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Team Cebuana Lhuillier capped another impressive season with a finals finish at the 42nd PCA Men’s Team Tennis Championship, held on October 5, 2025, at the Philippine Columbian Association (PCA). The defending champions, who have long been recognized as one of the most consistent and dominant squads in Philippine tennis, once again showcased their trademark grit and sportsmanship in a tightly contested battle against PCA-JK Tyre.

In the championship tie, Cebuana Lhuillier fought valiantly across all five age-group matches. The team scored victories in the 60-and-over (8-4) and 50-and-over (8-4) categories, while narrowly conceding in the 65-and-over (5-7), 55-and-over (6-8), and 45-and-over (3-8) brackets. Despite the 2-3 overall result, Team Cebuana Lhuillier demonstrated depth, composure, and enduring competitiveness against another top-tier squad.

UTP President and Cebuana Lhuillier President and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier commended the team for its strong showing and enduring legacy: ‘I’m extremely proud of how our players continue to represent the Cebuana Lhuillier spirit – with determination, discipline, and heart. Our consistent success in the PCA Championship is a testament to the team’s hard work and love for the game. We look forward to coming back stronger next year as we continue to nurture tennis talent and elevate the sport across the country.’

With this runner-up finish, Cebuana Lhuillier further solidified its legacy as a powerhouse in Philippine team tennis – boasting an incredible record of 11 titles and five finals appearances throughout its storied history in the PCA Men’s Team Tennis Championship. The team’s consistent presence in the finals continues to reflect its commitment to excellence, camaraderie, and passion for the sport.

The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) on Wednesday sent an invitation to former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and a subpoena to resigned Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co to appear in its flood control probe hearing on October 14.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman was also invited to attend the hearing on Tuesday for ICI to seek authoritative guidance from the Department of Budget and Management about the National Expenditure Program and General Appropriations Act.

ICI will also inquire about programs linked to the ghost or substandard flood control projects, as well as the procedures for the release of the unprogrammed funds.

Based on the invitation to Romualdez and the subpoena issued to Co, both signed by ICI Chair Andres Reyes, the hearing set for Tuesday will be at 10 a.m. at the commission’s office in Taguig City.

Meanwhile, Pangandaman was asked to attend the hearing at 9 a.m.

Hearing invitation for Romualdez

Reyes asked Romualdez in the letter to appear before the ICI’s hearing on Tuesday to discuss his ‘familiarity and personal knowledge as Speaker of the House relative to the National Budget insertions, and as well as the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) flood control projects.’

Romualdez was included in the copy of ICI’s immigration lookout bulletin order (ILBO) request to the Department of Justice (DOJ) dated this Wednesday.

Along with him in the ILBO list were Senators Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva, ex-senators Bong Revilla and Nancy Binay, and several others.

Earlier, a former security consultant of Co said in a Senate Blue Ribbon committee that Romualdez allegedly received kickbacks from government projects. The Leyte 1st District Representative denied the allegation.

Subpoena vs Co

Meanwhile, the subpoena against Co stated that the resigned lawmaker is ‘hereby commanded and required to appear before the Commission to testify under oath relative to your personal knowledge ever since you joined the Committee on Appropriations of the National Budget insertions and your involvement in DPWH flood control projects.’

Co was directed to bring the following upon his appearance before the commission:

1. Contracts, records and reports related to any government projects, project proposals, feasibility studies and master plans for flood control projects that you or the corporation where you or your family have beneficial interest

2. Accounting forms and documents such as, but not limited to vouchers, invoices, official receipts, etc., relevant to the contracts, records and reports in No. 1

3. Incorporation and registration documents such as, but not limited to, the following:

Articles of Incorporation

Certificate of Business Registration

Latest General Information Sheet (including beneficial owner information)

Latest Financial Statement

Department of Trade and Industry (DTT) Registration

Latest Income Tax Return

License from the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board

The DOJ earlier requested the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to issue a blue notice on Co, as the resigned lawmaker has yet to be tracked down.

Recently, the ICI urged the Office of the Ombudsman to determine the appropriate charges to be filed against Co and 17 other public officials in connection with the alleged anomalies in a P289.5-million flood control project in Oriental Mindoro.

He also denied allegations that he was involved in flood control anomalies. /apl

Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon met with Cagayan Gov. Edgar Aglipay and local officials on Wednesday to discuss urgent solutions following the collapse of the decades-old Piggatan Bridge, which has left thousands of residents and farmers cut off from key trade routes.

During his inspection, Dizon announced plans to install detour bridges in areas with aging or structurally compromised spans while a more permanent solution is being worked out. He also committed to include the construction of a new bridge in the DPWH’s proposed 2026 national budget.

The 50-year-old Piggatan Bridge, built in 1974, collapsed on Monday afternoon after several overloaded trucks attempted to cross the span, exceeding its 18-ton capacity.

The collapse has severely disrupted travel and commerce for at least 100,000 farmers in Alcala and neighboring towns.

Aglipay earlier called for stricter monitoring of aging bridges in the province, including the Buntun, Gava, Baybayog, and Magapit bridges

The House version of the 2026 national budget contains at least P230 billion in pork barrel and patronage-based projects despite the House committee on appropriations’ promises to avoid a repeat of the much-maligned 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

This was according to a coalition of civil society organizations and budget watchdogs, which called on Congress to reallocate the entire amount instead to social protection, health, agriculture, and sustainable transportation programs.

‘We refuse to let the GAA remain a playground for patronage and corruption. We call on Congress to hit reset on the budget, clean it up, and restore integrity to our budget process to truly respond to the needs of the nation,’ they said in an open letter published on Tuesday.

Among the signatories were the People’s Budget Coalition, PH Budget Watch, Roundtable for Inclusive Development, Move as One Coalition, FOI Youth Initiative, Project Gunita, Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, and former Sen. Franklin Drilon.

Observer status

Most of these groups were granted observer status by the House for the 2026 budget process as part of the chamber’s reforms to make the proceedings more transparent.

In their letter, however, they said they had ‘lost trust in the integrity of the budget process’ after the House budget amendments review subcommittee (BARSc) voted to insert billions into programs that they said ‘perpetuate political patronage.’

This, they said, comes with the House’s failure to ‘remove or rationalize line items that are opaque and prone to abuse,’ such as confidential funds and unprogrammed appropriations.

Unprogrammed funds

The BARSc was constituted for the first time in the history of Congress under House appropriations chair and Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Suansing.

Before the House staged its marathon plenary deliberations on Sept. 23, the subcommittee moved to realign the P255 billion slashed from the Department of Public Works and Highways to, among others, the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation, the Department of Health’s Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients Program, and the Department of Labor and Employment’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers program.

These programs, along with the controversial Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita program that was defunded this year, have long been criticized for being a form of congressional pork barrel.

4Ps, education

The budget watchdogs argued that these programs must either be transformed into ‘transparent, rules-based programs-or scrap[ped] altogether.’

The funds, they added, must be reallocated instead toward the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and the full restoration of the government subsidies due to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

Specifically, they said, Congress must at least allocate the P50 billion they cut last year for qualified 4Ps beneficiaries.

The groups also corrected the House’s claims that the education budget-now at P1.224 trillion-already breached the benchmark of 4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), as the current allocation was equivalent to only 3.6 percent.

They also noted that the education sector saw an increase of only P35 billion, even though the Department of Education and related agencies asked for a total of P100 billion to cover, among others, shortages in classrooms, computers, and the provisions in the free college education law.

Beyond the P230 billion that they tagged as pork barrel, the groups also flagged the ‘bloated level’ of P250 billion in unprogrammed appropriations (UAs) in the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

UAs are standby authorizations that can be tapped only when new revenue or loans materialize.

These, they said, must be ‘slashed and heavily rationalized to ensure these are not used for local pork projects or be used as a pretext to sweep cash from government corporations with existing fiduciary mandates.’

Source of abuse

On the part of the House minority, Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima and Akbayan Rep. Perci Cendaña said they support Senate President Vicente Sotto III’s proposal to slash the UA completely from the 2026 national budget.

‘We’ve seen in 2023, 2024, and even 2025 that the UA has been a source of abuse,’ De Lima said, referring to testimonies that lawmakers have been inserting funding for public works projects in the NEP through the UA.

‘[The Senate position] is also our position and of the minority lawmakers. we’re hoping that, if we can’t remove it completely, then at least be very restrictive about it and limit it only to a few items and agencies,’ she added.

Cendaña, on the other hand, challenged the House leadership to also make the same commitment, emphasizing that if the projects under the unprogrammed funds were indeed important, ‘then they shouldn’t be unprogrammed in the first place.’

‘If the unprogrammed appropriations stay, then it might cast a shadow on our efforts to cleanse the stain of corruption from our national budget. We hope that Speaker Faustino Dy III will ensure its removal to show the House is committed to rebuilding public trust,’ he said.

The local stock barometer settled just below 6,100 on Wednesday as optimism over the central bank’s next move intensified, especially after inflation in September had ended slower than expected.

By the end of the session, the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) gained 0.25 percent, or 14.91 points, to close at 6,098.74.

Likewise, the broader All Shares Index added 0.31 percent, or 11.43 points, to 3,684.65.

A total of 4.54 billion shares worth P6.38 billion changed hands, stock exchange data showed.

Luis Limlingan, head of sales at stock brokerage house Regina Capital Development Corp., said investors continued shopping for shares ahead of the next policy meeting of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Monetary Board (MB) on Thursday, Oct. 9.

The MB is expected to price in the 1.7-percent faster inflation print in September, although this was slower than the 2 percent forecast of analysts.

Active stocks

International Container Terminal Services Inc. was the most actively traded stock as it climbed 3.02 percent to P528. It was followed by: Philex Mining Corp., which surged by 12.22 percent to P10.10.

BDO Unibank Inc. was up 0.43 percent to P140 each, while Bank of the Philippine Islands was down 3.63 percent to P108.70.

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. slipped 1.88 percent to P23.55 each.

Other key movers were:

Converge ICT Solutions Inc., up 3.81 percent to P13.08

Ayala Corp., up 1.16 percent to P490

Universal Robina Corp., up 2.82 percent to P76.60

Jollibee Foods Corp., down 0.45 percent to P219

Apex Mining Co. Inc., up 1.69 percent to P10.86.

Gainers edged out losers, 94 to 92, while 65 companies closed flat, stock exchange data also showed.

Maddie Madayag made her comeback for Choco Mucho after a fruitful stint with Kurobe Aquafairies in the Japan SV.League and Alas Pilipinas.

Madayag saw limited action but made a huge impact, scoring five points, including the back-to-back kill blocks that sealed Choco Mucho’s 33-31, 26-24, 25-23 sweep of Capital1 on Tuesday night at Ynares Center Montalban.

‘I guess playing overseas and with the national team helps a lot, too. But PVL is a different situation, so I still need to adjust a bit. In training though, I try to share whatever I’ve learned from my experience outside. I’m just really happy that I get to contribute more in that way,’ said Madayag in Filipino.

Madayag was thrilled to contribute and don the Flying Titans jersey once again as well as teaming up with new faces.

‘I just did my job when I was sent in, and as always, we just follow the system. As long as we stick to that and stay on the right track, I think the outcome of the game will turn out well,’ she said.

‘Our new players are really brave, and I’m super proud and happy to have them on the team. We know they can really bring a lot to the table.’

Choco Mucho will have to repeat its triumph performance against Capital1 after the league and participating teams agreed to replay the opening games after missing their imports due to the dispute over International Transfer Certificates.

It will give Madayag more time to reconnect and form a stronger bond with the Flying Titans.

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said on Wednesday that the decline of the unemployment rate to 3.9 percent in August 2025 proves an ‘aggressive and successful recovery’ from the 5.3 percent unemployment rate in July 2025.

‘This is a powerful manifestation of our economy’s resilience and continued strength. This performance is even more impactful when viewed against the 5.3 percent unemployment rate in July 2025, demonstrating aggressive and successful recovery,’ Laguesma said in a statement.

Additionally, the DOLE chief said there has been a ‘strong driving job recovery and employment creation across the country,’ supplemented by the increase in employment.

The August 2025 Labor Force Survey (LFS) reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed that the employment rate increased by 1.4 percentage points – from 94.7 percent in July to 96.1 percent in August.

Laguesma also celebrated the increase in job quality, based on the underemployment rate, which lowered from 14.8 percent in July to 10.7 percent in August, according to PSA data.

This shows more workers transitioning from ‘insufficient and inadequate part-time work to substantially more permanent employment,’ DOLE reported.

According to the LFS, the service sector remains dominant in the employment landscape, accounting for 61.5 percent of the workforce. DOLE also noted recovery in the agriculture sector, with 20.4 percent of the labor force, as well as the industry sector, with 18.1 percent of the labor force.

With this, Laguesma vowed that DOLE will ‘scale up’ its pre-employment and internship programs, as well as its collaborations with Public Employment Service Offices, the private sector, and government agencies to organize more job fairs nationwide.

Furthermore, he highlighted the government agency’s partnerships with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for insights on jobs and the economy, and the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines for youth employability in the IT and business process management sector.

The agency also recently recommitted to sustainable jobs, saying it will ‘focus on implementing the Framework and Action Plan for Green Jobs’ that was discussed in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Green Jobs Forum on August 27-28 in Malaysia. ‘DOLE will remain steadfast in its commitment to efficient, honest, and transparent public service in the implementation of our programs, projects, and activities,’ Laguesma added.

The number of unemployed Filipinos declined to 2.03 million in August, from 2.59 million in July, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported on Wednesday.

That was equivalent to a jobless rate of 3.9 percent, down from 5.3 percent in the previous month.

Meanwhile, 5.38 million employed individuals looked for more jobs or longer working hours to augment their income in August, down from 6.8 million before.

That yielded an underemployment rate of 10.7 percent, easing from 14.8 percent in July.

The services sector accounted for the largest share of total employment at 61.5 percent, followed by agriculture with 20.4 percent and industry at 18.1 percent.

The top five sub-sectors in terms of annual increase in the number of employed persons were the following:

Construction (540,000)

Fishing and aquaculture (448,000)

Administrative and support service activities (307,000)

Agriculture and forestry (300,000)

Other service activities (239,000).

More than 9,000 aftershocks have been recorded following the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck Northern Cebu, the state seismologist reported on Wednesday, Oct. 8.

In its 10 a.m. update, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported a total of 9,108 aftershocks, of which 1,666 have been plotted and 38 were felt.

The tremors ranged in magnitude from 1.0 to 5.1.

The agency also confirmed a coastal uplift in Barangay Nailon, Bogo City, where the shoreline rose by about a meter. Phivolcs observed exposed tidal flats, raised tidal notches, and elevated high-tide markers, which they attribute to movement along the Bogo Bay Fault.

The 6.9 quake has left at least 72 people dead, more than 550 injured, and affected around 611,000 residents across Northern Cebu, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council. /mcm

This year’s southwest monsoon or ‘habagat,’ season has officially ended, with the country transitioning to the northeast monsoon or ‘amihan,’ season, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said on Tuesday.

‘Recent observations indicate that the southwest monsoon (habagat) has been weakening during the past few weeks,’ it added in an advisory.

‘Forecast models also show this trend in the coming days. With these developments, the habagat season has officially ended. Likewise, this marks the termination of the rainy season over the western sections of Luzon and Visayas,’ it said.

Pagasa also observed a gradual change in the country’s weather pattern ‘due to the strengthening of the high-pressure system over East Asia and the southward migration of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ).’

It said that cloudy skies and rain were prevailing nationwide due to the combined effects of the northeasterly wind flow and the ITCZ.