Author: gqSbgCfmna

Philstar.com

November 24, 2025 | 12:01am

MANILA, Philippines — As the government accelerates the Digital Philippines agenda, Globe is reinforcing the country’s digital foundation through expanded infrastructure, enterprise innovation and inclusive access. The company’s third-quarter 2025 results reflect this sustained commitment to enabling national competitiveness in the digital era.

Globe’s Corporate Data revenues surged 13% quarter-on-quarter, fueled by rising demand for connectivity, cybersecurity, Internet of Things (IoT), and data center solutions, key enablers of the digital economy.

Complementing these digital transformation efforts is ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (Philippines), Globe’s joint venture with STT GDC and Ayala Corporation, which started operating its first center in STT Fairview 1 followed by its Cavite 2 site, adding substantial capacity built for hyperscale and AI as well as enterprise workloads.

Complementing these enterprise advances is Globe’s expanding nationwide connectivity footprint, now reaching 96.13% of the Philippine population. To bring inclusive innovation to life, Globe has also partnered with unconnected.org, a UK-based social enterprise that works to close the global digital divide by connecting schools and communities in underserved areas.

Together, Globe and unconnected.org are extending internet access to remote schools and Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDAs) across the Philippines, empowering students, teachers, and residents with digital tools for learning and livelihood.

“Globe’s infrastructure investments and enterprise solutions are vital to building the nation’s digital backbone,” said Carl Cruz, Globe’s president and CEO. “As businesses and institutions embrace digital transformation, Globe stands as their trusted partner, enabling innovation, cybersecurity readiness, and inclusive growth aligned with the government’s Digital Philippines vision.”

Through strategic partnerships and responsible innovation, Globe continues to power a digitally enabled and economically resilient Philippines, bridging digital divides while ensuring readiness for an AI- and data-driven future.

The Philippine Star

November 24, 2025 | 12:00am

Six years to resolve an appeal shows the inefficiency of the country’s legal system. That’s how long victims of the Maguindanao massacre have been waiting for the Court of Appeals to resolve several petitions in connection with the case.

These include judicial recognition of the 58th victim whose remains have not been found, journalist Reynaldo Momay. Also, the victims’ relatives have yet to receive a single centavo of restitution, whether from the government or the perpetrators led by members of the Ampatuan clan. 

Partial justice was the cry of the victims’ relatives yesterday, as they marked 16 years since the Ampatuans massacred relatives of Esmael Mangudadatu including his pregnant wife. Esmael had dared challenge the Ampatuans’ stranglehold on power in Maguindanao.

 The Mangudadatus, accompanied by 32 media workers, were on their way to file the certificate of candidacy of Esmael for governor of Maguindanao when they were waylaid by armed men in Ampatuan town on Nov. 23, 2009.

 On Dec. 19, 2019, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 convicted the defendants in the case led by Andal Ampatuan Jr. It was a long 10 years of waiting for the victims’ families, although at least it didn’t take 200 years, as a former senator predicted in the light of the high number of victims and the accused.

 While those convicted are now serving mostly life terms, other aspects of the case remain unresolved, illustrating once again the slow pace of justice in the Philippines.

 Appeals before the Court of Appeals may still reach the Supreme Court before rulings become final. Will this take another decade?

 While final rulings are awaited, witnesses have been killed, have gone missing or retracted their statements. About 100 suspects remain at large and some may have already been executed.

 The glacial pace of justice is being cited by people concerned over where the ongoing anti-corruption crackdown is headed. The masterminds of the massacre are local government officials. What happens when some of the highest officials of the land are accused of plunder and other serious crimes?

 As yet another year passed, Gilbert Andres, a lawyer representing 19 of the slain media workers, released this statement: “Full justice must not only be promised – it must finally be delivered for the Maguindanao massacre victims.”

November 24, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and Singapore discussed new avenues for collaboration during the 7th Informal Consultations on the Philippines-Singapore Action Plan (IC-PSAP) held in Singapore last week.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for policy Ma. Hellen de La Vega and Foreign Ministry Permanent Secretary Albert Chua for Singapore discussed more robust defense and maritime cooperation as well as combat online scams in the region.

They also deliberated on the state of bilateral relations, highlighting economic cooperation and opportunities to expand Philippine agricultural exports to Singapore.

The delegations also exchanged views on green economy, energy, climate change and carbon credit initiatives, water and waste management, smart and sustainable infrastructure, biodiversity conservation and people-to-people ties.

Following the IC-PSAP, De La Vega paid a courtesy call on Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. The officials discussed the direction of the Philippines-Singapore bilateral relations and key regional issues.

The Informal Consultations are anchored on the 1998 Memorandum of Understanding on the PSAP, which provides a framework for strengthened bilateral cooperation initiatives for the promotion of peace and prosperity in both countries and across the region.

November 24, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — University of Perpetual Help and Letran pulled off big victories against separate foes yesterday as they head into the quarterfinals in high spirits.

The Altas smashed the Lyceum Pirates, 72-57, to finish the NCAA Season 101 elimination round atop Group A with a 9-4 record while the Knights pulled the rug from under their bitter rivals in the San Beda Lions, 87-83, to end up at No. 3 in Group B with an 8-5 card.

While it didn’t change the positioning in the quarters, it gave the victors some more amount of boost entering the exciting phase.

“I told them to treat this game like a playoff game and I told them to know what we’re preparing for and I think they did that in this game,” said UPHSD coach Olsen Racela.

November 24, 2025 | 12:00am

Many readers are surely familiar with the story of “Pandora’s box” a Greek myth about the first woman “Pandora” who was given a sealed jar by the gods and told not to open it. Overcome by curiosity, she opened it, releasing all the evils and hardships into the world such as sickness, death, and despair.

Well, there is no denying that as far as the Marcos siblings are concerned, Bongbong and Imee seem to be in a habit of opening their own “Pandora’s box” to get back at each other or their enemies but ultimately cause hardships on the country and the people.

Unfortunately, there is no “Goddess of Hope” at the bottom of their “Pandora boxes” to make up for the damage they unleash on each other and the nation at large.

While PBBM went on attack mode against people who ripped him off in terms of the government budget and frustrated legacy projects, Senator Imee for her part stabbed PBBM and twisted the knife full of accusations claiming that the First Family are “junkies” or drug users.

Pres. Bongbong Marcos has long been suspected or believed to take coke and party hard both in the past or present but to be fair, there has been no irrefutable evidence of a coke habit except perhaps the soft drink kind.

To his disadvantage and possibly future regret, PBBM has never once made a clinical effort to disprove his accusers unlike Apo Ferdie, who always addressed such rumors with bravado.

I recently remembered PBBM’s father the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. who would show people that he was in the pink of health by going water skiing or striping off his shirt to the media to show off his abs and dispel rumors that he was ill or had major surgery.

On the other side of things, I wonder if Bongbong Marcos sometimes regrets publicly calling out the corrupt during his State Of the Nation Address subsequently opening a Pandora’s box and difficult choices that go with it.

I suspect that PBBM discovered that he had been misled, and hoodwinked by his own people on two fronts. First, they sold him the line that Sara Duterte could be impeached, but in order to do this, members of Congress had to be given incentives, therefore, realignments and insertions were needed.

But before all of this could happen, controversy hounded PBBM when the unspent funds of PhilHealth were transferred to the GAA as “Unprogrammed Funds” beginning February 2024. “Unprogrammed Funds” eventually became a dirty word in the country.

As the administration got “burned” on the PhilHealth controversy, the President must have noticed that the impeachment of VP Sara was not progressing as expected. Adding insult to injury, the incentives caused the members of Congress to swear allegiance to Speaker Martin Romualdez, not to PBBM.

PBBM discovered that even the funds for his Legacy Projects had been realigned. So PBBM fired his first shot on Jan. 12 and 13, 2025 instructing his son, Congressman Sandro Marcos, to declare the chairmanship of the committee of appropriations vacant, kicking out Zaldy Co.

This unexpected action of PBBM scared many people around him, so much so that many were willing to “shanghai” or forcibly put former President Rodrigo Duterte on a chartered plane to the ICC in The Hague to please the President.

That may have removed a thorn on PBBM’s flesh but by then, the DOJ was already looking into the money trail of “unprogrammed funds” and “insertions” as well as the ghost projects and over pricing claims by Mayor Benjie Magalong.

I always wondered why DOJ Sec. Remulla willingly gave up a cabinet position to become the ombudsman, which he announced June 30, 2025. Less than 30 days later, July 28, PBBM fired his second shot inside Congress shouting, “Mahiya Naman Kayo!” during the SONA. 

Soon after that Remulla became ombudsman and now “The Hunt” begins! I wonder if PBBM and Remulla had already hatched a plan to get back at Ali Baba and the forty thieves using their 1 – 2 punch.

Malacañang recently announced the resignation of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin (who denies it) and DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman (who confirmed it). Someone suggested that it was to prevent the two from declaring “withdrawal of support” for PBBM. 

Last week, the President announced that charges and warrants of arrests have been made against Zaldy Co and everyone involved. When critics questioned the exemption of Martin Romualdez, the ICI reportedly announced that Martin Romualdez was included in the list of respondents.

If this does not pacify public anger, PBBM will be forced to go after members of Congress, members of the “Small Committee” and all who made money from the grand heist.

If PBBM fails to deliver “several congressional heads” to the Filipino people, he will end up passing judgment on himself. As the saying goes; “You are either for us or against us”

President Manuel L. Quezon once declared: “My loyalty to my party ends where my loyalty to my country begins……A man to be worthy of the name should put his conviction into practice, profess them with faith, defend them with courage, happen what may.”

What then is the pleasure of the President?

November 24, 2025 | 12:00am

This writer has been warning for months that the organizers of the Bangkok Southeast Asian Games would have tricks up their sleeves that they would reveal at the last minute. True enough, Thailand announced that naturalized players would be ineligible for the basketball competitions, at least for 5×5. This means that some of the country’s best players like Justin Brownlee and Ange Kouame will not be allowed to play. Frankly, the rule itself is not that bad. But the timing of implementation is an abuse of the hosts’ discretion.

We have had multiple bad experiences in SEA Games in Thailand. The two-pronged attack is always the same: messed with the sports that involve judging, and water down the opposition through tightened, last minute eligibility requirements. It is a tired, old, unfair story.

After the wild success of the 2005 Games in the Philippines, Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand won the rights for the 2007 SEAG. Things started to get funny right away. Dancesport, which had only the traditional Standard and Latin events that were swept by the Philippines in 2005, was suddenly judged per dance, making  a total of 10 gold medals available. Needless to say, the Thais made sure they would get favorable scores. Two of their own athletes, Surathep Wisawathiron and Panaporn Kosol were disqualified because they were caught doping, an embarrassment under any circumstance.

At the height of super typhoon Uwan, this writer was in Baguio City to interview the national women’s boxing and muaythai teams. The common question we asked was how they would deal with the outright cheating in scoring in Bangkok. Although far from definitive, the reply was always the same: dominate early, or knock out the opponent.

“We have to make sure that there is no doubt about the outcome of each fight,” explains women’s team head coach and 1992 Olympic bronze medalist Roel Velasco. “We already know how things go in Thailand. We don’t want to leave the decision in anybody else’s hands.”

The Thais have a right to be worried. The Philippines is fielding world champions and Olympians in many disciplines like jiu jitsu, boxing and muaythai. They are using the full extent of their prerogative as the host country to limit opponents’ chances of winning, hence the belated ruling on naturalized basketball players’ eligibility. They have excluded billiards and arnis (again), and limited participation in boxing for this very reason. For decades, they have struggled to overcome the might of the Philippines in basketball. It’s gotten personal.

Time and again, we have called for a change in the host countries’ privilege to choose events and decide on eligibility. It is always abused, and used to threaten referees, judges and other technical officials to skew towards the host. Why even have the Games at all if they aren’t going to be fair? Might as well just buy yourselves a whole bunch of medals, because you’re not fooling anyone. You’re just breaking the hearts of athletes who’ve given their all in the hope of bringing honor to their countries fairly.