We thus should cultivate the art of avoiding announced shifts in voice, tense, person, and number in our writing, and of spotting and eliminating them every time they creep into our prose. The first thing to guard against are unnecessary shifts from the active to the passive voice. Such tense shifts give the same feeling as a movie jerking and rewinding to past scenes, or lurching fast-forward to future scenes. In fact, it's in the perfect tenses that tense shifts become mandatory: "The package we had waited for all week finally arrived this morning." Read this essay and listen to its voice recording in The Manila Times: "The art of avoiding voice shifts"Next, Aug. 24, 2023: The curse of overloaded sentencesVisit Jose Carillo's English Forum, http://josecarilloforum.com.

A 16-year-old teenager was among five people arrested in connection to 12 phishing scams valued at about HK$300,000. The arrests came between Tuesday and Wednesday as police found that victims had been receiving phishing messages that their membership points at telecommunications companies were about to expire or they could redeem gifts with those points. Victims then clicked into the phishing messages and entered their personal data and credit card information, which was used by the arrestees to make purchases without the victims knowing. After in-depth investigation by New Territories South police, they arrested two men and three women aged 16 to 75. Police said in the first half of 2023, the New Territories South police region received 533 reports on phishing scams, marking a nine-fold jump from 49 cases during the same period of last year.

MANILA, Philippines — Rights groups on Tuesday warned the police against harassing Dr. Raquel Fortun, the forensic pathologist who autopsied the body of Jerhode “Jemboy” Baltazar, a 17-year-old boy shot dead by Navotas lawmen who mistook him for a murder suspect on Aug. 2. ADVERTISEMENT“By the way, the Navotas police visited me for Jemboy’s autopsy, and the Caloocan police for Kian’s [delos Santos] bullet. Just putting this out there for whatever protection this disclosure could offer,” Fortun said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). Fortun, who heads UP Manila’s College of Pathology, had conducted the autopsy at the request of Baltazar’s family. Navotas police chief Col. Allan Umipig earlier admitted that his men committed an error when they shot Baltazar, whom they mistook for a murder suspect they were chasing.

Meeting the refund requirements to claim VAT refunds is considered an uphill climb, and the associated tax administration procedures are complex and burdensome, discouraging taxpayers from claiming legitimate VAT refunds. Under the new checklist, the BIR has dispensed with submitting the annual income tax return, VAT returns, withholding VAT returns, etc. Other mandated policiesFor VAT refund applications filed beyond the two-year prescriptive period, the claim shall still be accepted. Further, the BIR will now accept VAT refund applications of taxpayer-claimants with existing tax delinquencies reflected in the Delinquency Verification Certificate (DVC). The efforts of the BIR in adhering to the Ease of Doing Business Law through these refined guidelines for VAT refund applications are indeed commendable.

(UPDATE) FORMER senator Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino 4th has been selected as a member of the 2023 Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program, which is Yale University's signature global leadership program. FORMER senator Benigno Paolo 'Bam' Aquino 4th. TMT FILE PHOTO"I am honored to be a part of this year's group of fellows who are considered the best in their respective fields. To learn governance and technology from one of the top universities in the world is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I couldn't afford to miss," Aquino said in a statement. He also co-founded PasaJob, a startup that matches individuals to prospective jobs using a patented referral technology, as well as MEE Games, a startup that develops video game developers.

Doctors had taken "all feasible measures" to save a 31-year-old mother who died after childbirth last month, according to Hong Kong Adventist Hospital. The private hospital in Tsuen Wan has submitted a report on the July 6 incident, said the Department of Health, which is still investigating the case. Doctors and nurses kept a close eye on the mother's situation and gave her medication and blood transfusion to try to save her life, the hospital said. "The patient was transferred to the intensive care unit after the surgery and the medical team used all feasible measures to save her with full efforts." The hospital recorded a similar incident in August last year when a 30-year-old woman died after giving birth.

A 17-year-old teenager was hospitalized after hitting his head on the ceiling while jumping on a trampoline in North Point on Tuesday morning. Around 3 pm today, a pair of teenagers were jumping on the trampoline at the trampoline park located in Kodak House II when one of them accidentally hit their head on the ceiling. The teen lost consciousness at one point, and the paramedics were alerted. He was then taken to the Eastern Hospital for medical attention while accompanied by his female relative. The police are currently investigating the incident.

Sugar and the food processing industryIn November last year, I had occasion to discuss the sugar industry. My two November essays on the sugar industry highlighted studies and recommendations being made to reform and liberalize trade and production regarding the sugar industry. Despite the reduced profile of the industry in foreign trade, the sugar industry as a whole – as a system of activities creating value within the Philippine economy – is still a significant industry. The problems of the sugar industry appear to be along the value-chain of the industry. Do we wonder why many of our local food industry processors cannot grow out of the domestic market?

The Philippines seeks to bolster its ability to address threats while underlining the need to strengthen ties with allies while pursuing an independent foreign policy, under a six-year national security policy published on Tuesday. "Major concern is also seen in the Cross-Straits relations that has the potential to be the flashpoint in the region," the government said in the document, published by the National Security Council, referring to the Taiwan Strait. "Any military conflict in the Taiwan Strait would inevitably affect the Philippines given the geographic proximity of Taiwan to the Philippine archipelago and the presence of over 150,000 Filipinos in Taiwan," the government said in the document. Ties with China have grown tense under Marcos, as the Philippines pivots back to traditional ally the United States. The Philippines would strengthen a Mutual Defense Treaty with the U.S., along with other existing mechanisms with regional partners, to "achieve a credible defence capability", it said.

NEW YORK — The destruction and suffering caused by the Maui wildfires in Hawaii prompted many to immediately look for ways to help. However, experts say immediate donations may not be the most useful following a natural disaster like the Maui wildfires. The Maui United Way says all donations will “provide direct relief to families and nonprofits directly affected” by the wildfires, offering a place to donate and apply for help on its website. How can you guarantee donations reach those affected by the Maui wildfires? As of Monday afternoon, GoFundMe said it had collected more than $22 million for those impacted by the Maui wildfires, from more than 175,000 people across all 50 U.S. states and 100 countries.

THE Department of Health (DoH) on Tuesday reported that over 269,000 of the 390,000 doses of bivalent vaccines have been distributed since its rollout on June 21. Metro Manila Council head and San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora lead the distribution of the Bivalent Covid-19 vaccines to all frontline workers or those under the A1 category at the San Juan Filoil center on Thursday, June 22, 2023. I have received a report today that as of August 14, we have distributed more than 269,000 doses already. That's 69 percent, which means we are running out of bivalent vaccines," said Tayag, concurrent spokesman. The government has prioritized frontline health workers and senior citizens during the pilot rollout.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina — Thousands of people marched in Sarajevo and other Bosnian cities Monday, days after a woman was murdered by her partner who livestreamed her killing on social media before killing two men and himself. ADVERTISEMENT“We demand that femicide be made a specific criminal act,” Sarajevo mayor Benjamina Karic told the crowd. Speaking on behalf of the demonstrators, she called for more severe punishment for the crimes of femicide, domestic violence and for the construction of more safehouses for women victims of violence. Protesters held up placards emblazoned with messages such as “Stop femicide”, “Say no to violence” and “Silence is complicity”. According to local NGOs, some 20 women have been killed in Bosnia in the past two years by their spouses.

A 31-year-old pregnant mum died following a C-section birth at the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital last month, with authorities’ investigation ongoing. The hospital on Tuesday confirmed the news, which saw the woman admitted to the hospital on July 5 to give birth. According to the hospital, doctors advised undergoing an emergency C-section that night, with the woman’s condition deteriorating the next morning. Meanwhile, the Department of Health said they were alerted by the hospital of the incident on July 6 and have since initiated an investigation and requested a report from the hospital. It added that it had received the hospital’s report while the investigation is now underway.

MANILA, Philippines — In a bid to combat disinformation and “fake news” in the digital space, the government launched on Monday a Media and Information Literacy (MIL) campaign in partnership with different national agencies. Under the campaign, MIL will be integrated into the higher education curriculum, community-based training, and family-oriented programs. “MIL is therefore crucial in this digital age given the proliferation of disinformation and the need for individuals to be able to critically evaluate information,” De Vera said. The CHEd chief noted that MIL is an essential component of students’ and teachers’ learning and allows for equitable access to knowledge. Aside from the government agencies, social media giants Google, Meta, TikTok and X will also take part in the MIL campaign.

Intermediate and novice players from the King's Gambit Chess School continue to make their mark in the local chess circuit led by 14-year-old Lester Jones Paruli who topped a club tournament in Pampanga over the weekend. Tiv Omanagay (right) bagged 4th place in a FIDE rated rapid chess tournament in Baguio City last Saturday. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOJan Clifford Labog, fresh from winning a silver and a bronze at the Palarong Pambansa, also dominated the 1st Mayor Jay L. Diaz Open Chess Tournament organized by the Ilagan City Chess Club on August 7. Moreover, 17-year-old Tiv Omangay and 12-year-old Marcus Paruli barely missed making the podium finish in a FIDE rated rapid chess tournament in Baguio City last Saturday, August 12. Enzo Hernandez, 12, also competed in an open rapid tournament in Bulacan and finished in the top 5.