Author: user user

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian flagged on Monday the doubling of the appropriation for farm-to-market roads (FMRs) from P16 billion in the executive-approved National Expenditure Program to P32.6 billion in the proposed 2026 general appropriations bill.

Gatchalian questioned the 104-percent increase in FMR allocation during a Senate subpanel on finance hearing on the proposed budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

‘My point is that since we are cleaning the budget of the DPWH, it seems like the transfer of some of its funds to the DA [Department of Agriculture] can become an issue,’ the chair of the Senate finance committee said.

At a hearing early this month on the proposed budget of the DA, it was found out that more than P10 billion worth of FMRs in the 2023 and 2024 national budgets were ‘extremely overpriced.’

Gatchalian asked Christy Polido, director of the DA’s bureau of agricultural and fisheries engineering, if the P16-billion increase in the 2026 budget is part of the FMR Network Plan (FMRNP), a government strategy to improve rural infrastructure by creating and upgrading roads that connect agricultural areas to markets.

‘Some are included; some are yet to be validated,’ she said.

‘This additional P16 billion, is this included in your network plan or not?’ Gatchalian asked again.

Polido said that out of the P32 billion in total FMR appropriation, they have already validated around P24 billion.

Gatchalian pointed out that the remaining P8 billion will be the dilemma of the DPWH, noting that it cannot be implemented even if the funding is approved.

‘Correct, sir. The DPWH still has to get clearance from the DA . it cannot implement those projects unless cleared by the DA,’ Polido pointed out.

Gatchalian noted that it will be a waste if the P8 billion is approved and the projects later fail to make it to the FMRNP.

Verification

In the same hearing, Gatchalian gave the DPWH until Friday this week to complete the verification of 148 line items in its proposed budget for 2026 to make sure that these are not repeating line items from the previous year’s list.

According to Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon, they were able to check 798 out of the 946 projects earlier flagged as items carried from the 2025 budget.

‘There were a total of 946 projects that were identified, amounting to P14.455 billion. We are here to report to the committee that as of yesterday, we were able to provide validation and justification of 798 out of the 946 projects, roughly amounting to P11.656 billion out of the P14.455 billion,’ Dizon said.

Still on the DPWH budget, some lawmakers are also reporting either ‘double entries’ or unknown projects in their own districts in the proposed 2026 budget approved in the House.

‘Upon review, our office identified several project entries that appear to be duplicates due to variations in naming or descriptions,’ Batangas Rep. King Collantes said in a letter to Gatchalian dated Oct. 22.

Collantes listed as duplicated the road rehabilitation in Barangay Sta. Maria, Sto. Tomas City; the completion of a multipurpose building in Barangay Don Juan, Cuenca; and a similar project in Barangay San Jose, Sto. Tomas City, each costing P5 million.

Gatchalian said this only showed that even congressmen on the ground are not aware of these duplicate projects.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) diverted at least P50 billion from unprogrammed appropriations in the 2024 budget for infrastructure projects, including P30 billion for flood control works, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson disclosed on Tuesday.

‘In 2024 alone, the DPWH diverted P50 billion from unprogrammed appropriations for infrastructure projects, including P30 billion for flood control projects. This means DPWH officials have become comfortable with funding such projects even if this means violating the government’s master plan,’ Lacson said in an interview with radio dzBB.

‘These appropriations were spread throughout several districts. The public fund was abused because of the collusion between some lawmakers and DPWH officials, to the point that lawmakers gave the DPWH bigger funds than the education sector – and in 2025, they continued this practice until it exploded in our faces,’ he added.

Lacson said this reflects how DPWH officials have grown complacent in disregarding the government’s master plan for infrastructure projects.

Lacson stressed that the DPWH must end its practice of ‘playing’ with public funds, particularly the substitution of projects, which he said amounts to technical malversation.

‘When we pass the budget bill, everything is itemized. If you make changes there, that is already technical malversation even if you have not stolen anything yet. Appropriations for a particular item must be properly spent. If not, the funds should go to savings,’ he said.

He added that the Senate will take a firm stance in removing around P42 billion in appropriations for ayuda or social assistance programs from the unprogrammed funds in the 2026 budget bill and retain unprogrammed appropriations only for foreign-assisted projects.

Lacson also questioned why former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan received handwritten ‘memos’ from civilians or non-organic DPWH personnel endorsing certain projects when he headed the agency.

This is the latest in a string of irregularities Lacson uncovered in the DPWH while investigating alleged corrupt practices that led to substandard and ghost flood control projects.

‘I am baffled by the documents I saw, where Bonoan received handwritten memos that turned out to be from civilians or non-organic DPWH personnel. How did these memos, which were scribbled on Post-It notes, get to Bonoan?’ he said.

‘That’s the hard part. Such communications didn’t go through the official channels of the department. Why is the secretary dealing with them directly?’ he added.

Lacson earlier expressed concern over the so-called ‘leadership fund’ in the DPWH, which Bonoan described as a system for consolidating lawmakers’ project proposals in the National Expenditure Program – effectively allowing legislators to tinker with the budget before they are authorized to do so.

He also lamented that the DPWH would arbitrarily alter lawmakers’ requests, such as replacing a P1.5-billion proposal for multipurpose buildings with P600 million in flood control projects – an indication, he said, that kickbacks have taken precedence over genuine public needs.

ZUS Coffee remained unstoppable after sweeping Petro Gazz, 25-22, 25-21, 25-20, for its fourth straight win in the PVL Reinforced Conference on Tuesday at FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.

Anna DeBeer sustained her dominant form with 23 points on a 22-of-56 attacking clip to lead the Thunderbelles to a 4-0 record – a win closer to a first-round sweep.

Clo Mondoñedo paced ZUS Coffee with 23 excellent sets, as they eye a perfect Pool B finish against second placer Akari, which holds a 3-1 record, on November 4 at Mall of Asia Arena.

‘I’m really proud and thankful for everyone During practice, everyone gives their all. Our veteran players also help us younger ones, become more mature in the game. And we’re really thankful to Anna too, because she’s had such a big impact on the team,’ said Mondoñedo in Filipino.

‘I’m just happy and proud of how much we’ve grown and how far the team has come.’

AC Miner continued to shine in her first year in the pros with 11 points off eight kills, two blocks, and an ace, while veteran opposite spiker Jovelyn Gonzaga had another all-around game with nine points, nine digs, and six excellent receptions to help libero Alyssa Eroa, who had 12 digs and 12 receptions.

‘I’m really grateful for everyone’s commitment. When it comes to training, I also want to give credit to our second stringers because they really push us hard during practice. They go all out against us so that when it’s game time, we already know what to do. So credit to them,’ said Gonzaga in Filipino.

‘Our first six. Their hard work, patience, and game IQ, plus our setter’s leadership on the court and coach’s strategy. All of that really shows. Coach studies our rotations and everything so deeply. It’s truly a total team effort, and I’m so thankful.’

Lindsey Vander Weide led the Angels with 17 points. Brooke Van Sickle had 12 points, while Myla Pablo and MJ Phillips added 10 and nine points, respectively.

Petro Gazz finished the first round with a 3-2 record, but its bracketing in the next phase depends on the remaining Pool B games.

Magnolia acquired rookie forward Chris Koon after playing just five games for newcomer Titan Ultra.

The Hotshots sent veteran southpaw Aris Dionisio to complete the deal that was approved by the PBA on Tuesday.

Titan dealt the Ateneo product a few days since sending the rights of Dave Ildefonso to Converge in exchange for rookie Kobe Monje and two future draft picks.

Koon’s move came amid the Giant Risers’ struggles in the Philippine Cup with a 1-4, having dropped four in a row after defeating the Meralco Bolts in their PBA debut.

Last Sunday saw Titan squander a 19-point lead and lose by one to Rain or Shine on four free throws by Anton Asistio in the dying seconds.

Koon was picked fourth overall in last month’s Draft when Titan’s purchase of NorthPort was still pending league approval.

Dionisio has been with Magnolia since being taken eight overall in the 2019 Draft, usually playing as a spot-up big man off the bench.

Flooding is expected in seven regions across the country on Tuesday due to a low-pressure area (LPA), the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), and easterlies, the weather bureau said.

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), general flood advisories have been issued for areas forecast to receive light to moderate rains:

Mimaropa

Eastern Visayas

Western Visayas

Central Visayas

Zamboanga Peninsula

Soccsksargen

Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

According to Pagasa, the LPA was last seen 275 kilometers east of Pag-asa Island, Kalayaan, Palawan, embedded along the ITCZ.

Due to the LPA, Palawan is expected to experience scattered rains, while the ITCZ will bring similar weather to the Negros Island Region, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, and Dinagat Islands.

The ITCZ will also bring partly cloudy skies with isolated rains to the rest of Visayas and Mindanao, Pagasa said.

Meanwhile, easterlies are expected to cause isolated rains and thunderstorms in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, except for Cagayan and Batanes, the weather bureau added.

Pagasa also reported that the shear line will cause scattered rains in Cagayan, while the northeast monsoon, or amihan, is forecast to carry rains in Batanes.

Miguel Tabuena has talked a lot about LIV Golf being his target ever since the start of the year.

LIV Golf has harped about ‘growing the game’ ever since it saw birth in a loud way a few years back by recruiting big stars out of the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.

With what the 31-year-old Filipino accomplished last Sunday as far as growing the game is concerned, it seems Tabuena and LIV are meant for each other.

Would it be fair to say that Tabuena grew the game in the week that just passed? Yes. After all, it was easily the most watched pro golf event the country has ever hosted with people from different walks of life-and golfing abilities-coming out to show their support.

But the champ is not really sure. He only knows he started the right trend.

‘I hope this (win) inspires not only (Filipino) golf fans but sports fans in general in the Philippines,’ Tabuena had told a packed press conference at Sta. Elena, where he ruled the first stop of the International Series in the country, to gain a solid shot at making the LIV Golf circuit outright.

‘[I hope] they become more aware that golf is where Filipinos can excel,’ Tabuena added. ‘I hope more people (in the Philippines) pick up the game and that they play as families. Because you saw how important family is for me.’

Tabuena is now in Hong Kong with his team to take part in the next IS event starting on Thursday and he needs a strong showing there and in the next two-Singapore and Saudi Arabia-to have a chance at the automatic LIV circuit slot given to the IS rankings leader at the end of the year.

Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent occupies the No. 1 ranking with Tabuena now less than 100 behind in second place.

After playing the first 14 holes at level par, Tabuena gunned down an ace, four eagles and 16 birdies against two bogeys for the week, a fantastic stat line coming from someone who was forced to withdraw from a Macau event because of neck spasms.

But he held his own amid the pressure of playing at home by reaching for someone extraordinary to forge a win of that magnitude against a field that had four major champions and the best of the Asian Tour.

‘It wasn’t,’ was Tabuena’s lightning-quick reply when a foreign reporter said that he made it easy on the final round. ‘I fell on my knees (after the last putt) because it was hard to keep it together-with the expectations of the people, myself, it’s just such a great relief.’

It was also a relief that he won, especially for a country mired in allegations of corruption and senseless spending.

This country will be pulling for another win like that. Be it in Hong Kong, Singapore or Saudi Arabia, because for now, Miguel Tabuena is its latest sports toast who has grown the game the right way. INQ

A reward of P500,000 is being offered for information that will lead to the arrest of three suspects who allegedly shot a police officer dead, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) announced on Tuesday.

Police Capt. Joel Deiparine and Executive Master Sgt. Artchel Tero of the CIDG were trailing the suspects in Sitio Balaw, Barangay Sudlon 2 in Cebu City as part of an investigation into loose firearms when the shootout occurred.

Deiparine was killed, while Tero was wounded on his upper lip, CIDG public information chief Maj. Helen dela Cruz said in a press briefing in Camp Crame.

‘A total of P500,000 monetary reward will be given for individuals who can give information leading to the location and capture of the at-large suspects,’ dela Cruz said.

‘The reward was given by the local government unit of Cebu City, regional director of Police Regional Office 7, and an anonymous person,’ she added.

Dela Cruz also said Deiparine was posthumously awarded the Medalya ng Kadakilaan (Philippine National Police Heroism Medal) and his family was given financial assistance through the Public Safety Mutual Benefit Fund, Inc.

The CIDG public information chief only identified the three suspects as members of an alleged gun-for-hire group, and said the police have yet to determine how big the group was and for how long it was operating.

Filipinos who have traveled to Japan or Singapore often return with the same bewildered admiration. A wallet left behind on a train is returned hours later. A public toilet remains clean without supervision. A passerby will pause to help a stranger cross the street without expecting a reward or recording it for social media. It is not prosperity that impresses us most; it is civic maturity-the quiet discipline of citizens who act as if the public realm is their personal responsibility. And deep inside, many Filipinos quietly ask: Bakit hindi natin kaya ito?

We envy it because we recognize it. Filipinos know what disciplined care looks like-because we have produced it. Not just in moments of disaster, when volunteerism explodes, but in individuals who have made tenderness a long-term civic discipline rather than a burst of moral emotion.

Consider Fr. Ben Nebres, SJ, former president of Ateneo de Manila University. Instead of treating poverty as a problem of scarcity, he saw it as a crisis of abandonment-of children growing up invisible to the nation. In Payatas and nearby communities, he did not merely run feeding programs. He stayed with families for years, pairing daily nutrition with reading circles, parent accompaniment, and confidence-building-not relief, but formation. Not charity, but citizenship cultivation.

Or Efren Peñaflorida, who pushed the kariton classroom every weekend for over two decades, long after the cameras left. There were no grand pronouncements. No funding windfall. Just a stubborn refusal to accept that slum children must wait for the system to remember them.

And in 2021, Patricia Non quietly placed a bamboo table on Maginhawa Street with the handwritten sign: ‘Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha ayon sa pangangailangan.’ No NGO, no press kit. Yet in under three weeks, over 6,000 volunteer-run pantries emerged across the Philippines-before any government directive. That was not mere charity. It was the collective conscience reawakened.

These individuals were not extraordinary because of scale but because of consistency-a trait often mistaken here for sainthood, when in other countries it is simply called citizenship.

The truth is that what we admire abroad-from Japan’s spotless stations to Singapore’s instinctive queue discipline-is not the product of fear or surveillance, but of sustained cultural reinforcement. Urban planners now speak of the 15-minute city, mixed-income neighborhoods, and ‘eyes on the street’-concepts built on a simple premise: when public space is human-scaled and walkable, when people regularly see one another, they begin to notice again. Safety is not enforced-it is practiced together.

And yet, in the Philippines, our systems train the opposite reflex. We engineer invisibility. Gated subdivisions turn neighbors into abstractions. Malls replace plazas. Barangay halls become sites of transaction rather than accompaniment. It becomes possible-even normal-to live in a place and know nothing about those suffering just meters away.

But our problem is not the lack of moral instinct-it is the erosion of moral stamina. As a people, we do not lack the will to care but the infrastructure-cultural and urban-that helps us sustain that care beyond moments of adrenaline.

What if we began to design society around the principle that the opposite of corruption is not law but attention? That the antidote to civic decay is not merely outrage but radical tenderness-the disciplined refusal to look away, especially from those the system makes easy to ignore?

In Singapore, there is a deeply embedded norm called kiasu-fear of being the one who fails the collective. In Japan, the concept of omoiyari-sensitive awareness of others-is taught from preschool. These are not just values. They are civic operating systems.

We have our equivalents-malasakit, pakikiramay, bayanihan-but we have not protected them from exhaustion or repetition fatigue. We deploy them only in calamity, instead of embedding them as a daily reflex.

Perhaps the first civic reform we need is not a new law or agency but a recommitment to this question: ‘How do we design a society in which it becomes difficult to be indifferent?’

The champions we remember-Nebres, Peñaflorida, Non-are not exceptions to Filipino nature. They are evidence of what remains possible. What we admire abroad is not foreign to us. We have simply failed to protect it from dispersion.

It is not too late to rebuild a culture where discipline is not obedience to power but fidelity to one another.

Alpha Insurance found an edge on the court-and on the bench-with Billie Anima and JM Apolinario guiding the Protectors to a strong start in the Spikers’ Turf Invitational Conference.

Anima and Apolinario, both assistant coaches in the Premier Volleyball League, helped orchestrate Alpha’s 19-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-22 upset of back-to-back bronze medalist Savouge on Monday at FilOil EcoOil Center.

New recruit Barbie San Andres delivered 19 points on debut, teaming up with Anima in the clutch as the latter came up with key blocks to close out the final two sets.

‘It’s a big advantage,’ said head coach Mike Santos, who also coaches with PLDT. ‘It’s not hard to coach them because they already know what they’re doing. That’s our goal as players-to be able to teach others. For them, it’s easy because they already have that experience.’

Anima, also part of Petro Gazz’s staff, scored eight points, including six blocks. Apolinario, who assists at Galeries Tower, tallied 14 excellent sets. INQ

We all know about schools sponsoring annual fairs combining characteristics of theme parks, tiangge (bazaars), carnivals, vaudeville, and a kind of modern courtship ritual for teenagers.

They’re fun, meant mainly as a break from academics, but with very little educational value.

The last few years, though, we’ve seen the ‘ber’ months (October and November, with some spillover into December) featuring bazaars to capitalize on the Christmas holidays to stimulate retail sales in the malls, with pop-up booths.

For a change, these events have some educational value. I believe the educational events took off with Habi, which concentrated on traditional woven textiles with weavers from throughout the Philippines. This blended with the National Arts and Crafts Fairs organized by the Department of Trade and Industry, which included Habi. (This year’s Habi events extend over a month and are held in several venues.)

The Arts and Crafts Fair brought in Schools of Living Traditions, which were first established in 1995 by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), working with local governments. There are now 28 of these SLTs, serving 300 communities, which are tied to the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan, honoring traditional artists and artisans, many of whom are from indigenous communities.

The SLT booths in the arts and crafts fair have cultural presentations as well as exhibits and sales of their products, so attending these events becomes a secular pilgrimage, a chance for schools to send their faculty and students for heritage education.

I wanted to share my interactions with one of those schools based in Calinog, Iloilo and involving Panay Bukidnon communities. I first met them in 2019, at their SLT booth, with a young man selling clothing with panubok or artisan embroidery, each one with a story. The one selling panubok was 17-year-old Rennel Su-ay Lavilla, who, it turned out, wasn’t just selling the embroidery but was himself a producer. He was also a dancer, a chanter of epics, a maker of musical instruments (including the subbing, or Jew’s harp), and just this year, I found out he had become a babaylan or a traditional healer.

Rennel is now 23 and is a college student at the University of the Philippines Visayas. Back in 2019, while still in high school, he told me he intended to become a lawyer. It’s a ritual for me to ask each year if the dreams of law school might have changed through the years, and he is steadfast about that, but with some modification: it has to be UP, he explains.

Yes, I do ask if he will continue being an artist and artisan, and he assures me it is his life. I have no doubts he can become a hantup, a master artist who might someday become a Gawad sa Manlilikha.

The SLTs involve master artists and apprentices who attract some very young apprentices, and I can see how the appreciation of local heritage is nourished with pride. Indigenous peoples have had a tough time in the Philippines, with mainstream schools often putting down local heritage. I see this changing through the SLTs and the exhibits and trade fairs, which extend the boundaries of the SLTs.

I learned only this year that one of the most respected Gawad sa Manlilikha, Federico Caballero, who is from the Subanun Bukidnon, had died last year. It turned out Rennel had trained with Caballero. I also bought one of his embroidered works, which explains the worldview of the babaylan. He had actually shared with me, some years back, some of the symbols they used in the panubok but I had not really sat down with him to talk about the symbols of healing, something which he promised to do if I could just drop in before the end of this Arts and Crafts Fair. (The fair is on the fifth level of SM Megamall and runs until Oct. 29.)

Look at the many links bringing people together. There’s Rennel and the Caballero family, as well as Rennel’s exposure to UP Diliman faculty, in particular Cristine Muyo from the College of Music, who wrote ‘Sibod,’ the first full-length book about Subanun Bukidnon culture. Rennel had also studied with Alicia Magos, professor emeritus at UP Visayas and an anthropologist. And government support: the NCCA, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the office of Sen. Loren Legarda.

It’s this kind of heritage networking that’s going to be so important for the future. I think of my own children, fortunate enough to have met these artisans, including those around their age. I don’t exactly like malls, but they are at least being put to good use through crafts fairs and Schools of Living Traditions.