Category: Business Mirror

For Filipinos looking to build a career in public service, the opportunity to serve-and the government services needed to get there-came closer to home this September. SM Supermalls and the Civil Service Commission (CSC) joined forces for Trabaho at Serbisyo Hatid sa Bayan 2026, bringing government career opportunities and frontline services to SM malls nationwide in celebration of the 126th Philippine Civil Service Anniversary (PCSA).

Under the subtheme ‘Dangal sa Tungkulin,’ the initiative culminated in a flagship event at SM City North EDSA on September 16, alongside runs in participating SM malls across the country. More than a traditional government job fair, Trabaho at Serbisyo created a one-stop destination where Filipinos could explore public-sector careers, connect directly with government institutions, and access essential public services.

PUBLIC SERVICE CAREERS WITHIN REACH

At SM City North EDSA, fresh graduates, career shifters, and experienced professionals explored vacancies across 18 national government agencies, local government units, and partner institutions. About 490 jobseekers engaged directly with hiring agencies, submitted applications, underwent preliminary screening, and verified qualifications for available positions.

But beyond filling vacancies, the event underscored what a career in government ultimately represents: public service.

For Atty. Daisy Punzalan Bragais, Regional Director for NCR of the Civil Service Commission, seeing Filipinos interested in joining government was encouraging-but she stressed that public service must be driven by more than employment. ‘Masaya at nakaka-proud na marami talagang gustong pumasok sa gobyerno at sana nga hindi lang ito ‘yung dahil makakasweldo sila, kung hindi dapat mayroon silang puso sa paglilingkod. Dapat nandiyan ‘yung dangal at ‘yung galing.’

That message resonated with Jaztin Salamera, a job applicant from Sampaloc, Manila, who came to the fair hoping to build a career in government.

‘Gusto ko po maging part ng gobyerno bilang isa sa mga kabataan na makaka-contribute bilang employee po. Para sa akin po pag sa gobyerno po magtatrabaho, kailangan po may heart for service. Bonus na lang po ‘yung magandang benefits from working sa government.’

Together, their perspectives capture both sides of the public-service journey: government looking for people with the heart to serve, and a new generation of Filipinos looking for meaningful ways to contribute.

CONNECTING GOVERNMENT WITH QUALIFIED TALENT

For participating agencies, bringing recruitment closer to communities also creates opportunities to meet candidates they may not otherwise reach.

Representatives from UP Diliman said their experience with job fairs has demonstrated the quality of talent available. At the SM City North EDSA event, they had already identified an applicant who qualified for referral to the university’s Engineering Department for further processing. They also recalled an earlier job fair where UP found a candidate for a difficult-to-fill shipmaster position in Bolinao, Pangasinan. ‘We had a vacancy for a shipmaster for quite a time and only found one sa job fair… he ended up retiring with UP.’ It is a simple story, but one that demonstrates the longer-term value of bringing employers and applicants face-to-face: a chance encounter at a job fair can become an entire career.

The Bureau of Corrections likewise saw strong applicant interest across both its uniformed and non-uniformed vacancies. ‘Marami pong gustong mag-apply… We offer both uniformed and non-uniformed personnel job vacancies… Sobrang sarap po ng pakiramdam na nakakatulong makahanap ng trabaho,’ said Angeli Ramos, Administrative Officer of the Bureau of Corrections.

FROM TRABAHO TO SERBISYO

The initiative did not stop at recruitment. Frontline government services were made available alongside employment services, enabling citizens to process selected documents, update records, and complete other client-facing transactions in the same venue. This dual approach reflects the evolution of the traditional government job fair into Trabaho at Serbisyo Hatid sa Bayan-bringing together what citizens need to pursue employment and access government services more conveniently.

For SM, opening its malls to initiatives such as Trabaho at Serbisyo demonstrates how accessible private-sector spaces can support public-sector goals-bringing government, opportunities, services, and communities together under one roof.

MORE CAREER OPTIONS ACROSS SECTORS

While Trabaho at Serbisyo opened doors specifically to public-sector careers, the wider SM Job Fair program connects Filipinos with employment opportunities across government and private industry.

Since November 2023, SM has hosted more than 500 Job Fairs, connecting over 345,000 jobseekers with employers and helping more than 44,000 Filipinos get hired on the spot. Most recently, the SM Group Job Fair at SM City Manila on September 3 connected applicants with opportunities in retail, tourism, banking, education, and other sectors.

Together, these initiatives widen the choices available to Filipino jobseekers-whether they want to serve in government, join the private sector, shift industries, or begin their first career.

MORE SM JOB FAIRS THIS SEPTEMBER

The nationwide employment drive continues throughout the month:

September 22-23 – SM Seaside City Cebu

September 23 – SM City Calamba

September 23 – SM Center Las Piñas

September 24 – SM Center Pulilan

September 24 – SM City Bacoor

September 25 – SM City Manila

September 28 – SM City Caloocan

September 30 – Basketball Court, Brgy. Santo Domingo, Santa Rosa, Laguna (for SM Nuvali)

*Schedules may be subject to change.

MORE THAN FINDING A JOB

SM’s employment advocacy increasingly supports more of the career journey. Alongside nationwide SM Job Fairs, free upskilling sessions help Filipinos build capabilities for an evolving workplace, while SM Government Service Express (GSE) in select malls makes essential government services easier for communities to access.

Together with government, industry, and community partners, these initiatives demonstrate how accessible spaces can help connect Filipinos with the jobs, skills, and services they need to move forward.

Because a job fair can accomplish more than filling vacancies. It can begin a career, strengthen a family’s livelihood, bring new talent into public service-and give more Filipinos a meaningful way to contribute to nation-building.

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT-The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has again extended the deadline for the submission of comparative proposals for the Subic International Airport (SIA) project after making corrections on bidding parameters for the P6.2 billion project to transform the Subic airfield into a modern high-capacity cargo and logistics hub.

In a bid bulletin, the SBMA Prequalification, Bids and Awards Committee (PBAC) said it will issue the final draft PPP (public-private partnership) contract or final bid bulletin on October 15, instead of September 29 as scheduled earlier.

Consequently, the opening of qualification documents from bidders will be held on November 16, instead of October 29, the SBMA-PBAC added.

The revised bidding schedule came about alongside corrections made by the SBMA on the bid parameters that defined the guaranteed fixed annual payment for the 25-year development contract.

The SBMA-PBAC clarified that while the base concession remittance amount submitted by the challenger for Contract Year 1 shall apply to the first seven years, the same shall be subject to an annual escalation of 1.5 percent beginning Contract Year 8 until its expiry on the 25th year.

The PBAC also clarified that the bid amount should be expressed as a fixed amount in Philippine pesos, and not as a percentage.

Following the revised bidding schedule, the SBMA also set the deadline for payment of participation fees by challengers at seven calendar days before the deadline of submission and opening of the comparative proposals. The participation fee has been set at the non-refundable amount of P1.4 million.

This was the second extension made for the bidding after the formal launch of the Swiss challenge for the Subic airport project on April 28 this year.

The SBMA opened the Subic airport project for comparative proposals, or Swiss challenge, after approving the unsolicited proposal by original proponent Cerberus Asia Pacific Investments LLC.

Cerberus Asia Pacific, a key affiliate of the New York-based alternative investment firm Cerberus Capital Management, presented its original proposal to the SBMA on March 26 last year.

The project includes the rehabilitation and comprehensive upgrading of existing facilities to restore them to full operational condition; operational and infrastructural improvements to enhance airport safety and regulatory compliance; and development of new airport infrastructure and acquisition of equipment to expand airport capacity, improve operational efficiency, and support new service offerings.

The SIA project bears a concession period of 25 years, which is open to extension, after which the airport will revert to SBMA control and management.

The SBMA originally set the availability of tender documents last May 18 and the deadline for the submission of comparative proposals last August 17, or 90 calendar days after the formal invitation for challengers to apply for eligibility.

On June 17, however, the Subic agency moved the release of tender and challenge documents to June 30, and adjusted the deadline for submission of bids accordingly.

The SBMA had set the Swiss challenge to be a single-stage bidding process, with challengers required to submit three bids respectively containing qualification documents, technical proposal, and financial offer.

Under the Swiss challenge, Cerberus is also allowed to match or better the financial proposal of the most superior challenger within 30 days, the SBMA said.

The government will work on establishing a national standard on fresh purple yam (ube) in 2027 as part of efforts to strengthen the tuber’s Philippine identity given the massive demand of the domestic and international markets for the crop.

Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (BAFS) Chief Science Research Specialist Alpha Lanuza told the BusinessMirror that it targets to include the creation of a Philippine National Standard (PNS) on fresh purple yam in the pipeline next year.

BAFS, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), is mandated to ‘formulate and enforce standards of quality in the processing, preservation, packaging, labelling, importation, exportation, distribution, and advertising of agricultural and fisheries products.’

‘We’re still waiting for the FDC’s [Food Development Center] research on color and flavor as well as the BPI’s [Bureau of Plant Industry] molecular characterization so these can be included in the PNS,’ Lanuza recently told this newspaper.

She noted that establishing a national standard on purple yam proves crucial at a time when global demand for Philippine ube grows at breakneck speed, owing to its expanding popularity that has muscled its way into overseas cafes and restaurants.

‘The standard will provide clear and consistent requirements for the safety, quality, grading, handling, and marketing of fresh ube, supporting regulation and strengthening the competitiveness of Philippine ube in domestic and international markets.’

Furthermore, Lanuza pointed out that the PNS on purple yam could safeguard the identity of Philippine ube.

This, as the DA flagged existing bottlenecks in domestic purple yam production that choke off supply, including fragmented supply chains and inconsistent quality standards.

‘The standard can also provide a recognized technical basis for identifying and distinguishing Philippine fresh ube, including its molecular characteristics and unique flavor and color attributes,’ Lanuza said.

‘This can help protect and strengthen the identity and market position of Philippine ube while supporting its development as a high-value agricultural commodity.’

The DA recently slapped an indefinite ban on exports of fresh ube to safeguard the country’s planting material given the stiff competition among producers to meet booming global demand. (See: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2026/09/11/phl-bans-exports-of-purple-yam-as-global-demand-soars/).

The move excludes value-added products, such as powdered ube, ube halaya, and paste.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. told the BusinessMirror that the temporary ban would protect the country’s planting material from a potential wave of poaching among other nations. Ube is propagated by cutting a whole tuber into small pieces.

‘We don’t want to export planting material. We severely lack it ourselves and other countries might use it to compete with us,’ he said.

The DA noted that its strategy is centered on building an ample stockpile in the domestic market before ramping up exports of the crop as local production lags behind soaring demand.

To boost output, the government has introduced a swath of interventions, including expanding production of planting materials through tissue culture, community-based nurseries, and the mini-sett propagation technique.

THE Marcos administration’s fight against corruption, particularly in public works, is more serious and extensive than that of the previous administration, according to a legal professor and activist.

‘If you look at it now in the Marcos time, tingin ko mas serious iyong accountability, mas serious ang transparency kasi mas marami siyang napakulong, whether kaibigan niya or kamag-anak,’ lawyer Howard Calleja said in a recent television interview.

Calleja said corruption was also uncovered in the Department of Public Works and Highways during the time of former President Rodrigo Duterte but nothing was done about it.

‘So I think we have to look at the records, what happened during those six years of Duterte? Hindi ba dineclare na nga niya na maraming corruption sa DPWH, maraming corruption sa Customs, etc, pero may napakulong ba sila at that time?’ Calleja said.

In contrast, President Marcos himself exposed the corruption in flood-control projects and ordered a deep and thorough investigation leading to the filing of charges against several contractors and government officials, including the former Speaker.

Calleja also noted that then-Ombudsman Samuel Martirez, a Duterte appointee, even prevented access to statements of assets and liabilities (SALN) of top government officials.

He recalled that while Duterte ordered lifestyle checks on government officials, Martirez declared: ‘The SALN is just a paper. Hindi ko nga ilalabas iyan.’

‘So ang tanong din during the time of Ombudsman Martirez, may nagawa ba? May nakulong ba? Mayroong nakulong noong panahon ni P-noy [former President Benigno Aquino], pinakawalan pa nila,’ Calleja added.

The proposed P7.2-trillion national budget for 2027 will move to the next stage of legislative review after the House of Representatives completed its nine-day plenary deliberations on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 General Appropriations Bill.

Following the completion of the line-by-line scrutiny of House Bill 10858-the proposed FY 2027 General Appropriations Bill-the Budget Amendments Review Subcommittee (BARSc) will review proposed amendments, revisions, and adjustments to agency budgets before the measure proceeds to third reading approval scheduled on October 9.

The House concluded its nine-day plenary deliberations last Friday, completing the examination of the government’s proposed P7.2-trillion spending plan for 2027.

From September 15 to 25, lawmakers conducted extensive reviews of the proposed appropriations of 245 departments, agencies, attached agencies, and government-owned and controlled corporations, as well as 113-state universities and colleges. Discussions focused on their funding requirements, implementation capacity, program priorities, and alignment with national development goals.

The deliberations covered major sectors, including education, agriculture and food security, higher education, social protection, health, energy, transportation, and infrastructure. Among the key issues raised were funding requirements for basic education, agricultural support and irrigation amid climate risks, the budgets of the Commission on Higher Education and State Universities and Colleges, social welfare programs, health services, energy resilience initiatives, mass transportation projects, and stronger evaluation and accountability mechanisms for infrastructure spending.

House Committee on Appropriations Chairperson Rep. Mikaela Angela B. Suansing said the House would continue strengthening safeguards in crafting the 2027 General Appropriations Act, particularly in setting clearer rules and standards for the evaluation and utilization of government funds.

‘Having successfully abolished the ‘Small Committee’ and constituted the Budget Amendments Review Subcommittee, or BARSc, last year, the BARSc will once again deliberate on amendments to the 2027 national budget in a manner that is open and transparent to the public,’ stressed Suansing.

She also emphasized the need for stronger reportorial requirements and continued coordination with the Department of Budget and Management, including matters involving the Local Government Support Fund.

She assured that projects included in the House General Appropriations Bill and eventually in the General Appropriations Act would comply with the same documentary standards required by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

She further highlighted the importance of climate preparedness and fiscal responsibility, assuring lawmakers that the proposed budget was being reviewed with consideration for possible climate-related challenges and fiscal constraints.

‘The 2027 budget is El Niño ready. We will do our best; I give you my assurance,’ Suansing said. Under the 2027 national budget, the government has proposed around P45.67 billion for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRMF) to provide additional fiscal support for El Niño and other disaster-related emergencies.

Suansing also cited the lower level of unprogrammed appropriations under the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP), saying the proposed amount represents the lowest unprogrammed appropriations-to-total-expenditure ratio in decades.

‘It is also noteworthy that the current level of unprogrammed appropriations, as reflected in the 2027 National Expenditure Program [NEP], represents the lowest ratio of unprogrammed appropriations to the total expenditure program. This is the lowest level of unprogrammed appropriations in a long time. This is also the view of the Department of Budget and Management [DBM]: if an item is programmable and identifiable, it is placed under programmed appropriations rather than unprogrammed appropriations,’ she said.

The Department of Budget and Management has proposed P111.984 billion in unprogrammed appropriations for 2027, equivalent to around 1.6 percent of the Total Expenditure Program. This represents the lowest proposed share since 1991 and the lowest proposed amount at the NEP level since 2019.

Suansing said the national budget must serve not only as a financial document but also as a framework for responsible public spending.

‘Our goal over the course of these deliberations is to craft a 2027 budget that would accelerate growth despite this challenging fiscal landscape, which would give due consideration and prioritization to the pressing needs of our most salient social and economic sectors,’ she said.

The House is also coordinating with the Senate to once again open the bicameral conference committee proceedings on the national budget to the public for the second consecutive year.

At P7.2 trillion, the proposed 2027 national budget is about 6 percent higher than the P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026 and is equivalent to approximately 21.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

By sector, social services continue to receive the largest share of the proposed budget at P2.456 trillion, or 34.1 percent of the total expenditure program. Economic services account for P1.833 trillion, followed by general public services at P1.317 trillion, debt burden at P1.143 trillion, and defense at P452.4 billion.

It’s time to tap into your romantic and feminine side with all things lace, bows, and everything soft pink with Ever Bilena’s newest collection-the EB Coquette.

This 25-piece lineup of products for eyes, lips and cheeks takes the brand’s ‘pink-girl’ DNA, building upon favorites like the Airy Fudge Lip Tints and Face Wand Brushes. Every single piece, down to the packaging, was designed to evoke a romantic, nostalgic makeup aesthetic.

‘We wanted the EB Coquette Collection to feel as good as it looks. It’s easy to chase a trend, but we built every shade and texture in this collection to actually earn a spot in your everyday routine, not just to look pretty in a video,’ shared Denice Sy, chief sales and marketing officer, Ever Bilena Cosmetics Inc.

Without a doubt, every piece from this newest drop is a beauty lover’s dream: the Le Petit Palette, in Cacao and Lavender (P395), a 12-shade eyeshadow palette with the perfect mix of mattes and shimmers for that soft, dreamy coquette eye.

For the lips, the Rococo Lipstick (P345) is the one to watch. This matte-finish comes in 6 shades that actually feels good on the lips. It offers full color payoff, smooth glide, and zero of that dry, flat feeling mattes usually give you.

Your ‘fwee’ blush-balm era just leveled up with Chiffon Blur Dip, 7 shades (P395). It features more pigment, is easier to blend, provides longer wear, and comes with a built-in applicator so your fingers stay clean.

Enjoy a juicy stain without the sticky feeling on the lips with the glossy, buildable lip tint, the Bisou Juicy Tint, 6 shades (P395).

Completing the collection is the Soirée Liquid Blush, 4 shades (P395), a lightweight liquid blush that seamlessly melts into your base, allowing for a buildable, streak-free flush that won’t disturb the makeup layered underneath.

The EB Coquette collection is available now at all Ever Bilena counters and retail partners nationwide, as well as on TikTok Shop.

In 2012, a Filipino teenager could walk up to a sari-sari store and buy a stick of cigarette for pocket change. Back then, a stick cost about a peso. Then Congress passed the Sin Tax Reform Law, and the country ran one of Asia’s most successful public health experiments.

The results are no longer up for debate. The share of current tobacco users fell from 28.3 percent of the population in 2009 to 23.8 percent in 2015, and to 19.5 percent by 2021. The Department of Health’s budget jumped 57 percent in a single year. The industry warned that smuggling would swallow those gains. It didn’t. A 2023 performance review of the reforms concluded that the Philippine experience shows illicit trade cannot justify blocking tobacco tax increases.

Fourteen years later, the same argument is back, this time aimed at vapes.

As the House Ways and Means Committee weighs the ProGRESS tax package, some legislators want to fold the vape tax into a single, lower rate, again citing illicit trade. Consider what that would mean for children. In the 2019 Global Youth Tobacco Survey, 14.1 percent of Filipino students aged 13 to 15 were current e-cigarette users. About a quarter had tried vaping, twice the 12 percent recorded in 2015. These are children who cannot legally buy the product. The most reliable barrier between them and a vape is price. Young people have the least money and the most years of addiction ahead of them. For a 14-year-old, a cheap vape is where the harm begins.

The Department of Finance has proposed a unified P72.90 excise rate for all e-cigarettes from 2027, plus a new P150 tax on each device. Congress should treat that as the starting point and build upward from there.

Sweetened beverages tell a subtler story. The 2018 TRAIN tax worked at first. Consumption fell by about 6.5% on average, with powdered drinks dropping 25 percent. Then its effect began to fade. Finance officials say consumption has been climbing again since 2022 because, unlike tobacco, the beverage tax was never indexed to rise yearly. A tax frozen in pesos is a tax that loses its effectiveness.

The exemptions matter too. Think of the Filipino breakfast table. As one legislator pointed out in hearings, a single sachet of 3-in-1 coffee holds four to five teaspoons of sugar, around a third of the WHO daily limit. So, exempting it makes little sense.

Britain’s soft drinks levy, tiered by sugar content, forced the industry to change. Between 2015 and 2024, the average sugar content of covered drinks fell by 47.4 percent, even as sales volume rose 13.5 percent. But reformulation is not the same as a healthier product. Much of that sugar was simply swapped for artificial sweeteners. In 2023, the World Health Organization advised against using non-sugar sweeteners for weight control, citing links to type 2 diabetes and heart disease with long-term use. Filipino endocrinologists have warned that artificially sweetened drinks carry their own risks of obesity and hypertension. Mexico has already drawn this lesson: since January 2026, it taxes ‘zero’ and ‘light’ drinks too. Congress should keep the Philippine tax on all sweetened beverages, whether sugar or substitute, and add higher rates and automatic indexation so the goal is less sweetness overall.

Our lawmakers do not need to look abroad for a model. The 2012 Sin Tax Reform Law already showed what works: steep tax increases, one uniform rate so no product becomes the cheaper escape, automatic yearly increases, and revenue earmarked for health. That formula cut smoking and funded health coverage for millions of Filipinos. Congress should apply the same formula, undiluted, to vapes and sweetened beverages.

A SECOND set of postcards, this time with the pieces of Philippine National Artist for Fashion Salvacion Lim Higgins, fondly known as Slim, has recently been released by the Benilde Fashion Museum of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB).

This new selection focuses on Slim’s obras from the last decade of her storied career.

It highlights creations such as a magenta-colored Dongin lace mini, a strapless garment with a black silk chiffon bodice, two-piece ensemble floral vision in butterscotch and dusty blue print, blue-green Shantung silk blazer and wrap pencil skirt, fuchsia-pink satin ruched dress with bow appliques, and more.

The sought-after postcards, which were photographed at the residence of the artistic collector son Mark Higgins, is the first time the residence has been captured for the public eye.

Salvacion Lim Higgins was a pioneer pillar of Philippine fashion, as she studied and immersed in the fashion capitals of Paris and New York-eventually bringing home her discoveries, insights and learnings back to Manila. Together with her sister Purificacion, they established the Slim’s Fashion and Arts School, now under the custodianship and an institution of DLS-CSB.

Proceeds from the sales of these postcards will support the operations, conservation, archival, educational, and preservation efforts of the Benilde Fashion Museum.

THE Philippines has introduced the most fossil fuel and renewable energy (RE) policies in the region from February to July this year.

Citing a report from research group Zero Carbon Analytics, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said the Philippines has introduced the most energy policies since the start of the Iran conflict, with 22 in total, leading in both fossil fuel and renewable energy policies.

‘This is likely due to its declaration of a national energy emergency on March 24, 2026,’ Garin said.

The policies are a combination of immediate oil procurement and price controls with long-term clean energy acceleration.

‘The declaration included a list of emergency relief measures, such as directly procuring oil and increasing government control over fuel prices, as well as longer-term steps to accelerate renewables, EVs and energy efficiency across all sectors,’ she added.

The report indicates that the Philippines leads in the total number of renewables and electrification policies released, at 13.

The DOE aims to increase renewable energy’s share in the power mix to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040, focusing on solar, wind, and geothermal projects.

Also, EV sales have accelerated sharply, supported by the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act promoting sustainable transport adoption.

‘Our analysis found that more of the renewable energy and electrification policies introduced since the war focus on long-term change, with implementation periods of roughly three years or more, while more fossil fuel policies focus on temporary measures, to be implemented in less than six months,’ the Brussels-based group said.

It also noted that renewables and electrification are seen as long-term solutions for future energy systems, while fossil fuel policies were primarily focused on temporary relief.

The Philippines introduced at least seven solar power policies since the start of the war. The proposed Sariling Kuryente Act, for instance, aims to make solar and battery energy storage system installation easier for households by removing permitting requirements and utility-applied charges, while the DOE fast-tracked net-metering applications to help lower electricity bills.

‘These measures align with the Philippines’ overall ramp-up of solar in the past year: during the first five months of the war, the Philippines imported more than double the amount of solar capacity from China compared to the same period last year,’ it said.

Besides the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand have released the most clean energy policies, at seven and six, respectively. Both countries have issued policies that aim to restructure the current energy system.

‘These findings indicate that governments of Southeast Asian countries, many of which have abundant renewable energy resouces, are looking to renewables and electrification as the long-term solution to fossil fuel-related power crises,’ it said.

Conducted in August, the analysis covered the six-month period from February to July 2026 during the Iran crisis.

It’s been a busy week for Iranian diplomacy that may have come to nothing.

Iran’s president and foreign minister visited New York for the UN gathering of world leaders and proposed a dealwith the Trump administration that would end the fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz in seven days. That’s if the US ends its military blockade of Iranian ports, releases frozen Iranian assets and waives sanctions on Iranian oil sales, among other conditions-none of them new.

What’s different after past failed attempts is the speedier timeline. Iran’s pitch to President Donald Trump said a quick deal might help him in the midterm elections in November.

On Saturday, Trump told reporters he rejects Iran’s proposal to reopen the strait. Hours earlier, the US president posted an image on social media calling the crucial waterway the ‘Trump Strait.’ Around the same time, Iran’s state media reported that President Masoud Pezeshkian was on his way back to Tehran.

Here’s where things stand as Iran and the US each try to outlast growing economic pain following seven months of war.

The two sides hold their first indirect talks in months

The US said its envoys and the Iranians held three hours of indirect talks via mediators Tuesday, their first since the countries’ previous agreement to end the fighting and launch nuclear talks collapsed within days of its signing in June.

The latest talks were good and the US was open to more, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday. But Trump used his speech to the UN gathering on Tuesday to threaten to ‘annihilate’ the Islamic Republic. In his own speech a day later, Pezeshkian said Iran would fight ‘until our last breath.’

In the final seconds of his speech, however, Pezeshkian said Tehran remained open to diplomacy.

Behind closed doors, Iran describes a new proposal

In a private gathering Thursday on the sidelines of the UN meeting, Iran’s top diplomat described Tehran’s new proposal to the US The conditions for Washington largely echo the ones agreed to in the June deal that fell apart.

At stake are the biggest sources of frustration for both sides.

Opening the Strait of Hormuz, over which Iran asserted control after being attacked by the US and Israel, would ease global markets and relieve some pressure on the US military, which has been guiding commercial ships through the waterway at risk of Iranian attack.

Lifting the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, as well as waiving sanctions on oil sales, would allow Tehran to ship out more of its crude and help its battered economy as its currency hits record lows and inflation soars.

Iran makes another push before heading home

In a sign of Tehran’s apparent sense of urgency, Pezeshkian hosted the prime minister of Qatar, the mediator in the indirect talks, early Friday before much of New York rolled out of bed.

‘The choice now rests with the United States,’ Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told journalists Friday evening.

On Saturday, Trump said Iran wants an agreement because they’re ‘losing so badly.’

‘They want to make a deal and I think that’s fine,’ Trump said. ‘I’d like to make a deal, too. But that deal would not be acceptable.’

Trump made the comments to reporters outside the White House before leaving for a college football game.

Before his comments, the White House had said U.S. officials were having positive and constructive conversations with mediators.

Tehran has spent long weeks in discussions with Oman, on the other side of the strait, on how to manage shipping traffic. Its new rush for a deal with Washington, analysts said, reflects its eye on the midterms. Trump might decide an agreement has political benefits. But his rejection risks a return to fighting that would drive oil prices higher just as he needs happy voters.

‘Washington may believe that time is on its side: Maintain pressure through November, avoid another major military escalation before the midterms, and reassess afterward. Tehran may reach precisely the opposite conclusion,’ Danny Citrinowicz, a senior researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, said on X on Saturday.

Trump has said he’s in no rush for a deal as the US strains Iran’s economy with sanctions. The White House had yet to expand on his ‘Trump Strait’ social media post overnight.

As for Iran, there was no immediate sign its top diplomat had left New York. At home, Iran’s security forces have warned they still have targets left to strike.