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BSP must check more inflation, growth data By Andrea E. San Juan

VEN against the backdrop of a weak local currency and the resurgence of global oil prices, the central bank still has to scrutinize more data on inflation, growth, exchange rate and capital flows as it must be sure to maintain “sufficient interest-rate support,” according to a former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) deputy governor. “The challenge for the BSP is to maintain sufficient interest-rate support without making the cost of capital so high that it begins to damage the very growth and

WORLD » A8

SOKOR’S LEE SAYS HE ADVOCATES STEP-BY-STEP APPROACH TO NORTH’S NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

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investment that the economy needs,” former BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo told the BusinessMirror in a Viber message. Asked if the central bank should continue raising interest rates given the weak local currency and high oil prices, Guinigundo said the BSP “should be datadependent,” hence the need to gather more data on inflation and growth, exchange rate and capital flows. This, the former BSP deputy governor stressed, as he weighed the advantages of raising the policy rate further against the risks

that would come with further tightening. Guinigundo explained that a higher rate can strengthen the peso, anchor inflation expectations and support portfolio flows. However, he pointed out that if the policy rate “stays high for too long,” it can “unnecessarily suppress domestic demand, investment and employment.” “In short, a relatively high rate can buy monetary and exchangerate stability, but it comes at a cost,” added the former central bank deputy governor. Moving forward, Guinigundo said it is more important to look

at the real policy rate and interestrate differential after adjusting for inflation and exchange-rate expectations rather than the nominal policy rate alone. “That distinction is particularly important now because the BSP is already dealing with both inflationary pressures and peso weakness; its recent decision explicitly cited the need to anchor inflation expectations and mitigate broader price pressures,” he also told this newspaper. In an earlier commentary, the former central bank deputy governor explained that the issue is not See “Inflation,” A2

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

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PHL LANDS ITS BIGGEST TRADE ACCORD WITH EU www.businessmirror.com.ph

Wednesday, September 23, 2026 Vol. 21 No. 344

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 20 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

By Bless Aubrey Ogerio

FTER nearly a decade of onand-off negotiations, the Philippines and the European Union (EU) have reached a substantial agreement on a free trade pact that is set to become the country’s biggest and most comprehensive trade deal. According to the European Commission on Tuesday, European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič and Philippine Trade Secretary Ma. Cristina A.

Roque confirmed the agreement following a video call, with both sides instructing their negotiating teams to finalize the text as soon as possible. See “trade,” A2

WHAT BROKE THE PHL-EU FTA DEADLOCK? PLAIN HARD WORK By Malou Talosig-Bartolome

FTER years of stalled negotiations, the Philippines and the European Union have finally found common ground on a free trade agreement (FTA), driven by sustained negotiations, high-level political backing and growing economic and geopolitical incentives on both sides. European Union’s Ambassador to the Philippines Massimo Santoro said the breakthrough came after intensive work by negotiating teams, a video call between European Commissioner

for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič and Philippine Secretary of Trade and Industry Ma. Cristina A. Roque, and the phone call between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Monday night Philippine time. “It was a good call which came after intense work conducted by the two teams on the EU and the Philippine side by the chief negotiators,” Santoro told the BusinessMirror, noting that the discussions also followed a productive interaction between the See “PHL-EU,” A2

PRICES RUN DEEP A fuel tanker delivers petroleum products to a gas station’s underground storage tanks in Quezon City on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, as another steep round of fuel-price increases takes effect. Diesel prices rose by P8.82 per liter, gasoline by P4.88, and kerosene by P6.47, with prevailing Metro Manila diesel prices estimated at about P96.53 to P110.82 per liter. The latest increases mark a third consecutive week of major fuel-price hikes, driven by elevated international oil prices, disruptions linked to the conflict in the Middle East and the peso’s depreciation. According to the Department of Energy, fuel prices are expected to remain elevated through the end of the year as continuing Middle East tensions affect global oil supply. NONOY LACZA

₧2.48-B upgrade of digital support for Natl ID set By Justine Xyrah Garcia

T IMPEACHMENT WATCH DAY 28 | UNDER CROSS-EXAMINATION Securities

and Exchange Commission (SEC) Company Registration and Monitoring Department Director Gerardo Fernando del Rosario appears during Day 28 of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial at the Senate in Pasay City on Tuesday, September 22, 2026. Del Rosario is a prosecution witness for Article II of the impeachment complaint, which involves allegations concerning unexplained wealth, false Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs), and continued business interests. ROY DOMINGO-SPPA POOL

HE government is moving forward with a proposed P2.48-billion project to upgrade and operate the digital infrastructure supporting the country’s National ID system, with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) eyeing a public-private partnership (PPP) for its implementation. Approved earlier this month by the Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee (ICC-CC), the Philippine Digital National Identity (PDNI) Project will cover the upgrading, operation, and maintenance of key National ID systems. These include registration and card production, identity authenti-

cation, as well as the technical integration of banks, businesses, and other private entities that use the National ID to verify customers. The PSA said the project is expected to make National ID registration more accessible and improve the efficiency of identity authentication services. “This is a huge win for the PSA. Through this partnership, we can harness the expertise and resources of the private sector while ensuring that the National ID remains firmly anchored in its public purpose—to provide Filipinos with a trusted and convenient means of proof of identity to access critical services,” National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa said in a recent statement.

The ICC-CC approval allows the proposed PPP to proceed to the procurement stage, where other private companies will be invited to submit competing proposals. As the original proponent, Unisys Public Sector Services Corp. will have the opportunity to match or improve the best competing offer under the comparative challenge process. The P2.48-billion project will be implemented under a Build-Transfer-Operate (BTO) arrangement, with a six-month transition period followed by a 20-year concession. Earlier, the PSA said around 97 million Filipinos had been registered for the National ID, leaving about 17 million still unregistered. A significant portion of those

yet to be registered are children aged 0 to 4 and overseas Filipinos. “The bulk of those who remain unregistered are overseas Filipinos. Before we always go to the Middle East, as a lot of Filipinos there are not registered. But because of the current security concern the PSA was not able to go there,” Mapa said at the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DepDev) budget briefing on Monday. Mapa said P26.21 billion had been provided for the National ID system from 2018 through 2026, with about P24 billion already obligated. The average cost of registering an individual is around P250 to P260, he added.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 62.7990 n JAPAN 0.3993 n UK 83.9497 n HK 8.0050 n CHINA 9.3796 n SINGAPORE 49.2271 n AUSTRALIA 44.7129 n EU 72.0305 n KOREA 0.0457 n SAUDI ARABIA 16.7197 Source: BSP (September 22, 2026)

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Inflation… Continued from A1

simply whether the BSP should raise, hold or eventually cut its policy rate. “The more fundamental question is whether monetary policy is sufficiently restrictive in real terms to bring inflation back to target and keep expectations firmly anchored,” Guinigundo noted. The Monetary Board, the highest policy-making body of the BSP, has raised the key interest rate by a total of 75 basis points since the start of the conflict in the Middle East, delivering three separate quarter-point rate hikes at the Monetary Board’s rate-setting meetings held on April 23, June 18, and August 27. These policy actions brought the Target Reverse Repurchase (RRP) Rate to 5 percent.

Fuel…

Continued from A9

manageable and assure the safety of such technology,” Balisacan said during the agency’s budget hearing at the Senate. He said the relatively low cost of nuclear energy also makes it an option worth considering. Balisacan also agreed that establishing a Philippine oil reserve or storage facilities could be explored, after Senator Erwin Tulfo raised the option during the hearing. “We need to look at what is the most advantageous, especially from a fiscal viewpoint because our fiscal space is so challenging,” Balisacan said.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

DOE firm: We sent demand letters to Leviste since ’24 T

By Lenie Lectura

HE Department of Energy (DOE) on Tuesday took a firm stand on the demand letters it sent to the companies linked to Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Leviste. At a news conference,DOE-Renewable Energy Management Bureau legal officer Atty. Gabriel Corpuz said the agency issued a total of 27 termination letters since December 2024, with the latest sent in December 2025, to Solar Philippines, its affiliates, and subsidiaries. “There’ s a demand also in the terminal letters for the payment of financial obligations under the RE [renewable energy] contracts and the P24 billion amount is the aggregate of all the amounts being demanded by DOE from Solar Philippines and all its affiliates and its subsidiaries. I hope this clarifies the issue,” said Corpuz. Lawyer Tony La Viña, acting as the spokesperson of Leviste, said recently

Trade…

Continued from A1

For her part, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke on Monday with Philip-

that the congressman had never received any demand letter regarding the alleged P24-billion penalties and liabilities. He also claimed that what the Leviste-Legarda camp described as “harassment” only began after the young congressman became vocal against flood-control anomalies in 2025, a claim that runs against the timeline of the DOE letters’ issuance. It may be recalled that the DOE slapped Solar Philippines a P24billion fine in forfeited performance bonds and administrative obligations. The bond was allowed to expire without replacement and that repeated government demands for compliance and payment went unanswered. The DOE later on referred the matter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to initiate civil and criminal proceedings. A civil complaint was filed against Leviste before the Taguig Regional Trial Court for refusing to honor the condi-

tions stipulated in the RE service contract awarded to the companies he founded and owns. A 55-page complaint said Leviste should be held accountable for the alleged non-delivery of a major solar project awarded under the government’s Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP). The DOE recently filed a supplemental estafa complaint against Leviste and former executives regarding 1,380 megawatt (MW) of irregular and undelivered solar and wind projects. “As far as I know, we’ve already filed cases to the DOJ for the criminal part. And then the collection case or the civil case is with Solgen [Solicitor General]. I do believe that the Solgen has already filed a case in court. And then the DOJ is under preliminary investigation. While the Ombudsman, I think they’re still under preliminary, if I’m not mistaken. So it’s still ongo-

ing,” Garin said. Asked about the strength of the cases filed against Leviste, the energy secretary commented that it is up to the courts to decide. “Now, is the case strong or weak? Or is it winnable or not? That’s for the courts to decide and not us, nor the accused, nor the lawyers of the accused. So I’d rather not comment on the strength or weakness of the case. So we’ll just discuss it in court,” she said. It may be recalled that the DOE terminated163 RE service contracts from 2024 through 2025 due to developers failing to meet contractual obligations and work program requirements. Of these, about 64 percent were awarded to Solar Philippines. The total capacity of the canceled contracts reached nearly 18,000 megawatts. Of which, 59 are solar projects totaling 12, 271.29 MW.

pine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., saying the two sides had agreed on an EU-Philippines free trade deal. The agreement will still have to go through the formal steps toward conclusion, signature and ratification before it can take effect. Once implemented, the Free Trade Agreement

(FTA) would give Philippine exporters permanent preferential access to the EU market, which has nearly 450 million consumers.

effect. Santoro clarified that on the EU side, it would be undertaken by the European Parliament, rather than separately by each EU member state. In a statement, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she looks forward to returning to the Philippines in 2027 to sign the FTA.

To replace GSP+

THE EU FTA with the Philippines will supersede the current Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) once it takes effect, with the bloc considering the scheme’s scheduled expiry in 2027 as it works toward implementation. EU Ambassador Massimo Santoro said the country’s GSP+ arrangement is currently set to expire at the end of 2027, although it could still be extended. The EU is nevertheless factoring the timeline into efforts to bring the FTA into force. “The fact that we have GSP+ ending, so far ending in 2027...is also another element, of course, that we do factor in when thinking about the entry into force of the FTA,” Santoro told reporters on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-EU Business Summit in Pasay on Tuesday. “Definitely, when we wish to be quick in putting this into force, we also have in consideration the GSP+ mechanism ending in 2027,” he added. Santoro said the aim is to prevent any gap in preferential market access between the existing GSP+ arrangement and the FTA, noting that the latter would provide broader tariff advantages. Asked what would happen to products currently covered by GSP+ if the FTA enters into force before the preferential scheme expires, Santoro said the FTA would take precedence. “[The FTA] prevails because then it is much more encompassing than the GSP+ system,” he said. The EU envoy also confirmed that the FTA would cover a wider number of products than GSP+. The Philippines has been a beneficiary of the EU’s GSP+ scheme since 2014, allowing eligible Philippine products to enter the EU market at reduced or zero duties. The unilateral preference scheme is intended to support sustainable development and deeper trade integration. The FTA, once implemented, would replace that preferential framework with a broader, reciprocal agreement covering trade in goods and services, among other areas. On Tuesday, the EU-Philippines FTA reached a “substantial conclusion,” meaning, as Santoro clarified it, the major elements of the agreement have already been settled after six rounds of negotiations and a series of meetings between chief negotiators. The remaining work involves specific residual provisions and legal scrubbing before the agreement can be formally concluded, he added. The agreement will still have to be formally signed and ratified before it can take

Nearly a decade’s negotiations

THE deal follows nearly a decade of negotiations. The talks were launched in December 2015 before being put on hold after the second round in 2017. The two sides resumed negotiations in March 2024, followed by six negotiating rounds through May 2026. The European Commission said the agreement is expected to create new opportunities for businesses, including micro, small and medium enterprises, as well as farmers, manufacturers and consumers on both sides. It also said the FTA is intended to strengthen and diversify supply chains and provide more predictable rules for businesses, at a time when supply-chain resilience has become a priority. “The agreement also sends a clear signal of reinforced engagement between the EU and the Philippines, anchored in their common interest in an open, inclusive, and rulesbased international order in the current volatile context,” the commission said. The EU was the Philippines’s fourth-largest trading partner in 2025, with bilateral trade in goods reaching €17.6 billion, while two-way trade in services amounted to €10.3 billion in 2024, according to EU data. The bloc accounted for 8.3 percent of the Philippines’ total goods trade last year.

Broader Asean

THE agreement also comes as European businesses look at the Philippines’s role within wider Southeast Asian supply chains. The EU-Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Business Council said the country now has an opportunity to strengthen its position as a destination for European investment and as part of regional value chains. In its latest business sentiment survey, 43 percent of European business leaders said they plan to expand in the Philippines over the next five years, according to the council. EU-Asean Business Council Executive Director Chris Humphrey said the challenge now is to translate the agreement into a more competitive operating environment that allows companies to invest, produce and integrate the Philippines into regional supply chains. He also urged the EU to move forward with its FTA negotiations with Thailand and Malaysia, while noting that European businesses continue to push for a broader EU-Asean trade agreement. “Bilateral agreements should not be the end point,” Humphrey said, adding that European businesses have consistently called for a region-to-region FTA. With the 50th anniversary of Asean-EU relations approaching in 2027, he said concluding more bilateral agreements would reinforce the EU’s economic engagement with Southeast Asia while potentially laying the groundwork for a broader regional trade framework.

What broke the PHL-EU FTA… Continued from A1

European Commissioner for Trade and Philippine trade officials. Santoro described the outcome as a “milestone,” saying both sides had substantially concluded negotiations and established the final framework of the agreement, leaving only residual technical issues and legal review. He declined to identify a single sticking point that held up the talks, saying trade negotiations typically involve multiple complex issues. “In any negotiation, there are elements which are a bit more complex to be tackled than others,” Santoro said. “Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.” The breakthrough also reflects a broader convergence of economic and geopolitical interests. The sixth round of negotiations, held in Manila from May 18 to 22, 2026, saw significant progress in market-access discussions and consolidation of the negotiating text. The talks were led by Dora Correia of the European Commission and Allan Gepty of the Department of Trade and Industry. Negotiators reported substantial completion of chapters on digital trade, intellectual property and final provisions, while several other chapters had already been provisionally closed during previous rounds on MSMEs, transparency, anti-fraud clause, sustainable food systems, good regulatory practices, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, car annex and code of conduct for panelists and mediators in state-to-state disputes. For Chris Humphrey, executive director of the EU-Asean Business Council, shifting global dynamics have made closer cooperation between Europe and Southeast Asia increasingly important. Humphrey said the European Union and Asean share a commitment to a multilateral, rules-based trading order and adherence to international law, making them natural partners amid rising geopolitical uncertainty. “If you’re sitting in Europe, you’ve lost a good friend in the US,” Humphrey said, arguing that Brussels needs dependable partners around the world and that Asean can serve as a viable alternative amid growing uncertainty in global trade. The Philippines, meanwhile, has emerged as an attractive destination for investment because of its young workforce, expanding consumer market and strong services sector. Humphrey said the FTA would benefit the Philippines not only through increased trade in goods but also through expanded trade in services, an area where the country has significant strengths. He added that the agreement could boost investment, create jobs and increase opportunities for Filipino businesses seeking access to the European market. Prof. Victor Andres “Dindo” Manhit, president of Stratbase, said the deal also reflects Europe’s desire to deepen ties with strategic partners amid an increasingly fragmented global economy. He noted that negotiations were suspended during the Duterte administration amid tensions over human rights concerns but that current conditions have created momentum for both sides to pursue stronger economic engagement. “We live basically in a fragmented world,” Manhit said, adding that countries are increasingly seeking economic cooperation with partners they consider strategic allies. The agreement is now expected to undergo “legal scrubbing” before signing and ratification by the Philippine Congress and the European Parliament. Santoro said the negotiations have already crossed a critical threshold, with both sides agreeing on the framework that will underpin one of the Philippines’s most significant trade deals in recent years.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

‘VP’s businesses did not pay dividends but her wealth increased’

ORPORATE records presented during Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s impeachment trial showed no documented dividend payments from companies linked to her that could explain the increase in her declared net worth, the House prosecution said on Tuesday. Securities and Exchange Commission Company Registration and Monitoring Department Director Gerardo F. del Rosario testified that available corporate filings for several companies contained no information showing dividend declarations. Del Rosario clarified, however, that company sales and profits recorded in financial statements belonged to the corporations and did not automatically represent personal income received by Duterte. Duterte declared a net worth of 7,250,497 in 2007 and 98,656,131.20 in 2025, an increase of 91,405,634.20. Her 2024 and 2025 Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) listed Metro City Chow Foods Corporation and Gencorp Industries Inc. under her business interests.

SEC records showed that Duterte owned 500 shares worth 50,000, equivalent to a 20-percent interest in Metro City Chow. The filings also listed her as a director through 2025 and as a member of its compensation committee. Gencorp presented a different record. While Duterte declared herself as a stockholder in her SALNs, Del Rosario testified that her name did not appear in the company’s incorporation papers or General Information Sheets reviewed by the court. The House prosecution spokesperson, Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia-ur Rahman Alonto Adiong, said the testimony raised two factual questions: whether Duterte had a business interest in Gencorp and whether that interest explained the increase

VP should have known better–SEC exec By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

SECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) official on Tuesday testified before the Senate Impeachment Court that Vice President Sara Z. Duterte should have known the constitutional requirement to divest business interests before assuming office in 2022. SEC Company Registration and Monitoring Depar tment Direc tor Gerardo del Rosario made the statement during questioning by Senator-Judge Raffy Tulfo regarding Article VII, Section 13 of the Constitution, which prohibits the President, Vice President, Cabinet members, and their deputies or assistants from participating in business or holding certain financial interests while in office. Del Rosario said that while the SEC does not have guidelines requiring the agency to flag public officials who form or become involved in corporations, the restriction should have been known by a high-ranking government official. “She should have known, as a highranking government official who took an oath to serve as President or Vice

President, that this was her limitation,” del Rosario said. “Therefore, before she took her oath of office, she should have removed those interests or divested from them,” he added. Duterte assumed office as Vice President on June 30, 2022. However, her Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) continued to include business interests and financial connections after she entered office. Her 2024 SALN listed several companies under business interests, including Metro City Chow Foods Corp., Gencorp Industries Inc., Carpio Lawyers, 888 Bistro, Cale88 Foods Corp., Madayaw Fisheries Corp., Mati City Ice Plant and Cold Storage Inc., Amianan Shores Inc., Geometry Security and Investigation Agency Inc., and Cabletow 88 Shipping and Marine Services Inc. Among the companies examined during the hearing was Metro City Chow Foods Corporation. SEC records presented before the impeachment court showed that Duterte remained listed as a director and shareholder of the company from 2022 through 2025.

dividend declarations. “ T here is no infor mation re ga rd i ng d iv idend dec l a rat ions,” del Rosario said. He ex plained that companies may retain earnings for expansion, debt obligations, or other corporate purposes. “The company may have a project, such as expansion. It may have debts where the creditor prevents it from distributing funds,” del Rosario said. The prosecution later highlighted Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte’s disclosure that Gencorp secured 19 city contracts worth 33.263 million. The mayor said 13 contracts had been completed while six remained ongoing. Prosecution representatives said the disclosure raised additional questions regarding Duterte’s SALN declaration and SEC records. Barbers said, “Vice President Sara Duterte’s name does not appear in the General Information Sheet submitted to the SEC, as testified by the witness. But in the SALN of the Vice President, it clearly states that she has shareholdings or business interest in that corporation.” T he pro s e c ut ion s a id M ayor Duterte’s statement strengthened its request to call him as a witness regarding Gencorp’s transactions and corporate records.

BI intercepts 4 Russia-bound Pinoys

DILG streamlines travel authority process for local execs, employees

HE Bureau of Immigration (BI) intercepted four Filipino passengers at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) who were identified as potential victims of human trafficking after allegedly being recruited for jobs in Russia. The four were intercepted in separate incidents at Naia Terminal 1 on September 18 and 19 after primary immigration officers referred them for further verification of their declared travel purposes, the BI Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section said. On Sept. 18, three men, identified as “Aldo,” 30; “Nery,” 41; and “Baby,” 38, were traveling together and declared Thailand as their destination. During secondary inspection, Aldo allegedly disclosed that Russia was his actual destination and that he had been recruited through a Facebook post to work as a security guard for a promised monthly salary of P70,000. Nery reportedly said he was recruited by an unidentified individual

“The testimony and cross-examination showed that some companies were losing money, while others were earning but did not declare dividends,” he said. He also questioned Duterte’s continued stockholding and board position in Metro City Chow during her vice-presidential term. “If there is no direct benefit received by the Vice President, then that would be more reason for her to divest because there would no longer be any benefit being received,” Alonto Adiong said. The prosecution said the SEC testimony did not establish every possible source of Duterte’s wealth but showed that the corporate records presented so far did not reflect dividend income that could be matched with the increase in her SALNs. Alonto Adiong also pointed to what he described as a discrepancy between Duterte’s SALN declaration and Gencorp’s corporate records. “There is something declared in the SALN that does not appear in the corporate records of Gencorp,” he said. Meanwhile, cor porate records presented during the trial showed that companies linked to Duterte recorded around 2.159 billion in combined sa les f rom restaurant franchise operations. The figures involved City Hall King Chow Foods Corporation, Metro City

in Bangkok, while Baby said his trip was sponsored by a person identified as “Alexander.” On Sept. 19, immigration officers intercepted another passenger, identified as “King,” 34, who was traveling to Vietnam aboard Philippine Airlines. During further verification, King allegedly disclosed that Russia was his intended final destination and that he had been recruited for military service there. He reportedly said he was promised a monthly salary of P150,000, citizenship after one year and additional bonuses for completing a special mission. King also presented a concealed Russian visa and reportedly said he did not pay for his travel expenses. The four passengers were assessed as potential victims of human trafficking and turned over to the InterAgency Council Against Trafficking for further assessment, investigation and assistance. Immigration Commissioner Joel

Anthony Viado urged Filipinos seeking overseas employment to verify job offers through the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and its licensed recruitment agencies. “Filipinos should exercise extreme caution when dealing w ith o n l i ne j o b o f f e r s , p a r t i c u l a r l y those that promise unusually high salaries, immediate deploy ment, or other benefits w ithout proper documentation,” Viado said. He urged prospective overseas workers to verify recruitment agencies and job orders through official DMW channels before accepting employment offers or traveling abroad. The BI, an Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (Iacar) member, urged the public to report suspected human trafficking and illegal recruitment through its hotline at (+632) 8-465-2400 or its official email addresses. Reports may also be made to other concerned government agencies.

Joel R. San Juan with PNA

See “Impeachment,” A4

Sara’s business partner had links with her dad USINESSMAN Jaime T. Cruz, whose name appeared alongside Vice President Sara Z. Duterte in corporate records presented during her impeachment trial, also had connections with her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte. The former President appointed Cruz as a Special Envoy to China for Trade and Investments and later offered him the position of president and chief executive officer of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth). These connections came under scrutiny during Tuesday’s impeachment proceedings when Senator-Judge Erwin Tulfo questioned Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Company Registration and Monitoring Department Director Gerardo del Rosario regarding Cruz’s repeated appearance in companies associated with Vice President Duterte. Del Rosario confirmed that Cruz’s name appears in the incorporation records of Metro City Chow Foods Corp., Great Jolly Times Food Corp., Davao New Royal Taipan Foods Corp., Davao Emerging Taipans Corp. and Davao Bounty Times Food Corp. SEC records showed that Cruz and Vice President Duterte were both original subscribers of Metro City Chow Foods Corp. Cruz was listed as the largest original subscriber, while Duterte was the second largest. Both

Chow Foods Corporation, Great Jolly Times Food Corporation, Timesquare Bee Foods Corporation, and Gencorp Industries Inc. Senator-Judge Francis Pangilinan questioned whether the companies operated Jollibee and Chowk ing franchises. Private prosecutor Erwin Matib confirmed that a financial statement identified Jollibee in relation to Gencorp and said the companies operated franchises, although the exact number was unavailable. “So I would assume these are many Jollibee and Chowking franchises, which is why their sales reached billions over a period of time,” Pangilinan said. “Yes, Your Honor,” Matib replied. Pangilinan said the companies’ combined sales reached approximately 2.159 billion from 2007 to 2024 based on the financial summary presented by del Rosario. “So the total of Gencorp, City Hall King Chow, Metro City Chow, Great Jolly Times, and Timesquare Bee Foods, from 2007 until 2024, is about 2.159 billion worth of sales?” Pangilinan asked. Del Rosario confirmed the amount. The senator also asked whether the companies declared dividends to shareholders. Del Rosario said the SEC records reviewed during the hearing contained no information showing

in her declared wealth. “Does the Vice President have a business interest? Does this business interest in her company explain the increase in her net worth?” Alonto Adiong asked. Gencor p’s financial statements showed compa ny sa les tot a l i ng 1 ,0 4 2 ,74 6 , 8 18 a nd ne t i nc o me tot a l i ng 8 ,0 39, 201 f rom 2021 t hrough 2024. Del Rosar io sa id the available records did not show a div idend declaration during that period. The SEC witness added that the records reviewed did not establish whether Duterte received salar y, professional fees, allowances, loans, reimbursements, or other forms of payment from the companies. House prosecution spokesperson Ace Barbers said the records were being examined to determine whether Duterte’s declared wealth had supporting documents showing lawful sources of income. “If an amount is declared in the SALN as net worth and there is no evidence to prove and justify that there was lawful income supporting this amount, then there is a major question mark,” Barbers said. Alonto Adiong said some companies reported losses, while other profitable companies had no dividend declarations reflected in the records examined.

individuals continued to appear as shareholders and directors in the company’s 2025 General Information Sheet (GIS). “Jaime T. Cruz’s name appears in the records of Metro City Chow Foods Corporation based on its Articles of Incorporation,” del Rosario said. Cruz was also connected to Gencorp Industries Inc., a company declared by the Vice President as a business interest in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), even though Duterte’s name did not appear in the company’s incorporation documents or GIS. The JTC Group of Companies Philippines Inc. was identified as Gencorp’s largest corporate subscriber, owning 55 percent of the company. Cruz was listed as the representative of JTC in Gencorp’s corporate records. Tulfo asked whether “JTC” referred to Jaime T. Cruz, but the SEC official stated that the company’s incorporation documents did not provide such information. The senator-judge then asked the House prosecution panel if the Cruz mentioned in the corporate records was the same businessman appointed by former President Rodrigo Duterte as Special Envoy to China for Trade and Investments. See “Sara,” A4

Vice govs, staff get adaptation fund access tips By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

HE Climate Change Commission (CCC) has given 33 vice governors and provincial legislative staff members instruction on how to help local governments (LGU) develop risk-informed proposals for the People’s Survival Fund (PSF). CCC Deputy Executive Director Romell Antonio O. Cuenca briefed the provincial officials and employees during the Legislative Excellence and Development (LEAD) Program of the League of Vice Governors of the Philippines. The LEAD Program, administered by the Development Academy of the Philippines, is a 14-session legislative capacity-building program running from August to November. The CCC session emphasized the work LGUs must undertake before preparing a PSF concept note or full proposa l—inc lud ing ident if y ing their actual climate risks, determining which communities and sectors are most exposed, and establishing a credible basis for the proposed intervention. “Accessing the People’s Survival

Fund begins well before an LGU writes its proposal. It begins with understanding the specific climate r isk s conf ront ing its commu n ities and identifying the intervention that can reduce those risks,” Cuenca said. The presentation covered the PSF submission, evaluation, appraisal and Board approval processes. Participants were also provided with 16 links to climate and geospatial information sources that their technical teams can use to strengthen the data and analysis supporting their proposals. Participants’ questions centered on the application process and the preparations required of LGUs. The recorded session will be uploaded to the program’s online learning platform for officials and staff who were unable to participate live. CCC Vice Chairperson and Executive Director Robert E.A. Borje said provincial legislative bodies can play an important role in helping translate local climate priorities into properly designed and supported adaptation investments. “Local access to climate finance is not merely a question of completing forms. A sound proposal must con-

nect the risk identified, the people and systems exposed, the intervention proposed and the resilience result expected,” Borje said. “Vice governors and provincial boards can help create the enabling conditions for this work by supporting climate-risk assessments, strengthening local plans and investment programs, allocating resources for proposal development, and encouraging coordination among provincial, city and municipal governments,” he added. Established under Republic Act 10174, the PSF provides long-term financing for adaptation programs and projects of LGUs and accredited local and community organizations. It supplements annual government appropriations for climate change programs and supports measures responding to climate-related risks and vulnerabilities. The CCC continues to provide policy guidance, technical assistance and capacity development to help LGUs formulate science- and risk-based adaptation programs aligned with the National Climate Change Action Plan and the National Adaptation Plan 2023–2050.

Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

HE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has eased the approval of foreign travel requests of local government officials and employees. Administrative Order No. 47, s. 2026, signed by President Marcos allowed the Interior and Local Government Secretary to further delegate the approval of foreign travel requests of local officials and employees. Previously, the authority delegated by the President rested with the SILG alone. Under DILG Circular 2026-017, the Secretary remains the approving authority for all official and unofficial foreign travel of Provincial Governors, Highly Urbanized City and Independent Component City (HUC/ ICC) Mayors, and the Municipal Mayor of Pateros. The Secretary will also approve foreign travel of provincial, city, and municipal elective officials when the trip exceeds three months or takes place during an emergency or crisis. For official trips of three months or less and when there is no emergency or crisis, DILG Regional Directors are authorized to approve the foreign travel of provincial, city, and municipal elective officials. Regional Directors w ill also act on official and unofficial foreign travel requests of appointive officials and employees of the same local governments when the trip exceeds three months or occurs during an emergency or crisis. For barangay in component cities and municipalities, DILG Provincial Directors are authorized to approve official and unofficial foreign travel of elective and appointive officials when the trip exceeds three months or takes place during an emergency or crisis. For barangays in HUCs and ICCs, such requests will be acted upon by the DILG City Director. The revised approval mechanism took effect on September 7, 2026. The DILG continues to process applications through its Foreign Travel Authority Online System (FTA OS), where applicants may submit the required documents electronically. The new mechanism decentralizes the processing of certain foreign travel requests while retaining the Secretary’s approval authority over specified local officials and travel circumstances. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Jeepney modernization program hits speed bumps By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

HE Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP), pushed through by the government after eight years of haggling with stakeholders, is apparently hounded by implementation snags, both on the side of the government which has not made good on its deliverables on time; and the transport sector, which is facing high rates of delayed amortization payments on their loans. Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Transportation (DOTr), at its recent budget hearing, to adopt a clear and strategic roadmap for the implementation of the program. Gatchalian emphasized that basic components such as complete route rationalization must be finalized to ensure the program’s long-term success and maximize its impact. At the Senate hearing on the proposed

2027 budget of the DOTr and its attached agencies, Gatchalian expressed concern over the delayed completion of route rationalization studies, which were initiated during the previous administration but remain unfinished. Gatchalian proposed focusing initial efforts on highly urbanized areas where transport demand and traffic congestion are most acute. “We need to be strategic in our approach. Sayang naman ang programang ito,” he said. “Allocate tayo nang allocate ng pera tapos hindi naman natatapos ang project. Naabutan na tayo ng mataas na presyo ng langis. Mahihirapan na silang magbayad ng amortization nila ,” he added. To date, P891 million in equity subsidies remain undistributed. Transportation Secretary Giovani Lopez agreed with Gatchalian, noting that rising fuel prices could make it harder for operators and drivers to pay their amortization, underscoring the need to push forward with the PUV modernization program.

DOE sees fuel price rollback next week

HE Department of Energy (DOE) believes that the decline in world market oil prices will be sustained through Friday, paving the way for a price rollback next week. “In the past three trading days, the decline was almost $17 for diesel. This Monday, our estimate is around P8 per liter rollback if this will continue up to Friday,” said Director Rino Abad of the DOE’s Oil Management Bureau during an online news briefing. Oil companies raised pump prices this week by P4.88 per liter for gasoline, P8.82 per liter for diesel, and P6.47 per liter for kerosene. Oil companies adust their prices weekly to reflect movements in the world oil market. Abad said based on the latest report monitored by the DOE, Saudi Arabia is now loading 14 million barrels of crude oil ready for export back through the Strait of Hormuz. “It sends the message that they will continue to supply their buyers. That will really drastically change the price trend; instead of going up, it’s going down. We just hope that more will be added,” Abad said. Energy Secretary Sharon Garin, meanwhile, reiterated that the Philippines cannot

control global fuel prices because the country is an importer, and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East suggests the situation will not be resolved immediately. Garin said that while the country must remain pragmatic but optimistic, Filipinos are urged to be mindful and control their fuel and electricity consumption. The DOE said it is implementing various programs, and the nation currently holds a stable national average supply of approximately 53 days of inventory, which is well above the legally required 15 to 30 days. “You might ask, ‘How long will this continue?’ We cannot dictate what will happen. While all this is unfolding, the Philippines has no control over the global market, as we are an importer. I certainly do not wish to constantly deliver bad news. “We simply need to remain optimistic about the situation, yet proceed with caution; we must be pragmatic while maintaining optimism. We hope and pray for this to end, but we must be prepared. Given the developments in the Middle East, it is likely that this will not be resolved immediately. We cannot control prices, but we can control how we use fuel and electricity,” Garin said. Lenie Lectura

DOT revises tourism data, puts arrivals at 4.42M in Jan-Aug ’26 By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo Special To The BusinessMirror

HE Philippines welcomed some 4.42 million in international tourists in the first eight months of the year, which included 355,757 Philippine passport holders permanently residing abroad. This is a slight adjustment from the earlier released figures by the Department of Tourism (DOT), which showed that foreign visitors reached 4.11 million, of which 361,458 were overseas Filipinos. The adjusted figures are a result of the DOT reworking its data collection strategy on inbound tourists, now tracking figures from both electronic travel (e-travel) records from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI). These are published in the DOT’s newly launched Philippine Tourism Data Dashboard. DOT Consultant Ma. Cherry Lyn S. Rodolfo told the BusinessMirror that there is a need to “accurately capture” the visitors to the Philippines. For one, she explained, the diplomatic corps and visiting foreign government officials are not required to fill up the online e-travel forms, a usual requirement for arriving travelers from abroad, including Filipinos. “But [these diplomats] also check into hotels, go to tourism destinations, and the like,”she explained, even if they are in the country on official business. Rodolfo was among those tasked to finetune the DOT’s data-gathering method, in consonance with the Department of Information and

Communication Technology, Bureau of Immigration and Philippine Statistics Authority, among others.

Unadjusted prior to e-travel

THE Immigration bureau said, “Passengers exempted from registering [on the e-travel] are foreign diplomats and their dependents; foreign dignitaries and members of their delegation; holders of 9(e) diplomatic visas; and holders of diplomatic and official-service passports.” The BI issues 9(e) visas to “accredited officials of foreign governments, their families, attendants, servants, and employees.” Last year, the DOT also said cruise arrivals may also not be accurate as some passengers were not able to fill up the e-travel forms, thus needing inputs from the BI. Rodolfo agreed that it may be better to just ask those currently exempted to fill up e-travel forms. Under the new scheme, there will be a lag time in releasing tourists data as the DOT will always have to consult with the BI’s arrivals records. The adjusted tourism data, however, only goes back to 2022, when the e-travel system was instituted owing to the pandemic. Prior to this, paper arrival and departure cards were filled up by travelers, except for diplomats and their dependents. As such, the inbound tourists in 2019, often used as a basis of tourism growth, is still recorded as 8.26 million. The DOT said in a statement that the Philippine Tourism Data Dashboard is an open data platform that gives the public direct access to the country’s key tourism indicators.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

CICC requires Reddit, Discord to establish presence in PHL

HE Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) has given Reddit and Discord 24 hours to establish a presence in the Philippines, warning that the two platforms could face restrictions or have their access blocked if they fail to comply.

In separate letters dated September 21, the CICC ordered the platforms to immediately designate, from receipt of the letters, a resident agent or local representative who can facilitate Philippine jurisdiction and improve coordination with local authorities. The agency warned that failure or refusal to comply within the period could prompt it, in coordination with appropriate Philippine authorities, to restrict the platforms’ operations or prohibit users in the country from accessing them. “We are not asking platforms to police the internet for the government but to be reachable, accountable, and responsive when activities on their platforms put Filipino children and communities at risk,” the CICC executive director, Undersecretary Renato Paraiso, said. “When an online threat spills over into the real world, there has to be clear channel for authorities to act,” Paraiso added.

The ultimatum follows the September 18 shooting at Banga National High School in South Cotabato, the third school shooting in the country in just a few months, amid mounting concern over the use of online platforms to spread violent extremist content and exploit minors. The CICC also directed Reddit and Discord to submit written explanations of their existing arrangements, along with concrete implementation plans for stronger safety standards, rapid response mechanisms, and age-verification or age-assurance measures. The agency also asked the platforms to join a cooperative framework addressing the digital exploitation of minors, which it said has shifted from isolated online interactions to activities that fuel real-world violence and physical harm. The proposed framework would cover networks involved in the creation, solicitation, possession, distribution,

exchange, promotion, or monetization of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (Osaec) and child sexual abuse or exploitation materials (Csaem), as well as nihilistic violence extremism (NVE) occurring on the platforms. The CICC has also formally asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to convene a coordination meeting and facilitate the participation of Meta, Discord, Reddit, and other social media platforms in discussions with the government on measures against online threats linked to violence and child exploitation. Earlier this month, the government met with representatives of Meta and Roblox to form a technical working group that will implement stricter child safety measures, faster content takedowns, and secure ageverification mechanisms. Reddit is a discussion platform organized into topic-based communities, while Discord is a messaging and community platform built on private messages and invitation-based servers. According to the agency, these features can create fertile ground for the grooming, recruitment, and radicalization of minors. T he agency said recent investigations have raised alarm over the online grooming and recruitment of minors, including links to N V E-associated communities. T hese concerns have been heightened by the school shooting in Tacloban City in June, the August 18 shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University, and the Banga National High School shooting.

Lorenz S. Marasigan

Drastic cut in Visayas electricity prices seen By Carmel Pedroza

EBU CITY–Electricity prices in the Visayas could fall by nearly 54 percent under the regional application of the Secondary Price Cap (SPC), as the Department of Energy (DOE) moves to stabilize the grid following the return of several generating units. Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has begun applying the SPC separately to the Visayas and Mindanao grids, a change that would allow price spikes in the two regions to trigger the cap without being diluted by lower prices in Luzon. The new treatment took effect beginning with the August 2026 billing period and is expected to be reflected in consumers’ September bills. Based on ERC simulations cited by Garin, the regional SPC could bring the average August Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) price in the Visayas down to P8.47 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) from P18.59 per kWh, a reduction of nearly 54 percent. In Mindanao, the average WESM price could fall to P8.69 per kWh from P19.56 per kWh, or nearly 56 percent lower. Garin said the previous SPC mechanism combined the prices of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao in determining whether the price cap would be triggered. Because Luzon accounts for a much larger share of the market, high prices in the Visayas and Mindanao could be offset by lower prices in Luzon. “This is very important and a big change in the monthly bill of our countrymen, especially in the Visayas and Mindanao,” Garin said.

She stressed, however, that the price cap is not a substitute for addressing the supply constraints that caused the price surge. “The price cap alone is not enough,” Garin said, adding that the DOE is pursuing measures to improve generation reliability and address recurring and prolonged plant outages.

Supply recovery

THE department is simultaneously working to restore generating capacity and strengthen reserves in the Visayas grid. Garin said at least 758 megawatt of capacity across the Visayas and Mindanao grids has been recovered as generating units return to service. Among the units cited were an 82-MW unit that has been operational since September 4, Therma Visayas Inc. (TVI) Unit 2 in Toledo with a capacity of 169 MW, TVI Unit 1 with 169 MW, Therma South Inc. Unit 1 with 150 MW, and GN Power Kauswagan Unit 2 with 138 MW. The recovery, however, has not been without setbacks. Garin said TVI Unit 1 suffered a forced outage shortly after returning to service. DOE field offices were deployed to inspect and audit the facility and work with the operator to restore the unit to stable and sustained operation. The 150-MW Panay Energy Development Corp. Unit 3 in Iloilo also remains under restoration. Despite the setbacks, Garin said the return of generating units has allowed the power reserve in the Visayas grid to gradually increase. The DOE is also coordinating with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP)

to accelerate the integration of 253 MW of battery energy-storage capacity in Cebu, Panay, Leyte and Negros. Garin said the government is pursuing several measures while waiting for longerterm generation projects to come online, including battery storage, the restoration of existing plants and interim solutions such as power barges. New generation capacity will take time to develop, she said. Coal-fired power plants can take about three to five years to construct, while gasfired plants may require about five years. Solar projects can be developed faster but are not sufficient on their own to meet the energy requirements of the Visayas and Mindanao. “We’re catching up,” Garin said, adding that the DOE is pushing investors to accelerate projects that normally require several years to complete. She stressed that stabilizing the power situation requires cooperation among generating companies, electric cooperatives, distribution utilities, TransCo, NGCP, Napocor and local governments. Meanwhile, the DOE is also examining the sharp movement in electricity prices. Garin said she instructed the DOE Legal Services Bureau to formally communicate with the Philippine Competition Commission and Philippine Electricity Market Corp. to determine whether there was possible market abuse during the period of tight supply. The DOE is also coordinating with the ERC and other power-sector agencies to monitor market conduct, stabilize supply and ensure that the recalculated charges are correctly reflected in consumers’ electricity bills.

Cebu City govt intensifies drive to contain ASF

EBU CITY—The Cebu City government is stepping up measures to contain African swine fever (ASF) in three upland villages as authorities move to remove more than 50 pigs from affected areas and continue surveillance for additional infections. Kenneth Siasar, chief of staff of Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival, during a press briefing said that the city is coordinating with the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF) and other offices to contain the spread of the disease in barangays Toong, Buhisan, and Pamutan. The latest DVMF report cited by Siasar

showed seven pig deaths as of Sunday, September 20. He also reported 14 deaths recorded earlier in September, while more than 50 pigs in the affected areas have been identified for culling as part of the containment effort. Siasar clarified that the city’s use of the term “culling” refers to the removal or separation of pigs in areas affected or considered at risk, rather than indicating that all of the more than 50 animals had already died. The development places additional pressure on backyard and small-scale hog raisers in the city, who face the loss of livestock and restrictions on animal movement

while authorities work to prevent the disease from spreading to other communities. The city government is continuing disease sur veillance in the affec ted barangays to determine the extent of infection and identify possible sources of the reported deaths. Authorities are also looking into possible movements of pigs from other towns, including Consolacion and Liloan, as part of efforts to trace potential transmission routes. Siasar said testing is being conducted within a 500-meter radius of affected areas. Carmel Pedroza

Impeachment. . . Continued from A3

Corporate documents showed that Duterte subscribed to 20 percent of the company’s original subscribed capital and was listed as holding 500 shares valued at P50,000. Del Rosario explained that under the Revised Corporation Code, the board of directors exercises corporate powers, manages company affairs, and oversees the properties and operations of a corporation. Metro City Chow’s audited financial statements also stated that the board was responsible for overseeing the company’s financial reporting process, reviewing financial statements, and approving them before submission to shareholders. The SEC official, however, clarified that the documents reviewed by the agency only showed Duterte’s corporate position and did not establish whether she attended meetings, participated in daily operations, or received compensation from the company. The hearing also examined Gencorp Industries Inc., which Duterte identified in her 2024 SALN as a business interest where she was a stockholder. Del Rosario testified that Duterte’s name did not appear in the Gencorp incorporation documents and General Information Sheets reviewed by the SEC. “For Gencorp Industries Incorporated, the name of Vice President Sara Duterte does not appear from the company’s incorporation up to the filing of the General Information Sheets. That is what appears in my summary,” Del Rosario said. The SEC witness said Gencorp’s records showed company sales totaling P1.04 billion and net income of P8.04 million from 2021 to 2024. He clarified that these figures represented company performance and did not identify any personal income received by Duterte. During questioning, the defense raised the possibility that ownership interests could exist through private trust agreements or beneficial ownership arrangements that may not appear in regular SEC filings. Del Rosario explained that ordinary trust agreements generally do not need to be filed with the SEC, while certified voting trust agreements are required to be submitted. He added that no certified voting trust agreement involving Gencorp was found in the records reviewed. The witness emphasized that his testimony was limited to the documents requested from and maintained by the SEC. “We can only state what is contained in the documents that were requested from us,” del Rosario said. Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian also questioned whether companies linked to Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio, declared dividends that could explain increases in their declared wealth. Del Rosario answered that the SEC records reviewed during the hearing contained no information showing declared dividends from the companies presented. “Based on these records, if she did not receive any benefit or dividends, I do not know whether she could declare income earned from these corporations,” he said. The SEC official clarified that the absence of recorded dividends in the reviewed documents did not determine all possible sources of Duterte’s wealth. Gatchalian noted during the discussion that increases in wealth could come from other sources. “It could come from another source. It is not only from these corporations,” Gatchalian said.

Sara. . . Continued from A3

Private prosecutor Erwin Matib confirmed that they were referring to the same person. Matib also confirmed that Cruz was the businessman who had been offered the position of PhilHealth president and CEO during the Duterte administration. Former President Duterte appointed Cruz as Special Envoy to China for Trade and Investments in October 2019. Earlier that year, Duterte offered Cruz the leadership position at PhilHealth, but Cruz declined the appointment. The prosecution is examining Vice President Duterte’s corporate and financial connections as part of Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, which includes allegations involving unexplained wealth and issues related to asset declarations. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Comelec to hold special polls for vacant Batanes congressional seat

HE Commission on Elections (Comelec) will hold a special election for the lone congressional district of Batanes following the death of Rep. Ciriaco “Jun” Gato Jr. Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia confirmed on Tuesday that the poll body will conduct a special election to fill the vacant seat. “We will need to conduct a special election,” Garcia said. Comelec convened its field officials for an emergency meeting to discuss preparations for the special election. “We called an emergency meeting of our field officials today. There needs to be a special election held no earlier than 60 days and no later than 90 days from yesterday,” Garcia said. Gato died on Monday, Sept. 21, leaving Batanes’ lone congressional seat vacant. Speaker Faustino “Bojie” G. Dy III expressed his condolences to Gato’s family and honored the lawmaker’s decades of service to the country. He said Gato’s background as a physician gave him a unique perspective in Congress, where he continued his commitment to caring for people through public service. “On behalf of the entire House of Representatives, I extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Congressman Ciriaco Gato,” Dy said, adding that the House also stood in solidarity with the people of Batanes, who lost a trusted representative. The province of Batanes and the Ivatan community likewise mourned the loss of one of their own, remembering Gato as a leader who carried the concerns and aspirations of the province to the national level. Garcia said Comelec is considering whether the special election could be held simultaneously with the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE), but worried that it may be too early for the special poll.

“If the BSKE pushes through on Nov. 2, we may be able to do it. The problem is, 60 days have not yet passed,” Garcia said. Based on the 60-to-90-day period cited by Garcia, the special election may be held from Nov. 20 through Dec. 20, counting from the Sept. 21 vacancy. The House of Representatives and the province of Batanes are mourning the passing of Rep. Gato, chairperson of the House Committee on Health. The Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) expressed deep sorrow over the death of Gato, describing him as a valued member of the party, a committed public servant, and a doctor who devoted himself to caring for others. The cause of his death has not yet been disclosed. Gato served as the representative of Batanes and used his medical background and legislative position to advocate for improved healthcare services. As chairperson of the House Committee on Health, he worked on matters concerning the health and well-being of Filipinos. The Provincial Government of Batanes, together with the Ivatan community, also mourned the loss of the lawmaker, honoring him as a son of the province who carried the concerns and aspirations of Batanes to the national government. Officials remembered “Doc Gato” for his compassion, humility, and dedication to the people he served. His contributions as a physician, legislator, and advocate for healthcare were recognized as part of his legacy. The Batanes provincial government extended its condolences to his family, relatives, colleagues, and supporters. In honor of his service, flags at provincial government offices will be flown at half-mast as the province observes a period of mourning. Mary Jade Jadormio & Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

SC: Corruption and extortion have no place in public service

HE Supreme Court (SC) has warned that it would not hesitate to impose necessary penalties against public officers who will be found engaged in corruption and extortion. In a 14-page ruling penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, the Court’s Second Division affirmed the decision issued by the Court of Appeals (CA) on May 30, 2024 and resolution dated September 17, 2024, which found Police Senior Superintendent Amador Hernandez, an aviation security officer, guilty of grave misconduct. The Court also upheld his dismissal from the service, the forfeiture of his retirement and other benefits, and perpetual disqualification from reemployment in any government agency or instrumentality, including any government-owned or controlled corporation or government financial institution. The ruling stemmed from the petition for review filed by Hernandez seeking the reversal of the CA’s rulings which affirmed the administrative decisions and resolutions of the Office of the President and the National Police Commission (Napolcom). Both tribunals found him administratively liable for grave misconduct for extorting the amount of P5,000 from a lady passenger. The passenger was accosted by aviation security personnel on October 3, 2011 at the

Diosdado Macapagal International Airport during check-in for carrying Philippine currency in excess of P10,000 as required under the law She was then escorted to the airport security station chief’s office where Hernandez and another individual spoke to her about her violation of a banking circular limiting the amount of Philippine currency that may be taken outside of the country. The passenger narrated that the two threatened to bring her to Customs authorities which would delay her flight boarding and result in the confiscation of her money. To avoid such scenario, the lady passenger asked Hernandez what she could not and the latter replied “kung ano maluwag sa iyo” (Whatever is convenient for you). When the passenger offered P1,000 for her release, the police officer merely laughed at her. After some negotiation, the passenger agreed to pay P5,000 for her release. The lady passenger later filed an administrative complaint against Hernandez before Napolcom for grave misconduct for extorting money from her which ruled against the latter. Hernandez subsequently appealed Napolcom’s ruling before the Office of the Preside which also denied his appeal, prompting him to elevate the case before the CA. Joel R. San Juan

DOLE orders employers to protect workers amid poor air quality

RIVATE-sector employers must take steps to protect workers when deteriorating air quality poses a threat to public health, under new guidelines issued by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Labor Secretary Francis N. Tolentino signed Labor Advisory No. 15, Series of 2026, directing employers to assess workers’ exposure to polluted air and implement measures appropriate to the level of risk. Employers must conduct Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment, and Control (HIRAC) procedures using the Air Quality Index Matrix and Action Points (AQIMAP) issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Health.

HIRAC assessments must also be periodically reviewed and updated, particularly when air quality, workplace conditions or workers’ exposure levels substantially change. For very unhealthy air conditions, employers must monitor air-quality advisories, provide necessary personal protective equipment and improve indoor airflow and ventilation. Outdoor work must also be suspended or limited when air quality reaches a very unhealthy level, while workers must be informed about the health risks associated with exposure to air pollution. When conditions become acutely unhealthy, DOLE advises employers to consider flexible work arrangements as an additional measure to reduce workers’ exposure. Mary Jade Jadormio

₧4.05B allotted for first Phase of MMDA ‘sponge city’ project By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

ALACAÑANG said the construction of the proposed five rainwater impounding facilities across Metro Manila, which is the first part of the implementation of Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA)’s “sponge city” initiative, to minimize flooding in the region will have an estimated cost of P4.05 billion. Executive Secretary Ralph G. Recto made the announcement last Tuesday

after meeting with MMDA earlier this month to discuss the initial govern-

ment funding for the project. He sa id t he f u nd w i l l be i nc luded i n t he proposed Nat ion a l Disaster R isk Reduction and Management–Disaster Rehabi l itation a nd R e con st r uc t ion A s s i st a nce P rog ra m. The fund will be used for the facilities at the Camp Aguinaldo, Miriam College, Remedios Circle, Rajah Sulayman Park and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Garden at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex in Vito Cruz. Once completed, the five facilities will have a storage capacity of 107,600 cubic meters of rainwater preventing it from reaching flood-prone communities. “ We need more than just the cleaning of drainage systems and waterways. We also need to increase

Metro Manila’s capacity to catch and temporarily store water during heavy rains,” Recto said in Filipino in a statement. “Our objective is simple: manage the water before it becomes a flood, and protect as many communities as possible,” he added. The five new facilities are part of the “sponge city” project of the MMDA, which includes a total of 39 sites. MMDA is targeting to complete the said projects by June 2027, and the 34 other facilities by the end of next year. Recto has yet to disclose the source and the amount of funding for the 34 other sponge city facilities. The Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB) has also committed US$200 million to help finance MMDA’s sponge city initiative.

PPA taps Belgian port expertise for PPP, digitalization push

HE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) will draw on the expertise of Port of Antwerp-Bruges International (PoABI) to prepare its ports for public-private partnership (PPP) projects, sharpen crisis response, and push digitalization and green operations under a five-year cooperation agreement between the two port bodies. PPA General Manager Jay Santiago and PoABI Head of Business Development Maartje Driessens signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which sets up a framework for knowledge exchange, capacity building, and adopting international best practices in the Philippine port sector. Under the agreement, the two parties may cooperate on port operations, planning and

optimization, port and terminal performance, digitalization and smart port applications, safety and operational risk management, sustainability and green port operations, service quality management, and operational governance. Santiago said the partnership will also open doors to training in areas critical to the agency’s pipeline of private-sector-led port projects. “This will provide opportunities for capacity building on operational readiness for public-private partnership [PPP] port projects, port crisis and emergency response management, cruise port development, and port strategy, as well as the exploration of potential investment opportunities related to port development,” Santiago said.

The collaboration, likewise, covers security and inter-agency integration, including efforts to link port systems with those of other government agencies to deliver more seamless services to port users. For its part, PoABI said it sees strong room for knowledge exchange as the Philippine port sector pursues modernization in infrastructure, digitalization, sustainability, and safety. “The Philippine Ports Authority is clearly moving toward full modernization of its port network, including upgrading physical infrastructure, digitizing operations, and strengthening green and safety standards,” Driessens said. She cited several PPA initiatives that caught PoABI’s attention, including improved passenger facilities, disaster resilience engi-

neering, the implementation of ORAS and real-time data, and sustainability measures such as shore-based power supply and renewable energy. “These are initiatives where we can definitely learn from each other’s best practices and accelerate our growth strategies,” Driessens said. She also flagged the PPA’s PPP initiatives as an area ripe for further knowledge sharing and international cooperation, noting that such approaches can help improve port performance and efficiency. PoABI provides consultancy, advisory, training, and management solutions for port and terminal-related projects internationally. Lorenz S. Marasigan

DepEd thanks House for approving ₧975.96-B budget for 2027

HE Department of Education (DepEd) thanked the House of Representatives on Tuesday after the chamber approved the agency’s proposed P975.96billion budget for Fiscal Year 2027. The allocation includes bipartisan support from lawmakers to restore or augment critical programs beyond the original National Expenditure Program (NEP) proposal. “We deeply appreciate the House of Representatives’ strong commitment to education and the leadership of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in advancing the country’s education agenda. This support will help us protect learners, support teachers, accelerate learning recovery, and improve learning outcomes across the country,” said Education Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, who also praised the House leadership and

lawmakers led by budget sponsor Davao de Oro 1st district Rep. Maria Carmen S. Zamora for backing DepEd’s efforts to address critical gaps in campus security, learning recovery, and basic infrastructure. During the plenary deliberations, Angara and lawmakers highlighted the necessity of securing supplementary funding for priority programs. DepEd has submitted a “wish list” to cover key areas, including school security, mental health support, learning recovery programs, teacher hiring and career progression, and classroom construction. The call for enhanced security infrastructure gained added urgency following the recent shooting incident at Banga National High School in South Cotabato. DepEd requested additional allocations for physical security, such as security

personnel, metal detectors, and perimeter fences, alongside funding under the Basic Education Mental Health and Well-Being Promotion Act to hire School Counselor Associates and support staff. “Schools must be sacred, safe spaces where parents feel confident sending their children every day. With these additional resources, we can establish the necessary physical safeguards and psychosocial support systems to ensure peace of mind across all our campuses,” Angara said. Angara also highlighted the importance of sustaining momentum in basic education recovery, particularly through the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program. Targeted interventions under ARAL helped reduce the number of struggling readers nationwide from 6.7 million to 2.2 million

during School Year 2025–2026. The requested additional funding will support the ARAL Program, expansion of the School-Based Feeding Program, recruitment and promotion of teachers and support staff, classroom construction and repairs, school safety and security, and specialized learning programs such as Special Needs Education (SNEd), Madrasah, and Indigenous Peoples Education (IPEd). Angara reaffirmed DepEd’s commitment to fiscal integrity, accountability, and active collaboration with stakeholders and lawmakers regarding policy recommendations raised during the budget hearing. DepEd will work closely with legislative and community partners to address remaining gaps in foundational skills and build on recent gains in basic education. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

DMW: 5 Filipino seafarers dead, 1 missing in Strait of Hormuz

HE Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said the number of Filipino sailors who died after their ships were attacked while passing through the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing Middle East conflict has risen to five. This, after the DMW Secretary Hans J. Cacdac told reporters at the sidelines opening of the two-day Philippine Maritime Convention 2026 at the Manila Hotel last Tuesday that two of the seafarers, who went missing in the Strait of Hormuz, were now included in the list of fatalities in the said waterway.

Citing information from DMW Director Augusto B. San Diego III, he said there are now five Filipino sailors, who died in the Strait, and one more sailor, who remain missing in the Strait of Hormuz-the crucial waterway where 20 percent of the world’s oil passes through. Iran continues to maintain some control of the said Strait limiting the number of ships which can transit the said waterway. As the war between the United States and Iran continue to drag the entire Middle East to escalating conflict, Cacdac said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the

Department of the National Defense (DND) has recommended to DMW to discourage shipowners from sending Filipino sailors in the Strait of Hormuz. “We’ve sent the policy advisory already to the manning agents and ship owners to avoid the Strait of Hormuz carrying Filipino seafarers on board,” Cacdac said. In the case of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, where the Iran-backed Houthi militants gained significant control, he said no Filipino sailors passed through the said waterway. “As far as we know, no vessels with

Filipino seafarers on board are sailing there anymore, given that the Bab el-Mandeb is a narrower passage—a narrower body of water,” Cacdac said. Outside of the Middle East, DMW also reported Filipino sailors were also affected by the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea. In his speech during the Philippine Maritime Convention 2026, the DMW chief highlighted the need for maritime stakeholders to tackle emerging security risks and trends such as technology, digitalization, and artificial intelligence. Samuel P. Medenilla

PNP lauds Senate for approval of two child protection bills

HE Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday hailed the Senate for its approval of two landmark childprotection bills aimed at boosting security in schools and online spaces. Senate Bill No. 2426, also known as the proposed Comprehensive School Safety Act, seeks to establish a National School Safety Framework covering prevention, response and recovery from

threats in schools. It also requires localized safety plans that may include CCTV cameras, counseling services, emergency response systems, additional security and anonymous reporting. The measure also regulates the use of mobile devices during class hours. The bill was approved amid renewed concerns over campus violence following the Sept.

18 shooting at Banga National High School in South Cotabato, where two students were killed and several others were wounded before the 16-year-old gunman took his own life. Meanwhile, Senate Bill No. 1819, or the proposed Sagip Bata Act, aims to address online sexual abuse and exploitation as well as emerging technology-enabled threats against children. It covers grooming, luring, sexual extortion,

image-based abuse, live-streamed exploitation, and AI-generated or manipulated sexual content involving children. The measure also requires online platforms, internet intermediaries, payment service providers and virtual asset providers to strengthen child-safety measures, reporting mechanisms and digital evidence preservation. Rex Anthony Naval

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Gencorp gets ₧35.88M in govt contracts during VP Sara’s term—PhilGEPS By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

@joveemarie

ENCORP Industries Inc., a company Vice President Sara Z. Duterte declared in her 2024 and 2025 Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) as a business interest and where she identified herself as a shareholder, received 49 government contracts worth P35.88 million during her term as vice president, according to PhilGEPS records presented before the Senate Impeachment Court.

PhilGEPS Division Chief Rendell Sopeña testified that the contracts awarded to Gencorp came from three government entities: the Davao City government, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) Region XI, and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OW WA) Region XI. “The search resulted in 49 awarded contracts to Gencorp Industries Inc.,” Sopeña said. Based on PhilGEPS records, Davao City awarded 15 contracts amounting to P34.216 million, PhilHealth Region XI granted 33 contracts worth P1.331 million, while OWWA Region XI awarded one contract worth P330,000. The total value reached P35,878,188. The records covered government awards issued from July 21, 2022, to June 23, 2026. The presiding officer confirmed that the contracts identified in the records occurred during Duterte’s tenure as vice president. Sopeña explained that PhilGEPS serves as the government’s centralized electronic procurement portal where agencies publish bidding activities, award notices, and related documents. He said the system was created “to promote transparency, efficiency, and the utilization of a single electronic portal where all procurement activities will be recorded.” The PhilGEPS search produced

231 procurement documents totaling 484 pages. These included requests for quotation, bidding documents, notices of award, Bids and Awards Committee resolutions, notices to proceed, and contracts related to the government transactions. Sopeña said his office certified the documents extracted from the PhilGEPS database and provided both electronic copies and printed records to the court. He also prepared a summary to assist the parties in reviewing the documents. The procurement records included transactions involving food supplies and catering services. Prosecutors presented the documents as part of their evidence regarding Duterte’s declared business and financial interests. The presentation followed previous testimony from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding Gencorp’s corporate records. An SEC official earlier testified that Duterte’s name did not appear in the company’s incorporation papers or General Information Sheets reviewed by the agency. However, Duterte’s 2024 and 2025 Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) identified Gencorp as a business interest and declared her as a shareholder, with the acquisition of the interest listed in 2013. Lead prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro said the SALN

declaration connected Duterte to the company. “The admission came from the respondent herself,” Luistro said during the proceedings. Luistro said the procurement records were relevant to the allegation of non-divestment of business and financial interests under the Articles of Impeachment. She cited constitutional provisions restricting certain government officials from holding financial interests connected with government contracts. Defense counsel Atty. Robie Batungbacal, however, pointed out that the Davao City contracts were awarded after Duterte had already left her position as city mayor. The hearing ended after Luistro completed her direct examination of Sopeña. The PhilGEPS official is expected to return to the witness stand for cross-examination by Duterte’s defense team as the impeachment proceedings continue. The defense team argued that Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) director for Company Registration and Monitoring Department Atty. Gerardo del Rosario has no personal knowledge of the corporations linked to Vice President Sara Duterte during the cross -examination on the 28th day of the impeachment trial. Defense counsel Justin Nicol B. Gular underscored that del Rosario has no personal knowledge regarding the day-to-day operations, manage-

ment decisions, or internal agreements of the corporations linked to Duterte. “So to confirm, the SEC has no personal knowledge or information to any incorporation related transactions assumably or purportedly between these corporations and the Vice President, ”Gular asked, to which del Rosario agreed. The corporations and firms mentioned by Gular while cross-examining del Rosario were Metro City Chow Foods Corporation, Madayaw Fisheries Inc., and Amianan Shores Inc., among others. Earlier, House prosecutors presented a list of 18 corporations and firms linked to her and her husband, lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio. However, del Rosario admitted that the SEC does not have copies of public officials’ Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) and therefore cannot use them to verify potential conflicts of interest, and that he could not personally verify if the Vice President’s stock portions constituted a conflict of interest under Republic Act 6713. Likewise, Gular emphasized that Duterte was never a corporate secretary for any of these firms, to which, del Rosario agreed that statutory obligations to file specific sworn corporate documents fall on a company’s corporate secretary, not on ordinary shareholders. With Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Cebu City eyes transparent school bags as added security measure

EBU CITY— The Cebu City government is considering the use of transparent school bags in public schools as part of efforts to strengthen campus security and prevent students from bringing prohibited items into school premises. Kenneth Siasar, chief of staff of Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival, said the use of transparent bags is among the policy directions being considered by the city government following discussions on school security measures.

Siasar said the proposed measure could address concerns over the privacy implications of inspecting students’ bags, as the contents would be visible without requiring school personnel to open and search them. “This is for the safety of your children,” Siasar said during a press briefing on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. He said students generally would not be expected to bring items other than books, notebooks, and other school-related materials to campus, making transparent bags a possible additional layer of security.

The proposal comes as the city government also works with the Philippine National Police (PNP) on other measures intended to strengthen security in schools, including the deployment of metal detectors. Siasar said the documentation required by the Local School Board for the metal detectors has been completed, although he could not confirm whether the equipment had already been delivered to the schools. “As far as the local school board is concerned, the documentation is okay, it

can be delivered,” he said. He added that the city government is coordinating with the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) on school-security concerns. The city ’s security measures also include discussions on the inventory and accountability of service firearms issued to government employees. Siasar said the matter was among the concerns discussed between the mayor and PNP officials, particularly the need to account for government-issued firearms. Carmel Pedroza

TheWorld

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

US plans $5B Mideast reconstruction fund as the Iran war is stretching its naval budget

By Bloomberg News

HE Trump administration has proposed a $5 billion fund to help rebuild critical infrastructure across the Middle East damaged in the war with Iran even though the seven-month conflict continues. The so-called Partnership for Allied Construction & Trust would be led by the US Development Finance Corp. (DFC) with the goal of encouraging investment, reconstruction and economic expansion, according to a document outlining the idea. The document from the DFC, the contents of which were seen by Bloomberg News, says “the

region has suffered substantial physical damage and rising risk premia, driving a period of heavy critical-infrastructure need.” Its contents were reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal. Whether or not its proposals come to fruition, the document appears aimed in part to assuage concern from US allies in the region about the Trump

administration’s plans for after the war ends. Iran and its proxies have adopted a strategy of targeting US allies, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, in response to months of US attacks. Those countries’ economies have also been roiled by Iran’s move to choke off commercial shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Four types of projects are highlighted in the document as priorities for the platform: investments to help bypass the Strait of Hormuz, restoration of energy flows and critical material exports, hardening assets against future attacks, and rebuilding essential domestic infrastructure and import flows. The document outlines “sample target investments” that include a “multi-phase expansion of Hormuz bypass” in Saudi Arabia, involving pipeline

and port work. Also listed are an expansion of the Port of Duqm in Oman, an effort to rebuild a defunct pipeline from Iraq to the Mediterranean Sea via Syria and repair of aluminum smelter refineries in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The DFC, created in 2019 under President Donald Trump’s first term, typically makes loans and investments in overseas development projects critical to US interests. Meanwhile, the Iran War is likely to take center stage when President Trump meets with Gulf leaders on the sidelines of this week’s UN General Assembly. Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia and rising energy prices underscore the widening global toll of a war that has cost the US more than $43 billion, according to the Pentagon’s latest estimate.

UK to give Saudi defensive support against Houthis By Fiona MacDonald & Andrea Palasciano Bloomberg News

HE UK has agreed to support Saudi Arabia’s military in countering the Houthis, as the kingdom comes under frequent attack from the Iran-backed militants. “We have received a request from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for military support, and on the advice of the defense secretary and the foreign secretary, last night I agreed to that request for defensive airto-air refueling,” Prime Minister Andy Burnham told reporters while traveling to the UN General Assembly in New York. The remarks confirmed a Bloomberg story earlier on Monday that Burnham was set to approve the request from Riyadh for defensive operational support including aerial refueling. The decision to support the Saudi military campaign represents one of Burnham’s first significant military decisions since becoming prime minister in July. Refueling of Saudi jets on missions that the UK considers defensive will begin in the coming days, and the operation is expected to last weeks.

The UK will also lobby other nations to help the kingdom repel the Houthis, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named discussing sensitive matters. One person said Burnham’s government felt aiding the Saudi military and pushing back against the Houthis would help stabilize the region and lessen threats to ships in the Bab elMandeb strait, a key waterway for container ships and energy tankers. This month, as the Houthis stepped up strikes on Saudi Arabia and captured more territory in Yemen, where they are based, Riyadh asked both the US and UK for military support. So far, Washington—which wants to wind down the war with Iran and avoid escalating tensions on any front—has not said it will help the Saudis beyond the intelligence it already provides them. Still, last week the US State Department notified Congress of a plan to provide the Saudis with almost 50 F-35 fighter jets. The Saudi government after normal business hours on Monday said it was looking into Bloomberg’s request for comment. Saudi Arabia has suffered several Houthi missile and

drone attacks, with the Islamist group targeting southern towns, Red Sea ports and energy infrastructure. On Saturday, Saudi authorities issued two early-morning air raid alerts for Riyadh, the first for the capital in months. One strike hit fuel facilities at the main airport, according to the Wall Street Journal. A Saudi-led coalition has struck Yemeni territory several times in September. The Houthis, who control land holding most of Yemen’s population, recently took the port of Mokha and some islands near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. While they were already disrupting shipping through the chokepoint, the extra territory tightens their grip over it. The Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and a drone strike that shut the kingdom’s most important oil pipeline have pushed up energy prices this month, with Brent crude trading around $100 a barrel. The Saudi government said the pipeline attack came from Iraq, where many pro-Iran militias are based.

EU envoy to Union: Bolster Red Sea vs Houthi MEANWHILE, the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja

Kallas, called for member states to send more naval vessels to protect commercial shipping in the Red Sea. EU countries, under the aegis of Operation Aspides, have been patrolling the Red Sea since 2024 as increasing threats by the Houthis plague shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. “The operation needs more naval assets and more air assets to address the increased level of threats in the region,” Kallas told reporters in New York after a meeting of EU foreign ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. “The Black Sea, the Strait of Hormuz and the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb are three critical maritime choke points whose disruption spreads far beyond the region,” she said. The mission consists primarily of three ships from Italy and Greece, with occasional back up from other member states. EU members have so far shown no willingness to increase the number of vessels deployed or to adapt the mission’s goals. “When Aspides was put in place, the indication was that it needs at least 10 ships,” Kallas said. “The situation, I think, is even more grave right now.”

N. Korea touts new weapons system described as hypersonic By Kim Tong-Hyung The Associated Press

EOUL, South Korea—North Korea said Tuesday its latest missile tests involved a new weapons system of “great significance,” with photos indicating it launched a missile previously described as hypersonic. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the weapon’s development would strengthen the country’s war readiness and give its enemies an “incurable headache,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said. He did not describe what the weapon was. Kim observed Sunday’s tests with his teenage daughter, widely seen as a potential successor. South Korea’s military detected North Korea firing two short-range missiles three hours apart from the eastern coastal Wonsan area Sunday. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles flew about 450 and 600 kilometers (280 miles and 370 miles) toward the sea, while Japan’s military said they landed in waters outside the country’s exclusive economic zone. The launches extended a recent run in military displays, including live-fire exercises and the commissioning of a new warship, as Kim continues to flaunt his growing nuclear program despite US calls to revive diplomacy. Following years of intensified testing, Kim now has an extensive arsenal of nuclearcapable missiles, including long-range weapons potentially capable of reaching the US mainland and shorter-range systems designed to overwhelm missile defenses in South Korea and Japan. Among the weapons North Korea has tested in recent years are various missile systems fitted with purported hypersonic weapons, which are designed to travel at more than five times the speed of sound. Their speed and maneuverability are intended to help them evade regional missile defenses, but some experts have questioned whether they have consistently reached the speeds claimed by the North during tests. Korean Central News Agency’s photos of Sunday’s tests showed what appeared to be two missiles tipped with conical, finned vehicles being fired from launcher trucks. Kim is seen looking at a monitoring screen that identifies the missile as a Hwasong11Ma, a system North Korea has previously described as hypersonic. Graphics on the screen showed a missile trajectory overlaid on a map, along with figures for a speed of 2,146 meters (1.3 miles) per second, an altitude of 35.8 kilometers (22 miles) and a range of 908.2 kilometers (564 miles). The reported distance exceeded the flight range announced by South Korea’s military. Jang Do-young, a spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military was assessing the details from the North Korean report and cautioned that the North’s claims about missile capabilities “cannot be 100 percent trusted.” The launches were the latest in a series of weapons demonstrations by North Korea even after U.S. President Donald Trump scaled back a joint military exercise with South Korea last month in an apparent effort to revive diplomacy with Kim, who has called such drills invasion rehearsals.

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

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Sokor’s Lee says he advocates step-by-step approach to North’s nuclear disarmament By Hyung-Jin Kim The Associated Press

EOUL, South Korea—South Korea’s liberal President Lee Jae Myung is calling for a practical, step-by-step approach to achieve North Korea’s nuclear disarmament, as the North ramps up weapons testing activities despite US President Donald Trump’s recent push to resume diplomacy. “To change the direction of a moving vehicle, it must be brought to a halt first,” Lee told The Associated Press in written responses to questions before his departure Monday to New York to attend the UN General Assembly. “A phased approach of stop, reduction and dismantlement is a practical way of effectively resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.” Prospects for North Korea’s early return to nuclear diplomacy are still unclear. Last month, Trump scaled back a major military exercise with South Korea in a conciliatory gesture toward North Korean

leader Kim Jong Un, who viewed it as an invasion rehearsal. But North Korea quickly rebuffed Trump’s moves and escalated weapons tests.

Lee advocates phased steps for North Korea’s nuclear disarmament

NORTH Korea’s evolving nuclear program has raised questions about whether its nuclear disarmament can be achieved in a single step and given rise to calls for convincing North Korea to disarm in phases in return for corresponding economic and

political benefits. Trump claimed last month that North Korea has 57 nuclear weapons, while some experts say the North has more than 100 warheads. “Given the extent to which North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities have advanced, it is not a realistic solution to wait until complete denuclearization can be achieved all at once,” Lee said. “This is because, in the interim, North Korea’s nuclear capabilities will continue to advance, escalating the threat.” During the annual UN gathering, Lee said he would pursue “a phased and pragmatic solution to the North Korean nuclear issue” and build on his vision for promoting peace on the Korean Peninsula. Lee cited his recent offer for talks among concerned parties to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War, through which he said ways to curb North Korea’s nuclear program could be explored. T here are concer ns that a phased approach could eventually result in North Korea refusing to fully abandon its nuclear program after winning what it wants—like sanctions relief—in return for a partial surrender of its capability. To prevent that, Lee called for comprehensive dialogue to establish a framework that benefits

SOUTH Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a press conference at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, on September 18. AP/AHN YOUNG-JOON

South Korea, the US and North Korea alike, and stressed the need to show North Korea that “moving toward stable and lasting peace is a realistic and feasible path to a secure and prosperous future.”

South Korea, US want resumption of talks with North Korea

WHATEVER approach the US, South Korea and their partners take, it’s unclear whether North Korea would return to talks anytime soon. When Trump, citing a “very good relationship” with K im,

scaled back the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise with South Korea last month, North Korea dismissed Trump’s outreach, saying that just cutting the drill won’t change its provocative nature. It has since performed three rounds of weapons launch events and unleashed numerous statements criticizing what it called US hostilities. Experts say North Korea likely wants bigger US concessions. Lee, who hopes a resumption of Trump-Kim diplomacy would lead to reopening dialogue between the two Koreas, called Trump’s action “a deliberate step to send a clear message that the United States has no hostile intent toward North Korea.” He said both South Korea and the US “remain open to engaging in dialogue with North Korea without preconditions.” “What is needed now is a political decision at the leaders’ level. The two leaders should build trust and work together to identify a common ground, face-to-face,” Lee said.

Lee intends to strengthen ties with US

TRUMP’S social media post on the exercise’s downsizing came without prior consultations with South Korea, and mentioned what

Beijing top diplomat: China, EU should avoid trade clash By Bloomberg News

HINA and the EU should find a way to avoid a confrontation over trade, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said—comments that come as a deadline to find solutions to the two sides’ differences approaches. “China and the European Union are comprehensive strategic partners, and a trade war should not be

fought between them,” Wang said in a call with German counterpart Johann Wadephul, according to a statement from Beijing late Monday. Wang said he hoped Germany would “maintain a rational and pragmatic attitude,” and encourage Brussels to “stay on the right track of open cooperation, dialogue and consultation.” T he comments underscore mounting concern that China and

Europe are heading toward a clash. For Beijing, the timing wouldn’t be ideal considering it has similar friction with Washington. Chinese leader Xi Jinping is heading to the US this week to try to negotiate an extension to a trade war ceasefire with President Donald Trump. EU leaders are set to meet in the middle of next month to discuss the trade deficit with China and possible new instruments they can

use to strike back against Beijing’s trade practices. Beijing and Brussels earlier agreed to set an October deadline to make progress on trade disagreements. Earlier this month, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic held a call with Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao to discuss the management of exports to the EU, European access to China’s market

and export controls of rare earths. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has also warned that the bloc’s trade deficit with China has reached a tipping point. “Let me be clear: we will use all the tools at our disposal to rebalance our relationship,” she said in her state of the union address earlier this month. “Words are good. But deeds are better.”

Vietnam leader: US trade deal close, we're not re-routing China goods By Francesca Stevens, Haslinda Amin, Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen & Nguyen Xuan Quynh Bloomberg News

IETNAMESE President To Lam said his nation is “very close” to a trade deal with the US as he pledged to buy more high-tech goods l i ke a ircraf t to nar row t he trade gap ahead of talks with Trump administration officials in New York. “One of the issues we need to discuss w ith US leaders, particularly the US president, is how to expedite negotiations toward an agreement on reciprocal, balanced and equitable tariffs between the two countries,” Lam, Vietnam’s top leader, said in an exclusive interview with Bloomberg TV’s Haslinda Amin on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Monday. “Vietnam exports align with US demand without competing directly with US products,” said Lam, who is also Communist Party General Secretary. Vietnam wants to import more US items to support industrial production although certain policy constraints persist on

the US side, the president said. Vietnam has spent months in protracted negotiations with the US over a final trade deal, with transshipment and non-tariff barriers emerging as the central sticking points. It runs one of the US’s largest bilateral trade surpluses, which Washington has used to pressure Hanoi as it seeks to narrow the imbalance. “We understand the concerns on the US side about this issue. But I think there are opportunities to address the trade imbalance,” Lam said, in his first international broadcast interview since consolidating party and state control in April. Vietnam wants to increase high-tech imports of US aircraft, nuclear power and road and railway infrastructure, the president added. After meeting Lam on Monday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the two negotiating teams made “significant progress and are very close to reaching a final result,” according to the Vietnam government’s website. “Once sig ned a nd imple mented, the reciprocal, fair, and balanced trade agreement will continue to open up new

opportunities and possibilities for cooperation,” Greer said. US trade officials have pressed Vietnam to strengthen rules of origin, customs enforcement and controls on Chinese inputs over concerns about allegations that Chinese goods are being repackaged and rerouted through its manufacturing neighbor. In recent months, US customs inspectors have carried out spot checks on China-linked factories in the Southeast Asia nation, adding to concerns the White House may soon find reasons to saddle Vietnam with higher tariffs. “We do not accept transshipment of goods,” Lam, 69, said. “Trade must be genuine, with products actually manufactured in Vietnam and meeting international standards and our requirements, not only for the US market, but also for other international markets where Vietnam has participated.” Vietnam was singled out for three simultaneous so-called Section 301 investigations and currently faces a 12.5 percent levy as one of around 60 nations targeted in a US probe into goods produced with forced labor. It’s also under scrutiny for alleged excess manufacturing capacity

and intellectual property violations. The preliminary results of the US investigations are progressing well, Lam said, when asked if Vietnam is confident it can avoid higher tariffs. Vietnam has repeatedly defended its trade practices, enacted a new law prohibiting goods produced with forced labor, tightened customs procedures and launched crackdowns on online piracy and other intellectual property-related offenses. Under Lam, Vietnam has pursued a vigorous diplomatic agenda with the president embarking on a raft of overseas trips aimed at diversifying trade and energy partners, as well as cementing Vietnam’s position as a middle power. This year he’s traveled to China, Russia, India, France and across the region, as well as delivering a keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in May. In his address to leaders at the UN General Assembly, Lam is expected to highlight that peace faces growing challenges as conf licts, strategic competition, declining trust and the erosion of international law intensify. Following his New York trip, Lam heads directly to Canada

where he’s set to meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney, a visit that comes as relations between the North American nations are strained over a protracted tariff dispute. Lam’s visit to the US underscores Vietnam’s efforts to balance relations with its major strategic partners even as it navigates global tensions and ongoing trade uncertainty ahead of this week’s US-China summit between leaders Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Lam was noncommittal about a potential meeting with Trump during this visit. Already one of Asia’s fastestgrowing economies, Vietnam has made achieving 10 percent expansion a central goal. But the target has become more difficult after the war in Iran pushed up energy prices and heightened inflation concerns. Still, Lam believes things are on track. “We have carefully calculated and considered our growth targets,” Lam said, when asked about overheating risks. “We are undertaking institutional reforms and building a new growth model ” and are “fully confident we can achieve these goals.”

he called Lee’s refusal to join the US in the “denuclearization” of Iran. This raised worries about the alliance between South Korea and the US Lee admitted Trump’s decision came “somewhat unexpectedly.” But Lee said he would rather focus on the ultimate objective behind that decision, saying Trump expressed his commitment to creating conditions conducive to dialogue and that he shares the goal of reducing confrontation on the Korean Peninsula. Lee said the strategic interests of South Korea and the US are deeply intertwined across a wide range of areas and that he intends to build a more mutually beneficial partnership during the rest of Trump’s term. For example, Lee said planned cooperation in shipbuilding will not only revitalize US shipbuilding and naval power but also create new growth opportunities for South Korean businesses. Lee said Friday that he won’t let his military be drawn into the U.S.Iran conflict. He said his government was considering expanding the operations of a naval unit deployed in the Gulf of Aden to protect South Korean vessels and oil shipping routes. Lee was expected to meet Trump on the sidelines of the UN meeting.

Briefs. . . Iran’s Rev Guard warns US over escalation IRAN’S Revolutionary Guard warned Monday that it would “change the geography of the war” if the United States escalates the conflict. A spokesperson for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Hossein Mohebbi, said Monday that “the war is not over” and warned that Iran would change its weapons, military tactics and targets if the conflict with the US escalates. “We will certainly change the geography of the war,” Mohebbi said in a statement carried by Iranian state media. “We will certainly bring new weapons with new capabilities into the battle.” He said the Guard had prepared for a long-term war. “Our targets will no longer necessarily be the same as before,” he said, according to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, adding that Iran has targets that have not yet been struck. AP

Houthi leader hits out at Saudis in televised speech IN Yemen, the leader of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels used the anniversary of his group’s overthrow of the Yemeni government to lash out at Saudi Arabia. In a pre-recorded speech aired Monday, Abdul Malik alHouthi said his group’s demands include an end to what he called Saudi “aggression” and the blockade the Saudi-led coalition has imposed on the rebels for about a decade. “Stop the aggression and end the blockade. Our demands represent the legitimate rights of our people,” he said in the speech aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah channel. The Houthis descended from their stronghold in northern Yemen, taking over the capital of Sanaa in September 2014 and forcing the country’s government into exile in Saudi Arabia. AP

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CHINA TO HONOR EXISTING ENERGY DEALS, HOLDS NEW INVESTMENTS By Malou Talosig-Bartolome

HINESE companies will continue to honor existing energy contracts in the Philippines despite concerns triggered by reports that Beijing may scale back its economic engagements with Manila, a Department of Energy (DOE) official said on Tuesday. “We were concerned that our contracts with China might be in danger because of pronouncements in some Chinese newspapers or media groups that they would no longer honor their agreements,” DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said at a panel discussion at the Asean-EU Business Summit. “When we talked to the embassy, that was not true,” he added. Speaking to reporters after the forum, Fuentebella clarified that Chinese firms are expected to refrain from entering into new energy agreements, but existing contracts remain enforceable. “Ang hindi nila papasukan ay mga bagong kontrata. [They won’t enter into new contracts],” he said. “But for the old contracts, they will honor,” he added. Fuentebella said concerns among Philippine businesses arose from media reports in China suggesting a possible halt in cooperation amid ongoing tensions between Manila and Beijing. Several Chinese companies maintain energy-related agreements with Philippine firms, including contracts

involving the supply of refined petroleum products and renewable energy equipment. China remains the Philippines’s largest trading partner, with bilateral merchandise trade reaching $47.75 billion in 2025. Imports from China totaled $38.44 billion, resulting in a Philippine trade deficit of $29.13 billion. The energy sector has become an increasingly significant component of bilateral trade as the Philippines expands renewable energy capacity and seeks to address rising power demand. China continues to dominate the Philippine solar supply chain. In 2025, the Philippines imported around $483 million worth of solar panels, of which 98 percent came from China. Imports accelerated further in early 2026, with solar panel shipments reaching $407 million from March to May alone. Beyond equipment trade, Chinese firms remain involved in major Philippine energy infrastructure projects. State Grid Corporation of China holds a 40-percent stake in the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), while Chinese contractors have participated in the construction of dams, transmission facilities, and renewable energy projects. However, Philippine officials have acknowledged that geopolitical tensions in the West Philippine Sea have dampened investor sentiment and complicated broader energy cooperation between the two countries.

Wednesday, September 23, 2026 A9

H1 mineral fuel import bill up 30% on tighter oil supply

By Justine Xyrah Garcia

IGHTER oil supplies amid the Middle East conflict may have pushed Manila’s mineral fuel import bill up nearly 30 percent in the first half of 2026, new data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.

The PSA on Tuesday reported that mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials emerged as the secondlargest imported commodity group in the first semester of 2026, with a total value of $11.12 billion, up 29.9 percent from the $8.56 billion recorded in the same period last year. Within the commodity group, “other” mineral fuels posted the biggest annual increase, rising 39.5 percent to $7.5 billion from $5.38 billion a year earlier. The category includes diesel fuel and fuel oils, light oils and preparations, aviation turbine fuel, and other mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials. This was followed by petroleum coke, which rose 17.7 percent to $2.29 billion from $1.95 billion, while coal and coke imports increased 7.3 percent

to $1.32 billion from $1.23 billion. Ateneo de Manila University economist Ser K. Peña-Reyes said the increase in fuel imports reflects both the higher cost of energy and supply conditions during the Middle East conflict. “Given the 2026 Middle East conflict, elevated crude or refined-fuel prices and supply disruptions clearly contributed,” Peña-Reyes told the BusinessMirror. However, Peña-Reyes said the PSA data alone does not allow for a reliable breakdown of how much of the $2.56 billion increase in the fuel import bill came from higher prices and how much came from larger import volumes. “Most of the $2.56-billion increase cannot be cleanly attributed to volumes from PSA data alone,” he said,

noting that the available figures report the change in import value but do not provide a price-volume decomposition. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. declared a state of national energy emergency in March amid concerns over tighter crude oil supplies following the escalation of the Middle East conflict. The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier said the Philippines sources the vast majority—or around 98 percent—of its crude oil imports from the Middle East. It has since explored alternative oil suppliers and held talks with non-traditional sources, such as China, India, and Russia. Based on PSA data, the country’s major sources of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials for the first semester of 2026 included South Korea at $2.33 billion, Indonesia at $1.51 billion, Singapore at $1.23 billion, Malaysia at $1.21 billion, Japan at $477.76 million, and Taiwan at $184.81 million. Peña-Reyes said the increase in fuel imports “materially worsened” the country’s external trade position. PSA data showed that the Philippines’s trade deficit widened to $31.36 billion in the first half of 2026, up 28.1 percent from $24.48 billion in the

same period last year. “Higher fuel import costs therefore add pressure to the current account and foreign-exchange demand, although strong exports and remittances/services can offset part of that pressure,” he added. China remained the Philippines’s largest trading partner in the first half of 2026, with bilateral trade reaching $28.43 billion. This was followed by the United States at $12.85 billion, Japan at $11.70 billion, South Korea at $11.32 billion, and Hong Kong at $8.11 billion. Among these major trading partners, the Philippines recorded its largest trade deficit with China at $18.02 billion and South Korea at $7.38 billion.

DepDev: Diversify energy mix

MEANWHILE, Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DepDev) Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said the government should “seriously consider” diversifying the country’s energy mix, warning that reliance on a limited number of sources leaves the Philippines “so vulnerable.” “I’m talking about, for example, we can consider nuclear energy to the extent that these are technologically See “Fuel,” A2

Biz groups: Beyond access, FTA with EU opens new investments By Bless Aubrey Ogerio

BEYOND THE PUMP Unioil President Kenneth C. Pundanera, Aramco Asia Singapore Managing Director Ayman M. Hoho, and Garcia Heights Subdivision Homeowners Association President Felipe Villanueva III pose for a photo during the unveiling of the newly renovated basketball court at Garcia Heights Subdivision in Parañaque City. The project is part of Aramco and Unioil’s community investment efforts, providing residents—particularly young people—with a venue for recreation and community activities. The court renovation is part of a planned series of rehabilitation projects in communities surrounding Aramco stations. Aramco, in partnership with Unioil Petroleum Philippines, opened its first branded service station in the Philippines in Sucat, Parañaque, on July 16, 2026. ROY DOMINGO

Comelec seeks ₧23.16B for machines By Mary Jade Jadormio

HE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is seeking P23.16 billion for voting machines for the 2028 national and local elections, warning that a funding shortfall could leave the commission 9,310 units short and result in longer queues at polling places. Comelec officials told lawmakers that only P21.66 billion is currently included in the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP) for the machines, about P1.5 billion less than the commission’s request. “Actually, that is what they requested to be provided, the P23.16 billion, because we will be short by 9,310 machines. The result would be longer lines, longer queues at

our polling places,” Rep. Mike Tan of the 4th District of Quezon, Vice Chairperson of the Committee on Appropriations said. Comelec’s machine requirement is part of its proposed P29.5-billion budget for 2027, which is 46 percent higher than its P20.2-billion allocation under the 2026 General Appropriations Act. At least P23.92 billion of the proposed budget is earmarked for preparations for the 2028 national and local elections, including procurement and system preparation, voter-related activities and other election requirements. Despite the size of the proposed allocation, Comelec has yet to make a final decision on which voting machines will be used in 2028.

“No, Mr. Speaker, it is still subject to bidding and procurement. The terms of reference are still in draft form,” Tan said when asked whether the machines for the elections had already been determined. Comelec is still finalizing the terms of reference based on recommendations from its Advisory Council. No commission resolution has yet been issued approving the machines for the 2028 polls. Caloocan City 2nd District Rep. Edgar Erice questioned the need to proceed with a new-machine procurement without first establishing the technical and financial viability of the 2025 units. He called for an independent assessment of the options, including the potential costs of acquiring

new machines versus reusing or refurbishing existing units. Comelec said it is preparing an independent engineering study to assess the technical and cost considerations, while incorporating its experience from the recent Bangsamoro parliamentary elections. “We are just waiting for the conclusion of the Bangsamoro elections so we can incorporate the conduct of the BARMM elections into the study that will be conducted by Comelec,” the representative said. Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia earlier said the number of registered voters is projected to rise from about 68 million in 2025 to 74 million by 2028, adding to the commission’s preparations for the next national elections.

HILIPPINE business groups welcomed the conclusion of free trade negotiations with the European Union (EU), but said the agreement—more than a gateway to the bloc’s market—should help them attract investment and move deeper into global value chains. For the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the business community must now prepare to maximize the opportunities created by the comprehensive agreement, which took years of negotiations to complete. PCCI President Ferdinand A. Ferrer said the talks addressed complex issues involving intellectual property rights, sustainability, labor and human rights standards, and environmental and carbon-emissions requirements. “This FTA [Free Trade Agreement] has the potential to unlock new growth areas for Philippine enterprises, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises seeking to expand their presence in international markets,” Ferrer said in a statement. The conclusion of negotiations, he added, should be followed by swift ratification and implementation, saying “the ball is now in the hands of our policymakers.” On the manufacturers’ side, the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) likewise said the agreement should be used to upgrade domestic industry by pushing local companies to meet higher European standards on quality, safety, traceability and sustainability. According to FPI Chairman Elizabeth H. Lee, meeting those requirements could help local manufacturers improve productivity and competitiveness while gaining deeper access to global value chains. “The real prize is not just market access. It is attracting the investments that create factories, transfer technology, and generate quality jobs for Filipinos,” Lee said in a message. “The result is a stronger, more modern manufacturing sector capable of competing not only in Europe, but in markets around the world,” she added. This was echoed by the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport), saying the next priority should be ensuring that the agreement delivers meaningful and commercially competitive market access for Philippine products with export potential. Philexport President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. said the EU is a major, high-value market where an FTA could provide exporters with greater market access and more predictable trading conditions. “We hope the final agreement will translate into

real opportunities on the ground, especially for our MSMEs,” Philexport said in a post. “We need to help Philippine businesses meet EU standards, strengthen their capacity, and connect them with European buyers and value chains.” The group also said closer trade ties with the EU could help the Philippines diversify its export markets and deepen its participation in global value chains as businesses navigate continuing trade uncertainty. The EU was the country’s fourth-largest trading partner in 2025, with bilateral goods trade reaching €17.6 billion. Moreover, latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that imports from EU member states reached $4.08 billion in the first half of 2026, equivalent to 5.2 percent of total Philippine imports, while exports to the bloc amounted to $5.52 billion, or 11.8 percent of total export sales.

German firms eye investment

FOR German businesses, investment will be a key measure of whether the agreement delivers. The German-Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GPCCI) said nearly four in five of its member companies are exploring new markets, while seven in 10 are diversifying their supplier networks as energy shocks and a more fragmented global trading environment reshape business strategies. In its first survey of German companies on the EU-Philippines FTA, 83 percent rated the agreement as highly important, while nearly half said they would expand their investments. “Today’s agreement is the milestone; delivering it is the goal, and German business stands ready to turn it into investments and jobs in the Philippines,” GPCCI President Christian Scheld said in a statement. Scheld said the chamber is now looking toward the formal documentation and ratification of the agreement ahead of the scheduled expiry of the EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) in 2027, to avoid a gap in market access for Philippine exporters. He also stressed the need for full and consistent implementation of commitments on services, investment and government procurement, areas covered by the new agreement that were not previously part of the Philippines’s trade arrangements with the EU. Germany was the Philippines’s largest EU trading partner in the first half of 2026 by both import payments and export earnings. Imports from Germany reached $1.20 billion, or 29.3 percent of Philippine imports from the EU, while exports amounted to $1.86 billion, or 33.7 percent of exports to the bloc.

A10 Wednesday, September 23, 2026 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

A bet on agribusiness: Can policy deliver for returning OFWs?

HE country’s agricultural trade deficit, while lamentable, presents opportunities for local businesses and entrepreneurs, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said in January 2026. During a forum in Cebu City, one of its senior officials noted that the Philippines’s farm trade deficit, pegged at around $11 billion, highlights the structural gaps in domestic supply. This figure demonstrates the enormity of the local market, but because local production is not enough, the Philippines relies on imports to plug supply shortfalls.

In that forum, the DA had urged local government units (LGUs) to promote investments in the production of commodities including vegetables, coconut, livestock, poultry and fisheries. Aquaculture, for one, has the potential to increase the sources of protein for Filipinos. Milk production is also another area that is worth betting on given the huge demand of the country for dairy products as evidenced by the millions of dollars that the Philippines spends on imported milk every year. Apart from LGUs, the government recently asked returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to consider agriculture as a source of livelihood. (See, “Govt urges OFWs to place bet on agribusiness,” in the BusinessMirror, September 21, 2026). In a forum in Seoul, South Korea, the government positioned agriculture as a possible second career and investment avenue for OFWs. The government is hoping that OFWs who have decided to come home for good will see food production as a viable proposition. How the government will be able to do this, considering that a number of OFWs left the country because their parents’ farms could no longer support them, is a development worth watching. And in those years they were outside of the country, the Philippine farm sector had hardly been able to raise the productivity of its farms. If not for the rice crisis in 2008, the country’s policymakers would not have significantly increased the government’s investments in the agriculture sector in the ensuing years. Despite the huge sums that the sector eventually got after 2008, its contribution to GDP—the sum of the country’s goods and services produced within its borders—declined. The ills that plagued the sector for many years have not been fully addressed—weak postharvest infrastructure, high logistics costs and public spending leaks. And even before policymakers could eliminate these constraints, the Philippines will also now have to contend with geopolitical tensions and erratic weather patterns that make it harder to plan food production. The government should lead the way if it wants to transform opportunities in the local farm sector into actual revenue streams for returning OFWs. Policymakers must see to it that there is a level playing field in agribusiness, one that will allow so-called “agripreneurs” to earn a decent income and flourish. The laws and other initiatives that aim to entice more investments in the sector would mean nothing if those who will implement them will not follow it to the letter. Since 2005

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Weak peso Mark Villar

THE BUILDER

WEAK peso is a doubled-edged sword. It encourages exporters to produce more because of higher potential earnings from a “favorable” exchange rate.

It is also a boon to business process outsourcing companies with overseas contracts denominated in foreign currencies. But a weak local currency has its ugly side. It translates into higher cost of imports, especially of oil, fuels inflation and increases government pressure to raise transportation fares and wages. The Philippine information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) industry, for one, is gaining short-term competitiveness from the peso’s depreciation. At the same time, however, it fears rising inflation and blanket wage hikes could erode the sector’s long-term advantage. Proposed wage increases, while favorable or neutral to salaried employees, would create uncertainty and could affect investor projections and decisions. Renewed Middle East tensions

last week drove the immediate drop in the value of the peso. Brent crude rose 2.77 percent to $107.51 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate climbed 2.27 percent to $102.32 after Houthi forces attacked targets in Saudi Arabia and Iranian forces assaulted commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf, per a foreign wire report. The Philippines imports nearly all of its oil requirements. Higher crude prices directly widen the country’s trade deficit and increase the demand for dollars among local importers. The US dollar itself is strengthening, lowering the value of the peso and other foreign currencies. It is gathering strength as investors weighed the prospect of interest rate decisions from both the US Fed and the Bank of Japan. One foreign exchange trader noted that the peso reached new lows af-

ter August’s US inflation data solidified views of a Fed rate hike. Against these hawkish expectations, the peso currency will likely remain weak. The peso depreciation, to reiterate, has a significant impact on the economy because it will fuel inflation and slow down economic growth. It may boost our exporters but the weak currency creates a challenging environment characterized by higher costs and reduced production. The Philippines can check the peso depreciation through more exports but that is easier said than done. We need to boost the economy and expand our export base—that means raising investments to generate more jobs and increase the purchasing power of our workers. The administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has committed to speed up investments, strengthen skills training and help businesses expand, and hire more Filipinos after the July labor data showed mixed results. The Philippine Statistics Authority’s July 2026 Labor Force Survey showed 49.2 million Filipinos were employed, an increase of about 3.2 million from last year. Private establishments added 582,000 wage and salary workers, and middle- and high-skilled occupations rose by a combined 2.6 million workers. Unemployment, however, rose to 6 percent, with 3.14 million Filipinos

out of work, an increase of 551,000 from a year earlier. More Filipinos are finding work but more are also entering the labor force as new graduates join the labor force. Against this backdrop, the Marcos administration approved 46 special economic zones that are expected to draw P141.2 billion in investments and generate close to 189,000 jobs. Of these zones, 43 are outside Metro Manila, 29 in Luzon, 12 in the Visayas and five in Mindanao. The government is also accelerating the Luzon Economic Corridor, which will link Subic, Clark, Manila and Batangas into a logistics, manufacturing and innovation hub. The mammoth railway project is projected to generate up to one million jobs. A planned 1,600-hectare technology hub in New Clark City within the corridor is also expected to support semiconductor, advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence industries, and create 130,000 highquality jobs. The training of more Filipinos for the new job positions should match the new investments. An expanded economic base and increased employment, hopefully, will add value to our currency and cancel out the effects of a stronger US dollar. For feedback e-mail to senatormarkvillar@ gmail.com or visit our web site: https://markvillar. com.ph

Who counts? Three questions, four justices, one Constitution By Pablo S. Trillana III

N September 23, the prosecution and defense are scheduled to argue before the Senate Impeachment Court over a short but difficult phrase in the Constitution: conviction requires “two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.” The Constitution also gives the Senate the “sole power to try and decide” impeachment cases. Before the Senate decides, return to September 16, when four former Supreme Court Justices—Hilario Davide Jr., Artemio Panganiban, Reynato Puno, and Adolfo Azcuna—were asked three questions: Who belongs among “all the Members”? What guidance does Avelino v. Cuenco provide? And may a senator-judge who did not attend or substantially participate nevertheless cast the final vote? Their answers were more nuanced than three against one. Davide: Can this senator act? Panganiban: Can this senator judge fairly? Puno: Can the impeachment court itself still try and decide? Azcuna: Is this person still legally a senator who must therefore count?

First: Who belongs in “all the members”?

DAVIDE begins with the individual

senator’s qualification and ability to act. Holding office does not end his inquiry. The senator must also be legally and physically qualified to perform the duties of senator-judge. “Legally able” means no legal restraint prevents the exercise of senatorial powers. “Physically or actually able” means mental or physical incapacity, health conditions, or comparable circumstances do not prevent performance of those duties. His question is: Can this senator, in law and in fact, act as a senatorjudge? Panganiban looks at the individual senator differently. Being able to act is not enough. The senator must also have meaningfully engaged with the evidence. He accepts that two-thirds of 24 is mathematically 16. But impeachment is not merely arithmetic. It

is judgment. A senator-judge must know the evidence sufficiently to search for truth and decide fairly. His question is: Has this senator learned enough from the case to judge truthfully and fairly? Puno changes the scale of the inquiry. Davide and Panganiban look mainly at the individual senator. Puno steps backward and looks at the impeachment court as a whole. The Constitution gave the Senate the power not merely to hear an impeachment case, but to try and decide it. Puno asks whether a rigid interpretation of “all the Members” could prevent the court from completing that task. He also stresses that the Constitution says “two-thirds,” not the fixed number 16. Take a simple illustration. Suppose only 15 senators were legally able to function as senator-judges. If the denominator remained rigidly 24, conviction would still require 16 votes. But only 15 could vote. Conviction would be impossible even if all 15 voted to convict. One constitutionally possible judgment would be closed off before the evidence finally determined the result. Puno does not say the denominator should shrink whenever sena-

tors are absent. Mere absence is not necessarily inability; an absent senator may still study transcripts, recordings, exhibits, and the record. His narrower point is that the rule should not be applied so mechanically that the impeachment court cannot complete its duty to try and decide. His question is: Can the impeachment court itself still finish its constitutional job? Azcuna begins from the opposite direction: continuing membership and the purpose of the supermajority. If a person legally remains a senator, Azcuna says, that senator remains within “all the Members.” The Constitution deliberately requires a supermajority for conviction. Impeachment may remove a high constitutional officer before the end of a fixed term; where that officer was elected, removal can displace an electoral mandate. For Azcuna, the high threshold protects against removal by a temporary or passing partisan majority. That is why he insists upon a stable denominator. If absence or participation can reduce the number who count, the number needed See “Trillana,” A11

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Opinion BusinessMirror

Wednesday, September 23, 2026 A11

US reaches Greenland deal to end row that threatened Nato

Beyond fractions: The crisis of impartiality in the Senate

Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza

MAKE SENSE

By Sanne Wass

HE US, Denmark and Greenland struck a security deal that expands Washington’s role on the Arctic island, ending for now a long-running diplomatic spat without ceding land to the US.

President Donald Trump said Friday that his administration had reached an agreement handing the US “permanent control over security” in Greenland. Leaders of Denmark and Greenland confirmed that an accord is expected to be signed next week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Full details have yet to be released. Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the pact “recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of the Danish kingdom and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination, indicating that Trump gains no ownership or sovereignty over the island. That marks a significant pullback from Trump’s earlier push to control Greenland or make it part of the US. His repeated demands to acquire the territory had fueled distrust between Washington and its European allies, presenting one of the most serious strains on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in decades. For Denmark and Greenland, the agreement is significant because it appears to bring an end to a nearly two-year standoff without ceding land to the US, said Marc Jacobsen, associate professor at the Institute for Strategy and War Studies at the Royal Danish Defence College. “Donald Trump needs to be seen as a winner,” he said in an interview. “So a new agreement was necessary, allowing him to say: look, my pressure worked.” But when it comes to Trump’s ambition to acquire or politically control Greenland, “he did not get his way on this,” Jacobsen said. Trump announced the arrangement on social media on Friday, saying it would give Washington the power to block US adversaries from establishing bases or a military presence in Greenland, as well as from making sensitive investments there. Trump also said the US would immediately begin expanding its military footprint on the island and work with Greenlanders on developing and building the facilities, all at “NO COST to the United States.” The agreement comes after a plethora of setbacks for Trump, including extended hostilities in the Middle East, no resolution of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine and the rising cost of living for US voters ahead of the midterms. Based on what Trump has disclosed so far, the new pact appears to grant Washington many of the same rights over security it already enjoys under the existing arrangement, Jacobsen said. A 1951 agreement with Denmark, updated in 2004 and still in force, gives the US broad latitude to station forces in Greenland. Washington is obliged to consult and inform Copenhagen about its plans, but that was seen as a largely pro forma condition that required little more than notification. The US had more than a dozen military bases in Greenland during the Cold War, later closing all of them except for the Pituffik space base in the far north. Some elements of the deal appear to be new, said Jacobsen. One is a US veto over whether other countries can establish a military presence in Greenland. Another is that the arrangement would be permanent. The 1951 agreement is explicitly tied to a key Nato accord and therefore the alliance’s existence. “This one is about the US and is not linked to Nato’s lifespan,” he said. The deal also appears to break new ground on investment. Giving Trump the power to bar sensitive investments into Greenlandic mining, ports and infrastructure would amount to the “most far-reaching transfer of decision-making authority among the measures announced,” said Søren Lippert, who runs consultancy GeoPolitik.

“That concerns economic sovereignty, not land used for military bases, and it does not feature at all in the Danish account” of the agreement, Lippert said in a note. Several important questions remain unanswered, said Jacobsen, the professor at the Royal Danish Defence College, including where any new bases would be located, what capabilities and personnel they would host, and who would pay for them. Another question is what Greenland receives in return, beyond the evident removal of the threat of US annexation, he said. Greenland’s Prime Minister JensFrederik Nielsen, who has previously ruled out ceding sovereignty, said he was encouraged by the accord, which “recognizes Greenland’s interests and our place in the international cooperation.” “It is to the benefit of us all,” said the prime minister of the semi-autonomous territory that’s part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Denmark’s parliament is unlikely to oppose the deal, said Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher specialized in Greenland at the Danish Institute for International Studies. There’s a broad wish among Danish politicians to settle the issue “and get back to solving real problems” and also “to have the US back as an ally you can trust, in some form,” Gad told reporters on Saturday. A caveat is whether “a deal with Donald Trump is a deal at all,” he said. Since returning to office last year, Trump had repeatedly pressured Denmark, a Nato ally, to give up Greenland. Tensions escalated in January after he refused to rule out military action, prompting Denmark and other NATO allies to send troops to the island. While the deployment was publicly presented as an exercise, Copenhagen sent forces with live ammunition who were prepared to blow up airport runways to prevent US troops from landing if Trump attempted to seize Greenland by force, according to a report by DR. The confrontation began to ease after Trump held talks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. There, the two agreed on the contours of a framework agreement regarding Greenland. Senior officials from Denmark, Greenland and the US have since been holding talks in a working group set up to manage the dispute. Speaking to reporters in Copenhagen on Saturday following a meeting of Nato countries’ chiefs of defense, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone welcomed news of Friday’s deal, saying that from a military perspective the alliance is “taking great care” of the area, including with the Arctic Sentry exercise. It’s one of Nato’s top priorities, he said, “because we want to keep that area under control.” Trump’s interest in taking over Greenland dates back to his first term in the White House. He has warned that Russia and China desired a foothold there and that only the US could keep them out. But Danish and Greenlandic leaders have long ruled out the idea of giving up control of the island. “Next week could be a good week. For Greenland, Denmark and the United States alike,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in a post on Instagram after the deal was struck. “Hopefully, a long period of uncertainty will be replaced by a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and North Atlantic, and thereby our shared security in Nato and Europe—while respecting the Kingdom’s red lines.” With assistance from Chris Miller, Sara Sjolin, Christian Wienberg, Valentine Baldassari and Rebecca Smith /Bloomberg

HAVE followed the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte since the proceedings began. I have arranged my time around the Senate feed, convinced that something important was unfolding, something that would clarify where we stand as a nation that claims to govern itself through laws rather than loyalties.

Instead, I find myself more confused than when I started. The confusion began with arithmetic. When four amici curiae—legal friends of the court—were invited to enlighten us on the voting threshold required for conviction, I expected clarity. What I got was a split decision among the very people who once sat on the highest bench in the land. Three former Chief Justices—Artemio Panganiban, Hilario Davide Jr. and Reynato Puno—argued for what they called a “commonsensical” reading of the Constitution. The twothirds vote for conviction, they suggested, should be calculated based on participating senator-judges, not the full membership of the chamber. If senators are absent, detained, or otherwise disengaged, the mathematics should adjust accordingly.

Then came former Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna, a framer of the Constitution itself, who stood before the Senate and said: “All the Members of the Senate,” he reminded everyone, reading the constitutional text as written. Sixteen votes. Fixed. Immutable. Regardless of who shows up to work. I am not a lawyer. I am merely a citizen trying to understand the rules by which my country decides whether a Vice President stays or goes. And I find it unsettling that even the experts—the interpreters of our fundamental law—cannot agree on what a sentence means. If they are confused, or at least in genuine disagreement, what chance do the rest of us have? But Azcuna said something more important than fractions. He stated

that whether a senator-judge who missed or did not fully participate in the proceedings can still cast a final vote is an internal matter for the Senate to decide according to its own rules. But the deeper obligation—the duty to decide based on evidence rather than allegiance— that is non-negotiable. Simply put, the evidence alone must dictate the decision. This issue is particularly concerning because it contrasts rigorous constitutional debate within the Senate chambers against the overt partisanship displayed outside by the senator-judges themselves. Senator Robin Padilla stood before cameras on June 9, 2025, and declared with what I can only describe as theatrical bravado: “Kahit sunugin mo ako dito, mangangamoy Rodrigo Roa Duterte ako.” This was a declaration of allegiance, proud and absolute, broadcast to the nation he is sworn to judge fairly. The timing matters. Padilla made this declaration after confirming he had drafted Senate Resolution No. 1371, seeking to terminate the impeachment proceedings before they could properly proceed. Let that sink in: a senator-judge, sworn to impartiality, was actively working to end the trial while simultaneously proclaiming his unwavering loyalty to the family of the accused. Then there is Senator Pia Cayeta-

no and the spliced video she uploaded to social media—footage manipulated to support defense arguments about prosecutors seeking financial records. The House prosecution panel cried foul, and I understand why. How does a judge who disseminates edited material favorable to one side claim to be weighing evidence fairly? The ethics complaint against her hangs in the procedural air, likely to remain there, unanswered and unaddressed. These are not minor irregularities. These are public declarations of prejudice, performed for cameras and constituents, as if the concept of judicial impartiality were a quaint suggestion rather than a constitutional requirement. The Constitution makes the Senate the tribunal for impeachment trials so that high-ranking officials are judged by a body that balances political and legal judgment, rather than by ordinary courts. Senatorjudges are expected to be impartial and to vote solely on the evidence presented. Partisan politics and personal allegiance have no place here. My point is simple: only impartial senator-judges should be permitted to vote. Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza is the Chairman Emeritus of the Federation of Philippine Industries and concurrent Chairman of the Anti-Smuggling and AntiIllicit Trade Committee.

Pentagon blacklist lingers as irritant in Trump-Xi talks on AI By Kate O’Keeffe

HE US government’s increased reliance on a Pentagon blacklist to target China’s biggest companies threatens to cast a pall over President Donald Trump’s summit this week with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. The once-obscure roster of companies accused by the Defense Department of helping China’s military has morphed into one of the Trump administration’s most favored tools to pressure Beijing, ensnaring the crown jewels of China’s corporate world and emerging as a major irritant for Xi’s government. Mandated by Congress and known in Washington as 1260H, the list has rapidly expanded to feature nearly 200 companies, including some of China’s biggest brand names. The most recent version of the list added Chinese artificial intelligence champions Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Baidu Inc., as well as BYD Co., the world’s biggest producer of electric vehicles. Following the latest update in June, Chinese officials issued a sharp rebuke and retaliated with export and procurement restrictions targeting US businesses. Some of the highest-profile Chinese designees, such as Alibaba, have also sued the Pentagon seeking their removal from the list, which is increasingly being used to restrict companies including by limiting their ability to contract with the government and discouraging lobbyists from representing them. For now, the Trump administration hasn’t signaled any willingness to back down, with the 1260H list providing crucial leverage in the deepening competition between the world’s two largest economies over AI and other advanced technologies. Talks between Trump and Xi this week are set to include AI, with China expected to air its complaints that

Trillana. . .

continued from A10

for conviction may fall with it. The constitutional protection would shrink as well. His question is: Is this person still legally a senator—and, if so, must that senator remain counted in the deliberately high supermajority?

Second: What does Avelino v. Cuenco tell us?

AVELINO concerned Senate quorum, not an impeachment conviction threshold. None of the four treated it as an automatic answer. Davide saw possible guidance by analogy. Puno called it an imperfect precedent because it involved different language and circumstances. Panganiban placed it within a broad-

the US has sought to maintain its lead in the technology by targeting Chinese companies. Increased use of the Pentagon’s 1260H list has coincided with accusations by White House officials and national security agencies that China’s top AI developers including Alibaba have improperly extracted data from Silicon Valley firms including Anthropic PBC and OpenAI to build rival chatbots. China’s Foreign Ministry has rejected the US claims, and warned of reprisal if the Trump administration seeks to impose any sanctions. “I would not be surprised if Beijing raises 1260H around the summit, particularly because several prominent Chinese companies now on the list are also being discussed as part of Xi’s business delegation,” said Craig Singleton of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank. “But there is a big difference between China raising the issue and Washington being prepared to bargain away the list.” Chinese officials are considering inviting BYD executives to join Xi’s entourage in DC, while media including the South China Morning Post have reported that fellow blacklistees such as Zhongji Innolight Co. and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. may also form part of the delegation. The most recent 1260H update came shortly after the leaders’ last meeting in May, when Trump traveled to Beijing to sit down with Xi. That timing prompted criticism by Chinese state media. “If the US president’s first visit to China in nine years last month was intended to stabilize relations, the Pentagon’s latest move does the opposite,” read a June 14 editorial in the China Daily. Ahead of this week’s summit, senior officials from the US and China met in New York on Sunday for talks on arti-

ficial intelligence and trade that each side described in upbeat terms. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the two countries had agreed to create what he called a “US-China AI dialogue” meant to develop a common understanding of the technology’s risks and benefits. Some lobbyists are hoping the positive tone will carry through to the discussions in Washington, and potentially create a path for the Pentagon to remove those designations. “There’s a lot of people hoping the summit unlocks things,” said Aaron Cutler, who leads Hogan Lovells Cadwalader’s government relations practice. “The Chinese are pretty sophisticated and they’re probably looking at the polling. I think they’re going to come at the summit pretty hard,” said Cutler, who used to lobby for 1260H-listed companies until new restrictions that took effect June 30 effectively forced lobbyists to choose between working for designated firms or US defense contractors. John McEntee, who’s lobbying to help lift 1260H designations on Chinese tech champion Tencent Holdings Ltd. as well as optical transceiver maker Zhongji Innolight, said the Pentagon list and other rosters, such as the Federal Communications Commission’s “covered list” of technology products deemed national security threats, have touched off an “unproductive confrontation with China.” The designations “are an unnecessary point of tension in a relationship that the president has made great progress in restoring,” said McEntee, who was a senior White House official in Trump’s first term. “Trump’s appointees should update the lists to reflect their boss’s thinking.” Meanwhile, other 1260H-designated companies are fighting the Pentagon in

court. In the past few months, Alibaba, biotech champion WuXi AppTec, Hesai Group—the world’s largest maker of lidar sensors used in cars — and drone maker DJI have scored interim legal victories in lawsuits they filed in US federal courts seeking their removal from the 1260H list regarding issues such as evidentiary and procedural standards. The rulings have been closely watched and celebrated in Chinese state media, with the state-run Global Times on Aug. 17 touting an “exclusive” that DJI, whose legal name is SZ DJI Technology Co., had won a procedural victory in its lawsuit against the Pentagon. Still, advisers in Washington who track the issue caution recent court victories are just one step in what may be a long legal battle and that the final outcome is uncertain. Historically, few companies have successfully used litigation to get removed from the list, with courts typically deferring to the Pentagon’s national security concerns. As US courts increase scrutiny over the Pentagon’s list and whether it’s being used fairly, Congress is moving in the opposite direction. Since last year, lawmakers have introduced a total of 64 bills with “1260H” in their text, according to a search of public legislative data, including measures that called for deporting designated companies’ employees and barring investors from trading their stock. The list is even addressed in the House and Senate versions of the annual must-pass defense authorization bill. Provisions under review include identifying the many types of government “assistance” that would qualify an entity for a 1260H designation and setting the Chinese government ownership threshold for designating a company at a single publicly-traded share. With assistance from

er line of jurisprudence. Azcuna drew the sharpest distinction: Avelino dealt with quorum, while impeachment expressly requires two-thirds of “all the Members.” Put simply: Avelino may help the Senate think. It does not do the Senate’s thinking for it.

should vote. Puno distinguishes absence from inability to judge. Personal attendance at every hearing is not indispensable if the senator can fairly decide from transcripts, recordings, exhibits, and the record. Azcuna makes perhaps the cleanest separation: Who counts and who may vote are different questions. A senator may remain a legal member—and therefore remain in the denominator—while separately deciding whether the record has been studied sufficiently to cast a responsible vote. More than five centuries ago in Florence, Michelangelo faced the block of marble from which emerged the magnificent sculpture of David. Constitutional interpretation is not sculpture. An interpreter cannot carve whatever

figure imagination prefers. The constitutional text remains both material and boundary. But fine interpretation, like fine carving, depends upon seeing where one line ends and another begins. On September 16, four distinguished jurists examined the same constitutional marble. Their different cuts revealed more clearly the constitutional questions within it. On September 23 or thereafter, the Senate must decide which lines the Constitution itself will bear. Only then can it answer the arithmetic. First it must answer: Who counts?

Third: Who may validly vote?

DAVIDE distinguishes complete nonparticipation from imperfect participation. Failure to ask questions does not itself prove nonparticipation; a senator-judge may listen and reflect without constantly intervening. But never participating presents a different problem. Panganiban stresses truth and fairness. If a senator has not put himself in a position to know the evidence and make a fair judgment, he questions whether that senator

Nectar Gan and Alan Wong /Bloomberg

Dr. Pablo Trillana III is a lawyer, author, former Chairman of the National Historical Institute (now the National Historical Commission of the Philippines), and a lifelong student of Philippine history and Rizal studies.

Sports BusinessMirror

A12 Wednesday, September 23, 2026

20TH ASIAN GAMES AICHI-NAGOYA 2026

MEDAL TALLY R

Country

People’s Republic of China

Japan

Republic of Korea

Kazakhstan

Thailand

Hong Kong, China

Tajikistan

India

Uzbekistan

Chinese Taipei

Islimic Republic of Iran

Singapore

Macao, China

Jordan

Myanmar

Malaysia

Vietnam

Kuwait

Bahrain

Indonesia

Philippines

Iraq

Lebanon

Hopes in check for Yulo and Co. in team final

AGOYA—Head coach Aldrin Castañeda advised on managing expectations when Carlos Yulo and company vie in the men’s team competition of artistic gymnastics in the Aichi-Nagoya 20th Asian Games on Wednesday at the Nagoya City General Gymnasium. “We must manage our expectations in the team event,” Castañeda told the BusinessMirror. “China and Japan are strong in this event, but we’ll definitely give them a good fight.” Levi Ruivivar, Haylee Garcia, Lauren Supnet and Kylee Kvamme, meanwhile, garnered 144.563 points from Tuesday’s women’s competition to make the team final with Japan (166.363), China (165.697) and North Korea (159.595) dominating the field. “Carlos will play in four apparatus only— rings, parallel bars, vault and floor exercise,” said Castañeda, adding that the team final will warm the double Olympic champion’s heels for the individual apparatus events. “Carlos and Eldrew [Yulo’s younger brother] will surely go the gold medals there [individual],” he added. The Yulo brothers will be in the floor exercise final Thursday with Carlos competing in the parallel bars with Miguel Besana on Friday and on Saturday, the brothers will see action in the horizontal bar. “We seeing at least two gold medals in floor exercise and vault and one bonus medal in parallel bars,” Castañeda said. Yulo emerged as the top qualifier in the floor exercise and salvaged a shot at the gold medal in vault where he made an ugly dismount in his first attempt to find himself at No. 7 behind fourth-placed Besana. He was sixth with 14.266 points in the parallel bars for a third chance at a medal of any color that would be the first-ever for the Philippines in Asian Games gymnastics. “That was unacceptable,” said Yulo of his performance in vault—one of his two pet events, the other being the floor exercise, that gave him golds in the Paris 2024 Olympics and the world championships. Jun Lomibao

SILVER DELIVERED, PHL SEEKS MORE By Jun Lomibao

AGOYA—Jean Claude “The Dynamite” Saclag yielded

to a monster grappler from Tajikistan and Kayla Sanchez touched the pad less than a tad short of a podium finish as the gold medal eluded the Philippines in the AichiNagoya 20th Asian Games on Tuesday. Thus, the Philippines had to settle for Saclag’s silver medal and a historic bronze from the women’s kata team in karate on the third day of competitions that saw China breaking away from the field with 31 gold medals. Paris Olympics bronze medalist Aira Villegas also fell by the wayside in women’s 51 kgs of boxing after losing to Sakshi Chaudhary, a twotime world youth championships champion who was not only taller with a longer reach but also heftier. “It felt like three men were grappling me very tightly from the back,” said Saclag, who had to settle for silver following a 0-3 loss to Otabek Rajabov in the final of the men’s -65 kgs class of mixed martial arts that is making its debut in the Asian Games. Saclag actually started strong after flooring Rajabov with a solid punch to the chin early in the first round, but in MMA, a strike counts less that a superior ground strength that the Tajik had aplenty.

JEAN CLAUDE SACLAG flashes a smile following an emotional loss in the title match. POC MEDIA POOL

If it were a consolation, Rajabov admitted to Saclag at the end of the bout that he got rocked by the Filipino’s punches. “You hit me hard,” the Tajik whispered to the Filipino before celebrating with his country’s flag around the mat. Moments after Saclag fell short of winning a first gold, Sanchez just couldn’t match the tremendous speed her rivals displayed at the Tokyo Aquatics Center. Sanchez finished a mere 18-tenths of a second behind bronze winner Yujie Cheng of China in the women’s 100 meters freestyle event won by Hong Kong-China’s Siobhan Haughey (52.45) with the illustrious Chinese, Yu Yiting, settling for silver (53.21). The Olympian Sanchez was disappointed of her performance that she skipped the mandatory Mixed Zone interview. “Kayla put it all on the table. She went for it. And she had a really very solid performance,” Sanchez’s Canadian coach Derrick Schoof told POC Media Pool. “It was a tough, we knew it was expected to be a tough battle between the two Chinese girls and she just came out on the wrong side of the touch.” The silver was the second for Saclag in the Asian Games after his second-

Late Aldegeur penalty lifts Philippines past Kuwait

AGOYA—The under-23 men’s national football team beat Kuwait, 2-1, at the CS Asset Minato Soccer Stadium on Tuesday for the country’s first men’s football victory in the Asian Games since the Tokyo 1958 edition. The match was deadlocked until stoppage time when substitute midfielder Jax Peña was fouled inside the box by Saleh Almehtab in the 90th minute for a penalty. Forward Andres Aldeguer calmly converted from the spot in the 92nd minute to seal the historic which was reminiscent of his great grandfather George Aldeguer’s winning goal against Japan in 1958. Philippine Football Federation president John Anthony Gutierrez hailed the historic victory as a defining moment for the federation’s investment in its youth pipeline. “This is exactly why the Federation has poured so much into empowering our youth teams,” Gutierrez said. “This Asian Games squad didn’t just work to put Philippine men’s football back on this stage after nearly seven

decades, it worked to plant a winning mentality on Asia’s grandest stage, one that we know will spill over to the next generation of players coming up through our program,” he added. Head coach Garrath McPherson’s wards drew first blood in the 19th minute on forward Santi Rublico’s conversion in front of the goal off a chest receive from Michael Baldisimo’s right-wing cross. But Kuwait leveled in the 66th minute after defender Scott Woods inadvertently turned a right-wing cross from Jasem Alenezi into his own net. The Philippines created several dangerous chances with defender Christian Rontini twice testing goalkeeper Abdulredha Shehab with headers off long throws from Antoine Ortega in the first half, John Lucero’s inswinging corner kick striking the woodwork in the 62nd minute and two dangerous shots from Peña near the

end of the Group C match. Goalkeeper Nic Guimaraes and the defense of Rosquillo, Rontini, Ortega and Woods withstood Kuwaiti attempts, including efforts from Bander Almutairi, Talal Alqaisi, Omar Almatar and Montaser Al-Abdulsalam. “I feel very happy for the players, the staff and the supporters both here in Japan and at their homes across the globe,” Mcpherson said. “I feel honored to be in a position to work with the players and staff we have in the U23 program, we continue to grow and learn together.” Jun Lomibao

ANDRES ALDEGUER delivers for the Philippine football team. POC MEDIA POOL

previous TLPGA-LPGT co-sanctioned stops in other Taiwan cities, the LPGT delegation sees an opportunity to make an early impact and perhaps produce another overseas victory. Leading the Philippine charge is two-leg LPGT winner Yvon Bisera, who starts with Taiwan standouts Ling Jie Chen and Chieh Ning Hung on No. 10. Bisera, who captured the Thailand Ladies Masters last year for her first international title, believes the course’s combination of narrow fairways, uneven lies and undulating greens will reward precision more than power. “It’s so hot, just like in the Philippines,” said Bisera, who

place finish in wushu’s sanda at the 2014 edition in Incheon. Rebecca Cyril Torres, Samantha Veguillas and Ysabelle Arrogante beat Thailand’s Ramitar Terananon, Monsicha Sakulrattanatara and Phatcharin Plangplai, 4-1, for a first-ever medal in team kata event in the Asian Games for a 0-1-3 gold-silver-bronze tally for the Philippines—soft tennis contributed the first bronze last Sunday. The under-23 team beat Kuwait, 2-1, also for the country’s first men’s football victory in the Asian Games

REBECCA CYRIL TORRES, Samantha Veguillas and Ysabelle Arrogante make their mark in the Asiad. POC MEDIA POOL

Torres, Veguillas, Arrogante break through with bronze in team kata

AGOYA—Rebecca Cyril Torres, Samantha Veguillas and Ysabelle Arrogante delivered a historic milestone at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games after they clinched a bronze medal in women’s team kata on Tuesday at the Aichi-Nagoya 20th Asian Games at the Toyohashi Gymnasium. They beat Southeast Asian rival Thailand’s Ramitar Terananon, Monsicha Sakulrattanatara and Phatcharin Plangplai, 4-1, for the Philippines’s first-ever medal in team kata event in the Asian Games. On Sunday, Princess Catindig, Noelle Mañalac and Christy Sanosa bagged bronze in soft tennis not only capturing the Philippines’s first medal in these games but also securing the sport’s first medal in the quadrennial multi-sport competition. The Filipina karatekas set the tone early with a flawless 5-0 sweep of Cambodia’s Sreynuch Puthea, Oun Sreyda and That Chhenghorng, but went down to a 0-5 loss to powerhouse Iran in the semifinals. “We dared not think which team we were up against,” Arrogante said. “What was important was we got the medal.” The emotional triumph was the culmination of years of quiet sacrifice. “It has been a long journey. The team

ICTSI PR Communication Services and Production Head Bambi Marfil hits the ceremonial drive during Tuesday’s pro-am tournament. PILIPINAS GOLF played the course for the second time during Tuesday’s pro-am. “The course has a combination of hilly and flat features. Uneven lies, but the trickiest part is really the greens.”

since the Tokyo 1958 edition with forward Andres Aldeguer converting the clincher that was reminiscent of his great grandfather George Aldeguer’s winning goal against Japan in 1958. The Gilas Pilipinas Women 3x3 squad also made its presence felt on Tuesday by going 2-0 won-lost following victories over powerhouse Mongolia, 17-12, and Macau, 21-4. Double Olmpic champion Carlos Yulo and brother Karl Eldrew, on the other hand, lead the charge in the men’s team final of gymnastics on Wednesday.

has been through so much,” an emotional Torres said. “We suffered losses after losses over the years, but we kept on performing, fighting to the end.” Adding fuel to their fire was the news they received just a day prior that the Philippines officially qualified for the Karate World Cup this November in Hangzhou. “We were inspired by that development and that rubbed off here [team kata],” Arrogante said. Head Coach Sonny Montalvo commended his athletes for their immense dedication, highlighting how the girls temporarily left their families and put their university studies on hold just to train. The trio also credited their success to the unwavering support of their coaches and officials, specifically former Karate Pilipinas president the late Pocholo Veguillas, father of current president Richard Lim, also Team Philippines chef de mission in these games. Karate has contributed consecutive bronze medals in the Asian Games starting with Junna Tsukii in Jakarta 2018 and Sakura Alforte in Hangzhou 2023. Alforte, an individual kata specialist, missed this year’s Asiad due to a new ruling requiring all squad members to compete in the team event.

Jun Lomibao

Gilas Women on a roll in 3x3

LPGT stars brace for tough test as Kenda Open gets underway HE Ladies Philippine Golf Tour’s top guns look to take center stage at Taichung International Golf Club as the Kenda Tires TLPGA Open gets underway on Wednesday, facing a strong cast of Taiwan LPGA Tour stars. The 54-hole championship offering a prize pot of NT$4 million (around P7.9 million) marks another significant step in the LPGT’s growing presence on the international circuit, this being a co-sanctioned tournament with TLPGA, with 20 LPGT players set to challenge the hosts and other foreign contenders at the Taichung International Golf Club. With the tournament moving to Taichung for the first time after

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | Editor: Jun Lomibao

AMYAH ESPAÑOL gets a clear path to the basket. POC MEDIA POOL

AGOYA—The Gilas Pilipinas Women’s 3x3, like their male counterparts, are on a roll in the Aichi-Nagoya 20th Asian Games with a stunning victory over powerhouse Mongolia, 17-12, and an easy one against Macau, 21-4, at the Kinjo Futo Station Square Venue on Tuesday. Kacey Dela Rosa bucked an ankle injury to lead the Philippines past the higher-ranked Mongolians as the nationals carried the momentum against Macau to sweep their opening assignments in Group C. The 2-0 start assured Gilas Women of a place in the play-ins while keeping its sights on the group’s top seed, which comes with a direct berth in the quarterfinals. The men’s team also stunned Mongolia, 19-12, and lower-ranked Sri Lanka, 21-12, on Monday to make up for the Gilas Men’s disappointing performance that cost them the gold medal in these games. The women’s 5x5 squad, on the other hand, suffered a 67-89 beating at the hands of host Japan for their first loss after beating Kazakhstanm, 86-58, and Hong Kong-China, 90-73, in Group A action. Dela Rosa sprained her right ankle just two

minutes into the game but still dominated inside to finish with 10 points and three rebounds. “It [injury] is not an excuse to stop fighting,” Dela Rosa, 22, told One Sports. “I came back and we got the win.” “I saw my team and the opponents were up already, that’s where I got my rhythm…they need me inside,” said the Ateneo standout who was part of the gold medal-winning 3x3 team in the Bangkok2025 Southeast Asian Games. With Dela Rosa controlling the paint, the nationals erased an 8-5 deficit and unleashed a 10-3 run to move ahead, 15-11, with 1:03 left before holding off the Mongolians the rest of the way. Kennan Ka added three points, while Amyah Espanol and Victoria Pasilang contributed two apiece to secure the victory for coach Anton Altamirano’s squad. “Mongolia is one of the top teams in the world...and the first game’s always the hardest, but we were able to really manage good possessions, especially when Kacey was down,” said Altamirano, who also praised Dela Rosa for battling through the injury. “We made really good stops to get the victory.” Jun Lomibao

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Companies BusinessMirror

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Exec: Aboitiz unit scaling up PHL rooftop solar business S

OLVIVA Energy, a residential solar startup backed by Aboitiz Power Corp., is expanding its reach due to rising rooftop solar demand and new, simplified government installation rules. It said Tuesday that customer inquiries for Solviva’s residential solar packages surged by 272 percent from March to August 2026 compared to the same period in 2025.

After installation, customers showed higher overall electricity use. Solviva Energy CEO Coby Cobankiat said this will improve quality of life and productivity in a country with one of Southeast Asia’s lowest per capita power consumption rates. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve been in a testing phase. Now the goal is to expand in the smartest way that we can. We intend to be available in more cities and offer

more products for more households.” The company will expand its market within and beyond the Greater Manila area, possibly in Cebu and Davao. “What changed this year was the conflict in the Middle East, which has disrupted shipping routes and global energy markets, causing price volatility. That has been the tipping point for us. Instead of us trying to force demand for rooftop solar, they’re

coming to us,” Cobankiat added. Moreover, he said the Department of Energy’s Department Circular (DC) 2026-08-0017 accelerated adoption by easing installation rules for homes, medical facilities, and small businesses. “In general, the current environment is geared towards setting the type of policies that can accelerate adoption even further.” To lower the barrier to entry, Solviva offers a zero-down payment

option instead of requiring upfront lump-sum costs. Solviva is under 1882 Energy Ventures, the startup and innovation arm of AboitizPower, serving as a direct-to-consumer bridge for clean energy solutions since 2023. Last July, AboitizPower said its net income jumped by 45 percent to P18.4 billion in the first half due to higher generation margins and capacity expansion.

While earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) for generation and retail supply rose 29 percent, distribution business EBITDA declined 3 percent due to higher expansion expenses. AboitizPower said its overall financial performance was buoyed by increased energy sales and contributions from new solar and hydro assets. Lenie Lectura

RETAIL INVESTORS USING MYNT TRADING PLATFORM HIT 2M By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

CASH’S in-app stock trading platform GStocks now ser ves more than 2 million users, accounting for the majority of all online retail stock market accounts with the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). The platform, which operates through broker AB Capital Securities Inc., is available through GInvest, the investment hub of the finance super app. GInvest also offers other services such as GFunds and GBonds. GStocks’ user base makes up a large share of the 3.22 million online retail accounts recorded by the PSE in 2025. According to the PSE’s 2025 Stock Market Investor Profile report, total stock market accounts rose 27.3 percent to 3.64 million last year from 2.86 million in 2024. Retail investors held 99.2 percent, or 3.61 million, of these accounts. Of the retail accounts, 3.22 million were held online through digital trading platforms and e-wallets. On-

line retail accounts grew 30.5 percent year-on-year. GCash said its paperless registration and streamlined onboarding allow Filipinos to invest directly through the app, bringing more retail investors into the local capital markets. “By improving digital access to investing, an area that was once traditionally reser ved for the privileged few, we are helping create pathways for more Filipinos to build a more secure financial future,” said Winsley Bangit, group head of New Businesses at Mynt Inc., the parent company of GCash. Alongside market research and beginner-friendly guida nce w it h i n G Sto c k s PH , G C a sh h a s l au nc hed Pera Coach, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool that gives users on-demand access to educational tips and investment information. “Beyond making access to investing more convenient, we’re doubling down on our financial literacy efforts to help Filipinos better understand and use the tools we provide,” Bangit said.

OBESITY SHOT

Roche Holding AG’s experimental obesity shot enicepatide cut both blood sugar and body weight in type-2 diabetes patients who were overweight or obese in a mid-stage trial. Patients receiving the highest 24-milligram dose had a 2.65 percent reduction in HbA1c — a measure of blood sugar — and lost an average 15.5 percent of their body weight after 48 weeks with no plateau observed, Roche said in a statement Tuesday. The data “look competitive” against results for rival drugs in Phase 3 trials, Goldman Sachs analyst James Quigley and colleagues said. They cautioned, however, that they need to see detailed placebo-adjusted data and the results replicated in Phase 3 trials to confirm the benefit. Roche shares edged down 0.6 percent in early Zurich trading. The Swiss drugmaker is seeking to compete with Eli Lilly & Co and Novo Nordisk A/S with a once-weekly shot that works similarly to Lilly’s Zepbound — by simultaneously activating the GLP-1 and GIP hormones involved in regulating metabolism. The global market for weight-loss drugs is estimated to reach as much as $150 billion. Photo shows the Roche Holding AG offices in Madrid, Spain. PHOTOGRAPHER: EMILIO PARRA DOIZTUA/BLOOMBERG

Govt agencies finalize rules CBTL reaches new milestone as it opens on auction of coal contracts 130th store in Kuwait

HE Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL), the coffee chain 80 percent owned by listed Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC), has opened its 130th café in Kuwait, expanding a network that its local partner built from a single outlet over two decades. CBTL and its Kuwaiti franchise partner, Al-Ghunaim Trading Co., announced the milestone on Tuesday, noting that the café count was reached in a market of about five million people. The Kuwait business now employs more than 1,135 people across its cafés, operations and support functions. Al-Ghunaim Trading opened its first CBTL café in Salmiya on December 16, 2004. Over more than 20 years, the partner has grown the brand into one of Kuwait’s leading premium café chains, steering it through rapid expansion, changing consumer preferences, the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing regional uncertainty, according to the companies. “Reaching this milestone is a meaningful achievement for AlGhunaim Trading Co., but more importantly, it represents the trust our

customers have placed in us and the dedication of the people who have built this business over more than two decades,” said Mishary Al-Ghunaim, CEO of Al-Ghunaim Trading. “We look forward to building on this strong foundation and continuing to serve our customers and communities across Kuwait.” CBTL CEO Ken Lingan said the relationship “reflects a shared commitment to our customers, the brand and sustainable growth.” “We are proud to celebrate this milestone and look forward to continuing our journey together,” Lingan said. The two companies said they will focus on strengthening CBTL’s standing as one of Kuwait’s leading café brands, measuring success by the strength of the network, customer preference and overall brand equity. They said continued investment in innovation, people and operational excellence will support the next phase of growth. CBTL is among JFC’s key holdings, managing a portfolio of 19 brands with more than 10,000 stores and cafés across 33 countries. Lorenz S. Marasigan

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

HE Department of Energy (DOE) said it will issue a new circular this week, prompting a new coal bid round. The previous bidding for coal mining areas has been canceled to implement a new bidding process under updated rules, following the conclusion of the second public consultation. “We are wrapping up the circular this week…. We will start finalizing the draft now, for issuance of DOE and DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources],” said Garin. The DOE recently terminated the 2026 coal bid round to reassess the parameters of awarding coal operating contracts so that the next round can be conducted under this new set of rules “We have new rules now, joint memorandum circular together with the DENR on how we treat these mature projects already. Now, those that have been developed, the contracts that have expired, what are we going to do here?

We’re not going to treat it the same way as we treat new projects because the risk is different. With that, that’s why we had to cancel the previous announcement of the bidding of this coal mining areas,” Garin said. The terminated coal bid round covered three pre-determined areas in Antique, Cagayan, and Isabela, offered for development and production coal operating contracts (DP COCs) under the Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program (PCEP) was met with heavy resistance stemming from legal, technical, financial concerns. “The concerns raised by stakeholders during the pre-submission conferences, developments affecting Semirara Island—one of the offered areas--including continuing water seepage, and certain legal considerations warrant a reassessment of

the evaluation criteria applicable to the award of DP COCs for the offered areas,” the DOE advisory dated September 15 stated. Garin said these coal reserves are state-owned. Therefore, it is the government’s prerogative to reassess or terminate a bidding process if the existing parameters are insufficient. She said the agency also took into consideration the concerns raised by the stakeholders, as well as recent developments on Semirara Island that could impact the country’s coal reserves. “Semirara is our largest coal mine; it supplies power and fuel to the country. We want to ensure that the exploration, utilization, and mining of coal in Semirara are maximized or optimized. At the same time, extraction is not the only priority; we also need to optimize how the coal is utilized here in the Philippines,” Garin said. Consunji-led Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) currently holds coal operating contract (COC) no. 5, which is among the coal blocks on Semirara Island that will be auctioned. The COC is valid until July 14, 2027. SMPC is the country’s largest coal producer, accounting for more than 90 percent of domestic coal production.

Smart rolls out premium AI tools for subscribers

MART Communications Inc. subscribers can now use premium artificial intelligence (AI) tools for as little as P49 a week, paid through their mobile accounts instead of a credit card, after Smart Communications Inc. launched AI.Smart with Avtica.ai and Amazon Web Services (AWS). AI.Smart, powered by Avtica, is an AI workspace that runs on AWS and draws on multiple AI models through Amazon Bedrock. Subscribers can ask questions about their own files and get cited answers, draft and summarize documents, build spreadsheets, create presentations and images, and analyze data in English, Filipino, or Taglish. Lloyd Manaloto, FVP and head of Strategy and Corporate Brand at Smart, said in a press briefing that the company saw a gap between subscribers who pay for premium AI and those who rely on free versions. “A few days before that, we were actually looking at some stats, and we kind of noticed there were already millions of AI users in our network. But when we asked, most of them were using the free model. In other words, they’re not maximizing,” Manaloto said. “We realized there is now a gap between those who can pay for premium services and those who just use free.”

Companies BusinessMirror

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

September 22, 2026

Net Foreign Stocks Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Buy (Sell) FINANCIALS

ASIA UNITED BDO UNIBANK BANK COMMERCE BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK CITYSTATE BANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PB BANK PBCOM PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK COL FINANCIAL FIRST ABACUS FERRONOUX HLDG LMG CORP MEDCO HLDG MANULIFE NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH VANTAGE

48.2 112 10.24 98.8 51.9 13.02 10.14 62.1 6.91 14.76 78 50.6 21.5 62.3 21.65 1.46 0.495 3.81 0.325 0.1 2,652 1.31 208 1.37

48.4 112.5 10.44 98.9 52 13.8 10.16 62.15 6.99 14.78 78.3 51.8 23.05 62.35 21.7 1.49 0.51 4.08 0.385 0.117 2,700 1.33 210 1.39

48.45 113.5 10.26 99.8 52 13 10.16 62 6.91 14.76 77 50.9 21.5 62 21.7 1.45 0.5 3.84 0.37 0.098 2,700 1.34 210 1.43

48.45 114.9 10.3 101.4 52 13.02 10.18 62.5 6.91 14.76 78.5 51.8 23 62.5 21.75 1.47 0.5 3.84 0.385 0.105 2,700 1.34 211 1.44

48.2 112 10.18 98.7 51.05 13 10.14 61.8 6.91 14.76 76.95 50.9 21.5 62 21.5 1.41 0.495 3.81 0.37 0.098 2,652 1.31 208 1.36

48.2 112 10.3 98.9 52 13.02 10.16 62.1 6.91 14.76 78 51.8 23 62.3 21.7 1.47 0.495 3.81 0.385 0.105 2,652 1.31 208 1.39

7,200 2,636,360 38,200 1,222,500 57,440 400 357,500 3,789,630 100 5,000 996,140 300 11,000 268,340 44,600 709,000 10,000 45,000 30,000 470,000 140 959,000 18,470 1,634,000

348,075 297,277,813 391,946 121,281,362 2,974,809 5,202 3,630,682 235,640,758 691 73,800 77,558,359 15,342 252,250 16,718,757 967,880 1,028,330 4,955 171,540 11,300 46,130 371,520 1,265,880 3,878,690 2,262,890

-122,968,568 -64,105,589 -1,726,163 72,940 -1,063,044 691 34,470,505 -184,000 -4,532,331 -39,070 -128,520 358,020 408,720 184,930 -107,820

INDUSTRIAL ACEN CORP 2.7 2.76 2.81 2.84 2.7 2.7 5,166,000 14,234,840 -1,843,700 ALSONS CONS 1.33 1.35 1.36 1.39 1.32 1.35 2,739,000 3,678,390 364,900 0.69 0.7 0.69 0.7 345,000 239,990 123,100 ALTERNERGY HLDG 0.7 0.7 ABOITIZ POWER 45.25 45.3 45.25 45.7 45.1 45.25 1,732,400 78,558,095 -12,640,450 1.07 1.07 1.07 1.09 26,000 27,940 RASLAG 1.09 1.09 BASIC ENERGY 0.105 0.107 0.107 0.108 0.104 0.107 6,810,000 717,110 CITICORE RE 4.85 4.9 4.85 4.85 4.85 4.85 14,000 67,900 -4,850 20.75 20.8 22.35 22.35 20.8 20.8 567,500 12,066,755 -2,609,435 FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG 90.5 90.65 90.7 94.7 90.5 90.5 81,950 7,438,521 -3,290,007 470 473 474 466 470 132,560 62,325,162 -26,305,596 MERALCO 470.2 34 34.1 34.05 34.25 33.9 34 428,400 14,567,725 1,734,400 MANILA WATER MAYNILAD 16.98 16.94 16.78 17 16.76 16.94 1,506,600 25,500,798 -1,152,752 2.26 2.3 2.3 2.26 2.28 555,000 1,263,530 63,820 PETRON 2.28 PETROENERGY 5.25 5.05 5.09 5.25 4.9 5.05 413,800 2,054,640 -109,780 PRYCE CORP 15.6 15.82 15.8 15.8 15.6 15.8 2,300 36,254 9.55 9.65 9.65 9.69 1,100 10,619 9.69 9.69 REPOWER ENERGY SEMIRARA MINING 16.22 16.24 16.74 17.08 16.22 16.22 2,474,300 40,695,200 -11,001,952 21.35 21.55 21.35 21.95 21.3 21.35 1,424,500 30,670,685 709,700 SYNERGY GRID SHELL PILIPINAS 8.17 8.2 8.29 8.35 8.15 8.2 3,104,600 25,351,554 -344,198 SPC POWER 9.05 9.1 9.29 9.3 9.02 9.1 109,700 1,008,930 464,568 1.17 1.19 1.18 1.19 1.16 1.19 5,161,000 6,067,230 -137,970 SP NEW ENERGY TOP LINE 1.67 1.67 1.66 1.67 1.66 1.67 144,000 239,730 18.6 20.4 20.6 20.6 20.4 800 16,415 -2,040 20.35 VIVANT AXELUM 2.81 2.81 2.77 2.8 2.8 2.81 151,000 424,080 BALAI FRUITAS 0.27 0.295 0.29 0.295 0.29 0.295 60,000 17,450 -14,500 32.6 32.9 32.8 32.95 32.4 32.9 518,100 16,942,270 -5,647,105 CENTURY FOOD DEL MONTE 3.57 3.7 3.8 3.8 3.8 3.8 1,000 3,800 3.38 3.39 3.39 3.4 3.37 3.38 515,000 1,740,690 -104,800 DNL INDUS 15.28 15.3 15.62 15.26 15.3 128,600 1,968,218 -603,242 EMPERADOR 15.62 SMC FOODANDBEV 43 43.5 42.6 43.2 42.5 43 143,200 6,129,470 -4,305,405 0.63 0.64 0.63 0.64 3,697,000 2,332,750 -146,900 FIGARO GROUP 0.64 0.64 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.4 0.435 0.395 0.445 0.38 0.435 2,970,000 1,249,500 -4,050 0.65 0.66 0.64 0.64 0.64 0.64 28,000 17,920 FRUITAS HLDG GINEBRA 212 207 215 207 214.4 15,460 3,275,498 1,136,062 214.4 142.5 JOLLIBEE 142.7 144 144 145 144 355,270 51,014,362 -25,924,416 1.82 1.86 1.87 1.87 1.82 1.86 138,000 253,660 -57,450 KEEPERS HLDG MAXS GROUP 2.06 2.06 2.03 2.03 2.03 2.06 22,000 44,970 -2,060 0.07 0.073 0.07 0.07 0.07 0.07 20,000 1,400 MG HLDG MONDE NISSIN 6.15 6.16 6.08 6.26 6.05 6.16 2,678,500 16,519,475 -3,518,840 SHAKEYS PIZZA 5.14 5.48 5.14 5.14 5.14 5.14 1,100 5,654 3 3.09 3.04 3.15 3 3 185,000 571,070 18,840 ROXAS AND CO RFM CORP 5.15 5.18 5.16 5.2 5.13 5.18 461,000 2,379,810 -127,735 SWIFT FOODS 0.053 0.052 0.052 0.052 0.052 0.052 160,000 8,320 58.1 58.15 57.6 58.45 57.6 58.15 774,600 45,034,105 -11,512,869 UNIV ROBINA ATN HLDG A 0.38 0.395 0.39 0.39 0.38 0.38 1,160,000 443,300 0.38 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.385 0.385 200,000 77,500 ATN HLDG B CONCRETE 58.95 52.55 52.5 59 52.5 58.95 170 9,700 CONCREAT HLDG 1.21 1.22 1.22 1.27 1.2 1.21 2,080,000 2,513,400 174,930 1.95 1.99 1.98 2 1.95 1.99 49,000 96,000 23,400 EEI CORP MEGAWIDE 12,772,910 5.3 5.4 5.4 5.42 5.29 5.4 2,368,100 -196,727 27.1 28.8 25 29.45 22 29 5,000 129,175 SUPERCITY CROWN ASIA 1.88 1.9 1.88 1.92 1.88 1.92 7,000 13,360 EUROMED 1.23 1.21 1.24 1.24 1.14 1.23 60,000 69,030 10,300 5.1 5.25 5.25 5.25 500 2,625 MABUHAY VINYL 5.25 5.25 CONCEPCION 10.66 10.66 10.52 10.66 10.52 10.66 5,300 55,980 0.148 0.153 0.153 0.153 20,000 3,060 0.152 0.153 GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR 7.78 7.8 7.9 8.08 7.78 7.8 2,025,600 16,082,648 -6,237,543 IONICS 31,004,710 3.7 3.71 3.42 3.7 3.42 3.7 8,577,000 1,038,160 7.19 7.2 7.2 7.25 3,100 22,390 PANASONIC 7.25 7.25 CIRTEK HLDG 1.38 1.4 1.38 1.46 1.38 1.39 3,241,000 4,574,470 259,970

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BlackRock said to buy into GCash owner share sale

LACKROCK, Capital Group and Schroders are among investors poised to buy into the initial public offering of the company behind the Philippines’ top mobile wallet, GCash, which is telling investors it’s on track to price the deal below the maximum, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mynt Inc. is set to raise about 60 billion pesos ($957 million), selling 9.23 billion shares at about 6.50 pesos apiece, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. That’s below the 10 pesos maximum that the company announced when it filed for the IPO in June. International Finance Corp.,

part of the World Bank Group, is also among the 20 cornerstone investors set to take up around 70 percent of the deal, they said. Even at the dialed-back price, the IPO is set to be the biggest ever in the Philippines, where the stock market has grappled with low trading volumes, a spate of delistings

and a lack of investor confidence. The offering is on track to surpass that of noodle maker Monde Nissin Corp., which raised about 55.9 billion pesos in 2021, the country’s biggest to date. Representatives for Mynt and Capital Group declined to comment. BlackRock, Schroders and IFC didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The Philippine Stock Exchange last week approved Mynt’s offer, which includes 1.61 billion primary shares, 6.42 billion secondary securities and overallotment option of up to 1.2 billion secondary shares. The IPO could help revive investor interest in the Southeast Asian nation, bringing to the market a household name with more than 90 million registered users, about three quarters of the population. It will be the first listing this year in the Philippines.

Once one of the fastest-growing economies in the region, the Philippines is now among its weakest, weighed down by the impact of the Iran war and a domestic corruption scandal. The GCash app, which began as Globe Telecom Inc.’s text-based money transfer service in 2004, has expanded into credit, investment and savings services from payments, becoming ubiquitous since the Covid pandemic. Mynt IPO’s final price will be set on October 1, with the offer period scheduled for October 6 to 12. Listing on the PSE is expected on October 20. Apart from Globe, Mynt’s key shareholders include Ayala Corp., Ant International and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. The GCash operator plans to use the proceeds from the share sale to expand digital financial services, product development and general corporate purposes. Bloomberg News

HOLDING & FRIMS

ABACORE CAPITAL 0.325 0.33 0.33 0.335 0.325 0.33 3,830,000 1,250,850 235,300 ASIABEST GROUP 63.5 63.5 63 61.65 61.5 63 528,330 33,201,824 6,846,194 489.8 490 540 540 487.6 490 2,051,590 1,035,486,690 -366,931,698 AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY 37 37.15 37.2 37.6 37 37 1,734,800 64,455,410 9,722,220 8.89 8.9 8.9 9 8.79 8.9 592,400 5,231,456 -3,915,622 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 16.44 16.96 16.96 16.42 16.78 5,300 87,728 ANSCOR 16.84 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 1.6 1.62 1.53 1.67 1.53 1.6 8,878,000 14,374,280 80,350 7.51 7.52 7.57 7.57 7.5 7.52 424,900 3,194,337 -1,023,211 COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG 7.68 7.69 7.86 8.09 7.63 7.69 3,104,800 24,013,315 -11,279,093 3.82 3.99 4.07 4.07 4.03 4.03 4,000 16,240 -4,030 FILINVEST DEV 415 420 440 440 415 415 88,440 37,142,366 -15,736,442 GT CAPITAL JG SUMMIT 18.9 18.92 19.04 19.22 18.9 18.9 1,049,400 19,875,936 -8,552,428 0.47 0.49 0.53 0.47 0.49 5,898,000 2,983,585 38,900 LODESTAR 0.54 LOPEZ HLDG 5.41 5.55 5.4 5.43 5.4 5.41 346,400 1,879,144 36,924 LT GROUP 15.28 15.28 15.24 15.1 15.04 15.28 3,386,900 51,525,484 21,604,598 0.142 0.157 0.142 0.148 0.142 0.148 40,000 5,800 MABUHAY HLDG PACIFICA HLDG 1.05 1.06 1.09 1.1 1.05 1.05 110,000 118,530 1.03 1.12 1.12 1.12 25,000 28,000 1.12 1.12 PRIME MEDIA REPUBLIC GLASS 2.39 3.1 3 3 3 3 30,000 90,000 SOLID GROUP 1.14 1.16 1.17 1.17 1.16 1.16 65,000 75,690 513.5 515 523 512 513.5 862,530 445,428,895 -10,610,560 513 SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP 61.5 61.6 61.6 61.8 61.5 61.6 19,120 1,177,490 167,413 2.23 2.39 2.6 2.6 2.39 2.39 8,000 19,980 SEAFRONT RES ZEUS HLDG 0.071 0.077 0.071 0.071 0.071 0.071 10,000 710 PROPERTY AYALA LAND 15.12 15.18 15.2 15.6 15.12 15.12 5,859,600 89,644,702 -18,785,348 AYALA LAND LOG 1.12 1.16 1.14 1.17 1.12 1.12 849,000 961,360 -138,240 11.1 11.68 11.68 11.68 11.2 11.2 25,100 281,168 280,000 ALTUS PROP ARANETA PROP 0.3 0.31 0.26 0.335 0.26 0.31 1,250,000 363,550 37.1 37.15 37.15 37.25 36.95 37.1 487,100 18,047,405 -5,708,830 AREIT RT 0.82 0.85 0.87 0.87 0.81 0.85 19,000 15,690 -2,550 A BROWN CITYLAND DEVT 0.58 0.6 0.58 0.61 0.58 0.61 13,000 7,690 2 2 2 2 185,000 370,050 2.01 2.01 CEB LANDMASTERS CENTURY PROP 0.59 0.6 0.62 0.62 0.6 0.6 7,395,000 4,490,070 6,600 2.89 2.9 2.9 2.92 2.88 2.89 2,110,000 6,109,960 -3,221,900 CITICORE RT 11.54 11.86 11.52 11.86 96,700 1,127,090 48,452 DOUBLEDRAGON 11.86 11.86 DDMP RT 1.03 1.03 1.02 1.02 1.02 1.03 2,031,000 2,083,740 -485,130 4.7 4.78 4.75 4.75 4.75 4.75 16,000 76,000 DM WENCESLAO EVERWOODS 0.027 0.026 0.025 0.026 0.025 0.026 300,000 7,700 EMPIRE EAST 0.102 0.103 0.104 0.104 0.103 0.103 80,000 8,310 2.87 2.88 2.87 2.87 145,000 417,110 -14,350 2.88 2.88 FILINVEST RT FILINVEST LAND 0.68 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.67 0.68 1,143,000 777,090 -390,350 2.11 2.11 2.11 2.11 4,472,000 9,470,230 2,162,250 MEGAWORLD 2.14 2.14 MRC ALLIED 0.66 0.67 0.67 0.68 0.65 0.67 11,210,000 7,477,680 MREIT RT 13.46 13.48 13.58 13.7 13.48 13.48 978,400 13,246,146 213,184 0.102 0.103 0.102 0.102 0.102 0.102 1,500,000 153,000 OMICO CORP PRMIERE HORIZON 0.171 0.172 0.175 0.175 0.17 0.172 930,000 158,360 -5,100 0.41 0.42 0.41 0.41 0.41 0.41 190,000 77,900 PHIL ESTATES PREMIERE RT 1.02 1.03 1.01 1.04 1.01 1.03 48,000 49,340 -16,400 RL COMM RT 6.73 6.76 6.75 6.77 6.7 6.73 1,837,700 12,374,641 -5,273,910 16.7 16.8 16.74 16.88 16.7 16.7 1,120,700 18,735,116 -3,378,438 ROBINSONS LAND PHIL REALTY 0.115 0.115 0.106 0.115 0.115 0.115 1,700,000 195,500 2.84 2.87 2.87 2.85 2.86 242,000 689,970 -150,910 2.86 ROCKWELL 2.97 3 3 3.03 2.97 2.97 201,000 601,570 -95,130 SHANG PROP STA LUCIA LAND 1.83 1.89 1.9 1.9 1.82 1.89 4,000 7,430 1,820 16.08 16.1 16.5 16.8 15.98 16.1 22,803,200 367,665,562 -191,725,952 SM PRIME HLDG SUNTRUST RESORT 0.405 0.415 0.405 0.41 0.405 0.41 110,000 44,600 -50 SERVICES ABS CBN 2.6 2.65 2.78 2.84 2.57 2.65 333,000 880,080 GMA NETWORK 3.7 3.75 3.85 3.85 3.62 3.75 391,000 1,462,100 5.03 5.49 5.49 5.49 600 3,294 5.49 5.49 MLA BRDCASTING DITO CME HLDG 0.61 0.62 0.61 0.63 0.61 0.62 3,156,000 1,952,050 147,000 1,586 1,587 1,591 1,592 1,585 1,587 23,555 37,409,680 -420,210 GLOBE TELECOM 1,133 1,130 1,145 1,130 1,138 62,980 71,790,850 -3,987,145 PLDT 1,138 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.0059 0.006 0.0059 0.0059 0.0059 0.0059 28,000,000 165,200 9.05 9.16 9.21 9.05 9.05 903,800 8,254,306 -4,040,553 9.29 CONVERGE DFNN INC 0.64 0.67 0.65 0.67 0.64 0.67 14,000 9,150 2.4 2.41 2.41 2.41 2.41 1,000 2,410 2.76 EASYCALL IMPERIAL 0.82 0.97 0.87 0.82 0.82 44,000 37,600 0.87 ISLAND INFO 0.131 0.135 0.138 0.138 0.135 0.135 800,000 108,390 0.4 0.405 0.39 0.4 500,000 196,050 -20,000 0.405 0.405 NOW CORP TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.132 0.132 0.125 0.132 0.132 0.132 750,000 99,000 0.88 0.88 CHELSEA 0.84 0.84 0.84 0.88 196,000 167,150 21.65 21.7 21.95 22.45 21.6 21.7 1,345,600 29,507,410 -9,899,390 CEBU AIR INTL CONTAINER 907 907.5 893 919 882.5 907.5 1,375,010 1,240,247,480 -7,459,210 8 8.01 7.5 8.01 7.5 8 3,400 26,851 1 LBC EXPRESS LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.64 0.69 0.66 0.66 0.66 0.66 1,000 660 3.53 MACROASIA 3.52 3.55 3.62 3.52 3.52 66,000 234,050 -106,290 0.62 0.63 0.66 0.71 0.6 0.63 82,000 52,500 METRO ALLIANCE PAL HLDG 3.62 3.64 3.58 3.65 3.58 3.64 3,015,000 10,977,310 875,460 1.77 1.78 1.88 1.9 1.78 1.78 2,161,000 3,904,760 -775,890 HARBOR STAR BOULEVARD HLDG 0.03 0.032 0.031 0.031 0.03 0.03 12,000,000 361,600 3,000 DISCOVERY WORLD 0.93 0.96 0.94 0.94 0.93 0.93 3,206,000 3,013,600 1,880 5.02 5.03 5.03 5.03 1,100 5,533 GRAND PLAZA 5.03 5.03 PH RESORTS GRP 0.181 0.182 0.178 0.182 0.171 0.182 3,790,000 670,730 0.43 0.45 0.44 0.44 0.44 350,000 154,750 0.445 WATERFRONT CENTRO ESCOLAR 14.82 15.1 14.98 15 14.58 15 3,500 52,116 FAR EASTERN U 799 800 800 800 800 800 1,000 800,000 7 7.15 7.16 7.16 7.16 400 2,864 7.16 IPEOPLE STI HLDG 1.29 1.29 1.28 1.28 1.28 1.29 109,000 139,680 117,760 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1,505,000 1,661,010 158,390 BELLE CORP 1.11 1.11 1.96 1.97 2.02 2.05 1.95 1.97 14,417,000 -2,071,500 BLOOMBERRY 28,521,250 DIGIPLUS 19,570,419 8.28 8.5 8.28 8.6 8.28 8.28 2,304,500 6,556,606 14.26 14.26 14.48 14.06 14.38 1,405,400 20,014,044 3,240,758 PHILWEB 14.38 BERJAYA 8.89 8.33 8.32 8.33 8.32 8.33 2,600 21,656 1.06 1.08 1.06 1.08 7,000 7,520 1.08 1.08 METRO RETAIL PUREGOLD 39.9 40 39.9 39.85 39.9 3,704,600 148,162,110 1,533,045 40.15 PHIL SEVEN CORP 30.65 31.1 31.5 31.5 30.65 31.1 4,700 145,325 -6,265 2.03 2.05 2.05 2.05 2.05 2.05 1,000 2,050 SSI GROUP UPSON INTL CORP 0.76 0.78 0.79 0.81 0.76 0.78 151,000 116,310 770 WILCON DEPOT 5.67 5.7 5.7 5.74 5.65 5.7 523,600 2,985,513 -64,624 0.102 0.105 0.102 0.106 0.102 0.106 40,000 4,120 APC GROUP MEDILINES 0.227 0.226 0.233 0.226 0.226 0.226 220,000 49,730 1.62 1.62 1.62 1.62 40,000 64,800 1.63 1.62 PHILCOMSAT MINING & OIL APEX MINING 18.04 18.1 18.84 18.84 18.04 18.04 4,876,700 89,532,830 -29,009,386 20.9 21 21.4 21.7 20.95 20.95 2,649,900 56,277,670 -5,197,855 ATLAS MINING BENGUET 7.55 7.3 7.5 7.5 7.5 7.55 1,300 9,755 4.3 4.79 4.3 4.3 4.3 4.3 4,000 17,200 DIZON MINES EC VULCAN 0.335 0.345 0.35 0.36 0.345 0.345 1,060,000 375,800 FERRONICKEL 2.16 2.12 2.13 2.17 2.1 2.16 1,187,000 2,524,420 -536,550 0.085 0.092 0.089 0.084 0.092 3,140,000 266,910 GEOGRACE 0.094 LEPANTO A 0.255 0.255 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.255 19,760,000 4,976,100 0.246 0.249 0.246 0.246 0.246 0.246 2,400,000 590,400 LEPANTO B MANILA MINING A 0.009 0.0092 0.009 0.0092 0.0089 0.0092 53,000,000 477,000 MARCVENTURES 0.79 0.79 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.79 435,000 339,730 47,580 0.54 0.52 0.475 0.54 4,494,000 2,187,830 -1,112,360 NIHAO 0.55 0.55 NICKEL ASIA 4.13 4.17 4.15 4.23 4.12 4.13 1,783,000 7,422,350 -2,143,590 OCEANAGOLD 36.55 35.45 35.6 36.7 35.3 35.5 690,100 24,641,280 -2,109,950 0.59 0.59 0.58 0.6 137,000 80,820 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.6 0.6 PX MINING 13.06 13.16 13.3 13.48 13.08 13.08 3,616,000 47,740,258 -2,677,128 0.0089 0.0093 0.0089 0.0089 3,000,000 27,100 UNITED PARAGON 0.0092 0.0093 ORNTL PETROL A 0.017 0.018 0.016 0.019 0.016 0.018 666,900,000 11,163,300 ORNTL PETROL B 0.016 0.018 0.016 0.018 0.016 0.018 109,500,000 1,910,100 0.0099 0.011 0.01 0.011 0.0098 0.011 490,000,000 5,258,300 -49,000 PHILODRILL PXP ENERGY 3.22 3.25 3.35 3.42 3.2 3.25 1,076,000 3,515,240 -62,340 PREFFERED ACEN PREF B 1,029 1,035 1,029 1,030 1,029 1,030 1,060 1,091,285 AC PREF B3R 1,859 1,920 1,930 1,930 1,920 1,920 25 48,145 1,872 1,910 1,910 1,910 1,910 1,910 25 47,750 AC PREF B4R ALCO PREF D 490 495 490 490 490 490 200 98,000 452.2 490 490 490 490 490 10 4,900 -4,900 ALCO PREF F 101.1 102 102 102 101.1 102 160 16,302 BRN PREF C CEB PREF 24 24 23 24 23 23 91,400 2,107,300 96.7 99 99 99 99 99 70 6,930 CPG PREF B DD PREF 95 95.2 95 95 94.1 95 2,080 196,961 28,500 93.8 96.2 94 96.2 94 94 6,190 581,882 EEI PREF B FDC PREF B 991 993 991 991 991 991 20 19,820 GLO PREF ANV 1,911 1,949 1,950 1,950 1,950 1,950 50 97,500 1,921 1,980 1,980 1,980 1,971 1,980 3,040 6,019,020 GLO PREF BNV JFC PREF B 1,000 1,005 999 1,005 999 1,005 130 130,420 MWIDE PREF 6B 101 103 102.4 102.4 102.4 102.4 10 1,024 103.1 105.9 105.9 105.9 105.9 105.9 10 1,059 MWIDE PREF 6C MWIDE PREF 7A 99 100.6 99 99 99 99 500 49,500 988 994 965 994 965 988 3,240 3,193,830 -494,000 PCOR PREF 4D SMC PREF 2L 77.15 81.8 81.8 81.8 81.8 81.8 30,030 2,456,454 SMC PREF 2N 77.05 78 78 78 78 78 13,400 1,045,200 77.55 78.85 78.95 79.4 78.85 78.85 1,250 98,740 SMC PREF 2O SMC PREF 2P 73.5 74 74 74 74 74 40 2,960 73 75 73 73 73 73 10 730 730 SMC PREF 2Q SMC PREF 2S 74 74.5 74.5 74.5 74.5 74.5 13,410 999,045 SMC PREF 2T 72.65 75.25 75.25 75.25 75.25 75.25 110 8,278 75 76 76 76 75 75 800 60,190 SMC PREF 2U SMC PREF 2V 77.9 78 78.3 78.3 78 78 5,750 448,515 78 79 78.5 79 78.5 79 300 23,670 SMC PREF 2W SMC PREF 2X 79.25 79.4 79.25 79.4 79.25 79.4 1,250 99,120 TECH PREF B2D 6.18 7.47 7.56 7.65 7.47 7.47 2,600 19,581 99.7 100 100 100 99.65 99.65 1,660 165,988 TOP PREF A1 TOP PREF A2 100.5 102.4 102.7 102.7 102.7 102.7 120 12,324 -

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS

ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

WARRANTS

AGI WARRANT

2.39 3.2

1.06

SM A L L, M ED I U M & EM E R G IN G HAUS TALK ITALPINAS LFM PROP XURPAS NEXGEN ENERGY

2.46 2.5 2.5 2.46 2.46 40,000 99,520 3.8 -

1.33 0.56 0.018 0.21 2.58

1.08

1.05

1.06

38,000

40,130

-10,570

1.35 0.59 0.02 0.222 2.6

1.32 0.62 0.02 0.211 2.6

1.35 0.63 0.02 0.222 2.6

1.32 0.55 0.02 0.207 2.6

1.35 0.59 0.02 0.222 2.6

379,000 421,000 100,000 200,000 6,000

503,180 240,780 2,000 43,760 15,600

3,960 8,910 -

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS ATR FAMI ETF

98.5

100

99.9 100 98.5 98.5 7,350 726,516 -9,150

Alibaba unveils artificial intelligence chip

LIBABA Group Holding Ltd. is rolling out what it calls China’s most powerful artificial intelligence (AI) chip, an accelerator to compete with Nvidia Corp. and underpin a massive expansion of data center capacity in coming years. The e-commerce company turned AI-aspirant on Tuesday outlined a new Zhenwu V900 accelerator that it says triples the performance of its predecessor. From Alibaba’s T-Head division, it can be combined in clusters of up to 500,000 units to power frontier-model training, Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu said. Alibaba is one of the biggest spenders on AI among leading Chinese players. It’s committed to spending more than $53 billion over a three-year period to expand its AI capabilities, and raised about $10.2 billion from a follow-on share offering in Hong Kong in August. On Tuesday, Wu set a target of 20 gigawatts of data center capacity for its Alibaba Cloud service globally by 2032, on the expectation of “exponentially rising demand.” Wu spoke as global AI stocks rallied on early signs of success for Meta Platforms Inc.’s new personal agent, reviving investor optimism after recent market uncertainty. Alibaba’s shares leapt more than 5 percent in Hong Kong, while WeChat operator Tencent Holdings Ltd. surged more than 7 percent. “Last year, we asserted that the more capable AI becomes, the more powerful humanity will be,” Wu said. “Today, I remain steadfast in that conviction.” Alibaba’s 20-gigawatt blueprint— while giant for a Chinese company— is relatively smaller than some of the world’s more ambitious buildouts. SoftBank Group Corp. for instance envisions a 10-gigawatt-scale computing center in Ohio, alone. Alibaba has pledged to intensify expenditure on AI hardware and infrastructure as Wu makes the pursuit of artificial general intelligence the company’s lodestar. It also plans to list T-Head to tap interest in the white-hot AI accelerator market, Bloomberg News has reported. The company now plans to develop a model with between 5 and 10 trillion parameters, far larger than what’s common among open-weight peers today, for longer and more complex tasks. That pace of development contrasts with recent warnings from top

AI labs in the US, after Anthropic PBC CEO Dario Amodei urged a slower pace of development to better handle AI risks. Alibaba’s event comes on the eve of a summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, when the leaders will discuss a swathe of issues. AI matters are set to figure prominently, as top-level US executives like Nvidia boss Jensen Huang and Microsoft Corp.’s Satya Nadella attend a White House state dinner. Talks got underway this week between US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, where both sides agreed to set up a dialog on AI aimed at reaching a common understanding on goals and threats. That’s despite Washington accusing Alibaba and other leading developers like DeepSeek of “illicitly accessing” American cutting-edge models to help develop their own products. Beijing has rejected such accusations as groundless and vowed to retaliate if Washington moves to target Chinese AI companies. Alibaba—till recently better known as the operator of the Taobao and T-mall marketplaces—created the world’s most popular AI model by downloads. The company has since rapidly expanded its Qwen series, while keeping pricing low to entice users. The Hangzhou-based company however saw quarterly profit plunge by more than 75 percent in the last quarter, after a nearly $10 billion spending spree. The company’s executives have in recent times talked about how its AI investment is increasingly bearing fruit, with annualized revenue from AI-related products expected to reach $10 billion in the current quarter. Alibaba should be able to recoup its overall investment within a three-year period, Wu’s team has said. It also aims to quintuple annual cloud and AI revenue to $100 billion in five years. Alibaba—which last unveiled a new AI chip in May—plans to update that lineup every year. They’re designed to work in giant clusters to drive performance, a strategy widely adopted by Chinese chipmakers from Huawei Technologies Co. to Moore Threads Technology Co. T-Head has delivered 560,000 units of the Zhenwu product family, and its processors have been deployed by more than 400 external customers, Alibaba has said. Bloomberg News

MUTUAL FUNDS

September 22, 2026

NAV ONE YEARTHREE YEAR FIVE YEAR Y-T-D PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES (SHARES) ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC. -A205.46 -6.95% 1.29% -1.39% -2.58% -4.03% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 2.3597 12.54% 18.03% 9.3% 5.24% 9.17% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 2.772 -6.02% 0.48% -1.73% -4.26%-2.77% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP. -A 0.7554 0.16% 4.28% 0.54% N.A 2.89% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND, INC. -A 0.4905 -15.65% -8.63% -8.29% N.A -11.8% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND, INC. -A 4.2087 -8.62% -1.55% -3.3% -2.47% -3.75% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC. -A 0.6228 -6.82% -1.63% -3.37% N.A-3.08% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. -A 67.55 -22.21% -7.99% -6.64% N.A -24.49% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC. -A 40.6977 -4.94% 0.16% -2.11% -2.29% -1.6% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 430.77 -7.14% 0.88% -1.89% -2.41% -4.17% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC. -A 1.5528 1.56% 11.2% 4.98% 1.87% -0.54% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC. -A34.6012 -2.06% 2.95% 0.04% -0.66% 0.5% PHILEQUITY MSCI PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC. -A 0.9193 1.37% 4.66% 0.78% N.A 3.56% PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND, INC. -A 4.4107 -4.09% 1.19% -1.06% -1.43% -1.32% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP. -A 725.87 -4.36% 0.83% -1.38% -1.6% -1.24% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 0.7012 -0.86% 3.07% 0.06% -2.56% -0.13% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC. -A 3.0326 -11.08% -1.37% -3.38% -3.12%-5.51% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC. -A 0.813 -4.58% 0.39% -1.75% -1.87%-1.33% UNITED FUND, INC. -A3.59637.2% 6.81% 2.07% 0.49% 9.39% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES (UNITS) COL EQUITY INDEX UNITIZED MUTUAL FUND, INC. -A 1.0194 -4.25% 0.85% N.A N.A -1.31% COL STRATEGIC GROWTH EQUITY UNITIZED MUTUAL FUND, INC. -A 1.0128 -5.48% N.A N.A N.A -2.94% PHILEQUITY ALPHA ONE FUND, INC. -A 0.8739 -9.71% -3.1% -4.14% N.A -7.46% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP. -A 876.12 -4.32% 0.62% N.A N.A -1.17% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND (SHARES) ATR FAMI PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC. -A,C 99.055 -4.09% 1.04% -1.06% -1.2%-0.96% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES (SHARES) ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC. -B $1.2443 23.93% 15.21% 1.74% 3.21% 21.45% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC. -A $2.436 13.35% 16.01% 6.24% 8.92% 9.52% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES (UNITS) N.A N.A N.A N.A N.A PHILEQUITY GLOBAL FUND, INC. -A,2 1.092 BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES (SHARES) ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 2.1514 -0.7% 0.86% -0.53% -0.94% 0.52% ATRAM UNICAPITAL DIVERSIFIED GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 1.7012 5.18% 5.63% 0.45% -0.59% 3.97% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 2.4653 -2.33% 0.64% -1.26% -0.62%0.13% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN F.O.C.C.U.S. DYNAMIC FUND, INC. -A 0.2266 -3.04% 6.46% 3.05% N.A -2.29% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC. -A,1 1.952 -0.74% 0.94% -0.07% 0.25% -2.52% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC. -A3.6603 -3.11% 2.54% -0.09% -0.39% -3.42% PHILAM FUND, INC. -A15.4707-4.98% 1.27% -1.22% -0.97% -3.37% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC. -A2.0668 -2.46% 1.96% 0.13% -0.22% -1.6% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 3.3253 -5.85% 0.71% -1.37% -1.32%-2.87% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC. -A 0.8718 -6.93% 0.4% -0.66% -1.12% -4.27% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES (UNITS) BPI WEALTH BUILDER MULTI-ASSET MUTUAL FUND, INC. -A,3 10.78 N.A N.A N.A N.A N.A SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2028, INC. -A 0.9762 -0.06% 2.13% -0.16% N.A -0.27% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2038, INC. -A 0.8252 -4.27% 0.87% -1.79% N.A -1.97% 0.38% -2.3% N.A SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2048, INC. -A 0.7928 -4.81% -2.27% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES (SHARES) COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC. -A $0.03292 -2.75% 0.97% -3.02% -0.89% -4.02% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC. -B $1.1529 -5.35% 9.76% 1.44% 2.14% -4.72% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC. -A $5.631 7.98% 11.7% 3.53% 5.84% 5.48% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC. -A $1.205 2.92% 6.98% 0.41% 2.4% 1.83% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES (SHARES) ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 424.68 2.23% 3.18% 2.6% 2.53% 1.12% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC. -A 1.9897 2.29% 1.29% 0.62% 0.41% 1.59% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 3.6064 1.34% 3.07% 2.16% 3.17% 0.19% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND, INC. -A 2.4388 0.21% 2.86% 1.49% 1.44% -0.56% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 2.499 -2.25% 1.05% 0.48% 1.11% -2.72% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC. -A4.4983 -1.67% 2.26% 0.07% 0.71% -2.42% PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 1.5445 2.73% 4.46% 3.19% 2.94% 1.61% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 4.3254 1.13% 2.86% 1.67% 2% 0.29% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. -A1.1303 1.78% 2.84% 1.72% 1.71% 0.87% -2.6% 2.04% 1.35% 2.04% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC. -A 3.4423 -2.78% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC. -A 1.8306 -2.27% 1.77% 0.91% 1.49% -2.86% CORPORATE DEBT VEHICLE (UNITS) ATRAM UNITIZED CORPORATE DEBT FUND 2 -A,5 1.0158 N.A N.A N.A N.A N.A PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES (SHARES) ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $532.68 1.6% 2.83% 1.75% 1.92% 0.68% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. -A Є222.19 -0.33% 1.69% 0.15% 0.48% -0.71% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -B $1.0479 -2.99% 0.49% -2.78% -0.73% -2.52% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $0.0255 -3.41% 1.76% -0.54% 0.16%-3.77% PAMI GLOBAL BOND FUND, INC. -B $1.0466 -1.87% 7.81% -0.01% -0.53% -1.26% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $2.407 -2.38% 3.18% -0.93% 0.53% -2.94% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND, INC. -A $0.0630749 -1.77% 1.36% 0.03% 1.05% -2.13% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC. -A $2.8639 -2.41% 2.6% -2.15% -0.68%-2.34% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES (SHARES) AIB MONEY MARKET MUTUAL FUND, INC. -A 1.1888 2.75% N.A N.A N.A 1.92% ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 153.05 4.12% 4.1% 3.2% 2.87% 2.81% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 1.2266 3.45% 3.78% 3.06% N.A 2.41% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PESO STARTER FUND, INC. -A 1.5174 3.49% 3.59% 2.98% 2.77% 2.42% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES (UNITS) ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 117.26 4.08% 4.3% N.A N.A 2.9% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES (SHARES) SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC. -A $1.1968 2.51% 3.3% 2.48% N.A 1.74% FEEDER FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES (UNITS) ALFM GLOBAL MULTI-ASSET INCOME FUND, INC. -A 47.9374 6.2% 4.11% N.A N.A 3.96% MBG ASIA FRONTIER FEEDER UMF, INC. -B,4 1.8384 N.A N.A N.A N.A N.A SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD EQUITY INDEX FEEDER FUND, INC. -A 2.5605 26.41% 21.97% 14.48% N.A17.99% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD INCOME FUND, INC. -A 1.1864 9.94% 6.36% N.A N.A 6.34% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES (UNITS) ALFM GLOBAL MULTI-ASSET INCOME FUND, INC. -A $0.7956 -2.98% 1.07% -4.08% N.A -1.78% A - NAVPS AS OF THE PREVIOUS BANKING DAY. B - NAVPS AS OF TWO BANKING DAYS AGO. C - LISTED IN THE PSE. 1 - EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2025, ITS FUND MANAGEMENT IS WITH BPI WEALTH. 2 - LAUNCH DATE IS FEBRUARY 2, 2026. 3 - LAUNCH DATE IS DECEMBER 18, 2024. MEMBERSHIP WITH PIFA WAS OFFICIALLY APPROVED ON SEPTEMBER 12, 2025. 4 - MEMBERSHIP WITH PIFA WAS OFFICIALLY APPROVED ON MARCH 26, 2026. 5 - LAUNCH DATE IS APRIL 17, 2026, AND IT REPRESENTS THE SECOND TRANCHE OF THE ATRAM UNITIZED CORPORATE DEBT VEHICLE, INC. “While we endeavor to keep the information accurate, the Philippine Investment Funds Association (PIFA) and its members make no

warranties as to the correctness of the newspaper’s publication and assume no liability or responsibility for any error or omissions. You may visit http://www.

pifa.com.ph to see the latest NAVPS/NAVPU.”

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Entrepreneur BusinessMirror

Technology does not lead

ILL AI replace the sales professional? The honest answer is this: it will replace many sales tasks, reshape sales roles, and possibly remove the need for salespeople in transactions requiring little human judgment or interaction. If your primary value is providing information, preparing routine reports, sending generic follow-ups, or repeating what customers can already discover online, you have every reason to be concerned. But complex and consequential selling is not merely about processing and exchanging information. It involves understanding people, earning trust, interpreting context, exercising judgment, making commitments, and accepting responsibility for the outcome. High technology may analyze, predict, recommend, communicate, and automate, but it does not lead. Technology serves those who have been entrusted to lead. Here are five reasons technology cannot fully replace the human role of the sales professional—especially when customer decisions involve complexity, risk, relationships, and trust.

Your experience, insight, and intuition matter

CUSTOMERS no longer need salespeople simply to explain features, compare specifications, or repeat information they can easily obtain online or through AI. What they need is someone who can interpret that information and connect it with their actual situation. Experience recognizes familiar patterns, insight reveals what the information means, and intuition alerts the salesperson to signals that may not yet appear in the data. These human inputs are not infallible, so they must still be tested against facts, frontline realities, and customer feedback. Your value lies not in knowing more than the machine, but in understanding what its information means for the person in front of you.

Nothing beats the personal touch

DATA can reveal what customers bought, when they bought it, how often they responded, and what they may purchase next. But hesitation may come from an unspoken fear, an internal conflict, a damaged relationship, or a consequence that never appears on the dashboard. The personal touch begins when sales professionals listen beyond the words, ask thoughtful questions, observe reactions, and show genuine concern. It recognizes that customers with similar profiles may still make different decisions because their realities are never exactly the same. Technology can identify the pattern, but a sales professional must still understand the person within it.

Commitment is always personal

AI can produce polished messages

and personalized recommendations, but it cannot personally commit itself to a customer. Trust grows when sales professionals keep promises, tell difficult truths, protect the customer’s interest, and remain present when something goes wrong. That commitment is tested when delivery is delayed, expectations are missed, or the recommended solution fails to produce the desired result. Customers then need more than an automated response; they need someone willing to listen, explain, repair, and take responsibility. Technology can support the relationship, but only a person can stand before the customer and personally answer for a promise.

Machines are never accountable

DATA can reveal patterns, while AI can analyze them and recommend possible actions. Experience and intuition may alert the salesperson to signals that technology has missed, while prayerful discernment helps examine motives, limitations, and consequences. But none of these inputs removes the need for human judgment. The sales professional must still decide what should be done, whom the decision will affect, and whether the action is responsible, fair, and right. Machines may influence a decision, but moral and leadership accountability remains with the people and organizations that choose to act on it.

Selling will always be an act of leadership

COMPLEX selling requires customers to move from uncertainty toward a difficult and consequential decision. The sales professional clarifies the desired future, aligns competing interests, addresses resistance, and builds the confidence required to move forward. AI can analyze information, generate options, and recommend the next action, but it cannot personally accept what the customer entrusts to the relationship. When customers act on a recommendation, they are not only choosing a product; they are trusting someone to help lead them toward a better outcome. As long as selling requires human judgment, entrustment, and accountability, it will remain an act of leadership. Remember: technology may support the sales process, but it does not lead—that responsibility remains yours. God bless! Alexey “Coach Lex” Rola Cajilig is the President and CEO of ARCWAY Consultancy Inc., a recognized Sales Leadership Coach, Strategic Sales Operations Consultant, Christian Motivational Speaker, and Human Ecologist. As the author of The Effective Seller and Solving the Sales Puzzle, Coach Lex empowers leaders and sales professionals to turn knowledge into action, and action into measurable results. He is also the creator of ARCH Styles, a cutting-edge behavioral and personality discovery tool that helps individuals and teams unlock their true potential and perform at their peak. Connect and collaborate with Coach Lex at arcway.ph.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Wednesday, September 23, 2026 B3

Rise of solopreneurs: Why flexible workspaces are reshaping PHL biz

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

@brownindio

HE rise of solopreneurs, freelancers, and startup founders is reshaping the Philippine business landscape, creating demand for workspaces that are flexible, affordable, and designed not only for productivity but also for collaboration. This is where the partnership between Common Ground, Megaworld and MREIT is creating a new model for supporting entrepreneurs—particularly those who are still taking their first steps in building a business. The recently opened Common Ground Digital Park in McKinley Hill is designed to serve as more than a traditional coworking facility. It aims to become a launchpad where solopreneurs, freelancers, startups, scale-ups and larger companies can work, connect and grow within a broader business community. Common Ground Country Manager Roegan Taron, told the press in a recent press briefing that entrepreneurs operating alone or working out of their homes, access to a professional workplace can be a major step forward. Common Ground’s hot-desk membership starts at around P5,000 per month, providing access to workspaces, meeting rooms, printing and photocopying facilities, high-speed Wi-Fi and unlimited freshly brewed coffee. More i mpor t a nt ly, Ta ron said members gain access to a community of entrepreneurs and professionals who can potentially become clients, partners, suppliers or even future employees. He explained the model recognizes that many Filipino entrepreneurs do not immediately need a conventional office with a long-term lease. “They need flexibility,” he said. For those who require a dedicated workstation, Taron said Common Ground offers fixed desks, allowing members to maintain their own equipment and workspace. For companies ready to establish a more permanent presence, he said private offices are available start-

ing at around P16,000 per seat per month, with 24/7 access for qualified memberships. “This flexibility is particularly relevant to startups and small businesses that are growing but are not yet ready to commit to traditional corporate office arrangements,” Taron noted.

From first desk to first office

TARON said Common Ground’s role goes beyond providing desks. The company has helped businesses establish their first Philippine offices, including international companies and technology startups. Its coworking model can therefore serve as a bridge—from a founder working alone to a company with employees, clients and its own physical headquarters. That progression is reflected in the design of Digital Park. He said the facility has hot desks for solopreneurs and freelancers, fixed desks for small teams, and private offices for startups, scale-ups, multinational companies and other organizations requiring dedicated space. Meeting rooms and event facilities also allow companies to hold larger meetings, workshops and networking activities without having to maintain those facilities themselves. “This creates an ecosystem where entrepreneurs can remain within the same community as their businesses evolve,” he said. A freelancer can start with a hot desk. A startup can move to a fixed desk. As the company expands, it can transition into a private office—without necessarily having to leave the ecosystem.

Creating an entrepreneurial community

ANOTHER important component

is community building. Common Ground organizes regular activities designed to connect members, from networking events and professional talks to informal gatherings. These activities can provide solopreneurs and startup founders with something they often lack when working independently: a professional network. The company’s mobile application also allows members to connect with other members across its locations in the Asia-Pacific region. That regional network can be particularly valuable for Filipino entrepreneurs looking to expand outside the country or for foreign companies searching for talent and business connections in the Philippines. The concept effectively turns the coworking space into a business community rather than simply a place to rent a desk.

Why Megaworld and MREIT matter

THE partnership with Megaworld and MREIT adds another dimension to the initiative. McKinley Hill provides access to a large business and commercial ecosystem, with offices, retail establishments, restaurants and other services within the township. For entrepreneurs, this means their workplace is integrated into an environment where they can meet clients, access services and conduct business. For Megaworld, meanwhile, the partnership provides an entry point into the growing flexible-workspace market while strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem within its townships. The Digital Park concept is also envisioned as something that can eventually be replicated in other Megaworld developments, creating additional hubs where startups and entrepreneurs can establish themselves. This is significant because location remains an important consideration for young businesses. While Bonifacio Global City remains one of Metro Manila’s major business districts, its costs can be challenging for startups and small companies. McKinley Hill offers an alternative, combining accessibility, commercial amenities and professionalgrade workspace while providing en-

trepreneurs with a potentially more cost-efficient base.

More than affordable office space

FOR a solopreneur, the first challenge may simply be finding a place to work outside the home. For a startup, it could be finding an affordable office. For a growing company, the challenge may be accessing meeting facilities, talent and business networks. “Common Ground’s model also allows companies to use facilities on demand. Meeting rooms and event spaces can be booked by nonmembers, while companies can bring clients and partners into the facility. This provides smaller businesses with access to professional facilities without requiring them to invest heavily in their own office infrastructure,” Taron said. “That flexibility becomes increasingly important as businesses embrace hybrid work,” he added. The post-pandemic workplace has created a market for companies that want a physical office but are reluctant to sign rigid, long-term corporate leases. At the same time, startups are looking for professional locations without the costs traditionally associated with premium business districts. Ultimately, the Common GroundMegaworld-MREIT partnership reflects a broader shift in how commercial spaces can contribute to entrepreneurship. The objective is not simply to fill office space. It is to create an environment where entrepreneurs can start small, build relationships and eventually scale. For Filipino solopreneurs and startups, that can make a significant difference. A desk can provide a place to work. A meeting room can help win a client. A community can provide a business partner. And a flexible office can become the first physical headquarters of a company that eventually grows much larger. By combining Common Ground’s flexible workspace expertise with Megaworld and MREIT’s property ecosystem, Digital Park is positioning itself as a platform for that journey—from the first desk to the first office, and potentially from a small venture to a growing Philippine enterprise.

Baguio creative council eyes revival of silver craft industry By Liza Agoot

AGUIO CITY—The Baguio Creative City Council is hoping to revive the city’s silver craft industry amid challenges, including dwindling artisans and limited access to raw materials. “It is good if we can have a bubbly silver craft industry just like in the past because it is one of the industries associated with Baguio,” Marie Venus Tan, co-chairperson of the Baguio Creative City Council, said in a media interview Friday. Tan said only two silver craft shops—Pilak Silvercraft and Gift Shoppe and Tawid Silver—remain

in Baguio, with both facing difficulties in sourcing raw materials because their products are associated with mining. She said the number of artists and artisans skilled in silver crafting is also declining. Both shops have begun adapting to changes in the business landscape, including by offering experiences that allow customers to learn about and participate in the craft. Pilak Silvercraft, for instance, has started offering experiential tourism activities where customers can make their own jewelry, including wedding rings, Tan said. The shop is also considering accreditation as a learning site for

people interested in learning silver crafting, she said. Romar Agpes, senior technical education and skills development specialist of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)-Benguet, which also covers Baguio City, said the agency offers scholarships and training programs that industries can tap to upgrade workers’ skills or develop a pool of skilled workers. “Now that we know we have silver craft shops that are interested in providing skills, we will coordinate with them so that a module can be prepared,” Agpes said in a phone interview Friday. He said previous efforts to de-

velop silver craft training, including coordination with silver mineral miners, did not push through. Agpes said TESDA is confident that silver crafting can eventually be included in its skills training programs to help sustain the industry. Baguio Tourism Council chairperson Gladys Vergara said the council is also working to revive traditional industries in the city, including silver crafting, as part of efforts to preserve local heritage while creating opportunities for younger generations. Woodcraft and leather footwear crafting are also among the traditional industries being considered for revival, she said. PNA

DTI brings services closer to MSMEs in Antique island brgy By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay

AN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique—The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has brought its business services closer to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the remote island barangay of Semirara in Caluya with the opening of a Negosyo Center. DTI Antique provincial director Mary Jade Gonzales said Friday that the Negosyo Center, which opened Sept. 2, provides MSMEs access to business registration assistance, information,

training, financing and market linkages. “Semirara is the first barangay in Antique to have a Negosyo Center with a business counselor assigned,” Gonzales said in an interview. The center was opened at the request of Barangay Captain Catherine Lim, who provided the office space, she said. Semirara has about 1,000 registered businesses and the center will also serve residents of other island barangays in Caluya, Gonzales said. She said the opening of the center in Semirara came after DTI had established and fully operationalized Negosyo Cen-

ters in all of Antique’s 18 municipalities. Antique was the first province in Western Visayas to establish Negosyo Centers in all its municipalities in 2018, Gonzales said. Meanwhile, DTI Kapatid Mentor Me (KMME) graduates in Antique have formed a credit cooperative to provide financing to fellow entrepreneurs. The Kami Antique Credit Cooperative opened its office in San Jose de Buenavista on Friday, becoming the first credit cooperative formed by KMME graduates in Western Visayas, Gonzales said.

“The Kami Antique Credit Cooperative shows your KMME’s strong commitment to serve the MSMEs,” she said. The cooperative was registered with the Cooperative Development Authority on May 19, 2025, and now has 75 KMME graduates as members. It plans to provide loans that MSME members can use as business capital. Gonzales said the cooperative could help improve the livelihoods of MSMEs by providing capital that could support business expansion, job creation and income generation in local communities. PNA

BARANGAY Captain Catherine Lim and Department of Trade and Industry Industry Development Unit head Gevi Kristina Villafuerte lead the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Negosyo Center in Barangay Semirara, Caluya, Antique, on September 2, 2026. The center provides business registration assistance, training, financing and market-linkage services to micro, small and medium enterprises in the remote island barangay. PHOTO COURTESY OF DTI ANTIQUE

Banking&Finance

Wednesday, September 23, 2026 • Editor: Dennis D. Estopace

BusinessMirror

‘Access to financial services lacking in some PHL sectors’

By Andrea E. San Juan

HILE financial exclusion fell from 56 percent in 2017 to 19 percent in 2025, a central bank official pointed out that lack of access to banking and financial services remains rampant in agriculture, youth and informal sectors. Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, Deputy Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for the Regional Operations and Advocacy Sector, emphasized that behind these numbers are millions more people who can open an account, make a digital payment, save safely and connect to formal financial services. “But as I mentioned before, access is only a starting point,” RomuloPuyat said during the “Asean-EU Business Summit 2026,” thus, raising these questions: “Can a family meet its daily needs and still prepare for an emergency? Can a farmer recover after a bad harvest? or can

workers save for old age?” As such, another central bank official divulged which segments are still “financially excluded” in the country. Mynard Bryan R. Mojica, Director for Financial Inclusion Office at the BSP, said in terms of segments, financial exclusion is “still very high” among farmers, the youth and informal workers. “So in terms of segments where financial exclusion is still very high, we’re looking at the agriculture sector, the farmers, where you have around 3 out of 10 farmers are [financially] included. So 7 out of 10 are

excluded. You also have interestingly—the youth sector also has a large exclusion, because even if they are tech savvy, they have smartphones. They use that smartphone not for financial transactions, but basically for social media.And then you have the informal sector workers,” Mojica said during the summit. At the individual level, Mojica said the central bank still sees “lack of money” as the main reason why many Filipinos are financially excluded. “So if you have a limited disposable income, where is the ownership in that puzzle? And of course, as a central bank, we can only do so much in terms of addressing that lack of money problem,” added the BSP official. Meanwhile, Romulo-Puyat explained that the central bank is not only working on expanding financial access in the country. Beyond this, she said the BSP also aims to “measure and improve financial health” in the country.

‘Missing layer of protection’

WITH insurance remaining a “missing layer of protection” among many households and businesses, the BSP deputy governor said the central

bank is set to expand access to insurance through banks by updating its bancassurance guidelines. “Banks already have trusted relationships with their clients. By making it easier for them to offer appropriate insurance because alongside banking products and services, we can help more families get insurance. At the end of the day, this is really about giving people greater confidence in their future,” added Romulo-Puyat. On the sidelines of the summit, she told reporters that the updated bancassurance guidelines were slated to be released this year to give banks more options to provide insurance products outside their own conglomerates. “It should be this year. Now, it’s within the conglomerate but we’re expanding it. It’s really supposed to be for this year, the exposure to expand bancassurance,” added Romulo-Puyat. As to what has caused the delay of the issuance of guidelines, she added: “I’m sure not that major because we are pushing for it. I don’t think anybody will be against it. Because it’s just giving banks more options…to provide insurance.”

BOC files criminal cases over misdeclared goods

HE Bureau of Customs (BOC) filed criminal complaints against the owner, representatives of an importer, a customs broker and several of its own personnel over agricultural shipments misdeclared as chicken products that arrived last June 2025. The BOC said through a statement it filed six criminal complaints before the Department of Justice (DOJ) last Tuesday involving shipments consigned to Berches Consumer Goods Trading. The BOC said physical examinations of the shipments found 15,029 sacks of fresh white onions and 2,164 boxes of fresh carrots, despite the shipments being declared as “chicken lollipops.”

The agricultural products were also not covered by the required Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance issued by the Bureau of Plant Industry. According to the BOC, the shipments allegedly violated Section 1401, in relation to Sections 1400 and 117, of Republic Act (RA) 10863, or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), for fraudulent misdeclaration and importation of regulated agricultural products without the necessary clearances. Complaints against Customs personnel also stem from Section 1431 of the CMTA, which penalizes willful neglect of duties, enabling another person to defraud the government of customs revenue and negligently or

deliberately allowing another person to violate the law. The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service separately endorsed administrative charges against the concerned BOC officials and personnel to the agency’s Prosecution and Litigation Division for hearings under the Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service. “These enforcement actions are intended not only to hold violators accountable but also to send a clear message that attempts to circumvent customs laws and regulations will be met with decisive action,” the BOC said. “The BOC continues to strengthen its enforcement presence to create a strong deterrent against smuggling

BRICS and the race for new markets

N 2009, BRICS began as a forum for Brazil, Russia, India, and China. After South Africa joined in 2011, BRICS expanded further in 2024 with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates, followed by Indonesia in 2025. The enlarged group accounts for 40.7 percent of global gross domestic product compared with 28.4 percent for the G7 consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States, according to latest data from the International Monetary Fund. These economic statistics explain why businesses cannot afford to ignore BRICS any more. The Philippines’s position as Asean chairman in 2026 has added another dimension, when President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. was invited to the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi last September 12 to September 13. The high-profile event saw active participation from more than two dozen countries—bringing together a powerful contingent of leaders, including United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as special guest. Ten other nations were represented in the summit as official partner countries of BRICS, namely: Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. Aside from Marcos as Asean chairman, heads of state who chair the following regional blocs were in-

FINEX FREE ENTERPRISE Joseph Araneta Gamboa vited: the African Union, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Eurasian Economic Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. Also in attendance were the heads of major multilateral institutions such as the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the New Development Bank, otherwise known as the BRICS Bank. The summit’s theme was “Building for Resilience, Innovation Cooperation, and Sustainability.” India’s hosting of the 2026 BRICS Summit was a landmark achievement in global diplomacy. Leaders of the 11-nation bloc arrived in New Delhi deeply divided over ongoing geopolitical conflicts. After a breakdown in earlier ministerial-level meetings, Indian negotiators brokered a crucial compromise and aligned competing factions like Iran and the UAE. As a result, all the BRICS member countries adopted the New Delhi Declaration on the very first day of the summit–establishing a unified stance on crucial global economic,

governance, and security issues amid deep international divisions. Despite strong pressure from certain members to weaponize BRICS into an anti-Western vehicle, India navigated a masterclass in strategic autonomy through pragmatic consolidation–thus giving it greater diplomatic influence than merely aligning with either Beijing or Washington, while at the same time maintaining robust bilateral relations across the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi successfully used his summit chairmanship to firmly cement India’s status as the leading voice for the Global South and its bridge to the West. The BRICS Summit enabled him to engage simultaneously with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio da Silva, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, and Saudi Arabian Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The New Delhi Declaration explicitly calls for a comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council to give a permanent voice for Brazil, India, and African countries– shifting global governance from a rigid “pyramid of privilege” into

and other illicit activities while ensuring that legitimate businesses and compliant stakeholders are protected,” it added. Customs Commissioner Ariel F. Nepomuceno said the BOC would not only come after smugglers and their accomplices but also against its own personnel found to have participated, facilitated or benefited from illegal activities. The filing of the six complaints brings the BOC’s total number of criminal cases filed to 96, involving 288 respondents. From 2025 to 2026, the BOC has, likewise, seized P13.7-billion worth of goods, as it steps up enforcement against illicit and misdeclared goods. Reine Juvierre S. Alberto

an inclusive “platform of partnership.” It rejects theoretical currency models in favor of actionable financial integration. This emphasis on fast and cost-effective cross-border payment systems allowed India to present its domestic Digital Public Infrastructure as a highly scalable blueprint for global development. Over 400 BRICS-related meetings and engagements were held this year across 30 Indian cities. Its hosting of the 2026 summit can be viewed as a victory in terms of agenda-setting and convening power. This year was the fourth time since 2012 that India assumed the rotating BRICS chairmanship, culminating in the New Delhi summit this month. For the Philippine business community, BRICS deserves a closer look. Its growing markets, technology partnerships, investment flows, and infrastructure opportunities could offer new avenues for Filipino companies that do not need to choose sides. They simply have to be smart enough to engage where there is business to be done while protecting the country’s interests and keeping all economic doors open. Joseph Gamboa is the chief finance officer of the Asian Center for Legal Excellence, director of Noble Asia Industrial Corp., and associate member of the Institute of Corporate Directors. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of these institutions and the BusinessMirror. #FinexPhils www.finex.org.ph

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AUS govt gives about ₧2B for PHL pvt sector growth By Reine Juvierre Alberto @reine_alberto

HE Australian government has allocated an initial 5-year AUD45 million, or roughly P2 billion, grant to the Philippines to foster private sector growth and support key areas, including clean energy, infrastructure and inclusive economic development. Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Matthew James Thistlethwaite said during a launch last Tuesday that Australia wants to help the Philippines realize its “enormous” potential through its flagship economic initiative dubbed “Progress.” The initiative, called “Promoting Growth, Resilience, Economic Stability and Sustainability,” seeks to support the country through targeted reforms to boost investment and trade and improve the ease of doing business. “We see [Southeast Asia] as an economic powerhouse of the future and one that has great potential and opportunity to develop and improve the living standards of the Filipino people and Southeast Asians more broadly,” Thistlethwaite said in a separate news briefing. The initiative will concentrate on renewable energy development, including establishing a carbon market and developing the offshore wind industry, as well as infrastructure development and reducing red tape. It also aims to provide equal economic opportunities for women, people with disabilities and margin-

alised groups, Thistlethwaite added. While the Australian government has not disbursed funding to specific projects yet, it has begun the scoping phase and worked with various Philippine government departments to identify projects and determine whether they meet the program’s objectives and make economic sense. The subsidiary arrangement for Progress has been signed by Finance Secretary Frederick D. Go and Australian Ambassador Marc InnesBrown PSM last March. The funding is a grant, not a loan, so there is no repayment period or interest. Speaking at the launch, Go said the grant is a “timely investment” in the Philippines, reflecting Australia’s commitment and confidence in the country’s development priorities. “The Philippines has reached the threshold for the upper middle income classification, and our focus now is to attract even more high multiplier investment, build industries and create more and better jobs,” Go said. “Growth must translate into opportunity. Progress can help by improving the investment environment and strengthening the government’s capacity to deliver reforms,” he added. Progress is part of Australia’s broader efforts to drive global economic growth. “Our government has developed a strategy for deeper engagement with Southeast Asia, and it’s our plan up to 2040 to expand trade, to increase investment and to enhance business,” Thistlethwaite said.

BIR rakes in ₧24.815M in fees from micro taxpayers

HE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P24.815 million in abatement fees from micro taxpayers in the first two months of implementing its one-time abatement program, which seeks to help settle old tax liabilities and penalties. The main tax-collecting agency reported last Tuesday that the program had drawn 6,234 applications covering P84.509 million in liabilities and penalties. Of the 6,234 applications received from 1,352 taxpayers, 5,000 had been approved by the BIR. Internal Revenue Commissioner Charlito Martin R. Mendoza issued Revenue Regulation 4-2026 last June 18, 2026, allowing micro-sized taxpayers and small-scale businesses to resolve their outstanding tax liabilities. Taxpayers whose gross sales do not exceed P3 million per year and whose covered total basic tax liabilities and/or penalties do not exceed P80,000 may avail of the one-time tax abatement program until December 31, 2026. “We encourage taxpayers who qualify to avail while there is still time. This is an opportunity to settle

covered liabilities, clean up old tax records, and move forward in compliance,” Mendoza said. Those with delinquent accounts or assessments, whether preliminary or final and whether disputed or not, as well as open stop-filer cases, including those taxpayers who have already ceased business operations, as of December 31, 2025, are eligible for abatement. Taxpayers must file an application for abatement with the appropriate Revenue District Office having jurisdiction over them and pay a P5,000 one-time abatement fee for each approved application. “Our directive to our Revenue Regions and Revenue District Offices is not to simply wait for taxpayers to come to us. We should identify through our system those who are qualified to avail of the program, reach out to them, and guide them in settling their covered liabilities, regularizing their records, and returning to compliance,” Mendoza said. The abatement fees collected will boost the BIR’s revenue take, which reached P1.989 trillion as of end-July, up 5.31 percent from the P1.889 trillion it raised in the same period a year ago. Reine Juvierre S. Alberto

briefs ➔ GoTyme to reward OFs

THE GoTyme Bank Corp., a joint venture between the Gokongwei and the Tyme Bank of South Africa, launched a campaign last Monday that will reward overseas Filipinos sending remittances using its application. GoTyme said it is hosting a special homecoming raffle to fly winners back to the Philippines. The bank said there will be five grand prize winners to receive round-trip economy flights for two, with additional prizes. The raffle promo runs from September 16 to November 30 this year. The bank’s customers must opt-in and then will automatically earn one raffle entry for every qualifying international remittance of at least P5,000 sent or received directly through the GoTyme Bank app. VG Cabuag

➔ PDIC to sell Luzon assets

THE Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) is set to offer for sale 76 properties based in Luzon through electronic public bidding (e-bidding) via the PDIC Assets for Sale site with bids accepted starting at 9:00 a.m. on October 21 until 1:00 p.m. on October 22, and the opening of bids at 2:00 p.m. on October 22, In a statement, the PDIC said headlining the portfolio are 14 residential properties in Laguna. The e-bidding will also offer a dozen vacant agricultural and five vacant residential properties in Palawan. Minimum bid prices start at P64,270.00, the statement read. Other assets to be sold are 19 vacant residential properties, 13 properties classified as residential with improvements, 6 vacant agricultural properties, 5 properties classified as mixed residential/agricultural, and 2 properties classified as agricultural with improvements.

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EMILIANO SANTOS in class

PASTEL on ingres paper by visual artist and Benilde educator Santos

Polio survivor-teacher inspires the young P OLIO survivor Emiliano Santos originally wished to become a lawyer. However, he instinctively knew his family could use the extra hard-earned funds to tap someone to help carry him around. So, he squarely hung on to his next dream: to become an artist. Now at 62 years old, he has become a visual artist and professor from the Cordillera Region who aims to serve as an inspiration not only to aspiring creatives but also to those who lose hope amid life’s challenges. Emil’s journey started when he was six years old, with a fever which lasted for days. Due to dire financial constraints, his mother, an elementary teacher, and his father, a security guard, initially sought assistance from an albularyo and manghihilot. By the time they brought him to a medical doctor, he was already paralyzed from the waist down. The virus had affected his entire body. It disrupted his growth, made his bones smaller and thinner. Eventually, he could not sit straight any longer. Emil never did blame his disheartened parents. He understood that they only wanted him to recover. Even at a very young age, the eldest of five siblings remained determined to continue his studies. He believed in the power of education. He was able to attend classes with the continued assistance of family, friends, and even fellow students who took turns carrying him around. Whenever help was not available, he crawled to school past shallow creeks and into the rocky tracks of the mountain. In high school, he stayed at a nearby two-story dormitory, which still required him to crawl up and down the stairs. A dormmate, without fail, aided Emil until his father was able to secure a house just behind the campus. His father leased rooms to children of family friends in exchange for helping his son to move around. While Emil’s dream of becoming a lawyer seemed so far-fetched, Emil’s fondness for the arts paved the way for a new path. From a talented neighbor, he was motivated to draw. This fascination grew as he read the comics printed on old newspapers used to wrap tinapa (smoked fish).

He recalled crawling to the silong (basement) under their house, where he would read and copy these strips using pencils, ballpens, and sheets of bond paper he found in his mother’s bag. With this discovered skill came the desire to learn more and have an official arts education. Emil utilized oil pastel and acrylic—his favorite medium in his works. Growing up in the mountains, he wished to highlight the beauty of the natural environment. “Dumating ‘yung time na kailangan na magsara nung pinapasukan kong sheltered workshop and I had to leave,” he shared. “Gusto kong magpatuloy sa pag-aaral at ituloy ‘yung skills na natutunan ko. Noong panahong ito, hindi ko na iniisip ‘yung tuition or materials, gusto ko na lang makapasok.” He shared how one institution denied him with the statement: “Hindi ka puwede dito kasi puro stairs.” Since he did not have enough money to pay for a full bachelor’s degree, Emil, then 25 years old, opted for a certificate course in Studio Arts at the University of the Philippines (UP) Baguio. Despite the tedious application process, he passed and was approved to receive a scholarship with allowance. Much like in his younger years, Emil relied on his UP friends to help him around the campus until he earned his certificate in 1994. Concerned friends and school staff aided him to transfer to the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) College of Fine Arts, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Visual Communication at the age of 32. He later on earned an M.A. in Art Education from UP College of Education at 46. Emil obtained a job as a contractual graphic artist for UPD office of the vice chancellor for research and dissemination. He continued to paint as a hobby. However, while he was able to sell some artworks, he realized that this alone was not enough to put food on the table. A friend encouraged him to submit his updated portfolio to the gallery of the Social Security System (SSS) in Quezon City. He then mounted his first solo exhibition, titled Nature and Art. His showcase, which featured both old and new pieces, not only allowed

him to sell more pieces to patrons but also gave him the assurance that he was indeed on the right path. When he visited his alma mater in 2011, he bumped into a former batchmate who invited him to apply to teach at Benilde. “Nung naka-graduate ako ng college, gusto ko talaga magturo pero hindi ko ini-expect na mangyayari,” he said. “Gusto ko talagang i-share ‘yung mga natutunan ko.” Driven by its mission of innovation and inclusion, Benilde welcomed Emil to be among the practicing educators in the Design Foundation Department. His first assignment was to introduce the fundamentals of drawing to aspiring creatives. The educator eventually handled courses on art and color theories, as well as figure drawing. He reminisced how he was able to seamlessly adjust to his newfound role as a professor, thanks to the help of the hospitable members of the community, from the staff to his fellow teachers. “I was really amazed because as a PWD [person with disability], I was warmly welcomed,” he said. “The facilities, especially the restrooms, are PWDfriendly.” Today, Emil celebrates his 15th year at Benilde as a full-time faculty member. He continues to bring not only his talent into the classroom but also “extra” patience and understanding to better guide the learners. Being a mentor, for him, is more than just teaching the theories and techniques. It is helping the youth forge their own future. He honors the efforts of the students and believes that character in itself is also a form of art. “Kung masipag ka, may patience ka, magbubunga ‘yun ng beautiful things,” he said. Currently, Emil, now a father of one, continues to hone his knowledge and skills to become a more effective and supportive instructor. He likewise promotes polio awareness, particularly among parents, so that more people can understand the condition and recognize its early symptoms. “Ang kakulangan ko ay hindi naging hadlang para makamit ko ang pangarap ko at sana magsilbing inspirasyon ang kuwento ko para sa mga tao,” he ended.

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • Wednesday, September 23, 2026

REPRESENTATIVES from the Department of Health, Newborn Hearing Screening Reference Center, and MakatiMed’s ENTHNS team pose for a photo following the certification.

Makati Medical Center earns significant certification in hearing concerns MAKATI Medical Center (MakatiMed, www. makatimed.net.ph) has been certified as a Category D Newborn Hearing Diagnostic, Intervention, Surgical and Rehabilitation Center, the highest classification under the Newborn Hearing Screening Reference Center. MakatiMed is only the second hospital in the Philippines to receive the distinction. The certification is significant as Category D Centers go beyond newborn hearing screening. They have the capability to provide a full range of care for children identified with hearing concerns, including confirmatory hearing tests, hearing aid fitting, ear surgery such as cochlear implantation, and speech rehabilitation. This means that a newborn who requires further assessment after screening can access the next stages of evaluation and treatment through a coordinated team within the same institution. Rather than treating hearing concerns as a single diagnostic issue, the Category D classification recognizes the need for care that may extend from diagnosis to medical or surgical intervention and rehabilitation. The certification follows a collaborative effort among MakatiMed’s Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Pediatrics-Section of Developmental Pediatrics, and Speech Language Pathologists of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Their combined expertise covers the medical, developmental, surgical, and communication needs that may arise in children with hearing difficulties. For families, the designation means access to a broader range of specialized services as their children’s needs become clearer. For MakatiMed, it adds another level of capability to its Pediatric and ENT services and strengthens its role in the early identification and management of childhood hearing concerns.

Eco-friendly toilet papers are trendy, but their actual environmental impacts vary

By Isabella O’malley The Associated Press

OILET paper, a product that is used for a few seconds before being disposed of forever, is typically made with trees, energy-intensive manufacturing processes and chemicals that can pollute the environment. Experts say more consumers are seeking toilet paper made from recycled content or sustainable materials, but it can be hard to know what to look for. Sustainable toilet paper often costs more, but can have significant environmental benefits. According to the Environmental Paper Network, a coalition of nonprofits, more than 1 billion gallons (3.8 billion liters) of water and 1.6 million trees could be saved if every American used one roll of toilet paper made from recycled content instead of a roll made from forest fibers. Here are some recommendations for buying sustainable toilet paper or reducing overall toilet paper use: n Toilet paper made from recycled fibers. North American toilet paper has traditionally been made from fibers from trees in Canada and eucalyptus plantations in Brazil. Pulp made from the

trees is bleached to create a bright white color, but the chlorine that’s often used can hurt the environment. Large amounts of electricity and heat are used to remove moisture and form square sheets. Increasingly, manufacturers are making toilet paper from recycled paper products, which avoids material from freshly cut trees, and are using chlorine-free bleaching techniques. Once used, toilet paper itself is flushed and not recycled. Looking for recycled content is a good place for environmentally-conscious consumers to start, said Gary Bull, professor emeritus of forest economics at the University of British Columbia. Preconsumer materials include scrap materials from manufacturing or unsold paper. Postconsumer materials come from paper products that have already been used. Making toilet paper from postconsumer recycled fibers improves its sustainability because paper is “one of the easiest materials on the planet to recycle,” Bull said. n Evaluating sustainability claims. The best way for a scientist to evaluate the carbon footprint of an item is doing a life cycle assessment, which calculates the environmental impacts from when a tree is a seedling to when its fibers are converted into toilet paper and flushed down the drain, Bull said.

But that method isn’t within reach of consumers, so advocates have undertaken third-party assessments. Some companies add those labels to packaging to show that their processes have been vetted. Bull said labels on bath tissue from the Forest Stewardship Council or the Sustainable Forestry Initiative indicate the company is making scientifically-proven efforts to be sustainable. Both groups’ standards include conserving water, wildlife, and biodiversity as well as compliance with applicable forestry laws to keep ecosystems healthy. Sustainable toilet paper brands typically cost more per square foot than conventional products. But Russel said prices will likely drop if consumers continue buying it and manufacturers expand production. n Bamboo, alternative materials and energy. Alternative materials such as fast-growing bamboo are often billed as more sustainable than toilet paper made from trees, but consumers should focus on toilet paper made with recycled materials instead, said Ronalds Gonzalez, an associate professor at North Carolina State University and expert on fibers used in the hygiene industry. Gonzalez said pollution from manufacturing processes can reduce the benefits of using bamboo.

Gonzalez recently co-authored a study that found bamboo toilet paper made in China that is available in the US had a higher environmental impact than toilet paper made in the US with imported forest fibers, largely because Chinese manufacturers use electricity generated by coal. The study found the bamboo toilet paper’s environmental impacts could be reduced when it was produced in regions that use renewable energy. n Bidets can remove the need for toilet paper. Bidets are devices that allow people to rinse after using the bathroom so they can reduce or avoid wiping. They’re another way people can reduce their toilet paper use. Bidets, which are popular in Europe, can be a separate wash basin or a device added to toilets that generate a stream of water. Some people still use a small amount of toilet paper to dry off. Bidets that can be attached to your toilet and don’t use electricity can cost around $30, while toilet seats with fancy options such as heated water and air dryers can exceed $600. Some bidets require a plumber or contractor to install. Bidets are a sustainable alternative to conventional toilet paper because “you’re not using any sort of logging, it’s water that’s already coming to your household and it’s very little water,” Russel said.

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

A fresh take on the details that make a wedding

SB Finance rewards JRS Express employee with Honda BeAT motorcycle through eSALAD

hat began as a workplace financial wellness partnership turned into a life-changing moment for one JRS Express employee. SB Finance recently awarded a Honda BeAT motorcycle and ten P2,000 Universal Giftaway vouchers to employees of JRS Express as part of an exclusive eSALAD campaign that encouraged employees to maximize their salary-linked credit facility. JRS Express joined SB Finance’s growing roster of eSALAD partner companies in 2025, providing its close to 2,500 employees with access to the salary-linked loan program. To celebrate the partnership, SB Finance launched a promotional campaign, giving JRS employees who availed of their eSALAD credit limit the chance to win prizes through a raffle. The official raffle draw was held on July 24, 2026, where SB Finance identified the winners of the gift vouchers and the grand prize, a brand-new Honda BeAT motorcycle. For grand prize winner Jenovem Cruz, a JRS Express employee of three years, the prize arrived at exactly the right time. Months before learning he had won, Cruz lost his motorcycle after it was severely damaged in a road accident caused by another motorist. Without compensation for the damage, he had been borrowing a motorcycle from their office

SB Finance awards JRS Express employee Jenovem Cruz with a brand-new Honda BeAT motorcycle as part of the company’s exclusive eSALAD employee raffle campaign. just to travel to and from work. Receiving a new motorcycle through the SB Finance raffle came as an unexpected blessing. “Hindi ko po talaga inaasahan na mananalo ako. Malaking tulong po ito sa akin, lalo na’t wala na akong sariling motor dahil sa aksidente. Ngayon, hindi ko na kailangang manghiram para makapasok sa trabaho [I really didn’t expect to win. This is a big help to me, especially since I no longer have my own motorbike due to the accident. Now, I don’t have to borrow money to get a job],” Cruz shared. Aside from covering the expenses incurred by the accident, Cruz also made use of eSALAD to fund the daily needs of his wife and young child. Since then, he has been repaying his loan through automatic salary deduction not knowing that it would eventually lead to him winning what seems like a replacement for the prized possession he had to give up months prior. “We’re so glad that eSALAD has become

even more meaningful for Jenovem and his colleagues, and we are thankful to JRS Express for allowing us to provide this financial cushion to their employees,” said SB Finance Head of Corporate Employee Loan Jas Gaa. “Through our eSALAD partnerships, we hope to support employees not only with responsible financing solutions but also with meaningful programs that recognize and reward them.” The eSALAD Program enables employees of accredited partner companies to access salary-linked financing through a convenient payroll deduction arrangement, helping make formal credit more accessible while promoting responsible borrowing. “Financial wellness is about more than providing access to credit. We are creating opportunities that improve people’s everyday lives,” said SB Finance President and CEO Abbie Dans-Casanova. Beyond financing, SB Finance continues to strengthen partnerships with employers by introducing value-added initiatives, including financial wellness seminars, employee engagement activities, and exclusive promotions designed to enhance the overall employee experience. The partnership with JRS Express reflects SB Finance’s broader commitment to supporting the financial well-being of Filipino workers while building long-term relationships with organizations that prioritize employee welfare. As the eSALAD network continues to grow, SB Finance remains committed to developing programs that not only provide financial solutions but also create memorable experiences and meaningful rewards for partner companies and their employees.

BSB Junrose brings Michelin commercial tires to PHL fleet operators

SB Junrose is bringing Michelin commercial tires to Philippine fleet operators following its appointment as one of Michelin’s new importer-distributors in the country. In this role, the company will serve commercial transportation and fleet customers. The appointment forms part of Michelin’s move from four to seven importer-distributors in the Philippines, creating more specialized channels for different vehicle and industrial applications. The Michelin commercial tire range available through the new distributor will initially focus on specific vehicle applications in the Philippine market. Unlike privately owned cars, fleet vehicles operate against delivery schedules, route commitments and daily utilization targets. Tire selection must account for the vehicle’s application, operating conditions, load requirements and the need to limit avoidable downtime.

“BSB Junrose is strengthening its role in commercial mobility by supporting fleet operators in selected critical areas that contribute to vehicle reliability, uptime and operational efficiency,” said Ian Bangayan, President of BSB Junrose. “The addition of Michelin commercial tires expands that capability into another essential area of fleet operations.” For fleet operators, tire performance can affect more than road grip. Rolling resistance can influence fuel consumption, while proper inflation, load matching and the use of tires suited to a vehicle’s operating conditions can help manage tread wear, durability and service life. Across an entire fleet, these factors can have a direct bearing on operating costs and vehicle availability. To support these decisions, fleet customers will receive product information and guidance based on the Michelin commercial tires available through the company. The appointment opens a new tire category within the company’s commercialvehicle business. Michelin commercial tires complement the batteries, lubricants, grease, clutches, bearings and selected engine components through which it currently helps keep fleets moving. The partnership strengthens its ability to support businesses that depend on reliable vehicle operations while helping Michelin reach commercial segments as the country’s mobility and logistics requirements continue to grow. The partnership is being presented to fleet operators and other industry audiences at Transport & Logistics Philippines 2026 at the BSB Junrose booth, Booths 208–209. Visitors can learn more about the Michelin commercial tires being introduced, their intended vehicle applications and how they complement the company’s existing aftermarket support for commercial fleets. “Commercial vehicles earn their keep on the road,” Bangayan said. “Our goal is to support fleet operators in the critical areas where the right product and the right guidance can help protect reliability and uptime.”

RedTorch Communications secures double win at NEXT Awards Philippines 2026

EDTORCH Communications received two Bronze awards at the NEXT Awards Philippines 2026, held on September 10, 2026, Thursday at Shangri-La The Fort in Bonifacio Global City. The recognition highlighted the agency’s ability to translate diverse brand ambitions into relevant consumer experiences. RedTorch was named Most Innovative Public Relations Agency of the Year for a body of work spanning beauty and personal care, food and beverage, entertainment, and other consumer categories. In beauty and personal care, the agency brought science, celebrity, and product innovation together through a large-scale gala for a globally recognized skincare brand, and transformed specialized scalp-care research into an immersive platform for product discovery and expert-led conversations. In food, beverage, and entertainment, RedTorch helped reintroduce an iconic global personalization campaign to a new generation, and supported a major music platform by bringing local and international artists, media, creators, fan groups, and communities together through a cross-genre concert experience. Across these executions, RedTorch contributed to strategy, concept development, media relations, creator engagement, guest curation, community outreach, and on-ground production, extending each campaign beyond the event itself through earned stories, social content, and audience participation. “Our work sits at the point where a brand wants to enter a space it hasn’t owned before,” said Leah Caringal, Founder and CEO of RedTorch Communications. “Seven years in, what we’ve built is the ability to read a category quickly, find the cultural entry point, and make it credible on the ground. The categories change. The discipline doesn’t.” The agency also won the Most Innovative Event Marketing Campaign for the Vaseline Glow Up Sports Club, developed with Vaseline Philippines. Built around the growing tennis, pickleball, and padel communities, the campaign moved body care into active lifestyle spaces where it had not

The agency was recognized for Most Innovative Public Relations Agency of the Year. traditionally been part of the conversation. Through a series of sports-led experiences, the agency established a credible role for the brand within the routines of active consumers, connecting healthy, glowing skin with confidence in movement. The double recognition reflects the collective work of RedTorch and its clients, whose trust and openness enabled the agency to explore new formats and bring ambitious ideas to life. It also recognizes the creators, media, experts, suppliers, and communities that strengthened each campaign. The NEXT Awards Philippines, presented by MARKETECH APAC, recognizes campaigns, agencies, organizations, teams, and individuals that advance marketing through creativity and innovation.

ITH so many decisions that go into planning a wedding, knowing which details are worth prioritizing can make all the difference. From the little touches guests remember to the bigger decisions that shape the celebration, couples today are looking for ideas that feel intentional, personal, and worth the investment. This September, the 47th Wedding Expo Philippines by Themes and Motifs brings together verified and registered wedding businesses, giving soon-to-weds the opportunity to see, taste, compare, and experience ideas before making those important wedding decisions. Here are ten wedding details worth considering this year: A favor guests will use and won’t just leave behind Wedding favors are more meaningful when they have a life beyond the celebration. The Amenity Studio offers thoughtful gift sets that guests can actually enjoy and use after the wedding, making the traditional thankyou favor feel a little more worthwhile. With different gift set options and customization available, couples can choose something that suits their celebration, guest list, and budget. Good to Know: Pleated Collection featuring two (2) Hermès Eau d’Orange Verte Pleated Soap 50g starts at P750 per set. New gift sets, beautifully encased in the signature Hermès Hotelier Collection box, start at P800 per set. Purchase 10 sets and enjoy 10% off or complimentary customization. The Amenity Studio: https://www.instagram.com/ amenitystudioph/ A sweet take on cocktail hour A cocktail hour is all about giving guests a chance to mingle, grab a drink, and ease into the celebration. An ice cream cart can bring that same social energy to dessert, creating a casual stop for guests to gather and enjoy a treat between the ceremony and reception. Arce Dairy Ice Cream Cart offers couples a fun and interactive way to add another food moment to the celebration, with packages designed for groups of different sizes. The cart signage can also be customized to complement the wedding theme, making it not just a dessert stop, but another thoughtful detail within the celebration. Good to Know: Packages start at P8,000 for 50 guests. Arce Dairy Ice Cream Cart - 0956 726 0488 A menu you can taste before you commit Food can take up a significant part of the wedding budget, so tasting it before booking makes sense. At the Expo, engaged couples can experience complimentary wedding menu tastings from Richgold Weddings, Hizon’s Catering, and Chinz Production & Events, an opportunity to sample dishes, see the presentation, experience the service, and speak directly with the teams before making a decision. Good to Know: Richgold Weddings brings complete wedding catering to the table, from menu planning and food presentation to professional service for the celebration: www.facebook.com/RGWed Hizon’s Catering offers wedding catering with thoughtfully prepared menus and polished food presentation designed for memorable receptions: www. facebook.com/weddingcateringbyhizons Chinz Production & Events provides wedding catering and food service, helping couples create a well-rounded dining experience for their guests: www.facebook.com/ ChinzProduction A pre-nup experience worth entering for Wedding photography is one of the investments that stays with couples long after the celebration is over. This year, Nice Print Photography celebrates its 20th anniversary alongside Themes & Motifs’ 25th anniversary with a special opportunity for soon-to-weds. Two pre-registered couples will each have the chance to win a Pre-Nup Photoshoot Package. Good to Know: Nice Print Photography offers professional wedding photography and videography, documenting everything from the intimate details to the biggest moments of the celebration: https://niceprintphoto.com/ More than just the wedding cake The cake may be the centerpiece, but it doesn’t have to be the entire dessert story. Smaller pastries and sweets such as the decadent French macaron can add variety to the reception. Dylan Patisserie offers more choices for couples building a dessert selection around their celebration—from the main cake to treats guests can enjoy throughout the reception. Good to Know: From wedding cakes to elegant French macarons and other pastries, Dylan Patisserie offers couples more ways to build a dessert selection for their celebration: https:// dylanpatisserie.com/ Jewelry you’ll still love after the wedding Some wedding details are meant to last far beyond the reception. Goldenhills Jewelry offers jewelry for meaningful milestones. Seeing pieces in person at the Expo gives couples the opportunity to discover styles and find something that feels right before making a decision. Good to Know: At Goldenhills Jewelry discover more options for the wedding day and other milestones to come: www. facebook.com/goldenhillsjewel A venue that becomes part of the experience A venue does more than accommodate a guest list; it helps establish the atmosphere of the entire celebration. Couples considering an intimate stay, a destination wedding, or a celebration with a memorable setting can explore options from Solace Events Hotel and Villas, Tagaytay Highlands, and Taal Vista Hotel. Expo partner hotels Admiral Hotel, City of Dreams, and Hilton Manila add more possibilities for couples planning celebrations in the city. Good to Know: Solace Events Hotel and Villas offers couples a more

intimate setting where the wedding, accommodations, and overall stay can feel like one thoughtfully planned experience: www.solacehotelandvilla.com Tagaytay Highlands is ideal for couples drawn to a scenic mountain wedding, with lush surroundings and sweeping views that create a naturally beautiful backdrop for both ceremonies and receptions: www.tagaytayhighlands.com Taal Vista Hotel brings a timeless Tagaytay setting to weddings, pairing its heritage atmosphere with views of Taal Lake and spaces suited to both elegant indoor celebrations and garden gatherings: www.taalvistahotel. com/ Admiral Hotel Manila gives city weddings a distinctive character, blending its heritage-inspired interiors with Manila Bay views for a celebration that feels both grand and intimate: www.admiralhotelmanila.com City of Dreams Manila offers couples the convenience of having the wedding celebration, accommodations, dining, and after-party experience all within one destination: www.cityofdreamsmanila.com Hilton Manila provides a polished contemporary setting with versatile event spaces, making it a practical choice for couples planning anything from a more intimate reception to a larger celebration: www.hilton. com/en/hotels/mnlphhi-hilton-manila-newport-worldresorts A cocktail experience worth adding to the celebration There’s something reassuring about meeting the people behind a wedding business before choosing them to be part of your celebration. Sebastiao Cocktails brings cocktail service and mobile bar experiences to the Expo, giving couples a chance to see their offerings up close, share their ideas, and discover how a stylish and festive beverage experience can become part of their wedding celebration. For couples looking beyond the usual bar menu, Frosé offers a refreshing and contemporary way to make drinks part of the celebration experience. Its playful presentation and easy-to-enjoy character make it a natural addition to cocktail hour, outdoor weddings, and celebrations where couples want their beverage selection to feel as memorable as the food. Good to Know: Sebastiao Cocktails provides mobile bar and cocktail services that can be tailored to the style and flow of a wedding celebration: www.facebook.com/ sebastiaococktails Frosé brings a fun, frozen cocktail option to weddings, adding a refreshing alternative to the usual drinks menu: www.facebook.com/Frose.cocktail A fun food experience beyond the usual reception menu Sushi isn’t the first food that comes to mind when planning a traditional wedding reception, which is exactly what makes it an interesting addition. Sushi MNL gives couples a way to introduce something fresh and unexpected to cocktail hour, grazing tables, or late-night dining—adding variety while creating another food moment guests can gather around and enjoy. Turn your dessert or cocktail hour into something guests can wander over to and enjoy with a beautifully styled pastry station from The Croissanterie. Featuring an assortment of sweet and savory croissants, the setup adds both visual appeal and something delicious for guests to discover, snack on, and share throughout the celebration. Good to Know: Sushi MNL for fresh sushi selections for cocktail hours, grazing tables, or late-night snacking: www.facebook. com/profile.php?id=100084852640331 The Croissanterie for sweet and savory croissants presented as a stylish pastry station: www.facebook.com/ Thecroissanterrieph Turn guest moments into keepsakes Not every wedding memory has to be about the couple. Salamin Manila gives guests their own moment in front of the camera, turning the reception into a space where they can play, pose, and create something together. With an interactive mirror, personalized templates, and instant prints, guests leave with a keepsake of a celebration they were part of, not just a photo of the couple. Skip the one-size-fits-all souvenir. Personalized mini figures let you create a tiny version of each guest, making the favor itself part of the wedding experience. Randomsmiles by Christelle Tiquis brings this playful idea to life with custom figures that guests can enjoy during the celebration and take home afterward. Good to Know: Salamin Manila offers Interactive mirror photo booths with instant, personalized prints: www.facebook. com/salamin.manila Randomsmiles by Christelle Tiquis for custom mini figures created as personalized wedding keepsakes: www.facebook.com/randomsmilesCT The best wedding details are the ones guests can enjoy, experience, and remember. At the 47th Wedding Expo Philippines, couples can discover even more ideas through Clara Olé, the Expo’s Official Food Lifestyle Partner, with an interactive experience featuring food sampling, games, and culinary inspiration. The Book to Win promotion and hourly raffle draws from participating exhibitors and partners add even more reasons to explore. Find the ideas that fit your celebration—and make them yours.

BusinessMirror

Editor: Tet Andolong

Wednesday, September 23, 2026 B7

Arthaland Gallery promotes green living vision in Quezon City

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

@brownindio

REEN developer Arthaland is taking its sustainable residential vision north with the opening of the Arthaland Gallery in Quezon City, featuring Liv, its newest residential development in the Katipunan area. Designed as an immersive touchpoint for prospective homeowners, the gallery brings the project’s vision closer to the market, allowing visitors to experience firsthand how thoughtful design, sustainability and contemporary urban living come together in a community positioned within one of Quezon City’s established residential and education hubs. Located at the corner of Rajah Matanda Street and Katipunan Avenue, the gallery is about 3 kilometers, or roughly Jive to 10 minutes, from the Liv project site. “The Arthaland Gallery experience was designed to give visitors a feel for Liv even before it is completed. They can see and experience the units and lifestyle we are creating at Liv as Arthaland expands its presence in Quezon City,” says Celeste Cariño, associate vice president for business planning and development, Arthaland. The space includes a display area, a digital kiosk, a scale model of the development, a unit finishes area, and fully furnished stu-

dio and one-bedroom model units. It will also have a café operated by the local brand Switch Coffee, with an indoor space and an al fresco area open to the public. The gallery was launched through a symbolic Tree of Life ceremony attended by the Arthaland project team and partners. Cariño says the Tree of Life reflects the values behind Liv, including balance, harmony, unity, and the interconnectedness between people and nature. During the ceremony, the representatives led by Cariño watered a plant to symbolize the nurturing of shared roots. The tree then lit up from its roots upward, formally opening the gallery. The Tree of Life will eventually be part of Liv’s podium design. She describes Liv as a glue bringing together carefully crafted residences, study and work areas, wellness facilities, and social spaces to create a vertical community centered on connection, well-being, and sustainable living. The development builds on She says Arthaland’s experience in the mid-market residential segment for sus-

ARTHALAND gallery tainability, wellness, exceptional quality, and thoughtful design is geared to benefit more people. Liv champions connectivity with development’s location, with dual access to Katipunan Avenue and Esteban Abada Street, Liv features a dedicated bridgeway connecting directly to Ateneo de Manila University’s Gate 1. It also has dual street access and is about a five- minute walk from LRT 2 Katipunan Station. Miriam College, the University of the Philippines, and a range of schools, commercial establishments, and lifestyle destinations are also within easy reach. The 46-story Liv North will be the first of the two towers in the development, offering 748 residential units. Studio, One-bedroom, and Two-bedroom units range from approximately 24 to 70 square meters and are designed for investors, parents seeking homes for their children, and professionals seeking a well-connected ad-

LIV North studio dress near leading educational institutions and key business districts. The model units at Liv were designed by Hong Kong-based RGBA Design Ltd., which worked with Arthaland on interior architecture and hospitality design. Founded and led by Rowena Guevara Berroya, Cariño says RGBA brings more than two decades of experience across the Philippines and Asia, with a portfolio that includes collaborations with major hospitality groups. For Liv, Cariño says RGBA designed the interiors to make the most of compact urban spaces without making them feel restrictive, creating homes that are functional, flexible, and distinctly personal. Cariño describes the 25-square-meter Studio model unit as envisioned for a young achiever who is beginning to build her future while expressing her own style. Instead of a conventional bed arrangement, the model unit features a custom

bunk bed with a study area underneath, creating distinct spaces for rest, work, and creativity while keeping the living area open. Large operable windows bring fresh air and natural light into the unit, while the separate toilet and shower areas allow two routines to run simultaneously. Adaptable layouts also allow the spaces to evolve as residents’ needs change, while biophilic elements bring a touch of nature into the home.The approximately 40-square-meter Onebedroom model unit takes a different approach, designed for a resident who has grown into their own identity and values independence, comfort and intentional choices. A private balcony extends the living space, while large operable windows bring in natural light and fresh air. The separate toilet and shower areas provide added privacy and convenience, particularly when entertaining guests.

Davao remains Mindanao’s Rising Samal: Where Tourism momentum meets investment confidence property powerhouse I

First of two parts

HE softer condominium demand in Metro Manila is putting the spotlight on key property corridors outside of the capital region. Outside of key hubs in Luzon such as Pampanga, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Batangas, thriving localities in Visayas and Mindanao are becoming key highlights of property discussion. Colliers Philippines believes that the entry of national players in Davao has paved the way for substantial development of integrated communities. The National Government has lined up vital infrastructure projects in the city which, once completed, should further solidify the city’s attractiveness as a residential investment hub in Mindanao. These include the Davao Coastal Road, Davao City Bypass and the expansion and modernization of Davao Airport. Hence, developers should continue with their landbanking initiatives and capitalize on the city’s improving infrastructure backbone. The completion of these projects should further stoke interest in Davao’s office and residential markets.

Competitive office market

AS of end-Q2 2026, overall vacancy in Davao reached 3%, one of the lowest vacancies outside the capital region due to sustained demand from outsourcing companies. With this level of vacancy, Davao is the only office market hub outside Metro Manila that enjoys the landlord’s market status. Among the notable deals recorded in Davao from 2024 to H1 2026 were spaces taken up by Teleperformance, Alorica, Optum, VA Platinum, Ibex and CubeWork. These firms occupied spaces in Matina IT Park (Plaza de Luisa Development Inc.), Robinsons Cybergate Delta 1 (Robinsons Land) and The Uprise (Felcris Hotels and Resorts). Other outsourcing firms that have established their presence in the province are OP360, Concentrix, Wipro, iQor, Cloudstaff, Sutherland, and VXI. As of end-H1 2026, Davao’s office stock reached 378,100 sq meters (4.1 million sq feet). From 2027 to 2029, Colliers sees the completion of new office towers in Davao city by Megaworld, Robinsons Land, Megaworld, and SM. Among the office towers

likely to be completed during the period include SM Lanang BPO Towers 1 & 2, One Republic Plaza and Robinsons Cybergate Victoria Tower 1.Colliers Philippines believes that the increasing office transactions in Davao should partly support residential demand in the locale. The entry of national developers such as SMDC, Megaworld, Ayala Land, Robinsons Land, Filinvest Land, and Cebu Landmasters (CLI) also strengthened Davao’s position as a property investment destination in the VisMin region.

Solid residential take up

RESIDENTIAL developers should further test the market and even diversify and look at the viability of offering more resort and/or leisure-themed projects. In our view, Davao’s competitiveness and stature as an outsourcing hub in Mindanao, backed by robust regional economic growth, should retain the city’s attractiveness for more residential projects. What’s interesting is that Davao is also being positioned as one of the major meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) hubs in the country. This should enable the city to attract more local and foreign hotel operators beyond 2026. In our view, more international visitors should potentially raise demand for vertical housing in the city and hep lift take up for leisure-themed residential projects. Davao City is deemed a residential hotspot in Mindanao and is a preferred site of both end-users and investors. The sustained demand over the past few years encouraged national and homegrown property firms to invest in the city. Colliers Philippines believes that Davao City has become a viable residential hub in Mindanao due to its competitiveness. Former Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s election as Philippine president in 2016 further raised interest in the city and has since transformed Davao into a preferred residential haven even by those from nearby cities and provinces. The 2024 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index ranked Davao as the seventh most competitive in the country based on economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure and resiliency. To be continued

SLAND Garden City of Samal, Philippines—There is a moment, somewhere between the five-minute boat crossing from Davao City and the first sight of Samal’s white-sand coastline, when the noise of the city falls away completely. The water turns a shade of turquoise that belongs on a postcard. And if you are paying attention, you begin to understand why investors, hotel brands, and tourism planners are increasingly pointing their compasses here. The Island Garden City of Samal has long served as Davao’s weekend exhale. But something has shifted. With surging visitor numbers, a bold new identity, and the kind of infrastructure momentum that developers spend years waiting for, Samal is no longer a footnote in someone else's travel story.

A destination that earns its ranking

IN 2024, Samal recorded 921,748 verified tourist arrivals—the highest on official record, nudging the island toward one million visitors for the first time in the post-pandemic era. The Department of Tourism ranks it 9th among the Philippines’ top tourist destinations, designating it the country’s largest island resort and the face of Davao del Norte in tourism. This Holy Week alone, nearly 48,000 tourists came through—a figure that speaks to the island’s pull and its unmet potential. But numbers rarely explain why people keep coming back. For that, you have to walk—and dive—the island. Start at the Monfort Bat Cave in Babak, a Guinness World Record holder for the world's largest colony of Geoffroy’s Rousette bats. At dusk, millions of them exit in a living black ribbon that unfurls across the sky—one of the most arresting wildlife spectacles in the archipelago. Puting Bato offers dramatic white rock formations along rugged coastline, while Sabang Cliff draws the daring: those who want to look down at the sea from height before plunging into it. Inland, the Hagimit Falls cascade through forest and rock, offering a cooler, quieter counterpoint to the island’s coastal drama. Beneath the surface is where Samal truly sets itself apart. Coral gardens of exceptional biodiversity, giant clam sanctuaries protecting the taklobo, celebrated dive walls like Mansud Wall, wreck sites layered with marine life, and protected areas like Angel’s Cove and the Aundanao Fish Sanctuary form an underwater portfolio that few Philippine islands outside Palawan can rival in density and accessibility. Then there is the Vanishing Island—the Sanipaan Shoal sandbar that appears and disappears with the tides, a sliver of white sand surrounded by open turquoise water. It is the kind of place that makes people stop mid-sentence. It is precisely this natural depth that anchors Samal Island's new tourism brand, Dive into Beauty, a deliberate repositioning targeting high-value, experience-driven visitors who compare Samal not to nearby Davao, but to Tubbataha, Coron, and Apo Island. The island is also beginning to prove that its appeal extends beyond traditional leisure tourism. The arrival of the IRONMAN 5150 Samal puts the destination on the map for sports and events tourism, bringing athletes and their support communities to the island for a race that makes use of Samal's defining assets, demonstrating the island's potential to host experiences that draw visitors for a specific purpose, encouraging longer

THE Island Garden City of Samal showcasing its pristine coastlines and expanding coastal developments—highlighting its growing position as a premier tourism and investment destination in Mindanao.

stays and generating activity across accommodations, restaurants, transport, and other tourism businesses. That diversification matters. Destinations that can attract visitors for the beach, biodiversity, business events, and major sporting activities are better positioned to build a more resilient, year-round tourism economy. For Samal, the opportunity is to turn these individual draws into a broader destination ecosystem.

The infrastructure turning point

EVERY great island destination has a moment when geography stops being a limitation and starts being an asset. For Samal, that moment is approaching on two fronts. The Samal Island–Davao City Connector Bridge, targeted for completion in 2028, will make the island accessible from one of Mindanao’s most economically dynamic cities in under 10 minutes by car with zero seatravel dependency. Davao City draws 1.8 million annual visitors, hosts a growing business process outsourcing sector, and serves international routes across Asia. Post-bridge, Samal inherits that entire demand base as a year-round leisure extension of the city. On the ground, Davao Light’s Submarine Cable Project has already strengthened the island’s energy backbone—the quiet prerequisite for the hospitality and commercial growth that sustained tourism demands.

The investment picture: Early stage, strong signals

SAMAL’S hospitality market tells a story of striking undersupply. The island’s existing upper-market inventory—a handful of properties with no international flag among them—serves an island that received nearly a million visitors last year. The gap between demand and supply is visible to anyone running the numbers. The most consequential response to that gap broke ground when Damosa Land Inc. (DLI) and PHINMA Hospitality launched TRYP by Wyndham Samal, the Philippines' first-ever TRYP condotel and the island's first internationally flagged hotel. Inspired by the iconic Bahay Na Bato, the project is the third collaboration between PHINMA Hospitality and Damosa Land, following Microtel by Wyndham hotels in Davao and General Santos. The project's early momentum has also been reinforced by industry recognition. At the 14th PropertyGuru Philippines Property Awards 2026, TRYP by Wyndham

Samal received two distinctions: Best Investment Condo Development and Best Beachfront Condotel Architectural Design. The awards underscore the project's appeal as a hospitality development and investment proposition on the island. Backed by Wyndham Hotels and Resorts and its global network across 95+ countries, TRYP by Wyndham Samal gives the island its first global hospitality brand and wider international reach. The four-star, 100-room property, with a 250-seat ballroom and flexible meeting facilities, is positioned to capture the emerging meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions market, while 90% of its units already sold underscores strong investor confidence in Samal’s tourism and property potential. That hospitality confidence does not exist in isolation. Damosa Land’s Bridgeport, a 13-hectare masterplanned waterfront community, has been laying the groundwork for Samal’s commercial and residential growth since its launch in 2022, with 90% of its total number of units sold to date. Now 70% complete, the development is also the venue for the IRONMAN 5150 Samal for the second consecutive year. With low-density condominiums, premium lots, a commercial area, and an exclusive marina, Bridgeport signals that Samal can sustain not just tourists, but residents, businesses, and long-term community life. The growing ecosystem is complemented by established hospitality destinations such as Pearl Farm Beach Resort and Discovery Samal, reinforcing the island’s position as a destination with a strong tourism foundation. Together, these developments point toward a destination crossing a threshold—from weekend escape to full-spectrum growth corridor. For a destination with this much natural endowment, this much infrastructure momentum, and this little branded supply, the window of early-mover advantage is still open. It will not stay open for long. “Samal has reached a point where its potential is becoming increasingly tangible. We are seeing stronger tourism activity, growing investor interest, and the arrival of developments that can elevate the island’s profile. For us, this is an opportunity to help build a stronger and more connected Samal community,” said DLI President Ricardo Floirendo Lagdameo. To learn more about Damosa Land and its developments, visit https://damosaland.com/.

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Govt eyes ways to deter Chinese ramming

EASURES will be put in place to address the latest Chinese ramming incident that targeted a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Bfar) vessel off Palawan on September 18, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said.

“Definitely. This definitely needs to be addressed and we’ll be talking with the National Security Advisor and the National Maritime Council. Kasi unarmed vessel ito [Because this is an unarmed vessel], Bfar vessel, [and this (ramming) has] no rhyme, no reason,” he said in an interview. A China Coast Guard (CCG) ship hit the Bfar ship BRP Datu Magat Salamat (MMOV-3015) broadsides while the latter was carrying out a fuel subsidy mission for Filipino fishermen off HasaHasa Shoal, West Philippine Sea.

“It’s not merely a violation of maritime rules, but a criminal act by the CCG. So, we will be addressing that. I’m not going to talk about specifics now, but definitely our personnel are already developing options

for addressing this,” Teodoro said. He said the Chinese action needs to be addressed as soon as possible since the incident took place in Philippine territor y. He added that if any of the Bfar personnel manning the ship were injured in the incident, that action by the CCG can also be considered as a criminal act. Teodoro said Filipinos reportedly claiming that the CCG is right in ramming the BFAR ship are guilty of treason.

“[That is] not acceptable, at katrayduran na sa Republika ng Pilipinas iyon [that is treachery against the Republic of the Philippines], plain and simple,” he said. The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) earlier condemned the incident, noting that is a serious breach of the 1972 Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (Colregs), the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), and the 2016 Arbitral Award.

Rex Anthony Naval with PNA

Families affected by Cebu rapid bus transit project remain unpaid

EBU CITY—The claims for compensation of families affected by the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (CBRT) project remain under review as Cebu City officials work to determine the payments due to private property owners, with the project’s September 30 loan deadline fast approaching. Kenneth Siasar, chief of staff of Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival, said some affected families have yet to receive compensation for properties used by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). “There are affected families that have

problems because they were not given yet what is due to them,” Siasar told reporters. He clarified that the outstanding payments involve affected private properties under the DPWH, rather than claims being processed directly by the Cebu City government. Siasar said the city has received communication on the matter and is now working to reconcile the concerns, including reviewing the list of affected families and the documentation suppor ting their claims. He said Archival had instructed officials

to look into the complaints and determine the appropriate compensation based on existing guidelines. “The mayor said, ‘okay, I will look at the complaints. And then, give me the list of the affected families. And then, as to the amount, as to how much, we will see if there is proper documentation. And then, if and when it is within the guidelines, we will consider it,’” Siasar said. While some affected families already have places to stay, Siasar said the city recognizes the need to address the compensation that remains due to them.

Asked whether funds would be downloaded to the local government so it could directly pay the affected families, Siasar said this would depend on the applicable guidelines and whether the claims qualify. Siasar said he had received the latest communication on the issue only last week. He added that a meeting with the mayor is expected, following an earlier discussion with Archival on the concerns raised by affected families. The city government is also assessing how the matter will proceed, including whether the concerns would be appealed

or addressed through the existing process. “We will reconcile,” Siasar said, adding that the mayor’s office, together with the legislative side of the city government or the office of the vice mayor, would work to “cover all bases.” “We are moving forward in the preparation,” he said. The compensation issue comes as the September 30 deadline for the CBRT loan draws near, putting added urgency on the city’s preparations for the mass transport project. CBRT, a major public transportation

infrastructure project for Cebu, requires right-of-way acquisition and affects private properties along its alignment. Compensation and relocation of affected families have been among the concerns accompanying the project’s implementation. Siasar did not provide a specific amount or number of families covered by the outstanding claims during the briefing. He said the city would first have to review the submitted list and supporting documents before determining which claims may qualify for payment under the applicable guidelines. Carmel Pedroza