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Tropical Storm Fengshen, locally known as Ramil, exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on Monday morning but continued to bring strong winds to parts of Luzon, the state weather agency said.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said that in its 11 a.m. bulletin, Pagasa recorded Ramil’s location at around 440 kilometers west of Sinait, Ilocos Sur.

It was moving northwestward at 25 kilometers per hour (kph) and was expected to continue to move northwestward to westward on Monday before turning west-southwestward on Tuesday morning.

Ramil had maximum sustained winds of 85 kph and gusts of up to 105 kph, Pagasa added.

While no wind signals were raised, Pagasa warned that the trough of Ramil and the easterlies would whip up strong winds over the Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, and Occidental Mindoro.

Rough seas were also expected off the coast of those areas within the next 24 hours, Pagasa also reported.

Ramil made four landfalls in Luzon while the central and southern portions of the country were still recovering from a series of strong earthquakes.

The cyclone’s onslaught left seven people dead, including two children.

In total, it affected 133,196 people in four regions, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

Additionally, 375 classrooms in Luzon were damaged by Ramil, the Department of Education reported on Sunday evening.

While Maymay Entrata and Joaquin Enriquez have yet to confirm if they are indeed in a relationship, the attention of eagle-eyed netizens was piqued after Enriquez shared a clip of them getting cozy during a beach getaway.

The Filipino-American actor-model seemingly hard-launched his relationship with Entrata in an Instagram post on Sunday, Oct. 19, sharing a video of themselves hugging while enjoying the waves.

The clip showed Enriquez smiling at the camera before Entrata ran toward him, sharing a sweet embrace right after. The ‘Madame Hula’ star also planted a kiss on the latter’s temple.

‘I finally found my Iris,’ he captioned his post.

Entrata responded to his post in the comments section, saying, ‘My lover.’ The ‘Amakabogera’ singer was previously in a relationship with a non-showbiz Canadian guy named Aaron Haskell. It remains unknown when exactly they parted ways, but she unfollowed Haskell in May 2024.

Entrata made headlines last May after revealing that her mom died after a two-year battle with cancer.

Fulfilling his commitments, new Ombudsman (OMB) Jesus Crispin ‘Boying’ Remulla issued his ‘MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 3, Series of 2025’ (OMB MEMO), opening to the public-subject to certain procedural guidelines-the sworn statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALNs) of all government officials filed with his office. Though his consent is not required by law, President Marcos readily agreed to the release of his SALN. And so did several lawmakers.

THE CONSTITUTION, THE ETHICAL STANDARDS LAW (REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6713), and the Ombudsman Law (RA 6770) mandate all public officers and employees to file-within 30 days from their assumption of office-their SALNs that the people have a right to know and that the OMB has the duty to disclose. Nonetheless, this right to know and this duty to disclose should be balanced with the citizen’s right to privacy, guaranteed also by the Constitution itself and the Data Privacy Law (RA 10173). This balance necessitates the issuance of procedural guidelines.

My aim is to determine the reasonableness of the guidelines, so they do not unduly restrict the people’s right to information vis-à-vis the duty to safeguard individual privacy. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details. Thus, let me discuss a few important guidelines (within my limited space) under the OMB MEMO.

FIRST, THE OMB MEMO STATES that the SALNs already filed should be preserved and digitized, given that the prescriptive period for filing complaints against the public officer concerned is 20 years. However, the SALNs shall not be available to the public for inspection and reproduction, even after payment of reasonable fees, ‘earlier than 10 working days after the final submission deadline.’

Given the modern technology in copying manual SALNs and reproducing them, ‘no earlier than 10 working days.’ may cause unnecessary delays. I believe this guideline should be phased into a timetable; for example, SALNs filed during the last five years are already in the OMB’s custody, thus, they should be available for inspection and reproduction within (not ‘no earlier than’) 10 calendar days from the request as provided under the Ethical Standards law; those that were submitted between five to 10 years, 20 days, etc.

Second, SALNs may be corrected ‘within 30 calendar days from the date of correction,’ but the OMB shall keep both the original and the corrected copies. Only the corrected version shall be available to the public. I think both versions, together with the reasons given by the declarant for the correction/s, should be available to the public.

Third, to uphold the privacy and security of the public official, the following shall be redacted from the SALN copy to be given to the requester: the declarant’s home address; names, dates of birth and ages of unmarried children below 18 living in the declarant’s household; signature of the declarant; and government IDs of the declarant.

These redactions, I believe, are reasonable, but the redacted portions should be disclosed if the applicant can show why he/she needs the redacted portions, like evidence that namesakes of the declarant or spouse or minor children have ill-gotten wealth.

Fourth, laudable is the OMB MEMO’s provision on lifestyle checks, welcoming info or complaints attaching thereto the valid evidence of the assets (real estate, personal property, vehicles, adornments, bank deposits, etc.) that are manifestly disproportionate to the declarant’s income.

MUCH STRICTER THAN THE GUIDELINES is the Ethical Standards law that requires not only SALNs but also a ‘disclosure of business interests and financial connections’ (Disclosure). The two documents shall contain ‘(a) real property, its improvements, acquisition costs, assessed value, and current fair market value; (b) personal property and acquisition cost; (c) all other assets such as investments, cash on hand and in banks, stocks, bonds, and the like; (d) liabilities, and (e) all business interests and financial connections.’

The law requires SALNs and Disclosures to be filed by: (a) constitutional and national elective officials, with the national office of the OMB, (b) senators and congressmen, with the secretaries of their respective chambers; justices with the clerk of court of the Supreme Court; judges, with the court administrator; and all national executive officials, with the Office of the President, (c) regional and local officials and employees, with the deputy Ombudsman in their regions, (d) officers of the Armed Forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain, with the OP and those lower in rank to the deputy Ombudsman in their region, and (e) all others, with the Civil Service Commission.

The Ethical Standards law contains many stricter requirements that, if followed, would have prevented or at least ‘moderated the greed’ that sparked the pork barrel, flood control, and other scams that have plundered our country and people over the decades.

Needing no less than a win to muddle up the Final Four race in Season 88 of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament-and get itself in the middle of it-La Salle on Sunday night pulled out all the stops against University of the Philippines for a 72-69 victory that had the Green Archers creating an interesting logjam at No. 3.

Luis Pablo scattered 14 points and Jacob Cortez accounted for 12 as the duo led the Archers in snapping the defending champion Fighting Maroons’ four-game winning streak at the Smart Araneta Coliseum to rise to 4-3 and tie their victims together with idle Ateneo.

Only National University at 6-1 and University of Santo Tomas at 5-2 have better records than the trio, which will be vital as the eliminations enter its final half in two weeks..

‘Whatever the result may be, as long as we give our best, we’re good,’ La Salle coach Topex Robinson said. ‘We knew we were going up against the defending champions so it’s going to be a test of character.

‘This is going to be a character game for us, but there’s still a lot of games to be played so this is not the end of the deal for us, it’s just the end of the first round.’

La Salle’s character was tested for the whole game, especially in the stretch where it all mattered.

With the score tied at 66, UP gunner Terrence Fortea sank a huge triple that gave the Maroons a 69-66 lead with just 1:27 to go.

But rather than folding up, the Archers fought doggedly with five straight points from Earl Abadam and Vhrosi Marasigan heading into the final 28 seconds.

Mike Phillips dominated in the paint, finishing with 12 points and 19 rebounds for the Archers, the champions two seasons ago, who ended the round on a streak after that sanctions-filled 111-110 victory over the University of the East last week.

‘There were many moments in that game where I just felt out of body, I was just enjoying the game,’ Phillips said. ‘We made mistakes, but we got this (win) for our teammates.’

Phillips was obviously referring to injured Archers Mason Amos and Kean Baclaan, the injured duo who are now the centers of La Salle’s campaign to regain supremacy.

Harold Alarcon turned in an all-around game of 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Francis Nnoruka’s 12 points and 14 rebounds also went down the drain.

Meanwhile, Far Eastern coach Sean Chambers had numerous reasons to smile on Sunday, but none bigger than seeing Janrey Pasaol continue to take the reins for the Tamaraws.

The Tamaraws ended their first half elimination schedule on a high note with a 95-76 win over a shorthanded University of the East behind the efforts of Pasaol, who’s slowly shaping up to be one of the league’s best guards.

‘I’m super proud of Jan. We had a hard conversation yesterday and (told him) there are other things I expect from him,’ Chambers said.

‘His performance today almost brought me to tears because we had a long conversation yesterday regarding my expectations for him as a leader of the team.’

Pasaol didn’t only score 17 points in the squad’s second season win, but he also made sure everyone had a chance to shine with 10 assists that went with two steals and two blocks for good measure.

The second-year guard also helped Far Eastern stop a two-game slide and will enter the second round with a 2-5 card.

Sunday was no isolated case for Pasaol as he has also shown glimpses of what he can do for the Tamaraws heading forward. And playing the way he did against the Red Warriors can have him being involved in Mythical Team or even MVP talk.

But Pasaol doesn’t want to think about that. What matters for him is pushing FEU to a Final Four spot despite them being in seventh place after Sunday.

‘We’ve been losing for a while, so we need to win,’ he said. ‘That’s my only focus. I don’t have any thoughts on individual awards. Right now, I really don’t have that in mind.’

Mo Konateh was a brilliant two-way presence for the Tamaraws, scattering 15 points and 14 rebounds, with Kirby Mongcopa’s 12-point and 11-rebound output also proving key. Jorick Bautista actually topscored for Far Eastern with 22 points.

Precious Momowei had 23 points and 11 rebounds for UE, but it wasn’t enough as the Red Warriors remained the only winless team in the field. INQ

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is bringing back the Cadet Engineering Program to hire young engineers who may work in the government agency, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon announced on Monday morning.

Dizon said that it was former DPWH Secretaries Rogelio ‘Babes’ Singson, and Jose ‘Ping’ de Jesus who brought up the program in a meeting on Saturday.

‘They brought to my attention this very good program, the Cadet Engineering Program. This is very good for us to revitalize the DPWH with fresh graduates, with new, fresh engineers who have just passed or are just starting to work,’ Dizon said at a flag-raising ceremony.

The Cadet Engineering Program was an initiative by Singson, launched in 2013.

It was a 26-week program made to put engineers through classes in public service, public infrastructure in the country, the DPWH and its mandate, and the agency’s regional, district, and project management office,s among others.

The program’s objective was to yield young engineers who may potentially work at the government agency.

One of the program’s success stories is the recently-named DPWH officer-in-charge, Undersecretary Engr. Lara Esquibil, who was among the first completers of the program in 2013.

In its previous implementation, interested engineers underwent a promotional exam for DPWH engineering positions nationwide to avoid the patronage system or backing.

However, Singson revealed that the program was dissolved after the agency allowed ‘outsiders’ to get promotional slots.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has warned corrupt bidders that their schemes will no longer succeed under the New Government Procurement Act (NGPA).

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the law requires disclosure of beneficial ownership information, compelling companies participating in public procurement to reveal the identities of individuals who actually own, control, or exert significant influence over them.

‘The disclosure of beneficial ownership is a powerful feature of the new law because it ensures that conflicts of interest in public procurement are avoided,’ Pangandaman said, as quoted in a press release on Monday.

‘We are closing the doors on corruption and collusion in bidding for government projects. Under the NGPA, the old tricks of palit-pangalan, palit-ulo, and dummy company owners will no longer work,’ she added.

Pangandaman noted that the disclosure of beneficial ownership will strengthen integrity and ensure full transparency in the public procurement process, especially since a 2023 study by the Government Procurement Policy Board-Technical Support Office found that 65.8 percent of bidders share common owners.

The NGPA, hailed as the country’s biggest anti-corruption measure, was signed into law by President Marcos on July 20, 2024. The harmonized version of Senate Bill No. 2593 and House Bill No. 9648 aims to close loopholes in the current government procurement system for a more efficient and responsive process.

A key feature of the NGPA is its provision of 11 new procurement modalities, giving government agencies greater flexibility in acquiring goods and services./mcm

Those who wish to report nonfunctional ‘super health centers’ (SHC) in their area may now send relevant information to the Department of Health (DOH), which launched a platform for Citizen Participatory Audit on Monday.

To send a report, the public may download a form through the link www.doh.gov.ph/bantaysuperhealth, where they can input details such as the address of the SHC, as well as photos of the building containing a newspaper showing the current date.

Reports can then be sent to the DOH’s email at [email protected]. The agency assured that the identities of those who submit a report will remain confidential.

The public may send reports regarding idle health centers in their area, or if there are problems with the services that are being provided in these facilities, said the DOH.

The DOH said it will study each of the submissions and coordinate with the local government unit that oversees the health center included in the report.

According to the agency, there are 300 nonoperational SHCs in the country out of a total of 878 that were funded under the Health Facility Enhancement Program. Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa noted that the majority of these nonfunctional SHCs, around 170, are located in Luzon.

On the other hand, 196 SHCs in the country were operational, 17 were partially operational, while 365 were still under construction as of Friday.

On Friday, Herbosa appeared before the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), the fact-finding body tasked with investigating anomalous government infrastructure projects, to submit a list of nonoperational SHCs.

Among the recommendations of the ICI was the creation of a Citizen Participatory Audit, noted the DOH.

A small province receiving larger infrastructure allocations than others puzzled Sen. Loren Legarda.

At Monday’s hearing of the Senate finance subcommittee, Legarda inquired how the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) distributes the proposed 2026 budget for infrastructure projects among legislative districts.

‘Because there’s this one province – I don’t want to name it since I also know the congressman – it’s a very small province, yet it has a huge budget in the NEP [National Expenditure Program],’ she said speaking in Filipino.

‘I repeat, we are not judging anyone. We’re not imputing motives, but there is a province much smaller than Antique with more than double the budget in the NEP – and it even increased further in the GAB [General Appropriations Bill],’ the senator added.

The NEP is Malacañang’s budget proposal, while the GAB is the approved budget bill in the House of Representatives.

According to Legarda, her hometown province of Antique should have been given a P3.6 billion budget next year based on landmass and population alone, but it was only allotted P1.1 billion.

Valenzuela City, on the other hand, was previously given huge allocations, according to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate finance committee.

‘They did not even know where the budgets came from. It just appeared there. His brother, who was mayor, didn’t even know,’ Legarda said.

She later pressed the DPWH on how it computes the budgets for infrastructure projects.

Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon, who was just appointed to head the agency last month, admitted they are still clueless about how funding for infrastructure projects was decided.

‘Up to now, we still don’t understand how the 2026 budget was allocated among the legislative districts,’ Dizon said.

There is supposed to be a ‘parametric formula’ that considers land area, population, and other factors, but a random check revealed it was not being followed, he said.

‘So clearly there is something wrong with that formula,’ the DPWH chief added.

Dizon nevertheless promised that for 2027, they would come up with a new formula, which he described as ‘simpler, more straightforward, and responsive to the needs of the community.’

A motu proprio investigation is ongoing in relation to Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Mario Lipana and his wife over their alleged involvement in government projects through Olympus Mining Corp., according to Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla.

Remulla explained in a press briefing on Monday that Olympus Mining Corp. – a construction company headed by Commissioner Mario’s wife, Marilou Laurio Lipana – reportedly took part in public works and supply contracts, including the construction of the COA’s headquarters.

‘Yes, I got files last Friday. I had a meeting and I got a rundown of files about the alleged activities of Commissioner Mario Lipana and his wife and their Olympus Mining Corp. that participated in government projects,’ he said.

‘Not only government projects in DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) but also supply of fire trucks and other government stuff,’ he added.

Asked about the construction of the new COA building, Remulla said they also got the information about it and will ‘work on it.’

‘This is a work in progress; we are still building up the teams that will evaluate. Yes, yes, the [investigation in the] COA [building] is ongoing,’ he added.

The Ombudsman probe follows a report released by the Right to Know, Right Now (R2KRN) coalition last October 15.

Based on the report, the commissioner’s wife headed a construction firm that had business ties with a contractor for the COA’s new headquarters in Quezon City.

According to R2KRN, the DPWH awarded a P959-million contract in 2021 for the new COA building to a joint venture between R.U. Aquino Construction and Development Corp. and Le Bron Construction. Le Bron was identified as a joint-venture partner of Olympus.

The coalition also found that Olympus entered into several joint ventures with Le Bron in various DPWH projects, including flood control structures and access roads in Bulacan, some of which were later linked to alleged ‘ghost’ or substandard projects.

Although Commissioner Lipana was not yet part of the commission when the contract for its new headquarters was awarded, he was already a senior COA officer at the time.

The group warned that the apparent business connections between Lipana’s family and government contractors raised potential conflict-of-interest and ethical issues under the 1987 Constitution and Republic Act No. 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

The Inquirer emailed Commissioner Lipana regarding Remulla’s pronouncements, but he has yet to reply as of posting time. It also tried to call his office for comments regarding the R2KRN’s earlier revelations, but was told by his staff that he was still on medical leave.

Over six thousand ‘red flag’ projects amounting to P271 billion are still hounding the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) 2026 budget at present, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian revealed on Monday.

Gatchalian, chairperson of the chamber’s panel on finance, made the revelation at a Senate subpanel’s hearing on the proposed funding of the DPWH for next year.

According to Gatchalian, there are 6,187 ‘red flag’ projects in the DPWH budget, and their overall cost amounts to P271 billion.

‘My first instinct is to defer the DPWH’s budget for now so that it can be cleaned up. Because if we don’t fix this, it will just happen again in 2026,’ said Gatchalian.

But Gatchalian noted that the Senate could also decide to thoroughly remove the P271 billion funding to the DPWH’s P625.78 billion funding for next year should the agency fail to submit and explain the existence of such red-flag projects.

‘Regarding Red Flag One, submit to us the exact station number of each project. Exact – if there’s a technical description, submit that too for all 4,566 projects. For Red Flags Two and Three, we will remove the duplicates. For Red Flag Four, submit the technical description to show whether it’s a continuation project and if such exists,’ said Gatchalian.

‘But if you can’t submit it, we’ll also remove Red Flag Four – because at first glance, it seems like it’s already completed by 2025, so why are we adding more in 2026? So we expect the submission for Red Flag One as soon as possible because the project is already ongoing. But if you can’t submit Red Flags One and Four, we will remove P271 billion worth of projects,’ he added.

Gatchalian identified the following red flags in DPWH existing projects:

Red flag No. 1: No Station Number

Red flag No. 2: Duplicates

Red flag No. 3: Multiple Phases

Red flag No. 4: Reappearing projects

Meanwhile, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon agreed to Gatchalian’s terms, agreeing that the DPWH’s P271 billion worth of projects will be removed should they fail to submit the documents asked by the panel.

‘Yes, that is very clear,’ he told Gatchalian.

The DPWH’s budget for 2026 amounts to P625.7 billion. The agency slashed P252.53 billion in its funding for next year, allocating zero budget to locally funded flood control projects.

Dizon said the revised budget is P255 billion lower than their original proposed funding.