00:00 Today on Rappler
00:12 At least six are dead and 46 are missing in a Davao de Oro mining landslide.
00:18 President Marcos visits Davao for the first time since his world war with former President
00:22 Duterte.
00:23 An SWS survey reveals Filipinos were less optimistic by the end of 2023.
00:28 The Philippines will boost military presence in Batanes.
00:32 And Philippine unemployment hits a two-decade low at 3.1%.
00:38 Search and rescue workers retrieved the bodies of six people buried in mud and rocks following
00:43 a landslide in a mining village in Maco town, Davao de Oro, Tuesday evening, February 6.
00:49 The provincial government reports at least 46 are missing and feared buried in the landslide
00:54 in the village of Masara.
00:56 Responders also account for at least 31 injured as of Wednesday, February 7.
01:01 At least 758 families evacuated and sought shelter in evacuation centers in Maco town.
01:07 Apex Mining Corporation says the landslide occurred in the area where buses waited to
01:12 ferry workers at around 7.30 p.m. Wednesday.
01:15 The company is still doing a head count to determine if there are more missing workers.
01:19 Search and rescue operations in the area are also ongoing.
01:23 Follow Rappler for more updates.
01:27 President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. arrives in Davao City Wednesday, February 7, his first
01:31 visit to the bailiwick of his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, since the two traded accusations
01:36 regarding drug use.
01:38 Marcos is in Davao to grace several government events.
01:41 Last January 28, Duterte led a candlelight prayer rally, where he warned Marcos of being
01:46 ousted in office, just like his dictator father, if he continues pushing for Chacha.
01:51 Duterte also claimed he once saw Marcos' name on the government's drug watch list.
01:55 Marcos fired back a day later, accusing Duterte of continued fentanyl use and blaming the
02:00 drug for his erratic behavior.
02:02 Since then, the rift between the two families has become more pronounced.
02:06 Marcos and Duterte's daughter, Sarah, ran as a tandem in the 2022 polls.
02:12 A Social Weather Station survey finds 44% of Filipino adults are optimistic their life
02:17 will improve in 2024, slightly down from September 2023.
02:22 The survey, conducted from December 8 to 11, reveals 44% of Filipinos who refer to themselves
02:28 as "optimists" say their quality of life will improve in the next 12 months.
02:33 Another 44% say it would stay the same, while a minority 5% or "pessimists" say it would
02:39 worsen, while 7% abstain from answering.
02:42 The net personal optimism score, which SWS computes by subtracting the percentage of
02:47 pessimists from optimists, is +39, classified as "very high."
02:52 But it is down from excellent +42 in September 2023, when 48% of Filipinos were optimists.
03:00 While national inflation eased in 2023, rice inflation rose to 19.6% in December, a 14-year
03:06 high.
03:07 The average inflation rate in 2023 was 6%, which failed to meet the government's target
03:12 of 2% to 4%.
03:17 Defense Secretary Gubo Chidoro orders the military to boost the number of troops stationed
03:21 at the northernmost islands near Taiwan.
03:24 He also calls for the development of more structures in Batanes, less than 200 kilometers
03:28 from Taiwan.
03:30 The Taiwan Defense Ministry says the Chinese military regularly sends ships and aircraft
03:35 through the Bashi Channel, situated between Taiwan and Batanes.
03:38 Chidoro says Batanes is the "spearhead of the Philippines as far as the northern baseline
03:43 is concerned."
03:44 In 2023, the Philippines almost doubled the number of its military bases, which the United
03:49 States can access, including three facing Taiwan.
03:52 China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, says the moves were "stoking the fire of regional
03:57 tensions."
03:58 Batanes was a training site for more than 17,000 Filipino and American troops during
04:03 the 2023 Balikatan exercises, the biggest-ever edition of the military drills.
04:11 The Philippine unemployment rate hit a near two-decade low in December 2023, driven mainly
04:16 by gains in construction and agriculture.
04:19 The Philippine Statistics Authority reports the unemployment rate was at 3.1% in December,
04:24 significantly lower than the 4.3 recorded in December 2022.
04:29 This represents a year-on-year decrease of 617,000 unemployed persons.
04:35 National statistician Dennis Mapa says the employment rate stood at 96.9%, the highest
04:40 since 2005.
04:42 Construction leads the top five sectors in terms of annual increase in employment, followed
04:46 by agriculture and forestry.
04:50 The underemployment rate, which is a measure of job quality, improved to 11.9% in December
04:55 2023, from 12.6% in December 2022.
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