00:02A delightful Monday evening to everyone, Ice Martinez here, homegrown and pleased to bring you PTV News Now.
00:08We kick off our show tonight with what a lot are talking about.
00:13Bracing for the economic jolt from a surge in prices of petroleum products and gas prices at the pump,
00:19the parade of government offices instituting four-day work weeks to help conserve energy and power resources has begun.
00:26Among the first to get its custom-shortened work week, the DepEd, which today greenlit a four-day on-site
00:32work week arrangement
00:34for Monday or Monday teaching staff with Fridays selected as scheduled work from home day.
00:40The arrangement covers only non-teaching and related teaching personnel to include temps or contract of services slash job order
00:48recruits.
00:49Meanwhile, this early this afternoon, Manila City Hall announced it was proceeding to enforce its traditional four-day work week
00:56as per the directive of City Hall Memorandum Order No. 8 approved and signed by Mayor Francisco Domagoso this afternoon.
01:04And his decision arrived at a through consultation with his officers and constituents.
01:09The Maine or Manila mayor said his office expresses full support for the president's directive last Friday
01:15and has designated Monday to Thursday work week schedule of 10 hours a day with an extended long weekend rest
01:22for workers.
01:23A move the affected workers welcome with more rest and quality time at home on their hands
01:28while helping conserve energy and power resources in the workplace.
01:34March 11 Wednesday is encircled in the Philippine National Police's calendar.
01:38It is the first-year anniversary of former President Rodrigo Duterte's arrest
01:43and his subsequent transfer to the ICC Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.
01:48And as for the police's social media monitoring staff, there is a planned protest rally by the former president's supporters
01:53for Wednesday to begin along a stretch of EDSA in either Mandaluyong or Makati
01:59which will proceed and eventually culminate outside the Villamore Air Base.
02:03This protest rally, Duterte's supporters says, is intended to draw more attention and sympathy
02:09to the plight of the former president sitting in The Hague for a year now
02:13and awaiting a spit on charges on crimes against humanity.
02:16Police Chief General Jose Malencio Nartates Jr. confirmed the alert level status for Wednesday
02:22with an order to deploy an undisclosed number of peacekeepers to keep the protesters in line and in order.
02:29Likewise, he has directed more personnel in Davos City
02:32where the former president's compatriots and diehard supporters are prepping for an even bigger event.
02:39Still, the nation's top cop has made it crystal clear to all his men on assignment for Wednesday
02:44to maintain a maximum tolerance mode of peacekeeping enforcement all throughout the duration of the event.
02:53To further mark International Women's Day, which we celebrated yesterday,
02:57we feature a woman of quiet influence and inspiration,
03:01a Yale Law graduate born and raised in San Diego, California,
03:05from Hindu immigrants and established mentors of the academe.
03:09She worked as a civil litigation trial lawyer for a well-known California law firm
03:14and she happens to be the first Indian-American second lady in United States history,
03:19Attorney Usha Chilikuri Vance.
03:2538-year-old Usha Vance entered the national spotlight
03:28when she introduced her husband, J.D. Vance, at the Republican National Convention.
03:33I met J.D. in law school when he was fresh out of Ohio State.
03:36The daughter of Indian immigrants, Usha Chilikuri, was born in California and raised Hindu.
03:42She and Vance married in an interfaith ceremony in 2014.
03:47I grew up in San Diego in a middle-class community
03:51with two loving parents, both immigrants from India.
03:56Usha Vance's parents are academics, as is her great-aunt, a physics professor in India,
04:01where there is a lot of pride in Usha Vance's accomplishments.
04:05I, in fact, very proud of the situation because from my family,
04:11such a great intellectual has reason means it is something.
04:15Her former law firm Profile says Usha Vance participated
04:19in a media freedom access clinic at Yale.
04:22She also worked at an Iraqi assistance refugee project there.
04:27She clerked for both Supreme Court Justice John Roberts
04:30and for Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was at the Court of Appeals.
04:34The reunions...
04:35Anita McBride, who once served as First Lady Laura Bush's chief of staff,
04:39says people who know Usha Vance speak highly of her.
04:43Super smart, very collegial, got along with everyone,
04:48and just is a hard worker and a nice person.
04:52And you want to hear things like that about people that are maybe in public life.
04:59You know, I think it says something about their character, that they're well-liked.
05:05Usha Vance's status as the child of immigrants could help voters from marginalized groups
05:10see her husband in a new light.
05:12He adapted to my vegetarian diet and learned to cook food for my mother, Indian food.
05:17She's validating and serves as a validator for him with different, potentially different communities
05:24who might not think that J.D. Vance would understand them or perhaps, you know, support or advocate for them.
05:32What can the mother of three expect now that she's been thrust into the national spotlight?
05:36Well, really picking apart your background, your heritage, your education, the jobs that you've chosen,
05:45it's all now fair game.
05:49J.D. Vance says his wife is, quote, not a very political person.
05:53She is out on the campaign trail with him.
05:56Mrs. Vance resigned from her law firm when her husband became Donald Trump's running mate.
06:01And when we win, you can hold us to that promise.
06:05Dora McQuarr, VOA News, Washington.
06:11So we've come to the end of tonight's show.
06:13Join us anew tomorrow evening for another round of stories here at home and abroad in Breaking at the Hour.
06:19Don't forget to always stay connected by catching the news right here.
06:22This has been Ice Martinians wishing you all a cool, restful night ahead.
06:26And thank you for watching PTV News Now.
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