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Contractor couple Pacifico ‘Curlee’ and Cezarah ‘Sarah’ Discaya will no longer cooperate with the investigation into the flood control mess of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).

ICI executive director Brian Keith Hosaka said this in a press conference on Wednesday, October 15, after the contractor couple attended the commission’s hearing for the third time.

‘Upon the advice of their counsel, they invoked their right to self-incrimination and manifested that they will no longer cooperate with the investigation being conducted by the ICI,’ Hosaka said.

According to Hosaka, the Discayas ‘explained that they were thinking that when they cooperate with the ICI, they will be getting a favorable recommendation from the commission as state witnesses.’

Meanwhile, the contractor mentioned a recent interview of journalist Karen Davila with ICI member and former Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio ‘Babes’ Singson, where the issue of the commission’s recommendation of state witnesses was being discussed.

‘As far as they’re concerned, I believe that they said that there was a statement by Commissioner Singson regarding his own personal take, in his opinion that as of now, he sees no witness or no person who may be recommended by the commission as state witness,’ Hosaka said mostly in Filipino.

‘However, I believe, and I saw the interview, that he qualified that as his and not by the commission,’ the ICI executive director pointed out.

‘So because of that, they are now saying that they will no longer appear before the commission and cooperate,’ he added.

Despite this, Hosaka said they will still use the evidence, testimonies, and affidavits of the contractor couple in the past hearings they attended before the commission.

Curlee, who is currently under the Senate’s custody, on Wednesday first entered the ICI office at around 12:50 p.m.

Meanwhile, Sarah-apparently avoiding the media-used the backdoor to enter the commission’s office at around 12:55 p.m.

The ICI earlier said in a Viber message to reporters that the ICI hearing is scheduled at 1 p.m.

After the hearing, the contractor couple’s legal counsel, lawyer Cornelio Samaniego III, refused to answer the queries of the media. ‘No comment muna,’ Samaniego said, adding that they will set a press conference for this. He, meanwhile, did not elaborate about the date of the said press conference.

The hearing this Wednesday is the third time the Discayas will be resource persons at the ICI hearing.

They appeared before the commission on September 30 and October 7.

During the first hearing of the Discayas on September 30, Samaniego said that they were ‘tell-all’ on the queries of the ICI.

‘About money, about the particular persons mentioned in the affidavit, what the transaction is, what the history is.. we were ‘tell-all’ [during the probe],’ Samaniego said on September 30.

‘There is no turning back here,’ he emphasized.

Meanwhile, the contractor couple on October 7 requested to postpone their hearing to allow them more time to collect certain documents. ‘They were asking for time for them to retrieve certain documents [that] the commission requested,’ Hosaka said.

‘Other state witnesses’

Even though the Discayas will no longer cooperate on the investigation, Hosaka said the commission still has other state witnesses that would build their cases.

‘Whatever other witnesses say will be sufficient enough for us to continue our investigation, build our cases, and file the necessary recommendations with the Ombudsman. We will also have sources of information and evidence for us to build our case,’ he said in Filipino.

‘We have a lot of information to gather. In fact, there are a lot of people testifying,’ he added.

Hosaka said the ICI will piece all the testimonies together so they can see what really happened on the flood control issues and can provide personalities to recommend on the filing of cases.

‘Definitely, we will get to the bottom of this; we will continue our investigation so we can find out who is really guilty,’ said Hosaka. /jpv

Municipal waste as an energy source is in popular discussion today as the Global South struggles with the triple planetary crisis of pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss.

Adding to the stress are projections that the production of plastic, a material made predominantly of fossil fuels, will continue to increase unless stronger commitments are made in the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations.

One of the leading solutions being promoted to the Global South is Waste-to-Energy incineration (WTE), a range of thermal technologies that subject waste to high temperatures.

The outputs of WTE make it a highly appealing option: waste is reduced to about a quarter of its original volume, and electricity or heat is generated in the process.

Several Global South countries are already investing heavily, with India having at least 500 plants, Thailand with 79, Indonesia with 33 and Malaysia with 18.

China, one of the world’s leading proponents of WTE, increased the number of facilities from only 67 in 2005 to 1,010 in 2024.

Financial backing for large-scale adoption is robust – from 2021 to 2022, 94% of all international climate finance for methane abatement in solid waste went to WTE investments according to Clinate Policy Initiatives.

Many of these investments were channeled through international financial institutions like the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the largest supporter of WTE in the Asia Pacific region.

According to GAIA’s analysis of investments from 2015 to 2025, the ADB funded 40 WTE projects and eight similar waste-burning technologies like advanced recycling of plastics and refuse-derived fuel. This amounted to USD 15.3 billion in total, USD 11.2 billion of which were loans to be repaid.The boom in this industry follows models led by countries like Japan, Singapore, and Sweden. All three are popularly viewed as having the cleanest environments in the world, largely attributing this to their wide adoption of WTE since the latter half of the 20th century.

Despite the perceived benefits, many groups in the Global South strongly oppose it.

The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, NGO Forum on ADB, and hundreds of others are campaigning for the ADB to phase out all support and investments for this technology while the bank undergoes a review of its 2021 energy policy.

Five major reasons are cited by various groups, the first of which is the extremely low amount of energy generated by the WTE process.

Despite having over 350 plants, Japan’s WTE industry contributes only about 1% to overall power generation capacity, doing little in helping the country move away from more than 80% reliance on fossil fuels.

Similarly, Sweden’s 34 plants provide only 1.8%, while China’s 1,010 plants only about 2%.

These figures are projected to be even much lower for other Global South countries whose waste is predominantly composed of biodegradable materials with low combustibility. On average, overall waste generation in developing countries across Southeast Asia and South Asia is 50-70% biodegradable.

Low energy-generating capability is coupled with high investment costs including construction, technology, pollution control systems, maintenance, and operating expenses such as waste transport and tipping fees. All factors considered, WTE is costlier than all other major energy sources except for nuclear.

The second point raised by groups is the creation of toxic by-products by WTE plants, a fact recognized in international conventions ratified by most countries where ADB operates, such as the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, Minamata Convention on Mercury, and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes.

Waste does not disappear when processed in WTE plants, but is converted into ash, greenhouse gases, air pollution, and wastewater. Of these, ash forms the large bulk of the converted material, containing dioxins, furans, mercury, lead, arsenic, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides that are harmful to human health and the environment.

This ash must be landfilled because of its hazardous waste classification, an ordeal that countries have long struggled with.

A prime example is in Singapore lwhere ash is dumped into the country’s only offshore landfill. If plans for new facilities come to fruition, the government says it would also need to invest in additional offshore landfills.

A similar struggle is being experienced in ADB’s WTE project in Can Tho Vietnam as there are ongoing challenges managing over 14,000 tons of ash.

Third, the ADB has yet to demonstrate that it is strictly following existing policy restrictions on WTE in its Energy Policy. There are no reports showing how the prioritization of higher options in the waste hierarchy – such as reduction, reuse, and recycling – have been considered before pursuing WTE.

This is evident in projects like in Binh Duang in Vietnam and Canwest in China. Nor were there any baseline assessments of affected livelihoods in the informal recycling sector which is often affected by WTE plants which compete for waste feedstock.

Fourth, WTE presents complex risks for everyone and only benefits entrenched commercial and oligarchic interests.

Large-scale WTE projects, in particular, raise structural concerns: because they rely on a constant stream of waste to remain viable, they risk creating perverse incentives that discourage waste reduction, recycling, and broader circular economy measures.

At the same time, proponents often justify smaller, decentralized WTE units as pragmatic responses to persistent challenges in waste collection and transport, especially in geographically dispersed or infrastructure-limited contexts.

Yet, despite ADB’s increasing policy restrictions toward WTE, these competing narratives have prevented consensus among stakeholders. This lack of alignment, evident during the contentious 2021 Energy Policy deliberations, underscores the difficulty of reconciling short-term political and commercial considerations with longer-term sustainability goals.

Finally, continued investments in WTE plants will undermine global ambitions to conserve resources, and increase financial resources for safer, affordable, inclusive, and non debt-inducing options.

As a case in point, an independent evaluation of ADB’s WTE project with Shanghai SUS Environment Co in 2024 reported how China’s policies towards waste minimization, segregation and recycling has led to plant shutdowns due to lack of feedstock.

In other words, large-scale community-led efforts became so effective that there isn’t enough waste for WTE plants.

As a concrete example, the Northeast Dhaka WTE Project in Bangladesh set to begin in 2026, faces serious risks of becoming a stranded asset as its high emissions, uncompetitive electricity costs, and rigid contracts undermine long-term viability.

The USD 100 million WTE plant recently approved by AIIB, is expected to emit over 8.3 million tons of GHG-more than coal plants-while charging nearly double the national average for power.

Fixed waste-supply clauses lock Dhaka into incineration, conflicting with zero-waste and recycling policies, while rapidly falling renewable energy costs and tightening climate regulations make future underutilization and financial losses likely. These dynamics expose both investors and the government to stranded asset risks and reputational liabilities.

High-cost and high-risk technologies are not advisable for the Global South which is already bearing the brunt of the triple planetary crisis.

In fact, due to its high material intensity use, the UN Environment Programme does not consider WTE as part of a circular economy, and the European Union has explicitly excluded it from its sustainable finance taxonomy citing its incompatibility with climate goals.

Acknowledging its significant policy and market influence in the region, the ADB would do well in taking a hard stance in phasing out WTE incineration and all forms of waste burning in its amended Energy Policy.

Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday expressed doubt about rumors that Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire Castro was poised to be named as the next justice secretary, questioning what the latter has done to deserve the position.

Duterte said Castro was ‘not a good spokesperson for the Office of the President’ and the Palace press officer reportedly ‘brings embarrassment to the country.’

‘I don’t know her, and I don’t know what she has done for the country. and I also don’t know what she has contributed to the legal circles, the legal community or the judicial system for her to be appointed as secretary of the Department of Justice,’ Duterte told reporters in a chance interview in Zamboanga City.

The vice president also said she observed that Marcos chooses his appointees based on who he is allied with, instead of a person’s competence.

‘I’ve noticed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. doesn’t seem to choose his appointees based on their qualifications,’ said Duterte.

‘I’ve noticed that he tends to choose people based on who his allies are and who are loyal to them,’ she told reporters.

Castro has denied speculations that she is being eyed for the post after then Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin ‘Boying’ Remulla was named ombudsman.

No replacement has been named by Marcos at the DOJ.

Justice Undersecretary Fredderick Vida serves as the department’s officer-in-charge in the meantime.

Maverick Ahanmisi’s wishes have been granted by Barangay Ginebra after he was traded to Terrafirma in exchange for the first round pick in next season’s PBA Rookie Draft.

The PBA approved the deal on Wednesday, with Ginebra adding veteran Aljon Mariano to the mix.

Ahanmisi will now join forces with his younger brother Jerrick, who was dealt to Terrafirma from Magnolia in August for the rights of Javi Gomez de Liano.

With the trade, the elder Ahanmisi hopes to get the playing time he desires after revealing to Ginebra management of his intentions to be traded.

He averaged just 21.8 minutes in 65 appearances for Ginebra last season while producing 7.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists. Ahanmisi didn’t see action in the opener of the PBA season last Oct. 5 when Ginebra lost to Magnolia, 80-73.

The 34-year-old bared his trade request in a vlog last Oct. 9, even showing a conversation with a certain ‘Boss’ which was likely San Miguel Corporation sports director Alfrancis Chua.

Mariano, meanwhile, ends his 10-year stay with Ginebra that started as a second round pick in 2015, winning seven championships.

Last season saw Mariano playing only 28 games with an average playing time of five minutes. He also logged 1.4 points and 1.1 rebounds for the Gin Kings.

By getting Terrafirma’s first-rounder in the 51st season Draft, Ginebra may get itself a chance to get a high-profile player, depending on who puts their name in proceedings in January 2027, at the earliest.

The authority to impose class suspensions should be exercised responsibly and also continue to reflect care for the commitment to learning continuity, the Department of Education (DepEd) said on Tuesday.

It issued the reminder to local government units (LGUs) after Laguna Gov. Sol Aragones ordered the suspension of classes in the province as a precautionary measure following the quakes that jolted parts of the Visayas and Mindanao in recent weeks.

Prudence needed

The two-week suspension from Oct. 14 to Oct. 31 covers face-to-face classes in all public and private schools in the province-a move that was criticized, especially online, as netizens questioned the scientific basis for the order.

Dennis Legaspi, DepEd’s chief media relations officer, said that while they respect the authority of LGUs to suspend classes for the sake of public safety, this should be ‘exercised with balance and prudence.’

‘While caution is important, extended suspensions can disrupt learning and affect students’ development,’ Legaspi said in a statement. ‘Every decision should reflect both care for safety and commitment to learning continuity.’

The DepEd will also coordinate with the Schools Division Offices in Laguna to ensure that continuity of learning will be prioritized ‘at all costs.’

‘We are also strongly encouraging local governments to periodically assess whether the suspension is still necessary for public safety,’ Legaspi said.

Michael Bibat played with the mindset of minimizing his mistakes over a layout known to punish bad judgment and on Tuesday fired a bogey-less seven-under-par 65 to take a one-shot lead over Elee Bisera after the first round of the P3.5 million ICTSI Del Monte Championship in Bukidnon.

‘The goal was to hit fairways and greens and then be aggressive with the putter,’ said Bibat after draining seven birdies in a 31-34 card over the tree-lined layout that saw the return to action of the revered Frankie Miñoza. ‘I was able to give myself so many chances to make birdies.’

Bisera, meanwhile, hit five of his seven birdies coming home to be a shot ahead of a group of four that included two South Koreans and Ryan Monsalve and Arnold Villacencio as the talented field had 35 players breaking par, counting Miñoza, who fired an impressive 69 in his first tournament back after a layoff of almost two years.

Taewon Ha fired a 29 in the back nine where he started to shoot a 67 like Chon Koo-kang, Monsalve and Villacencio, even as a six-man group led by Jonel Ababa and Keanue Jahns shot 68s to be just three shots back as the tournament is now looking at a formidable halfway cut with a total of 41 out of the 70 players opening with par or better scores.

Meanwhile, Chanelle Avaricio fired a 67 to be two shots ahead of Daniella Uy at the start of the 54-hole ladies championship. Young Bukidnon native Velinda Castil shot a 70 to be just three behind.

Hometown bets Clyde Mondilla and Reymon Jaraula, who finished 1-2 the last time Del Monte hosted a PGT event in 2023, fired a 71 and 68, respectively, and would need to go low Wednesday to keep in step with the blistering pace set by Bibat and Bisera.

‘Everything just clicked out there for me today,’ Bisera said in Filipino as he bared that he was just shooting to be in the middle of the pack. ‘The target for me was a level par score. But my driving and short game just worked.’

Jahns and Rupert Zaragosa, the winner of the last three legs combined, both finished with a flurry with Jahns eagling Nos. 6 and 9-his 15th and 18th holes-to salvage his 68, while Zaragosa, who won in Bacolod three weeks ago, gunning down four of his five birdies in the back nine to also be three shots back.

Miñoza, the ageless wonder, had five birdies and two bogeys in a 36-33 effort, put himself in the mix on the course he knows like the back of his hands. He shared 13th spot with eight others, counting American Collin Wheeler and Japan’s Yudai Nakakuri. INQ

Jennifer Aniston has opened up about her decision not to adopt amid her struggles with infertility, saying she always hoped to have a biological child no matter how ‘selfish’ that might sound.

Aniston justified her decision in an early-access episode of ‘The Armchair Expert’ podcast released on Tuesday, Oct. 14.

‘When people say, ‘But you can adopt,’ I don’t want to adopt,’ she stressed. ‘I want my own DNA in a little person. That’s the only way, selfish or not, whatever that is, I’ve wanted it.’

The 56-year-old star admitted that she felt ‘peaceful yet emotional’ about the idea that she might not become a mother.

‘There’s a point where it’s out of my control,’ she said. ‘There’s literally nothing I can do about it. It just wasn’t in the plan, whatever the plan was. It’s very emotional, especially in the moment when they say ‘that’s it,’ because there is a weird moment when that happens.’

Aniston, who is now dating Jim Curtis, had previously spoken about undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF), which she described as ‘challenging.’

‘I was trying to get pregnant,’ she told Allure in a 2022 interview. ‘It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road.’

The ‘Friends’ actress also addressed the long-running narrative that she prioritized her career over having children, especially during her marriage with Brad Pitt.

‘They didn’t know my story or what I’d been going through over the past 20 years to try to pursue a family, because I don’t go out there and tell them my medical woes,’ she told Harper’s Bazaar UK on Oct. 8.

‘That’s not anybody’s business. But there comes a point when you can’t not hear it, the narrative about how I won’t have a baby, won’t have a family, because I’m selfish, a workaholic. It does affect me. I’m just a human being. We’re all human beings,’ continued the Hollywood star.

After her marriage with Pitt, Aniston married Justin Theroux until their separation in 2018. /ra

Jose Rizal University avoided back-to-back losses in the NCAA Season 101 men’s basketball tournament after downing San Sebastian, 59-46, on Wednesday at San Juan Arena.

Coming off a loss to College of St. Benilde, the Heavy Bombers regained their footing behind a strong defensive effort to improve to 3-2 in Group B.

‘I just reiterated to our players that we’re a small team so we can’t be outhustled,’ said JRU coach Nani Epondulan. ‘If there’s a team who’s more agressive and hungrier, that should be us.’

Sean Salvador led JRU with 22 points, while Justin Lozano added 11.

The Golden Stags fell to 1-4 after struggling to find their rhythm, with no player scoring in double figures. Jhuniel Dela Rama came close to a double-double with nine points and 15 rebounds in the loss.

Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon on Wednesday committed to prioritizing the rehabilitation of the damaged Manila Central Post Office ‘as fast as possible.’

Dizon made this statement as the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Philippine Postal Corporation, led by Dizon and Acting Postmaster General Maximo Sta. Mesa III, for the retrofitting and rehabilitation of the iconic structure.

The building, which was built in 1926, was hit by a fire on May 21, 2023 at 11:41 p.m. While the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) ruled out arson, it initially estimated a damage cost of around P300 million worth of assets, including national I.D cards.

The BFP said the fire reached the general alarm, which is the highest, and was declared under control after eight hours since the fire started in the basement. The fire was extinguished on May 23, almost two days after the fire broke out.

Dizon vowed that the DPWH will prioritize phase one of the restoration, noting that it is in line with the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

‘My promise to you, our promise to you is that we will do it right. And we will do this as fast as possible,’ Dizon told reporters in an interview.

‘We will coordinate with General and with the National Historical Institute to ensure that its restoration, rehabilitation, and repair will be done fast and right,’ Dizon added.

With this, Bisnar welcomed the commitment of the DPWH, emphasizing that ‘they have the expertise, the knowledge, the skills’ in restoring the building in the right way.

‘This is, I think this will be a highlight of how good processes, integrity, and trustworthiness in rebuilding an historical structure here in the Philippines,’ Sta. Maria said in the same interview. /mr

Another tropical cyclone may enter the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) Thursday, state meteorologists said.

As of Wednesday at 3:00 a.m., the weather system is still a low-pressure area and was monitored 1,765 kilometers east of northeastern Mindanao, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

‘For now, its chance of becoming a tropical cyclone is getting higher within 24 to 48 hours and [may] enter PAR by tomorrow (Thursday),’ said Pagasa weather specialist Chenel Dominguez in a public weather forecast.

Once it enters PAR, it will become the 18th tropical cyclone occurring in the country and will be named Ramil.

Dominguez said Ramil will approach the Northern Luzon area, bringing widespread rains there over the weekend.

However, even without Ramil, most parts of Luzon and some parts of Visayas will have overcast skies with rain due to two weather systems.

Easterlies, or the warm winds coming from the Pacific Ocean, are seen to bring cloudy skies with scattered rains and thunderstorms to Metro Manila, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon), the Bicol Region, Eastern Visayas, Isabela, Aurora, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Marinduque, Oriental Mindoro, Romblon, Capiz, Aklan, Cebu, and Bohol.

On the other hand, the rest of the country is expected to have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated light showers to isolated showers or thunderstorms. /abc