Category: Philippine Star

San Miguel Oktoberfest kicked off at Parañaque’s Okada Manila recently as San Miguel Beer (SMB) celebrates its 135th year of serving great beers around the world.

More than 8,000 people went to the resort-casino’s Crystal Pavilion during the two-day event filled with an array of specially crafted beers paired with top-notch food offerings over pulse-pounding music from a powerhouse lineup of top local acts.

The festivities were opened with a toast led by SMB President Carlos M. Berba, Pale Pilsen brand ambassador and actor Coco Martin, and Okada Manila Vice Chairperson Takako Okada.

The event kicked off a series of Oktoberfest events which will happen at Laguna’s Paseo de Santa Rosa on October 18 and Cebu City’s Queensland Manor on October 31, Halloween.

SMB lit up the resort-casino as guests were treated to complimentary beer samplers curated from the brand’s global portfolio as well as exciting new brews like India Pale Ale, Fruity Wheat Ale, Summer Ale, and Specialty Lager.

Pop-ups lined the Crystal Pavilion’s walkway with gourmet restaurants Las Flores, Café Fleur by Chef Sau, Flipside Burgers, and Purefoods Deli setting up shop while the new Draft Beer Mobile Bar Truck added more to the overflowing beer at the venue.

Highlight musical acts included Rico Blanco, Lola Amour, December Avenue, Maki, Arthur Nery, Brownman Revival, The Dawn, Autotelic, The Juans, Over October, The Cohens, DWATA, and Carousel Casualties.

Also in the line-up were Paprika, It All Started in May, Magiliw Street, Sean Archer, Acapellago, DJs Chelsea and Rammy.

Outside of food, drinks, and music, San Miguel Beermen basketball players shot hoops with party goers while billiards legends Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante played an exhibition match and challenged some attendees.

The Santa Rosa Oktoberfest will feature Rocksteddy, Sunkissed Lola, Progeny, The Collars, and Parisukat while December Avenue will join Urbandub, Missing Filemon, Nikolay, and Kuwako at the Cebu City event.

Three former officials of the Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) yesterday pleaded not guilty in connection with the allegedly overpriced procurement of personal protective equipment and surgical masks from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former PS-DBM officials Allan Raul Catalan, Dickson Panti and Gerelyn Francisco Vergara pleaded not guilty to graft during their arraignment at the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division.

Former procurement director Warren Liong and Pharmally executives Mohit Dargani and Linconn Ong did not enter a plea as the anti-graft court has yet to resolve their motions for reconsideration to an earlier ruling denying their bid to dismiss the graft charges filed against them.

Former PS-DBM officer-in-charge Christopher Lloyd Lao and former supervising administrative officer Arnold Jame Dupla pleaded guilty during their arraignment in August.

The Sandiganbayan set the next pre-trial conference on Oct. 21.

Pharmally case: 3 ex-DBM execs plead not guilty

Daphne Galvez

MANILA: Three former officials of the Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) yesterday pleaded not guilty in connection with the allegedly overpriced procurement of personal protective equipment and surgical masks from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former PS-DBM officials Allan Raul Catalan, Dickson Panti and Gerelyn Francisco Vergara pleaded not guilty to graft during their arraignment at the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division.

Former procurement director Warren Liong and Pharmally executives Mohit Dargani and Linconn Ong did not enter a plea as the anti-graft court has yet to resolve their motions for reconsideration to an earlier ruling denying their bid to dismiss the graft charges filed against them.

Former PS-DBM officer-in-charge Christopher Lloyd Lao and former supervising administrative officer Arnold Jame Dupla pleaded guilty during their arraignment in August.

The Sandiganbayan set the next pre-trial conference on Oct. 21.

Independent commissions have long promised to fight corruption in the Philippines. They are born with strong words and public hope, then die quietly when political winds shift. The Independent Commission for Infrastructure now carries that burden. Supporters say we should ‘let it do its job.’ True, but the real test is whether its work ends in convictions, not press conferences.

History paints a bleak picture. Former president Elpidio Quirino formed the Integrity Board in 1950, which could receive complaints only with Malacañang’s blessing and budget. Former president Ramon Magsaysay’s Presidential Complaints and Action Commission in 1953 energized citizens but lacked prosecutors. Former president Carlos P. Garcia’s Presidential Committee on Administration Performance Efficiency in the late 1950s conducted audits, not graft prosecutions. Former president Diosdado Macapagal’s Presidential Anti-Graft Committee in 1962 vanished with the next administration. Even Congress’ Office of the Citizens’ Counselor under Republic Act No. 6028 in 1969 – an ombudsman-type office – was never implemented. Different names, same fate: short-lived, dependent, disposable.

Only institutions built into the Constitution endured. In 1986, former president Corazon Aquino and the framers of the 1987 Constitution gave the ombudsman fiscal autonomy and its own Office of the Special Prosecutor. That is why major graft cases that reached judgment passed through the ombudsman and the courts, not ad hoc commissions. The lesson is blunt: presidential executive orders stir attention, but courts deliver accountability.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. created the Independent Commission for Infrastructure through Executive Order No. 94. Its mandate covers substandard and ghost infrastructure projects of the last decade. It can subpoena records, hold hearings and submit reports to the President. On paper, the powers look broad. In practice, the design is fragile. Funding still comes from Malacañang. Subpoenas duces tecum need resort to courts for enforcement and contempt citations. Criminal cases still pass through the ombudsman or the Department of Justice (DOJ) before trial. The Sandiganbayan remains the court of jurisdiction. Unless the Commission is welded into this pipeline, it risks becoming another intake layer, not a producer of convictions and eventual imprisonments.

Telling the public to ‘let the commission do its job’ should mean more than patience. It should mean removing obstacles that doomed past bodies. Witnesses must be compelled, not invited. Records must be produced, not requested. Investigations must result in cases filed, not reports shelved. Anything less, and history repeats itself.

Neutrality is critical. The Supreme Court in 2010 struck down former president Benigno Aquino III’s Philippine Truth Commission for targeting a single administration. That ruling was a warning: selective scope kills credibility and invites failure of prosecution. The new Commission cannot afford to look partisan. Its reach must cover all administrations and contractors, with conflict-of-interest rules and independent audits of its members.

If the Commission wants to succeed, it needs fixes now. A memorandum of understanding with the ombudsman and the DOJ would force integration: joint teams, shared evidence rooms and strict deadlines and timelines from referral to filing. A statutory upgrade would secure subpoena power, budget and tenure. Dashboards showing how many cases were referred, information filed and convictions won would keep it accountable. Without these, it risks becoming another short-lived Malacañang creation.

Investigators must also watch where corruption starts: the bidding table. Republic Act 12009, the New Government Procurement Act of 2024, requires disclosure of beneficial ownership, standard bidding forms and budget alignment. Yet it has become common practice to subvert these rules through loopholes or selective enforcement. The Ninoy Aquino International Airport concession is a cautionary tale of a different but related kind. Several petitions before the Supreme Court question how the deal secured rushed approvals, ignored statutory guardrails and approved steep fee hikes despite subverting extant laws. The challenge is how to stop this cycle before it undermines every new reform.

The verdict from history is harsh. Executive-created bodies have been loud but brittle. They were easy to set up, easier to ignore and easiest to dismantle. Unless the new Commission is legally insulated, hardwired into the ombudsman and the DOJ and judged by the convictions and incarcerations it secures, it will follow the same curve.

The Filipino people now cry for convictions and imprisonments of those found guilty of plunder (under Republic Act 7080) and forfeiture of unlawfully acquired properties and taxpayers’ monies (under Republic Act 1379), among other relevant laws, after expeditious and public trials by special courts assigned by the Supreme Court to try those indicted. They do not need another body that fades with the headlines. They need concrete results that stand in court. That is the real job the Commission must do.

Party-list groups Gabriela and Akbayan want business processing outsourcing (BPO) companies based in Cebu sanctioned for allegedly compelling employees to return to work during the earthquake.

The action of Cebu BPO firms violated the Occupational Safety and Health Law and disregarded the lives of workers, according to Gabriela party-list Rep. Sarah Elago.

Gabriela is the principal author of Republic Act 11058 or the Occupational Safety and Health Law.

Elago said the right to refuse unsafe work is enshrined in the law and forcing workers to return to work amid aftershocks and without safety clearance is a form of exploitation.

Reports received by the BPO Industry Employees Network-Cebu revealed that BPO managers and team leaders reportedly failed to follow safety protocols, endangered employees by resuming operations without clearance from authorities, and threatened workers who insisted on their right to go home after the calamity.

The law provides that workers have the right to refuse unsafe work without fear of retaliation from management if their lives or health are at risk. Employers are mandated to suspend operations until competent authorities have declared workplaces safe.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña also urged the Department of Labor and Employment to investigate reports of alleged safety violations committed by BPO firms in Cebu.

Some BPO workers took to social media to complain about alleged labor violations such as having emergency exits blocked during the disaster.

They said some of them were forced to return to work immediately after the temblor subsided. Others were reportedly warned that they would be marked AWOL or absent without official leave if they refused to comply with the order.

Cendaña said companies should not sacrifice the safety of their employees for the sake of profit.

‘They were too insensitive if they forced their employees to return to work after a massive earthquake,’ he said.

At least 168,000 students have been denied admission to state universities and colleges amid SUC capacity issues.

Data submitted by 62 of 115 SUCs showed that 32 of the SUCs or 52 percent have exceeded their capacities. Meanwhile, 11 SUCs or 18 percent have reached 100 percent capacity.

As a result, 168,493 students were denied enrollment despite qualifying for admission.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, said SUCs should focus on increasing academic capacities.

He also asked the SUCs to submit their capital outlay requirements focused on classrooms and other academics-related needs.

‘The goal here is no more displaced students,’ Gatchalian added.

He noted that the SUCs’ capital outlay decreased from P31 billion in 2024 to P17 billion in 2025.

Ghost beneficiaries

Catholic schools were not involved in the voucher anomaly involving ghost beneficiaries under the Senior High School Voucher Program, the Catholic Association of the Philippines (CEAP) said.

‘They (ghost beneficiaries) do not come from Catholic schools. In fact, the ghost students were discovered by a mechanism we call the Private Education Assistance Committee, PEAC,’ CEAP president Fr. Karel San Juan said.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara has said that the voucher anomaly involving ghost beneficiaries has reached more than P100 million.

‘PEAC assures that government funding is distributed professionally to the rightful recipients. It certifies that schools really exist,’ San Juan added.

San Juan also welcomed initiatives in the House of Representatives and the Senate to expand the voucher program to be able to cover Kindergarten to Grade six.

‘Not only that, we’re pushing for an increase of amount because now, the amount ranges from P9,000 to P13,000 and that is not adequate to fully support the cost of education and they are open to that, especially now, with this controversy of flood control budget, our congressmen are very supportive of all this. We are pushing for the transfer of funds to education,’ San Juan said.

San Juan noted a huge drop in the enrollment in Catholic schools, amid the exodus of learners to public schools.

In three years alone, or from 2019 to 2022, the enrollment went down from 4.3 million to 1.4 million, he said.

He added that because of the difficult economic situation, students would gravitate towards free tuition fees in public schools.

Face-to-face classes at all levels at the De La Salle University (DLSU) in Manila were suspended yesterday following a bomb threat.

The University Student Government received the threat through email on Tuesday night, warning DLSU students not to go to school the next day.

After sweeping the campus, the Manila Police District found no bomb.

The DLSU management said in-person classes and on-site work resume today, with tightened security in place.

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno called on the DLSU to look into the bomb threat, saying it could have been a prank.

Aiah Arceta of the Nation’s Girl Group BINI expressed her devastation after a 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck her home province of Cebu.

In an Instagram story, Aiah shared a news report from ABS-CBN News about the earthquake.

“To my family, friends, and everyone who are in Cebu, I hope you are all safe!!!” Aiah wrote. “I may not be in Cebu right now but my heart goes out for the people who are affected.”

Aiah, together with the other members of BINI, is currently in Cagayan de Oro for their BINIverse and MINIverse shows.

“Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the recent earthquake in Bogo and nearby cities. Many families have lost their homes, livelihoods have been affected, and urgent help is needed.”

“To extend our support, part of the sales from our September 30 release will go to those who are in need,” It’s Arc, Aiah’s cap business, wrote on social media.

“If you’d like to help, please directly message Bryan King Arceta for donation details and coordination. Let’s come together as one community to support our brothers and sisters in this difficult time.”

Sean Ramos followed up his opening two-under-par 68 with a solid 67 to safely advance to the weekend play of the rain-hit Jakarta International Championship, now being led by Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert at the Damai Indah Golf PIK Course in Indonesia on Friday.

Ramos, who posted six birdies but was hampered by a double bogey and two bogeys in the first round on Thursday, played more conservatively in the second round. He recorded four birdies against a lone bogey for a five-under 135 total at the par-70 course, placing him in a provisional tie for 18th.

Play was suspended for several groups due to darkness, with some players yet to finish their second rounds.

Ramos showed consistency from tee to green, hitting 12 of 14 fairways and 14 greens in regulation. He needed just 28 putts, including three crucial par saves.

Meanwhile, Miguel Tabuena, who surged into early contention with an impressive 65, continued his strong form in a late afternoon start. He birdied two of the first four holes before giving back-to-back strokes from No. 6. He parred the next eight holes and was grouped with Ramos and eight others when play was halted.

Justin Quiban, on the other hand, carded a second straight 69 for a 138 total, sitting on the projected cut line in a share of 60th place. The final cut, however, could still shift depending on the outcome of the unfinished rounds.

At the top of the leaderboard, Tangkamolprasert lit up the front nine with four straight birdies from No. 4. While his back nine was more turbulent – marked by a birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey stretch from No. 11 – he closed strong with a birdie on 17 for a 129 total.

He held a slim one-shot lead over India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar, who fired a second consecutive 65 for 130. Tanapat Pichaikool of Thailand also made a move with a sizzling 62, highlighted by four consecutive birdies from the opening hole, bringing him to 131 and setting up an intense battle for the third round.

Church bells under the Archdiocese of Manila will be tolled every 8 p.m. to signify the people’s ‘prophetic cry of indignation and outrage’ against widespread corruption, Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula said yesterday.

Obligatory prayers or an Oratio Imperata for ‘integrity, truth and justice’ will replace the Prayer of the Faithful during masses.

Advincula’s directive starts tomorrow until lifted.

‘The magnitude of corruption in our country is more and more appalling as we continue to discover its enormity and extent,’ he said, referring to corruption in flood control projects involving government officials.

Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Taiwan will get an increase in their monthly minimum wage, the Department of Migrant Workers announced yesterday.

DMW Secretary Hans Cacdac said thousands of OFWs in Taiwan would receive higher salaries starting January 2026.

The government of Taiwan has approved a monthly minimum wage of NT$29,500 and NT$196 per hour, Cacdac said.

‘This is a victory for all workers in Taiwan, including OFWs and their families,’ Cacdac said.