Category: Business Mirror

The Philippines’s fast-growing electric vehicle (EV) market may not immediately translate into a production boom, with additional manufacturing incentives unlikely to significantly change the industry’s output in the next two years, according to BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions.

BMI senior analyst for autos Santiago Arieu told BusinessMirror that while incentives for EV and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) manufacturing could encourage more local assembly and investment, the effect on production is likely to be ‘limited’ in 2026 and 2027.

‘While such measures would probably not meaningfully transform the industry’s position in the near term (2026-2027), they could strengthen medium-term production growth by making the Philippines a more attractive destination for electrified vehicle manufacturing and related supply-chain investment,’ Arieu said in an email response.

BMI expects EV penetration to increase to 17.3 percent in 2030 from 7.7 percent of vehicle sales in 2026. Its forecast covers battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), excluding non-plug-in hybrids.

The shift is expected to create room for new vehicle technologies even as sales of conventional internal combustion engine vehicles come under greater pressure.

Chinese brands are also gaining ground in the market, with BMI citing BYD, VinFast, GAC Aion, Chery and MG as examples of manufacturers expanding through competitive pricing, improving products and wider electrified-vehicle offerings.

Higher fuel costs are likewise encouraging consumers to consider vehicles with lower running costs, while tax incentives and a growing charging network are helping raise awareness of EVs.

But the growing market does not yet mean the country has the industrial base to support a major increase in local production.

‘We believe the biggest constraint is the relatively underdeveloped automotive and EV supplier ecosystem compared with regional competitors,’ Arieu said.

The Philippines will need more component manufacturers, suppliers and supporting industries before it can secure larger EV and HEV production commitments, he added.

The gap is particularly important as the country competes with established automotive centers in the region for new electrified-vehicle investments.

Data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed that sales of BEVs, HEVs and PHEVs reached 38,286 units from January to July, up 136.4 percent from 16,195 units in the same period last year.

Despite the surge, BMI expects the overall vehicle market to shrink 8.7 percent year-on-year to 423,750 units in 2026 as high fuel prices, inflation, weaker economic growth and elevated borrowing costs weigh on demand.

Holiday sales

The final months of 2026 could provide some relief, but BMI does not expect a late-year pickup to fully reverse the local industry’s perceived weakness.

Arieu told this newspaper that stronger-than-expected demand during the ‘ber months’ could support vehicle production in the second half and result in a smaller decline than currently forecast.

The main risks remain higher fuel prices linked to the US-Iran conflict, persistent inflation and financing costs.

‘If inflation remains elevated for longer than expected, the central bank may be forced to keep interest rates higher for longer,’ BMI said in its latest report, noting that vehicle purchases in the Philippines are heavily dependent on financing.

‘This would further reduce vehicle affordability and could delay the sales recovery we expect from 2027.’

Slower implementation of infrastructure projects could also weigh on commercial vehicle demand by reducing activity in construction, logistics and related sectors.

BMI, however, expects the market to return to growth in 2027, with total vehicle sales forecast to rise 6.6 percent to 451,717 units. Growth is projected at 6 percent in 2028, 5.5 percent in 2029 and 4.9 percent in 2030, bringing annual sales to 529,836 units.

For the commercial vehicle market, which includes crossovers, sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks, BMI expects volumes to increase from 336,105 units in 2026 to 414,739 units in 2030, equivalent to average annual growth of 5.4 percent.

A faster easing cycle, stronger economic growth or a larger-than-expected expansion of affordable Chinese vehicle offerings could improve affordability and speed up the recovery.

The recent red and yellow alerts across Visayas and Mindanao expose a grid on the brink. With peak-hour supply falling short, the government now faces a credibility crisis that extends far beyond rotating brownouts and into the boardrooms of potential investorsThe numbers tell an alarming story. In the Visayas, available capacity of 2,139MW falls short of peak demand at 2,555MW-a deficit that forces grid operators to issue emergency alerts. Mindanao fares slightly better on paper, with 2,526MW available against 2,545MW demand, but the razor-thin margin leaves no room for error. When your operating buffer is measured in megawatts, not gigawatts, you are not managing a power grid; you are managing a crisis.

What makes this situation particularly egregious is the chronic nature of the problem. The forced outage list reads like a catalog of neglect: plants offline since 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025. When a generating facility remains out of service for years, not days or weeks, this ceases to be an operational hiccup and becomes institutional failure. Add to this the 14 plants in Visayas and 7 in Mindanao running at derated capacities, and the picture becomes clear-this is not a sudden emergency, but a slow-motion collapse that policymakers have watched unfold while offering little more than coordination meetings and press releases.

The Department of Energy’s assurances of ‘active coordination’ with market operators and regulators ring hollow against the reality of 840-855MW of unavailable capacity. Coordination does not generate electricity. Meetings do not spin turbines. The Filipino people, and potential investors, need megawatts, not memoranda of understanding.

For an administration seeking to attract investment to the regions, this power crisis represents an existential threat to economic development. No serious investor-whether in manufacturing, business process outsourcing, or data centers-will commit capital to a region where electricity availability is intermittent and unpredictable. Power is the prerequisite for productivity. When the grid cannot guarantee stable supply, the country effectively disqualifies itself from the global investment race.

The timing could not be worse. As neighboring countries streamline their energy infrastructure and embrace renewable transitions with reliable baseload support, the Philippines struggles to maintain even the most basic reliability standards. Red alerts signal not just technical failure, but governance failure-the inability to maintain critical infrastructure that underpins the entire economy.

What is needed now is not more coordination, but accountability. The DOE and relevant agencies must answer why plants have been allowed to remain offline for years without replacement capacity coming online. They must explain why derated plants have not been repaired or decommissioned and replaced. They must justify the years of warnings ignored and contingency plans that clearly proved inadequate.

The government has a choice: treat this as a temporary inconvenience to be managed through public relations, or as the structural crisis it truly is. The former path leads to continued investor skepticism and economic stagnation. The latter requires difficult decisions about energy mix, regulatory reform, and perhaps most importantly, honest assessment of whether the current energy bureaucracy is capable of managing a 21st-century grid.

The lights are going out in Visayas and Mindanao. Until the government proves it can keep them on, the investment climate will remain just as dark.

JUSTIN QUIBAN wasted no time announcing his Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) comeback by braving blustery conditions while taking full advantage of a softened Summit Point layout to fire a seven-under 65 and grab a one-stroke lead over Angelo Que after Tuesday’s opening round of the ICTSI Summit Point Championship.

Quiban combined solid driving with steady course management to emerge at the forefront of a high-scoring assault, birdieing two of his first three holes before recovering from a setback on No. 6 with a blistering finish.

He birdied six of his last 10 holes, including a three-birdie binge from Nos. 13 to 15 and another birdie on the 18th that capped a 31 on the back nine.

‘I just had to make sure I was driving it well enough to keep myself in the fairway because, if it’s in the fairway, and given that it’s wet and we’re playing under winter rules, we get to fix our lies. But if you’re in the rough with mud balls, it’s so hard to hit the greens,’ said Quiban, emphasizing the importance of distance control in such demanding conditions.

‘The strategy was to keep it in play and keep it in the fairway so I could get aggressive on my second shots, which I somehow did. I hit it pretty close and made a couple of putts out there to end up shooting a 65,’ added Quiban, whose confidence was evident throughout a round in which he repeatedly converted scoring chances despite the stiff breeze.

Que, a proven winner and one of the tour’s most experienced campaigners, refused to let Quiban pull away in the Lipa City layout.

Que matched the pace with a near-flawless 66, making the most of Summit Point’s more receptive conditions and particularly attacking the back nine, where he put together a solid 32 highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 five 14th.

Aidric Chan, Jhonnel Ababa and Jeffren Lumbo also made strong starts, carding 68s to stay within three shots of the lead. Jerson Balasabas, Gabriel Manotoc and Mars Pucay followed with similar 69s as the P2.5-million championship immediately lived up to its billing as a highly charged battle for control.

In all, 25 players broke par, underscoring how the softened course invited an aggressive approach despite the persistent wind that tested club selection, ball flight and distance control throughout the day.

‘While it may look that way, it still depends on the players,’ Que said. ‘If you hit it bad, it’s nothing.’

A large group shared ninth place at 70, including Asian Games-bound Carl Corpus, Tony Lascuña, Reymon Jaraula, Nilo Salahog, Russell Bautista, Michael Bibat, Marvin Dumandan, Japanese Ryoto Furuya, Randy Garalde and amateur Miguel Ilas.

High energy prices, persistent inflation, rising interest rates and tighter underwriting standards are expected to weigh on credit growth in the Philippines, according to SandP Global Ratings.

In a report on Tuesday, the credit rating agency said prospects for credit growth in the Philippines are ‘deteriorating’ because of higher inflationary pressures and weaker economic conditions.

SandP Global made this pronouncement after it conducted stress tests on the Philippine banking sector.

The credit rating agency noted that slower credit growth is ’emerging’ across all segments of the Philippine economy.

‘Persistent inflation, rising interest rates, and tighter underwriting standards at a time when economic growth is decelerating are behind this,’ SandP Global said.

It noted that the annualized credit growth slowed to approximately 7 percent in the first half, from 10 percent in 2025 and 13 percent in 2024.

‘Two macroeconomic factors are driving deceleration: higher energy prices and reduced government spending,’ SandP Global said.

The Middle East conflict and a lack of subsidies that have pushed up prices for fuel and gas have compounded the woes of consumers, it added.

SandP Global also noted that government spending has weakened because of ongoing investigations into flood control projects.

As such, the credit rating agency said the next few months will remain ‘challenging’ for banks.

‘Recovery in 2027-2029 will be driven by inflationary pressures easing and public and private spending rebounding, in our view,’ said SandP Global.

The credit rating agency forecasts loan growth to ‘stabilize’ at 7 to 8 percent in 2026 before accelerating to 9 to 10 percent over the following two years.

In particular, it said the recovery will be led by consumer loans (23 percent of total loans) and fueled by stronger growth in unsecured lending, it added.

Meanwhile, the credit rating agency said weak loans will rise to 6 to 7 percent of outstanding loans over the next two years, up from 5.6 percent in June 2026.

While aggregate levels of weak loans remain ‘manageable,’ SandP Global said: ‘Stress is emerging in the auto, credit card and personal loan segments.’

‘Our analysis of loans that are 30 days overdue on repayments also indicates elevated stress in in these segments,’ it added.

SandP Global also flagged the ‘rapid expansion’ of unsecured lending, which it said is facing its ‘first true asset quality test.’

‘Such loans surged from 5 percent of total loans in 2019 to 11 percent by the end of 2025,’ it said.

Auto, business loans

SandP Global said the Philippines recorded a sharp slowdown in growth due to the lack of broader fuel subsidies which has resulted in a ‘massive jump’ in fuel prices.

‘Auto loans are seeing a sustained increase in NPLs [nonperforming loans] and past due loans, reflecting the squeeze in household incomes centered on mass market consumers,’ it added.

However, ‘incremental’ growth in auto loans is being largely driven by electric vehicles, where it said the borrower profile is ‘more affluent.’

The credit rating agency also flagged the construction sector, whose past due loans doubled to 16.5 percent by June 2026.

‘A suspension in government works following the discovery of irregularities in flood control projects and input cost inflation related to conflict in the Middle East contributed to the weakness.’

Something unusual is happening around Alexandra Eala. The score is no longer sufficient to explain it.

At 21, she has become a WTA Tour champion, reached the second week of Wimbledon and entered the world’s top 20. But the more revealing measure is what happens before she strikes a ball. Practice courts fill. Tournament directors move her to larger stadiums. In Washington, most ticket inquiries reportedly concerned her matches. In Toronto, crowds exceeding 10,000 came on nights she played; Philippine flags, Tagalog cheers, adobo and lumpia followed.

Then New York enlarged the picture.

The New York Times placed the phenomenon on Page A1 of its New York edition. The New Yorker asked how she became ‘a symbol of the Philippines.’ The Wall Street Journal called her a tennis sensation with a nation-sized following. Forbes made her a Daily Cover. American Vogue-hardly a tennis journal-profiled her as a sensation.

This is no longer merely sports coverage.

It is a cultural event.

Eala is not a rags-to-riches story. She grew up in an accomplished family. But her tennis beginnings were wonderfully unmanufactured: a grandfather who taught himself the game; crushed-shell courts; five-o’clock practices; homework in the car; then a scholarship and the difficult move to the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca. There were many years when almost nobody was watching.

Perhaps that is why the watching now has not consumed her.

Forbes estimates that her off-court earnings exceeded $5 million during the preceding year, aside from prize money. Nike has moved beyond simply clothing her: sampaguita motifs, Filipino-language details and Eala-specific merchandise followed. But the sampaguita works because she carried the Philippines before somebody printed it on a shirt.

Fashion has become another language of that identity. Vogue Philippines put her on its cover at 17 and returned to her this year as an athlete comfortable with Filipino design and the public gaze. At the US Open, Anna Wintour singled out the ‘young Filipino star,’ noting Eala’s interest in fashion and desire to learn about it. Vogue later included her among athletes whose cultural momentum could carry into Fashion Month.

That matters because Eala does not seem to perform Filipinoness.

She inhabits it.

She speaks Tagalog when it comes naturally, Spanish from the years that formed her in Mallorca, and English to the international world. She wears Filipiniana because she finds it beautiful. When asked what it was like to be so popular around the world, she once turned the question around: perhaps the question was what it is like to be Filipino.

Even the food follows her. Signs mention pancit. In Toronto came adobo and lumpia. Filipinos seem unwilling merely to watch her. They adopt her, feed her, travel with her, wave flags around her and make foreign arenas temporarily feel like home.

Her interior language is more important still.

She has admitted that she initially resisted accepting fame because she feared it might get into her head. She now accepts attention as part of her work without confusing it with the work itself. She says representing the Philippines has made her more self-aware and makes her want to become the best version of herself.

There is the marrow.

The phenomenon is not fame. It is formation under observation.

Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and the Beatles moved millions through music. Eala neither sings nor dances nor acts. Her medium is more austere: a rectangular court, one opponent, a scoreboard that cannot be negotiated, and repeated moments when failure becomes public.

Tennis asks, point after point:

What do you do now?

Her answer, repeatedly, has been:

Return.

That may be why she is beginning to mean something beyond tennis.

At the US Open, a young Filipino-American spectator told The New Yorker that it was inspiring to see somebody who ‘looks like you, talks like you’ entering places ‘we’ve never been in before.’

That sentence may explain more than rankings do.

Eala embodies what might be called a new grammar of belonging: the possibility that an individual can become intensely global without becoming less particular, less rooted, less herself.

The older route into the wider world often seemed to require leaving something behind-sounding less provincial, appearing less foreign, assimilating toward an established center.

Eala suggests another possibility:

Become globally excellent without becoming culturally weightless.

The country travels with her, but not as baggage.

It arrives as language, flower, flag, food, humor, family and memory. And remarkably, the supposedly fixed center begins moving toward it: tournaments alter schedules, kitchens alter menus, brands alter merchandise, magazines alter their subjects, and children who had never considered tennis begin holding rackets.

This is rooted cosmopolitanism: belonging confidently to the whole world while carrying one’s own small place within it.

It may also explain why the Filipino diaspora responds so intensely. For a few hours in Miami, London, Toronto, Washington or New York, people scattered across continents cease to look scattered. Around one court they rediscover themselves as community. The New York Times found this in Little Manila in Queens: Eala had become not merely a tennis player but a reason for a dispersed people to gather again.

We should not burden a 21-year-old with becoming a national savior. Her first responsibility remains to live, learn, compete, lose, win and become herself.

But perhaps that is precisely her larger meaning.

She tells the young that entering the world does not require escaping where one comes from. She leaves the road a little wider for those who will be born after her, because a door once entered becomes easier to imagine entering again. The wide road of progress is made this way-not only by arriving somewhere new, but by leaving it more open than one found it.

At their best, roots do not hold the wings down.

They tell the wings where home is.

And perhaps the deeper lesson is this: universality does not require the surrender of particularity. One may belong more widely precisely because one knows where one belongs first.

Dr. Trillana is a lawyer, author, former Chairman of the National Historical Institute (now the National Historical Commission of the Philippines), and a lifelong student of Philippine history and Rizal studies.

THE National Police (PNP) on Monday stressed its commitment to lawful and impartial operations following Vice President Sara Duterte’s claims that the service’s knowledge of her location supported her allegations of harassment and surveillance.

In a statement, the PNP Chief, Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said they respect the Vice President’s sentiments and assured her that there was neither an order, nor an effort to harass and conduct surveillance on her.

‘We understand the Vice President’s concerns but I assure her that the PNP remains committed to lawful, professional, and impartial police operations. Our focus is always in maintaining peace and order and police actions are always guided by our duty to protect,’ he said.

The Vice President made the remark that she does not trust the courts or the police and does not feel safe as she posted bail for a case she is facing before the Regional Trial Court in Quezon City.

Nartatez said she made the statement ‘under a situation that needs patience and understanding.’

But he stressed that there were numerous stories of hard work and dedication, including some policemen making an ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, that could speak for the dedication and professionalism of the police.

Nartatez also directed all units to continue monitoring potential threats against the Vice President and her family, while reminding personnel that any security or threat-monitoring activity must be lawful, properly authorized, and professionally conducted. He also ordered that reported threats be assessed separately from law-enforcement actions related to the Vice President’s criminal case.

THE Philippines could face a slight increase in borrowing costs for very long-term loans after three years under its new upper-middle-income country (UMIC) status, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

ADB Philippines Country Director Andrew Jeffries said the change would only take effect after the Philippines maintains its UMIC status for three consecutive years and would apply if the government chooses to take out very long-term loans from the multilateral lender.

The increase would be around 0.1 percent, which Jeffries described as ‘very slight.’

‘If the government chooses to borrow very long term, there’s an increase in the cost slightly. The government, when they borrow from [the] ADB, the repayment period can vary. It’s up to them to choose that,’ Jeffries told reporters on the sidelines of a media briefing the ADB organized last Monday.

The Philippines was upgraded to UMIC status by the World in July after the country purportedly reached a gross national income of $4,850 last year.

The reclassification marks a development milestone but also puts the country on a transition toward greater reliance on market-based financing as it gradually loses access to some concessional financing from multilateral development institutions.

Earlier, the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DepDev) confirmed that the Marcos administration is seeking to fast-track the approval of 20 to 30 additional infrastructure and social-sector projects eligible for concessional financing. (See: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2026/07/06/phl-rushes-20-infra-projects-to-draw-from-cheap-loans/)

Jeffries, however, said the potential increase in ADB borrowing costs could be more than offset by other cost advantages associated with being a larger, higher-income economy.

‘Becoming a UMIC and being a bigger economy would probably lower some costs across the board. Borrowing-wise, generally, that would more than offset that tiny thing,’ he added.

As the Philippines transitions toward greater reliance on market-based financing, ADB President Masato Kanda said the lender is also looking to deepen its role in mobilizing private capital for the country.

‘We believe the Philippines has a huge potential, including the demographic dividend and the good infrastructure we are building up,’ Kanda said during the briefing.

Kanda said ADB has ambitions to expand its private-sector operations in the Philippines but declined to provide a specific financing target, noting that the size of the pipeline could be influenced by major projects, particularly in utilities and power.

He said ADB wants to play a more active role in private-sector development, but the country needs to improve its investment environment by strengthening productivity, credibility, and regulation.

‘I think one of the things we have to focus on is creating an enabling environment by good regulatory reform and cultivating the domestic capital market,’ Kanda said.

The ADB committed $143.3 million for private-sector operations in the Philippines last year, while another $109.4 million was mobilized alongside its financing.

THE electric vehicle (EV) industry is hoping the government will keep fiscal and non-fiscal incentives in place through 2040, arguing that sustained policy support will be needed to keep the country’s shift to electric mobility on track.

Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP) Vice President and AC Mobility Holdings Inc. Mobility Infrastructure Head Carla Buencamino said last Friday that the industry welcomed a bill filed by Senate President Sherwin T. Gatchalian seeking to extend existing incentives for electric vehicles and introduce additional benefits for EV users.

‘We really need to keep these incentives there. Because our targets go as high as the DOE’s (Department of Energy) targets extend until 2040,’ Buencamino told reporters at an event in Makati City.

Senate Bill 2270 proposes longer incentives and lower import costs for the electric vehicle industry. The measure seeks to extend the validity of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives under Republic Act 11697, or the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (Evida), to 12 years from the current eight, while removing import duties on electric vehicles and related equipment and infrastructure.

‘For the industry, we hope that the incentives will last until 2040 so that people can continue to grow and adapt to electric vehicles,’ Buencamino said.

The Marcos administration aims for EVs to account for 50 percent of new vehicle sales by 2040.

According to Buencamino, support should cover the wider EV ecosystem, not just vehicle ownership, including charging infrastructure and power generation.

‘So it’s also the charge; it’s not just the cars, right?’ she said. ‘We have the charging stations, we have our power generation, and all of the ecosystem for the EVs.’

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Also, Buencamino said, the ideal scenario for the industry is extending the tariff-free treatment, which continues to engage government agencies on policies affecting EV adoption.

Now, the government is urged to lead the EV transition by increasing its adoption of electric vehicles, given its role as a major vehicle procurer.

‘The government needs to do its share,’ she said. ‘For the government to be the first to do the adoption itself, because even the government, they are a large procurement body.’

Government adoption, Buencamino said, could demonstrate the viability of the technology and encourage greater uptake by the private sector.

WHILE policy support remains a key concern, EV infrastructure providers are also dealing with practical hurdles that can slow the expansion of charging networks.

ACMobility had more than 500 public charging points as of July, while its charge points accounted for more than 45 percent of the DOE’s registered charging stations nationwide after excluding battery-swapping systems, which do not apply to cars.

Buencamino said differences in permitting requirements among local government units remain one of the challenges to faster deployment. ‘At this point, as with anything new, there are still some challenges with the processes,’ she said.

Some LGUs require documentation that may not be requested elsewhere, adding time to the process of securing permits and opening charging stations to the public, she explained.

‘It just lengthens our overall process to be able to complete a charging station and to open it up to the public,’ Buencamino said.

A more streamlined permitting system would allow providers to expand faster and help build a broader charging network.

‘If we want to go for high numbers, we’re really hoping to have this streamlined process,’ she added.

PUBLIC Works Secretary Vivencio Dizon has relieved two district engineers in Pampanga for their alleged failure to implement road safety measures along a highway in Angeles City following the death of a man who fell into an open manhole.

‘In view of your failure to comply with the required safety standards, among other infractions, you are hereby relieved of your duties as Officers-in-charge, Office of the District Engineer and Office of the Assistant District Engineer, Pampanga Third District Engineering Office,’ Dizon said in a memorandum released on Sunday night and addressed to Pampanga 3DEO officer-in-charge Aser Mallari and OIC Assistant District Engineer Augustin Dagsaan Jr.

The order takes effect immediately.

He also ordered both officials to conduct an inventory, accomplish, complete and sign all pending documents and deliverables, and formally turn over all official documents to the appropriate office to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of public service.

The victim, Reiner Novero, died after falling into a flooded, open drainage canal along Fil-Am Friendship Highway, barangay Cutcut, Angeles City on August 28.

The incident was captured via a closed-circuit television camera and went viral on social media. PNA

Aeta communities in the hinterlands of this town received badly-needed help from the provincial government on Sunday, as upland farming villages reeled from heavy rains from the southwest monsoon or habagat.

Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said at least 2,282 families in the ‘Baytan’ (eastern) area of Botolan received food packs airlifted by the Air Force (PAF) from an open field in barangay San Juan here.

The Baytan villages, which are located 25 to 30 kilometers from the town proper and populated by indigenous Aeta residents, are barangays previously scattered in the Aeta ancestral domain but relocated to a cluster after the Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991.

These include the 11 communities of Villar, Moraza, Belbel, Burgos, Nacolcol, Palis, Maguisguis, Cabatuan, Owaog Nebloc, Malomboy, and Poonbato.

The resupply was supervised by Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) head Rolex Estella and Botolan MDRRMO head Andy Divino in coordination with Maj. Michael Vincent Perandos, acting deputy group commander of the PAF, and Lt. Col. Mark Anthony Ruelos, commander of the Philippine Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion that is deployed in Zambales.

Ebdane said Sunday’s relief operation provided immediate response to the needs of Baytan residents whose livelihoods were disrupted by heavy rains.

He said the Aeta communities mostly relied on farming, but cannot bring their homegrown produce to lowland markets owing to the swollen Bucao River that drains lahar from Pinatubo.

Ebdane had also ordered on Friday a close watch of lahar channels in the province following an advisory from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) that the province will continue to receive from 50 to 100 millimeters of rainfall.

Zambales, which lies on the western flank of Pinatubo, has three major river channels that drain lahar: Bucao River in Botolan town, which includes tributaries like the Maraunot River and the Balin Baquero River; Santo Tomas-Marella River, which drains into the towns of San Marcelino and Castillejos; and Maloma River, a smaller system in San Felipe town that has also become silted with volcanic sediments.

A total of 14 storm-related deaths had been recorded in the province since August, all from drowning.

The latest toll was that of two Aeta residents of barangay Palis in this town-a father and his son-who were swept away by strong river current at the upland village of Malomboy on September 1.