dormitory complex with a budget of P1.1 billion is set to rise within the Subic Freeport, offering modern and comfortable accommodations for approximately 6,000 workers. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on March 19, 2025, led by Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Eduardo Jose Aliño.
Enhancing Worker Welfare and Quality of Life
CHAIRMAN Aliño emphasized that this project is more than just
housing—it is about improving the lives of Freeport workers and providing them with a secure, comfortable living space.
“To me, this is the first step towards the realization of a strong, comfortable, and peaceful way of life for our Freeport workers, the same as the dream of our dear President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for every Filipino in the country,” Aliño stated. He described the dormitory as a “home away from home” for those who contribute to Subic’s progress. Condo-Like Living for Workers THE dormitory complex, to be
developed by RDBT Construction Corp. under the leadership of CEO Architect Rafael Dalmacio B. Tecson, is designed to provide a condominium-like living experience. Spanning 1 hectare, it will feature four 5-story dormitory blocks and an administrative building, incorporating eco-friendly elements such as natural ventilation, solar-powered lighting, and green spaces. Each dormitory block will contain 188 units, accommodating a total of 6,000 beds. The ground floor will host commercial spaces, including laundry services, 24/7
convenience stores, a cafeteria, coffee shops, restaurants, and ATMs, making daily life more convenient for residents. The second to fifth floors will have spacious, well-ventilated common areas to promote better air quality and well-being. Each unit will house eight occupants, with shared toilet and bath facilities for every four individuals to prevent overcrowding. Additionally, units will feature kitchenettes with provisions for heaters, microwaves, and refrigerators, as well as study tables and built-in
BSP SEES BOP DEFICIT
TO TRADE JITTERS
By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas expects balance of payments (BOP) to post a deficit this year, a reversal of its pronouncement in December when it projected a surplus for 2025.
The BSP noted that the country’s overall BOP position may post a $4-billion deficit in 2025 and a $4.3-billion deficit in 2026. In December 2024, the BSP projected a $2.1-billion surplus for 2025.
BSP attributed the weaker BOP projection for 2025 and 2026 to “slower global trade and subdued investor confidence linked to increased uncertainty in global trade policy and geopolitical developments.” Reyes Tacandong & Co. Senior Adviser Jonathan Ravelas said in a Viber message on Tuesday that this revision “reflects the ongoing challenges arising from the global policy uncertainty particularly due to Trump’s disTRUMPtion.”
Ravelas also said the shift to a
THE Philippines was among the “leading reformers” in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of trade facilitation last year, according to a report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
In Asia-Pacific, OECD said the other “leading reformers” the area of trade facilitation or the process of moving goods across borders are Lao PDR, Kiribati, Cambodia, Maldives, Tonga, Vanuatu, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
The report noted that “leading performers” in the region are: Hong Kong, China; Japan; Singapore; Korea; Australia; New Zealand; The People’s Republic of China; Malaysia; Thailand and India.
According to OECD’s titled “OECD Trade Facilitation Indicators: Monitoring Policies up to 2025,” a combination of institu-
$4-billion deficit from an earlier projection of a $2.1 billion surplus indicates that the BSP is preparing for a “more cautious economic environment.”
While the country’s BOP recorded a surplus of $609 million in 2024 showing that there were “positive” aspects last year, Ravelas said the outlook for this year “seems more challenging.”
Considering this recent move of the BSP, he said it is important for businesses and investors “to stay informed and adapt to these changes.”
“Monitoring further updates from the BSP and other economic indicators will be crucial in navigating this uncertain period,” he added.
tional and regulatory reforms is driving improvements in border agency cooperation.
“Countries have been scaling up investments in domestic border agency cooperation introduced since the Covid-19 pandemic, when flexible approaches helped adapt border processes and facilitate trade of selected goods,” the report noted.
The report underscored that it is equally important to implement reforms related to cross-border agency cooperation.
For instance, the report said Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand have been operationalizing the Asean Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) Mutual Recognition Arrangement (AAMRA), signed in September 2023. Under the AAMRA, certified
By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo Special to the BusinessMirror
VER P228 billion in eco -
Onomic output may be generated from shopping by foreign tourists this year, dwarfing the estimated P4 billion in government losses from refunding value-added taxes (VAT) they paid on their local purchases.
According to the National Tourism Development Plan for 20232028, the Department of Tourism (DOT) projected visitor receipts this year to reach P527 billion, under its baseline scenario. Based on previous reports, about 22 percent of tourist spending goes to shopping, thus an estimated P115.94 billion this year. Based on the Department of Finance’s computation, every P100 spent by a tourist generates P197 in economic output.
This developed as Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto said shopping shouldn’t be the end-all and be-all of a foreign tourist’s experience in the Philippines, enjoining the DOT to market the country properly and make the Philippines a much-desired destination. “Our shared goal should be clear: Tourists should leave the Philippines with more than just souvenirs. They should leave knowing that this is a country that delivers on its promises. A country that knows how to take good care of its guests. A country that doesn’t just welcome them with smiles— but with systems and policies that work.”
He made this statement during the recent ceremonial signing of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for Republic Act No. 12079, or An Act Creating a VATT Refund Mechanism for
Non-Resident Tourists. The law allows foreign travelers to get a VAT refund for the items they purchased in the country amounting to at least P3,000, and brought out of the Philippines within 60 days of purchase.
‘Ripple effect’ RECTO added: “[If] we do things right, in the eyes of our visitors, we won t just be a country of pristine beaches and warm hospitality. We’ ll be that one ultimate tourist destination they’ ll keep coming back to. Again and again.” The DOF, however, has yet to make the IRR available to the public and didn’t outline what items are eligible for the VAT refund.
Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco, who was present at the ceremony along with representatives of private tourism stakeholders groups, said in a
news statement, “We foresee that the ripple effect of the implementation of this law will be vast—not only in terms of retail, but most importantly, in terms of the sectors that this will benefit from generated income from shopping, accommodations, transport, and other related services.”
Citing the World Travel and Tourism Council, Frasco said tourists who visit the Philippines spend at least US$2,073 per person, the highest among membereconomies of the Southeast Asian Nations. “And we foresee that with the implementation of this VAT Refund Act, we would be able to inure more benefits for our local tourism stakeholders in the component of shopping tourism,” she added. Meanwhile, representatives of tourism groups and hospitality
THE Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), along with project partners including Isuzu Gencars Group and RDBT Construction Corporation, held the Groundbreaking Ceremony for the new dormitory complex on March 19, 2025, at George Dewey Area, Subic Gateway District, Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
BSP says intervening less in peso, sees cut in rates
THEPhilippine central bank has been intervening less in the currency market recently, and it appears on track to resume rate cuts in April, Governor Eli Remolona said Tuesday.
“We are on an easing cycle. There is a good chance we will cut by 25 basis points,” the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas chief said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s David Ingles on the sidelines of the HSBC Global Investment Sum -
Continued from A1
AEOs are set to benefit from “expedited” customs clearance, reduced documentation requirements, and priority treatment during inspections.
The report said cross-border agency cooperation is largely driven by the improved coordination mechanisms between Customs agencies.
mit in Hong Kong. Cumulative rate cuts could reach as much as 75 basis points for the year depending on data, said Remolona, flagging “somewhat more upside risk than downside risk” for inflation in 2025 and
Meanwhile, in terms of regional performance, the OECD report divulged that reduction in border bottlenecks and red tape are “notable” across all regions covered.
Improvements since 2022 in the overall trade facilitation environment are on average in the range of 3 to 7 percent across regions, with Asia-Pacific growing by 4.4 percent; Sub-Saharan Africa, 6.5 percent; Middle East and North Africa, 4.7 percent; The Americas, 4.4 percent;
2026. The Philippines last lowered borrowing costs in December and unexpectedly paused its easing in February.
Inflation slowed in February and has stayed within the central bank’s 2 percent-4 percent goal for seven consecutive months. The Philippine peso has gained nearly 1 percent so far this month against the US dollar, the second best-performing currency in Asia after India’s rupee, reducing pressure on authorities to intervene in the market and adding room for a rate cut.
“We’ve been less active in the last few months,” Remolona said on the central bank’s activity in the foreign exchange markets.
Europe and Central Asia, 3.1 percent.
The report also highlighted that trade facilitation reforms since the conclusion of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) are estimated to have helped reduce trade costs by almost 5 percent on average worldwide.
At a regional level, the “strongest” impacts are in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia-Pacific regions, with up to 6 percent decreases in trade costs resulting from trade facilitation reforms.
“Further trade facilitation re -
14, Sections 1, 5, 5.a, 5.b, 6, 7 (iii) and 7 (iv) of the law’s IRR for violating the equal protection clause, for being an unjust deprivation of property, for violating the right to travel as guaranteed under the Constitution and for being oppressive.
Section 9-B (a) of RA imposes compulsory SSS coverage for all seabased and land-based OFWs.
A 200-basis-point cut in big banks’ reserve requirement ratio is set to take effect on Friday. The move, announced by the central bank last month, will lower the RRR to 5 percent and is expected to unleash billions of dollars into the financial system to help spur the economy.
“For us, reserve requirement is a distortionary measure, so we’d like to reduce it to as low as zero, but we have to manage the liquidity implications of it,” Remolona said.
The decision to cut the RRR came even as the BSP kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged in February due to heightened global uncertainties. Bloomberg News
forms are critical for promoting competitiveness and economic growth through trade costs reductions,” the report noted.
“Continuing to improve the efficiency of border processes can deliver up to 12 percentage points more in trade costs reductions than those experienced so far across the regions covered,” it added. However, the report said economies should also pay attention to “closing the gap” between the establishment of regulatory frameworks and their implementation in practice, saying this is “key to unlocking” greater cost savings, boosting trade flows, and strengthening economic resilience in an increasingly complex trade landscape. Andrea E. San Juan
Section 9-B (c) provides that “land-based OFWs are compulsory members of the SSS and considered in the same manner as self-employed persons…”
Section 9-B (e), meanwhile, directs the Department of Foreign Affairs, the DOLE and the SSS to ensure compulsory coverage of OFWs through bilateral social security and labor agreements and others measures for enforcement.
The SC, however, said subsections (a), ( c), and ( e) of Section 9-B of R.A. 11199 and Rule 14, Sections 1, 5, 5.a, 5.b, 6, and 7 (iv) of the law’s IRR are constitutional.
“The constitutionality of assailed provisions of Republic Act 11199 and the remaining assailed provisions of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 11199 are upheld,” the SC said.
from A1
companies who attended the signing failed to share their comments, when asked by BusinessMirror if the new law will attract more foreign tourists to the Philippines.
Travel buyers at the recent ITB Berlin have told Philippine tour operators and hotel/resort companies that the country is an expensive destination compared to other Southeast Asian countries.
the expected widening of the current account deficit relative to the 2025 forecast.
In its statement, the BSP said the country’s overall BOP position is expected to record a deficit in 2025 and in 2026, with a wider current account gap resulting from a higher trade-in-goods deficit and lower net receipts in tradein-services.
Based on BSP’s projections, the deficit in current account which covers trade in goods, services, primary income, and secondary income, is expected to widen to $19.8 billion in 2025 from the its December projection of $12.1 billion.
Meanwhile, the BSP said the overall BOP in 2026 is expected to remain in deficit, consistent with
Continued from A1
closets for functionality and storage. “Unlike traditional dormitories, this design offers a condominiumlike living experience, promoting dignity and recognition within the SBMA community,” Tecson shared.
Strategic Location to Boost Efficiency
D. EDGARD A. CABANGON, chairman of the Isuzu Gencars Group and one of the project’s investors, emphasized the importance of providing worker housing near their workplaces.
“Sustained net inflows from the financial account are anticipated to provide support to the BOP outlook. Nonetheless, significant downside risks persist, including uncertainty from US trade and investment policies, weaker global activity and world trade, as well as ongoing geopolitical and trade tensions,” BSP said.
In a televised interview on Tuesday morning, BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. the tariff war remains to be the biggest external factor influencing the country’s economic situation.
“The tariff war is likely to cause a rise in inflation, somewhat, and a slowdown in growth, somewhat.
But we don’t know by how much,”
“By building these dormitories close to factories, industrial areas, and technoparks, we are not only improving worker efficiency but also helping companies and employees reduce costs,” Cabangon noted. “This initiative will also ease traffic congestion by reducing the number of vehicles and commuters on the road, contributing to a greener and more sustainable environment.”
He also highlighted that this large-scale housing development is a pioneering effort in the Freeport Zone, setting a benchmark for worker accommodations.
“This proposal is a first-of-itskind in the Freeport Zone, offering large-scale accommodations that will cater to workers, employees, and even students from nearby schools and colleges. With this, we are setting a new standard for worker housing—one that ensures comfort, security, and a better quality of life,” he added.
“Pursuant to Rule 50, Section 1 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 11199, these provisions remain in force and effect,” it added.
‘A win for OFWs’ IN a statement, Migrante International declared the SC ruling as “a win for OFWs.” “This successful decision from the Supreme Court is a result of the collective action of our fellow migrants against state extortion,” Josie Pingkihan, deputy secretary general of Migrante International, said. Migrante International, however, stressed that the fight against OFW state exactions is not yet over, as the Philippine government under President Marcos Jr. continues to collect mandatory SSS contributions from land-based OFWs at an increased 15 percent rate this year on top of other mandatory fees charged to OFWs such as PhilHealth, Insurance, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration membership. Department of Migrant Workers Undersecretary Bernard P. Olalia said the agency will wait for the release of the official copy of the SC decision before commenting on the matter.
“DMW has not yet received [a copy] of the petition. But we will comment if we receive a copy,” Olalia told BusinessMirror in a Viber message.
(See, “PHL losing out to Asean with costlier fare, hotels,” in the BusinessMirror, March 25, 2025.)
During the initial discussions on the proposed VAT refund law, Minority Floorleader Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. stressed it would cost the government some P4 billion in revenues, which “could build 1,600 new classrooms, or 138 to 190 kilometers of concrete roads.” He also cited a World Bank study that estimated some P539 billion in lost potential revenues due to VAT leakages over the years.
the BSP chief said.
“This is still tough for us to figure out. I think we have to wait for the jury. The jury’s still out on that,” he added.
According to a Bloomberg report, Remolona floated the possibility of cutting rates by 25 basis points in April.
“Well we are on an easing cycle. And yes there’s a good chance that we will cut by 25 basis points in April,” the BSP said.
The BSP’s seven-man Monetary Board decided to hit the brakes on policy rate cut at its monetary policy meeting last February 13, keeping the policy rate steady at 5.75 percent due to global uncertainty over trade policies. (See: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2025/02/13/ unknowns-in-global-trade-spurrate-freeze/).
Strengthening Subic’s Investment Appeal THE dormitory complex not only enhances worker welfare but also reinforces Subic’s appeal to investors. SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator for Business and Investment Group Renato Lee III emphasized that the project reflects the Freeport’s readiness to welcome new business ventures and create more employment opportunities.
“I have no doubt that we will be able to generate more investments in the coming years. When you generate investments, you generate jobs,” Lee stated, expressing confidence in the Freeport’s continued growth. He underscored the importance of not only attracting investments but also ensuring that Subic is prepared to meet the demands of a growing workforce. “What is crucial here is not just Subic Freeport being investment-ready, but employmentready as well,” he added. Once completed, the P1.1billion dormitory complex is expected to enhance worker productivity, reduce living expenses, and promote sustainability in the Freeport Zone. Beyond providing accommodations, it represents a significant milestone in workforce development, reinforcing Subic’s position as a premier hub for business and employment growth.
www.businessmirror.com.ph
NFA set to rent warehouses to store more local palay
By Samuel P. Medenilla
@sam_medenilla
ALACAÑANG said the
MNational Food Authority (NFA) is ready to rent warehouses so it can buy more rice from farmers during the ongoing harvest season.
“If the warehouse will have insufficient capacity, NFA will rent [it],” Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said in a news briefing on Tuesday.
Castro made the statement when asked about reports that the NFA in Nueva Ecija is unable to procure rice from farmers because its warehouse is already full.
Citing information from NFA Administrator Larry del Rosario Lacson, Castro said the NFA warehouses (in other areas) can still accommodate more palay from farmers.
“All the farmers who will be selling... they just need to line up because it’s peak season now and there are farmers who first signed up and all of them are given priority,” she explained.
The prevailing buying price of NFA for newly-harvested palay in the Ilocos, Cordillera Administrative Region, and Central Luzon is at P18 per kilo and for dry rice, it is at P24 per kilo.
This buying rate of NFA for dry palay is much higher compared to the average buying price from local traders at P20.29 per kilo, which
was recorded by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) last month.
In January, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu-Laurel Jr. said the NFA will sell 300,000 metric tons (MT) of buffer stock so it can make space in its warehouses in time for the start of the harvest season this year.
In a related development, Castro said the Marcos administration will continue to push measures to improve the income of local farmers, which includes the completion of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax) Subsection 3. She said the new infrastructure will help reduce the price of food in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon).
“If we can reduce the travel time, it will definitely also reduce the fuel consumption and it will benefit all travelers and also those that will transport food and other necessities, it will also go down— the price will also go down,” Castro said.
She said the government is also eyeing the establishment of food hubs and cold storage facilities to help supply and price stability of fruits and vegetables.
She said the said infrastructure projects were discussed during President Marcos’ sectoral meeting in Malacañang on Tuesday. DA earlier announced that it allocated P3 billion for the construction of 99 cold storage facilities this year.
Pangilinan: PHL can have own ‘Hallyu Wave’
By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM
ORMER senator Francis
FPangilinan on Tuesday said that the global success of the P-pop group SB19 signals the emergence of the Philippines’ own “Hallyu Wave.”
Pangilinan, who is seeking to regain his Senate seat, has been pitching for the Philippines’ efforts to mirror the Korean experience and maximize Filipino talent to monetize it as a global export.
“Number 1 na tayo sa mga bar, cruise ship, at kahit na sa mga talent show abroad. Ngayon , sold-out ang concerts ng SB19 hindi lang sa Philippine Arena, kundi pati sa San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Toronto [We are already number one in bars, cruise ships, and even in talent shows abroad. Now, SB19’s concerts are sold out not only at the Philippine Arena but also in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Toronto],” Pangilinan, who is married to Megastar Sharon Cuneta, said.
Magiging bukambibig ng buong mundo ang Pinoy pop kung may sapat na vision at suporta ang gobyerno para sa mga nagtataguyod ng kulturang Pilipino [Pinoy pop will become a global sensation with the right vision and enough support from government for those promoting Filipino culture],” he added.
Over the weekend, the P-pop Kings walked the runway at the Bench Body of Work fashion show. Kapuso talent Alden Richards, and Kapamilya stars Kath -
ryn Bernardo and Chie Filomeno joined SB19 for a dance challenge to their latest single, “DAM.” SB19 is set to tour alongside the release of their upcoming EP, Simula At Wakas, on April 25. This EP will complete their trilogy, following Pagsibol and PAGTATAG. Their pre-release single, “DAM,” made history as their first entry on the Billboard Philippines Hot 100 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales Chart for the week of March 15, 2025.
Apart from SB19, also avid Ppop promoters are its dedicated fandom A’tin, which according to Billboard International is the strongest fan army in the world.
Earlier, Pangilinan noted that South Korea’s success was driven by massive support for its local entertainment industry—which not only made K-pop a global phenomenon but also boosted its tourism.
“ Walang talent show ang hindi bilib sa Pinoy singers. Mga Pinoy at Pinay ang unang gumanap sa Miss Saigon. Pinakamagaling tayo sa music and arts, Sabi nga ng isang host ng isang talent show abroad, ‘Is there a Filipino that cannot sing?’ (No talent show is unimpressed by Filipino singers. Filipinos and Filipinas were the first to perform in Miss Saigon. We are the best in music and the arts. As one talent show host abroad said, ‘Is there a Filipino who cannot sing?’),” Pangilinan said.
“Imagine Filipino movies and music being as globally recognized as South Kor ea’s. With the right investment in our local talent, we can make that dream a reality. Kaya natin ‘to (We can do this),” he added.
DOJ files ₧5.7 billion tax evasion case vs 5 Chinese tobacco dealers
TBy Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573
HE Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a tax evasion case against five Chinese tobacco dealers for alleged tax evasion amounting to P5.7 billion.
In a statement, the department said the case was filed after the Office of the City Prosecutor of Valenzuela City determined that “reasonable certainty of conviction” was found based on the evidence submitted by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). The case stemmed from the
joint task force operation conducted by the BIR and the National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) against illicit cigarettes in six different locations in the city of Valenzuela and th province of Bulacan on November 6-7, 2024.
The case against the Chinese nationals was filed before the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) on March 13.
They were specifically charged with violation of Section 258 (Unlawful Pursuit of Business) in relation to Section 236 and for violation of Section 263 (Unlawful Possession of Articles subject to Excise Tax without Payment of the Tax) which are both punished under Republic Act 8424 or the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended by RA 11346 and RA 11467, the department said.
The DOJ said arrest warrants of arrest against the accused Chinese nationals are expected to be issued by the tax court soon.
“The overwhelming pieces of evidence submitted by the BIR
show that the tax liability of the accused Chinese nationals amounted to P5,764,761,450 based on the 21,000 master cases of illicit cigarettes seized during the operations,” the DOJ said.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the case “is a testament that crimes undermining our economy can be defeated as long as the responsible government agencies join their resources and intensify their efforts.” He also lauded the BIR headed by Commissioner Romeo Lumagui for the agency’s unrelenting war against illicit cigarettes. Remulla also urged the BIR and other law enforcement agencies to continue their fight against other financial crimes that affect the country’s economic growth.
Local govts now more active in choosing economic projects
By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie
LOCAL governments now play a more significant role in selecting, financing, and implementing key socio-economic development projects following President Marcos’ issuance of Executive Order 82, a senior lawmaker said on Tuesday.
The directive strengthens the Regional Development Councils (RDCs) to boost nationwide progress, according to Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte.
The legislator emphasized that EO 82 restructures the RDCs by expanding their membership and granting them greater authority as the primary planning and policymaking bodies for regional development initiatives.
“The President, who himself had served previously as vice governor and then governor of his home province of Ilocos Norte, has seen it fit to give local executives a bigger say in the selection and rollout of major socio-economic development programs and projects in their localities by putting RDCs at the center of economic planning and implementation in their respective regions, in a fresh government effort to accelerate economic and social progress outside the national capital,” Villafuerte said.
By broadening the RDCs’ composition to include more representatives from national agencies and the private sector, EO 82 aims to enhance coordination between the national and local governments.
Villafuerte highlighted that this move would streamline project selection, budgeting, and implementation to ensure more efficient delivery of essential programs across the country.
President Marcos personally attended the RDC Region V meeting in Pili, Camarines Sur, where he directed the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to expedite two major transport projects vital to the economic and tourism growth of the Bicol region.
Villafuerte disclosed that during the meeting, the President instructed DOTr Undersecretary Timothy John Batan to fast-track the expansion of Naga Airport’s runway to accommodate larger aircraft, including Airbus jets, for potential international flights. Additionally, he called for the accelerated implementation of the long-delayed South Long Haul (SLH) Project, known as “Bicol Express,” which will cut travel time from Metro Manila to Albay or Sorsogon from half a day to just four or five hours.
EO 82 does not cover the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), which operate under separate mandates. To achieve this, the EO enhances RDC’s oversight of regional investment
programs and budget allocations. It also mandates the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to guide these councils in prioritizing key projects.
EO 82 replaces EO 325 of 1996 by increas -
ing the number of RDC members, incorporating regional heads from over 30 national agencies and private sector representatives. The new members include officials from the Departments of Energy (DOE) and Migrant Workers (DMW), the Bureau of Local Gov -
House prosecution team to Senate: Compel VP Duterte to answer impeachment charges
By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie
THE House of Representatives’ prosecution panel on Tuesday formally requested the Senate, acting as an impeachment court, to compel Vice President Sara Duterte to respond to the articles of impeachment filed against her.
In an “Entry with Motion to Issue Summons” dated March 14 and addressed to Senate President and Presiding Officer Francis Joseph G. Escudero, the prosecution panel urged the Senate as Impeachment Court to “issue the writ of summons to respondent Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte, directing her to file an answer to the Articles of Impeachment within a non-extendible period of 10 days from receipt of the Writ of Summons.”
The motion was officially received by the Senate on Tuesday. It was signed by House Minority Leader Marcelino C. Libanan, a member of the House prosecution panel.
Libanan was accompanied by
1Rider Rep. Rodge Gutierrez, also a member of the prosecution panel, along with House Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V, who represents La Union, and House Assistant Majority Leader Jay Khonghun of Zambales. Libanan, the nominee of the 4Ps party-list group, was “duly authorized to sign all pleadings for and on behalf of all the public prosecutors of the House of Representatives,” and formally entered the prosecution’s participation in the impeachment trial.
“The prosecution, represented by the members duly appointed by the House of Representatives, respectfully enters itself and most respectfully moves that the Honorable Presiding Officer, Senate
President Francis Joseph G. Escudero, issue summons to respondent Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte [‘Duterte’] directing her to file her duly answer to the Verified Complaint for Impeachment dated 5 February 2025 [‘Verified Impeachment Complaint’] duly endorsed and transmitted to the Honorable Impeachment Court,” the motion read.
VP Duterte is currently in The Hague, the Netherlands, where her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, is facing charges of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court.
The motion underscored that on February 5, the House of Representatives officially endorsed and transmitted the Verified Complaint for Impeachment against Duterte to the Senate. The complaint, verified and sworn before House Secretary General Reginald S. Velasco, was supported by at least one-third of the members of the House of Representatives, as mandated by the Constitution.
The prosecution panel stressed the constitutional obligation for the Senate to commence trial proceedings upon receipt of the impeachment complaint.
“Pursuant to Section 3, paragraph 4, Article XI of the Constitution, the Verified Impeachment Complaint constitutes the
China renews provocation, installs floating barriers at Scarborough
By Rex Anthony Naval
HE Coast Guard (PCG)
Ton Monday announced that Chinese maritime forces have again installed floating barriers at the southeast entrance of Bajo de Masinloc (also known as Scarborough
Suspended Porac
By Ashley Manabat
THE suspended mayor of Porac, Pampanga, who is running for reelection, has questioned the approval of a P52 million supplemental budget under the administration of acting Mayor Myla Clarete during the first quarter of this year.
Mayor Jaime Capil, who has been suspended since October 9, 2024 following raid at the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (Pogo) hub of Lucky South 99, said he would request the Commission on Audit (COA) to review the handling of the municipal funds during his six-month suspension which ends on April 8.
On March 19, Clarete approved Municipal Ordinances 8 and 9 which allocated P42 million and P10 million in supplemental budget funds respectively, to support various projects and programs of the local government.
Shoal) at the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
Commo. Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the WPS, said the Chinese floating barrier was spotted by a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Bfar) maritime domain awareness flight in the area earlier the day.
Capil questioned the timing of the supplemental budget and said that it is “highly unusual” to request such budget in the first quarter of the year. He added that there is “no urgent need” for the allocation as there were no disasters or emergencies that justified the request.
“We have funds allocated for 2025 and we are only in the first quarter of the year. There’s no storm or disaster that would require a supplemental budget, let alone a pandemic,” Capil said in a mix of English and Capampangan.
Clarete, who assumed as acting vice mayor following the death of her brother, Regin Clarete, in May 2023, explained that the funds were intended for essential community programs and cover expenses not included in the original budget such as the maintenance of the new town hall which was inaugurated on February 5. Clarete said that the budget for the first
He added that the Chinese maritime militia was the one behind the installation of the floating barrier.
Tarriela said that this is one of the measures done by the Chinese to make sure that Filipino fishermen are unable to enter Bajo de Masinloc.
quarter of the year has been exhausted which makes a supplemental budget necessary.
“And now that it’s 2025, I saw the need for a supplemental budget such as the new municipal hall, which was not included in the budget. And to run it and keep it in order, need an additional budget for it,” Clarete said in Filipino during a media interview.
The P42 million allocation includes P22 million for the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office to support indigent families and livelihood programs, and P20 million for non-office and community development which includes P10 million for building management such as security, housekeeping, gardening, and other utility works, P6 million for road construction at barangay Babo Sacan, and P4 million for public building. The P10 million is split between cash-for-work and educational assistance programs with P5 million assigned to each initiative.
members,
Articles of Impeachment against respondent Duterte, and trial by the Senate, acting as the Impeachment Court, shall forthwith proceed,” it said.
In addition, they invoked Rule VII of the Senate’s Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials, which mandates that a writ of summons be issued to the impeached official, instructing them to appear before the Senate and submit a response within ten days of receiving the summons.
The prosecution panel also pointed out that the Senate’s impeachment rules remain in effect until amended or repealed. Citing Rule XXV, they stated, “These rules shall take effect immediately upon publication in two [2] newspapers of general circulation and shall remain in force until amended or repealed.
“Thus, it behooves the Honorable Impeachment Court to give effect to the constitutional mandate for the instant impeachment case to ‘forthwith proceed’ and issue the writ of summons to respondent Duterte,” the prosecution panel stated.
The House of Representatives impeached Duterte, accusing her of multiple offenses, including culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.
He added that this device is usually installed by the Chinese when they spot a high number of Filipino fishermen in the area.
Tarriela also clarified that Chinese vessels did not intercept PCG ships engaged in operations refuelling Filipino fishermen as earlier claimed.
There no was also no recorded harassment from the China Coast Guard, but the Bfar reconnaisance flight was shadowed and challenged by a China People’s Liberation Army Navy Air Force helicopter.
“These initiatives are essential to provide immediate assistance to those in need and promote economic growth in our municipality. The programs aim to create job opportunities and support the educational needs of our youth,” Clarete said.
Capil, however, insisted that there was no urgency in these requests.
Clarete said her administration is open to a special audit and dismissed Capil’s claims as politically motivated. She emphasized that all budget allocations were thoroughly deliberated by the Sangguniang Bayan.
Clarete also pointed out that Capil’s brother, Joel Capil, president of the Association of Barangay Captains and ex-officio member of the Sangguniang Bayan, did not raise any concerns during the deliberation and approval of the ordinances.
Capil and the entire legislative body are set to resume their positions on April 9 following the end of their suspension.
Pulong Duterte gets OK for 16-country trip
THE House of Representatives has approved a travel clearance for Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte to embark on a personal trip to several countries from March 20 to May 10, 2025.
According to the travel clearance issued by House Secretary General Reginald Velasco, Duterte’s itinerary includes Hong Kong, the People’s Republic of China, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, the United States of America, Australia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, and Singapore.
“As requested, travel clearance is hereby granted to the Honorable Paolo Z. Duterte, Representative, 1st District, Davao City, in connection with his personal trip,” the travel clearance read. The issuance of travel clearances for lawmakers, whether for official or personal trips, is a routine procedure to ensure proper documentation and compliance with House regulations.
Paolo Duterte’s father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, is currently in The Hague, the Netherlands, facing charges before the International Criminal Court. His sister, Vice President Sara Duterte is also at The Hague, attending to her father. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
Marcos eyes VFAs with more countries
By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos wants the Philippines to forge Visiting Forces Agreements (VFA) with more countries to help boost the country’s capability to secure its borders.
This, as Palace Press Officer Claire Castro on Tuesday confirmed that the Chief Executive has approved VFA talks with France.
“It is not only for France. There are also other countries that might come next. That was approved by the President,” Castro said in Filipino in a press briefing in Malacañang.
On Monday, Secretary of National Defense (SND) Gilberto Teodoro Jr. announced that Marcos had approved the start of the VFA talks with France.
He also disclosed the completion of the Status of VFA (Sovfa)
with New Zealand on February 20 and Canada on March 7.
A VFA is an accord wherein a country allows foreign military forces to “visit” its territory, while a Sofva enables foreign military forces to be stationed within its borders. Castro said the new VFAs will improve the capability of the militaries of all the concerned parties.
“The VFA could raise the level of the compatibility in terms of the operations of the armed forces of both countries. Of course there is an exchange of ideas, skills and know-how regarding military operations,” she said. The country has a VFA with the United States, a Sovfa with Australia, and a Reciprocal Access Agreement (RRA) with Japan. An RAA is a pact between two countries, which enables them to share military training and engage in joint military operations.
‘Remove bridging programs in college’
By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM
THE promise that two more years of high school would result in fewer years of college has not materialized.
This was revealed by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian on Tuesday as he recalled the deliberations on the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 (Republic Act 10533) or the K to 12 Law.
Gatchalian said the Year Two Report of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom II) flagged low proficiency levels among SHS students based on below-proficient National Achievement Test (NAT) 2022 scores for Grade 12.
He added that because senior high school graduates do not end up being college-ready,
higher education institutions still needed to implement bridging programs, which did not help in reducing the number of years in college.
Gatchalian sought the removal of these bridging programs.
“The entire system promised that when we move to K-12, college will be shortened so that the overall duration of schooling would not be extended by an additional two years,” said Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education.
“Mahalagang pag-usapan at pag-isipan ito nang maigi ng DepEd [Department of Education] at CHED [Commission on Higher Education]. Pagsikapan nating mapababa ang bilang ng taon sa kolehiyo upang makapagtapos na sila agad at makapagtrabaho na sila agad,” Gatchalian added.
Go’s advocacy of bringing healthcare closer to island communities: New SHC opens in San Benito, Siargao Island
SENATOR Christopher “Bong” Go’s Malasakit Team attended the inauguration and blessing of the newly constructed Super Health Center (SHC) in San Benito, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte on Thursday, March 20. In his message, Go emphasized the crucial role of SHC in strengthening the country’s healthcare system by bringing essential medical services closer to the grassroots, especially in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas like island municipalities.
“Ang kagandahan po ng Super Health Center, hindi na kailangang bumiyahe ng malayo ang ating mga kababayan para sa serbisyongmedikal,”said Go. “Ditopalang, sa San Benito, pwedenangmagpakonsulta, manganak,atmagpagamot.Masmaagang made detect ang mga sakit at mas mababawasanangpagsisiksikansamgaospital.”
The SHC is designed to offer primary care services including database management, out-patient services, birthing facilities, isolation units, diagnostic services such as x-ray and ultrasound, pharmacy access, and ambulatory surgical units. Additional services may include EENT (eye, ear, nose, throat) care, oncology services, physical therapy and rehabilitation, and telemedicine—a timely solution for remote communities like Siargao Island.
The initiative is part of Go’s efforts, in collaboration with fellow lawmakers, the Department of Health (DOH) and local government units (LGUs), to construct more than 700 Super Health Centers across the country. These centers are aimed at decongesting hospitals and ensuring that even Filipinos in the farthest reaches of the country have access to quality medical care.
As the principal author and sponsor of Republic Act No. 11463 or the Malasakit Centers Act of 2019, Go also reminded the public that patients needing medical assistance can also go to Malasakit Centers, which are now established in DOH-run hospitals across the country, including the Siargao Island Medical Center in Dapa and Caraga Regional Hospital in Surigao City.
As the principal author and sponsor of Republic Act No. 11463 or the Malasakit Centers Act of 2019, Go also reminded the public that patients needing medical assistance can also go to Malasakit Centers, which are now established in DOH-run hospitals across the country, including the Siargao Island Medical Center in Dapa and Caraga Regional Hospital in Surigao City.
These one-stop shops aim to reduce hospital expenses by covering various costs through the coordination of key government agencies such as DOH, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, PhilHealth, and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. As of today, 167 Malasakit Centers nationwide have served over 17 million Filipinos.
Marcos admits being ‘slightly affected’ by fake news barrage
TBy Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
HE constant barrage of fake news against President Ferdinand Marcos and his family has finally started taking its toll on the Chief Executive, according to the Malacañang.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro disclosed Marcos said he is now “slightly affected” by the false information, which are spreading online against him and his family.
“In a way he is slightly affected so that’s why they asked the PCO (Presidential Communications Office) to do its job to counter fake news not only for himself but for the country,” she said in a press briefing in Malacañang last Tuesday.
Among the recent fake news about the President and his family, include fake news, wherein First Lady (FL) Louise “Liza” A. Marcos was allegedly detained in Los Angeles (LA) for her involvement in the death of Paolo Tantoco.
It also includes the supposed digital pictures of the First Lady and the Marcos family as well as rumors the President is using illegal drugs.
Castro said the fake news against the President and his family surged after former President Rodrigo R. Duterte was arrested by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) through an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The former President is currently
detained in the Netherlands and is facing a crimes against humanity case for the bloody campaign of his administration criminality, which killed at least 6,000 people.
The issue further strained the relationship between Marcos and Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte.
“Ever since VP Sara’s attitude towards the Marcos family became unfavorable, the fake news has started,” Castro said.
The PCO undersecretary said the obser -
vation is based on a study of an unidentified journalist about a supposed “network that really propagates negative news or information or misinformation specifically against the President and favoring the Vice President.”
PCO earlier announced it will intensify its campaign against false information together with the Cybercrime Investigation Coordinating Center (CICC) of the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT).
Comelec urges local bets to respect rivals ahead of campaign period
WITH the local campaign period set to begin on March 28, the Commission on Elections
(Comelec) is calling on candidates to respect each other—especially when it comes to campaign materials.
Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia said Tuesday that disputes often arise when candidates cover or remove their rivals’ posters, something that could be avoided with mutual respect.
“Would you want someone else’s face plastered over yours? If a poster is already there, respect it. Private properties are
allowed, and common poster areas are limited.
There are alternatives for placing campaign materials, so let’s avoid unnecessary conflicts,” Garcia said in Filipino.
Under Comelec Resolution No. 11086, campaign materials may only be placed in designated common poster areas (CPAs) within public spaces or on private property with the owner’s consent.
Each barangay is allowed one CPA per 5,000 registered voters, with additional CPAs for every extra 5,000 voters or fraction thereof.
Public spaces such as plazas, markets,
and barangay centers serve as these designated areas.
Posters in CPAs or public spaces must not exceed 2 by 3 feet, while there are no size limits for those placed on private property.
The Comelec encourages candidates to follow the standard size, whether posting the materias on the designated areas or private spaces.
Once the local campaign period begins, the poll body will remove all illegally placed posters, whether for local or national candidates.
Garcia urged politicians to take down
non-compliant materials as early as now to avoid receiving notices of removal from the commission.
“My advice is to remove them now. Later on, we won’t be the ones taking them down—we’ll just keep sending notices, and you’ll keep removing them,” Garcia said. He also warned that tensions tend to rise more in local campaigns since candidates and their supporters often interact closely, sometimes leading to confrontations.
“In local elections, political rivalries extend to supporters. Some people refuse to come out when the opposition is around,
while others get heckled. That’s when things heat up,” he explained. The Comelec has already warned of a potential increase in election-related incidents as the local campaign period approaches. Currently, 386 areas are under the commission’s watch: 194 in the yellow category, indicating a history of electionrelated incidents; 156 in orange, where significant armed threats exist; and 36 in red, which have serious armed threats and a record of violent incidents during elections.
Justine Xyrah Garcia
UST faculty union files notice of strike over unpaid benefits, stalled negotiations
TBy justine xyrah garcia
HE faculty union of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) has formally filed on Tuesday a notice of strike with the labor department’s National Conciliation and Mediation Board after nearly a year of negotiations with the administration failed to break a deadlock.
The dispute centers on the university’s refusal to release the faculty’s legally mandated share of tuition fee increases, which has accumulated to more than P220 million since 2020.
In an interview after filing the notice, UST Faculty Union (USTFU) President Asst. Prof. Emerito Gonzales said the administration is withholding the funds until a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is ratified.
He said this move violates existing laws and unfairly pressures faculty members into accepting unfavorable terms.
“We filed a notice of strike because we, the faculty union, insist that our back pay, which has been delayed for four years, be released immediately. The 70 percent share of the tuition fee increase should not be tied to the ratification of the CBA,” he said, partly in Filipino.
Under Republic Act No. 6728 or the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Act
Palace: No decision on ICC rejoining despite possible Duterte asset freeze
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos remains undecided if the government will rejoin the International Criminal Court (ICC) after it had former President Rodrigo R. Duterte arrested to face crimes against humanity case.
In a press briefing in Malacañang last Tuesday, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said the Chief Executive has deferred giving a definite government policy on the matter.
“As we speak, we have not yet discussed any plan of rejoining the ICC,” Castro said.
“The last time we spoke to the President, we asked him about it personally and he just smiled and said that there should have been no discussion about that,” she added in Filipino.
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary made the remark after ICC Spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah said the Hague-based tribunal may soon issue a freeze order on Duterte’s assets, which can be used as reparation for the victims of the intensified crackdown against criminality. At least 6,000 people were killed in the bloody war against criminality of the Duterte administration.
In his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) in 2017, Duterte reported a net worth of P28.5 million. The Office of the Ombudsman blocked requests for the release of the SALN of Duterte during his presidency.
“There is no commitment on our part, on the part of the administration if we will comply with any order issued by the ICC considering that the ICC as of the moment has no jurisdiction over the Philippines,” Castro said. The country’s withdrawal from Rome Statue took effect in 2019, which removed it from the jurisdiction of the ICC.
The Palace earlier said the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) will handle the request of the freeze order.
“If a request from the ICC does arise, it will be evaluated, and relevant government agencies will be consulted to determine the Philippines’ response to a potential ICC request for enforcement of its order,” AMLC Executive Director Matthew David told reporters.
Aside from having his assets confiscated, Duterte can also forfeit his life pension to former Presidents under Republic Act No. 5059 worth P96,000 per year. Castro said the forfeiture should go through a court order. She said it will not be implemented if it is issued by the ICC. Samuel P. Medenilla
Tand Commission on Higher Education’s Memorandum Order No. 3, Series of 2012, private universities are required to allocate 70 percent of tuition fee increases to faculty and staff salaries and benefits.
Earlier this month, the commission also issued a show cause order demanding an explanation from UST for its failure to distribute the funds on time.
Historically, the release of these funds has been delayed by two to three years, but this time, Gonzales said, the wait has been even longer.
“The administration has always taken time to release the faculty’s share of tuition increases…It’s about time this practice ends because even CHED is on our side,” the union president said.
Beyond wage increases, the faculty is also pushing for improved hospitalization benefits, which have remained unchanged since 1998.
The union argued that the current package—P100,000 basic coverage— lags behind industry standards and pales in comparison to the full hospitalization benefits received by employees of the UST Hospital.
USTFU added that the university has the financial capacity to meet this demand, pointing to UST’s P14.9 billion in net assets as of last year, as well as tuition revenue collected in recent years: P129 million
in 2020 to 2021, P103 million in 2021 to 2022, P128 million in 2022 to 2023, and P214 million in 2023 to 2024.
“The faculty deserves improved medical benefits, and we believe this should not be treated as charity,” Gonzales explained.
Aside from hospitalization coverage and tuition fee allocations, USTFU is also contesting other provisions in the stalled CBA.
These include a P26 million budget for rank upgrades, a proposed increase in the annual Christmas bonus from P15,000 to P30,000, a reduction in emergency loan interest rates from 6 percent to 4 percent, and the introduction of longevity pay based on years of service.
Other demands include additional vacation leave for non-teaching academic staff, the implementation of 11th and 12th-month pay for tenured faculty, and salary improvements for National Service Training Program facilitators.
While negotiations are ongoing, the union president emphasized that the strike will not disrupt classes, as faculty members remain committed to their students.
“Students are not affected. This is just between us and the admin, though we know the students are sympathetic,” Gonzales said.
He added that the union remains
kin urge SC to grant habeas corpus petition,
“optimistic” for a fair resolution because the university administrators are “very reasonable” people.
‘Prayers for a swift resolution’
IN response, UST said it remains steadfast in its commitment to “fairness, transparency, and full compliance with the law.”
“The University will continue to engage in good-faith discussions with USTFU to finalize a just and sustainable CBA. We enjoin the Thomasian community in praying for a swift resolution to the CBA deadlock and the completion of the negotiations,” the statement read.
UST also said it is willing to distribute faculty members’ shares, including accrued interest, provided that the university’s financial “sustainability” is maintained.
The university added they have also proposed a “balanced approach” in the union’s request for full hospitalization coverage of all teachers.
“Management proposed increasing base hospitalization coverage and introducing a critical illness benefit to assist academic staff in coping with higher medical expenses,” UST said.
They said they are also “always open” to negotiate with the union to come up with a “peaceful and mutually beneficial agreement.”
Labor unions show solidarity MEANWHILE , several labor groups have voiced their support for the USTFU, condemning the university’s refusal to release the teachers’ tuition fee shares. The Alliance of Concerned TeachersNCR Union slammed the delay as a blatant injustice.
“As a Catholic institution that upholds the principles of justice and charity, UST should be at the forefront of ensuring just compensation and dignified working conditions for its educators. Yet, the current proposals reflect an alarming disregard for the faculty’s welfare, particularly in the face of rising healthcare costs and economic challenges,” the group said.
Meanwhile, the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights urged UST to respect workers’ rights, warning that suppressing rightful claims for fair wages and benefits would only escalate tensions.
“Without the UST administration’s immediate and adequate response, the USTFU has every right to exercise its right to strike, and we hope that the UST administration and the national government will respect this right,” CTUHR said. Both groups pressed the administration to act swiftly, cautioning that further delays would only deepen the crisis within the university.
By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573
HE Duterte siblings urged the Supreme Court (SC) to grant their petitions for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus as this may pave the way for the return to the country of their father, former President Rodrigo Duterte (FPRRD) whom they claimed was “kidnapped” and illegally handed over by the Philippine government to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands to face trial for alleged crimes against humanity in connection with his war on drugs.
In their separate “traverse” submitted to SC, the Duterte children Davao Mayor Sebastian Duterte, Davao 1st District Rep. Paolo “Polong” Duterte Veronica A. Duterte countered the claim of the Palace and key Executive government officials that their consolidated petitions are already moot and academic since Duterte had already been turned-over over to the ICC, which now has jurisdiction over him.
The SC earlier ordered the Duterte siblings to file a “traverse” or a reply to the comment submitted by the respondents on the habeas corpus petition through the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“It must be stressed that claiming a case become moot and academic due to supervening events does not automatically deprive the courts of authority to decide the same,” Paolo’s traverse read.
issue raised requires formulation of controlling principles to guide the bench at, and the public;; and fourth, the case is capable of repetition yet evading review.”
Paolo said all these circumstances exist in their petitions for a writ of habeas corpus, thus, warrant the Court’s action on the merit.
On the other hand, Sebastian argued that the absence of his father from the country does not automatically impede the enforcement of the writ of habeas corpus.
He stressed that the petition is directed against the respondents, not the ICC which is not impleaded in the case.
Likewise, Sebastian said the Court still has jurisdiction over the respondents which it can compel to enforce the writ and produce the former President.
“Third, even if the former President is detained abroad, the petitioner maintains that because his arrest was unlawful, the acquisition of jurisdiction by the ICC may be questioned. Consequently, this Honorable Court retains the authority to compel his eventual return to the Philippines,” Sebastian said.
He also pointed out the writ of habeas corpus covers all cases of illegal confinement or detention, without any qualification.
FPRRD’S utterances do not mean his arrest is valid
Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity.
The Dutertes also dismissed the respondents’ argument that even FPRRD himself made several pronouncements that he is willing to submit himself to the ICC investigation on his war on drugs.
“Utterances made by FPRRD do not have any bearing on the validity or invalidity of the enforcement of the warrant of arrest. Whatever statement he made does not validate the illegality of his arrest,” Paolo said in his traverse.
The Duterte siblings maintained that FPRRD’s arrest violates Article III, Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution which mandates that “no personal shall be arrested or detained except by virtue of a warrant personally issued by a judge after a finding of probable cause.”
This authority, according to the Duterte siblings, does not extend to foreign or international judges such as the members of the ICC.
Likewise, they maintained that FPRRD’s arrest is violative of Article 59 of the Rome Statute, which created the ICC.
The said provision mandates that “a person arrested shall be brought promptly before the competent judicial authority in the custodial State which shall determine, in accordance with the law of that State.”
sovereignty and the individual’s right to due process,” he added.
FPRRD arrest a state-sponsored kidnapping
THE Duterte siblings further insisted that FPRRD’s arrest was “illegally, procedurally defective, and constitutionally infirm” as it was based merely on a diffusion, and not a red notice, which did not originate from the Interpol itself but was issued by the ICC legal branch.
They cited the admission of Philippine Center for Transnational Crime (PCTC) Executive Direct Anthony Alcantara during the March 14 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations investigation into the FPRR’s arrest that the Interpol issued only a diffusion, not a red notice, on the day of Duterte’s arrest.
He said Court, in its ruling in the case of Prof. Randolf S. David v. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, held that it may still decide on cases considered as moot and academic “if there is a grave violation of the Constitution, second, the exceptional character of the situation and the paramount public interest is involved; third, when constitutional
THE Duterte siblings also countered the respondents claim that FPRRD’s arrest was lawful and that there was no illegal confinement since it was covered by a warrant of arrest issued by the ICC.
“Allowing arrests based solely on warrants issued by the international bodies like the ICC or enforcement requests from Interpol—without review, validation, or judicial authorization by a Philippine court—would create a dangerous exception to our constitutional framework,” Sebastian’s traverse pointed out.
“Therefore, if a Philippine law enforcement agency executed the arrest warrant without prior court approval, it suggests the possibility of politically motivated action, which could constitute illegal detention or, even more concerning, state-sponsored kidnapping, all under the guise of international cooperation,” they added. Duterte
The respondents insisted that its implementation has basis under Republic Act 9851 or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International
“It would effectively allow the deprivation of liberty without the judicial oversight required under our laws, eroding both national
The diffusion was then circulated to local enforcement agencies including the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau Immigration (BI), and Department of Justice (DOJ). “The fact that the Diffusion came directly from the ICC’s legal branch, without undergoing the Interpol General Secretariat review, and was acted upon unilaterally by Philippine agencies lays bare the alarming truth: the arrest was orchestrated by the Philippine government itself by virtue of personal interests, not by virtue of mere Interpol cooperation,” the Duterte siblings said.
Editor: Angel R. Calso
Gaza hospital overwhelmed after Israel’s airstrikes kill hundreds, including children
By Samy Magdy & Lee Keath The Associated Press
CAIRO—When the first explosions in Gaza this week started around 1:30 a.m., a visiting British doctor went to the balcony of a hospital in Khan Younis and watched the streaks of missiles light up the night before pounding the city. A Palestinian surgeon next to him gasped, “Oh no. Oh no.”
After two months of ceasefire, the horror of Israeli bombardment was back. The veteran surgeon told the visiting doctor, Sakib Rokadiya, they’d better head to the emergency ward.
Torn bodies soon streamed in, carried by ambulances, donkey carts or in the arms of terrified relatives. What stunned doctors was the number of children.
“Just child after child, young patient after young patient,” Rokadiya said. “The vast, vast majority were women, children, the elderly.”
This was the start of a chaotic 24 hours at Nasser Hospital, the largest hospital in southern Gaza. Israel shattered the ceasefire in place since mid-January with a surprise barrage that began early Tuesday and was meant to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages and accepting changes in the truce’s terms. It turned into one of the deadliest days in the 17-month war.
The aerial attacks killed 409 people across Gaza, including 173 children and 88 women, and hundreds more were wounded, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, whose count does not differentiate between militants and civilians.
More than 300 casualties flooded into Nasser Hospital. Like other medical facilities around Gaza, it had been damaged by Israeli raids and strikes throughout the war, leaving it without key equipment. It was also running short on antibiotics and other essentials. On March 2, when the first, six-week phase of the ceasefire technically expired, Israel blocked entry of medicine,
food and other supplies to Gaza.
Triage
NASSER Hospital’s emergency ward filled with wounded, in a scene described to The Associated Press by Rokadiya and Tanya HajHassan, an American pediatrician—both volunteers with the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians. Wounded came from a tent camp sheltering displaced that missiles set ablaze and from homes struck in Khan Younis and Rafah, further south.
One nurse was trying to resuscitate a boy sprawled on the floor with shrapnel in his heart. A young man with most of his arm gone sat nearby, shivering. A barefoot boy carried in his younger brother, around 4 years old, whose foot had been blown off. Blood was everywhere on the floor, with bits of bone and tissue.
“I was overwhelmed, running from corner to corner, trying to find out who to prioritize, who to send to the operating room, who to declare a case that’s not salvageable,” said Haj-Hassan.
“It’s a very difficult decision, and we had to make it multiple times,” she said in a voice message. Wounds could be easy to miss. One little girl seemed OK—it just hurt a bit when she breathed, she told Haj-Hassan—but when they undressed her they determined she was bleeding into her lungs. Looking through the curly hair of another girl, Haj-Hassan discovered she had shrapnel in her brain.
Two or three wounded at a time were squeezed onto gurneys and sped off to surgery, Rokadiya said.
US negotiators seek Ukraine war
and ports protected.
DBy Jon Gambrell & Illia Novikov The Associated Press
UBAI, United Arab Emirates—US negotiators worked on a proposed partial ceasefire in the 3-year-old war in Ukraine on Monday, meeting representatives from Russia one day after holding separate talks with a team from Kyiv.
It has been a struggle to reach even a limited, 30-day ceasefire—which Moscow and Kyiv agreed to in principle last week –with both sides continuing to attack each other with drones and missiles.
One major sticking point is what targets would be off-limits to strike, even after US President Donald Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders, because the parties disagree.
While the White House said “energy and infrastructure” would be covered, the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to “energy infrastructure.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he would also like to see infrastructure like railways
He scrawled notes on slips of paper or directly on the patient’s skin—this one to surgery, this one for a scan. He wrote names when he could, but many kids were brought in by strangers, their parents dead, wounded or lost in the mayhem.
So he often wrote, “UNKNOWN.”
In the operating room
DR. Feroze Sidhwa, an American trauma surgeon from California with the medical charity MedGlobal, rushed immediately to the area where the hospital put the worst-off patients still deemed possible to save.
But the very first little girl he saw -- 3 or 4 years old -- was too far gone. Her face was mangled by shrapnel. “She was technically still alive,” Sidhwa said, but with so many other casualties “there was nothing we could do.”
He told the girl’s father she was going to die. Sidhwa went on to do some 15 operations, one after another.
Khaled Alserr, a Palestinian surgeon, and an Irish volunteer surgeon were doing the same. There was a 29-year-old woman whose pelvis was smashed, the webbing of veins around the bones was bleeding heavily. They did what they could in surgery, but she died 10 hours later in the intensive care unit.
There was a 6-year-old boy with two holes in his heart, two in his colon and three more in his stomach, Sidhwa said. They repaired the holes and restarted his heart after he went into cardiac arrest.
He, too, died hours later.
“They died because the ICU simply does not have the capacity to care for them,” Sidhwa said.
Ahmed al-Farra, head of the pediatric and obstetrics department, said that was in part because the ICU lacks strong antibiotics.
Sidhwa recalled how he was at Boston Medical Center when the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing happened, killing three people and sending some 260 wounded to area hospitals.
Boston Medical “couldn’t handle this influx of cases” seen at Nasser Hospital, he said.
The staff
ROKADIYA marveled at how the hospital staff took care of each other under duress. Workers circulated with water to give sips to doctors and nurses. Cleaners whisked away the bloody clothes,
blankets, tissues and medical debris accumulating on the floors. At the same time, some staff had their own family members killed in the strikes.
Alserr, the Palestinian surgeon, had to go to the morgue to identify the bodies of his wife’s father and brother.
“The only thing I saw was like a packet of meat and bones, melted and fractured,” he said in a voice message, without giving details on the circumstances their deaths.
Another staffer lost his wife and kids. An anesthesiologist -whose mother and 21 other relatives were killed earlier in the war -- later learned his father, his brother and a cousin were killed, Haj-Hassan said.
Aftermath
AROUND 85 people died at Nasser Hospital on Tuesday, including around 40 children from ages 1 to 17, al-Farra said.
Strikes continued throughout the week, killing several dozen more people. At least six prominent Hamas figures were among those killed Tuesday.
Israel says it will keep targeting Hamas, demanding it release more hostages, even though Israel has ignored ceasefire requirements for it to first negotiate a long-term end to the war. Israel says it does not target civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because it operates among the population.
With Tuesday’s bombardment, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also secured the return to his government of a right-wing party that had demanded a resumption of the war, solidifying his coalition ahead of a crucial budget vote that could have brought him down.
Haj-Hassan keeps checking in on children in Nasser’s ICU. The girl with shrapnel in her brain still can’t move her right side. Her mother came to see her, limping from her own wounds, and told Haj-Hassan that the little girl’s sisters had been killed.
“I cannot process or comprehend the scale of mass killing and massacre of families in their sleep that we are seeing here,” Haj-Hassan said. “This can’t be the world we’re living in.”
The Associated Press writers Julia Frankel in Jerusalem, Fatma Khaled in Cairo, and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
ceasefire amid sticking points over target restrictions
Talks Monday in the Saudi capital of Riyadh were expected to address some of those differences, as well as a potential pause in attacks in the Black Sea to ensure the safety of commercial shipping. Russian state media reported late Monday local time that the talks had ended.
In an exchange with reporters at the White House, Trump said territorial lines and the potential for US ownership of a key nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine have been part of the talks.
Last week, Trump floated the idea of the US taking control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The six-reactor facility—one of the world’s largest—was seized by Russia early in the war.
“Some people are saying the United States should own the power plant— work it that way because we have the expertise” to get the plant operating, Trump said. “Something like that would be fine with me.”
Since falling under Russian control, the plant’s conditions have deteriorated. While its reactors have been shut down for years, they still require power and staff to maintain
cooling systems and safety features. The facility is connected to Ukraine’s energy grid without producing electricity.
US and Russian representatives met in the morning in Riyadh, Russia’s state Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies reported. The US and Ukrainian teams met Sunday.
Serhii Leshchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, said the delegation remained in Riyadh on Monday and expected to meet again with the Americans.
In his nightly address Monday, Zelenskyy said representatives from Ukraine and the US will meet again, although he did not specify when.
Grigory Karasin, head of the foreign affairs committee in the Russian parliament’s upper house and a participant in Monday’s talks, told the Interfax news agency the negotiations were going on in a “creative way” and that the US and Russian delegations “understand each other’s views.”
Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine continued to launch attacks across their borders.
The Russian Defense Ministry said
Monday a Ukrainian drone attacked an oil pumping station in southern Russia that serves a pipeline carrying Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea oil to the Russian port of Novorossiisk for export. It said the drone was downed before it could reach the pumping station.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday the Russian military has been fulfilling President Vladimir Putin’s order to halt attacks on energy facilities for 30 days. He has accused Ukraine of derailing the partial ceasefire with attacks on Russia’s energy facilities, including a gas metering station in Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region. Ukraine’s military General Staff rejected Moscow’s accusations and blamed the Russian military for shelling the station, a claim Peskov called “absurd.” Zelenskyy said Sunday evening that “since March 11, a proposal for an unconditional ceasefire has been on the table, and these attacks could have already stopped. But it is Russia that continues all this.” See “Ukraine,” A10
Congo rebel leader says sanctions, any minerals deal with the US won’t stop fighting in the east
By Chinedu Asadu The Associated Press
ABUJA, Nigeria—The leader of the rebels who captured two key cities in eastern Congo tells The Associated Press that international sanctions and Congo’s proposed minerals deal with the United States in search of peace will not stop the fighting.
With a $5 million bounty placed on the rebel leaders by Congo’s government, “we will fight like people who got nothing to lose in order to secure the future of our country,” said Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance that includes the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group.
Nangaa dismissed Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi’s comments last week that his country—whose mineral resources are estimated to be worth $24 trillion and critical to much of the world’s technology—is looking for a minerals partnership with the US.
The US government has not publicly spoken about any such deal, which local observers say could be similar to the Trump administration’s recent offer to Ukraine to help end the war with Russia.
“This problem can be better resolved by the concerned Congolese, not foreigners with different geopolitical agendas,” Nangaa told the AP over the weekend. “Trying to bribe US with mines can undermine US credibility.”
The rebel leader also rejected the outcome of last week’s meeting between Congolese and Rwandan leaders in Qatar, saying such a move to achieve peace without his group’s involvement would fail. He said the rebels can only have a dialogue with Congo’s government if the country acknowledges their grievances and the root
causes of the conflict.
“Anything regarding us which are done without us, it’s against us,” Nangaa said.
The World UN to reduce Gaza presence after Israeli tank strike kills its employee
Since launching a major escalation of their decadelong fighting with Congolese forces in January, the M23 rebels have captured the cities of Goma and Bukavu and several towns in eastern Congo, prompting fears of regional war involving neighbors whose militaries are also on the ground.
Efforts to achieve a ceasefire collapsed last week after the rebels pulled out of talks facilitated by Angola, condemning European Union sanctions on its leaders. Angola on Monday said its president and chairperson of the African Union, Joao Lourenco, was withdrawing as the key mediator to focus on Africa’s general peace and security. Another country will take over mediation efforts, it said.
Also Monday, the M23 rebels said their planned withdrawal from the strategic town of Walikale, which they captured last week, is delayed because Congolese forces are allegedly still positioned in the area with attack drones. M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka said their presence “compromises” peace initiatives. The AP has reached out to Congo’s military.
Holding Walikale gives the rebels control of a road linking four provinces in eastern Congo—North Kivu, South Kivu, Tshopo and Maniema—effectively cutting off Congolese army positions.
The M23 is the most potent of about 100 armed factions vying for control in eastern Congo. It is mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis who failed to integrate into the Congolese army. The group says it is defending ethnic Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination.
By Wafaa Shurafa, Edith M. Lederer & Lee Keath The Associated Press
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza
Strip—The United Nations said Monday it will “reduce its footprint” in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli tank strike hit one of its compounds last week, killing one staffer from Bulgaria and wounding five other employees.
The world body will temporarily remove about a third of its approximately 100 international staffers working in Gaza, UN Secretary-General spokesman Stéphane Dujarric. He pointed to the increased danger after Israel relaunched its military campaign last week with bombardment that has since killed hundreds of Palestinians. Israel has also cut off all food, medicine, aid and other supplies to Gaza’s population for the past three weeks.
Dujarric’s statement was the UN’s first to point the finger at Israel in the March 19 explosion at the UN guesthouse in central Gaza. He said that “based on the information currently available,” the strikes on the site “were caused by an Israeli tank.”
The Israeli military repeated its denial that it was responsible for the strike, which took place a day after Israel shattered Gaza’s 2-month-old ceasefire with a surprise bombardment across the Gaza Strip.
Dujarric said the UN “has taken
the difficult decision to reduce the Organization’s footprint in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs soar.” He said the UN “is not leaving Gaza,” pointing out that it still has about 13,000 national staff in Gaza, mainly working for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
New strikes killed dozens in Gaza NEW Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours killed more than 60 Palestinians around Gaza, the territory’s Health Ministry said. The ministry’s count does not distinguish between civilians and militants.
The ministry on Monday put out a list of the names of more than 15,000 children, 17 and under, killed by Israel’s campaign since it began more than 17 months ago. The list included nearly 5,000 children under the age of 6 who had been killed, including 876 infants who had not reached a year in age, Israel, which launched its campaign in retaliation for Hamas’
October 2023 attack, says it has restarted its bombardment and cut off food to Gaza to force Hamas to accept new terms for the ceasefire and release more hostages. It says it targets Hamas members and positions, blaming the group for civilian deaths because it operates among the population.
Air raid sirens sound in Israel after missile attacks from Yemen and Gaza
AIR raid sirens and explosions were heard over Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and central Israel on Monday evening as the military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.
There were no immediate reports of casualties. Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency rescue service said “teams are enroute to search areas where reports of rocket strikes have been received.”
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have fired a handful of long-range missiles at Israel in the days since it resumed the war in Gaza. There was no immediate claim of responsibility from the Houthis.
Two rockets from the Gaza Strip were also intercepted after crossing into Israeli territory earlier Monday evening, setting off sirens, the Israeli military said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, claimed responsibility.
Medical workers are under fire in Gaza
THE UN reduction comes as aid workers and medical staff have come under fire.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its office in the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip was damaged by an explosive projectile Monday. It said no staff were hurt but the damage has a direct impact on its ability to operate. It did not specify who was behind the explosion.
ICRC also said that on Sunday, contact was lost with emergency medical technicians from the Palestine Red Crescent Society and their whereabouts remain unknown. Last week, humanitarian workers in Gaza were killed and injured, it said.
On Sunday, Israel struck the surgery ward at southern Gaza’s biggest hospital, killing two people and wounding others, many of whom were already injured by earlier strikes. One of those killed at Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital was a teenage boy recovering from surgery.
The other was a Hamas official that Israel says was the target of the strike, Ismail Barhoum. Hamas said Barhoum was undergoing treatment at the time. The Israeli military denied that, saying he oversaw Hamas’ finances in Gaza, including transferring money to its armed wing, and was working out of the hospital.
The strike last week on the UN compound outside Deir al-Balah killed a 51-year-old staffer, Marin Valev Marinov. He worked with the UN Office for Project Services, which carries out infrastructure and development projects around the world.
In the two days before the deadly blast, strikes hit next to and then directly in the compound, UNOPS chief Jorge Moreira da Silva said earlier. He said the agency had contacted the Israeli military after the first strike and confirmed that the military was aware of the facility’s location.
Full impact of the UN reduction is not immediately known OLGA CHEREVKO, spokesperson for the UN’s humanitarian office, known as OCHA, said the UN and its partners have already suspended a number of activities, many in education, protection and water and sanitation services. The reason, she was, was safety concerns and the impact of Israeli evacuation orders.
“A lot things are constrained right now because of the security situation,” she told AP before Dujarric’s announcement. “The challenges are massive. We have had a lot of our activities affected by the situation and a lot of our partners have had to suspend operations because it is just not safe.”
Movement of trucks, including those distributing water, have been affected, she said. Only 29 out of 237 temporary learning spaces have resumed their activities since the ceasefire collapse, she said.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 113,000, according to the Health Ministry. Nearly 90 percent of the population of some 2,3 million have been driven from their homes. Israel launched the campaign vowing to destroy Hamas after its October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 others.
Lederer reported from the United Nations, Keath from Cairo. Associated Press correspondent Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
Anxiety in Greenland as Trump’s ambitions stir independence fears
NUUK,
By Danica Kirka The Associated Press
Greenland—Lisa
Sólrun Christiansen gets up at 4 a.m. most days and gets to work knitting thick wool sweaters coveted by buyers around the world for their warmth and colorful patterns celebrating Greenland’s traditional Inuit culture.
Her morning routine includes a quick check of the news, but these days the ritual shatters her peace because of all the stories about US President Donald Trump’s designs on her homeland.
“I get overwhelmed,’’ Christiansen said earlier this month as she looked out to sea, where impossibly blue icebergs floated just offshore.
The daughter of Inuit and Danish parents, Christiansen, 57, cherishes Greenland. It is a source of immense family pride that her father, an artist and teacher, designed the red-and-white Greenlandic flag.
“On his deathbed he talked a lot about the flag, and he said that the flag is not his, it’s the people’s,” she said. “And there’s one sentence I keep thinking about. He said, ‘I hope the flag will unite the Greenlandic people.’’’ Island of anxiety
GREENLANDERS are increasingly worried that their homeland, a self-governing region of Denmark, has become a pawn in the competition between the US, Russia and China as global warming opens up access to the Arctic. They fear Trump’s aim to take control of Greenland, which holds rich mineral deposits and straddles strategic air and sea routes, may block their path toward independence.
Those fears were heightened Sunday when Usha Vance, the wife of US Vice President JD Vance, announced she would visit Greenland later this week to attend the national dogsled race. Separately, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will visit a US military base in northern Greenland.
The announcement inflamed tensions sparked earlier this month when Trump reiterated his desire to annex Greenland just two days after Greenlanders elected a new parliament opposed to becoming part of the US. Trump even made a veiled reference to the possibility of military pressure, noting the US bases in Greenland and musing that “maybe you’ll see more and more soldiers go there.” News of the visit drew an immediate backlash from local politicians, who described it as a display of US power at a time they are trying to form a government.
“It must also be stated in bold that our integrity and democracy must be respected without any external interference,’’ outgoing Prime Minister Múte Boroup Egede said. Greenland, part of Denmark since 1721, has been moving toward independence for decades. It’s a goal most Greenlanders support, though they differ on when and how that should happen. They don’t want to trade Denmark for an American overlord.
The question is whether Greenland will be allowed to control its own destiny at a time of rising international tensions when Trump sees the island as key to US national security.
David vs. Goliath
WHILE Greenland has limited
voters and ratified by the Danish parliament. The right to self-determination is also enshrined in the United Nations charter, approved by the US in 1945.
US national security
BUT Trump is more focused on the economic and security needs of the US than the rights of smaller nations. Since returning to office in January, he has pressured Ukraine into giving the US access to valuable mineral resources, threatened to reclaim the Panama Canal and suggested that Canada should become the 51st state.
leverage against the world’s greatest superpower, Trump made a strategic mistake by triggering a dispute with Greenland and Denmark rather than working with its NATO allies in Nuuk and Copenhagen, said Otto Svendsen, an Arctic expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Trump’s actions, he says, have united Greenlanders and fostered a greater sense of national identity.
“You have this feeling of pride and of self-determination in Greenland that the Greenlanders are not, you know, cowed by this pressure coming from Washington,” Svendsen said. “And they’re doing everything in their power to make their voices heard.”
Denmark recognized Greenland’s right to independence at a time of its choosing under the 2009 Greenland Self-Government Act, which was approved by local
Now he has turned his attention to Greenland, a territory of 56,000 people, most from indigenous Inuit backgrounds.
Greenland guards access to the Arctic at a time when melting sea ice has reignited competition for energy and mineral resources and attracted an increased Russian military presence. The Pituffik Space Base on the island’s northwest coast supports missile warning and space surveillance operations for the US and NATO.
Before Trump’s re-election, Greenlanders hoped to leverage this unique position to help the country achieve independence. Now they fear it has made them vulnerable.
Cebastian Rosing, who works for a water taxi firm that offers tours around the Nuuk fjord, said he’s frustrated that Trump is trying to take over just as Greenland has begun to assert its autonomy and celebrate its Inuit origins.
“It’s so weird to defend (the
idea) that our country is our country because it’s always been our country,” he said. “We’re just getting our culture back because of colonialism.”
Strategic importance
IT’S not that Greenlanders don’t like the US. They have welcomed Americans for decades.
The US effectively occupied Greenland during World War II, building a string of air and naval bases.
After the war, President Harry Truman’s government offered to buy the island because of “the extreme importance of Greenland to the defense of the United States.” Denmark rejected the proposal but signed a long-term base agreement.
When Trump resurrected the proposal during his first term, it
“American Badass.”
Boassen works for an organization called American Daybreak, which was founded by former Trump official Thomas Dans and promotes closer ties between the US and Greenland.
was quickly rejected by Denmark and dismissed as a headlinegrabbing stunt. But now Trump is pursuing the idea with renewed energy.
During a speech earlier this month he told a joint session of Congress that the US needed to take control of Greenland to protect its national security. “I think we’re going to get it,” Trump said. “One way or the other.”
A model in the Marshall Islands?
EVEN so, Trump has his admirers in Greenland.
And there is no greater fan than Jørgen Boassen. When he spoke to The Associated Press, Boassen wore a T-shirt featuring a photo of Trump with his fist in the air and blood streaming down his face after an assassination attempt last year. Underneath was the slogan,
The former bricklayer, who describes himself as “110%” Inuit, has a litany of complaints about Denmark, most stemming from what he sees as mistreatment of local people during colonial rule. In particular, he cites Inuit women who say they were fitted with birth control devices without their permission during the 1970s. Trump must act to secure America’s back door, Boassen says, because Denmark has failed to guarantee Greenland’s security. But even he wants Greenland to be independent, a US ally but not the 51st state. What he has in mind is something more like the free-association agreement the Marshall Islands negotiated with the US when it became independent in 1986. That agreement recognizes the Pacific archipelago as a sovereign nation that conducts its own foreign policy but gives the US control over defense and security.
“We’re in 2025,’’ Boassen said. “So, I don’t believe they can come here and take over.”
Whatever happens, most Greenlanders agree that the island’s fate should be up to them, not Trump.
“We have to stand together,’’ Christiansen said, her knitting needles clicking and clacking.
A BOAT travels through a frozen sea inlet near Nuuk, Greenland, March 6, 2025. AP/EVGENIY MALOLETKA
He added that Ukraine’s partners— “the US, Europe, and others around the world”—should increase pressure on Russia “to stop this terror.”
Zelenskyy has emphasized that Ukraine is open to Trump’s proposal of a full, 30day ceasefire. Putin has made a complete ceasefire conditional on a halt of arms supplies to Kyiv and a suspension of Ukraine’s military mobilization—demands rejected by Kyiv and its Western allies.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said he expected “some real progress” at talks and that a pause in hostilities by both countries in the Black Sea would “naturally gravitate into a full-on shooting ceasefire.”
China rules out supplying peacekeeping forces
ASKED about reports speculating that China might send peacekeepers to Ukraine to enforce any peace deal, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun responded Monday with an unequivocal no.
“Let me stress that the report is completely false. China’s position on the Ukraine crisis is clear and consistent,” Guo said at a briefing.
China has provided Russia with trade earnings from oil and other natural resources, along with diplomatic backing, but has not given any weapons or sent any personnel. China is, however, on close terms with North Korea, which has sent troops to fight alongside the Russian army.
Ukrainian railways hit by cyberattack
A “massive targeted cyberattack” hit Ukrainian state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia on Sunday, the company wrote on Telegram, adding that it was working to restore its systems on Monday. The company said the attack did not affect train movements or schedules but disrupted its online booking system.
“The railway continues to operate despite physical attacks on the infrastructure, and even the most vile cyberattacks cannot stop it,” the company wrote.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces claimed Monday it destroyed four military helicopters in Russia’s Belgorod region with the use of US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems. It published drone footage on its Telegram page of what it said was the attack.
The strikes occurred at a concealed “jumping-off point” for Russian aircraft used in surprise attacks on Ukrainian forces, the group said.
A Russian missile struck the northern city of Sumy, across the border from Russia’s Kursk region, hitting residential buildings and a school, said regional head Volodymyr Artiukh. Children at the school were being evacuated at the time, and all were safe, he added.
But the regional prosecutor’s office said 65 people were injured, including 14 children.
Earlier, Russia fired 99 attack and decoy drones into Ukraine overnight, according to Ukraine’s air force, of which 57 were shot down.
Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Associated Press writers Christopher Bodeen in Beijing and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed.
Trump officials texted war plans to a group chat in secure app that included a journalist
By Tara Copp, Aamer Madhani & Eric Tucker The Associated Press
WASHINGTON—Top
national security officials for President Donald Trump, including his defense secretary, texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, the magazine reported in a story posted online Monday. The National Security Council said the text chain “appears to be authentic.”
Trump initially told reporters he was not aware that the highly sensitive information had been shared, 2 1/2 hours after it was reported. He later appeared to joke about the breach.
The material in the text chain
“contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iranbacked Houthi-rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported.
It was not immediately clear if the specifics of the military operation were classified, but they often are and at the least are kept secure to protect service members and operational security. The US has conducted airstrikes against the Houthis since the militant group began targeting commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in November 2023.
Just two hours after Goldberg received the details of the attack on March 15, the US began launching a series of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
The National Security Council is looking into the matter
THE National Security Council said in a statement that it was looking into how a journalist’s number was added to the chain in the Signal group chat. In addition to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, it included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence.
Goldberg said he received the Signal invitation from Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, who was also in the group chat.
Hegseth in his first comments on the matter attacked Goldberg as “deceitful” and a “discredited so-called journalist” while alluding to previous critical reporting of Trump from the publication. He did not shed light on why Signal was being used to discuss the sensitive operation or how Goldberg ended up on the message chain.
“Nobody was texting war plans and that’s all I have to say about that,” Hegseth said in an exchange with reporters after landing in Hawaii on Monday as he began his first trip to the Indo-Pacific as defense secretary.
In a statement late Monday, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the president still has the “utmost confidence” in Waltz and the national security team.
Earlier Monday, Trump told reporters, “I don’t know anything about it. You’re telling me about it for the first time.” He added that The Atlantic was “not much of a magazine.”
By early evening, the president jokingly brushed it aside. He amplified a social media posting from Elon Musk spotlighting a conservative satirical news site article with the cutting headline: “4D Chess: Genius Trump Leaks War Plans to ‘The Atlantic’ Where No One Will Ever See Them.” Government officials have used Signal for organizational correspondence, but it is not classified and can be hacked. Privacy and tech experts say the popular endto-end encrypted messaging and voice call app is more secure than conventional texting.
Reaction poured in quickly
The sharing of sensitive information comes as Hegseth’s office has just announced a crackdown on leaks of sensitive information, including the potential use of polygraphs on defense personnel to determine how reporters have received information.
Sean Parnell, a spokesman for Hegseth, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on why the defense secretary posted war operational plans on an unclassified app.
The administration’s handling of the highly sensitive information was swiftly condemned by Democratic lawmakers. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called for a full investigation.
“This is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a floor speech Monday afternoon.
“If true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen,” said Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a statement.
He said American lives are “on the line. The carelessness shown by Trump’s Cabinet is stunning and dangerous. I will be seeking answers from the Administration immediately.”
Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that he was “horrified” by the reports.
Himes said if a lower-ranking official “did what is described here, they would likely lose their clearance and be subject to criminal investigation. The American people deserve answers,” which he said he planned to get at Wednesday’s previously scheduled committee hearing.
Some Republicans also expressed concerns.
Sen. Roger Wicker, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters Monday, “We’re very concerned about it and we’ll be looking into it on a bipartisan basis.”
Reed said he would be speaking with Wicker about what the committee will do to “follow up” on the Signal leak.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wants to learn more about what happened.
“Obviously, we got to run it to the ground, figure out what went on there,” said Thune, a South Dakota Republican.
Republican House Speaker
Mike Johnson offered a notably forgiving posture.
“I think it would be a terrible mistake for there to be adverse consequences on any of the people that were involved in that call,” Johnson said. “They were trying to do a good job, the mission was accomplished with precision.”
There are strict laws around handling defense information
THE handling of national defense information is strictly governed by law under the century-old Espionage Act, including provisions that make it a crime to remove such information from its “proper place of custody” even through an act of gross negligence.
The Justice Department in 2015 and 2016 investigated whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton broke the law by communicating about classified information with her aides on a private e-mail server she set up, though the FBI ultimately recommended against charges and none were brought.
In the Biden administration, some officials were given permission to download Signal on their White House-issued phones, but were instructed to use the app sparingly, according to a former national security official who served in the Democratic administration.
The official, who requested anonymity to speak about methods used to share sensitive information, said Signal was most commonly used to communicate what they internally referred to as “tippers” to notify someone when they were away from the office or traveling overseas that they should check their “high side” inbox for a classified message.
The app was sometimes also used by officials during the Biden administration to communicate about scheduling of sensitive meetings or classified phone calls when they were outside the office, the official said.
The use of Signal became more prevalent during the last year of the Biden administration after federal law enforcement officials warned that China and Iran were hacking the White House as well as
officials in the first Trump administration, according to the official. The official was unaware of top Biden administration officials— such as Vice President Kamala Harris, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and national security adviser Jake Sullivan—using Signal to discuss sensitive plans as the Trump administration officials did.
Some of the toughest criticism targeted Hegseth, a former Fox News Channel weekend host. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran, said on social media that Hegseth, “the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in history, is demonstrating his incompetence by literally leaking classified war plans in the group chat.” Leak reveals internal debate on Houthi operation VANCE in the chain of the messages questioned whether Americans would understand the importance of strikes that came with the risk of “a moderate to severe spike in oil prices” and if the timing of the operation might be a “mistake.”
“I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself,” Vance argued. “But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”
Vance also made the case that Europe would benefit much more than the US by the action aimed at decimating the Houthis and securing Red Sea shipping lanes.
“If you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again,” Vance said in a backand-forth with Hegseth.
“I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC,” Hegseth replied. He added, “I think we should go.” The vice president’s communication’s director, William Martin, in a statement downplayed the debate. He said Vance “unequivocally supports this administration’s foreign policy.”
AP writers Stephen Groves, Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascaro contributed reporting.
DEFENSE Secretary Pete Hegseth does a television interview outside the White House, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Washington. AP/JACQUELYN MARTIN
Syrians celebrate freedom in first Ramadan after Assad, but sectarian violence threatens new era
By Mariam Fam The Associated Press
DAMASCUS, Syria—Sahar Diab had visited Damascus’ famed Umayyad Mosque previously. But as the Syrian lawyer went there to pray during her country’s first Ramadan after the end of the Assad family’s iron-fisted rule, she felt something new, something priceless: A sense of ease.
“The rituals have become much more beautiful,” she said. “Before, we were restricted in what we could say.... Now, there’s freedom.”
As Diab spoke recently, however, details were trickling in from outside Damascus about deadly clashes. The bloodshed took on sectarian overtones and devolved into the worst violence since former President Bashar Assad was overthrown in December by armed insurgents led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
This Ramadan—the Muslim holy month of daily fasting and heightened worship—such are the realities of a Syria undergoing complex transition. Relief, hope and joy at new openings—after 53 years of the Assad dynasty’s reign, prolonged civil war and crushing economic woes—intermingle with uncertainty, fear by some, and a particularly bloody and worrisome wave of violence.
Some are feeling empowered, others vulnerable.
“We’re not afraid of anything,” Diab said. She wants her country to be rebuilt and to get rid of Assadera “corruption and bribery.”
At the Umayyad Mosque, the rituals were age-old: A woman fingering a prayer bead and kissing a copy of the Quran; the faithful standing shoulder-to-shoulder and prostrating in prayer; the Umayyad’s iconic and unusual group call to prayer, recited by several people.
The sermon, by contrast, was fiery in delivery and new in message.
The speaker, often interrupted
by loud chants of “God is great,” railed against Assad and hailed the uprising against him.
“Our revolution is not a sectarian revolution even though we’d been slaughtered by the sword of sectarianism,” he said.
This Ramadan, Syrians marked the 14th anniversary of the start of their country’s civil war. The conflict began as one of several popular uprisings against Arab dictators, before Assad crushed what started as largely peaceful protests and a civil war erupted. It became increasingly fought along sectarian lines, drawing in foreign powers and fighters. Assad, who had ruled over a majority Sunni population, belongs to the minority Alawite sect and had drawn from Alawite ranks for military and security positions, fueling resentment. That, Alawites say now, shouldn’t mean collective blame for his actions.
Many Syrians speak of omnipresent fear under Assad, often citing the Arabic saying, “the walls have ears,” reflecting that speaking up even privately didn’t feel safe. They talk of hardships, injustices and brutality. Now, for example, many celebrate freedom from dreaded Assad-era checkpoints.
“They would harass us,” said Ahmed Saad Aldeen, who came to the Umayyad Mosque from the city of Homs. “You go out ... and you don’t know whether you’ll return home or not.”
He said more than a dozen cousins are missing; a search for them in prisons proved futile.
Mohammed Qudmani said even going to the mosque caused anxiety for some before, for fear of getting on security forces’ radar screen or being labeled a “terrorist.”
Now, Damascus streets are bedecked with the new three-starred flag, not long ago a symbol of Assad’s opponents. It flutters from poles and is plastered to walls, sometimes with the words “God is great” handwritten on it.
One billboard declares this the “Ramadan of victory.” On a government building, the faces of former presidents Bashar and Hafez Assad are partly cut off from a painting; in their place, “The Freedom” is scribbled in Arabic.
Haidar Haidar, who owns a sweets shop, said he was touched that new security force members gave him water and dates while he was out when a call to prayer signaled that those fasting can eat and drink.
“We never saw such things here,” he said, adding that he used to recite Quranic verses for protection before passing through Assad’s checkpoints.
He said his business was doing well this Ramadan and ingredients have become more available.
Still, challenges—economic, geopolitical and otherwise— abound.
Many dream of a new Syria, but exactly how that would look remains uncertain.
“The situation is foggy,” said Damascus resident Wassim Bassimah. “Of course, there’s great joy that we’ve gotten rid of the cancer we had, but there’s also a lot of wariness.”
Syrians, he added, must be mindful to protect their country from sliding back into civil war and should maintain a dialogue that is inclusive of all.
“The external enemies are still there,” he said. “So are the enemies from within.”
The war’s scars are inescapable.
Just outside of Damascus, death and destruction are seared into some landscapes littered with pockmarked and ruined structures. Many Syrians grieve the missing and killed; many families have been divided by the exodus of millions as refugees.
Ramadan typically sees festive gatherings with loved ones to break the daily fast. Some Syrians huddle around food and juices at restaurants or throng to Ramadan tents to break their fast and smoke waterpipes as they listen to songs.
But this month’s violence in Syria’s coastal region has stoked fears among some.
The bloodshed began after reports of attacks by Assad loyalists on government security forces. Human rights and monitoring groups reported revenge killings in the counteroffensive, which they said saw the involvement of multiple groups. According to them, hundreds of civilians, or more, were killed; figures couldn’t be independently confirmed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said most of the killed civilians were Alawites in addition to a number of armed Alawites and security forces. Syrian authorities have formed a committee tasked with investigating the violence.
Even before the bloodshed, while many celebrated the new government, others questioned what the ascent of the former insurgent forces would mean for freedoms, including of minorities and of those in the majority who are secular-minded or adhere to
less conservative interpretations of Islam. The new authorities have made assurances about pluralism.
Sheikh Adham al-khatib, a representative of Twelver Shiites in Syria, said many from the Shiite minority felt scared after Assad’s ouster and some fled the country.
Some later returned, encouraged by a relative calm and the new authorities’ reassurances, he said, but the recent violence and some “individual transgressions” have rekindled fears.
As the violence unfolded earlier this month, crowds gathered in Damascus.
Some rallied to support security forces. Others, like Malak al Shanawani, participated in a different gathering, against the killing of the security forces and civilians. The bloodshed brought tears to her eyes.
“It’s nightmarish,” said the feminist and political activist. “It’s one of the worst moments.”
Under Assad, al Shanawani was arrested more than once. Among those killed in the violence, she said, were three brothers of an Alawite friend who was also arrested under Assad.
“When we used to hear that the Alawites would get slaughtered, we’d say: ‘No, we can protect you; we wouldn’t allow this to happen,’”
said al Shanawani, who’s from the Sunni community. “But it has happened.”
At the silent vigil, activists raised signs that called for de-escalation and denounced “sectarian incitement.” One read: “Neither religion, nor sect will divide us.” Another declared: “The Syrian revolution doesn’t accept injustice.” But the gathering quickly deteriorated into shouting and shoving matches as some on the street appeared provoked by it.
One man angrily asked participants where they were when it was the Sunnis who were suffering. Another furiously ripped a sign. A third insulted Alawites. Here and there, some attempted to discuss, to find common ground. Occasionally, people who started off arguing would agree on something and join each other in chants. “One. One. One,” they yelled. “The Syrian people are one.” As the chaos and friction continued, however, gunshots were fired into the air to disperse the crowds.
The Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Sierra Leone’s safe motherhood bill: A 2nd chance for abortion reform?
By Caitlin Kelly The Associated Press
F
REETOWN, Sierra Leone—When she got pregnant at 16, Fatou Esther Jusu was terrified that it would derail her future.
Abortion is illegal in Sierra Leone.
Fearing judgment from her family, she took friends’ advice and bought misoprostol, a drug whose uses include abortion, from a local pharmacy. It didn’t work. Desperate, she tried again and miscarried.
“I went to the toilet...and the baby came out,” she said. She fainted and was taken to a hospital, where she pleaded with doctors not to tell her parents.
Now 21, Jusu considers herself lucky. One friend died after taking an expired version of the medication.
With those experiences in mind, the nursing student is mobilizing others in support of a bill that would decriminalize abortion in the West African country.
“Even though I made a mistake, this mistake is saving other people,” Jusu said.
Sierra Leone could become the second country in West Africa to decriminalize abortion, which health workers say would significantly improve the safety of pregnant women, decrease the number of prevent -
able deaths and bring an end to the current colonial-era law.
Tens of thousands of women and girls attempt to self-terminate their pregnancies every year in Sierra Leone, where abortion is illegal in all circumstances.
Supporters of the bill say unsafe abortions account for around 10 percent of maternal deaths. Healthcare workers are known to perform terminating procedures when the situation is “incompatible with life” of the woman, usually in the case of “incomplete” abortions. Because abortion is illegal, they cite other reasons for the termination.
Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio pointedly introduced the Safe Motherhood Bill after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, stripping away women’s constitutional protections for abortion.
“At a time when sexual and reproductive health rights for women are either being overturned or threatened, we are proud that Sierra Leone can once again lead with progressive reforms,” Bio said.
If approved, the bill would have been West Africa’s most progressive legislation on abortion, allowing the procedure for up to 14 weeks.
But Sierra Leone since then has been torn apart by debate. Following opposi -
tion from religious leaders, the bill has been amended and now limits abortion to cases of life-threatening risk, fatal fetal abnormalities, rape or incest.
The government says it expects a vote in parliament in the coming weeks. It is not clear whether it will be approved.
‘They go to any length’
AN estimated 90,000 abortions are performed annually in Sierra Leone, a country of more than 8 million people, according to research by the African Population and Health Research Center. About 10 percent of the country’s maternal deaths—affecting 717 of every 100,000 births—are due to unsafe abortions, the center said.
Health workers say the true number is likely much higher.
Due to cost and stigma, many women and girls resort to unsafe methods like expired medication, laundry detergent, hangers or sharp instruments.
On a recent morning at a clinic run by the MSI Sierra Leone nonprofit, dozens of women and girls waited nervously for consultations with nurse Hawanatu Samura.
MSI offers “post-abortion care,” including terminations in cases of “incomplete” miscarriage, often when people have tried and failed abortions themselves. The
nonprofit is the largest individual service provider of family planning services in the country.
If patients want an abortion, “they go to any length,” Samura said. She often sees damage caused by unsterilized instruments, leading to severe hemorrhages, especially in underage girls.
Over 20 percent of girls between 15 and 19 in Sierra Leone get pregnant, according to the U.N. Population Fund, one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the world.
Samura said a 13-year-old—already mother to a 10-month-old—recently arrived with severe pain after secretly taking unidentified pills to try to abort her pregnancy.
“In Sierra Leone, people are afraid of the stigma … so they would prefer to die silently,” she said. The patient did not understand her body, Samura said, and her dead fetus resulted in dangerous septicemia.
The clinic has at least one such case a month, the nurse said.
A debate over tradition and values MANY women and girls who have had abortions fear speaking out, and the push for the bill in Sierra Leone has been led by women’s rights groups and medical professionals.
“If you aren’t listening to your doctors,
then who are you listening to?” said lawyer and advocate Nicky Spencer-Coker. She has fought for reproductive rights alongside a coalition of women’s rights organizations since 2015.
At the time, parliament unanimously passed a first version of a bill allowing abortions for up to 12 weeks. But thenPresident Ernest Bai Koroma blocked the bill amid pressure from anti-abortion and religious groups.
Some Muslim and Christian leaders have denounced the current bill as “ungodly” and “hellish.” Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles, head of the country’s Inter-Religious Council, said it contradicts citizens’ “religious values and sensibilities.”
Sierra Leone’s current president has faced opposition from his own party members, including lawmaker Rebecca Yei Kamara.
“In our communities, children don’t get pregnant...they talk to them, they teach them how to grow up into womanhood,” she said, and accused supporters of the bill of exaggerating the country’s abortion statistics.
Government officials have called the bill a necessary response to the reality of high numbers of deaths among pregnant women.
“The number of girls that die every year
… that’s the demonstration of people’s will,” Chernor Bah, the information minister, told The Associated Press.
Officials also say the bill is needed to strengthen gender reforms in Sierra Leone, which include last year’s ban on child marriage. The bill also would allow wider access to family planning and reproductive health services. Activists fear those will be lost if the bill fails.
Allegations of foreign interference BOTH sides in the debate have accused each other of being sponsored by foreign governments.
Some conservative US media have framed the bill in Sierra Leone as a “Bidenbacked push” for abortion rights in Africa. The US embassy in Freetown denied involvement in the bill.
Sierra Leone’s Inter-Religious Council has cited the recent changes on abortion access in the US as reference points in their position papers opposing the bill. Meanwhile, the reality for some pregnant women and girls remains harrowing. Many healthcare practitioners told the AP they want the bill to pass so they can save lives without fear.
DURING the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, sheikhs lead the call to prayer at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, Friday, March 7, 2025. AP/OMAR SANADIKI
Food poverty in PHL: A generation at risk
IN the Philippines, rice is the most popular food. While lechon may be the star of celebrations, rice is an essential part of everyday meals, often paired with meat, fish, or vegetables by those who can afford it.
For those who could barely make both ends meet, they may eat rice with soy sauce or salt. As food prices increase, more Filipinos, especially in urban areas, might combine rice with processed foods like canned goods and instant noodles. Although these options can satisfy hunger, they lack essential nutrients.
A major obstacle to eliminating malnutrition and stunting in the Philippines is the widespread lack of access to nutritious food for millions of children. According to a 2024 UNICEF report, the Philippines remains a significant contributor to global child food poverty, accounting for 65 percent of children living in severe conditions, even with some progress made in reducing stunting and wasting.
According to the Unicef report, around 18 percent or two million of children in the Philippines are severely food poor. Four out of five children in this situation are fed only breastmilk/milk and/or a starchy staple, such as rice, corn, or wheat. Less than 10 percent of these children are fed fruits and vegetables and less than five percent are fed nutrient-dense foods such as eggs, fish, poultry, or meat.
To encourage countries to expand the access of their citizens to nutritious food, UN and its agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Unicef, has introduced a new indicator— the Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD). FAO said in a statement on March 10 that MDD captures a crucial aspect previously lacking in tracking progress toward ending malnutrition and achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and the broader 2030 Agenda. The new indicator was formally adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission at its 56th session in New York.
FAO noted that diversity—or the variety of foods we consume— is one of the pillars of a healthy diet. The quality of a diet is essential to prevent all forms of malnutrition and support health, growth, development, and well-being. MDD will focus on women and children, two groups that are most at risk of various forms of malnutrition.
The new MDD indicator has been methodologically validated and will be measured for two population groups: children and women of reproductive age, designated “MDD-C” and “MDD-W,” respectively. UNICEF will assume the role of custodian agency for MDD-C and FAO for MDD-W. MDD-W, developed by FAO and its partners, is a simple yes/no indicator of whether women aged 15 to 49 have consumed at least five out of 10 defined food groups in the previous 24 hours.
While this has been introduced five years before the deadline for achieving the SDGs, it is hoped that the new indicator will spur countries like the Philippines to implement the necessary policies to address malnutrition and stunting. Annually, Unicef noted that malnutrition costs the Philippines over $1.3 billion in lost productivity. Sans policies and interventions that will expand the access of vulnerable sectors to nutritious food, the Philippines will incur more losses.
Poverty incidence and climate hazards
WT.
Mark Villar
THE BUILDER
E cannot dissociate disasters from poverty. Poverty incidence in the Philippines, especially in the countryside, can worsen if we do not adequately respond to disasters.
A worsening poverty incidence and failure to manage disaster risks will eventually lead to economic dislocation. Addressing both problems, thus, can assure progress and economic inclusion.
My attention to these two intertwined topics was piqued last week after the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) endorsed key local projects aimed at boosting infrastructure and economic progress across the country.
The NEDA board approved the Panahon ng Pagkilos: Philippine Community Resilience Project (PCRP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), which will benefit 4.13 million households across 500 municipalities in the Philippines.
The project, costing a total investment of P56.7 billion, seeks to strengthen community capacities for participatory resilience planning and increase access to resilient investments for critical projects in vulnerable areas.
The PCRP, with support from the World Bank, is the successor
to the DSWD’s Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) National Community-Driven Development Program.
The project is directed to areas with high poverty incidence, severe climatic hazards, stunting rates and significant indigenous populations.
I find the PCRP project very timely. The Philippines is a disaster-prone country, with earthquakes, floods, severe storms, landslides and extreme temperatures battering the archipelago. The country is also home to many indigenous peoples who need government support and guidance in promoting sustainability.
Areas vulnerable to disasters need sturdier roads and bridges, as well as more shelters, to shorten the recovery period of the affected population and mitigate the ensuing economic disruption.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) conceded that while disaster events are in -
I find the PCRP project very timely. The Philippines is a disasterprone country, with earthquakes, floods, severe storms, landslides and extreme temperatures battering the archipelago. The country is also home to many indigenous peoples who need government support and guidance in promoting sustainability.
evitable, their actual impact is directly linked to poor development choices that increase vulnerabilities and expose people and communities to risk.
DWSD Secretary Rex Gatchalian, meanwhile, is naturally upbeat about the PCRP. The project, in his own words, “aligns seamlessly with the core mandate of the DSWD to provide social protection to those most affected by risks, crises, shocks and disasters,” adding the NEDA approval “will ensure stronger and more resilient communities.”
The PCRP will focus on municipalities with the highest poverty incidence, and address economic risks and environmental hazards, like drought, heat, floods and landslides. It will also prioritize child health, nutrition and inclusive interventions for Indigenous Peoples.
KALAHI-CIDSS National Program Manager Bernadette MapueJoaquin stressed the project’s focus on strengthening the community-driven development approach that aims to empower communities to identify, plan
Trump’s threat of ‘secondary tariffs’ invents new trade weapon
By Daniel Flatley
PRESIDENT Donald Trump appeared to invent a new weapon of economic statecraft on Monday by threatening what he dubbed “secondary tariffs” on countries that buy oil from Venezuela to choke off its oil trade with other nations.
The threat, delivered via Truth Social post then confirmed in an executive order, said countries could face 25% tariffs on trade with the US if they purchase oil and gas from Venezuela, which is already under heavy US sanctions. The move was meant to pressure Venezuela for the “tens of thousands of high level, and other,
The threat, delivered via Truth Social post then confirmed in an executive order, said countries could face 25 percent tariffs on trade with the US if they purchase oil and gas from Venezuela, which is already under heavy US sanctions. The move was meant to pressure Venezuela for the “tens of thousands of high level, and other, criminals” that Trump said Venezuela has sent to the US.
criminals” that Trump said Venezuela has sent to the US. The novel approach adds to a growing list of weapons that Trump has been eager to deploy as part of a push to use America’s economic clout as leverage in achieving its foreign and domestic policy goals. The idea seems certain to increase tensions with the Latin American nation over immigration and foreign policy.
and implement tailored solutions to specific needs. It also aims to enhance the capacity of communities to withstand and recover from natural disaster impacts through building resilience. The PCRP, in sum, is government’s commitment to building a more resilient and progressive Philippines, where communities are empowered to shape their own future.
It will focus on strengthening community-based mechanisms to address emerging risks, such as environmental hazards, economic shocks and health vulnerabilities. The project dovetails with UNDP’s mandate of supporting countries as they build resilience to climate change and disasters.
The UNDP has noted that disasters threaten decades of hardwon development achievements and put millions of people at risk.
The UN agency believes that by undertaking risk-informed and resilient development, decades of hard work and costly development gains can be protected, and lives and livelihoods can be saved. Boosting community resilience against climate risks is promoting sustainability. Empowering the people to plan against disasters and equipping them with intervention measures, on the other hand, will assure continuous economic development and secure their future.
For feedback e-mail to senatormarkvillar@ gmail.com or visit our web site: https://markvillar. com.ph
“This is a new concept in economic warfare,” said Francisco Monaldi, director of the Latin American energy policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston. “How is it enforceable? It’s unclear of course.” With the threat, Trump appeared to be inventing a combination of tariffs and what are known as secondary sanctions, the financial punishments that can be imposed on other countries or people for doing business with sanctioned entities. The targets of his “secondary tariffs” could vary widely given that Venezuelan oil See “Trump,” A13
China’s steel market is still in thrall to bleak property data
By Katharine Gemmell
CHINESE steel prices are languishing, despite signs of resilience in the wider economy and the approach of peak demand season in the building industry.
The disconnect between better economic data, and the gloomy reality linked to the property market, suggests another tough year ahead for the nation’s steelmakers—and additional impetus for the government to force cuts on an industry bloated by its reliance on real estate spending that isn’t coming back.
The end of the Lunar New Year holiday and warmer spring weather usually drives increased building activity in China’s highly seasonal economy. But Shanghai futures for reinforcement bar, used in construction, hit a six-month low last week and were more than 10% below yearago levels.
The trigger was yet another collapse in a key Chinese housing metric, this time a 30% plunge in new builds over January and February, according to Lawrence Zhang, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie Ltd. That’s the most steel-intensive part of the market and it was the worst start to a year in over two decades.
Look beyond the yearslong property crisis, though, and the economy’s prospects look brighter, including data that normally speak to steel demand. Fixed-asset investment accelerated over the two months, lifted by more state spending. The construction purchasing managers’ index rebounded into expansion in February.
More broadly, the government has signaled its intention to meet its ambitious 5% growth target by dialing up the budget deficit for the year to a record. More spending is promised at the local government level via bonds that are typically used for infrastructure, and that debt is being issued at
goes to the US, Spain, India and the black market.
The first three countries are covered by licenses to Chevron Corp., Repsol SA and Reliance Industries Ltd. The black market is dominated by China.
“China is the main actor this is directed at because it’s essentially the black market for Venezuelan oil,” Monaldi said. “They would not have to do secondary tariffs if it wasn’t for China.”
Trump’s executive order gives Secretary of State Marco Rubio discretion to decide, starting April 2, whether the 25% tariffs will be imposed on a country that imports Venezuelan oil, either directly or indirectly.
While the order doesn’t state exactly who would be targeted with a secondary tariff, it does specify that if China were to have such a tariff imposed it would apply not just to the mainland but to Hong Kong and Macau as well. Other than Venezuela, China was the only country named in the order.
Experts said the move is an understandable one for Trump, who has suggested he’s less inclined to impose financial sanctions. In September, he described sanctions as having the potential to kill the dollar and “everything the dollar represents.” Tariffs, he says, can be used both as a negotiating tool and as a revenue-raising measure.
Tariffs offer the option to ratchet up or ratchet down the amount of the penalty, suggesting that Trump could increase the tariffs on countries that buy energy from Venezuela up to 30% or more if they continue to go against US policy, or slowly bring the percentage down if they make progress toward meeting US demands.
Wall Street’s embrace of Turkey unraveled in just 30 minutes
By Kerim Karakaya, Donal Griffin & William Shaw
WHEN Wall Street banks and hedge funds gathered in Istanbul last Wednesday with a top Turkish economist, they were prepared to hear about the country’s improved stability. Then they glanced at their phones.
The disconnect between better economic data, and the gloomy reality linked to the property market, suggests another tough year ahead for the nation’s steelmakers—and additional impetus for the government to force cuts on an industry bloated by its reliance on real estate spending that isn’t coming back.
a faster pace than usual. But the top-line data is largely being discounted as the market looks for the devil in the detail in the latest property figures.
“This granularity provides a more detailed and accurate picture of the market dynamics, overshadowing the broader positive indicators,” Zhang said by e-mail.
Stabilizing the real estate sector remains a top policy goal, and fewer housing starts will eventually help balance supply and demand. But that’s no salve for steel markets that rely on construction.
Although steel demand is increasingly keyed to infrastructure, rather than the private property developments, that’s becoming less metalintensive as the economy matures. And Beijing is in any case prioritizing consumption over investment, and higher tech growth drivers over the old economy, with its spending plans.
In fact, the government’s only initiative for the steel market at this month’s legislative meetings was a pledge to cut production, which is probably all you need to know about the prognosis for the industry’s longterm health. Bloomberg
“Sometimes he views tariffs as a form of sanction,” said Josh Lipsky, the senior director of the Atlantic Council’s geoeconomics center. “He believes, and he’s been clear about this since the campaign, that financial sanctions lead to dedollarization.”
Former President Joe Biden might have expanded the use of the tools of economic statecraft, Lipsky said in an interview. But Trump is “creating whole new tools.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has described Trump’s use of tariffs as falling into three buckets—a tool to gain leverage in negotiations, a revenue-generating measure to offset the cost of extending the 2017 tax cuts, and as a way to re-balance trade in the US’s favor.
Trump has shown interest in all three of those ideas, sometimes at the same time. Early in his second administration, he threated the country of Colombia with sanctions, tariffs, visa restrictions and a whole host of other penalties for refusing to receive deported migrants. Colombia’s government quickly backed down over fears of enduring a costly trade war with the US.
That view was reinforced by one of the Biden White House’s practitioners of economic statecraft, who said in an interview prior to Trump’s Venezuela moves that the president likely prefers tariffs to sanctions because he sees them as a win-win instead of a win-lose.
“In Trump’s mind, the advantage of tariffs is that even if your target doesn’t cave and you have to impose them, at least you get some cash,” said Peter Harrell, the former senior director for international economics and competitiveness at the White House National Security Council. With assistance from Kevin Crowley and Fabiola Zerpa /Bloomberg
The Turkish lira was plunging against the US dollar, fueled by that morning’s detention of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu—the biggest rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The group, assembled by Deutsche Bank AG and including clients such as Millennium Partners and Gramercy Funds Management, were shocked and couldn’t take their eyes off their screens, people familiar with the matter said.
While the economist kept going with the presentation, the guests kept waiting for the country’s staterun lenders to start selling more dollars — the Central Bank of Turkey’s typical method for supporting the lira. But that didn’t happen.
Within about half an hour, investors around the world had dumped huge volumes of lira, slashing its value by 10% to a record low. A market participant at one of the biggest Wall Street banks estimated that about $5 billion worth of the currency had changed hands by 9 a.m. in London, about ten times the morning average. Another suggested total outflows over the day neared $10 billion.
The turmoil soon spilled over into the broader markets, with a gauge of Turkish banking stocks dropping by the biggest amount since 2013 and 10-year government bond yields topping 33%.
Last week was a blow to Turkey’s finance officials, who’d spent the last two years trying to bolster economic calm, persuading Wall Street investors to look past previous eras of instability and wager on the country’s currency and sovereign debt.
But after that chaotic half an hour, much of that work had been erased.
“Once you have a move of that magnitude, it takes time to regain confidence,” said Brad Bechtel, head of foreign exchange at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. in New York. “It’s going to come down to how the central bank responds and whether Erdogan tries to control it. That would
be bad news and hopefully that will be avoided.”
Spokespeople for Deutsche Bank and Millennium declined to comment on the meeting. A spokesperson for Gramercy also declined to comment on the gathering, but said in an emailed statement “it is accustomed to managing political and market shifts and wasn’t unnerved by the recent events.”
‘The final straw’
FOLLOWING the formal arrest of Imamoglu over the weekend, Turkish markets began this week once again on edge with the lira resuming its fall.
Hundreds of thousands of Turks protested Imamoglu’s detention over the weekend, defying bans handed down from the governors of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Erdogan has responded by warning the main opposition—the Republican People’s Party, or CHP—that such demonstrations would not be tolerated.
Investors had expected the lira to fall if Imamoglu was detained, the people said. Few are more popular than the 54-year-old, who was set to be named the CHP’s candidate for presidential elections on Sunday. Turkey’s next presidential election is due in 2028, though under the constitution Erdogan, 71, is barred from running again.
The currency had already slid in recent weeks as Turkish authorities widened a crackdown on opposition figures and tension was building.
“He’s so visible and so prominent in the political scene and clearly one of the favorites to beat” Erdogan, said Bechtel. “It was sort of the final straw.”
Yet what blindsided them was the sudden nature of the drop, the people said.
Shocking speed
FOR years, hedge funds and other institutional investors had been led
Within about half an hour, investors around the world had dumped huge volumes of lira, slashing its value by 10 percent to a record low. A market participant at one of the biggest Wall Street banks estimated that about $5 billion worth of the currency had changed hands by 9 a.m. in London, about ten times the morning average. Another suggested total outflows over the day neared $10 billion.
to believe that if there ever was a crisis brewing in Turkey, there were enough dollar reserves in the country that local banks could sell to prevent a nosedive in the lira.
That’s what traders were waiting for Wednesday morning.
But Turkey’s state-run banks had already exhausted their daily credit limits with offshore lenders — leaving the lira vulnerable for that fateful half hour, the people said.
Hedge funds spurred the selling, swapping their lira for dollars in increasing volumes from 7 a.m. onwards in London, the people said.
One employee at an emerging-markets hedge fund in the UK capital, who requested anonymity, boarded an underground train at about that time, when the exchange rate valued a single dollar at just over 36 liras. When he came back above ground, the rate had surged to above 40 liras.
Stark turnaround
THE selloff was a stark turnaround from the past two years.
Wall Street banks, hedge funds and other asset managers had grown to avoid Turkey after years of instability spurred by the country’s unorthodox economic policies and bouts of political turmoil. Yet, lured by Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek and his focus on fighting inflation and keeping the lira stable with high interest rates, foreign investors had gradually returned, snapping up about $30 billion of Turkish stocks and bonds since 2023, data show.
In particular, investors had flocked to a transaction known as the carry trade, which has them
borrow in currencies with low interest rates and then invest in higheryielding assets in another currency. The strategy pays off as long as the second currency doesn’t start tumbling. The trade returned more than 30 percent for the Turkish lira last year—one of the best of its kind in the world.
These kinds of profits spurred investors to visit Turkey more frequently. Greg Coffey, founder of the hedge fund Kirkoswald Asset Management, held meetings with bankers and economists in the country in September to test investment ideas, Bloomberg reported at the time. The carry trade had surged to more than $30 billion in size before Wednesday’s selloff, according to analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Outflows from the transaction were more than $10 billion that day, which likely amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars of losses for investors, some of the people said. The carry trade appeared “stable on the surface” but it came with high risk, said Carlos de Sousa, a portfolio manager in emerging-market debt at Vontobel Asset Management
“Anyone participating in a high double-digit carry trade should be prepared for volatility,” said de Sousa. “High carry is always a reflection of high risk, never a free lunch.”
Stability watch SOME investors view this week’s selloff as a blip. As long as Erdogan continues to support Simsek’s team and their more orthodox approach to Turkey’s economy, stability will persist.
“We view the current situation in Turkey as a temporary setback,” said Anders Faergemann, co-head of emerging-markets global fixed income at Pinebridge Investments. “It has taken time to rebuild the trust with investors and it would be too costly to allow a few political missteps to unwind it all.”
Others aren’t so sure.
“There’s definitely a short-term impact,” said Kit Juckes, head of FX strategy at Societe Generale SA in Paris. “This was a very popular trade. People got caught very much by surprise and won’t go back in a hurry.” Bloomberg
Education department defenders sue to block Trump’s overhaul
By Akayla Gardner
THE two largest US teachers’ unions and a prominent civilrights group sued the Trump administration for moving to abolish the Education Department, adding to a growing number of lawsuits against the president’s far-reaching efforts to transform the federal government.
The National Education Association and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on Monday challenged President Donald Trump’s executive order directing his education secretary to “take all necessary steps to facilitate” the department’s closing, in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Maryland. The suit cites deep spending cuts and a drastic reduction in workforce.
The American Federation of Teachers filed its own suit Monday in federal court in Massachusetts.
The AFT lawsuit, led by two Massachusetts public school districts, and the NEA-NAACP suit follow a complaint earlier this month by a group of mostly Democratic-led states.
The flurry of litigation comes as the Education Department has lost nearly half of its staff since Trump took office, including in a mass layoff of more than 1,300 workers this month. The NEA-NAACP suit alleges that the department has terminated at least $1.5 billion in contracts and grants for research, data collection, training and teacher recruitment programs.
Trump unveiled plans on Friday to shift oversight of $1.6 trillion in federal student loans to the Small Business Administration and to transfer implementation of a law protecting students with disabilities to the Health and Human Services Department.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who is named in both suits, and Trump acknowledge that congressional action is needed to eliminate the department established by Congress in 1979.
A statement issued by the administration said union opposition to the overhaul is forcing the government to “waste resources on litigation.”
“As President Trump and Secretary McMahon have made clear, sunsetting the Department of Education will be done in partnership with Congress and national and state leaders to ensure all statutorily required programs are managed responsibly and where they best serve students and families,” according to the statement by Madi Biedermann, a spokesperson for the Department of Education.
The complaint argues that the administration’s actions “constitute a de facto dismantling of the Department by executive fiat” and asks the court to halt them immediately. It accuses the defendants of violating the Administrative Procedure Act, which sets guidelines for public notice of regulatory changes and allows for judicial review of final agency actions, among other requirements.
“The Constitution gives power over ‘the establishment of offices [and] the determination of their functions and jurisdiction’ to Congress—not to the president or any officer working under him,” accord-
The complaint argues that the administration’s actions “constitute a de facto dismantling of the Department by executive fiat” and asks the court to halt them immediately. It accuses the defendants of violating the Administrative Procedure Act, which sets guidelines for public notice of regulatory changes and allows for judicial review of final agency actions, among other requirements.
ing to the complaint.
Other plaintiffs in the case include a Maryland union that represents more than 50,000 public service workers, as well as multiple public-school parents. The National Student Legal Defense Network and the Education Law Center are supporting lawyers from the NAACP and the NEA.
Core functions of the Education Department include administering federal financial assistance to subsidize educational costs, collecting and disseminating data and investigating civil-rights violations at institutions across the country. It offers support to K-12 schools with large numbers of low-income students, Englishlanguage learners and kids with disabilities, along with facilities in rural and indigenous communities.
“Gutting the Department of Education will hurt all students by sending class sizes soaring, cutting job training programs, making higher education more out of reach, taking away special education services for students with disabilities, and gutting student civil rights protections,” NEA President Becky Pringle said in a
statement. “This will widen the gaps in education.”
NAACP President and Chief Executive Officer Derrick Johnson said “the forceful elimination of thousands of essential workers will harm the most vulnerable in our communities.” He said his organization, which was involved in a 1954 landmark Supreme Court decision to end racial segregation in schools, is equipped “with the necessary legal measures to prevent this unlawful attack on our children’s future.”
On Thursday, Trump said that certain programs overseen by the department will be “fully preserved,” such as Pell Grants, the largest source of undergraduate financial aid for low-income students. They will be “redistributed to various other agencies and departments that will take very good care of them,” he added, mentioning elementary and secondary funding for poor students and disability assistance, too. In addition to the pair of new lawsuits and the earlier one by Democratic states, there has also been litigation seeking to shield the Education Department from access by the Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk, and to undo cuts to the department’s civil rights office. Federal agencies have seen drastic reductions in staffing and expenditures under Musk’s DOGE. The two government offices hardest hit so far by Trump’s push to slash the federal workforce and halt programs and services: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the US Agency for International Development. Both were created by Congress, and legal challenges have followed. With assistance from Zoe Tillman /Bloomberg
SC thumbs down advance SSS payments for OFWs
By Joel R. San Juan & Samuel P. Medenilla
THESupreme Court (SC) has affirmed the constitutionality of the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 11199 or the Social Security Act of 2018 and its implementing rules and regulations except for a provision that imposes mandatory advance Social Security System (SSS) payments for landbased overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) leaving the country.
In a 40-page ruling penned by Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh, the Court en banc permanently enjoined the SSS, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) from implementing Rule 14, Section 7 (iii) of the IRR of RA 11199 for being contrary to Sections 1 and Section 6 of Article III of the 1987 Constitution.
The SC ruling said Rule 14, Section 7 (iii) of the IRR of RA 11199 violates the OFWs right to property and right to travel as enshrined in the Constitution. Rule 14, Section 7 (iii) specifically states: “For land-based OFWs in countries without any SSA or BLA [bilateral social security and labor agreements] with the Republic of
the Philippines, the measures for enforcement of compulsory coverage shall include, among others, the collection of contribution payments by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration [POEA] and/ or the concerned DOLE [Department of Labor and Employment] agencies, through its applicable documentation and deployment process such as the issuance of Overseas Employment Certificate [OEC].”
“Furthermore, to enforce compulsory coverage of land-based OFWs through the issuance of OECs is unduly oppressive, unreasonable, and repugnant to the Constitution,” the Court declared.
The said provision, according to the SC, undermines the mandate of the Constitution to protect the rights of overseas workers and to promote their welfare.
“Yet, this provision places an undue burden on the land-based OFWs by imposing as condition to the issuance of their OEC the payment of the employer’s contribution, an onus not place on any other class of employee under the SSS coverage,” the SC added.
The SC explained that land-based OFWs, who have not even commenced employment yet, much less received their salaries, would be compelled to advance their SSS contributions under Rule 14, Section 7 (iii).
It also noted that prior to the issuance of an OEC, a worker is technically not considered an OFW yet.
“However, despite this, they are being compelled to prepay the required SSS contributions, otherwise, they cannot leave the country due to the absence of an OEC,” the SC pointed out.
“This situation places undue burden on our OFWs, who often resort to borrowing money to cover costly deployment expenses. The Court is reminded of the hardships and sacrifices faced by our OFWs,” it added.
The decision stemmed from the petition filed by Migrante International and partylist groups Bayan Muna, Gabriela, ACT-Teachers and Kabataan.
In their petition, the petitioners sought the sought the nullification of subsections (a), ( c), and ( e) of Section 9-B of RA 11199 and Rule
See “SC,” A2
By Rex Anthony Naval
THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Tuesday said the scheduled March 28 visit of US Department Of Defense (DOD) Secretary Pete Hegseth highlights American military commitment to support the Philippines.
“This visit reaffirms what our long time US ally has been saying, that their commitment to support us is ironclad,” AFP Spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said when asked for a comment on Hegseth’s visit. This also shows that the US stands to further beef up military ties with the Philippines, according to Padilla.
“Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto C. Teodoro Jr. will be receiving United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for a meeting on March 28, 2025, in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City,” the Department of National Defense advisory sent to reporters Monday afternoon said.
This will be the first time that the two defense chiefs will be meeting face-toface although they had talked via phone last February.
In that telephone conference, Teodoro congratulated Hegseth on his appointment as DOD chief even as both officials expressed optimism on the deepening defense ties of the two nations.
In the US, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell later said Hegseth will visit Hawaii to meet civilian and military leaders in the Indo-Pacific Command then tour US military facilities in Guam and receive briefings on capabilities before
By Ada Pelonia
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) again asked Congress and the national government to put in place measures that would allow the National Food Authority (NFA) to influence local rice prices.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the NFA would need to procure some 20 percent of local supply to move the needle on palay prices.
“We are doing this with one hand tied behind our back. We need some of the NFA’s powers back—if not to the agency itself, then to the DA—to better address the challenges we face,” Laurel said in a statement.
“The NFA also needs additional resources to buy a larger volume of palay—around 20 percent of the supply—to influence market prices,” he added.
Laurel said the grains agency is grappling with a limited budget which hampers it from purchasing “significant” volumes from farmers and managing rice inventories through regular sales to the public as it was stripped of its regulatory powers.
The NFA has been purchasing palay at P18 per kilo for fresh harvests and P24 per kilo for clean, dry grains, the DA said.
“With its limited authority, the NFA cannot intervene in the market effectively, leaving traders room to suppress palay prices,” he said. “This has led to the current farmgate prices dropping to as low as P14 per kilo.” Laurel also noted that the de -
cline in local prices is tied to a global market correction.
For over two years, global quotations of the staple grain surged driven by India’s ban on non-basmati rice exports in 2023 (which was lifted last September) and increased global demand last year due to anticipated supply shortages caused by the El Niño phenomenon.
Probe
THE DA has called on the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into claims that at least three farmers in Nueva Ecija took their lives due to the slump in palay prices.
In a letter sent to the NBI on Monday, Laurel requested a thorough investigation in the hopes it would provide the public with the truth behind the allegations.
He also stressed the need for compassion, urging the public to respect the bereaved families.
“Let us allow these families to grieve in peace. We will provide any assistance necessary,” he said.
Meanwhile, NFA Administrator Larry Lacson urged farmers in Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, and Central Luzon to sell their harvests directly to the grains agency, which has raised its buying price to P19 per kilo for fresh palay in those regions. Under the amended Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), the grains agency should maintain a 15-day buffer stock of rice or 555,000 metric tons (MT). To achieve this, the agency must procure 880,000 MT of palay, a third of which is expected to come from the dry season harvest.
flying to the Philippines and Japan. Hegseth would “advance security objectives with Philippine leaders and meet with US and Philippine forces. In Japan, he would participate in a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima and meet with Japanese leaders and US military forces, Parnell said and added without elaborating that ”as always, the secretary looks forward to some great PT [physical training] with the troops.”
“These engagements will drive ongoing efforts to strengthen our alliances and partnerships toward our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said. The trip “comes as the United States builds on unprecedented cooperation with like-minded countries to strengthen regional security.” With a report from AP
By Lorenz S. Marasigan
THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved the addition of 290 megawatts (MW) of capacity under the power supply agreement (PSA) between the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and San Miguel Corp. unit South Premiere Power Corp. (SPPC). This development is part of the PSA initially granted provisional authority in May 2024, allowing Meralco to source up to 910 MW from SPPC’s 1,200-MW Ilijan Natural Gas Plant at a base rate of P5.9282 per kilowatt-hour.
The agreement was awarded through a competitive selection process. In its latest order, the ERC resolved a motion for partial reconsideration and allowed the increase in capacity, maintaining that the additional 290 MW “shall be subjected to the same rate and conditions earlier set by the commission in its order dated 09 May 2024.”
The rates applicable to the added capacity include an annual capacity fee of P10,620.2084 per kilowattyear, an annual escalating fixed operations and maintenance (O&M) fee of P3.2 million, a variable O&M fee of P0.0900 per kilowatt-hour, and a fuel fee that will be passed through based on a fuel index. These rates were approved under the same framework set by the ERC’s earlier decision in May.
The ERC noted that the 290 MW was previously covered under a separate mid-merit contract between Meralco and SPPC, which is effective until December 2024.
That earlier contract was approved by the regulator at a lower levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) rate of P5.1363 per kilowatt-hour.
The ERC earlier emphasized that the PSA would shield Meralco consumers from volatile pricing in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and displace Ilijan-contracted volumes that were previously priced higher. Based on the ERC’s simulations, Meralco’s blended generation rate is expected to decline by approximately P0.2828 per kilowatt-hour, subject to further adjustments after the PSA’s final evaluation.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responds to questions from reporters during a meeting with Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey at the Pentagon, on March 6, 2025, in Washington. AP PHOTO/ ROD LAMKEY, JR., FILE
Editor: Jennifer A. Ng
MPAV to double capacity of greenhouses by 2026–exec
By VG Cabuag @villygc
METRO Pacific Agro Ventures Inc. (MPAV), the agri-food unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), on Tuesday said it is doubling the capacity of its P800-million greenhouses in San Rafael, Bulacan by next year.
Jovy Hernandez, president and CEO of MPAV, said the cost of the expansion of its greenhouses to 7 hectares will not be as large as the original site, which produces different lettuce varieties.
“In place for example the irrigation systems already in place even if we have additional greenhouses, it’s just additional piping. So, the cost to double it will be cheaper,” Hernandez said, adding it may take only a year to expand capacity.
Metro Pacific Fresh Farms in San Rafael, Bulacan is expected to produce up to 500 metric tons (MT) of fresh produce in 3.5 hectares of
greenhouses every year. This means the greenhouses will produce around 60,000 lettuce heads per month or 144 MT per year of just leafy greens alone.
With yields up to five times higher than traditional farms, the company said it could provide a stable, yearround supply of vegetables.
The company is targeting to build 10 smaller type of greenhouses, or about 1 hectare each, over the next five years, or an average of two openings per year.
“We think the demand is robust. Based on our capacity, we’re not even going to (supply) 2 percent of
the demand in NCR [National Capital Region]. Demand is really high.” said Hernandez.
He said the company is keen on areas where there are hotels and resorts and other establishments that would require vegetables.
“Maybe not in Boracay, but maybe in Caticlan so at least one boat ride going there (Boracay). Now if you think about that, you have El Nido, (and) you have Bohol,” he said.
“Before we started, we were already in contact with Governor (Matthew J. Marcos) Manotoc of Ilocos Norte. We think there is something that could be done there (up north).”
MPAV is also planning to venture into the large-scale production of strawberries and blueberries in the Cordillera region.
“We went to Benguet and we think there are opportunities for us to pursue the production of strawberries and blueberries in greenhouses.”
Hernandez said the Cordillera region is suitable for growing fruits that require high elevation, not just vegetables.
“There are a lot of farmers in the Cordilleras producing from greenhouses. The difference is that, while
there are greenhouses in the Philippines, we’re the only ones who are doing it at scale.”
MPAV’s greenhouse facility is equipped with state-of-the-art technology developed by the Israeli firm LR Group, which owns 40 percent of the venture MPIC.
The technology allows highquality vegetables to be grown using 90 percent less water and land, yet producing five times the yield of traditional farms. With minimal environmental impact and with massive growth in vegetable production, the company is creating a more sustainable food system for the Philippines.
By operating in a controlled environment, the greenhouses reduce the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, cutting exposure to contaminants by 90 percent to 99 percent.
“This not only ensures a safer, healthier choice for consumers but also guarantees that we are able to provide consistent quality yearround especially for business and other institutions that struggle with inconsistent supply quality,” Hernandez said.
ALI unit expands logistics facilities
AYALALAND Logistics Holdings Corp. (ALLHC), a unit of Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), has acquired two logistics facilities in Pangasinan and Iloilo.
The company said it acquired 3M Pangasinan, located in Barangay Catbalan, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan and 3M Iloilo, located in in Barangay Lupa, Santa Barbara, Iloilo.
This expansion increases ALLHC’s reach in key regional hubs, enhancing its cold storage and dry warehousing capabilities, the company said.
Both properties are equipped with cold storage facilities which will operate as Artico Urdaneta and Artico
Iloilo. These will mark ALLHC’s sixth and seventh additions to its Artico Cold Chain brand.
These properties add 11,200 pallet positions, bringing ALLHC’s total cold storage capacity to 31,500 pallet positions.
Artico Urdaneta, easily accessible via Urdaneta-Mapandan Road and MacArthur Highway, features 7,400 pallet positions across 15 cold rooms. Artico Iloilo, meanwhile, has a direct connectivity via the Iloilo-Sta. Barbara Road. It has 3,800 pallet positions across eight cold rooms. Both sites are registered with the National Meat Inspection Service, the Bureau of Plant Industry and
the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
“This acquisition is a significant step in our ongoing effort to expand ALLHC’s logistics footprint across the country,” Robert S. Lao, the company’s President and CEO, said.
“With the addition of Artico Urdaneta and Artico Iloilo, we are strengthening our ability to support businesses in key regional hubs.”
The acquisition also expands ALLHC’s ALogis portfolio, adding over 15,000 square meters of gross leasable area and bringing its dry storage total GLA to approximately 355,000 square meters.
These facilities cater to businesses in need of both temperaturecontrolled and dry storage solutions, particularly in Pangasinan and Iloilo, two regions known for their seafood and agricultural industries.
Jimmy Tan, owner of the 3M Properties, said the transition ensures continued support for local industries.
“We are pleased to partner with ALLHC, knowing that these facilities will remain essential to businesses in Pangasinan and Iloilo. With ALLHC’s expertise, these properties will continue to play a vital role in regional economic growth,” he said. VG Cabuag
Globe: Cebu tower shifts to clean energy
(ACEN RES), the retail electricity arm of Ayala-led ACEN Corp. The transition was commemorated with the ceremonial turnover of the “Powered by Renewable Energy” badge to FAFCCC. “Being the first publicly-listed company in the Philippines to
Based Targets
initiative (SBTi) inspires us to press on with our net zero ambitions with even greater determination. This partnership reaffirms our resolve to green our network and facilities and collaborate with sustainabilitydriven companies,” said Yoly Crisanto, Globe’s Chief Sustainability and Corporate Communications Officer. Electricity accounts for roughly 30 percent of Globe’s total GHG emis-
sions. With renewable energy seen as a strategic lever for decarbonization, the telco continues to ramp up clean energy adoption in line with national policy goals and to improve energy efficiency across its operations. As of writing, Globe operates 33 sites powered by renewable energy, 22 of which are supported by medium- to longterm power purchase agreements with ACEN RES. Lorenz S. Marasigan
MEGAWIDE Construction Corp. on Tuesday said it has secured a permit for its series 6 preferred shares offering from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The company said it can start the public offer of its preferred shares on March 26. The offering will run until April 4.
It will be listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange on April 14.
PNB Capital and Investment Corp., RCBC Capital Corp. and Security Bank Capital Investment Corp. were appointed as the joint issue managers, joint lead underwriters and joint bookrunners for the exercise.
“We are very thankful to the regulatory bodies for giving us the green light to proceed with this offering. We are also grateful to the syndicate for working tirelessly, amid prevailing market conditions, to ensure that we complete all the requirements within the prescribed timetable and secure this go signal,” Edgar Saavedra, the company’s chairman and CEO, said.
The series 6 preferred shares fetched dividend rates of 7.6283 percent, 7.9606 percent and
FILIPINO ports and casino billionaire Enrique Razon, whose company won an multi-billion-rand bid to revive sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest container port, has bought a development that includes one of South Africa’s top 10-ranked golf courses. Entities associated with Razon are buying Pearl Valley—a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course—as well as the hotel on the property located in the Cape Winelands from a company controlled by shareholders that include Ryk Neethling, a South African businessman and Olympic gold medalist in swimming. The nation’s anti-trust authority approved the purchase, according to a March 20 government notice.
8.2993 percent for the series 6A, 6B and 6C, respectively.
“The initial results of the book building were very encouraging and indicate a strong vote of confidence in Megawide’s long-term prospects. We intend to use the proceeds from the offer to refinance our Series 4 preferred shares, fund our growth projects particularly in real estate, and for general corporate purposes,” Jez dela Cruz, Megawide’s CFO, said. The company’s real estate development arm PH1 World Developers Inc. is targeting next wave cities, such as Cavite, where the healthy end-user demand is being complemented by an improving public transport network.
Megawide is constructing the Cavite Bus Rapid Transit Project, which will traverse several cities in the province, including Imus and Trece Martires.
This key infrastructure is expected to help thousands of residents and commuters in the Cavite area to connect to key districts in Metro Manila via a dedicated line through the Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange. Megawide has a construction order book of P43.5 billion as of end-December 2024. VG Cabuag
Razon chairs International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), which in 2023 won a bid to develop South Africa’s port of Durban and operate it for 25 years. A local court temporarily blocked the deal last year after an A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S unit challenged the award. ICTSI operates more than 30 port terminals in 20 countries. Razon— who chairs and is president of Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. and is a major supporter of the sport in his home country—has an estimated net worth of $9.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Razon also founded and runs Bloomberry Resorts Corp., the Philippines’ biggest casino operator. Bloomberg News
DTI boosts Sultan Kudarat coffee farmers with new
machinery, skills under RAPID Growth
THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), has successfully distributed coffee farm rejuvenation tools to 1,142 farmers in the municipalities of Lebak, Senator Ninoy Aquino, and Kalamansi. Through its provincial office in Sultan Kudarat, the DTI provided pruning shears, saws, grafting knives, knapsack sprayers, and chainsaws to support the rehabilitation of local coffee farms, ensuring their resilience and long-term industry sustainability.
Implemented under the Rural Agro-enterprise Partnership for Inclusive Development (RAPID) Growth Project, this project underscores the DTI’s commitment to boosting the coffee industry and uplifting small-scale farmers in the region.
Provincial Director Mary Ann M. Morales of Sultan Kudarat, highlighted the significance of combining technical training with material support.
“By integrating Good Agricultural Practices [GAP] training with the distribution of rejuvenation tools, we are empowering our coffee farmers with the skills and resources necessary to restore their farms and elevate their yields. This initiative will not only improve productivity and bean quality but will also pave the way for a more resilient and thriving coffee industry in Sultan Kudarat,” Provincial Director Morales said.
Equipped with new farming tools and technical knowledge, coffee farmers are expected to increase
their productivity that will drive economic growth in Sultan Kudarat and the broader SOCCSKSARGEN region.
Through the intervention, the DTI continues to champion sustainable coffee farming, ensuring that coffee farmers in Sultan Kudarat and the entire region move towards a more productive and more profitable future.
The RAPID Growth Project aims to intensify agro-enterprise development in rural areas by bringing employment, livelihood and enterprises to rural communities.
The project focuses on strengthening the coffee, cacao, coconut, and processed fruits and nuts industries across 21 provinces in six regions— Regions 8, 9, 10, 11, Caraga, and BARMM. Through capacity-building programs, financial assistance, market linkages, and infrastructure support, including farm-to-market roads and post-harvest facilities, RAPID Growth equips farmers and MSMEs with the necessary tools to scale up their businesses. Since its inception in 2019, the RAPID Growth Project has achieved 83.51% completion, and has already helped over 54,000 farming households, 631 farmer groups, and 797 MSMEs grow their businesses and improve their livelihoods.
With a strong emphasis on poverty reduction, the initiative aims to create sustained income growth for smallholder farmers and unemployed rural workers, helping uplift communities and drive long-term economic progress.
Sari-sari store boom: Packworks data shows regional growth in ’24
PACKWORKS, a Filipino tech startup with an app ecosystem for sari-sari stores, has seen a significant increase in the number of stores transacting on its app from its network of over 300,000 sari-sari stores across various regions in the Philippines.
Data from Packworks reveals over 175,000 stores actively transacted through its Sari.PH Pro app in 2024, representing a 32 percent increase from about 133,000 stores in the previous year. Region VI (Western Visayas) saw the largest increase in transacting stores, at 62 percent, followed by Region IV-A (CALABARZON) with 50 percent and Region V (Bicol Region) with 47 percent. Notable growth was also recorded in Region III (Central Luzon) (26 percent) and Region VII (Central Visayas) (21 percent). Significantly the spikes in transactions across regions were recorded from September to December, which aligns with the peak ‘ber’-months season in the Philippines. On average, there was a 12 percent increase in transacting stores across the country.
“Our data illustrates the robust growth of sari-sari store activities in the regions. The surge in the number of stores recorded in our app is a testament to the savvy entrepreneurial spirit of these businesses, which are the grassroots foundation of local economies. As they thrive, they create jobs, stimulate the local retail ecosystem, and contribute to the overall economic development of the Philippines,” Packworks CEO and founder Bing Tan said.
While many regions experienced significant growth, Region IV-B (MIMAROPA) saw the most significant decrease in transacting stores, particularly in April and May 2024, the same time when Typhoon Aghon hit the region. During this period, transacting stores fell to 20 percent in April and approximately 38 per-
DTI, DA trade mission secures $27.28M in sales, boosts ME economic ties
THE Philippines’ business mission to the Middle East generated $27.28 million in export sales from February 7 to 21.
This achievement marks the first major initiative following the newly signed memorandum of agreement on Agriculture and Fisheries Export Development and Promotion between the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The mission aimed to enhance market opportunities and strengthen trade partnerships for Philippine agricultural, fisheries, and personal care exports in key markets like Doha, Amman, Riyadh, and Dubai.
To accomplish this, Filipino exporters engaged with buyers, distributors, and industry leaders through a series of activities, including store visits, supplier meetings, and business-matching sessions.
The delegation also participated in Gulfood 2025, which provided a platform to discuss market entry and compliance matters with the Qatar Ministry of Public Health and the Dubai Municipality.
On top of this, the Jordan Food and Drug Administration and the Jordan Ministry of Agriculture further expressed a strong interest in sourcing additional Philippine marine products and tropical fruits,
opening avenues for growth in nontraditional export markets.
“The success we have seen in the business mission reflects the growing global recognition of the quality and competitiveness of Philippine agri-fishery and consumer products. As we continue to forge stronger connections with key markets in this region, we are laying the groundwork for sustained growth and long-term success for our exporters that ensure our local export goods remain in high demand worldwide,” said DTI Secretary Cristina A. Roque.
“The business-to-business [B2B] meetings provided us with valuable insights into our operations in the United Arab Emirates [UAE]. We realized that our current business structure for marketing our products is no longer adaptable to the area’s current setup. We have also identified other markets to explore, which has helped us recognize avenues for growth,” shared HDR Foods Corp’s Aris Unson.
“Through the B2B, we were able to discuss our concerns with our distributor, including the marketing strategies we wanted to implement. HDR Foods is hopeful that, after the B2B activities, our products will have
a greater presence across the UAE,” Unson added.
The Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. supported the mission organized by the Philippine Trade and Investment Centers in Riyadh and Dubai in coordination with the region’s Philippine Embassies under the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Participating companies included Axelum Resources Corp., C and H Cosmetics Industry Daila Wholesale LLC., Destileria Limtuaco & Co., Inc., Dry Tech Manufacturing Corp., Ferino’s Bibingka, Fisherfarms, Inc., Global Foodsolutions, Inc., Golden Arrow Food Enterprises, Gwen’s
Bakeshop, HDR Foods Corporation, International Pharmaceuticals, Inc., KKK Food Corporation, Kwality Philfood Inc., La Carlota Food Enterprise, Market Reach International Resources, McCormick Philippines, Mensch FilAm Corporation, Pixcel Transglobal Foods Inc., RPO Fine Foods Corporation, Sabroso Chocolate Manufacturing, SL Agritech Corporation, Sterling Pacific Ventures Corp., Sumifru Philippines Corporation, and The Cabalen Group. For inquiries regarding Philippine exports, send an e-mail to the DTIExport Marketing Bureau at exports@ dti.gov.ph or visit tradelinephilippines. dti.gov.ph
DA ties up with Japan to improve E. Visayas banana production
Tcent in May.
Packworks co-founder Ibba Bernardo emphasizes the crucial role of access to vital services to support the growth of sari-sari stores in the provinces, especially in areas frequently affected by natural calamities. He says, “Aside from providing them with business tools, empowering sari-sari stores also means ensuring they have the essential services to remain operational, even during challenging times. Access to reliable Internet connectivity and power is critical for community preparedness and recovery. We hope that by sharing this data we can highlight where strategies for growth and support can be focused this 2025, especially with upcoming elections and seasonal climate impact events on the horizon. By strengthening these crucial services, we can help nurture these businesses further, and make them more resilient and sustainable to the communities they serve.”
Covering 96 percent of the Philippines’ provinces and extending to more than 15,000 barangays, Packworks’ platform now reaches nearly 23 percent of the estimated 1.3 million sari-sari stores nationwide. Launched in 2018 as a solution for multinational companies with only a handful of sari-sari store partners, Packworks has rapidly expanded as a B2B platform that enables growth and success throughout all stakeholders in the supply chain ecosystem, from small sari-sari store owners to wholesalers, distributors, and renowned FMCG companies and brands. Through the Sari.PH Pro app, sari-sari store owners can access pricing tools, inventory management, sales and revenue tracking, and working capital loans.
To know more about how Packworks is empowering sari-sari stores nationwide, please visit http://packworks.io/
By Sarwell Meniano
ACLOBAN CITY—TheDepartmentofAgriculture (DA) regional office here has partnered with the prefectural government of Hiroshima, Japan, to improve banana production in Eastern Visayas.
Rodel Macapañas, DA regional field operations division chief, said on Monday that 13 parliamentarians of Hiroshima Prefecture met with them to benchmark the banana production in the region on March 19 in this city.
Japanese officials are upbeat that the visit will lead to the development of international exchange between Hiroshima and the Philippines, Macapañas said.
“As a strategic move to further upscale the banana industry in the region, the DA regional office sees an opportunity to team up with the Japanese government as they offer to extend technical assistance from various Japanese institutions,” Macapañas added.
During the visit, Hidenori Kobayashi, one of the Japanese delegates, said they came here to give their support to minimize the damage to banana production.
Japan developed a pathogen that can help eradicate “bugtok,” a bacterial disease common on bananas that significantly affects the production yield of this commodity.
“Bugtok” is an endemic and widely distributed bacterial disease of cooking banana cultivars in
The sales maker mindset
THERE are two types of achievers—those who hit the target and those who surpass it. I realized this years ago after dining in a particular restaurant twice. The food and its taste were the same, but the experience was not. What made the difference? The waiters. On one occasion, we were served based on what we requested, and we were satisfied. But on our next visit, we were served by a different staff who warmly did an extra mile service, gave thoughtful meal suggestions, and made us feel welcome and taken cared of all-throughout our stay. Needless to say, it was a
delightful experience. This moment of epiphany opened my eyes to various kinds of achievers across industries. From then on, I referred to the first type of server as “order-takers” and the other one as “sales-makers.” Ordertakers can hit the mark but that’s it. After all, at the end of the day it’s just work. But sales-makers go beyond expectations because for them, it’s not just a career—going the extra mile is a way of life. If you want to be successful in life, it’s best to become a sales-maker. Here are three simple tips to develop a salesmaker mindset.
the Philippines.
It is a local term in the southern Philippines used to describe the infected fruits, which are discolored and hard even when ripe.
In a statement, Jenny Lyn Almeria, DA assistant regional director for research and regulations, appreciated the Japanese officials for the visit and collaboration.
“This will be the first of our partnership and collaboration. We hope you can extend to us the best we can do for our banana industry,” she said.
Through these initiatives, the DA aims to make the banana industry in Eastern Visayas more competitive, resilient, and sustainable, ultimately improving the livelihoods of local farmers and contributing to the region’s economic development, according to Almeria. Eastern Visayas is the top producer of bananas in the central Philippines with a harvest of 226,602.84 metric tons.
The crop is grown along the roadside, on the mountainside, in home lots, and on both big and small farms. PNA
Know exactly where you want to be
JIM ROHN once said that “When you know what you want, and want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it.” Sales-makers know exactly where they want to be, and that’s the reason they serve the way they do. Having a clear vision of your destination enables you to plan ahead. It also removes the stress of simply working towards satisfying other people’s expectations. Knowing where you want to be paves the way for a clearer path where you become more determined to perform beyond par on a daily basis.
Pray, plan, pursue THIS is the right sequence for optimal performance: Pray first to seek discernment and guidance. Salesmakers have clear sense of why they do what they do, and this is usually because they carry with them the confidence of assurance that God will never leave them nor forsake them; secondly, Plan your course of action and focus on the goal; then finally, Pursue the goal with the utmost intent to finish what you started, guided by the highest standard of quality befitting the
Lord who made everything possible. Deliberately and constantly move forward & upward ONE of the important attributes of sales-makers is that they constantly move forward and upward. It’s always about becoming better at what you do every single day. Take note that salesmakers do not compete with others, instead they partner with others to achieve what used to be impossible. But they don’t simply participate. Sales-makers contribute better versions of themselves deliberately and constantly. For them, it’s always about moving forward and upward. Apply this three tips to develop a sales-maker mindset and begin to experience success upon success. You got this. God bless!
OFFICIALS from the Department of Agriculture Eastern Visayas and some parliamentarians of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan during a meeting in Tacloban City on March 19, 2025. The visit seeks to improve banana production in the region. PHOTO COURTESY OF DA EASTERN VISAYAS
Dennis D. Estopace
Revenues from non-trad sources rose as tariffs on rice, EVs waned
By Ada Pelonia
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC)
generated nearly P2.6 billion from non-traditional sources last year amid decline in revenues via amassed tariffs on rice and electric vehicles.
In its accomplishment report, the BOC said the total revenue from audit findings and voluntary disclosures reached P2.595 billion last year. The latest figure showed a 32.46 percent increase from the P1.96 billion recorded last year, based on the BOC report. Broken down, the agency through the Post-Clearance Audit Group (PCAG) generated P614.280 million in additional revenue from post-clearance audit findings, while its Prior Disclosure Program (PDP) collected P1.981 billion from 353 applications in 2024. The PCAG aims to ensure proper tax compliance and address discrepancies in import declarations, while the PDP encourages taxpayers to
CBy Andrea San Juan
OIN deposit machines (CoDMs) deployed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) have collected P1.373 billion as of March 17.
Since the launch of 25 CoDMs on June 20, 2023, the total coin collection reached P1.373 billion. This amount is 4.97 percent higher than the P1.308 billion collected last month, February 15, 2025. In terms of pieces, the BSP said 339.846 million pieces of coins have been deposited. This is a 4.19-percent increase from the 326.188 million pieces of coins deposited in the previous month.
Transactions made through the CoDMs reached 311,858 deposits since the program’s launch. Deposits also increased by 4.14 percent from the 299,457 transactions last month.
The CoDMs accept 1 centavo, 5 centavos, 10 centavos, 25 centavos, P1, P5, P10 and P20 coins. All denominations of the BSP Coin Se-
THE Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) said it will sell 54 closed bank assets through electronic public bidding (e-bidding) on April 24.
The PDIC said electronic bids will be accepted through the PDIC’s ebidding portal starting at 9:00 a.m. on April 23 until 1:00 p.m. on April 24 and will be opened at 2:00 p.m. on April 24, 2025.
“The properties ready for sale, on an as-is-where-is basis, are 24 vacant agricultural lots, 19 vacant residential lots, five vacant residential/agricultural lots, four residential lots with improvements, one agricultural lot with improvements and one residential/agricultural lot with improvements,” read a statement the PDIC issued last Monday.
According to the agency attached to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), these properties, with areas ranging from 71 to 239,343 square meters, are located in Aklan, Bukidnon, Camarines Sur, Isabela, Palawan, and Quirino.
The PDIC said prospective properties can join the e-bidding through a “one-time registration” on the portal at http: assetsforsale.pdic.gov.ph/Account/Register.
Once registered, buyers may submit their bids online and observe the e-bidding proceedings by clicking the “Assets for Sale” icon on the PDIC website’s homepage.
For interested buyers, the PDIC noted they are encouraged to visit
voluntarily disclose errors or underpayments in their tax declarations.
“The BOC has made significant progress in expanding its revenue collections, with notable contributions from non-traditional revenue sources.”
Earlier, the agency said that the reduced tariffs on rice and electric vehicles (EVs) resulted in P35 billion in foregone revenues, denting the agency’s overall revenue collection in 2024.
Customs Assistant Secretary
Vincent Philip C. Maronilla had told the BusinessMirror that other nontraditional revenue sources would also be tapped, such as collections from post-key loans audits and auction activities, to help in meeting the collection target.
Meanwhile, the BOC said it also contributed to overall revenue through auctions conducted across different collection districts.
ries and New Generation Currency (NGC) Coin Series are accepted by the machine.
Last month, BSP Deputy Governor Bernadette Romulo-Puyat told BusinessMirror that 25 more CoDMs will be deployed in the second half of 2025. (See: https://businessmirror. com.ph/2025/03/03/bsp-doublingcoin-deposit-machines-after-netting-p1-3-billion/)
“We will expand the project and install an additional 25 CoDMs nationwide this year,” Romulo-Puyat said.
The BSP launched the CoDM Project in partner retail establishments across the Greater Manila Area to encourage the public to deposit idle coins in order to improve coin recirculation in the country.
The central bank had explained then that keeping millions of coins stuck in private places is not fiscally sound, because producing new coins is quite costly.
The deployment of 25 CoDMs in select retail establishments of SM
Store, Robinsons Supermarket and Festival Mall in the Greater Manila Area is the first phase of the project’s implementation.
The initiative aims to address the artificial coin shortages in certain areas of the country while ensuring that only fit and legal tender currency is available for public use.
Fit coins deposited in the machines will be issued to the partner retailers to supplement their coin requirements for over-the-counter payment transactions.
The CoDM project also encourages the adoption of digital payments and strengthens financial inclusion with the option to credit the value of deposited coins to e-wallets.
The value of coins deposited in the CoDMs may also be credited to the depositor’s e-wallet account, such as in GCash and Maya, bank deposit through GoTyme or converted into a shopping voucher in SM Stores nationwide.
There is no minimum and maximum amount required for the con-
Last year, the BOC said it generated P172.019 million from auctions of forfeited goods, including items like generator components, and thermoplastic insulated electric wire cables.
Sewing machines, bicycles, a used vehicle, 18k yellow gold jewelry, a 2005 barge, used automotive diesel, and a range of unserviceable motor vehicles were also included.
The agency said it collected P931.04 billion in revenues last year. This showed a 4.6 percent increase from P890.446 billion recorded in 2023.
“The BOC’s success in surpassing revenue targets is a result of the combined efforts of its collection districts,” the BOC said.
“Ports across the Philippines, including the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Port of Legazpi, Port of Tacloban, Port of Clark, and Port of Cagayan de Oro have exceeded their individual targets in 2024.”
version of deposited coins to SM shopping vouchers. For crediting to GCash, the minimum amount is P1.00, while the maximum amount depends on the GCash wallet limit of the depositor.
The BSP has so far installed CoDMs at the following locations: Robinsons Place Metro East, Pasig City; Robinsons Place Novaliches, Quezon City (QC); Robinsons Place Antipolo, Rizal; Robinsons Place Magnolia, QC; Robinsons Place Ermita, Manila; Robinsons Galleria, Ortigas; Festival Mall, Muntinlupa City; SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City; SM City Grand Central, Caloocan; SM City Marilao, Bulacan; SM City Taytay, Rizal; SM Hypermarket FTI, Taguig City; SM Southmall, Las Piñas City; SM City Sucat, Parañaque; SM City Calamba; SM City Marikina; SM City San Mateo, Rizal; SM City Valenzuela; SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City; SM City North EDSA, QC; SM City Fairview, QC; SM City San Lazaro, Manila; SM City Bicutan, Parañaque; and SM City Bacoor, Cavite.
THE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised a total of P35 billion from its twin offering of Treasury bonds (T-bonds) on Tuesday. The Treasury raised P10 billion from the 7-year tenor T-bonds with a remaining life of three years and 26 days.
The debt papers fetched an average yield of 5.779 percent. This is lower by 36.4 basis points from the 6.143 percent posted in the previous 7-year T-bonds auction on March 11.
Yields for the 7-year instruments ranged from a low of 5.765 percent to a high of 5.790 percent. The coupon rate settled at 3.625 percent.
Total bids for the bonds reached P41.483 billion, 4.1 times the P10 billion offer, prompting the Treasury to fully award the debt papers.
Meanwhile, the Treasury also awarded P25 billion for the 25-year T-bonds with an average yield of 6.476 percent.
The 25-year T-bond was higher by 14.2 basis points from the 6.334 percent recorded in the previous auction on January 20, 2025.
Weaker demand for 25-year Tbonds was reflected in P33.837 billion in total bids, 1.4 times the P25 billion offer.
T-bonds yields fluctuated on market uncertainties over US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, mused Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).
“Shorter-dated tenors such as the 3-year and those at the belly of the yield curve are more attractive for many investors compared to the
longest tenors such as the 25-year, due to higher market risks involved by holding on to much longer number of years while yields are similar [or] not that far from the shorter-dated tenors,” Ricafort said. The decline in the 7-year T-bonds yields came as investors priced in dovish signals from local monetary authorities on reducing key policy rates in the April 10 meeting of the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona said there is “good chance” of a 25-basis points rate cut in April, while cumulative cuts could reach up to 75 basis points in 2025. Meanwhile, the increase in 25year T-bond yields reflected weaker demand among investors hesitating to lock in funds for long-term bonds amid market uncertainties.
According to Ricafort, some elderly investors may not have the interest or years remaining to hold on until long-end bonds mature, thereby also entailing some market risks if they sell before the maturity of the bond especially if market interest rates and/or yields go up by then. This March, the Treasury raised a total of P132 billion out of the P125billion programmed amount from auctioning off T-bonds. The government will borrow P2.545 trillion this year, following an 80:20 mix in favor of local sources. The government’s outstanding debt reached a new record high of P16.312 trillion as of end-January 2025, as peso depreciation continued to weigh on financial obligations. Ada Pelonia
By VG Cabuag @villygc
THE Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands last Tuesday it is expanding its partnership with Electronic Commerce Payments Inc. (ECPay) for the lender’s e-wallet platform “Vybe.”
Vybe users can now top up their e-wallets on any of the 1,300 ECPay kiosks nationwide, with no convenience fees. Cash-ins will also be available soon at over 4,000 partner stores, including supermarkets, pawnshops, gasoline stations and sari-sari stores, according to the lender.
the catalog of properties in the ebidding portal where the complete list and description of the properties, requirements, e-bidding process, and Conditions of the Bid are posted.
The PDIC also urged prospective bidders to conduct their own due diligence on the properties by reviewing and understanding the terms and conditions outlined by PDIC.
Moreover, it reminded prospective buyers of their responsibility to determine the actual condition, status, ownership, and other circumstances of the properties they wish to acquire.
“Winning bidders of agricultural properties are required to submit, within 15 days after the e-bidding, a Certification issued by the Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer of the Department of Agrarian Reform where the property is located that the agricultural lot subject of the bid is not covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program and that no Emancipation Patent or Certificate of Land Ownership Awards has been issued for the said property,” said PDIC. Winning bidders, PDIC noted, are also required to submit an Affidavit of Aggregate Landholdings within the same period, which states that the person’s collective landholdings, including the property/ies to be acquired during the bidding, do not exceed the five-hectare limit set by law. Andrea San Juan
TBy Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio
HE “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) market in the Philippines achieved huge growth in terms of unique users, with at least one out of four Filipinos having tried the service at least once between 2018 until the end of 2024.
According to a study by the Digido Finance Corp. (DBA UnaCash), about 28.4 million Filipinos used BNPL as of the end of last year, displaying a 40-percent increase from the 20.3 million unique users tallied in 2023.
Compared with its neighbors Southeast Asia, the Philippines ranked second in terms of BNPL penetration rate amongst its total population, behind Singapore (31.36 percent, 1.9 million users out of a 6.05 million total population). Malaysia ranked third (22.09 percent, 8.15 million users out of a 34.67 million total population), followed by Thailand (18.72 percent, 13.46 million users out of a 71.89 million total population) and Indonesia (17.89 percent, 50.30 million users out of a 279.80 million total population).
Examining digital commerce users opting for BNPL options, Singapore led the category with 32.30 percent, followed by the Philippines (30.36 percent), Indonesia (23.51 percent), Malaysia (22.09 percent), and Vietnam (19.74 percent).
Erwin G. Ocampo, Digido head
of product, observed the data sets showed overall functionality of BNPL as a flexible payment option along with its significant role in expanding the digital marketplace.
Internal behavioural data from UnaCash also revealed that consumers primarily focus on purchasing gadgets and electronics, particularly through mobile devices. As technology continues to evolve rapidly, the demand for these products remains high, contributing to the growth for BNPL.
“Filipinos are clearly embracing the flexibility and convenience that buy now, pay later services offer, and businesses are embracing this critical strategy to enhance customer accessibility and satisfaction,” explained Ocampo.
Looking ahead, he said the company anticipates an increase of BNPL usage in the Philippines by 28.39 percent among the total population at the end of 2025. Its growth is also particularly notable among BNPL users on digital commerce platforms where there is an expected usage increase of 34.24 percent.
“Flexible payment options are becoming the norm, a main selling point especially among GenZs and Millennials,” Ocampo said. “Embracing partnerships with financial services players is a way for businesses to meet the shifting demands of consumers and position themselves for long-term success in the competitive marketplace.”
“Our expanded partnership with ECPay is a significant step in making VYBE more accessible to Filipinos nationwide. We are excited to offer users an easy and convenient way to top up their e-wallets and engage with the digital financial ecosystem, helping to drive financial inclusion in the Philippines,” Frederick M. Faustino, BPI’s head of digital partnerships and ecosystems, said.
According to the BPI, the tweak in its agreement with ECPay can further Vybe’s mission of offering a free and secure financial tool to a broader audience. The lender didn’t disclose the value of the partnership with ECPay.
The expanded partnership makes it easier for more people to cash in to their Vybe wallets, even without a BPI account. With ECPay’s wide network of over 4,000 partner outlets, Vybe can reach more users in both cities and provinces, helping them join the digital economy.
This development also helps bridge the gap for those who lack access to traditional banking, according to the lender.
BPI eyes 2.5 million more users for its fintech app from the current 1.8 million users, targeting the C and D market with its partnership with ECPay. ECPay President and CEO Maria Patricia M. Pascual said Vybe users can take advantage of the firm’s kiosks around the country.
“We have them in select PureGold stores, select Alfamart, Lawson, convenience stores and then in the malls and in the far flung areas as well. So we have standalone machines in some carinderias and local supermarkets in the provinces,” Pascual said.
“We are planning to add about 500 more this year. And we are supposed to complete some of the deployments in several convenience stores as well for the remainder of the year,” she added.
Image
Spend more time outdoors
IF we are going to be honest, most of us spend way too much time indoors, glued to screens, stuck in meetings, or binge-watching our favorite shows. City life makes it even harder, with concrete dominating the landscape and with green spaces few and far between. While modern life makes it easy to stay inside, there are plenty of reasons why going outdoors should be a bigger part of your routine. Fresh air, movement, and a little sun can do wonders for your body and mind.
Spending time outdoors has numerous benefits, starting with an immediate boost to your mood. Have you ever noticed how a short walk in the park can make you feel instantly better? That is because nature reduces stress and increases happy hormones, helping you feel lighter and more relaxed. Sunlight also stimulates the production of vitamin D, which plays a crucial role in mental well-being. Simply taking a few minutes outside every day can significantly improve your overall mood and reduce feelings of anxiety.
Outdoor activities can also improve physical health. Whether you are hiking, biking, jogging, or just strolling through your neighborhood, moving outside gets your heart pumping and strengthens your body. Walking on uneven terrain, for example, engages more muscles than walking on a treadmill, helping with balance and coordination. Even gentle activities like gardening or stretching outdoors can provide significant health benefits.
Noms for UPAA Most Distinguished Alumni Awards set for April 4
THE University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA) reminds the UP community that the deadline for nominations for the prestigious UPAA Most Distinguished Alumni Awards is fast approaching. All nominations must be submitted on or before April 4. This annual recognition highlights the exceptional achievements and contributions of UP alumni who have made a significant impact in their respective
Each year, the UPAA recognizes outstanding UP alumni in five categories: (1) Most Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award, (2) Lifetime Distinguished Achievement Awards, (3) Distinguished Alumni Awards, (4) Distinguished Service Awards, and (5) Multi-Generation UP Alumni Family Awards.
“The UPAA Awards shine a spotlight on alumni who embody the spirit of honor, excellence, and service often working behind the scenes in ways that create lasting change,” said UPAA president and UP Alumni regent Robert Aranton. “We encourage everyone to take part in this meaningful endeavor by nominating individuals whose outstanding contributions and dedication to service bring pride to our alma mater.”
Another reason to embrace outdoor time is its positive effect on focus and creativity. If you ever find yourself stuck in a mental rut or struggling to concentrate, stepping outside for a breath of fresh air can do the trick. Many writers, artists and innovators credit time spent outdoors as a source of inspiration. If you work from home, consider taking a few minutes outside between tasks to refresh your mind.
Better sleep is another benefit of spending time outdoors. Exposure to natural light helps regulate your body’s circadian rhythm, which controls your sleep-wake cycle. If you spend most of your day indoors under artificial lighting, your body may have trouble recognizing when it is time to wind down for sleep. By going outside more often, you can help set your internal clock, making it easier to fall asleep at night and wake up feeling refreshed. Spending time outdoors also strengthens relationships. Outdoor
By Haleluya Hadero The Associated Press
IN the corners of social media dominated by wellness content, influencers recommend an assortment of treatments and products to support weight loss, fight exhaustion or promote other desired health outcomes.
Some of the endorsed approaches may be helpful. Many play into fads with scant evidence to back up enthusiasts’ claims, medical experts say. Some influencers encourage their followers to avoid specific food items, such as seed oils, while others advocate going all in on certain foods, such as the meat-heavy carnivore diet. There are video pitches for berberine, a chemical compound that’s been touted online as “nature’s Ozempic,” and for non-medical IV vitamin therapy, which businesses popularly known as drip bars market as cures for hangovers or fatigue.
To be sure, alternative health practices and cures that lacked the medical establishment’s backing were a part of popular culture long before the internet age. But the plethora of advice shared online has both prompted calls for safeguards and found a measure of mainstream acceptance.
A Netflix series released last month explored the story of Belle Gibson, a popular Australian wellness influencer who amassed a following talking about curing her terminal
activities provide the perfect setting for bonding with family and friends. Instead of meeting up for coffee indoors, why not take your conversation to a park bench or a scenic trail? Picnics, hiking trips, beach outings, or even backyard barbecues encourage meaningful connections without the distractions of screens and technology. Plus, engaging in outdoor sports or games together fosters teamwork and shared experiences which deepen relationships.
Incorporating more outdoor time into your routine is easier than you might think. One simple way to start is by beginning your day outside. Instead of reaching for your phone first thing in the morning, take your cup of coffee outside or take a short walk around the block. If you work in an office or from home, take breaks outdoors. Instead of spending your lunch break scrolling through social media, eat your meal outside or go for a quick walk. This change in scenery can energize you for the rest of the day.
Another way to enjoy the outdoors is by exercising outside instead of in a gym. Whether it is jogging, cycling, or other workouts, being in nature makes physical activity more enjoyable. If you find it hard to commit to an exercise routine, try making it social by inviting a friend or joining an outdoor fitness group.
Group activities such as hiking clubs, recreational sports, or even outdoor dance classes add an element of fun and accountability. You can also make outdoor time part of your social life. Instead of planning indoor gatherings, consider inviting friends or family to a picnic, a casual hike, or an afternoon at the park. Even something as simple as throwing a frisbee, playing soccer, or walking a nature trail together can turn a routine hangout into an exciting experience. Lastly, make outdoor adventures a regular part of your schedule. Plan weekend trips to scenic locations, national parks, or the beach. If travel is not an option, explore local green spaces or nature trails near your home. Gardening is another wonderful way to spend time outside while also being productive. Tending to plants, growing your own herbs, or simply setting up a cozy outdoor reading nook can help you make the most of your outdoor time.
Spending more time outdoors does not have to be complicated. A few small changes to your routine can bring significant improvements to your health, mood, and overall well-being. So, put down your phone, step outside, and soak up the benefits of fresh air and sunshine. n
brain cancer with a healthy lifestyle and alternative medicine. In 2015, Gibson admitted to lying about having a cancer diagnosis. Australia’s federal court later fined her for failing to donate money she said would go to charity through sales of her cookbook and app. With personal wellness remaining a hot topic, here are some tips health experts have for evaluating the material you see online: BE CAUTIOUS WHEN AN INFLUENCER PROMOTES PRODUCTS MOST influencers have or want business relationships with companies that allow them to earn income by promoting products. The arrangements don’t necessarily mean content creators don’t believe in what they’re marketing, but they do have a
vested interest in publicizing products that may or may not work.
Promoting dietary supplements has been a particularly lucrative exercise for many influencers, said Timothy Caulfield, a health policy and law professor at the University of Alberta. He views the supplements industry as “the backbone” of health misinformation aimed at consumers and designed to fuel billions of dollars in revenue.
“It’s gotten to the point where if someone is selling a supplement, it’s a red flag,” he said. “I don’t think it was always like that, but it certainly is now.”
CHECK FOR EXPERTISE
IN general, consumers should take all bold claims with a degree of skepticism, said Cedric Bryant, chief executive officer at the nonprofit
American Council on Exercise.
The goal of creators is to increase engagement with their content, and some influencers may be tempted to make unproven assertions to draw in more viewers.
“If it’s too good to be true, it probably is,” Bryant said. Some health and wellness influencers have medical training, but many do not. Before taking health tips from someone on social media, it’s a good idea to make sure they have the proper expertise or at least able to share the data that led them to recommend certain products or lifestyle choices.
COMPARE TO THE PREVAILING MEDICAL CONSENSUS
IF a creator cites studies to support health and diet claims, it’s best to check and see if what they’re saying aligns with the latest evidence-based medical consensus.
“Just because somebody has an ‘MD’ after their name doesn’t make them entirely trustworthy,” said Elias Aboujaoude, a psychiatrist and Stanford University professor who studies the intersection of psychology and technology.
Aboujaoude suggests doublechecking health claims with traditionally reputable sources, such as major academic institutions or government health agencies. He also advised looking at studies cited by creators and assessing whether they’ve been published in reputable journals and subjected to peer review.
The 2025 UPAA Distinguished Alumni Awards will be held at Ang Bahay ng Alumni on August 16 at 4 pm. This year’s awardees will be honored for having best exemplified the University’s ideals of honor, excellence, and service—with their outstanding accomplishments and services rendered to their communities, bringing honor to the country’s first National University.
Meanwhile, the 2025 University of the Philippines (UP) General Alumni Homecoming, hosted by the UP Alumni Association (UPAA), will have for its theme Isang UP, Isang Komunidad: Pagbubuklod ng mga Kalayuan, Pagsulong sa Kinabukasan. The reunion will be held on August 17 at 2 pm, at Ang Bahay ng Alumni, Magsaysay Avenue, corner Balagtas Street, UP Diliman, Quezon City.
More information can be found via the UPAA Secretariat at 0910-6390, 0917-8372098, 2025up. jubilarians@gmail.com, or upaa.awards@gmail.com.
FROM left: Ever Bilenca Cosmetics Inc. key accounts supervisor Reo Salubre, retail sales manager Renato “Noel” Anel, key accounts manager Jerby Lagaday, president, founder and CEO Dioceldo Sy, and COO Silliman Sy showed their full support at the Prince Retail Group of Companies’ 35th anniversary celebration.
PHOTO BY JENNY HILL ON UNSPLASH
Join PSMEX & IMTAP 2025 – The Premier Manufacturing & Subcontracting Event
Gen X, Millennials Favor Familiar Voices Over Celebrity Endorsements
Arecent survey by renowned PR firm Comm&Sense Inc. shows that Gen X and Millennials place greater trust in recommendations from family and friends than in endorsements from celebrities or social media influencers when making purchasing decisions.
This survey is part of “Common Ground: Pinoy Voices in New Media,” Comm&Sense’s generational research, which examined the purchasing considerations of 400 Filipinos aged 27 to 58 nationwide. Released in celebration of Comm&Sense’s 20th anniversary in October 2025, it marks two decades of the firm’s leadership in data-driven storytelling and PR excellence.
Comm&Sense Managing Director Charlotte F. Reyes discussed the implications of these findings for brands and marketers.
“Gen X and Millennials are increasingly looking to the people they
trust most—their family and friends— when making purchasing decisions. Brands that can tap into these personal networks and have genuine relationships will be better positioned to succeed,” said Reyes.
Dr. Fernando Paragas, a professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman’s College of Mass Communication and lead researcher of the study, noted that, unlike the more commercial nature of celebrity and influencer recommendations, endorsements from loved ones are perceived as more genuine and trustworthy by consumers.
“They seek out voices they trust, and this trust is often found in their close personal
networks,” said Paragas. This preference for authenticity and personal connections is also shared by the younger Gen Z audience, according to a separate study in the Comm&Sense generational research.
Comm&Sense, a PR agency founded in 2005, is renowned for its #IntelligentPR approach, which combines data-driven insights with intuitive storytelling to create impactful narratives that resonate and deliver results. This innovative strategy has earned the firm numerous awards, including consistent nominations for Agency of the Year over the past five years.
Discover Europe Like Never Before: Landers Superstore’s Biggest European Festival is Here
FOR many Filipinos, Europe is the ultimate dream destination, a place of breathtaking landscapes, rich history, and cultural treasures. Now you don’t need to travel far to experience its charms. Landers Superstore, the fastestgrowing membership retail chain in the country, is hosting The Biggest European Festival this month, to put the spotlight on European excellence and bring beloved European products closer to home.
Drawing from the overwhelming success of Japan Fest last year, Landers Superstore is raising the bar even higher for this festival with more premium European brands on display, more deals to love and more exciting activities that will transport you to the streets of Paris, Rome or Madrid. Whether you’re a fan of fine European delicacies, a culture enthusiast, or simply looking for something to do on a weekend, Landers Superstore’s European Festival promises a grand celebration that’s too good to miss.
European Festival Grand Launch TO kick things off, Landers Superstore held a grand launch for the Biggest European Festival at Landers Arca South last March 5, 2025. The event commenced with an
electrifying flamenco performance by AXIS, setting the tone for a truly immersive cultural experience.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was led by Landers Deputy Chief Executive Officer Bill Cummings, Ambassador of Spain to the Philippines Miguel Utray, European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) Executive Director Florian Gottein, British Embassy Representative Windy Anonuevo, and celebrities Carla Abellana and Daniel Matsunaga.
Bill Cummings, in his welcome remarks, emphasized the significance of the event, calling it Landers’ most ambitious showcase to date. “Through the years, we’ve hosted incredible festivals featuring top brands and products from all over the world. Each one was a step forward in our mission to bring global excellence closer to our members. This time, we’re taking things even further. The Landers European Festival is a celebration of excellence, authenticity, and discovery, featuring over a thousand premium European finds— from beloved household names to new brands you’ll surely love.” He also underscored the festival’s unique experiential aspect, encouraging members to take part in the Landers
European Festival Caravan. “Beyond just shopping, we’ve prepared immersive and fun-filled experiences that will transport you to Europe. You can taste, explore, and sample our premium selection for free while also enjoying booths that offer cultural exchange and other funfilled activities.”
Utray and Gottein also expressed their enthusiasm and support for the festival, highlighting its role in strengthening economic and cultural ties between Europe and the Philippines.
The highlight of the festival is the European Festival Caravan, a special in-store event that will let members experience European excellence up close and personal. The stores will be transformed into charming Europeaninspired streets lined with food stalls and exhibitor booths. There, members can indulge in free samples of European delicacies, avail exclusive deals from travel agencies specializing in Europe tours and engage with organizations promoting European arts and culture.
Street artists will provide free caricature portraits to members with a minimum P500 single-receipt purchase from Landers Central while Human Statues will provide entertainment to members.
The caravan will make its first stop at Landers Arca South on March 7 to 9, followed by Landers Nuvali on March 12 to 16, Landers Otis on March 19 to 23 and Landers Arcovia City on March 26 to 30.
Running alongside the caravan is The Biggest European Festival Sale, happening until March 30. This sale is the perfect opportunity to indulge in the finest European finds at 50 percent OFF and Buy 1 Get 1 deals. From tasty snacks to bath and beauty essentials, this sale makes it even easier than ever to enjoy authentic delights from Spain, Italy, UK, Germany, and France, among others. Don’t miss this chance to indulge in European wonders and score massive savings on premium European products. Sign up or renew your membership and be part of the BIGGEST European Festival in town. Membership fees are currently priced at P700 for Premium Membership and P1,200 for Business Membership. You can maximize your shopping experience further with the Landers Cashback Everywhere Credit Card, which lets you earn up to five percent cashback on all purchases, anywhere you shop.
ARE you looking to stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of manufacturing and subcontracting?
PSMEX & IMTAP 2025 is the ultimate platform to connect with industry leaders, explore groundbreaking technologies, and unlock unparalleled business opportunities. Whether you are an exhibitor aiming to expand your market reach or an attendee eager to discover the latest innovations, this event is designed to deliver maximum value.
We invite you to be part of the 2nd International Machinery, Tools & Accessories Philippines (IMTAP 2025) and the 3rd Philippine Subcon & Manufacturers Exhibition (PSMEX 2025), happening from May 8 to 10, 2025, at Halls A to D, World Trade Center, Metro Manila, Philippines.
As an exhibitor, you will have the opportunity to reach thousands of potential buyers, position your brand among the top industry players, and showcase your products and services to a highly targeted audience. This event also serves as a gateway to joint ventures and strategic business collaborations.
Meanwhile, attendees can explore the
latest technologies shaping the future of manufacturing, participate in expertled technical seminars, engage in B2B networking with key stakeholders, and connect with top-tier suppliers to enhance their operations.
Best of all, entrance and technical seminars are completely FREE! Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of the country’s largest and most influential gathering of manufacturers, subcontractors, and industry professionals.
Secure your spot today by scanning the QR code below: or contact us at psmexhibition@gmail. com | imtaphilippines@gmail.com or call 632-8985-3375 | 09694775259 (Smart) | 09175177619 (Globe). Follow us on our socials for latest updates: Website: http:// maimgt.weebly. com/ Facebook: https:// www.facebook.com/ maieventsmgtphils
TThe Suzuki Jimny is a blend of the old and new overtaking on an uphill climb is not advisable; pressing hard on the gas pedal can lead to noticeable engine strain. This car is designed for leisurely drives and offroading adventures. While the ride may feel truck-like and isn’t the smoothest, it adds to the Jimny’s charm. Overall, the Jimny is a collectible with a timeless design. It’s fun, cool to drive, and a great choice for those who appreciate the unique qualities of the threedoor Jimny.
WO words that best describe the Jimny: “wow” and “fun.” This iconic vehicle is a perfect blend of old and new, featuring a recognizable shape that commands respect due to its reliability. The updated design showcases a boxy rectangular front grille, giving it a rugged, aggressive, and commanding appearance. It’s truly a head-turner, with a wow factor that sets it apart from the competition. The Jimny occupies a unique space in the market, unmatched in size, shape, and superb off-road capabilities. Inside, the interior is neatly arranged—simple and straightforward without unnecessary frills. The instrument panel is easy to read, and most models come equipped with cruise control for added convenience.
The cabin space is adequate, comfortably accommodating two golf bags and a small to mediumsized piece of luggage. However, fitting four golf sets would be a challenge.
Driving the Jimny is all about enjoying the journey rather than speed. It’s nimble and modestly responsive, making it a fun and cool vehicle to drive. However,
SHAKEY’S is marking its 50th year in the Philippines with exciting deals and surprises to thank its loyal guests and fans.
For five decades, Sh akey’s has been more than just a pizza place; it has been a home for celebrations, a hub for great moments, and an integral part of Filipino dining culture. Since opening its first store in Makati in 1975, Shakey’s has grown from a single pizzeria
THE Grand Launch of the European Festival 2025 kicked off in style with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, joined by European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) Executive Director Florian Gottein, Landers Deputy Chief Executive Officer Bill Cummings, Ambassador of Spain to the Philippines Miguel Utray, British Embassy Representative Windy Añonuevo, celebrities Carla Abellana and Daniel Matsunaga.
Photo taken during the exhibition at I-MTAP & PSMEX 2023
Editor: Tet Andolong
Bridgetowne welcomes hybrid data center
By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio
THE
Gokongwei controlled-Robinsons Land is raising the bar in sustainable living with the development of Bridgetowne Destination Estate, a master-planned integrated development in Metro Manila that provide residents and business organizations strategic accessibility, planned and developing infrastructure projects, integrated “live-work-play-inspire” lifestyle, modern and premium office spaces, comprehensive amenities, and high investment potential. Interestingly, it is also boosting the government’s digital transformation program.
Promoting digital transformation
BRIDGETOWNE is actively supporting the Philippines' digital transformation efforts, particularly for enterprise organizations. Recently, it marked a significant milestone with the launch of the Beeinfotech PH HIVE Hybrid Data Center in Pasig City. This state-of-the-art facility, located within Bridgetowne, under -
scores its commitment to strengthening digital infrastructure in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. Furthermore, the goal is to help enterprise organizations to accelerate their digital transformation.
Wing Cheung, President and CEO, Bee Information Technology, PH, Inc. told reporters during the launch held last Thursday that the company decided to
locate in Bridgetowne because of its accessibility. “We considered the strategic location of Bridgetowne, and the support of the government in digital transformation especially in an area like the National Capital Region because most of the huge enterprises are located here. You have to be there. When the private sector pursues digital transformation, we need to be close to them. We need to be in the center of the universe,” he explained.
Bridgetowne’s location straddles Pasig and Quezon City and provides excellent connectivity. It benefits from access to major thoroughfares like C-5, Ortigas Avenue, and Amang Rodriguez Avenue.
Sherwin Torres, vice president of Data Center Operations, Bee Information Technology, PH, Inc concurred with Cheung. “The location is strategic. We did a study on the area and found out it was very nice. We also considered the availability of power and the flood management zone and also the accessibility.
Cheung said Bridgetown is safe too. He observed that there were lots of security personnel patrolling the area. “The C-5 area is also very accessible,” he said.
He added Bridgetowne also boasts of being a telco-neutral area and promotes sustainability. He said the excellent and green infrastructure has impressed the data center as it signed a 45-year lease.
Expanding economy to support PHL property’s recovery
Conclusion
THIS is the conclusion of my piece on Philippine property’s recovery enablers. Overall, Colliers is seeing a mixed bag for the Philippine property market. For instance, while see a condominium slowdown in certain parts of Metro Manila, take up remains brisk in key areas outside of the capital region. The retail sector remains strong especially as we see more foreign brands entering the Philippine market. The office segment sees challenges particularly given the exodus of offshore gaming firms from China and office space rationalization implemented by information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) firms. The hotel and industrial sectors continue to see interest from foreign investors and we see this raising the profile of hospitality brands and manufacturing companies operating in the Philippines.
Office’s recovery post-POGO
IN 2024, the Metro Manila office market posted its first negative net take-up since 2021, as space surrenders outpaced demand. While significant space surrenders were recorded due to the exit of POGOs and the non-renewal of pre-pandemic leases, expansions from traditional and outsourcing occupants helped mitigate the impact, preventing a sharper decline. Despite limited completions during the year, vacancy still reached a record high and is expected
to peak further in 2025 due to carryovers. Meanwhile, provincial office markets remained resilient, with sustained transaction volumes and a growing number of emerging locations gaining traction, signaling a shift in occupier demand beyond Metro Manila.
Colliers urges occupiers to capitalize on current market conditions to secure favorable lease terms. Landlords, meanwhile, should enhance the appeal of their spaces—especially those vacated by POGOs—to stay competitive in a tenantfavorable market.
Invasion of the hospitality giants
THE Philippine travel and tourism sector continues to attract major hospitality brands. This is primarily due to the sector’s growth potential especially given the Marcos administration’s plans to rehabilitate and modernize airports across the country.
International arrivals increased in 2024 (5.95 million vs. 5.45 million in 2023) although the total figure is lower than the government’s target (7.7 million). The Tourism department remains optimistic as it banks on the growth of traditional and non-traditional source markets to fill the huge void left by Chinese tourists.
Colliers believes that the proposed land lease term extension for foreign investors is a step in the right direction and should complement the government’s efforts in attracting foreign hospitality brands.
We encourage foreign hotel brands and their local partners to aggressively scout for emerging destinations outside of Metro Manila and seize first-mover advantage. For property firms with real estate investment trust (REIT) vehicles, Colliers believes that infusing hotel assets should be an integral part of REIT companies’ diversification strategies given the hotel segment’s exponential growth prospects.
Manufacturing investments to lift industrial sector
CENTRAL Luzon continues to attract highvalue manufacturing investments which bodes well for the revitalization of the region’s industrial sector. Aside from the Cavite-Laguna-Batangas (CALABA) corridor in Southern Luzon, property firms continue to expand their industrial footprint in Central Luzon.
Manufacturers of electric vehicle (EV) batteries, semiconductors, fiber cement, tires, and pharmaceutical products continue to locate and expand operations in New Clark City, Clark Freeport, and other industrial parks in Central Luzon. The manufacturers’ operations should be supported by the development of railways and expansion of airports in the region, complemented by the corridor’s proximity to Manila air and sea ports.
Property developers, manufacturing locators, and the government’s investment promotion agencies should work together in sustaining the Philippines’ industrial competitiveness, a vital step in attracting billions of foreign direct investments (FDI).
We encourage developers with industrial footprint to be more strategic with their expansion plans. Property firms should be more cautious with their industrial park and warehouse development as similar with oversupply seen with office and residential sectors, the overhang might put a downward pressure on industrial land leasehold and warehouse lease rates.
Overall, the industrial sector is thriving with opportunities and private developers should be more proactive in cornering demand from industrial players that have committed to invest in the Philippines.
The author is the Research Director of Colliers Philippines. For feedback, please e-mail joey.bondoc@colliers.com
“We can be the center of the connectivity and help them connect,” he said. As part of reducing their carbon footprint, Torres said the data center will use a 10 percent megawatt capacity of renewable energy and will also apply for Leading Environment and Engineering Design (LEED) certification. We plan to have both LEED and BERDE to cover the international and local markets. “As a Filipino and global citizen, we have an obligation to contribute in the reduction of carbon footprint,” he said.
Telco-neutral (carrier-neutral) data centers offer several advantages that make them a preferred choice for businesses:
n Flexibility: Businesses can choose from multiple carriers based on their specific needs, and easily switch providers without relocating infrastructure.
n Reliability and Redundancy: Access to diverse carriers ensures uptime even if one carrier fails, minimizing disruptions.
n Cost Efficiency: Competition among carriers within the facility drives down connectivity costs, saving businesses money.
n Enhanced Network Performance: Businesses can select optimal network routes, reducing latency and improving overall performance.
n Future-Proofing: These data centers adapt easily to emerging technologies and scalability needs, ensuring long-term viability.
n Improved Security: Multiple carrier connections enhance security through redundancy and diverse routing options.
Meanwhile, industry leaders said the entry of the HIVE will boost the software industry of the country. Jonathan De Luzuriaga, CEO of the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), emphasized that hybrid data centers will drive innovation in the software sector, providing robust computing power for local software enterprises.
Mel Melgrino, Chairperson of the Philippine CIO Association (PCIOA), shared insights on digital transformation in enterprises and emphasized that data centers play a key role in enabling IT modernization.
Undersecretary Alexander Ramos of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center (CICC) highlighted the importance of cybersecurity in digital economic development. He emphasized that CICC will work closely with digital infrastructure providers to build a secure and reliable digital environment, ensuring the healthy growth of the Philippine digital economy.
Megaworld to invest P30B to boost office portfolio, on track to reach 2M sq m by 2030
ROPERTY giant Megaworld is further ramping up its office portfolio by investing P30 billion in the next five years to build new office buildings, as well as reinvent, reinvigorate, and reimagine its existing office developments in its various townships across the Philippines. These new office developments will soon rise within Megaworld townships in Bulacan, Pampanga, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao, Metro Manila, and other new growth areas where Megaworld townships will be built. All these office developments will be LEED-registered and certified, and packed with sustainability features and several new amenities.
“We are optimistic about the office sector in the Philippines, particularly as more international companies continue to come in, either to establish their presence or expand their operations here. We see a significant spike in demand for office spaces, not just among BPO companies, but even from traditional tenants as well,” says Kevin L. Tan, president and CEO, Alliance Global Group, the parent company of Megaworld.
Just this year, Megaworld opened office towers in its provincial townships covering around 60,000 square meters of gross leasable area (GLA). These include Enterprise One in Iloilo Business Park,
“The new office towers will highlight our
towards
Megaworld
B8 Wednesday, March 26, 2025
mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph
Editor: Jun Lomibao
We need to work hard in Game 6–Thompson Sports
By Josef Ramos
BARANGAY Ginebra San Miguel targets its 16th Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) crown as the Gin Kings go for the clincher against the TNT Tropang Giga KaTropa in Game 6 of the Commissioner’s Cup Finals on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
But the Tropang Giga are hoping to recover from consecutive losses and abort the Gin Kings’ ambition in the match starts at 7:30 p.m.
Former Most Valuable Player Scottie Thompson said that they haven’t accomplished anything yet and there’s so much work to be done despite wresting a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“We still have to work hard but we’re hoping to close out the series tonight [Wednesday],” said Thompson, who was efficient to a “T” with his 16 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals in Ginebra’s 73-66 victory in Game 5.
Three-time Best Import Rondae HollisJefferson, on the other hand, said the series is still far from over and reminded his TNT teammates to stay locked in and force a sudden-death Game 7.
“I see us fighting like hell, fighting to win, fighting to play an excellent game, fighting to give maximum effort all 48 minutes—whether we go up or not, and just staying locked in,” said Hollis-Jefferson, who is averaging 22.4 points, 12.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists in the Finals.
“Coach Chot Reyes told us that it’s about mental toughness, like our mentality going into those crucial moments, turning the ball over, being wrong on a defensive play, allowing someone to jump up the screen,” he said.
Hollis-Jefferson had 19 points, 12 rebounds and three assists in Game 5.
Ginebra’s reliable resident import Justine Brownlee said there’s no turning back at this point despite his right thumb still hurting.
“We will try with all our might to win the title tonight although it’s going to be more difficult than the last time,” Brownlee said. “They’re a great team, they beat us two times in the Finals, so we know it is not going to be easy.” experience is the close out
THE Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards subdued the Mindoro Tamaraws, 104-72, on Monday to grab the solo lead in the Manny Pacquiao presents 1xBet-Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) 2025 Season at the Nueva Ecija Coliseum in Palayan City.
Gathering strength as the game wore on, the Rice Vanguards posted their biggest spread at the final buzzer for their fourth straight win in the roundrobin elimination phase of the 30-team tournament.
Recruit Christian Manaytay, veterans Robby Celiz and John Wilson and Mer Jesper Ayaay found their mark for Nueva Ecija, which outgunned Mindoro from long distance, 12 against six triples.
Manaytay, a 6-foot-5 former University of Santo Tomas Growling Tiger, tallied 15 points, including two triples, five rebounds and two assists and was chosen best player over Celiz, with 13 points and five rebounds.
Wilson had 13 points and four rebounds and Ayaay finished with 12 points highlighted by a perfect 3-of-3 triples, and two assists.
Other Rice Vanguards who delivered were Byron Villarias with eight points, former Most Valuable Player Jaycee Marcelino, Will McAloney and Ralph Tansingco with seven points each.
Trailing Nueva Ecija, the 2022 MPBL champion, is reigning back-to-back titlist Pampanga, last year’s losing finalist Quezon Province, and Rizal Xentromall with 3-0 records.
Mindoro, which tumbled to 1-3, could only get 10 points each from Wendelino Comboy, Axel Inigo and Bambam Gamalinda.
Debuting San Juan struggled past Cebu, 63-61, in the second game.
The Cebu Classic muffed two chances to force overtime, with Dennis Santos muffing a layup and Limuel Tampos missing the follow-up in the last 5.3 seconds.
Groping for form, the San Juan
Knights trailed after three quarters, 4349, before Dexter Maiquez poured 11 of his game-high 16 points in the fourth to emerge best player and bail out the 2019 national champions.
Maiquez, who also snatched 12 rebounds, got support from Michael Calisaan with 10 points and seven rebounds, and Kenneth Neil Villapando and Jose Manuel Sabandal with seven points each.
San Juan top gun Orlan Wamar was held to six points, eight assists, three rebounds and two steals by the Classics, who drew 14 points and six rebounds from Santos, who could have passed the ball to the open Tampos instead of driving in. Cebu, which tumbled to 1-3, also got 13 points and six rebounds from Tampus and 12 points, vive rebounds and two assists from Hiro. The Abra Weavers regained form and
Immovable force of focus
TBlue Hawks seek third consecutive NCRAA cage title
MMACULADA Concepcion College
Iremains the favorite to win the men’s basketball tournament of the National Capital and Regional Athletic Association (NCRAA) which kicks off its 31st season this April.
The Blue Hawks are gunning for a third straight championship after retaining the title last year behind a close 65-62 win over De La Salle University-Dasmariñas in the deciding Game 3 of the finals.
“For this season, the team to beat is still ICC, the defending, back-toback champion,” said NCRAA president Gerry Sergio of La Salle-Dasmariñas.
“But all teams this 31st season are all competitive which assures of a balanced competition.”
Sergio was with long-time NCRAA General Manager Buddy Encarnado in the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday at the conference hall of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex together with other officials of the collegiate league— Joseph Ortega (secretary) of the Philippine Merchant Marine School, Engr. Ted Cada (treasurer) of Asian Institute of Maritime Studies and Benjamin Hernandez (auditor) of host school PATTS College of Aeronautics.
“I think two is enough,” added the La Salle official with a smile, echoing the intent of the rest of the field to prevent ICC from scoring a “three-peat.”
Other participating schools are Lyceum of the Philippines-Laguna,
University of Luzon, Olivarez College, Bestlink College of the Philippines, and Integrated School.
Past alumni of the NCRAA such as brothers Ranidel and Yancy De Ocampo, Vic Manuel and Gary David have been invited to grace the opener tentatively set on the first week of April at a venue still to be named.
“This is our small way of contributing to the national effort particularly to the Gilas Pilipinas program. So a little league like the NCRAA is doing its best,” stressed Encarnado, a former Philippine Basketball Association board chairman and team manager of Sta. Lucia
during the session presented by San Miguel Corp., Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Smart/PLDT, Milo and the country’s 24/7 sports app ArenaPlus.
The format will be a single round robin, with the top eight teams advancing to the quarterfinals, followed by the knockout semifinals, and the finals which would be a best-of-three series.
The champion team will also get the chance to represent the country in international tournaments, according to Encarnado, like what ICC did last year when it competed in meets held in Sydney, Chinese Taipei, and China.
Basketball and volleyball competitions will be held in the summer months of April and May, followed by other sports like badminton, chess, and table tennis in June.
“They are self-funded since we have no financial support yet from the Philippine Sports Commission. But we are trying. So we pay for our own. Sariling accommodation, airfare and others,” said Agra during the sports program presented by San Miguel Corp., Philippine Sports Commission. Philippine Olympic Committee, Milo, Smart/PLDT and the country’s 24/7 sports app ArenaPlus.
“And they [athletes] know that,” added Agra, who established the PMGA to promote an “active and healthy lifestyle for masters and seniors through competitions, training and other activities.” Agra is also the man behind the Masters Pinoy (formerly Tandang Pinoy), which has gathered athletes even beyond 70 years old.
“If we have the Batang Pinoy, we also have the Tandang Pinoy. Our slogan is ‘Ageless Athletes, Timeless Victories,’” said the 61-year-old Agra. “There is no age limit in being healthy and active.” To further promote his vision, Agra said the PMGA is partnering with various national sports
GINEBRA’S do-it-all Scottie Thompson goes for a fadeaway against TNT’s Poy Erram and Brian Heruela in Game 5.
CHRISTIAN MANAYTAY delivers for the Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards.
PMGA chief Al Agra says some Philippine team members will participate in multiple sports in the world meet.
