00:00A breezy Tuesday afternoon friends and folks, Denise Osorio here and you're watching PTV News Now.
00:11Kicking off with our top stories this afternoon.
00:15The government will include the 20 pesos per kilo rice in the Department of Social Welfare and Development or DSWD's Walang Gutom program to enhance food access for poor families, according to DSWD's Secretary Rex Gatchalian.
00:30The affordable rice will be made available through accredited retailers like Kadiwa Outlets and Small Agri Cooperatives, where beneficiaries redeem their food credits.
00:40Launched in July 2023, the Walang Gutom 2027 Food Stamp program aims to assist 750,000 food-poor families by 2027 through monthly food credits and nutrition education.
00:54The 20 pesos per kilo rice program, Venteng Bigas Meron Na, is part of the government's effort to make rice more affordable.
01:02A survey by social weather stations commissioned by a major telecom company found that hunger among WGP beneficiaries declined from 48.7% in October 2024 to 44.6% in December 2024.
01:18Regions like Negros Occidental, Cotabato City, and Zamboanga del Norte showed the most significant improvements.
01:26The National Police Commission or NAPOLCOM has expressed full support for the priorities of New Philippine National Police Chief General Nicolás Torre III,
01:37particularly his three-minute response time directive and proposal to shorten police work shifts from 12 to 8 hours to enhance efficiency and work-life balance.
01:48NAPOLCOM Vice Chairperson Rafael Calinisan emphasized that the agency stands behind Torre's leadership and reform plans aimed at improving police service and public trust.
02:00Torre, the 31st PNP Chief, recently replaced General Romel Francisco Marbil.
02:06Additionally, NAPOLCOM has resumed and expanded its scholarship assistance program for children of PNP personnel who were killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty.
02:17The program now covers K-12 vocational and college education, including both legitimate and illegitimate children, funded by proceeds from firearm licensing fees as mandated by law.
02:31Drones are a subject's eyes on his object of attention, purpose, or mission.
02:37A Seattle startup is ramping up action by first responders in times of natural calamities and disasters.
02:44VOA's Natasha Mosgovaia found the story from Seattle.
02:51This drone can break a window to fly inside a building in hazardous conditions, navigate and create a 3D map of the environment without use of GPS,
03:00and establish two-way communications with survivors of a natural disaster or attackers in the case of a hostage crisis.
03:06If it falls on the ground upside down, it can turtle, flip upright and launch itself up in the air.
03:14A Seattle startup is aiming to provide drones for first responders.
03:17The company has already deployed its Lemur-2 model drone with several law enforcement agencies in the U.S.
03:23Long term, we're really interested in this idea of making the police helicopter obsolete and using drones to respond to all 911 calls in seconds.
03:32Use drones to deliver Narcan, ADs, EpiPens, give firefighters a live thermal imaging view of a structure fire before they even arrive on scene.
03:43And tell police if what that person is holding is a lighter or a gun before they show up.
03:49Development, prototyping, and manufacturing of the drones all take place in the same building in Seattle.
03:55The company doesn't have the luxury of procuring cheap components from other countries.
03:59The entire global supply chain for drone components is really based out of a single city, which is Shenzhen, China.
04:06We're NDA compliant, which means that we don't utilize any electronics, any silicon from China, Russia, Iran, other countries on an entity list.
04:16We've had to sort of build a domestic supply chain for all of the componentry inside of this bird.
04:23Brings drones started as indoor devices, but the company enhanced their outdoor capabilities
04:28after the drones were used for reconnaissance and rescue missions in Ukraine and after the 2023 earthquake in Turkey.
04:35Natasha Mosgovae, VOA News, Seattle, Washington.
