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When a door closes, another one opens.

Michelle Dee is not letting missing out on two notable pageant titles from preventing her search for personal and Philippine glory.

The daughter of Miss International 1979 Melanie Marquez previously represented the country at Miss World 2019 and Miss Universe 2023, finishing in the Top 12 and Top 10, respectively.

For the latter competition, Michelle won Best National Costume, the Fan Vote, the sponsored Spirit of Carnival Award and was one of three gold winners for the Voice for Change competition.

Since then Michelle has focused on modeling and acting, appearing in projects like “Encantadia Chronicles: Sang’gre,” “Widows’ War,” “Lolong,” “Black Rider,” and “G! LU.”

She surprised Filipinos upon confirmation of her pageant comeback through the second Miss Grand International (MGI) All-Stars competition this December 12 which is open to past beauty queens and numerous national titleholders.

Michelle began floating the hashtag “Dee Pa Tapos” which Philstar.com asked her about on the sidelines of a Halloween party in Makati last October 29.

“You know in life there is always something to achieve, to bring home,” the beauty queen explained. “Because nothing ever ends with just one goal, you always have another one after the goal you aimed for.”

So far two other Filipinas – Miss Eco International 2025 Alexie Mae Brooks and Miss International Queen 2025 Top 6 finisher Anne Patricia Lorenzo Diaz – are also joining the 2nd MGI All Stars in Thailand.

Michelle, Alexie, and Anne are all vying to succeed inaugural titleholder Vanessa Pulgarin of Colombia, who previously represented her country at Miss International 2017 as a teenager and last year’s Miss Universe where she reached the Top 12.

The Department of Education (DepEd) gained international recognition for its recent performance improvements in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Harvard Graduate School of Education dean Nonie Lesaux praised the Philippines for its 2025 PISA results, where the country emerged as the world’s fastest-improving nation in reading performance and ranked among the top improvers overall, significantly increasing scores across reading, mathematics and science.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara welcomed the commendation, emphasizing that external validation serves as a morale boost for the country’s teachers and learners while underscoring the urgency of compounding these early gains through systemic reforms.

‘We see this as a clear mandate to work harder. Our goal is to ensure that every Filipino child is actually learning, comprehending and thriving,’ Angara said during a forum organized by the Harvard Club of the Philippines Global at the Manila House Private Club in Bonifacio Global City.

The dialogue, attended by DepEd officials and Harvard alumni, focused on strategies to transform foundational learning, strengthen teacher competencies, utilize education-technology effectively and bridge persistent learning gaps.

Lesaux, an internationally recognized scholar in language and literacy development, shared insights closely aligned with DepEd’s ongoing structural interventions.

These include the flagship Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program, which has driven measurable gains in literacy and grade-readiness.

‘When experts from institutions like Harvard point out that our PISA performance trends are moving in the right direction, it tells us that our teachers are delivering, our kids are catching up and our programs like ARAL are hitting the mark. But the real work lies in scaling these successes so that geography or background never dictates a child’s future,’ he added.

“Sa langit, madaming bigas.’

I still remember reading this line in my older brother Leonie’s high school valedictory speech after nosing around our father’s filing cabinet when I was around 10 years old. It was the answer of a farmer’s young child to my brother on what the boy imagined heaven to be. It was an innocent and bittersweet indictment of the state of Philippine agriculture then. I guess the boy’s answer stuck to Leonie, who subsequently devoted his entire life to try to help make the boy’s dream a reality in the country.

After graduating summa cum laude from the Ateneo, he went straight to join our father in the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF), one of the oldest and the most reputable farmer organizations in the Philippines. He has been with the FFF for over 50 years, served several terms in Congress representing the farmers and even became the secretary of agriculture in the early 2000s.

Leonie is now 77 years old and still trying. The other day, the police went to his house to serve a warrant of arrest. As the song goes, ‘…planting rice is never fun.’ It could even land you in jail.

My brother and others in the farmer sector have been questioning why the Philippine Planter’s Products Inc. (PPI), which they claim appears to be like a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC), has been heavily importing rice to the country. Under current laws, particularly RA 11203 and RA 12078, government entities cannot freely import rice except under extraordinary emergency conditions authorized through specific executive orders or presidential action. Historically a fertilizer and agrochemical company, PPI hardly imported any rice prior to 2025. However, it heavily started doing so in 2026. This year, PPI has reportedly imported close to two million sacks of rice worth billions of pesos and has become the second largest rice importer in the Philippines. In response to my brother’s questions, PPI filed a cyber-libel case against him, claiming that it is not a GOCC.

What is interesting is that approximately 80 percent of the shares of PPI is held by Planter’s Foundation Inc. (PFI) which was created by the government. In 1974, the government placed most of PPI’s shares under the custody of PFI ‘…to be held in trust for millions of Filipino farmers.’ PFI is chaired by the incumbent secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA) who exercises voting rights and nominates candidates to the board of PPI. In a July 2019 post in its own website, the DA described it as ‘…a private agricultural company sequestered by the government a few years back and is now under the administrative control of the DA.’ It has been reported that in several government directories, such as those of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG), the PPI is listed as a GOCC. Do all these constitute or imply effective government ownership and/or control? I don’t know, you tell me!

I understand that a primary legal basis of PPI’s claim seems to be a 2008 Supreme Court (SC) ruling involving PPI vs Fertiphil Corporation. According to some summaries I read, the SC noted that both PPI and Fertiphil Corporation were private corporations under Philippine laws as part of that decision. I find it ironic that the central decision of that SC ruling was to order PPI to return millions of pesos in ‘capital recovery’ levy it had collected from Fertiphil Corporation during the martial law years. It declared a 1985 Marcos Letter of Instruction (LOI) 1465, which authorized ‘…the collection of fertilizer levy to bail out and benefit PPI,’ as unconstitutional and that to allow PPI to keep it would be ‘unjust enrichment.’

At the very, very least, PPI’s ownership structure; its apparent treatment as a GOCC by several government agencies and subsequent relevant laws such as the GOCC Governance Act of 2011 (RA 10149) all provide sufficient and good faith bases to question the real status of PPI and destroy any claim of an outright and malicious falsehood.

Moreover, the question is not frivolous and involves a clear and important public interest. Why is it considered malicious for a farmer leader representing rice farmers to question such an entity’s huge imports that they believe threatens the welfare of the country’s rice farmers?

If we ask the young children of farmers today on what they think heaven is like, as my brother did over half a century ago, I wonder what they will answer now.

Sa Pilipinas, madaming imported na bigas?

Tomorrow morning, before most Filipinos have finished breakfast, they will already have depended on the maritime industry several times without realizing it.

The fuel that brought food to the supermarket. The wheat in bread. The farmer’s fertilizer. The medicine at the pharmacy. Much of what we use has traveled by sea.

We rarely think about the ships, ports or people that moved them.

That may be the maritime industry’s greatest paradox.

The better it works, the less we notice it.

But stop the ships. Close a port. Interrupt a supply chain. Damage a fishing ground. Suddenly, maritime is no longer invisible.

It is food prices. Fuel supplies. Raw materials for industries. A fisherman’s livelihood. An island awaiting relief after a typhoon.

For an archipelago, the sea does not merely surround the economy. The sea is part of the economy. And yet we have never quite learned to think about it that way.

We talk about seafarers as a labor. Ports as infrastructure. Shipbuilding as industrial policy. Fisheries as agriculture. Maritime security as defense. Education as training Filipinos to work aboard ships.

Each matters. But the sea does not divide itself according to the government’s organizational chart. We miss the larger picture connecting them.

That is the proposition behind Blue Philippines: to look at our maritime and marine ecosystem as one national development platform.

Congress is taking an important step through proposed Blue Economy legislation. The House-approved measure recognizes fisheries, tourism, shipping, shipbuilding, renewable energy and maritime education, providing a foundation for sustainable ocean development.

But we should go further. The Blue Economy framework can help us govern the ocean asset. Blue Philippines should ask how we organize the national economy around the full value that asset can sustainably support.

Consider what is already there. The Philippine ocean economy generated about P1.08 trillion in 2025 and employed 2.46 million Filipinos. More than half a million Filipino seafarers were deployed internationally, generating billions in remittances.

We are also a significant shipbuilding location, with enormous potential in offshore renewable energy. Our marine ecosystems support food, tourism, livelihoods and coastal protection.

The pieces already exist. What we have not done is connect them. And perhaps our greatest opportunity lies not beneath the sea or inside our ports, but in our people. For generations, one Philippine maritime success story has stood above all others: the Filipino seafarer.

Filipinos help operate the ships that carry the world’s food, energy, raw materials and manufactured goods. Few global industries have Filipinos playing such a significant role.

We should be proud of that achievement and protect it. But perhaps it has also narrowed our imagination. In the Philippines, maritime has too often become synonymous with seafaring.

It is not.

Someone owns a ship. Someone finances and insures it. Someone designs, builds and repairs it. Someone manages and supplies it. Someone writes its software, handles its cargo and advises on its law and regulation.

Around it are ports, logistics networks, shipyards, energy installations, universities, technology companies and coastal communities.

Why shouldn’t Filipinos participate in much more of that value chain? This question becomes especially important in education. The Philippines has more than 80 maritime higher-education institutions. Yet our system still largely defines maritime education as preparation for work aboard a ship.

International maritime degrees require onboard training, but berths are limited. Some students cannot complete the pathway they entered.

The answer is not to lower standards for going to sea. Those standards must remain high. The answer is to widen the number of places a maritime education can take a young Filipino.

Imagine a Philippine Maritime and Marine Skills Framework mapping the professions our economy will need over the next 10 or 20 years.

A marine engineering student might become a ship’s engineer or pursue shipbuilding, marine technology or offshore energy. A marine transportation student might go to sea or build a career in ports, logistics or fleet operations.

Then add marine science, maritime law, insurance, finance, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and environmental management.

Instead of educating Filipinos principally for jobs on ships, we begin educating them for careers across the maritime world. That is how a manpower advantage can become a knowledge advantage and eventually an economic one.

The same thinking should extend across the country.

Ports should become engines of regional development. Shipyards should anchor industrial clusters. Marine ecosystems should be treated as productive natural capital. Maritime technology should become an innovation opportunity. Offshore energy should build Filipino engineering and service capabilities, not simply generate electricity.

And environmental protection cannot be an afterthought. There can be no Blue Philippines if the blue disappears.

Healthy seas are not the alternative to development. Sustainable maritime growth depends on them. All of this requires policy, investment and institutions. But perhaps it begins with something even more basic.

A conversation.

A finance official asking why more maritime value is captured elsewhere. A university president asking what new professions a maritime school could teach. An entrepreneur wondering what maritime technology company could be built here. A mayor asking how better ports could transform a local economy. A student discovering that a career connected to the sea does not necessarily mean going to sea. A policymaker asking why an archipelago has never organized development around one of its most obvious advantages.

One question creates another. One conversation creates another. We do not need 50 million maritime experts. We need 50 million Filipinos who understand why maritime matters.

This is one of the few truly global industries that moves food, energy, trade, people and opportunity across borders every day.

Filipinos are already helping move it. They represent 25% of the total global workforce working on the international fleet. The Philippines is already a maritime nation by geography. The question is whether we now have the imagination to become a maritime economy by design.

We have spent decades helping move the world. It is time to ask what maritime can do to move the Philippines.

With inflation accelerating, the peso weakening, economic growth slowing and the government’s debt rising to a new record high of P19.66 trillion as of end-September, there should be greater pressure for the judicious use of public funds.

As of end-June, sluggish gross domestic product growth and increased borrowings had already pushed up the debt-to-GDP ratio to a 21-year high of 66 percent.

Fiscal prudence starts with the proper allocation of public funds. It takes many months for executive agencies, working with development planners, to put together the annual national expenditure program. Budgeting for the NEP is supposed to be guided by strategic and cohesive planning.

And yet the nation has seen, over and over again, myopic, self-serving interests of individual lawmakers dominating the budget process, and wreaking havoc on any attempt to inject strategic objectives in the utilization of limited public funds.

Despite the scandal over massive corruption arising from the looting that had apparently been institutionalized in the crafting of the annual national budget, the 2027 General Appropriations Bill crafted by the House of Representatives indicates that congressmen are unmoved by public outrage.

Budget watchdogs have flagged over P1 trillion in questionable items inserted or realigned from the NEP by House members in their version of the GAB.

The People’s Budget Coalition described the flagged items as hard, soft and shadow pork barrel.

‘Hard’ pork refers to P695 billion mostly in lump sums for infrastructure projects including multipurpose buildings and farm-to-market roads that lack clear documentation, cost justifications and science-based planning.

‘Soft’ pork refers to P210 billion in social assistance or ayuda used for patronage and distributed through discretionary referrals of politicians.

‘Shadow’ pork refers to P112 billion in unprogrammed or standby appropriations that can be released with wide discretion.

The red flags have prompted even the business community to issue a statement of concern over the mangling of the proposed outlay for 2027.

Last Thursday, over 30 business groups issued a joint statement, urging Congress to remove the flagged insertions and correct the questionable realignments. The groups also called for the restoration of P130 billion in funding for foreign-assisted projects. The delayed implementation of FAPs due to the withdrawal of counterpart funding is costing the country billions in commitment fees and other penalties.

The Senate can still respond to public concerns and put an end to unconscionable business as usual in the budget process.

DoubleDragon Corp., the listed property business of Edgar ‘Injap’ Sia II and Tony Tan Caktiong, has nearly quadrupled its profit, fueled by strong overseas projects that generate dollar revenues.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, DoubleDragon Corp. reported yesterday that its core net income surged to P3.91 billion from January to September compared with P1.1 billion in the same period last year.

Consolidated revenue doubled to P20.78 billion.

DoubleDragon said overseas operations generated the majority of revenue at 59 percent, driven by growing demand for global projects.

DoubleDragon subsidiary Hotel101 Global Holdings Corp. demonstrated its value proposition when its 680-room Madrid hotel sold out on opening day. The company earns twice from its projects: first, from unit sales and second, from hotel operations.

Given this, DoubleDragon expects to sustain its growth story. The company aims to become a major dollar earner for the Philippine economy.

DoubleDragon said it has no ongoing condominium projects, making it least exposed to the glut of unsold units, particularly in Metro Manila.

Colliers Philippines said unsold condo units in Metro Manila hit 80,000 as of September, 44 percent of which are priced for lower-middle-income buyers at P3.6 million to P6.99 million.

DoubleDragon also said it has no exposure to large business process outsourcing locators, some of which are expected to reduce office space as they automate voice transactions.

DoubleDragon booked P1.13 billion in profit in the third quarter, which is six times larger than a year ago’s P183.67 million. This aligns with DoubleDragon’s expectations of faster growth in the second half.

DoubleDragon is opening new malls and warehouses nationwide. It also expects new sales from Hotel101 projects here and abroad.

‘DoubleDragon has generated a significant increase in its core revenues and income, and it expects an even higher jump in core revenues by the second half of this year,’ the developer said.

Raf Dionisio wanted to be a rich man, because he had set his sights on working for a multinational, being a corporate executive, using his penchant for Math and making a lot of money. Until a friend nudged him and said: you have to do something for the world. You have to make a difference. That woke him up and so Making A Difference or MAD travel was born.

He admitted to me that after college he had gone into as many as seven attempts to found a business that would survive. Some were purely commercial like buying and selling of cars, another was supplying vegetables door-to-door, another was investing in a social enterprise and even copying the ube jam of Good Shepherd, among many other attempts. But what got him deep into purpose, mission and what seems to be a sustainable business model is MAD travel. He established an adventure company. In this day and age when tourists look for experience and not things to buy or to just pose for a photo at a scenic spot, MAD travel became relevant.

Raf realized it had to be a little different and one had to be a little crazy. He designed his tours to allow people to ‘make a difference’ like teach in a school, help reforest and care for the environment by avoiding waste. To roll all of these things together, he zeroed in on his niche market: school field trips and company corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ESG events. After all, which company has not yet done a tree planting exercise? Almost every volunteerism event asks you to plant a tree.

But he first had to learn how to deal with the Aetas or any indigenous tribe because they have their respected rules such as running every plan with their elders. They have a leader called the IPMR or Indigenous People Management representative and he or she must tell the community about plans to reforest or whatever activity must happen. Raf had to take lessons from a reforestation project in Bukidnon with similar conditions. He asked for the advice of John Perrine of Hinelaban Foundation who had experience in reforestation with the Tala-andigs. So John asked him to bring his community elders over to learn in situ.

The similarity ended there. Bukidnon had the support of multinational corporations while Raf’s Zambales site only had start up businesses. But he carried on, learning which tree species could be planted in his area in Zambales which had lahar (volcanic flow) soil from Mount Pinatubo’s eruption. Over time he learned that he could plant kupang, a species where bats roost as they grow up to 30-40 meters high, the balete for fruits, agoho and narra. He learned about native species also from University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB)and transformed from being a math whiz to being a forester. He learned that the community elders are the ultimate foresters.

He takes pride in having planted 148,000 trees over a few years through the business model he evolved into – and it is called Impact Tourism. He has a handful of tour guides who know the forest, and he now knows the seasons of when it is hot and when there are floods. They also have a mountain development framework where tall trees are planted at the very top, fruits trees at lower elevations so they can be easy to harvest (e.g. cashew) and at the bottom would be root crops for food.

MAD travel will soon be renamed MAD Earth but the mission has stayed the same: protect the environment while having a sustainable economy in these parts. And companies can very well support Raf while doing their CSR and ESG initiatives or even just compliance because some creditor requires them to do so. Raf does not mind the reason, he cares that you choose to plant the right trees in the right environment. So MAD Earth can handle school field trips, company excursions and even ‘barkada’ treks. As he said: travel is the how and Earth is the why. Thus, it is now MAD Earth and appropriately so.

Raf has seven locations in and around Zambales for every trekker’s flavor profile. He has Tribes and Treks; Feast in the Forest and Heights in Harmony as some of the well-named tours his company has been developing. So if you wish to help reforest while making your staff feel excited, a MAD trek is what you should take. Already many of his trekkers belong to the younger generations – Gens Y, Z and Alpha. And that is good news. The younger ones are taking it into their own hands, literally. Digging the soil and planting those trees.

I wish Raf could replicate these tours in other places like Mount Apo, Mount Kitanglad and Mount Matutum. The same formula of Indigenous People plus mountain and the drive to reforest our denuded areas. It takes a madman, who was nudged into mission, to do something like this, keep at it for years and see it through. With Raf’s experience in Zambales, a hot and humid area, anywhere else that is cooler or higher might even be easier.

This is a good time to address our domestic tourism development with Impact Tourism projects such as MAD Earth. One man’s entrepreneurial dream may be the solution to climate change and sustainable development. Big words that can be solved by a crazy idea of an entrepreneur who has shown success in his pilot run in Zambales. Imagine that replicated across the country.

We hope your tribe increases, in a literal way. From one tribe to another, our indigenous people may be the solution to our climate change challenges. Reforest with the ultimate foresters. And throw in a Math whiz with determination and grit. That’s the MAD formula.

La Salle shot down rival Ateneo, 76-73, in overtime of their UAAP Season 89 men’s basketball tussle Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Green Archers fended off a gritty Blue Eagles side to get their third straight win in the tournament and rise to solo third.

Joaquin Tovera took center stage in the rivalry game, finishing with 21 points, seven rebounds, six assists and a steal in 32 minutes of play before exiting the ballgame with an ankle injury. JC Macalalag added 11 markers and three boards to go with two steals.

The two teams traded haymakers in regulation, with the lead swinging like a pendulum.

A floater by Jared Bahay with 48.3 seconds to go in the fourth pushed Ateneo ahead, 65-64, before his split from the line with 26.9 ticks remaining pushed their lead to two, 66-64.

On the other end, a slam by Henry Agunanne tied things up, and a Kieffer Alas drifting jumper missed for the win.

In the overtime period, La Salle started off with a 6-0 run thanks to the collective effort of Luis Pablo and Tovera.

An and-one play by Travis Roberts snapped the run, before Mason Amos connected on a trey for the dagger, 75-69.

Back-to-back layups by Alas, however, nipped the lead to just two, 73-75, with 28.4 seconds to go.

A split from the line by Agunanne made it a three-point ballgame, 76-73, and after a miss by Roberts on the other end, Vhoris Marasigan was fouled. Marasigan missed both, and on the inbound, Ateneo’s Bahay could not

take control of the ball, which sailed out of bounds.

A pair of misses from the free throw line by Doy Dungo opened up a window of opportunity for the Blue Eagles, but a heave by Ian Espinosa from three-fourths court missed as the clock melted.

Dungo, Agunanne and Amos had eight points each in the win.

Bahay and Alas paced Ateneo with 18 points each. The former had nine rebounds, four assists and three steals, while the latter hauled down four boards, dished out three dimes and had two steals. Shawn Tuano and Roberts finished with 12 points each.

Through 101 contests all-time, La Salle is now leading 51-50.

The Green Archers are now holding a 6-4 win-loss record, while Ateneo dropped to 5-5.

The Cebu City Government has started releasing fuel subsidy assistance to qualified transport drivers on Friday, October 30, months after approving the program and launching a validation process to weed out ineligible beneficiaries.

Initial payroll records released by City Hall showed that payouts had been scheduled for drivers from several barangays and transport groups.

Among the first batches were 104 qualified beneficiaries under the Habal-Habal Fuel Subsidy program in Barangay Sinsin, with a total allocation of P260,000; 109 beneficiaries from Barangay Cambinocot with P272,500; 98 from Sudlon 2 with P245,000; and 43 from Tabunan with P107,500.

The four barangays accounted for a combined payout of P885,000, with each beneficiary receiving P2,500 in cash.

Another batch covered drivers from Barangays Cogon Ramos, Sto. Niño, San Antonio and Sta. Cruz, involving 111 beneficiaries and a total allocation of P272,500.

The payouts mark the long-awaited implementation of the city’s P35-million fuel subsidy program, which aims to cushion transport workers from the impact of rising fuel prices.

The program faced repeated delays after city officials found discrepancies in the initial list of applicants.

The number of applicants had ballooned from about 10,000 to roughly 35,000, prompting City Hall to conduct a thorough revalidation to ensure that only legitimate transport workers would receive assistance.

Mayor Nestor Archival subsequently ordered stricter verification of beneficiaries, requiring applicants to submit supporting documents and certifications before they could be included in the final payroll.

The city government removed duplicate, questionable and ineligible entries from the master list before releasing the funds. The P35-million subsidy was earlier allocated through Supplemental Budget No. 1.

Qualified beneficiaries also include drivers of public utility vehicles, modern jeepneys, taxis and habal-habal operators who meet the requirements set under an executive order issued by Archival.

Officials earlier said applicants must be registered voters of Cebu City, hold valid driver’s licenses and certify that they have not received similar fuel assistance through another government program.