Category: Philippine Star

Hilton Manila Newport World Resorts proudly marked Travel with Purpose Week 2025 with a series of meaningful initiatives that reflect Hilton’s global commitment to responsible travel and positive social impact.

Through purposeful action, Team Members championed community engagement, environmental stewardship, and sustainable hospitality across various locations throughout Mega Manila, reaching diverse communities and creating tangible impact where it matters most.

The week began with empowering youth through culinary skills training at Don Bosco Pugad Center in Makati. Team members mentored scholars aged 17 to 24 from underserved communities, sharing career insights and hands-on pastry-making skills to inspire confidence and future opportunities in hospitality.

Midweek, Hilton Manila Newport World Resorts team members turned their attention to the Pasay Social Development Center, where they revitalized the community playground by repainting structures and refreshing a mural originally created by volunteers in 2018.

The transformation brought new life to the space, creating a safe and vibrant environment where abused and abandoned children can begin to heal and thrive.

The spirit of giving continued the next day with Feeding Hope: Community Kitchen, held in partnership with Scholars of Sustenance Philippines at Sta. Ana Church.

Team members and volunteers came together to prepare and distribute nourishing meals to 150 individuals from vulnerable communities-including inmates at the nearby detention center-addressing food insecurity while advancing food rescue efforts and promoting responsible consumption. On October 2, Hilton Manila Newport World Resorts Team Members joined Conrad Manila and the Dumagat Tribe in planting 1,000 cacao seedlings around Angat-Ipo Dam, which supplies 90% of Metro Manila’s water.

The initiative strengthened watershed protection and created sustainable livelihood opportunities for the Dumagat community through cacao farming and the production of traditional tablea. An appreciation meal was also shared to honor the tribe’s role as stewards of the land.

The week concluded with Greens in the City: Herb Gardening at the hotel’s sixth-floor garden, where team members planted herbs and ornamentals to promote urban sustainability, culinary freshness and eco-conscious practices.

‘Travel with Purpose is not just a program-it’s a reflection of who we are and what we stand for,’ said Gagan Talwar, General Manager of Hilton Manila Newport World Resorts. ‘This week reminded us that hospitality goes beyond service; it’s about uplifting communities, protecting our environment, and creating moments that matter. I’m incredibly proud of our team members for leading with compassion and purpose.’

Filipina tennis ace Alex Eala suffered an early exit from the Japan Women’s Open after getting dominated by Tereza Valentova, 1-6, 2-6, in the tourney’s first round Tuesday in Osaka.

World No. 78 Valentova, who defeated Alina Charaeva in the qualifiers to punch a ticket to the main draw, needed just an hour and 27 minutes to grab the victory against Eala, who is ranked 54th in the world.

The pride of Czechia started off the match with four straight games, before Eala finally put herself on the board, 4-1.

Valentova, though, secured the next two games to grab a 1-0 lead.

It was more of the same in the second set, as Valentova went up 3-0 before the Rafa Nadal Academy graduate won the fourth game to inch closer.

But the Czechian was too dominant as she moved to within a game from the next round, 5-1.

Eala kept herself alive as she broke her opponent’s serve, 2-5 and she tried to mount a comeback.

But Valentova would not be denied.

This is the second straight early exit for Eala. After a string of deep runs in her previous tournaments, the Filipina exited the qualifying round of the Wuhan Open earlier in the month.

Amid the successive powerful temblors that struck Cebu and Davao Oriental, a labor group has called on private companies nationwide to regularly conduct earthquake drills.

‘We should make disaster preparedness a habit and earthquake readiness a work culture,’ Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) president Raymond Mendoza said.

The group asked companies to hold earthquake drills at least twice a month ‘to build muscle memory among workers, especially when disaster strikes.’

Mendoza said frequent drills should be an opportunity for emergency preparedness meetings, including raising awareness on workers’ right to refuse to work in an unsafe environment.

The Department of Labor and Employment backed the TUCP’s call for the conduct of regular earthquake drills.

Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma pointed out that concern and advocacy for occupational safety and health is a shared responsibility among workers, employers and the government.

In San Juan, Mayor Francis Zamora called on local officials and the public to strengthen disaster preparedness efforts amid fears of a major earthquake or the ‘Big One’ in Metro Manila.

Zamora, who also serves as national president of the League of Cities of the Philippines and Metro Manila Council president, said local government units must continue capacity-building programs for disaster response personnel and ensure that emergency equipment and supplies are ready at all times.

‘I urge all our citizens, not only those in Metro Manila but also from all regions, to recognize their crucial role in disaster preparedness. Your vigilance and active participation can help save lives and minimize property damage,’ Zamora said.

He reminded residents to remain calm and alert during earthquakes.

‘Local governments are ready to assist you, but your immediate response in the crucial first hours after a disaster can make a big difference,’ Zamora said. ‘Let us remain alert, informed and united in building a safer and more resilient Philippines.’

La Salle’s woes continued to pile up.

In the middle of a losing skid, the Green Archers absorbed another blow with the MCL injury suffered by forward Mason Amos still in the first round of the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball tournament.

‘I have faith in you, Lord,’ said Amos after his MRI test result confirmed the right knee injury he suffered late in La Salle’s 82-78 loss to National U over the weekend at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.

Through it all – earthquakes, floods, typhoons and corruption scandals – the Philippine economy somehow manages to maintain its growth track.

By most forecasts, we are expected to grow our GDP by 5.5 percent this year. That is lower than the range our economic team targeted, but it is higher than most other ASEAN economies.

According to the forecast, the Philippine economy will be the second best growth performer in the region. We are significantly behind Vietnam’s expected seven percent growth rate.

That said, 2026 might be a slower year for our economy. The cancellation of a substantial portion of public spending for infrastructure (all flood control projects are suspended) translates into a drop in public investments that will have ripple effects on other parts of the economy. Recall how our growth performance dropped sharply in 2011 after the Aquino II administration drastically cut back on infra spending.

All the corruption that accompanied our infra spending magnifies a vital point of our economy’s weakness. Compared to our neighbors, we suffer from an infrastructure crisis. Therefore, we have a weak logistics backbone that keeps costs of production and transport high. In turn, that makes our exports uncompetitive and transforms us into an import-dependent economy.

To say our economy is consumption-led is an understatement. The share of manufactures has been shrinking. Our agriculture is like a zombie.

With nearly stagnant productivity, it is understandable that our wages (high in comparison to some of our neighboring economies) are rapidly falling behind inflation. Well into the next generation, inadequate wages will continue to push the migration of some of our best workers.

Building infrastructure is not one of our best traits. The MRT central station, for instance, is 15 years delayed and it took a whole decade to complete two additional stations for the LRT-2. During this period when we grappled with delay, China built over 40,000 kilometers of rapid rail systems.

Vietnam has been feverishly building up its infra. It will continue to lead the ASEAN bloc in growth for years ahead. A couple of years ago, Vietnam eclipsed us in per capita income. Not bad for a nation ravaged by decades-long war.

The past few days, we have been having this unseemly debate about how much market capitalization is evaporating from our stock exchange.

The SEC chairman mistakenly quoted a social media report that says we lost P1.7 trillion in market cap last August alone. The Palace corrected him and rightly put the lost market cap at ‘only’ about P187 billion.

Then late last week a former BSP executive claimed that from December 2024 to October 2025, the PSE lost up to P5 trillion in market value. The PSE issued a rejoinder saying our stock exchange’s market capitalization was down ‘only’ 1.88 percent or P273.26 billion during this period.

But what are we doing to reverse this destructive trend to regain the capital we need to grow our economy?

Meow

Congressman Francisco ‘Kiko’ Barzaga Jr. – all of 27 years-old – has become a celebrity of sorts the past few weeks – mainly for being adamantly unserious.

He begins and closes his interviews by saying ‘Meow, Meow.’ He has been relentless in arguing that former speaker Martin Romualdez is principally responsible for messing with the national budget and laying the grounds for the staggering public works scandal we now see. The last few days, he has been a leading voice calling for President Marcos Jr. to resign. He is even threatening to pursue and impeachment complaint against Marcos.

While nearly the entire membership of the House of Representatives chose to maintain a lower profile in the face of public uproar over the looting of public funds intended for infrastructure, Barzaga is all over the place. He makes bold statements on the corruption controversy.

Barzaga’s bizarre antics polarized opinion about what he does.

The young legislator’s admirers praise him for his courage and think he employs tactics suitable for this age of social media where so many voices compete for attention. He has been able to cut through the cacophony of our multi-media environment simply by being bizarre.

His critics bemoan what they perceive as his clowning. They think he has reduced the serious problems plaguing the country into a running comedy. A few weeks ago, some of his colleagues decided to file a complaint against him at the House ethics committee for unruly behavior.

When the committee convened to hear the case, Barzaga arrived very late, blaming a late night spent playing video games. The excuse left the members of the committee stunned.

He had another late night last Sunday when he led a motley group of protestors that massed up at the gates of Forbes Park, the most exclusive exclave where wealthy politicians associated with the public works scandal reside. There he repeated his call for Marcos Jr. to resign.

If it was simply public attention that he craves, Barzaga has surely won it. His most ardent admirers claim his antics is the Gen Z way of getting a message across.

His critics, on the other hand, say we deserve a better level of eloquence to dissect the serious problems confronting the nation. The young congressman is a walking meme rather than a well-studied exposition, a stand-up comedian rather than an eminent statesman.

However much some might disagree, he threatens to persist in what he does.

Property giant Megaworld Corp. is using the P3.4 billion proceeds from its block sale of MREIT shares in July and September to expand its three township developments.

Megaworld said it intends to reinvest the MREIT share sale proceeds to add new income-generating assets, office towers, lifestyle malls, and hotels on its three township developments, namely The Upper East in Bacolod, The Mactan Newtown in Cebu and Paragua Coastown in Palawan.

‘These three provincial townships, while different in scale and themes, have huge potential for tourism, which will drive business into these localities. We hope to be able to expand our offerings that can generate more jobs and help boost tourism in these exciting destinations,’ Megaworld president and CEO Lourdes Gutierrez-Alfonso said.

Megaworld is developing a 34-hectare business and lifestyle district in the eastern part of Bacolod City, situated on a property that was once the Bacolod-Murcia Milling Co. sugar mill complex.

Construction of three residential condominium towers and one office building has been completed in the township, while two additional residential developments, an office tower, and a hotel are currently under construction.

Megaworld is set to start constructing its lifestyle mall within the township by next year.

In Lapu-Lapu City, Megaworld is developing a 30-hectare new business, lifestyle and tourism district.

Four residential developments have already been completed in the district, while three more are under construction. The township is also home to five office towers and two hotels.

Furthermore, two tourism-related facilities are being constructed: the Mactan Expo, a standalone convention center, and the Mactan World Museum, a multi-level historical and cultural museum.

Megaworld is also developing a 462-hectare eco-tourism community in San Vicente, Palawan.

The company is building two hotels, two residential condominiums, a residential village, commercial districts, and nature parks within the estate.

‘As we move closer to our one-million square meters of gross leasable area target, we are already laying the groundwork for growth beyond that milestone. These projects will not only sustain MREIT’s expansion pipeline but also enhance its long-term earnings visibility and shareholder value,’ MREIT chairman Kevin Tan said.

‘We look forward to the new income-generating assets that will be part of the potential future assets of MREIT, particularly the new malls and offices that will be built,’ he said.

MREIT’s portfolio is currently composed of 24 prime office properties located in five Megaworld townships: Eastwood City in Quezon City, McKinley Hill and McKinley West in Taguig, Iloilo Business Park in Iloilo City and Davao Park District in Davao City.

Akari showed its shock five-set victory over powerhouse Creamline was no fluke after it caught another big fish in Chery Tiggo with a gripping 25-11, 22-25, 29-27, 17-25, 15-7 victory Tuesday in the PVL Reinforced Conference at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Annie Mitchem, Eli Soyud and Ced Domingo conspired by firing 17, 17 and 16 points, respectively, as the Chargers zoomed to the Group B lead with a pristine 2-0 record.

It was a win that came on the heels of another cliffhanger, a 23-25, 25-23, 30-28, 23-25, 15-12 squeaker over the Cool Smashers, the reigning champions and the league’s yardstick, Saturday in Dasmariñas.

But more important than the result was the significant improvement that Akari coach Tina Salak saw in his squad.

‘I saw the character, growth and composure of the team improved, the team is starting to mature,’ she said.

In those two matches, Akari could have easily wilted under pressure against a pair of franchises that have already won it all with Creamline boasting 10 crowns and Chery Tiggo reigning supreme in the Bacarra bubble several years back.

But it did not.

‘Everyday, we have a mindset that we want to prove ourselves,’ said Domingo.

It was the Crossovers’ second straight defeat.

Sink or swim.

Sans injured forward Mason Amos, La Salle takes on the listless University of the East in a must-win duel to stay afloat ahead of an even tougher clash with reigning champion UP to end the first round in the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball tournament Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Game time is at 1 p.m. as the Green Archers try to prime up for the finals rematch against the Fighting Maroons on Sunday amid the piling woes in their title redemption tour – without the 6-foot-7 Filipino-Aussie and in the thick of a losing skid.

At 5 p.m., University of Santo Tomas (4-1) battles Far Eastern University (1-4) to forge a tie with NU (5-1) on top.

‘As long as we have life, we have chance,” vowed the embattled Topex Robinson after the confirmation of Amos’ MCL Injury on his right knee.

“That’s just the situation now we’re with the team. Yes, we’re down but with so many games to come, you could never cut us out of this scenario.’

Amos suffered the injury on Sunday late in the Green Archers’ 82-78 loss to the Bulldogs to fall outside the Top Four with a 2-3 slate, a stark difference to their hot starts in the last two seasons marked by finals appearances and a title in Season 86.

He will be out at least a month but the recovery could be longer, likely leaving Robinson with a crippled crew for the rest of the second round as they fight for dear life in a flat start to its hopeful season following the availability of Amos from Ateneo as well as other recruits Kean Baclaan (NU) and Jacob Cortez (San Beda) from residency.

La Salle also admitted that it’s still adjusting without two-time MVP Kevin Quiambao for the first time after his graduation and jump to pros in Korea but that should not be enough reasons for them to surrender their bows and arrows – not now and ever.

‘There is no way for us but to keep on persevering and keep on fighting. We could have all the reasons to just die, but that’s the least of our priorities right now,’ added Robinson, counting on skipper Mike Phillips to steady the ship.

Standing on their way is a hungry Red Warriors unit out for a breakthrough under new mentor Chris Gavina amidst a 0-5 start and an 11-game dry spell since last season.

Hardly anybody in the country has been investing in agriculture, says tycoon Isidro ‘Sid’ Consunji during the 57th Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) Conference.

Sad but true. Some of the country’s biggest conglomerates don’t have investments in agriculture, with the exception of a few groups that have agriculture-related ventures – the MVP Group, San Miguel Corp. and Universal Robina Corp.

And more often than not, the only times agriculture makes the headlines are when typhoons devastate our crops or, as we’re seeing recently, when farm-to-market roads are corrupted with impunity, just like flood control projects.

Investing in agriculture isn’t popular perhaps because it’s not as lucrative as say power, telcos or retail.

But it’s one way to help the country move forward because the sector is where a lot of Filipinos are really poor, says Consunji, chairman, president and CEO of DMCI Holdings Inc.

In his speech, ‘Leading the way in rural community building,’ Consunji shares that agriculture is his next big venture.

As such, he is now putting on a farmer’s hat. Sort of. I say sort of because I don’t imagine Sid breaking his back, sunbaked under the noonday sun, toiling in hectares of plantation, as a farmer would. Although the allure of that might catch up with him, too.

I know some retired uncles and aunts who actually found joy in farming after living hectic corporate lives.

In any case, I imagine Sid more on the business aspect – growing an agriculture venture, as he did with other businesses. He will make it profitable and in the process, unlock the value of the land and help in rural development.

‘As I step back from active management in DMCI, I’m about to retire, I’ve been spending more and more time on our family’s agriculture ventures,’ he said.

Agriculture has one of the highest poverty rates in the country at around 27 percent, he added.

‘So our goal is to develop marginal land, which is denuded, logged-over land, where there are very few economic activities, and turning idle land into real livelihoods.’

Some parts of Mindanao, where the Consunji family once operated logging areas, have been converted into plantations – rubber, palm oil, coffee and durian.

These plantations have translated to livelihood opportunities for a lot of people, he said.

‘While when we were in logging with less than 500 people, now we have more than 3,000 people in our agricultural venture.’

At present, the family operates plantations across Mindanao – palm oil and rubber in Zamboanga, coffee and durian in Sultan Kudarat and fruit trees in Sarangani and Davao.

Next stop: Visayas

The next stop for this Consunji family-led agriculture venture is an African palm oil project in Candoni, Negros Occidental, which is south of Bacolod.

They are now in the final stages of securing permits.

‘If everything goes as planned, we aim to develop 6,000 hectares in the next two years and expand to 12,000 hectares in five years,’ Sid said.

Reforestation efforts

Just this July, in partnership with Marubeni and UP Los Baños, they also started a reforestation project in the same area, intending to plant 1.5 million trees over 15,000 hectares in Candoni.

This is mainly for carbon credits. And if it succeeds, they intend to go up to 100,000 hectares in areas that were denuded.

‘Between the plantation and reforestation projects, the workforce in Candoni could reach around 2,500 people,’ Sid noted.

To help farmers, they will run a plant-now-pay-later scheme. This way, farmers – Muslims and Christians – can participate in the value chain.

‘We don’t want that it’s only the company that can survive. So we intend for small farmers to also benefit. But most of them do not have the money, especially for the seedlings. So what we’re trying to do is to give them the seeds today, and they start paying us five years from today when they start harvesting,’ Sid said.

In Zamboanga, they have also helped improve infrastructure and connectivity, allowing the public to use their company road which reduced travel time to the nearest city by over four hours.

In some sitios previously without transportation or communications, they also introduced Starlink and shuttles so that children can get to school.

These initiatives have helped improve the municipalities.

Sirawai in Zamboanga improved from fifth class to second class. Candoni, where reforestation started just a year ago, has changed from fourth class to third class in one year.

But is rural development sustainable?

Sid says so, as long as the businesses are profitable.

‘Our intention is that whatever income the agriculture business creates would go back to the business and not to dividend it out. I hope that other people or other organizations would replicate something similar to what we’re doing, because hardly anybody in the country has been investing in agriculture,’ he says.

As with any project, one challenge of course is to convince the local communities of the benefits of agriculture ventures. We’re not talking of a small parcel of land after all but hectares upon hectares of land.

It’s no secret that land has been the root cause of poverty in the country and a major contributor to stark inequality.

Hopefully, we can find that sweet spot between development, livelihood and the preservation of agricultural land.

Some will balk at more plantations. But would they rather see the land converted into more malls or subdivisions?

The worst that can befall a nation is when disaster strikes and the people do not trust the government to be honest enough to manage relief, assistance, and even rescue operations. Those who want to help do not want the government to handle distribution of money, food, and other forms of assistance. There is a crisis of confidence in the government.

We know why there was chaos in the initial phases of the relief and assistance distribution to victims of the earthquake in Bogo City, and in the towns of San Remigio, Medellin, Daanbantayan, Sogod, and other places in the north. All donors decided to do the distribution themselves and nobody was on top to coordinate, manage, synchronize, and oversee the traffic from Cebu City, Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City, Talisay City, and all other cities and towns from the south. Each one was on his or her own. There was no overall leader who was on top of the situation. The provincial officials’ attempt to centralize relief distribution was not followed because the people do not trust the government in general.

Given all the bad publicity of DPWH officials allegedly in cahoots with congressmen and senators as well as in collaboration with corrupt contractors, the government in general has almost totally lost credibility. And given national conversations via social media on how officials allegedly stole the billions of dollars in foreign contributions to victims of Yolanda, Ondoy, Thelma, Pablo, and other natural disasters and calamities, we cannot blame the donors to the earthquake victims. The government, in the minds of the people, is no longer trustworthy and so, they took matters into their own hands and decided to go themselves and distribute directly to the people.

The government cannot react by putting up military-style checkpoints. The people are already feeling distrustful of the government and the officers manning the checkpoints were seen as a symbol of the forcible and domineering arrogance of those in power. The national and local government, instead, should have managed the traffic to and from the disaster areas. They should have explored options like using maritime and air transport facilities to bring in government aid and assistance. But at the height of the chaos, there was no single leader who had both the competence and the credibility to secure obedience and coordination.

The bottom line of all these is that the government cannot be trusted anymore to give immediate, sufficient, and honest service to the victims. At least, that is the general sentiment of the people. We cannot blame the people for losing their trust and confidence in the government and public officials. The government itself and the public officials have themselves to blame for this endemic crisis of confidence. Both empirical data and anecdotal evidence indicate that the church, the academe, and the civic organizations have better records of honesty and fairness in distribution of goods and resources for aid and relief.

Some senators and congressmen, mayors and other trapos were quick to exploit the situation by having their photoshoots while handing over rice and sardines to the poor victims. The traditional politicians went there to be seen and not really to help. These are the behavioral patterns that turn off people and exacerbate the widespread loss of trust in government. Worse, some Cebu congressmen were never seen or heard. Some of them were abroad enjoying Europe while the people were suffering. This kind of callous indifference is exacerbating the peoples’ loss of trust in government.

The government officials should reflect on this sad reality, instead of bashing the bearer of this message. It is high time that both the government and the people should learn from all our tragic experiences. Or perish in the next disaster and calamity. I am deeply saddened by what our nation has become.