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This city’s chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP-CDO) is pushing back against recent remarks from Presidential Task Force on Media Security executive director Jose Torres Jr. that downplayed the extent of media killings and rejected the idea that impunity continues to endanger the press.

NUJP-CDO said that while not all journalist deaths are immediately tied directly to their work, every case should be presumed work-related until evidence proves otherwise-especially in a country where threats and attacks against the press rarely lead to real accountability.

NUJP-CDO Chair Franck Rosete pointed out that decades of unsolved killings, delayed prosecutions, and missing masterminds point to a system where silencing a journalist often goes unpunished.

They noted that nearly half of the roughly 200 journalist killings recorded since 1986 remain officially labeled ‘not work-related,’ a distinction they say glosses over the failure to bring those responsible to justice.

The 2009 Ampatuan massacre-the single deadliest attack on journalists in history-serves as the most chilling example.

Thirty-two media workers were murdered in Maguindanao. It took 10 years before a court convicted some of those involved, and dozens of suspects are still at large.

International watchdogs continue to flag the Philippines for its dangerous conditions.

The Committee to Protect Journalists’ latest Global Impunity Index ranked the country ninth worldwide, marking the 17th consecutive year that the Philippines has appeared on the list.

The NUJP-CDO said it welcomes efforts that include a new agreement between PTFoMS and the National Police Commission (Napolcom), which aims to prevent police harassment and protect journalists’ rights.

Rosete warned, though, that those steps will only matter if they lead to swift investigations and accountability for every attack.

On Friday, after the event at Napolcom, Torres said there is no culture of impunity in the country with respect to media killings.

‘Minimizing the problem does not make journalists safer,’ the union reads, urging authorities to acknowledge the threat the media faces rather than deny it.

The path to protecting the press, NUJP-CDO said, starts with ending impunity and ensuring both the triggermen and the masterminds are brought to justice.

The Supreme Court en banc has approved the rules on extradition proceedings, providing clear guidelines on the applications for warrants of arrest, hold departure orders, and bail.

Extradition is the removal of an individual from the Philippines-the requested state-to place them at the disposal of foreign authorities or the requesting state to hold them in connection with a criminal investigation directed against them or for the execution of a penalty under the penal or criminal law of the other country.

According to the rules, which will take effect on November 10, extradition is allowed only when the crime is punishable under both Philippine law and that of the requesting state.

Extradition begins when the justice secretary or any designated authorized state counsels of the Office of the Chief State Counsel files a verified petition with the extradition court. Once filed, that court has exclusive jurisdiction over the case, even if the extraditee moves to a different location or residence. After reviewing the petition and ensuring that it complies with the law and applicable treaty, the court will issue an arrest warrant that can be served anywhere in the Philippines.

Central authority

The court may also issue hold departure orders, upon request, to prevent the extraditee from leaving the country, except for purposes of extradition. If the extraditee is also facing criminal charges or serving a sentence in the Philippines for an offense other than the one for which extradition is requested, the execution of the extradition judgment may be postponed unless the court handling the local criminal case, upon request by the ‘central authority’ or justice secretary, allows the temporary surrender of the extraditee to the requesting state.

Expectations of unfavorable weather conditions prompted Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to temper its energy sales forecast this year despite delivering a strong financial performance in the nine-month period.

Meralco senior vice president and chief revenue officer Ferdinand Geluz said the listed power giant now expected ‘flattish to negative 0.4 percent to 0.8 percent’ energy sales by the end of this year.

This marked a downgrade from its earlier forecast of a modest 1 to 2 percent energy sales growth.

Weather patterns

‘We were hoping for a normalization of weather patterns, but we see worsening weather patterns. In fact, in the third quarter alone, we had 10 more suspension of classes and even government offices,’ Geluz said during Meralco’s financial briefing on Monday.

Geluz said heavy rains and flooding ‘impeded the mobility’ of both residential and commercial customers.

‘By way of temperature, the industrial segment is more resilient because normally, their environment is more controlled. Unlike commercial (segment), the bulk of the power requirements is really on cooling,’ he said.

‘If the weather is colder and the customer mobility is impeded, the requirement for cooling power decreases. The same goes for residential customers,’ he added.

Power generation

Meralco, the listed utility giant led by tycoon Manuel Pangilinan, said its consolidated reported net income had climbed 9 percent to P36.82 billion as of end-September. Consolidated core net income settled at P40 billion, up 14 percent.

The core income of its distribution utility business contributed P21.9 billion to earnings, equivalent to 37 percent of the total.

The contribution of power generation business reached P14.7 billion, while the retail electricity supply and nonelectric businesses brought in a combined P3.4 billion.

During the period, consolidated revenues stood at P371.77 billion, up 5 percent.

Meralco chief finance officer Betty Siy-Yap said the top line had been driven by higher pass-through generation and transmission charges, improved revenues of power generation due to its participation in the reserve market and higher sales volume from retail electricity.

Energy sales in the January to September period slightly increased to 50,880 gigawatt-hours from 50,641 GWh.

Energy sales

The distribution utility business accounted for 81.3 percent or 41,358 GWh of overall volume.

On the other hand, consolidated energy sales stood at 40,719 GWh, relatively unchanged from 40,872 GWh, due to the extended period of inclement weather affecting the electricity demand in residential and commercial segments.

‘Based on the growth of our power generation business and the steady performance of our core distribution business in the past nine months, we stay positive that we will achieve our full-year core profit guidance of P50 billion,’ Pangilinan said.

Siy-Yap said the listed firm was counting on the earnings contributions of Meralco subsidiaries to attain the 2025 profit target. INQ

Publicly disclosing the truths about government anomalies and other irregularities, even scandals, can be unsettling for those who are comfortably ensconced in their ivory towers of power. They try their best to discredit those who speak the truth by concocting unsavory stories about them.

We have seen this happen during the time of former President Rodrigo Duterte. Those who spoke the truth about Duterte’s deadly war on drugs were subjected to severe heckling and ridicule on social media.

A few brave women, like former senator and now Mamamayang Liberal party list Rep. Leila de Lima and journalist Maria Ressa, had to suffer inordinately because of publicly disclosing the truths about Duterte and his deadly war on drugs. De Lima was incarcerated without the benefit of a trial on trumped-up charges that linked her to the illegal drug trade. Some social media posts even portrayed De Lima as having questionable moral integrity, linking her to an alleged sex scandal that was proven to be a deepfake, artificial intelligence-generated video. On the other hand, Ressa, who later became a recipient of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, was harassed with several court cases involving the alleged questionable ownership of her media group.

One journalist, Patricia Evangelista, who published her documentation of the extrajudicial killings associated with Duterte’s war on drugs, had to banish herself completely to escape possible harm that her book, ‘Some People Need Killing,’ might bring her.

I also received various online hate and threat messages whenever I critiqued Duterte and his minions in this column. One of these messages caused a lot of anxiety for my family and friends, who worried that these threats would translate into actual physical harm to me. I also had to ‘unfriend’ some of those whom I considered to be my fellow peace advocates but who turned out to be die-hard Duterte fanatics. I also had to deal with some relatives, who are still, up to now, convinced of Duterte being a ‘strong and decisive’ president and have joined the call to bring him back to Davao City. Such a stance has driven a wedge in our relationship as members of the same family group.

We have just seen a massive public reaction to the various truths about scandalous flood control projects, not only in mainstream but also on social and other alternative media platforms.

However, such disclosures and exposures of how these corrupt practices were done-under the purview and connivance of state actors and representatives-have just led to wholesale disappointment that nothing has happened to address these. Nobody has been hauled to court, nobody has been arrested, and some of those whose hands have been dirtied as conniving partners in the corrupt practices of contractors are still holding on to their government positions. Some of them even serve as part of the committee that is investigating these anomalies.

Think of drug lords running the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency or landlords managing the country’s agrarian reform programs. Will we eventually become a rogue state ruled by rogues and criminals? God forbid.

Or how can one senator be the former chair of the blue ribbon committee when his family is part of an insurance company that has guaranteed anomalous ‘ghost’ flood control projects? It is a good thing he has been replaced.

If this is how the present administration deals with inconvenient truths about anomalous flood control projects and other related corrupt practices, then it can be said that it is no better than the previous administration’s way of dealing with inconvenient truths, except perhaps that this administration of President Marcos seems to be veering away from Duterte’s use of impunity in many of his policies and programs.

But it is not enough to uncover the truths about corrupt practices. There should be consequent action-punitive and restorative action-that should be meted out to those found with incontrovertible evidence of their corrupt practices.

Within all these scandalous revelations, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said that repentance is enough to answer for one’s anomalous practices like vote-buying, getting kickbacks from government projects, and other related indiscretions. But even his own brother, former Mayor Lino Cayetano, disagrees with him.

Disclosure and repentance are not enough to cover up inconvenient truths about one’s malpractices as a government official. Those who have been found to have engaged in such dishonesty and serious betrayal of public trust must be punished appropriately and must provide the needed compensation for the harm they have done to the people.

The body of one of the two construction workers missing after an Elf truck plunged into the Chico River in Gawa sub-village, Tocucan, Bontoc, Mountain Province, was recovered on Tuesday morning, according to the Bontoc Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO).

The victim was identified by relatives and coworkers as Carlo Ancheta, a native of Tayug, Pangasinan.

Another worker, Edmund Romeo, remains missing as of press time.

Search and retrieval operations were temporarily halted on Monday night due to heavy rains, but resumed early Tuesday.

Authorities said the Elf truck fell about 170 meters from the mountain road in Gawa, Tocucan, after colliding with a Fiera and a mini dump truck around 6 a.m. on Monday. Debris from the vehicle remains lodged along the riverbank.

Three other workers-Rogelio Dela Cruz, 22, and JC Galicia, 20, both from San Rafael, San Nicolas, Pangasinan, and Zoren Jay Alat, 25, from Siayam, Zamboanga del Norte-were declared dead on the spot. Their remains have been brought to a funeral home.

The victims were reportedly on their way to a construction project in Kuro-kuro, Sadanga, Mountain Province, when the accident occurred

Higher operating costs continued to drag the bottom line of Aboitiz-led Union Bank of the Philippines, with its earnings in the January to September period dropping by 24 percent.

In a disclosure to the local bourse on Monday, the lender said its earnings in the first nine months had declined to P6.5 billion from the P8.56-billion profit posted a year ago.

The company’s quarter-on-quarter performance, on the other hand, witnessed a solid result, with net income surging by 77 percent to P3.2 billion in the July to September period.

Consumer business

Its net revenues during the nine-month period, meanwhile, grew 7.2 percent to P60.5 billion, mainly fueled by its consumer business.

Unsecured consumer loans increased 16 percent to P138.5 billion, an improvement the firm owed to its ‘targeted digital marketing campaigns and portfolio actions.’

Net interest income likewise jumped 11.6 percent to P47.5 billion from P42.6 billion.

However, the group’s operating expenses went up by 7 percent to P35.5 billion from P33 billion in the same period a year ago.

Client acquisition

But UnionBank, now led by its new CEO Ana Maria Aboitiz-Delgado, said the investments were necessary to pump up its customer service game, as the funds had gone to boosting client acquisition, service delivery, client engagement and operational efficiency.

The bank said these were ‘key pillars in the expansion of both consumer and institutional banking franchises.’

‘The bank will continue to build on the progress made in strengthening operational resiliency and reinforcing the balance sheet,’ UnionBank chief financial officer Manuel Lozano said.

‘Credit costs have stabilized while portfolio quality continues to improve. Combined with strong top-line momentum, these developments position UnionBank for a positive growth trajectory in the future,’ the executive added.

In June, UnionBank raised P16 billion from the domestic debt market to finance its expansion plans. INQ

Patrick Dela Rosa, a former matinee idol in the 1980s and 1990s who turned to politics, has died.

His nephew Joram dela Rosa announced his death in a Facebook post on Monday, Oct. 27.

‘Today, I honor not just a celebrated actor and respected public servant, but a man whose kindness, love, and presence shaped my life, my uncle, Patrick dela Rosa,’ he said. ‘To me, Uncle Patrick wasn’t just a star on screen, he was a light in my life. He was a man who lived fully, loved deeply, and never forgot his family. He was my second father, my hero, and my best friend.’

The family has not yet disclosed the cause of dela Rosa’s death and other details of his wake.

The provincial information office of Oriental Mindoro where the actor-turned politician served as a provincial board member also announced his death on its Facebook page.

‘Taos-pusong nakikidalamhati ang Pamahalaang Panlalawigan sa pamilya ng namayapang si Former Board Member Patrick Dela Rosa,’ its post read.

‘Maraming salamat sa iyong mga iniwang ala-ala hindi lamang sa industriya ng pag-aartista, kundi maging sa pagbibigay-serbisyo para sa mga Mindoreño,’ it continued.

(We at the Public Information Office wholeheartedly extend our condolences to the family of our former Board Member Patrick Dela Rosa. Thank you very much for the memories you left not only in the entertainment industry as an actor but also for the service to your Mindoreños.)

Known for his good looks, Dela Rosa made a mark for his notable lead and villain roles in action movies. Some of his works include ‘Kristo’ and ‘Suspek.’

Dela Rosa went on to serve his constituents of Oriental Mindoro as a board member. He eventually moved to the US with his family, where he restarted his career as a businessman.

A Utility Vehicle (UV) Express operator and its drivers plying the Binangonan-Megamall route have been summoned for alleged overcharging of fares, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said on Tuesday.

In a show-cause order issued by the LTFRB on October 23, Binganon Transport Cooperative and some of its drivers were directed to explain the alleged overcharging of passengers; otherwise, their certificate of public convenience will be suspended.

Based on surveillance by the Department of Transportation (DOTr), the cooperative was found to have been charging a fixed rate of P60 regardless of passengers’ destination.

Meanwhile, passengers who board at Shangri-La along Shaw Blvd. and get off the UV Express at Tikling, Taytay, Rizal are charged P35.

This was confirmed by drivers, fare collectors, and some passengers, according to the DOTr.

One of the drivers explained that the fixed fare was supposedly used by the operator to pay for their loading area at Megamall, the DOTr added.

According to the LTFRB, if the individuals involved fail to appear at the hearing, they will be fined P5,000.

Acting Transport Chief Giovanni Lopez denounced the overcharging and warned that the agency will continue to pursue violators.

‘It is not right that our passengers are being overcharged. They should follow the LTFRB fare matrix. We will not stop cracking down on those who overcharge fares,’ Lopez said in a statement.