Latest news with #Roque
GMA Network
10 hours ago
- Business
- GMA Network
DTI seeks higher budget for MSMEs support
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is seeking a higher budget for its programs aimed at supporting the growth of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in line with President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr.'s vow to continue providing low-interest loans for the sector. 'Actually, napakaimportante po ang puhunan sa isang MSME or isang micro enterprises kasi iyon ang pinakaimportante na kailangan nila. Most of them, mayroon na po silang mga produkto pero hindi nila maisulong ito dahil kulang po sila ng puhunan,' Trade Secretary Ma. Cristina Roque said during the Post-State of the Nation Address (SONA) forum in San Juan City on Tuesday. (Actually, funding is very important for an MSME or a microenterprise because that is the most important thing they need. Most of them already have products, but they cannot promote them because they lack capital.) In his fourth SONA, Marcos declared: 'Ipagpapatuloy natin ang pagbibigay puhunan sa mas marami pang negosyante.' (Let's continue to support more entrepreneurs.) 'Para makapagsimula ng maliit na negosyo o micro-enterprise sa mababang interest at walang kolateral.' (To start a small business or micro-enterprise at low interest and without collateral.) At the sidelines of the forum, Roque told reporters that the DTI will ask Congress for about P10 billion. However, she said the Trade Department is still finalizing its funding proposal for MSMEs' support. 'But we can go higher because first, our President mentioned that there's really a push for the capital. Definitely, he can provide more funding,' Roque said. 'There's really a push for the MSMEs, especially micro [enterprises]. We're really trying to make sure that we give funding for micro because they need to grow. They cannot remain as micro,' she added. The Trade chief emphasized that MSMEs comprise 99.5% of businesses in the country and employ about 62% of the labor force. –VAL, GMA Integrated News
Filipino Times
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Filipino Times
Sue Ramirez, Dominic Roque celebrate shared birthday together
Celebrity couple Sue Ramirez and Dominic Roque marked a special milestone as they celebrated their shared birthday on July 20 with an intimate gathering attended by close friends. Ramirez, born in 1996, and Roque, born in 1990, share a six-year age gap but were both born on the same day. hotos posted on their Instagram stories showed the couple posing with a birthday cake and sharing a sweet kiss during the celebration. The Flower Girl actress also shared moments from her 29th birthday on Instagram, highlighting their first joint birthday celebration, a dish of lumpiang togue prepared by Roque's mother, and reunions with friends and loved ones. 'So so blessed. Birthday weekend surrounded by the people I love. I've got everything I need,' she wrote. Roque also posted a birthday greeting for his partner, writing, 'Happy Happy Birthday, my Baby. Same birthday! Happy Birthday to us.' While the couple has yet to reveal when their relationship officially began, they were first romantically linked after being spotted kissing at a bar in Siargao in November 2024. Roque confirmed they were dating a month later.
Arab Times
05-07-2025
- Business
- Arab Times
Police in Brazil arrest suspect over $100M banking hack
SAO PAULO, July 5, (AP): Police in Brazil arrested a suspect in connection with a cyberattack that diverted more than 540 million Brazilian reais (about $100 million) from the country's banking systems, authorities said Friday. The breach affected Brazil's widely used instant payment system, known as PIX, which is used by 76.4% of the population. Hackers targeted C&M, a software company that connects financial institutions to the Central Bank to enable PIX transactions. Police in Sao Paulo said the $100 million loss refers to just one financial institution that worked with C&M and total losses could be even higher. Officials identified the suspect as João Roque, a C&M employee who worked in information technology and allegedly helped others gain unauthorized access to PIX systems. According to police, Roque told investigators he sold his credentials to hackers who recruited him earlier this year. The Associated Press could not immediately reach his lawyers. After breaching the company's system, hackers carried out massive fake PIX operations. The fraud took place in a single night and did not affect clients - only financial institutions contracted with C&M. Police are now trying to identify other members of the group and said at least four more people participated in the cyberattack. They are also tracking and attempting to freeze suspected assets. So far, authorities have blocked 270 million reais linked to the scheme. Brazil's Central Bank said Thursday that it suspended part of C&M's operations after the company took measures to reduce the risk of further attacks. C&M said in a statement published by local media that it is cooperating with authorities and that preliminary evidence indicates the breach stemmed from unauthorized access to security credentials through social engineering, not from flaws in its systems.
GMA Network
02-07-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
Palace to Roque: Why blame Marcos on being forced to leave PH?
Malacañang on Wednesday slammed former presidential spokesman Harry Roque for blaming the Marcos administration for his decision to leave the country amid the cases he is currently facing. Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro took a swipe at Roque, saying that President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. was not with the former Palace official when he got involved in supposed "illegal activities." ''Unang-una po, mukhang isinisisi pa po niya ang naging kalagayan niya at ang kinahinatnan niya kay Pangulo at sa administrasyon... Hindi naman po niya yata kasama ang Pangulo nang siya ay nakipag-deal sa Whirlwind at sa Lucky South 99,'' Castro said. (First of all, it seems like he still blames his situation and the outcome on the President and the administration... He apparently wasn't with the President when he made deals with Whirlwind and Lucky South 99.) GMA News Online has reached out to Roque but he has yet to reply as of posting time. In May, warrants of arrest were issued against Roque, Cassandra Ong and 48 others for qualified human trafficking in relation to the alleged scam hub run by Lucky South 99. Roque, however, claimed that he was being politically persecuted by the Marcos administration after the warrant was issued against him. "I am a victim of political persecution by the Marcos government because I am an ally of the Dutertes," Roque previously said. Castro, however, maintained that the warrant of arrest against Roque was valid. "Paano niyang isisisi ito sa Pangulo at sa administrasyon? So, sa mga ganitong klaseng obstructionist, sana po ay ihinto nila at maging tunay na Pilipino," Castro said. The former spokesperson has denied the accusations against him and said he is not and never has been a legal counsel of any illegal POGO and was not a counsel of Lucky South 99. Roque has said that he is currently at The Hague seeking asylum. The Department of Justice claimed that this has been rejected, but Roque said that this was just "fake news." —VAL/ GMA Integrated News
Time Magazine
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
Breaking Down the Ending of Netflix Sports Drama Olympo
Warning: this post contains spoilers for Olympo. Olympo is full of drama. From the producers of Elite, the Netflix series follows a group of young adults who train at the Pirineros High Performance Center in Spain, with dreams of World Cup titles and Olympic golds. There's a significant ensemble, all vying for not just glory, but also sponsorship from the clothing brand Olympo, who choose only the most promising athletes to represent them, offering vital recognition that lifts athletes to the next level. 'No one gets to the Olympics without sponsorship,' as the young athletes say. Among them is our protagonist, Amaia (Clara Galle), who trains relentlessly to be the best synchronized swimmer in all of Spain, and by the end of the season, has learned some key information about her cohort. The drug discovery The penultimate episode of Olympo confirms one of Amaia's long-held suspicions: several athletes at Pirineos have been given performance-enhancing drugs. The HPC isn't the only one involved; they are working alongside Olympo to try the drug out on top prospects. The drugs are undetectable, a fact that threatens to destroy competitive sports forever. And at the end of the episode, Charly (Martí Cordero) has some vitriolic and homophobic words for his rugby teammate, openly gay Roque (Agustin Della Corte). Roque (who was given the drugs to heal his broken hand) reacts violently, nearly beating Charly to death while getting a large chunk of glass stuck in his arm. The episode ends with both Charly and Roque lying on the floor, badly bleeding. If that sounds like a lot, just wait til you hear what happens next. The finale finds the athletes preparing for their respective events that'll decide who participates in the world championships. Amaia is still trying to expose the school and sports organization Olympo for drugging athletes, tipping off the anti-doping administration and convincing them to perform blood tests on the athletes. In recovery, Roque wakes to find that he can no longer feel his hand. He begs Hugo to have whatever they've done to him reversed, but Hugo (Sergio Álvarez), a former rugby champion and top player at Olympo, threatens him, telling him that his rugby career is over forever if he keeps complaining. The doctors convince Hugo that he has nothing to worry about, although they warn that traces of the drug can be found if they go digging for it. But the blood tests eventually come back negative, meaning Nuria (Maria Romanillos) and other athletes who took the drug are allowed to participate. The sporting events are underway, and Zoe (Nira Oshaia) wins her race, finding a second wind after her friend Renata (Andy Duato) goes down with an injury. Amaia's life is turned upside down when her mother, a former Olympic champion, arrives to force Amaia back into competition. She tries to take extreme measures to keep from competing, like taking laxatives, but she's found by Fátima (Najwa Khliwa), who stops her. As Fátima leaves, she falls down the stairs, and it's implied that Amaia was the one who pushed her. Fátima took her place in synchro, and by taking her out, Amaia is back in the competition, bringing her one step closer to her lifelong dream of Olympic gold. Except that Nuria, Amaia's best friend, has turned on her. She chooses fellow swimmer Peque (Laura Ubach) over her. It's a move that devastates Amaia, but it turns out it wasn't Nuria's choice. She was forced to make the decision by fellow Olympo executive Jana (Melina Matthews), who is working alongside Hugo to remove the students who are seeking to expose the school for the improper drug use. Among those students is Zoe, who loses her sponsorship with Olympo despite winning her race, because she refused to take the drug. Roque, who also wants to take Olympo down for their treatment of him, both as a gay athlete and for giving him the drugs. Roque sees Olympo as committing pinkwashing, reducing him to his queerness and using his homosexuality to cover up the reality of their drug program. He manages to leave the facility, finding his teammate and boyfriend Sebas (Juan Perales) and Zoe at a nearby cabin, where the athletes often escape to have a good time. They aren't alone in their desire to take down Olympo, and are joined by fellow Olympo sponsor Cristian (Nuno Gallego). Zoe reveals their plan to take out Olympo: she's secured a sample of the drug they've been using to give their athletes an unfair advantage. What happens to Amaia in Olympo? It's competition day for the synchronized swimmers, and Olympo hits us with another surprise: Amaia has regained her spot in the competition, performing alongside Nuria, something they've done for years together. During their epic performance, Amaia and Nuria are immaculate, perfectly matching each other. It's a staggering display, and at the end, they do the unthinkable. They pull off an underwater stunt that's incredibly difficult to perform, and doing it over and over requires inhuman breath control. Nuria nearly died trying to beat the record in the first episode, but here, both she and Amaia sail past the record with ease. It can mean only one thing—Amaia has given in to Olympo and given up her fight against them, taking the drug to achieve perfection. While everyone gives the duo a standing ovation, Zoe and company are devastated, knowing the truth. Amaia has taken the drug and turned on them in the fight against Olympo. Amaia has gone from ringleader in the fight for justice to cracking under the immense pressure put upon her by herself and her mother to achieve greatness. Zoe leaves the arena and finds the tester from the anti-doping association, and gives her a sample of the untraceable drug. As Amaia leaves the pool, she looks her boyfriend Cristian in the eyes, seeing his devastation. But before Amaia can leave the pool, she starts to have a reaction to the drug. She loses her balance and falls in the pool. As she sinks to the bottom of the pool, the season ends. The fight against Olympo may not be over, but Amaia's fall and Zoe's evidence is sure to break the entire fight wide open in the next season of Olympo.
