Category: Business Mirror

A NEW partnership aims to bring financial literacy to millions of Filipinos, with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and KasKasan Buddies (KKB) partnering for an educational collaboration for the latter’s community.

PisoLit, the BSP’s official financial education platform, is set to arrive on the KKB’s channels, making its financial education content accessible to its users. The KKB app is a platform that helps you manage your finances. It has over 2 million buddies across platforms.

Also under this collaboration, both KKB and BSP will jointly make and distribute these educational materials, with the BSP saying it will focus on ‘how financial products work, which ones fit specific needs, and how to guard against risk.’

‘The goal is to help Filipinos understand how financial products work, know the features of financial products that fit their needs, and learn how to manage risks through platforms where they are having conversations,’ said BSP Deputy Governor Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.

The BSP highlighted that this decision was made to help Filipinos who are already talking about financial literacy in the KKB’s platforms and communities, gaining access to these educational content in the communities they are already active in.

Meanwhile, this partnership is one of the many collaborations made by the KKB this year. Among their efforts are a collaboration with the Credit Card Association of the Philippines (CCAP) to create educational video content and conduct financial literacy sessions, a memorandum of agreement with FinTech Alliance PH to advance digital financial literacy and combat scams, and a memorandum of agreement with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center to strengthen efforts against digital financial crimes.

To learn more, you may follow PisoLit on Facebook. Meanwhile, you may download the KKB app at tinyurl.com/mach35az to find verified BSP-regulated financial products.

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT-Port terminal operator Subic Bay International Terminal Corporation (SBITC) has been authorized by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to collect wharfage fees from port clients on behalf of the government, the Subic agency belatedly announced on Thursday, August 27.

The new arrangement, the SBMA said, was formalized through a memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed by the two parties on July 29 to streamline payment processes through SBITC’s online payment platforms.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Eduardo Jose L. Aliño said the new arrangement will minimize face-to-face interactions, eliminate the need for clients to travel to the SBMA cashier’s office, and reduce waiting times for fee processing.

‘Ultimately, it simplifies doing business at the Port of Subic,’ Aliño pointed out.

SBITC, through its Head of Management Services and Government Affairs Henry Dungca, said that under the agreement, it will ensure transparent, accountable remittances of the wharfage fees collected on behalf of the SBMA.

‘This partnership goes beyond payment collection,’ Dungca said. ‘It enhances service speed, simplifies procedures, and improves the overall experience for all port users.’

SBITC, a subsidiary of global port management firm International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), manages Subic’s New Container Terminals (NCT-1 and NCT-2), which serve as the primary gateway for international trade and containerized cargo handling across Central and Northern Luzon.

In October 2025, SBMA extended SBITC’s concession for 25 years, or until 2058, with SBITC committing to invest more than $130 million in civil infrastructure and equipment upgrades at the Subic port terminal.

Before this arrangement, the SBMA, as manager of the Subic Special Economic and Freeport Zone, collected wharfage fees for the maintenance and use of port infrastructure like docks and loading areas. The charges are determined by cargo weight, volume, or container size.

Aliño said the new arrangement ‘strengthens our public-private collaboration (in) securing essential revenue to sustain port operations, infrastructure, and future investments.’

The SBMA-SBITC deal also aligns with the direction adopted by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), wherein port operators handle fee collection on the government’s behalf, the SBMA said.

After leading Southeast Asia’s boxy NEV segment for several consecutive months, the premium NEV brand iCAUR has officially announced its entry into the Philippines. Its flagship model, the iCAUR V23, has topped the segment month after month, driven by a fusion of classic design and intelligent technology-helping the brand surpass 100,000 global sales. Looking ahead, iCAUR is poised to offer Filipino consumers a distinct and refreshing mobility alternative-backed by proven quality, trusted by hundreds of thousands of users, and crafted to withstand the test of time and close scrutiny.

The ‘i’ in iCAUR embodies ‘Inner Self,’ ‘Intellect,’ ‘Imagine,’ and ‘Interactive’-reflecting a vision of building a deeper connection with every driver. iCAUR is for those who refuse to settle for ordinary. While the automotive industry relentlessly chases the next big thing, iCAUR believes in the power of time: great design endures. ‘CLASSIC NEVER FADES’ captures this belief perfectly. A classic, to us, is not a throwback or a trend-chaser-it is staying power that outlasts fads, and a trust that grows stronger with every journey.

This conviction materializes in a product identity that speaks for itself. iCAUR shuns flashy styling in favor of restrained proportions and timeless lines, resulting in design with lasting presence. Technology here is no spectacle; it’s a seamless companion, quietly integrated into every journey. Safety, design, and innovation are principles iCAUR builds into every model from the very first sketch. For iCAUR, technology is never about complexity-it’s about making every journey simpler and more effortless. From city streets to the great outdoors, iCAUR delivers a driving experience rooted in confidence and composure.

iCAUR has had a distinct purpose from day one: to inspire users to personalize their vehicles as expressions of their identity and lifestyle-turning a car into a true companion. Around the world, the i-CLUB community brings together like-minded souls who share a love for design and life-a space where connections are made and friendships begin.

This October, iCAUR will officially launch in the Philippines with two models: the all-electric boxy SUV V23 and the all-round hybrid SUV V27, featuring iCAUR’s Golden REEV (range-extended electric vehicle) system. Together, they bring the brand’s distinctive design philosophy to Filipino consumers.

There is a small patch of bare earth in our backyard that I consider hallowed ground, treated with the same respect and reverence as our home altar. It is a zone of quietude where no cellphones or audio devices are permitted.

Here, underneath the soil, you can discover little bits of my family history since the day we moved into our house 40 years ago. Someday in the future, maybe a hundred or two hundred years from now, an archeologist will excavate this site and would be able to piece together a composite picture of the kind of people who lived here. He would know what we ate, what pets we had, the packaging materials we used, the plastic utensils we threw away, and other objects that would be tell-tale evidence of the way we lived.

Since we started raising pets -cats that had strayed inside our garage and never left or dogs given to us by friends-this backyard has served as a burial ground for many of them. I can’t count how many times my youngest son, our official grave digger, dug the ground to bury the long list of animals that endeared themselves to us. ‘Boxer, Athena, Harpo, and Chinkee are just the few I can remember. A future archaeologist discovering their bones would conclude that a pet-loving family once lived here.

So, in a sense, it’s our pet cemetery, a ‘sacred’ place of honor for all the animals we’ve learned to love and who in their own little ways had a beneficial effect on our family. Cats are said to be sacred pets protecting their human owners against evil spirits. Some Buddhists believe that cats have a spiritual mission in life. They neutralize and transform negative energy into positive energy in our homes.

But beyond our dead pets, there’s something I am now burying beneath the ground of our backyard. It has become the scene of my dirty work in late life.

A few years ago, during the pandemic, I was reading a book on permaculture and I came across a quote about soil that captured my imagination: ‘The soil is miraculous. It is where the dead are brought back to life.’

The truth is that the soil is not dead, but can be kept alive by feeding it with our wastes from the food we cook and eat. What we think is waste is not really waste. With the help of earthworms, bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms (billions of them), these discards are broken down and brought back to life. This process is part of the ongoing cycle of life that values everything, uses everything, and transforms everything.

That’s when I went into composting. Every morning, I collect the organic wastes put in plastic bags the previous night, such as vegetable and fruit peelings, rotten leftover food, chicken and animal bones, animal internal organs that can’t be fed to our cats and feral dogs in the neighborhood, and other wet wastes. I dig a hole, put these mixed wastes, and then cover them with the same earth I dug out, happy in the thought that I am feeding the earth and all the creatures that live underground. I confess that I have no background in Biology and Botany so what I am doing is not scientific or systematic but simply for the spirit of it.

All the while, I imagine that our wastes are a feast to the squirming earthworms that emerge and come to light as I dig the ground. I’ve been treating the worms like pets that I have to feed. I like giving them things that are really well rotten- a blackened banana, slimy greens, even fish scraps. I am comforted by the thought that these tiny wormies are helping inoculate the soil with new richer life, without the help of chemicals bought from a store.

If you decide to try it, I suggest approaching it as more than just a ‘green’ habit. One can look at composting as a teacher, showing us lessons we wouldn’t be able to learn any other way. For example, composting is a living metaphor for transformation.

When I look at my compost, I don’t see garbage anymore. I see possibility and continuity. The end of one form is the beginning of another. That pile of wet rubbish metamorphose in due time into something nourishing and alive: soil that is full of life and potential. Yesterday’s rotting cabbage becomes tomorrow’s vibrant soil that enables a Bandera Espanola to grow and produce bright yellow and red flowers.

I learn to practice humility, which comes from the Latin word ‘humus’, which means ground or dirt. The work that I do gets me literally grounded. It involves squatting on the ground to dig the soil with a small shovel.

In those moments, I become one with the lowly scavengers, the garbage collectors, the sewage cleaners, as well as those who have been thrown out, forgotten, or shunned by society. I think of Fr. Damien of Molokai who lived with the lepers till his death, Mother Teresa who served the unwanted sick and the homeless of Calcutta, Benedict Labre who tended to people considered dregs of society, and many more.

Nothing tests one’s humility and endurance like the stink of rotten wastes. I have learned to embrace the entire gamut of the smell of rottenness: putrid, sour, rancid, fetid, name it, I’ve smelled it. In truth, nothing is offensive anymore to my olfactory sense. Like my practice of cleaning the toilet bowl, stink is no longer repulsive to me. Despite the filth and stench of composting, I love doing it. Nothing could be a more pleasant sight to me than seeing the mounds of earth that mark the wastes I buried. Someday, I hope to do more systematic composting. Then who knows, I might pick up gardening too. I would like to grow our own food.

Out there is the city where life is always moving fast. Meanwhile, here is my little corner where time slows down, nature does its work, and with every digging of the shovel into the dirt, I feel happy to be participating in the ancient cycle of decay and renewal. At the same time, or because of this dirty task, I feel my inner life being worked on, renewed and transformed.

No wonder every time I come here, it feels like a quiet celebration.

The Filipino tourist missing in the catastrophic flash flood in Nepal has been identified as Dr. Juan Carlos ‘Caloy’ Manalo, a physician who joined a pilgrimage tour in Tibet, China.

Manalo last contacted his family on August 25 at 1:21 p.m. Philippine time (11:06 a.m. Nepal time).

His final known location was the Immigration Office at Gyirong county, in Tibet, the border window between China and Nepal.

A viral CCTV video circulating online showed the immigration building completely ashened after the monster flood, underscoring the scale of destruction. Since then, he has been unaccounted for.

Isha group caught in disaster

Dr. Manalo was traveling with a spiritual group called the Isha Foundation on their Kailash Mansarovar Yatra – a pilgrimage tour to Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar in Tibet, sacred to Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains.

In an X post and Facebook Live broadcast, Isha founder Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev confirmed that 80 members of the group were inside the Gyirong immigration building minutes before it was swept away.

He said the group’s leader messaged at 9:05 a.m. local time that they had arrived at immigration. The flood struck at 9:14 a.m.

‘This is a terrible and extraordinary event,’ Sadhguru said, breaking down as he disclosed that the group comprised 34 men and 46 women from the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Singapore, Spain, and the Philippines.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said the Philippine Embassy in New Delhi and the Philippine Honorary Consulate General in Kathmandu are in active coordination with local authorities and stand ready to extend assistance to affected Filipinos.

‘They are awaiting confirmation from Nepali authorities on a Filipino national who is reported missing,’ the DFA noted.

Disaster at the border

The flash flood, triggered by heavy rains and glacial runoff, swept through parts of Nepal’s border region on August 26, leaving widespread devastation.

Local authorities reported that several tourists and residents were unaccounted for, while rescue teams struggled to reach remote areas due to damaged roads and unstable terrain.

Gyirong, where Manalo was last seen, is a key crossing point between Nepal and Tibet.

The area is frequented by trekkers, pilgrims, and tour groups heading to Mount Kailash.

The viral footage of the immigration office reduced to ash and rubble has become a stark symbol of the tragedy.

Family’s appeal

Chiara Manalo posted an appeal on social media asking for prayers and assistance in reaching agencies and Nepali authorities to help in search operations.

The family expressed distress over the disaster and urged anyone with information to come forward.

They released contact numbers for coordination: Jose Rodrigo Manalo (0917 302 3077), Dinah Marie Manalo (0917 514 3465), and Chiara Manalo (0917 791 7849).

‘We are asking for prayers and assistance in connecting with agencies or Nepal authorities to help with search operations,’ Chiara wrote.

The family continues to coordinate with contacts abroad, hoping for updates as international rescue teams work to account for missing tourists and locals.

The tourism industry in Dubai (and much of the United Arab Emirates, for that matter) took a huge hit following heated tensions in the Middle East in early 2026. It was understandably a scary situation, with Dubai marking a record 19.6 million tourist arrivals in 2025.

But the emirate has made bold (and expensive) moves to restore tourist confidence and reinforce its reputation as a safe, fun destination. Its most recent initiative, called ‘A Dubai Invite,’ gives each tourist nominated by UAE residents up to US$800.00 in perks, which include hotel stays and dining vouchers, attraction tickets, and free trips on ride-hailing app Careem.

But other than the glam, the shiny edifices and the desert safari, what does Dubai have to offer tourists (other than some of the most expedient connections between Europe and Asia)?

From fisherfolk and pearl farmers to traders and investors

Compared to Abu Dhabi and the other emirates, Dubai barely has any crude oil reserves or production. It traces its roots to a tribe of fisherfolk and pearl divers that settled in the area in the 18th century.

The early settlement along the Dubai Creek has been restored into what is now the Al Shindagha Museum, a living heritage site spread over 80 restored edifices that tell a multi-sensory story of the beginnings of Dubai. Tourists can get a feel for what life was like back in the olden days.

The Dubai Creek became the heart and hub of the emirati. Old Dubai expands along the waterway-and a 30-minute walk takes visitors to the Al Fahidi Neighborhood-a quaint area featuring restored wind tower houses and shaded courtyards from the 19th century.

Al Fahidi became Dubai’s early commercial center, with the Spice Souk-an olfactory and visual myriad of colors and spices- and the Gold Souk, where practically every type of jewelry can be found. Old courtyards have been transformed into cafes where one can enjoy Arabic Coffee and dates served pretty much the same way as in centuries past.

Putting on the glitz

What Dubai lacked in black gold, they made up for in business savvy, and the limited oil found there in the 1960s was cashed in to transform the emirate into a global financial and business hub.

Dubai’s transformation was symbolized by an iconic 7-star hotel that was in a league of its own for the past 25 years: the Burj Al Arab.

Rising on a man-made island, the Burj Al Arab was in a class all its own in terms of luxury, opulence, and service. Tensions in the Middle East, which caused minor damage to the property, prompted its closure for renovations until 2027.

Nonetheless, a visit to Dubai would be incomplete without a photo featuring the stunning façade. Photos can be taken from the public beaches along Dubai’s coastline.

And while you’re at it, take in the sand and sea in Dubai. Dubai’s beaches boast powdery off-white sand, and the sea has bath-like temperatures practically year-round.

From a seven-star hotel, Dubai also boasts the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. While tickets to the observation deck sell out fast and there is a long line to get to the observation deck, the crowd is managed well, and it is worth the wait with stunning views from the top.

Below, the Dubai Mall is an interesting place to whet the wanderlust and flex some retail power with massive aquariums, indoor waterfalls, and a wide variety of dining options. When Dubai goes on sale (there are about two to three huge seasonal sales), there are really good deals all around.

Outside the mall, the Dubai Fountain, the world’s largest performing fountain system, lights up the night sky with a choreographed show. And if you’re standing at the right spot, the lit-up façade of the Burj Khalifa enters frame.

In the same general downtown direction, the Museum of the Future and Dubai Frame are two visually arresting landmarks that can be paired for sightseeing. Shaped like a genie’s lamp, the former has Arabic calligraphy all over its façade. Tickets to visit the museum sell out weeks in advance, and the exhibits look at what the world might look like with advancements like space exploration and artificial intelligence. The latter, on the other hand, literally provides a picture of new and old Dubai with stunning vistas from the top.

Dune bashing is not for the faint-hearted. You need a retrofitted 4×4 vehicle and a highly trained driver to navigate the sand dunes, but it is a must-do, along with sand-boarding-sliding down the sand on a board.

Late afternoon is the best time to go, when one might chance upon locals holding on to their pet falcons and experience a desert sunset.

Tourists are later taken to a camp for dinner where traditional desert fare is served, sitting on cushions as desert tribes would have done, with the option to change into traditional Arabic dress. The evening also includes a showcase of cultural dances.

In the summer and winter seasons, Dubai routinely has other attractions and experiences. It’s a pretty diverse field-from the highest infinity pool in the world to skydiving and indoor skiing. Coupled with strategic and aggressive initiatives to restore confidence and lure tourists from many different countries, Dubai could see its tourism industry bouncing back from major disruption sooner than anticipated.

Green GSM, an all-electric ride-hailing platform, today officially launched Premium Taxi, an upscale seven-seat taxi service in the Philippines. With an all-electric fleet of sophisticated and spacious VinFast Limo Green vehicles, the service is designed to deliver a comfortable and convenient travel experience, setting a new standard for the high-end electric taxi segment in the market.

As Green GSM’s second service tier in the Philippines after Green GSM Car, Premium Taxi offers a new mobility option for groups of up to six passengers, families, business travellers, passengers carrying multiple pieces of luggage, and customers seeking a smooth ride in a pleasant and relaxing environment.

The entire Limo Green fleet is finished in black to reflect its high-end positioning, making it easily recognisable and distinguishable from the existing Green GSM Car service, which features a cyan color scheme. Alongside its modern exterior design and spacious seven-seat configuration with three rows, each Limo Green is equipped with amenities including automatic air conditioning, dedicated air vents for the two rear rows, and an air filtration system that helps keep the cabin pleasant and fresh.

Alongside the three signature benefits of electric vehicle-zero emissions, no fuel odour and no engine noise, Green GSM’s Premium Taxi also delivers a five-star service experience through carefully-selected drivers who have received high ratings for service quality. Fares are transparently displayed through in-vehicle meters and on the Green GSM app, allowing customers to conveniently track their fares and trip information.

During its initial phase, Premium Taxi will operate in Makati, Taguig, Mandaluyong and Pasig City, serving travel needs across key business districts, commercial centres, hotels and transport hubs in Metro Manila. Customers can book through the Green GSM app, hail an available vehicle on the street, or contact the customer service hotline at 02-7777-8080.

Ms. Le Thi Thu Trang, CEO Green GSM Philippines, said: ‘Premium Taxi is not simply about providing more space. It is designed for journeys where comfort and attention to detail matter, from family trips and airport transfers to business engagements and special occasions. By combining the spacious interior of the VinFast Limo Green with professional drivers and Green GSM’s five-star service standards, we aim to give Filipino customers a high-end mobility option that is thoughtfully-delivered from the moment they book until the journey ends.’

With Premium Taxi, Green GSM expands its all-electric mobility portfolio in the Philippines to better meet customers’ diverse needs. Going forward, Green GSM will continue to enhance service quality while consistently upholding its ‘5 Green Promises’, with standards of professionalism, transparency and attentive customer care, thereby contributing to greener urban transportation

You really can’t blame celebrities for running for public office.

They run because they can win.

Remember when Ang Probinsyano had to kill off several characters because the actors playing them were running in the 2019 elections and could no longer appear regularly on television during the campaign period?

Even Cardo Dalisay was no match for Comelec rules.

I hesitate to call Senators Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III, Jinggoy Estrada and Lito Lapid actors-turned-politicians anymore. They have been dual citizens of showbiz and politics for decades.

Then there’s Vilma Santos, who entered politics in 1998 and has since served as Lipa mayor, Batangas governor and representative. She returned as Batangas governor in 2025. By my count, she has won nine elections for public office and remains undefeated.

Richard Gomez is now a congressman after serving as Ormoc mayor. Isko Moreno went from showbiz to Manila councilor, vice mayor and mayor, and is now back at Manila City Hall. There are other examples, too many to enumerate.

We shouldn’t blame actors and celebrities for running any more than we should blame politicians for trying to become celebrities themselves.

Our elections have always been very showbiz anyway. Celebrity endorsements. Campaign jingles. Song-and-dance numbers. Motorcades. Selfies.

Charisma, celebrity and cash have a nasty habit of trumping character and competence.

Some celebrities have taken public service seriously and done well in office.

Robin Padilla, unfortunately, keeps giving us reasons to wonder.

He practically sang his way into the Senate.

During the 2022 campaign, one of his staples was Eric Clapton’s ‘Wonderful Tonight.’ Robin himself later recounted that Viva’s Vic del Rosario advised him against making long speeches. Just be yourself and sing.

So he sang. And sang. ‘Wonderful Tonight.’

It sometimes sounded like drunken karaoke toward the end of a very long night.

It worked.

Robin Padilla topped the 2022 senatorial election with more than 26 million votes.

In a country where singing the wrong karaoke song has reportedly gotten people killed, Robin repeatedly assaulted ‘Wonderful Tonight’ and was rewarded with a seat in the Senate.

You have to admire the electoral efficiency.

Then the singing stopped and the legislating began.

Robin became chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes and one of the chamber’s most persistent advocates of Charter change and federalism.

He has also pushed legislation worth taking seriously, including divorce and an anti-political dynasty measure.

But the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte has given us some remarkable Robin moments.

When questions arose about the choice of a presiding officer, Robin acknowledged turning to Google to understand some of the legal terminology. He joked that he had not graduated from UP or Ateneo. His UP, he said, was the ‘University of Prison.’

Nothing wrong with Google. There is something disconcerting, though, about one of only 24 senator-judges learning the vocabulary of an impeachment trial while already sitting in judgment.

Robin also questioned whether copies of Sara Duterte’s controversial Zoom remarks could be treated as authentic evidence, insisting on the original or ‘raw’ recording. Retired Supreme Court Justice Adolf Azcuna and others explained that electronic evidence does not necessarily work that way.

Then Robin complained that House prosecutors appeared to be ‘one-sided.’

Well, yes. They’re the prosecution. The people who aren’t supposed to be one-sided are the senator-judges.

And now Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio and Ninoy Aquino have somehow wandered into Sara Duterte’s confidential-fund controversy.

Robin invoked famous Filipinos who had used aliases in arguing that aliases themselves were not unusual. Eventually he got to Ninoy’s ‘Marcial Bonifacio.’

Bam Aquino supplied the rather important distinction: his uncle may have used an alias, but Ninoy didn’t have confidential funds or acknowledgment receipts to liquidate.

The issue isn’t whether people sometimes use aliases. It is whether acknowledgment receipts bearing questionable names prove that public money was actually spent for legitimate confidential purposes.

I wrote recently in ‘Which Lawyer?’ about the Senate I first knew when I worked there after the 1986 People Power Revolution. Jovy Salonga was Senate President and there were more lawyers than nonlawyers in the chamber. Even the nonlawyers were accomplished people who brought something to the table-diplomacy, business, journalism, labor, local government.

I suppose that’s partly why Robin’s performance bothers me.

If you don’t bring legal expertise to the Senate, what expertise are you bringing?

None of this means celebrities shouldn’t run for office.

The problem isn’t celebrity. It’s mistaking celebrity for qualification.

The Romans, whose republic gave us the Senate, had their own celebrities. But among the political elite, gloria was ideally attached to accomplishment-public office, military achievement, civic service. Portraits of prominent Romans came with inscriptions recording offices held and honors earned.

Reputation came with a résumé.

We have simplified matters considerably.

Today, millions of followers on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube or Instagram can make someone famous simply for being famous.

Politicians understand this. That’s why they dance on TikTok, recruit celebrity endorsers and behave during campaign season like they’re auditioning for a noontime show.

Celebrities understand it too.

If popularity wins elections, why shouldn’t they run?

Kiko Barzaga understood it.

He rode cat memes, ‘meow meow’ and his ‘Congressmeow’ persona into the House in 2025.

Once there, he was suspended. Then suspended again. In June, the House finally expelled him, 265-14, for repeated misconduct.

Apparently nine lives do not apply to congressional terms.

Electing legislators isn’t supposed to be entertainment.

These are people who write laws, scrutinize billions in public spending, investigate wrongdoing, amend the Constitution and, occasionally, sit as judges in an impeachment trial that can remove the country’s second-highest official.

Instead, campaigns give us jingles, dancing, viral videos, slogans and personalities.

The campaign ends.

The music stops.

Somebody has to govern.

Robin Padilla is easy to laugh at. But Robin didn’t elect himself.

We did.

And after all his shenanigans in the Senate, Robin is still at or near the top of early surveys for the 2028 Senate elections.

Pulse Asia had him numerically on top with 48.4 percent voter preference, although statistically tied within the top ranks. OCTA Research subsequently put him at a clear number one with 53.9 percent.

Robin Padilla.

Number one again.

Maybe he’ll sing ‘Wonderful Tonight’ again.

Why change a winning platform?

Six persons were confirmed dead, while three others are still missing after a motorized banca capsized amid stormy weather on Lake Mapanuepe at Barangay Buhawen here on Thursday, August 27.

The Zambales Provincial Police Office (ZPPO) said the fatalities were three Aeta adults and three children who were among the 13 passengers aboard the banca. Four others in the group survived.

The accident reportedly occurred while the group was heading for home at Sitio Lumibao in Buhawen after attending a 4Ps meeting and getting vaccine shots at the Buhawen Barangay Center. The ZPPO said authorities mounted a search, rescue and retrieval operation with a composite team from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and the San Marcelino Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) following a call for help from Buhawen Barangay Chairman Eduardo Dueñas.

However, after six bodies were retrieved, rescue and recovery efforts were temporarily discontinued at 6:45 p.m. on Thursday due to inclement weather, the ZPPO added.

The search for the missing residents resumed early Friday, August 28, with a team from the Philippine Red Cross in Olongapo City and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority’s Fire and Rescue Team combing the area near the sunken Saint Barbara Chapel, a remnant of the Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991.

Still, heavy rains from previous days made the lake water murky and prevented deep-water search maneuvers, rescuers said.

Meanwhile, the ZPPO also said the motorboat operator has been detained at the San Marcelino Police Station for possible filing of charges for reckless imprudence, as authorities believed the banca was overloaded when it sank.

Lake Mapanuepe, which has become a popularly known as the ‘New Zealand of Zambales’ because of its surrounding open grassland and mountain backdrop, also had a tragic history.

Continuous lahar flow after the 1991 volcanic eruption dammed the exit point of the Mapanuepe River on the valley and formed the lake, submerging in the process the low-lying area of Buhawen where most of the houses and community facilities of the former mining community were located.

Today, the chapel steeple with a large metal cross mounted atop it is the only visible sign that a community once thrived under the lake’s surface.

THE government is settling billions of pesos in unpaid automotive incentives before rolling out a new program aimed at strengthening the local industry, with the Revitalizing the Automotive Industry for Competitiveness Enhancement (RACE) initiative now down to its final steps, Trade Secretary Ma. Cristina Roque has said.

Roque said the government has already released more than P4 billion in incentives under the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS), covering payments to participating automakers and small and medium-sized parts manufacturers.

‘That’s the total. Including the small and medium enterprises. Yes, the parts makers,’ Roque told reporters on the sidelines of a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) event on Wednesday.

The release covers the incentives owed under the CARS program, including the obligations that had been raised during congressional budget deliberations.

During the congressional budget hearing on Tuesday, Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez had raised the government’s reported P1.5-billion obligation to Toyota Motor Philippines Corp.

In response, DTI Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said the department had secured funding to settle the automotive program arrears and that payment was already being processed.

Roque said the funding came from savings from the Department of Public Works and Highways’ 2025 budget, rather than a separate allocation in the proposed 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP).

‘It’s a savings from the 2025 budget of DPWH,’ Roque said, adding that such savings are typically used to pay incentives owed under the automotive program so participating companies can continue investing in the Philippines.

Under CARS, parts manufacturers are also part of the incentive structure, with participating automakers required to source components from small and medium-sized enterprises to qualify for the incentives.

With the arrears being addressed, Roque said the government can proceed with the RACE program, which is intended to succeed the existing automotive incentive framework.

‘The RACE program. We’re just waiting for the final touches,’ she said.

Roque said the program could be launched within the next month.

Rodolfo earlier told lawmakers that RACE had been included in the DTI’s Tier 2 budget proposal submitted to the Department of Budget and Management, although it was not yet reflected in the 2027 NEP.

He also said the joint administrative order governing RACE was already being circulated among the agencies involved.

Further, Roque said the government’s shift toward electric vehicles would proceed separately, noting that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had already directed the government to pursue the sector.