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Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III expressed confidence in the majority bloc’s support for his leadership.

In a text message to reporters on Monday, Sotto said he is ‘very confident’ of his colleagues’ backing amid murmurs of another coup d’état attempt.

However, he did not say whether loyalty checks are being conducted among senators.

Sotto’s leadership is backed by 15 senators, but Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson has warned that the majority’s slim lead over nine minority members could potentially trigger another coup attempt.

‘That’s what I told the Senate president. I said, ‘We are 15, they are nine, don’t underestimate the nine,’ Lacson said in Filipino at a Kapihan sa Senado then.

Meanwhile, in a separate text message also on Monday, Senate Deputy Majority Leader JV Ejercito-who earlier admitted that the idea of leaving the majority bloc had crossed his mind-dismissed rumors of a renewed attempt to change the Senate leadership.

‘No change in leadership,’ he said.

Sotto assumed the Senate presidency in September after a minority-led ouster against Sen. Francis Escudero succeeded./mcm

Yields on short-dated government debts went up during Monday’s sale of Treasury bills (T-bills) as investors await the inflation data and the central bank’s next policy decision this week.

Auction results showed the Bureau of the Treasury was able to raise its target amount of P22 billion via T-bills.

The offering was 3.4 times oversubscribed after attracting total tenders amounting to P74.5 billion.

Even so, the 91-day debt paper fetched an average rate of 4.983 percent, higher than the previous offering’s 4.828 percent.

The average yield for the 182-day T-bill stood at 5.128 percent, up from last week’s 5.075.

Lastly, investors asked an average rate of 5.228 percent for the 364-day securities, higher than the preceding auction’s 5.171 percent./tad

The Philippine Navy’s BRP Agta (LC290) delivered more than 44.66 tons of relief and construction materials to Masbate as part of its humanitarian response following the onslaught of Typhoon Opong.

‘The vessel left Ouano Wharf in Mandaue City, Cebu, on Thursday and arrived in the province the next day, unloading cargo-primarily construction supplies for rebuilding damaged infrastructure-intended to support rehabilitation efforts in typhoon-hit communities,’ said Lt. John Emmanuel I. Sison, PN, director of the NAVFORSOL Public Affairs Office.

He added that the operation was conducted in coordination with the Tanging Yaman Foundation, a private partner in the ongoing relief efforts.

‘The successful execution of this mission reflects our continued commitment to stand with our fellow Filipinos during times of need. The Navy remains committed to delivering aid wherever and whenever it is needed,’ said Commodore Salvador G. Lavapie Jr., commander of Naval Forces Southern Luzon, in a statement on Monday

Following the 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit Cebu on September 30, business units of Aboitiz Power Corporation (AboitizPower) in the province were mobilized to provide support to affected families and communities.

Visayan Electric Company, Inc., in partnership with the Aboitiz Foundation, distributed over a thousand relief packs to Bogo City and the municipalities of Medellin, Daanbantayan, and San Remigio, which included clean water, ready-to-eat food, and hygiene kits. ‘It’s our bayanihan spirit that makes a difference,’ said AboitizPower SVP and COO of the Distribution Business Group Anton Perdices. ‘We are in a position to help and keep the bayanihan spirit alive as we support communities in recovery and contribute to collective rebuilding efforts.’

Visayan Electric continues to work with the Philippine Red Cross and local government units, while also doing reenergization efforts within affected sites in its service area. It is the second largest privately-owned distribution utility in the Philippines.

At the same time, Therma Visayas, Inc., the operator of the 300-MW baseload power plant in Toledo City, donated 1,000 packs of relief goods to the local governments of Bogo City, Daanbantayan, and Medellin. The activity was conducted in coordination with the Toledo City Government, which facilitated the link with the recipient LGUs. Residents of host barangays in Toledo also volunteered their time to help repack the goods, which included drinking water, biscuits, noodles, coffee, and blankets.

As of October 4, both generating units of TVI are fully online and supplying power to the Visayas grid, following the completion of safety and structural inspections.

Through Operation Tulong, the public service arm of radio station DZRH, AboitizPower and the Aboitiz Foundation donated water filter buckets to Medellin and San Remigio, two municipalities in Cebu. Clean and potable water is an essential resource and one of the most requested by the residents displaced by the earthquake. Developed by non-profit organization Waves for Water, the water filter buckets address this need by filtering freshwater sources like rainwater, rivers, springs, and deep wells to remove bacteria and protozoan.

‘Ang isa sa mga partner natin ang Aboitiz Foundation at AboitizPower. Isa sila sa lagi-lagi naming kaagapay sa pagbaba sa community, lalong-lalo na yung naapektuhan ng kalamidad,’ said DZRH head of relief operations Mae Binauhan.

(One of our partners is the Aboitiz Foundation and AboitizPower. They are one of our constant companions in reaching out to communities, especially those affected by calamities).

As of October 3, the Aboitiz Group – a diversified conglomerate with investments in power, banking and financial services, food, and infrastructure – gave out more than P2.5 million in assistance, with 11,385 liters of water, 3,600 food packs, and 2,000 non-food items distributed to 3,600 families.

Senate Deputy Majority Leader JV Ejercito pushed for the full funding of the Department of Migrant Workers’ (DMW) assistance programs, stressing that Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) deserve consistent and timely legal, medical, and welfare support as the country’s modern-day heroes.

During the budget hearing on Monday, Ejercito urged officials to ensure that the department’s Aksyon Fund can sustain early legal interventions for distressed OFWs, noting that many workers receive government aid only when their cases abroad are already too advanced.

‘We always call OFWs modern-day heroes, but the dilemma before was that legal assistance was limited – help would only come when the case was already advanced, sometimes even after a sentence had been handed down,’ he said.

Ejercito, who defended the DMW’s inaugural budget in 2022, reiterated his support for maintaining adequate allocations for legal aid, hospitalization, repatriation, and other welfare services for migrant workers.

He also underscored the importance of continuing service projects such as OFW hospitals, special lanes in airports, and lounges, which aim to make government support more accessible.

The senator asked whether the P1-billion allocation for the Aksyon Fund would be sufficient to meet the growing needs of Filipino workers abroad.

Ejercito further inquired about the status of the integration between the DMW and the Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) assistance services, and whether the department is now capable of providing legal support at the early stages of proceedings, which he said is a recurring issue in past years.

DMW Secretary Hans Cacdac assured the committee that the Aksyon Fund remains the ‘heart and soul’ of their department, emphasizing that trained legal experts are available around the clock to assist OFWs in their host countries.

Ejercito said that the budget amendments proposed by senators are intended to strengthen protection mechanisms and ensure that the DMW’s resources directly benefit OFWs and their families.

‘Our migrant workers bring pride to the nation and drive our economy forward. We have to make sure that the government’s assistance reaches them when it matters most,’ he said.

Instead of calling for resignations and a snap election, the first move to solve the country’s corruption crisis would be to amend the 1987 Constitution, House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan said on Monday.

In an ambush interview on the sidelines of the Party-list Coalition Foundation Inc. (PCFI) meeting, Libanan was asked about Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano’s suggestion for a snap election amid various scandals affecting sitting officials, stemming from corruption schemes in the flood control projects.

According to Libanan, if there are things that should be changed, it should start with the Constitution and the campaign spending limits, as this would level the playing field.

‘As a minority leader, if we want to initiate changes properly, maybe now is the right time to call for a constitutional convention or constituent assembly to change the Constitution, because we have seen things that need to be changed,’ Libanan said.

‘This is not just for the election, but we should include genuine electoral reform that our country needs, regarding campaign spending, the expenditures of the politicians, and we prefer that – it’s like rebooting computers. Let us start it properly,’ he suggested.

When asked if he feels Cayetano’s suggestion is illegal – as some legal luminaries noted that there are no provisions for a snap election is the 1987 Constitution – Libanan agreed, saying that amending the basic law would cure this.

‘Yes, that is not in the Constitution, but the constitutional convention or constituent assembly, or even a People’s Initiative, these are in the Constitution [.] and based on that new Constitution, we will follow that system in electing the officials of the government,’ he said.

In a post on his Facebook page on Sunday, Cayetano called for the resignation of all incumbent officials and the holding of snap elections to address the people’s distrust.

‘What if we all just resign and allow a snap election from the president, vice president, senate and congress, with one important addition – no incumbent from the above can run for one election cycle,’ Cayetano said.

‘If we truly serve them, then starting over shouldn’t scare us. Because real change starts with radical honesty – and the courage to admit when it’s time to step aside,’ he added.

However, retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said that Cayetano’s ‘important’ condition in his snap elections scenario could be declared unconstitutional, while a political expert said such a call ‘invites instability,’ especially at a time when rumors of a military coup have swirled.

For the 20th Congress, there are at least two charter change bills filed before the House.

Last July 15, Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin filed RBH No. 1 to amend the 1987 Constitution’s provisions on national territory and economy.

Garbin said this is almost similar to what was filed and approved by the 18th and 19th Congress, save for proposals to change the territorial provisions.

He wants to incorporate the award from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016, which stated that the Philippines has exclusive rights over its waters.

Then, on August 12, Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno stated that a charter change is necessary to address the inconsistencies and confusing wording in the Constitution.

Anger towards public officials started from revelations that flood control funds may have been lost to corruption.

In his fourth State of the Nation Address last July 2025, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. condemned government officials and contractors who allegedly benefited from flood control projects at the expense of the people.

Eventually, Marcos inspected several projects which were then revealed to be either substandard or completely non-existent.

Investigations from different bodies – including Congress – followed suit, but several lawmakers were implicated as either having interests in the companies that do flood control projects, or were accused of diverting funds for such purposes.

The flood control scandal eventually reached Congress’s leadership.

On September 8, 2022, former Senate President Francis Escudero was replaced by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, after Escudero was criticized for receiving a P30 million campaign donation in 2022 from a contractor whose firm had secured numerous government infrastructure projects.

In the House, former Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez relinquished his post last September 17, to allow an independent commission to probe his alleged involvement in flood control issues.

Romualdez has not been connected to any of the top companies doing the flood control projects, but he was one of the lawmakers named by contractor-couple Pacifico ‘Curlee’ Discaya and Cezarah ‘Sarah’ Discaya as allegedly receiving kickbacks from the projects.

Romualdez called out the Discaya couple’s claims, calling them ‘false, malicious and nothing more than name-dropping.’

Senators from the Minority bloc were also implicated.

During the House tri-committee hearing, former Bulacan Assistant District Engineer Brice Hernandez stated that Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada brought funds to Bulacan’s first district for anomalous flood control projects, where the two senators requested a 30 percent cut from the project cost.

Both Villanueva and Estrada denied these accusations.

Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Monday said Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano’s ‘important’ condition in his snap elections scenario could be declared unconstitutional, while a political expert said such a call ‘invites instability,’ especially at a time when rumors of a military coup have swirled.

Sen. Cayetano, in a Facebook post on Sunday, floated a ‘what if’ scenario for the president, vice president, House and Senate lawmakers to resign and allow a snap election, but with ‘one important addition’ of not allowing incumbent politicians to run for one election cycle.

Carpio noted that Cayetano’s proposal of not allowing any elective official to run in the special elections could be considered unconstitutional.

‘If this is put into law, its constitutionality will surely be challenged and will likely be declared unconstitutional,’ Carpio said in a message to Inquirer. ‘This is the problem in Cayetano’s proposal.’

‘You cannot disqualify en masse all incumbent elected public officials from running for public office without a lawful cause as provided by law,’ he explained.

For University of the Philippines associate professor and political analyst Jean Encinas-Franco, Cayetano’s resignation proposal for House and Senate lawmakers will render special elections impossible.

‘The Congress would have to pass the law [on special elections]. What would happen if there was no Congress?’ Franco told the INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.

‘Irresponsible’ words amid coup rumors

Franco also said Cayetano’s call will cause instability amid recent rumors of a military coup plot against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., which has since been denied by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

‘The fact that it’s coming from an incumbent senator who should work towards political stability is a bit, I think, irresponsible,’ Franco said.

‘It’s really inviting political instability, and given that there were rumors of a coup a while ago, then I think it’s an irresponsible statement,’ she continued.

The rumor of a military coup came on the heels of a major corruption scandal involving flood control infrastructure that has prompted an ongoing Senate probe and the formation of an independent commission to investigate the suspected collusion between lawmakers, government officials, and contractors to embezzle billions of pesos from the country’s coffers.

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson revealed that ‘almost all’ senators in the 19th Congress inserted at least P100 billion worth of items in the 2025 General Appropriations Act.

Furthermore, Lacson said budget insertions of House lawmakers are ‘much, much more’ than the senators.

While insertions or amendments are not necessarily illegal, congressional inquiries revealed that this measure was often used for multi-million flood control projects, which were later revealed to be substandard due to overhead costs incurred for alleged kickbacks of senators and House lawmakers.

After his revelations on the Senate budget insertions, Lacson on Sunday announced his resignation as chair of the blue ribbon committee due to what he said was disappointment expressed by his fellow senators on how he conducted the hearing on flood control anomalies.

Due to failed bid for Senate president?

In relation to this, there had also been speculations, particularly on social media, that senators are eyeing a switch in sides and supporting Cayetano to become the next Senate president.

Franco also noted that there were people who believed that Cayetano made that snap election remark since he had no numbers to become the next Senate president.

‘Even if he no longer has the numbers in the Senate, he should have been more careful in making that statement,’ Franco said.

Meanwhile, Cayetano’s latest remark on resignation prompted calls from his own brother, former Taguig City mayor Alan Peter Cayetano, and Palace press officer Claire Castro to lead by example and step down from his post.

‘He probably thinks it will never happen,’ Franco said. ‘That’s why he said it.’

‘But then again, the fact that he knows that it’s not going to happen, then it’s all the more irresponsible,’ she added./abc

For more than two decades, storms and floods have consistently battered the Philippines, making up nearly two-thirds of all recorded disasters from 2000 to 2024.

Data from the International Disaster Database (EM-DAT) shows the country was struck by 201 storms and 109 floods over the 24-year period – far outnumbering earthquakes (25), volcanic activity (18), and epidemics (11).

‘These are not just numbers. They mean drowned neighborhoods, ruined crops, and billions in damages,’ said Dr. Rogelio Alicor Panao, INQUIRER Metrics data scientist and associate professor at the University of the Philippines, in his analysis of the EM-DAT data.

Yet despite this clear pattern, Panao noted that the national debate remains stuck on expensive and controversial flood-control projects whose ‘benefits and transparency remain in doubt.’

Weather-driven disasters as the main threat

The findings suggest that climate-driven hazards – stronger storms, heavier rains, and erratic flooding – have overtaken earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as the country’s most pressing threats.

‘Concrete dikes and drainage alone cannot keep pace with a changing climate,’ the analysis stressed. ‘Perhaps it is time to move beyond politics and quick fixes. Building resilience is not just about concrete; it is about choices that keep people safe long after the floodwaters recede.’

Other disasters, such as fires (27), earthquakes (25), road accidents (20), volcanic activity (18), and wet mass movements (17), trail far behind the scale of destruction brought by typhoons and floods.

A call for smarter disaster response

The EM-DAT database, maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) at the University of Louvain, has tracked more than 27,000 disasters worldwide since 1900. Its latest figures on the Philippines reinforce long-standing warnings: the country’s disaster risk profile is overwhelmingly dominated by weather extremes.

The analysis points to a larger policy failure. Billions are poured yearly into flood infrastructure, yet communities remain vulnerable, and lives are disrupted.

The findings come amid heightened scrutiny of flood-control spending. The Commission on Audit (COA) has recently filed multiple fraud audit reports with the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), flagging several supposedly nonexistent flood control projects in Bulacan valued at over ?300 million.

Earlier reports also point to anomalies in Bulacan flood infrastructure, with COA submitting audits to the Office of the Ombudsman covering projects with questionable locations or duplications.

At the same time, storms have continued to disrupt daily life. In the first quarter of the last school year alone, students in storm-prone regions missed up to 44 percent of class days due to weather-related suspensions.

According to Panao, the findings highlight the need for disaster resilience strategies that go beyond physical infrastructure, emphasizing policy measures that ensure communities remain protected even after floodwaters recede.

Pope Leo XIV offered prayers for the victims of the deadly magnitude 6.9 earthquake that hit Cebu.

‘I express my closeness to the people of the Philippines, and in particular, I pray for all those who are severely affected by the consequences of this earthquake,’ he said in Italian during his Sunday Angelus at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.

‘Let us remain united and in solidarity in our trusted God and in the intercession of our Blessed Mother,’ he added.

The pope’s deep ties to the Philippines date back to his visits several times before he was elected supreme leader of the Catholic Church.

As Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine from 2001 to 2013, he blessed churches, spoke to friars, and participated in jubilee celebrations in the country.

In 2008, he visited Cebu to lead the blessing of the Santo Niño Spirituality Center in Consolacion, marking the silver jubilee of the Augustinian Province of Santo Niño de Cebu, Philippines.

According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, the earthquake struck at 9:59 p.m. on Sept. 30, with its epicenter located 21 kilometers northeast of Bogo City in Cebu.

The agency has recorded a total of 7,092 aftershocks so far, with magnitudes ranging from 1.0 to 5.1.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Monday reported that the death toll from the earthquake has reached 72, while 559 individuals were injured. The agency said these figures are still subject to validation.

The NDRRMC also said that 155,094 families-or 547,394 individuals-were affected by the earthquake.

The quake severely damaged thousands of houses, including heritage churches such as the Parroquia de San Pedro Apostol and the centuries-old Archdiocesan Shrine of Santa Rosa de Lima in Daanbantayan town./mcm

The southwest monsoon, or ‘habagat,’ is expected to dissipate in the next few days or hours as it continues to weaken,according to the state weather bureau.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) on Monday afternoon said it is expecting the beginning of the northeast monsoon, or ‘amihan,’ season.

The ‘habagat’ brings warm, moist air with rain from the ocean, while the ‘amihan’ carries cool, and dry weather with slight rainfall.

Pagasa also reported Typhoon Halong is not less likely to enter the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR).

Halong was tracked at 4 p.m. around 2,005 kilometers east-northeast of extreme Northern Luzon, moving west-northwest at 10 kilometers per hour (kph)

Halong has maximum sustained winds of 100 kph, and gusts of up to 125 kph, Pagasa said.

Pagasa is also monitoring a cloud cluster southeast of the country that may develop into a low-pressure area, which is likewise not likely to enter PAR.

Rain and thunderstorms due to the northeastern windflow and the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), however, is forecast in the Visayas, Mindanao, and the following areas in Luzon:

Quezon

Aurora

Cagayan Valley

Ilocos Norte

Apayao

Palawan

Meanwhile, rain showers due to localized thunderstorms are expected in Metro Manila.