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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. did not want Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong to step down as special adviser to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), according to Malacañang.

In an interview on dzMM on Sunday, Palace press officer Claire Castro said the president asked for a review of Magalong’s appointment to the ICI not because of the mayor’s alleged connection to the questionable Baguio City projects linked to the contractor couple Pacifico ‘Curlee’ and Cezarah ‘Sarah’ Discaya, as he was insinuating.

‘The President’s directive was never meant to throw Mayor Magalong under the bus, but rather to clarify and address the issue of his dual role in the ICI,’ Castro noted.

According to Castro, Marcos originally intended Magalong to serve as both special adviser and investigator of the ICI. But since Magalong did not intend to resign as mayor, he could only serve as special adviser, as an additional role of adviser may compromise his responsibilities as the elected mayor of Baguio City.

The president also wanted to make sure that his appointment would not violate the ban on elected officials from serving in another public office, she said.

‘The concern was that if he continued to receive information or conduct investigations, his dual role at the ICI could be questioned, which may be against the Constitution and the Local Government Code,’ Castro explained.

‘That was all the legal team was supposed to review. Unfortunately, he immediately stepped down, which was not what the President intended,’ she added.

On Sept. 26, merely 13 days after he was appointed, Magalong submitted his resignation from the ICI following the press briefing of Castro, announcing that Marcos wanted his legal team to review the mayor’s role in the commission so as not to compromise the integrity of the fact-finding body.

He was replaced by another retired police general, former Philippine National Police chief Rodolfo Azurin.

At that point, he was still cordial, saying his exit was ‘not an easy choice, but necessary’ after questionable transactions in his city’s public works surfaced in the ICI ongoing probe.

According to the Baguio mayor, he would not ‘allow these doubts to weaken the ICI and its mandate,’ adding: ‘That is why I have chosen to step aside, not to abandon the fight (against corruption), but to protect the very integrity of the fight.’

Tennis court, parking building

Magalong’s name was dragged in the P110-million tennis court and parking building project awarded by the Baguio city government in 2022 to St. Gerrard Construction Company, one of the construction firms owned by the controversial Discayas.

He denied there was corruption in the bidding for the project, calling the insinuations ‘below the belt,’ and ordered a third-party audit to be conducted on all projects constructed by the Discayas in the city.

On Oct. 2, during a Senate hearing, Magalong said he was ‘eased out’ of the ICI after he ‘struck a nerve’ with his efforts to unmask those behind the multibillion-peso flood control scandal. He claimed that Castro appeared to be ‘taking orders from someone else,’ but declined to identify who that might be.

For her part, Castro maintained she was not the one who brought up the issue of the tennis court project.

‘We did not say anything negative about him, nor did we make any accusations of any anomaly. It’s up to him to respond regarding the tennis court issue, but we are not making any allegations against him,’ she said.

She also denied that the President or another official had instructed her to undermine his reputation.

‘I hope that before Mayor Magalong makes insinuations, he should be sure of his statements. He should not make claims unless he is certain and informed,’ Castro said.

Sometime in October 2022, there was a rumor that I have died. Even my siblings and friends received condolence message for my ‘demise.’ Why? That was because the title of my column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Sunday was ‘Rest in Peace,’ with my picture and name below it! Oh well, I took it all with humor and faith, saying to myself: ‘Thank you Lord, for the advance prayers for the repose of my soul!’ In today’s Gospel (Lk. 17, 5-10), Jesus tells His disciples that faith, no matter how small like a mustard seed, is powerful, if it is deep, sincere, and real. Like the disciples, we pray today: ‘Lord, increase our faith!’ We must learn to believe, trust, and surrender everything and everyone to God in faith. What each of us needs to be reminded of again and again is that we have a Master whom we serve and obey. May we not fall into the trap of entitlement and compensation as we go about doing God’s work. ‘When you have done all, you have been commanded, say, we are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’ Lord, increase our faith! Help us to believe more, and doubt less; trust more, and worry less; thank more, and complain less; smile more, and frown less; venture more, and fear less. Amen!

The duo of Dominic Escobar and Kymani Ladi made the most of their first and last taste of the storied Ateneo-La Salle rivalry.

Bolstered by the efforts of the one-and-done cogs, the Blue Eagles escaped Green Archers, 81-74, after squandering a commanding lead in the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball tournament on Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena.

While Escobar and Ladi paced their early outburst, but it was Shawn Tuano who came out with the push Ateneo needed to get to the finish line after La Salle’s herculean comeback.

‘I’m not going to take away from these players, especially the new guys,’ Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin said.

‘We’ve got several guys who have never played in this rivalry before, so I’m not going to take away from them what they accomplished in the first three quarters.’ Ateneo led by as much as 31 against La Salle, and seemed headed for an easy blowout.

But Green Archers refused to fold, unloading a 19-0 run to start the fourth quarter and shaving the lead to 11, 68-57, 3:45. Tuano, though, sank back-to-back buckets for a 73-59 lead with 3:19 to go, giving the Blue Eagles enough cushion to fend off the Green Archers’ advances until the final buzzer.

Tuano finished with 15 points for Ateneo, which kept its grasp of the top seed at 4-0.

Escobar and Ladi also both finished with near double-doubles of 15 points and nine rebounds each in the victory.

La Salle dropped to the standings with a 2-2 record, tying with the University of the Philippines, which was its dance partner in last year’s Season 87 Finals.

Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa on Sunday said the Department of Health (DOH) was already investigating anomalies surrounding 400 ‘idle’ health centers under the agency even ‘before the media picked it up.’

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Herbosa responded to an online interview of Health Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Dr. Albert Domingo.

‘Actually the DOH has been investigating these anomalies way before media picked it up,’ Herbosa said.

‘Several actions have been taken already and we continue to do case buildup,’ Herbosa added.

During the committee-level hearing for the DOH’s proposed budget for 2026, Herbosa tagged the agency’s health facilities enhancement program (HFEP) as the ‘flood control version’ of the agency.

The HFEP, launched in 2008, is DOH’s banner program that aims to ensure that poor and marginalized communities have access to healthcare services. With this revelation, Akbayan Party-list Rep. Chel Diokno, during the House plenary debates of the agency’s proposed budget, questioned why only 200 out of 600 health centers under the HFEP are functional despite being allocated over P170 billion in the past decade.

However, budget sponsor and Bataan 2nd District Rep. Albert Garcia clarified that while the HFEP has no ‘ghost hospitals,’ the lack of personnel and healthcare professionals to run the facilities made them non-functioning.

Garcia also said that the DOH entered into a memorandum of agreement with local governments in ‘good faith,’ as it expected them to provide personnel.

Herbosa also shared that the agency is ‘looking for options to operationalize non-functioning completed health facilities.’ Meanwhile, when asked what kind of actions the agency had already taken in relation to the investigation, Domingo said ‘they are actions meant for mandated investigative bodies and the formal Courts of law.’

A major portion of Luzon is forecast to experience fair weather while rains are set to prevail in Visayas and Mindanao on Sunday, according to the state weather bureau.

In a 5 a.m. weather forecast, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) weather specialist Obet Badrina said that while no low-pressure area is being monitored inside the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR), the southwest monsoon, or habagat, is currently affecting the country.

‘A major portion of Luzon will experience hot and fair weather with possible thunderstorms in the afternoon until evening,’ Badrina said.

Meanwhile, Kalayaan Islands will see cloudy skies and rains while partly cloudy to cloudy skies with localized thunderstorms are expected over Palawan.

‘A major portion of Visayas will also experience partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated thunderstorms,’ Badrina said.

Lastly, localized thunderstorms in the afternoon until evening are possible in a huge part of Mindanao. Badrina also shared that no gale warning is raised in any seaboards of the country but he warned mariners that thunderstorms can cause heightened waves .

Temperature forecast in the following areas:

Laoag, Ilocos Norte: 25°C to 32°C

Baguio: 16°C to 20°C

Metro Manila: 24°C to 33°C

Tagaytay: 22°C to 30°C

Tuguegarao: 24°C to 32°C

Legazpi: 24°C to 32°C

Kalayaan Islands: 25°C to 32°C

Puerto Princesa: 25°C to 32°C

Iloilo: 25°C to 32°C

Cebu 26°C to 32°C

Tacloban City: 25°C to 32°C

Zamboanga: 24°C to 33°C

Cagayan de Oro: 25°C to 32°C

Davao: 25°C to 33°C

Tropical cyclones outside PAR

Badrina also said that the two tropical cyclones monitored outside the PAR will not affect the country.

Typhoon Paolo (international name: Matmo) was spotted 930 kilometers west of extreme northern Luzon with a movement of west-northwestward at 25 km per hour. It was carrying a maximum wind speed of 140 kph and gustiness of 170 kph.

Badrina said that Paolo is heading to the southern part of China while Tropical Storm Halong may enter the northeastern boundary of PAR.

Meanwhile, Halong was located 2,190 km northeast of extreme northern Luzon with a movement of westward at 10 kph. It was packing a maximum wind speed of 65 kph and gustiness of 80 kph.

In the Philippines, which has one of the highest rates of stunting in children under five years old at 26.7 percent-higher than the global average of 22.3 percent-chronic hunger is a problem that threatens future generations.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), around 18 percent of children in the Philippines, or about 2 million, are severely ‘food poor.’ This not only points to a lack of calories but a deficiency in nutrients crucial to children’s growth and development.

Last July, Sen. Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan filed a bill seeking to address this problem by providing all public school learners from daycare centers, kindergarten to Grade 12 with fortified meals for breakfast directly sourced from the produce of local farmers and fisherfolk.

These meals could provide a lifeline for these poor children. They are not mere ‘ayuda’ nor ‘free food,’ but they create ripple effects on children’s health, well-being, and learning abilities.

Many countries have launched successful feeding programs: Thailand’s school lunch program, which is similar to Pangilinan’s measure, has reduced malnutrition and improved academic performance; South Korea’s free school meal program introduced in the early 2010s has been credited for significantly reducing behavioral issues in schools; and Brazil’s national school feeding program has been used as a benchmark for similar programs.

National feeding program

The country has a national feeding program policy under Republic Act No. 11037, but its scope is limited to undernourished children in daycare, kindergarten up to Grade 6. The Pangilinan proposal would expand the coverage up to Grade 12 and hit two birds with one stone: feed poor students and support local farmers and fishermen.

In its Year Two Report published last year titled ‘Fixing the Foundations: A Matter of National Survival,’ the Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom II) underscored the role of nutrition and feeding as the foundation of quality education.

The commission acknowledged that the Philippines has made strides in improving the well-being of Filipino children in recent years.

‘(However), millions of Filipino children remain chronically malnourished, facing challenges such as poor health, inadequate nutrition, and limited learning capacity,’ it stated, noting that one in four Filipino children under five years old still experiences stunting.

Social inequity

In August, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) backed Edcom II’s call to government agencies, legislators, and local government units to take immediate action. It said undernutrition and malnutrition are a stark manifestation of social inequity, where only 25 percent of Filipino children aged six to 12 months meet the recommended energy intake; the rest were deficient in protein and healthy fats, essential for their physical growth and development.

‘Socioeconomic disparities further exacerbate these challenges, limiting many children’s access to essential early childhood care and development services. These inequities hinder their ability to achieve optimal health, learning, and productivity outcomes,’ Edcom II said.

It added that addressing these disparities demands a comprehensive approach that integrates quality early childhood education, health, and nutrition programs.

The CBCP cited the grim consequences: 48 percent of Grade one to three students are not prepared for their grade level, 80 percent of Grade three students struggle with multiplication, division, and geometry, and 30 percent are not functionally literate.

Global labor market

This has manifested in the Philippines’ poor performance in the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), where it ranked 76th out of 81 participating countries in reading, math, and science.

This would have a severe impact on the competitiveness of younger generations in the global labor market, which puts a premium on a higher skill set.

Pisa noted: ‘Raising quality of education and protecting health, especially in the early years, will equip the next generation with the skills they need to meet the demands of higher productivity and higher paying jobs. Investing in the skills of this young population is essential to fuel future growth and increase household incomes.’

Without institutional help, however, poor Filipino children will be trapped in an endless cycle of poverty.

While a ‘free meal’ may be inconsequential to others, it represents a lottery ticket to many poor Filipino families that could help them escape poverty.

The Department of Education (DepEd) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) signed a memorandum of agreement to formalize and strengthen their collaboration in delivering high-quality, technical-vocational education in senior high school (SHS).

The primary objective of the agreement is to ensure that the SHS Technical Professional (TechPro) track complies with Tesda training regulations, and that DepEd teachers possess the requisite competencies and certifications to effectively deliver the technical-vocational courses.

By aligning institutional processes, resources, and standards, the collaboration seeks to ensure the consistent delivery of quality-assured curricula by qualified educators, ultimately supporting the development of students’ foundational and technical skills. This will enhance their employability and facilitate a seamless transition to further education, training, or employment.

Flexible options

Under the agreement, DepEd is responsible for identifying and endorsing SHS TechPro teachers for enrollment in Tesda’s Trainers Methodology I (TM1) programs, as well as those that need updating in their qualifications. The department will also develop learning resources in consultation with Tesda, monitor the implementation of the curricula, and ensure that SHS learners undergo assessment for national certification.

For its part, Tesda will offer flexible access to training courses for teachers, including online and in-person options for DepEd teachers. Tesda will provide crucial technical assistance to align DepEd’s curricula with its official Training Regulations, ensuring that learners acquire industry-aligned skills.

The agreement, signed by Education Secretary Sonny Angara and Tesda Director General Kiko Benitez aims to ensure the work readiness and global competitiveness of Filipino graduates.

‘Our goal has always been to ensure that every Senior High School graduate is equipped not just with knowledge, but with real-world skills. This partnership with Tesda is a critical step in fulfilling that promise,’ Angara said. Benitez recognized Tesda role in the partnership ‘to ensure that the skills being taught are the skills that industries actually need. By embedding our Training Regulations and certification processes directly into the Senior High School system, we are creating a seamless pathway for students from education to employment. This collaboration carves the path for industries to have a pipeline of skilled talent ready to contribute from Day One.’

Long-standing mismatch

The partnership addresses the longstanding need to resolve the mismatch between DepEd’s SHS programs and Tesda’s guidelines. Recommendations by the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) have consistently emphasized the need for alignment between DepEd’s and Tesda’s programs, including its push to increase funding for the assessment of SHS-TVL graduates.

Findings in the EDCOM 2 Year Two Report showed that, while about 53.9 percent of SHS graduates pursue higher education, a significant number enter the workforce in private establishments or informal employment.

This is further supported by a 2023 report of the Philippine Institute of Development Studies which found that children induced to attend SHS tend to earn higher wages and are more likely to be employed in middle-skill jobs compared with junior high school graduates.

DepEd and Tesda agree to undertake joint monitoring of SHS-TechPro programs offered in DepEd schools, as well as to map public and private technical vocational institutions, with the aim of strategically expanding the Joint Delivery Voucher Program (JDVP) to enable students to pursue a wider range of technical-vocational electives.

The two agencies also commit to engaging with industry stakeholders to ensure curriculum relevance and provide valuable work immersion opportunities for students. The agreement will be effective for a period of three years upon signing, with DepEd and Tesda working towards enhancing technical-vocational offerings under the SHS pilot come June 2026.