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‘Reprieve from inflation may be short-lived’
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By Justine Xyrah Garcia
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August 31, 2026 | 10 AM
MARIA LOURDES FLOR “MALOU” JAPSON President of the Philippine Tour Operators Association
BEYOND DESTINATIONS
UST as the Philippines appears to be getting a break from soaring inflation, economists warned that rising global oil prices due to renewed tensions in the Middle East are threatening to spoil the reprieve. Last week, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that inflation eased to 6.1 per-
BLESS AUBREY OGERIO BusinessMirror Trade & Industry Reporter
THE FUTURE OF PHILIPPINE TOURISM
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cent in August, marking its fourth straight month of slower price increases after inflation peaked at 7.2 percent in April. But Ateneo de Manila University economist Luis F. Dumlao said inflation could climb as high as 7.6 percent in September as higher global oil prices push up domestic pump prices. In the last two weeks of August, the Department of Energy (DOE)
announced back-to-back fuel price increases. On August 18, gasoline prices rose by P2.49 per liter, diesel by P3.84, and kerosene by P5.01. A week later, gasoline increased by another P1.08 per liter, diesel by P2.31, and kerosene by P0.95. Industry estimates also point to further increases next week, with diesel potentially rising by P4.50 to P5 per liter and gasoline by P4
to P4.50 per liter, according to the Philippine News Agency. “It’s a matter of time. It’s going to be passed on, and it’s usually passed on first to passenger transport...that means usually people who drive, who pay their own gasoline,” Dumlao said in a recent interview. Dumlao said fuel price increases are felt more quickly by private See “Inflation,” A2
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7-MONTH DEBT SERVICE RISES 55.9% TO ₱1.366T www.businessmirror.com.ph
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Monday, September 7, 2026 Vol. 21 No. 328
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DTI chief: PHL exports must be worth more, not just bigger
By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto @reine_alberto
HE cost of servicing the government’s debt climbed by half in the first seven months of 2026, as principal repayments more than doubled from a year earlier. Total debt service surged by 55.90 percent to P1.366 trillion as of end-July from P876.164 billion in the same period last year, latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed. The increase was driven primarily by a sharp rise in amortization, or payments toward the principal of the government’s debt, which doubled to P745.818 billion. Amortization went up by 110.01 percent from P355.124 billion a year ago and accounts
By Bless Aubrey Ogerio
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for 54.57 percent of the total debt service bill. The government shelled out P631.042 billion in domestic amortization, which includes payments made through the Bond Sinking Fund. Some P114.776 billion in amortization was for foreign creditors. Meanwhile, interest payments rose by 19.15 percent year-onyear to P620.865 billion as of endJuly from P521.040 billion. This See “Debt,” A2
50 YEARS AFTER: NEW BALANGAY BOAT EXCAVATIONS IN BUTUAN By Erwin M. Mascariñas First of 2 parts UTUAN CITY—Fifty years after the first excavation on September 3, 1976, archaeologists from the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) uncovered what they believe are the remains of another ancient wooden boat during a recently concluded confirmatory excavation in Barangay Libertad. This discovery could further expand the archaeological record of the country’s oldest known plank-built vessels and reinforce the city’s role as a major maritime trading center more than a thousand years ago. “The initial assessment is certainly significant. If this is not the previously identified Butuan Boat 3, then it raises an even more exciting possibility: there may be more ancient boats and archaeological treasures beneath the site waiting to be discovered,” said Eunice M. Plaza, head of the NMP-Butuan. Plaza pointed out that with 11 Butuan Boats reported to date, the possibility of additional boat remains underscores how much there is still to learn about Butuan’s maritime past. “This is not only good news for Butuan, but for the entire country as it highlights the depth of our maritime heritage and the need for continued archaeological research and the careful protection of these archaeological sites that contain irreplaceable evidence of our
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past,” she added. The NMP-Butuan cited that the new findings was revealed during the Exit Conference on July 29, 2026 of the archaeological excavation and documentation activity on the Butuan boats at the two sites in Barangay Libertad. The excavation at the privately-owned Torralba site revealed three wooden planks, including one bearing lugs known as wooden projections characteristic of the famed Butuan boats, prompting researchers to conclude that the remains are almost certainly part of an ancient vessel. Nero M. Austero, Senior Museum Researcher, NMP-Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Division (NMP-MUCHD), the project team leader of the excavation, said that the new planks they discovered in the new excavation sites might possibly be a new balangay boat that has not yet been previously recorded and documented. “Based on what we’ve seen, the planks that we have excavated have the characteristic of a Butuan boat. We are just not sure if these new sites from the previously cited areas where the documentation were lost, like boats 10 and 11 that really don’t have records—so when we are finally sure that these don’t belong to any of the recorded sites, then it will be the time that we might call them boat 12 or 13,” said Austero. See “Boat,” A2
BALANGAY: BUTUAN’S SEAFARING LEGACY From wooden remains documented at a continuing archaeological excavation to
centuries-old Butuan boats preserved in museums, these images trace Butuan’s enduring maritime heritage. The collage features wooden remains documented at the Toyota Site in Barangay Libertad in 2026, where archaeologists are investigating possible Butuan Boat remains; parts of Butuan Boat 5, excavated in 1985-1986 and now displayed at the National Museum of the Philippines-Butuan; and Butuan Boat 1, one of the historic vessels excavated in Butuan beginning in the 1970s. It also includes a 2012 photograph of the excavation site of Butuan Boats 4 and 9 in Barangay Libertad. Also featured is the balangay replica Sama Tawi-Tawi, anchored at the balangay boat-building site in Luna Compound, Barangay Bading, Butuan City. The boat was launched and commissioned at the same site in July 2010. In September 2010, Diwata ng Lahi, Mazuau Hong Butuan and Sama Tawi-Tawi embarked on a historic voyage to Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore, before returning to the Philippines and their respective ports after an 18-month journey. Together, the images reflect Butuan’s enduring connection to traditional Filipino boatbuilding, maritime archaeology and the seafaring heritage embodied by the balangay. ERWIN M. MASCARIÑAS
HE Philippines needs to get more value from the goods it exports instead of simply increasing shipment volumes, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ma. Cristina Roque said. This followed the release of preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, which showed exports rose 10.8 percent year-onyear to $8.15 billion in July from $7.36 billion a year earlier. “The true value of our resource is not only what we harvest, but in what we create from all of the products that we have here in the country. But we must continue to make sure that we exhaust the full and maximum potential of all of these products,” Roque said. Imports, however, grew 19.8 percent to $14.12 billion from $11.79 billion, pushing the country’s merchandise trade deficit to about $5.97 billion for the month. Total goods trade reached $22.27 billion, up 16.3 percent from $19.14 billion a year earlier. Imports accounted for 63.4 percent of trade, compared with 36.6 percent for exports. For Roque, the government will focus on helping exporters expand into overseas markets while improving their ability to compete. “Our exporters continue to demonstrate that Philippine products and services can compete globally. The DTI will get Filipino products abroad—we will not let up until every capable business finds its place in the global market,” she said. Electronics remained the country’s largest export earner at $4.79 billion, accounting for 58.8 percent of total exports. Other manufactured goods contributed $371.46 million, while mineral products generated $366.26 million. Electronics also posted the largest year-on-year increase among commodity groups, rising by $869.72 million. Gold exports increased by $79.34 million, while electronic equipment and parts rose by $71.81 million. Manufactured goods accounted for $6.61 billion, or 81.1 percent of total exports, while mineral products contributed $776.61 million and agricultural products $548.95 million. Still, the trade chief told exporters to understand foreign consumer preferences, position their products and develop longer-term relationships with buyers. The United States remained the country’s biggest export market in July, accounting for $1.68 billion, or See “Exports,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 62.4940 n JAPAN 0.4010 n UK 84.5731 n HK 7.9712 n CHINA 9.3027 n SINGAPORE 49.3439 n AUSTRALIA 44.9832 n EU 72.6680 n KOREA 0.0461 n SAUDI ARABIA 16.6433 Source: BSP (September 4, 2026)