Category: Philippine Star

The number of Filipinos without a job declined in August 2025, pushing the national unemployment rate down to 3.9%, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday, October 8.

National Statistician and PSA Chief Claire Dennis Mapa reported that the number of Filipinos aged 15 and above who are unemployed dropped to 2.03 million in August 2025, a significant decrease from the 2.59 million recorded just one month earlier in July.

This means that the number of jobless individuals decreased by 560,000. This is also lower than the 2.07 million unemployed Filipinos in the same period in 2024.

Despite the overall drop in unemployment, five sub-sectors saw the largest decreases in employed persons between July and August 2025:

Human health and social work activities – 105,000

Mining and quarrying – 103,000

Professional, scientific and technical activities – 102,000

Manufacturing – 70,000

Education – 54,000

Underemployment. The underemployment rate for August 2025 was at 10.7%, showing a slight decrease from the rates of 14.8% in July 2025 and 11.2% in August 2024, according to the statistics agency.

For August 2025, 5.38 million Filipinos-out of a total employment base of 50.10 million-expressed a desire for more extensive work, whether through increased hours in their current position, taking on an additional job, or finding a new job with longer working hours.

Employment rate. The country’s employment rate reached 96.1% in August 2025, marking an improvement over the 96.0% recorded in August 2024 and a significant increase from 94.7% in July 2025.

This translated to an employed population of 50.10 million Filipinos that month, up from 49.15 million a year earlier and 46.05 million in July 2025.

The services sector continues to dominate the labor market, accounting for the largest share of total employment at 61.5%.

This is followed by the agriculture sector at 20.4% and the Industry sector at 18.1%.

Compared to August 2024, the top five sub-sectors that registered the highest increases in employment were:

Construction – 540,000

Fishing and Aquaculture – 448,000

Administrative and Support Service Activities – 307,000

Agriculture and Forestry – 300,000

Other Service Activities – 239,000

Employment class by worker. Wage and salary workers accounted for the largest share of the employed persons at 64.4% in August 2025.

This group includes workers in private establishments, with 78.0% of all wage workers and those employed by the government, with 14.1% of all wage workers.

The remaining employed individuals were categorized as self-employed without paid employees with 27%, unpaid family workers with 7% and employers in their own family-operated business with 1.6%.

Total number of people in the labor force. The labor force participation rate, which includes both employed and unemployed individuals aged 15 and above, rose to 65.1% in August 2025.

This figure is higher than the 64.8% posted in August 2024 and the 60.7% recorded in July 2025.

The estimated labor force participation translates to 52.13 million Filipinos who were part of the labor force during the month.

We should be clear about this point. Everything in our life should be an occasion, a means, a reason for prayer. Whatever the condition and situation in our life, whether considered humanly speaking as good or bad, proper or improper, in solemn or jovial moments, etc., we should see to it that we manage to connect ourselves with God through prayer.

Prayer can take on any form or method. The important thing is that we manage to be with God always, since that is actually what is proper for us. Without him, we would just be living like animals, perhaps a little bit better than them, but in the end, no better than them really. Without him, it would just be a matter of time before we fall into some disorder insofar as we are rational animals, let alone, as we are children of God.

Without God who is our creator and source of all good things, we can only do evil. We would be like a branch cut off from the vine. We may manage to give an appearance of life and goodness, but without him, we actually have and are nothing.

We have to be constantly aware that we cannot be simply on our own. We need God and we need to be with everybody and everything else. We have to overcome our tendency that we can afford to be isolated. We should never forget that we are always in communion and we need to make that communion alive and healthy. And prayer is what enables us to achieve these goals.

As early as possible, as in when one is still a little child, everyone should be told and taught about this important duty of ours which is actually a necessity of ours. Prayer should be like the beating of our heart, the breath we make instinctively. It is what makes us alive spiritually and supernaturally, and not just biologically and naturally.

We have to see to it that we learn how to really pray. That is, we have to learn how to vitally engage with God, our Father and Creator, mainly through our mind and heart, and later through the other faculties and powers that we have –our imagination, memory, feelings and passions, and the physical and natural powers we have.

Ideally, everything should be an act of prayer, whether we are doing our sacred or mundane duties, whether things are good or bad for us, whether we are alone or in a crowd, etc.

And just like any training, it at first has to be taught under a controlled environment. That is why, at the beginning we were taught as children to recite and put into memory some vocal prayers. We may not understand everything said there, but that at least initiates us to the practice of prayer.

Then further steps ought to be made. We have to learn how to exercise our faith, how to meditate and contemplate, how to find a proper place, time and even posture for it. And then how we can have presence of God the whole day, rectitude of intention in all our actions, the habit of offering everything to God, and literally of conversing with God and discerning his will as we go on with our daily activities.

In the end, the quality of our life is determined by the quality of our prayer. If we truly are with God the whole time, we would know what to do at any given moment. We would practically share in the very power, wisdom, and goodness of God himself.

In consideration of those affected by recent typhoons and the earthquake that jolted Cebu, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) has extended the validity of motor vehicle registrations and driver’s licenses that expired on Sept. 30.

LTO chief Vigor Mendoza II said he has directed all regional and district offices to implement the extension and to waive fines or surcharges for late renewals.

‘This is in consideration of the cancellations of government work caused by the recent typhoons and the earthquake that struck Cebu,’ Mendoza said in a statement.

He said the move is part of the LTO’s efforts to ease the burden on the public, particularly motorists who were unable to process their license and registration renewals.

The LTO also extended until Oct. 15 the settlement of traffic apprehension fines.

Emilio Aguinaldo College made key stops in the crunch as it repulsed Jose Rizal University, 68-65, yesterday for its first victory in NCAA Season 101 at the Filoil EcoOil Arena.

It was a fitting bounce-back victory for the Generals after faltering and going down to a 74-63 loss to the St. Benilde Blazers on Saturday.

‘Our goal is to be in the top two,’ said EAC coach Jerson Cabiltes of their goal in Group B in the elims phase. ‘This win kept us on track in reaching our short-term goal.’

The Generals played tough on defense in the stretch and denied the Bombers of what could’ve been a second straight win and a place at the helm after opening the season with a shock 73-69 triumph over the Letran Knights Friday.

Earlier, Arellano U also bounced back from a loss with an 82-66 win over San Sebastian. The Stags stumbled to 0-2.

Justice Undersecretary Fredderick Vida will serve as acting secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ), following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s appointment of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla as the next Ombudsman.

Remulla confirmed the designation on Tuesday, October 7.

‘Usec. Vida will step in as OIC (officer-in-charge) or acting secretary,’ Remulla told reporters in a press briefing.

Transition at the DOJ. Remulla said that he and the president have yet to discuss who will permanently succeed him as justice chief.

Vida was first appointed as an assistant secretary in 2023 and currently oversees the DOJ’s Finance, Administrative Service, and Personnel Cluster.

The justice secretary’s move to the Office of the Ombudsman came just a day after the Judicial and Bar Council included him in its shortlist of nominees for the post.

Remulla is expected to take his oath of office on Thursday, October 9.

A bettor in Quezon City was the solo winner of the P223.5-million Grand Lotto 6/55 jackpot on Monday.

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Melquiades Robles said the winner, who bought a ticket at a lotto outlet in Barangay Mariana, guessed the combination 21-27-51-19-14-53, which had a prize of P223,580,197.60. Twenty-six bettors won P100,000 each.

In one of his last acts as secretary of justice, Jesus Crispin Remulla signed the Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (ILBO) on officials under investigation over the flood control project anomalies.

Department of Justice spokesperson Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano confirmed to reporters on Wednesday evening, October 8, that Remulla had signed the ILBO for all officials requested by the Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI).

Bureau of Immigration Spokesperson Dana Sandoval also told Philstar.com in a message that the bureau has received the ILBO.

“Their names have been immediately included in our centralized database and their travels will be strictly monitored,” Sandoval said.

Remulla is set to take his oath as Ombudsman on Thursday, October 9, ending his tenure as secretary of justice.

The flood control project anomalies are being probed by the agency headed by Remulla, along with the ICI.

Earlier, the ICI requested an ILBO against more than two dozen current and former lawmakers and officials in the probe into the flood control anomalies.

What is an ILBO? An ILBO is a directive to immigration authorities to monitor individuals from leaving, typically those who are subjects of ongoing investigations or legal cases.

It differs from a hold departure order, which is a court-issued directive preventing an individual from leaving the country.

Playing the titular character of TBA Studios’ “Quezon” has lit a fire in Jericho Rosales to care more deeply about the country.

Manuel Quezon is Rosales’ first film role in seven years, and the expected last entry in the “Bayaniverse” franchise will explore the character’s rise in power from lawyer to president.

At a press conference for “Quezon” last October 7 at the historic Manila Hotel, Rosales was asked about what he discovered about himself in shooting the film, particularly about love of country.

Rosales began by acknowledging the weight of the question and admitted to not initially being a fan of history. He used to think it was a “boring” subject where he would end up sleeping during classes.

“Because of this film,” Rosales said, “Parang nabuhay ‘yung pagka-Pilipino ko.”

The actor acknowledged that TJ Trinidad was initially attached to portray Quezon until the latter stepped away from acting. Jericho shared TJ visited the set one time in a show of support.

Looking back at when director Jerrold Tarog asked him to play Quezon, Rosales – who was shooting “Lavender Fields” at the time – agreed without hesitation. Jericho recalled that the director advised him to read the script first before agreeing to play the historic role of one of the country’s presidents.

“I understand now how important history is, and the reason I fell asleep in class is because I didn’t care about the country,” Rosales continued.

The actor explained that love and care is what moves a person, and stressed the importance of “Quezon” reminding everyone to take responsibility about learning our political history and the people we elected.

Understanding what we love the most about the country through the lens of history is what will make Filipinos proud again, Rosales added.

He compared the concept of corruption to a pimple – the byproduct of staying up, oil, and everything consumed – and asked that people rewatch the film’s trailer numerous times because takeaways can be seen from there alone.

“All the words that [Tarog] selected and cut has a meaning,” Rosales went on. “Saan ba nanggagaling ito, bakit ba nakakalusot?”

Rosales stressed it is not one person’s duty to solve corruption but rather of an entire nation, calling for transparency and a detailed plan because it is the people’s taxes at stake.

“We serve each other. How do we solve [corruption]? We all have the answers, not one man, not one person,” Rosales ended.

Cold and dry winds are expected soon as the state weather bureau has declared the end of the southwest monsoon season.

‘This marks the termination of the rainy season over the western sections of Luzon and the Visayas,’ the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said.

‘The country is now transitioning to the northeast monsoon season, which will be observed and declared in the coming weeks,’ it added.

During this season, temperatures gradually drop across northern and Central Luzon toward

the end of the year.

The southwest monsoon has been weakening over the past weeks, accompanied by a gradual shift in the country’s weather pattern, PAGASA said.

Typical indicators of the transition to the northeast monsoon season are the change brought by the stronger high-pressure system over East Asia and the southward migration of the intertropical convergence zone.

Gretchen Ho has more questions, especially on the Philippines as a high risk country, after she received a call from the Norwegian ambassador.

Gretchen’s post about her senior citizens kin being snubbed at a foreign exchange counter in Norway’s Oslo Airport went viral yesterday.

The host said her kin were denied to exchange their $300 for krone upon hearing that they were from the Philippines, citing corruption and money laundering.

The ambassador told Ho that he was surprised about the incident and said it should not have taken place. He will be meeting with the Norwegian foreign ministry to address the issue.

Ho shared the context behind her viral post. She cited the Philippines being removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list in February this year after four years on the list.

The FATF is an intergovernmental body established by G7 countries that combat money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. The Philippines was included in the FATF grey list in 2021.

Gretchen asked in light of the recent incident if the Philippines is back on the FATF high-risk list for money laundering and dirty money, and if it is not the case, she wondered if it was the financial institution’s internal policy on tourists from the Philippines. She also expressed concern on how this incident will influence Filipinos’ future travels.

‘We want to get some clarity on this, if there is a new policy, given recent events, or just a failure to update and disseminate information. I believe getting some clarity would help not just our family, but other Filipinos who have shared similar experiences at the same airport in Oslo, saying they have been declined foreign exchange services upon knowing their country of origin is the Philippines.

‘So are we back on the ‘high-risk’ list for money laundering? Or is this an overeager clerk who was simply not updated on the grey list?’ Gretche wrote.

The issue of corruption has been the talk of the town, with the Senate and Congress conducting their own investigations on the alleged anomalous government flood control projects.

Investigations are still ongoing, with many Filipinos watching the livestreamed sessions wondering when will there be individuals and parties, including high-profile personalities, found guilty and put to jail.

The September 21 rallies in Metro Manila and key cities in the country drove thousands of people from all walks of life chanting an end to systemic corruption.

Another wave of protests are already planned on November 30, the 162nd birth anniversary of Filipino revolutionary hero Andres Bonifacio.