Category: Philippine Star

When Filipinos talk about politics, one word is often heard-corruption. For many people, young or old, it has become a common issue connected to government projects and public funds. On September 21, 2025, many people gathered to protest against corruption in the flood control project in Cebu. Flooding on the streets has become common, even during light rain. Behind these floods are allegations that the funds meant for protection were misused.

The people of Cebu, together with other Filipinos, expressed their anger over the misuse of taxpayers’ money. They demanded transparency, accountability, and justice. Many believe that corruption has taken away services that should have improved people’s lives. For years, communities have suffered from poor roads, crowded schools, and underfunded hospitals. What was once seen as a natural problem-flooding-has now become a symbol of frustration and betrayal.

Protesters carried signs that said: ‘Stolen Money, Stolen Future’ and ‘Corruption Kills.’ They reminded the public that corruption is not only about money. It also affects lives, basic needs, and opportunities of ordinary citizens. Many are now calling for stronger anti-corruption laws and strict punishment for guilty officials and contractors.

Civil society groups also joined the movement. They warned that the misuse of public money slows down the nation’s progress and destroys trust in the government. They said every peso lost to corruption could have been spent on education, healthcare, or safe infrastructure for communities.

Commentators also shared their views. They warned that unless corruption is solved, the Philippines will continue to struggle. Corruption not only steals money but also steals the future of Filipinos. As protests continue, citizens remain united in their call for accountability. They believe that fighting corruption is not only for today but also for the future of the next generation. But the question remains: Will the voices of the people be heard, or will the government continue to ignore corruption?

The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show saw its 2025 edition dominated by models, athletes, and some returning angels walking the runway.

Supermodels included Emily Ratajkowski, Ashley Graham, Irina Shayk, Amelia Gray, Joan Smalls, Alex Consani, Yasmin Wijnaldum, Imaan Hammam, Liu Wen, and the Hadid sisters, Gigi and Bella.

Models who previously held the Victoria’s Secret Angel title and strutted their stuff included Adriana Lima, Behati Prinsloo, Candice Swanepoel, Alessandra Ambrosio, Barbara Palvin, Doutzen Kroes, Lily Aldridge, Stella Maxwell, and a pregnant Jasmine Tookes.

Barbara’s husband, Dylan Sprouse, shared that the model broke her foot a month ago and walked on it half-healed.

Athletes made a runway appearance with young basketball star Angel Reese and Olympic gold-winning gymnast Suni Lee, as did show performers Karol G and Madison Beer.

Karol and Madison were joined by rap artist Missy Elliott and Korean girl group TWICE members Jihyo, Nayeon, Momo, and Tzuyu in the all-female performer line-up.

“What a night! Thank you to everyone who made this moment so special – it was pure magic,” TWICE said on Instagram after performing.

Among those who made their Victoria’s Secret runway debut like Angel and Suni were Yumi Nu, Daiane Sodre, Iris Law, Precious Lee, Quenlin Blackwell, and “Euphoria” actress Barbie Ferreira.

Should ‘The Big One’ earthquake strike, most of the casualties will likely be informal settler families, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec. Jonvic Remulla said Thursday, October 16.

The Big One earthquake is a projected magnitude 7.2 earthquake that could strike Metro Manila. Seismologists predict that the earthquake, stemming from the West Valley Fault, could happen within the next few decades.

Should it happen, Remulla believed that informal settlers will be hard hit.

‘If we do have the big one, most of the casualties will come from [informal settler families] because they use – none of their buildings are constructed with the municipal permits, and they cook with kerosine and with other non-regulated cooking implements, and that is the major cause of fires,’ Remulla said at the DILG’s budget hearing at the Senate.

Remulla also said most city buildings will likely hold up, as they follow the National Building Code. But it it is the building codes for municipalities that need to be updated.

What’s next. DILG Undersecretary Marlo Iringan, meanwhile, said an infrastructure audit will be piloted in Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Central Luzon.

For the audit, local government units will partner with the Association of Structural Engineers and the Philippine Institute for Civil Engineers, Iringan said.

Local governments may also tap schools and colleges with civil engineering students to help with the audit, he added.

Public anxiety. Fears of the Big One striking the National Capital Region sparked after a magnitude 6.9 quake hit Cebu in September, killing 79 people and injuring 559 others. The earthquake brought down houses and damaged vital infrastructure.

A week later, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake was recorded off the coast of Davao Oriental.The quake was felt in several areas in Mindanao and Visayas.

The Davao quake killed eight people and injured 176 others.

We’re two months into the grotesque unraveling of this grand thievery of flood control projects, but we have yet to see the perpetrators brought to justice.

Isn’t it weird that the ground zero of this flood corruption scandal is in Bulacan’s first district, where contracted projects don’t exist at all, and yet no cases have been filed against those behind the ghost structures there?

Isn’t it weird that while these phantom dikes, floodwalls, spillways and what-have-you are the easiest to prove in terms of corruption in public works, our authorities are still waiting to determine the elements of the crime?

And yet, the evidence is exactly that – you can’t see the projects at all. Despite millions of pesos disbursed, checks issued and stacks of documents signed, sealed and delivered.

But here we are still waiting for contractors and greedy ex-DPWH engineers who enjoyed their loot as seen on tables filled with cash, to be held liable for ghost projects.

No less than former Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner Kim Henares said going after ghost project contractors would be so easy. One just needs to inspect the site and see that the structures dont exist.

‘That’s it. That’s the case. You don’t need any other evidence,’ she said in a recent interview on dzMM.

Our authorities dont need to look too far or to travel to far-flung and remote areas.

What happened to Bulacan?

Take Bulacan for instance.

Around this time two months ago, on Aug. 14, to be exact, I broke the story of how a district engineer’s casino addiction had intertwined with ghost projects in Bulacan. I detailed this in my column, ‘District engineer’s casino addiction spawns ghost projects,’ noting how in one night alone, the engineer had gambled away P150 million in a sprawling casino in Metro Manila.

A week later, Sen. Panfilo Lacson gave an explosive privilege speech, ‘Flooded gates of corruption,’ on how systemic the problem was and how it ‘submerges the nation not just in flood waters, but in depths of corruption.’

He cited my Aug. 14 column and revealed just how massive the problem was in Bulacan alone and how the casino-loving DE Henry Alcantara and his cohorts had made the first district of the province ground zero for ghost projects.

What’s the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) doing about this?

So far, the ICI has recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against former lawmaker and appropriations committee chairman Zaldy Co and several officials of the DPWH for alleged anomalies in a P289.5-million flood control project in Oriental Mindoro implemented through Co’s Sunwest.

This is a positive step no doubt. But what happens to the ghost projects?

On Monday, the ICI said the commission aims to file 15 to 20 cases in four weeks over 421 alleged ghost flood control projects.

It is understandable that the government wants to make sure first that the cases are airtight. That’s fair.

Cases must be based on hard evidence rather than pure rhetoric and political posturing. Otherwise, in the presence of the best defense lawyers these unscrupulous contractors’ and corrupt officials’ money can buy, the charges will not stand in court.

Remember how many of the ill-gotten wealth cases against the Marcoses just got thrown in the trash bin through the decades because of supposedly legal loopholes and our frustratingly slow justice system?

Speaking of political posturing, we should also be wary of individuals using the corruption scandal to advance their interests ahead of the 2028 elections.

‘Most corrupt budget’

A lot of individuals are hitching a ride on the attention this scandal is getting, forgetting the fact that the 2025 budget – from which a huge part of the flood control kickbacks supposedly came from – was approved with a collective stamp of the House, Senate and the executive.

People forget that the budget is a law and no law gets to be enacted without following the process of deliberation and voting.

Perhaps the ICI should also look into how the 2025 budget deliberations unfolded. Who played big roles in the insertions? Who represented the Senate during the bicameral conference committee meetings for the 2025 deliberations?

Going back to the ghost projects, cases must be filed as soon as possible to finally bring the perpetrators to justice.

DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon has already flagged hundreds of ghost projects, not just in Bulacan.

As for the Bulacan boys, they have been removed from their posts; their assets have been frozen and their testimonies have already been heard. Their names are also on immigration lookout bulletins.

Their signatures are on the documents related to the ghost projects. Their links to contractors have already been established. Airtight? For sure.

Against this backdrop, we hope that something concrete – as in the actual filing of cases – comes out of this.

I am also pinning my hopes on newly appointed Ombudsman Boying Remulla. His move to lift restrictions on statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) is a step in the right direction.

But his litmus test is this flood control mess. How far will he go to bring the perpetrators to justice?

Pursuing the cases against those behind ghost projects will prove that he has the guts and the political will to be the ombudsman that our country needs.

Four Alas Pilipinas pairs fell short at the start of the main draw action to drop to must-win situations in the Volleyball World 2025 Beach Pro Tour Challenge on Thursday at the Nuvali Sands Court by Ayala Land in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

First to fall when the sun shone brightly the whole day were James Buytrago and Ran Abdilla to a taller Australian duo of D’Artagnan Potts and Jack Pearse, 21-14, 21-18, in a Pool H morning session.

In the afternoon, Kly Orillaneda and Gen Eslapor lost to Finland’s Anniina Parkkinin and Vilhelmiina Prihti, 11-21, 15-21, in Pool H and Sonny Villapando and Dij Rodriguez bowed to New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley and Olivia MacDonald, 19-21, 14-21, in Pool D.

Then the celebrated pair of Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons yielded to world-ranked Thainara Mylena Feitosa de Oliveira and Talita Simonetti of Brazil, 17-21, 16-21, in Pool G play.

All’s not lost for Alas Pilipinas though, but they need to win the second of their main draw matches – and get the better end of possible tiebreaks – to advance further in the tournament hosted by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation headed by Ramon ‘Tats’ Suzara.

‘This is a first time for us in the Challenge, and we learned a lot of new things, but we’re not out yet,’ Rondina said. ‘We’re just grateful that we played them – they’ve been playing the sport for the longest time.’

Rondina and Pons are ranked No. 137 in the world while Oliveira and Simonetti are one of seven world-ranked Brazilan pairs at No. 72.

‘We played against a great Brazilian team that can adjust in any situation and they changed the complex ionof the game and we couldn’t,’ Brazilian coach Joao ‘Kioday’ Luciano Simao Barbosa said. ‘We must learn from this.’

Up next for Rondina and Pons on Friday are Slovenia’s Ziva Javornik and Tajda Lovsin, who are No. 78 in the world but fell victims to the Alas aces in the Futures tournament in Budapest only last month, 16-21, 21-15, 15-9.

‘We’re hoping we them again,’ Kioday said.

Villapando and Rodriguez take on Japan’s Sakura Ito and Mayu Sawame and Eslapor and Orillaneda battle the US’s Teegan Van Gunst and Piper Ferch on Friday.

Buytrago and Abdilla fought for survival against Americans Tim Brewster and Ryan Lerna on Thursday evening.

The rise in Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) ridership has failed to translate to higher income for its regulator due to the government order to give out higher discounts to select sectors.

Based on data from LRT-2 manager Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA), passenger traffic in LRT-2 grew by eight percent to 42.04 million in the nine months to September, from 38.9 million a year ago.

LRT-2 posted its highest passenger volume in the pandemic aftermath in September of 5.15 million, beating the previous high of 5.1 million in August.

In spite of this, the LRTA booked a one-percent uptick only in revenue to P942.33 million as of September. This can be attributed to higher discounts granted to students, persons with disabilities and senior citizens.

President Marcos instructed the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to increase the discount on railways to 50 percent, from 20 percent. For students, the discount also covers all learners, and it can be availed every day, even on holidays and weekends.

In LRT-2, the discount reduced the cost of riding the LRT-2 to a range of just P8 to P18, from P15 to P35 on the regular.

Since the higher discount was rolled out in June, the LRT-2 has seen monthly hikes in ridership, but revenue failed to keep up, dropping instead with the exception of August.

LRT-2 serves a large population of students in its ridership, especially as the Recto-Antipolo corridor is host to dozens of schools, particularly in the University Belt.

As a government-owned and controlled corporation, LRTA is mandated to generate as much revenue as it can to fund its own operations. The agency also needs capital to upgrade the LRT-2 to prepare for future demand as ridership goes up.

For instance, LRTA plans to pursue the LRT-2 West Extension Project that seeks to add three more stops after the Recto Station. The project is estimated to cost P10.12 billion, as it covers the purchase of new light rail vehicles, too.

In spite of the financial drag, the DOTr appears committed to keeping the 50-percent discount in place, eyeing to maintain it until the end of the Marcos administration in 2028.

In September, railway managers like the LRTA started distributing specialized stored value cards to students to easily avail themselves of the discount.

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center (CICC) is seeking a P1-billion budget to procure an all-in-one tool to scan the dark web and scrub social media for potential risks to national security.

CICC has received support from lawmakers to increase its budget by almost P200 million to hire more personnel for its threat monitoring efforts through Hotline 1326.

This places the CICC’s proposed budget for 2026 close to P658 million, with P458 million allocated under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted to Congress.

However, CICC deputy executive director Renato Paraiso said the agency is still hoping to have congressional support for a last hike of P1 billion. The amount will be used to acquire a detection tool that the CICC can rely on to scan both the surface and underworld of the web.

The tool can scrub social media platforms like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram to find potential threats and resolve them before they can even harm anyone. Paraiso said most risks right now emanate from social media – from fraud attempts to manipulated videos.

Further, Paraiso said the tool can also monitor the dark web where bad actors – from data thieves to terrorist financiers – often transact.

Cybersecurity giant Norton said the dark web is the ‘home to the internet’s hidden sites, services and products – some innocent, while others downright dangerous.’

Moreover, Norton said the dark web is a place where cybercriminals communicate anonymously, bypass censorship, access restricted information and pass around files securely.

For Paraiso, the CICC has to be equipped with the capacity to dive into the dark web to prevent threat actors from compromising national security. He said cybercrimes are always evolving, and the CICC will be a step ahead if it has the tool to track the dark web.

Apart from this, the tool will fill in the personnel shortage hounding the CICC. He said the tool would automate the scanning of all layers of the internet, from surface web to the dark web.

Based on the staffing summary listed on the NEP, the CICC is allowed to employ up to 79 people in its plantilla, but currently only 52 of those are filled.

Recently, the CICC has found itself busy combatting online threats, especially on Sept. 21 during the twin anti-corruption protests in Luneta and EDSA organized by various sectors.

On that day, the CICC responded to a coordinated attack on the websites of government agencies that are, notably, entangled in the flood control mess.

The attacks targeted the Department of Public Works and Highways, which implements the flood control projects, and the Department of Budget and Management, which issues funding for such infrastructure. Other state agencies were also attacked.

The CICC was quick to act on retrieving the websites of the agencies. The websites were defaced for less than a minute, but ended at that, with the CICC intervening in the attacks.

According to IBM Security’s 2025 X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, Asia and the Pacific saw a 13-percent rise in cyberattacks in 2024, leading all regions in the world.

The Philippines was among the most attacked countries, tied with Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea at second, next to Japan.

Banks supervised by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas also recorded a two-percent jump in losses arising from cyberattacks, amounting to P5.82 billion in 2024.

The Philippines and some of its tourist destinations have been honored by a global award-winning body and a leading Western travel magazine.

The country took home six awards during the Asia and Oceania Gala Ceremony organized by the World Travel Awards (WTA) in Hong Kong on Monday, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).

The Philippines was named Asia’s leading beach, dive and island destination for the eighth, seventh and second time, respectively.

Boracay was again named Asia’s leading luxury island destination.

The DOT was honored as Asia’s leading tourist board, while the Clark Freeport Zone was recognized as the leading meeting and conference destination in the region.

The awards reaffirmed the country’s place among the world’s premier destinations as well as honored people in the local tourism sector including the guides, hospitality workers, weavers and boatmen, according to Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco.

With the awards, the Philippines may automatically be nominated in the same categories during the WTA’s global edition this year.

Meanwhile, global travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler named three island destinations in the Philippines as among Asia’s top islands.

The magazine’s Readers’ Choice Awards named Boracay as fourth best island destination in Asia, while Palawan and Siargao placed fifth and seventh, respectively.

The Philippines was also named best dive destination in Asia during the Travel Week Asia Readers’ Choice Awards 2025 held in Singapore on Oct. 7

It was the third consecutive time for the Philippines to receive the award from Travel Week.

Ambassador Medardo Macaraig received the award in behalf of the Philippine Tourism Promotions Board during the ceremony held at Paradox Singapore Merchant Court.

Jemaicah Yap Mendoza blew her golden chance at glory, succumbing to Russian Polina Smirnova in 43 moves of a Slav Defense in the 11th and final round to settle for a bronze in the girls’ Under-14 division of the World Youth Chess Championships in Durres, Albania Wednesday.

Yap, 14, faltered in the opening and just couldn’t extract her way out of a cramped position that allowed Smirnova to launch a vicious kingside attack that the former had to go an exchange down to prevent mate.

When it was over, the Russian had unstoppable passed pawns on both sides to seal the deal.

In the end, the Sta. Rosa, Laguna native finished third with 8.5 points and consoled herself with a bronze.

Smirnova wound up tied for first with Uzbekistan’s Rukiya Olimava, who trounced Russia’s Eliza Tereshchenko in the last round, but the latter took the gold with a superior tiebreaker.

Ironically, Mendoza defeated Olimova in the seventh round.

If there’s a silver lining, it was the fact that Mendoza gained a whopping 140.4 rating points that hiked her current rating from 1943 to 2083.4.

It also made Mendoza the fourth highest rated female chesser in the country today, behind only Woman Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna (2246), Jan Jodily Fronda (2115) and Ruelle Canino (2110).

She also surpassed her coach, Olympiad veteran Shania Mae Mendoza, rated 2078, who was also in Durres to accompany her.

Despite recent acts of aggression at sea by the Chinese, the Philippines will resume its eVisa program for Chinese nationals next month as part of facilitating trade and tourism, the Philippine embassy in Beijing announced yesterday.

Ambassador Jaime FlorCruz said the embassy, and the Philippine consulates in Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai and Xiamen, will begin issuing electronic visas to qualified applicants residing in mainland China and in Special Administrative Regions.

Chinese applicants who will visit the Philippines for tourism or business purposes may apply for eVisa if they are traveling for a non-extendable period of 14 days.

They should enter through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Metro Manila or through the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

The embassy will soon provide more details about the eVisa, including the relevant websites and procedures for the submission of requirements, in collaboration with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and VFS Global in China.

FlorCruz signed yesterday a Memorandum of Agreement with VFS Global to implement the eVisa program.

Chinese travelers and other eligible nationals living in China who wish to stay in the Philippines for more than 14 days may still apply for the conventional visa through the nearest Visa Application Centers that will open in Beijing, Chongqing, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) met with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in July for joint consular consultations.

China continues to be a major source of tourists for the region.

First launched and tested in Manila in 2023, the eVisa is expected not only to enhance the efficiency of daily consular operations but also to significantly improve the delivery of services to the public.

Defiance

This development came even as the Philippines continues to protest China’s bullying in the West Philippine Sea, the latest of which was in the vicinity of Pag-asa island where its coast guard ship blasted a Philippine vessel with water cannon.

The DFA filed a diplomatic protest against China over the incident.

Foreign Affairs spokesperson Angelica Escalona said the latest filing was on top of the 47 protests filed against Beijing as of Oct. 8.

‘We will not be silenced, we will not be intimidated and we will never turn away from our duty to defend the Filipino people’s rights and the nation’s dignity,’ National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said.

He said the National Task Force-WPS, which he also chairs, ‘will sustain and strengthen our transparency policy. We will continue to shine light on every illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive activity in our waters.’

Año welcomed the results of the latest Pulse Asia survey showing Filipinos’ strong confidence in the government’s policy of transparency and resolute defense of Philippine sovereignty.

‘We thank the Filipino people for their trust in the NTF-WPS and its member agencies, particularly the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), the Philippine Navy and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, all of whom gained high trust ratings from the public,’ he said.

Año noted that 41 percent of survey respondents identified the PCG as the most trustworthy government agency for updates and reports concerning the WPS.