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We’re Not Part Of Rainbow Coalition – Ondo PDP Candidate

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Akure North/Akure South Federal Constituency, Babatunde Faro, has stated that the party has not joined the Wike-led Rainbow Coalition, pending directives from its national leadership.

Faro stated this during a press conference in Akure, Ondo State, explaining that the PDP leadership has yet to communicate its official position on the proposed coalition to members at the grassroots level.

‘On the Wike Rainbow Coalition, we know that we can take a decision to be part of them, but we have not received any order from the national leadership, so we don’t belong yet,’ he said.

When asked which presidential candidate he would support in the 2027 general election, Faro maintained that the PDP’s presidential candidate remains Sandy Ojang Onor.

‘Our presidential candidate still remains Sandy Onor as the PDP candidate,’ he declared.

According to him, the party will make a firm decision regarding possible coalitions and alliances with other political parties closer to the 2027 general election.

‘One month or so to the 2027 poll, the party will take a firm decision on any coalition levels or any alliances with any party. And from then, as a party man, I am obligated and bound by it, and I will make my own position known,’ Faro said.

Addressing the conduct of the upcoming 2027 elections, Faro urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to improve its operational efficiency and ensure that votes count.

The workplace equity gap: Why representation alone is not enough

A few years ago, when we were mapping out the leadership structure for what would become EHA Group, I already knew I wanted to start a family. That fact quietly decided a lot of what came next. The role that needed to be most public-facing, most airport-based, went to my co-founder. I built EHA Impact Ventures instead, a smaller, run-from-Cape Town company built around a life I hadn’t fully lived yet.

Here’s the part I keep coming back to: I had more power than almost anyone to make that choice because I was a founder. I could write my own job description. And I still had to trade things away: conferences I’ve skipped this year, a slower travel schedule, and evenings kept for bedtime instead of dinners with partners. If someone with the authority to build her own role from scratch still has to ‘shrink’ her ambitions to fit a family, what does that mean for the woman ten years into her career at a company where the job was designed before she ever walked in the door, by people who never had to think about who’s home for bedtime?

That’s what this piece is about. Most of the roles women are trying to climb into weren’t built to exclude women; they were built by people who didn’t need to build in flexibility, because someone else was managing the rest of their life for them. Travel expectations, always-on availability, the assumption that ambition and physical presence are the same thing – none of it was designed with malice. It was designed by whoever happened to be writing job descriptions and promotion criteria, and for the most part, that’s still disproportionately men, for whom none of this was ever a design constraint. The roles were never actually tested against what a full life outside them requires, so there’s nothing pulling leadership to notice or fix it, unless someone insists.

You can see it inside our own organisation, and I’d rather say so than pretend otherwise. EIV comfortably clears our group’s target for women in leadership. eHealth Africa, our largest entity, doesn’t. EHA Clinics comes closer but also falls short. That’s not a scorecard of who cares more about equity; it’s a map of which jobs were designed around one kind of life. EIV is small enough that I built it deliberately, from the ground up, around flexibility. Clinics draw from a healthcare workforce that’s already majority women, so the pipeline does some of the work for us. eHealth Africa runs on field implementation, disease surveillance, and immunisation planning, work that by design lives in the field and built the way field roles are built almost everywhere: around someone who doesn’t need to be anywhere else.

Widen the lens, and the same pattern holds at a much bigger scale. Across Africa, women make up 58% of the self-employed population (World Bank, 2019) and receive roughly 2% of startup capital (Africa: The Big Deal, annual funding tracking). It’s not just that the market doubts women’s performance; female-founded teams in Africa post revenue growth around 25% higher than male-founded teams, and gender-diverse leadership consistently produces stronger returns. The capital isn’t withheld because women underperform. It’s withheld because the default founder profile, the default definition of ‘investable’, was built around one kind of life and one kind of career path, the same way the job descriptions were.

This is why I don’t think the fix is simply getting more women into the seats that already exist. Representation gets you into the room the way it’s currently built. It doesn’t get you the authority to rebuild the room. That authority is what capital actually buys. When a woman founder gets funded, she doesn’t just get resources; she gets to decide what her own company requires of its managers, how flexible its roles are, and what a ‘high performer’ looks like for someone raising kids. Every woman we back at EIV who becomes a CEO is also, whether she frames it this way or not, someone who now gets to design jobs instead of just surviving inside ones she didn’t design. That’s the actual flywheel: put money and power into more women’s hands, and you get more women rebuilding the structures underneath them, not just occupying a seat inside the old ones. Fixate on 50% representation as the finish line, and you can hit the number without changing a single structure it took to get there.

I don’t have a clean resolution for where I sit in all this. I’ve had a seat at this table since we built it, so representation was never really my problem. What I’ve needed, and what most women climbing into leadership still don’t have, is the power to redesign the job around real life instead of shrinking real life to fit the job. If we’re serious about closing this gap, the goal can’t just be more women in the room. It has to be more women with the power to decide what the room requires, because that’s the only lever strong enough to rebuild systems that were never designed for us in the first place.

So here’s where we’re starting: not with more women in the room, but with more women who have the authority to decide what the room requires. For our portfolio companies, that means giving founders and their teams the power to actually redesign how their organisations work, what flexibility looks like, what support for caregiving looks like, and what a ‘high performer’ looks like for someone managing a life outside the job, not just inside it. To help them do that with evidence instead of guesswork, we built a diagnostic tool that surfaces where a company’s practices and policies are falling short for its female staff and where to start fixing them.

We think every organisation serious about this needs the same starting point, which is why we’re hosting a webinar, ‘Building Workplaces Built for Women,’ to talk through practical approaches to building workplaces where women choose to stay and grow.

If you have a story or case study to bring to that conversation, we’d love to hear from you.

Evelyn Castle, CEO and co-founder of EHA Impact Ventures, writes from Abuja.

BSK Community Run to support Mulago School for the Deaf

The British School of Kampala (BSK) community will take to the streets on November 21 to help deaf children get a safer place to learn and the skills to build independent lives.

Money raised at the eighth edition of the BSK Community Run will go to Mulago School for the Deaf. It will help the school improve security, develop vocational training and widen opportunities for its learners.

The run brings together learners, parents, teachers and the public behind one message: deafness should not decide how far a child can go.

Prossie Wanyana, the deputy headteacher at Mulago School for the Deaf, says the partnership “offers an opportunity to address practical needs while challenging the attitudes that continue to limit opportunities for people with disabilities.”

The school teaches learners from nursery to Primary Seven. Its first priority is a perimeter fence to make the school more secure.

Its ambitions go beyond the classroom, however. Once deaf learners leave school, they often face limited access to further education, few job openings and negative attitudes.

The school therefore plans to strengthen vocational training, such as hairdressing and tailoring, alongside academic lessons. Wanyana notes that not every learner will go on to secondary school, so practical skills can offer another way to earn a living.

“We believe in making them independent,” she says.

Inclusion also depends on the wider community. Staff use sign language with learners, but few people outside the school gates can do the same. That makes everyday life harder for deaf children, who may struggle to express their needs or take part in community life.

To bridge the gap, the school runs free sign language lessons every Friday for parents and members of the public.

For BSK, the annual run has become a tradition that combines exercise with giving back. It also teaches learners generosity, empathy and collective action.

Secondary School Ambassador Tessa Kassaga, a prefect who grew up in the BSK community, says the event means a lot to her. She hopes siblings, friends and parents will turn out in large numbers.

“I feel good that people are doing this,” she says.

The public can support the cause by joining the run, buying a T-shirt at Shs30,000 before the event, or contributing in other ways.

Runners will count kilometres and finish lines. The real measure will be a safer school, stronger vocational training and better communication between deaf learners and the community around them.

Homegrowns gain spotlight in inaugural MPVA men’s volleyball tilt

The Maharlika Pilipinas Volleyball Association (MPVA) will prioritize homegrown players when it launches its inaugural men’s volleyball tournament next month 14 in Biñan, Laguna.

MPVA commissioner Michael Tavera said the revised format will give local players more opportunities to represent their respective local government units, with only a handful of guest players allowed on each team.

‘We’ve changed our program for the men’s league to focus more on homegrown players. Previously, we had only about three homegrown players per team. Now, we have around 12 to 14,’ Tavera said in the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the Philippine Sports Commission media room.

‘Most of the players who will see action will come from the LGUs, while only a few will be guest players.’

Eight teams from Bacoor, Biñan, Caloocan, Marikina, Nasipit, Negros Oriental, Rizal and San Juan will compete in the inaugural tournament starting on November 14.

Tavera said the league will follow a double-round robin format and is expected to conclude by the end of January.

Athletic Events and Sports Management Inc. chairman and President Dr. Ian Laurel said organizers were encouraged to launch the men’s competition after learning that local men’s tournaments were drawing significantly more teams than their women’s counterparts.

Laurel and Tavera were also joined by representatives of some of the competing teams during the same Forum presented by San Miguel Corporation, PSC, Philippine Olympic Committee, MILO, and the country’s 24/7 sports app Arena Plus.

‘We were surprised when they unanimously told us that their local men’s tournaments attracted far more teams than the women’s competitions. The women’s division might have four or five teams, while the men’s division could draw 20 or more teams and fill their arenas,’ Laurel said. ‘We realized this was the right time to hold the competition.’

Laurel said the tournament aims to strengthen ties between athletes and their communities by allowing players to compete before family members, friends and neighbors.

‘That means players’ families, neighbors and friends can watch them represent their communities. That’s the connection we’re trying to build among the fans, the community and the sport,’ Laurel said.

He added the league’s partnership with the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) would help widen the talent search ahead of future international competitions for Alas Pilipinas.

‘We are in partnership with the PNVF and it will be a way of casting a wider net for scouting talent,’ Laurel said.

Leyla Aliyeva and Secretary-General of Muslim Council of Elders discuss cooperation [PHOTOS]

On October 27, Leyla Aliyeva, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, met with Mohamed Abdelsalam, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Elders.

During the meeting, the sides praised Azerbaijan’s contributions to strengthening Islamic solidarity and discussed prospects for further cooperation between the Council of Elders of Azerbaijan and the Muslim Council of Elders.

It was noted that Azerbaijan actively promotes Islamic culture and its fundamental values on the international stage and continues to make significant contributions in this field.

The meeting also highlighted the importance of the Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, scheduled to be held in Azerbaijan in 2027, where key issues will be discussed.

Obi renews attack on Tinubu, questions his energy to govern Nigeria

The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has launched another attack on President Bola Tinubu, questioning his competence and energy to lead Nigeria.

Obi made the remarks on Monday in Abuja during activities marking the inauguration of his party’s presidential campaign council ahead of the 2027 elections.

The former Anambra State governor accused the Tinubu administration of failing to address Nigeria’s economic and security challenges, claiming that the country needed a change in leadership.

‘Today, President Tinubu has led a government that lacks competence, capacity, compassion and commitment to deal with Nigeria’s problems,’ Obi declared.

He also questioned the President’s energy and resolve, arguing that Nigeria required a leader who would be consistently available to respond to national emergencies.

Obi accused the administration of allowing insecurity and other challenges to persist, promising that an NDC government would adopt a different approach.

He maintained that Nigerians were seeking new leadership and expressed confidence that his party would provide an alternative in 2027.

The criticism comes days after Tinubu formally launched his re-election campaign in Kaduna, where he defended his administration’s economic reforms and sought renewed support from voters.

Obi is expected to challenge the President in the January 2027 presidential election.

Eight young Filipinos set for Japan basketball camp

THIRTEEN-year-old Zulcarnain Datumanong of Cotabato and seven other young Filipino basketball players have been selected for Pocari Sweat’s ‘Live Your Dream with Pocari Sweat: Basketball Dream Project’ Season 3, earning a week-long training opportunity in Japan in April 2027.

Also making the cut were Charles Nino Garcia, 15, and Jose Victorio Suico, 14, from Cebu; Chazz Anthone Lesiguez, 15, and John Miel Lachica, 15, from Iloilo; Jerruz Clinx Domingo, 14, from Cotabato; and Dexter Jacob Dandoy, 15, and Jhun Lee Ibuos, 14, from Davao.

The final selection was held recently at the University of Southern Philippines Foundation in Cebu City, where 32 finalists competed.

The eight players will train alongside B. League players and coaches, gaining exposure to advanced training methods, professional coaching, and the discipline required to compete at a higher level.

Launched in 2024, the program aims to develop young Filipino basketball players through structured training and expert coaching. For Season 3, nine regional tryouts were held in Cebu, Iloilo, Cotabato, and Davao, attracting a total of 652 aspiring players.

‘Pocari Sweat has always believed in supporting the youth by investing in programs that help them grow, achieve, and dream without limits,’ said Ken Saito, president and managing director of Otsuka-Solar Philippines, Inc. ‘This initiative is our commitment to creating pathways for young athletes to succeed.’

The final tryout was attended by PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) Zone 8 Director Popoy Navarro and Cebu City Sports Commission Executive Director Rhoel Dejano.

Leuterio counters condo glut warning: ‘Don’t sacrifice income with price cuts’

Anthony Leuterio, founder of Filipino Homes and Rent.ph, has challenged a forecast of further declines in Metro Manila condominium rents, arguing that landlords risk sacrificing income if they respond to oversupply with price cuts rather than better marketing, data-led pricing and professional property management.

His remarks push back against a warning by David Leechiu, co-founder and chief executive of Leechiu Property Consultants, that rents for studio units could fall to as little as P5,000 within the next 12 months, from about P30,000 previously, as excess supply intensifies competition among landlords.

‘I don’t agree with Leechiu,’ Leuterio said, arguing that rental performance depends not only on supply but also on location, tenant demand, economic conditions and how effectively properties are marketed and managed.

‘Rental is not just about pricing. It’s about marketing, demand, and professional management,’ he said.

The disagreement highlights a key issue for the Philippine property sector – whether landlords can protect recurring income through more effective leasing strategies or will increasingly be forced to lower rents to compete for tenants.

Leuterio, who is also the president of ‘A Better Real Estate’ ABREP, cautioned against extrapolating weakness in an oversupplied segment of Metro Manila’s condominium market to the wider rental sector.

Performance varies by location and property type, he said, while disappointing rental returns may reflect poor marketing, unrealistic pricing, inadequate tenant screening or weak management rather than a lack of demand alone.

Indiscriminate rent reductions may help fill vacancies, but they can also erode income if owners have not assessed competing properties, prevailing lease rates and alternative marketing strategies.

The issue extends to the incentives facing real estate agents, some of whom, Leuterio said, may prioritize securing a tenant to earn a commission over maximizing the landlord’s long-term returns.

Rental professionals should be judged not simply on their ability to close leases but on their capacity to sustain occupancy, protect rental income and preserve the value of property investments, he argued.

‘Instead of creating fear, we should encourage property owners to rely on actual market data and professional rental management. We should protect investors’ interests, not undermine their confidence,’ he said.

Leuterio called for rental rate studies, more reliable market data and professional managers across residential buildings to help owners establish competitive prices and make better-informed investment decisions.

He also pointed to population growth across Metro Manila and Luzon, alongside households unable to afford homeownership, as factors underpinning the need for rental housing.

However, the strength of that demand will depend on affordability, the location of available units and the extent to which rents match tenants’ budgets.

For investors, headline rental rates offer only a partial measure of returns. Occupancy, vacancy periods, operating expenses and management costs also determine how much income a property generates.

Oversupply can put downward pressure on rents, but the extent of any decline will depend on local inventory, competing developments and tenant demand. Actual lease transactions and vacancy rates are therefore essential to establishing whether price weakness is widespread or concentrated in particular market segments.

Leuterio said the industry should give leasing and asset management the same strategic attention as property sales, treating rental operations as a long-term business rather than a means of generating quick commissions.

The distinction matters for developers and investors seeking recurring income from residential assets. As competition for tenants intensifies, professional management and disciplined pricing could help owners navigate market pressures, although they cannot eliminate the effects of genuine oversupply or weak demand.

For Leuterio, the priority is not to predict that rents will invariably rise or fall, but to ensure that pricing decisions are grounded in market evidence and that properties are managed to achieve sustainable returns.

SEC: Reforms to prepare Philippines for Asean market integration

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the reforms it is undertaking on corporate governance would make the country ready for market integration in the Southeast Asian region.

SEC chairman Francis Lim told reporters that corporate regulators in the region are working to connect their capital markets deeper in line with an action plan until 2030.

Lim said this is part of the reason the SEC is rolling out a series of governance reforms, some of which were brought to court by oppositors.

The reforms, Lim said, prepare local firms for eventual integration, raising them up to standard with regional peers. He added that the Philippines, as a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), should adjust to the group, not the other way around.

Lim said an integration of capital markets would require each party to agree to a single standard on corporate governance and fair play. He added that the last thing the country wants is to be left out on the initiative.

In January, the SEC issued a memorandum circular capping the term of independent directors to nine years as a way to shore up business confidence by rejecting boardroom dominance by a few names.

Broadcasting giant GMA Network Inc., challenged it before a court, but later backed out and complied with the directive.

The SEC is raising eyebrows again in its proposal to hike minimum capital requirements for brokers to P120 million, from P100 million, to account for inflation.

Lim said governance reforms have to be applied for local firms to access opportunities overseas. He cited the case of Filipino fast food king Jollibee Foods Corp., which is eyeing to cross list in Hong Kong through its international unit.

‘It is a work in progress. Cross listing whether we like it or now will happen, and therefore, what we have to do is to prepare our companies,’ Lim said.

Recently, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) signed a memorandum of collaboration with Singapore Exchange Ltd. (SGX Group) to build up cross-border opportunities.

Both PSE and SGX Group will work on raising intra-region trading by developing new products that suit the demands of their respective investors.

Pinoys’ holiday plans disrupted by Asean Summit ‘parking’

HOLIDAY economics interrupted.

Filipinos cheering the holidays declared from November 16 to 18 (Monday to Wednesday) due to the 49th Asean Summit are now mad as hell after their flights were canceled for the same reason they booked their trips. Malacañang declared the holidays for the National Capital Region last September 22, thus giving bakasyonistas a five-day ‘weekend.’

Much of the exasperation has been aimed at Cebu Pacific Airways (CEB), as it operates mainly at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) passenger terminal 3, where the aircraft of arriving foreign leaders will be parked.

‘Basically, the parking bays [at Naia-3] were reduced to accommodate the dignitaries’ planes,’ said a source from the New Naia Infrastructure Corp. (NNIC), the company that manages the Naia. ‘This is a government-led initiative,’ the source explained, adding that the exact number of flights has yet to be finalized, ‘as there will still be a meeting on that with the slot committee.’

CEB started emailing its affected passengers on October 23, informing them of the flight adjustments, even before the Civil Aeronautics Bureau (CAB) issued its advisory stating that, ‘the arrival of Asean delegates may necessitate temporary flight and airport operational adjustments, and enhanced security measures which may affect airline flight schedules and airport operations.’

CAB Advisory

The CAB advisory on the Asean flight adjustments, signed by Executive Director Carmelo L. Arcilla, was issued on Monday, October 26. He advised airlines to review their flight schedules and ‘coordinate with relevant airport authorities, and ensure that any flight changes or adjustments are reasonably necessary to minimize public inconvenience.’

He also told carriers to immediately notify passengers of the flight adjustments and status at the ‘earliest opportunity’ and ‘strictly adhere to the provisions of the Air Passenger of Bill of Rights,’ regarding passenger entitlements.

Complaints on social media erupted over the weekend after passengers received CEB’s Asean flight adjustments advisory. @EngagingChestnut on Facebook account DIY Philippines said: ‘GRABE! just received an email from CEBU PAC. Naka book na kami ng hotel namin ng Boracay. Pano ba ‘to? Grabe!

One @HoneroChristian said on X: ‘Seryoso ba to @CebuPacificAir I can no longer move my leave as this is a long weekend holiday with family. :(‘

@Winterrifics said, for her part, ‘@CebuPacificAir we have already booked our hotels and activities. if you knew you were hosting Asean why are you only canceling flights now. could have just made those unavailable before? just kill me oh my god.’

An industry source who requested anonymity said, ‘Of course people started booking trips when the holidays were announced. This should have been better managed.’

Over 21 foreign planes expected

CEB’s email to its passengers says: ‘The Philippines will be hosting the 49th Asean Summit from November 16 to 18, 2026. To accommodate the event, [Naia-3] has reduced the number of available aircraft parking bays.’ The airline offers several options for passengers such as the rebooking of their trips, converting the booking on a non-expiring Travel Fund, or an outright refund.

Spared from the Asean flight adjustments are Philippine Airlines, which operates out of Naia-2, and Air Asia Philipines, which uses Naia-1 and Naia-2 for its international and domestic flights, respectively.

A document on the proposed aircraft parking at Naia-3 shown to this paper indicated 21 expected aircraft carrying leaders from Asean, the United States, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.

NNIC expects that some countries will have ‘more than one plane’ as in the case of the US delegation, which will be headed by President Trump.

The decrease in available aircraft parking bays at Naia-3 has resulted in the reduction of about 20 percent of CEB flights at the Naia-3, said a separate source. This has forced the carrier to consolidate many of its flights, thus resulting in the cancelation of domestic flights from Manila to 19 destinations, and from Manila to seven international destinations.

The CAB advised air passengers to ‘closely monitor the status of their flights, including any official government and airline advisories for travel updates and coordinate directly with their airlines for any alternative options.’