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One silver lining from this jaw-dropping anomaly on flood control projects at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is that the public has now been made aware of how the looting of state coffers has become so deeply rooted and well-entrenched.

But let’s not be fooled. Corruption is not confined to the DPWH. We are learning a harsh reality – it is severe, systematic and widespread across the bureaucracy.

Take the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for instance. Corruption at the department that is supposed to protect, conserve and manage our environment and natural resources is as dangerous as corruption within the DPWH.

For one, such a crime is also a major reason for flooding in the metropolis. While the flood control thievery results in the absence of structures that are supposed to prevent flash floods, anomalies in the issuance of environmental permits and land titles result in the destruction of our forests, watersheds and mountain ranges.

These, in turn, cause landslides and massive flooding in our cities.

Quietly, and while it seems nobody is watching, there have been crooks at the DENR who have been giving away forest lands or protected areas when this should not be the case.

To be fair to DENR Secretary Raphael Lotilla, we’ve been hearing of corruption within the department, especially at the local level, long before he took the helm in May.

But this is a challenge for the good secretary, to look into syndicates and crooks that endanger our environment instead of protecting it.

Watershed syndicates

One major problem is the watershed syndicates.

Did you know that the Marikina and the Kaliwa Watersheds are plagued by syndicates that destroy the natural wealth of the country? The government, it seems, has lost control of some of our watersheds to unscrupulous individuals, who managed to secure rights in protected areas, in cahoots with corrupt DENR executives.

This shouldn’t be the case because the area is a declared sanctuary.

Proclamation 1636, signed by Ferdinand Marcos Sr. on April 18, 1977, declared as a ‘national park wildlife sanctuary and game preserve a certain parcel of land of the public domain embraced and situated in the provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Quezon, Island of Luzon.’

‘I, Ferdinand E. Marcos, President of the Philippines, do hereby withdraw from sale, settlement, exploration or exploitation and set aside and declare as national park, wildlife sanctuary and game preserve, subject to private rights, if any there be, and to the operation of previous proclamations reserving portions thereof for specific purposes, a certain parcel of land of the public domain embraced and situated in the provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Quezon, Island of Luzon… The hunting, wounding, taking or killing within said territory of any wild animals or birds and/or the destruction of any vegetation or any act causing disturbances to the habitat of the wildlife herein protected are hereby prohibited,’ according to the presidential proclamation.

And yet some of these areas have been developed into housing projects, private resorts and the like, as if the developers have rights over the public lands of the Republic of the Philippines.

By the way, these occupants are not homeless. On the contrary, some of them are powerful families and businesses.

How did we get here? Apparently, some of these occupants managed to secure title-like patents over the land with the help of PENROs or the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office of the DENR.

This is much like the DPWH district engineering offices in different localities.

The PENROs, apparently, issue free patents – which give them rights over the property – to those who can afford them, instead of protecting these national parks. Sources said this is in exchange for an amount these PENRO executives could not resist.

To make matters worse, in this area, there are three large-scale quarrying Mineral Production Sharing Agreements signed in 1998 and 1999.

These quarrying projects, straddling parts of the Masungi Geopark, occupy an aggregate area of 1,344 hectares.

If these continue, the day will come when the mountains are leveled to the ground, destroying the geological heritage, water reservoir and the area’s biodiversity.

Previous DENR secretaries have blocked the issuance of free patents, survey plans and other tenurial instruments and yet there are hectares and hectares of inalienable lands of the public domain that have free patents.

Some as far back as the 70s, 80s and 90s.

I heard that this is happening not just in the Rizal, Laguna and Quezon areas but in many other parts of the country from Mindanao to the Visayas.

It is with utmost urgency that Secretary Popo addresses this problem. To be fair, he said that he is indeed looking into this.

Cases must be filed against illegal occupants in our protected areas and the DENR executives who allowed this to happen.

ECC: ‘Early campaign contribution’

This harsh reality is a testament that corruption at the DENR, just like at the DPWH, is also widespread. The so-called ECC or environment clearance certificate is, in fact, sometimes called early campaign contribution as applicants sometimes feel the whole ECC process feels like spending for an election campaign.

With this sad reality at the DENR, there is no better time to address the corruption at the department than now, while the Marcos administration is trying to restore public trust in government institutions.

A week after the 6.9-magnitude earthquake forced families in Bogo City out of their homes and into makeshift tents, a new challenge has emerged among the displaced: increasing number of people with coughs, colds, and fever.

The City Health Office of Bogo has recorded an increase in patients complaining of respiratory illnesses since families began staying outdoors after the September 30 tremor.

Assistant City Health Officer Dr. Shiela Faciol said health workers continue to provide services despite their office being partially inaccessible.

Faciol explained that medical teams have been deployed to barangays to reach the sick among quake-affected families. On average, each medical team attends to 80 to 100 patients in various barangays visited, she said.

Meanwhile, the city health department itself receives 50 to 80 walk-in patients daily. ‘Since Day One after the earthquake, open jud ang atong city health,’ Faciol said.

Most of the reported cases are cough, colds, and fever. Parents often attribute the illnesses to children sleeping outside in makeshift shelters, exposed to the sweltering daytime heat and the cold nighttime air. ‘In daytime init kaayo kay makaubo sad unya ig gabii sad matun-ogan. Prone jud to ubo-ubo,’ Faciol said.

While food supplies remain a challenge, she clarified that there have been no reports of diarrhea or food poisoning among evacuees.

The city health office, supported by donations from private groups and other LGUs, continues to distribute medicines and vitamins. ‘Tanang patients na moanhi diri tagaan jud namog vitamins para makuan pud ilang resistensiya,’ she noted.

For many families, however, sickness is only one layer of hardship. In Barangay Gairan, Sally, a mother of two young girls, has been living in a cramped tent together with six other families.

Eight days after the quake, they still refuse to return home out of fear of stronger aftershocks. Their tarpaulin shelter offers little comfort against the blistering heat in the day and the cold winds at night.

Her daughters have since fallen ill – one has had a fever for two days, while the other is suffering from cough and colds.

‘Nalisang, na trauma. Gamayng uyog mahadlok dayon, mag panic ba,’ Sally said, adding that her children have yet to see a doctor, relying only on donated medicines and vitamins. She hopes her daughters recover soon.

Across Cebu province, official reports place the number of affected families at 192,489, equivalent to over 411,000 individuals. Bogo City alone accounts for more than 34,000 families displaced.

The 11 in Hacienda Filomena

The skies wept over Bogo City yesterday, October 8, as eleven dead victims of the rockslide in Hacienda Filomena, Barangay Binabag, were finally laid to rest.

The gray weather mirrored the sorrow of a community still reeling from tragedy. Ten coffins were laid side by side in a mass grave, while another was buried separately.

They were residents who perished when the mountainside collapsed during the 6.9-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday night, September 30.

In an instant, families were buried alive beneath massive boulders that crashed down from the hills. Among the victims was a two-year-old child, the youngest to die in the disaster.

At the final wake Mass, the father of the child sat in silence, his grief too deep for words. Just three months ago, he had already buried his wife, who died of illness. Now, he has lost not only his partner in life but also their only child.

The Malinao family was among the hardest hit. Parents Janice and Philip John, along with their children Carl Justin and John Steve, were buried together.

In another home, siblings Zachary, 5, and Thirdy Josh, 8, of the same family also lost their lives when their house was crushed by falling rocks.

Ariana Faith Tapang and her daughter, Regina Mae, were also among those who did not survive.

But one story that touched many was that of 17-year-old Lady Jean Ytang, who died a hero.

When the earth shook and their house began to collapse, she ran back inside to shield her mother and baby sibling from the falling rocks.

Barangay Binabag, a mountain-foot village in Bogo City, at least 15 lives were lost in the barangay alone, and many more were displaced as homes were destroyed

Beneath the earth, three feet under, the bodies in coffins now rest together.

Kapuso actress Carla Abellana will reportedly get married by the end of the year, according to talent manager and vlogger Ogie Diaz.

On the latest video of Ogie’s YouTube channel series “Showbiz Update,” a source told him that Carla will tie the knot with a non-showbiz partner.

The lucky man, according to his source, is a chief medical officer of a private Quezon City hospital.

The doctor reportedly dated Carla in high school and recently rekindled their friendship and romantic relationship. “Guwapo raw ito in person, ha. At chinito!” Ogie quipped.

Carla did confirm last August she was currently seeing someone, saying at the time she was opening herself to dating and meeting people.

“I decided to try it,” Carla said then. “Yes, there’s a second date. We’ll see if there’s gonna be more dates.”

The actress was previously married to Tom Rodriguez but their union only lasted a few months, eventually ending in divorce. Tom is now a father to an infant son, Korben, also with a non-showbiz partner.

Ogie reiterated in his video that it is up to Carla to confirm, deny, or give details about a supposed partner and wedding.

The local stock market climbed for a second straight session, buoyed by the country’s August labor market data.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index rose by 0.25 percent or 14.91 points to end at 6,098.74 yesterday.

The broader All Shares index also advanced by 0.31 percent or 11.43 points to 3,684.65.

RCBC chief economist Michael Ricafort said the market was boosted after a generally better local employment data.

The Philippine Statistics Authority reported yesterday that unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent in August from 5.3 percent in July.

Ricafort said investors also continued to digest the better-than-expected local inflation data at 1.7 percent, which was below the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)’s inflation target range and could still support a possible 25-basis-point rate cut.

Economists are divided on whether the BSP will deliver another rate cut today or hold fire, against a backdrop of subdued inflation and still-soft growth momentum.

The BSP has so far cut policy rates by a total of 150 basis points since August 2024, bringing the benchmark rate to five percent.

Sectoral gauges were a mixed bag, with mining and oil posting the highest jump at 4.91 percent, while financials lost the most with a 1.09-percent decline.

Total value turnover thinned to P6.38 billion from the P10.35 billion recorded the previous day.

Market breadth stayed positive as advancers edged out decliners in a tight contest, 94 to 92, while 65 issues were unchanged.

ICTSI was again the session’s most actively traded stock, rising by 3.02 percent to P528 per share, followed by Philex Mining with a 12.22-percent increase to P10.10.

Amid ongoing political noise and flood control projects controversy in the country, President Marcos gamely answered personal questions about his family in a podcast interview.

In the last part of his latest podcast, the President credited First Lady Liza Marcos for her accomplishments in the past three years of his presidency.

Marcos said he was amazed at how his wife worked to ‘bring back to its old glory’ the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City in time for the country’s hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit next year.

Asked how many ‘brownie points’ he earned for praising his wife during the recent reopening of the PICC, the President responded laughing, ‘I hope a lot. I’m going to live off that for as long as I can.’

Marcos described his wife as smart and very effective.

‘She just doesn’t let go of something. Once she gets a hold of something and she decides to do it, she actually gets it done. And she’s very effective,’ the President said.

Marcos added: ‘Her legal training serves her well.’

Presidential investment czar Frederick Go on Thursday, October 9, clarified that reports claiming the corruption scandal caused the Philippine market to dive were false, even if Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Francis Lim himself was the one who cited them.

During the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines conference, Lim said that P1.7 trillion was wiped out from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) due to the corruption issue. This represented a 12% decline in the market.

Go said that Lim cited false information.

‘Unfortunately, the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman was quoting from a confirmed fake news socmed post designed to catch attention and falsely sensationalize,’ Go said in a press conference in Malacañang Palace.

Go said he also confirmed this with the PSE president himself.

The only legitimate drop in the PSE was 1.6% from August 11 to 29. Go also cited Inquirer’s Biz Buzz, which debunked the P1.7-trillion meltdown as early as September.

As far as Go knew, there were also no businesses that pulled out their investments in the country because of the corruption issue.

‘I think sometimes when there is unpredictability in the environment, people might temporarily think about their investment projects. But we’re quite confident that when this is all resolved, they will all come back. So, they have not pulled out. They will continue rather, that they will continue with their projects,’ Go said.

Go declined to comment on whether Lim will face any consequences for sharing misinformation in a public forum.

Addressing the US State Department’s report that found corruption as a barrier to investment in the Philippines, Go said that this is nothing new.

Red tape and corruption have long been flagged by other international chambers and groups, he said.

The difference now is that the administration is more keen on addressing the matter, Go said.

‘This administration sees the fight against corruption and red tape as a core part of its economic strategy. Again, the president himself initiated the current investigation as a catalyst for governance reform and to address long-standing issues decisively,’ Go said.

The Department of Public Works and Highways will build a detour bridge within two months to allow the resumption of vehicle traffic in the section of the Piggatan bridge in Alcala, Cagayan, which collapsed earlier this week, according to DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon.

Dizon, who went to Cagayan to inspect the Piggatan bridge with Gov. Edgar Aglipay, said they also wanted to tap alternate modes of transportation to address the province’s needs for both its people and goods, mainly agricultural crops.

Dizon said that while the DPWH will work to build a detour bridge that people can use in place of the collapsed bridge, the detour will still be too long for convenience.

‘The most pressing issue we’re facing now is the distance of the detour,’ he said. ‘For trucks, it adds about 80 kilometers more to their route. You can just imagine the effect on logistics costs, especially for essential goods like food. That’s a huge impact – more than two additional hours of travel for an 82-kilometer detour.’

According to the DPWH chief, the move would help speed up the transport of agricultural products during the harvest season and reduce the heavy dependence on long-haul trucking routes.

ARROW Law IRR being drafted

Meanwhile, the DPWH will start drafting the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for Republic Act 12289 or the Accelerated and Reformed Right-of-way (ARROW) Law, which expedites the government’s right-of-way land acquisitions for infrastructure projects.

Dizon named DPWH Undersecretary for legal service Samuel Rufino Turgano to chair the ARROW Act IRR Committee and to form the team that will lead the drafting.

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearings on the ghost and substandard flood control projects had revealed that delays in ROW acquisitions for the projects were used to justify stopping work and abandoning the projects.

Meanwhile, the DPWH should lower the prices of their infrastructure projects so as to discourage engineers from getting kickbacks or commissions, Batangas’ Rep. Leandro Leviste said.

He suggested that it would be best if the agency ‘lower project prices by 25 percent to prevent kickbacks’ and to be ‘fully transparent about the 2026 DPWH budget before it is voted on by Congress’ on third and final reading.

Tennis sensation Alex Eala captured her breakthrough WTA singles title and served as anchor as Philippine athletes made it a ‘September to remember’.

On a high from her milestone first-round victory at the US Open main draw in August, Eala followed up with her maiden championship run at the Guadalajara 125 Open in Mexico.

The 20-year-old ace fought with much intensity and passion all the way through, sealing it with a searing comeback from a set down to beat Hungary’s Panna Udvardy, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3.

With her exploits, Eala smashed her way to the top of the Philippine Sportswriters Association’s roster of achievers for the ninth month of 2025.

Aside from the elite netter, pole vaulter EJ Obiena, the Alas Pilipinas Men, darter Lovely Mae ‘Bebang’ Orbeta, and pickleball player Bambi Zoleta produced noteworthy performances in the other fronts.

Obiena helped stage a world-class street pole vault event, the Atletang Ayala World Pole Vault Challenge at the Ayala Triangle, and gave Pinoy fans a complete treat by beating his foreign rivals for the gold with his season’s best 5.80 meters.

Alas spiked its stint in the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship at home with a massive upset of No. 21 Egypt, 29-27, 23-25, 25-22, 25-21. It was the country’s first-ever win in the global meet and Alas nearly made more history but lost to No. 14 Iran, 25-21, 21-25, 25-17, 23-25, 20-22, in a close battle for a Last-16 berth.

Writing history for Philippine darts, Orbeta hit the bull’s eye at the World Darts Federation (WDF) World Cup in Gyeonggi-do, Korea, capping an exceptional run with a dominant 7-2 victory over seasoned American Paula Murphy in the finale.

A decorated soft tennis player, Zoleta showed topnotch skills in another sport, copping a pair of gold medals at the World Pickleball Championship Tier 5 in Bali. Zoleta beat Indonesian Angie Bong, 21-15, for the tiara in the women’s singles 19+ 4.5 category, and teamed with Patricia Raymundo in overpowering Marine Demol and Mila Yatmi, 21-6, for the doubles mint.

Also making it to the September honor roll were Joseph Arcilla, Samuel Nuguit, Patrick Mendoza, Bien Zoleta, Princess Catindig and Christy Sañosa, who topped the mixed team division of the 9th Asian Soft Tennis Championships in Mungyeong City, Korea, and the Philippine delegation that claimed the Overall Nation Championship Trophy at the FIA Asia Pacific Motorsport Championship in Sri Lanka.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has warned that five to eight more tropical cyclones are expected to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) before the end of the year.

PAGASA-Visayas Chief, Engr. Al Quiblat, said during the Openline Forum yesterday that the projection is based on the long-range forecast presented in the September 24 Climate Forum.

‘For the month of October, we are expecting two to four tropical cyclones. Tropical Storm Paolo, the 16th tropical cyclone of the year and the first for October, has already passed. This means there may still be up to three more this month,’ Quiblat said.

He added that based on tropical cyclone threat potential, weather models show a possibility of two low-pressure areas (LPAs) entering the PAR between week 1 and week 2 of October.

Although the likelihood of these systems intensifying into tropical cyclones remains low at the moment, PAGASA is closely monitoring their development.

Quiblat explained that ocean conditions near the Philippines, particularly in the western Pacific, remain active and dynamic due to a 71 percent chance of a looming La Niña.

‘This could change the development of weather disturbances,’ he said as he urged the public to stay updated on the intensity and movement of any potential cyclone.

For November, PAGASA has forecasted two to three tropical cyclones, and for December, one to two. Historical data also showed that from November to December, there is a 60 to 70 percent chance that tropical cyclones may track toward the Visayas region.

‘These cyclones that develop toward the end of the year tend to be landfalling systems,’ Quiblat noted, citing PAGASA’s climatological records.

PAGASA continued to remind the public to monitor weather updates, especially as the country enters the peak of the typhoon season.

PAGASA tropical cyclone names for 2025 are Auring, Bising, Crising, Dante, Emong, Fabian, Gorio, Huaning, Isang, Jacinto, Kiko, Lannie, Mirasol, Nando, Opong, Paolo, Quedan, Ramil, Salome, Tino, Uwan, Verbena, Wilma, Yasmin, Zoraida.

While the auxiliary names used if cyclones exceed 25 in a season will be Alamid, Bruno, Conching, Dolor, Ernie, Florante, Gerardo, Hernan, Isko, and Jerome.

Newly-appointed Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said he will review the Pharmally scandal case, which involves graft over overpriced COVID-19 supplies, acknowledging it seemed to have been “forgotten.”

“Sisilipin natin ‘yan, kasi nga parang nalimutan na eh, naibaon sa limot, pero hindi dapat makalimutan talaga itong mga ganitong kaso,” Remulla said.

(We will look into that, because it seems it has been forgotten, buried in oblivion, but cases like this should truly not be forgotten.)

“Kasi alam natin mabigat ang alingaw-ngaw at maraming nagsasabi na may nangyari ngang masama doon. May naging pagdinig sa Senado ngunit hindi na umandar,” he added.

(Because we know the buzz is heavy, and many are saying that something truly bad happened there. There was a Senate hearing, but it didn’t move forward.)

In an interview with OneNews, former Blue Ribbon Committee Chairperson Richard Gordon said that the new Ombudsman will look into the Pharmally scandal.

Gordon, in the same interview, also said that detained former president Rodrigo Duterte was “part and parcel” of the conspiracy to “fleece the country” of at least “P11 billion to P47 billion” in the Pharmally fiasco.

“Very-very clear ang kasalanan ng presidente, inamin pa niya mismo,” Gordon said in an interview with OneNews’ “Storycon” on October 8.

(The fault of the president is very clear; he admitted it himself.)

As the Ombudsman, Remulla will now be in charge of the investigation and prosecution of government officials in their cases, which include cases of graft and corruption.

During the height of the scandal, the Office of the Ombudsman, which was then under the leadership of former Ombudsman Samuel Martires, filed graft cases against several individuals involved in the scandal last year.

Officials slapped with complaints include former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and former Undersecretary Christopher Lao. They are accused of illegally transferring over P41 billion from the Department of Health (DOH) to the Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) in 2020, during the height of the pandemic.

Latest developments on the case. On October 2, three former DBM officials involved in the case pleaded not guilty before the Sandiganbayan.

The officials are:

Allan Raul Catalan

Dickson Panti

Gerelyn Francisco Vergara

The other co-accused in the case, namely Warren Liong from PS-DBM and Pharmally officials Mohit Dargani and Linconn Ong, did not enter a plea because the anti-graft court has yet to rule on their appeal to quash the graft charge against them.