Here鈥檚 a quick roundup of today鈥檚 top stories:
Alice Guo, also known as Guo Hua Ping, has been returned to the Philippine National Police (PNP) custodial center in Camp Crame, Quezon City on Friday afternoon after appearing in a court in Tarlac.
Guo left the custodial center on Friday at around 9:40 a.m. and police brought her to the Tarlac Regional Trial Court (RTC).
PNP assures no special treatment for Alice Guo
The Philippine National Police assures the public that dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo will not receive special treatment while she is under their custody.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday said no swapping took place in retrieving dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo from Indonesia.
His statement comes after Indonesian media reported that Manila and Jakarta were negotiating to swap Guo for Gregor Johann Haas, an Australian wanted by Jakarta, who was arrested in Bogo City in Cebu in May for alleged drug smuggling.
For President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., there鈥檚 nothing more to the smiles of law enforcers and officials in their photos with Alice Guo than just a 鈥渟elfie鈥� (self-portrait).
In a chance interview, Marcos said the selfies of government personnel with the dismissed mayor, also known as Guo Hua Ping, are only part of the 鈥渘ew culture,鈥� especially as the Philippines has been tagged as the 鈥淪elfie Capital of the World.鈥�
The country鈥檚 unemployment rate increased to 4.7 percent in July as more young Filipinos entered the labor force but could not find jobs, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Friday.
Preliminary results of the PSA鈥檚 July round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) showed the unemployment rate moved at its highest pace in a year or since the 4.9 percent in July 2023, translating to 2.38 million jobless Filipinos.