2026 GLOBAL YOUTH SUMMIT EMPOWERS YOUNG FILIPINOS FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE Dynamic change rooted in informed and empowered action echoed across the four-city run of this year's Global Youth Summit (GYS). 1,000 youth attendees filled the MOA Music Hall for the NCR leg of the summit which featured influential advocates such as Dimples Romana, Aaron Maniego, Karmina Constantino-Torres, and Sarah Jessica Caringal in its speaker lineup. Hosted by SM Cares in partnership with the Global Peace Foundation Philippines, the annual youth empowerment forum champions real-world change through youth education focused on 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The final leg is happening on August 27, at SM City Laoag Event Center.
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Thursday, August 27, 2026 Vol. 21 No. 317
Trade’s new headache: Figuring out the tariff
By Andrea E. San Juan
DAY ahead of the Monetary Board’s policy meeting, a former deputy governor of the central bank explained how a potential third straight hike in the key interest rate would influence the behavior of households, manufacturers and businesses in the Philippines. In a message sent to the BusinessMirror on Wednesday, Former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said that while the immediate effect of another rate hike would be a “further tightening of financial con-
By Bless Aubrey Ogerio
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ditions,” the “bigger risk” is allowing inflation expectations to become unanchored, particularly when both this year’s and next year’s inflation are still seen to linger above the central bank’s 2 to 4-percent target range. See “Tradeoff,” A2
HALF OF REGIONS HAVE LARGER SHARE OF POOR HOUSEHOLDS
By Justine Xyrah Garcia
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ESPITE posting its lowest family poverty rate last year, more than half of the country’s regions still had a larger share of poor households than the national average. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that 10 of the 18 regions had poverty incidence among families higher than the national rate of 6.4 percent in 2025. The highest poverty incidence was recorded in
Region V (Bicol) at 16.8 percent, followed by Region X (Northern Mindanao) at 14.4 percent and the Negros Island Region at 14.3 percent. Other regions above the national rate were Region VIII (Eastern Visayas) at 12.8 percent—it was tied with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM)— and then Region IV-B (Mimaropa) at 11.3 percent, Region VII (Central Visayas) at 8.7 percent, See “Poor,” A2
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SAN JUAN’S NEXT BIG WAVE DMCI Homes President Alfredo R. Austria shows the scale model of
ARIFF confusion can become more than a headache for exporters—it can widen the gap between countries that have the capacity to track shifting trade rules and those that do not, according to economists. University of the Philippines (UP) School of Economics assistant professor Anthony Sabarillo said the problem becomes more damaging where governments and businesses have fewer resources to interpret and respond to rapidly changing trade policies. “Confusion is most damaging where state capacity and private sector know-how are most lacking,” Sabarillo said in a discussion on Wednesday in Quezon City. “And if countries are self-interested, those holding the tools for reducing confusion may have an incentive to deny them to rivals,” he added. The issue has become particularly relevant as US trade policy continues to change. Since July, Philippine goods entering the United States have been subject to a 12.5-percent additional tariff under a US Section 301 action targeting economies that Washington said failed to impose and effectively enforce prohibitions on imports produced with forced labor. The rate, however, does not ap-
ply uniformly to every product. The US order contains exemptions for certain goods, including products already covered by Section 232 tariffs and those that could cause domestic supply shortages or broader economic disruptions. Semiconductors, among the Philippines’s major exports to the US, are among the products reported to be exempt from the new tariff. That complexity is central to a new study discussed by Sabarillo and other economists. The paper, led by UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) chief economist Dennis Novy, examined US tariff announcements in 2025 and built a database covering 233 countries and nearly 19,000 product lines. It measured confusion through the number of relevant tariff announcements, possible tariff calculations and the potential range of tariff miscalculations. The study found that both tariff increases and confusion reduced US imports, with confusion more than doubling the effect of higher tariffs. The impact was also persistent and worsened as tariff rates increased. For Sabarillo, the findings raise a broader question for countries such as the Philippines: how can governments and businesses See “Tariff,” A2
Solmera Beach Park Resort in San Juan, Batangas, a 7.5-hectare beachfront development featuring condotels, residential accommodations, a convention center and a 4,000-square-meter pool complex. Targeted to open in February 2027, the resort’s convention center will accommodate up to 1,000 people and cater to corporate functions, conferences, celebrations and other group events. The development is expected to boost tourism in San Juan and generate opportunities for local suppliers, transport providers, tourism partners and other businesses serving increased visitor traffic. NONIE REYES
Growth pace to stay at ‘more of the same’ pace
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HE Philippine economy will grow at a “more of the same” pace until 2050 unless the country’s economic policy centers on the modernization of agriculture and the development of the manufacturing sector, and the government adopts a “more active” role, researchers from the De La Salle University (DLSU) warned. On Wednesday, the DLSU launched a book with the title, “The Philippine Economy Toward 2050: Economic Structure and Monetary Reality.”
The book scrutinized the culprits behind the Philippines’s “relative” economic stagnation compared with its Southeast Asian neighbors despite what the authors called “sustained optimistic government rhetoric.” Upon developing the ANIMO econometric model of the Philippine economy which examined how the economy can “realistically progress” by 2050, Arlene Inocencio, Professor and Dean of the Carlos L. Tiu School of Economics at De La Salle University said: “Under
current structural dynamics, the economy will continue to grow, but not at a pace meaningfully different from recent experience.” The result is what the authors describe as “more of the same” (MOTS). “Per capita income will rise and poverty will decline, but the Philippines will not approach the income levels of South Korea, much less Singapore,” Inocencio said in the foreword of the book. She said achieving faster and sustained growth will require a
“different economic structure”— one anchored on manufacturing and exports, and therefore active participation in global markets. At present, she noted that most employment generation occurs in low-productivity services, such as retail and delivery. The dean of DLSU’s School of Economics pointed out that the authors of this book “rightly note” that the Philippines cannot industrialize today in the same way South Korea did in the 1970s. See “Growth,” A2
IMPEACHMENT WATCH Office of the Vice President Assistant Secretary and Assistant
Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio takes the witness stand at the Senate sitting as an impeachment court during Day 19 of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, in Pasay City. Declared the second hostile witness by the impeachment court on Day 18, Ortonio faced cross-examination by the defense after completing his direct examination by the House prosecution panel on Tuesday. His testimony centers on the OVP’s confidential funds and their alleged misuse. ROY DOMINGO/SPPA POOL
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 61.7180 n JAPAN 0.3877 n UK 84.2574 n HK 7.8745 n CHINA 9.1838 n SINGAPORE 48.6275 n AUSTRALIA 44.2086 n EU 72.0496 n KOREA 0.0447 n SAUDI ARABIA 16.4384 Source: BSP (August 26, 2026)