, man,” said Mitchell, whose team concludes the regular season on Sunday night on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers. “I promise you, we’ll be all right. I promise you.”

Mitchell & Co. and their disappointed followers, stunned by a 111-105 loss to the visiting Phoenix Suns after leading by 17 heading into the final quarter, can only hope that’s the case.

The Jazz (48-33) aim to bounce back when they oppose the Trail Blazers, losers of 10 straight. Portland (27-54) heads home after a 128-78 defeat to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday completed an 0-5 road trip.

Win or lose, Portland will finish the season as the sixth team from the bottom of the NBA standings, which will factor into its odds of winning the draft lottery next month.

“We’ve just got to stay together,” Portland’s Ben McLemore said after the 50-point defeat. “That’s all that we can do.”

Utah would clinch the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference playoffs with a Sunday win. The Nuggets (48-33) must beat the visiting Los Angeles Lakers and have the Jazz lose in order to leapfrog Utah as the Jazz own the tiebreaker over Denver due to a 4-0 season-series sweep.

Though the level of competition is night and day, the Jazz must avoid a mental collapse like the one that happened in the fourth quarter against the league-leading Suns, when they were outscored 36-13.

Mitchell had the roughest quarter, missing all six of his field-goal attempts, but the Jazz only made 3 of 20 shots as a team in the fizzling finish. That included 1-for-9 shooting from 3-point range.

It left many Utah fans wondering what is going on with the Jazz, who play splendidly for stretches and then seize up.

“I don’t think there’s some sort of voodoo hex floating around. Maybe there’s little anxieties,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “I don’t think it’s some sort of magical thing that we’re doomed to lose a lead. I don’t see a team day to day that has some sort of psychological hurdle to overcome. It’s more about just flat-out execution, digging in and focusing and being able to get from one play to the next.”

Mitchell thinks it can be somewhat psychological, though he doesn’t want the Jazz to focus on that. He believes they need to loosen up and play more freely.

“It can be a mental thing, it can be… We just play tense,” Mitchell said. “You can sit here and say, ‘Oh, it’s mental’ — it may feel that way, it damn sure feels that way in the arena. But if we go there, then we’ve already lost the game at that point.”

The Blazers are just looking for something positive to take into the offseason.

“My thing is, I just want us to fight,” first-year Portland coach Chauncey Billups said. “There was a play there late in the (Dallas) game where I felt like — there were a couple players that I got on in our huddle because we kind of just caved in and gave up on the play. To me, that’s unacceptable.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to play in this league and to get minutes in this league. And no matter what is going on in the game, you’ve still got to continue to fight.” — Reuters

Daily challenge

Tiger Woods was not a happy camper as he headed to the podium in the aftermath of his disappointing third round at the Masters. To be sure, he wasn’t angry, either. He was more, well, tired after a long day battling his swing, his body, himself, en route to a worst-ever 78 in the sport’s premier tournament. Conditions were exactly how organizers wanted them to be, which is to say extremely difficult. And given his susceptibility to the cold and the wind a mere 14 months after he nearly lost his leg — his life, even — in what was described then as a “single-car accident,” he was ripe for failure.

“Failure” is relative, of course, and the fact that Woods still managed to finish and find himself with a better aggregate score than eight other players after 54 holes speaks volumes about the effort he made. He bogeyed the first hole in a portent of things to come, and, by the time he literally limped off the course yesterday, he left four three-putts and one four-putt in his wake. The bitter taste of his bogey-bogey-double-bogey finish was still in his mouth as he faced members of the media, and, yet, he still gamely answered every query that came his way. He didn’t look defeated at all.

Indeed, Woods gave his all in every shot he took (save, perhaps, for a hurried putt in the fifth hole), bent on showing his best even if he was clearly far from it — if for no other reason than because he demanded it of himself. Heading into the event, he reiterated his ultimate objective of claiming the Green Jacket a record-tying sixth time. Asked then if he thought he could win, he simply said, “I do.” Yesterday, he was obviously no longer entertaining such notions, but he remained defiant all the same. “Never give up,” he contended. “Always chase after your dreams.”

In the bigger context of life, Woods’ statement signified a clear movement of the goalpost. Which was why, even after all the missteps, he planned to show up for the fourth round. “I fight each and every day. Each and every day is a challenge,” he pointed out “Each and every day presents its own different challenges for all of us. I wake up and start the fight all over again.” Enough said.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

Leni draws 220,000 supporters in Arroyo bailiwick

Aerial view of Vice President Leni Robredos campaign rally held in Pampanga on April 9 — VP LENI ROBREDO FB PAGE

By Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, Reporter
and Jaspearl Emerald G. Tan

VICE-PRESIDENT Maria Leonor “Leni” G. Robredo on Saturday attracted more than 200,000 supporters — the biggest crowd in her presidential campaign so far — at a rally in Pampanga province north of the Philippines.

The opposition candidate urged her supporters in the province — the bailiwick of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who has endorsed rival Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. — to step up their house-to-house initiatives to convince more undecided voters to vote for her in the May 9 presidential election.

Ms. Robredo is at a distant No. 2 in most presidential opinion polls, which the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos has dominated.

About 220,000 people joined the campaign rally on Saturday, her office said in a statement at the weekend, citing police data.

“It is very timely for people to educate others and fight fake news,” 27-year-old Dale Jewel Granados, one of those who attended Ms. Robredo’a political sortie, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

He said he is using social media to campaign for her presidential bet, and had persuaded his family and relatives to vote for the opposition tandem of Ms. Robredo and her vice-presidential running mate, Senator Francis “Kiko” N. Pangilinan.

“The country has never seen anything like the Leni-Kiko campaign and the volunteerism associated with it,” Jean Encinas-Franco, a political science professor from the University of the Philippines, said in a Messenger chat.

“If Leni and Kiko win, this would certainly change the landscape of campaigns in the future,” she said, noting that Ms. Robredo’s supporters have been mostly youngsters.

The opposition tandem, which has criticized President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s stance on the South China Sea dispute, was also welcomed by supporters in Baler in Aurora, another province in Central Luzon.

Before visiting Central Luzon, they joined a campaign rally in Dagupan City in Pangasinan province that drew more than 60,000 supporters.

Pampanga, Aurora and Pangisinan are part of the so-called Solid North, a regional bloc in northern Philippines known for supporting the Marcoses.

“There is momentum on the side of the Robredo-Pangilinan team with their combination of big rallies and smaller townhall discussions and house-to-house campaigns,” Maria Ela L. Atienza, who also teaches political science at UP, said in a Viber message.

“Their lack of centralized campaign resources is compensated by the huge voluntary spirit of many supporters,” she added. “In a way, the campaign is being run not like traditional party campaigning but as a social movement.” 

Ms. Atienza said Ms. Robredo should keep the momentum until election day “because of the formidable resources of the frontrunners based on public surveys.” She should continue convincing undecided voters and monitor campaign activities, the actual elections and counting afterward, the analyst said.

“All areas and sectors, whether big or small in terms of voting numbers, count.”

Ms. Atienza said traditional politicians might mobilize their resources, sow disinformation in local campaigns and bribe voters. “Some of these tactics are already being employed by some local politicians. It is important to counter these negative styles of campaigning.”

Ms. Arroyo last week asked allies and influential clans in vote-rich Pampanga to support Mr. Marcos and his running mate Davao City Mayor and presidential daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio.

While local politicians usually focus on their survival, their endorsements energize the campaign of national candidates they support, Ms. Franco said. “This is the impact of synchronized elections.”

Ms. Franco and Ms. Atienza said youth voters are likely to be more critical of local endorsements.

“More voters, not just the youth, are becoming more discerning of the performance and trustworthiness of both local and national politicians,” Ms. Atienza said. “They do not just vote on the basis of regionalism or local loyalties.”

TWO-WAY RACE
Mr. Granados, the Kapampangan voter, said he is not bothered by Ms. Arroyo’s endorsement of the pro-administration tandem.

“I wasn’t surprised, knowing that most politicians who have a record of corruption are against the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem,” he said. “Everything is black and white for me and my decision is clear.”

Mr. Marcos kept his lead in Pulse Asia Research, Inc.’s presidential opinion poll last month, with 56% of Filipinos likely to vote for him. His rating fell by 4 percentage points.

Still in second place was Vice-President Maria Leonor “Leni” G. Robredo, whose rating rose by nine points to 24%.

Pulse Asia conducted the poll on March 17-21, after the first official presidential debate that Mr. Marcos failed to join.

Ms. Atienza in a separate Viber message said the presidential contest is shaping up to become a two-way race based on the Pulse Asia poll results, where Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko” M. Domagoso was a far third. He is unlikely to catch up given his few endorsements, she added.

She said Mr. Domagoso’s followers would not automatically vote for Mr. Marcos or Ms. Robredo in case he withdraws from the race.

“Most of Isko’s programs are a bit similar to the current administration and he seems to be presenting himself as a continuity candidate instead of the opposition,” she said.

“Those who seem likely to vote for him may not vote for Vice-President Robredo if he withdraws but they may also not like Bongbong Marcos,” she added, noting that the Manila mayor had been attacking Mr. Marcos more than Ms. Robredo.

“It’s to the benefit of both Marcos and Robredo to have him there because any vote going to Domagoso is at least not to their nemesis,” said Hansley A. Juliano, a former political science professor studying at Nagoya University’s Graduate School of International Development in Japan. “It’s best to consider Domagoso the buffer candidate,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

It would be an insult to voters if Mr. Domagoso quits the presidential race, said Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco, a senior research fellow at the Ateneo de Manila University Policy Center. “Candidates must finish the race because that is their commitment to voters,” he said in an e-mail.

He said the election was “not a done deal,” with half of voters still undecided on whom to vote.

Comelec told to resolve Marcos cases this month

PHILSTAR FILE PHOTO

THE COMMISSION on Elections (Comelec) should resolve the disqualification cases against former Senator and presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. this month, as promised, to remain credible, political analysts said at the weekend.

“The new chairman needs to prove that Comelec will maximize its quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative independence by acting quickly and judiciously on these controversial cases,” Danilo A. Arao, lead convenor of election watchdog Kontra Daya, said in a Facebook Messenger chat. “They have to meet their self-imposed deadline because failing to do so is utterly unacceptable.”

The election body has yet to resolve several cases seeking to disqualify the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos from the presidential race.

Election Commissioner George Erwin M. Garcia earlier said Comelec would resolve the pending lawsuits by the third week of April.

Newly appointed Comelec Chairman Saidamen B. Pangarungan last month said they would fast-track the cases.

On Friday, a group of martial law victims filed a second “extremely urgent” motion for Comelec to resolve one of the cases pending with its Second Division. Delaying the case could complicate this year’s presidential election, they said.

“Only Comelec could give a definite answer if they can resolve these cases in time,” Dennis C. Coronacion, who heads the University of Santo Tomas Department of Political Science, said in a Viber message.

“At this point, I’m not optimistic that the election body is going to issue a ruling that is favorable to the petitioners,” he added.

The First Division earlier dismissed three consolidated lawsuits seeking to bar Mr. Marcos from the presidential contest, as it ruled that his failure to file his tax returns in the 1980s did not involve wicked, deviant behavior. The case is on appeal with the Comelec full court.

The Second Division rejected a similar petition in January, which ruled that Mr. Marcos did not mislead the public when he said in his certificate of candidacy that he was eligible to run for president. The case is also on appeal with the en banc.

Election Commissioner Aimee P. Ferolino had been accused of delaying one of the cases. She denied the allegations and said it was a minor issue that would not affect the credibility of the commission as a whole.

Retired Election Commissioner Maria Rowena V. Guanzon had accused her of delaying the case so her vote for disqualification would not count. She also said a senator from Davao was meddling in the case.

The Akbayan party-list group, among those that filed a disqualification petition, earlier asked Comelec to fast-track its decision.

Decisions by the Comelec en banc can be appealed before the Supreme Court.

Mr. Arao said Comelec should be decisive enough to act on these pending lawsuits against Mr. Marcos within the month, including those on appeal.

“The possibility looms that the next president’s tenure would be decided by the Supreme Court and that the vice president would have to take over if he gets disqualified,” he said. “That looming scenario is possible because of the delays at the Comelec First Division.” — John Victor D. Ordoñez

Storm Agaton, low pressure area affecting central Philippines 

THE FIRST tropical storm to enter the country this year, named Agaton, is bringing rains over eastern parts of central Philippines and is expected to linger over that area until Tuesday, the state weather agency reported on Sunday.   

It will remain almost stationary,weather forecaster Benison Esterase said in a briefing streamed through the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administrations (PAGASA) Facebook page.   

PAGASA has raised strong wind alerts and heavy rainfall warnings over Eastern Visayas, parts of Central Visayas, and northern parts of Caraga.  

Local and emergency response authorities have been alerted for possible flooding and landslides.   

Sea travel to and from several ports in the Visayas islands as well as the island provinces of Siargao and Dinagat in north-eastern Mindanao have been temporarily canceled.  

Three vessels carrying 212 passengers and crew were stranded at the Liloan and San Ricardo ports in Eastern Visayas as of Sunday 12 noon, according to the Philippine Coast Guard.   

Agaton made landfall over Calicoan Island, in Guiuan, Eastern Samar at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, PAGASA reported. 

Its center was located over the coastal waters of Guiuan as of 10 a.m., moving slowly with maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers per hour (km/h) and gustiness of up to 105 km/h.    

Tropical storm Agaton is seen to weaken into a tropical depression by Tuesday as it interacts with a tropical cyclone that has been designated the international name Malakas, which is expected to just brush through the eastern side of the Philippines weather borderline.   

Malakas, to be given the local name Basyang once in the country, is unlikely to make landfall, according to Mr. Esterase.  

As of 10 a.m. Sunday, Malakas was still outside the Philippine area, located 1,570 km east of Mindanao. It was moving with maximum sustained winds of 85 km/h and gustiness of up to 105 km/h.    

Agaton is forecast to degenerate into a remnant low as Malakas begins to assimilate its circulation by late Tuesday or early Wednesday,PAGASA said.  

Meanwhile, a low pressure area has entered the central-western part of the Philippines early Sunday, bringing rains over the province of Palawan.   

It was located 1,085 km southwest of Puerto Princesa City as of 11 a.m. Sunday.   

Mr. Esterase said PAGASA is continuously monitoring the low pressure area although it has a low chance of developing into another storm. MSJ 

Public transport contracting program resumes with free rides for commuters 

PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

THE LAND Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said it is set to roll out on Monday, April 11, the third phase of its service contracting program, which includes free rides for all commuters.  

The P7-billion program aims to help operators, drivers, and commuters who continue to be affected by the pandemic crisis and rising fuel prices, the agency said in a statement on Sunday.  

Funded under the General Appropriations Act of 2022, the program started in 2021 as part of the Bayanihan II, a law on the pandemic response, with P5.58 billion allotted to the Transportation department. 

Transport sector workers have said they need fixed wages to cope with increasing oil prices and the continuing impact of the pandemic crisis. 

For gross contract under Phase 3 of the program, the LTFRB will pay consolidated public buses, including tourist buses, P84 per kilometer from P82.50 previously.   

Meanwhile, the agency will pay consolidated modern and traditional public jeepneys and UV Express vehicles P54 per kilometer from P52.50 previously.  

The increased rates are in consideration of higher fuel prices, according to the agency. 

The free-ride program will start on the EDSA Busway on Monday, initially with 510 public utility buses.  

Previous rollouts of the free-ride program mainly covered healthcare and other essential workers as mobility restrictions were in place.    

Under the governments current alert level system, most areas across the country are under eased pandemic guidelines.   

LTFRB is also planning to open new routes and authorize more public utility vehicles for the nationwide implementation of the program. Arjay L. Balinbin 

Kennon Road closed again from April 9 due to potential landslides 

TUBA MUNICIPAL POLICE STATION

KENNON Road, one of the highways going to Baguio City, has been temporarily closed starting April 9 immediately following a rock fall incident that indicates a potential landslide, the regional disaster management council announced.   

Isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms have been forecast in the area and Saturdays rock fall could mean presence of landslide hazards or possible repeated rock falls in other parts of the national road,the Cordillera joint inter-agency task force on Kennon said in a public advisory.   

In relation to these threats/risks due to the prevailing weather system, Kennon Road is hereby temporarily closed until further notice to ensure public safety,it said.  

The road, the fastest route to the mountain city and where an iconic Lion head statue is located, was just reopened to motorists on April 2 after rehabilitation works.   

It has long been closed to non-residents except for occasional access granted on weekends or during major events in Baguio.   

There are three alternate routes, namely: the Marcos Highway, Baguio-Bauang Road, and the recently-built Asin-Nangalisan-San-Pascual Road. 

Choose leaders who are unafraid to confront China — Hontiveros 

PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD PHOTO

A SENATOR rallied voters on April 9, set as the PhilippinesDay of Valor, to choose leaders who are unafraid to confront China while being able to avoid military conflict in the disputed waters.  

“In this coming election, we must choose leaders who are not afraid to stand up against China,Senator Ana Theresia RisaN. Hontiveros-Baraquel, who is running for reelection under the banner of opposition presidential bet Vice President Maria Leonor LeniG. Robredo, said in Filipino.   

We also insist that uprising does not equal war.” 

She said that with the best and brightest political and diplomatic minds in the region, Chinas aggression can be stopped without the use of force.  

The ability of a country to protect its sovereignty, she added, equates to its capacity to protect its wealth and resources.  

The South China Sea, a key international shipping route, is subject to overlapping territorial claims involving China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. Each year, trillions of dollars of trade flow through the sea, which is also rich in marine resources and gas.  

These are resources that can strengthen our economy for a healthy life and livelihood for all,said the senator. So, in the elections, lets elect leaders who wont sell us to China. Let’s not waste this opportunity.”   

Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a telesummit on Friday, considered as the conclusion of their discussion on the disputed sea.   

The Philippines is holding national and local elections on May 9. Mr. Duterte, who maintained friendly ties with China during his six-year term, is stepping down from office on June 30.  

The leaders stressed the need to exert all efforts to maintain peace, security, and stability in the South China Sea by exercising restraint, dissipating tensions, and working on a mutually agreeable framework for functional cooperation,the presidential palace said in a statement after the meeting.   

Two decades of negotiations since the declaration on the Code of Conduct on the South China Sea was signed by China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, no agreement has been made to effect a dispute settlement mechanism aligned with the United Nations Charter and the 2016 UN arbitral ruling.  

China has refused to recognize the 2016 arbitral ruling that confirmed the Philippinesterritorial claim over parts of the disputed sea. Alyssa Nicole O. Tan 

P6.4-M air quality monitoring station to be built in Palawan mining town 

A P6.4-MILLION air quality monitoring station will be established at the mining community in Bataraza, a town located in southern Palawan.   

Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp., Coral Bay Nickel Corp., and Graymont Philippines, Inc. announced that they are partnering with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to procure the station, which is expected to be set up by the third quarter this year.   

Monitoring air quality, especially in a mining community is crucial for an effective air quality management system in order to take necessary corrective actions to reduce air pollution and maintain the health of the air that people breathe,the firms said in a joint statement on Sunday.  

The continuous ambient air quality monitoring station (CAAQMS) is capable of monitoring particulate matter of 10 and 2.5 micron particle size.  

It will also be equipped with a data acquisition system and can display real-time results of air quality that will be visible to the public.  

Rio Tuba Nickel Mining said it conducts monthly in-house air quality monitoring, but the CAAQMS will further strengthen the quality of the mining companys monitoring system to ensure that the environment and public health are protected from the dangers of air pollution.  

Funding support and other relevant technical assistance for the CAAQMS, including procurement, maintenance, and operational expenses, will be provided by the three companies.  

This will be the second CAAQMS in Palawan, with the first located in Puerto Princesa, the capital city.  

The government has been strictly enforcing measures on the mining industry to ensure that it continuously adapts environmentally-sustainable and responsible practices by adhering to environmental laws in the country. Private companies in the country prove that responsible mining can happen,Environmental Management Bureau Mimaropa Regional Director Joe Amil M. Salino said in a statement. Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson 

Justice dep’t seeks more info from BuCor on Palparan interview 

THE DEPARTMENT of Justice has asked the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to submit additional information to determine if violations of prison rules were committed in a recent interview of a jailed ex-military general.  

The BuCor submitted a report last week, but according to (Justice Undersecretary Deo L. Marco), he found the report insufficient to determine full compliance of the procedural requirements before acting on the request for interview with a PDL (person deprived of liberty),Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra told reporters on Viber on Sunday.   

So, he asked the BuCor to submit an additional report, Mr. Guevarra said.   

The case involves the interview with convicted Jovito S. Palparan, Jr. at the Bilibid Prison by a spokesperson of the governments anti-communist task force. It was aired over a television network owned by Filipino religious leader Apollo C. Quiboloy, who is wanted in the United States for sex trafficking and other charges.  

Mr. Palparan, who is serving a life sentence, and two co-accused were found guilty of kidnapping two University of the Philippines students. The two students, who were abducted in 2006, remain missing. Jaspearl Emerald G. Tan 

Fuel subsidy rollout hindered by absence of driver database

PHILSTAR

NEARLY a month after the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) commenced its P3-billion Pantawid Pasada program on March 15, only 110,287 beneficiaries as of April 4 have received the fuel subsidy, with a senior legislator blaming the absence of a database for the delay.

The program, which seeks to provide 377,443 public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers with fuel discount cards amounting to a P6,500 subsidy, is intended as a relief mechanism for the public transport sector, which currently has to absorb high fuel prices.

According to Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, the lack of a database has led to the delay in the distribution of the fuel subsidy.

He said the election spending ban, which began on March 25, has also hindered distribution.

Mr. Gatchalian called for the development of a centralized database by various agencies and stakeholders to ensure “proper coordination and implementation of the program.”

The proposed database will need to be updated yearly and will help minimize waste and misappropriation of government resources.

On March 23, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) identified 27,777 beneficiaries from the delivery services sector while the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has yet to submit the list of tricycle driver beneficiaries. — Ram Christian S. Agustin

TUCP says wage boards not acting fast enough

THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said Sunday that wage boards are not responding adequately or quickly enough to address petitions seeking to raise the minimum wage.

The TUCP, the Philippines largest labor federation, said in a statement that the labor bureaucracy was not being responsive to the needs of workers, who have had to live with high prices, calling the bureaucracy’s approach “business as usual, time-consuming, (and) technically tedious.”

Such an attitude “will further push under the workers who are trying to keep their heads above the rising waters of (the rising) cost of living,” it said.

The wage board in Metro Manila recently dismissed a petition seeking to raise the minimum wage in the region to P1,007 per day.

It said last week that it may release its wage-setting decision four days before the 2022 elections.

“TUCP is outraged and fears that the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) and wage boards are just ‘dribbling the ball’ to calm the fears of workers now facing hunger as the cost of living escalates. TUCP condemns this apparent insincerity of the DoLE and wage board as the height of insensitivity to the real hunger being faced by our minimum wage earners,” group president Raymond Mendoza said.

TUCP last week refiled its petition for a P470 increase in the daily wage for Metro Manila.

“If it is true that (Labor) Secretary Silvestre Bello III ordered all the regional wage boards to review the existing wages as they have become insufficient for the needs of workers and their families, why did the National Capital Region Wage Board dismiss the original TUCP petition on a mere technicality?” the TUCP said, noting that the decision of Metro Manila’s wage board “conveys a political signal” to its counterparts elsewhere in the country.

Mr. Bello recently proposed a P5,000 wage subsidy for three months or until such time as a wage order is given. Assistant Secretary Dominique Rubia-Tutay provided a separate estimate for such a subsidy of P8,000.

The TUCP said talk of a subsidy represents attempts by the Labor department “to raise false hopes and to dampen the mobilization plans of workers to protest the sub-poverty level minimum wage nationwide.”

The TUCP is set to file a minimum wage petition in the Soccsksargen Region in the southern Philippines on Monday, following similar filings in the Central Visayas and Davao Region.

Minimum wages are set by regional boards, which can only entertain new wage hike petitions on the anniversary of their last ruling. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza