Gov't seeks growth spurred by job creation, poverty mitigation /reduction
Gov't seeks growth spurred by job creation, poverty mitigation /reduction;
Berlin shines as haven for asylum seekers, dissidents from Russia;
PRO-CAR supports the medical marijuana bill;
Ilocos Norte, maintained its status as 'least poor province' in the country
Berlin shines as haven for asylum seekers, dissidents from Russia;
PRO-CAR supports the medical marijuana bill;
Ilocos Norte, maintained its status as 'least poor province' in the country
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NewsTranscript
00:00Evening greetings to all. Monique Tuzon here for PTV News Now. And leading our stories
00:07for tonight, the latest GDP number for the second quarter of the year is out and has
00:12the nation's economic managers even more rosy and hell-bent to stick to economic policies
00:18that work. Hence, Budget Secretary Amanda Pangandaman, buoyed by the latest PSA News
00:24release, stressed government's economic policies are on the right path and vowed to work even
00:30harder to ramp up job creation and poverty mitigation. She said the latest GDP report
00:36announced by the PSA earlier today exceeded the projected 5.8% GDP by half a percentage
00:44point and well within the Development Budget Coordination Committee's forecast of 6-7%
00:50growth for the year. Citing the PSA report again, she said government consumption spending
00:56is a testament to a working strategy budget of prioritization. And with the liberations
01:02on the National Expenditure Plan for next year afoot, Pangandaman said she and her team
01:07put together a draft national budget meticulously and with the utmost care, diligence and attention
01:14to detail, tailored to the needs of the people who lead and govern the public they serve.
01:22And in the wake of that historic prisoner swap between Russia and a group of seven nations
01:27led by the United States, some of the political prisoners the Kremlin let go went to Germany,
01:33which historically has been sanctuary for exiled Russian dissidents.
01:37BOS Marcus Harton narrates this Richard Marquina report in Berlin.
01:41The prisoners released from Russia in this month's historic exchange with the West arrived in Germany,
01:51a country accustomed to receiving those escaping Russian repression. Vitaly Vobar arrived in 2022.
02:01He used to be one of the few opposition members of the St. Petersburg regional parliament
02:07after he spoke out against the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian secret services
02:13came knocking on his door. It was then he knew it was time to leave.
02:22In Russia, there are still many people with democratic and antiwar values,
02:27including among the deputies of cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg,
02:32and Novosibirsk. But speaking out openly against the war is prohibited and poses a great risk.
02:41When the full scale invasion began, thousands of Russians took to the streets only to have their
02:47protests put down by police. One of the thousands who risked their freedom to oppose the war
02:55was Anja Demidova, a Moscow actress. By the time authorities ordered her arrest,
03:02she was already on her way to Germany. She sees little hope for change in Russia anytime soon.
03:12Among Russians who remain, there are many people who hope that Putin is not immortal,
03:16that he will die at some point and everything gets changed. But it seems to me at least,
03:22as I see it today, what is going on there, in terms of prevailing attitudes of Russian
03:26superiority, has such deep roots and they are much older and stronger than Putin himself.
03:39During the two and a half years since Russia invaded Ukraine, Russian exiles have received
03:46mostly bad news. More arrests, more convictions, and the death in prison of opposition leader
03:54Alexei Navalny. There is a makeshift memorial to him in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin.
04:01Bad news has become old news for a comedian known as Dan the Stranger, who fled Russia with his
04:09family the day the war began. He is less known in Germany, where he earns a modest living doing
04:17stand-up comedy. Despite the hardships here, he doesn't think he'll return to Russia.
04:24I prefer to earn less money but feel free and dedicate myself to humor as I want,
04:29not as they allow. This is why we do not live thinking about returning. We do not face it
04:35as something temporary. Since the time of the Tsars and later the Soviets,
04:42Berlin has served as a place of refuge for those fleeing repression in Russia.
04:48Many exiles see the current tensions between Moscow and the West as a new cold war, with Berlin
04:56once again assuming its role as a symbol of the divide between the Kremlin and the rest of the
05:03world. For Ricardo Marquina in Berlin, Marcus Harden, VOA News.
05:13So right now, let's turn to my colleague Audrey Villena in PTV's Pine City Studios
05:18for what's brewing in the Cordilleras. Audrey.
06:03We are happy and we will look forward for that. It will help both ways. The
06:59poverty incidence is 0.5 percent.
08:00Thank you, Audrey, and we've come to the end of tonight's show.
08:07Join us in you tomorrow evening for the Global Roundup, a recap of the major events in the week
08:12just passed. Monique Tuzon here reminding you to always stay connected by catching
08:16the news right here. And thank you for watching PTV News Now.