News: Private sector, teachers find 2025 budget "worrisome"

Thursday, January 2, 2025

Private sector, teachers find 2025 budget "worrisome"

January 3, 2025

UNEASY NEW YEAR IN US Flames rise from a Tesla Cybertruck after it exploded outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 1, 2025. US President Joe Biden said authorities were investigating any links between the Las Vegas explosion and the truck attack in New Orleans that killed at least 15 people on Wednesday. —REUTERS

Hi there. Private sector, teachers find 2025 budget "worrisome"

The P6.326-T national budget continues to be criticized for its perceived lopsided funding priorities — the "growing amount of discretionary funds," for one — that slashed critical spending on education, health, and food security.

Eavesdropper alert: An underwater drone with Chinese markings, recovered in the waters off San Pascual in Masbate province, is being probed by the PH Navy as to its origin and whether it was used for reconnaissance activities.

The "heavily decomposed" body of an OFW missing in Kuwait for two months has been found in a Kuwaiti citizen's house, with a "prime suspect" now in detention, though still unclear if the person was Nacalaban's employer.

A horrific attack in New Orleans in which a US military veteran plowed a pickup truck into pedestrians celebrating the New Year, killing at least 15 people, has left residents and visitors alike "numb," reeling, and in shock.

"Prosecuting [Tony] Yang should be the first order of business among law enforcement and judicial agencies at the start of the year," reminds today's editorial, in light of reports that some Immigration personnel are helping the POGO suspect post bail.

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REGIONS

Groups to SC: Protect rights of small fishers

Environmental group Oceana, together with fisherfolk and civil society groups, on Thursday filed a petition in the Supreme Court to intervene in the case against a commercial fisher, challenging the constitutionality of preferential access granted to municipal fisherfolk within the 15-kilometer municipal waters.

By Jane Bautista and Joanna Rose Aglibot

BUSINESS

Trouble brewing in Alabang

Members of the Alabang Country Club inside the posh Ayala Alabang Village that caters to the country's rich and famous are in for a rude awakening this new year as their monthly dues are set to increase starting this month by 40 percent, from P5,000 to P7,000 a month.

By Tina Arceo-Dumlao

SPORTS

As PBA enters 50th year, will four-point shot stay?

The 50th anniversary celebration is among the things to be anticipated with eagerness and scrutiny this 2025, a year which the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) hopes would be one to remember. April 9 will mark the landmark birthday of Asia's first play-for-pay league, and PBA officials had promised to make the occasion a commemoration of the past.

By Jonas Terrado

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FASHION

Step one of your sustainable fashion journey

It may seem like a lofty dream, to which the path is rife with wrong turns and booby traps. With so many things to consider, it can be daunting trying to even start on this journey. But for now, all you really need to do is take that first step. At a loss on where to begin? Always start by looking in.

By Nastasha Verayo De Villa

INQUIRER PLUS-EXCLUSIVE

South Korean adoptees and families rocked by fraud allegations

Her greatest fear, dormant for decades, came rushing back in an instant: had she adopted and raised a kidnapped child? Peg Reif's daughter, adopted from South Korea in the 1980s, had sent her a link to a documentary detailing how the system that made their family was rife with fraud: documents falsified, babies switched, children snatched off the street and sent abroad.

By Associated Press

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