BusinessMirror November 24, 2025

INFRASPEND PLUNGES

ON DPWH FIASCO

HBy Reine Juvierre S. Alberto

EIGHTENED scrutiny over the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), coupled with adverse weather conditions, hampered the government’s infrastructure spending in September, sending it plunging by 42.6 percent year-on-year.

Latest data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed infrastructure and other capital outlays dropped to P78.7 billion in September 2025 from P137.1 billion in the same month a year ago.

The DBM attributed the decline to the delays in contractor billings due to ongoing inspections by DPWH implementing offices to verify project status and completion, slowing payment processing and disbursement.

Some DPWH implementing offices’ bank accounts have also been frozen due to ongoing investigations, which means that offices cannot process payments or disburse funds.

Still, the DBM said that payments for the local counterpart of foreign-assisted projects of the De -

Oversight institutions, including the Office of the Ombudsman, the Commission on Audit, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and the DBM, have also intensified review of transactions, which led agencies to become more conservative and cautious in processing payment claims.

See “Infra,” A2

MINING REFORMS, MINERALS PLAN TO FUEL GROWTH–DENR

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

NVIRONMENT Secre -

Etary Raphael P.M. Lotilla on Friday said the Marcos administration is accelerating policy reforms to position the Philippines as a responsible player in the global clean energy transition, particularly through a more sustainable and valueadding mining industry.

Through a recorded mes -

sage at the StratBase ADR Institute’s Pilipinas Conference in Makati City recently, the DENR chief said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is pushing “concrete policy action, cross-sector collaboration, and long-term investments in resilience” as the country moves past the midpoint of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s term.

AS the Marcos Jr. administration faces rising political unrest over the flood control corruption scandal, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is seen to further cut interest rates to cushion the economy from stalled infrastructure spending and a weakening peso.

“In six out of 11 economies we expect modest further easing, the greatest further easing forecast [is] for the Philippines,” S&P Global Ratings said in its Asia-Pacific Credit Outlook 2026: Same North, Different Stars.

S&P Global Ratings forecasts only modest further monetary easing in 2026, while Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are projected to maintain current policy rates through the end of 2026.

“Domestic developments in some Asia-Pacific countries could reduce policy space for their sovereign governments,” S&P Global Ratings said, noting that the Philippines saw large street protests focusing on governance-related issues in recent months.

At the same time, think tank Capital Economics senior Asia economist Gareth Leather said the recent resignation of two Cabinet ministers over graft allegations related to flood control projects “raises the risk of public anger spilling out into protests and social unrest.”

Iglesia ni Cristo, an influential church in the country, organized large demonstrations last weekend, while a nationwide rally dubbed the “Trillion Peso March” is set for November 30, 2025.

XPANDING connections between non-financial corporations and lenders—shaped by housing trends and higher leverage— are emerging as key risks to watch next year, according to the Financial Stability Coordination Council (FSCC). In a statement over the weekend, FSCC said its top initiative for 2026 is a comprehensive mapping of corporate linkages in the Philippines to identify contagion pathways and stress points

across the financial system.

The FSCC said the link between non-financial corporations and the financial system has deepened in recent years, with risks largely shaped by housing market trends and rising leverage in both corporate and household sectors.

“The FSCC’s top priority is to stay ahead of emerging risks and respond as one cohesive front,” FSCC Chairman and Bangko Sentral ng

Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. said.

“By improving system-wide monitoring and coordination, the FSCC aims to safeguard the stability of the Philippine financial system,” Remolona added.

Alongside the mapping effort, the FSCC will also create an interagency coordinated response

See “FSCC,” A2

“Unrest could further dampen economic activity, which is already suffering after the government halted public infrastructure works on the back of the corruption allegations,” Leather said. This has also contributed to the third quarter’s sharp economic slowdown, with growth at only 4 percent year-on-year.

Given the country’s wide current account deficit and increased reliance on more volatile forms of foreign capital, the Philippine peso is also at risk of coming under fresh downward pressure, Leather said.

“The central bank would have ample scope to intervene to support the currency—FX reserves are large, at close to $110 billion,” Leather said.

“With inflation low [the headline stood at 1.7 percent year-onyear last month], we doubt that downward pressure on the currency would prevent the BSP from cutting interest rates further in order to support the economy,” Leather added.

BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. has said that the BSP could deliver another 25-basis points reduction in the country’s key policy rate on December 11 (See: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2025/11/19/another-ratecut-possible-in-dec-bsp/).

“I would say it’s possible. Pwede naman,” Remolona told reporters, when asked if a rate cut is likely, considering the slower-than-expected economic expansion in the third quarter of the year.

Should the Monetary Board reduce the key policy rate, this will bring down the total number of rate cuts to 200 basis points since the easing cycle began in August 2024.

The key policy rate currently stands at 4.75 percent, after the Monetary Board reduced the policy rate by 25 basis points in its last rate-setting meeting in October 2025. Reine Juvierre S. Alberto

PHL asks Interpol to issue red notice on Harry Roque

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

THE Philippine government has already asked the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to issue a red notice against former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, in connection with the qualified human trafficking case filed against him.

Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) spokesperson Winston Casio also confirmed that a red notice has been issued by the Interpol against Roque’s co-accused Cassandra Li Ong.

Roque left the country after being implicated in the illegal activities of Lucky South 99, a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) firm in Porac, Pampanga. Roque is reportedly at The Hague, Netherlands awaiting the result of his petition for political asylum.

The former Palace spokesperson claimed being a victim of

political persecution launched by the administration of President Marcos Jr. against former President Rodrigo Duterte, his family and allies.

“The Philippine government has already submitted a request for a red notice, an international arrest warrant, for Mr. Roque. It’s a bit difficult because he is projecting that he is allegedly a victim of political persecution,” Casio said in a radio interview.

Roque was accused of benefiting from the fruits of the trafficking in persons operations and other illegal activities of Lucky South 99 and Whirlwind.

Based on the complaint filed by Philippine National PoliceCriminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), Roque actively participated in the illegal activities of POGO operator Lucky South 99.

The complaint cited the claim of lawyer Jessa Mariz Fernandez, assistant president of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), that Roque and Ong went to their office to have a meeting with Pagcor chairman Alejandro Tengco regarding the arrears of Lucky South 99. Fernandez further claimed that Roque made several follow-ups with her on the status of the application for the renewal of the online gambling permit of Lucky South 99.

A warrant of arrest has been issued against Roque, Ong and several others by the Angeles City Regional Trial Court of Angeles City.

The Department of Justice had already asked the trial court to cancel Roque’s passport, but the petition has yet to be resolved.

Roque has been issuing statements on his Facebook account calling for the ouster or resignation of Marcos Jr. for alleged corruption and drug addiction.

On the other hand Casio said an Interpol red notice had been issued on Ong, who reportedly left the country when the 19th Congress ended last January.

A red notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.

partment of Transportation (DOTr) and the Revised AFP Modernization Program of the Department of National Defense partially tempered the decline in infrastructure disbursements.

During the nine-month period, infrastructure and other capital outlays also declined by 10.7 percent to P877.1 billion from P982.4 billion in the same period a year ago. When assessed against the P1.003-trillion program for the first nine months of 2025, infrastructure spending is lower by P126.5 billion or 12.6 percent.

The sharp decline in public construction spending, down by 26.2 percent year-on-year, has dragged the country’s economic growth to 4 percent in the third quarter, which is below the government’s 5.5 to 6.5 percent target.

Government Final Consumption Expenditure, which grew by 5.8 percent in the third quarter of 2025, contributed 0.8 percentage points to the GDP growth during the quarter, while public construction was -1.3 percentage points to GDP growth.

“Capital expenditures are expected to partly normalize towards the end of the year, with the implementation of most public works by the DPWH [seen to] resume before the year ends as governance measures and safeguards against corruption are put in place,” the DBM said.

The suspension of procurement activities for locally-funded civil work projects has also been lifted by the DPWH on September 16, 2025.

The resumption comes with stricter guidelines, including livestreamed bidding, project geotagging, Road and Bridge Information Application validation, enhanced data verification systems and tighter procurement rules, to prevent corruption and ensure compliance.

Moreover, the DPWH has also strengthened integrity measures by signing a cooperation agreement with the Philippine Competition Commission to detect and address anti-competitive behavior in public infrastructure projects.

Lotilla, who was the guest speaker at a panel discussion dubbed Leveraging Sustainable Investments for Inclusive Growth, focused on mining policy reforms and initiatives of the Marcos administration. “In mining and minerals development, we are now implementing a suite of reforms that reflects a more integrated and future-focused governance approach,” he said.

The DENR chief said a Department Order aligns social development and management programs with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring that mining’s social impact is meaningful, measurable, and tied to local needs. In parallel, another department order streamlines permitting under the Philippine Mining Act, strengthening transparency, predictability, and accountability. These reforms reduce regulatory bottlenecks without compromising environmental standards, allowing responsible investment to move faster and farther.

Lotilla also emphasized that environmental resilience must underpin economic resilience. This, he said, requires a shift to cleaner energy systems, smarter urban development, and a circular economy that reduces waste and decouples growth from environmental harm.

Another order streamlines permitting processes to improve transparency and predictability while maintaining environmental safeguards.

“These reforms reduce regulatory bottlenecks without compromising environmental standards,” Lotilla said, adding that responsible investments can now “move faster and farther.”

Lotilla said the government aims to double mining’s contribution to the national economy— from the current 1 percent of GDP to 2 percent by 2028.

This target, he emphasized, will not be achieved solely through extraction, but through downstream processing, valueadded activities, and integration with clean energy and manufacturing supply chains. Central to this strategy is the development of a national critical minerals industry. Lotilla said the Philippines is finalizing an executive order that establishes a policy framework for the responsible exploration and processing of key minerals, such as nickel, cobalt, and copper—materials essential to batteries, electric vehicles, renewable energy equipment, and digital technologies.

“But wealth beneath the ground means little if it does not translate to sustainable, equitable value above ground,” he said. The planned framework is expected to modernize environmental rules, support circular value chains, promote domestic manufacturing, and strengthen partnerships with like-minded countries to bring in clean technologies and supply-chain expertise.

Lotilla added that the DENR is also exploring technologies that can extract additional value from mine tailings, including potential recovery of rare earth elements or construction-grade materials, as part of the Philippines’ shift to a circular economy. “Our goal is not simply to mine more,” he said. “It is to mine better, process smarter, and govern with integrity.”

From January to September 2025, overall government spending reached P4.484 trillion, up by 5.2 percent from P4.263 trillion a year ago.

Personnel services expenditures rose by 6.6 percent to P1.113 trillion, while maintenance and other operating expenses increased by 11.2 percent to P838.9 billion.

As of end-September, the remaining program balance amounts to P206.3 billion or 3.3 percent of this year’s P6.326-trillion budget.

The government also has about P1.307 trillion in programmed spending, the bulk of which will be used for social services to guarantee that expenditures will directly benefit the Filipino people. protocol to address potential systemic disruptions.

Moreover, the banking sector remains resilient, as supported by robust capital, healthy liquidity, and ample loan loss provisioning, according to FSCC’s latest assessment. Stress tests also showed that banks’ post-shock capital adequacy ratios are comfortably above regulatory thresholds.

To further develop the capital market, the FSCC said it is working on establishing a standardized bond pricing convention and refining the open market operations for greater efficiency. The FSCC brings together the BSP, Department of Finance, Insurance Commission, Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Securities and Exchange Commission to jointly monitor and manage systemic risks in the Philippine financial system. Reine Juvierre S. Alberto

PNP steps up coordination with Interpol for Ong arrest

THE National Police (PNP has stepped up coordination with international law enforcement authorities to locate and arrest Cassandra Ong, a key figure linked to the controversial Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hub Lucky South 99 in Pampanga.

“Gagawin ng  PNP  ang lahat upang mapabalik siya dito at maharap niya ang mga kaso laban sa kanya  [The PNP will do everything to bring her back to the country so she could face the charges against her],” the acting PNP chief, Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr., said in a statement on Sunday.

The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (Paocc) earlier said Ong fled the country early this year and was last monitored in Japan after her release from detention.

Ong is the subject of an active warrant of arrest issued by the Regional Trial Court in Pampanga in May for qualified human trafficking in connection with the alleged illegal operations of the Porac, Pampanga-based Lucky South 99.

Nartatez said they will be closely working with the International Criminal Police Organization following the issuance of a Red Notice for Ong.

“The PNP is committed to deliver justice to the victims of illegal Pogo hubs,” he said. “Those involved in these illegal operations must face the consequences of their actions.”

The PNP’s move is in line with the directive of President Marcos to strengthen law enforcement actions against illegal Pogo operations and ensure full accountability for human trafficking offenders. PNA

Navy sees stronger ties with Japanese counterpart

THE Philippine Fleet is tightening its naval embrace with Japan as both countries accelerate security cooperation amid Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the West Philippine Sea and wider Indo-Pacific.

Rear Adm. Joe Anthony Orbe, commander of the Philippine Fleet, led a delegation to Japan this week for a string of high-level engagements with the Japan SelfDefense Fleet (JSDF) and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF)—a visit that comes as Manila scrambles to broaden its strategic partnerships.

On November 20, Orbe met the JSDF commander, Vice Adm. Katsushi Omachi, in Yokosuka where both sides acknowledged the “growing frequency” of joint activities, from maritime patrols to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) drills, a trajectory supercharged by the newly signed Philippines-Japan Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA).

The pact will allow faster interoperability through shared exercises, logistics and troop access.

The delegation also toured JS Kumano, one of Japan’s nextgeneration frigates, as Tokyo continues expanding its defense role in the region amid rising Chinese pressure on regional sea lanes.

The following day, Orbe paid a courtesy call on the JMSDF chief of staff, Adm. Akira Saito, in Tokyo. Saito welcomed Manila’s growing openness to deeper security ties, stressing the importance of “working closer together” to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The visit underscores the Philippine Fleet’s accelerating pivot toward like-minded security partners as Manila faces increasingly hostile encounters inside its own exclusive economic zone, from water-cannon attacks to dangerous Chinese maneuvers in and around West Philippine Sea. PNA

Immigration tightens watch at airports, sea terminals

TBy Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

ALAWMAKER has raised alarm over the economic fallout caused by disinformation, stressing that fake news does not only mislead the public but can also destabilize markets, undermine foreign relations, and drive away investors at a time when the Philippines is working to strengthen its global competitiveness.

Parañaque Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan said the proposed law, which he sponsors under House Bill (HB) 5241, is essential to protect the economy from deceptive information that can trigger public panic, damage investor sentiment, and weaken confidence in the government’s capacity to maintain stability.

Yamsuan sponsored his anti-false information measure—House Bill 5241— along with HB 2697 during a recent hearing of the House Committee on Public Information.

A technical working group, in coordination with the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology (ICT), was formed to consolidate these and 10 other measures into a substitute bill. The TWG was also tasked to fine-tune the provisions of the substitute bill with the participation of various stakeholders from the government, media, cybersecurity and technology groups, civil society, and social media platforms.

Yamsuan said several recent incidents illustrate how a single false report can inflict economic harm. These include misleading

claims that South Korea had canceled an infrastructure loan to the Philippines and wrong information about an alleged data breach involving a major fintech firm—both of which, he said, risked damaging diplomatic ties and creating uncertainty among investors.

He also pushed for strict liability on creators and operators of troll farms, bot networks, and organized online campaigns that intentionally manipulate public discourse and fuel economic or political instability. Under HB 5241, individuals who deliberately spread fake news will face imprisonment of six to 12 years, a fine ranging from P500,000 to P2 million, or both.

The heaviest penalties would apply in cases where fake news undermines national security, interferes with elections, disrupts public order, or has a direct impact on public safety, foreign relations, or the country’s economic standing.

Public officials, journalists, and social media influencers with large followings who knowingly spread fake news may also face maximum penalties under the proposed measure. Yamsuan said that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content and deepfakes creates new economic risks, especially with barangay elections scheduled next year.

Disinformation campaigns could mislead voters, tarnish reputations, and influence markets or investment decisions based on

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

HE Bureau of Immigration said it has placed under heightened alert all its personnel stationed at international airports and seaports to prevent possible attempts by those involved in the multi-billion anomalous flood control projects of the government to leave the country despite the issuance of an arrest warrant against them by the Sandiganbayan.

Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said three of the 18 individuals who were recently ordered arrested by the Sandiganbayan are out of the country, including resigned Ako Bicol party-list representative Zaldy Co.

Based on the BI’s records, Co left the country last August to seek medical attention in the United States but opted to stay out of the country after being implicated in the flood control corruption scandal.

Aside from Co, also out of the country are Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Planning and Design Division Officer-in-Charge Montrexis Tamayo, who left the country for Qatar on November 15; Sunwest Inc. President and Board Chairman Aderma Angelie Alcazar who

went to Australia on October 2; and Sunwest Inc. treasurer Cesar Buenaventura who departed for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also on October 2.

Sunwest is the construction company linked to the family of Co.

The arrest warrants against Co and 17 others were issued by the Sandiganbayan last November 21, following the filing of malversation and graft charges by the Office of the Ombudsman last November 3. The case involves the P289.5 million allegedly anomalous flood control project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.

The project involves the construction of a road dike along MagAsawang Tubig River.

Based on the inspection conducted by the DPWH, the materials used for the project were substandard, which resulted in public losses in the estimated amount of over P63 million.

It also noted apparent deficiencies in documentation supporting progress billings.

Several payments were also approved despite missing records and in some instances, identical photographs were reused to justify separate billings.

Viado said the names of those with standing arrest warrant have also been encoded into the BI’s centralized derogatory database,

ensuring that frontline officers can immediately flag, verify, and respond should any of them attempt to depart from or enter the Philippines.

“Once intercepted, our officers are under strict instruction to promptly coordinate with the National Police [PNP] for the proper and lawful execution of the warrants,” Viado said.

He added that close inter-agency coordination remains essential in ensuring that persons facing charges cannot evade accountability through unauthorized travel.

Viado also assured the public that the BI remains fully aligned with law-enforcement agencies to ensure that the warrants are executed once these individuals present themselves at the country’s ports.

On Nov. 21, the anti-graft court issued warrants of arrest against them in connection with the anomalous flood control project in Oriental Mindoro.

Following the issuance of the arrest warrants, the National Bureau of Immigration (NBI) immediately dispatched a team to implement the warrants which led to the arrest of one of the accused in case identified as engineer Dennis Abagon, officer-in-charge (OIC) of the Quality Assurance and Hydrology Division.

Palace task force on media marks Ampatuan massacre anniversary

THE Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) on Sunday reaffirmed its commitment to protect journalists and pursue full accountability for the perpetrators of the 2009 Ampatuan massacre in Maguindanao, as the country marks the 16th anniversary of the worst electionrelated violence and deadliest attack on media workers in Philippine history.

In a statement, task force expressed solidarity with the victims’ families and the media community, stressing that the tragedy remains a stark reminder of the dangers journalists face.

“We remember and honor the 58 lives lost, including 32 journalists and media workers who were doing their job—seeking the truth and reporting it to the nation,” the task force said.

“Their sacrifice reminds us of the dangers faced by media professionals in the pursuit of press freedom,” it added.

The 2009 massacre, orchestrated by members of the Ampatuan political clan and their private armed groups, is considered the world’s single deadliest attack on

By Bless Aubrey Ogerio

MORE than 2,120 residents from National Housing Authority (NHA) resettlement sites and neighboring communities accessed government and privatesector services during a People’s Caravan at the Townsite Gymnasium in Purok 13, barangay Dalipuga. The activity, organized with partner agencies under the

journalists worldwide.

Despite a landmark 2019 ruling that convicted several principal suspects, many cases remain under appeal, and several accused individuals are still facing trial or at large.

PTFoMS said the call for justice persists more than a decade later.

“We recognize the ongoing demand for justice across our nation, especially from the families who have suffered for years. This is not just a plea for retribution; it is a strong demand for accountability, for an end to impunity, and for assurance that such an act never happens again,” it said.

The task force noted that while the 2019 conviction was “a significant step toward justice,” the process is far from over.

“However, appeals are ongoing, and we understand the journey toward complete justice continues,” PTFoMS said.

The task force also vowed to work closely with government agencies, the justice sector, and media groups to ensure that the remaining legal processes are completed and that the protection of journalists is strengthened nationwide.

initiative People’s Caravan: Serbisyong Dala ay Pag-Asa, gathered 23 institutions to offer on-site assistance ranging from healthcare to livelihood and legal support. Participants received free medical and dental consultations, maintenance medicines, haircuts, and took part in a blood donation activity. Multiple agencies also extended business and employment services. Basic civil registry services

“We pledge to continue working with all stakeholders to ensure legal processes are followed and to pursue full accountability for those responsible,” it said.

The Palace media task force urged the media community and the public to remember the courage and dedication of the victims and to continue pushing for a safer environment for journalists.

“Let the memory of our fallen colleagues—their courage and dedication—strengthen our collective resolve. We reaffirm our commitment to creating a safe environment for all media practitioners, upholding the rule of law, and defending the right to a free press,” it said.

“May their souls rest in peace, and may justice ultimately prevail,” PTFoMS added.

PNP renews vow to uphold press freedom

THE National Police (PNP) underscored the vital role of the members of the media in informing the public about peace and order issues, criminal investigations and police accomplishments.

Abagon is also a member of the Bids and Awards Committee. He was arrested in Quezon City, a day after NBI operatives went to his known address in Cavite but failed to serve the warrant.

During his arrest, the NBI also recovered three cellular telephones, identification cards, a power bank, a drone, and a digital video recorder.

However, Abagon denied that he was evading the arrest warrant, noting that he had already packed his clothes as he was already planning to turn himself over to authorities.

Meanwhile, NBI Officer-inCharge Angelito Magno urged Co and his co-accused to just surrender, saying that voluntary compliance will result in a less severe process.

The appeal comes as the NBI deployed agents to serve arrest warrants issued by the Sandiganbayan against Co and co-accused.

“We urge former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co and all co-accused to surrender now while it is still a choice and not a consequence,” Magno said in a statement released over the weekend.

“The warrants are live, our teams are moving, and the window is closing fast,” he added.

“Justice is calling—better to meet it than to run from it,” Magno added.

and free legal consultations were also provided, while scholarship information sessions and skills demonstrations formed part of the education support offered during the event. Affordable farm-to-market produce and rice were also made available to attendees. The Iligan rollout marks the 21st caravan conducted this

By Bless Aubrey Ogerio

A4

Monday, November 24, 2025

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Senate won’t allow reenacted ’25 natl budget–Lacson

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

NOTING how the 2025 national budget has been described as

“corrupt to the core,” Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said the Senate will not allow its reenactment in 2026.

In an interview with radio station dwIZ, Lacson said this is why the Senate is adopting measures to ensure transparency in the deliberations on the budget bill, including the livestreaming of the bicameral conference committee meetings.

“Passing the 2026 budget bill is important. Without it, we may have a reenacted budget, and we will not allow that. If the 2025 budget is reenacted, we will see large lump sum appropriations coming from a 2025 budget that has had so many problems,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lacson said that while the people may stay angry over the discovery of the fund scandal involving billions in flood-control project funds, they must channel that anger not into violence, but

into vigilance and purposive action.

Lacson, who has built a reputation of being the watchdog of the national budget in Congress, pointed out that the Senate had to adjust the schedule of its deliberations after issues cropped up during the discussions on the measure.

He cited the extension of the deliberations on the general principles of the budget from one day to three days— as well as the issues raised during the deliberation of the budget of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).

“Many anomalies were bared in the deliberation of the NIA’s budget so they need to return. These are unforeseen circumstances,” he said.

But Lacson said there is a chance that the reforms they adopted—including the livestreaming of the bicameral conference committee deliberations and the disallowing of “alien items”—could speed up the process because it will discourage insertions to the bill.

“The best reform introduced so far is that the bicam will not allow the insertion of any item that is not in the Senate or

House version. This way, we will simplify and even possibly shorten the proceedings as there will be no more insertions or dealings,” he said.

Keep pressure on govt vs corruption

LACSON said the issuance of arrest warrants against former representative Elizaldy Co and several others tied to anomalous flood control projects shows the government means business in addressing the issue, but the public must remain angry without being violent to ensure such efforts continue.

He said authorities—particularly Malacañang, the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice—cannot afford to ease up because those involved would be emboldened to try again if they get away with their actions now.

“I don’t want public outrage to lessen, so long as people remain non-violent. If public anger diminishes, government might slacken their efforts. As of now, they are working because of the pressure from our people. But this is so long as the outrage does not turn violent, like the September

21 protest where some protesters damaged some traffic lights,” he said in Filipino in the same interview on dwIZ.

“No matter how many, no matter how long it takes, get to the bottom to achieve the logical conclusion,” he added. He said the Ombudsman and the national government’s actions on Friday showed they are taking action, enough to cause some partisan critics to “eat their words” that Co is untouchable.

Lacson noted the reports of Co being sighted in Japan may show the Interpol is watching his moves, and can arrest him once it receives a copy of his arrest warrant—after which Co can be brought back to the Philippines.

“He has to ride a plane and pass through immigration, so he can be tracked. He just cannot be arrested as of now because he is not yet on the Interpol’s red notice list since they have no copy of his arrest warrant. Still, he’s on their radar,” he said.

Lacson said that should Co be arrested and brought back to the Philippines, there is a chance he could be brought before the Senate Blue-Ribbon committee, but

added that if Co’s case has reached the Sandiganbayan by then, the committee must take measures to avoid breaking the sub judice principle, or discussing the merits of the case against Co before the anti-graft court.

Logical conclusion

LACSON said it is also important that the actions against those involved not be rushed, so long as they lead to the logical conclusion—their prosecution, conviction and jailing.

He cited the case of some officials including former undersecretaries Adrian Bersamin and Trygve Olaivar, who, according to former Public Works Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, caused the insertion of P100 billion into the 2025 budget bill, without President Marcos’ knowledge— because they had gotten away with it the past year.

Lacson noted that in 2024, those involved in the insertion of the P100 billion managed to divert P50 billion from unprogrammed appropriations in the 2024 budget for various infrastructure projects,

House bill eases strict provisions of Bank Secrecy Law Pinoy

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

WITH government corruption scandals escalating and public trust under strain, lawmakers have revived a proposal to pierce the country’s strict bank secrecy protections— casting the measure as a crucial test of the Marcos administration’s resolve to confront entrenched financial abuses, including those linked to multibillion-peso flood control projects. The refiled House Bill 1786 seeks to amend Republic Act 1405, or the Secrecy of Bank Deposits Law, by empowering the Bangko Sentral (BSP) to examine bank accounts when there is reasonable ground to suspect fraud, serious irregularities, or unlawful activity. The measure is being pushed by Camarines Sur Reps. Migz Villafuerte and Luigi Villafuerte,

The PNP acting Chief, Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez Jr., issued the statement as he reaffirmed the police force’s commitment to uphold press freedom as the country commemorates the 2009 Ampatuan massacre.

“The Philippine National Police fully respects the freedom of the press and acknowledges the important role of journalists in keeping the people informed, in the search for truth and accountability, and in constantly checking that the fundamentals of good governance and democracy are in place,” Nartatez said. He added that this stance follows the directive of President Marcos and the guidance of Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla to strengthen trust among democratic institutions.

Nartatez noted the media’s critical role in the ongoing flood control controversy, saying journalists help deliver verified information as the investigation unfolds.

He added that the PNP also continues to coordinate with PTFoMS to ensure a safer environment for journalists. PNA

along with Bicol Saro Reps. Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata and Terry Ridon. The measure was approved on the third and final reading in the 19th Congress but failed to secure a Senate counterpart. Migz Villafuerte noted that RA 1405— enacted in 1955—was intended to protect Filipino depositors by maintaining the absolute confidentiality of bank accounts, except in limited cases such as impeachment, bribery or dereliction of duty investigations, or court orders. While Presidential Decree 1792 in 1981 allowed the then-Central Bank to examine deposits in cases involving bank fraud, this authority was repealed under RA 7653, or the New Central Bank Act, in 1993. Luigi Villafuerte said technological advancements and the rise of online banking have made financial transactions faster and more accessible—but also more vulnerable to abuse. He added that some individuals

and corporations exploit RA 1405 to shield fraudulent bank activities from scrutiny.

Under HB 1786, the BSP may lift bank secrecy protections if the Monetary Board determines reasonable grounds to believe that an individual or corporation has committed fraud, serious irregularities, or an unlawful act. The bill also extends this power to BSP investigations involving closed banks.

The examination results will be strictly for BSP’s use but may be shared with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), Department of Justice (DOJ), and the courts for the prevention or prosecution of offenses.

Banks and their personnel would be immune from liability for complying with BSP orders, but unauthorized disclosures of information would be penalized. The bill also prohibits the use of the law as a tool for persecution or anti-competitive practices. Violators face imprisonment of two to 10 years,

or fines ranging from P50,000 to P2 million.

Lawmakers said easing bank secrecy laws aligns with President Marcos’s commitment to clean up the bureaucracy.

The BSP and several major business groups have, likewise, expressed support for bank secrecy reforms. A recent BSP research blog authored by senior officials said that loosening RA 1405—paired with safeguards—would enable investigators to trace illicit funds and build prosecutable cases.

Financial and business organizations echoed this position, saying strict bank secrecy rules have long hampered regulators from effectively pursuing corruption and money laundering cases.

The proposal is among the 44 priority bills under the Common Legislative Agenda endorsed by the President and the LegislativeExecutive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) during their first meeting for the 20th Congress last September 30.

E. Visayas workers get ₧35 pay increase

MINIMUM wage earners in the Eastern Visayas region are set to receive P35 daily pay increase starting next month.

In a wage order released over the weekend, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) VIII said the pay increase will be implemented in two tranches: the first on December 8 and the second on June 1 next year. Once fully implemented, the new daily minimum wage for non-agriculture and service or retail establishments employing more than 10 workers will rise to P470 from P435.

Those working in service or retail establishments with one to 10 workers, cottage and handicraft enterprises, and in agriculture will see their minimum wage increase from P405 to P440.

The regional board said the adjustment was based on prevailing regional conditions, including the 0.68 percent increase in Eastern Visayas’ Consumer Price Index since the last wage adjustment last year.

RTWPB VIII also cited the 2023 poverty threshold in the region which was pegged by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) at P444 for a family of five, and the region’s 6.2 percent economic growth in 2023 to 2024.

“WHEREAS, should compliance with the increases mandated in this wage order result in wage distortions within enterprises, workers and employers may seek guidance and technical assistance from the RTWPBVIlI Secretariat in addressing the same. They may also refer to the formulas and examples provided under NWPC Advisory 01, Series of 2023, which serve as guide in adjusting

false claims.

He emphasized that the consolidated bill will retain safeguards for constitutionally protected speech, excluding satire, parody, personal opinions, honest mistakes, and

wage structures to correct wage distortions,” it added.

Meanwhile, domestic workers (kasambahay) in the region are also set to receive a P300 to P400 monthly increase in their minimum monthly pay starting December.

According to the wage board, the minimum monthly salary of domestic workers in chartered cities and first-class municipalities will increase from P6,000 to P6,400, while those in other municipalities will see their rate rise from P5,500 to P5,800.

The new rates cover all domestic workers, whether they live in or outside their employers’ homes, including househelp, nannies (yaya), cooks, gardeners, and laundry workers.

The wage order for domestic workers will also take effect on December 8.

Justine Xyrah Garcia

legitimate news reporting made in good faith.

Yamsuan, who previously served in media and political affairs positions under former Senate President Edgardo Angara and in the Office of the Press Secretary, said he has seen

including P30 billion for flood control projects alone.

“The DBM caused the release of that amount, possibly in coordination with the Office of the Executive Secretary,” he recalled. “From what I know, they got away with it so they were emboldened to try it again in 2025.”

The list of projects to be funded was drawn up by then Undersecretary Ma. Catalina Cabral, and discussed with then Secretary Bonoan and then Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo.

Meanwhile, Lacson said the number of personalities who could be implicated could reach 2,000 or higher, as the 1,200 initially estimated by Independent Commission for Infrastructure Commissioner Rogelio Singson is based only on the 420 ghost projects out of 8,000 initially inspected. During the last Blue-Ribbon committee hearing, he said the number of suspected ghost projects had gone up to about 472.

“It’s so widespread that not just 1,200 could be implicated. It could be 2,000 or more,” Lacson said.

exporters generate US$18-M sales in expo

By Andrea San Juan @andreasanjuan

PHILIPPINE exporters of durian and banana chips, jewelry, handicrafts, and banking essentials, among others, generated over $18 million in export sales at the China-Asean Expo (Caexpo).

In a statement, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (Citem), the government’s export promotions arm, said 12 Philippine enterprises in food and non-food categories presented their wares to the Chinese market from September 17 to 21.

“Food enterprises showcased durian and banana chips, while non-food companies offered natural remedies, banking essentials, jewelry, and handicrafts,” Citem said.

Like last year’s participation, Citem said fresh durian was hailed as the country’s best-selling product, reflecting a “consistent” demand among Chinese buyers “seeking its unique taste and texture.”

Aside from the “strong showing” in terms of export sales, the Philippine delegation to Caexpo 2025 won the acclaim of organizers.

Citem added that it received the Best Organizer of Trade Visitors award during the Caexpo Senior Officials’ Meeting held on September 19.

Moreover, Puyo Handicrafts, a Cagayan de Oro-based producer of hand-crafted souvenir items and Raya Fiber Imperia, a manufacturer of fabric and other goods from Marinduque, both earned the Caexpo Excellent Design Award.

“The prize is given to enterprises

firsthand how accurate communication shapes both public trust and economic stability.

Yamsuan sought the cooperation of the resource persons from the government and the private sector present during the

with innovative concepts, aesthetic and cultural value, environmental sustainability, and strong market potential in China and Asean countries,” the government’s export promotions arm explained.

Citem Executive Director Leah Pulido Ocampo said: “This performance attests to Philippine enterprises’ established capabilities, demonstrating that we are deserving of a place in these rich markets.”

“We are determined to build on our momentum as we continue supporting Filipino businesses on the global stage,” added Ocampo.

The Philippines was represented in Caexpo 2025 by the following companies: Raya Fiber Imperia, BDO Unibank, Raspina Tropical Fruits Inc., Oneasia Trader, Maylong Enterprise Corp., Eng Seng Food Products, KitSilver Jewellery, I. Ralph Jevan, Puyo Handicrafts, Trendy Merch Novelty Shop, Bebebalm Inc., and Jegen Swe Enterprise. CAEXPO 2025 featured 3,260 exhibitors from 60 countries and attracted over 220,000 buyers. The 22nd edition of CAEXPO carried the theme “Promoting AI Empowerment and Innovation for a Shared Future–Leveraging China-ASEAN FTA 3.0 New Opportunities for an Even Closer ChinaASEAN Community with a Shared Future.”

“Next year, more privileges await Filipino enterprises joining Caexpo as the Philippines will be named its Country of Honor. This arrangement ensures increased visibility for the Philippines, offering exhibitors more opportunities for cultural and economic growth. The country was last named Country of Honor in 2013,” CITEM noted.

hearing in crafting a “balanced measure” that would effectively penalize fake news dissemination while protecting the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of speech and expression.

Lawmaker wants every senior to have pension

LAWMAKER is pushing for the passage of a bill seeking to provide a universal social pension for all Filipino senior citizens—regardless of economic status—as part of a broader push to promote dignity, security, and inclusivity in aging.

Las Piñas Rep. Mark Anthony Santos filed House Bill 1296, or the proposed Universal Social Pension Act, which seeks to amend Republic Act 9994, or Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, by removing the indigency requirement that currently limits who may receive the government’s monthly pension.

“Every senior citizen who has worked hard for this country deserves a life of dignity and support,”Santos said. “A universal social pension

ensures that no Filipino elder is left behind— whether or not they are classified as indigent.”

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) show that in 2018, total health spending for senior citizens reached P171.55 billion—22 percent of the country’s P779.22 billion total health expenditures— with 59 percent paid out-of-pocket by seniors and their families. Santos’ proposal seeks to extend the pension to all Filipinos aged 60 and above, with adjustments to the amount based on inflation and prevailing living standards. He underscored that the measure is rooted in social justice and equity.

“Many seniors may not be considered

Under current law, only indigent seniors—those without regular income or adequate support—are eligible for a P1,000 monthly stipend from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The bill further provides that the implementation, distribution, and management of the social pension program shall be transferred from the DSWD to the National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC), in accordance with Section 11 of Republic Act 7742 as amended by Republic Act 11350, within a period not exceeding two years from the effectivity of the Act. According to Santos, senior citizens are more prone to illness, medical needs, and higher living costs, increasing their vulnerability to poverty.

indigent on paper, yet they continue to struggle financially because of the rising costs of medicine, food, and utilities,” he said. “A universal pension recognizes the lifelong contributions of every Filipino elder.” Santos also urged the national government to establish a dedicated fund for the program, ensure transparent and efficient disbursement mechanisms, and implement strong safeguards against red tape and corruption. The lawmaker expressed confidence that the measure will earn broad support in Congress, emphasizing that the country’s rapidly growing senior population urgently needs sustained and comprehensive assistance. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Natural disasters fail to dent fish catch in Q3

DBy Ada Pelonia @adapelonia

ESPITE the natural calamities that struck the Philippines in the third quarter, the country’s fish unloading volume still managed to rise by 7.6 percent year-on-year during the period, according to the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA).

The PFDA said regional fish ports (RFPs) delivered 139,057.66 metric tons (MT) to consumers from July to September. This was higher than the 129,227.5 MT re -

corded in the same period last year.

The agency said the landed catch during the reference period was equivalent to an average daily unloading of 1,528.11 MT.

Report: Funding gaps undermine nations’ climate agrifood ambitions

DEVELOPING countries recognize the urgent need to adapt agrifood systems to climate change, but most National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) are struggling to address key risks or protect vulnerable groups due to severe financing and capacity gaps, according to a report released by United Nation agencies.

The report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Development Programme titled “Agrifood Systems in National Adaptation Plans, An analysis,” was published during the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil.

It is the first comprehensive study of its kind to examine the agrifood component of NAPs--key frameworks that help countries, especially least developed nations, reduce climate vulnerability and integrate adaptation across sectors and communities. NAPs also play a vital role in mobilizing finance for national priorities.

“Based on original analysis by FAO and UNDP of NAPs in 64 developing countries, the report closes critical knowledge gaps on how agrifood systems are addressed in climate strategies, examining risks, priority actions, financing needs, implementation barriers, monitoring, gender equality, and loss and damage.”

The report found that agrifood systems are universal priorities in the NAPs, with countries making concerted efforts to prioritize adaptation actions across the main agricultural subsectors (crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture).

However, gaps and barriers in terms of turning the plans into concrete action remain.

The report finds that agrifood systems account for more than half of adaptation finance needs in developing countries, yet receive only 20 percent of global adaptation funding—or just 1 percent of total climate finance.

“This analysis sends a clear message: countries know agrifood systems are the first line of defense against climate extremes, but they’re still not getting the support they need. The groundwork is there; now we need to close the finance and capacity gaps to turn those plans into real protection for food security and livelihoods,” said Kaveh Zahedi, Director of FAO’s Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment.

The report found that agrifood systems are a top priority in all developing countries’ NAPs, with 97 percent reporting climate-related impacts on crops, livestock, forests, fisheries, aquaculture, value chains, and food security.

“Adaptation actions don’t match the risks: Only 16 percent of agrifood adaptation measures directly address those climate impacts, and just 14 percent target the needs of vulnerable populations, such as women, Indigenous Peoples, youth, smallholder farmers and others.”

Also, FAO and UNDP said evidence-based planning for agrifood system priorities remains limited--only one-third of NAPs use climate risk and vulnerability assessments, and fewer than half apply robust adaptation appraisal and prioritization methods.

“Implementation faces persistent barriers: Nearly half of countries report limited technical capacity, weak coordination, insufficient finance, and difficulties engaging the private sector.

On a quarterly basis, however, the agency said the third quarter’s volume dipped by 13.68 percent from the 161,087.39 MT posted in April to June.

The PFDA said the ports opened their doors to 20,812 vessels and serviced 8,3315 clients and port users throughout the reference period.

Also, the agency said the ice production of RFPs reached 12,021 MT in the third quarter. This was higher than the previous year’s 9,341 MT.

PFDA noted that the volume of fishery and non-fishery products processed reached 612.68 MT in the third quarter, more than double the 221.10 MT recorded a year ago.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. had said the agency

expects fisheries output to decline this year due to the absence of the dry spell, which helped boost production last year.

This, after data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that fish production fell by 7.5 percent in the third quarter to

a 20-year low of 894,320 MT, from 966,730 MT last year.

Historical data indicated that output during the period was the lowest since the third quarter of 2004, when it reached 852,378 MT.

“Our prediction for this year’s fisheries production is definitely lower because last year was an El Niño year,” the chief of the Department of Agriculture told reporters in a previous interview.

“Based on my 38 years of experience in the fishing industry, whenever the water is warm, production is always higher,” he said.

“Since this year isn’t an El Niño year, production will be lower.” With this, agricultural groups called on the government to put prioritize the fisheries sector, particularly aquaculture.

PHL aiming for slice of lucrative crayfish market—DA

THE largest crayfish hub in the Philippines, which will help position the country’s aquaculture sector as a major player in the international scene, was launched in Candaba, Pampanga.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said the crayfish nursery will mass-produce Australian Redclaw crayfish, a high-value species prized for its rapid growth, robust hardiness, and strong market demand.

The crayfish hub is a flagship project of Farm Fresh Early Catch Inc., built in partnership with Taiwan’s Da Shin Biotech Ltd. and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the initiative

showed what coordinated action across sectors could achieve.

“Built through the partnership of Farm Fresh Early Catch Inc., Da Shin Biotech, and the DA-BFAR, this nursery shows that when government, private innovators, and fisherfolk come together, progress stops being a dream—it becomes our shared reality,” he said.

“Crayfish farming opens new doors for our fisherfolk—bringing in more income, more livelihood, and more food on our tables,” he said. “Each pond must also nurture care, discipline, and respect for the balance of our ecosystems.”

The 1,280-square-meter nursery houses 16 tanks, each capable of producing 3,000 fry every two

weeks for a total of 48,000 fry.

The DA added that the facility also pioneers water-recycling technology in Philippine crayfish nurseries, reducing wastewater and conserving freshwater in an industry often criticized for its consumption footprint.

Furthermore, the nursery will supply Farm Fresh’s existing 3-hectare grow-out ponds, which currently yield 30 metric tons (MT) of market-size crayfish annually, thus supporting partner growers as the industry scales.

Starting in 2026, the DA said Farm Fresh plans a massive rollout of grow-out operations. Of this, 1,500 hectares will be located in Luzon, while 750 hectares each

will be in the Visayas and Mindanao.

“Once fully operational, these sites are projected to produce more than 1,200 tons of crayfish every six months—volumes that would position the Philippines as a serious contender in regional and global markets.”

The project is projected to create over 3,000 direct jobs and spur new enterprises across farming communities. Crayfish provides a nutrient-rich protein source, which requires minimal feed.

“The launch of the nursery kicks off a world-class, sustainable crayfish industry that aims to put the Philippines firmly on the global aquaculture map,” the DA said. Ada Pelonia

‘NIA projects must have transparency mechanisms’

TBy Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

O prevent a repeat of the anomalous flood control projects, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform has proposed the inclusion of transparency and accountability mechanisms within the irrigation projects implemented by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).

Senator Francis Pangilinan said “efficient and corruption-free” irrigation projects are crucial to enhancing agricultural productivity and bolstering the country’s food security.

“On the issue of monitoring, precisely, we are introducing a transparency special provision in

the budget, and an allocation of about P50M for (a) public online dashboard,” he said during his recent sponsorship of NIA’s proposed budget for the fiscal year 2026.

“In other words, included there are photos, geo-tagging, names of contractors, amount, status of projects, all under the mandate for purposes of transparency for all NIA projects,” he added, partly in Filipino.

In the subcommittee report submitted to Senator Win Gatchalian, the chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, Pangilinan underscored the need for an additional budget for three proposed special provisions-transparency of irrigation projects, citizen participatory audit, and quarterly reporting requirement.

The senator is also the vice chair of the Subcommittee J of the Senate

Committee on Finance.

Under these special provisions, the NIA will be mandated to establish and maintain a public online dashboard for irrigation projects, where timeline, status, finances (obligated/disbursed/source of funds), awarded contracts, contractors, and geo-tagged photos taken at key stages (start, mid, completion) will be displayed.

“This will enable real-time monitoring of project implementation and ensure that information on project status, contracts, and fund utilization is accessible to the public and oversight agencies,” the report read.

The report also underscored the need for NIA to support the Citizen Participatory Audit Program of the Commission on Audit (COA) to empower civil society in

auditing government activities to ensure that funds are utilized legally and efficiently.

The senator included the quarterly reporting requirement provision, mandating NIA to submit a quarterly report on all irrigation projects to the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance to detail the projects’ status, implementation progress, financial and physical accomplishments, and any issues affecting completion.

In his manifestation during the budget debate for NIA’s proposed 2026 allocation, Gatchalian said that Pangilinan has identified each irrigation project with the exact coordinates—instead of merely providing the lump sum amounts in the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

Trump tariff cut may ease pain for US coffee and beef lovers

UNITED States President Donald Trump’s decision to remove a key tariff on Brazilian coffee and beef may deliver some relief to markets and American consumers who have struggled with soaring prices for the key staples.

Brazil is the top global supplier of both commodities, and a 40-percent tariff announced in July caused shipments into the US to slump. The resulting supply squeeze had aggravated a price surge for consumers already facing decades-high food inflation. The executive order signed by Trump on Thursday is expected to ease that pressure. Last week, he cut a separate 10 percent duty off those products.

“Two-thirds of American adults drink coffee each day, and every

cup will cost less thanks to President Trump’s decision to remove tariffs on coffee imports from Brazil,” the National Coffee Association said in a statement.

The decision, which includes a basket of commodities, reflects the need to bring down prices for

food, as Americans have struggled under the strain of high grocery bills and given Trump increasingly poor marks over his handling of the economy. US consumer sentiment fell in November to one of the lowest levels on record as Americans’ views of their personal finances soured.

Futures for the premium arabica coffee dropped as much as 6.6 percent to an almost two-month low in New York on Friday, before paring declines. Arabica futures had risen to a record high in October as tariffs added to a shortage caused by lackluster harvests across the globe. An inflation index for roasted coffee surged to an all-time high in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“We expect exports to resume,” said StoneX analyst Fernando Maximiliano. Fears of a shortage in the US market had pushed futures prices higher and now some relief is expected, he added.

Beef, meanwhile, has been a particularly thorny issue for the Trump administration, as consumer prices have soared to records amid a shrinking domestic cattle

herd. The US has increasingly relied on foreign shipments to fill the gap, helping to send cattle prices diving on expectations for an influx. But Brazilian beef shipments have fallen sharply following tariff threats. Live cattle futures dropped as much as 3.4 percent on Friday, to the lowest since June, before paring losses.

Still, cheaper costs for meat producers aren’t yet translating to less expensive beef for consumers, as demand has kept prices elevated.

It’s unclear if the tariff removal will be enough to spur “a dramatic rise” in imports from Brazil, analysts at Steiner Consulting Group said in a Friday report. That’s as declining cattle inventories in the South American nation and high beef demand from China pres -

ent challenges. Still, the analysts pointed to a possible scenario where higher imports and less exports out of the US could “moderate domestic beef price inflation” in 2026. For Brazil, the impact of tariffs has been somewhat muted as the country was able to keep beef exports to all countries on the rise this year. Lower sales to the US were offset by higher shipments to other destinations including Mexico and China.

“Those who ended up being harmed more than anyone by the tariff were the American producers and consumers,” said Marcos Jank, a senior professor at Insper. Low beef availability in many other regions meant Brazil could find other markets for its product, he added. Bloomberg News

UN climate deal increases money to countries hit by climate change, but no explicit fossil fuel plan

By Seth Borenstein, Melina Walling & Anton L. Delgado

The Associated Press

ELEM, Brazil—United Nations

Bclimate talks in Brazil reached a subdued agreement Saturday that pledged more funding for countries to adapt to the wrath of extreme weather. But the catch-all agreement doesn’t include explicit details to phase out fossil fuels or strengthen countries’ inadequate emissions cutting plans, which dozens of nations demanded.

The Brazilian hosts of the conference said they’d eventually come up with a road map to get away from fossil fuels working with hardline Colombia, but it won’t have the same force as something approved at the conference called COP30. Colombia responded angrily to the deal after it was approved, citing the absence of wording on fossil fuels.

The deal, which was approved after negotiators blew past a Friday deadline, was crafted after hours of late night and early morning meetings. After the deal was approved, COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago said the tough discussions started in Belem will continue under Brazil’s leadership until the next annual conference “even if they are not reflected in this text we just approved.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the deal shows “that nations can still come together to

confront the defining challenges no country can solve alone.” But he added: “I cannot pretend that COP30 has delivered everything that is needed. The gap between where we are and what science demands remains dangerously wide.”

Deal gets mix of lukewarm praise and complaints

MANY gave the deal lukewarm praise as the best that could be achieved in trying times, while others complained about the package or the process that led to its approval.

“Given the circumstances of geopolitics today, we’re actually quite pleased with the bounds of the package that came out,” said Palau Ambassador Ilana Seid, who chaired the coalition of small island nations.

“The alternative is that we don’t get a decision and that would have been a worse alternative.”

“This deal isn’t perfect and is far from what science requires,” said former Ireland President Mary Robinson, a fierce climate advocate for the ex-leaders group The Elders. “But at a time when multilateralism is being tested, it is significant that countries continue to move forward together.”

Absent from the talks was the administration of US President Donald Trump.

“This year there has been a lot of attention on one country stepping back,” UN climate chief Simon Stiell said, referring to the United States’ withdrawal from the landmark 2015 Paris

agreement. “But amid the gale-force political headwinds, 194 countries stood firm in solidarity — rock-solid in support of climate cooperation.”

Some countries said they got enough out of the deal.

“COP30 has not delivered everything Africa asked for, but it has moved the needle,” said Jiwoh Abdulai, Sierra Leone’s environment minister. What really matters, he said, is “how quickly these words turn into real projects that protect lives and livelihoods.”

U.K. Energy Minister Ed Miliband said the agreement was “an important step forward,” but that he would have preferred it to be “more ambitious.” He added: “These are difficult, strenuous, tiring, frustrating negotiations.”

Indigenous people reflect on the meaning of their participation in COP30 climate talks

BBy Melina Walling The Associated Press

ELEM, Brazil—Indigenous people filled the streets, paddled the waterways and protested at the heart of the venue to make their voices heard during the United Nations climate talks that were supposed to give them a voice like never before at the annual conference.

As the talks, called COP30, concluded Saturday in Belem, Brazil, Indigenous people reflected on what the conference meant to them and whether they were heard.

Brazilian leaders had high hopes that the summit, taking place in the Amazon, would empower the people who inhabit the land and protect the biodiversity of the world’s largest rainforest, which helps stave off climate change as its trees absorb carbon pollution that heats the planet.

Many Indigenous people who attended the talks felt strengthened by the solidarity with tribes from other countries and some appreciated small wins in the final outcome. But for many, the talks fell short on representation, ambition and true action on climate issues affecting Indigenous people.

“This was a COP where we were visible but not empowered,” said Thalia Yarina Cachimuel, a Kichwa-Otavalo member of A Wisdom Keepers Delegation, a group of Indigenous people from around the world. Some language wins but nothing on fossil fuels

THE first paragraph of the main political text acknowledges “the rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as their land rights and traditional knowledge.”

Taily Terena, an Indigenous woman from the Terena nation in Brazil, said she was happy because the text for the first time mentioned those rights explicitly.

But Mindahi Bastida, an Otomí-Toltec member of A Wisdom Keepers Delegation, said countries should have pushed harder for agreements on how to phase out fuels like oil, gas and coal “and not to see nature as merchandise, but to see it as sacred.”

Several nations pushed for a road map to curtail use of fossil fuels, which when burned release greenhouse gases that warm the planet. Saturday’s final decision left out any mention of fossil fuels, leaving many coun -

tries disappointed.

Brazil also launched a financial mechanism that countries could donate to, which was supposed to help incentivize nations with lots of forest to keep those ecosystems intact.

Although the initiative received monetary pledges from a few countries, the project and the idea of creating a market for carbon are false solutions that “don’t stop pollution, they just move it around,” said Jacob Johns, a Wisdom Keeper of the Akimel O’Otham and Hopi nations.

“They hand corporations a license to keep drilling, keep burning, keep destroying, so long as they can point to an offset written on paper. It’s the same colonial logic dressed up as climate policy,” Johns said.

Concerns over tokenism FROM the beginning of the conference, some Indigenous attendees were concerned visibility isn’t the same as true power. At the end, that sentiment lingered.

“What we have seen at this COP is a focus on symbolic presence rather than enabling the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples,” Sara Olsvig, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, wrote in a message after the conference concluded.

Edson Krenak, Brazil manager for Indigenous rights group Cultural Survival and member of the Krenak people, didn’t think negotiators did enough to visit forests or understand the communities living there. He

also didn’t believe the 900 Indigenous people given access to the main venue was enough.

Sônia Guajajara, Brazil’s minister of Indigenous peoples, who is Indigenous herself, framed the convention differently.

“It is undeniable that this is the largest and best COP in terms of Indigenous participation and protagonism,” she said.

Protests showed power of Indigenous solidarity

WHILE the decisions by delegates left some Indigenous attendees feeling dismissed, many said they felt empowered by participating in demonstrations outside the venue.

When the summit began on Nov. 10, Paulo André Paz de Lima, an Amazonian Indigenous leader, thought his tribe and others didn’t have access to COP30. During the first week, he and a group of demonstrators broke through the barrier to get inside the venue. Authorities quickly intervened and stopped their advancement.

De Lima said that act helped Indigenous people amplify their voices.

“After breaking the barrier, we were able to enter COP, get into the Blue Zone and express our needs,” he said, referring to the official negotiation area. “We got closer (to the negotiations), got more visibility.”

The meaning of protest at this COP wasn’t just to get the attention of nonIndigenous people, it also was intended as a way for Indigenous people to commune with each other.

Swift final push prompts complaints

THE deal was approved minutes into a plenary meeting open Saturday to all nations that were present.

After the main package was approved—to applause by many delegates—angry nations took the floor to complain about other parts of the package and about being ignored as do Lago moved quickly toward approval. The objections were so strong that do Lago temporarily halted the session to try to calm things down.

Colombia’s Daniela Duran Gonzalez blasted the conference’s president for ignoring her, saying: “The COP of the truth cannot support an outcome that ignores science.”

An area that usually gets less attention became a big point of contention. The approved deal established 59 indicators for the world to judge how nations are adapting to climate change. Before the Belem conference, experts crafted 100 precisely worded indicators, but negotiators changed the wording and cut the total.

The European Union, several Latin American countries and Canada said they had severe problems with it, calling it unclear and unworkable. They complained that they tried to object but were ignored.

Do Lago apologized.

How major issues were handled

A HANDFUL of major issues dominated the talk. Those included coming up with a road map to wean the world from fossil fuels, telling countries that their national plans to curb emissions were inadequate, tripling financial aid for developing nations to adapt to extreme weather and reducing climate restrictions on trade.

“COP30 gave us some baby steps in the right direction, but considering the scale of the climate crisis, it has failed to rise to the occasion,” said Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa.

Critics complained there was not much to the deal.

“Strip away the outcome text and you see it plainly: The emperor has no clothes,” said former Philippine negotiator Jasper Inventor, now at Greenpeace International.

Panama negotiator Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez railed against the deal.

“A climate decision that cannot even say ‘fossil fuels’ is not neutrality, it is complicity. And what is happening here transcends incompetence,” Monterrey Gomez said. “Science has been deleted from COP30 because it offends the polluters.”

Many nations and advocates wanted something stronger because the world will not come close to limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since the mid 1800s, which was the goal the 2015 Paris agreement set.

The financial aid for adapting to climate change was tripled to a goal of $120 billion a year, but the goal was pushed back five years. It was one of several tough issues to dominate the late stage of talks. Vulnerable nations have pressed the wealthier countries most responsible for climate change to help out with money to rebuild from damaging extreme weather and to adapt to more of it in the future.

Pushing back the goal leaves “vulnerable countries without support to match the escalating needs,” Adow said.

After the main deal was approved, tempers flared as the open meeting stretched on. Russia’s ambassador at large, Sergei Kononuchenko, lectured Latin American delegates who were objecting frequently that they were “behaving like children who want to get your hands on all the sweets, and aren’t prepared to share them with everyone.”

France’s poorest regions turn to Marine Le Pen as Macron’s popularity declines

By John Leicester, Samuel Petrequin & William Jarrett The Associated Press

PARIS—The date was May 7, 2017.

Addressing cheering supporters, the newly elected leader of France, Emmanuel Macron, made a promise that now, in his waning 18 months as president, lies in tatters.

The rival that Macron defeated that day, Marine Le Pen, had secured 10,638,475 votes. They were nowhere near enough for the far-right leader to win. But they were too numerous for Macron to ignore, a bestever watershed at the ballot box for Le Pen’s once-ostracized National Front party that she inherited from her Holocaust-denying father.

Gazing out over a sea of French flags, Macron acknowledged “anger” and “distress” that he said motivated Le Pen voters. He pledged to do everything to win them over, “so they no longer have any reason to vote for the extremes.”

But since then, Le Pen’s us-againstthem nativist politics targeting immigrants, Muslims and the European Union have made millions more converts. Her National Rally party, rebranded in 2018 to broaden its appeal and shed its sulfurous links to her dad, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has become the largest in parliament and has never appeared closer to power, with the next presidential and legislative elections scheduled in 2027.

Poverty worsened under Macron MANY factors explain why Le Pen has gone from strength to strength. Some are intrinsic: The 57-year-old cat-loving mother of three is more polished and popular than her gruff ex-paratrooper father who had multiple convictions for inciting racial hatred and for downplaying Nazi atrocities in World War II. He died in January.

Others are external and include voter disgruntlement over wealth inequality that has worsened significantly under Macron.

An additional 1.2 million people have fallen below the poverty threshold in the world’s seventh-largest economy since the 2017 election and 2022 reelection of France’s pro-business president.

The former investment banker slashed business taxes and watered down a wealth

tax to boost France’s allure for investment.

Left-wing critics labeled Macron “president of the rich.”

The poverty rate was 13.8 percent when Macron took power and had barely shifted during the previous presidency of François Hollande, a Socialist.

By 2023, into Macron’s second term and the most recent year with official data from the French national statistics agency, the poverty rate had ballooned to 15.4 percent, which is its highest level in nearly 30 years of measurements.

The following year, National Rally triumphed in French voting for the European Parliament. So heavy was the defeat for his centrist camp that Macron stunned France by then dissolving the National Assembly.

Again, National Rally surged in the ensuing legislative election. It didn’t come close to winning a majority—no party did. But with 123 of the 577 lawmakers, National Rally vaulted past all other parties and surpassed its previous best of 89 legislators elected in 2022.

Put bluntly: the worse off France becomes, the better National Rally seems to fare.

Showing the correlation

MAPPING by The Associated Press both of poverty in France and of the Le Pen vote in the four French legislative elections since she took over her father’s party in 2011 show how both have grown.

The maps show particularly evident progress by National Rally in some of France’s poorest regions, especially in what have become National Rally strongholds: the deindustrialized northeast of France and along its Mediterranean coast.

Region-by-region poverty rates were mapped through 2021, beyond which the national statistics agency INSEE doesn’t have data for all 96 of mainland France’s regions. The AP mapped support for the National Front and then National Rally by using the party’s showing in the first rounds of voting in legislative elections in 2012, 2017, 2022 and 2024.

“We clearly see that the National Rally vote is very strongly correlated with issues of poverty, of difficulties with social mobility” and with voters “who are most pessimistic about the future of their children or their personal situation,” said Luc Rouban, a senior researcher at Paris’ elite Sciences Po school of political sciences who studies

the party.

François Ouzilleau, who stood for Macron’s party in the 2022 legislative election and lost to a National Rally winner in his district in Normandy west of Paris, puts it more simply.

“It feeds off anger and people’s problems,” he said.

Parallels with Trump are apparent BUT poverty is only part of the Le Pen success story and her appeal isn’t limited to voters who struggle to make ends meet. Combating immigration, the party’s bread and butter since its foundation, remains a central plank of Le Pen-ism. Rouban sees National Rally similarities with the playbook of US President Donald Trump.

“They’re doing Trump-ism à la française,” he said. “They say, ‘We’re wary of the justice system,’ like Trump. ‘We’re taking back control of our national borders,’ like Trump.”

National Rally establishes strongholds

THE party says that its proposals to slash France’s spending on migrants and on the EU and to redirect money to people’s pockets by reducing the costs of energy and other necessities appeal to voters in financial need.

“The French have clearly understood that the ones defending the purchasing power of the working and middle classes are the National Rally,” Laure Lavalette, a parliamentary spokesperson for the party, told the AP. Lavalette represents the southern Var region, one of National Rally’s new strongholds as Macron’s popularity has plummeted.

In legislative elections that followed his election in 2017, Le Pen’s party failed to win any seats in Var. But after Macron’s reelection in 2022, National Rally grabbed seven of Var’s eight seats and repeated that feat in 2024. Poverty rates in the Var have long surpassed the national average, the AP’s mapping shows.

Lavalette says that making ends meet is “crazy difficult” for some of her constituents and that “some tell me that they have to choose between eating or heating.”

William Jarrett reported from London.

The World

Trump’s Ukraine plan demands major concessions, puts Zelenskyy in a corner

By Aamer Madhani & Will Weissert The Associated Press

WASHINGTON—With his new 28-point plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, President Donald Trump is resurfacing his argument that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy doesn’t “have the cards” to continue on the battlefield and must come to a settlement that heavily tilts in Moscow’s favor.

Trump, who has demonstrated low regard for Zelenskyy dating back to his first term, says he expects the Ukrainian leader to respond to his administration’s new plan to end the war by next Thursday.

The president said Friday of Zelenksyy, “He’s going to have to approve it,” though he was more reconciliatory a day later, saying, “I would like to get to peace.”

“We’re trying to get it ended. One way or the other, we have to get it ended,” Trump told reporters outside the White House on Saturday.

Hours later, senators critical of Trump’s approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine war said they spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio who told them that the peace plan Trump is pushing Kyiv to accept is actually a “wish list” of the Russians and not the actual proposal offering Washington’s positions.

The State Department called that account “false” and Rubio later took the extraordinary step Saturday night of insisting that the plan was US-authored—but the incident raised still more questions about the plan’s fate.

However, buffeted by a corruption scandal in his government, battlefield setbacks and another difficult winter looming as Russia continues to bombard Ukraine’s energy grid, Zelenskyy says Ukraine is now facing perhaps the most difficult choice in its history.

Trump and Zelenskyy have had a tortured relationship

ZELENSKYY has not spoken with Trump since the plan became public this week, but has said he expects to talk to the Republican president in coming days. It’s likely to be another in a series of tough conversations the two leaders have had over the years.

The first time they spoke, in 2019, Trump tried to pressure the then newly minted Ukrainian leader to dig up dirt on Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election. That phone call sparked Trump’s first impeachment.

Trump made Biden’s support for Ukraine a central issue in his successful 2024 campaign, saying the conflict had cost US taxpayers too much money and vowing he would quickly bring the war to an end.

Then early this year in a disastrous Oval Office meeting, Trump and Vice President JD Vance tore into Zelenskyy for what they said was insufficient gratitude for the more than $180 billion the US had appropriated for military aid and other assistance to Kyiv since the start of the war. That episode led to a temporary suspension of US assistance to Ukraine.

And now with the proposal, Trump is pressing Zelenskyy to agree to concessions of land to Moscow, a massive reduction in the size of Ukraine’s army, and agreement from Europe to assert that Ukraine will never be admitted into the NATO military alliance.

“Now Ukraine may find itself facing a very difficult choice: either loss of dignity, or the risk of losing a key partner,” Zelenskyy said in a video address Friday.

At the center of Trump’s plan is the call on Ukraine to concede the entirety of its eastern Donbas region, even though a vast swath of that land remains in Ukrainian control. Analysts at the independent Institute for the Study of War have estimated it would take several years for the Russian mili-

tary to completely seize the territory, based on its current rate of advances.

Trump, nevertheless, insists that the loss of the region—which includes cities that are vital defense, industrial and logistics hubs for Ukrainian forces—is a fait accompli.

“They will lose in a short period of time. You know so,” Trump said Friday when asked during a Fox News Radio interview about his push on Ukraine to give up the territory. “They’re losing land. They’re losing land.”

Trump’s patience remains a question

THE Trump proposal was formally presented to Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Thursday by Dan Driscoll, the US Army secretary. The plan itself was a surprise to Driscoll’s staffers, who were not aware as late as Wednesday that their boss would be going to Ukraine as part of a team to present the plan to the Ukrainians.

Army officials walked away from that meeting with the impression that the Ukrainians were viewing the proposal as a starting point that would evolve as negotiations progressed, according to a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks.

It’s unclear how much patience Trump has for further negotiation.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Trump’s new plan reflects “the realities of the situation” and offers the “best winwin scenario, where both parties gain more than they must give.”

Asked about Zelenskyy’s initial hesitant response to the proposal, Trump recalled the February Oval Office blow-up with Zelenskyy: “You remember, right in the Oval Office, not so long ago, I said, ‘You don’t have the cards.’”

Trump, though, was also asked Saturday if the proposal was his final offer to end the Ukraine war and said

Bolsonaro’s conviction brings vindication for Brazilians who lost loved ones to Covid

By Gabriela Sá Pessoa & Eléonore Hughes The Associated Press

SAO PAULO—Simone Guimarães, a retired 52-year-old teacher in Rio de Janeiro, lost at least five relatives to Covid-19: her husband, sister, two brothersin-law and the godfather of her grandchild. She also lost friends and neighbors.

She woke to the news on Saturday that Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered the preemptive arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro, whom she blames for her losses. A judge claimed Bolsonaro was intent on escaping days before he was set to begin a 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

“It’s a small beginning of justice starting to be served,” she said. “Impunity has to end at some point. And in his case, we endured a lot.” Social media filled with posts Saturday remembering people lost to Covid-19, which also happened in September when the Supreme Court convicted Bolsonaro, even though the legal case had nothing to do with the former president’s pandemic response. Guimarães followed every vote in Bolsonaro’s trial. She was at a hospital with her sister in 2021 when Bolsonaro, who was president at the time, mimicked patients gasping for air.

“I had my forehead against my sister’s. She said, ‘I can’t breathe,’” Guimarães recalled. Her sister later died. “I can’t even bring myself to say his name.”

She now feels indirectly vindicated, like many other Brazilians who lost relatives to the disease. They say Bolsonaro’s conviction and imprisonment cleansed their souls without delivering justice for their grief.

“I’m very afraid that this conviction for crimes related to the coup will lessen the convictions for other crimes committed during the pandemic,” said Diego Orsi, a 41-year-old translator in Sao Paulo, the

nation’s largest city. “I feel a bit like the Nuremberg trials had convicted the Nazis for invading Poland, and not for genocide.”

Growing up and then apart ORSI grew up alongside his cousin, Henrique Cavalari. They were like brothers. In old family photos, the two appear together blowing out birthday candles. As teenagers, Cavalari introduced Orsi to rock bands. Politically, however, they drifted apart. Orsi considers himself progressive while Cavalari backed Bolsonaro.

“My uncle always leaned right, and my cousin grew up with that mindset,” Orsi said.

“During the pandemic, he became convinced there was nothing to worry about, that social distancing restricted freedom and the priority should be protecting the economy.”

Cavalari ran a motorcycle repair shop and was a staunch Bolsonaro supporter. He couldn’t afford to close his shop and the farright leader’s rhetoric resonated with the mechanics, who attended his rallies even during the deadliest months of the pandemic.

In June 2021, thousands of the president’s supporters rode motorcycles through Sao Paulo with Bolsonaro. That same month, Cavalari died from Covid-19 complications. He was 41. Orsi wasn’t 100% sure if Cavalari was at the motorcycle rally, but said his cousin attended previous similar events.

“He was newly married, paying rent on his business. He needed the money,” Orsi said, recalling he couldn’t visit Cavalari in the hospital intensive care unit because only immediate family was allowed. “But I was told one of the last things he said was to warn his parents to take care, that the disease was serious.”

Orsi’s family remains divided, much like the rest of Brazil, and he believes Bolsonaro’s conviction will not change public opinion or reconcile other families.

Feeling grief and vindication

BOLSONARO denied wrongdoing during his

it wasn’t—leaving open the possibility of more negotiation. Still, asked what would happen if Ukraine and Zelenskyy ultimately reject the proposal, the president turned almost dismissive: “Then he can continue to fight his little heart out.”

Zelenskyy is now in a vulnerable spot

THE mounting pressure from Trump comes as Zelenskyy is dealing with fallout over $100 million in kickbacks for contracts with the state-owned nuclear energy company. The scandal led to the resignations of top Cabinet ministers and implicated other Zelenskyy associates.

Konstantin Sonin, a political economist and Russia expert at the University of Chicago, said, “what Donald Trump is certainly extremely good at is spotting weak spots of people.”

One of the 28 elements of Trump’s proposal calls for elections to be held within 100 days of enactment of the agreement.

“I think it’s a rationalistic assessment that there is more leverage over Zelenskyy than over Putin,” Sonin said. He added, “Zelenskyy’s back is against the wall” and “his government could collapse if he agrees” to the US proposal.

All the while, Ukraine is increasingly showing signs of strain on the battlefield after years of war against a vastly larger and better-equipped Russian military. Ukraine is desperately trying to fend off relentless Russian aerial attacks that have brought rolling blackouts across the country on the brink of winter.

Kyiv is also grappling with doubts about the way ahead. A European plan to finance next year’s budget for Ukraine through loans linked to frozen Russian funds is now in question.

AP writers Michelle L. Price and Konstantin Toropin contributed.

Pass redistricting law before Nov. 30 deadline–LENTE

Continued from A12

trial. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected an appeal from his legal team, though another may come this week. Before his arrest Saturday, he had been under house arrest since August.

“I would have preferred that he was arrested for allowing 700,000 Brazilians to die, many deaths that could have been avoided, perhaps by speeding up the vaccine rollout,” Orsi told The Associated Press. “But since he is being tried and convicted for other crimes, it cleanses our soul. It gives us a sense that justice has been served.”

There have been more than 700,000 deaths attributed to Covid-19 in Brazil since 2020, the world’s second-highest toll after the United States.

In 2021, epidemiologists at the Federal University of Pelotas estimated 4 in 5 of those deaths could have been avoided if the Bolsonaro administration had supported containment measures and accelerated vaccine purchases.

Bolsonaro’s government ignored repeated pleas to sign additional vaccine contracts. He publicly questioned the reliability of shots and mocked contract terms, once suggesting Pfizer recipients would have no legal recourse if they “turned into alligators.” Brazil faced vaccine shortages and doses were released in phases by age and health risk.

Cavalari died just weeks before he would have been eligible for his first dose, Orsi said.

The same happened to the father of Fábio de Maria, a 45-year-old teacher in Sao Paulo.

“When he was admitted to the hospital, he was about 15 days away from being eligible for his first shot,” de Maria said. “That delay was fatal for him and many others.”

His father died in May 2021 at age 65. De Maria blames Bolsonaro and other officials he believes were complicit, but he said the former president’s conviction doesn’t bring justice.

Eléonore Hughes reported from Rio de Janeiro.

Ukraine’s allies push back on a US peace plan seen as favoring Moscow

KYIV, Ukraine—Ukraine’s Western allies rallied around the war-torn country on Saturday as they pushed to revise a US peace plan seen as favoring Moscow despite its all-out invasion of its neighbor. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed Ukrainians “will always defend” their home.

A Ukrainian delegation, bolstered by representatives from France, Germany and the U.K., is preparing for direct talks with Washington in Switzerland on Sunday.

The 28-point blueprint drawn up by the US to end the nearly four-year war sparked alarm in Kyiv and European capitals, with Zelenskyy saying his country could face a stark choice between standing up for its sovereign rights and preserving the American support it needs.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Saturday, President Donald Trump said the US proposal was not his “final offer.”

“I would like to get to peace. It should have happened a long time ago. The Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened,” Trump said. “One way or the other, we have to get it ended.”

Trump didn’t explain what he meant by the plan not being his final offer and the White House didn’t respond to a request for clarification.

The US plan foresees Ukraine handing over territory to Russia, something Kyiv has repeatedly ruled out, while reducing the size of its army and blocking its coveted path to NATO membership. It contains many of Moscow’s long-standing demands, while offering limited security guarantees to Kyiv.

On Saturday, leaders of the European Union, Canada and Japan issued a joint statement welcoming US peace efforts, but pushed back against key tenets of the plan.

“We are ready to engage in order to ensure that a future peace is sustainable. We are clear on the principle that borders must not be changed by force. We are also concerned by the proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, which would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack,” the statement said. It added that any decisions regarding NATO and the EU would require the consent of member states.

The leaders of France, Germany and the U.K. met during the day on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, to discuss ways to support Kyiv, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

LENTE said the BTA must pass a measure that can withstand legal scrutiny and give the Commission on Elections enough time to prepare.

“The constant postponement of elections erodes democratic legitimacy and risks establishing a dangerous precedent where judicial or administrative uncertainties become grounds to defer elections already set by law.…This will undermine both regional autonomy and the constitutional guarantee of suffrage for the Bangsamoro People, ultimately leading to the delayed provision of effective and responsive government services to the Bangsamoro People,” LENTE also said. Comelec earlier confirmed that the passage of the redistricting law remains uncertain, noting that the BTA has yet to enact a legally valid measure following the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Comelec said the parliament has until November 30 to pass the redistricting law so the commission can reset the filing of candidacies in January, finalize the election calendar, and begin printing ballots with required features such as candidate photographs and party logos.

Without the law, these preparations cannot move forward, placing the entire March 2026 schedule at risk.

To recall, the Supreme Court in September voided BAA Nos. 77 and 58, for violating the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).

With no valid enabling law, the Comelec had no legal basis to hold the parliamentary elections this year.

Instead, the Court directed the Comelec to proceed with preparations and conduct the BARMM parliamentary elections no later than March 31, 2026, in line with Section 5 of the Voter’s Registration Act, which provides for the establishment of precincts.

It also ordered the BTA to determine the region’s parliamentary districts for the first regular parliamentary elections no later than 120 days before the scheduled polls.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters at the summit that “wars cannot be ended by major powers over the heads of the countries affected,” and insisted Kyiv needed robust guarantees.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the US peace plan for Ukraine “requires broader consultation” because “it stipulates many things involving Europeans,” like Russia’s frozen assets and Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. Europe’s security issues must also be taken into account, Macron said, adding: “We want a robust and lasting peace.”

Merz and Macron said that envoys from Germany, France, the U.K. and the EU will join Ukrainian negotiators as they meet a US delegation in Geneva on Sunday to discuss Washington’s proposal. Zelenskyy confirmed the meeting on Saturday, after Trump set a deadline for Kyiv to respond to the plan by next Thursday.

Among those expected to represent Washington are Trump’s Army secretary, Dan Driscoll, and Marco Rubio, who serves as both national security adviser and secretary of state, according to a US official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the American participants before the meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity. Driscoll presented the US plan to Ukrainian officials this week.

European leaders have long warned against rushing a peace deal, seeing their own future at stake in Ukraine’s fight to beat back Russia, and insist on being consulted in peace efforts.

‘Quite a way from a good outcome’ KYIV’S key allies in Europe reiterated their reservations about the Kremlin’s readiness to end the war.

“Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but their actions never live up to their words,” U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters ahead of the G20 summit, days after a Russian strike on western Ukraine killed over two dozen civilians. European leaders have long accused Russia of stalling diplomatic efforts in the hope of overwhelming Ukraine’s much smaller forces on the battlefield. Kyiv has repeatedly accepted US ceasefire proposals this year, while Moscow has held out for more favorable terms.

Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

New Manila-Siargao shipping route seen to cut costs, boost trade

Continued from A12

September figures followed the same trajectory. Foreign arrivals rose from 2,034 in 2023 to 5,666 in 2024 before easing to 4,865 in 2025. Domestic arrivals likewise softened in 2025, declining to 9,692 from 42,062 in 2024 and 40,055 in 2023.

For local tour guide Marietto Sumalinog, 49, the new direct travel option to Siargao represents a much-needed boost to the island’s tourism and is expected to positively impact local livelihoods.

On a typical day guiding visitors, he earns between P250 and P500, depending on sea conditions, plus any tips, a livelihood he says helps sustain his family on the island.

Sumalinog shared that he last set foot in Manila in 1998, and for many residents like him, airfare has long been an unreachable expense. Having a more affordable route, he said, finally gives people “another way out,” one that doesn’t strain already tight budgets.

Siargao tourism vs. infrastructure HOWEVER , Mindanaoan entrepreneur Rommel Tan-Abing, owner of Rucksack Inn Siargao, one of the island’s hostels, told BusinessMirror that while tourism has persisted despite a nationwide dip, several factors have affected visitor arrivals.

He pointed to high airfare costs, concerns among international tourists over tensions between China and the Philippines, uncertainty around security and safety, and the challenges of inter-island travel due to limited infrastructure.

“Compared to other neighboring countries in Asean, maybe we have to think about how we improve our infrastructure for interisland travel,” he explained.

“If we have more infrastructure, more systematic infrastructure that would make it

more convenient for people to travel around different islands, that would be maybe a much better consideration for them to come over here,” he added.

He welcomed the launch of the direct sea route, noting that it makes the island more accessible to a wider range of travelers. “Previously, visiting Siargao was often limited to those who could afford it. With this more affordable option, more people now have the chance to experience the island,” he said. Yet, beyond these accessibility issues, Tan-Abing said businesses and households face deeper operational challenges. He cited securing basic necessities such as electricity, clean water, and reliable internet connectivity as the main hurdles that continue to affect both operations and daily life on the island.

“Even just procuring these basic needs is already very challenging,” Tan-Abing said, noting that power outages occur almost daily, typically lasting five to 15 minutes depending on the day.

He added that, unlike other islands where electricity and water are stable and internet access is reliable, fluctuations in these services on Siargao create a domino effect. Equipment gets damaged, water pumps fail, and refrigerants break down, all of which increase operating costs.

Tan-Abing stressed that addressing these fundamental challenges is essential to enable smoother business operations on the island. He also highlighted the need for improved tourism training. “I feel the Department of Tourism should provide intensive training for tourist guides,” he said. “Not all travelers just want to take photos. I think if we equip them with knowledge, history, stories, and share these treasures, the magic of the storytelling to travelers, that would make a bigger impact than just showing them what’s beautiful when you see things.”

Revitalizing PHL’s digital economy: Pathway to growth and innovation

THE Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) warning about the Philippines “falling behind” in digital adoption should stir both urgency and introspection among citizens, businesses, and policymakers. Secretary Henry Aguda’s candid admission that the country’s digital economy has declined—from a peak of 9.1 percent of GDP in 2021 to just 8.4 percent in 2024—lays bare a sobering truth: while our neighbors in Southeast Asia raced ahead in digital transformation, we stagnated.

The comparative figures are alarming. Singapore’s digital economy already accounts for 25 percent of its GDP, Malaysia’s exceeds 20 percent, and Vietnam’s is approaching 18 percent. In contrast, the Philippines—an economy with a young, tech-savvy population—lags far behind. This disparity is not merely about numbers; it reflects missed opportunities for innovation, efficiency, and employment.

At its core, the digital economy represents the future of work and competitiveness. Each percentage point lost is a percentage point of unrealized potential—jobs that could have been created, small enterprises that could have scaled, and innovations that could have improved everyday life.

Aguda aptly points out that neighboring Asean economies used the pandemic as a springboard for digitization—rolling out e-government platforms, bolstering cloud infrastructure, and nurturing data-driven industries. The Philippines, however, allowed the moment to slip by. While other nations built new digital capacities, we remained entangled in legacy systems, inconsistent implementation, and patchwork connectivity.

Our limited capacity to host hyperscalers—only two major cloud providers compared to Malaysia’s five or Indonesia’s six—underscores a structural weakness. Without modern digital infrastructure, attracting large-scale investments and sustaining digital jobs becomes an uphill battle.

The DICT’s vision to raise the digital economy’s contribution to 12.5 percent of GDP by 2028 is ambitious yet within reach—if pursued with discipline, coordination, and urgency. The planned rollout of the National Fiber Backbone, expansion of Free Wi-Fi for All, and modernization of industries are critical steps. But what will determine success is not the elegance of the plans, but the speed and scale of their execution. (Read the BusinessMirror story: “12.5% digital economy share in GDP eyed,” November 21, 2025).

The creation of eight million digital jobs, the integration of AI in government, and the strengthening of cybersecurity are essential pillars of this vision. Cybersecurity, in particular, deserves national attention—not only as a shield against threats but as a prerequisite for investor confidence. Private industry, too, must be a co-pilot in this drive. As Aguda urged, companies must “invest, integrate, and align” with national goals. The digital economy cannot thrive if government and industry move in parallel lanes; collaboration must be the rule, not the exception.

The numbers may paint a picture of decline, but they can also serve as the catalyst for renewal. The Philippines is at a crucial digital juncture: we can either remain complacent and solidify our status as laggards, or we can take bold action to establish ourselves as a regional leader in technology.

To reverse the slide, the nation must treat digitalization not as a buzzword but as the backbone of inclusive growth. Every barangay connected, every small business digitized, and every citizen empowered to participate in the online economy contributes to national progress.

If the DICT’s “rocket-ship growth” vision materializes, it will not only lift GDP figures—it will launch a new era where every Filipino can truly take part in the digital age.

Our local startup story

ARISING SUN

SK any startup founder in Manila, Cebu, or Davao and you’ll hear a familiar mix of optimism and grit. These qualities are important now more than ever as the country’s startup ranking slipped to 64th in StartupBlink’s latest Global Startup Ecosystem Index, four places down from the previous year.

In 2024, Philippine startups generated $6.3 billion (about P352 billion) in value, marking a robust 35 percent annual growth rate. Last year alone, Filipino startups raised $1.12 billion in fresh capital, a significant jump from $960 million in 2023. It proved that local innovation still attracts investor attention even in the midst of global uncertainty.

But so far, this year 2025 has proven crucial: the total startup capital

raised dropped 32 percent year-onyear, while deal volumes plummeted by more than half. This is according to the Gobi Partners Philippine Startup Ecosystem Report. This decrease in funding is driving a shift in founder mindset. The new generation of Filipino entrepreneurs is now more focused on operational discipline, profitability, and sustainable growth than on scaling. Startups contribute a growing 3

percent of the national GDP and have created almost 200,000 jobs nationwide. Aside from that, startup hubs continue to grow outside Metro Manila, in places like Cebu, Iloilo, and Cagayan de Oro.

And yet beneath these encouraging numbers, structural and financial headwinds persist. Bureaucracy remains a major issue. For instance, registering a business could take months, hampering early growth and sapping founder morale. Regulatory gaps result in inconsistent policies, and while government support programs exist, they’re often fragmented or only accessible to Metro Manilabased ventures. Meanwhile, the drop in funding—driven by a mix of global investor caution, lapses in local governance, and talent shortages—adds pressure to an already challenging entrepreneurial landscape.

Brain drain is another critical stress point. The country’s best and brightest often end up working in BPOs or heading overseas for better opportunities, creating talent gaps

especially in tech, AI, and data science. Without strategic investments in digital infrastructure, education, and local community-building, the Philippines risks falling further behind its regional peers. Despite all this, many founders remain hopeful. The growth of new accelerators in Visayas and Mindanao and the policy moves to streamline investment are giving founders new ways to weather volatility. Social impact is also coming to the fore. Some enterprises are using technology to empower microbusinesses, just to cite one example.

To unlock the next chapter, the Philippines must act decisively: harmonize startup registrations, improve access to funding, and invest in talent programs that bring opportunities to the provinces as well as Metro Manila. Because here in the country, we are not lacking in creativity, vision, and entrepreneurial energy—the very things that allow Filipino innovation to shine through in the global platform.

Breaking the cycle: How Speaker Dy aims to empower rice farmers and reform Congress

Antonio L. Cabangon Chua

ADennis D. Estopace

Angel R. Calso, Dionisio L. Pelayo

Ruben M. Cruz Jr.

Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes

D. Edgard A. Cabangon Benjamin V. Ramos Aldwin Maralit Tolosa

Rolando M. Manangan

817-9467; 813-0725. Fax line: 813-7025. (Advertising Sales) 893-2019; 817-1351, 817-2807. (Circulation) 893-1662; 814-0134 to 36. E-mail: news.businessmirror@gmail.com www.businessmirror.com.ph

LITO GAGNI

T a quiet 90th birthday celebration of my aunt a fortnight ago, my nephew said something that stayed with me: “Speaker Dy is trying to do right by the rice farmers.” It was an insight that stayed with me after learning from a retired military official the losses that his two brothers ,who are into rice farming in Camarines Sur, incurred when they were forced to sell rice at a loss to middlemen rice traders.

Speaker Dy is now moving to untangle the chokehold of middlemen rice traders who, for decades, bought palay at depressed prices and trapped farmers in a cycle of poverty. In Isabela, this middleman network is practically an institution—efficient enough to profit, entrenched enough to survive, and powerful enough to keep farmers poor. And that fact I got from my nephew who occupies a post in one of Isabela’s municipalities. If this insight is accurate, then the current Speaker’s reform impulses did not begin in Batasan; they began at home, among his own people. In a sense, the current Speaker understands that a farmer cheated is a nation cheated. And for Dy, the way forward for the fractured soul of this nation could come from a possible Congress-inspired move to take out the rice middlemen in their own game. To understand why farmers re-

main impoverished, we need to follow the journey of a single kilo of palay. During the planting season, many farmers take out loans from traders or financiers to purchase seeds, fertilizer, and occasionally food. The collateral is almost always the harvest itself—a “sangla-ani” or “pledged harvest” arrangement. At harvest time: Supply surges. Farmers need cash immediately to pay debts, labor, and bills. The traders move in with trucks and cash, and dictate prices. It is not unusual for palay to be bought at P15–P18 per kilo even when production costs are high and retail prices are already over P40. And the disconnect here is that the NFA is in cahoots with the rice traders by way of accommodating the palay that the traders bought instead of the rice farmers.

And so we move from that simple, quiet truth in Isabela—to the

This is the contrast lawmakers must confront. Under Romualdez, the House became synonymous with insertions, closeddoor deals, and a budget process the public no longer trusted. Under Dy, the House is—finally—attempting to clean up its own mess.

shadows now lengthening inside Congress. Because while the House is still cleaning the debris of its own scandals, whispers have begun: a move to unseat Speaker Faustino

“Bojie” Dy III… and to return Martin Romualdez to the throne he vacated amid public disgust.

A silhouette of ambition is taking shape. The outlines are familiar. The contrast could not be sharper. Under Romualdez, the House became a symbol of what the public has come to resent: insertions, opaque negotiations, and a national budget riddled with shadows. Dy inherited that rubble and did something rare in Philippine politics: he began sweeping it clean. From day one, he demanded accountability. He required members implicated in the flood-control scandal to cooperate fully with the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI). He protected no one. He tampered with nothing. Then he crossed a line no Speaker before him dared cross: He offered to disclose his SALN—and moved to reactivate the long-dead House SALN Committee.

But the boldest stroke was the one that rattled the old guard: a willingness to file an anti-dynasty bill, even if it meant challenging his own clan. Romualdez never touched that, while Dy is willing to place reform above family.

This is the contrast lawmakers must confront. Under Romualdez, the House became synonymous with insertions, closed-door deals, and a budget process the public no longer trusted. Under Dy, the House is—finally—attempting to clean up its own mess. And here is the truth many hesitate to say aloud: the greatest asset of the House today is its current Speaker. Dy’s audacious decision to introduce an anti-dynasty bill reveals significant insights into his reform agenda. In contrast, Romualdez did not engage with the issue, despite pressure from business groups advocating for it, especially in light of findings that the provinces with the lowest per capita income are often those governed by political dynasties. In short, Dy is willing to challenge even his own family. The difference could not be more stark. This shows that Dy is trying to straighten out the chaos in Congress that has shocked the nation so much that even basketball cheering squads now chant, “Ikulong ang kurakot.” The issue of congressional insertions and public frustration has spilled over even into the competitive atmosphere of basketball games. History will remember who stood with reform—and who tried to bury it alive.

One recipe, one kitchen: Bringing the flood-control mess to prosecution

ADEBIT CREDIT

Part 10

Conclusion

FTER months of various overlapping investigations by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, the Independent Commission for Infrastructure, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Customs (BOC), Commission on Audit (COA), National Bureau of Investigation(NBI), Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), concerned Citizens and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and several fact-finding panels, the investigation stage of the flood-control mess is finally coming up with conclusions and results.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the Ombudsman shall take over when they receive this massive volume of testimony, documents, red flags, and forensic analysis referrals. The two agencies will proceed with the tedious process of evaluating whether the various referrals will warrant the filing of criminal or civil cases in the various judicial courts.

The DOJ primarily handles cases involving private contractors and engineers, lower-ranking public officials (below Salary Grade 27), tax cases from the BIR and BOC, and money-laundering referrals from AMLC. These cases will be referred to the courts with jurisdiction, such as the Court of Tax Appeals or the Metropolitan or Regional Trial Courts.

The Ombudsman takes jurisdiction over cases involving government officials such as public officials with Salary Grade 27 and above, DPWH district engineers, bureau directors, assistant secretaries, and undersecretaries, administrative offenses like grave misconduct and dishonesty, and criminal cases under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. The Ombudsman is also empowered to impose preventive suspension and file cases directly with the Sandiganbayan.

Based on the patterns surfacing in the flood-control controversy— overpricing, ghost works, anomalous change orders, improper inspections, and falsified payment documents, unexplained wealth, tax evasion, and smuggling—the following criminal violations will likely be considered and recommended for prosecution:

(1) Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act (RA) 3019), involving giving unwarranted benefits, splitting contracts, approving substandard or ghost projects, and manipulating procurement.

(2) Plunder Law (RA 7080 as amended by RA 7659), which is triggered when ill-gotten wealth reaches P50 million, punishable by life imprisonment and perpetual disqualification.

(3) Government Procurement Act (RA 9184) as amended by RA 120009), consisting of bid rigging, collusive bidding, and irregular postqualification processes.

(4) Revised Penal Code Offenses (Act No. 3815 passed into law on December 8, 1930, with several amendments thereafter), such as malversation, falsification of public documents, estafa.

(5) Anti-Money Laundering Act (RA 9160 as amended by RA 9194, RA 10167, RA 10365, RA 10927), for converting illicit funds into real estate, vehicles, bank deposits, or shell companies.

(6) National Internal Revenue Code and Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, for tax evasion and smuggling. Both the BIR and BOC can institute liens and garnishments of properties of erring taxpayers and importers at any time in the investigation process. This was done recently by the BOC when it seized several luxury vehicles of the erring public works contractors, Curlee and Sarah Discaya. Of the seven luxury

‘Maybe Happy Ending’

Mvehicles that the BOC seized from these contractors, three cars were sold during the public auction for a total of P38.21 million. (7) Forfeiture of Unexplained Wealth (RA 1379), which is one of the most powerful but underutilized accountability tools. Under this law, the government can file a civil case for forfeiture when a public official’s assets are “manifestly disproportionate” to legitimate income. This does not require a criminal conviction. The standard of proof is preponderance of evidence, not “beyond reasonable doubt.” The court may order forfeiture of land, buildings, bank deposits, businesses, vehicles, jewelry, and any other property derived from unlawful sources. In large infrastructure scandals, RA 1379 is essential because it targets the assets themselves, ensuring that ill-gotten wealth can be seized even while criminal cases are still pending. There are various penalties that may be imposed by the courts that will conduct trials for the cases referred by the DOJ and the Ombudsman.

Depending on the court and the crime, penalties may include:

n Imprisonment (6 years to life imprisonment).

n Payment of fines, surcharges, and restitution.

n Perpetual disqualification from public office.

n Civil disallowances by COA.

n Cancellation of contractor licenses and BIR clearances.

n Forfeiture of unexplained wealth under RA 1379.

As the flood-control scandal enters the decisive stage of prosecution, the Filipino people now look to the DOJ, the Ombudsman, and our investigative institutions to finally deliver justice with clarity, confidence, and unity. This long and painful saga has shown that corruption thrives when agencies act alone and accountability is fragmented; but it can be defeated when the entire enforcement chain—Ombudsman, DOJ, ICI, Congress investigating committees, COA, BIR, BOC, AMLC, DPWH, NBI, CSOs, etc., and the courts—works under one recipe, one kitchen, and one unwavering commitment to the truth.

The next chapters must no longer be about hearings and reports, but about convictions, forfeitures, restitution, and meaningful reform. Only through a coordinated and relentless prosecution effort can we assure the public that this time, the system will not fail—and that justice, long delayed, will finally be served…in the soonest time and with all, including the most guilty, convicted.

Joel L. Tan-Torres was a former Commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. He has also held various positions, including Dean of the University of the Philippines School of Business, Chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy, Tax partner of Reyes

Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

Y children and I recently concluded a road trip of sorts visiting family and seeing the sights of the US Northeast. One of the highlights of our trip was getting to see a Broadway show. With a cast of two Filipino and two Korean stage actors, “Maybe Happy Ending” is a must see for those who want to understand the meaning of relationships.

Beyond its visually stunning beauty, interspersed with subtle humor and uplifting musical melodies, the storyline was truly enriching for the soul. Love between “help-robots” can teach the audience that memories help rebuild or repair a broken relationship.

For instance, the son of the fatherowner of Oliver, the main character of the show, sought to download the memories of his relationship with his father from Oliver himself. When Oliver and Claire agreed to delete their respective memories from their database to fall out of love for each other, one decided not to, obviously with the desire to preserve those cherished moments. Hence, the ending is “maybe happy.”

Whether the memory is rooted in love for people or for one’s country, reflections on the past can help restore a fractured narrative. The story of the Philippines has been shattered and shaken by these recent episodes of corruption. The virus has reached the institutions that ought to fight corruption.

Years ago, it was maybe rampant in just one or two agencies, say the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau

of Internal Revenue. Fast forward to today, Congress, Senate, and even the Office of the Executive Secretary have been tarnished with reports of participation in flood control anomalies.

Some analysts would say that the conspiracy would eventually reach the Office of the President. These same analysts say that corruption is not exclusively limited to the Departments of Public Works and Highways, Budget and Management, Education, and Environment and Natural Resources.

Every department has a corruption storyline that involves a handful of thieves in public service who have yet to be exposed in the same magnitude as DPWH, DBM, DepEd, and DENR.

Government bureaucracy has been run like hell by a bunch of political families in recent years, as if living up to the Quezon curse

“I would rather have a country run like hell by Filipinos than a country run like heaven by the Americans.”

There were glory days before, as my late father Salvador would tell me, when Filipino leaders unselfishly governed the country, especially during the Magsaysay era. Those were

good memories we need to re-live.

Back then, good governance was visible as the common good was clearly the objective of those leaders elected by the people.

When Martial Law came and abuses of power became the norm, the Quezon curse came to fruition. The country was run like hell, indeed. There was supposed to be an additional line in this curse—“because however bad a Filipino government might be, we can always change it.”

Change came and left. People power came to be. Yet, after 40 years after the intended change, the country is yet again living under the Quezon curse with several political dynasties running this country like hell!

I am not a fan of the American style of governance then and now. But as compared to what we have now, it seems to be looking far better. I dare say that the US also has its share of corruption issues since no system of government is corrupt-free. Not even the dictatorship in North Korea.

A few decades ago, anti-corruption crusaders like Miriam DefensorSantiago (Bureau of Immigration) and my later father Salvador Mison (Bureau of Customs) were in government. Outnumbered and countercultural, corruption still lingered and efforts against it were bound to fail. But what we are evidently missing today is not just crusaders but a culture of good governance, if not Godly governance.

The Quezon curse seems to give Filipinos a slim hope of a Maybe Happy Ending. In the Bible, however, Paul tells us about a different curse—“But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse,” for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”

From chaos to clarity to credibility

By Henry Go

THE Philippine political system stands at a moment of heightened turbulence. Friction between key institutions, inconsistent policy signals, and deepening public anxiety have exposed weaknesses that demand steadier leadership and stronger systems. As management guru Peter Drucker famously observed, “Only three things happen naturally in organizations: friction, confusion, and underperformance. Everything else requires leadership.” While Drucker wrote about businesses and organizations, his insight applies equally to politics: a nation, like any complex organization, requires disciplined leadership to convert disorder into clarity and effective action. Current challenges—overlapping authorities, shifting priorities, and weak accountability—demonstrate that even capable institutions can falter without purposeful leadership, leaving citizens, businesses, and the state itself vulnerable to uncertainty.

When systems falter, leadership matters most MUCH of today’s dysfunction stems from overlapping authorities, entrenched dynasties, oligarchic influence, and messaging that shifts from week to week—compounded by geopolitical considerations that require coherent national positions. These structural weaknesses are amplified by leadership choices. Organizational theorist Henry Mintzberg emphasizes that real leadership is about stewardship and disciplined management of systems, not theatrics. Leadership expert John Maxwell teaches that credibility is built on consistent, values-driven action, not political maneuvering.

These dynamics create space for corruption, patronage, and discretionary practices to flourish, further eroding public trust. Citizens experience confusion because government communications, priorities, and actions often appear contradictory. Markets and institutions respond to uncertainty, and public confidence wanes. Drucker’s principle is clear: friction, confusion, and underperformance are natural unless leadership actively structures systems to prevent them. Governance is strengthened not by personality or showmanship, but by coherent, disciplined, and transparent systems. Meritocracy as a path to restored credibility

RESTORING credibility begins with appointments. In times of perceived instability, the President—unless

formally declared incapacitated— must assemble a cabinet anchored on professional competence, integrity, and independence. Appointees must be free from political dynasties, personal networks, corporate loyalties, or nepotism. Meritocratic appointments signal seriousness, competence, and a commitment to national—not personal—goals.

Perceptions matter. Even the mere suggestion of blurred boundaries, such as discussions linking family members to potential appointments, can weaken institutions. The issue is not the individual—it is the signal sent to the public. In governance, perception shapes trust. When leaders appear more focused on family networks than national interests, credibility erodes rapidly.

Upholding constitutional stability CONCERNS over leadership capacity sometimes generate calls for “extraordinary solutions”—from informal leadership resets to military interventions. Filipino constitutional scholars, including Fr. Joaquin Bernas, former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., and Atty. Florin Hilbay, consistently warn that such measures are unconstitutional and destabilizing. Rule of law, not expediency, must prevail. No administration, including the current one, and no private-sector or civil society group has the authority to rewrite succession rules to accommodate political preferences.

Even in situations where public trust has eroded and citizens express

So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life. (Galatians 3:10-11). Believers are not assured of a “happy ending” through good works. The apostle Paul tells us that Jesus rescued us from this curse by dying on the cross, “so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:14). And so, believers are assured of a Happy Ending, not a Maybe but Definitely. No amount of works can save us from the fires of hell. Only through God’s grace that we are saved. So, for Philippines to be saved from being “run like hell” by Filipinos, there is an urgent need to turn to God and pray for His grace. We need God-fearing electorate to give us God-fearing leaders who can run the country better. In this wise, I admire how church leaders in this country have called on the people to keep on praying and inviting God’s presence. Through divine intervention, this country will be assured of a Happy Ending despite this most recent corruption scandal in the form of flood control projects rooted in unholy budget insertions.

Siegfred has a diversified set of education and experiences which has made him a game changer and a servant leader in organizations such as the Philippine Army, Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Malcolm Law Offices, a US-based software development company called Infogix Inc., University of the East, Bureau of Immigration, Philippine Airlines and SM Prime Holdings. His professional degrees came from the United States Military Academy at West Point in New York, Ateneo Law School, and University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA. He has delivered leadership and management talks in government agencies. Siegfred is a former soldier and a lawyer by profession, a teacher by passion, and a writer with a mission.

dissatisfaction with government performance, if the President is not formally incapacitated, constitutional continuity must be respected. In such cases, a prudent approach is for the President to step back from direct micromanagement and focus on appointing cabinet members of impeccable integrity and strong credentials for their specific portfolios. These appointments must be entirely free from nepotism, political patronage, corporate influence, or personal networks. By assembling a professional, independent, and merit-based leadership team, the administration can gradually rebuild public confidence and reinforce institutional credibility, demonstrating that governance is guided by competence and national interest rather than personal or familial connections.

The Constitution is clear: if a President is permanently incapacitated, the Vice President assumes the presidency for the remainder of the term. Dissatisfaction or public pressure does not override this framework. Continuity, not improvisation, is the stabilizing principle. Extra-constitutional interventions create cycles of instability, risk investor confidence, and undermine institutional credibility. Elections—not shortcuts— remain the democratic remedy.

The private sector’s quiet but powerful signal DESPITE political turbulence, the private sector continues to demonstrate discipline and long-term planning. The recent P47-billion loan package arranged by BDO Unibank and BPI for Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. exemplifies how capital continues to flow into strategic sectors—energy security, natural gas, and infrastructure—even amid governance uncertainty.

Investors are aware of corruption risks, dynastic politics, and regulatory opacity. Their willingness to act signals that the Philippines retains deep economic potential—but also highlights governance gaps. Privatesector discipline cannot permanently substitute for public-sector clarity. Businesses can build projects; only the state can build institutions. The more the private sector fills governance gaps, the more visible the costs

of weak governance become. This moment should be a wake-up call: the government must act decisively to clean up governance, strengthen institutions, and rebuild credibility.

Rebuilding trust through systems, not slogans RESTORING clarity and credibility requires constitutional, transparent, and professional reforms: First, eliminate discretionary practices, opaque transactions, and patronage that enable misuse of public funds. Second, ensure communication is coherent, honest, and evidencebased. Credibility collapses when messaging contradicts policy or reality.

Third, strengthen institutions: professionalize the civil service, enforce regulatory predictability, and implement results-based management.

Fourth, prioritize internal capacity before external posturing. No foreign alliance, trade negotiation, or diplomatic engagement can compensate for weak domestic governance; internal strength is the foundation of credibility abroad.

Conclusion: Clarity requires consistency, credibility requires continuity THE Philippines can move from chaos to clarity and ultimately to credibility—but only through disciplined leadership, meritocratic appointments, and respect for constitutional processes. As Drucker, Mintzberg, and Maxwell collectively teach, leadership is neither about power nor personality—it is about systems, stewardship, and consistent, values-driven action. The present moment is a test. The path forward is clear: govern transparently, communicate honestly, appoint on merit, and uphold constitutional processes without exception. Clarity and credibility require continuity; reforms must endure beyond political cycles to create lasting trust and institutional resilience. Stability, disciplined governance, and principled leadership will create tangible benefits for ordinary Filipinos—reliable services, sustainable economic growth, and stronger international standing.

Monday, November 24, 2025

China warns US on FONOPs as militaries meet in Hawaii

By Malou Talosig-Bartolome @maloutalosig

CHINA warned the United States once again against carrying out freedom of navigation or overflight operations, saying such actions could jeopardize its sovereignty and security, as military officials from both countries met in Honolulu from November 18 to 20, 2025, for the semi-annual session and second working group meeting of the China-US Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA).

The Chinese Navy statement did not specifically mention the South China Sea, but most US freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) are conducted in those waters.

A US State Department factsheet released in September 2025 noted that Washington has carried out more than 45 FONOPs in the Indo-Pacific since 2017, describing them as routine missions to challenge excessive maritime claims worldwide.

The document warned that unlawful claims in the South China Sea pose “a serious threat to the freedom of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded lawful commerce, and freedom of economic opportunity for South China Sea littoral nations.”

Talks in Honolulu THE Honolulu meeting brought together representatives from US Indo-Pacific Command, US Pacific Fleet, US Pacific Air Forces, and the US Coast Guard, alongside China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy.

According to the Chinese Navy, “the exchanges were conducted on the basis of equality and respect, and the two sides had a candid and constructive exchange of views primarily on maritime and aerial security situations.”

The US Indo-Pacific Command issued a brief statement, noting only the that the

forum “provides for discussions between operators focused on reducing the risk of unsafe and unprofessional encounters.”

Chinese officials said the delegates reviewed typical cases of encounters at sea and in the air, assessed the implementation of agreed rules of behavior, and discussed measures to improve safety and reduce risks. Both sides also exchanged ideas for the 2026 working-group agenda.

Regional context THE talks followed a series of high-profile developments in the Indo-Pacific:

n Scarborough Shoal Patrol: Days earlier, Philippine, US, and Japanese vessels carried out a Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity in the South China Sea, staging a two-day joint patrol that marked the largest show of force near Scarborough Shoal in years.

n The deployment involved nine warships and cutters, including the Ōsumi-class amphibious tank landing ship JS Osumi (LST-

4001), the Jose Rizal-class guided-missile frigate BRP Jose Rizal (FF 150), the Arleigh Burkeclass guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn (DDG 113), and a US Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft from Patrol Squadron (VP) 9. The vessels and aircraft conducted maritime domain awareness operations and anti-submarine warfare drills during the patrol.

n In response, China’s Southern Theater Command claimed it scrambled a bomber formation to shadow the activity.

n Fujian commissioning: Two weeks earlier, on November 5, China officially commissioned its third aircraft carrier, Fujian (CV-18), at Sanya Naval Base in the South China Sea. Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the ceremony, underscoring the carrier’s strategic importance.

The carrier will operate under the PLA Southern Theater Command, which oversees operations in the South China Sea and supports the PLA East Theater Command in missions related to Taiwan.

SWIFT CONVICTION OF CULPRITS IN FCP MESS TO ‘REVERSE’ SLIDE

By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan

SWIFT conviction and imprisonment of those involved in the flood control projects (FCP) corruption can help “reverse” the country’s slow economic growth, according to a business leader.

“There should be someone to be sued and jailed and Filipinos need to see it addressed. The search is for a mastermind, not just anyone,” Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) President and Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) chairman Sergio R. OrtizLuis Jr. said in a recent interview.

Ortiz-Luis said addressing the current political situation can help “reverse” the economy’s slower growth.

“We can still catch up. Our GDP for the last 25 years, is always at 5 percent no matter what trouble is happening in the Philippines,” he said.

“That’s not irreversible, what’s important is to convince investors that we are solving the problem,” added the business leader.

The Philippine economy posted a 4-percent growth in the third quarter of 2025, the economy’s weakest pace since the first quarter of 2021 or during the pandemic, when it contracted by 3.8 percent.

Barring the Covid-19 pandemic, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Undersecretary

Claire Dennis S. Mapa said the 4-percent growth rate in the third quarter this year would be the lowest since the third quarter of 2011, or the period when the Philippine economy grew by only 3 percent. (See: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2025/11/08/infra-fiascosimpact-q3-growth-a-mere-4/)

Meanwhile, Ortiz-Luis affirmed the business sector’s support for the Marcos administration despite corruption allegations hounding flood control projects.

“You know the business sector, we want stability [to the] economy and the citizenry so we support the administration,” he said.

“We just ask that this problem be solved immediately. We don’t have time to dilly-dally anymore, people are impatient,” added Ortiz-Luis.

In a separate interview, when Ortiz-Luis was sought for comment on calls for President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to resign, the business leader explained that the business community wants a “constitutional transition.”

“If there is ever a transition, it should be proper, it should be constitutional. We don’t want any unconstitutional change. We are willing to cooperate with the government. We just want them to solve this problem so that the confidence will return,” Ortiz-Luis said, speaking partly in Filipino.

“Hopefully, within the year, we will see action that is acceptable to the citizens,”he underscored.

Pass redistricting law before Nov. 30

By Justine Xyrah Garcia

THE Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) has pressed the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) to enact a new redistricting law before the November 30 deadline, warning that any further delay will endanger the parliamentary polls next year.

LENTE said the BTA is now operating on “the barest margin of time,” with only two remaining session days under Parliament Resolution No. 560.

Failing to pass the measure, the group warned, would directly threaten the region’s first regular parliamentary elections and undermine the Bangsamoro people’s right to timely and genuine polls.

“The Bangsamoro people are entitled to timely, genuine, and periodic elections. The resulting delay or deviation from this obligation threatens the citizens’ constitutional rights, the integrity of the Bangsamoro democratic transition, and the peace process,” LENTE said in its statement.

The group stressed that the Supreme Court has already invalidated Bangsamoro Autonomy Acts 58 and 77 and laid out clear constitutional requirements that the new law must follow.

These include ensuring that districts are compact, contiguous, adjacent, and composed of at least 100,000 residents, and prohibiting any delegation of redistricting powers to Congress or the President.

See “Pass,” A9

New Manila-Siargao shipping route seen to cut costs, boost trade

By John Eiron R. Francisco

SIARGAO ISLAND, Surigao del Norte—A newly launched direct shipping route from the Philippine capital to this island is expected to ease logistics bottlenecks, lower transport costs, and further boost local commerce and tourism, according to the executives of a local shipping and logistics firm.

The island, situated in northeastern Mindanao roughly 470 miles from Manila, has long relied on multistop cargo shipments and costly air travel, conditions that have since pushed up business expenses and limited market access.

Sharon Ngo, vice president for sea solutions at 2GO, told the BusinessMirror that under the traditional setup, a truck or container shipped from Manila must first travel by sea to Butuan City in Agusan del Norte, then be transported by land to Surigao City, before undergoing a four-hour vessel trip to Siargao.

She said the multistage shipping process contributes to higher logistics costs, though current

rates, she noted, remain manageable rather than prohibitive.

She added that in their earlier visits, the team also observed that retail prices on the island tended to be on the costly side.

“This is understandable,” Ngo noted, “given that transport expenses under the old system are often doubled, if not tripled.”

The direct Manila–Siargao route, which began operating on November 17, provides a more efficient channel for moving goods and opens up an additional travel option for Filipinos, she said, particularly at a time when airfare to the island remains out of reach for many.

“What I want to say is that 2GO is very much responsive to the goal of the government and, of course, in business building and economy building,” Ngo emphasized.

Francis Chua, 2GO’s business unit head for travel, said the vessel’s 50-kilogram baggage allowance offers strong value for passengers, particularly digital nomads and small traders who typically transport large volumes of goods that would otherwise

cost significantly more by air.

He noted that several of the passengers on the maiden voyage were small entrepreneurs from Siargao who immediately bought supplies in Divisoria, Manila’s major trading hub, upon learning about the new direct route. Many of them plan to bring these items back to the island to boost their merchandise and sales.

“Our commitment is to keep it affordable, cheaper than air travel while offering benefits that make the journey truly value-driven,” Chua said.

‘Sea travel still strong in VisMin’ BEYOND Siargao, maritime transport continues to serve as a key link for communities in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Data from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) show that from January to September this year, Visayas ports managed 44.103 million mt, a 3.9-percent increase from 42.467 million mt, and Mindanao ports recorded 66.321 million mt, up 1.6 percent from 65.286 million mt.

Cargo includes high-value items such as machinery, transport

equipment, food, live animals, and manufactured products. Bulk commodities like cement, rice, and animal feed also make up a significant portion, with volumes of animal feed and wheat steadily rising in recent years.

Passenger traffic, however, showed a decline in the third quarter. Visayas ports recorded 4.364 million disembarked and 4.349 million embarked passengers, down from 6.362 million and 6.142 million in the second quarter. Northern Mindanao had 1.607 million passengers, down from 2.701 million, while Southern Mindanao recorded 2.976 million, compared with 3.493 million in the previous quarter.

“We are ready to provide people with the options they need to stay connected, conduct business, and support families,” Chua said.

Asked about potential challenges in maintaining the route, Ngo said she sees none, expressing optimism about the future of 2GO’s Siargao service.

She believes the route has the potential to become the company’s next “Coron,” referring to the popular tourist destination in Palawan

where the company has successfully established a well-utilized shipping and travel route with passengers and businesses alike appreciating the value the service brings to the island.

“I can see practically that we will expand some more of our fleet to Visayas and Mindanao. And also to the regional routes,” Ngo said, adding that the company aims to develop integrated multimodal routes, connecting ships with buses or private vehicles to improve access to more remote tourist destinations across the country.

Mixed numbers for Siargao MEANWHILE , General Luna Councilor Bingle Silvosa told BusinessMirror that businesses on the island continue to recover from the impact of Typhoon Odette and subsequent weather disturbances, noting that local enterprises have remained resilient.

“We are surviving, and I think the state of Siargao Island is good as of now,” Silvosa said.

He acknowledged, however, that the country as a whole is experiencing a “slight slowdown” in tourist arrivals.

“But I hope that by next year, we come back and come back stronger not only here in Siargao, but across all Philippine tourism destinations,” he added. Recent tourism data from General Luna, the island’s main tourism hub, indicate a mixed but generally upward trend in foreign arrivals, alongside a notable softening in domestic travel in 2025. In July 2023, the town recorded 2,641 foreign and 38,475 local tourists. A year later, foreign arrivals nearly doubled to 5,958, with domestic visitors climbing to 42,285. By July 2025, foreign arrivals held steady at 5,771, but domestic tourism dropped sharply to 10,951, suggesting a slowdown in local travel despite sustained interest from international markets.

A similar pattern appeared in August. Foreign arrivals grew from 2,731 in 2023 to 4,640 in 2024 and slightly higher at 4,935 in 2025. Domestic arrivals, meanwhile, remained stable in 2023 and 2024 at 39,842 and 40,886, respectively, before falling to 9,039 in 2025.

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Companies

BusinessMirror

B1 Monday, November 24, 2025

Food retail sales seen rising

By Ada Pelonia @adapelonia

THE country’s retail foods sector is expected to grow by 5 percent this year, driven by strong demand and the expansion of modern stores, according to an international report.

The United States Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA-FAS Manila) projected that food and beverage retail sales will reach $62 billion in 2025, from $59 billion last year.

“Food and beverage retail sales are forecast to grow by 5 percent in 2025, fueled by strong demand, an improving labor market, the expansion of modern retail stores into rural areas, and the rise of e-commerce,” the USDA-FAS Manila said.

The international agency noted that while traditional retailers remain a cornerstone in rural and low-income areas, modern retailers are “rapidly reshaping” the retail landscape.

“Driven by urbanization and ecommerce, supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience stores, and warehouse clubs are outperforming traditional retailers in food and beverage sales.”

The USDA-FAS Manila also said

retailers ramped up their offerings to entice thriftier shoppers amid elevated retail prices. This, as quotations for other goods remained elevated despite the easing inflation for certain commodities, particularly rice.

“Higher employment rates and an increase in overseas workers continue to support household spending on food and beverages, helping offset higher utility costs, including electricity,” the USDA-FAS Manila said. “Transportation expenses are rising due to ongoing volatility in global oil markets, while peso depreciation is affecting spending on imported products.”

“In response to more cautious consumer behavior and reduced discretionary spending, retailers are increasingly offering promotions, discounts, and private label products to attract thriftier shoppers.”

Meanwhile, the international agency said key food retailers have started to engage more in the “omnichannel” approach, which com-

bines online and offline platforms to meet evolving consumers demands while maintaining loyalty programs.

According to USDA-FAS Manila, omnichannel has fueled rapid growth in foods e-commerce, driven by rising internet penetration and consumer demand for convenience.

Retail sales reached $2.2 billion in 2024. “Customers can shop online, use mobile applications, and pick up in-store, ensuring a seamless and convenient experience,” the agency said. “Retailers use algorithms and consumer data to personalize shopping and promote specific food and beverage products.”

The USDA-FAS Manila, however, warned of potential consumer pullback due to the successive typhoons that hit the country this year.

“Cautious consumer spending and reduced mobility due to typhoons are expected to slow growth compared to 2024, which was a strong year for retailers especially convenience stores.”

‘Govt on track to meet connectivity goals’

THE Department of Infor -

mation and Communications Technology (DICT) is aiming to achieve 90 percent internet coverage for public schools

by the end of November, putting the government on track to meet its yearend target of complete connectivity.

ICT Secretary Henry Aguda said

the agency has currently reached 80 percent connectivity, with deployment efforts continuing despite recent weather disruptions.

“Our target is 90 percent by

end-November and 100 percent by December,” Aguda told reporters on the sidelines of the Pilipinas Conference 2025 of Stratbase Institute. Lorenz S. Marasigan

Exec: DigiPlus to post better results in Q4

ONLINE gaming firm DigiPlus Interactive Corp. said it is optimistic of bouncing back in the fourth quarter after a challenging third quarter as the company embarks on an active marketing activity.

Andy Tsui, DigiPlus president, said the company’s customer service team has been reaching to out to its high-value players, helping them install the company app and redirecting them to the DigiPlus website.

This is in response to the government’s move to remove online gaming’s access to e-wallet like Gcash and Maya since mid-August.

“So, our customer service team has been actively contacting some of these high-value players and trying to bring them back to our platform.”

Tsui declined to reveal how much the business has improved. “We don’t disclose the fourth quarter results. (But) we’re seeing a gradual recovery from the last two months.”

In the Philippine Stock Exchange’s Strength Access and Reach (STAR): Investor Day early this month, Tsui said DigiPlus has enhanced its payment ecosystem to allow players to continue access to multiple channels, partnering with other payment centers to expand the network for funding players.

Eusebio H. Tanco, the company’s chairman, said people may tend to play more during hard times, and

the Philippine situation today is no different.

“Fourth quarter (gross domestic product growth of the country) would be worse than third quarter (despite the Christmas season),” he said.

“Cabaret started during the interwar period… between the First World War and the Second World War. After the First World War, the Allies were imposing reparation payment on Germany for starting the First World War,” Tanco said. “Germany’s sunk, deep in recession. So people started gambling.”

He said the government and the private sector should come together to boost the economy.

“You cannot stimulate just by lowering interest rate. You just cause peso to depreciate.”

DigiPlus saw its net income net income declining by more than half to P1.71 billion in the third quarter from P3.52 billion last year, after the government’s order to remove online gaming access to e-wallets.

Revenue was flat at P19.05 billion.

The company, however, still posted an improvement in results in January to September when its net income reached P10.11 billion, up 15 percent from P8.75 billion last year.

Revenues hit P66.83 billion, a 30-percent increase from P51.56 billion last year. VG Cabuag

DOST Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. : Science-based solutions to drive comprehensive disaster preparedness

By Vincent Peter Rivera

After 21 typhoons this year, including the recent, devastating Typhoon Uwan, and multiple major earthquakes, the Philippines was left not only reeling from massive casualties and damage, but also with the urgent realization that a holistic disaster risk reduction and management strategy is now a requirement.

In the most recent episode of BusinessMirror’s Freshly Brewed, Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. spoke with BusinessMirror's Science reporter Bless Ogerio about the reasons behind the country’s alarming global ranking. The Philippines currently ranks first on the World Risk Index due to two core factors.

“The ranking for the World Risk Index is dependent on two things: vulnerability and, of course, capacity and preparedness,” Solidum said. “Capacity to prepare, capacity to respond.

That’s one. The second would be exposure.”

“We are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, Typhoon Belt. So, the exposure is there. But our exposure can increase as the population in the Philippines increases,” he added Since the country cannot control its geographical location and the increase in the population, he explained that the focus must shift. “What we can control would be the vulnerability and our capacity to prepare and respond to it,” he said.

Science-based solutions

THE fundamental shift toward a holistic

disaster strategy begins with scientific data to accurately assess local risk.

As Solidum explained, the first step is to identify and minimize threats by determining the specific hazards that could strike a location. This data is critical for engineering and construction: designing structures based on site-specific hazards, foundation type, and meeting stringent building codes.

For example, engineers must use advanced seismic information to ensure a building’s vibration frequency does not dangerously match that of the ground, a phenomenon called “resonance,” to prevent collapse.

To make this data accessible, DOST has launched initiatives like the GeoRisk Philippines Initiative. This program consolidates hazard maps from key agencies, including the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), which monitors earthquakes and volcanoes; the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), which forecasts typhoons and storm surges; and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural

Resources (DENR), which provides data on landslide and flood risks related to terrain.

“The hazard maps are now available in applications, such as the GeoRisk Philippines Initiative of the DOST, which includes various government branches for mapping,” Solidum noted, stressing that tools like Hazard Hunter provide immediate situational awareness to the public and professionals alike.

The strategy emphasizes preparedness and rapid recovery. To aid local governments (LGUs) in the aftermath of a disaster, the DOST, with the Office of Civil Defense and the World Bank, created “PlanSmart Ready to Rebuild.” This semi-automated application uses artificial intelligence to quickly generate rehabilitation and recovery plans.

“The app will create a plan with intervention from the human planner. For example, if an earthquake occurs, the planner can choose appropriate interventions through a dropdown set of menus, and upon pressing a button, the preparedness plan is created,” he explained.

Science-based disaster imagination

TO truly achieve community preparedness, the DOST chief advocates for what he terms, “science-based disaster imagination.” This goes beyond simply informing the public about potential hazards; it focuses on the impact and

the possible solutions.

He provided a compelling example: telling people there’s a “possibility of an earthquake in Metro Manila” is less impactful than stating that an earthquake from the West Valley Fault could cause over 30,000 deaths in the Metro area alone.

Adding information that their specific house or building is likely to be destroyed makes people “more aware and will be able to own the information that they need to take action.” This kind of information drives community-based preparedness. Unfortunately, many communities that haven’t recently experienced a disaster tend to forget and remain unprepared.

Challenges in turning science into real action

WHILE there have been developments and innovations to mitigate the effects of natural disasters in the country, Solidum still clarified that there are still existing challenges to overcome. Among these is dealing with existing, old buildings that need to be retrofitted as they pose a problem because residents already live there and thus require external support to upgrade them.

LGUs, he suggested, could provide tax incentives or other support to help, and large companies could assist employees

in determining if their homes are safe and helping to reinforce them. This is vital for business continuity, as employees cannot return to work if their families and homes are severely impacted.

Another challenge is dealing with highly localized hazards that are difficult to predict, such as where rain will fall or whether a landslide-prone area will collapse at a specific time. This requires sustained focus on community preparedness and the ability to evacuate to save lives.

Solidum stressed that a policy solution is urgently needed: the long-desired Integrated National Land Use Act which will establish a clear policy that certain areas are not allowed for building.

Natural ecosystem, environment

DURING the interview, Solidum also acknowledged the enduring contributions of nature-based solutions as critical factors in discussing disaster preparedness.

He addressed the popular notion of mountains, the

we call this a ‘fit for purpose’ intervention.”

As the country continues to rally toward a more comprehensive disaster risk reduction and management, Solidum emphasized the democratic nature of progress: “Science is inclusive,” noting that everyone is entitled to have access to these innovations.

Ultimately, he concluded, protecting communities against disasters is not just about having technology, but about using it effectively at the local level: “Science must be localized and science works best if it is applied.” •WatchthefullepisodeonBusinessMirror’s YouTube channel. Catch new episodes of “Freshly Brewed” airing on Mondays, 10 a.m. onYT,Facebook,andX.

Banking&Finance

BPI launches insurance for critically-ill Filipinos

By VG Cabuag @villygc

HE Ayala-led Bank of the Phil-

Tippine Islands and BPI/MS Insurance Corp. have launched the “Kaya Care Critical Illness Insurance,” which the lender said is meant to address a growing health crisis.

According to the lender and the insurer, the product’s development was developed due to the increasing number of Filipinos diagnosed with critical illnesses.

The Philippine Statistics Authority’s 2023 data shows three of the leading causes of death were ischemic heart disease, cancer, and cerebrovascular diseases such as stroke.

The BPI product offers a lump-sum cash benefit upon diagnosis of critical illnesses.

Clients diagnosed at an early stage receive 50 percent of the benefit, while late-stage or major diagnoses receive the full amount. This cash benefit, which can be claimed so long as the insured survives seven days after diagnosis, enables policyholders to begin treatment promptly and maintain financial stability during a deeply challenging period.

While the benefit is primarily intended for medical interventions, families are free to use it for therapy, medication or daily living expenses, depending on what matters most to them.

“Our purpose is clear: to build a better Philippines,” Maria Cristina L. Go, consumer banking head of BPI, said during the launch. “For too long, critical illness insurance has felt complex and out of reach. We wanted to change that.”

Go added that the insurance product “is more than a policy—it’s a partner that helps families focus on recovery without financial strain, support that truly matters when it matters most.”

Many Filipinos delay treatment after diagnosis because they need time to secure funds, according to the lender. Through the product, BPI will provide immediate cash support, helping remove this hurdle so patients and families can focus on timely treatment and better health outcomes.

To ensure that this protection is within reach for a wide range of Filipino households, premiums start at P859 per year for younger ones such as 18 years old and the price will gradually go up depending on the client’s age and chosen plan, which it can insure up to 65 years old.

The claims process is equally straightforward and supportive, reinforcing the product’s commitment to accessibility, the company said.

“The silent crisis of underinsurance, coupled with surging medical costs, creates an urgent need for simple, accessible insurance solutions,” BPI MS President and CEO Noriyuki Kobayashi said. Kobayashi added the company “is proud” to collaborate with BPI to bring the insurance product “to life.”

“By delivering this vital and affordable protection to the core and middle markets, we are helping more Filipino families secure their future and take control of their health without compromising their financial stability,” he added.

Credit bureau, fintech firm ink security deal

FINANCE technology (fintech)

firm Trusting Social AI Philippines Inc. announced it has entered into a deal with the local subsidiary of Romanian company Ecofinance IFN S.A., which operates the Honey Loan digital lending platform (Warm Cash Lending Corp.).

A statement issued last Friday by Trusting Social read that the deal requires the subsidiary of Singaporean firm Trust IQ Pte. Ltd. to use its proprietary Artificial Intelligence technology “to fundamentally strengthen” the digital security of Warm Cash’s “Honey Loan” platform.

“This includes integrating the full KYC and fraud prevention stack, which features advanced AI-driven facial recognition, cross-ID verification and real-time fraud detection.” read the statement.

“Inclusive lending needs to go hand in hand with secure lending.

We view our partnership with Trusting Social not as compliance,” Warm Cash General Manager Kirill Kalashnikov was quoted in the statement as saying.

According to his firm, Warm Cash “supports financial inclusion by providing essential lending options to a broad customer base.”

It noted that the company undertakes such “critical mission considering the World Bank’s 2025 finding that over half of Filipino adults still lack a formal financial account.

However, with the Philippines facing a digital fraud rate nearly 150 percent higher than the global average and identity fraud surging by 121 percent in 2024, Warm Cash recognized that accessibility must be secured by making robust protection the ultimate competitive advantage.

“We’re building a digital experience that ensures every customer receives not just financial freedom, but peace of mind,” Kalashnikov said.

“In a market where digital trust is under attack, Trusting Social strongly echoes [Warm Cash’s] priority of security—it’s the only way to build sustainable inclusion,” Trusting Social CEO Juan Miguel Escaler was quoted as saying in the statement.

“[Warm Cash] has done the hard work of building the infrastructure to reach every Filipino. Our job is to provide the AI intelligence needed to protect that journey—to confidently verify who they are and shield them from the rising wave of digital crime. ”

LandBank digital transactions hit 550M, surpass ₧3-T mark

By Reine Juvierre Alberto @reine_alberto

DIGITAL transactions at staterun Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) have surpassed the P3-trillion mark in the first nine months of the year as more Filipinos embrace digital banking, the staterun lender said through a statement.

According to the LandBank, the total number of digital transactions reached 550 million, a 36-percent increase in value and a 27-percent rise in volume compared to the same period a year ago.

The lender’s mobile banking app handled over 492.44 million transactions valued at P418.40 billion,

higher by 26 percent in volume and 38 percent in value, respectively, compared to the previous year, the statement read.

LandBank also said its online retail banking platform processed 2.59 million transactions worth P11.89 billion, while its web-based payment system handled 6.76 million

transactions

million transactions worth P11.68 billion, up by 13 percent in volume and 14

percent in value, expanding access in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.

The LandBank cited that other platforms that have also contributed to growth include an electronic tax payment system, which facilitated 554,151 transactions worth P132.93 billion, and the recently-launched Value-Added Tax on Digital Services portal of the Bureau of Internal Revenues, which generated P1.93 billion in transaction value in its first year of implementation.

The LandBank added its bulk credit system, used mainly for batch disbursements, processed 6.08 million transactions with a total value of P52.37 billion, increasing by 7 percent in volume and 6 percent in value. Meanwhile, the lender’s remittance system recorded 650,203 transactions worth P58.26 billion, reflecting an

Crypto’s brutal month triggers a stress test for Street

RBy Emily Nicolle Bloomberg

EVERSALS of fortune are nothing new for Bitcoin diehards— euphoric rallies, then brutal selloffs. They happen every few years, or whenever sentiment snaps.

None of those previous episodes, though, have prepared traders for the speed and scale of the past few weeks, in a reversal that was sharper than expected even if it lacked the systemic stress of prior crashes.

Last Friday’s drop sent Bitcoin to a low near $80,500, putting it on track for its worst month since Terra’s $60 billion collapse in 2022 set off the bankruptcies that ended in FTX. Altogether, some half a trillion dollars in Bitcoin value has been wiped out. And that’s before tallying the carnage across the altcoin complex.

Bitcoin is still comfortably up since President Donald Trump’s November victory, but much of the heady run has vanished in his first year back in office, the very stretch he hailed as crypto’s golden age. Most of the losses remain on paper. But for the first time since exchange-traded funds helped bring Wall Street and retail into the market, those positions are under pressure.

The spark this time around is harder to spot. These new ETFs didn’t exist during the last big crypto crash. Investors have pulled billions from the 12 Bitcoinlinked funds this month, Bloomberg data show, with past buyers including Harvard’s endowment and several hedge funds.

The slew of digital-asset treasury companies—publicly traded crypto holding vehicles, inspired by Michael Saylor’s Strategy Inc.—have seen even steeper outflows as investors question the value of corporate shells built solely to hold tokens.

What’s clear is that crypto has become much bigger than the retail traders and techno futurists who are committed to HODLing through thick and thin. Now it has become woven into the fabric of

Wall Street and the broader public markets, bringing a whole new set of finicky players to the table.

“What’s happened these last two months was like rocket fuel, as if people were expecting this to crash,” said Fadi Aboualfa, head of research at Copper Technologies Ltd. “That’s what institutional investors do. They’re not there to hold, they don’t have that mentality. They rebalance their portfolio.”

Bitcoin remains up roughly 50 percent from its pre-election low. And the scale of this pullback still pales next to its 75 percent collapse during the 2021–2022 bear market. That hints at how much deeper the pain could still go. Back then, each leg down exposed another major player—from Celsius to BlockFi to Three Arrows.

Flash crash

BUT with no obvious blowups or scandals this time, some traders think the current drop is more about technicals and confidence than systemic cracks.

“We aren’t following the same path down; overall macro conditions, government support, and fewer bad actors in the space make today’s market more resilient,” said Luke Youngblood,

founder of lending platform Moonwell.

“The foundations crypto is building on are stronger, even if there are causes for concern down the line.”

The clearest catalyst was a flash crash on Oct. 10 in which $19 billion of crypto bets were liquidated in a matter of hours.

The event exposed the chronic lack of liquidity during weekend trading—the flipside to crypto’s famed 24-7 trading schedule—as well as a build-up of excessive leverage on certain exchanges, knocking Bitcoin from the all-time high of $126,251 that it had reached just days earlier.

“To some extent, we believe a lot of the decline in crypto markets is due to what happened on 10/10,” Brett Knoblauch and Gareth Gacetta, analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., wrote in a Thursday note. “It feels as if some big players in the space are being forced to sell, as what happened on 10/10 might have had a far-larger impact on balance sheets than initially thought.”

The problem hasn’t quite died out yet either. Liquidity in crypto markets remains low, with market makers weakened by the crash unable to step in and support prices. Around $1.6 billion in bets were liquidated across exchanges on Friday, according to Coinglass data,

as the latest drop hit leveraged traders.

Bitcoin’s gold-like mystique—always a big stretch—has faded. Gold has held its ground. Crypto remains a proxy for fast-twitch risk appetite—and it’s reacting faster than the market around it.

This week, Bitcoin got caught up in topsy-turvy trading in technology stocks, with the token’s volatility being pointed to as both the cause and effect of equities turmoil. On Thursday, for example, the S&P 500 rose early in the day, bolstered by strong earnings from Nvidia Corp., before suffering its biggest intraday reversal since the April tariff turmoil.

Crypto’s fate is now tied to AI-fueled market optimism. With bubble chatter building, it won’t take much to spook investors into selling. There are also ºplenty of dangers lurking within the crypto ecosystem. The Saylor copycats have been built on the belief that a public company that does nothing but hold crypto can be worth more than the value of the tokens it holds.

The push to repurpose public firms into crypto treasuries has endured to this point in the downturn—echoing the overleveraged lenders of 2022. If confidence cracks, forced selling could follow. Many are already underwater on their token holdings.

“When you’ve got a medical device company or a cancer research firm rebranding as a crypto treasury, it’s a sign of where you are in the cycle,” said Adam Morgan McCarthy, senior research analyst at blockchain data firm Kaiko. Overall, any positive vibes left in the industry appear to be hurtling toward rock bottom. The Fear and Greed index—a tool that measures sentiment in crypto markets—sat at a score of 11 out of 100 on Friday, according to CoinMarketCap. That’s deep in “extreme fear” territory.

“Fear sentiment has spiked to relative highs while structural demand for spot remains notably absent, leaving the market without the natural buyers typically present during significant corrections,” said Chris Newhouse, director of research at Ergonia, a firm specializing in decentralized finance.

Financial sponsors extract cash from investees by raising debt to fund payouts

By Emily Graffeo & Jeannine Amodeo Bloomberg

PRIVATE equity firms, struggling to find buyers for their investments, are turning to an old playbook like never before. Financial sponsors are extracting cash from their portfolio companies by raising debt to fund payouts to themselves and their investors at an unprecedented clip. Such dividend loans have hit $28.7 billion so far this year, putting them on track to surpass 2021’s record $28.8 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Their efforts come as the private equity machine hits snarls at nearly every turn: Attractive takeover targets are sparse and it’s harder to cash out old investments and deliver the returns once promised to pension managers, foundations and wealthy individuals. To quell impatient investors, buyout shops are increasingly layering extra borrowing on their companies and funneling the proceeds of debt sales to their stakeholders instead.

“All the stars are aligned for dividend recaps; rates are coming down, spreads are tight, the market is open—yet the IPO market and M&A are still subdued,” Bill Zox, a portfolio manager at Brandywine Global Investment Management, said. “Investors want distributions, and dividend recaps can buy PE firms more time to wait for a better environment for exits.”

Private equity firms have routinely used dividend recapitalizations to book profits and take skin out of the game after they acquire companies. Such deals can be seen as controversial and aggressive, often leading debt investors—fearing the strain of the additional debt—to push back. But with demand for loans likely outpacing supply of new debt this year, borrowers have an upper hand.

This month, private equity firm Thoma Bravo priced a $750 million loan for cybersecurity firm Darktrace to fund a distribution to shareholders, in what Fitch Ratings called “an aggressive financial policy with high leverage.”

In October, Thoma Bravo raised debt on Ping Identity Holding Corp.

to help fund a roughly $1 billion payout. Earlier this year, another one of its portfolio companies, Proofpoint Inc., obtained a $1.35 billion loan to fund a payment to the buyout firm and employees. Other recent deals included a $1.35 billion leveraged loan by yogurt maker Chobani Inc. to partly finance a payout.

Buyout firms and their clients are relying on alternative methods to unlock cash. They’re shuffling assets out of older vehicles into what are known as continuation funds, selling stakes on the secondary market and borrowing against holdings through complex loans with high interest rates.

The industry’s fund distributions have slowed so drastically that, at the

current rate, it would take about nine years for customers to collect their money from the more than 12,000 companies held by US buyout funds, according to Pitchbook. That’s making limited partners reluctant to step up fresh capital, with Bain & Co. estimating in a mid-year report that there were more than 18,000 private capital funds seeking $3.3 trillion.

“The reason that sponsors are doing it, and driving most of this, is realistically because they have struggled to monetize their investments,” Matthew Mish, head of public and private credit strategy at UBS Group AG, said. “The IPO market has started to thaw but is not really providing an exit. The LPs are not getting their money back.”

Scarce supply HELPING fuel the dividend deals is the market’s supply-demand dynamic. Roughly $915 billion of loans have been sold in 2025, about 16-percent lower than the same period last year. Of that debt, some 80 percent has been for loan refinancings and repricings, meaning there has been relatively little new debt to buy. Another driver is collateralized loan obligations, structured credit vehicles that are the largest buyers of leveraged loans. CLOs are financed by issuing bonds. There have been more than $151 billion of the

backed by

THE EPSTEIN FILES:

What’s public,

By Michael R. Sisak The Associated Press

NEW

YORK—

The clock is ticking for the US government to open up its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

After months of rancor and recriminations, Congress has passed and President Donald Trump has signed legislation compelling the Justice Department to give the public everything it has on Epstein—and it has to be done before Christmas. But even that might not be enough for the curious and the conspiracyminded.

While there’s sure to be never-before-seen material in the thousands of pages likely to be released, a lot of Epstein-related records have already been made public, including by Congress and through litigation.

And don’t expect a “client list” of famous men who cavorted with Epstein. Though such a list has long been rumored, the Justice Department said in July that it doesn’t exist. Here’s a look at what’s expected to be made public, what isn’t, and a refresher on how we got to this point: Who is Jeffrey Epstein?

EPSTEIN was a millionaire money manager known for socializing with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and the academic elite who was accused of sexually abusing underage girls.

His relationships with powerful men, including Trump, former President Bill Clinton and the former British prince Andrew MountbattenWindsor, have been the subject of endless fascination and speculation. Neither Trump nor Clinton has been accused of wrongdoing. Andrew has denied abusing anyone.

Police in Palm Beach, Florida, began investigating Epstein in 2005 after he was accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex. The FBI then joined the investigation, but Epstein made a secret deal with the US attorney in Florida to avoid federal charges, enabling him to plead guilty in 2008 to a relatively minor state-level prostitution charge. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program.

In 2019, during Trump’s first term, Manhattan federal prosecutors revived the case and charged

what’s private, what’s missing

Epstein with sex trafficking, alleging he sexually abused dozens of girls. He killed himself in jail a month after his arrest.

In 2021, a federal jury in Manhattan convicted Epstein’s longtime confidante and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking for helping recruit some of his underage victims. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

What’s in the Justice Department’s Epstein files?

RECORDS related to the aborted Florida investigation, the Manhattan investigations, and anything else the Justice Department did to examine Epstein’s dealings in the time in between.

They could include notes and reports written by FBI agents; transcripts of witness interviews, photographs, videos and other evidence; Epstein’s autopsy report; and some material that may already be public, such as flight logs and travel records. The law, dubbed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, mandates the Jus -

tice Department to release all unclassified documents and investigative materials, including files relating to immunity deals and internal communications about whom to charge or investigate.

What isn’t authorized for release under the law?

ANYTHING containing a victim’s personally identifiable information.

The law allows the Justice Department to withhold or redact records that, if made public, would constitute “a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” It also bars the release of any materials depicting the sexual abuse of children, or images of death, physical abuse, or injury.

That means that if videos or photos exist of Epstein or anyone else sexually abusing underage girls, they can’t be made public.

However, the law also makes clear that no records shall be withheld or redacted — meaning certain parts are blacked out — solely because their release would cause embarrassment

or reputational harm to any public figure, government official or foreign dignitary.

When will the files be available to the public?

THE legislation requires the Justice Department to make the documents public in a searchable and downloadable format within 30 days of Trump signing it into law. That means no later than Dec. 19.

However, the law also allows the Justice Department to withhold files that it says could jeopardize an active federal investigation. That’s also longstanding Justice Department policy. Files can also be withheld if they’re found to be classified or if they pertain to national defense or foreign policy.

While investigations into Epstein and Maxwell are long over, Attorney General Pam Bondi last week ordered a top federal prosecutor to lead an investigation into people who knew Epstein and some of Trump’s political foes, including Clinton.

That investigation, taken up at Trump’s urging despite the Justice Department previously finding no evidence to support such a probe, could give the government grounds to temporarily withhold at least some of the material.

What about the so-called client list?

EPSTEIN’S so-called “client list”—a purported collection of his famous associates—has been the white whale of Epstein sleuths, skeptics and conspiracy theorists alike.

Even Bondi got in on the act, telling Fox News in February that the “client list” was “sitting on my desk right now to review.”

The only problem: the Justice Department concluded it doesn’t exist, issuing a letter in July saying that its review of Epstein-related records had revealed no incriminating “client list.” Nor was there credible evidence that Epstein had “blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions,”

Why are these records being released now?

CONGRESS is forcing the government to act after Trump reneged on a campaign promise last year to throw open the files. The Justice Department did release some records earlier this year—almost all of them already public—but suddenly hit the brakes in July after promising a “truckload” more.

That prompted a small, bipartisan group of House lawmakers to launch what was initially seen as a longshot effort to compel their release through legislation. In the meantime, lawmakers started disclosing documents they’d received from Epstein’s estate, culminating in a 23,000-page release last week.

As public and political pressure mounted, including from some Trump allies, Congress swiftly passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act on Tuesday and Trump signed it into law on Wednesday.

Haven’t some Epstein files already been made public?

YES . Before Congress got involved, tens of thousands of pages of records were released over the years through civil lawsuits, Epstein and Maxwell’s public criminal case dockets, public disclosures and Freedom of Information Act requests.

Many documents—including police reports written in Florida, state grand jury records, depositions of Epstein’s employees, his flight records, his address book—are available already. In July, the Justice Department released surveillance video from the jail on the night Epstein died. Even the FBI has previously released some Epstein-related files, posting more than 1,400 pages to its website, though much of the material was redacted and some hidden because it was under seal.

Style

Escándalo! Miss Universe crowns a questionable queen

ADECADE after the most controversial crowning in Miss Universe history, that of Pia Wurtzbach of the Philippines, comes another explosive edition.

The selection of Mexico’s Fátima Bosch, a fashion and apparel design graduate, as Miss Universe 2025 is a decision that is universally derided, except, well, in her home country.

The 74th coronation, held in Bangkok, Thailand, on November 21, is mired with allegations of rigging, fraud, lack of transparency, and erosion of integrity. There are even reports—unverified, implied, though widely believed—that the winner is a Nepo Baby, her dad being a rich businessman who has dealings with the pageant owner. With her victory, Mexico now equals the Philippines in number of crowns, with four. And just as our queens’ first names end with the letter A (Gloria, Margarita, Pia, Catriona), so do theirs: Lupita Jones (1991), Ximena Navarrete (2010), and Andrea Meza (2020).

Praveenar Singh, of Indian descent and who tried four times to become Miss Thailand, is first runner-up. Venezuela’s Stephany Abasali, of Syrian-Lebanese descent who frequently wore Michael Cinco couture, is second runner-up.

Our Pambansang Manika, Maria Ahtisa Manalo, who attempted three times to be Miss Philippines, is third runner-up. The rightful winner, Olivia Yacé of Côte d’Ivoire, is fourth runner-up, a placement that upset so many people.

CHAOS REIGNS SUPREME FROM the onset, the pageant was plagued with

one controversy after another. Let Google be your guide when you want a deep dive: Sahar Biniaz of Iran withdrew, citing concerns about the safety of her national director’s and the integrity of the organization; Fatima’s walkout after she was humiliated by Nawat Itsaragrisil; Miss Universe 1996 Alicia Machado racist comments; the resignation as judges of former French footballer Claude Makélélé, citing personal reasons; and that of composer Omar Harfouch, who alleged the pageant was “pre-rigged,” and subsequently dropping one bombshell after another; Miss Chile Inna Moll’s viral video mimicking snorting a substance as part of a makeup transition. Miss Canada was coached by Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova, who was one of the judges, and who eventually lamented the lack of an auditing firm on finals night.

DEEP CUTS: FROM 120 TO 30 TO 12 TO 5

DUE to withdrawals and no-shows, the roster became 120 candidates instead of the expected 136. Over time, Helena O’Connor of Iceland went home because of illness; Gabrielle Henry of Jamaica, who fell during the preliminaries, was hospitalized, and still in the ICU as of writing. Mysteriously, Flavia Harizaj of Albania disappeared from the final competition. American stand-up comedian Steve Byrne, who was always reading from the teleprompter and seldom making eye contact with the viewers, announced that the Top 30 will be composed of 29 delegates chosen by the judges and one by public voting.

The first 15 semifinals to be called were India’s Manika Vishwakarma, Guadeloupe’s Ophély Mézino, China’s Zhao Na, Thailand’s Praveenar Singh, the Dominican Republic’s Jennifer Ventura Marte, Brazil’s Maria Gabriela Lacerda, Rwanda’s Solange Keita, Côte d’Ivoire’s Olivia Yacé, Colombia’s Vanessa Pulgarin, the Netherlands’ Nathalie Yasmin, Cuba’s Lina Luaces, Bangladesh’s Tangia Zaman Methila, Japan’s Kaori Hashimoto, Puerto Ric’’s Zashely Alicea, and USA’s Audrey Eckert.

The next 15 were Mexico’s Fatima Bosch, the Philippines’ Maria Ahtisa Manalo, Zimbabwe’s Lyshanda Brendon Moyas, Costa Rica’s Mahyla

Roth, Malta’s Julia Cluett, Chile’s Inna Moll, Canada’s Jaime Vandenberg, Miss Universe Latina’s Yamilex Hernández, Croatia’s Laura Gnjatović, Venezuela’s Stephany Abasali, Guatemala’s Raschel Paz, Palestine’s Nadeen Ayoub, Nicaragua’s Itza Castillo, and France’s Ève Gilles. As voted by the public, Paraguay’s Yanina Gómez won the People’s Choice Award and secured the 30th spot.

Some notable notes: Rwanda and Palestine, both suffering from the horrible effects of genocide, were first-time participants (along with Cape Verde and Mayotte), and remarkably placed in the semifinals round. Bangladesh was first crowned in 2020 but had to withdraw due to Covid restrictions. USA was third runner-up at Miss Teen USA 2020, won by Hawaii’s Kiʻilani Arruda, a half-Filipina. Miss Universe Latina Yamilex, originally from the Dominican Republic, was the winner of a reality show where 30 contestants vie for the title Miss Universe Latina and represent US Latinas at Miss Universe. She won against Isbel Parra, who was Miss Earth Venezuela 2017 and Miss Venezuela International 2020; and Venezuelan Osmariel Villalobos, Miss Earth – Water 2012.

The Top 12 were Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Guadeloupe (Miss World 2019 first runner-up), Mexico (her head-scratching inclusion started here), the graceful Puerto Rico (a gymnast and ballerina); Venezuela; China (a stunning six-foot model who graduated with a master’s degree in economics from Harvard University at the age of 20; the Philippines; Thailand; Malta, her country’s highest placement; and, of course, Côte d’Ivoire.

BEYOND THE CROWN

ANOTHER bone of contention is Paraguay winning first place in the special award called “Beyond the Crown,” about advocacies, when her alleged boyfriend was one of the judges.

The Netherlands’ Nathalie Mogbelzada was second, while third place went to our Ahtisa with her Alon Akademie, a non-profit dedicated to growing each child’s greatness.

The award for Best National Pageant was won by Miss Universe Philippines and national director Jonas Gaffud.

Allbirds known as the world’s most comfortable shoes

IF there are two words that best describe shoe brand Allbirds, these are “sustainable comfort.”

As Allbirds unveiled its Spring Summer 2026 collection in the Philippines, it showed that the brand turned to nature for inspiration. The shoes are made from responsibly-sourced superfine merino wool and eucalyptus tree fiber. The presentation offered guests an immersive look at how the brand is redefining what travel-ready footwear can be, blending material innovation, minimalist design, and environmental responsibility.

SweetFoam, a sugarcane midsole made with the world’s first carbon-negative green EVA, provides soft and earth-friendly cushioning.

Every Allbirds shoe has carbon footprint labels, thus making Allbirds the first fashion brand to transparently display the environmental impact of its entire line. These innovations prove that comfort, performance, and sustainability can coexist seamlessly, said Melody Tan, AVP for Regional Brand Management, during the Philippine launch of Allbirds SS26 collection. Also present during the launch was Mark Chim, Managing Director for Primer International Management Limited. Included in the collection is Wool Runner, dubbed by TIME magazine as the world’s most comfortable shoes. Wool Runner is a minimalist sneaker made of natural textiles. Tree Runner is made of eucalyptus fiber knit so it is lightweight and breathable, keeping your feet cool and comfortable. We asked Melody Tan who Allbirds shoes are

designed for and she said it was for anyone who wants comfort. The shoes have been described as “breathable, lightweight, low-maintenance, and unapologetically comfortable.”

If you’re traveling for the holidays, Allbirds shoes would help you make those 10,000 steps easily.

Allbirds shoes are available at SM Mall of Asia, Shangri-La Plaza, SM Megamall, and the newly opening Allbirds Ayala Center Cebu on November 27, 2025. You can also shop online at allbirds.com. ph and in select Res|Toe|Run, The Travel Club+, Bratpack, and Recreational Outdoor eXchange (R.O.X.) stores. Allbirds is a sustainable footwear brand founded in 2015 by New Zealand-native Tim Brown and San Francisco-based engineer and renewables expert Joey Zwillinger with headquarters in San Francisco, California, with roots in New Zealand. The company’s mission is centered on creating environmentally responsible apparel using natural materials, minimizing carbon footprint, and promoting sustainable consumer

‘KOHT DEE-VWAHR’

AS per the Cambridge University Press & Assessment, the correct pronunciation of “Côte d’Ivoire” is “Koht dee-vwahr.”

Miss Côte d’Ivoire Olivia Yacé settled for Continental Queen of Beauty of Africa. At Miss World 2021, she placed third, won by Poland’s Karolina Bielawska. In the Top 13 was our own Tracy Maureen Perez. Stopping at Top 40 was Nicaragua’s Sheynnis Palacios, who later on became Miss Universe 2023.

“When Cote d’Ivoire was called as fourth runner-up, there was a loud gasp from the crowd. It was more of disbelief that she would be placed that low,” said photojournalist Jory Rivera. “Olivia was the clear crowd favorite. Everyone, and I mean all nationalities, booed the Mexican delegation when they came out of the venue. People were chanting ‘Côte d’Ivoire! Côte d’Ivoire! Côte d’Ivoire!”

Jory, considered the lucky charm of our flag bearers, covered the coronations of Miss Earth 2008 Karla Henry, Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, Miss International 2016 Kylie Verzosa and Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray.

“But this year was the first time that the crowd was in disbelief of the eventual winner,” he said. “Even some Latinos didn’t agree with the outcome.”

THE THIRD RUNNER-UP CLUB

BESIDES having the “lucky” name Maria and its variations, Ahtisa joins an elite “club” of Filipina runners-up at Miss Universe: fourth runnersup, 1975’s Rosemarie “Chiqui” Brosas and 2010’s Maria Venus Raj; first runners-up, 1999’s Mirian Quiambao and 2012’s Janine Mari Tugonon; and her fellow third runners-up: 1980’s Maria Rosario “Chat” Silayan, 1984’s Maria Desiree Verdadero, 2011’s Shamcey Supsup, and 2013’s Ariella Arida.

“My thoughts on Ahtisa’s Miss Universe performance: Every segment was delivered with ease, class, elegance, and eloquence. Every step felt intentional and beautifully perfected,” said the ageless beauty queen/supermodel. “I welcome her into our third runner-up roster with pride and honor, though I truly believe she deserved a higher placement.”

Alas Oplas & Co., CPAs Strengthens Presence with New Silang-Tagaytay Branch

Alas Oplas & Co., CPAs proudly announced the opening and blessing of its 17th office, the Silang–Tagaytay Branch, marking another significant milestone in the firm’s nationwide expansion. The new branch is located at the 2/F EliJosh Commercial Building, Emilio Aguinaldo Highway, Lalaan II, Silang, Cavite, strategically positioned to serve clients in the fast-growing Silang and Tagaytay business communities.

The inauguration was led by Eljohn P. Constante, Partner-In-Charge of the Silang–Tagaytay Branch, who officially opened the office with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Joining him were Chairman and Founding Partner Donnies Alas and Senior Partner Glesie Martinez, both expressing their strong support and optimism for the firm’s continued expansion.

A blessing ceremony was officiated by Pastor Ronald Camiling, offering prayers for the branch’s success and setting a positive tone for its operations. The event was also attended by Partners Fernando Santos and Christian Martinez, along with branch staff and team members who gathered to celebrate this important moment for the firm.

The Silang–Tagaytay Branch represents a pivotal milestone for Alas Oplas & Co., CPAs, strengthening their commitment to accessible, top-tier services nationwide. This expansion underscores our dedication to excellence, professionalism, and continuous growth, while upholding our core values: credibility and honor, defined.

Beloved Homegrown Café, Mary Grace, Confirms First International Store in Singapore

FOR nearly three decades, Mary Grace Cafe has been a comforting presence in countless Filipino homes, embodying “The Goodness of Home” through its unique blend of warmth and signature creations. As the beloved homegrown brand quietly marks its 30-year journey, it is now set to embark on a new international chapter, bringing its cherished traditions, authentic flavors, and warm hospitality to a new community in Singapore. Mary Grace Dimacali, Founder, President, and CEO of Mary Grace Foods Inc., shares her thoughts on this significant moment: “It is with a humble heart that we confirm Mary Grace will be opening its first international

store in Singapore. This is indeed an important milestone in our 30-year journey, and we are truly grateful for the opportunity to share a piece of home with more people.”

What began around a humble kitchen table has blossomed into a cherished institution across the Philippines, with over 140 cafés and kiosks. Mary Grace Cafe has always strived to be more than just a dining destination; it is envisioned as an extension of home, where each visit offers a familiar, comforting embrace.

The brand is now gently extending this uniquely Filipino warmth to Singapore, with the hope of creating a true “home away from home” experience, offering comfort and familiarity for both Filipino expatriates and a new

international community. With its enduring dedication to quality, Mary Grace will endeavor to bring the beloved flavors and wholesome ingredients patrons have trusted for years to Singapore. Guests can anticipate the comforting familiarity of its signature Ensaymadas and Cheese Rolls and Filipino meals, each carefully prepared with the same care and passion that defines “The Goodness of Home.”

The hope is for this new café to cultivate the same inviting atmosphere that has always served as a gentle backdrop for meaningful connections – a place where laughter is shared and stories told – fostering ‘comforting joy’ through shared meals and cherished moments, bringing people closer together even in a bustling city.

Dimacali adds: “When I first started baking in my kitchen all those years ago, I never imagined that Mary Grace would travel beyond the Philippines. Bringing Mary Grace to Singapore feels like a chance to share something deeply personal and heartfelt with new friends,” she remarks. “My hope is that people there will find a familiar warmth, comfort, and a sense of connection in every bite.”

Mary Grace’s first international full-service café is set to open in Singapore in the first half of 2026. As a gentle prelude, there will be online pop-ups via www. marygracecafe.sg throughout November and December 2025, offering a taste of its signature baked goods perfect for gifting this festive season.

As Mary Grace continues its mission to bring the goodness of home to everyone, from its familiar shores to new horizons, the brand looks forward to sharing more of this special journey as it unfolds. Until then, for those who wish to experience the comfort and joy of Mary Grace, or to simply learn more about its humble beginnings and ongoing journey, you may visit www.marygracecafe.com and @ cafemarygrace on social media. Follow @cafemarygrace.sg for updates on the Singapore store opening.

Honda Project M Estremo Racing Team Finishes Strong in 2025 Regional Underbone Grand Prix

THE Honda Project M Estremo Racing Team wrapped up an action-packed 2025 Regional Underbone Grand Prix (RUGP) season, proving that speed, strength, and reliability of the Winner X on tracks across the country. Riding the reliable and powerful Winner X, the team turned determination into results, earning a place among the top contenders of the season. Every lap reflected Honda’s “Road to Champion” spirit, where the team raced with heart, skill, and purpose.

From the four Rounds of Visayas and Mindanao areas, the team competed across the two islands showing consistency and focus on every race. Their strategy and the Winner X’s performance helped them deliver solid finishes throughout the series, proving that skill, teamwork, and the right machine make a winning combination. Despite challenging track conditions, the team remained consistent and adaptable throughout the series. Their performance earned their main rider #44 Ephraim Onahon to be hailed as the Overall Champion Rider in both Limited and Open Underbone Category. These results reflect both the riders’ dedication and the Winner

engine, it offers strong acceleration and control. Its aerodynamic design, and assist/ slipper clutch give riders stability and

RADENTA Technologies, one of the country’s leading solutions integrators, is offering a 30-day-free Microsoft 365 Business Premium Trial to give those interested a first-hand experience of Microsoft’s productivity, collaboration, and security tools. The package is available until the end of 2025. Those interested can register through https://forms.office.com/r/Q1FTQSh4Ru. Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint across devices plus video editing, professional email, cloud file storage, online meetings, AI-powered chat, and enterprise-grade protection. It provides advanced identity and access management for up to 300 users and comes with 1 TB of cloud storage per user. Microsoft 365 Business Premium provides work productivity, connection and collaboration, AI and optimization, and security and administration features. Work Productivity: Get fully installed, up-to-date versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, OneNote, and Microsoft Access (PC only). Create surveys and polls to collect customer feedback and measure employee satisfaction with Microsoft Forms. Get help with Task Management. Plan your day, organize team tasks, and stay on top of everything with Microsoft To Do, Lists, and Planner. Create, edit, share, and coauthor with professional diagrams and flowcharts with Visio for the web. Brainstorm, plan, and create together with your team in collaborative workspaces with Microsoft Loop. Digital storytelling is made easy with Sway that allows engaging, interactive, web-based reports, presentations, newsletters, and training. Video editing is a snap with Microsoft Clipchamp. Create and share professionallooking videos using editing tools, filters, and effects. Connection and Collaboration: Stay connected and access your emails, files, and calendars all in one place on Outlook. Custom business email comes with Exchange. Simplify appointment scheduling and management for customers, clients, and colleagues with Microsoft Bookings.

Replace outdated employee scheduling and time tracking solutions and manage schedules in one app with Shifts. Chat, calling and collaboration instantly connect to your team and provide access to tools and resources in a shared workspace with Microsoft Teams. Cloud storage is not a problem. Store, edit, and share documents and photos, from anywhere, on all your devices, with OneDrive. Connect people to content and processes on team sites of SharePoint. Microsoft Search helps users find information, files, internal sites, people, groups, and conversations. Boost productivity with Microsoft Edge for Business; the secure browser optimizes AI. Help employees discover and share learning content from companies and partner libraries with Viva Learning. Build relationships at work by giving employees a place to connect and express themselves with Viva Engage. Build

relationships at work by giving employees a place to connect and express themselves with Viva Engage. Give employees a central hub for company news, conversations, and resources with Viva Connections. AI and Optimization: Write documents and emails confidently using grammar, spelling, clarity, and vocabulary checks in Microsoft Editor. Create rich, conversational chatbots using Power Virtual Agents for Teams, a no-code interface solution. Simplify and speed up business processes with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and AI agents.

confidence during competitive runs.

The 2025 season also came with challenges, but the team remained motivated and focused to the goal to be the Overall Champion.

HPI supported the team throughout the season, reinforcing the brand’s goal of making racing more accessible for Filipino riders. As HPI believes racing helps develop talent and discipline. Through Honda Project M Estremo Racing Team, we’re encouraging more Filipinos to experience the sport. And beyond racing, we remain committed to bringing the joy of mobility and beyond to every Filipino.

As the 2025 RUGP concluded the Honda Project M Estremo Racing Team ends the season with strong results and valuable experience. Their journey shows that progress in racing comes from dedication, teamwork, and continuous improvement.

For more information, visit www.hondaph. com. Stay updated on Honda’s newest products and promos by following Honda Philippines, Inc. on Facebook at facebook.com/hondaph, Instagram at instagram.com/hondaph_mc/, YouTube at Honda Philippines_Motorcycle, and TikTok at tiktok.com/@hondaphilippines. For inquiries, contact (02)-8581-6700 to 6799, and 0917-884-6632.

Microsoft Defender for Business. Help prevent unauthorized sharing, use, or transfer of sensitive data with Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention. Classify, label, and protect sensitive and business-critical data with Microsoft Purview Information Protection.

This impressive bundle is why over 15 million small businesses worldwide chose Microsoft 365 Business Premium. According

Wilcon Depot Strengthens Community Aid with Red Cross Contribution

N response to the surge of calamities, Wilcon Depot stepped forward by donating to the Philippine Red Cross, aiding the displaced and affected communities across Cebu and other affected regions.

Following the onslaught of Typhoon Tino on Cebu, residents from numerous parts of the Visayas faced casualties, displacement, and difficulties. Humanitarian assistance was urgently needed for welfare support, involving food subsidies, shelter, and immediate medical treatment. Wilcon Depot made contributions in response to the emergency appeals and calls for donations.

On November 7, 2025, Wilcon Depot SEVP-COO Rosemarie Bosch-Ong personally presented the donation check to the Philippine Red Cross Secretary General, Dr. Gwendolyn Pang. Relief efforts, boosted by donations, cover a broad range of primary needs and services, including first aid, nutrition, water supply, sanitation, and hygiene. Red Cross volunteers and staff spearheaded the assistance, demonstrating hope and compassion despite the severe weather and dire conditions. Through our partnership with the Philippine Red Cross, we uphold our commitment to corporate social responsibility, especially in times of calamities or natural disasters. This alliance mirrors the company’s shared mission to uplift one

Depot SEVP-COO

another in times of need.

The Philippine Red Cross is a nonprofit humanitarian organization that offers support through programs and community operations such as disaster management services, relief efforts, medical assistance, and other initiatives. For more information about Wilcon, visit www.wilcon.com.ph or follow their social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, or subscribe and connect with them on Viber Community, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Or you may contact Wilcon Depot Hotline at 88-WILCON (88-945266) for inquiries.

Social responsibility (and why PR matters) in times of disaster

CHRISTMAS is just around the corner. The familiar tunes and twinkling lights seen in buildings and neighborhoods excite all senses that prepare us for another season of Thanksgiving celebrations. But this might not be true for most of our kababayan who were recently hit by natural calamities such as typhoons and earthquakes.

The amount of loss, including the death of loved ones, is utterly unspeakable. The devastation caused by the massive floods inundated areas that used to be secure from natural catastrophes. Small- to large-sized businesses were not spared. Loss of homes during this season of family gatherings marks a grim reality that crushes even those who are resilient.

I was in Bacolod and Cebu recently for a series of engagements, including disaster response, and was able to speak to some locals who shared their experiences. I witnessed firsthand the aftermath of the earthquake and typhoons, which provided a broader picture of the short- and long-term interventions that are most needed.

A PR, a Public Affairs executive, or a Corporate Communications practitioner usually carries the Corporate Social Responsibility mandate of the company, while some corporations delegate it to their foundations. In times of disasters, the CSR group frontlines the response or aid of the company to the affected communities. It is significant that companies—especially those that are homegrown major players in their respective industries—reach out in times of need. “Bayanihan agad” is the battle cry that our company lives by during trying times. PR matters a lot in times of calamities because it transcends typical positive press releases or announcements to harp on initiatives of a company, foundation, NGO, or government agency. Effective communication— a vital aspect of PR—directly influences how people respond,

PHILIPPINE AIRLINES RELAUNCHES MABUHAY

MAGAZINE WITH HOMECOMING ISSUE

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Philippine Airlines (PAL) has relaunched Mabuhay Magazine, its flagship inflight publication, with the release of its Homecoming Issue (October–December 2025).

The launch event was held at Blackbird, the former Niel -

how institutions function, and how recovery unfolds pre-, during, and post-disaster. In emergencies, information can save lives, and PR is the discipline that ensures the right messages reach the right audiences at the right time.

The government and its private-sector partners need to deliver clear, life-saving information, including accurate updates on risks, flood levels, earthquake aftershocks, evacuation orders, and instructions from authorities on what to do and where to go, as well as timely corrections to wrong or misleading information. A wellmanaged communication system is as important as emergency equipment. This is PR.

When PR practitioners work together, there will be seamless coordination among government agencies, local governments, communities, corporations, civic groups, and the media, in the process building confidence, showing leadership, and encouraging cooperation. Not one agency or organization is above, or better, or more important than the other. If you make the messaging clear, everybody will gladly work alongside one another. And the communities will see it, giving more hope and trust that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

PR matters a lot in times of calamities because it ensures

son Tower and site of Manila’s first airport control tower. PAL executives, contributors, partners, and media attended the unveiling, which marked Mabuhay’s return to onboard circulation. Guests were served a curated menu by Blackbird, featuring refined interpretations of familiar Filipino flavors, accompanied by a lounge set by singersongwriter Mike Constantino and his band Conscious & the Goodness, whose modern Filipino sound provided the soundtrack for the event.

In his remarks, Lucio C. Tan III, President & CEO of PAL Holdings, highlighted the

magazine’s renewed editorial mission.

“This Homecoming Issue offers a window into what makes the Philippine identity unique and home to many— featuring a curated mix of legacy and contemporary voices, from reflections on Filipino life and the holiday table to stories of memory, innovation, and return,” Lucio said.

The publication is led by Editors-in-Chief Pauline SuacoJuan and Erwin Romulo, who outlined their direction for the relaunch.

Pauline is a veteran editor and creative-industry leader known for championing Fili -

that communication becomes a tool for survival, unity, and recovery. Good PR does not just manage reputation—it saves lives, builds trust, and strengthens resilience.

The contribution of the private sector, not just for postdisaster response but even for the recovery phase, is a critical support to the government. For instance, the support of the private sector during the pandemic amplified the communication campaign of the government, as well as the technical and operational expertise needed to ensure that communities—especially those who belong to the priority groups—were provided with assistance, medicines, and vaccines. Aids that help in rebuilding structures and livelihood are sustainable investments, as well as health interventions that go beyond onetime medical missions.

Lately, apart from food, shelter, and medicines, there is now a timely recognition of the need to address mental health for post-disaster trauma. Psychological First Aid (PFA) aims to respond to those who are in distress. It is a means to make a person feel safe, calm, and able to cope during difficult times; a compassionate support that is intended to address emotional and practical concerns. But not all people who were affected by disasters would need PFA. Some

pino talent and design, having previously served as Editor-inChief of Preview and Executive Director of the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM). Erwin, for his part, is an award-winning writer and creative director whose multidisciplinary work across publishing, film and music—including as founding Editor-in-Chief of Esquire Philippines—has long contributed to shaping contemporary Philippine culture.

“To celebrate Mabuhay’s return, our stories are about homecoming — all the different ways we come back to the Philippines,” the editors noted.

have the ability to maintain positivity and are functioning on a daily basis. For those who would need help, PFA involves assessment of needs and connection with the right sources of information, services, and social support. It is not prescriptive, nor a rigorous process that would require technical expertise. In fact, a lot of people may not realize that they have the skills for PFA, which include active listening without judgment, making others feel protected or attended to, and being discerning enough to observe or know a person’s immediate need.

Witnessing loss of lives and properties, being physically hurt, or being frightened are traumatic experiences that can have long- or short-term consequences. Thus, the need to acknowledge this gap for postcalamity interventions. If not addressed, this may lead to more severe psychological, physical, and behavioral symptoms such as sleep disorders, anxiety, or social withdrawal. More importantly, it is relevant to recognize the impact or consequences on young people who may not yet have the capacity to process or recognize their own feelings or experiences.

Through the years, I have been an active participant in discussions on disaster response, prevention, and rehabilitation in my professional capacity. I have

Speaking to adobo Magazine, Erwin added, “Mabuhay aims to give a magazine encompassing the 7,641 islands and embracing the ones all over the world, from Woodside, NY to Pinneberg, Germany.” The cover of the Homecoming Issue, illustrated by Raxenne Maniquiz, pays tribute to National Artist Lauro “Larry” Alcala and his iconic “Slice of Life” series. Raxenne is an internationally recognized Filipino illustrator celebrated for her richly detailed portrayals of Philippine flora and fauna, and has collaborated with leading global creative brands—

also worked on actual responses to different types of calamities and unfortunate incidents. Natural disasters have been a staple, albeit unwelcome, in our country every year. The ramifications are getting worse, considering the impact of climate change. The efforts for more sustainable and aligned preparation and response should continue, including awareness of emerging needs such as mental and psychological interventions. Coalitions and genuine partnerships must prevail to complement strengths, move swiftly with agility, and pool resources to avoid fatigue. I would like to acknowledge Ms. Joan Urieta and Dr. Shake Jocson of the Unilab Foundation for references on Psychological First Aid. –Claire De Leon-Papa

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (IPRA), the world’s premiere association for senior communications professionals around the world. Claire De Leon-Papa is the Assistant Vice President of Unilab, Inc., heading the PR and Partnerships Division.

PR Matters is devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your questions or comments to askipraphil@ gmail.com.

making her visual voice a fitting symbol for Mabuhay’s renewed vision of cultural pride and global presence. The issue features contributions from Larry Alcala (+), Doreen Fernandez (+), Philbert Dy, Rica Buenaflor, Iya Forbes, Mark Nicdao, and other cultural and creative figures. With its return, Mabuhay reestablishes itself as a platform for Philippine travel, culture and storytelling for both domestic and international audiences—honoring the spirit of homecoming, and the creativity that connects Filipinos wherever in the world they may be.

THE chase for the women’s title of the International Container Terminal Services

Inc. The Country Club (TCC) Match Play Championship has shaped up as a wide-open battle among the tour’s brightest stars–particularly the leg winners from the just-concluded Ladies Philippine Golf Tour (LPGT).

The season-ending championship assembles the top 16 performers from the year-long circuit unwraps Tuesday at the demanding TCC layout known for its shifting winds, punishing length and constantly changing character from hole to hole.

The elite field is composed of Order of Merit winner Sarah Ababa, defending champion Florence Bisera, Chanelle Avaricio, Mafy Singson, Tiffany Lee, Harmie Constantino, Chihiro Ikeda, Martina Miñoza, Gretchen Villacencio, Daniella Uy, Pamela Mariano, Kristine Fleetwood, Apple Fudolin, Seoyun Kim, Velinda Castil and Kayla Nocum. Princess Superal, winner at Caliraya Springs, is skipping the Match Play to compete in the Japan Q-School also scheduled this week.

With her withdrawal, Nocum, who finished No. 17 in the Order of Merit, steps in and will face Ababa in the opening round of the knockout duels.

The other first-day pairings pit are Bisera-Castil, Avaricio-Kim, SingsonFudolin, Lee-Fleetwood, ConstantinoMariano, Ikeda-Uy and Miñoza-Villacencio.

While match play is noted for its unpredictability, the “big guns” are widely expected to impose their class early and advance deep into the knockout phases of the event organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc.

TEldrew fights through pain, bags world jr bronze

floor exercise event on Sunday—the Philippines’ first medal in the FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships Yulo tallied 13.733 total points, highlighted by 5.300 in difficulty and 8.433 in execution, executing a tidier run of the same floor exercise, which had netted him eighth place in the preliminaries.

“I’m a Filipino. I will fight till the end despite the pain,” Eldrew, brother of Paris Olympics double gold medalist Carlos, told BusinessMirror

“My journey? It is not just about competing but the experience and

HE fourth edition of the AIA Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series Manila presented by Asics on November 29 at the Rizal Park is gearing up to be more than just an annual yearend racing festival. One of the most exciting additions to this year’s event is the

officially be launched today at 10:30 a.m. at Robinsons Place Manila where AIA Philippines again places the spotlight on health, wellness and community. Participants will pass by Manila’s iconic landmarks, surrounded by lively lights, festive music, and the cheers of supporters, transforming the streets into one big celebration of movement, motivation and the enduring power of community.

competing against myself.”

China’s Yang Lambin took home the floor exercise gold medal with 13.833 points, while Italy’s Simone Speranza totaled 13.766 for the silver. The competition was supported by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), headed by Chairman Patrick Gregorio.

“Even if it was a bronze, I am still incredibly happy, even without hearing the national anthem of our country. What’s important is I was still able to raise the Philippine flag,” Yulo added. “This is the Philippines’ first medal. I am still enormously proud. My journey begins.”

The last competitor, Saturday’s individual boys’ all-around gold winner, Russian Arsenii Dukhno— competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN)—threatened Yulo’s bronze finish. However, a bad landing on his routine sent him to fourth place with 13.633 points.

Yulo, gold medalist in last year’s Asian Championships

in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and silver medalist in Jecheon, South Korea in June, added that he sustained the minor foot injury a few months ago. He felt it again on Saturday night after an awkward landing during his vault event in the all-around competition.

“This is an old minor injury. I just felt it again after yesterday’s allaround performance in the vault. But I am okay, my team will take care of this,” Yulo explained. “As I said, I am a Filipino and I will fight.”

Yulo’s Japanese therapist, Jumpei Konno, will treat Eldrew’s minor injury and prepare him for Monday.

FIG President Morinari Motanabe, Gregorio, and Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) President Cynthia Carrion praised Eldrew’s performance, believing he can still win a gold medal in his next two final apparatuses—vault and horizontal bar—on Monday afternoon.

“I will do everything in my power to get a gold medal in my two events,” Yulo said. “I am not going to promise anything, but I will do my best.”

CIGNAL—the Philippines’ premier multi-platform media company—is raising the bar once again as the Official Broadcaster of the Thailand 33rd Southeast Asian Games set December 9 to 20.

True to its award-winning “We Are Sports” mantra, Cignal promises another comprehensive coverage with dedicated on-ground teams chronicling every step of the Filipino athletes in Bangkok, Chonburi and Songkhla. Fans can witness these travails with the network offering a fully unified broadcast across free TV on One Sports, RPTV, plus real-time updates on TV5, pay TV on One Sports+ and its OTT platforms—the top sports streaming app in the country, Pilipinas Live and Cignal Play. Moreover, two more pop-up

channels devoted to bringing the biennial meet will also be launched for the millions of Cignal subscribers where round-the-clock live broadcasts, highlights and updates will be delivered.

“Cignal is honored to stand alongside our athletes and fans once again,” said Jane Jimenez-Basas, president and CEO of MediaQuest Holdings Inc. and Cignal. “We reaffirm our pledge to deliver worldclass coverage that unites the nation with every heartbeat, every cheer and every victory as we pray for our athletes to reap more gold medals.” This also marks the renewal of Cignal’s rock-strong partnership with the

Klopp. I am not ragging on current coach Arne Slot who won a title with Liverpool last season (with Klopp’s old team). I do not know the behind the scenes happenings so it is hard to speculate. A few more damaging losses and well, the wheels will come off. If