cis, history’s first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change, has died Monday. He was 88.
“At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church,” Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, said in an announcement.
Bells tolled in church towers across
Rome after the announcement.
Francis, who suffered from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on February 14, 2025, for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there, the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy.
From his first greeting as pope— a remarkably normal “Buonasera” (“Good evening”)—to his embrace of refugees and the downtrodden, Francis signaled a very different tone for the papacy, stressing humility over hubris for a Catholic Church beset by scandal and accusations of indifference.
After that rainy night on
March 13, 2013, the Argentineborn Jorge Mario Bergoglio brought a breath of fresh air into a 2,000-year-old institution that had seen its influence wane during the troubled tenure of Pope Benedict XVI, whose surprise resignation led to Francis’ election.
But Francis soon invited troubles of his own, and conservatives grew increasingly upset with his progressive bent, outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and crackdown on traditionalists. His greatest test came in 2018 when he botched a notorious case of clergy sexual abuse in Chile, and the scandal that festered under his predecessors erupted anew on his watch.
And then Francis, the crowd-
loving, globe-trotting pope of the peripheries, navigated the unprecedented reality of leading a universal religion through the coronavirus pandemic from a locked-down Vatican City.
He implored the world to use Covid-19 as an opportunity to rethink the economic and political framework that he said had turned rich against poor.
“We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented,” Francis told an empty St. Peter’s Square in March 2020. But he also stressed the pandemic showed the need for “all of us to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other.”
By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto @reine_alberto
THE Philippines’s balance of payments (BOP) position reverted to a deficit in March, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Latest data from the BSP showed that the BOP swung back to a $1.966-billion deficit in March 2025, from a $1.173-billion BOP surplus during the same month a year ago.
According to John Paolo R. Rivera, senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, the shift in BOP deficit in March could be due to earlier inflows, such as borrowings, remittances, or investmentrelated receipts, having moderated in March.
“This underscores the sensitivity of the Philippines’ external position to global market movements and domestic financing needs,” Rivera said.
“Moving forward, careful management of external debt and
The BSP said the deficit resulted from the national government’s withdrawal of foreign currency deposits from the central bank to pay for its foreign debts, as well as its net foreign exchange operations. The BOP is a summary of the Philippines’s economic transactions with the rest of the world for a specific period. A BOP surplus position means there are more exports or inflows than imports or outflows, while a deficit means there are less.
By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan
THE local steel industry group warned the public against substandard steel bars proliferating on Facebook Marketplace.
In a Viber message sent to the BusinessMirror, Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (PISI)
President Ronald C. Magsajo said while the industry has not monitored advertisements promoting the sale of Induction Furnace (IF)-produced steel bars on Youtube, he divulged that substandard steel bars are already being sold online.
“Unfortunately we have not monitored YouTube Ads. We have however, monitored online selling of substandard bars on Facebook Marketplace,” Magsajo told this paper, which showed him a Youtube ad soliciting buyers for an IF machine.
The PISI chief clarified, however, that he “cannot say for sure” if these substandard steel bars being sold at the online
marketplace can be identified as steel bars produced with the use of induction furnaces (IF). Experts said last week that IF was the process used in producing steel bars that built the government building that collapsed during a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Thailand. (See: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2025/04/13/ not-with-substandard-steelaround/) Facilities that use IF do not remove harmful elements in the liquid steel, resulting in the inconsistent quality of products they churn out.
PISI to consumers: Be vigilant MAGSAJO said the local steel industry has no capability to stop these sellers/resellers of substandard steel bars online but noted: “They have been reported through to [Department of Trade and Industry] DTI for action.” With this, he advised consumers to keep an eye out amid the
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pili-
pinas (BSP) is expected to reduce key policy rates three more times in the second half of the year, as low inflation will serve as a boon to the Philippine market, according to UBS. In its outlook, UBS Investment Bank Senior Asean and Asia Economist Grace Lim and Analyst RJ Aguirre said the BSP could reduce the key policy rate in August, October and December this year, in line with the US Federal Reserve’s stance. The BSP has lowered the key policy rate by 25 basis points to 5.50 percent, while the interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were also reduced to 5 percent and 6 percent, respectively.
“We maintain our view that the Philippines’s direct and indirect exposure to trade and global GDP growth remains negligible,” UBS said.
The Philippine market is seen to be a “safe haven” amid the ongoing trade war and global recessionary risks, according to the analysts.
US President Donald Trump announced a 10-percent tariff on the majority of America’s trading partners, including reciprocal tariffs on 29 countries, last April 2.
The Philippines was not spared, as it was slapped a 17-percent reciprocal tariff. Despite this, the tariffs
are the second lowest in Asean, after Singapore’s 10 percent. Analysts of UBS forecast significant growth downside around the world as global expansion could decline by 50 to 100 basis points.
In the Asia-Pacific region, growth could slow by 30 to 120 basis points. But in the Philippines, the impact will be among the lowest in the region, at just 30 basis points, “as the risks appear to be comparatively smaller given the domesticoriented nature of the economy.”
Moody’s Senior Director Choon Hong Chua said the imposition of tariffs has sparked global conversations about the potential impact on supply chain disruption and the consequent increase in consumer product costs.
“Exporters in the Asia-Pacific region will bear the brunt of the recent developments as they now face increased costs and uncertainty in bringing their products to the US market,” Chua said. He said exporters could see a decline in demand from the US, loss of competitive edge and shrinking market share if they increase consumer costs to cushion the impact of tariffs.
“Pressure on revenue will be immense, especially for those who are unable to pivot swiftly to new markets,” Chua added. This could also result in diminished access to the US market for companies that also serve Asia and Europe, creating a domino effect
POPE Francis pauses during an interview with The Associated Press at The Vatican, Tuesday, January 24, 2023. Pope Francis, history’s first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change, died Monday. He was 88. AP/DOMENICO STINELLIS
Vietnam, Thailand grow in popularity among Pinoy…
Visa-free and cheap
THAT said, he averred that Asian destinations would always come in strong in terms of outbound travel by Filipinos because “their close proximity is perfect for a quick getaway.” He added that most Asean countries, along with Hong Kong and Taiwan, “do not require tourist visas,” thus simplifying outbound travel for Filipinos.
For another, there are a large number of low-cost carriers (LCCs) to these Asian destinations “coupled with budget-friendly accommodations and activities, as well as affordable street-food options…short trips are more cost-friendly to Filipinos,” said Tuaño.
Filipino budget carrier Cebu Pacific, for instance, has made flights to Hong Kong and Singapore accessible from various hubs in the country, such as Clark, Cebu, and Iloilo, giving a wide range of passengers the option to fly direct from outside Metro Manila.
Separately, Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval explained that Hong Kong and the UAE have a high rate of Filipino travelers also because these are major transit points. “These are the first ports of destination, which is what we record upon exit,” she said.
PHL in deep sorrow over death of spiritual grandpa
By Justine Xyrah Garcia and Samuel P. Medenilla
THEcountry is mourning the death of Pope Francis Pope, who was not only regarded as the Vicar of Christ, but was also fondly known as “Lolo Kiko,” a spiritual grandfather whose presence felt personal, paternal, and profoundly close to the Filipino faithful.
“Throughout his pontificate, our Lolo Kiko was a true father to us and has continued to show his love for the Philippines—not only through words, but through actions,” Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal F. Advincula said in a statement.
Advincula said the late Pope’s love for the country was evident in his appointments of Filipino Church leaders, including three cardinals and numerous bishops whose pastoral approach reflected his vision of service, humility, and openness.
“And as we celebrated 500 years of Christianity in our land, the Holy Father was with us, thanking God with
us for the gift of faith, and encouraging us to continue sharing it with the world,” he added.
Pope Francis made a historic visit to the Philippines in January 2015—the fourth papal visit to the country and the first since 1995.
‘A class of his own’
PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. considers the Pope as the “best” leader of the Catholic Church known for his “profound faith and humility.”
The chief executive said Pope Francis was a “class of his own,” when he was elected as Supreme Pontiff on 13 March 2013.
“I love this Pope. The best Pope in my lifetime as far as I’m concerned,” Marcos said on the sidelines of a meeting last Monday.
In a post in his social account, Marcos recognized Pope Francis’ “profound faith and humility,” which Filipinos should emulate.
“A man of profound faith and humility, Pope Francis led not only with wisdom but with a heart open to all, especially the poor and the forgotten,” Marcos said.
“By example, Pope Francis taught us that to be a good Christian is to extend kindness and care to one another. His humility brought many back to the fold of the Church,” he added.
Pope Francis, 88, died at 7:35 am local time, according to Vatican News.
“The Philippines joins the Catholic community worldwide in grieving the loss of His Holiness Pope Francis,” Marcos said.
Senate President Francis G. Escudero said noted that his tireless efforts to foster peace and inclusion reshaped the Church’s role in promoting unity across religious and cultural divides.
“As the first Latin American pontiff, Pope Francis championed the marginalized, bringing their voices to the forefront of his papacy and inspiring the world with his message of love and accep -
tance,” he said.
“Pope Francis’ 2015 visit to the Philippines remains etched in our hearts. During his time here, he consoled those affected by Typhoon Yolanda and called for solidarity and care for the most vulnerable among us. His words of ‘mercy and compassion’ continue to guide the Filipino people in building a society rooted in empathy and understanding,” he added.
In a statement, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez recalled the Pontiff’s historic visit to Tacloban in 2015, just over a year after Typhoon Yolanda devastated the region.
The Speaker recounted how Pope Francis stood in the rain with the survivors, offering comfort not just through words, but through his compassionate presence.
“To us, he was more than a Pope. He was a father, a friend, a guiding light in times of darkness,” Romualdez said. “He braved the storm, stood with us in the rain, and spoke not just as a leader of the Church, but as someone who truly felt our pain.”
The Speaker emphasized the profound impact of Pope Francis’ message of hope and love, which resonated deeply with Yolanda survivors and Filipinos across the nation. With reports from Butch Fernandez and Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz
proliferation of these substandard steel bars in the online market. “As for consumers, I advise that they be vigilant and not settle for ‘mura.’ Also, if they encounter substandard products, please inform DTI right away of both the product and the seller,” added Magsajo.
The PISI chief also underscored that it’s harder to monitor substandard steel products on Facebook. He said: “Sometimes there are postings, after a few days, it’s gone.”
“Easiest at the plant level. There are fewer. Physical stores or hardware stores next as you can still see and to physical weighing of the product. Online is difficult, can be one source with multiple accounts or many sources with many accounts,” Magsajo also told this paper.
Last April 9, Roberto Cola, former president of the nonprofit PISI and a member of the Department of Science and Technology-Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC), called on the government to impose a “total ban” on the use of these substandard steel products, saying, “Because it’s more dangerous in the Philippines. We’re in a more dangerous place.” Cola said the use of induction furnaces for steelmaking is already prohibited in Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand.
DTI said last week, however, the government has not yey prohibited the use of steel from IF facilities.
“No policy has been issued on the prohibition of the use of the induction furnace for the manufacture of deformed steel bars, but we are definitely open to discuss regarding that issue,” John Steven Magboo, senior trade industry development specialist at the DTI-Bureau of of Philippine Standards (BPS).
In a letter penned by PISI President Ronald C. Magsajo to Agaton O. Uvero, DTI Assistant Secretary for Fair Trade Group, the PISI chief attached the results of the industry group’s results of market test buy activities for 2024 and 2025. Magsajo said the purchased samples were tested at DTI-accredited testing facilities to ensure impartial results.
on supply chain disruptions that could destabilize businesses. Meanwhile, UBS said the Philippines is one of the “least-exposed” within the region, as its percentage of goods exported to the United States is only 2 percent of GDP.
trade competitiveness will be crucial to maintaining external stability,” he added.
Month-on-month, the country’s BOP position was also a reversal of the $3.086-billion surplus recorded in February 2025.
The BOP level from January to March 2025 is a deficit of $2.958 billion, a reversal of the $238 million surplus recorded in the same period in 2024.
According to the central bank, the year-to-date deficit reflected mainly the widening trade deficit in goods.
Rizal Commercial Banking Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said the cumulative BOP level is partly due to a relatively wider trade deficit, net foreign portfolio investment outflows amid increased global market volatility due to Donald Trump’s tariffs. Still, the BSP said the decline was partly muted by the continued net inflows from personal remittances, foreign direct investments and foreign borrowings by
The country’s total trade-toGDP ratio, or goods and services, is at about 66 percent, which reflects that the country is still exposed if a broader global slowdown were to take place, UBS added. Reine Juvierre S. Alberto
the national government.
The central bank said the current BOP position mirrored the decline in the final gross international reserves (GIR) to $106.7 billion as of the end of March 2025 from $107.4 billion as of end-February 2025.
“This latest GIR level provides a robust external liquidity buffer, equivalent to 7.4 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income,” the BSP said.
The central bank said the latest GIR level ensures the availability of foreign exchange to meet balance of payments financing needs, such as for payment of imports and debt service, in extreme conditions when there are no export earnings or foreign loans.
The GIR level also covers approximately 3.6 times the country’s short-term external debt based on residual maturity, the BSP added. Short-term debt based on residual maturity is the outstanding external debt with an original maturity of one year or less, plus principal payments on mediumand long-term loans of the public and private sectors falling due within the next 12 months.
“The continued high instances of non-conformity of samples purchased leads us to conclude that there are larger quantities of substandard products being sold in the market today. We must learn from the recent tragedy that has hit our ASEAN neighbors and take the necessary steps to guarantee no such disaster occurs in our country,” Magsajo’s letter addressed to Uvero read.
The results provided by PISI to the Trade department showed the different steel products that failed the industry group’s test buy activities.
“We believe the data provided can help the DTI-Fair Trade Group in its efforts at ensuring that only certified products are made available to the consuming public,” Magsajo’s letter noted.
“We humbly request that the DTI Fair Trade Group continue its market enforcement activities and, as necessary, subject violators to the maximum penalties allowed by law against the offending parties,” added the PISI chief.
In a statement on Monday, DTI Assistant Secretary for Fair Trade Group Agaton O. Uvero said: “The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) continues its intensive enforcement action on steel products amidst the submission of a market test-buy report by an industry association, which flagged non-compliant steel rebar and angle bar products.”
Uvero said the Trade department will “intensify” its activities on market enforcement, plant visit and audit of manufacturing plants, and industry association engagement.
Meanwhile, Magsajo told this paper that the DTI has not yet coordinated with the industry group regarding their proposed ban of IF-produced steel bars in the local market.
“No coordination from DTI yet on the proposed ban with current DTI officials,” the PISI chief said.
POPE FRANCIS
AP FILE PHOTO BY ANDREW MEDICHINI
Comelec: 4 candidates may have violated Holy Week campaign ban
By Justine Xyrah Garcia
AT least four candidates may have violated the campaign ban during Holy Week, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Monday.
In an interview, Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia said that all forms of campaigning— including on social media—were prohibited on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
“Campaigning does not necessarily mean going around…there are those who campaigned using their social media accounts… that is still campaigning,” Garcia said in Filipino.
He said posts bearing the phrase “vote for” appeared on the official accounts of one party-list
group and three local candidates from Quezon City, Cavite, and the Bicol Region.
“They are not only disrupting the solemnity of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but also preventing voters from resting and having peace of mind on those two days,” he added.
The Comelec said it will issue show cause orders to the concerned candidates, who must explain why they should not be charged with an election offense.
The poll body also urged the public to report other candidates who may have violated the campaign ban.
Under Resolution 10999, the Comelec prohibited all political and election-related activities on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
This includes campaigning in person, online, or through any other medium.
Violators may be penalized under Sections 263 and 264 of the Omnibus Election Code, which include imprisonment of one to six years, disqualification from voting, and perpetual disqualification from public office.
‘Cash card’ vote-buying
GARCIA also disclosed that the Comelec is investigating an alleged vote-buying scheme involving a congressional candidate in Quezon City.
The candidate, whom the Comelec declined to name, allegedly distributed cash cards during the campaign period.
“They may not have given out
Marbil forms 2 groups vs kidnapping, fake
THE National Police (PNP) has activated two specialized committees— the Joint Anti-Kidnapping Action Committee (Jakac) and the Joint Anti-Fake News Action Committee (Jafnac)—to reinforce its commitment to public safety and truth in information.
In a statement on Monday, the National Police chief, Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, said the Jakac will focus on identifying, investigating, and neutralizing organized kidnap-for-hire operations in the country, while the Jafnac will address the growing menace of misinformation and disinformation that threaten public trust, peace, and national stability.
He said the formation of these committees are aligned with President Marcos’s Bagong Pilipinas vision, and reflects the PNP’s commitment to transparent, accountable, and proactive policing.
“These committees are not just organizational measures—they are proactive responses to modern-day threats. From kidnap-for-hire syndicates to digital disinformation campaigns, the PNP is moving decisively to protect our people. This is our commitment to Bagong Pilipinas—ensuring that law and truth prevail,” Marbil said.
“These initiatives are grounded on the principle that a secure and informed
news
citizenry is key to national development.”
The formation of Jakac, to be led by the PNP Deputy Chief for Investigation, Lt. Gen. Edgar Alan Okubo, comes in the wake of the successful resolution of the kidnapping and murder case of businessman Anson Que and his driver Armanie Pabillo.
Marbil commended Okubo and the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) for their decisive action on the case, with three suspects arrested and two others still being hunted.
Alongside kidnapping cases, the spread of fake news also poses significant challenges.
In recent weeks, unverified reports
House leaders hail arrest of kidnap-murder suspects
LBy Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie
EADERS of the House of Representatives on Monday said the arrest of three suspects in the kidnapping and murder of Filipino-Chinese businessman Anson Que and his driver Armanie Pabillo reflects the government’s serious efforts to strengthen law enforcement and deliver justice. Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, and Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez, chairman of the House Committee on Public Order and Safety, said the arrests made by the National Police (PNP) underscore the government’s commitment to curbing criminality.
“This swift action by the PNP proves that under the leadership of President Marcos, our law enforcement agencies are working with greater precision and efficiency in
solving crimes,” said Barbers. Barbers praised the National Police chief, Gen. Rommel Marbil. and his staff for their professionalism in carrying out the operation, emphasizing that justice was served without any unnecessary bloodshed.
“This is an excellent example of what determined, evidence-based policing can achieve. Kudos to Gen. Marbil and his team for getting the job done without unnecessary loss of life,” Barbers added.
He also emphasized that the arrests send a message that justice can be achieved through proper legal procedures.
“This development shows the growing capacity of our law enforcement agencies to resolve cases with professionalism and restraint. We should encourage this kind of performance from our police officers,” Barbers explained.
He added that the PNP must sustain this
BARMM intensifies inspection of children’s safe learning spaces
DAVAO CITY—With the improved peace and order situation in the Bangsamoro area, the regional autonomous government doubled up on inspecting the safe spaces for children learners, this time to focus on protecting them from the impact of disasters.
The Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) reported it recently completed its comprehensive inspection of 99 newly repaired Child Development Centers (CDCs) across the region. The inspections took place from April 7 to April 11 covering the towns of Datu Anggal Midtimbang, Guindulungan, South Upi, Ampatuan, Rajah Buayan, Datu Salibo, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, and Datu Montawalin of Maguindanao del Sur, and the towns of Upi, Matanog, Sultan Kudarat, and Northern Kabuntalan of Maguindanao del Norte.
MSSD said its officials conducted the inspection with the Office of the Chief Minister (OCM) and the Commission on Audit (COA) “to ensure that young learners in the region, many of whom were affected by disasters such as Tropical Storm Paeng in 2022, have access to safe and nurturing early childhood care and education.”
MSSD Regional Focal Person for Child and Youth Welfare Program
Johynne Amilyn Nasa said the inspection included the nine newlyconstructed CDCs in Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte, which were built to replace facilities damaged by typhoons. “Quality early childhood education begins with strong collaboration between local governments and the ministry,” she said. Nasa said that while the responsibility to operate and manage CDCs lies with the local governments,
cash, but they issued a card. If that card was given during the campaign period, that’s really votebuying,” Garcia said.
The card, issued by a global financial platform, can be used by recipients at accredited stores either to purchase items or to get discounts.
Garcia said initial reports indicate that the card contains P2,000, but added that there are concerns that more funds could be added later.
“If proven, we can hold accountable not only the candidate but also the platform that was used to issue such a card,” he said.
As of press time, the Comelec’s Committee on Kontra Bigay is investigating 120 vote-buying cases and complaints of abuse of government resources.
of alleged kidnappings of prominent businessmen have circulated online, prompting alarm and misinformation.
The PNP has debunked these claims as baseless and is actively pursuing those behind these malicious posts.
Marbil said the creation of the Jafnac, to be led by PNP Deputy Chief for Operations Lt. Gen. Robert Rodriguez, is a direct response to these incidents and aims to institutionalize coordination, monitoring, and response strategies to combat disinformation across all platforms.
“Fake news is not harmless—it can incite fear, panic, and even unrest. Under Bagong Pilipinas, we are taking a firm stand. We will not allow deception to dictate the public narrative,” Marbil said. PNA
the Marcos administration’s effective coordination among security agencies.
momentum in solving high-profile crimes across the country.
“We must continue building on this. The public deserves to feel safe, and that comes from knowing that justice is being served through due process,” Barbers noted.
Identified suspects in the Que slay include his driver, Ricardo Austria David, Raymart Catequista, and David Tan Liao, a mainland Chinese also known by the aliases Xiaoxiang Yang, Yang Jianmin, and Michael Abadyung.Liao surrendered to the PNP AntiKidnapping Group (AKG), while David and Catequista were apprehended in Palawan.
All three face two counts of kidnapping for ransom with homicide.
Fernandez echoed Barbers’ sentiments, calling the successful operation proof of the government’s resolve to fight crime while upholding human rights.
He added that the arrest of the suspects in the Que-Pabillo case demonstrated
the MSSD supports them through technical assistance, resource augmentation, and capacity development under the ministry’s Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) programs.
She said this was because the agency “is actively involved in advocacy initiatives aimed at raising awareness about the importance of early childhood development and these efforts engage key stakeholders, from LGUs to parents and community leaders.”
“MSSD ensures a coordinated and unified effort to strengthen CDCs and deliver quality early childhood services across the region. Thus we emphasize the need for increased local investment in CDCs,” she said.
She said ensuring the safe spaces for learners is being supported also by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education, and Ministry of the Interior and Local Government under its Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Technical Working Group (TWG). Manuel T. Cayon
Groups quiz Senate hopefuls on key environment issues
By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga
ENVIRONMENTAL health and justice gr oups are urging all senatorial candidates to participate in the ongoing Green Electoral Initiative (GEI) and inform the electorate about their stand on the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
Held in conjunction with the coming midterm elections, the GEI focuses on the senatorial candidates’ views on major environmental issues facing the Filipino people and how these are addressed in their platform, particularly in their legislative agendas.
To learn about the views of the candidates, a GEI questionnaire prepared with inputs from participating groups was provided to the candidates for them to answer.
Among the groups that crafted the questionnaire were the Action on Smoking and Health (ASH Philippines), BAN Toxics, Break Free From Plastic (BFPP), Community Legal Help and Public Interest Centre (C-HELP), EcoWaste Coalition, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), Greenpeace Southeast Asia (GPSEA), Health Care Without Harm—Southeast Asia, International Pollutants Elimination Network-Southeast and East Asia (IPEN SEA), and Mother Earth Foundation (MEF).
A panel of environmental experts will meticulously evaluate and rate each candidate based on the questionnaire responses they provide. The objective is not
to endorse specific candidates or political parties but rather to equip voters with the knowledge they need to discern the platforms of those running for the senate, particularly in the realm of environmental issues.
Among the environmental health and justice issues highlighted in the GEI questionnaire are ecological solid waste management, plastic pollution and waste trade, oceans and fisheries, chemical and consumer safety, and climate and energy.
The questions would reveal, among others, the candidates’ stand on critical issues such as the burning of waste for energy or waste-to-energy, the proposed ban on single use plastics (SUPs) including sachets, plastic straws and cutlery, plastic bags and other inappropriate and polluting packaging; and the idea of reuse and refill as primary solutions to the plastic pollution crisis.
The questions also include the position of the senatorial on the issue of land reclamation, commercial fishing in municipal waters, revival of nuclear energy as a solution to the energy crisis, phase-out of coal and expansion of fossil gas, and renewable energy transition.
Candidates are likewise asked to disclose their environmental track record, including sponsorship and voting history in Congress (if applicable) concerning environmental legislation. Lastly, candidates were also asked to reveal if they or any of their immediate family members have been involved in or benefited from environmentally destructive projects in the past.
DOJ open to grant of additional compensation, perks to OGCC
Fernandez assured the public that Congress will continue to support law enforcement and institutional reforms to improve public safety. Que and Pabillo were last seen on March 29 after leaving Que’s office in Valenzuela City.
A $20 million ransom demand was sent to Que’s family via WeChat, A Chinese app, the following day, prompting them to report the matter to the AKG.
Despite the family’s efforts to negotiate, the bodies of Que and Pabillo were found on April 9, dumped along a roadside in Rodriguez, Rizal.
A uthorities later determined that the victims were killed in a house in Meycauayan, Bulacan, where DNA evidence linked to the victims was recovered.
Surveillance footage and cyber monitoring played a key role in identifying the suspects. PNP investigators believe the crime had been planned as early as January 2025.
TBy Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573
HE Department of Justice (DOJ) is amenable to the grant of additional compensation and privileges to the Office of the Government Corporation Counsel for additional tasks or services it rendered in handling arbitration cases involving government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs).
In a seven-page legal opinion, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the handling of arbitration cases without any “special assessment” in the form of honorarium or allowance is not supported by law and regulations.
“After a review of the relevant laws and regulations, we advise that while the primary function of the OGCC is to serve as the principal law office of all GOCCs and to safeguard their legal interests, the OGCC should nonetheless be entitled to receive additional compensation as may be granted by the GOCC concerned, considering the complexity of the issues, the magnitude of the claim, and the expeditious nature of
the arbitral proceedings,” Remulla stressed. However, Remulla said the reasonable amounts of legal fees to be charged will have to be determined by the parties, in accordance with prevailing industry pricing, among other considerations. The Justice secretary issued the legal opinion in response to the letter of Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) President and Chief Executive Officer Dennis Edward dela Serna seeking guidance on the grant of honoraria-allowances, privileges or attorney’s fees or both to the OGCC, the statutory counsel for GOCCs, for the special or additional tasks or services it rendered or will render in handling PSALM’s arbitration cases. Among these cases are: “In the Matter of Arbitration under the Administration Agreement for the Selection and Appointment of the Independent Power Producer Administrator for the Output at Mt. Apo 1 and 2 Geothermal Power Plants pursuant to 2013 UNCITRAL Rules between FDC Misamis Corporation and Psalm (FDC
Legislator tells new fire chief: Focus on training, equipment
ALAWMAKER on Monday called on the newly appointed head of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) to prioritize equipping personnel with advanced firefighting and emergency response techniques, alongside adequate protective gear, as part of the agency’s ongoing modernization efforts.
Bicol Saro Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan expressed optimism that under the new leadership of Fire Director Jesus Piedad Fernandez, the BFP would finally resolve the long-standing backlog of fire trucks nationwide by ensuring transparent and fair bidding processes for all potential suppliers.
Fernandez, who previously served as the BFP’s officer-in-charge, succeeded former BFP chief Louie Puracan, who retired in December 2024.
“As we welcome the appointment of BFP Director Jesus Fernandez, we are also optimistic that under his leadership,
the agency will be able to boost its modernization efforts, starting with providing each city and municipality with modern fire firetrucks and our firefighters with adequate protective equipment,” said Yamsuan, a former DILG assistant secretary.
“Fulfilling these goals should be complemented by continuous advanced training programs for BFP personnel to enable them to effectively carry out their responsibilities not only as firefighters but also as first responders during disasters and other emergencies. Ensuring that the emergency response capabilities of our fire personnel are on par with international standards should form part of the BFP’s modernization program,” added Yamsuan.
For instance, Yamsuan said a proposed measure in the House of Representatives aims to require BFP personnel to be certified medical first responders and emergency medical technicians, which Fernandez could
initiate on his watch as part of the agency’s upskilling programs for its personnel. Yamsuan was referring to House Bill (HB) 6512, which seeks to require BFP regional directors to designate in every fire station at least one uniformed personnel to act as emergency medical technician who will supervise fire officers in responding to medical emergencies. The measure was passed on third and final reading by the House in 2023 and transmitted to the Senate in the same year. In other countries like the United States, many firefighters are also trained as paramedics or medical first responders, Yamsuan noted. Yamsuan said the BFP can partner with other government agencies, such as the Department of Health (DOH) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), as well as the private sector in providing advanced training and seminars to its personnel. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
NCIP seeks invitation to Senate blue-ribbon panel investigation of DENR-Masungi row
By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga
AN official of the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) said vast tracts of land in the Marikina Watershed are covered with Certificates of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT), including the controversial Masungi Georeserve.
Josefina Rodriguez-Agusti, NCIP Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) director, said the NCIP has not received an invitation from the blue-ribbon committee and hopes to be invited to shed light on the overlapping land claims and territorial dispute in the Marikina
MPC Arbitration Case) and “National Grid Corporation of the Philippines vs National Transmission Corporation and Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation [NGCP Arbitration Case].”
Dela Serna’s request stemmed from the proposed execution of Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the OGCC for the special or additional tasks or services it will render in the said arbitration cases and other succeeding arbitrations cases.
For the FDC MPC Arbitration Case, the proposed MOA provides that Psalm shall pay the OGCC the total amount of P4,125,000 in addition to the entitlement to attorney’s fees as adjudged by the Tribunal, if any.
For the NGCP Arbitration Case, PSALM and the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) shall pay the OGCC an honorarium in the amount of P200,000 a month for a period of three years from December 1, 2024, subject to the renewal upon mutual agreement of the parties. In addition, the OGCC will be entitled to reimburse our-of -pocket expenses in the amount of P1 million and attorney’s fees as adjudged by the courts, if any.
The DOJ told dela Serna that the government corporate attorneys of the OGCC, who are appointive public officers, fall within the exception against the constitutional prohibition against double compensation as they are specifically authorized by law to receive additional compensation, including entitlement to attorney’s fees.
As you pointed out in your letter. Section 6 of Executive Order 878, as amended, allows members of the legal staff of the OGCC to receive additional compensation and privileges whenever they are assigned-designated to perform additional or special task in any of the client corporations or GOCCs.
Furthermore, the DOJ said under Executive Order 292 or the Administrative Code, the OGCC is authorized to receive the attorney’s fees adjudged in favor of their client GOCCs “which shall accrue to a special fund of the OGCC, for purposes of upgrading facilities and equipment, granting of employees’ incentive pay and other benefits, and defraying such other incentive expenses not provided for in the General Appropriations Act as may be determined by the Government Corporate Counsel.”
Watershed.
“We were not invited, and we hope na sana kahit resource person man lang we will be invited, considering a large portion of the area overlaps the ancestral domain [of Dumagat-Remontados],”
Rodriguez-Agusti said.
The Senate blue-ribbon panel recently began hearing the 2002 Supplemental Agreement cancellation order handed down by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to Blue Star Construction Development Corporation (BSCDC) in connection with an ambitious 5,000-unit housing project on the 300-hectare Lot 10 near the Masungi Geopark, which overlaps with at
least two territories covered by CADTs issued by the NCIP – the Antipolo CADT and Tanay CADT. She said there is an approved CADT already and a segregation process that needs to be followed.
Rodriguez-Agusti, a lawyer, said segregation means titled properties or properties with vested rights must be removed.
Meanwhile, there is also an issue of Masungi operators failing to secure Free, Prior and Informed Consent in compliance with Section 15 of Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (Ipra), which recognizes the right of tribal people and communities.
The provision acknowledges
the right of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) to utilize their own commonly accepted justice systems, conflict resolution mechanisms, and customary laws and practices within their communities, provided they are compatible with the national legal system.
The NCIP issued the CADTs to the Dumagat-Remontados of Antipolo and Tanay, who are both directly affected by what tribe members described as “landgrabbing” activities by various interest groups and individuals, including Blue Star and Masungi Georeserve Foundation, Inc., which runs the award-winning Masungi Geopark.
DA revives livestock data group
Laurel said in a statement.
TThe Board of Directors of Blue Star, a real estate developer, is primarily composed of the same key personalities that run the Masungi Georeserve Foundation Inc., which secured a controversial memorandum of agreement with Environment Secretary Regina Paz Lopez in 2017 for the “perpetual land trust” over 2,700 hectares of land.
“Vastly, the territory is covered by CADTs; that is why all projects there should strictly comply with the law,” RodriguezAgusti said.
The official said they have been receiving various complaints from tribal leaders with ancestral domain claims about Masungi Geopark’s operation, including the fencing of the
territory, depriving them of access to their ancestral lands.
“Some of the Dumagats claim they can no longer harvest fruits from the trees they planted in the area, and some even lost their cattle and goats because the territory is now surrounded by barbed wire.
“They don’t know what happened to the missing cattle, and they suspect that they were already slaughtered,” she said in Filipino. She said that since the fencing started, the Dumagat Remontados were denied access to their ancestral domain, also depriving them of access to food, medicine, and other natural resources that have been their traditional “go-to” areas.
Welcome High School Grads in intelligence and tech jobs
By Henry J. Schumacher
By Ada Pelonia @adapelonia
HE Department of Agriculture (DA) has revived its livestock data group to stabilize the country’s meat supply.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. signed Special Order 599, which authorized the reconstitution of the Inter-Agency Livestock Data Analytics Group (Ldag) to ensure market stability and protect producers and consumers amid price volatility and supply fluctuations.
“We need up-to-date data on market trends and behavior to ensure that the policies we formulate and the actions we take safeguard and promote the growth of the industry, even as we protect consumers,”
“The market is dynamic, hence the need for better and more reliable information for accurate forecasts and timely decisions,” he added.
Agriculture Undersecretary for Livestock Dante Palabrica will head the LDAG.
The group’s main role is to streamline the collection, analysis, and reporting of key livestock and poultry data to bolster planning, forecasting, and policy formulation.
Furthermore, the Ldag will coordinate with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to define and address data requirements. It will also collaborate with commodity focal points across agencies to collect and consolidate data on livestock and poultry production, inventory levels, farmgate
Number of airport, seaport users up during Holy Week
MORE than 3.46 million travelers used the ports, as well as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, during the Holy Week break.
The Manila International Airport Authority and the New Naia Infra Corp., operator of the premier airport reported that 1.17 million passengers used the Naia terminals during the Holy Week period from April 13 to 20.
The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) on the other hand said it has exceeded its projected passenger volume during the Holy Week break, serving more than 2.29 million travelers in its network of ports—a 37.14 percent increase
from the 1.67 million recorded during the same period last year.
The number of passengers at the country’s main gateway represents a 12.7 percent increase from the same period last year, making this year’s one of the busiest Holy Weeks in recent years.
The highest single-day volume was recorded on Easter Sunday, with 156,635 passengers, while the daily average for the week stood at 146,611. Both international and domestic travel posted double-digit growth, with international passenger traffic up 11.21 percent and domestic up 14.19 percent year-on-year.
Naia recorded an on-time performance of 83.28 percent in all terminals throughout the Holy Week period an indicator of smoother airport operations and more efficient turnaround for airlines.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) deployed additional personnel and opened more counters during peak hours that were fully supported by terminal improvements designed specifically to enable faster processing and reduce congestion.
NNIC continues to roll out upgrades and process improvements across all terminals to accommodate rising passenger traffic and ensure a consistently high level of service —particularly during peak travel periods such as Holy Week.
prices, cold storage stocks, and production costs.
Under the order, the group is required to generate scenario-based supply and demand outlooks, develop trend analyses, and produce regular reports such as the Livestock and Poultry Situationer to inform the DA officials on key developments in the pork, chicken, egg, and dairy sectors.
It will also conduct regular consultations with industry stakeholders to validate data and enhance the relevance of its findings, ensuring alignment between government action and actual market conditions.
“Through the strengthened LDAG, the DA aims to boost the livestock sector’s resilience, improve food security, and promote longterm industry sustainability.”
Under the current public-private partnership, NNIC with its regulator the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) and other government stakeholders, are working together to deliver a modernized Naia that meets the growing demands of the traveling public and supports long-term economic growth.
Originally, the PPA expected to serve 1.73 million travelers during the holiday, representing only a 3.5-percent increase from last year’s figures.
PPA General Manager Jay Santiago said the sharp increase in port users from April 12 to 20 was attributed to the alignment of Holy Week with the summer vacation and the successful promotion of local travel.
Among the busiest port clusters were those in Batangas, PanayGuimaras, Mindoro, Negros Oriental-Siquijor, and Bohol, which saw spikes in foot traffic especially during Holy Wednesday and Holy Thursday.
The agency is now ramping up efforts to improve coordination with shipping lines and streamline traffic flow through digitalization.
Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon emphasized the urgency of implementing the Electronic Terminal Management System (ETMS) within the year to further streamline processes in the ports.
“Within the next few months basta within this year, maro-rollout na iyan. Kapag may e-ticketing na tayo, wala nang masyadong pila,” Dizon said. Nonie Reyes and Lorenz S. Marasigan
IHAVE always been a big supporter of “Learning by Doing.” Not because I was kicked out of school at the age of 16. It’s because I learned by doing at every career step I made. From my apprenticeship to my AirForce time, from working at various locations for Hoechst in Germany, in South Africa and the Philippines, from creating the first European Chamber of Commerce in the world in Manila to taking over the management of that organization.
I have presented my ideas about “learning by doing” to committees in both Houses of Congress.
With that background I was super excited when I read the story of software company Palantir, which mostly specializes in intelligence-gathering and military applications, and launched a new internship program that recruits the brightest minds right out of high school.
The Big Picture: Higher education is at a crossroads, with student debt reaching historic highs and a job market that isn’t rewarding the hefty expenses. So, everyone, from employers to prospective students, is searching for alternatives. By pinpointing promising job candidates right out of high school, companies like Palantir could mold people into the exact employees they’re looking for.
Behind the Hires: Palantir’s Meritocracy Fellowship is looking for candidates who want to work rather than go to college:
n The fellowship is a four-month, paid internship for high school grads not enrolled in college.
n At the end of the internship, interns will receive the “Palantir Degree” and be given the opportunity to interview for full-time positions.
The Future: Palantir CEO Alex Karp has been on a college-trolling tour as of late, saying that “everything you learned at your school and college about how the world works is intellectually incorrect.” Karp
claims that elite college admissions are compromised, so the internship is awarded “based solely on merit and academic excellence.”
Considering the number of Palantir employees who have become successful entrepreneurs in their own right, many high school grads may see the fellowship as a path worth betting on. Given the fact that Palantir is an American company doing its admirable work in the US is no reason to believe that this cannot be done in the Philippines. We have already good examples like DualTech, TESDA, and companies and organization like SEIPI and Phinma who are supporting dual education.
Allow me to add that apprenticeship is a structured training program where individuals learn a trade or profession through a combination of on-job experience and related theoretical instruction. It is a system for training a new generation of professionals. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulated occupation. In the Philippines two effective methods allow hands-on learning—apprenticeship and internship or on-the-job training (OJT). Apprenticeships is a long-term program of 2—3 years, while internships are completed in less than six months. In conclusion, let’s copy Palantir and it’s great ideas in the Philippines. I would love to get your comments; contact me at hjschumacher59@gmail.com.
AGROUP of farmers from barangay Balogo, Oas, Albay, has
DepEd: Private schools may adopt June 16 class start
By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco @claudethmc3
PRIVATE schools may adopt the June 16 opening of classes or set their own schedule for school year (SY) 2025-2026, an official of the Department of Education (DepEd) clarified on Monday.
“They may also set their own start of classes, provided they comply with the School Calendar Law, which states that the school year shall start on the first Monday of June but not later than the last day of August,” said Dennis Legaspi, chief Media Relations - Office of the Secretary. Legaspi noted that under the law, the school year shall consist of not more than 220 class days.
SY 2025-2026 will begin on June 16, 2025 to March 31, 2026 consisting of 197 days.
Implementation of four major programs
MEANWHILE , in line with the marching order of President Ferdinand R. Marcos to address learning loss, the DepEd is ramping up its summer learning efforts this May through the implementation of four major programs aimed at building foundational skills across grade levels.
These are the Bawat Bata Makababasa Program (BBMP), Literacy Remediation Program (LRP), Summer Academic Remedial Program, and the Learning Camp (LC). DepEd’s summer programs form part of a holistic education recovery strategy that combines targeted instruction, volunteer mobilization, learner well-being, and community engagement to ensure that no learner is left behind.
“We call on our partners and stakeholders to stand with us in this mission. Every Filipino child deserves the chance to read, to understand, and to succeed—and it will take all of us working together to make that happen. More than a summer initiative, these programs are part of a bigger movement to rebuild the foundations of learning, one reader at a time,” said Education Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara. Bawat Bata Makababasa Program
IN REGION 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula), DepEd will pilot the Bawat Bata Makababasa Program (BBMP), targeting around 75,000 Grades 1 to 3 learners identified as struggling readers based on literacy assessments.
The program will run from May 8 to June 6, 2025, and will provide daily reading tutorials supported by fun and engaging activities designed to build foundational literacy.
Approximately 7,500 teachers and volunteer tutors will be deployed across the region, with each tutor assigned to small groups of learners for focused instruction.
Pre-service education students will be prioritized for volunteer roles and may count their participation as relevant teaching experience.
Tutors will undergo training from April 23 to 30 and will also help implement sup -
port measures, such as free daily snacks, vision screening, and home-based literacy reinforcement strategies for parents.
Literacy Remediation Program
OUTSIDE of Region 9, all other regions will implement the Literacy Remediation Program (LRP) to provide intensive literacy support to 59,627 Grade 3 learners categorized as Low Emerging Readers in English through the End-of-School-Year (EoSY) Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment (CRLA).
To support this effort, DepEd will train 14,023 teachers to conduct two-hour daily remediation sessions from May 13 to June 6, 2025.
A cascade of training activities will begin with the Training of National and Regional Trainers for Remediation Teachers from April 27 to 30, followed by training for School Heads from April 30 to May 2, and Regional Trainings for teachers from May 4 to 9.
Participating teachers will receive service credits and daily meal allowance.
Summer Academic Remedial Program
DEPED will also implement a nationwide Summer Academic Remedial Program from May 13 to June 6, 2025, targeting Grades 4 to 12 learners who require additional support in one or two subjects.
The program is open to all public and private schools, including Philippine schools overseas, and is especially intended for learners who failed a subject, senior high school students retaking prerequisites, and those with disabilities who need specialized assistance.
Highly proficient teachers, especially master teachers or those with demonstrated subject expertise, will be tapped to lead remedial sessions.
These teachers are eligible for incentives in accordance with existing DepEd guidelines.
The Program ensures that struggling learners are given a second chance to catch up and move forward with confidence.
2025 Learning Camp
LASTLY, the 2025 Learning Camp (LC) will be piloted in 10 selected schools located in the MATATAG Pilot Regions (Regions I, II, VII, XII, the National Capital Region (NCR), Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), and (CARAGA).
These schools were chosen based on the number and percentage of students performing below minimum proficiency levels.
The LC promotes a learner-centered approach with smaller class sizes and a focus on learner well-being through enjoyable and meaningful academic experiences in Reading, English, and Mathematics.
Intervention Camps will maintain a maximum ratio of 1 teacher or volunteer per 5 learners, while the Consolidation and Enhancement Camps will allow up to 25 learners per facilitator, ensuring personalized support at every level of learner readiness.
AFP-SOLCOM gains strategic land asset in Quezon via major private-sector donation
THE Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Southern Luzon Command (AFPSOLCOM) recently expanded its base of operations with the donation of a significant tract of land in Quezon Province. The 100-hectare land asset’s handover was formalized in a Deed of Transfer ceremony between AFP-SOLCOM led by Lt. Gen. Facundo Palafox IV and the province’s Reyes clan represented by philanthropist and shipping magnate Merian Reyes. The latter’s family, who owns Villa Reyes in the municipality of San Narciso, Quezon, has designated the land as a future site for the SOLCOM’s strategic base expansion in Southern Luzon. The donated property is expected to significantly enhance the AFP’s regional capacity for operational readiness, territorial defense and humanitarian response.
AFP-SOLCOM commander Lt. Gen. Palafox, on behalf of its entire military personnel, expressed his deep gratitude to Reyes and her family, as he noted that the land donation represents not only a contribution to military infrastructure, but also a demonstration of patriotism and shared responsibility in securing the nation. According to Reyes, the donation was intended not only to serve as a physical foundation for the expansion of military infrastructure, but also as a gesture of trust and collaboration between private citizens and the Armed Forces. She emphasized that similar acts of support arise from a collective responsibility to help protect and
Marcos administration pushes to restore NFA’s power over rice prices, blames Senate for blocking efforts
P42 to P52 per kg at that time.
uplift the nation, with hopes that her family’s contribution encourages greater unity between communities and institutions working toward the country’s peace and progress.
A civic-minded industrialist who heads the nationwide shipping enterprise Starhorse Shipping Lines Inc., Reyes believes in the importance of public-private partnerships in nation-building.
Known for her deep commitment to community development, she explained that the donation reflects the Reyeses’ desire to contribute to national stability and peace.
“This land is our family’s humble contribution to strengthening our nation’s defenses,” said Reyes. “We see it as both a foundation for future development and a symbol of the unity between civilians and our Armed Forces.”
Both parties emphasized that the property’s donation benefits not only the AFP but contributes to the security and prosperity of the broader Filipino public. Military officials also hinted at the potential for further development in the area—including a possible airstrip and docking facility that could serve both civilian and defense needs.
Residents of San Narciso and invited guests applauded the landmark gesture, recognizing the move as a potential catalyst for progress in their region, and a testament to AFP-SOLCOM’s continued strengthening of its capabilities in response to evolving regional and global security dynamics
By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
MALACAÑANG said the Marcos administration will push the amendment of the Republic Act (RA) No. 12078, or the amended Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), in the upcoming 20th Congress to restore the power of National Food Authority (NFA) to procure and sell rice despite the alleged efforts in the Senate to “block” it.
In a press briefing last Monday, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said the Marcos administration has been urging lawmakers to bring back the power of NFA so it can help control the price of rice.
“Actually, the administration has had a proposal for a long time to give the NFA
sufficient power,” she said in Filipino when asked if government economic managers already have a proposed bill for the said reform.
“We want to inform [the public] that if NFA is given the right to sell directly to the people and control the price of rice, the price of rice will not increase like this,” she said.
In its latest price monitoring report on markets in Metro Manila, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said the price of local regular milled rice as of 15 April 2025 ranged from P32 to 48 per kilogram (kg), while for well-milled it was at P38 to P54 per kg. This was lower compared to the price for regular milled rice in the same period last month, which was between P33 to P49 per kg. Well-milled rice was sold between
Castro claimed their efforts to amend RA 12078 are being “blocked” by Senator Cynthia A. Villar, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture.
“That’s why the administration has been asking for power, for amendments to be made to the RTL regarding the rights, authority, and power of the NFA, but this was blocked by Senator Cynthia Villar. So you should do your research on how importers benefit, and find out who has the power to import rice,” Castro said.
Last May, President Ferdinand Marcos said he wants NFA to compete with local rice traders and retailers by restoring its power to buy, sell and import rice.
Under RA No. 11203 or the RTL, NFA was stripped with the said powers and it was
restricted to buying rice from local farmers for buffer stocking.
NFA was allowed to sell existing rice buffer stock in areas where there is a rice supply shortage or an extraordinary increase in rice prices under RA 12078, which amended RA 11203. Among the reasons, which were cited for the removal of the powers of NFA was the alleged corruption within the said agency. Castro said lawmakers should have considered purging the unscrupulous officials and personnel of NFA and not remove its powers.
“If there is a problem in the NFA, with those who run it, the ones who should be removed are those NFA [officials] whose credibility and integrity are in doubt; not the power of the NFA,” she said.
Comelec to audit up to 762 clustered precincts after midterm polls
By Justine Xyrah Garcia
HE Commission on Elections
T(Comelec) is set to randomly audit up to 762 clustered precincts across the country following the May 12 national and local elections.
Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia said the precincts will be selected through an electronic raffle to be conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“All contents will be checked. The ballots will be counted, and other materials inside the ballot box will also be reviewed. We will verify whether the manual count matches
the machine results, which are recorded in the election returns,” Garcia said in Filipino.
Under Republic Act 9369, one precinct per congressional district must undergo random manual auditing (RMA), a postelection process that compares the manually counted ballots with the machinegenerated election returns to verify the accuracy of automated results.
If discrepancies are found between the automated and manual counts, the Comelec will investigate the root cause and may order a full manual count in the affected areas.
The auditing will begin on May 13,
shortly after a local source code review to ensure the integrity of the software used in raffling the precincts.
The entire process is expected to last around 45 days.
Addressing concerns over possible tampering of ballots while in the custody of local treasurers, Garcia assured that ballot images—which serve as concrete proof of voters’ choices—will be secured with the commission.
P23-B Samal-Davao Bridge project hits snag as environmental groups file writ of kalikasan
EBy Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573
NVIRONMENTAL groups have filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking the issuance of a writ of kalikasan enjoining the construction of the P23-billion Samal Island-Davao City Connector (SIDC) Project in order to prevent irreversible damage on the coral reefs in the areas.
The petition was filed by Carmela Marie Santos, director of Ecoteneo; Mark Peñalver, executive director of Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS), Inc.; Sustainable Davao Movement; and Marvelous Dainty Camilo, chairperson of Dyesebel Philippines Inc.
A writ of kalikasan is a legal remedy available to a natural or juridical person, entity authorized by law, people’s organization, non-governmental organization (NGO), or any public interest group, on behalf of persons whose constitutional right to a balanced and healthful ecology is violated or threatened.
In their 212-page petition, the groups also asked the Court to issue a Temporary Environmental Protection Order (TEPO) directing that the respondents to perform or desist from performing an act in order to protect, preserve or rehabilitate the environment.
Named as respondents in the petition were the SIDC project proponent Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), represented by Secretary Manuel Bonoan; Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), represented by Secretary Maria Antonia YuloLoyzaga; Samal Island Protected Landscape
and Seascape Protected Area Management Board, represented by Regional Executive Director of DENR-XI Ma. Mercedes Dumagan; and the SIDC project contractor China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) which is reportedly a state-owned company in China. Santos said out of the P23-billion project cost, P19-billion is a loan from China.
The SIDC project is a bridge that connects Barangays Vicente Hizon, Sr. Angliongto and R. Castillo, Davao City and Barangay Limao, Island Garen City of Samal.
The proposed project has a length of 3.98 kilometers and will comprise of subsections such as navigational bridge, marine viaducts, land viaducts and interchange approach ramps.
However, the petitioners argued that the project should be stopped as it poses irreversible damage on the coral reefs in the 15,000 square meter Paradise Reef in Samal Island and in Hizon Marine Protected Area, in Davao City, They claimed that DPWH and CRBC has been inflicting damage to coral reefs in Paradise Reef, which is considered a violation of the provisions of Republic Act No. 11038, otherwise known as the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System of 2018 and R.A. No. 9147 or the Wildlife Resources Conservation.
On the other hand, the petitioners said the respondents are also liable for violation of the provisions of Protection Act, Davao City Ordinance No. 0861-22 or the Comprehensive Land Use Plan 2019-2028 and Executive Order No. 192 or the Reorganization Act of the Department of Environment and Natural for the damage in
Go calls on Pinoy’s to live the Holy Week’s lessons
SENATOR Christopher “Bong” Go urged Filipinos to carry forward the spirit of compassion and service renewed during the recent Holy Week, emphasizing that true public service must always continue— grounded in faith, empathy, and action.
“Importante po sa atin ang Semana Santa hindi lang bilang Kristiyano kundi bilanglingkod-bayan,” said Go. “Itopoang panahon kung kailan mas naaalala natin angsakripisyoparasakapwaatanghalaga ng pagtulong nang walang hinihintay na kapalit.”
Reflecting on this spiritual renewal, Go reminded Filipinos to let these values echo in everyday life through unity, humility, and service to others.
“ Kung sa bawat araw, magbibigay tayo kahit kaunting tulong o malasakit sa kapwa, mas magiging mapayapa ang mundo,” he said.
As chairperson of the Senate Committee
on Health, Go reaffirmed his mission to help uplift the lives of poor Filipinos through improved access to healthcare and continued government support.
He has championed the institutionalization of the Malasakit Centers program, which streamlines medical assistance to indigent patients. According to the Department of Health (DOH), 167 Malasakit Centers are now operational across the country, having already assisted more than 17 million Filipinos.
In addition, Go continues to push for the construction of over 700 Super Health Centers nationwide. These centers focus on primary care, consultation, and early disease detection—especially in far-flung and underserved areas. Services are provided for free through partnerships between municipal health offices, local government units (LGUs), and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) under its Konsulta program.
coral reefs in Pardise Reef and in Hizon MPA.
The petitioners are asking the Court to declare through the writ of kalikasan that the SIDC project violates the constitutional right to a balanced and healthful ecology.
Lawyer Tony La Viña, the legal counsel for the petitioner, said the petition was filed because the project “is destroying the coastal and marine biodiversity and resources” in Samal Island and in the Davao Gulf. The petitioners also asked the Court to declare as null and void the environmental compliance certificate issued by the DENR in relation to the SIDC project. They also insisted that the respondents
Currently, only one embassy or consulate is covered under the RMA requirement. The Comelec also expressed confidence in this year’s audit, citing a 99.9-percent accuracy rate in past RMAs since the country adopted automated elections in 2010.
On Monday, the Comelec formally launched its RMA Committee, composed of Comelec personnel, civil society groups, and deputized agencies such as the PSA and Department of Education.
“The ballot images and all USBs [containing the transmission log] are with Comelec. They are intact and cannot be tampered with by those who want to rigged the elections,” he said. The poll body is also reviewing whether to expand the audit to include more overseas posts.
should be directed to implement measures to protect, preserve, rehabilitate or restore the coral reefs in Paradise Reef and in Hizon MPA. Santos pointed out that before availing of the legal remedy before the SC the petitioners have made several attempts to reach out to the local government and national agencies.
She added that they even made presentations and even wrote to the City Council of Davao to air their opposition to the SIDC project.
“Essentially, what they said was they believe that the project is within the bounds of law. While Samal [local government] has always been supportive and pushing for that project. So we no longer had a formal meeting with Samal on this,” she added.
Editor: Angel R. Calso
April 22,
China warns nations against making trade deals with US that undermine its interests
BEIJING—China on Monday warned other countries against making trade deals with the United States to China’s detriment.
Governments including those of Taiwan, Japan and South Korea have begun negotiations with Washington after President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs against almost all of America’s trading partners on April 2. The import taxes were quickly paused against most countries after markets panicked, but he increased his already steep
tariffs against China.
“China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests,” China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement. “If this happens, China will never accept it and will resolutely take countermeasures in a reciprocal manner. China is determined and capable of safeguarding its own rights and interests.”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this month the countries currently negotiating trade deals with the US should
“approach China as a group” together with Washington.
The US tariffs against other countries are economic bullying, the ministry said in the statement attributed to an unnamed spokesperson.
“Appeasement cannot bring peace, and compromise cannot win respect,” it added. “For one’s own temporary selfish interests, sacrificing the interests of others in exchange for so-called exemptions is like seeking the skin from a tiger. It will ultimately only fail
Big Tech’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ lose $3.8 trillion in value amid Trump’s tariffs, regulatory woes
SBy Michael Liedtke Ap Technology Writer
AN FRANCISCO—As
Big
Tech kicks off its quarterly earnings season this week, the industry’s bellwether companies have been thrust into a cauldron of uncertainty and turmoil that they didn’t anticipate when Donald Trump re-entered the White House nearly 100 days ago.
Since President Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, Big Tech stocks have been on a see-sawing ride that has eviscerated trillions of dollars in shareholder wealth amid an onslaught of tariffs and other potentially detrimental actions.
It’s the polar opposite of what Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos hoped for when they assembled behind Trump as he was sworn in.
That display of unity reflected a belief that Trump’s second stint in the White House would be a refreshing change from the heavyhanded regulation of President Joe Biden’s administration while
unleashing even more lucrative opportunities in artificial intelligence and deal-making.
But the Trump administration’s policies so far have vexed Big Tech’s “Magnificent Seven” companies—a group consisting of Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla, Google parent Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta Platforms. Since Trump’s inauguration, the Magnificent Seven’s combined market value has plunged by $3.8 trillion, or 22%, as of April 20.
The financial damage was even more severe a few days after Trump’s April 2 unveiling of sweeping reciprocal tariffs that would have exacted a heavy toll on Big Tech’s supply chains in China and other key markets around the globe. A temporary freeze on the majority of the most punitive tariffs and an exemption from most of the fees on electronics coming in from China has provided some relief, but Trump has made it clear the reprieve may be short-lived.
That has left the specter of Trump’s ongoing trade war hanging over Big Tech, whose influence extends around the world.
“The mass confusion created by this constant news flow out of the White House is dizzying for the industry and investors and creating massive uncertainty and chaos for companies trying to plan their supply chain, inventory, and demand,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said. Besides the upheaval triggered by Trump’s tariffs, his administration is also in the midst of trying to prove regulators’ allegations that Meta has been running an illegal monopoly in social networking, and working to persuade a federal judge to break up Google after its search engine last year was found to be illegally abusing its power. Trump also has given no indication of abandoning antitrust lawsuits filed by the Biden administration that aim to hobble Apple and Amazon.
And Nvidia absorbed a significant setback last week when the Trump administration banned it from selling one of its popular AI chips to China, prompting the company to record a $5.5 billion charge to account for the stockpile of processors that it intended to export to that country.
on both ends and harm others without benefiting themselves.”
China said it is open to talks with Washington but no meetings have been announced.
Trump made China the target of his steepest tariffs, imposing several rounds of tariffs totaling 145% duties on Chinese imports. Beijing has retaliated with tariffs of 125% on US imports. The tariffs have spooked exporters and stalled shipments, while threatening to drag on the global economy. AP
Tech CEOs will get a chance to discuss the fallout from the trade war and other challenges still ahead during analyst conference calls that will be held as part of their companies’ financial reports for the January-March quarter.
The ritual will kick off Tuesday when Tesla is scheduled to release its full financial report after already revealing that its first-quarter car sales dropped by 13% from the same time last year. The decline occurred against a backdrop of vandalism, widespread protests and calls for a consumer boycott amid a backlash to Musk’s high-profile role in the White House overseeing a costcutting purge of US government agencies. After Musk discusses his strategy for reversing a decrease in Tesla’s market value since he joined Trump in the White House, Google parent Alphabet Inc. is scheduled to announce its results on Thursday. Then four of the Magnificent Seven will get their turn next week: Amazon on April 29; Meta and Microsoft on April 30; and Apple on May 1.
Nvidia, which operates on a fiscal year ending in January, is scheduled to wrap things up on May 28 with the release of its quarterly results.
Secondhand stores poised to benefit if US tariffs drive up new clothing costs
By Anne D’innocenzio Ap Retail Writer
NEW YORK—Stores selling secondhand clothes, shoes and accessories are poised to benefit from President Donald Trump’s trade war even as businesses the world over race to avert potential damage, according to industry experts.
American styles carry international influence, but nearly all of the clothing sold domestically is made elsewhere. The Yale University Budget Lab last week estimated short-term consumer price increases of 65% for clothes and 87% for leather goods, noting US tariffs “disproportionately affect” those goods.
Such price hikes may drive costconscious shoppers to online resale sites, consignment boutiques and thrift stores in search of bargains or a way to turn their wardrobes into cash. Used items cost less than their new equivalents and only would be subject to tariffs if they come from outside the country.
“I think resale is going to grow in a market that is declining,” said Kristen ClassiZummo, an apparel industry analyst at market research firm Circana. “What I think is going to continue to win in this chaotic environment are channels that bring value.”
The outlook for preowned fashion nevertheless comes with unknowns, including whether the president’s tariffs will stay long enough to pinch consumers and change their behavior. It’s also unclear whether secondhand purveyors will increase their own prices, either to mirror the overall market or in response to shopper demand.
A new audience courtesy of sticker shock
JAN GENOVESE , a retired fashion executive,
sells her unwanted designer clothes through customer-to-customer marketplaces like Mercari. If tariffs cause retail prices to rise, she would consider high-end secondhand sites.
“Until I see it and really have that sticker shock, I can’t say exclusively that I’ll be pushed into another direction,” Genovese, 75, said. “I think that the tariff part of it is that you definitely rethink things. And maybe I will start looking at alternative venues.”
The secondhand clothing market already was flourishing before the specter of tariffs bedeviled the US fashion industry. Management consulting firm McKinsey and Co. predicted after the Covid-19 pandemic that global revenue from preowned fashion would grow 11 times faster than retail apparel sales by this year as shoppers looked to save money or spend it in a more environmentally conscious way.
While millennials and members of Generation Z were known as the primary buyers of used clothing, data from market research firm Sensor Tower shows the audience may be expanding.
The number of mobile app downloads for nine resale marketplaces the firm tracks—eBay, OfferUp, Poshmark, Mercari, Craigslist, Depop, ThredUp, TheRealReal and Vinted—increased by 3% between January and the end of March, the first quarterly gain in three years, Sensor Tower said.
The firm estimates downloads of the apps for eBay, Depop, ThredUp and The RealReal also surged compared to a year earlier for the week of March 31, which was when Trump unveiled since-paused punitive tariffs on dozens of countries.
Circana’s Classi-Zummo said that while customers used to seek out collectible or unusual vintage pieces to supplement their
wardrobes, she has noticed more shoppers turning to secondhand sites to replace regular fashion items.
“It’s still a cheaper option” than buying new, even though retailers offer discounts, she said.
A tariff-free gold mine lurking in closets and warehouses
POSHMARK , a digital platform where users buy and sell preowned clothing, has yet to see sales pick up under the tariff schedule Trump unveiled but is prepared to capitalize on the moment, CEO Manish Chandra said.
Companies operating e-commerce marketplaces upgrade their technology to make it easier to find items. A visual search tool and other improvements to the Poshmark experience will “pay long dividends in terms of disruption that happens in the market” from the tariffs, Chandra said.
Archive, a San Francisco-based technology company that builds and manages online and in-store resale programs for brands including Dr. Martens, The North Face and Lululemon, has noticed clothing labels expressing more urgency to team up, CEO Emily Gittins said.
“Tapping into all of the inventory that is already sitting in the US, either in people’s closets or in warehouses not being used,” offers a revenue source while brands limit or suspend orders from foreign manufacturers, she said.
“There’s a huge amount of uncertainty,” Gittins said. “Everyone believes that this is going to be hugely damaging to consumer goods brands that sell in the US. So, resale is basically where everyone’s head is going.”
Priced out of the previously owned market STILL , resale vendors aren’t immune from tariff-induced upheavals, said Rachel Kibbe, founder and CEO of Circular Services Group, a firm that advises brands and retailers on reducing the fashion industry’s environmental impact.
US sellers that import secondhand inventory from European Union countries would have to pay a 20% duty if Trump moves forward with instituting “reciprocal” tariffs on most trading partners and eliminates an import tax exception for parcels worth less than $800, Kibbe said. A circular fashion coalition she leads is seeking a tariff exemption for used and recycled goods that will be offered for resale, Kibbe said. Trump already ended the duty-free provision for low-value parcels from China, a move that may benefit sellers of secondhand clothing by making low-priced Chinese fashions pricier, she said.
James Reinhart, co-founder and CEO of the online consignment marketplace ThredUp, said the removal of the “de minimis” provision and the 145% tariff Trump put on products made in China would benefit businesses like his. He doubts creating resale channels would make a big difference for individual brands.
“Brands will explore this and they may do more, but I don’t see them massively changing their operations,” Reinhart said. “I think they’re going to be figuring out how to survive. And I don’t think resale helps you survive.”
Stock analysts have predicted off-price retailers like TJ Maxx and Burlington Stores will weather tariffs more easily than regular apparel chains and department stores because they carry leftover merchandise in the US.
Israeli probe reveals ‘professional failures’ in killing of 15 Palestinian medics, deputy commander fired
By Melanie Lidman The Associated Press
JERUSALEM—An
Israeli investigation into the killings of 15 Palestinian medics last month in Gaza by Israeli forces said Sunday it found a chain of “professional failures” and a deputy commander has been fired.
The shootings outraged many in the international community, with some calling the killings a war crime. Medical workers have special protection under international humanitarian law. The International Red Cross/Red Crescent called it the deadliest attack on its personnel in eight years.
Israel at first claimed that the medics’ vehicles did not have emergency signals on when troops opened fire but later backtracked.
Cellphone video recovered from one medic contradicted Israel’s initial account. Footage shows the ambulances had lights flashing and logos visible as they pulled up to help another ambulance that earlier came under fire.
The military investigation found that the deputy battalion
commander acted under the incorrect assumption that all the ambulances belonged to Hamas militants. It said the deputy commander, operating under “poor night visibility,” felt his troops were under threat when the ambulances sped toward their position and medics rushed out to check the victims. The military said the flashing lights were less visible on night-vision drones and goggles. The ambulances immediately came under a barrage of gunfire that went on for more than five minutes with brief pauses. Minutes later, soldiers opened fire at a UN car that stopped at the scene.
Bodies were buried in a mass grave EIGHT Red Crescent personnel, six
Civil Defense workers and a UN staffer were killed in the shooting before dawn on March 23 by troops conducting operations in Tel alSultan, a district of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Troops bulldozed over the bodies along with their mangled vehicles, burying them in a mass grave. UN and rescue workers were only able to reach the site a week later.
The Israeli military said soldiers buried the bodies to prevent them from being mangled by stray dogs and coyotes until they could be collected, and that the ambulances were moved to allow the route to be used for civilian evacuations later that day.
The investigation found that the decision to crush the ambulances was wrong but said there was no attempt to conceal the shootings.
Mar. Gen. Yoav Har-Even, who oversees the military’s investigations, said the military notified international organizations later that day and helped rescue workers locate the bodies.
The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has said the men were “targeted at close range.” Night-vision drone footage provided by the military shows soldiers were 20 to 30 meters away from the ambulances.
The deputy commander was the first to open fire, leading the rest of the soldiers to start shooting, HarEven said. The investigation found the paramedics were killed due to an “operational misunderstanding” by Israeli forces, and that shooting at the UN car was a breach of orders.
The findings asserted that six of those killed were Hamas militants—it did not give their names— and said three other paramedics were originally misidentified as Hamas. The Civil Defense is part of the Hamas-run government.
No paramedic was armed and no weapons were found in any vehicle, Har-Even said.
One survivor was detained for investigation and remains in custody for further questioning. According to the military, soldiers who questioned the survivor thought he identified himself as a Hamas member, which was later refuted.
UN calls for accountability
HAR-EVEN said the deputy commander was fired for giving a not “completely accurate” report to investigators about the firing on a UN vehicle.
The statement on the findings concluded by saying that Israel’s military “regrets the harm caused to uninvolved civilians.”
“Without accountability, we risk continuing to watch atrocities unfolding, and the norms designed to protect us all, eroding. Too many civilians, including aid workers, have been killed in Gaza. Their stories have not all made the headlines,” Jonathan Whittall, interim head in Gaza of the UN humanitarian office OCHA, said in a statement responding to the findings.
There was no immediate public reaction from the Red Crescent or Civil Defense.
The findings have been turned over the Military Advocate General, which can decide whether to file civil charges. It is meant to be an independent body, with oversight by Israel’s attorney general and Supreme Court. There are no outside investigations of the killings underway.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 150 emergency responders from the Red Crescent and Civil Defense, most of them while on duty, as well as over 1,000 health workers during the war, according to the UN The Israeli military rarely investigates such incidents.
Israel has accused Hamas of moving and hiding its fighters inside ambulances and emergency vehicles, as well as in hospitals and other civilian infrastructure, arguing that justifies strikes on them.
Medical personnel largely deny the accusations.
Israel disputes ICC accusations of war crimes PALESTINIANS and international
human rights groups have repeatedly accused Israel’s military of failing to properly investigate or whitewashing misconduct by its troops.
Har-Even said the Israeli military is currently investigating 421 incidents in Gaza during the war, with 51 concluded and sent to the Military Advocate General. There was no immediate information on the number of investigations involving potential wrongful deaths or how many times the MAG has pursued criminal charges.
The International Criminal Court, established by the international community as a court of last resort, has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant of war crimes. Israel, which is not a member of the court, has long asserted that its legal system is capable of investigating the army, and Netanyahu has accused the ICC of antisemitism.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Hamas currently holds 59 hostages, 24 of them believed to be alive.
Israel’s offensive has since killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Frustration has been growing on both sides, with rare public protests against Hamas in Gaza and continued weekly rallies in Israel pressing the government to reach a deal to bring all hostages home.
MOURNERS gather around the bodies of 8 Red Crescent emergency responders, recovered in Rafah a week after an Israeli attack, as they are transported for burial from a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Monday, March 31, 2025. AP/ABDEL KAREEM HANA
Van Hollen emerges as a leading voice in Democratic resistance against Trump
By Steve Peoples Ap National Political Writer
NEW YORK—Now, it’s Chris Van Hollen’s turn.
The mild-mannered Maryland senator has suddenly emerged as a leading figure in the resistance to Donald Trump’s norm-busting presidency, becoming the latest in a small but growing collection of Democratic officials testing the strength of their political power in a weakened party with no clear leader.
Van Hollen’s rise follows his decision to travel 2,000 miles to El Salvador last week to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported and federal courts have said should be returned.
Van Hollen did not secure the release of the Salvadoran citizen who had been living in Maryland. But simply by meeting with him, in defiance of Trump and his ally El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, Van Hollen created a new sense of hope and momentum for Abrego Garcia’s family and the antiTrump resistance.
“Sen. Van Hollen’s leadership in this moment is exactly how Democrats should be pushing back against a wannabe dictator like Donald Trump—calling for law and order over chaos and adhering to the Constitution instead of a tyrant,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin told The Associated Press. “No matter how much Trump tries to act out his dictatorial fantasies, Democrats will always defend democracy when it’s on the line.”
Van Hollen’s emergence in a critical national debate offers a fresh window into the Democratic Party’s monthslong leadership carousel as it struggles to counter a series of Trump administration policies with far-reaching consequences, from slashing the federal workforce to stripping funding from universities, pushing back against court orders and launching a trade war that’s rattling the global economy.
Looking for the face of the Democratic Party
THE Democrats’ most visible elected leaders, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer, both of New York, have lost the confidence of many progressive activists for not fighting Trump with the urgency or creativity that the moment demands.
Ezra Levin, co-founder of the resistance group Indivisible, said the growing protest movement is directed both at Trump and “the Schumers of the world, those who want us to roll over and play dead.”
“Courage is impressive and contagious,” Levin said, noting that he’s hearing “a ton of positive feedback for (Van Hollen) among our folks on the ground.” He said the reaction is akin to the outpouring of support for Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., earlier in the month.
Booker had stepped into the leadership void by delivering a record-breaking 25-hour speech on the Senate floor that briefly served as a rallying point for the frustrated anti-Trump movement. Concerned voters also have packed into rallies hosted by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who have launched a national “Stop Oligarchy” tour.
At the same time, potential 2028 presidential contenders such as Govs. Gavin Newsom of California and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan have gone the other way by downplaying their Trump criticism at times.
Others, including Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Wes Moore of Maryland, have largely avoided stepping into the national debate.
“I don’t think it’s ever wrong to fight for the constitutional rights of one person, because if we give up on one person’s rights we threaten everybody’s rights,” Van Hollen said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I think a lot of voters—both Republican and Democrat— are tired of elected officials and politicians who just put their finger to the wind. And I would say that anyone who’s not prepared to stand up and fight for the Constitution doesn’t deserve to lead.”
Critics in both parties go on the attack VAN HOLLEN’S trip was praised by many on the left, but there was no shortage of detractors— even within his own party.
Newsom described the Democratic Party’s focus on the Abrego Garcia case as “the distraction of the day” that allows Republicans to avoid tough questions about Trump’s tariffs, which have upended global trade and threaten to worsen inflation.
Indeed, Republicans have embraced the Abrego Garcia debate.
White House border czar Tom Homan called Van Hollen’s move “disgusting.” Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller, speaking at the White House, said Van Hollen’s “heart is reserved for an illegal alien who’s a member of a foreign terrorist organization.”
“It seems to me that these Democrats are representing the illegal aliens against the very constituents, the US citizens, that they’re supposed to be protecting,” said Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., also on CNN.
When pressed repeatedly, Emmer did not say whether he backed Trump’s suggestion that US citizens convicted of serious crimes could be jailed in other countries such as El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia came to the United States illegally in 2013 at 16, but an immigration judge in 2019 granted him legal protection that allowed him to stay and work in the US. He has a valid work permit. His wife and their three children are US citizens.
The administration insists that Abrego Garcia is a MS13 gang member, although he has not been charged with any crimes.
Van Hollen’s long path VAN HOLLEN is no stranger to
national politics, although he has perhaps spent as much time shaping the political landscape during his two decades in Congress as fighting on its front lines.
Since he joined Congress in 2003, the 66-year-old attorney has done his turn as head of both the House and Senate campaign arms, a rare feat that put him at the center of his party’s national political strategy.
That said, he has a lower national profile than other Democrats who have stepped into the spotlight in recent months.
Van Hollen has never run for president nor hinted he may. Sanders nearly won the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, while Booker ran unsuccessfully for president that year and told the AP recently that he would not rule out another bid.
Still, Van Hollen has been especially aggressive against Trump this year.
He was a co-host of the first major rally against Trump and Elon Musk’s cuts at the US Agency for International Development, a protest that brought out a dozen members of Congress.
Given that so many government agencies and workers live in Maryland, the senator has been a leading advocate against Trump’s cuts, including those at NASA, the National Institutes of Health and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among others.
On Sunday, he was interviewed on five major new shows.
He repeatedly pushed back against questions on allegations about Abrego Garcia’s gang affiliations. Like Democrats across the country, he tried to cast the debate as not about immigration but about Trump’s refusal to follow the law.
A federal appeals court issued a blistering order Thursday raising serious constitutional concerns about the Trump administration’s behavior.
The three-judge panel said the Republican president’s government is “asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order.”
Van Hollen highlighted those concerns.
“My whole point here is if you deprive one man of his constitutional rights, you threaten the constitutional rights of everybody,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I’m not vouching for the individual. I’m vouching for his rights under the Constitution.”
MARYLAND Sen. Chris Van Hollen speaks to the press in La Libertad, El Salvador, where he arrived regarding Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland and deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. AP/SALVADOR MELENDEZ
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Trump’s tough talk might help Mark Carney win a full term as Canada’s prime minister
By Rob Gillies The Associated Press
TORONTO—Mark Carney’s political career is only months old, and it’s already been a roller-coaster ride. The former central banker appeared destined to become one of Canada’s shortest-serving prime ministers until President Donald Trump picked a fight with the US’s northern neighbor.
Carney, who was sworn in on March 14 following Justin Trudeau’s resignation and a Liberal Party leadership race, now leads in the polls heading into the April 28 parliamentary elections, marking a dramatic turnaround for a party that seemed headed for a crushing defeat until the American president started attacking Canada’s economy and sovereignty almost daily.
Trump’s trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st state have infuriated Canadians and led to a surge in Canadian nationalism that has helped Liberals flip
Pope.
Continued from A1
Reforming the Vatican FRANCIS was elected on a mandate to reform the Vatican bureaucracy and finances but went further in shaking up the church without changing its core doctrine. “Who am I to judge?” he replied when asked about a purportedly gay priest.
The comment sent a message of welcome to the LGBTQ+ community and those who felt shunned by a church that had stressed sexual propriety over unconditional love. “Being homosexual is not a crime,” he told The Associated Press in 2023, urging an end to civil laws that criminalize it.
Stressing mercy, Francis changed the church’s position on the death penalty, calling it inadmissible in all circumstances.
He also declared the possession of nuclear weapons, not just their use, was “immoral.”
In other firsts, he approved an agreement with China over bishop nominations that had vexed the Vatican for decades, met the Russian patriarch and charted new relations with the Muslim world by visiting the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq.
He reaffirmed the all-male, celibate priesthood and upheld the church’s opposition to abortion, equating it to “hiring a hitman to solve a problem.”
Roles for women
BUT he added women to important decisionmaking roles and allowed them to serve as lectors and acolytes in parishes. He let women vote alongside bishops in periodic Vatican meetings, following longstanding complaints that women do much of the church’s work but are barred from power.
Sister Nathalie Becquart, whom Francis named to one of the highest Vatican jobs, said his legacy was a vision of a church where men and women existed in a relationship of reciprocity and respect.
“It was about shifting a pattern of domination—from human being to the creation, from men to women—to a pattern of cooperation,” said Becquart, the first woman to hold a voting position in a Vatican synod.
The church as refuge
WHILE Francis did not allow women to be ordained, the voting reform was part of a revolutionary change in emphasizing what the church should be: a refuge for everyone—”todos, todos, todos” (“everyone, everyone, everyone”)—not for the privileged few. Migrants, the poor, prisoners and outcasts were invited to his table far more than presidents or powerful CEOs.
“For Pope Francis, it was always to extend the arms of the church to embrace all people, not to exclude anyone,” said Cardinal Kevin Farrell, whom Francis
Carney’s opponent is Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, a career politician and firebrand populist who has campaigned with Trump-like swagger, even taking a page from the “America First” president by adopting the slogan “Canada First.”
“This election is a test about whether Canada will embrace or reject populism,” Béland said, suggesting many voters view Carney as reassuring because of his experience and calm.
the election narrative. In a midJanuary poll by Nanos, Liberals trailed the Conservative Party by 47% to 20%. In the latest Nanos poll, which was conducted during a three-day period that ended April 19, the Liberals led by six percentage points. The January poll had a margin of error 3.1 points while the latest poll had a 2.7-point margin.
“Timing is everything in politics and Carney entered the political arena at a most favorable time,” said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.
named as camerlengo, taking charge after a pontiff’s death or retirement. Francis demanded his bishops apply mercy and charity to their flocks, pressed the world to protect God’s creation from climate disaster, and challenged countries to welcome those fleeing war, poverty and oppression.
After visiting Mexico in 2016, Francis said of then-U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump that anyone building a wall to keep migrants out “is not Christian.”
While progressives were thrilled with Francis’ radical focus on Jesus’ message of mercy and inclusion, it troubled conservatives who feared he watered down Catholic teaching and threatened the very Christian identity of the West. Some even called him a heretic.
A few cardinals openly challenged him. Francis usually responded with his typical answer to conflict: silence.
He made it easier for married Catholics to get an annulment, allowed priests to absolve women who had had abortions and decreed that priests could bless same-sex couples. He opened debate on issues like homosexuality and divorce, giving pastors wiggle room to discern how to accompany their flocks, rather than handing them strict rules to apply.
St. Francis of Assisi as a model FRANCIS lived in the Vatican hotel instead of the Apostolic Palace, wore his old orthotic shoes and not the red loafers of the papacy, and rode in compact cars. It wasn’t a gimmick.
“I see clearly that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful,” he told a Jesuit journal in 2013.
“I see the church as a field hospital after battle.”
If becoming the first Latin American and first Jesuit pope wasn’t enough, Francis was also the first to name himself after St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th century friar known for personal simplicity, a message of peace, and care for nature and society’s outcasts.
Francis sought out the unemployed, the sick, the disabled and the homeless. He formally apologized to Indigenous peoples for the crimes of the church from colonial times onward.
And he himself suffered: He had part of his colon removed in 2021, then needed more surgery in 2023 to repair a painful hernia and remove intestinal scar tissue. Starting in 2022 he regularly used a wheelchair or cane because of bad knees, and endured bouts of bronchitis. He went to society’s fringes to minister with mercy: caressing the grossly deformed head of a man in St. Peter’s Square, kissing the tattoo of a Holocaust survivor, or inviting Argentina’s garbage scavengers to join him onstage in Rio de Janeiro.
“We have always been marginalized, but
than many other countries.
Former US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called it “extraordinary” that a country would choose a foreigner to head its central bank, and that it’s a mark of how admired Carney is.
“He is calm and cool in a crisis,” Paulson said. “He’s a clear thinker and he understands finance cold. He’s very well prepared.”
“Without the Trump effect, the Conservatives would probably be in a much stronger position in the polls right now. If Trump wasn’t currently in the White House, it would be hard to imagine the Liberals being the favorites in this federal race, considering how unpopular they were just a few months ago.”
Who is Carney?
CARNEY navigated crises when he ran Canada’s central bank and when he later became the first non-UK citizen to run the Bank of England since its founding in 1694.
His Bank of England appointment won bipartisan praise in Britain after Canada recovered from the 2008 financial crisis faster
Pope Francis always helped us,” said Coqui Vargas, a transgender woman whose Roman community forged a unique relationship with Francis during the pandemic.
His first trip as pope was to the island of Lampedusa, then the epicenter of Europe’s migration crisis. He consistently chose to visit poor countries where Christians were often persecuted minorities, rather than the centers of global Catholicism.
Friend and fellow Argentine, Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, said his concern for the poor and disenfranchised was based on the Beatitudes—the eight blessings Jesus delivered in the Sermon on the Mount for the meek, the merciful, the poor in spirit and others.
“Why are the Beatitudes the program of this pontificate? Because they were the basis of Jesus Christ’s own program,” Sánchez said.
Missteps on sex abuse scandal BUT more than a year passed before Francis met with survivors of priestly sexual abuse, and victims’ groups initially questioned whether he really understood the scope of the problem.
Francis did create a sex abuse commission to advise the church on best practices, but it lost its influence after a few years and its recommendation of a tribunal to judge bishops who covered up for predator priests went nowhere.
And then came the greatest crisis of his papacy, when he discredited Chilean abuse victims in 2018 and stood by a controversial bishop linked to their abuser. Realizing his error, Francis invited the victims to the Vatican for a personal mea culpa and summoned the leadership of the Chilean church to resign en masse.
As that crisis concluded, a new one erupted over ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the retired archbishop of Washington and a counselor to three popes.
Francis had actually moved swiftly to sideline McCarrick amid an accusation he had molested a teenage altar boy in the 1970s. But Francis nevertheless was accused by the Vatican’s one-time U.S. ambassador of having rehabilitated McCarrick early in his papacy.
Francis eventually defrocked McCarrick after a Vatican investigation determined he sexually abused adults as well as minors. He changed church law to remove the pontifical secret surrounding abuse cases and enacted procedures to investigate bishops who abused or covered for their pedophile priests, seeking to end impunity for the hierarchy.
“He sincerely wanted to do something and he transmitted that,” said Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean abuse survivor Francis discredited who later developed a close friendship with the pontiff.
A change from Benedict
THE road to Francis’ 2013 election was paved
know anyone who has dealt with him that doesn’t respect him. Whether they agree or disagree with him, they respect him. He’s got a very, very nice manner.”
Both Conservative and Liberal prime ministers tried to make Carney their finance minister, the second-most powerful position in Canada’s government.
Carney, 60, is credited with keeping money flowing through the Canadian economy by acting quickly in cutting interest rates to their lowest level ever, working with bankers to sustain lending through the financial crisis and, critically, letting the public know that rates would remain low so they would keep borrowing. He was the first central banker to commit to keeping them at a historic-low level for a definite time—a step the US Federal Reserve would follow.
Carney also helped manage the worst impacts of Brexit in the UK Paulson said Carney has the “perfect background” for these challenging times.
“Everything he’s done, he’s excelled at. Every job—the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England,” Paulson said. “I don’t
by Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to resign and retire—the first in 600 years—and it created the unprecedented reality of two popes living in the Vatican.
Francis didn’t shy from Benedict’s potentially uncomfortable shadow. He embraced him as an elder statesman and adviser, coaxing him out of his cloistered retirement to participate in the public life of the church.
“It’s like having your grandfather in the house, a wise grandfather,” Francis said.
Francis praised Benedict by saying he “opened the door” to others following suit, fueling speculation that Francis also might retire. But after Benedict’s death on Dec. 31, 2022, he asserted that in principle the papacy is a job for life.
Francis’ looser liturgical style and pastoral priorities made clear he and the German-born theologian came from very different religious traditions, and Francis directly overturned several decisions of his predecessor.
He made sure Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero, a hero to the liberation theology movement in Latin America, was canonized after his case languished under Benedict over concerns about the credo’s Marxist bent.
Francis reimposed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass that Benedict had relaxed, arguing the spread of the Tridentine Rite was divisive. The move riled Francis’ traditionalist critics and opened sustained conflict between right-wing Catholics, particularly in the U.S., and the Argentine pope.
Conservatives oppose Francis BY then, conservatives had already turned away from Francis, betrayed after he opened debate on allowing remarried Catholics to receive the sacraments if they didn’t get an annulment—a church ruling that their first marriage was invalid.
“We don’t like this pope,” headlined Italy’s conservative daily Il Foglio a few months into the papacy, reflecting the unease of the small but vocal traditionalist Catholic movement that was coddled under Benedict.
Those same critics amplified their complaints after Francis’ approved church blessings for same-sex couples, and a controversial accord with China over nominating bishops.
Its details were never released, but conservative critics bashed it as a sellout to communist China, while the Vatican defended it as the best deal it could get with Beijing.
U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a figurehead in the anti-Francis opposition, said the church had become “like a ship without a rudder.”
Burke waged his opposition campaign for years, starting when Francis fired him as the Vatican’s supreme court justice and culminating with his vocal opposition to
Former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper named Carney the Bank of Canada Governor and later offered to make him finance minister. Trudeau, Carney’s Liberal predecessor, long wanted him as his finance minister.
Carney is a former Goldman Sachs executive. He worked for 13 years in London, Tokyo, New York and Toronto before being appointed deputy governor of the Bank of Canada in 2003.
He was born in Fort Smith, in Canada’s remote Northwest Territories. When he was 6, his family moved to Edmonton, where his mother taught school and his father became a professor of education history at the University of Alberta.
Carney earned a partial scholarship to Harvard University, where he was the backup goalie on the
Francis’ 2023 synod on the church’s future.
Twice, he joined other conservative cardinals in formally asking Francis to explain himself on doctrine issues reflecting a more progressive bent, including on the possibility of same-sex blessings and his outreach to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.
Francis eventually sanctioned Burke financially, accusing him of sowing “disunity.” It was one of several personnel moves he made in both the Vatican and around the world to shift the balance of power from doctrinaire leaders to more pastoral ones.
Francis insisted his bishops and cardinals imbue themselves with the “odor of their flock” and minister to the faithful, voicing displeasure when they didn’t.
His 2014 Christmas address to the Vatican Curia was one of the greatest public papal reprimands ever: Standing in the marbled Apostolic Palace, Francis ticked off 15 ailments that he said can afflict his closest collaborators, including “spiritual Alzheimer’s,” lusting for power and the “terrorism of gossip.”
Trying to eliminate corruption, Francis oversaw the reform of the scandal-marred Vatican bank and sought to wrestle Vatican bureaucrats into financial line, limiting their compensation and ability to receive gifts or award public contracts.
He authorized Vatican police to raid his own secretariat of state and the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency amid suspicions about a 350 million euro investment in a London real estate venture. After a 2 1/2year trial, the Vatican tribunal convicted a once-powerful cardinal, Angelo Becciu, of embezzlement and returned mixed verdicts to nine others, acquitting one.
The trial, though, proved to be a reputational boomerang for the Holy See, showing deficiencies in the Vatican’s legal system, unseemly turf battles among monsignors, and how the pope had intervened on behalf of prosecutors.
While earning praise for trying to turn the Vatican’s finances around, Francis angered U.S. conservatives for his frequent excoriation of the global financial market that favors the rich over the poor.
Economic justice was an important themes of his papacy, and he didn’t hide it in his first meeting with journalists when he said he wanted a “poor church that is for the poor.”
In his first major teaching document, “The Joy of the Gospel,” Francis denounced trickle-down economic theories as unproven and naive, based on a mentality “where the powerful feed upon the powerless” with no regard for ethics, the environment or even God.
“Money must serve, not rule!” he said in urging political reforms.
He elaborated on that in his major eco-encyclical “Praised Be,” denouncing the “structurally perverse” global economic
hockey team. Influenced by John Kenneth Galbraith, who pioneered the popular notion that economics should be accessible to the masses, Carney took up economics. A married father of four, Carney earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard in 1988, and master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from Oxford University.
What would a Carney win mean for Canada-US relations?
CARNEY has said Canada’s close friendship with the US has ended, and he squarely blamed Trump.
Trump mocked Carney’s predecessor by calling him Governor Trudeau. He has not trolled Carney. But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said this month that Trump had not changed his position that Canada “would benefit greatly by becoming the 51st state.” Carney said the 80-year period when the US embraced the mantle of global economic leadership and forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect is over.
“There is no going back. We in Canada will have to build a new relationship with the United States,” he said.
system that he said exploited the poor and risked turning Earth into “an immense pile of filth.”
Some U.S. conservatives branded Francis a Marxist. He jabbed back by saying he had many friends who were Marxists.
Soccer, opera and prayer
BORN Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was the eldest of five children of Italian immigrants.
He credited his devout grandmother Rosa with teaching him how to pray. Weekends were spent listening to opera on the radio, going to Mass and attending matches of the family’s beloved San Lorenzo soccer club. As pope, his love of soccer brought him a huge collection of jerseys from visitors.
He said he received his religious calling at 17 while going to confession, recounting in a 2010 biography that, “I don’t know what it was, but it changed my life...I realized that they were waiting for me.” He entered the diocesan seminary but switched to the Jesuit order in 1958, attracted to its missionary tradition and militancy. Around this time, he suffered from pneumonia, which led to the removal of the upper part of his right lung. His frail health prevented him from becoming a missionary, and his less-than-robust lung capacity was perhaps responsible for his whisper of a voice and reluctance to sing at Mass.
On Dec. 13, 1969, he was ordained a priest, and immediately began teaching. In 1973, he was named head of the Jesuits in Argentina, an appointment he later acknowledged was “crazy” given he was only 36. “My authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions led me to have serious problems and to be accused of being ultraconservative,” he admitted in his Civilta Cattolica interview.
Life under Argentina’s dictatorship HIS six-year tenure as provincial coincided with Argentina’s murderous 1976-83 dictatorship, when the military launched a campaign against lef t-wing guerrillas and other regime opponents. Bergoglio didn’t publicly confront the junta and was accused of effectively allowing two slum priests to be kidnapped and tortured by not publicly endorsing their work. He refused for decades to counter that version of events. Only in a 2010 authorized biography did he finally recount the behind-the-scenes lengths he used to save them, persuading the family priest of feared dictator Jorge Videla to call in sick so he could say Mass instead. Once in the junta leader’s home, Bergoglio privately appealed for mercy. Both priests were eventually released, among the few to have survived prison.
Falling business sentiment sparks alarm over PHL economic growth
THE recent drop in business sentiment in the Philippines, as revealed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) survey, raises concerns about the country’s economic outlook. With the overall confidence index plummeting from 44.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024 to just 31.2 percent in the first quarter of 2025, the implications are clear: a slowdown in economic growth may be on the horizon. This development calls for a careful examination of the factors at play and the potential consequences for the country’s economy. (Read the BusinessMirror story, “Analysts: BSP survey signals slow growth,” April 17, 2025).
According to GlobalSource Partners’ country analysts Diwa Guinigundo and Wilhelmina Mañalac, business sentiment is a closely correlated indicator of national income accounts. With businesses expressing less optimism about the future, it is likely that economic growth will slow down. The analysts noted that concerns about post-holiday decline in demand, slowdown in business activities, and potential resurgence of inflationary pressures are driving the gloomy outlook.
The BSP’s survey is not an isolated warning sign. The Asian Development Bank (ADB), Economic and Social Committee for Asia and the Pacific (Escap), and Moody’s Analytics have all trimmed their growth forecasts for the Philippines to 6 percent, down from previous estimates. The BSP has also warned that economic growth may be “near the lower bound” of the government’s target of 6 to 8 percent.
The contraction in foreign direct investments, down by 20 percent in January 2025, and the decline in the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) to 49.4 in the first quarter of the year, are additional indicators of a slowing economy. The PMI reading below 50 percent suggests that companies are reducing production and new business is declining.
The implications of a slower economic growth are significant. A weaker economy can lead to reduced job creation, lower incomes, and decreased government revenues. It can also undermine the country’s ability to invest in critical infrastructure and social services.
For policymakers, the message is clear: stimulating business confidence must be a top priority. This involves not only managing inflation and exchange rate volatility but also addressing structural constraints that hinder investment. Enhancing infrastructure, streamlining regulations, and ensuring political stability are essential to restore the optimism that fuels business expansion and foreign investment.
The emerging signs of a growth slowdown warrant a thoughtful reconsideration of the strategies designed to maintain momentum. The Philippines has consistently demonstrated its ability to adapt and overcome challenges. Given the current economic climate, it is crucial for the government and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to work closely together to address the concerns of businesses and investors.
To ensure a brighter future for all Filipinos, the country must implement policies that support economic growth and stability, allowing it to maintain its position as a rapidly growing economy in Southeast Asia.
Opinion
Understanding trade and Trump
BOUTSIDE THE BOX
Y the time you read this, the situation has, as usual, probably shifted. Trump thrives on chaos, and the markets, nervous as street cats, are running wild. Although financial markets favor stability, there are times when markets and their support systems require disruption. This may be one such instance.
Trump’s sharp increase of import tariffs extends beyond challenging the concept of “comparative advantage,” a starting point when discussing trade. Comparative advantage has been taught in business schools since the 1980s as being sacred, directly from Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity, and success.
Accordingly, nations should trade the goods they produce most efficiently—Scotland exports wool, France exports wine, everybody prospers. Free trade, defined. How can anyone be negative on “free trade” when Jack Ma, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and their private jet set pals all say, “Globalization is good”?
However, the reality is that “Comparative Advantage Globalization” is like a village where one family bakes bread and another grows mangoes. They trade, and everyone eats well. But when a corporation buys all the
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mango trees, the locals go hungry.
Here is the ugly truth. Mexico is the largest buyer of US corn. The North American Free Trade Agreement (1994) opened Mexico to US corn imports, nearly quadrupling since 2000 due to cheaper, subsidized US yellow corn. This fact is both scary and stupid. Mexico imports over 40 percent of its corn consumption from the US.
Want a comparison? In 2024, approximately 27 percent of the Philippines’ rice consumption came from imports, and we go crazy every day about having to import rice.
In 2019, a small Mexican town drowned in cheap US corn imports. Local farmers could not compete, and local tacos are now made with foreign corn. Globalization’s wizards leave locals digging their own graves. But this pattern is not confined to foreign nations or commodities.
As American companies shifted manufacturing overseas, US jobs
and communities were destroyed. The influx of wonderful dirt-cheap imports eventually encompassed the offshoring of steel production, semiconductor manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and more.
To balance this trade imbalance, economists refer to the “Current Account.” When dollars flow outside to purchase imports that exceed foreign purchases of American exports, surplus dollars held overseas return through foreign investment into American assets. Trade deficits lead to growing foreign ownership of American assets.
These major “US” companies are all 100 percent foreign owned: Smithfield Foods, Anheuser-Busch, Chrysler, 7-Eleven, Frigidaire, and Burger King.
The US sustains large trade deficits by flooding global markets with dollar-based transactions of all types, not just goods trade. This reinforces the dollar’s value and US consumers’ purchasing power for not-just-Chinese goods. And this supports the dollar’s role as the world’s leading currency.
This is critical as the dollar’s reserve status enables the federal government to borrow. And based on the interest rate paid, which country do you want to loan money to for 10 years: China/2.03, Germany/2.53, Japan/0.86, UK/4.66, France/3.25, or US/4.33.
How long can the global economy depend on American trade deficits to fund the industrial growth of nations while foreign purchases of American assets balance the equation? More-
over, how long can global demand for dollars finance federal budget deficits? What is the solution?
The Trump administration recognizes three realities: an economic cold war with China requiring action, the urgent need to restore US manufacturing, and curbing the unsustainable federal spending trajectory. Tariffs are the initial step in an unavoidable fight.
Back in 1986, Herbert Stein, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, in reference to US federal debt, famously said, “If something can’t go on forever, it will stop.” That was 40 years ago, when America’s epic debt binge was still in its first decade. Since then, it has gone on and on, and as the numbers indicate, it has intensified in the last few years. It will stop. The only question is when and how. Anxiety triggered in so many because of Trump’s attempts to confront the unsustainable is excusable. But for those calling themselves economists who now, with unwarranted certainty, slam Trump’s bold gamble as unnecessary or foolish, have not offered any solution except doing the same as has been done for 40 years. From a 1981 Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet (not Albert Einstein): “Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.”
E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis provided by AAA Southeast Equities Inc.
Japan embraces lab-made fuels despite costs, climate concerns
By Will Wade
FOR Japan’s largest utilities, lab-made fuels are a meaningful step toward greener energy that also extends the life of billions of dollars’ worth of existing fossil-fuel infrastructure.
For their critics, products like “emethane” and “syngas” are not an attractive compromise but an expensive distraction, at a time when the country—already a climate laggard in global terms—should instead be accelerating its shift to renewable power.
Eager to win over naysayers, companies like Electric Power Development Co. and Osaka Gas Co. have seized on this year’s World Expo in Osaka, packing last week’s launch event with mascots, virtual reality— and their plans to incorporate alternative fuels into existing systems. A transformation, they argue, can be achieved without compromising on energy security or the stability provided by their pipelines and fleet of power plants.
“The beauty of e-methane is that we can continue using our existing natural gas infrastructure,” said Yo -
suke Kuwahara, director of the carbon neutrality promotion office at Osaka Gas. The company showcased a small-scale facility producing what it called the “gas of the future” at the sustainability-themed Expo, traditionally an opportunity for countries to showcase technological prowess.
The gas is one of several synthetic fuels created through chemical processes and designed to replicate the properties of conventional fuels, with the added aim of making them easier to replenish and less polluting.
Japan remains the most fossil-fuel reliant among the Group of Seven advanced economies, with low-carbon sources making up roughly a third of its energy mix. Its utilities have long justified their continued use of dirty fuels by saying large-scale solar and wind deployment is limited by the island-nation’s geography, or that nuclear energy will take time
to ramp up after a years-long hiatus due to safety concerns.
Slowly introducing alternative fuels into the mix is “a way to decarbonize,” said senior fellow with the International Environment and Economy Institute, Sumiko Takeuchi, who has advised the government on its energy strategy. By using plants already in service, that can be done with limited risk to the nation’s power supply, she added.
‘Gas of the future’?
JAPANESE utilities say e-methane is chemically almost identical to natural gas but is effectively carbonneutral because of the environmentfriendly way in which it’s produced.
At the Expo, Osaka Gas demonstrates how carbon dioxide captured from the venue’s food waste can be blended with green hydrogen, made using renewable energy, to generate e-methane. On a larger scale, CO2 can be captured from landfills and factories to produce it for millions of customers, said Kuwahara.
Osaka Gas is building an e-methane plant in Niigata and plans to substitute the fuel for 1 percent of
the gas it delivers to households by 2030. Tokyo Gas Co. has a similar goal. Japan has said it may boost that to as much as 90 percent e-methane by mid-century, according to a 2023 presentation made by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Burning e-methane, however, still releases the greenhouse gases it’s composed of—meaning those planet-warming emissions must then be captured and stored. Without that last step, “you just delay the emissions,” said Hiromitsu Miyajiri, a program coordinator with Kiko Network, a Japanese environmental group. “It’s not going to result in a reduction in emissions.” Costs are an even more pressing hurdle.
When Japan’s biggest power producer JERA Co. last year co-fired ammonia at its Hekinan coal plant, it reduced emissions by 20 percent. The ammonia was made with natural gas, but the company’s goal is to eventually use renewables to create a green version of the fuel. JERA has since announced plans to use it commercially in 2030 and to switch over
John Mangun
The Age of Intelligent Acceleration: Why the Philippines must embrace AI or be left behind
By Wes Cabangon
ASILENT divide is growing across industries—not between the rich and the poor, but between those who understand AI and those who do not. The global workforce is entering a new era where productivity and performance are no longer defined solely by skill, but by augmentation. In this age of intelligent acceleration, individuals who know how to use artificial intelligence will outpace those who don’t, not marginally, but exponentially.
We see this already in professions like journalism, software development, marketing, and even logistics. Writers who can prompt generative AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude can produce more nuanced, tailored reports at scale. Coders using GitHub Copilot are solving problems in hours that once took days. Small business owners leveraging AI for inventory, payroll, or customer engagement are achieving what used to require entire departments. AI is not just a tool; it is a multiplier.
Education’s crossroads: The need for AI-literate citizens
PROFESSOR Lionel M. Ni, founding president of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), emphasized the importance of integrating AI into education during the AI Education Forum held on April 17th at the Beijing International Club—not as a niche subject, but as a foundational tool for driving students to focus on critical thinking and creativity. While not quoted directly, his views suggest that nations failing to adapt risk being left behind in this AI-driven educational evolution.
It is not enough to teach our students how to use AI. We must teach them how to ask better questions, synthesize information, and create original thought with it. To meet the global competition, the Philippine education system must evolve to meet this challenge. We must invest in training teachers to harness AI tools in the classroom and build curriculum around using AI responsibly, not just consuming it passively.
From cloud to chip: AI’s personalization revolution
LENOVO, a tech giant with headquarters in Beijing, has begun embedding dedicated AI hardware into its consumer laptops. Devices like the ThinkPad X1 and IdeaPad Pro 5i now house Neural Processing Units (NPUs), enabling localized AI features such as real-time transcription, background processing, and adaptive recommendations—all without needing an Internet connection. This means that workers can brainstorm or have meetings, have the content transcribed, summarized, and converted into detailed reports—all using AI and without uploading sensitive information to the cloud. This is more than a technical milestone. It marks the beginning of personalized AI agents embedded into everyday devices. For Filipino professionals and entrepreneurs, this means AI will soon be native —not something accessed through a browser, but something that works for you, contextually and instantly.
The case for national AI models: Security and sovereignty
AS AI grows in reach, concerns about data privacy and information sovereignty are rising. Professor Ni underscores the value of each country working with AI in a way that safeguards national data and reflects cultural relevance. China, for instance, has made major strides with DeepSeek, an AI model capable of synthesizing complex knowledge and generating multimedia content. This is not just about technology —it is about identity. The Philippines need not reinvent the wheel by building foundational models from scratch. Instead, we should explore how to adapt and fine-tune existing large language models by hosting them on local infrastructure and training them on data relevant to the Filipino context. This allows us
Opinion
Export-oriented enterprises: VAT zero-rating or exemption
WIt is not enough to teach our students how to use AI. We must teach them how to ask better questions, synthesize information, and create original thought with it. To meet the global competition, the Philippine education system must evolve to meet this challenge. We must invest in training teachers to harness AI tools in the classroom and build curriculum around using AI responsibly, not just consuming it passively.
to benefit from the scale of global innovation while still protecting sensitive information and ensuring that AI systems can truly understand and serve the needs of our citizens.
A locally trained AI model, for example, could:
n Help LGUs analyze decades of demographic and infrastructure data to improve urban planning and disaster response.
n Assist national agencies in detecting anomalies in procurement or financial data, helping reduce corruption and improve transparency.
n Provide real-time multilingual public service assistance, tailored to regional dialects and cultural norms.
n Offer support for legal and legislative review, flagging outdated laws or redundant policies using historical legislative records.
As the US tightens export restrictions on AI chips like Nvidia’s H20 (resulting in a $5.5 billion projected impact), and as China accelerates domestic innovation, the world is witnessing a reshuffling of technological power. Rather than choosing sides, the Philippines must choose strategy. We must collaborate with global and regional players alike to build capacity, safeguard our data, and ensure our voice is represented in the AI era.
The coming reckoning for BPO and call center jobs
FOR decades, the BPO sector has served as a reliable engine for the Philippine economy. But the rise of generative AI—capable of mimicking human speech, processing queries, and handling customer service interactions—poses a real threat to traditional voice-based outsourcing. This doesn’t spell the end of BPO, but it does demand a reinvention. The future lies in offering value-added services: AI-assisted analytics, multilingual support, digital workflow optimization, and customer experience design. The call center agent of the future won’t just answer calls— they’ll collaborate with AI.
What must be done–Now
FOR Businesses: Start pilot programs that integrate AI into operations. Upskill teams, reward experimentation, and revise procurement strategies to include AI-ready hardware.
For Educators: Embed AI tools into lesson planning, encourage experimentation, and push for curriculum reforms that emphasize digital literacy and creative inquiry.
For Policymakers: Protect local data. Build AI models to help local government make optimal decisions while protecting national data. Create incentives for tech startups building Filipino-aligned AI services. The road ahead is neither easy nor optional. The age of intelligent acceleration has already begun. If the Philippines does not learn to run with it, we risk being left behind in a world that will no longer wait.
Fulvio D. Dawilan
TAX LAW FOR BUSINESS
HEN we talk of CREATE MORE (Republic Act No. 12066), we usually refer to the amendments made on the tax incentive rules. But aside from those changes, there are a few provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) that were also modified. Among these are the VAT treatment of purchases and importations made by or sales made to export-oriented enterprises.
Sales of goods to export-oriented enterprises. Sale of goods to export-oriented enterprises whose export sales is at least 70 percent of the total annual production of the preceding taxable year is treated as an export sale, subject to VAT at zero percent. This VAT zero-rating treatment of this kind of transaction is not a new concept. However, prior to CREATE MORE, the entitlement to VAT zero-rating was limited to raw materials or packaging materials. With the new law, that limitation was removed. It should follow that all types of goods, including finished goods, sold to export-oriented enterprises should be entitled to VAT zerorating. What is required is that the goods sold should be directly attributable to the export activity of the export-oriented enterprise/buyer. Aside from these, there are other conditions that must be met for the VAT zero-rating to apply. Prior to CREATE MORE, the export sales should exceed 70 percent of the annual production. The new law uses the word “at least,” which means that zero-rating applies even if the buyer’s export sales is just 70 percent of annual production. The new law also made clear that the reference for the 70 percent export achievement shall be the transactions for
the preceding taxable year. Hence, failure to achieve this percentage of export sales in a taxable year will disqualify the sales of goods to exportoriented enterprises in the following year from enjoying VAT zero-rating. Sales of services to exportoriented enterprises. Similar to goods, sale of services to exportoriented enterprises whose export sales is at least 70 percent of the total annual production of the preceding taxable year is treated as VAT zerorated. The prior rule limited this VAT zero-rating privilege to the services performed by subcontractors and/or contractors in processing, converting, or manufacturing of goods for an export-oriented enterprise. CREATE MORE expanded the transactions entitled to VAT zero-rating to all types of services, as long as the services rendered are directly attributable to the export activity of the export-oriented enterprise/buyer. Importation of goods by an export-oriented enterprise. A new provision was introduced by CREATE MORE, exempting from VAT the importation of goods by an export-oriented enterprise whose export sales is at least 70 percent of the total annual production of the preceding taxable year. Similar to sale of goods and services, the
imported goods should be directly attributable to the export activity of the export-oriented enterprise.
Based on my reading of these modified/new provisions of the NIRCs on VAT zero-rating of sales to export-oriented enterprises and the VAT exemption on their importations, I thought that the rule is simple. Sales of goods and services to export-oriented enterprises are VAT zero-rated, provided that all other conditions are present and the required certifications are obtained.
In the VAT-zero-rated sale of goods [under the modified Section 106(A)(2)(a)(3) of the NIRC], the term “export-oriented enterprise” and the “export activity” in which it is engaged in is not qualified. That means that the buyer/export-oriented enterprise may either be engaged in export of goods or export of services or both. Similarly, in VAT zero-rating for sale of services [under the modified Section 108(A)(B) (5) of the NIRC], the term “exportoriented enterprise” and the “export activity” in which it is engaged in is not qualified. That means that the buyer/export-oriented enterprise may be engaged in export of goods or services or both.
In essence, VAT zero-rating on sale of goods is not limited to sales made to exporters of goods. It applies, as well, on sales of goods made to exporters of services. Similarly, VAT zero-rating on sale of services is not limited to sales made to exporters of services. It applies, as well, on sales of services to exporters of goods. What is important is that the goods sold or services performed are incidental to and reasonably necessary for the export activity of the buyer.
A reference, however, to the amended provisions of the VAT Regulations (RR 16-2005) seem to limit the entitlement to the VAT zero-rating. The provision of the VAT Revenue Regulations [Section 4.106-5(a)(3), as amended by
RR 10-25], which implements the VAT zero-rating of sales of goods to export-oriented enterprises, defines “export-oriented enterprises” as referring to a person, natural or juridical, engaged in the sale and actual shipment of goods from the Philippines to a foreign country or economy. Similarly, the provision of the VAT Revenue Regulations [Section 4.108-5(b)(5), as amended by RR 10-25], which implements the VAT zero-rating of sales of services to export-oriented enterprises, defines “export-oriented enterprises” as referring to a person, natural or juridical, engaged in the sale of services from the Philippines to a foreign country or economy. In other words, VAT zero-rating for sale of goods will apply only if the buyer is an exporter of goods, and VAT zero-rating on sale of services will be available only if the buyer is engaged in export of service. Suppliers of goods for exporters of goods, suppliers of services, for exporters of services—this is the effect of these rules.
I hope that this rule should be further clarified, as this would be limiting the availment of VAT zero-rating on sales made to export-oriented enterprises. Some exporters of goods rely heavily on services for the production of goods for export. Also, some exporters of services need equipment and other tangible goods to be able to render services for exports. These transactions should not be denied the benefit of VAT zero-rating.
The author is a managing partner of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices (BDB Law) (www. bdblaw.com.ph).
The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal, or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported, therefore, by a professional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at fulvio.dawilan@ bdblaw.com.ph or call 8403-2001 loc 310.
World’s economic chiefs to face Trump’s trade war in Washington
By Katia Dmitrieva, Enda Curran & Jana Randow
ORLD economic and fi-
Wnance chiefs want an offramp from the worst global trade crisis in a century. This week they’re heading toward its epicenter.
Washington makes a turbulent backdrop to the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, headquartered in the US capital as anchors of America’s economic and financial clout.
President Donald Trump’s tariff war hasn’t just roiled markets and raised recession fears: It’s also called into question US economic and security leadership—a pillar of the post-World War II global order—like never before.
The stage is set for “one of the most stark and dramatic meetings I can think of in recent history,” says Josh Lipsky, senior director of the GeoEconomics Center at the Atlantic Council and former IMF adviser.
“You have at this moment a deep challenge to the multilateral rules-based system which the US helped build.”
Trade will be top of mind during the meetings, which start Monday, and many countries may use the opportunity to pursue talks with the US. Trump, who’s already dialed back some tariffs he imposed this month,
Japan. . .
Continued from A12
completely by 2050.
But even a 50-50 blend of coal and ammonia made from natural gas would cost about double a power plant’s revenue, according to an Asia Research & Engagement report released this month.
JERA declined to discuss the costs of its project.
Transition delay AT the heart of most objections, however, is the criticism that such
has displayed a preference for one-toone deals while his administration aims to rally countries against China.
But finance ministers and central bankers from outside the US will also have the chance to consult among themselves—and start figuring out how to maintain a global financial system without the US.
“All those traveling to Washington are interested in the survival of the existing world order,” says Karsten Junius, chief economist at Bank J Safra Sarasin in Zurich. “We have to find out how to do this without provoking Trump.”
China overtures
CHINA is the closest US competitor, as well as Trump’s main target as he’s convinced it unfairly benefited from globalization and freer trade at America’s expense. Beijing only joined the IMF’s elite club of reserve currency-issuers less than a decade ago, and has an opportunity to further build its soft power and influence.
“China is now positioning itself as the leader of the rules-based global trade system, and painting the US as a dangerous rogue nation determined to blow up orderly trade relations,” says Stephen Olson, a former US trade negotiator now with the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak
experimentation will ultimately delay Japan’s already tardy transition to low- or zero-carbon energy. Using gases like ammonia and hydrogen alongside fossil fuels in power plants may also increase different kinds of air pollution.
Utilities should focus on shifting to renewables instead of pursuing strategies that prioritize existing infrastructure, said Michiyo Miyamoto, an energy finance specialist with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, which aims to accelerate the green transition.
“As a long-term strategy, it’s really risky,” she said.
Institute in Singapore.
Trump aides say they want other countries to join its China trade crackdown. But as tariff threats ramped up, advanced economies that have been close US allies since WW II—and were largely on board with the Biden administration’s pressure on Beijing—have made overtures to China.
The European Union, which is sending top officials to Beijing in the coming months, has a two-pronged approach to the trade war: respond jointly and decisively, while keeping the door open for deals. The UK has sought to position itself as a potential broker between the US and the EU—and perhaps even China, where three ministers have visited this year.
Meanwhile, China’s leader Xi Jinping has sought to firm up relations in Southeast Asia, where many countries rely on exports to the US but are facing some of Trump’s steepest tariffs.
Major economies like the UK, Germany and Japan have already held discussions with Trump’s team since the trade war escalated. British officials, for instance, are headed to Washington seeking lower duties on cars and an exemption from higher anticipated levies on pharmaceuticals, which together make up one-
Japan’s utilities are pressing ahead, though.
Electric Power Development Co., also known as J-Power, plans to install gasification systems at its Matsushima coal plant near Nagasaki by 2028. The technology mixes pulverized coal with oxygen to create syngas, from which hydrogen is extracted to generate power. Here too, the challenge will be to capture and store the carbon dioxide created in the process.
The company is looking at underground storage sites in Japan and Malaysia, but that raises issues of leaks as well as local opposition, ac-
quarter of exports to the US, in return for cutting tariffs on American food and taxes on tech giants. For smaller countries, the opportunities afforded by the IMF-World Bank meetings are arguably even more valuable—because they likely don’t have other channels.
“There’s going to be a lot of doorknocking” during the Washington meetings, says Frederic Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Hong Kong. Small countries, he says, often “don’t know exactly how to go about negotiating. What does the US want? Establishing that contact will be very important.”
Trump’s pivot toward unilateral action and bilateral deals will further undermine the utility of the Group of 20, whose finance ministers and central bank bosses will also gather this week, and raises questions about Washington’s commitment to global post-financial crisis banking reforms, which it’s yet to implement.
“We’re no longer in a world where we can sync policy responses,” says Clemence Landers, vice president and senior policy fellow at Center for Global Development. With assistance from Philip Aldrick, Kamil Kowalcze, Jorgelina do Rosario, Zijia Song, Jorge Valero, Erica Yokoyama and Laura Noonan / Bloomberg
cording to Mira Cordier, an analyst with Asia Research & Engagement.
“There are major uncertainties about technological and economic feasibility,” she wrote in an email.
While J-Power won’t disclose the project’s costs, syngas is a key part of its plan to reach net zero by 2050, said Takashi Oikawa, deputy general manager for press relations.
“Thermal power plants will have to be decarbonized and that’s what we are working toward,” Oikawa said, adding that does not mean shuttering the facilities. “We will try to utilize them as long as possible by introducing new technology.” Bloomberg
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
‘Structural challenges may strain fiscal space of PHL’
By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto @reine_alberto
WHILEthe Philippines’s debtto-GDP ratio is starting to stabilize and tax revenues continue to grow, rising amortization and structural pressures threaten to strain the country’s moderate fiscal space, according to Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO).
In the Asean+3 Fiscal Policy Report 2025, AMRO said the Philippines’s debt-to-GDP, or debt measured against its gross domestic product (GDP), has begun to decline or stabilize.
The country’s debt-to-GDP ratio is currently at 60.7 percent, slightly above the internationally accepted threshold of 60 percent. The government aims to lower this to 58.4 percent in 2027, as the economy is projected to grow further.
However, AMRO said the Philippines’s gross financing needs (GFN) to GDP ratio remained elevated, due to the country’s rising amortization needs.
“In China, Korea, Lao PDR, the Philippines, and Thailand,
the primary driver was amortization needs, as accumulated debt has led to increased repayments depending on the maturities,” AMRO said.
Moreover, the Philippines has a “moderate fiscal space,” having some room to respond to shocks. Still, financing risks arise from a high share of foreign currency-denominated debt, nonresident-held debt and external financing requirements, AMRO said.
“Fiscal policies should remain agile and flexible to mitigate potential adverse impacts and support economic stability amid escalating trade uncertainties,” it said.
“Preemptively preparing con -
tingency plans, and outlining specific scenarios and corresponding policy actions, will enable swift interventions with well-targeted measures,” it added.
Policymakers are also encouraged to adopt comprehensive policy packages to address structural challenges and foster sustainable and inclusive growth.
Amid heightened uncertainties, AMRO said policymakers need to maintain flexibility to respond to emerging shocks, particularly given rising protectionist trends.
“It is essential to clearly com -
municate the rationale, scope, and timelines for withdrawing contingency plans. Once economic risks diminish and stability is re-established, policymakers should promptly return to a medium-term fiscal consolidation path that upholds fiscal prudence,” it said.
“Considering the importance of rebuilding fiscal buffers to mitigate future economic shocks and ensuring long-term fiscal sustainability, continued fiscal consolidation efforts over the medium term are warranted,” AMRO Group Head for Fiscal Surveillance Seung Hyun (Luke) Hong added.
PHL’S USE OF SUGAR SUBSTITUTES SEEN TO RISE 47% THIS YEAR–USDA
By Ada Pelonia @adapelonia
THE country’s consumption of sugar alternatives will surge by 47 percent this marketing year, or half of the projected 2.2 million metric tons (MMT) raw sugar consumption, an international agency said.
The United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila (USDA-FAS Manila) forecasts that consumption of alternative sweeteners converted into raw sugar equivalent will reach 1.14 MMT this MY 2025.
This expected figure is higher than the 774,000 metric tons (MT) consumption recorded in the previous year. Such alternative sweeteners are aspartame, acesulfame, sucralose, saccharin, and stevia.
“Some bakeries and beverages manufacturers have shifted to alternative sweeteners due to high sugar prices,” the international agency said in its latest report.
“Demand will continue to increase among health-conscious consumers moving towards sugar alternatives,” it added.
The USDA-FAS Manila said the consumption of sugar alternatives has been increasing over the past years, with the doubledigit growth recorded in MY 2024 “causing an alarm among sugar producers.”
Earlier, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) issued Sugar Order (SO) 6, which im-
poses a clearance fee of P60 per MT on imported goods under Harmonized System (HS) codes 1701, 1702, and 1704. Some of these items include sucrose, lactose, maltose, glucose, maple syrup, honey, caramel, and sugar confectionery items, such as chewing gum and white chocolate not containing cocoa.
Importers of items under these tariff codes should first secure a clearance before their shipments are released by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
Meanwhile, the USDA-FAS Manila projects that the Philippines will import 300,000 MT of refined sugar in MY 2026, which will start in September.
The international agency projects these figures due to the priority given to SO 2 participants to avail themselves of the future import program. SO 2 is the voluntary purchase of farmers’ sugar, along with the 1:2.5 ratio stipulated under SO 5 for exporters who took part in the US sugar quota allocation. In SO 5, the ratio denotes that for every kilo of sugar exported to the US, eligible participants can import 2.5 kilos of sugar. The Philippines will export 66,000 MT of raw sugar to fulfill the allocation it received from the United States under the tariff rate quota (TRQ) scheme. This is higher than the 24,179 MT exported by Philippine producers to the US in 2024. “Sugar imports will continue to stabilize supply and prices in the domestic market,” the USDA-FAS Manila said.
By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo
SOME 1.72 million Filipinos traveled abroad in the first quarter of the year, exceeding the 1.65 million foreign tourists who arrived in the country in the same period.
Data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) showed, the number of departing Filipino travelers from January to March 2025 was 6.83 percent more than the 1.61 million who traveled abroad in the same period in 2024.
The same data recorded double-digit increases, year-on-year (yoy), by Filipinos traveling to Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, and the United States. Filipinos who visited Vietnam reached 71,767, up a staggering 97 percent from the same three-month period in 2024. Thailand saw a 33.84-percent jump, yoy, to 102,455, while there were 23.82-percent more who visited Taiwan, and reached 132,007. The United States received 75,901 Filipino travelers, an increase by 16.5 percent, yoy.
The increasing popularity of Vietnam as a tourist destination has encouraged Philippine Airlines, for instance, to launch flights to Da Nang starting July 1. It will also start flying from Cebu to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) on May 2.
Swifties stay home
HOWEVER , Singapore and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) recorded drops in Filipino visitors.
There were just 165,257 Filipinos who went to Singapore in the first quarter of the year, 19.31 percent lower than the visitors in the same period in 2024. Still, it was the third top destination this year, accounting for 9.63 percent of total Filipino departures.
The decline is likely explained by
the unusually large departures of Filipinos for the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, which boosted outbound travel to some 85,000 in March 2024. In contrast, there were less than 50,000 Filipinos who visited the city-state in March 2025, a fall by over 41 percent.
Filipino travelers to the KSA were 6-percent less in the first three months of the year, slipping to 114,699. Despite the dip, KSA was still the fifth destination of choice, accounting for 6.68 percent of total Filipino departures.
Top 10 destinations
IN absolute terms, the top 10 destinations of Filipino travelers in the first quarter of the year were Hong Kong at 228,193 (up 6.6 percent from the seamer period in 2024); followed by Japan at 205,728 (+4.6 percent); Singapore; Taiwan; and Saudi Arabia.
The other top choices of Filipino travelers—either by tourists or overseas workers—were the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 114,426 (a 4.7-percent increase from JanuaryMarch 2024); Thailand; the United States; Vietnam; and South Korea at 50,477 (+6 percent).
The outbound data was gathered by the DOT from the e-travel app, administered by the Bureau of Immigration.
In an interview with the BusinessMirror, Ritchie Tuaño, chairman and general manager of Asiareps Travel Services Inc. said, “It appears the number of departing OFWs [overseas Filipino workers] significantly put Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and the US on top of the list. Among those listed at the top, I believe Japan, Thailand and Vietnam would probably outweigh the [the other markets] in terms of legitimate Filipino tourists.”
Manila eases restrictions on Taiwan travel
By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
MANILA is now eyeing to forge more investment deals with Taiwan by easing the travel and agreements restrictions for Philippine government officials with the self-governing island.
In his two-page Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 82 dated 15 April 2025, Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin said President Ferdinand Marcos authorized relaxing the ban on Philippine government officials from traveling to Taiwan to
meet with its officials under Executive Order (EO) No. 313.
Issued in 1987 during the administration of former President Corazon C. Aquino, EO 313 stated no government official may visit Taiwan, or receive Taiwanese officials visiting the Philippines. It also prohibited any official activity relating to Taiwan from being held without clearance from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Bersamin said the ban will now only “strictly apply” to the President, Vice President, Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Secretary of
National Defense. “Philippine government officials intending to visit Taiwan for economic, trade, and investment purposes, shall travel using their ordinary passports and without using their official titles,” he said.
The said officials must also inform the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, Inc. (MECO) on the purpose of their visit prior to departure.
They will also submit a report of their travel to MECO and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). MC 82 also allowed Philippine government officials and agencies,
through MECO, to receive delegations from Taiwan for economic, trade and investment purposes. “In this regard, Philippine government officials and/or agencies shall inform MECO at least five days prior to the visit and shall submit a report to MECO and DFA regarding such a visit,” Bersamin said. The new issuance also allowed DFA and as may be necessary, the Office of the President, to give clearance on memorandum
Editor: Jennifer A. Ng
ICTSI acquires stake in port to expand Brazil operations
By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan
INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) has expanded its presence in Brazil with the acquisition of a strategic 47-percent interest in a key port property adjacent to its existing terminal operations in Rio de Janeiro.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ICTSI said the deal was made through its wholly owned subsidiary, ICTSI Americas B.V., which acquired the stake in Inhauma Fundo de Investimento Imobiliario (FII Inhaúma).
FII Inhaúma is a real estate investment fund, which holds perpetual rights to a 32-hectare decommissioned shipyard known as Estaleiro Inhaúma.
Located at Rua General Gurjão, in the Caju district of Rio de Janeiro, the property sits beside ICTSI’s RIO Brasil terminal and is envisioned to become a future private-use terminal (TUP).
For now, the company said the land will serve as additional capacity to support ICTSI RIO’s current port operations.
“The acquisition of this property represents an investment opportu-
nity for ICTSI for the development of the area and, thus, potential expansion of the total operational and logistics capacity of the port region of Rio de Janeiro,” the disclosure read.
ICTSI posted a 66-percent surge in net income for 2024, reaching an all-time high of $849.8 million, driven by higher operating income and interest earnings from a strong cash balance.
Revenues from port operations climbed 15-percent year-on-year to $2.74 billion, buoyed by higher volumes, tariff adjustments, and increased revenue from ancillary services.
The Razon-led port operator has allotted $580 million in capital expenditures this year, about 10-percent higher than the $517.14-million outlays in 2024.
The company said the 2025 capex will be allocated to several major infrastructure developments, including the new terminal in Batangas, Philippines, which ICTSI initiated last year.
Other key investments include the phase 3B expansion in Contecon Manzanillo S.A. (CMSA) in Mexico, ongoing development at Manila International Container Terminal (MICT), and the expansion of ICTSI DR Congo S.A. (IDRC) in Matadi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The company also earmarked funds for equipment acquisitions, facility upgrades, and maintenance capex to sustain operational efficiency across its global portfolio.
In 2024, ICTSI’s capital spending was primarily used to complete several major developments, including the phase 3A expansion at CMSA in Mexico, a berth extension in ICTSI Rio, Brazil, and new equipment installations at the Visayas Container Terminal (VCT) in Iloilo, Philippines.
The company also advanced construction of its new East Java Multipurpose Terminal (EJMT) in Indonesia, alongside continued expansions at MICT and IDRC.
UA&P and CLI team up for Cebu hub
By VG Cabuag
THE University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) on Monday said it launched its first regional executive education hub in Cebu.
The launch marks a pivotal step in realizing UA&P’s Strategic Vision 2030, which includes establishing a national presence across three strategic locations in the country. Through CORE Cebu, the university aims to deliver executivelevel education that emphasizes both technical excellence and valuesdriven leadership.
“Cebu City was a natural and strategic choice for this expansion,” Jose L. Cuisia Jr., chairman of the board of trustees of UA&P Foundation Inc.
“We are particularly heartened by the strong presence of our active alumni network here,” he added, citing strong support of alumni in the region, both from UA&P and its
forerunner, Center for Research and Communication.
The event formalized the university’s partnership with real estate development company Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI), which will house UA&P’s facilities in Cebu.
A signing ceremony between UA&P and CLI, with Cuisia, UA&P President Winston Conrad Padojinog, CLI Chairman Jose Soberano III and CLI Executive Director Jose Franco Soberano as signatories.
The partnership secures CORE Cebu’s headquarters at the Latitude Corporate Center in Cebu Business Park.
In his remarks, Roberto Miguel Roque, UA&P vice president for business development and alumni affairs, said the Cebu project was “a shared dream, a shared vision, a shared mission with many stakeholders.”
“We considered once more our purpose: to bring the unique educational experience of UA&P, deeply
imbued with wisdom, solidarity, and excellence, to many more places—starting with our country, and eventually the rest of the Asia-Pacific region.”
He also highlighted the deeper significance of the occasion, which coincided with the centenary of the priestly ordination of St. Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei, to whom UA&P owes its spiritual inspiration.
CORE, which stands for Continuing Real-World Education, will offer a suite of executive-level certificate programs and short courses tailored to the needs of industries in the Visayas and Mindanao. Upcoming offerings include programs on Data Governance, Sustainability Management, Project Management, and the Strategic Business Economics Program.
The facility, designed by architectural firm AIDEA, will span approximately 470 square meters, with a large multipurpose area, a tech-en-
abled case room, faculty offices, and coaching rooms to host both local and international lecturers, including faculty from the IESE Business School in Barcelona.
“Your belief in our mission will undoubtedly create ripples of positive impact—not only in Cebu but also in the VisMin area, and, in the future, in Vietnam and Indonesia,” Padojinog said.
Padojinog said CORE is more than a physical space. It is a platform for human flourishing, professional growth, and transformative leadership. He invited the community to support the project in various ways—from donations and professional services to program development and enrollment of executives.
“Let us work together to make CORE a symbol of what is possible when visionaries, educators, and partners unite,” he said. “May your continued generosity inspire even greater achievements.”
Strollers and other baby products will get more expensive with
tariffs
SA M RUTLEDGE and his wife have a baby due in mid-July, so they thought they had a few more months to research and buy the gear they’ll need.
But President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement in early April turned the couple’s slow walk into a sprint. In the past few weeks, they’ve bought two strollers, a car seat, a nursery glider, a crib and a high chair. All of them are made overseas.
“These are all pretty expensive under normal conditions, but when it became clear tariffs were coming we decided to buy them in case they became prohibitively expensive,” said Rutledge, who is a high school physics teacher.
Raising a child in America has never been cheap. In the first year alone, it costs an average of $20,384, according to Baby Center, a parenting website. But tariffs –ranging from 10 percent for imports from most countries to 145 percet for imports from China -- will make it many times more expensive for new parents.
An estimated 90 percent of the core baby care products and the parts that go into making baby paraphernalia – from bottles and diaper pails to strollers and car seats – are made in Asia, according to the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, a US trade group. The vast majority come from China.
“Overseas manufacturing has been the norm in our industry for decades,” said Lisa Trofe, the association’s executive director. It wasn’t always this way. When Munchkin Inc. CEO Steven Dunn founded his company in 1991, it made baby bottles in California with tooling from New Jersey. But over the years, the manufacturers he used shut down and the cost of doing business in the US skyrocketed. Now, about 60 percent of Munchkin’s 500 products, from a $5 sippy cup to a $254 Night Owl Stroller with headlights, are made in China.
Continued on B2
April 22, 2025
‘US tariff benefit on PHL to take time’
ANY benefit that the Philippines may have from the lower US tariffs relative to its regional peers may be tempered by the impact of the levies on some of its trade partners, according to billionaire Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.
“Our economy is primarily a service economy and it is consumption driven, making our country in some ways in a better position to weather the negative impacts of the new trade restrictions,” Zobel said on Monday.
But there is “some concern on potential secondary effects” on some of the Philippines’s export markets such as China, Japan and South Korea, he said during the annual general meeting of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) where he is chairman. “Their economies may hurt and that could dampen demand for our exports.”
Some foreign manufacturers could also turn to the Philippines as the nation may become cost competitive, Zobel said, but added that this may “take some time and require some belief that the tariff structure may hold for some time.”
President Donald Trump this month rolled out tariffs for most of its trade partners including a 17-percent rate for Philippine goods, but later imposed a 90day pause, with most countries instead being taxed at a base rate of 10 percent.
The Philippines is looking to cash in on the lower tariffs imposed by the US on its exports compared to its Asian neighbors, while also poised to send a delegation to Washington next month for negotiations.
BPI, a unit of conglomerate Ayala Corp., is wary of tapping debt markets in the near term given the intense volatility triggered by Trump’s ever-changing tariff onslaught.
“The market conditions are not as receptive as before,” BPI President and Chief Executive Officer Jose Teodoro “TG” Limcaoco said at a media briefing on Monday. The development of the Philippines’ capital market will support local borrowers but “there’s a lot of work” to be done to achieve that, he said.
BPI last month sold $800 million Reg S senior unsecured notes in the international capital market, with proceeds to be used partly for refinancing.
“We’re looking at other opportunities to do more borrowings,” BPI Treasurer Dino Gasmen said, adding he’s glad that the bank managed to tap the overseas market before the turmoil. Global markets saw intense volatility earlier in April, with multiple markets posting record losses and gains as the Trump administration rolled out tariffs, pared them back for most countries and ended up raising them sharply for China. Investors are on edge and on the lookout for assets that can withstand the unprecedented shocks to global trade.
Limcaoco said regardless of whether a bank is focused on consumer lending, institutional lending, investment banking or payments, it must make sure that its business model continues to perform during a crisis.
“In every cycle as risks rise, banks will pull back risks,” he said. “But when you pull back risks, that means your business—if you’re into lending business—will also dry up,” he said, noting the need to create balance. Bloomberg News
ELIZABETH MAHON, owner of baby store Three Littles, unpacks strollers and other inventory ordered by customers ahead of tariff-driven price increases at her Union Market location in Washington, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP PHOTO/NATHAN HOWARD)
BPI Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala
Banking&Finance
Govt bags ₧25B from sale of Treasury bills
By Reine Juvierre Alberto @reine_alberto
DESPITE yields of short-dated debt papers ending mixed, the national government managed to fully award and generate a total of P25 billion from Treasury bills (Tbills) sold last Monday.
The Bureau of the Treasury’s (BTr) auction committee made a full award of all three tenors of T-bills up for auction as total demands reached P73.913 billion, or 2.9-times oversubscribed, as only P25 billion was sold as planned.
Average annual yield of the 91day T-bill pushed up by 12.4 basis points to 5.546 percent from 5.422 percent posted during the previous auction last week for the same tenor. Yields of the government securities went as low as 5.425 percent to as high as 5.625 percent. The full P8 billion on offer was awarded by the auction committee as the amount tendered reached P13.670 billion.
14 tips for first-time credit card holders
ACREDIT card is a double-edged sword. If you use it responsibly, then you’ll reap a lot of financial benefits. But if you’re careless with it, the consequences can leave you in a financial disaster.
Today, I’m giving you 14 quick tips on how to be a good and responsible credit card user, especially if it’s your first time to own one or if you’re thinking of applying for one soon.
1. Understand the terms and conditions. Know exactly what you’re getting to avoid any surprises later on. Particularly know the interest rate, annual fee, and all the other charges. A friend thought the interest rate of his credit card was just 2.25 percent. It turns out, it’s just for supermarket purchases and all others, it’s 3.50 percent.
2. Know your credit card features and rewards. Know your credit card perks, particularly the discounts and benefits you get when you use them in specific stores or merchants. Aside from the reward points, some credit cards can also give cashback.
3. Be mindful of your card. Don’t take a photo of your credit card and then post it online. Believe me, I’ve seen people do this. Don’t just leave it lying around, especially in your house or in your office. Don’t input your credit card details on e-commerce sites or apps that are unsecured. And never give your credit card number and CVV to anyone.
4. Don’t let it out of your sight. Always request for the credit card terminal to be brought to you, especially in restaurants. If this is not possible, then go to the terminal yourself and watch the transaction being processed. A friend had his credit card details stolen because a waiter in a restaurant took a photo of his card before bringing it back to him. Moreover, check your sales slip after every purchase. They might have charged you with an incorrect amount. This has happened to me a few times, and it only takes seconds to do.
5. Don’t treat it as free money. I’ve met people who think that credit cards translate to free money. It’s not. Owning a credit card does not mean you have extra cash, so don’t use it unnecessarily.
6. Use it primarily for convenience. I use credit cards because I don’t like carrying large amounts of cash. And it also saves me time from going to an ATM to withdraw cash when shopping. This is the number 1 benefit of credit cards.
7. Leverage on zero-interest installment plans. Another great benefit of credit cards is the 0 percent interest installment for large purchases. You’re not paying more than you have to, and you get to do more with your budget.
8. Use your virtual credit card online. Some credit cards offer a complimentary virtual credit card as an added layer of security. Use it for your online purchases instead of your actual credit card. Moreover, activate the one-time PIN (OTP) and turn on SMS notifications, so you can immediately catch fraudulent online transactions.
9. Check your credit card statements thoroughly.
The 182-day tenor T-bill’s average annual yield also increased by 1.8 basis points to 5.675 percent from last week’s 5.657 percent. The yield averaged between 5.620 percent and 5.696 percent.
The 182-day government IOUs attracted tenders amounting to P25.863 billion, of which only P8 billion, as programmed, was fully awarded.
As for the 364-day T-bill, the yield declined by 3.1 basis points to 5.691 percent from 5.722 percent set in the previous auction.
The debt papers were swamped with offers totaling P34.380 billion, the highest among all tenors, as the auction committee awarded the programmed P9 billion offering.
Yields of the 91-day and 182-day tenor T-bills were higher than the benchmark Philippine Bloomberg Valuation (PHP BVAL) rates, except
PERSONAL FINANCE
When your bill arrives, immediately check if the transactions are all familiar and in order. In the event there’s an unfamiliar charge, don’t worry, and just report it immediately. Credit card companies are quick and responsive to this issue. Fraudulent transactions are swiftly reversed, your card gets blocked against further use, and a new credit card is sent to you within days.
10. Only spend what you can afford to pay off monthly. As mentioned earlier, credit cards don’t provide you with free money. So make sure that you don’t buy anything that you can’t afford to pay within the month. It’s part of your financial discipline to always pay your balance in full, so you can avoid paying any interest.
11. Never miss your due date. Credit cards have hefty late payment fees and exuberant penalty charges. Avoid them by paying before the due date. If you can, pay your outstanding balance as soon as you receive your credit card bill.
12. Always ask for your annual fees to be waived.
There are now credit cards that offer no annual fees. It’s good if you have that. But if yours comes with an annual fee, then don’t worry. Just be a good credit card user, and your annual fees can easily be reversed upon request. On a side note, your late payment fees can also be reversed sometimes if you call them with a valid excuse for missing your due date.
13. Avoid having too many credit cards.
One credit card is often enough. Having two credit cards is okay. But three or more is already excessive, in my opinion. The temptation to spend is greater, and you’re more prone to missing out on payment due dates if you have too many credit cards.
14. Avoid making cash advances. Credit cards are not meant to be used for cash advances. The interest rate is too high, and it’s immediately charged upon cash withdrawal. So it’s best to avoid doing this. It’s still best to have an emergency fund. And if you need cash, try other loan options first, which usually offer lower interest rates.
Final words
A CREDIT card is not a necessity. You can actually live without one, in my opinion. But I also believe that the benefits you get from having one are too good to miss out on. A credit card is a doubleedged sword. And to learn how to use a sword, one must first master when to use a sword.
for the 364-day tenor.
The PHP BVAL reference rates are 5.413 percent for the threemonth tenor, 5.630 percent for the six-month tenor and 5.684 percent for the one-year tenor.
According to Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort, the latest T-bill yields were mostly slightly higher amid the ongoing 10-year Fixed-Rate Treasury Notes (FXTNs) offering of the Treasury.
Ricafort said the offering could siphon off some excess peso liquidity from the Philippine financial system.
The Treasury raised an initial P135 billion from the new 10-year FXTNs on April 15, as the notes fetched a coupon rate of 6.375 percent on strong demand amounting to P197.3 billion. This is 6.6 times oversubscribed of the initial P30 billion offering.
The FXTNs will remain available to the investing public through qualified dealers from April 15 to 24, unless earlier terminated by the Treasury, at a minimum investment of P10 million and increments of P1 million thereafter.
Ricafort opted for the popular notion that inflation in the United States, which eased to 2.4 percent in March, could pick up again due to US President Donald Trump’s higher import tariffs.
The RCBC executive pointed to offsetting factors as the low global crude oil prices and the strong peso exchange rate. Ricafort explained these factors could still help further ease price pressures, support more benign inflation and “help justify possible monetary easing and/or rate cuts, going forward.”
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reduced the key policy rate by 25 basis points to 5.50 percent
on April 10, with BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. signaling for further rate cuts this year (See: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2025/04/11/bsp-lowerskey-rate-by-25-bps-more-cutsseen/). This April, the government has raised P74.46 billion from the sale of T-bills. The auction committee aims to borrow a total of P125 billion from T-bills this month, by offering 91-, 182- and 364-day tenor T-bills every Monday. The government will borrow a total of P2.545 trillion this year, following an 80:20 borrowing mix in favor of domestic sources. It has borrowed P552.692 billion as of the end of February. Outstanding debt of the national government reached a new high of P16.632 trillion as of endFebruary, 9.57 percent higher yearon-year from P15.178 trillion.
LandBank saw volume of mobile app use doubling
THE state-run Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) saw a double-digit growth in digital banking transactions in 2024, as more customers shifted to online banking and other available digital platforms.
In a statement on Monday, Landbank said the digital transactions it facilitated rose by 67 percent to 162.28 million in 2024 from 97.08 million in 2023.
The total value of digital transactions through the state-run bank also grew by 38 percent to P3.38 trillion from P2.45 trillion.
Most of the bank’s total transaction volume was recorded from the LandBank mobile banking app, which saw a 93.51-percent increase in transactions. This resulted in a record 106.82 million transactions in 2024, coming from only 55.2 mil-
lion transactions in 2023.
Through the application, bank customers can access various banking services, such as fund transfers, bill payments and investing in government securities.
Also among the major enhancements in the application was the straight-through account opening feature, allowing customers to open a digital account online through smartphones without visiting a branch.
Meanwhile, LandBank’s corporate Internet banking platform, weAccess, recorded the highest volume in transaction value at P1.36 trillion. This also expanded by 43 percent year-on-year from P952.14 billion.
The state-run bank’s other major digital channels include iAccess, an online retail banking channel; Link.BizPortal, a web-based pay-
ment channel; Electronic Modified Disbursement System (eMDS), a facility for institutional clients and national government partners; and Landbank Bulk Crediting System (LBCS), an electronic bulk disbursement facility.
Moreover, LandBank has rolled out its “phygital” branches, combining the bank’s physical and digital services, in December 2024, to deliver a more streamlined and seamless customer experience.
LandBank said it is also ramping up its “LANDBANKasama” program to bring basic banking services to far-flung and underserved areas in the Philippines.
The lender is also introducing cash-lite ecosystems in key areas, starting in the province of Batanes, to promote the use of digital payments and provide local merchants,
residents, students and local government units with digital financial tools and skills.
“The initiative promotes the use of cashless transactions as a safer, faster, and more convenient way to manage daily financial needs—ultimately reducing reliance on physical cash and fostering a digitally-inclusive local economy,” the bank said.
“Digital banking is not just about convenience—it’s about inclusion. Through our digital banking channels, we are empowering every Filipino to take control of their finances. Our goal is to make safe, reliable, and convenient banking accessible to all, especially our farmers and fishers, business owners, OFWs, and government agencies,” LandBank President and CEO Lynette V. Ortiz was quoted as saying in the statement. Reine Juvierre S. Alberto
Alternergy secures loan from RCBC for wind project
By Lenie Lectura @llectura
THE renewable energy firm Alternergy Holdings Corp. disclosed last Monday of having secured P3.256 billion from the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) to partly finance its 64-megawatt (MW) Alabat wind power project.
The amount forms part of the P5.3 billion project finance facility for Alabat Wind Power Corp. from the RCBC. The total project cost is P7.1 billion.
“We are grateful to RCBC for this initial release of project funding for
our Alabat Wind Project, coming soon after RCBC’s release last month of P800 million for our Balsik Solar project,” said Alternergy President Gerry P. Magbanua. The Alabat initiative is the Philippines’s first wind project located along the country’s Pacific Ocean coastline. It is also the first wind project being erected in the Quezon province. Alabat Wind is possibly the first wind project to be completed under the “Second Green Energy Auction Program” undertaken by the Department of Energy in July 2023.
According to the firm, construction works is underway on the island of Alabat, with target completion by end of this year. The Alabat wind project is one of five renewable energy projects under construction by the company and forms part of its goal to hit 500MW by 2026.
Last month, the company took delivery of the first two units of eight MW wind turbines. Each turbine has three blades that are 90-meters long, or the length of a football field, for a total wingspan of 182 meters wide. The towers, once built, will have a
maximum height of 195 meters.
A total of eight turbines, built by Chinese multinational corporation Envision Energy Co. Ltd., will be delivered.
“The first shipment of the country’s largest wind turbine to date has arrived on Alabat Island, marking a significant milestone for the Alabat Wind Project. The 8-MW wind turbine will efficiently harness the province’s rich wind resources, supporting Quezon Province’s accelerated energy transition goals while minimizing environmental impact,” Magbanua said.
Higher revenues perk up BPI’s Q1 net income
THE Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) reported of having posted a net income of P16.6 billion in the first quarter of the year on the back of higher revenues offsetting increases in operating expenses.
The Zobel de Ayala-led lender disclosed last Monday its net income grew by 9 percent from the P15.3 billion recorded during the same period last year. The bank’s income is also higher by 18.3 percent from the P14.1 billion it booked in the fourth quarter of 2024.
BPI President and CEO Jose Teodoro K. Limcaoco said in a news briefing last Monday that the bank is on track to exceed last year’s record net income of P62 billion.
“Obviously, there are some headwinds this year. We think we need to be very mindful of what happens in the global economy,” Limcaoco said.
With recession a Damocles sword over the global economy, Limcaoco said he expects the Philippines to be affected. However, he believes that given the strong consumption and with inflation under control, the country would be insulated than most economies.
The BPI executive added that the country is also in a “better position”
relative to the reciprocal tariffs imposed by the United States.
“We’ll have to just wait and see and see how that [tariffs] plays out. The policies are constantly in flux, so we have to see where the tariffs actually land,” Limcaoco added.
In a separate statement, the country’s third-largest lender in terms of assets credited its strong income to higher revenues, which were able to offset the impact of increases in operating expenses and provision for losses. The higher revenues translated to a return on equity and return on assets of 15.35 percent and 2.05 percent, respectively.
BPI’s total revenues rose by 13.1 percent year-on-year to P44.7 billion, due to the growth in the bank’s net interest income of 15.3 percent as a result of an 8.6-percent increase in average earning asset base and a 30-basis point expansion in net interest margin to 4.49 percent.
The bank also booked P10.3 billion in non-interest income, 6.3 percent higher than last year’s, driven by higher credit card fees and transaction-based service charges, offsetting the drop in foreign exchange and trading income. Meanwhile, BPI’s operating ex-
penses amounted to P20.3 billion, up by 12.7 percent year-on-year, as spending on manpower, technology and business volume-related increased. This resulted in an improvement by 16 basis points to 45.5 percent in the cost-to-income ratio.
BPI also recorded provisions of P3 billion for the first quarter, as its NPL ratio stood at 2.26 percent, with the NPL coverage ratio at 100.11 percent.
Loan growth
BPI Chief Finance Officer Eric M. Luchangco said the bank’s loan growth is expected to be within the low-teen area this year, at 12 to 3 percent.
This comes after the BPI posted a loan growth of 13.2 percent to P2.3 trillion in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year, Luchangco said.
The BPI CEO added they are focused on transforming the lender’s loan book from institutional loans to non-institutional loans, which accounted for 28.8 percent of BPI’s total portfolio.
Non-institutional loans, such as consumer and small business loans, are expected to drive loan growth as it grow at a faster pace this year, mak-
ing up 30 percent ofthe total loan portfolio.
“How we continue to see the market moving forward, in terms of whether we can expect to sustain that in spite of all the global headwinds, I think we’re currently minded that we can continue to expect it to carry along at this rate,” Luchangco told reporters.
BPI Head of Consumer Banking Cristina L. Go added that the credit card sector is expected to grow and be driven by consumption and spending on essentials and travel.
“We still remain positive for consumer spending and also for loan availments,” Go said during Monday’s briefing. Further, BPI’s total assets increased by 6.9 percent year-on-year, reaching P3.3 trillion.
Total deposits also grew 6.3 percent year-on-year to P2.6 trillion, bringing the loan-to-deposit Ratio to 89.4 percent.
BPI’s
Fitz Gerard Villafuerte
Show BusinessMirror
Godspeed, Ate Guy
THIS is perhaps one of the most difficult pieces to write. Moreso, to do so on a week when the metropolis is so quiet, when the silence seems eerie, and the summer heat sweltering, almost searing.
I’ve sat in front of my desktop for a good half an hour now, not sure how to start this piece.
Nora Aunor, National Artist for Film and Broadcast, the only and only superstar of Philippine entertainment, and a personal friend, has passed on in the middle of the observance of Holy Week. She breathed her last at the confines of The Medical City, less than 24 hours from a medical procedure that was supposed to fix her good heart.
Her children shared that Aunor passed away due to acute respiratory failure, and those who have known her knew that she was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) many years ago, a common lung disease that causes restricted airflow and breathing problems.
Not long ago, Aunor shared with us that she flatlined for almost three minutes in late 2022 when she was rushed to a hospital for difficulty of breathing. “I was telling the ER people to just give me the high-flow oxygen therapy but it took them so long that I passed out, and the next memory I had was waking up in the ICU and being told that I ‘died’ for almost three minutes before I was revived,” she told us in Filipino.
Since then, her health was regularly monitored but she admitted that she felt that her system continued to to deteriorate. For many years now, she’d send her ’polite no’ to most of the invitations that requested her presence, and would only agree to intimate meetings with close and trusted friends from work. She had a wheelchair and an oxygen tank always on standby.
My first close encounter with Aunor happened in the 1990s, when I interviewed her in her home for a piece I was doing. I was “warned” by my colleagues to be prepared to wait for her as she “normal” does not care about agreed time.
I was happy to know that she agreed to do the interview at her Balete Drive home since it was quite near from where I stayed. It was mid afternoon and I was led to the sala by the househelp that opened the gate. In less than five minutes, Aunor came down, in T-shirt and short shorts, sat beside me, held my hand, and whispered, “Kwentuhan lang tayo ha,” and then asked the househelp to serve me merienda
To break the ice, she immediately asked if I wanted brandy, and I said it might be too early, adding, “Hindi bagay sa sandwich, Ate Guy.” Our kwentuhan lasted until after dinner, and by that time that it was almost done, she started calling me Nonoy (a Bicolano term for younger brother). “Parang parehong nangungusap ang mga mata natin, kaya simula ngayon Nonoy na ang tawag ko sa iyo ha.” She’d invite me to come to her house if she was free to chat, and she was also the one who introduced me to the late Fernando Poe Jr.. “Magkakasundo kayo nyan ni Nonoy—ayaw ng brandy, pero malakas sa beer!” she teased Poe, and Aunor laughed at the way I blushed. She moved to many houses after selling the Balete Drive property during a low point in her life, but we’d remain in touch. We even planned a major solo concert for her before the millennium, which she was so excited about. She immediately approved the full title of the show, Palabra de Aunor (A Promise Fulfilled), a
huwag na tayo malungkot, malay natin
TODAY’S HOROSCOPE
By Eugenia Last
a botched surgery in Japan, and when we saw each other after that, she told me that our dream concert might never happen anymore. That night she told me, I remember I had brandy, much to her surprise. Then she hugged me really tight before I went home.
Nora Aunor was the kind of friend who will be there for you even if you don’t see each other for
Nora...
CONTINUED FROM B5
history but took action in changing the trajectory of her career that only allowed her (in her own words during a private conversation) to move from tree to another tree to sing one song after another. In fact, she was always there in history, not to change it but to affirm the discipline of cinema where she is a part of, that it inserts itself in histories. Thus, amid the issue of the American base, she was the nurse who opted not to travel to the US; still, she was the same individual lost in Merika, a Filipina in fugue. Later in the years, when her contemporaries were relegated to small roles, she persisted to act in what, in hindsight presently, I would dub experimental films, as she did films after films, unmindful of what the critics would say about those works. It appeared that filmmakers were using Nora Aunor and she was glad to provide that service as she explored the limits or the absence of boundaries in her arts.
Nora spared no spaces in histories, be they personal or social. During the pandemic, Nora
generosity matched her immense talent. Like of all us, Godspeed, Ate Guy. From tonight onwards, I will count you among the stars. ■
was alive. When the virus fell upon the world and everything appeared to stand still, Nora Aunor stood for what the arts really was for—a beacon of hope in a world that was spinning out of its axis, a warrior’s cry of courage to speak out the truth when that was the final recourse.
On record, she was the actor’s face of the pandemic. In a presentation by Tanghalang Pilipino in cooperation with Voyage Studios, Nora acted in a short film written by Layeta Bucoy with enhancement and editing by Chuck Gutierrez. She was “Lola Doc,” a physician bidding goodbye to her grandchildren because she could not be home with them. In the final scene, Nora as Lola Doc says: “Ganito na lang muna tayo... babay....” She waves her hand, and looks down, utters one more goodbye and reaches to turn off the screen. Only Nora could make those quick, brisk gestures into the tenderest, most infinite farewell.
On April 16, 2025, as the world moved into eternity, Nora did wave her hand and looked up, said goodbye without us looking, with no audience to witness the tenderest farewell. And we know this good earth would never be the same without her song—those slow, subtle speech and the long, unmoving, quiet gaze—again. Dios mabalos sa gabos, Ate Guy. ■
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
important to you instead of
the outer perimeters of situations, topics and possibilities. Speak openly from the heart and directly to those most likely to tell the truth. Put more onus on how you appear and feel, and use your talents to reach your goals.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Finish what you start, do things by the book and take responsibility for yourself and what you say and do. Arguing will waste time and deter you from reaching your objective or destination. Rethink your strategy before you start a conversation that can alter your course, lifestyle or meaningful relationship.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You are overdue for a change. Look at yourself, what you do, how you look and the goals you want to achieve. Be open to suggestions and learn all you can that might give you an advantage over anyone competing with you. ★★★
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Take a break. Get out and mingle, network or participate in something that motivates or stimulates you to give your all. Use your ingenuity, and you'll devise a plan that helps you excel when dealing with associates and superiors.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Accept change and keep moving forward. How you deal with what's happening around you will determine how others perceive you and your influence on your goals. Run the show instead of letting someone step in and take over. A positive attitude will bring about progressive change. Personal gain looks promising.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Social events will result in heartfelt discussions that give you something to think about and consider. Your reaction or what you agree to contribute will require time and effort. Be sure you can deliver before you commit.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Take care of financial matters, apply for a position that interests you and manage your health care with finesse. Don't leave anything to chance or up to someone else. Push for what you want, but use diplomacy, experience and knowledge to ensure you get what you've been working for. ★★★
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Do your part to organize and set things up to accommodate what you can contribute. Look at the long-term effects and pace yourself accordingly. Refuse to let someone drag you into their drama when you are best to designate your time to what benefits you most. ★★★
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Make changes that improve your lifestyle and health and encourage reaching your goals. Discipline and saying no to temptation is essential. Put together a plan to restrict overspending, allowing you to funnel your money into what's necessary. Micromanagement, along with common sense, will help stabilize your life. ★★★
BIRTHDAY BABY: You are resourceful, expressive and dynamic. You are assertive and productive.
‘city centers’ BY JOE MARANGELL
The Universal Crossword • Edited by David Steinberg/Anna Gundlach/Adrian Johnson/Jared Goudsmit/Taylor Johnson
SPECIAL TO BUSINESSMIRROR
Writing the epic that is Nora Aunor
By Tito Genova Valiente
“Do
not allow me to forget you”
—Gabriel García Márquez, “Of Love and Other Demons”
DEATH has made us remember that Nora Aunor has only been our National Artist for some three years. And yet, it is her life before those three years that have made us forget the bitterness and rancor that made that title so elusive—and nearly impossible to bestow—to her. Nora Aunor has always stood for excellence and singularity; more than the talent and skill, her art— cinema—is popular and populist. The same art that has made the artist undeniably the symbol of cultures possessed by a nation (the latter an assumption) is also the site of contradictions and discomfort, for there in the unfettered vision lies persons of subversion, terror and confrontation.
As her fans rhapsodize about her life and loves, it is almost natural to think that the nation has indeed embraced Nora Aunor as the true National Artist. But admirers—this writer included—still remember that day: Nora’s name has been submitted already to the Palace for confirmation. For all the decent secrecy of the selection process for the National Artist, no one was bothered enough to ask why we learned whose name was waiting for the presidential benediction and who would be cursed out of it.
I remember that day, and early evening. In the cinema, I was not checking my phone that was in silent mode. There were calls already. Ate Guy has been dropped from the roll. The president exercised his prerogative and removed one name, her name. Of all the names. In celebrations and collective memory, Nora Aunor was a ready bouquet to offer at the altar of contested national identity. She seemed always outside the debate of whether a Filipina artist unschooled in any foreign methodology and freed from the shackles of the colonial language could provide a template for indigenous aesthetics.
I was reading the flurry of reports and complaints, some hysterical, some filled with tears, all in rage. Manong Frankie (F. Sionil Jose) had spoken but they could not do anything.
Our group in Naga in contact with Manila-based academics and rabid Noranians (that was how the fans of Nora were called) were angry but thought of an event: a Nora symposium. Just to keep alive the name of Nora Aunor (as if her name needed that). For many of us, in our naivete, her failure to be declared the Artist of the Nation signaled the end of a career. Looking back, that initiative was from the bruised egos of those who believed Nora deserved the title long ago. To this day, I wondered if Nora ever thought greatly of this action from us.
Did Manila ever care also, Manila—that small center that technically stood for the “nation” in National Artist? Maybe not.
One fact mattered: Nora survived that snub. Not with elegance, for elegance is so burgis and middle-class, but with a humility that would have been almost false except that it was Nora Aunor talking: “Baka para sa kanila, hindi ako karapat-dapat....” To individuals who loved and believed in her art, there was no way to counter that. It was a deadend especially for intellectuals who believed in the rhetorics of things.
Online, a virus spread. Nora was being called “Artista ng Bayan.” Translated, language rendered the withdrawn appellation to be returned, retrieved. It was as if a certain sector of the cultural population had ordained that the concept of the nation being problematic is significantly solved by a linguistic fiat. Nora Aunor need not be declared by a system that sometimes arbitrarily invites in moral guardians to judge artistic endeavors.
The “Bayan” was more than good enough for her. Nora Aunor did not say it was good enough for her but in the intervening years before she was declared once and for all the National Artist for Cinema and Broadcast Arts, she thrived. And survived in this ecosystem.
In September 2015, Nora received the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining, the highest award the Cultural Center of the Philippines could bestow an artist. I had the privilege to write the citation for this award, where I stated how “this is where politics enter Nora Aunor’s birth: the person will form an actor and an acting style that may not be always explicitly about portrayals of inequality but subtle and succinct commentary on how power is used and misused in the societies of this republic.”
Earlier, in the summer of 2015, Nora returned to Bicol, to Naga City. There she would be awarded the highest honor the Ateneo de Naga, the premier Jesuit institution in Southern Luzon, would give an artist: the Bulawan Bikolnon Award (“Bulawan” literally
means “Golden”). Again, her selection was not easy. Like the National Artist Award, it was rumored how one member of the Board of Trustees bristled at the thought of honoring an individual who had a drug issue attached to her name. This referred to her case in the US, which, if one was faithful with facts would know, she was cleared of. But like the film where she first won her Best Actress trophy to the disbelief of the non-fans, God smiled at Ate Guy. The Board opted to go through voting and when the Chair realized a majority had been reached, Nora Aunor was declared gilded. She was to be the honoree that year. But first she had to travel to Naga. And, yes, logistics and planning were set in motion. This means excitement—and problems. For those who knew Nora, her entourage changed every moment. This was her privilege developed long during her “Superstar” years, which she carried up to the present. First, there were two assistants coming, then three. Then the team ballooned to seven, with three media persons accompanying her. We were flustered as to how to explain these changes to the then university president, Fr. Jun Viray, SJ. I was ready to give up but the good Jesuit appeared to understand Nora more. When things were getting pretty stable, another development came out our way—she was changing her itinerary. She was traveling via Legazpi, where Mayon Volcano was. Did she need the perfect cone? Naga had the mystical Isarog and legend had it the active volcano spewed not lava but water. The reason for the seismic shift was political: a party list was sponsoring that portion of her travel. Finally, Nora arrived. More arrangements and rearrangements followed. We forgot her sense of equality—where she stayed, the others stayed there. There was no way to put the rest of her team in another hotel. We also witnessed how she charmed the administrators and organizers around her. At dinner, she entered without much of a fanfare. Guests who were dining in the place did not notice her first but one colegiala from the 1970s noted and whereupon, they all rushed to her to have photos taken. The rest of the evening, Nora spent it outside with the university registrar, smoking the night away, that night forever etched in the memory of those around her, incredulous that she, the greatest actress this republic has produced, was with them, talking about the night, the traffic outside, how the old city had changed. Before Nora’s arrival, Dr. Noel Volante, who was always assigned to manage the rehearsal for university graduation, organized a welcoming committee that would usher in Nora Aunor to the Ateneo de Naga campus. Nora was to address the Graduating class on the day she would be recognized with the highest award. We wanted to give her an Honoris Causa but we were informed that the education department required the honoree to have at
least a bachelor’s degree. So much for the honorifics. The Ateneo de Naga campus is noted for its majestic facade with the iconic Four Pillars facing the main gate. A police wagon was to guide the car that was carrying Nora to the campus. At the campus, the massive gate had been closed and the busload (yes) of Noranians were all instructed to enter way ahead of Nora inside the campus. They were, however, informed not to meet her. We made sure her arrival would be solemn and grand, a fitting ritual to a person we believe deserved the fete. How the fans managed to be there was again another arrangement. Upon clearance with the university, I met with the officers of the fans club in Manila months ahead and informed them of the official invitation for them to come to Naga. They were to be considered official guests, not fans.
We, the organizers, were feeling good about that day. It was about 9 in the morning when we heard the siren, a sign that Nora’s convoy was nearby. The avenue leading to Ateneo is a short one and so we could see the car approaching. The guards properly instructed began to open the gate, ushering in the police wagon, which drove to the side, allowing the black car that carried Nora Aunor. Two university professors (Rico Raquitico and Reggie Regondola) selected because they were validated and vetted fans were to perform the honor of one, opening the door and guiding Nora out of the car, and, two, putting the garland (or was it a lei?) around her neck. I was on top of the stairs, feeling imperious, as I waited for one of them to bring Nora to where I was. But the three were not moving. They seemed to be clustering together. Was one crying? Did another forget what to do?
It seemed eternity had passed and everything was a blur. I just realized Nora was in front of me and I was mumbling: Welcome to Ateneo de Naga. We moved inside the portico when an old friend, an esteemed scientist, Dr. Lina Regis, rushed in breaking protocol, saying “I am a fan” and hugged Nora. But there were Noranians on that side who pulled the hapless Lina and carried her with the flood of fans.
Nora began walking with a security officer bearing a wreath that she would offer to the statue of St. Ignatius of Loyola. What happened next was lost to memory. I merely followed the instruction to go ahead and be in the processional. I was to introduce Nora Aunor and read her citation. I did not see her in formation. What transpired was this: Very few students knew how she looked but they knew her works and her films. I heard first an applause and another. Each time a row of students saw Nora, a huge wave of applause ensued until the covered court was drowned in thunderous applause.
As we were approaching the stage, I sensed Nora behind me. She was whispering: “Manoy [Brother], I feel nervous.” “Don’t be,” I assured her. “These are your fans.”
That morning, Nora spoke in Bikol Naga, Tagalog, and even in her Iriga language. She was not nervous at all. She spoke of her childhood. She spoke of hunger. She spoke of how when the train whistled, she knew her Papay was getting paid, and he would come home with food. Of all the siblings, she was the one who waited for her Papay. She was honest, telling them how she would listen to her favorite song over the radio that was in a neighbor’s house (they were so poor they did not own a radio). She would miss some words. “That’s why before I used to sing the wrong line in a song.” But nobody complained because her voice was golden. Like the award she was getting that day.
That day, a new breed of fans was born. They called themselves the “Neo-Noranians.”
In the canteen during lunch that day, the Noranians could not be happier. Around the campus fluttered banners on which were printed the face of Nora and images from her films. They asked for them and we gave the tarps as a souvenir.
These are wonderful fans. Loyal to a fault. Generous with their love for Nora. Very much like Nora, the actor they swore their allegiance to.
The day before the grand event, the City of Naga recognized Nora as an Honorary Nagueña. It was the fate of Nora that she was always honored by a place larger than her station in life. Naga—Nueva Caceres in the Spanish era—was embracing her and giving the key to the old citadel. She was coming from Iriga, which was part of Rinconada or Partido de Rinconada, the name alluding to it being at the corner. Leaving the region, she would become reputedly the most famous Bicolana. Starring in films, she would lose this ethnicity as she turned into the Filipina nearly monolithic, the last quality brought about by the sweep of cinematic technology. It is to her credit that she would lose briskly this homogeneity and this, I believe, was her potency, first, as an individual, and ultimately as an artist.
Onscreen, audiences and critics alike would acknowledge how she was able to crystallize the peripheries, fleshing out in roles after roles, the marginal and the oppressed. This process was never performed in a facile or gratuitous way. Nora found even in those roles the gray areas, the undefined, anomalous areas where the greater quests of the heroine happened, where the woman was allowed to fight her own battles.
She was the daughter who slapped her own mother and delivered a final judgment on a father who was shameless; she was again the mother who lost her own husband not only to the other woman but to her own mother and yet we applaud because her rage was definitely righteous. In her first legitimate win as the best in her field, she rose to question not only wartime
BPI to celebrate achievements of OFWs with personalities Anne Curtis, Michael V.
THE Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is proud to celebrate the remarkable contributions of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) through BPI POP (Pamilyang OFW PartyUwiANNE na!), a memorable homecoming celebration with two of the Philippines’ most beloved stars, Anne Curtis and Michael V.
BPI is inviting Overseas Filipinos and their families to be part of the event aimed at honoring OFWs’ achievements and supporting their financial well-being.
From March 12 to April 6, 2025, new-to-bank (NTB) Overseas Filipinos and their beneficiaries who open a BPI #SaveUp, Pamana Padala, or Padala Moneyger account will have the chance to join the highly anticipated BPI POP! Pamilyang OFW Party: UwiANNE Na!, a star-studded event featuring celebrity icons Anne Curtis and Michael V. This
special gathering on April 26, 2025 in Makati City promises fun, entertainment, and surprises exclusively for BPI’s OFW families.
By opening a qualifying account and depositing at least P3,000, customers not only unlock access to BPI’s trusted financial solutions but also secure entries to both the VIP and Regular Raffle draws.
Lucky winners will get the chance to win two tickets to the live event or exclusive access to a private virtual Zoom viewing.
A total of 50 VIP seat winners, 500 general admission winners, and 500 virtual viewers will be chosen—offering multiple opportunities to join the festivities, whether in person or online. To participate, customers must register their details via BPI’s official platform before April 6, 2025. Remember: no registration means no raffle entry.
This promo is open to new account holders who sign up through any BPI branch in NCR, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, or Laguna, or via BPI’s official digital channels—making it easier and more convenient for OFWs and their beneficiaries to join.
Attendees will arrange their own transportation to be part of this extraordinary event—an opportunity to see Anne Curtis and Michael V. perform live and celebrate with the OFW community.
Beyond the excitement of meeting the celebrities, the BPI POP event also has
a Financial Wellness Program that aims to equip OFWs with practical knowledge on budgeting, saving, and investing. By offering these tools, BPI empowers OFWs to make informed financial decisions and secure a prosperous future for themselves and their loved ones.
In 2024, OFWs sent home a record $38.34 billion in remittances, underscoring their vital role in the Philippine economy. With nearly 10 million OFWs worldwide, their impact extends far beyond remittances, influencing the socioeconomic landscape of the Philippines. Recognizing the challenges many face in managing finances abroad, BPI’s program seeks to bridge this gap, offering tools and expert guidance for effective financial planning.
“At BPI, we are dedicated to empowering OFWs with the knowledge and resources to make confident financial decisions. This event is a celebration of their accomplishments, and we are excited to support them in achieving their financial aspirations,” said Maria Cristina “ Ginbee” Go, Head of Core Retail, BPI.
“We are thrilled to offer an event that brings joy to OFWs and their families while providing essential financial tools for their future,” said Maria Cristina “Ginbee” Go, BPI’s Head of Core Retail. “With expert guidance, we aim to ensure that OFWs are well-equipped to invest, save, and thrive in the years ahead,” Go added.
BDO Backs NAIA Modernization to Boost Air Mobility
RSMC, a key member of NNIC, contributes its extensive infrastructure expertise and market leadership, with businesses spanning multiple industries and driving approximately six percent of the Philippines’ GDP. Meanwhile, IIAC, a whollyowned entity of the Korean government and the operator of South Korea’s Incheon airport, one of Asia’s busiest airports, brings global practices in airport management, technology and operational efficiency. Their involvement underscores the confidence of international stakeholders in the Philippines’ economic potential and infrastructure modernization efforts. BDO’s ability to swiftly mobilize significant capital in a tight timeframe demonstrates its leadership in large scale infrastructure investment. BDO Capital, in collaboration with other investment banks, structured a deal that ensured a seamless funding process for NNIC, overcoming complex market dynamics.
“BDO has been a steadfast partner in infrastructure development, ensuring projects like the NAIA
“With its breathtaking shores, curated experiences, and unparalleled hospitality, Crimson Boracay provides an unforgettable setting for couples to begin their journey together. This event is a celebration of love, artistry, and the seamless fusion of fashion and romance.”
modernization have the necessary financial backing to succeed. This initiative will drive economic growth, improve air mobility, and enhance the Philippines’ position as a regional hub,” said Eduardo V. Francisco, President of BDO Capital.
Charles M. Rodriguez, BDO’s Executive Vice President and Head of Institutional Banking Group, added “We take pride in supporting transformative projects that create long-term value for businesses and communities. The modernization of NAIA is a milestone in improving air travel efficiency and accessibility for millions of Filipinos.”
BDO’s support has been crucial in providing the resources needed to modernize NAIA. Their financial expertise strengthens our efforts to transform the airport into a world-class gateway that drives economic growth, improves connectivity, and delivers a seamless travel experience for millions of passengers,” said Angelito Alvarez, NNIC’s General Manager.
The NAIA modernization project, awarded before the end of 2024, was one of the administration’s priority undertakings. Understanding the fiscal challenges inherited by the current administration, BDO is leveraging private sector collaboration to ensure critical infrastructure initiatives remain on track. This landmark transaction highlights BDO’s support to the government’s PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP) programs, fostering improved air mobility and infrastructure development. As the largest PPP under the current administration, this project is expected to generate substantial revenue for the Philippine government while creating new jobs, boosting tourism, and attracting foreign investment.
The modernization of NAIA is a crucial component of a broader transport infrastructure upgrade, complementing projects such as the Metro Manila subway and the New Manila International Airport in Bulacan. Together, these initiatives will create a more integrated and efficient transportation network, driving economic opportunities and reinforcing the country’s position in the global market.
As global dynamics evolve, financial literacy remains crucial for the sustained success of OFWs. The BPI POP event aligns with BPI’s mission to support the financial well-being of Filipinos both locally and internationally, reinforcing the
importance of continuous learning and adaptation in financial matters. For more information on the BPI POP (Pamilyang OFW PartyUwiANNE na!) event and participation details, please visit https://l. bpi.com.ph/PamilyangOFWParty.
YAMAHA recently hosted an exclusive NMAX Tech MAX experience, uniting select media partners, motovloggers, and influencers for an unforgettable journey through the picturesque landscapes of Cabanatuan and Dagupan, culminating in the highlands of Baguio.
The adventure kicked off at Revzone Cabanatuan for media and motovloggers, who covered a total of 226 km, while influencers began their ride at Revzone Dagupan, spanning 113 km. During the culminating activity at the Baguio Country Club, each group shared their first-hand experience riding the NMAX Tech MAX. Despite taking different routes, riders unanimously praised the motorcycle’s innovative features that elevated their experience. The 3-level downshift control allowed for smooth transitions across highways, provincial roads, and scenic routes. The dual riding modes, Sports Mode for sharper acceleration and Touring Mode for a relaxed cruise, offered a tailored ride of the NMAX Tech MAX. Even newer riders noted how intuitive the handling and controls were, with the accessible switch controls and the convenience of the Garmin StreetCross onboard display when riding through
Crimson Boracay, shared:
Renowned Filipino designer based in New York Bessie Besana took center stage with his latest collection, Ray of Twilight — a 20-piece bridal couture series inspired by the fleeting beauty of dusk. Known for his impeccable craftsmanship, Besana’s journey from engineering to fashion has seen him dress some of the country’s most celebrated figures, including Pia Wurtzbach, Regine Velasquez, and Sarah Geronimo. His designs have graced weddings across the U.S., U.K., Mexico, Austria, and Colombia, making him a sought-after name in bridal couture. The show’s grand finale was a heartfelt moment, as Miss World Philippines Tourism 2022 and Century Tuna Superbods 2024 winner, Justine Felizarta, walked handin-hand with her boyfriend, restaurateur Ben Arnold, in a scene reminiscent of a real wedding ceremony. Before the fashion show, soon-to-wed couples and wedding enthusiasts explored the Weddings by Crimson Bridal Showcase, a two-day exhibit held at Crimson Boracay’s Coral Ballroom and Events Pavilion. Featuring a beautifully staged wedding ceremony setup indoors and an outdoor ceremony inspiration space,
BPI Brand Ambassador for OFWs, Michael V., proudly represents the bank’s commitment to empowering and supporting overseas Filipino workers and their families.
Weddings by Crimson Unveils First-Ever Beachfront Fashion Show at Station Zero
WEDDINGS by
Global economic outlook dims as IMF prepares to downgrade growth forecasts amid trade war
By Craig Stirling
THREE weeks after US President Donald Trump effectively declared a trade war with the whole world, new economic forecasts and surveys will point to the initial fallout.
A few blocks from the White House, the International Monetary Fund is set to lower its outlook for economic growth in new projections released on Tuesday.
The following day, purchasing manager indexes from Japan to Europe to the US will offer the first coordinated glimpse of manufacturing and services activity since Trump’s global tariffs—now partly on hold—were unleashed on April 2. Business surveys from major economies are also on the calendar.
The combined picture is set to offer finance ministers and central bankers assembled in Washington a chance to make initial damage assessments on Trump’s attempt to rewire the global trade system.
“Our new growth projections will include notable markdowns, but not recession,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday. “We will also see markups to the inflation forecasts for some countries. We will caution that protracted high uncertainty raises the risk of financial-market stress.”
“The IMF’s projections tend to skew optimistic during potentially disruptive crises. In the four large crises we studied, the fund’s initial assessment of the immediate impact on global growth understated it by 0.5 percentage points. However much the IMF may downgrade the growth forecasts to start, history suggests the ultimate blow will be worse,” said Bloomberg economists Alex Isakov and Adriana Dupita.
Those clouds shrouding the global economy are unlikely to lift for a while. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the US central bank is is “well positioned to wait for greater clarity” before considering changes to monetary policy, while European
Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde couldn’t say whether uncertainty has peaked. In the meantime, Georgieva is hoping the coming days, which also feature a meeting of Group of 20 finance chiefs, might lower the temperature in global trade relations.
“We need a more resilient world economy, not a drift to division,” she said. The Washington gatherings “provide a vital forum for dialogue at a vital time.”
Elsewhere, central-bank decisions in Russia and Indonesia, a key euro-zone wage indicator, and the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book will be among the highlights. US and Canada IN the US, investors will watch for any additional deterioration in consumer sentiment and inflation expectations when the University of Michigan issues revised data April data on Friday. Tariffs, and the risk they pose to both the economy and inflation, have been on the mind of survey respondents in recent months.
On Wednesday, the Fed’s Beige Book will offer anecdotes of regional economic conditions and provide a glimpse into how much government policy and uncertainty are affecting business decisions.
Earlier that day, the government is expected to report a marginal increase in March newhome sales. With mortgage interest rates largely stuck above 6.5% since October, builders have been trying incentives to get buyers off the sidelines. Home resales data will be issued on Thursday. A report on March durable goods orders the same day will help provide clues on business demand for equipment.
Neel Kashkari, Alberto Musalem, Christopher Waller and Beth
Hammack are among the Fed officials scheduled to speak.
Further north, the Canadian election campaign enters its final week, with polls suggesting that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals are about five points ahead— putting them within reach of a majority government amid a volatile trade war with the US.
A key architect of Canada’s response to the US tariffs, trade negotiator Steve Verheul, is set to speak at a conference in Toronto.
Retail data for February and a flash estimate for March will reveal whether Canadian consumers pared back their spending for a third straight month amid the trade uncertainty.
Asia
IN Asia, the week kicks off with China reporting loan prime rates on Monday; economists predict a steady outcome. Recent data showed growth beating forecasts.
Also on Monday, Indonesia publishes trade data for March, which will provide an indicator of the health of the country’s external sector before Trump’s tariffs kicked in, while the Philippines is likely to post another balance-ofpayments surplus for March.
On Tuesday, New Zealand publishes trade figures for March while Taiwan and Hong Kong report employment data.
The following day, Indonesia’s central bank is likely to hold rates for a third straight meeting in an effort to support the rupiah—one of Asia’s worst-performing currencies this year.
The same day, preliminary April PMI data for Australia, Japan and India will provide an early look at any impact on the manufacturing and services sectors from the USled trade war.
Malaysia and Singapore publish inflation readings on Wednesday, with South Korean consumer confidence data also due, a day before the country releases advance estimates for first-quarter gross domestic product.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s top trade official—Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun—will depart Seoul for Washington on Wednesday for his third US trip since Trump’s inauguration, aiming to kick start negotiations as his country seeks to be among the first to persuade
the US administration to ease or eliminate tariffs on its shipments.
Japan has already started such talks and is now looking into reviewing its car safety standards to clinch a deal, Japanese business daily Nikkei reported on Sunday.
On Friday, Japan reveals Tokyo CPI as well as department store sales, while Singapore will see private home prices for the first quarter and industrial production for March.
During the week, India and Thailand also report foreign exchange reserves.
Europe, Middle East, Africa
WITH a holiday on Monday in most of Europe and central bankers gathering for the IMF meetings, most attention will be focused stateside. Numerous policymakers feature on the calendar, including a speech by Bank of England Governor Andrew
Bailey on Wednesday.
The main focus in the euro zone will be survey reports. Consumer confidence in the region is released on Tuesday, and the ECB publishes its survey of professional forecasters the same day. Its wage tracker due on Wednesday is pointing to slower pay growth, Lagarde said last week after cutting rates.
Investors may pay most attention to the PMIs out then too, offering the first glimpse of activity in manufacturing and services since the US tariff onslaught intensified at the start of April.
Germany’s closely-watched Ifo survey of business confidence comes on Thursday, showing how sentiment at companies has reacted to trade tensions and, on a more positive note, to the agreement on a federal coalition government. Similar indexes in France are released on Friday.
The UK’s PMI reports also come
on Wednesday, as will the latest public finance numbers for March. Retail sales data are published on Friday.
The Swiss National Bank releases first-quarter earnings on Thursday, and President Martin Schlegel addresses its annual general meeting the following day.
Finally, Russia’s central bank will announce its latest monetary decision on Friday. A recent reduction in consumer-price pressures probably isn’t enough to convince policymakers to lower the benchmark from a record 21%. Officials may sound a dovish note, though, for a potential rate cut later this year.
Latin America FRESH off securing a $20 billion agreement with the IMF, which includes a $12 billion upfront payment, Argentina reports February GDP-proxy data on Tuesday.
After contracting for a second year in 2024, South America’s No. 2 economy is seeing a V-shaped recovery and is forecast to lead growth among the region’s big economies this year and next.
Colombia will post February economic activity data after January’s GDP-proxy report thumped consensus estimates, prompting some analysts to mark up their 2025 growth forecasts.
Paraguay’s central bank may be moved to tighten from the current 6% with inflation up 100 bps in four months, to 4.4%.
Brazil posts mid-month inflation data for April on Friday, and if March is any guide, the headline print should push further above the top of the central bank’s target range.
Mexico offers up both February economic activity and mid-month consumer price reports.
January’s negative GDP-proxy print puts Mexico’s economy on course for a second straight quarterly contraction—meeting the definition of a technical recession.
Inflation may hold near the prior reading of 3.93%, just under the top of the central bank’s inflation target ceiling. Banco de Mexico, or Banxico, next meets to consider its benchmark rate—now at 9%—in mid-May. With assistance from Vince Golle, Robert Jameson, Laura Dhillon Kane, Simon Lee, Swati Pandey and Paul Richardson/Bloomberg
Descendants of slave owners and enslaved people unite at UN to discuss reparations
By Edith M. Lederer The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS—The great-great-grandson of 19th-century British Prime Minister William Gladstone said he was horrified to learn seven years ago that his ancestors were slave owners in Jamaica and Guyana. And former BBC journalist Laura Trevelyan said she learned after records of Britain’s Slave Compensation Commission were put online in 2013 that one of her ancestors, Sir John Trevelyan, owned sugar cane plantations in Grenada and about 1,000 enslaved people. They spoke at a meeting at UN headquarters in New York this past week where, for the first time, descendants of slave owners and enslaved people in former British colonies in the Caribbean sat at the same table with diplomats and experts from those nations discussing the contentious issue of reparations.
“This was a historic event,” said
Trevelyan, who moderated the meeting on the sidelines of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent’s weeklong session. From about the year 1500, millions of West Africans were sent to work mainly on plantations in the Caribbean and the Americas, including the southern United States. UN human rights chief Volker Türk told the forum that an estimated 25 million to 30 million Africans were uprooted for the purpose of slavery. Few nations have apologized for their role in slavery, and reparations have been the subject of much debate.
The Geneva-based Human Rights Council has called for global action for years, including reparations, apologies and educational reforms to make amends for racism against people of African descent. The 15-nation Caribbean Community, known as CARICOM, has a 10-point plan for reparatory justice, starting with demands for European countries where enslaved people were kept and traded
to issue formal apologies.
Türk noted a European Union statement in 2023 profoundly regretting the “untold suffering” caused by the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the African Union’s designation of 2025 as the “Year of Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations.”
At the meeting of descendants of enslaved people and slave owners on Tuesday, Trevelyan spoke of her family’s decision to apologize to Grenada and to make a contribution of 100,000 British pounds (about $133,000) toward education in the Caribbean island nation.
Going to Grenada with family and apologizing “wasn’t exactly smooth sailing,” said Trevelyan, who left the BBC and has become a campaigner for reparations. There were protests by one group that thought the apology was inadequate and the money not enough.
Also at the meeting was Aidee Walker, who said she was shocked when a DNA test revealed she was not only predominantly ScotsIrish but also part Nigerian, then
discovered that her great-greatgreat-grandfather, who moved to New Zealand, was the son of a slave owner in Jamaica named John Malcolm and an African housekeeper.
Walker and her sister, Kate Thomas, said when they found out they felt they had to do something.
Thomas said she discovered what Trevelyan was doing and got in touch with Verene Shepherd, a professor emeritus and vice chair of the CARICOM reparations commission, who encouraged the sisters to start with the apology.
Charles Gladstone, meanwhile, said he felt “a profound sense of guilt” after learning that former Prime Minister Gladstone’s father owned estates with enslaved people—and that a great deal of his privileged life “was essentially connected to this criminal past.”
He said he apologized to Guyana and Jamaica and will try to do something “to make the world a better place.”
While Britain’s role in abolishing slavery in 1833 is widely
taught, Gladstone said, its involvement in the trade “has been completely buried.” The history must be told, he said, because “the evils of this crime against humanity are not historical, they’re felt very, very profoundly today.”
Britain’s deputy UN ambassador, James Kariuki, attended the meeting but did not speak. The British Mission, asked for a comment, sent a statement from Development Minister Anneliese Dodds to Parliament on Feb. 25 saying she and Prime Minister Keir Starmer have been “absolutely clear that we will not be making cash transfers and payments to the Caribbean.”
Gladstone said supporters of reparations must keep working together. If thousands of families like his stand up and say, “’We would like to do something about this,’ then there is a chance that the government in Britain could do something more substantial,” he said.
Thomas agreed. “If we can get the numbers, then that could influence institutions and governments
to act,” she said. “It’s a really great start to what I think will be a lifelong journey.” Shepherd, who taught at the University of the West Indies, said there have not been many apologies and, while some Europeans express remorse or regret for slavery, “no one is talking about reparations.”
Arley Gill, chairman of Grenada’s National Reparations Commission, said, however, he sees positive movement toward reparative justice globally and believes “we are on a good path to ensure these crimes against humanity are being recognized by the colonial powers.”
Antigua’s UN ambassador, Walton Webson, who is chair of the Caribbean ambassadors’ caucus, ended the meeting by saying, “We have reached the point where speaking of reparations is no longer taboo.”
Now, he said, it’s time to put reparations “on the lips of every child, every person” and start to take action.
TARIFFS, and the risk they pose to both the economy and inflation, have been on the mind of survey respondents in recent months. ALEJANDRO CEGARRA/BLOOMBERG
Taipower turns back Angels to secure quarterfinal spot
OUTHEAST Asian Games medalist Ronald Oranza and Jan Paul Morales are two of 10 members of the PhilCycling men’s national team who are seeing action in different teams in the Tour of Luzon: Great Revival that starts Thursday in Paoay, Ilocos Norte. Oranza, double bronze
LKISA SARINES goes for a second straight victory in the Luzon Series of the Junior Philippine Golf Tour as the International Container Terminal Services Inc. Sherwood Hills Junior Philippine Golf Tour Championship fires off Tuesday in Trece Martires, Cavite.
Sarines dominated the tour’s opening leg at Eagle Ridge’s Norman course, carding a pair of 74s and beating her twin sister Mona by 13 strokes. She attributed her strong performance to excellent putting, which compensated for earlier struggles with her long game.
AOHSIUNG Taipower broke away from a tight fourth-set battle with a relentless offensive surge, quashing Petro Gazz’s hopes of a comeback and clinching a 25-15, 25-16, 19-25, 25-20 victory on Monday to advance to the quarterfinals of the AVC Women’s Volleyball Champions League at the Philsports Arena.
ust nine days after celebrating their breakthrough Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino title, the Angels struggled to find their rhythm against the seasoned nine-time Top Volleyball League champions, who leaned on the consistent firepower of 21-year-old outside hitter Hsu Wan-Yun and 23-year-old wing spiker Tsai Yu-Chun to dominate. he Taiwanese dismantled the Angels’ confidence early, taking the first two sets with clinical precision. Though Petro Gazz managed to mount a spirited third-set rally to avoid a sweep, Taipower recovered midway
The two-week break has allowed her to refine her driving, making her a tougher contender in the girls’ 11-14 division for the 36-hole second leg of the seven-stage Luzon series organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. at the Sherwood Hills Golf Club. Mona Sarines, meanwhile, is determined to bounce back and spoil her sister’s title bid, along with strong contenders Arielle Espartero, Keira Que, Stella Pallasigui, Kendra Garingalao, Ma. Althea Bañez and Eliana Dumalaog. Lisa Sarines tees off with Bañez, Garingalao and Espartero, while Mona
in the fourth, closing the door with a powerful finishing run to top Pool B.
The victory was a commanding follow-up to Taipower’s 25-10, 2516, 25-14 demolition of Hong Kong’s Hip Hing last Sunday, setting up the Taiwanese against the No. 2 team from Pool C in the knockout quarterfinals.
In contrast, the Angels, fresh off their historic Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino championship, looked like a shadow of their championship form.
T he team struggled to find rhythm, particularly in trying to integrate American import Gia Day into their system.
Day showed glimpses of brilliance early on and during the third set, but her influence waned as Taipower intensified the pressure. Fellow import Brooke Van Sickle attempted to spark a comeback, but her efforts weren’t enough to lift the Angels past the relentless Taiwanese side.
To advance, the Angels must regroup and deliver a convincing win over Hong Kong’s Hip Hing on Tuesday.
Sarines was drawn to play Dumalaog, Pallasigui and Que.
In th e boys’ 11-14 division, Ryuji Suzuki is also seeking back-to-back wins after coming away with an eightstroke triumph over Race Manhit at Eagle Ridge.
But with a 22-player field that includes Vito Sarines, Jacob Casuga, Matthias Espinas, and Rafael Hernandez, the Southwoods standout is bracing for a tougher challenge in scorching conditions. He slugs it out with Vito Sarines, Casuga and Ryuichi Tao in a morning start.
T he Angels showed grit in the closing moments, saving two match points—first with a crosscourt hammer from Van Sickle and then through a well-placed serve by Remy Palma that Taipower failed to return.
But Palma’s next serve sailed long, sealing the match in one hour and 44 minutes—a showcase of Taipower’s offensive firepower, superior ball control and airtight floor defense.
“I w as a little nervous because before, I was just a player, but I am a coach now. I trust my players to deliver in this game,” Taipower coach Chang Li-Yun said.
C hang who previously played for the Chinese Taipei women’s volleyball national team under now Petro Gazz tactician Koji Tsuzurabara.
The Angels staved off a shutout loss with a strong finishing kick in Set 3, capped by a Joy Dacoron quick kill and an ace by two-time PVL MVP Van Sickle.
Excitement also builds in the 7-10 category, the youngest group, with Mavis Espedido and Venus de los Santos expected to battle it out again for top honors in the girls’ division.
Espedido won the opening leg by 14 strokes, but De los Santos aims to mount a strong comeback on a tough, windy course.
UNIVERSITY of the East eyes a fourth consecutive quadruple championship when the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 87 Fencing Championships begin Tuesday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Malate, Manila.
The Red Warriors are gunning for their 13th straight title in the boys’ division—the longest active championship streak in the league. The UE men’s and girls’ squads are both eyeing their 11th consecutive titles, while the women’s team is eyeing a four-peat.
Reigning MVP Nicollei Felipe will lead the charge for the UE men’s squad, which remains the heavy favorite in the epee and foil events. Meanwhile, the University of Santo Tomas will rely on back-toback individual sabre champion Eunice Villanueva to make her mark once again. University of the Philippines remains a strong contender, particularly in
second choice and nobody else had odds shorter than 500-1. AP
Back from the Dead
By Josef T. Ramos
GILAS PILIPINAS is facing familiar foes, but coach Tim Cone notes that there is never an easy game in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Cup. The tournament is set August 5 to 17 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with the Philippines facing World No. 22 New Zealand, No. 73 Chinese-Taipei and No. 92 Iraq in Group D.
“It is interesting,” Cone told BusinessMirror on Monday, noting that there will be no surprises but expects all their games are going to be absolutely tough from day one. “We were drawn right back into our old group with New Zealand and Chinese-Taipei. I am not sure what to think of that.” At least there won’t be any surprises. New Zealand will be of course extremely tough, Chinese-Taipei handled us last time and Iraq is a big, physical team, so no easy games there. Our work will be cut out for us to get to the quarters.” They faced twice both New Zealand and Chinese-Taipei in the Asia Cup qualifiers but got split results with Philippines beating New Zealand and Chinese-Taipei, 93-89, and 106-53, last year before losing to both teams last February third window. C hinese-Taipei got its revenge against Gilas Pilipinas, 91-84, and New Zealand scored an 87-70 rout in the last window. In terms of preparations and potential upgrading of national roster, the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel coach explained that nothing is set on stone yet, especially with the Season 49 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup conference ongoing. As soon as the Philippine Cup is over, we will know by then,” the two-time grand slam coach added. Gilas had Justin Brownlee, June Mar Fajardo, Carl Tamayo, CJ Perez, Chris Newsome, Dwight Ramos,
