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With ube going global, the Department of Agriculture has banned the export of fresh purple yam to protect local planting materials.

Whether the ban comes too late will be known soon enough, if other countries with advanced agricultural and food processing industries begin selling ube products sourced from their own farms.

After taking the local tuber for granted for a long time, agriculture officials appear unprepared for the spike in global demand as Philippine ube attains international renown rivaling matcha.

Philippine production cannot keep pace even with domestic demand for ube – fresh, powdered, processed into paste and flavors for a wide range of food items. The tuber can become a major cash crop, but the government must provide the necessary aid to farmers, in terms of premium planting materials, technical assistance, financial and marketing support.

Incentives must also be given to those with the capabilities and know-how for production on a larger scale including tissue culture. The government must move quickly to obtain a Geographical Indication for Philippine ube and assist local governments in getting GI registration for specific regional varieties.

The Philippines is no stranger to GI registration; ‘Guimaras mango’ is now GI-protected in its export to Europe. The same can be done for ube.

Neighboring countries particularly Thailand and Vietnam have moved faster in seeing the market potential of their crops. The Philippines had to play catch-up with Thailand in exporting coconut juice and cream, and has yet to capitalize on expanding the production of the uniquely delectable macapuno.

Farmers need help in propagating the best varieties of other items that grow well in the Philippines or are unique to certain regions, such as pili, pungent Ilocos garlic, coffee and cacao.

There’s a huge global market for orchids and cut flowers, but in this region, the Philippines is trailing Thailand and Taiwan in orchid production, and Thailand and Malaysia in cut flowers.

Energizing the farms through the production of high-value crops such as ube and empowering farmers are infinitely better than any state-funded ayuda or subsidy. And such crops, like ube, also become a source of national pride.

DreamWorks Animation is marking a notable shift in its animation design and characterization, and Filipino influences are playing a part in that progress.

The studio first entered the market with early releases “Antz,” “The Prince of Egypt,” and “The Road to El Dorado,” but arguably its pop culture-defining hit was the “Shrek” franchise that began at the turn of the millenium.

Since then, the company has released franchises for “Madagascar,” “Kung Fu Panda,” “How to Train Your Dragon,” and “Trolls,” each to varying degress of success alongside one-part features.

Next on the theatrical line is “Forgotten Island” helmed by longtime DreamWorks artists and “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado.

What makes the upcoming film so special is that it is inspired by Filipino culture, mythology, and folklore. It is also borrows from the real-life friendship between the Filipino-American Mercado and Crawford, whose wife is Filipina.

It’s a daunting task to follow the footsteps of well-received and award-winning predecessors. However, recent releases like “The Wild Robot” and even “The Last Wish” can serve as indication to the direction DreamWorks is heading. Philstar.com exclusively spoke with Crawford and Mercado to discuss how Filipino creativity factored in the pioneering animation studio’s improvement.

Mercado began by stating his belief that DreamWork’s progress is elevated by Filipino artistry, not just by the community sharing its stories and making their voices heard but also to inspire other cultures to step up.

“I want to hear everybody’s story, we always talk about how ‘rising tides raise all ships,'” he said. “I think together we can tell very beautiful, personal stories and amazing filmmaking.”

Crawford elaborated on the special opportunity “Forgotten Island” had to play with different animation styles, including 2D animation, which was contributed by the Quezon City-based Snipple Animation.

While the movie heavily makes use of 3D animation, flat 2D styles are used in individual storytelling formats and exaggerated moments by characters.

The director credited the local animators in Snipple for inspiring the film’s crew and for much of how the project has been received so far.

He even compared the collaboration to his working relationship and real-life friendship with Mercado.

The filmmakers first worked together as storyboard artists on “Kung Fu Panda 2” 15 years ago and have been quite the dynamic duo ever since.

“That was the experience and joy working with Snipple, it was amazing,” Crawford added.

Mercado ended by recalling how emotional he got upon entering Snipple’s office for the first time last year as – in all his years working in animation. He had never seen a studio full of Filipino animators and artists, and for him it was incredible to witness.

“Forgotten Island” follows best friends Raissa and Jo (Liza Soberano and H.E.R.) stranded on the titular mystical island Nakali filled with aswangs as told by the latter’s grandmother (Dolly de Leon).

Also in the voice cast are Lea Salonga, Filipino-American comedian Jo Koy, Filipino-Canadian actor Manny Jacinto, Filipino-American actress Amielynn Abellera, Dave Franco, Jenny Slate, and Ronny Chieng.

The movie goes wide in Philippine cinemas beginning September 23.

As the country remembers – still with much anger and horror – the dark years of the Marcos-declared martial law on Sept. 21, 1972, it is somehow reassuring that there are excellent books for those who did not experience martial law to be given the chance to immerse themselves in the era. So that 54 years after, it is still remembered in all its ugly and dehumanizing details, prompting them to say, never again. Such a deprivation of life, liberty and the rule of law ought not to be allowed ever again.

The impact of the importance of the youth’s involvement and participation is further reinforced with the current well-received run of the movie ‘Edjop’ which is on the life of the young activist leader from the Ateneo, well-remembered for his demand, relayed in a face-to-face audience with the dictator Marcos, for Marcos not to run for reelection for a third term. He was rudely rebuffed and dismissed, ‘a grocer’s son.’ Edjop went on to become a firmer and more determined activist, earned a P80,000 price on his head, was killed in a military raid in Davao also on the same date as the martial law proclamation, 10 years after. The excellent screen production shows Edjop’s relentless passion to sacrifice everything for love of country and how all these affected his wife Joy and their three children.

I have two highly recommended books for my martial law reading and remembering this year: ‘Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage: The First Quarter Storm and Related Events’ by Jose F. Lacaba (Salinlahi Publishing House, 1982) and ‘Not on our Watch: Martial Law Really Happened. We were there,’ edited by Jo-Ann Maglipon (Publications Group, LEADS-CEGP, 2011).

At the outset, I have to say that these two titles are from my library and thus, I cannot answer inquiries about where to purchase them. My apologies.

Lacaba does not write as a historian viewing events from an impersonal distance but as an involved journalist covering the First Quarter Storm (FQS) and other events. To him, these assignments were not mere coverages to undertake. He does not hide his bias, that he is more sympathetic with the students in protest rather than the Establishment. Fortunate for us, the readers, his is not a detached account, rather a personal one that brings us to how the events ‘looked, sounded and felt from within the opposition movement.’

Lacaba is a writer and a poet, as evident in his very choice of title. ‘Disquiet’ conjures anxiety, uncertainty and a society becoming unsettled. ‘Rage’ is a much stronger and powerful word, suggesting that the political crisis has moved beyond dissatisfaction into confrontation.

Lacaba has been praised for his literary journalism, demonstrated in the book when he makes the student activists and protesters the main characters. It is remembered that in usual such accounts, presidents, political leaders, military officers usually take center stage. In a sense, this is history from below.

Among his eyewitness accounts, revealing his personal engagement, is seeing student protesters physically beaten. How can he remain distant? ‘I stood there paralyzed by a mess of emotions – rage, outrage, frustration, fear and hate,’ he wrote.

There is in the eyewitness, many contradictory feelings of ‘a glorious time, a time of terror and of wrath, but also a time for hope.’

‘Not on our Watch: Martial Law Really Happened…’ is an interesting collection of martial law accounts of student editors during the early years of the dictatorship; this, their collective act of remembering, especially for a nation that tends to forget so easily.

At a reunion of these campus editors four decades after, they decided to put together this collective memoir of an important period in their young lives. They did not mean to produce a history book, but to ensure that their memories are not lost. There was no specific structure to their recollections, thus their memories may be best described to overlap, contradict, illuminate and sometimes supplement one another.

Their accounts reveal their transformation, from young people who began as campus journalists and became adults under authoritarianism. They are not portrayed as victims, though they were so in a sense. For there was fear, imprisonment, violence and political repression. But their narratives also show humor, youthful bravado, friendship, romance, confusion, idealism and even absurdity. And the many difficult choices they had to make.

The long title is interesting because every word matters, was well-chosen: ‘We were there’ looks backward, while ‘Not on our watch’ looks forward. In other words, this is not to be forgotten and not allowed to happen again.

There is much strength, courage and inspiration from these former student journalists turned successful prominent professionals.

The late activist and academic Roberto Verzola, who underwent the worst of physical torture and indignity but never buckled down, wrote, ‘When we of this generation go, our memories should not leave the world with us. No, we must never forget.’

The editor Maglipon wrote, ‘In the fight against a dictator, it (writing) was my only slingshot.’

The book is not the history of martial law from an abstract political episode but a ‘collection of lived human experiences.’

These books ensure that we never forget the nightmare that was martial law.

The Public Private Partnership (PPP) Center and the Cebu provincial government have teamed up to develop a pipeline of projects to be implemented as PPPs.

In a statement, the PPP Center said that a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed by Cebu Gov. Pamela Baricuatro and PPP Center deputy executive director Eleazar Ricote for the collaboration.

Under the MOA, the PPP Center will assist the Cebu provincial government in identifying, evaluating, structuring and preparing projects that may be implemented as PPPs.

Through the PPP mode of project implementation, the government taps the private sector for the delivery of infrastructure and development projects typically provided by the public sector.

Under this arrangement, the parties share the associated risks, while the private sector’s investment recovery is tied to its performance.

As part of the MOA, the PPP Center will help the provincial government throughout the project approval, procurement and implementation stages.

In addition, the PPP Center will help the provincial government determine which potential PPP projects may qualify for support from the Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF).

Managed by the PPP Center, the PDMF is a revolving fund that implementing agencies, including local government units (LGUs), can tap for PPP project development, procurement and implementation.

For its part, the Cebu provincial government will establish a PPP unit to work with the PPP Center.

The Cebu provincial government has identified the Solar Energy Program for Cebu Provincial Hospitals as a possible PPP project.

The proposed project aims to reduce electricity cost and improve selected provincial hospitals’ energy resilience.

As part of the MOA, the PPP Center and Cebu provincial government are also looking at the possible development of inter-LGU and regional projects to improve connectivity and promote investments and economic development in Cebu and Central Visayas.

The country’s overall water use efficiency (WUE) declined in 2025, representing a 4.3-percent drop, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The PSA reported that the country’s WUE in 2025 fell to P221.48 per cubic meter of water used, down from P231.42 the previous year.

The WUE measures how effectively an industry utilizes water resources by dividing its value-added with the volume of water it consumes.

The services sector accounted for the highest WUE in 2025 at P1,553.61 per cubic meter of water used.

This was followed by the industry sector with a WUE amounting to P261.47, a decrease of 33.4 percent from P392.86 in 2024.

‘This decline contributed to the decrease in the overall WUE,’ the PSA said.

On the other hand, the agriculture sector remained with the lowest WUE at P16.48 in 2025.

The PSA also reported that total freshwater withdrawals rose to 101.61 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2025 from 93.08 bcm in 2024, while the level of water stress reached 31.1 percent.

‘The annual level of water stress from 2016 to 2025 consistently fell within the low-level classification range set by the Food and Agriculture Organization, which is 25 to 50 percent,’ it added.

The 16-year-old Grade 9 student who went on a shooting rampage at the Banga National High School in South Cotabato on Friday was suffering from depression and was exposed to the deep dark web, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla disclosed yesterday.

Citing an initial report from the Philippine National Police (PNP), Remulla said the suspect, who killed two schoolmates and wounded eight others before shooting himself dead, had been viewing a website which promotes violence.

‘We will not name the website but again, he was into the deep dark web, which influenced him,’ Remulla said during a news briefing at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Investigation showed that the suspect used a firearm owned by his father, a disaster risk mitigation officer of the Department of Education (DepEd). It was not clear if the firearm was licensed or government-issued.

Probers examined the suspect’s cell phone and found several notes detailing his bout with depression, an issue which his parents had discovered last April.

Remulla said the parents tried to address the suspect’s mental issues but could not prevent the deadly incident from taking place.

It also appeared that the suspect had planned to carry out the attack for quite some time but had no specific target in mind.

‘He left a note saying he was planning to do it but didn’t know whom to shoot. It was just random on his part,’ Remulla said.

At around 1 p.m. on Friday, the student entered a classroom and shot several students with a Taurus .9mm caliber pistol, which had been kept in his father’s safety box that the suspect forcibly opened.

Two students died while eight others were wounded, two in critical condition, in the attack.

The latest school-shooting incident came after similar attacks in Tacloban in June and in Zamboanga City in August, which left five students dead and scores wounded.

The suspect in South Cotabato concealed the firearm on his back, which was not spotted by the school’s security guard, who inspected his bag. Two police officers were stationed outside the school providing security.

In the wake of the latest school-shooting, Remulla will meet with officials from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and Congress for the crafting of a law which would limit the use of social media platforms to minors. He expressed concern that children can easily access the websites which espouses satanism, nihilism, and other forms of violence encouraging users to commit crimes.

‘This is the fault of a young man who was influenced by the deep dark web. We should not put blame on anyone and rather we should have sympathy and empathy,’ Remulla said.

The DICT, for its part, said it is ready to provide assistance in terms of communications and technical support.

It also urged the public from sharing graphic videos and images in connection with the incident.

‘Let us respect the privacy and dignity of the victims and their families while allowing authorities to conduct a thorough investigation,’ the DICT said in a statement.

Planned attack

Education Sonny Angara visited the BNHS campus yesterday and reiterated the need to tighten security in schools to prevent such incidents, also stressing the need for metal detectors to prevent guns or other deadly weapons from being brought in.

Angara said he was still waiting for the official report from investigators.

Angara said the attacker had left a letter stating he knew that what he had planned to do was wrong, but still carried out the attack.

The suspect had long planned the attack and his friends knew about it.

Banga Mayor Albert Palencia and South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. separately told reporters yesterday that the suspect’s phone had a Messenger group chat where he had told classmates that he planned to kill schoolmates inside their campus, and hinted of family and personal problems.

Tamayo said the BNHS campus employed 11 security guards but the suspect, described as an intelligent student, managed to avoid detection.

The suspect’s father is a DepEd Region 12 employee and had jurisdiction over schools in South Cotabato and the three other provinces and four cities in Region 12.

‘According to one of the Messenger group chats with his friends, he planned the atrocity in August. He had told his friends then he was to execute his plan on Sept. 3, but did not push it through,’ Palencia said.

The attacker had told his friends, in his last chat with them, not to attend classes on Friday because he was proceeding with his plan to kill schoolmates with a gun, according to Palencia.

Barangay officials and teachers told reporters that the suspect entered the campus during noon break, barged into classrooms and shot students.

Then he pointed his gun to his head and killed himself.

Palencia said the attacker reportedly got a low grade in one of his subjects in their most recent grading period.

A female student who was shot died instantly while a male student, who was also shot, died in the hospital. Six other students were wounded in the incident, and are now confined in different hospitals.

Tamayo tasked the South Cotabato Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction to extend assistance and essential relief to the wounded.

DepEd employee

The DepEd has confirmed that the father of the suspect, whose identity is being withheld, is an employee of DepEd Region 12.

Angara, the DepEd chief, said the police have yet to determine possible liability of the father, who owned the gun that was used in the shooting.

‘We respect the jurisdiction of the PNP here in the criminal aspect. We are just waiting for the findings of the PNP. How did the gun get in, how did the child get the gun,’ Angara said.

Angara said he will allow the official investigation to establish the facts and take appropriate action should administrative liability under DepEd rules be determined, while coordinating with authorities on separate firearm laws.

‘For us, our concern is the safety of the children, their return, when classes will resume, etc.,’ Angara added.

Angara proposed the creation of a Joint School Safety Task Force with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the PNP to conduct site-specific security audits across public schools nationwide.

Angara said the move was in response to the directive of President Marcos following a deadly shooting at Banga National High School, the third fatal campus shooting over the last three months.

‘In line with the President’s directive, DepEd will work with DILG and PNP to review the measures already implemented following previous incidents and identify remaining gaps in school safety,’ Angara said, who personally visited Banga National High School on Saturday.

President Marcos directed DepEd, DILG, and the PNP to submit an assessment report recommending concrete policy measures to prevent future campus violence.

‘This operational framework is not intended to create another permanent bureaucracy, but rather to bring the agencies together to assess specific risks, identify gaps, and recommend concrete interventions.

‘Since the circumstances and vulnerabilities of schools may differ from one area to another, we need to assess risks on the ground and identify interventions appropriate to each school and community,’ Angara added.

He said the proposed joint task force will evaluate critical campus security areas, including physical access control, threat reporting, emergency response, and local law enforcement coordination.

‘I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families who lost their loved ones. No parent should have to experience this kind of pain, and no child should be afraid to go to school,’ Angara said.

Angara was accompanied by other DepEd officials as they assisted the victims and coordinated closely with local authorities and law enforcement to investigate the full circumstances surrounding the incident.

‘We remain unwavering in our commitment to securing our learning institutions nationwide,’ the DepEd said.

Videos taken down

Acting on the government request, Meta has started removing on its social media platforms videos related to Friday’s deadly shooting.

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center said they coordinated with Meta to take down videos which spread on Facebook immediately after the shooting occurred.

‘The videos circulating were immediately taken down, and the accounts sharing the videos were blocked,’ CICC executive director Undersecretary Renato Paraiso said.

The CICC’s threat monitoring center is still tracking down activities or contents related to the shooting.

Paraiso expressed condolences to the victims’ families and also urged the public to refrain from sharing on their social media accounts videos and photographs of the shooting.

He warned that reposting contents related to the incident could inspire other people to carry out attacks on school campuses.

‘It may cause fear, confusion and may trigger copycat violence,’ Paraiso said as he called on parents and guardians to regularly monitor the activities of their children online, including interaction with other groups on the internet and private chats.